<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><usfx xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="https://eBible.org/usfx.xsd"><languageCode>guj</languageCode>
<book id="GEN"><id id="GEN">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>ઉત્પત્તિ
</h><toc level="1">ઉત્પત્તિ
</toc><toc level="2">ઉત્પત્તિ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">ઉત્પત્તિ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">દુનિયાનો આરંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.1.1" />આરંભમાં દેવે આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીનું સર્જન કર્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.1.2" />પૃથ્વી ખાલી અને અસ્તવ્યસ્ત હતી. જમીન પર કશું જ ન હતું. સમુદ્ર પર અંધકાર છવાયેલો હતો અને દેવનો આત્માં પાણી પર હાલતો હતો.
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</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">પહેલો દિવસ-પ્રકાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.1.3" />ત્યારે દેવે કહ્યું, “પ્રકાશ પ્રગટો” અને પ્રકાશ પ્રગટયો.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.1.4" />દેવે પ્રકાશને જોયો અને તેમણે જાણ્યું કે, તે સારું છે. ત્યારે દેવે પ્રકાશને અંધકારથી જુદો પાડયો.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.1.5" />દેવે પ્રકાશનું નામ “દિવસ” અને અંધકારનું નામ “રાત” રાખ્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">સાંજ પડી અને પછી સવાર થઇ તે પહેલો દિવસ હતો.
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<s level="2" style="s2">બીજો દિવસ-આકાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.1.6" />પછી દેવે કહ્યું, “પાણીને બે ભાગમાં જુદું પાડવા માંટે વચ્ચે અંતરિક્ષ થાઓ.”
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.1.7" />એટલે દેવે અંતરિક્ષ બનાવ્યું અને પાણીને જુદું પાડયું. કેટલુંક પાણી અંતરિક્ષની ઉપર હતું અને કેટલુંક પાણી અંતરિક્ષની નીચે હતું.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.1.8" />દેવે અંતરિક્ષને “આકાશ” કહ્યું. પછી સાંજ પડી અને સવાર થઇ તે બીજો દિવસ હતો.
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</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">ત્રીજો દિવસ-સૂકી ધરતી અને વનસ્પતિ સૃષ્ટિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.1.9" />પછી દેવે કહ્યું, “પૃથ્વી પરનું પાણી એક જગ્યાએ ભેગું થાઓ જેથી સૂકી જમીન નજરે પડે.” અને એ જ પ્રમાંણે થયું.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.1.10" />દેવે સૂકી જમીનને “પૃથ્વી” કહી અને જે પાણી ભેગું થયેલું હતું તે પાણીને “સાગર” કહ્યો. દેવે જોયું કે, તે સારું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.1.11" />પછી દેવે કહ્યું, “પૃથ્વી વનસ્પતિ પેદા કરો: અનાજ આપનાર છોડ અને ફળ આપનાર વૃક્ષો પેદા કરો. પ્રત્યેકમાં પોતપોતાની જાતનાં બીજ થાઓ. આ પ્રકારના છોડ પૃથ્વી પર પેદા થાઓ.” અને એ પ્રમાંણે થયું.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.1.12" />પૃથ્વીએ અનાજ ઉત્પન્ન કરનાર ઘાસ અને છોડ ઉગાડયા અને એવાં વૃક્ષો અને છોડ ઉગાડયાં જેનાં ફળોની અંદર બીજ હોય છે. પ્રત્યેક છોડવાએ પોતપોતાની જાતનાં બીજ પેદા કર્યા અને દેવે જોયું કે, તે સારું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.1.13" />પછી સાંજ પડી અને સવાર થઇ તે ત્રીજો દિવસ હતો.
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<s level="2" style="s2">ચોથો દિવસ-સૂર્ય, ચંદ્ર અને તારા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.1.14" />પછી દેવે કહ્યું, “આકાશમાં જયોતિઓ થાઓ. આ જયોતિઓ દિવસોને રાતોથી જુદા પાડશે. આ જયોતિઓનો વિશેષ ચિહનોરૂપે ઉપયોગ થશે. અને વિશેષ સભાઓ જ્યારે શરુ થશે તે દર્શાવશે અને તેનો ઉપયોગ ઋતુઓ, દિવસો અને વષોર્નો સમય નિશ્ચિત કરવામાં થશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.1.15" />અને તેઓ પૃથ્વી પર પ્રકાશ પાથરવા માંટે આકાશમાં સ્થિર થાઓ.” અને એમ જ થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.1.16" />પછી દેવે બે મોટી જયોતિઓ બનાવી. દેવે તેમાંની મોટી જયોતિને દિવસ પર અમલ કરવા બનાવી અને નાની જયોતિને રાત પર અમલ કરવા બનાવી. દેવે તારાઓ પણ બનાવ્યા.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.1.17" />દેવે આ જયોતિઓને આકાશમાં એટલા માંટે રાખી કે, તે પૃથ્વી પર ચમકે.
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.1.18" />દેવે આ જયોતિઓને આકાશમાં એટલાં માંટે રાખી કે, જેથી તે દિવસ અને રાત પર અમલ ચલાવે. આ જયોતિઓએ પ્રકાશને અંધકારથી જુદો પાડયો અને દેવે જોયું કે, આ સારું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.1.19" />ત્યારે સાંજ થઈને સવાર થઇ. તે ચોથો દિવસ હતો.
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<s level="2" style="s2">પાંચમો દિવસ-માંછલીઓ અને પક્ષીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.1.20" />પછી દેવે કહ્યું, “પાણી અનેક જળચરોથી ઊભરાઈ જાઓ અને પક્ષીઓ પૃથ્વી પર અને આકાશમાં ઊડો.”
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.1.21" />એથી દેવે સમુદ્રમાં રાક્ષસી જળચર પ્રાણી બનાવ્યાં. દેવે સમુદ્રમાં રહેનાર બધાં સજીવ પ્રાણીઓ બનાવ્યાં. સમુદ્રમાં જુદી જુદી જાતિનાં જીવજંતુ હોય છે. દેવે આ બધાંની સૃષ્ટિ રચી. દેવે આકાશમાં ઉડનારાં દરેક જાતનાં પક્ષીઓ પણ બનાવ્યાં. દેવે જોયું કે, આ સારું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.1.22" />પછી દેવે તે પ્રાણીઓને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા. અને કહ્યું, “જાઓ, ઘણાં બધાં બચ્ચાં પેદા કરો અને સાગરનાં પાણીને ભરી દો. અને પક્ષીઓ પણ બહુ જ વધી જાઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.1.23" />પછી સાંજ થઇ અને સવાર થઇ. તે પાંચમો દિવસ હતો.
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<s level="2" style="s2">છઠ્ઠો દિવસ-ભૂચર જીવજંતુ અને મનુષ્ય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.1.24" />પછી દેવે કહ્યું, “પૃથ્વી બધી જાતનાં પ્રાણીઓ પેદા કરો: ‘પ્રત્યેક જાતનાં ઢોર, પેટે ચાલનારાં પ્રાણીઓ અને મોટાં જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ.’ અને આ પ્રાણીઓ પોતપોતાની જાતિ પ્રમાંણે વધારે પ્રાણીઓ ઉત્પન્ન કરે.” અને આ બધું થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.1.25" />તે પછી દેવે પ્રત્યેક જાતિનાં પ્રાણીઓ બનાવ્યાં. દેવે જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ, પાળી શકાય તેવાં પ્રાણીઓ, અને પેટે ચાલનારાં પ્રાણીઓ બનાવ્યાં અને દેવે જોયું કે, આ સારું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.1.26" />પછી દેવે કહ્યું, “હવે આપણે મનુષ્ય બનાવીએ, જે આપણી પ્રતિમાંરૂપ અને આપણને મળતો આવતો હોય; જે સમુદ્રમાંનાં માંછલાં પર, અને આકાશમાંનાં પક્ષીઓ પર શાસન કરે. તે પૃથ્વીનાં બધાં પ્રાણીઓ અને નાનાં પેટે ચાલનારાં જીવો પર શાસન કરે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.1.27" />આથી દેવે પોતાની પ્રતિમાંરૂપ મનુષ્ય પેદા કર્યો. તેણે માંણસો એટલે સ્ત્રી અને પુરુષ બનાવ્યાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.1.28" />દેવે તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા. દેવે તેઓને કહ્યું, “ઘણાં સંતાનો પ્રાપ્ત કરો, પૃથ્વીને ભરી દો અને તેનું નિયંત્રણ કરો. સાગરનાં માંછલાં પર અને આકાશના પક્ષીઓ પર શાસન કરો. પૃથ્વી પરનાં પ્રત્યેક જીવ પર શાસન કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.1.29" />દેવે કહ્યું, “જુઓ, મેં તમને જમીનમાં ઊગનારાં, બધી જ જાતનાં અનાજ પેદા કરનારા છોડ અને પ્રત્યેક જાતનાં બીવાળા ફળનાં વૃક્ષો આપ્યાં છે: એ તમને સૌને ખાવાના કામમાં આવશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.1.30" />પૃથ્વી પરનાં પ્રત્યેક પ્રાણીને અને આકાશમાંના પ્રત્યેક પક્ષીને તથા પૃથ્વી પર પેટે ચાલનારાં પ્રત્યેક જીવને ખાવા માંટે મેં લીલું ઘાસ અને છોડ આપ્યા છે.” અને એમ જ થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.1.31" />દેવે પોતાના દ્વારા તૈયાર થયેલી પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુઓ જોઈ અને દેવે જોયું કે, પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુ ઘણી જ સારી છે.
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<p style="p">સાંજ પડી અને સવાર થઇ, તે છઠ્ઠો દિવસ હતો.
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<c id="2" />
<s level="2" style="s2">સાતમો દિવસ-વિશ્રામ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.2.1" />આ રીતે પૃથ્વી, આકાશ અને તેમાંની બધી જ વસ્તુઓનું સર્જન પૂરું થયું.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.2.2" />દેવ પોતે જે કામ કરતા હતા તે તેમણે પૂરું કર્યું. તેથી સાતમાં દિવસે દેવે પોતાનું કામ બંધ રાખ્યું.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.2.3" />દેવે સાતમાં દિવસને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યો અને તેને પવિત્ર બનાવ્યો. કેમ કે, તે દિવસે દેવ સંસારનું સર્જન કરતી વખતે જે કામ કરી રહ્યા હતા તે બધાં જ કાર્યો બંધ કર્યા.
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<s style="s">માંનવ જાતિનો આરંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.2.4" />આ છે આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીનાં સર્જનનો ઈતિહાસ. જયારે દેવે પૃથ્વી અને આકાશ બનાવ્યાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.2.5" />તે વખતે પૃથ્વી પર કોઇ વૃક્ષ કે, છોડ ન હતા. અને ખેતરોમાં કાંઈ જ ઊગતું ન હતું કારણ કે યહોવા દેવે પૃથ્વી પર વરસાદ વરસાવ્યો ન હતો. અને વૃક્ષો અને છોડવાંઓની સંભાળ રાખનાર કોઈ મનુષ્ય પણ ન હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.2.6" />પરંતુ પૃથ્વી પરથી ધૂમસ ઊચે ચઢતું હતું અને પૃથ્વીની બધી જ જમીનને તેણે ભીંજવી હતી.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.2.7" />ત્યારે યહોવા દેવે ભૂમિ પરથી માંટી લીધી અને મનુષ્યનું સર્જન કર્યું. અને તેના નસકોરામાં પ્રાણ ફૂંકયો તેથી મનુષ્યમાં જીવ આવ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.2.8" />પછી યહોવા દેવે પૂર્વ દિશામાં એદનમાં એક બાગ બનાવ્યો અને તેમણે જે મનુષ્યનું સર્જન કર્યુ હતું તેને તે બાગમાં મૂકયો.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.2.9" />યહોવા દેવે આ બાગમાં દરેક જાતનાં વૃક્ષો ઉગાડયાં, જે દેખાવમાં સુંદર હોય અને જેનાં ફળ ખાવામાં સારાં હોય. બાગમાં વચ્ચે જીવનનું વૃક્ષ અને સારાભૂંડાની સમજનું વૃક્ષ પણ ઉગાડયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.2.10" />એદનમાં થઈને એક નદી વહેતી હતી અને તે બાગને પાણી સીંચતી હતી. આ નદી આગળ જતાં ચાર નાની નદીઓ થઈ ગઈ.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.2.11" />પહેલી નદીનું નામ પીશોન છે તે હવીલાહના આખા પ્રદેશની ફરતે વહે છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.2.12" />(આ પ્રદેશમાં સોનું છે અને તે સોનું સારું છે. ત્યાં બદોલાખ અને અકીક પાષાણ પણ મળે છે.)
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.2.13" />બીજી નદીનું નામ ગીહોન છે; તે કૂશના આખા પ્રદેશની ફરતી વહે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.2.14" />ત્રીજી નદીનું નામ હીદેકેલ છે, જે આશ્શૂરની પૂર્વમાં વહે છે, અને ચોથી નદી તે ફ્રાત છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.2.15" />યહોવા દેવે તે માંણસને એદનના બગીચાને ખેડવા તથા તેનું રક્ષણ કરવા ત્યાં મૂકયો. તેનું કામ બાગમાં વૃક્ષો અને છોડવાં ઉગાડવાનું હતું.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.2.16" />યહોવા દેવે મનુષ્યને આજ્ઞા કરી કે, “તારે બાગમાંનાં કોઈ પણ વૃક્ષનાં ફળો ખાવાં.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.2.17" />પરંતુ તમે સારાનરસાની સમજ આપનારાં વૃક્ષનાં ફળ તારે ખાવાં નહિ, જો તું એ વૃક્ષનાં ફળ ખાઈશ તો તારું મૃત્યુ અવશ્ય તે જ દિવસે થશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">પહેલી સ્ત્રી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.2.18" />ત્યારે યહોવા દેવે કહ્યું, “હું સમજું છું કે, માંણસનું એકલા રહેવું તે સારું નથી, હું તેને માંટે એક યોગ્ય મદદ કરનાર બનાવીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.2.19" />તેથી યહોવા દેવે ભૂમિની માંટીમાંથી બધી જાતનાં જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ અને બધી જાતનાં આકાશનાં પક્ષીઓ બનાવ્યાં. યહોવા દેવે બધાં જ પ્રાણીઓને મનુષ્યની સામે લાવ્યાં અને તે એ મનુષ્ય તે બધાંનાં નામ પાડયાં.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.2.20" />મનુષ્ય પાળી શકે તેવાં પ્રાણીઓ, આકાશનાં બધાં જ પક્ષીઓ અને જંગલનાં બધાં જ પ્રાણીઓનાં નામ પાડયાં; મનુષ્યઓ અનેક પ્રાણી અને પક્ષી જોયાં પરંતુ મનુષ્ય પોતાને યોગ્ય મદદ કરનાર મેળવી શકયો નહિ.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.2.21" />તેથી યહોવા દેવે મનુષ્યને ગાઢ નિંદ્રામાં નાખ્યો. અને જયારે તે ઊંઘતો હતો ત્યારે તેના શરીરમાંથી એક પાંસળી કાઢીને તેની જગ્યાએ માંસ ભર્યું.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.2.22" />યહોવા દેવે મનુષ્યની પાંસળીમાંથી સ્ત્રીની રચના કરી. અને તે સ્ત્રીને મનુષ્યની પાસે લાવ્યા.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.2.23" />અને મનુષ્યે કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“બરાબર માંરા જેવી એક વ્યકિત.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના હાડકાં માંરા હાડકામાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું માંસ માંરાં માંસમાંથી થયું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણી ‘નારી’ કહેવાશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તેને નરમાંથી લેવાવામાં આવી છે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.2.24" />આ જ કારણે પુરુષ પોતાના માંતાપિતાને છોડી જાય છે અને પોતાની પત્ની સાથે રહીને તે બંન્ને એક દેહ બની જાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.2.25" />તે મનુષ્ય અને તેની પત્ની બન્ને નવસ્ત્રો હોવા છતાં શરમાંતાં નહોતા.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">માંનવીનું પતન-પાપનો આરંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.3.1" />યહોવા દેવ દ્વારા બનાવેલાં કોઈ પણ જંગલી પ્રાણી કરતાં સાપ વધારે કપટી હતો. (તે સ્ત્રીને દગો કરવા ઈચ્છતો હતો.) સાપે સ્ત્રીને કહ્યું, “હે સ્ત્રી, તમને દેવે ખરેખર એમ કહ્યું છે કે, તમાંરે બાગનાં કોઈ પણ વૃક્ષનાં ફળ ખાવાં નહિ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="GEN.3.2" />સ્ત્રીએ સાપને કહ્યું, “ના, દેવે એવું કહ્યું નથી. અમે બાગનાં વૃક્ષોનાં ફળ ખાઈ શકીએ છીએ.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.3.3" />પણ એક વૃક્ષ છે જેનાં ફળ અમે ખાઈ શકતાં નથી. દેવે અમને કહ્યું છે કે, ‘બાગની વચ્ચોવચ્ચ જે વૃક્ષ છે તેનાં ફળ તમાંરે ખાવાં નહિ, તેમજ તેને અડવું પણ નહિ, નહિ તો મૃત્યુ પામશો.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.3.4" />પરંતુ સાપે સ્ત્રીને કહ્યું, “તમે મરશો નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.3.5" />દેવને ખબર છે કે, જો તમે એ વૃક્ષનાં ફળો ખાશો તો તમને ખરાખોટાની સમજ પડશે અને તમે દેવ જેવા થઈ જશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.3.6" />સ્ત્રીએ જોયું કે, વૃક્ષ સુંદર છે અને તેનાં ફળ પણ ખાવા માંટે સારાં છે અને વૃક્ષ તેને બુદ્વિશાળી બનાવશે. પછી સ્ત્રીએ તે વૃક્ષનું ફળ લીધું અને ખાધું. તેનો પતિ પણ તેની સાથે હતો, તેથી તેણીએ થોડાં ફળ તેને પણ આપ્યાં અને તેણે પણ તે ખાધાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.3.7" />પછી પુરુષ અને સ્ત્રી બંન્ને બદલાઈ ગયાં. અને તેઓની આંખો ઉઘડી ગઇ. તેઓેએે જોયું કે, તેઓ વસ્રહીન છે; એટલે તેમણે અંજીરીનાં પાંદડાં સીવીને પોતાના અંગ ઢાંકયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.3.8" />પછી પેલા પુરુષ અને સ્ત્રીએ દિવસના ઠંડા પહોરમાં બાગમાં યહોવા દેવના ફરવાનો અવાજ સાભળ્યો. તેઓ બાગના વૃક્ષોમાં છુપાઈ ગયાં.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.3.9" />યહોવા દેવે બૂમ માંરીને મનુષ્યને પૂછયું, “તું કયાં છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.3.10" />પુરુષે કહ્યું, “બાગમાં તમાંરો પગરવ સાંભળીને હું ડરી ગયો, હું વસ્રહીન હતો, એટલે સંતાઈ ગયો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.3.11" />યહોવા દેવે પુરુષને પૂછયું, “તને કોણે કહ્યું કે, તું વસ્રહીન છે? તું શા કારણે શરમાંયો? જે ઝાડનાં ફળ ખાવાની મેં મનાઈ કરી હતી તે ઝાડનાં ફળ તેં ખાધાં તો નથી ને?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.3.12" />પુરુષે કહ્યું, “તમે જે સ્ત્રી માંરા માંટે બનાવી, તેણે મને એ વૃક્ષનાં ફળ આપ્યાં, ને મેં ખાધાં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.3.13" />પછી યહોવા દેવે સ્ત્રીને કહ્યું, “તેં આમ શા માંટે કર્યું?”
</p>
<p style="p">સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “સાપે માંરી સાથે બનાવટ કરી, તેણે મને મૂર્ખ બનાવી અને મેં ફળ ખાધું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.3.14" />પછી યહોવા દેવે સર્પને કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તેં આ ઘણું ખરાબ કામ કર્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તારું ખોટું જ થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">બીજા જંગલનાં પ્રાણીઓ કરતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું ભૂંડું વધારે થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારે જીવનપર્યંત પેટ ઘસડીને ચાલવું પડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધૂળ ફાકીને રહેવું પડશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.3.15" />હું તારી અને આ સ્ત્રીની વચ્ચે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારાં બાળકો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એનાં બાળકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વચ્ચે દુશ્મનાવટ રખાવીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">એનો વંશ તારું માંથું કચરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું એના પગને કરડીશ.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.3.16" />પછી યહોવા દેવે સ્ત્રીને કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તારે ગર્ભાવસ્થા દરમ્યાન ભારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વેદના વેઠવી પડે એમ હું કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું જયારે બાળકને જન્મ આપીશ ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને અસહ્ય વેદના થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું તારા પતિને ખૂબ ઈચ્છીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે તારા પર રાજ કરશે.”<f caller="+"><fr>3:16
</fr><fk>તું … કરશે
</fk><ft>અથવા તું તારા પતિને ઇચ્છીશ પરંતું તે તારા પર રાજ કરશે. આ હિબ્રુ ભાષામાં ઉત્પતી 4:7 ના જેવું છેં.</ft></f>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.3.17" />પછી યહોવા દેવે મનુષ્યને કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મેં તને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી કે, તું આ વિશિષ્ટ વૃક્ષનાં ફળ ખાઈશ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેં તારી પત્નીની વાત માંની અને તે વૃક્ષનાં ફળ ખાધાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">એટલે તારે લીધે આ ભૂમિ શ્રાપિત થઈ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જીવનપર્યંત પરિશ્રમ કરીશ ત્યારે તું એમાંથી ખાવા પામીશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.3.18" />આ ભૂમિ કાંટા અને ઝાંખરાં ઉગાડશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ખેતરમાં ઉગતા જંગલી છોડવાં ખાઇશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.3.19" />તારે તારા પોતાનાં ભોજન માંટે ખૂબ પરિશ્રમ કરવો પડશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જયાં સુધી પરસેવો ન થાય ત્યાં સુધી તું પરિશ્રમ કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">જયાં સુધી તારું મૃત્યુ ન થાય ત્યાં સુધી તું સખત પરિશ્રમ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સમયે તું ફરીવાર માંટી થઈ જઈશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">જયારે મેં તને બનાવ્યો ત્યારે માંટીમાંથી જ બનાવ્યો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જયારે તું મૃત્યુ પામીશ ત્યારે એ જ માંટીમાં પાછો મળી જઈશ.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.3.20" />આદમે પોતાની પત્નીનું નામ હવા પાડયું. કારણ કે તે સર્વ માંનવજીવોની જનેતા હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.3.21" />પછી યહોવા દેવે આદમ અને તેની પત્ની માંટે પશુઓનાં ચામડાનાં વસ્રો બનાવ્યાં અને તેઓને પહેરાવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.3.22" />યહોવા દેવે કહ્યું, “જુઓ, હવે માંણસ આપણામાંના એકના જેવો થઈ ગયો છે; મનુષ્યને સારાનરસાની સમજ આવી છે. અને હવે પુરુષ જીવનના વૃક્ષનાં ફળ પણ લઈ શકે, છે. જો પુરુષ તે ફળને ખાશે તો તે સદા અમર થઈ જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.3.23" />આથી યહોવા દેવે પુરુષને એદનના બાગને છોડવા માંટે મજબૂર કર્યો, જે માંટીમાંથી આદમ પેદા થયો હતો તે જ પૃથ્વી પર આદમને સખત પરિશ્રમ કરવો પડ્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.3.24" />યહોવા દેવે આદમને બાગની બહાર કાઢી મૂકયો. અને પછી દેવે બાગના દરવાજાની ચોકી કરવા માંટે સ્વર્ગના દૂતોને મૂકયા. યહોવા દેવે ત્યાં એક અગ્નિમય સતત વીંઝાતી તરવાર પણ મૂકી, જે તરવાર જીવનના વૃક્ષના માંર્ગની ચોકી કરતી ચારેબાજુએ ચમકતી હતી.
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</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">પહેલો પરિવાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.4.1" />આદમ અને તેની પત્ની હવા વચ્ચે જાતિય સંબંધ થયો અને તે ગર્ભવતી થઈ અને એક બાળકને જન્મ આપ્યો. જેનું નામ તેઓએ “કાઈન” રાખ્યું. હવાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવાની સહાયથી મને પુત્ર મળ્યો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="GEN.4.2" />એ પછી હવાએ બીજા બાળકને જન્મ આપ્યો. તે બાળક “કાઈન” નો ભાઈ હાબેલ હતો. હાબેલ ભરવાડ બન્યો અને કાઈન ખેડૂત બન્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રથમ હત્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3-4" bcv="GEN.4.3" />પાકના સમયે કાઈન યહોવા પાસે એક અર્પણ લાવ્યો, પોતાની જમીનમાં પેદા કરેલા અનાજમાંથી થોડું અનાજ તે લાવ્યો. પરંતુ હાબેલ પોતાનાં ઘેટા અને બકરાના સમૂહમાંથી થોડા પ્રાણીઓ લાવ્યો. હાબેલ પોતાના સૌથી શ્રેષ્ઠ ઘેટાં અને બકરાંનાં પહેલાં બચ્ચાં તેમની ચરબી સાથે લાવ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">યહોવાએ હાબેલ અને તેના અર્પણોનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.4.5" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ કાઈન તથા તેના અર્પણનો અસ્વીકાર કર્યો તેથી કાઈન ખૂબ ગુસ્સે થયો અને દુ:ખી થયો.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.4.6" />યહોવાએ કાઈનને પૂછયું, “તું કેમ રોષે ભરાયો છે? તારું મોંઢું ઉતરેલું કેમ દેખાય છે?
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.4.7" />જો તું સારાં કામ કરીશ, તો માંરી નજરમાં તું યોગ્ય ઠરીશ. અને પછી હું તારો સ્વીકાર કરીશ. પરંતુ જો તું ખરાબ કામ કરીશ તો તે પાપ તારા જીવનમાં રહેશે. તારાં પાપો તને તેના વશમાં રાખવા ઈચ્છશે પરંતુ તારે તારાં પાપોને તારા પોતાના વશમાં રાખવા પડશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.4.8" />કાઈને પોતાના ભાઈ હાબેલને કહ્યું, “ચાલો, આપણે બહાર મેદાનમાં જઈએ.” તેથી કાઈન અને હાબેલ મેદાનમાં ગયા. અને પછી કાઈને પોતાના ભાઈ પર હુમલો કર્યો અને તેની હત્યા કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.4.9" />પછી યહોવાએ કાઈનને પૂછયું, “તારો ભાઈ હાબેલ કયાં છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">કાઈને જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું નથી જાણતો, શું એ માંરું કામ છે કે, હું માંરા ભાઈની ચોકી કરું, ને સંભાળ રાખું?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.4.10" />પછી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તેં આ શું કર્યું? તારા ભાઈનું લોહી ધરતીમાંથી મને પોકાર આપતા અવાજ જેવું છે
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.4.11" />તેં તારા પોતાના ભાઈની હત્યા કરી છે. અને હવે તારા ભાઈનું રકત તારા હાથથી લેવાને જે ધરતીએ પોતાનું મોં ખોલ્યું છે, તેથી હવે હું આ ભૂમિને ખરાબ કરવાવાળી વસ્તુઓ હું ઉત્પન્ન કરીશ.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.4.12" />ભૂતકાળમાં તેં વાવણી કરી હતી અને તે મોટા પ્રમાંણમાં ઊગી હતી. પરંતુ હવે તું એ જમીનને ખેડીશ ત્યારે એ તને પાક નહિ આપે; તારે પૃથ્વી પર રઝળતાં રખડતાં ફરવું પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.4.13" />ત્યારે કાઈને કહ્યું, “આ સજા સહન કરવી તે માંરા ગજા બહારની છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.4.14" />તમે મને આજે જમીનને ખેડવામાંથી હાંકી કાઢયો છે. એટલે માંરે તમાંરી આગળથી સંતાતા ફરવું પડશે, માંરે આ ભૂમિ પર રઝળતા રખડતાં ફરવું પડશે. અને પૃથ્વી પર માંરો વિનાશ થશે. અને જો કોઈ મનુષ્ય મને મળશે તો તે મને માંરી નાખશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.4.15" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ કાઈનને કહ્યું, “હું એમ થવા દઈશ નહિ. જો કોઈ તને માંરશે તો હું તે માંણસને સાતગણી કડક શિક્ષા કરીશ.” પછી યહોવાએ કાઈન પર એક નિશાન બનાવ્યું. એ નિશાન એમ દર્શાવતું હતું કે, કાઈનને કોઈ માંરે નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">કાઈનનો પરિવાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.4.16" />પછી કાઈન યહોવા પાસેથી ચાલ્યો ગયો. અને એદનની પૂર્વમાં આવેલા નોદની ભૂમિમાં રહેવા લાગ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.4.17" />કાઈને પોતાની પત્ની સાથે શારીરિક સંબંધ કર્યો જેથી તે ગર્ભવતી થઈ અને તેણે હનોખ નામના બાળકને જન્મ આપ્યો. કાઈને એક શહેર વસાવ્યું અને પોતાના પુત્રના નામ પરથી તેનું નામ હનોખ પાડયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.4.18" />હનોખથી ઇરાદ જન્મ્યો અને ઇરાદથી મહૂયાએલ જન્મ્યો. મહૂયાએલથી મથૂશાએલ અને મથૂશાએલથી લામેખ જન્મ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.4.19" />લામેખે બે સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા. એક પત્નીનું નામ આદાહ અને બીજીનું નામ સિલ્લાહ હતું.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.4.20" />આદાહે યાબાલને જન્મ આપ્યો. જેઓ તંબુઓમાં રહે છે અને પશુપાલન કરે છે તેઓના તે પિતા હતા.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.4.21" />આદાહનો બીજો પુત્ર યૂબાલ પણ હતો. યૂબાલ યાબાલનો ભાઈ હતો. વીણા અને વાંસળી વગાડનારાઓનો તે પિતા હતો.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.4.22" />સિલ્લાહે તૂબાલ-કાઈનને જન્મ આપ્યો. તે કાંસાંનાં અને લોખંડનાં બધી જ જાતનાં ઓજારો બનાવનારાઓનો પિતા હતો. તૂબાલ-કાઈનની બહેનનું નામ નાઅમાંહ હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.4.23" />લામેખે પોતાની પત્નીઓને કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“આદાહ અને સિલ્લાહ, માંરી વાત સાંભળો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે લામેખની પત્નીઓ માંરે જે કહેવું પડે છે તે કાળજીપૂર્વક સાંભળો.
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<q style="q1">મને દુ:ખ પહોંચાડનાર એક માંણસને, મેં માંરી નાખ્યો છે.
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<q level="2" style="q2">મને માંરતાં એક છોકરાને મેં માંરી નાખ્યો છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.4.24" />કાઈનની હત્યાનો દંડ ઘણો ભારે હતો. તેથી માંરી હત્યાનો દંડ પણ તેનાથી વધારેને વધારે ભારે હશે.
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<q level="2" style="q2">જો કાઇનનું વેર સાતગણું લેવાશે, તો લામેખનું જરૂર સિત્તોતેરગણું લેવાશે.”
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<s style="s">આદમ અને હવાનો નવો પુત્ર
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.4.25" />આદમે હવા સાથે ફરીવાર જાતિય સંબંધ બાંધ્યો અને હવાએ બીજા એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો. તેઓએ તે બાળકનું નામ “શેથ” પાડયું. હવાએ કહ્યું, “દેવે મને બીજો પુત્ર આપ્યો છે. કાઈને હાબેલને માંરી નાખ્યો પરંતુ હવે ‘શેથ’ માંરી પાસે છે.”
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<v id="26" bcv="GEN.4.26" />“શેથ”ને પણ એક પુત્ર હતો. એનું નામ “અનોશ” હતું. તે સમયે, લોકોએ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ.
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<c id="5" />
<s style="s">આદમના પરિવારનો ઈતિહાસ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.5.1" />આ પ્રકરણ આદમના પરિવારનો આ ઇતિહાસ છે. દેવે મનુષ્યને પોતાના સ્વરૂપમાં જ બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.5.2" />દેવે એક પુરુષ અને એક સ્ત્રીને બનાવ્યાં. જે દિવસે દેવે એમને બનાવ્યા ત્યારે તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા અને એમનું નામ આદમ રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.5.3" />જયારે આદમ 130 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તે એક બીજા બાળકનો પિતા બન્યો. તે પુત્ર બરાબર આદમ જેવો જ દેખાતો હતો. આદમે તે પુત્રનું નામ શેથ પાડયું.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.5.4" />શેથના જન્મ પછી આદમ 800 વર્ષ સુધી જીવ્યો. તે સમય દરમ્યાન તેને બીજા પુત્ર અને પુત્રીઓ થયાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.5.5" />આમ, આદમ એકંદરે 930 વર્ષ જીવ્યો, અને પછી મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.5.6" />જયારે શેથ 105 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં અનોશનો જન્મ થયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.5.7" />અનોશના જન્મ પછી શેથ 807 વર્ષ જીવ્યો અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રીઓ થયાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.5.8" />આમ, શેથનું એકંદરે આયુષ્ય 912 વર્ષનું હતું. પછી તેનું મરણ થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.5.9" />અનોશ જયારે 90 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં કેનાન જન્મ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.5.10" />કેનાનના જન્મ પછી અનોશ 815 વર્ષ જીવ્યો અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રી થયાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.5.11" />આમ, અનોશનું એકંદરે આયુષ્ય 905 વર્ષનું હતું. પછી તેનું મરણ થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.5.12" />જયારે કેનાન 70 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં માંહલાલએલ જન્મ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.5.13" />માંહલાલએલના જન્મ પછી કેનાન 840 વર્ષ જીવ્યો, અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રી થયાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.5.14" />આમ, કેનાનનું કુલ આયુષ્ય 910 વર્ષનું હતું ત્યારબાદ તેનું મરણ થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.5.15" />જયારે માંહલાલએેલ 65 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં યારેદનો જન્મ થયો.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.5.16" />યારેદના જન્મ પછી માંહલાલએલ 830 વર્ષ જીવ્યો, અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રી થયાં.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.5.17" />આમ, માંહલાલએલનું કુલ આયુષ્ય 895 વર્ષનું હતું. ત્યારબાદ તેનું મરણ થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.5.18" />જયારે યારેદ 162 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં એક હનોખ નામનો બાળક જન્મ્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.5.19" />હનોખના જન્મ પછી યારેદ 800 વર્ષ જીવ્યો અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રી થયાં.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.5.20" />આમ, યારેદ કુલ 962 વર્ષ જીવ્યો અને પછી મરણ પામ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.5.21" />જયારે હનોખ 65 વર્ષનો થયો ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં મથૂશેલાહનો જન્મ થયો.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.5.22" />મથૂશેલાહના જન્મ પછી 300 વર્ષ સુધી “હનોખ” દેવની સાથે સાથે ચાલ્યો, અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રી થયાં.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.5.23" />આમ, હનોખ કુલ 365 વર્ષ જીવ્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.5.24" />એક દિવસ હનોખ દેવની સાથે ચાલી રહ્યો હતો, ત્યારે તે એકદમ અદ્રશ્ય થઈ ગયો; કેમ કે, દેવે તેને લઇ લીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.5.25" />જયારે મથૂશેલાહ 187 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં લામેખનો જન્મ થયો.
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<v id="26" bcv="GEN.5.26" />લામેખના જન્મ પછી મથૂશેલાહ 782 વર્ષ જીવ્યો, ને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રી થયાં.
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.5.27" />આમ, મથૂશેલાહ કુલ 969 વર્ષ જીવ્યા પછી મરણ પામ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.5.28" />જયારે લામેખ 182 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તે એક પુત્રનો પિતા બન્યો.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.5.29" />લામેખના પુત્રનું નામ નૂહ રાખ્યું. લામેખે કહ્યું, “અમે ખેડૂત લોકો ઘણી સખત મહેનત કરીએ છીએ કારણ કે દેવે ભૂમિને શ્રાપ આપ્યો છે. પરંતુ નૂહ અમને લોકોને મહેનતમાંથી દિલાસો આપશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="GEN.5.30" />નૂહના જન્મ પછી લામેખ 595 વર્ષ જીવ્યો, ને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રી થયાં.
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.5.31" />આમ, લામેખનું કુલ આયુષ્ય 777 વર્ષનું હતું; ત્યાર પછી તેનું મરણ થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.5.32" />જ્યારે નૂહ 500 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં શેમ, હામ અને યાફેથનો જન્મ થયો.
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<s style="s">લોકો દુષ્ટ થઈ ગયા
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.6.1" />પૃથ્વી પર મનુષ્યોની વસતી વધતી ગઈ. અને તેમને ત્યાં પુત્રીઓ જન્મી. જયારે દેવના દીકરાઓએ જોયું કે, આ કન્યાઓ સુંદર છે એટલે તેઓએ તેમની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાંણે તેઓની સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા.
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<v id="2-4" bcv="GEN.6.2" />અને આ સ્ત્રીઓએ બાળકોને જન્મ આપ્યા.
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<p style="p">તે સમય દરમ્યાન અને તે પછી પણ પૃથ્વી પર નેફિલિમ વસતા હતા. તેઓ દેવના પુત્રો અને માંનવોની પુત્રીઓના જાતિય સંબંધથી જન્મ્યા હતા. તેઓ પ્રાચીનકાળના વિખ્યાત પુરુષો હતા.
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<p style="p">ત્યારે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “માંરા આત્માંને હું કાયમ માંટે મનુષ્યો દ્વારા દુ:ખી નહિ થવા દઉં, કારણકે તેઓ આખરે તો મનુષ્યો જ છે. તેઓનું આયુષ્ય 120 વર્ષનું થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.6.5" />યહોવાએ જોયું કે, પૃથ્વી પરના લોકો બહુ જ દુષ્ટ છે. યહોવાએ જોયું કે, સતત મનુષ્ય માંત્ર વાતો જ વિચારે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.6.6" />ત્યારે પૃથ્વી પર મનુષ્યોને ઉત્પન્ન કરવા માંટે તેમને ખૂબ દુ:ખ થયું. અને પસ્તાવો થયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.6.7" />આથી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “મેં બનાવેલ પૃથ્વીના બધાં જ લોકોનો હું વિનાશ કરીશ. હું પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિત, પ્રાણી અને પૃથ્વી પર પેટે ચાલવાવાળા પ્રત્યેક પ્રાણીઓનો નાશ કરીશ. હું આકાશમાં ઊડનારાં પક્ષીઓનો પણ નાશ કરીશ. કારણ કે મને એ બાબતનું દુ:ખ છે કે, મેં આ બધું શા માંટે બનાવ્યું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.6.8" />પરંતુ પૃથ્વી પર યહોવાને પ્રસન્ન કરવાવાળી એક વ્યકિત હતી અને તેનું નામ નૂહ હતું.
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<s style="s">નૂહ અને જળપ્રલય
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.6.9" />નૂહના પરિવારની આ કથા છે. આખું જીવન નૂહ દેવને અનુસર્યો. તેના સમયમાં નૂહ એક પ્રામાંણીક માંણસ હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.6.10" />નૂહને ત્રણ પુત્રો હતા: શેમ, હામ અને યાફેથ.
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<p style="p"><v id="11-12" bcv="GEN.6.11" />દેવે પૃથ્વી પર નજર કરી અને તેમણે જોયું કે, લોકોએ પૃથ્વીને ભ્રષ્ટ કરી દીધી છે. પ્રત્યેક જગ્યાએ ઉત્પાત દેખાતો હતો. લોકો પાપી અને દુરાચારી થઈ ગયા હતા. અને તેઓએ પૃથ્વી પર પોતાનું જીવન નષ્ટ કરી નાખ્યું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.6.13" />આથી દેવે નૂહને કહ્યું, “બધાં માંણસોએ પૃથ્વીને ક્રોધ અને હિંસાથી ભરી દીધી છે તેથી હું બધાં જ જીવિત પ્રાણીઓનો નાશ કરીશ. હું તેઓને પૃથ્વી પરથી દૂર કરીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.6.14" />તું તારા માંટે દેવદારના લાકડાનું એક વહાણ બનાવજે; તેમાં ઓરડીઓ બનાવજે. અને તેની અંદર અને બહાર ડામર ચોપડજે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.6.15" />“હું જે વહાણ બનાવડાવવા ઈચ્છું છું તેનું માંપ, લંબાઈ 300 હાથ, પહોળાઈ 50 હાથ અને ઊંચાઈ 30 હાથ રાખજે.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.6.16" />વહાણમાંથી 18 ઇંચ નીચે એક બારી રાખજે, અને વહાણની એક બાજુએ બારણું રાખજે. વહાણમાં ત્રણ માંળ રાખજે: નીચલો, વચલો અને ઉપલો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.6.17" />“હું તને જે કહી રહ્યો છું તે તું સમજ. હું આકાશ નીચેનાં બધાં જ પ્રાણીઓનો અને જીવોનો નાશ કરવા માંટે પૃથ્વી પર જળપ્રલય લાવનાર છું. આકાશની નીચેના તમાંમ જીવોનો હું નાશ કરીશ. પૃથ્વી પરનાં બધાં જ જીવો મરી જશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.6.18" />પણ હું તારી સાથે એક વિશિષ્ટ કરાર કરીશ. તારા પુત્રો, તારી પત્ની, અને તારા પુત્રોની પત્નીઓ પણ તારી સાથે વહાણમાં આવશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.6.19" />વળી તારી સાથે દરેક જાતનાં પ્રાણીઓમાંથી બબ્બેને તું વહાણમાં લઈને આવજે એક નર અને એક માંદા. જેથી તેઓ તારી સાથે જીવતાં રહે.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.6.20" />પૃથ્વી પરના દરેક જાતના પક્ષીઓના જોડા પણ શોધો. અને દરેક જાતનાં પશુઓમાંથી તથા પેટે ચાલનારાં પ્રત્યેક જોડાંને પણ શોધો. પૃથ્વી પરના પ્રત્યેક પ્રકારના પ્રાણીઓના જોડામાં નર અને માંદા તમાંરી સાથે હશે. વહાણમાં તેઓને જીવતાં રાખવાં.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.6.21" />પૃથ્વી પરના તમાંમ પ્રકારનાં ખોરાકને પણ વહાણમાં લાવજે. એ ખોરાક તમને અને અન્ય પ્રાણીઓને ખાવા ચાલશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.6.22" />નૂહે આ બધું જ કર્યું. નૂહે દેવની બધી જ આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કર્યું.
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</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">જળપ્રલયનો આરંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.7.1" />પછી યહોવાએ નૂહને કહ્યું, “મેં જોયું છે કે, આ સમયે પાપી લોકોમાં તું જ એક ન્યાયી વ્યકિત છે એટલે તું તારા પરિવારને ભેગો કર. અને તમે બધા વહાણમાં જાઓ.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.7.2" />પ્રત્યેક શુદ્ધ પ્રાણીઓની સાત સાત જોડ (સાત નર અને સાત માંદા) સાથે લઈ લો અને પૃથ્વીના બીજા અશુદ્વ પ્રાણીઓની એક એક જોડ જેમાં એક નર અને એક માંદા હોય તે લઈ લો.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.7.3" />હવામાં ઉડનારાં બધાં જ પક્ષીઓની સાત જોડ (સાત નર અને સાત માંદા) લઈ આવો. આથી આ બધાં જ પ્રાણીઓ પૃથ્વી પર જીવતા રહેશે. જયારે બીજા પ્રાણીઓ નાશ પામશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.7.4" />હવે હું સાત દિવસ પછી 40 દિવસ અને 40 રાત પૃથ્વી પર વરસાદ વરસાવીશ. અને મેં ઉત્પન્ન કરેલ એક એક જીવને હું પૃથ્વી પરથી ભૂંસી નાખીશ.”
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.7.5" />અને નૂહે યહોવાની બધી જ વાતો સ્વીકારી અને યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે કર્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.7.6" />પૃથ્વી પર જળપ્રલય થયો, ત્યારે નૂહને 600 વર્ષ થયાં હતાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.7.7" />નૂહ અને તેનો પરિવાર જળપ્રલયથી બચવા માંટે વહાણમાં ચાલ્યા ગયાં. નૂહની પત્ની, તેના પુત્રો અને પુત્રવધૂઓ તેમની સાથે હતાં.
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<v id="8-9" bcv="GEN.7.8" />દેવની નૂહને આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે, શુધ્ધ પ્રાણીઓ અને અશુધ્ધ પ્રાણીઓ અને પક્ષીઓ તથા પેટે ચાલનારા પ્રાણીઓએ દરેકમાંથી બે નર અને બે માંદા વહાણમાં નૂહ સાથે ચઢી ગયાં.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.7.10" />સાત દિવસ પછી પ્રલયનાં પાણી પૃથ્વી પર ફરી વળ્યાં. ધરતી પર વર્ષા થઈ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11-13" bcv="GEN.7.11" />બીજા મહિનાના સત્તરમાં દિવસે જયારે નૂહ 600 વર્ષની ઉમરનો હતો, જમીનમાંથી પાતાળના ઝરણાંઓ ફૂટી નીકળ્યાં. અને જમીનમાંથી પાણી વહેવા માંડયું. તે દિવસે પૃથ્વી પર ભારે વર્ષા થઈ. જાણે કે, આકાશની બારીઓ ઉઘડી ગઈ. 40 દિવસ અને 40 રાત સુધી પૃથ્વી પર વરસાદ વરસતો રહ્યો. બરાબર તે જ દિવસે નૂહ તેની પત્ની, તેના પુત્રો, શેમ, હામ, અને યાફેથ અને તેમની પત્નીઓ વહાણમાં ગયાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.7.14" />તેઓ તેમજ દરેક જાતનાં પૃથ્વી પરનાં પ્રાણીઓ વહાણમાં હતાં. દરેક જાતના પશુ, દરેક જાતનાં પેટે ચાલનારાં પ્રાણીઓ અને દરેક જાતનાં પક્ષી તેમજ પાંખવાળા જીવો વહાણમાં ચઢી ગયાં હતાં.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.7.15" />તે બધાં જ પ્રાણીઓ નૂહની સાથે વહાણમાં ગયાં હતા, દરેક પ્રકારના જીવિત જાનવરોનાં તે જોડાં હતાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.7.16" />દેવની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે બધાં જ પ્રાણીઓ જોડીમાં વહાણમાં ચઢી ગયા. તેઓના વહાણમાં આવી ગયા બાદ યહોવાએ તેની પાછળનો દરવાજો બંધ કરી દીધા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.7.17" />ચાળીસ દિવસ સુધી પૃથ્વી પર જળપ્રલય ચાલુ રહ્યો. પાણી વધતાં ગયાં. અને વહાણ પૃથ્વીથી અધ્ધર ઊંચકાવા લાગ્યું.
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.7.18" />પાણી ચઢતાં જ ગયા અને ખૂબ વધી ગયા, અને વહાણ પાણી ઉપર તરવા લાગ્યું.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.7.19" />પાણી પૃથ્વી પર એટલા બધાં ચઢયાં કે, આકાશ નીચેના બધાં જ ઊંચા પર્વતો ઢંકાઈ ગયા.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.7.20" />અને પાણી વધીને ઉંચામાં ઉંચા પર્વતોથી ઉપર 20 ફૂટ ચઢી ગયાં હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21-22" bcv="GEN.7.21" />પૃથ્વી પરના બધાં જ જીવો મરી ગયા. દરેક પુરુષ અને સ્ત્રી મરી ગયાં. બધાં જ પક્ષીઓ અને બધી જ જાતનાં પ્રાણીઓ પણ મરી ગયાં.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.7.23" />આ રીતે દેવે પૃથ્વી પરના બધાંજ જીવિત, મનુષ્ય, બધાં જ પ્રાણી, બધાં જ પેટે ચાલનારાં જીવો અને બધાં જ પક્ષીઓનો નાશ કર્યો. એ બધાં જ પૃથ્વી પરથી ભૂંસાઈ ગયાં. માંત્ર નૂહ અને તેની સાથે વહાણમાં જેઓ હતાં તેઓ જ બચ્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.7.24" />અને 150 દિવસ સુધી જમીન લગાતાર પાણીથી ઢંકાયેલી રહી.
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</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">જળપ્રલયનો અંત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.8.1" />પરંતુ દેવ નૂહને ભૂલ્યા નહિ. દેવે નૂહ અને વહાણમાં તેની સાથે રહેનારાં બધાં જ પશુઓ અને પ્રાણીઓને યાદ રાખ્યા. દેવે પૃથ્વી પર પવન વહેતો કર્યો અને પાણી ઊતરી ગયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="GEN.8.2" />આકાશમાંથી વરસતો વરસાદ બંધ થઈ ગયો. અને જમીનમાંથી નીચેથી વહેતાં પાણી પણ બંધ થઈ ગયાં.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.8.3" />પૃથ્વીને ડૂબાડનારાં પાણી પણ બરાબર પાછા હઠવાં લાગ્યાં. 150 દિવસ પછી પાણી ઓસરી ગયાં અને વહાણ પાછું જમીન પર આવી ગયું.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.8.4" />સાતમાં મહિનાના સત્તરમેં દિવસે વહાણ અરારાટના પર્વતો પર સ્થિર થઈ ગયું.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.8.5" />દશમાં મહિના સુધી પાણી ઓસરતાં ગયાં અને દશમાં મહિનાના પહેલા દિવસે પર્વતોનાં શિખરો દેખાવા લાગ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.8.6" />વહાણમાં બનાવેલી બારીઓ નૂહે 40 દિવસ પછી ઉઘાડી.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.8.7" />અને નૂહે એક કાગડાને બહાર ઉડાડી મૂકયો. તે કાગડો જમીન પૂરી ન સુકાઈ ત્યાં સુધી આવજા કરતો રહ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.8.8" />ત્યારપછી નૂહે પૃથ્વી પરથી પાણી ઉતરી ગયાં છે કે, કેમ તે જોવા માંટે એક કબૂતરને મોકલ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.8.9" />કબૂતરને કયાંય આરામ કરવાની જગ્યા મળી નહિ કારણકે પૃથ્વી પર હજુ પાણી પથરાયેલું હતું. તેથી તે નૂહની પાસે વહાણમાં ઉડીને પાછું ફર્યું. નૂહે હાથ લંબાવ્યો તેને પકડયું અને વહાણમાં પાછું લાવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.8.10" />તેણે બીજા સાત દિવસ પછી ફરીથી પેલા કબૂતરને વહાણની બહાર મોકલ્યું.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.8.11" />તે દિવસે બપોરે તે કબૂતર તેની પાસે પાછું આવ્યું, ત્યારે તેની ચાંચમાં જૈતૂનનું તાજુ પાંદડું હતું. એટલે નૂહ સમજી ગયો કે, પાણી પૃથ્વી પરથી ઓસરી ગયાં છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.8.12" />નૂહે સાત દિવસ પછી ફરીવાર કબૂતરને બહાર મોકલ્યું, પણ તે પાછું આવ્યું નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.8.13" />તે પછી નૂહે વહાણના દરવાજા ઉઘાડયા. ને જોયું કે, ધરતી કોરી હતી. નૂહના આયુષ્યના 601 વર્ષમાં પહેલા મહિનાની પહેલી તારીખે પૃથ્વી પરથી પાણી સુકાઈ ગયાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.8.14" />બીજા મહિનાની 27મી તારીખે પૃથ્વી કોરી થઈ ગઈ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.8.15" />ત્યારે દેવે નૂહને કહ્યું:
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.8.16" />“હવે, વહાણને છોડો. તું, તારી પત્ની, તારા છોકરાઓ અને તારા છોકરાઓની પત્નીઓ સાથે વહાણમાંથી બહાર નીકળો.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.8.17" />તારી સાથે જે બધી જાતના જીવો, પંખીઓ અને પશુઓ તથા પૃથ્વી પર પેટે ચાલનારાં પ્રાણીઓ છે તે બધાંને પણ તારી સાથે બહાર લઈ આવ. જેથી તેઓ તેમનો વંશ વધારે અને પૃથ્વી પર વૃદ્વિ પામે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.8.18" />તેથી નૂહ, પોતાના પુત્રો, પત્ની, પુત્રવધૂઓ વગેરેની સાથે બહાર આવ્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.8.19" />બધાં જ પ્રાણીઓ, બધાં જ પેટે ચાલનારા જીવો અને બધાં જ પક્ષીઓ વહાણ છોડી બહાર આવ્યાં. બધાં જ પ્રાણીઓ નર અને માંદાનાં જોડાંમાંજ બહાર આવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.8.20" />પછી નૂહે યહોવા માંટે એક વેદી બાંધી. તેણે કેટલાંક શુદ્ધ પક્ષીઓ અને કેટલાંક શુદ્ધ પ્રાણીઓમાંથી અમુક અમુક લઈને વેદી પર આહુતિ આપી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.8.21" />યહોવા બલિની સુવાસથી પ્રસન્ન થયા તે મનોમન બોલી ઊઠયા કે, “મનુષ્ય નાનપણથી જ દુષ્ટ હોય છે, તેથી હું કદી મનુષ્યને કારણે ધરતીને શ્રાપ આપીશ નહિ, અને હું કદી પણ બધા જીવોનો અત્યારે કર્યો તેવો નાશ કરીશ નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.8.22" />જયાં સુધી આ પૃથ્વી રહેશે ત્યાં સુધી વાવણી અને લણણી, ઠંડી અને ગરમી, ઉનાળો અને શિયાળો અને દિવસ અને રાત ચાલુ જ રહેશે.”
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">નવો પ્રારંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.9.1" />પછી દેવે નૂહ અને તેના પુત્રોને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા અને તેમને કહ્યું કે, બાળકો પેદા કરો, અને તમાંરા લોકોથી પૃથ્વીને ભરી દો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.9.2" />પૃથ્વી પરના બધા પ્રાણીઓ, આકાશમાં ઊડતાં બધાં પંખીઓ, જમીન પર પેટે ચાલનારા જીવો અને સમુદ્રમાંની બધી માંછલીઓ તમાંરા તાબામાં રહેશે અને તમાંરાથી બીશે. મેં તે બધાને તમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપ્યાં છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.9.3" />ભૂતકાળમાં મેં તમને જેમ બધી લીલોતરી ખાવા માંટે આપી હતી, તેમ બધા જીવો પણ આપું છું; એકેએક જીવ તમાંરો ખોરાક બનશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.9.4" />હું તમને જયાં સુધી તે પ્રાણીમાં જીવ (લોહી) હોય ત્યાં સુધી તેને ન ખાવા આજ્ઞા કરું છું.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.9.5" />જો કોઈ તમાંરો પ્રાણ લેશે તો હું તેનો પ્રાણ લઈશ. પછી એ પશુ હોય કે, મનુષ્ય હોય; દરેક મનુષ્ય પાસે હું તેના માંનવબંધુના પ્રાણનો હિસાબ માંગીશ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.9.6" />“દેવે મનુષ્યને પોતાના સ્વરૂપમાં બનાવ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી જો કોઈ માંણસનું લોહી રેડશે, તો તેનું લોહી માંણસ રેડશે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.9.7" />“અને હવે તમે સંતતિ પેદા કરો, વંશવેલો વધારો અને પૃથ્વી પર પુષ્કળ સંતાન પેદા કરો, વૃદ્વિ પામો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.9.8" />પછી દેવે નૂહ અને તેના પુત્રોને કહ્યું,
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.9.9" />“હવે હું તને અને તમાંરા વંશજોને વચન આપું છું.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.9.10" />હું તમાંરી સાથે અને તમાંરા વંશજો સાથે, અને તમાંરી સાથેના બધા જીવો સાથે-પક્ષીઓ, ઢોરો અને જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ-જે બધા તમાંરી સાથે વહાણમાંથી બહાર આવ્યાં છે તે બધાની સાથે કરાર કરું છું.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.9.11" />હું તમને વચન આપું છું કે, હવે પછી કદાપિ બધા જીવોનો જળપ્રલયથી નાશ નહિ થાય અને હવે પછી કદાપિ જળપ્રલય આવીને પૃથ્વીનો નાશ નહિ કરે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.9.12" />અને દેવે કહ્યું, “તમાંરી તથા તમાંરી સાથેના બધા જીવોની સાથે હું જે કરાર કાયમ માંટે કરું છું તેની આ એંધાણી છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.9.13" />મેં વાદળોમાં મેઘધનુષ્ય બનાવ્યું છે. અને તે માંરી અને પૃથ્વી વચ્ચે થયેલ કરારની એંધાણી બની રહેશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.9.14" />જયારે હું પૃથ્વી પર વાદળાં લાવીશ અને તે વાદળોમાં મેઘધનુષ્ય દેખાશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.9.15" />એટલે માંરી અને તમાંરી તથા બધી જાતનાં પ્રાણીઓ વચ્ચે જે કરાર થયો છે તેની મને યાદ આવશે. અને પાણી કદી પ્રલયનું રૂપ ધારણ કરી બધા જીવોનો વિનાશ નહિ કરે.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.9.16" />જયારે હું ધ્યાનથી વાદળોમાં મેઘધનુષ્યને જોઈશ ત્યારે મને માંરી અને પૃથ્વી પરના બધા જીવો વચ્ચેનો કાયમનો કરાર યાદ આવશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.9.17" />આ રીતે યહોવાએ નૂહને કહ્યું, “માંરી અને પૃથ્વી પરનાં બધા જીવો વચ્ચે મેં જે કરાર કર્યો છે, તેની આ એંધાણી છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">સમસ્યાઓનો પુન:આરંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.9.18" />નૂહના પુત્રો તેમની સાથે વહાણમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા. તેમનાં નામ શેમ, હામ અને યાફેથ હતા. (હામ તો કનાનનો પિતા હતો.)
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.9.19" />એ ત્રણેય નૂહના પુત્રો હતા. અને દુનિયાના બધાજ લોકો આ ત્રણથી જ પેદા થયા. (વંશવેલામાંથી)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.9.20" />નૂહ પોતે ખેડૂત બન્યો. તેણે દ્રાક્ષની વાડી વાવી.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.9.21" />નૂહે તેમાંથી દ્રાક્ષારસ બનાવ્યો. અને તે પીધો પછી તે છાકટો બની ગયો અને પોતાનાં વસ્ર કાઢી નાંખી પોતાના તંબુમાં વસ્રહીન પડયો રહ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.9.22" />કનાનના બાપ હામે પોતાના બાપને વસ્રહીન જોયો એટલે તેણે બહાર જઈને પોતાના બે ભાઈઓને કહ્યું,
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.9.23" />ત્યારપછી શેમ અને યાફેથે એક ચાદર લઈ ખભા પરથી પીઠ પાછળ પકડી પાછે પગે ચાલતા તંબુમાં જઈ વસ્રહીન પિતાને ઓઢાડી દીધી. તેમને વસ્રહીન ન જોવા પડે એટલા માંટે મોં ફેરવીને ગયા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.9.24" />પછી નૂહ ઊંઘીને ઊઠયો. તે દ્રાક્ષારસને કારણે સૂઈ રહ્યો હતો. જયારે નશો ઊતરી ગયો ત્યારે તેને ખબર પડી કે, નાના છોકરાએ શું કર્યું હતું.
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<v id="25" bcv="GEN.9.25" />તેણે કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“કનાનને માંથે શ્રાપ ઉતરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાના ભાઈઓનો ગુલામ થઈને રહેશે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.9.26" />નૂહે એમ પણ કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“શેમના દેવ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કનાન શેમનો ગુલામ બનશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.9.27" />દેવ યાફેથને વધારે જમીન આપો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ શેમના મંડપમાં રહે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કનાન તેનો ચાકર બનશે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.9.28" />જળપ્રલય પછી નૂહ 350 વર્ષ જીવતો રહ્યો.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.9.29" />અને નૂહ પૂરાં 950 વર્ષની ઉમરે અવસાન પામ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">રાષ્ટોનો વિકાસ અને પ્રસાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.10.1" />નૂહના પુત્રો શેમ, હામ અને યાફેથ હતા. જળપ્રલય પછી એ ત્રણે ઘણા પુત્રોના પિતા થયા. અહીં ત્રણેય ના પુત્રોની યાદી આપવામાં આવી છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">યાફેથના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="2" bcv="GEN.10.2" />યાફેથના પુત્રો હતા: ગોમેર, માંગોગ, માંદાય, યાવાન, તુબાલ, મેશેખ અને તીરાસ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.10.3" />ગોમેરના પુત્રો હતા: આસ્કનાજ, રીફાથ અને તોગાર્માંહ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.10.4" />યાવાનના પુત્રો હતા: એલિશા, તાશીર્શ, કિત્તીમ, અને દોદાનીમ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.10.5" />ભૂમધ્ય-સમુદ્રની ચારે બાજુ અને તેના કાંઠા પ્રદેશમાં અને ટાપુઓમાં રહેનારા લોકો યાફેથના વંશજો જ હતા. પ્રત્યેક પુત્રને પોતાની ભૂમિ હતી. બધા પરિવારોનો વિકાસ થયો અને જુદા રાષ્ટો બની ગયાં. પ્રત્યેક રાષ્ટને પોતાની ભાષા હતી.
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</p>
<s style="s">હામના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.10.6" />હામના પુત્રો હતા: કૂશ, મિસરાઈમ, પૂટ અને કનાન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.10.7" />કૂશના પુત્રો હતા: સબા, હવીલાહ, સાબ્તાહ, રાઅમાંહ અને સાબ્તેકા.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">રાઅમાંહના પુત્રો હતા: શબા અને દદાન.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.10.8" />કૂશને નિમ્રોદ નામે એક પુત્ર હતો. નિમ્રોદ પૃથ્વી પર પહેલો મહાન યોદ્વો હતો.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.10.9" />તે યહોવાની કૃપાથી એક મોટો શિકારી પણ હતો. અને તેથી જ લોકો કહે છે, “દેવ તમને નિમ્રોદ જેવા મોટા શિકારી બનાવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.10.10" />શિનઆરના દેશમાં આવેલા બાબિલ, એરેખ, આક્કાદ અને કાલ્નેહમાં નિમ્રોદના રાજયની શરૂઆત થઈ.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.10.11" />નિમ્રોદ આશ્શૂરમાં પણ ગયો. ત્યાં તેણે નિનવેહ, રેહોબોથ-ઈર, કાલાહ અને
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.10.12" />રેસેન નગરો વસાવ્યાં. રેસેન એ નિનવેહ અને મહાનગરી કાલાહ વચ્ચે આવેલું છે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.10.13" />મિસરાઇમાંથી લૂદીમ, અનામીમ, લહાબીમ, નાફતુહીમ,
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.10.14" />પાથરૂસીમ, કાસ્લુહીમ અને કાફતોરીમ ઊતરી આવેલા છે અને કાફતોરીમમાંથી પલિસ્તીઓ ઊતરી આવેલા છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.10.15" />કનાનને બે પુત્ર થયા: સૌથી મોટો સિદોન અને બીજો હેથ, તેઓ એ નામે ઓળખાતી પ્રજાઓના પૂર્વજો હતા.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.10.16" />કનાનના બીજા વંશજો: યબૂસીઓ, અમોરીઓ, ગિર્ગાશીઓ,
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.10.17" />હિવ્વીઓ, આરકીઓ, સીનીઓ,
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.10.18" />આરવાદીઓ, સમાંરીઓ અને હમાંથીઓ.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">પછી કનાનીઓની જુદીજુદી જાતિઓ ફેલાવા લાગી.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.10.19" />કનાનીઓની ભૂમિ ઉત્તરમાં સિદોનથી દક્ષિણમાં ગેરાર, પશ્ચિમમાં ગાઝાથી પૂર્વમાં સદોમ અને ગમોરાહ અને આદમાંહ અને સબોઇમથી લાશા સુધી વિસ્તરેલી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.10.20" />આ બધા હતા હામના વંશજો. આ બધા પરિવારોની પોતપોતાની ભાષાઓ અને પોતપોતાના પ્રદેશો હતા. તે બધા જુદા જુદા રાષ્ટો થઈ ગયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">શેમના વંશજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.10.21" />યાફેથનો મોટો ભાઈ શેમ હતો. શેમનો એક વંશજ હેબેર હિબ્રૂ લોકોનો પિતા હતો.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.10.22" />શેમના પુત્રો હતા: એલામ, આશુર, આર્પાકશાદ, લૂદ અને અરામ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.10.23" />અરામના પુત્રો હતા: ઉસ, હૂલ, ગેથેર અને માંશ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.10.24" />આર્પાકશાદને ત્યાં શેલાહ જન્મ્યો
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને શેલાહને ત્યાં હેબેર.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.10.25" />હેબેરને બે પુત્રો હતા: એકનું નામ પેલેગ હતું, કારણ એના સમયમાં પૃથ્વીના લોકોમાં ભાગલા પડયા. એના ભાઈનું નામ યોકટાન હતું.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.10.26" />યોકટાનના દીકરાઓ: આલ્મોદાદ, શેલેફ, હસાર્માંવેથ, યેરાહ હતા.
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.10.27" />હદોરામ, ઉઝાલ, દિકલાહ.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.10.28" />ઓબાલ, અબીમાંએલ, શબા,
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.10.29" />ઓફીર, હવીલાહ, અને યોબાબ, એ નામે ઓળખાતી પ્રજાઓના પૂર્વજો હતા.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.10.30" />તેમનો પ્રદેશ મેશાથી પૂર્વના પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં આવેલા સફાર સુધી વિસ્તરેલો હતો.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.10.31" />આ થયા શેમના વંશજો, જેઓના પરિવાર ભાષા, પ્રદેશ અને રાષ્ટના એકમોમાં વ્યવસ્થિત હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.10.32" />એમના રાષ્ટો પ્રમાંણે, નૂહમાંથી ઊતરી આવેલા આ લોકો છે. વિનાશક જળપ્રલય પછી પૃથ્વીની બધી પ્રજાઓ નૂહના વંશજોમાંથી ઊતરી આવેલી છે.
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</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">સંસારનું વિભાજન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.11.1" />જળપ્રલય પછી આખી પૃથ્વી પર એક જ ભાષા બોલાતી હતી. બધા લોકો એક સરખા જ શબ્દ-સમૂહોનો ઉપયોગ કરતા હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.11.2" />લોકો પૂર્વમાંથી આગળ વધ્યા અને શિનઆરના મેદાનમાં આવી પહોચ્યા. અને ત્યાં જ ઠરીઠામ થયા.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.11.3" />લોકોએ એક બીજાને કહ્યું, “ચાલો, આપણે ઈંટો બનાવીએ અને ભઠ્ઠામાં પકવીએ.” આમ, લોકો પોતાના ઘર બનાવવા માંટે પથ્થરોની જગ્યાએ ઇટોનો ઉપયોગ કરવા લાગ્યા. તથા છોની જગ્યાએ ડામર વાપરવા લાગ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.11.4" />પછી લોકોએ કહ્યું, “ચાલો, આપણે આપણા માંટે એક નગર બનાવીએ અને એક ગગનચુંબી ઇમાંરત ઊભી કરીએ. પછી આપણે લોકો નામના મેળવીશું. જો આપણે લોકો આમ કરીશું તો પૃથ્વી પર કદી વેરવિખેર થઈશું નહિ અને એક જ જગ્યાએ એક સાથે રહીશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.11.5" />ગગનચુંબી ઇમાંરત અને નગર જોવા માંટે યહોવા નીચે ઊતરી આવ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.11.6" />યહોવાએ લોકોને આ બધું બાંધતા જોયા. તેથી તેમણે કહ્યું, “આ બધા લોકો એક છે, અને તેઓની ભાષા પણ એક જ છે. હું જોઉ છું કે, તેમની યોજનાઓ મુજબ કરવા માંટે તેઓ ભેગા થયા છે. આ તો ફકત તેઓ શું કરી શકે છે તેની શરુઆત છે અને હવે તેઓ જે કંઈ કરવા માંગે છે તે કરતાં એમને કોઈ રોકી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.11.7" />એટલા માંટે, ચાલો આપણે નીચે જઈએ અને એમની ભાષાને ગૂંચવી નાખીએ, જેથી તેઓ એકબીજાની ભાષા સમજી ન શકે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.11.8" />આથી યહોવાએ તે લોકોને તે જગ્યાએથી આખી પૃથ્વી પર વિખેરી નાખ્યા, અને તે લોકોએ શહેર બાંધવાનું છોડી દીધું.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.11.9" />તે એ જગ્યા હતી જયાં યહોવાએ આખી પૃથ્વીની ભાષાને ગૂંચવી નાખી હતી. આથી આ જગ્યાનું નામ બાબિલ પડયું. અને અહીંથી જ યહોવાએ એ લોકોને આખી પૃથ્વી પર વિખેરી નાખ્યા હતા.
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</p>
<s style="s">શેમના પરિવારની કથા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.11.10" />આ શેમના પરિવારની કથા છે. વિનાશક જળપ્રલય પછીના બીજા વષેર્ શેમ જ્યારે 100 વર્ષનો હતો ત્યારે, તેને ત્યાં આર્પાકશાદનો જન્મ થયો હતો. આર્પાકશાદના જન્મ પછી
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.11.11" />શેમ 500 વર્ષ જીવ્યો. અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રીઓ થયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.11.12" />આર્પાકશાદ જ્યારે 35 વર્ષનો હતો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં શેલાહનો જન્મ થયો.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.11.13" />આર્પાકશાદ 403 વર્ષ જીવતો રહ્યો. અને તે અરસામાં તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રીઓ થયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.11.14" />જયારે શેલાહ 30 વર્ષનો હતો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં હેબેરનો જન્મ થયો.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.11.15" />હેબેરના જન્મ પછી શેલાહ 403 વર્ષ જીવ્યો, અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રીઓ થયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.11.16" />જયારે હેબર 34 વર્ષનો હતો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં પેલેગનો જન્મ થયો.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.11.17" />પેલેગના જન્મ પછી હેબેર 430 વર્ષ જીવતો રહ્યો અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રીઓ થયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.11.18" />જયારે પેલેગ 30 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં “રેઉ” નો જન્મ થયો.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.11.19" />રેઉના જન્મ પછી પેલેગ 209 વર્ષ જીવ્યો, અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રીઓ થયાં હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.11.20" />જયારે રેઉ 32 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં સરૂગનો જન્મ થયો.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.11.21" />સરૂગના જન્મ પછી રેઉ 207 વર્ષ જીવ્યો અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રીઓ થયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.11.22" />જયારે સરૂગ 30 વર્ષનો હતો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં નાહોર જન્મ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.11.23" />નાહોરના જન્મ પછી સરૂગ 200 વરસ જીવ્યો અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રીઓ થયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.11.24" />જયારે નાહોર 29 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેના પુત્ર “તેરાહ”નો જન્મ થયો.
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<v id="25" bcv="GEN.11.25" />તેરાહના જન્મ પછી નાહોર 119 વર્ષ જીવ્યો. અને તેને બીજા પુત્રપુત્રીઓ થયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.11.26" />જયારે તેરાહ 70 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેને ત્યાં ઇબ્રામ, નાહોર અને હારાનનો જન્મ થયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">તેરાહના પરિવારની કથા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.11.27" />આ તેરાહના પરિવારની કથા છે. તેરાહને ત્યાં ઇબ્રામ, નાહોર અને હારાન જન્મ્યા હતાં. હારાન લોતનો પિતા હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.11.28" />હારાન તેની જન્મભૂમિ કાસ્દીઓના “ઉર” નગરમાં મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. જયારે હારાન મૃત્યુ પામ્યો ત્યારે તેનો પિતા “તેરાહ” જીવતો હતો.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.11.29" />ઇબ્રામ અને નાહોર બંન્નેએ લગ્ન કર્યા. ઇબ્રામની પત્નીનું નામ સારાય હતું. અને નાહોરની પત્નીનું નામ મિલ્કાહ હતું. મિલ્કાહ હારાનની પુત્રી હતી. હારાનને યિસ્કાહ નામે બીજો એક પુત્ર હતો.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.11.30" />સારાય વાંઝણી હતી. એને કોઈ સંતાન નહોતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.11.31" />તેરાહએ પોતાના પરિવારને સાથે લીધો અને કાસ્દીઓના “ઉર” નગરને છોડી દીધું. તેઓએ કનાન યાત્રા કરવાની ઈચ્છા પ્રદશિર્ત કરી. તેરાહએ પોતાના પુત્ર ઇબ્રામ, પોતાનો પૌત્ર લોત (હારાનનો પુત્ર) પોતાની પુત્રવધૂ (ઇબ્રામની પત્ની) સારાયને સાથે લીધા. તેઓએ હારાન સુધીની યાત્રા તો કરી અને ત્યાં જ રહેવાનું નક્કી કર્યું.
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<v id="32" bcv="GEN.11.32" />તેરાહ 205 વર્ષ જીવ્યો પછી હારાનમાં અવસાન પામ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">દેવે ઇબ્રામને બોલાવ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.12.1" />યહોવાએ ઇબ્રામને કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તું તારો દેશ, તારા સગાંસંબંધી,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારા પિતાના પરિવારને છોડી દે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું બતાવું તે દેશમાં ચાલ્યો જા.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="GEN.12.2" />હું તને આશીર્વાદિત કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તને એક મહાન રાષ્ટ બનાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તારા નામને પ્રસિધ્ધ કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">લોકો તારા નામ દ્વારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બીજાને આશીર્વાદ આપશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.12.3" />જે લોકો તારું ભલું કરશે તે લોકોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું આશીર્વાદ આપીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ જેઓ તને શ્રાપ આપશે તેઓને હું શાપ દઈશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી પરના બધા મનુષ્યોને આશીર્વાદ આપવા માંટે હું તારો ઉપયોગ કરીશ.”
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</q>
<s style="s">ઇબ્રામનું કનાન ગમન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.12.4" />ઇબ્રામે યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો. તેણે હારાન છોડયું. અને લોત તેની સાથે ગયો. તે સમયે ઇબ્રામ 75 વર્ષનો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.12.5" />ઇબ્રામે જયારે હારાન છોડયું ત્યારે તે એકલો ન હતો. ઇબ્રામે પોતાની પત્ની સારાયને અને પોતાના ભાઈના દીકરા લોતને હારાનમાં હતા ત્યારે તેમણે ભેગી કરેલી બધી સંપત્તિને તથા તેમણે રાખેલા બધા નોકરોને સાથે લીધાં અને તેઓ કનાન દેશ જવા નીકળ્યાં અને ત્યાં પહોંચ્યાં.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.12.6" />ઇબ્રામે કનાનના પ્રદેશમાં થઇને શખેમ નગર સુધી યાત્રા કરી. અને મોરેહના મોટા વૃક્ષ સુધી ગયો. એ સમયે તે દેશમાં કનાની લોકો વસતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.12.7" />યહોવાએ ઇબ્રામને દર્શન આપીને કહ્યું કે, “હું આ દેશ તારા વંશજોને આપીશ.”
</p>
<p style="p">આથી યહોવા ઇબ્રામ સામે જે જગ્યાએ પ્રગટ થયો તે જગ્યાએ ઇબ્રામે યહોવાની ઉપાસના માંટે એક વેદી બંધાવી.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.12.8" />તે પછી ઇબ્રામે તે જગ્યા છોડી અને તે બેથેલની પૂર્વમાં આવેલા પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં ગયો અને ત્યાં સ્થાયી થયો. પશ્ચિમમાં બેથેલ શહેર અને પૂર્વમાં આય શહેર હતુ, અને ત્યાં તેણે યહોવાને માંટે બીજી એક વેદી બંધાવી. અને ઇબ્રામે યહોવાની પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.12.9" />ત્યાંથી ઇબ્રામે ફરી યાત્રાનો આરંભ કર્યો અને નેગેબ તરફ આગળ વધ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇબ્રામ મિસરમાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.12.10" />તે દિવસો દરમ્યાન દેશમાં દુકાળ હતો. વરસાદ પડતો ન હતો અને કોઇ પણ જાતનું અનાજ ઊગતું ન હતું. તેથી ઇબ્રામ જીવતો રહેવા માંટે થોડા સમય માંટે મિસર ગયો.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.12.11" />ઇબ્રામે જોયું કે, તેની પત્ની સારાય દેખાવમાં રૂપાળી હતી, તેથી મિસરમાં પ્રવેશ કરતાં પહેલા ઇબ્રામે સારાયને કહ્યું, “હું જાણું છું કે, તું દેખાવમાં બહુ રૂપાળી છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.12.12" />મિસરના લોકો તને જોશે એટલે કહેશે કે, ‘આ સ્ત્રી તેની પત્ની છે.’ અને પછી મને તેઓ માંરી નાખશે અને તને જીવતી રાખશે કારણકે તેઓ તને મેળવવા ઈચ્છશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.12.13" />એટલા માંટે તું લોકોને કહેજે કે, તું માંરી બહેન છે તેથી તે લોકો મને માંરશે નહિ. તેઓ માંરા પર દયા કરશે કારણકે તે લોકો સમજશે કે, હું તારો ભાઈ છું. જેથી તારા કારણે એ લોકો માંરી સાથે સારો વ્યવહાર રાખશે. આ રીતે તું માંરો જીવ બચાવી શકીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.12.14" />આ રીતે ઇબ્રામ મિસર પહોંચ્યો. મિસરવાસીઓએ જોયું કે, સારાય એક ખૂબ રૂપાળી સ્ત્રી છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.12.15" />મિસરના કેટલાક અધિકારીઓએ પણ તેને જોઈ. તે અધિકારીઓ તે સ્ત્રીને ફારુનના ઘરમાં લઈ ગયા. અને તેનાં વખાણ કર્યા કે, તે સ્ત્રી ખૂબ રૂપાળી છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.12.16" />ફારુન ઇબ્રામ પ્રત્યે દયાળુ હતો કારણ કે તે સારાયનો ભાઈ છે એમ તેણે ભાળ્યું હતું. અને એ સ્ત્રીને કારણે ફારુન ઇબ્રામ સાથે સારું વત્ર્યો અને તેને ઘેટાં, બકરાં, ઢોરઢાંખર, ગધેડાઓ, ગુલામો અને ઊટો આપ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.12.17" />ફારુને ઇબ્રામની પત્નીને રાખી તેથી યહોવાએ ફારુન અને તેના પરિવારના માંણસો પર ખરાબ બિમાંરીઓ ફેલાવી.
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.12.18" />તેથી ફારુને ઇબ્રામને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “તેં માંરી સાથે બહુજ ખોટું કર્યું છે. તેં મને કેમ કહ્યું નહિ કે, સારાય તારી પત્ની છે?
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.12.19" />તેં એમ શા માંટે કહ્યું કે, ‘એ માંરી બહેન છે?’ મેં એને એટલા માંટે રાખી કે, તે માંરી પત્ની થશે. પરંતુ હવે હું તને તારી પત્ની પાછી આપું છું તેને લઈ જા.”
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.12.20" />પછી ફારુને પોતાના પુરુષોને આજ્ઞા કરી કે, ઇબ્રામને મિસરની બહાર પહોંચાડી દો. આમ, ઇબ્રામ અને તેની પત્નીએ તે જગ્યા છોડી. અને જે વસ્તુઓ પોતાની હતી તે પોતાની સાથે લઈ ગયા.
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</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">ઇબ્રામ કનાન પાછો ફર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.13.1" />ઇબ્રામે મિસર છોડયું. તે પોતાની પત્ની અને પોતાનો બધો સામાંન સાથે લઈને મિસરથી નેગેબ તરફ પાછો ગયો. લોત પણ તેની સાથે હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.13.2" />તે સમયે ઇબ્રામ ઘણો ધનવાન હતો. તેની પાસે ઘણાં પશુઓ, પુષ્કળ રૂપું તથા સોનુ હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.13.3" />ઇબ્રામ બધી બાજુ પ્રવાસ કરતો રહ્યો. તે નેગેબથી મજલ કરતાં કરતાં બેથેલ નજીક, જે સ્થળે એમણે શરૂઆતમાં બેથેલ અને આય વચ્ચે મુકામ કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.13.4" />એ એ જ જગ્યા હતી જયાં ઇબ્રામે પહેલાં વેદી બાંધી હતી. ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ ગયા અને ત્યાં તેમણે યહોવાની પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<s style="s">ઇબ્રામ અને લોત જુદા થયા
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.13.5" />તે સમય દરમ્યાન લોત પણ ઇબ્રામ સાથે પ્રવાસ કરી રહ્યો હતો. લોત પાસે પણ મોટી સંખ્યામાં ઢોરઢાંખર ઘેટાંબકરાં તથા તંબુઓ હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.13.6" />ઇબ્રામ અને લોતની પાસે એટલા બધાં ઢોરઢાંખર હતાં કે, તે ભૂમિ એક સાથે તે બધાને ઘાસચારો પૂરો પાડી શકે નહિ, એ પ્રદેશ એવો હતો કે, તે બંન્ને એક સાથે રહીને ગુજારો ન કરી શકે.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.13.7" />ઇબ્રામ અને લોતના ગોવાળો વચ્ચે અંદરો અંદર ઝગડા ચાલતા હતા. તે દિવસો દરમ્યાન કનાનીઓ અને પરિઝીઓ એ પ્રદેશમાં રહેતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.13.8" />ઇબ્રામે લોતને કહ્યું, “માંરી અને તારી વચ્ચે તેમ જ માંરા ગોવાળ અને તારા ગોવાળ વચ્ચે ઝગડા થવા જોઈએ નહિ. આપણે બધા ભાઈઓ છીએ.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.13.9" />આપણે જુદા થઈ જવું જોઇએ. તારી આગળ આખો દેશ પડેલો છે. તું જો ડાબી બાજુ જઈશ, તો હું જમણી બાજુ જઈશ અથવા જો તું જમણી બાજુ જઈશ, તો હું ડાબી બાજુ જઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.13.10" />લોતે જ્યારે નજર ફેરવી તેને દેખાયુ કે યર્દન ખીણથી સોઆર સુધીનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ યહોવાના બગીચા જેવો લાગતો હતો. ત્યા ઘણુંજ પાણી હતું. તે મિસર જેવો સારો પ્રદેશ હતો. યહોવાએ સદોમ અને ગમોરાહનો નાશ કર્યો તે પહેલાં તે આવો હતો.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.13.11" />તેથી લોતે પોતાને રહેવા માંટે યર્દનખીણનો પ્રદેશ પસંદ કર્યો. આમ બંન્ને એકબીજાથી જુદા પડયા. અને લોતે પૂર્વ તરફ પ્રયાણ કર્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.13.12" />ઇબ્રામ કનાન પ્રદેશમાં રહ્યો અને લોત યર્દનખીણના નગરોમાં વસવા લાગ્યો, તેણે સદોમની દક્ષિણે મુકામ કર્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.13.13" />સદોમના લોકો ઘણા દુષ્ટ હતા; તેઓ હંમેશા યહોવાની વિરુધ્ધ ભયંકર પાપો આચરતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.13.14" />જયારે લોત ચાલ્યો ગયો ત્યારે યહોવાએ ઇબ્રામને કહ્યું, “તારી ચારે બાજુ જો, તું જયાં ઊભો છે ત્યાંથી ઉત્તરમાં અને દક્ષિણમાં, પૂર્વમાં અને પશ્ચિમમાં નજર કર.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.13.15" />આ બધી જ ભૂમિ, જેને તું જુએ છે, તે હું તને અને તારા પછી તારા વંશજોને સદાને માંટે આપું છું. આ પ્રદેશ હમેશને માંટે હવે તમાંરો છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.13.16" />હું તારા વંશજોની સંખ્યા પૃથ્વીની રજ જેટલી અસંખ્ય બનાવી દઈશ. જો કોઈ વ્યકિત પૃથ્વીની રજને ગણી શકે તો જ તારા વંશજોને ગણી શકે.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.13.17" />એટલા માંટે ઊઠ, તારા પ્રદેશમાં એક છેડેથી બીજા છેડા સુધી ફરી વળ, કારણ કે હું એ પ્રદેશ તને આપી દેનાર છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.13.18" />તેથી ઇબ્રામે પોતાનો તંબુ ખસેડ્યો અને તે હેબ્રોનમાં આવેલા માંમરેનાં વિશાળ એલોન વૃક્ષો પાસે રહેવા ગયો. ત્યાં ઇબ્રામે યહોવા માંટે એક વેદી બાંધી.
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<s style="s">લોતનું પકડાઈ જવું – ઇબ્રામની સહાય
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.14.1" />આમ્રાફેલ શિનઆરનો રાજા હતો. આર્યોખ એલ્લાસારનો રાજા હતો. કદોરલાઓમેર એલામનો રાજા હતો. અને તિદાલ ગોઈમનો રાજા હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.14.2" />આ બધાં ચાર રાજાઓ સદોમના રાજા બેરા, ગમોરાહના રાજા બિર્શા, આદમાંહના રાજા શિનાબ, સબોઈમના રાજા શેમેબેર અને બેલાના, રાજા (બેલાને સોઆર પણ કહે છે).
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.14.3" />એટલે કે, સોઆરના રાજા સાથે યુદ્વે ચડયા. આ પાંચ રાજાઓએ સિદ્દીમની ખીણમાં. (અર્થાત ખારા સમુદ્રમાં) સેનાઓ ભેગી કરી.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.14.4" />એમણે બાર વર્ષ સુધી કદોરલાઓમેરની સેવા કરી હતી. પરંતુ તેરમાં વષેર્ તે બધા તેની વિરુધ્ધ થઈ ગયા.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.14.5" />તેથી ચૌદમાં વષેર્ કદોરલાઓમેર બીજા રાજાઓ સાથે તેમની વિરુધ્ધ લડવા માંટે આવ્યો. તેમણે રફીઓને લોકો આશ્તરોથ-કારનાઇમ, ઝુઝી લોકોને હામમાં, એમી લોકોને શાવેહ કિર્યાથાઈમમાં,
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.14.6" />અને સેઇરનાં પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં રહેતા હોરી લોકોને એલપારાનમાં (જે રણની નજીક છે) હાંકી કાઢયાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.14.7" />ત્યારપછી રાજા કદોલવિમેર પાછો ફર્યો અને એન-મિશ્પાટ એટલે કે, કાદેશ આવીને તેમણે અમાંલેકીઓના સમગ્ર પ્રદેશને તથા હાસસોનતામાંરમાં રહેતા અમોરીઓને પણ તાબે કર્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.14.8" />તે સમય પછી સદોમનો રાજા, ગમોરાહનો રાજા, આદમાંહનો રાજા, સબોઈમનો રાજા અને બેલાનો એટલે કે, સોઆરનો રાજા, તેઓ બધા ભેગા મળીને પોતાના શત્રુઓ સામે લડવા માંટે ગયા.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.14.9" />તેઓ સિદીમની ખીણમાં એલામના રાજા કદોરલાઓમેર તથા ગોઈમના રાજા તિદાલ. શિનઆરના રાજા આમ્રાફેલ અને એલ્લાસારના રાજા આર્યોખ સામે યુદ્વે ચઢવા તૈયાર થયા. ચાર રાજાઓ સામે પાંચ રાજાઓ લડી રહ્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.14.10" />સિદ્દીમની ખીણમાં ડામરથી ભરેલા અનેક ખાડાઓ હતા. અને સદોમ અને ગમોરાહના રાજાઓ ભાગતા હતા ત્યારે એ ખાડાઓમાં પડી ગયા. અને બાકીના ડુંગરાઓમાં નાસી ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.14.11" />સદોમ અને ગમોરાહની પાસે જે કંઈ હતું તેને તેના શત્રુઓએ લઈ લીધું. તેઓએ તેમનો આખો અન્નભંડાર અને માંલમિલકત લઈ લીધાં અને ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.14.12" />ઇબ્રામના ભાઈનો પુત્ર લોત સદોમમાં રહેતો હતો, તેને શત્રુઓએ પકડી લીધો. તેની પાસે જે કાંઈ હતું તેને પણ દુશ્મનો લઈને ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.14.13" />પછી એક ન પકડાયેલા માંણસે ઇબ્રામ જે હિબ્રૂ હતો તેને આ બધાનો અહેવાલ આપ્યો. ત્યારે ઇબ્રામ અમોરી માંમરેનાં વિશાળ વૃક્ષો પાસે રહેતો હતો. માંમરે એશ્કોલ અને આનેરનો ભાઈ થતો હતો. તેઓએ ઇબ્રામને મદદ કરવા એક સંધિ કરી.
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<s style="s">ઇબ્રામ લોતને મદદ કરે છે
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.14.14" />જ્યારે ઇબ્રામને ખબર પડી કે, પોતાના ભાઈને પકડી ગયા છે, ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના પરિવારના નીવડેલા 318 માંણસોને લઇને દાન સુધી તે લોકોનો પીછો પકડયો.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.14.15" />તે અને તેના લોકો ટોળીઓમાં વહેંચાઈ ગયા, દુશ્મન પર રાત્રે હુમલો કર્યો, તેમને હરાવ્યા અને દમસ્કની ઉત્તરે આવેલ હોબાહ સુધી તેમનો પીછો કર્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.14.16" />અને ઇબ્રામ દુશ્મનો દ્વારા ચોરાયેલી બધી વસ્તુઓ પાછી લાવ્યા. અને પોતાના કુટુંબી લોતને તથા તેની માંલમત્તા અને સ્ત્રીઓ તેમજ બાકીના લોકોને પણ તે પાછા લઈ આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.14.17" />કદોરલાઓમેરને અને તેની સાથેના રાજાઓને હરાવીને ઇબ્રામ પાછો આવ્યો ત્યારે સદોમનો રાજા તેને મળવા માંટે શાવેહની ખીણમાં, એટલે કે, રાજાની ખીણમાં સામો ગયો.
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<s style="s">મલ્ખીસદેકનો આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.14.18" />શાલેમનો રાજા મલ્ખીસદેક પણ ઇબ્રામને મળવા ગયો. મલ્ખીસદેક પરાત્પર દેવનો યાજક હતો. મલ્ખીસદેક રોટલી અને દ્રાક્ષારસ લઈને આવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.14.19" />અને તેણે ઇબ્રામને આશીર્વાદ આપતાં કહ્યું:
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“પૃથ્વી અને આકાશના સર્જનહાર પરાત્પર
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<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના આશીર્વાદ ઇબ્રામ પર ઊતરો.
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<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.14.20" />તમને તમાંરા દુશ્મનોને હરાવીને પઢડવા માંટે મદદ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કરનાર પરાત્પર દેવની આપણે સ્તુતિ કરીએ.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">અને ઇબ્રામે યુદ્વ દરમ્યાન લધેલી બધી વસ્તુઓમાંથી તેને દશમો ભાગ આપ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.14.21" />પદ્ધી સદોમના રાજાએ કહ્યું, “તમે આ બધી વસ્તુઓ પોતાની પાસે રાખી શકો છો. ફકત માંરા જે મૅંણસોને દુશ્મનો પઢડીને લઈ ગયા હતા તે મને સુપ્રત કરો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.14.22" />પરંતુ ઇબ્રામે સદોમના રાજાને કહ્યું, “મેં પૃથ્વી અને આકાશના સર્જનહાર યહોવા, પરાત્પર દેવ સમક્ષ સમ લધા છે કે,
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.14.23" />જે તમાંરી વસ્તુઓ છે તેમાંથી કંઈ પણ લઈશ નહિ. તારો એક તાંતણો કે, જોડાની વૅંધરી સુદ્વાં નહિ લઉ. હું એ નથી ઈચ્દ્ધતો કે, તું એમ કહે કે, ‘મેં ઇબ્રામને ધનવાન બનાવ્યો છે.’
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.14.24" />હું તો ફકત એ જ ભોજનનો સ્વીકાર કરીશ જે માંરા જુવાનોએ ખાધું છે. પરંતુ તમે બીજા લોકોને તેનો ભાગ આપો. આપણી લડાઈમાં જીતેલી વસ્તુઓ તમે લઈ લો અને તેમાંથી થોડીક આનેર એશ્કોલ અને માંમરેને આપો. આ લોકોએ લડાઈમાં મને મદદ કરી હતી.”
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</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">ઘ્ર્ેવનો ઇબ્રામ સૅંથેનો કરાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.15.1" />આ બધી ઘટનાઓ થઈ ગયા પછી એક દર્શનમાં ઇબ્રામને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઈ, દેવે કહ્યું, “ઇબ્રામ, ડરીશ નહિ ઇબ્રામ, હું તારી ઢાલ છું. હું તારું રક્ષણ કરીશ અને હું તને એક મોટો પુરસ્કાર આપીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="GEN.15.2" />પરંતુ ઇબ્રામે કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા દેવ, એવું કશું જ નથી, જે તું મને આપશે અને તે મને પ્રસન્ન કરશે. કારણ કે માંરે પુત્ર નથી. હું તો આ વાંઝિયામહેણું લઈને જાઉં છું. અને માંરો દાસ અલીએઝેર દમસ્કનો છે, તે માંરા અવસાન બાદ માંરો વારસદાર થશે ને, તેને જ માંરું બધું મળશે.”
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.15.3" />ઇબ્રામે કહ્યું, “તું જ જોને, તેં મને કંઇ સંતાન આપ્યું નથી એટલે માંરા ઘરમાં જન્મેલો કોઇ ગુલામ માંરો વારસદાર થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.15.4" />પછી યહોવાએ ઇબ્રામ સાથે વાતો કરી. દેવે કહ્યું, “તમાંરી માંલમિલકત તમાંરો આ દાસ નહિ મેળવે. તને એક પુત્ર થશે, ને તે જ તારી માંલમિલકત પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.15.5" />પછી દેવ ઇબ્રામને બહાર લઈ ગયા. દેવે કહ્યું, “આકાશને જો, અસંખ્ય તારાઓને જો, એ એટલા બધા છે કે, તું ગણી શકે નહિ. ભવિષ્યમાં તારું કુટુંબ આટલું મોટું થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.15.6" />ઇબ્રામે દેવ પર વિશ્વાસ કર્યો અને દેવે એને તેના ન્યાયીપણા તરીકે, સ્વીકાર્યું.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.15.7" />દેવે ઇબ્રામને કહ્યું, “હું જ એ યહોવા છું જે તને આ ભૂમિનો માંલિક બનાવવા માંટે ખાલદીઓના ઉર શહેરમાંથી લઈ આવ્યો છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.15.8" />પરંતુ ઇબ્રામે કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, માંરા માંલિક, માંરે કેવી રીતે વિશ્વાસ કરવો કે, આ પ્રદેશ મને જ મળશે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.15.9" />પછી દેવે ઇબ્રામને કહ્યું, “આપણે એક કરાર કરીશું. માંરી આગળ એક ત્રણ વર્ષની બકરી, એક ત્રણ વર્ષની ગાય, એક ત્રણ વર્ષનો ઘેટો, એક હોલો અને એક કબૂતરનું બચ્ચું લઈ આવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.15.10" />ઇબ્રામ એ બધી વસ્તુઓ દેવની પાસે લાવ્યો. અને ઇબ્રામે તે પ્રાણીઓને માંરી નાખ્યાં. અને દરેકના વચ્ચેથી કાપીને તેણે બબ્બે ટુકડા કર્યા અને ટુકડાઓ સામસામે ગોઠવ્યા; પરંતુ પક્ષીઓને તેણે કાપ્યા નહિ.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.15.11" />થોડા સમય પછી એ માંસાહારી પક્ષીઓ વેદી પર ચઢાવેલા મૃત પ્રાણીઓને ખાવા માંટે તૂટી પડયા. પણ ઇબ્રામે તેમને ઉડાડી મૂકયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.15.12" />પછી સૂરજ આથમતી વખતે ઇબ્રામ ભર ઊંઘમાં પડયો. ઘનઘોર અંધકાર એને ચારેબાજુથી ઘેરી વળ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.15.13" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ ઇબ્રામને કહ્યું, “તારે એ બાબતો જાણી લેવી જોઈએ. તારા વંશજો વિદેશી બની જશે અને તેઓ એવા દેશમાં જશે જે એમનો નહિ હોય. તેઓ ત્યાં ગુલામ બનશે. 400 વર્ષ સુધી તેમના પર ભારે અત્યાચારો થશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.15.14" />હું તે રાષ્ટનો ન્યાય કરીશ અને તેમને સજા કરીશ અને પાછળથી તેઓ ઘણી માંલમિલકત લઈને ત્યાંથી બહાર નીકળશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.15.15" />“તું ઘણું લાંબુ આયુષ્ય ભોગવીશ. તું શાંતિથી મૃત્યુ પામીશ અને તને તારા પૂર્વજોની સાથે દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો હશે.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.15.16" />ચાર પેઢીઓ પછી તારા વંશજો આ પ્રદેશમાં પાછા આવશે. તે સમયે તમાંરા લોકો અમોરીઓને હરાવશે. અહીં રહેનારા અમોરીઓને સજા કરવા માંટે હું તમાંરા લોકોનો જ ઉપયોગ કરીશ. આ ઘટના ભવિષ્યમાં બનશે કારણ કે અમોરીઓના પાપનો ઘડો હજુ ભરાયો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.15.17" />જયારે સૂર્યાસ્ત થયો અને ગાઢ અંધકાર આજુબાજુ બધેય છવાઈ ગયો, ત્યારે પણ મૃત પ્રાણીઓ જમીન પર પડેલાં હતાં, તે પ્રત્યેક પ્રાણી બે ટુકડાઓમાં કપાયેલા હતાં. તે વખતે એક ધુમાંડાનો સ્તંભ અને અગ્નિની મશાલ પ્રાણીઓના બે ભાગ વચ્ચે થઈને પસાર થઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.15.18" />આ રીતે તે જ દિવસે યહોવાએ ઇબ્રામ સાથે કરાર કર્યો કે, “હું મિસરની નદીથી મહા નદી ફાત સુધીનો આખો પ્રદેશ –
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.15.19" />એટલે કે, કેનીઓ, કનિઝીઓ, કાદમોનીઓ,
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.15.20" />હિત્તીઓ, પરિઝીઓ, રફાઈઓ,
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.15.21" />અમોરીઓ, કનાનીઓ, ગિર્ગાશીઓ અને યબૂસીઓનો પ્રદેશ તારા વંશજોને આપું છું. આમ, યહોવાએ ઇબ્રામને કહ્યું.”
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</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">દાસી હાગાર અને ઇશ્માંએલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.16.1" />ઇબ્રામની પત્ની સારાયને કોઈ બાળક ન હતું. સારાયની પાસે હાગાર નામે એક મિસરી દાસી હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.16.2" />સારાયે ઇબ્રામને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, યહોવાએ મને કોઈ બાળક આપ્યું નથી તેથી તમે માંરી દાસીને રાખી લો. હું તેનાં બાળકને આપણું બાળક માંનીશ.” ઇબ્રામે પોતાની પત્નીનું કહ્યું માંની લીધું.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.16.3" />એટલે ઇબ્રામની પત્ની સારાયે પોતાની દાસી હાગારને પોતાના પતિ ઇબ્રામને પત્ની તરીકે આપી. તે વખતે ઇબ્રામને કનાનમાં રહેતાં 10 વર્ષ થયાં હતાં.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.16.4" />હાગાર ઇબ્રામથી ગર્ભવતી થઈ. જયારે તેને ખબર પડી કે, તે ગર્ભવતી હતી, ત્યારે તે પોતાની જાતને તેણીની શેઠાણી સારાય કરતાં વધારે સારી માંનવા લાગી. અને તેનો તિરસ્કાર કરવા લાગી.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.16.5" />પરંતુ સારાયે ઇબ્રામને કહ્યું, “માંરી દાસી મને નફરત કરે છે અને તે માંટે હું તમને દોષિત માંનું છું. મેં માંરી દાસી તમને આપી અને તેણીને જયારે ખબર પડી કે, તેણી ગર્ભવતી છે, ત્યારે તે મને તિરસ્કારવા લાગી. અમાંરા બેમાં કોણ સાચું છે એનો ન્યાય યહોવાએ કરવો જોઇએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.16.6" />પરંતુ ઇબ્રામે સારાયને કહ્યું, “તું હાગારની શેઠાણી છે. તું તને ઠીક લાગે તેમ એની સાથે કરી શકે છે. તેથી સારાયએ હાગાર સાથે સખતાઈ કરવા માંડી, તેથી તેની દાસી નાસી ગઈ.”
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<s style="s">હાગારનો પુત્ર ઇશ્માંએલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.16.7" />રણપ્રદેશમાં શૂરને રસ્તે આવેલા ઝરણા પાસે હાગારને યહોવાનો દૂત મળ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.16.8" />દૂતે કહ્યું, “હાગાર, તું સારાયની દાસી છે. તું અહીં કયાંથી? તું કયાં જઇ રહી છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">હાગારે કહ્યું, “હું માંરી શેઠાણી સારાય પાસેથી ભાગીને આવી છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.16.9" />યહોવાના દૂતે તેણીને કહ્યું, “તું તારી શેઠાણી પાસે પાછી જા, અને તેની આજ્ઞા માંન.”<f caller="+"><fr>16:9
</fr><fk>તું … માન
</fk><ft>શબ્દોનુસાર: “તેણીએ તારા પર જે કષ્ટો ઉતાર્યા તે સહન કર.”</ft></f>
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.16.10" />યહોવાના દૂતે તેને એ પણ કહ્યું, “હું તારો વંશવેલો એટલો બધો વધારીશ કે, તેની ગણતરી પણ થઈ શકશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.16.11" />યહોવાના દૂતે એમ પણ કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તું અત્યારે ગર્ભવતી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું એક પુત્ર જણીશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેનું નામ ઇશ્માંએલ રાખીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે યહોવાએ સાંભળ્યું છે કે, તારી સાથે ખરાબ વર્તાવ થયો છે, અને તે તારી મદદ કરશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.16.12" />ઇશ્માંએલ જંગલી અને આઝાદ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે એક જંગલી ગધેડા જેવો થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે એક ઠેકાણેથી બીજે ઠેકાણે જશે, તે બધા માંણસોનો વિરોધ કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધા માંણસો તેનો વિરોધ કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે એક જગ્યાએથી બીજી જગ્યાએ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેના ભાઈઓની પાસે તેનો પડાવ નાખશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ તે તેમની વિરુદ્ધ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સામે થઈ જુદો રહેશે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.16.13" />પછી યહોવાએ હાગાર સાથે વાતો કરી. તેણે પોતાની સાથે વાત કરનાર દેવને એક નવા નામથી પોકાર્યો. તેણે કહ્યું, “તમે તે યહોવા છો જે મને જુઓ છે.” “ખરેખર મને દેવના દર્શન થયા પછી હું જીવતી રહી છું!”
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.16.14" />તેથી એ કૂવો બેર-લાહાય-રોઇનો<f caller="+"><fr>16:14
</fr><fk>બેર-લાહાય-રોઇ
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે: “જે સાંભળે છે ને જુએ છે તેનો કૂઓ આ છે.”</ft></f> કૂવો કહેવાયો. એ કૂવો કાદેશ અને બેરેદની વચમાં આવેલો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.16.15" />પછી હાગારે ઇબ્રામથી એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો, અને ઇબ્રામે હાગારથી જન્મેલા પુત્રનું નામ ઇશ્માંએલ રાખ્યું.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.16.16" />જયારે ઇબ્રામથી હાગારે ઇશ્માંએલને જન્મ આપ્યો ત્યારે, ઇબ્રામની ઉંમર 86 વર્ષની હતી.
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</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">સુન્નત કરારની નિશાનીરૂપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.17.1" />જયારે ઇબ્રામ 99 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે યહોવાએ તેને દર્શન આપીને કહ્યું, “હું સર્વસમર્થ દેવ છું. માંરા માંટે આ કામ કર. માંરી આજ્ઞા માંથે ચઢાવી કોઈ પણ દોષમાં પડયા વિના ચાલ.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.17.2" />જો તું આમ કરીશ, તો હું તારી અને માંરી વચ્ચે કરાર કરીશ. હું તમાંરા લોકોનું એક મોટું રાષ્ટ બનાવવાનું વચન આપીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.17.3" />ઇબ્રામે પોતાનું મસ્તક જમીન તરફ નમાંવ્યું, સાષ્ટાંગ દંડવત પ્રણામ કર્યા. ત્યારે દેવે તેની સાથે વાતચીત કરી અને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="GEN.17.4" />“જો, હું તારી સાથે આ કરાર કરું છું; તું અનેક પ્રજાઓનો પિતા થઈશ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="GEN.17.5" />હવેથી તારું નામ ઇબ્રામ નહિ રહે. તારું નામ ઇબ્રાહિમ રહેશે, કારણ મેં તને અનેક દેશનો પૂર્વજ બનાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="GEN.17.6" />હું તારા વંશજો ખૂબ ખૂબ વધારીશ, તારા વંશજોમાંથી હું પ્રજાઓનું નિર્માંણ કરીશ. અને તારા વંશમાં રાજાઓ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="GEN.17.7" />હું માંરી અને તારી વચ્ચે તથા પેઢી-દરપેઢી તારા વંશજો વચ્ચે કાયમનો કરારા કરીશ કે, તારો અને તારા પછી તારા બધા વંશજોનો હું દેવ થઈશ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="GEN.17.8" />અને હું તને અને તારા વંશજોને જે ભૂમિમાં તું પ્રવાસ કરી રહ્યો છે<f caller="+"><fr>17:8
</fr><fk>જે ભૂમિમાં તું પ્રવાસ કરી રહ્યો છે
</fk><ft>શબ્દોનુસાર: “જેમાં તું અજાણ વ્યકિત તરીકે રહીશ.”</ft></f> તે કનાનની ભૂમિ કાયમને માંટે આપીશ અને હું તમાંરો દેવ રહીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.17.9" />દેવે ઇબ્રાહિમને કહ્યું, “તું અને તારા પછી તારા વંશજો પેઢી દરપેઢી માંરો આ કરાર પાળશો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="GEN.17.10" />માંરી અને તારી વચ્ચેનો તથા તારા પછી તારા વંશજો સાથેનો તમાંરે પાળવાનો કરાર આ છે:
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="GEN.17.11" />તમાંરામાંના એકે એેક વ્યકિતની સુન્નત કરવી. તમાંરે તમાંરી ચામડીની સુન્નત કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="GEN.17.12" />જયારે બાળક 8 દિવસનું થાય ત્યારે તેની સુન્નત કરાવવી, પછી તે તમાંરા ઘરમાં જન્મેલો હોય કે, કોઈ પરદેશી પાસેથી પૈસા આપીને ખરીદેલો ગુલામ હોય. તેની સુન્નત અવશ્ય કરવાની રહેશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.17.13" />તમાંરા ઘરમાં જન્મેલો ગુલામ હોય, તેની તેમજ પૈસાથી જેને ખરીદવામાં આવ્યો હોય, તેની બંન્નેની સુન્નત કરાવવી જ જોઈએ. આ રીતે તમાંરા રાષ્ટમાં પ્રત્યેક બાળકની સુન્નત થશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="GEN.17.14" />આ માંરો નિયમ છે. અને તે માંરા અને તમાંરા વચ્ચે છે. જે કોઈની સુન્નત થયેલી ના હોય તેનો સમાંજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરવો, કારણ, તેણે માંરા કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રતિજ્ઞાનો પુત્ર ઈસહાક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.17.15" />દેવે ઇબ્રાહિમને કહ્યું, “સારાય જે તારી પત્ની છે એને હું નામ આપીશ. તેનું નામ સારા રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="GEN.17.16" />હું તેને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ. હું તેને પુત્ર આપીશ અને તું પિતા બનીશ. તે ઘણી નવી દેશજાતિઓની માંતા થશે. એને પેટે પ્રજાઓના રાજા જન્મ ધારણ કરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.17.17" />પછી ઇબ્રાહિમે સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કરીને દેવની ભકિત દર્શાવી. અને મનમાં હસ્યો. તે મનોમન વિચારવા લાગ્યો, “હું તો 100 વર્ષનો વૃદ્વ છું. હું પુત્ર કેવી રીતે ઉત્પન્ન કરી શકું? અને સારા 90 વર્ષની વૃદ્વા છે, તે બાળકને જન્મ આપી શકે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.17.18" />પછી ઇબ્રાહિમે દેવને તેના કહેવાનો હેતુ પૂછયો, “શું ઇશ્માંએલ જીવતો રહે અને તારી સેવા કરે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.17.19" />દેવે કહ્યું, “ના, મેં કહ્યુંને કે, તારી પત્ની સારાને તારાથી એક પુત્ર જરૂર અવતરશે. અને તારે તેનું નામ ઇસહાક પાડવું. હું તેની સાથે માંરો કરાર કરીશ અને તે તેના વંશજો માંટે પણ કાયમનો રહેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.17.20" />“તેં મને ઇશ્માંએલની બાબતમાં પૂછયું, અને મેં તારી વાત સાંભળી. હું તેને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ, તેને ઘણાં સંતાનો થશે. તે મોટા બાર સરદારોનો પિતા થશે. અને હું તેનાથી એક મોટી પ્રજાનું નિર્માંણ કરીશ.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.17.21" />પરંતુ હું માંરો કરાર તો આવતે વષેર્ ઠરાવેલ સમયે સારા ઇસહાકને જન્મ આપશે તેની સાથે કરીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.17.22" />દેવે જયારે ઇબ્રાહિમ સાથે વાત કરવાની બંધ કરી ત્યારે તે એકલો જ રહ્યો કારણ કે દેવ તેની પાસેથી આકાશ તરફ ચાલ્યા ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="GEN.17.23" />દેવે કહ્યું હતું કે, તું તારા કુટુંબના બધા પુત્રોની તથા પુરુષોની સુન્નત કરાવજે. તેથી ઇબ્રાહિમે ઇશ્માંએલ તથા પોતાના ઘરમાં જન્મેલાં બધા તથા પૈસાથી ખરીદેલા બધા ગુલામોને એક સાથે બોલાવ્યા અને દેવના કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે બધા ગુલામોની સુન્નત કરાવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.17.24" />ઇબ્રાહિમની સુન્નત થઈ, ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 99 વર્ષની થઈ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="GEN.17.25" />અને તેના પુત્ર ઇશ્માંએલની સુન્નત થઈ ત્યારે તે 13 વર્ષનો થયો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="GEN.17.26" />ઇબ્રાહિમ તથા તેના પુત્ર ઇશ્માંએલની સુન્નત એક જ દિવસે થઈ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="GEN.17.27" />તે જ દિવસે ઇબ્રાહિમના ઘરના તમાંમ પુરુષોની સુન્નત કરવામાં આવી હતી. તેના ઘરમાં જન્મેલા અને પરદેશીઓ પાસેથી પૈસા આપીને ખરીદેલા ઘરના બધા ગુલામોની સુન્નત પણ તેની સાથે કરવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">ત્રણ અતિથિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.18.1" />પછી ફરીથી યહોવા ઇબ્રાહિમ આગળ માંમરેનાં એલોનવૃક્ષો પાસે પ્રગટ થયા. તે દિવસે બપોરે, ઇબ્રાહિમ તેના તંબુના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ બેઠો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.18.2" />ઇબ્રાહિમે આંખ ઊંચી કરીને જોયું, તો પોતાની સામે ત્રણ માંણસોને ઊભેલા જોયા. તે તેમની પાસે દોડતો દોડતો ગયો અને તેઓને પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.18.3" />ઇબ્રાહિમે કહ્યું, “માંરા સ્વામી, જો માંરા પર આપની કૃપાદૃષ્ટિ હોય, તો આ સેવકની સાથે થોડીવાર ઊભા રહો.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.18.4" />હું તમાંરા લોકોના ચરણો ધોવા માંટે પાણી લાવું છું. તમે પેલા વૃક્ષ નીચે આરામ કરો.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.18.5" />હું તમાંરા લોકો માંટે થોડું ભોજન લાવું છું. આપની ઈચ્છા હોય તેટલું આપ ખાઓ, તાજા થાઓ અને પછી તમે લોકો આગળની યાત્રાનો આરંભ કરો.”
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<p style="p">ત્રણેએ કહ્યું, “હા, એ ઘણું સારું છે. તું જેમ કહે છે તેમ ભલે કર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.18.6" />ઇબ્રાહિમ ઉતાવળો ઉતાવળો તંબુમાં ગયો અને સારાને કહ્યું, “ઝટપટ ત્રણ માંપિયાં ઝીણો મેંદાનો લોટ લઈને ગૂંદીને રોટલી બનાવી નાખ.”
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.18.7" />પછી ઇબ્રાહિમ ઢોરના ધણ તરફ દોડતો દોડતો ગયો અને એક કુમળું વાછરડું લાવીને તેણે નોકરોને આપ્યો અને કહ્યું, “તમે આ વાછરડાને વધેરી ભોજન તૈયાર કરો.”
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.18.8" />પછી ઇબ્રાહિમ એ ત્રણેય ને ભોજન માંટે માંસ આપ્યું. અને દૂધ દહીં પણ પીરસ્યાં, જયાં સુધી એ ત્રણે જણ ખાતાં રહ્યાં ત્યાં સુધી ઇબ્રાહિમ તેમની પાસે વૃક્ષ નીચે ઊભો રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.18.9" />તે વ્યકિતઓએ ઇબ્રાહિમને કહ્યું, “તારી પત્ની સારા કયાં છે?”
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<p style="p">ઇબ્રાહિમે કહ્યું, “તે તંબુમાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.18.10" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “હું વસંતમાં આવતા વરસે પાછો આવીશ. તે સમયે તારી પત્ની સારા એક બાળકને જન્મ આપશે.”
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<p style="p">સારા તંબુમાં બારણા પાસે ઊભી રહીને આ વાતો સાંભળતી હતી.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.18.11" />ઇબ્રાહિમ અને સારા ઘણા વૃદ્વ થઈ ગયા હતા. સારાનો તો સ્ત્રીધર્મ પણ બંધ થઈ ગયો હતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.18.12" />એટલે સારા મનોમન હસી. તેને પોતાના પર વિશ્વાસ ન રહ્યો, તેણે પોતાની જાતને કહ્યું, “હું અને માંરો પતિ બંન્ને વૃદ્વ છીએ. હું બાળકને જન્મ આપવા માંટેની ઉમર વટાવી ચૂકી છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.18.13" />યહોવાએ ઇબ્રાહિમને કહ્યું, “સારા હસીને કેમ બોલી કે, ‘મને બાળક જન્મશે ખરું?’ હું તો ઘરડી થઈ છું!
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.18.14" />શું યહોવાને માંટે કશું અસંભવ છે? નહિ, હું ફરી વસંતમાં નક્કી કરેલા સમયે આવતા વષેર્ તારે ત્યાં જરૂર આવીશ. અને તારી પત્ની સારાના ખોળામાં પુત્ર રમતો હશે જ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.18.15" />પરંતુ સારાએ કહ્યું, “હું હસી નહોતી.” (એણે એમ કહ્યું, કારણકે તે ડરી ગઈ હતી.)
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<p style="p">પરંતુ યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “ના, હું જાણું છું કે, તારું કહેવું સાચું નથી. તું સાચે જ હસી હતી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.18.16" />પછી તે પુરુષો જવા માંટે ઊઠયા, તેઓએ સદોમ તરફ નજર કરી અને તે તરફ ચાલી નીકળ્યાં. ઇબ્રાહિમ તેઓને વિદાય આપવા માંટે થોડે દૂર સુધી તેમની સાથે ગયો.
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<s style="s">દેવની સાથે ઇબ્રાહિમનો સોદો
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.18.17" />યહોવાએ વિચાર્યું, “જે હું હમણા કરવાનો છું તે શું ઇબ્રાહિમને કહી દઉં?
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.18.18" />ઇબ્રાહિમમાંથી એક મહાન અને શકિતશાળી પ્રજા ઉત્પન્ન થનાર છે. અને તેને કારણે પૃથ્વીની બધી પ્રજાઓ આશીર્વાદ પામશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.18.19" />મેં જ એને પસંદ કર્યો છે કે, જેથી એ પોતાનાં સંતાનોને અને પોતાના પછીના વંશજોને ધર્મ અને ન્યાયનું આચરણ કરીને યહોવાને માંગેર્ વળવાની આજ્ઞા કરે, અને એ રીતે ઇબ્રાહિમને આપેલું વચન હું પાળી શકું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.18.20" />પછી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “મેં ઘણી વખત સાંભળ્યું છે કે, સદોમ અને ગમોરાહના લોકો ઘણાં જ ખરાબ છે,<f caller="+"><fr>18:20
</fr><fk>મેં … છે
</fk><ft>આ લોકો નો આર્તનાદ છે, જેઓ તે જગ્યાના દુષ્ટ લોકો દ્વારા ત્રાહિત થયા હતા.</ft></f> તે જગ્યાએથી આવતાં આર્તનાદનું કારણ તેઓ છે. તેમનાં પાપ ઘણા ગંભીર છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.18.21" />એટલા માંટેં હું ત્યાં જઈશ અને જોઈશ કે, મેં સાંભળ્યું છે તેટલી ખરાબ હાલત છે? પછી મને બરાબર ખબર પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.18.22" />પછી તે લોકો ત્યાંથી નીકળીને સદોમ તરફ ગયા. પરંતુ ઇબ્રાહિમ હજુ પણ યહોવાની સામે ઊભો રહ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.18.23" />પછી ઇબ્રાહિમે યહોવાને કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા! તમે દુષ્ટ લોકોની સાથે સારા લોકોનો પણ નાશ કરવાનું ખરેખર વિચારો છો?
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.18.24" />જો તે નગરમાં 50 સારા માંણસો હોય તો પણ તમે એ નગરનો નાશ કરશો? એ 50 સારા માંણસોને માંટે તમે નગરને બચાવી નહિ લો?
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<v id="25" bcv="GEN.18.25" />દુષ્ટોની સાથે સારા માંણસોને પણ માંરી નાખશો? એ તો તમને ના શોભે! તો તો સારા માંણસોની દશા પણ દુષ્ટોના જેવી જ થાય! એ તમને શોભે નહિ. હું જાણું છું આખી પૃથ્વીનો ન્યાય કરનાર સાચો ન્યાય કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.18.26" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “જો મને સદોમ નગરમાં 50 સારા લોકો મળશે તો, હું આખા નગરને બચાવી લઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.18.27" />ત્યારે ઇબ્રાહિમે કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, તમાંરી સામે તો હું રાખ અને ધૂળ બરાબર છું. પરંતું તું મને થોડું વધારે કષ્ટ આપવાની તક આપ. અને મને એ પૂછવા દે.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.18.28" />ધારો કે, સારા માંણસો પૂરા 45ના હોય, અને 5 ઓછા હોય તો એ પાંચને કારણે તમે આખા શહેરનો નાશ કરશો?”
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<p style="p">ત્યારે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “જો મને ત્યાં 45 મળશે, તોપણ હું નાશ નહિ કરુ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.18.29" />ઈબ્રાહિમે ફરીથી યહોવાને કહ્યું, “ધારો કે, કદાચ તમને 40 સારા માંણસો મળે, તો શું તમે નગરનો નાશ કરશો?”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “જો મને 40 સારા માંણસો મળશે તો પણ હું નગરનો નાશ કરીશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="GEN.18.30" />ત્યારે ઇબ્રાહિમે કહ્યું, “હે યહોવ, કૃપા કરીને માંરા પર નારાજ ના થશો. મને એમ પૂછવા દો, ધારો કે, નગરમાં માંત્ર 30 સારા લોકો મળ્યા, તો તમે શું નગરનો નાશ કરશો?”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “જો મને 30 સારા માંણસો મળશે તોપણ હું તે નગરનો નાશ નહિ કરું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.18.31" />ત્યારે ઇબ્રાહિમે કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, હું તમને ફરીવાર તકલીફ આપીને પૂછું છું કે, ધારો કે, ત્યાં 20 જ સારા લોકો હોય તો?”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જો મને 20 સારા માંણસો મળશે, તો પણ હું નગરનો નાશ નહિ કરું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.18.32" />ત્યારે ઇબ્રાહિમે કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, જો તમે ગુસ્સે ના થાવ તો આ છેલ્લી વાર પૂછું છું, ધારો કે ત્યાં દશ જ સારા માંણસો મળે તો તમે શું કરશો?”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “જો મને નગરમાં માંત્ર 10 સારા માંણસો મળશે તો પણ હું નગરનો નાશ કરીશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="GEN.18.33" />યહોવાએ ઇબ્રાહિમ સાથે બોલવાનું બંધ કરી દીધું, એટલે યહોવા ચાલ્યા ગયા; અને ઇબ્રાહિમ પોતાને ઘેર પાછો ફર્યો.
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<s style="s">લોતના અતિથિ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.19.1" />તેમાંના બે દેવદૂતો સાંજે સદોમ નગરમાં આવ્યા ત્યારે લોત સદોમના દરવાજામાં બેઠો હતો. તેણે દેવદૂતોને જોયા. લોતે વિચાર્યું કે આ લોકો નગરમાંથી યાત્રા કરી રહ્યા છે, તેથી તેઓને મળવા ઊભો થયો અને તેમની પાસે જઈને સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કરીને બોલ્યો,
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.19.2" />તેણે કહ્યું “માંરા સ્વામીઓ, કૃપા કરીને માંરે ઘેર પધારો. હું તમાંરી સેવા કરીશ. તમાંરા ચરણ ધુઓ અને રાત વિશ્રામ કરો, પછી આવતીકાલે તમાંરી યાત્રા શરૂ કરજો.”
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<p style="p">દેવદૂતોએ કહ્યું “ના, અમે રામના ચોકમાં રાત વિતાવીશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.19.3" />પરંતુ લોત પોતાને ઘરે પધારવા વારંવાર આગ્રહ કરતો હતો. એટલે તેઓ લોતને ઘેર જવા તૈયાર થયા. અને જયારે તેઓ લોતને ઘેર પહોચ્યાં ત્યારે લોતે પીવા માંટે કાંઈક આપ્યું. અને તેમના માંટે ખમીર વગરની રોટલી બનાવી. દેવદૂતોએ તે ખાધું.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.19.4" />તે સાંજે સૂવાના સમય પહેલા જ નગરના તમાંમ સ્થળોએથી લોકો લોતના ઘેર આવ્યા. સદોમના માંણસોએ લોતના ઘરને ઘેરી લીધું.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.19.5" />અને તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આજે રાત્રે જે બે માંણસો તારે ઘેર આવ્યા તેઓ કયાં છે? તે માંણસોને બહાર કાઢ અને અમને સુપ્રત કર. અમે એમની સાથે સંભોગ કરવા માંગીએ છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.19.6" />લોતે બહાર નીકળીને પોતાની પાછળથી બારણું બંધ કરી દીધું.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.19.7" />લોતે લોકોને કહ્યું, “ના, માંરા ભાઈઓ, હું વિનંતી કરું છું કે, તમે આ ખરાબ કામ ના કરો.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.19.8" />જુઓ, માંરે બે પુત્રીઓ છે, તે કુંવારી છે. હું માંરી બે પુત્રીઓને તમાંરી આગળ લાવું છું, તેની સાથે તમે લોકો જે કરવું હોય તે કરો, પણ આ લોકને કશું કરશો નહિ. એ લોકો અમાંરે ઘરે આવ્યા છે અને હું અવશ્ય તેમનું રક્ષણ કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.19.9" />ઘરની આજુબાજુના લોકોએ કહ્યું, “રસ્તામાંથી ખસી જા,” ત્યારે તે લોકોએ વિચાર્યું. “આ માંણસ લોત અમાંરા નગરમાં અતિથિ તરીકે આવ્યો છે અને હવે અમને શીખવે છે કે, અમે લોકો શું કરીએ!” ત્યારે લોકોએ લોતને કહ્યું, “અમે લોકો એ માંણસો કરતાં ય તારા ભૂંડા હાલ કરીશું.” તેથી એ લોકોએ લોતને ઘેરી વળીને તેની નજીક આવવાનું શરૂ કર્યું. તે બારણું તોડીને અંદર પ્રવેશવા ઈચ્છતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.19.10" />પરંતુ લોતની સાથે રહેલા માંણસોએ દરવાજો ઉઘાડયો અને લોતને ઘરની અંદર ખેંચી લીધો. અને પછી બારણું બંધ કરી દીધું.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.19.11" />બંન્ને જણે દરવાજાની બહારના માંણસોને આંધળા બનાવી દીધા અને ઘરમાં ઘૂસવા વાળા જુવાન અને વૃદ્વ બધાં જ આંધળા થઈ ગયા. તેઓ બારણાં શોધી શોધીને થાકી ગયા.
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<s style="s">સદોમમાંથી બચી જવું
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.19.12" />બંન્ને જણે લોતને કહ્યું, “શું આ નગરમાં કોઈ એવો માંણસ તમાંરા પરિવારનો છે? શું તમાંરા જમાંઈ, તમાંરી પુત્રીઓ કે અન્ય કોઈ તમાંરા પરિવારનો માંણસ છે? જો કોઈ બીજો માંણસ તમાંરા પરિવારનો આ નગરમાં રહેતો હોય તો તેને હમણાં જ આ નગર છોડી જવા કહી દો.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.19.13" />અમે લોકો આ નગરનો નાશ કરીશું. યહોવાએ આ બધી બુરાઇઓને સાંભળી લીધી છે. જે આ નગરમાં છે એટલા માંટે યહોવાએ અમને એનો વિનાશ કરવા મોકલ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.19.14" />એટલા માંટે લોત બહાર ગયો અને પોતાની બીજી પુત્રીઓ સાથે લગ્ન કરવાવાળા જમાંઈઓને વાત કરી. લોતે કહ્યું, “ઊતાવળ કરો અને આ નગરને છોડી જાઓ. યહોવા એનો તરત વિનાશ કરશે.” પરંતુ એ લોકો એવું સમજયા કે, લોત મશ્કરી કરી રહ્યો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.19.15" />બીજે દિવસે સવારના સમયે દેવદૂતોએ લોતને તાકીદ કરીને કહ્યું, “ઊઠ, તારી પત્ની અને તારી બે પુત્રીઓ જે અહીં છે તેમને સાથે લઈ લે; અને આ જગ્યા છોડી દે, જેથી તમે બધા આ નગરની સાથે નાશ નહિ પામો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.19.16" />પરંતુ લોત મૂઝવણમાં હતો તેથી નગર છોડવાની તેણે ઉતાવળ ન કરી. પણ એના પર દેવની મહેરબાની હતી એટલે પેલા માંણસો તેને, તેની પત્નીને અને તેની બે પુત્રીઓને હાથ પકડીને શહેરની બહાર લઈ આવ્યા.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.19.17" />બંન્નેએ લોત અને તેના પરિવારને નગરની બહાર પહોંચાડયા. જયારે તેઓ બહાર આવી ગયા ત્યારે બંન્નેમાંના એકે કહ્યું, “તમાંરો જીવ બચાવવા ભાગો, પાછું વળીને જોશો નહિ, અને આ નદીકાંઠાના પ્રદેશમાં કયાંય ઊભા રહેશો નહિ. પર્વતો ન આવે ત્યાં સુધી દોડો અને પર્વતો પાછળ ચાલ્યા જાઓ. નહિ તો તમે હતા ન હતા થઈ જશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.19.18" />ત્યારે લોતે બંન્નેને કહ્યું, “ના, ના, માંરા સ્વામી! કૃપા કરીને આટલા દૂર દોડવા માંટે મને મજબૂર ન કરો.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.19.19" />તમે આ માંરા સેવક પર દયા કરી છે અને દયા કરીને આપે માંરો જીવ બચાવ્યો છે. પરંતુ હું પર્વતો સુધી દોડી શકું તેમ નથી અને જો હું જરૂર કરતા ધીમે દોડીશ તો તે ક્ષેત્રમાં થયેલા વિનાશમાં હું માંર્યો જઇશ.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.19.20" />પરંતુ જુઓ, અહીં નજીકમાં એક બહુ નાનું નગર છે, અમને એ નગર સુધી દોડવા દો, તો અમાંરો જીવ બચી જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.19.21" />દેવદૂતે લોતને કહ્યું, “સારું, હું તમને એવું કરવા દઈશ, જયાં તમે જઈ રહ્યા છો એ નગરનો નાશ હું કરીશ નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.19.22" />પરંતુ તે જગ્યા સુધી ઝડપથી દોડો, જયાં સુધી તમે એ નગરમાં સુરક્ષિત પહોંચી નહિ જાઓ ત્યાં સુધી હું સદોમનો નાશ નહિ કરી શકુ.” (તે શહેરનું નામ સોઆર પડયું કારણ કે, તે નાનું ગામ છે.)
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<s style="s">સદોમ અને ગમોરાહનો વિનાશ
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.19.23" />લોત જયારે સોઆરમાં પહોચ્યો ત્યારે પૃથ્વી પર સૂરજ ઊગતો હતો.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.19.24" />આ વખતે યહોવાએ સદોમ અને ગમોરાહનો નાશ કરવાનો આરંભ કર્યો. તેણે આકાશમાંથી સળગતા ગંધક અને આગ વરસાવ્યા.
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<v id="25" bcv="GEN.19.25" />આ રીતે યહોવાએ તે દેશનો, નદીકાંઠાના સમગ્ર પ્રદેશનો, શહેરોમાંના બધા નિવાસીઓનો અને જમીન પર જે કાંઈ ઊગ્યું હતું તે સર્વનો નાશ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.19.26" />જયારે તેઓ ભાગી રહ્યા હતા, ત્યારે લોતની પત્નીએ પાછું વળીને જોયું અને તે મીઠાનો થાંભલો થઈ ગઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.19.27" />તે દિવસે વહેલી સવારે ઇબ્રાહિમ ઊઠયો અને જે જગ્યાએ યહોવાને રૂબરૂ મળ્યો હતો ત્યાં ગયો.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.19.28" />ઇબ્રાહિમે સદોમ અને ગમોરાહ નગર તરફ નજર કરી અને નદી કાંઠાના સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ તરફ જોયું તો એમાંથી ધુમાંડો ઉપર ચઢતો હતો, જાણે ભઠ્ઠીનો ધુમાંડો ન હોય!
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.19.29" />આમ દેવે કોતરોમાંના શહેરોનો વિનાશ કર્યો. જયારે દેવ આમ કરી રહ્યાં હતા, ત્યારે ઇબ્રાહિમે જે માંગ્યું છે તેનું સ્મરણ થયું અને લોતને બચાવ્યો. તેણે જે નગરનો નાશ કર્યો હતો ત્યાથી લોતને દૂર મોકલી દીધો.
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<s style="s">લોત અને તેની પુત્રીઓની પ્રજોત્પત્તિ
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="GEN.19.30" />લોત સોઆરમાં સતત રહેવાથી ડર્યો, તેથી તે અને તેની બંન્ને પુત્રીઓ પર્વતોમાં ચાલ્યા ગયા. અને ત્યાં રહેવા લાગ્યા. તેઓ ત્યાં એક ગુફામાં રહેતા હતાં.
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.19.31" />એક દિવસ મોટી દીકરીએ નાનીને કહ્યું, “પૃથ્વી પર બધી જ જગાએ પુરુષો અને સ્ત્રીઓના વિવાહ થાય છે, પરંતુ પૃથ્વી ઉપર કોઈ પુરુષ નથી જેની સાથે આપણે પતિ-પત્ની તરીકે ઘર માંડી શકીએ. આપણા પિતા પણ વૃદ્વ થયા છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="GEN.19.32" />એટલા માંટે ચાલો આપણે આપણા પિતાને દ્રાક્ષારસ પાઈએ અને તેની સાથે સૂઈએ, જેથી આપણા બાપથી આપણે વંશવેલો જાળવી શકીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="GEN.19.33" />તેથી તે રાત્રે બંન્ને પુત્રીઓ પોતાના પિતા પાસે ગઈ અને પિતાને તેઓએ દ્રક્ષારસ પાયો અને મોટી પુત્રી પિતા સાથે તેની પથારીમાં સૂઈ ગઈ. અને તેની સાથે સંભોગ કર્યો, તેણી કયારે સૂઈ ગઈ અને કયારે ઊઠી તેની લોતને ખબર પડી નહિ (કેમકે તે નશામાં હતો.)
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="GEN.19.34" />બીજે દિવસે મોટી પુત્રીએ નાનીને કહ્યું, “જો ગઈકાલે રાત્રે હું પિતા સાથે સૂઈ ગઈ હતી. આજે પણ આપણે તેને દ્રાક્ષારસ પાઈએ, પછી તું જઈને તેમની સાથે સૂઈ જજે. આ રીતે આપણે આપણા પિતાથી આપણો વંશવેલો જાળવી શકીએ.”
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<v id="35" bcv="GEN.19.35" />એટલે તે રાત્રે પણ તેમણે પોતાના પિતાને દ્રાક્ષારસ પાયો. અને નાની પુત્રી તેણીના પિતા પાસે તેની પથારીમાં ગઇ અને તેની સાથે સૂઈ ગઈ અને તેની સાથે સંભોગ કર્યો. આ વખતે પણ લોતને ખબર પડી નહિ કે, તેણી ક્યારે સૂતી અને ક્યારે ઊઠી. (કેમકે તે નશામાં હતો.)
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="GEN.19.36" />આ રીતે લોતની બંન્ને પુત્રીઓ તેમના પિતાથી ગર્ભવતી થઈ. તેમનો પિતાજ તેમનાં બાળકોનો પિતા હતો.
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<v id="37" bcv="GEN.19.37" />મોટી પુત્રીએ એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો. તેણે તેનું નામ મોઆબ રાખ્યું. મોઆબ તે જ આજના મોઆબીઓનો પૂર્વજ છે.
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<v id="38" bcv="GEN.19.38" />નાની પુત્રીએ પણ એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો, તેણે પોતાના પુત્રનું નામ બેન-આમ્મી રાખ્યું; તે જે આજના બધા આમ્મોનીઓનો પૂર્વજ છે જે આજે પણ રહે છે.
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<c id="20" />
<s style="s">ઇબ્રાહિમનું ગેરારમાં ગમન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.20.1" />ઇબ્રાહિમે એ સ્થળ છોડયું અને નેગેબ તરફ પ્રયાણ કર્યુ. અને કાદેશ અને શૂર વચ્ચે ગેરારમાં વસવાટ કર્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.20.2" />તે સમયે ઇબ્રાહિમે ગેરારના લોકોને કહ્યું, “સારા માંરી બહેન છે.” ગેરારના રાજા અબીમેલેખે આ સાંભળ્યું, અબીમેલેખ સારાને ચાહતો હતો તેથી સારાને લઈ આવવા માંટે અબીમેલેખે કેટલાક નોકરોને મોકલ્યા. અને સારાને રાખી.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.20.3" />પરંતુ એક વખત રાત્રે દેવે અબીમેલેખને સ્વપ્નમાં દર્શન આપ્યા અને વાત કરી. દેવે કહ્યું, “જો, જે સ્ત્રીને તેં ઘરમાં રાખી છે તેને કારણે તારું આવી બન્યું છે. કારણ તે પરસ્ત્રી છે. તું મરવાનો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.20.4" />પરંતુ અબીમેલેખે હજુ સુધી તેનો સંગ કર્યો નહોતો, તેથી અબીમેલેખે કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, હું દોષિત નથી. શું તમે નિદોર્ષ વ્યકિતનો પણ સંહાર કરશો?
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.20.5" />ઇબ્રાહિમે જ મને કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘આ સ્ત્રી માંરી બહેન છે.’ અને એ સ્ત્રીએ પણ કહ્યું, ‘આ પુરુષ માંરો ભાઈ છે.’ હું નિદોર્ષ છું. મને તો ખબર જ નહોતી કે, હું શું કરી રહ્યો છું? મેં તો શુદ્વ વૃત્તિથી જ આ કર્યુ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.20.6" />ત્યારે દેવે અબીમેલેખને સ્વપ્નમાં કહ્યું, “હા, મને ખબર છે કે, તું નિદોર્ષ છે અને મને એ પણ ખબર છે કે, તને ખબર ન હતી કે, તું શું કરી રહ્યો હતો! મેં જ તને ઉગાર્યો, મેં જ તને માંરી વિરુધ્ધ પાપ કરવા દીધું નથી. અને એટલે જ મેં તને તેનો સ્પર્શ કરવા દીધો નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.20.7" />તેથી હવે તું ઇબ્રાહિમની પત્નીને તેની પાસે પાછી મોકલ. ઇબ્રાહિમ એક પ્રબોધક છે. તે તમાંરા માંટે પ્રાર્થના કરશે અને તું જીવીશ પરંતુ જો તું સારાને પાછી નહિ આપે તો સમજી લેજે કે, તારું અને તારા બધાં જ લોકોનું એક સાથે મૃત્યુ થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.20.8" />તેથી બીજે દિવસે વહેલી સવારે અબીમેલેખે પોતાના બધા નોકરોને બોલાવ્યા અને સ્વપ્નમાં થયેલી બધી વાતો કહી સંભળાવી, નોકરો બહું જ ગભરાઈ ગયા.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.20.9" />પછી અબીમેલેખે ઇબ્રાહિમને બોલાવ્યો અને તેને કહ્યું, “તમે માંરી સાથે આમ કેમ કર્યું? મેં તમાંરો શો ગુનો કર્યો હતો કે, તમે ‘આ માંરી બહેન છે.’ એમ જૂઠું બોલીને મને અને માંરા રાજયને મોટાં પાપમાં નાખ્યાં? તમાંરે માંરી સાથે આવો વર્તાવ નહોતો કરવો જોઈતો, તમે શું સમજીને આમ કર્યું?
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.20.10" />તમે કઈ બાબતથી ડરતા હતા? તમે માંરી સાથે આવું કેમ કર્યું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.20.11" />પછી ઇબ્રાહિમે કહ્યું, “હું ડરતો હતો કારણ કે મને થયું કે, આ દેશમાં કોઈ પણ દેવને માંન આપતું નથી અને તેનાથી ડરતું નથી અને માંરી પત્ની સારાને મેળવવા માંટે આ લોકો મને માંરી નાખશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.20.12" />અને તમને, સાચું કહું તો તે માંરી બહેન જ છે, કારણ કે તેણી માંરા બાપની દીકરી છે, જો કે, તેણી માંરી માંની પુત્રી નથી. અને તેણી માંરી પત્ની બની.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.20.13" />દેવે મને માંરા પિતાના ઘરથી દૂર મોકલ્યો હતો. દેવે મને એક જગ્યાએથી બીજી જગ્યાએ ભટકતો, કર્યો હતો, તેથી મેં સારાને કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘તારે માંરા પર આટલી કૃપા કરવી પડશે. આપણે જયાં જયાં જઈએ ત્યાં ત્યાં તારે કહેવું પડશે કે, આ માંરો ભાઈ છે!’”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.20.14" />ત્યારે અબીમેલેખે જાણ્યું કે, આમ શાથી બન્યું છે. તેથી તેણે ઈબ્રાહિમને સારા સુપ્રત કરી અને ઘેટાં, બકરાં, ગાય, બળદ તેમજ દાસદાસી આપ્યાં.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.20.15" />અબીમેલેખે કહ્યું, “જો, આ માંરો સમગ્ર દેશ તારી આગળ છે. તારી મરજી હોય ત્યાં તું જઈને રહી શકે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.20.16" />અબીમેલેખે સારાને પણ કહ્યું, “જો મેં તારા ભાઈને 1,000 રૂપામહોર આપી છે. હું આ બધા માંટે દિલગીર છું તે બતાવવા માંટે મેં આમ કર્યુ હતું. હું ઈચ્છું છું કે, પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિત જુએ કે, મેં સાચું કામ કર્યુ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17-18" bcv="GEN.20.17" />દેવે અબીમેલેખના ઘરની બધી સ્ત્રીઓને ગર્ભધારણથી અટકાવી દીધી હતી કારણકે ઇબ્રાહિમની પત્ની સારાને અબીમેલેખે લીધી હતી, તેથી હવે ઇબ્રાહિમે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી, તેથી દેવે અબીમેલેખને અને તેની પત્નીને અને તેની દાસીઓને સાજાં કર્યા અને તેમને સંતાનો થયાં.
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<c id="21" />
<s style="s">સારાના પુત્ર ઇસહાકનો જન્મ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.21.1" />યહોવાએ સારાને આપેલ વચન જાળવી રાખ્યું. અને યહોવાએ પોતાના વચન અનુસાર સારા પર કૃપા કરી.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.21.2" />સારા ગર્ભવતી થઈ અને તેણે વૃદ્વાવસ્થામાં ઇબ્રાહિમને માંટે દેવે કહેલા સમયે એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો. દેવે જે વચન આપ્યું હતું તે જ પ્રમાંણે થયું.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.21.3" />સારાએ પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો અને ઇબ્રાહિમે તેનું નામ ઇસહાક પાડયું.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.21.4" />અને દેવની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર તેણે પોતાનો દીકરો ઇસહાક આઠ દિવસનો થયો, ત્યારે તેની સુન્નત કરાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.21.5" />જયારે ઇબ્રાહિમનો પુત્ર ઇસહાક જન્મ્યો ત્યારે એની ઉંમર 100 વર્ષની થઈ હતી.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.21.6" />અને સારાએ કહ્યું, “દેવે મને સુખનાં દિવસ આપ્યા છે. જે કોઈ વ્યકિત આ સાંભળશે તે પણ માંરી સાથે પ્રસન્ન થશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.21.7" />કોઈ પણ એમ ધારતું નહોતું કે, સારા ઇબ્રાહિમ માંટે પુત્રને જન્મ આપશે, છતાં મેં એના ઘડપણમાં દીકરાને જન્મ આપ્યો છે.”
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<s style="s">ઘરમાં વિપત્તિઓનાં વાદળ
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.21.8" />હવે બાળક મોટો થયો અને તેને ધાવણ છોડાવવામાં આવ્યું. તે દિવસે ઇબ્રાહિમે એક મોટી ઉજવણી કરી.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.21.9" />પછી મિસરી દાસી હાગારથી ઇબ્રાહિમને એક પુત્ર થયો હતો. એક વાર સારાએ હાગારના પુત્રને ઇસહાકની મશ્કરી કરતા જોયો.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.21.10" />તેથી સારાએ ઇબ્રાહિમને કહ્યું, “આ દાસી સ્ત્રી તથા તેના પુત્રને અહીંથી કાઢી મૂકો, આપણા મૃત્યુ પછી આપણી સંપત્તિનો માંલિક ઇસહાક જ થશે. હું નથી ઈચ્છતી કે, આ દાસીનો દીકરો માંરા દીકરા ઇસહાક સાથે વારસ થાય.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.21.11" />આ બધી વાતોથી ઇબ્રાહિમ બહુજ દુ:ખી થયો. તે પોતાના પુત્ર ઇશ્માંએલને કારણે ખૂબ દુ:ખી હતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.21.12" />પરંતુ દેવે ઇબ્રાહિમને કહ્યું, “એ પુત્રને કારણે તથા દાસી સ્ત્રીને કારણે મનમાં દુ:ખી થઈશ નહિ. સારા તને જે કંઈ કહે તે તેના કહ્યાં પ્રમાંણે કર. કારણ કે તારો વંશવેલો ઇસહાકથી ચાલુ રહેશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.21.13" />પરંતુ હું તારા દાસીપુત્રને પણ આશીર્વાદ આપીશ અને હું એ દાસ્ત્રીના પુત્રને પણ મોટો પરિવાર આપીશ, અને તે પરિવારનું પણ એક મોટું રાષ્ટ બનાવીશ. કારણ કે એ તારું સંતાન છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.21.14" />તેથી બીજે દિવસે વહેલી સવારે ઇબ્રાહિમે રોટલા અને પાણીના મશક લઈને હાગારને આપ્યાં અને છોકરાંને ખભે ચઢાવીને તેને વિદાય કરી. તે ચાલી ગઈ અને બેર-શેબાના રણમાં ભટકવા લાગી.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.21.15" />થોડા સમય પછી હાગારની મશકનું પાણી ખૂટી ગયું ત્યારે તેણે તે બાળકને એક નાના ઝાડ નીચે છોડી દીધું.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.21.16" />હાગાર ત્યાંથી થોડા અંતરે ગઇ અને નીચે બેઠી. હાગારે વિચાર્યું કે, ત્યાં પાણી નથી તેથી તેણીનો પુત્ર મૃત્યુ પામશે. તેણી તેને મૃત્યુ પામતો જોવા નહોતી ઈચ્છતી. તેણી ત્યાં બેઠી હતી ત્યારે રડવા લાગી.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.21.17" />દેવે બાળકને રડતો સાંભળ્યો. અને આકાશમાંથી એક દૂતે હાગારને બોલાવી તેણે હાગારને પૂછયું, “હાગાર, તારે શી સમસ્યા છે? દેવે બાળકને રડતો સાંભળ્યો છે, ડરીશ નહિ,
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.21.18" />ઊઠ, બાળકને ઉપાડી લે, અને તેનો હાથ પકડ અને તેને દોરવ, કારણ કે, હું તેનાથી એક મહાન રાષ્ટ બનાવવાનો છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.21.19" />પછી દેવે હાગારને પાણીથી ભરેલો કૂવો દેખાય તેવું કર્યુ. તે ત્યા ગઇ અને મશકમાં પાણી ભરી લીધું. અને બાળકને પાણી પાયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.21.20" />બાળક જયાં સુધી મોટો ન થયો ત્યાં સુધી દેવ તેની સાથે રહ્યો. તે રણપ્રદેશમાં રહેતો હતો અને તેથી તે ધનુષ્ય ચલાવતા શીખ્યો અને નિપુણ શિકારી થઈ ગયો.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.21.21" />તેની માંતા તેના માંટે મિસરની વહુ લાવી અને તેઓએ પારાનના રણમાં રહેવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું.
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<s style="s">ઇબ્રાહિમ અને અબીમેલેખ વચ્ચેની સંધિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.21.22" />તે સમયે અબીમેલેખ તેના સેનાપતિ ફીકોલ સાથે જઈ ઇબ્રાહિમને કહ્યું, “તું જે કાંઈ કહે છે તેમાં દેવ તને સહાય કરે છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.21.23" />તેટલા માંટે આ ઘડીએ તું માંરી આગળ દેવના નામે એવા સમ લે અને વચન આપ કે, તું માંરી સાથે અને માંરા બધા વંશજો સાથે ન્યાયી બનશે, અને હું જેમ તારી સાથે દયાળુ રહ્યો છું તેમ તું માંરી સાથે અને જે દેશમાં તું રહ્યો છે તેના વતનીઓ સાથે દયાળુ રહીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.21.24" />ત્યારે ઇબ્રાહિમે કહ્યું, “હું વચન આપું છું કે, તેં જે વ્યવહાર માંરી સાથે કર્યો છે એવો જ વ્યવહાર હું તારી સાથે પણ રાખીશ.”
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<v id="25" bcv="GEN.21.25" />ત્યારે ઇબ્રાહિમે અબીમેલેખને ફરિયાદ કરી. કારણ કે અબીમેલેખના નોકરોએ એક કૂવો પડાવી લીધો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.21.26" />અબીમેલેખે કહ્યું, “આના વિષે મેં પહેલી વાર સાંભળ્યું છે. મને ખબર નથી કે, આ કોણે કર્યુ છે અને તેં મને કહ્યું નથી, અને આજપર્યત માંરે કાને આવ્યું નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.21.27" />એટલે ઈબ્રાહિમ અને અબીમેલેખે એક સંધિ કરી. ઇબ્રહિમે સંધિના પ્રમાંણના રૂપમાં અબીમેલેખને ઘેટાં-બકરાં અને બળદો આપ્યાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.21.28" />ઇબ્રાહિમે પ્રાણીઓના ટોળામાંથી સાત ઘેટીઓ અલગ કરીને તેમને અબીમેલેખની સામે મૂકી.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.21.29" />અબીમેલેખે ઇબ્રાહિમને પૂછયું, “તેં આ સાત ઘેટીઓ તેમને તેમ કેમ મૂકી છે? તેનો અર્થ શો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="GEN.21.30" />ઇબ્રાહિમે કહ્યું, “જયારે તમે આ સાત ઘેટીઓ માંરી પાસેથી લેશો ત્યારે આ કૂવો મેં ખોદાવ્યો છે એનો એ પુરાવો થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.21.31" />એટલા માંટે એ જગ્યાનું નામ બેર-શેબા પાડયું કારણ કે ત્યાં બંને જણે સમ ખાધા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.21.32" />આ રીતે બેર-શેબામાં અબીમેલેખે ઇબ્રાહિમ સાથે સંધિ કરી. પછી અબીમેલેખ અને તેનો સેનાપતિ ફીકોલ પલિસ્તિઓના પ્રદેશમાં પાછા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="GEN.21.33" />ઇબ્રાહિમે બેર-શેબામાં એક એશેલ ઝાડ રોપ્યું અને ત્યાં ઇબ્રાહિમે યહોવા જે સનાતન દેવ છે તેની પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="34" bcv="GEN.21.34" />અને ઇબ્રાહિમ પલિસ્તીઓની ભૂમિમાં ઘણો સમય રહ્યો.
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<c id="22" />
<s style="s">ઇબ્રાહિમ પુત્રનું બલિદાન આપવા તૈયાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.22.1" />આ બધું થઈ ગયા પછી દેવે ઇબ્રાહિમના વિશ્વાસની કસોટી કરવાનું નકકી કર્યુ. દેવે તેને કહ્યું, “ઇબ્રાહિમ!”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારે ઇબ્રાહિમે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું આ રહ્યો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="GEN.22.2" />દેવે કહ્યું, “તારા પુત્રને, તારા એકનાએક પુત્રને, જે તને વહાલો છે તે ઇસહાકને લઈને તું મોરિયા પ્રદેશમાં જા. અને ત્યાં હું કહું તે ડુંગર ઉપર તું તેનું દહનાર્પણ કર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.22.3" />તેથી ઇબ્રાહિમ સવારે વહેલો ઊઠયો અને તેણે ગધેડા પર જીન નાખ્યું. ઇબ્રાહિમે તેના પુત્ર ઇસહાક અને બે નોકરોને સાથે લીધા. ઇબ્રાહિમે યજ્ઞ માંટે લાકડાં કાપીને તૈયાર કર્યા. અને પછી દેવે કહ્યું હતું તે જગ્યાએ જવા નીકળ્યા.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.22.4" />ત્રણ દિવસના પ્રવાસ પછી ઇબ્રાહિમે ઉપર જોયું અને જે જગ્યાએ એ જતાં હતા તે જગ્યા દૂર નજરે પડી.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.22.5" />પછી ઇબ્રાહિમે પોતાના નોકરોને કહ્યું, “તમે અહીં ગધેડા પાસે રહો, હું માંરા પુત્રને તે જગ્યાએ લઈ જઈશ અને ઉપાસના વિધી કરીશ, પછી અમે પાછા આવીશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.22.6" />ઇબ્રાહિમે યજ્ઞ માંટેનાં લાકડાં લીધાં અને પોતાના પુત્ર ઇસહાકના ખભા પર ચઢાવ્યાં. અને ઇબ્રાહિમે પોતાના હાથમાં અગ્નિ અને છરો લીધો પછી ઇબ્રાહિમ અને તેનો પુત્ર બંને ઉપાસના માંટે તે જગ્યાએ એક સાથે ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.22.7" />ઇસહાકે પોતાના પિતા ઇબ્રાહિમને કહ્યું, “પિતાજી!”
</p>
<p style="p">ઇબ્રાહિમે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા, બેટા, શું છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઇસહાક બોલ્યો, “જુઓ, અગ્નિ અને લાકડાં હું જોઉં છું. પણ દહનાર્પણ માંટે ઘેટું કયાં છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.22.8" />ઇબ્રાહિમે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “બેટા, દહનાર્પણ માંટેનું ઘેટું દેવ જાતે જ આપણને પૂરું પાડશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી, તેઓ બંને આગળ વધ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.22.9" />જયારે તેઓ દેવે કહેલી જગ્યાએ આવી પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે ઇબ્રાહિમે એક વેદી તૈયાર કરી, તેના પર લાકડાં ગોઠવ્યાં અને પોતાના પુત્ર ઇસહાકને બાંધીને વેદી પરનાં લાકડાં ઉપર ચઢાવી દીધો.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.22.10" />પછી ઇબ્રાહિમે પોતાનો છરો કાઢયો અને પુત્રનો વધ કરવાની તૈયારી કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.22.11" />ત્યારે યહોવાના દૂતે ઇબ્રાહિમને રોકયો. દેવદૂતે આકાશમાંથી બોલાવ્યો. “ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇબ્રાહિમ!”
</p>
<p style="p">ઇબ્રાહિમે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જી!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.22.12" />દેવદૂતે કહ્યું, “તારા પુત્રને માંરીશ નહિ, તેને કોઇ સજા કરીશ નહિ, મેં જોયું કે, તું દેવનો આદર કરે છે અને તેની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરે છે. મેં જોઇ લીધું છે કે, તું તારા એકના એક પુત્રને માંરા માંટે બલિ ચઢાવતાં ખચકાયો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.22.13" />ઇબ્રાહિમે ઊંચી નજર કરીને જોયું તો તેની પાછળ ઝાડીમાં એક ઘેટો શિંગડા ભરાઈ જવાથી ફસાઈ ગયો હતો. ઇબ્રાહિમે તેને પકડયો અને પોતાના પુત્રને બદલે દહનાર્પણ તરીકે ચઢાવ્યો. અને ઇબ્રાહિમનો પુત્ર બચી ગયો.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.22.14" />તેથી ઇબ્રાહિમે તે જગ્યાનું નામ
<tl>યહોવા-યિરેહ</tl><f caller="+"><fr>22:14
</fr><fk>યહોવા-યિરેહ
</fk><ft>તેનો અર્થ એ છે કે “દેવ જુએ છે” અથવા યહોવા આપે છે.</ft></f> પાડયું. આજે પણ લોકો કહે છે, “આ પર્વત પર યહોવાને જોઇ શકાય છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.22.15" />યહોવાના દૂતે આકાશમાંથી બીજી વાર ઇબ્રાહિમને સાદ કરીને કહ્યું.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.22.16" />દેવદૂતે કહ્યું, “યહોવાની આ વાણી છે: હું માંરી જાતના સમ લઉં છું કે, તેં આ કામ માંરે માંટે કર્યુ છે, અને તારા પુત્રને, તારા એકના એક પુત્રને મને બલિ ચઢાવતાં તું ખચકાયો નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.22.17" />તેથી હું જરૂર તને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ. હું આકાશના તારા જેટલા, દરિયાકાંઠાની રેતી જેટલા તારા વંશજો વધારીશ. અને તારા વંશજો પોતાના દુશ્મનોને કબજે કરશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.22.18" />અને તારા વંશજો દ્વારા ધરતી પરની તમાંમ પ્રજા આશીર્વાદ પામશે, કારણ કે તેં માંરું કહ્યું માંન્યું છે અને તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.22.19" />પછી ઇબ્રાહિમ પોતાના નોકરો પાસે પાછો આવ્યો. તેઓ સાથે મળીને બેર-શેબા ગયા અને ઇબ્રાહિમ બેર-શેબામાં જ રહ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.22.20" />ત્યારબાદ ઇબ્રાહિમને ખબર મળી કે, “તારા ભાઈ નાહોરથી મિલ્કાહને પણ બાળકો થયા છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.22.21" />સૌથી મોટો પુત્ર ઉસ, તેનો ભાઈ બૂઝ, અરામનો પિતા કમુએલ.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.22.22" />કેસેદ, હઝો, પિલ્દાશ, યિદલાફ અને બથુએલ.”
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.22.23" />બથુએલ રિબકાનો પિતા હતો. ઇબ્રાહિમના ભાઈ નાહોરથી મિલ્કાહને આ આઠ સંતાનો થયા.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.22.24" />આ ઉપરાંત તેની રઉમાંહ નામની દાસીને ટેબાહ, ગાહામ, તાહાશ અને માંઆકાહ જન્મ્યા.
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</p>

<c id="23" />
<s style="s">સારાનું અવસાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.23.1" />સારા 127 વર્ષ સુધી જીવતી રહી; એનું આયુષ્ય એટલા વર્ષનું હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.23.2" />સારાનું મૃત્યુ કનાન ભૂમિમાં આવેલા કિર્યાથ-આર્બા (હેબ્રોન)માં થયું. ઇબ્રાહિમ બહુ જ દુ:ખી હતો અને તે તેણીના મૃત્યુ પર ખૂબ રડયો.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.23.3" />પછી તે મૃત પત્નીને ત્યાં છોડી તે હિત્તી લોકો સાથે વાત કરવા ગયો. તેણે કહ્યું
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.23.4" />“હું તો ફકત આ પ્રદેશમાં રહેતો મુસાફર માંત્ર છું. એટલે માંરી પાસે માંરી પત્નીને દફનાવવા માંટે કોઈ જગ્યા નથી. તેથી તમે મને કબરસ્તાન માંટે કોઈ જગ્યા તમાંરા ગામમાં આપો, કે, જેથી હું માંરી પત્નીને દફનાવું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.23.5" />હિત્તી લોકોએ ઇબ્રાહિમને જવાબ આપ્યો;
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.23.6" />“શ્રીમાંન, તમે અમાંરી વચ્ચે દેવના સૌથી મહાન આગેવાનોમાંના એક છો. અમાંરી પાસે જે જગ્યા છે તેમાંથી તમને સૌથી સારી લાગે તે જગ્યા તમાંરી પત્નીને દફનાવવા લઈ શકો છો. અમાંરામાંથી કોઈ પણ તમને તમાંરી પત્નીને દફનાવવાની ના પાડે તેમ નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.23.7" />ઇબ્રાહિમે ઊભા થઈને તે લોકોને પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.23.8" />ઇબ્રાહિમે તે લોકોને કહ્યું, “હું માંરી પત્નીને દફનાવું એમાં તમે મને મદદ કરવા ઈચ્છતા હો તો મને સાંભળો, માંરા તરફથી સોહારના પુત્ર એફ્રોનને માંરા માંટે વાત કરો:
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.23.9" />હું માંખ્પેલાહની ગુફા, જે તેની માંલિકીની છે તે ખરીદવા ઈચ્છું છું તે મને આપે. એ તેના ખેતરને છેડે આવેલી છે. હું તેની પૂરેપૂરી કિંમત આપીશ. હું ઈચ્છું છું કે, તમે લોકો તેના સાક્ષી રહો કે, હું આ જમીન તમાંરી હાજરીમાં કબરસ્તાન માંટે ખરીદી રહ્યો છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.23.10" />એફ્રોન તે લોકોની વચમાં જ બેઠેલો હતો. એફ્રોને ઇબ્રાહિમને ઉત્તર આપ્યો,
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.23.11" />“ના, શ્રીમાંન, માંરી વાત સાંભળો. હું તમને એ ખેતર અને તેમાં આવેલી ગુફા બંને આપી દઉં છું. માંરા લોકોની સાક્ષીએ હું તમને તે આપી દઉં છું. તમે તેમાં તમાંરી પત્નીને દફનાવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.23.12" />પછી ઇબ્રાહિમે હિત્તી લોકો આગળ પોતાનું માંથું નમાંવ્યું.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.23.13" />ઇબ્રાહિમે બધા લોકોની હાજરીમાં એફ્રોનને કહ્યું, “પરંતુ હું તો આ ખેતરની પૂરેપૂરી કિંમત આપવા માંગું છું. તેનો તમે સ્વીકાર કરો તો હું માંરી પત્નીને ત્યાં દફનાવી શકું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.23.14" />એફ્રોને ઇબ્રાહિમને જવાબ આપ્યો,
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.23.15" />“શ્રીમાંન, માંરી વાત સાંભળો, તમાંરી અને માંરી વચ્ચે 400 શેકેલ ચાંદીની જમીનની શી વિસાત? તમે તમાંરી પત્નીને દફનાવો.”
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.23.16" />ઇબ્રાહિમ સમજયો કે, એફ્રોન તેને જમીનની કિંમત કહી રહ્યો છે. એટલે હિત્તી લોકોને સાક્ષી માંનીને તે રકમ, એટલે કે, 400 શેકેલ ચાંદી, વેપારીઓના ચાલુ વજન પ્રમાંણે તોલી આપી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17-18" bcv="GEN.23.17" />આ પ્રમાંણે એફ્રોનના ખેતરનો માંલિક બદલાઈ ગયો. આમ, માંમરેની પૂર્વમાં માંખ્પેલાહમાં આવેલા એફ્રોનના ખેતર તેમાં આવેલી ગુફા તેમજ તેમાંના ઝાડનો કબજો ઇબ્રાહિમને આપ્યો, હિત્તી લોકોની સાક્ષીએ આ સોદો ઇબ્રાહિમને મળ્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.23.19" />એ પછી ઇબ્રાહિમે પોતાની પત્ની સારાને માંમરે (હેબ્રોન)ની નજીક આવેલા માંખ્પેલાહની ગુફામાં કનાનના પ્રદેશમાં દફનાવી.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.23.20" />પછી ખેતર અને તેમાંની ગુફાનો કબ્રસ્તાન તરીકે ઉપયોગ કરવા માંટે ઇબ્રાહિમે હિત્તી લોકો પાસેથી ખરીદી લીધું. તે હવે તેની સંપત્તિ થઈ ગઈ હતી, અને તેણે તેનો ઉપયોગ કબ્રસ્તાન તરીકે કર્યો.
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</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">ઇસહાક માંટે પત્નીની શોધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.24.1" />હવે ઇબ્રાહિમ ખૂબ વૃદ્વ થયો હતો. યહોવાએ ઇબ્રાહિમને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા અને તેના પ્રત્યેક કામમાં સફળતા પ્રદાન કરી.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.24.2" />ઇબ્રાહિમે પોતાના ઘરના જૂનામાં જૂના નોકરને બોલાવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “માંરી જાંઘ નીચે તારો હાથ મૂક.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.24.3" />હું તને આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીના દેવ યહોવાને નામે સમ દેવા ઈચ્છું છું કે, તું કનાનીઓની કોઈ પણ કન્યા સાથે માંરા પુત્રના વિવાહ થવા દઈશ નહિ. અમે લોકો કનાનીઓની વચમાં રહીએ છીએ, પરંતુ કોઈ પણ કનાની કન્યા સાથે તેના લગ્ન થવા ન દેશો.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.24.4" />તમે માંરા દેશમાં માંરાં સગાંસંબંધીઓમાં જાઓ અને ત્યાં શોધો. પછી ત્યાંથી માંરા દીકરા માંટે સ્ત્રી લાવજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.24.5" />નોકરે તેમને કહ્યું, “કદાચ તે કન્યા માંરી સાથે આ દેશમાં આવવા તૈયાર ન પણ થાય. ત્યારે માંરે તમાંરા પુત્રને તમે જે દેશમાંથી આવ્યા છો ત્યાં પાછો લઈ જવો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.24.6" />ઇબ્રાહિમે તેને કહ્યું, “ના, તું માંરા પુત્રને એ દેશમાં લઈ જઈશ નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.24.7" />યહોવા આકાશના દેવે મને માંરી જન્મભૂમિનો અને માંરા બાપના ઘરનો ત્યાગ કરાવ્યો હતો. અને જેણે સમ ખાઈને મને એવું વચન આપ્યું હતું: ‘હું તારા વંશજોને આ દેશ આપીશ.’ તે તારી આગળ તને દોરવવા તેના દૂતને ત્યાંથી માંરા પુત્ર માંટે પત્ની લાવવા મોકલશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.24.8" />પરંતુ કન્યા જો તારી સાથે આવવા તૈયાર ન હોય તો તું માંરા આ સમથી મુકત છે. પરંતુ તું માંરા પુત્રને તે દેશમાં પાછો લઈ જઈશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.24.9" />આ રીતે નોકરે પોતાના ધણી ઇબ્રાહિમની જાંધ નીચે હાથ મૂકયો અને એ પ્રકારના સમ લીધા.
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<s style="s">શોધખોળ શરુ
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.24.10" />પછી નોકરે ઇબ્રાહિમના દશ ઊંટ લીધાં. અને ધણી પાસેથી જાતજાતની સારામાં સારી ભેટસોગાદો લઈને અરામ-નાહશ-ઇમનામાં આવેલા નાહોર નગરમાં જવા નીકળી પડયો.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.24.11" />તે નગર બહાર કૂવા પાસે ગયો, ત્યારે સંધ્યાકાળે સ્ત્રીઓ ત્યાં પાણી ભરવા જતી હતી. તે વખતે તેણે શહેર બહાર કૂવા પાસે ઊંટને બેસાડયાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.24.12" />નોકરે કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, તું માંરા ધણી ઇબ્રાહિમનો દેવ છે. આજે તું માંરા ધણીના પુત્ર માંટે એક વહુ મેળવી આપ. કૃપા કરીને માંરા ધણી ઇબ્રાહિમ પર દયા કર.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.24.13" />હું આ પાણી ભરવાના કૂવા પાસે ઊભો છું અને નગરની કન્યાઓ પાણી ભરવા આવે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.24.14" />હું એક વિશિષ્ટ પ્રકારના ચિન્હની પ્રતીક્ષા કરી રહ્યો છું, જેના વડે હું જાણી શકું કે, ઇસહાકને યોગ્ય કઈ કન્યા છે. હું કન્યાને કહું કે, ‘તારો ઘડો જરા વાંકો કર, એટલે હું પાણી પી શકું.’ અને જે કન્યા કહે કે, ‘પીઓને; અને હું તમાંરાં ઊંટને પણ પાઈશ.’ તે જ તારા સેવક ઇસહાકની વહુ થવા તેં નક્કી કરેલી કન્યા હોય. આના પરથી હું જાણીશ કે, માંરા ધણી પર તારી કૃપા છે.”
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<s style="s">વહુ પ્રાપ્ત થઈ
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.24.15" />પછી નોકરની પ્રાર્થના પૂરી થતાં પહેલા જ ત્યાં રિબકા નામની કન્યા ખભા પર ઘડો લઈને આવી. રિબકા બથુએલની પુત્રી હતી. અને બથુએલ ઇબ્રાહિમના ભાઈ નાહોર અને મિલ્કાહનો પુત્ર હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.24.16" />કન્યા ખૂબ રૂપાળી હતી અને કુંવારી હતી. કોઈ પુરુષનો સ્પર્શ તેને થયો ન હતો. તે પોતાનો ઘડો ભરવા માંટે કૂવા ઉપર આવી.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.24.17" />અને જ્યારે તેણી ગાગર ભરીને પાછી આવી, નોકર તેની તરફ દોડ્યો અને બોલ્યો, “કૃપા કરીને તમાંરા ઘડામાંથી થોડું પાણી પીવા આપશો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.24.18" />રિબકાએ જલદીથી ખભા પરથી ઘડો ઉતાર્યો અને તેને પાણી પાયું. રિબકાએ કહ્યું, “શ્રીમાંન, લો આ પીઓ.”
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.24.19" />જયારે તે પાણી પીવડાવી રહી એટલે તે બોલી, “તમાંરા ઊંટ માંટે પણ તેઓ પી રહે ત્યાં સુધી હું પાણી લાવી આપીશ.”
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.24.20" />એમ કહીને તેણે ઝટપટ ઘડો હવાડામાં ઠાલવી દીધો અને ફરી ભરવા માંટે કૂવે દોડી ગઈ. અને તેણે બધાં જ ઊંટોને પાણી પીવડાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.24.21" />નોકરે ચૂપચાપ ધ્યાનથી તેને જોઈ. એ નક્કી જાણવા માંગતો હતો કે, કદાચ યહોવાએ એની વાત સ્વીકારીને તેનો પ્રવાસ સફળ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.24.22" />ઊંટો પાણી પી રહ્યાં એટલે પેલા માંણસે અર્ધા તોલા સોનાની એક વાળી અને દશ તોલા સોનાની બે બંગડીઓ પેલી યુવતીને આપી.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.24.23" />પછી નોકરે પૂછયું, “તારા પિતા કોણ છે? તારા પિતાના ઘરમાં અમે રાતવાસો કરીએ એટલી જગ્યા છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.24.24" />રિબકાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “માંરા પિતા બથુએલ છે, જે મિલ્કાહ અને નાહોરના પુત્ર છે.”
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<v id="25" bcv="GEN.24.25" />પછી તેને કહ્યું, “હા, અમાંરી પાસે તમાંરા ઊંટો માંટે પુષ્કળ ઘાસચારો છે. અને રાતવાસો કરવા માંટે જગ્યા પણ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.24.26" />નોકરે માંથું નમાંવીને યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરી.
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.24.27" />નોકરે કહ્યું, “માંરા ધણી ઇબ્રાહિમના દેવ યહોવાની પ્રશંસા થાઓ. યહોવા માંરા ધણી પ્રત્યે દયાળુ અને વફાદાર રહ્યાં છે. યહોવાએ મને માંરા ધણીના સગાઓના ઘરે દોરવ્યો છે. અને માંરા ધણીના પુત્ર માંટે યોગ્ય કન્યા તરફ દોરવ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.24.28" />પછી રિબકાએ ઘેર દોડી જઈને જે કાંઈ બન્યું હતું તે પોતાના પરિવારને જણાવ્યું,
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.24.29" />રિબકાના ભાઈનું નામ લાબાન હતું. રિબકાએ તે વ્યકિતએ જે વાત કરી હતી તે વાતો ભાઈને કહી. લાબાન તેની વાતો સાંભળી રહ્યો હતો ત્યારે,
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.24.30" />તેણે પોતાની બહેનના હાથ પર બંગડીઓ અને વાળી જોઈ, તેથી તે દોડીને પેલા માંણસને મળવા ગયો. તે માંણસ કૂવા આગળ ઉંટો પાસે ઊભો હતો.
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.24.31" />લાબાને કહ્યું, “પધારો શ્રીમાંન, આપનું સ્વાગત કરું છું, તમે અહીં બહાર કેમ ઊભા છો? મેં તમાંરા ઊંટોને માંટે એક જગ્યા તૈયાર રાખી છે, અને તમાંરા માંટે સૂવાનો ઓરડો પણ તૈયાર કરી દીધો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.24.32" />તેથી ઇબ્રાહિમનો નોકર ઘરમાં ગયો. લાબાને ઊંટના બંધનો છોડી નાખ્યા, ઊંટો માંટે ઘાસચારો આપ્યો. અને તેને અને તેના માંણસોને પગ ધોવા માંટે પાણી આપ્યું.
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<v id="33" bcv="GEN.24.33" />પછી લાબાને તેમને ખાવા માંટે ભોજન આપ્યું. પરંતુ તેણે કહ્યું, “હું શા કામે આવ્યો છું તે કહ્યાં પહેલા હું જમીશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p">લાબાન બોલ્યો, “તો કહો.”
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<s style="s">રિબકા ઇસહાકની પત્ની બની
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="GEN.24.34" />નોકરે કહ્યું, “હું ઇબ્રાહિમનો નોકર છું, યહોવાએ અમાંરા ધણી ઉપર દરેક બાબતમાં કૃપા કરી છે. માંરા ધણી મહાન વ્યકિત થઈ ગયા છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="GEN.24.35" />યહોવાએ તેમને ઘેટાંબકરાં, ઊંટો અને ગધેડાં, ઢોરઢાંખર, સોનુંરૂપું, દાસ દાસીઓ આપ્યાં છે.
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<v id="36" bcv="GEN.24.36" />માંરા ધણીની પત્ની સારાને વૃદ્વાવસ્થામાં એક પુત્ર અવતર્યો અને માંરા ધણીએ તેને બધી મિલકત સોંપી દીધી છે.
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<v id="37" bcv="GEN.24.37" />માંરા માંલિકે મને એવા સમ દીધા છે કે, ‘જે કનાનીઓના દેશમાં હું વસું છું તેમની પુત્રીઓમાંથી તારે માંરા પુત્ર માંટે સ્ત્રી લાવવી નહિ.
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<v id="38" bcv="GEN.24.38" />એટલા માંટે તારે વચન આપવું પડશે કે, તું માંરા પિતાના દેશમાં અને માંરા કુટુંબમાં જઈને ત્યાંથી માંરા પુત્ર માંટે કન્યા લાવીશ.’
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<v id="39" bcv="GEN.24.39" />મેં માંરા ધણીને કહ્યું, ‘કદાચ એમ પણ બને કે, સ્ત્રી માંરી સાથે આ દેશમાં આવવા તૈયાર ન થાય.’
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<v id="40" bcv="GEN.24.40" />પરંતુ માંરા ધણીએ કહ્યું, ‘હું યહોવાની સેવા કરું છું. અને યહોવા તારી સાથે એમનો દૂત મોકલશે, જે તમાંરી મદદ કરશે. ત્યાં તને અમાંરા લોકોમાં માંરા પુત્ર માંટે સ્ત્રી મળશે.
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<v id="41" bcv="GEN.24.41" />એ પછી તું મને આપેલા તારા વચનથી મુકત થઇશ. પરંતુ જો તું માંરા પિતાના દેશમાં જા અને તે લોકો માંરા પુત્ર માંટે કન્યા આપવાની ના પાડે તો પણ તું તારા સમથી મુકત છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="GEN.24.42" />“આજે હું આ કૂવા આગળ આવ્યો અને મેં કહ્યું, ‘હે યહોવા, માંરા ધણીના દેવ, કૃપા કરીને માંરા પ્રવાસને સફળ બનાવો.
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<v id="43" bcv="GEN.24.43" />જો હું આ કૂવા આગળ ઊભો રહું છું. હવે જે યુવાન કન્યા પાણી ભરવા આવે અને જેને હું કહું કે, “તારા ઘડામાંથી મને થોડું પાણી પા.”
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<v id="44" bcv="GEN.24.44" />અને જો તેણી મને કહે, “પાણી પીઓ, હું તમાંરાં ઊંટો માંટે પણ પાણી લાવીશ.” એ રીતે હું જાણીશ કે, તેણી માંરા ધણીના પુત્ર માંટે યહોવાએ પસંદ કરેલ યોગ્ય કન્યા છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="GEN.24.45" />“માંરી પ્રાર્થના પૂરી થતાં પહેલા જ રિબકા કૂવા પર પાણી ભરવા આવી. પાણીનો ઘડો તેના ખભા પર હતો તે ઊતારીને પાણી ભર્યું. મેં તેને કહ્યું, કૃપા કરીને મને થોડું પાણી આપો.
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<v id="46" bcv="GEN.24.46" />તેણીએ તરત જ ઘડો નમાંવ્યો અને કહ્યું, ‘પીઓ અને હું તમાંરા ઊંટો માંટે પણ પાણી લાવીશ.’ તેથી મેં પાણી પીધું અને તેણીએ માંરા ઉંટોને પણ પીવા માંટે પાણી આપ્યું.
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<v id="47" bcv="GEN.24.47" />પછી મેં એને પૂછયું, ‘તારા પિતા કોણ છે?’ એણે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, ‘માંરા પિતા બથુએલ છે. માંરા પિતાના માંતાપિતા મિલ્કાહ અને નાહોર છે.’ એટલે મેં એના નાકમાં વાળી અને હાથમાં બંગડીઓ પહેરાવી.
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<v id="48" bcv="GEN.24.48" />પછી મેં સાષ્ટાંગ પ્રણામ કર્યા અને માંરા ધણીના દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી. કારણ કે તે મને સાચા માંર્ગે દોરી લાવ્યા, જેથી હું માંરા ધણીના પુત્ર માંટે તેના ભાઈની પુત્રી પસંદ કરી શકું.
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<v id="49" bcv="GEN.24.49" />હવે તમે શું કરશો? તે કહો. શું તમે માંરા ધણી પ્રત્યે દયાળુ અને શ્રધ્ધાળુ બનશો અને તમાંરી પુત્રી તેને આપશો? કે, પછી તમાંરી પુત્રી આપવાની ના પાડશો? એ મને જણાવો, જેથી માંરે કયે રસ્તે જવું તેની ખબર પડે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="GEN.24.50" />પછી લાબાને અને બથુએલે જવાબ આપ્યો, “અમે જોઈએ છીએ કે, આ બધું યહોવાની ઈચ્છાથી થયું છે. તેથી અમે તેને બદલવા માંટે કઇ પણ કહી શકીએ નહિ.
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<v id="51" bcv="GEN.24.51" />આ રિબકા તમાંરી આગળ છે, એને લઈ જાઓ અને તમાંરા ધણીના પુત્ર સાથે પરણાવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="GEN.24.52" />ઇબ્રાહિમના નોકરે આ સાંભળ્યું અને તેણે યહોવાને સાષ્ટાંગ પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="53" bcv="GEN.24.53" />પછી તેણે પોતે જે સાથે લાવ્યો હતો તે ભેટો રિબકાને આપી. તેણે રિબકાને સોનારૂપાના દાગીના તથા સુંદર વસ્રો કાઢીને રિબકાને આપ્યાં. તેણે તેના ભાઈ અને તેની માંને કિંમતી ભેટો આપી.
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<v id="54" bcv="GEN.24.54" />તેણે અને તેની સાથેના માંણસોએ ત્યાં ખાધુંપીધું અને ત્યાં જ રાત રહ્યાં. બીજે દિવસે સવારે ઊઠયા અને બોલ્યા, “હવે અમે અમાંરા ધણીની પાસે જઈશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="55" bcv="GEN.24.55" />રિબકાની માં અને ભાઈએ કહ્યું, “રિબકાને અમાંરા લોકોની સાથે થોડા દિવસ રહેવા દો; કંઈ નહિ તો દશ દિવસ તો રહેવા દો, ત્યાર પછી તે આવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="56" bcv="GEN.24.56" />પરંતુ નોકરે તેઓને કહ્યું, “મને રોકશો નહિ, યહોવાએ માંરો પ્રવાસ સફળ બનાવ્યો છે. હવે મને જવા દો જેથી હું માંરા ધણીને જઈને મળું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="GEN.24.57" />રિબકાના ભાઈ અને માંએ કહ્યું, “અમે રિબકાને બોલાવીને પૂછીએ છીએ કે, તે શું ઈચ્છે છે?”
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<v id="58" bcv="GEN.24.58" />તેઓએ રિબકાને બોલાવી અને તેને પૂછયું, “શું તું આ માંણસ સાથે હમણા જ જવા ઈચ્છે છે?”
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<p style="p">રિબકાએ કહ્યું, “હા, હું જઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="59" bcv="GEN.24.59" />તેથી તેઓએ રિબકાને ઇબ્રાહિમના નોકર અને તેના સાથીઓ સાથે વિદાય કર્યા. રિબકાની દાસી પણ તેની સાથે ગઈ.
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<v id="60" bcv="GEN.24.60" />જયારે તે વિદાય થતી હતી ત્યારે આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા કે,
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<q style="q1">“અમાંરી બહેન, લાખો પુત્રોની માંતા થાઓ,
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા વંશજો દુશ્મનોના શહેરો કબજે કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="61" bcv="GEN.24.61" />પછી રિબકા અને તેની દાસીઓ ઊંટ પર સવાર થઈ અને નોકર તથા તેની સાથીઓની પાછળ પાછળ ચાલવા લાગી. આ રીતે નોકરે રિબકાને સાથે લીધી અને ઘેર પાછા ફરવા માંટેની યાત્રા શરુ કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="62" bcv="GEN.24.62" />તે સમયે ઇસહાકે બેર-લાહાય-રોઇ છોડી દીધું હતું અને નેગેબમાં રહેવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="63" bcv="GEN.24.63" />એક દિવસ સાંજે તે ખેતરમાં ફરવા ગયો હતો. ત્યાં તેણે આંખ ઊંચી કરીને જોયું તો ઊંટો આવતાં દેખાયાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="64" bcv="GEN.24.64" />રિબકાએ નજર કરી અને ઈસહાકને જોયો. એટલે તે ઊંટ પરથી ઊતરી પડી.
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<v id="65" bcv="GEN.24.65" />તેણે નોકરને પૂછયું, “પેલો માંણસ ખેતરમાં ફરનારો, આપણને મળવા આવે છે તે કોણ છે?”
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<p style="p">નોકરે કહ્યું, “તે માંરા ધણીનો પુત્ર છે.” એટલે રિબકાએ પોતાનો ચહેરો બુરખામાં છુપાવી દીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="66" bcv="GEN.24.66" />નોકરે ઇસહાકને જે જે બન્યું હતું તે બધું કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<v id="67" bcv="GEN.24.67" />પછી ઇસહાક રિબકાને પોતાની માંતાના તંબુમાં લઈ ગયો. તે દિવસે ઇસહાકે રિબકા સાથે વિવાહ કરી લીધા. તે તેની સાથે ખૂબ પ્રેમભાવ રાખતો હતો, તેથી તેને માંતાના મૃત્યુ પછી પણ સાંત્વન પ્રાપ્ત થયું. માંતાના મરણનું દુ:ખ તે ભૂલી શકયો.
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<s style="s">ઇબ્રાહિમનો પરિવાર
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.25.1" />પછી ઇબ્રાહિમે બીજા લગ્ન કર્યા, તેની બીજી પત્નીનું નામ કટૂરાહ હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.25.2" />કટૂરાહે ઝિમ્રાન, યોકશાન, મદાન, મિદ્યાન, યિશ્બાક અને શૂઆહને જન્મ આપ્યા. યોકશાનને શબા અને દદાન બે પુત્રો થયા.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.25.3" />અને દદાનના વંશજો આશૂરીમ, લટુશીમ અને લઉમીમ હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.25.4" />મિદ્યાનના પુત્રો એફાહ, એફેર, હનોખ, અબીદા અને એલ્દાઆહ હતા. આ બધા ઇબ્રાહિમ અને કટૂરાહના વંશજો હતા.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.25.5" />પોતાની બધી મિલકત ઇબ્રાહિમે ઇસહાકને આપી અને દાસીઓના પુત્રોને તેણે ઉપહારો આપ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.25.6" />ઇબ્રાહિમે મૃત્યુ પહેલા પોતાની દાસીઓના પુત્રોને ઇસહાકથી દૂર પૂર્વના પ્રદેશમાં મોકલી દીધા. તે પછી ઇબ્રાહિમે પોતાની બધી મિલકત ઇસહાકને આપી દીધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.25.7" />ઇબ્રાહિમ 175 વર્ષની ઉંમર સુધી જીવતો રહ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.25.8" />ઇબ્રાહિમ દિવસેને દિવસે વધુને વધુ નબળો પડતો ગયો. પછી સંતોષકારક જીવન જીવીને ખૂબ મોટી ઉંમરે તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તેને તેના પૂર્વજોની સાથે દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.25.9" />તેના પુત્ર ઇસહાકે અને ઇશ્માંએલે તેને માંમરેની પૂર્વમાં આવેલા સોહાર હિત્તીના એફ્રોનના ખેતરમાં, માંખ્પેલાહની ગુફામાં દફનાવ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.25.10" />આ એ જ ગુફા અને ખેતર છે જે ઇબ્રાહિમે હિત્તી લોકો પાસેથી ખરીદયા હતાં. ત્યાં ઇબ્રાહિમને તેની પત્ની સારા સાથે દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.25.11" />ઇબ્રાહિમના મૃત્યુ પછી દેવે તેના પુત્ર ઇસહાક પર આશીર્વાદો વરસાવ્યા અને તે બેર-લહાય-રોઇ રહેવા લાગ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.25.12" />ઇશ્માંએલના પરિવારની આ યાદી છે. ઇશ્માંએલ સારાની મિસરી દાસી હાગાર અને ઇબ્રાહિમનો પુત્ર હતો.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.25.13" />ઇશ્માંએલના પુત્રો તેમના જન્મના ક્રમ પ્રમાંણે આ છે: તેનો મોટો પુત્ર નબાયોથ હતો. પછી કેદાર,
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.25.14" />પછી આદબએલ, પછી મિબ્સામ, પછી
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.25.15" />મિશમાં, પછી દુમાંહ, અને પછી માંસ્સા, પછી હદાદ, પછી તેમાં, પછી યટુર, પછી નાફીશ, અને પછી કેદમાંહ, આ ઇશ્માંએલના પુત્રો છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.25.16" />અને એમનાં ગામો અને છાવણીઓનાં નામ એમનાં નામ પરથી જ પડયા છે. અને એ બારે વ્યકિતઓ પોતપોતાના કબીલાના આગેવાન હતા. એ બારે પુત્રો લોકોમાં બાર રાજકુમાંરો સમાંન હતા.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.25.17" />ઇશ્માંએલની ઉંમર 137 વર્ષની થઈ ત્યારે તેનું અવસાન થયું.
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.25.18" />ઇશ્માંએલના વંશજો આશૂરને રસ્તે મિસરની પૂર્વ દિશામાં હવીલાહથી શૂર સુધીની ભૂમિમાં વસ્યાં હતા. ઇશ્માંઇલના વંશજોએ તેના ભાઇના લોકો પર ધણી વખત હુમલાઓ કર્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસહાકનો પરિવાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.25.19" />આ ઇસહાકની કથા છે. ઇબ્રાહિમનો એક પુત્ર ઇસહાક હતો.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.25.20" />ઇસહાકે 40 વર્ષની વયે રિબકા સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા. રિબકા પાદાનારામની વતની હતી. તે અરામના બથુએલની પુત્રી અને અરામના લાબાનની બહેન હતી.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.25.21" />તેની પત્નીને બાળકો થતાં ન હતા. આથી ઇસહાકે તેના માંટે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી. યહોવાએ ઇસહાકની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી અને માંન્ય રાખી અને રિબકા ગર્ભવતી થઇ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.25.22" />જયારે રિબકા ગર્ભવતી હતી ત્યારે તેણીનાં ગર્ભમાં બે બાળકો થવાને કારણે તેણીએ સહન કર્યુ. ગર્ભમાં બાળકો એકબીજા સાથે ધક્કામુક્કી કરતાં, એટલે તેણી બોલી, “માંરી સાથે આવું શું કામ બની રહ્યું છે?” તેણીએ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.25.23" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તારા પેટમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બે પ્રજાઓ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">બે પરિવારોના રાજા તમાંરામાંથી જ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જન્મથી જ પરસ્પર વિરોધી એવી બે પ્રજાઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">એકબીજા કરતાં વધારે બળવાન થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોટો પુત્ર નાના પુત્રની સેવા કરશે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.25.24" />પૂરા દિવસો થતા રિબકાએ બે જોડકાં બાળકોને જન્મ આપ્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="GEN.25.25" />પ્રથમ જનીત બાળક તે લાલ હતો. તેના આખા શરીરે વાળ હતા, જાણે તેણે વાળનો ઝભ્ભો ન પહેર્યો હોય, આથી તેણીએ તેનું નામ એસાવ પાડયું.
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<v id="26" bcv="GEN.25.26" />જયારે બીજો બાળક જન્મ્યો ત્યારે તેના હાથે એસાવની એડી પકડેલી હતી, આથી તેનું નામ યાકૂબ પાડયું. એ પુત્રો જન્મ્યા, ત્યારે ઇસહાકની ઉંમર 60 વર્ષની થઈ હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.25.27" />બાળકો મોટા થયાં ત્યારે “એસાવ” કુશળ શિકારી થયો, અને તે ખેતરોમાં રહેવાનું પસંદ કરતો. જયારે યાકૂબ શાંત પ્રકૃતિનો હતો. અને તંબુઓમાં સ્થિર થઈને રહેતો હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.25.28" />ઇસહાક એસાવને ખૂબ પ્રેમ આપતો, તે તેને ખૂબ વહાલો હતો. એસાવ શિકાર કરીને જે પશુને લાવતો તેનું માંસ તે ખાતો હતો. પરંતુ યાકૂબ રિબકાને વહાલો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.25.29" />એક વખત એસાવ શિકાર કરીને પાછો ફર્યોં. તે થાકેલો હતો, ને ભૂખથી પરેશાન હતો. યાકૂબ શાક રાંધી રહ્યો હતો.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.25.30" />તેથી તેણે યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “આ લાલ શાકમાંથી મને થોડું ખાવા માંટે આપ. મને ખૂબ ભૂખ લાગી છે.” (આથી તેનું નામ અદોમ પડયું)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.25.31" />પરંતુ યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “પહેલાં તું તારો જયેષ્ઠપણાનો હક્ક મને આપ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.25.32" />એસાવે કહ્યું, “હું ભૂખથી મરવા પડયો છું. જો હું મરી જઈશ તો માંરા પિતાનું ધન પણ મને મદદ કરી શકવાનું નથી. તેથી હું તને માંરો ભાગ આપીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="GEN.25.33" />પરંતુ યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “પહેલાં તું સમ લે કે, તું મને તે આપીશ.” તેથી એસાવે યાકૂબ આગળ સમ ખાધા. અને એસાવે પોતાના પિતાની મિલકતનો પોતાનો ભાગ યાકૂબને આપ્યો અને પોતાનો પ્રથમ પુત્રનો હક્ક પણ યાકૂબને વેચી દીધો.
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<v id="34" bcv="GEN.25.34" />પછી યાકૂબ એસાવને રોટલી અને મસૂરની દાળ આપી. પછી ખાધા-પીધા પછી તે ઊઠીને ચાલ્યો ગયો. આ રીતે એસાવે એ દશાર્વ્યુ કે, તે પોતાના પ્રથમ પુત્ર હોવાના હક્કની પરવા કરતો નથી.
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</p>

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">ઇસહાકનું અબીમેલેખને અસત્ય કહેવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.26.1" />એ દેશમાં પહેલાં ઇબ્રાહિમના સમયમાં દુકાળ પડયો હતો, તે સિવાય આ બીજો દુકાળ પડયો. તેથી ઇસહાક ગેરાર નગરના પલિસ્તીઓના રાજા અબીમેલેખ પાસે ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.26.2" />યહોવાએ ઇસહાક સાથે વાત કરી. યહોવાએ ઇસહાકને કહ્યું, “મિસર જઈશ નહિ, હું તને કહું તે દેશમાં જ તું રહેજે.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.26.3" />અત્યારે તું આ જ દેશમાં રહે; હું તારી સાથે રહીશ અને તને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ. હું તને અને તારા વંશજોને બધા પ્રદેશો આપીશ. અને તારા પિતા ઇબ્રાહિમ આગળ મેં જે સમ ખાધા હતા તે પૂરા કરીશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.26.4" />હું તારા વંશજોને આકાશના અસંખ્ય તારા જેટલા વધારીશ. અને એમને આ બધા પ્રદેશો આપીશ. અને તારા વંશજોને કારણે પૃથ્વીની બધી પ્રજાઓ આશીર્વાદિત થશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.26.5" />આ હું એટલા માંટે કરીશ, કારણ કે તારા પિતા ઇબ્રાહિમે માંરી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યું અને મેં જે કહ્યું તે તેણે કર્યુ છે, માંરા આદેશો માંરા વિધિઓ અને માંરા નિયમોનું પાલન કર્યુ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.26.6" />આમ ઇસહાક ત્યાં રોકાયો અને ગેરારમાં રહેવા લાગ્યો. ત્યાંના લોકોએ તેને તેની સ્ત્રી વિષે પૂછયું ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું કે, “એ તો માંરી બહેન છે.”
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.26.7" />“રિબકા માંરી પત્ની છે.” એમ કહેવાની ઇસહાકમાં હિંમત નહોતી. તેને ડર હતો કે, લોકો તેની પત્નીને મેળવવા માંટે કદાચ તેને માંરી નાખશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.26.8" />ઠીક ઠીક પ્રમાંણમાં ત્યાં રહ્યા બાદ એક દિવસ પલિસ્તીઓના રાજા અબીમેલેખે બારીમાંથી જોયું, તો તેણે ઇસહાકને પત્ની રિબકાને લાડ લડાવતો જોયો.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.26.9" />અબીમેલેખે ઇસહાકને બોલાવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “આ સ્ત્રી તારી પત્ની છે, તેં અમને લોકોને એમ શા માંટે કહ્યું કે, એ માંરી બહેન છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઇસહાકે તેમને કહ્યું, “હું ડરતો હતો, કદાચ તમે તેણીને મેળવવા માંટે મને માંરી નાખશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.26.10" />અબીમેલેખે કહ્યું, “તેં અમાંરા લોકો માંટે આ બહુ જ ખરાબ કર્યુ છે. અમાંરામાંનો કોઈ વ્યકિત તારી પત્ની સાથે સહેજે સૂઈ ગયો હોત અને તેં અમને પાપના દોષમાં નાખ્યા હોત.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.26.11" />એટલા માંટે અબીમેલેખે બધા લોકોને ચેતવણી આપી કે, “જે કોઈ વ્યકિત આ માંણસને કે, તેની પત્નીને અડકશે તેને માંરી નાખવામાં આવશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસહાક ધનવાન બને છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.26.12" />ઇસહાકે તે પ્રદેશમાં ખેતી કરી અને તે જ વષેર્ મબલખ પાક ઉતર્યો. યહોવાએ તેના પર ધણી કૃપા કરી.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.26.13" />ઇસહાક ધનવાન બની ગયો. જયાં સુધી તે મોટો ધનવાન ન બને ત્યાં સુધી તેની સંપત્તિ વધતી જ ગઈ.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.26.14" />તેની પાસે એટલાં બધાં ઘેટાં-બકરાં અને ઢોરઢાંખર તેમજ નોકર-ચાકર હતા કે, પલિસ્તીઓ તેની ઈર્ષા કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.26.15" />અને તેથી તે લોકોએ ઇસહાકના પિતા ઇબ્રાહિમના વખતમાં તેના નોકરોએ જે કૂવાઓ ખોધ્યા હતા તે બધા કૂવાઓનો નાશ કર્યો અને તે કૂવાઓને માંટીથી પૂરી દીધા.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.26.16" />અબીમેલેખે ઇસહાકને કહ્યું, “તું અમાંરો દેશ છોડી જા, તું અમાંરા લોકો કરતાં વધારે બળવાન થઈ ગયો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.26.17" />તેથી ઇસહાકે તે જગ્યા છોડી દીધી અને ગેરારની નાની નદીના કાંઠે સપાટ પ્રદેશમાં મુકામ કર્યો, અને ત્યાં જ રહેવા ગ્યો.
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.26.18" />ઇસહાકે તેના પિતા ઇબ્રાહિમના સમયમાં જે કૂવાઓ ખોદાવ્યા હતા તે ફરીથી ખોદાવ્યા. કારણ કે ઇબ્રાહિમના મૃત્યુ પછી પલિસ્તીઓએ તે કૂવાઓ માંટીથી પૂરી દીધા હતા. અને ઇસહાકે તે કૂવાઓનાં નામ તેના પિતાએ જે પાડયાં હતાં તે જ રાખ્યાં.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.26.19" />ઇસહાકના નોકરોએ નાની નદીની પાસે એક કૂવો ખોદ્યો. તે કૂંવામાંથી એક પાણીનો ઝરો મળી આવ્યો.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.26.20" />ત્યારે ત્યાં ગેરારના ગોવાળોએ ઇસહાકના ગોવાળો સાથે ઝઘડો કર્યો અને કહેવા લાગ્યા, “આ પાણી અમાંરું છે.” તેથી ઇસહાકે તે કૂવાનું નામ એસેક પાડયું. કારણ કે તે જગ્યા પર તે લોકોએ ઝઘડો કર્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.26.21" />પછી ઇસહાકના નોકરોએ બીજો કૂવો ખોધ્યો. ત્યાંના લોકોએ તે કૂવા માંટે પણ ઝગડો કર્યો, તેથી તેનું નામ તેણે સિટનાહ રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.26.22" />પછી ત્યાંથી દૂર જઈને બીજો કૂવો ખોધ્યો, તે કૂવા માંટે કોઈ ઝગડો કરવા આવ્યું નહિ તેથી તેણે તેનું નામ “રહોબોથ” રાખ્યું અને કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ અમાંરા માંટે આ જગ્યા નક્કી કરી છે. અમે પ્રગતિ કરીશું. અને આ ભૂમિમાં અમને લાભ મળશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.26.23" />આ જગ્યાએથી ઈસહાક બેર-શેબા ગયો.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.26.24" />ત્યાં તે જ રાત્રે યહોવાએ તેને દર્શન આપીને કહ્યું, “હું તારા પિતા ઇબ્રાહિમનો દેવ છું. ડરીશ નહિ, હું તારી સાથે જ છું અને હું તને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ. હું તારા વંશજોની વૃદ્વિ કરીશ. હું માંરા સેવક ઇબ્રાહિમના માંટે આ બધું કરીશ.”
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<v id="25" bcv="GEN.26.25" />એથી ઇસહાકે તે સ્થળે એક વેદી બનાવડાવી અને યહોવાના નામે પ્રાર્થના કરી. ઇસહાકે ત્યાં મુકામ કર્યો, અને ત્યાં તેના નોકરોએ એક કૂવો ખોધ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.26.26" />પછી અબીમેલેખ ગેરારથી ઇસહાકને મળવા આવ્યો, તે તેની સાથે પોતાના સલાહકાર અહુઝાથ અને પોતાના સેનાપતિ ફીકોલને પણ લાવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.26.27" />ઇસહાકે તેમને પૂછયું, “તમે મને મળવા કેમ આવ્યા છો? પહેલા તો તમે માંરી સાથે મિત્રતા રાખતા નહોતા, તમે તો મને માંરા દેશમાંથી કાઢી મૂકયો હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.26.28" />તેઓએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હવે અમે લોકોએ જાણ્યું છે કે, યહોવા તમાંરી સાથે છે. એટલે અમે ઈચ્છીએ છીએ કે, તમે અમાંરી સાથે કરાર કરો.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.26.29" />અમે લોકોએ તમાંરું કોઈ નુકસાન કર્યુ નહોતું, હવે તમાંરે સમ ખાવા જોઈએ કે, અમને લોકોને કોઈ નુકસાન કરશો નહિ. અમે લોકોએ તમને શાંતિથી સહીસલામત રીતે વિદાય કર્યા છે. અને હવે એ સ્પષ્ટ છે કે, યહોવાએ તમને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="GEN.26.30" />તેથી ઇસહાકે તેઓને મિજબાની આપી. બધાએ ખાધું ને પીધું.
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.26.31" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે વહેલા ઊઠીને તેમણે અરસપરસ સમ ખાધા; પછી ઇસહાકે તેમને શાંતિથી વિદાય કર્યા. તેઓ ક્ષેમકુશળ મિત્રભાવે જુદા પડયાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.26.32" />તે જ દિવસે ઇસહાકના નોકરોએ આવીને પોતે જે કૂવો ખોદ્યો હતો તેની વાત કરી અને કહ્યું, “અમને કૂવામાંથી પીવા માંટે પાણી મળ્યું છે.”
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<v id="33" bcv="GEN.26.33" />ઇસહાકે એનું નામ શિબાહ પાડયું. આથી એ શહેર આજપર્યંત બેર-શેબા કહેવાય છે.
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<s style="s">એસાવની પત્નીઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="GEN.26.34" />જયારે એસાવ 40 વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તેણે હિત્તી બએરીની દીકરી યહૂદીથ અને હિત્તી એલોનની દીકરી બાસમાંથ સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા.
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<v id="35" bcv="GEN.26.35" />આ લગ્નોએ ઇસહાક અને રિબકાને ખૂબ દુ:ખી કરી મૂકયાં.
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<s style="s">યાકૂબનું ઇસહાકથી છળ કપટ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.27.1" />જયારે ઈસહાક વૃદ્વ થયો, ત્યારે તેની આંખોની દૃષ્ટિ નબળી પડી અને તેને કઇં પણ ચોખ્ખું દેખાતું ન હતું. એક દિવસ તેણે તેના મોટા પુત્ર એસાવને બોલાવ્યો. ઈસહાકે કહ્યું, “માંરા દીકરા.”
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<p style="p">ઈસહાકને એસાવે જવાબ આપ્યો, “જી, પિતાજી, હું આ રહ્યો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="GEN.27.2" />ઇસહાકે કહ્યું, “જુઓ, હું વૃદ્વ થઈ ગયો છું. હવે હું જલ્દી મરી જઇશ,
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.27.3" />એટલે તું તારાં હથિયાર, બાણો અને ધનુષ્ય લે અને જંગલમાં જઈને માંરે માંટે શિકાર કરીને કંઈક લાવ.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.27.4" />અને મને ભાવતી સ્વાદિષ્ટ વાનગી બનાવીને માંરા માંટે લઈ આવ. જેથી હું ખાઉં અને મરતાં પહેલાં તને આશીર્વાદ આપું.”
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.27.5" />એટલે એસાવ શિકાર કરવા ગયો.
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<p style="p">રિબકાએ તે વાતો સાંભળી હતી, જે ઇસહાકે પોતાના પુત્ર એસાવ સાથે કરી હતી.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.27.6" />રિબકાએ તેના પુત્ર યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “સાંભળ, મેં તારા પિતાને તારા ભાઈ સાથે વાતો કરતાં સાંભળ્યા છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.27.7" />તારા પિતાએ કહ્યું, ‘માંરા ખાવા માંટે શિકાર કરીને કંઈક લઈ આવ, અને સ્વાદિષ્ટ ભોજન તૈયાર કર, જેથી હું ખાઉં અને મરતાં પહેલાં દેવની સાક્ષીએ તને આશીર્વાદ આપું.’
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.27.8" />એટલા માંટે હવે માંરા પુત્ર, હું તને કહું તે પ્રમાંણે કર.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.27.9" />આપણી બકરીઓનાં ઝુંડમાં જા અને બે સરસ લવારાં માંરી પાસે લઈ આવ. જેથી હું તેમાંથી તારા પિતાને ભાવતી સ્વાદિષ્ટ વાનગી બનાવીશ.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.27.10" />પછી તું તે તારા પિતાની આગળ લઈ જજે, જેથી તે ખાઈને મરતાં પહેલાં તને આશીર્વાદ આપે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.27.11" />પરંતુ યાકૂબે પોતાની માંતા રિબકાને કહ્યું, “પરંતુ માંરા ભાઈ એસાવને તો આખા શરીરે વાળ છે, અને માંરું શરીર વાળ વગરનું છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.27.12" />કદાચ માંરા પિતા જો મને અડકશે તો જાણી જશે કે, હું એસાવ નથી. પછી તે મને આશીર્વાદ આપશે નહિ. તે મને શાપ આપશે કારણકે, મેં તેમને છેતરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.27.13" />તેથી રિબકાએ તેને કહ્યું, “કોઈ મુશ્કેલી ઊભી થશે તો તે હું માંરા માંથે લઈ લઇશ. હું જે કહું છું તે કર. જા, અને માંરા માંટે બે લવારાં લઈ આવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.27.14" />એટલે યાકૂબ બહાર ગયો. તેણે બે બકરીઓ પકડી. અને તે તેને તેની માંતા પાસે લાવ્યો. રિબકાએ ઇસહાકની પસંદગી પ્રમાંણે સ્વાદિષ્ટ વાનગી બનાવી.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.27.15" />પછી રિબકાએ તે પોષાક જે તેનો મોટો પુત્ર એસાવ પહેરવા માંટે પસંદ કરતો હતો, તે લઈને પોતાના નાના પુત્ર યાકૂબને પહેરાવ્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.27.16" />અને લવારાંની ખાલ યાકૂબના હાથ પર અને તેની ડોકીના સુંવાળા ભાગ પર ઢાંકી દીધી.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.27.17" />પછી તેણે પોતે તૈયાર કરેલી પેલી સ્વાદિષ્ટ વાનગી અને રોટલી પોતાના પુત્ર યાકૂબના હાથમાં આપી.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.27.18" />યાકૂબે તેના પિતા પાસે જઈને કહ્યું, “પિતાજી!”
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<p style="p">ઇસહાકે, પૂછયું, “શું છે બેટા? તું કોણ છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.27.19" />યાકૂબે પોતાના પિતાને કહ્યું, “હું તમાંરો મોટો પુત્ર એસાવ છું, તમે જે કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે મેં કર્યુ છે. હવે તમે બેઠા થાઓ, અને મેં જે શિકાર તમાંરા માંટે કર્યો છે તેની વાનગી ખાઈને મને આશીર્વાદ આપો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.27.20" />પરંતુ ઇસહાકે પોતાના પુત્રને કહ્યું, “બેટા, તને આટલો જલદી કેવી રીતે શિકાર મળી ગયો?”
</p>
<p style="p">યાકૂબે જવાબ આપ્યો, “કારણ કે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ મને જલદીથી શિકાર ઉપલબ્ધ કરાવ્યો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.27.21" />પછી ઇસહાકે યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “બેટા, માંરી પાસે આવ, જેથી હું તારો સ્પર્શ કરી શકું અને જાણી શકું કે, તું માંરો પુત્ર એસાવ છે કે, નહિ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.27.22" />યાકૂબ તેના પિતા ઇસહાક પાસે ગયો. ઇસહાકે, તેનો સ્પર્શ કર્યો અને કહ્યું, “તારો અવાજ તો યાકૂબના અવાજ જેવો જ છે. પરંતુ તારા હાથ તો એસાવના રૂવાંટીવાળા હાથ જેવા જ છે.”
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.27.23" />ઇસહાકને એ ખબર ના પડી કે, આ યાકૂબ છે, કારણ કે તેના હાથ એસાવના હાથની જેમ રૂવાંટીવાળા હતા. તેથી ઇસહાકે, યાકૂબને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.27.24" />ઇસહાકે કહ્યું, “શું, તું ખરેખર માંરો પુત્ર એસાવ જ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">યાકૂબે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હાજી!”
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</p>
<s style="s">યાકૂબ માંટે આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.27.25" />પછી ઇસહાકે કહ્યું, “ખાવાનું લાઓ. હું તે ખાઈશ અને તને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ.” એથી યાકૂબે તેમને ખાવાનું આપ્યું અને તેમણે ખાધું. પછી તેણે દ્રાક્ષારસ આપ્યો, અને તેણે તે પીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.27.26" />પછી ઈસહાકે તેને કહ્યુ, “પુત્ર, માંરી પાસે આવ, અને મને ચુંબન કર.”
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.27.27" />તેથી યાકૂબ પોતાના પિતાની પાસે ગયો અને ચુંબન કર્યુ. ઇસહાકે, એસાવનાં વસ્રોની ગંધ પારખી અને તેને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા. ઇસહાકે કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“અરે! માંરા પુત્રના શરીરની વાસ તો યહોવાએ આશીર્વાદ આપેલા ખેતરની વાસ જેવી છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.27.28" />દેવ તારા માંટે આકાશમાંથી ઝાકળ વરસાવો. જેથી તમને મબલખ પાક અને દ્રાક્ષારસ મળે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.27.29" />બધા લોકો તમાંરી સેવા કરે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાષ્ટ તમાંરી શરણે આવે, તમે તમાંરા ભાઈઓ ઉપર શાસન કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી માંતાના પુત્રો તારા ચરણોમાં નમે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિત જે તમને શાપ આપશે તે શાપ તેના પર ઊતરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે વ્યકિત આશીર્વાદ આપશે, તે આશીર્વાદ પામશે.”
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</q>
<s style="s">એસાવને “આશીર્વાદ”
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="GEN.27.30" />ઇસહાકે યાકૂબને આશીર્વાદ આપવાના પૂરા કર્યા. પછી તરત જ યાકૂબ પિતા ઇસહાક પાસેથી ચાલ્યો ગયો. તે જ સમયે એસાવ શિકાર કરીને અંદર આવ્યો.
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.27.31" />એસાવે પોતાના પિતાની પસંદગીનું વિશિષ્ટ ભોજન બનાવીને પોતાના પિતા પાસે મૂકયું. તેણે તેના પિતાને કહ્યું, “પિતાજી, ઊઠો અને ભોજન કરો. તમાંરા પુત્રએ તમાંરા માંટે શિકાર કર્યો છે, તે જમો. પછી તમે મને આશીર્વાદ આપી શકો છો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.27.32" />પરંતુ ઇસહાકે તેને કહ્યું, “તું કોણ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું આપનો મોટો પુત્ર એસાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="GEN.27.33" />પછી ઇસહાક ખળભળી ઊઠયો, તેણે પૂછયું, “તો પછી તું આવ્યો તે પહેલાં શિકાર કરીને માંરી આગળ લઈ આવ્યો તે કોણ? મેં તો ખાઈને તેને આશીર્વાદ પણ આપ્યો! આશીર્વાદને પાછો ખેંચવાનો સમય તો જતો રહ્યો. અને એ તો હવે કાયમ જ રહેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="GEN.27.34" />એસાવે પોતાના પિતાનાં વચનો સાંભળ્યા. તેનું મન કડવાશ અને ગુસ્સાથી ભરાઈ ગયું. તેણે ખૂબ મોટેથી કારમી બૂમ પાડીને પોતાના પિતાને કહ્યું, “પિતાજી, તો પછી મને પણ આશીર્વાદ આપો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="GEN.27.35" />ઇસહાકે કહ્યું, “તારા ભાઈએ માંરી સાથે છળ કરીને તારા આશીર્વાદ લઈ ગયો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="GEN.27.36" />એસાવે કહ્યું, “એનું નામ જ યાકૂબ કપટી છે. તે નામ તેને યોગ્ય છે. તેને એ નામ બરાબર આપવામાં આવ્યું છે. તેણે માંરી સાથે બે વાર કપટ કર્યુ છે; તેણે માંરો જ્યેષ્ઠપુત્ર તરીકેનો હક્ક તો લઈ જ લીધો હતો અને હવે માંરે લેવાના આશીર્વાદ પણ તેણે લઈ જ લીધા. શું તમે માંરા માંટે કોઈ આશીર્વાદ રાખ્યા છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="GEN.27.37" />ઇસહાકે જવાબ આપ્યો, “નાજી, હવે તો ઘણું મોડું થઇ ગયું છે. મેં યાકૂબને તારા પર શાસન કરવાનો અધિકાર આપી દીધો છે. મેં એમ પણ કહી દીધું છે કે, બધા ભાઇઓ એના સેવક બનશે. મેં તેને પુષ્કળ અનાજ અને દ્રાક્ષારસની જોગવાઇના આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા છે. બેટા, તને આપવા માંટે હવે માંરી પાસે કશું જ રહ્યું નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="GEN.27.38" />પરંતુ એસાવ પોતાના પિતા પાસે માંગતો જ રહ્યો, “પિતાજી, શું તમાંરી પાસે એક પણ આશીર્વાદ નથી? પિતાજી, મને પણ આશીર્વાદ આપો.” એમ કહીને એસાવ મોટા સાદે રડવા લાગ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="GEN.27.39" />પછી ઇસહાકે તેને કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તારો વાસ સારી ફળદ્રુપ ભૂમિ પર નહિ હોય, જયાં જમીન ફળતી નહિ હોય અને આકાશમાંથી ઝાકળ પણ વરસતું નહિ હોય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી પાસે વધારે અનાજ પણ નહિ હોય.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="GEN.27.40" />તારે જીવવા માંટે સંઘર્ષ કરવો પડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે તારા ભાઈનો સેવક બની જવું પડશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ તું સ્વતંત્રતા માંટે લડીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની ઝૂંસરી ફગાવીને મુકત થઈ જઈશ.”
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</q>
<s style="s">યાકૂબ પત્નીની શોધમાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="GEN.27.41" />તે પછી આ આશીર્વાદને કારણે એસાવ યાકૂબની ઘૃણા કરતો રહ્યો. તેણે મનોમન વિચાર્યુ, “માંરા પિતા જલદીથી મૃત્યુ પામશે અને હું તેનો શોક મનાવીશ. પરંતુ તે પછી હું યાકૂબને માંરી નાખીશ.” એસાવના મનમાં યાકૂબ પ્રત્યે વેરવૃત્તિ જાગી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="GEN.27.42" />રિબકાને એસાવ દ્વારા યાકૂબને માંરી નાખવાના ષડયંત્રની જાણ થઈ. તેણે યાકૂબને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “સાંભળ, તારો ભાઈ એસાવ તને માંરી નાખવાનું ષડયંત્ર કરી રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="43" bcv="GEN.27.43" />તેથી હવે, હે પુત્ર, હું કહું તેમ કરજે, માંરો ભાઈ લાબાન હારાનમાં રહે છે. તેની પાસે જા અને ત્યાં છુપાઈને રહે.
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<v id="44" bcv="GEN.27.44" />તારા ભાઈનો ક્રોધ ના શમે ત્યાં સુધી થોડો સમય તું તેની પાસે રહે.
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<v id="45" bcv="GEN.27.45" />થોડા સમય પછી તેં જે કાંઈ કર્યુ છે તે તારો ભાઈ ભૂલી જશે પછી હું તને તેડાવી લઈશ. હું એક જ દિવસે તમને બન્નેને ગુમાંવવા માંગતી નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="GEN.27.46" />પછી રિબકાએ ઇસહાકને કહ્યું, “તારા પુત્ર એસાવે હિત્તી કન્યાઓ સાથે વિવાહ કરી લીધા છે. હું એ સ્ત્રીઓથી કંટાળી ગઈ છું. કારણ કે તેઓ આપણા લોકોમાંની નથી. અને જો યાકૂબ પણ આ કન્યાઓમાંથી કોઈ એકની સાથે વિવાહ કરશે તો પછી માંરે તો મરવા સિવાય કોઈ રસ્તો નહિ રહે.”
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</p>

<c id="28" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.28.1" />ઇસહાકે યાકૂબને બોલાવીને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા. પછી તેને આદેશ આપીને કહ્યું, “તારે કોઈ કનાની કન્યા સાથે વિવાહ કરવાના નથી.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.28.2" />તેથી તું આ સ્થળ છોડીને પાદૃાનારામ જા, તારા દાદા બથુએલને ત્યાં જા. જયાં તારા માંમાં લાબાન રહે છે. તેમની પુત્રીઓમાંથી કોઈ એક સાથે તું વિવાહ કર.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.28.3" />હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે, સર્વસમર્થ દેવ તને આશીર્વાદ આપો અને તમને ઘણા પુત્રો આપે. અને તારો વંશવેલો એટલો વધારો કે, તારામાંથી અનેક પ્રજાઓ પેદા થાય.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.28.4" />હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે, જે પ્રમાંણે દેવે ઇબ્રાહિમને વરદાન આપ્યું હતું તે જ પ્રમાંણે તમને પણ આશીર્વાદ આપે. હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે, દેવ તમને ઇબ્રાહિમના આશીર્વાદ આપે. તે તને અને તારી ભાવિપેઢીને આ જગ્યા કે, જયાં તમે પરદેશીની જેમ રહો છો તેને સદાને માંટે તમાંરી સંપત્તિ બનાવી દે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.28.5" />આ રીતે ઇસહાકે યાકૂબને પાદૃાનારામમાંના પ્રદેશમાં મોકલ્યો, યાકૂબ ત્યાં તેના માંમાંને ત્યાં ગયો. અરામી બથુએલ, લાબાન અને રિબકાનો પિતા હતો. અને રિબકા યાકૂબ અને એસાવની માંતા હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.28.6" />એસાવને ખબર પડી કે, તેના પિતા ઇસહાકે યાકૂબને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા છે અને તેમણે યાકૂબને પાદૃાનારામમાં પત્નીની શોધ માંટે મોકલ્યો છે. અને એસાવને એ પણ ખબર પડી ગઈ કે, ઇસહાકે યાકૂબને આદેશ આપ્યો છે કે, તે કનાની કન્યા સાથે લગ્ન ન કરે.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.28.7" />આથી એસાવ સમજયો કે, યાકૂબ પોતાનાં માંતાપિતાનું કહ્યું માંનીને પાદ્દાનારામ ચાલ્યો ગયો છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.28.8" />તે પરથી એસાવે વિચાર્યુ કે, તેના પિતા એવું ઈચ્છતા નથી કે, તેમનો પુત્ર કનાની સ્ત્રી સાથે લગ્ન કરે.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.28.9" />એસાવને પહેલાની બે પત્નીઓ તો હતી, પરંતુ તેણે ઇશ્માંએલની પુત્રી નબાયોથની બહેન માંહાલાથ સાથે વિવાહ કર્યા. (ઇશ્માંએલ ઇબ્રાહિમનો પુત્ર હતો.)
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<s style="s">દેવનું ઘર બેથેલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.28.10" />યાકૂબે બેર-શેબા છોડયું અને ત્યાંથી તે હારાન તરફ ગયો.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.28.11" />યાત્રા સમયે સૂર્યાસ્ત થઈ ગયો હોવાથી તે એક જગ્યાએ રાતવાસો કરવા માંટે રોકાયો. યાકૂબે ત્યાં એક પથ્થર જોયો, તેથી સૂઈ જવા માંટે તેના પર માંથું મૂકયું.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.28.12" />યાકૂબને એક સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું; તેણે જોયું કે, એક સીડી પૃથ્વી પર મૂકેલી છે, જેની ટોચ આકાશ સુધી પહોંચે છે,
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.28.13" />અને યાકૂબે જોયું તો દેવદૂતો સીડી ઉપરથી ચઢતા-ઊતરતા હતા. અને યહોવા સીડી પાસે ઊભા હતા. યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “હું તમાંરા પિતા ઇબ્રાહિમનો દેવ યહોવા છું. હું ઇસહાકનો દેવ છું. જે જમીન પર તું સૂતો છે તે જમીન હું તને અને તારા વંશજોને આપીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.28.14" />પૃથ્વી પર માંટીના જેટલાં રજકણ છે તેટલા તારા વંશજો હશે. તેઓ પૂર્વ-પશ્ચિમ તથા ઉત્તર દક્ષિણમાં ફેલાશે. અને તારા તથા તારા વંશજોને કારણે પૃથ્વી પરની બધી પ્રજાઓ આશીર્વાદ પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.28.15" />“હું તમાંરી સાથે છું અને હું તમાંરું રક્ષણ કરીશ. તમે જયાં જશો ત્યાંથી હું તમને પાછો આ ભૂમિ પર લઈ આવીશ. મેં તને જે કરવાનું વચન આપ્યું છે તે જયાં સુધી પૂરું નહિ કરી લઉં ત્યાં સુધી હું તારો સાથ છોડવાનો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.28.16" />પછી યાકૂબ ઊંઘમાંથી જાગ્યો અને બોલ્યો, “મને ખબર છે કે, યહોવા આ જગ્યા પર છે. પરંતુ જયાં સુધી હું અહીં સૂતો ન હતો, ત્યાં સુધી જાણતો નહોતો કે, તે અહીં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.28.17" />યાકૂબને બીક લાગી, તેણે કહ્યુ, “આ તો કોઈ મહાન જગ્યા છે. આ તો દેવનું ઘર છે. આ તો આકાશનું દ્વાર છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.28.18" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે યાકૂબ વહેલો ઊઠયો, અને જે પથ્થર તેને માંથા નીચે મૂકયો હતો તે ઊઠાવ્યો. અને તેને સ્માંરકસ્તંભ તરીકે ઊભો મૂકી દીધો. પછી તેણે તેના પર તેલ રેડ્યું. આ રીતે તેણે આ પથ્થરને દેવનો સ્માંરક સ્તંભ બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.28.19" />આ જગ્યાનું નામ પહેલાં લૂઝ હતું પરંતુ યાકૂબે તે જગ્યાનું નામ બેથેલ પાડયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.28.20" />પછી યાકૂબે એક પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી. તેણે કહ્યું, “જો દેવ માંરી સાથે રહેશે, અને હું પ્રવાસમાં જયાં જયાં જાઉં ત્યાં દેવ માંરી રક્ષા કરશે અને મને ખાવાને અન્ન અને પહેરવાને વસ્રો આપશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.28.21" />જેથી હું માંરા પિતાને ઘેર સુરક્ષિત પાછો આવીશ. તો યહોવાને હું માંરા દેવ માંનીશ.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.28.22" />આ જગ્યા પર જયાં મેં પથ્થર ઊભો કર્યો છે, તે જગ્યા પવિત્ર સ્થાન બનશે. અને દેવ તું મને જે કાંઈ આપશે તેનો દશમો ભાગ હું તને અર્પણ કરીશ.”
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<c id="29" />
<s style="s">યાકૂબને છળતો લાબાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.29.1" />પછી યાકૂબે પોતાનો પ્રવાસ ચાલુ રાખ્યો, તે પૂર્વના લોકોના પ્રદેશમાં પહોંચ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.29.2" />યાકૂબે એક નજર કરી, તો ત્યાં તેણે વગડામાં એક કૂવો જોયો. અને કૂવા પાસે ઘેટાંનાં ત્રણ ટોળાં હતાં. એ કૂવામાંથી ઘેટાંનાં ટોળાને પાણી પીવડાવવામાં આવતું હતું. એક મોટા પથ્થરથી કૂવાનું મોઢું ઢાંકેલું હતું.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.29.3" />અને જયારે બધાં ઘેટાં ભેગાં થઈ જતાં ત્યારે ઘેટાંપાળકો કૂવાના મોં પરથી પથ્થર હટાવતા હતા. પછી બધાં ઘેટાં તેનું પાણી પી શકતાં હતાં. જયારે બધાં ઘેટાં પાણી પી લેતાં એટલે ઘેટાંપાળકો કૂવાના મોં પર ફરીથી પથ્થર ઢાંકી દેતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.29.4" />યાકૂબે ઘેટાંપાળકોને પૂછયું, “ભાઈઓ, તમે લોકો કયાંથી આવો છો?”
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<p style="p">તેઓએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “અમે હારાનના છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.29.5" />પછી યાકૂબે પૂછયું, “શું તમે લોકો નાહોરના પુત્ર લાબાનને ઓળખો છો?”
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<p style="p">ગોવાળિયાઓએ કહ્યું, “અમે લોકો તેને ઓળખીએ છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.29.6" />પછી યાકૂબે પૂછયું, “તે કુશળ તો છે ને?”
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<p style="p">તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તેઓ કુશળ છે. બધુ જ સરસ છે. જુઓ, પેલી તેની પુત્રી રાહેલ તેનાં ઘેટાં સાથે આવી રહી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.29.7" />યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “જુઓ, હજુ દિવસ છે અને સૂર્યાસ્ત થવાને હજુ ધણી વાર છે. રાતને માંટે ઢોરોને એકઠાં કરવાનો વખત થયો નથી. તેથી તેને પાણી પાઈને ફરીથી મેદાનમાં ચરવા માંટે જવા દો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.29.8" />પરંતુ તે ઘેટાંપાળકે કહ્યું, “જયાંસુધી બધાં ઘેટાંનાં ટોળાં ભેગા થાય નહિ ત્યાં સુધી અમે એમ કરી શકીએ નહિ, બધા ટોળાં ભેગાં થાય તે પછી જ કૂવાના મુખ પરથી પથ્થર હઠાવીશું અને બધા ઘેટાં પાણી પીશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.29.9" />યાકૂબ ઘેટાંપાળકો સાથે વાત કરતો હતો ત્યારે જ રાહેલ પોતાનાં પિતાનાં ઘેટાં સાથે આવી. (રાહેલનું કામ ઘેટાં ચારવાનું હતું.)
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.29.10" />રાહેલ લાબાનની પુત્રી હતી. લાબાન રિબકાનો ભાઈ હતો. અને રિબકા યાકૂબની માંતા હતી. જયારે યાકૂબે રાહેલને જોઈ, ત્યારે તેણે કૂવા પરનો પથ્થર હઠાવ્યો અને ઘેટાંઓને પાણી પાયું.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.29.11" />પછી યાકૂબ રાહેલને ચૂમીને પોક મૂકીને રડ્યો.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.29.12" />પછી યાકૂબે રાહેલને જણાવ્યું કે, હું તારા પિતાના પરિવારનો છું અને રિબકાનો પુત્ર યાકૂબ છું. એટલે રાહેલ દોડતી ઘરે ગઈ અને પિતાને આ બધી વાત કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.29.13" />લાબાને પોતાની બહેનના પુત્ર યાકૂબના સમાંચાર સાંભળ્યા, તેથી તે ભાણેજને મળવા માંટે દોડયો. અને તેને ભેટી પડયો, ચુંબન કરવા લાગ્યો અને પોતાને ઘેર લઈ આવ્યો. યાકૂબે જે કાંઈ થયું હતું તે બધુંજ લાબાનને કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.29.14" />પછી લાબાને કહ્યું, “આશ્ચર્ય! તમે અમાંરા પરિવારના છો!” તેથી યાકૂબ લાબાન સાથે એક મહિના સુધી રહ્યો.
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<s style="s">લાબાનનો યાકૂબ સાથે દગો
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.29.15" />એક દિવસ લાબાને યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “તું અમાંરે ત્યાં મફતમાં કામ કરતો રહે તે શું યોગ્ય છે? તમે સંબંધી છો, ગુલામ નહિ, બોલો, હું તમને શી મજૂરી આપું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.29.16" />લાબાનને બે પુત્રીઓ હતી. મોટીનું નામ “લેઆહ” અને નાનીનું નામ રાહેલ હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.29.17" />રાહેલ સુંદર હતી અને લેઆહની આંખો સૌમ્ય હતી.<f caller="+"><fr>29:17
</fr><fk>લેઆહની આંખો સૌમ્ય હતી
</fk><ft>તેમ કહેવાનો સારો રસ્તો એ છે કે તે લેઆહ બહુ સુંદર નહોતી.</ft></f>
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.29.18" />યાકૂબ રાહેલને પ્રેમ કરતો હતો. યાકૂબે લાબાનને કહ્યું, “જો તમે તમાંરી નાની પુત્રી રાહેલને માંરી સાથે પરણાવો, તો હું તમાંરે માંટે સાત વર્ષ સુધી કામ કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.29.19" />લાબાને કહ્યું, “હું એને બીજા કોઈની સાથે પરણાવું તેના કરતાં તારી સાથે પરણાવું તે એના માંટે સારું છે. તેથી માંરી સાથે રહો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.29.20" />એટલા માંટે યાકૂબ ત્યાં રહ્યો. અને સાત વર્ષ સુધી લાબાન માંટે કામ કરતો રહ્યો. છતાં એ સાત વરસ તેને સાત દિવસ જેવા લાગ્યા, કારણ કે તે રાહેલને ખૂબ પ્રેમ કરતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.29.21" />સાત વર્ષ પછી તેણે લાબાનને કહ્યું, “હવે મને રાહેલ સોંપી દો, જેથી હું તેની સાથે લગ્ન કરું. તમાંરે ત્યાં કામ કરવાની માંરી મુદત પૂરી થઈ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.29.22" />તેથી લાબાને તે પ્રદેશના બધા લોકોને ભેગા કર્યા અને ભોજન આપ્યું.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.29.23" />તે રાત્રે લાબાન પોતાની પુત્રી લેઆહને યાકૂબ પાસે લાવ્યો. યાકૂબે અને લેઆહએ પરપસ્પર શારીરિક સંબંધ બાંધ્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.29.24" />લાબાને પોતાની દાસી ઝિલ્પાહ લેઆહને દાસી તરીકે આપી.
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<v id="25" bcv="GEN.29.25" />સવારે યાકૂબે જોયુ કે, તે લેઆહ સાથે સૂતો હતો. યાકૂબે લાબાનને કહ્યું, “તેં માંરી સાથે છળ કર્યુ છે, હું રાહેલ સાથે લગ્ન કરી શકું તે માંટે મેં તમાંરે ત્યાં કેવો સખત પરિશ્રમ કર્યો છે! તમે મને શા માંટે છેતર્યો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.29.26" />લાબાને કહ્યું, “અમાંરા દેશમાં મોટી પુત્રી પહેલાં નાની પુત્રીને પરણાવવાનો રિવાજ અમાંરા લોકોમાં નથી.
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.29.27" />પરંતુ લગ્નોત્સવની વિધિ પૂરા અઠવાડિયા સુધી માંણો, અને હું રાહેલને પણ તારી સાથે પરણાવીશ. પરંતુ એ માંટે તારે બીજા સાત વર્ષ માંરી સેવા કરવી પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.29.28" />તેથી યાકૂબે તેનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો અને તેણે લેઆહના લગ્નની વિધિનું સપ્તાહ પૂરું કર્યુ. ત્યાર પછી લાબાને પોતાની દીકરી રાહેલ પણ તેને પરણાવી.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.29.29" />લાબાને પોતાની દાસી બિલ્હાહ પોતાની પુત્રી રાહેલને દાસી તરીકે આપી.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.29.30" />તેથી યાકૂબે રાહેલની સાથે પણ શારીરિક સંબંધ બાંધ્યો. અને લેઆહ કરતાં વધારે પ્રેમ રાહેલને આપ્યો. અને યાકૂબે લાબાનને માંટે બીજા સાત વર્ષ સુધી કામ કર્યુ.
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<s style="s">યાકૂબનાં સંતાનો
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.29.31" />યહોવાએ જોયું કે, યાકૂબ લેઆહ કરતાં વધારે રાહેલને પ્રેમ કરે છે, તેથી યહોવાએ લેઆહને બાળકોને જન્મ આપવા યોગ્ય બનાવી, પરંતુ રાહેલને કોઈ સંતાન થયું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.29.32" />લેઆહે એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો, તેણે તેનું નામ રૂબેન રાખ્યું. તેણે કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ માંરાં દુ:ખો સામે જોયું છે. માંરા પતિ મને પ્રેમ કરતાં નથી. તેથી કદાચ એવું બને કે, માંરા પતિ મને પ્રેમ કરે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="GEN.29.33" />લેઆહ ફરીવાર ગર્ભવતી થઈ. અને તેણે બીજા પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો. તેણે આ પુત્રનું નામ “શિમયોન” રાખ્યું. લેઆહે કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ સાંભળ્યું કે, મને પ્રેમ મળતો નથી તેથી તેણે મને આ પુત્ર આપ્યો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="GEN.29.34" />લેઆહ ફરીથી ગર્ભવતી થઈ અને ત્રીજા એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો. તેણે તે પુત્રનું નામ લેવી રાખ્યું. લેઆહએ કહ્યું, “હવે તો નક્કી મને માંરા પતિ પ્રેમ કરશે. મેં તેમના ત્રણ પુત્રોને જન્મ આપ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="GEN.29.35" />પછી લેઆહને ચોથો પુત્ર થયો. તેણીએ એ બાળકનું નામ યહૂદા પાડયું. અને તેણી બોલી, “આ વખતે હું યહોવાની પ્રસંશા કરીશ.” આથી તેણીએ તેનું નામ યહૂદા પાડયું. એ પછી તેણીને સંતાન થતાં બંધ થયાં.
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<c id="30" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.30.1" />રાહેલે જોયું કે, તે યાકૂબને માંટે બાળકને જન્મ આપવા માંટે અશકિતમાંન છે, તેથી તેને પોતાની બહેન લેઆહની ઈર્ષા થવા માંડી, તેથી તેણે યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “મને સંતાન આપ, નહિ તો હું મરી જઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="GEN.30.2" />યાકૂબ રાહેલ પર ક્રોધે ભરાયો, તેણે કહ્યું, “હું દેવ નથી, તને માંતા બનવાથી વંચિત રાખનાર તો એ જ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.30.3" />ત્યારે રાહેલે કહ્યું, “તમે માંરી દાસી બિલ્હાહને તો લઈ શકો છો ને? તમે એને ઋતુદાન કરો એટલે એ માંરા માંટે બાળકને જન્મ આપશે. પછી એના માંરફતે હું માં થઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.30.4" />આથી રાહેલે પોતાની દાસી બિલ્હાહ યાકૂબને પત્ની તરીકે સોંપી. યાકૂબે બિલ્હાહને ઋતુદાન કર્યુ.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.30.5" />બિલ્હાહ ગર્ભવતી થઈ અને યાકૂબ માંટે તેણે એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.30.6" />રાહેલે કહ્યું, “આખરે દેવે માંરી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી ખરી, તેણે મને એક પુત્ર આપવાનો ન્યાય કર્યો.” તેથી રાહેલે એ પુત્રનું નામ દાન રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.30.7" />બિલ્હાહ ફરી ગર્ભવતી થઈ, અને તેને યાકૂબથી બીજો પુત્ર અવતર્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.30.8" />રાહેલે કહ્યું, “મેં માંરી બહેન સાથે મુકાબલામાં ભારે લડત આપી છે. અને મને વિજય મળ્યો છે.” એથી તેણે એ પુત્રનું નામ નફતાલી રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.30.9" />પછી લેઆહે વિચાર્યુ કે, તે હવે વધારે બાળકોને જન્મ આપી શકે તેમ નથી. એટલે પોતાની દાસી ઝિલ્પાહ યાકૂબને પત્ની તરીકે આપી.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.30.10" />પછી ઝિલ્પાહને યાકૂબથી એક પુત્ર અવતર્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.30.11" />લેઆહે કહ્યું, “હું ભાગ્યશાળી છું.” હવે સ્ત્રીઓ મને સદભાગી કહેશે. તેથી તેણે પુત્રનું નામ ગાદ રાખ્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.30.12" />ઝિલ્પાહએ બીજા પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.30.13" />લેઆહ બોલી, “હું કેવી સુખી છું!” તેથી તેણે એ પુત્રનું નામ આશેર રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.30.14" />ઘઉંની કાપણીના સમયે રૂબેન ખેતરે ગયો ત્યાં તેણે કેટલાંક વિશેષ પ્રકારનાં ફૂલો જોયાં. રૂબેને તે ફૂલો લાવીને પોતાની માંતા લેઆહને આપ્યાં. ત્યારે રાહેલે લેઆહને કહ્યું, “કૃપા કરીને મને તારો પુત્ર જે ફૂલો લાવ્યો છે તેમાંથી થોડાં ફૂલો આપ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.30.15" />લેઆહે જવાબ આપ્યો, “તેં તો માંરા પતિને પહેલાંથી જ લઈ લીધો છે, હવે તું માંરા પુત્રનાં ફૂલોને પણ લઈ લેવા માંગે છે?”
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<p style="p">પરંતુ રાહેલે કહ્યું, “જો તું તારા પુત્રનાં ફૂલ મને આપીશ તો તેના બદલામાં આજે રાત્રે તું યાકૂબની સાથે સૂવા જઈ શકીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.30.16" />તે રાત્રે યાકૂબ ખેતરેથી પાછો ફર્યો એટલે લેઆહ તેને મળવા ગઈ. તેણે યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “આજે રાત્રે તમાંરે માંરી સાથે સૂવાનું છે. મેં માંરા પુત્રનાં ફૂલો રાહેલને તમાંરી કિંમતનાં રૂપમાં આપ્યા છે.” તેથી યાકૂબ તે રાત્રે લેઆહ સાથે સૂતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.30.17" />તેથી દેવે લેઆહને ફરીથી ગર્ભવતી થવા દીધી. તેણે યાકૂબના પાંચમાં પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો.
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.30.18" />લેઆહ બોલી, “મેં માંરી દાસી માંરા પતિને આપી તેથી દેવે મને તેનો બદલો આપ્યો છે.” તેથી લેઆહે પોતાના પુત્રનું નામ ઈસ્સાખાર રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.30.19" />લેઆહ ફરી વાર ગર્ભવતી થઈ અને તેણે છઠ્ઠા પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો,
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.30.20" />લેઆહે કહ્યું, “દેવે મને એક સુંદર ભેટ આપી છે. હવે જરૂર યાકૂબ મને અપનાવશે, કારણ કે મેં એને છ બાળકો આપ્યાં છે.” એટલે લેઆહે તે પુત્રનું નામ ઝબુલોન રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.30.21" />એ પછી લેઆહને એક પુત્રી અવતરી. તેણે પુત્રીનુ નામ દીનાહ રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.30.22" />પછી દેવે રાહેલની અરજ સાંભળી, દેવે રાહેલને વાંઝિયામેહણું ટાળવા માંટે સમર્થ બનાવી.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.30.23" />રાહેલ ગર્ભવતી થઈ અને તેણે એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો. રાહેલે કહ્યું, “દેવે મને વાંઝણી બનવાથી બચાવી અને મને એક પુત્ર આપ્યો છે.”
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.30.24" />તેથી રાહેલે પોતાના પુત્રનું નામ યૂસફ રાખ્યું એમ કહેતાં દેવ હજુ મને બીજો દીકરો આપે.
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<s style="s">યાકૂબે લાબાન સાથે છળ કર્યુ
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.30.25" />યૂસફના જન્મ પછી યાકૂબે લાબાનને કહ્યું, “હવે મને માંરે ઘેર જવા દો.
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<v id="26" bcv="GEN.30.26" />જેમને માંટે મેં તમાંરી નોકરી કરી તે માંરી પત્નીઓ અને બાળકો મને સોંપી દો, એટલે હું ઘરભેગો થાઉં. તમે જાણો છો કે, મેં તમાંરી કેવી નોકરી કરી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.30.27" />લાબાને તેને કહ્યું, “મને થોડું કહેવા દે, મને અનુભવ થયો છે કે, તારા કારણે યહોવાએ માંરા પર કૃપા કરી છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.30.28" />માંટે તું કહે, હું તને શું આપું? તું જે મજૂરી કહેશે તે હું આપીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.30.29" />યાકૂબે જવાબ આપ્યો, “તમે પોતે જાણો છો કે, મેં તમાંરે માંટે કેવો સખત પરિશ્રમ કર્યો છે. અને તમાંરાં ઘેટાંબકરાંની મેં કેવી સંભાળ રાખી છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.30.30" />હું આવ્યો ત્યારે તમાંરી પાસે તે થોડાં હતાં અને હવે તેમાં ઘણો વધારો થયો છે. જયારે જયારે મેં તમાંરા માંટે જે કાંઈ કર્યું છે, ત્યારે ત્યારે યહોવાએ તમાંરા પર કૃપા કરી છે. હવે, માંરા માંટે સમય પાકી ગયો છે જેથી હું પોતાના માંટે કાંઈ કરું. પછી હું માંરા પોતાના પરિવાર માંટે ઘરની જોગવાઈ કયારે કરીશ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.30.31" />પછી લાબાને પૂછયું, “તો પછી હું તને શું આપું?”
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<p style="p">યાકૂબે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું નથી ઈચ્છતો કે, તમે મને કશું આપો. હું તો ફકત એટલું જ ઈચ્છું છું કે, મેં જે કાંઈ કામ કર્યુ છે તેની કિંમત મને ચૂકવી દો. તમે જો આટલું કરશો તો હું ફરી તમાંરાં ઘેટાંબકરાં ચરાવીશ અને તેમની સંભાળ રાખીશ.
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<v id="32" bcv="GEN.30.32" />આજે મને તમાંરાં ઘેટાંબકરાંનાં બધાં ટોળામાં જે દરેક ઘેટાં અને બકરાં કાબરચીતરાં હોય અને જે દરેક ઘેટાં અને બકરાં ટપકાં વાળા હોય અને દરેક યુવાન કાળી બકરી હોય તે લેઇ જવા દો. અને એ માંરી મજૂરી હશે.
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<v id="33" bcv="GEN.30.33" />ભવિષ્યમાં તમે સરળતાથી જોઈ શકશો કે, હું કેટલો પ્રામાંણિક અને વફાદાર છું. તમે તપાસ કરવા આવશો ત્યારે માંરી પ્રામાંણિકતા પુરવાર થશે. માંરી પાસેનાં ઘેટાંબકરાંમાંનું જે કોઈ બકરું કાબરચીતરું કે, ટપકાંવાળું ન હોય અને જે ઘેટું કાળું ન હોય તે ચોરેલું છે એમ ગણાશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="GEN.30.34" />લાબાને કહ્યું, “સારું, તારી વાત મને મંજૂર છે, અમે તને તું જે કાંઈ માંગીશ તે આપીશું.”
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<v id="35" bcv="GEN.30.35" />પરંતુ તે દિવસે લાબાને જેટલાં બકરાં કાબરચીતરાં અને ટપકાંવાળા હતા અને જેટલી બકરીઓ કાબરચીતરી અને ટપકાવાળી હતી અને જે ઘેટાં કાળાં હતાં તે બધાં જુદાં પાડી સંતાડી દીધાં અને પોતાના પુત્રોને સાચવવા માંટે સોંપી દીધાં.
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<v id="36" bcv="GEN.30.36" />તેથી તેના પુત્રોએ બધાં કાબરચીતરાં ઘેટાંબકરાં લઈ લીધાં અને બીજી જગ્યાએ ચાલ્યા ગયા. તેઓએ ત્રણ દિવસ સુધી પ્રવાસ કર્યો. અને પોતાની તથા યાકૂબની વચ્ચે ત્રણ દિવસની મુસાફરી જેટલું અંતર રાખ્યું. યાકૂબે લાબાનનાં બાકીનાં ઘેટાંબકરાં સંભાળી લીધા. પરંતુ તેમાં કોઈ કાબરચીતરાં કે, કાળાં ન હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="GEN.30.37" />તેથી યાકૂબે સફેદ, બદામ, અને ચિનારની લીલી સોટીઓ લઈને તેને છોલીને સોટીઓનો સફેદ ભાગ ખુલ્લો કરીને સફેદ પટા પાડયા.
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<v id="38" bcv="GEN.30.38" />યાકૂબે પાણી પીવડાવવાની જગ્યાએ ઘેટાંબકરાંની સામે છોલેલી સોટીઓ રાખી, ઘેટાંબકરાં પાણી પીવા આવતાં ત્યારે તેઓ જોતા.
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<v id="39" bcv="GEN.30.39" />પછી જયારે બકરીઓ ડાળીઓની પાસે સવાણે આવતી એટલે તેમને કાબરચીતરાં ચટાપટાવાળાં અને ટપકાંવાળાં અને કાળા બચ્ચાં અવતર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="GEN.30.40" />યાકૂબે કાબરચીતરાં અને કાળાં ઘેટાંઓને બીજા બધાંથી જૂદા પાડયાં. એ રીતે યાકૂબે પોતાનાં પશુઓને લાબાનનાં પશુઓથી જુદાં પાડયાં. તેણે પોતાનાં ઘેટાંઓને લાબાનનાં ઘેટાંઓ સાથે ભળવા દીધા નહિ.
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<v id="41" bcv="GEN.30.41" />જયારે જયારે ટોળામાંનાં મજબૂત ઘેટાંબકરાં જોતા ત્યારે તે તેમની આગળ નીકોમાં અને હવાડાઓમાં પેલી સોટીઓ મૂકતો, જેથી તેઓ સોટીઓ આગળ ગર્ભધાન કરે;
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<v id="42" bcv="GEN.30.42" />પણ ટોળામાંનાં નબળાં ઘેટાંબકરાં માંટે તે નીકમાં કે, હવાડામાં સોટીઓ મૂકતો નહિ, આથી નબળાં ઘેટાં બકરાં લાબાનનાં રહ્યાં અને સશકત મજબૂત ઘેટા યાકૂબનાં થયાં.
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<v id="43" bcv="GEN.30.43" />આમ, યાકૂબ ખૂબ શ્રીમંત થઈ ગયો અને તેની પાસે ઘેટાં બકરાંનાં મોટા મોટા ટોળાં, નોકર ચાકરો, દાસદાસીઓ, ઊંટો અને ગધેડાં થયાં. તે ખૂબ સમૃધ્ધ બન્યો.
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<s style="s">યાકૂબ અને તેનો પરિવાર ભાગ્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.31.1" />એક દિવસ યાકૂબે લાબાનના પુત્રોને વાતો કરતાં સાંભળ્યા, તેઓએ કહ્યું કે, “યાકૂબે અમાંરા પિતાજીનું સર્વસ્વ લઈ લીધું છે. તે ધનવાન બની ગયો છે અને તેણે અમાંરા પિતાની બધી મિલકત લઇ લીધી છે.”
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.31.2" />યાકૂબને એમ પણ થયું કે, લાબાન હવે પહેલાની જેમ મીઠો પ્રેમભાવ રાખતો નથી.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.31.3" />યહોવાએ યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “તું તારા પિતૃઓની ભૂમિમાં તારી જન્મભૂમિમાં પાછો ચાલ્યો જા. હું તારી સાથે રહીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.31.4" />તેથી યાકૂબે રાહેલ અને લેઆહને, જે ખેતરમાં ઘેટાંબકરાં હતાં ત્યાં મળવા માંટે આવવા કહેવડાવ્યું.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.31.5" />યાકૂબે રાહેલ અને લેઆહને કહ્યું, “હું જાણું છું કે, તમાંરા પિતાજી માંરા પ્રત્યે રોષે ભરાયેલ છે, તેમનો માંરા પ્રત્યે પહેલા જેવો મૈત્રી ભાવ નથી. પણ માંરા પિતાનો દેવ માંરી સાથે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.31.6" />તમે બંને જાણો છો કે, મેં તમાંરા પિતા માંટે માંરાથી શકય તેટલી સખત મહેનત કરી છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.31.7" />પરંતુ તમાંરા પિતાએ માંરી સાથે દગો કર્યો. દશ વખત તો માંરી મજૂરીના દરમાં ફેરફાર કર્યો છે. છતાં બધાં જ સમયે દેવે મને લાબાનના પ્રપંચમાંથી બચાવ્યો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.31.8" />“એક વખત લાબાને મને કહ્યું, ‘તારી મજૂરીના બદલામાં બધી જ ટપકાંવાળી બકરીઓ રાખી શકે છે.’ એણે આમ કહ્યું ત્યારથી બધાં જ ઘેટાંબકરાંને ટપકાંવાળાં બચ્ચાં જ જનમતાં. આ પ્રકારનાં બધાં જ પ્રાણીઓ માંરા હતાં. પરંતુ પછી લાબાને કહ્યું, ‘હું ટપકાંવાળાં પ્રાણીઓ રાખીશ, તું ચટાપટાવાળાં રાખી શકે છે. તે તારી મજૂરી ગણાશે.’ તેના એમ કહ્યા પછી બધાં જ પ્રાણીઓને ચટાપટાવાળાં જ બચ્ચાં જનમતાં,
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.31.9" />આ રીતે દેવે તમાંરા પિતાના ઢોર લઈને મને આપ્યાં છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.31.10" />“જે સમયે ઘેટાંબકરાં ગર્ભધારણ કરવા મળી રહ્યા હતા ત્યારે મેં એક સ્વપ્ન જોયું. મેં જોયું કે, ગર્ભધારણ કરાવનારા નર જાતિનાં ઢોર ચટાપટાવાળા, ટપકાંવાળા અને કાબરચીતરાં હતાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.31.11" />પછી દેવના દૂતે મને સ્વપ્નમાં કહ્યું, ‘યાકૂબ!’
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<p style="p">“એટલે મેં કહ્યું, ‘જી!’
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.31.12" />“દેવના દૂતે કહ્યું, ‘જો, ગર્ભધારણ કરનારાં ટોળામાં નર ઢોર બધાં જ ચટાપટાવાળા, ટપકાવાળાં અને કાબરચીતરા છે; હું આમ કહી રહ્યો છું કારણ કે લાબાનનો તારી સાથે દુર્વ્યવહાર મેં જોયો છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.31.13" />હું એ દેવ છું, જે બેથેલમાં તારી પાસે આવેલ એ જગ્યાએ તેં એક વેદી બનાવી અને તેલથી તેનો અભિષેક કર્યો હતો. અને માંરી આગળ શપથ લીધા હતા. હવે ઊભો થા, અને અત્યારે જ આ જગ્યા છોડી દે, અને તારા જન્મસ્થળે પાછો જા.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.31.14" />ત્યારે રાહેલ અને લેઆહે જવાબ આપ્યો, “અમાંરા પિતા પાસે તેમના મૃત્યુ પછી અમને વારસામાં આપવા કશું બાકી રહ્યું છે ખરું?”
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.31.15" />“તેણે અમાંરી સાથે એક અજાણ્યા વ્યકિત જેવું વર્તન કર્યુ છે. તેણે અમને તમાંરી પાસે વેચી દીધા છે અને બધા પૈસા ખચીર્ નાખ્યાં છે જે અમાંરા હોવા જોઇએ.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.31.16" />દેવે તે બધી જ સંપત્તિ અમાંરા પિતા પાસેથી લઈ લીધી છે, તે બધી અમાંરી છે, અને અમાંરાં બાળકોની છે; માંટે દેવે જે કરવા માંટે કહ્યું છે તે જ તમે કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.31.17" />તેથી યાકૂબે મુસાફરીની તૈયારી કરી. તેણે પોતાની પત્નીઓ અને પુત્રોને ઊંટ પર બેસાડયાં.
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.31.18" />પછી તે તેના પિતા જયાં રહેતા હતા તે કનાન દેશમાં મેસોપોટામિયામાં જે કાંઈ મળ્યું હતું તે બધું લઈને, પોતાનાં બધાં ઢોરને હાંકતો હાંકતો પોતાના પિતા ઇસહાકને મળવા નીકળી પડયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.31.19" />તે સમયે લાબાન પોતાનાં ઘેટાંનું ઊન કાપવા ગયો હતો. તે દરમ્યાન રાહેલે તેના ઘરમાં ધૂસી જઈને પોતાના પિતાના કુળદેવતા ચોરી લાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.31.20" />યાકૂબે અરામી લાબાનને દગો કર્યો. તેણે લાબાનને બતાવ્યું નહિ કે, તે ત્યાંથી જઈ રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.31.21" />યાકૂબે પોતાનો પરિવાર અને બધી જ મિલકત જલદી જલદી લઈ લીધી અને પછી નદી (ફાત) ઓળંગીને ગિલઆદના પહાડી પ્રદેશ તરફ ચાલવા માંડયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.31.22" />ત્રીજે દિવસે લાબાનને ખબર પડી કે, યાકૂબ ભાગી ગયો છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.31.23" />તેથી તેણે પોતાના માંણસોને સાથે લીધા અને સાત દિવસ સુધી તેનો પીછો કયો, છેવટે યાકૂબ ગિલઆદના પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં પકડાઈ ગયો.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.31.24" />પણ તે રાત્રે દેવે લાબાનને સ્વપ્નમાં દર્શન આપીને કહ્યું, “યાકૂબને જે કાંઈ કહો તેના એક-એક શબ્દ માંટે સાવચેત રહેજો, યાકૂબને સારું કે, માંઠું કાંઈ કહીશ નહિ.”
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<s style="s">ચોરાયેલ દેવતાઓની શોધ
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.31.25" />જયારે યાકૂબને લાબાને પકડી પાડયો, ત્યારે તેણે પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં મુકામ કયો હતો. તેથી તેના માંણસોએ એ જ પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં મુકામ કયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.31.26" />લાબાને યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “તેં માંરી સાથે દગો શા માંટે કર્યો? અને તું માંરી પુત્રીઓને યુદ્વમાં પકડાયેલી હોય તેમ શા માંટે લઈ જાય છે?”
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.31.27" />તું મને છેતરીને કહ્યા વગર જ ચૂપચાપ કેમ ભાગી ગયો? જો તેં મને જણાવ્યું હોત તો મેં ઉજવણી કરીને વાજતેગાજતે વિદાય આપી હોત.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.31.28" />તેં મને માંરાં પૌત્રપૌત્રીઓને તથા માંરી પુત્રીઓને છેલ્લી વાર ભેટવા તથા ચુંબન કરવા દીધા નહિ, તેં આમ કરીને બહુ મૂર્ખામીભર્યુ વર્તન કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.31.29" />તને નુકસાન કરવું એ તો માંરા ડાબા હાથની વાત છે. પરંતુ ગઈકાલે રાત્રે તારા પિતાના દેવે મને સ્વપ્નમાં આવીને ચેતવણી આપીને કહ્યું, “ખબરદાર, યાકૂબને જરા પણ સારું કે, માંઠું કહીશ નહિ.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.31.30" />મને ખબર છે કે, તું તારે ઘેર જવા ઘણો આતુર છે, એટલે તું ચાલી નીકળ્યો, એ તો જાણે સમજયા, પરંતુ તેં માંરા ઘરમાંથી દેવોને શા માંટે ચોરી લીધા?”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.31.31" />યાકૂબે લાબાનને કહ્યું, “હું તમને કહ્યાં વિના એટલા માંટે ચાલી નીકળ્યો કારણ કે હું ડરી ગયો હતો. મને એમ કે તમે તમાંરી પુત્રીઓને જબરજસ્તી માંરી પાસેથી લઈ લેશો.
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<v id="32" bcv="GEN.31.32" />પરંતુ મેં તમાંરા દેવોની ચોરી કરી નથી. અહીં માંરા કોઈ પણ માંણસ પાસેથી જો તમાંરા દેવો નીકળે તો હું તેને માંરી નાખીશ. તમાંરા માંણસો જે માંરા સાક્ષી બનશે. આપણા માંણસોના દેખતાં માંરી પાસે તમાંરું જે કંઈ હોય તે ઓળખી બતાવો અને લઈ જાઓ.” હવે, યાકૂબને તો ખબર જ નહોતી કે, રાહેલે લાબાનને ઘરેથી દેવો ચોર્યા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="GEN.31.33" />તેથી લાબાન યાકૂબના તંબુમાં ગયો. તેણે ત્યાં શોધ શરૂ કરી. લેઆહના તંબુમાં પણ ગયો અને બે દાસીઓના તંબુમાં પણ ગયો. પણ તેને દેવ મળ્યાં નહિ, પછી તે લેઆહના તંબુમાંથી નીકળી રાહેલના તંબુમાં પ્રવેશ્યો.
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<v id="34" bcv="GEN.31.34" />રાહેલે ઊંટના જીનમાં દેવતાઓને સંતાડી દીધા હતા. અને તે તેના પર બેઠી હતી. લાબાને આખા તંબુમાં તપાસ કરી પણ દેવો મળ્યા નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="GEN.31.35" />પછી રાહેલે તેણીના પિતાને કહ્યું, “પિતાજી, માંરા પર ગુસ્સો ન કરતા. હું તમાંરી સામે ઊભી રહેવા માંટે પણ અસમર્થ છું. આ સમયે માંરો માંસિકધર્મ ચાલી રહ્યો છે.” તેથી લાબાને આખા તંબુમાં દેવોની તપાસ કરી, પરંતુ તે તેઓને શોધી શકયો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="GEN.31.36" />પછી યાકૂબ બહુ જ ગુસ્સે થયો, યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “મેં શો અપરાધ કર્યો છે? મેં કયા નિયમનો ભંગ કરીને પાપ કર્યુ છે? તમે માંરી પાછળ શા માંટે પડયા છો?
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<v id="37" bcv="GEN.31.37" />માંરું જે કાંઈ છે તે બધું તેં તપાસ્યું છતાં તારા ઘરની કોઈ ચીજ તારા હાથમાં આવી ખરી? જો તારા હાથમાં કોઈ ચીજ આવી હોય તો તારા માંણસો અને માંરા માંણસો આગળ રજૂ કર. એ આપણા બંન્નેનો ન્યાય કરે.
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<v id="38" bcv="GEN.31.38" />મેં તમાંરા માંટે વીસ વર્ષ સુધી કામ કર્યુ છે. તે બધાં જ સમય દરમ્યાન કોઈ પણ બચ્ચું ઘેટીઓનું જન્મ થતી વખતે મૃત્યુ પામ્યું નથી અને ઘેટી પણ મૃત્યુ પામી નથી. મેં તારાં ઘેટાં-બકરાંનાં ટોળામાંથી એક પણ ઢોર ખાધું નથી.
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<v id="39" bcv="GEN.31.39" />જો કોઈ જંગલી પ્રાણીઓએ કોઈ ઘેટાને ફાડી નાખ્યું હોય તો મેં તેને તારી આગળ રજૂ કર્યા નથી! એ નુકસાન મેં પોતે ભરપાઈ કર્યુ છે. દિવસે કે, રાતે જે કાંઈ ચોરાઈ જતું તે બધું તમે માંરી પાસે વસૂલ કરતા.
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<v id="40" bcv="GEN.31.40" />દિવસના સખત તાપથી અને રાતની સખત ઠંડીથી હું થાકી ગયો હતો. તેથી કાતિલ ઠંડી રાત્રિઓને લીધે હું સૂઇ શકતો નહોતો.
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<v id="41" bcv="GEN.31.41" />મેં માંરા જીવનનાં વીસ વર્ષ એક ગુલામની જેમ તમાંરા ઘરમાં વિતાવ્યાં છે. પહેલાંના ચૌદ વરસ તમાંરી બે પુત્રીઓને પરણીને મેળવવા માંટે અને છેલ્લા છ વર્ષ મેં તમાંરાં ઘેટાં-બકરાંને સંભાળ્યાં છે, અને તે દરમ્યાન તમે દશ વાર માંરી મજૂરીનાં દરમાં ફેરફાર કર્યો છે.
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<v id="42" bcv="GEN.31.42" />પરંતુ જો માંરા પૂર્વજોના દેવ, ઇબ્રાહિમના દેવ અને દેવ જેની ઈસહાક ઉપાસના કરે છે<f caller="+"><fr>31:42
</fr><fk>ઈસહાક ઉપાસના કરે છે
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે: ઇસહાકનો ભય અથવા દેવનું એક નામ.</ft></f> તે દેવ માંરા પક્ષમાં ના હોત તો તમે મને ખાલી હાથે કાઢી મૂકયો હોત. પરંતુ દેવે માંરી વેદના અને માંરા કામને ધ્યાનમાં લીધાં. અને ગઇ રાતે દેવે સાબિત કર્યુ કે, હું સાચો છું.”
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<s style="s">યાકૂબ-લાબાનની સમજૂતી
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<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="GEN.31.43" />લાબાને યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “આ છોકરીઓ તો માંરી પુત્રીઓ છે. તેમનાં બાળકો માંરાં છે. આ ઘેટાંબકરાં માંરાં છે, અને જે બધું તમે અહીં જુઓ છો તે માંરું છે. પરંતુ હું માંરી પુત્રીઓ અને તેનાં બાળકોને રાખવા માંટે કશું જ કરી શકતો નથી.
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<v id="44" bcv="GEN.31.44" />એટલા માંટે હું તમાંરી સાથે કરાર કરવા માંગુ છું કે, આપણે પથ્થરોનો એક ઢગલો કરીશું. જે આપણી વચ્ચે સાક્ષી રહેશે કે, આપણે કરાર કર્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="GEN.31.45" />પછી યાકૂબે એક મોટો પથ્થર કરારના સ્માંરકસ્તંભ તરીકે ઉભો કર્યો કે, જેથી તે પુરવાર કરે કે, તેમણે કરાર કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="46" bcv="GEN.31.46" />પછી તેણે પોતાના માંણસોને પથ્થરા ભેગા કરવા માંટે કહ્યું. તેમણે પથ્થરા ભેગા કરીને એક ઢગલો કર્યો. અને તે ઢગલા પાસે બેસીને તેમણે ભોજન કર્યુ.
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<v id="47" bcv="GEN.31.47" />એ જગ્યાનું નામ લાબાને યગાર-સાહદૂથા રાખ્યું અને યાકૂબે તે જગ્યાનું નામ ગાલએદ રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="GEN.31.48" />લાબાને યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “આ ખડકોનો ઢગલો આપણને આપણા કરારનું સ્મરણ કરવા મદદ કરશે.” એટલા માંટે યાકૂબે તે જગ્યાનું નામ ગાલએદ રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="GEN.31.49" />એટલે લાબાને કહ્યું, “યહોવા આપણા ‘બે’ જુદા થવાના સાક્ષી રહે, અને તે આપણા ઉપર નજર રાખે.” માંટે એ જગ્યાનું બીજું નામ મિસ્પાહ રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="GEN.31.50" />પછી લાબાને કહ્યું. “જો તમે માંરી પુત્રીઓને દુ:ખ આપશો અથવા બીજી સ્ત્રીઓને પરણશો તો દેવ તમને સજા કરશે, અહીં આપણા વચ્ચે કરારનો કોઇ સાક્ષી નથી. અને છતાં, યાદ રાખજો કે, દેવ તમાંરી અને માંરી વચ્ચે સાક્ષી છે.”
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<v id="51" bcv="GEN.31.51" />પછી લાબાને કહ્યું, “તારી અને માંરી વચ્ચે આ ઢગલો અને આ સ્માંરકસ્તંભ મેં ઊભો કર્યો છે તે આપણને તેનું સ્મરણ કરાવશે કે, આપણે કરાર કર્યો છે. તેનું ધ્યાન રાખજે.
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<v id="52" bcv="GEN.31.52" />આ પથ્થરનો ઢગલો અને આ સ્માંરકસ્તંભ પણ સાક્ષી છે, તે આપણને આપણા કરારનું સ્મરણ કરાવવામાં મદદરૂપ થશે કે, આ ઢગલાને ઓળંગી માંરે તારી પાસે અથવા આ ઢગલાને અને થાંભલાને ઓળંગીને તારે માંરી પાસે લડવા માંટે કે નુકશાન કરવા આવવાનું નથી.
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<v id="53" bcv="GEN.31.53" />જો આપણાંમાંથી કોઇ પણ આ કરારનો ભંગ કરે તો ઇબ્રાહિમના દેવ અને નાહોરના દેવ આપણો ન્યાય કરો.”
</p>
<p style="p">આથી યાકૂબે પોતાના પિતા ઇસહાક જેની ઉપાસના કરતા હતા તે દેવના સમ ખાધા.
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<v id="54" bcv="GEN.31.54" />પછી યાકૂબે એક પશુનો વધ કરી અને પહાડ પર યજ્ઞના રૂપમાં ભેટ ધરીને પોતાના માંણસોને ભોજન કરવા માંટે બોલાવ્યા. ભોજન કર્યા પછી તેઓએ પહાડ પર રાત વિતાવી.
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<v id="55" bcv="GEN.31.55" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે લાબાન વહેલી સવારે ઉઠયોે પોતાના પૌત્ર-પૌત્રીઓ અને પુત્રીઓને ચુમ્યા અને તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા; પછી તે ઘરે પાછો ગયો.
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<c id="32" />
<s style="s">યાકૂબ અને એસાવનું મિલન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.32.1" />યાકૂબે પણ તે સ્થળ છોડયું. જયારે તે પ્રવાસ કરી રહ્યો હતો ત્યારે તેણે દેવના દૂતો જોયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.32.2" />તેમને જોઈને યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “આ તો દેવની છાવણી છે!” આથી તેણે તે જગ્યાનું નામ “માંહનાઈમ” પાડયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.32.3" />યાકૂબનો ભાઈ એસાવ “સેઇર” પ્રદેશમાં રહેતો હતો. તે અદોમનો પહાડી પ્રદેશ હતો. યાકૂબે એસાવની પાસે ખેપિયાઓને મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.32.4" />યાકૂબે ખેપિયાઓને કહ્યું કે, “માંરા વડીલ એસાવને તમે એવું કહેજો કે, તમાંરો સેવક યાકૂબ કહે છે કે, ‘હું લાબાનને ત્યાં જઈ વસ્યો હતો અને અત્યાર સુધી ત્યાં રહ્યો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.32.5" />માંરી પાસે ગાય, બળદ, ગધેડાં, બકરાં, ઘેટાં અને સેવકો મોટી સંખ્યામાં છે. અમને સ્વીકારવાનું કહેવા હું તમને આ સંદેશો મોકલું છું.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.32.6" />ખેપિયાઓ પાછા આવીને યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “અમે તમાંરા ભાઈ એસાવ પાસે ગયા હતા. તે તમને મળવા આવી રહ્યો છે. તેની સાથે 400 સશસ્ર યોદ્વાઓ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.32.7" />ખેપિયાઓની વાત સાંભળી યાકૂબ ગભરાઈ ગયો. તેણે પોતાની સાથેના બધા માંણસોને બે ટોળીમાં વહેંચી નાખ્યા અને પોતાનાં બધાં જ ઢોરો, ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઊંટોને પણ બે ભાગમાં જુદા પાડયાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.32.8" />યાકૂબે વિચાર્યુ, “એસાવ આવીને એક ટોળી પર હુમલો કરે, તો બીજી ટોળી ભાગી જઈને બચી જાય.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.32.9" />યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “હે માંરા પૂર્વજ ઇબ્રાહિમના દેવ, હે માંરા પિતા ઇસહાકના દેવ! તેં જ મને કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘તારા દેશમાં તારા વતનમાં પાછો જા, હું તારું ભલું કરીશ.’
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.32.10" />તેં માંરા પર ધણી કરુણા બતાવી છે. તમે માંરા માંટે જે બધું સારું કર્યુ છે. તે માંટે હું યોગ્ય નથી. મે યર્દન નદી પહેલી વાર ઓળંગી ત્યારે માંરી પાસે ફકત માંરી લાકડી જ હતી, અને અત્યારે માંરી પાસે એટલી બધી વસ્તુઓ છે કે, હું તે બધીને પૂરા બે ભાગમાં અને બે ટોળીમાં વહેંચી શકું.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.32.11" />હું તમને પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે, કૃપા કરીને મને માંરા ભાઈ એસાવના હાથમાંથી બચાવો. મને એનો ભય છે કે, રખેને તે આવીને અમને બધાંને, માંરા દીકરાઓને તેઓની માંઓ સુદ્વાંને માંરી નાખે.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.32.12" />હે યહોવા, તમે મને વચન આપ્યું હતું કે, ‘હું તારું ભલું કરીશ, અને તારા વંશજોને સમુદ્રની રેતીના રજ જેટલા બનાવીશ કે, જેને કોઈ ગણી ન શકે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.32.13" />તે રાત્રે યાકૂબે ત્યાં જ મુકામ કર્યો. યાકૂબે પોતાની પાસે જે કાંઈ હતું તેમાંથી કેટલીક વસ્તુઓ પોતાના ભાઈ એસાવને ભેટ આપવા પસંદ કરી:
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.32.14" />બકરીઓ 200, બકરાઓ 20, અને 200 ઘેટીઓ, 20 ધેટા,
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.32.15" />ઊઁટડીઓ 30, તેઓના બચ્ચાં સાથે, તથા 40 ગાયો અને 10 ગોધાઓ, 20 ગધેડીઓ અને 10 વછેરા.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.32.16" />આ બધાં તેણે જુદાં જુદાં ટોળાંમાં પોતાના નોકરોને સોંપ્યાં અને કહ્યું, “માંરી આગળ ચાલો, અને એક ટોળાં અને બીજા ટોળાં વચ્ચે જગ્યા રાખજો.”
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.32.17" />યાકૂબે તેમને હુકમ કર્યો અને પ્રાણીઓના પહેલા ટોળા સાથેના સેવકને સૂચના આપી કે, “જો માંરો ભાઈ એસાવ તમને મળે અને પૂછે કે, ‘તમે કોના સેવક છો? તમે કયાં જાઓ છો? અને આ તમાંરી આગળનાં ઢોરનાં માંલિક કોણ છે?’
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.32.18" />ત્યારે જવાબ આપજો, ‘એ તો આપના સેવક યાકૂબનાં છે, અને એના વડીલ એસાવ માંટે ભેટમાં મોકલ્યાં છે; અને યાકૂબ પોતે અમાંરી પાછળ જ આવે છે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.32.19" />એ જ રીતે તેણે ઢોરોના ટોળાં પાછળ ચાલતા બીજા માંણસને, ત્રીજા માંણસને અને બધાં જ માંણસોને સૂચના આપી કે, “જયારે તમે લોકો એસાવને મળો ત્યારે આ એક જ વાત કહેજો.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.32.20" />વધુમાં કહેજો કે, ‘આ તમાંરી ભેટ છે, અને આપનો સેવક યાકૂબ પણ લોકોની પાછળ આવી રહ્યો છે.’”
</p>
<p style="p">યાકૂબે વિચાર્યુ, “જો હું આ માંણસોને ભેટ સાથે આગળ મોકલું તો શકય છે કે, કદાચ એસાવ મને માંફ કરે અને માંરો સ્વીકાર કરે.”
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.32.21" />એટલા માંટે યાકૂબે એસાવને ભેટ તેની આગળ આગળ મોકલી પરંતુ યાકૂબ પોતે તે રાત્રે પોતાની છાવણીમાં જ રહ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.32.22" />તે રાત્રે મોડેથી યાકૂબ ઊઠયો અને પોતાની બે પત્નીઓ, બે દાસીઓ, અને અગિયાર બાળકોની સાથે યાબ્બોક નદીને પાર ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.32.23" />યાકૂબે પોતાની પત્નીઓ અને બાળકોને તેમજ પોતાની બધી મતાને નદીની પાર મોકલી દીધાં અને તે એકલો રહી ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવ સાથે દ્વંદ્વ યુદ્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.32.24" />યાકૂબ નદીને પાર કરનાર છેલ્લો માંણસ હતો. પરંતુ પાર કરતા પહેલાં જયારે તે એકલો હતો ત્યારે એક માંણસ આવ્યો અને તેની સાથે કુસ્તી કર્યા કરી. જયાં સુધી સૂરજ ના ઊંગ્યો ત્યાં સુધી તે વ્યકિએ યાકૂબ સાથે કુસ્તી કર્યા કરી.
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<v id="25" bcv="GEN.32.25" />તે વ્યકિતએ જયારે જોયું કે, પોતે યાકૂબને હરાવી શકતો નથી ત્યારે તેણે યાકૂબના જાંઘના સાંધા પર ઠોંસો માંર્યો અને યાકૂબ કુસ્તી કરતો હતો ત્યાં જ તેની જાંઘનો સાંધો ઊતરી ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.32.26" />પછી તે વ્યકિતએ યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “પરોઢ થવા આવ્યું છે, એટલે મને છોડી દો.”
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “જયાં સુધી તું મને આશીર્વાદ નહિ આપે ત્યાં સુધી હું તને છોડીશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.32.27" />એટલે પેલા વ્યકિતએ પૂછયું, “તારું નામ શું છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">અને યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “માંરું નામ યાકૂબ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.32.28" />પછી પુરુષે કહ્યું, “હવે તારું નામ યાકૂબ નહિ પણ ઇસ્રાએલ કહેવાશે. કારણ કે તેં દેવ સાથે તથા પુરુષો સાથે લડીને વિજય મેળવ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.32.29" />પછી યાકૂબે પેલાને પૂછયું, “કૃપા કરીને મને જરા તમાંરું નામ કહેશો?”
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ પેલી વ્યકિતએ કહ્યું, “તું માંરું નામ શા માંટે પૂછે છે?” અને પછી તે સમયે પેલી વ્યકિતએ યાકૂબને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="GEN.32.30" />એટલા માંટે યાકૂબે તે જગ્યાનું નામ પનુએલ પાડયું. યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “આ જગ્યાએ મેં દેવના પ્રત્યક્ષ દર્શન કર્યા છે. પરંતુ માંરો જીવ બચી ગયો.”
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.32.31" />જેવો તે પનુએલ આગળથી પસાર થયો કે, તરત જ સૂર્યોદય થયો. યાકૂબ પોતાના પગને કારણે લંગડો ચાલતો હતો.
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<v id="32" bcv="GEN.32.32" />એટલા માંટે આજે પણ ઈસ્રાએલના લોકો પ્રાણીની જાંઘના સાંધાનો સ્નાયુ ખાતા નથી. કારણ કે યાકૂબની જાંઘના સાંધાના સ્નાયુ પર તેણે ઈજા પહોચાડી હતી.
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</p>

<c id="33" />
<s style="s">યાકૂબની વીરતાનું દર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.33.1" />યાકૂબે સામે નજર કરી તો એસાવને આવતો જોયો; તેની સાથે 400 માંણસો હતા. યાકૂબે તેના પરિવારને ચાર સમૂહોમાં વહેંચ્યો. લેઆહ અને તેનાં બાળકો એક સમૂહમાં હતા. રાહેલ અને યૂસફ એક સમૂહમાં હતા. દાસીઓ અને તેનાં બાળકો બે સમૂહમાં હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.33.2" />યાકૂબે દાસીઓ અને તેમનાં બાળકોને મોખરે રાખ્યાં. તેમની પાછળ લેઆહ અને તેનાં બાળકોને રાખ્યાં. અને યાકૂબે છેલ્લાં રાહેલ અને યૂસફને રાખ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.33.3" />યાકૂબ પોતે એસાવની પાસે ગયો. તેથી એ પહેલો માંણસ હતો જેની પાસે એસાવ આવ્યો. તેના ભાઈ સુધી ચાલતાં યાકૂબે સાત વાર સાષ્ટાંગ પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.33.4" />જયારે એસાવે યાકૂબને જોયો. તે તેને મળવા દોડી આવ્યો અને તે તેને ભેટીને તેને ગળે વળગી પડીને ચુંબન કરવા લાગ્યો. બંન્ને ભાઈની આંખમાં આનંદના અશ્રુ આવ્યાં. બંન્ને રડી પડયા.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.33.5" />જયારે એસાવે નજર ઊંચી કરીને સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકોને જોયા ત્યારે તેણે પૂછયું, “તારી સાથે આ બધાં કોણ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">યાકૂબે જવાબ આપ્યો, “આ એ બાળકો છે જે મને દેવની કૃપાથી પ્રાપ્ત થયા છે. દેવ માંરા પ્રત્યે દયાળુ રહ્યાં છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.33.6" />પછી દાસીઓ તેમનાં બાળકો સાથે તેમની નજીક આવી અને પગે લાગી.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.33.7" />એ જ રીતે લેઆહ અને તેનાં બાળકો નજીક આવ્યા અને પગે લાગ્યાં. અને છેવટે યૂસફ અને રાહેલ નજીક આવ્યા અને પગે પડયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.33.8" />એસાવે કહ્યું, “મેં જે બધા લોકોને અહીં આવતાં જોયા, તે લોકો કોણ છે? અને આ બધાં પશુઓ શા માંટે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">યાકૂબે જવાબ આપ્યો, “એ તમાંરા માંટે માંરા તરફથી ભેટ છે. જેથી તમે માંરો સ્વીકાર કરી શકો. અને માંરા માંલિકની માંરા તરફ દયા રહે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.33.9" />પરંતુ એસાવે કહ્યું, “ભાઈ, તારે મને કોઈ ભેટ આપવાની જરૂર નથી. માંરી પાસે પૂરતું છે, તારું તારી પાસે રાખ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.33.10" />યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “ના,ના; હું તમાંરી પાસે માંગુ છું કે, માંરા પર કૃપા કરીને હું જે ભેટો આપું છું તેનો સ્વીકાર કરો. હું તમને ફરીથી જોઈને પ્રસન્ન થયો છું. કારણકે માંરે મન એ દેવનું મુખ જોવા જેવું છે. તમે માંરો સ્વીકાર કર્યો છે તે જાણીને હું પ્રસન્ન થયો છું.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.33.11" />તેથી હું વિનંતી કરું છું કે, જે ભેટો હું તમને આપું છું તેનો તમે સ્વીકાર કરો, દેવ માંરા પર ખૂબ દયાળું રહ્યાં છે અને માંરી પાસે મને જોઇતું બધું જ છે.” આમ તેણે એસાવને ભેટો સ્વીકારવા આજીજી કરી. તેથી એસાવે તે સ્વીકારી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.33.12" />પછી એસાવે કહ્યું, “હવે તું તારી યાત્રા શરૂ કરી શકે છે. હું તારી સાથે આવીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.33.13" />પરંતુ યાકૂબે તેને કહ્યું, “તમે એ જાણો છો કે, માંરાં બાળકો હજુ નાનાં અને નિર્બળ છે, અને માંરી સાથે ધાવણાં બચ્ચાંવાળાં ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોર છે. તેમની મને ચિંતા છે. એમને એક દિવસ પણ વધારે ઝડપથી ચલાવીએ તો બધાં જ ઢોરો મરી જશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.33.14" />તેથી મહેરબાની કરી તમે માંરાથી આગળ જાઓ, અને હું ધીમે ધીમે તમાંરી પાછળ આવીશ, હું માંરા બાળકો અને માંરા ઢોરોના રક્ષણ માંટે ધીમે ધીમે જઇશ જેથી તેઓ વધારે થાકી ન જાય. હું તમને સેઈરમાં મળીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.33.15" />એટલા માંટે એસાવે કહ્યું, “તો પછી હું માંરા માંણસોને તમાંરી સહાયતા માંટે મૂકતો જાઉ.”
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<p style="p">પરંતુ યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “એ તો તમાંરી વિશેષ દયા છે. શી જરૂર છે? આપની દયા છે એટલું બસ છે.”
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.33.16" />એટલે એસાવ તે જ દિવસે સેઇર જવા પાછો વળ્યો.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.33.17" />પરંતુ યાકૂબ મજલ કાપતો કાપતો સુક્કોથ પહોચ્યો. ત્યાં તેણે તેને માંટે એક ઘર બનાવ્યું અને પોતાનાં ઢોરો માંટે નાનાં નાનાં (માંડવા) તબેલા બનાવ્યા, તેથી તે જગ્યાનું નામ “સુક્કોથ” રાખવામાં આવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.33.18" />આમ, યાકૂબે પોતાનું જે કાંઈ હતું તે બધું સુરક્ષિત પદ્દાંનારામમાંથી આવતાં કનાન દેશના શખેમ નગરમાં મોકલી દીધું અને તે નગર આગળ મુકામ કર્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.33.19" />તેણે જે જમીન પર તંબુ તાણ્યા હતા તે જમીન તેણે શખેમના પિતા હમોરના પુત્રો પાસેથી 100 તોલા ચાંદીમાં વેચાતી લીધી.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.33.20" />યાકૂબે દેવની ઉપાસના માંટે ત્યાં એક વેદી ઊભી કરી ને તેનું નામ “એલ-એલોહે ઇસ્રાએલ” રાખ્યું અને તે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવના નામે અર્પણ કરી.
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<c id="34" />
<s style="s">દીનાહ પર બળાત્કાર
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.34.1" />દીનાહ લેઆહ અને યાકૂબની પુત્રી હતી. એક દિવસે તે, એ પ્રદેશની સ્ત્રીઓને મળવા બહાર નીકળી.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.34.2" />તે પ્રદેશના રાજા હિવ્વી હમોરના પુત્ર શખેમે તેને જોઈ એટલે તેણે તેને પકડી અને તેના પર બળાત્કાર કર્યો અને તેની આબરૂ લીધી.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.34.3" />પણ શખેમ દીનાહને પ્રેમ કરવા લાગ્યો અને તેની સાથે લગ્ન કરવાની ઈચ્છા પ્રગટ કરતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.34.4" />તેણે પોતાના પિતા હમોરને કહ્યું કે, “મને એ છોકરી મેળવી આપો જેથી હું તેની સાથે લગ્ન કરી શકું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.34.5" />યાકૂબને સમાંચાર મળ્યા કે, શખેમે તેની પુત્રી દીનાહની આબરૂ લીધી હતી. પણ તેના પુત્રો ઢોરો સાથે ખેતરમાં હતા એટલે તેઓના આવ્યા સુધી તેણે શાંતિ રાખી.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.34.6" />પછી શખેમના પિતા હમોર યાકૂબની સાથે વાત કરવા ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.34.7" />ખેતરમાં યાકૂબના પુત્રોને જે કાંઈ બન્યુ હતું તેના સમાંચાર મળ્યા, જયારે તેઓએ આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તેઓ ઘણા ગુસ્સે થઈ ગયા હતા, કારણ કે શખેમે યાકૂબની પુત્રી પર બળાત્કાર કરીને ઈસ્રાએલ વિરુધ્ધ ન કરવા જેવો ભયંકર ગુનો કર્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.34.8" />પરંતુ હમોરે તેમને કહ્યું, “માંરો પુત્ર શખેમ તમાંરી પુત્રી દીનાહને ખૂબ ચાહે છે, કૃપા કરીને તેને તેણીની સાથે પરણવા દો.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.34.9" />અમાંરી સાથે લગ્નસંબંધ બાંધો, તમાંરી કન્યાઓ અમને આપો અને અમાંરી કન્યાઓ તમે લો.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.34.10" />તમે લોકો આ પ્રદેશમાં અમાંરી સાથે રહી શકશો અને આ દેશ તમાંરા માંટે ખુલ્લો રહેશે. તમે લોકો અહીં રહો, વ્યાપાર રોજગાર કરો અને માંલમિલકતવાળા થાઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.34.11" />પછી શખેમે પણ યાકૂબ અને ભાઈઓને વાત કરી. શખેમે કહ્યું, “કૃપા કરીને માંરો સ્વીકાર કરો અને મેં જે કાંઈ કર્યુ છે તે બદલ મને માંફી આપો. તમે લોકો મને જે કરવાનું કહેશો તે હું કરીશ.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.34.12" />જો તમે મને દીનાહ સાથે પરણવા દેશો તો, હું તમે જે કાંઈ ભેટ માંગશો તે હું આપીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.34.13" />યાકૂબના પુત્રોએ શખેમ તથા તેના પિતાને કપટભર્યો જવાબ આપ્યો, કારણ કે શખેમે તેઓની બહેન દીનાહની આબરૂ લીધી હતી.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.34.14" />એટલા માંટે તેમણે કહ્યું, “જેણે સુન્નત કરાવી નથી એવા માંણસને અમાંરી બહેન પરણાવવી એ તો અમાંરાથી બને જ નહિ, કારણ, એથી અમાંરી બદનામી થાય.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.34.15" />છતાં અમે લોકો તને એની સાથે લગ્ન કરવા દઈશું, જો તમે પણ અમાંરા જેવા બની જાઓ. તમાંરા નગરના સર્વ પુરૂષોની અમાંરી જેમ સુન્નત થઈ જાય.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.34.16" />પછી તમાંરા પુરુષો અમાંરી કન્યાઓ સાથે લગ્ન કરી શકશે અને અમાંરા પુરુષો તમાંરી કન્યાઓ સાથે લગ્ન કરી શકશે. આપણે એકબીજા સાથે રહીએ અને એક પ્રજા બની જઈએ.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.34.17" />પણ જો તમે લોકો સુન્નત ન કરાવો, તો અમે લોકો દીનાહને લઈ ચાલ્યા જઈશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.34.18" />આ કરારથી હમોર અને શખેમ બહું પ્રસન્ન થયા.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.34.19" />દીનાહના ભાઈઓએ જે કાંઈ કહ્યું તે પ્રમાંણે કરવામાં શખેમને આનંદ થયો. કારણ તે યાકૂબની પુત્રીને ખૂબ પ્રેમ કરતો હતો.
</p>
<p style="p">વળી, તે આખા કુટુંબમાં તેનું સૌથી વધારે માંન હતું.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.34.20" />એટલા માંટે હમોર અને તેનો પુત્ર શખેમ ગામના ભાગળે આવ્યા અને લોકોને કહેવા લાગ્યા કે,
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.34.21" />“ઇસ્રાએલના આ લોકો આપણા મિત્રો થવા માંગે છે. અને અમે લોકો તેઓને આપણા પ્રદેશમાં રહેવા દેવા માંગીએ છીએ. તેઓ આપણી સાથે શાંતિ કાયમ રાખવા ઈચ્છે છે. આપણી પાસે આપણા લોકો માંટે પર્યાપ્ત ભૂમિ છે. તો ભલે તેઓ રહે અને વેપારધંધો કરે. આપણે તેમની કન્યાઓ સાથે લગ્ન કરીએ અને આપણી કન્યાઓ તેમને આપીએ.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.34.22" />પરંતુ એક શરતે કે, આપણામાંના સર્વ પુરુષોની તેમની જેમ સુન્નત કરાવવામાં આવે. એ લોકો પણ આપણી સાથે રહેવા અને એક પ્રજા બનવા તૈયાર છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.34.23" />જો આપણે એમ કરીશું, તો તેમનાં ઢોરઢાંખર અને મિલકતથી આપણે ધનવાન થઈ જઈશું. એટલા માંટે ચાલો આપણે તેમની સાથે કરાર કરીએ અને તેઓ અહીં અમાંરા લોકો સાથે રહેશે.”
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.34.24" />ભાગળો પર જે લોકોએ આ વાત સાંભળી તે બધા હમોર અને શખેમ સાથે સંમત થઇ ગયા અને શહેરના બધા વડીલોએ હમોર અને તેના પુત્ર શખેમની વાત સ્વીકારી, અને સર્વ પુરુષોની સુન્નત કરાવવામાં આવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.34.25" />ત્રીજે દિવસે સુન્નત થયેલા પુરુષોની બળતરા શમી નહોતી, ત્યાં જ યાકૂબના બે પુત્રો શિમયોન અને લેવી, જેઓ દીનાહના સગા ભાઈઓ હતા તેઓ તરવાર, લઈને ઓચિંતા શહેર પર ચઢી આવ્યા અને તેમણે બધા પુરુષોને માંરી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="26" bcv="GEN.34.26" />દીનાહના ભાઈ શિમયોન અને લેવીએ હમોર અને તેના પુત્ર શખેમને માંરી નાખ્યા. તેઓએ શખેમના ઘરમાંથી દીનાહને બહાર આણી અને તેને લઈને ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.34.27" />વળી, યાકૂબના બીજા પુત્રોએ ઘાયલ થયેલાઓ પર હુમલો કર્યો અને નગરને લૂંટી લીધું, કારણ કે હજુ સુધી તેમની બહેનની લાજ લૂંટવાથી ઉત્પન્ન થયેલ ક્રોધ શમ્યો નહોતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.34.28" />એટલા માંટે દીનાહના ભાઈઓએ તેમનાં બધાં જ ઢોર લૂંટી લીધાં.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.34.29" />તેમણે તેમની બધી માંલમત્તા, બધાં બાળકો અને બધી સ્ત્રીઓ પણ કબજે કરી લીધાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="GEN.34.30" />પરંતુ યાકૂબે શિમયોન અને લેવીને કહ્યું, “તમે લોકોએ મને બહુ દુ:ખી કર્યો છે; આ પ્રદેશના વતનીઓ કનાનીઓ અને પરિઝીઓમાં તમે મને અપ્રિય બનાવ્યો છે. તે બધા લોકો આપણા વિરોધી થઈ જશે. અહીં માંરી પાસે તો થોડા જ માંણસો છે, અને જો એ લોકો એકઠા થઈને માંરી વિરુધ્ધ જઈને માંરા પર હુમલા કરે તો માંરા પરિવારનો તો વિનાશ જ થાય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.34.31" />પરંતુ ભાઈઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તો શું અમાંરે અમાંરી બહેન સાથે આ લોકોને વેશ્યા જેવો વ્યવહાર કરવા દેવો? ના, અમાંરી બહેન સાથે આવો વ્યવહાર કરનારા લોકો ખરાબ છે.”
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</p>

<c id="35" />
<s style="s">બેથેલમાં યાકૂબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.35.1" />દેવે યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “ચાલ, ઊઠ બેથેલ જા અને ત્યાં રહે. અને ત્યાં ઉપાસના માંટે વેદી બનાવ. દેવનું સ્મરણ કર. કારણ કે તું તારા ભાઈ એસાવ પાસેથી ભાગી આવ્યો ત્યારે તને દેવે દર્શન આપ્યા હતા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="GEN.35.2" />આથી યાકૂબે પોતાના પરિવારને અને પોતાની સાથેના બધા માંણસોને કહ્યું, “તમાંરી પાસે લાકડાના અને ધાતુના જે પારકા મિથ્યા દેવો હોય તેને ફેંકી દો અને તમાંરી દેહશુદ્વિ કરીને વસ્ત્રો બદલી નાખો.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.35.3" />પછી આપણે બધા આ સ્થળને છોડીને બેથેલ જઈશું. ત્યાં હું માંરા વિપત્તિના સમયે માંરો પોકાર સાંભળનાર અને હું જયાં જયાં ગયો ત્યાં ત્યાં માંરો સાથ કરનાર દેવને માંટે હું વેદી બનાવીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.35.4" />આથી જે લોકોની પાસે પારકા મિથ્યા દેવો હતા, તે બધા દેવો તેમણે યાકૂબને આપી દીધા. તેઓએ પોતાના કાનોમાં પહેરેલી કડીઓ પણ યાકૂબને સોંપી દીધી. યાકૂબે આ બધી વસ્તુઓને શખેમ નગરની બાજુમાં એલોન વૃક્ષ નીચે દાટી દીધાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.35.5" />યાકૂબ અને તેના પુત્રોએ તે જગ્યા છોડી દીધી. તે ભૂમિના લોકો તેમનો પીછો કરીને તેમને માંરી નાખવા માંગતા હતા. પરંતુ તેઓ ખુબજ ભયભીત<f caller="+"><fr>35:5
</fr><fk>ભયભીત
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે: “તેમના પર દેવનો ત્રાસ પડ્યો.”</ft></f> હતા તેથી તેઓએ યાકૂબનો પીછો કર્યો નહિ.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.35.6" />યાકૂબ અને તેની સાથેના બધા લોકો કનાન દેશમાં લૂઝ એટલે કે, બેથેલ આવી પહોંચ્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.35.7" />યાકૂબે ત્યાં એક વેદી બાંધી અને તે સ્થળનું નામ તેણે “એલ-બેથેલ” પાડયું. કારણ કે તે જયારે પોતાના ભાઈ પાસેથી ભાગી નીકળ્યો હતો, ત્યારે દેવે તેને તે સ્થળે દર્શન દીધાં હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.35.8" />રિબકાની સાસુ દબોરાહ અહીં મૃત્યુ પામી હતી. ત્યારે તેને બેથેલ નજીક એલોન વૃક્ષ નીચે દફનાવવામાં આવી હતી. આથી એનું નામ “રુદનનું એલોન વૃક્ષ” (એલોન-બાખૂથ) રાખવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
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</p>
<s style="s">યાકૂબનું નવું નામ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.35.9" />જયારે યાકૂબ પાદ્દાનારામથી પાછો ફર્યો ત્યારે દેવે ફરીથી તેને દર્શન દીધા અને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="GEN.35.10" />દેવે યાકૂબને કહ્યું, “તારું નામ યાકૂબ છે. પણ હવે ઇસ્રાએલ રહેશે.” આથી તેનું નામ ઇસ્રાએલ પડયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.35.11" />દેવે તેને કહ્યું, “હું સર્વસમર્થ દેવ છું. હું તને આશીર્વાદ આપું છું, તને ઘણા સંતાનો થાઓ અને તારા વંશજો વધો. એક મહાનરાષ્ટ બનો, જાઓ તમાંરાથી બીજા રાષ્ટ તથા રાજાઓ થશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.35.12" />મેં ઇબ્રાહિમ અને ઇસહાકને જે વિશેષ ભૂમિ આપી હતી તે હવે હું તમને તથા તમાંરા વંશજોને આપું છું.”
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="GEN.35.13" />પછી દેવ અંર્તધ્યાન થઈ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="14-15" bcv="GEN.35.14" />યાકૂબે તે જગ્યા પર જયાં દેવે તેની સાથે વાત કરી હતી ત્યાં, એક સ્માંરકસ્તંભ ઊભો કર્યો અને તેના પર તેણે પેયાર્પણ અપીર્ અને તેલનો અભિષેક કર્યો. અને તે જગ્યાનું નામ બેથેલ પાડયું.
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</p>
<s style="s">રાહેલનું અવસાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.35.16" />યાકૂબ અને તેના માંણસોએ બેથેલ છોડયું. અને જ્યારે તેઓ એફ્રાથથી હજી થોડે અંતરે હતા ત્યાં જ રાહેલને પ્રસૂતિની પીડા શરૂ થઇ.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.35.17" />પરંતુ રાહેલને કષ્ટાતી જોઈને દાઈએ તેને કહ્યું, “રાહેલ, તું ડરીશ નહિ, કારણ કે આ વખતે પણ તું પુત્રને જન્મ આપી રહી છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.35.18" />પુત્રને જન્મ આપતી વખતે રાહેલનું અવસાન થયું. જીવ જતાં જતાં તેણે તેનું નામ “બેનોની” પાડયું હતું. પરંતુ તેના પિતા યાકૂબે તેનું નામ “બિન્યામીન” પાડયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.35.19" />આમ, રાહેલનું અવસાન થયું અને તેને એફ્રાથ, એટલે કે, બેથલેહેમને રસ્તે દફનાવવામાં આવી.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.35.20" />યાકૂબે તેની કબર પર એક આધારસ્તંભ ઊભો કર્યો, અને તે આધારસ્તંભ આજે પણ રાહેલની કબરના સ્તંભ તરીકે ઊભો છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.35.21" />પછી ઈસ્રાએલ આગળ વધ્યો. તેણે એદેર સ્તંભની બરાબર દક્ષિણમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.35.22" />ઇસ્રાએલ ત્યાં થોડો સમય રોકાયો. જયારે તે ત્યાં હતો ત્યારે રૂબેન ઇસ્રાએલની દાસી બિલ્હાહ સાથે સૂઈ ગયો. ઇસ્રાએલે જયારે આ જાણ્યું ત્યારે તે બહું જ ગુસ્સે થયો.
</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનો પરિવાર
</s>
<p style="p">યાકૂબને બાર પુત્રો હતા:
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.35.23" />લેઆહના પેટે જન્મેલા પુત્રો છ હતા: રૂબેન, શિમયોન, લેવી, યહૂદા, ઈસ્સાખાર અને ઝબુલોન. યાકૂબના પહેલા ખોળાનો પુત્ર રૂબેન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.35.24" />તેની પત્ની રાહેલના બે પુત્રો હતા: યૂસફ અને બિન્યામીન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.35.25" />રાહેલની દાસી બિલ્હાહને પેટે જન્મેલા બે પુત્રો હતા: દાન અને નફતાલી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.35.26" />અને લેઆહની દાસી ઝિલ્પાહથી જન્મેલા બે પુત્રો હતા: ગાદ અને આશેર.
</p>
<p sfm="m" style="m">આ બધા યાકૂબના પુત્રો પાદ્દાંનારામમાં જન્મેલા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.35.27" />યાકૂબ માંમરે એટલે કિર્યાથ-આર્બા (હેબ્રોન) આગળ પોતાનો પિતા ઇસહાક હતો ત્યાં પહોંચી ગયો. આ તે જગ્યા છે, જયાં ઇબ્રાહિમ અને ઇસહાક જઈને રહ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.35.28" />ઇસહાકની ઉંમર 180 વર્ષની થઈ હતી.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.35.29" />ઇસહાક ઘણા વષોર્ જીવ્યો, તે લાંબુ અને પૂર્ણ જીવન જીવ્યો પછી તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યોં. અને તેના દીકરાઓ એસાવ અને યાકૂબે તેને તેના પિતા ઇબ્રાહિમને જ્યાં દફનાવ્યા હતા ત્યાં દફનાવ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="36" />
<s style="s">એસાવનો પરિવાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.36.1" />એસાવ ઉફેર્ અદોમના વંશજો આ પ્રમાંણે છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.36.2" />એસાવે કનાની સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા હતા: એલોન હિત્તીની પુત્રી આદાહ, સિબઓન હિવ્વીના પુત્ર અનાહની પુત્રી ઓહલીબામાંહ,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="GEN.36.3" />અને ઇશ્માંએલની પુત્રી નબાયોથની બહેન બાસમાંથ સાથે તેણે લગ્ન કર્યા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.36.4" />આદાહને એસાવથી અલીફાઝ અવતર્યો. બાસમાંથને રેઉએલ અવતર્યો,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="GEN.36.5" />અને ઓહલીબામાંહને યેઉશ, યાલામ તથા કોરાહ અવતર્યો. આ કનાનમાં જન્મેલા એસાવના પુત્રો હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.36.6" />ત્યાર બાદ એસાવ પોતાની પત્નીઓ, પુત્રો, પુત્રીઓ અને પરિવારના બધાં માંણસો તથા ઢોરો અને બધાં જાનવરોને અને કનાન દેશમાં મેળવેલી બધી માંલમિલકતને લઈને પોતાના ભાઈ યાકૂબથી દૂરના પ્રદેશમાં ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.36.7" />તેમની માંલમિલકત એટલી બધી હતી કે, તેઓ ભેગા ન રહી શકે અને તેઓ જયાં રહેતા હતા તે ભૂમિ એવી હતી કે, તેમનાં બંનેનાં ઢોરોનો નિભાવ ન થઈ શકે.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.36.8" />આથી એસાવ સેઈરના પહાડી દેશમાં રહેવા લાગ્યો, એસાવ એ જ અદોમ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.36.9" />એસાવ અદોમીઓના આદિપિતા છે. સેઈરના પહાડી પ્રદેશના અદોમીઓના વડવા એસાવના વંશજો આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.36.10" />એસાવના પુત્રોના નામ આ છે: એસાવની પત્ની આદાહનો પુત્ર અલીફાઝ, ને એસાવની પત્ની બાસમાંથનો પુત્ર રેઉએલ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.36.11" />અલીફાઝના પુત્રો તેમાંન, ઓમાંર, સફો, ગાતામ અને કનાઝ હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.36.12" />તિમ્ના એસાવના પુત્ર અલીફાઝની ઉપપત્ની હતી. તેને અલીફાઝથી અમાંલેક અવતર્યો હતો. આ એસાવની પત્ની આદાહના પૌત્રો છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.36.13" />એસાવની પત્ની બાસમાંથનો દીકરો રેઉએલ. રેઉએલના પુત્રો નાહાથ, ઝેરાહ, શામ્માંહ અને મિઝઝાહ.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આ એસાવની પત્ની બાસમાંથના પૌત્રો છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.36.14" />સિબઓનના પુત્ર અનાહની પુત્રી ઓહલીબામાંહ એસાવની પત્ની હતી. તેને એસાવથી યેઉશ, યાલામ અને કોરાહ અવતર્યા હતા.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.36.15" />એસાવના વંશજોમાં નીચેના સરદારો હતા.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">એસાવના સૌથી મોટા પુત્ર અલીફાઝના પુત્ર: સરદાર તેમાંન, સરદાર ઓમાંર, સરદાર સફો, સરદાર કનાઝ,
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.36.16" />કોરાહ, ગાતામ, અને અમાંલેક.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આ અદોમની ભૂમિમાંના અલીફાઝના પરિવારનાં સરદારો છે. એ બધા આદાહના પૌત્રો છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.36.17" />એસાવનો પુત્ર રેઉએલ આ પરિવારોનો આદિ પિતા હતો. રેઉએલના પુત્રો નીચે પ્રમાંણે છે: સરદાર નાહાથ, સરદાર ઝેરાહ, સરદાર શામ્માંહ, અને સરદાર મિઝઝાહ, આ અદોમના પ્રદેશમાંના રેઉએલના સરદારો છે.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">એ એસાવની પત્ની બાસમાંથના પૌત્રો છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.36.18" />એસાવની પત્ની ઓહલીબામાંહના દીકરા: સરદાર યેઉશ, સરદાર યાલામ અને સરદાર કોરાહ, અનાહની પુત્રી એસાવની પત્ની ઓહલીબામાંહના આ પુત્રો છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.36.19" />આ એસાવના ઉફેર્ અદોમના પુત્રો છે અને એ સરદારો છે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.36.20" />એસાવના પહેલાં અદોમમાં હોરી સેઈરના એ પ્રદેશમાં જ વસતા પુત્રો આ છે:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">લોટાન, શોબાલ, સિબઓન, અનાહ, દીશોન, એસેર અને દીશાન.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.36.21" />અદોમ પ્રદેશમાંના હોરીઓના આ સરદારો સેઈરના પુત્રો છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.36.22" />લોટાનના દીકરા હોરી અને હેમાંમ હતા. અને લોટાનની બહેન તિમ્ના હતી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.36.23" />આ શોબાલના પુત્રો હતા: આલ્વાન, માંનાહાથ, એબાલ, શફો અને ઓનામ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.36.24" />અને સિબઓનના પુત્રો: આયાહ તથા અનાહ છે. અનાહને રણપ્રદેશમાં પોતાના પિતા સિબઓનનાં ગધેડાં ચરાવતાં ગરમ ઝરણાં જડયા હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.36.25" />અને અનાહના પુત્રો આ છે: એટલે દીશોન તથા અનાહની પુત્રી ઓહલીબામાંહ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.36.26" />અને દીશોનના પુત્રો આ છે: એટલે હેમ્દાન તથા એશ્બાન તથા યિર્થાન તથા ખરાન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.36.27" />આ એસેરના પુત્રો આ છે: એટલે બિલ્હાન, ઝાઅવાન તથા અકાન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.36.28" />આ દીશાનના પુત્રો આ છે: એટલે ઉસ તથા અરાન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.36.29" />હોરીઓથી જે સરદારો થયા તે આ છે: એટલે લોટાન સરદાર, શોબાલ સરદાર, સિબઓન સરદાર, અનાહ સરદાર.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.36.30" />સરદાર દીશોન, સરદાર એસેર અને સરદાર દીશાન. આ સેઈરના પ્રદેશના જાતિવાર હોરીઓના સરદારો છે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.36.31" />તે સમયે અદોમમાં અનેક રાજાઓ હતા. ઇસ્રાએલી રાજાઓ પહેલાં અદોમના પ્રદેશ પર રાજય કરનાર રાજાઓ આ પ્રમાંણે હતા:
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.36.32" />અદોમમાં બેઔરના પુત્ર બેલાએ રાજય કર્યુ હતું. તેના પાટનગરનું નામ દીનહાબાહ હતું.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="33" bcv="GEN.36.33" />બેલાના અવસાન બાદ બોસરાહ નગરના ઝેરાહનો પુત્ર યોબાબ ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="GEN.36.34" />યોબાબના અવસાન બાદ તેમાંન દેશનો હુશામ ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="35" bcv="GEN.36.35" />હુશામના અવસાન બાદ બદાદનો પુત્ર હદાદ ગાદીએ આવ્યો. તેણે મોઆબ પ્રદેશમાં મિધાનીઓને પરાજય આપ્યો. તેનું પાટનગર અવીથ હતું.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="36" bcv="GEN.36.36" />ત્યારબાદ હદાદનું અવસાન થયું. ને તેની જગ્યાએ માંસરેકાહમાંના સામ્લાહે રાજય કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="37" bcv="GEN.36.37" />અને સામ્લાહના અવસાન બાદ નદી પાસેના રહોબોથના શાઉલે રાજય શાસન કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="38" bcv="GEN.36.38" />શાઉલના અવસાન પછી આખ્બોરનો પુત્ર બાઆલ-હનાન ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="39" bcv="GEN.36.39" />આખ્બોરના દીકરા બાઆલ-હનાનના અવસાન પછી હદાર ગાદીએ આવ્યો અને તેનું પાટનગર “પાઉ” હતું. તેની પત્નીનું નામ મહેટાબએલ હતું, તે મેઝાહાબની પુત્રી માંટરેદની પુત્રી થતી હતી.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="40" bcv="GEN.36.40" />પછી એસાવથી જે સરદારો થયા તેઓનાં નામ, પોતપોતાનાં પરિવાર તથા જગાઓ મુજબ તેઓના નામ આ છે:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સરદાર તિમ્ના, સરદાર આલ્વાહ, સરદાર યથેથ,
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<v id="41" bcv="GEN.36.41" />સરદાર ઓહલીબામાંહ, સરદાર એલાહ, સરદાર પીનોન,
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<v id="42" bcv="GEN.36.42" />સરદાર કનાઝ, સરદાર તેમાંન, સરદાર મિબ્સાર, સરદાર માંગ્દીએલ, અને સરદાર ઇરામ.
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<v id="43" bcv="GEN.36.43" />પોતપોતાના વતનના દેશ પ્રમાંણે અદોમના સરદારો છે. અદોમ લોકોનો પૂર્વજ તે જ એસાવ છે.
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</p>

<c id="37" />
<s style="s">સ્વપ્નદ્રષ્ટા યૂસફ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.37.1" />યાકૂબ જે પ્રદેશમાં એના પિતા આવીને વસ્યા હતાં તે દેશમાં એટલે કે, કનાન દેશમાં રહ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.37.2" />યાકૂબના પરિવારની આ કથા છે.
</p>
<p style="p">યૂસફ 17 વર્ષનો યુવાન હતો. તેનું કામ ઘેટાંબકરાંને ચરાવવાનું અને તેમની દેખભાળ રાખવાનું હતું. યૂસફ આ કામ પોતાના ભાઈઓ એટલે કે, બિલ્હાહ તથા ઝિલ્પાહના પુત્રોની સાથે કરતો હતો. (બિલ્હાહ અને ઝિલ્પાહ તેના પિતાની પત્નીઓ હતી.)
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.37.3" />યૂસફ પોતાના ભાઈઓના દુકૃત્યો વિષે તેના પિતાને જાણ કરતો હતો. તેના પિતા ઇસ્રાએલ વૃદ્વ હતાં ત્યારે યૂસફનો જન્મ થયો હતો. તેથી ઇસ્રાએલ બીજા પુત્રો કરતા વધારે પ્રેમ યૂસફને કરતો હતો; અને તેણે યૂસફ માંટે એક લાંબી બાંયનો રંગીન ઝભ્ભો પણ સિવડાવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.37.4" />બીજા પુત્રો કરતા પિતાને યૂસફ પર વિશેષ પ્રેમ છે તેના ભાઈઓએ જોતા તેઓ તેના ભાઇ યૂસફને ઘૃણા કરવા લાગ્યા અને તેઓ તેની સાથે મૈત્રીભાવથી વાત કરી શકતા નહોતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.37.5" />એક વખત યૂસફે એક વિચિત્ર સ્વપ્ન જોયું. અને પછી યૂસફે આ સ્વપ્નની બાબતમાં પોતાના ભાઈઓને વાત કરી. તેથી તેના ભાઈઓ તેને પહેલા કરતાં વધુ ઘૃણા કરવા લાગ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.37.6" />યૂસફે કહ્યું, “સાંભળો, મેં એક સ્વપ્ન જોયું છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.37.7" />આપણે બધા ખેતરમાં ઘઉંના પૂળા બાંધતા હતા. એવામાં માંરો પૂળો ટટાર ઊભો રહ્યો અને તમાંરા પૂળાએ તેની આસપાસ ભેગા થઈને માંરા પૂળાને પ્રણામ કર્યા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.37.8" />તેના ભાઈઓએ કહ્યું, “શું તું એમ માંને છે કે, આનો અર્થ એ છે કે, તું રાજા થઈને અમાંરા પર શાસન કરીશ?” આ સ્વપ્ન વિષે યૂસફે જે વાત કરી તેને કારણે તેઓ તેના પર પહેલાં કરતાં વધારે ઘૃણા કરતા થયાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.37.9" />પછી યૂસફને બીજું સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું, તે તેણે પોતાના ભાઈઓને કહ્યું. “મેં બીજા સ્વપ્નમાં સૂર્ય, ચંદ્ર અને અગિયાર નક્ષત્રોને મને વંદન કરતા જોયા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.37.10" />જ્યારે યૂસફે પિતાને તેનાં સ્વપ્ન વિષે કહ્યું ત્યારે તેના પિતાએ તેને ઠપકો આપ્યો અને કહ્યું, “તારા આ સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ શો? શું તું એમ સમજે છે કે, હું તારી માંતા તથા તારા ભાઈઓ તને સાષ્ટાંગ પ્રણામ કરીશુ?”
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.37.11" />તેના ભાઈઓ તો તેની ઈર્ષ્યા કરતાં રહ્યાં. પણ તેના પિતા આ બાબતનો ગંભીરતાથી વિચાર કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.37.12" />એક વખત યૂસફના ભાઈઓ પિતાના ઘેટાંબકરાં ચરાવવા માંટે શખેમ ગયા.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.37.13" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલે યૂસફને કહ્યું, “શખેમ જા, તારા ભાઈઓ શખેમમાં ઘેટાં બકરાં ચરાવે છે. ચાલ, હું તને તેમની પાસે મોકલું છું.”
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<p style="p">યૂસફે કહ્યું, “હું જઈશ, હું તૈયાર છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.37.14" />યૂસફના પિતાએ કહ્યું, “જા અને તપાસ કર. તારા ભાઇઓ અને ઘેટાં બકરાં કુશળ છે કે, કેમ? જોઈ આવ ને મને કહે.” એમ કહીને તેણે તેને હેબ્રોનની ખીણમાં થઈ શખેમ જવા મોકલ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.37.15" />યૂસફ શખેમમાં ખોવાઈ ગયો. એક માંણસે તેના ખેતરમાં આમતેમ રખડતો જોયો. તે માંણસે પૂછયું. “તું કોને શોધે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.37.16" />યૂસફે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું માંરા ભાઈઓને શોધું છું; શું તમે બતાવી શકો છો કે, તેઓ કઈ જગ્યાએ ઘેટાંબકરાં ચરાવે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.37.17" />પેલા માંણસે કહ્યું, “તેઓ તો ચાલ્યા ગયા છે. મેં તેમને એમ વાત કરતાં સાંભળ્યા હતા કે, ચાલો, આપણે દોથાન જઈએ.” આથી યૂસફ પોતાના ભાઈઓની પાછળ ગયો અને તેઓ તેને દોથાનમાં મળ્યા.
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<s style="s">યૂસફનું ગુલામી માંટે વેંચાઈ જવું
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.37.18" />યૂસફના ભાઈઓએ તેને દૂરથી આવતાં જોયો અને એ તેમની પાસે આવી પહોંચે તે પહેલાં જ એને માંરી નાખવા માંટેનું ષડયંત્ર તેમણે રચ્યું.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.37.19" />ભાઈઓએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, પેલો સ્વપ્ન જોવાવાળો યૂસફ આવે છે!
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.37.20" />ચાલો તક મળતાં આપણે તેને માંરી નાખીએ અને કોઈ હવડ કૂવામાં નાખી દઈએ. અને આપણે આપણા પિતાને કહીશું કે, તેને કોઈ જંગલી જાનવર ખાઈ ગયું છે. પછી આપણે જોઈશું કે, એના સ્વપ્નોનું શું થાય છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.37.21" />પરંતુ રૂબેન યૂસફને બચાવવા માંગતો હતો. રૂબેને કહ્યું, “આપણે એનો જીવ ન લઈએ.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.37.22" />રણના આ ખાલી કૂવામાં એને નાખી દો, પણ એને કોઈ ઈજા ન કરશો.” રૂબેનની યોજના એને બીજા ભાઇઓના હાથમાંથી બચાવી લઈને પિતાને સુપ્રત કરવાની હતી.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.37.23" />યૂસફ તેના ભાઈઓની પાસે આવ્યો ત્યારે એણે પેલો લાંબી બાંયનો સુંદર ડગલો પહેર્યો હતો, તેને ફાડીને ઉતારી લીધો.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.37.24" />પછી તેઓએ એને લઈ જઈને હવડ કૂવામાં ફેંકી દીધો. કૂવામાં પાણી નહોતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.37.25" />પછી યૂસફના ભાઈઓ ખાવા બેઠા. તેમણે નજર કરી, તો ઇશ્માંએલીઓનો એક સંઘ ગિલઆદથી આવતો હતો; અને તેઓ ઊંટ પર અનેક સુગંધીઓ તથા લોબાન તથા બોળ લાદીને મિસર લઈ જતા હતા.
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<v id="26" bcv="GEN.37.26" />યહૂદાએ પોતાના ભાઈઓને કહ્યું, “આપણે આપણા ભાઈની હત્યા કરીએ અને તેનું રકત છુપાવી દઈએ તેથી શો ફાયદો?
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.37.27" />ચાલો, આપણે તેને ઇશ્માંએલીઓને વેચી દઈએ, અને તેને કોઈ ઈજા ન કરીએ, કારણ તે આપણો ભાઈ છે તથા આપણું જ લોહી છે.” અને તેના ભાઈઓ તેની સાથે સંમત થયા.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.37.28" />તે સમયે ત્યાંથી કેટલાક મિદ્યાની વેપારીઓ પસાર થતાં હતા; તેથી ભાઈઓએ યૂસફને કૂવામાંથી બહાર કાઢયો અને 20 રૂપામહોરમાં વેપારીઓને વેચી દીધો. તેથી તેઓ યૂસફને મિસર લઈ ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.37.29" />રૂબેન કૂવા પાસે પાછો આવ્યો; જોયું તો કૂવામાં યૂસફ ન હતો; શોકના માંર્યા તેણે પોતાનાં લૂંગડાં ફાડયાં.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.37.30" />પછી તેણે પોતાના ભાઈઓ પાસે પાછા આવીને કહ્યું, “અરે! છોકરો તો નથી; હવે હું શું કરું?”
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.37.31" />પછી તેઓએ યૂસફનો ઝભ્ભો લીધો, અને બકરાંને કાપીને તેના રકતમાં તે ઝભ્ભો બોળી કાઢયો.
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<v id="32" bcv="GEN.37.32" />અને પછી તે રંગીન લીલી બાંયવાળો ઝભ્ભો પોતાના પિતાને મોકલી આપ્યો અને કહેવડાવ્યું કે, “આ અમને જડયો છે; તે તમાંરા પુત્રનો છે કે, નહિ એ તમે ઓળખી લેજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="GEN.37.33" />તે ઓળખ્યો, ને કહ્યું, “આ તો માંરા પુત્રનો ઝભ્ભો છે; કોઈ જંગલી પશુએ તેને ફાડી ખાધો છે; જરૂર યૂસફને ફાડી ખાધો છે.”
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<v id="34" bcv="GEN.37.34" />પછી યાકૂબે પોતાનાં વસ્રો ફાડી નાંખ્યાં અને ઢીલો ઝભ્ભો પહેર્યો અને ધણા દિવસ સુધી તેણે પુત્રના મરણનો શોક પાળ્યો.
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<v id="35" bcv="GEN.37.35" />અને એના બધા પુત્ર-પુત્રીઓએ તેને દિલાસો આપવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો; પણ તે શાંત થયો નહિ અને તેણે કહ્યું, “માંરા મરવાના દિવસ સુધી હું શોક કર્યા કરીશ.” આમ તેના પિતાએ વિલાપ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="GEN.37.36" />તે સમય દરમ્યાન પેલા મિધાનીઓએ યૂસફને મિસરમાં ફારુનના એક અમલદાર, અંગરક્ષકોના અધિકારી પોટીફારને વેચી દીધો.
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<c id="38" />
<s style="s">યહૂદા અને તામાંર
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.38.1" />એ દિવસો દરમ્યાન યહૂદાએ પોતાના ભાઈઓને છોડી દીધા અને અદુલ્લામ નગરના વતની હીરાહ નામના વ્યકિત સાથે રહેવા ગયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.38.2" />ત્યાં તેમને એક કનાની સ્ત્રી મળી. અને તે સ્ત્રી સાથે તેમણે લગ્ન કરી લીધા. તે સ્ત્રીનું નામ શૂઆ હતું.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.38.3" />તે સ્ત્રી ગર્ભવતી થઈ, ને તેણે એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો; અને યહૂદાએ તેનું નામ એર પાડયું.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.38.4" />ફરીથી તેણે ગર્ભ ધારણ કર્યો અને પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો. તેણે તેનું નામ ઓનાન પાડયું.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.38.5" />અને ફરી તેને એક પુત્ર જન્મ્યો જેનું નામ તેણે શેલાહ પાડયું. જયારે તેનો જન્મ થયો ત્યારે યહૂદા ખઝીબમાં રહેતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.38.6" />પછી યહૂદાએ પોતાના મોટા પુત્ર એર માંટે તામાંર નામની વહુ લાવી.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.38.7" />યહોવાએ યહૂદાના મોટા પુત્રને માંરી નાખ્યો કારણ કે તેની દૃષ્ટિમાં તે ભૂંડો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.38.8" />પછી યહૂદાએ ઓનાનને કહ્યું, “તું તારા ભાઈની પત્ની સાથે શારીરિક સંબંધ રાખ. દિયર તરીકેની તારી ફરજ અદા કર, અને તારા ભાઈ માંટે પ્રજા પેદા કર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.38.9" />અને ઓનાનને ખબર હતી કે, એ સંતાનો તેના ગણાશે નહિ. એટલે જયારે જયારે એ પોતાની ભાભી પાસે જતો ત્યારે તે ભૂમિ પર પાડયું જેથી તેના ભાઈની પ્રજા પેદા ન થાય.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.38.10" />આ રીતે તે જે કરતો તે યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિમાં ભૂડું હતું. તેથી તેણે તેનું પણ મોંત નિપજાવ્યું.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.38.11" />પછી પોતાની પુત્રવધૂ તામાંરને યહૂદાએ કહ્યું, “માંરો પુત્ર શેલાહ મોટો થાય, ત્યાં સુધી તું તારા પિયરમાં જઇને વિધવા તરીકે રહે.” કારણ કે કદાચ તે શેલાહ પણ તેના ભાઈઓની જેમ માંર્યો જાય. તેથી તામાંર તેના બાપને ઘેર જઈને રહી.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.38.12" />સમય જતાં યહૂદાની પત્ની, શૂઆની પુત્રીનું મૃત્યુ થયું. શોકનો સમય પૂરો થયા પછી યહૂદા પોતાના મિત્ર અદુલ્લામી હીરાહ સાથે તેનાં ઘેટાં કાતરનારાઓ પાસે તિમ્નાહ ગયો.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.38.13" />પછી તામાંરને જાણ થઈ કે, “જો, તારા સસરા તેમનાં ઘેટાં કાતરવાને તિમ્નાહ જાય છે.”
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.38.14" />તેથી તેણીએ પોતાનાં વૈધવ્યનાં વસ્રો ઉતારી અને પોતાનો ચહેરો બુરખાથી ઢાંકી દીધો. અને પોતાનો દેહ ઢાંકીને તિમ્નાહને રસ્તે આવેલ એનાઇમની ભાગોળ આગળ એક સ્થળે બેઠી. તે જાણતી હતી કે, શેલાહ મોટો થયો છે. તેમ છતાં તેને તેણીની સાથે પરણવાની મંજૂરી આપવામાં આવી ન હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.38.15" />અને જયારે યહૂદાએ તેને જોઈ, ત્યારે તેને વેશ્યા જાણી, કારણ કે તેણે પોતાનું મુખ ઢાંકયું હતું.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.38.16" />રસ્તાની બાજુમાં તેની પાસે જઈને તેણે કહ્યું, “હવે મને તારી પાસે આવવા દે;” કેમ કે, તે જાણતો નહોતો કે, એ એની પુત્રવધૂ છે.
</p>
<p style="p">તે બોલી, “માંરી પાસે આવવા સારું તમે મને શું આપશો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.38.17" />તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “માંરાં બકરાંના ટોળામાંથી એક લવારું મોકલીશ.” તેણીએ કહ્યું, “તમે મને લવારું મોકલો ત્યાં સુધી કોઈ વસ્તુ આપો તો જ!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.38.18" />તેથી તેણે તેને કહ્યું, “હું શું સાનમાં આપું?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણીએ કહ્યું, “તમાંરી મુદ્રા, તથા તમાંરો અછોડો તથા તમાંરા હાથમાંની ડાંગ.” આથી યહૂદાએ તે વસ્તુઓ આપી અને તેની પાસે ગયો, ને તેનાથી તે ગર્ભવતી થઈ.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.38.19" />પછી તે ઊઠીને ચાલી ગઈ, અને બુરખો કાઢીને તેણે વિધવાનાં વસ્રો પહેરી લીધાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.38.20" />પછી જયારે યહૂદાએ સાનમાં મૂકેલી વસ્તુઓ તે સ્ત્રી પાસેથી મેળવવા અદુલ્લામવાસી મિત્ર સાથે લવારું મોકલ્યું ત્યારે તેને તે મળી નહિ.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.38.21" />એટલે તેણે તે ગામના માંણસોની પૂછપરછ કરી, કે, “જે વેશ્યા એનાઇમ પાસે રસ્તા પર બેઠી હતી તે કયાં છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેમણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “અહીં કોઈ વેશ્યા હતી જ નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.38.22" />તેથી યહૂદા પાસે પાછા આવીને તેણે કહ્યું, “મને તો તે ન મળી; અને ત્યાંના માંણસોએ પણ કહ્યું કે, અહીં કોઈ વેશ્યા નહોતી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.38.23" />એટલે યહૂદા બોલ્યો, “એની પાસે જે છે તે છોને એની પાસે રહે; નહિ તો આપણે અપમાંનિત થઈશું. મેં તો તેને માંટે આ લવારું મોકલ્યું હતું. પણ તને તે મળી નહિ એ જુદી વાત.”
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<s style="s">તામાંર ગર્ભવતી થઈ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.38.24" />આસરે ત્રણ મહિના બાદ યહૂદાને જાણ થઈ કે, “તારી પુત્રવધૂએ તામાંરે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો છે, પરિણામે તે ગર્ભવતી થઈ છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી યહૂદાએ કહ્યું, “તેને બહાર લાવીને બાળી નાખો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.38.25" />પરંતુ તેને બાળવા લઈ જતા હતા, ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના સસરાની પાસે માંણસ મોકલીને કહેવડાવ્યું. “આ વસ્તુઓ જેની છે તે માંણસથી મને ગર્ભ રહ્યો છે. આ મુદ્રા તથા અછોડો અને ડાંગ કોના છે? ઓળખો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.38.26" />પછી યહૂદાએ વસ્તુઓ ઓળખીને કબૂલ કર્યુ અને કહ્યું, “તે નિદોર્ષ છે, દોષ માંરો છે, કારણ કે મેં એને માંરા પુત્ર શેલાહ સાથે પરણાવી નહિ તેનું આ પરિણામ છે.” તે પછી તેણે તેને ફરીથી જાણી નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.38.27" />પ્રસવકાળે તેને ખબર પડી કે, તેના પેટમાં જોડ છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.38.28" />પ્રસૂતિ વખતે તેમાંના એકે હાથ બહાર કાઢયો, એટલે તરત જ દાયણે તેને પકડી લઈને લાલ દોરાથી બાંધીને કહ્યું, “આ પહેલો આવ્યો છે.”
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.38.29" />પણ તેણે તેનો હાથ પાછો ખેંચી લીધો તેથી તેનો ભાઈ પહેલો બહાર આવ્યો, ત્યારે દાયણ બોલી, “તું કેવી રીતે ફાટ પાડીને નીકળ્યો?” તેથી તેનું નામ પેરેસ પડયું.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.38.30" />પછી લાલ દોરા સાથે તેનો ભાઈ બહાર આવ્યો. જેથી તેનું નામ ઝેરાહ પડયું.
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</p>

<c id="39" />
<s style="s">યૂસફને મિસરના પોટીફારને ત્યાં વેચવામાં આવ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.39.1" />પછી ઇશ્માંએલીઓ યૂસફને મિસર લઈ આવ્યા અને ત્યાંથી ફારુનના એક મિસરી અમલદાર, અંગરક્ષકોના સરદાર પોટીફારે તેને તેમની પાસેથી વેચાતો લીધો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.39.2" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ યૂસફને મદદ કરી. તેથી તે બધી બાબતોમાં સફળ થયો. તે તેના મિસરી શેઠના ઘરમાં રહેતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.39.3" />પોટીફારે જોયું કે, યહોવા યૂસફની સાથે છે. તેથી યૂસફ જે કઈ કરે છે તેમાં યહોવા એને સફળતા બક્ષે છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.39.4" />એટલે પોટીફાર યૂસફને પ્રાપ્ત કરીને પ્રસન્ન થયો. યૂસફ પર તેની કૃપાદૃષ્ટિ હતી. તેથી તેણે તેને પોતાની અંગત સેવામાં રાખ્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.39.5" />તેણે તેને ઘરનો કારભારી બનાવ્યો અને પોતાની મિલકત તેને સોંપી. જ્યારથી યૂસફને એણે પોતાના ઘરનો અને પોતાની બધી મિલકતનો કારભાર સોંપ્યો ત્યારથી યહોવાએ મિસરીના ઘર પર અને પોટીફારના ઘરમાં અને ખેતરમાં જે કાંઈ હતું તે બધા પર આશીર્વાદ વરસાવ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.39.6" />તેથી પોટીફારે ઘરની તમાંમ વસ્તુઓની જવાબદારી યૂસફને સોંપી દીધી. અને પોટીફારે બધી જ ચિંતા છોડી દીધી, તે જે અન્ન ખાતો તે સિવાય બીજી કોઈ ચિંતા કરતો નહિ.
</p>
<s style="s">યૂસફ પોટીફારની પત્નીને ના કહે છે
</s>
<p style="p">યૂસફ સુંદર અને રૂપાળો હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.39.7" />થોડા સમય પછી યૂસફના શેઠના પત્નીએ યૂસફ તરફ તીવ્ર લાલસાથી જોયુ; અને કહ્યું, “માંરી સાથે સૂઈ જા અને માંરી સાથે સૂ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.39.8" />પરંતુ યૂસફે તેની સ્પષ્ટ ના પાડી અને પોતાના શેઠની પત્નીને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, હું છું તેથી માંરા શેઠને ઘરમાં કોઈ વસ્તુની ચિંતા નથી, તેમણે તેમનું જે કાંઈ છે તે બધું એક તમાંરા અપવાદ સિવાય મને સોંપી દીધું છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.39.9" />આ ઘરમાં માંરા કરતાં કોઈનું વધારે ચલણ નથી. તેમ શેઠે કોઈ વસ્તુથી મને બાકાત રાખ્યો નથી, એક તમાંરા વિના, કારણ કે તમે તેમનાં પત્ની છો. માંટે આવું મોટું કુકર્મ કરીને, હું દેવનો ગુનેગાર શી રીતે થઈ શકું?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.39.10" />તેણી દરરોજ યૂસફને ઉશ્કેરવા પ્રયત્ન કરી તેણીની સાથે સૂવા માંટે કહેતી, છતાં યૂસફ તેણી સાથે સુવા થતો નહોતો.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.39.11" />એક દિવસ યૂસફ કોઈ કારણસર ઘરમાં ગયો; ત્યારે ઘરમાં ઘરનું કોઈ માંણસ ન હતું.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.39.12" />એટલે તે સ્ત્રીએ એનો ઝભ્ભો પકડીને કહ્યું, “માંરી સાથે સૂઈ જા.” પણ યૂસફ તો તેનો ઝભ્ભો તેના હાથમાં રહેવા દઈને ઘરની બહાર નાસી ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.39.13" />જયારે પેલી સ્ત્રીએ જોયું કે, યૂસફ તેનો ઝભ્ભો એના હાથમાં રહેવા દઈને બહાર નાસી ગયો છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.39.14" />તેણીએ પોતાના ઘરમાંના પુરુષોને બોલાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, આપણને શરમાંવવા એક હિબ્રૂ માંણસ મોકલાવાયો છે; તે માંરી સાથે સૂવા અંદર આવ્યો હતો,
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.39.15" />એટલે મેં મોટા સાદે બૂમ પાડી, એટલે તે બૂમ સાંભળીને તેનુ વસ્ર માંરા હાથમાં મૂકીને ભાગી ગયો.”
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.39.16" />પછી તેણીએ તેના પતિના આવતા સુધી ઝભ્ભો પોતાની પાસે રાખી મૂકયો,
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.39.17" />અને પોતાના પતિને પણ તેણીએ એ પ્રમાંણે કહ્યું કે, “તમે જે હિબ્રૂ ગુલામ લાવ્યા છો, તે માંરી લાજ લૂંટવા માંટે માંરી પાસે આવ્યો હતો;
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.39.18" />પણ મેં જેવી મોટા સાદે બૂમ પાડી કે, તરત જ તે ઝભ્ભો માંરી પાસે રહેવા દઈને નાસી ગયો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.39.19" />પછી શેઠે જયારે પોતાની પત્નીની વાત સાંભળી કે, “તમાંરા નોકરે માંરી સાથે આવું વર્તન કર્યુ છે,” ત્યારે તે ગુસ્સામાં રાતોપીળો થઈ ગયો.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.39.20" />પછી તેણે યૂસફને પકડીને જેલમાં પૂરી દીધો. જે ઠેકાણે રાજાના બંદીવાન કેદ કરાતા હતા. આમ તે ત્યાં કેદખાનામાં રહ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યૂસફ જેલમાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.39.21" />પણ યૂસફને યહોવાનો સાથ હતો. તેણે તેના પર દયા કરી અને કેદખાનાના સંત્રીની તેના પર દયા થાય તેમ કર્યુ.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.39.22" />કેદખાનાના સંત્રીએ જેલમાંના બધાં જ કેદીઓને યૂસફના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા. અને પછી તો તેના હુકમ પ્રમાંણે જ બધું થવા લાગ્યું.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.39.23" />અને યૂસફના હાથમાં જે બાબતો હતી તેના પર સંત્રીએ દેખરેખ રાખવાનું રહ્યું નહિ, કારણ કે યૂસફને યહોવાનો સાથ હતો; તેથી યૂસફ જે કંઇ કરતો તેમાં યહોવા તેનું ભલું કરતો હતો.
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</p>

<c id="40" />
<s style="s">યૂસફ કેદીઓનાં સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.40.1" />આ બધું થયા પછી એમ બન્યું કે, મિસરના રાજાના પાત્રવાહકે તથા ભઠિયારાએ તેમના માંલિક મિસરના રાજાનો અપરાધ કર્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.40.2" />તેથી ફારુન તેના બંને સેવકો પાત્રવાહક અને ભઠિયારા પર કોપાયમાંન થયો.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.40.3" />અને તેણે તેઓને કેદખાનામાં નાખ્યાં, તે એ કેદખાનું હતું જેના માંટે ફારુનના રક્ષકોનો અમલદાર પોટીફાર અધિકારી હતો, ત્યાં યૂસફ કેદ હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.40.4" />અંગરક્ષકોના સરદારે યૂસફને તેમના તાબામાં સોંપ્યો. તે તેમની સેવા કરતો; આમ તેઓ કેટલાક સમય માંટે કેદમાં રહ્યાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.40.5" />એક દિવસ રાત્રે કેદખાનામાં પુરાયેલા મિસરના રાજાના પાત્રવાહકને અને ભઠિયારાને બન્નેને એક સાથે સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું. બન્નેનાં સ્વપ્ન જુદાં હતાં. તથા પ્રત્યેક સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ પણ જુદો હતો.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.40.6" />પછી સવારે જયારે યૂસફે અંદર આવીને જોયું, તો તેઓ ચિંતિત હતા.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.40.7" />તેથી તેણે તેમને પૂછયું, “આજે તમે કેમ ચિંતિત દેખાઓ છો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.40.8" />એટલે તેઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “અમને દરેકને સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું હતું, પણ તેનો અર્થ કરનાર કોઈ નથી.”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે યૂસફે તેઓને કહ્યું, “એક માંત્ર દેવ જ સ્વપ્નોનો ખુલાસો કરી શકે, છે. કૃપા કરી મને તમાંરું સ્વપ્ન કહો.”
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<s style="s">દ્રાક્ષારસ આપનારા નોકરનું સ્વપ્ન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.40.9" />એટલે દ્રાક્ષારસ આપનારા નોકરે પોતાનું સ્વપ્ન યૂસફને કહ્યું, “મેં સ્વપ્નમાં એક દ્રાક્ષનો વેલો જોયો.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.40.10" />તે દ્રાક્ષના વેલાને ત્રણ ડાળીઓ હતી, મેં ડાળીઓ પર કળીઓ બેસતી અને તેમાંથી ફૂલ ફૂટતાં જોયા. અને ગુચ્છામાં પાકી દ્રાક્ષો જોઈ;
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.40.11" />ફારુનનો પ્યાલો માંરા હાથમાં હતો. મેં દ્રાક્ષો લઈને તે પ્યાલામાં નિચોવી અને પ્યાલો ફારુનના હાથમાં આપ્યો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.40.12" />પછી યૂસફે કહ્યું, “હું તને સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ સમજાવું છું. ત્રણ ડાળીઓનો અર્થ ત્રણ દિવસ છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.40.13" />ત્રણ દિવસમાં ફારુન તને મુકત કરી માંફ કરશે, અને તને તારા પોતાના કામ પર પાછો રાખશે; તું પહેલાં જેમ એનો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીરસનાર હતો તેમ તેના હાથમાં ફારુનનો પ્યાલો આપીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.40.14" />પણ જયારે તારા સુખના દિવસો આવે ત્યારે કૃપા કરીને મને સંભારજે. માંરા પર દયા રાખજે. ફારુનને માંરી વાત કરજે અને મને આ કારાગારમાંથી મુકત કરાવજે.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.40.15" />અહીંયા હિબ્રૂઓના દેશમાંથી માંરી ઇચ્છા વિરુધ્ધ લાવવામાં આવ્યો છે. મેં અહીં એવું કશુંય ખોટું કર્યુ નથી જેને કારણે મને કારાગૃહમાં નાખવો પડે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">રોટલી બનાવનારનું સ્વપ્ન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.40.16" />રોટલી બનાવનારાએ જોયું કે, બીજા નોકરનું સ્વપ્ન સારું હતું. તેથી તેણે યૂસફને કહ્યું, “મેં પણ એક સ્વપ્ન જોયું હતું. માંરા માંથા પર રોટલીઓની ત્રણ નેતરની છાબડીઓ હતી.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.40.17" />સૌથી ઉપરની છાબડીમાં ફારુન માંટે દરેક જાતનાં પકવાન હતાં. પરંતુ તેને પંખીઓ ખાઈ જતાં હતાં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.40.18" />યૂસફે કહ્યું, “ત્રણ છાબડીઓનો અર્થ ત્રણ દિવસ છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.40.19" />ત્રણ દિવસમાં ફારુન તમને મુકત તો કરશે, પરંતુ તારું માંથું કાપીને તને ઝાડ પર લટકાવશે, અને પંખીઓ તારું માંસ ફોલી ખાશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">યૂસફને ભુલ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.40.20" />ત્રીજે દિવસે ફારુનની વર્ષગાંઠ હતી, તે દિવસે તેણે તેના બધા સેવકોને મિજબાની આપી; અને ફારુને તેના સેવકોમાં મુખ્યપાત્રવાહકનો અને ભઠિયારાનો ન્યાય કર્યો, અને બંનેને કારાગૃહમાંથી બહાર આવવા દીધા.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.40.21" />અને તેણે મુખ્ય પાત્રવાહકને તેની પદવી પર પાછો રાખ્યો; અને તેણે ફારુનના હાથમાં પ્યાલો આપ્યો,
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.40.22" />પણ યૂસફે જે અર્થ કરી બતાવ્યો હતો તે પ્રમાંણે ભઠિયારાને ફાંસીએ ચઢાવ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.40.23" />છતાં મુખ્ય પાત્રવાહકએ યૂસફને યાદ કર્યો નહિ, અને તે તેને ભૂલી ગયો.
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</p>

<c id="41" />
<s style="s">ફારુનનાં સ્વપ્ન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.41.1" />બે વર્ષ પૂરા થયા પછી ફારુનને સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું, જોયું તો પોતે નાઈલ નદીની પાસે ઊભો છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.41.2" />પછી ફારુને સાત સુંદર તંદુરસ્ત પુષ્ટ ગાયોને નદીમાંથી બહાર નીકળીને બરુમાં ચરતી જોઇ.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.41.3" />ત્યારબાદ બીજી સાત કદરૂપી અને સુકાઈ ગયેલી ગાયો તેઓની પછવાડે નદીમાંથી બહાર આવી અને કિનારે પેલી બીજી ગાયો સાથે ઊભી રહી.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.41.4" />પછી તે સાત કદરૂપી સૂકાઈ ગયેલી ગાયો સુંદર તથા પુષ્ટ ગાયોને ખાઈ ગઈ. એટલામાં ફારુનની આંખો ઉઘડી ગઈ. તે જાગી ઊઠયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.41.5" />ફરી પાછો તે ઊંધી ગયો, ને એણે બીજું સ્વપ્ન જોયું. તેણે એક જ સાંઠા પર ભરેલાં અને સારાં દાણાવાળા સાત ડૂંડાં જોયા.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.41.6" />અને પછી તેઓની પછવાડે સાત પાતળા અને લૂથી બળી ગયેલા ડૂંડા ફૂટી નીકળ્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.41.7" />પછી એ પાતળાં ડૂડાં પેલાં સાત ભરેલાં અને સારાં ડૂંડાને ગળી ગયાં. ત્યાં તો ફારુન જાગી ગયો. અને જાણ્યું કે, આ તો સ્વપ્ન હતું.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.41.8" />સવારે તે આ સ્વપ્નો વિષે ચિંતીત હતો. તેણે મિસરના બધા જયોતિષીઓને તથા શાણા પુરુષોને નિમંત્રણ મોકલ્યા. જ્યારે તેઓ આવ્યા, ફારુને તેમને પોતાના સ્વપ્નો કહ્યાં; પરંતુ તેઓમાંથી કોઈ પણ તેનો અર્થ કહી શકયો નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાત્રવાહકે ફારુનને યૂસફના વિષે કહ્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.41.9" />ત્યારે મુખ્ય પાત્રવાહકએ ફારુનને કહ્યું, “આજે મને માંરો ગુનો યાદ આવે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.41.10" />જ્યારે ફારુને તેના સેવકો પર ક્રોધે ભરાઈ મને તથા મુખ્ય ભઠિયારાને તેણે કારાગૃહમાં નાખ્યા, કે, જે અંગરક્ષકોના ઉપરી ચલાવતા હતા.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.41.11" />ત્યારે એકજ રાત્રે અમને બંનેને જુંદું જુંદું સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું હતું. અને દરેકને આવેલ સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ જુદો હતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.41.12" />અંગરક્ષકોના ઉપરી અમલદારનો સેવક એક જુવાન હિબ્રૂ પણ ત્યાં અમાંરી સાથે હતો; અમે તેને અમાંરાં સ્વપ્નો કહ્યાં એટલે તેણે તે સ્વપ્નોનો અર્થ સમજાવ્યો અને અમને દરેકને પોતપોતાનાં સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ કહી બતાવ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.41.13" />તેણે અમને જે અર્થ કહ્યો હતો તે પ્રમાંણે જ બન્યું; મને માંરી પદવી પર પાછો મૂકયો અને ભઠિયારાને ફાંસીની સજા થઇ.”
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<s style="s">યૂસફને સ્વપ્ન જાણવા માંટે બોલાવાયો
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.41.14" />પછી ફારુનને યૂસફને તેડવા માંટે માંણસો મોકલ્યા, ને તેઓ તેને ઝટપટ કારાગારમાંથી બહાર કાઢી લાવ્યા; પછી તેણે હજામત કરાવી, કપડાં બદલ્યાં અને તે ફારુન પાસે આવ્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.41.15" />ફારુને યૂસફને કહ્યું, “મને એક સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું છે, પણ તેનો અર્થ સમજાવનાર કોઇ નથી. મેં તમાંરા વિષે એવું સાંભળ્યું છે કે, જો તમને સ્વપ્ન કહેવામાં આવે તો તમે તેનો અર્થ કહી શકો છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.41.16" />પછી યૂસફે ફારુનને જવાબ આપતા કહ્યું, “અર્થ કરનાર હું કોણ? ફારુનનું જેમાં કલ્યાણ હોય એવો જવાબ તો દેવ જ આપશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.41.17" />પછી ફારુનને યૂસફને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, માંરા સ્વપ્નમાં હું નાઇલ નદીને કાંઠે ઊભો હતો;
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.41.18" />અને સાત સુંદર તંદુરસ્ત પુષ્ટ ગાયો નદીમાંથી નીકળીને બીડમાં ચરતી હતી;
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.41.19" />અને જુઓ, તેમની પછવાડે બીજી સાત પાતળી, કદરૂપી અને સૂકલકડી ગાયો નીકળી, આવી કદરૂપી ગાયો મેં કદી આખા મિસરમાં જોઈ નહોતી.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.41.20" />અને એ સૂકલકડી કદરૂપી ગાયો પેલી હૃષ્ટપુષ્ટ સાત ગાયોને ખાઈ ગઈ.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.41.21" />પણ તેમ છતા કોઇ ન કહી શકે કે, તેમણે સ્વસ્થ ગાયો ખાધી છે, કેમકે તેઓ તો પહેલાંના જેવી જ કદરૂપી અને પાતળી જ લાગતી હતી. પછી હું જાગી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.41.22" />“ફરી આંખ મળતાં બીજું સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું. મેં એક જ સાંઠા ઉપર ઊગેલાં સાત સારાં ભરાયેલાં દાણાવાળાં ડૂંડા જોયાં.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.41.23" />અને પછી તેઓની પાછળ જ સૂકાયેલાં તથા હલકાં, ચિમળાઈ ગયેલાં પાતળાં અને લૂથી બળી ગયેલાં ડૂંડા ફૂટી નીકળ્યાં.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.41.24" />અને પછી તે હલકાં-પાતળાં ડૂંડા પેલા સાત સારાં ડૂંડાને ગળી ગયાં.
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<p style="p">“તેથી મેં માંરા જોષીઓને તથા જાદુગરોને આ સ્વપ્ન વિષે પૂછયું, પણ તેઓમાંથી પણ કોઇ મને એનો અર્થ બતાવી શક્યું નહિ.”
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<s style="s">યૂસફે સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ સમજાવ્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.41.25" />ત્યારબાદ યૂસફે ફારુનને કહ્યું, “ફારુનનાં બંને સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ તો એક જ છે. હવે દેવ શું કરનાર છે એ તેણે ફારુનને દર્શાવ્યું છે.”
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<v id="26" bcv="GEN.41.26" />સાત સારી ગાયો અને સાત સારાં ડૂંડા એ સાત સારાં વર્ષ છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.41.27" />તેમની પછવાડે જે સાત પાતળી અને કદરૂપી ગાયો નીકળી તે પણ સાત વર્ષ છે. અને લૂથી બળી ગયેલાં સાત ખાલી ડૂંડાં પણ દુકાળનાં સાત વર્ષ છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.41.28" />દેવે તમને તે શું કરવા માંગે છે અને નજીકના ભવિષ્યમાં શું થવાનું છે તેની ફારુનને જાણ કરી છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.41.29" />જુઓ, સમગ્ર મિસરમાં તમાંરી આબાદીનાં તથા ધણી જ પુષ્કળતાના સાત વર્ષ આવશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.41.30" />અને ત્યારબાદ સાત વર્ષ દુકાળના આવશે. આખા મિસરમાં લોકો આબાદીની વાતો ભૂલી જશે. એ દુકાળ દેશનો સર્વનાશ કરશે;
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.41.31" />અને એ દુકાળ એવો ભયંકર હશે કે, દેશમાં કયાંય આબાદીનું નામનિશાન જોવા પણ નહિ મળે.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.41.32" />“અને ફારુનને બે વાર સ્વપ્ન આવ્યાં તેનો અર્થ એ કે, દેવ તરફથી આ વાત નક્કી થઈ ગયેલ છે. અને દેવ તેને થોડા સમયમાંજ પૂર્ણ કરશે.
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<v id="33" bcv="GEN.41.33" />તેથી કરીને હવે ફારુને કોઈ બુદ્વિમાંન અને જ્ઞાની પુરુષને પસંદ કરીને મિસર દેશનો વહીવટ સોંપી દેવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="34" bcv="GEN.41.34" />દેશભરમાં ફારુને અમલદારો નિયુકત કરવા જોઈએ અને સમૃદ્વિનાં સાત વર્ષ દરમ્યાન મિસરમાંથી પાકનો પાંચમો ભાગ વસૂલ કરવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="35" bcv="GEN.41.35" />અને જે સાત સારાં વર્ષ આવે તે દરમ્યાન બધી જ જાતનું અનાજ ભેગું કરવું જ. અને ફારુનના તાબા નીચે પ્રત્યેક શહેરમાં તેને સાચવવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="36" bcv="GEN.41.36" />અને મિસરમાં દુકાળનાં જે સાત વર્ષ આવશે, ત્યારે એ અનાજનો જથ્થો કામ આવશે. અને દુકાળથી દેશનો નાશ થતો અટકી જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="GEN.41.37" />આ સલાહ ફારુન અને તેના બધા અમલદારોને પસંદ પડી. તેથી ફારુને પોતાના અમલદારોને કહ્યું.
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<v id="38" bcv="GEN.41.38" />“આ યોજનાને પાર પાડવા માંટે યૂસફ યોગ્ય માંણસ છે. એનાથી સારો માંણસ આપણને ન મળે, તેની અંદરનો દેવનો આત્માં તેને ઘણો શાણો બનાવે છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="GEN.41.39" />તેથી ફારુને યૂસફને કહ્યું, “યૂસફ જ આ કામ સંભાળવા માંટે લાયક વ્યકિત છે, આની કરતા વધારે લાયકાતવાળું આપણને કોઇ નહિ મળે. દેવનો આત્માં એનામાં છે, જેનાથી એ ખૂબ બુધ્ધિમાંન છે.
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<v id="40" bcv="GEN.41.40" />માંટે તું જ માંરો દેશ સંભાળી લે. તારી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન માંરી બધી જ પ્રજા કરશે. ફકત આ રાજગાદીને કારણે જ હું તારા કરતાં મોટો હોઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="GEN.41.41" />વળી તેણે યૂસફને કહ્યું, “જો મેં તને આખા મિસરનો વહીવટ સોંપ્યો છે.”
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<v id="42" bcv="GEN.41.42" />આમ કહીને ફારુને પોતાના હાથની મુદ્રા લઈને યૂસફના હાથે પહેરાવી દીધી, ને તેને મલમલનાં વસ્ર પહેરાવ્યાં અને ગળામાં સોનાનો હાર પહેરાવ્યો.
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<v id="43" bcv="GEN.41.43" />પછી તેણે યૂસફને પોતાના પછીના ઉત્તમ રથમાં બેસાડીને ફેરવ્યો. લોકોએ તેની આગળ દયા પોકારી: “વંદન હો” એવી છડી પોકારી. ફારુને આ રીતે યૂસફને આખા મિસર દેશનો શાસનકર્તા બનાવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="GEN.41.44" />અને તેણે યૂસફને કહ્યું, “હું ફારુન છું; રાજા છું, તેથી માંરી મરજી મુજબ વતીર્શ, પરંતુ તારી પરવાનગી વિના આખા મિસર દેશમાં કોઈ હાથ કે, પગ હલાવશે નહિ.”
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<v id="45" bcv="GEN.41.45" />પછી ફારુને યુસફનું નામ સાફનાથ-પાનેઆહ રાખ્યું. અને તેને ઓનના યાજક પોટીફેરાની પુત્રી આસનાથને પરણાવી. પછી યૂસફ મિસર દેશમાં ફરવા માંટે નીકળ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="GEN.41.46" />જયારે યૂસફ 30 વર્ષનો હતો, ત્યારે ફારુનની નોકરીમાં જોડાયો. તે આખા મિસર દેશમાં ફરી વળ્યો.
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<v id="47" bcv="GEN.41.47" />અને સમૃદ્વિનાં સાત વર્ષ દરમ્યાન મબલખ પાક ઉતર્યો.
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<v id="48" bcv="GEN.41.48" />સમગ્ર મિસર દેશમાં એ સાત વર્ષ દરમ્યાન જે અનાજનું ઉત્પાદન થયું તે તેણે એકઠું કર્યુ. ને તે અનાજ દરેક નગરમાં આજુબાજુના ખેતરોમાં ભરી રાખ્યું.
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<v id="49" bcv="GEN.41.49" />યૂસફે સમુદ્રની રેતી જેટલું ખૂબ ખૂબ અનાજ ભેગુ કર્યુ. તે એટલે સુધી કે, તેનો હિસાબ રાખવાનું પણ છોડી દેવું પડયું. કારણ કે તે બેશુમાંર હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="GEN.41.50" />દુકાળનાં વષોર્ આવતાં પહેલાં ઓનના યાજક પોટીફેરાની પુત્રી આસનાથથી યૂસફને બે પુત્રો થયા.
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<v id="51" bcv="GEN.41.51" />દેવે મને માંરી બધી વિપત્તિઓ અને પિતાનું ઘર ભૂલાવી દીધાં છે. એમ કહીને યૂસફે મોટા પુત્રનું નામ મનાશ્શા પાડયું.
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<v id="52" bcv="GEN.41.52" />તેણે તેના બીજા પુત્રનું નામ એફ્રાઇમ પાડ્યું. તેણે કહ્યું, “દેવે મને વષોર્ના દુ:ખો પછી આ ભૂમિમાં બાળકો આપીને સફળ બનાવ્યો છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">દુકાળનો સમય શરુ થાય છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="GEN.41.53" />સમૃદ્વિનાં સાત વર્ષ મિસરનાં આવ્યાં હતાં તે વીતી ગયાં.
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<v id="54" bcv="GEN.41.54" />અને યૂસફના કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે દુકાળનાં સાત વર્ષની શરૂઆત થઈ. બીજા બધા દેશોમાં તો દુકાળ હતો પરંતુ સમગ્ર મિસરમાં અનાજની ખોટ નહોતી.
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<v id="55" bcv="GEN.41.55" />પછી જયારે મિસરમાં પણ લોકોને ખાવાના સાંસા પડવા લાગ્યા, ત્યારે તેમણે અનાજ માંટે ફારુનની આગળ કાલાવાલા કર્યા; એટલે ફારુને સર્વ મિસરવાસીઓને કહ્યું, “યૂસફ પાસે જાઓ; અને એ તમને જે કહે તે પ્રમાંણે કરો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="56" bcv="GEN.41.56" />અને જયારે સમગ્ર દેશમાં દુષ્કાળ પડયો એટલે યૂસફે અનાજના બધા કોઠારો ખોલી નાખ્યા અને મિસરવાસીઓને અનાજ વેચવા માંડ્યુ. કારણ કે સમગ્ર મિસર દેશને દુકાળે ભરડો લીધો હતો.
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<v id="57" bcv="GEN.41.57" />અને બીજા તમાંમ દેશોમાંથી લોકો મિસર દેશમાં યૂસફની પાસે અનાજ વેચાતું લેવાને આવ્યાં; કારણ કે, સમગ્ર વિસ્તારમાં ભયંકર દુષ્કાળ પડ્યો હતો.
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</p>

<c id="42" />
<s style="s">સ્વપ્ન થયું સાકાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.42.1" />એ સમયે યાકૂબના પ્રદેશમાં ભૂખમરો હતો. પરંતુ તેને ખબર પડી કે, મિસરમાં અનાજ વેચાય છે, એટલે યાકૂબે તેના પુત્રોને કહ્યું, “તમે શા માંટે એકબીજાના મોઢા સામે જોયા કરો છો?
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.42.2" />મને જાણવા મળ્યું છે કે, મિસરમાં અનાજ વેચાય છે, માંટે ત્યાં જાઓ, ને ત્યાંથી આપણા માંટે અનાજ ખરીદી લાવો. જેથી આપણે જીવતા રહીએ, ને ભૂખે ના મરીએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.42.3" />આ સાંભળીને યૂસફના દશ ભાઈઓ અનાજ ખરીદવા માંટે મિસરમાં ગયા.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.42.4" />પરંતુ યાકૂબે યૂસફના સગા ભાઈ બિન્યામીનને તેઓ સાથે મોકલ્યો નહિ. કદાચ એની સાથે કોઇ દુર્ભાગ્ય ઘટના થાય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.42.5" />આમ, કનાનના પ્રદેશમાં દુકાળ હતો એટલે બીજા લોકોની સાથે ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રો પણ અનાજની ખરીદી માંટે આવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.42.6" />મિસર દેશનો શાસનકર્તા યુસફ હતો. દેશના તમાંમ લોકોને તે જ અનાજ વેચાતું આપતો હતો; તેથી યૂસફના ભાઈઓએ તેમની સામે આવીને ભોય લગી મસ્તક નમાંવીને સાષ્ટાંગ પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.42.7" />પરંતુ યૂસફે પોતાના ભાઈઓને જોયા અને ઓળખ્યા, છતાં પણ જાણે અજાણ્યો હોય તે રીતે તેઓની સાથે વત્ર્યો. અને કડકાઈથી તેઓને સવાલ કર્યો, “તમે કયાંથી આવો છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “અમો કનાનના પ્રદેશમાંથી અનાજ ખરીદવા આવ્યા છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.42.8" />અને યૂસફે તો તેના ભાઈઓને ઓળખ્યા પણ તે લોકોએ તેને ના ઓળખ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.42.9" />પોતાને એ લોકો વિષે જે સ્વપ્નો આવ્યા હતાં તેનું સ્મરણ થયું.
</p>
<p style="p">અને યૂસફે તેમને કહ્યું, “તમે જાસૂસ છો; દેશનાં છિદ્રો જોવા આવ્યા છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.42.10" />પણ તેમણે કહ્યું, “ના, સાહેબ, અનાજ ખરીદવા માંટે આપના સેવકો આવ્યા છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.42.11" />અમે બધા એક જ પિતાના પુત્રો છીએ, અમે પ્રામાંણિક લોકો છીએ. આપના સેવકો જાસૂસો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.42.12" />છતાં યૂસફે કહ્યું, “એમ નહિ, તમે દેશનાં છિદ્રો જોવા જ આવ્યા છો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.42.13" />તેથી તેઓએ કહ્યું, “અમે, બધા ભાઈઓ છીએ. અમો કુલ 12 ભાઇઓ છીએ, અમે તમાંરી સામે સેવકો જેવા છીએ. અમો કનાન દેશના એક જ માંણસના પુત્રો છીએ; સૌથી નાનો પુત્ર અમાંરા પિતા પાસે છે, અને બીજા એક પુત્રનો કોઈ પત્તો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.42.14" />અને યૂસફે તેઓને કહ્યું, “મેં કહ્યું તેમ તમે જાસૂસ જ છો.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.42.15" />એટલા માંટે તમાંરી પરીક્ષા કરવામાં આવશે; ફારુનના જીવના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે, તમાંરો સૌથી નાનો ભાઈ અહીં ન આવે, ત્યાં સુધી તમાંરે અહીંથી જવાનું નથી. તમાંરામાંથી ગમે તે એક જણને મોકલીને તમાંરા ભાઈને બોલાવો.
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.42.16" />ત્યાં સુધી તમાંરે કારાગારમાં બંદીવાન બનવું પડશે; આમ, તમે સાચું બોલો છો કે, કેમ તેની કસોટી થશે, નહિ તો ફારુનના જીવના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે, તમે જાસૂસ જ છો.”
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.42.17" />અને પછી તેણે તે લોકોને ત્રણ દિવસ સુધી કારાગારમાં રાખ્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">શિમયોનને બંદીવાનની જેમ રાખવામાં આવ્યો.
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.42.18" />પછી ત્રીજે દિવસે યૂસફે તેઓને કહ્યું, “જો તમે આમ કરશો તો જરૂર બચવા પામશો, કારણ કે હું તો દેવથી ડરીને ચાલનારો માંણસ છું;
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.42.19" />જો તમે ખરેખર સાચા હો તો તમાંરામાંનો ગમે તે એક ભાઈ કારાગારમાં રહે; અને બાકીના સૌ તમાંરા ભૂખે મરતા કુટુંબ માંટે અનાજ લઈને જાઓ.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.42.20" />પછી તમાંરા સૌથી નાના ભાઈને માંરી આગળ લઈને આવો; તે પરથી તમાંરી વાત સાચી ઠરશે અને તમાંરે મરવું પણ નહિ પડે.”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી તે લોકો એમ કરવા સંમત થયા.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.42.21" />તેઓ એકબીજાને કહેવા લાગ્યા. “ખરેખર આપણે આપણા ભાઈની બાબતમાં ગુનેગાર છીએ. કારણ કે જયારે તેણે આપણને કાલાવાલા કર્યા હતા, ને આપણે તેને થતું કષ્ટ જોયું હતું, છતાં પણ આપણે સાંભળ્યું નહિ; એટલા માંટે જ આ સંકટ આપણા પર આવી પડ્યું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.42.22" />રૂબેને તેઓને કહ્યું, “શું મેં તમને નહોતું કહ્યું કે, એ છોકરા પર અત્યાચાર કરીને પાપમાં પડશો નહિ? છતાં તમે માંન્યું નહિ; તેથી હવે તેના રકતનો બદલો ચૂકવવો પડે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.42.23" />તે લોકો જાણતા નહોતા કે, યૂસફ તેમની વાત સમજે છે; કારણ કે, તેમની વચ્ચે દુભાષિયો હતો.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.42.24" />અને પછી યૂસફ તેઓની પાસેથી ચાલ્યો ગયો અને રડી પડયો. પાછળથી તેઓની પાસે પાછા ફરીને તેણે તેઓની સાથે વાત કરી, પછી તેમનામાંથી શિમયોનને લઇને તેમના દેખતાં જ તેને દોરડે બાંધ્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="GEN.42.25" />ત્યારબાદ યૂસફે તેઓની ગુણોમાં અનાજ ભરવાની દરેકના પૈસા તેના થેલામાં પાછા મૂકવાની તથા તેમને મુસાફરી માંટે ભાતું આપવાની આજ્ઞા કરી; અને તેઓને તે પ્રમાંણે કરી આપવામાં આવ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.42.26" />પછી તેઓ પોતાનાં ગધેડાંઓ ઉપર અનાજની ગુણો લાદીને ત્યાંથી નીકળ્યા.
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.42.27" />પછી એક ઉતારામાં તેઓમાંના એકે પોતાના ગધેડાને દાણા ખવડાવવા માંટે પોતાની ગુણ છોડી, ત્યારે થેલાના મોં આગળ જ તેણે પોતાના પૈસા જોયા.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.42.28" />એટલે તરત જ તેણે પોતાના ભાઇઓને કહ્યું, “માંરા પૈસા મને પાછા મળ્યાં છે. જુઓ, આ રહ્યા માંરા થેલામાં!” આ સાંભળીને તે બધા મનમાં ખૂબ ગભરાયા, અને ધ્રૂજતા ધ્રૂજતા તેઓ એકબીજાના મો જોવા લાગ્યાં, અને બોલવા લાગ્યા, “દેવે આપણને આ શું કર્યુ?”
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</p>
<s style="s">યાકૂબને ભાઇઓએ જણાવ્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.42.29" />પછી જયારે તેઓ કનાનમાં પોતાના પિતા યાકૂબ પાસે આવ્યા, ને જે કાંઈ બન્યું હતું તે બધું જ તેમને કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.42.30" />તેમણે કહ્યું, “જે માંણસ તે દેશનો શાસનકર્તા છે તેણે અમાંરી સાથે કડકાઈથી વાત કરી અને અમને કઠોર વેણ કહ્યાં, ને અમને દેશના જાસૂસ ગણ્યા.
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.42.31" />પણ અમે તો તેને કહ્યું કે, ‘અમે સાચા માંણસો છીએ. અમે જાસૂસ નથી;
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<v id="32" bcv="GEN.42.32" />અમે બાર ભાઈઓ એક જ પિતાના પુત્રો છીએ. સૌથી નાનો અત્યારે અમાંરા પિતા પાસે છે. અને એકનો તો કશો પત્તો જ નથી.’
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="GEN.42.33" />“તે પછી એ માંણસે તે પ્રદેશના શાસનકર્તાએ અમને કહ્યું, ‘જો તમે હું કહું તેમ કરશો, તો હું જાણીશ કે, તમે પ્રામાંણિક છો, તમાંરામાંના એકને માંરી પાસે રહેવા દો અને બાકીના તમે પાછા જઇ શકો અને તમાંરા ભૂખે મરતા કુટુંબ માંટે અનાજ લઈ જાઓ.
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<v id="34" bcv="GEN.42.34" />અને તમાંરા સૌથી નાના ભાઈને માંરી પાસે લઈને આવો તો હું માંનીશ કે, તમે જાસૂસો નથી, પણ સાચા માંણસ છો. અને હું તમાંરા ભાઈને પાછો તમને સોંપી દઈશ અને તમે આ દેશમાં વેપાર કરજો.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="GEN.42.35" />પછી એમ થયું કે, જ્યારે તેઓ પોતપોતાની ગુણો ખાલી કરતાં હતા ત્યારે દરેક જણને તેમના પૈસાની કોથળી ગુણોમાંથી મળી આવી. પછી એ પૈસાની થેલીઓ જોઈને તેઓ તથા તેમના પિતા ગભરાઈ ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="GEN.42.36" />પછી તેઓના પિતા યાકૂબે તેમને કહ્યું, “તમે ઇચ્છો છો કે, હું માંરા બધા સંતાનો ગુમાંવી દઉ? યૂસફ ન રહ્યો, શિમયોન ન રહ્યો અને હવે તમે બિન્યામીનને લઈ જાઓ છો; પણ શું આ બધી મુશ્કેલીઓ માંરે સહન કરવાની છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="GEN.42.37" />પછી રૂબેને પોતાના પિતાને કહ્યું, “જો હું એને તમાંરી પાસે પાછો ન લાવું તો તમે માંરા બે પુત્રોને માંરી નાખજો. એને તમે માંરા હાથમાં સોંપો, હું અવશ્ય એને તમાંરી પાસે પાછો લઇને જ આવીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="GEN.42.38" />પણ યાકૂબે તેને કહ્યું, “માંરો પુત્ર તમાંરી સાથે નહિ આવે, કારણ કે એનો ભાઇ મરી ગયો છે, અને એ એક જ જીવતો છે. અને મુસાફરી દરમ્યાન જો તેના પર કોઈ આફત આવી પડે તો, તમે માંરાં વૃદ્વત્વને નાશવંત બનાવી અને મને ઉડાં શોક અને દુ:ખમાં મરવા મજબૂર કરશો.”
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<s style="s">બિન્યામીનને મિસર લઈ જવાની યાકૂબની આજ્ઞા
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.43.1" />દેશમાં ભયંકર કારમો દુકાળ હતો. ખાવા માંટેનું કોઈ અનાજ ત્યાં ઊગતું ન હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.43.2" />એટલે તેઓ મિસરમાંથી જે અનાજ લાવ્યા હતા તે બધું જ ખાવામાં વપરાઈ ગયું એટલે તેમના પિતાએ તેમને કહ્યું, “તમે પાછા જાઓ અને આપણા માંટે થોડું અનાજ ખરીદી લાવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.43.3" />પણ યહૂદાએ કહ્યું, “તે પ્રદેશના શાસનકર્તાએ અમને સખત ચેતવણી આપીને કહ્યું છે કે, ‘તમાંરો ભાઈ સાથે હશે તો જ તમે મને મળી શકશો.’
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.43.4" />જો તમે અમાંરા ભાઈને અમાંરી સાથે મોકલો તો અમે અનાજ ખરીદવા માંટે જવા તૈયાર છીએ;
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.43.5" />પણ જો તમે તેને નહિ મોકલો તો અમે નહિ જઈએ; કારણ કે પેલા માંણસે અમને સ્પષ્ટ શબ્દોમાં કહ્યું છે કે, ‘તમાંરો ભાઈ સાથે હશે તો જ તમે મને મળવા પામશો.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.43.6" />એટલે ઇસ્રાએલે કહ્યું, “તમાંરો બીજો ભાઈ છે એવું એને જણાવીને તમે મને શા માંટે મુસીબતમાં મૂકયો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.43.7" />તેમણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “પેલા માંણસે આપણા વિષે તેમજ આપણા પરિવાર વિષે પૂછપરછ કરી કે ‘શું, તમાંરા પિતા હજી જીવે છે? તમાંરે બીજા ભાઈ છે?’ એટલે અમાંરે કહેવું પડયું, અમને ખબર ન હતી કે, તે એમ કહેશે કે, તમાંરા ભાઈને અહીં લઈ આવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.43.8" />પછી યહૂદાએ પોતાના પિતા ઇસ્રાએલને કહ્યું, “એ છોકરાને અમાંરી સાથે મોકલો એટલે અમે ઝટ ચાલી નીકળીએ. જેથી તમે, અમે અને આપણાં બાળકો જીવતાં રહીએ અને મુત્યુના મુખમાંથી ઉગરીએ.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.43.9" />એની જવાબદારી માંરા માંથે. હું એનો જામીન થાઉં છું. જો એને પાછો લાવીને તમાંરી આગળ રજૂ ન કરું તો તેનો દોષ સદા માંરા પર રહો.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.43.10" />ખરું જોતાં, આપણે જો આટલું મોડું ના કર્યુ હોત તો, અત્યારે તો અમે બે વાર જઈ આવ્યા હોત.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.43.11" />ત્યારે તેમના પિતા ઇસ્રાએલે તેમને કહ્યું, “જો એ સિવાય કોઈ રસ્તો ના હોય તો પછી આમ કરો: બિન્યામીનને તમાંરી સાથે લઈ જાઓ. આપણા દેશની કેટલીક ઉત્તમ વસ્તુઓ તમાંરા સરસામાંનમાં પેલા માંણસ માંટે ભેટરૂપે આપવા લઈ જાઓ, થોડું ગૂગળ, થોડું મધ, થોડા તેજાના, તથા બોળ, પિસ્તાં તથા બદામ;
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.43.12" />તથા તમાંરી સાથે બમણું નાણું લઈ જજો; વળી તમાંરી ગુણોમાં જે નાણું પાછું આવ્યું હતું તે પાછું આપી દેજો; કદાચ કંઈ ભૂલ થઈ હોય;
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.43.13" />ઊઠો, અને તમાંરા ભાઈને લઈને તે માંણસ પાસે જાઓ;
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.43.14" />અને સર્વસમર્થ દેવ કરે, ને તે માંણસ તમાંરા પર કૃપાળુ થાય, જેથી તે તમાંરી સાથે તમાંરા બીજા ભાઈને તથા બિન્યામીનને પાછા મોકલે. નહિ તો હું ફરી પાછો માંરો પુત્ર ગુમાંવ્યાનો શોક કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.43.15" />પછી તે માંણસોએ તેમની સાથે ભેટો, પહેલી વખત કરતાં બમણું નાણું અને બિન્યામીનને લઈને તેઓ ઊપડયા. અને મિસરમાં પહોંચતા તેઓ યૂસફની આગળ આવીને ઊભા રહ્યાં.
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<s style="s">યૂસફને ઘરે ભાઇઓને આમંત્રણ
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.43.16" />પછી યૂસફે તેમની સાથે બિન્યામીનને જોયો તેથી તેણે પોતાના ઘરના કારભારીને કહ્યું, “આ માંણસોને ઘેર લઈજા, કોઈ જાનવરને કાપીને ભોજન તૈયાર કર. કારણ કે આ માંણસો માંરી સાથે જમનાર છે.”
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.43.17" />પછી યૂસફે જેમ કહ્યું તેમ પેલા માંણસે કર્યું; એટલે પેલો માંણસ યૂસફને ઘેર તે માંણસોને લઈ ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.43.18" />પેલા માંણસોને યૂસફને ઘેર લઈ જવામાં આવ્યા એથી તેઓ ગભરાયા અને કહેવા લાગ્યા, “પહેલી વાર આપણી ગુણોમાં નાણું મૂકેલું હતું તેને લીધે તે આપણને અંદર લઈ આવ્યા છે. હવે એ લોકો આપણા પર તૂટી પડશે અને આપણને જબરજસ્તીથી ગુલામ બનાવશે. તથા આપણા ગધેડાં પણ લઈ લેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.43.19" />આથી તેઓ યૂસફના ઘરના બારણા આગળ આવ્યા અને યૂસફના કારભારી પાસે જઈને તેને કહ્યું,
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.43.20" />“અરે, માંરા સાહેબ! ખરેખર અમે પહેલી વાર આવ્યા ત્યારે અનાજ વેચાતુ લેવા માંટે જ આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.43.21" />પણ જયારે અમે મુકામ પર પહોંચીને અમે અમાંરી ગૂણો ઉઘાડી, તો તેના મોઢા આગળ જ અમાંરા દરેકના પૂરેપૂરા પૈસા મૂકેલા હતા.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.43.22" />પણ અમે તે પૈસા પાછા લાવ્યા છીએ; વળી અનાજ ખરીદવા માંટે અમે અમાંરી સાથે બીજા પૈસા પણ લાવ્યા છીએ; અને એ પૈસા અમાંરી ગૂણોમાં કોણે મૂકયા, એ અમે નથી જાણતા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.43.23" />કારભારીએ કહ્યું, “શાંતિ રાખો, ગભરાશો નહિ, તમાંરા તથા તમાંરા પિતાના દેવે તમાંરી ગૂણોમાં એ નાણું મૂકયું હતું. મને તો અનાજનાં નાણાં મળી ગયાં હતા.”
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<p style="p">પછી તેઓ શિમયોનને બહાર કાઢીને તેમની આગળ લઈ આવ્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.43.24" />અને પેલા માંણસે યૂસફના ઘરમાં તે માંણસોને લાવીને તેમને પાણી આપ્યું, પછી તેઓએ પગ ધોયાં; અને તેમનાં ગધેડાંને ચારો નાખ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.43.25" />બપોર સુધીમાં યૂસફના આવતા પહેલાં તેઓએ ભેટો તૈયાર કરી; અને યૂસફ જમવા આવે તેની રાહ જોવા લાગ્યા, કારણ કે ત્યાં તેઓએ જમવાનું છે એમ તેમને ખબર હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.43.26" />પછી જયારે યૂસફ ઘેર આવ્યો ત્યારે તેઓના હાથમાં જે ભેટ હતી તે તેઓ તેની પાસે ઘરમાં લાવ્યા; અને તેમને સાષ્ટાંગ પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.43.27" />અને પછી તેમણે તેઓની ખબરઅંતર પૂછીને કહ્યું, “તમાંરા વૃદ્વ પિતા, જેને વિષે તમે મને વાત કરી હતી તે કુશળ છે ને? તેઓ હજી જીવે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.43.28" />અને તેઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હાજી, આપના સેવક અમાંરા પિતા કુશળ છે અને હજી જીવે છે.” અને તેઓએ ઝૂકીને દંડવત્ પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="GEN.43.29" />યૂસફે પોતાની આંખો ઊંચી કરીને પોતાના ભાઈ બિન્યામીનને, જે એની સગી માંનો પુત્ર હતો તેને જોઈને કહ્યું, “તમે જેના વિષે કહ્યું હતું તે જ આ તમાંરો સૌથી નાનો ભાઈ છે? માંરા પુત્ર! દેવ તારા પર કૃપા કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="GEN.43.30" />યૂસફ ઝડપથી બહાર ચાલ્યો ગયો; કારણ કે પોતાના ભાઈને જોઈને તેનું હૈયું ભરાઈ આવ્યું, તે રડી પડવાની તૈયારીમાં હતો. તેથી પોતાની ઓરડીમાં જઈને તે ત્યાં રડવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.43.31" />પછી મોઢું ધોઈને બહાર આવીને પોતાની જાત પર કાબુ રાખીને તે બોલ્યો, “ભાણાં પીરસો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.43.32" />પછી સેવકોએ યૂસફ માંટે મેજ પાથર્યુ. ત્યારબાદ ભાઇઓ માંટે બીજુ મેજ પાથર્યુ અને તેની સાથે જમતા મિસરીઓ માંટે બીજુ એક મેજ પાથર્યુ કારણ, મિસરીઓ હિબ્રૂઓ સાથે જમવા બેસતા નથી; કારણ કે મિસરીઓની એવી માંન્યતા હતી કે, હિબ્રૂઓ સાથે જમવાનું તેમના માંટે અનુચિત છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="GEN.43.33" /><f caller="+"><fr>43:33
</fr><fk>છંદ 33
</fk><ft>યૂસફે તેનાં ભાઇઓને ક્રમ બધ્ધ જગ્યાઓએ તેમની ઉંમર પ્રમાણે બેસાડ્યાં તેથી તેઓ આશ્ચર્ય પામ્યા.</ft></f> યૂસફના ભાઇઓ યૂસફની સામે મોટેથી નાના સુધી ક્રમ પ્રમાંણે બેઠા; અને તેઓ આ બધાથી આશ્ચર્ય પામ્યા.
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<v id="34" bcv="GEN.43.34" />તેઓ એકબીજા સામે જોવા લાગ્યા. યૂસફે પોતાના ભાણામાંથી વાનગીઓ લઈને તેઓની આગળ પિરસાવી પણ પ્રત્યેકના ભાણા કરતાં બિન્યામીનનું ભાણું પાંચગણું હતું; તેઓએ તેની સાથે ખાધુંપીધુંને મોજમાં આવી ગયા.
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</p>

<c id="44" />
<s style="s">ગુમ થયેલો પ્યાલો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.44.1" />પછી યૂસફે પોતાના સેવકને હુકમ કર્યો કે, “એ લોકોની ગૂણોમાં એ લોકો જેટલું લઈ જઈ શકે, તેટલું અનાજ ભરો. અને દરેક જણનાં પૈસા તેની ગુણમાં મોઢા આગળ મૂકી દો;
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.44.2" />સૌથી નાના ભાઈની ગૂણમાં પૈસાની સાથે માંરો પેલો ચાંદીનો પ્યાલો પણ મૂકી દેજો.” અને તેણે યૂસફના હુકમ પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.44.3" />બીજે દિવસે વહેલી સવારે એ લોકોને તેમનાં ગધેડાં સાથે વિદાય કરવામાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.44.4" />જયારે એ લોકો શહેરથી નીકળીને થોડે દૂર ગયા એટલે યૂસફે કારભારીને કહ્યું, “જા, પેલા લોકોની પાછળ પડ, તેમને પકડી પાડ, અને કહેકે ‘તમે આ શું કર્યુ? ઉપકાર પર અપકાર? તમે માંરા શેઠનો ચાંદીનો પ્યાલો શા માંટે ચોર્યો?
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.44.5" />આ એ જ પ્યાલો છે જે માંરા ધણી પીવા માંટે અને રહસ્યો જાણવા માંટે વાપરે છે. તમે ખરેખર ખોટું કર્યુ છે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.44.6" />પછી જયારે તેણે તેમને પકડી પાડયા ત્યારે તેણે તેમને આ જ વચનો કહ્યાં;
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.44.7" />પણ તેમણે તેને પૂછયું, “અમાંરા ધણી આવું શા માંટે કહે છે? અમને આમ કરવાનો વિચાર સરખોય આવે ખરો!
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.44.8" />જરા જુઓ તો ખરા, જે પૈસા અમને અમાંરી ગૂણોના મોઢા આગળથી મળ્યા તે અમે છેક કનાન દેશથી તેમને આપવા પાછા લાવ્યા; પછી તારા ધણીના ઘરમાંથી સોનાચાંદીની ચીજો ચોરીએ એવું બને ખરું?
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.44.9" />તારા સેવકો એવા અમાંરી પાસેથી જેની પાસે એ નીકળે તેને ફાંસીની સજા કરજો. અમે પણ અમાંરા ધણીના ગુલામો થઇશું”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.44.10" />આ સાંભળીને કારભારીએ કહ્યું, “તમાંરી વાત બરાબર છે; જેની પાસેથી એ નીકળે તે માંરો ગુલામ થાય; અને બાકીના નિદોર્ષ પુરવાર થશે.”
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<s style="s">કાવતરાને લીધે બિન્યામીનનું પકડાઇ જવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.44.11" />પછી તરત જ તે બધાએ પોતપોતાની ગુણો નીચે ઉતારી, ને દરેકે, પોતપોતાની ગુણ ઉઘાડી.
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.44.12" />એટલે કારભારીએ મોટાથી શરૂ કરીને તે નાના સુધીની બધાની ગુણો તપાસી તો બિન્યામીનની ગુણમાંથી ચાંદીનો પ્યાલો મળી આવ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.44.13" />જયારે તેઓએ આ જોયું ત્યારે તેઓએ દુ:ખના માંર્યા પોતાનાં કપડાં ફાંડી નાખ્યાં અને દરેક જણે પોતપોતાનાં ગધેડાં બાધ્યા. અને પછી તેઓ નગરમાં પાછા ફર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.44.14" />જયારે યહૂદા અને તેના ભાઇઓ, યૂસફને ઘેર પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે હજીપણ તે ત્યાં જ હતો; એટલે તેઓ તેનાં ચરણોમાં પડયા.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.44.15" />યૂસફે તેઓને પૂછયું, “આ તમે શું કર્યુ? તમે એટલું પણ નથી જાણતા કે, માંરા જેવો માંણસ જે શુકન જુએ છે તેને ખબર પડયા વિના રહેશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.44.16" />યહૂદાએ કહ્યું, “હે ધણી! અમે તમને શું કહીએ? અમાંરી નિદોર્ષતા સાબિત કરવા શું બોલીએ? અમે અમાંરી જાતને કેવી રીતે નિદોર્ષ પૂરવાર કરીએ? દેવે તમાંરા સેવકનો ગુનો ઉઘાડો પાડયો છે; જુઓ, જેની પાસેથી ચાંદીનું પ્યાલું મળ્યું છે તે અને અમે સૌ તમાંરા ગુલામ છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.44.17" />પછી યૂસફે કહ્યું, “માંરાથી એવું થાય કેવી રીતે? માંત્ર જેની પાસેથી પ્યાલો મળ્યો તે જ માંરો ગુલામ બનશે; અને બાકીના તમે બધા તો શાંતિથી તમાંરા પિતાની પાસે જાઓ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદાનું બિન્યામીનને માંટે વિનવવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.44.18" />પછીથી યૂસફ પાસે જઈને યહૂદાએ કહ્યું, “ઓ માંરા ધણી, કૃપા કરીને આપના આ સેવકને ખાનગીમાં આપની સાથે બે વાત કરવા દો, અને આપના સેવક પર ક્રોધ ન કરશો. માંરા માંટે તો આપ પોતે ફારુન સમાંન છો.
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.44.19" />માંરા ધણીએ સેવકોને સવાલ કર્યો હતો કે, ‘તમાંરે પિતા અથવા ભાઈ છે?’
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.44.20" />તેથી અમે માંલિકને જવાબ આપ્યો હતો, ‘અમાંરે વૃદ્વ પિતા અને એક નાનો ભાઈ છે, જે એમને પાછલી અવસ્થામાં પ્રાપ્ત થયો હતો. એનો ભાઈ અવસાન પામેલ છે, તેથી તે તેની માંતાનો એકનો એક પુત્ર છે, વળી તેના પિતાને તે ખૂબ વહાલો છે.’
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.44.21" />અને તમે અમને સેવકોને જણાવેલું કે, ‘તેને માંરી પાસે લઈને આવો એટલે તેને હું જોઉં તો ખરો.’
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.44.22" />અને અમે અમાંરા ધણીને કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘તે છોકરો તેના પિતાને મૂકીને આવી શકે, એમ નથી, કારણ કે જો તે પિતાને મૂકીને જાય તો તેના પિતા મૃત્યુ પામે.’
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.44.23" />અને તમે અમને તમાંરા સેવકોને કહ્યું હતું, ‘જો તમે તમાંરા સૌથી નાના ભાઇને તમાંરી સાથે ન લાવો તો તમે માંરું મુખ ફરી નહિ જોશો.’
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.44.24" />પછી અમે આપના સેવકો-અમાંરા પિતા પાસે ગયા અને તેમને અમે ધણીના શબ્દો કહી સંભળાવ્યા,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.44.25" />“અને પછી જયારે અમાંરા પિતાએ કહ્યું, ‘પાછા જાઓ અને આપણા માંટે થોડું અનાજ ખરીદી લાવો.’
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<v id="26" bcv="GEN.44.26" />એટલે અમે કહ્યું, ‘અમાંરાથી કેવી રીતે જવાય? અમાંરો સૌથી નાનો ભાઈ જો અમાંરી સાથે આવતો હોય તો જ અમે જઇ શકીએ, કારણ, અમાંરો નાનો ભાઇ અમાંરી સાથે ના હોય, તો અમે તે માંણસનું મુખ જોઈ શકીશું નહિ.’
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.44.27" />એટલે તમાંરા સેવકે અર્થાત્ અમાંરા પિતાએ અમને કહ્યું, ‘તમે જાણો છો કે, માંરાં પત્નીને બે પુત્રો અવતર્યા હતા.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.44.28" />અને તેઓમાંનો એક ગયો ત્યારે મેં કહ્યું કે, “જરૂર એને કોઈ જંગલી પ્રાણીએ ફાડી ખાધો હશે.” અને ત્યાર પછી આજપર્યંત મેં તેને ફરી જોયો નથી.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.44.29" />અને હવે જો તમે આને પણ માંરી આગળથી લઈ જાઓ, અને જો તેની સાથે કઇ ખોટું થાય તો હું મરવા જેટલો દુ:ખી થઇશ.’
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.44.30" />તેથી કરીને હવે તમાંરા સેવકની એટલે કે, માંરા પિતાની પાસે હું જાઉં, અને એ છોકરો અમાંરી સાથે નહિ હોય તો
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.44.31" />તેનો જીવ એટલો બધો એ છોકરામાં છે કે, અમાંરી સાથે એ છોકરો નથી એ જોતાંની સાથે જ એનું મોત થશે; અને આપના આ સેવકોએ આપના સેવક અમાંરા પિતાને ઘરડેઘડપણ શોક કરતા દફનાવવા પડશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="GEN.44.32" />“વાત એવી છે કે, હું માંરા પિતા આગળ એ છોકરા માંટે જામીન થયો છું કે, ‘જો હું એની તમાંરી પાસેથી એમની પાસે પાછો ન લાવું તો હું એમનો જીવનભર ગુનેગાર ગણાઈશ.’
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<v id="33" bcv="GEN.44.33" />એટલે હવે કૃપા કરીને આ છોકરાને બદલે તમાંરા સેવકને માંરા ધણી પાસે સેવક થઈને રહેવા દો; અને પેલા છોકરાને તેના ભાઈઓની સાથે પાછો જવા દો.
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<v id="34" bcv="GEN.44.34" />કારણ કે એ છોકરો જો આપણી સાથે ના હોય, તો આપણાથી પિતા પાસે જવાય શી રીતે? માંરા પિતાનું શું થશે એનો મને બહુ જ ડર લાગે છે.”
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</p>

<c id="45" />
<s style="s">યૂસફે પોતાની જાતને પ્રગટ કરવી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.45.1" />યૂસફ પોતાની લાગણીઓને વધુ વખત નિયંત્રિત કરી શકયો નહિ. તેની પાસે ઊભા રહેલા બધાની ઉપસ્થિતિમાં રડી પડ્યો અને બોલી ઊઠયો, “માંરી આગળથી બધાને દૂર કરો.” આથી જયારે યૂસફે પોતાના ભાઈઓ આગળ પોતાની જાતને પ્રગટ કરી ત્યારે ત્યાં બીજુ કોઇ ન હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.45.2" />તે એટલા મોટા સાદે રડયો કે, મિસરીઓએ તે સાંભળ્યું અને ફારુનના પરિવારને પણ તેની ખબર પડી. પછી યૂસફે પોતાના ભાઈઓને કહ્યું,
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.45.3" />“હું યૂસફ છું. શું માંરો બાપ હજુ જીવે છે?” યૂસફની સામે જોતાં જ તેના ભાઈઓ એવા તો ડઘાઈ ગયા કે, તેઓ કોઈ જવાબ આપી શક્યા નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.45.4" />પછી યૂસફે તેના ભાઈઓને કહ્યું, “માંરી નજીક આવશો.” એટલે તેઓ પાસે ગયા, અને તેણે કહ્યું, “હું તમાંરો ભાઈ યૂસફ છું. જેને તમે મિસરની મુસાફરી કરતા વેપારીઓને ગુલામ તરીકે વેચી દીધો હતો. એ તમાંરો ભાઇ હું જ છું.
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.45.5" />માંટે મને અહીં વેચી દેવા માંટે તમે હવે દુ:ખી થશો નહિ, તેમજ જીવ બાળશો નહિ, કારણ આ તો માંરા માંટે દેવની યોજના હતી કે, હું અહીં આવું અને તમને બધાને હું બચાવું.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.45.6" />કારણ કે છેલ્લાં બે વર્ષથી દેશમાં દુકાળ છે, અને હજુ બીજા પાંચ વર્ષ એવાં જ આવનાર છે, જેમાં કોઇ પણ પ્રકારની ખેતી કે, વાવણી કાપણી થઈ શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.45.7" />તેથી દેવે તમાંરો પરિવાર બચાવવા અને તમાંરા બધાના જીવોનું રક્ષણ કરવા તમાંરી સમક્ષ મોકલ્યો છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.45.8" />એ માંટે મને અહીં મોકલનાર દેવ છે, તમે નથી; અને તેણે જ મને ફારુનના પિતા સમાંન અને તેના આખા ઘરનો વહીવટદાર તથા આખા મિસરનો શાસનકર્તા બનાવ્યો છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ મિસરમાં આમંત્રિત થયો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.45.9" />“તમે ઝટ માંરા પિતા પાસે જાઓ, ને તેમને આ સંદેશ આપો: તમાંરો પુત્ર યૂસફ આ કહે છે: ‘દેવે મને સમગ્ર મિસરનો શાસનકર્તા બનાવ્યો છે, માંટે વિલંબ કર્યા વગર હમણાં જ માંરી પાસે આવો.
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<v id="10" bcv="GEN.45.10" />અને તમે તમાંરા પુત્રો સાથે, તમાંરા પ્રપૌત્રો સાથે, તમાંરાં ઘેટાં-બકરાંના ઝુડો અને ઢોરઢાંખરના ટોળાઓ તથા ઘરવખરી સાથે “ગોશેન” પ્રાંતમાં માંરી સાથે રહેશો. જ્યાં હું તમાંરા બધા માંટે બધી જાતની તૈયારી કરીશ.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.45.11" />કારણ કે હજુ દુકાળગ્રસ્ત બીજા પાંચ વર્ષ કાઢવાનાં છે. તેથી તું અને તારું કુટુંબ તથા જે બધાં તારાં સગાંસંબંધીઓ છે તે બધુ ગુમાંવીને ગરીબ ન થઇ જાય તે માંટે હું સૌની જાળવણી રાખીશ.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.45.12" />“અને જુઓ, તમે અને માંરો ભાઈ બિન્યામીન નજરોનજર જુઓ છો કે, હું આ માંરા મુખ દ્વારા જ કહી રહ્યો છું.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.45.13" />અને તમે મિસરમાં માંરો મહિમાં અને બીજું જે કંઈ જોયું છે તે માંરા પિતાને કહેજો; હવે, ઝટ જાઓ અને માંરા પિતાને અહીં લઈ આવો.”
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.45.14" />પછી તે તેના ભાઈ બિન્યામીનને બાથભરી અને રડ્યો. બિન્યામીન પણ તેને ભેટતી વખતે રડવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.45.15" />ત્યાર બાદ યૂસફે પોતાના બધાં જ ભાઈઓને ચુંબન કર્યા અને તેમને ભેટીને રડ્યો. પછી તેના ભાઈઓએ તેની સાથે વાતચીત કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.45.16" />પછી જયારે ફારુનના મહેલમાં સમાંચાર વહેતાં થયા કે, યૂસફના ભાઈઓ આવ્યા છે; ત્યારે ફારુન તથા તેના સેવકો ખુશ થયા.
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.45.17" />અને ફારુને યૂસફને કહ્યું, “તું તારા ભાઈઓને કહે કે, ‘આ પ્રમાંણે કરો; તમાંરાં જાનવરોને લઈને કનાન દેશમાં ચાલ્યા જાઓ;
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.45.18" />અને તમાંરા પિતાને અને પરિવારને લઈને ઝટ માંરી પાસે પાછા આવો; હું તમને મિસરની ઉત્તમ ફળદ્રુપ જમીન આપીશ અને તમને સૌને ધરતીનું નવનીત ખાવા મળશે.’
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.45.19" />હવે તમને બીજી આજ્ઞા છે તે પ્રમાંણે કરો, ‘તમાંરાં સંતાનો માંટે તથા તમાંરી પત્નીઓ માંટે મિસર દેશમાંથી ગાડાં લેતાં જાઓ, અને તમાંરા પિતાને લઈને આવો.
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<v id="20" bcv="GEN.45.20" />વળી તમાંરી માંલમિલકત જે છે તેને છોડીને આવવાની જરા પણ ચિંતા કરશો નહિ, કારણ કે મિસર દેશમાં જે ઉત્તમ છે તે જમીન તમાંરી છે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.45.21" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રોએ તે મુજબ કર્યુ; અને ફારુનની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર યૂસફે તેઓને ગાડાં આપ્યાં; ને માંર્ગને માંટે સીધું પણ આપ્યું.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.45.22" />પછી તેણે તેના દરેક ભાઇને એક જોડ કપડાં આપ્યાં; પરંતુ બિન્યામીનને 300 તોલા ચાંદી અને પાંચ જોડ સારાં કપડાં આપ્યાં.
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<v id="23" bcv="GEN.45.23" />વધુમાં તેણે પોતાના પિતાના માંટે મિસરની સૌથી બહુમૂલ્ય ચીજોથી લાદેલાં દશ ગધેડાં, અને તેના પિતાની મુસાફરી માંટે અનાજ, રોટલી અને અન્ય જાતના ખાણાથી લાદેલી દશ ગધેડીઓ મોકલી આપી.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.45.24" />પછી તેણે પોતાના ભાઈઓને વિદાય આપી. વિદાય આપતી વખતે તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “માંર્ગમાં ઝઘડો કરશો નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.45.25" />પછીથી તેઓ મિસરમાંથી નીકળીને કનાન દેશમાં પોતાના પિતા યાકૂબ પાસે આવ્યા.
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<v id="26" bcv="GEN.45.26" />અને તેઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “યૂસફ હજુ જીવે છે, અને સમગ્ર મિસરનો તે શાસનકર્તા છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">આ સાંભળીને યાકૂબ તો સ્તબ્ધ થઈ ગયો. તેને ગળે એ વાત ન ઉતરી.
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.45.27" />પરંતુ યૂસફે તેઓેને જે બધી વાતો કહેલી તે તેને કહી અને તેને મિસર લઈ જવા માંટે યૂસફે મોકલેલાં ગાડાંઓ પર તેની નજર પડી ત્યારે તે ઉત્તેજીત અને ખુશ થયો.
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<v id="28" bcv="GEN.45.28" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલ બોલ્યો, “બસ, માંરો પુત્ર યૂસફ હજુ જીવે છે; એટલે મરતાં પહેલાં હું તેને જઇને મળીશ.”
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</p>

<c id="46" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલની ઉપાસના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.46.1" />એટલા માંટે ઇસ્રાએલે પોતાની મિસરની યાત્રાનો પ્રારંભ કર્યો. પહેલાં તે બેર-શેબા પહોંચી ગયો. ત્યાં તેમણે પોતાના પિતા ઇસહાકના દેવની ઉપાસના કરીને યજ્ઞો અર્પણ કર્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.46.2" />રાત્રે દેવે ઇસ્રાએલને સ્વપ્નમાં કહ્યું, “યાકૂબ, યાકૂબ.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને ઇસ્રાએલે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું અહીં છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.46.3" />પછી દેવે કહ્યું, “હું દેવ છું. તમાંરા પિતાનો દેવ. મિસર જતાં જરા પણ ગભરાઈશ નહિ, કારણ કે હું ત્યાં તારાથી એક મોટી પ્રજા નિર્માંણ કરીશ;
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.46.4" />હું તારી સાથે મિસર આવીશ; અને હું ચોક્કસ તને પાછો લાવીશ; અને યૂસફને હાથે જ તારી આંખો મીંચાશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનું મિસર જવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.46.5" />પછી યાકૂબે બેર-શેબા છોડયું અને મિસર સુધી યાત્રા કરી. તેને લેવા માંટે ફારુને જે ગાડાં મોકલ્યાં હતાં તેમાં ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રો પોતાના પિતા યાકૂબને, પોતાના પુત્રોને અને વહુઓને લઈ ગયાં.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.46.6" />તેઓ પોતાનાં ઢોરઢાંખર તથા માંલમિલકત જે કનાન દેશમાંથી પ્રાપ્ત કરી હતી તે લઈને યાકૂબ તથા તેમનું આખું કુટુંબ તેમની સાથે મિસર આવ્યું.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.46.7" />એટલે તેના પુત્રો તથા તેની સાથે તેના પુત્રોના પુત્રો, ને તેની પુત્રીઓ તથા તેના પુત્રોની પુત્રીઓને તથા તેનાં સર્વ સંતાનને તે પોતાની સાથે મિસરમાં લાવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યાકૂબનો પરિવાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.46.8" />યાકૂબની સાથે મિસરમાં આવનારાઓનાં નામ આ છે, એટલે યાકૂબ તથા તેના પુત્રો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">યાકૂબનો સૌથી મોટો પુત્ર રૂબેન.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.46.9" />અને રૂબેનના પુત્રો: હનોખ, પાલ્લૂ, હેસરોન અને કામીર્.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.46.10" />શિમયોનના પુત્રો: યમુએલ, યામીન, ઓહાદ, યાખીન, સોહાર અને શાઉલ, જે એક કનાની સ્ત્રીથી જન્મ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.46.11" />લેવીના પુત્રો: ગેશોર્ન, કહાથ તથા મરારી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.46.12" />અને યહૂદાના પુત્રો: એર, ઓનાન, શેલાહ, પેરેસ, અને ઝેરાહ. પરંતુ એર અને ઓનાન તો કનાનમાં જ અવસાન પામ્યા હતા. પેરેસના પુત્રો: હેસરોન અને હામૂલ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.46.13" />ઈસ્સાખારના પુત્રો: તોલા, પુવાહ, યોબ અને શિમ્રોન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.46.14" />ઝબુલોનના પુત્રો: સેરેદ, એલોન અને યાહલએલ હતો.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.46.15" />એ લેઆહના પુત્રો છે, જેઓ મેસોપોટામિયામાં યાકૂબથી લેઆહના પેટે જન્મેલા છે. એ ઉપરાંત તેની પુત્રી દીનાહ હતી. તેના પુત્રો અને પુત્રીઓ સર્વ મળીને 33 જણ હતાં.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.46.16" />અને ગાદના પુત્રો: સિફયોન, હાગ્ગી, શૂની, એસ્બોન, એરી, અરોદી અને આરએલી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.46.17" />આશેરના પુત્રો: યિમ્નાહ, યિસ્યા, યિસ્વી, બરીઆહ અને તેમની બહેન સેરાહ, બરીઆહના પુત્રો: હેબર અને માંલ્કીએલ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.46.18" />લાબાને પોતાની પુત્રી લેઆહને આપેલી. ઝિલ્પાહને યાકૂબથી થયેલા આ પુત્રો છે. તેઓ સર્વ મળીને કુલ સોળ હતા.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.46.19" />યાકૂબની પત્ની રાહેલના પુત્રો: યૂસફ તથા બિન્યામીન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.46.20" />અને યૂસફને મિસર દેશમાં ઓનના યાજક પોટીફેરાની પુત્રી આસનાથને પેટે મનાશ્શા અને એફ્રાઈમ અવતર્યા હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.46.21" />બિન્યામીનના પુત્રો: બેલા, બેખેર, આશ્બેલ, ગેરા, નાઅમાંન, એહી, રોશ, મુપ્પીમ, હુપ્પીમ અને આર્દ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.46.22" />તે યાકૂબથી રાહેલને પેટે જન્મેલા કુલ ચૌદ છે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.46.23" />દાનનો પુત્ર: હુશીમ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.46.24" />નફતાલીના પુત્રો: યાદસએેલ, ગૂની, યેસર, અને શિલ્લેમ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.46.25" />લાબાને પોતાની પુત્રી રાહેલને જે બિલ્હાહ આપી હતી તેના પુત્રો એ છે, ને જેઓ યાકૂબથી તેને થયા તે સર્વ મળીને કુલ સાત જણ હતા.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.46.26" />યાકૂબના પુત્રોની પત્નીઓ સિવાય તેનાથી જન્મેલા જે સર્વ માંણસ યાકૂબ સાથે મિસરમાં આવ્યાં તેઓ કુલ છાસઠ જણ હતાં.
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<v id="27" bcv="GEN.46.27" />યૂસફને મિસરમાં બે પુત્રો પ્રાપ્ત થયા હતા, તેના પરિવારમાં મિસર આવનારા કુલ સિત્તેર હતાં.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ મિસર પહોચ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.46.28" />યહૂદાને ઇસ્રાએલે પોતાના પહેલાં યૂસફ પાસે મોકલી આપ્યો જેથી યૂસફ તેને ગોશેનમાં મળે.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.46.29" />પછી તેઓ ગોશેનમાં પહોચ્યાં. ત્યારે યૂસફ રથ જોડીને તેના પિતા ઇસ્રાએલને મળવા માંટે ગોશેનમાં ગયો; અને તેને જોતાની સાથે જ તે તેને કોટે વળગી પડયો અને તેને ભેટીને ઘણા સમય સુધી રડયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="GEN.46.30" />ઇસ્રાએલે યૂસફને કહ્યું, “મેં તારું મુખ જોયું, તને જીવતો જોયો, હવે ભલે માંરું મરણ શાંતિથી થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.46.31" />પછી યૂસફે પોતાના ભાઈઓને અને પોતાના પિતાના પરિવારને કહ્યું, “હું જઈને ફારુનને જાણ કરું છું કે, ‘કનાનમાં રહેતા માંરા ભાઈઓ અને માંરા પિતાના પરિવારના માંણસો માંરી પાસે આવી પહોંચ્યા છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="GEN.46.32" />એ લોકો ભરવાડ છે, કારણ કે તેઓ પશુ પાલનનો ધંધો કરે છે. એ લોકો પોતાનાં ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોરઢાંખર તથા તમાંમ ઘરવખરી લઈને આવ્યા છે.’
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<v id="33" bcv="GEN.46.33" />અને કદાચ ફારુન તમને બોલાવે અને પૂછે કે, ‘તમે શો ધંધો કરો છો?’
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<v id="34" bcv="GEN.46.34" />ત્યારે તમે કહેજો કે, ‘તમાંરા સેવકોનો, એટલે અમાંરો તથા અમાંરા પિતૃઓનો ધંધો નાનપણથી આજપર્યંત ઢોર ઉછેરનો છે;’ કે, જેને કારણે તમે ગોશેન પ્રાંતમાં રહી શકશો. કારણ કે ભરવાડ માંત્રને મિસરીઓ નફરત કરે છે.”
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</p>

<c id="47" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનું ગોશેનમાં વસવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.47.1" />પછી યૂસફે ફારુન પાસે જઇને કહ્યું, “માંરા પિતા, માંરા ભાઈઓ અને તેમનાં બધાં જ કુટુંબો પોતાનાં ઢોરઢાંખર, ઘેટાં-બકરાં તથા ઘરવખરી લઈને કનાનથી આવી ગયા છે; અને હાલમાં તેઓ ગોશેન પ્રાંતમાં છે.”
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.47.2" />અને તેણે તેના ભાઈઓમાંથી પાંચને લઈ તેમને એણે ફારુન સમક્ષ રજૂ કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.47.3" />પછી ફારુને તેના ભાઈઓને પ્રશ્ર્ન કર્યો, “તમે શો વ્યવસાય કરો છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે તેમણે કહ્યું, “આપના સેવકો એટલે અમે અને અમાંરા પિતૃઓ ભરવાડ છીએ.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.47.4" />કનાન દેશમાં ભયંકર દુકાળ પડયો છે એટલે અમાંરા ઘેટાંબકરાં માંટે ત્યાં બિલકુલ ચારો નથી. જેથી અમાંરે આ દેશમાં રહેવા આવવું પડયું છે; માંટે આપના સેવકોની નમ્ર અરજ છે કે, આપ અમને ગોશેન પ્રાંતમાં વસવાટ કરવા દો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.47.5" />અને ફારુને યૂસફને કહ્યું, “તારા પિતા અને તારા ભાઈઓ તારી પાસે આવ્યા છે;
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.47.6" />મિસર દેશ તો તારી આગળ છે જ; તેથી દેશમાં ઉત્તમ સ્થળે તારા પિતાને તથા તારા ભાઇઓને રહેવા દે; તેઓ ભલે ગોશેન પ્રાંતમાં વસતા. અને જો એમનામાં કોઈ સમજુ માંણસો તારી નજરમાં હોય તો તેમને માંરાં ઢોર ચરાવવા માંટેના કામનો હવાલો તેમને સોંપી દો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.47.7" />અને પછી યૂસફે તેના પિતા યાકૂબને લાવીને ફારુન સમક્ષ રજૂ કર્યા, અને યાકૂબે ફારુનને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.47.8" />ફારુને યાકૂબને પૂછયું, “તમાંરી ઉંમર કેટલી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.47.9" />યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “હું એકસો ત્રીસ વર્ષ જીવ્યો છું. માંરી જીંદગી ટૂંકી અને મુશ્કેલીઓથી ભરપૂર હતી, માંરા પિતા અને માંરા પિતૃઓ માંરા કરતા ઘણા વૃધ્ધ હતા ત્યાં સુધી જીવ્યા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.47.10" />પછી ફારુનને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા બાદ યાકૂબ તેમની પાસેથી ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.47.11" />પછી યૂસફે મિસર દેશની સૌથી સારી જગ્યામાં, એટલે રામસેસમાં, ફારુનની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે તેના પિતાને તથા તેના ભાઈઓને
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<v id="12" bcv="GEN.47.12" />તથા તેના પિતાના ઘરનાં સર્વને તેમનાં છોકરાં પ્રમાંણે અનાજ પૂરું પાડ્યું.
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<s style="s">યૂસફનું ફારુન માંટે જમીન ખરીદવું
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.47.13" />આખા દેશમાં આકરો દુકાળ હોવાથી કયાંય અનાજ મળતું ન હતું. મિસર તથા કનાન દેશ હેરાન-પરેશાન થઈ ગયા હતા.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.47.14" />મિસર અને કનાન દેશમાં જે કાંઈ ધન હતું તે બધું લોકો જે અનાજ ખરીદતા હતા તેના બદલામાં લઈને યૂસફે એકઠું કર્યુ હતું તે બધુ જ ધન તેણે ફારુનના મહેલમાં પહોંચાડી દીધું.
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.47.15" />પછી મિસર અને કનાન દેશમાં નાણું ખૂટયું. બધા મિસરવાસીઓ યૂસફ પાસે આવ્યા અને કહેવા લાગ્યા, “અમને અનાજ આપો. આપની રૂબરૂમાં અમાંરે શા માંટે મરી જવું? હવે અમાંરી પાસે નાણું તો રહ્યું નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.47.16" />એટલે યૂસફે કહ્યું, “જો નાણું ખૂટી ગયું હોય તો તમાંરાં ઢોર આપો; ઢોરોનાં બદલામાં હું તમને અનાજ આપીશ.”
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.47.17" />તેથી તેઓ પોતાનાં ઢોર લઈને યૂસફ પાસે આવ્યા; અને યૂસફે ઘોડા, ઘેટાં-બકરાં, ર્ઢાર તથા ગધેડાંના બદલામાં તેમને અનાજ આપ્યું. આમ, તેઓનાં બધાં ઢોરઢાંખરના બદલામાં તે વષેર્ અનાજ પૂરું પાડીને તેઓનું ગુજરાન ચલાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.47.18" />તે વર્ષ પૂર્ણ થયા બાદ બીજે વષેર્ તેઓએ આવીને તેને કહ્યું, “માંલિકથી એ વાત છાની રાખી શકાય તેમ નથી કે, નાણું ખૂટી ગયું છે. અને અમાંરાં ઢોર પણ માંલિકના કબજામાં ચાલ્યાં ગયાં છે; હવે તો અમાંરી પાસે માંત્ર અમાંરી જાત તથા જમીન સિવાય કાંઈ જ બાકી રહ્યું નથી;
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<v id="19" bcv="GEN.47.19" />તમાંરી નજર સમક્ષ અમો ચોક્કસ મરી જશું? પણ જો તમે અમને ખાવાનું આપશો તો અમે અમાંરી જમીનો ફારુનને આપી એના ગુલામો બની જશું, માંટે અમને બીજ આપો જેથી અમે મરતા બચી જઈએ અને જીવવા પામીએ, ને જમીન પડતર બની રહે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.47.20" />અને યૂસફે મિસરવાસીઓની બધી જ જમીન ફારુન માંટે ખરીદી લીધી કારણ કે દુકાળ એટલો બધો કારમો હતો કે, બધાએ પોતાનાં ખેતરો વેંચી દીધાં.
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<v id="21" bcv="GEN.47.21" />આમ દેશની જમીન ફારુનની માંલિકીમાં આવી ગઈ અને તેણે દેશના એક સીમાંડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધીના લોકોને શહેરોમાં મોકલ્યા અને તેમને ફારુનના ગુલામ બનાવી દીધા.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.47.22" />ફકત યાજકોની જમીન તેણે ખરીદી નહિ; કારણ કે તેઓને ફારુન તરફથી નિયત ભથ્થું મળતું તેના આધારે તેઓ જીવતા, જેથી જમીન વેચવી પડી નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.47.23" />પછી યૂસફે લોકોને જણાવ્યું, “જુઓ, આજે મેં ફારુન વતી તમને અને તમાંરી જમીનને વેચાતાં લીધાં છે. લો, આ રહ્યાં બી. તમે જમીનમાં વાવો.
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<v id="24" bcv="GEN.47.24" />અને પાક ઊતરવાનો સમય આવે ત્યારે પાકનો પાંચમો ભાગ તમાંરે ફારુનને આપવો, અને ચાર ભાગ તમાંરી પાસ બિયારણ તરીકે અને તમાંરા, પરિવારના અને સંતાનોનાં માંટે ખોરાક તરીકે વાપરવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.47.25" />તેઓ બોલ્યા, “તમે અમાંરા જીવ બચાવ્યા છે; અમાંરા પર અમાંરા માંલિકની કૃપાદૃષ્ટિ થાઓ. અને અમે ફારુનના દાસ થઈશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.47.26" />પછી યૂસફે મિસર દેશમાં એવો કાયદો કર્યો કે, તમાંમ જમીનનો પાંચમો ભાગ ફારુનને મળે. એ કાયદો હજી આજે પણ ચાલે છે; માંત્ર યાજકોની જમીન ફારુનનાં કબજામાં આવી નહિ.
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<s style="s">યાકૂબની અંતિમ ઈચ્છા
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.47.27" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રો મિસર દેશના ગોશેન પ્રાંતમાં આવીને રહ્યાં; અને ત્યાં તેમને માંલમિલકત પ્રાપ્ત થઇ. તેમનો વંશવેલો વધ્યો. અને તેમની સંખ્યા પણ ધણી વધી ગઇ.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.47.28" />યાકૂબ મિસર દેશમાં 17 વર્ષ રહ્યો એટલે તેની ઉંમર 147 વર્ષની થઈ.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.47.29" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલનો અંતકાળ નજીક આવ્યો ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના પુત્ર યૂસફને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “માંરા પર તારી કૃપાદૃષ્ટિ હોય તો તારો હાથ માંરી જાંધ નીચે મૂક અને માંરી સાથે ખરા મનથી વર્તવાનું મને વચન આપ.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.47.30" />મને મિસરમાં દફનાવીશ નહિ, પણ જયારે હું માંરા પિતૃઓ પાસે ઊંઘી જાઉ, ત્યારે તું મને મિસરમાંથી લઈ જજે અને માંરા બાપદાદાઓના કબરસ્તાનમાં દફનાવજે.”
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<p style="p">પછી યૂસફે કહ્યું, “બધું જ હું તમાંરા કહ્યાં પ્રમાંણે કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="GEN.47.31" />અને યાકૂબે કહ્યું, “માંરી આગળ સમ ખા;” એટલે તેણે તેની આગળ સમ ખાધા. પછી ઇસ્રાએલ ઓશીકા તરફ પથારીમાં ઢળી પડ્યો.
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<s style="s">યાકૂબના બંને પુત્રોને આશીર્વાદ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.48.1" />સમય જતાં યૂસફને કોઈકે, સમાંચાર આપ્યા કે, તારા પિતાજી માંદા પડયા છે. તેથી તરત જ તે પોતાના બે પુત્રો મનાશ્શા અને એફ્રાઈમને લઈને મળવા ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.48.2" />જયારે કોઈકે યાકૂબને ખબર આપી કે, “તારો પુત્ર યૂસફ મળવા આવ્યો છે.” એટલે તે શરીરની બધી તાકાત ભેગી કરીને ખાટલા પર બેઠો થઈ ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.48.3" />અને ઇસ્રાએલે યૂસફને કહ્યું, “કનાન દેશના લૂઝ ગામે સર્વસમર્થ દેવે મને દર્શન આપ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="4" bcv="GEN.48.4" />પછી આશીર્વાદ આપીને કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘જો, હું તારો વંશવેલો વધારીશ, તારાં સંતાનોની વૃધ્ધિ કરીશ; અને તારા પછી તારા વંશજોને આ દેશના કાયમના ધણી બનાવીશ.’
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.48.5" />અને માંરા મિસરમાં આવતા પહેલાં મિસરમાં તને પ્રાપ્ત થયેલા બે પુત્રો હવે માંરા પુત્રો છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="GEN.48.6" />રૂબેન અને શિમયોનની જેમ હવે એફ્રાઈમ અને મનાશ્શા માંરા પુત્રો ગણાશે. એમના પછી થયેલાં તારાં સંતાનો તારાં કહેવાશે; અને તેમનો પ્રદેશ તેમના ભાઈઓનાં નામે ઓળખાશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="GEN.48.7" />જયારે હું પાદાનથી આવતો હતો ત્યારે એફ્રાથ પહોંચવાને થોડો રસ્તો બાકી હતો તે દરમ્યાન રસ્તામાં જ કનાન દેશમાં જ રાહેલનું દુ:ખદ અવસાન થયું; એટલે મેં તેને એફ્રાથના એટલે બેથલેહેમના માંર્ગમાં જ દફનાવી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.48.8" />અને પછી જયારે યૂસફના પુત્રોને ઇસ્રાએલે જોયા ત્યારે તેણે તેમને સવાલ કર્યો, “આ કોણ છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.48.9" />એટલે યૂસફે કહ્યું, “એ તો માંરા પુત્રો છે, જે દેવે મને અહીં આપ્યાં છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઇસ્રાએલે કહ્યું, “એમને માંરી પાસે લાવ, જેથી હું એમને આશીર્વાદ આપું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.48.10" />હવે વૃદ્વાવસ્થાને કારણે ઇસ્રાએલની આંખોનું તેજ ઓછું થયું હતું. તેને દેખાતું ન હતું. તેથી યૂસફ તેઓને તેમની પાસે લઈ આવ્યો એટલે તેણે તેઓને ચુંબન કર્યુ અને પછી તે તેઓને કોટે વળગ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.48.11" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલે કહ્યું, “મને તો સ્વપ્નમાંય ખબર નહોતી કે, હું તારું મોઢું જોઈ શકીશ. પરંતુ દેવે તો મને તારાં સંતાનોનાં મુખ પણ બતાવ્યાં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.48.12" />પછી યૂસફે તેમને તેમના ખોળામાંથી લઈ લીધા અને જમીનને માંથું અડાડીને પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.48.13" />ત્યાર બાદ યૂસફે તે બંનેને લીધા, એફ્રાઈમને જમણી બાજુએ રાખ્યો જેથી તે ઇસ્રાએલની ડાબી બાજુએ રહે અને મનાશ્શાને ડાબી બાજુએ રાખ્યો, જેથી તે ઇસ્રાએલની જમણી બાજુએ રહે; ને એમ તે તેઓને ઇસ્રાએલની પાસે લઈને આવ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.48.14" />પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલે પોતાનો જમણો હાથ લાંબો કરીને એફ્રાઈમ જે નાનો હતો તેના માંથા પર મૂક્યો, અને પોતાનો ડાબો હાથ આંટી પાડીને મનાશ્શાના માંથા પર મૂકયો, જો કે, મનાશ્શા જયેષ્ઠ હતો;
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<v id="15" bcv="GEN.48.15" />પછી તેણે યૂસફને આશીર્વાદ આપતાં કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે દેવની સાક્ષીએ માંરા પિતૃઓ ઇબ્રાહિમ અને ઇસહાક ચાલતા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે દેવે મને સમગ્ર જીવનપર્યત સંભાળ્યો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.48.16" />જે દેવદૂતે મને સર્વ અનિષ્ટોમાંથી ઉગાર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આ છોકરાઓને આશીર્વાદ આપો;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને માંરું નામ તથા માંરા પિતૃઓ ઇબ્રાહિમ અને ઇસહાકનાં નામ એમના વડે અમર રહો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આ પૃથ્વી પર એમના વંશની વૃદ્વિ થાઓ.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.48.17" />પરંતુ જયારે યૂસફે જોયું કે, તેના બાપે પોતાનો જમણો હાથ એફ્રાઈમને માંથે મૂકયો તો એ બાબતે નાખુશ હતો; અને એફ્રાઈમના માંથા પરથી હાથ ખસેડીને મનાશ્શાના માંથા પર લઈ જવા તેણે પોતાના પિતાનો હાથ ઉપાડયો.
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.48.18" />અને પિતાને કહ્યું, “એમ નહિ, પિતાજી, કારણ કે આ જયેષ્ઠ છે; તમાંરો જમણો હાથ એના માંથા પર મૂકો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.48.19" />પરંતુ તેના પિતાજીએ એમ કરવાની ના પાડીને કહ્યું, “હું જાણું છું, બેટા, મને ખબર છે. એ પણ એક પ્રજાનો પિતા થશે, અને મહાન પણ થશે; પરંતુ તેનો નાનો ભાઈ તો તેના કરતાં પણ મોટો થશે, ને તેનાં સંતાનોમાંથી અનેક પ્રજાઓ થશે અને અતિ બહોળી દેશ જાતિ થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.48.20" />આમ, તે દિવસે તેમને આશીર્વાદ આપી ઇસ્રાએલે કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો જ્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ કોઇને આશીર્વાદ આપશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તમાંરા નામનો ઉપયોગ કરશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ કહેશે, ‘દેવ તમને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એફ્રાઈમ અને મનાશ્શા જેવા બનાવો.’”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">આમ તેણે એફ્રાઈમને મનાશ્શાથી આગળ મૂકયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.48.21" />પછી યૂસફને ઇસ્રાએલે કહ્યું, “જુઓ, હવે માંરો અંત નજીક છે, પરંતુ દેવ તમને સાથ આપશે. અને ફરીથી તમને તમાંરા પિતૃઓના દેશમાં લઈ જશે.
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<v id="22" bcv="GEN.48.22" />પરંતુ મે તને તારા ભાઈઓ કરતાં એક ભાગ વધારે આપ્યો છે, શખેમ પહાડ આપું છું જે મેં અમોરીઓ પાસેથી માંરી તરવાર તથા માંરા ધનુષ્યની તાકાતથી એ જીતી લીધો હતો.”
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</p>

<c id="49" />
<s style="s">યાકૂબના પુત્રોને આશીર્વાદ અને વિદાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.49.1" />પછી યાકૂબે પોતાના પુત્રોને પાસે બોલાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “તમે બધા ભેગા થાઓ એટલે હું તમને તમાંરા પર ભવિષ્યમાં જે વીતશે તે તમને કહું,
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="GEN.49.2" />“યાકૂબના પુત્રો તમે ભેગા થાઓ, ને સાંભળો;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમાંરા પિતા ઇસ્રાએલની વાત ધ્યાનપૂર્વક સાંભળો.
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</q>
<s style="s">રૂબેન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="GEN.49.3" />“રૂબેન, તું તો માંરો જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માંરું સાર્મથ્ય અને માંરા પુરૂષત્વનું પ્રથમ ફળ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું માંનમર્યાદામાં સૌથી મોખરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શકિતમાં પણ મોખરે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.49.4" />પૂર જેવાં તારા તીવ્રં આવેશને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું રોકી ન શક્યો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી તું માંરા સૌથી માંનીતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પુત્ર નહિ બને,
</q>
<q style="q1">તું તારા પિતાની શૈયા પર ચઢીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની પત્નીઓમાંથી એક સાથે સુતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું જે શૈયા પર સૂતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને શરમજનક બનાવી છે.
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</q>
<s style="s">શિમયોન તથા લેવી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="GEN.49.5" />“વળી શિમયોન તથા લેવી બંને સગાં ભાઈઓ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમની તરવાર હિંસાનુ હથિયાર છે,
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.49.6" />હું એમના કાવતરામાં ભાગ નહિ લઉ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમના ગુપ્ત મેળાપોમાં સામેલ નહિ થાઉં,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તેઓ ક્રોધને વશ થઈને માંણસોનો વધ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માંત્ર મજાક કરવા પ્રાણીઓને ઇજા પહોંચાડે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.49.7" />એમનો ક્રોધ એક શાપ છે. એ ખુબ મજબૂત છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જ્યારે ક્રોધમાં ગાંડાતૂર થાય છે ત્યારે ખૂબ જ નિર્દય બને છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યાકૂબની ભૂમિમાં તેઓની પોતાની જમીન નહિ હોય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ આખા ઇસ્રાએલમાં પથરાઇ જશે.
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</q>
<s style="s">યહૂદા
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="GEN.49.8" />“યહૂદા, તારા ભાઈઓ તારી પ્રશંસા કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારો હાથ તારા શત્રુઓની ગરદન પર રહેશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પિતાના પુત્રો તારી આગળ પ્રણામ કરશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="GEN.49.9" />યહૂદા યુવાન સિંહ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ખૂન કરીને આવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે સિંહની જેમ થાક ખાવા બેઠો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એને છંછેડવા જેટલું બહાદુર કોઇ નથી?
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.49.10" />યહૂદા પરિવારના (પુરુષ) માંણસો રાજા થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના પરિવારનો રાજદંડ જ્યાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુધી વાસ્તવિક રાજા ન આવે ત્યાં સુધી જશે નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">પછી અનેક લોકો તેનું પાલન કરશે અને તેની સેવા કરશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="GEN.49.11" />તે પોતાના ગધેડાને દ્રાક્ષના વેલા સાથે બાંધે છે, પોતાના ખોલકાને સૌથી ઉત્તમ દ્રાક્ષના વેલા સાથે બાંધે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી પોતાનાં વસ્રો દ્રાક્ષારસમાં ધૂએ છે, અને પોતાનો પોષાક દ્રાક્ષના રકતમાં ધૂએ છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.49.12" />દ્રાક્ષારસથી તેની આંખો રાતી થઈ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના દાંત દૂધથી ઉજળા થયા છે.
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</q>
<s style="s">ઝબુલોન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="GEN.49.13" />“ઝબુલોન દરિયાકાંઠે રહેશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે વહાણોનું બંદર બનશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની સીમાં છેક સિદોન સુધી પહોંચશે.
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</q>
<s style="s">ઈસ્સાખાર
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="GEN.49.14" />“ઈસ્સાખાર બળવાન ગધેડો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ઘેટાંઓના વાડામાં જઈને તે આરામથી બેઠો છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.49.15" />અને તેણે એક આરામ સ્થાન જોયું તો તે સારું હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને આરામ મીઠો અને પ્રદેશ ખુશનુમાં લાગ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી તેણે બોજો ઉઠાવવા માંટે ખાંધ નમાંવી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વેઠ કરનારો ગુલામ બન્યો.
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</q>
<s style="s">દાન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="GEN.49.16" />“ઇસ્રાએલના અન્ય પરિવારની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ જ દાન પોતાના લોકોનો ન્યાય પોતે કરશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="GEN.49.17" />દાન માંર્ગ પાસેનો સર્પ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે એક સર્પ જેવો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">જે ઘોડાના પગને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ડંખ માંરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને સવાર જોરથી પછાડ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખાઈને જમીન પર પડે છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="GEN.49.18" />“ઓ યહોવા! તું કયારે તારણ કરે એની હું વાટ જોઉં છું.
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</q>
<s style="s">ગાદ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.49.19" />“ગાદ પર હુમલાખોરો આક્રમણ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે તેમનો પીછો કરીને વળતો હુમલો કરશે.
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</q>
<s style="s">આશેર
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="GEN.49.20" />“આશેર પાસે શ્રેષ્ઠ જમીન હશે કે, જેમાં પુષ્કળ પ્રમાંણમાં સારા અનાજની ઊપજ થતી હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે રાજાને લાયક શ્રેષ્ઠ અનાજ ઉત્પન કરશે.
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</q>
<s style="s">નફતાલી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="GEN.49.21" />“નફતાલી છૂટથી દોડતુ હરણ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના શબ્દો હરણીના સુંદર બચ્ચાં જેવા છે.
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</q>
<s style="s">યૂસફ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.49.22" />“યૂસફ ફળદ્રુપ ડાળ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઝરા પાસેથી ફળવંત વેલ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દ્રાક્ષ એક વેલ જેવી શાખા જે દીવાલ સાથે વધે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="GEN.49.23" />તીરંદાજો તેની વિરુધ્ધ લડ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તેમના તીરો વડે
</q>
<q style="q1">ક્રૂરતાથી તેના પર આક્રમણ કર્યુ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.49.24" />પણ તેમનાં ધનુષ્ય થંભી ગયાં, તેમના બાહુ ધ્રુજી ઊઠયા,
</q>
<q style="q1">યાકૂબના સમર્થ દેવના પ્રતાપે આ બધું બન્યું.
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</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.49.25" />તેને ઇસ્રાએલના ખડક, તમાંરા પૂર્વજોના દેવ, તરફથી શકિત મળી હતી.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“અને તમે સર્વસમર્થ દેવથી આશીર્વાદિત થશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમને ઉપર આકાશ અને ખૂબ નીચેથી આશીર્વાદ આપે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એ તમને છાતી અને ગર્ભમાંથી આશીર્વાદો આપે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.49.26" />તારા પિતાને મળેલા આશીર્વાદો, તારા પિતૃઓને મળેલા આશીર્વાદો કરતાં મોટા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">સદાકાળ ટકી રહેનારા પર્વતોની અત્યંત દૂરની સીમાં સુધી વધ્યા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા ભાઈઓએ તારા માંટે કાંઇ મૂક્યું નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હવે હું પર્વત જેટલા ઉંચા આશીર્વાદોનો ઢગલો તારા પર કરીશ.
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</q>
<s style="s">બિન્યામીન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="GEN.49.27" />“બિન્યામીન તો ફાડી ખાનાર વરુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સવારે તે શિકાર ખાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સંધ્યાકાળે એ શિકાર વહેંચે છે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="GEN.49.28" />એ બધાં ઇસ્રાએલના બાર કુળ છે; તેમના વડવાએ તેમને જે કહીને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા તે આ છે; તેણે પ્રત્યેકને પોતપોતાની યોગ્યતા પ્રમાંણે તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
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<v id="29" bcv="GEN.49.29" />યાકૂબે પોતાના પુત્રોને આજ્ઞા કરી કે, “હવે હું માંરા પિતૃઓને ભેગા થવાની અણી પર છું. મને માંરા પિતૃઓ ભેગો એફ્રોન હિત્તીના ખેતરમાં આવેલી ગુફામાં દફનાવજો.
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<v id="30" bcv="GEN.49.30" />એ ગુફા કનાન દેશમાં માંમરેની સામે માંખ્પેલાહના ખેતરમાં છે. ઇબ્રાહીમે તે એફ્રોન હિત્તી પાસેથી કબ્રસ્તાન તરીકે વાપરવા ખરીદી હતી.
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<v id="31" bcv="GEN.49.31" />જ ઇબ્રાહીમ અને તેની પત્ની સારાને દફનાવેલાં છે. ત્યાં જ ઇસહાક અને તેની પત્ની રિબકાને પણ દફનાવ્યાં છે. અને ત્યાં જ મેં પણ લેઆહને દફનાવેલ છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="GEN.49.32" />હેથના પુત્રો પાસેથી જે ખેતર તેમાંની ગુફા સાથે ખરીદવામાં આવેલ છે.”
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<v id="33" bcv="GEN.49.33" />યાકૂબે પોતાના પુત્રોને સૂચના આપ્યા પછી પોતાના પગ પથારીમાં લઈ સૂઈ ગયો અને પ્રાણ છોડયો, અને તે પોતાના પૂર્વજોની સાથે ભળી ગયો.
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</p>

<c id="50" />
<s style="s">યાકૂબનો અંતિમ સંસ્કાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GEN.50.1" />જયારે ઇસ્રાએલનું અવસાન થયું, યૂસફ બહુજ દુ:ખી થયો. તે પિતાની કોટે વળગી પડયો, અને આંસુ સારવા લાગ્યો. અને ચુંબન કરવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GEN.50.2" />તેણે પોતાના સેવકોમાંના જે વૈદ્યો હતા, તેઓને પોતાના પિતાના મૃતદેહમાં સુંગંધી દ્રવ્યો ભરવાની આજ્ઞા કરી. એટલે તેઓએ ઇસ્રાએલના મૃતદેહમાં સુગંધીદાર દ્રવ્યો ભર્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="GEN.50.3" />સુગંધી દ્રવ્યો ભરતાં 40 દિવસ લાગે છે તેથી એમાં ચાળીસ દિવસો લાગ્યા. અને તેમને માંટે મિસરીઓએ 70 દિવસ શોક પાળ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="GEN.50.4" />તેના શોકના દિવસો પૂરા થયા પછી યૂસફે ફારુનના ઘરના કુટુંબીજનોને કહ્યું, “હવે જો માંરા પર તમાંરી કૃપાદ્દૃષ્ટિ હોય, તો ફારુનના કાનમાં એમ કહો,
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<v id="5" bcv="GEN.50.5" />માંરા પિતાએ મને સમ ખવડાવીને કહ્યું હતું, ‘માંરો મરણકાળ નજીક છે, મેં માંરે માંટે કનાનમાં જે કબર ખોદાવેલી છે તેમાં મને દફનાવજો. એટલે કૃપા કરીને મને જવા દો અને માંરા પિતાને દફનાવવાની રજા આપો. એ પછી હું પાછો આવીશ.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GEN.50.6" />ફારુને કહ્યું, “સારું, જા, અને તારા પિતાએ સમ ખવડાવ્યા હતા તે પ્રમાંણે જ તેમને દફનાવ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GEN.50.7" />એટલે યૂસફ તેના પિતાને દફનાવવા ગયો; અને ફારુનના બધા અમલદારો તેના વડીલો, મિસર દેશના બધા આગેવાનો,
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<v id="8" bcv="GEN.50.8" />તેમ જ યૂસફનો આખો પરિવાર, તેના ભાઈઓ અને તેના પિતાનો પરિવાર પણ ગયો, માંત્ર તેમનાં છોકરાં, ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોરો જ ગોશેનમાં રહ્યાં.
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<v id="9" bcv="GEN.50.9" />તેમના ઘણા મોટા સમૂહમાં રથો અને ઘોડેસવારો પણ સાથે હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GEN.50.10" />પછી યર્દન નદીને પાર આટાદની ખળી છે ત્યાં તેઓ આવ્યા. તેઓએ મોટા અને ભારે વિલાપ સાથે રૂદન કર્યુ; અને તેમણે તથા યૂસફે પોતાના પિતા માંટે સાત દિવસનો શોક પાળ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="GEN.50.11" />અને જ્યારે કનાનીઓએ આટાદના ખળીમાં પળાતો શોક જોયો ત્યારે કહેવા લાગ્યા, “મિસરીઓ ખૂબજ દુ:ખી શોકસભા કરી રહ્યાં છે.” આથી એ જગ્યાનું નામ આબેલ-મિસરાઈમ પડયું. જે યર્દનને પેલે પાર છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GEN.50.12" />આમ, યાકૂબના પુત્રોએ, પિતાની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર તેમની વ્યવસ્થા કરી.
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<v id="13" bcv="GEN.50.13" />તેમના પુત્રો તેને કનાન દેશમાં લઇ ગયા. અને માંમરેની પૂર્વમાં આવેલા માંખ્પેલાહના ખેતરમાંથી ઇબ્રાહિમે જે ગુફા હિત્તીઓ પાસે ખરીદીને કબ્રસ્તાન તરીકેનો ઉપયોગ કરવા માંટે કબજો મેળવ્યો હતો, તે જ ગુફામાં તેને દફનાવવાની વિધિ કરી.
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<v id="14" bcv="GEN.50.14" />પોતાના પિતાને દફનાવ્યા પછી યૂસફે પોતાના ભાઈઓ અને જે કોઈ તેની સાથે તેના પિતાને દફનાવવા ગયા હતા તે સર્વને લઈને મિસર પાછા ફરવા માંટે પ્રયાણ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<s style="s">યૂસફનું પોતાના ભાઈઓને અભયદાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GEN.50.15" />પોતાના પિતાના મૃત્યુ પછી યૂસફના ભાઈઓને થયું કે, કદાચ યૂસફ અમાંરા પર દ્વેષ કરશે, અને આપણે એના ઉપર જે જે અપકાર્ય કર્યા છે તે બધાનો પૂરો બદલો લે તો?
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<v id="16" bcv="GEN.50.16" />એટલે તેઓએ યૂસફને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “તમાંરા પિતાએ મૃત્યુ પામતાં પહેલાં આજ્ઞા કરી હતી:
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<v id="17" bcv="GEN.50.17" />તમે યૂસફને આ પ્રમાંણે કહેજો, ‘તારા ભાઈઓએ તારી સાથે ભૂંડો વ્યવહાર કરીને અપરાધ કર્યો હતો, હવે તું તેઓના અપરાધના પાપને માંફ કરજે, એટલું હું માંગું છું.’ તેથી અમે તમને અરજ કરીએ છીએ કે, તમાંરા પિતાના દેવના આ સેવકોનો અપરાધ માંફ કરો.”
</p>
<p style="p">યૂસફને આ સંદેશો જેવો પહોંચાડવામાં આવ્યો તેવો જ તે રડી પડયો.
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<v id="18" bcv="GEN.50.18" />એટલે તેના ભાઈઓ પોતે તેની આગળ આવ્યા અને ચરણોમાં પડીને કહેવા લાગ્યા, “જુઓ, અમે તમાંરા ગુલામ છીએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GEN.50.19" />પણ યૂસફે તેઓને કહ્યું, “ગભરાશો નહિ, હું કંઇ થોડો જ દેવ છું?
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="GEN.50.20" />તમે માંરી સાથે દુષ્ટતા કરવા ચાહી પણ દેવની યોજના સારું કરવાની હતી, કે, જેથી ઘણા લોકોના જીવન બચી જાય, અને આજે એમજ થયું છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="GEN.50.21" />તેથી હવે જરા પણ ડરવાની જરૂર નથી. હું તમાંરું તથા તમાંરા પરિવારનાં બાળકોનું ભરણપોષણ કરતો રહીશ.” આમ તેણે તેઓને દિલાસો આપીને હૃદયસ્પશીર્ શબ્દોથી શાંત પાડ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GEN.50.22" />યૂસફ તેના પિતાના પરિવાર સાથે મિસરમાં રહ્યો. તે 110 વર્ષ જીવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="GEN.50.23" />અને તેણે એફ્રાઈમની ત્રીજી પેઢીનાં સંતાનો જોયાં, મનાશ્શાના પુત્ર માંખીરનાં દીકરાઓ પણ યૂસફના ખોળામાં ઊછર્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યૂસફનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GEN.50.24" />યૂસફે તેના ભાઈઓને કહ્યું, “હું તો મરવા પડયો છું; પણ દેવ જરુર તારી સંભાળ લેશે, દોરશે, જેના વિષે તેણે ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક, તથા યાકૂબની આગળ શપથ લીધાં હતા, તે દેશમાં તમને તે આ દેશમાંથી લઇ જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="GEN.50.25" />પછી યૂસફે ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રોને સમ ખવડાવીને કહ્યું, “દેવ તમને સહાય કરશે ત્યારે તમે માંરાં હાડકાં અહીંથી લઇ જજો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="GEN.50.26" />આમ યૂસફ 110 વર્ષનો થઈને મૃત્યુ પામ્યો, અને તેના દેહને મિસરમાં સુગંધી દ્રવ્યો ભરીને એક શબ પેટીમાં મૂકવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="EXO"><id id="EXO">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>નિર્ગમન
</h><toc level="1">નિર્ગમન
</toc><toc level="2">નિર્ગમન
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">નિર્ગમન
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">મિસરમાં યાકૂબનું કુટુંબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.1.1" />યાકૂબે પોતાના પુત્રો તથા પુત્રોના પરિવાર સહિત મિસરની યાત્રા કરી. ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રોનાં નામ આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.1.2" />રૂબેન, શિમયોન, લેવી અને યહૂદા,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.1.3" />ઈસ્સાખાર, ઝબુલોન અને બિન્યામીન,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.1.4" />દાન અને નફતાલી, ગાદ અને આશેર.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.1.5" />યાકૂબના પોતાના કુલ સિત્તેર વંશજો હતા. યૂસફ યાકૂબના બાર દીકરામાંથી એક હતો, વળી તે પહેલેથી મિસરમાં જ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.1.6" />ત્યારબાદ સમય જતાં યૂસફનું અવસાન થયું. પછી તેના બધાજ ભાઈઓ અને તે આખી પેઢીના માંણસો અવસાન પામ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EXO.1.7" />પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલની વસ્તીમાં અનહદ વધારો થતો જ રહ્યો. તેઓની સંખ્યા પુષ્કળ વધી અને તેઓ એટલા બધા શક્તિશાળી બન્યા કે સમગ્ર દેશમાં તેઓ છવાઈ ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માંટે મુસીબત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.1.8" />હવે મિસરમાં એક નવા રાજાનું શાસન શરૂ થયું. તે વ્યક્તિને યૂસફ વિષે કશી જ ખબર નહોતી.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EXO.1.9" />તે રાજાએ પોતાની પ્રજાને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલની, પ્રજાને જુઓ, તેમની વસ્તિ પુષ્કળ છે, અને આપણા લોકો કરતાં તે વધુ શક્તિશાળી છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EXO.1.10" />માંટે હવે આપણે તેમની વિરુદ્ધ કોઈ ચોક્કસ યોજના ઘડવી જોઈએ. જેથી તેઓમાં વધારો થતો અટકી જાય. નહિ તો યુદ્ધ ફાટી નીકળે ત્યારે તેઓ આપણા દુશ્મનો સાથે ભળી જઈને આપણી સામે લડશે અને આપણા દેશમાંથી ભાગી જશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.1.11" />એટલા માંટે તેમણે મજૂરી કરાવીને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને દબાવવા માંટે તેમના ઉપર મુકાદમો નીમ્યા. આ રીતે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ફારુનને માંટે પીથોમ અને રામસેસ નગરો વખારો માંટે બાંધ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.1.12" />પણ જેમ જેમ તેમના પર ત્રાસ વધતો ગયો તેમ તેમ તેમની વૃદ્ધિ થતી ગઈ. વિસ્તાર વધતો ગયો અને મિસરના લોકો ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોથી વધારેને વધારે ભયભીત થવા લાગ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EXO.1.13" />આથી તે લોકોએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસે ચાકરની જેમ સખત મજૂરી કરાવવા માંડી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.1.14" />તેમની પાસે બધીજ જાતની કાળી મજૂરી કરાવવા માંડી. ઈંટ અને ચૂનો પાડવાના તથા ખેતરમાં બધીજ જાતનાં સખત કામો કરાવીને તેમનું જીવન અસહ્ય બનાવી દીઘું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવની અનુગામી દાયણો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.1.15" />ત્યાં શિફાહ અને પૂઆહ નામની બે હિબ્રૂ દાયણો હતી. તે હિબ્રૂ દાયણોને મિસરના રાજાએ કહ્યું:
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.1.16" />“જ્યારે તમે હિબ્રૂ સ્ત્રીઓની પ્રસૂતિ કરાવવા માંટે ખાટલા પાસે જાઓ ત્યારે તેમનાં સંતાનની જાતિ પર ધ્યાન રાખો; છોકરો હોય તો તેને માંરી નાખવો, અને જો છોકરી હોય તો તેને જીવતી રહેવા દેવી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.1.17" />પરંતુ દાયણો દેવથી ડરીને ચાલનારી અને દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ કરતી હતી, એટલે તેણે મિસરના રાજાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન ન કરતાં તેઓ છોકરાઓને જીવતા રહેવા દેતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.1.18" />તેથી મિસરના રાજાએ દાયણોને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “તમે આવું શા માંટે કર્યું? તમે લોકોએ છોકરાઓને શા માંટે જીવતા રહેવા દીધા?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.1.19" />ત્યારે દાયણોએ ફારુનને કહ્યું, “હિબ્રૂ સ્ત્રીઓ મિસરી સ્ત્રીઓ જેવી નથી. તેઓ સશકત અને ખડતલ હોય છે તેથી દાયણના આવતાં પહેલાં જ બાળકને જન્મ આપી દે છે.”
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EXO.1.20" />તેથી દેવે એ દાયણોનું ભલું કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EXO.1.21" />અને હિબ્રૂ પ્રજા પણ સંખ્યામાં અને શક્તિમાં વૃદ્ધિ પામતી રહી.
</p>
<p style="p">દાયણો દેવથી ડરીને ચાલતી હતી એટલે તેણે તેમને કુટુંબકબીલાવાળી ઘરવાળી બનાવી.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EXO.1.22" />એટલા માંટે ફારુને પોતાના બધા લોકોને આજ્ઞા કરી કે, “હિબ્રૂઓને જન્મેલા પ્રત્યેક છોકરાને નદીમાં ફેંકી દેવા, પણ છોકરીઓને જીવતી રહેવા દેવી.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">બાળક મૂસા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.2.1" />લેવીઓના ઘરનો એક પુરુષ જઈને પોતાની જાતની કન્યાને પરણ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.2.2" />તે સ્ત્રી ગર્ભવતી થતાં તેને પુત્ર અવતર્યો. પુત્ર રૂપાળો હતો તેથી તેણે તે બાળકને ત્રણ મહિના સુધી સંતાડી રાખ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.2.3" />પણ પછી તેને સંતાડી રાખવાનું શક્ય ન રહ્યું એટલે તેણે નેતરનો એક કરંડિયો લીધો, તેને ડામરથી લીપ્યો જેથી તે તરતો રહે. તેમાં બાળકને સુવાડીને કરંડિયો તે નદી કિનારે બરુઓમાં મૂકી આવી.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.2.4" />પછી તે છોકરાનું શું થાય છે, તે જોવા માંટે તેની બહેનને દૂર ઊભી રાખી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EXO.2.5" />હવે પછી એવું બન્યું કે ફારુનની કુવરી નદીમાં સ્નાન કરવા માંટે આવી અને તેની દાસીઓ નદી કિનારે આમતેમ ફરવા લાગી. કુવરીએ બરુઓમાં પેલો કરંડિયો જોઈને પોતાની દાસીને મોકલીને તે મંગાવી લીધો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EXO.2.6" />પછી તેણે ઉધાડીને જોયું, તો અંદર એક બાળક રડતું હતું, તેથી તેને તેના પર દયા આવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.2.7" />અને તેને કહ્યું, “આ કોઈ હિબ્રૂનું બાળક હોવું જોઈએ. પછી તે બાળકની બહેને ફારુનની દીકરીને કહ્યું, હું જઈને કોઈ હિબ્રૂ ઘાવને બોલાવી લાવું જે બાળકની સાચવણી કરે અને તેના લાલનપાલન કરવા માંટે તમાંરી મદદ કરે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.2.8" />ફારુનની કુવરીએ કહ્યું, “જા, બોલાવી લાવ.”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે તે છોકરી જઈને બાળકની માંને બોલાવી લાવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.2.9" />કુવરીએ તેને કહ્યું, “આ બાળકને લઈ જા અને માંરા વતી તેની સાચવણી કર અને તેને ઘવડાવ. હું તને તે બદલ પગાર આપીશ.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી સ્ત્રી તેનું બાળક લઈ ગઈ અને તેની સાચવણી કરી.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EXO.2.10" />પછી તે બાળક મોટું થયું એટલે તે તેને ફારુનની કુંવરી આગળ લઈ આવી અને તેણે તેને પુત્રની જેમ રાખ્યો. “મેં એને પાણીમાંથી બહાર કાઢયો હતો, ‘એમ કહીને કુવરીએ પુત્રનું નામ મૂસા રાખ્યું.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાની પોતાના લોકોને મદદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.2.11" />મૂસા મોટો થયો. અને એક દિવસ પોતાના લોકો પાસે ગયો. તેણે પોતાના માંણસો પર સખ્ત કામ કરવા માંટે બળજબરી થતા જોઈ. અને તેણે એક મિસરીને એક હિબ્રૂને માંરતા જોયો.
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<v id="12" bcv="EXO.2.12" />તેણે આમતેમ નજર કરી છતાં તેને કોઈ દેખાયું નહિ એટલે તેણે મિસરીને માંરી નાખીને રેતીમાં દાટી દીઘો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.2.13" />અને બીજે દિવસે તે બહાર ફરવા નીકળ્યો, ત્યારે તેણે બે હિબ્રૂઓને લડતાં જોયા. તેણે જેનો વાંક હતો તે માંણસને કહ્યું, “શા માંટે તું તારા જાતભાઈને માંરે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.2.14" />એટલે તે માંણસે તેને કહ્યું, “તને અમાંરો ઉપરી અને ન્યાયાધીશ કોણે બનાવ્યો છે? તે જેમ પેલા મિસરીની હત્યા કરી તેમ માંરી હત્યા કરવા માંગે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે સાંભળીને મૂસા ડરી ગયો તેથી વિચાર કરવા લાગ્યો કે, “હવે બધાંને ખબર પડી ગઈ છે કે મેં શું કર્યુ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.2.15" />આ વાતની જાણ ફારુનને થતા, તે મૂસાને માંરી નાખવા તૈયાર થયો. પણ મૂસા ફારુનને ત્યાંથી નાસી જઈને મિધાન દેશમાં જઈને વસ્યો.
</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાનું મિધાનમાં આગમન
</s>
<p style="p">એક વખત તે કૂવા પાસે બેઠો હતો
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.2.16" />ત્યારે મિધાનના યાજકની સાત પુત્રીઓ ત્યાં આવી. અને પોતાના બાપનાં ઘેટાંબકરાને પાણી પીવડાવવા માંટે કૂવામાંથી પાણી ખેંચીને હવાડા ભરવા લાગી.
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<v id="17" bcv="EXO.2.17" />ત્યાં તો ભરવાડો ત્યાં આવ્યા અને તેમને કાઢી મૂકવા લાગ્યા, પણ મૂસા તેમની જોડે આવી પહોંચ્ચોં અને તેમનાં ઘેટાંબકરાંને પાણી પાયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.2.18" />જ્યારે તેઓ તેમના પિતા રેઉએલ પાસે ગઈ ત્યારે તે બોલ્યા, “આજે તમે આટલાં વહેલાં કેમ આવ્યાં?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.2.19" />એટલે તેમણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “અમને એક મિસરીએ ભરવાડોથી બચાવી અને છોડાવી વળી અમને પાણી પણ કાઢી આપ્યું, અને ઘેટાંબકરાંને પાયું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.2.20" />એટલે પછી તેણે પોતાની પુત્રીઓને પૂછયું, “તે કયાં છે? અને તમે તેને મૂકીને શા માંટે આવ્યાં? જાઓ, તેને જમવા માંટે બોલાવી લાવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.2.21" />મૂસા તે માંણસ સાથે રહેવા સંમત થયો, અને પોતાની પુત્રી સિપ્પોરાહના લગ્ન મૂસા સાથે તેણે કર્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="EXO.2.22" />પછી તેણે એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો અને તેનું નામ મૂસાએ ગેર્શોમ એટલા માંટે પાડયું કે, મૂસા બીજાનાં દેશમાં અજાણ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવનો ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મદદ કરવાનો નિર્ણય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EXO.2.23" />હવે ઘણો સમય પસાર થયા પછી મિસરના રાજાનું અવસાન થયું. ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ગુલામીમાં પીડાતા હતા. તેઓ આક્રદ કરીને મદદ માંટે પોકાર કરતા હતા તેથી ગુલામીમાંથી કરેલો એ પોકાર દેવ સુધી પહોંચ્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="EXO.2.24" />દેવે તેમનું રૂદન અને ઊહંકાર સાંભળ્યો અને ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઈસહાક અને યાકૂબ સાથે કરેલા કરારનું તેમને સ્મરણ થયું.
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<v id="25" bcv="EXO.2.25" />અને દેવે ઇસ્રાએલીઓની સ્થિતી જોઈ અને તેમને ખબર હતી કે તે વહેલા તેઓની મદદ કરવાના છે.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">સળગતી ઝાડી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.3.1" />હવે મૂસા પોતાના સસરાના એટલે મિધાનના યાજક યિથ્રોનાં ઘેટાંબકરાં ચરાવતો અને સાચવતો હતો; એક દિવસ તે ઘેટાંબકરાંને રણની પશ્ચિમ દિશામાં દેવના પર્વત હોરેબ પર દોરી ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.3.2" />ત્યાં યહોવાના દૂતે ઝાડવાંમાંથી નીકળતા ભડકારૂપે તેને દર્શન દીઘાં.
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે જોયું તો ઝાડી સળગતી હતી, પણ બળીને ભસ્મ થતી નહોંતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.3.3" />તેથી મૂસાને વિચાર આવ્યો, “હું નજીક જઈને આ ચમત્કાર જોઉં. આ ઝાડી શા માંટે બળી જતી નથી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.3.4" />યહોવાએ જોયું કે મૂસા ઝાડીને જોવા આવી રહ્યો છે, તેથી દેવે ઝાડીમાંથી તેને બૂમ પાડી, “મૂસા, મૂસા!”
</p>
<p style="p">અને મૂસાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હા, હું અહીં છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EXO.3.5" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “નજીક આવીશ નહિ, પગરખાં ઉતારી નાખ, કારણ કે જ્યાં તું ઊભો છે તે ભૂમિ પવિત્ર છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.3.6" />હું તારા પિતૃઓ ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઈસહાક અને યાકૂબનો દેવ છું.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને મૂસાએ પોતાનું મુખ છુપાવી દીઘું. કારણ કે દેવ તરફ જોતાં તેને ડર લાગતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.3.7" />પછી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “મેં મિસરમાં માંરા લોકોને દુઃખ સહન કરતાં જોયા છે. તે તેમના મુકાદમો તેમને પીડા કરે છે ત્યારે તેમના રૂદન મેં સાંભળ્યાં છે, તેમની હાડમાંરીની મને ખબર છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="EXO.3.8" />હું તેમને મિસરીઓનાં પંજામાંથી મુક્ત કરાવવા અને તેમને એ દેશમાંથી બીજા એક સારા વિશાળ દેશમાં લઈ જવા માંટે હું નીચે આવ્યો છું. જ્યાં દૂધ મઘની રેલછેલ છે અને જ્યાં કનાનીઓ, હિત્તીઓ, અમોરીઓ, પરીઝીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ અને યબૂસીઓ વસે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.3.9" />મેં ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોનું રૂદન સાંભળ્યું છે, અને મિસરીઓ તેમના ઉપર જે ત્રાસ અત્યાચાર કરે છે તે મેં નજરે નિહાળ્યા છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="EXO.3.10" />ચાલ, એટલા માંટે હું તને ફારુન પાસે મોકલું છું. જાઓ, તમે ઇસ્રાએલના માંરા લોકોને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.3.11" />પરંતુ મૂસાએ દેવને કહ્યું, “હું કોણ કે ફારુન પાસે જનારો અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને મિસરની બહાર લાવનારો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.3.12" />પણ દેવે કહ્યું, “હું ચોક્કસ તારી સાથે હોઈશ, અને મેં તને મોકલ્યો છે એની એંધાણી તારા માંટે એ હશે કે જ્યારે તું એ લોકોને મિસરમાંથી બહાર કાઢી લાવીશ પછી તમે સૌ આ પર્વત પર માંરી ઉપાસના કરશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.3.13" />મૂસાએ દેવને કહ્યું, “હું ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પાસે જાઉં અને કહું કે, ‘તમાંરા પિતૃઓના દેવે મને તમાંરી પાસે મોકલ્યો છે.’ અને તેઓ મને પૂછે કે, ‘તેનું નામ શું છે?’ તો માંરે તેમને શો જવાબ આપવો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.3.14" />ત્યારે દેવે મૂસાને કહ્યું, “એમને કહો, ‘હું એ જ છું જે હું છું.’ જ્યારે તમે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પાસે જાઓ ત્યારે તેમને કહો, ‘હું એ છું’ જેણે મને તમાંરી પાસે મોકલ્યો છે.”
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<v id="15" bcv="EXO.3.15" />દેવે મૂસાને એ પણ કહ્યું, “તમે લોકોને જે કહેશો તે એ કે, ‘તમાંરા પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાઓ, ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઈસહાક અને યાકૂબના દેવે મને તમાંરી પાસે મોકલ્યો છે. માંરું નામ સદાને માંટે યહોવા રહેશે અને પેઢી દરપેઢી લોકો મને એ નામે જ ઓળખશે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.3.16" />યહોવાએ એ પણ કહ્યું, “જાઓ, અને ઇસ્રાએલના વડીલોને (આગેવાનોને) ભેગા કરો અને તેમને કહો કે, ‘તમાંરા પિતૃઓના દેવે, ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઈસહાક અને યાકૂબના દેવે, મને દર્શન આપ્યા અને કહ્યું કે આ સંદેશો તમને આપું, હું તમાંરી પર નજર રાખી રહ્યો છું. મિસરમાં તમે જે મુશ્કેલીઓ સહન કરી છે તે મેં નજરે જોઈ છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EXO.3.17" />અને મેં નિર્ણય કર્યો છે કે હું તમને દુર્દશામાંથી મુક્ત કરાવી કનાનીઓ, હિત્તીઓ, અમોરીઓ, પરીઝીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ અને યબૂસીઓના દેશમાં લઈ જઈશ, જ્યાં દૂધ અને મધની રેલછેલ છે.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.3.18" />“વડીલો તમાંરી વાણી સાંભળશે, પછી તમે અને ઇસ્રાએલના વડીલો મિસરના રાજા પાસે જઈને તેને કહેજો કે, ‘હિબ્રૂ લોકોના દેવ યહોવા છે. અમાંરા દેવ અમાંરા લોકો પાસે આવ્યા હતા, તેમણે અમને ત્રણ દિવસ રણમાં પ્રવાસ કરવા માંટે કહ્યું હતું. અમને રજા આપો તો અમે અમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને યજ્ઞ અર્પણ કરી શકીએ.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.3.19" />“પરંતુ મને ખબર છે કે મિસરનો રાજા તમને જવા નહિ દે. હા, માંત્ર મહાન શક્તિ જ તેને વિવશ કરશે અને તમને જવા દેશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="EXO.3.20" />આથી હું માંરું બળ બતાવીશ, અને ત્યાં વિવિધ પ્રકારનાં પરાક્રમો કરીને મિસરને ખોખરું કરીશ, ત્યાર પછી તે તમને જવા દેશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="EXO.3.21" />ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો પર મિસરના લોકોને દયા થાય તેમ હું કરીશ, પરિણામે જ્યારે તમે નીકળશો, ત્યારે ખાલી હાથે નહિ નીકળો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.3.22" />“પણ દરેક સ્ત્રી તેની મિસરી પડોશણ પાસેથી અને તેના ઘરમાં રહેનારી મિસરી સ્ત્રી પાસેથી સોનારૂપાનાં દાગીનાં અને સુંદર કિમતી વસ્ત્રો માંગી લેશે, અને તે તમે તમાંરાં પુત્રપુત્રીઓને પહેરવા આપશો; આમ તમે મિસરીઓનું ધન લૂંટી શકશો.”
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</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">મૂસા માંટે પ્રમાંણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.4.1" />ત્યારે મૂસાએ દેવને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે હું ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહીશ કે તમે મને મોકલ્યો છે, ત્યારે એ લોકો માંરા પર વિશ્વાસ નહિ કરે અને કહેશે, ‘યહોવા તને પ્રત્યક્ષ નથી થયા.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.4.2" />પરંતુ દેવે મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તેં તારા હાથમાં શું રાખ્યું છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">મૂસાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “લાકડી, એ તો માંરા ફરવા માંટેની છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EXO.4.3" />ત્યારે દેવે કહ્યું, “તારી લાકડીને જમીન પર ફેંકી દે.”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે મૂસાએ તેની લાકડી જમીન પર ફેંકી દીઘી, ને તે સાપ બની ગઈ. અને તે તેનાથી ડરી ગયો ને ભાગવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.4.4" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “આગળ જા, અને સાપની પૂંછડી પકડી લે.”
</p>
<p style="p">જ્યારે મૂસાએ તેમ કર્યુ તો, હાથમાં સાપ ફરી પાછી લાકડી બની ગઈ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.4.5" />તેથી દેવે કહ્યું, “તારી લાકડીનો આ પ્રમાંણે ઉપયોગ કર, એટલે લોકોને વિશ્વાસ બેસશે કે તેઓના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાએ એટલે ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઈસહાક, અને યાકૂબના દેવે તને દર્શન દીઘાં હતાં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.4.6" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “હું તને બીજો એક પુરાવે આપુ છું. તારો હાથ ડગલાની અંદર છાતી પર મૂક.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે હાથ અંદર મૂક્યો; અને જ્યારે પાછો કાઢયો ત્યારે, હાથે કોઢ થયેલો હતો, અને હાથ બરફ જેવો સફેદ થઈ ગયો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.4.7" />પછી દેવે કહ્યું, “તારો હાથ પાછો ડગલાની અંદર છાતી પર મૂક.” એટલે તેણે ફરી હાથ ડગલાની અંદર મૂક્યો, અને જ્યારે તેણે તે બહાર કાઢયો ત્યારે, જુએ છે તો ફરી તેના બાકીના શરીર જેવો જ સાજો થઈ ગયો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.4.8" />પછી દેવે કહ્યું, “જો લોકો તારા વિસ્મય લાકડીની નિશાની પછી પણ તારો વિશ્વાસ ના કરે, તો આ બીજા પરચાથી તેમને વિશ્વાસ બેસશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.4.9" />અને જો આ બે નિશાની પરચાઓ બતાવ્યા પછી પણ જો તેમને વિશ્વાસ ના બેસે અને તેઓ તારી વાત ના સાંભળે, તો તારે નાઈલ નદીમાંથી થોડું પાણી લઈને જમીન પર રેડવું જેથી તે લોહી થઈ જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.4.10" />પરંતુ મૂસાએ યહોવાને કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, હું સાચું કહું છું કે, હું કંઈ સારો વક્તા નથી. હું લોકો સાથે કુશળતાપૂર્વક વાત કરવાને યોગ્ય નથી. અને હવે તમાંરી સાથે વાતચીત કર્યા પછી પણ, હું કુશળ વક્તા નથી. તમને ખબર છે કે બોલવામાં હું મંદ છું અને ઉત્તમ શબ્દોનો પ્રયોગ કરી શક્તો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.4.11" />ત્યારે યહોવાઓ તેને કહ્યું, “માંણસને મોઢું કોણે આપ્યું છે? અને તેને મૂંગો કે બહેરો કોણ બનાવે છે? અને માંણસને નજરે દેખતો કે આંધળો કોણ બનાવે છે? એ હું છું યહોવા, જે આ વધું જ કરી શકું છું. હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EXO.4.12" />માંટે હવે જા, જ્યારે તું બોલીશ ત્યારે હું તારી સાથે રહીશ. હું તને બોલવા માંટે શબ્દો આપીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.4.13" />છતાં મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “હે માંરા યહોવા, કૃપા કરીને ગમે તે બીજા કોઈને મોકલો, મને નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.4.14" />યહોવા મૂસા પર ગુસ્સે થયા, અને કહ્યું, “હું તને મદદ કરવા માંટે એક માંણસ મોકલીશ. હું તારા ભાઈ હારુનનો ઉપયોગ કરીશ. તે કુશળ વક્તા છે અને જો, તે તને મળવા આવી રહ્યો છે, તને જોઈને તેનું હૃદય આનંદ પામશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EXO.4.15" />તે તમાંરી સાથે ફારુનને ધેર આવશે. તારે શું કહેવાનું છે તે હું તને કહીશ, તે તું તેને કહેજે. હું તમને બંનને તમાંરે શું કરવાનું છે તેનો આદેશ આપીશ.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.4.16" />હારુન જ તમાંરા માંટે લોકો સાથે વાત કરશે. તું તેમના માંટે મહાન તરીકે રહીશ અને તે તારો અધિકૃત વક્તા હશે. તે તારું મોઢું અને તું તેનો દેવ.
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<v id="17" bcv="EXO.4.17" />એટલા માંટે જા, અને તારી લાકડી સાથે લઈ જા. એના વડે તારે પેલા લોકોને ચમત્કારો કરી બતાવવાના છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાનું મિસર પાછું ફરવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.4.18" />પછી મૂસાએ પોતાના સસરા યિથ્રો પાસે પાછા જઈને કહ્યું, “કૃપા કરીને મને જરા માંરા લોકો પાસે મિસર પાછો જવા દો. હું એ જોવા માંગું છું કે તેઓ હજી જીવે છે કે નહિ!”
</p>
<p style="p">યિથ્રોએ તેને કહ્યું, “સુખશાંતિથી જા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.4.19" />તે સમયે મૂસા મિધાનમાં હતો. દેવે તેને કહ્યું, “આ સમયે તારા માંટે મિસર જવું સુરક્ષિત છે. જે વ્યક્તિઓ તને માંરવા ઈચ્છતા હતા તે બધા મરી ગયા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.4.20" />આથી મૂસા પોતાની પત્ની અને પુત્રોને ગધેડા પર ચઢાવી પાછો મિસર જવા નીકળ્યો. મૂસાએ પેલી લાકડીને પોતાની સાથે રાખી, જેમાં દેવની શક્તિ હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.4.21" />જે સમયે મૂસા મિસર પાછો જઈ રહ્યો હતો, તે વખતે દેવે તેને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે તું ફારુન સાથે વાત કરે ત્યારે મેં તને જે જે ચમત્કાર બતાવવાની શક્તિ આપી છે તે બધા ફારુન આગળ કરી બતાવજે. પણ હું તેને હઠાગ્રહી બનાવી દઈશ એટલે તે તારા લોકોને જવા દેશે નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="EXO.4.22" />ત્યારે તું ફારુનને કહેજે:
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<v id="23" bcv="EXO.4.23" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, ‘ઇસ્રાએલ માંરો પહેલો ખોળાનો પુત્ર છે. અને મેં તને કહ્યું છે કે, માંરા પુત્રને માંરી ઉપાસના કરવા જવા દે. જો તું એને જવા દેવાની ના પાડશે, તો હું તારા પહેલા ખોળાના પુત્રની હત્યા કરીશ.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાના પુત્રની સુન્નત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.4.24" />મૂસા પોતાની મિશરની યાત્રા કરી રહ્યો હતો. મુસાફરોને વિરામ કરવા બનાવેલા એક સ્થાને તે સૂવા માંટે રોકાયો. યહોવા તે મુકામે તેને મળ્યા. અને તેને માંરી નાખવા માંટે પ્રયત્ન કર્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="EXO.4.25" />પણ સિપ્પોરાહે એક ચકમકનો ધારદાર પથ્થર લઈ પોતાના પુત્રની સુન્નત કરી અને તે ચામડી મૂસાના પગે અડાડીને તે બોલી: “ખરેખર તમે તો માંરા લોહીથી વરેલા વરરાજા છો!”
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<v id="26" bcv="EXO.4.26" />સિપ્પોરાહે આ એટલા માંટે કહ્યું, કારણ કે તેને તેના પોતાના પુત્રની સુન્નત કરવી પડી હતી. એટલા માંટે દેવે મૂસાને માંફી આપી અને તેની હત્યા કરી નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવ સમક્ષ મૂસા અને હારુન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.4.27" />યહોવાએ હારુન સાથે વાત કરી હતી. યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું હતું, “રણમાં જા અને મૂસાને મળ.” એટલા માંટે હારુન દેવના પર્વત પર જઈને તેને મળ્યો અને ભેટી પડ્યો.
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<v id="28" bcv="EXO.4.28" />મૂસાએ પોતાને યહોવાએ જે જે કહીને મોકલ્યો હતો તે, અને તેને જે જે ચમત્કારો બતાવવાનું કહ્યું હતુ તે બધું કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.4.29" />ત્યારબાદ મૂસા અને હારુન ગયા અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોના બધા વડીલોને એકત્રીત કર્યા.
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<v id="30" bcv="EXO.4.30" />પછી હારુને લોકોને યહોવાએ જે જે કહ્યું હતું, તે બધુંજ કહી સંભાળાવ્યું. તથા મૂસાએ લોકો સમક્ષ ચમત્કાર કરી બતાવ્યા.
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<v id="31" bcv="EXO.4.31" />લોકોને વિશ્વાસ બેઠો કે દેવે જ મૂસાને મોકલ્યો છે. તેઓએ મસ્તક નમાંવી તેને પ્રણામ કર્યા અને દેવની સેવા કરી, કારણ કે તેઓને ખબર હતી કે, દેવ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોની મદદ કરવા આવ્યા હતા. અને તેમણે દેવની ઉપાસના કરી કારણ કે તેઓ જાણતા હતા કે યહોવાએ તેમના દુઃખો જોયાં હતા.
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<s style="s">ફારુન સમક્ષ મૂસા અને હારુન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.5.1" />લોકોની સાથે વાત કર્યા પછી મૂસા અને હારુન મિસરના રાજા ફારુન પાસે ગયા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, ‘માંરા લોકોને માંરા માંનમાં ઉત્સવ ઊજવવા રણમાં જવા દે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.5.2" />પરંતુ ફારુને કહ્યું, “યહોવા વળી કોણ છે? હું શા માંટે તેના આદેશ માંનું? શા માંટે હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જવા દઉં? તમે જેને યહોવા કહો છો, તેને હું ઓળખતો નથી, તેથી હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જવા દેવાની ના પાડું છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EXO.5.3" />ત્યારે હારુન અને મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “હિબ્રૂઓના દેવે અમને લોકોને દર્શન આપ્યાં છે, એટલા માંટે અમે તમને વિનંતી કરીએ છીએ કે તમે અમને રણમાં ત્રણ દિવસ પ્રવાસ કરવા દો. ત્યાં અમે અમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને એક યજ્ઞ અર્પણ કરીશું, જો અમે એ પ્રમાંણે નહિ કરીએ તો તેમનો ક્રોધ ભભૂકી ઊઠશે અને અમાંરો નાશ કરશે. તે અમને મરકી કે તરવારનો ભોગ બનાવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.5.4" />પરંતુ ફારુને તેમને કહ્યું, “હે મૂસા અને હારુન, તમે લોકોને હેરાન શા માંટે કરો છો? તમે તે લોકોના કામમાં આડા આવો છો, તેમને તેમનું કામ કરવા દો. તમાંરે બન્નેએ પણ તમાંરું કામ શરુ કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.5.5" />જુઓ, હમણા અહીં ઘણા મજૂરો છે અને તમે તે લોકોને કામમાંથી આરામ આપવા ઈચ્છો છો?”
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<s style="s">ફારુને લોકોને સજા કરી
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.5.6" />બરાબર તે જ દિવસે ફારુને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પાસે સખત કામ લેવાનો આદેશ મુકાદમોને આપ્યો. અને ઇસ્રાએલના મુખીઓને હુકમ કર્યો કે,
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.5.7" />“હવે તમાંરે એ લોકોને ઈંટો બનાવવા માંટે પરાળ આપવું નહિ; એ લોકોને જાતે જઈને પરાળ ભેગું કરવા દો.
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<v id="8" bcv="EXO.5.8" />પરંતુ ધ્યાન રાખજો, અત્યાર સુધી એ લોકો જેટલી ઈંટો બનાવતા આવ્યા હતા તેટલી જ ઈંટો એમની પાસે બનાવડાવજો, એમાં ઘટાડો થવો જોઈએ નહિ, કારણ કે, હવે તે લોકો આળસુ થઈ ગયા છે. તેથી બૂમો પાડે છે કે, અમને અમાંરા દેવના યજ્ઞો કરવા અમને જવા દો.
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.5.9" />એટલા માંટે તે લોકો પાસે વધારે સખત કામ લો. એમને કામમાં રોકી રાખો. પછી એમની પાસે મૂસાની જૂઠી વાતો સાંભળવાનો સમય જ નહિ રહે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.5.10" />તેથી એ લોકોના મુકાદમોએ અને મુખીઓએ લોકોની પાસે જઈને કહ્યું, “ફારુને નિર્ણય કર્યો છે કે, તે તમને લોકોને ઈંટો બનાવવા માંટે પરાળ નહિ આપે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.5.11" />તમાંરે જાતે જ તમાંરા માંટે પરાળ ભેગું કરવા જવું પડશે. તેથી જાઓ, પરાળ ભેગું કરો. પરંતુ તમે લોકો પહેલા જેટલી ઈંટો બનાવતા હતા તેમાં સહેજ પણ ઘટાડો કરવામાં નહિ આવે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.5.12" />આથી પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ આખા મિસર દેશમાં પરાળ બનાવવા માંટે ખૂંપરા વીણવા ફેલાઈ ગયા.
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.5.13" />મુકાદમો સખત કામ કરવા માંટે તાકીદ કરતા જ રહ્યા. “પહેલાં પરાળ મળતું હતું, ને રોજ જેટલું કામ કરતા હતા તેટલું જ તમાંરે પૂરું કરવું પડશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EXO.5.14" />ફારુનના મુખીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર જે મુકાદમો દેખરેખ રાખવા નિયુક્ત કર્યા હતા તેમને ખૂબ માંર માંરીને પૂછવામાં આવતું કે, ઈટો અત્યાર સુધી જેટલી બનાવતા હતા તેટલી આજકાલ અગાઉની જેમ કેમ પૂરી કરતા નથી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.5.15" />એટલે ઇસ્રાએલીઓના મુખીઓ ફારુનની સમક્ષ આવીને પોકાર કરવા લાગ્યા, “તમે તમાંરા સેવકો સાથે આવો વર્તાવ કેમ રાખો છો?
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.5.16" />તમાંરા સેવકોને પરાળ આપવામાં આવતું નથી તેમ છતાં અમને એમ કહેવામાં આવે છે કે ઈંટો પાડો; જરા જુઓ તો ખરા, તમાંરા સેવકોને કેવો માંર માંરવામાં આવે છે! ખરેખર, વાંક તો તમાંરા માંણસોનો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.5.17" />એટલે ફારુને કહ્યું, “તમે બધા તો આળસુ લોકો છો, તેથી કહો છો કે અમને યહોવાના યજ્ઞો કરવા જવા દો.
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<v id="18" bcv="EXO.5.18" />માંટે હવે જાઓ, કામે લાગી જાઓ, તમને પરાળ આપવામાં નહિ આવે; અને નક્કી કરેલી ઈંટો તો તમાંરી વરઘી પ્રમાંણે પૂરી કરવી જ પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.5.19" />હિબ્રૂ મુકાદમોને જાણમાં આવ્યું કે તેઓ તકલીફમાં છે. તેમને ખબર હતી કે તેઓ માંણસો પાસેથી પહેલા જેટલી ઈંટો તૈયાર નથી કરાવી શકતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.5.20" />અને પછી ફારુનની પાસેથી તેઓ નીકળ્યા ત્યારે મૂસા અને હારુન તેઓને રસ્તામાં મળ્યા. તેઓ તેમની રાહ જોતા ઊભા હતા.
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<v id="21" bcv="EXO.5.21" />તેઓએ મૂસા અને હારુનને કહ્યું, “તમે શું કર્યુ છે એ યહોવા જુએ અને તમને સજા કરે. કારણ તમે અમને ફારુન અને તેના સેવકોની નજરમાં તિરસ્કૃત બનાવી દીઘા છે; અને અમાંરી હત્યા કરવા માંટે તેઓને એક બહાનું આપી દીધું છે.”
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<s style="s">મૂસાની દેવને ફરિયાદ
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.5.22" />ત્યારે મૂસાએ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી અને કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, તમે આ લોકોના આવા ભૂંડા હાલ શા માંટે કર્યા? વળી તમે મને જ શા માંટે મોકલ્યો?
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<v id="23" bcv="EXO.5.23" />કારણ કે હું તમાંરા નામે ફારુન સાથે વાત કરવા આવ્યો ત્યારથી તેણે આ લોકોનું ભૂંડુ કરવા માંડયુ છે, અને તમે તમાંરા લોકોને બચાવવાં માંટે કશું જ કર્યુ નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.6.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “હવે તું જોઈશ કે હું ફારુનની શી હાલત કરું છું. હું માંરી મહાન શક્તિનો ઉપયોગ તેના વિરોધમાં કરીશ. અને હું તેને માંરા લોકોને બહાર જવા દેવાની ફરજ પાડીશ. અને તે બળવાન હાથથી એ લોકોને તેના દેશમાંથી હાંકી કાઢશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.6.2" />અને દેવે મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.6.3" />“એ હું યહોવા છું જે ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઈસહાક અને યાકૂબ સમક્ષ પ્રગટ થયો હતો; તેમણે મને એલ શદાય (સર્વસમર્થ દેવ) કહ્યો. પરંતુ મેં માંરું યહોવા નામ તેમને જણાવ્યું નહોતું.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.6.4" />મેં તેમની સાથે કરાર કર્યો, તેઓ જે દેશમાં જઈને વસ્યા હતા તે કનાન દેશનું મેં તેમને વચન આપ્યું હતું. તેઓ ત્યા રહેતા હતા, પણ તે તેમનો પોતાનો પ્રદેશ ન હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.6.5" />મેં ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોનાં ઊહંકાર સાંભળ્યા છે. હું જાણું છું કે તેઓ મિસરના ચાકરો છે અને મેં માંરો કરાર સંભાર્યો છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.6.6" />એટલા માંટે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહો કે, ‘હું તેમને કહું છું, હું યહોવા છું. હું તમાંરા લોકોનું રક્ષણ કરીશ. હું તમને લોકોને મિસરીઓની મજૂરીમાંથી છોડાવીશ અને ગુલામીમાંથી મુક્ત કરીશ. હું માંરી મહાન શક્તિનો ઉપયોગ કરીને મિસરીઓને ભયંકર શિક્ષા કરીશ પછી હું તમાંરો ઉધ્ધાર કરીશ.
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.6.7" />તમે બધા લોકો માંરા થશો, ને હું તમાંરા બધાનો દેવ થઈશ. હું યહોવા તમાંરા લોકોનો દેવ છું એની તમને ત્યારે ખબર પડશે જ્યારે હું તમને મજૂરીમાંથી મુક્તિ અપાવીશ.
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<v id="8" bcv="EXO.6.8" />હું યહોવા છું, મેં ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઈસહાક અને યાકૂબને જે દેશ આપવાનું પ્રતિજ્ઞાપૂર્વક વચન આપ્યું હતું, તે દેશમાં હું તમને લઈ જઈશ અને તમને તેના વારસદાર બનાવીશ.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.6.9" />એટલા માંટે મૂસાએ એ વાત ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહી. પણ તે વખતે તે લોકો આકરી ગુલામીથી એવા હતાશ થઈ ગયા હતા કે તેમણે તેની વાત સાંભળી નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.6.10" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.6.11" />“જાઓ, અને મિસરના રાજા ફારુનને કહો કે, તે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને આ દેશમાંથી જરૂર બહાર જવા દે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.6.12" />પરંતુ મૂસાએ યહોવાને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો માંરી વાત સાંભળવા પણ નથી માંગતા, તો પછી ફારુન શી રીતે સાંભળશે? મને તો સારી રીતે બોલતાં પણ નથી આવડતું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.6.13" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ મૂસા અને હારુન સાથે વાતચીત કરી. દેવે તેમને આજ્ઞા કરી કે, તમાંરે મિસરના રાજા ફારુન પાસે જવું અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મિસર બહાર લઈ આવવા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના કેટલાક કુટુંબો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.6.14" />ઇસ્રાએલના પરિવારોના આગેવાનોનાં નામ આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઇસ્રાએલના સૌથી મોટા પુત્ર રૂબેનને ચાર પુત્રો હતા. તેઓ હનોખ, પાલ્લુ, હેસ્રોન અને કાર્મી હતા;
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.6.15" />શિમયોનના પુત્રો; યમુએલ, યારીન, ઓહાદ, યાખીન, સોહારને શાઉલ, જે એક કનાની સ્ત્રીને પેટે અવતર્યા હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.6.16" />લેવીના પુત્રો: ગેર્શોન, કહાથ અને મરારી હતા. તેઓ એમને નામે ઓળખાતાં પરિવારોના પૂર્વપુરુષો હતા. લેવીનું આયુષ્ય 137 વર્ષનું હતું.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.6.17" />ગેર્શોનના પુત્રો: લિબ્ની અને શિમઈ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.6.18" />કહાથના પુત્રો: આમ્રામ, યિસ્હાર, હેબ્રોન અને ઉઝઝીએલ, કહાથનું આયુષ્ય 133 વર્ષનું હતું.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.6.19" />મરારીના પુત્રો: માંહલી અને મૂશી હતા.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">આ બધા પરિવાર ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્ર લેવીના હતા.
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</p>
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.6.20" />આમ્રામ પોતાની ફોઈ યોખેબેદ સાથે પરણ્યો, અને તેને હારુન અને મૂસાના જન્મ થયા. આમ્રામનું આયુષ્ય 137 વર્ષનું હતું.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.6.21" />યિસ્હારના પુત્રો: કોરાલ, નેફેગ અને ઝિખ્રી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.6.22" />ઉઝઝીએલના પુત્રો: મીશાએલ, એલ્સાફાન અને સિથ્રી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="EXO.6.23" />હારુનના વિવાહ આમ્મીનાદાબની પુત્રી અને નાહશોનની બહેન અલીશેબા સાથે થયા. અને અલીશેબાને નાદાબ, અબીહૂ, એલઆઝાર અને ઈથામાંર અવતર્યા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.6.24" />કોરાહના પુત્રો: આસ્સીર, એલ્કાનાહ અને અબિઆસાફ. આ પરિવારો કોરાહીઓનાં પિતૃઓ છે.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.6.25" />હારુનના પુત્ર એલઆઝારે પૂટીએલની પુત્રી સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા અને તેણે ફીનહાસને જન્મ આપ્યો.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">આ બધાજ પૂર્વપુરુષો લેવી વંશના પરિવારના હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EXO.6.26" />આ રીતે હારુન અને મૂસા આ કૂળ-સમૂહના હતા અને તે એ જ વ્યક્તિઓ છે જેની સાથે દેવે વાત કરી હતી. અને કહ્યું હતું કે, “ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ટૂકડી પ્રમાંણે મિસરમાંથી બહાર કાઢો.”
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<v id="27" bcv="EXO.6.27" />હારુન અને મૂસાએ જ મિસરના રાજા ફારુન સાથે વાત કરી. તેમણે ફારુનને કહ્યું કે, “તે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને મિસરની બહાર લઈ જવા દે.”
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<s style="s">દેવે મૂસાને ફરીવાર બોલાવ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EXO.6.28" />મિસર દેશના દેવે મૂસા સાથે વાત કરી.
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<v id="29" bcv="EXO.6.29" />તેમણે કહ્યું, “હું યહોવા છું, હું તને કહું છું, તે બધું જ મિસરના રાજા ફારુનને કહેજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EXO.6.30" />અને મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “હું સ્પષ્ટ રીતે બોલતો નથી તો પછી ફારુન માંરી વાત શી રીતે સાંભળશે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.7.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “હું તારી સાથે રહીશ. હું તારો દેખાવ એવો કરીશ કે તું ફારુનની સામે એક મહાન રાજા લાગીશ અને તારો ભાઈ હારુન તારો પ્રવકતા બનશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.7.2" />હું તને જે આદેશ આપુ તે બધા તારે હારુનને કહેવા, હું જે કહું તે રાજા ફારુનને કહેશે, પછી ફારુન ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને આ નગર છોડવા દેશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.7.3" />પણ હું ફારુનને હઠાગ્રહી બનાવી દઈશ, જેથી તું જે કંઈ કહીશ તેને તે માંનશે નહિ. એથી હું કોણ છું તે સાબિત કરવા હું મિસર દેશમાં અનેક ચમત્કારો કરીશ. પરંતુ તે છતાં પણ તે સાંભળશે નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.7.4" />એટલા માંટે હું મિસર દેશ પર માંરો હાથ ઉગામીશ અને તેને કારમી સજા કરીને માંરાં સૈન્યોને, માંરી ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને, મિસરની બહાર કાઢી લાવીશ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.7.5" />ત્યારે મિસરના લોકોને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું, હું તેમની વિરુદ્ધ થઈ જઈશ અને તેઓ જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું, જ્યારે હું માંરા લોકોને તેમના દેશમાંથી બહાર લઈ જઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.7.6" />મૂસાએ અને હારુને યહોવાએ જે આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તેનું પાલન કર્યુ.
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.7.7" />તે સમયે જ્યારે તેમણે ફારુન સાથે વાત કરી ત્યારે મૂસાની ઉમર 80 વર્ષની અને હારુનની ઉમર 83 વર્ષની હતી.
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</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાની લાકડીનું સાપ બનવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.7.8" />યહોવાએ મૂસા અને હારુનને કહ્યું,
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.7.9" />“જ્યારે ફારુન તમને એમ કહે કે, તમાંરી શક્તિ સાબિત કરવા માંટે, ‘કોઈ ચમત્કાર બતાવો.’ ત્યારે તારે હારુનને કહેવું કે, તારી લાકડી લઈને ફારુનની આગળ જમીન પર નાખી દે એટલે એ સાપ બની જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.7.10" />એટલા માંટે મૂસા અને હારુન મિસરના રાજા ફારુન પાસે ગયા, અને યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે તેમણે કર્યુ. હારુને ફારુન અને તેના અમલદારો સમક્ષ જમીન પર પોતાની લાકડી નાખી દીધી અને તે સાપ બની ગઈ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.7.11" />ત્યારે ફારુને જ્ઞાની પંડિતોને અને જાદુગરોને બોલાવ્યા. મિસરના જાદુગરોએ પણ તેમની મેલી વિધા વડે હારુનના જેવો ચમત્કાર કરી બતાવ્યો.
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<v id="12" bcv="EXO.7.12" />તેઓએ તેમની લાકડીઓ જમીન પર ફેંકી અને તે સાપ બની ગઈ. પણ હારુનની લાકડી તેમની લાકડીઓને ગળી ગઈ.
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.7.13" />ફારુને તેમ છતાં હઠાગ્રહ છોડયો નહિ અને લોકોને જવાની ના પાડી. અને યહોવાએ કહ્યું હતું તેમ, મૂસા અને હારુનની વાત સાંભળી નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાણીનું લોહી બનવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.7.14" />પછી યહોવાએ હારુન અને મૂસાને કહ્યું, “ફારુને હઠ પકડી છે, એ માંરી પ્રજાને જવા દેવાની ના પાડે છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EXO.7.15" />ફારુન સવારે નદી કિનારે આવશે. તમે નાઈલ નદીના કિનારે-કિનારે જાઓ. અને જે લાકડી સાપ થઈ ગઈ હતી, તે સાથે લઈને નદીકાંઠે તમે તેની રાહ જોતા ઊભા રહેજો. અને તેને કહેજો કે,
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.7.16" />હિબ્રૂ લોકોના દેવ યહોવાએ મને તમાંરી પાસે મોકલ્યો છે અને કહેવડાવ્યું છે કે, ‘માંરા લોકોને માંરી ઉપાસના કરવા માંટે રણમાં જવા દે: જો અત્યાર સુધી તેં યહોવાની વાત કાને ધરી નથી.’
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<v id="17" bcv="EXO.7.17" />હવે, યહોવા કહે છે કે, ‘હું યહોવા છું એની તમને આના પરથી ખબર પડી જશે. જો હું નાઈલ નદીના પાણી પર માંરા હાથમાંની લાકડી પછાડીશ એટલે તે લોહી થઈ જશે;
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<v id="18" bcv="EXO.7.18" />ત્યારે નાઈલ નદીની માંછલીઓ મરી જશે. અને નદીમાંથી દુર્ગંધ આવશે અને મિસરવાસીઓને માંટે એનું પાણી પીવાલાયક પણ રહેશે નહિ.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.7.19" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તું હારુનને એમ કહે કે, તારી લાકડી લઈને મિસરનાં તમાંમ જળાશયો પર, નદીઓ ઉપર, નહેરો અને તળાવો ઉપર તારો હાથ ફેલાવ એટલે તે બધું જ પાણી લોહી બની જાય. અને સમગ્ર મિસર દેશમાં લાકડાના અને પથ્થરનાં બધાં વાસણોમાં પણ પાણીનું લોહી થઈ જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.7.20" />એટલા માંટે મૂસા અને હારુને યહોવાની જેવી આજ્ઞા હતી તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યું. હારુને ફારુન અને તેના અમલદારોના દેખતા લાકડી ઉપાડીને નાઈલના પાણી પર પ્રહાર કર્યો. અને બધું જ પાણી લોહી થઈ ગયું.
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<v id="21" bcv="EXO.7.21" />નદીમાં બધી માંછલીઓ મરી ગઈ અને નદીમાંથી દુર્ગંધ આવવા લાગી. અને મિસરના લોકો માંટે નદીનું પાણી પીવા માંટે નકામું થઈ ગયું. સમગ્ર મિસરમાં લોહી થઈ ગયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.7.22" />મિસરના જાદુગરોએ પણ પોતાની મેલીવિદ્યાથી તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યું, તેથી ફારુને મૂસા અને હારુનની વાત કાને ન ધરી. યહોવાએ જેવું કહ્યું હતું બરાબર એ જ પ્રમાંણે થયું.
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<v id="23" bcv="EXO.7.23" />આ બાબતને ધ્યાનમાં લીધા વિનાજ ફારુન પોતાના મહેલમાં પાછો ફરી ગયો. મૂસા અને હારુને જે કાંઈ કર્યુ તેની તેણે ઉપેક્ષા કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.7.24" />મિસરવાસીઓ નાઈલ નદીનું પાણી પી શકતા ન હતા તેથી તેમણે નદીની આજુબાજુ ચારેબાજુ કૂવાઓ ખોધ્યા અને વીરડા ગાળ્યા.
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<s style="s">દેડકાંઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.7.25" />યહોવા દ્વારા નાઈલ નદી પર પ્રહાર કર્યાને પૂરા સાત દિવસ વીતી ગયા.
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<c id="8" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.8.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “ફારુન પાસે જઈને તેને કહો કે, યહોવા આમ કહે છે: ‘માંરા લોકોને માંરી સેવા કરવા જવા દે.
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.8.2" />પણ જો ફારુન તેમને જવા દેવાની ના પાડશે તો, હું મિસર દેશમાં દેડકાંઓનો ઉપદ્રવ મચાવીશ.
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.8.3" />નાઈલ નદી દેડકાંઓથી ભરાઈ જશે. તે નદીમાંથી નીકળીને તમાંરાં ઘરોમાં, તમાંરા શયનખંડમાં, તમાંરા પલંગ ઉપર, તમાંરા અમલદારોના તથા તમાંરી પ્રજાનાં ઘરોમાં, તેમના રસોડામાં અને તેમના પાણીના ઘડાઓમાં ચઢી આવશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.8.4" />દેડકાંઓ તમાંરા ઉપર, તમાંરી પ્રજા ઉપર અને તમાંરા અમલદારો પર ફેલાશે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EXO.8.5" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “હારુનને કહે કે, તે પોતાના હાથની લાકડીને નહેરો, નદીઓ અને સરોવરો ઉપર ફેલાવે, જેથી મિસર દેશ પર દેડકાંઓ ચઢી આવે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.8.6" />ત્યારે હારુને મિસર દેશમાં જયાં જ્યાં જળાશયો હતા તેના ઉપર હાથ ઉઠાવ્યો અને દેડકાંઓ પાણીમાંથી બહાર આવીને સમગ્ર મિસર દેશમાં છવાઈ ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.8.7" />મિસરના જાદુગરોએ પણ એવું જ કર્યું. તેઓ પણ મિસર દેશમાં દેડકાંઓ લઈ આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.8.8" />પછી ફારુને મૂસા અને હારુનને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “યહોવાને તમે પ્રાર્થના કરો કે તે મને અને માંરી પ્રજાને દેડકાંઓના ઉપદ્રવથી છોડાવે, તો પછી હું તમાંરા લોકોને યહોવાને યજ્ઞો અર્પવા જવા દઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.8.9" />મૂસાએ ફારુનને કહ્યું, “તમે કૃપા કરીને મને કહો કે માંરે તમાંરા માંટે, તમાંરા અમલદારો માંટે અને તમાંરી પ્રજા માંટે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના ક્યારે કરવી અને દેડકાં તમાંરી પાસેથી અને તમાંરા ઘરોમાંથી હઠી જાય અને માંત્ર નદીમાં જ રહે એવું કરવું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.8.10" />ફારુને કહ્યું, “આવતી કાલે.”
</p>
<p style="p">મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “તમે જેવું કહો છો તેવું જ થશે. જેથી તમને ખબર પડી જશે કે અમાંરા દેવ યહોવા સમાંન બીજું કોઈ નથી.
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.8.11" />દેડકાં તમાંરી આગળથી અને તમાંરા ઘરોમાંથી અને તમાંરા અમલદારો તેમજ પ્રજા આગળથી ચાલ્યા જશે, અને માંત્ર નાઈલ નદીમાં જ રહેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.8.12" />પછી મૂસા અને હારુન ફારુન પાસેથી વિદાય થયા. પછી મૂસાએ ફારુન સાથે નક્કી થયા પ્રમાંણે દેડકાંઓ વિષે યહોવાને વિનંતી કરી.
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.8.13" />અને યહોવાએ મૂસાના કહ્યાં પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ. ઘરોમાંના, ઘરના ચોકમાંનાં તથા ખેતરોમાંનાં દેડકાંઓ મરી ગયા.
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<v id="14" bcv="EXO.8.14" />તેથી મરેલાં દેડકાંઓના ઢગલા ભેગા થયા. પરિણામે તેમનાં ફોહવાઈ જવાને કારણે સમગ્ર દેશમાં દુર્ગંધ પ્રસરી ગઈ.
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<v id="15" bcv="EXO.8.15" />ફારુને જોયું કે, એ તો દેવનું કરેલું છે. અને દેશ દેડકાઓથી મુક્ત છે પણ તે પાછો હઠીલો થઈ ગયો. અને મૂસા અને હારુનની વાત સાંભળી નહિ. આ તો જેમ દેવે કહ્યું હતું તેમજ બન્યું.
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<s style="s">જૂઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.8.16" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “હારુનને કહે કે, તે પોતાની લાકડી ઉઠાવીને જમીન પરની ધૂળ પર માંરે. અને આખા મિસર દેશમાં સર્વત્ર ધૂળની જૂ થઈ જાય.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.8.17" />તેમણે તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ; અને હારુને લાકડી લઈને પોતાનો હાથ ઊચો કરીને જમીનની ધૂળ પર પ્રહાર કર્યો, એટલે સર્વત્ર ધૂળની જૂ થઈ ગઈ. અને તે જૂઓ માંણસો અને ઢોરઢાંખર પર છવાઈ ગઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.8.18" />મિસરના જાદુગરોએ પોતાના જંતરમંતરનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો અને એવું જ કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. પરંતુ જાદુગર ધૂળમાંથી જૂઓ બનાવી શકયા નહિ. અને મનુષ્યો તથા ઢોરઢાંખર પર જૂઓ છવાઈ ગઈ.
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<v id="19" bcv="EXO.8.19" />એટલા માંટે જાદુગરોએ ફારુનને કહ્યું કે, દેવની શક્તિથી જ આ બન્યું છે. પરંતુ ફારુને તેમને સાંભળ્યા નહિ અને હઠીલો જ રહ્યો. જેવું યહોવાએ કહ્યું હતું બરાબર એ જ પ્રમાંણે થયું.
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</p>
<s style="s">માંખીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.8.20" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “સવારે વહેલો ઊઠીને ફારુન પાસે જા, ફારુન નદી કિનારે ફરવા નીકળે ત્યારે તેની રાહ જોઈને ત્યાં ઊભો રહેજે. અને તેને કહેજે કે, યહોવા એમ કહે છે કે, ‘માંરા લોકોને માંરી ઉપાસના કરવા જવા દે.
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<v id="21" bcv="EXO.8.21" />જો તું માંરા લોકોને નહિ જવા દે તો તારા ઘરમાં, તારા ઉપર, તથા તારા અમલદારો ઉપર તથા તારી પ્રજા ઉપર, ઘરોમાં માંખીઓ મોકલીશ. અને મિસરના લોકોનાં ઘરો માંખીઓથી ભરાઈ જશે; અને માંખીઓ આખી જમીન પર પણ હશે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EXO.8.22" />પણ તે દિવસે હું ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સાથે આવો વ્યવહાર કરીશ નહિ, અને ગોશેન પ્રાંતમાં જયાં માંરા લોકો વસે છે ત્યાં કોઈ માંખી હશે નહિ, એટલે તને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા આ દેશમાં છું.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.8.23" />આમ હું માંરી પ્રજા અને તારી પ્રજા વચ્ચે જુદો વર્તાવ રાખીશ; તે માંરો પરચો અને એંધાણ હશે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.8.24" />અને પછી યહોવાએ એ પ્રમાંણે કર્યું. તેમના કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે ફારુનના મહેલમાં, અને તેના અમલદારોના ઘરોમાં તથા આખા મિસર દેશમાં માંખીઓનાં મોટાં મોટાં ઝુંડ ધસી આવ્યાં અને સમગ્ર દેશ માંખીઓથી પાયમાંલ થઈ રહ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EXO.8.25" />એટલે ફારુને મૂસા અને હારુનને બોલાવ્યા, ફારુને કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો તમાંરા દેવને આ દેશમાં યજ્ઞો અર્પો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EXO.8.26" />પરંતુ મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “એ પ્રમાંણે કરવું એ યોગ્ય નથી, કારણ કે અમે અમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને પશુઓને યજ્ઞમાં અર્પીએ તેને મિસરના લોકો અપવિત્ર ગણે છે. એથી મિસરના લોકો જેને પવિત્ર ગણે છે તે પશુઓની આહુતિ આપીએ તો તેઓ અમને પથ્થરો માંરીને માંરી નહિ નાંખે?
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<v id="27" bcv="EXO.8.27" />અમને લોકોને ત્રણ દિવસ રણમાંથી પસાર થઈ જવા દો. અને અમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને યજ્ઞો અર્પવા દો. યહોવાએ અમને આમ કરવા કહેલ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EXO.8.28" />એટલે ફારુને કહ્યું, “હું તમને લોકોને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને યજ્ઞો અર્પવા માંટે રણમાં જવા દઈશ, પરંતુ ફક્ત તમાંરે બહુ દૂર જવું નહિ અને માંરા માંટે પણ પ્રાર્થના કરવી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.8.29" />મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “સારું, હું અહીંથી તમાંરી પાસેથી જઈને તરત જ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરીશ કે, તમે અને તમાંરા અમલદારો અને તમાંરી પ્રજા આવતી કાલે સવારે માંખીઓના ત્રાસથી મુક્ત થાઓ તેમ કરે. પણ તમાંરે અમને મૂર્ખ નથી બનાવવાના. યહોવાને યજ્ઞો અર્પવા અમને રણમાં જવા દો. અમને રોકશો નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EXO.8.30" />એટલે મૂસા ફારુન પાસેથી વિદાય થઈને યહોવા પાસે ગયો અને પ્રાર્થના કરી,
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<v id="31" bcv="EXO.8.31" />અને યહોવાએ મૂસાએ જે કહ્યું તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ. અને ફારુન, તેના અમલદારો અને તેની પ્રજા માંખીઓના ત્રાસથી મુક્ત થયા. એક પણ માંખી ક્યાંય જોવા મળી નહિ.
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<v id="32" bcv="EXO.8.32" />પરંતુ ફારુન ફરી પાછો હઠાગ્રહી થઈ ગયો અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને જવા ન દીધા.
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">ખેતરના પશુઓમાં રોગચાળો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.9.1" />ત્યારે યહોવાઓ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “ફારુનની પાસે જા અને તેને કહે કે, હિબ્રૂઓના દેવ યહોવા એમ કહે છે કે, ‘માંરા લોકોને માંરી ઉપાસના કરવા દે.’
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.9.2" />હજુ પણ જો તું ના પાડશે અને તેમને રોકી રાખશે તો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ,
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.9.3" />હું તારાં ખેતરનાં ઢોરોમાં, ઘોડાઓમાં અને ગધેડાંઓમાં, ઊટોમાં અને ગાયબળદોમાં અને ઘેટાંબકરાંઓમાં મોટો ભયંકર રોગચાળો ફેલાવીશ અને તને સજા કરીશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.9.4" />પરંતુ યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓનાં ઢોર અને મિસરનાં ઢોર વચ્ચે જુદો વ્યવહાર કરશે. જેથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓની માંલિકીનું કોઈ પણ ઢોર મરશે નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.9.5" />અને યહોવાએ સમય નક્કી કરીને કહ્યું, ‘હું આવતી કાલે આ દેશમાં એનો અમલ કરીશ.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.9.6" />અને બીજે દિવસે સવારે મિસરમાં યહોવાએ એ પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ, મિસરવાસીઓનાં બધાં ઢોર મરી ગયાં પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલીઓનું એક પણ ઢોર મર્યું નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.9.7" />ફારુને પોતાના માંણસોને તપાસ કરવા મોકલ્યા કે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોનું એકે ઢોર મર્યુ છે કે નહિ. તેને જણાવવામાં આવ્યુ કે ઇસ્રાએલીઓનું કોઈ પણ ઢોર મર્યુ નથી. ફારુને હઠાગ્રહ ચાલુ રાખ્યો, તેણે લોકોને જવા દીધા નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">ગૂમડાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.9.8" />યહોવાએ મૂસા અને હારુનને કહ્યું, “તમાંરા હાથમાં ભઠ્ઠીમાંથી મુઠ્ઠીઓ ભરીને રાખ લો, અને ફારુનના દેખતા મૂસાએ હવામાં ફેંકવી.
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.9.9" />પછી એ ઝીણી રજની જેમ આખા મિસર દેશમાં ફેલાઈ જશે. અને તેનાથી સમગ્ર મિસરના માંણસો અને ઢોરોને ગૂમડાં થશે અને ત ફાટીને ધારાં બની જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.9.10" />એટલે મૂસા અને હારુને ભઠ્ઠીમાંથી રાખ લીધી. પછી ફારુનની આગળ ઊભા રહીને મૂસાએ આકાશ તરફ રાખ ફેંકી એટલે માંણસોને અને ઢોરોને ગૂમડાં થયાં, અને તે ફાટીને ધારાં પડી ગયાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.9.11" />મિસરના જાદુગરો મૂસાને આવું કરતા રોકી શક્યા નહિ, કારણ કે જાદુગરોને તથા બધાજ મિસરના લોકોને ગૂમડાં ફૂટી નીકળ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EXO.9.12" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ ફારુનને હઠે ચડાવ્યો, અને કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે ફારુને મૂસાની અને હારુનની વાત સાંભળી નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કરાની વર્ષા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.9.13" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “સવારમાં વહેલા ઊઠીને ફારુન પાસે ઊભો રહીને તેને કહેજે કે, હિબ્રૂઓના દેવ યહોવા એમ કહે છે કે, ‘માંરા લોકોને માંરી ઉપાસના કરવા જવા દે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.9.14" />જો તું આમ નહિ કરે તો હું માંરી બધી શક્તિ તારા ઉપર, તારા અમલદારો ઉપર અને તારા લોકો ઉપર વાપરીશ. ત્યારે તને ખબર પડશે કે જગતમાં માંરા જેવો બીજો કોઈ દેવ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EXO.9.15" />કારણ કે અત્યાર સુધીમાં મેં કયારની, તારા ઉપર અને તારી પ્રજા ઉપર રોગચાળો મોકલી, તને સજા કરી હોત તો તું ભૂમિ ઉપરથી નષ્ટ થઈ ગયો હોત.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.9.16" />પણ મેં તેને એટલા માંટે જીવતો રાખ્યો છે કે હું તને માંરી તાકાત બતાવી શકું. અને સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર માંરું નામ પ્રગટ થાય.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EXO.9.17" />શું તું હજુ પણ માંરા લોકોની વિરુદ્ધ છે? તું માંરા લોકો સાથે ઘમંડી વર્તાવ રાખી તેમને જવા દેતો નથી?
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EXO.9.18" />યાદ રાખજે, આવતી કાલે આ જ સમયે હું એવો તો ભારે કરાનો વરસાદ વરસાવીશ કે મિસરમાં કદી પડ્યો નથી, મિસર દેશ બન્યો ત્યારથી તો નહિ જ.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EXO.9.19" />એટલે અત્યારે જ માંણસ મોકલીને તારા ઢોરોને તથા ખેતરમાં જે કાંઈ હોય તે બધાંને સુરક્ષિત જગ્યાએ મંગાવી લેજે. કારણ જે કોઈ માંણસ કે ઢોર ખેતરમાં હશે, એને ઘરમાં રાખવામાં નહિ આવ્યું હોય તો તેના પર કરા વરસશે અને તેઓ મરણ પામશે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.9.20" />પછી ફારુનના કેટલાક અમલદારોએ યહોવાના વચન સાંભળ્યાં. તેઓ ગભરાઈ ગયા. તેઓએ વહેલા વહેલા પોતાના ચાકરોને અને ઢોરોને ઘરમાં લાવી દીધાં.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EXO.9.21" />પણ જેમણે યહોવાના વચનને ધ્યાનમાં લીધાં નહિ તેમણે પોતાના ગુલામોને અને ઢોરોને ખેતરમાં જ રહેવા દીઘાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.9.22" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તારા હાથ આકાશ તરફ લંબાવ, જેથી આખા મિસર દેશમાં માંણસો, ઢોરો અને ખેતરના બધા છોડ ઉપર કરા પડે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EXO.9.23" />પછી મૂસાએ પોતાની લાકડી આકાશ ભણી ઊચી કરી એટલે યહોવાએ વીજળીના કડાકા સાથે જમીન પર કરા વરસાવ્યા અને કરા આખા મિસર દેશ પર પડયા.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EXO.9.24" />કરા પડી રહ્યાં હતા અને કરાની સાથે વીજળી ઝબકારા માંરતી હતી. મિસર દેશ રાષ્ટ્ર બન્યો ત્યારથી આજસુધી કદી ન પડયો હોય એવો ભારે કરાનો વરસાદ આખા દેશમાં પડયો.
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<v id="25" bcv="EXO.9.25" />તોફાનને કારણે મિસરના ખેતરોમાં જે કાંઈ હતું તે બધાનો નાશ થઈ ગયો. કરાના કારણે આખા મિસર દેશમાં માંણસો, પશુઓ, તથા જે કાંઈ ખેતરમાં હતુ તે બધુ કરાના માંરથી નાશ પામ્યું. કરાએ ખેતરમાંના એકેએક છોડને તેમ જ એકેએક ઝાડને ભોંયભેગાં કરી દીઘાં.
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<v id="26" bcv="EXO.9.26" />ગોશેન પ્રાંતમાં જ્યાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ રહેતા હતા ત્યાં જ ફક્ત કરા ન પડયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.9.27" />પછી ફારુને મૂસા અને હારુનને બોલાવડાવ્યા, અને કહ્યું, “આ વખતે મેં પાપ કર્યુ છે, યહોવા સાચા છે અને હું તથા માંરી પ્રજા ગુનેગાર છીએ.
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<v id="28" bcv="EXO.9.28" />તમે યહોવાને અરજ કરો, કારણ કે આ કરા અને કટકાથી અમે ઘરાઈ ગયા છીએ. હું તમને જવા દઈશ, હવે તમાંરે અહીં રોકાવું નહિ પડે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.9.29" />મૂસાએ ફારુનને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે હું નગર છોડીશ ત્યારે હું પ્રાર્થના માંટે યહોવાની આગળ માંરા હાથ લંબાવીશ. એટલે વીજળીના કડાકા બંધ થઈ જશે. અને કરા પણ નહિ પડે. આ પરથી તને ખબર પડશે કે આખા જગતનો માંલિક યહોવા છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="EXO.9.30" />પણ મને ખબર છે કે તમે અને તમાંરા અમલદારો હજુ પણ યહોવાથી ગભરાતા નથી અને તેમનું સન્માંન પણ કરતા નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EXO.9.31" />શણ અને જવનો તો ઘાણ વળી ગયો હતો. કારણ કે જવને કંટી આવી હતી અને શણને ફૂલ બેઠાં હતાં.
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<v id="32" bcv="EXO.9.32" />પરંતુ ઘઉ અને કઠોળ મોડાં થાય છે એટલે તે ખૂંદાઈ ગયાં નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="EXO.9.33" />મૂસા ફારુનને છોડીને નગર બહાર આવ્યો. અને યહોવા સમક્ષ પોતાના હાથ લંબાવી પ્રાર્થના કરી. એટલે કડાકા અને કરા પડતા બંધ થઈ ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="EXO.9.34" />પછી જ્યારે ફારુને જોયું કે વર્ષા, કરા અને કડાકા બંધ થઈ ગયા એટલે ફરીથી તેણે ખોટું કર્યુ. તે અને તેના અમલદારો ફરીથી હઠે ચડયા.
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<v id="35" bcv="EXO.9.35" />ફારુને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને સ્વતંત્ર રીતે જવા દેવાની ના પાડી દીધી. યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું હતું બરાબર તે જ પ્રમાંણે થયું.
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</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">તીડો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.10.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તું ફારુન પાસે જા. કારણ મેં તેને અને તેના અમલદારોને એટલા માંટે હઠાગ્રહી બનાવ્યા છે કે જેથી હું તેમને માંરા શક્તિશાળી ચમત્કાર બતાવી શકું.
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.10.2" />અને તું તારા પુત્રને અને પૌત્રોને કહી શકે કે મેં આ મિસરના લોકોને કેવી સખત સજા આપી હતી, અને મેં તેમને શું ચમત્કાર બતાવ્યા હતા. આથી તમને ખબર પડશે કે હું જ યહોવા છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EXO.10.3" />એટલા માંટે મૂસા અને હારુન ફારુન પાસે ગયા અને કહ્યું, “હિબ્રૂઓના દેવ યહોવા આ કહે છે; ‘તું કયાં સુધી માંરી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરવા ના કરીશ? માંરા લોકોને માંરી ઉપાસના કરવા જવા દે.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.10.4" />ધ્યાન રાખ, જો તું માંરા લોકોને માંરી ઉપાસના કરવા જવા દેવાની ના પાડશે તો યાદ રાખજે આવતી કાલે હું તારા દેશમાં તીડો લાવીશ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.10.5" />અને તે લોકો જમીનને એવી ઢાંકી દેશે કે કોઈ જમીન જોવા જ પામશે નહિ. અને કરાની વર્ષા પછી તારી પાસે જે કાંઈ વધ્યું છે, તે તેઓ ખાઈ જશે; તેઓ તારા ખેતરમાંનું એકેએક વૃક્ષ ખાઈ જશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.10.6" />તેઓ તારા મહેલોને તથા તારા અમલદારોના અને તમાંમ મિસરવાસીઓનાં ઘરોને ભરી દેશે. તારા પિતૃઓએ મિસરમાં રહેવાનું શરુ કર્યુ ત્યારથી કદી ન જોયા હોય તેના કરતા વધારે તીડો હશે.’” ત્યારબાદ મૂસા ફારુન પાસેથી ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.10.7" />ફારુનના અમલદારોએ તેને કહ્યું, “અમે ક્યાં સુધી આ લોકોની જાળમાં ફસાએલા રહીશું? એ લોકોને એમના દેવ યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરવા જવા દો. તમે એમને જવા નહિ દો તો, તમને ખબર પડે તે પહેલા, મિસરનો વિનાશ થઈ જશે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.10.8" />એટલે મૂસાને અને હારુનને ફારુન પાસે પાછા બોલાવવામાં આવ્યા. પછી ફારુને તેમને કહ્યું, “ભલે, તમે જાઓ અને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરો, પણ તમે કોણ કોણ જશો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.10.9" />મૂસાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “અમાંરા યુવાન અને વૃદ્ધ બધાંજ જશે; અને અમે અમાંરા પુત્રપુત્રીઓ તથા ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોરને પણ લઈ જઈશું. અમે બધાં જ જઈશું, કારણ એ અમાંરા માંટે અમાંરા યહોવાનો ઉત્સવ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.10.10" />ફારુને તેમને કહ્યું, “હું તમને અને તમાંરાં સર્વ બાળબચ્ચાંને મિસરમાંથી જવા દઉ તે પહેલા દેવ ખરેખર તમાંરી સાથે હોવા જોઈયે. મને લાગે છે કે તમે કઈ ખરાબ વિચારી રહ્યાં છો.
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.10.11" />ના ભાઈ ના, જાઓ, એકલા પુરુષો જાઓ અને યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરો. એટલી જ તમાંરી માંગણી હતી. હવે તમાંરા બધાજ લોકો જઈ શકે નહિ.” પછી ફારુને મૂસા અને હારુનને જવા દીધાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.10.12" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “મિસરની ભૂમિ પર તારો હાથ ફેલાવ એટલે મિસર ઉપર તીડો આવશે. તીડો મિસરની તમાંમ ભૂમિ પર પ્રસરી જશે અને કરાથી બચી ગયેલાં તમાંમ વૃક્ષો અને છોડોને ખાઈ જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.10.13" />મૂસાએ પોતાની લાકડીને મિસર દેશ પર ઉઠાવી અને યહોવાએ તે આખો દિવસ અને આખી રાત પૂર્વ તરફથી પવન ફૂંકાવ્યો, અને સવાર થતાં સુધીમાં તો એ તોફાની પૂર્વનો પવન તીડોના ટોળાં લઈ આવ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="EXO.10.14" />સમગ્ર મિસર પર તીડો ચડી આવ્યાં અને દેશભરમાં પ્રવેશી અને ભૂમિ પર બેસી ગયાં. આવાં તીડોનાં ટોળાં અગાઉ કદી આવ્યાં નહોતાં અને ભવિષ્યમાં કદાપિ આવશે નહિ.
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<v id="15" bcv="EXO.10.15" />તીડોનાં ટોળે ટોળાં સમગ્ર ભૂમિ પર છવાઈ ગયા અને ધરતી કાળી કાળી થઈ ગઈ. કરામાંથી બચી ગયેલા મિસર દેશના તમાંમ છોડો અને વૃક્ષો ઉપરનાં બધાંજ ફળ તેઓ ખાઈ ગયાં. સમગ્ર મિસર દેશનાં લીલાં વૃક્ષો અને છોડો નામશેષ થઈ ગયા. કોઈ પણ છોડ પર એકે પાંદડું રહ્યું નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.10.16" />ફારુને મૂસા અને હારુનને વહેલા બોલાવડાવ્યા, અને તેણે કહ્યું, “મેં તમાંરા દેવ અને તમાંરી વિરુધ્ધ પાપ કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EXO.10.17" />આ વાર માંરો ગુનો માંફ કરો, અને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરો અને તેમને અરજ કરો કે તે મને આ ‘મોત’ ના તીડો માંરામાંથી બહાર કાઢે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.10.18" />મૂસા ફારુનની પાસેથી વિદાય થયો અને તેણે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="19" bcv="EXO.10.19" />એટલે યહોવાએ પવનની દિશા બદલી નાંખી; અને પશ્ચિમમાંથી ભારે તોફાની પવન ફૂંકાવા લાગ્યો. અને તેણે તીડોને ઉપાડીને રાતા સમુદ્રમાં હાંકી કાઢયાં. સમગ્ર મિસરમાં એક પણ તીડ રહ્યું નહિ.
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<v id="20" bcv="EXO.10.20" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ ફારુનને વળી પાછો હઠાગ્રહી બનાવ્યો અને તેણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જવા ન દીધા.
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</p>
<s style="s">સર્વત્ર અંધકાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.10.21" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તારા હાથોને આકાશ તરફ ફેલાવ. એટલે ગાઢ અંધકાર મિસર દેશને ઢાંકી દેશે, એ અંધકાર એટલો બધો ગાઢ હશે કે તમે તેને સ્પર્શ કરીને અનુભવી શકશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.10.22" />એટલે મૂસાએ હવામાં આકાશ તરફ હાથ ઉગામ્યો અને પ્રગાઢ અંધકારે મિસર દેશને ઢાંકી દીધો. મિસરમાં ત્રણ દિવસ સુધી અંધકાર રહ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="EXO.10.23" />કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ બીજા કોઈને જોઈ શક્તી ન હતી. અને ત્રણ દિવસ સુધી કોઈ પોતાની જગ્યાએથી ઊભું થઈ શક્યું નહિ, પરંતુ તે બધી જ જગ્યાઓ પર જ્યાં ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો રહેતા હતા ત્યાં પ્રકાશ હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.10.24" />ફારુને મૂસાને ફરી બોલાવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “જાઓ, અને યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરો. તમે તમાંરી સાથે તમાંરા બાળકોને પણ લઈ જઈ શકો છો. ફકત તમાંરાં ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોરને પાછળ મૂક્તા જજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.10.25" />મૂસા એ કહ્યું, “અમે અમાંરા ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોર અમાંરી સાથે લઈ જઈશું એટલું જ નહિ પરંતુ જ્યારે અમે લોકો જઈશું ત્યારે તમે અમને યજ્ઞ માંટેના અર્પણો પણ આપશો અને અમે લોકો એ અર્પણોનો દેવ યહોવાની ઉપાસના માંટે ઉપયોગ કરીશું.
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<v id="26" bcv="EXO.10.26" />અમે લોકો અમાંરાં ઢોર અમાંરી સાથે અમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની ઉપાસના માંટે લઈ જઈશું. એક પણ ઢોરના પગની ખરી પાછળ રહેવી જોઈએ નહિ. અમાંરા ઢોરોમાંથી અમે અમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને યજ્ઞ ચઢાવવાના છીએ, અને જ્યાં સુધી અમે તે જગ્યાએ પહોંચીએ નહિ ત્યાં સુધી અમને કેવી રીતે ખબર પડે કે અમાંરે યહોવાને શું અર્પણ કરવાનું છે? તેથી આ બધી જ વસ્તુઓ તો જરૂર અમે અમાંરી સાથે લઈ જઈશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.10.27" />યહોવાએ ફારુનને પાછો હઠાગ્રહી બનાવ્યો, તેથી ફારુને તેમને જવા દેવા માંટે ના પાડી.
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<v id="28" bcv="EXO.10.28" />પછી ફારુને મૂસાને કહ્યું, “માંરી પાસેથી દૂર હઠ, હું નથી ઈચ્છતો કે તું ફરીવાર અહીં આવે. એમ છતાં જો તું મને મળવા આવીશ તો માંર્યો જઈશ, ખબરદાર! મને ફરી મોઢું બતાવ્યું તો! અને જો બતાવ્યું તો તે જ દિવસે મૂઓ જાણજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.10.29" />પછી મૂસાએ ફારુનને કહ્યું, “તું જે કહે છે તે સાચું છે. હું ફરીથી તમને મળવા કદાપી આવીશ નહિ.”
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<c id="11" />
<s style="s">પ્રથમ જનિત બાળકોનાં અવસાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.11.1" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “હજી ફારુન અને મિસરની વિરુદ્ધ હું એક વધારે આફત લાવીશ. ત્યાર પછી તે તમને લોકોને અહીંથી જવા દેશે; નિશ્ચે તે તમને બધાંને અહીંથી જવા માંટે અરજ કરશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.11.2" />તમે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને આ સંદેશો અવશ્ય આપજો; ‘પ્રત્યેક પુરુષ પોતાના પડોશી પાસે અને પ્રત્યેક સ્ત્રી પોતાની પડોશણ પાસે સોનાચાંદીના અલંકારો માંગી લે. અને
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.11.3" />યહોવા મિસરવાસીઓના હૃદયમાં ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો માંટે સદભાવ પેદા કરશે. મિસરના અમલદારો અને લોકો મૂસાને બહુ મોટો માંનવ માંનવા લાગ્યા.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.11.4" />મૂસાએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “યહોવા એમ કહે છે કે, ‘આજે મધરાત્રે હું મિસરમાંથી પસાર થઈશ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.11.5" />અને મિસરમાં પહેલા ખોળાનાં બધાંજ બાળકોનાં મૃત્યુ થશે. રાજગાદી ઉપર બેસનાર ફારુનના પ્રથમજનિત રાજકુમાંરથી માંડીને ઘંટીએ દળણાં દળનારી દાસીના પ્રથમજનિત સુધીનાં તમાંમ ઉપરાંત પશુઓનાં પણ બધાંજ પ્રથમજનિત બચ્ચાં પણ મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.11.6" />અને સમગ્ર મિસર દેશમાં ભારે રડારોળ થશે, તે પહેલાં કદી ન હતો એના કરતા વધારે ખરાબ હશે અને ભવિષ્યમાં કદી થશે નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.11.7" />પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલના કોઈ પણ મનુષ્યને કશી પણ ઈજા થશે નહિ. કૂતરું પણ તેમની સામે ભસશે નહિ, ઇસ્રાએલના કોઈ પણ માંણસ અથવા તેમના કોઈ પણ જાનવરોને ઈજા થશે નહિ. એના પરથી તમે જાણી શકશો કે યહોવા મિસરીઓ તથા ઇસ્રાએલ પુત્રો વચ્ચે ભેદ રાખે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="EXO.11.8" />અને પછી તમાંરા આ બધાજ ચાકરો, મિસરવાસીઓ માંથા નમાંવીને માંરી પૂજા કરશે. તેઓ કહેશે કે, “ચાલ્યા જાઓ! તમાંરા બધાં લોકોને તમાંરી સાથે લઈ જાવ” અને પછી હું ક્રોધથી ફારુન પાસેથી નીકળી જઈશ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.11.9" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “ફારુને તમાંરી વાત સાંભળી નથી, કેમ? તેથી હું મિસર દેશમાં વધુ મહાન પરચા બતાવી શકું.”
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<v id="10" bcv="EXO.11.10" />અને એ જ કારણે મૂસાએ અને હારુને ફારુનના દેખતાં જ આ બધા ચમત્કારો કરી બતાવ્યા. અને યહોવાએ ફારુનને હઠાગ્રહી બનાવ્યો અને તેણે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને પોતાના દેશની બહાર જવા દીઘા નહિ.
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<c id="12" />
<s style="s">મુક્તિ પર્વનો નિર્દેશ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.12.1" />મૂસા અને હારુન જ્યારે મિસરમાં હતા ત્યારે યહોવાએ તેમને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.12.2" />“તમાંરા લોકો માંટે આ મહિનો વર્ષનો પહેલો મહિનો ગણાશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.12.3" />ઇસ્રાએલના આખા સમાંજને આદેશ છે કે: આ મહિનાના દશમાં દિવસે પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ પોતાના પરિવારના માંટે એક ઘેટાનુ બચ્ચું પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.12.4" />અને જો પૂરતાં પ્રમાંણમાં પરિવારમાં એક હલવાનને ખાઈ શકે તેટલા માંણસો ના હોય તો પોતાના કેટલાક પડોશીઓને નિમંત્રણ આપવું. પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને પુરતું ખાવા મળી રહે તેટલું હલવાનનું માંસ હોવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.12.5" />તમે પસંદ કરેલ હલવાન ખોડ-ખાંપણ વગરનું એક વર્ષનું નરજાતિનું અને તે ઘેટા અથવા બકરામાંથી જ પસંદ કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.12.6" />તમાંરે આ હલવાનને મહીનાના ચૌદમાં દિવસ સુધી સંભાળપૂર્વક રાખવું જોઈએ. તે દિવસે ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજના તમાંમ લોકો સંધ્યાકાળે તેમનાં હલવાનનો વધ કરશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.12.7" />તમાંરે તે હલવાનોનું લોહી ભેગું કરવું જોઈએ. જે જે ઘરમાં એ ખાવાનું હોય તે તે ઘરની બંને બારસાખ ઉપર અને ઓતરંગ ઉપર છાંટવું જોઈએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.12.8" />“તે જ રાત્રે તમાંરે હલવાનના માંસને શેકી લેવું અને પછી બેખમીર રોટલી તથા કડવી ભાજી સાથે ખાવું.
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.12.9" />અને એ માંસ કાચુ કે પાણીમાં બાફીને ન ખાવું. પણ પગ, માંથું, અને આંતરડા સાથે શેકીને ખાવું.
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<v id="10" bcv="EXO.12.10" />તે જ રાત્રે બધું જ માંસ ખાઈ લેવું જોઈએ. અને જો એમાંનું કંઈ સવાર સુધી રહે તો તે માંસને તમાંરે આગમાં બાળી મૂકવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.12.11" />“અને તે તમાંરે આ રીતે જ ખાવું જોઈએ; તમાંરે યાત્રામાં જતા હોય તેવા કપડા પહેરવા, પગમાં પગરખાં પહેરીને, હાથમાં લાકડી લઈને, ઉતાવળે ઉતાવળે ખાવું, કેમકે આ દેવનુ દુર્લક્ષ છે-એ સમય જ્યારે દેવે પોતાનાં લોકોનું રક્ષણ કર્યુ અને તેમને વહેલા મિસરની બહાર લઈ ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.12.12" />“આજે રાત્રે હું મિસરમાં થઈને જઈશ, અને આખા મિસર દેશનાં બધાં પ્રથમજનિત બાળકોને માંરી નાખીશ. પછી તે માંણસ હોય કે પશુ: મિસરના બધા દેવોને પણ હું સજા કરીશ. અને હું તેમને બતાવીશ કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.12.13" />પરંતુ તમાંરા ઘર ઉપર લાગેલું એ લોહી એ તમે ત્યાં રહ્યાં છો તેની નિશાની બની રહેશે અને જ્યારે હું લોહી જોઈશ એટલે તમને છોડીને આગળ ચાલ્યો જઈશ. હું મિસરના લોકો માંટે વિનાશક કાર્યો કરીશ પણ તેમાંના કોઈ પણ ખરાબ રોગો તમાંરો નાશ નહિ કરે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.12.14" />“તેથી તમે લોકો આજની આ રાતનું સદા સ્મરણ કરશો, અને તમાંરે એને યહોવાના ઉત્સવ તરીકે ઊજવવો. અને નિત્ય નિયમાંનુસાર તમાંરા વંશજોએ યહોવાના માંનમાં તેની ઊજવણી કરવી.
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<v id="15" bcv="EXO.12.15" />આ પવિત્ર પર્વના સાત દિવસો સુધી તમાંરે બેખમીર રોટલી ખાવી. આ પવિત્ર પર્વના પહેલે દિવસે પોતપોતાના ઘરોમાંથી બધું જ ખમીર હઠાવી દેવું. અને જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આ સાત દિવસ સુધી ખમીરવાળી રોટલી ખાય તો તેને ઇસ્રાએલથી જુદો કરવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.12.16" />આ પવિત્ર પર્વના પ્રથમ દિવસે અને સાતમાં અંતિમ દિવસે પવિત્ર ધર્મસભાઓ ભરવી. એ દિવસો દરમ્યાન બીજું કોઈ કામ કરવું નહિ. માંત્ર પ્રત્યેકને જમવા માંટે રસોઈ તૈયાર કરવી.
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<v id="17" bcv="EXO.12.17" />તમાંરે બેખમીર રોટલીનું પર્વ ઉજવવું, કારણ કે એ જ દિવસે મેં તમાંરા લોકોને ટુકડીવાર મિસર દેશમાંથી બહાર કાઢયાં હતાં, તેથી એ દિવસે તમાંરા વંશજોએ કાનૂન પાળવો.
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<v id="18" bcv="EXO.12.18" />પ્રથમ મહિનાના ચૌદમાં દિવસની સાંજથી માંડીને તે માંસના એકવીસમાં દિવસની સાંજ સુધી તમાંરે બેખમીર રોટલી ખાવી.
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<v id="19" bcv="EXO.12.19" />સાત દિવસ સુધી તમાંરા ઘરમાં ખમીર હોવું જોઈએ નહિ. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ખમીરવાળી વસ્તુ ખાશે તો તેનો ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરવામાં આવશે. પછી તે દેશનો વતની હોય કે વિદેશનો હોય.
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<v id="20" bcv="EXO.12.20" />ખમીરવાળી કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ તમાંરે ખાવી નહિ અને તમાંરાં બધાં જ ઘરોમાં તમાંરે બેખમીર રોટલી જ ખાવાની છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.12.21" />તેથી મૂસાએ બધા જ વડીલોને એક જગ્યાએ બોલાવ્યા અને તેમને કહ્યું, “જાઓ, તમાંરા પરિવાર પ્રમાંણે હલવાન લઈ આવો અને એ પાસ્ખાના બલિને કાપો.
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<v id="22" bcv="EXO.12.22" />પછી પાંદડાનો ઝુફો લઈને રકતના કૂંડામાં બોળી ઓતરંગને અને બન્ને બારસાખ પર તે રકત લગાડજો, અને સવાર સુધી તમાંરામાંથી કોઈએ ઘરમાંથી બહાર નીકળવું નહિ.
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<v id="23" bcv="EXO.12.23" />કારણ કે મિસરવાસીઓના બધાં પ્રથમ જનિતોનો સંહાર કરવા યહોવા દેશમાંથી પસાર થશે. અને તે સમયે તેઓ તમાંરા ઘરની બે બારસાખ પર અને ઓતરંગ પર રકત જોશે એટલે તે તમાંરું બારણું ટાળીને આગળ જશે અને મોતના દેવદૂતને તમાંરા ઘરમાં પ્રવેશીને કોઈનો સંહાર કરવા દેશે નહિ.
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<v id="24" bcv="EXO.12.24" />તમે લોકો આ વિધિને સદા યાદ રાખજો. આ નિયમ તમાંરા પોતાને માંટે અને તમાંરા વંશજોને માંટે કાયમી નિયમ તરીકે સમજીને પાળજો.
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<v id="25" bcv="EXO.12.25" />અને યહોવાએ તમને જે દેશ આપવાનું વચન આપેલું છે તે દેશમાં તમે પહોંચો ત્યારે પણ તમાંરે આ નિયમનું પાલન કરવું.
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<v id="26" bcv="EXO.12.26" />જ્યારે તમને લોકોને તમાંરાં બાળકો પૂછશે, ‘આપણે આ ઉત્સવ શા માંટે ઉજવીએ છીએ?’
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<v id="27" bcv="EXO.12.27" />ત્યારે તમે લોકો કહેશો, ‘એ તો યહોવાના માંનમાં પાસ્ખા યજ્ઞ છે, કારણ કે જ્યારે યહોવાએ મિસર વાસીઓનો સંહાર કર્યો, ત્યારે આપણાં ઘરોને ટાળીને આગળ ચાલ્યા જઈને તેમણે આપણાં ઘરોને ઉગારી લીધાં હતા.’”
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<p style="p">ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ મસ્તક નમાંવી પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="28" bcv="EXO.12.28" />યહોવાએ આ આદેશ મૂસાને અને હારુનને આપ્યો હતો. તેથી ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ યહોવાના આદેશ પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.12.29" />અને મધરાતે યહોવાએ મિસર દેશના બધાં જ પ્રથમજનિત બાળકોનો-ગાદી ઉપર બેસનારા ફારુનના પાટવીકુંવરથી માંડીને જેલમાં કેદ કરાયેલા કેદીઓના પ્રથમજનિત સુધીના તમાંમ ઉપરાંત ઢોરોનો પણ બધાં જ પ્રથમજનિત બચ્ચાંઓનો સંહાર કર્યો.
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<v id="30" bcv="EXO.12.30" />ફારુન અને તેના બધાં જ અમલદારો તથા બધા મિસરવાસીઓ મધરાતે જાગી ઊઠયા. સમગ્ર મિસરમાં ભયંકર આકંદ હતો. કારણ કે જેના ઘરમાં કોઈ પ્રથમજનિત પુત્રનું મરણ ન થયું હોય, એવું કોઈ ઘર મિસરમાં નહોતું.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓની મિસરમાંથી મુક્તિ
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EXO.12.31" />એટલે તે રાત્રે ફારુને મૂસાને અને હારુનને બંનેને તેડાવી મંગાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “તૈયાર થઈ જાઓ, અને માંરી પ્રજામાંથી ચાલ્યા જાઓ! તમે અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ બંન્ને જાઓ, અને તમે જે કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરો.
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<v id="32" bcv="EXO.12.32" />અને તમાંરા કહ્યાં પ્રમાંણે તમે તમાંરાં ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોરઢાંખર પણ લઈ જાઓ, માંરી વિદાય લો, અને મને આશિષ આપો.”
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<v id="33" bcv="EXO.12.33" />મિસરવાસીઓ, એ લોકોને જેમ બને તેમ વહેલા દેશ છોડી જવા દબાણ કરીને કહેવા લાગ્યા, “જો તમે લોકો નહિ જાઓ તો અમે બધા મરી જઈશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="EXO.12.34" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પાસે રોટલીના લોટમાં ખમીર નાખવા જેટલો પણ સમય ન હતો, તેથી તે લોકોએ આથો ચડયા વગરનો જ લોટ અને કથરોટ ચાદરમાં બાંધીને ખભે લઈ લીધું.
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<v id="35" bcv="EXO.12.35" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ મૂસાના કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ, તેમણે પોતાના પડોશીઓ પાસેથી સોનાચાંદીના ઘરેણાં અને વસ્ત્રો માંગી લીધાં હતાં.
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<v id="36" bcv="EXO.12.36" />યહોવાએ મિસરવાસીઓના હૃદયમાં એ લોકોના માંટે સદભાવ પેદા કર્યો હતો, તેથી તેઓએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ જે જે માંગ્યું તે તેમણે આપ્યું. આમ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને મિસરવાસીઓનું ધન પ્રાપ્ત થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="EXO.12.37" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પગપાળા રામસેસથી સુક્કોથ જવા નીકળ્યા. લગભગ 6,00,000 પુરુષો અને સ્ત્રી બાળકો તો જુદાં હતાં.
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<v id="38" bcv="EXO.12.38" />જુદી જુદી જાતના લોકો મોટી સંખ્યામાં તેમની સાથે આવ્યા. અને પુષ્કળ ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોરઢાંખર પણ હતાં.
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<v id="39" bcv="EXO.12.39" />પરંતુ લોકો પાસે લોટમાં ખમીર નાખવાનો સમય ન હતો, તેથી મિસરથી જે લોટ લાવ્યા હતા તેની બેખમીર રોટલી બનાવી. આથો ચડયો નહોતો, કારણ કે તેમને મિસરમાંથી એકદમ હાંકી કાઢવામાં આવ્યા હતા; તેમને ભાથું તૈયાર કરવાનો પણ સમય મળ્યો નહોતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="EXO.12.40" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો મિસરમાં 430 વર્ષ રહ્યાં હતા.
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<v id="41" bcv="EXO.12.41" />અને 430 વર્ષ પૂરાં થતાં જ તે જ દિવસે યહોવાના લોકોની બધી ટુકડીઓ મિસર દેશમાંથી ચાલી નીકળી.
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<v id="42" bcv="EXO.12.42" />તે આ એક બહુ જ ખાસ રાતે લોકોએ યાદ રાખવું કે દેવે શું કર્યું હતું. ઇસ્રાએલનાં સર્વ લોકો તે રાતને હમેશા યાદ રાખશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="EXO.12.43" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને અને હારુનને કહ્યું, “આ પાસ્ખાનો વિધિ છે. કોઈ પણ વિદેશી પાસ્ખાનું ખાઈ શકે નહિ.
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<v id="44" bcv="EXO.12.44" />પરંતુ જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પૈસા આપીને ચાકર ખરીદશે અને જો તેની સુન્નત કરશે તો તે ચાકર તેમાંથી ખાઈ શકશે.
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<v id="45" bcv="EXO.12.45" />કોઈ પરદેશી બહારથી આવીને તમાંરા દેશમાં વસ્યો હોય અથવા કોઈ માંણસ પગારથી કામ કરતો હોય તો તે માંણસ કે મજૂર પણ એ ખાઈ શકે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="EXO.12.46" />“દરેક પરિવારે પસાર થયેલું જમણ ઘરમાં ખાવું, જરાપણ માંસ તમાંરે બહાર લઈ જવાનું નથી. તમાંરે બલિનું એક હાડકુ સુધ્ધાં ભાગવું નહિ.
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<v id="47" bcv="EXO.12.47" />સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમુદાય આ ઉત્સવને અવશ્ય પાળે અને ઉજવે.
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<v id="48" bcv="EXO.12.48" />પણ કોઈ વિદેશી તમાંરી સાથે રહેતો હોય અને તે જો તમાંરી પાસે યહોવાના માંનમાં પાસ્ખાપર્વ પાળવા માંગતો હોય તો તે તેના પરિવારના બધા પુરુષોની સુન્નત કરાવ્યા પછી તે પર્વમાં જોડાઈ શકે; તેને દેશનો જ વતની માંનવો. પરંતુ સુન્નત કરાવ્યા વિનાના કોઈ પણ માંણસે તે ખાવું નહિ.
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<v id="49" bcv="EXO.12.49" />દેશમાં જન્મ ધારણ કરનાર વતનીઓ માંટે અને તમાંરી સાથે રહેતા વિદેશીઓ માંટે પણ નિયમો તો એક જ રહેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="EXO.12.50" />ઇસ્રાએલના બધા લોકોએ એમ જ કર્યુ, યહોવાએ મૂસાને અને હારુનને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે પ્રમાંણે તેમણે કર્યુ,
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<v id="51" bcv="EXO.12.51" />અને તે જ દિવસે યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને જૂથોમાં મિસર દેશમાંથી બહાર કાઢી લાવ્યા.
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<c id="13" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.13.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.13.2" />“પ્રત્યેક ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેમનાં બધાં જ પ્રથમજનિત બાળકો મને સમર્પિત કરવાં. હવે ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાં જે કોઈ પ્રથમ પ્રસવનું હોય, પછી તે માંણસ હોય કે પશુ હોય તે માંરું ગણાશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EXO.13.3" />મૂસાએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે આ દિવસને યાદ રાખજો, જે દિવસે તમે મિસરમાંથી ગુલામીના દેશમાંથી બહાર નીકળ્યા છો, યહોવાએ પોતાના બાહુબળથી બહાર લાવ્યા છે, તેથી કોઈ પણ ખમીરવાળી વસ્તુ ખાશો નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.13.4" />આજે તમે આબીબ મહિનામાં નીકળ્યાં છો.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.13.5" />અને જ્યારે યહોવા તમને કનાનીઓ, હિત્તીઓ, અમોરીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ, અને યબૂસીઓના દેશમાં લઈ જાય-તેણે તમાંરા પિતૃઓને જે દેશ તમને આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું અને જયાં દૂધ અને મધની રેલછેલ છે, ત્યાં લઈ જાય, ત્યારે તમાંરે ઉપાસના આ માંસમાં કરવાની છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.13.6" />“સાત દિવસ સુધી તમે ખમીર વગરની રોટલી ખાજો. સાતમે દિવસે એક મોટો ભોજન સમાંરંભ થશે, એ ઉત્સવ યહોવાના સન્માંનમાં યોજાશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.13.7" />તેથી સાત દિવસ સુધી તમાંરે ખમીર વગરની જ રોટલી ખાવી. તમાંરા આખા પ્રદેશમાં ક્યાંય પણ ખમીરવાળી રોટલી બિલકુલ હોવી જોઈએ નહિ.
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<v id="8" bcv="EXO.13.8" />તે દિવસે તમાંરે તમાંરાં બાળકોને કહેવું કે, ‘અને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યા ત્યારે યહોવાએ અમાંરા માંટે જે કર્યુ હતું તે માંટે અમે આ ઉત્સવ ઉજવી રહ્યાં છીએ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.13.9" />“અને આ ઉત્સવ તમાંરા હાથ પરના એંધાણી અને તમાંરા કપાળ પરના સ્મરણચિહ્ન જેવા બનીને રહેશે, તે તમાંરી આંખો સામે એક ચિહ્ન તરીકે રહેશે, આ પર્વ તમને યહોવાનો ઉપદેશ યાદ રખાવશે. તે તમને યાદ રખાવશે કે યહોવા તેમની મહાન શક્તિથી તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="10" bcv="EXO.13.10" />એટલા માંટે તમાંરે આ ઉત્સવ દર વર્ષે નિયત સમયે યાદ કરીને પાળવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.13.11" />“યહોવા તમને અને તમાંરા વડવાઓને વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાંણે તમને કનાનીઓના દેશમાં લઈ જશે અને દેવ તે દેશ તમને તમાંરા પિતૃઓને આપેલ વચન મુજબ આપશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="EXO.13.12" />જ્યારે તમને દેવ આ પ્રદેશ આપે ત્યાર બાદ તમે બધા તમાંરા પ્રથમજનિત પુત્રને યહોવાને સમર્પિત કરવાનું યાદ રાખજો. અને તમાંરાં પશુઓનાં પ્રથમ વેતરનાં બધાં નર બચ્ચાઓ યહોવાને સમર્પિત થવા જોઈએ.
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.13.13" />પ્રત્યેક ગધેડાંનું પ્રથમ બચ્ચુ તેની જગ્યામાં એક હલવાન અર્પણ કરીને, યહોવા પાસેથી પાછું મેળવી શકાય છે. તમે લોકો જો ન છોડાવો તો તમાંરે તેની ડોકી ભાંગી નાખવી. તે ભોગ બનશે. તમાંરે પ્રત્યેક પ્રથમ જન્મેલો નર સંતાન દેવ પાસેથી પાછો ખરીદવાનો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.13.14" />“ભવિષ્યમાં તમાંરાં બાળકો કદાચ પૂછશે કે, ‘આનો અર્થ શો? તમે આ કેમ કરો છો?’ ત્યારે તમાંરે કહેવું કે, ‘પોતાના બાહુબળથી યહોવા અમને મિસરમાંથી ગુલામીના દેશમાંથી બહાર કાઢી લાવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="EXO.13.15" />ફારુન હઠે ચડયો હતો, તેથી તેણે અમને બહાર જવા દેવાની ના પાડી, ત્યારે યહોવાએ મિસર દેશનાં બધાં પ્રથમ જન્મેલાં સંતાનોને, માંણસનાં અને ઢોરનાં બંનેનાં પહેલાં સંતાનોને માંરી નાંખ્યાં હતાં, તેથી અમે પ્રથમજનિત બધાં નર પશુઓ યહોવાને અર્પણ કરીએ છીએ, પણ અમાંરા પુત્રોમાંના અર્પણ કરેલા સર્વ પ્રથમજનિતોને અમે નાણાં આપીને છોડાવીએ છીએ.’
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.13.16" />અને એ ઉત્સવ તમાંરા હાથ પર ચિહનરૂપ તથા તમાંરી આંખોની વચ્ચે કપાળ પર ચાંદરૂપ બની રહેશે; કારણ કે યહોવા આપણને પોતાના બાહુબળથી મિસરની બહાર લઈ આવ્યા હતા એની એ સ્મૃતિ બની રહેશે.”
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<s style="s">મુક્તિ પછીનો પ્રવાસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.13.17" />જ્યારે ફારુને લોકોને જવા દીઘા ત્યારે એમ બન્યું કે યહોવા તેમને પલિસ્તીઓના દેશમાં થઈને જવાનો રસ્તો ટૂંકો હોવા છતાં તે રસ્તે તેમને લઈ ગયા નહિ. કારણ કે યહોવાએ વિચાર્યુ કે, “જો યુદ્ધ થાય તો કદાચ લોકો પોતાનો વિચાર બદલી પાછા મિસર ચાલ્યા જાય.”
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<v id="18" bcv="EXO.13.18" />એટલે યહોવા તેમને બીજા રસ્તેથી લઈ ગયા. રેતીના રણપ્રદેશને રસ્તે રાતા સમુદ્ર તરફ દેવ તેમને લઈ ગયા. મિસર છોડ્યું ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલ પુત્રો શસ્ત્રસજજ હતા.
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<s style="s">યૂસફનાં હાડકાંનો ગૃહપ્રવેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.13.19" />મૂસાએ યૂસફનાં હાડકાં સાથે લઈ લીધાં હતાં. યૂસફે ઇસ્રાએલ પુત્રોની પાસે એના માંટે આ કરવા સમ લેવડાવ્યા એમ કહેતા, “યહોવા જરૂર તમાંરી મદદ કરવા આવશે, તે સમયે તમે માંરાં હાડકા અહીંથી લઈ જજો.”
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<s style="s">યહોવાએ લોકોનું માંર્ગદર્શન કર્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.13.20" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ સુક્કોથ નગર છોડયું અને રણની સરહદ પર એથામમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="EXO.13.21" />તેઓને દિવસે રસ્તો બતાવવા માંટે યહોવા વાદળના થાંભલા રૂપે આગળ આગળ ચાલતા તેમજ રાત્રે તેમને પ્રકાશ મળે તેથી અગ્નિસ્તંભરૂપે ચાલતા. જેથી તેઓ સતત રાતદિવસ યાત્રા કરી શકતા હતા.
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<v id="22" bcv="EXO.13.22" />એક ઊંચા વાદળના સ્તંભરૂપે દિવસે અને અગ્નિસ્તંભ તરીકે રાત્રે સતત યહોવા તેમની સાથે રહ્યાં. તેમની આગળથી જરા પણ ખસ્યા નહિ.
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<c id="14" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.14.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.14.2" />“તમે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહો કે, પાછા ફરીને પીહાહીરોથની આગળ, મિગ્દોલ અને લાલસમુદ્રની વચ્ચે બાલ-સફોનની આગળ મુકામ કરે, અને તમાંરે એ જગ્યાની બરાબર સામે સમુદ્રને કિનારે મુકામ કરવો.
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.14.3" />ફારુન વિચારશે કે, ઇસ્રાએલીઓ રણપ્રદેશમાં ભૂલા પડી ગયા છે અને રણ એમને ઘેરી વળ્યું છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.14.4" />હું ફારુનને હઠે ચઢાવીશ જેથી તે તમાંરો પીછો કરશે અને તેના લશ્કરનો પરાજય કરીને હું માંરો મહિમાં વધારીશ. ત્યારે મિસરવાસીઓ જાણશે કે, હું યહોવા છું.” અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ એ મુજબ કર્યુ.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો પીછો કરતો ફારુન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EXO.14.5" />જ્યારે ફારુનને ખબર આપવામાં આવી કે, ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો ભાગી ગયા છે. ત્યારે તેનું અને તેના અમલદારોનું વલણ બદલાઈ ગયું. તેમણે કહ્યું આપણે શું કર્યુ, “ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આપણે જવા કેમ દીધાં? આપણે આપણા ચાકરોને ગુમાંવ્યા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.14.6" />એટલે ફારુને પોતાનો રથ તૈયાર કર્યો અને પોતાનું લશ્કર ભેગું કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EXO.14.7" />ફારુને પોતાના લોકોમાંથી 600 સૌથી શ્રેષ્ઠ સેનાનીઓને અને તેના બધાં રથો તેની સાથે લીધા. પ્રત્યેક રથમાં એક અમલદાર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EXO.14.8" />અને યહોવાએ મિસરના રાજા ફારુનને હિંમતવાન બનાવ્યો, તેથી તે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોની પાછળ પડ્યો જે પોતાના હાથ ઉચા કરી નીકળી રહ્યાં હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.14.9" />મિસરના લશ્કરમાં અસંખ્ય ઘોડા, સૈનિકો અને રથો હતા. તે બધાએ એટલે કે ઘોડેસવારોએ તથા રથ સવારોએ તથા સૈનિકોએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો પીછો પકડયો. અને તેઓ બાલસફોનની આગળ પીહાહીરોથની પાસે સમુદ્ર કિનારે પડાવ નાખીને રહ્યા હતા ત્યાં તેમને પકડી પાડ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.14.10" />જે સમયે ફારુન તેમની નજીક આવી પહોંચ્યો, તે સમયે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ નજર કરીને જોયું તો ખબર પડી કે તેમની પાછળ મિસરીઓ પડ્યા છે! ત્યારે તેઓ ખૂબ ભયભીત થયા અને સહાય માંટે યહોવાને પોકાર કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.14.11" />તેમણે મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તમે અમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર શા માંટે લાવ્યા? શું મિસરમાં કબરો નથી? તમે અમને આ રણપ્રદેશમાં મરવા શા માંટે લાવ્યા? અમે લોકો મિસરમાં શાંતિપૂર્વક મૃત્યુ પામત, મિસરમાં ઘણી કબરો હતી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EXO.14.12" />અમે લોકોએ મિસરમાં જ તમને નહોતું કહ્યું કે, ‘અમને લોકોને અમે જેમ છીએ તેમ રહેવા દો, મિસરવાસીઓની સેવા કરવા દો?’ આ રણપ્રદેશમાં મરવું તેના કરતાં મિસરવાસીઓની ગુલામી કરવી વધારે સારી છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.14.13" />પરંતુ મૂસાએ લોકોને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “ગભરાશો નહિ, ભાગો નહિ, મક્કમ રહો, ને થોડી વાર ઊભા રહો અને જુઓ કે આજે યહોવા તમાંરા લોકોનો શી રીતે ઉદ્ધાર કરે છે! આજ પછી તમે આ મિસરવાસીઓને ફરી કયારેય જોશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.14.14" />તમાંરે લોકોએ શાંત રહેવા સિવાય બીજું કાંઈ કરવાનું નથી. યહોવા તમાંરા માંટે લડતા રહેશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.14.15" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તું મને શા માંટે પોકાર કરે છે? ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને આગળ વધવા માંટે આજ્ઞા કર.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.14.16" />તું તારી લાકડીને રાતા સમુદ્ર ઉપર ઉઠાવી, હાથ લાંબો કર. સમુદ્રના બે ભાગ થઈ જશે. જેથી ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સૂકી જમીન પર થઈને સમુદ્ર પાર કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EXO.14.17" />પછી હું મિસરવાસીઓને હિંમતવાન બનાવીશ એટલે તેઓ તમને સમુદ્રમાં હાકી કાઢશે. અને ફારુન તથા તેની આખી સેના, તેના રથો અને તેના ઘોડેસવારોને હરાવીશ અને તેઓ મને માંન આપે તેમ કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EXO.14.18" />એટલે મિસરવાસીઓને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું. અને જ્યારે હું ફારુન, તેના ઘોડેસવારો અને રથપતિઓને હરાવીશ ત્યારે તેઓ માંરું સન્માંન કરશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોવા દ્વારા મિસરીઓનો પરાજય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.14.19" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોના સૈન્યની આગળ ચાલતો યહોવાનો દૂત ત્યાંથી ખસીને તેની પાછળ ચાલ્યો ગયો, તેથી મેધસ્તંભ તેમની આગળથી ખસીને તેમની પાછળ ઊભો રહ્યો;
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EXO.14.20" />આ રીતે વાદળા મિસરીઓના સૈન્ય અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના સૈન્યની વચ્ચે આવી ઉભા રહ્યાં. પણ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો માંટે પ્રકાશ હતો. એટલે આખી રાત મિસરની સેના અંધકારને કારણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસે આવી ન શકી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.14.21" />મૂસાએ પોતાનો હાથ લાલ સમુદ્ર ઉપર લંબાવ્યો, એટલે યહોવાએ આખી રાત પૂર્વ તરફથી ભારે પવન ફૂંકાવીને સમુદ્રને પાછો હઠાવ્યો, તેથી તેના પાણીના બે ભાગ પડી ગયા. અને સમુદ્રની જગ્યાએ સૂકી જમીન બનાવી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EXO.14.22" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સૂકી જમીન પર ચાલીને સમુદ્રમાંથી પાર ગયા. ઇસ્રાએલીઓની ડાબી અને જમણી બાજુએ પાણીની ભીત બની ગઈ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.14.23" />અને મિસરીઓ તેમની પાછળ પડયા. ફારુનના બધા જ રથો, ઘોડાઓ અને ઘોડેસવારો તેમની પાછળ તેઓ સમુદ્રની વચ્ચે પહોંચી ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EXO.14.24" />પછી પ્રભાતના પ્રથમ પહોરમાં વાદળ અને અગ્નિના સ્તંભમાંથી યહોવાએ મિસરીઓના સૈન્ય પર દૃષ્ટિપાત કરીને તેમના પર હુમલો કરી તેમનો પરાજય કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EXO.14.25" />યહોવાએ તેમના રથનાં પૈડાં જમીનમાં એવા ખુંપાવી દીધાં કે માંડ માંડ ફરતાં હતા. આથી તેઓ બૂમ પાડવા લાગ્યા, “આ તો યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પક્ષે આપણી સામે લડી રહ્યાં છે. ચાલો, આપણે પાછા ફરીએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EXO.14.26" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “હવે તું તારો હાથ સમુદ્ર ઉપર લંબાવ. જેથી મિસરવાસીઓ પર, તેમના રથો પર અને તેમના ઘોડેસવારો પર પાછાં પાણી ફરી વળે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.14.27" />એટલે દિવસ બરાબર શરૂ થાય તે પહેલાં મૂસાએ સમુદ્ર ઉપર હાથ લાંબો કર્યો અને સવાર થતાં જ સમુદ્ર પહેલાં જેવો હતો તેવો પાછો થઈ ગયો. મિસરવાસીઓએ સમુદ્રમાં નાસભાગ કરવા માંડી અને યહોવાએ સમુદ્રમાં વચ્ચોવચ્ચ તેમનો ઘાણ કાઢી નાખ્યો, સૌને ડુબાડી દીધા.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EXO.14.28" />સમુદ્રના પાણીએ પાછાં વળીને, રથોને, ઘોડેસવારોને અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો પીછો પકડી સમુદ્રમાં ઘસી ગયેલા ફારુનના સમગ્ર સૈન્યને ડુબાડી દીધું. તેઓમાંથી એક પણ બચી શકયો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.14.29" />પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સમુદ્રની વચ્ચેથી સૂકી જમીન પર થઈને ચાલ્યા ગયા હતા. અને પાણીની ભીંત તેમની ડાબી અને જમણી બાજુએ થઈ ગઈ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="EXO.14.30" />આ રીતે તે દિવસે યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મિસરીઓના હાથમાંથી બચાવી લીધા. અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ મિસરીઓને સમુદ્ર કિનારે મૃત હાલતમાં પડેલા જોયા.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="EXO.14.31" />અને યહોવાએ મિસરીઓ વિરુધ્ધ જે પરાક્રમ કર્યું હતું તે જોઈને તેઓ ગભરાઈ ગયા અને યહોવા પર અને તેના સેવક મૂસા પર તેમને વિશ્વાસ બેઠો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">મૂસાનું ગીત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.15.1" />પછી મૂસાએ અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ યહોવાના માંનમાં આ ગીત ગાયું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું યહોવાના માંનમાં ગાયન કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એણે મહાન વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કર્યો!
</q>
<q style="q1">સાગરની અંદર કઈક અશ્વોના અસવારને ડુબાડયાં,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.15.2" />દેવ માંરું સાર્મથ્ય છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">મને જેણે ઉગાર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું આ ગીતમાં એની સ્તુતિ કરું.
</q>
<q style="q1">એ જ માંરો દેવ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું એના ગુણગાન ગાઉ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે માંરા પિતાનો દેવ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સન્માંન કરું છું. હું એનાં યશગાન ગાઉં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="EXO.15.3" />યહોવા તો યોદ્ધા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેનું યહોવા નામ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.15.4" />ફારુનનાં રથો અને સૈન્ય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેણે લાલ સમુદ્રમાં ફેંકી દીધાં;
</q>
<q style="q1">ફારુનના વીર સરદારને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમુદ્રમાં ડુબાડી દીઘા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="EXO.15.5" />પથ્થરની જેમ સાગરની નીચે પહોચ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાગરમાં જળનિધિઓ ઉપર ફરી વળ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.15.6" />“યહોવા! તમાંરો જમણો હાથ, પરાક્રમે મહિમાંવાન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા! તમાંરા જમણા હાથે શત્રુઓને છિન્ન ભિન્ન કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.15.7" />તારી શ્રેષ્ઠતાના માંહાત્મ્યથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે તારી સામે થયા તેનો નાશ કર્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા ક્રોધે તેમને ઘાસના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૂળાની જેમ બાળી નાખ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.15.8" />યહોવા, તેં ક્રોધથી ફૂકેલા પવનથી ઊભા ઢગલા થઈ ગયા સાગરજળ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોજાઓ જે હતા ઉછળતા અને વહેતા ઊભા અધવચ ભીત થઈ;
</q>
<q style="q1">સાગરની જેમ પાતાળની વચ્ચે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સમયે સાગરજળ ભેગા થયા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.15.9" />“શત્રુ મનમાં બબડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘હું પકડીશ પાછળ પડી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તેમનું ધન સધળુ લઈશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું બધું જ માંરી તરવાર વડે લઈ જઈશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું માંરે માંટે બધુંજ રાખીશ.’
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.15.10" />પરંતુ યહોવા! એક માંત્ર પ્રબળ ફૂંક લગાવીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મધદરિયે, સમાંવી લીઘા.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રચંડ મહા જળરાશિમાં, સૌ સીસાની જેમ ડુબ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.15.11" />“હે યહોવા, કોણ છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તમાંરા જેવો બીજો દેવ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છે કોણ તમાંરા જેવું પરમપવિત્ર મહિમાંવાન?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમાંરા જેવા ચમત્કાર કોણ કરી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્તોત્રોમાં ભયજનક પરાક્રમ કરનાર, કોણ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.15.12" />પૃથ્વી તેઓને તત્કાળ ગળી ગઈ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જયાં તેં કેવળ જમણો હાથ ઊંચો કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.15.13" />યહોવા, તમે તમાંરા લોકોને છોડાવ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમાંરા પ્રેમ અને કરુણાથી તમે એમને
</q>
<q style="q1">તમાંરા બાહુબળના પરાક્રમે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમાંરા પવિત્ર રોચક ધામમાં લઈ આવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.15.14" />“પ્રજા આ સાંભળી કંપીને ગભરાઈ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સહુ પલેશેથવાસીઓ ભયથી ગભરાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.15.15" />અદોમના સરદારો તે સમયે ભયભીત થયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોઆબના શક્તિશાળી અને પરાક્રમી પુરુષો ધ્રૂજે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ બધાં કનાનવાસીઓ પણ હિંમત હારે;
</q>
<q style="q1">માંથાં પર ભયના ઓળા ભારે ઊતરતાં જોઈ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.15.16" />તેઓ ઉપર ભય અને ત્રાસ આવી પડયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમાંરા બાહુબળે સ્તબ્ધ બની પથ્થર જેવા થયા,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તું જ છોડાવી લાવ્યો, ઊભા એટલામાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ ‘યહોવા’ સમૂહમાં તારી પ્રજા ચાલી જાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.15.17" />જયાં તમાંરો આવાસ છે, લોકોને એ પર્વત પર તમાંરી પાસે લઈ જાય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે જગ્યા તમે સિંહાસન માંટે તૈયાર કરી ત્યાં તેમને વસવાટ કરવા દેશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે માંલિક, ત્યાં તમે મંદિર તમાંરું બાંધશો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.15.18" />“યહોવા, તમાંરું રાજ સદાસર્વકાળ અમર તપશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.15.19" />હા, ખરેખર આમ બન્યું, જ્યારે ફારુનના ઘોડા, રથો અને ઘોડેસવારોએ સમુદ્રમાં સાથે પ્રવેશ કર્યો, ત્યારે યહોવાએ તેમના પર સમુદ્રના પાણી પાછાં વાળીને તેઓ પર ફેરવી વાળ્યાં; પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સમુદ્ર મધ્યે થઈને સૂકી જમીન પર ચાલ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.15.20" />પછી હારુનની બહેન મરિયમ પ્રબોધિકાએ ખંજરી હાથમાં લીધી અને તમાંમ સ્ત્રીઓ તેમની પાછળ પાછળ ખંજરીઓ લઈને નાચવા લાગી. મરિયમે અને સ્ત્રીઓએ નાચગાન શરૂ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EXO.15.21" />મરિયમ તેમને ગવડાવતી હતી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“આપો આપો યહોવાને માંન,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગાઓ યહોવાના મહિમાં-ગાન, એનો વિજય છે કેવો મહાન!
</q>
<q style="q1">એની ફતેહ છે મહિમાંવાન, ડુબાડયા સમુદ્રને પેટાળ, એનાં ઘોડોને અસવાર.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલપુત્રો અરણ્યમાં જાય છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.15.22" />પછી મૂસા ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને રાતા સમુદ્રથી આગળ લઈ ગયો. અને તેઓ ત્યાંથી નીકળીને શૂરના અરણ્યમાં ગયા; તેઓ ત્રણ દિવસ અરણ્યમાં ચાલ્યા. છતાં પાણી ન મળ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.15.23" />પછી તેઓ માંરાહ નામની જગ્યાએ આવી પહોંચ્યા પણ ત્યાંના પાણી પણ ના પી શક્યા, કારણ કે તે કડવા હતા. એને લીધે આ જગ્યાનું નામ માંરાહ પડયું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.15.24" />પછી તે બધા લોકોએ મૂસાની વિરુદ્ધ બબડાટ કરતાં કહ્યું કે, “આપણે પીશું શું?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.15.25" />એટલે મૂસાએ યહોવાને પોકાર કર્યો એટલે યહોવાએ તેને ઝાડનું એક થડ બતાવ્યું. પછી મૂસાએ તે પાણીમાં નાખ્યું અને પાણી મીઠું થઈ ગયું.
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યાં દેવે લોકોને ન્યાય કર્યો તથા એક વિધિ તથા એક નિયમ ઠરાવ્યો. અને ત્યાંજ તેમની કસોટી કરી.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EXO.15.26" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો તમાંરા દેવની યહોવાની વાણી ધ્યાનપૂર્વક સાંભળશો, અને તેની નજરમાં જે સારું હોય તે કરશો. અને તેની આજ્ઞાઓ માંથે ચઢાવશો. અને માંરા બધા કાનૂનોનું પાલન કરશો તો મેં મિસરીઓ ઉપર જે રોગો મોકલ્યા હતા તેમાંનો કોઈ તમાંરા ઉપર મોકલીશ નહિ. કારણ કે હું યહોવા તમાંરા રોગોનો કરનાર છું. તમને સાજા હરનાર છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.15.27" />પછી તે લોકો એલીમ આવી પહોંચ્યા, ત્યાં બાર પાણીના ઝરા હતા અને 70 ખજૂરીઓ ઝાડ હતાં, તેથી પાણીની નજીક તેઓએ પડાવ નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓની ફરિયાદ, તેથી દેવે ખોરાક મોકલ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.16.1" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓના સમગ્ર સમાંજે એલીમથી યાત્રાનો આરંભ કર્યો અને તેઓ એલીમ અને સિનાઈની વચ્ચે આવેલા સીનના રણપ્રદેશમાં આવ્યા. મિસરમાંથી નીકળ્યા પછી બીજા મહિનાનો તે 15 મો દિવસ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.16.2" />તે પછી ઇસ્રાએલના બધા લોકોએ મૂસા અને હારુનની વિરુદ્ધ ફરીથી ફરિયાદ કરવાની શરૂઆત કરી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.16.3" />તે લોકોએ મૂસા અને હારુનને કહ્યું, “કઈ નહિ તો આપણે માંસથી ભરેલા વાસણ પાસે પેટ ભરાય ત્યાં સુધી ખાતા બેઠા હતાં. જો યહોવાએ અમને મિસરમાં માંરી નાખ્યા હોત તો સારું થાત. તમે તો સમગ્ર સમાંજને ભૂખે માંરી નાખવા આ રણમાં લાવ્યા છો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.16.4" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “હું આકાશમાંથી તમાંરા લોકો માંટે અનાજનો વરસાદ વરસાવીશ. અને આ બધા લોકોએ પ્રતિદિન બહાર નીકળીને તે દિવસ પૂરતું અનાજ વીણી લાવવું. જેને કારણે હું તેમની પરીક્ષા કરી શકું કે તેઓ માંરા નિયમ પ્રમાંણે વર્તશે કે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.16.5" />રોજ લોકો એક દિવસ પૂરતું જ અનાજ ભેગું કરે, પરંતુ છઠ્ઠા દિવસે રોજ કરતાં બમણું ભેગું કરીને રાંધી રાખવું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.16.6" />એટલા માંટે મૂસા અને હારુને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહ્યું, “આજે રાત્રે તમે યહોવાની શક્તિ જોશો, અને તમને ખબર પડશે કે મિસર દેશમાંથી તમને લોકોને બચાવીને બહાર લાવનાર તે યહોવા છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EXO.16.7" />કાલે સવારે તમે લોકો યહોવાનું ગૌરવ જોશો કારણ કે તેમણે તેમની વિરુદ્ધની તમાંરી ફરિયાદ સાંભળી છે, તમે હમેશા અમને ફરિયાદ કરો છો, હવે કદાચ અમને થોડો આરામ મળે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.16.8" />પછી મૂસાએ તેમને કહ્યું, “યહોવા, સાંજે તમને માંસ ખાવા માંટે આપશે, વળી સવારે ઘરાઈને ખાવા માંટે રોટલી આપશે, કારણ કે તમે તેમની વિરુદ્ધ જે ફરિયાદો કરો છો તે તેમણે સાંભળી છે. પણ હવે કદાચ અમને થોડો આરામ મળે. યાદ રાખજો કે તમાંરી ફરિયાદ અમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ નથી, પણ યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.16.9" />પછી મૂસાએ હારુનને કહ્યું, “તું ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને સંબોધન કર, તેમને કહે, યહોવાની સમક્ષ સૌ ભેગા થાઓ, કારણ કે તેમણે તમાંરી ફરિયાદો સાંભળી છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.16.10" />હારુને ઇસ્રાએલના સમગ્ર લોકસમુદાયને સંબોધન કર્યું; તે બધા એક જ સ્થાન પર ભેગા થયા હતા. તે સભાને કહેતો હતો તે દરમ્યાન તેમણે રણ તરફ જોયું, તો તે લોકોને વાદળમાં યહોવાનાં ગૌરવનાં દર્શન થયાં,
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.16.11" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="12" bcv="EXO.16.12" />“મેં ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોની ફરિયાદ સાંભળી છે; એટલા માંટે તેમને કહો કે, ‘સાંજે તમે માંસ ખાશો અને સવારે તમે રોટલી ઘરાઈને ખાશો; અને તમને વિશ્વાસ થશે કે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા હું છું.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.16.13" />તે રાત્રે એવું બન્યું કે લાવરીઓએ ઊડી આવીને છાવણી ઢાંકી દીધી; અને સવારમાં છાવણીની આસપાસ ઝાકળનું પડ બાઝી ગયું.
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<v id="14" bcv="EXO.16.14" />સૂરજ ઊગતાં ઝાકળ ઊડી ગયું અને હિમના પડ જેવું બારીક નાનો ગોળ પદાર્થ રણની સપાટી પર હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="EXO.16.15" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો આ જોઈ પરસ્પર એક બીજાને પૂછવા લાગ્યા, “આ શું છે?” કારણ કે એમને ખબર ન હતી કે એ શું છે. ત્યારે તેઓને મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “એ તો યહોવાએ તમને ખાવા માંટે આપેલો ખોરાક છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.16.16" />યહોવાની એવી આજ્ઞા છે કે, ‘તમે પ્રત્યેક જણ પોતાનાથી ખાઈ શકાય તેટલું ભેગું કરી લો, માંથાદીઠ બે પાયા પ્રમાંણે તમાંરા તંબુમાં રહેનારા માંણસોના પ્રમાંણે લઈ લો.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.16.17" />અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ એ પ્રમાંણે કર્યું, કેટલાકે વધુ તો કેટલાકે ઓછું ભેગું કરી લીધું.
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<v id="18" bcv="EXO.16.18" />અને પછી તેઓએ ઓમેરથી માંપિયાથી માંપ્યું ત્યારે જેણે વધુ લીધું હતું તેનું વધ્યું નહિ કે જેણે ઓછું ભેગું કર્યુ હતું તેનું ઘટયું નહિ. પ્રત્યેક માંણસે પોતાના ખાવા પૂરતું જ એકઠું કર્યુ હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.16.19" />પછી મૂસાએ તેમને કહ્યું, “તમાંરામાંથી કોઈએ સવારને માંટે રાખી મૂકવું નહિ.”
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<v id="20" bcv="EXO.16.20" />પરંતુ તેઓએ મૂસાનું કહ્યું માંન્યું નહિ અને તેમાંના કેટલાકે થોડું સવાર માંટે રાખ્યું તો તેમાં કીડા પડયા, અને તે ગંધાઈ ઊઠયું તેથી મૂસા તેમના પર ક્રોધે ભરાયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.16.21" />રોજ સવારે પ્રત્યેક જણ પોતાનાથી ખવાય તેટલો ખોરાક ભેગો કરતાં, અને સૂર્ય તપતો ત્યારે જે વધતું હોય તે બધું ઓગળી જતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.16.22" />અને પછી અઠવાડિયાના છઠ્ઠે દિવસે તેઓએ બમણો ખોરાક ભેગો કર્યો. પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ દીઠ 16 કપ. પછી એ સમાંજના બધા આગેવાનોએ આવીને મૂસાને તે વિષે જણાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EXO.16.23" />અને તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “યહોવાની આજ્ઞા એવી છે કે, આવતી કાલે વિશ્રામવાર છે, યહોવાનો પવિત્ર સાબ્બાથ છે; તેથી તમાંરે જે રાંધવુ હોય તે રાંધી લો, અને જે વધે તે તમાંરા માંટે સવાર સુધી રાખી મૂકો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.16.24" />આથી મૂસાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે તેઓએ તેમાંથી સવારને માંટે રાખી મૂકયું, તો તેમાં કીડા પડયા નહિને ગંધાઈ પણ ઊઠ્યું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.16.25" />અને મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “આજે તો ખાઓ, કારણ કે આજે વિશ્રામવાર છે, યહોવાનો દિવસ છે; આજે તમને ખેતરમાં અનાજ નહિ મળે.
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<v id="26" bcv="EXO.16.26" />સપ્તાહના છ દિવસ તમે એ ભેગું કરો; પણ સાતમો દિવસ સાબ્બાથ છે, તેથી તે દિવસે તમને તે ખાસ ખોરાક જમીન પર થોડો પણ નહિ મળે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.16.27" />સાતમાં દિવસે કેટલાક લોકો ભેગું કરવા માંટે બહાર ગયા, પણ તેમને કંઈ મળ્યું નહિ.
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<v id="28" bcv="EXO.16.28" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “કયાં સુધી તમાંરા લોકોએ માંરી આજ્ઞાઓ અને નિયમોનું પાલન કરવાની ના પાડવી છે?
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<v id="29" bcv="EXO.16.29" />જુઓ, યહોવાએ તમાંરા માંટે વિશ્રામવાર આપ્યો છે, તેથી છઠ્ઠે દિવસે તે તમને બે દિવસ માંટે ચાલે તેટલુ અન્ન આપશે, તેથી સાતમે દિવસે પ્રત્યેક જણે પોતપોતાના ઘરમાં રહેવું અને કોઈએ બહાર નીકળવું નહિ.”
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<v id="30" bcv="EXO.16.30" />તેથી તે લોકોએ વિશ્રામવારે વિશ્રામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EXO.16.31" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ તે વિશિષ્ટ ભોજનનનું નામ “માંન્ના” રાખ્યું. માંન્ના ધાણાની દાળ જેવું સફેદ હતું. અને તેનો સ્વાદ મધવાળી પાતળી ભાખરી જેવો હતો.
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<v id="32" bcv="EXO.16.32" />ત્યારે મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ આદેશ આપ્યો છે કે, ‘તમાંરા વંશજોને માંટે તેમાંથી 8 કપ ભરીને માંન્ના રાખી મૂકો; જેથી હું તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો ત્યારે મેં તમને લોકોને જે ભોજન ખવડાવ્યું હતું તે તેઓ જોઈ શકે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="EXO.16.33" />પછી મૂસાએ હારુનને કહ્યું કે, “એક બરણી લઈને તેમાં 8 કપ માંન્ના ભરીને તમાંરા વંશજોના ભવિષ્ય માંટે સાચવી રાખવા તેને યહોવાની આગળ મૂક.”
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<v id="34" bcv="EXO.16.34" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા આપ્યા મુજબ હારુને તેને સાચવવા માંટે કરારકોશ સમક્ષ મુકયું.
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<v id="35" bcv="EXO.16.35" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ 40 વર્ષ પર્યંત વસવાટ કરવા યોગ્ય પ્રદેશમાં તેઓ આવ્યા ત્યાં સુધી-માંન્ના ખાધું. તેઓ કનાન દેશની સરદહમાં પહોંચ્યા ત્યાં સુધી તેઓએ માંન્ના ખાધું.
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<v id="36" bcv="EXO.16.36" />એક ઓમેર લગભગ આઠ પ્યાલા બરાબર હતું. માંન્ના તોલવા માંટેનું એક માંપ ઓમેર હતું.
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</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">ખડકમાંથી પાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.17.1" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોના સમગ્ર સમાંજે સીનના રણમાંથી છાવણી ઉઠાવીને યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ યાત્રા કરતા કરતા આગળ વધીને તેમણે રફીદીમમાં છાવણી નાખી રોકાણ કર્યું. પરંતુ ત્યાં લોકોને પીવા માંટે પાણી પણ દુર્લભ હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.17.2" />તેથી લોકોએ મૂસા સાથે તકરાર કરી અને કહ્યું, “અમને પીવા માંટે પાણી આપો.”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે મૂસાએ તેમને કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો માંરી સાથે શા માંટે તકરાર કરો છો? તમે યહોવાની કસોટી શા માંટે કરો છો? તમે એમ સમજો છો કે દેવ આપણી સાથે નથી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EXO.17.3" />પરંતુ લોકો બહુ તરસ્યા હતા. તેથી તે લોકોએ મૂસા વિરુદ્ધ બડબડાટ કરતાં કહ્યું કે, “તમે અમને, અમાંરાં બાળબચ્ચાંને અને ઢોરઢાંખરને તરસે માંરવા શા માંટે મિસર દેશમાંથી અહીં લઈ આવ્યા?”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.17.4" />આથી મૂસાએ યહોવાને પોકાર કર્યો, “આ લોકો સાથે હું શું કરું? તેઓ મને માંરી નાખવા તૈયાર છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EXO.17.5" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “જા, ઇસ્રાએલના કેટલાક વડીલોને સાથે લઈને તું લોકોની આગળ ચાલતો થા. જે લાકડીથી તેં નાઈલ નદી પર પ્રહાર કર્યો હતો તે તારા હાથમાં રાખજે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.17.6" />જો, હોરેબ પર્વતના એક ખડક ઉપર હું તારી સામે ઊભો રહીશ, પછી તું તે ખડક ઉપર પ્રહાર કરજે, એટલે તે ખડકમાંથી પાણી નીકળશે, જેથી લોકોને પીવા પાણી મળશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઇસ્રાએલીઓના વડીલોના દેખતાં મૂસાએ તે મુજબ કર્યુ.
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.17.7" />અને મૂસાએ તે જગ્યાનું નામ માંસ્સાહ અને મરીબાહ રાખ્યું. કારણ કે આ એ જ જગ્યા હતી જ્યાં ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો એની વિરુદ્ધ થયા હતા. અને તેઓએ યહોવાની પરીક્ષા કરી હતી, તે લોકો જાણવા માંગતા હતા કે યહોવા અમાંરી વચ્ચે છે કે નહિ?
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</p>
<s style="s">અમાંલેકીઓ સાથે યુદ્ધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.17.8" />અમાંલેકીઓએ રફીદીમ આગળ આવીને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પર હુમલો કર્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.17.9" />પછી મૂસાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું કે, “તું આપણામાંથી માંણસો પસંદ કરીને આવતી કાલે અમાંલેકીઓ સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા જા. હું દેવની લાકડી લઈને પર્વતની ટોચ પર ઊભો રહીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.17.10" />યહોશુઆએ મૂસાની આજ્ઞાનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો. અને અમાંલેકીઓ સામે જંગે ચડયો. પછી મૂસા તથા હારુન અને હૂર પર્વતની ટોચ પર પહોંચી ગયા.
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.17.11" />અને મૂસા જ્યારે પોતાનો હાથ ઊચો કરતો, ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોનો વિજય થતો; પરંતુ જ્યારે તે પોતાનો હાથ નીચો કરતો, ત્યારે અમાંલેકીઓનો વિજય થતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.17.12" />પણ મૂસાના હાથ થાક્યા એટલે તે લોકોએ એક પથ્થર લઈ મૂસાની પાછળ મૂક્યો અને તે તેના પર બેસી ગયો; અને હારુને તથા હૂરે ટેકો દઈને તેના હાથોને ઊંચા રાખ્યા, એક જણે એક બાજુથી અને બીજાએ બીજી બાજુથી, આમ સૂર્યાસ્ત થતાં સુધી હાથ સ્થિર રહ્યા.
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.17.13" />યહોશુઆ અને તેના લોકોએ અમાંલેક લોકોને યુધ્ધમાં હરાવી નાખ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.17.14" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “એ હકીકતને યાદગીરી માંટે પુસ્તકમાં લખ. અને યહોશુઆને જરૂર કહેશો કે, હું અમાંલેકીનું નામનિશાન પૃથ્વી પરથી સદાયને માંટે ભૂસી નાખીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.17.15" />ત્યાર બાદ મૂસાએ એક વેદી બનાવી અને તેનું નામ “યહોવા નિસ્સી”<f caller="+"><fr>17:15
</fr><fk>યહોવા નિસ્સી
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે, “મારો ધ્વજ.”</ft></f> રાખ્યું.
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.17.16" />તેણે કહ્યું કે, “મેં માંરા હાથ યહોવાના સિંહાસન તરફ લંબાવ્યા એટલા માંટે યહોવાએ હંમેશની જેમ અમાંલેકી સાથે યુદ્ધ કર્યુ.”
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</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">મૂસાને તેના સસરાની સલાહ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.18.1" />મૂસાના સસરા યિથ્રો મિધાનમાં યાજક હતા. દેવે મૂસા અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને જે અનેક પ્રકારે સહાય કરી હતી, તે બાબતમાં તથા જે રીતે તે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યા હતા તે બાબતમાં સાંભળ્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.18.2" />તેથી મૂસા જ્યારે દેવના પર્વત પાસે છાવણી નાખીને રહ્યો હતો, ત્યારે યિથ્રો મૂસા પાસે ગયો. અને તેની સાથે મૂસાની પત્ની સિપ્પોરાહ ને લાવ્યો, જેને પહેલા મૂસાએ તેમના બે પુત્રો સાથે યિથ્રો પાસે મોકલાવેલ હતા.
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.18.3" />યિથ્રો મૂસાના બે પુત્રોને સાથે લાવ્યો હતો. પ્રથમ પુત્રનું નામ ગેર્શોમ હતું; કારણ તે જન્મ્યો ત્યારે મૂસાએ કહ્યું કે, “હું પરદેશમાં અજાણ્યો છું.”
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.18.4" />બીજા પુત્રનું નામ અલીએઝેર હતું. કારણ કે મૂસાએ કહ્યું હતું કે, “માંરા પિતાના દેવે મને મદદ કરીને ફારુનની તરવારથી ઉગાર્યો હતો.”
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.18.5" />એટલા માંટે યિથ્રો મૂસાની પત્ની અને પુત્રને લઈને રણમાં દેવના પર્વત આગળ જયાં મૂસાએ છાવણી નાખીને મુકામ કર્યો હતો ત્યાં આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.18.6" />તેના સસરા યિથ્રોએ મૂસાને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “હું તમાંરો સસરો યિથ્રો છું અને તમાંરી પત્ની અને બે પુત્રોને તમાંરી પાસે લાવું છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.18.7" />એટલા માંટે મૂસા તેના સસરાને મળવા સામો ગયો અને પ્રણામ કરીને ચુંબન કર્યુ. બંનેએ પરસ્પર એકબીજાને ક્ષેમકુશળતાના સમાંચાર પૂછયા. પછી તેઓ મૂસાની છાવણીમાં વધારે વાતો કરવા માંટે ગયા.
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<v id="8" bcv="EXO.18.8" />ત્યાં મૂસાએ પોતાના સસરા યિથ્રોને યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો માંટે ફારુન અને મિસરના લોકોના જે હાલ કર્યા હતા તથા ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને માંર્ગમાં જે જે વિંટંબણાઓનો સામનો કરવો પડયો હતો અને યહોવાએ તે લોકોને કેવી રીતે ઉગાર્યા હતા, તે બધું કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.18.9" />યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને મિસરના લોકોના હાથમાંથી છોડાવીને તેમના પર જે ઉપકાર કર્યો હતો તે જાણીને યિથ્રો ખૂબ પ્રસન્ન થયો.
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<v id="10" bcv="EXO.18.10" />અને યિથ્રોએ કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેણે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને મિસર વાસીઓના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફારુનના હાથમાંથી છોડવ્યા છે!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.18.11" />હવે મને ખાતરી થઈ છે કે, યહોવા, બધા દેવોમાં મહાન છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે મિસરવાસીઓએ તમાંરી સાથે ગેરવર્તાવ રાખ્યો ત્યારે તમને સૌને એમના હાથમાંથી છોડાવ્યા.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.18.12" />પછી મૂસાના સસરા યિથ્રોએ દેવને યજ્ઞો અને દહનાર્પણો ચઢાવ્યાં, અને હારુન ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ વડીલોને સાથે લઈને દેવ સમક્ષ મૂસાના સસરા સાથે રોટલી ખાવાને માંટે આવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.18.13" />પછી બીજે દિવસે સવારે મૂસાએ ઘણા લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવાનું શરું કર્યુ જેઓ સવારથી સાંજ સુધી આવતા રહેતા અને પોતાનો વારો આવે ત્યાં સુધી રાહ જોતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.18.14" />મૂસા લોકો માંટે જે કંઈ કરતો હતો તે સઘળું મૂસાના સસરાએ જોયું, તેથી તેણે મૂસાને કહ્યું, “લોકોના માંટે તમે આ શું કરો છો? તું એકમાંત્ર ન્યાયાધીશ તરીકે બેસી રહે છે અને લોકો તારી પાસે સવારથી સાંજ સુધી આવ્યા જ કરે છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.18.15" />ત્યારે મૂસાએ પોતાના સસરાને કહ્યું, “લોકો માંરી પાસે આવે છે; અને તેમની સમસ્યાઓના સંબંધમાં દેવની ઈચ્છાની બાબતમાં પૂછે છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.18.16" />એ લોકોમાં કોઈ વિવાદ થયો હોય, તો તેઓ માંરી પાસે આવે છે. અને કોણ સાચું છે તે નક્કી કરુ છું. આ રીતે હું તેઓને દેવના કાનૂનો અને ઉપદેશો શીખવું છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.18.17" />પરંતુ મૂસાને તેના સસરાએ કહ્યું, “તું જે રીતે આ કરી રહ્યો છે તે યોગ્ય નથી.
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<v id="18" bcv="EXO.18.18" />તારા એકલાથી આ કામ થઈ શકશે નહિ. તું એકલો આ કામ નહિ કરી શકે. આમ તો તમે અને તમાંરી સાથેના આ માંણસો થાકી જશો.
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<v id="19" bcv="EXO.18.19" />હું તને સલાહ આપું છું, તારે શું કરવું જોઈએ, એ હું તને બતાવું છું. હું દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે દેવ તને મદદ કરે. તારે દેવ સમક્ષ એ લોકોના પ્રતિનિધિ થવું જોઈએ અને તે લોકોના પ્રશ્નો તેમની આગળ રજૂ કરવા જોઈએ.
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<v id="20" bcv="EXO.18.20" />અને તારે તો લોકોને દેવના કાનૂનો અને ઉપદેશો અને આ કાયદાઓ ન તોડવા ચેતવવાના છે, શીખવવાના છે. તેઓને જીવનનો સાચો માંર્ગ અને શું કરવું તે જણાવવાનું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.18.21" />“વધારામાં દેવનો ડર રાખનાર, તથા સર્વ લોકોમાંથી હોશિયાર અને વિશ્વાસપાત્ર હોય, તથા લાંચરૂશ્વતને ધિક્કારતા હોય એવા માંણસોને પસંદ કરીને તેઓને હજાર હજાર, સો સો, પચ્ચાસ પચ્ચાસ અને દશ દશ માંણસોના ઉપરીઓ નિયુક્ત કરો.
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<v id="22" bcv="EXO.18.22" />પછી એ ઉપરીઓ પ્રતિનિધિઓને લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવા દો. જો કોઈ બહુ જ ગંભીર સમસ્યા હોય તો ઉપરી પ્રતિનિધિ નિર્ણય કરશે અને પછી તેઓ તમાંરી પાસે આવી શકશે. પરંતુ બીજા નાના નાના પ્રશ્નોનો નિર્ણય તેઓ કરશે. આમ તમાંરા કાર્યમાં તેઓ સહભાગી થશે અને તમાંરું કામ હળવું થશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="EXO.18.23" />હવે જો તું આ બધુંજ કરીશ, તો દેવના ઈચ્છતા તું કદી થાકીશ નહિ અને આ બધાં લોકો પણ સંપૂર્ણપણે સંતોષી થઈ પોતાના ધરે પાછા ફરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.18.24" />પછી મૂસાએ પોતાના સસરાનું કહ્યું સ્વીકાર્યું, અને તેણે તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EXO.18.25" />પછી તેણે સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોમાંથી સારા માંણસો પસંદ કર્યા અને તેમને હજારના, સોના, પચાસના, તથા દશ માંણસોના ઉપરી નિયુક્ત કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EXO.18.26" />ત્યાર બાદ તે લોકો જ બધો સમય લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવા લાગ્યા. ફક્ત મુશ્કેલ પ્રશ્નો હોય તો જ તેઓ મૂસા આગળ લાવતા, અને નાના પ્રશ્નો તેઓ જાતે પતાવતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.18.27" />ત્યાર બાદ મૂસાએ પોતાના સસરા યિથ્રોને વિદાય આપી અને પછી યિથ્રો તેના વતનમાં પાછો ફર્યો.
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</p>

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સાથે દેવનો કરાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.19.1" />મિસર દેશમાંથી નીકળ્યા પછી ત્રીજા મહિનાના પ્રથમ દિવસે જ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સિનાઈના રણમાં આવી પહોંચ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.19.2" />પછી તેઓ રફીદીમથી નીકળીને સિનાઈના રણમાં આવ્યા અને ત્યાં આગળ સિનાઈ પર્વતની સામે નજીકમાં જ મૂકામ કર્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.19.3" />ત્યાર બાદ મૂસા પર્વત ચઢીને દેવ સમક્ષ ઊભો રહ્યો; અને દેવે તેની સાથે પર્વત પરથી વાતો કરીને કહ્યુ, “ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને અને યાકૂબના ઘરને આ કહેજે:
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.19.4" />‘તમે તમાંરી નજરે જોયું કે મે મિસરવાસીઓને શું કર્યુ અને તમને મિસરમાંથી ગરૂડની જેમ ઉપાડીને માંરી પાસે કેવી રીતે લાવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.19.5" />તેથી હવે જો તમે માંરા કહ્યાં પ્રમાંણે કરશો અને માંરા કરારને ધ્યાન રાખશો, તો સર્વ પ્રજાઓમાં તમે માંત્ર ખાસ પ્રજા થશો. સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી માંરી છે. પણ હું તમને માંરા ખાસ લોકો તરીકે પસંદ કરુ છું.
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.19.6" />તમે માંરે સારું એક ખાસ યાજકોનું રાષ્ટ્ર બનશો તથા પવિત્ર દેશજાતિ થશો.’ આ બધું તમાંરે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહેવાનું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.19.7" />આથી મૂસાએ આવીને તે લોકોના વડીલોને બોલાવડાવ્યા. અને યહોવાએ તેને જણાવેલાં બધાં વચનો તેઓની સમક્ષ કહી સંભળાવ્યાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="EXO.19.8" />તે સાંભળીને સર્વ લોકોએ એક સાથે જવાબ આપ્યો, “યહોવાએ જે ફરમાંવ્યું છે તે બધાનું અમે પાલન કરીશું.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને લોકોએ જે જવાબ આપ્યો તે મૂસાએ દેવને પહોંચાડ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.19.9" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “જો હું એક ગાઢ વાદળમાં તારી પાસે આવું છું, જેથી હું તારી સાથે બોલું ત્યારે લોકો સાંભળી શકે, અને તારા પર સદાસર્વદા વિશ્વાસ રાખે.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને લોકોનાં વચન મૂસાએ દેવને કહી સંભળાવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.19.10" />અને યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તું લોકો પાસે જા અને તેઓને કહે કે, આજ અને આવતી કાલે તેઓ દેહશુદ્ધિ કરે, અને તેઓ પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધુએ,
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.19.11" />અને ત્રીજા દિવસને માંટે તૈયાર થઈ જાય; કારણ કે, ત્રીજે દિવસે હું સર્વ લોકોના દેખતાં સિનાઈના પર્વત ઉપર ઊતરનાર છું.
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<v id="12" bcv="EXO.19.12" />અને તું પર્વતની ચારે બાજુ લોકોને માંટે હદ બાંધી આપજે, અને તેમને કહેજે કે, ખબરદાર રહેજો, પર્વત પર ચઢતા નહિ, ને તેની તળેટીને પણ અડકતા નહિ, અને જે કોઈ તેને અડકશે તેનો વધ કરવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.19.13" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તેને હાથ અડકાડે, તો તેને પથ્થરે માંરવો અથવા તીરથી વીંધી નાખવો, પછી તે પશુ હોય કે માંણસ હોય, તે બચશે નહિ, જયારે રણશિંગડુ ફૂંકાય, ત્યારે માંત્ર એ લોકો પર્વત પર ચઢી શકશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.19.14" />આથી મૂસા પર્વત પરથી નીચે ઊતરીને લોકો પાસે ગયો અને તેણે તેઓને શુદ્ધ કર્યા. અને લોકોએ પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.19.15" />અને પછી મૂસાએ તે લોકોને કહ્યું, “ત્રીજા દિવસ સુધીમાં તૈયાર થઈ જજો. સ્ત્રી સંગ કરશો નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.19.16" />પછી ત્રીજે દિવસે સવારમાં આકાશમાં મેઘગર્જનાઓ અને વીજળીઓ થવા લાગ્યાં. પર્વત ઉપર કાળું ઘાડું વાદળ છવાઈ ગયું, અને રણશિંગડાનો બહુ મોટો અવાજ થયો, જેથી છાવણીમાં સર્વ લોકો ધ્રૂજી ઊઠયા.
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<v id="17" bcv="EXO.19.17" />એટલે મૂસાએ સર્વ લોકોને દેવને મળવા માંટે છાવણીમાંથી બહાર કાઢયા; અને તેઓ પર્વતની તળેટીમાં ઊભા રહ્યાં.
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<v id="18" bcv="EXO.19.18" />અગ્નિરૂપે યહોવા સિનાઈ પર્વત ઉપર ઊતર્યા, એટલે આખો પર્વત બહુ કંપ્યો. તે ઘુમાંડો ભઠ્ઠીના ઘુમાંડાની જેમ ઉપર ચઢવા લાગ્યો. અને આખો પર્વત જોરથી ધ્રૂજવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="EXO.19.19" />અને પછી જ્યારે રણશિંગડાનો અવાજ વધારને વધારે મોટો થતો ગયો, ત્યારે મૂસા બોલતો અને દેવ તેને ગડગડાટના અવાજથી જવાબ આપતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.19.20" />અને યહોવા સિનાઈ પર્વતના શિખર ઉપર ઊતર્યો; પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને પર્વતના શિખર ઉપર બોલાવ્યો; તેથી મૂસા પર્વત ઉપર ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.19.21" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “નીચે જા, અને લોકોને સાવધાન કર કે, તેઓ માંરા દર્શનાર્થે હદ ઓળંગીને ઘસી આવે નહિ, નહિ તો ઘણા લોક માંર્યા જશે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EXO.19.22" />વળી જે યાજકો માંરી નજીક આવે, તેઓ પોતાને શુદ્ધ કરે નહિ તો હું તેમને સખત સજા કરીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EXO.19.23" />એટલે મૂસાએ યહોવાને કહ્યું, “લોકો સિનાઈ પર્વત ઉપર આવી શકે નહિ, કારણ કે તમે પોતે અમને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી કે, પર્વતની ચારે બાજૂ હદ બાંધી લેજો અને લોકો તેને પાર કરી પવિત્ર મેદાનમાં ન આવે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.19.24" />એટલે યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું, “જા, નીચે ઊતર; અને હારુનને ઉપર લઈ આવ, પરંતુ યાજકો કે લોકો હદ ઓળંગીને માંરી પાસે ઘસી આવે નહિ એનું ધ્યાન રાખજે, નહિ તો હું તે લોકો ઉપર તૂટી પડીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.19.25" />એટલે મૂસાએ નીચે ઉતરીને તેઓને એ વાત કરી.
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</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">દશ આજ્ઞાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.20.1" />પછી દેવે એ સર્વ વચનો ઉચ્ચારતા કહ્યું કે,
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.20.2" />“હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું, જે તમને મિસર દેશમાંથી જ્યાં તમે ગુલામ હતાં ત્યાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો હતો. તેથી તમાંરે આ આદેશો માંનવા પડશે:
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="3" bcv="EXO.20.3" />“માંરા સિવાય તમાંરે બીજા કોઈ દેવોની પૂજા કરવી નહિ.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.20.4" />“તમાંરે આકાશમાંથી કે પૃથ્વી ઉપરની કે પૃથ્વી નીચેના પાણીમાંની કોઈ પણ વસ્તુની મૂર્તિ કે પ્રતિમાં બનાવવી નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.20.5" />તમાંરે તેમને સાષ્ટાંગ પ્રણામ કરવા નહિ કે તેમની પૂજા કરવી નહિ. કારણ કે હું જ તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું. માંરા લોકો બીજા દેવોની પૂજા કરે એ મને પસંદ નથી. જે માંરી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કરે છે, તેઓ માંરા દુશ્મન બને છે, અને હું તેમને અને તેમના સંતાનોને ત્રીજી અને ચોથી પેઢી સુધી સજા કરીશ.
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.20.6" />પરંતુ માંરા પર પ્રીતિ રાખનાર અને માંરી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરનારની હજારો પેઢી પર હું દયાભાવ દર્શાવનાર છું.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.20.7" />“તમાંરે માંરું એટલે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના નામનો દુરુપયોગ ન કરવો, કારણ કે તે માંણસોને હું નિર્દોષ ગણીશ નહિ. જેઓ માંરા નામનો દુરુપયોગ કરે છે તેને સજા કર્યા વિના હું રહેતો નથી.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.20.8" />“વિશ્રામવારની પવિત્રતા જાળવવાનું યાદ રાખો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EXO.20.9" />છ દિવસ તમાંરે તમાંરાં બધાં કામકાજ કરવાં, પરંતુ સાતમો દિવસ વિશ્રામવાર તો તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાનો છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EXO.20.10" />તેથી તે દિવસે તમાંરે કે તમાંરા પુત્રોએ કે તમાંરી પુત્રીઓએ, તમાંરા દાસ-દાસીઓએ કે તમાંરાં ઢોરઢાંખરો કે તમાંરા ગામમાં રહેતા વિદેશીએ કોઈ કામ કરવું નહિ, કારણ કે,
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.20.11" />છ દિવસમાં યહોવાએ આકાશ તથા પૃથ્વી, સમુદ્ર તથા તેમાંની તમાંમ વસ્તુઓ બનાવી હતી અને સાતમે દિવસે વિશ્રામ કર્યો હતો, તેથી યહોવાએ વિશ્રામવારને આશીર્વાદ આપીને તેને પવિત્ર ઠરાવ્યો છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.20.12" />“તમાંરા માંતાપિતાનું સન્માંન કરો, જેથી હું તમને જે દેશ આપનાર છું તેમાં તમે લાંબુ આયુષ્ય પામો.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.20.13" />“તમાંરે ખૂન કરવું નહિ.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.20.14" />“તમાંરે વ્યભિચાર કરવો નહિ.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.20.15" />“તમાંરે ચોરી કરવી નહિ.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.20.16" />“તમાંરે પડોશી કે માંનવબંધુ વિરુદ્ધ જૂઠી સાક્ષી પુરવી નહિ.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.20.17" />“તમાંરા પડોશીના ઘરની લાલસા રાખવી નહિ; તમાંરા પડોશીની પત્ની, કે તેના દાસ, કે તેની દાસી, કે તેનો બળદ, કે તેનું ગધેડું, કે તમાંરા પડોશીની કોઈ પણ વસ્તુની લાલસા રાખવી નહિ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">લોકોને દેવ પ્રત્યે ભય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.20.18" />બધા લોકો ગર્જના, અને રણશિંગડાનો નાદ સાંભળીને તથા વીજળીના ચમકારા અને પર્વતમાંથી નીકળતો ઘુમાંડો જોઈને ભયભીત થઈને થરથર ઘ્રૂજતાં દૂર જ ઊભા રહ્યા.
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<v id="19" bcv="EXO.20.19" />પછી તેઓએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “અમાંરી સાથે તમે જ બોલો, તો અમે સાંભળીશું, પણ દેવ અમાંરી સાથે ન બોલે. નહિ તો અમે બધા મરી જઈશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.20.20" />એટલે મૂસાએ તે લોકોને કહ્યું, “ગભરાશો નહિ, કારણ કે દેવ તો તમાંરી કસોટી કરવા આવ્યા છે, જેથી તમે બધા ગભરાતા રહો અને પાપ ન કરો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.20.21" />પરંતુ લોકો તો તેમ છતાં દૂર જ ઊભા રહ્યાં, ને મૂસા ઘનઘોર વાદળ નજીક જયાં દેવ હતા ત્યાં ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.20.22" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તું ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને એ પ્રમાંણે કહે કે, મેં તમાંરી સાથે આકાશમાંથી વાત કરી છે એ તમે જાતે જોયું છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="EXO.20.23" />તેથી માંરી આગળ તમાંરે કોઈ સોનાચાંદીની મૂર્તિઓ ન બનાવવી. તમાંરે આ ખોટા દેવો બનાવવા નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.20.24" />“માંરા માંટે તમે લોકો એક માંટીની વેદી બનાવજો, અને તેના પર તમાંરાં ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોરોમાંથી મને દહનાર્પણ અને શાંત્યર્પણ ચઢાવજો. અને જે સર્વ જગાએ હું માંરું નામ સ્થાપીશ, ત્યાં હું તમાંરી પાસે આવીશ અને તમને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ.
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<v id="25" bcv="EXO.20.25" />જો તમે માંરા માંટે પથ્થરની વેદી બાંધો, તો ઘડેલા પથ્થરની ન કરાવશો. કારણ કે તમે જો તેના પર કોઈ પણ ઓજાર વાપરો તો તે અશુદ્ધ બની જાય.
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<v id="26" bcv="EXO.20.26" />તેમ જ તમાંરે પગથિયાં ઉપર થઈને માંરી વેદી ઉપર ચઢવું નહિ, જેથી તમાંરી નગ્નતા દેખાય નહિ.”
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</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">અન્ય કાનૂનો અને આજ્ઞાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.21.1" />પછી દેવે મૂસાને કહ્યું, “હવે તારે કાનૂનો તેઓની આગળ રજૂ કરવાના છે તે આ છે:
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.21.2" />“જો તમે કોઈ હિબ્રૂ દાસ ખરીદો, તો તે છ વરસ પર્યંત તમાંરી સેવા કરે અને સાતમે વરસે તે છૂટો થઈ જાય અને તેણે ચુકવવાંનુ નહિ રહે.
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.21.3" />ગુલામ થતાં પહેલા જો તે પરણેલો નહિ હોય, તો તે પત્નીના સિવાય છુટો થઈ જાય અને એકલો ચાલ્યો જાય. પરંતુ જો ગુલામ થતી વખતે જો તે પરણેલો હશે, તો છૂટો થતી વખતે તે તેની પત્નીને સાથે લઈને જશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.21.4" />જો કદાચ તે અવિવાહિત હશે તો ધણી તેને પત્ની આપી શકશે. અને જો તે પત્ની, પુત્ર કે પુત્રીઓને જન્મ આપશે, તો તે સ્ત્રી તથા તેનાં બાળકો તેના ધણીનાં ગણાશે. અને તે એકલો છૂટો થાય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EXO.21.5" />“પરંતુ જો તે દાસ સ્પષ્ટ કહે કે; ‘હું તો માંરા ધણીને તથા માંરી પત્નીને તથા માંરાં બાળકોને ચાહું છું; માંરે તો છૂટવું નથી.’
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.21.6" />જો આવું બને તો ગુલામના ધણીએ તેને ન્યાયધીશોને સમક્ષ લાવવો અને બારસાખ આગળ ઉભો રાખીને સોય વતી તેનો કાન વીંધવો; એટલે તે તેના ધણીનો સદાને માંટે દાસ બની રહેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.21.7" />“અને જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતાની દીકરીને દાસી તરીકે વેચે, તો તેને છુટી કરવાના કાયદા, પુરુષોને છુટા કરવાના કાયદા જેવા નથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="EXO.21.8" />જે વ્યક્તિએ તેને ખરીદી હોય તેને જો તે ન ગમે, તો તે તેના પિતાને પાછી વેચી શકે છે, જો ધણીએ તેની સાથે લગ્ન કરવાનું વચન આપ્યુ હોય, તો તે તેણે બીજા લોકોને વેચવાનો હક્ક ગુમાંવે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.21.9" />પરંતુ જો તેણે તેના પોતાના પુત્ર માંટે રાખી હોય તો તેની સાથે તેણે પુત્રી જેવો વ્યવહાર રાખવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.21.10" />“જો તે બીજી પત્ની કરે, તો તેણે તેની પ્રથમ પત્નીના ખોરાક-પોષાક કે તેનાં પત્ની તરીકેના હક્કમાં કશો ઘટાડો કરવો નહિ.
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.21.11" />અને જો તે તેની પત્ની પ્રત્યે આ ત્રણ ફરજો કરી ન શકે, તો તે મફત એટલે પૈસા ચૂકવ્યા વગર એમને એમ છૂટી થઈ શકે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.21.12" />“જો કોઈ એક વ્યક્તિને માંરી તેની હત્યા કરે, તો તેને મોતની સજા કરવી.
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.21.13" />પરંતુ જો એ વ્યક્તિએ કોઈ ચોક્કસ હેતુપૂર્વક ખૂન ના કર્યુ હોય, અને આકસ્મિક રીતે તેનું મૃત્યુ થયું હોય, તો તે વ્યક્તિને માંરી પસંદ કરેલી જગ્યાએ નાસી જશે, જ્યાં લોકો પોતાની રક્ષા માંટે ભાગી શકે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EXO.21.14" />પરંતુ જો કોઈ ક્રોધે ભરાઈને જાણી જોઈને બીજાની હત્યા કરે, પોતાના પડોશી પર ઘસી જઈને તેને દગાથી માંરી નાખે; તો તેને માંરી વેદી આગળથી પણ લઈ જઈને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.21.15" />“અને જો કોઈ પોતાના પિતાને કે માંતાને માંરે, તો તેને મૃત્યુદંડની સજા કરવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.21.16" />“જો કોઈ ચોરીછૂપીથી માંનવહરણ કરે અને તેને વેચે, અથવા તો તેને પોતાના તાબામાં રાખે, તો તેને મૃત્યુદંડની સજા કરવી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.21.17" />“અને જો કોઈ પોતાના પિતાને કે માંતાને શાપ આપે તો પણ તેને મૃત્યુદંડની સજા કરવી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.21.18" />“અને જો કોઈ બે માંણસો એક બીજા સાથે ઝઘડો કરતા હોય, અને એક માંણસ બીજા માંણસને પથ્થરથી કે મુઠ્ઠીથી એવો માંરે કે તે મરી ન જાય પરંતુ ખાટલે પડે;
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<v id="19" bcv="EXO.21.19" />પછી જ્યારે તે સાજો થઈને લાકડી લઈને હરતો-ફરતો થઈ જાય, તો જે માંણસે તેને માંર્યો હોય તે છૂટી જાય ખરો, પરંતુ તેણે પેલા માંણસને સમય અને કામની નુકસાની ભરપાઈ કરવી અને સંપૂર્ણ સાજો થાય ત્યાં સુધી આધાર આપવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.21.20" />“અને જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતાના દાસ કે દાસીને લાકડી વડે માંરે અને તેનું મૃત્યુ થાય, તે તો ગુનેગાર ગણાય અને સજાપાત્ર બને.
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<v id="21" bcv="EXO.21.21" />પરંતુ જો તે દાસ કે દાસી મરી ન જાય અને થોડા દિવસો પછી સાજા થઈ જાય તો ધણીને સજા ન કરવી. કારણ એ દાસ કે દાસી તેની પોતાની મિલકત છે”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.21.22" />“જો કોઈ માંણસો લડતાં-ઝઘડતાં હોય ત્યારે કોઈ માંણસ ગર્ભવતી સ્ત્રીને ઈજા પહોંચાડે અને તે તેના બાળકને સમય પહેલા જન્મ આપે પણ ગંભીર ઈજા ના થાય તો તે સ્ત્રીનો પતિ માંગે તેટલો દંડ ન્યાયાધીશના ચુકાદા પ્રમાંણે આપવો.
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<v id="23" bcv="EXO.21.23" />પણ જો પછીથી બીજું કંઈ નુકસાન થાય, તો તેની શિક્ષા પ્રાણને બદલે પ્રાણ.
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<v id="24" bcv="EXO.21.24" />આંખને બદલે આંખ, દાંતને બદલે દાંત, હાથને બદલે હાથ, પગને બદલે પગ.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EXO.21.25" />ડામને બદલે ડામ, ઘાને બદલે ઘા, ચીરાના બદલે ચીરો એ રીતે બદલો લેવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EXO.21.26" />“અને જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતાના દાસ કે દાસીને આંખ પર માંરીને તે ફોડી નાખે, તો તેણે આંખની નુકસાનીના બદલામાં તેમને છૂટાં કરી દેવા.
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<v id="27" bcv="EXO.21.27" />અને જો તે પોતાના દાસનો કે પોતાની દાસીનો દાંત તોડી પાડે, તો તેના દાંતની માંટે નુકસાનીના બદલામાં તેને છોડી દેવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EXO.21.28" />“અને જો કોઈ બળદ સ્ત્રી કે પુરુષને શિંગડું માંરેને તેનું મૃત્યુ થાય, તો તે બળદને પથ્થરા માંરીને માંરી નાખવો. અને તેનું માંસ ખાવું નહિ, બળદના ધણીને ગુનેગાર ગણવો નહિ.
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<v id="29" bcv="EXO.21.29" />પણ જો તે બળદને પહેલાંથી શિંગડું માંરવાની ટેવ હોય, ને તેનો ધણી તે જાણતો હોય, તેમ છતાં તેણે તેને કાબૂમાં રાખ્યો ના હોય, અને તે બળદ કોઈ પુરુષ કે સ્ત્રીને માંરી નાખે, તો તે બળદને પથ્થરો માંરીને માંરી નાખવો અને તેના ધણીને પણ મોતની સજા કરવી.
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<v id="30" bcv="EXO.21.30" />પરંતુ મૃત્યુદંડને બદલે જો તેનો દંડ કરવામાં આવ્યો હોય, તો તેના જીવના બદલામાં જે કાંઈ મૂલ્ય ઠરાવવામાં આવ્યું હોય તે તેણે ચૂકવવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EXO.21.31" />“અને જો તેણે કોઈના પુત્ર કે પુત્રીને શિંગડું માંર્યુ હોય, તો પણ આ જ કાનૂન લાગું પડે.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="EXO.21.32" />જો એ બળદ કોઈ દાસ કે દાસીને શિંગડું માંરે તો તેના ધણીએ દાસ કે દાસીને ધણીને ત્રીસ તોલા ચાંદી આપવી અને બળદને પથ્થરો માંરીને માંરી નાખવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="EXO.21.33" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કુવાનું ઢાંકણુ ખોલી નાખે અથવા કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ખાડો ખોદેને તેને ઢાંકે નહિ, ને જો તેમાં કોઈનો બળદ કે કોઈનું ગધેડું પડે.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="EXO.21.34" />તો ખાડાના ધણીએ નુકસાન ભરપાઈ કરવું. તેણે એ પશુના ધણીને નાણામાં બદલો આપવો. અને મરેલું પશુ પોતે લઈ જવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="EXO.21.35" />“અને જો કોઈ માંણસનો બળદ બીજાના બળદને શિંગડું માંરે અને તે મરી જાય, તો તે બન્ને જીવતો બળદ વેચી નાખે અને તેની કિંમત તથા મરેલું પશુ વહેંચી લે.
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<v id="36" bcv="EXO.21.36" />અથવા જો અને પહેલેથી જ ખબર હોય કે એ બળદને કેટલાક સમયથી માંરવાની ટેવ છે અને એના ધણીએ એને કાબૂમાં રાખ્યો ન હોય, તો તેનું નુકસાન ભરપાઈ કરી આપવું. બળદને બદલે બળદ આપવો, અને એ મૃત પશુ તેનું થાય.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="22" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.22.1" />“જો કોઈ માંણસ બળદ કે ઘેટું ચોરે અને તેને કાપે અથવા વેચી નાખે, તો તેણે એક બળદને બદલે પાંચ બળદ અને એક ઘેટાને બદલે ચાર ઘેટા આપવા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.22.2" />જો કોઈ ચોર રાતના ખાતર પાડતા પકડાય અને તેની હત્યા થાય તો એ ખૂન ન ગણાય, પણ
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.22.3" />જો તે સૂર્યોદય પછી ખાતર પાડીને ઘરમાં ઘૂસે અને પકડાઈ જતાં તેને માંરી નાખવામાં આવે તો એ ખૂન ગણાય. ચોરેલા માંલની નુકસાની ચોરી કરનાર ભરી આપે; અને જો તે કંગાલ હોય તો તેની ચોરીને કારણે પોતે વેચાઈ જાય.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.22.4" />પરંતુ જો ચોરેલી વસ્તુ તેના તાબામાં જીવતી મળી આવે, પછી તે બળદ હોય કે ગધેડું હોય કે ઘેટું હોય; તો તે બમણું ભરપાઈ કરી આપે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EXO.22.5" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતાનાં ઢોર ખેતરમાં કે દ્રાક્ષની વાડીમાં છૂટાં મૂકે અને તેઓ બીજાનાં ખેતરોમાં ભેલાણ કરે, તો તેણે પોતાના ખેતરની અથવા દ્રાક્ષની વાડીની સર્વોત્તમ ઊપજમાંથી નુકસાની ભરપાઈ કરી આપવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.22.6" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતાના ખેતરમાં કાંટા-ઝાખરાં સળગાવવા આગ પેટાવે અને આગ પડોશીના ખેતરમાં ફેલાઈ જાય અને તેના પાક અથવા અનાજ બળી જાય; તો જેણે આગ લગાડી હોય તેણે પૂરું નુકસાન ભરપાઈ કરી આપવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.22.7" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતાના પડોશીને નાણાં કે મિલકત સાચવવા માંટે સોંપે અને તે પેલા માંણસના ઘરમાંથી ચોરાઈ જાય; અને જો ચોર પકડાય, તો તેણે બમણું ભરપાઈ કરી આપવું.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EXO.22.8" />પરંતુ જો ચોર પકડાઈ ના જાય તો તે ઘર ધણીએ પોતાને ન્યાયધીશો આગળ રજુ કરવો અને ન્યાયધીશ તેની ચોરીનો ફેસલો કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.22.9" />“જો કોઈ બે વ્યક્તિ બળદ વિષે કે ગધેડા વિષે કે ઘેટા વિષે કે વસ્ત્ર વિષે કે કોઈ ખોવાયેલી વસ્તુ વિષે અસહમત હોય અને તેમાંનો એક કહે: ‘આ માંરુ છે.’ પણ બીજો કહે: ‘ના આ માંરુ છે’ તો બન્નેએ દેવ પાસે જવુંને દેવ ન્યાય આપશે કે કોણ ખોટુ છે. જે ખોટો નીકળે તેણે બીજા વ્યક્તિને બમણું ભરપાઈ કરી આપવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.22.10" />“જો કોઈ માંણસ પોતાના પડોશીને ગધેડું, બળદ, ઘેટું કે બીજું કોઈ પશુ સાચવવા સોંપે; અને તે મરી જાય, અથવા તેને કોઈ ઈજા થાય, અથવા કોઈ ઉપાડી જાય, અને કોઈ સાક્ષી હોય નહિ,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.22.11" />તો પછી તે માંણસે સમજાવવું કે તેણે ચોરી નથી કરી અથવા પ્રાણીને ઈજા નથી પહોચાડી. તેણે યહોવાને સમ સાથે કહેવાનું કે તેણે ચોરી નથી કરી; અને તેના ધણીએ એ કબૂલ રાખવું; અને પછી પડોશીએ નુકસાન ભરપાઈ કરવાનું રહેતું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EXO.22.12" />પરંતુ જો પડોશી એ તે પશુની ચોરી કરી હોય, તો તેણે ધણીને નુકસાન ભરપાઈ કરી આપવું.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EXO.22.13" />જો કોઈ જંગલી પ્રાણીએ તેને ફાડી ખાધું હોય, તો તેનો વધેલો ભાગ પુરાવા તરીકે રજૂ કરવો. પછી ફાડી ખાધેલાં પશુનું નુકસાન ભરપાઈ કરવાનું રહેતું નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.22.14" />“અને જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતાના પડોશી પાસેથી કોઈ પ્રાણી ઉછીનું માંગી લે, અને તેનો ધણી તેની સાથે ના હોય તે સ્થિતીમાં તેને કંઈ ઈજા થાય અથવા તે મરી જાય, તો ઉછીનું લેનારે તેનો પુરેપુરો બદલો આપવો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EXO.22.15" />ધણી તેની સાથે હોય, તો ઉછીનું લેનારે નુકસાન ભરપાઈ કરવાનું રહેતું નથી. અને જો ભાડે લીધું હોય તો ફકત ભાડું ચુકવવાનું રહે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.22.16" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અપરણીત કુમાંરિકાને લલચાવીને તેની સાથે મેળાપ કરે, તો તેણે તેનું કન્યામૂલ્ય ચૂકવીને તેની સાથે લગ્ન કરે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EXO.22.17" />જો તેનો બાપ તેની સાથે પરણાવાની ના પાડે, તો કુમાંરિકાના કન્યામૂલ્ય જેટલું નાણું આપવાનું રહે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.22.18" />“મેલીવિધાનો ઉપયોગ કરનાર સ્ત્રીને જીવતી રહેવા ન દે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.22.19" />“જાનવરની સાથે કુકર્મ કરનારને મૃત્યુદંડની સજા કરવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.22.20" />“માંરા સિવાય એટલે કે યહોવા સિવાય બીજા કોઈ પણ દેવને યજ્ઞ કરે અને આહુતિ આપે તો તે વ્યક્તિનું નામનિશાન રહેવા દેવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.22.21" />“તમાંરે વિદેશીઓને હેરાન કરવા નહિ, તેમના પર ત્રાસ કરવો નહિ, કારણ કે, તમે પોતે મિસર દેશમાં વિદેશી હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.22.22" />“કોઈ વિધવા કે અનાથ બાળકને રંજાડશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.22.23" />જો તમે કોઈ પણ પ્રકારે ત્રાસ અથવા તેમને દુઃખી કરશો તો તેઓ મને પોકારશે અને હું તેમનો પોકાર સાંભળીશ.
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<v id="24" bcv="EXO.22.24" />અને માંરો ક્રોધ ભભૂકી ઊઠશે. અને હું તરવારથી તમને રહેંસી નાખીશ; તો તમાંરી પત્ની વિધવા થશે અને તમાંરાં પોતાનાં બાળકો અનાથ થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.22.25" />“તમે માંરા લોકોમાંના કોઈ ગરીબ માંણસને નાણાં ધીરો, તો તેના પ્રત્યે લેણદાર જેવો વ્યવહાર ન રાખશો, ને તેની પાસે વ્યાજ લેશો નહિ.
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<v id="26" bcv="EXO.22.26" />જો તમે તમાંરા પડોશીનું વસ્ત્ર ગીરવે રાખો, તો સૂર્યાસ્ત થતાં અગાઉ તમાંરે તે તેને પાછું આપવું.
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<v id="27" bcv="EXO.22.27" />કારણ કે એ એકમાંત્ર એનું પાગરણ છે. તેથી તે બીજું શું ઓઢીને સૂએ? જો તે મને પોકારશે, તો હું તેને સાંભળીશ, કારણ કે હું કૃપાળુ છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EXO.22.28" />“તમાંરા ન્યાયધીશોની નિંદા ન કર તથા તમાંરા પોતાના લોકોના કોઈ આગેવાનને શાપ આપવો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.22.29" />“તમાંરે તમાંરા ખેતરની ઊપજ તથા તમાંરા દ્રાક્ષારસની પુષ્કળતામાંથી અર્પણ કરવામાં ઢીલ કરવી નહિ અને તમાંરો જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર મને આપવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EXO.22.30" />“તમાંરાં બળદો અને ઘેટાનું પ્રથમ જનિત મને આપવું. સાત દિવસ ભલે તે પોતાની માંતાની સાથે રહે. આઠમે દિવસે તમાંરે તે મને આપી દેવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EXO.22.31" />“અને તમે લોકો માંરા પવિત્ર માંણસો થાઓ; તમાંરે જંગલી પશુએ માંરેલા કોઈ પશુનું માંસ ન ખાવું, તે કૂતરાંને નાખી દેવું.
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<c id="23" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.23.1" />“તમાંરે જૂઠી અફવા માંનવી નહિ, કે ફેલાવવી નહિ, દુષ્ટ માંણસને સાથ આપીને ખોટી સાક્ષી પૂરવી નહિ,
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.23.2" />“બહુમતીથી દોરવાઈને તમાંરે ખોટું કામ કરવું નહિ, તેમ જ ન્યાયલયમાં સાક્ષી આપતી વખતે ન્યાયના ભોગે બહુમતીનો પક્ષ લેવો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EXO.23.3" />“માંણસ ગરીબ હોય તો તેની ગરીબીના કારણે ન્યાયાલયમાં તેના પ્રત્યે પક્ષપાત ન કરવો. જો તે સાચો હોય તો જ એનો પક્ષ લેવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.23.4" />“તમાંરા શત્રુનો બળદ કે ગધેડો ભટકતો નજરે પડે તો તમાંરે તેના માંલિકને ત્યાં પાછો પહોંચાડવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EXO.23.5" />“જો તમે તમાંરા દુશ્મનના ગધેડાને ભારથી ચગદાઈને પડેલો જુઓ, તો તેને એમને એમ છોડીને ચાલ્યા ન જતાં, તમાંરે તેને સહાય આપીને બેઠો કરવો પછી જ તેને છૂટું કરવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.23.6" />“તમાંરે ગરીબ માંણસને તેના ન્યાયશાસનમાં અન્યાય ન કરવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.23.7" />“જૂઠા આક્ષેપો કરવા નહિ, તથા નિર્દોષ અને ન્યાયીને મૃત્યુદંડની સજા કરવી નહિ. હું નિર્દોષ માંણસ ને માંરી નાખે તેવા ખરાબ માંણસને નિર્દોષ નહિ માંનું.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.23.8" />“તમાંરે કદાપી લાંચ લેવી નહિ. કારણ કે લાંચ દેખતાને અંધ બનાવે છે, જેથી તેઓ સત્ય જોઈ શકતા નથી. તે સારા માંણસને ખોટુ બોલતા કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.23.9" />“તમાંરે વિદેશી લોકો પર ત્રાસ કરવો નહિ, તમે લોકો મિસરમાં વિદેશી હતા, એટલે તમે વિદેશીઓની લાગણીને જાણો છો.
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<s style="s">વિશીષ્ટ પર્વો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.23.10" />“અને છ વર્ષ પર્યંત તમાંરે ખેતરમાં વાવેતર કરવું અને તેની ઊપજ એકત્રીત કરવી.
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.23.11" />પણ તમાંરે સાતમે વર્ષે કશુંય વાવ્યા વિના જમીન પડતર રહેવા દેવી. જમીનને એક વર્ષ આરામ કરવા દેવો. જે કઈ ઉગે વાવ્યા વગર તે વર્ષે તે ગરીબોને લેવા દેવું અને વધેલું વનનાં પશુઓ ખાઈ શકે. વળી તમાંરે તમાંરી દ્રાક્ષની અને જૈતૂનની વાડીમાં પણ આ પ્રમાંણે કરવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.23.12" />“તમાંરે છ દિવસ કામ કરવું પણ સાતમે દિવસે વિશ્રામ કરવો, જેથી તમાંરા બળદને અને ગધેડાને આરામ મળે અને તમાંરા ઘરમાં કામ કરતા દાસ-દાસી અને પરદેશી આરામ કરીને તાજા થાય.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.23.13" />“અને મેં જે બધું તમને કહ્યું છે તેનું ધ્યાન રાખજો. અને અન્ય દેવોની પૂજા કરશો નહિ. તથા તમાંરા મોઢેથી તેઓનું નામ સાંભળવા મળવું જોઈએ નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.23.14" />“પ્રતિવર્ષ તમાંરે માંરો ઉત્સવ ત્રણ વાર ઊજવવો, આ રજાઓમાં, તમાંરે માંરી ખાસ જગ્યાએ માંરી ઉપાસના કરવા આવવું.
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<v id="15" bcv="EXO.23.15" />પહેલી રજા આબીબ મહિનામાં બેખમીર રોટલીના ઉત્સવની હશે. તે વખતે સાત દિવસ માંરી આજ્ઞા મુજબ તમાંરે ખમીર વગરની રોટલી ખાવી. કારણ કે, એ મહિનામાં તમે મિસરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા હતા, અને કોઈએ માંરી પાસે ખાલી હાથે આવવું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.23.16" />“બીજી રજા કાપણીના પર્વની હશે. આ રજા વહેલા ઉનાળામાં તમે ખેતરમાં જે વાવેતર કર્યુ હોય તેની પ્રથમ ઊપજ પ્રાપ્ત થાય ત્યારે હશે.
</p>
<p style="p">“ત્રીજી રજા આશ્રયના પર્વમાં જ્યારે ખેતરમાંથી ઉપજ ભેગી કરો ત્યારે રહેશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.23.17" />“પ્રતિવર્ષ ત્રણ વખત તમાંરામાંના પ્રત્યેક પુરુષોએ માંરી ખાસ જગ્યાએ, માંરી સાથે તમાંરા માંલિક સાથે હાજર રહેવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.23.18" />“તમાંરે માંરા યજ્ઞનું લોહી ખમીરવાળી રોટલી સાથે ધરાવવું નહિ તેમજ માંરા પર્વની ચરબી સવાર સુધી રાખી મૂકવી નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.23.19" />“તમાંરી જમીનની પ્રથમ ઊપજનો ઉત્તમોત્તમ ભાગ તમાંરે તમાંરા યહોવા દેવના મંદિરમાં લઈ આવવો.
</p>
<p style="p">“વળી લવારાને તેની માંતાના દૂધમાં રાંધવું નહિ.”
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ભૂમિ પ્રાપ્તિ માંટે યહોવાની મદદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.23.20" />“અને તમાંરા માંટે મેં જે જગ્યા તૈયાર કરી છે ત્યાં તમને લઈ જવા માંટે હવે હું તમાંરી આગળ એક દેવદૂત મોકલું છું તે રસ્તામાં તમાંરું રક્ષણ કરશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="EXO.23.21" />તમે લોકો તેનાથી જાળવીને રહેજો અને તેનું કહ્યું કરજો. તેના વિરુદ્ધ બળવો ન કરશો, તે તમાંરો ગુનો માંફ કરશે નહિ કારણ કે માંરુ નામ તેનામાં છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EXO.23.22" />પરંતુ જો તમે તેની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરશો અને હું જે કહું તે બધુ કરશો, તો હું તમાંરી સાથે રહીશ અને તમાંરા શત્રુઓ સાથે લડીશ. અને તમને હેરાન અને ત્રાસ કરનારને હું સજા આપીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EXO.23.23" />“કારણ કે માંરો દેવદૂત તમાંરી આગળ આગળ ચાલશે અને તમને અમોરીઓ, હિત્તીઓ, પરીઝીઓ, કનાનીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ અને યબૂસીઓના પ્રદેશમાં લઈ જશે, અને હું તેઓનો સર્વનાશ કરીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.23.24" />“તે લોકોના દેવોની પૂજા કરવી નહિ, તેમની આગળ નમવું નહિ. તમાંરે તે લોકોની જેમ રહેવાનું નથી; તમાંરે તેઓની મૂર્તિઓને ઉથલાવી પાડવાની છે. અને તે લોકોના સ્તંભોના ભાંગીને ભુક્કા કરી નાખવાના છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="EXO.23.25" />વળી તમાંરે તમાંરા યહોવા દેવની જ સેવા કરવાની છે, અને હું તમાંરા અન્ન-જળ પર આશીર્વાદ વરસાવીશ. અને તમાંરા તમાંમ રોગો હું દૂર કરીશ.
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<v id="26" bcv="EXO.23.26" />તમાંરા દેશમાં કોઈ પણ સ્ત્રીનો ગર્ભપાત થશે નહિ, તથા કોઈ સ્ત્રી વાંઝણી પણ હશે નહિ; હું તમને લોકોને પૂરેપૂરું આયુષ્ય આપીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.23.27" />“તમે જ્યારે દુશ્મનો સાથે લડતા હશો, ત્યારે હું માંરુ મહાબળ તમાંરી સામે મોકલીશ અને તે બધાંને હું થથરાવી દઈશ. તથા તમાંરા બધા જ દુશ્મનો તમાંરાથી ભાગી જાય એવું હું કરીશ.”
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EXO.23.28" />તદુપરાંત હું તમાંરી આગળ હું ભમરીઓને મોકલીશ, ને તે હિવ્વી તથા કનાની તથા હિતી લોકોને તમાંરી આગળથી કાંકી કાઢશે.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="EXO.23.29" />હું એક જ વર્ષમાં એ બધાને હાંકી કાઢીશ નહિ, રખેને બધી જમીન વેરાન થઈ જાય અને જગંલમાં જંગલી જાનવરોની સંખ્યા વધી જતાં તમે બધા મુશ્કેલીમાં મુકાઈ જાઓ.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="EXO.23.30" />તમાંરી સંખ્યાનો એટલો બધો વધારો થાય અને તમે સમગ્ર દેશનો કબજો લઈ શકો ત્યાં સુધીમાં તો હું તેમને ધીરે ધીરે હાંકી કાઢીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EXO.23.31" />“અને હું રાતા સમુદ્રથી ફ્રાત નદી સુધી તમાંરી સરહદ નક્કી કરી આપીશ. પલિસ્તીઓના સમુદ્ર પશ્ચિમી સરહદે રહેશે અને પૂર્વી સરહદે અરબી રણ રહેશે. અને એ દેશના વતનીઓને હું તમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દઈશ, અને તમે તેમને હાંકી કાઢજો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="EXO.23.32" />“તમે તેઓની સાથે કે તેઓના દેવો સાથે કોઈ સંબંધ બાંધશો નહિ, કે તેમને તમાંરા શહેરમાં રહેવા ન દેશો.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="EXO.23.33" />નહિ તો તેઓ તમને ફસાવી, તેમના દેવોની પૂજા કરશે અને માંરી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કરવા પ્રેરશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહોવાએ કરાર કર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.24.1" />દેવે મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તું અને હારુન, તથા નાદાબ તથા અબીહૂ તથા ઇસ્રાએલના વડીલોમાંના સિત્તેર માંરી સમક્ષ આવો; અને થોડે દૂર રહીને માંરુ ભજન કરજો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.24.2" />પછી તું એકલો માંરી પાસે આવજે, અન્ય કોઈ ન આવે. અને લોકો તો તારી સાથે ઉપર આવે જ નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EXO.24.3" />ત્યારબાદ મૂસાએ આવીને લોકોને યહોવાનાં બધાં વચનો અને બધી આજ્ઞાઓ કહી સંભળાવી. પછી બધા લોકો એકી અવાજે બોલી ઊઠયા, “યહોવાએ જે બધી વાતો કહી છે તે બધાનું પાલન અમે કરીશું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.24.4" />પછી મૂસાએ યહોવાનાં બધાં આદેશો લખી નાખ્યાં અને સવારમાં વહેલા ઊઠીને તેણે પર્વતની તળેટીમાં એક વેદી બાંધી અને ઇસ્રાએલના બાર કુળસમૂહ પ્રમાંણે બાર સ્તંભ બાંધ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.24.5" />પછી તેણે કેટલાક ઇસ્રાએલી નવયુવાનોને યજ્ઞો અર્પવા મોકલ્યા. અને તેમણે યહોવાને દહનાર્પણ અને શાંત્યર્પણ તરીકે બળદો અર્પણ કર્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.24.6" />અને મૂસાએ યજ્ઞનું અડધું લોહી એક વાસણમાં રાખ્યું અને અડધું લોહી તેણે વેદી પર છાંટયું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.24.7" />પછી તેણે કરારનું પુસ્તક લીધું અને બધા લોકોને મોટેથી વાંચી સંભળાવ્યું એટલે તેઓ બોલી ઊઠયા, “યહોવાએ જે જે કહ્યું છે તે બધું અમે માંથે ચઢાવીશું અને તે પ્રમાંણે કરીશું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.24.8" />પછી મૂસાએ વાસણમાંથી લોહી લઈને લોકો પર છાટયું અને કહ્યું, “આ પુસ્તકમાં લખેલાં વચનો પ્રમાંણે યહોવાએ તમાંરી સાથે જે કરાર કર્યો છે, તેને પાકો કરનાર આ લોહી છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.24.9" />તે પછી મૂસા, હારુન, નાદાબ, અબીહૂ અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના 70 વડીલોને સાથે લઈને તે ઉપર ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EXO.24.10" />ત્યાં તેમણે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવના દર્શન કર્યા. તેમના પગ નીચે જાણે નીલમના જેવી ફરસબંધી હતી-સ્વચ્છ નિર્મળ આકાશ જ જોઈ લો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.24.11" />ઇસ્રાએલના બધા આગેવાનોએ દેવનું આ દ્રશ્ય જોયું, પણ યહોવાએ તેમનો નાશ ન કર્યો. તેઓ બધાએ સાથે ખાધું અને પીધું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાને દેવના કાનૂનની પ્રાપ્તિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.24.12" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તું માંરી પાસે પર્વત પર આવ અને ત્યાં રહે; અને મેં જે શિલાઓ ઉપર નિયમો અને આજ્ઞાનો લખ્યાં છે, તે હું તને આપીશ જેથી તું લોકોને સમજાવી શકે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.24.13" />આથી મૂસા તથા તેનો સેવક યહોશુઆ ઊઠયા, અને મૂસા દેવના પર્વત પર ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.24.14" />જતાં જતાં તેણે વડીલોને કહ્યું, “અમે પાછા આવીએ, ત્યાં સુધી તમે અહી અમાંરી રાહ જુઓ. અને જુઓ, હારુન અને દૂર તમાંરી સાથે છે; જો કોઈને કંઈ તકરાર હોય તો તે એ બે જણ પાસે જાય.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાની દેવ સાથે મુલાકાત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.24.15" />પછી મૂસા પર્વત પર ચઢયો અને વાદળોએ પર્વતને ઢાંકી દીધો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.24.16" />યહોવાનું ગૌરવ સિનાઈ પર્વત પર ઊતર્યુ. અને છ દિવસ સુધી વાદળોએ એ પર્વતને ઢાંકી રાખ્યો, અને સાતમે દિવસે યહોવાએ વાદળમાંથી મૂસાને હાંક માંરીને બોલાવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EXO.24.17" />અને યહોવાનું ગૌરવ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પર્વતની ટોચે સર્વભક્ષી અગ્નિ જેવું લાગ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.24.18" />અને મૂસા વાદળમાં પ્રવેશ કરીને પર્વત પર ચઢયો; અને તે ત્યાં 40 દિવસ અને 40 રાત રહ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="25" />
<s style="s">પવિત્ર વસ્તુઓની ભેટો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.25.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.25.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહે કે, તેઓ માંરા માંટે ભેટ ઉધરાવે; પ્રત્યેક માંણસ રાજીખુશીથી જે કંઈ આપે તે તમાંરે ભેટ તરીકે સ્વીકારવું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.25.3" />તમાંરે તેમની પાસેથી આટલી વસ્તુઓ ભેટમાં સ્વીકારવી; સોનું, ચાંદી તાંબું અને ભૂરા, જાંબુડિયા તથા કિરમજી રંગનું કિંમતી ઊન;
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.25.4" />શણનું ઝીણું કાપડ તથા બકરાંના વાળ,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.25.5" />ઘેટાનાં પકવેલાં લાલ રંગમાં રંગેલાં ચામડાં, તથા સીલ (માંછલી) નાં કુમાંશદાર ચામડાં, અને બાવળનાં લાકડાં.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EXO.25.6" />દીવા માંટે તેલ, અભિષેકના તેલને માંટે તથા સુવાસિત ધૂપને માંટે સુગંધીઓ,
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EXO.25.7" />ઉરપત્ર અને એફોદમાં જડવા માંટે ગોમેદ પાષાણો અને અન્ય પાષાણો.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પવિત્ર મંડપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.25.8" />“અને તેઓ માંરા માંટે એક પવિત્ર સ્થાન બનાવે, જેથી હું તેમની વચ્ચે રહી શકું.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EXO.25.9" />હું મંડપનો નમૂનો તથા તેના સર્વ સામાંનનો નમૂનો બતાવું તે પ્રમાંણે તમાંરે તે બનાવવું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કરારકોશની પેટી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.25.10" />“બાવળના લાકડાનો અઢી હાથ લાંબો, દોઢ હાથ પહોળો, અને દોઢ હાથ ઊંચો એક પવિત્રકોશ બનાવવો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.25.11" />અને તેને અંદરથી ને બહારથી ચોખ્ખા સોનાથી મઢી લેવો અને તેની ફરતે સોનાની પટ્ટી જડવી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EXO.25.12" />પછી તેને ઊંચકવાનાં ચાર સોનાનાં કડાં બનાવવાં અને તેના ચાર ખૂણે જડી દેવાં; એક બાજુએ બે કડાં અને બીજી બાજુએ બે કડાં.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EXO.25.13" />બાવળના દાંડા બનાવીને પછી તું તેમને સોનાથી મઢજે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.25.14" />અને કોશને ઉપાડવા માંટે એ દાંડા દરેક બાજુના કડામાં પરોવી દેવા.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EXO.25.15" />દાંડા કોશનાં કડામાં રહેવા દેવા, બહાર કાઢવા નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.25.16" />“અને હું તને કરારના સ્માંરક તરીકે જે બે પાટીઓ આપું તે તું તેમાં મૂકજે,
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EXO.25.17" />વળી ચોખ્ખા સોનાનું અઢી હાથ લાંબું અને દોઢ હાથ પહોળું ઢાંકણું તમાંરે બનાવવું.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EXO.25.18" />અને બે કરૂબ દેવદૂતો ટીપેલા સોનામાંથી ઘડીને ઢાંકણના બે છેડા માંટે બનાવવા.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EXO.25.19" />અને એક દેવદૂત એક છેડા પર, ને બીજા ઢાંકણના બીજા છેડા પર બેસાડવો, એ દેવદૂત ઢાંકણની સાથે એવી રીતે જોડી દેવા કે ઢાંકણ અને દેવદૂતો એક થઈ જાય.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EXO.25.20" />એ દેવદૂતોની પાંખો ઊચે આકાશ તરફ ફેલાયેલી રાખવી. તેમનાં મોં એકબીજાની સામે હોય અને તે ઢાંકણ તરફ વળેલાં હોય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.25.21" />“એ ઢાંકણ કોશ ઉપર મૂકવું અને કોશમાં હું તને આપું તે કરારની બે પાટીઓ મૂકવી.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EXO.25.22" />પછી હું તને ત્યાં મળીશ. અને કરારકોશ ઉપરના બે કરૂબદેવદૂતોની વચ્ચેથી હું તને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માંટેની માંરી બધી આજ્ઞાઓ આપીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મેજ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EXO.25.23" />“વળી તું બાવળના લાકડાનો બે હાથ લાંબો, એક હાથ પહોળો, અને દોઢ હાથ ઊંચો એક મેજ બનાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EXO.25.24" />અને તું તેને શુદ્ધ સોનાથી મઢજે, ને તેને ફરતી સોનાની કિનારી બનાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EXO.25.25" />અને તેને ફરતી તું ચાર આંગળની કોર બનાવજે, અને કોરની આસપાસ સોનાની કિનારી બનાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EXO.25.26" />અને એને ઉપાડવા માંટે સોનાનાં ચાર કડાં બનાવજે અને તેને ચાર ખૂણે ચાર પાયા સાથે જડી દેજે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EXO.25.27" />મેજને ઉપાડવા માંટેની દાંડીઓ પરોવવાના કડાં કિનારની પાસે મૂકવાં.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EXO.25.28" />અને મેજ ઊચકવા માંટે બાવળના દાંડા બનાવજે અને તેને સોનાથી મઢજે.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="EXO.25.29" />મેજ માંટે વાસણો બનાવજે; રકાબીઓ, વાટકા, પેય અને નૈવેધ માંટેના વાટકા તથા કડછીઓ; એ બધાં શુદ્ધ સોનાનાં બનાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="EXO.25.30" />અને એ મેજ પર હંમેશા માંરી સંમુખ મને ધરાવેલી રોટલી મૂકી રાખજે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દીવી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EXO.25.31" />“વળી, એક શુદ્ધ સોનાની દીવી બનાવજે. તે દીવીની બેસણી અને થાંભલી સોનામાંથી ઘડીને બનાવજે, તેનાં શોભાના ફૂલો, કળીઓ અને પાંદડીઓ, દીવી સાથે જડીને એક કરી દેવાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="EXO.25.32" />“એ દીવીને છ શાખા હોય-બંને બાજુએ ત્રણ ત્રણ.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="EXO.25.33" />એ છમાંની દરેક શાખાને બદામના ફૂલના ઘાટનાં ત્રણ શોભાનાં ફૂલ હોય, અને પ્રત્યેકને કળીઓ અને પાંદડીઓ હોય.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="EXO.25.34" />દીવીની થાંભલીને બદામનાં ફૂલના ઘાટનાં ચાર શોભાના ફૂલ હોય અને દરેકને કળીઓ અને પાંખડીઓ હોય,
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="EXO.25.35" />દીવીને છ ડાળી હોવી જોઈએ-દાંડીની બન્ને બાજુથી ત્રણ શાખા નીકળવી જોઈએ, શાખાની દરેક જોડીની નીચે એક એક કળી હોય, એ કળીએ અને ડાળીઓ દીવીની સાથે જડી દીધેલી હોય.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="EXO.25.36" />અને બધુંજ શુદ્ધ સોનાની એક જ ડાળકીમાંથી ઘડીને બનાવેલું હોય.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="EXO.25.37" />દીવી માંટે સાત કોડિયાં બનાવવાં અને એવી રીતે ગોઠવવાં કે તેમનો પ્રકાશ સામેની બાજુએ પડે.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="EXO.25.38" />એના ચીપિયા અને તાસક શુદ્ધ સોનાના હોવા જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="EXO.25.39" />આ બધાં સાધનો બનાવવા માંટે 75 પૌંડ શુદ્ધ સોનું વાપરજે.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="EXO.25.40" />તેં પર્વત પર જોયેલા નમૂના પ્રમાંણે આ બધું બનાવવાની કાળજી રાખજે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">પવિત્ર મંડપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.26.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “વળી તું મંડપ દશ પડદાનો બનાવજે. આ પડદા ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણના હોવા જોઈએ અને ભૂરા, કિરમજી અને લાલ ઊનના બનાવજે. એ પડદાઓ ઉપર જરીથી કળામય રીતે કરૂબ દેવદૂતો ભરાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.26.2" />પ્રત્યેક પડદો અઠ્ઠાવીસ હાથ લાંબો, ને ચાર હાથ પહોળો હોય; બધાજ પડદા એક સરખા માંપના હોય.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.26.3" />પાંચ પડદા એકબીજા સાથે જોડાય અને બીજા પાંચ પડદા એકબીજા સાથે જોડાય.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.26.4" />પડદાના એક સમૂહ પર જાંબુડિયા રંગના કાપડનાં નાકાં મૂકવાં. બીજા સમૂહના છેલ્લા પડદા પર પણ એમ જ કરવું.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.26.5" />એક પડદામાં તું 50 નાકાં બનાવજે, ને બીજા સમૂહના પડદામાં 50 નાકાં બનાવજે અને નાકાં એકબીજાની સામસામાં આવવા જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EXO.26.6" />પછી 50 કડીઓ સોનાની બનાવને બંને પડદાને સાંધી દેવા જેથી મંડપનો એક સળંગ તંબુ બનશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.26.7" />“આ પવિત્ર મંડપ ઉપર તંબુ બનાવવા માંટેનું બકરાંના વાળના કાપડના અગિયાર પડદા તૈયાર કરવા.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EXO.26.8" />અગિયાર પડદા એક સરખા માંપના હોવા જોઈએ, પ્રત્યેક 30 હાથ લાંબા અને 4 હાથ પહોળા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EXO.26.9" />એમાંના પાંચ પડદાને એક સાથે સીવીને એક પડદો બનાવવો; બાકીના છ પડદાને ભેગા સીવીને બીજો પડદો બનાવવો. એમાંનો છઠ્ઠો પડદો મંદિરના પ્રવેશદ્વાર ઉપર બેવડ વાળવો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EXO.26.10" />અને સમૂહનો જે છેલ્લો પડદો છે તેની બાજુએ પચાસ નાકાં; ને બીજા સમૂહના પડદાની બાજુએ પચાસ નાકાં બનાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.26.11" />અને કાસા 50 કડીઓ બનાવજે અને તેને પેલા નાકાંમાં પરોવી બંને પડદાંને જોડી દઈને એક સળંગ તંબુ બનાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EXO.26.12" />અને તંબુ ઉપરથી વધારાનો લટકતો રહેતો અડઘો પડદો મંડપના પાછલા ભાગ પર લટકતો રાખવો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EXO.26.13" />તંબુની બંને બાજુએ પડદાઓ એક હાથ તંબુના છેડેથી નીચા રહેશે. આથી આ તંબુ પવિત્ર તંબુને સંપૂર્ણ રીતે ઢાંકશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.26.14" />તંબુ માંટે ઘેટાંના લાલ રંગેલાં ચામડાંનો બીજો ઓઢો બનાવવો અને તેના પર આચ્છાદન માંટે કુમાંશદાર ચામડાનું ઢાંકણ બનાવવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.26.15" />“પવિત્રમંડપની આધાર તરીકે બાવળનાં પાટિયાં બનાવી ઊભાં મૂકવાં.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.26.16" />પ્રત્યેક પાટિયું 10 હાથ લાંબુ અને દોઢ હાથ પહોળું હોય.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EXO.26.17" />પ્રત્યેક પાટિયામાં એકબીજાની સાથે જોડાયેલી બે સાલ હોય; પવિત્ર મંડપની બધી જ બારસાખો સરખી હોવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EXO.26.18" />પવિત્ર મંડપની દક્ષિણની બાજુ માંટે 20 પટિયા બનાવવાં.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EXO.26.19" />અને પ્રત્યેક પાટિયાનાં બે સાલને બેસાડવા માંટે તેની નીચે બે કૂંભી એમ કુલ 40 ચાંદીની કૂભીઓ બનાવવી.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EXO.26.20" />એ જ પ્રમાંણે મંડપની ઉત્તરની બાજુ માંટે પણ 20 પાટિયાં,
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EXO.26.21" />અને 40 ચાંદીની કૂભીઓ બનાવવી જેથી દરેક પાટિયા નીચે બબ્બે કૂભી આવે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EXO.26.22" />પવિત્ર મંડપની પશ્ચિમ તરફની પાછલા ભાગ માંટે છ પાટિયાં બનાવવાં.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.26.23" />અને મંડપના પાછલા ભાગના બે ખૂણાને માંટે તું બે પાટિયાં બનાવ.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EXO.26.24" />આ ખૂણા પરનાં પાટિયાં નીચેથી એકબીજા સાથે બંધ બેસતાં હોય અને તે ઠેઠ ઉપર એક કડી બધાં પાટિયાંને સાથે રાખે. બન્ને ખુણાઓમાં એમ કરવું. બે ખૂણા માંટેનાં બે પાટિયાં આ રીતે બનાવવાં એટલે બે ખૂણા બની જશે,
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EXO.26.25" />આમ, આઠ પાટિયાં અને 16 ચાંદીની કૂભી હશે. પ્રત્યેક પાટિયા નીચે બબ્બે કૂભીઓ રાખજે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EXO.26.26" />“વળી તું બાવળના લાકડાની આડી વળીઓ બનાવજે. પવિત્ર મંડપની એક બાજુના પાટિયાંને માંટે પાંચ,
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EXO.26.27" />ને પવિત્ર મંડપની બીજી બાજુના પાટિયાં માંટે પણ પાંચ ભૂંગળો, તેમજ પશ્ચિમ તરફથી પાછલી બાજુ માંટે પાંચ.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EXO.26.28" />વચલી વળી પાટિયાની વચ્ચે તંબુના એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી આવે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.26.29" />“વળી પાટિયા સોનાથી મઢાવવાં. અને વળીઓ ભેરવવા માંટે તેમાં સોનાનાં કડાં બેસાડવાં અને વળીઓને પણ તું સોનાથી મઢાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="EXO.26.30" />પર્વત પર તને પવિત્ર મંડપનો જે નમૂનો મેં બતાવ્યો છે તે પ્રમાંણે તું પવિત્ર મંડપ ઊભો કરજે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પવિત્ર મંડપની અંત: રચના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EXO.26.31" />“તું ભૂરા, કિરમજી અને લાલ ઊનનો અને ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણાનો એક ખાસ પડદો તંબુમાં ભાગ પાડવા માંટે બનાવજે. એના ઉપર જરીની કલામય રીતે કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની આકૃતિઓ ભરાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="EXO.26.32" />સોનાની કૂંભીઓમાં બેસાડેલી બાવળની સોનાથી મઢેલી અને આંકડીઓવાળી ચાર થાંભલીઓ ઉપર તેને લટકાવવો.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="EXO.26.33" />એ આંકડીઓ નીચે તું પડદો લટકાવજે. અને કરારનો તકતીઓવાળો કોશ એ પડદા પાછળ મૂકજે. એ પડદો પવિત્રસ્થાનને પરમ પવિત્રસ્થાનથી જુદો પાડશે.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="EXO.26.34" />પરમ પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં કરારકોશ પર ઢાંકણ ઢાંકી દેજે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="EXO.26.35" />“પવિત્ર જગ્યાની અંદર પડદાની પેલી બાજુએ તે ખાસ મેજ બનાવ્યુ છે તે મુકવું. તે તંબુની ઉત્તર બાજુએ મુકવું, પછી દીવી ને દક્ષિણ તરફ બાજઠની સામે મુકવી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પવિત્ર મંડપનું પ્રવેશદ્વાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="EXO.26.36" />“વળી, તું પવિત્ર મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર માંટે ભૂરા, કિરમજી અને લાલ ઊનનો અને ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણનો જરીનું સુંદર ભરતકામ કરેલો પડદો કરાવજે.
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<v id="37" bcv="EXO.26.37" />અને એ પડદા માંટે બાવળના લાકડાની સોનાથી મઢેલી અને સોનાની કડીવાળી પાંચ થાંભલી કરાવજે અને એ થાંભલીઓ માંટે કાંસાની ઢાળેલી પાંચ કૂંભીઓ બનાવજે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="27" />
<s style="s">દહનાર્પણની ભેટ માંટે વેદી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.27.1" />“વેદી બાવળના લાકડાની બનાવવી, જે ચોરસ હોય અને 5 હાથ લાંબી, 5 હાથ પહોળી અને 3 હાથ ઊંચી હોય.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.27.2" />ચારે ખૂણે ચાર ટોચકાં બનાવવાં, અને તે વેદીના લાકડામાંથી જ બનાવવા અને તેના ચારે બાજુથી ખુણા જોડી લેવા, જેથી તે એક બની જાય ત્યારબાદ વેદીને કાંસાથી ઢાંકી દેવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EXO.27.3" />“અને તેનાં ભસ્મપાત્રો, પાવડાંઓ, તપેલાં તથા પંજેટી તથા સગડીઓ તું બનાવજે, અને તેનાં સધળાં પાત્રો કાંસાનાં બનાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.27.4" />અને વળી વેદી માંટે તું કાંસાની જાળી બનાવજે; તથા જાળીના ચાર ખૂણામાં તું કાંસાના ચાર કડાં બનાવજે.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.27.5" />અને પછી તું એ જાળી વેદીના છાજલી નીચે એવી રીતે મૂકજે જેથી તે વેદીની ઊંચાઈને અડધે સુધી પહોંચે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.27.6" />“અને વેદીને માંટે તું બાવળના દાંડા બનાવજે અને તેને કાંસાથી મઢી દેજે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.27.7" />વળી વેદીને ઊચકતી વખતે એ દાંડા વેદીની દરેક બાજુએ આવેલા કડામાં ભેરવજે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EXO.27.8" />વેદી પાટિયાના ખોખા જેવી પોલી બનાવજે. પર્વત પર મેં જેમ તને બતાવ્યું હતું તેમ તેઓ તેને બનાવે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પવિત્ર મંડપનો ચોક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.27.9" />“મંડપની આજુબાજુ ચોક બનાવવો. તેની દક્ષિણ બાજુએ ઝીણો કાંતેલો શણનો 100 હાથ લાંબો પડદો બનાવવો.
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<v id="10" bcv="EXO.27.10" />પડદાઓ લટકાવવા માંટે કાંસાની 20 થાંભલીઓ, કાંસાની 20 કૂંભીઓ બેસાડવી અને એ થાંભલીઓના આડા સળિયા અને આંકડા ચાંદીના બનાવવા.
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.27.11" />ચોકની ઉત્તર બાજુએ પણ એ જ પ્રમાંણે કરવાનું છે. કાંસાની કૂંભીઓમાં બેસાડેલા 20 સ્તંભો સાથે જોડેલા ચાંદીના સળિયાઓ ઉપર ચાંદીના આંકડાઓ વડે 100 હાથ લાંબા પડદાઓ લટકાવવાના છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.27.12" />“એ ચોકની પશ્ચિમ બાજુને ઢાંકવા માંટે 50 હાથ લાંબા પડદા હોય અને તેને માંટે દશ થાંભલી અને દશ કૂંભીઓ હોય.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EXO.27.13" />પૂર્વ દિશામાં પણ તે જ રીતે 50 હાથ લાંબા પડદાઓ લટકાવવા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.27.14" />પ્રવેશદ્વારની એક બાજુએ 15 હાથના પડદા હોય અને તેને માંટે ત્રણ થાંભલી અને ત્રણ કૂંભી હોય.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EXO.27.15" />અને બીજી બાજુએ પણ 15 હાથના પડદા અને ત્રણ થાંબલી અને ત્રણ કૂંભી હોય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EXO.27.16" />“પ્રવેશદ્વારને માંટે 20 હાથ લાંબો પડદો બનાવવો. તે ઝીંણા કાંતેલા શણનો ભૂરા, જાંબુડા અને કિરમજી રંગનો, સુંદર ભરતકામવાળો બનાવવો, ચાર કૂંભીઓમાં બેસાડેલા ચાર સ્તંભો પર તેને લટકાવવાનો છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EXO.27.17" />ચોકની આજુબાજુની બધી થાંભલીઓ ચાંદીના સળીયાથી જોડાયેલી હોય, તેમના સાંકળા ચાંદીના હોય અને તેમની કૂંભીઓ કાંસાની હોય.
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<v id="18" bcv="EXO.27.18" />આ પ્રમાંણે ચોક ઝીંણા કાંતેલા શણના કાપડનો બનશે. અને 100 હાથ લાંબો અને 50 હાથ પહોળો થશે. ચોકને ફરતા પડદાની દીવાલો 5 હાથ ઊચી થશે. પડદાઓ ઝીંણા કાંતેલા શણના હોય. તેના તળીયા કાંસાના હોવા જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EXO.27.19" />પવિત્ર મંડપમાં વપરાતાં તમાંમ ઓજારો, તંબુના ખીલાઓ અને બીજી વસ્તુઓ કાંસાની હોવી જોઈએ. ચોકને ફરતા પડદાઓની ખીલીઓ કાંસાની બનેલી હોવી જોઈએ.
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</p>
<s style="s">દીવી માંટેનું તેલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.27.20" />“દીવી ઉપર મૂકવાના અખંડ દીવા માંટે જૈતૂનનું ધાણીએ પીલેલું ઉત્તમ તેલ લાવી આપવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આજ્ઞા કરો.
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<v id="21" bcv="EXO.27.21" />હારુન તથા તેના પુત્રોએ એ દીવો સંભાળવાનો છે. તેઓએ મુલાકાત મંડપની પહેલી ઓરડીમાં જવાનું છે. આ કરાર મુકેલી ઓરડીની બહાર છે, જે બંન્ને ઓરડાને અલગ કરે છે. આ જગ્યામાં તેઓ દીવો રાખશે જે સાંજથી સવાર સુધી યહોવાની સામે બળતો રહેશે. આ કાયમી વિધિનું ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ અને તેના વંશજોએ પેઢી દર પેઢી પાલન કરવાનું છે.”
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</p>

<c id="28" />
<s style="s">યાજકોના પોષાક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.28.1" />દેવે મૂસાને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાંથી તું તારા ભાઈ હારુનને અને તેના પુત્રો નાદાબ, અબીહૂ, એલઆઝાર, અને ઈથામાંરને અલગ કરીને માંરી સેવા કરવા માંટે યાજકો તરીકે સમર્પિત કરજે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.28.2" />“તારા ભાઈ હારુનને માંટે પવિત્ર પોષાક તૈયાર કરાવજે, જેથી તેનો મોભો અને ગૌરવ જળવાય.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.28.3" />મેં જે કારીગરોને કુશળતા આપી છે તેઓને સૂચના આપ કે હારુન માંટે પોષાક તૈયાર કરે જેથી યાજક તરીકે તે માંરી સંમુખ સેવા કરે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.28.4" />તેઓએ આ પોષાક બનાવવાનાં છે. ઉરપત્ર, એફોદ, ઝભ્ભો, સફેદ ગૂંથેલો ડગલો, પાઘડી તથા કમરબંધ; તેમણે તારા ભાઈ હારુન તથા તેના પુત્રો માંટે માંરા યાજકો તરીકે સેવા બજાવે ત્યારે પહેરવાં માંટે પવિત્ર વસ્ત્રો બનાવવાં.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.28.5" />એ વસ્ત્રો સોનેરી ઘેરો, ભૂરા, જાંબુડા અને કિરમજી રંગના ઊન અને ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણમાંથી જ બનાવવાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">એફોદ અને કમરબંધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.28.6" />“તેઓ એફોદ સોનેરી દોરો તથા ભૂરા, જાંબુડિયા અને કિરમજી રંગનો અને ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણનું બનાવે; સૌથી વધુ નિષ્ણાત કારીગરો તેમાંથી એફોદ તૈયાર કરે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.28.7" />એના બે છેડા જોડવા માંટે એને ખભા પાસે બે સ્કંધપેટી હોય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.28.8" />“કમરબંધ પણ એવી જ બનાવટનો હોય. સોનેરી દોરો, ભૂરા, જાંબુડા અને કિરમજી રંગના ઊન અને ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણના દોરાઓમાંથી ગૂંથીને બનાવેલો હોય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.28.9" />“ત્યારે ગોમેદના બે પાષાણે લેવા અને પછી તેના પર ઇસ્રાએલનાં પુત્રોનાં નામ કોતરવાં.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EXO.28.10" />પ્રત્યેક પાષાણ પર છ નામ ઉંમરના ઉતરતા ક્રમ પ્રમાંણે આવે. આમ, તેઓના જન્મ દિવસના ક્રમમાં બારે કુળનાં નામો કોતરવામાં આવે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.28.11" />આ મુદ્રા બનાવનાર કારીગર પાસે તારે બે પાષાણ પર ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રોનાં નામ કોતરાવવાં અને તેમને સોનાનાં ચોકઠામાં જડવાં અને ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રોના સ્માંરક તરીકે ઉરાવરણના ખભાના પટા સાથે જડી દેવા.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EXO.28.12" />હારુને આ નામો પોતાના બે ખભા ઉપર ધારણ કરીને યહોવા પાસે જવું જેથી તેને એમનું સ્મરણ થાય.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EXO.28.13" />એફોદ પર પત્થરને બેસાડવા માંટે શુધ્ધ સોનાનો ઉપયોગ કરવો. ઉપર તારે સોનાનાં ચોકઠાં લગાડવાં.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.28.14" />અને દોરીની જેમ વણેલી શુદ્ધ સોનાની બે સાંકળી બનાવવી અને તે ચોકઠાં સાથે જોડી દેવી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ન્યાયકરણનું ઉરપત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.28.15" />“પછી ખૂબ કાળજીપૂર્વક એફોદ બનાવવામાં ઉપયોગી એવી કારીગરીવાળું ન્યાયકરણનું ઉરપત્ર બનાવવું, એ સોનરી દોરો, ભૂરા, જાંબુડિયા અને લાલ ઊનનું તેમ જ ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણનું હોય.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.28.16" />જે સમચોરસ તથા બેવડું વાળેલું હોય, તે એક વેંત લાંબુ અને એક વેંત પહોળું હોય.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EXO.28.17" />વળી તેમાં ચાર હારમાં નંગ જડવા, પહેલી હારમાં માંણેક, પોખરાજ અને લાલ હોય.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EXO.28.18" />બીજી હારમાં લીલમ, નીલમ તથા હીરો હોય;
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EXO.28.19" />ત્રીજી હારમાં શનિ, અકીક, અને યાકૂત હોય,
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EXO.28.20" />અને ચોથી હારમાં પીરોજ, ગોમેદ તથા યાસપિસ હોય. આ બધાને સોનામાંજ જડવાં.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EXO.28.21" />પ્રત્યેક પથ્થર પર ઇસ્રાએલના બારમાંના એક પુત્રનું નામ કોતરાવવું. પ્રત્યેક પાષાણ ઇસ્રાએલના એક કુળસમૂહનું પ્રતીક બનશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.28.22" />“ઉરપત્ર માંટે દોરીની જેમ વણેલી શુદ્ધ સોનાની સાંકળીઓ કરાવવી, તે સાંકળીઓ વડે ઉરપત્રનો ઉપરનો છેડો એફોદ સાથે જોડવાનો છે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.28.23" />વળી બે સોનાની કડી કરાવવી અને તે ઉરપત્રને ઉપરને છેડે જોડી દેવી.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EXO.28.24" />અને એ બે કડીઓ સાથે પેલી બે સોનાની સાંકળી જોડી દેવી.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EXO.28.25" />સાંકળીના બીજા બે છેડા બે ચોકઠાં સાથે જોડી દેવા, અને એ રીતે એફોદની ખભાપટીઓના આગલા ભાગ ઉપર તેમને જોડી દેવી.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EXO.28.26" />પછી સોનાની બીજી બે કડીઓ બનાવવી અને ઉરપત્રમાં અંદરની બાજુએ નીચેના છેડે લગાવવી.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EXO.28.27" />કમરબંધ પર આવતા એફોદના આગળના ભાગના નીચેના છેડા ઉપર સોનાની બીજી બે કડીઓ લગાવવી.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EXO.28.28" />ઉરપત્રનો નીચેનો ભાગ ભૂરા રંગની પટ્ટીઓ વડે એફોદના નીચેના છેડા પર આવેલી કડીઓ સાથે જોડવી. આમ કરવાથી ઉરપત્ર એફોદથી છૂટું પડી જશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.28.29" />“જ્યારે હારુન પવિત્ર સ્થાનમાં પ્રવેશે, ત્યારે તેની પાસે ન્યાયકરણના ઉરપત્ર પર ઇસ્રાએલના બાર પુત્રોનાં નામ ધારણ હોવા જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="EXO.28.30" />અને હંમેશા તેઓ દેવની યાદીમાં રહેશે. ઉરીમ અને તુમ્મીમને ન્યાયકરણના ઉરપત્રમાં મૂકવા. તે હારુન જ્યારે યહોવા સમક્ષ જાય, ત્યારે તેઓ તેની છાતી પર રહે. આ રીતે હારુન હંમેશા ઇસ્રાએલીઓના ન્યાય કરવાનું સાધન પોતાની સાથે રાખશે જ્યારે તે યહોવા સમક્ષ રહેશે ત્યારે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યાજકોના અન્ય પોશાકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EXO.28.31" />“એફોદનો જામો આખો ભૂરા રંગના કાપડનો બનાવવો, ને તેની વચમાં માંથા માંટે એક કાણું રાખવું.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="EXO.28.32" />એ કાણાની કોર ચામડાના ડગલાનાં ગળાની જેમ ફરતેથી ગૂંથીને ઓટી લેવી, જેથી તે ફાટી જાય નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="EXO.28.33" />અને ડગલાની નીચેની કિનારીએ ભૂરા, જાંબુડા અને કિરમજી રંગના દાડમનું ભરતકામ કરાવવું. અને બે દાડમોની વચમાં સોનાની ઘૂઘરીઓ મૂકવી.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="EXO.28.34" />જેથી નીચલી કોર ઉપર ફરતે પહેલાં સોનાની ઘૂઘરી, પછી દાડમ, ફરી ઘૂઘરી, પછી દાડમ એ રીતે હાર થઈ જાય. હારુન જ્યારે યાજક તરીકે સેવા કરે ત્યારે એ પહેરે.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="EXO.28.35" />જ્યારે તે પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં યહોવાના સાન્નિધ્યમાં જાય અથવા ત્યાંથી બહાર આવે, ત્યારે એ ઘૂઘરીઓનો અવાજ સંભળાશે, જેથી તે મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="EXO.28.36" />“પછી શુદ્ધ સોનાનું એક પત્ર બનાવવું અને તેના પર
<sc>‘યહોવાને સમર્પિત’</sc> એમ કોતરાવવું.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="EXO.28.37" />એ પત્ર પાધડીના આગળના ભાગમાં ભૂરી દોરી વડે બાંધવું.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="EXO.28.38" />હારુને એ પોતાના કપાળ પર ધારણ કરવું જેથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ જે દાન આપે તેમાં કોઈ દોષ હોય તો તે દોષ હારુન પોતાને માંથે લઈ લે. અને હારુને તે કાયમ પોતાના કપાળ પર પહેરી રાખવું જેથી યહોવા એ પવિત્ર દાનથી પ્રસન્ન રહે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="EXO.28.39" />“હારુનનો ડગલો ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણનો બનાવવો અને પાઘડી પણ ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણની જ બનાવવી અને કમરપટા ઉપર સુંદર જરીકામ કરેલું હોય.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="EXO.28.40" />હારુનના પ્રત્યેક પુત્રોને માંટે તેને માંન અને આદર આપવા જામો, કમરબંધ અને પાઘડી બનાવવા જેથી તેનો મોભો અને ગૌરવ જળવાય.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="EXO.28.41" />હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોને આ પોષાક પહેરાવ અને તેઓને સેવા માંટે અર્પણ કર. તેઓને માંથા ઉપર જૈતતેલનો અભિષેક કરીને યાજકપદ માંટે પવિત્ર કર. તેઓ માંરી યાજકો તરીકે સેવા કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="EXO.28.42" />“તેઓને માંટે કમરથી તે સાથળ સુધી પહોંચે એવા જાંધિયા બનાવવા, જેથી તેઓનું નાગાપણુ કોઈની નજરે ન પડે.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="EXO.28.43" />હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો જ્યારે પણ મુલાકાત મંડપમાં અથવા પવિત્રસ્થાનમાંની વેદી પાસે જાય, ત્યારે તેઓ હંમેશા જાંધિયા પહેરે, જેથી તેઓ દોષમાં ન પડે અને તેઓ મૃત્યુ ન પામે. હારુન અને તેના વંશજો માંટે આ કાયમી કાનૂન સદાને માંટે છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="29" />
<s style="s">યાજકોની અર્પણવિધિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.29.1" />દેવે મૂસાને કહ્યું, “યાજકો તરીકે હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોના સમર્પણ માંટેની દીક્ષા વિધિ આ પ્રમાંણે છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.29.2" />ખોડ વિનાના બે ઘેટાં અને એક જુવાન બળદ લેવો. બેખમીર રોટલી, તેલથી મોહેલી બેખમીર ભાખરી, અને તેલ ચોપડેલી બેખમીર રોટલી લેવી. આ બધું ઘઉના મેદાનું બનાવવું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.29.3" />તેઓને ટોપલીમાં મૂકવાં અને જુવાન બળદ અને બે ઘેટાં સાથે તે લાવવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.29.4" />“ત્યારબાદ હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોને મુલાકાત મંડપમાં દ્વાર પાસે લાવીને તેમને સ્નાન કરાવ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.29.5" />પછી હારુનને જામો, ભરતકામવાળો ઝભ્ભો, એફોદ, ઉરપત્ર અને કમરબંધ પહેરાવ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EXO.29.6" />અને તેના માંથા પર પાઘડી મૂકાને તેની સાથે દીક્ષાનો પવિત્ર મુગટ બાંધ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EXO.29.7" />પછી અભિષેકનું તેલ લઈ તે તું તેના માંથા પર રેડી, તેનો અભિષેક કરજે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.29.8" />“ત્યારબાદ તેના પુત્રોને લાવી, તેમને ડગલા પહેરાવવા કમરે કમરબંધ બાંધવા તથા માંથે ફેંટા બાંધવા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EXO.29.9" />માંરા શાશ્વત કાનૂનનુસાર તેઓ યાજકપદે કાયમ રહેશે. આ રીતે હારુનની અને તેના પુત્રોની યાજકપદે પ્રતિષ્ઠા કરવાની છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.29.10" />“ત્યારબાદ બળદને મુલાકાતમંડપની આગળ લઈ આવવો. અને હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોએ તેના માંથા ઉપર હાથ મૂકવા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.29.11" />પછી યહોવાની સંમુખ મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ બળદનો વધ કરવો.
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<v id="12" bcv="EXO.29.12" />બળદનું થોડું લોહી લઈને આંગળી વડે વેદીનાં ટોચકાંઓને લગાડવું, પછી બાકીનું બધું લોહી વેદીના પાયા આગળ રેડી દેવું.
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.29.13" />પછી અંદરના ભાગો પર આવેલી બધીજ ચરબી લેવી, પિત્તાશય અને બે મૂત્રપિંડની ઉપર આવેલી ચરબી પણ લઈ લેવી અને વેદી પર તેનું દહન કરવું.
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<v id="14" bcv="EXO.29.14" />પરંતુ બળદના માંસને, ચામડીને અને તેના અંદરના અવયવોને છાવણીની બહાર અગ્નિથી બાળી મૂકવાં. તે પાપાર્થાર્પણ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.29.15" />“ત્યારબાદ એક ઘેટો લેવો. હારુને અને તેના પુત્રોએ તેના માંથ પર હાથ મૂકવા.
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.29.16" />પછી એ ઘેટાનો વધ કરીને, તેનું લોહી લઈને વેદીની ચારે બાજુએ છાંટવું.
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<v id="17" bcv="EXO.29.17" />પછી તે ઘેટાંને કાપીને કકડા કરવા. અને તેનાં આંતરડાં તથા પગ ધોઈ નાખવાં અને પછી તેઓને માંથા અને શરીરના બીજા અવયવો સાથે મૂકવાં.
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<v id="18" bcv="EXO.29.18" />પછી આખા ઘેટાંનું વેદી પર દહન કરવું એ યહોવાના માંનમાં આપેલ દહનાર્પણ છે. એની સુવાસથી હું પ્રસન્ન થાઉં છું, એ માંરા માંનમાં કરેલો હોમયજ્ઞ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.29.19" />“હવે પછી બીજો ઘેટો લેવો. હારુને અને તેના પુત્રોએ તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકવા.
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<v id="20" bcv="EXO.29.20" />પછી તે ઘેટાનો વધ કરીને તેનું થોડું લોહી લઈને હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોના જમણા કાનની બૂટને, જમણા હાથના અંગૂઠાને તથા જમણા પગના અંગૂઠાને લગાડવું.
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<v id="21" bcv="EXO.29.21" />ત્યારબાદ બાકીનું લોહી વેદીની ચારે બાજુ છાંટી દેવું, વેદી ઉપરના લોહીમાંથી થોડું લોહી અને અભિષેકનું તેલ લઈ હારુન અને તેનાં વસ્ત્રો પર તથા તેના પુત્રો અને તેમનાં વસ્ત્રો પર છાંટવું એટલે આમ તેઓ તથા તેઓનાં વસ્ત્રો યહોવાને અર્થે પવિત્ર ગણાશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.29.22" />“પછી ઘેટાંના ચરબીવાળા ભાગ લેવા; તેની પૂંછડી, અંદરના અવયવો પરની ચરબી, કાળજા પરની ચરબી, ચરબી સાથે જ મૂત્રપિંડો અને જમણી જાંધ. કારણ કે હારુન અને તેના દીકરાઓની દીક્ષા માંટેનો આ ઘેટો છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="EXO.29.23" />યહોવા આગળના બેખમીર રોટલીના ટોપલામાંથી એક રોટલી, એક મોવણવાળી ભાખરી અને એક તેલ ચોપડેલી રોટલી લેવી.
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<v id="24" bcv="EXO.29.24" />એ બધું હારુનના અને તેના પુત્રોના હાથ પર મૂકવું અને એના વડે યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરવી.
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<v id="25" bcv="EXO.29.25" />પછી તેઓના હાથમાંથી તું તે લે અને યહોવા સમક્ષ દહનાર્પણ તરીકે વેદી પર તેનું દહન કરવું. એની સુવાસથી હું પ્રસન્ન છું. એ માંરા માંનમાં કરેલું દહનાર્પણ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EXO.29.26" />“પછી હારુનની દીક્ષા માંટે વપરાયેલા ઘેટાની છાતી લઈને તેના વડે યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરવી પછી એ તારો હિસ્સો ગણાશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="EXO.29.27" />હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોની દીક્ષા માંટે વપરાયેલા, જેના વડે ઉપાસના કરી છે તે, અને ભેટ ધરાવેલી છાતી અને જાંધ તારે યાજકો માંટે અલગ રાખવાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="EXO.29.28" />માંરા શાશ્વત નિયમાંનુસાર એ હારુનને અને તેના પુત્રોને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તરફથી મળવો જોઈતો હિસ્સો છે; કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ શાંત્યર્પણમાંથી યહોવાને ધરાવેલી એ ભેટ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.29.29" />“હારુનનાં આ પવિત્ર વસ્ત્રો સાચવી રાખવાં. હારુનના મૃત્યુ બાદ તેના પુત્રોને વારસામાં મળે. પેઢી દર પેઢી તેઓ તેમની પોતાની અભિષેકની દીક્ષા વિધિ વખતે તે પહેરે.
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<v id="30" bcv="EXO.29.30" />હારુન પછી જે કોઈ મુખ્ય યાજક થાય તે મુલાકાત મંડપમાં અને પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં સેવા શરૂ કરે તે અગાઉ સાત દિવસ સુધી આ વસ્ત્રો ધારણ કરે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EXO.29.31" />“દીક્ષા માંટે અર્પણ કરાયેલ ઘેટાનું માંસ લઈને કોઈ પવિત્રસ્થાને તેને બાફવું;
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<v id="32" bcv="EXO.29.32" />ત્યારબાદ હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોએ મુલાકાતમંડપમાં પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ એ ઘેટાનું માંસ અને ટોપલામાંની રોટલીનું ભોજન કરવું.
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<v id="33" bcv="EXO.29.33" />તેમની દીક્ષાવિધિ વખતે તેમની પ્રાયશ્ચિત વિધિ માંટે ઉપયોગમાં લેવાયેલ પદાર્થો જ ખાવા; યાજકો સિવાય અન્ય કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિએ તે ખાવા નહિ. કારણ એ પવિત્ર છે.
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<v id="34" bcv="EXO.29.34" />સવાર સુધી જો માંસ કે રોટલીમાંથી કાંઈ વધે તો તેને અગ્નિમાં બાળી મૂકવું, ખાવું નહિ, કારણ એ પવિત્ર છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="EXO.29.35" />“હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોને બાબતમાં મે આજ્ઞા કરી છે તે મુજબ જ કરવું. એમની દીક્ષાની વિધિ સાત દિવસ ચલાવવી.
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<v id="36" bcv="EXO.29.36" />દરરોજ પ્રાયશ્ચિત વિધિ માંટે એક બળદનું બલિદાન આપવું. વેદી ઉપર પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવાથી તું એને પાપમુકત કરશે. ત્યાર પછી તારે વેદી પર તેલનો અભિષેક કરી અને પવિત્ર બનાવવી.
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<v id="37" bcv="EXO.29.37" />સાત દિવસ સુધી વેદીને શુધ્ધ અને પવિત્ર બનાવવી. ત્યાર બાદ વેદી સંપૂર્ણપણે અત્યંત પવિત્ર બનશે, એના પછી વેદી જ અત્યંત પવિત્ર બનશે. અને જો કોઈ તેના સંપર્કમાં આવશે તે પવિત્ર બની જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="EXO.29.38" />“તારે વેદી પર આટલી બલિ ચઢાવવી: પ્રતિદિન કાયમને માંટે એક વર્ષની ઉંમરના બે હલવાન અર્પણ કરવાં.
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<v id="39" bcv="EXO.29.39" />એક સવારે અને બીજું સાંજે.
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<v id="40" bcv="EXO.29.40" />પ્રથમ ઘેટા સાથે તમાંરે એક કિલો શુદ્ધ તેલમાં મોહેલો એક કિલો ઝીણો ઘઉંનો લોટ તેમજ પેયાર્પણ તરીકે એક લીટર દ્રાક્ષારસ અર્પણ કરવું.
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<v id="41" bcv="EXO.29.41" />સાંજે અર્પણ થતા હલવાનની સાથે સવારની જેમ ઝીણા ઘઊનાં લોટનું અને દ્રાક્ષારસનું અર્પણ કર. દેવની સમક્ષ તે સુવાસિત અર્પણ અને અગ્નિમાં થયેલ અર્પણ લેખાશે. એ યજ્ઞની સુવાસથી હું પ્રસન્ન થાઉં છું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="EXO.29.42" />“આ દહનાર્પણ મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ માંરી નજર સમક્ષ નિયમિત પેઢી-દર પેઢી આપવાની છે.
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<v id="43" bcv="EXO.29.43" />હું ત્યાં જ તમને મળીશ; અને ત્યાં જ હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પણ મળીશ. અને માંરા મહિમાંથી એ સ્થાન પવિત્ર થઈ જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="EXO.29.44" />“હા, હું મુલાકાતમંડપને, વેદીને અને યાજકો તરીકે માંરા સેવકો હારુન તથા તેના પુત્રોને પવિત્ર કરીશ.
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<v id="45" bcv="EXO.29.45" />અને હું ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો મધ્યે નિવાસ કરીશ અને તેમનો દેવ થઈશ.
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<v id="46" bcv="EXO.29.46" />તેઓને ખાતરી થશે કે તેમની વચ્ચે રહેવા માંટે તેમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવનાર હું યહોવા તેઓનો દેવ છું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="30" />
<s style="s">ધૂપદાની
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.30.1" />દેવે મૂસાને કહ્યું, “ધૂપદાની માંટે તારે એક વેદી બનાવવી. એ બાવળના લાકડાની બનાવવી.
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.30.2" />તે એક હાથ ઊચી અને એક હાથ સમચોરસ બનાવવી અને વેદીના લાકડામાંથી જ કોતરીને તેનાં શિંગ બનાવવા, શિંગ જુદા બનાવીને વેદી પર જોડવા નહિ. તે વેદી સાથે એક નંગ હોવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.30.3" />વેદીનો ઉપરનો ભાગ, બાજુઓ અને શિંગ શુદ્ધ સોનાથી મઢી લેવો અને આખી વેદીની ચારે બાજુ સોનાની કિનારી બનાવવી.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.30.4" />એની બે સામસામી બાજુઓએ કિનારીની નીચે ઉપાડવાના દાંડા ભેરવવા માંટે સોનાનાં બબ્બે કડાં મૂકવાં.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.30.5" />એ બે દાંડા બાવળના લાકડાના બનાવવા અને સોનાથી મઢાવવા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EXO.30.6" />દશ આજ્ઞાઓ જેમાં મૂકી છે તે સાક્ષ્યકોશ આગળના પડદા સામે એ વેદી મૂકવી ત્યાં હું તેમને દર્શન દઈશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.30.7" />“એ વેદી પર પ્રતિદિન સવારે દીવાબત્તી તૈયાર કરતી વખતે હારુને સુગંધી ધૂપ કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EXO.30.8" />અને રોજ સાંજે તે દીવાઓ પ્રગટાવે ત્યારે યહોવાની સંમુખ ધૂપ કરવો. તારે પેઢી-દર-પેઢી કાયમ યહોવા સમક્ષ ધૂપ કરવો,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EXO.30.9" />તારે એ વેદી પર નિષિદ્ધ ધૂપ કરવો નહિ, કે દહનાર્પણ કે ખાધાર્પણ કે પેયાર્પણ અર્પણ કરવાં નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.30.10" />“વર્ષમાં એક વાર હારુને પ્રાયશ્ચિતને માંટે પાપાર્થાર્પણનું રકત લઈને શિંગ ઉપર લગાડી વેદીને પવિત્ર કરવાની છે. પેઢી-દર-પેઢી નિયમિત રીતે આ વાર્ષિક વિધિનું પાલન કરવું, કારણ કે આ વેદી યહોવાની પરમપવિત્ર વેદી છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મંદિરની જકાત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.30.11" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EXO.30.12" />“તું જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓની વસ્તીગણતરી કરે ત્યારે જે પુરુષોનું નામ નોંધાય તેણે જ પોતાના જીવન માંટે યહોવા સમક્ષ ખંડણી ભરવી, જેથી તું ગણતરી કરે ત્યારે લોકો પર કોઈ આફત ન આવે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EXO.30.13" />વસ્તીગણતરીમાં નોંધાયેલા દરેક માંણસો ખંડણી પેટે અડધો શેકેલ યહોવાને અર્પણ તરીકે આપવો. (એટલે અધિકૃત માંત્રામાં અડધો શેકેલ જે 20 ગેરાહનું વજન હોય છે).
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.30.14" />વસ્તીગણતરીમાં નોંધાયેલા વીસ વરસના કે તેથી વધુ ઉમરના દરેક માંણસે આ જકાત આપવી.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EXO.30.15" />મને તમાંરા જીવનના બદલામાં આ જકાત આપતી વખતે ધનવાને વધારે કે ગરીબે ઓછું આપવાનું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.30.16" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસેથી મળેલાં જીવનના બદલામાં ચૂકવાતાં પ્રાયશ્ચિતના નાણાં મુલાકાતમંડપની સેવામાં ખર્ચવાં. આ અર્પણ યહોવાને ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોની યાદ અને તેમના જીવનની કિંમત તરીકે આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">હાથપગ ધોવાની કૂંડી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.30.17" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EXO.30.18" />“હાથપગ ધોવા તારે કાંસાની ઘોડીવાળી એક કાંસાની કૂડી બનાવવી, અને તેને વેદી અને મુલાકાતમંડપની વચ્ચે મૂકી તેમાં પાણી ભરવું.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EXO.30.19" />હારુને અને તેના પુત્રોએ હાથપગ ધોવામાં એ પાણીનો ઉપયોગ કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EXO.30.20" />જો તેમણે એ પાણીથી હાથપગ ધોયા હશે તો તેઓ મુલાકાતમંડપમાં સેવા કરવા જશે અથવા બલિ ચઢાવવા વેદી પાસે જશે ત્યારે તેઓ મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EXO.30.21" />તેઓ મૃત્યુ ન પામે તેટલા માંટે તેમણે અચૂક હાથપગ ધોવા. આ શાશ્વત કાનૂન તેમણે અને તેમના વંશજોએ પેઢી દર પેઢી પાળવાનો છે. હારુન અન તેના પુત્રો માંટે આ સૂચનાઓ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અભિષેકનું તેલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.30.22" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.30.23" />“શ્રેષ્ઠ ગુણવત્તાવાળી સુગંધીઓ લેવી, 12 પૌંડ ચોખ્ખો બોળ, 6 પૌંડ સુગંધીદાર તજ, 6 પૌંડ સંગધીદાર બરુ
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EXO.30.24" />અને 12 પૌંડ દાલચીનીએ બધું પવિત્રસ્થાનના વજન પ્રમાંણે લેવું. અને એક ગેલન જૈતૂનનું તેલ લેવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.30.25" />“નિષ્ણાંત સુગંધીઓ બનાવનારાઓ પાસે આ સર્વ પદાર્થોનું મિશ્રણ કરીને અભિષેકનું તેલ તૈયાર કરાવવું.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EXO.30.26" />તારે મુલકાતમંડપને, કરારકોશનો,
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EXO.30.27" />બાજઠ અને તેની બધી સામગ્રીઓનો, દીવીનો અને તેનાં સાધનોનો, ધૂપની વેદીનો,
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EXO.30.28" />દહનાર્પણની વેદીનો અને તેનાં સાધનોનો તથા ઘોડી સહિત હાથપગ ધોવાની કૂંડીનો અભિષેક કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="EXO.30.29" />આ પ્રમાંણે આ બધી વસ્તુઓની શુદ્ધિ કરવી એટલે તે બધી પરમપવિત્ર બની જશે. અને જે કોઈ તેમને અડકે તે પવિત્ર થઈ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EXO.30.30" />“ત્યાર પછી તારે હારુનને અને તેના પુત્રોને અભિષેક કરી માંરા યાજકો તરીકે દીક્ષા આપવી.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="EXO.30.31" />તારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહેવું, તમાંરે પેઢી દર પેઢી આ અભિષેકના તેલના પવિત્રતા સાચવી રાખવી.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="EXO.30.32" />સામાંન્ય માંણસોને શરીરે એ ન લગાડવું. અને એ નુસખા પ્રમાંણે બીજું તેલ બનાવવું નહિ એ પવિત્ર છે અને તમાંરે એને પવિત્ર ગણીને ચાલવાનું છે.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="EXO.30.33" />જે કોઈ આ સુગંધીઓનું મિશ્રણ કરી આવું તેલ બનાવે અથવા જે યાજક નથી તેવી કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ઉપર તે રેડે તેને સમાંજમાંથી જુદો કરવામાં આવે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ધૂપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="EXO.30.34" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને ધૂપ બનાવવા માંટે આ સૂચનાઓ આપી:
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="EXO.30.35" />“તારે રાજન, કેરબા, શિલારસ, અને શુદ્ધ લોબાન સરખે ભાગે લઈ તે મિશ્રણમાંથી સુગંધી ધૂપ બનાવવો, તેને સરૈયો બનાવે તેવીજ રીતે બનાવવો. એ ધૂપને શુધ્ધ અને પવિત્ર રાખવા તેમાં મીઠુ મેળવવું.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="EXO.30.36" />એમાંથી થોડો ઝીણો ખાંડીને તેનો ઉપયોગ મુલાકાતમંડપમાં કરારકોશ આગળ, જયાં હું તને દર્શન આપવાનો છું ત્યાં કરવો. તમાંરે આ ધૂપને અત્યંત પવિત્ર સમજવાનો છે.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="EXO.30.37" />આ નુસખા પ્રમાંણેનો ધૂપ તમાંરે પોતાના ઉપયોગ માંટે બનાવવાનો નથી. તમાંરે એને માંરે માંટે જ અલગ રાખેલી પવિત્રવસ્તુ ગણવી.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="EXO.30.38" />જો કોઈ પોતાના ઉપયોગ માંટે તે બનાવે, તો તેનો યહોવાના સમાંજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરવો.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="31" />
<s style="s">બસાલએલ અને આહોલીઆબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.31.1" />વળી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.31.2" />“જુઓ, મેં યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહના હૂરના પુત્ર ઉરીના દીકરા બસાલએલને ખાસ પસંદ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.31.3" />મેં તેનામાં દૈવી શક્તિભરી દીધી છે અને તેને દરેક પ્રકારની કારીગરીમાં કુશળતા, સમજદારી, અને પુષ્કળ જ્ઞાન અને હોશિયારી આપી છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.31.4" />મેં તેને નવી નવી ભાતો ઉપજાવી કાઢવામાં સોનાચાંદીને કાંસાની વસ્તુઓ બનાવવામાં,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.31.5" />રત્નોને પહેલ પાડવામાં, લાકડામાં કોતરણી કરવામાં તથા બધી જાતના નકશીકામ કરવામાં કુશળ બનાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EXO.31.6" />વળી તેની સાથે કામ કરવા માંટે મેં દાનના કુળસમૂહના અહી સામાંખના પુત્ર આહોલીઆબને પસંદ કર્યો છે, તથા બીજા બધા કુશળ કારીગરોને પણ મેં કુશળતા આપી છે. જેથી તેઓ મેં તને જે જણાવ્યું તે બધી વસ્તુઓ બનાવી શકે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.31.7" />મુલાકાત મંડપ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">કરારકોશ, તેનું ઢાંકણું,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મંડપનું બધું રાચરચીલું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.31.8" />બાજઠ અને તેનાં સાધનો,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શુદ્ધ સોનાની દીવી અને તેનાં સાધનો,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ધૂપ કરવાની વેદી,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.31.9" />દહનાર્પણની વેદી અને તેનાં બધાં સાધનો,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હાથપગ ધોવાની કૂંડી અને તેની ધોડી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.31.10" />યાજક હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">માંટે સેવા સમયે પહેરવાનાં પવિત્ર પોષાક,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.31.11" />અભિષેક માંટેનું તેલ અને
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">પવિત્રસ્થાનક માંટેનો સુગંધીદાર ધૂપ.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">તેમણે આ બધી જ સામગ્રી મેં જણાવ્યું છે તે પ્રમાંણે બરાબર બનાવવી.”
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</p>
<s style="s">સાબ્બાથ દિને વિશ્રામ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.31.12" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.31.13" />“ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહે, ‘સાબ્બાથ દિને વિશ્રામ કરે. કારણ કે “સાબ્બાથ” માંરી અને તમાંરી વચ્ચે બધી પેઢીઓ માંટે નિશાની છે. એ તમને યાદ આપશે કે મેં તમને માંરી ખાસ પ્રજા તરીકે બનાવ્યા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.31.14" />“‘આથી તમાંરે વિશ્રામવારનું પાલન કરવાનું છે, કારણ કે તમાંરા માંટે એ પવિત્ર દિવસ છે, જે કોઈ એની પવિત્રતાનો ભંગ કરે, તેને મોતની સજા કરવી જે કોઈ વિશ્રામવારે કામ કરે તેનો સમાંજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરજો.
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<v id="15" bcv="EXO.31.15" />તમને છ દિવસ કામ કરવાની છૂટ છે, પણ સાતમે દિવસ સંપૂર્ણ વિશ્રામનો દિવસ છે, એ મને સમર્પિત થયેલો પવિત્ર દિવસ છે. જે કોઈ તે દિવસે કામ કરે તેને મોતની સજા કરવી.
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.31.16" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ માંરી અને તેમની વચ્ચેના કરારની સ્મૃતિ તરીકે વિશ્રામવાર પેઢી દર પેઢી પાળવાનો છે. કારણ કે,
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<v id="17" bcv="EXO.31.17" />સાબ્બાથ માંરી અને ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોની વચ્ચે હમેશની નિશાની રહેશે,’” કેમકે મેં, યહોવાએ છ દિવસ સુધી આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીની રચના કરી અને સાતમે દિવસે મેં કામ બંધ કર્યુ અને વિશ્રામ કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.31.18" />સિનાઈના પર્વત ઉપર મૂસા સાથેનો વાર્તાલાપ પૂર્ણ કરીને યહોવાએ તેને બે સ્માંરક તકતીઓ અર્પણ કરી; એ પથ્થરની તકતીઓ દેવની આંગળી વડે લખાયેલ દશ આજ્ઞાઓવાળી હતી.
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</p>

<c id="32" />
<s style="s">સોનાનું વાછરડું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.32.1" />મૂસાને પર્વત પરથી આવવામાં વિલંબ થતો જોઈને લોકોએ હારુન પાસે ભેગા થઈને કહ્યું, “ચાલ, અમને દોરવણી આપવા માંટે દેવ બનાવ. કારણ કે મિસરમાંથી અમને અહીં લઈ આવનાર મૂસા હવે અદ્રશ્ય થઈ ગયો છે; તેનું શું થયું એની અમને ખબર પડતી નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.32.2" />એટલે હારુને તેમને કહ્યું, “તમાંરી પત્નીઓ અને પુત્રપુત્રીઓના કાનમાંથી સોનાની કડીઓ કાઢી માંરી પાસે લાવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EXO.32.3" />તેથી તેઓએ પુરુષો; સ્ત્રીઓ, છોકરાઓ અને છોકરીઓએ તેમ કર્યુ.
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<v id="4" bcv="EXO.32.4" />હારુને કડીઓ લઈને તે ઓગાળી અને ધાતુના બીબામાં ઢાળીને એક વાછરડાંની મૂર્તિ બનાવી એટલે લોકો બોલી ઊઠયા, “ઇસ્રાએલીઓ! આ રહ્યા તમાંરા દેવ, જે તમને મિસર દેશમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા હતા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EXO.32.5" />હારુને જોયું કે લોકો બહુ આનંદમાં આવી ગયા છે, તેથી તેની આગળ હારુને વેદી બાંધી અને એવી જાહેરાત કરી કે, “આવતી કાલે યહોવાના માંનમાં ઉત્સવ થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.32.6" />બીજે દિવસે સવારમાં વહેલા ઊઠીને લોકોએ દહનાર્પણો અને શાંત્યર્પણો ચઢાવ્યાં અને ત્યાર પછી તેઓએ ખાધું પીધું અને મોજમજા કરવા લાગ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.32.7" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તરત નીચે જા, કારણ, તારા લોકો, જેમને તું મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો છે, તેઓ એ ભયંકર પાપ કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="EXO.32.8" />મેં તેમને જે માંર્ગે ચાલવાની આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તેનાથી આટલા વહેલા તેઓ ફરી ગયા છે. તેમણે પોતાના માંટે એક વાછરડાની મૂર્તિ બનાવી છે અને તેને પગે લાગીને તેને ભોગ ધરાવીને એમ બોલ્યા છે કે, ‘હે ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રો, આ રહ્યા તમાંરા દેવ, જે તમને લોકોને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા હતા.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.32.9" />પછી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “મને ખબર પડી છે કે આ લોકો કેટલા બધા હઠીલા અને બળવાખોર છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="EXO.32.10" />એટલે હવે તમે મને અટકાવશો નહિ, એમના પર માંરો ક્રોધ ભભૂકી ઊઠયો છે અને હું તેમનો નાશ કરીશ, અને તેઓના સ્થાને હે મૂસા, હું તમાંરામાંથી મહાન પ્રજા પેદા કરીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.32.11" />પરંતુ મૂસાએ યહોવા દેવને વિનંતી કરી કે તે તેમ ન કરે; તેણે આજીજી કરીને કહ્યું, “હે દેવ યહોવા, શા માંટે તારે તારા આ લોકો ઉપર ક્રોધ કરવો જોઈએ? તું તો એ લોકોને તારા બાહુના અપૂર્વ સાર્મથ્યથી મિસરમાંથી બાહર લાવ્યો હતો;
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<v id="12" bcv="EXO.32.12" />શું તમે એમ ઈચ્છો છો કે મિસરવાસીઓ કહે, ‘દેવ તેઓને ફસાવીને પર્વતો મધ્યે લઈ ગયા છે, જેથી તે તેઓનો સંહાર કરે, અને પૃથ્વીની સપાટી પરથી સદંતર સમાંપ્ત કરે?’ તમાંરા ક્રોધને ઠંડો પાડો અને તમાંરા લોકોનું ખોટું કરવાનું છોડી દો.
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.32.13" />તમાંરા સેવકો, ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઈસહાક અને ઇસ્રાએલને આપેલું તમાંરું વચન યાદ કરો. અને તમે વચન કહ્યું હતું, ‘આકાશના તારા જેટલા હું તારા સંતાન વધારીશ. અને તારા વંશજોને જે દેશ આપવાનું મેં વચન આપ્યું છે તે સમગ્ર દેશ હું તેઓને આપીશ, તેઓનો સદાનો વારસો થશે. અને તેઓ સદાસર્વદા તેના વારસદાર બનશે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.32.14" />તેથી યહોવાએ પોતાના લોકોનું ખોટું કરવાનો જે વિચાર કર્યો હતો તે જતો કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.32.15" />પછી મૂસા પાછો ફરીને કરારની બંને તકતીઓ હાથમાં લઈને પર્વત પરથી નીચે ઊતર્યો. તકતીઓની બંને બાજુએ દશ આજ્ઞાઓ લખેલી હતી.
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.32.16" />તે તકતીઓ દેવે બનાવેલી હતી અને તેના ઉપરનું લખાણ પણ દેવે કોતરીને લખેલું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.32.17" />નીચે તળેટીમાં લોકોની બૂમાંબૂમનો અવાજ સાંભળીને યહોશુઆએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “એવું લાગે છે કે એ લોકો યુદ્ધની તૈયારી કરી રહ્યા હોય!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.32.18" />પણ મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “આ કોઈ વિજયનો નાદ નથી તેમ પરાજયનો પોકાર પણ નથી. આ તો ગાવાનો અવાજ સંભળાય છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.32.19" />જ્યારે તેઓ છાવણી પાસે આવ્યા ત્યારે મૂસાએ વાછરડું અને નાચગાન જોયાં, મૂસાનો ક્રોધ ભભૂકી ઊઠયો અને તેણે પર્વતની તળેટીમાં હાથમાંની તકતીઓ નીચે પછાડીને ચૂરેચૂરા કરી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="20" bcv="EXO.32.20" />પછી તે લોકોએ જે વાછરડું બનાવ્યું હતું તે લઈને તેણે અગ્નિમાં ઓગળાવી નાખ્યું. પછી તેનો વાટીને ભૂકો કરી નાખ્યો અને તે પાણીમાં ભભરાવી ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પાઈ દીધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.32.21" />પછી હારુન તરફ ફરીને તેણે કહ્યું, “આ લોકોએ તમાંરું શું બગાડ્યું છે કે તમે એ લોકોને આવા મોટા પાપમાં નાખ્યાં?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.32.22" />હારુને કહ્યું, “ગુસ્સે ના થાઓ, ભાઈ એ લોકો કેવા દુષ્ટ સ્વભાવના છે, તે તમે સારી રીતે જાણો છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="EXO.32.23" />એ લોકોએ મને કહ્યું, ‘અમને દોરવણી આપવા માંટે દેવો બનાવી આપો, કારણ કે અમને મિસર દેશમાંથી બહાર લાવનાર મૂસાનું શું થયું એની અમને ખબર પડતી નથી.’
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<v id="24" bcv="EXO.32.24" />એટલે મેં તેમને કહ્યું, ‘તમાંરામાંથી જેમની પાસે સોનાનાં ઘરેણાં હોય તે ઉતારી નાખો.’ તેમણે મને આપ્યાં અને મેં તે અગ્નિમાં નાખ્યાં અને આ વાછરડું બહાર નીકળી આવ્યું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.32.25" />મૂસાએ જોયું કે હારુને લોકો પરનો પોતાનો કાબૂ જવા દીધો અને પરિણામે તેઓ જંગલીપણું કરતા હતા, અને તેઓના બધા દુશ્મનો તેઓને મૂર્ખની જેમ જોતા હતા.
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<v id="26" bcv="EXO.32.26" />છાવણીના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ ઊભા રહીને તેણે મોટા અવાજે પોકાર કર્યો. “યહોવાના પક્ષમાં હોય તે માંરી પાસે આવે.” એટલે બધા લેવીઓ તેની પાસે ભેગા થઈ ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.32.27" />તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા છે: ‘તમે બધા પોતપોતાની તરવાર લઈને સજજ થઈ જાઓ, છાવણીમાં બધે ફરી વળો, અને તમાંરા ભાઈઓ, મિત્રો અને પડોશીઓને માંરી નાખો.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EXO.32.28" />લેવીઓએ મૂસાના કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે કર્યું અને લગભગ 3,000 લોકો તે દિવસે કપાઈ ગયા.
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<v id="29" bcv="EXO.32.29" />પછી મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “આજે તમને યહોવાની દીક્ષા મળી છે, કારણ તમે પોતાના પુત્રની અને ભાઈની વિરુદ્ધ પડીને આશીર્વાદને પાત્ર બન્યા છો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EXO.32.30" />બીજે દિવસે મૂસાએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે મહાપાપ કર્યુ છે: અત્યારે હું યહોવા પાસે જાઉ છું; કદાચ હું તમાંરા પાપની માંફી મેળવી શકું.”
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<v id="31" bcv="EXO.32.31" />આમ કહીને મૂસાએ ફરી યહોવા પાસે જઈને કહ્યું, “દિલગીરી વ્યક્ત કરું છું! આ લોકોએ મોટું પાપ કર્યું છે! એમણે પોતાને માંટે સોનાના દેવ બનાવ્યા છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="EXO.32.32" />તમે જો એમને માંફ કરતા હો તો માંફ કરો. નહિ તો તમાંરા ચોપડામાંથી માંરું નામ ભૂંસી નાખો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="EXO.32.33" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ મૂસાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “નહિ, જે લોકોએ માંરી વિરુદ્ધ જઈને પાપ કર્યુ છે તેમનું જ નામ હું માંરા ચોપડામાંથી ભૂસી નાખીશ.
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<v id="34" bcv="EXO.32.34" />પણ હવે તું જા, અને મેં તને કહ્યું છે તે જગ્યાએ આ લોકોને દોરી જા. માંરો દેવદૂત તમાંરી આગળ આગળ ચાલશે, પણ એક દિવસ એવો આવશે જ્યારે હું તેમને તેમના પાપની સજા કરીશ.”
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<v id="35" bcv="EXO.32.35" />આમ, હારુને બનાવેલા વાછરડાની ઉપાસના કરવા બદલ યહોવાએ લોકોને આકરી સજા કરી.
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</p>

<c id="33" />
<s style="s">“હું તમાંરી સાથે નહિ આવું”
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.33.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તું અહીંથી નીકળીને જે લોકોને તું મિસર દેશમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો છે, તેઓને ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઈસહાક અને યાકૂબને જે દેશનું વચન આપ્યું છે ત્યાં દોરી જા, કેમ કે મેં વચન આપેલું છે કે, આ દેશ હું તમાંરા વંશજોને આપીશ.
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.33.2" />હું તારી આગળ માંરા એક દેવદૂતને મોકલીશ અને કનાનીઓ, અમોરીઓ, હિત્તીઓ, પરીઝીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ અને યબૂસીઓને હાંકી કાઢીશ.
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.33.3" />હું દૂધ અને મધની જયાં રેલછેલ છે એવા દેશમાં તમને લઈ જઈશ, પણ હું તમાંરી સાથે નહિ આવું, કારણ કે તમે લોકો હઠીલા છો અને કદાચ હું તમાંરો રસ્તામાં જ સંહાર કરી નાખું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.33.4" />લોકોએ જયારે આ કઠોર શબ્દો સાંભળ્યા ત્યારે તેઓએ શોક કર્યો અને કોઈએ પોતાના શરીર ઉપર દાગીના પહેચાં નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.33.5" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહે કે, ‘તમે લોકો હઠીલા છો, જો હું તમાંરી સાથે થોડી ઘડીવાર પણ આવું તો તમાંરો સંહાર કરી નાખું. એટલે તમે તમાંરાં દાગીના, ઘરેણાં ઉતારી નાખો, જ્યારે હું વિચારીશ કે માંરે તમાંરી સાથે શું કરવું?’”
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.33.6" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ પોતાનાં ઘરેણાં ઉતારી નાખ્યાં અને હોરેબ પર્વત છોડયા પછી ફરી પહેચાં નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">મૂલાકાત મંડપની સ્થાપના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EXO.33.7" />મૂસા હંમેશા છાવણીની બહાર દૂર માંડવો ઊભો કરતો હતો અને જે કોઈને યહોવાની ઈચ્છા જાણવી હોય તે છાવણી બહાર “મુલાકાતમંડપમાં” જતો. જે મૂસાએ છાવણી બહાર ઊભો કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="EXO.33.8" />મૂસા જયારે જયારે મૂલાકાતમંડપમાં જતો ત્યારે ત્યારે બધા લોકો ઊઠીને પોતપોતાના તંબુના દરવાજા આગળ ઊભા રહીને, મૂસા મૂલાકાતમંડપમાં દાખલ થાય ત્યાંસુધી તેને જોઈ રહેતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.33.9" />મૂસા જયારે માંડવા પ્રવેશ કરતો એટલે વાદળનો થંભ નીચે ઊતરી માંડવાના દરવાજા આગળ ઊભો રહેતો અને યહોવા મૂસા સાથે વાત કરતા.
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<v id="10" bcv="EXO.33.10" />વાદળના થંભને દેવ દરવાજા આગળ જોતાં જ દરેક માંણસ પોતપોતાના માંડવાના દરવાજા આગળ ભજન કરતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EXO.33.11" />યહોવા મૂસા સાથે એક માંણસ બીજા માંણસ સાથે વાત કરે એ રીતે મોઢામોઢ વાત કરતા. ત્યાર પછી મૂસા પાછો છાવણીમાં આવતો. તેનો નવયુવાન સેવક નૂનનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ કદી તંબુમાંથી બહાર નીકળતો નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાને યહોવાનાં ગૌરવનું દર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.33.12" />મૂસાએ યહોવાને કહ્યું, “તમે મને આ લોકોને લઈ જવાનું તો કહ્યું પણ તમે એ મને ન કહ્યું કે, તમે માંરી સાથે કોને મોકલવાના છો, તમે મને એમ પણ કહ્યું કે, ‘હું તને નામથી ઓળખું છું અને તારાથી પ્રસન્ન છું.’
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.33.13" />જો ખરેખર મેં તમને પ્રસન્ન કર્યા હોય, તો મને તમાંરા માંર્ગો શીખવાડો. માંરે તમને ઓળખવા છે. તો હું તમને પ્રસન્ન કરતો રહું. વળી, યાદ રાખજે કે આ લોકો તો તમાંરી જ પ્રજા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.33.14" />યહોવાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું પોતે તારી સાથે જઈશ અને તને માંર્ગદર્શન આપીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.33.15" />કેમ કે મૂસાએ કહ્યું હતું, “તમે જો માંરી સાથે ન આવવાના હો તો અમને અહીંથી આગળ મોકલશો નહિ;
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.33.16" />અને તમે અમાંરી સાથે આવો એ સિવાય બીજી કઈ રીતે જાણી શકાય કે તમે અમાંરા પર પ્રસન્ન છો? તમે અમાંરી સાથે આવો તો જ અમે, તમાંરા લોકો અને હું પૃથ્વી પરના બીજા બધા લોકો કરતાં જુદા તરી આવીશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.33.17" />જવાબમાં યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું હતું, “હા, તેં જે માંગ્યું છે તે હું ચોક્કસ આપીશ. કારણ કે હું તારા પર પ્રસન્ન છું અને તને બહુ સારી રીતે જાણું છું.”<f caller="+"><fr>33:17
</fr><fk>અને … જાણું છું
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે, “હું તને નામથી જાણું છું.”</ft></f>
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.33.18" />મૂસાએ વિનંતી કરી, “મને તમાંરા ગૌરવના દર્શન કરાવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.33.19" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “હું માંરી સંપૂર્ણ ભલમનસાઈ તને દેખાડીશ, અને તારી સમક્ષ માંરું નામ ‘યહોવા દેવ’ તરીકે જાહેર કરીશ. હું જેને પસંદ કરીશ એ લોકો પર દયા અને કરુણા વરસાવીશ.”
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<v id="20" bcv="EXO.33.20" />વધુમાં તેમણે કહ્યું, “પણ માંરું મુખ તું જોઈ શકીશ નહિ, કારણ, કોઈ પણ માંણસ મને જોઈને જીવતો રહી શકે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.33.21" />“તેમ છતાં માંરી બાજુમાં આ ખડક પર ઊભો રહેજે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EXO.33.22" />અને માંરું ગૌરવ તારી નજર આગળથી પસાર થાય ત્યારે હું તને આ ખડકની ફાટમાં મૂકી દઈશ. અને હું પોતે પસાર થઈ જાઉં ત્યાં સુધી માંરા હાથ વડે તને હું ઢાંકી દઈશ.
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<v id="23" bcv="EXO.33.23" />પછી હું માંરો હાથ લઈ લઈશ અને તું માંરી પીઠ જોવા પામીશ, પણ માંરું મુખ તને દેખાશે નહિ.”
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</p>

<c id="34" />
<s style="s">કરારની નવી તકતીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.34.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “પ્રથમના જેવી જ પથ્થરની બે તકતીઓ બનાવ, અને તારા વડે ભાંગી ગયેલી તકતીઓ ઉપર જે વચનો લખેલાં હતાં તે હું તેના પર લખીશ.
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<v id="2" bcv="EXO.34.2" />સવારમાં સિનાઈ પર્વત ઉપર આવવા માંટે તું તૈયાર રહેજે અને સિનાઈ પર્વતના શિખર પર ચઢી ટોચ પર માંરી રાહ જોતો ઊભો રહેજે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.34.3" />તારી સાથે કોઈએ ઉપર આવવાનું નથી. એટલું જ નહિ, પર્વત ઉપર કોઈ માંણસ નજરે પણ ચઢવો જોઈએ નહિ, અથવા તે પર્વતની આસપાસ ઘેટાંબકરાં કે ઢોરઢાંખર પણ ચરતાં હોવા જોઈએ નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.34.4" />તેથી મૂસાએ પ્રથમની તકતીઓનાં જેવી જ પથ્થરની બે તકતીઓ બનાવી અને સવારમાં તે વહેલો ઊઠયો અને યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે તેના હાથમાં તકતીઓ લઈને તે સિનાઈ પર્વત ઉપર ચઢી ગયો.
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.34.5" />પછી યહોવા મેઘસ્તંભના રૂપમાં નીચે ઊતરી આવ્યા અને તેની સાથે ઊભા રહ્યા. અને પોતાનું નામ “યહોવા” જાહેર કર્યુ.
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.34.6" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવા તેની આગળથી જાહેર કરતા પસાર થયા કે, “હું યહોવા છું. હું દયાળુ અને કૃપાળુ દેવ છું. ક્રોધ કરવામાં મંદ અને કરૂણાથી ભરપૂર અને વિશ્વાસપાત્ર છું.
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.34.7" />હું યહોવા હજારો પેઢી સુધી કરૂણા રાખું છું અને તેઓના પાપોની માંફી આપું છું. તેમ છતાં ગુનેગારને નિર્દોષ ઠરાવવા ના પાડું છું. અને પિતાના અધર્મની સજા ત્રીજી અને ચોથી પેઢી સુધી પુત્રો અને પૌત્રોને કરું છું!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.34.8" />મૂસાએ એકદમ ભોંય પર લાંબા થઈને સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કર્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.34.9" />તેણે કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, તમે કહો છો કે તમે માંરા પર પ્રસન્ન છો તે જો સત્ય હોય તો કૃપા કરી અમાંરી સાથે આવો. આ લોકો ગમે તેટલા હઠીલા હોય તો પણ તમે અમાંરો અધર્મ અને અમાંરાં પાપ માંફ કરો અને તમાંરાં પોતાના લોકો તરીકે અમાંરો સ્વીકાર કરો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.34.10" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “જુઓ, હું અત્યારે જ તમાંરી સાથે આ કરાર કરનાર છું. અગાઉ પૃથ્વી પર કોઈ પણ દેશમાં ન થયા હોય તેવા ચમત્કારો હું કરીશ. તારા લોકો તે જોશે કે હું, દેવ ખૂબ મહાન છું. હું જે તારા માંટે અદભુત કાર્યો કરીશ, તે લોકો જોશે.”
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.34.11" />કરારનો તારો ભાગ આ છે કે તું માંરી સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓને આધીન થા. પછી હું તમાંરી વચ્ચેથી અમોરી, કનાની, હિત્તી, પરિઝઝી, હિવ્વી અને યબૂસી લોકોને હાંકી કાઢીશ.
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<v id="12" bcv="EXO.34.12" />પણ સાવધાન રહેજે. તું જે દેશમાં જાય છે, ત્યાંના વતનીઓ સાથે કરાર કરવો નહિ, નહિતર તેઓ તને જાળમાં ફસાવશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.34.13" />પણ યાદ રાખો, તમાંરે તેમની વેદીઓ તોડી પાડવાની છે, તેમના પૂજાસ્તંભો તોડી નાખવાના છે. અને તેઓની અશેરાહ દેવીની મૂર્તિઓ ભાંગી નાખવાની છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EXO.34.14" />તમાંરે અન્ય કોઈ દેવોની પૂજા કરવી નહિ કારણ કે માંરું નામ યહોવા છે માંરું નામ હું એટલે કાનાહ છું-ઈર્ષાળુ દેવ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.34.15" />“એ દેશના વતનીઓ સાથે કોઈ કરાર કરવો નહિ, નહિ તો તેઓ જયારે પોતાના દેવોને યજ્ઞ ચઢાવે, ત્યારે કદાચ તમને બોલાવે અને તમે એ યજ્ઞ ખાઓ.
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.34.16" />કદાચ તમે તમાંરાં પુત્રોને તેમની પુત્રીઓ સાથે પરણાવો અને એ કન્યાઓ વ્યભિચારીની જેમ પોતાના દેવોની પૂજા કરે ત્યારે તમાંરા પુત્રોને પણ એ રસ્તે ચઢાવી દે અને પૂજા કરાવે. પછી તારા પુત્રો તેઓની પત્નીઓના દેવોની ઉપાસના કરીને માંરી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ આચરશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.34.17" />“તેઓની મૂર્તિઓ સાથે કોઈ સંબંધ હોય નહિ, તેથી તમાંરે તે દેવોની મૂર્તિઓ બનાવવી નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.34.18" />“મેં તમને આજ્ઞા કરી છે તે મૂજબ સાત દિવસ સુધી તમાંરે આબીબ મહિનામાં નક્કી કરેલ સમયે ખમીર વગરની રોટલી ખાવી. અને તમાંરે ખમીર વગરની રોટલીનો ઉત્સવ પાળવો; કારણ કે આબીબ મહિનામાં તમે મિસર દેશમાંથી બહાર નીકળ્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EXO.34.19" />“બધાં પ્રથમ પ્રસવનાં સંતાન માંરાં છે; તમાંરા પશુઓનાં બધા પહેલા વેતરના નર માંરા છે, પછી એ ગાયનો હોય કે બકરીનો હોય.
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<v id="20" bcv="EXO.34.20" />જો તમે ગધેડાના પ્રથમ બચ્ચાંને રાખવા માંગતા હોય તો તેને બદલે હલવાન આપીને તેને ખરીદી શકાય. જો તું તેને ખંડી લેવા ના ઈચ્છતો હોય તો તેની ડોક ભાંગી નાખવી, અને તારા બધા જ પ્રથમજનિત પુત્રોને તારે ખંડી લેવાના છે. ભેટ લાવ્યા વિના કોઈએ માંરી સમક્ષ ખાલી હાથે આવવું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.34.21" />“છ દિવસ તમાંરે ખેડવાનું કે વાવણીનું કામ કરવું. સાતમાં દિવસે વિશ્રામ કરવો. માંત્ર છ દિવસ કામ કરવું અને સાતમે દિવસે આરામ પાળવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.34.22" />“તમાંરે અઠવાડિયાનો પર્વ ઊજવવો. આ પર્વ માંટે ધઉંનો પ્રથમ ફળ અને શરદ ઋતુમાં કાપણી નો પર્વ ઊજવવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EXO.34.23" />“પ્રત્યેક વર્ષમાં ત્રણ વાર ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ પુરુષો અને સંતાનોએ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા સમક્ષ ઉપસ્થિત થવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.34.24" />“પ્રતિવર્ષ ત્રણ વાર તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના દર્શને જાઓ અને તે વખતે તમાંરા દેશ પર કોઈ આક્રમણ કરશે નહિ અને તેને જીતી લેશે નહિ. કારણ, તમાંરી ભૂમિ પરથી હું બીજી પ્રજાઓને હાંકી કાઢીને તમાંરી સરહદ વિસ્તારી આપીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.34.25" />“તમાંરે યજ્ઞ ચઢાવીને એનું લોહી ખમીરવાળી રોટલી સાથે મને ધરાવવું નહિ.
</p>
<p style="p">“પાસ્ખાપર્વ યજ્ઞનો કોઈ ભાગ સવાર સુધી રાખી મૂકવો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EXO.34.26" />“પ્રતિવર્ષ તમાંરી જમીનનો પ્રથમ પાકનો ઉત્તમોત્તમ ભાગ તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના મંદિરમાં લઈને આવવું.
</p>
<p style="p">“તમાંરે લવારાને તેની માંતાના દૂધમાં રાંધવું નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.34.27" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “આ શબ્દો તું લખી લે, કારણ તારી સાથે અને ઇસ્રાએલ સાથે મેં એ પ્રમાંણે કરાર કર્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EXO.34.28" />તેથી મૂસા 40 દિવસ અને 40 રાત અન્નજળ લીધા વિના યહોવા સાથે રહ્યો અને તેણે કરારના શબ્દો-દશ આજ્ઞાઓ તકતી ઉપર લખી.
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</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાનો પ્રકાશીત ચહેરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.34.29" />છેલ્લે મૂસા કરારની બે તકતીઓ લઈને સિનાઈ પર્વત ઉપરથી નીચે ઊતર્યો, ત્યારે તે જાણતો ન હતો કે યહોવાની સમક્ષ રહેવાથી તેનો ચહેરો પ્રકાશતો હતો.
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<v id="30" bcv="EXO.34.30" />હારુન અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મૂસાના ચહેરાને પ્રકાશતો જોઈને તેની પાસે જતાં ગભરાતાં હતાં.
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<v id="31" bcv="EXO.34.31" />આથી મૂસાએ તેઓને પાસે બોલાવ્યા ત્યારે હારુન અને લોકોના આગેવાનો મૂસા પાસે ગયા અને મૂસાએ તેમની સાથે વાત કરી.
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<v id="32" bcv="EXO.34.32" />તે પછી સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તેની પાસે આવ્યા અને તેને સિનાઈ પર્વત ઉપર યહોવાએ જે બધાં આદેશો આપ્યા હતા તે બધા તેણે લોકોને સંભળાવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="EXO.34.33" />જ્યારે મૂસાએ તેઓની સાથે બોલવાનું પૂરું કર્યું ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના મોં ઉપર ઘૂંઘટ ઢાંકી દીધો.
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<v id="34" bcv="EXO.34.34" />જ્યારે જ્યારે તે યહોવા સમક્ષ વાત કરવા જતો, ત્યારે ત્યારે ઘૂંઘટ દૂર કરતો અને બહાર આવતાં સુધી ઘૂંઘટ પાછો ઢાંકતો નહિ. પછી બહાર આવીને પોતાને જે જે આજ્ઞાઓ મળી હોય તે તે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહી સંભળાવતો,
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<v id="35" bcv="EXO.34.35" />તે સમયે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મૂસાનો ચહેરો પ્રકાશતો દેખાયો તેથી તે યહોવા સાથે ફરી વાત કરવા જતાં સુધી ઉપર પાછો ઘૂંઘટ નાખી દેતો.
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</p>

<c id="35" />
<s style="s">વિશ્રામવારના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.35.1" />મૂસાએ સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોની એક સભા ભેગી કરી તેઓને કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ તમને આટલા નિયમોનું પાલન કરવાની આજ્ઞા કરી છે:
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.35.2" />“માંત્ર છ દિવસ તમાંરે કામ કરવું. સાતમો દિવસ યહોવાને સમર્પિત કરેલ વિશ્રામનો દિવસ છે. તે દિવસે જે કોઈ કામ કરે તેને મોતની સજા કરવી.
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<v id="3" bcv="EXO.35.3" />સાબ્બાથના દિવસે તમે જ્યા પણ રહેતા હોય ત્યાં આગ પેટાવાની મનાઈ છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">મુલાકાતમંડપ માંટેની તૈયારી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EXO.35.4" />પછી મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના સમગ્ર સમાંજને કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ આ આજ્ઞા આપી છે:
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.35.5" />દેવ માંટે ખાસ ભેટો ભેગી કરો. તમાંરામાંથી પ્રત્યેકે તમાંરા હૃદયમાં નક્કી કરવું કે તમાંરે શું આપવું છે. જેઓના હૃદય ઉદાર હોય તેઓ યહોવા પાસે અર્પણો લાવે: સોનું, ચાંદી અને કાંસા.
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<v id="6" bcv="EXO.35.6" />ભૂરા, જાંબુડિયા અને કિરમજી રંગનું ઊન, શણનું ઝીણું કાપડ, બકરાંના વાળ,
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<v id="7" bcv="EXO.35.7" />ઘેટાનું પકવેલું ચામડું, કુમાંશદાર ચામડાં, બાવળનાં લાકડાં,
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<v id="8" bcv="EXO.35.8" />દીવા માંટે તેલ, અભિષેકના તેલ માંટે અને ધૂપને માંટે તેજાના, સુંગધીદાર ધૂપ માંટે સુગંધી દ્રવ્યો,
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<v id="9" bcv="EXO.35.9" />યાજકના એફોદ અને ઉરપત્ર ઉપર જડવા માંટે ગોમેદ પાષાણ અને અન્ય પાષાણો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.35.10" />“તમાંરામાંથી જેઓ ખાસ કુશળ કારીગરો છે તેઓ આવે અને યહોવાએ જે બનાવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી છે તે બનાવે:
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<v id="11" bcv="EXO.35.11" />પવિત્રમંડપનો તંબુ, તેનાં આચ્છાદન, તેની કડીઓ, પાટિયાં, વળીઓ, થાંભલી અને કૂભીઓ:
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<v id="12" bcv="EXO.35.12" />પવિત્રકોશ અને તેની દાંડાઓ, ઢાંકણ અને દયાસન, પવિત્રસ્થાનને બંધ કરવાનો પડદો;
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<v id="13" bcv="EXO.35.13" />બાજઠ અને તેને ઊંચકવાની દાંડીઓ, અને તેનાં બધાં પાત્રો; ધરાવેલી રોટલી.
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<v id="14" bcv="EXO.35.14" />દીપવૃક્ષ અને દીવાઓ, તેનાં સાધનો, કોડિયાં અને પૂરવાનું તેલ.
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<v id="15" bcv="EXO.35.15" />ધૂપની વેદી અને તેની દાંડીઓ, અભિષેક માંટેનું તેલ, સુગંધીદાર ધૂપ, અને મૂલાકાતમંડપનો પ્રવેશદ્વાર માંટેનો પડદો.
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<v id="16" bcv="EXO.35.16" />આહુતિ માંટે વેદી, અને તેની કાંસાની જાળી; થાંભલાઓ અને વેદી પર વપરાતી બધી વસ્તુઓ અને કાંસાનું પહોળુ વાસણ અને તેનું તળ. વેદીને ઊચકવાનાં બધાં સાધનો, દાંડા, કડી અને તેની ધોડી;
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<v id="17" bcv="EXO.35.17" />આંગણાની ભીતો માંટેના પડદાઓ, સ્તંભો, તેઓની કૂભીઓ અને આંગણાનાં પ્રવેશદ્વાર માંટેના પડદાઓ;
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<v id="18" bcv="EXO.35.18" />મુલાકાતમંડપના અને તેના આંગણાં માંટેના સ્તંભો, આંગણાની ખૂટીઓ અને તેની દોરીઓ,
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<v id="19" bcv="EXO.35.19" />પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં સેવા કરવાના સમયે યાજકોએ ધારણ કરવાના દબદબાભર્યા વસ્ત્રો, એટલે કે યાજક હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો માંટેનાં યાજક તરીકે સેવા કરવા માંટેનાં પવિત્ર વસ્ત્રો.”
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</p>
<s style="s">લોકોના ઉદાર આર્પણો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.35.20" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલીઓના સમગ્ર સમુદાયે ભેટો આપવા માંટેની વસ્તુઓ તૈયાર કરવા માંટે મૂસા આગળથી રજા લીધી. અને પોતપોતાના તંબુઓમાં પાછા ફર્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="EXO.35.21" />પછી યહોવાના આત્માંથી જેઓના હૃદયોને સ્પર્શ થયો હતો, તે દરેક પોતાની રાજીખુશીથી મુલાકાતમંડપનાં સાધનો માંટે, તેની સામગ્રી માંટે અને પવિત્ર વસ્ત્રો માંટે તેઓનાં અર્પણો લઈને યહોવાને ભેટ ધરવા પાછા આવ્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="EXO.35.22" />સ્ત્રીઓ અને પુરુષો પણ આવ્યા અને તેમણે દરેકે રાજીખુશીથી-કોઈએ નથ, તો કોઈએ લવિંગિયાં કોઈએ વીટી, તો કોઈએ હાર. એમ વિવિધ પ્રકારના સોનાનાં ઘરેણાં યહોવાને ભેટ ધર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EXO.35.23" />બીજાં કેટલાક ભૂરા, જાંબુડા અને કિરમજી રંગનાં ઊન ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણના કાપડ અને બકરાંના વાળનાં કાપડ લાવ્યાં. વળી લાલા રંગ કરેલાં ઘેટાનાં ચામડાં અને ખાસ રીતે પકવેલાં બકરાંના ચામડાં પણ તેઓ લઈ આવ્યાં.
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<v id="24" bcv="EXO.35.24" />જે કોઈ યહોવાને ચાંદી કે કાંસાની ભેટ ધરાવી શકે તેમ હતા તે સૌ તે લાવ્યા, તો કેટલાક બાંધકામ માંટે જરૂરી બાવળનું લાકડું લાવ્યા.
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<v id="25" bcv="EXO.35.25" />જે સ્ત્રીઓ કાંતવામાં કુશળ હતી, તેમણે ભૂરું, જાંબુડિયું અને કિરમજી ઊન તથા બારીક શણ કાંતી આપ્યું.
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<v id="26" bcv="EXO.35.26" />બીજી કેટલીક કુશળ સ્ત્રીઓએ બકરાંના વાળ કાંતીને કાપડ તૈયાર કરી આપ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.35.27" />યાજકોના ઉરપત્રમાં અને એફોદમાં જડવા માંટે આગેવાનો ગોમેદ પાષાણ અને અન્ય પાષાણ લાવ્યાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="EXO.35.28" />તેમ જ દીવા માંટે તથા અભિષેક અને સુગંધીદાર ધૂપ માંટે સુગંધી દ્રવ્યો અને તેલ લઈ આવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.35.29" />આ પ્રમાંણે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ યહોવાએ મૂસા માંરફતે જે જે કામો કરવાની આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તેને માંટે તે કાર્યમાં મદદ કરવાની ઈચ્છા જે સ્ત્રી પુરૂષોની હતી તે સૌએ પોતાના અર્પણો રાજીખુશીથી તેમને આપ્યાં.
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</p>
<s style="s">બઝાલએલ અને આહોલીઆબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EXO.35.30" />પછી મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, યહોવાએ યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહના હૂરના દીકરા ઊરીના દીકરા, બઝાલએલને મંદિરનાં હસ્તકલાનાં કામ માંટે પસંદ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="EXO.35.31" />અને તેનામાં દેવના આત્માંનો સંચાર કરીને તેને દરેક પ્રકારની કારીગરીમાં કુશળતા, સમજદારી તથા હોંશિયારી ભરપૂર આપ્યા છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="EXO.35.32" />સોનાચાંદી અને કાંસાના સાધનો બનાવવામાં, નવી નવી ભાતો ઉપજાવી કાઢવામાં,
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<v id="33" bcv="EXO.35.33" />રત્નોને પહેલ, પાડવામાં, જડવામાં, તથા લાકડામાં કોતરણી કરવામાં, તથા બધા પ્રકારના નકશીકામ કરવામાં તેને કુશળ બનાવ્યો છે.
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<v id="34" bcv="EXO.35.34" />યહોવાએ તેને અને દાનકુળના અહીસામાંખના પુત્ર આહોલીઆવને બીજાને શીખવવાની શક્તિ આપી છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="EXO.35.35" />તેણે તેમને સર્વ પ્રકારનું કામ કરવાનું કૌશલ્ય આપ્યું છે; કોતરણીનું, સિલાઈનું, ભરતકામના કિરમજી રંગના કાપડના પડદાઓની ભાત તૈયાર કરવાનું, ભૂરાં, જાંબુડિયા અને કિરમજી ઊનના અને બારીક શણના ભરતગૂંથણનું અને વણાંટનું, તેઓ સર્વ પ્રકારનું કામ કરી શકે છે અને ભાત રચી શકે છે, સર્વમાં તેઓ શ્રેષ્ઠ પુરવાર થશે.
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</p>

<c id="36" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.36.1" />“બઝાલએલ, આહોલીઆબ અને અન્ય બધા કારીગરો, જેઓને યહોવાએ કૌશલ્ય અને સમજ આપ્યાં છે જેથી તેઓને મુલાકાતમંડપના બાંધકામને લગતું બધું કામ કરતાં આવડે, તેમણે બરાબર યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ જ બધું બનાવવાનું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.36.2" />પછી મૂસાએ બઝાલએલને, આહોલીઆબને અને જે કારીગરોને યહોવાએ કૌશલ્ય આપ્યું હતું અને જેઓ કામ કરવાને તૈયાર હતા તે બધાને બોલાવ્યા અને સૌને કામ શરૂ કરવા જણાવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.36.3" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ મંદિર બાંધવા માંટે જે જે ભેટો આપી હતી તે બધી મૂસાએ તેમને સોંપી દીધી. તેમ છતાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પ્રતિદિન સવારમાં ભેટ લાવતા રહ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.36.4" />તેથી મંદિરનું કામ કરનારા બધાજ કારીગરો પોતપોતાનું કામ છોડીને મૂસા સમક્ષ આવીને કહેવા લાગ્યા,
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<v id="5" bcv="EXO.36.5" />“યહોવાએ જે કામ કરવાની આજ્ઞા કરી છે તે પૂરુ કરવા માંટે જરૂરી હોય તેના કરતાં ધણું વધારે લોકો લાવ્યા કરે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.36.6" />તેથી મૂસાએ આખી છાવણીમાં ઢંઢેરો પિટાવ્યો કે હવે વધુ ભેટ લાવવાની જરૂર નથી. એટલે લોકોએ ભેટ લાવવાનું બંધ કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EXO.36.7" />અત્યાર સુધીમાં જે કાંઈ આવ્યું હતું તે બધું કામ પૂરુ કરવા માંટે જોઈએ તેના કરતાં વધારે હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પવિત્ર મંડપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.36.8" />સૌથી કુશળ કારીગરોએ પવિત્રમંડપ બનાવ્યો. ઝીણાં કાંતેલા શણ અને ભૂરા કિરમજી અને લાલ ઊનના દશ પડદાઓથી તેમણે તંબુ બનાવ્યો. એના ઉપર કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની આકૃતિઓ ભરેલી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EXO.36.9" />પ્રત્યેક પડદો 28 વાર લાંબો અને 4 વાર પહોળો હતો. બધા જ પડદા સમાંન માંપના હતા.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EXO.36.10" />તેમણે પાંચ તાકા જોડીને એક મોટો પડદો બનાવ્યો, અને બીજા પાંચનો બીજો મોટો પડદો બનાવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.36.11" />તેમણે દરેક મોટા પડદાની બહારની બાજુએ ભૂરા કાપડની પટ્ટીથી પચાસ નાકાં બનાવ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EXO.36.12" />તેમણે એક મોટા પડદાના પહેલાં પડદાને 50 નાકા બનાવ્યા, અને બીજા મોટા પડદાના છેલ્લા પડદાને એની બરાબર સામે આવે એ રીતે 50 નાકાં બનાવ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EXO.36.13" />આ નાકાંઓને જોડવા માંટે તેમણે 50 સોનાની કડીઓ બનાવી. અને તેના વડે આ બે પડદાઓને જોડી દીઘા એટલે પવિત્રમંડપનો એક સળંગ તંબુ રચાયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EXO.36.14" />એ પવિત્રમંડપ ઉપર તંબુ બનાવવા માંટે તેમણે બકરાંના વાળના કાપડના અગિયાર પડદાઓ બનાવ્યા. તે બધા સરખા માંપના હતા.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EXO.36.15" />પ્રત્યેક પડદો 30 હાથ લાંબો અને 4 હાથ પહોળો હતો. બધા પડદા એક જ માંપના હતા.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.36.16" />બઝાલએલ પાંચ પડદા એકબીજા સાથે જોડી દઈને એક મોટો પડદો બનાવ્યો અને બીજા છ નો બીજો એક મોટો પડદો બનાવ્યો;
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EXO.36.17" />પછી તેમણે પહેલા મોટા પડદાના છેલ્લા તાકાને 50 નાકાં મૂક્યાં અને બીજા મોટા પડદાની બાજુએ બીજા પચાસ નાકાં મૂક્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EXO.36.18" />આ નાકાંઓને જોડવા માંટે કાંસાની નાના કદની 50 કડીઓ બનાવી તેના વડે એ બે પડદા જોડી દીધા એટલે એક સળંગ તંબુ થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EXO.36.19" />તેમણે પવિત્રમંડપની છતનું સૌથી ઉપરનું આવરણ બનાવ્યુ. પહેલું ઘેટાનાં લાલ રંગેલાં ચામડાઓમાંથી તથા બીજુ બકરાંના પકવેલાં કુમાંશદાર ચામડાનું બનાવ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.36.20" />પવિત્રમંડપની બાજુની ભીતો માંટે ઊભા ગોઠવવા તેમણે બાવળનાં પાટિયાં તૈયાર કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EXO.36.21" />પ્રત્યેક પાટિયું 10 હાથ લાંબું અને દોઢ હાથ પહોળું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EXO.36.22" />પ્રત્યેક પાટિયાંને એકબીજા સાથે જોડવા માંટે દરેકને બબ્બે સાલ કાઢયાં હતાં;
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.36.23" />દક્ષિણ બાજુએ ભીત માંટે 20 પાટિયાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EXO.36.24" />તે 20 પાટિયાં ચાંદીની 40 કૂભીઓમાં ઊભા કર્યા હતા, પ્રત્યેક પાટિયું બે કૂભીઓમાં ઊભું કર્યુ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EXO.36.25" />ઉત્તર બાજુએ ભીત માંટે પણ 20 પાટિયાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EXO.36.26" />તે 20 પાટિયાં ચાંદીની 40 કૂભીઓમાં ઊભા કર્યા હતાં. પ્રત્યેક પાટિયું બે કૂભીઓ વચ્ચે ઊભુ કર્યુ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EXO.36.27" />મુલાકાતમંડપનો પાછળનો ભાગ પશ્ચિમ દિશામાં હતો અને તેની પછીત માંટે છ પાટિયાં બનાવ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EXO.36.28" />અને પછીતના ખૂણાઓ માંટે બે પાટિયાં બનાવ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="EXO.36.29" />પછીતનાં અને ખૂણાઓનાં પાટિયાં નીચેથી જોડેલાં હતાં અને ઠેઠ ઉપરથી પહેલી કડી સુધી જોડી દીધેલાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="EXO.36.30" />આમ, પશ્ચિમ બાજુએ કુલ આઠ પાટિયાં, ચાંદીની 16 કૂભીઓમાં ઊભા કરેલાં હતાં. અને પ્રત્યેક પાટિયું બે કૂભીઓમાં બેસાડેલું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EXO.36.31" />પછી તેમણે આ પાટિયાઓને તેમની બાજુએથી એક બીજા સાથે જોડી દેવા માંટે બાવળનાં લાકડાંની ભૂંગળો બનાવી, પાંચ તંબુની એક બાજુનાં પાટિયાં માંટે અને બીજી પાંચ બીજી બાજુનાં પાટિયાં માંટે.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="EXO.36.32" />અને પાંચ ભૂગળો પશ્ચિમની પછીતના પાટિયાં માંટે,
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="EXO.36.33" />આ પાંચ ભૂંગળોમાંથી વચલી ભૂંગળ પાટિયાઓની અડધી ઊચાઈને એક છેડાથી તે બીજા છેડા સુધી લાગેલી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="EXO.36.34" />આ પાટિયાઓ અને ભૂંગળો સોનાંથી મઢેલાં હતાં અને કડાંઓ શુદ્ધ સોનાનાં બનાવ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="EXO.36.35" />અંદરનો પડદો વણાંટકામના કાપડનો બનાવેલો હતો. અને ભૂરા, જાંબુડા અને કિરમજી ઊનનો હતો. તેના ઉપર જરીથી કલાત્મક રીતે કરૂબદેવદૂતોની આકૃતિઓનું ભરત કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="EXO.36.36" />પડદાને લટકાવવા માંટે બાવળની ચાર થાંભલીઓ બનાવી અને તેને સોને મઢીને, સોનાની વાળી મુકી. અને થાંભળીઓ માંટે ચાર ચાંદીની કૂભીઓ બનાવી.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="EXO.36.37" />માંડવાના પ્રવેશદ્વાર માંટે બઝાલએલે ભૂરા, કિરમજી અને લાલ ઊનનો તથા ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણનો ભરત ભરેલો પડદો બનાવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="EXO.36.38" />બાવળના લાકડામાંથી પાંચ થાભલી અને કડીઓ તૈયાર કરી સોનાથી મઢી, પછી તેઓને કાંસાની પાંચ કૂભીઓમાં ઊભી કરી. તેના ટોચકાઓને અને પડદાની દાંડીને. પછી સોનાની પાંચ કડીઓ વડે આ પડદો લટકાવવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="37" />
<s style="s">કરારકોશની રચના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.37.1" />પછી બઝાલએલે બાવળના લાકડામાંથી પવિત્રકોશ બનાવ્યો, જેની લંબાઈ અઢી હાથ, પહોળાઈ દોઢ હાથ અને ઊંચાઈ દોઢ હાથ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.37.2" />તેણે તેને અંદર બહાર શુદ્ધ સોનાથી મઢીને તેની ફરતે સોનાની પટી મૂકી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.37.3" />તેના ચાર પગોમાં સોનાનાં ચાર કડાં જોડેલા હતાં. પ્રત્યેક છેડા ઉપર બે કડાં.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.37.4" />પછી તેણે બાવળના લાકડાના દાંડા બનાવ્યા અને તેને સોનાથી મઢી લીધાં.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.37.5" />અને કોશ ઉપાડવા માંટે બંને બાજુના કડામાં પરોવી દીઘા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EXO.37.6" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે શુદ્ધ સોનામાંથી અઢી હાથ લાંબુ અને દોઢ હાથ પહોળું ઢાંકણ તૈયાર કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EXO.37.7" />તેણે બે કરૂબદેવદૂતોની આકૃતિઓ સોનામાંથી ઘડીને ઢાંકણના બે છેડા માંટે બનાવી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EXO.37.8" />એક છેડે એક કરૂબદેવદૂત અને બીજે છેડે એક કરૂબદેવદૂત; તેણે તેને ઢાંકણ સાથે જોડી દીધી.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EXO.37.9" />દેવદૂતોની પાંખો ઊંચે પસારેલી હોવાથી ઢાંકણ પાંખોથી ઢંકાઈ જતું હતું. દેવદૂતોનાં મોં એકબીજાની સામસામે હતાં, અને ઢાંકણ તરફ વાળેલાં હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">વિશિષ્ટ મેજ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EXO.37.10" />બાવળના લાકડામાંથી તેણે 2 હાથ લાંબો, 1 હાથ પહોળો અને દોઢ હાથ ઊચો બાજઠ બનાવ્યો,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.37.11" />આખા બાજઠને શુદ્ધ સોનાથી મઢી લઈને બાજઠની ચારે તરફની ધાર પર સોનાની કિનારી બનાવી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EXO.37.12" />પછી તેણે તેની ફરતે ચાર ઈચની કિનાર બનાવી અને તેની ફરતે સોનાની કોર મૂકી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EXO.37.13" />તેણે એને ઉપાડવા માંટે સોનાનાં ચાર કડાં બનાવ્યાં અને ચાર ખૂણે ચાર પાયે જડી દીધાં.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.37.14" />બાજઠ ઉપાડવાની દાંડીની જગાઓ એટલે કડાં એ કિનારીની નજીક હતા.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EXO.37.15" />દાંડીઓ બાવળના લાકડાની બનાવી અને તેને સૂવર્ણથી મઢી લીધી.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.37.16" />પછી તેણે બાજઠને માંટેનાં વાસણો-રકાબીઓ, વાટકા, બરણીઓ અને પેયાર્પણ માંટેના વાટકા શુદ્ધ સોનાનાં બનાવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દીવીની બેસણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.37.17" />તેણે શુદ્ધ સોનાની દીવી બનાવી; દીવીની બેસણી અને થાંભલી સોનામાંથી ઘડીને બનાવ્યાં અને તેના ઉપરનાં શોભાનાં ફૂલો, કળીઓ અને પાંદડીઓ તેની સાથે જડી દીધાં.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EXO.37.18" />દીપવૃક્ષની બંને બાજુએ ત્રણ ત્રણ એમ કુલ છ શાખાઓ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EXO.37.19" />પ્રત્યેક શાખા ઉપર શોભા માંટે કળીઓ અને પાંદડીઓ સાથે બદામ ઘાટનાં ત્રણ ત્રણ ફૂલ હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EXO.37.20" />દીપવૃક્ષની થાંભલીઓને કળીઓ અને પાંદડીઓવાળાં ચાર શોભાનાં ફૂલ હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EXO.37.21" />દીપવૃક્ષનાં સ્તંભ ઉપર બબ્બે શાખાઓની દરેક જોડી નીચે એક એક ફૂલ હતું. વળી ટોચની શાખાની જોડીના ઉપરના ભાગમાં પણ એક ફૂલ હતું. અને નીચેની શાખાઓની જોડીના નીચેના ભાગમાં એક ફૂલ હતું. આમ ચાર ફૂલ હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EXO.37.22" />દીવીની થાંભલી સાથે શાખાઓ અને કળીઓ જોડી દેવામાં આવ્યા હતાં, અને એ બધું શુદ્ધ સોનાની એક જ ઢાળકીમાંથી ઘડીને બનાવવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.37.23" />દીવી માંટે તેણે સાત કોડિયાં બનાવ્યાં. દિવેટની વાટ સમાંરવાની કાતર અને રાખદાનીઓ શુદ્ધ સોનામાંથી બનાવ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EXO.37.24" />દીપવૃક્ષ અને એનો સાજ બનાવવામાં તેણે 75 પૌંડ શુદ્ધ સોનું વાપર્યું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ધૂપ માંટેની વેદી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.37.25" />ધૂપ માંટેની વેદી તેણે બાવળના લાકડામાંથી બનાવી. તે 1 હાથ લાંબી, 1 હાથ પહોળી અને 2 હાથ ઊચી ને સમચોરસ હતી. વેદી પર ચાર શિંગ હતાં દરેક ખૂણામાં એક શિંગ હતું. આ શિંગો એકબીજા સાથે જોડેલા હતા, એક નંગ બનાવવા એક ભાગ તરીકે એક જ એકમમાં તેના ખુણાઓ ઉપર શિંગ તૈયાર કરેલાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EXO.37.26" />આખી વેદીને શુદ્ધ સોનાથી મઢી લેવામાં આવી અને તેની ચારે તરફની ધાર ઉપર સોનાની કિનારી બનાવવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EXO.37.27" />તેણે તેને માંટે બે સોનાનાં કડા બનાવીને બંને બાજુએ કિનારીની નીચે જડી દીધાં. જેમાં ઉપાડતી વખતે દાંડા પરોવી શકાય.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EXO.37.28" />પછી તેણે બાવળનાં લાકડાના દાંડા બનાવીને સોનાથી મઢયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.37.29" />વળી તેણે અભિષેક માંટેનું તેલ તેમજ સરૈયો બનાવે તેવો શુદ્ધ સુગંધીદાર ધૂપ પણ બનાવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="38" />
<s style="s">યજ્ઞવેદી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.38.1" />તેણે 5 હાથ લાંબી, 5 હાથ પહોળી અને 3 હાથ ઊચી ચોરસ યજ્ઞ માંટેની વેદી બાવળના લાકડામાંથી બનાવી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.38.2" />તેના ચાર ખૂણા પર ચાર શિંગ હતાં, તે વેદીના લાકડામાંથી જ બનાવેલાં હતાં. આ વેદી ઉપર કાંસાનું આવરણ ચઢાવવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.38.3" />પછી તેણે વેદીનાં બધાં જ પાત્રો-ભસ્મપાત્રો, તાવડીઓ, તપેલાં, ડોયા, પંજેટી અને સગડીઓ-કાંસાનાં બનાવ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.38.4" />પછી તેણે વેદીની અંદરના ભાગમાં જયાં અગ્નિ પ્રગટે છે ત્યાં અડધી ઊચાઈએ ટેકા માંટેની ધાર બનાવીને તેના ઉપર કાંસાની જાળી ગોઠવી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.38.5" />આ વેદીની ચાર બાજુઓ માંટે ચાર કડાં બનાવીને કઠેરાના ચાર ખૂણે મૂક્યાં જેથી તેમાં દાંડા ભેરવી શકાય.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EXO.38.6" />આ દાંડા બાવળના લાકડાના બનાવીને તેને કાંસાથી મઢી લીધા,
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EXO.38.7" />પછી તેને વેદીની બાજુએ આવેલાં કડાંઓમાં પરોવી દીધા. વેદી લાકડાંના પાટિયાંમાંથી બનાવેલી હતી અને અંદરથી પોલી રાખી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.38.8" />મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર પાસે ભેગી થયેલી સ્ત્રીઓનાં દાન કરેલા કાંસાના દર્પણમાંથી ઢાળીને તેણે હાથ પગ ધોવાની કાંસાની કૂડી અને તેની કાંસાની ઘોડી બનાવ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પવિત્ર મંડપનું આંગણું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.38.9" />પછી તેણે આંગણું બનાવ્યું; તેની દક્ષિણ બાજુના પડદાની ભીંત 100 હાથ લાંબી હતી અને તે ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણના પડદાઓની બનાવેલી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EXO.38.10" />આ પડદાને પકડી રાખવા માંટે 20 થાંભલીઓ અને 20 કૂભીઓ કાંસાની હતી. તથા એ થાંભલીઓના આંકડા અને આડા સળિયા ચાંદીના બનાવેલા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.38.11" />ઉત્તરની બાજુએ 100 હાથ લાંબા પડદા હતા અને તેને માંટે કાંસાની 20 થાંભલીઓ અને 20 કૂભીઓ હતી, તથા આંકડા અને સળિયા ચાંદીના હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.38.12" />આંગણાની પશ્ચિમ બાજુએ 50 હાથ લાંબા પડદા હતા. તથા 10 થાંભલીઓ અને 10 કૂભીઓ હતી. અને આંકડા અને સળિયા ચાંદીના હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EXO.38.13" />આંગણાની પૂર્વ તરફ 50 હાથ લાંબી ભીંત હતી. આંગણનો પ્રવેશદ્વાર આ તરફ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.38.14" />પ્રવેશદ્વારની એક બાજુએ 15 હાથનો પડદો હતો અને તેને થોભવા માંટે ત્રણ થાંભલીઓ અને ત્રણ કૂભીઓ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EXO.38.15" />અને આંગણાના પ્રવેશદ્વારની બીજી બાજુએ 15 હાથ લાંબા પડદા હતા, અને તેમને ત્રણ થાંભલીઓ અને ત્રણ કૂભીઓ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.38.16" />ભીતો બનાવવા માંટે વપરાયેલા બધા જ પડદાઓ ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણના બનાવેલા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EXO.38.17" />પ્રત્યેક થાંભલીઓ માંટેની કૂભીઓ કાંસાની હતી અને આંકડા તથા દાંડીઓ ચાંદીના હતાં. થાંભલીઓનો ટોચકા ચાંદીના પતરાથી મઢેલી હતી, આંગણાની બધી થાંભલીઓને ચાદીની દાંડીઓ હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EXO.38.18" />આંગણાના પ્રવેશદ્વારનો પડદો ભૂરા, કિરમજી, તથા લાલ રંગના ઊનનો અને ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણનો હતો, તેના પર ભરતકામ કરેલું હતું. અને તે 20 હાથ લાંબો અને આંગણાને ફરતા પડદાની જેમ 5 હાથ ઊંચો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EXO.38.19" />તે ચાર કાંસાની કૂભીઓમાં બેસાડેલી ચાર કાંસાની થાંભલીઓ ઉપર લટકાવેલો હતો. તેના આંકડાઓ અને સળિયાઓ ચાંદીના હતા. થાંભલીઓના મથાળાં ચાંદીથી મઢેલાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EXO.38.20" />પવિત્રમંડપ તથા આંગણાના બાંધકામમાં વપરાયેલી બધી ખૂંટીઓ કાંસાની બનાવેલી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EXO.38.21" />પવિત્ર તંબુ એટલે કે કરારકોશના તંબુના બાંધકામમાં વપરાયેલ વિવિધ ધાતુનો હિસાબ આ મુજબ છે. મૂસાએ એ યાદી તૈયાર કરવાનો આદેશ આપ્યો હતો, અને તે યાજક હારુનના પુત્ર ઈથામાંરના નિરીક્ષણ હેઠળ તૈયાર કરેલી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.38.22" />યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહના હૂરના દીકરા ઊરીના દીકરા બઝાલએલે યહોવાએ મૂસાને જે જે બનાવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે બધું બનાવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.38.23" />તેને મદદ કરનાર દાનના વંશના અહીસામાંખનો પુત્ર આહોલીઆબ કોતરકામ કરનાર, નવી ભાતો બનાવનાર, અને ભૂરા કિરમજી અને લાલ ઊન તેમજ ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણનું ભરત ભરનાર હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.38.24" />એ પવિત્રસ્થાનક માંટે યહોવાને સમર્પિત કુલ સોનાનું વજન મંદિરના માંપના ધોરણ મુજબ 2 ટન કરતા વધારે હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EXO.38.25" />વસ્તીગણતરીની નોંધણી વખતે લોકો પાસેથી મળેલ ચાદીનું વજન મંદિરના માંપ ધોરણ પ્રમાંણે 3 3/4 ટન કરતા વધારે હતું.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EXO.38.26" />વસ્તીગણતરીમાં વીસની અને તેની ઉપરની ઉંમરના 6,03,550 માંણસો નોંધાયેલ હતાં. અને તેમાંના પ્રત્યેક એક
<tl>બેકા</tl> ચાંદીની ખંડણી ભરી હતી (અધીકૃત માંપ વાપરતા એક
<tl>બેકા</tl> એટલે અડધો શેકેલ).
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EXO.38.27" />પવિત્રસ્થાન માંટેની અને પડદા માંટેની કૂભીઓ બનાવવામાં 3-3/4 ટન ચાંદી વપરાઈ હતી: તેમાંથી 100 કૂભીઓ બનાવી. તેથી દરેક કૂભીમાં 75 પૌંડ ચાંદી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EXO.38.28" />બાકીની 50 પૌંડ ચાંદીમાંથી તેણે થાંભલીઓના આંકડા, તેમનાં મથાળાં અને દાંડીઓ બનાવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.38.29" />યહોવાને સમર્પિત કુલ કાંસા સાડા છવ્વીસ ટન કરતા વધારે હતું.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="EXO.38.30" />આ કાંસાનો ઉપયોગ મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વારની કૂભીઓ, કાંસાની વેદી અને તેની કાંસાની જાળી, વેદીનાં બધાં સાધનો,
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="EXO.38.31" />આંગણા માંટેના પાયા તથા તેના પ્રવેશદ્વાર અને પવિત્રમંડપ અને આંગણાનાં બાંધકામ માંટે વપરાયેલા સર્વ અને ખીલીઓ બનાવવા માંટે થયો હતો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="39" />
<s style="s">યાજકો માંટેના પોષાક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.39.1" />પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં સેવા કરતી વખતે યાજકોએ પહેરવાના દબદબાભર્યા પોષાક, લોકોએ ભૂરા, જાંબુડા અને કિરમજી રંગના કાપડમાંથી બનાવ્યા. યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે મુજબ તેમણે હારુનને માંટેનાં વસ્ત્રો બનાવ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">એફોદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EXO.39.2" />તેમણે એફોદ સોનાનું તથા જાંબુડિયા, કિરમજી અને લાલ ઊન અને ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણનું બનાવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.39.3" />સોનાને ટીપીને બઝાલએલે સોનાના પાતળાં પતરાં બનાવ્યાં. અને તેને કાપીને તેના તાર બનાવ્યા. આ તાર ભૂરા, જાંબુડા, અને કિરમજી રંગના કાપડમાં વણી લેવામાં આવ્યા. આ કાર્ય એક બહુ જ કુશળ કારીગરનું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.39.4" />એફોદને ખભે બાંધવાના પટા બનાવીને તેની બે બાજુએ જોડી દીધા. જેથી તે બાંધી શકાય.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.39.5" />એના ઉપરનો કમરપટો પણ યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા કર્યા મુજબ એફોદના જેવી ન કારીગરીવાળો અને સોનેરી, જાંબુડિયા, કિરમજી અને લાલ ઊન તથા ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણ સાથે ગૂંથીને બનાવેલો હતો અને તેની સાથે જોડી દીધેલો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.39.6" />પછી તેમણે બે ગોમેદ પાષાણો સોનાના ચોકઠામાં જડયા, આ પાષાણો ઉપર ઇસ્રાએલના કુળોનાં નામ કોતરેલાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EXO.39.7" />અને પછી તેઓએ તેને એફોદના ખભાના પટ્ટા સાથે, દેવને ઇસ્રાએલીઓની યાદી તરીકે જોડી દીધા. યહોવાએ જેમ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે પ્રમાંણે કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ન્યાયકરણનું ઉરપત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EXO.39.8" />તેમણે ન્યાયકરણ ઉરપત્ર એફોદની જેમ સુંદર કારીગરીથી બનાવ્યું હતું. તેને બનાવવા માંટે તેમણે સોનાના દોરા, જાબુંડિયા, કિરમજી, અને લાલ ઉન તથા ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EXO.39.9" />તે એક સમચોરસ બેવડ વાળેલું એક વેંત લાંબું અને એક વેંત પહોળું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EXO.39.10" />એમાં નંગોની ચાર હાર બેસાડેલી હતી; પ્રથમ હારમાં માંણેક, પોખરાજ અને લાલ રત્ન હતા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.39.11" />બીજી હારમાં લીલમ, નીલમ અને હીરા.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EXO.39.12" />ત્રીજી હારમાં શનિ, અકીક અને યાકૂત
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EXO.39.13" />અને ચોથી હારમાં ગોમેદ, પિરોજ અને યાસપિસની, એ બધાં સોનાનાં નકશીકામવાળા ચોકઠામાં જડેલા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.39.14" />આ રીતે તેમાં બાર નંગો હતા અને તેના પર ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રોનાં નામ કોતરેલાં હતાં. પ્રત્યેક નંગ પર ઇસ્રાએલના એક વંશનું નામ કળાથી કોતરેલું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EXO.39.15" />તેમણે ન્યાયકરણ ઉરપત્ર માંટે શુદ્ધ સોનાની ગૂંથેલી દોરી જેવી સાંકળીઓ બનાવી.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.39.16" />તદુપરાંત તેમણે સોનાની બે વાળી બનાવી ન્યાયકરણ ઉરપત્રના બે ખૂણાઓમાં બેસાડી દીધી. તેઓએ ખભાના ટુકડાઓ માંટે બે સોનાની નકશી બનાવી.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EXO.39.17" />પછી ન્યાયકરણ ઉરપત્રના છેડા પર મૂકેલી કડીઓમાં સોનાની સાંકળીઓ જોડી દીધી.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EXO.39.18" />એ સાંકળીના બીજા બે છેડા બે ચોકઠાં સાથે જોડી દીધાં અને એ રીતે એ ચોકઠાં ન્યાયકોથળીની સ્કંધપટીઓના આગળના ભાગ પર જોડી દીધાં.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EXO.39.19" />તે પછી સોનાની બીજી બે કડીઓ બનાવી એફોદની નજીકના ન્યાયકરણ ઉરપત્રની અંદરની બાજુના નીચલા ખૂણાએ મૂકી.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EXO.39.20" />ત્યારબાદ બીજી બે સોનાની કડીઓ બનાવીને એફોદના ખભાના બે પટાના સામેના નીચેના છેડે સાંધા નજીક અને સુંદર ગૂંથેલા કમરપટાની ઉપરના ભાગમાં લગાવી દીધી.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EXO.39.21" />ન્યાયકરણ ઉરપત્રના નીચલા છેડાને ભૂરી દોરી વડે એફોદની કડીઓ સાથે બાંધી દીધો, જેથી યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે મુજબ ન્યાયકરણ ઉરપત્ર કરમપટા ઉપર રહે અને છૂટ્ટુ ન પડી જાય.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યાજકોના અન્ય વસ્ત્રો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EXO.39.22" />અફોદ પરનો જામો આખો ભૂરા રંગના કાપડનો એક કુશળ કારીગરે બનાવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.39.23" />તેમણે જામાંની વચ્ચે એક કાણું પાડ્યું અને તેની કિનાર સીવી લીધી. તેની કિનાર ફાટી ન જાય તે માંટે સીવવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EXO.39.24" />જામાંની નીચેની બાજુએ દાડમ ભરેલાં હતાં. તે કાંતેલા શણના તથા ભૂરા તથા જાંબુડા તથા કિરમજી રંગના ભરતકામથી બનાવેલાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EXO.39.25" />તેમજ શુદ્ધ સોનાની ઘૂઘરીઓ બનાવી એ દાડમો વચ્ચે આખી નીચલી બાજુએ મૂકી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EXO.39.26" />એ જ રીતે ઝભ્ભાની નીચેની બાજુએ વારાફરતી દાડમ અને ઘૂઘરી આવતાં હતાં. યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે પ્રમાંણે હારુન યહોવાની સેવા કરતી વખતે આ ઝભ્ભો પહેરતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EXO.39.27" />તેમણે હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો માંટે ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણના અંગરખાં બનાવ્યાં,
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EXO.39.28" />વળી ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણમાંથી પાધડીઓ, ફાળિયા, અને પાયજામાં બનાવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="EXO.39.29" />તથા યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ ભૂરા, કિરમજી, અને લાલ ઊનનો ભરત ભરેલો ઝીણા કાંતેલા શણનો કમરપટો બનાવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EXO.39.30" />અંતે તેમણે શુદ્ધ સોનામાંથી એક તકતી બનાવી જેની પર પવિત્ર શબ્દો કોતરેલા હતા,
<sc>“યહોવા પવિત્રતા”</sc> તે મુગટ ઉપર જડેલી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="EXO.39.31" />એ ભુરા રંગની પટ્ટી સાથે બાંધેલી હતી, જે પાઘડી ઉપર બંધાએલી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મૂસા દ્વારા પવિત્રમંડપનું નિરીક્ષણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="EXO.39.32" />આ રીતે યહોવાએ મૂસાને આપેલી આજ્ઞા અનુસાર પવિત્રમંડપનું કામ પૂર્ણ થયું. આ બધુંજ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ આજ્ઞા મુજબ કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="EXO.39.33" />પછી તેઓએ પવિત્રમંડપ, તેનો તંબુ અને તેનું બધું રાચરચીલું, તેની કડીઓ, પાટિયાં, વળીઓ, થાંભલીઓ અને કૂભીઓ,
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="EXO.39.34" />તેઓએ તેને સુકવેલા રાતા રંગેલા ચામડાંમાંથી બનાવેલા મંડપના ઢાંકણ અને ઝીણા ચામડામાંથી બનાવેલા ઢાંકણ અને અત્યંત પવિત્રજગ્યાનાં પ્રવેશ દ્વારનો પડદો બનાવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="EXO.39.35" />કરારકોશ, તેના દાંડા, તેનું ઢાંકણ,
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="EXO.39.36" />મેજ અને તેનાં બધાં સાધનો, અર્પણ કરેલી રોટલી,
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="EXO.39.37" />શુદ્ધ સોનાનું દીપવૃક્ષ-તેનાં કોડિયા, જે હારબંધ ગોઠવવાનાં હતાં, અને તેનાં બધાં સાધનો, અને પૂરવાનું તેલ,
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="EXO.39.38" />સોનાની વેદી, અભિષેક માંટેનું તેલ, સુગંધીદાર ધૂપ, મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વારનો પડદો,
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="EXO.39.39" />કાંસાની વેદી, તેની કાંસાની બનાવેલી જાળી, તેના દાંડા, અને તેનાં બધાં સાધનો કૂડી અને તેની ધોડી,
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="EXO.39.40" />આંગણાની ભીંતો માંટેના પડદાઓ, અને તેને લટકાવવા માંટેની થાંભલીઓ અને કૂભીઓ, તેમજ આંગણાંના પ્રવેશદ્વાર માંટેના પડદાઓ અને તેના સ્તંભો, દોરી અને ખીલાઓ તથા મુલાકાતમંડપમાં સેવા માંટે વાપરવાનાં બધાં સાધનો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="EXO.39.41" />પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં સેવા કરવાના સમયે પહેરવાનાં સુંદર દબદબાભર્યા વસ્ત્રો તથા યાજક તરીકે ફરજ બજાવતી વખતે હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોએ પહેરવાનાં પવિત્ર વસ્ત્રો મૂસાને બતાવ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="EXO.39.42" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને જણાવ્યા મુજબ બધું જ કામ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ પૂર્ણ કર્યું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="EXO.39.43" />પછી મૂસાએ બધું જ તપાસી લીધું અને યહોવાએ જણાવ્યા મુજબ બનાવ્યુ છે એની ખાતરી કરી લીધી અને પછી મૂસાએ તેમને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="40" />
<s style="s">મૂસા દ્વારા પવિત્રમંડપની સ્થાપના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EXO.40.1" />હવે યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EXO.40.2" />“પ્રથમ માંસના પ્રથમ દિવસે તું પવિત્રમડંપ ઊભો કરજે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EXO.40.3" />પછી જેમાં દશ આજ્ઞાઓ મૂકેલી છે, તે સાક્ષ્યકોશ મંડપમાં મૂકજે; અને પરમપવિત્ર સ્થાનમાં સાક્ષ્યકોશને પડદાથી ઢાંકી દેજે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EXO.40.4" />પછી મેજ લાવીને તેના પર પાત્રો ગોઠવજે, અને દીવી લાવીને તેના પર કોડિયાં ગોઠવીને દીવાઓ પ્રગટાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EXO.40.5" />ત્યારબાદ સાક્ષ્યકોશ આગળ સોનાની ધૂપદાની ગોઠવજે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EXO.40.6" />“પ્રવેશદ્વારનો પડદો મુલાકાતમંડપમાં યથાસ્થાને લટકાવજે. અને મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર સામે દહનાર્પણ માંટે વેદી મૂકજે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EXO.40.7" />મુલાકાતમંડપ અને વેદીની વચ્ચે કૂડી મૂકજે અને તેમાં પાણી ભરજે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EXO.40.8" />મુલાકાત મંડપના બહારના ભાગમાં ચારે બાજુ આંગણું તૈયાર કરજે અને આંગણાના પ્રવેશદ્વારે પડદો લટકાવજે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EXO.40.9" />“પછી અભિષેકનું તેલ લઈ પવિત્રમંડપનો તથા તેમાંની સર્વ વસ્તુઓનો અભિષેક કરી, તેની તથા તેમાંના બધા રાચરચીલાની શુદ્ધિ કરજે તેથી એ પવિત્ર થઈ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EXO.40.10" />વેદીનો અને તેનાં સર્વ સાધનોનો પણ અભિષેક કરી તેમની શુદ્ધ કરજે તેથી તે પણ અત્યંત પવિત્ર થઈ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EXO.40.11" />કૂડી અને તેની ઘોડીની પણ શુદ્ધિ કરવા માંટે અભિષેક કરજે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EXO.40.12" />“પછી તું હારુનને અને તના પુત્રોને મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ લાવજે અને તેમને જળથી સ્નાન કરાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EXO.40.13" />ત્યારબાદ હારુનને પવિત્ર પોશાક પહેરાવજે અને તેનો અભિષેક કરજે, અને યાજક તરીકે માંરી સેવા કરવા માંટે તેને પવિત્ર કરજે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EXO.40.14" />ત્યાર પછી તું તેના પુત્રોને આગળ લાવીને અંગરખાં પહેરાવજે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EXO.40.15" />તેમના પિતાની જેમ તમને પણ અભિષેક કરી યાજકપદે દીક્ષિત કરજે. તેમનો અભિષેક કરવાથી તેઓ અને તેમના વંશજો કાયમ માંટે યાજકો બનશે.”
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EXO.40.16" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને જે આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે પ્રમાંણે કરવા માંટે મૂસા આગળ વધ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EXO.40.17" />બીજા વર્ષના પ્રથમ માંસના પ્રથમ દિવસે પવિત્રમંડપ ઊભો કરવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EXO.40.18" />મૂસાએ કૂભીઓ ગોઠવી. પાટિયાં બેસાડયાં, વળીઓ જડી દીધી અને થાંભલીઓ ઊભી કરી દીધી.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EXO.40.19" />યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે પવિત્રમંડપ ઉપર આવરણ પાથરી દીધું અને છેક ઉપર આચ્છાદન લગાવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EXO.40.20" />અને તેની પર યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ ઢાંકણ પાથરી દીધું. તેણે સાક્ષ્યલેખ કોશમાં મૂકી, કડાંમાં દાંડીઓ બેસાડી કરારકોશને મથાળે ઢાંકણ મૂકી દીધું.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EXO.40.21" />પછી પવિત્રકોશને તે પવિત્રમંડપમાં લાવ્યો અને યહોવાની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર તેને ઢાંકવા પડદો લટકાવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EXO.40.22" />મુલાકાતમંડપમાં ઉત્તર બાજુએ તેણે પડદાની બહાર મેજ મૂકયો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EXO.40.23" />અને તેના ઉપર યહોવાની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર યહોવાને ધરાવેલી રોટલી મૂકી.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EXO.40.24" />મુલાકાત મંડપની અંદર મેજની સામે દક્ષિણ બાજુએ તેમણે દીવી મૂકી.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EXO.40.25" />અને યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ તેના ઉપર યહોવા સમક્ષ દીવા સળગાવ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EXO.40.26" />મુલાકાતમંડપમાં પડદાની આગળ તેણે સોનાની વેદી મૂકી.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EXO.40.27" />યહોવાની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર તેમાં સુંગધી ધૂપ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EXO.40.28" />પવિત્રમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વારે તેણે પડદો લટકાવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EXO.40.29" />તેણે મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર પર અર્પણોને બાળવા માંટે વેદી ગોઠવી, અને તેના ઉપર બળેલાં દહનાર્પણ અને ખાધાર્પણ અર્પવા આ બધું તેણે દેવની આજ્ઞા મુજબ કર્યુ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EXO.40.30" />તેણે મુલાકાતમંડપ અને વેદીની વચ્ચે કૂડી ગોઠવી અને તેમાં હાથપગ ધોવા માંટે પાણી રેડયું;
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="EXO.40.31" />મૂસા અને હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો મુલાકાતમંડપમાં પ્રવેશ કરવા અથવા આહુતિ અર્પણ કરવા વેદી પાસે જતા.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="EXO.40.32" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા કર્યા મુજબ એમાંથી હાથપગ ધોતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="EXO.40.33" />તેણે પવિત્રમંડપ અને વેદીની ચારેબાજુ આંગણું ઊભું કર્યુ. અને આંગણાના પ્રવેશદ્વારે પડદા વડે દરવાજો બનાવ્યો. આ પ્રમાંણે મૂસાએ કાર્ય પરિપૂર્ણ કર્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોવાનું ગૌરવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="EXO.40.34" />ત્યારબાદ મુલાકાતમંડપને વાદળે ઘેરી લીધો. અને યહોવાનું ગૌરવ મંડપમાં વ્યાપી ગયું.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="EXO.40.35" />મૂસા મુલાકાત મંડપમાં પ્રવેશી શકયો નહિ, કેમ કે, વાદળ તેના પર સ્થિર થયું હતું, અને યહોવાનું ગૌરવ મંડપમાં પ્રસરી ગયું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="EXO.40.36" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓના પ્રવાસના પ્રત્યેક મુકામે જયારે વાદળ મંડપ પરથી હઠી જતું ત્યારે તે લોકો મુકામ ઉપાડતા.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="EXO.40.37" />પણ જો વાદળ પવિત્રમંડપ ઉપર સ્થિર થતું તો વાદળ હઠે નહિ ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ મુકામ ઉપાડતા નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="EXO.40.38" />દિવસ દરમ્યાન મુલાકાતમંડપ પર વાદળ આચ્છાદન કરે અને રાતે વાદળ અગ્નિમય બની જાય, એટલે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો સમગ્ર પ્રવાસ દરમ્યાન પ્રત્યેક મુકામને જોઈ શકતા.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="LEV"><id id="LEV">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>લેવીય
</h><toc level="1">લેવીય
</toc><toc level="2">લેવીય
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">લેવીય
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">યજ્ઞો અને અર્પણો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.1.1" />યહોવા દેવે મૂસાને મુલાકાતમંડપમાં બોલાવીને તેને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.1.2" />“તું ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રોને આ પ્રમાંણે આજ્ઞા કર; જયારે તમાંરામાંથી કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ યહોવાને અર્પણ ચઢાવે ત્યારે તેણે કાં તો કોઈ ઢોર અર્પણ કરવું કાં તો ઘેટાંબકરાં અર્પણ કરવા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LEV.1.3" />“જો કોઈ અર્પણ ઢોરના દહનાર્પણનું હોય, તો તે બળદ હોવું જોઈએ અને તે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનું હોવું જોઈએ. તેણે ઢોરને મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ લાવવું જેથી યહોવા માંટેના તે અર્પણનો યાજકો સ્વીકાર કરે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LEV.1.4" />જે વ્યક્તિ તે ઢોરને લઈને આવે તેણે પોતાનો હાથ તે દહનાર્પણના માંથા પર મૂકવો એટલે પ્રાયશ્ચિત્ત કરવા તેનો સ્વીકાર કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LEV.1.5" />“પછી તે દહનાર્પણને યહોવા સમક્ષ વધેરે; અને હારુનના પુત્રો – યાજકો તેનું લોહી યહોવાને ધરાવી મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ આવેલી વેદીની ચારે બાજુએ છાંટે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.1.6" />પછી યાજકો તે દહનાર્પણનું ચામડું ઉતારી તેના ટુકડા કરે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.1.7" />પછી હારુનના પુત્રો યાજકોએ વેદી પર લાકડાં ગોઠવીને તેમાં આગ ચાંપે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.1.8" />ત્યાર પછી તેમણે તે ઢોરના ટુકડા, માંથું અને ચરબી, વેદી પરના બળતા લાકડાની અગ્નિમાં હોમવાં.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LEV.1.9" />યાજકે ઢોરના આંતરડાં અને પગ પાણીથી ધોઈ નાખવાં અને યાજકે તે બધુ દહનાર્પણ તરીકે વેદી પર મૂકવું. સુવાસિત દહનાર્પણ યહોવા સ્વીકાર કરશે અને પ્રસન્ન થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LEV.1.10" />“જો દહનાર્પણ તરીકે પસંદ કરેલું પ્રાણી ઘેટું કે બકરું હોય, તો તે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનું નર પ્રાણી જ હોવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.1.11" />જે વ્યક્તિ તે અર્પણ લાવે તે યહોવાની સમક્ષ વેદીની ઉત્તર બાજુએ તેને વધેરે, અને હારુનના પુત્રો-યાજકો તેનું લોહી વેદીની આગળ પાછળ અને ચારે બાજુએ છાંટે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LEV.1.12" />પછી યાજક ઢોરના ટુકડા કરે અને તે ટુકડાઓને (માંથાને તથા પગને) વેદી પર ગોઠવેલાં લાકડાં પર હોમે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LEV.1.13" />પછી યાજક ઢોરના આંતરડાં અને પગ પાણીમાં ધોઈ નાખે તેણે ઢોરના બધા અંગોને વેદી પર હોમીને યહોવાને અર્પણ કરવા. કેમકે આ દહનાર્પણ છે અને એ દહનાર્પણની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.1.14" />“જો કોઈ દહનાર્પણો તરીકે યહોવાને પક્ષી ચઢાવે તો તેણે કાં તો હોલાનું બચ્ચું ચઢાવવું, કાં તો કબૂતરનું બચ્ચું ચઢાવવું.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LEV.1.15" />યાજક તેને વેદી આગળ ઘરાવે અને તેની ડોક મરડીને માંથું જુદું કરે અને તેનું વેદી પર દહન કરે, અને લોહી વેદીની એક બાજુએ રેડી દે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.1.16" />પછી યાજકે તેના પીછાં અને ગળા પાસેની કોથળી કાઢી નાખવી અને તેને વેદીની પૂર્વ બાજુએ રાખ નાખવાની જગા ઉપર ફેંકી દેવા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LEV.1.17" />પછી યાજક તે પક્ષીને બે પાંખો વચ્ચેથી ચીરે પરંતુ તેના બે ભાગ જુદા થવા ન દે, અને તેને વેદી પરના અગ્નિમાંનાં લાકડાં પર હોમી દે, આ પણ એક દહનાર્પણ છે અને એ યજ્ઞની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">ખાદ્યાર્પણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.2.1" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ યહોવા દેવને ખાદ્યાર્પણ ચઢાવવા ઈચ્છે, તો તેણે મેંદાનો લોટ લાવવો અને તેમાં તેલ રેડવું અને તે પર લોબાન મૂકવો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.2.2" />પછી તેણે એ હારુનના પુત્રો – યાજકો સમક્ષ લાવવું. પછી એક યાજક તેમાંથી એક મૂઠી લોટ, તેલ અને બધો લોબાન લઈને તેને પ્રતીકરૂપે વેદી પર હોમે. આ ખાદ્યાર્પણ અગ્નિ દ્વારા થાય છે તેની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.2.3" />ખાદ્યાર્પણનો બાકીનો ભાગ યાજકોને મળે છે. તે અત્યંત પવિત્ર છે. કારણ કે યહોવાને ધરાવેલા દાણાના અર્પણમાંથી તે લેવામાં આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ભઠ્ઠીમાં પકાવેલું ખાદ્યાર્પણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LEV.2.4" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ભઠ્ઠીમાં બનાવેલી રોટલી યહોવા સમક્ષ ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે લાવે તો તે પણ મેંદાની જ હોય, અને તે તેલથી મોયેલા લોટની બેખમીર પોળીઓ અથવા તેલ ચોપડેલા બેખમીર ખાખરા જ હોય.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.2.5" />જો તમે તમાંરું ખાદ્યાર્પણ કડાઈમાં રાંધેલું લાવો, તો તે પણ તેલથી મોયેલા મેંદાનું જ બનાવેલું અને ખમીરવાળુ હોય.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.2.6" />તેના ટુકડા કરીને તેના પર તેલ રેડવું; એ ખાદ્યાર્પણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.2.7" />જો કોઈનું ખાદ્યાર્પણ તવા પર શેકેલું હોય તો તે તેલનું મોણ નાખેલા મેંદાનું બનાવેલું હોય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LEV.2.8" />“આ રીતે શેકેલું, તળેલું આ ખાદ્યાર્પણ યાજક પાસે લાવવું અને તે તેને વેદી પર યહોવા સમક્ષ અર્પણ કરવું.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LEV.2.9" />અને પછી યાજક તેમાંથી પ્રતીકરૂપે થોડો ભાગ લઈ ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે વેદીમાંના અગ્નિમાં હોમશે. એની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LEV.2.10" />ખાદ્યાર્પણનો બાકીનો ભાગ યાજકોનો ગણાય. એ અત્યંત પવિત્ર છે, કારણ, યહોવાને ધરાવેલા હોમયજ્ઞમાંથી એ ગ્રહણ કરવામાં આવેલ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LEV.2.11" />“યહોવાને અર્પણ કરવાના કોઈ પણ પ્રકારના ખાદ્યાર્પણમાં આથો ન વાપરવો, અર્થાત ખમીરનો ઉપયોગ કરવો નહિ. કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિએ દહનાર્પણમાં ખમીર કે મધનો ઉપયોગ કરવો નહિ, કારણ કે તેની છૂટ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LEV.2.12" />કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ તે વસ્તુઓ ખમીર અને મધ પાકના પ્રથમ ભાગ તરીકે એ ધરાવી શકે પરંતુ તે વસ્તુઓ આહુતિ તરીકે વેદીમાં મીઠો ધુમાંડો બને એ રીતે હોમવી નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LEV.2.13" />પરંતુ તમાંરે તમાંમ પ્રકારની ખાદ્યાર્પણમાં મીઠું નાખવું. તમાંરા ખાદ્યાર્પણ પર દેવનો અતૂટ કરાર છે, તેથી તેના પ્રતીકરૂપ મીઠું નાખવાનું કદી ભૂલવું નહિ. બધાજ અર્પણોમાં મીઠું ઉમરેવું અને ચઢાવવું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પ્રથમ ફળનું ખાદ્યાર્પણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.2.14" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પાકના પ્રથમ ભાગ તરીકે અનાજ ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે ચઢાવે તો તેણે તાજાં કણસલાંના પોંકરૂપે અથવા દળેલા લોટરૂપે ચઢાવે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LEV.2.15" />ખાદ્યાર્પણનાં પર તેલ રેડવું અને ઉપર લોબાન મૂકવો, એ ખાદ્યાર્પણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.2.16" />યાજક પ્રતીકરૂપે તેમાંથી થોડો લોટ અને તેલ તથા બધો લોબાન લઈ યહોવાને ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે વેદીની અગ્નિમાં હોમવો.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">શાંત્યર્પણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.3.1" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ યહોવા સમક્ષ શાંત્યર્પણ લાવવા ઈચ્છતો હોય, તે પશુ ગાય પણ હોઈ શકે, તે અર્પણ પશુ હોય તો નર હોય કે માંદા હોય, પણ તે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનું હોવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.3.2" />જે વ્યક્તિ તે પશુ લાવે તે તેના માંથા પર પોતાનો હાથ મૂકે અને મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ તેને વધેરે, ત્યાર પછી હારુનના પુત્રો-યાજકો તેનું લોહી વેદીની ચારે બાજુએ છાંટે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.3.3" />તે વ્યક્તિએ પશુના નીચેનો ભાગ યહોવાને શાંત્યર્પણ તરીકે ચઢાવવા: આંતરડાં ઉપરની અને તેની આજુબાજુની બધી ચરબી,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LEV.3.4" />બંને મૂત્રપિંડ અને તે ઉપરની કમર પાસેની ચરબી, તેમજ કાળજા અને મૂત્રપિંડ પરની ચરબી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.3.5" />આ તમાંમ યાજકોએ દહનાર્પણ ઉપરાંત વેદી પરના લાકડાંના અગ્નિમાં હોમવું. એ યજ્ઞની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LEV.3.6" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ શાંત્યર્પણ તરીકે બકરું કે ઘેટું યહોવા સમક્ષ લાવે, તો પણ તેનામાં કોઈ ખોડખાંપણ હોવી જોઈએ નહિ, વળી તે નર કે માંદા કોઈપણ હોઈ શકે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.3.7" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ઘેટું ચઢાવતો હોય તો;
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.3.8" />તેણે યહોવા સમક્ષ ઘરાવી તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકી મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ તેને વધેરવું. ત્યારબાદ હારુનના પુત્રો – યાજકોએ તેનું લોહી વેદીની ચારે બાજુએ છાંટવું.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LEV.3.9" />પછી પ્રાણીના નીચે જણાવેલા ભાગો શાંત્યર્પણમાંથી હોમયજ્ઞ તરીકે યહોવા સમક્ષ ચઢાવવા: બધી ચરબી, મેરુ દંડને અડીને કાપી નાખેલી આખી જાડી પૂછડી, આંતરડાં ઉપરની અને તેની આસપાસની બધી જ ચરબી
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LEV.3.10" />બંને મૂત્રપિંડો અને તેમના પરની કમર પાસેની ચરબી, કાળજા અને મૂત્રપિંડો પરની ચરબી,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.3.11" />યાજકે યહોવા સમક્ષ શાંત્યર્પણ તરીકે આ બધું હોમી દેવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LEV.3.12" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ બકરું અર્પણ કરવા લાવે તો,
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LEV.3.13" />તેણે યહોવા સમક્ષ ઘરાવીને તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકી મુલાકાતમંડપમાં પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ તેને વધેરવું. ત્યારબાદ હારુનના પુત્રો-યાજકોએ તેનું લોહી વેદીની ચારે બાજુએ છાંટવું.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LEV.3.14" />યાજકે તેના નીચેના ભાગ યહોવાને શાંત્યર્પણ તરીકે ચઢાવવા: આંતરડાં પરની અને તેની આસપાસની બધી જ ચરબી,
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LEV.3.15" />બંને મૂત્રપિંડો અને તેની પરની કમર પાસેની ચરબી, કાળજા તેમજ મૂત્રપિંડો પરની ચરબી.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.3.16" />આ તમાંમ યાજકે શાંત્યર્પણ તરીકે હોમી દેવું. એની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે. બધી જ ચરબી યહોવાની ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LEV.3.17" />તમે ગમે ત્યાં નિવાસ કરતા હો, તમાંરી બધી જ પેઢીઓ માંટે તમાંરા દેશમાં સર્વત્ર આ કાયમી નિયમ છે; તમાંરે કદી પણ ચરબી કે લોહી ખાવા નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">અજાણતા થયેલાં પાપો માંટેના અર્પણો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.4.1" />તે પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને બીજી સૂચનાઓ આપી અને તેને કહ્યું કે, “ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહે જે કૃત્યો કરવાની યહોવાએ મના કરી છે તે ન કરવા તેનું પાલન કરે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.4.2" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અજાણતા માંરા આદેશોનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરે તેને માંટે આ નિયમો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LEV.4.3" />“જો અભિષિક્ત યાજક એવી રીતે ભૂલ કરે અને લોકોને દોષમાં નાખે. તો તેણે પોતે કરેલાં પાપના પ્રાયશ્ચિત રૂપે યહોવાને એક ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો બળદ તેણે કરેલા પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે અર્પણ તરીકે ચઢાવવો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LEV.4.4" />તેણે બળદને મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ લાવી તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકી તેને યહોવાની સમક્ષ વધેરવો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.4.5" />પછી અભિષિક્ત યાજક તેનું લોહી લઈને મુલાકાત મંડપમાં આવે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.4.6" />અને પછી લોહીમાં પોતાની આંગળી બોળી યહોવા સમક્ષ સાત વખત પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનના પડદા પર લોહીના છાંટા નાખે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.4.7" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે થોડું લોહી મુલાકાતમંડપની અંદર યહોવા સમક્ષ ધૂપની વેદીના ખૂણાઓ ઉપર રેડવું અને બાકીનું લોહી મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળના યજ્ઞવેદીના પાયા આગળ રેડી દેવું.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.4.8" />પછી તેણે પાપાર્થાર્પણના બળદની બધી ચરબી કાઢી લેવી; આંતરડાં પરની અને તેની આસપાસની ચરબી.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LEV.4.9" />બે મૂત્રપિંડો અને તેની પરની કમર પાસેની ચરબી અને કાળજા તેમજ મૂત્રપિંડો પરની બધી જ ચરબી કાઢીને બાજુએ રાખવી,
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LEV.4.10" />અને પછી તે બધી ચરબી યાજકે યજ્ઞવેદી પર હોમી દેવી.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.4.11" />પરંતુ જુવાન વાછરડાનો બાકીનો ભાગચામડું, માંસ, માંથું, પગ, આંતરડાં,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LEV.4.12" />અને છાણ, છાવણીની બહાર પવિત્રસ્થાને લઈ જઈ ત્યાં રાખ નાખવાની જગ્યાએ લાકડાં સળગાવીને તેને બાળી મૂકવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LEV.4.13" />“જો સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલની પ્રજા અજાણતાં પાપ કરીને યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનો ભંગ કરી દોષમાં પડે તો,
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LEV.4.14" />તેની જાણ થતાં જ મંડળીએ પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો બળદ ચઢાવવો. બળદને મુલાકાતમંડપ આગળ લાવી,
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LEV.4.15" />વડીલોએ તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકી યહોવા સમક્ષ તેને વધેરવો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.4.16" />ત્યાર પછી અભિષિક્ત યાજકે તેનું થોડું લોહી મુલાકાતમંડપમાં લાવી.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LEV.4.17" />તેમાં આંગળી બોળી યહોવા સમક્ષ સાત વખત પડદા પર છાંટવું.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LEV.4.18" />ત્યારબાદ થોડું લોહી તેણે મુલાકાતમંડપની અંદર યહોવા સમક્ષ વેદીના ખૂણાઓ પર રેડવું, અને બાકીનું બધું લોહી મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળની યજ્ઞ વેદીનાં પાયામાં રેડી દેવું.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LEV.4.19" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે બળદની ચરબી કાઢી લઈ વેદીના લાકડાંના અગ્નિમાં બાળી મૂકવી.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LEV.4.20" />તેણે પાપાર્થાર્પણના બળદની જેમજ એ બળદનું પણ કરવું, એ રીતે યાજક લોકોને શુદ્ધ કરશે અને યહોવા તેમને માંફ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="LEV.4.21" />પછી પેલા બળદની જેમ આને પણ છાવણીની બહાર લઈ જઈ બાળી મૂકવો, આ વખતે આ પાપાર્થાર્પણ સમગ્ર પ્રજાને માંટે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LEV.4.22" />“જો કોઈ પ્રજાના આગેવાનોમાંથી અજાણતા પાપ કરે અને દેવના નિયમનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરી દોષિત ઠરે,
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="LEV.4.23" />ત્યારે એની જાણમાં આવતાં જ તેણે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો નર બકરો લાવી, જ્યાં આહુતિ ચઢાવવામાં આવે છે,
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LEV.4.24" />ત્યાં યહોવા સમક્ષ તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકી તેને વધેરવો. આ પાપાર્થાર્પણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LEV.4.25" />ત્યારબાદ યાજકે પશુનું લોહી આંગળી વડે લઈ યજ્ઞવેદીનાં ટોચકાં પર લગાડવું, અને બાકીનું લોહી યજ્ઞવેદીના પાયામાં રેડી દેવું અને અર્પણની આહુતિની ચરબીની જેમ એની બધી જ ચરબી વેદી પર બાળી મૂકવી.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="LEV.4.26" />આમ યાજક રાજાને શુદ્ધ કરશે અને યહોવા તેને માંફ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LEV.4.27" />“જો કોઈ સામાંન્ય માંણસ અજાણતા પાપ કરે અને યહોવાની કોઈ આજ્ઞાનો ભંગ કરીને દોષમાં પડે તો,
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LEV.4.28" />તેની જાણ થતાં તેણે પોતે કરેલાં પાપોના પ્રાયશ્ચિત માંટે એક ખોડખાંપણ વગરની બકરી પાપાર્થાર્પણ કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="LEV.4.29" />તેણે તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકી, જયાં યજ્ઞ ચઢાવવામાં આવે છે ત્યાં તેનો વધ કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LEV.4.30" />યાજકે તેનું થોડું લોહી આંગળી પર લઈને યજ્ઞવેદીનાં ખુણાઓ પર લગાડવું, અને બાકીનું બધું જ લોહી વેદીના પાયામાં રેડી દેવું.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="LEV.4.31" />શાંત્યાર્પણની વિધિની જેમ યાજકે તેની બધી ચરબી કાઢી લેવી અને વેદી પર તેનું દહન કરવું; અને યહોવા તેનો સ્વીકાર કરશે. એની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે. યાજક આ રીતે તે માંણસને માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરશે અને યહોવા તેને માંફ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LEV.4.32" />“પણ જો કોઈ માંણસ પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે હલવાન લાવે તો તે માંદા હોવું જોઈએ અને ખોડખાંપણ વગરનું હોવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="LEV.4.33" />તેણે તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકી જયાં દહનાર્પણના પશુનો વધ કરવામાં આવે છે, ત્યાં પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે તેનો વધ કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="LEV.4.34" />પછી યાજકે પાપાર્થાર્પણનું થોડું લોહી આંગળી પર લઈને યજ્ઞવેદીનો ખૂણાઓ પર લગાડવું. અને બાકીનું બધું લોહી વેદીના પાયામાં રેડી દેવું.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="LEV.4.35" />યાજકે શાંત્યાર્પણના પશુની જેમ તેની બધી જ ચરબી કાઢી લેવી અને યહોવાને બીજા કોઈપણ અગ્નિના અર્પણની જેમ યાજકે તેને વેદી પર હોમી દેવું. આ રીતે યાજક તે વ્યક્તિને તેના પાપમાંથી શુદ્ધ કરે છે, અને યહોવા તે વ્યક્તિને માંફ કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">વિભિન્ન પ્રકારના અજાણતા પાપોના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.5.1" />“ગુન્હા વિષે જાણનાર વ્યક્તિને ન્યાયાલયમાં સાક્ષી પૂરવા બોલાવવામાં આવે અને તે પોતે જ જોયેલું કે જાણેલું હોય તે ન જણાવે તો તે પાપમાં પડે અને તેની સજા તેણે ભોગવવી પડે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="LEV.5.2" />“જો કોઈ માંણસ અજાણતાં કોઈ પણ અશુદ્ધ વસ્તુ, જેવી કે ખોરાક માંટે ના કરી હોય એવા જંતુના મૃત શરીરને અથવા જંગલી કે પાળેલા પ્રાણીના મૃત શરીરને સ્પર્શ તો તે દોષિત ગણાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LEV.5.3" />“જો કોઈ માંણસ અજાણતાં માંણસનો કોઈ પણ જાતની મલિનતાનો સ્પર્શ કરે અને જેવી તેના વિષે તેને જાણ થાય કે તરત જ તે દોષપાત્ર ગણાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LEV.5.4" />“જો કોઈ માંણસ ઉતાવળમાં સમ ખાય અને તેને પાળવાનું ભૂલી જાય અને મોડેથી તેની જાણ થાય, તો તે દોષિત ગણાય;
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.5.5" />આમાંની કોઈ પણ બાબતમાં, જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ દોષિત હોય તો તેણે પોતાનો દોષ કબૂલ કરવો,
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.5.6" />અને પોતાના પાપના પ્રાયશ્ચિતરૂપે યહોવા સમક્ષ માંદા હલવાન કે બકરી લાવે, અને યાજકે તેનો પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LEV.5.7" />“પરંતુ જો તે ગરીબ હોય અને માંદા હલવાન કે બકરી ચઢાવી ન શકે, તો તેણે યહોવાને બે હોલા અથવા કબૂતરનાં બે બચ્ચાં ચઢાવવાં, એક પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે અને એક દહનાર્પણ તરીકે,
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.5.8" />તેણે એ લાવીને યાજકને આપવાં, યાજકે પહેલાં પાપાર્થાર્પણ ચઢાવવું, તેણે તેની ડોક મરડી પંખીને માંરી નાખવું, અને તેનું માંથું તેની ડોકથી જુદુ કરી નાખવું, પણ તેને પંખીના બે ભાગ ન કરવા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LEV.5.9" />પછી તેનું થોડું લોહી વેદીની બાજુ પર છાંટવું. અને બાકીનું લોહી વેદીના પાયામાં રેડી દેવું એ પાપાર્થાર્પણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LEV.5.10" />ત્યારબાદ બીજું પક્ષી તેણે વિધિપૂર્વક દહનાર્પણ તરીકે હોમી દેવું. આ રીતે તેનું અર્પણ થાય છે. આ રીતે યાજક તે વ્યક્તિને પાપમાંથી શુદ્ધ કરે છે અને તેને માંફ કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LEV.5.11" />“જો કોઈ માંણસ બે હોલા કે કબૂતરનાં બે બચ્ચાં ચઢાવી શકે તેમ ના હોય, તો તેણે પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે આઠ વાટકા લોટ ચઢાવવો. અને તેણે તેમાં તેલ કે લોબાન ન મૂકવાં, કારણ, તે પાપાર્થાર્પણ છે,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LEV.5.12" />તેણે એ લાવીને યાજકને સોંપવા અને તેણે પ્રતીક તરીકે તેમાંથી મૂઠી ભરીને લોટ લઈ વેદી પર યહોવાને ચઢાવેલાં અન્નના અર્પણ ભેગો હોમી દેવો. એ પ્રાયશ્ચિત માંટેનું અર્પણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LEV.5.13" />યાજકે આ રીતે તેના પાપનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવા માંટેની વિધિ કરવી, એટલે તે માંણસને માંફ કરવામાં આવશે, બાકીનો લોટ ખાદ્યાર્પણની જેમ યાજકનો થશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.5.14" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LEV.5.15" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અજાણતાં પવિત્રવસ્તુઓ સાથે કઈ ખોટુ કરીને પાપ કરે; તો તેણે દોષાર્થપણ માંટે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો એક ઘેટો લાવવો. તેણે પોતાનું પાપ શુદ્ધ કરવા ઘેટાને યહોવા સમક્ષ લાવવો. તમાંરે અધીકૃત માંપ વાપરી ઘેટાની કિંમત આંકવી.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.5.16" />અને જે પવિત્ર વસ્તુને ખોટું થયું છે તેની કિંમત તે ભરપાઈ કરે, તેણે જેના સમ લીધા હોય તે લાવવું. અને તેમાં પાંચમો ભાગ ઉમેરીને તે પૈસા યાજકને આપવા. ત્યારબાદ યાજક તેને દોષાર્થાપણના ઘેટાંથી તેને શુદ્ધ કરશે અને તેને માંફ કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LEV.5.17" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અજાણતાં યહોવાએ આપેલા કોઈ પણ નિયમનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરી પાપ કરે; તો તે દોષિત ઠરે અને તેના પાપની જવાબદારી તેને માંથે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LEV.5.18" />આ દોષાર્થાર્પણ ને માંટે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો ઘેટો હોય, અને તેને લાવીને યાજકને આપવો, અને તે તેની કિંમત મંદિરના ધોરણે ઠરાવવી. યાજકે તેણે અજાણતાં કરેલા પાપનો પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવો એટલે તેને માંફ કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LEV.5.19" />આ દોષાથાર્પણ માંટેનું અર્પણ છે, કારણ, તેણે યહોવાનો ગુનો કર્યો છે, અને તે યહોવા સમક્ષ દોષિત છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">દોષાર્થાર્પણ માંટેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.6.1" />અને યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.6.2" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કોઈની થાપણ પાછી ન આપે અથવા પોતે ભાડે આપેલી વસ્તુની લીધેલી અનામત અથવા તેની પર વિશ્વાસ કરીને તેને સોંપેલી વસ્તુ પાછી આપવાની ના પાડે, ચોરી કરે, છેતરે કે પોતાના પડોશી પર અન્યાય કરીને કોઈ વસ્તુ મેળવે,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.6.3" />અથવા કોઈની ખોવાયેલી વસ્તુ તેને જડી હોય, ને તેની ના પાડે, અથવા આવા કોઈ પણ પાપની બાબતમાં ખોટા સમ ખાય, અને એ રીતે યહોવાનો ગુનેગાર બને;
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LEV.6.4" />તો તે દોષિત છે, તેણે જે કાંઈ ચોરી લીધું હોય, બળજબરીથી લીધું હોય અથવા છેતરીને લીધું હોય, અથવા રાખવા લીધું હોય અથવા મળ્યું હોય અને તેના વિષે ખોટુ બોલ્યો હોય અથવા બીજી કોઈપણ વાતમાં તેણે ખોટા સમ ખાધા હોય તો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.6.5" />તેને આખી કિંમત વીસ ટકા ઉમેરીને તે રકમ સાચા માંલિક ને આપવી; અને એ જ દિવસે તેને પોતાનું દોષાર્થાર્પણ લાવે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.6.6" />તેણે એક ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો ઘેટો યાજક પાસે યહોવાને પ્રાયશ્ચિત તરીકે લાવવો અને તેની કિંમત મંદિરના ધોરણે ઠરાવવી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.6.7" />પછી યાજકે યહોવા સમક્ષ તેનો પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવો, એટલે તેણે જે કાંઈ પાપ કર્યું હશે તેને માંફ કરવામાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દહનાર્પણો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LEV.6.8" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LEV.6.9" />“હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોને દહનાર્પણને લગતા આ નિયમો આપ: “દહનાર્પણો વેદી પરની કઢાઈ ઉપર આખી રાત રાખવામાં આવે અને વેદીનો અગ્નિ સતત સળગતો રહે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LEV.6.10" />અને યાજક પોતાના અંદર અને બહાર શણનાં કપડાં પહેરે અને દહનાર્પણની રાખ સાફ કરે અને તેને વેદીની બાજુમાં ભેગી કરે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.6.11" />ત્યાર પછી તેણે વસ્ત્રો બદલવાં અને એ રાખ છાવણી બહાર સ્વચ્છ જગ્યાએ લઈ જવી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LEV.6.12" />તે દરમ્યાન વેદીનો અગ્નિ સતત બળતો રાખવો, તેને કદી હોલવવા ન દેવો. પ્રતિદિન સવારે યાજકે તેમાં લાકડાં મૂકવાં અને તેના ઉપર દહનાર્પણ ગોઠવવું, અને તેના ઉપર શાંત્યર્પણની ચરબીનુ દહન કરે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LEV.6.13" />વેદીનો અગ્નિ સતત બળતો રાખવો તે કદી ઓલવાવો જોઈએ નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ખાદ્યાર્પણ માંટેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.6.14" />“ખાદ્યાર્પણ માંટેના નિયમો આ પ્રમાંણે છે: હારુનના પુત્રો-યાજકો ખાદ્યાર્પણ યહોવાને ચઢાવવા વેદી સમક્ષ ઊભા રહે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LEV.6.15" />પછી તેણે એ ખાદ્યાર્પણોમાંથી મૂઠી ભરીને મેંદો. તેલ અને બધો જ લોબાન પ્રતીક તરીકે લઈને યહોવાને માંટે વેદીમાં હોમી દેવો, એની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LEV.6.16" />“મૂઠ્ઠીભર લોટ લીધા પછી જે બાકી રહે તે, ખોરાક માંટે હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો-યાજકોનો ગણાય; મુલાકાત મંડપનાં ચોકમાં તેને ખમીર વગર ખાવો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LEV.6.17" />એમાં ખમીર ન નાખવું. મેં અગ્નિ દ્વારા મળેલ ખાદ્યાર્પણના તેમના ભાગરૂપે તેમને આપેલા છે. પાપાર્થાર્પણ અને દોષાથાર્પણના અર્પણની જેમ એ પરમ પવિત્ર છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LEV.6.18" />હારુનના વંશનો કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ એ ખાઈ શકશે, યહોવાને ચઢાવેલા ખાદ્યાર્પણના અર્પણનો તેમને પેઢી દર પેઢી કાયમનો ભાગ મળશે, એનો સ્પર્શ જે કોઈ કરશે તે શુદ્ધ બની જશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યાજકોનું ખાદ્યાર્પણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LEV.6.19" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LEV.6.20" />“હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોએ પોતાના અભિષેકના દિવસે એટલે કે તેઓ યાજક વર્ગમાં પ્રવેશે તે દિવસે તેઓ યહોવા સમક્ષ ખાદ્યાર્પણ લાવે, એટલે કે આઠ વાટકા લોટ જેને રોજના અર્પણના સમયે અર્પણ કરવામાં આવશે, અડધો સવારે અને અડધો સાંજે, એને તેલથી મોહીને તવા પર શેકીને,
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="LEV.6.21" />તેને ભઠ્ઠીમાં તવી ઉપર તેલથી તળવામાં આવે અને તેને બરાબર શેકવામાં આવે, પછી તેને યહોવા સમક્ષ અર્પણ તરીકે લાવવામાં આવે, તમાંરે અર્પણના ટુકડા કરી નાખવા. તેની સુવાસથી યહોવાને બહુ આનંદ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LEV.6.22" />“જયારે યાજકના પુત્ર પોતાના પિતાની (હારુનની) ઊચા યાજક તરીકે જગ્યા ધારણ કરે ત્યારે તેણે આ ખાદ્યાર્પણને સંપૂર્ણ રીતે બાળી નાખીને અર્પણ કરવું. આ કાયમી નિયમ છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="LEV.6.23" />યહોવાને ચઢાવેલો એ ખાદ્યાર્પણ પૂરેપૂરો હોમી દેવાનો છે, તેમાંનું કશુંય કોઈએ પણ જમવાના ઉપયોગમાં લેવું નહિ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">પાપાર્થાર્પણનો નિયમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LEV.6.24" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="25" bcv="LEV.6.25" />“હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોને પાપાર્થર્પણ વિષેના આ નિયમો કહે: પાપાર્થાર્પણનું પશુ યહોવા સમક્ષ જયાં દહનાર્પણના પશુને વધેરવામાં આવે છે, ત્યાં વધેરવું એ અત્યંત પવિત્ર છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="LEV.6.26" />વિધિ કરનાર યાજકે એ મુલાકાત મંડપના ચોકમાં પવિત્રસ્થાને જમવું.
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<v id="27" bcv="LEV.6.27" />જે કાંઈ એને અડે તે પવિત્ર ગણાય.
</p>
<p style="p">“જો એના લોહીના છાંટા કોઈ કપડાં પર પડયા હોય તો તે પવિત્રસ્થાને ધોઈ નાખવાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="LEV.6.28" />માંટીનાં જે વાસણમાં માંસને ઉકાળ્યું હોય તેને ભાંગી નાખવું અથવા જો કાંસાનું વાસણ વાપર્યુ હોય તો તેને ઘસીને ચકચકિત કરવું અને વીછળી નાખીને બરાબર ધોઈ નાખવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LEV.6.29" />“યાજકના પરિવારનો કોઈ પણ માંણસ આ પાપાર્થાર્પણમાંથી જમી શકે, કારણ કે તે અત્યંત પવિત્ર અર્પણ છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="LEV.6.30" />પરંતુ જો પાપાર્થાર્પણનું લોહી મુલાકાત મંડપમાં લાવીને પાપાર્થાર્પણમાં વપરાયું હોય તો પાપાર્થાર્પણ યાજકોએ ખાવો નહિ. અને અગ્નિમાં પૂરેપૂરો હોમી દેવો.
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</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">દોષાર્થાર્પણ માંટે વધુ નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.7.1" />“દોષાર્થાર્પણ માંટે લવાતાં અતિ પવિત્ર અર્પણો માંટેના નિયમો આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
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<v id="2" bcv="LEV.7.2" />દોષાર્થર્પણ માંટેના અર્પણના પશુનો વધ, જયાં દહનાર્પણના પશુનો વધ થતો હોય ત્યાં કરવો અને તેનું લોહી વેદી પર અને ફરતું છાંટવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LEV.7.3" />“યાજકે એની બધી ચરબી કાઢી લઈ વેદી પર ચઢાવવી, જાડી પૂંછડી, આંતરડા પરની ચરબી,
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<v id="4" bcv="LEV.7.4" />બંને મૂત્રપિંડો અને કમરના નીચલા ભાગના સ્નાયુ પરની ચરબી, અને કાળજાનો ચરબીવાળો ભાગ આ સર્વ આહુતિ માંટે એક બાજુ રાખવું.
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<v id="5" bcv="LEV.7.5" />યાજકે યહોવાને ચઢાવવામાં આવેલી આહુતિ તરીકે વેદી પર હોમી દેવી. એ દોષાર્થાર્પણની આહુતિ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LEV.7.6" />“યાજકના પરિવારનો કોઈ પણ પુરુષ સભ્ય તે જમી શકે. તે અતિ પવિત્ર છે; તેથી તે પવિત્ર જગ્યાએ જ જમવું.
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<v id="7" bcv="LEV.7.7" />પાપાર્થાર્પણ તથા દોષાર્થાર્પણ માંટે એક જ નિયમ છે. એ યજ્ઞ કરનાર યાજકને મળે.
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<v id="8" bcv="LEV.7.8" />કોઈ વ્યક્તિને ચઢાવેલા દહનાર્પણના પશુનું ચામડું હોમનાર યાજકને મળે.
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<v id="9" bcv="LEV.7.9" />ભઠ્ઠીમાં બનાવેલું, અથવા કડાઈમાં તળેલુ કે તવામાં શેકેલું ખાદ્યાર્પણ તેને ધરાવનાર યાજકનું થાય.
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<v id="10" bcv="LEV.7.10" />અન્ય બીજાં બધાં ખાદ્યાર્પણો તેલમાં મોહ્યેલા કે મોહ્યા વગરના હારુનના પુત્રોની-યાજકોની સહિયારી માંલિકીના ગણય. તેથી બધા યાજકોએ તે સરખે ભાગે વહેંચી લેવાં.
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</p>
<s style="s">શાંત્યર્પણો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LEV.7.11" />“યહોવાને ચઢાવવામાં આવતા શાંત્યર્પણો યજ્ઞો માંટે આ પ્રમાંણેના નિયમ છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="LEV.7.12" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આભાર માંટે અર્પણ ચઢાવતો હયો, તો શાંત્યર્પણ ઉપરાંત તેણે મોંયેલી બેખમીર રોટલી, તેલ ચોપડેલી બેખમીર ખાખરા તથા મોંયેલા લોટની પોળીઓ ચઢાવવા.
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<v id="13" bcv="LEV.7.13" />શાંત્યર્પણના અર્પણ સાથે ખમીરવાળી રોટલી ભેગી મુકવી.
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<v id="14" bcv="LEV.7.14" />આમાંની એક રોટલી જે યાજક શાંત્યર્પણનુ લોહી છાંટે તેને આપવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="LEV.7.15" />જે દિવસે એ અર્પણ ધરાવેલ હોય તે જ દિવસે એનું માંસ જમી લેવું. એમાંથી કશુંય બીજા દિવસે જમવા માંટે રાખવું નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LEV.7.16" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ બાધાનો કે સ્વેચ્છાનો અર્પણ ચઢાવતો હોય તો તે ચઢાવે તે જ દિવસે અને તે પછીના દિવસે પણ જમી શકાય.
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<v id="17" bcv="LEV.7.17" />પણ ત્રીજા દિવસ સુધી જે વધે તેને બાળી નાખવું.
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<v id="18" bcv="LEV.7.18" />કારણ કે જો તે શાંત્યર્પણ ત્રીજા દિવસે પણ જમવામાં આવે તો યહોવા તેનો સ્વીકાર કરે નહિ. અર્પણ તરીકે તેની કિંમત રહે નહિ: અને જે વ્યક્તિ તે અર્પણ લાવી હશે તેને કોઈ લાભ થશે નહિ અને તે અર્પણ અશુદ્ધ બની જશે. જે માંણસ તે ખાશે તે પોતાના પાપનો જવાબદાર બનશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LEV.7.19" />“જો માંસ કોઈ અપવિત્ર વસ્તુને અડેલું હોય, તો તે જમી શકાય નહિ, તેથી તેને અગ્નિમાં બાળી મૂકવું. જે વ્યક્તિ શુદ્ધ હોય તે શાંત્યર્પણનું માંસ જમી શકે છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="LEV.7.20" />જો કોઈ માંણસ અશુદ્ધ હોય છતાં શાંત્યર્પણમાંથી તે જમે તો તેને તેના લોકોથી જુદો કરવો, કારણ કે તેણે જે પવિત્ર છે તેને અશુદ્ધ કર્યુ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LEV.7.21" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અશુદ્ધ માંણસને, કે અશુદ્ધ પશુને કે અશુદ્ધ પેટે ચાલનાર પ્રાણીને અડયો હોય અને પછી યહોવાને ચઢાવેલા શાંત્યર્પણનું માંસ જમે તો તેને તેના લોકોથી તેને જૂદો કરવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LEV.7.22" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="23" bcv="LEV.7.23" />“ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને કહે કે તમાંરે કોઈ બળદ, ઘેટાં કે બકરાની ચરબી ખાવી નહિ.
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<v id="24" bcv="LEV.7.24" />કુદરતી રીતે મૃત્યુ પામેલ અથવા કોઈ જંગલી પ્રાણીએ માંરી નાખેલા પશુની ચરબીનો બીજો ગમે તે ઉપયોગ કરવો પણ તમાંરે તે ખાવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LEV.7.25" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ યહોવાને આહુતિ તરીકે ધરાવેલા પશુની ચરબી ખાય તો તેનો સમાંજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LEV.7.26" />“તમે ગમે ત્યાં રહેતા હોય, પણ તમાંરે પશુનું કે પંખીનું લોહી ખાવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="LEV.7.27" />છતાં જો કોઈ લોહી ખાય તો તેનો સમાંજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરવો.”
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</p>
<s style="s">આરતી અર્પણ માંટેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LEV.7.28" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="29" bcv="LEV.7.29" />“ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને આ કહે કે જે કોઈએ યહોવાને શાંત્યર્પણ ચઢાવવા લાવે તેણે તેનો અમુક ભાગ યહોવાને વિશેષ ભેટ તરીકે ધરાવવો.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LEV.7.30" />તેણે પોતાને હાથે એ ભાગ લાવવો. તેણે ચરબી અને પ્રાણીની છાતી યાજક પાસે લાવવા. યાજકે છાતીને ઉચી કરવી અને આરતી અર્પણ કરીને યહોવાને અર્પણ કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="LEV.7.31" />યાજકે ચરબી વેદીમાં હોમી દેવી, પણ છાતીનો ભાગ હારુનના વંશના યાજકોનો થાય.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="LEV.7.32" />તમાંરા શાંત્યર્પણના પશુની જમણી જાંઘ પણ યાજકને આપવી.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="LEV.7.33" />એ જમણી જાંઘ જે યાજક શાંત્યર્પણને પશુનું લોહી અને તેની ચરબી ધરાવે તેના ભાગમાં જાય.
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<v id="34" bcv="LEV.7.34" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ધરાવેલા આરતીનાં પશુઓની છાતીનો ભાગ અને જાંઘ હું રાખી લઉ છું અને યાજક હારુનને અને તેના વંશજોને આપું છું. ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તરફથી એમને મળવું જોઈતું આ કાયમનું દાપું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="LEV.7.35" />જે દિવસે હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોનો યાજક પદે અભિષેક કરવામાં આવ્યો તે દિવસે તેમને યહોવાને ધરાવેલા અભિષેકના હિસ્સામાંથી એ દાપુ આપ્યું હતું.
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<v id="36" bcv="LEV.7.36" />જે દિવસે અભિષેક કરવામાં આવ્યો તે દિવસે યહોવાએ આ ભાગો તેમને આપવાની ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી, આ નિયમ સદા માંટે તેમના બધા વંશજોને માંટે બંધનકર્તા છે. વંશપરંપરા આ તેઓનો અધિકાર છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LEV.7.37" />દહનાર્પણ, ખાદ્યાર્પણ, પાપાથાર્પણ અને દોષાર્થાર્પણ અને શાંત્યાર્પણને લગતા નિયમો આ પ્રમાંણે છે.
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<v id="38" bcv="LEV.7.38" />સિનાઈના રણમાં યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલપુત્રોને અર્પણ ચઢાવવા માંટેની આજ્ઞા કરી હતી, ત્યારે તે દિવસે યહોવાએ સિનાઈ પર્વત પર મૂસાને આ પ્રમાંણે આજ્ઞા કરી હતી.
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<c id="8" />
<s style="s">મૂસાનું યાજકોને જુદા કરવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.8.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="LEV.8.2" />“હવે હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોને મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ લઈ જા અને સાથે તેમના પોશાક, અભિષેકનું તેલ તેમજ પાપાર્થાર્પણનો બળદ, બે ઘેટાં અને બેખમીર રોટલીની ટોપલી લઈ જા.
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<v id="3" bcv="LEV.8.3" />અને બધી જ ઇસ્રાએલની પ્રજાને ત્યાં ભેગા થવાનું કહે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LEV.8.4" />મૂસાએ યહોવાના કહેવા પ્રમાંણે કર્યું. તેથી સમગ્ર સમાંજ મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ ભેગો થયો.
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<v id="5" bcv="LEV.8.5" />અને મૂસાએ તે લોકોને જણાવ્યું કે, “યહોવાએ આ પ્રમાંણે કરવાનું કહ્યું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LEV.8.6" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે હારુનને અને તેના પુત્રોને આગળ લાવીને પાણીથી સ્નાન કરાવ્યું.
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<v id="7" bcv="LEV.8.7" />પછી તેણે હારુનને અંગરખો, અને જામો પહેરાવી કમરબંધ બાંધીને એફોદ ચઢાવી તેનો ગુથેલો પટો કમરે બાંધી દીધો.
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<v id="8" bcv="LEV.8.8" />પછી તેણે તેને ઉરપત્ર પહેરાવીને તેમાં ઉરીમ અને તુમ્મીમ જોડી દીધા.
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<v id="9" bcv="LEV.8.9" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ તેણે તેના માંથે પાધડી પહેરાવી અને આગળના ભાગમાં પવિત્ર મુગટરૂપે સોનાનું પદક એટલે કે પવિત્ર મુગટ લગાવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LEV.8.10" />પછી મૂસાએ અભિષેકનું તેલ લઈને મુલાકાતમંડપ ઉપર અને તેમાંની બધી જ વસ્તુઓ પર છાંટીને તે બધાંયને પવિત્ર કર્યા.
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<v id="11" bcv="LEV.8.11" />તે વેદી પાસે આવ્યો અને તેના પર સાત વખત અભિષેકનું તેલ છાંટયું અને વેદી અને તેનાં બધાં વાસણો તથા કૂડી અને તેની ધોડી યહોવાને સમર્પણ કરી.
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<v id="12" bcv="LEV.8.12" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે હારુનના માંથા પર અભિષેકનું તેલ રેડયું અને દીક્ષાવિધિ કર્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="LEV.8.13" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે મૂસાએ હારુનના પુત્રોને ઝભ્ભો પહેરાવ્યો, કમરે કમરબંધ બાંધ્યા અને માંથે પાઘડી બાંધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.8.14" />પછી પાપાથાર્પણના બળદને આગળ લાવ્યો અને હારુને અને તેના પુત્રોએ તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂક્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="LEV.8.15" />પછી મૂસાએ તેનો વધ કર્યો, અને તેનું થોડું લોહી લઈ તેની આંગળીથી વેદીનાં ટોચકાઓને લગાડ્યું અને આ રીતે તેને શુદ્ધ કરી, પછી બાકીનું લોહી વેદીના પાયામાં રેડી દીધું. આ રીતે મૂસાએ વેદીને લોકોને શુદ્ધ કરવાના અર્પણો માંટે તૈયારી કરી.
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<v id="16" bcv="LEV.8.16" />પછી તેણે આંતરડાં પરની બધી જ ચરબી, કાળજા પરની ચરબી અને બંને મૂત્રપિંડ અને તે પરની ચરબી લીધી અને વેદીમાં હોમી દીધી.
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<v id="17" bcv="LEV.8.17" />અને બળદનું ચામડું, તેનું માંસ અને છાણ, યહોવાની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર છાવણી બહાર કોઈ જગ્યા પર તેણે બાળી નાખ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LEV.8.18" />પછી તે યહોવા સમક્ષ દહનાર્પણ માંટેનો ઘેટો લઈને આગળ આવ્યો. હારુને અને તેના પુત્રોએ તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂક્યા,
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<v id="19" bcv="LEV.8.19" />પછી મૂસાએ તેનો વધ કર્યો અને તેનું લોહી વેદીની ચારેબાજુએ છાંટ્યું.
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<v id="20" bcv="LEV.8.20" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે ઘેટાના ટુકડા કરી યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ, તેનું માંથું, ચરબી તથા બધા ટુકડાવેદીમાં હોમી દીધા.
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<v id="21" bcv="LEV.8.21" />તેણે આંતરડાં તથા પગ પાણીથી ધોયા પછી આખા ઘેટાને વેદીમાં હોમી દીધો. યહોવાએ મૂસાને કરેલી આજ્ઞા મુજબનું એ દહનાર્પણ હતું. એ યજ્ઞની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LEV.8.22" />એ પછી મૂસા બીજા ઘેટાને એટલે કે યાજકના દીક્ષાવિધિ માંટેના ઘેટાને આગળ લાવ્યો; હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોએ તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકયા.
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<v id="23" bcv="LEV.8.23" />મૂસાએ તેનો વધ કર્યો અને તેનું થોડું લોહી લઈને હારુનના જમણા કાનની બુટ પર અને જમણા હાથના અંગૂઠા પર તથા જમણા પગના અંગૂઠા પર લગાડ્યું.
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<v id="24" bcv="LEV.8.24" />પછી તે હારુનના પુત્રોને વેદી પાસે લાવ્યો અને તેમના જમણા કાનની બૂટે તથા તેમના જમણા હાથના અને જમણા પગના અંગૂઠાએ થોડું લોહી લગાડયું. પછી મૂસાએ વેદીને ફરતું લોહી છાંટયું.
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<v id="25" bcv="LEV.8.25" />પછી તેણે જાડી પૂંછડી, આંતરડાં પરની ચરબી, કાળજા પરની ચરબી બન્ને મૂત્રપિંડ અને તેની ચરબી તેમજ જમણી જાઘ લીધી.
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<v id="26" bcv="LEV.8.26" />પછી આ બધા પર એક રોટલો, એક તેલ ચોપડલો રોટલો, અને બેખમીર રોટલીનો એક ટુકડો જે દરરોજ દેવની સામે મુકવામાં આવે છે તે ચરબી પર એને જમણા જાંઘ પર મૂકયો.
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<v id="27" bcv="LEV.8.27" />અને આ બધું હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોના હાથમાં મૂકીને યહોવા સમક્ષ આરતી કરી.
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<v id="28" bcv="LEV.8.28" />પછી મૂસાએ તે બધું પાછું લઈને દહનાર્પણ ભેગું વેદીમાં હોમી દીધું. આ યાજકના દીક્ષાવિધિનો અર્પણ હતો અને તેની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થયા.
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<v id="29" bcv="LEV.8.29" />અર્પણના પછી મૂસાએ પશુની છાતી લીધી અને યહોવાની સામે આરતી કરી, આ રીતે યાજકના દીક્ષાવિધિના અર્પણમાંથી તેનો ભાગ મૂસાને મળ્યો હતો. આ બધું યહોવાએ મૂસાને જે આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે મૂજબ કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="LEV.8.30" />ત્યારબાદ મૂસાએ થોડું અભિષેકનું તેલ અને થોડું વેદી પરનું લોહી લઈને હારુન અને તેનાં વસ્ત્રો પર તથા તેના પુત્રો અને તેમનાં વસ્ત્રો પર છાંટીને યહોવાના ઉપયોગ માંટે પવિત્ર કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LEV.8.31" />પછી મૂસાએ હારુનને અને તેના પુત્રોને કહ્યું, “યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ આ માંસ મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ લઈ જઈ ત્યાં રાંધીને યાજકના દીક્ષાવિધિના અર્પણની ટોપલીમાંની રોટલી સાથે ખાજો.
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<v id="32" bcv="LEV.8.32" />માંસ અને રોટલીમાંથી જે કાંઈ વધે તે બાળી મૂકજો.
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<v id="33" bcv="LEV.8.33" />સાત દિવસ સુધી તમાંરે મુલાકતમંડપનું પ્રવેશદ્વાર છોડવું નહિ. તમાંરી દીક્ષાની વિધિ સાત દિવસ ચાલશે ત્યાર પછી તે પૂર્ણ થશે.”
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<v id="34" bcv="LEV.8.34" />તને શુદ્ધ કરવા માંટે આજે જે કરવામાં આવ્યુ છે તેનો આદેશ યહોવાએ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="LEV.8.35" />તમાંરે સાત દિવસ અને સાત રાત સુધી મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરતા રહેવાનું છે. અને ચેતવણી આપતાં કહ્યું, “જો તમે તેના આદેશ નહિ માંનો તો તમે મૃત્યુ પામશો. આ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LEV.8.36" />હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોએ યહોવાએ મૂસાને આપેલી આજ્ઞાઓ મુજબ બધું જ કર્યું.
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<c id="9" />
<s style="s">દેવ દ્વારા યાજકોની સ્વીકૃતિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.9.1" />આઠમે દિવસે મૂસાએ હારુનને અને તેના પુત્રોને તથા ઇસ્રાએલના વડીલોને બોલાવ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="LEV.9.2" />મૂસાએ હારુનને કહ્યું, “તું ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો એક બળદ પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે અને એવો જ એક ઘેટો દહનાર્પણ માંટે લાવ અને તેમને યહોવા સમક્ષ અર્પણ કર.
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<v id="3" bcv="LEV.9.3" />ત્યારબાદ તું ‘ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે એક બકરો અને આહુતિ તરીકે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો એક વરસનો વાછરડો અને એવું જ એક ઘેટાનું બચ્ચું.
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<v id="4" bcv="LEV.9.4" />તદુપરાંત શાંત્યર્પણ તરીકે એક બળદ અને એક ઘેટો યહોવા સમક્ષ વધેરવાનું કહે, વળી તેઓએ તેલથી મોયેલા લોટને ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે ચઢાવવો; કારણ કે આજે યહોવા તમને દર્શન આપશે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LEV.9.5" />આથી તેઓ મૂસાએ કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે બધું મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ લાવ્યા અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો ત્યાં યહોવાની સમક્ષ આવીને ઊભા રહ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="LEV.9.6" />તેઓને મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ તમને આ પ્રમાંણે કરવાનું કહ્યું છે. અને જો તમે એ પ્રમાંણે કરશો એટલે તમને યહોવાના ગૌરવનાં દર્શન થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LEV.9.7" />પછી મૂસાએ હારુનને કહ્યુ, “તું અગ્નિની વેદી પાસે આવ અને તારા પાપાર્થાર્પણ, દહનાર્પણ અને દોષાર્થાર્પણ ચઢાવ અને તારે પોતાને માંટે અને બધા લોકોને માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કર. ત્યાર પછી લોકોએ ધાર્મિક વિધિ કરી કરેલા અર્પણો ચઢાવ અને યહોવાના આદેશ પ્રમાંણે તેમને શુદ્ધ કર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LEV.9.8" />હારુન વેદી પાસે જઈને પોતાના પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે વાછરડાનો વધ કર્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="LEV.9.9" />તેના પુત્રોએ તેને માંટે લોહી તેની આગળ ધર્યું. અને તેમાં આંગળી બોળીને થોડું લોહી વેદીનાં ટોચકાંઓને લગાડયું અને બાકીનું લોહી વેદીના પાયામાં રેડી દીધું.
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<v id="10" bcv="LEV.9.10" />ત્યારબાદ પાપાર્થાર્પણની ચરબી, મૂત્રપિંડો અને કાળજા પરનો ચરબીનો ભાગ, હારુને યહોવાએ મૂસાને આપેલી આજ્ઞા મુજબ વેદી પર હોમી દીધાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="LEV.9.11" />પરંતુ માંસ અને ચામડું તેણે છાવણી બહાર બાળી મૂક્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LEV.9.12" />ત્યારબાદ હારુને દહનાર્પણના પ્રાણીનો વધ કર્યો. તેના પુત્રોએ તેને લોહી આપ્યું અને તેણે તે વેદીની ચારે બાજુએ છાંટયું.
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<v id="13" bcv="LEV.9.13" />પછી તેણે પ્રાણીના ટુકડાઓને માંથાં સહિત એક પછી એક તેની આગળ લઈ આવ્યા અને વેદીમાં હોમી દીધાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="LEV.9.14" />પછી તેણે આંતરડાં અને પાછલા પગ ધોઈ નાખ્યાં અને દહનાર્પણ વેદીમાં હોમી દીધાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LEV.9.15" />પછી તે લોકો માંટે અર્પણ લાવ્યો, અને પોતાના પાપાર્થાર્પણની વિધિ પ્રમાંણે તેણે બકરાનો વધ કર્યો અને બલિદાન આપ્યું.
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<v id="16" bcv="LEV.9.16" />પછી તેણે દહનાર્પણ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે વિધિપૂર્વક અર્પણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="17" bcv="LEV.9.17" />પછી તેણે ખાદ્યાર્પણ ચઢાવ્યો, તેમાંથી એક મૂઠી લઈ સવારના દહનાર્પણ સાથે વેદીમાં હોમી દીધી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LEV.9.18" />તેણે લોકોના શાંત્યર્પણ તરીકે બળદ અને ઘેટાનો પણ વધ કર્યો, તેના પુત્રોએ તેને લોહી આપ્યું જેને તેણે વેદીની ચારે બાજુએ છાંટ્યું.
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<v id="19" bcv="LEV.9.19" />અને બળદના ચરબીવાળા ભાગો, ઘેટાની ચરબીવાળી પૂંછડી, આંતરડા પરની ચરબી, બે મૂત્રપિંડો અને તેના પરની ચરબી તથા કાળજા પરની ચરબીવાળો ભાગ.
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<v id="20" bcv="LEV.9.20" />આ બધું તેણે પહેલાં પશુઓના છાતીના ભાગ ઉપર મૂક્યું, અને પછી વેદીમાં હોમી દીધું.
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<v id="21" bcv="LEV.9.21" />અને મૂસાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે હારુનને પશુઓની છાતીના ભાગો અને જમણી જાઘ તરીકે યહોવાને આરત્યર્પણ તરીકે ધરાવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LEV.9.22" />ત્યારબાદ હારુને હાથ ઊચા કરીને લોકોને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા. આમ પાપાર્થાર્પણ, દહનાર્પણ અને શાંત્યર્પણ ચઢાવ્યા પછી તે વેદી પરથી નીચે ઊતર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LEV.9.23" />મૂસા અને હારુન મુલાકાતમંડપમાં ગયા. પછી બહાર આવ્યા અને લોકોને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા અને બધા લોકોને યહોવાના ગૌરવના દર્શન થયા.
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<v id="24" bcv="LEV.9.24" />યહોવા તરફથી એકાએક અગ્નિ પ્રગટયો અને તે આવીને વેદી પરના દહનાર્પણ અને ચરબીવાળા ભાગો ભસ્મ કરી ગયો. આ જોઈને બધા લોકોએ હર્ષના પોકારો કર્યા અને યહોવા સમક્ષ સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કરી જમીન પર ઊધા સૂઈ ગયા.
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</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">દેવ દ્વારા નાદાબ અને અબીહૂનો નાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.10.1" />હારુનના પુત્રો નાદાબ તથા અબીહૂએ ધૂપદાનીમાં અપવિત્ર આગ્નિ<f caller="+"><fr>10:1
</fr><fk>હારુન … અગ્નિ
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે: એનો અર્થ એમ હોઈ શકે કે વેદી પરનો અગ્નિ તેઓએ દેવના નિયમ પ્રમાણે નથી વાપર્યો અથવા તેઓ મંદિરની બહારથી કોઈ અગ્નિ લાવ્યા હશે.</ft></f> મૂકયો અને તે અગ્નિ પર ધૂપ નાખ્યો. અને તે ધૂપ યહોવાને ચઢાવ્યો. યહોવાએ તે ચઢાવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી નહોતી તેથી એ અગ્નિ અપવિત્ર હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="LEV.10.2" />તેથી યહોવાની આગળથી અગ્નિ ધસી આવ્યો અને તે બંનેને ભસ્મ કરી ગયો. અને તેઓ યહોવા સમક્ષ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LEV.10.3" />પછી મૂસાએ હારુનને કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ એમ કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘જે યાજકો માંરી સેવા કરે છે તેમણે માંરી પવિત્રતા જાળવવી જોઈએ; સર્વ લોકોની સંમુખ હું માંરો મહિમાં પ્રગટ કરી ગૌરવવાન મનાઈશ. તેનો અર્થ આ છે.’” હારુન મૌન થઈ ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LEV.10.4" />ત્યાર પછી મૂસાએ હારુનના કાકા ઉઝઝીએલના પુત્રો મીશાએલને અને એલસાફાનને બોલાવડાવીને તેઓને કહ્યું, “આમ આવો, અને તમાંરા પિતરાઈ ભાઈઓને મંદિરના તંબુમાંથી છાવણી બહાર લઈ જાઓ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LEV.10.5" />આથી તેઓ ત્યાં ગયા અને મૂસાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે પોતાના પિતરાઈ ભાઈઓને પહેરેલા અંગરખા સહિત છાવણી બહાર લઈ ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LEV.10.6" />ત્યાદબાદ મૂસાએ હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો એલઆઝાર અને ઈથામાંરને કહ્યું, “તમે શોક ન કરો, શોકમાં તમાંરા વાળ છૂટા ન રાખો અને તમાંરાં કપડાં ન ફાડો, જો તમે તેમ કરશો તો દેવ તમને પણ માંરી નાખશે અને યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજ પર રોષે ભરાશે; પરંતુ બીજા બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ભલે યહોવાએ મોકલેલા અગ્નિનો ભોગ બનેલા એ લોકોને માંટે આફ્રદ કરે ને શોક પાળે.
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<v id="7" bcv="LEV.10.7" />પણ તમે મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળથી ખસસો નહિ. નહિ તો મૃત્યુ દંડ તમાંરા પર આવશે. કારણ, યહોવાના તેલથી તમાંરો અભિષેક કરવામાં આવેલો છે.” તેમણે મૂસાનાં કહ્યાં પ્રમાંણે કર્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LEV.10.8" />યહોવાએ હારુનને આજ્ઞા કરી,
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<v id="9" bcv="LEV.10.9" />“તું અને તારા પુત્રો મુલાકાતમંડપમાં પ્રવેશ કરો ત્યારે દ્રાક્ષારસ કે કેફી પીણું પીવું નહિ, જો પીશો તો મૃત્યુ પામશો, આ નિયમ તારા પુત્રોને અને વંશ પરંપરા સદાને માંટે લાગુ પડે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="LEV.10.10" />તમાંરી જવાબદારી છે કે તમાંરે પવિત્ર અને અપવિત્ર વચ્ચે તથા શુદ્ધ અને અશુદ્ધ વચ્ચેનો ભેદ તેઓને સમજાવવો.
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<v id="11" bcv="LEV.10.11" />અને યહોવાએ જે નિયમો મૂસાને આપ્યા હતા તે બધા નિયમો ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને સમજાવવા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LEV.10.12" />મૂસાએ હારુનને અને તેના બાકી રહેલા પુત્રો એલઆઝાર અને ઈથામાંરને કહ્યું, “યહોવાને ધરાવેલા ખાદ્યાર્પણમાંથી વધેલો લોટ તમાંરે લેવો અને તેની બેખમીર રોટલી બનાવીને વેદી પાસે જમવી, કારણ કે તે અત્યંત પવિત્ર છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="LEV.10.13" />મને એવી આજ્ઞા કરવામાં આવી છે કે તમાંરે એ પવિત્ર સ્થાને જમવી, યહોવાને ચઢાવેલા અર્પણમાંથી એ ભાગ તારો અને તારા પુત્રોનો થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.10.14" />“યહોવા સમક્ષ ધરાવેલાં આરત્યાર્પણનાં પશુનો છાતીનો ભાગ અને જાંઘનો ભાગ તારે અને તારા પુત્રોએ તથા પુત્રીઓએ કોઈ પવિત્ર સ્થળે જમવો. કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યહોવાને ધરાવેલ શાંત્યર્પણમાંથી એ ભાગનો અધિકાર તારો અને તારાં પુત્રપુત્રીઓનો થાય છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="LEV.10.15" />ચરબી હોમવા લાવતી વખતે આરત્યર્પણનો છાતીનો ભાગ અને જાંઘનો ભાગ પણ યાજકો માંટે યહોવાને ચઢાવવા લોકોએ સાથે લાવવો, આ ચઢાવાની યહોવા સામે આરતી કરવી. યહોવાએ જણાવ્યા મુજબ એ તને અને તારા પુત્રોને તમાંરા કાયમી અધિકારના ભાગની જેમ મળવો જોઈએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LEV.10.16" />મૂસાએ પાપાર્થાર્પણના અર્પણના બકરાની તપાસ કરી, તો ખબર પડી કે તેને હોમી દેવામાં આવ્યો હતો, તે હારુનના જીવતા રહેલા પુત્રો એલઆઝાર અને ઈથામાંર પર ગુસ્સે થયો.
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<v id="17" bcv="LEV.10.17" />અને તેણે કહ્યું, “તમે એ પાપાર્થાર્પણ પવિત્રસ્થઆનમાં શા માંટે ન ખાધું? તે અત્યંત પવિત્ર છે, એ તમને લોકોના દોષ દૂર કરી, યહોવા સમક્ષ લોકોનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવા આપેલ હતું.
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<v id="18" bcv="LEV.10.18" />તેનું લોહી પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં લાવવામાં આવ્યું ન હતું, તેથી પ્રાયશ્ચિતનો એ અર્પણ તમાંરે માંરી આજ્ઞા મુજબ પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં જ જમવો જોઈતો હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LEV.10.19" />પરંતુ હારુને મૂસાને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, આજે એ લોકોએ પોતાના પાપાર્થાર્પણ અને દહનાર્પણ યહોવા સમક્ષ ધરાવ્યો છે, અને માંરી આ દશા થઈ છે. પરંતુ જો હું આજે પાપાર્થાર્પણ જમ્યો હોત, તો શું તેથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થયા હોત?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LEV.10.20" />જ્યારે મૂસાએ આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તેને એ સાચું લાગ્યું અને સંતોષ થયો.
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</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">માંસ ખાવા વિષેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.11.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસા અને હારુનને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="LEV.11.2" />“તમે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને આ પ્રમાંણે જણાવો: તમે પૃથ્વી પરનાં પ્રાણીઓમાંથી આટલાં જમવા માંટે ઉપયોગમાં લઈ શકો:
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<v id="3" bcv="LEV.11.3" />જે પ્રાણીઓની ખરી ફાટવાળી હોય અને જે વાગોળતું હોય તેને તમે જમી શકો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4-6" bcv="LEV.11.4" />“પરંતુ જે પ્રાણીઓની માંત્ર ખરી ફાટવાળી હોય અથવા જે માંત્ર વાગોળતાં હોય તે પ્રાણીઓ તમાંરે જમવા જોઈએ નહિ, જેમ કે ઊટ, એ વાગોળે છે પણ એની ખરીને ફાટ નથી, તમાંરે એને અશુદ્ધ ગણવું; ઘોર ખોદિયું અને સસલું, એ વાગોળે છે, પણ એના પગને ફાટ નથી;
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<v id="7" bcv="LEV.11.7" />તમાંરે એને અશુદ્ધ ગણવાં, ડુક્કરના પગે ફાટ હોય છે, પણ એ વાગોળતું નથી, તમાંરે એને અશુદ્ધ ગણવું.
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<v id="8" bcv="LEV.11.8" />તમાંરે તેનું માંસ ખાવું નહિ કે તેમના શબને અડવું નહિ. તમાંરે તેમને અશુદ્ધ ગણવાં.”
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</p>
<s style="s">દરિયાઈ ખાદ્યના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LEV.11.9" />“જળચર પ્રાણીઓમાંથી તમે આટલાં ખાઈ શકો: ખારા પાણીનાં કે મીઠાં પાણીનાં બધાં પરવાળા તેમજ ભિંગડાઁવાળાં પ્રાણીઓ,
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<v id="10" bcv="LEV.11.10" />પરંતુ ખારા કે મીઠાં પાણીનાં નાનાં મોટાં જે પ્રાણીઓને કાં તો પર ન હોય કે ભિંગટાં પણ ન હોય તે તમે ખાઈ શકો નહિ, તમાંરા માંટે તે અશુદ્ધ છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="LEV.11.11" />તમાંરે તેમનું માંસ ખાવું જોઈએ નહિ કે તેમના શબને અડવું નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="LEV.11.12" />હું ફરીથી કહું છું કે જે કોઈ જળચર પ્રાણીને પર ન હોય કે ભિંગડાં ના હોય તે ખાવાની તમને મનાઈ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">અશુદ્ધ પક્ષીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LEV.11.13" />“આટલાં પક્ષીઓમાંથી નીચેના તમાંરે ન ખાવા અને અછુત ગણવા: ગરૂડ તથા ફરસ તથા ગીધ;
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<v id="14" bcv="LEV.11.14" />બાજ, સમડી;
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<v id="15" bcv="LEV.11.15" />કાગડા બધી જ દાતના,
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<v id="16" bcv="LEV.11.16" />શાહમૃગ, રાતશકરી, શકરો, શાખાફ બધી જ જાતના
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<v id="17" bcv="LEV.11.17" />ચીબરી, કરઢોક, ધૂવડ;
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<v id="18" bcv="LEV.11.18" />રાજહંસ, ઢીંચ, ગીધ;
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<v id="19" bcv="LEV.11.19" />બગલો, બધી જ જાતનાં હંસ, લક્કડખોદ અને વાગોળ.
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</p>
<s style="s">ખાદ્ય સર્પટિયાં વિષે નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LEV.11.20" />“બધા પાંખવાળા ચોપગા કીડાઓને તમાંરે ખાવા નહિ,
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<v id="21" bcv="LEV.11.21" />પણ જેઓ ઠેકડા માંરી કૂદકા માંરે છે તેમનામાંથી આટલા તમે ખાઈ શકો:
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<v id="22" bcv="LEV.11.22" />બધી જ જાતનાં તીડ, બધી જ જાતનાં તમરાં, બધી જ જાતના તીતીધોડા, દરેક રણનાં તીડ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LEV.11.23" />“તે સિવાયના જે સર્વ જંતુઓ ઊડે છે અને પગથી ચાલે છે કે પેટે ચાલે છે તે બધાને ખાવાની તમને મનાઈ છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="LEV.11.24" />“તેઓના શબને પણ જો કોઈ સ્પર્શ કરે તો સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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<v id="25" bcv="LEV.11.25" />જે કોઈ તેમના શબને ઉપાડી લે તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવા. વિધિ પ્રમાંણે તે સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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</p>
<s style="s">પશુઓના અન્ય નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26-27" bcv="LEV.11.26" />“જે પશુઓને ફાટવાળી ખરીઓ હોય પણ તેમના બરાબર બે સરખા ભાગ થતાં ન હોય અથવા જે પશુઓ વાગોળતાં ના હોય, અથવા જે જે ચોપગાં રાની પશુઓ પંજા ઉપર ચાલતાં હોય તે બધાં પશુઓને અશુદ્ધ ગણવા જે કોઈ તેમના શબને અડે તો તે સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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<v id="28" bcv="LEV.11.28" />અને જે કોઈ તેમના શબને ઉપાડે, તો તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં, પણ તે સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય. કારણ કે તે માંટેની તમને મનાઈ કરેલી છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પેટે ચાલનારા પ્રાણીઓ વિષે નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LEV.11.29" />“પેટે ચાલનારા આટલાં પ્રાણીઓની પણ તમને મનાઈ કરવામાં આવેલ છે: બધી જ જાતની ગરોળીઓ, નોળિયો, ઉદર,
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<v id="30" bcv="LEV.11.30" />ચંદન ધો, પાટલા ઘો, મગર સરડો તથા કાચીંડો.
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<v id="31" bcv="LEV.11.31" />પેટે ઘસીને ચાલનારાં પ્રાણીઓમાં આટલાંને તમાંરે અશુદ્ધ ગણવાં, જે કોઈ એમના શબને અડકે તે સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અશુદ્ધ પ્રાણીઓ વિષે નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LEV.11.32" />“જે કોઈ વસ્તુ ઉપર એમનું શબ પડે તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય. એવી કોઈ પણ લાકડાની અથવા કપડાંની અથવા ચામડાની અથવા કંતાનની નિત્યના વપરાશની વસ્તુને પાણીમાં ધોઈ નાખવી. પણ તે સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય. ત્યાર પછી તેનો ઉપયોગ થઈ શકે.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="LEV.11.33" />જો આમાંનું કોઈ પણ પ્રાણી એક માંટીનાં વાસણ પર મરીને પડે તો તેમાંની વસ્તુ અશુદ્ધ થઈ જાય, તેથી એ વાસણને તોડી નાંખવું.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="LEV.11.34" />જે કોઈ ખાવાના પદાર્થ પર એવાં માંટલામાંથી પાણી રેડયું હોય તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય. અશુદ્ધ થયેલાં વાસણોમાંનું કોઈ પણ પીણું હોય તો તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="LEV.11.35" />જે કોઈ વસ્તુ પર આવા પ્રાણીનું શબ પડે તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય, અને એ જો ભઠ્ઠી કે સગડી હોય તો તેને ભાંગી નાખવી. કારણ કે એ અશુદ્ધ છે, અને તમાંરે એને અશુદ્ધ ગણવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LEV.11.36" />“જો આવું શબ પાણીના ટાંકામાં, કૂવામાં કે ઝરણાંમાં કે કોઈ જળાશયમાં પડે તો
<add>તે પાણી</add> અશુદ્ધ ન ગણાય, જો કે જે કોઈ તેમનાં શબને અડે તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="LEV.11.37" />જો એમાંના કોઈનું શબ વાવવાના દાણા પર પડે તો તે શુદ્ધ રહે.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="LEV.11.38" />પણ જો તે દાણા ભીના હોય અને તેના પર શબ પડે, તો તમાંરે તેને અશુદ્ધ ગણવા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LEV.11.39" />“તમને ખાવાની છૂટ આપવામાં આવી છે એવું પ્રાણી મરી જાય; તો તેના શબને જે કોઈ અડે તે સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="LEV.11.40" />જે કોઈ એ શબમાંથી તેનું માંસ ખાય અથવા તેના શબને ઉઠાવીને દૂર લઈ જાય, તો તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં, પણ તે સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="LEV.11.41" />“જમીન પર પેટ ઘસીને ચાલતાં તમાંમ નાનાં પ્રાણીઓ ખાવાની મનાઈ છે. માંટે તે ખાવાં નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="LEV.11.42" />સર્વ પેટે ચાલનારાં ચોપગાં કે વધુ પગવાળાં જમીન પર પેટે ચાલનારાં નાનાં પ્રાણી પણ તમાંરે ખાવા નહિ કારણ કે તે અશુદ્ધ છે.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="LEV.11.43" />તમાંરે એ પ્રાણીઓને તમને આભડવા દેવા નહિ, તમાંરે અશુદ્ધ ન બનવું.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="LEV.11.44" />કારણ કે હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું. આ બાબતો વિષે તમે તમાંરી જાતને પવિત્ર રાખો, કારણ, હું પવિત્ર છું. જમીન પર પેટે ચાલતાં કોઈ પ્રાણીથી તમાંરે તમાંરી જાતને અભડાવવી નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="LEV.11.45" />હું યહોવા છું, જે તમને મિસરમાંથી લાવ્યો હતો જેથી હું તમાંરો દેવ બની શકું. તમાંરે પવિત્ર થવું જ જોઈએ. કેમકે હું પવિત્ર છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="LEV.11.46" />એટલે પશુઓ, પક્ષીઓ, જળચર પ્રાણીઓ અને જમીન પર પેટઘસીને ચાલનારા જીવોને લગતો નિયમ આ મુજબ છે.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="LEV.11.47" />એનો હેતું અશુદ્ધ અને શુદ્ધ ખાદ્ય અને અખાદ્ય જીવોને જુદુ પાડવાનો છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">પ્રસૂતિ પછી શુદ્ધિકરણ-સૂતકના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.12.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને જણાવ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.12.2" />“તું ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને આ નિયમો જણાવ:
</p>
<p style="p">“જયારે કોઈ સ્ત્રીગર્ભ ધારણ કરે અને પુત્રને જન્મ આપે ત્યારે ઋતુકાળની જેમ તે સાત દિવસ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય તેથી તેને સાત દિવસ સૂતકના મર્યાદાના બંધનો લાગુ પડે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.12.3" />તેના પુત્રની સુન્નત આઠમાં દિવસે અચૂક કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LEV.12.4" />ત્યારબાદ તે સ્ત્રીઓ બીજા તેત્રીસ દિવસ સુધી તેનું લોહી શુદ્ધ થાય ત્યાં સુધી તેણે કોઈ અન્ય પવિત્ર વસ્તુને સ્પર્શ કરવો નહિ તથા મુલાકાતમંડપમાં દાખલ થવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.12.5" />વળી જો પુત્રી અવતરે તો તેના ઋતુકાળની જેમ તે ચૌદ દિવસ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય. તેથી ત્યાં સુધી ઋતુકાળની જેમ તેણે રહેવું. અને બીજા છાસઠ દિવસ સુધી તેણે તેનું લોહી શુદ્ધ થવાની રાહ જોવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LEV.12.6" />“તે પછી જયારે તેને શુદ્ધ કરવાનો સમય પૂરોથાય ત્યારે એક છોકરી અથવા છોકરાની નવી માંતાએ દહનાર્પણ માંટે એક વર્ષનું ઘેટાનું બચ્ચું અને પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે કબૂતરનું એક બચ્ચું કે હોલો મુલાકાતમંડપમાં લઈ જવું અને પ્રવેશદ્વારે યાજકને આપી દેવું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.12.7" />યાજક તેને યહોવા સમક્ષ ધરાવે અને તેના માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરે. એટલે તે તેના બાળકના જન્મ પછીના રકતસ્રાવની અશુદ્ધિમાંથી શુદ્ધ ગણાય. પ્રસૂતાને લગતો આ નિયમ ઉપર પ્રમાંણે છે. બાળકના જન્મ પછીની આ સર્વ વિધિ છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.12.8" />પરંતુ જો સ્ત્રીની શક્તિ ઘેટાનું બચ્ચું લાવવાની ના હોય, તો તે બે હોલા કે બે કબૂતરનાં બચ્ચાં પણ લાવી શકે, એક દહનાર્પણ માંટે અને બીજું પાપાર્થાર્પણને માંટે. યાજકે પ્રાયશ્ચિત માંટેની વિધિ કરવી તે પોતાના લોહીની નુકસાનથી શુદ્ધ થશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">ચર્મરોગો અંગેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.13.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસા તથા હારુનને જણાવ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.13.2" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિના શરીરની ચામડી પર સોજો આવે, અથવા ચાંદું કે ગૂમડું થાય, અને એ કોઢમાં પરિણમે એમ લાગતું હોય. તો તેને યાજક હારુનની પાસે અથવા તેના કોઈ યાજક દીકરા પાસે લઈ જવો.”
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.13.3" />પછી યાજકે એ ચામડી પરનું ચાઠું તપાસવું. જો તે જગ્યા ઉપરના વાળ સફેદ થઈ ગયા હોય, અને તે ભાગ ચામડી કરતાં ઊંડે ઊતરેલો લાગે તો તે કોઢ છે. અને યાજકે તે માંણસને એક અશુદ્ધ કોઢિયો જાહેર કરવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LEV.13.4" />“પરંતુ જો ચામડી પરનો સફેદ ડાઘ ચામડીની નીચે ઊડે ઊતરેલો ના લાગતો હોય, વળી તેમાંના વાળ સફેદ થઈ ગયા ના હોય, તો યાજકે તે રોગીને સાત દિવસ સુધી જુદો રાખવો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.13.5" />પછી સાતમે દિવસે યાજકે તેને ફરીથી તપાસવો અને જો એ સફેદ ડાઘ જેવો હતો તેવો જ રહ્યો હોય અને ચામડીના બીજા ભાગમાં પ્રસર્યો ના હોય, તો યાજકે તેને બીજા સાત દિવસ સુધી જુદો રાખવો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.13.6" />યાજક ફરીથી સાતમાં દિવસે તપાસે અને તે સફેદ ડાઘ ઝાંખો થઈ ગયો હોય અને તે પ્રસર્યો ન હોય તો યાજકે તેને શુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો. તે ફકત ચાંદું જ હતું એમ માંનવું. પછી તે વ્યક્તિ વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખે એટલે શુદ્ધ થઈ જાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LEV.13.7" />“પરંતુ શુદ્ધ જાહેર કર્યા પછી ફરી તે ડાઘ ફેલાયેલો લાગે તો વ્યક્તિ એ ફરીથી તપાસ માંટે યાજક પાસે આવવું.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.13.8" />યાજકે તેને ફરીથી તપાસવો અને જો સફેદ ડાઘ કે ચાંદું ફેલાતું જતું લાગે, તો યાજકે તે માંણસને એક અશુદ્ધ કોઢિયો જાહેર કરવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LEV.13.9" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિને કોઢનું ચાંદું હોય અને કોઢ હોવાની શંકા જાય, તો તેને યાજક આગળ લઈ જવો. અને યાજકે તેને તપાસવો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LEV.13.10" />જો ચામડી પર સફેદ ચાંઠું પડયું હોય, અને વાળ ધોળા થઈ ગયા હોય અને સોજા પરની ચામડી કાચી લાગતી હોય.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.13.11" />તો એ કોઢની શરૂઆત થઈ ચૂકી છે. એ ર્જીણ કોઢ છે, તેથી યાજકે તે વ્યક્તિને અશુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો. એને જુદો રાખવાની જરૂર નથી, કારણ કે તે અશુદ્ધ જાહેર થઈ જ ચુક્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LEV.13.12" />“પણ જો યાજકને ખબર પડે કે કોઢ ફાટી નીકળ્યો છે અને તેના સમગ્ર શરીર પર પગથી માંથા સુધી ફેલાઈ ગયો છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LEV.13.13" />એટલે યાજકે તેને તપાસવો, અને સમગ્ર શરીર રોગ પ્રસરી ગયેલો ખબર પડે તો તેને યાજકે શુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો, આખું શરીર સફેદ થઈ ગયું છે, તે શુદ્ધ છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LEV.13.14" />પણ જો માંણસ પર કાચી ચામડી હોય, તો કાચી ચામડી જ્યારથી દેખાઈ હોય, ત્યારથી અશુદ્ધ ગણવો, યાજકે કાચી ચામડી તપાસવી અને માંણસને અશુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LEV.13.15" />શરીર પરની કાચી ચામડી એ સાબિત કરે છે કે તે કોઢ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LEV.13.16" />“પરંતુ જો કાચી ચામડી રૂઝાઈ જાય અને સફેદ થઈ જાય, તો તે વ્યક્તિએ યાજક પાસે જવું.
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<v id="17" bcv="LEV.13.17" />યાજકે ફરીથી તેને તપાસવો, અને જો તે ચાંદા સંપૂર્ણ સફેદ થઈ ગયાં હોય, તો તેને શુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો એ શુદ્ધ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LEV.13.18" />“જો શરીરની ચામડીમાં ગૂમડું થઈને રૂજાઈ ગયું હોય.
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<v id="19" bcv="LEV.13.19" />અને ગૂમડાની જગ્યાએ સફેદ ડાઘ કે રતાશ પડતો સફેદ સોજો ખબર પડે તો તે યાજકને બતાવી તપાસ કરાવવી.
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<v id="20" bcv="LEV.13.20" />જો યાજકને લાગે કે રોગ ચામડીની નીચે અંદર સુધી પ્રસરી ગયો છે અને તે ચાઠા પરના વાળ સફેદ થઈ ગયા છે, તો યાજક તેને અશુદ્ધ જાહેર કરે, કારણ કે ગુમડામાંથી કોઢ ફાટી નીકળ્યો છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="LEV.13.21" />પણ જો તપાસતાં યાજકને એમ ખબર પડે કે એમાંના વાળ સફેદ થયેલા નથી તે ચામડી કરતાં ઊડે ઊતરેલું નથી, અને ઝાખું પડી ગયું છે, તો તેણે તે વ્ય્કતિને સાત દિવસ જુદો રાખવો.
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<v id="22" bcv="LEV.13.22" />જો રોગ ચામડીમાં ફેલાયો હોય તો યાજકે તેને અશુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો, કારણકે તે કોઢ છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="LEV.13.23" />પરંતુ જો ચાઠું એવું ન એવું રહે, પ્રસરે નહિ, તો એ ગૂમડાનું ચાઠું છે, અને યાજકે તે વ્યક્તિને શુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LEV.13.24" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિની ચામડી દાઝી જાય અને દાઝેલી જગ્યાએ ચમકતું લાલાશ પડતું સફેદ ચાઠું થઈ જાય,
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<v id="25" bcv="LEV.13.25" />તો યાજકે તે ચાંઠાની તપાસ કરવી જોઈએ. જો ચાઠાનાં વાળ સફેદ થઈ ગયા હોય અને રોગ ચામડીની નીચેના ભાગ સુધી ફેલાઈ ગયો હોય, તો દાઝવાના ધામાંથી કોઢ ફેલાયો છે અને યાજકે તે વ્યક્તિને એક અશુદ્ધ કોઢી જાહેર કરવો.
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<v id="26" bcv="LEV.13.26" />પરંતુ યાજક જુએ કે ચાઠાંમાં સફેદ વાળ નથી, અને તે ચામડીની નીચે સૂધી પ્રસરેલ નથી અને ચાઠું ઝાખું પડતું જાય છે, તો યાજકે તે વ્યક્તિને સાત દિવસ માંટે જુદો રાખવો.
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<v id="27" bcv="LEV.13.27" />સાતમે દિવસે યાજક તેને તપાસે ત્યારે જો ચાઠું ચામડીમાં ફેલાયું હોય, તો યાજકે તેને અશુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો એ કોઢ છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="LEV.13.28" />પરંતુ જો ચાઠું ચામડી પર ફેલાયું ના હોય અને ઝાંખું થઈ ગયું હોય, તો તે દાઝેલા ધાનું ચાઠું છે માંટે યાજકે તે શુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવું કેમકે તે દાઝેલાનું ચાઠું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LEV.13.29" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ કે સ્ત્રીના માંથા પર કે દાઢી એ પર રોગ હોય
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<v id="30" bcv="LEV.13.30" />તો યાજકે તેની તપાસ કરવી, અને જો તે ચામડી કરતાં ઊડું ખબર પડે અને વાળ પીળા અને આછા થઈ ગયા હોય, તો યાજકે તે વ્યક્તિને અશુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો, તે ઉંદરી પ્રકારનો માંથાનો કે હડપચીનો એક કોઢ છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="LEV.13.31" />પરંતુ યાજક ઉંદરી તપાસે ત્યારે તે ચામડી કરતાં ઊડી ખબર ન પડે અને ત્યાંના વાળ હજી પણ કાળા હોય, તો યાજકે તે વ્યક્તિને સાત દિવસ જુદો રાખવો.
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<v id="32" bcv="LEV.13.32" />યાજકે સાતમાં દિવસે ફરીથી તેની તપાસ કરવી જો ચાઠું ફેલાયું ન હોય અને વાળ પણ પીળા થયા ન હોય, તેમજ તે ચામડી કરતાં ઊડી ખબર ના પડે,
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<v id="33" bcv="LEV.13.33" />તો તે માંણસે ઉંદરીવાળા ભાગ સિવાય ચાઠાની આજુબાજુના વાળ કપાવી નાખવા અને યાજકે તેને બીજા સાત દિવસ માંટે જુદો રાખવો.
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<v id="34" bcv="LEV.13.34" />યાજકે સાતમાં દિવસે ફરીથી તેને તપાસવો, અને જો ઉંદરી ચામડીમાં ફેલાઈ ન હોય, અને ચામડી કરતાં ઊડી ખબર ન પડે, તો યાજકે તે વ્યક્તિને શુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો. પછી તે વ્યક્તિએ વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં એટલે તે શુદ્ધ થઈ જશે.
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<v id="35" bcv="LEV.13.35" />છતાં તે વ્યક્તિને શુદ્ધ જાહેર કર્યા પછી જો ઉંદરી ચામડીમાં ફેલાય,
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<v id="36" bcv="LEV.13.36" />તો યાજકે તેને ફરીથી તપાસવો, અને જો ઉંદરી ચામડીમાં ફેલાઈ હોય, તો યાજકે તેના વાળ પીળા છે કે નહિ એ પણ જોવાની જરૂર નથી. તેને અશુદ્ધ કોઢી જાહેર કરવો.
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<v id="37" bcv="LEV.13.37" />પણ જો ઉંદરી હતી એવી ને એવી રહે અને તેમાં કાળા વાળ ઊગવા માંડે તો તે કોઢી નથી. પણ શુદ્ધ છે અને યાજકે તેને શુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="LEV.13.38" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ કે સ્ત્રીને ચામડીમાં સફેદ રંગના ચાઠાં પડયાં હોય, તો યાજકે તે તપાસવાં.
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<v id="39" bcv="LEV.13.39" />જો તે સફેદ હોય અને ઝાખાં પડતા જતા હોય તો તે કોઢ નથી, એમ સમજવું કે ચામડી પર કરોળિયો થયો છે અને એ માંણસ શુદ્ધ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="LEV.13.40" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિના માંથાના વાળ ખરી પડયા હોય અને માંથાના પાછળના ભાગમાં તેને ટાલ પડી હોય તો પણ તે શુદ્ધ છે, કોઢી નથી.
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<v id="41" bcv="LEV.13.41" />જો માંથાના આગળના ભાગમાંથી વાળ ખરી ગયા હોય, તો આગળના ભાગમાં માંથા પર ટાલ પડે છતાં તે શુદ્ધ છે તેને કોઢ નથી એમ કહેવાય.
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<v id="42" bcv="LEV.13.42" />પરંતુ માંથા પરની આગળ કે પાછળની ટાલમાં રતાશ પડતા સફેદ ડાઘ હોય, તો કોઢની શરૂઆત થઈ છે એમ મનાય.
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<v id="43" bcv="LEV.13.43" />યાજકે તેને તપાસવો અને પાછળની કે કપાળ પરની ટાલમાંનો ડાઘ રતાશ પડતો સફેદ હોય તો તેને કોઢ થયો છે, ને તે અશુદ્ધ છે.
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<v id="44" bcv="LEV.13.44" />યાજકે તેને માંથામાં થયેલા રોગને કારણે અચૂક અશુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="LEV.13.45" />“જે વ્યક્તિને કોઢ થયો હોય તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડવાં, પોતાના વાળ વિખરાયેલા રહેવા દેવા, ઉપરનો હોઠ સુધીનો ભાગ ઢાંકી દેવો. અને બૂમો પાડવી, હું અશુદ્ધ છું, હું કોઢી છું.
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<v id="46" bcv="LEV.13.46" />જયાં સુધી તે વ્યક્તિમાં રોગ રહે ત્યાં સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય, અને એણે છાવણીની બહાર નિવાસમાં રહેવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="LEV.13.47" />“જો ઊનના કે શણના કપડા ઉપર,
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<v id="48" bcv="LEV.13.48" />અથવા શણના કે ઊનના તાણા કે વાણામાં અથવા ચામડામાં કે ચામડાની બનાવેલી કોઈ વસ્તુમાં ફુગનો ડાધ હોય,
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<v id="49" bcv="LEV.13.49" />તે લીલાશ પડતો કે રતાશ પડતો હોય, તો તેને તપાસ માંટે યાજક પાસે લઈ જવો.
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<v id="50" bcv="LEV.13.50" />યાજકે સાત દિવસ સુધી ડાઘવાળી વસ્તુને તપાસીને જુદી રાખવી.
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<v id="51" bcv="LEV.13.51" />અને સાતમે દિવસે તેણે ફરીથી તે તપાસવી અને જો ડાઘ ફેલાયેલા હોય, તો એ ભયાનક ફૂગ છે. તે અશુદ્ધ છે.
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<v id="52" bcv="LEV.13.52" />તેણે એ ફૂગવાળી વસ્તુ બાળી નાખવી જોઈએ. કારણ એને ભયાનક ફૂગનો ચેપ લાગ્યો હોય છે, તેથી તેનો અગ્નિમાં બાળીને નાશ કરવો જોઈએ. પછી તે ચામડુ હોય કે કપડું પછી કાપડ વણેલુ અથવા ગુંથેલુ હોય અને ચામડુ તે કામે વપરાયેલુ હોય તેનાથી કોઈ ફરક નથી પડતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="LEV.13.53" />“પરંતુ સાતમે દિવસે યાજક તેની તપાસ કરે ત્યારે ડાઘ ફેલાયેલો ન જણાય.
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<v id="54" bcv="LEV.13.54" />યાજકે તે વસ્તુને ધોઈ નાખવા માંટે આજ્ઞા કરવી જોઈએ. અને તેને બીજા સાત દિવસ જુદી રાખવી.
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<v id="55" bcv="LEV.13.55" />પછી તે સમય બાદ યાજકે ફરી જોવું, જો ડાઘનો રંગ ન બદલાય કે તે ના ફેલાય તો પણ તે ફૂગ છે, અને તેથી તે અશુદ્ધ છે. તે વસ્તુને ચેપ લાગેલો હોવાથી તેને બાળી નાખીને નાશ કરવો જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="56" bcv="LEV.13.56" />“પણ યાજકને લાગે કે ધોયા પછી ડાઘ ઝાખો થયો છે, તો તેણે તે વસ્તુનો ડાઘવાળો, તો તેણે તે વસ્તુનો ડાઘવાળો ભાગ તે વસ્ત્ર હોય કે પછી ચામડાની બનાવેલી વસ્તુ હોય કે બીજી કોઈ વસ્તુ હોય, તેને તાણાવાણામાંથી ફાડી નાખવી.
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<v id="57" bcv="LEV.13.57" />છતાં જો વસ્ત્રમાં તાણાવાણામાં કે ચામડાની વસ્તુમાં ફરીથી ડાઘ દેખાય તો ચેપ નવેસરથી ફેલાય છે એમ માંનવું અને જેને ચેપ લાગ્યો હોય તે વસ્તુને અગ્નિમાં બાળી મૂકવી.
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<v id="58" bcv="LEV.13.58" />જો વસ્ત્ર, કે તાણાવાણો કે ચામડાની કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ ધોવાથી ડાઘ જતો રહે તો તેને બીજી વખત ધોઈ નાખવી, એટલે તે શુદ્ધ થઈ જશે અને ફરી એક વાર તેને ઉપયોગમાં લઈ શકાશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="59" bcv="LEV.13.59" />ઊનના કે શણનાં વસ્ત્રો પર તાણાવાણામાંના વાણામાંના કે ચામડાની કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ ઉપર ફૂંગનો ડાઘ પડયો હોય તો તેને માંટે આ નિયમ છે, એને અનુસરીને વસ્તુને શુદ્ધ કે અશુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવી, વળી ક્યારે જાહેર કરવી અને કયારે નહિ, તે આ નિયમને આધારે નક્કી કરવું.
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<c id="14" />
<s style="s">રોગ મુક્ત કોઢીઓનું શુદ્ધિકરણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.14.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="LEV.14.2" />“જે કોઈ કોઢમાંથી મુક્ત થયા છે તેઓની શુદ્ધિની વિધિ આ પ્રમાંણે છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="LEV.14.3" />યાજકે છાવણીની બહાર જઈને તેની તપાસ કરવી. યાજકને ખબર પડે કે કોઢનો રોગ મટી ગયો છે,
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<v id="4" bcv="LEV.14.4" />તો યાજકે જેની શુદ્ધિ કરવાની છે તે વ્યક્તિને અશુદ્ધ નહિ એવાં બે જીવતાં પક્ષીઓ, દેવદારનું થોડું લાકડું, કિરમજી રંગનું કાપડ અને ઝુફો લાવવાને આદેશ આપવો.
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<v id="5" bcv="LEV.14.5" />પછી યાજકે એક પક્ષીને વહેતાં પાણીની ઉપર રાખેલા માંટીના વાસણમાં વધેરવાની આજ્ઞા કરવી.
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<v id="6" bcv="LEV.14.6" />ત્યાર પછી તેણે બીજું પંખી. દેવદારનું લાકડું, કિરમજી કાપડ અને ઝુફો લઈને ઝરાના પાણી ઉપર વધેરેલા પંખીના લોહીમાં બોળવાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="LEV.14.7" />જે વ્યક્તિની કોઢમાંથી શુદ્ધિ કરવાની હોય તેના પર તેણે 7 વાર લોહી છાંટી તેને શુદ્ધ કરવો, અને પેલા જીવતા પંખીને તેણે ખુલ્લા ખેતરમાં છોડી મૂકવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LEV.14.8" />“જે માંણસ સાજો થયો છે તેને પોતાના વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવા. પોતાના માંથે મૂંડન કરાવવું અને પાણીમાં સ્નાન કરવું, એટલે તે શુદ્ધ થયો ગણાય, અને છાવણીમાં રહેવા માંટે પાછો ફરે. પરંતુ સાત દિવસ પર્યંત તેણે પોતાના તંબુની બહાર રહેવું.
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<v id="9" bcv="LEV.14.9" />સાતમે દિવસે તેણે માંથાના, દાઢીના અને પોતાનાં ભમર તેમજ શરીર પરના બીજા બધા વાળ મૂંડાવી નાખવા. વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં અને પાણીમાં સ્નાન કરવું, પછી તે કોઢથી સંપૂર્ણ રીતે સાજે થયો એમ જાહેર થાય.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LEV.14.10" />“આઠમે દિવસે તેણે એક વરસની ઉમરના બે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનાં નરઘેટાં, એક વરસની ખોડખાંપણ વગરની ઘેટી, 24 વાટકા મોયેલા લોટનો ખાદ્યાર્પણ અને પા કિલો તેલ લઈને મુલાકાતમંડપ પર જવું.
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<v id="11" bcv="LEV.14.11" />શુદ્ધિની વિધિ કરાવનાર યાજકે જેની શુદ્ધિ કરવાની છે તે વ્યક્તિને તેના અર્પણો સાથે મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વારે યહોવા સમક્ષ રજૂ કરવો.
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<v id="12" bcv="LEV.14.12" />ત્યાર પછી તેણે એક ઘેટો લઈને પા કિલો તેલ સાથે દોષાર્થાર્પણને આરત્યર્પણ તરીકે યહોવાને ધરાવવો.
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<v id="13" bcv="LEV.14.13" />ત્યાર પછી તેણે એ ઘેટાના બચ્ચાંને જે પવિત્ર સ્થળે પાપાર્થાર્પણને અને દહનાર્પણના હલવાનને વધેરવામાં આવે છે ત્યાં વધેરવો. પાપાર્થાર્પણની જેમ જ દોષાર્થાર્પણ યાજકને ખોરાક માંટે આપી દેવું. તે પરમપવિત્ર અર્પણ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.14.14" />“પછી યાજકે આ દોષાર્થાર્પણનું લોહી લઈને જે વ્યક્તિ શુદ્ધ થયો છે તેના જમણા કાનની બૂટ પર, જમણા હાથના અંગૂઠા પર તથા જમણા પગના અંગૂઠા પર લગાવવું.
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<v id="15" bcv="LEV.14.15" />પછી યાજકે સાથે લાવેલા તેલમાંથી થોડું પોતાના ડાબા હાથના પંજા પર રેડવું.
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<v id="16" bcv="LEV.14.16" />પછી તેણે જમણા હાથની આંગળી તેમાં બોળવી અને યહોવાની સમક્ષ સાત વખત એ તેલનો છંટકાવ કરવો.
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<v id="17" bcv="LEV.14.17" />ત્યારબાદ હથેલીમાં રહેલા તેલમાંથી થોડું લઈને જેની શુદ્ધિ કરવાની હોય તે વ્યક્તિના જમણા કાનની બૂટે અને જમણા હાથ અને જમણા પગના અંગૂઠા પર જયાં પહેલાં દોષાર્થાર્પણનું લોહી લગાડયું હતું ત્યાં લગાડવું.
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<v id="18" bcv="LEV.14.18" />પછી યાજકના હાથમાંનું બાકીનું તેલ તેણે જે વ્યક્તિની શુદ્ધિ કરવી હોય તેના માંથા પર લગાડીને યહોવા સમક્ષ તેનીપ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LEV.14.19" />“ત્યાર પછી યાજકે પાપાર્થાર્પણ ધરાવવો અને જેની શુદ્ધિ કરવાની હોય, તે માંણસની પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવી અને ત્યાર પછી તે દહનાર્પણના પ્રાણીને માંરી નાખવું.
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<v id="20" bcv="LEV.14.20" />પછી યાજકે વેદીની અગ્નિ પર દહનાર્પણ તથા ખાદ્યાર્પણ બાળવા અને તે વ્યક્તિ માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવું, અને ત્યારે તે વ્યક્તિ શુદ્ધ થઈ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LEV.14.21" />“જો તે માંણસ ગરીબ હોય અને આ બધું ધરાવી શકે એમ ના હોય, તો તેણે માંત્ર એક જ ઘેટો દોષાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે લાવવો. યાજકે તેને તે વ્યક્તિના પ્રાયશ્ચિત માંટે આરતીમાં ધરાવવો અને તે તેને શુદ્ધ કરશે. તેણે ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે ફકત તેલથી મોંયેલો 8 વાટકા લોટ અને પા કિલો તેલ લાવવું.
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<v id="22" bcv="LEV.14.22" />તથા બે હોલાં કે બે કબૂતરનાં બચ્ચાં, જે તે લાવી શકે તેમ હોય તે લાવવાં, એક પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે અને બીજું દહનાર્પણ માંટે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LEV.14.23" />“આઠમે દિવસે યાજક પાસે મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ તે યહોવાની સમક્ષ પોતાના શુદ્ધિકરણની વિધિને માંટે આ પક્ષીઓને સાથે લાવે.
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<v id="24" bcv="LEV.14.24" />યાજક ઘેટાનાં બચ્ચાંને દોષાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે લે અને તેલ પણ લે અને વેદી આગળ યહોવાની સમક્ષ આરત્યર્પણ કરે.
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<v id="25" bcv="LEV.14.25" />ત્યારબાદ દોષાર્થાર્પણ માંટેના ઘેટાનો વધ કરે અને તેનું થોડું લોહી લઈ તે વ્યક્તિના જમણા કાનની બૂટે અને તેના જમણા હાથના અને જમણા પગના અંગૂઠે લગાવે.
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<v id="26" bcv="LEV.14.26" />ત્યાર પછી યાજકે થોડું તેલ પોતાની ડાબી હથેલીમાં રેડવું.
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<v id="27" bcv="LEV.14.27" />અને પોતાના જમણા હાથની આંગળી વડે તેમાંનુ થોડું સાત વખત યહોવાની સમક્ષ છાંટવું.
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<v id="28" bcv="LEV.14.28" />તે પછી દોષાર્થાર્પણનું લોહી લગાડયું હતું તે જ જગ્યાએ યાજકે પેલા માંણસના જમણા કાનની બૂટ પર અને જમણા હાથના અંગૂઠા પર અને જમણા પગના અંગૂઠા પર તેલ લગાવવું.
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<v id="29" bcv="LEV.14.29" />અને હાથમાં બાકી રહેલું તેલ જે માંણસની શુદ્ધિ કરવાની હોય તેના માંથા પર રેડવું અને યહોવા સમક્ષ તેણે શુદ્ધિકરણ કરવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30-31" bcv="LEV.14.30" />“પછી તે માંણસે એક હોલો કે કબૂતરનું બચ્ચું, જે તેને પરવડતું હોય, યાજકને પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે અને બીજું દહનાર્પણ તરીકે ખાદ્યાર્પણની સાથે વેદી પર ચઢાવવું. અને યાજક યહોવાની સમક્ષ તે માંણસને માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરે અને તે શુદ્ધ બની જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LEV.14.32" />કોઢમાંથી સાજા થયેલા જે માંણસનું શુદ્ધિ માંટે જરૂરી અર્પણો લાવવા અશક્ત હોય તેને માંટે આ નિયમ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઘરમાં કોઢના રોગ માંટેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LEV.14.33" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસા અને હારુનને કહ્યું,
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<v id="34" bcv="LEV.14.34" />“મેં તમને આપેલા કનાન દેશમાં જયારે તમે આવી પહોંચો અને હું ત્યાં કોઈ ઘરમાં કોઢનો રોગ મૂકું;
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<v id="35" bcv="LEV.14.35" />તો ઘરનો માંલિક યાજક પાસે આવીને માંહિતી આપે, ‘માંરા ઘરમાં કોઢ હોય એવું મને લાગે છે!’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LEV.14.36" />“યાજકે તપાસ કરવા જતાં પહેલાં ઘર ખાલી કરવા જણાવવું. નહિ તો ઘરમાંનું બધું જ અશુદ્ધ ગણાશે.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="LEV.14.37" />ત્યાર પછી યાજકે તપાસ કરવા ઘરની અંદર જવું. તપાસ કરતાં જો તેને ખબર પડે કે ભીંત પરના લીલાશ કે રતાશ પડતાં કાણા ભીંતમાં ઊડા ઊતરતાં જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="LEV.14.38" />તો તેણે ઘરમાંથી બહાર નીકળી સાત દિવસ માંટે ઘરને બંધ કરી દેવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LEV.14.39" />“સાતમે દિવસે યાજકે પાછા આવીને ફરી તપાસ કરવી, જો તે કાણાઓ ભીંતમાં વધારે પ્રસર્યા હોય,
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="LEV.14.40" />તો યાજકે ભીંતનામ ફૂગવાળા ભાગને કાઢી નાખીને તેને શહરેની બહાર કોઈ અશુદ્ધ જગ્યાએ ફેંકી દેવા માંલિકને આદેશ કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="LEV.14.41" />ત્યારબાદ ઘરની અંદરની ભીંતોને ખોતરી નાખવાની આજ્ઞા તેણે આપવી અને ખોતરી કાઢેલું બધું જ શહેરની બહાર કોઈ અશુદ્ધ જગ્યાએ ઠાલવી આવવા જણાવવું.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="LEV.14.42" />જે જગ્યા ખાલી પડી હોય ત્યાં બીજા પથ્થરો લાવીને ગોઠવવા અને ચૂનાનો કોલ પણ નવો જ વાપરવો તથા ઘરને નવેસરથી પ્લાસ્ટર કરાવવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="LEV.14.43" />“જો પથ્થરો કાઢી નાંખ્યા પછી અને ઘરને નવેસરથી પ્લાસ્ટર કર્યા પછી જો ફરીથી ફૂગ દેખાય,
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="LEV.14.44" />તો યાજકે ફરીથી આવીને ઘરની તપાસ કરવી. અને તેને ખબર પડે કે ફૂગ પ્રસર્યુ છે તો તે જલદી પ્રસરે તેવો ચેપ છે અને તે ઘર અશુદ્ધ છે.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="LEV.14.45" />પછી તે ઘરને તોડી પાડવાની આજ્ઞા આપવી. અને એ ઘરના પથ્થરો, લાકડાં અને ગારો બધું શહરેની બહાર કોઈ અશુદ્ધ જગ્યાએ લઈ જવું.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="LEV.14.46" />એ ઘર બંધ રહ્યું હોય તે દરમ્યાન કોઈ ઘરમાં પ્રવેશે તો તે સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="LEV.14.47" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તેમાં સૂઈ જાય અથવા જમે તો તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં.
<ve />
<v id="48" bcv="LEV.14.48" />પરંતુ યાજક ઘરમાં જઈને તપાસે ત્યારે તેને ખબર પડે કે નવેસરથી પ્લાસ્ટર કર્યા પછી ફૂગ ફેલાયેલો નથી, તો તે ઘરને તે શુદ્ધ જાહેર કરે કે ફૂગનો ચેપ હવે ઘરમાં નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="LEV.14.49" />“મકાનની શુદ્ધિ માંટે તેણે બે નાનાં પંખીઓ, દેવદારનું લાકડું, લાલ રંગના કાપડનો ટુકડો અને ઝુફો લેવાં.
<ve />
<v id="50" bcv="LEV.14.50" />એક પંખીને તેણે ઝરાના વહેતાં પાણી ઉપર માંટીના ઉપર વધેરવું.
<ve />
<v id="51" bcv="LEV.14.51" />ત્યાર પછી દેવદારનું લાકડું, ઝુફો અને કિરમજી રંગનું કાપડ લઈ જીવતા પંખી સાથે વધેરેલા પંખીના લોહીમાં અને ઝરાના વહેતાં પાણીમાં બોળવાં અને સાત વખત ઘર ઉપર છંટકાવ કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="52" bcv="LEV.14.52" />આ પ્રમાંણે તેણે પંખીનું લોહી, ઝરાનું પાણી, જીવતું પંખી, દેવદારનું લાકડું, ઝુફો અને કિરમજી કાપડ, એનાથી ઘરની શુદ્ધિ કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="LEV.14.53" />ત્યારબાદ યાજકે શહેરની બહાર ખુલ્લા મેદાનમાં બીજા પક્ષીને છૂટ્ટુ કરી ઉડી જવા દેવું. આ રીતે યાજક ઘરને શુદ્ધ કરશે અને ઘર સાફ થશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="LEV.14.54" />બધી જ જાતના કોઢ માંટે સોજા-ચાંદાં-ગૂમડાં માંટે, કપડાંને તેમજ ઘરમાં લાગેલા કોઢના રોગ માંટે આ નિયમો છે:
<ve />
<v id="55" bcv="LEV.14.55" />વસ્ત્રોમાં કે ઘરમાં,
<ve />
<v id="56" bcv="LEV.14.56" />કોઈની ચામડીના સોજામાં કે દાઝવાથી થયેલા ઘામાં કે ચાંદામાં;
<ve />
<v id="57" bcv="LEV.14.57" />આ રીતે તમે જાણી શકશો કે સાચે જ તે કોઢ છે કે નહિ, તે માંટે જ આ નિયમો આપવામાં આવેલ છે, કોઢની બાબતમાં કોઈ અશુદ્ધ કયારે કહેવાય, ને શુદ્ધ કયારે કહેવાય, તેની સમજ માંટે આ નિયમો છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">શરીર સ્રાવની શુદ્ધિ માંટેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.15.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસા તથા હારુનને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.15.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને આ કહો; જયારે કોઈ માંણસને તેના શરીરમાંથી સ્રાવ<f caller="+"><fr>15:2
</fr><fk>સ્રાવ
</fk><ft>શરીરમાંથી નિકળતું પ્રવાહી જેમકે ગુમાડાંમાંથી રસી, અથવા પુરુષનું વીર્ય અથવા સ્ત્રીનો માસિક સ્રાવ.</ft></f> થતો હોય ત્યારે તે માંણસ અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.15.3" />સ્રાવ ચાલુ હોય ત્યારે અને તેમાંથી સાજા થાય પછી પણ થોડા સમય માંટે તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LEV.15.4" />“સ્રાવવાળો માંણસ જે પથારીમાં સૂએ કે બેસે તે પણ અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.15.5" />તેથી જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તે માંણસની પથારીને સ્પર્શ કરે તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં, પાણીથી સ્નાન કરવું અને સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.15.6" />વળી અશુદ્ધ વ્યક્તિ જે જગ્યા પર બેઠી હતી તે જગ્યા પર કોઈ બેસે, તો તે પણ સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય. તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં અને સ્નાન કરવું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.15.7" />સ્રાવવાળા પુરુષને જે કોઈ સ્પર્શ કરે તો તેણે પોતાના વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં, પાણીથી સ્નાન કરવું અને સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.15.8" />જો સ્રાવવાળો માંણસ કોઈના પર થૂંકે તો તે માંણસે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં, પાણીથી સ્નાન કરવું અને સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ રહેશે,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LEV.15.9" />સ્રાવવાળો માંણસ જે જીન પર બેસીને સવારી કરે તે પણ અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LEV.15.10" />સ્રાવવાળો માંણસ જયાં બેઠો હોય તે વસ્તુને જો કોઈ સ્પર્શ કરે તો સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય, અને જે કોઈ તે વસ્તુને ઉપાડે તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં પાણીથી સ્નાન કરવું અને સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.15.11" />સ્રાવવાળો માંણસ પોતાના હાથ ધોયા વિના જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિને અડે તો તેણે પોતાના વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવા, પાણીથી સ્નાન કરવું અને સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LEV.15.12" />“અશુદ્ધ વ્યક્તિ માંટીના વાસણને સ્પર્શ કરે તો તે વાસણને ફોડી નાખવું, અને લાકડાનું વાસણ હોય તો પાણીથી વીછળી નાખવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LEV.15.13" />“જ્યારે તે વ્યક્તિનો સ્રાવ થોભી જાય ત્યારે તેણે શુદ્ધિકરણની વિધિ માંટે સાત દિવસની હાર જોવી. અને પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં, અને ઝરણાનાં પાણીમાં સ્નાન કરવું, ત્યાર પછી તે શુદ્ધ ગણાશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LEV.15.14" />તે વ્યક્તિએ આઠમે દિવસે તેણે બે હોલા અથવા કબૂતરનાં બે બચ્ચાં લાવીને મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર યહોવા સમક્ષ આવીને યાજકને આપવા.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LEV.15.15" />યાજકોમાંના એકને પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે અને બીજાને દહનાર્પણ તરીકે યહોવાને ધરાવીને સ્રાવવાળા માંણસની શુદ્ધિ માંટે યહોવા સમક્ષ પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LEV.15.16" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષને વીર્યસ્રાવ થાય, તે તેણે આખા શરીર પર પાણીથી સ્નાન કરવું અને સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LEV.15.17" />જે કોઈ વસ્ત્રો કે ચામડા પર વીર્ય પડયું હોય તે ધોઈ નાખવું. સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LEV.15.18" />જે કોઈ સ્ત્રી પુરુષે જાતીય સંબંધ કર્યો હોય અને પુરુષને વીર્ય સ્રાવ થયો હોય, તો તેમણે બંનેએ પાણીથી સ્નાન કરવું અને સાંજ સુધી તેઓ અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LEV.15.19" />“સ્ત્રી માંસિક ઋતુમાં હોય તો તે સાત દિવસ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય અને તે દિવસો દરમ્યાન જે કોઈ તેને સ્પર્શ કરે તે સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LEV.15.20" />તે અશુદ્ધ હોય ત્યારે એ જેના પર સૂતી હોય કે બેઠી હોય તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="LEV.15.21" />જે કોઈ વ્યકિત તેની પથારીને સ્પર્શ કરે તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="LEV.15.22" />એ સ્ત્રી જેના પર બેઠી હોય એવી કોઈ પણ વસ્તુને જો કોઈ સ્પર્શ કરે તો તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં, પાણીથી સ્નાન કરવું, સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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<v id="23" bcv="LEV.15.23" />તે સ્ત્રી જેના પર બેઠી હોય તે પથારી અથવા આસન પરની કોઈ વસ્તુને જો કોઈ સ્પર્શે તો પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખે અને સ્નાન કરે. સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LEV.15.24" />“આ સમય દરમ્યાન જો કોઈ પુરુષ તેની સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ કરે, તો તેના ઋતુકાળની અશુદ્ધિ તેને પણ લાગે અને તે સાત દિવસ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય, તે જે પથારીમાં સૂએ તે પણ અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LEV.15.25" />“જો કોઈ સ્ત્રીને ઋતુકાળ સિવાય ઘણા દિવસો સુધી રક્તસ્રાવ થાય અથવા તેના ઋતુકાળ ઉપરાંત લાંબા સમય સુધી તેનો અટકાવ ચાલુ રહે, તો જયાં સુધી અટકાવ આવે ત્યાં સુધી તે ઋતુકાળની જેમ અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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<v id="26" bcv="LEV.15.26" />એ સમય દરમ્યાન પણ તે જે પથારીમાં સૂએ તે તેના ઋતુકાળના સામાંન્ય દિવસોની જેમ અશુદ્ધ ગણાય. અને તે જયાં બેસે તે જગ્યા પણ અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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<v id="27" bcv="LEV.15.27" />જે કોઈ તે પથારી કે આસનને અડે તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય. તેણે પોતાનાં કપડાં ધોઈ નાખવાં, પાણીથી સ્નાન કરવું અને સાજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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<v id="28" bcv="LEV.15.28" />સ્રાવ બંધ થયા પછી સાત દિવસ પછી તે શુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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<v id="29" bcv="LEV.15.29" />આઠમે દિવસે તેણે બે હોલાં અથવા કબૂતરનાં બચ્ચાં લાવીને મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર પાસે યાજકને આપવાં.
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<v id="30" bcv="LEV.15.30" />યાજકે તેમાંના એકને પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે અને બીજાને દહનાર્પણ તરીકે યહોવાને ધરાવવા અને તેણીના લોહીના સ્રાવની શુદ્ધિ માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરે.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LEV.15.31" />“આ રીતે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને અશુદ્ધિની બાબતમાં ચેતવવા. તમે તેઓને ચેતવશો નહિ, તો તેઓ માંરો પવિત્રમંડપ અશુદ્ધ કરશે, અને તેઓને મરવું પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LEV.15.32" />જે કોઈ પુરુષને સ્રાવ હોય તો તે અશુદ્ધ છે. સ્રાવ અથવા વીર્યપાત તે પુરુષને અશુદ્ધ કરે છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="LEV.15.33" />ઋતુસ્રાવમાં સ્ત્રી અશુદ્ધ હોય છે તેથી ઋતુમતી સ્ત્રી સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ કરનાર પુરુષ પણ અશુદ્ધ છે. શરીરના સ્રાવથી પીડાતા લોકો માંટેના નિયમો ઉપર પ્રમાંણે છે.
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<c id="16" />
<s style="s">પ્રાયશ્ચિતનો દિવસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.16.1" />યહોવા સમક્ષ ધૂપ અર્પણ કરતી વખતે હારુનના બે પુત્રો અવસાન પામ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="LEV.16.2" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તારા ભાઈ હારુનને ચેતવણી આપ કે, તેણે પરમ પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં એટલે કે તંબુના પડદાની અંદરની બાજુએ પવિત્ર કોશ પરના ઢાંકણ સમક્ષ ઠરાવેલા સમયે જ પ્રવેશ કરવો, નહિ તો તેનું મૃત્યુ થશે. કારણ કે તે ઢાંકણના પરના ભાગમાં વાદળરૂપે હું દર્શન દઉ છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LEV.16.3" />“ત્યાં તેને પ્રવેશ કરવા માંટેની શરતો: તેણે પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે એક વાછરડો તથા દહનાર્પણ તરીકે એક ઘેટો લાવવો અને પછી જ પરમ પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં પ્રવેશ કરવો.
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<v id="4" bcv="LEV.16.4" />તેણે શણનો પવિત્ર અંગરખો અને પાયજામો પહેરવો તથા કમરે શણનો કમરપટો બાંધવો અને માંથે શણનો ફેંટો બાંધવો. આ બધાં પવિત્ર વસ્ત્રો છે. તેથી એ પહેરતાં પહેલાં તેણે પાણીથી સ્નાન કરવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LEV.16.5" />“ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ તેઓના પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે બે બકરા તથા દહનાર્પણ તરીકે એક ઘેટો આપવો.
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<v id="6" bcv="LEV.16.6" />તેણે પોતાના પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે યહોવાની સમક્ષ વાછરડાને વધેરવું અને પોતાના અને પોતાના પરિવારના પાપની પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LEV.16.7" />“ત્યાર પછી તેણે પેલા બે બકરાઓ લઈને મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ યહોવા સમક્ષ રજૂ કરવા.
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<v id="8" bcv="LEV.16.8" />પછી તેણે ચિઠ્ઠી ઉપાડીને એ બકરામાંથી એક યહોવાને માંટે અને એક અઝાઝેલ માંટે નક્કી કરવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LEV.16.9" />“યહોવા માંટે નક્કી થયેલ બકરો તેણે પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે ચઢાવવો.
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<v id="10" bcv="LEV.16.10" />પરંતુ તેણે અઝાઝેલ માંટે પોતે પસંદ કરેલા બીજા બકરાને લાવવો અને તેને જીવતો યહોવાની સમક્ષ મૂકવો, પછી તેની પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરીને તેને બીજા લોકોના પાપોને ધરનાર તરીકે અઝાઝેલ પાસે અરણ્યમાં મોકલવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LEV.16.11" />“હારુનને પોતાના અને પોતાના પરિવારના પાપાર્થાર્પણને માંટે વાછરડો ધરાવીને પ્રાયશ્ચિત વિધિ કરવો અને તેને વધેરવો.
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<v id="12" bcv="LEV.16.12" />પછી તેણે એક ધૂપદાનીમાં યહોવા આગળની વેદીમાંથી સળગતા અંગારા લેવા, અને બે મૂઠી ઝીણો દળેલો ધૂપ લેવો, અને તેને પડદાની પાછળ ઓરડીમાં લઈ જવાં.
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<v id="13" bcv="LEV.16.13" />પછી યહોવા સમક્ષ અંગારા ઉપર ધૂપ નાખવો જેથી કરાર ઉપરનું ઢાંકણ ધુમાંડાથી ઢંકાઈ જશે અને પોતે તેને જોવા નહિ પામે, અને મરી નહિ જાય.
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<v id="14" bcv="LEV.16.14" />ત્યાર પછી તેણે વાછરડાના લોહીમાંથી થોડું લોહી ઢાંકણની પૂર્વ બાજુએ આંગળી વતી છાંટવું અને ઢાંકણની સામે તેણે આંગળી વતી સાત વાર લોહીના છાંટા નાખવા.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LEV.16.15" />“ત્યાર પછી તેણે લોકોના પાપાર્થાર્પણના બકરાનું બલિદાન કરવું અને તેનું લોહી પડદાની અંદરની બાજુ લાવવું અને વાછરડાના લોહીની જેમ મંજૂષાના ઢાંકણ ઉપર અને તેની સામે છાંટવું.
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<v id="16" bcv="LEV.16.16" />આ રીતે તેણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓની શુદ્ધિથી તેમના અપરાધો અને તેમનાં પાપોથી પરમ પવિત્રસ્થાન ને મુકત કરવા; પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવી, એજ રીતે તેણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓની વસ્તીની વચમાં આવેલો હોવાને કારણે મુલાકાતમંડપને લાગેલી અશુદ્ધિઓની શુદ્ધિ માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LEV.16.17" />“હારુન પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવા માંટે પરમ પવિત્ર સ્થાનમાં દાખલ થાય ત્યારથી તે પાછો આવે ત્યાં સુધી કોઈને મુલાકાતમંડપમાં રહેવા ન દેવો. પોતાના માંટે, પોતાના પરિવારને માંટે તેમજ સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજ માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત વિધિ પતાવ્યા બાદ
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<v id="18" bcv="LEV.16.18" />બહાર આવીને તેણે યહોવાની સમક્ષ વેદી પાસે જઈને તેનો પણ પ્રાયશ્ચિત વિધિ કરવો. તેણે વાછરડાના અને બકરાના લોહીમાંથી થોડું થોડું લઈને વેદીનાં ટોચકાંઓને લગાડવું
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<v id="19" bcv="LEV.16.19" />એ લોહીમાંથી આંગળી વડે તેણે વેદી ઉપર સાત વખત છાંટા નાખવા, આ રીતે તેણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓની અશુદ્ધિથી મુકત કરી તેને પવિત્ર કરવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LEV.16.20" />“પરમ પવિત્ર સ્થાનની, મુલાકાતમંડપની અને વેદીની શુદ્ધિ પતી ગયા પછી તેણે જીવતો રહેલો બકરો લાવવો.
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<v id="21" bcv="LEV.16.21" />અને પછી હારુનને તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકીને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના બધા દોષ, બધા અપરાધ, અને બધાં પાપ કબૂલ કરવાં અને તે બધાં એ બકરાંને માંથે નાખવાં, અને તે પછી તેણે આ કામ માંટે નક્કી કરેલા માંણસ સાથે તે બકરાને રણમાં મોકલી આપવો.
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<v id="22" bcv="LEV.16.22" />પછી તે બકરો લોકોનાં સર્વ પાપ, જે જગ્યાએ કોઈ રહેતું ના હોય તેવી નિર્જન જગ્યાએ લઈ જશે, અને આ માંણસ તેને નિર્જન અરણ્યમાં છોડી દેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LEV.16.23" />“હારુનને બકરાને નિર્જન અરણ્યમાં છોડી દીધા બાદ મુલાકાતમંડપમાં પાછા આવીને પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં દાખલ થતી વખતે ધારણ કરેલાં શણનાં વસ્ત્રો કાઢી નાખવાં, અને ત્યાં જ રહેવા દેવા.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LEV.16.24" />અને એક પવિત્ર સ્થાનમાં સ્નાન કરીને પોતાનાં બીજાં વસ્ત્રો ધારણ કરીને બહાર જઈ પોતાના અને લોકોના દહનાર્પણ અર્પણ કરવા, આ રીતે તે પોતાને અને લોકોને શુદ્ધ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LEV.16.25" />તેણે પાપાર્થાર્પણની ચરબી વેદીમાં હોમી દેવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LEV.16.26" />“અઝાઝેલ માંટેના બકરાને લઈ જનાર માંણસે પોતાનાં કપડાં ધોઈ નાખવાં અને સ્નાન કરવું, ત્યાર પછી જ તે છાવણીમાં પાછો આવી શકે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LEV.16.27" />“પછી પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે ધરાવેલા વાછરડાને અને બકરાંને-જેમનું લોહી પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ માંટે પવિત્ર સ્થાનમાં લઈ જવામાં આવ્યું હતું, તેમને છાવણી બહાર લઈ જવા અને ચામડાં, માંસ અને આંતરડાં સહિત બાળી નાખવાં.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LEV.16.28" />આ બધું બાળનાર માંણસે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં, સ્નાન કરવું અને પછી છાવણીમાં પાછા ફરવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LEV.16.29" />“નીચે દર્શાવેલ નિયમ તમાંરે સદાય પાળવાનો છે: તમાંરે તથા તમાંરી મધ્યે વસતા વિદેશીઓએ સાતમાં મહિનાના દશમાં દિવસે ઉપવાસ કરવો અને કોઈ કામ કરવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LEV.16.30" />તે દિવસે તમને શુદ્ધ કરવા માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત વિધિ કરવામાં આવશે; તમાંરે યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિએ બધાં પાપોથી શુદ્ધ થવાનું છે.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="LEV.16.31" />તમાંરા માંટે તે બહુ ખાસ વિશ્રામનો દિવસ છે. તમાંરે ઉપવાસ કરવાનો છે અને કંઈ કામ કરવાનું નથી. આ કાયમ માંટેનો નિયમ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LEV.16.32" />“આ પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ મુખ્ય યાજકે જે તેના પિતાના સ્થાને વિધિપૂર્વક દીક્ષિત કરવામાં આવ્યો હોય તેણે કરવો, તે યાજકે પવિત્ર શણના કપડા પહેરવા.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="LEV.16.33" />તેણે શણનાં પવિત્ર વસ્ત્રો ધારણ કરવાં અને પરમ પવિત્રસ્થાનને માંટે, મુલાકાતમંડપને માંટે, વેદી માંટે, યાજકો માંટે, તથા લોકોના સમગ્ર સમાંજ માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="LEV.16.34" />આ કાયમી નિયમ છે, પ્રતિવર્ષ આ રીતે એક વખત ઇસ્રાએલીઓનાં પાપો માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવું.”
</p>
<p style="p">યહોવાએ મૂસાને આપેલી આ સર્વ આજ્ઞાનો હારુને અમલ કર્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">પ્રાણીને માંરીને ખાવાના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.17.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.17.2" />“તું હારુનને તેના પુત્રોને તેમજ બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આ પ્રમાંણે જણાવ: યહોવાએ આ મુજબ જણાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="3-4" bcv="LEV.17.3" />જો કોઈ ઇસ્રાએલી પહેલા મુલાકાતમંડપનાં પ્રવેશદ્વાર એટલે કે યહોવાના પવિત્ર મંડપ આગળ બળદ, હલવાન અથવા બકરાનો યહોવાને ધરાવ્યા વિના છાવણીમાં કે છાવણી બહાર વધ કરશે, તો તે રક્તપાતનો ગુનેગાર ગણાશે; તેને સમાંજમાંથી જુદો કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.17.5" />આ નિમય આપવામાં આવ્યો જેથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ખુલ્લા મેદાનોમાં વધેરેલા પશુઓ યહોવાને ભેટ અર્પણ કરવા લાવશે. તેઓએ તેને મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ યાજક સમક્ષ લાવીને યહોવાને ભોગ તરીકે ધરાવવાં,
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.17.6" />અને યાજકે અર્પણનું લોહી મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળની યહોવાની વેદી પર છાંટવું અને ચરબી વેદીમાં હોમી દેવી. એની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.17.7" />તેઓ ખુલ્લા મેદાનોમાં તેમના ‘વન દેવતાઓને’ અર્પણ ચઢાવે છે તે બંધ થવું જોઈએ. ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ખોટા દેવોની પાછળ પડ્યા છે. આ રીતે તેઓએ વારાંગના જેવો વર્તાવ કર્યો છે. ઇસ્રાએલીઓ અને તેમના વંશજો માંટે આ કાયમી નિયમ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LEV.17.8" />“જો કોઈ ઇસ્રાએલી અથવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વચ્ચે રહેતો વિદેશી મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ યહોવાને ધરાવ્યા વગર દહનાર્પણ કે બીજો કોઈ યજ્ઞ ચઢાવે,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LEV.17.9" />તો તેનો સમાંજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LEV.17.10" />“અને જો કોઈ ઇસ્રાએલી અથવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વચ્ચે વસતો વિદેશી લોહીવાળું માંસ જમશે, તો હું (દેવ) તેની વિમુખ થઈશ અને હું તેને તેના લોકોથી જુદો કરીશ. કારણ લોહી એ જ પ્રાણીનો પ્રાણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.17.11" />કારણ કે શરીરનો જીવ લોહીમાં છે અને મેં તમને તે લોહીને વેદી પર રેડવાના કાયદા આપ્યા છે. આ તમાંરે પોતાની શુદ્ધિ માંટે કરવાનું છે. તમાંરે તે લોહી મને જીવની કિંમત તરીકે આપવાનું છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LEV.17.12" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને આપવામાં આવેલી આ આજ્ઞા પાછળનું કારણ એ છે કે તે લોકો કે તેઓમાં વસતો કોઈ વિદેશી લોહીનો ખોરાકમાં ઉપયોગ ન કરે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LEV.17.13" />“જે કોઈ ઇસ્રાએલી અથવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વચ્ચે વસતો વિદેશી ખાદ્ય પક્ષીનો શિકાર કરે ત્યારે તેણે તેનું બધું લોહી વહી જવા દેવું. અને તેના પર માંટી ઢાંકી દેવી.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LEV.17.14" />કારણ કે લોહીમાં તેનો જીવ છે, તેથી જ મેં ઇસ્રાએલની પ્રજાને કહ્યું છે કે કદાપિ રકત ખાવું નહિ, કેમકે દરેક પ્રાણી અને પક્ષીનો જીવ તેના લોહીમાં છે, તેથી જો કોઈ ખાય તો તેનો સામાંજિક બહિષ્કાર કરવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LEV.17.15" />“જે કોઈ ઇસ્રાએલી કે વિદેશી કુદરતી રીતે મૃત્યુ પામેલું અથવા જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ માંરી નાખેલું પ્રાણી ખાય તો તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ નાખવાં. પાણીથી સ્નાન કરવું અને સાંજ સુધી તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય તેથી કશાને અડવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.17.16" />પછીથી જ તે શુદ્ધ જાહેર થશે, જો તે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ધોઈ ન નાખે અને સ્નાન ન કરે, તો તેનું પરિણામ તેને માંથે, તેને પાપની સજા ભોગવવી પડે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">જાતીય સંબંધોના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.18.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.18.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને કહે: હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.18.3" />માંટે તમાંરે લોકોએ પહેલા તમે જયાં રહેતા હતા, તે મિસરના અથવા હું તમને લઈ જાઉ છું તે કનાન દેશના લોકોની જેમ વર્તવુ નહિ, તમાંરે તેમના રિવાજો પાળવા નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LEV.18.4" />તમાંરે ફકત માંરા જ વિધિઓ પાળવા, અને તમાંરે તેનો અમલ સંપૂર્ણ રીતે કરવો. અને તે અનુસાર તમાંરે તમાંરું જીવન ગાળવું. હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.18.5" />તમાંરે માંરા વિધિઓ અને નિયમો પાળવા. જે માંણસ તેનું પાલન કરશે તે જીવવા પામશે, હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LEV.18.6" />“તમાંરામાંના કોઈએ પણ લોહીની સગાઈવાળા સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ કરવો નહિ, હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LEV.18.7" />“કોઈ પણ પુત્રએ પોતાની માંતા સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ કરીને પિતાને કલંક લગાડવું નહિ. એ તમાંરી માંતા છે તેને તમાંરે કલંકિત ન કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.18.8" />પોતાના પિતાની પત્નીઓમાંથી કોઈની સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ કરવો નહિ કારણ કે તેમાં પિતાનું અપમાંન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LEV.18.9" />“પોતાની બહેન કે ઓરમાંન બહેન, સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ કરવો નહિ પછી તે તમાંરા બાપની પુત્રી હોય કે માંતાની પુત્રી હોય; તે એક જ ઘરમાં જન્મી હોય તેથી તમાંરે તેની સાથે લગ્ન ન કરવાં કે જાતીય સંબંધ પણ ન કરવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LEV.18.10" />“તમાંરે તમાંરા પુત્રની પુત્રી, કે પુત્રીની પુત્રી સાથે લગ્ન કે જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો, એ તમાંરી પોતાની જાતને કલંકિત કરવા બરાબર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LEV.18.11" />“તમાંરે તમાંરાં પિતાની પત્નીને તમાંરા પિતાથી થયેલ પુત્રી સાથે લગ્ન કે જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો, તે તમાંરી બહેન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LEV.18.12" />“તમાંરે તમાંરા પિતાની બહેન સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો, કારણ કે તમાંરા પિતાની સાથે લોહીની સગાઈ છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LEV.18.13" />તમાંરે તમાંરી માંતાની બહેન સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો, કારણ કે એને તમાંરી માંતા સાથે લોહીની સગાઈ છે,
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LEV.18.14" />તમાંરે તમાંરા પિતાના ભાઈને બદનામ ન કરવા, તમાંરે તેની પત્ની સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો, કારણ કે તમાંરી કાકી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LEV.18.15" />“તમાંરે તમાંરી પુત્રવધૂ સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો, તે તમાંરા પુત્રની પત્ની છે, તમાંરે તેને કલંકિત ન કરવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LEV.18.16" />“તમાંરે તમાંરી ભાઈની પત્ની સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો, કારણ એ તમાંરા ભાઈને કલંકિત કર્યા બરાબર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LEV.18.17" />“તમાંરે કોઈ સ્ત્રી સાથે તેમજ તેની પુત્રી, પૌત્રી કે દોહિત્રી સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ કરવો નહિ, કારણ કે તેઓ નજીકનાં સગાં છે, અને એમ કરવું એ અતિશય દુષ્ટ કર્મ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LEV.18.18" />“તમાંરી પત્ની જીવતી હોય ત્યા સુધી તેની બહેન સાથે લગ્ન ન કરવા. કેમકે તમે બન્નેને પરણો તો તેમના વચ્ચે અણગમો થાય. તમાંરે તમાંરી સાળી સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LEV.18.19" />“તમાંરે કોઈ ઋતુમતિ સ્ત્રી સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો, કારણકે તે આ સમયમાં અશુદ્ધ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LEV.18.20" />“તમાંરે પારકાની સ્ત્રી સાથે વ્યભિચાર ન કરવો: પરસ્ત્રીથી તમાંરી જાતને અશુદ્ધ ન કરવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LEV.18.21" />“તમાંરે તમાંરું કોઈ બાળક મોલેખને ચઢાવવા આપવું નહિ. મોલેખની વેદી પર તમાંરા બાળકની આહુતિ ન આપવી. આ રીતે તમે કરશો તો તમાંરા દેવનો અનાદર થશે અને તેમના નામને કલંક લાગશે, હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LEV.18.22" />“સજાતીય શારીરિક સંબંધની સંપૂર્ણ મનાઈ છે. તમાંરે કોઈ પુરુષ સાથે સ્ત્રીની જેમ જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો, કેમકે એ તો ભયંકર પાપ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LEV.18.23" />“તમાંરે કોઈ માંદા પશુ સાથે સ્ત્રીની જેમ જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો, એથી તમે અશુદ્ધ થશો, કોઈ સ્ત્રીએ કોઈ નર પશુ સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ ન કરવો, એ વિકૃતિ છે, તે ભયંકર દુષ્ટતા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LEV.18.24" />“આમાંની કોઈ પણ રીતે તમાંરે તમાંરી જાતને અશુદ્ધ ન કરવી. હું જે પ્રજાઓને તમાંરા માંટે સ્થાન ખાલી કરવા હાંકી કાઢનાર છું તેઓ આવી રીતે અશુદ્ધ થયેલ પ્રજા છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LEV.18.25" />એ સમગ્ર દેશ આ પ્રકારની દુષ્ટ પ્રવૃતિઓથી ભ્રષ્ટ બની ગયો છે, તેથી ત્યાં રહેતા લોકોને એમના દોષની સજા કરીને હું તેઓને તે દેશમાંથી હાંકી કાઢવાનો છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LEV.18.26" />“પરંતુ તમાંરે માંરા વિધિઓ અને નિયમોનું પાલન કરવું. તમાંરે આમાંનું કોઈ ઘૃણાજનક કાર્ય કરવું નહિ, પછી ભલે તમે ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજામાં જન્મેલા હોય કે વિદેશથી આવીને વસ્યા હોય.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="LEV.18.27" />તમાંરા પહેલા જે પ્રજા આ દેશમાં રહેતી હતી, તે આ બધા ઘૃણાજનક કાર્યો કરતી હતી તેથી દેશ અશુદ્ધ થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LEV.18.28" />તમે આ પ્રમાંણે કરશો નહિ, નહિ તો તે પ્રજાની જેમ તમને પણ તે દેશમાંથી હું હાંકી કાઢીશ.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="LEV.18.29" />જે કોઈ આમાંનું કોઈ પણ ભયંકર પાપ કરશે તેનો સમાંજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર થશે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LEV.18.30" />માંટે ફરમાંનનું પાલન ચોકસાઈ પૂર્વક કરજો, તમાંરા પહેલાના લોકો ઘૃણાપાત્ર રિવાજો પાળતા હતા, તેનું પાલન કરીને તમાંરી જાતને અશુદ્ધ ન બનાવશો. હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ દેવનું છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.19.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.19.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલીઓના સમગ્ર સમાંજને આ પ્રમાંણે જણાવ: તમે પવિત્ર થાઓ, કારણ હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા પવિત્ર છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LEV.19.3" />“તમાંરામાંના પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિએ પોતાના માંતાપિતાને માંન આપવું અને માંરા ખાસ વિશ્રામવારોનું પાલન કરવું. હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LEV.19.4" />“ધાતુની મૂર્તિઓ બનાવશો નહિ, ને મૂર્તિપૂજા કરશો નહિ. હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LEV.19.5" />“તમે જ્યારે યહોવાની આગળ ભેટ અર્પણ ચઢાવો ત્યારે તેને સરખી રીતે ચઢાવો જેથી તેનો સ્વીકાર થાય.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.19.6" />જે દિવસે તમે અર્પણ કરો તે જ દિવસે જમી લેવું જોઈએ. અને પછી તે દિવસે જે કાંઈ બચ્યું હોય તે જમી લેવું; પરંતુ ત્રીજા દિવસ સુધી એમાંનું જે બચે તે અગ્નિમાં બાળી નાખવું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.19.7" />કારણ, તે દૂષિત છે અને તે ત્રીજે દિવસે સહેજપણ ખાવું નહિ, કારણ કે તે અમંગળ છે, એનો સ્વીકાર નહિ થાય.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.19.8" />જે કોઈ તે ખાય તેણે સજા ભોગવવી પડશે, કારણ, તે દોષિત છે. તેણે યહોવાને ચઢાવેલું પવિત્ર અર્પણ ભ્રષ્ટ કર્યુ છે, તેથી તેનો લોકોએ સામાંજીક બહિષ્કાર કરવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LEV.19.9" />“જયારે તમે ખેતરમાં પાકની કાપણી કરો ત્યારે છેક ખૂણા સુધી લણશો નહિ અને ધઉની કાપણીનો મોડ પણ વીણી લેશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LEV.19.10" />એ જ પ્રમાંણે દ્રાક્ષના વેલાને પૂરેપૂરા વીણશો નહિ, તેમજ નીચે પડેલી દ્રાક્ષ પણ વીણશો નહિ. ગરીબો તેમજ મૂસાફરો માંટે તે રહેવા દેજો. હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LEV.19.11" />“તમાંરે ચોરી કરવી નહિ, કે કોઈને છેતરવું કે ઠગવું પણ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LEV.19.12" />તમાંરે ખોટી વાત માંટે માંરા નામના સમ ખાઈને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાનું નામ વગોવવું નહિ, કારણ, હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LEV.19.13" />“તમાંરે કોઈને લૂંટવો નહિ કે કોઈનું શોષણ કરવું નહિ, ત્રાસ આપવો નહિ, મજૂરીએ રાખેલા માંણસનું મહેનતાણું સમયસર ચૂકવી દેવું. તેઓના મહેનતાણાંમાંથી તારી પાસે કાંઈ બાકી રહે તો તે સવાર થતાં સુધી તારી પાસે રાખવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.19.14" />“બહેરા માંણસને કદી શાપ ના દેવો, અને અંધજનના માંર્ગમાં અડચણ ન મુકવા. માંરી બીક રાખજો. હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LEV.19.15" />“ન્યાયધીશોએ પોતાના ન્યાયમાં સદા પ્રામાંણિક રહેવું, ગરીબો પ્રત્યે ખોટી દયા દર્શાવીને કે મોટાની આણ રાખીને અન્યાયી ચુકાદો આપવો નહિ, હંમેશા ઉચિત ન્યાય કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.19.16" />દેશબાંધવોમાં તમાંરે કોઈની કૂથલી કરવી નહિ, કોઈના પર ખોટો આરોપ મૂકીને એનું જીવન જોખમમાં મૂકવું નહિ, હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LEV.19.17" />“તમાંરે તમાંરા ભાઈના વિષે મનમાં ડંખ રાખીને તેનો તિરસ્કાર કરવો નહિ, તારા પડોશીને પાપ કરે તો તેનો દોષ બતાવી ઠપકો આપવો અને તેને છોડી મૂકવો. એટલે તેનું પાપ તમાંરા માંથે આવે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LEV.19.18" />કોઈના પર વૈર વાળીને બદલો લેવાની ભાવના રાખવી નહિ, પરંતુ જેમ પોતાના પર પ્રેમ રાખીએ તેમ પડોશીઓ પર પણ પ્રેમ રાખવો. હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LEV.19.19" />“માંરા નિયમો પાળજો. તમાંરાં પશુઓને જુદી જાતનાં પશુ સાથે ગર્ભાધાન કરાવશો નહિ. તમાંરા ખેતરમાં એકી સાથે બે જાતનાં બી વાવશો નહિ તેમજ જુદી જુદી બે જાતના તારનું વણેલું કાપડ પણ પહેરશો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LEV.19.20" />“જો કોઈ માંણસ બીજા માંણસની દાસીનાપર ઉપભોગ કરે, જે તેણે તેને ખરીદી ન હતી અથવા આઝાદ ન હતી તો શિક્ષા થવી જોઈયે પણ બન્નેને મૃત્યુદંડ ન થાય, કારણ કે તે આઝાદ ન હતી.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="LEV.19.21" />તેથી તેમાં સંડોવાયેલ વ્યક્તિએ દોષાર્થાર્પણ માંટે મુલાકાતમંડપના દ્વાર આગળ યહોવા સમક્ષ ઘેટો લઈને આવવું.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="LEV.19.22" />અને યાજકે તે વ્યક્તિના પાપના નિવારણાર્થે યહોવા સમક્ષ પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવી, એટલે તેને માંફ કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LEV.19.23" />“કનાન દેશમાં તમે જ્યારે પ્રવેશ કરો અને કોઈ પણ ફળનું વૃક્ષ રોપો તો તેનાં ફળને ત્રણ વર્ષ સુધી અશુદ્ધ હોવાને કારણે ખાશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LEV.19.24" />ચોથે વર્ષે તેના બધા જ ફળને યહોવાનું સ્તવન કરવા માંટે અર્પણ કરી દેજો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LEV.19.25" />છેવટે પાંચમે વરસે તમે તેનાં ફળ ખાઈ શકો. જો એમ કરશો તો તેનો ફાલ વધુ ઊતરશે. હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LEV.19.26" />“તમાંરે લોહીવાળું માંસ ખાવું નહિ, તેમજ કામણ ટૂમણ પણ કરવું નહિ, તેમજ તમાંરે જ્યોતિષીઓ કે જાદુગરો પાસે જવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LEV.19.27" />“તમાંરા કાનની બાજુના વાળ મૂર્તિપૂજાકોની જેમ કાપો નહિ, તમાંરી દાઢી બોડવી નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LEV.19.28" />કોઈના મૃત્યુના શોકમાં તમાંરા શરીર પર ઘા કરવા નહિ તથા તમાંરા શરીર પર છૂંદણાં છૂંદાવવા નહિ, હું યહોવા છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LEV.19.29" />“તમાંરી પુત્રીને દેવદાસી બનીને ભ્રષ્ટ થવા દેશો નહિ; તમાંરા દેશના લોકોને વારાંગના બનવા દેતા નહિ. તે પ્રકારનું પાપ તમાંરા આખા દેશમાં પ્રચલિત ન થવા દેતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="LEV.19.30" />“તમે માંરા સાબ્બાથો પાળજો, અને માંરા પવિત્રસ્થાનનું માંન જાળવજો, હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LEV.19.31" />“ભૂવા કે જાદુગરો પાસે જઈને તેમને પ્રશ્નો પૂછીને તેમની સલાહ લઈને તમાંરી જાતને અશુદ્ધ કરશો નહિ, કારણ કે હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LEV.19.32" />“દેવનો ડર રાખો અને વડીલોનું સન્માંન કરો, તેઓ જ્યારે ઓરડીમાં આવે ત્યારે ઉભા થાવ, હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LEV.19.33" />“જો કોઈ વિદેશી તમાંરા દેશમાં આવે, ને તમાંરી સાથે રહે તો તમાંરે તેને છેતરવો કે તેની પર ત્રાસ કરવો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="LEV.19.34" />તેને તમાંરે તમાંરા જેવો જ વતની માંનવો અને તેના પર તમાંરી જાત જેટલો જ પ્રેમ રાખો. તમે પણ મિસરમાં પરદેશી હતા તેનું સ્મરણ કરો. હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="LEV.19.35" />“તમાંરે લોકોનો ન્યાય કરતી વખતે નિષ્પક્ષ રહેવું. લંબાઈ માંપવામાં, કે વસ્તુઓનું વજન કરવામાં અને માંપવામાં ખોટાં માંપ વાપરી કોઈની સાથે છેતરપિંડી કરવી નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="LEV.19.36" />તમાંરે સાચાં ત્રાજવાં, સાચાં કાટલાં, અને સાચાં માંપ રાખવાં, હું તમને મિસર દેશમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવનાર તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LEV.19.37" />“તમાંરે માંરા બધા જ નિયમો આજ્ઞાઓ અને માંરી વિધિઓ પ્રત્યે સંપૂર્ણ ધ્યાન આપવું અને કાળજીપૂર્વક તેનું પાલન કરવું અને તેમનો અમલ કરવો, કારણ, હું યહોવા છું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">મૂર્તિપૂજા વિરુદ્ધ ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.20.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.20.2" />“તું ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને આ આજ્ઞાઓ આપ: જો કોઈ ઇસ્રાએલી કે તેઓની વચમાં રહેતો વિદેશી પોતાનાં બાળક મોલેખ દેવને ચઢાવવા આપે તો તેને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.20.3" />હું પોતે તે માંણસની વિરુદ્ધ થઈશ, અને તેના લોકોમાંથી તેનો બહિષ્કાર કરીશ, કારણ તેણે મોલેખને પોતાનું બાળક ચઢાવીને માંરા પવિત્રસ્થાનને ભ્રષ્ટ કર્યુ છે. અને માંરા પવિત્ર નામને કલંકિત કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LEV.20.4" />જો કોઈ માંણસ પોતાનું બાળક મોલેખને ચઢાવે, ત્યારે દેશના લોકો જો આંખ આડા કાન કરે અને તેને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવાની ના પાડે,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.20.5" />તો હું જાતે તેની અને તેના પરિવારની વિમુખ થઈ જઈશ, અને તેનો તથા તેની સાથે મોલેખની પૂજા કરનારા તથા માંરા તરફ વિશ્વાસઘાત દાખવનાર સૌ કોઈનો તેના લોકોમધ્યેથી બહિષ્કાર કરીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LEV.20.6" />“જે કોઈ માંરા પ્રત્યે વિશ્વાસઘાત દાખવશે અને મધ્યસ્થી તથા જાદુગરો પાસે જઈને તેમની સલાહ લેશે, તેની હું વિમુખ થઈશ અને તેમના લોકોમાંથી તેનો હું બહિષ્કાર કરીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LEV.20.7" />“તેથી તમાંરી જાતને શુદ્ધ અને પવિત્ર રાખો, કારણ કે, હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ પવિત્ર છું.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.20.8" />તમાંરે કાળજીપૂર્વક માંરા સર્વ વિધિઓનું પાલન કરવું, કારણ હું તમને શુદ્ધ કરનાર યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LEV.20.9" />“જો કોઈ પોતાના પિતાને અને માંતાને શાપ આપે તો તેને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો. એણે પોતાના પિતાને કે માંતાને શાપ આપ્યો છે તેથી તે પોતાના મોત માંટે પોતે જ જવાબદાર ગણાય.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">જાતીય સંબંધોની સજાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LEV.20.10" />“જે કોઈ પુરુષ પરસ્ત્રી સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરે તો તેને અને સ્ત્રીને બંનેને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.20.11" />જો કોઈ પુરુષ પોતાના પિતાની પત્ની સાથે કૂકર્મ કરે, તો તેણે પોતાના પિતાને કલંક લગાડયું છે, તે બંને મૃત્યુદંડને પાત્ર થાય. તેમના મોતની જવાબદારી તેમને માંથે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LEV.20.12" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ પોતાની પુત્રવધુ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરે, તો તે બંનેને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો. તેમણે અગમ્યગમન કર્યુ હોવાથી પોતાના મોત માંટે તેઓ પોતે જ જવાબદાર ગણાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LEV.20.13" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ અન્ય પુરુષ સાથે સ્ત્રીની જેમ વ્યભિચાર કરે તો તે બંનેએ અમંગળ કર્યુ છે, તેમને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો. તેમના મૃત્યુ માંટે તેઓ પોતેજ જવાબદાર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.20.14" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ કોઈ સ્ત્રીને તેની માંતાને બંનેને પરણે કે વ્યભિચાર કરે તો તે દુષ્ટતા છે. તે પુરુષને અને તે સ્ત્રીઓને અગ્નિમાં બાળી મૂકવાં, તમાંરામાં લંપટતા હોવી જોઈએ નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LEV.20.15" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ કોઈ પશુ સાથે કુકર્મ કરે, તો તેને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો અને તે પશુને માંરી નાખવું.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.20.16" />અને જો કોઈ સ્ત્રી કોઈ પશુ સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ કરે, તો તે સ્ત્રીને અને પશુને બંનેને માંરી નાખવાં કારણ, તેઓ એ જ શિક્ષાને લાયક છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LEV.20.17" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ પોતાના પિતાની કે માંતાની પુત્રીને પરણે અને તેની સાથે જાતીય સંબંધ કરે તો એ અત્યંત લજ્જાસ્પદ છે. તેમનો વઘ જાહેરમાં કરવો. એ વ્યક્તિએ પોતાની બહેન સાથે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો છે માંટે તેનો સમાંજમાં બહિષ્કાર કરવો. તેનો દોષ પુરુષને માંથે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LEV.20.18" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ કોઈ સ્ત્રી સાથે તેના ઋતુકાળ દરમ્યાન શારીરિક જાતીય સંબંધ કરે તો નિયમોનો ભંગ કરવા બદલ બંનેનો સમાંજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LEV.20.19" />“કોઈ પણ પુરુષે તેની માંસી કે ફોઈની સાથે શારીરિક જાતીય સંબંધ કરવો નહિ. એ અગમ્યગમન છે, કારણ, તેઓ તેના નજીકનાં સગાં છે, તેમને તેમના પાપની સજા થવી જ જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LEV.20.20" />“જો કોઈ માંણસ પોતાની કાકી સાથે કુકર્મ કરે તો તે પોતાના કાકાને કલંક લગાડે છે. એ બંનેને તેમનાં પાપની સજા થવી જ જોઈએ. તેઓ નિઃસંતાન અવસાન પામશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LEV.20.21" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ પોતાના ભાઈની સ્ત્રી સાથે પરણે તો તે વ્યભિચાર ગણાય; તેણે એના ભાઈને કલંક લગાડયું છે એ બંને નિઃસંતાન રહેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LEV.20.22" />“તમાંરે માંરા તમાંમ વિધિઓ અને નિયમોનું પાલન કરવું અને તેને અનુસરવું; હું તમને તમાંરા નવા દેશમાં લઈ જઈશ અને તમે માંરા કાયદાઓ અને નિયમોનું પાલન કરશો તો તે દેશ તમને હાંકી કાઢશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="LEV.20.23" />તમાંરે ત્યાંના લોકોના રિવાજો પાળવા નહિ. એ બધા કૂકર્મો કરવા બદલ હું તેમને ધિક્કારું છું અને તે સૌને તમાંરી આગળથી હાંકી કાઢીશ.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LEV.20.24" />મેં તમને તેઓનો દેશ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું છે. તમે તે દેશના માંલિક બનો. હું જાતે તમને જયાં દૂધ અને મધનીરેલછેલ છ એવી એ ભૂમિનો કબજો આપીશ.
</p>
<p style="p">“હું તામરો દેવ યહોવા છું. મેં તમને અન્ય પ્રજાઓથી જૂદા પાડયા છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LEV.20.25" />તેથી તમાંરે ખાદ્ય અને અખાદ્ય પશુઓ અને પંખીઓનો ભેદ પરખવો. તમાંરે એ અખાદ્ય પશુઓ, પંખીઓ અને પેટે ચાલનારા જીવો ખાઈને અશુદ્ધ થવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="LEV.20.26" />મેં એ બધાંને અખાદ્ય ઠરાવ્યાં છે, એમને ખાવાથી અશુદ્ધ થશો, તમે માંરાજ છો અને પવિત્ર રહેવા બંધાયેલા છો, કારણ હું યહોવા પવિત્ર છું, મેં તમને આ બધા લોકોથી જુદા પાડયા છે જેથી તમે માંરા થઈ શકો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LEV.20.27" />“તમાંરામાંથી જે કોઈ પુરુષ કે સ્ત્રી ભૂતવૈદ હોય કે જાદુગર હોય તેને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો. લોકોએ તેઓને પથ્થરો વડે માંરી નાખવાં તેઓના મોતની જવાબદારી તેમની પોતાની જ છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">યાજકો માંટેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.21.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.21.2" />“હારુનના વંશના યાજકોને કહે કે,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.21.3" />કોઈ યાજકે પોતાનાં માંતા, પિતા, પુત્ર, પુત્રી, ભાઈ અથવા ઘરમાં રહેતી કુંવારી સગી બહેન જેવાં લોહીની સગાઈ સિવાયના બીજાં સગાંના મૃત્યુ વખતે શબ પાસે જઈને કે અડીને અભડાવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LEV.21.4" />કારણ, યાજક તેના લોકોનો આગેવાન છે તેથી તેણે જે લોકો તેના નજીકના સગા નથી, તેઓના મૃતદેહને અડીને પોતાની જાતને અશુદ્ધ કરવી નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LEV.21.5" />“યાજકોએ શોક પાળવા માંટે પોતાના માંથાના વાળ મૂંડાવવા નહિ, તેમજ દાઢીની કિનાર પણ મૂંડાવવી નહિ અને પોતાના શરીર પર કોઈ ઘા પણ પાડવો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.21.6" />તેઓ માંરા છે તેથી પવિત્ર રહેવા બંધાયેલા છે, તેમણે માંરા નામને કલંક લગાડવું નહિ, કારણ તેઓ યહોવાના હોમયજ્ઞો એટલે પોતાના અર્પણ મને ધરાવનાર છે, તેથી તેમણે પવિત્રતા જાળવવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LEV.21.7" />“તેમણે વારાંગનાને અથવા કૌમાંર્ય ગુમાંવેલી કે છૂટાછેડા લીધેલી સ્ત્રીને પરણવું નહિ, કારણ યાજક તો દેવને સમર્પિત થયેલ હોય છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.21.8" />તમાંરે યાજકને પવિત્ર ગણવો જોઈએ, કારણ કે મને અર્પણ ધરાવનાર તે છે. તમાંરે તેને પવિત્ર ગણવો જોઈએ, કારણ હું યહોવા પવિત્ર છું અને તમને પવિત્ર બનાવું છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LEV.21.9" />“જો કોઈ યાજકની પુત્રી વારાંગના થઈ જાય તો તે પોતાના પિતાને કલંકિત કરે છે, તેથી તેને બાળી મૂકવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LEV.21.10" />“તેલથી અભિષેક થયેલા અને યાજકનાં વસ્ત્રો પરિધાન કરી દીક્ષિત થયેલા વડા યાજકે શોક પાળવા પોતાના વાળ છૂટા મૂકવા નહિ તથા પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડવા નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.21.11" />જે જગ્યાએ માંણસનું શબ પડયું હોય ત્યાં તેણે જવું નહિ, અશુદ્ધ થવું નહિ, પછી ભલે તે શબ પોતાના પિતા કે માંતાનું હોય.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LEV.21.12" />તેલથી અભિષિક્ત થઈને તે મને સમર્પિત થયેલ છે, એટલે તે ફરજ પર હાજર હોય ત્યારે પવિત્રસ્થાનની બહાર જાય નહિ તેમજ ત્યાં જવા માંટે માંરા મુલાકાતમંડપને છોડી તેણે તેને ભ્રષ્ટ કરવાનો નથી, કારણ હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LEV.21.13" />“જેનું કૌમાંર્ય કાયમ હોય તેવી સ્ત્રી સાથે જ તેને લગ્ન કરવા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LEV.21.14" />તેણે કોઈ વિધવાને, કે વારાંગનાને, કે છૂટાછેડા લીધેલી સ્ત્રીને પરણવું નહિ, પણ પોતાના લોકમાંની જ કોઈ કુમાંરિકા સાથે જ પરણવું.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LEV.21.15" />નહિ તો તેનાં સંતાનો વગળવંશી થઈ જશે, તેમનું અડધું લોહી યાજકનું અને અડધું લોહી સામાંન્ય હોય તેમ બનવું જોઈએ નહિ. હું યહોવા છું. મેં મહા યાજકને પવિત્ર બનાવેલો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LEV.21.16" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LEV.21.17" />“તું હારુનને કહે કે, તારા શારીરિક ખોડખાંપણવાળા કોઈ પણ વંશજે મને અર્પણ ધરાવવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LEV.21.18" />શારીરિક ખોડખાંપણવાળા કોઈ પણ માંણસે પછી તે આંધળો હોય, કે લૂલો હોય, કોઈ અંગ અતિશય મોટું હોય કે નાનું હોય,
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LEV.21.19" />અથવા ઠૂંઠો હોય કે લંગડો હોય,
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LEV.21.20" />ખૂંધો હોય કે વામણો હોય, કે નેત્રનો રોગ કે ચામડીનો રોગ થયેલો હોય, કે વ્યંઢળ હોય અર્પણ ધરાવવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LEV.21.21" />“હારુનના શારીરિક ખોડખાંપણવાળા કોઈ પણ વંશજે મને આહુતિ ધરાવવી નહિ, જો તેનામાં કોઈ ખોડ હોય તો તેણે માંરું અર્પણ ધરાવવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="LEV.21.22" />તેમ છતાં દેવ સમક્ષ ધરાવેલ અર્પણ પવિત્ર તેમજ પરમપવિત્ર અર્પણોમાંથી યાજકોનો જે ભાગ છે તેમાંથી તે જમી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="LEV.21.23" />પરંતુ તેણે પડદાની નજીક કે પડદાની પાછળ અગ્નિની વેદીની નજીક જવું નહિ કારણ તેનામાં શારીરિક ખોડ છે, અને તેણે માંરી પવિત્ર જગ્યાઓને ભ્રષ્ટ કરવાની નથી; કારણ મેં યહોવાએ તેને પવિત્ર કરેલી છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LEV.21.24" />મૂસાએ હારુનને અને તેના પુત્રોને અને સૌ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આ પ્રમાંણે જણાવ્યું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">અર્પણોની શુદ્ધિના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.22.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.22.2" />“હારુનને તથા તેના પુત્રોને આ આજ્ઞાઓ આપ: લોકોએ આપેલી પવિત્ર ભેટોને અપવિત્ર કરીને તેઓ માંરા પવિત્ર નામને કલંક ન લગાવે. હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.22.3" />તું તેમને કહે: તમાંરો કોઈ પણ વંશજ પોતે અશુદ્ધ હોય ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ મને ધરાવેલા અર્પણની પાસે આવે તો તેને માંરી સેવામાંથી યાજકપદેથી દૂર કરવો. હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LEV.22.4" />“હારુનના વંશના જે કોઈને કોઢ થયો હોય અથવા સ્રાવ થતો હોય; તેણે શુદ્ધ થતાં સુધી પવિત્ર અર્પણમાંથી કશું ખાવું નહિ, જો યાજક મૃતદેહને અડે અથવા યાજકને વીર્ય સ્રાવ થયો હોય.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.22.5" />અથવા સર્પવર્ગના પ્રાણીનો કે મનાઈ કરેલી વસ્તુઓ સ્પર્શ કરે અથવા કોઈ કારણસર અશુદ્ધ થયેલી વ્યક્તિને અકડે;
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.22.6" />તો તે યાજક સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય અને સાંજે તે સ્નાન કરીને શુદ્ધ ન થાય ત્યાં સુધી તેણે પવિત્ર અર્પણમાંથી કશુંય ખાવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.22.7" />સૂર્યાસ્ત થયા પછી તે શુદ્ધ ગણાય, અને ત્યારે તે પવિત્ર ખોરાક ખાઈ શકે, કારણ તે પર તેના જીવનનો આધાર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LEV.22.8" />“તેણે કુદરતી રીતે મૃત્યુ પામેલું કે જંગલી જનાવરે ફાડી નાખેલું પ્રાણી ખાવું નહિ. જો તે ખાય તો અશુદ્ધ ગણાય. હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LEV.22.9" />“તું યાજકોને ચેતવણી આપ કે યાજકોએ માંરા નિયમોનું પાલન કરવું: નહિ તો તેમને પાપ લાગશે, અને માંરા નિયમોનો ભંગ કરવા તેમણે મરવું પડશે. તેઓને પવિત્ર કરનાર હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LEV.22.10" />યાજક પરિવારના ના હોય એવા કોઈ પણ માંણસે પછી તે યાજકનો મહેમાંન હોય કે પછી તેણે મજૂરીએ રાખેલો નોકર હોય. યાજકના ભાગની પવિત્ર અર્પણની રોટલી ખાવી નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.22.11" />આમાં એક અપવાદ છે જો યાજકે પોતાના નાણાથી ચાકર ખરીદેલો હોય તો તે ચાકર અને યાજકના ઘરમાં જન્મેલા ચાકર બાળકો આ પવિત્ર અર્પણ જમી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LEV.22.12" />યાજકની દીકરીના લગ્ન જે માંણસ યાજક ન હોય તેની સાથે થયા હોય, તો તેણે પવિત્ર અર્પણોમાંથી ખાવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LEV.22.13" />“પણ જો તે વિધવા હોય અથવા છૂટાછેડા આપેલી હોય અને તેનું ભરણપોષણ કરવાને કોઈ પુત્ર ન હોય અને તે પોતાના પિતાના પરિવારમાં પાછી ફરી હોય, તો તે પોતાના પિતાના પવિત્ર અર્પણોમાંથી ખાવાનુ ખાઈ શકે છે. આ સિવાય જેઓ યાજકોના પરિવારમાં નથી તેઓએ આ અર્પણોમાંથી ખાવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.22.14" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અજાણતા આ પવિત્ર અર્પણોમાંથી ખાય તો, તેની કિંમતના 20 ટકા ઉમેરીને યાજકને તે મૂલ્ય ભરપાઈ કરી આપે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LEV.22.15" />“યાજકોએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યહોવાને ધરાવેલાં અર્પણનો પોતાનો ભાગ યાજક ન હોય એવા લોકોને ખાવા દઈ એને ભ્રષ્ટ કરવો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.22.16" />યાજકે પવિત્ર અર્પણોને બીજા લોકોને ખાવા દઈને તેમના પાપમાં વધારો ન કરવો અને તેને અપવિત્ર ન કરવું. હું યહોવા અર્પણોને પવિત્ર કરનાર છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LEV.22.17" />યહોવા દેવે મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LEV.22.18" />“તું હારુનને અને તેના પુત્રોને તથા તમાંમ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહે કે જો કોઈ ઇસ્રાએલી અથવા તેઓની વચ્ચે રહેતો વિદેશી માંનતા પૂરી કરવા માંટે દહનાર્પણ તરીકે યહોવાને ઢોર કે ઘેટાં બકરાંની આહુતિ ચઢાવે,
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LEV.22.19" />તો તે પશ ખોડખાંપણ વગરનું નર હોય તો જ સ્વીકાર્ય બને.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LEV.22.20" />તેથી તમાંરે ખોડવાળું પશુ ચઢાવવું નહિ, નહિ તો તે અસ્વીકાર્ય થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LEV.22.21" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ માંનતા પૂરી કરવા અથવા ઐચ્છિકાર્પણ તરીકે યહોવા સમક્ષ વિશેષ ભેટ તરીકે લાવે, તો તે પ્રાણી બળદ અથવા ઘેટું હોઈ શકે પણ તેમાં કોઈ દોષ હોવો ન જોઈએ, નહિ તો તે અમાંન્ય થશે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="LEV.22.22" />તમાંરે યહોવાને આંધળું, લૂલું, અપંગ, ઈજા પામેલ અંગવાળું, વહેતા ધારાવાળું, ગદગૂમડાવાળું કે પરુંવાળું પ્રાણી ચઢાવવું નહિ, એવું કોઈ પ્રાણી યહોવાને અર્પણ તરીકે વેદી પર ધરાવવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LEV.22.23" />“જો કોઈ બળદ અથવા ઘેટું યહોવાને અર્પણ કરવામાં આવે અને જો તેને બહુ લાંબો પગ હોય અથવા પગનો સરખો વિકાસ ન થયો હોય, તો તેનો વિશેષ ભેટ તરીકે વધ કરી શકાય પણ તેને માંનતા કે પ્રતિજ્ઞા પૂરી કરવા માંટે અર્પણ કરી શકાય નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LEV.22.24" />“જે પશુના અંડકોશ છૂંદી, કચડી, ચીરી કે કાપી નાખવામાં આવ્યા હોય તેને તમાંરે યહોવાને ધરાવવું નહિ, તમાંરા દેશમાં એવું કદી કરવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LEV.22.25" />“જે વિદેશીઓ તેવા પશુઓને યહોવાને અર્પણ તરીકે લાવે, તો તમાંરે એનો સ્વીકાર ન કરવો. કારણકે પ્રાણી અપંગ હોઈ શકે અને તેમને ખોડખાંપણ હોઈ શકે, તેથી તે સ્વીકારાય નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LEV.22.26" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="LEV.22.27" />“જયારે કોઈ વાછરડું, લવારુ કે બકરું જન્મે ત્યારે સાત દિવસ સુધી તેને તેની માં પાસેથી કોઈએ લઈ લેવું નહિ. આઠમાં દિવસે અને તે પછી તે યહોવા સમક્ષ અગ્નિ દ્વારા યજ્ઞ માંટે માંન્ય થશે.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LEV.22.28" />તમાંરે એક જ દિવસે બચ્ચાંનો તથા તેની માંનો વધ કરવો નહિ. પછી તે ગાય હોય કે ઘેટી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LEV.22.29" />“જો તમને વિશેષ આભારાર્થે દેવને અર્પણ આપવાની ઈચ્છા હોય, તો તે ભેટ આપવાની તમને છૂટ છે. પણ તે તમાંરે એ રીતે આપવું જેથી તેઓ પ્રસન્ન થાય.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LEV.22.30" />તમાંરે તે જ દિવસે તે આખુ પ્રાણી જમી લેવું. બીજા દિવસે સવાર માંટે તેમાંથી કાંઈ રાખવું નહિ. હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LEV.22.31" />“તમાંરે માંરી સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરવું અને તેનો અમલ કરવો, કારણ કે હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="LEV.22.32" />તમાંરે માંરા પવિત્ર નામને ભ્રષ્ટ કરવું નહિ; બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ માંરી પવિત્રતા જાળવવી. હું તમને પવિત્ર કરનાર યહોવા છું.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="LEV.22.33" />હું તમને મિસરમાંથી તમાંરો દેવ થવા માંટે લઈ આવ્યો હતો. હું યહોવા છું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="23" />
<s style="s">વિશેષ પવિત્ર ઉત્સવો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.23.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.23.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને તું આ કહે: યહોવાના ઉત્સવો નીચે મુજબ છે, તમાંરે યહોવાના પસંદ કરેલા ઉત્સવોને ધર્મસંમેલનો તરીકે જાહેર કરવા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">વિશ્રામનો દિવસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LEV.23.3" />“છ દિવસ કામ કરવું, પણ સાતમો દિવસ તો સંપૂર્ણ વિશ્રામનો દિવસ છે, એ તો પવિત્ર સંમેલનનો દિવસ છે, એ દિવસે કામ ન કરવું. તમે ગમે ત્યાં રહેતા હોય, તે યહોવાનો દિવસ છે, વિશ્રામવાર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પાસ્ખાપર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LEV.23.4" />“પ્રતિવર્ષ યહોવાના જે ઉત્સવો ઉજવવાના, ધર્મસંમેલનો બોલાવવાના પવિત્ર પર્વો છે તે નીચે મુજબ છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.23.5" />આ પર્વની ઊજવણી પહેલા મહિનાના ચૌદમે દિવસે પરોઢે શરુ થવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">બેખમીર રોટલીનો ઉત્સવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LEV.23.6" />“એ મહિનામાં પંદરમાં દિવસથી બેખમીર રોટલીનો ઉત્સવ શરુ થાય છે. સાત દિવસ સુધી તમાંરે ખમીર વગરની રોટલી ખાવી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.23.7" />આ પર્વના પ્રથમ દિવસે ધર્મસંમેલન રાખવું અને કોઈ દૈનિક સાંસારિક કાર્ય કરવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.23.8" />પર્વના સાતમાં દિવસે પણ તમાંરે ફરી ધર્મસંમેલન કરવું. રોજના કામ કરવાં નહિ અને પ્રથમ દિવસ અને છેલ્લા દિવસની વચ્ચેના દિવસોએ રોજ તમાંરે યહોવા સમક્ષ અગ્નિમાં આહુતિ માંટે અર્પણ લાવવું.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પ્રથમ ફળનું પર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LEV.23.9" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LEV.23.10" />“ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહો, હું તમને આપું છું તે દેશમાં તમે દાખલ થાઓ અને પાક લણો ત્યારે તમાંરે પહેલા પાકનો પહેલો દાણાનો પૂળો તમાંરે સાબ્બાથના પછીના દિવસે યાજક પાસે લઈને આવવું.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.23.11" />યાજક સાબ્બાથના પછીના દિવસે પૂળો યહોવાને ઉપાસનાની જેમ ધરાવવો અને યહોવા તમાંરી ભેટ સ્વીકારશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LEV.23.12" />“જે દિવસે તમે પૂળો ધરાવો તે દિવસે તમાંરે એક વર્ષનું ખોડખાંપણ વગરનું નર ઘેટું યહોવાને દહનાર્પણ તરીકે ધરાવવું.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LEV.23.13" />તેની ઉપરાંત તમાંરે અગ્નિમાં ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે તેલમાં મોયેલો 16 વાટકા ઝીણો લોટ તથા પેયાર્પણ તરીકે એક લિટર દ્રાક્ષારસ લાવવો, એની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LEV.23.14" />તમે આ પ્રમાંણે અર્પણો ધરાવો નહિ ત્યાં સુધી એટલે કે તે પહેલા તમાંરે નવા પાકમાંથી કાંઈ ખાવું નહિ. તાજો પોંક, નવું અનાજ, કાચું શેકેલું કે રોટલી કે લીલાં કણસલાં, આમાંનું કશું જ ખાવું નહિ. આ નિયમ તમાંરે સૌએ સમગ્ર દેશમાં વંશપરંપરાગત પાળવાનો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કાપણીનું પર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LEV.23.15" />“પચાસમાં દિવસનું પર્વ: “વિશ્રામવાર પછીના દિવસથી તમે જે દિવસે પૂળાની ભેટ ધરાવો તે દિવસથી પૂરા સાત અઠવાડિયા ગણવાં.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.23.16" />સાતમાં આઠવાડિયા પછીના રવિવારે એટલે કે પચાસમાં દિવસે, તમાંરે યહોવાને નવા પાકમાંથી ખાદ્યાર્પણ કરવું:
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LEV.23.17" />તમાંરે તમાંરાં ઘરમાંથી વિશેષ ભેટ તરીકે ખમીર નાખીને બનાવેલી 16 વાટકા લોટની બે રોટલી લાવવી. એ તમાંરા પાકના પ્રથમ દાણાનું યહોવાને અર્પણ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LEV.23.18" />“રોટલી ઉપરાંત યહોવાને દહનાર્પણરૂપે તમાંરે એક વર્ષના ખોડખાંપણ વગરનાં સાત ઘેટાંના બચ્ચા, એક વાછરડું, અને બે ઘેટાં અર્પણ કરવા. આ સર્વને અનુરૂપ ખાદ્યાર્પણ અને પેયાર્પણ પણ હોવા જો ઈએ, જે અગ્નિમાં આહુતિ માંટેના અર્પણો છે. એની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LEV.23.19" />તમાંરે એક બકરો પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે, અને શાંત્યર્પણ તરીકે એક વર્ષના બે નર ઘેટાં પણ ધરાવવા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LEV.23.20" />“યાજકે તેમને નવા પાકના પહેલા દાણામાંથી બનાવેલી રોટલી સાથે યાજકના ભાગ તરીકે યહોવા સામે ઉપાસના સાથે ધરાવવા. એ યાજકને માંટેની યહોવાને ધરાવેલી ભેટ ગણાશે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="LEV.23.21" />એ જ દિવસે તમાંરે ધર્મસંમેલન બોલાવવું. અને તે દિવસે કોઈ સાંસારિક કામ કરવાં નહિ, તમે ગમે ત્યાં રહેતા હોય છતાં તમાંરા વંશજોએ કાયમ માંટે આ નિયમ પાળવાનો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LEV.23.22" />“તમે જયારે પાક લણો, ત્યારે તમાંરે છેક ખેતરના શેઢા સૂધી વાઢવું નહિ. તેમજ મોડ પણ વીણી લેવા નહિ. તમાંરે તેને ગરીબો તથા વિદેશીઓ માંટે રહેવા દેવા. હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">રણશિંગડાનું પર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LEV.23.23" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LEV.23.24" />“ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને એમ જણાવ: સાતમાં મહિનાના પહેલા દિવસે તમાંરે સંપૂર્ણ વિશ્રામના સ્મરણના દિવસ તરીકે પાળવો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LEV.23.25" />એ દિવસે તમાંરે રણશિંગડા ફૂંકવા અને ધર્મસંમેલન કરવું. તમાંરે રોજનું કોઈ કામ કરવું નહિ પરંતુ યહોવાની સમક્ષ અગ્નિમાં આહુતિ આપવી.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પ્રાયશ્ચિત પર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LEV.23.26" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="LEV.23.27" />“સાતમાં મહિનાનો દશમો દિવસ પ્રાયશ્ચિતનો દિવસ છે. એ દિવસે પવિત્ર મેળાવડો રાખવો. ઉપવાસ કરવો અને યહોવા સમક્ષ અગ્નિમાં આહુતિ આપવી.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LEV.23.28" />એ દિવસે તમાંરે કોઈ કામ કરવું નહિ, કારણ કે તે પ્રાયશ્ચિતનો દિવસ છે. તે દિવસે યાજકો તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા સમક્ષ તમને શુદ્ધ કરવાની વિધિ કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LEV.23.29" />“એટલે તે દિવસે જો કોઈ પશ્ચાતાપમાં અને પાપ માંટે દિલગીરી વ્યક્ત કરી ઉપવાસ નહિ કરે તો તેનો સમાંજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LEV.23.30" />જે કોઈ આ દિવસે કોઈ પણ કામ કરશે તો હું (યહોવા) તેના લોકોમાંથી તેનો નાશ કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="LEV.23.31" />ઇસ્રાએલની પ્રજાએ આ કાનૂન વંશપરંપરા પાળવાનો છે.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="LEV.23.32" />કારણ, આ તો પવિત્ર વિશ્રામનો સાબ્બાથ છે, માંટે તમે ઉપવાસ કરો અને દુઃખી થાઓ. પશ્ચાતાપના આ સમય દરમ્યાન નવમાં દિવસની સાંજથી પછીના દિવસની સાંજ સુધી તમાંરે વિશ્રામ પાળવાનો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">માંડવાપર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LEV.23.33" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="LEV.23.34" />“ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને એમ કહે કે, આ સાતમાં મહિનાના પંદરમાં દિવસથી યહોવાનો માંડવાપર્વ શરૂ થાય છે અને તે સાત દિવસ ચાલે છે.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="LEV.23.35" />પ્રથમ દિવસે તમાંરે ધર્મસંમેલન ભરવું. તમાંરે એ દિવસે કોઈ કાર્ય કરવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="LEV.23.36" />પર્વના સાતે દિવસ તમાંરે યહોવા સમક્ષ હોમયજ્ઞો અર્પણ કરવા. આઠમાં દિવસે ફરીથી પવિત્ર મેળાવડો કરવો અને ફરીથી હોમયજ્ઞો અર્પણ કરવા. આ પછી પર્વની ઊજવણી પૂરી થાય, આ દિવસે પણ તમાંરે કોઈ પણ સાંસારિક કામ કરવાં નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LEV.23.37" />“આ બધા યહોવાના વાર્ષિક પર્વો નિયમિત ઉજવવાના છે. આ પ્રસંગો પર પવિત્ર મેળાવડા યોજવા, એ દિવસો દરમ્યાન નક્કી કરેલા નિયમ મુજબ દહનાર્પણ, ખાદ્યાર્પણ અને પેયાર્પણ યહોવાને અર્પણ કરવા.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="LEV.23.38" />આ પર્વોત્સવો પ્રતિસપ્તાહ આવતા વિશ્રામવાર ઉપરાંતના છે અને બધી આહુતિઓ, અર્પણો બાધાઓ, અને સ્વેચ્છાએ ખાસ ભેટો તરીકે ધરાવેલ અર્પણો ઉપરાંતના છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LEV.23.39" />“તેમ છતાં સાતમાં માંસના પંદરમાં દિવસે જમીનની ઉપજનો સંગ્રહ કરી રહ્યાં બાદ તમાંરે યહોવાને પ્રસન્ન કરવા માંટે સાત દિવસ સુધી આ પર્વ ઊજવવું. પહેલો દિવસ અને આઠમો દિવસ સંપૂર્ણ વિશ્રામ પાળવાનો છે.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="LEV.23.40" />પ્રથમ દિવસે તમાંરે તાડનાં પાંદડાં અને ખાસફળો અને સુદંર વૃક્ષોની ડાળીઓ ભેગી કરવી અને સાત દિવસ સુધી તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા સમક્ષ આનંદોત્સવ ઊજવવો.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="LEV.23.41" />તમાંરે પ્રતિવર્ષ યહોવાના માંનમાં સાત દિવસ આ ઉત્સવ ઊજવવો. તમાંરા વંશજોએ કાયમ આ કાનૂન પાળવાનો છે. સાતમાં મહિનામાં તમાંરે આ ઉત્સવ ઊજવવાનો છે.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="LEV.23.42" />એ સાત દિવસો દરમ્યાન ઇસ્રાએલના તમાંમ વતનીઓએ સાત દિવસ મંડપોમાં રહેવું.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="LEV.23.43" />જેથી તમાંરા વંશજોને યાદ રહે કે હું તમને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો ત્યારે મેં તમને માંડવાઓમાં વસાવ્યા હતા. હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="LEV.23.44" />મૂસાએ યહોવાના માંનમાં પાળવાના ઉત્સવોને લગતા નિયમો ઇસ્રાએલના તમાંમ લોકોને જણાવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">દીપ સ્તંભ અને પવિત્ર રોટલી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.24.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.24.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહે કે, તેઓ મુલાકાતમંડપમાં કરાર કોશની આગળના પડદા બહારની દીવીમાં અખંડ દીપ પ્રગટતો રાખવા માંટે ચોખ્ખું જૈતૂનનું તેલ લાવી આપે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.24.3" />હારુને તે દીપ સાંજથી સવાર સુધી યહોવા સમક્ષ પ્રગટતો રહે તેની કાળજી રાખવાની છે. આ કાનૂન તમને અને તમાંરા વંશજોને કાયમ માંટે બંધનકર્તા છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LEV.24.4" />હારુને શુદ્ધ સોનાની દીવી ઉપરના દીવા યહોવા સમક્ષ અંખડ પ્રગટતા રહે તે માંટે કાળજી રાખવાની છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LEV.24.5" />“તમાંરે ઘઉનો લોટ લઈને તેમાંથી 16 વાટકાનો એક એવા બાર રોટલી બનાવવી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.24.6" />તમાંરે તે બાર રોટલા શુદ્ધ સોનાના બાજઠ ઉપર યહોવા સમક્ષ છ છની બે થપ્પીમાં ગોઠવવા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.24.7" />તે બંને થપ્પી પર તમાંરે શુદ્ધ લોબાન મૂકવો, આથી યહોવાને પોતાની સમક્ષ અગ્નિ આહુતીનું અર્પણ યાદ રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.24.8" />પ્રતિ વિશ્રામવારે તે યહોવા સમક્ષ નિયમિત ગોઠવવા. તે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોનું કાયમી કામ છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LEV.24.9" />પવિત્ર જગાએ હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો આ રોટલી ખાય. એ એમનો હક છે. કારણ, તે યહોવાને ચઢાવાતા અગ્નિ ખાદ્યાર્પણોનો યાજકને મળતો પવિત્ર ભાગ છે. યાજકને આ ભાગ હંમેશા આપવાના છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તે વ્યક્તિ જેણે યહોવાને શાપ આપ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LEV.24.10" />એક દિવસ ઇસ્રાએલી માંતા અને મિસરી પિતાના યુવાનને છાવણીમાં એક ઇસ્રાએલી વ્યક્તિ સાથે ઝધડો થયો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.24.11" />ઝધડા દરમ્યાન આ ઇસ્રાએલી યુવતીના દીકરાએ યહોવાને શાપ આપ્યો. તેથી ન્યાય માંટે મૂસા સમક્ષ રજૂ કરવામાં આવ્યો. તેની માંતાનું નામ શલોમીથ હતું, તે દાનના કુળના દિબ્રીની પુત્રી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LEV.24.12" />યહોવાનો ચૂકાદો ના આવે ત્યાં સુધી તેને ચોકી પહેરા હેઠળ રાખવાનું નક્કી થયું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LEV.24.13" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LEV.24.14" />“તેને છાવણીમાંથી બહાર લઈ જા અને જેઓને તેને નિંદા કરતા સાંભળ્યો હતો તે સર્વને તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકવાનું કહે; પછી બધા લોકો પથ્થરો માંરી તેને માંરી નાખે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LEV.24.15" />ત્યારબાદ તું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહે કે, જે કોઈ દેવની નિંદા કરશે તેણે પોતાના પાપની સજા ભોગવવી પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.24.16" />જે કોઈ યહોવાના નામની નિંદા કરે તેને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો, પછી તે ઇસ્રાએલી હોય કે વિદેશી; સમગ્ર સમાંજે તેને પથ્થરો માંરવા; અને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LEV.24.17" />“જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ બીજાની હત્યા કરે તો તેને મોતની સજા કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LEV.24.18" />જે કોઈ પશુને માંરી નાખે તેણે તેની નુકસાની ભરપાઈ કરવી જીવને બદલે જીવ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LEV.24.19" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અન્યને ઈજા પહોંચાડે તો તેણે જે કર્યુ હોય તે તેને કરવું:
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LEV.24.20" />હાડફું ભાંગનારનું હાડફું ભાંગવું, આંખ ફોડનારની આંખ ફોડવી, દાંત પાડનારનો દાંત પાડવો, એણે સામી વ્યક્તિને જેવી ઈજા કરી હોય તેવી જ ઈજા તેને કરીને બદલો આપવામાં આવે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="LEV.24.21" />જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કોઈ પશુને માંરી નાખે તો તેણે નુકસાની ભરપાઈ કરવી, પણ જો કોઈ માંણસને માંરી નાખે તો તેને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LEV.24.22" />“વિદેશી કે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજામાં જન્મ ધારણ કરનાર નાગરિક સર્વને સમાંન કાનૂન લાગુ પડે, કારણ હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LEV.24.23" />મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આ પ્રમાંણે કહ્યા પછી તેમણે દેવનિંદા કરનાર માંણસને છાવણી બહાર લઈ જઈને યહોવાએ મૂસાને કરેલી આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે તેને પથ્થરો માંરીને માંરી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="25" />
<s style="s">ભૂમિને માંટે વિશ્રામનો સમય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.25.1" />સિનાઈ પર્વત પર યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LEV.25.2" />“તું ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને આ પ્રમાંણે કહે: તમને જે દેશ હું આપવાનો છું તેમાં તમે પ્રવેશ કરો અને વસો ત્યારે તે દેશને પણ યહોવાના માંનમાં વિશ્રામ પાળવા દેવો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LEV.25.3" />છ વર્ષ સુધી તમાંરે તમાંરા ખેતરોમાં વાવણી કરવી, છ વરસ સુધી તમાંરે દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓને છાંટવી, અને તમાંરી પાકની કાપણી કરવી,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LEV.25.4" />પરંતુ સાતમે વર્ષે જમીનને યહોવાના માંનમાં સંપૂર્ણ વિશ્રામ પાળવા દેવો. એ વર્ષે ન તો ખેતરમાં કંઈ વાવવું કે ન તો દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ છાંટવી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.25.5" />જમીન પર પડેલા દાણામાંથી જે કંઈ પાકે અથવા છાંટયા વગરની દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓમાં જે દ્રાક્ષ બેસે તે તમાંરે લેવાં નહિ, એ વર્ષે જમીનને સંપૂર્ણ વિશ્રામ આપવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LEV.25.6" />“એ વિશ્રામના વર્ષમાં ખેડયા વગરની જમીનમાં આપોઆપ જે કંઈ ઊપજ થશે તે તમને તેમજ તમાંરાં સ્ત્રીપુરુષ, ચાકરોને, તમે મજૂરીએ રાખેલા માંણસોને, તમાંરા ઘરમાં રહેતા વિદેશીઓને,
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LEV.25.7" />તમાંરાં ઢોરોને તથા દેશના જંગલી જાનવરોને ખાવા કામ લાગશે, તેથી જે કંઈ આપોઆપ પેદા થાય તેનો ખાવામાં ઉપયોગ કરી શકશો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">જુબિલી અર્થાત્ મુક્તિનું વર્ષ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LEV.25.8" />“તમાંરે પોતાના માંટે સાત વર્ષનાં સાત જૂથ ગણવાં, એટલે કે સાત વાર સાત વરસ, એટલે 49 વર્ષ. તે સમય દરમ્યાન ભૂમિને સાત વરસનો વિશ્રામ રહેશે
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LEV.25.9" />પછી સાતમાં મહિનાના દશમે દિવસે પ્રાયશ્ચિતને દિવસે તમાંરે આખા દેશમાં ઘેટાનું શિંગ વગડાવવું.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LEV.25.10" />અને પચાસમાં વર્ષને પવિત્ર જાહેર કરી દેશના બધા વતનીઓ માંટે ઘોષણા કરવી. તમાંરા માંટે એ રણ શિંગડાનું જુબિલીનું વર્ષ છે. જો કોઈની મિલકત વેચાઈ ગઈ હોય તો એ વર્ષે છૂટી થઈ જાય અને મૂળ માંલિકને પાછી મળે, વળી જો કોઈ ચાકર તરીકે વેચાયો હોય તો તે છૂટો થઈ પોતાના પરિવારમાં પાછો જાય.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LEV.25.11" />એ પચાસમું વર્ષ તમાંરા માંટે ખાસ ઉજવણીનું વર્ષ છે, એ વર્ષે તમાંરે કાંઈ વાવવું નહિ, અને આપોઆપ જે ઊગ્યું હોય તે લણવું નહિ, તેમજ છાંટયા વિનાની દ્રાક્ષની વાડીમાંથી દ્રાક્ષ ઉતારવી નહિ,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LEV.25.12" />કારણ, તમાંરા માંટે એ રણશિંગડાનું પવિત્ર મુક્તિવર્ષ છે, અને તમાંરે તેને પવિત્ર રાખવાનું છે એટલે એ વર્ષે ખેતરોમાં આપમેળે ઊગી નીકળેલો પાક તમાંરે ખાવાના ઉપયોગમાં લેવો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LEV.25.13" />આ મુક્તિ વર્ષે પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિએ પોતાને ઘેર, પોતાના પરિવારની મિલકતવાળા મકાનમાં પાછા ફરવું, જો તેણે તે વેચી દીધું હોય, તો તે ફરીથી તેને પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.25.14" />“એટલે તમે અરસપરસ જમીન વેંચો કે ખરીદો ત્યારે કોઈ પણ પક્ષે એક બીજાને છેતરવો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LEV.25.15" />જમીનની કિંમત ઉત્સવના પછીના વર્ષોની ગણતરી પર થાય છે, કેમકે માંલિક ફકત આવતા ઉત્સવ સુધીનો કાપણીનો હક્ક વેચે છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LEV.25.16" />જો વર્ષો વધારે બાકી હોય તો કિંમત વધારે ઠરાવવી અને વર્ષ ઓછા બાકી હોય તો કિમત ઓછી ઠરાવવી, કારણ જે વેચાય છે તે અમુક પાક કુલ મળશે તે છે, અને નહિ કે જમીન.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LEV.25.17" />આથી તમાંરે એકબીજાને છેતરવા નહિ, દેવથી ડરીને ચાલવું. હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LEV.25.18" />“માંરા કાનૂનો અને માંરા નિયમોનું પાલન કરશો અને તેનો અમલ કરશો તો તમે દેશમાં સુરક્ષિત રહી શકશો;
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LEV.25.19" />જો તમે નિયમોને આધીન થશો તો ભૂમિ મબલખ પાક આપશે તેથી તમે સુરક્ષિત રહેશો અને તૃપ્ત થશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LEV.25.20" />“તમે કહેશો કે, ‘જો અમે દાણા ન વાવીએ અથવા લણીએ તો સાતમાં વર્ષે અમને કંઈ ખાવા નહિ રહે.’
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="LEV.25.21" />તેનો ઉત્તર આ છે, છઠ્ઠા વર્ષે હું તમને ત્રણ વર્ષ ચાલે તેટલા મબલખ પાકથી આશીર્વાદિત કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="LEV.25.22" />તમે આઠમે વરસે વાવશો ત્યારે પણ તમે આગળના વર્ષના પાકમાંથી ખાતા હશો, નવમે વર્ષે તમે નવો પાક ઘરમાં લાવશો ત્યાં સુધી તમે છઠ્ઠા વર્ષના પાકમાંથી તમે ખાશો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સંપત્તિના કાનૂનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LEV.25.23" />“યાદ રાખો, જમીન માંરી છે, તેથી જમીનનું કાયમી વેચાણ થઈ શકે નહિ, તમે માંત્ર વિદેશીઓ અને યાત્રીઓ તરીકે માંરી જમીન પર રહો છો.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LEV.25.24" />વેચાણ ખરીદમાં એક શરત એવી હોવી જ જોઈએ કે જમીનને વેચનાર ગમે ત્યારે પાછી મેળવી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LEV.25.25" />કોઈ વાર કોઈ માંણસ ગરીબ થઈ જાય અને તેની જમીનને થોડો ભાગ વેચે, તો તેનો સૌથી નજીકનો સગો તે જમીનને પાછી લઈ શકે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="LEV.25.26" />પરંતુ જો તેને છોડાવનાર કોઈ નજીકનો સગો ના હોય અને તે પોતે ફરી ખરીદવાની સ્થિતિમાં આવ્યો હોય,
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="LEV.25.27" />તો તેણે વેચાણ પછી વીતેલાં વર્ષો હિસાબમાં ગણી, બીજા મુક્તિવર્ષને જેટલાં વર્ષ બાકી હોય તે પ્રમાંણે ખરીદનારને કિંમત ચૂકવવી, અને તેણે એની મિલકત પાછી આપવી.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LEV.25.28" />અસલ માંલિક જમીનને ન છોડાવી શકે તો તે જમીન જુબિલીના વર્ષ સુધી ખરીદનાર પાસે રહે; પણ જુબિલી વર્ષમાં તે જમીન અસલ માંલિકને પાછી આપી દેવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LEV.25.29" />“જો કોઈ માંણસ નગરમાંનું તેનું મકાન વેચે, તો વેચાણ પછી પૂરા એક વર્ષ સૂધી તેને ફરીથી ખરીદી લેવાનો હક્ક રહે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LEV.25.30" />એક પૂરા વર્ષ દરમ્યાન તે પાછું ખરીદી લેવામાં ના આવે તો તે મકાનની કાયમની માંલિકી નવા માંલિકની અને તેના વંશજોની થાય.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="LEV.25.31" />જુબિલી વર્ષમાં પણ તે મૂળ માંલિકને પાછું ન મળે, કોટ વગરનાં ગામડાંમાંનાં મકાનો જમીન જેવાં ગણાય, તે પાછાં ખરીદી લેવાના હક્ક કાયમ રહે, અને જુબિલી વર્ષમાં તો તે મકાન મૂળ માંલિકને પાછું મળે જ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LEV.25.32" />“તેમાં એક અપવાદ છે: લેવીના મકાનો કોટવાળાં નગરોમાં હોય તો પણ ગમે ત્યારે છોડાવી શકાય;
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="LEV.25.33" />જો કોઈ લેવી એવા શહેરમાં આવેલું પોતાનું મકાન પાછું ન ખરીદી લે, તો તે જુબિલીના વર્ષમાં તેને પાછું મળી જાય; કારણ, લેવીઓનાં શહેરમાંનાં મકાન એ તેમની ઇસ્રાએલમાંની મિલકત છે.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="LEV.25.34" />લેવી પોતાના નગરોની આસપાસ આવેલી સહિયારી જમીન વેચી શકે નહિ, કારણ કે તે તેઓની કાયમી મિલકત છે અને તેના પર અન્ય કોઈનો હક રહે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ચાકરો ઉપર ધણીપણાના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="LEV.25.35" />“અને જો કોઈ ઇસ્રાએલી બંધુ ગરીબીમાં આવી પડે અને પોતાનું ભરણપોષણ કરી શકે નહિ, તો તેને મદદ કરવાની જવાબદારી તારી છે; તારે ઘેર મહેમાંન તરીકે આવવા માંટે તેને નિમંત્રણ આપ. જેથી તે તમાંરી સાથે રહી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="LEV.25.36" />દેવનો ડર રાખીને તારા ભાઈને તારી સાથે રહેવા દે; તેને ધીરેલા પૈસાનું વ્યાજ તમાંરે ન લેવું, અને તમે ધીરેલા કરતા વધારાની આશા તેની પાસે ન કરતા.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="LEV.25.37" />તમાંરે તેને ધીરેલાં નાણાં ઉપર વ્યાજ લેવું નહિ, તેમજ વધારે ભાવે અનાજ વેચવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="LEV.25.38" />તમને કનાનનો પ્રદેશ આપવા માંટે અને તમાંરો દેવ થવા માંટે તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવનાર હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LEV.25.39" />“જો કોઈ ઇસ્રાએલી બંધુ ગરીબાઈમાં આવી પડે અને પોતે તમને વેચાઈ જાય તો તમાંરે તેની પાસે ચાકર તરીકે કામ કરાવવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="LEV.25.40" />તેણે નોકરીએ રાખેલ ચાકર અથવા મહેમાંન તરીકેનો વ્યવહાર તેની સાથે કરવો. અને તેને વસવાટી માંણસ જેવો ગણવો. જુબિલી વર્ષ સુધી તે તમાંરું કામ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="LEV.25.41" />પછી તમાંરી સેવા તે છોડી જશે અને પોતાનાં વંશજો સાથે પાછો પોતાના પરિવારમાં જઈ પોતાની મિલકતનો માંલિક બનશે.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="LEV.25.42" />કારણ કે હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યો હતો એટલે તેઓ માંરા સેવકો છે. ચાકરોની જેમ તેમને વેચી શકાશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="LEV.25.43" />તમાંરે દેવનો ડર રાખીને એવા માંણસ પાસે ચાકરની જેમ મજૂરી કરાવવી નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="LEV.25.44" />“અને જો તમાંરે ચાકરોની જરૂર હોય તો તે તમાંરી આસપાસ રહેતા લોકોમાંથી તમે ખરીદી શકો છો.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="LEV.25.45" />તદુપરાંત તમાંરી વચ્ચે રહેતા વિદેશીઓના સંતાનોને તમાંરા દેશમાં જન્મ્યા હોય તો પણ તમે ચાકરો ખરીદી શકો છો. એ લોકો તમાંરી મિલકત ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="LEV.25.46" />અને તમે તે લોકોને તમાંરા વંશજોને વારસામાં આપી શકો છો, તેમજ તમે તેમનો કાયમ માંટે ચાકર તરીકે ઉપયોગ કરી શકો છો, પણ તમાંરા ઇસ્રાએલી ભાઈઓ પાસે ચાકરોની જેમ મજૂરી કરાવી શકો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="LEV.25.47" />“જયારે કોઈ પરદેશી કે તમાંરી સાથે રહેતો વસવાટી ધનવાન થઈ જાય અને તમાંરો ઇસ્રાએલી ભાઈ ગરીબીમાં આવી પડતાં પોતાની જાત તે માંણસને વેચી દે,
<ve />
<v id="48" bcv="LEV.25.48" />તેને તેનો એકાદ ભાઈ પાછો ખરીદી શકે છે.
<ve />
<v id="49" bcv="LEV.25.49" />અથવા કાકા કે ભત્રીજે કે અન્ય કોઈ નજીકનો સગો તેને પાછો ખરીદી લઈ શકે, અથવા તેની પાસે પૈસા થયા હોય, તો તે પોતે પોતાની જાતને છોડાવી શકે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="LEV.25.50" />“તેના છુટકારાની કિંમત જુબિલી વર્ષને જેટલા વર્ષ બાકી હોય તે પ્રમાંણે ગણવામાં આવે, બાકી રહેલાં વર્ષો માંટે પગારે રાખેલા ચાકરનો ખર્ચ કેટલો થાય તે,
<ve />
<v id="51" bcv="LEV.25.51" />જો આગલી જુબિલીને ઘણા વર્ષો બાકી હોય તો વ્યક્તિએ કિંમતનો મોટો ભાગ પાછો આપવો. એ વર્ષોની ગણતરી પર આધારીત છે.
<ve />
<v id="52" bcv="LEV.25.52" />ઘણાં વર્ષો વીતી ગયાં હોય અને જુબિલી વર્ષને થોડાં જ વર્ષ બાકી હોય, તો પોતાની જાતને વેચી જે નાણાં પ્રાપ્ત કર્યા હોય તેનો થોડોજ ભાગ તેણે પાછો આપવો.
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="LEV.25.53" />તેનો હોદ્દો મજૂરીએ રાખેલા માંણસનો ગણાશે, અને તમાંરે તેના માંલિકને તેની પાસે સખતાઈથી કામ લેવા દેવું જોઈએ નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="LEV.25.54" />“જો જુબિલી વર્ષના વચગાળાનાં વરસો દરમ્યાન તેને પાછો ખરીદી લેવામાં ન આવ્યો હોય, તો તેને અને તેનાં બાળકોને જુબિલીના વર્ષમાં છૂટાં કરી દેવાં જોઈએ,
<ve />
<v id="55" bcv="LEV.25.55" />કેમ કે, ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માંરા સેવકો છે; હું તેમને ચાકરીમાંથી મિસર દેશમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો છું; હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">આજ્ઞાંકિતતાનાં મીઠા ફળ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.26.1" />“તમાંરે પૂજા કરવા માંટે દેવોની મૂર્તિઓ બનાવવી નહિ, તેમજ કોતરેલી મૂર્તિ, સ્તંભ કે કંડારેલા પથ્થરની પૂજા કરવી નહિ, કારણ ‘હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="LEV.26.2" />“તમાંરે માંરા વિશ્રામવાર પાળવા અને માંરા મુલાકાતમંડપની પવિત્રતા જાળવવી, હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LEV.26.3" />“જો તમે માંરા સર્વ કાનૂનો પ્રમાંણે ચાલશો અને માંરી સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરીને તેનો અમલ કરશો;
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LEV.26.4" />તો હું તમાંરા માંટે નિયમિત ઋતુ પ્રમાંણે વરસાદ મોકલીશ, જમીન તમને પાક આપશે અને વૃક્ષો ફળ આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LEV.26.5" />તમાંરે ત્યાં પુષ્કળ પાક ઊતરશે, વાવણીનો સમય આવે ત્યાં સુધી દ્રાક્ષ પાકયા કરશે, અને લણવાનું કામ વાવણીના સમય સુધી ચાલશે, તમે ધરાતાં સુધી જમશો અને દેશમાં સુરક્ષિત રહેશો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LEV.26.6" />હું તમને દેશમાં શાંતિ આપીશ, અને તમે રાત્રે નિર્ભય બની નિરાંતે ઊધી શકશો, હું દેશમાંથી હિંસક પ્રાણીઓને ભગાડી મૂકીશ અને યુદ્ધ થવા દઈશ નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LEV.26.7" />“તમે તમાંરા દુશ્મનોને હાંકી કાઢશો, અને તેઓ તમાંરી તરવારનો ભોગ બનશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LEV.26.8" />તમાંરામાંના પાંચ એકસોને હાંકી કાઢશે અને તમાંરામાંના 100 હાંકશે 10,000ને! તમાંરા સર્વ શત્રુઓનો પરાજય થશે અને તમાંરી તરવારથી માંર્યા જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LEV.26.9" />“હું તમાંરા તરફ થઈશ, તમાંરી સંભાળ રાખીશ, અને તમાંરું સંખ્યાબળ વધારીશ. તમને ઘણાં સંતાન આપીશ, અને તમાંરી સાથેનો માંરો કરાર હું પૂર્ણ કરીશ.
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<v id="10" bcv="LEV.26.10" />તમાંરી પાસે પુષ્કળ અનાજ હશે, આખું વરસ ખાવા છંતા તે ખૂટશે નહિ. નવો પાક તૈયાર થશે ત્યારે તેને સંધરવા જૂના પાકનો વધેલો ભાગ ફેંકી દેવો પડશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="LEV.26.11" />હું તમાંરી વચ્ચે માંરું નિવાસ કરીશ. હું તમાંરો ત્યાગ કરીશ નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="LEV.26.12" />હું તમાંરી મધ્યે વાસો કરીશ. હું તમાંરો દેવ થઈશ અને તમે માંરી પ્રજા થશો.
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<v id="13" bcv="LEV.26.13" />કારણ કે તમને ચાકરીમાંથી છોડાવી મિસરની બહાર લાવનાર હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું. તમાંરી ચાકરીની ઝૂસરી તોડી નાખીને તમને ઉન્નત મસ્તકે ચાલતા મેં કર્યા છે.
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<s style="s">અનાજ્ઞાંકિતતાનાં માંઠાં ફળ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.26.14" />“પરંતુ જો તમે માંરું કહ્યું સાંભળશો નહિ અને માંરી આજ્ઞાઓનું ઉલંઘન કરશો,
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<v id="15" bcv="LEV.26.15" />તથા માંરા કાનૂનોને ફગાવી દેશો, માંરા કાયદાઓની ઉપેક્ષા કરશો અને માંરી પ્રત્યેક આજ્ઞાનું પાલન ન કરીને માંરા કરારનો ભંગ કરશો,
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<v id="16" bcv="LEV.26.16" />તો હું તમને આ પ્રમાંણે સજા કરીશ: હું તમાંરા પર અત્યંત ત્રાસ વર્તાવીશ. હું તમાંરા પર એવા રોગો અને જવર મોકલીશ કે જે તમને અંધ બનાવી દેશે, અને તમાંરા જીવનનો નિકાસ કરી નાખશે. તમે વાવશો દાણા છતાં તમાંરો પાક જમી શકશો નહિ, કારણ કે તે તમાંરો શત્રુ જમશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="LEV.26.17" />હું તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ થઈ જઈશ અને તમાંરો પરાજય તમાંરા દુશ્મનોને હાથે હું કરાવીશ તમાંરા શત્રુઓ તમાંરા પર રાજ કરશે, અને કોઈ તમાંરી પાછળ નહિ પડયું હોય છતાં તમે ભાગતા ફરશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LEV.26.18" />“આટલી મુશ્કેલીઓ પડવા છતાં તમે જો માંરું કહ્યું નહિ માંનો, તો હું તમને તમાંરા પાપો બદલ સાત ગણી વધુ શિક્ષા કરીશ.
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<v id="19" bcv="LEV.26.19" />હું તમાંરું શક્તિનું અભિમાંન ઉતારી નાખીશ, તમાંરા આકાશને લોખંડના તવા જેવું બનાવીશ જેથી એક ટીપું ય વરસાદ પડશે નહિ, અને તમાંરી જમીનને પિત્તળ જેવી સૂકી ભઠ્ઠ બનાવી દઈશ;
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<v id="20" bcv="LEV.26.20" />તમાંરી મહેનત વ્યર્થ જશે. તમાંરી જમીનમાં કશુંય પાકશે નહિ અને તમાંરાં વૃક્ષોને ફળ પણ આવશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LEV.26.21" />“અને તે છતાંય તમે માંરી આજ્ઞાની વિરુદ્ધ વર્તન કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખશો અને માંરું નહિ સાંભળો તો હું તમાંરાં પાપોને કારણે સાતગણી વધુ આફતો ઉતારીશ.
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<v id="22" bcv="LEV.26.22" />પછી હું તમાંરા ઉપર જંગલી જાનવરો છોડી મૂકીશ, જે તમાંરાં બાળકોને માંરી નાખશે અને તમાંરાં પશુઓનો નાશ કરશે, પરિણામે તમાંરી સંખ્યા ઘટી જતા તમાંરા રસ્તાઓ ઉજજડ થઈ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LEV.26.23" />“આમ છતાં પણ જો તમાંરું પરિવર્તન નહિ થાય અને તમે નહિ સુધરો અને માંરી વિરુદ્ધ વર્તન કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખશો;
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<v id="24" bcv="LEV.26.24" />તો હું તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ થઈશ, અને હું પોતે તમને તમાંરાં પાપો માંટે સાતગણી વધુ આકરી સજા કરીશ.
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<v id="25" bcv="LEV.26.25" />માંરા કરાર ભંગનો બદલો લેવા હું તમાંરા ઉપર યુદ્ધ મોકલીશ. તમે તમાંરાં નગરોમાં અદૃશ્ય થઈ જશો તો હું ત્યાં તમાંરી મધ્યે મરકી મોકલીશ; તમાંરે તમાંરા શત્રુઓને શરણે જવું પડશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="LEV.26.26" />હું તારા અનાજના પૂરવઠાનો નાશ કરીશ જેથી દશ પરિવારો માંટે રોટલી શેકવા માંટે ફકત એક ભઠ્ઠી પૂરતી થઈ પડશે; તેઓ તમને માંપી તોલીને રોટલી વહેંચશે, અને તમાંરું પેટ નહિ ભરાતા તમે ભૂખ્યાં જ રહેશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LEV.26.27" />“આટઆટલું વીતવા છતાંય તમે માંરું નહિ સાંભળો અને માંરી સામે થશો,
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<v id="28" bcv="LEV.26.28" />તો હું પણ ક્રોધે ભરાઈને તમાંરી સામે પડીશ અને તમાંરાં પાપોની સાતગણી મોટી શિક્ષા તમને કરીશ.
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<v id="29" bcv="LEV.26.29" />તમાંરે તમાંરા પુત્ર અને પુત્રીઓનું માંસ જમવાનો સમય આવશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="LEV.26.30" />હું તમે જયાં તમાંરી મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરો છો તે ટેકરીઓ ઉપરનાં મુલાકાતમંડપનો નાશ કરીશ અને તમાંરી મૂર્તિઓના ભંગાર ઉપર હું તમાંરાં મૃતદેહો ખડકીશ. હું તમને તિરસ્કૃત કરી નાખીશ.
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<v id="31" bcv="LEV.26.31" />હું તમાંરા નગરોને વેરાન ખંડેર બનાવી દઈશ. તમાંરાં પવિત્ર સ્થાનોનો વિનાશ કરીશ, અને તમાંરાં સુવાસિત અર્પણોનો અસ્વીકાર કરીશ.
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<v id="32" bcv="LEV.26.32" />હું તમાંરા દેશને એવો તારાજ કરી નાખીશ કે તમાંરા દુશ્મનો જે તેમાં વસશે તેઓ પણ તમાંરી દુર્દશા જોઈને આભા બની જશે.
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<v id="33" bcv="LEV.26.33" />હું તમને અનેક દેશોમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નીખીશ, હું તરવાર લઈને તમાંરી પાછળ પડીશ અને તમાંરો દેશ ઉજજડ વેરાન થઈ જશે, અને તમાંરાં શહેરો ખંડેર થઈ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LEV.26.34" />“અને જયારે તમે દુશ્મનોના પ્રદેશમાં રહેતા હશો તે વર્ષોમાં જમીન ઉજજડ પડી રહેશે, અને તે તેનો વિશ્રામવાર ભોગવશે અને તેના વિશ્રામ વર્ષોના આનંદ માંણશે.
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<v id="35" bcv="LEV.26.35" />જયારે તમે ત્યાં વસતા હતા ત્યારે દરેક સાતમે વર્ષે તમે આપ્યો ન્હોતો તે વિશ્રામ હવે તે પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
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<v id="36" bcv="LEV.26.36" />જે લોકો તમાંરામાંથી બચી જઈને દુશ્મનોના દેશમાં દેશવટો ભોગવી રહ્યા હશે તેમને હું એવા ભયભીત કરીશ કે એક પાંદડુ પડવાનો અવાજ થતાં તેઓ જાણે મોત પાછળ પડયું હોય તેમ ભાગવા માંડશે, ને કોઈ પાછળ પડયું ના હોવા છતાં તેઓ ભોંય પર ઢળી પડશે.
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<v id="37" bcv="LEV.26.37" />વળી કોઈ પાછળ પડયું ના હોવા છતાં યુદ્ધમાંથી મૂઠીવાળીને ભાગતા હોય તેમ તેઓ ભાગતાં એકબીજા સાથે ભટકાઈને, ઠોકરો ખાઈને પડશે અને શત્રુઓનો સામનો કરવાની શક્તિ પણ તેઓનામાં રહેશે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="LEV.26.38" />“વિદેશી પ્રજાઓ વચ્ચે તમાંરો અંત આવશે અને તમાંરા દુશ્મનોની ભૂમિ તમને ગળી જશે, અને તમે મૃત્યુ પામશો.
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<v id="39" bcv="LEV.26.39" />જેઓ દુશ્મનોના દેશમાં બચી જશે તેઓ પોતાના અને પોતાના પિતૃઓનાં પાપોને કારણે ઝૂરી ઝૂરીને ક્ષય પામતા જશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">આશા અમર છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="LEV.26.40" />“પરંતુ કદાચ તેઓ પોતાનાં અને પોતાના પિતૃઓનાં પાપો કબૂલ કરશે, મને વિશ્વાસઘાત કરીને માંરી વિરુદ્ધ પડીને તેમણે જે પાપો કર્યા છે તે કબૂલ કરશે,
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<v id="41" bcv="LEV.26.41" />તેઓના પાપોએ મને તે લોકોની વિરુદ્ધ કર્યો, તેથી મેં તેઓને વિદેશી પ્રજાઓમાં દેશનિકાલ કર્યા. છેલ્લે તમાંરા વંશજો નમ્ર થશે અને માંરી વિરુદ્ધ આચરેલા પાપ અને બંડને કારણે થયેલી શિક્ષા ભોગવશે.
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<v id="42" bcv="LEV.26.42" />ત્યારે હું યાકૂબ સાથેનો ઈસહાક સાથેનો અને ઈબ્રાહિમ સાથેનો માંરો કરાર અને આ ભૂમિને સંભારીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="LEV.26.43" />“કારણ કે ભૂમિ જયાં સુધી ઉજજડ પડી રહેશે તેટલો સમય તે પોતાના સાબ્બાથો વિશ્રામના વર્ષો માંણશે, પરંતુ માંરી આજ્ઞાઓના ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યા બદલ અને માંરા નિયમોને ધિક્કારવાના કારણે જ તેઓ ઉપર આ ભારી શિક્ષા આવી પડી છે તેનું તેઓને ભાન થશે, અને તેઓ પૂરેપૂરી સજા ભોગવશે.
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<v id="44" bcv="LEV.26.44" />છતાં, તેઓ તેમના દુશ્મનોના દેશમાં હશે ત્યારે પણ હું તેમનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ નહિ કરું. તેમનો પૂરેપૂરો ત્યાગ પણ નહિ કરું અને માંરો જે કરાર તેઓની સાથે છે તેનો ભંગ કરીશ નહિ, કારણ કે હું યહોવા તેમનો દેવ છું.
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<v id="45" bcv="LEV.26.45" />તેઓના પિતૃઓને તેમનો દેવ થવા માંટે હું બીજા દેશોના જોતા જ મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો હતો અને તેમની સાથે જે કરાર કર્યો હતો તે સંભારીને તેમનું કલ્યાણ કરીશ. હું યહોવા છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="LEV.26.46" />યહોવાએ સિનાઈ પર્વત પર મૂસા માંરફતે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આપેલા કાનૂનો, નિયમો અને ઉપદેશો ઉપર પ્રમાંણે છે.
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</p>

<c id="27" />
<s style="s">યહોવા સમક્ષ કરેલી પ્રતિજ્ઞાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LEV.27.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="LEV.27.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલ પુત્રોને આ કહે, જો કોઈ માંણસ યહોવાને ખાસ પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરે કે તે કોઈ બીજા વ્યક્તિને દેવને અર્પણ કરશે, તો યાજકે તે માંણસની કિંમત ઠરાવવી જેથી બીજુ કોઈ તેને દેવ પાસેથી પાછો ખરીદી શકે. તે વ્યક્તિની કિંમત નીચે જણાવ્યા મુજબ નક્કી કરવી.
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<v id="3" bcv="LEV.27.3" />વીસથી તે સાઠ વર્ષ સુધીની ઉમરના પુરુષની કિંમત મુલાકાતમંડપના ધોરણ અનુસાર 50 શેકેલ ચાંદી.
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<v id="4" bcv="LEV.27.4" />વીસથી તે સાઠ વર્ષ સુધીની સ્ત્રી હોય તો 30 શેકેલ ચાંદી.
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<v id="5" bcv="LEV.27.5" />પાંચથી વીસ વર્ષની ઉમરના છોકરાની કિંમત 20 શેકેલ અને છોકરીની કિંમત 10 શેકેલ.
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<v id="6" bcv="LEV.27.6" />એક મહિનાથી 5 વર્ષ સુધીના છોકરાની કિંમત 5 શેકેલ અને છોકરીની કિંમત 3 શેકેલ.
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<v id="7" bcv="LEV.27.7" />સાઠ અને ઉપરની ઉમરના પુરુષની કિંમત 15 શેકેલ; સ્ત્રીની કિંમત 10 શેકેલ ચુકવે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LEV.27.8" />“પણ જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આ કિંમત ચુકવી શકે તેમ ના હોય, તો તેણે તે વ્યક્તિને યાજક સમક્ષ રજૂ કરવી અને યાજકે તેની કિંમત પ્રતિજ્ઞા લેનાર વ્યક્તિ ચૂકવી શકે તેટલી નક્કી કરવી.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહોવાને ભેટો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LEV.27.9" />“જો યહોવાને ધરાવી શકાય એવું કોઈ પ્રાણી અર્પણ કરવાની પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી હોય તો તે અર્પણ થનાર પ્રાણી પવિત્ર બની જશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="LEV.27.10" />પ્રતિજ્ઞા બદલી શકાય નહિ, તે પ્રાણીની બીજા પ્રાણી સાથે અદલાબદલી થઈ શકે નહિ સારાને બદલે ખરાબ અને ખરાબને બદલે સારું તેવો ફેરફાર કરી શકાય નહિ. છતાં જો અદલાબદલી કરી હોય તો બંને પશુઓ પવિત્ર બની જાય અને યહોવાના થાય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LEV.27.11" />“પરંતુ પ્રતિજ્ઞા લઈ અર્પણ કરવાનું પ્રાણી નિયમ પ્રમાંણે અશુદ્ધ હોય અને તેનું અર્પણ ન થઈ શકે તો તે પ્રાણી યાજક પાસે લાવવું.
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<v id="12" bcv="LEV.27.12" />યાજક તેની કિંમત નક્કી કરે, પછી પ્રાણી સારું હોય કે ખરાબ તેથી ફરક ન પડે વ્યક્તિએ યાજકે ઠરાવેલ કિંમત માંન્ય રાખવી.
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<v id="13" bcv="LEV.27.13" />જો તે વ્યક્તિ તેને છોડાવવા ઈચ્છતો હોય તો તેણે કિંમત કરતાં પાંચમો ભાગ વધુ ચુકવવો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઘરનું મૂલ્યાંકન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LEV.27.14" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતાનું મકાન યહોવાને સમર્પણ કરી દે, તો તે સારું હોય કે ખરાબ તેનાથી કોઈ ફરક ન પડે, યાજક તેની કિંમત નક્કી કરશે અને તે વ્યક્તિએ એ બાંધેલો ભાવ સ્વીકારવો.
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<v id="15" bcv="LEV.27.15" />પછી જો સમર્પણ કરનાર વ્યક્તિ મકાન છોડાવવા ઈચ્છે તો તેણે કિંમત ઉપરાંત વધુ 20 ટકા આપવા, એટલે મકાન પાછું તેની માંલિકીનું થઈ જાય.”
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</p>
<s style="s">સંપત્તિનું મૂલ્યાંકન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LEV.27.16" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતાની માંલિકીની જમીનનો અમુક ભાગ યહોવાને સમર્પણ કરી દે તો તમાંરે તેની કિંમત એમાં જેટલું બિયારણ વાવી શકાતું હોય તેને આધારે નક્કી કરવી, જેમ કે 20 મણ જવની (1 હોમર) જરૂર પડે તો તેનું મૂલ્ય પચાસ શેકેલ થાય.
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<v id="17" bcv="LEV.27.17" />જો કોઈ માંણસ જુબિલી વર્ષમાં પોતાનું ખેતર સ્વેચ્છાએ સમર્પણ કરે તો યાજકે ઠરાવેલી પૂરી કિંમત તેને લાગુ પડે;
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<v id="18" bcv="LEV.27.18" />પણ જો તે જુબિલી વર્ષ પછીથી સમર્પણ કરે તો યાજકે પછીના જુબિલી વર્ષના જેટલા વર્ષ બાકી હોય તેના પ્રમાંણમાં રોકડ કિંમત નક્કી કરવી અને તે આકડાં મુજબ કિંમત ઠરાવવી.
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<v id="19" bcv="LEV.27.19" />પરંતુ જો સમર્પણ કરનાર જમીન છોડાવવા માંગતો હોય તો તેણે ઠરાવેલી કિંમત કરતાં વીસ ટકા વધુ આપવા એટલે તે ખેતરની માંલિકી ફરીથી તેની થાય.
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<v id="20" bcv="LEV.27.20" />પરંતુ જો તે જમીન નહિ છોડાવતાં બીજા કોઈને વેચી દે તો તેને તે કદી પાછું મળે નહિ, કારણ જુબિલી વર્ષના તેના હક્કો યહોવાને આપેલા હોય છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="LEV.27.21" />જ્યારે જુબિલી વર્ષમાં તે ખેતર મુકત થાય, ત્યારે યહોવાને અર્પિત ખેતર તરીકે તે યાજકોને આપવામાં આવે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LEV.27.22" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતે ખરીદેલું ખેતર સમર્પણ કરે, અને તે તેના પરિવારની મિલકતનો ભાગ નથી,
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<v id="23" bcv="LEV.27.23" />યાજકે બીજા જુબિલી વર્ષને જેટલા વર્ષ બાકી હોય તેને આધારે તેની કિંમત ઠરાવવી, અને તે વ્યક્તિએ નક્કી કરેલી કિંમત યહોવાને તાત્કાલિક અર્પણ કરવી.
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<v id="24" bcv="LEV.27.24" />જુબિલી વર્ષે એ ખેતર તેના મૂળ માંલિક, જેની પાસેથી તે ખરીધું હોય તેને પાછું મળે, જેની એ પોતાના વતનની મિલકત છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LEV.27.25" />“અધીકૃત માંપ પ્રમાંણે શેકેલમાં ઠરાવાય, એ માંપ પ્રમાંણે શેકેલનુ વજન 10 ગેરાહ હોય.”
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</p>
<s style="s">પશુઓનું મૂલ્યાંકન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LEV.27.26" />“કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિએ બળદ અથવા ઘેટાનાં પ્રથમજનિતને ઐચ્છિકાર્પણ તરીકે યહોવાને ચઢાવવું નહિ, કારણ, એ તો યહોવાનું જ છે; પછી ભલે તે કોઈ પણ પશુનું હોય,
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<v id="27" bcv="LEV.27.27" />પરંતુ જો યહોવાએ માંન્ય કર્યુ ના હોય તો તેવા પ્રાણીના પ્રથમજનિતને અર્પણ તરીકે લાવવામાં આવે, તો યાજક તેની કિંમત ઠરાવે તે ઉપરાંત વીસ ટકા વધુ તે માંલિક આપે. જો તેનો માંલિક તેને છોડાવવા માંગતો ન હોય તો યાજક તે પ્રાણી બીજા કોઈને વેચી શકે છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">વિશિષ્ટ અર્પણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LEV.27.28" />“પરંતુ યહોવાને માંત્ર કરેલું કોઈ પણ અર્પણ પછી તે માંણસ હોય, પ્રાણી અથવા વારસામાં મળેલું ખેતર, તો તેને વેચી અથવા છોડાવી શકાય નહિ. કારણ તે યહોવાને પરમપવિત્ર અર્પણ છે,
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<v id="29" bcv="LEV.27.29" />જો તે ખાસ અર્પણ માંણસ હોય તો, તે વ્યક્તિને પાછો ખરીદી ન શકાય તેને માંરી નાખવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="LEV.27.30" />“જમીનની ઉપજનો ઠરાવેલો દશમો ભાગ પછી તે ખેતરના અનાજનો હોય કે વૃક્ષનાં ફળોનો હોય તે યહોવાનો ગણાય, તે પવિત્ર છે, કારણ કે યહોવાને સમર્પિત થેયેલો છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="LEV.27.31" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આ અનાજ કે ફળનો એ દશમો ભાગ પાછો ખરીદવા ઈચ્છે તો તેની કિંમતમાં વીસ ટકા ઉમેરીને ચૂકવે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LEV.27.32" />“ઢોરઢાંખર તથા ઘેટાબકરાંની તથા બીજા જાનવરોની ગણતરી થાય ત્યારે લાકડી નીચેથી પસાર થતાં દર દશમું પ્રાણી યહોવાનું ગણાય.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="LEV.27.33" />પસંદ કરેલુ પ્રાણી સારું છે કે ખરાબ તેની ચિંતા માંલિકે ન કરવી. તેને એ પ્રાણી બીજા પ્રાણી સાથે અદલા બદલી ન કરવી. અને તેને જો બીજા પ્રાણીથી બદલવા માંગે, તો બન્ને પ્રાણીઓ દેવના થશે. તે પ્રાણી પાછું ન ખરીદાય.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LEV.27.34" />મૂસાને યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો માંટે સિનાઈ પર્વત પર આ આજ્ઞાઓ આપી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="NUM"><id id="NUM">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>ગણના
</h><toc level="1">ગણના
</toc><toc level="2">ગણના
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">ગણના
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">મૂસાની પ્રથમ વસ્તી ગણતરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.1.1" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મિસર દેશમાંથી નીકળી ગયા ત્યાર પછી બીજા વર્ષના બીજા મહિનાના પ્રથમ દિવસે સિનાઈના અરણ્યમાં મુલાકાતમંડપમાં યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="NUM.1.2" />“સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજની વસ્તી ગણતરી કરો, દરેક વ્યક્તિની તેના કુટુંબ તથા કુળસમૂહ સાથે યાદી તૈયાર કરો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="NUM.1.3" />જેઓ વીસ વર્ષ અને તેનાથી મોટી ઉમરના હોય અને જે બધા લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા લાયક હોય તેમની ગણતરી તેમનાં સમૂહો પ્રમાંણે કરીને યાદી તૈયાર કરો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="NUM.1.4" />પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહના એક આગેવાન પુરુષને તમાંરી મદદમાં રહેવા કહો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="NUM.1.5" />અને તમને મદદ કરનારાઓનાં નામ આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">રૂબેનના કુળસમૂહમાંથી અલીસૂર જે શદેઉરનો પુત્ર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.1.6" />શિમયોનના કુળસમૂહમાંથી શલુમીએલ જે સૂરીશાદાયનો પુત્ર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="NUM.1.7" />યહૂદાનાં કુળસમૂહમાંથી આમ્મીનાદાબનો પુત્ર નાહશોન.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.1.8" />ઈસ્સાખારના કુળસમૂહમાંથી સૂઆરનો પુત્ર નથાનિયેલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.1.9" />ઝબુલોનનાં કુળસમૂહમાંથી હેલોનનો પુત્ર અલીઆબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.1.10" />યૂસફના કુટુંબોમાંથી:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">એફ્રાઈમના કુળસમૂહમાંથી આમ્મીહૂદનો પુત્ર એલીશામાં.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને મનાશ્શાના કુળસમૂહમાંથી પદાહસૂરનો પુત્ર ગમાંલ્યેલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.1.11" />બિન્યામીનનાં કુળસમૂહમાંથી ગિદિયોનીનો પુત્ર અબીદાન.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.1.12" />દાનનાં કુળસમૂહમાંથી આમ્મીશાદાયનો પુત્ર અહીએઝેર.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.1.13" />આશેરનાં કુળસમૂહમાંથી ઓક્રાનનો પુત્ર પાગીએલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.1.14" />ગાદનાં કુળસમૂહમાંથી દેઉએલનો પુત્ર એલ્યાસાફ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.1.15" />નફતાલીના કુળસમૂહમાંથી એનાનનો પુત્ર અહીરા.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.1.16" />તે બધા પુરુષો તેઓના કુટુંબોના આગેવાનો હતા. લોકોએ તેઓને તેમના કુળસમૂહના આગેવાન તરીકે પસંદ કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="NUM.1.17" />મૂસાએ અને હારુને ઉપર દર્શાવેલ આગેવાન ઇસ્રાએલીઓને સાથે લીધા.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="NUM.1.18" />બીજા મહિનાના પ્રથમ દિવસે તેમણે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ સમાંજને એકત્ર કરીને તેમના કુટુંબો અને કુળસમૂહો અનુસાર નોંધણી કરી, વીસ વર્ષ અને તેથી વધારે ઉમર ના સર્વ પુરુષોનાં નામની નોંધણી કરવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="NUM.1.19" />યહોવાએ જે આજ્ઞા આપી હતી તે મુજબ મૂસાએ સિનાઈના રણમાં તેઓની ગણતરી કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.1.20" />ઇસ્રાએલના જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર રૂબેનના કુળસમૂહના 20 વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તેવા બધા પુરુષોની છેવટની સંખ્યા નોંધવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="NUM.1.21" />તો તેઓની સંખ્યાની ગણના રૂબેનના કુળસમૂહમાં 46,500 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.1.22" />શિમયોનનાં કુળસમૂહના 20 વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તેવા બધા પુરુષોની ગણના કુટુંબવાર કરવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="NUM.1.23" />શિમયોનના કુળસમૂહની કુલ સંખ્યા 59,300 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.1.24" />ગાદનાં કુળસમૂહના 20 વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તેવા બધા પુરુષોની કુટુંબવાર નોંધ કરવામાં આવી
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="NUM.1.25" />તો તેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 45,650 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="NUM.1.26" />યહૂદાનાં કુળસમૂહના 20 વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તેવા બધા પુરુષોની કુટુંબવાર નોંધ કરવામાં આવી,
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="NUM.1.27" />તો તેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 74,600 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="NUM.1.28" />ઈસ્સાખારનાં પુત્રોના કુળસમૂહમાં, 20 વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તેવા બધા પુરુષોની કુટુંબવાર નોંધ કરવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="NUM.1.29" />તો તેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 54,400 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="NUM.1.30" />ઝબુલોનનાં પુત્રોના કુળસમૂહમાં 20 વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તેવા બધા પુરુષોની કુટુંબવાર નોંધ કરવામાં આવી,
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="NUM.1.31" />તો તેમની એકંદર સંખ્યા 57,400 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="32" bcv="NUM.1.32" />યૂસફના પુત્રોના, એટલે એફ્રાઈમના કુળસમૂહમાં 20 વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના બધા જે લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તે પુરુષોની કુટુંબવાર નોંધ કરવામાં આવી,
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="NUM.1.33" />તો તેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 40,500 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="NUM.1.34" />મનશ્શાનાં કુળસમૂહમાં 20 વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા માંટે શક્તિમાંન હોય તે બધા પુરુષોની કુટુંબવાર નોંધ કરવામાં આવી
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="NUM.1.35" />તો તેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 32,200 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="36" bcv="NUM.1.36" />બિન્યામીનનાં કુળસમૂહના 20 વર્ષના અને તેમની ઉપરના બધાં જ પુરુષો જે લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તેમની કુટુંબવાર નોંધ કરવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="NUM.1.37" />તેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 35,400 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="38" bcv="NUM.1.38" />દાનના કુળસમૂહમાં 20 વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તેવા બધા પુરુષોની કુટુંબવાર નોંધ કરવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="NUM.1.39" />તો તેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 62,700 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="40" bcv="NUM.1.40" />આશેરનાં કુળસમૂહમાં 20 વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તે બધા પુરુષોની કુટુંબવાર નોંધ કરવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="NUM.1.41" />તો તેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 41,500 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="42" bcv="NUM.1.42" />નફતાલીનાં કુળસમૂહમાં 20 વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તેવા બધા પુરુષોની કુટુંબવાર નોંધ કરવામાં આવી,
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="NUM.1.43" />તો તેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 53,400 થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="NUM.1.44" />મૂસા અને હારુને તથા ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહના અધિપતિ તરીકે આવેલા બાર કુળસમૂહના આગેવાનોએ સાથે મળીને નોંધેલી સંખ્યા આ પ્રમાંણે હતી:
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="NUM.1.45" />વીસ વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લશ્કરમાં જોડાવા શક્તિમાંન હોય તેવા પુરુષોની તેઓના કુટુંબો અનુસાર ગણતરી કરવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="NUM.1.46" />તો તેઓની કુલ સંખ્યા 6,03,550 હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="NUM.1.47" />પણ બાકીના કુળસમૂહોની સાથે લેવીઓની કુટુંબવાર નોંધણી કરવામાં આવી નહોતી, કારણ,
<ve />
<v id="48" bcv="NUM.1.48" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું હતું કે,
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<v id="49" bcv="NUM.1.49" />“લશ્કરમાં જોડાઈ શકે તેવા લાયક પુરુષોની તમે ગણતરી કરો ત્યારે લેવીના કુળસમૂહની સંખ્યા નોંધવાની નથી.
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<v id="50" bcv="NUM.1.50" />કારણ કે લેવીઓને પવિત્રમંડપની સેવાનું તથા તેને ઊંચકી લેવાનું કામ સોંપવાનું છે, તેઓએ એકલાએ જ હાજરમાં રહેવા માંટે પવિત્રમંડપની પાસે જ તેની ચારે બાજુ પોતાની છાવણી રાખવાની છે.
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<v id="51" bcv="NUM.1.51" />જ્યારે એ પવિત્રમંડપે બીજે લઈ જવાનો પ્રસંગ ઊભો થાય, ત્યારે લેવીઓએ જ એ ઉઠાવવાનો એટલે કે છૂટો પાડવાનો અને ફરીથી ઊભો કરવાનો છે. લેવી કુળસમૂહના સદસ્ય સિવાય જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પવિત્રમંડપની સંભાળ રાખવાનો પ્રયાસ કરે તો તેને મૃત્યુદંડની સજા કરવી.
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<v id="52" bcv="NUM.1.52" />ઇસ્રાએલના દરેક કુળની છાવણી અલગ રાખવી, અને પોતપોતાના કુળની પોતાની ટુકડી સાથે અને ધ્વજ સાથે પડાવ નાખવો.
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<v id="53" bcv="NUM.1.53" />પણ લેવીઓએ પવિત્રમંડપની આસપાસ જ પોતાની છાવણી નાખવી. તેઓ પવિત્ર મુલાકાત મંડપની રક્ષા કરશે. જેથી ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોનું કશું ખોટું થશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="NUM.1.54" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓનો અમલ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ બરાબર કર્યો.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">છાવણીવાર ગોઠવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.2.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને અને હારુનને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.2.2" />“પ્રત્યેક ઇસ્રાએલી કુળને છાવણી માંટે પોતાનું અલગ સ્થાન હોય તથા પોતાના કુળનું અલગ નિશાન અને અલગ ધ્વજ હોય; કુળોની સર્વ છાવણીઓની મધ્યમાં મુલાકાત મંડપ રહે અને બધા જ પ્રવેશદ્વાર મુલાકાત મંડપ તરફ હોય.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="3" bcv="NUM.2.3" />“પૂર્વની બાજુએ, સૂર્યોદય તરફ યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહના ધ્વજ નીચે આવતાં લોકોએ તેમની ટુકડી પ્રમાંણે પડાવ નાખવા. આમ્મીનાદાબનો દીકરો નાહશોન યહૂદાના દીકરાઓનો આગેવાન રહેશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.2.4" />તેના સૈન્યમાં તેઓમાંના જેઓની નોંધણી થઈ છે તેવા 74,600 પુરુષો રહે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.2.5" />“એના પછી ઈસ્સાખારનું કુળસમૂહ છાવણી કરે; સૂઆરનો પુત્ર નથાનિયલ ઈસ્સાખારના પુત્રોના અધિપતિ થાય;
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.2.6" />તેના સૈન્યમાં તેમાંના જેઓની નોંધણી થઈ છે તેવા 54,400 પુરુષો રહે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="7" bcv="NUM.2.7" />“અને ઝબુલોનના કુળસમૂહો પણ યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહોની બાજુમાં જ છાવણી કરે અને હેલોનનો પુત્ર અલીઆબ તે ઝબુલોનના પુત્રોનો અધિપતિ થાય;
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.2.8" />અને તેના સૈન્યમાં તેઓમાંના જેઓની ગણના થઈ છે તેવા 57,400 પુરુષો રહે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.2.9" />“યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહોની છાવણીના માંણસોની કુલ સંખ્યા 1,86,400 છે એ લોકો કૂચ કરતી વખતે પહેલા ઊપડશે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.2.10" />“દક્ષિણ બાજુએ રૂબેનના કુળની સેનાના ધ્વજ હેઠળના લોકોએ નીચેના આગેવાનો હેઠળ ટુકડીવાર છાવણી નાખવી; શદેઉરનો પુત્ર એલીસૂર તે રૂબેનના પુત્રોનો અધિપતિ થાય.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.2.11" />તેના સૈન્યમાં તેઓમાંના જેઓની નોંધણી થઈ છે તેવા 46,500 સૈનિકો તેની સાથે રહે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.2.12" />“એ પછી શિમયોનનો કુળસમૂહ તેની પાસે છાવણીમાં પડાવ નાખે; અને સૂરીશાદાયનો પુત્ર શલુમીએલ તે શિમયોનના પુત્રોનો અધિપતિ થાય;
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.2.13" />અને તેના સૈન્યમાં તેઓમાંના જેઓની નોંધણી થઈ છે તેવા 59,300 સૈનિકો સાથે રહે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.2.14" />“અને તે પછી ગાદનું કુળસમૂહ પડાવ નાખશે; અને રેઉએલનો પુત્ર એલ્યાસાફ તે ગાદના પુત્રોનો અધિપતિ થાય;
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.2.15" />અને તેના સૈન્યમાં તેઓમાંના જેઓની નોંધણી થઈ છે તેવા 45,650 સૈનિકો રહે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.2.16" />“રૂબેનના કુળોની છાવણીના માંણસોની કુલ સંખ્યા 1,51,450 હતી, અને તેઓ કૂચ કરતી વખતે બીજું સ્થાન લેશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.2.17" />એ પછી પ્રથમ બે ટુકડીઓ અને પછીની બે ટુકડીઓ વચ્ચે લેવીઓ મુલાકાત મંડપને ઉપાડીને ચાલશે. પ્રત્યેક ટુકડી છાવણી નાખ્યાના ક્રમે જ ઊપડશે અને પ્રત્યેક પુરુષ પોતાના ધ્વજ હેઠળ પોતાનું સ્થાન જાળવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.2.18" />“પશ્ચિમ બાજુએ એફ્રાઇમના કુળસમૂહની સેનાના ધ્વજ હેઠળ તેમની ટુકડીઓ આગેવાનો હેઠળ છાવણી નાખશે; અને આમ્મીહૂદનો પુત્ર એલીશામાં તે એફ્રાઈમના પુત્રોનો અધિપતિ થાય.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.2.19" />અને તેના સૈન્યમાં તેઓમાંના જેઓની નોંધણી થઈ છે તેવા 40,500 સૈનિકો રહે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.2.20" />“અને તેની પાસે મનાશ્શાનું કુળસમૂહ રહે; અને પદાહસૂરનો પુત્ર ગમાંલ્યેલ તે મનાશ્શાના પુત્રોનો અધિપતિ થાય.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="NUM.2.21" />અને તેના સૈન્યમાં તેઓમાંના જેઓની નોંધણી થઈ છે તેવા 32,200 સૈનિકો રહે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.2.22" />“તે પછી બિન્યામીનનું કુળસમૂહ પડાવ નાખશે આગેવાન ગિદિયોનીનો પુત્ર અબીદાન તે બિન્યામીનના પુત્રોનો અધિપતિ થાય;
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.2.23" />અને તેના સૈન્યમાં તેઓમાંના જેઓની નોંધણી થઈ છે તેવા 35,400 સૈનિકો રહે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.2.24" />“એફ્રાઈમની છાવણીમાં જે બધાની ગણના થઈ તેઓ છે, પોતાનાં સૈન્યો પ્રમાંણે, 1,08,100 છે અને તેઓ કૂચ કરતી વખતે ત્રીજા ક્રમે ચાલી નીકળે એમ ગોઠવણી કરવામાં આવે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.2.25" />“ઉત્તર બાજુએ દાનના કુળસમૂહોની સેનાના ધ્વજ હેઠળના લોકોએ તેમના આગેવાનો હેઠળ ટુકડીવાર છાવણી તેમના ભાગલા પ્રમાંણે નાખવી; આમ્મીશાદાયનો પુત્ર અહીએઝેર તે દાનના પુત્રોનો આગેવાન છે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="NUM.2.26" />અને તેના સૈન્યમાં નોંધણી થઈ હોય તેવા 62,700 સૈનિકો છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="27" bcv="NUM.2.27" />“અને તેની પાસે આશેરના કુળસમૂહો છાવણી કરે; અને ઓક્રાનનો પુત્ર પાગીએલ તેનો અધિપતિ થાય;
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<v id="28" bcv="NUM.2.28" />અને તેના સૈન્યમાં નોંધણી થઈ છે તેવા 41,500 સૈનિકો છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="29" bcv="NUM.2.29" />“પછી તફતાલીના કુળસમૂહો; અને એનાનનો પુત્ર અહીરા તે નફતાલીના પુત્રોનો અધિપતિ થાય.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="NUM.2.30" />અને તેના સૈન્યમાં તેઓમાંના જેઓની નોંધણી થઈ છે તેવા 53,400 સૈનિકો રહે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="31" bcv="NUM.2.31" />“દાનના કુળોની છાવણીના માંણસોની કુલ સંખ્યા 1,57,600 હશે, તેઓ કૂચ કરતી વખતે છેલ્લા રહેશે.”
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="NUM.2.32" />ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજાની કુટુંબવાર નોંધણી કરવામાં આવી ત્યારે તેમની સંખ્યા 6,03,550 હતી.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="NUM.2.33" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા કરી તે પ્રમાંણે આ ગણતરી કરવામાં આવી ત્યારે લેવીઓને ગણવામાં આવ્યા નહોતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="NUM.2.34" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું હતું તે જ પ્રમાંણે બરાબર વ્યવસ્થા થઈ. તેઓ પોતપોતાના સમૂહના ધ્વજ હેઠળ છાવણી નાખતા. અને કૂચ કરતી વખતે પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ પોતાના કુળસમૂહની ટુકડીમાં પોતાના સ્થાને જ રહેતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">હારુન પરિવારનો યાજકપદે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.3.1" />સિનાઈ પર્વત પર યહોવાએ મૂસા સાથે વાત કરી ત્યારે હારુન અને મૂસાના વંશાવળી આ પ્રમાંણે હતી:
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="NUM.3.2" />હારુનના જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્રનું નામ નાદાબ, તે પછી અબીહૂ, એલઆઝાર અને ઈથામાંર.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.3.3" />એમનો યાજકો તરીકે અભિષેક કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો અને તેમને યાજકના અધિકારો આપવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.3.4" />પરંતુ નાદાબ અને અબીહૂ એ અપવિત્ર અગ્રિ યહોવાને ધરાવ્યો તેથી તેઓ સિનાઈના રણમાં જ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા. તેઓને એક પણ પુત્ર ન હતો. અને તેથી એલઆઝાર અને ઈથામાંર તેઓના પિતાના જીવનકાળ દરમ્યાન યાજકપદમાં સેવાઓ આપતા હતા.
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<s style="s">લેવી વંશીઓ યાજકોના સહાયક
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.3.5" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યુ,
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.3.6" />“લેવીના કુળસમૂહોને બોલાવી લાવ અને તેમને યાજક હારુનની સેવામાં નિયુક્ત કર.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.3.7" />તેમણે યાજકો અને સમગ્ર સમાંજ તરફથી મુલાકાતમંડપની સેવામાં ઉપસ્થિત રહીને ફરજો બજાવવાની છે;
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.3.8" />અને તેઓએ મુલાકાત મંડપની સાધન સામગ્રી સંભાળવાની છે અને તેમણે બધા ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાજનો તરફથી થાનકની ફરજો બજાવવાની છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.3.9" />“અને તારે હારુનના તથા તેના પુત્રોના હવાલામાં લેવીઓને સોંપી દેવા કારણ કે બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાંથી તેમને સેવા કરવા માંટે પસંદ કરવામાં આવ્યા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.3.10" />“અને તારે હારુનને અને તેના કુળોને યાજકની ફરજો બજાવવા નિયુક્ત કરવા. જો કોઈ બિનઅધિકૃત વ્યક્તિ એ ફરજ બજાવવા જાય તો તેને મોતની સજા કરવી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.3.11" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.3.12" />“ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજાના પ્રથમજનિત પુત્રોની અવેજીમાં મેં લેવીઓનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો છે, તેથી ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ પ્રથમ જન્મેલા પુત્રોના સ્થાને લેવીઓ માંરી સેવામાં રહેશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.3.13" />એ લોકો માંરા ગણાશે, કારણ કે પ્રત્યેક પ્રથમ પુત્ર ઉપર માંરો હક છે, જ્યારે મેં મિસરના બધા પ્રથમ પુત્રોને માંરી નાખ્યા હતા ત્યારે મેં ઇસ્રાએલનાં બધાં જ પ્રથમ અવતરેલાંને માંરે માંટે રાખી લીધાં હતાં, પછી એ માંણસ હોય કે પશુ હોય, તેઓ માંરાં છે; હું યહોવા છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.3.14" />સિનાઈના અરણ્યમાં યહોવાએ ફરીથી મૂસા સાથે વાત કરી અને કહ્યુ,
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.3.15" />“લેવી કુળસમૂહના બધા પુરુષોની નોંધણી કર; એક મહિના અને તેથી વધારે ઉમરના સર્વ પુરુષોની કુટુંબ પ્રમાંણે ગણતરી કર.”
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.3.16" />યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે મૂસાએ તેમની યાદી તૈયાર કરી.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.3.17" />લેવીના પુત્રોનાં નામ આ મુજબ છે: ગેર્શોન, કહાથ, અને મરારી,
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.3.18" />ત્રણેય એમના નામે ઓળખાતાં કુળસમૂહોના મૂળ પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li">ગેર્શોનના કુળસમૂહો લિબ્ની અને શિમઈ.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="NUM.3.19" />કહાથના કુળસમૂહો; આમ્રામ, યિસ્હાર, હેબ્રોન અને ઉઝઝીએલ.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.3.20" />મરારીના કુળસમૂહ; માંહલી અને મૂશી. આ સર્વનાં નામો પરથી લેવીઓનાં ગોત્રોનાં નામ ગણાયા.
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<p sfm="m" style="m">આ થઈ લેવીના કુળસમૂહોની કુટુંબવાર યાદી.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.3.21" />ગેર્શોનના કુળસમૂહોમાં લિબ્ની અને શિમઈ એ બે કુટુંબો થયા હતા.
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.3.22" />એક મહિનાના અને તેથી વધારે ઉમરના પુરુષોની સંખ્યા ગણતા તે 7,500 હતી.
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.3.23" />તેઓની છાવણીનું સ્થાન પવિત્રમંડપની પાછળ પશ્ચિમ દિશામાં હતું.
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<v id="24" bcv="NUM.3.24" />લાએલનો પુત્ર એલ્યાસાફ તેમનો આગેવાન હતો.
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<v id="25" bcv="NUM.3.25" />એ લોકોએ પવિત્રમંડપમાં એની અંદરનું આવરણ, બહારનું આવરણ, પ્રવેશદ્વારનો પડદો,
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<v id="26" bcv="NUM.3.26" />પવિત્રમંડપની અને વેદીની આસપાસના ચોકના પડદાઓની, ચોકના પ્રવેશદ્વારના પડદાની, એની દોરીઓની, તેમજ એ બધાંને લગતાં કામકાજની સંભાળ રાખવાની હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="NUM.3.27" />કહાથના કુળસમૂહમાં આમ્રામી, ઈસ્હાર, હેબ્રોન અને ઉઝઝીએલ એટલાં કુટુંબો હતાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="NUM.3.28" />એક મહિનાના અને તેથી વધારે ઉમરના પુરુષોની સંખ્યા 8,600 હતી.
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<v id="29" bcv="NUM.3.29" />તેમની છાવણીનું સ્થાન પવિત્રમંડપની દક્ષિણમાં હતું.
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<v id="30" bcv="NUM.3.30" />ઉઝઝીએલનો પુત્ર અલીસાફાન તેમનો આગેવાન હતો.
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<v id="31" bcv="NUM.3.31" />તે લોકોએ પવિત્રકોશની, બાજઠની, દીવીની અને વેદીઓની, ઉપાસનામાં વપરાતાં પવિત્ર વાસણોની, ગર્ભગૃહ આગળના પડદાની તથા એ બધાને લગતાં સર્વ કામકાજની અને ઉપયોગની સંભાળ રાખવાની હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="NUM.3.32" />લેવીઓના આગેવાનોનો મુખી, યાજક હારુનનો પુત્ર એલઆઝાર હતો; પવિત્રસ્થાનની સેવામાં જે બધા હતા તે સૌનો તે ઉપરી હતો, તેમના કાર્ય ઉપર દેખરેખ રાખવાની જવાબદારી તેની હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="NUM.3.33" />મરારીના કુળસમૂહોમાં માંહલી અને મૂશી એ બે કુટુંબો હતાં.
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<v id="34" bcv="NUM.3.34" />એક મહિના અને તેથી વધારે ઉમરના પુરુષોની સંખ્યા કુલ 6,200 હતી.
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<v id="35" bcv="NUM.3.35" />તેમની છાવણીનું સ્થાન પવિત્રમંડપની ઉત્તરના વિસ્તારમાં હતું. અબીહાઈલનો પુત્ર સૂરીએલ મરારી કુળસમૂહનો આગેવાન હતો.
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<v id="36" bcv="NUM.3.36" />એ લોકોએ થાનકના મંડપના પાટિયાં, તેની વળીઓ, સ્તંભો, કૂંભીઓ, ઓજારો તથા આ સર્વને લગતાં કામકાજની સંભાળ રાખવાની હતી.
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<v id="37" bcv="NUM.3.37" />તદુપરાંત આંગણાની આસપાસના સ્તંભો, કૂંભીઓ, ખીલીઓ, અને દોરીઓની સંભાળ પણ તેમણે જ રાખવાની હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="NUM.3.38" />મૂસા હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોનો મુકામ થાનકના પવિત્રમંડપની સામે ઉગમણી દિશામાં હતો. ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તરફથી મુલાકાતમંડપની પૂરી જવાબદારી તેઓને માંથે હતી. જો કોઈ બિનઅધિકૃત વ્યક્તિ એ ફરજ બજાવવા જાય તો તેને મૃત્યુદંડની સજા થતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="NUM.3.39" />યહોવાની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર મૂસાએ અને હારુને કુટુંબવાર ગણેલા એક મહિનાના અને તેની ઉપરની ઉમરના લેવી પુરુષોની સંખ્યા કુલ 22,000 હતી.
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<s style="s">પ્રથમજનિતોનું સ્થાન લેતા લેવીઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="NUM.3.40" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યુ, “એક મહિનાના અને તેની ઉપરની ઉમરના બધા પ્રથમજનિત ઇસ્રાએલી પુરુષોની નોંધણી કર અને તેમની સંખ્યા ગણ.
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<v id="41" bcv="NUM.3.41" />અને તું એ પ્રથમજનિત ઇસ્રાએલના પુરુષોની અવેજીમાં મને લેવીઓ સમર્પી દે. હું યહોવા છું, એ જ રીતે ઇસ્રાએલીઓનાં ઢોરના પ્રથમ વેતરના વાછરડાના અવેજીમાં લેવીઓનાં ઢોર મને સોંપી દે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="NUM.3.42" />યહોવાના કહ્યાં મુજબ મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના પ્રથમજનિત પુત્રોની યાદી તૈયાર કરી.
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<v id="43" bcv="NUM.3.43" />એક મહિનાના અને તેની ઉપરના પ્રથમજનિત પુત્રોની નામવાર યાદી કરી તો તેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 22,273 થઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="NUM.3.44" />ત્યાર પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="45" bcv="NUM.3.45" />“‘બધા પ્રથમજનિત ઇસ્રાએલીઓના પુરુષોની અવેજીમાં મને લેવીઓ આપ; અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓનાં ઢોરના પ્રથમ વેતરનાં વાછરડાંના બદલામાં લેવીઓનાં ઢોર સોંપી દે.
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<v id="46" bcv="NUM.3.46" />લેવીઓની સંખ્યા કરતાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓના પ્રથમજનિત પુત્રોની સંખ્યા 273 જેટલી વધુ છે. એટલે તું તેઓને એ વધારના પુત્રોને છોડાવી લેવા કહે.
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<v id="47" bcv="NUM.3.47" />અધિકૃત માંપ પ્રમાંણે ખંડી લેવાના પ્રત્યેક પુરુષ દીઠ 5 શેકેલ ચાંદી આપવી.
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<v id="48" bcv="NUM.3.48" />અને તે નાણાં તારે હારુનને અને તેના પુત્રોને આપવાં.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="NUM.3.49" />ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રથમજનિત પુરુષો લેવીઓના પુરુષો કરતા 273 વધારે હતા: આ વધારના પ્રથમજનિતોને છોડાવવાં મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસેથી નાણાં એકઠા કર્યા.
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<v id="50" bcv="NUM.3.50" />અધિકૃત માંપ અનુસાર એ રકમ 1,365 શેકેલ ચાંદી જેટલી હતી.
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<v id="51" bcv="NUM.3.51" />યહોવાએ આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે મુજબ મૂસાએ તે રકમ હારુનને અને તેના પુત્રોને આપી દીધી.
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<c id="4" />
<s style="s">કહાથના વંશજોની ગણતરી અને કર્તવ્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.4.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસા અને હારુનને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2-3" bcv="NUM.4.2" />“લેવીના કુળસમૂહમાં કહાથના કુળસમૂહના તેઓના કુટુંબો પ્રમાંણે તથા તેઓના પિતાઓના ઘર પ્રમાંણે ત્રીસથી પચાસ વર્ષની ઉમરના મુલાકાત મંડપમાં સેવા કરવા લાયક બધા પુરુષોની કુટુંબવાર નૌંધણી કરો.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.4.4" />કહાથના કુળસમૂહોએ મુલાકાત મંડપને લગતી નીચે મુજબની સેવાએ કરવાની છે જે પરમપવિત્ર વસ્તુઓને લગતી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.4.5" />“જયારે છાવણીનો મુકામ ઉપાડવાનો સમય આવે ત્યારે હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોએ પવિત્ર કરારકોશ આગળનો પડદો ઉતારી લઈ તેનાથી સાક્ષ્કોશને ઢાંકી દેવો,
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.4.6" />ત્યારબાદ તેઓ બકરાના કુમાંશદાર ચામડા વડે પડદાને ઢાકે, બકરાના ચામડાને ભૂરા જાંબુડિયાં રંગના કપડાથી ઢાંકે અને પવિત્રકોશને ઉપાડવાના દાંડા તેની કડીઓમાં નાખે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="NUM.4.7" />“પછી તેઓએ રોટલી ઘરાવવાના બાજઠ પર એક ભુરા જાંબુડિયા રંગનું કાપડ પાથરી દેવું, અને થાળીઓ, ચમચા, વાટકા, ધૂપદાની અને પેયાર્પણ અને ખાસ રોટલો હમેશા તેની ઉપર હોવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.4.8" />નૈવેધની રોટલી તેના ઉપર રાખવી, અને એ બધા ઉપર કિરમજી રંગનું કાપડ પાથરવું. કિરમજી રંગના આ કપડા પર બકરાનું ચામડું ઢાંકવું, અને પછી ઊચકવા માંટેના દાંડા દાખલ કરવા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.4.9" />“ત્યારબાદ તેઓએ એક ભૂરા જાંબુડિયા રંગનું કપડું લઈ તેના વડે દીપવૃક્ષ, દીવાઓ, ચીપિયા, તાસકો અને દીવામાં વપરાતા તેલપાત્રોને ઢાંકવાં.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.4.10" />તે પછી આ બધી જ વસ્તુઓ સહિત એ દીવીને કુમાંશદાર ચામડામાં લપેટીને તેમને લઈ જવા માંટેની પાલખી ઉપર મૂકી દેવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.4.11" />“પછી તેઓએ સોનાની વેદી ભૂરા જાંબૂડિયા રંગના કપડાથી ઢાંકવી, તેઓએ તેને બકરાના કુમાંશદાર ચામડાથી ઢાંકવું અને તેને ઊચકવાના દાંડા દાખલ કરી દેવા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.4.12" />“પછી પવિત્રજગ્યામાં ઉપાસનામાં વપરાતાં બધાં વાસણોને ભૂરા રંગનું કાપડ ઢાંકવું અને તેના પર બકરાનું કુમાંશદાર ચામડું ઢાંકી દેવું અને તેને પાલખી પર મૂકવાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.4.13" />“ત્યારબાદ તેમણે વેદી પરથી રાખ સાફ કરી નાખવી અને તેના પર જાંબુડિયા રંગનું કપડું ઢાંકવું.
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.4.14" />અને વેદીની ઉપાસનામાં વપરાતાં સર્વ વાસણોને દેવતા ભરવાની તબકડી, ચીપિયા, પાવડી અને પાણી છાંટવાના ડોયા-વગેરે ઉપર બકરાનું કુમાંશદાર ચામડું ઢાંકવું અને પછી ઉપાડવાના દાંડા દાખલ કરવા.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.4.15" />“હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો મુકામ ઉપાડતી વખતે પવિત્રસ્થાનને અને તેની બધી સાધનસામગ્રીને ઢાંકે અને તે પછી કહાથના કુળોએ તે ઉપાડવા માંટે હાજર થઈ જવું, અને જયાં છાવણી કરવાની હોય ત્યાં બધું લઈ જવું; પરંતુ તેઓએ પવિત્ર વસ્તુઓને અડવું નહિ, અડે તો રખેને તેઓ મૃત્યુ પામે. કહાથના કુળોએ મુલાકાત મંડપમાંથી વસ્તુઓ ઉપાડવાનું પવિત્રકાર્ય કરવાનું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.4.16" />“યાજક હારુનના પુત્ર એલઆઝારે દીવાના તેલની, સુવાસિત સુગંધીની, રોજના ખાધાર્પણ તથા અભિષેકના તેલની જવાબદારી બજાવવાની છે, તથા સમગ્ર પવિત્રમંડપ અને તેમાંની સર્વ વસ્તુઓની સંભાળ રાખવાની જવાબદારી પણ તેમણે જ કરવાની છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.4.17" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને તથા હારુનને કહ્યું,
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.4.18" />“તમાંરે કહાથના કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબોના લેવીઓમાંથી ઉચ્છેદ થવા દેવો નહિ.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.4.19" />પરમપવિત્ર વસ્તુઓ ઊચકીને લઈ જતાં મૃત્યુ ન પામે તે માંટે તારે આ પ્રમાંણે કરવું: હારુને અને તેના પુત્રોએ આવીને પ્રત્યેકને તેમનું કામ અને તેમને જે ઉપાડવાનું હોય તે સુપ્રત કરવું.
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<v id="20" bcv="NUM.4.20" />તથા તે પવિત્ર વસ્તુઓ બંધાતી હોય ત્યારે કહાથના કુળસમૂહોએ પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં પ્રવેશ કરવો નહિ, રખેને તેઓની નજર પવિત્ર વસ્તુઓ પર ત્યાં પડે અને તેઓ મૃત્યુ પામે.”
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<s style="s">ગેર્શોન-કુટુંબના સેવા કાર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.4.21" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.4.22" />“તમાંરે લેવી કુળના ગેર્શોનના કુળસમૂહોની પણ કુટુંબવાર નોંધણી કરવી.
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.4.23" />પવિત્રમંડપમાં સેવા કરવાને લાયક હોય તેવા ત્રીસથી પચાસ વર્ષની ઉમરના જે પુરુષો હોય તેમની નોંધણી કરવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.4.24" />“ગેર્શોનના કુળસમૂહના પુરુષોએ નીચેની વસ્તુઓ ઉપાડવાની સેવા બજાવવાની છે:
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<v id="25" bcv="NUM.4.25" />તેમણે પવિત્ર મંડપના અંદરના પડદા, પવિત્રમંડપનું બહારનું આવરણ, છત તરીકેનું બકરાના ચામડાનું આવરણ અને પવિત્રમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વારનો પડદો.
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<v id="26" bcv="NUM.4.26" />તથા ચોકના પડદા, પવિત્રમંડપ અને વેદીની આસપાસના ચોકના પ્રવેશદ્વારનો પડદો-દોરડાંઓ, અને એ સર્વને લગતી બધી સાધન-સામગ્રી ઉપાડવાની જવાબદારી તેઓની છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.4.27" />આ બધાં કામો તેમણે હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોની આજ્ઞા મુજબ ગેર્શોનીઓએ કરવાનાં છે. અને ભાર ઊચકવાનું પવિત્રમંડપની કે સેવાનું જે કામ સોંપે તે તેઓએ કરવાનું છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="NUM.4.28" />ગેર્શોનના કુળસમૂહોએ પવિત્ર મંડપની લગતી આ સેવાઓ કરવાની છે, અને યાજક હારુનના પુત્ર ઈથામાંરે એમના ઉપર દેખરેખ રાખવાની છે.”
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<s style="s">મરારી કુટુંબના સેવાકાર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="NUM.4.29" />“પછીથી તમાંરે મરારીના કુળસમૂહોની કુટુંબવાર નોંધણી કરવાની છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="NUM.4.30" />પવિત્રમંડપના પવિત્ર કાર્ય માંટે લાયક હોય તેવા 30 વર્ષથી 50 વર્ષની ઉમરના પુરુષોની ગણતરી તારે કરવાની છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="NUM.4.31" />તેમણે પવિત્રમંડપમાંની નીચેની વસ્તુઓ ઉપાડવાની છે: તંબુનાં પાટિયાં, તેની વળીઓ, થાંભલીઓ અને કૂંભીઓ,
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<v id="32" bcv="NUM.4.32" />આંગણાની ચારે બાજુની દીવાલના સ્તંભો, કૂંભીઓ, ખુંટીઓ, દોરડીઓ અને તેની સાધનસામગ્રી.
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<v id="33" bcv="NUM.4.33" />પ્રત્યેક પુરુષને તેણે ઉપાડવાની વસ્તુઓ સોંપવામાં આવે. મરારીના કુળસમૂહો પણ આટલી સેવા કરે. પવિત્રમંડપના તેઓનાં બધાં કામો ઉપર યાજક હારુનના પુત્ર ઈથામાંરે દેખરેખ રાખવાની ફરજ બજાવવાની છે.”
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<s style="s">લેવી પરિવાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="NUM.4.34" />યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ મૂસા તથા હારુને અને અન્ય આગેવાનોએ કોહાથના કુળસમૂહોની કુટુંબવાર નોંધણી કરી.
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<v id="35" bcv="NUM.4.35" />પવિત્રમંડપની સેવા માંટે યોગ્ય એવા 30 વર્ષથી 50 વર્ષની ઉમર ના સર્વ પુરુષોની નોંધણી કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="NUM.4.36" />તેઓની કુલ સંખ્યા 2,750 થઈ.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="NUM.4.37" />યહોવાની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર મૂસા અને હારુને નોંધણીનું આ કાર્ય કર્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="NUM.4.38" />એ જ રીતે ગેર્શોનના કુળસમૂહની કુટુંબવાર નોંધણી કરી.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="NUM.4.39" />પવિત્રમંડપની સેવા માંટે યોગ્ય એવા 30 વર્ષથી 50 વર્ષની ઉમરના બધા જ પુરુષોની નોંધણી કરવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="NUM.4.40" />તેઓના કુળસમૂહની કુટુંબવાર નોંધણીની કુલ સંખ્યા 2,630 થઈ.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="NUM.4.41" />યહોવાએ આપેલી આજ્ઞા મુજબ મૂસા અને હારુને નોંધણીનું આ કાર્ય કર્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="NUM.4.42" />મરારી કુળસમૂહની કુટુંબવાર નોંધણી કરી.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="NUM.4.43" />પવિત્રમંડપની સેવા માંટે યોગ્ય એવા 30 વર્ષથી 50 વર્ષની ઉમરના સર્વ પુરુષોની નોંધણી કરવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="NUM.4.44" />તેઓની કુટુંબવાર નોંધણી અનુસાર કુલ સંખ્યા 3,200 થઈ.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="NUM.4.45" />યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ મૂસાએ અને હારુને આ નોંધણીનું કાર્ય કર્યુ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="NUM.4.46" />આ રીતે મૂસાએ અને હારુને તથા ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ આગેવાનોએ બધા જ લેવીઓની વંશાનુસાર તથા કુટુંબવાર નોંધણી કરી.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="NUM.4.47" />ત્રીસ વર્ષથી પચાસ વર્ષની ઉમરના જે લેવી પુરુષો પવિત્રમંડપની સેવા કરવા તથા તેને ઉપાડી લઈ જવાનું કામ કરવા આવ્યા
<ve />
<v id="48" bcv="NUM.4.48" />તેઓની કુલ સંખ્યા 8,580 થઈ.
<ve />
<v id="49" bcv="NUM.4.49" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને આપેલી આજ્ઞા અનુસાર દરેકને સેવાની અને ભાર ઉપાડવાની જવાબદારી સોંપવામાં આવી. આમ, યહોવાએ મૂસાને કરેલી આજ્ઞા અનુસાર તેઓની નોંધણી કરવામાં આવી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">અછૂતો માંટેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.5.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="NUM.5.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને તું એવું જણાવ કે, તેઓ પોતાની છાવણીમાંથી બધા જરફતપિત્તના દર્દીઓને, જેમના શરીરમાંથી સ્ત્રાવ થતો હોય તેઓને, તથા જેઓ શબના સ્પર્શથી અશુદ્ધ થયા હોય તેઓને છાવણીમાંથી બહાર કાઢી મૂકે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="NUM.5.3" />સ્ત્રી હોય કે પુરુષ, બંનેને બહાર કાઢી મૂકવાં, જેથી જે છાવણીમાં હું તમાંરી વચ્ચે રહું છું તેને તેઓ અશુદ્ધ કરે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.5.4" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કરેલી આજ્ઞા અનુસાર ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ છાવણી બહાર એ લોકોને કાઢી મૂકયાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પાપોની ભરપાઈ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.5.5" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="NUM.5.6" />“તું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહે કે, જે પુરુષ અથવા સ્ત્રી યહોવાની આજ્ઞાઓનો ભંગ કરીને અન્યને નુકસાન કરે, તો તે દોષિત બને છે, તેથી તેણે તે બદલ પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવું જ જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="NUM.5.7" />પોતે કરેલાં પાપની તેણે કબૂલાત કરવી અને જેનું તેણે જે કાંઈ નુકસાન કર્યુ હોય તે પૂરેપૂરું ભરપાઈ કરી આપવા ઉપરાંત વીસ ટકા જેટલું વધારે ચૂકવવું.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="NUM.5.8" />પણ જેને નુકસાન કર્યું છે તે જો મૃત્યુ પામ્યો હોય અને ક્ષતિપૂર્તી માંટે તેનું નજીકનું કોઈ સગું ના હોય, તો તે રકમ યહોવાને આપવી અને યાજકને ચૂકવવી અને જે ઘેટો પાપોના પ્રાયશ્ચિત માંટે વધેરવા આપવાનો હોય છે, તે ઉપરાંત આ રકમ આપવાની છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.5.9" />“ઇસ્રાએલીઓ દેવને જે કંઈ ઉચ્છાલીયાર્પણ ઘરાવે છે, તે યાજકની ગણાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="NUM.5.10" />યાજકોને માંણસો જે કોઈ ભેટ આપે છે તે યાજકો પોતાને માંટે રાખે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">વહેમી પતિ અને તેનું નિરાકરણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.5.11" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="NUM.5.12" />“ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને તું આ પ્રમાંણે કહે: જો કોઈ પુરુષની પત્ની આડે રસ્તે જાય અને વિશ્વાસઘાતી નીવડે, કોઈ પર પુરુષ સાથે સૂઈને વ્યભિચાર કરે,
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="NUM.5.13" />પરંતુ તેની સાબિતી ના હોય અને સાક્ષી આપનાર કોઈ ના હોય,
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="NUM.5.14" />અને છતાં તેના પતિને તેના પર શંકા જાય; અથવા પત્નીએ વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કર્યુ ના હોય તો પણ તેના પતિના મનમાં વહેમ જાગ્યો હોય તો પતિએ તેને યાજક પાસે લઈ જવી.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="NUM.5.15" />તેણે 8 વાટકા જવનો લોટ (એક દશાંશ એફાહ) લઈ યહોવાને અર્પણ કરે. તેણે તેના પર તેલ રેડવું નહિ કે ધૂપ પણ મૂકવો નહિ, કારણ કે એ વહેમને કાઢવા ગુનાનું પારખું કરવા માંટેનું સ્મરણદાયક ખાધાર્પણ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.5.16" />“યાજકે તે સ્ત્રીને યહોવા સમક્ષ રજૂ કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="NUM.5.17" />પછી યાજકે માંટીના પાત્રમાં પવિત્ર જળ લેવું, અને તેમાં પવિત્રમંડપની પવિત્ર ભૂમિ પરની ધૂળ લઈને તેમાં નાખવી.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="NUM.5.18" />પછી તેણે તે સ્ત્રીને યહોવા સમક્ષ ઊભી રાખી તેના વાળ છોડી નાખશે, અને તેણીના હાથમાં ખાધાર્પણ મૂકશે. પતિની ઈર્ષ્યાને કારણે આપવામાં આવેલો આ જવનો લોટ છે. પછી યાજક નક્કી કરે કે તેના પતિનો વહેમ સાચો છે કે નહિ, યાજકે શ્રાપ આપવા માંટેના કડવા જળનું પાત્ર પોતાના હાથમાં રાખવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="NUM.5.19" />“ત્યારબાદ યાજકે સ્ત્રી પાસે સોગન લેવડાવવા, તેને કહેવું કે, ‘જો તેં કુમાંર્ગે જઈને કોઈ માંણસ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો ન હોય, તો આ શ્રાપના કડવા જળથી તને કશું જ નુકસાન નહિ થાય.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="NUM.5.20" />પણ જો તેં કુમાંર્ગે જઈને કોઈ માંણસ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો હશે તો
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="NUM.5.21" />યહોવા તારા નામને તારા લોકમાં શ્રાપરૂપ બનાવી દો. તારી જાંધોમાં સડો પેદા કરો, અને તારા શરીરને ફુલાવી દો.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.5.22" />“આ જળ તારા પેટમાં પ્રવેશીને તેને ફુલાવી દો, અને તારા ગર્ભાશયને સંકોચાવી દો. પછી તે સ્ત્રીએ ‘આમીન’ ‘આમીન’ એમ જવાબ આપે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="NUM.5.23" />“પછી યાજકે તે શ્રાપ સૂચિપત્રમાં લખવા અને તેને કડવા જળમાં ધોઈ નાખવા,
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="NUM.5.24" />ત્યારબાદ યાજક તે સ્ત્રીને તે પાણી પીવડાવે, જેથી તે ગુનેગાર હોય તો ખૂબ હેરાન થાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.5.25" />“પણ જળ પીવડાવતાં પહેલાં યાજક પાપની કસોટી કરવા ખાધાર્પણને સ્ત્રીના હાથમાંથી લઈને યહોવા સમક્ષ ઘરાવીને વેદી પર અર્પણ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="NUM.5.26" />એ પછી યાજકે તે ખાધાર્પણમાંથી એક મૂઠી ભરી વેદીમાં હોમવું. અને પછી સ્ત્રીને જળ પાઈ દેવું.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="NUM.5.27" />જો તે સ્ત્રીએ વ્યભિચાર કર્યો હશે તો શ્રાપનું પાણી પેટમાં જતાં જ તેનું પેટ ફૂલી જશે અને તેનું ગર્ભાશય સંકોચાઈ જશે, અને તેનું નામ તેના લોકોમાં શ્રાપરૂપ થઈ પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="NUM.5.28" />પણ જો તે સ્ત્રી પવિત્ર હશે અને પોતાની જાતને કલંકિત નહિ કરી હોય તો તેને કંઈ પણ હાનિ થશે નહિ અને થોડા સમય પછી તે ગર્ભ ધારણ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="NUM.5.29" />“આ નિયમો સ્વચ્છંદી પત્ની માંટે અથવા જેના પર પતિને વહેમ હોય એવી પત્ની માંટે છે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="NUM.5.30" />પછી એ સ્ત્રીએ ખરેખર વ્યભિચાર કર્યો હોય કે ખાલી વહેમ આવ્યો હોય પતિએ આવી સ્ત્રીને યહોવા સમક્ષ લાવવી અને યાજકે ઉપર દર્શાવેલી રીત અનુસાર નક્કી કરવું.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="NUM.5.31" />પછી સ્ત્રી જો પોતાની સજા ભોગવે તો તે માંટે પતિ જવાબદાર ઠરશે નહિ. સ્ત્રી પોતે જ તેના પાપોના પરિણામ માંટે જવાબદાર છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">નાજીર વ્રત ધારણ કરવા અંગેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.6.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.6.2" />“તું ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને આ પ્રમાંણે કહે: જો કોઈ સ્ત્રી કે પુરુષ ‘નાજીર’ થઈને યહોવાની સેવા કરવાનું ખાસ વ્રત લે,
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.6.3" />તો યહોવાને કરેલા સમર્પણના પૂર્ણ સમય દરમ્યાન તેણે દ્રાક્ષારસનો અને કેફી પીણાનો ત્યાગ કરવો, તદુપરાંત તેણે દ્રાક્ષામાંથી બનાવેલું કોઈ પણ પ્રકારનું પીણું પીવું નહિ, કે દ્રાક્ષ કે કિસમિસ ખાવી નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.6.4" />જયાં સુધી તેનું વ્રત ચાલુ હોય ત્યાં સુધી તેણે દ્રાક્ષમાંથી કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ દ્રાક્ષના બી કે છાલ પણ ખાવા નહિ!
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.6.5" />“વળી એ સમય દરમ્યાન તેણે વાળ કપાવવા નહિ, કારણ કે તેનું વ્રત ચાલુ હોય છે, અને જયાં સુધી વ્રત પૂરું પૂર્ણ ન થાય ત્યાં સુધી તે દેવને સમર્પિત થયેલો છે તેથી તેણે પોતાના વાળ વધારવા જોઈએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.6.6" />“તેણે લીધેલા વ્રતના સર્વ દિવસો દરમ્યાન તેણે કદી મૃતદેહ નજીક જવું નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.6.7" />તેનાં માંતા-પિતા કે ભાઈ બહેન મરી જાય તો પણ તેણે મૃતદેહ નજીક જઈ પોતાની જાતને અશુદ્ધ કરવી નહી, કારણ તેના માંથા પરના વાળ તેના દેવના સમર્પિત થયાની નિશાની છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.6.8" />વ્રતના પૂરા સમય દરમ્યાન તે ‘નાજીર’ વ્રતી હોવાથી ત્યાં સુધી તે યહોવાને સમર્પિત થયેલ છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="NUM.6.9" />પરંતુ જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિનું અચાનક તેની પડખે જ અવસાન થાય અને તે અશુદ્ધ બને, તો સાત દિવસ પછી તેણે પોતાના અશુદ્ધ થયેલા માંથાના વાળ કપાવવા. કારણ કે તે દિવસે તેની શુદ્ધિ થાય છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.6.10" />અને આઠમાં દિવસે તેણે પવિત્ર મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ યાજક સમક્ષ બે હોલા અથવા કબૂતરના બે બચ્ચાં લાવવાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.6.11" />યાજકે એમાંનું એક પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે અને બીજું દહનાર્પણ તરીકે ચઢાવીને તે માંણસના પાપનો પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવો, કારણ કે તે મૃતદેહના સ્પર્શથી અશુદ્ધ થયો હતો. તે સમયે વ્યક્તિ ફરીથી પોતાના વાળ કપાવ્યા વિના દેવને સમર્પિત કરશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.6.12" />અને તે જ દિવસે તેણે ‘નજીરી’ ના વ્રતની નવેસરથી શરૂઆત કરીને વાળ વધારવા. આ અગાઉના તેના સમર્પણના દિવસો ગણવામાં આવશે નહિ, કારણ, તેનો વ્રતભંગ થયો હતો જેના દોષાર્થાર્પણરૂપે તેણે એક વર્ષનું નર હલવાન લાવવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.6.13" />“યહોવાની સેવા માંટેના ‘નાજીરી’ વ્રતની સમય પૂર્ણ થતાં તે દિવસે તેણે નીચે પ્રમાંણે વિધિ કરવી; તેને પવિત્રમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ લઈ જવો.
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.6.14" />અને ખોડ વિનાના એક વર્ષનાં નર ઘેટાનું દહનાર્પણ, ખોડ વિનાની એક વર્ષની ઘેટીનું પાપાર્થાર્પણ અને ખોડ વિનાના નર ઘેટાનું શાંત્યાર્પણ કરવું:
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.6.15" />તથા એક ટોપલી ભરીને મોહેલા લોટની બેખમીર રોટલી તથા તેલ ચોપડેલા બેખમીર ખાખરા,
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<p sfm="li" style="li">અને ખાધાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ તે ચઢાવે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.6.16" />“યાજકે આ બધું યહોવાને ઘરાવવું અને તે માંણસનાં પ્રથમ પાપાર્થાર્પણ અને દહનાર્પણ ચઢાવવાં.
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.6.17" />પછી તેણે નર ઘેટાને યહોવા સમક્ષ શાંત્યાર્પણ તરીકે સમર્પિત કરવું. રોટલીની ટોપલી, ખાધાર્પણ અને પેયાર્પણ સાથે તે યહોવાને અર્પણ કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.6.18" />“નાઝારી વ્રત ધારણ કરનારે પવિત્રમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ વાળ કપાવી નાખવાં, અને એ સમર્પિત કરી શાંત્યાર્પણની નીચેના અગ્નિમાં હોમી દેવા.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="NUM.6.19" />“વ્રતધારીએ વાળ ઉતરાવ્યા પછી યાજકે નર ઘેટાનો બાફેલો ખભો તથા ટોપલીમાંથી એક બેખમીર રોટલી અને એક બેખમીર ખાખરો લઈને તેના હાથમાં મૂકવાં.
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<v id="20" bcv="NUM.6.20" />ત્યારવાદ યાજક અર્પણ તરીકે એ વસ્તુઓ યહોવાની સમક્ષ ઝુલાવે. એ અર્પણો યાજકને માંટેનો પવિત્ર ભાગ ગણાય છે. એની ઉપરાંત, ઘેટાની છાતીનો ભાગ અને જાંધ દેવને ઘરવા, આ અર્પણો પણ યાજકના ગણાય, હવે તે વ્યક્તિ નાજીરી વ્રતમાંથી મુક્ત થઈને ફરી દ્રાક્ષારસ પી શકે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.6.21" />“નાજીરી માંટે અને બલિદાનો માંટેના આ નિયમો છે. નાજીરી થવાની પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી હોય ત્યારે તેણે અન્ય અર્પણો માંટે વચન આપ્યું હોય તો નક્કી કરેલાં બલિદાનો સાથે તે અર્પણો પણ લાવીને ચઢાવવાં.”
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<s style="s">યાજકોના આશીર્વાદો
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.6.22" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.6.23" />“હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોને કહે કે, તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને આ ખાસ આશીર્વાદ આપે:
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<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.6.24" />‘યહોવા તમને આશીર્વાદ આપો અને તમાંરું રક્ષણ કરો;
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<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.6.25" />યહોવાની તમાંરા પર કૃપાદૃષ્ટિ
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને મહેરબાની થાવ.
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<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="NUM.6.26" />યહોવા તમાંરા પર પ્રસન્ન હો અને તમને શાંતિ આપો.’”
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<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="27" bcv="NUM.6.27" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “આ રીતે હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો માંરા આશીર્વાદ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને આપે અને હું પોતે વ્યક્તિગત માંરા આશીર્વાદ તેઓને આપીશ.”
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<s style="s">પવિત્રમંડપની સમર્પણ વિધિ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.7.1" />જે દિવસે મૂસાએ પવિત્રમંડપ ઊભો કરવાનું કાર્ય સંપૂર્ણ કર્યુ, તે દિવસે તેણે મંડપનો તેમજ તેમાંની બધી સાધન-સામગ્રી વેદી તથા તેનાં બધાં સાધનોનો અભિષેક કરી તેમના બધાં પાત્રોનો અભિષેક કરીને પવિત્ર કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="NUM.7.2" />ત્યારપછી ઇસ્રાએલનાં કુળસમૂહોના આગેવાનોમાંથી પસંદ કરેલા પુરુષો પોતાનાં અર્પણો લાવ્યા. તેઓ કુળોના મુખ્ય આગેવાનો હતાં અને તેઓએ વસ્તી ગણતરીના કામમાં મદદ કરી હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.7.3" />તેમણે યહોવાની સંમુખ બે બળદ જોડેલા છત્તરાવાળાં છ ગાડાં તેઓ લાવ્યા બે કુટુંબના વડાઓ દીઠ એક ગાડું અને પ્રત્યેક આગેવાન દીઠ એક બળદ. આ બધુ તેઓએ પવિત્ર મંડપમાં પ્રવેશદ્વાર પાસે યહોવાની સમક્ષ રજૂ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.7.4" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.7.5" />“તેઓની ભેટોનો સ્વીકાર કર, મુલાકાતમંડપની સેવામાં આ ગાડાનો ઉપયોગ કરજે. લેવીઓને તું એ તેમના કાર્યમાં ઉપયોગ કરે, તે માંટે તેમણે બજાવવાની સેવા અનુસાર સોંપી દેજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.7.6" />તેથી મુસાએએ ગાડાં અને બળદો સ્વીકાર્યા અને લેવીઓને સોંપી દીધાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.7.7" />તેણે ગેર્શોનના સમૂહને તેઓને જે સેવાઓ કરવાની હતી તે માંટે બે ગાડાં અને ચાર બળદો આપ્યા.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.7.8" />મરારીના સમૂહે યાજક હારુનના પુત્ર ઈથામાંરની આગેવાની હેઠળ જે સેવાએ કરવાની હતી તેને માંટે તેણે તેમને ચાર ગાડાં અને આઠ બળદો આપ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="NUM.7.9" />પરંતુ કહાથના વંશજોને કાંઈ જ આપ્યું નહિ, કારણ કે તેઓને જે પવિત્ર વસ્તુઓ સોંપવામાં આવી હતી તેની જવાબદારી તેઓ પોતાના માંથે જ રાખતા અને પોતાના ખભા ઉપર ઊચકી લેતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.7.10" />જે દિવસે યજ્ઞવેદીને અભિષિક્ત અને સમર્પિત કરવામાં આવી તે દિવસે આગેવાનો પોતાના અર્પણો લાવ્યા અને વેદી આગળ રજૂ કર્યા.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.7.11" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “વેદીની પ્રતિષ્ઠા કરવા સારું અર્પણ વારાફરતી એક દિવસે એક જણેજ ધરાવવા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12-83" bcv="NUM.7.12" />પ્રત્યેક વંશના આગેવાન એક સરખાં જ અર્પણ લઈને આવ્યાં.
</p>
<p style="p">પ્રથમ દિવસે યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહનો આગેવાન આમ્મીનાદાબનો પુત્ર નાહશોન અર્પણ લઈને આવ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">બીજે દિવસે ઈસ્સાખાર વંશનો સૂઆરનો પુત્ર નથાનિયેલે અર્પણ લઈને આવ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">ત્રીજે દિવસે ઝબુલોનના વંશનો વડો અને હેલોનનો પુત્ર અલીઆબ અર્પણ લાવ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">ચોથે દિવસે રૂબેન વંશનો શદેઉરનો પુત્ર અલીસૂર અર્પણ લાવ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">પાંચમે દિવસે શિમયોન વંશના વડા સૂરીશાદાયના પુત્ર શલુમીએલે અર્પણ લાવીને ઘરાવ્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">છઠ્ઠે દિવસે ગાદના વંશના વડા દેઉએલના પુત્ર એલ્યાસાફે અર્પણ લાવીને ઘરાવ્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">સાતમે દિવસે એફ્રાઈમના વંશના વડા આમ્મીહૂદના પુત્ર અલીશામાંએ અર્પણ લાવીને ધરાવ્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">આઠમાં દિવસે મનાશ્શા વંશના વડા પદાહસૂરના પુત્ર ગમાંલ્યેલ અર્પણ લાવીને ધરાવ્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">નવમાં દિવસે બિન્યામીન વંશના વડા ગિદિયોનીના પુત્ર અબીદાને અર્પણ લાવીને ધરાવ્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">દશમે દિવસે દાનના વંશના વડા આમ્મીશાદાયના પુત્ર અહીએઝેર અર્પણ ધરાવ્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">અગિયારમે દિવસે આશેરના વંશના વડા ઓક્રાનના પુત્ર પાગીએલે અર્પણ લાવીને ધરાવ્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">બારમે દિવસે નફતાલીના વંશના વડા એનાનના પુત્ર અહીરાએ અર્પણ લાવીને ધરાવ્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">પ્રત્યેકના ઉપહારમાં અધિકૃત માંપ પ્રમાંણે 130 શેકેલ વજનની ચાંદીની કથરોટ તથા 70 શેકેલ વજનનો એક ચાંદીનો પ્યાલો હતો. આ બંનેમાં ખાધાર્પણ તરીકે તેલથી મોયેલો લોટ ભરેલો હતો. તદુપરાંત દશ શેકેલ વજનની સોનાની ધૂપદાની ધૂપથી ભરેલી હતી, તથા દહનાર્પણ માંટે એક વર્ષનું વાછરડું, તથા પ્રાયશ્ચિતના બલિ માંટે એક ઘેટું તથા એક વર્ષનો એક હલવાન; શાંત્યર્પણ માંટે બે બળદ, પાંચ ઘેટા, પાંચ લવારા અને એક વર્ષની ઉપરના પાંચ હલવાન હતાં. ઉપરના ક્રમાંનુસાર આગેવાનો ઉપર પ્રમાંણેનાં અર્પણો લાવ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="84" bcv="NUM.7.84" />આ રીતે વેદીના અભિષેકના પ્રસંગે ઇસ્રાએલના વંશના આગેવાનો સમર્પણવિધિમાં પોતપોતાનાં અર્પણો લાવ્યાં; ચાંદીની 12 કથરોટ, ચાંદીના 12 પ્યાલા, તથા સોનાની 12 ધૂપદાનીઓ,
<ve />
<v id="85" bcv="NUM.7.85" />ચાંદીની પ્રત્યેક કથરોટનું વજન અધિકૃત માંપ અનુસારે 130 શેકેલ હતું, અને ચાંદીના પ્રત્યેક પ્યાલાનું વજન 70 શેકેલ હતું. ચાંદીની કથરોટો અને ચાંદીના પ્યાલાઓનું કુલ વજન 2,400 શેકેલ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="86" bcv="NUM.7.86" />તદુપરાંત ધૂપથી ભરેલાં 12 સોનાનાં પાત્રો હતાં, તે પ્રત્યેકનું વજન અધિકૃત માંપ પ્રમાંણે દશ શેકેલ હતું. એ પાત્રોના સોનાનું કુલ વજન મંદિરના માંપ પ્રમાંણે 120 શેકેલ હતું,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="87" bcv="NUM.7.87" />દહનાર્પણો માંટે કુલ 12 બળદો, 12 ઘેટાઓ એક વર્ષની ઉમરના 12 હલવાન હતા. પાપાર્થાપણ માંટે 12 નર બકરાં પણ હતાં.
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<v id="88" bcv="NUM.7.88" />તથા શાંત્યર્પણ માંટે કુલ 24 બળદો, 60 ઘેટા, 60 બકરાં, અને એક વર્ષની ઉમરના 60 હલવાન હતા, આ અર્પણો વેદીનો અભિષેક કરી તેના સમર્પણના પ્રસંગે અર્પણ થયા હતા.
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<v id="89" bcv="NUM.7.89" />જે સમયે મૂસા યહોવા સાથે વાત કરવા માંટે પવિત્રમંડપમાં પ્રવેશ્યો તે સમયે તેણે કરારકોશના ઢાંકણા ઉપરના બે કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની વચ્ચેનો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો. યહોવા આ રીતે તેની સાથે બોલતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">દીપવૃક્ષની વ્યવસ્થા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.8.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="NUM.8.2" />“તું હારુનને જણાવ કે તે દીપવૃક્ષની સાત દીવીઓને પ્રગટાવે ત્યારે તેનો પ્રકાશ દીપવૃક્ષના આગળના ભાગમાં પડે તે ધ્યાનમાં રાખજે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NUM.8.3" />હારુને યહોવાની સૂચના પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ. તેણે દીવીઓને ઉચિત સ્થાને રાખી અને તેમનું મોઢું એવી રીતે રાખ્યું અને દીપવૃક્ષનો આગળનો ભાગ પ્રકાશીત કર્યો. આ તેણે દેવે મૂસાને કરેલ આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="NUM.8.4" />દીપવૃક્ષ તથા ફૂલોથી સુશોભિત તેની બેઠક તથા ડાળીઓ, સંપૂર્ણ સોનાના ધડેલા હતાં. મૂસાને યહોવાએ દર્શાવેલા નમૂના પ્રમાંણે ખૂબ કાળજીપૂર્વક તે બનાવવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લેવીવંશીઓનું શુદ્ધિકરણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.8.5" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="NUM.8.6" />“હવે બાકીના ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાંથી લેવીઓને અલગ કરીને તારે તેઓની વિધિપૂર્વક શુદ્ધિ કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="NUM.8.7" />એમની શુદ્ધિ આ મુજબ કરવી: પ્રથમ તેના પર પવિત્ર શુદ્ધિકરણનાં જળનો છંટકાવ કરવો. ત્યારબાદ તેમણે આખા શરીરે મૂડન કરાવવું, કપડા ધોઈ નાખવાં તથા શીરને ધોઈને સ્વચ્છ કરવું ત્યારે તેમની શુદ્ધિ થઈ ગણાશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.8.8" />“ત્યારબાદ તેમણે એક વાછરડું તથા મોયેલા લોટનો ખાધાર્પણ લાવવો, અને સાથે તારે એક બીજો વાછરડો પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે પણ લેવો, પછી લેવીઓને મુલાકાત મંડપ પાસે લાવવા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="NUM.8.9" />પછી બધા મુલાકાતમંડપ આગળ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના સમગ્ર સમાંજને ભેગો કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="NUM.8.10" />અને તું લેવીઓને યહોવા સમક્ષ લાવે ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ પોતાના હાથ લેવીઓના મસ્તક પર મૂકવા,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="NUM.8.11" />પછી હારુને લેવીઓને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તરફથી ખાસ ઉપહાર તરીકે મને ધરાવવા અને માંરી સેવા માંટે સમર્પિત કરવા. ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાના પ્રતિનિધિ તરીકે લેવીઓ યહોવાની સેવા કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.8.12" />“ત્યારબાદ લેવીએ બંને બળદોના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકવા અને એક બળદ પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે અને બીજો દહનાર્પણ તરીકે યહોવાને ધરાવવા, લેવીઓને શુદ્ધ કરવા માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવાની આ વિધિ છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.8.13" />પછી સર્વ લેવીઓને હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો સમક્ષ ઉભા કરવા અને યહોવાને ઉપાસના તરીકે ધરાવવાં.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="NUM.8.14" />આ રીતે તારે લેવીઓને બીજા ઇસ્રાએલીઓથી અલગ કરીને વિધિસર મને અર્પણ કરવા, જેથી લેવીઓ માંરા પોતાના થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.8.15" />“આ પ્રમાંણે લેવીઓનું શુદ્ધિકરણ અને અરત્યર્પણ થયા પછી જ તેઓ મુલાકાતમંડપમાં સેવા કરવાનું શરૂ કરી શકે. તારે લેવીઓની શુદ્ધ કરીને મને સમર્પિત કરવા.
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.8.16" />કારણ કે બધાં જ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તરફથી તેઓ મને ઈનામરૂપે અપાયેલા છે. તેથી તેઓ માંરા પોતાના છે. ઇસ્રાએલી કુળના સર્વ પ્રથમજનિતોના બદલામાં મેં લેવીઓનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.8.17" />કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલીઓનું પ્રથમજનિત બાળક પછી તે મનુષ્યનું હોય કે પશુનું હોય, માંરું છે, જે દિવસે મેં મિસરના એકેએક પ્રથમજનિત બાળક, પછી તે મનુષ્યનું હોય કે પશુનું હોય, સર્વને માંરી નાખ્યાં, તે દિવસે મેં ઇસ્રાએલનાં પ્રથમજનિત પુત્રોને મેં માંરા માંટે રાખી લીધા હતાં.
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.8.18" />હવે મેં ઇસ્રાએલ સમાંજના સર્વ જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્રોની અવેજીમાં લેવીઓને સ્વીકાર્યો છે,
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.8.19" />હું તેમને હારુનને તથા તેના પુત્રોને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તરફથી સેવા કરવા અને તેમના બદલે પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરવા મુલાકાત મંડપમાં ભેટો તરીકે આપીશ. જેથી જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પવિત્રસ્થાનની પાસે આવે ત્યારે મરકી કે કોઈ મુશ્કેલી તેમના પર ન પડે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.8.20" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને લેવીઓની દીક્ષાવિધી વિષે જે સૂચનાઓ આપી હતી તેનો મૂસાએ, હારુને તથા સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજે અમલ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="NUM.8.21" />લેવીઓએ પોતાની જાતને શુદ્ધ કરી અને વસ્ત્રો પણ ધોયાં. હારુને તે સૌને અર્પણ તરીકે યહોવાને ધરાવી દીધા, અને તેમને શુદ્ધ કરવા માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરીને સૌને શુદ્ધ કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="NUM.8.22" />ત્યારવાદ લેવીઓને મુલાકાતમંડપમાં હારુન અને તેના પુત્રોના હાથ નીચે સેવા કરવાની છૂટ મળી. આમ યહોવાએ લેવીઓ અંગે જે આજ્ઞાઓ મૂસાને જણાવી હતી તેનું અક્ષરસ: પાલન કરવામાં આવ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="NUM.8.23" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="24" bcv="NUM.8.24" />“પચ્ચીસ વર્ષની ઉમરે લેવીઓ મૂલાકાતમંડપની સેવા શરૂ કરી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="NUM.8.25" />પચાસ વર્ષની ઉમરે તેઓ સેવામાંથી નિવૃત્ત થાય અને સેવા કરવાનું બંધ કરે.
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<v id="26" bcv="NUM.8.26" />તેઓ મુલાકાતમંડપમાં સેવા કરતા પોતાના સાથીને ભલે મદદ કરે, પણ પોતે નિયમસરની સેવા ન કરે, લેવીઓની સેવા માંટે આ વ્યવસ્થાનું આયોજન કરવું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">પાસ્ખાપર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.9.1" />મિસરમાંથી પ્રસ્થાન કર્યા પછી બીજા વર્ષના પ્રથમ મહિનામાં ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા અને મૂસા સિનાઈના અરણ્યમાં હતા ત્યારે યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.9.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ નિયત સમયે પાસ્ખાપર્વ પાળવાનું છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.9.3" />પાસ્ખાપર્વ પ્રથમ મહિનામાં ચૌદમાં દિવસની સંધ્યાઓ શરૂ થાય છે. તમાંરે એને લગતા બધા નિયમો અને વિધિઓનું ચુસ્તપણે પાલન કરવાનું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.9.4" />તેથી મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને પાસ્ખાપર્વ ઉજવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.9.5" />ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ પાસ્ખા પર્વની ઉજવણી સિનાઈના અરણ્યમાં પ્રથમ મહિનાના ચૌદમાં દિવસે સંધ્યાકાળે શરૂ કરી હતી. યહોવાએ મૂસાને સૂચવ્યું હતું તે મુજબ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ કર્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.9.6" />પરંતુ એવું બન્યું કે કેટલાક માંણસો મૃતદેહના સ્પર્શથી અશુદ્ધ થયા હતા, તેઓ દફનક્રિયામાં હતા તેથી તે દિવસે પાસ્ખાપર્વ પાળી શકે એમ નહોતું. તેમણે તે જ દિવસે મૂસા અને હારુનની પાસે જઈને પોતાની હકીકત દર્શાવી.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.9.7" />તેઓએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “અમે મૃત દેહના સ્પર્શથી અશુદ્ધ થયેલા છીએ. સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ નિયત સમયે યહોવાને બલિદાન અર્પણ કરે છે. તે અમને શા માંટે તેમ કરવાની મનાઈ કરવામાં આવે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.9.8" />મૂસાએ તેમને કહ્યું, “તમાંરી બાબતમાં યહોવાની આજ્ઞા શી છે તે હું જાણી લઉ ત્યાં સુધી તમે ધીરજ ધરો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.9.9" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="NUM.9.10" />“તારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આ પ્રમાંણે કહેવું કે: તમાંરામાંથી અથવા તમાંરા વંશજોમાંથી કોઈ મૃતદેહના સ્પર્શને કારણે અશુદ્ધ થયો હોય અથવા દૂર પ્રવાસમાં હોય, તો પણ માંરા માંનમાં પાસ્ખા નીચે પ્રમાંણે પાળી શકે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.9.11" />આવા લોકો બીજા મહિનાના ચૌદમાં દિવસે સંધ્યાકાળે ઉજવણી શરૂ કરી શકે છે. તેઓએ અર્પણ કરેલુ હલવાન બેખમીર રોટલી તથા કડવી ભાજી સાથે ખાવું;
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.9.12" />એમાંનું કશું સવાર સુધી રહેવા દેવું નહિ, તેમજ એ બલિના પશુનું કોઈ હાડકું ભાંગવું પણ નહિ. તેમણે એ પાસ્ખાને લગતા બધા નિયમો અને વિધિઓનું પાલન કરવું.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.9.13" />પરંતુ જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અશુદ્ધ ના હોય તે લાંબા પ્રવાસમાં હોય અને પાસ્ખાનું પાલન ન કરે, તો તેને તેના લોકોથી જુદો કરવો. કારણ, એણે નિયત સમયે યહોવાને બલિદાન અર્પણ નથી કર્યુ, તેથી તે દોષિત ગણાય અને એનું પાપ એણે ભોગવવું જ જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.9.14" />“પરંતુ તમાંરી વચ્ચે કોઈ વિદેશી રહેતો હોય અને તે પાસ્ખા ઊજવવા ઈચ્છતો હોય તો તેણે પણ એના બધા નિયમો અને વિધિઓ પ્રમાંણે એ ઊજવવું જોઈએ. દેશના વતનીઓ તથા વિદેશીઓ સૌને માંટે એક જ નિયમ છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">વાદળ અને અગ્નિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.9.15" />જે દિવસે કરારનો પવિત્રમંડપ એટલે કરારમંડપ ઊભો કરવામાં આવ્યો તે જ દિવસે તેના પર વાદળે આચ્છાદન કર્યુ. અને સાંજે વાદળનું સ્થાન અગ્નિએ લીધું અને આખી રાત તે ઝળહળતો રહ્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.9.16" />આ પ્રમાંણે હંમેશા થતું રહ્યું. દિવસે વાદળ આચ્છાદન કરતો અને રાત્રે અગ્નિની જેમ ઝળહળતું.
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.9.17" />જ્યારે જ્યારે પવિત્ર મંડપ ઉપરથી વાદળ હઠી જતું, ત્યારે ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા મુકામ ઉઠાવતી, અને આગળ મુસાફરી કરતી અને જયાં જયાં વાદળ થોભે ત્યાં ત્યાં મુકામ કરતી.
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.9.18" />આમ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે તેઓ મુકામ ઉઠાવતા મુસાફરી કરતા અને મુકામ કરતા. જયાં સુધી વાદળનું આચ્છાદન લાંબા સમય સુધી રહે તો ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ મુકામ ચાલુ રાખતા.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.9.19" />જો વાદળ લાંબા સમય સુધી પવિત્રમંડપ પર રહેતું તો ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા યહોવાની આજ્ઞા માંથે ચઢાવીને આગળ પ્રવાસ કરતી નહિ અને લાંબા સમય સુધી ત્યાં જ રોકાતી.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="NUM.9.20" />પરંતુ કેટલીક વખત વાદળ થોડા દિવસ જ મુલાકાત મંડપ પર રહેતું ત્યારે પણ તેઓ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા થતાં મુકામ કરતા અને યહોવાની આજ્ઞા થતા મુકામ ઉઠાવતા.
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<v id="21" bcv="NUM.9.21" />કેટલીક વખત વાદળ સાંજથી સવાર સુધી રહેતું, સવારે વાદળ હઠતાં જ તેઓ મુકામ ઉઠાવતા, અને તેને અનુસરતાં. જો તે રાતના હઠતાં તો તેને અનુસરતા.
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.9.22" />જયાં સુધી વાદળ પવિત્રમંડપ પર ભલે રહે પછી એ બે દિવસ માંટે હોય, એક મહિના માંટે હોય કે એક વર્ષ માંટે હોય ત્યાં સુધી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મુકામ ઉઠાવતા નહિ; જયારે વાદળ હઠતું ત્યારે જ તેઓ મુકામ ઉઠાવી પ્રવાસ કરતા.
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.9.23" />આમ તેઓ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર છાવણી કરતાં અથવા પ્રવાસ કરતા, યહોવા મૂસા દ્વારા તેઓને જે આજ્ઞા કરે તે પ્રમાંણે તેઓ કરતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">ચાંદીનાં રણશિંગડા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.10.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.10.2" />“બે ચાંદીનાં ધડેલાં રણશિંગડાં બનાવડાવ અને લોકોને ભેગા થવા કહેવા માંટે તથા પડાવને આગળ વધવા કહેવા માંટે તેનો ઉપયોગ કરજે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="NUM.10.3" />જે સમયે બંને રણશિંગડા વગાડવામાં આવે, ત્યારે સમગ્ર સમાંજે મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ તારી સમક્ષ એકત્ર થવાનું છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="NUM.10.4" />પરંતુ જો એક જ રણશિંગડું વગાડવામાં આવે, તો ફકત ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજાના કુળોના મુખ્ય આગેવાનોએ તારી સમક્ષ આવવાનું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.10.5" />“જ્યારે પહેલીવાર તૂટક તૂટક રણશિંગડાં વગાડવામાં આવે, ત્યારે પૂર્વ દિશામાં નાખેલી છાવણીઓએ કૂચ કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="NUM.10.6" />બીજી વખતે રણશિંગડાં તૂટક તૂટક વાગે, ત્યારે દક્ષિણ દિશામાંની છાવણીએ કૂચ કરવી. આમ મુકામ ઉઠાવવાના સંકેત તરીકે તૂટક તૂટક રણશિંગડું વગાડવું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="NUM.10.7" />પણ ઇસ્રાએલ સમાંજને સભા માંટે એકત્ર થવા જણાવવું હોય તો એકધારું રણશિંગડું વગાડવું.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.10.8" />હારુનના વંશજોએ એટલે કે યાજકોએ જ રણશિંગડાં વગાડવાનાં છે. આ કાયમી કાનૂનનો અમલ તમાંરે પેઢી દરપેઢી કરવાનો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.10.9" />“તમાંરી ભૂમિમાં દુશ્મનો સાથે લડતા પહેલાં જોરથી રણશિંગડા ફૂંકો, ત્યારે યહોવા રણશિંગડાંનો અવાજ સાંભળશે અને તમને યાદ કરશે અને તમને તમાંરા દુશ્મનોથી બચાવશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.10.10" />વળી ઉત્સવો વખતે, દર અમાંસના દિવસે તેમજ તમે દહનાર્પણે અને શાંત્યર્પણો ધરાવો તે દિવસે પણ રણશિંગડાં વગાડવાં, યહોવા તમને સંભારે તે માંટે આમ કરો. હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા, તમને સંભારીશ.”
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<s style="s">કૂચનો ક્રમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.10.11" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મિસરમાંથી પ્રસ્થાન કરી આવ્યા તેના બીજા વર્ષના બીજા મહિનાના વીસમાં દિવસે કરારના પવિત્રમંડપ ઉપરથી વાદળ હઠી ગયું અને
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.10.12" />ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ સિનાઈના અરણ્યમાંથી કૂચ શરૂ કરી ત્યાં તો પારાનના અરણ્યમાં વાદળ પાછુ સ્થિર થયું.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.10.13" />યહોવા તરફથી મૂસાને યાત્રા સંબંધી સૂચનાઓ મળ્યા પછીની તેઓની આ પ્રથમ યાત્રા હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.10.14" />કૂચ વખતે યહૂદાના વંશના ધ્વજ નીચેનું સૈન્ય પ્રથમ ચાલતું: આમ્મીનાદાબનો પુત્ર નાહશોન તેમનો આગેવાન હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.10.15" />તેઓની પાછળ ઈસ્સાખારના કુળસમૂહનું સૈન્ય હતું, જેનો આગેવાન સૂઆરનો પુત્ર નથાનિયેલ હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.10.16" />અને હેલોનના પુત્ર અલીઆબની સરદારી હેઠળ ઝબુલોનના કુળસમૂહનું સૈન્ય હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.10.17" />ત્યાર પછી પવિત્ર મંડપ ઉઠાવી લેવામાં આવતો અને તેને ઉપાડનાર ગેર્શોન તથા મરારીના વંશજો કૂચ કરતા. પવિત્રમંડપને ઉતારીને તેઓ પોતાના ખભા ઉપર ઊચકીને ચાલતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.10.18" />એ પછી રૂબેનના કુળસમૂહના ધ્વજ હેઠળની સેના કુટુંબવાર કૂચ કરતી: શદેઊરનાં પુત્ર અલીસૂરની સરદારી હેઠળ રૂબેનના કુળસમૂહોનું સૈન્ય હતું.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.10.19" />તેમની પાછળ સૂરીશાદાઈના પુત્ર શલુમીએલની સરદારી હેઠળ શિમયોનના કુળસમૂહોની સેના હતી.
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<v id="20" bcv="NUM.10.20" />અને તે પછી દેઊએલના પુત્ર એલ્યાસાફની સરદારી હેઠળ ગાદના કુળસમૂહોનું સૈન્ય હતું.
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<v id="21" bcv="NUM.10.21" />તેઓની પાછળ કહાથના વંશજો પવિત્રસ્થાનમાંની વિવિધ સાધનસામગ્રી ઊચકીને ચાલતા હતા. તેઓ બીજે મુકામે પહોંચે તે પહેલાં ત્યાં પવિત્રમંડપ ઊભો કરી દેવામાં આવતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.10.22" />તેમની પાછળ એફ્રાઈમના વંશના ધ્વજ હેઠળનું સૈન્ય કૂચ કરતું. આમ્મીહૂદના પુત્ર અલીશામાંની સરદારી હેઠળ એફ્રાઈમના વંશજોનું સૈન્ય હતું.
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.10.23" />તે લોકોની પાછળ પદાહસૂર ના પુત્ર ગમાંલ્યેલની ગણતરી હેઠળ મનાશ્શાના કુળસમૂહોનું સૈન્ય હતું.
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<v id="24" bcv="NUM.10.24" />ગિદિયોનીના પુત્ર અબીદાનની સરદારી હેઠળ બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહોનું સૈન્ય હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.10.25" />છેક છેવટે રક્ષક તરીકે દાનના વંશના ધ્વજ હેઠળ બધી સેનાઓના રક્ષક તરીકે ટુકડીવાર કૂચ કરતી. આમ્મીશાદાયનો પુત્ર અહીએઝેર તે ટુકડીનો આગેવાન હતો. તેની સરદારી હેઠળ દાનના કુળસમૂહોની ટુકડી હતી.
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<v id="26" bcv="NUM.10.26" />ઓફ્રાનના પુત્ર પાગીએલની સરદારી હેઠળ આશેરના કુળસમૂહોની ટુકડી હતી.
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.10.27" />અને એનાનના પુત્ર અહીરાની સરદારી હેઠળ નફતાલીના કુળસમૂહોની ટુકડી હતી.
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<v id="28" bcv="NUM.10.28" />હંમેશા આ ક્રમમાં જ ઇસ્રાએલના કુળ ટુકડીવાર કૂચ કરતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="NUM.10.29" />એક દિવસ મૂસાના સસરા મિધાની રેઉએલના પુત્ર હોબાબને મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “છેવટે દેવે અમને જે દેશ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું ત્યાં જવા માંટે અમે પ્રસ્થાન કરીએ છીએ. તમે પણ અમાંરી સાથે ચાલો. અમે તમાંરા શુભચિંતક બનીશું; કારણ કે યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને અદભુત સુરક્ષા અને જનસમૂહ માંટે વચનો આપ્યાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="NUM.10.30" />હોબાબે પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “ના, હું તમાંરી સાથે નહિ આવું. હું તો માંરા પોતાના દેશમાં માંરાં સંગાઓ પાસે પાછો જઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NUM.10.31" />મૂસાએ વિનંતી કરી કહ્યું, “અમને છોડીને ન જશો, કારણ કે અરણ્યમાં કેવા રસ્તાઓ છે તે તું જાણે છે, ક્યાં મુકામ કરવો તે પણ તમે જાણો છો એટલે તમે તો અમાંરી આંખ બની રહેશો.
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<v id="32" bcv="NUM.10.32" />અને જો તમે અમાંરી સાથે આવશો, તો યહોવા અમને જે સુખસંપત્તિ આપશે તેમાં અમે તમને ભાગીદાર બનાવીશું.”
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<s style="s">આગેકૂચ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="NUM.10.33" />અને હોબાબ સંમત થયો, ત્યારબાદ તેમણે યહોવાના સિનાઈ પર્વતથી નીકળી ત્રણ દિવસ યાત્રા કરી. તે ત્રણે દિવસ દરમ્યાન યહોવાના પવિત્ર કોશ તેમને માંટે મુકામ કરવાની જગ્યા શોધવા સૌથી આગળ રહેતો.
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<v id="34" bcv="NUM.10.34" />જયારે તેઓ મુકામ ઉઠાવતા ત્યારે તે દિવસે યહોવાનું વાદળ તેમના ઉપર રહેતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="NUM.10.35" />જયારે જયારે કરારકોશ ચાલી નીકળતો, ત્યારે મૂસા પોકાર કરતો: “હે યહોવા, તમે ઊઠો અને તમાંરા દુશ્મનોને વેરવિખેર કરી નાખો, અને તમાંરો તિરસ્કાર કરનારને હાંકી કાઢો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="NUM.10.36" />અને જયારે કરારકોશને નીચે મૂકવામાં આવતો ત્યારે તે કહેતો; “લાખો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વચ્ચે, હે યહોવા, પાછા પધારજો.”
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<c id="11" />
<s style="s">લોકોની ફરિયાદો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.11.1" />લોકો પોતાની હાડમાંરીઓની ફરિયાદો યહોવા સમક્ષ કરવા લાગ્યા. યહોવા તે સાંભળીને તેઓના પર ગુસ્સે થયો. યહોવાનો અગ્નિ છાવણીના છેવાડેના લોકો વચ્ચે ભડભડી ઊઠયો અને તેનો છેડો બળી ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.11.2" />લોકોએ મૂસાને સહાય માંટે પોકાર કરી, તેથી તેણે લોકો માંટે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી તેથી અગ્નિ શાંત થઈ ગયો.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.11.3" />ત્યારબાદ તે જગ્યાનો વિસ્તાર તાબએરાહ નામે પ્રચલિત થયો. કારણ, ત્યાં યહોવાનો અગ્નિ તે લોકોની વચ્ચે ભડભડી ઊઠયો હતો.
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<s style="s">સિત્તેર વડીલો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.11.4" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાથેના કેટલાક લોકો સારું સારું ખાવાના લાલચુ હતા; તેઓને મિસરનો ખોરાક યાદ આવ્યો. ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાં પણ અસંતોષ વધતાં તેઓએ રોદણાં રડવા લાગ્યા. “અરે! અમને ખાવા માંટે માંસ કોણ આપશે?
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.11.5" />મિસરમાં તો અમે મફતમાં મજાથી માંછલીઓ ખાતા હતા, ત્યાં તો કાકડી, તડબૂચ, ડુંગળી, પ્યાજ અને લસણ પણ મળતાં હતા!
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.11.6" />અહીં તો અમાંરા શરીર દિવસે દિવસે નબળા પડી ગયા છે. દરરોજ ફકત આ માંન્ના જ અમને મળે છે.”
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.11.7" />માંન્નાનું કદ ધણાના દાણા જેટલું હતું. તેનો રંગ પીળાશ પડતો ધોળો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.11.8" />લોકો ખેતરમાં ફરીને માંન્ના વીણીને એકત્ર કરી લાવતા અને ઘંટીમાં દળતા અથવા ખાંડણિયામાં ખાંડી લેતા અને લોટ બનાવીને તેને તપેલીમાં બાફીને તેની ભાખરી બનાવતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="NUM.11.9" />એનો સ્વાદ મોવણ નાખેલી ભાખરી જેવો લાગતો. રાતના સમયે છાવણી ઉપર ઝાકળ પડતું ત્યારે તેની સાથે માંન્ના પણ પડતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.11.10" />મૂસાએ બધા લોકોને પોતપોતાના તંબુના બારણા આગળ ઊભા રહીને રોદણાં રડતા સાંભળ્યા. યહોવાનો ક્રોધ ભભૂકી ઊઠતા મૂસા પણ ભારે ચિંતામાં પડયો.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.11.11" />મૂસાએ યહોવાને કહ્યું, “તમે માંરી આવી ભૂંડી દશા શા માંટે કરી? તમને દ્વિધા થાય એવું મે શું કર્યુ છે? સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોની જવાબદારી લેવા તમે મને કેમ પસંદ કર્યો?
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.11.12" />શું હું તેઓનો પિતા છું? શું તે બધાં માંરાં બાળકો છે? તમે તેઓના પિતૃઓને જે દેશ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તે દેશમાં તમે, કોઈ ધાવણા બાળકને છાતીએ વળગાડીને લઈ જાય તેમ તેઓની સંભાળ રાખવાનું કાર્ય મને શા માંટે સૌપ્યું છે?
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.11.13" />આ બધા લોકોને માંટે મને માંસ કયાંથી મળી શકે? તેઓ રૂદન કરીને મને કહે છે, ‘અમને માંસ આપો.’ પણ માંરે આ લોકો માંટે માંસ લાવવું કયાંથી?
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.11.14" />હવે હું એકલો આ સમગ્ર પ્રજાનો ભાર સહન કરવા અસમર્થ છું.
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.11.15" />જો માંરી પાસેથી તમે આ બધું કામ કરાવવા માંગતા હો, તો કૃપા કરીને હમણા જ મને માંરી નાખો; તમે માંરા ઉપર ભલાઈ કરતા હો, તો મને આગળ પણ દુઃખ ન જોવા દેતા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.11.16" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના સિત્તેર વડીલોને માંરી સમક્ષ મુલાકાત મંડપ આગળ લઈ આવ જેઓને વિષે તને ખાતરી હોય, અને ત્યાં તારી સાથે ઊભા રહેવાનું તેઓને કહે.
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.11.17" />હું નીચે ઊતરીને ત્યાં આવીશ અને તારી સાથે વાત કરીશ, મેં તને જે આત્માં આપ્યો છે તેમાંથી લઈને હું એ લોકોને આપીશ તેથી તેઓ પણ તારી સાથે લોકોનો ભાર ઊચકશે, પછી તારે એકલાએ તે ભાર સહન કરવો પડશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.11.18" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તું લોકોને આ પ્રમાંણે કહે; દેહ શુદ્ધ કરી આવતીકાલને માંટે તૈયાર થાઓ, તમને માંસ ખાવા મળશે, તેઓને એ પણ કહે કે, યહોવાએ તમને રડતાં અને ફરિયાદ કરતાં સાભળ્યાં છે કે, ‘અમને માંસ કોણ આપશે? અમે મિસરમાં જ સારા હતાં!’ તે તમને માંસ આપશે, ને તમે તે જમશો.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.11.19" />એક દિવસ કે બે દિવસ નહિ, પાંચ, દશ કે વીસ દિવસ નહિ,
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<v id="20" bcv="NUM.11.20" />પરંતુ એક મહિના સુધી, તમે એનાથી કંટાળી જાઓ, તમને ચીતરી ચડે ત્યાં સુધી તમાંરે તે જમવું પડશે. કારણ કે તમે તમાંરી વચ્ચે વસતા યહોવાનો અનાદર કર્યો છે, અને તેમની આગળ એમ કહીને રોદણાં રડયા છો કે, ‘અમે મિસર છોડીને ન આવ્યા હોત તો સારું થાત.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.11.21" />મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “અત્યારે અહીં માંરી સાથે 6,00,000 પુરુષો કૂચ કરી રહ્યા છે, ‘અને તમે એમને એક આખા મહિના સુધી માંસ આપવાનું વચન આપો છો?’
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.11.22" />અરે! અમે અમાંરાં બધાં જ ઘેટાં બકરાં તથા ઢોરઢાંખર કાપીએ, તો પણ તેમાંથી આટલું બધું માંસ મળી શકે નહિ. દરિયાની બધી માંછલીઓ પકડીએ તો પણ તે પૂરી પડે નહિ.”
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.11.23" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “માંરી શક્તિ તો અમર્યાદિત છે, તૂં હમણાં જ જોશે કે, માંરું વચન સાચું સાબિત થાય છે કે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.11.24" />પછી મૂસાએ બહાર આવીને યહોવાએ જે કહ્યું હતું તે લોકોને કહી સંભળાવ્યું. તેણે લોકોમાંથી સિત્તેર વડીલો પસંદ કરીને ભેગા કર્યા. અને તેઓને તંબુની આજુબાજુ ઊભા રાખ્યા.
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<v id="25" bcv="NUM.11.25" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવા વાદળમાંથી ઊતરી આવ્યા અને મૂસા સાથે વાત કરી, પછી તેમણે મૂસાને જે આત્માં આપ્યો હતો તે લઈ અને તે સિત્તેર વડીલોને આપ્યો એટલે તેઓનામાં આત્માંનો સંચાર થયો. એટલે થોડા સમય સુધી પ્રબોધકના જેવા ભાવાવેશમાં પ્રબોધ કર્યો, પણ ત્યાર પછી તેઓએ એમ કર્યુ નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="NUM.11.26" />પરંતુ સિત્તેર પસંદગી પામેલા વડીલોમાંથી બે એલ્દાદ અને મેદાદ હજુ છાવણીમાં જ હતા, તેઓ તંબુ આગળ ગયા નહોતા તેમ છતાં તેઓનામાં પણ આત્માંનો સંચાર થયો જેણે તેમને પ્રબોધ કરાવ્યો.
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.11.27" />એક યુવાને દોડી જઈને મૂસાને કહ્યું કે, “એલ્દાદ અને મેદાદ છાવણીમાં પ્રબોધકના જેવા ભાવાવેશમાં પ્રબોધ કરી રહ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="NUM.11.28" />નૂનના પુત્ર યહોશુઆ, જે નાનો હતો ત્યારથી મૂસાની સેવામાં રહ્યો હતો, તેણે વિરોધ દર્શાવતાં કહ્યું, “માંરા ધણી, મૂસા, મહેરબાની કરી તેમને રોકો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="NUM.11.29" />પણ મૂસાએ પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “શું તને માંર પ્રતિષ્ઠાની ચિંતા છે? હું તો ઈચ્છું છું કે યહોવાના બધા લોકો પ્રબોધકો થાય યહોવા સૌને આત્માં આપે.”
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<v id="30" bcv="NUM.11.30" />ત્યારબાદ મૂસા તથા સિત્તેર આગેવાનો છાવણીમાં પાછા ગયા.
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<s style="s">લાવરીઓની વર્ષા
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NUM.11.31" />એના પછી તરત યહોવાએ પવનને મોકલ્યો, અને તે દરિયામાંથી તેની સાથે લાવરીઓને ઉપાડી લાવ્યો. લાવરીઓ છાવણીમાં તથા તેની આસપાસ ઘસડાઈને પડવા લાગી. તેઓએ જમીનને ત્રણ ફુટ ઉડી ઢાંકી દીધી. માંણસ એક દિવસમાં જેટલું અંતર કાપી શકે તેટલાં અંતરમાં દરેક દિશામાં લાવરીઓ ફેલાયલી હતી.
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<v id="32" bcv="NUM.11.32" />તેથી લોકોએ તે આખો દિવસ અને આખી રાત અને પછીનો આખો દિવસ લાવરીઓ ભેગી કરી. કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિએ દશ હોમેરથી ઓછી લાવરીઓ ભેગી કરી ન્હોતી. તેઓએ તેને છાવણીની ફરતા સુકાવા માંટે ફેલાવી દીધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="NUM.11.33" />પણ હજું માંસ તેમના દાંત વચ્ચે જ હતું. તેમણે ચાવ્યું પણ નહોતું ત્યાં તો તેમના ઉપર યહોવાનો રોષ ભભૂકી ઊઠયો; છાવણીમાં ભયંકર રોગનો ઉપદ્રવ ફાટી નીકળ્યો. મરકીમાં અસંખ્ય લોકો મૃત્યુ પામ્યા.
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<v id="34" bcv="NUM.11.34" />તેથી તેમણે એ જગ્યાનું નામ “કિબ્રોથ-હાત્તાવાહ” એટલે કે લાલચુઓની કબરો પાડયું. કારણ કે ત્યાં લોકોએ માંસની અને મિસરની લાલસા કરનારાઓને દફનાવ્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="NUM.11.35" />ત્યારબાદ તે લોકોએ તે સ્થળનો ત્યાગ કર્યો અને યાત્રા કરીને હસેરોથ આવ્યા, અને ત્યાં તેઓએ થોડા સમય માંટે મુકામ કર્યો.
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<s style="s">મરિયમ અને હારુનની ઈર્ષ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.12.1" />મૂસા એક કૂશી સ્ત્રીને પરણ્યો હતો. એકવાર મરિયમ અને હારુને મૂસાની ટીકા કરી, કેમકે તે તેને પરણ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.12.2" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “શું ફકત મૂસા સાથે જ યહોવાએ વાત કરી છે? તેમણે શું આપણી સાથે પણ વાત નથી કરી?”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ તેમના આ શબ્દો સાંભળ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.12.3" />મૂસા તો ખૂબ નમ્ર માંણસ હતો એના જેવો નમ્ર માંણસ વિશ્વમાં પણ મળે નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.12.4" />યહોવાએ તાત્કાલિક મૂસા, હારુન અને મરિયમને મુલાકાત મંડપમાં હાજર થવા આજ્ઞા કરી; “તમે ત્રણે જણ અહીં આવો.”
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<p style="p">તેથી તેઓ યહોવા સમક્ષ ઊભા રહ્યા.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.12.5" />પછી તંબુના પ્રવેશદ્વાર પાસે યહોવા મેખસ્તંભમાં નીચે ઊતર્યા, અને તંબુના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ ઊભા રહી તેમણે “હારુનને અને મરિયમને” બોલાવ્યાં,
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.12.6" />“જ્યારે તે બંને જણ આગળ ગયાં એટલે દેવે કહ્યું, હું કહું તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો. પ્રબોધકોની સાથે હું સ્વપ્નમાં દર્શન આપીને વાત કરું છું.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.12.7" />પરંતુ માંરા સેવક મૂસાની વાત તો ન્યારી છે. માંરું આખું ઘર મેં એના વિશ્વાસે છોડયું છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.12.8" />હું એની સાથે તો મોઢામોઢ વાત કરું છું, હું ચોખ્ખી વાત કહું છું, મર્મોમાં બોલતો નથી, તેણે માંરું સ્વરૂપ નિહાળ્યું છે. તે પછી માંરા સેવક મૂસાની ટીકા કરતાં તમને ડર કેમ લાગતો નથી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.12.9" />પછી યહોવાનો કોપ તેમના પર ઉતર્યો અને તેઓ ત્યાંથી ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.12.10" />તંબુ પરથી વાદળ હઠી જતાંની સાથે જ મરિયમને કોઢ ફૂટી નીકળ્યો અને તેની ચામડી કોઢથી ધોળી થઈ ગઈ. હારુને તે જોયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.12.11" />ત્યારે તેણે મૂસાને પોકાર કર્યો, “માંરા ધણી, દયા કરીને મૂર્ખાઈમાં અમે જે પાપ કરી બેઠાં છીએ તેને માંટે અમને શિક્ષા કરશો નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.12.12" />જન્મ વખતે જ જેનું અડધું માંસ ખવાઈ ગયું હોય એવા મરેલા જન્મેલા બાળક જેવી એને થવા ન દેશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.12.13" />એટલે મૂસાએ યહોવાને પોકાર કર્યો, “ઓ દેવ, તેને સાજી કરો, હું તમને વિનંતી કરું છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.12.14" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “જો તેનો પિતા તેના મુખ પર થૂંકયો હોત, તો સાત દિવસ તે લજજીત ગણાત. તેથી તેને સાત દિવસ છાવણી બહાર એકાંતમાં મોકલો, ત્યારબાદ તેને પાછી છાવણીમાં લઈ આવજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.12.15" />આથી મરિયમને સાત દિવસ સુધી છાવણીની બહાર જુદી રાખવામાં આવી, અને લોકોએ તે છાવણીમાં પાછી ન આવી ત્યાં સુધી મુકામ ઉપાડીને આગળ મૂસાફરી કરી નહિ.
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.12.16" />ત્યારવાદ તેમણે હસેરોથથી આગળ પ્રવાસ કર્યો અને પારાનના અરણ્યપ્રદેશમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<c id="13" />
<s style="s">મૂસાએ કનાન દેશમાં મોકલેલા જાસૂસો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.13.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.13.2" />“હું જે કનાની ભૂમિ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આપવાનો છું. તેની ફરીને જાસૂસી કરવા માંટે માંણસો મોકલ. દરેક કુળસમૂહમાંથી એક એક માંણસ જે આગેવાન હોય તેને પસંદ કરીને મોકલ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NUM.13.3" />યહોવાની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર પારાનના અરણ્યમાંથી મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના નીચે પ્રમાંણેના આગેવાનોને મોકલી આપ્યાં:
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.13.4" />રૂબેન કુળસમૂહમાંથી ઝાક્કૂરનો પુત્ર શામ્મૂઆ;
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.13.5" />શિમયોનના કુળસમૂહમાંથી હોરીનો પુત્ર શાફાટ;
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.13.6" />યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહમાંથી યફૂન્નેહનો પુત્ર કાલેબ;
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="NUM.13.7" />ઈસ્સાખારના કુળસમૂહમાંથી યૂસફનો પુત્ર ઈગાલ;
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.13.8" />એફ્રાઈમના કુળસમૂહમાંથી નૂનનો પુત્ર હોશિયા;
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.13.9" />બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહમાંથી રાફ્રુનો પુત્ર પાલ્ટી;
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.13.10" />ઝબૂલોનના કુળસમૂહમાંથી સોદીનો પુત્ર ગાદીએલ;
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.13.11" />યૂસફના મનાશ્શા કુળસમૂહમાંથી સૂસીનો પુત્ર ગાદી;
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.13.12" />દાન કુળસમૂહમાંથી ગમાંલ્લીનો પુત્ર આમ્મીએલ;
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.13.13" />આશેરના કુળસમૂહ તરફથી મિખાયેલનો પુત્ર સથૂર;
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.13.14" />નફતાલીના કુળસમૂહ તરફથી વોફસીનો પુત્ર નાહબી;
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.13.15" />ગાદના કુળસમૂહમાંથી માંખીનો પુત્ર ગેઉએલ.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.13.16" />જે પુરુષોને મૂસાએ દેશની જાસૂસી કરવા મોકલ્યા તેઓનાં નામ એ હતા. મૂસાએ નૂનના પુત્ર હોશિયાનું નામ બદલીને યહોશુઆ પાડયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.13.17" />મૂસાએ તેઓને કનાનભૂમિની ફરીને તપાસ કરવા મોકલતી વખતે સૂચનાઓ આપી: “તમે નેગેબની દક્ષિણમાં થઈને ઉચ્ચ પ્રદેશમાં જાઓ.
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.13.18" />અને ત્યાં જઈને જુઓ કે તે પ્રદેશ કેવો છે; ત્યાં રહેનારા લોકો કેવા છે-બળવાન છે કે નબળા, વસ્તી વધારે છે કે ઓછી;
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.13.19" />તે દેશની જમીન ઉપજાઉ છે કે નહિ; તેઓ જે શહેરોમાં રહે છે તે અરક્ષિત છે કે કિલ્લેબંદીવાળા નગરો;
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<v id="20" bcv="NUM.13.20" />ત્યાંની જમીન ફળદ્રુપ છે કે ઉજજડ, ત્યાં જંગલો છે કે નહિ, નિર્ભય થઈને જાઓ અને ત્યાંના કેટલાંક ફળોના નમૂના લઈને આવો.” એ સમય દ્રાક્ષની ઋતુનો પ્રથમ પાકનો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.13.21" />તેઓએ સમગ્ર દેશમાં જઈને સીનના અરણ્યથી માંડીને હમાંથની ઘાટી પાસે આવેલા રહોબ સુધીનો પ્રદેશ તપાસ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.13.22" />ઉત્તર તરફ જતાં તેઓ નેગેબમાંથી પસાર થયા અને હેબ્રોન પહોંચ્યા. ત્યાં તેઓએ રાક્ષસ અનાકના વંશજોના અહીમાંન, શેશાય અને તાલ્માંય કુટુંબોને વસેલાં જોયાં. (મિસરમાં સોઆન સ્થપાયું તેના સાત વર્ષ પહેલાં હેબ્રોન સ્થપાયું હતું.)
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.13.23" />તેઓ પછી હાલમાં જે એશ્કોલની ખીણ તરીકે ઓળખાય છે ત્યાં આવ્યા. તેઓએ ત્યાં દ્રાક્ષના એક ઝૂમખા સાથેની દ્રાક્ષની વેલની એક ડાળી કાપી લીધી. બે માંણસોએ તેને એક વાંસ ઉપર ઉપાડવી પડી, પછી તેમણે દાડમ અને અંજીરના પણ કેલટાક નમૂના ભેગા કર્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="NUM.13.24" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ત્યાંથી દ્રાક્ષનો એક ઝૂમખો કાપી લીધો હોવાથી એ જગ્યાનું નામ એશ્કોલનું<f caller="+"><fr>13:24
</fr><fk>એશ્કોલ
</fk><ft>આ હિબ્રુ શબ્દનો અર્થ છે, “દ્રાક્ષનો એક ઝુમકો.”</ft></f> કોતર પાડવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="25" bcv="NUM.13.25" />તે દેશમાં ફરીને તે લોકોએ 40 દિવસ સુધી તપાસ કરી. પછી પાછા એ લોકો પારાનના અરણ્યમાં કાદેશ મુકામે મૂસા અને હારુનની તેમજ સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજની પાસે પાછા આવ્યા.
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<v id="26" bcv="NUM.13.26" />ત્યાં પારાનના અરણ્યમાં કાદેશ મુકામે તેમણે તેમની આગળ અહેવાલ રજૂ કર્યો અને તે દેશનાં ફળોનાં નમૂના બતાવ્યાં.
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.13.27" />તેઓએ મૂસાને આ મુજબ કહ્યું, “તમે અમને જે દેશમાં તપાસ કરવા મોકલ્યા હતા ત્યાં અમે ગયા, ત્યાં ખરેખર દૂધ અને મધની રેલછેલ છે. આ રહ્યાં ત્યાંનાં ફળ.
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<v id="28" bcv="NUM.13.28" />પણ ત્યાંના લોકો શક્તિશાળી છે, તેઓનાં નગરો વિશાળ અને કિલ્લેબંધીવાળા છે. વળી અમે ત્યાં અનાકના રાક્ષસીઓને પણ જોયા.
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<v id="29" bcv="NUM.13.29" />અમાંલેકીઓ દક્ષિણમાં રહે છે, હિત્તીઓ, યબૂસીઓ અને અમોરીઓ પહાડી પ્રદેશોમાં રહે છે, અને કનાનીઓ દરિયાકાંઠે અને યર્દનને કાંઠે રહે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="NUM.13.30" />પછી કાલેબે મૂસાની આગળ ઊભા રહેલા લોકોને શાંત પાડ્યા અને કહ્યું, “આપણે, તરત એ દેશનો કબજો લઈએ, આપણે એને જીતી શકવા માંટે સાચે જ સમર્થ છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NUM.13.31" />પણ તેમની સાથે ગયેલા બીજા જાસૂસોએ કહ્યું, “આપણે એ લોકોને જીતી શકીએ તેમ છે જ નહિ, તેઓ આપણા કરતાં વધુ બળવાન છે.”
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<v id="32" bcv="NUM.13.32" />તેમણે તપાસેલી ભૂમિ વિરુદ્ધ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહેવાનું તેઓએ શરુ કર્યુ; “અમે જે ભૂમિ તપાસી તે શક્તિશાળી લોકોથી ભરેલી છે કે જેઓ ત્યાં જતી કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિને સરળતાથી હરાવવા સક્ષમ છે. ત્યાં અમે જોયેલા બધા માંણસો કદાવર અને બળવાન હતા.
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<v id="33" bcv="NUM.13.33" />તદુપરાંત અમે ત્યાં અનાકના વંશજો પુરાતન સમયના રાક્ષસોના વંશજોને પણ જોયા, તેઓ ખૂબ ઊચા અને કદાવર છે, અને અમે તો તેમની આગળ તીતીધોડા જેવા છીએ. એમ અમને લાગતું હતું. અને તે લોકોને પણ અમે તીતીધોડા જેવા જ લાગ્યા હોઈશું.”
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<c id="14" />
<s style="s">બંડખોર લોકોની ફરિયાદો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.14.1" />એ સાંભળીને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજ મોટે સાદે આખી રાત રુદન કરતો રહ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.14.2" />તેઓ બધા મૂસા અને હારુનની વિરુદ્ધ બડબડાટ કરવા લાગ્યા. “આના કરતાં તો અમે મિસરમાં કે અહીં અરણ્યમાં જ મૃત્યુ પામ્યાં હોત તો વધારે સારું થાત.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.14.3" />યહોવા અમને એ દેશમાં શા માંટે લઈ જાય છે? ત્યાં અમે યુદ્ધમાં માંર્યા જઈશું અને અમાંરી સ્ત્રીઓ તથા બાળકોને તેઓ બાનમાં પકડી લેશે. આના કરતાં તો મિસર પાછા જવું સારું!”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.14.4" />આમ તેઓ એકબીજાને કહેવા લાગ્યા કે, “ચાલો, આપણે કોઈને આગેવાન તરીકે પસંદ કરીએ અને પાછા મિસર જઈએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.14.5" />આ સાંભળીને મૂસા તથા હારુન ઇસ્રાએલીઓના ભેગા મળેલા સમગ્ર સમાંજ સમક્ષ ઊધે મસ્તકે ભૂમિ પર પડયા.
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.14.6" />અને દેશમાં ફરીને તપાસ કરવા ગયેલામાંના બે જણે, નૂનના પુત્ર યહોશુઆએ તથા યફૂન્નેહના પુત્ર કાલેબે દુઃખના માંર્યા પોતાનાં કપડાં ફાડી નાખ્યાં,
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.14.7" />અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના સમગ્ર સમાંજને ઉદેશીને કહ્યું, “અમે જે દેશની તપાસ કરવા ગયા હતા તે અદભૂત ખૂબ સારો દેશ છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.14.8" />જો યહોવા આપણા પર પ્રસન્ન હશે, તો તે આપણને એ દેશમાં લઈ જશે અને જ્યાં દૂધ અને મધની રેલછેલ છે તેવી ભૂમિ તે આપણને આપશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="NUM.14.9" />યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ બંડ ન કરશો, એ લોકોથી ડરશો નહિ, તે બધાને હરાવવા આપણે શક્તિમાંન છીએ. હવે તેમનું રક્ષણ કરનાર કોઈ રહ્યો નથી અને યહોવા આપણી સાથે છે, તેથી તેમનાથી જરાય ડરશો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.14.10" />તેમ છતાં લોકો યહોશુઆ અને કાલેબને પથ્થરે માંરવાની ધમકી આપતા હતા, પરંતુ તે જ સમયે યહોવાનું ગૌરવ મુલાકાતમંડપ પર બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સમક્ષ પ્રગટ થયું.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.14.11" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “એ લોકો કયાં સુધી માંરી વિમુખ રહેશે? એમની વચ્ચે મેં આટલા બધા ચમત્કારો કર્યા છતાં પણ તેઓ માંરામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખતા નથી કયાં, સુધી તેઓ માંરા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખવાની ના પાડયા કરશે? હું મરકીનો રોગચાળો ફેલાવીને તેમનો નાશ કરીશ અને તારામાંથી હું એક નવી વધારે મહાન અને બળવાન પ્રજા ઉત્પન્ન કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12-13" bcv="NUM.14.12" />પણ મૂસાએ યહોવાને કહ્યું, “પરંતુ મિસરના લોકો જાણે છે કે, તમે તમાંરા બાહુબળથી તેઓને મિસરમાંથી લઈ આવ્યા છો.
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.14.14" />તેમણે આ દેશની પ્રજાને પણ તે જણાવ્યું છે. એ લોકો જાણે છે કે, યહોવા અમાંરી વચ્ચે વસે છે અને તે અમને મોઢામોઢ દર્શન આપે છે, અમને તેમના વાદળની ઓથે મળે છે, એ લોકો જાણે છે કે, તમે દિવસે વાદળના સ્તંભરૂપે અને રાત્રે અગ્નિના સ્તંભરૂપે અમાંરી આગળ ચાલો છો.
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.14.15" />હવે, જો તમે તમાંરી પ્રજાનો સંહાર કરશો, તો જે પ્રજાઓએ તમાંરી એ બધી વાતો સાંભળી છે તેઓ કહેશે,
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.14.16" />‘યહોવાએ આ લોકોને જે દેશ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તેમાં તે એમને લઈ જઈ શક્યા નહિ; એટલે તેમણે તે બધાને અરણ્યમાં એકસામટા મોતને ઘાટ ઉતારી દીધા.’
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.14.17" />“એટલે માંરી તમને વિનંતી છે કે, જેમ તમે કહ્યું હતું તેમ તમાંરું સાર્મથ્ય બતાવો.
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.14.18" />તમે કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘હું યહોવા એકદમ ગુસ્સે થતો નથી, હું મહાન પ્રેમ અને વિશ્વાસ દર્શાવું છું, અને પાપ તથા અપરાધોની માંફી આપું છું તેમ છતાં પાપીઓના પાપની સજા ત્રીજી અને ચોથી પેઢીનાં બાળકો સુધી કરવાનું હું ચુકતો નથી.’ એ હવે સાચું પુરવાર કરો.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.14.19" />અમે મિસરમાંથી બહાર નીકળ્યા ત્યારથી આજપર્યંત દરેક સમયે તમે તેઓને માંફી આપી છે, તેમજ આજે પણ તમાંરી મહાનતા અને તમાંરા અટલ પ્રેમને કારણે તમે આ લોકોનાં પાપોને માંફ કરો એવી હું તમને આગ્રહપૂર્વક વિનંતિ કરું છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.14.20" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તમાંરી વિનંતી મુજબ હું તેઓને માંફી આપીશ,
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<v id="21" bcv="NUM.14.21" />માંરા જીવ જેટલી ચોકસાઈથી હું માંરા પોતાના ગૌરવ કે જે આખી પૃથ્વીમાં વ્યાપેલું છે તેનાથી સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે,
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.14.22" />જે લોકોએ માંરું ગૌરવ અને મિસરમાં તથા અરણ્યમાં માંરાં પરાક્રમો જોયાં છતાં દશદશ વખત માંરું પારખું કર્યુ છે અને માંરું કહ્યું માંન્યું નથી,
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.14.23" />મેં એમના પિતૃઓને જે દેશ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તેમાં તેઓમાંનો એક પણ દાખલ થવા પામશો નહિ, માંરી વિરુદ્ધ ફરી જનાર કોઈ પણ તે દેશને જોવા પામશે નહિ.
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<v id="24" bcv="NUM.14.24" />પરંતુ માંરો સેવક કાલેબ અલગ પ્રકૃતિનો માંણસ છે, તે મને સંપૂર્ણપણે વફાદાર રહ્યો છે, તેથી જે દેશમાં એ જઈને આવ્યો છે તે દેશમાં હું એને લઈ જઈશ અને તેના સંતાન એના ધણી થશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="NUM.14.25" />એ દેશના સપાટ ભાગોમાં અત્યારે અમાંલેકીઓ અને કનાનીઓ વસે છે. તેથી કાલે જ તમાંરે આ જગ્યા છોડી દેવાની છે અને રાતા સમુદ્રને રસ્તે પાછા રણમાં જજો.”
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<s style="s">યહોવાની લોકોને શિક્ષા
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="NUM.14.26" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાએ મૂસાને અને હારુનને કહ્યું,
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.14.27" />“આ દુષ્ટ લોકો કયાં સુધી માંરી વિરુદ્ધ ફરિયાદો કર્યા કરશે? તેઓએ જે કહ્યું છે તે સર્વ મેં સાંભળ્યું છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="NUM.14.28" />તું એ લોકોને જણાવ કે, ‘આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે: હું માંરા સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે, તમે માંરા સાંભળતા જે બોલ્યા હતા તે જ પ્રમાંણે હું કરીશ.
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<v id="29" bcv="NUM.14.29" />તમે લોકોએ માંરા વિરુદ્ધ ફરિયાદ કરી છે તેથી તમાંરાં સૌના મૃતદેહ આ અરણ્યમાં રઝળશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="NUM.14.30" />મેં તમને જે દેશમાં વસાવવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તેમાં વીસ વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના તમાંરામાંના કોઈ પ્રવેશવા પામશે નહિ. ફકત યફૂન્નેહનો પુત્ર કાલેબ અને નૂનનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ તેમાં પ્રવેશ કરશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="NUM.14.31" />તમે એમ પણ કહ્યું હતું કે, દુશ્મનો તમાંરા બાળકો બાનમાં પકડશે પણ હું તે બાળકોને તે ભૂમિમાં પાછા લઈ આવીશ અને તમે અસ્વીકાર કરેલી ભૂમિનો તેઓ આનંદ માંણશે.
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<v id="32" bcv="NUM.14.32" />પણ તમાંરાં મૃતદેહો તો આ અરણ્યમાં રઝળશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="NUM.14.33" />“‘અને તમાંરામાંનો છેલ્લો માંણસ અરણ્યમાં મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ ત્યાં સુધી તમાંરાં બાળકો અરણ્યમાં 40 વર્ષ સુધી ભરવાડ તરીકે રઝળશે; તેઓ દુઃખી થશે કેમકે તમે મને વફાદાર ન હતા.
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<v id="34" bcv="NUM.14.34" />ચાળીસ દિબસ સુધી તમે દેશમાં ફરીને તપાસ કરી હતી; તેમ તમે 40 વર્ષ સુધી અરણ્યમાં એકદિવસને બદલે એક વર્ષ સુધી તમાંરાં પાપોનો બોજ માંથે ઊચકીને ભટકશો ત્યારે તમને સમજાશે કે માંરી નારાજગીનું પરિણામ કેવું આવે છે?’
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="NUM.14.35" />“હું યહોવા આ બોલું છું. માંરો વિરોધ કરવા એકત્ર થયેલા આ દુષ્ટ લોકોના હું ભૂડાં હાલ કરીશ. તેઓ એકે એક આ અરણ્યમાં મૃત્યુ પામશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="NUM.14.36" />જે દશ માંણસોને મૂસાએ દેશમાં ફરીને તપાસ કરવા મોકલ્યા હતા તેમણે ખોટો હેવાલ આપ્યો, જેને કારણે લોકોએ યહોવા વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કર્યું.
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<v id="37" bcv="NUM.14.37" />તેઓ બધા યહોવા સમક્ષ રોગનો ભોગ બન્યા અને મરી ગયા, કારણ, તેમણે એ દેશને વખોડી કાઢયો હતો.
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<v id="38" bcv="NUM.14.38" />જેઓ દેશમાં તપાસ કરવા ગયા હતા, તે જાસૂસોમાંથી ફકત નૂનનો દીકરો યહોશુઆ અને યફૂન્નેહનો દીકરો કાલેબ જ જીવતા રહ્યા.
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<s style="s">લોકોનો કનાન જવાનો પ્રયત્ન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="NUM.14.39" />જયારે મૂસાએ સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને યહોવાના વચન કહી સંભળાવ્યાં ત્યારે છાવણીમાં ભારે શોક છવાઈ ગયો અને તેઓ ખૂબ પસ્તાવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="40" bcv="NUM.14.40" />બીજે દિવસે વહેલી સવારે તેઓ ઊઠયા અને બોલ્યા, “જુઓ, યહોવાએ જે ભૂમિની વાત કરી હતી ત્યાં જવા અમે તૈયાર છીએ, અમે કરેલાં પાપનું અમને ભાન થયું છે. હવે અમે યહોવાએ જે દેશનું વચન આપ્યું હતું ત્યાં જવા તૈયાર છીએ, એમ કહેતાં તેઓ પહાડી પ્રદેશ ઉપર ચઢાઈ કરવા નીકળી પડયા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="NUM.14.41" />પછી મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “હવે તે માંટે ઘણું મોડું થયું કહેવાય. યહોવાએ તમને અરણ્યમાં પાછા જવાની આજ્ઞા કરેલ છે, તમે હવે યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન શા માંટે કરો છો? એમાં તમને કોઈ લાભ થશે નહિ.
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<v id="42" bcv="NUM.14.42" />હવે તમે જરાય આગળ વધશો નહિ, નહિ તો તમાંરા દુશ્મનો તમને પરાસ્ત કરશે. કારણ કે યહોવા હવે તમાંરી સાથે નથી.
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<v id="43" bcv="NUM.14.43" />અમાંલેકીઓ અને કનાનીઓ તમાંરો સામનો કરવા ઊભા છે અને તમે તેમના શિકારનો ભોગ બનશો. કારણ તમે યહોવાને અનુસરવાનું ત્યજી દીધું છે, અને તેથી હવે યહોવા તમાંરી સાથે નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="NUM.14.44" />કરારકોશ અને મૂસા છાવણીમાંથી બહાર ગયા નથી એ હકીકત જાણવા છતાં તેમણે હઠપૂર્વક પહાડી પ્રદેશ તરફની કૂચ ચાલુ રાખી.
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<v id="45" bcv="NUM.14.45" />પછી પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં વસતા અમાંલેકીઓ અને કનાનીઓ તેમના પર તૂટી પડયા અને તેઓને હરાવ્યા, અને છેક હોર્માંહ સુધી તેઓને માંરી નસાડ્યા.
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<c id="15" />
<s style="s">યજ્ઞો અંગેના નિયમો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.15.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.15.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને તું આ મુજબ કહે: જે દેશની ભૂમિ હું તમને વસવાટ માંટે આપવાનો છું ત્યાં પ્રવેશો ત્યારે આ નિયમોનું પાલન કરવું જ.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.15.3" />નીચેનામાંથી કોઈ પણ અર્પણ માંટે બલિદાન કરવા યહોવા સમક્ષ તમે બળદ, ઘેટું કે બકરું લાવી શકો: દહનાર્પણ, પ્રતિજ્ઞા પૂર્ણ કરવા માંટેનું અર્પણ, કે પ્રતિજ્ઞાની ભેટ, કે ઉજાણી દરમ્યાન થતાં અર્પણો એ અર્પણોની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે, તેથી તમાંરે નીચેના નિયમોનું પાલન કરવું:
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.15.4" />“બલિ અર્પણ કરતી વખતે અર્પણ ચઢાવનારે એની સાથે આઠ વાટકા જીણા દળેલા લોટમાં ગેલનના ચોથા ભાગનું જૈતૂન તેલ ભેળવીને ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે અર્પણ કરવું.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.15.5" />અને હલવાનને દહનાર્પણ તરીકે અર્પણ કરતી વખતે એક લીટર દ્રાક્ષારસ પણ પેયાર્પણ તરીકે અર્પણ કરવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.15.6" />“જો ઘેટાનું અર્પણ ચઢાવવું હોય તો,
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.15.7" />તમાંરે 16 વાટકા ઝીણા દળેલા લોટમાં ગેલનના ચોથા ભાગનું તેલ ભેળવીને ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે અને દોઢ લીટર દ્રાક્ષારસ પેયાર્પણ તરીકે ચઢાવવો, આ બલિદાનની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.15.8" />“દહનાર્પણ કે પ્રતિજ્ઞા પૂર્ણ કરવા માંટે રજૂ કરવાનું અર્પણ કે શાંત્યર્પણ માંટે વાછરડાનું અર્પણ લાવે.
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<v id="9" bcv="NUM.15.9" />અને તે વાછરડા સાથે ખાદ્યાર્પણ પણ લાવે; અડધા ગેલન જૈતૂન તેલ સાથે 24 વાટકા ઝીણો દળેલો લોટ ભેળવી અર્પે.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.15.10" />અને અડધો ગેલન દ્રાક્ષારસ પણ પેયાર્પણ તરીકે ચઢાવવાં. એ અર્પણની સૌરભથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.15.11" />પ્રત્યેક બલિદાન બળદ, ઘેટું કે બકરુ ચઢાવતી વખતે આ પ્રમાંણે કરવું.
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.15.12" />જો એક કરતાં વધારે પ્રાણીઓનાં બલિદાન હોય તો પ્રત્યેક પ્રાણી દીઠ ઉપર જણાવ્યા પ્રમાંણે ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણમાં વધારો કરવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.15.13" />“યહોવાને અર્પણ ચઢાવનાર ઇસ્રાએલનો વતની હોય તો તેણે ઉપરના નિયમો પાળવા, આવા અર્પણની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.15.14" />યહોવાને અર્પણ ચઢાવનાર તમાંરી સાથે કાયમી ધોરણે કે થોડા સમય માંટે વસતો વિદેશી હોય તો પણ તેણે એ જ નિયમનું પાલન કરવું, અર્પણની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.15.15" />આ કાનૂનો તમાંરે માંટે તથા તમાંરી સાથે રહેતા વિદેશીઓ માંટે સમાંન છે, અને તે કાયમ માંટે તમે અને તમાંરા વંશજોને બંધનકર્તા છે. યહોવા સમક્ષ સ્વદેશી અને વિદેશી સરખા જ છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.15.16" />તમને અને તમાંરી વચ્ચે વસતા વિદેશીઓને આ જ કાનૂનો અને નિયમો લાગુ પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.15.17" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.15.18" />“તું ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને કહે કે, હું તમને જે દેશમાં લઈ જવાનો છું ત્યાં ગયા પછી
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.15.19" />તમે એ ભૂમિનું અનાજ ખાઓ ત્યારે તમાંરે યહોવાને ધરાવવા થોડો ભાગ અલગ રાખવો.
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<v id="20" bcv="NUM.15.20" />પહેલી કાપણીના દાણામાંથી બાંધેલા લોટને તમાંરે એક તરફ રાખવો તે પ્રથમ બાંધેલા લોટને ભેટ તરીકે યહોવાને આપો. તે ખળામાંથી આવતા ખાદ્યાર્પણ જેવું ગણાશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="NUM.15.21" />તમે બાંધેલી પ્રથમ કણકનો અમુક ભાગ તમાંરે યહોવાને માંટે અલગ રાખવો, આ ઉચ્છાલીયાર્પણ તમાંરે લાવવાનું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.15.22" />“આ નિયમ તમાંરા વંશજોને પણ લાગુ પડે છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.15.23" />યહોવાએ મૂસા માંરફતે તમને આપેલી આ આજ્ઞાઓમાંથી કોઈનો તમાંરામાંથી આજે કે ભવિષ્યમાં ભૂલથી ભંગ થઈ જાય તો તમાંરે આ પ્રમાંણે કરવું.
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<v id="24" bcv="NUM.15.24" />અને જો આખા સમાંજે અજ્ઞાનતાને કારણે ભૂલ કરી હોય, તો તેઓ દહનાર્પણ તરીકે વાછરડું બલિદાનમાં આપે. અને તેની સાથે નિયમ પ્રમાંણે ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ રજૂ કરે. તેની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થશે. આ સાથે પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે એક બકરાનું પણ બલિદાન કરવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.15.25" />“યાજકે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજ માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિતની વિધિ કરવી, તેથી તેમને પણ માંફ કરવામાં આવશે. કારણ, એ શરતચૂક હતી અને એ શરતચૂક માંટે તેઓએ યહોવાને આહુતિ પણ ચઢાવ્યાં છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="NUM.15.26" />તેથી સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજને અને તેમની ભેગા વસતા વિદેશીઓને માંફ કરવામાં આવશે, કારણ કે શરતયૂકથી એ સૌની થયેલી ભૂલ હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="NUM.15.27" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અજાણતા પાપ કરી બેસે તો તેણે એક વર્ષની બકરી પાપાર્થાર્પણને માંટે બલિ તરીકે ચઢાવવી.
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<v id="28" bcv="NUM.15.28" />અને યાજક યહોવા સમક્ષ તેને માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિતવિધિ કરે તો તેને માંફ કરવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="29" bcv="NUM.15.29" />અજાણતા ભૂલથી પાપ કરનાર પ્રત્યેક માંટે આ કાનૂન છે. પછી તે દેશનો વતની ઇસ્રાએલી હોય કે તેમની સાથે રહેતો વિદેશી હોય.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="NUM.15.30" />“પણ જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પછી તે ઇસ્રાએલી વતની હોય કે વિદેશી હોય, જાણી જોઈને ઈરાદાપૂર્વક પાપ કરે તો તે યહોવાનું અપમાંન કરે છે. એવા માંણસનો બહિષ્કાર કરવો અને સમાંજથી અલગ રાખવો,
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<v id="31" bcv="NUM.15.31" />કારણ કે, તેણે યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન ઈરાદાપૂર્વક કર્યું છે. તેણે યહોવાની અવજ્ઞા કરી છે. તેથી એ માંણસનો સંપૂર્ણ બહિષ્કાર કરવો. એના પાપની જવાબદારી એના એકલાના જ માંથે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">વિશ્રામવારે કામ કરવાનું પરિણામ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="NUM.15.32" />ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા અરણ્યમાં હતી ત્યારે એક વ્યક્તિ વિશ્રામવારે લાકડાં વીણતાં પકડાઈ ગયો.
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<v id="33" bcv="NUM.15.33" />જે લોકોએ તેને લાકડા વીણતો જોયો હતો તેઓએ એની ધરપકડ કરી અને તેને મૂસા, હારુન અને સમગ્ર સમાંજ સમક્ષ રજૂ કરવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="34" bcv="NUM.15.34" />તેને બંદીખાનામાં રાખવામાં આવ્યો, કારણ, એને શો દંડ આપવો તે હજી નક્કી થયું નહોતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="NUM.15.35" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “આ માંણસને મૃત્યુદંડની શિક્ષા કરવી જોઈએ. સમગ્ર સમાંજે એને છાવણી બહાર ઈટાળી કરીને મોતને ઘાટ ઉતારવો જોઈએ.”
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<v id="36" bcv="NUM.15.36" />તેથી યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે મુજબ તેઓ તેને છાવણીની બહાર લઈ ગયા અને ઈટાળી કરીને માંરી નાખ્યો.
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<s style="s">નિયમો યાદ રાખવા યહોવાની મદદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="NUM.15.37" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="38" bcv="NUM.15.38" />“ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને તું કહે કે, તમાંરાં વંશજોએ અને તમાંરે તમાંરાં વસ્ત્રને ખૂણે ફૂમતાં મૂકવા અને એ ફૂમતામાં ભૂરા રંગનો દોરો ગૂંથવો.
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<v id="39-40" bcv="NUM.15.39" />તમને એ ફૂમતું જોઈને માંરી બધી આજ્ઞાઓનું સ્મરણ થશે, તમે એનું પાલન કરશો તથા આ રીતે માંરી સેવામાં સમર્પિત રહેશો. તમે માંરાથી દૂર ભટકી જશો નહિ અને તમાંરા શરીરની ઈચ્છાઓ અને તમાંરી નજર જે જુએ છે તેની પાછળ ખેંચાશો નહિ, જેથી તમે એ ફૂમતાઓને જોશો ત્યારે માંરી બધી આજ્ઞાઓને યાદ કરી તેનું પાલન કરશો પછી તમે દેવના ખાસ લોકો બનશો.
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<v id="41" bcv="NUM.15.41" />તમાંરો દેવ બનવા તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવનાર હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું. હા, હું યહોવા તમાંરો દેવ છું.”
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</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">કોરાહ, દાથાન, અબીરામ, અને ઓનનું બંડ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.16.1" />લેવી કુળના વંશજ કોરાહ, જે કહાથના પુત્ર યિસ્હારનો પુત્ર હતો, રૂબેનના વંશજો દાથાન તથા અબીરામ જે અલીઆબના પુત્રો હતા તથા રૂબેન કુળ સમૂહનો હજુ એક વંશજ ઓન જે પેલેથનો પુત્ર હતો એ ચારે જણ ભેગા થયા અને મૂસા સામે ઉભા થયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.16.2" />તેમની સાથે 250 ઇસ્રાએલી તેમની ઉશ્કેરણીથી મૂસા વિરુદ્ધ બંડમાં જોડાયા. તેઓ બધા સમાંજના આગેવાનો, પંચના ચૂંટાયેલા અગ્રણી તથા પ્રતિષ્ઠિત માંણસો હતા.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.16.3" />તેઓ બધા મૂસા અને હારુનની વિરુદ્ધ થયા અને તેમને કહ્યું, “તમે હવે હદ વટાવો છો, તમાંરી આગેવાનીથી અમે થાકી ગયા છીએ. ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ લોકો પવિત્ર છે? તેઓની વચ્ચે યહોવાનો વાસ નથી? તમે તમાંરી જાતને યહોવાની મંડળી કરતાં ઊંચી શા માંટે ગણાવો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.16.4" />આ શબ્દો કાને પડતાં જ મૂસા જમીન પર પછાડ ખાઈને પડયો.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.16.5" />પછી તેણે કોરાહને અને તેના બધા સાથીમિત્રોને કહ્યું, “આવતી કાલે સવારે યહોવા જાહેર કરશે કે, કોણ યહોવાના છે, અને કોણ ખરેખર પવિત્ર છે, યહોવા એ વ્યક્તિને પસંદ કરી અને તેને પોતાની નજીક બોલાવશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.16.6" />કોરાહ, તું અને તારા સાથીઓ આ મુજબ કરો:
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.16.7" />આવતીકાલે તમાંરે ધૂપદાની લઈને તેમાં અગ્નિ અને ધૂપ મૂકવો અને યહોવાને ધરાવવી. યહોવા પસંદ કરશે તે જ ખરેખરો પવિત્ર બનશે. લેવીના પુત્રો તમે જ છો. જે મર્યાદા વટાવો છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.16.8" />વળી મૂસાએ વધુમાં કોરાહને કહ્યું, “ઓ લેવીઓ, માંરી વાત સાંભળો.
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<v id="9" bcv="NUM.16.9" />સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજમાંથી દેવે તમને પસંદ કર્યા, અને અલગ કર્યા, મંદિરમાં સેવા ઉપાસના અને ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને દેવની ઉપાસના કરવામાં મદદ કરવા માંટે. એટલું તમાંરા માંટે શું પૂરતું નથી?
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.16.10" />ફકત તને કોરાહને, તથા તારા અન્ય લેવીબંધુઓને પોતાની આટલી સેવા કરવાનો અધિકાર આપ્યો છે અને હવે તમે યાજકપદની અભિલાષા કરો છો?
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.16.11" />હારુને કઈ ખોટું કર્યુ છે કે તમે એની સામે ફરિયાદ કરો છો? તું અને તારા સાથીઓ યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ બળવો કરો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.16.12" />ત્યારબાદ મૂસાએ અલીઆવના પુત્ર દાથાનને અને અબીરામને તેડાવ્યા, પણ તેમણે કહેવડાવ્યું, “અમે નથી આવતા,
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.16.13" />તું અમને દૂધ અને મધની રેલછેલ હતી એવા દેશમાંથી આ અરણ્યમાં મરવા માંટે લઈ આવ્યો એટલું ઓછું છે કે તું અમાંરા પર પાછો દોર ચલાવવા માંગે છે?
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.16.14" />તદુપરાંત જે અદભૂત દેશનું તેં વચન આપ્યું હતું તેમાં તું અમને લાવ્યો નથી, તેં અમને ખેતરો કે દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓ પણ આપી નથી, તને શું લોકોની આંખો કાઢી નાખીશ જેથી તેઓ ઉપર કરેલું નુકશાન જુએ નહિ? ના, અમે તારી પાસે આવવાના નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.16.15" />પછી મૂસાએ ગુસ્સે થઈને યહોવાને કહ્યું, “એમના અર્પણ કરેલાં બલિદાનોનો સ્વીકાર કરશો નહિ, મેં તે લોકો પાસેથી એક ગધેડું પણ લીધું નથી કે તેઓમાંના કોઈનું કશું નુકસાન પણ કર્યુ નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.16.16" />એટલે મૂસાએ કોરાહને કહ્યું, “તું અને તારા સર્વ સાથીઓ આવતીકાલે યહોવા સમક્ષ અહીં હાજર થજો. હારુન પણ આવશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.16.17" />તમાંરામાંનો પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ પોતાની ધૂપદાની સાથે લઈને યહોવા સમક્ષ આવે. ત્યાં આગેવાનો માંટે 250 ધૂપદાનીઓ અને તારા અને હારુન માંટે એક-એક ધૂપદાની હશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.16.18" />તેથી તે બધા પોતાની ધૂપદાનીઓ સાથે લાવ્યા અને તેમાં દેવતા મૂકી ધૂપ નાખ્યો; અને મૂસા અને હારુનની સાથે મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ આવીને ઊભા રહ્યા.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.16.19" />તે દરમ્યાન કોરાહે સમગ્ર સમાંજને મૂસા અને હારુન વિરુદ્ધ ઉશ્કેરીને એ બે જણની સામે ભેગા કર્યા હતા. ત્યાં તો યહોવાના ગૌરવે સમગ્ર સમાંજને દર્શન દીધાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.16.20" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને અને હારુનને કહ્યું,
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<v id="21" bcv="NUM.16.21" />“તમે આ લોકોના સમાંજમાંથી બહાર નીકળી જાઓ, એટલે હું તત્કાળ એ સર્વનો નાશ કરું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.16.22" />પરંતુ મૂસાએ અને હારુને યહોવા સમક્ષ સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કર્યા અને કહ્યું, “હે દેવ, તમે જ બધા જીવોના જીવનદાતા છો, એક જ વ્યક્તિના પાપને કારણે શું તમે સમગ્ર સમાંજ પ્રત્યે ક્રોધાયમાંન થશો?”
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.16.23" />એટલે યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="24" bcv="NUM.16.24" />“તું એ લોકોને કહે કે તેઓ કોરાહ, દાથાન અને અબીરામના તંબુ આગળથી દૂર ખસી જાય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.16.25" />ત્યારપછી મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના વડીલો સાથે દાથાન અને અબીરામની પાસે જઈને આખા સમાંજને ઉદેશીને કહ્યું,
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<v id="26" bcv="NUM.16.26" />“તમે આ દુષ્ટ માંણસોના તંબુઓથી આધા ખસી જાઓ. એમની કોઈ વસ્તુને અડશો નહિ. નહિ તો તેમનાં બધાં પાપોને કારણે તમે પણ તેમની સાથે નાશ પામશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="NUM.16.27" />તેથી કોરાહ, દાથાન અને અબીરામના તંબુઓ આગળથી બધા લોકો દૂર ચાલ્યા ગયા, દાથાન અને અબીરામ પોતાની પત્નીઓ, પુત્રો અને બાળકો સાથે પોતાના તંબુમાંથી બહાર આવીને પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ આવીને ઊભા રહ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="NUM.16.28" />મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “આ દ્વારા તમને ખાતરી થશે કે મેં જે કંઈ કર્યું છે તે કરવા માંટે મને યહોવાએ મોકલ્યો છે; કારણ કે હું કાંઈ માંરી મરજી મુજબ આ બધાં કાર્યો કરતો નથી.
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<v id="29" bcv="NUM.16.29" />જો આ લોકો બીજા બધા માંણસોની જેમ કુદરતી રીતે મૃત્યુ પામે તો માંનવું કે યહોવાએ મને મોકલ્યો નથી,
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<v id="30" bcv="NUM.16.30" />પણ જો યહોવા ચમત્કાર કરે અને ધરતી પોતાનું મુખ ઉધાડે અને તેઓને તથા તેઓની બધી જ વસ્તુઓને ગળી જાય અને તેઓ જીવતા મૃત્યુલોકોમાં પહોંચી જાય તો તમાંરે જાણવું કે, એ લોકોએ યહોવાનું અપમાંન કર્યું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NUM.16.31" />મૂસા બોલી રહ્યો કે તરત જ તે લોકોના પગ નીચેની ધરતી ફાટી;
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<v id="32" bcv="NUM.16.32" />ધરતીએ ખોલેલા મુખમાં તેમનાં કુટુંબો, તેમનાં તંબુઓ, તેઓ અને તેઓના સાથીઓ અને તેઓનું સર્વસ્વ જતુ રહ્યું.
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<v id="33" bcv="NUM.16.33" />તેઓ પોતાના સર્વસ્વ સાથે જીવતા મૃત્યુલોકમાં પહોંચી ગયા; ધરતી પાછી સંધાઈ ગઈ. આમાં તેઓનો સર્વનાશ થઈ ગયો, તેઓ સમુદાયમાંથી જતાં રહ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="NUM.16.34" />તેમની ચીસો સાંભળીને ત્યાં આસપાસ ઊભેલા બધાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ભયભીત થઈને ભાગવા માંડયા. રખેને તેઓને પણ “ધરતી હડપ કરી જાય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="NUM.16.35" />પછી યહોવાનો અગ્નિ આવ્યો અને ધૂપ ચઢાવવા આવેલા 250 માંણસોને ભશ્મ કરી ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="NUM.16.36" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="37" bcv="NUM.16.37" />“તું યાજક હારુનના પુત્ર એલઆઝારને કહે કે, અગ્નિમાંથી ધૂપદાનીઓ ઉપાડી લે; કેમકે તેમાંનો ધૂપ પવિત્ર છે કારણ એ યહોવાને અર્પિત થયેલ છે. અને એમને કહો કે તેમાંનો કોલસો અને રાખ આમતેમ વેરી દે.
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<v id="38" bcv="NUM.16.38" />યહોવાની વેદી સમક્ષ તે રજૂ થઈ હતી તેથી તે ધૂપદાનીઓ પવિત્ર છે, તેથી પાપ કરીને મૃત્યુને ભેટનાર એ લોકોની ધૂપદાનીઓમાંથી પતરાં બનાવડાવી તેના વડે વેદીના ઢાંકણને મઢાવજે, એ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો માંટે ચેતવણીરૂપ થઈ પડશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="NUM.16.39" />યહોવાએ મૂસા માંરફતે કરેલી આજ્ઞા મુજબ યાજક એલઆઝારે ધૂપ ઘરાવતી વખતે અગ્નિનો ભોગ લોકોની ધૂપદાનીઓ લઈને તેની વેદીને ઢાંકવા માંટે પતરાં બનાવડાવ્યાં.
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<v id="40" bcv="NUM.16.40" />જેને જોઈને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને યાદ રહે કે જે હારુનના કુટુંબમાંથી ના હોય અને બિનઅધિકૃત હોય તેણે યહોવા સમક્ષ ધૂપ ધરાવવા આવવું નહિ. નહિ તો તેની હાલત કોરાહ અને તેના સાથીઓ જેવી થશે. આમ મૂસા દ્વારા યહોવાએ એલઆઝારને આપેલી આજ્ઞા અનુસાર બધું કરવામાં આવ્યું.
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</p>
<s style="s">હારુન દ્વારા લોકોનો બચાવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="NUM.16.41" />પરંતુ બીજે દિવસે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજ મૂસાની અને હારુનની વિરૂદ્ધ એમ કહેતા કચવાટ કરવા લાગ્યો, “તમે જ યહોવાના માંણસોના મોત નિપજાવ્યા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="NUM.16.42" />થોડા સમયમાં જ ફરિયાદ કરતા લોકોનું મોટું ટોળું ભેગું થયું. તેઓએ મુલાકાત મંડપ તરફ જોયું તો એકાએક તેના પર એક વાદળો આચ્છાદન કર્યું હતું. અને યહોવાના ગૌરવે ત્યાં દર્શન દીથાં હતાં.
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<v id="43" bcv="NUM.16.43" />મૂસા અને હારુન મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ જઈને ઊભા રહ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="NUM.16.44" />એટલે યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="45" bcv="NUM.16.45" />“આ લોકોથી દૂર ખસી જા, જેથી હું એ લોકોનો એક પળમાં નાશ કરું.” એટલે મૂસા અને હારુને જમીન પર લાંબા થઈને તેમને સાંષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કર્યા.
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<v id="46" bcv="NUM.16.46" />અને મૂસાએ હારુનને કહ્યું, “જલદીથી ધૂપદાની લઈને તેમાં વેદીમાંથી દેવતા ભર અને તેમાં ધૂપ નાખ, અને તે લઈને દોડતો દોડતો લોકો પાસે જા અને તેમના પાપનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત કર, કારણ કે યહોવાનો કોપ તેઓના પર ઊતર્યો છે અને રોગચાળો ફાટી નીકળ્યો છે. લોકોમાં મરકી શરૂ થઈ ગઈ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="NUM.16.47" />આથી મૂસાએ કહ્યું તે મુજબ હારુને કર્યુ. અને ઝડપથી ધૂપદાની લઈને ભેગા મળેલા લોકો વચ્ચે દોડી ગયો, તો ખબર પડી કે તેઓમાં રોગચાળો શરૂ થઈ ગયો હતો. તેણે ધૂપદાનીમાં ધૂપ નાખી મરેલાં
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<v id="48" bcv="NUM.16.48" />અને જીવતા વચ્ચે ઊભા રહી લોકોના પાપનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત કર્યું. રોગચાળો બંધ થઈ ગયો.
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<v id="49" bcv="NUM.16.49" />પરંતુ તેટલા સમયમાં 14,700 લોકો મૃત્યુ પામ્યાં હતાં અને કોરાહના બંડ વખતે મૃત્યુ પામેલા તે તો જુદા.
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<v id="50" bcv="NUM.16.50" />આમ રોગચાળો બંધ થઈ ગયો એટલે હારુન મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશ દ્વાર આગળ મૂસા પાસે પાછો ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">હારુનની લાકડીએ ફૂલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.17.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.17.2" />“તું ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને કહે કે તેમના કુળસમૂહના આગેવાનો તને કુળદીઠ એક એટલે એકંદરે બાર લાકડીઓ આપે. દરેકની લાકડી પર તેમનું નામ કોતરાવવું.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.17.3" />લેવીના કુળસમૂહની લાકડી પર હારુનનું નામ કોતરાવવું; કારણ કે લેવીના વંશની પણ એક જ લાકડી હોય.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.17.4" />પછી હું તેને મુલાકાત મંડપમાં કરારકોશ સમક્ષ મળું છું ત્યાં તારે આ લાકડીઓ મૂકવી.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.17.5" />મેં જે માંણસને પસંદ કર્યો છે તેની લાકડીને કળીઓ ફૂટશે. આ રીતે હું ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાની તારી સામેની ફરિયાદોનો અંત લાવીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.17.6" />મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને વાત કરી, તેથી કુળસમૂહોના આગેવાનો તેની પાસે પોતપોતાની લાકડી લાવ્યા. અને હારુનની લાકડી પણ તે લાકડીઓ સાથે મૂકી.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.17.7" />મૂસાએ એ લાકડીઓ મુલાકાત મંડપની અંદરની સાક્ષ્યમંડપમાં યહોવા સમક્ષ મૂકી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.17.8" />બીજે દિવસે જયારે મૂસા અંદર ગયો ત્યારે લેવીના કુળનું પ્રતિનિધિત્વ કરતી હારુનની લાકડીને કળીઓ બેઠી હતી. ફૂલ ખીલ્યાં હતાં, અને પાકી બદામો પણ લાગી હતી.
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<v id="9" bcv="NUM.17.9" />મૂસાએ યહોવા આગળથી એ લાકડીઓ બહાર લાવીને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને બતાવી. તેમણે લાકડી સામે જોયુ, પ્રત્યેક આગેવાન તેની લાકડી પાછી લઈ લીધી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.17.10" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “હારુનની લાકડી પાછી કરાર સમક્ષ મૂકી દે. એ બંડખોર ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માંટે ચેતવણીરૂપ છે, જેથી માંરી વિરુદ્ધના તેમના આ કચવાટનો અંત આવે અને એમને મરવું પડે નહિ.”
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.17.11" />યહોવાએ જણાવ્યું હતું તે મુજબ મૂસાએ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.17.12" />છતાં ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ મૂસા સમક્ષ ફરિયાદ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું: “આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે આપણું મૃત્યુ નિશ્ચિત છે, આપણે ગુમાંવેલાં છીએ! આપણો બધાનો વિનાશ થશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.17.13" />જે કોઈ યહોવાનાં પવિત્ર સ્થાનની નજીક જાય છે, તેનું મૃત્યુ થાય છે. તો શું અમે બધા આમ જ મરી જવાના? શું અમાંરા સર્વનો નાશ થશે?”
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</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">યાજકો અને લેવીઓનાં કર્તવ્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.18.1" />યહોવાએ હારુનને કહ્યું, “પવિત્રસ્થાનની સેવાની જવાબદારી તારી, તારા પુત્રોની તેમજ લેવી વંશના બીજા બધા માંણસોની છે. સેવામાં દોષ ન આવે તથા યાજક તરીકેના કાર્યમાં કોઈ પણ દોષ ન રહે તે તારે તથા તારા પુત્રોને જોવાનું છે. તે જવાબદારી પણ તમાંરી જ છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.18.2" />તું અને તારા પુત્રો કરારનાં મંડપમાં સેવા કરો, ત્યારે તારા પિતાએ લેવીના કુળસમૂહના તારા બીજા જાતભાઈઓને પણ સાથે મદદમાં રાખવા.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.18.3" />તેઓ તારા હાથ નીચે રહીને તંબુને લગતી બધી જવાબદારી પુરી કરી શકે, માંત્ર તેમણે પવિત્રસ્થાનનાં પાત્રો કે વેદીની નજીક જવું નહિ. જો તેઓ જશે તો તેઓ બધાજ મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.18.4" />લેવી વંશ સિવાયના કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિને તે કામમાં સાથે રાખવો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.18.5" />“પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં અને વેદી સમક્ષ ફકત યાજકોએ જ પવિત્ર ફરજો બજાવવાની છે, જેથી ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા ઉપર ફરી કદી માંરો કોપ ઊતરશે નહિ.
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.18.6" />હું તને ફરીથી કહું છું, મેં પોતે બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાંથી તારા કુટુંબી લેવીઓને મુલાકાતમંડપમાં સેવા બજાવવા માંટે પસંદ કર્યો છે. તેઓ મને સમર્પિત થયેલા છે. જે મેં તમને ભેટ આપ્યા છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.18.7" />પરંતુ વેદીને લગતી અને પડદાની અંદર પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનમાં લગતી યાજક તરીકેની બધી જ ફરજો તારે અને તારા પુત્રોએ જ પુરી કરવાની છે. કારણ કે, તમાંરી યાજક તરીકેની સેવા મેં તમને ભેટો તરીકે આપી છે. બીજુ કોઈ જે માંરા પવિત્રસ્થાનની નજીક આવે તો તેને મૃત્યુદંડની જ શિક્ષા કરવી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.18.8" />વળી યહોવાએ હારુનને કહ્યું, “મને અર્પણ કરવામાં આવેલ બધી વસ્તુઓ મેં યાજકોને આપી છે. ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા મને જે કઈ ધરાવશે તે હું તારા ભાગ તરીકે તને અને તારા વંશજોને કાયમ માંટે આપું છું.
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<v id="9" bcv="NUM.18.9" />અગ્નિમાં હોમવામાં ન આવેલા અર્પણનાં ભાગો સિવાય આ બધા અતિ પવિત્ર અર્પણો તારા ગણાશો; બધા ખાદ્યાર્પણો, પાપાર્થાર્પણો અને દોષાર્થાર્પણો એ બધા પવિત્ર અર્પણો તારા અને તારા વંશજોના ગણાશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.18.10" />તારે આ અર્પણો ફકત પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં જ જમવા. અને તે પણ ફકત પુરુષોએ જ જમવા; અને તારે પવિત્ર ગણવા.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.18.11" />“ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મને બીજા જે ઉચ્છાલીયાર્પણો ધરાવે તે પણ તારા જ ગણાશે. તે પણ હું તને અને તારાં પુત્રપુત્રીઓને કાયમ માંટે આપું છું. માંત્ર તે સમયે જે અશુદ્ધ હોય તે સિવાયના તમાંરાં કુટુંબના સર્વ સભ્યો આ જમી શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.18.12" />“અને યહોવાને અર્પણ કરવા માંટે લોકો પાકના પ્રથમ ફળ લાવે. ઉત્તમ જૈતતેલ, બધો ઉત્તમ નવો દ્રાક્ષારસ અને ઘઉ. તે બધા તારે લેવાં.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.18.13" />લોકો પોતાની ભૂમિના પ્રથમ પાક તરીકે જે કંઈ મને ધરાવવા લાવે તે બધુ તારું થશે. તમાંરાં કુટુંબના બધાં સભ્યો તે જમી શકે. સિવાય કે તે સમયે જે અશુદ્ધ હોય.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.18.14" />“ઇસ્રાએલમાં મને સમર્પિત પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુઓ તારી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.18.15" />“તેઓ મને પ્રથમજનિત બાળકો અને પશુઓ અર્પણ કરે તે પણ તારાં છે. છતાં પ્રત્યેક પ્રથમજનિત બાળકની તથા અશુદ્ધ પ્રાણીની કિંમત લઈને તારે તેમને મુકત કરવાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.18.16" />પ્રત્યેક પ્રથમજનિત બાળકને મુકત કરવાની કિંમતરૂપે અધિકારયુક્ત અધિકૃત માંપ પાંચ શેકેલ ચાંદી લેવી. અને બાળક એક મહિનાનું થાય ત્યારે તેને મુક્ત કરવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.18.17" />“પરંતુ ગાય, ઘેટા, અને બકરાના પ્રથમજનિતોને બદલામાં નાણાં લઈને મુકત ન કરવાં, કારણ કે, તેઓ સંપૂર્ણપણે યહોવાને સમર્પિત છે. તારે તેમનું લોહી વેદી પર છાંટવું અને તેમની ચરબી અર્પણ તરીકે હોમવી. તેની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.18.18" />પરંતુ આરત્યર્પણ તરીકે ધરાવવામાં આવેલા પ્રાણીની છાતી અને જમણી જાંઘની જેમ એનું માંસ તારું ગણાશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.18.19" />વેદી આગળ યહોવાને અર્પણ માંટે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ જે કોઈ પવિત્ર ભેટો ધરાવે તે બધી કાયમ માંટે તને, અને તારાં પુત્ર અને પુત્રીઓને આપેલ છે. તારી અને તારા વંશજોની સાથે મેં કરેલો આ કાયમી કરાર છે, જેનો કદી ભંગ થઈ શકે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.18.20" />યહોવાએ હારુનને કહ્યું, “તમને યાજકોને બીજા ઇસ્રાએલીઓની જેમ તમાંરી પોતાની ભૂમિ કે ભૂમિમાં ભાગ હોય નહિ. કારણ કે હું જ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મધ્યે તમાંરો હિસ્સો અને તમાંરો વારસો છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.18.21" />“લેવીઓ મુલાકાત મંડપની જે સેવા બજાવે છે તેના બદલામાં હું તેમને ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી ઉઘરાવાતી બધી વસ્તુઓનો દશમો ભાગ આપું છું.
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.18.22" />હવે પછી યાજકો અને લેવીઓ સિવાય અન્ય કોઈ પણ ઇસ્રાએલી મુલાકાત મંડપમાં પ્રવેશ કરશે નહિ. જો પ્રવેશ કરશે તો મોતની સજા વહોરી લેશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.18.23" />મુલાકાત મંડપની સેવા ફકત લેવીઓએ જ કરવી અને તેની બધી જ જવાબદારી ઉઠાવવી. આ કાયમી કાનૂન છે અને જ તમાંરા વંશજોને પણ બંધનકર્તા છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="NUM.18.24" />લોકોએ તેમની પાસે જે કાઈ હોય તેનો દશમો ભાગ યહોવાને અર્પણ કરવા. તે અર્પણો લેવીઓના છે. તે હું તેમને તેમના વારસા તરીકે આપુ છું; તેથી જ મેં આ શબ્દો લેવીઓ વિષે કહ્યાં હતાં, તેઓને બીજા ઇસ્રાએલીઓની જેમ જમીન જાગીર મળે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.18.25" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="26" bcv="NUM.18.26" />“તું લેવીઓને જણાવ કે, મેં તમાંરે માંટે ઠરાવેલો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તરફથી મળવો જોઈતો દશમો ભાગ મને વિશેષ ભેટ તરીકે ધરાવવો.
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.18.27" />આમ યહોવાને અર્પણ કરવામાં આવેલું અનાજ અને દ્રાક્ષારસ જાણે કે તમાંરી પ્રથમ પાકનું અર્પણ છે અને તમાંરી પોતાની જ સંપતિમાંથી અર્પણ કરેલું છે તેમ યહોવા તેનો સ્વીકાર કરશે.
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<v id="28" bcv="NUM.18.28" />આ રીતે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તરફથી તમને મળેલા દશમાં ભાગમાંથી માંરે માંટે એક ભાગ જુદો કાઢી મુકશો, તો તે તમાંરી કમાંણીનો દશમો ભાગ મને અર્પણ તરીકે ગણાશે. તમે માંરે માંટે જુદો રાખેલો ભાગ યાજક હારુનને આપજો.
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<v id="29" bcv="NUM.18.29" />તમને જે મળે તેમાંથી જે શ્રેષ્ઠ છે તે યહોવાનો ભાગ બને છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="NUM.18.30" />“મૂસા, લેવીઓને કહો! તે જાણો તમાંરી જ જમીનની તથા દ્રાક્ષાકુંડની ઊપજનો દશમો ભાગ હોય તેમ ગણવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="NUM.18.31" />હારુન અને તેના પુત્રો તથા તેઓનાં કુટુંબો પોતપોતાનાં ઘરોમાં અથવા પોતાને ગમે તે જગ્યાએ તેઓ તેને જમી શકશે, કારણ કે મુલાકાત મંડપમાંની તેઓની સેવાનું તે વેતન ગણાશે, બદલો ગણાશે.
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<v id="32" bcv="NUM.18.32" />તમે એ પ્રમાંણે યાજકોને તમાંરો દશાંશ શ્રેષ્ઠ ભાગ આપશો, તો પછી ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ધરાવેલી પવિત્ર ભેટો ભ્રષ્ટ કરવાનો દોષ તમાંરે માંથે આવશે નહિ, અને તમાંરે મૃત્યુ પામવું પડશે નહિ.”
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<s style="s">લાલ ગાયનાં દેહાવશેષે
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.19.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને અને હારુનને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.19.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને આ કાનૂનો જણાવ: તેઓ ખોડખાંપણ વગરની અને કદી જોતરાઈ ના હોય તેવી એક લાલ ગાય મૂસા અને હારુન પાસે લાવે.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.19.3" />તારે એ ગાય યાજક એલઆઝારને આપવી. અને તેણે તેને છાવણી બહાર લઈ જવી અને ત્યાં તેને માંરી નાખવી.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.19.4" />એલઆઝાર તેનું થોડું લોહી પોતાની આંગળી પર લે અને મુલાકાતમંડપની આગળ તેનાં સાત વખત છંટકાવ કરે.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.19.5" />ત્યારબાદ યાજકની સમક્ષ બીજી કોઈ પવિત્ર વ્યક્તિ ગાયનું ચામડું, માંસ, રક્ત તથા છાણનું દહન કરે.
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.19.6" />ત્યારબાદ યાજકે ગંધતરુંનું લાકડું, ઝુફો અને કિરમજી રંગની દોરી લઈને ગાયનું દહન થતું હોય ત્યારે તે અગ્નિમાં નાખવું.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.19.7" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે પોતાનાં કપડાં ધોઈ નાખવાં અને આખા શરીરે સ્નાન કરવું અને છાવણીમાં પાછા ફરવું. સાંજ સુધી વિધિ અનુસાર તે અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.19.8" />જેણે ગાયનું દહન કર્યુ હોય તેણે પોતાનાં કપડાં ધોઈ નાખવાં અને આખા શરીરે સ્નાન કરવું, છતાં તે પણ સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.19.9" />“તે પછી વિધિ મુજબ જે શુદ્ધ ન હોય તેવી વ્યક્તિએ ગાયની રાખ ભેગી કરવી, અને છાવણી બહાર શુદ્ધ કરેલી જગ્યાએ તેની ઢગલી કરવી. અને તે રાખ વ્યક્તિના પાપ દૂર કરવાની વિધિ માંટેનું પાવકજળ બનાવવા રાખી મૂકવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.19.10" />“જે માંણસે ગાયની રાખ ભેગી કરી હોય તેણે પોતાનાં કપડાં ધોઈ નાખવાં, પણ તે સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાશે.
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<p style="p">“ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા માંટે અને તમાંરી ભેગા રહેતા વિદેશીઓ માંટે આ કાયમી નિયમ છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.19.11" />જે કોઈ મનુષ્યના મૃતદેહને સ્પર્શ કરે તેને સાત દિવસ સૂતક પાળવું.
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.19.12" />પછી તેણે ત્રીજે અને સાતમે દિવસે પાવકજળ વડે પોતાની શુદ્ધિ કરાવવી. ત્યારબાદ તે શુદ્ધ થયો ગણાશે. પણ જો તે આ પ્રમાંણે ત્રીજા દિવસે અને સાતમે દિવસે પોતાની શુદ્ધિ નહિ કરાવે તો તે શુદ્ધ નહિ ગણાય.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.19.13" />જે કોઈ મનુષ્ય મૃતદેહને સ્પર્શ કર્યા પછી જણાવેલી રીત મુજબ પોતાને શુદ્ધ નહિ કરે તો તે યહોવાના મુલાકાતમંડપને અશુદ્ધ કરે છે. તેના પર શુદ્ધિજળ છાંટવામાં આવ્યું નથી તેથી તેવા માંણસનો બહિષ્કાર કરવો, કારણ કે તે યહોવાના મંદિરને અપવિત્ર કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.19.14" />“જો કોઈ માંણસ તંબુમાં મૃત્યુ પામે તો તે માંટે આ નિયમો છે: તંબુમાં તે વખતે પ્રવેશ કરનારા અને મૃત્યુ સમયે હાજર રહેનારા સૌને સાત દિવસનું સૂતક લાગે.
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.19.15" />મંડપમાંનું ઢાકણ વગરનું પ્રત્યેક માંત્ર અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.19.16" />જો કોઈ મંડપની બહાર હથિયારથી અથવા કુદરતી રીતે મૃત્યુ પામેલા માંણસને સ્પર્શ કરે અથવા હાડકાંને કે કબરને સ્પર્શ કરે તો તે સાત દિવસ સૂતકી ગણાય.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.19.17" />“આવા સૂતક માંટે પાપાર્થાર્પણની લાલ ગાયની રાખને વાસણમાં લઈ ઝરાના પાણી સાથે મિશ્ર કરવી.
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.19.18" />ત્યારબાદ જે વ્યક્તિ શુદ્ધ ના હોય તેણે ઝુફો લઈને એ પાણીમાં બોળીને તેના વડે મંડપ ઉપર અને તેમાંનાં બધાં પાત્રો ઉપર તથા તેમાંના બધા માંણસો ઉપર છાંટવું, જેણે વ્યક્તિના હાડકાને કે મરેલા કે માંરી નાખવામાં આવેલા વ્યક્તિના મૃતદેહને કે કબરને સ્પર્શ કર્યો હોય તો તે વ્યક્તિ ઉપર પણ છાટવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="NUM.19.19" />“સૂતક વગરના માંણસે સૂતકવાળા માંણસ ઉપર ત્રીજે અને સાતમે દિવસે પાણી છાંટવું. અને સાતમે દિવસે તેણે તે માંણસની શુદ્ધિ કરવી. સૂતકી માંણસે એ દિવસે પોતાના કપડા ધોઈ નાખવાં, પોતે આખા શરીરે સ્નાન કરવું, એટલે સાંજે તે શુદ્ધ થયો ગણાશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.19.20" />“પરંતુ જો કોઈ સૂતકી પોતાની શુદ્ધિ ન કરાવે તો તેનો સમાંજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરવો, કારણ, તેણે પવિત્ર મંડપને ભ્રષ્ટ કર્યુ છે, તેના પર શુદ્ધિજળ છાંટવામાં આવ્યું નથી, તેથી તે સૂતકી છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="NUM.19.21" />આ તમાંરે માંટે કાયમી નિયમ છે. પાણીનો છંટકાવ કરનાર વ્યક્તિ ત્યારબાદ પોતાનાં કપડાં ધોઈ નાખે. વળી જે કોઈ તે પાણીને સ્પર્શ કરે તે પણ સાંજ સુધી સૂતકી ગણાય.
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.19.22" />સૂતકી વ્યક્તિ જે કોઈ વસ્તુને સ્પર્શ કરે તે પણ સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય; અને તે વસ્તુને સ્પર્શ કરનાર વ્યક્તિ પણ સાંજ સુધી અશુદ્ધ ગણાય.”
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<s style="s">મરિયમનું અવસાન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.20.1" />પહેલા મહિનામાં બધાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સીનના અરણ્યમાં આવ્યાં અને કાદેશમાં પડાવ નાખ્યો. ત્યાં મરિયમનું અવસાન થતાં તેને દફનાવવામાં આવી.
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<s style="s">મૂસાની ભૂલ
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="NUM.20.2" />તે સ્થળે સમાંજ માંટે પૂરતું પાણી નહોતું તેથી બધા લોકો મૂસાની અને હારુનની વિરુદ્ધ ટોળે વળીને કચકચ કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.20.3" />એ લોકો મૂસા સાથે ઝઘડવા લાગ્યા, “યહોવાની સામે જ અમાંરા ભાઈઓ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા ત્યારે જ અમે પણ મરી ગયા હોત તો સારૂ થાત.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.20.4" />તું યહોવાના સમાંજને ઈરાદાપૂર્વક આ અરણ્યમાં લાવ્યો છે, અમે અને અમાંરા ઘેટાંબકરાં તથા ઢોરઢાંખર અહીં મરી જઈએ એટલા માંટે તું લઈ આવ્યો છે?
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.20.5" />તું શા માંટે અમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો? શા માંટે તું અમને આ ખરાબ જગ્યાએ લઈ આવ્યો? આ જગ્યાએ નથી અનાજ કે અંજીર કે દ્રાક્ષ કે દાડમ. અહી તો પીવાનું પાણી પણ નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.20.6" />મૂસા અને હારુન તેઓ પાસેથી મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ ગયા. તેમણે ભૂમિ પર પડીને સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કર્યા. અને યહોવાના ગૌરવે તેમને દર્શન દીધાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="NUM.20.7" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.20.8" />“તું કરારકોશ પાસે પડેલી લાકડી લે, અને પછી તારા ભાઈ હારુન સાથે સમગ્ર સમાંજને ભેગો કર અને સૌના દેખતા ખડકને કહે કે તે પોતાનું પાણી આપે! આમ તું કહીશ એટલે એમાંથી તેઓને અને તેઓનાં પશુઓને પીવા માંટે પાણી પુષ્કળ પ્રમાંણમાં નીકળશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.20.9" />યહોવાએ આજ્ઞા કરી તે પ્રમાંણે મૂસાએ યહોવા સમક્ષ મૂકેલી લાકડી લીધી.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.20.10" />પછી મૂસાએ અને હારુને સમગ્ર સમાંજને ખડક આગળ ભેગો કર્યો અને તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “ઓ બંડખોરો, સાંભળો, અમે શું આ ખડકમાંથી તમાંરા માંટે પાણી કાઢીએ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.20.11" />પછી મૂસાએ હાથ ઊચો કરીને લાકડી બે વખત ખડક પર પછાડી એટલે ખડકમાંથી પુષ્કળ પાણી ધસારા સાથે બહાર નીકળ્યું. તે સૌએ તથા પશુઓએ ધરાઈને પીધું.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.20.12" />પણ યહોવાએ મૂસાને અને હારુનને કહ્યું, “બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સમક્ષ તમે તમાંરું માંરા પ્રત્યે સન્માંન બતાવ્યું નહિ. તમે તેઓને બતાવ્યું નહિ કે પાણી કાઢવાની શક્તિ માંરામાંથી આવી હતી તેઓને તમે બતાવ્યું નહિ કે તમે માંરામાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો હતો તેથી મેં તેઓને જે ભૂમિ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું ત્યાં તમે તે લોકોને લઈ જશો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.20.13" />આ સ્થળનું નામ “મરીબાહ” નું પાણી એટલે “તકરારનું પાણી” પાડવામાં આવ્યું કારણ કે, “મરીબાહ” ના ઝરા આગળ આ બન્યું હતું. જયાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યહોવા વિરુદ્ધ ઝઘડો કર્યો હતો અને જયાં યહોવાએ તેમને પરચો બતાવ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">અદોમ ઇસ્રાએલને રોકે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.20.14" />કાદેશથી મૂસાએ આ સંદેશા સાથે સંદેશવાહકો એદોમના રાજાને મોકલ્યા,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“આ સંદેશો તમાંરા ઇસ્રાએલી ભાઈઓ તરફથી છે. અમાંરે કેવી હાડમાંરી સહન કરવી પડી છે એ તમે જાણો છો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="NUM.20.15" />અમાંરા પિતૃઓ મિસર ગયા હતા અને ત્યાં અમે લાંબો સમય રહ્યાં હતાં પરિણામે તેઓ મિસરવાસીઓના ગુલામો બન્યા.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="NUM.20.16" />પરંતુ અમે યહોવાને પોકારીને કહ્યું ત્યારે તેમએ અમાંરો પોકાર સાંભળીને એક દેવદૂતને મોકલી આપ્યો, જે અમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો.
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અત્યારે અમે તમાંરી સરહદે આવેલા કાદેશમાં છાવણી કરી છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="NUM.20.17" />કૃપા કરીને અમને તમાંરા દેશમાં થઈને જવાની રજા આપો. અમે તમાંરા ખેતરમાંથી કે દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીઓમાંથી પસાર થઈશું નહિ, કે તમાંરા કૂવાનું પાણી પણ પીશું નહિ, અમે આમ કે તેમ વાંકાચૂકા ગયા વિના રાજમાંર્ગે તમાંરો દેશ વટાવી જઈશું.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.20.18" />પરંતુ અદોમના રાજાઓ કહ્યું, “તમાંરે અમાંરા દેશમાં થઈને જવાનું નથી. જો તમે ગયા તો અમે તરવાર લઈને સામાં થઈશું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="NUM.20.19" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ કહ્યું, “અમે રાજમાંર્ગ થઈને ચાલ્યા જઈશું. જો અમે અને અમાંરાં પશુઓ તમાંરું પાણી પીશું તો અમે તેની રકમ ચૂકવીશું. અમે ફકત તમાંરા દેશમાં થઈને પગપાળા જવાની રજા માંગીએ છીએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.20.20" />છતાં અદોમના રાજાએ ચેતવણી આપીને કહ્યું, “નહિ, તમાંરે જવાનું નથી. માંરા દેશની બહાર રહો.”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી પોતાનું સૈન્ય એકત્ર કરીને પૂરી તાકાતથી તેમની સામે લડવા માંટે ઘસી આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="NUM.20.21" />અદોમીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પોતાના દેશમાં થઈને જવા દેવાની ના પાડી એટલે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ફરીને બીજે રસ્તે ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">હારુનનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.20.22" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો આખો સમાંજ કાદેશથી નીકળીને અદોમની સરહદે આવેલા હોર પર્વત પાસે આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="NUM.20.23" />ત્યાં યહોવાએ મૂસાને અને હારુનને કહ્યુ,
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="NUM.20.24" />“હારુન પિતૃલોક ભેગો થનાર છે. મેં ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જે ભૂમિ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું છે તેમાં એ દાખલ થઈ શકશે નહિ, કારણ કે, મરીબાહના ઝરણા આગળ તમે માંરી આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યુ હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.20.25" />“હારુન અને તેના પુત્ર એલઆઝારને લઈને તું હોર પર્વત ઉપર જા.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="NUM.20.26" />ત્યાં તું હારુનના યાજક તરીકેનાં વસ્ત્રો ઉતારી લઈને તેના પુત્ર એલઆજારને એ પહેરાવજે. હારુન ત્યાં અવસાન પામશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="NUM.20.27" />મૂસાએ યહોવાના કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે કર્યું. સમગ્ર સમાંજના દેખતાં જ તે લોકો હોર પર્વત પર ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="NUM.20.28" />જયારે પર્વતના શિખર પર પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે મૂસાએ હારુનના યાજક તરીકેના વસ્ત્રો ઉતારી લઈને તેના પુત્ર એલઆઝારને પહેરાવ્યાં. ત્યાં પર્વતના શિખર પર હારુનનું મૃત્યુ થયું, પછી મૂસા અને એલઆઝાર પાછા ફર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="NUM.20.29" />સમગ્ર સમાંજને ખબર પડી કે હારુનું મૃત્યુ થઈ ગયું છે, ત્યારે બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ત્રીસ દિવસ સુધી તેને માંટે શોક પાળ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">કનાનીઓ પર વિજય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.21.1" />જયારે નેગેબમાં<f caller="+"><fr>21:1
</fr><fk>નેગેબ
</fk><ft>યહૂદાનો દક્ષિણ તરફનો રણ પ્રદેશ.</ft></f> રહેતા અરાદના કનાની રાજાએ સાંભળ્યું કે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા અથારીમ તરફ જઈ રહી છે ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના સૈન્યને એકત્ર કરીને તેમના ઉપર હુમલો કરીને તેમાંના કેટલાકને બંદીવાન તરીકે પકડી લીધાં.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="NUM.21.2" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યહોવાને વચન આપ્યું કે, “તું જો આ લોકોને અમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દે તો અમે એમનાં ગામો યહોવાને અર્પણ કરીશું અને તેઓનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરીશું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NUM.21.3" />યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓની વિનંતી માંન્ય રાખી કનાનીઓને હરાવ્યા અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા. ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેઓનો તથા તેમના નગરોનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કર્યો. અને તે જગ્યાનું નામ હોર્માંહ પાડયું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પિત્તળનો સાપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.21.4" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ હોર પર્વત પાછા ફર્યા, ત્યાંથી તેઓ દક્ષિણ તરફ રાતા સમુદ્રને રસ્તે થઈને અદોમ દેશ ફરતાં આગળ ગયા; હવે લોકોની ધીરજ ખૂટી ગઈ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="NUM.21.5" />તેઓ દેવની અને મૂસાની વિરુદ્ધ બોલવા લાગ્યા, “તમે શા માંટે અમને મિસરમાંથી લઈ આવ્યા. અહી મરવા માંટે? અહીં ખાવા અનાજ નથી, પીવાને પાણી નથી. આ સ્વાદરહિત માંન્નાથી તો અમે કંટાળી ગયા છીએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.21.6" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ તેમની વચ્ચે તેઓને શિક્ષા કરવા ઝેરી સાપ મોકલ્યા અને ઘણા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો સાપ કરડવાથી મૃત્યુ પામ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="NUM.21.7" />તેથી લોકો મૂસા પાસે આવ્યા અને કહેવા લાગ્યા, “અમે યહોવાની અને તારી વિરુદ્ધ બોલીને પાપ કર્યુ છે, તું અમને આ સર્પોથી છોડાવવા માંટે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કર.” તેથી મૂસાએ લોકો માંટે પ્રાર્થના કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.21.8" />અને યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “ઝેરી સાપના આકાર વાળો એક પિત્તળનો સાપ બનાવ અને તેને લાકડીની ટોચ પર મૂક, જેથી જેને સાપ કરડયા હોય તે તેને જોઈને સાજાં થઈ જાય.”
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="NUM.21.9" />તેથી મૂસાએ પિત્તળનો સાપ બનાવીને સ્તંભ પર મૂકયો, અને જેને જેને સાપ કરડયો હોય તે તેના તરફ જોતાં જ સાજા થઈ જતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મોઆબનો પ્રવાસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.21.10" />ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ આગળ મુસાફરી કરીને ઓબોથમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="NUM.21.11" />અને ઓબોથથી નીકળી તેમણે મોઆબની પૂર્વ સરહદે આવેલા અરણ્યમાં ઈયેઅબારીમમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="NUM.21.12" />અને ત્યાંથી નીકળીને તેમણે ઝેરેદના ઝરાની ખીણ આગળ મુકામ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="NUM.21.13" />ત્યારબાદ તેમણે ઝેરેદથી નીકળી આર્નોન નદીની ઉત્તર બાજુએ અમોરીઓ વચ્ચેની સરહદ સુધી જતા અરણ્યમાં મુકામ કર્યો. આર્નોન મોઆબીઓ અને અમોરીઓ વચ્ચેની સરહદ છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="NUM.21.14" />આથી
<bk>યહોવાના યુદ્ધોના ગ્રંથમાં</bk> લખ્યું છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">“આર્નોન નદી અને સૂફામાં વાહેબની ખીણો,
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="NUM.21.15" />અને આર શહેરને મળતા ખીણો પર્વતો. આ જગ્યાઓ મોઆબની સરહદ પર આવેલી છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.21.16" />ત્યારબાદ ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા મુસાફરી કરીને બએર (કૂવો) આવી. અહીંના કૂવા આગળ યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું હતું કે, “તું લોકોને એકઠા કર અને હું તેઓને પાણી આપીશ.”
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="NUM.21.17" />અને તે સમયે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ આ ગીત ગાયું હતું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે કૂવા, તારું પાણી ઉપર આવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને ગીતથી વધાવીશું અમે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.21.18" />પ્રજાના આગેવાનોએ આ કૂવો ખોદ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને, રાજદંડને લાકડીઓથી તેઓએ ખોદ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">આ તો અરણ્યમાં ભેટ છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="NUM.21.19" />ત્યાંથી તેઓ અરણ્યમાં થઈને માંત્તાનાહ ગયા અને માંત્તાનાહથી નાહલીએલ, અને નાહલીએલથી બામોથ,
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="NUM.21.20" />અને બામોથથી મોઆબીઓના પ્રદેશમાં પિસ્ગાહના શિખરની તળેટીમાં રણ તરફ આવેલી ખીણ તરફ ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સીહોન અને ઓગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.21.21" />ત્યાર પછી ઇસ્રાએલે પોતાના કાસદો માંરફતે અમોરીઓના રાજા સીહોનને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે,
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.21.22" />“કૃપા કરીને અમને તમાંરા દેશમાં થઈને જવા માંટે રજા આપો, અમે તમાંરા ખેતરો કે દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓમાં થઈને જઈશું નહિ, અમે તમાંરા કૂવાઓમાંથી પાણી પણ પીશું નહિ. અમે તમાંરી સરદહને પેલે પાર નહિ જઈએ ત્યાં સુધી અમે ફકત મુખ્ય રસ્તાઓ ઉપર જ ચાલીશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="NUM.21.23" />પરંતુ સીહોને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પોતાના દેશમાં થઈને જવા દીધા નહિ. તેણે પોતાના સૈન્યને એકત્ર કર્યુ અને રણમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો અને યાહાસ પાસે પહોંચી ગયો. ત્યાં તેઓની સાથે યુદ્ધ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.21.24" />પણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેમનો સંહાર કર્યો અને આર્નોનથી યાબ્બોક, આમ્મોનીઓની સરહદ સુધીનો તેમનો પ્રદેશ કબજે કરી લીધો. અહીં તેઓ અટકી ગયા; કારણ કે આમ્મોનની સરહદે રક્ષણ મજબૂત હતું.
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<v id="25" bcv="NUM.21.25" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ હેશ્બોન અને તેની આસપાસનાં ગામો સહિત અમોરીઓનાં બધાં શહેરો જીતી લીધાં અને તેમાં તેમણે રહેવાનું શરૂ કર્યું.
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<v id="26" bcv="NUM.21.26" />હેશ્બોન અમોરીઓના રાજા સીહોનની રાજધાનીનું નગર હતું. અગાઉના મોઆબના રાજા સામે સીહોને યુદ્ધ કરીને આર્નોન સુધીનો તેનો બધો પ્રદેશ લઈ લીધો હતો.
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.21.27" />તેથી ગાયકોએ આ ગીત ગાયું છે:
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જાઓ અને હેશ્બોન ફરીથી બાંધો,
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<q level="2" style="q2">હાં, ચાલો આપણે સીહોનના શહેરને;
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<q level="2" style="q2">મજબૂત બનાવી અને તેને ફરી વસાવીએ.
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<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="NUM.21.28" />એક વખત હેશ્બોનમાંથી નીકળ્યાં હતાં આગ,
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<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ સીહોનનાં લશ્કર;
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<q style="q1">આર્નોનના પર્વતને ગળી જઈ,
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<q level="2" style="q2">ભસ્મ કર્યુ મોઆબનું આર નગર.
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<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="NUM.21.29" />આ શી તમાંરી દશા! મોઆબ તને દિલગીરી!
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<q level="2" style="q2">કમોશના ભજનિકોનો નાશ!
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<q style="q1">નિરાશ્રિત બનાવ્યો તને તારા દેવે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">દિલગીરી! અને તમાંરી સ્ત્રીઓ બની, અમોરીઓના રાજા સીહોનની કેદી, દિલગીરી!
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<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="NUM.21.30" />અને હવે કર્યો છે એના ઉપર આપણે હલ્લો,
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<q level="2" style="q2">હેશ્બોન, દીબોન, નોફાહ, ને મેદબાનો થયો વિનાશ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NUM.21.31" />આ રીતે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ અમોરીઓના પ્રદેશમાં વસવા લાગ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="NUM.21.32" />મૂસાએ યાઝેર નગર પર કેવી રીતે હુમલો કરવો તેની જાસૂસી કરવા માંટે માંણસો મોકલ્યા. અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ આસપાસનાં ગામો સહિત યાઝેરનો કબજો લીધો અને ત્યાં વસતા અમોરીઓને હાંકી કાઢયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="NUM.21.33" />પછી તેઓએ બાશાન તરફના રસ્તા પર મુસાફરી કરી, બાશાનનો રાજા ઓગ યુદ્ધ માંટે પોતાના સૈન્ય સાથે એડ્રેઈ આવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="NUM.21.34" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “એનાથી ડરતો નહિ, કારણ કે મેં તેને, એની પ્રજાને અને તેના દેશને તમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધાં છે. હેશ્બોનમાં રહેતાં અમોરીઓના રાજા સીહોનની જેવી હાલત કરી, તેવી જ હાલત તમે તેની કરજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="NUM.21.35" />અને એ પ્રમાંણે જ થયું. ઇસ્રાએલનો વિજય થયો. ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ રાજા ઓગ, તેના પુત્રો અને તેના સર્વ લોકોનો સંહાર કર્યો જીવતો પાછો જવા પામ્યો નહિ. અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેનો પ્રદેશ કબજે કરી લીધો.
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<s style="s">બલામ અને મોઆબનો રાજા
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.22.1" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો આગળ યાત્રા કરીને મોઆબના મેદાનમાં યર્દન નદીને પૂર્વકાંઠે યરીખોની સામે આવ્યા અને ત્યાં પડાવ નાખ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="2-3" bcv="NUM.22.2" />અમોરીઓના જે હાલ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ કર્યા હતા તે મોઆબના રાજા સિપ્પોરના પુત્ર બાલાકે જોયા, ત્યારે તે અને તેના લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓથી થથરી ગયા. એમની બહુ મોટી સંખ્યા જોઈને મોઆવીઓ ભયભીત થઈ ગયા.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.22.4" />અને એમણે મિદ્યાનના આગેવાનોને કહ્યું, “જેમ કોઈ બળદ ચરામાંનું ઘાસ ખાઈ જાય છે, તેમ આ ધાડા આપણને ખાઈ જશે.” અને તે સમયે સિપ્પોરનો દીકરો બાલક મોઆબનો રાજા હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.22.5" />તેથી રાજા બાલાકે, બયોરના પુત્ર બલામને બોલાવી લાવવા માંટે તેણે તેના માંણસોને મોકલ્યા. તે વખતે બલામ તેના વતનમાં યુફ્રેતિસ નદીને કિનારે પથોરમાં રહેતો હતો; તે તેને આ સંદેશો આપવાના હતા, “મિસરમાંથી સમગ્ર પ્રજા આવી ગઈ છે, તેઓ એટલા બધા છે કે તેઓ સમગ્ર ભૂમિ ઢાંકી દે. તેઓએ માંરી પાસે જ પડાવ નાંખ્યો છે. માંટે તમે આવીને મને મદદ કરો.
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.22.6" />એ લોકો અમાંરા કરતાં વધારે મજબૂત છે, તેથી કૃપા કરીને તરત આવો અને એ લોકોને શ્રાપ આપો, તો કદાચ હું એ લોકોને હરાવીને દેશમાંથી હાંકી કાઢી શકું, મને ખબર છે કે, તમે જેને આશીર્વાદ આપો છો તેઓની સાથે સારું થાય છે અને તમે જેને શ્રાપ આપો છો તેઓની સાથે ખોટું થાય છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="NUM.22.7" />તેણે મોઆબના અને મિદ્યાનના ઉચ્ચકક્ષાના આગેવાનોને સંદેશવાહકો તરીકે મોકલ્યા હતા. જદુમંતરની દક્ષિણા સાથે તેઓએ બલામ પાસે આવીને તેને બાલાકનો સંદેશો કહી સંભળાવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.22.8" />બલામે તેઓને કહ્યું, “આજની રાત તમે અહીં રહો, હું તમને યહોવા કહેશે તે જવાબ આપીશ.” તેથી મોઆબના આગેવાનો બલામ સાથે રાત રહ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.22.9" />તે રાત્રે દેવે બલામ પાસે આવીને પૂછયું, “તારી સાથે આ માંણસો કોણ છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.22.10" />બલામે જવાબ આપ્યો, “મોઆબના રાજા સિપ્પોરના પુત્ર બાલાક પાસેથી તેઓ આવ્યા છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.22.11" />તેમણે કહેવડાવ્યું છે કે મિસરમાંથી એક પ્રજા માંરી સરહદે આવી પહોંચી છે, તેઓ સંખ્યામાં એટલા બધા છે કે તેઓ સમગ્ર ભૂમિ ઢાંકી દે. કૃપા કરીને આવો અને એ લોકોને શ્રાપ આપો, તો હું એ લોકોને હરાવીને દેશમાંથી હાંકી કાઢી શકુ.”
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.22.12" />દેવે બલામને કહ્યું, “તારે એમની સાથે જવાનું નથી કે તે લોકોને શ્રાપ આપવાનો નથી, કારણ કે મેં તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપેલા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.22.13" />તેથી બલામે બીજી સવારે વહેલા ઊઠીને બાલાકના કર્મચારીઓને કહ્યું, “તમે તમાંરા દેશમાં પાછા જાઓ, કારણ કે, યહોવાએ મને તમાંરી સાથે આવવાની ના પાડી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.22.14" />તેથી મોઆબના આગેવાનોએ ત્યાંથી નીકળીને પાછા બાલાક પાસે જઈને તેને કહ્યું, “બલામે અમાંરી સાથે આવવાની ના પાડી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.22.15" />બાલાકે ફરીથી પ્રયત્ન કર્યો, અને પહેલાં કરતાં સંખ્યામાં વધારે અને વધારે પ્રતિષ્ઠિત આગેવાનોને મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.22.16" />એટલે તેમણે બલામ પાસે આવીને જણાવ્યું, “સિપ્પોરના પુત્ર બાલાકે આ મુજબ સેદેશો મોકલ્યો છે. કૃપા કરીને તમે માંરી પાસે જલદી આવી પહોંચવામાં કોઈ અવરોધ ઊભો થવા દેશો નહિ.
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.22.17" />હું તમને ભારે મોટો બદલો આપીશ અને તમે જે કહેશો તે હું કરીશ, માંટે જરૂર આવશો અને આ લોકોને શ્રાપ આપશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.22.18" />બલામે બાલાકના માંણસોને જવાબ આપ્યો, “જો તે મને તેના મહેલમાંનું તમાંમ સોનું અને ચાંદી આપે તોયે હું નાની કે મોટી કોઈ પણ બાબતમાં માંરા દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા વિરુદ્ધ કંઈ કરી શકું તેમ નથી.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.22.19" />એટલે આજની રાત પેલા લોકોની જેમ તમે પણ રોકાઈ જાઓ એટલે યહોવાએ પહેલાં જે કહ્યું હતું તે કરતાં કંઈક વિશેષ કહેવું હોય તો તે હું જાણી શકું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.22.20" />રાત્રી દરમ્યાન દેવે આવીને બલામને કહ્યું, “જો આ લોકો તને બોલાવવા આવ્યા હોય, તો તું ઝટ ઊઠીને તેમની સાથે જા, પણ હું તને કહું એટલું જ તું કરજે, અને તેનું ધ્યાન રાખજે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">બલામ અને તેની ગધેડી
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.22.21" />આથી બલામ બીજી સવારે પોતાની ગધેડી ઉપર જીન બાંધીને મોઆબના આગેવાનો સાથે ગયો.
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.22.22" />પરંતુ બલામ તેઓની સાથે ગયો તેથી દેવને તેના પર રોષ ચઢયો, જ્યારે બલામ પોતાના બે નોકરો સાથે ગધેડી પર સવાર થઈને જતો હતો ત્યારે તેને રોકવા માંટે તેના રસ્તામાં યહોવાનો દૂત ઊભો રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="NUM.22.23" />અચાનક રસ્તાની વચ્ચે તરવાર ખેચીને ઊભેલા યહોવાના દૂતને ગધેડીએ જોયો, તેથી ગધેડીએ પોતાનો રસ્તો બદલ્યો અને ખેતરમાં વળી ગઈ. બલામ તેને માંરીને ફરી રસ્તા પર લઈ આવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.22.24" />પછી યહોવાનો દૂત એક નાળિયા આગળ જઈને ઊભો રહ્યો, જેની બંને બાજુએ પથ્થરોની વાડ કરેલી દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ આવેલી હતી.
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<v id="25" bcv="NUM.22.25" />યહોવાના દૂતને જોતા ગધેડી એક તરફ પથ્થરની વાડની નજીક ચાલવા લાગી અને બલામનો પગ દિવાલમાં ચગદાયો, તેથી તેણે ગધેડીને ફરી માંરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="NUM.22.26" />ત્યાંથી આગળ જઈને યહોવાનો દૂત એક એવી સાંકડી જગ્યાએ ઊભો રહ્યો કે, જયાંથી ગધેડી આમતેમ ડાબીજમણી બાજુએ ફંટાઈ શકે નહિ.
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.22.27" />યહોવાના દૂતને જોઈ તે બલામ સાથે જમીન પર બેસી પડી, તેથી બલામ એકદમ ગુસ્સે થઈ ગયો અને તેણે ગધેડીને ફરીથી લાકડીએ લાકડીએ માંરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="NUM.22.28" />પછી યહોવાએ ગધેડીને વાચા આપી. તેણે બલામને કહ્યું, “મેં તારું શું બગાડયું છે? તેં મને ત્રણ વખત શા માંટે માંરી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="NUM.22.29" />બલામે મોટા સાદે જવાબ આપ્યો, “કારણ કે તું માંરી ફજેતી કરે છે, અત્યારે જો માંરી પાસે તરવાર હોત તો મેં તને અત્યારે જ કાપી નાખી હોત.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="NUM.22.30" />ગધેડીએ બલામને પૂછયું, “જો હું કંઈ તારાથી અજાણી છું? તેં આખુ જીવન તો માંરા પર સવારી કરી છે. માંરા સમગ્ર જીવનમાં મેં પહેલા કદી આવું કર્યુ છે ખરું?”
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<p style="p">બલામે કહ્યું, “ના, કદાપી નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NUM.22.31" />પછી યહોવાએ બલામની આંખો ખોલી, અને તેણે યહોવાના દૂતને રસ્તાની વચ્ચે ઉઘાડી તરવાર લઈને ઊભેલો જોયો અને તેને સાષ્ટાંગ પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="NUM.22.32" />યહોવાના દૂતે તેને કહ્યું, “તેં આ ગધેડીને ત્રણ વખત શા માંટે માંરી! તને અટકાવવા માંટે હું જાતે રસ્તામાં આવીને ઊભો હતો. કારણ કે મને તું જાય એ ગમતું નહોતું.
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<v id="33" bcv="NUM.22.33" />ગધેડીએ મને જોયો એટલે એ ત્રણ વાર બાજુએ ખસી ગઈ. જો એ ખસી ગઈ ના હોત તો મેં તને માંરી નાખ્યો હોત, અને ગધેડીનો બચાવ કર્યો હોત.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="NUM.22.34" />પછી બલામે યહોવાના દૂતને કહ્યું, “મેં પાપ કર્યુ છે. માંરી ભૂલ થઈ ગઈ છે, મને ખબર નહોતી કે, તમે માંરા માંર્ગમાં આડા ઊભા છો, તમાંરી ઈચ્છા હું ત્યાં ન જાઉં તેવી હોય તો હું પાછો ઘેર જઈશ.”
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<v id="35" bcv="NUM.22.35" />યહોવાના દૂતે બલામને જણાવ્યું, “તું આ લોકો સાથે જા, પણ હું જેટલું કહું તેટલાં શબ્દો જ કહેજે.” આથી બલામ બાલાકના માંણસો સાથે ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="NUM.22.36" />રાજા બાલાકે જયારે સાંભળ્યું કે બલામ આવી રહ્યો છે, ત્યારે તે પાટનગર છોડીને તેને મળવા માંટે મોઆબની સરહદ પર આર્નોન પાસે આવેલા આર સુધી ગયો,
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<v id="37" bcv="NUM.22.37" />તેણે બલામને પૂછયું, “મે તમને બોલાવવા માંણસો ન્હોતા મોકલ્યા? તમે આટલો બધો વિલંબ શા માંટે કર્યો? તમને શું એમ લાગ્યું હતું કે હું તમને બદલો નહિ આપી શકું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="NUM.22.38" />એટલે બલામે બાલાકને કહ્યું, “હું અહીં આવ્યો છું તે તું જુએ છે, શું તું એમ માંને છે કે હું ધારું તે કરી શકું છું? હું તો દેવ મને જે બોલાવે છે તે જ બોલું છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="NUM.22.39" />પછી બલામ બાલાક સાથે કિર્યાથ-હુસોથ ગયો.
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<v id="40" bcv="NUM.22.40" />બાલાકે તે જગ્યાએ બળદો અને ઘેટાનો યજ્ઞ ચઢાવ્યો તથા બલામ અને તેની સાથેના આગેવાનોને તેઓનાં બલિદાનો માંટે પ્રાણીઓ આપ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="NUM.22.41" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે બાલાક બલામને બામોથ-બાલ ઉપર લઈ ગયો. ત્યાંથી તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલી પડાવનો એક ભાગ જોઈ શકતા હતા.
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<c id="23" />
<s style="s">બલામની પ્રથમ ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.23.1" />બલામે બાલાકને કહ્યું, “અહીં માંરે માંટે સાત વેદીઓ બાંધો અને સાદ બળદ તથા સાત નર ઘેટા મને લાવી આપો.”
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.23.2" />બાલાકે બલામની સૂચનાઓ પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ, અને તેણે અને બલામે દરેક વેદી પર એક વળદ અને એક નર ઘેટાની આહુતિ ચઢાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NUM.23.3" />બલામે પછી રાજાને કહ્યું, “તું તારી વેદી પાસે ઊભો રહે. હું એકલો જાઉ છું. કદાચ યહોવા મને મળે પણ ખરા. એ મને જે કહેશે તે હું તને જણાવીશ.” અને પછી તે એક ખુલ્લી ટેકરી પર ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.23.4" />ત્યાં તેને દેવનો મેળાપ થયો. બલામે યહોવાને કહ્યું, “મેં સાત વેદીઓ તૈયાર કરી છે અને દરેક પર એક બળદ અને એક નર ઘેટાની આહુતિ ચઢાવી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.23.5" />પછી યહોવાએ બલામને શું કહેવું તે જણાવ્યું, અને કહ્યું, “તું પાછો બાલાક પાસે જા અને માંરા કહ્યાં પ્રમાંણે તેને કહેજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.23.6" />બાલાક જ્યારે બલામ પાસે પાછો ફર્યો ત્યારે તે હજી આહુતિ પાસે મોઆબના આગેવાનો સાથે જ ઊભો હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.23.7" />બલામે યહોવા તરફથી પોતાને મળેલો સંદેશો પ્રગટ કર્યો તેણે કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મોઆબનો રાજા બાલાક મને અરામમાંથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૂર્વના પર્વતોમાંથી લઈ આવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મને કહ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘આવ, માંરે માંટે યાકૂબને શ્રાપ દે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવ અને ઇસ્રાએલને શ્રાપ દે.’
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.23.8" />જેને દેવ શ્રાપ ન આપતો હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને હું શી રીતે શ્રાપ આપું?
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવ જેનું ભૂડું ઈચ્છતો નથી તેનું ભૂંડું હું શી રીતે ઈચ્છું?
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<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.23.9" />હું ઊચા ખડકની ટોચ પરથી તે લોકોને નિહાળું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ પ્રજા એકલી રહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે અન્ય પ્રજાઓથી પોતાને ભિન્ન ગણે છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.23.10" />ઇસ્રાએલની પ્રજા અસંખ્ય છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગણ્યા ગણાય નહિ તેટલા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">માંરું મૃત્યુ સજ્જન જેવું થાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલે માંરું જીવન ઇસ્રાએલીઓની જેમ પૂરું થાય.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.23.11" />રાજા બાલાકે આ સાંભળીને બલામને કહ્યું, “આ તે શું કર્યું? મેં તમને માંરા દુશ્નનોને શ્રાપ આપવા તેડાવ્યો અને તમે તો તેમને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.23.12" />પરંતુ બલામે પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “માંરે તો યહોવા બોલાવે તે જ બોલવાનું હોય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.23.13" />ત્યાર પછી બાલાકે તેમને કહ્યું, “માંરી સાથે બીજી જગ્યાએ આવો, ત્યાંથી તમે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને જોઈ શકો. તમે ફકત એક ભાગને જ જોઈ શકશો, કદાચ તે જગ્યાએથી તમે તેઓને માંરા માંટે શ્રાપિત કરી શકો.”
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="NUM.23.14" />એમ કહીને રાજા બાલાક બલામને પિસ્ગાહ પર્વતની ટોચે આવેલા ચોકીના મેદાનમાં લઈ ગયો, ત્યાં તેણે સાત વેદીઓ બાંધી અને પ્રત્યેક વેદી ઉપર એક બળદ અને એક ઘેટાનું બલિદાન આપ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.23.15" />બલામે રાજા બાલાકને કહ્યું, “હું યહોવાનો મેળાપ કરવા જાઉ છું. તું તારી વેદી પાસે ઊભો રહે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.23.16" />યહોવા બલામને મળવા આવ્યા અને બલામે શું કહેવું તે યહોવાએ તેને જણાવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="NUM.23.17" />આથી રાજા અને મોઆબના સર્વ સરદારો તેઓની આહુતિ પાસે ઊભા હતા ત્યાં બલામ બાલાક પાસે પાછો ગયો. રાજા બાલાકે આતુરતાથી પૂછયું: “યહોવાએ તને શું કહ્યું છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">બલામની બીજી ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.23.18" />એટલે બલામે જવાબ આપ્યો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“બાલાક ઊઠ, ઊભો થા અને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે સિપ્પોરના પુત્ર, હું જે કહું તે કાને ધર.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="NUM.23.19" />દેવ તે કાંઈ મનુષ્ય નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે જૂઠું બોલે,
</q>
<q style="q1">વળી તે કંઈ માંણસ નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે પોતાના વિચાર બદલે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તો જે બોલે તે પાળે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને જે કહે તે પ્રમાંણે કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.23.20" />હું તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપું તેવી મને આજ્ઞા મળી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપે તે હું ફેરવી શકું નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.23.21" />દેવે યાકૂબના લોકોમાં કઈ જ ખોટું ન જોયું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોમાં કોઈ પાપ જોયું ન હતું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓના દેવ યહોવા તેમની સાથે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની વચ્ચે તેનો જયજયકાર રાજાની જેમ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.23.22" />એ જ તેમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે જ એમને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જંગલી આખલા જેવી તાકાત આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="NUM.23.23" />ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા વિરુદ્ધ કોઈ જંતરમંતર ચાલે તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઈ પણ કામણટૂમણ સફળ થાય તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલ વિષે લોકો કહેશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘જુઓ તો ખરા દેવે તેઓને માંટે કેવાં અદભૂત કાર્યો કર્યા છે!’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.23.24" />એ પ્રજા તો સિંહની જેમ છલાંગ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માંરવાને તાકી રહી છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">એ શિકારને ફાડી ખાધા વિના અને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું લોહી પીધા વિના જંપીને બેસનાર નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.23.25" />પછી બાલાકે બલામને કહ્યું, “ભલે, તું તેમને શ્રાપ ન આપે તો કંઈ નહિ, પણ ઓછામાં ઓછું તું એમને આશીર્વાદ ન આપતો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="NUM.23.26" />બલામે જવાબ આપ્યો, “મેં તમને કહ્યું નહીનું કે માંરે તો યહોવા મને જે કહે તે જ બોલવાનું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="NUM.23.27" />પછી રાજા બાલાકે બલામને કહ્યું, “ચાલ, હું તને બીજી કોઈ એક જગ્યાએ લી જાઉ, કદાચ દેવ પ્રસન્ન થાય અને ત્યાંથી તને માંરા તરફથી તેમને શ્રાપ આપવા દે.”
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="NUM.23.28" />તેથી રાજા બાલાક, બલામને રણને કાંઠે આવેલા પેઓર પર્વતના શિખર પર લઈ ગયો, જયાંથી રણ જોઈ શકાતું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="NUM.23.29" />પછી બલામે બાલાકને કહ્યું, “તું મને સાત વેદી બાંધી આપ અને સાત બળદ અને સાત ઘેટાં બલિદાન માંટે લઈ આવ.”
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="NUM.23.30" />બલામે જે કહ્યું તે જ પ્રમાંણે બાલાકે કર્યું અને પ્રત્યેક વેદી પર એક બળદ અને એક ઘેટાનું બલિદાન આપવામાં આવ્યું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">બલામની ત્રીજી ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.24.1" />બલામને ખબર પડી કે યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલને આશીર્વાદ આપવા ઈચ્છે છે, તેથી તેણે જાદૂઈ ખેલો કરીને તેને બદલવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો નહિ. તેને બદલે તે રણ તરફ ઇસ્રાએલી છાવણી તરફ ફરીને ઊભો રહ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="NUM.24.2" />તેણે જોયું તો ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ કુળસમૂહો પ્રમાંણે છાવણી નાંખી હતી. પછી દેવના આત્માંએ તેનામાં પ્રવેશ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="NUM.24.3" />અને તેણે ભવિષ્યવાણી ઉચ્ચારતા કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“બયોરનો પુત્ર બલામ કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે સ્પષ્ટ નિહાળે છે તે દિવ્ય દૃષ્ટિ ધરાવનારની વાણી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.24.4" />દેવના શબ્દો સાંભળનારની વાણી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમાંધિમગ્ન છતાં ખુલ્લાં અંતઃચક્ષુથી સર્વસમર્થ દેવે બતાવેલાં દિવ્યદર્શનો જોનારની વાણી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.24.5" />“હે યાકૂબના લોકો, તમાંરા મંડપ કેવા સુંદર છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તમાંરા ઘરો કેવા રઢિયાળ છે!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.24.6" />જાણે નદીકાંઠે વિસ્તરેલા બાગબગીચા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણે યહોવાએ રોપેલા કુવારના છોડ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="NUM.24.7" />અને પાણી પાસેના એરેજ વૃક્ષના જેવા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને ભરપૂર પાણીથી આશીર્વાદિત કરવામાં આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ઘણું જળસીંચન કરેલા ખેતરોમાં તે બી વાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનો રાજા અગાગ રાજા કરતાં મહાન થશે; તેઓનું રાજ્ય પ્રતાપી રાજ્ય બનશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.24.8" />“દેવ તેઓને મિસરમાંથી લઈ આવ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જ રાની બળદના શીંગડાની જેમ તેમનું રક્ષણ કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ સિંહ જેવા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાની વિરુદ્ધ થનાર પ્રજાઓને તે ખાઈ જશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તેઓનાં હાડકાં ભાંગીને ચૂરા કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે અસંખ્ય તીરોથી તેઓને વીંધી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.24.9" />પછી તે આડો પડીને ઊઘે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને ઉઠાડવાની હિંમત કોણ કરે?
</q>
<q style="q1">હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, તમને જે આશીર્વાદ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપે તેના પર આશીર્વાદ ઊતરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમને જે શ્રાપ આપે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પર શ્રાપ ઊતરો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.24.10" />આ સાંભળીને રાજા બાલાક બલામ પર ખૂબ ગુસ્સે થયો. ક્રોધાવેશમાં મુક્કી પછાડીને તેણે અણગમો વ્યક્ત કરતાં ઊંચા સાદે કહ્યું, “હું માંરા દુશ્મનોને શ્રાપ આપવા માંટે તને લઈ આવ્યો અને તેં ત્રણ ત્રણ વાર તેમને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા!
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="NUM.24.11" />ચાલ, ભાગ, અહીંથી ચાલ્યો જા. ઘર ભેગો થઈ જા! મેં તને ભારે સન્માંન આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું, પણ યહોવાએ તને તેનાથી વંચિત રાખ્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.24.12" />બલામે પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “મેં તો તેં મોકલેલા માંણસોને કહ્યું હતું કે,
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="NUM.24.13" />‘બાલાક મને તેના ઘરનું બધું સોનું અને ચાંદી આપે, તોયે હું યહોવાની આજ્ઞાની વિરુદ્ધ જઈને માંરી મરજી મુજબ સારું કે ખરાબ કઈ જ ન કરી શકું. હું તો યહોવા જે કહેવાનું મને કહેશે તે જ કહીશ.’
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="NUM.24.14" />હવે હું માંરા લોકો પાસે જાઉ છું પણ તે પહેલા તને સાવધાન કરતો જાઉ છું કે આ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ભવિષ્યમાં તમાંરા મોઆબીઓના શા હાલ કરશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">બલામની છેલ્લી ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.24.15" />એમ કહીને તેણે નીચે પ્રમાંણે ભવિષ્યવાણી પ્રગટ કરી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“બયોરના પુત્ર બલામની,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દિવ્ય દ્રષ્ટિ ધરાવનારની આ વાણી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.24.16" />દેવના શબ્દો સાંભળનારની,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેને પરાત્પર દેવ પાસે જ્ઞાન પ્રાપ્ત કર્યુ છે તેની આ વાણી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">સમાંધિમગ્ન છતાં ખુલ્લાં અંતઃચક્ષુથી સર્વસમર્થ દેવે બતાવેલા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દિવ્યદર્શનો જોનારની આ વાણી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.24.17" />“હું જે જોઉ છું તે દૃશ્ય આજનું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ભવિષ્યનું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યાકૂબના વંશમાંથી એક તારો ઊગશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોમાંથી એક નવો શાસક આવશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે પોતાના રાજદંડથી મોઆબીઓનાં પ્રાણ હરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શેથના પુત્રોનો તે નાશ કરશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.24.18" />ઇસ્રાએલ મજબૂત બનશે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને અદોમની ભૂમિ પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને તેના દુશ્મન સેઈરની ભૂમિ પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="NUM.24.19" />“યાકૂબના કુટુંબમાંથી એક નવો શાસક આવશે. તે શાસક શહેરમાં બાકી રહેલા લોકોનો વિનાશ કરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.24.20" />પછી બલામે અમાંલેકીઓને જોયા અને ભવિષ્યવાણી પ્રગટ કરી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“અમાંલેકીઓ સર્વ પ્રજાઓમાં આગળ હતા; પણ તેનો અંત સંપૂર્ણ વિનાશમાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.24.21" />પછી કેનીઓને જોયા પછી બલામે ભવિષ્યવાણી કરી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તમાંરું આશ્રયસ્થાન લાગે છે તો સુરક્ષિત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ખડકોમાં બાંધેલા માંળા સમાંન છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.24.22" />પણ એ બળી જવા નિમાંયો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેનીઓનો વિનાશ થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે કયાં સુધી આશ્શૂરના કેદી બની રહેશો?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="NUM.24.23" />અંતમાં તેણે ભવિષ્યવાણી પ્રગટ કરતાં કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દેવ આ પ્રમાંણે કરે ત્યારે કોણ જીવી શકે?
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.24.24" />કિત્તીમમાંથી (સાયપ્રસ) કિનારા પરથી વહાણો આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ આશ્શૂરને અને એબેરને કચડી નાખશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી છેવટે વિજેતા પણ વિનાશ પામશે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.24.25" />પછી બલામ ઊઠીને પોતાને ઘેર ફર્યો અને બાલાક પણ પોતાના રસ્તે પડયો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="25" />
<s style="s">મૂર્તિપૂજાના પાપમાં ઇસ્રાએલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.25.1" />જયારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ શિટ્ટીમમાં મુકામ કર્યો હતો, ત્યારે એ લોકો મોઆબી સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરવા લાગ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="NUM.25.2" />આ સ્ત્રીઓ તે લોકોને પોતાના દેવોને બલિદાન અર્પણ કરવાના પ્રસંગોએ નિમંત્રણ પાઠવતી, એ લોકો યજ્ઞનો જમણ લેતા અને મોઆબીઓના દેવોની પૂજા કરતા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="NUM.25.3" />આમ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પેઓરના બઆલને પૂજતા થઈ ગયા; એટલે યહોવા તેમના પર કોપાયમાંન થયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NUM.25.4" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા કરી કે, “તું ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોના બધા આગેવાનોને લઈને તેમનો ધોળે દિવસે માંરી સમક્ષ વધ કર, જેથી ઇસ્રાએલ પરથી માંરો ક્રોધ શમી જાય.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.25.5" />તેથી મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલના ન્યાયાધીશોને હુકમ કર્યો, “તમાંરામાંની પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ પોતપોતાના અધિકાર નીચેના માંણસોમાંથી જેણે જેણે પેઓરના બઆલની પૂજા કરી હોય તે સૌનો વધ કરે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.25.6" />પરંતુ મૂસા અને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સંઘ મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ રૂદન કરતા હતા તે સમયે તેમના દેખતાં જ એક ઇસ્રાએલી એક મિદ્યાની સ્ત્રીને પોતાની છાવણીમાં ખેંચી લાવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="NUM.25.7" />તેથી યાજક હારુનના પુત્ર એલઆઝારનો પુત્ર ફીનહાસ આ જોઈને સભામાંથી ઊભો થઈ ગયો અને પોતાના હાથમાં ભાલો લીધો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="NUM.25.8" />તે પેલા ઇસ્રાએલી વ્યક્તિની પાછળ છાવણીમાં ઝડપથી દોડી ગયો અને ભાલાનો એક ઘા કરીને તે ઇસ્રાએલી વ્યક્તિના દેહને અને સ્ત્રીના પેટને વીંધી નાખ્યો, અને પરિણામે ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાં મરકીનો રોગચાળો ફાટી નીકળ્યો હતો તે બંધ થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="NUM.25.9" />પરંતુ ત્યાં સુધીમાં તો 24,000 ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તે માંદગીથી મોતનો ભોગ બની ચૂક્યા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.25.10" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="NUM.25.11" />“હારુન યાજકના પુત્ર એલઆઝારના પુત્ર ફીનહાસે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પરનો માંરો ક્રોધ શાંત કર્યો, એ લોકોમાં માંરા પ્રત્યેની નિષ્ઠાનો અભાવ જોઈ એણે એટલો બધો રોષ વ્યક્ત કર્યો, માંરો ક્રોધ શમી ગયો, જેથી મેં એમનો નાશ ન કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="NUM.25.12" />તેથી તું તેને હવે કહે કે; હું એની સાથે હંમેશ માંટે શાંતિનો કરાર કરીને એને અને એના વંશજોને યાજકપદનો હક્ક આપું છું. જે હક્ક તેઓ સદાને માંટે ભોગવશે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="NUM.25.13" />કારણ કે, તેણે પોતાના દેવ માંટેની શ્રદ્ધાનું ઉલ્લંઘન સહન ન્હોતું કર્યુ અને તેણે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાના પાપોનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત કર્યુ હતું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.25.14" />પછી મિદ્યાની સ્ત્રીની સાથે માંરી નાખવામાં આવેલા ઇસ્રાએલી પુરુષનું નામ ઝિમ્રી હતું, તે શિમયોન કુળસમૂહના પરિવારના આગેવાન સાલૂનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="NUM.25.15" />એ મિદ્યાની સ્ત્રીનું નામ કોઝબી હતું, તે મિદ્યાનીઓના એક કુટુંબના વડા સૂરની પુત્રી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.25.16" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા કરી,
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="NUM.25.17" />“જા, મિદ્યાનીઓ પર હુમલો કર અને તેઓનો સંહાર કર.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="NUM.25.18" />પેઓરમાં તેમણે મિદ્યાની સ્ત્રીઓ દ્વારા તને ખેલ કરાવી, તમને મિથ્યા દેવ બઆલની પૂજા કરતા કર્યા, મિદ્યાની આગેવાનની પુત્રી કોઝબી નામની સ્ત્રી દ્વારા તેઓએ તમને ફસાવ્યાં. પછી મૂર્તિપૂજાને કારણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ એક રોગથી મૃત્યુ પામ્યા. તેથી તેઓ તમાંરા દુશ્મનો છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">બીજી વસ્તી ગણતરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.26.1" />રોગચાળો બંધ થઈ ગયા પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને તથા યાજક હારુનના પુત્ર એલઆઝારને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="NUM.26.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલમાં જેઓ વીસ વર્ષ કે તેનાથી મોટી વચના છે, તેઓની વસ્તી ગણતરી કર, તથા પ્રત્યેક કુળ અને ગોત્રમાંથી જે લોકો લશ્કરમાં નોકરી કરવા લાયક હોય તે સર્વની કુટુંબવાર ગણતરી કર.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NUM.26.3" />તેથી યર્દન નદીને કિનારે યરીખો સામે, મોઆબના મેદાનમાં મૂસાએ અને યાજક એલઆઝારે ઇસ્રાએલના આગેવાનોને જણાવ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="NUM.26.4" />“યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા આપી છે તે પ્રમાંણે વીસ વર્ષ અને તેનાથી વધારે ઉમરના પુરુષોની વસ્તી ગણતરી કરો.” મિસરમાંથી આવેલા જે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ છે તે નીચે મુજબ છે:
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.26.5" />ઇસ્રાએલના જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર રૂબેનના વંશનાં કુટુંબો:
</p>
<p style="p">હનોખનું કુટુંબ. પાલ્લૂનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.26.6" />હેસ્રોનનું કુટુંબ. અને કાર્મીનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="NUM.26.7" />રૂબેનના કુળસમૂહના આટલાં કુટુંબો હતાં, તેમની કુળ સંખ્યા 43,730ની હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.26.8" />પાલ્લૂના વંશજો: અલીઆબ,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="NUM.26.9" />અને તેના પુત્રો: નમુએલ, દાથાન, અને અબીરામ. દાથાન અને અબીરામ એટલે મૂસાની અને હારુનની સામે બંડ પોકારનાર પંચાચતના સભ્યો, કોરાહે અને તેની ટોળકીએ યહોવા સામે બળવો કર્યો ત્યારે એમણે તેઓને સાથ આપ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="NUM.26.10" />પરંતુ પૃથ્વીએ પોતાનું મુખ ખોલ્યું અને તેઓને ગળી ગઈ; તથા સમગ્ર પ્રજાને ચેતવણી મળે તે માંટે તે જ દિવસે યહોવાના અગ્નિએ 250 માંણસોને ભસ્મીભૂત કર્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="NUM.26.11" />તેમ છતાં કોરાહના વંશજો મૃત્યુ પામ્યા નહોતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.26.12" />શિમયોનના કુળસમૂહો:
</p>
<p style="p">નમુએલનું કુટુંબ. યામીનનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">યાખીનનું કુટુંબ,
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.26.13" />ઝેરાહનું કુટુંબ. શાઉલનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.26.14" />શિમયોનના કુળસમૂહના આટલાં કુટુંબો હતાં જેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 22,200ની હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.26.15" />ગાદના કુળસમૂહમાં તેના પુત્રોનાં નામ ઉપરથી ગોત્રો હતા.
</p>
<p style="p">સફોનથી સફોનીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">હાગ્ગીથી હાગ્ગીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">શૂનીથી શૂનીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.26.16" />ઓઝનીથી ઓઝનીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">એરીથી એરીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.26.17" />અરોદથી અરોદીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">આરએલીથી આરએલીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.26.18" />આ ગાદના કુળસમૂહનાં આટલાં કુટુંબો હતા જેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 40,500ની હતી.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="NUM.26.19" />યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહનાં કુટુંબો:
</p>
<p style="p">એર અને ઓનાન યહૂદાના પુત્રો હતા.
</p>
<p style="p">પણ તેઓ કનાન દેશમાં મૃત્યુ પામ્યા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.26.20" />યહૂદાના વંશ માંત્રના પુત્રોના નામ ઉપરથી ગોત્રો હતા:
</p>
<p style="p">શેલાથી શેલાનીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">પેરેસથી પેરેસીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">ઝેરાહથી ઝેરાહીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">પેરેસના કુટુંબોનો પણ આ વસ્તી ગણતરીમાં સમાંવેશ થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.26.21" />પેરેસના પુત્રોનાં નામ ઉપરથી પણ કુટુંબોના નામ આવ્યા:
</p>
<p style="p">હેસ્રોનથી હેસ્રોનીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓના પૂર્વજ હેસ્રોનના નામ ઉપરથી જ આ નામ હતું. હામૂલથી હામૂલીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.26.22" />આ યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહનાં કુટુંબો છે; તેઓની કુળ સંખ્યા 76,500 હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="NUM.26.23" />ઈસ્સાખારના કુળસમૂહમાં તેના દીકરાઓનાં નામ ઉપરથી કુટુંબો હતા:
</p>
<p style="p">તોલાથી તોલાઈઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">પૂઆહથી પૂઆહથીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.26.24" />યાશૂબથી યાશૂબીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">શિમ્રોનથી શિમ્રોનીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.26.25" />આ ઈસ્સાખારના કુળસમૂહોનાં કુટુંબો છે; તેઓની કુળસંખ્યા 64,300ની છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="NUM.26.26" />ઝબુલોનના કુળસમૂહમાં તેના પુત્રોનાં નામ ઉપરથી કુટુંબો હતા:
</p>
<p style="p">સેરેદથી સેરેદીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">એલોનથી એલોનીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">યાહલએલથી યાહલએલીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="NUM.26.27" />ઝબુલોનના કુળસમૂહના આટલાં કુટુંબો હતા. એમની કુલ સંખ્યા 60,500ની હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="NUM.26.28" />યૂસફના કુળસમૂહમાં તેના પુત્ર મનાશ્શા અને એફ્રાઈમના પુત્રોના નામ ઉપરથી કુટુંબો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="NUM.26.29" />મનાશ્શાનાં વંશનાં કુટુંબો:
</p>
<p style="p">માંખીરથી માંખીરીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="NUM.26.30" />માંખીરના પુત્ર ગિલયાદમાંથી આટલાં કુટુંબો ઊતરી આવે છે:
</p>
<p style="p">ઈએઝેરથી ઈએઝેરીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">હેલેકથી હેલેકીઓનું કુટુંબ, અને
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NUM.26.31" />આસ્રીએલથી આસ્રીએલીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">અને શખેમથી શખેમીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="NUM.26.32" />શમીદાથી શમીદાઈઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">હેફેરથી હેફેરીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="NUM.26.33" />હેફેરના પુત્ર સલોફહાદને પુત્ર નહોતા, તેની પુત્રીઓનાં નામ આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
</p>
<p style="p">માંહલાહ, નોઆહ, હોગ્લાહ, મિલ્કાહ અને તિર્સાહ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="NUM.26.34" />મનાશ્શાના કુળસમૂહના આટલાં કુટુંબો હતા:
</p>
<p style="p">તેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 52,700ની હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="NUM.26.35" />એફ્રાઈમના કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબો તેના પુત્રોનાં નામ ઉપરથી હતા.
</p>
<p style="p">શૂથેલાહથી શૂથેલાહીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">બેખેરથી બેખેરીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">તાહાનથી તાહાનીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="NUM.26.36" />શૂથેલાહના વંશજો.
</p>
<p style="p">એરાનથી એરાનીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="NUM.26.37" />એફ્રાઈમના કુળસમૂહનાં આટલાં કુટુંબો હતાં. એમની સંખ્યા 32,500ની હતી. આ બધાં યૂસફના કુળસમૂહોનાં કુટુંબો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="NUM.26.38" />બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહનાં તેમના પુત્રોનાં નામ ઉપરથી કુટુંબો હતાં:
</p>
<p style="p">બેલાથી બેલાઈઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">આશ્બેલથી આશ્બેલીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">અહીરામથી અહીરામીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="NUM.26.39" />શફુફામથી શુફામીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">હુફામથી હૂફામીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="NUM.26.40" />બેલાના વંશાનાં કુટુંબો:
</p>
<p style="p">આર્દથી આર્દીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">નામાંનથી નામાંનીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="NUM.26.41" />આ બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહનાં આટલાં કુટુંબો હતા, જેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 45,600ની હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="NUM.26.42" />દાનના કુળસમૂહમાં તેઓના પુત્રનાં નામ ઉપરથી કુટુંબ હતું:
</p>
<p style="p">શૂહામથી શૂહામીઓનું કુટુંબ. આમ દાનના કુળસમૂહનું માંત્ર એક જ કુટુંબ હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="NUM.26.43" />શૂહામના કુળસમૂહના સભ્યોની કુલ સંખ્યા 64,400ની હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="NUM.26.44" />આશેરના કુળસમૂહમાં તેના પુત્રોનાં નામ ઉપરથી કુટુંબો હતા.
</p>
<p style="p">યિમ્નાહથી યિમ્નીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">યિશ્વીથી યિશ્વીઓનું કુટુંબ. તેઓનાં પૂર્વજ યિશ્વીના નામ ઉપરથી હતું.
</p>
<p style="p">બરીઆહ બહીઆહીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="NUM.26.45" />બહીઆહના વંશનાં કુટુંબો. તેના પુત્રોનાં નામ ઉપરથી હતા.
</p>
<p style="p">હેબેરથી હેબેરીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">માંલ્કીએલથી માંલ્કીએલીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="NUM.26.46" />આશેરને એક પુત્રી હતી, જેનું નામ સેરાહ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="NUM.26.47" />આ આશેરના કુળસમૂહનાં આટલાં કુટુંબો હતા, જેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 53, 400ની હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="NUM.26.48" />નફતાલીના કુળસમૂહમાં તેના પુત્રોનાં નામ ઉપરથી કુટુંબો હતા:
</p>
<p style="p">યાહસએલથી યાહસએલીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">ગૂનીથી ગુનીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="NUM.26.49" />યેસેરથી યેસેરીઓનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">શિલ્લેમથી શિલ્લેમીઓનું કુટુંબ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="NUM.26.50" />નફતાલીના કુળસમૂહના આટલાં કુટુંબો હતા. જેમની કુલ સંખ્યા 45,400ની હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="NUM.26.51" />ઇસ્રાએલના કુલ વંશજો 6,01,730 હતા, જે યુદ્ધમાં જઈ શકે તેવા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="NUM.26.52" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="NUM.26.53" />“વસ્તી ગણતરીના આધારે કુળસમુહોને આ જમીન તેમની સંખ્યાના પ્રમાંણમાં વહેંચી આપવાની છે.
<ve />
<v id="54" bcv="NUM.26.54" />જેમની સંખ્યા મોટી છે તેમને વધુ જમીન આપવાની છે, જેમની સંખ્યા નાની છે તેમને ઓછી જમીન આપવાની છે.
<ve />
<v id="55" bcv="NUM.26.55" />પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહે નોંધાવેલી સંખ્યા પ્રમાંણે જમીન આપવાની છે. પરંતુ જમીનની વહેંચણી ચિઠ્ઠી નાખીને કરવાની છે. દરેકને તેમના કુળસમૂહના વ્યક્તિઓની સંખ્યાના પ્રમાંણમાં જમીન આપવાની છે.
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<v id="56" bcv="NUM.26.56" />પ્રત્યેક વંશને ચિઠ્ઠીના આધારે જમીન મળશે. તેથી જમીન દરેક કુટુંબને મળશે ભલે તે નાનું હોય કે મોટું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="NUM.26.57" />લેવીઓના નોંધયેલા કુળસમૂહો અને કુટુંબો નીચે મુજબ હતા:
</p>
<p style="p">ગેર્શોનનું કુટુંબ. કહાથનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">મરારીનું કુટુંબ,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="58" bcv="NUM.26.58" />લેવીઓનાં કુળસમુહોમાંથી બીજાં કુટુંબો નીચે મુજબ છે:
</p>
<p style="p">લીબ્નીનું કુટુંબ. હેબ્રોનનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">માંહલીનું કુટુંબ. મૂશીનું કુટુંબ.
</p>
<p style="p">તથા કોરાહનું કુટુંબ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="59" bcv="NUM.26.59" />કહાથનો પુત્ર આમ્રામ હતો. આમ્રાનની પત્નીનું નામ યોખેબેદ હતું. તે લેવીની પુત્રી હતી. અને મિસરમાં જન્મી હતી, તેનાથી આમ્રાનને હારુન, મૂસા અને તેમની બહેન મરિયમ જન્મ્યાં હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="60" bcv="NUM.26.60" />હારુનના પુત્ર નાદાબ અબીહુ, એલઆઝાર અને ઈથામાંર હતા.
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<v id="61" bcv="NUM.26.61" />નાદાબ અને અબીહૂ નિષિદ્ધ અગ્નિ યહોવા સમક્ષ અર્પણ કરવાથી મૃત્યુ પામ્યા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="62" bcv="NUM.26.62" />લેવી કુળસમૂહની વસ્તી ગણતરીમાં એક મહિનો અને તેનાથી વધારે ઉમરના પુરુષોની કુળ સંખ્યા 23,000 થઈ. એમની નોંધણી બીજા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ભેગી કરવામાં ન્યોતી અવી, કારણ કે એમને જમીન મળી ન્હોતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="63" bcv="NUM.26.63" />મૂસાએ અને યાજક એલઆઝારે યર્દન નદીને કાંઠે યરીખો સામે મોઆબના મેદાનમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓની વસ્તી ગણતરી કરી ત્યારે આટલાં માંણસો નોંધાયાં હતા.
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<v id="64" bcv="NUM.26.64" />મૂસાએ અને યાજક હારુને સિનાઈના રણમાં વસ્તી ગણતરી કરી હતી, ત્યારે નોંધાયેલાઓમાંથી એક પણ માંણસ હયાત ન્હોતો.
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<v id="65" bcv="NUM.26.65" />કારણ, યહોવાએ તેમને કહ્યું હતું કે યફૂન્નેહનો પુત્ર કાલેબ, અને નૂનના પુત્ર યહોશુઆ સિવાય બધા જ લોકો રણમાં મરણ પામશે. અને ખરેખર બધાજ મરણ પામ્યા. સિવાય કાલેબ અને યહોશુઆ.
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</p>

<c id="27" />
<s style="s">સલોફહાદની પુત્રીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.27.1" />અને યૂસફના પુત્ર મનાશ્શાના કુટુંબોમાંથી મનાશ્શાના પુત્ર માંખીરના પુત્ર ગિલયાદના પુત્ર હેફેરના પુત્ર સલોફહાદની પુત્રીઓનાં નામ માંહલાહ, નોઆહ, હોગ્લાહ, મિલ્કાહ અને તિર્સાહ હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.27.2" />તેમણે મૂસાની તથા એલઆઝારની અને સમગ્ર સમાંજના આગેવાનોની સમક્ષ મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ હાજર થઈને દાવો રજૂ કર્યો કે,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NUM.27.3" />“અમાંરા પિતા રણમાં મૃત્યુ પામ્યા હતા. યહોવા સામે બળવો કરનાર કોરાહની ટોળીમાં તે ન્હોતા. તે તેમના પોતાના પાપે જ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા હતા અને તેમને કોઈ પુત્ર ન્હોતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.27.4" />અમાંરા પિતા અપુત્ર હતા એટલા જ કારણસર તેમનું નામ કુટુંબમાંથી શા માંટે ભૂંસાઈ જાય? અમાંરા પિતાના ભાઈઓની સાથે અમે પણ વારસો આપવામાં આવે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.27.5" />એટલે મૂસાએ આ બાબત યહોવા સમક્ષ લાવી.
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.27.6" />અને યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું,
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.27.7" />“સલોફહાદની પુત્રીઓની વાત બરાબર છે. એ લોકોને પણ એમના પિતાના ભાઈઓની સાથે તું તેમને ભાગ આપ; તેમના પિતા જીવતાં હોત તો જે વારસો તેમને આપવામાં આવ્યો હોત તે તું તેઓને આપ.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.27.8" />“તે ઉપરાંત તમાંરા સૌ માંટે આ સામાંન્ય કાનૂન છે: ‘તું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આ પ્રમાંણે કહે; જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અપુત્ર મૃત્યુ પામે તો તેની મિલકત તેની પુત્રીને મળે.
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<v id="9" bcv="NUM.27.9" />જો તેને પુત્રી પણ ના હોય, તો તેની મિલકત તેના ભાઈઓને મળે.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.27.10" />જો તેને ભાઈઓ પણ ના હોય, તો તેની મિલકત તેના કાકાઓને મળે.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.27.11" />અને જો તેને કાકાઓ ન હોય, તો તેની મિલકત તેના સૌથી નજીકનાં સગાને મળે, અને તે તેનો માંલિક બને. મેં યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા કરી છે તે મુજબ આ કાયદો સૌ ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ પાળવાનો છે.’”
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<s style="s">નવો આગેવાન યહોશુઆ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.27.12" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તું આ અબારીમના પર્વત પર ચઢી જા અને ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને મેં જે ભૂમિ આપી છે તે જોઈ લે.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.27.13" />તારો ભાઈ હારુન મૃત્યુ પામ્યો તેમ તું પણ તે ભૂમિને જોયા પછી મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.27.14" />કારણ કે સીનના રણમાં જયારે સમગ્ર સમાંજે ઝરણા આગળ માંરી સામે ઝઘડો કર્યો હતો, ત્યારે તમે માંરી આજ્ઞાનો ભંગ કર્યો હતો: તમે તેમની આગળ માંરી શક્તિ વિષે અવિશ્વાસ પ્રગટ કર્યો અને લોકોને બતાવ્યુ નહિ કે હું પવિત્ર છું.” સીનના રણમાં આવેલા કાદેશ નજીકના “મરીબાહ”ના ઝરણાની આ વાત છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.27.15" />ત્યારબાદ મૂસાએ યહોવાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.27.16" />“હે યહોવા, સર્વ માંનવજાતના આત્માંઓના દેવ, આ તમને માંરી અરજ છે કે હવે આ સમાંજનો કોઈ આગેવાન પસંદ કરો.
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.27.17" />જે એમની આગળ રહે અને બધી જ બાબતોમાં માંર્ગદર્શન આપે, જેથી તમાંરા લોકો ભરવાડ વગરનાં ઘેટાં જેવા ન રહે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.27.18" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “નૂનનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ શક્તિશાળી માંણસ છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.27.19" />તું તેને યાજક એલઆઝાર તથા સમગ્ર સમાંજ સમક્ષ ઊભો કર, પછી તેના માંથા પર હાથ મૂકી તેમના દેખતાં જ તેને તારો ઉત્તરાધિકારી નિયુક્ત કર.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.27.20" />“અને પછી તારી કેટલીક સત્તા તેને સોંપ, જેથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો સમગ્ર સમાંજ તેની આજ્ઞામાં રહે.
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<v id="21" bcv="NUM.27.21" />તેણે માંરી ઈચ્છા જાણવા માંટે યાજક એલઆજાર પાસે જવું પડશે. પછી એલઆઝાર યહોવા સમક્ષ ઉરીમ પાસો નાખીને યહોવાને જવાબ મેળવશે. આ રીતે એલઆઝાર યહોશુઆને અને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજને તેમની બધી બાબતમાં માંર્ગદર્શન આપશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.27.22" />એટલે મૂસાએ યહોવાના કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે કર્યું. તેણે યહોશુઆને લઈ જઈને યાજક એલઆઝાર તથા સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજ સમક્ષ રજૂ કર્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.27.23" />અને સૌ લોકોની હાજરીમાં મૂસાએ તેને માંથે હાથ મૂકીને તેને યહોવાએ જણાવ્યા મુજબ ઉત્તરાધિકારી નિયુક્ત કર્યો.
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</p>

<c id="28" />
<s style="s">અર્પણોના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.28.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.28.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને આ પ્રમાંણે આજ્ઞા કર:
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.28.3" />તમાંરે નિયત સમયે મને આગમાં બનાવેલું ખાદ્યાર્પણ ધરવું, તેની સુગંધ મને પ્રસન્ન કરે છે. તેથી તમાંરે નીચે મુજબ અર્પણ ચઢાવવું. પ્રતિદિન તમાંરે એક વર્ષના ખોડખાંપણ વગરના બે નર હલવાનોનું દહનાર્પણ કરવું જ.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.28.4" />એક હલવાનની આહુતિ સવારે અને બીજાની સંધ્યાકાળે અને રાત્રિની વચ્ચે આહુતિ આપવી.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.28.5" />ઝીણા દળેલા આઠ વાટકા મેંદાના લોટમાં એક કવાર્ટ<f caller="+"><fr>28:5
</fr><fk>એક કવાટ
</fk><ft>એક દશાંશ એફાહ.</ft></f> જૈતૂન તેલ ભેળવીને તે પણ ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે અર્પણ કરો.”
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.28.6" />તેઓએ સિનાઈ પર્વત પર દૈનિક અર્પણો આપવાનું શરૂ કર્યું, આ અર્પણો આગથી બનાવેલા હતા, તેની સુગંધ યહોવાને પ્રસન્ન કરે છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.28.7" />પેયાર્પણ તરીકે પા ગેલન દ્રાક્ષારસ દરેક હલવાન સાથે અર્પણ કરવો. તમાંરે તેને દેવને પેયાર્પણ તરીકે પવિત્ર જગ્યામાંની વેદી પર રેડી દેવો.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.28.8" />બીજા હલવાનની આહુતિ પણ તમાંરે સંધ્યા અને રાત્રિ વચ્ચે આપવી, અને તેની સાથે સવારના જેવા જ ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ધરાવવાં. આ હોમયજ્ઞની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">વિશ્રામવારના અર્પણો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.28.9" />“વિશ્રામવારને દિવસે તમાંરે ખોડખાંપણ વિનાના એક વર્ષની ઉમરના બે હલવાન, ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે તેલે મોયેલા 16 વાટકા મેંદાનો લોટ અને નક્કી કરાયેલી માંત્રામાં દ્રાક્ષારસ ધરાવવો.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.28.10" />પ્રત્યેક વિશ્રામવારે આ અર્પણ નિયમિત દહનાર્પણ અને પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંત લાવવાનું છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">માંસિક પવિત્ર મેળાવડો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.28.11" />“પ્રત્યેક મહિનાના પ્રથમ દિવસે તમાંરે યહોવાને દહનાર્પણમાં 2 વાછરડા, એક ઘેટો અને 1 વર્ષની ઉમર ના 7 નર હલવાનો ખોડખાંપણ વગરના ચઢાવવાં.
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.28.12" />પ્રત્યેક બળદ સાથે તમાંરે 24 વાટકા ઝીણો દળેલો લોટ જૈતૂન તેલ સાથે ભેળવી અર્પણ કરવો. અને નર ઘેટા સાથે 16 વાટકા ઝીણો દળેલો લોટ જૈતૂન તેલ સાથે ભેળવી અર્પણ કરવો.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.28.13" />અને પ્રત્યેક હલવાન માંટે તેલે મોયેલા 8 વાટકા ઝીણા દળેલા લોટમાં જૈતૂન તેલ ભેળવી અગ્નિમાં બનાવી તારે અર્પણ કરવું તેની સુંગધથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.28.14" />તમાંરે પેયાર્પણમાં વાછરડા દીઠ અડધો ગેલન દ્રાક્ષારસ, ઘેટા દીઠ સવા ગેલન દ્રાક્ષારસ અને હલવાન દીઠ પા ગેલન દ્રાક્ષારસ ચઢાવવો, વર્ષના પ્રત્યેક મહિનામાં બારે માંસ અર્પણ કરવાનું આ દહનાર્પણ છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.28.15" />પ્રત્યેક માંસના પ્રથમ દિવસે એક બકરો પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે તમાંરે યહોવાને ચઢાવવો. અને દૈનિક દહનાર્પણ અને તે સાથેના પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંતનુ આ અર્પણ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાસ્ખાપર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.28.16" />“પહેલા મહિનાનો ચૌદમો દિવસ તે યહોવાનો પાસ્ખાનો દિવસ છે, દર વર્ષે પહેલા મહિનાની 14મી તારીખ તેની ઉજવણી કરવી.
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.28.17" />આ માંસને પંદરમે દિવસે બેખમીર રોટલીનો પર્વ શરૂ થશે અને સાત દિવસ સુધી તે ચાલુ રહેશે જે દરમ્યાન તમાંરે બેખમીર રોટલી ખાવી.
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.28.18" />પ્રથમ દિવસે યહોવાની સમક્ષ સર્વ લોકોની ધર્મસભા રાખવી. તે દિવસે રોજનું પરિશ્રમનું કામ કરવું નહિ.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.28.19" />તમાંરે યહોવાને દહનાર્પણમાં 2 વાછરડા, 1 ઘેટો અને 1 વર્ષની ઉમરનાં ખોડખાંપણ વિનાનાં 7 હલવાનો ચઢાવવાં.
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<v id="20" bcv="NUM.28.20" />પ્રત્યેક વાછરડા દીઠ 24 વાટકા ઝીણા દળેલા લોટમાં જૈતૂન તેલ ભેળવી તથા નર ઘેટા સાથે 16 વાટકા ઝીણા દળેલા લોટમાં જૈતૂન તેલ ભેળવી અર્પણ કરવાં.
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<v id="21" bcv="NUM.28.21" />અને પ્રત્યેક હલવાન સાથે 8 વાટકા તેલથી મોયેલો લોટ.
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.28.22" />અને તમાંરા પોતાના માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવા પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે તમાંરે એક બકરાનું અર્પણ કરવું.
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.28.23" />દરરોજના દહનાર્પણો ઉપરાંત આ અર્પણો તમાંરે સાત દિવસ સુધી લાવવાનાં છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.28.24" />“ઉત્સવના સાતે દિવસ દરરોજ યહોવાને માંટે સુવાસિત હોમયજ્ઞનું અન્ન; જાથુના દહનાર્પણ સાથેના પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંત ચઢાવવાનાં છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.28.25" />“સાતમાં દિવસે ફરીથી પવિત્ર ધર્મસભા માંટે સર્વ લોકોએ ભેગા થવું અને તે દિવસે રોજનું પરિશ્રમનું કામ કરવું નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">સપ્તાહોનું પર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="NUM.28.26" />“કાપણીના પર્વના પ્રથમ દિવસે, નવા પાકની ઉજવણી કરવા યહોવા સમક્ષ સર્વ લોકોએ ધર્મસભામાં ભેગા થવું, તે દિવસે તમાંરે તમાંરા નવા પાકનું પ્રથમ ફળ યહોવાને ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે અર્પણ કરવું. અને રોજનું કામ કરવું નહિ.
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.28.27" />તે દિવસે એક ખાસ દહનાર્પણ યહોવા સમક્ષ ચઢાવવું. તેની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે, તે માંટે તમાંરે 2 વાછરડા, 1 ઘેટો અને એક વર્ષના 7 નર હલવાનો લાવવા.
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<v id="28" bcv="NUM.28.28" />એની સાથે બળદ દીઠ 24 વાટકા, ઘેટા દીઠ 16 વાટકા
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<v id="29" bcv="NUM.28.29" />અને હલવાન દીઠ 8 વાટકા તેલથી મોયેલો લોટ ચઢાવવો.
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<v id="30" bcv="NUM.28.30" />તદુપરાંત તમાંરા પોતાના પ્રાયશ્ચિતને માંટે એક બકરો અર્પણ કરવો.
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<v id="31" bcv="NUM.28.31" />પ્રતિદિન નિયમિત ચઢાવવામાં આવતાં દહનાર્પણ, ખાદ્યાર્પણ અને પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંત આ અર્પણો તમાંરે લાવવાનાં છે. બલિદાન માંટેનાં પ્રાણીઓ ખોડખાંપણ વિનાના હોય તેની કાળજી રાખવી.
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</p>

<c id="29" />
<s style="s">રણશિંગડાનાં ઉત્સવો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.29.1" />“પ્રતિવર્ષ સાતમાં મહિનાના પ્રથમ દિવસે તમાંરે ધર્મસંમેલન રાખવું. એ દિવસે રણશિંગડાં વગાડવાનો ઉત્સવ ઉજવવો. રોજનું કામ તે દિવસે કરવું નહિ. તે દિવસે તમાંરે સૌએ આનંદના પોકારો કરવા.
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.29.2" />તે દિવસે તમાંરે યહોવાને દહનાર્પણમાં એક વાછરડો, એક ઘેટો અને એક વર્ષની વયનાં ખોડખાંપણ વિનાના 7 હલવાન અર્પણ કરવાં. તેની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.29.3" />તેની સાથે વાછરડા દીઠ 24 વાટકા,
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.29.4" />ઘેટા દીઠ 16 વાટકા લોટ અને હલવાન દીઠ 8 વાટકા લોટ તેલમાં મોયીને ખાદ્યાર્પણ માંટે લાવીને ચઢાવવો.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.29.5" />આ ઉપરાંત તમાંરા પોતાના માંટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવા પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે એક બકરો ચઢાવવો.
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.29.6" />અમાંવાસ્યાના દહનાર્પણ તથા દૈનિક યજ્ઞો અને તે સાથેના ખાદ્યાર્પણ અને પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંત આ વિશિષ્ટ અર્પણો છે. એ યહોવાની સુવાસિત આહુતિ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રાયશ્ચિત દિવસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="NUM.29.7" />“આ સાતમાં મહિનાના દશમે દિવસે ધર્મ સંમેલન રાખવું, તે દિવસે તમાંરે ઉપવાસ કરવો અને રોજનું કોઈ કામ ન કરવું.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.29.8" />તે દિવસે તમાંરે યહોવા સમક્ષ દહનાર્પણમાં એક વાછરડો, એક ઘેટો અને એક વર્ષની વયના સાત નર હલવાનો ખોડખાંપણ વિનાના અર્પણ કરવાં. આની સુવાસથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="NUM.29.9" />તમાંરે વાછરડા સાથે 24 વાટકા તેલમાં ભેળવેલો લોટ અર્પણ કરવો,
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.29.10" />પ્રત્યેક ઘેટા દીઠ 16 વાટકા, અને હલવાન દીઠ 8 વાટકા, તેલથી મોયેલો લોટ ચઢાવવો.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.29.11" />વળી પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે તમાંરે એક બકરાનું બલિદાન આપવું. પ્રાયશ્ચિતના દિવસનું પાપાર્થાર્પણ વર્ષમાં એક વખત તે પ્રાયશ્ચિતના દિવસે અર્પણ કરવામાં આવતું અને પ્રતિદિન થતાં દહનાર્પણો, ખાદ્યાર્પણો અને પેયાર્પણો ઉપરાંતનું આ અર્પણ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">સંગ્રહનું પર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.29.12" />“પછી સાતમાં મહિનાના પંદરમે દિવસે તમાંરે ધર્મસંમેલન રાખવું. રોજનું કામ કરવું નહિ, અને સાત દિવસ સુધી તમાંરે યહોવાનો ઉત્સવ ઊજવવો.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.29.13" />તે દિવસે યહોવા જેનાથી પ્રસન્ન થાય છે તે અર્પણ કરવું. તમાંરા આ વિશિષ્ટ દહનાર્પણમાં 13 વાછરડા. 2 ઘેટા અને એક વર્ષની ઉમરનાં ખોડખાંપણ વિનાનાં 14 નર હલવાન ચઢાવવાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.29.14" />એની સાથે ખાદ્યાર્પણમાં વાછરડા દીઠ 24 વાટકા,
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.29.15" />ઘેટા દીઠ 16 વાટકા અને હલવાન દીઠ 8 વાટકા તેલથી મોયેલો લોટ ધરાવવો.
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.29.16" />તદુપરાંત પ્રાયશ્ચિત્તાર્પણ તરીકે એક બકરો ચઢાવવો. પ્રતિદિન નિયમિત થતા યજ્ઞો, ખાદ્યાર્પણો અને પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંત આ અર્પણ કરવાનું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.29.17" />“બીજે દિવસે 12 વાછરડા, 2 ઘેટા અને એક વર્ષની ઉમરના ખોડખાંપણ વગરના 14 નર હલવાનો ચઢાવવા.
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.29.18" />તેની સાથે નિયમ પ્રમાંણે ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ચઢાવવા.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.29.19" />તદુપરાંત નિયમિત પ્રતિદિન થતા યજ્ઞ ઉપરાંત પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે એક બકરાનું બલિદાન અને તે સાથેનાં ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ચઢાવવાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.29.20" />“ત્રીજે દિવસે 11 વાછરડા, 2 ઘેટા અને એક વર્ષની ઉમરના ખોડખાંપણ વિનાના 14 હલવાનો,
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<v id="21" bcv="NUM.29.21" />તથા તેની સાથે પ્રાણીઓની સંખ્યા અનુસાર નકકી કરેલા ધોરણ મુજબ ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ચઢાવવા.
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.29.22" />ઉપરાંત, પ્રાયશ્ચિત્તાર્પણ તરીકે એક બકરો ચઢાવવો. આ પ્રતિદિન થતાં દહનાર્પણો, ખાદ્યાર્પણો અને પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંત ચઢાવવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="NUM.29.23" />“ચોથે દિવસે 10 વાછરડા, 2 ઘેટા અને એક વર્ષની ઉમરના ખોડખાંપણ વગરના 14 હલવાનો,
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<v id="24" bcv="NUM.29.24" />તથા તેની સાથે પ્રાણીઓની સંખ્યા મુજબ ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ચઢાવવા.
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<v id="25" bcv="NUM.29.25" />તદુપરાંત પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે એક બકરો ચઢાવવો. આ પ્રતિદિન અપાતાં દહનાર્પણ, ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંત ચઢાવવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="NUM.29.26" />“પાંચમે દિવસે 9 વાછરડા, 2 ઘેટા અને એક વર્ષની ઉમરના ખોડખાંપણ વગરના 14 હલવાન.
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.29.27" />તથા તેની સાથે પ્રાણીઓની સંખ્યા મુજબ યોગ્ય પૂરતા ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ચઢાવવા.
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<v id="28" bcv="NUM.29.28" />પ્રતિદિન થતાં યજ્ઞ અને તે સાથે નિયમ પ્રમાંણે ખાદ્યાર્પણ અને પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંત પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંટે એક બકરાનું બલિદાન આપવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="NUM.29.29" />“છઠ્ઠે દિવસે 8 વાછરડા, 2 ઘેટા અને એક વર્ષની ઉમરના ખોડખાંપણ વગરના 14 હલવાન
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<v id="30" bcv="NUM.29.30" />તથા તેની સાથે પ્રાણીઓની સંખ્યા અનુસાર જરૂરી પૂરતાં ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ચઢાવવા.
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<v id="31" bcv="NUM.29.31" />આ બધું પ્રતિદિન નિયમિત થતાં યજ્ઞ અને તે સાથે નિયમ પ્રમાંણે ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંત પાપાર્થાર્પણને માંટે એક બકરાનું બલિદાન અર્પણ કરવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="NUM.29.32" />“સાતમે દિવસે 7 વાછરડા, 2 ઘેટા અને એક વર્ષની ઉમરના ખોડખાંપણ વગરના 14 હલવાન.
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<v id="33" bcv="NUM.29.33" />તથા તેની સાથે પ્રાણીઓની સંખ્યા અનુસાર નિયમ મુજબ ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ચઢાવવાં.
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<v id="34" bcv="NUM.29.34" />ઉપરાંત પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે એક બકરો ચઢાવવો. આ અર્પણ પ્રતિદિન થતાં ખાદ્યાર્પણ અને પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંતના હશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="NUM.29.35" />“આઠમાં દિવસે તમાંરા માંટે ખૂબજ વિશિષ્ટ સભાનો દિવસ હશે,
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<v id="36" bcv="NUM.29.36" />તે દિવસે તમાંરે રોજના કામ ન કરવા. તમાંરે યહોવાને દહનાર્પણો અર્પવા. તેની સુવાસ યહોવાને પ્રસન્ન કરે છે. આ તમાંરા ખાસ દહનાર્પણમાં એક બળદ, એક ઘેટો અને એક વર્ષની ઉમરના ખોડખાંપણ વગરના 7 હલવાન હોવા જોઈએ.
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<v id="37" bcv="NUM.29.37" />તથા તેની સાતે સંખ્યા અનુસાર નિયમ મુજબ ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ચઢાવવા.
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<v id="38" bcv="NUM.29.38" />ઉપરાંત તમાંરે પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે એક બકરો ચઢાવવો. આ અર્પણ પ્રતિદિન દહનાર્પણ અને ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ ઉપરાંત ચઢાવવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="NUM.29.39" />“તમાંરા ઠરાવેલા વાર્ષિક ઉસ્તવો દરમ્યાન આ અર્પણો ફરજિયાત છે. આ અર્પણો તમાંરી બાધાના પૂર્ણ કરવાના અર્પણો, અથવા ખાસ ભેટના અર્પણો અથવા દહનાર્પણો, ખાદ્યાર્પણો, પેયાર્પણો તથા શાંત્યર્પણોની ઉપરાંત અર્પણ કરવાના છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="NUM.29.40" />મૂસાએ આ સર્વ સૂચનાઓ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને કહી સંભળાવી.
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<c id="30" />
<s style="s">પ્રતિજ્ઞા વિષેના વિશેષ નિયમો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.30.1" />મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના કુળસમૂહોના વડાઓને કહ્યું, યહોવાની આજ્ઞા આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="NUM.30.2" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કોઈ બાબત માંટે અથવા કોઈ વસ્તુનો ત્યાગ કરવા માંટે દેવ સમક્ષ વચન આપે તો તેણે તેનો ભંગ કરવો નહિ. વચનનું પાલન અચૂક કરવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NUM.30.3" />“જો કોઈ કુંવારી સ્ત્રી પોતાના પિતાને ઘેર હોય ત્યારે યહોવાને કશું ચઢાવવાનું વચન આપે અગર અન્ય કોઈ વસ્તુનો ત્યાગ કરવાનું વ્રત લે.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.30.4" />અને તેના પિતાને તે વચન વિષે જાણ થાય છતાં તે કશો વાંધો ઉઠાવે નહિ, તો તે વચન તે સ્ત્રીને બંધનકર્તા બને છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.30.5" />પરંતુ જો તેના પિતાને જે દિવસે જાણ થાય તે જ દિવસે તેણીને વચન પુરુ કરવાની મનાઈ કરે તો તે તેને પુરુ કરવા બંધનકર્તા ન રહે, તેના પિતાએ તેને રોકી હોવાથી યહોવા તેને વચન તોડવા માંટે દોષિત ગણે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.30.6" />“પરંતુ જો કોઈ સ્ત્રી કઈ કરવાની પ્રતિજ્ઞા લે, અને પછી લગ્ન કરે,
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.30.7" />અને તેના પતિને તેના વચન વિષેની ખબર પડે અને જે દિવસે ખબર પડે તે દિવસે તે વિષે કશું ન કરે તો તેનું વચન બંધનકર્તા બને છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.30.8" />જો તેનો પતિ તેની પ્રતિજ્ઞા અથવા વચન પુરું કરવા ન દે તો તે પ્રતિજ્ઞા અથવા વચન મુક્ત થઈ જાય છે. તેથી યહોવા તેને માંફ કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.30.9" />“જો કોઈ વિધવા કે છૂટાછેડા આપેલી સ્ત્રીનું વચન હોય તો તે તેને બંધનકર્તા ગણાય, તે અચૂક પૂર્ણ કરવાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.30.10" />“જો કોઈ પરણેલી સ્ત્રીએ સાસરે આવ્યા પછી યહોવાને કોઈ વચન આપ્યું હોય,
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.30.11" />અને તેની જાણ થવા છતાં તેનો પતિ તેને કાંઈ જ કહે નહિ કે ના પાડે નહિ, તો તેનું વચન તેને બંધનકર્તા ગણાય.
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.30.12" />પણ જો પતિને જાણ થતાં તેને રદ કરે તો તેણે જે વચન આપ્યું હોય તે બંધનકર્તા રહે નહિ. તેના પતિએ તેને રદ કર્યા હોવાથી યહોવા તેને માંફ કરી દેશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.30.13" />પત્નીના કોઈ પણ વચનને પતિ મંજૂર કે રદ કરી શકે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.30.14" />પરંતુ જો જાણ થયા પછી બીજા દિવસ સુધીમાં પતિએ તેને કંઈજ કહ્યું ના હોય તો એનો અર્થ એ કે તે એના વચન સાથે સંમત છે, અને પતિએ જાણ થઈ તે જ દિવસે તેણે કશું જ કહ્યું નહિ, એટલે એ મંજૂર રાખ્યું ગણાય.
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.30.15" />પણ જો જાણ્યા પછી થોડા સમય બાદ પતિ ના કરે તો તેણીના વચનોનાં ભંગનો જવાબદાર તેનો પતિ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.30.16" />પતિ અને પત્નીને વિષે તેમજ પિતા અને તેના ઘરમાં રહેતી કુંવારી કન્યા વિષે યહોવાએ મૂસાને આ પ્રમાંણે નિયમો જણાવ્યા હતા.
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<c id="31" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ અને મિદ્યાન વચ્ચે યુદ્ધ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.31.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.31.2" />“મૂર્તિપૂજામાં ઇસ્રાએલને લઈ જનાર મિદ્યાનીઓ ઉપર તું પૂરેપૂરું વેર વસૂલ કરજે. તે પછી તું પિતૃઓ ભેગો પોઢી જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NUM.31.3" />પછી મૂસાએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમાંરામાંથી કેટલાકે શસ્ત્રસજજ થઈને મિદ્યાનીઓ ઉપર હુમલો કરો, અને યહોવા તમાંરા દ્વારા મિદ્યાનીઓ ઉપર બદલો લેશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.31.4" />તમાંરે ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહમાંથી 1,000 માંણસોને યુદ્ધમાં મોકલવા.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.31.5" />આથી પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહમાંથી હજાર માંણસો મુજબ મૂસાએ 12,000 માંણસો ભેગા કરીને તેમને શસ્ત્રસજજ કરીને યુદ્ધમાં મોકલ્યા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.31.6" />અને યાજક એલઆઝારનો પુત્ર ફીનહાસ પવિત્ર સામગ્રી અને યુદ્ધનાદ કરવાનાં રણશિંગડાં લઈને સાથે ગયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.31.7" />યુદ્ધમાં મિદ્યાનના સર્વ પુરુષોનો સંહાર કરવામાં આવ્યો. કારણ કે મૂસાએ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ મિદ્યાનીઓ પર હુમલો કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.31.8" />યુદ્ધમાં માંર્યા ગયેલા માંણસોમાં મિદ્યાની રાજાઓ અવી, રેકેમ, સૂર, હૂર અને રેબા હતા. ઉપરાંત બયોરના પુત્ર બલામને પણ માંરી નાખ્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.31.9" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ મિદ્યાનીઓની સર્વ સ્ત્રીઓને અને બાળકોને કેદ પકડયાં, તેમના બધાં ઢોર, ઘેટાં બકરાં અને સરસામાંન લૂંટી લીધાં.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.31.10" />તેમણે તેમના બધાં શહેરોને અને છાવણીઓને લૂટયાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.31.11" />ત્યાર પછી તેઓ બધી લૂટ અને કબજે કરેલાં પશુઓ અને માંણસોને
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.31.12" />મોઆબના મેદાનમાં યરીખોની સામે યર્દન નદીને કાંઠે આવેલી છાવણીમાં મૂસા, યાજક એલઆઝાર અને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજ સમક્ષ લાવ્યા.
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<v id="13" bcv="NUM.31.13" />મૂસા, એલઆઝાર યાજક અને લોકોના આગેવાનો વિજયી સૈન્યને મળવા માંટે બહાર આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.31.14" />મૂસા યુદ્ધમાંથી પાછા ફરતા લશ્કરના સેનાપતિઓ, અને લશ્કરના નાનામોટા અધિકારીઓ ઉપર ક્રોધે ભરાયો હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.31.15" />તેણે તેઓને પૂછયું, “તમે આ બધી સ્ત્રીઓને શા માંટે જીવતી રહેવા દીધી?
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<v id="16" bcv="NUM.31.16" />આ એ જ સ્ત્રીઓ છે જેઓએ બલામની શિખામણ મુજબ પેઓરના પર્વત પર ઇસ્રાએલીઓને યહોવાનો ત્યાગ કરવા તથા મૂર્તિપૂજામાં લલચાવી ગઈ હતી, અને તેને કારણે જ ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજમાં મરકીનો રોગચાળો ફાટી નીકળ્યો હતો.
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.31.17" />આથી બધાં પુરુષ સંતાનોને માંરી નાખો, અને જેમણે શારીરિક સંબંધ કર્યો હોય એવી બધી સ્ત્રીઓને પણ માંરી નાખો.
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.31.18" />પરંતુ જે સ્ત્રીઓએ શારીરિક સંબંધ ન કર્યો હોય તેઓને તમાંરે માંટે જીવતી રાખો.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.31.19" />અને જેઓએ કોઈનો સંહાર કર્યો છે અથવા મૃતદેહનો સ્પર્શ કર્યો છે તેઓ બધાએ સાત દિવસ સુધી છાવણીની બહાર રહેવું. તમાંરે અને તમાંરા કેદીઓએ ત્રીજે અને સાતમે દિવસે દેહશુદ્ધિ કરવી,
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<v id="20" bcv="NUM.31.20" />વળી તમાંરાં બધા કપડાં તથા જે કાંઈ ચામડાનું કે બકરાના વાળનું કે લાકડાનું બનાવેલુ હોય તે બધું ય શુદ્ધ કરવાનું યાદ રાખો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.31.21" />પછી યાજક એલઆઝારે યુદ્ધમાંથી પાછા ફરેલા યોદ્ધાઓને કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ મૂસા માંરફતે જણાવેલા આ શાસ્ત્રનો નિયમ છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.31.22" />જે કાંઈ અગ્નિમાં મૂકી શકાય જેમકે સોનું, ચાંદી, કાંસા, લોખંડ, કલાઈ અને સીસાને
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.31.23" />શુદ્ધ કરવા માંટે અગ્નિમાંથી પસાર કરવું પડશે; પછી શુદ્ધિના પાણી વડે તેને શુદ્ધ કરવામાં આવશે, જો કાંઈ અગ્નિમાં મૂકી ન શકાય તે બધાને પાણીથી શુદ્ધ કરવું.
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<v id="24" bcv="NUM.31.24" />સાતમે દિવસે તમાંરે કપડાં ધોઈ નાખવાં, ત્યાર પછી તમે શુદ્ધ થશો, અને પાછા છાવણીમાં દાખલ થઈ શકશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.31.25" />અને યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="26" bcv="NUM.31.26" />“તું તથા એલઆઝાર યાજક અને કુળના વડાલો સાથે મળીને કબજે કરાયેલાં માંણસો અને પશુઓ સહિત બધાની ગણતરી કર,
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.31.27" />અને એ યુદ્ધમાં ગલેયા યોદ્ધાઓ અને બાકીના સમાંજ વચ્ચે સરખે ભાગે વહેંચી આપ.
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<v id="28" bcv="NUM.31.28" />યુદ્ધમાં ગયેલા યોદ્ધાઓના ભાગમાંથી તારે દર 500 કેદીઓ, બળદો, ગધેડાં કે ઘેટાં દીઠ એક યહોવાને માંટે કાઢી લેવું.
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<v id="29" bcv="NUM.31.29" />પેલી વસ્તુઓ સૈનિકોએ યુદ્ધમાં લીધેલી વસ્તુઓના અડધા ભાગમાંથી લેવી અને તેને યાજક એલઆઝારને આપવી તે ભાગ યહોવાનો છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="NUM.31.30" />લોકોના અડધા ભાગમાંથી, દર 50 માંણસ દીઠ, બળદો, ગધેડાં, ઘેટાં અને બીજાં બધાં પશુઓમાંથી એક લઈને યહોવાના પવિત્રમંડપની સંભાળ લેતા લેવીઓને તે આપ. તે દેવનો ભાગ છે.”
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<v id="31" bcv="NUM.31.31" />તેથી યહોવાએ આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે પ્રમાંણે મૂસાએ અને યાજક એલઆઝારે કર્યું.
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<v id="32" bcv="NUM.31.32" />યોદ્ધાઓએ જે લૂંટ એકત્ર કરી હતી તેની યાદી: 6,75,000 ઘેટાં,
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<v id="33" bcv="NUM.31.33" />બોંતેર હજારઢોર,
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<v id="34" bcv="NUM.31.34" />એકસઠ હજાર ગધેડા,
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<v id="35" bcv="NUM.31.35" />બત્રીસ હજાર કુંવારી કન્યાઓ.
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<v id="36" bcv="NUM.31.36" />યુદ્ધમાં ગયેલા સૈનિકોને લૂંટમાંથી જે અડધો ભાગ તેની વિગતો: 3,37,500 ઘેટા;
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<v id="37" bcv="NUM.31.37" />તેમાંથી 675 કર તરીકે યહોવાને આપવામાં આવ્યાં.
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<v id="38" bcv="NUM.31.38" />છત્રીસ હજાર ઢોર, તેમાંથી 72 કર તરીકે યહોવાને આપવામાં આવ્યાં.
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<v id="39" bcv="NUM.31.39" />ત્રીસ હજારને પાંચસૌ ઘેડાં; તેમાંથી 61 કર તરીકે યહોવાને આપવામાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="40" bcv="NUM.31.40" />સોળ હજાર માંણસો, તેમાંથી 32 કર તરીકે યહોવાને આપવામાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="41" bcv="NUM.31.41" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે યહોવાને સર્વ ભાગ યાજક એલઆઝારને આપવામાં આવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="NUM.31.42" />લૂંટનો અડધો ભાગ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો માંટે હતો, મૂસાએ યુદ્ધમાં ગયેલા યોદ્ધાઓના ભાગથી તેને જુદો રાખ્યો હતો, તેની વિગતો;
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<v id="43" bcv="NUM.31.43" />અડધા ભાગમાં 3,37,500 ઘેટાં
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<v id="44" bcv="NUM.31.44" />છત્રીસ હજાર ગાયો.
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<v id="45" bcv="NUM.31.45" />ત્રીસ હજારને પાંચસૌ ગધેડાં,
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<v id="46" bcv="NUM.31.46" />ને સોળ હજાર પુરુષોઓ હતા.
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<v id="47" bcv="NUM.31.47" />યહોવાની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર મૂસાએ લોકોને મળેલા અડધા ભાગમાંથી દર 50 માંણસોમાંથી એક માંણસ અને દર 50 પશુઓમાંથી એક પશુ લઈને યહોવાના પવિત્ર મંડપની સંભાળ રાખનાર લેવીઓને તે આપ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="NUM.31.48" />પછી સેનાપતિઓ અને લશ્કરના નાનામોટા અધિકારીઓએ આવીને
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<v id="49" bcv="NUM.31.49" />મૂસાને જણાવ્યું, “અમે આપના સેવકોએ તેમના હાથ નીચેને માંણસોની ગણતરી કરી છે અને એક પણ માંણસ ઓછો થયો નથી.
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<v id="50" bcv="NUM.31.50" />આથી લૂંટના અમાંરા ભાગમાંથી ખાસ સ્તુત્યાર્પણો યહોવાને અર્પણ કરવા લાવ્યા છીએ: સોનાનાં ધરેણાં, સાંકળા, કડાં, વીટીઓ, કુડળો અને હારો-અમાંરા પ્રાણ બચાવવા બદલ યહોવાને ધરાવવા આવ્યા છીએ. યહોવા સમક્ષ અમાંરા આત્માંઓના પ્રાયશ્ચિતને માંટે આ સર્વ અર્પણો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="NUM.31.51" />મૂસાએ અને યાજક એલઆઝારે તેમની પાસેથી દાગીનાઓ સ્વીકારી લીધા. તે વધા શોભાયમાંન અલંકારના રૂપમાં હતા.
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<v id="52" bcv="NUM.31.52" />તેમણે યહોવાને ધરાવેલી આ સોનાની ભેટનું કુલ વજન બસો કિલો હતું. તેની કિંમત 420 પાઉંડ હતી. એ 1,000 માંણસોના અને 100 માંણસોના આગેવાનોએ આપેલ હતું.
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<v id="53" bcv="NUM.31.53" />અધિકારી નહોતા તેવા યોદ્ધાઓએ પોતપોતાની લૂંટ પોતાની પાસે રાખી હતી.
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<v id="54" bcv="NUM.31.54" />મૂસા અને યાજક એલઆઝાર “હજાર-હજાર” ના અને સોસોના સેનાનાયકો પાસેથી સોનું સ્વીકારીને મુલાકાત મંડપમાં લઈ આવ્યા, ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજાના સ્મરણાર્થે યહોવા સમક્ષ તે રાખવામાં આવ્યું, જેથી યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલનું રક્ષણ કરે.
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<c id="32" />
<s style="s">યર્દન નદીને પૂર્વકાંઠે વસેલા કુળસમૂહ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.32.1" />ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા યાઝેર અને ગિલયાદના પ્રદેશમાં આવી, રૂબેન અને ગાદના કુળસમૂહો પાસે ઘેટાનાં મોટાં મોટાં ઘણ હતા. તેમણે જોયું કે આ પ્રદેશ ઢોરઢાંખરના ઉછેર માંટે ઉત્તમ અને અનુકુળ છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.32.2" />તેથી તેઓએ મૂસા; યાજક એલઆઝાર અને સમાંજના આગેવાનો સમક્ષ આવીને કહ્યું,
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.32.3" />“ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજને યહોવાએ જીતી આપેલો પ્રદેશ, અટારોથ, દીબોન, યાઝેર, નિમ્રાહ, હેશ્બોન, એલઆલેહ, સબામ, નબો અને બેઓન.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.32.4" />આ સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ ઢોરઢાંખરના ઉછેર માંટે ખૂબ અનુકૂળ છે, અને આપના સેવકો પાસે પુષ્કળ ઢોરો છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.32.5" />અમાંરા પર કૃપા હોય તો યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને તે તરફના વિસ્તારને બદલે આ પ્રદેશ અમાંરા ભાગમાં આપો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NUM.32.6" />મૂસાએ ગાદ અને રૂબેનના કુળસમૂહોને કહ્યું, “તમાંરા બીજા ઇસ્રાએલી ભાઈઓ તો યુદ્ધમાં જાય છે ત્યારેશું તમે અહી રહેવા માંગો છો?
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.32.7" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને યહોવાએ તેમને આપેલી ભૂમિમાં દાખલ થવા જાય છે, ત્યારે તમે શા માંટે તેમને નિરૂત્સાહી કરો છો?
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<v id="8-9" bcv="NUM.32.8" />જ્યારે મેં તમાંરા પિતૃઓને કાદેશ બાર્નેઆથી દેશની જાસૂસી કરવા મોકલ્યા હતા, ત્યારે તેઓએ આવુ જ વર્તન કર્યુ હતું, તે લોકો એશ્કોલ ખીણ સુધી ગયા. પ્રદેશ જોયો અને જે પ્રદેશ યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આપ્યો હતો ત્યાં જવાનો તેમનો ઉત્સાહ તોડી પાડયો.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.32.10" />આથી તે દિવસે યહોવાનો ક્રોધ ભભૂકી ઊઠયો હતો અને તેણે વચન આપ્યું કે,
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.32.11" />‘તે લોકો મને વિશ્વાસુ રહ્યા નથી તેથી મિસરમાંથી આવેલા એમાંના 20 વર્ષ અને તેથી વધારે ઉમરના ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઈસહાક અને યાકૂબને જે ભૂમિ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યુ હતું તેમાં તે પ્રવેશ કરશે નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.32.12" />અપવાદરૂપે ફકત માંરામાં સંપૂર્ણ વિશ્વાસ રાખનાર કનિઝઝી યફૂન્નેહનો પુત્ર કાલેબ અને નૂનનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ જેઓએ વચનના દેશમાં જવા માંટે લોકોને અનુરોધ કર્યો હતો.’
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.32.13" />“ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર યહોવાનો કોપ ભભૂકી ઊઠયો, અને તેણે તેમને 40 વર્ષ સુધી રણમાં રઝળાવ્યા, અને આખેર યહોવાને દુઃખ આપનારી આખી પેઢી સમાંપ્ત થઈ ગઈ
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.32.14" />અને હવે તમે, પાપી લોકો, પણ તમાંરા પિતાઓએ કર્યુ તેમ કરો છો. શું તમાંરે યહોવાને તેના લોકો વિરુદ્ધ હજુ વધારે ગુસ્સે કરવા છે?
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.32.15" />કારણ, જો તમે અત્યારે આ પ્રમાંણે દેવથી વિમુખ થશો તો તે આ બધા લોકોને રણમાં રઝળતાં છોડી દેશે અને તમે તેમના વિનાશનું નિમિત્ત બનશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.32.16" />તેથી તેમણે મૂસાની પાસે જઈને કહ્યું, “અમે અહીં અમાંરાં ઘેટાંબકરાં માંટે વાડા બાંધીશું અને અમાંરાં સ્ત્રી બાળકો માંટે કિલ્લેબંધી નગરો બાંધીશું;
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.32.17" />ત્યાર બાદ અમે જાતે શસ્ત્રસજજ થઈને ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાની આગળ રહી તેમને તેમની ભૂમિમાં પહોંચાડતા સુધી લડીશું, એ સમય દરમ્યાન અમાંરાં સ્ત્રી બાળકો એ ગામોમાં દેશના મૂળ વતનીઓના હુમલાથી સુરક્ષિત રહી શકશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.32.18" />અને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તેઓનો વારસો-પોતાના ભાગની જમીનનો પાછો નહિ મળે ત્યાં સુધી અમે પાછા નહિ ફરીએ.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.32.19" />વળી અમે યર્દન નદીને પેલે પારના પ્રદેશમાં તેમની સાથે જમીનમાં ભાગ માંગીશું નહિ, કારણ કે, તેના બદલે અમને યર્દન નદીને પૂર્વકાંઠે અમાંરા ભાગની જમીન મળેલી છે ત્યાં રહેવાનું અમે પસંદ કરીશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.32.20" />એટલે મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “ઠીક, તો તમે જે કહ્યું છે તે પ્રમાંણે કરો અને યહોવાના યુદ્ધ માંટે પોતાને સજજ કરો.
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<v id="21" bcv="NUM.32.21" />અને યહોવા પોતાના શત્રુઓને તે દેશમાંથી હાંકી કાઢે ત્યાં સુધી તમાંરી સેનાની ટુકડીઓને યર્દન નદીને પાર રાખો અને ત્યાં રહો.
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<v id="22" bcv="NUM.32.22" />પછી તે ભૂમિ યહોવાના તાબામાં આવી જાય ત્યાર બાદ જ તમે પાછા ફરો તો, તમે યહોવા અને ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રત્યેના કર્તવ્યથી મુકત થશો અને આ ભૂમિ યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિએ તમાંરી માંલિકીની થશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="NUM.32.23" />પરંતુ જો તમે જે કહ્યું, તે પ્રમાંણે નહિ કરો તો, તે યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધનું તમાંરું પાપ ગણાશે, અને તમાંરે તમાંરું પાપ અચૂક ભોગવવું પડશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="NUM.32.24" />ભલે, જાઓ અને તમાંરાં કુટુંબો, સ્ત્રી બાળકો માંટે નગરો તથા તમાંરાં ઢોરઢાંખર માંટે વાડા બાંધો, અને તમે કહ્યું છે તે બધું તમે કરો. તમાંરું વચન પાળજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.32.25" />ગાદ અને રૂબેનના કુળસમૂહોએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “ધણી, અમે આપના સેવકો આપ કહેશો તેમ કરીશું, અને તમાંરી સૂચનાઓ અક્ષઃરશ પાળીશું.
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<v id="26" bcv="NUM.32.26" />અમાંરાં બાળકો અને સ્ત્રીઓ, અમાંરાં ઘેટાબકરાં અને બીજાં બધાં પ્રાણીઓ અહીં ગિલયાદનાં ગામોમાં રહેશે,
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<v id="27" bcv="NUM.32.27" />પણ અમે આપના સેવકો બધા હથિયાર ધારણ કરીશું અને યર્દન પાર જઈશું યહોવાની સમક્ષ લડવા માંટે અમાંરા ધણીએ કહ્યા મુજબ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="NUM.32.28" />તેથી મૂસાએ યાજક એલઆઝાર, યહોશુઆ અને ઇસ્રાએલના કુળસમૂહના આગેવાનોને કહ્યું,
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<v id="29" bcv="NUM.32.29" />“જો ગાદના અને રૂબેનના વંશજો હથિયાર ધારણ કરીને તમાંરી સાથે યહોવા સમક્ષ લડવાને યર્દન ઓળંગીને આવે, અને જો તે પ્રદેશ તમાંરા તાબામાં આવી જાય તો તમાંરે તેમને ગિલયાદનો પ્રદેશ તેમાં ભાગ તરીકે આપવો.
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<v id="30" bcv="NUM.32.30" />પણ જો તેઓ હથિયાર ધારણ કરીને તમાંરી સાથે યર્દન ઓળંગીને ન આવે તો તેમને તેમનો ભાગ કનાનમાં જ તમાંરી સાથે મળશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NUM.32.31" />ગાદના અને રૂબેનના લોકોએ કહ્યું, “ધણી, અમે યહોવાએ જણાવ્યા મુજબ કરીશું.
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<v id="32" bcv="NUM.32.32" />અમે હથિયાર ધારણ કરીને યહોવા સમક્ષ યર્દન પાર કરીને કનાનના પ્રદેશમાં જઈશું. પણ અમને યર્દન નદીના આ પૂર્વકાંઠે અમાંરા ભાગની જમીન મળવી જોઈએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="NUM.32.33" />આથી મૂસાએ ગાદના અને રૂબેનના વંશજોને તથા યૂસફના પુત્ર મનાશ્શાના અર્ધકુળસમૂહને અમોરીઓના રાજા સીહોનનું રાજ્ય અને બાશાનના રાજા ઓગનું રાજ્ય, એ સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ અને તેમાંના શહેરો તથા આજુબાજુની જમીન બધું આપી દીધું.
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<v id="34" bcv="NUM.32.34" />પછી ગાદના વંશજોએ કોટવાળાં નગરો બાંધ્યાં; દીબોન, અટારાથ, અરોએર,
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<v id="35" bcv="NUM.32.35" />આટ્રોથ-શોફાન, યાઝેર, યોગ્બહાહ,
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<v id="36" bcv="NUM.32.36" />બેથ-નિમ્રાહ અને બેન-હારાન, તથા ઘેટાબકરાંઓ માંટે વાડાઓ બાંધ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="NUM.32.37" />રૂબેનના વંશજોએ હેશ્બોન,
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<v id="38" bcv="NUM.32.38" />એલઆલેહ, કિર્યાથાઈમ, નબો, બઆલ-મેઓન અને સિબ્માંહ આ રીતે નબો અને બઆલ-મેઓનને નવા નામ આપ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="NUM.32.39" />ત્યારબાદ મનાશ્શાના વંશજોમાંથી માંખીરના કુળસમૂહના લોકોએ ગિલયાદ પર ચઢાઈ કરીને તે જીત લીધું અને ત્યાંથી અમોરીઓને હાંકી કાઢયા.
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<v id="40" bcv="NUM.32.40" />આથી મૂસાએ મનાશ્શાના કુળસમૂહના માંખીરને ગિલયાદ આપ્યું અને તે ત્યાં સ્થિર થયો.
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<v id="41" bcv="NUM.32.41" />મનાશ્શાના કુળસમૂહમાંથી યાઈરના ગોત્રના માંણસોએ ગિલયાદના અનેક નગરો પર ચઢાઈ કરી તેમનાં ગામડાં કબજે કરી લીધાં અને તેઓના પ્રદેશનું નામ બદલીને હાવ્વોથ-યાઈર નામ આપ્યું.
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<v id="42" bcv="NUM.32.42" />વળી નોબાહ નામનો વ્યક્તિ લશ્કર લઈને કનાથ અને તેની આસપાસના ગામડાં પર ચઢી આવ્યો અને તે કબજે કરી લીધાં અને તેનું નામ પોતાના નામ ઉપરથી “નોબાહ” રાખ્યું.
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<c id="33" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલની યાત્રાનો માંર્ગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.33.1" />મૂસા અને હારુનની આગેવાની હેઠળ ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજા મિસરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા પછી તે લોકોએ જે જે ઠેકાણે મુસાફરી કરી હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.33.2" />તે તે સ્થળોનાં નામ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર મૂસાએ નોંધી લીધાં હતા. તે આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NUM.33.3" />પાસ્ખા પર્વની રાત્રિ પછીના દિવસે એટલે પહેલા મહિનાના 15 માં દિવસે તેઓ મિસરના રામસેસ નગરથી નીકળ્યા. મિસરવાસીઓના દેખતાં તેઓ યહોવાના રક્ષણ હેઠળ ઉઘાડે છોગે નીકળ્યા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.33.4" />તે વખતે મિસરીઓ યહોવાએ માંરી નાખેલાં તેમનાં પહેલાં સંતાનોને દફનાવતા હતા. આમ યહોવા મિસરના બધા જ દેવો પર પરાક્રમી દેવ પૂરવાર થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.33.5" />ત્યારબાદ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ રામસેસથી નીકળીને સુક્કોથમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.33.6" />તે પછી તેમણે સુક્કોથથી નીકળીને રણને કિનારે આવેલા એથામમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.33.7" />ત્યાંથી નીકળીને તેઓ બઆલ-સફોનની પાસે આવેલ પી-હાહીરોથ તરફ જઈને મિગ્દોલ પર્વતની તળેટીમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NUM.33.8" />પછી પી-હાહીરોથથી નીકળી રાતા સમુદ્રમાં થઈને તેઓ રણમાં પહોંચ્યા. પછી એથામના રણમાં ત્રણ દિવસનો રસ્તો કાપીને તેઓએ માંરાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો,
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.33.9" />અને પછી માંરાહથી નીકળી તેઓ એલીમ આવ્યા, ત્યાં પાણીના 12 ઝરા અને તાડનાં 70 ખજૂરીનાં વૃક્ષો હતાં, ત્યાં તેમણે મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.33.10" />પછી એલીમથી નીકળીને તેમણે રાતા સમુદ્ર પાસે મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NUM.33.11" />તેઓએ રાતાં સમુદ્ર છોડીને સીનના રણમાં મુકામ કર્યો,
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NUM.33.12" />તે પછી સીનના રણમાંથી નીકળીને દોફકાહમાં છાવણી કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.33.13" />દોફકાહથી નીકળીને પછી આલૂશમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NUM.33.14" />આલૂશથી નીકળીને તેમણે રફીદીમમાં મુકામ કર્યો. પણ ત્યાં પીવાનું પાણી નહોતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NUM.33.15" />પછી રફીદીમથી નીકળીને તેઓએ સિનાઈના રણમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.33.16" />સિનાઈના રણમાંથી નીકળીને તેમણે કિબ્રોથ-હત્તાવાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NUM.33.17" />કિબ્રોથ-હત્તાવાહથી નીકળી તેમણે હસેરોથમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NUM.33.18" />હસેરોથથી તેમણે રિથ્માંહમાંથી મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="NUM.33.19" />રિથ્માંહમાંથી નીકળીને તેઓએ રિમ્મોન-પેરેસમાં છાવણી કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.33.20" />રિમ્મોન-પેરેસથી નીકળીને તેઓએ લિબ્નાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.33.21" />પછી લિબ્નાહથી નીકળીને તેમણે રિસ્સાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.33.22" />રિસ્સાહથી નીકળી તેમણે કહેલાથાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="NUM.33.23" />કહેલાથાહથી નીકળીને તેઓએ શેફેર પર્વત આગળ મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.33.24" />શેફેર પર્વતથી નીકળીને તેઓએ હરાદાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="NUM.33.25" />હરાદાહથી નીકળીને તેમણે માંકેહેલોથમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="NUM.33.26" />માંકેહેલોથથી નીકળી તેમણે તાહાથમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="NUM.33.27" />તાહાથથી નીકળી તેમણે તેરાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="NUM.33.28" />તેરાહથી નીકળી તેમણે મિથ્કાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="NUM.33.29" />મિથ્કાહમાંથી નીકળી તેમણે હાશ્મોનાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="NUM.33.30" />હાશ્મોનાહથી નીકળી તેઓએ મોસેરોથમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NUM.33.31" />મોસેરોથથી નીકળીને તેમણે બની-યાઅકાનમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="NUM.33.32" />બની-યાઅકાનથી નીકળીને તેઓએ હોર-હાગિદગાદમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="NUM.33.33" />હોર-હાગિદગાદથી નીકળીને તેમણે યોટબાથાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="NUM.33.34" />ચોટબાથાહથી નીકળીને તેમણે આબ્રોનાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="NUM.33.35" />આબ્રોનાહથી નીકળીને તેઓએ એસ્યોન-ગેબેરમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="NUM.33.36" />એસ્યોન-ગેબેરથી નીકળીને તેમણે સીનના રણમાં એટલે કે કાદેશમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="NUM.33.37" />કાદેશથી નીકળી તેમણે અદોમની સરહદે આવેલા હોર પર્વત આગળ મુકામ કર્યો.
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<v id="38" bcv="NUM.33.38" />યહોવાએ આજ્ઞા આપી તે પ્રમાંણે યાજક હારુન હોર પર્વત ઉપર ગયો અને ત્યાં જ તે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ મિસરમાંથી મહાપ્રસ્થાન કર્યા પછી ચાળીસમાં વર્ષે, પાંચમાં મહિનાના પ્રથમ દિવસે તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<v id="39" bcv="NUM.33.39" />તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉમર 123 વર્ષની હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="NUM.33.40" />કનાની ભૂમિમાં નેગેબમાં આવેલા શહેર અરાદના કનાની રાજાઓ સાંભળ્યુ કે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો તેના દેશ તરફ આવી રહ્યા છે.
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<v id="41" bcv="NUM.33.41" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ હોર પર્વતથી યાત્રા કરી અને સાલ્મોનાહમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="NUM.33.42" />સાલ્મોનાહથી નીકળીને તેઓએ પૂનોનમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="NUM.33.43" />પૂનોનથી નીકળીને તેઓએ ઓબોથમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="NUM.33.44" />ઓબોથથી નીકળીને તેઓએ મોઆબીઓના પ્રદેશમાં અબારીમનાં ખંડેરોમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="NUM.33.45" />ત્યાંથી નીકળીને તેઓએ હીબોન-ગાદમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="NUM.33.46" />હીબોન-ગાદથી નીકળીને તેઓએ આલ્મોન દિબ્લાથાઈમમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="NUM.33.47" />આલ્મોન દિબ્લાથાઈમમાંથી નીકળીને તેમણે નબોની સામે આવેલા અબારીમ પર્વત આગળ મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="NUM.33.48" />અબારીમ પર્વતથી નીકળીને અંતે તેઓએ યરીખોની સામે યર્દન નદીના કાંઠે મોઆબના મેદાનોમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<v id="49" bcv="NUM.33.49" />પછી તેઓએ યર્દનને કાંઠે બેથ-યશીમોથથી આબેલ-શિટ્ટીમ સુધી મોઆબના મેદાનમાં મુકામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="NUM.33.50" />ત્યાં મોઆબના મેદાનોમાં યર્દનને કિનારે યરીખોની સામે યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="51" bcv="NUM.33.51" />“તું ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને કહે કે, તમે યર્દન નદી પાર કરીને કનાન દેશમાં પ્રવેશ કરો;
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<v id="52" bcv="NUM.33.52" />ત્યારે તમાંરે દેશના બધા વતનીઓને હાંકી કાઢવા, તમાંરે તેમની બધી પથ્થરની કે ધાતુની મૂર્તિઓનો નાશ કરવો, તેમનાં બધાં કોતરેલા પથ્થરો, ધાતુની ગાળેલી પ્રતિમાંઓ તથા પર્વતોમાં આવેલાં મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરવાનાં દેવસ્થાનોનો તમાંરે પૂરો નાશ કરવો.
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<v id="53" bcv="NUM.33.53" />તમાંરે તે પ્રદેશનો કબજો લેવો અને તેમાં વસવાટ કરવો, કારણ કે, મે એ પ્રદેશ તમને જ આપી દીધો છે, તમાંરે ચિઠ્ઠી નાખીને એ પ્રદેશ તમાંરા વંશો અને કુળો વચ્ચે વહેંચી આપવો.
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<v id="54" bcv="NUM.33.54" />વધારે સંખ્યા ધરાવતા કુળસમૂહોને વધારે વિસ્તાર ધરાવતા પ્રદેશો અને ઓછી વસ્તી ધરાવતા કુળસમૂહોને ઓછો વિસ્તાર ધરાવતા પ્રદેશો વહેંચી આપવામાં આવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="55" bcv="NUM.33.55" />“તમે તે દેશમાં વસતા લોકોને ત્યાંથી હાંકી નહિ કાઢશો, અને ત્યાં રહેવા દીધા હશે તો તેઓ તમાંરી આંખમાં કણાની જેમ અને તમાંરા પડખામાં શૂળની જેમ ખૂંચ્યા કરશે, દેશની માંલિકી બાબત તેઓ સતત તમાંરી સાથે ઝધડયા કરશે,
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<v id="56" bcv="NUM.33.56" />અને મેં તેમની જે દશા કરવા ધાર્યુ હતું તેવી દશા હું તમાંરી કરીશ અને તમાંરો વિનાશ કરીશ.”
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</p>

<c id="34" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાં કનાન પ્રદેશની વહેંચણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.34.1" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.34.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તું આ પ્રમાંણે આજ્ઞા કર: હવે તમે કનાનના પ્રદેશમાં દાખલ થશો, તમાંરા તાબામાં આવનાર એ પ્રદેશની સરહદ આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.34.3" />એનો દક્ષિણ છેડો અદોમની સરહદે આવેલા સીનના રણ આગળ પૂરો થાય છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.34.4" />એની દક્ષિણની સરહદ પૂર્વમાં મૃત સમુદ્રના છેડાથી શરૂ થઈ દક્ષિણમાં આક્રાબ્બીમ ઘાટ સુધી જઈ સીનમાં થઈને દક્ષિણમાં કાદેશ-બાર્નેઆ સુધી જાય છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.34.5" />ત્યાંથી તે હસાર આદાર થઈને છેક આસ્મોન સુધી જશે. ત્યાંથી મિસરના કોતર તરફ વળી ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્ર આગળ પૂરી થાય છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.34.6" />ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્ર એ તમાંરી પશ્ચિમ સરહદ હશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="NUM.34.7" />તમાંરી ઉત્તરની સરહદ ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્રથી શરૂ થઈ હોર પર્વત સુધી જશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.34.8" />ત્યાંથી લબોહમાંથ થઈને સદાદ સુધી જશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="NUM.34.9" />ત્યાંથી એ ઝિફ્રોન થઈને હસાર-એનાન આગળ પૂરી થશે. આ તમાંરી ઉત્તરની સરહદ થશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="NUM.34.10" />તમાંરી પૂર્વની સરહદ હસાર એનાનથી શરૂ થઈ શક્રામ જશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="NUM.34.11" />શક્રામથી એ આયિનની પૂર્વે આવેલ રિબ્લાહ થઈ નીચે ઊતરી કિન્નેરેથના સરોવરના પૂર્વ કિનારે પહોંચશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="NUM.34.12" />ત્યાંથી એ સરહદ યર્દનને કિનારે આગળ વધી મૃત સમુદ્ર આગળ પૂરી થશે. આ થઈ તમાંરા દેશની ચારે દિશાની સરહદો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.34.13" />મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આ પ્રમાંણે આજ્ઞા આપી, “આ પ્રદેશ તમાંરે ચિઠ્ઠી નાખીને વહેંચી લેવાનો છે, યહોવાએ એ પ્રદેશ નવ આખા અને એક અડધા કુળસમૂહોને સોંપી દેવા જણાવ્યું છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.34.14" />રૂબેન અને ગાદના કુળસમૂહોને અને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધકુળને વારસો વહેંચી આપવામાં આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="NUM.34.15" />યરીખોની સામે યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વ તરફનો પ્રદેશ તેઓને આપ્યો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.34.16" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="17" bcv="NUM.34.17" />“નીચેના માંણસો તને જમીનની વહેંચણીમાં મદદ કરશે; યાજક એલઆઝાર અને નૂનનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ.
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<v id="18" bcv="NUM.34.18" />ઉપરાત જમીન વહેંચણી માંટે તેઓને મદદ કરવા તારે દરેક કુળસમૂહમાંથી એક આગેવાન લેવો.
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<v id="19" bcv="NUM.34.19" />એમનાં નામ આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહમાંથી યફૂન્નેહનો પુત્ર કાલેબ,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.34.20" />શિમયોનના કુળસમૂહમાંથી આમ્મીહુદનો પુત્ર શિમયોન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="NUM.34.21" />બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહમાંથી કિસ્લોનનો પુત્ર અલીદાદ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.34.22" />દાનના કુળસમૂહમાંથી યોગ્લીનો પુત્ર બુક્કી,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="NUM.34.23" />યૂસફના વંશજ મનાશ્શાના કુળસમૂહમાંથી એફોદનો પુત્ર હાન્નીએલ
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="NUM.34.24" />એફ્રાઈમના કુળસમૂહમાંથી શિફાટાનનો પુત્ર કમુએલ,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="NUM.34.25" />ઝબુલોનના કુળસમૂહમાંથી પાર્નાખનો પુત્ર અલીસાફાન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="NUM.34.26" />ઈસ્સાખારના કુળસમૂહમાંથી અઝઝાનનો પુત્ર પાલ્ટીએલ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="NUM.34.27" />આશેરના કુલસમૂહમાંથી શલોમીનો પુત્ર આહીહૂદ,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="NUM.34.28" />નફતાલીના કુળસમૂહમાંથી આમ્મીહૂદનો પુત્ર પદાહએલ.”
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="NUM.34.29" />કનાન પ્રદેશમાં કુળો મધ્યે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જમીન વહેંચવા માંટે આ માંણસોની નિમણૂક મેં કરી છે.
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</p>

<c id="35" />
<s style="s">લેવી વંશીઓના નગરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.35.1" />મોઆબના મેદાનમાં યરીખો નજીક યર્દનને કાંઠે યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="NUM.35.2" />“તું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આજ્ઞા કર કે, તેઓ લેવીઓને તેઓના વારસા તરીકે કેટલાંક નગરો અને આસપાસની ગૌચર જમીન આપે.
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<v id="3" bcv="NUM.35.3" />તે નગરોમાં તેઓ વસવાટ કરશે અને ગૌચરની જમીનમાં તેઓ પોતાનાં ઢોરો, ઘેટાંબકરાં અને અન્ય પશુઓ રાખશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="NUM.35.4" />તમે લેવીઓને જે નગરો આપો તેની ગૌચરની જમીન ગામાંના કોટની ચારે બાજુએ 1,000 હાથ હોય.
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<v id="5" bcv="NUM.35.5" />નગરથી 2,000 હાથ પૂર્વ સુધીનો, 2,000 હાથ દક્ષિણ સુધીનો, 2,000 હાથ પશ્ચિમ સુધીનો અને 2,000 હાથ ઉત્તર સુધીની બધી ભૂમિ લેવીઓની થશે. નગર તે સમગ્ર ભૂમિની મધ્યમાં આવેલું હશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="NUM.35.6" />તમાંરે લેવીઓને એકંદરે 48 ગામો ગૌચર જમીન સાથે સોંપવાના છે, તેમાંથી 6 આશ્રયનગરો તરીકે આપવાના છે. અજાણતા જેનાથી માંનવહત્યા થઈ ગઈ હોય તેમાંના એક આશ્રયનગરમાં નાસી જઈને ત્યા આશ્રય મેળવી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="NUM.35.7" />આમ, કુલ ઉડતાળીસ નગરો અને તેની આસપાસની ગૌચરની જમીન લેવીઓને સોંપવામાં આવે.
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<v id="8" bcv="NUM.35.8" />આ નગરો દેશના વિવિધ ભાગોમાં આવેલા હોય, મોટાં કુળસમૂહો પાસે વધુ નગરો છે, તેથી તેઓ વધુ નગરો આપે અને નાનાં કુળસમૂહો પાસે ઓછાં નગરો છે તેથી તેઓ લેવીઓને થોડાં નગરો આપે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NUM.35.9" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="NUM.35.10" />“તું ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને આ પ્રમાંણે કહે: જયારે તમે યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને કનાનના પ્રદેશમાં પ્રવેશ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="NUM.35.11" />ત્યારે તમાંરે અમુક નગરોને આશ્રયનાં નગરો તરીકે પસંદ કરવાં જેમાં જે માંણસે અકસ્માંતે હત્યા કરી હોય તે આશ્રય લઈ શકે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="NUM.35.12" />એ નગરમાં તે મરનારનું વેર લેવા ઈચ્છતા સગાથી તે સુરક્ષિત રહી શકે. સમાંજ સમક્ષ ન્યાય ચલાવ્યા વિના તેને માંરી શકાય નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="NUM.35.13" />તેથી તમાંરે આશ્રયનાં નગરો તરીકે છ શહેરો પસંદ કરવાં,
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<v id="14" bcv="NUM.35.14" />ત્રણ યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વ બાજુએ અને ત્રણ કનાનમાં.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="NUM.35.15" />એ છ શહેરો આશ્રયનગરો ગણાશે અને તેમાં જેણે અકસ્માંતે ખૂન કર્યુ હોય તેવો ઇસ્રાએલી કે વિદેશી કે તમાંરી સાથે વસતો હોય તેવો કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ આશ્રય લઈ શકશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NUM.35.16" />“જો કોઈએ લોખંડના સાધનથી કોઈને માંરી નાખ્યો હોય, તો તે ખૂન ગણાશે, તે ખૂનીને દેહાતદંડની સજા આપવામાં આવે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="NUM.35.17" />અથવા મોટો પથ્થર માંરીને કોઈની હત્યા કરી હોય, તો પણ તે ખૂન ગણાશે. તે ખૂનીને દેહાતદંડની સજા થશે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="NUM.35.18" />એ જ પ્રમાંણે લાકડાથી ઈજા પહોંચાડી કોઈને માંરી નાખ્યો હોય, તો તે પણ ખૂન ગણાશે અને તે ખૂનીને દેહાતદંડની સજા થશે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="NUM.35.19" />મોતનો બદલો લેનાર, ખૂનીને મળે ત્યારે તે પોતે જ તેને માંરી નાખે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NUM.35.20" />“તેથી જો કોઈ દ્વેશને કારણે બીજી વ્યક્તિ પર કોઈ વસ્તુનો ઘા કરીને માંરી નાખે અથવા છુપાઈને લાગ જોઈને માંરી નાખે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="NUM.35.21" />અથવા ગુસ્સે થઈને મુક્કા માંરી બીજી વ્યક્તિને માંરી નાખે તો તે ખૂની છે. મોતનો બદલો લેનાર વ્યક્તિ જ્યારે તે ખૂનીને મળે ત્યારે તેને માંરી નાખે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NUM.35.22" />“પણ જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ દુશ્મનાવટ વગર કોઈને અકસ્માંતે ગબડાવી મૂકે અથવા તેને માંરી નાખવામના ઈરાદા વગત તેના ઉપર કોઈ હથિયાર ફેંકે,
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="NUM.35.23" />અથવા જોયા વગર પથ્થર ફેંકે અને તે કોઈને વાગે અને તે મરી જાય, અને જો મરનાર માંણસ માંરનારનો દુશ્મન ના હોય અને તેને ઈજા કરવાના ઈરાદાથી માંર્યો ના હોય,
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="NUM.35.24" />તો સમાંજે એ માંરનાર અને મરનારના સૌથી નજીકના સગા વચ્ચેનો ન્યાય આ નિયમો પ્રમાંણે કરવો;
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="NUM.35.25" />સમાંજે એ માંરનારનું મરનારના બદલો લેવા ઈચ્છતા સોથી નજીકના સગાના હાથથી રક્ષણ કરવું અને તેને એણે જે શહેરમાં આશ્રય લીધો હોય ત્યાં પાછો લાવવો, પ્રમુખ યાજકનું મૃત્યુ થાય ત્યાં સુધી તેણે એ નગરમાં રહેવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26-27" bcv="NUM.35.26" />“જો મોત નીપજાવનાર આશ્રયનગર છોડીને બહાર જાય, અને મોતનો બદલો લેનાર તેને મળે અને તેને માંરી નાખે તો તે ખૂન ગણાય નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="NUM.35.28" />કારણ કે મુખ્ય યાજકનું મૃત્યુ થાય ત્યાં સુધી મોત નીપજાવનારે આશ્રયનગરમાં જ રહેવું જોઈતું હતું. મુખ્ય યાજકના મૃત્યુ પછી તે વ્યક્તિ પોતાના પ્રદેશમાં અને પોતાને ઘરે પાછો ફરી શકે છે.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="NUM.35.29" />તમને અને તમાંરા વંશજોને આ નિયમો સર્વત્ર અને સર્વદા બંધનકર્તા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="NUM.35.30" />“મનુષ્યવધ કરનારને એકથી વધુ સાક્ષીઓના પુરાવાને આધારે જ ખૂની ઠરાવીને દેહાતદંડની સજા કરી શકાય. ફકત એક જ સાક્ષીનો પુરાવો દેહાંતદંડ આપવા માંટે પૂરતો ગણાય નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NUM.35.31" />“દેહાતદંડની સજા થઈ હોય તેવા ખૂનીને પૈસા લઈને છોડી શકાય નહિ. તેનો વધ થવો જ જોઈએ. તેના માંટે કોઈ પણ ખંડાણીનો સ્વીકાર કરવામાં આવે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="NUM.35.32" />“મુખ્ય યાજકનું મરણ થાય તે પહેલાં આશ્રયનગરમાં રક્ષણ લેનાર હત્યારા પાસેથી કોઈ પણ પ્રકારની રકમ સ્વીકારીને તેને ઘરે પાછા ફરવા માંટેની રજા આપી શકાય નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="NUM.35.33" />“તમે જે ભૂમિમાં વસો છો તેને ભ્રષ્ટ ન કરશો. ખૂનથી ભૂમિ ભ્રષ્ટ થાય છે. જે ભૂમિ પર ખૂન થયું છે તેનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત બીજી કોઈ રીતે થઈ શકે નહિ, ખૂનીને દેહાતદડંની સજા થવી જ જોઈએ. પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવા માંટે ખૂનીના લોહી સિવાય બીજો કોઈ રસ્તો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="NUM.35.34" />તમે જે દેશમાં વસવા માંટે જાઓ છો, તેને તમે અપવિત્ર ન કરો, કારણ કે હું યહોવા તમાંરી મધ્યે નિવાસ કરનાર છું. તમે જે ભૂમિમાં વસો છો, જેમાં હું વસુ છું તેને તમાંરે ભ્રષ્ટ ન કરવી, કારણ હું યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વચ્ચે વસુ છું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="36" />
<s style="s">સલોફદાહની પુત્રીઓનો વારસા હક્ક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NUM.36.1" />પછી યૂસફના પુત્રોનાં-કુટુંબોમાંના મનાશ્શાના પુત્ર-માંખીરના પુત્ર ગિલયાદના પુત્રોના કુટુંબના પિતૃઓનાં ઘરના વડીલોએ પાસે આવીને મૂસાની આગળ; તથા ઇસ્રાએલપુત્રોના કૂળસમૂહોના વડીલો એટલે અધિપતિઓની આગળ જઈને નમ્ર વિનંતી કરી કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="NUM.36.2" />“યહોવાએ તમને ચિઠ્ઠી ઉપાડીને ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા વચ્ચે જમીન વહેંચી આપવા આદેશ કર્યો છે, અને તેમણે અમાંરા ભાઈ સલોફદાહની જમીન તેની પુત્રીઓને આપવાનું પણ આદેશ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="NUM.36.3" />પરંતુ હવે જો તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના કોઈ બીજા કુળસમૂહમાં પરણે, તો તેમની જમીન તે કૂળસમૂહને જશે, અને અમાંરા કુળસમૂહના ભાગની જમીનમાં એટલો ઘટાડો થશે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="NUM.36.4" />અને જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓનું જુબિલીનું વર્ષ આવે, ત્યારે પણ તેમની જમીન તેઓ જે કૂળસમૂહમાં પરણી હશે તે કુળસમૂહની જમીનમાં જ કાયમ રહેશે, અને અમાંરો કૂળસમૂહ એ કાયમને માંટે ગુમાંવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NUM.36.5" />આથી મૂસાએ જાહેરમાં યહોવા તરફથી મળેલી આજ્ઞા અનુસાર ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આ નિર્ણય કહી સંભળાવ્યો: “યૂસફના કૂળસમૂહની ફરિયાદ સાચી છે,
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="NUM.36.6" />સલોફદાહની પુત્રીઓ સંબંધી યહોવાએ વધારમાં આ આજ્ઞાઓ આપી છે: પોતાની પસંદગીની વ્યક્તિ સાથે તેઓ લગ્ન કરી શકે છે; પણ તે પોતાના જ કૂળસમૂહનો હોવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="NUM.36.7" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓની જમીન એક કૂળસમૂહમાંથી બીજા કૂળસમૂહમાં જઈ શકે નહિ. પરંતુ દરેક ઇસ્રાએલી પોતાના પૂર્વજોની જમીન રાખશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="NUM.36.8" />જે તે કૂળસમૂહની જમીન જે તે કૂળસમૂહમાં જ વારસામાં સદાને માંટે જળવાઈ રહેવી જોઈએ, કોઈ પણ ઇસ્રાએલી સ્ત્રીને પિતાની જમીનનો વારસો મળ્યો હોય તો તેણે પોતાના કૂળસમૂહના જ કોઈ કુટુંબમાં પરણવું,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="NUM.36.9" />જેથી દરેક ઇસ્રાએલીની વંશપરંપરાગત જમીન સચવાઈ રહે, આ રીતે વારસાનો કોઈ ભાગ એક કૂળસમૂહમાંથી બીજા કૂળસમૂહમાં જશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NUM.36.10" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને જણાવ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે જ સલોફદાહની પુત્રીઓએ કર્યુ,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="NUM.36.11" />તેથી માંહલાહ, નિર્સાહ, હોગ્લાહ, મિલ્કાહ અને નોઆહએ તેઓના પિતરાઈ ભાઈઓ એટલે કે પોતાના કાકાઓના પુત્રો સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="NUM.36.12" />તેઓએ યૂસફના પુત્ર મનાશ્શાના કુળસમૂહમાં તેમના કુટુંબમાં જ લગ્ન કર્યા, એટલે તેમની જમીન તેમના કૂળસમૂહમાં જ રહીં અને તેમનો વારસો સુરક્ષિત રહ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NUM.36.13" />યર્દન નદીને કાંઠે મોઆબના મેદાનમાં યરીખો સામે યહોવાએ મૂસા માંરફતે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માંટે જણાવેલા કાનૂનો અને નિયમો ઉપર પ્રમાંણે હતા.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="DEU"><id id="DEU">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>પુનર્નિયમ
</h><toc level="1">પુનર્નિયમ
</toc><toc level="2">પુનર્નિયમ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">પુનર્નિયમ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">મૂસાનો ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સાથે વાર્તાલાપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.1.1" />જયારે સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા યર્દન નદીને પૂવેર્ આવેલા મોઆબના રણ પ્રદેશમાં હતી, મૂસાએ તે લોકોને જે વચનો કહ્યાં હતાં તે આ પ્રમાંણે છે, તે વખતે તેઓ યર્દનકાંઠામાં સૂફની સામે હતા. તેમની એક તરફ પારાનનું રણ આવેલું હતું અને બીજી તરફ તોફેલ, લાબાન, હસેરોથ અને દીઝાહાબ આવેલાં હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="DEU.1.2" />હોરેબ પર્વતથી સેઇર પર્વતે કાદેશ-બાનેર્આ દ્વારા યાત્રાને અગિયાર દિવસ થતા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="DEU.1.3" />ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ મિસર છોડયા પછી ચાળીસમાં વષેના અગિયારમાં મહિનાના પ્રથમ દિવસે મૂસાએ, યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ આ વચનો તે લોકોને કહી સંભળાવ્યાં.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.1.4" />યહોવાએ હેશ્બોનમાં અમોરીઓના રાજા સીહોનને અને એડેઇ પાસે આશ્તારોથમાં બાશાનના રાજા ઓગને હરાવ્યા હતા ત્યાર પછીનું આ હતું.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.1.5" />મૂસાએ લોકોને સંબોધ્યા અને દેવે ઇસ્રાએલ માંટે બનાવેલા નિયમો તેમને સમજાવ્યાં. તે સમયે ઇસાએલના લોકો મોઆબના દેશમાં યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વ દિશા પર હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DEU.1.6" />“જયારે આપણે હોરેબમાં હતા ત્યારે આપણા દેવ યહોવાએ આપણને આમ કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘તમે આ પર્વત આગળ ઘણું લાંબુ રહ્યાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.1.7" />હવે આ જગ્યા છોડો, આગળ વધો અને અમોરીઓનો પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ, યર્દનની ખીણ, મધ્યનો પર્વતીય દેશ, દક્ષિણનો રણ પ્રદેશ, ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્ર કિનારો, કનાન અને લબાનોનની જમીનો, છેક મહાનદી ફ્રાંત સુધી કબજે કરો.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.1.8" />જુઓ, એ સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ હું તમને સોંપી દઉ છું; તમાંરા પૂર્વજો ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક અને યાકૂબને તથા તેમના વંશજોને યહોવાએ જે દેશ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું, તે પ્રદેશમાં તમે જાઓ અને તેનો કબજો મેળવો.’
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</p>
<s style="s">આગેવાનોની નિમણૂક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.1.9" />“તે વખતે મેં તમને લોકોને જણાવ્યું હતું કે ‘હવે હું એકલો તમાંરા બધાનો બોજો ઉપાડી શકું તેમ નથી.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.1.10" />કારણ કે યહોવાએ તમાંરો વંશવેલો ઘણો વધાર્યો છે, આજે તમે આકાશના તારાઓ જેટલા થઈ ગયા છો.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.1.11" />તમાંરા પૂર્વજોના દેવ યહોવાએ તમાંરી સંખ્યા 1,000 ગણી વધારી છે. તે તમને તેના વચન પ્રમાંણે આશીર્વાદ આપે.
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.1.12" />પણ હું એકલો તમાંરા સૌના ઝઘડા અને પ્રશ્ર્નોનું નિરાકરણ કેવી રીતે કરી શકું?
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.1.13" />માંટે તમે પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહમાંથી શાણા, સમજુ અને અનુભવી માંણસોને પસંદ કરો અને હું તેમને તમાંરા આગેવાન તરીકે નિયુકત કરીશ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DEU.1.14" />“અને તમે સૌ સંમત થયા હતા અને કહ્યું કે ‘તમાંરો અભિપ્રાય સારો છે અમે તે કરીશું.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.1.15" />“તેથી પ્રત્યેક કુળમાંથી હોશિયાર અને અનુભવી માંણસોને મેં પસંદ કર્યા અને તેઓને તમાંરા આગેવાનો અને અમલદારો તરીકે નિમ્યા; કેટલાકને 1,000ના, કેટલાકને 100ના, કેટલાકને 50ના તો કેટલાકને 10ના આગેવાનો બનાવ્યા. અને મેં બીજાને પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહના અમલદારો નીમ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.1.16" />“મેં તમાંરા અધિકારીઓને તે વખતે આ પ્રમાંણે આજ્ઞા કરેલી: ‘તમાંરા જાતિભાઈઓ વચ્ચે જે ઝઘડા થાય તે તમાંરે સાંભળવા, કોઈને પોતાના જાતિભાઈઓ સાથે કે તમાંરી વચ્ચે રહેતા વિદેશીઓ સાથે ઝઘડો હોય તો તેનો નિષ્પક્ષ રહીને નાનામોટા સૌનો ઉચિત ન્યાય કરવો.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.1.17" />ન્યાય કરતી વખતે તમાંરા ઉપર કોઇનો પ્રભાવ ન પડવા દેવો. નાનામોટા સૌની સાથે સમાંન વ્યવહાર કરવો. જે ચુકાદો તમે આપો છો તે દેવનો ચુકાદો છે, તેથી કોઇનાથી ડરવું નહિ. જો કોઈ મુકદમો તમને અઘરો લાગે તો તે તમાંરે માંરી પાસે લાવવો, હું તેનો નિકાલ કરીશ.’
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.1.18" />તે જ વખતે મેં તેઓને તેમને કરવાની બધી બાબતો વિષે સૂચાનાઓ આપી હતી.
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<s style="s">જાસૂસો કનાન દેશમાં જાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.1.19" />“ત્યારબાદ આપણે દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાને અનુસરીને હોરેબ પર્વત છોડીને પેલા વિશાળ અને ભયંકર રણપ્રદેશમાં થઈને અમોરીઓના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ તરફ જવા નીકળી પડયા, અને કાદેશ-બાનેર્આ પહોંચ્યા.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.1.20" />ત્યારે મેં તમને કહ્યું હતું: ‘હવે તમે અમોરીઓના પ્રદેશમાં આવી પહોંચ્યા છો, જે આપણા દેવ યહોવાએ આપણને આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું.
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.1.21" />જુઓ, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને આ પ્રદેશ સોંપી દીધો છે. તમાંરા પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાને અનુસરો, જાઓ અને એનો કબજો લઈ લો, ડરશો નહિ કે નાહિંમત પણ થશો નહિ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.1.22" />“પરંતુ તમે બધાએ માંરી પાસે આવીને મને જણાવ્યું કે, ‘આપણે પહેલાં દેશની તપાસ કરવા જાસૂસો મોકલીએ, તેઓ આવીને આપણને કહેશે કે આપણે ક્યા માંગેર્ જવું અને ત્યાંનાં નગરો કેવાં છે?’
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="DEU.1.23" />“મને આ સૂચના ઠીક લાગી, તેથી મેં પ્રત્યેક વંશમાંથી એક એમ બાર વંશમાંથી બાર માંણસો પસંદ કર્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="DEU.1.24" />તે બધા પર્વતીય દેશમાં એશ્કોલના કોતર સુધી ગયા અને જમીનને જોઇ,
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<v id="25" bcv="DEU.1.25" />ત્યાંથી તેમણે કેટલાંક ફળ ભેગાં કર્યા અને ત્યાંથી તેઓ પાછા આવ્યા અને જણાવ્યું કે, ‘આપણા દેવ યહોવાએ આપણને જે પ્રદેશ આપ્યો છે તે સમૃદ્ધ છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="DEU.1.26" />“પણ તમે લોકોએ તે પ્રદેશમાં જવાની ના પાડી અને યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનો અનાદર કર્યો.
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<v id="27" bcv="DEU.1.27" />તમે લોકોએ તમાંરા તંબુમાં બબડાટ શરૂ કર્યો કે, ‘યહોવા આપણને ધિક્કારે છે, તેથી જ તેમણે આપણને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવીને અમોરીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધાં જેથી તેઓ આપણા સૌનો વિનાશ કરે.
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<v id="28" bcv="DEU.1.28" />આપણે કયાં જઈ રહ્યા છીએ? આપણા જ જાતિભાઈઓએ એમ કહી આપણામાં ખૂબ ભય ઉત્પન કર્યો છે કે, “ત્યાંના લોકો આપણા કરતાં કદમાં મોટાં અને શકિતશાળી છે, તેમનાં નગરો મોટાં છે અને તેના કોટ આકાશે અડે તેવા ઊચા છે અને અમે ત્યાં કદાવરો પણ જોયાં!’”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="DEU.1.29" />“ત્યારે મેં તમને કહ્યું, ‘તમે ગભરાશો નહિ, એમનાથી ડરશો નહિ.
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<v id="30" bcv="DEU.1.30" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરી આગળ જશે, અને તમે મિસરમાં હતા ત્યારે તમાંરા માંટે જેમ પરાક્રમી કૃત્યો કર્યા તેમ તમાંરા માંટે લડશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="DEU.1.31" />રણપ્રદેશની યાત્રા દરમ્યાન તમે જોયું છે કે કોઈ પિતા પોતાના બાળકને ઉપાડી લે તેમ યહોવા તમને અહીં સુધી સતત તમાંરી સંભાળ રાખીને લાવ્યા છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="DEU.1.32" />“છતાં માંરા કહેવાનો કોઈ પ્રભાવ તમાંરા પર પડયો નહિ, તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા ઉપર વિશ્વાસ ન કર્યો.
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<v id="33" bcv="DEU.1.33" />યહોવા આખા રસ્તે તમાંરા મુકામ માંટે જગ્યા શોધવા તમાંરી આગળ ચાલતા હતા. રાત્રે અગ્નિસ્તંભ દ્વારા અને દિવસે મેઘસ્તંભ દ્વારા તે આગળ રહી તમને માંર્ગ બતાવતા હતા.
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<s style="s">અશ્રદ્ધાની સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="DEU.1.34" />“યહોવા તમાંરો બડબડાટ સાંભળીને ખૂબ કોપાયમાંન થયા અને તેમણે પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી કે,
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<v id="35" bcv="DEU.1.35" />‘તમાંરા પિતૃઓને મેં જે સમૃદ્વ પ્રદેશ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તે આ લોકોમાંના કોઈને-આ દુષ્ટ પેઢીમાંના કોઈને, જોવા ન દેવો.
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<v id="36" bcv="DEU.1.36" />ફકત યફૂન્નેહના પુત્ર કાલેબને તે પ્રદેશ જોવા મળશે. તે જે ભૂમિમાંથી ફરી આવ્યો છે તે હું તેને અને તેના વંશજોને આપીશ, કારણ, તે મને પૂરેપૂરો વિશ્વાસુ રહ્યો છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="DEU.1.37" />“વળી તમાંરા કારણે યહોવાએ માંરા ઉપર રોષે ભરાઈને કહ્યું, ‘તું પણ એ પ્રદેશમાં પ્રવેશ કરી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="38" bcv="DEU.1.38" />પણ તારો સેવક યહોશુઆ જે નૂનનો પુત્ર છે તે લોકોને દોરી જશે, તેને હિંમત આપજે, કારણ કે એ જ ઇસ્રાએલને એ પ્રદેશનો કબજો અપાવનાર છે.’
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<v id="39" bcv="DEU.1.39" />પણ તે તમાંરા બાળકો છે જે ત્યાં જશે તે બાળકો કે જેના વિષે તમે કહેલું કે, ‘તેઓ રણમાં મૃત્યુ પામશે અને તે દિવસોમાં જેઓને સારા અને દુષ્ટ વચ્ચેના અંતરની ખબર ન હતી. હું જમીન તે બાળકોને આપી દઇશ અને તેઓ તેને કબજે કરશે.
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<v id="40" bcv="DEU.1.40" />હવે તમાંરે સૌએ તો પાછા ફરીને રાતા સમુદ્રનાં રસ્તે પાછા રણમાં જ જવાનું છે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="DEU.1.41" />“ત્યારે તમે કબૂલ થયા અને મને એવો જવાબ આપ્યો હતો કે, ‘અમે યહોવાનો ગુનો કરીને પાપ કર્યું છે, હવે અમે અમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ જઈશું અને તે પ્રદેશ કબજે કરવા યુદ્ધ કરીશું.’
</p>
<p style="p">“પછી તેઓ બધાએ હથિયાર ધારણ કર્યા અને પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ ઉપર હુમલો કરવા અધીરા થઇ નીકળી પડ્યા.
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<v id="42" bcv="DEU.1.42" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, ‘તું એ લોકોને જણાવી કે, તેઓ યુદ્ધ કરવા જાય નહિ, હું તેઓની સાથે નથી, તેઓ તેમના શત્રુઓ સામે હાર પામશે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="DEU.1.43" />“મેં તે બધાને એ મુજબ કહ્યું, પણ તે લોકોએ સાંભળ્યું નહિ, અને તેઓએ ફરીથી યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનો અનાદર કર્યો અને આવેશમાં પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો.
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<v id="44" bcv="DEU.1.44" />પરંતુ ત્યાં પર્વતોમાં વસતા અમોરીઓ તમાંરો સામનો કરવા બહાર નીકળી આવ્યા અને મધમાંખીઓ જેમ તમાંરો પીછો પકડી સેઇરમાં આવેલા હોર્માંહ આગળ તમાંરી સેનાને ભયંકર નુકસાન પહોચાડ્યું અને હાર આપી.
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<v id="45" bcv="DEU.1.45" />એટલે તમે પાછા આવ્યા અને યહોવા સમક્ષ આક્રંદ કરવા લાગ્યા, છતાં પણ યહોવાએ તમાંરો પોકાર સાંભળ્યો નહિ,
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<v id="46" bcv="DEU.1.46" />આથી તમાંરે કાદેશમાં લાંબા સમય સુધી રોકાવું પડ્યું.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">રઝળપાટનું સંભારણું અને યહોવાની આજ્ઞા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.2.1" />“પછી યહોવાએ મને આપેલી આજ્ઞા મુજબ આપણે પાછા ફર્યા અને રાતા સમુદ્રને રસ્તે રણપ્રદેશમાં આગળ વધ્યા. ઘણા વષોર્ સુધી આપણે સેઇરના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશની આજુબાજુ ભટકયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.2.2" />પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું,
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.2.3" />‘આ પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં તમે બહુ સમય ભટકયા હવે ઉત્તરમાં જાઓ.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.2.4" />લોકોને આમ કહે: હવે તમે સેઇરની ભૂમિમાંથી પસાર થવાના છો, જ્યાં એસાવના વંશજો, તમાંરા સગાંઓ રહે છે. તેઓ તમાંરાથી ડરી જશે. છતાં કાળજી રાખજો.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.2.5" />તેઓની સાથે યુદ્ધ શરૂ કરશો નહિ. કારણ કે સેઇર પર્વતનો એ સમગ્ર પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ મેં એસાવને કાયમી વારસા તરીકે સોંપી દીધો છે. હું તમને એમના પ્રદેશમાંથી એક વેંત જેટલી જમીન પણ આપીશ નહિ.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.2.6" />તમે જે કંઈ ખાઓ કે જળ પીઓ તેની રકમ ચૂકવી દેજો; પૈસા ચૂકવ્યા વિના કશું જ ખાશો-પીશો નહિ,
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.2.7" />કારણ કે અત્યાર સુધી તમાંરાં બધાં જ કાર્યોમાં યહોવા તમાંરા દેવે તમને સફળતા આપી છે, અને આ વિશાળ રણપ્રદેશમાં 40 વર્ષ યહોવા તમાંરા દેવે મુસાફરી દરમ્યાન તમાંરું રક્ષણ કર્યુ છે, તે સદાય તમાંરી સાથે રહ્યા છે અને તમને જોઇતું બધું તમને મળી ગયું હતું.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.2.8" />“આથી આપણે સેઇરમાં વસતા આપણા સગાંઓ એસાવના વંશજોમાંથી પસાર થયા અને એલાથ અને એશ્યોન-ગેબેરથી મૃત સરોવર જતા માંગેર્ મુસાફરી કરી. પછી અમે વળ્યાં અને મોઆબના રણ તરફ આગળ વધ્યાં.
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</p>
<s style="s">આર પ્રાંતમાં ઇસ્રાએલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.2.9" />“ત્યાં યહોવાએ આપણને ચેતવણી આપતાં કહ્યું, ‘લોટના વંશજો મોઆબીઓને પણ છેડશો નહિ કે તેમની સાથે યુદ્ધ પણ કરશો નહિ, કારણ કે, તેઓના પ્રદેશમાંથી પણ હું તમને જમીન આપીશ નહિ. મેં આરનગર અને તે પ્રદેશ લોટના વંશજોને આપી દીધો છે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.2.10" />(અગાઉ એમીઓ ત્યાં રહેતા હતા. તેઓની વસતી ઘણી હતી અને તેઓ અનાકીઓ જેવા ઊચા તથા કદાવર હતા.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.2.11" />અનાકીઓની જેમ તેઓ પણ રફાઇમીઓ ગણાતા હતા પણ મોઆબીઓ તેમને એમીઓ કહેતા હતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.2.12" />હોરીઓ પહેલા સેઇરમાં રહેતા હતા, પણ એસાવના વંશજો તેઓને હાંકી કાઢીને તેમની ભૂમિ પડાવી લીધી, અને તેમનું નામનિશાન ભૂંસી નાખ્યું. અને તેમની જગ્યાએ પોતે વસવા લાગ્યા, જેમ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યહોવાએ, તેમને આપેલી ભૂમિનાં મૂળ વતનીઓની સાથે કર્યુ તેમ.)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DEU.2.13" />પછી યહોવાએ આપણને કહ્યું, “‘હવે, ઝેરેદની ખીણ ઓળંગો.’ આથી આપણે ઝેરેદની ખીણ ઓળંગી.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.2.14" />આપણી મુસાફરી કાદેશ બાનેર્આથી નીકળીને ઝેરેદનું કોતર ઓળંગતા સુધીમાં આપણને આડત્રીસ વષોર્ લાગ્યાં. અને એ સમય દરમ્યાન યહોવાના કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે યોદ્વાઓની એક આખી પેઢી સમાંપ્ત થઈ ગઈ.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.2.15" />તેઓ બધા મૃત્યુ પામે અને તેઓને ઇસ્રાએલી પડાવમાંથી દૂર કરવામાં આવે તેમ યહોવાએ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.2.16" />“જયારે એ લોકોમાંના બધા જ યોદ્વા મરી ગયા
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.2.17" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું,
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.2.18" />‘આજે તારે મોઆબની સરહદે આવેલા આરને વટાવીને લોટના વંશજો
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.2.19" />આમ્મોનીઓના પ્રદેશમાં પહોંચી જવાનું છે. પરંતુ તેમને છેડશો નહિ કે તેમની સાથે યુદ્ધ પણ કરશો નહિ, કારણ કે, તેઓની ભૂમિમાંથી હું તમને એક વસ્તુ પણ આપવાનો નથી. મેં તે પ્રદેશ તો લોટના વંશજોને આપી દીધો છે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.2.20" />એ પ્રદેશ પણ રફાઈઓનો ગણાતો કારણ કે, એક વખતે તેઓ ત્યાં વસતા હતા, જો કે આમ્મોનીઓ તેમને “ઝામઝુમીઓ” કહે છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.2.21" />તે પ્રજા પણ અનાકીઓની જેમ કદમાં ઊચી અને કદાવર હતી. તેઓની વસ્તી ઘણી વધારે હતી. પરંતુ આમ્મોનીઓનો ધસારો થતાં યહોવાએ તેઓનો નાશ કર્યો અને આમ્મોનીઓ તેઓની જગ્યાએ વસ્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="DEU.2.22" />તેવી જ રીતે સેઇરમાં વસતા એસાવના વંશજોને દેવે મદદ કરી. જ્યારે હોરીઓએ એમના ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો ત્યારે દેવે હોરીઓનો નાશ કરવામાં તેમની મદદ કરી. અને એસાવના વંશજોએ તે લોકોના પ્રદેશનો કબજો લઈને ત્યાં વસવાટ કર્યો અને આજે પણ તેઓ ત્યાં રહે છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="DEU.2.23" />છેક ગાઝા સુધીના ગામોમાં રહેતા આવ્વીઓનું પણ એમ જ થયું હતું. કાફતોરથી આવેલા કાફતોરીઓએ તેઓનું નિકંદન કાઢીને તેઓની જગ્યાએ વસવા માંડ્યું.
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</p>
<s style="s">અમોરીઓ સામે યદ્ધ કરવાનો આદેશ.
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="DEU.2.24" />“પદ્ધી યહોવાએ આપણને કહ્યું, ‘હવે, ચાલો, નીકળી પડો અને આનોર્નંની ખીણ વટાવી જાઓ, કારણ, મેં હેશ્બોનના રાજા અમોરી સીહોનને તેમજ તેના પ્રદેશને તમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા છે. તેના ઉપર હુમલો કરો અને પ્રદેશ કબજે લેવા માંડો.
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<v id="25" bcv="DEU.2.25" />આકાશ નીચે વસતા બધા લોકોને આદ્વથી તમાંરાથી ગભરાતા અને બીતા રહે એમ હું કરીશ; બધા ભયથી થથરશે જ્યારે તેઓ તમાંરા વિષે સાંભળશે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="DEU.2.26" />“ત્યારબાદ મેં કદેમોથના વગડામાંથી હેશ્બોનના રાજા સીહોનને આ મુજબ શાંતિનો સંદેશો એલચીઓ માંરફતે મોકલાવ્યો કે,
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<v id="27" bcv="DEU.2.27" />‘મહેરબાની કરીને અમને તમાંરા પ્રદેશમાંથી પસાર થવાદો. ડાબી કે જમણી બાજુ ફંટાયા વિના અમે સધા ધોરી માંર્ગે ચાલ્યા જઈશું.
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<v id="28" bcv="DEU.2.28" />રસ્તામાં અમે જે કાંઈ ખાઈશું કે જલપાન કરીશું એના પૈસા ચૂકવી દઈશું; અમાંરે ફકત તમાંરા પ્રદેશમાંથી પસાર થઇ.
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<v id="29" bcv="DEU.2.29" />યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને અમાંરા દેવ યહોવા અમને જે ભૂમિ આપે છે ત્યાં અમાંરે જવું છે. અમને પસાર થવા દે જેમ સેઇરમાં વસતા એસાવના વંશજોએ તથા આરમાં વસતા મોઆબીઓએ થવા દીધાં.’
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="DEU.2.30" />“પરંતુ હેશ્બોનના રાજા સીહોને આપણને માંર્ગ આપવાની ના પૅંડી, કારણ, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તેને હઠીલો અને બળવાખોર બનાવી દીધો, જેથી તે તમાંરા હાથે સીહોનનો વિનાશ કરે અને તેના પ્રદેશનો તમે કબજો કરી શકો, જે હજી પણ અમાંરી પાસે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="DEU.2.31" />“પદ્ધી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, ‘જો મેં સીહોનને અને તેના પ્રદેશને તારા હાથમાં સોંપી દેવા માંડયા છે, એની ભૂમિનો કબજો લેવાનું તું શરૂ કરી દે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="DEU.2.32" />“ત્યારબાદ સીહોન પોતાનું સમગ્ર સૈન્ય લઈને યાહાસ આગળ આપણી સામે યદ્ધ કરવાને બહાર પડ્યો,
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<v id="33" bcv="DEU.2.33" />પરંતુ આપણા દેવ યહોવાએ તેને આપણા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા; અંતે આપણે તેને તેના પુત્રોને તથા તેના સમગ્ર સૈન્યને હરાવ્યા.
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<v id="34" bcv="DEU.2.34" />ત્યારબાદ આપણે તેનાં બધાં શહેરો કબજે કર્યા, અને દરેક શહેરમાંના બધાં જ સ્ત્રી, પુરુષો અને બાળકોની હત્યા કરી, કોઈનેય જીવતા રહેવા ન દીધા;
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<v id="35" bcv="DEU.2.35" />પણ આપણે જીતેલાં નગરોમાંથી મળેલી લૂંટ તથા પશધન આપણે રાખ્યાં.
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<v id="36" bcv="DEU.2.36" />અનોર્નની ખીણની ધારે આવેલા અરોએરથી માંડીને ગિલયાદ સધીના સપાટ પ્રદેશમાં એક પણ નગર આપણી સામે ટકી શકયું નહોતું, આપણા દેવ યહોવાએ બધાં જ નગરો આપણા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધાં.
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<v id="37" bcv="DEU.2.37" />પરંતુ આમ્મોનીઓના પ્રદેશમાં-યબ્બોક ખીણની આસપાસના કે પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં આવેલાં ગામોમાં જયાં જયાં જવાની આપણા દેવ યહોવાએ આપણને મનાઈ કરી હતી ત્યાં ત્યાં આપણે ગયા જ નહિ.
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<s style="s">બાશાનના લોકો સૅંથે યદ્ધ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.3.1" />“ત્યારબાદ આપણે વળીને બાશાનને માંગેર્ આગળ વધ્યા. બાશાનનો રાજા ઓગ પોતાનું આખું સૈન્ય લઈને એડેઇ મુકામે આપણી સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા ધસી આવ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.3.2" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, ‘એનાથી તું ડરતો ના, કારણ કે, મેં તેને એની આખી સેના અને તેના પ્રદેશ સાથે તારા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધો છે. મેં જે હાલ હેશ્બોનના રહેતા આમ્મોનીઓના રાજા સીહોનના કર્યા તેવા જ હાલ તું એના કર.’
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="DEU.3.3" />“આમ, આપણા દેવ યહોવાએ બાશાનના રાજા ઓગને પણ તેના સમગ્ર સૈન્ય સાથે હરાવવામાં આપણને મદદ કરી અને આપણે તે તમાંમનો સંહાર કર્યો, એકને ય જીવતો જવા દીધો નહિ,
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.3.4" />તે વખતે આપણે ઓગના સર્વ એટલે કુલ સાઠ નગરોથી સંપૂર્ણ આગોર્બ પ્રદેશ એટલે કે રાજા ઓગનું બાશાન રાજ્ય કબજે કર્યુ, તેવું એક પણ નગર ન હતું જે અમે કબજે ન કર્યુ હોય.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.3.5" />આ બધાં નગરો ઊચા કોટ અને દરવાજાં સાથે ભૂંગળોવાળાં હતાં. ઉપરાંત, કોટ વગરનાં અનેક ગામો આપણે કબજે કર્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.3.6" />હેશ્બોનના રાજા સીહોનની બાબતમાં પણ આપણે જે કર્યુ હતું તેમ, આખાને આખા બાશાનનાં નગરો અને તેના સ્ત્રી, પુરુષ, બાળકોનો નાશ કર્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.3.7" />પરંતુ કબજે કરેલાં નગરોમાંથી પ્રાપ્ત થયેલ લૂંટ અને પશુધન આપણે માંટે રાખી લીધાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.3.8" />“એ વખતે આપણે યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વ બાજુએ અમોરીઓના એ બે રાજાઓનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ-આનોર્નની ખીણથી હેમોર્ન પર્વત સુધીનો કબજે કર્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.3.9" />સિદોનીઓ હેમોર્ન પર્વતને સીર્યોનન કહે છે અને અમોરીઓ તેને સનીર કહે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.3.10" />આપણે ઓગના તાબા હેઠળનાં સપાટ પ્રદેશમાંનાં તમાંમ નગરો, સમગ્ર ગિલયાદ તેમ જ છેક સાલખાહ અને એડેઇ સુધીનો બાશાનનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ જીતી લીધો હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.3.11" />જ્રરાક્ષસી રફાઈઓમાંથી ફકત બાશાનનો રાજા ઓગ એકલો જ બાકી રહ્યો હતો. આજે પણ આમ્મોનીઓના રાબ્બાહ નગરમાં તેનો લોખંડનો સાડાતેર હાથ લાંબો અને છ હાથ પહોળો પલંગ જોવા મળે છે.
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<s style="s">યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વની ભૂમિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.3.12" />“આપણે જે ભૂમિ કબજે કરી હતી, તે મેં રૂબેન અને ગાદના વંશજોને આપી: અરોએરનો આનોર્ન નદીના કાંઠા પરનો પ્રદેશ તથા ગિલયાદના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશનો અડધો ભાગ તેના નગરો સહિત.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.3.13" />અને ગિલયાદનો બાકીનો પ્રદેશ, બાશાનનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ, ઓગનું રાજ્ય, એટલે કે આગોર્બનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ મેં મનાશ્શાના અડધા વંશને આપ્યો.”
</p>
<p style="p">(જ્રબાશાનનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ રફાઈઓનો દેશ કહેવાય છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.3.14" />મનાશ્શાના વંશજ યાઈરે ગશૂરીઓ અને માંઅખાથીઓની સરહદ સુધીનો સમગ્ર આગોર્બનો એટલે કે બાશાનનો પ્રદેશ કબજે કર્યો, અને પોતાના નામ ઉપરથી ત્યાંનાં ગામડાઓનું નામ “યાઈરના ગામડાઓ” પાડયું. આજે પણ તે પ્રદેશ એ નામથી જ ઓળખાય છે.)
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.3.15" />“મે માંખીરના વંશજોને ગિલયાદ આપ્યું હતું.
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.3.16" />અને રૂબેનના અને ગાદના વંશજોને મેં ગિલયાદથી માંડીને આનોર્નના કોતર સુધીનો પ્રદેશ આપ્યો હતો. કોતરનો મધ્ય ભાગ તે તેની દક્ષિણ સરહદ હતી અને આમ્મોનીઓની સરહદે આવેલી યાબ્બોક નદીએ એની ઉત્તર સરહદ હતી.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.3.17" />પશ્ચિમમાં તેમની જમીન યર્દન નદી સુધી વિસ્તરેલી હતી. ઉત્તરમાં કિન્નેરેથના સરોવરથી દક્ષિણમાં અરાબાનાહ સમુદ્ર સુધી એટલે કે ખારા સમુદ્ર સુધી, અને પૂર્વમાં પિસ્ગાહ પર્વતની તળેટીના ઢાળ સુધી તે પ્રદેશ વિસ્તરેલો હતો, જમીન ખેચાયેલી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DEU.3.18" />“એ વખતે મેં રૂબેન અને ગાદના કુળસમૂહોને અને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધકુળને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી કે; ‘તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ આ ભૂમિ તમાંરા કબજામાં સોંપી છે. દેવે તમને તમાંરો ભાગ આપ્યો છે. તમાંરા બધા યોદ્ધાઓએ હથિયાર ધારણ કરીને ઇસ્રાએલના બીજા કુળસમૂહોને દોરવીને યર્દન નદીને પેલે પારના પ્રદેશ તરફ આગળ વધવું જે પ્રદેશ દેવે તેમને આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું.
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.3.19" />મેં તેઓને એ પણ કહ્યું હતું કે, મેં તમને જે નગરો આપ્યા છે તેમાં તમાંરી સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકો તથા પશુઓ પાછળ જ રહે. મને ખબર છે તમાંરી પાસે ઘણા ઢોર છે અને સ્ત્રીઓ તેની સંભાળ રાખે.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.3.20" />યર્દનને પેલે પાર તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તેમને આપેલી ભૂમિનો કબજો તેઓ પ્રાપ્ત કરે અને જેમ તેમને પણ યહોવા સ્થાયી થવા દે ત્યાં સુધી તમાંરે એમને સાથ આપવાનો છે. ત્યાર પછી તમાંરે મેં તમને આપેલી ભૂમિમાં પાછા ફરવાનું છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="DEU.3.21" />“ત્યારબાદ મેં યહોશુઆને એવો આદેશ આપ્યો કે, ‘યહોવાએ આ બે રાજાઓના જે હાલ કર્યા તે, તેં તારી સગી આંખે જોયા છે, અને તું જે પ્રદેશમાં જાય છે ત્યાંના રાજાઓના પણ એવા જ હાલ કરશે.
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<v id="22" bcv="DEU.3.22" />ત્યાં રહેતી પ્રજાઓથી તું જરાય ગભરાઈશ નહિ, કારણ કે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરા પક્ષે લડશે.’
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</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાને કનાનમાં પ્રવેશની મનાઈ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="DEU.3.23" />“તે સમયે મેં દેવને આગ્રહપૂર્વક અરજ કરી;
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<v id="24" bcv="DEU.3.24" />‘હે યહોવા દેવ, તમે અમાંરી મધ્યે તમાંરી મહાનતા તથા સાર્મથ્ય પ્રગટ કરો છો તેનું પરિણામ જોવાની માંરી ઇચ્છા છે; આકાશમાં કે પૃથ્વી પર એવો કોઈ દેવ નથી જે તમે અમાંરા માંટે કરેલાં કાર્યોની સરસાઇ કરી શકે.
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<v id="25" bcv="DEU.3.25" />હે યહોવા, મને કૃપા કરીને યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને સામે કિનારે આવેલી સમૃદ્વ ભૂમિ, પેલો રમણીય પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ તથા લબાનોનમાં જવા દો.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="DEU.3.26" />“પરંતુ તમાંરા કારણે યહોવા માંરા પર રોષે ભરાયા હતા અને માંરી અરજ સાંભળી નહોતી; તેમણે મને કહ્યું, ‘બસ, હવે એ વિષે ફરી વાત કરીશ નહિ.
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<v id="27" bcv="DEU.3.27" />પરંતુ પિસ્ગાહ પર્વતની ટોચે જઈને પશ્ચિમમાં, ઉત્તરમાં, દક્ષિણમાં અને પૂર્વમાં નજર કર, ધ્યાનપૂર્વક જોજે, કારણ કે, તું આ યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને સામે પાર જવાનો નથી.
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<v id="28" bcv="DEU.3.28" />તું તારું સ્થાન લેવા માંટે યહોશુઆને આદેશ આપજે, તેને હિંમત આપજે, બળ આપજે, કારણ કે, પર્વતની ટોચ પરથી તું જે દેશ જોશે તેને જીતવા માંટે, લોકોને માંટે તે પેલે પાર આગળ લઈ જશે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="DEU.3.29" />“એ પ્રમાંણે આપણે બેથ-પેઓરની સામેની ખીણમાં મુકામ કર્યો.”
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<c id="4" />
<s style="s">દેવને આધીન રહેવા લોકોને મૂસાની ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.4.1" />મૂસાએ લોકોને જણાવ્યું, “હે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાજનો, હું તમને જે કાયદાઓ અને નિયમો શીખવું છું તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો અને તેનું પાલન કરો; તો તમે જીવતા રહી શકશો અને તમાંરા પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવા જે ભૂમિ તમને આપી રહ્યા છે, તેમાં પ્રવેશ કરી શકશો અને તેનો કબજો પણ તમને મળશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.4.2" />હું તમને જે આજ્ઞા કરું છું તેમાં તમાંરે કશો વધારો કે ઘટાડો કરવો નહિ. હું તમને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની જે આજ્ઞાઓ જણાવું તેનું જ તમાંરે પાલન કરવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="DEU.4.3" />“બઆલ-પેઓરમાં યહોવાએ જે કંઈ કર્યુ તે તમે પ્રત્યક્ષ જોયું છે. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમાંરામાંથી જે કોઈ બઆલ દેવની પૂજા કરવા લાગ્યા હતા તે બધાનો સંહાર કર્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.4.4" />પરંતુ તમે કે જેઓ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને દૃઢતાથી વફાદાર રહ્યા તે આજે જીવતા રહ્યા છો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DEU.4.5" />“યહોવા માંરા દેવે મને આજ્ઞા કરી તે મુજબ મેં તમને કાનૂનો અને નિયમો શીખવ્યા છે, જયારે તમે તે પ્રદેશમાં પ્રવેશ કરો અને તેનો કબજો લો, ત્યારે તમાંરે સૌએ એ કાનૂનો અને નિયમોનું પાલન કરવું.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.4.6" />અને જો તમે તેનું કાળજીપૂર્વક પાલન કરશો તો તમે સચેત અને જ્ઞાની રાષ્ટ થશો, અને આજુબાજુના રાષ્ટો આ કાનૂનો વિષે સાંભળશે ત્યારે તેઓ કહેશે, ‘આ મહાન રાષ્ટને કેવી દક્ષતા અને સમજદારી છે!’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.4.7" />“આપણે જેમ આપણા દેવ યહોવાને જયારે પોકારીએ છીએ ત્યારે તે આપણી સાથે જ હોય છે. એવો દેવ સાથેનો નિકટનો સંબંધ બીજી કંઈ મોટી કે નાની પ્રજાને છે?
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.4.8" />બીજી કઈ પ્રજા એવી મહાન છે કે જેના કાયદા અને નિયમો આજે હું તમાંરી આગળ રજૂ કરું છું એ સમગ્ર આચારસંહિતા જેવા ન્યાયી હોય?
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.4.9" />પણ ધ્યાન રાખીને સાવધ રહેજો, તમે તમાંરી સગી અાંખે જે જોયું છે તે ભૂલી જશો નહિ, અને મૃત્યુ પામો ત્યાં સુધી તેને તમાંરા મનમાંથી દૂર કરશો નહિ, પરંતુ તમાંરા સંતાનોને અને તેમનાં સંતાનોને એ શીખવજો.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.4.10" />એ દિવસને તમે કદાપિ ભૂલશો નહિ, જે દિવસે તમે હોરેબમાં તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા સંમુખ ઊભા હતા, અને યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘લોકોને માંરી સમક્ષતામાં ભેગા કર. હું તે બધાને માંરાં વચનો સંભળાવીશ અને તેઓ પૃથ્વી પર જીવશે ત્યાં સુધી માંરાથી ડરીને ચાલતાં શીખશે અને પોતાનાં સંતાનોને પણ તેમ કરતાં શીખવશે.’
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.4.11" />તેથી તમે નજીક આવીને પર્વતની તળેટી આગળ ઊભા રહ્યા હતા. પર્વત અગ્નિથી ભડભડતો હતો અને જવાળાઓ આકાશ સુધી પહોંચતી હતી. સર્વત્ર અંધકાર, વાદળ અને ગાઢ ઘુમ્મસ છવાયેલાં હતાં,
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.4.12" />ત્યારે યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ અગ્નિમાંથી તમાંરી સાથે બોલ્યો. તેણે જે કહ્યું તમે સાંભળ્યું, પણ તમે તેમની આકૃતિ જોઈ નહિ તમે ફકત અવાજ સાંભળ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.4.13" />તેમણે તમને પોતાના કરારના દશ નિયમોનું પાલન કરવાનું કહ્યું. અને તે તેમણે પથ્થરની બે તકતીઓ પર લખ્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.4.14" />તે જ સમયે યહોવાએ તમે જે ભૂમિમાં પ્રવેશ કરીને કબજો લેવાના છો તે ભૂમિમાં તમાંરે એ જ કાયદાઓ અને નિયમો પાળવાના છે, તે તમને શિખવવાની મને આજ્ઞા કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.4.15" />“સાવધાન રહેજો. જે દિવસે તમે હોરેબમાં યહોવાને અગ્નિમાંથી તમાંરી સાથે બોલતા સાંભળ્યા તે દિવસે તમે દેવની કોઈ આકૃતિ જોઈ નહોતી,
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.4.16" />તેથી દેવની મૂર્તિ બનાવીને પાપ કરશો નહિ, પુરુષ અથવા સ્ત્રી જેવી દેખાય તેવી મૂર્તિ બનાવશો નહિ.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.4.17" />પૃથ્વી પર ચાલનારા કોઈ પ્રાણીની કે આકાશમાં ઊડતા પંખીની,
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.4.18" />પૃથ્વી તળેના પાણીમાંની માંછલીની મૂર્તિ કે આકૃતિ બનાવી ભ્રષ્ટ થશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="DEU.4.19" />તમે, આકાશ તરફ નજર કરો ત્યારે સૂર્ય, ચંદ્ર કે તારાઓની સેવાપૂજા કરશો નહિ. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ એમને તો પૃથ્વી પર વસતા બધાં લોકોના લાભ માંટે આપેલા છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.4.20" />પરંતુ તમને તો યહોવા મિસરની ભડભડતી ભઠ્ઠીમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો હતો, જેથી તમે એની પોતાની પ્રજા બની રહો અને તેમનો પોતાનો વારસો બનો, જેમ તમે આજે છો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="DEU.4.21" />“પરંતુ તમાંરે કારણે યહોવા માંરા પર રોષે ભરાયા હતા અને તેમણે સમ પૂર્વક જણાવ્યું હતું કે, “તું યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી હું જે સમૃદ્વ ભૂમિનો કબજો તમાંરા લોકોને સોંપી રહ્યો છું તેમાં પ્રવેશ પામશે નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="DEU.4.22" />હું યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી શકવાનો નથી. માંરે નદીની આ બાજુના દેશમાં જ મરવાનું છે. પણ તમે યર્દન ઓળંગીને તે સમૃદ્વ ભૂમિનો કબજો પ્રાપ્ત કરશો.
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<v id="23" bcv="DEU.4.23" />પણ સાવધાન! તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમાંરી સાથે જે કરાર કર્યો છે, તેને ભૂલશો નહિ, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ જેની સ્પષ્ટ મનાઈ કરી છે એવી કોઈ પણ મૂર્તિ બનાવશો નહિ.
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<v id="24" bcv="DEU.4.24" />દેવ તો ભસ્મ કરી નાખનાર અગ્નિરૂપ છે. એ તો સંપૂર્ણ નિષ્ઠા માંગનાર દેવ છે, તે મૂર્તિ પૂજા સહન નહિ કરે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="DEU.4.25" />“ભવિષ્યમાં તમને સંતાનો અને સંતાનોનાં પણ સંતાનો થાય અને તમે બધાં તે દેશમાં સ્થાયી થશો, તમે જો મૂર્તિઓ બનાવીને પાપ કરશો તો તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરા પાપને કારણે અતિ ક્રોધિત થશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="DEU.4.26" />અને હું આકાશ તથા પૃથ્વીની સાક્ષીએ તમને કહું છું કે, તમે યર્દન ઓળંગ્યા પછી જે ભૂમિનો કબજો લેવાના છો તેમાંથી તમે થોડા જ સમયમાં સમાંપ્ત થઈ જશો. ત્યાં તમે લાંબો સમય નહિ રહો અને તમાંરો નાશ થશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="DEU.4.27" />યહોવા તમને અન્ય પ્રજાઓમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખશે અને તમને જે લોકોમાં તે દોરી જશે તેમની વચ્ચે તમે બહુ થોડા જ બાકી રહેશો.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="DEU.4.28" />તમે ત્યાં લાકડાની અને પથ્થરની બનાવેલી મૂર્તિઓ કે જે જોઈ શકતી નથી કે સાંભળી શકતી નથી અને ખાતી નથી કે સૂંઘતી પણ નથી, ને શ્વાસ પણ નથી લેતી, તેની સેવા પૂજા કરશો.
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<v id="29" bcv="DEU.4.29" />જો તમે યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ માંટે આ બીજી ભૂમિઓમાં શોધખોળ કરશો તો તમને તે મળી જશે. પણ તમાંરે શોધ પૂર્ણ હૃદય પૂર્વક કરવી પડશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="DEU.4.30" />તો પાછલા દિવસોમાં જયારે આફતમાં આવી પડશો અને તમને આ બધું વીતશે ત્યારે તમે ફરી તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તરફ વળશો અને તેમની આજ્ઞા મસ્તક પર ઘારણ કરશો.
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<v id="31" bcv="DEU.4.31" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા દયાળુ છે; તે તમાંરો ત્યાગ કરશે નહિ કે, તમાંરો નાશ પણ કરશે નહિ કે, તમાંરા પૂર્વજોને આપેલાં વચનો પણ ભૂલશે નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવે કરેલાં મહાન કાર્યો વિષે વિચારો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="DEU.4.32" />“દેવે પૃથ્વી પર માંનવીનું સર્જન કર્યું ત્યારથી માંડીને આજ સુધીના ઇતિહાસના પૃષ્ઠો તપાસી જાઓ, આકાશના એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી ફરી વળો અને પૂછો કે, પહેલાં કદી આ પ્રમાંણેની અદૃભૂત ઘટના બનેલી જોઈ છે કે સાંભળી છે?
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<v id="33" bcv="DEU.4.33" />તમે લોકોએ જેમ દેવને અગ્નિમાંથી બોલતા સાંભળ્યા છે તેમ અન્ય કોઈ પ્રજાએ સાંભળ્યા છે ખરા? અને છતાં પણ તે જીવતી રહી છે?
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<v id="34" bcv="DEU.4.34" />અથવા તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની જેમ કોઈએ એક પ્રજાને બીજી પ્રજા પાસેથી પોતાને માંટે લઈ લેવાની હિંમત કરી છે? તેમણે તો મિસરમાં તમાંરે માંટે તમાંરા દેખતાં, પોતાના પ્રચંડ બાહુબળના ચમત્કારો બતાવીને ભયંકર આફતોનો વરસાદ વરસાવ્યો હતો. યુદ્ધો, ચમત્કારો, પરાક્રમો અને ભયાનક કૃત્યો કર્યા હતાં.
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<v id="35" bcv="DEU.4.35" />આ તમાંમ તેમણે એટલા માંટે કર્યુ કે પોતે જ દેવ છે, બીજું કોઈ નથી, એની ખાતરી તમને કરાવી શકાય.
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<v id="36" bcv="DEU.4.36" />તમને ઉપદેશ મળે એ માંટે યહોવાએ આકાશમાંથી તેમની બોધ આપતી વાણી સંભળાવી. અને તમને પૃથ્વી પર પોતાના મહાઅગ્નિનાં દર્શન કરાવ્યાં. અને એ જ અગ્નિમાંથી તમે તેમનાં વચનો સાંભળ્યાં
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="DEU.4.37" />“યહોવા તમાંરા પૂર્વજો પર પ્રેમ રાખતા હતા. અને તેઓના વંશજોને આશીર્વાદ આપવા માંટે તેમણે પસંદ કર્યા હતા. એટલે એ જાતે જ તમને પ્રચંડ બાહુબળથી મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા.
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<v id="38" bcv="DEU.4.38" />તમાંરા કરતા મોટા અને શકિતશાળી રાષ્ટોને તેમણે હાંકી કાઢી અને તેઓના દેશો તમને સોંપ્યા, જેમ આજે છે તેમ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="DEU.4.39" />“એટલે તમે ચોક્કસ રીતે મનમાં રાખો કે યહોવા જ દેવ છે, અને બીજા કોઇ દેવ નથી. તે આકાશમાં અને પૃથ્વી ઉપર દેવ છે.
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<v id="40" bcv="DEU.4.40" />આજે હું તમને જે કાનૂનો અને નિયમો આપું છું તેનું તમે પાલન કરજો, જેથી તમાંરું અને તમાંરાં સંતાનોનું ભલું થાય અને તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ જે ભૂમિ તમને આપે છે તેમાં તમે દીર્ધકાળ વસો અને દીર્ધાયુ ભોગવો.”
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</p>
<s style="s">આશ્રય નગરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="DEU.4.41" />ત્યાર બાદ મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વમાં ત્રણ નગરોમાં અલગ કાઢયાં.
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<v id="42" bcv="DEU.4.42" />જયાં કોઈ માંણસે અગાઉના કોઈ પણ વેરઝેર વગર અજાણતાં કોઈ વ્યકિતનું ખૂન કર્યુ હોય, તો તે ત્યાં આશ્રય લઈ શકે. એવો માંણસ જો આ નગરમાંના કોઈનું શરણું લે તો તેનો જીવનો બચાવ થાય.
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<v id="43" bcv="DEU.4.43" />એ ત્રણ નગરો આ પ્રમાંણે હતા: રૂબેનીઓના વંશજોને માંટે રણના સપાટ પ્રદેશમાં આવેલું “બેસેર” ગાદના વંશજો માંટે ગિલયાદમાં આવેલું રામોથ અને મનાશ્શાના વંશજો માંટે બાશાનમાં આવેલું ગોલાન.
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</p>
<s style="s">નિયમસંહિતાનો આરંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="DEU.4.44" />ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને મૂસાએ દેવની નિયમસંહિતા આપી.
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<v id="45" bcv="DEU.4.45" />તેઓ મિસરમાંથી નીકળ્યા ત્યારે મૂસાએ તે લોકોને આ નિયમો આપ્યા હતા.
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<v id="46" bcv="DEU.4.46" />યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વમાં બેથ-પેઓર નગર પાસે મૂસાએ આ વચનો કહી સંભળાવ્યાં. અગાઉ આ દેશ અમોરીઓના રાજા સીહોનના કબજામાં હતો, તેની રાજધાની હેશ્બોન હતી. મૂસા તથા ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ મિસરમાંથી આવતાં એ રાજાને હરાવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="47" bcv="DEU.4.47" />અને તેના પ્રદેશનો તેમ જ બાશાનના રાજા ઓગના પ્રદેશનો એમ યર્દનના પૂર્વકાંઠે આવેલા બે અમોરી રાજાઓના પ્રદેશનો કબજો લીધો હતો.
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<v id="48" bcv="DEU.4.48" />આમ ઇસ્રાએલે આનોર્નની ખીણની સરહદે આવેલા અરોએરથી તે સિયોન પર્વત જે હેમોર્ન પર્વત તરીકે પણ ઓળખાય છે.
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<v id="49" bcv="DEU.4.49" />અને યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વે આવેલો સમગ્ર અરાબાહનો પ્રદેશ તેમજ પિસ્ગાહ પર્વતના ઢોળાવ નીચે આવેલો મૃત સમુદ્ર અરાબાહ સુધીનો પ્રદેશ કબજે કરી લીધો.
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">દશ આજ્ઞાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.5.1" />બધા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને બોલાવીને મૂસાએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, આજે હું તમને જે કાયદાઓ અને નિયમો સંભળાવું છું તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો અને એ શીખી લો અને ચોક્કસ એનું પાલન કરો.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.5.2" />આપણા દેવ યહોવાએ આપણી સાથે હોરેબમાં કરાર કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.5.3" />એ કરાર યહોવાએ આપણા પિતૃઓ સાથે નહિ પણ આપણી સાથે કર્યો હતો, જેઓ આજે અહીં જીવતા રહ્યા છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.5.4" />યહોવા તમાંરી સાથે ત્યાં પર્વત પર અગ્નિમાંથી પ્રત્યક્ષ બોલ્યા હતા,
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.5.5" />તે સમયે યહોવાના શબ્દો તમને સંભળાવવા હું મધ્યસ્થ તરીકે ઊભો હતો, કારણ કે, તમને અગ્નિનો ભય લાગતો હતો અને તમે પર્વત પર તેમની પાસે ગયા ન્હોતા. અને મેં તમને તે કહી સંભળાવ્યા હતા. તેમણે કહ્યું હતું:
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="6" bcv="DEU.5.6" />‘ગુલામીના દેશ મિસરમાંથી તમને મુકત કરી બહાર લાવનાર હું જ તમાંરો દેવ છું.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.5.7" />‘માંરા સિવાય તમાંરે કોઈ પણ અન્ય દેવની ઉપાસના કરવી જોઈએ નહિ.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.5.8" />‘ઉપર આકાશમાં કે નીચે પૃથ્વી પર કે પૃથ્વી નીચેના જળમાં વસનાર પશુ, પક્ષી કે જળચર પ્રાણીની મૂર્તિ તમાંરે બનાવવી નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="DEU.5.9" />અને તમાંરે તેને નમસ્કાર કરીને તેમની પૂજા કરવી નહિ. કારણ કે, હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા અનન્ય નિષ્ઠાની અપેક્ષા રાખનાર દેવ છું. જે માંરો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે, તેમનાં સંતાનોને હું ત્રીજી તથા ચોથી પેઢી સુધી તેમનાં પાપોની શિક્ષા કરું છું.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.5.10" />પરંતુ જે લોકો માંરા પર પ્રેમભાવ રાખે છે અને માંરી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરે છે, તેઓની હજારો પેઢી સુધી હું તેમના પર કૃપા કરું છું.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.5.11" />‘તમાંરી ઇચ્છા તમે લીધેલી પ્રતિજ્ઞા પૂર્ણ કરવાની ના હોય તો તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવનું યહોવાનું નામ નકામું ના લેવું. જે કોઈ યહોવાનું નામ નકામું લે છે તેને તે શિક્ષા કર્યા વગર રહેતો નથી.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.5.12" />‘તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ વિશ્રામવારને પવિત્ર રાખજો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="DEU.5.13" />બાકીના છ દિવસો તમાંરે તમાંરા રોજના બધા કામકાજ કરવાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.5.14" />પરંતુ સાતમો દિવસ તો વિશ્રામવાર છે, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાનો દિવસ છે. તે દિવસે તમાંરે કોઈ પણ પ્રકારનું કામ કરવું નહિ, તમાંરે કે તમાંરા પુત્રો કે તમાંરી પુત્રીઓએ, તમાંરા દાસ કે તમાંરી દાસીએ, તમાંરા બળદોએ કે ગધેડાઓએ કે પછી બીજા કોઈ પશુએ, તેમજ તમાંરા ગામોમાં વસતા કોઈ પણ વિદેશીએ પણ કામ ન કરવું, જેથી તમાંરા દાસ–દાસીઓ પણ તમાંરી જેમ આરામ કરે.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.5.15" />તમાંરે વિશ્રામ દિવસનું પાલન કરવાનું છે. યહોવા તમને આ આજ્ઞા આપે છે કે જેથી તમે યાદ રાખો કે તમે મિસરમાં ગુલામો હતાં, અને યહોવા તમાંરા દેવે તેની મહાન હાથ વડે તમને ગુલામીમાંથી મુકત કર્યા અને તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યાં.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.5.16" />‘યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે તમાંરે તમાંરા માંતા અને પિતાનો આદર કરવો, કે જેથી યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ તમને જે ભૂમિ આપી રહ્યાં છે તેમાં તમે લાંબા સમય માંટે સારુ જીવો.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="17" bcv="DEU.5.17" />‘તારે હત્યા કરવી નહિ,
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="18" bcv="DEU.5.18" />‘તારે વ્યભિચાર કરવો નહિ.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.5.19" />‘તારે ચોરી કરવી નહિ.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.5.20" />‘તારે બીજા લોકો વિરુદ્ધ ખોટી સાક્ષી પૂરવી નહિ.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="21" bcv="DEU.5.21" />‘તમાંરા પડોશીની પત્નીની કામના કરવી નહિ, તેમ તેના ઘર કે ખેતર, દાસ કે દાસી, પશુ, ગધેડાં કે અન્ય કોઈ પણ વસ્તુનો કબજો કરવાની ઇચ્છા કરવી નહિ.’”
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<s style="s">લોકો દેવથી ડરી ગયાં
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.5.22" />“આ દશ આજ્ઞાઓ તમાંરા સમગ્ર સમુદાયને યહોવાએ તે પર્વત ઉપર અગ્નિ તથા ગાઢ વાદળમાંથી મોટા સાદે સંભળાવી હતી. એ પછી તે કશું બોલ્યા ન્હોતા અને તેમણે એ આજ્ઞાઓ મને પથ્થરની બે તકતીઓ ઉપર લખીને આપી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="DEU.5.23" />“પર્વત જયારે અગ્નિથી ભડભડ બળતો હતો, ત્યારે તમે અંધકારમાંથી એ અવાજ સાંભળ્યો, પછી તમાંરા કુળસમૂહોના બધાં આગેવાનો અને વડીલો માંરી પાસે આવ્યાં અને વિનંતી કરી,
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<v id="24" bcv="DEU.5.24" />‘આપણા દેવ યહોવાએ અમને પોતાના ગૌરવ અને માંહાત્મ્ય દર્શન કરાવ્યાં છે, અને અમે અગ્નિમાંથી તેમનો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો છે; આજે અમે જોયું અને જાણ્યું છે કે દેવ માંણસ સાથે બોલે છતાં માંણસ જીવતો રહે છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="DEU.5.25" />પરંતુ અમાંરે મોતનું જોખમ ફરી શા માંટે લેવું? આ મહાભયંકર અગ્નિ તો અમને સૌને ભસ્મીભૂત કરી નાખશે. જો અમે ફરી વાર અમાંરા દેવ યહોવાનો અવાજ સાંભળીશું તો અમે જરૂર મૃત્યુ પામીશું.
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<v id="26" bcv="DEU.5.26" />પૃથ્વી પર એવી કોઈ વ્યકિત નથી જેણે, જીવતા દેવને અગ્નિમાંથી બોલતા સાંભળ્યા હોય આપણી જેમ, અને હજી જીવતું હોય.
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<v id="27" bcv="DEU.5.27" />તમે જ તેમની પાસે જાઓ અને આપણાં દેવ યહોવા જે કહે તે સાંભળો, અને તેણે તમને જે કહ્યું હોય તે અમને જણાવો. અમે તે સાંભળીશું અને તેનું પાલન અવશ્ય કરીશું.’
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<s style="s">યહોવાનો મૂસા સાથે વાર્તાલાપ
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="DEU.5.28" />“જયારે યહોવાએ તમાંરી વિનંતી માંન્ય રાખી અને મને કહ્યું, ‘આ લોકોએ તને જે જણાવ્યું છે તે મેં સાંભળ્યું છે. હું તેઓની વાત માંન્ય રાખું છું.
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<v id="29" bcv="DEU.5.29" />તે લોકોની વૃત્તિ હંમેશા આવી રહે અને તેઓ માંરાથી ડરતા રહે અને માંરી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરતા રહે તો કેવું સારું! તે લોકો અને તેમનાં સંતાનો પેઢી દર પેઢી સુખી રહે.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="DEU.5.30" />“‘જા, તું જઈને તે લોકોને કહે કે, તમે તમાંરા તંબુઓમાં પાછા જાઓ.
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<v id="31" bcv="DEU.5.31" />પણ તું પોતે અહીં માંરી પાસે ઊભો રહે, એટલે હું તને માંરી બધી આજ્ઞાઓ, કાયદાઓ અને નિયમો સંભળાવીશ; અને પછી તું તે એ લોકોને કહેજે, જેથી હું એમને જે ભૂમિનો કબજો આપનાર છું તેમાં ત્યાં તેઓ તે બધી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="DEU.5.32" />“પછી મૂસાએ લોકોને કહ્યું. “તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને જે આજ્ઞાઓ કરી છે તેનું કાળજી રાખીને પાલન કરજો. અને તમે જે માંગેર્ ચાલી રહ્યાં છો તેમાંથી વળતા નહિ.
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<v id="33" bcv="DEU.5.33" />અને જો તમાંરે જીવતા રહેવું હોય, સુખી થવું હોય અને જે ભૂમિનો કબજો તમે પ્રાપ્ત કરવાના છો તેમાં દીર્ધાયુ ભોગવવું હોય તો તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ આપેલા માંર્ગ પર જીવન ગુજારજો.
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<s style="s">સવોર્પરી આજ્ઞા દેવને પ્રેમ કરો અને સંતાનોને તે શીખવો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.6.1" />“તમે જે દેશનો કબજો લેવાને જઈ રહ્યા છો, ત્યાં જે આજ્ઞાઓ, કાયદાઓ અને નિયમો પાળવાનું તમને શીખવવા માંટેની આજ્ઞા તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ મને કહી હતી તે આ છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.6.2" />તમને આ નિયમો શીખવવાનો હેતુ એ છે કે તમે યહોવાથી ડરીને ચાલો અને હું તમને જે કાયદાઓ અને આજ્ઞાઓ આપું છું તેનું તમે, તમાંરા સંતાનો અને તમાંરા બધા વંશજો જીવનભર પાલન કરો જેથી તમે સફળ દીર્ઘાયુ ભોગવો.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.6.3" />હે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાજનો, જો તમે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળશો અને કાળજીપૂર્વક એનું પાલન કરશો, તો તમાંરા પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાએ આપેલા વચન પ્રમાંણે જયાં દૂધ અને મધની રેલછેલ છે એવા દેશમાં તમે સુખી થશો અને તમાંરો વંશવેલો ખૂબ વધશે. અને તમે એક મહાન પ્રજા બની રહેશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.6.4" />“હે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાજનો; સાંભળો, યહોવા આપણા દેવ છે. એક માંત્ર યહોવા.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.6.5" />અને તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા પર પૂર્ણ મનથી પૂર્ણ અંત:કરણથી તથા પૂર્ણ મનોબળથી પ્રેમ રાખવો.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.6.6" />આજે હું તમને જે આજ્ઞાઓ આપુ છું તેને તમાંરા મનમાં સંધરી રાખજો.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.6.7" />અને તમાંરાં સંતાનોને તે શીખવો, તમે ઘરમાં હોય કે રસ્તે ચાલતા હોય સુતાં હોય કે જાગતાં હોય, તેનું રટણ કરતા રહો.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.6.8" />તમે એ આજ્ઞાઓને તમાંરા હાથે યાદી તરીકે બાંધજો અને તમાંરા લલાટ પર બિલ્લા તરીકે.
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.6.9" />તમાંરા ઘરની બારસાખ ઉપર તથા તમાંરા દરવાજા ઉપર તે લખજો.
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<s style="s">દેવનિષ્ઠા રાખવા અનુરોધ
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.6.10" />“તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા કે જેમણે જે દેશ આપવાનું, તમાંરા પિતૃઓ ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાકને અને યાકૂબને વચન આપ્યું હતું તે દેશમાં તમને લઈ જશે. ખ્યાં મોટાં સુંદર નગરો છે, જે તમે બાંધ્યાં નથી.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.6.11" />ત્યાં સર્વ પ્રકારની સારી વસ્તુઓથી ભરેલાં ઘર છે, જે તમે વસાવ્યાં નથી. પથ્થરમાં ખોદી કાઢેલા કૂવા છે, જે તમે ખોઘ્યા નથી; તથા દ્રાક્ષની અને જૈતૂનની વૅંડીઓ છે, જે તમે વાવેલી નથી, ત્યાં તમે પુષ્કળ પ્રમૅંણમાં ખાશો ને તૃપ્ત થશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.6.12" />“ખબરદાર રહેજો, રખેને મિસર એટલે કે ગુલામીના દેશમાંથી તમને કાઢી લાવનાર યહોવાને તમે ભૂલી જાવ.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.6.13" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવૅંથી ડરો, તેની સેવા કરવી અને તમાંરા બધા વચનોમાં ફકત તેમનું જ નામ વાપરવું.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.6.14" />તમાંરે પડોશી પ્રજાઓના દેવોની પૂજા કરવી નહિ.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.6.15" />કારણ કે, તમાંરી સૅંથે રહેનાર તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા એકનિષ્ઠા માંગતા દેવ છે. જો તમે અવજ્ઞા કરશો તો તમાંરા પર રોષે ભરાશે અને તમને પૃથ્વીના પડ પરથી ભૂંસી નાખશે અને તમાંરું નામનિશાન રહેશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.6.16" />“તમે માંસ્સાહમાં તેમની વિરુદ્ધ ફરિયાદ કરીને તેમને ઉશ્કેર્યા હતા અને તેમની ધીરજની પરીક્ષા કરી હતી તેવી યહોવાની કસોટી કરશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="DEU.6.17" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના કાનૂનો, નિયમો અને તેમની આજ્ઞાઓનું તમાંરે ખૂબ જ કાળજીપૂર્વક પાલન કરવું.
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.6.18" />અને યહોવાની નજરમાં જે યોગ્ય અને સારું છે તે જ્યારે તમે કરશો, ત્યારે જ તમાંરું ભલું થશે અને યહોવાએ તમાંરા પિતૃઓને જે સારો દેશ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું છે તેમાં દાખલ થઈને તેનો કબજો તમે મેળવી શકશો.
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.6.19" />વળી દેવના કહ્યા પ્રમૅંણે તેમની મદદથી તમે તમાંરા દેશમાંથી તમાંરી સામેના બધા દુશ્મનોને કાઢી શકશો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઘ્ર્ેવના કાર્યોનું સંતાનોને શિક્ષણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.6.20" />“ભષિષ્યમાં તમાંરો પુત્ર તમને પૂછે કે; ‘આપણા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને કાયદાઓ, નિયમો અને આજ્ઞાઓ શા માંટે જણાવ્યાં હતા?’
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.6.21" />ત્યારે તમાંરે કહેવું, ‘અમે મિસરમાં ફારુનના ગુલામ હતા. યહોવા તેમના મહાન પરાક્રમ વડે અમને મિસરમાંથી મુકત કરીને બહાર લાવ્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="DEU.6.22" />તેમણે ભારે પરચાઓ બતાવી મિસરવાસીઓ, ફારુન અને તેમના બધા અમલદારો પર ભયંકર આફતો ઉતારી હતી, એ બધું અમે પ્રત્યક્ષ નજરે નિહાળ્યું છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="DEU.6.23" />પરંતુ આપણને તો તે ત્યાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યાં, જેથી આપણા પિતૃઓને જે ભૂમિ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તેમાં આપણને લઈ આવે અને તેનો કબજો આપણને સોંપે.
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<v id="24" bcv="DEU.6.24" />તે વખતે યહોવાએ આ બધા નિયમોનું પાલન કરવાની આજ્ઞા કરી હતી, જેથી આપણે તેનો ભય રાખીને ચાલીએ અને તેથી આજ સધી આપણે જેમ સુખસમુદ્વિમાં રહેતા આવ્યા છીએ તેમ સદાને માંટે રહેવા પામીએ.
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<v id="25" bcv="DEU.6.25" />જો આપણે કાળજીપૂર્વક આ બધા નિયમોનું પાલન કરીએ જે યહોવા, આપણા દેવે આપણને આજ્ઞા કરેલી, તે આપણા માંટે સદાચારી કૃત્ય થશે.’
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</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">અલગ તારવેલ અન્ય પ્રજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.7.1" />“તમે જે ભૂમિનો કબજો લેવા માંટે જઈ રહ્યા છો ત્યાં તમને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા લઈ જશે અને તમાંરા માંટે અનેક પ્રજાને તે હાંકી કાઢશે, એટલે હિત્તીઓ, ગિર્ગાશીઓ, અમોરીઓ, કનાનીઓ, પરિઝઝીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ, અને યબૂસીઓ, આ સાત રાષ્ટો તમાંરાં કરતાં મોટા અને શકિતશાળી છે. પણ તે તેઓને હાંકી કાઢશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.7.2" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા એ પ્રજાઓને તમાંરે હવાલે સોંપી દેશે. અને તમે તેમનો પરાજય કરશો, તે વખતે તમાંરે તેમનો પૂર્ણ વિનાશ કરવો. તમાંરે તેમની સાથે દયા રાખવી નહિ કે કરાર કરવો નહિ.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.7.3" />તમે તેઓની સાથે લગ્નવ્યવહાર ન રાખો. તમાંરા પુત્રોને તેઓની પુત્રીઓ સાથે કે તમાંરી પુત્રીઓને તેઓના પુત્રો સાથે પરણાવશો નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.7.4" />કારણ તે લોકો તમાંરા સંતાનોને યહોવાની પૂજા કરતાં બીજે વાળશે, અને તેઓ બીજા દેવ દેવીઓને પૂજવાનું શરૂ કરશે, પછી યહોવા તમાંરા પર રોષે ભરાશે અને સત્વરે તમાંરો નાશ કરશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">જૂઠા દેવોનો નાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DEU.7.5" />“પરંતુ તમાંરે તે લોકો સાથે આ પ્રમાંણે વર્તવું: તેમની વેદીઓને તોડી પાડવી, તેમના સ્તંભોને ભાંગી નાખવા, તેઓની ધિક્કારપાત્ર પ્રતિમાંઓને તોડી નાખવી અને તેમની મૂર્તિઓને બાળી નાખવી.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.7.6" />તમે તમાંરા યહોવા દેવને અપિર્ત થયેલા પવિત્ર લોકો છો. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ પૃથ્વી પરની બીજી બધી પ્રજાઓમાંથી તમને જ પોતાના ખાસ લોકો થવા માંટે પસંદ કરેલા છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.7.7" />તમે અન્ય કોઈ પણ પ્રજા કરતાં સંખ્યાંબળમાં વધારે હતા માંટે યહોવાએ તમને પસંદ કર્યા નથી, તમે બધાં રાષ્ટોમાંનાં સૌથી નાના હતા.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.7.8" />પરંતુ યહોવાને તમાંરા પર પ્રેમ હતો અને તમાંરા પિતૃઓને-વડવાઓને આપેલા વચનનું પાલન કરવું હતું, માંટે તે તમને ગુલામીના દેશમાંથી, મિસરના રાજા ફારુનના હાથમાંથી પ્રચંડ ભૂજબળથી છોડાવી લાવ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.7.9" />“તેથી તમાંરે સમજી લેવું જોઈએ કે ફકત યહોવા જ તમાંરા દેવ છે, એ જ માંત્ર સાચા વિશ્વાસુ દેવ છે. તે પોતાનો કરાર હજારો પેઢીઓ સુધી રાખે છે, અને જેઓ તેના પર પ્રેમ રાખે છે અને તેની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરે છે, તેમના પર કરુણા રાખે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.7.10" />પરંતુ જેઓ તેમનો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે તેઓ જાહેરમાં શિક્ષા ભોગવશે અને નાશ પામશે, જે કોઈ તેમનો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે તેમનો બદલો લેવામાં તે ઘડીનોય વિલંબ નહિ કરે.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.7.11" />આથી આ બધી આજ્ઞાઓ જે હું આજે તમને જણાવું છું. તે આ કાયદાઓ અને નિયમોનું તમાંરે પાલન કરવું,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.7.12" />“જો તમે લોકો આ કાયદાઓ, નિયમો અને આજ્ઞાઓ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળશો અને ખૂબ કાળજીપૂર્વક તેનું પાલન કરશો, તો તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરા પિતૃઓ સાથે કરેલા કરાર પાળશે અને તમાંરા પર કરુણા દર્શાવશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.7.13" />તે તમાંરી સાથે પ્રેમ કરશે અને શુભ આશીર્વાદ આપશે અને તમાંરો વંશવેલો વધારશે, જે ભૂમિ તમને આપવાની એમણે તમાંરા પિતૃઓ સમક્ષ સમ ખાધા હતા તે ભૂમિમાં તે તમને આશીર્વાદ આપશે; તે તમને પુષ્કળ સંતતિ, અને ભૂમિની પેદાશ, અનાજ, દ્રાક્ષારસ અને તેલ, તથા ઢોર અને ઘેટાંબકરાં આપશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DEU.7.14" />“પૃથ્વી પરની બધી પ્રજાઓ કરતાં તમે વિશેષ આશીર્વાદિત થશો, તમાંરા લોકોમાં તેમ જ તમાંરાં ઢોરમાં કોઈ નિ:સંતાન નહિ રહે.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.7.15" />યહોવા તમાંરી બધી બિમાંરીઓ લઈ લેશે, મિસરમાં જે ખરાબ રોગોનો તમને અનુભવ થયો હતો, તેમાંનો કોઈ એ તમને નહિ થવા દે, પણ તમાંરા દુશ્મનોને એ રોગોનો ભોગ બનાવશે.
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.7.16" />યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ તમને જે બધી પ્રજાઓને સોંપવાના છે, તેઓનો નાશ કરો. તેઓના પ્રત્યે સહાનુ-ભૂતિ ન અનુભવો અને તેઓના દેવોને ન પૂજો, જો તમે તેમ કરશો તો તમે ફસાઇ જશો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહોવાનું પોતાના લોકોને મદદનું વચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="DEU.7.17" />“કદાચ તમને એવો વિચાર આવે કે, ‘આ પ્રજાઓ તો અમાંરા કરતાં ઘણી તાકતવર છે; અમે તેમને શી રીતે કાઢી શકીએ?’
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.7.18" />પરંતુ તમે તેમનાથી ગભરાશો નહિ, તમાંરા યહોવા દેવે ફારુન તથા મિસર દેશના જે હાલ કર્યા હતા તેનું સ્મરણ કરવું.
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.7.19" />યહોવા તેમના પર જે ભયાનક આફતો લાવ્યા તે યાદ કરો. તમે તમાંરી જાતે તે બનતા જોયું હતું. મિસરમાંથી તમને મુકત કરાવવા માંટે દેવે પોતાના પ્રચંડ બળ અને સાર્મથ્યનો ઉપયોગ કરીને જે પરચો બતાવ્યો હતો અને અદૃભૂત કૃત્યો કર્યા હતા તે યાદ કરો. તમે જે લોકોથી ડરો છો તેઓની સામે યહોવા દેવ એવું જ બળ વાપરશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.7.20" />“જે લોકો તમાંરાથી સંતાઈ ગયા હશે અને ભાગી ગયા હશે તેઓ વિરુદ્ધ યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ ભમરાં મોકલશે.<f caller="+"><fr>7:20
</fr><fk>જે લોકો … મોકલશે
</fk><ft>કિડાઓ, મોટાં ભમરાં કે મધમાખી જેવાં. અહીંયા તે દેવદૂત કે તેની મહાન શકિત હોઇ શકે.</ft></f>
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.7.21" />એ પ્રજાથી તમે જરાય ડરશો નહિ. કારણ કે, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરી વચ્ચે છે; અને તે તો મહાન અને ભયંકર દેવ છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="DEU.7.22" />તે ધીમે ધીમે તમાંરી આગળથી એ પ્રજાઓને હાંકી કાઢશે; એક સામટો તેઓનો ઉચ્છેદ નહિ કરે. કારણ કે, કદાચ જંગલી પશુઓ વધી જાય અને તમને હેરાન કરે.
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<v id="23" bcv="DEU.7.23" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા એ લોકોને તમાંરા હવાલે કરશે, જ્યાં સુધી તેઓ નાશ ન પામે ત્યાં સુધી તે તેઓને યુદ્ધમાં ગભરાતા કરશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="DEU.7.24" />યહોવા તેઓના રાજાઓને તમાંરા હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરશે અને તમે લોકો પૃથ્વી પરથી તેમનું નામોનિશાન સમાંપ્ત કરી દેશો. તેમનો નાશ કરતાં સુધી કોઈ તમાંરો સામનો કરી શકશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="DEU.7.25" />“તમે લોકો તેઓની મૂર્તિઓને બાળી મૂકો. એ મૂર્તિઓ ઉપરના સોનાચાંદીના મોહમાં પડીને તે ધાતુઓને અડકશો નહિ. જો તમે તે ધાતુઓને લેશો તો તે તમાંરા માંટે ફાંદારૂપ બનશે, કારણ, તમાંરા દેવ મૂર્તિપૂજાને ધિક્કારે છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="DEU.7.26" />માંટે તમાંરે ધિક્કારપાત્ર કોઈ પણ મૂર્તિને તમાંરા ઘરમાં લાવવી નહિ, અને તેની પૂજા કરવી નહિ, જો તમે એમ કરશો તો મૂર્તિની જેમ તમાંરો પણ નાશ થશે. માંટે તમે તેને ધિક્કારો, તે શ્રાપિત વસ્તુ છે.
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</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">યહોવાને આધીન થાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.8.1" />“આજે હું તમને જે બધી આજ્ઞાઓ જણાવું છું એનું તમાંરે બધાએ કાળજીથી પાલન કરવું, જેથી તમે જીવતા રહો, તમાંરી વંશવૃદ્વિ થાય અને તમાંરા પિતૃઓને યહોવાએ જે ભૂમિ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું છે, તેમાં પ્રવેશ કરીને તમે તેનો કબજો લઈ શકો.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.8.2" />યાદ રાખો કે તમને નમ્ર બનાવવા, તમાંરી કસોટી કરવા અને તમે તેમની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરવા માંગો છો કે કેમ, એ જાણવા માંટે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ આ ચાળીસ વર્ષ સુધી તમને રણમાં ઠેર ઠેર ફેરવ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.8.3" />અને હા, તેણે તમને દુ:ખી કર્યા અને તમને ભૂખ્યા જવા દીધા, અને તમને નમ્ર બનાવ્યા. ત્યા તેણે તમને માંન્ના ખાવા આપ્યું જેને તમે કે તમાંરા પિતૃઓએ પહેલાં જોયું નહતું, તેણે તમને ફકત માંન્નાથી પોષ્યાં. તે રીતે તે તમને અનુભવ કરાવવા માંગતા હતા કે માંણસ ફકત રોટલીથી જીવીત રહેતો નથી. લોકોનુ જીવન યહોવાએ તેમને આપેલ વચનો પર આધારિત છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.8.4" />આ ચાળીસ વર્ષ દરમ્યાન તમાંરા શરીર પરનાં વસ્રો ઘસાઈ ગયાં નથી કે નથી તમાંરા પગ ફુલી ગયા.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.8.5" />એટલે આ વાત તમે હૃદયમાં કોતરી રાખજો કે જે રીતે પિતા પોતાના પુત્રને શિસ્તમાં રાખવા શિક્ષા કરીને કેળવે છે તેમ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને શિસ્તમાં રાખી કેળવતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DEU.8.6" />“તેથી તમે લોકો તમાંરા યહોવા દેવના નિયમોનું પાલન કરો. તેમને ચીંધેલા માંર્ગે ચાલો અને તેમની બીક રાખો.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.8.7" />કારણ કે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને એક સમૃદ્વ ભૂમિમાં લઈ જઈ રહ્યા છે, જયાં પુષ્કળ નદીઓ અને અનેક ઝરણાં ફૂટી નીકળીને પર્વતોમાં અને ખીણમાં વહે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.8.8" />જયાં ઘઉ, અને જવ પાકે છે, દ્રાક્ષ, અંજીર દાડમ પણ થાય છે, તથા જે જૈતૂન તેલ અને મધનો પ્રદેશ છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.8.9" />એ એવો પ્રદેશ છે જયાં ખાવાની કોઈ ખોટ નથી, વળી કોઈ વસ્તુની ખોટ પણ નથી, તેમ જ પથ્થરની જેમ ત્યાં ખડકોમાં પુષ્કળ લોખંડ છે અને ટેકરીઓમાં તાંબાની ખાણો પથરાયેલી છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.8.10" />ત્યાં તમે ખાઈને તૃપ્ત થશો ત્યારે તમાંરા યહોવા દેવે જે સમૃદ્વ ભૂમિ તમને આપી છે તે માંટે તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાનો આભાર માંનશો.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવનાં કાર્યો ભૂલો નહિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.8.11" />“પરંતુ ખબરદાર! આ વખતે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને ભૂલી ન જશો. પુષ્કળ સમૃદ્વિને કારણે યહોવા દેવને ભૂલી ન જતા. અને હું તમને એમના જે કાયદાઓ, નિયમો અને આજ્ઞાઓ સંભળાવું છું તેનું પાલન કરવાનું રખેને ચૂકતા,
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.8.12" />જયારે તમે ભરપેટ ખાઈને તૃપ્ત થાઓ અને સારા બાંધેલાં મકાનોમાં રહેતા થાઓ,
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.8.13" />અને જ્યારે તમાંરા ઘેટાં અને ઢોરઢાંખરની સંખ્યામાં વધારો થાય અને જ્યારે તમાંરી પાસે સોનું અને ચાંદી થાય, અને જ્યારે તમાંરી પાસે બધી વસ્તુઓ ઘણી માંત્રામાં થાય.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.8.14" />ત્યારે અભિમાંનમાં છકી ન જશો અને ગુલામીના દેશ મિસરમાંથી તમને બહાર લાવનાર તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને ભૂલી ન જશો.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.8.15" />રખે તમે એ દેવ યહોવાને ભૂલી જતા જે તમને ઝેરી સાપ તથા વીંછીઓથી ભરેલા વિશાળ અને ભયંકર રણમાં જઈને, સૂકાભટ નપાણિયા પ્રદેશમાં જઈને તમને દોરી લાવ્યા, કઠણ ખડકમાંથી એમણે તમાંરા માંટે પાણી વહેતું કર્યું,
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.8.16" />અને તમાંરા પિતૃઓએ કદીય જોયું ન્હોતું એવું માંન્ના તમને અરણ્યમાં ખાવા આપ્યું; આમ તમાંરી કસોટી કરીને તમાંરું અભિમાંન ઉતારીને અંતે તો તમાંરું ભલું જ કર્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.8.17" />તમાંરે તમાંરા મનમાં એવું કદીયે વિચારવું નહિ કે ‘આ સમૃદ્ધિ મેં માંરા ભૂજબળ અને ઉધમથી જ મેળવી છે.’
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.8.18" />હંમેશા સતત સ્મરણમાં રાખો કે તમને સમૃદ્ધિ પ્રાપ્ત કરવા માંટેનું બળ આપનાર તો એ જ છે; અને એ રીતે તમાંરા પિતૃઓને આપેલું વચન એ પૂર્ણ કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.8.19" />“જો તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને ભૂલી જશો અને અન્ય દેવો તરફ વળશો અને પગે પડીને તેમની પૂજા કરશો તો હું તમને આજે સખત ચેતવણી આપી સાવધાન કરું છું કે તમે અચૂક વિનાશ પામશો.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.8.20" />કારણ જો તમે યહોવા તમાંરા દેવને અનુસરવાનું બંધ કરો, તો તે તમાંરો નાશ તે લોકોની જેમ કરશે જે તમાંરા શત્રુઓ છે.
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલ સાથે રહેશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.9.1" />“હે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાજનો સાંભળો! આજે તમે યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને તમાંરા કરતાં મહાન અને શકિતશાળી પ્રજાઓનો દેશ કબજે કરવાના છો. તેમનાં શહેરો મોટાં છે અને તેમને ગગનચુંબી કોટ છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.9.2" />એ લોકો પોતે મહાકાય અને બળવાન છે. તેઓ રાક્ષસ જેવા છે, એ તમે જાણો છો. અને તમે પેલી કહેવત સાંભળી છે કે, ‘રાક્ષસો સામે કોણ ટક્કર ઝીલી શકે?’
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.9.3" />તેથી તમે સમજી લેજો કે આજે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા સ્વયં સર્વભક્ષી અગ્નિરૂપે તમાંરા સૌની આગળ રહીને જશે. અને તે એ લોકોનો વિનાશ કરશે. અને યહોવાના વચન અનુસાર તમે તેઓને હાંકી કાઢવા તેમજ તરત હરાવવા સમર્થ બનશો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.9.4" />“તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તેમને તમાંરી આગળથી હાંકી કાંઢે ત્યારે તમે એમ ન માંની લેશો કે, ‘અમે સારા છીએ તેથી યહોવાએ અમને આ પ્રદેશનો કબજો અપાવ્યો છે.’ એ લોકો દુષ્ટ છે તેથી યહોવા તેઓને હાંકી કાઢે છે.”
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.9.5" />તમે નિષ્પક્ષ અને પ્રામાંણિક છો એટલા માંટે યહોવા તમને આ પ્રદેશ નથી આપતા. એ લોકો દુષ્ટ છે એટલા માંટે યહોવા તેમને હાંકી કાઢે છે. અને તેણે તમાંરા પિતૃઓ ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક અને યાકૂબને આપેલું વચન પાળુ છું એ સારૂ.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.9.6" />તમે સમજી લેજો કે તમાંરા કોઈ પુણ્યને લીધે યહોવા તમને આ સમૃદ્ધ ભૂમિનો કબજો આપતો નથી, કારણ, તમે તો હઠીલી પ્રજા છો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહોવાના કોપથી ડરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.9.7" />“યાદ રાખજો, એ વાત કદી ભૂલશો નહિ કે તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના રોષ રણમાં વહોરી લીધો હતો. તમે મિસરમાંથી બહાર નીકળ્યા તે દિવસથી તે અહીં આવ્યા ત્યાં સુધી યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરતા આવ્યા છો.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.9.8" />હોરેબ પર્વત આગળ તમે યહોવાનો કોપ વહોરી લીધો હતો અને તે એટલા બધા કોપાયમાંન થયા હતા કે તમાંરો વિનાશ કરવા તૈયાર થયા હતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.9.9" />હું ત્યાં પર્વત પર હતો, યહોવાએ તમાંરી સાથે કરેલા કરારની તકતીઓ લેવા હું ત્યાં ગયો હતો. હું ત્યાં ખાધાપીધા વિના ચાળીસ દિવસ અને રાત રહ્યો હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.9.10" />જે દિવસે તમે બધા પર્વત પાસે ભેગા થયા હતા અને અગ્નિમાંથી યહોવાએ તમને જે આજ્ઞાઓ કહી હતી તે આ બે તકતીઓ પર તેમણે પોતાના હસ્તાક્ષરમાં લખીને મને આપી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.9.11" />“ત્યારે 40 દિવસ અને રાત પછી યહોવાએ મને તે કરાર લખેલી તકતીઓ આપી,
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.9.12" />અને યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, ‘ઝડપથી પર્વત ઉતરી જા, કારણ તારા લોકો જેને તું મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યો હતો, માંરી આજ્ઞાઓથી બહુ ઝડપથી ફરી ગયા છે અને ઢાળેલી મૂર્તિઓ બનાવી ભ્રષ્ટતાથી ર્વત્યા છે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DEU.9.13" />“વળી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, ‘એ લોકો કેવા હઠીલા છે એ મેં જોઈ લીધું છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.9.14" />તું મને રોકીશ નહિ, હું એમનો નાશ કરનાર છું. પૃથ્વી પરથી હું એમનું નામોનિશાન ભૂંસી નાખીશ, અને તારામાંથી એમના કરતાં વધારે સશકત અને મહાન પ્રજા ઉત્પન્ન કરીશ.’
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</p>
<s style="s">સોનાનું વાછરડું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.9.15" />“તેથી હું તરત પાછો ફરીને પર્વત પરથી નીચે આવ્યો. ત્યારે પર્વત અગ્નિથી ભડભડ સળગતો હતો અને માંરા બે હાથમાં કરારની બે તકતીઓ હતી.
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.9.16" />મેં જોયું તો તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ ભયંકર પાપ કર્યુ હતું. તમે એક વાછરડાંની મૂર્તિ બનાવી હતી અને યહોવાએ તમને જે માંગેર્ ચાલવાનું કહ્યું હતું તે માંર્ગથી તમે એટલી જ વારમાં ચલિત થઈ ગયા હતા.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.9.17" />એટલે મેં તમાંરી નજર સામે જ પેલી તકતીઓ જમીન પર પછાડીને તોડી નાખી.
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.9.18" />પછી પાછો બીજા ચાળીસ દિવસ અને ચાળીસ રાત હું યહોવાની હાજરીમાં જમીન ઉપર ચહેરો નમાંવી કંઇ ખાધા-પીધા વીના રહ્યો. કારણ તમે પાપ કર્યું હતું જે યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિએ દુષ્ટ હતું અને તેને ખૂબ ગુસ્સે કર્યા હતા.
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.9.19" />તમાંરું શું થશે તેની મને ખૂબ બીક હતી, તે તમાંરા પર એટલા બધા રોષે ભરાયા હતા કે તમાંરો નાશ કરવા તૈયાર થયા હતા, તેથી ફરી એક વાર યહોવાએ માંરી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.9.20" />યહોવા હારુન પર પણ રોષે ભરાયા હતા અને તેનો નાશ કરવા પણ તૈયાર થયા હતા, તેથી મેં હારુન માંટે પણ તે જ વખતે પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.9.21" />પછી તમે જે પાપમય વસ્તુ બનાવી હતી, પેલું વાછરડું પોઠીયો-તે લઈને મેં બાળી નાખ્યું, તેના ટુકડે ટુકડા કરી નાખ્યા, અને તેનો દળીને ઝીણો ભૂકો બનાવ્યો અને તે ભૂકાને પર્વત પરથી વહેતાં ઝરણામાં ફેંકી દીધો.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માંટે દેવથી ક્ષમાં માંગતો મૂસા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.9.22" />“ફરીથી તમે તાબએરાહમાં, માંસ્સાહમાં અને કિબ્રોથ-હાત્તાવાહમાં પણ યહોવાનો કોપ વ્હોરી લીધો હતો.
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<v id="23" bcv="DEU.9.23" />અને પછી યહોવાએ તમને કાદેશ-બાનેર્આથી જયારે એમ કહીને મોકલ્યા કે, ‘જાઓ, મેં તમને જે પ્રદેશ આપ્યો છે તેનો કબજો લો.’ ત્યારે પણ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની સામે બંડ કર્યું. અને તે તમને મદદ કરશે એવો તમે વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો નહિ. અને તેમની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યુ નહિ.
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<v id="24" bcv="DEU.9.24" />હું જયારથી તમને ઓળખતો થયો ત્યારથી તમે તેની સામે બળવો પોકારતા રહ્યા છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="DEU.9.25" />“તેથી જ હું ચાળીસ દિવસ અને ચાળીસ રાત સુધી યહોવા સમક્ષ ઘૂંટણીએ પડીને પડી રહ્યો, કારણ કે, યહોવાએ તમાંરો નાશ કરવાનો નિશ્ચય કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="26" bcv="DEU.9.26" />એટલે મેં તેમને પ્રાર્થના કરી, ‘હે યહોવા માંરા પ્રભુ, કૃપા કરીને તમાંરા લોકોનો, જેમને તમે અપનાવેલા છે, જેમને તમે તમાંરી મહાન શકિતથી છોડાવ્યા છે, જેમને તમે તમાંરા પ્રચંડ બાહુબળથી મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા છો, તેમનો નાશ ન કરશો.
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<v id="27" bcv="DEU.9.27" />તમાંરા સેવકો, ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક અને યાકૂબને આપેલાં વચનોને યાદ કરીને આ લોકોની હઠ અને દુષ્ટતા તથા એમનાં પાપને ધ્યાનમાં લેશો નહિ.
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<v id="28" bcv="DEU.9.28" />નહિંતર તું અમને જે દેશમાંથી લઈ આવ્યો છે ત્યાંના લોકો કહેશે કે, “યહોવાએ એ લોકોને જે દેશમાં લઈ જવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તેમાં તે લઈ જઈ શકયા નહિ, તે તેમને ધિક્કારતા હતા માંટે તેમને અહીથી બહાર રણમાં માંરવા માંટે લઈ ગયા.”
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<v id="29" bcv="DEU.9.29" />આખરે તો, તેઓ તમાંરા લોકો છે, તેઓ તમાંરી મિલકત છે, તેઓ તમાંરી વિશિષ્ટ માંલિકીની છે અને તમે તમાંરી મહાન શકિત વાપરી તમે તેમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યા છો.’
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<c id="10" />
<s style="s">દિવ્ય શિલાલેખોની મૂસાને પુન:પ્રાપ્તિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.10.1" />“એ પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, ‘પહેલાં હતી તેવી જ બે પથ્થરની તકતીઓ તૈયાર કર અને તેને મૂકવા માંટે લાકડાની એક પેટી બનાવ. પછી માંરી પાસે તકતીઓ લઈને પર્વત પર આવ.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.10.2" />તેથી હું તેં જે પહેલાની તકતીઓ તોડી નાખી છે, તેના પર જે લખાણ હતું તે જ હું આ તકતીઓ ઉપર લખી આપીશ, અને પછી તું એ તકતીઓને પેટીમાં મૂકી દેજે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="DEU.10.3" />“માંટે મેં બાવળના લાકડાની એક પેટી બનાવી અને પહેલાના જેવી જ પથ્થરની બે તકતીઓ બનાવી અને તે લઈને હું પર્વત પર ગયો.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.10.4" />પછી, યહોવાએ જ્યારે તમે પર્વત પર સભામાં ભેગા થયા હતાં તે દિવસે અગ્નિમાંથી જે તમને કહ્યું હતું તે સમાંન દશ આજ્ઞાઓ લખી અને તે મને આપી.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.10.5" />પછી મેં પર્વત પરથી પાછા નીચે આવીને તે તકતીઓ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનુસાર કોશમાં મૂકી, અને હજી પણ તે ત્યાં જ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DEU.10.6" />(ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા બએરોથ બેની-યાઅકાનથી યાત્રાનો આરંભ કરી મોસેરાહ આવી; ત્યાં હારુનનું મૃત્યુ થયું અને તેને ત્યાં જ દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર એલઆઝાર યાજક થયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.10.7" />ત્યાંથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ગુદગોદાહ ગયા અને ગુદગોદાહથી યોટબાથાહ ગયા. ત્યાં પાણીના ઝરણાં પુષ્કળ હતાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.10.8" />અહીં યહોવાએ લેવીના કુળને જુદું પાડીને ખાસ સેવા સોંપી: યહોવાએ આપેલી દશ આજ્ઞાઓ જેમાં હતી તે પેટી તેઓ ઊચકે, યહોવાની સેવામાં ઊભા રહી તેમની સેવા કરે અને યહોવાના નામે આશીર્વાદ આપે. આજપર્યંત લેવીના કુળનું કામ એ જ રહ્યું છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.10.9" />તેથી લેવીના વંશજોને જમીનનો કોઇ ભાગ આપવામાં આવ્યો નહિ; જેમ બીજા કુળસમૂહોને આપવામાં આવતો. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તેમને કહ્યું હતું તે મુજબ, યહોવા પોતે જ તેઓનો ભાગ છે.)
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.10.10" />“પહેલાંની જેમ હું 40 દિવસ અને 40 રાત પર્વત પર રહ્યો અને યહોવાએ ફરીથી માંરી યાચના સાંભળી અને તમાંરો નાશ નહિ કરવા તે સંમત થયા.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.10.11" />પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, ‘ચાલ, આ લોકોની આગેવાની લેવા તૈયાર થા, જેથી મેં એમના પિતૃઓને જે પ્રદેશ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તેનો એ લોકો ત્યાં જઈને કબજો મેળવી શકે.’
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<s style="s">દેવની સંપૂર્ણ શરણાગતિની માંગણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.10.12" />“હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, કાળજીપૂર્વક સાંભળો. યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ તમાંરી પાસેથી શું ઈચ્છે છે? તે ફકત તમને તેનાથી ડરવા, તેના દ્વારા બતાવાયેલા માંગેર્ ચાલવા, તેને પ્રેમ કરવા, અને તેની હૃદય અને આત્માંમાં ઊડેથી સેવા કરવા કહે છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.10.13" />અને આજે હું તમને યહોવાની જે આજ્ઞાઓ અને નિયમો આપું છું તેનું પાલન તમાંરા પોતાના ફાયદા માંટે કરો.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DEU.10.14" />“પૃથ્વી પરનું સર્વસ્વ અને ઊચામાં ઉચા આકાશો પણ તમાંરા યહોવા દેવનાં છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.10.15" />તેમ છતાં યહોવાનો તમાંરા પિતૃઓ પરનો પ્રેમ એટલો તો દ્રઢ હતો કે, તેણે બધી પ્રજાઓમાંથી તેમના વંશજોને-તમને પસંદ કર્યા અને આજે પણ તમે એની પસંદ કરેલી પ્રજા છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.10.16" />“તેથી તમાંરાં પાપી હૃદયોને શુદ્વ કરો, ને હઠ છોડી દો,
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.10.17" />કારણ કે, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા દેવાધિદેવ છે, તે મહાન, પરાક્રમી અને ભીષણ છે, તે નિષ્પક્ષ અને ન્યાયી છે, તે કદી લાંચ લેતા નથી.
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.10.18" />તે વિધવાઓને તથા અનાથોને ન્યાય આપે છે, પરદેશીઓ પર પ્રેમ રાખે છે અને તેઓને ખોરાક તથા વસ્ત્રો આપે છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.10.19" />તેથી તમાંરે પણ પરદેશીઓ પર પ્રેમ રાખવો. કારણ કે તમે પણ મિસરમાં વિદેશી હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.10.20" />“તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાથી ડરો અને તેની ઉપાસના કરો. તેને કદી ન છોડો અને તેના નામ માંત્રથી સોગન ખાવ.
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.10.21" />તમાંરે એમની જ સ્તુતિ કરવી, તે જ તમાંરા દેવ છે. તેમણે તમાંરા માંટે જે મહાન અને અદભૂત કાર્યો કર્યા છે તે તમે પ્રત્યક્ષ નિહાળ્યા છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="DEU.10.22" />જયારે તમાંરા પિતૃઓ મિસર ગયા હતા ત્યારે તેઓ ફકત સિત્તેર જ હતા. પણ અત્યારે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને આકાશના તારાની જેમ અસંખ્ય અને અગણિત બનાવ્યા છે.
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<c id="11" />
<s style="s">યહોવાનું અપ્રતિમ સાર્મથ્ય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.11.1" />“તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખવો. અને તેમના આદેશ, કાયદા, નિયમો અને આજ્ઞાઓનું સદા પાલન કરવું.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.11.2" />સાંભળો, આ હું તમાંરા સંતાનો વિષે વાત નથી કરતો, હું તમાંરી વાત કરું છું. તમે યહોવાની મહાનતા, તેનું સાર્મથ્ય, તેની શકિત અને તેણે તમાંરા માંટે કરેલી અદભૂત વસ્તુઓ તમે જોઇ છે. તેથી આજે તમાંરે યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ દ્વારા અપાયેલ પાઠ ભણાવવો જ પડશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.11.3" />મિસરના રાજા ફારુન તથા તેના દેશ વિરુદ્ધ તેમણે જે અદભુત પરાક્રમો કર્યા હતા એ તમાંરાં સંતાનોએ જોયાં નથી.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.11.4" />અને મિસરનું લશ્કર તેના ઘોડા અને રથો તમાંરો પીછો કરતાં હતાં, ત્યારે રાતા સમુદ્રના પાણી તેમના પર ફરી વળે એ રીતે તેમણે તેમનો કેવી રીતે સદંતર વિનાશ કર્યો હતો તે તમે કયાં નથી જાણતા?
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.11.5" />અત્યારે તમે આ સ્થળે આવી પહોંચ્યા છો, તે પહેલા વષોર્ પર્યંત રણ પ્રદેશમાં ભટકયા ત્યારે દેવે સતત તમાંરી સંભાળ રાખી હતી તે તેઓએ જોયું નથી.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.11.6" />અને રૂબેનના વંશજોમાંથી, અલીઆબના પુત્રો, દાથાન અને અબીરામને દેવે શું કર્યું તે તમે જાણો છો. બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓના દેખતા પૃથ્વી પોતાનું મોં ઉઘાડીને તેઓને, તેઓના કુટુંબોને, તેઓના તંબુઓને અને તેમની સાથેના નોકરચાકર તથા તેમના સૌ પ્રાણીઓને ગળી ગઈ હતી.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.11.7" />આ બધું તમાંરાં સંતાનોએ જોયું કે અનુભવ્યું નથી, પણ તમે તો યહોવાનાં અદભૂત પરાક્રમો નજરોનજર નિહાળ્યાં છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.11.8" />“તેથી હવે, હું આજે તમને જે કંઈ જણાવું છું તે સર્વનું તમાંરે પાલન કરવું, જેથી તમે લોકો સામે પાર જે દેશમાં જઈ રહ્યા છો તેમાં પ્રવેશ કરવાનું અને તેને કબજે કરવાનું તમને બળ પ્રાપ્ત થાય.
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.11.9" />અને યહોવાએ દૂધ અને મધની જયાં રેલછેલ હોય એવી જે ભૂમિ તમાંરા પિતૃઓને અને તેમનાં સંતાનોને આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું, તેમાં તમે સુખી દીર્ધાયુ પામો.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.11.10" />તમે જે ભૂમિનો કબજો લેવા જઈ રહ્યા છો તે મિસરની ભૂમિ જેવી નથી, જયાંથી તમે આવો છો, અને જયાં બી વાવ્યા પછી તમાંરે શાકભાજીની વાડીની જેમ પાણી પાવું પડતું હતું.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.11.11" />પરંતુ આ દેશ તો પર્વતો અને ખીણોનો દેશ છે. ત્યાં પુષ્કળ વરસાદ પડે છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.11.12" />એ એવો દેશ છે, જેની સારસંભાળ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા લે છે. અને વર્ષના આરંભથી તે અંત સુધી તેમની નજર સતત તેના પર રહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DEU.11.13" />“‘આજે હું તમને જે આજ્ઞાઓ જણાવું છું તેનું જો તમે કાળજીપૂર્વક પાલન કરશો. અને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા પર પ્રીતિ રાખી તમાંરા મન અને આત્માંથી તેની સેવા કરશો તો,
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.11.14" />તે તમાંરા ખેતરો માંટે ઋતુ અનુસાર આવશ્યક વરસાદ મોકલશે. આગોતરો અને પાછોતરો બંને પ્રકારનો, જેથી તમને ધાન્ય અને દ્રાક્ષારસ માંટેની દ્રાક્ષો તથા જૈતતેલ પેદા કરશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.11.15" />તમાંરાં ઢોરઢાંખર માંટે તે લીલાંછમ ગૌચરો આપશે. તમાંરી પાસે પુષ્કળ ખોરાક હશે અને તમને ધરાઈને જોઈએ તેટલું ખાવા મળશે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.11.16" />“પણ જોજો, સાવધ રહેજો, તમાંરું હૃદય ભોળવાઈ જઈને આડે રસ્તે ચઢીને બીજા દેવોની સેવામાં લાગી ન જાય.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.11.17" />નહિ તો તમાંરા પર યહોવાનો કોપ ઊતરશે અને તે આકાશમાંથી વરસાદ પડતો બંધ કરી દેશે, તમાંરી જમીનમાં કાંઈ પાકશે નહિ, અને યહોવા જે ફળદ્રુપ જમીન-દેશ આપી રહ્યા છે તેમાં તમાંરું નામનિશાન થોડા સમયમાં ભૂંસાઈ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DEU.11.18" />“તેથી માંરી આ આજ્ઞાઓ સદાય યાદ રાખો, તમાંરા હાથમાં ચિન્હની જેમ બાંધો, અથવા તેમને તમાંરા કપાળ પર તેને સ્મૃતિપત્રની જેમ પહેરો.
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.11.19" />તમાંરાં સંતાનોને તે શીખવો. તેમનું રટણ કરતા રહો; ભલે તમે ઘરમાં હોય કે બહાર ચાલતા હોય, ભલે સૂતા હોય હો કે ઉઠતા હોય.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.11.20" />તમાંરાં ઘરની બારસાખ અને દરવાજા પર દેવની આજ્ઞા લખી રાખજો.
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.11.21" />જેથી યહોવાએ જે દેશ આપવાનું વચન તમાંરા પિતૃઓને આપ્યું હતું તેમાં તમે અને તમાંરાં વંશજો જ્યાં સુધી આકાશ પૃથ્વી પર રહે તેટલું લાંબું જીવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.11.22" />“હું જે બધી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરવાનો આદેશ આપું છું તેનું જો તમે કાળજીપૂર્વક પાલન કરશો, તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ પર પ્રીતિ રાખશો અને તેમને વળગી રહેશો, અને તેમના દોરેલા માંગેર્ આગળ વધશો,
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<v id="23" bcv="DEU.11.23" />તો યહોવા તમાંરા કરતાં મોટી અને વધુ બળવાન પ્રજાઓને પણ એ ભૂમિ પરથી હાંકી કાઢશે. જેનો તમે કબજો કરવાના છો.
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<v id="24" bcv="DEU.11.24" />અને તમે જયાં જયાં પગ મૂકશો તે બધી ભૂમિ પણ તમાંરી થશે. તમાંરી સરહદ દક્ષિણમાં રણથી તે ઉત્તરમાં લબાનોન સુધી અને પૂર્વમાં ફ્રાત નદીથી તે પશ્ચિમમાં સમુદ્ર સુધી વિસ્તરશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="DEU.11.25" />વળી તમાંરી સામે કોઈ ટકી શકશે નહિ, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના વચન મુજબ તમે જયાં જયાં જશો ત્યાંના લોકોમાં તે તમાંરી બીક અને ધાક બેસાડવા તમાંરી સાથે રહેશે.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલની પસંદગી શ્રાપ કે આશીર્વાદ?
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="DEU.11.26" />“ધ્યાન રાખો. આજે હું તમાંરી સમક્ષ દેવના આશીર્વાદ અને દેવના શ્રાપની પસંદગી રજૂ કરું છું.
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<v id="27" bcv="DEU.11.27" />આજે હું તમને યહોવા દેવની આજ્ઞાઓ આપું છું. જો તમે તેનું પાલન કરશો તો આશીર્વાદ પામશો.
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<v id="28" bcv="DEU.11.28" />જો તમે યહોવા, તમાંરા દેવની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલાન નહિ કરો, અને આજે હું તમને જે માંર્ગ વિષે આજ્ઞા કરું છું તે ન અનુસરો અને બીજા લોકોના દેવોને પૂજો તો. તે તમાંરા પર શ્રાપ મોકલશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="DEU.11.29" />“જે સમયે તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ તમને વચન મુજબના દેશનો કબજો લેવા લઈ આવે ત્યારે તમે ગરીઝીમ પર્વત પરથી આશીર્વાદ અને એબાલ પર્વત પરથી શ્રાપ પોકારશો!
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<v id="30" bcv="DEU.11.30" />એ પર્વતો યર્દનની સામે પાર પશ્ચિમે કાંઠાના પ્રદેશમાં વસતા કનાનીઓની ભૂમિમાં રસ્તા ઉપર, મોરેહનાં પવિત્ર એલોન વૃક્ષો નજીક ગિલ્ગાલની પાસે આવેલા છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="DEU.11.31" />ટૂંકમાં જ તમે યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી જશો અને યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ તમને જે ભૂમિ આપી રહ્યા છે તે ધારણ કરશો અને ત્યાં સ્થાયી થશો.
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<v id="32" bcv="DEU.11.32" />માંટે હું આજે તમાંરી સમક્ષ જે બધા કાયદાઓ અને નિયમો રજૂ કરું છું તેનું કાળજીપૂર્વક પાલન કરજો.
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<s style="s">દેવની આરાધનાનું સ્થાન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.12.1" />“તમાંરા પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાએ તમને સદાને માંટે વતન તરીકે જે ભૂમિ આપી છે, તેમાં તમાંરે નીચેના નિયમો તથા કાયદાઓ આજીવન પાળવાના છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.12.2" />તમે જયાં જયાં ઊચા પર્વતો પર તથા ડુંગરાઓ પર અથવા વૃક્ષોની નીચે તમે જે પ્રજાઓની ભૂમિ કબજે કરો છો તેમની રચેલી વેદીઓ અને સ્થાનકો જુઓ-તે સર્વનો તમાંરે નાશ કરવો.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.12.3" />તેમની અગ્નિ વેદીઓ વિખેરી નાખો, તેમના સ્માંરક સ્તંભોને ભાંગી નાખો. અશેરીમના થાંભલાને બાળી નાખવા અને તેમના દેવોની મૂર્તિઓ તોડી નાખો. યાદ રાખો- તમાંરે તેમનું નામ તે જગ્યાએથી ભૂંસી નાખવાનું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.12.4" />“એ લોકો તેમના પોતાના દેવોનું જે રીતે પૂજન કરે છે તે રીતે તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની આરાધના કરવી નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.12.5" />યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ તમાંરા કુળસમૂહો વચ્ચે એક ખાસ જગ્યા પસંદ કરશે. યહોવા તેમનું નામ ત્યાં મૂકશે. તે તેમનું ખાસ ઘર રહેશે. તમાંરે તેની ભકિત કરવા તે જગ્યાએ જ જવાનું છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.12.6" />ત્યાં જ તમાંરે તમાંરાં બધાં દહનાર્પણો અને અન્ય અર્પણો જે વેદી પર અર્પિત કરવામાં આવશે, કૃષિ ઉપજનો દશમો ભાગ, કૃષિ ઉપજના અન્ય અર્પણો, તમાંરી પ્રતિજ્ઞા પૂર્ણ કરવા માંટેનાં ખાસ અર્પણો, તમાંરી ખાસ ભેટો અને તમાંરાં ઘેટા, બકરાંના તથા ઢોરઢાંખરના પ્રથમજનિતો લાવવાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.12.7" />યહોવા તમાંરા દેવની હાજરીમાં તમે અને તમાંરા પરિવારોએ સાથે આનંદ માંણવો તમાંરા પરિશ્રમનાં ફળોથી સુખી રહો અને દેવે તમને જે બધાંથી આશીર્વાદીત કર્યા છે તેનાથી આનંદ માંણવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.12.8" />“જ્યારે તમે ભૂમિમાં પ્રવેશો ત્યારે તમાંરે અત્યારે જેમ પૂજા કરીએ છીએ તેમ ન કરવી. આજે પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિત પોતાને મન ફાવે ત્યાં પૂજા કરે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.12.9" />કારણ કે, યહોવા તમને જે વિશ્રામસ્થાન, જે ભૂમિ આપનાર છે,
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.12.10" />તમે યર્દન નદી પાર કરીને તમાંરા દેવ-યહોવાએ તમને જે ભૂમિ આપી છે તેમાં જયારે તમે વસવાટ કરશો, ત્યારે યહોવા તમને તમાંરા ચારે દિશાના દુશ્મનોથી રક્ષણ આપશે અને તમે બધા સુરક્ષિત રીતે સુખે રહી શકશો.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.12.11" />તે સમયે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તેમની પોતાની સેવા માંટે એક જગ્યાની પસંદગી કરશે ત્યાં હું આજ્ઞા કરું છું તે બધું તમાંરે લાવવું; તમાંરી ઊપજનો દશમો ભાગ, યજ્ઞો તેમજ તમાંરાં બધાં દહનાર્પણ તથા અન્ય અર્પણો તે જ જગ્યાએ ચડાવવાં. બાધા તરીકે ચઢાવવાની ખાસ ભેટો તમાંરે સાથે લાવવી.
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.12.12" />ત્યાં તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની સમક્ષ તમાંરાં સંતાનો, દાસદાસીઓ તેમ જ તમાંરાં ગામોમાં વસતા લેવીઓ સાથે આનંદ માંણવો; કારણ કે; એ લેવીઓને ભૂમિનો કોઈ ભાગ પોતાના માંટે પ્રાપ્ત થયેલ નથી.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.12.13" />ધ્યાન રાખજો, તમાંરે દહનાર્પણો ગમે તે જગ્યાએ અર્પણ કરવાના નથી.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.12.14" />તમાંરા બધા વંશોના પ્રદેશમાંથી યહોવા જે એક જગ્યા પસંદ કરશે; ત્યાં જ તમાંરે તમાંરાં બલિદાનો અર્પવા અને તમાંરી ભેટો લાવવી અને હું તમને જે ચઢાવવાની આજ્ઞા કરુ તે બધું ચઢાવવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.12.15" />“તમાંરા વસવાટોમાં તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા આપે તેટલાં પ્રાણીઓનો તમે ખાવા માંટે ઉપયોગ કરી શકો છો. હરણ અથવા સાબર જેવા પ્રાણીઓ તમે છૂટથી ખાઇ શકો છો. તમે શુદ્વ કે અશુદ્વ હો તેનો કોઇ વાંધો નથી.
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.12.16" />એનું લોહી તમાંરે ખાવું નહિ, એ તમાંરે પાણીની જેમ જમીન પર રેડી દેવુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="DEU.12.17" />“પરંતુ અર્પણોમાંનું કશું જ ઘરે ખાવું નહિ, અનાજનો, દ્રાક્ષારસનો કે તેલનો દશમો ભાગ, અથવા તમાંરાં ઢોરનાં કે ઘેટાંબકરાંનાં પ્રથમજનિત અથવા બાધાબલિઓ, સ્વૈચ્છિક બલિઓ કે દાનબલિઓ તમાંરે તમાંરા વસવાટોમાં ખાવાના નથી.
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.12.18" />આ બધું તમાંરે એક જ જગ્યાએ લાવવું, જે યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ પસંદ કરશે જયાં તમે, તમાંરાં બાળકો અને લેવીઓ યહોવા તમાંરા દેવની સમક્ષ તે તમાંરા નર અને નારી સેવકો, અને તમાંરા શહેરોમાં વસતા સાથે ખાઇ શકો. તમાંરાં પરિશ્રમનાં ફળોનો આનંદ યહોવા સમક્ષ સાથે માંણો.
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.12.19" />પણ તમે એ ભૂમિ પર વસો ત્યાં સુધી લેવીઓની જીવનભર કાળજીપૂર્વક સારસંભાળ લેવાનું ચૂકશો નહિ. તમે લેવીઓને ભૂલી ન જતા. તેઓને તમાંરા ભાગીદાર બનાવજો.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.12.20" />“જયારે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા પોતે વચન આપ્યા મુજબ તમાંરો વિસ્તાર વધારે ત્યારે તમને જો માંસ ખાવાની ઈચ્છા થાય તો ખાવું હોય એટલું ખાવાની છૂટ છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.12.21" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ પોતાના નામ માંટે પસંદ કરેલું સ્થાન જો બહુ દૂર હોય તો મેં તમને કહ્યું તેમ, તમે યહોવાએ આપેલાં તમાંરાં ઢોર કે ઘેટાં બકરાંમાંથી કોઈને માંરી નાખીને તેનું માંસ તમાંરા ગામમાં છૂટથી તમાંરે ઘરે ખાઈ શકો છો.
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<v id="22" bcv="DEU.12.22" />શુદ્વ કે અશુદ્વ ગમે તે સ્થિતિમાં તેમ એ પ્રાણી, હરણ કે સાબર ખાઓ છો તેમ ખાઈ શકો છો;
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<v id="23" bcv="DEU.12.23" />પરંતુ તમાંરે તેનું લોહી કદી પણ ખાવું નહિ, કારણ કે, લોહીમાં જ જીવ છે, અને તમાંરે તે માંસ નથી જ ખાવાનું જેમાં જીવ છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="DEU.12.24" />તમાંરે લોહી ખાવું નહિ, પણ જળની જેમ જમીન પર ઢોળી દેવું.
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<v id="25" bcv="DEU.12.25" />જો તમે એ નહિ ખાઓ તો તમને અને તમાંરા સંતાનો માંટે બધું જ સારું રહેશે, કારણ કે, યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ તમે સાચું કામ કર્યુ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="DEU.12.26" />“દેવ સમક્ષ લીધેલી પ્રતિજ્ઞા પૂર્ણ કરવા માંટેનાં અર્પણો તથા દાન યહોવાએ પસંદ કરેલા સ્થાનમાં જ લઈ જવાં.
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<v id="27" bcv="DEU.12.27" />તમે દહનાર્પણ કરો તો તેનું માંસ અને લોહી બંને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની વેદી પર ધરાવવાં જોઈએ, જો તે ખાદ્યાર્પણ હોય તો તેનું માંસ તમે ખાઈ શકો છો, પણ તેનું લોહી તમાંરે દેવ યહોવાની વેદી પર રેડવું.
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<v id="28" bcv="DEU.12.28" />હું જે આ સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓ તમને કહું છું તેનું પાલન કરવામાં કાળજી રાખવી, યાદ રાખો, યહોવા તમાંરા દેવની દૃષ્ટિમાં જે સારું અને યોગ્ય છે તે તમે કરશો તો તમને અને તમાંરાં સંતાનોને સદાસર્વદા બધુ સારું થાય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="DEU.12.29" />“તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરે માંટે તમે જેમના પ્રદેશનો કબજો લો છો તે પ્રજાઓનો નાશ કરશે અને તમે તે પ્રદેશમાં વસવાટ કરશો,
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<v id="30" bcv="DEU.12.30" />ત્યારે જોજો, તમે ફસાઈ ન જતા અને ત્યાંની પ્રજાઓના પગલે ચાલીને તેઓના દેવોનું પૂજન કરવામાં તેઓનું અનુસરણ ન કરશો. એમની જેમ પૂજા કરવાના હેતુથી એ લોકો પોતાના દેવની પૂજા કઈ રીતે કરે છે તે જાણવાનો પ્રયત્ન પણ કરશો નહિે,
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<v id="31" bcv="DEU.12.31" />તેઓ જે રીતે પોતાના દેવોની પૂજા કરે છે તે રીતે તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરવી નહંી, કારણ કે, તેઓ પોતાના દેવો માંટે જે કંઈ કરે છે તે યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિેએ ધિક્કારજનક અને ધૃણાને પાત્ર છે. તેઓ પોતાના દેવોની સમક્ષ પોતાના પુત્રો તથા પુત્રીઓને સુદ્ધાં બલિઓ તરીકે હોમી દે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="DEU.12.32" />“મેં તમને જે કંઈ આજ્ઞાઓ કરી છે તે સર્વનું પાલન કરજો. તેમાં કશો ઉમેરો કે ઘટાડો ન કરશો.
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</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">જૂઠા દેવો અને પ્રબોધકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.13.1" />“તમાંરા કોઈ પ્રબોધક કે સ્વપ્નદૃષ્ટા તમાંરી પાસે આવશે અને કોઈ અદૃભુત ઘટના કે ચમત્કારની આગાહી કરીને તમે કદીયે પૂજયા ના હોય એવા પારકા દેવોની પૂજા કરવાનું કહેવાનો દાવો કરનાર છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.13.2" />કદાચ તેણે કરેલી આગાહી સાચી પણ પડે, અને જો તમને તે કહે ‘આવો, આપણે અન્ય પ્રજાના દેવોનું પૂજન કરીએ.’
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.13.3" />તો પ્રબોધક કે સ્વપ્નદૃષ્ટાનું સાંભળશો નહિ, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરી કસોટી કરીને એ જાણવા ઈચ્છે છે કે, તમે તેમના પર મન અને શ્રદ્ધાથી પ્રેમભાવ રાખો છો કે કેમ,
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.13.4" />તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા સિવાય અન્ય કોઈ દેવનું પૂજન કદી કરવું નહિ. તેનાથી ડરવું, ફકત તેમની જ આજ્ઞાઓને અનુસરવું, અને તેમને જ વળગી રહેવું અને તેમની જ ઉપાસના કરવી.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.13.5" />જે પ્રબોધક અથવા સ્વપ્નદૃષ્ટા તમને લોકોને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાથી દૂર લઈ જવા પ્રયત્ન કરે તેને મૃત્યુ તરફ ધકેલો, તેના પર સહાનુભૂતિ અનુભવવી નહિ. કારણ કે, તે જેણે તમને ગુલામીમાંથી મુકત કર્યા અને મિસરમાંથી આઝાદ કર્યા. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની સામે બળવો કરવાનું કહે છે. એ તમને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ જે માંગેર્ જવાનું જણાવ્યું છે તે માંગેર્થી ચલિત કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે. તમાંરી વચ્ચેથી તમાંરે એ અનિષ્ટ દૂર કરવું જ જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DEU.13.6" />“જો તમાંરા ખૂબ જ નજીકના સગામાંનું કોઇ, અથવા તમાંરા ખાસ મિત્રોમાંનું કોઇ, તમાંરો પુત્ર અથવા પુત્રી અથવા તમાંરી પ્રિય પત્ની તમને ખાનગીમાં ઉશ્કેરે અને અન્ય દેવો કે જેઓને તમે કે તમાંરા પિતૃઓએ કદી પૂજ્યા નથી, તેઓનું પૂજન કરવા લલચાવે.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.13.7" />તથા જે પ્રજા તમાંરી નજદીક આસપાસમાં કે દુનિયાનાં કોઇ પણ છેડે વસે છે તેના દેવોનું અથવા જે પ્રજા તમાંરાથી દૂર રહે છે તેના દેવોનું ભજન કરવા તેઓમાંથી કોઈ કહે,
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.13.8" />તો તમાંરે તેની વાત સાંભળવી કે માંનવી નહિ, તેનું ઉપરાણું લેવું નહિ ને તેની દયા પણ ખાવી નહિ.
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.13.9" />પરંતુ તેને માંરી નાખવો, તેની હત્યા કરવા માંટે તમાંરે પોતાનો હાથ સૌથી પહેલો ઉગામવો જોઈએ અને ત્યાર બાદ બીજા લોકો પણ તેમ કરશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.13.10" />તમે સૌ તેને પથ્થર વડે માંરી નાખો, કારણ કે, તમને મિસર દેશમાંથી ગુલામીમાંથી મુકિત અપાવીને બહાર લઈ આવનાર તમાંરા યહોવા દેવથી તમને દૂર લઈ જવાનો પ્રયત્ન તેણે કર્યો છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.13.11" />સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલને એની જાણ થશે અને બધા ગભરાઇ જશે પછી તમાંરામાંથી કોઈ એવું દુષ્કૃત્ય નહિ કરે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.13.12" />“જ્યારે તમે તમાંરા યહોવા દેવે તમને આપેલાં નગરોમાં રહો. અને એક અહેવાલ સાંભળો,
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.13.13" />કે તમાંરા રાષ્ટનાં અમુક દુષ્ટ લોકોએ તેમના શહેરના લોકોને ગેરમાંગેર્ દોરીને તમે કદી પૂજયા ન હોય તેવા પારકા દેવોની પૂજા કરવાનું તેમને કહ્યું છે,
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.13.14" />તેથી તમાંરે તેની પૂરેપૂરી તપાસ કરવી, જો તમને લાગે કે તે સાચું છે અને આવી ભયંકર બાબત દેવે તમને જે નગરો આપ્યાં છે તેમાંના એક નગરમાં બની રહી છે,
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.13.15" />તો તમાંરે નગરના બધા રહેવાસીઓ તથા નગરનો અને તેમાં રહેતાં સૌ ઢોરઢાંખરની હત્યા કરવી; ને તે માંટે કોઈ પણ જાતનો વિલંબ કર્યા વિના નગર વિરુદ્ધ યુદ્ધ જાહેર કરવું.
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.13.16" />પછી તમાંરે તે નગરમાંથી પ્રાપ્ત થયેલી બધી વસ્તુઓને રસ્તા વચ્ચે ઢગલો કરીને બાળી નાખવી. પછી સમગ્ર નગરને બાળી નાખવું. શહેર અને તેની લૂંટને યહોવા તમાંરા દેવને દહનાર્પણ તરીકે હોમી દેવું તે નગર સદાને માંટે ખંડેર નિર્જન ટેકરી જેવું જ રહે અને તેને ફરીથી કદી બાંધવામાં આવે નહિ.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.13.17" />લૂંટમાંથી કશું જ તમાંરા માંટે રાખશો નહિ, જેનો વિનાશ કરવાનો છે જેથી દેવ તમાંરા પર ગુસ્સે થતા બંધ થાય અને બદલામાં તેઓ તમાંરા પ્રત્યે કૃપાળુ બનશે. તેઓ તમાંરી પર કરુણા દર્શાવશે અને જેમ તમાંરા પિતૃઓને વચન આપેલું તે પ્રમાંણે તમને એક મહાન પ્રજા બનાવશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.13.18" />આવું બનશે જો તમે દેવની આજ્ઞાઓને અનુસરશો અને આજે હું જે નિયમો તમને આપું છું તેનું પાલન કરશો, તથા તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિમાં જે યોગ્ય છે તે જ કરશો તો.
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</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ-યહોવાને સંર્પૂણ સમપિર્ત પ્રજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.14.1" />“તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાનાં સંતાન છો તેથી મૃત મનુષ્યનો શોક પાળવા માંટે તમાંરા પોતાના પર કાપા ન કરવા, વળી દફનક્રિયા માંટે તમાંરા માંથાના આગળના ભાગનું મૂંડન ન કરાવુ.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.14.2" />તમે દેવ યહોવાને સંર્પૂણ સમપિર્ત થયેલ પ્રજા છો અને યહોવાએ બધી પ્રજાઓમાંથી તમને પસંદ કરીને પોતાની ખાસ પ્રજા તરીકે અપનાવ્યા છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">શદ્ધ અશદ્ધ ભોજન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="DEU.14.3" />“યહોવાએ નિયમપ્રમૅંણે જેનો નિષેધ કર્યો છે એવું કશું અશુદ્વ તમાંરે ખાવું નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.14.4" />તમે આટલાં પ્રૅંણીઓનો આહાર તરીકે ઉપયોગ કરી શકો: બળદ, ઘેટાં, બકરાં,
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.14.5" />પણ હરણ, સાબર, કાળિયાર, રાની બકરાં, પર્વતીય બકરીઓ તથા રાની ઘેટાં,
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.14.6" />જે કોઈ પ્રૅંણીની ખરી ફાટેલી હોય અને તે વાગોળતું હોય તે તમે ખાઈ શકો.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.14.7" />પરંતુ જો આ બંને લક્ષણ ના હોય તો તેવાં પ્રૅંણીઓ તમે ખાઈ શકો નહિ તેથી ઊટ, સસલું કે ઘોરખોદિંયુ (શાફાન) ખાવા માંટે નિષેધ છે. તેઓ વાગોળે છે ખરાં પણ તેઓની ખરી ફાટેલી નથી હોતી.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.14.8" />વળી ડુક્કરની ખરી ફાટેલી હોય છે પણ તે વાગોળતું નથી એટલે તે ખાવા માંટે નિષિદ્વ છે. તમાંરે આવાં પ્રૅંણીઓનાં માંસ ખાવાં નહિ. તમાંરે તેમના મૃતદેહનો સ્પર્શ પણ કરવો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.14.9" />“જળચર પ્રૅંણીઓમાં જેમને પર અને ભિંગડાં હોય તે ખાઈ શકાય.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.14.10" />પરંતુ જેમને પર કે ભિંગડાં ના હોય એ પ્રૅંણીઓ તમાંરે માંટે નિષિદ્ધ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.14.11" />“તમે બધાં જ શુદ્વ પક્ષીઓ ખાઈ શકો.
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.14.12" />તમાંરાથી ખાઈ ન શકાય તેવાં પક્ષીઓની યાદી નીચે મુજબ છે. ગરૂડ, દાઢીવાળુ ગીધ, કાળું ગીધ,
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.14.13" />સમડી તથા પ્રત્યેક જાતના બાજ;
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.14.14" />પ્રત્યેક જાતના કાગડાં;
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.14.15" />શાહમૃગ, ચીબરી, લાંબા કાનવાળું ઘુવડ: તથા જુદી જુદી જાતના શકરા;
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.14.16" />બદામી ઘુવડ, હંસ,
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.14.17" />ઢીંચ, ગીધ, કરઢોક;
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.14.18" />કોઇ પણ જાતના સારસ, છછૂંદર તથા ચામાંચીડિયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.14.19" />“બધા પાંખવાળાં જંતુઓ તમાંરા માંટે નિષિદ્ધ છે. તમાંરે તે ખાવાં જોઈએ નહિ.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.14.20" />પરંતુ તમે બધાં શુદ્વ જંતુઓ ખાઈ શકો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="DEU.14.21" />“કુદરતી રીતે મૃત્યુ પામેલ કોઈ પણ પશુપંખીનું માંસ તમાંરે ખાવું નહિ. તમાંરા ગામમાં રહેતા વિદેશીઓને ખાવા માંટે આપવું હોય તો આપવું. ભલે તે લોકો તેનો આહાર કરતાં અથવા કોઈ વિદેશીને તે વેચી શકો છો. કારણ કે તમે તો તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની પસંદગી પામેલ છો, તમે તેમની પવિત્ર પ્રજા છો અને વળી લવારાને તમાંરે તેની માંતાના દૂધમાં ઉઢાળવું અથવા રૌંધવું નહિ.
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<s style="s">ઘ્ર્શમો ભાગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.14.22" />“પ્રતિવર્ષ તમાંરે તમાંરાં ખેતરની બધી જ ઊપજમાંથી દશમો ભાગ જુદો રાખવો,
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<v id="23" bcv="DEU.14.23" />અને દેવે જે જગ્યા પોતાના પવિત્રસ્થાન માંટે નણી કરી હોય ત્યાં તેમની સમક્ષ આ દશાંશ ખાવા માંટે લાવવો. તમે અનાજનો, દ્રાક્ષારસનો, તથા તેલનો દશમો ભાગ તેમ જ તમાંરાં ઢોરો તથા ઘેટાં બકરાંના પ્રથમજનિતને પણ ખાઈ શકો, તેથી તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવૅંથી હંમેશા ડરીને જીવતાં શીખશો.
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<v id="24" bcv="DEU.14.24" />જો તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને પુષ્કળ પાકના આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા હોય, અને યહોવાએ પોતાની ઉપાસના માંટે પસંદ કરેલું સ્થાન એટલું દૂર હોય કે તમાંરી ઉપજ દશમો ભાગ ત્યાં લઈ જઈ ન શકો,
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<v id="25" bcv="DEU.14.25" />તો તમાંરે તે વેચીને પૈસા લઈને ઉપાસનાસ્થાને જવું.
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<v id="26" bcv="DEU.14.26" />ત્યાં તમાંરે એ પૈસા વડે બળદ, ઘેટાં, દ્રાક્ષારસ અને સુરા તમાંરી જે ઈચ્દ્ધા હોય તે ખરીદવું અને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા સમક્ષ તમાંરે અને તમાંરા કુટુંબે પ્રસન્નતાથી સૅંથે બેસીને ખાવું.
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<v id="27" bcv="DEU.14.27" />તમાંરા વિસ્તારમાં વસતા લેવીઓને તમાંરે કદી ભૂલવા જોઈએ નહિ. કારણ કે, તેમને ભૂમિનો કોઈ પણ ભાગ મળેલો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="DEU.14.28" />“દર ત્રીજે વષેર્ તે વર્ષની ઊપજનો દશમો ભાગ તમાંરા ગામના ચોરામાં લાવીને તમાંરે રાખવો જેથી જે લોકોને ભાગમાં ભૂમિનો કોઈ ભાગ મળ્યો નથી.
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<v id="29" bcv="DEU.14.29" />લેવીઓ, જેઓને પોતાની કોઇ જમીન નથી તેમજ તમાંરા ગામમાં રહેતા વિદેશીઓ, વિધવાઓ અને અનૅંથો આવીને ખાઈને સંતોષ પ્રાપ્ત કરે, આમ કરશો તો તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા તમે જે કાંઈ કામ હાથમાં લેશો તેમાં તમને લાભ આપશે. અને તેમના આશીર્વાદ તમાંરા પર ઉતરશે.
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<c id="15" />
<s style="s">વિશ્રામવર્ષ-ઋણમુકિતનું પર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.15.1" />“દર સાતમે વષેર્ તમાંરે તમાંરા દેણદારોનું સર્વ પ્રકારનું દેવું માંફ કરી દેવું. દેવામાંફીનો નિયમ આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.15.2" />દરેક મહાજને દેવાદાર કે જેઓ તેના ઋણી છે તેઓને દેણાંથી મુકત કરવાં. તેણે પોતાના જાતભાઈ પાસે દેવું વસૂલ કરવા દબાણ કરવું નહિ. કારણ કે એ યહોવાએ ઠરાવેલું દેવામાંફીનું વર્ષ છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.15.3" />આથી તમે વિદેશી પાસે દેવું ભરપાઈ કરાવી શકો પરંતુ દેણદાર જો તમાંરો ઇસ્રાએલી ભાઈ હોય તો તમાંરે તે દેવું રદ કરવું.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.15.4" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે પ્રદેશ આપે છે, તેમાં તે તમને ખૂબ વિપુલતા આપશે તમાંરામાંનું કોઇ ગરીબ હશે નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.15.5" />પરંતુ શરત એટલી કે તમે દેવની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરશો. અને આજે તમને હું જે આજ્ઞાઓ જણાવું છું, તેનું પાલન બરાબર કરશો.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.15.6" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા વચન મુજબ તમને આશીર્વાદ આપશે અને તમે અનેક પ્રજાઓના લેણદાર બનશો, તમે કોઈના દેવાદાર નહિ બનો, અને તમે અનેક પ્રજાઓ ઉપર શાસન કરશો, પણ કોઈ તમાંરા ઉપર રાજ કરશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.15.7" />“પરંતુ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે પ્રદેશ આપે છે, તેના કોઈ પણ ગામમાં તમાંરો કોઈ જાતિભાઈ આથિર્ક મુશ્કેલીમાં આવી પડે, તો કઠોર હૃદયના ના બનશો. કે મદદનાં હાથને રોકશો નહિ.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.15.8" />પરંતુ ઉદાર હાથે તમે તેઓને જરૂરિયાત પ્રમાંણે ધીરજો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.15.9" />“પણ સાવધાન! જોજો, એવું ના બને કે, “જયારે સાતમું ઋણમુકિતનું વર્ષ નજીક આવ્યું છે ત્યારે હલકા વિચારથી ભરાઇને તમે તમાંરા આથિર્ક મુશ્કેલીમાં આવી પડેલા જાતભાઈ પ્રત્યે લાગણીહીન બની તેને કંઈ ન આપો, નહિતર તે તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ યહોવાને પોકાર કરશે અને તમે દોષિત ઠરશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.15.10" />“વળી તેને જેની જરૂર હોય તે તમાંરે તેને ઉછીનું આપવું અને તે માંટે દુ:ખી થવું નહિ! કારણ કે, આના લીધે તમે જે કરશો તેમાં યહોવા તમને તમાંરાં બધાં કાર્યોમાં લાભ આપશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.15.11" />તમાંરા દેશમાં હંમેશા તમાંરી વચ્ચે કોઇ ગરીબ તો હોવાના જ. તેથી હું તમને આજ્ઞા કરું છું કે, તમાંરા જે કોઈ જાતભાઈ ગરીબ હોય અને આથિર્ક ભીંસમાં હોય તો તેમને ઉદારતાથી મદદ કરજો.
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<s style="s">ગુલામો વિષેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.15.12" />“તમે જો કોઈ હિબ્રૂ સ્ત્રી કે પુરૂષને ગુલામ તરીકે ખરીદો, તે તમાંરી છ વર્ષ સેવા કરે અને તમાંરે તેને સાતમે વષેર્ મુકિત આપવી.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.15.13" />પરંતુ મુકત કરતી વખતે તેને ખાલી હાથે જવા દેવો નહિ.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.15.14" />તમાંરાં ઘેટાં-બકરાં, જૈતવાડીઓ અને દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓમાંથી વિદાય ટાણે તેઓને ભેટ આપો. કારણ કે, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને સુખસમૃદ્વિ આપી છે, તેથી તેના પ્રમાંણમાં તેમને આપો.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.15.15" />અને તમાંરે સ્મરણ કરવું કે, તમે પોતે પણ મિસરમાં ગુલામ હતા અને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને છોડાવ્યા હતા. તેથી જ હું આજે તમને આ આજ્ઞા કરું છું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.15.16" />“પણ જો તમાંરો હિબ્રૂ ગુલામ તેને તમાંરે ત્યાં સંતોષ હોય એમ કહેતો હોય કે, ‘માંરે તમાંરે ત્યાંથી જવું નથી’ કારણ કે મને તમાંરા પર અને તમાંરા પરિવાર પર પ્રેમ છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.15.17" />તો તમાંરે એક સોયો લઈને તેના કાનની આરપાર વીંધીને બારણામાં ખોસી દેવો, તેથી તે જીવનભર તમાંરો ગુલામ બનીને રહેશે. સ્ત્રીગુલામની બાબતમાં પણ તમાંરે આ પ્રમાંણે જ વર્તવું,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DEU.15.18" />“ગુલામને મુકત કરતી વખતે તમાંરે ખોટું લગાડીને મન ઊચું ન કરવું. કારણ કે, રોજે રાખેલા મજૂર કરતાં અધેર્ ખરચે એણે તમાંરી નોકરી કરી છે, વળી તેને તમે મુકત કર્યો માંટે યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ તમે જે કરશો તે સર્વમાં તમને આશીર્વાદ આપશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રાણીના પ્રથમજનિતનું અર્પણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.15.19" />“તમાંરાં ઘેટાં અને ઢોરઢાંખરના પ્રથમજનિત નર બચ્ચાંને તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને સમર્પણ કરી દેવાં. પ્રથમજનિતોને એટલે કે પ્રાણીઓને ખેતરમાં કામે લગાડવાં નહિ, કે પ્રથમજનિત ઘેટાંબકરાંનું ઊન તમાંરે ઉતારવું નહિ.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.15.20" />પ્રતિવર્ષ તમાંરે અને તમાંરા પરિવારે યહોવાએ પસંદ કરેલા સ્થાને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને ધરાવીને પછી જ તે પ્રાણીઓ ખાવાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="DEU.15.21" />“પરંતુ જો તેમનાંમાં કોઈ ખોડખાંપણ હોય, તે લુલૂ,લંગડુ કે આંધળુ હોય અથવા તેને બીજી કોઇ મોટી ખોડ હોય, તો તમાંરે તેને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને ધરાવવું નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="DEU.15.22" />અને તેનો ઉપયોગ તમાંરે ઘેર તમાંરા કુટુંબના ખોરાક તરીકે કરવો. શુદ્વ કે અશુદ્વ ગમે તે સ્થિતિમાં હોય તો તમે, હરણ કે કાળિયારની જેમ એ પ્રાણીઓને ખાઈ શકો છો.
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<v id="23" bcv="DEU.15.23" />પરંતુ તમાંરે તેનું લોહી ખાવું નહિ, તેને જળની જેમ જમીન પર ઢોળી દેવું.
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</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">પાસ્ખાપર્વની સમીક્ષા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.16.1" />“આબીબ<f caller="+"><fr>16:1
</fr><fk>આબીબ
</fk><ft>આ નામનો અર્થ છે “દાણાના નાના માથા.” યહૂદી પંચાગનો આ પહેલો મહીનો છે, જેને નીસન પણ કહેવાય છે. તે માર્ચ અને એપ્રિલ બરાબરનો સમય હતો.</ft></f> ના મહિનામાં યહોવા તમાંરા દેવના માંનમાં પાસ્ખાપર્વને ઊજવવાનું હંમેશા યાદ રાખશો. કારણ કે, એ મહિનામાં તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને રાતોરાત મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.16.2" />યહોવાએ પસંદ કરેલા પવિત્રસ્થાને તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને બલિદાન તરીકે એક નર ગાડરુ, લવારું કે વાછરડું ધરાવવું.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.16.3" />તમાંરે એના પ્રસાદ સાથે બેખમીર રોટલી ખાવી. મિસરમાંથી તમે નાસી છૂટયા ત્યારે જે રોટલી ખાધી હતી તેની સ્મૃતિમાં તમે સાત દિવસ સુધી બેખમીર રોટલી ખાઓ. કારણ કે, તમાંરે મિસરમાંથી બહુ ઉતાવળમાં નીકળવું પડયું હતું અને આ રીતે તમે મિસરમાંથી જે રીતે જે દિવસે બહાર આવ્યા તેની સ્મૃતિ જીવનભર તાજી રાખશો.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.16.4" />સાત દિવસ પર્યંત તમાંરા ઘરમાં ખમીરનો છાંટો પણ ન હોવો જોઈએ. તેમજ પહેલે દિવસે સાંજે વધેરેલા પશુનું થોડું પણ માંસ સવાર સુધી વાસી રહેવું જોઈએ નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DEU.16.5" />“પાસ્ખાના બલિદાનનું પશુ તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને આપેલા કોઈ પણ ગામમાં વધેરવું નહિ.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.16.6" />પરંતુ તમાંરે યહોવાએ પોતાની ઉપાસના માંટે પસંદ કરેલા સ્થાને જ વધેરવું. તમાંરે એ પશુને પાસ્ખાના બલીને સંધ્યાકાળે જે સ્દ્માંમયે તમે મિસરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા હતા ત્યારે માંરવું.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.16.7" />અને યહોવાએ પસંદ કરેલ પવિત્રસ્થાને જ તમાંરે તે રૌંધીને ખાવું અને સવારમાં પાછા પોતપોતાને ઘેર જવા નીકળવું.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.16.8" />છ દિવસ સધી તમાંરે બેખમીર રોટલી જ ખાવી. સાતમાં દિવસે પ્રત્યેક નગરમાં લોકો યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ સમક્ષ તેમના માંનમાં ઉત્સવની પૂર્ણાહૂતિ કરે, તે દિવસે કોઈ કામ કરવું નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">કાપણીનો ઉત્સવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.16.9" />“ઊભા પાકને લણવાની શરૂઆત કરો ત્યારથી તમાંરે સાત અઠવાડિયાં ગણવાં,
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.16.10" />ત્યાર બાદ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના માંનમાં કાપણીનો ઉત્સવ ઊજવવો, અને યહોવાના તમાંરા પરના આશીર્વાદોના કારણે થયેલી ઊપજના પ્રમૅંણમાં તમાંરે ઐચ્છિકાર્પૈંણ લાવવું.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.16.11" />યહોવાએ પોતાની ઉપાસના માંટે પસંદ કરેલા સ્થાને તમાંરે અને તમાંરાં સંતાનોએ, તમાંરાં દાસદાસીઓએ, તમાંરા ગામમાં વસતા લેવીઓએ, અને તમાંરા ભેગા વસતા વિદેશીઓ, અનૅંથો તથા વિધવાઓએ મળીને આ આનંદોત્સવ મૅંણવો.
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.16.12" />તમે મિસરમાં ગુલામ હતા, તેથી આ આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરીને કાળજીપૂર્વક નિયમોનું પાલન કરવાનું યાદ રાખજો.
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</p>
<s style="s">માંડવાપર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DEU.16.13" />“તમે તમાંરાં ખળામાં અનાજ ઉપણવાનું અને દ્રાક્ષા પીલવાનું કામ પૂંરુ કરો તે પદ્ધી કાપણીની ઋતુના અંત ભાગમાં સાત દિવસ સધી માંડવાપર્વ ઊજવવું.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.16.14" />તમાંરે, તમાંરાં સંતાનો, દાસદાસીઓ, લેવીઓ તથા તમાંરા ગામમાં વસતા વિદેશીઓ, અનાથો અને વિધવાઓ સાથે એ ઉત્સવનો આનંદ મૅંણવો.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.16.15" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના માંનમાં તમાંરે યહોવાએ પસંદ કરેલા સ્થાને સાત દિવસ સધી ઉત્સવ ઊજવવો. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના આશીર્વાદથી તમને તમાંરા પાકમાં તેમ જ તમાંરાં બધાં કાર્યોમાં થયેલ લાભ માંટે તમાંરે આનૈંદથી ઉત્સવ ઊજવવો, તેથી આનંદ કરો, ને ખુશ રહો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.16.16" />“તમાંરામાંના બધાં પુરુષોએ યહોવાએ પસંદ કરેલા સ્થાને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને વર્ષમાં ત્રણ વાર મળવા આવવું જ. બેખમીર રોટલીના પર્વના પ્રસંગે અઠવાડીયા પર્વના પ્રસંગે અને માંડવાયપર્વના પ્રસંગે કોઈ પણ વ્યકિત યહોવા સમક્ષ ખાલી હાથે આવે નહિ.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.16.17" />પ્રત્યેકે યહોવાએ આપેલા આશીર્વાદના પ્રમાણમાં પોતપોતાની શકિત મુજબ અર્પૈંણો લાવવા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લોકોના ન્યાયૅંધીશો અને ઉપરીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DEU.16.18" />“તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ તમને જે બધાં નગરો આપે તેમાં તમાંરે વંશવાર ન્યાયાધીશો તથા બીજા વહીવટી અધિકારીઓની નિમણૂક કરવી, અને તેઓએ સમગ્ર દેશમાં ઉચિત ન્યાય કરવો.
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.16.19" />તેમણે ન્યાયના કામમાં ઘાલમેલ કરવી નહિ. કોઈની શરમમાં ખેંચાવું નહિ, લાંચ લેવી નહિ, કારણ લાંચ શૅંણા મૅંણસને પણ અંધ બનાવી દે છે. અને ન્યાયી મૅંણસ પાસે પણ ખોટા ચુકાદા અપાવે છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.16.20" />સારાપણું અને નિષ્પક્ષપણું મહત્વનાં છે, હંમેશા સારા અને નિષ્પક્ષ રહેવા ઇચ્દ્ધો. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે ભૂમિ આપે છે જેમાં તમે કાયમ માંટે વસવાટ કરવાના છો તેના પર જીવતા રહેવાનો આ એક જ માંર્ગ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવ યહોવા મૂર્તિઓને ધિક્કારે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="DEU.16.21" />“તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા માંટે વેદી બાંધો તો તેની પાસે કોઈ પણ સંજોગોમાં શરમજનક મૂર્તિઓ કે અશેરાદેવીઓનું કોઈ પણ લાકડાનું પ્રતીક રોપવું નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="DEU.16.22" />તેમજ કોઈ પૂજાસ્તંભ ઊભો કરવો નહિ. કારણ કે; તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તેઓને ધિક્કારે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">ફકત સારા પ્રૅંણીઓનું બલિદાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.17.1" />“તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને તમાંરે ખોડખાંપણવાળાં બળદ કે ઘેટું અર્પણ કરવાં નહિ. કારણ કે આવાં બલિદાનો યહોવાને ધૃણાપાત્ર છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">મૂર્તિપૂજાની સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="DEU.17.2" />“તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ આપેલા કોઈ ગામમાં કોઈ સ્ત્રી કે પુરૂષ યહોવાના કરારનો ભંગ કરીને તેની દૃષ્ટિએ પાપ કરે,
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.17.3" />અને મેં જે વિષે સખત ના જણાવી છે તેવા અન્ય દેવો એટલે સૂર્ય, ચંદ્ર અથવા તારાઓનું-નક્ષત્રોનું પૂજન કરે છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.17.4" />અને તમને એ વાતની ખબર પડે તો તમાંરે તેની કાળજીપૂર્વક તપાસ કરવી. અને જો એ વાત સાચી ઠરે અને એવું સાબિત થાય કે, એવી ઘૃણાપાત્ર ઘટના ઇસ્રાએલમાં બનવા પામી છે,
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.17.5" />તો એવું દુષ્ટકૃત્ય કરનાર સ્ત્રી કે પુરૂષને શહેરના દરવાજા આગળ લાવી, ઇટાળી કરી તેને માંરી નાખવો.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.17.6" />પરંતુ એકાદ સાક્ષીના આધારે કોઈ વ્યકિતને માંરી નાખવી નહિ; તે માંટે ઓછામાં ઓછા બે અથવા ત્રણ સાક્ષી હોવા જ જોઈએ.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.17.7" />ઇટાળી કરતી વખતે સાક્ષીઓએ પ્રથમ પથ્થર માંરવો અને ત્યારબાદ બીજાઓએ માંરવા; આ રીતે તમાંરે એ અનિષ્ટ દૂર કરવું.
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</p>
<s style="s">મુશ્કેલ ન્યાય ચૂકાદાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.17.8" />“કોઈ વાર કોઈ ખટલાનો ચુકાદો આપવો તમને બહું મુશ્કેલ લાગે-જેમ કે ખૂનનો, મિલકતના હકનો કે માંરામાંરીનો કે તમાંરા શહેરોમાંના કોઇ વિવાદનો જો કોઈ આવો ખટલો તમાંરી સમક્ષ આવે તે બાબત તમાંરે જે જગ્યા તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા પસંદ કરશે ત્યાં લઇ જવી.
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.17.9" />લેવી કુળસમૂહના યાજકોની કે તે વખતના ન્યાયાધીશની પાસે જઈ તેમને પૂછવું, તેઓ તમને સાચો નિર્ણય કહેશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.17.10" />ત્યાં યહોવાની પસંદ કરેલી જગ્યા પર તેઓ તેમનો ચુકાદો તમને કહેશે. તમાંરે તે ચુકાદાને સ્વીકારવો અને યથાર્થ તેનું અનુસરણ કરવું, તેઓ તમને જે કઇ કરવા કહે તે કરવા નિશ્ચિત બનો.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.17.11" />તેઓ જે ચુકાદો આપે તેને સ્વીકારવો, અને તેમની તમાંમ સૂચનાઓનો અમલ કરવો. તેઓ કહે તેમાં કઇ પણ બદલશો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.17.12" />“જો કોઈ તે વખતે દેવ યહોવાની સેવા કરનાર યાજકના કે ન્યાયાધીશના ચૂકાદાઓ અસ્વીકાર કરવાની દૃષ્ટતા કરે, તો તેને દેહાતદંડ આપવો. આમ, તમાંરે એ પાપીઓને ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી દૂર કરવા.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.17.13" />પછી બીજા બધા લોકોને એની જાણ થશે ત્યારે તેઓ ગભરાઇ જશે અને એવી દુષ્ટતા કદી કરશે નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">રાજાઓનો રાજધર્મ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DEU.17.14" />“તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે દેશ આપે છે ત્યાં પહોંચી જાઓ અને તેનો કબજો લઈ ત્યાં વસવાટ કરો, પછી તમને એમ લાગે કે, ‘અમાંરી આસપાસની અન્ય પ્રજાઓની જેમ અમાંરે પણ રાજા હોવો જોઈએ.’
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.17.15" />તો તમાંરે તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ જે વ્યકિતને પસંદ કરે તેને જ તમાંરે રાજા તરીકે નિયુકત કરવો. પરંતુ તે ઇસ્રાએલી હોવો જોઈએ, વિદેશી નહિ.
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.17.16" />તે રાજા પાસે મોટી સંખ્યામાં ઘોડાઓ ન હોવા જોઇએ. અને તેણે ઘોડાઓ લાવવા માંટે પોતાના માંણસોને મિસર મોકલવા નહિ. યહોવાએ આદેશ કર્યો છે કે, ‘તમાંરે ફરી કદી મિસર પાછા જવું નહિ.’
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.17.17" />વળી તેણે વધારે પત્નીઓ પણ કરવી નહિ. નહિ તો તેનું હૃદય યહોવા તરફથી વિમુખ થઈ જવાનો ભય છે. વળી તેણે વધારે સોનું; ચાંદી પણ સંઘરવુ નહિ. તે અતિ શ્રીમંત ન હોવો જોઈએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DEU.17.18" />“તેના રાજ્યાભિષેક પછી તેણે લેવી યાજકો પાસે રહેલ નિયમની એક નકલ પોતાને માંટે કરાવી લેવી.
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.17.19" />અને તેણે એ જીવનપર્યત પોતાની પાસે રાખવી અને દરરોજ એનો પાઠ કરવો, જેથી તે પોતાના દેવ યહોવાથી ગભરાઇને ચાલતાં શીખે અને આ નિયમના પ્રત્યેક નિયમોનું પાલન કરે.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.17.20" />એમ કરવાથી તે પોતાના દેશબંધુઓને ઉતરતી કોટિના ગણશે નહિ, તથા આ આજ્ઞાઓથી વિમુખ થશે નહિ અને આમ કરવાથી તેઓ લાંબો સમય શાસન કરશે, અને તેના વંશજો ઇસ્રાએલ પર પેઢીઓ સુધી રાજ્ય કરશે.
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<c id="18" />
<s style="s">યાજકો તથા લેવીવંશીઓને સહાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.18.1" />“યાદ રાખજો, યાજકો તથા લેવી કુળસમૂહના અન્ય સર્વ સભ્યોને ઇસ્રાએલમાં કોઈ પ્રદેશ ફાળવવામાં નહિ આવે, તેઓ યહોવાને ચઢાવેલાં યજ્ઞ અને બીજા બલિદાન ઉપર ગુજરાન ચલાવે.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.18.2" />તેઓને તેમના બીજા કુળસમૂહોની જેમ પ્રદેશનો કોઈ ભાગ મળે નહિ, યહોવાએ આપેલા વચન પ્રમાંણે યહોવા જ તેમનો ભાગ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="DEU.18.3" />“બલિદાન માંટે લાવવામાં આવતાં પ્રત્યેક ઘેટાના અથવા બળદના ખભાનો ભાગ, મોં તથા પેટનો ભાગ યાજકોને જ આપવામાં આવે.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.18.4" />તદુપરાંત આભારસ્તુતિ અથેર્ કાપણીનો જે ભાગ યહોવા સમક્ષ લાવવામાં આવે તે યાજકોને મળે-અનાજનો, નવા દ્રાક્ષારસનો જૈતતેલનો અને ઘેટાનું ઊન ઉતારે ત્યારે તેનો પ્રથમ ફાલ.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.18.5" />કારણ કે યહોવાએ તમાંરા બધા વંશોમાંથી તેના હિતમાં રહી સેવા કરવા લેવીના વંશજોને કાયમને માંટે પસંદ કરેલા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DEU.18.6" />“ઇસ્રાએલમાં કોઈ પણ જગ્યાએ રહેતા લેવીને કોઇ પણ સમયે દેવના ખાસ સ્થાનમાં આવવાનો હક્ક છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.18.7" />ત્યાં નિયમિત સેવા કરતા તેના સાથી લેવીઓની જેમ તે યહોવાના નામમાં સેવા કરી શકે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.18.8" />યજ્ઞમાંથી તેમનો જેટલો જ ભાગ છે તેટલાનો જ એ હક્કદાર છે. એના કુટુંબને સામાંન્ય રીતે જે ભાગ મળે છે, આ તેની ઉપરાંતનું હશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ, અન્ય દેશોના અનુકરણથી સાવધાન!
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.18.9" />“જયારે તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે ભૂમિ આપી રહ્યા છે ત્યાં પહોંચો, ત્યારે ત્યાંની અન્ય પ્રજાઓના ધિક્કારપાત્ર દુષ્ટ રિવાજોનું અનુકરણ કરીને ભ્રષ્ટ થશો નહિ.
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.18.10" />કોઈ પણ ઇસ્રાએલીએ પોતાના પુત્ર કે પુત્રીને અગ્નિમાં બલી તરીકે હોમવાં નહિ, કોઇ પણ ઇસ્રાએલી જ્યોતિષ, જાદુગર, ડાકણ, કે માંયાવી જાદુગર બને નહિ.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.18.11" />મદારીનું કામ કરવું નહિ, ભૂવાનું કે જંતરમંતરની જાદુક્રિયા કરીને પ્રેતાત્માંઓને બોલાવવા નહિ,
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.18.12" />જે લોકો આવાં કામો કરે છે તેઓને યહોવા ધિક્કારે છે, અને આવા ધિક્કારપાત્ર રિવાજોને કારણે જ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા એ પ્રજાઓને તમાંરા માંર્ગમાંથી દૂર કરે છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.18.13" />તેથી તમાંરે તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ સમક્ષ દોષરહિત જીવન જીવવું અને યહોવાને અનન્ય નિષ્ઠાથી વળગી રહેવું.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહોવાનો વિશિષ્ટ યાજક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DEU.18.14" />“જે પ્રજાઓનું સ્થાન તમે લઈ રહ્યા છો તે પ્રજાઓ જોષીઓ તથા શુકન અપશુકન જોનારાઓની વાત કાને ધરે છે, પણ તમને તો તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા એવી છૂટ આપતા નથી.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.18.15" />પરંતુ દેવ તમાંરામાંથી જ માંરા જેવો એક પ્રબોધક ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી પેદા કરશે. અને તેમની વાત જ તમાંરે સાંભળવી.
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.18.16" />કારણ કે તમે આ જ માંગણી હોરેબ પર્વત આગળ દેવ પાસે કરી હતી. ત્યાં પર્વતની તળેટી આગળ તમે માંગ્યું હતું કે, ‘તમાંરે દેવનો આવો ભયજનક અવાજ ફરી ન સાંભળવો પડે અથવા પર્વત પર ભયજનક અગ્નિ જોવો ન પડે, રખેને તમે મૃત્યુ પામો.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="DEU.18.17" />“યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, ‘તેઓ માંગે છે તે સારૂં છે. તેઓએ જે વિનંતી કરી છે તે પ્રમાંણે હું કરીશ.
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.18.18" />હું તેઓમાંથી તારા જેવા એક ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રબોધકને પેદા કરીશ. શું બોલવું તે હું તેને જણાવીશ અને તે માંરા વતી લોકોની સાથે વાત કરશે;
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.18.19" />અને જો કોઈ માંરા નામે એ જે વચનો ઉચ્ચારશે તેનો અનાદર કરશે, તો હું તેનો જવાબ માંગીશ.’
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</p>
<s style="s">જૂઠા પ્રબોધકની ઓળખ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.18.20" />“પણ જો કોઈ પ્રબોધક ખોટો દાવો કરશે કે મેં તેને કઇ સંદેશો આપ્યો છે, તો તેને માંરી નાખવો અને અન્ય દેવો તરફથી તેને સંદેશો મળ્યો છે એમ કોઇ પ્રબોધક કહે તેને માંરી જ નાખવો.
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.18.21" />છતાં તમાંરા મનમાં જો એમ થતું હોય કે, ‘અમુક વચનો યહોવાના નથી, એ અમાંરે કેવી રીતે જાણવું?’
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<v id="22" bcv="DEU.18.22" />તો એનો ઉત્તર છે, જયારે કોઈ પ્રબોધક યહોવાના નામે કંઈ કહે અને તે જો સાચું ન પડે તો સમજવું કે, એ યહોવાનું વચન નથી. એ પ્રબોધકની ખોટી વાણી છે, પોતે ઉપજાવી કાઢેલી છે, તેથી તમાંરે તેનાથી ગભરાવું નહિ.
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</p>

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">આશ્રયનગરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.19.1" />“જે પ્રજાઓની ભૂમિ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને આપે, અને તમાંરા દ્વારા ત્યાં રહેતી પ્રજાઓને હાંકી કાઢી તેમનો નાશ કરે, ત્યારબાદ તમે તેનો કબજો મેળવી તેઓનાં નગરોમાં અને ઘરોમાં વસવાટ કરો.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.19.2" />ત્યારે તમાંરે તેમાંનાં ત્રણ નગરોને આશ્રયનગરો તરીકે અલગ રાખવાં.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.19.3" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે ભૂમિ આપે છે તેને ત્રણ વિભાગોમાં વહેંચી નાખજો અને તે દરેકમાં એક નગર પસંદ કરો. કોઈ વ્યકિત જેણે અજાણતાં બીજી વ્યકિતનું ખૂન કર્યુ હોય તો તે સુરક્ષા માંટે તે શહેરમાં દોડ્યો જાય. અને આ નગરમાં લઈ જતા બધા રસ્તાઓ સારી સ્થિતિમાં રાખવા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.19.4" />“જો કોઈ વ્યકિત બીજી વ્યકિતને અજાણતા અથવા, પહેલાંના કોઈ વેર વગર, માંરી નાખે અને પછી આમાંના કોઇ એક શહેરમાં આશ્રય લે તો તેનો જીવ બચી રહે,
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.19.5" />કોઈ વ્યકિત પોતાના પડોશી સાથે જંગલમાં લાકડાં કાપવા જાય, અને ત્યાં લાકડાં કાપતાં કાપતાં કુહાડો હાથમાંથી છટકીને અન્ય વ્યકિતને વાગે અને એનું મૃત્યુ થાય, અને એવો ખૂની આ ત્રણ શહેરમાંથી કોઈમાં આશ્રય લે, તો તેનો જીવ બચી રહે.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.19.6" />એમ બને કે બદલો લેવા માંટે મરનારનો નજીકનો સગો ગુસ્સાથી તેની પાછળ દોડે, તે આ ખાસ શહેર પહોચે તે પહેલા પકડી લે અને માંરી નાખે કારણ કે તે ઘણુ દુર છે. આમ નિર્દોષ વ્યકિતનું લોહી વહેવડાવાય કારણ કે એ ખૂની દેહાંતદંડને પાત્ર ન હતો. તેણે જે માંણસને માંરી નાખ્યો તે તેને ઘૃણા કરતો ન હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.19.7" />તેથી હું જણાવું છું તે મુજબ તમાંરે એ ત્રણે નગરો એકબીજાથી અમુક અંતરે રાખવાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.19.8" />“અને જયારે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા, તમાંરા પિતૃઓને આપેલા વચન પ્રમાંણે, તમાંરી સરહદો વધારે અને વચન મુજબ સમગ્ર દેશ તમને સુપ્રત કરે.
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.19.9" />યારે તમાંરે આ ત્રણ શહેરમાં બીજા ત્રણ શહેરોનો ઉમેરો કરવો. (જો તમે આજે હું તમને લોકોને જે આજ્ઞાઓ કરું છું તે બધાનું તમે પાલન કરશો અને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા પર પ્રેમભાવ રાખીને હંમેશા તેને માંગેર્ ચાલશો તો તે તમને એ દેશ આપશે.)
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.19.10" />આ રીતે તમે યહોવાએ તમને જે ભૂમિ આપી છે તેમાં નિદોર્ષ લોકોના લોહી વહેતાં અટકાવી શકશો અને એ અન્યાયી રકતપાત માંટે તમે દોષિત ગણાશો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.19.11" />“પરંતુ જો કોઈ વ્યકિત પોતાના પડોશીની ઇર્ષ્યા કરે કે દ્વેષ રાખે અને લાગ તાકીને છુપાઈ રહે અને તેને તક મળતાં તેના પડોશીની હત્યા કરી નાખે અને પછી આ ત્રણ નગરોમાંથી કોઈ એકમાં આશ્રય લે,
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.19.12" />તો તેના પોતાના નગરના આગેવાનોએ તેને પકડાવી મંગાવવો અને તેને મરનારના નજીકના સગાંને સુપ્રત કરવો પછી તે તેની હત્યા કરે.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.19.13" />તેવા ગુનેગાર પ્રત્યે લેશ માંત્ર દયા બતાવવી નહિ. અને ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી તમાંમ ખૂનીઓનું કાસળ કાઢી નાખશો તો જ શાંતિ અને સુખથી રહી શકશો.
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</p>
<s style="s">સરહદ હઠાવશો નહિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DEU.19.14" />“તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને સોંપેલા પ્રદેશમાં, પહેલાંના સમયમાં પૂર્વજોએ નક્કી કરેલી તમાંરા પડોશીઓની સરહદ હઠાવશો નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">સાક્ષી અંગેના નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.19.15" />“કોઈ એક જ વ્યકિતની સાક્ષીને આધારે કોઈને દોષિત ન ઠરાવી શકાય. ગુનેગાર સાબિત કરવા માંટે બે કે ત્રણ સાક્ષીઓની જુબાની આવશ્યક છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.19.16" />“જો કોઈ વેરવૃત્તિવાળો સાક્ષી કોઈ માંણસને ઇજા કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરે અને તેણે ન જોયું હોય છતાં તેવી સાક્ષી આપે કે તેણે માંણસને કઇ ખોટું કરતા જોયો છેં,
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.19.17" />તો એ બંને પક્ષકારોને યહોવાના મંદિરમાં યાજકો અને તે સમયના ન્યાયાધીશો સમક્ષ ન્યાય માંટે ઊભા કરવા.
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.19.18" />ન્યાયાધીશોએ કાળજીપૂર્વક નિષ્પક્ષ તપાસ કરવી, અને જો આરોપ મૂકનાર સાક્ષી ખોટો છે એમ પુરવાર થાય,
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.19.19" />તો એણે જે શિક્ષા સામી વ્યકિતને કરવા ધારી હતી તે શિક્ષા તેને કરવામાં આવે, આ રીતે તમાંરે એ અનિષ્ટનું કાસળ કાઢી નાખવું.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.19.20" />એટલે બાકીના જેમ જેમ આ જાણશે તેમ તેમ ગભરાઇને ચાલશે; અને ભવિષ્યમાં તમાંરા લોકોમાં કોઈ આવું અધમ કાર્ય કરીને ખોટી સાક્ષી આપતા બીશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="DEU.19.21" />“ખોટી સાક્ષી આપનાર વ્યકિતના પ્રતિ તમાંરે જરાય દયા દર્શાવવી નહિ. જીવને બદલે જીવ, આંખને બદલે આંખ, દાંતને બદલે દાત, હાથને બદલે હાથ અને પગને બદલે પગ લેવો. આવા કિસ્સાઓમાં તમાંરા લોકો માંટે આ નિયમ છે.
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</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">યુદ્ધ વિષેના સૈનિકોને સૂચનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.20.1" />“જયારે તમે યુદ્ધમાં જાઓ અને તમાંરા દુશ્મનો સામે યુદ્ધે ચઢો અને તમાંરા કરતાં મોટી સંખ્યામાં રથો, ઘોડાઓ અને સેના જુઓ તો ગભરાઇ જશો નહિ, કારણ કે, તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવનાર તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરી સાથે રહેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="DEU.20.2" />“તમે યુદ્ધ શરૂ કરો તે પહેલાં યાજકે ઇસ્રાએલી સેના આગળ આવીને આ રીતે સંબોધન કરવું,
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.20.3" />‘હે ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રજાજનો, સાંભળો; આજે તમે દુશ્મન સામે યુદ્ધે ચઢો છો, જયારે તેમનો સામનો કરો ત્યારે હિંમત હારશો નહિ; કે ગભરાશો નહિ, કે ભયભીત થશો નહિ:
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.20.4" />કારણ કે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરી સાથે આવનાર છે, તે તમાંરા પક્ષે રહીને દુશ્મનો સામે લડશે. અને તમને વિજય અપાવશે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DEU.20.5" />“ત્યારબાદ સેનાના અધિકારીઓએ પણ સેનાને આ પ્રમાંણે સંબોધન કરવું; ‘શું અહીં તમાંરામાં કોઈ એવો છે કે જેણે નવું ઘર બંધાવ્યું હોય અને અર્પણવિધિ કરી ના હોય? જો તેવો કોઇ હોય તો તે પાછો ઘેર જાય, નહિ તો યુદ્ધમાં તે કદાચ માંર્યો જાય અને તેના ઘરનું અર્પણ બીજા કોઈએ કરવું પડે.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.20.6" />શું અહીં કોઈ એવી વ્યકિત છે જેણે દ્રાક્ષની વાડી રોપી હોય અને હજી તેનાં ફળ ન ચાખ્યાં હોય? જો હોય તો તે ઘેર પાછો જાય! કારણ કે, જો તમે લડાઈમાં કદાચ માંર્યા જાઓ તો તેનાં ફળ બીજા કોઈ ખાશે!
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.20.7" />શું અહીં કોઈ એવી વ્યકિત છે જેણે કોઈ સ્ત્રી સાથે સગાઇ કરી હોય પણ તેની સાથે હજી લગ્ન ન કર્યા હોય? અને જો હોય તો તે પાછો ઘેર જાય, નહિ તો કદાચ તે યુદ્ધમાં માંર્યો જાય અને બીજો કોઈ પુરુષ તેની સ્ત્રી સાથે લગ્ન કરે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.20.8" />“વળી અધિકારીઓએ વધુમાં કહેવું કે, ‘હવે, શું અહીં કોઈ એવો પુરૂષ છે જે ગભરાઈ ગયો હોય કે હિંમત હારી ગયો હોય? અને જો હોય તો તે પાછો જાય; નહિ તો તે કદાચ અન્ય સાથીદારોને પણ નાહિંમત બનાવી દેશે.’
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.20.9" />અને અધિકારીઓ સેનાને સંબોધન કર્યા બાદ સેનાની ટુકડીઓના સેનાનાયકો નિયુકત કરીને તેઓ તેમનાં નામ જાહેર કરે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.20.10" />“જયારે તમે કોઈ નગર સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા જાઓ ત્યારે પહેલાં તેને સંધિનું કહેણ મોકલવું.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.20.11" />જો તે સંધિનો સ્વીકાર કરે અને તમાંરા માંટે નગરના દરવાજા ઉઘાડે, તો તે નગરના તમાંમ લોકો તમાંરા ગુલામ બની જાય.
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.20.12" />પરંતુ જો તેઓ સંધિનો અસ્વીકાર કરે અને યુદ્ધે ચઢાવા માંગે તો તમાંરે તે નગરને ઘેરો ઘાલવો.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.20.13" />અને જયારે તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ તે નગરને તમાંરે હવાલે કરશે, તમાંરે તે નગરના તમાંમ પુરૂષોનો સંહાર કરવો.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.20.14" />પરંતુ સ્ત્રીઓ, બાળકો, ઢોરઢાંખર અને બીજું બધું લૂંટી લેવું. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ દુશ્મનો પાસેથી અપાવેલી લૂંટ તમે ભોગવી શકો છો.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.20.15" />જે પ્રજાઓની ભૂમિમાં તમે વસવાના છો તે પ્રજાઓનાં ના હોય એવાં દૂરના નગરો સાથે તમાંરે એ રીતે વર્તવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.20.16" />“પરંતુ દેવ યહોવા જે ભૂમિ તમને તમાંરા કબજામાં આપે છે, તેમાં તમાંરા દ્વારા કોઇ પણ જીવતું છોડાઇ જવું ન જોઇએ. તમાંરે તમાંમ મનુષ્ય અને પ્રાણીઓનો નાશ કરવો.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.20.17" />હિત્તીઓ, અમોરીઓ, કનાનીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ પરિઝઝીઓ અને યબૂસીઓનો તમાંરે સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરવો. તમાંરા યહોવા દેવની આ આજ્ઞા છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.20.18" />જેથી તેઓ પોતે પોતાના દેવોની પૂજામાં જે ધૃણાજનક વિધિઓ કરે છે એનું અનુકરણ કરવા તમને લલચાવે નહિ અને શીખવે નહિ, તેથી તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના ગુનેગાર ન બનો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.20.19" />“કોઈ નગરને જીતી લેવા માંટે લાંબા સમય સુધી ઘેરો ઘાલવો પડે તો, તમાંરે આજુબાજુનાં વૃક્ષોના નાશ ન કરવા, ફળાઉવૃક્ષોનાં ફળ ખાવાં, પરંતુ તે વૃક્ષોનો નાશ ન કરો. વૃક્ષો તમાંરાં દુશ્મનો નથી કે તેમને કાપી નાખવા પડે.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.20.20" />ફળો ના આપે તેવાં વૃક્ષોને તમે કાપી શકો. કિલ્લામાં અંદર અથવા બહાર જવાના રસ્તાને રોકવામાં તેને વાપરો અને યુદ્ધમાં વપરાતા ઓજારો માંટે વાપરો, તમે શહેરને કબજે કરવા સમર્થ થાવ ત્યાં સુધી.
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</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">જો કોઈ વ્યકિતની લાશ મળે તો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.21.1" />“વચન અનુસાર તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે દેશનો કબજો સોંપી રહ્યા છે ત્યાં કોઈનું ખૂન થયું હોય અને તેની લાશ ખુલ્લા ખેતરમાં મળી આવે અને એનો માંરનાર કોણ છે એની ખબર ના હોય,
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.21.2" />તો તમાંરા આગેવાનો અને ન્યાયાધીશો તે લાશથી આસપાસના નગરોનું અંતર માંપે
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.21.3" />અને કયું નજીક છે તે નક્કી કરે. ત્યારબાદ તે નગરના વડીલો એ એવી ગાય લાવવી કે જેણે ખેતરમાં કામ કર્યું નથી અને કદી ઝૂંસરીએ જોડાઇ ના હોય.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.21.4" />અને તેઓએ તેને જયાં કદી વાવણી કે ખેડાણ ના થયું હોય તેવી ખીણમાં લઇ જવી, વહેતા જળના વહેળામાં તેને લઈ જાય અને તેની ડોક ત્યાં ભાંગી નાખવી.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.21.5" />પછી લેવીવંશી યાજકોએ આગળ આવવું; કારણ, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તેમને પોતાની સેવા કરવા માંટે તથા યહોવાના નામે આશીર્વાદ આપવા પસંદ કરેલા છે, તથા બધા જ ઝઘડાઓ તથા માંરામાંરીના બનાવોનો તેમની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે ચુકાદો આપવાનો છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.21.6" />ત્યારબાદ લાશની સૌથી નજીકના ગામના વડીલો તે ગાય પર પોતાના હાથ ધોઈ નાખે,કે જેની ડોક ખીણમાં તેમણે ભાંગી છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.21.7" />અને પ્રતિજ્ઞાપૂર્વક જાહેર કરે કે, ‘અમાંરે હાથે આ લોહી રેડાયું નહોતું તેમ અમે એના સાક્ષી પણ નહોતા.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.21.8" />હે યહોવા, તમે જેમને ગુલામીમાંથી મુકિત અપાવી છે તમાંરા પોતાના ઇસ્રાએલી બંધુઓને માંફ કરો, અને આ નિદોર્ષના ખૂનના દોષમાંથી તેમને મુકત કરો.’
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.21.9" />આ રીતે યહોવાએ જે નિયમ ઠરાવ્યો છે તેને અનુસરીને યહોવાની નજરમાં જે ન્યાય છે તે કરશો તો તમે નિદોર્ષના ખૂનના દોષમાંથી મુકત થશો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યુદ્ધની સ્ત્રી કેદીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.21.10" />“જયારે તમે યુદ્ધમાં જાઓ અને તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ તમાંરા દુશ્મનોને તમાંરા કબ્જે કરાવે.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.21.11" />તેઓમાંના કેટલાકને તમે કેદ કરી અને એ કેદીઓની કોઈ રૂપાળી સ્ત્રી તમાંરી નજરે પડે અને તમને ગમી જાય અને તમાંરે તેની સાથે પરણવું હોય તો,
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.21.12" />તમાંરે તેને તમાંરે ઘેર લઈ આવવી, ત્યાં તે પોતાનું માંથું મુંડાવે અને પોતાના નખ લેવડાવે
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.21.13" />અને બંદીવાન થઈ ત્યારે જે વસ્ત્રો પહેર્યાં હોય તે બદલી નાખે; ત્યારબાદ તે તમાંરા ઘરમાં રહે અને એક માંસ સુધી તેના માંતાપિતા માંટે શોક કરે. પછી તમે તેની સાથે પરણી શકો, તેને પત્ની માંની તેની પાસે જવું.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.21.14" />પછી જયારે તે તમને ન ગમે તો તમાંરે તેને મુકત કરી દેવી. પરંતુ તમાંરે તેને વેચવી કે ગુલામ તરીકે રાખવી નહિ, કારણ કે તમે તેની આબરૂ લીધી છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">વારસા હક્ક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.21.15" />“જો કોઈ પુરૂષને બે પત્નીઓ હોય, એક માંનીતી અને બીજી અણમાંનીતી, અને તે બંનેને પુત્ર જન્મે, અને અણમાંનીતી પત્નીનો પુત્ર મોટો હોય,
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.21.16" />અને પછી જયારે પુત્રો વચ્ચે મિલકત વહેંચવાનો વખત આવે ત્યારે તેણે અણમાંનીતી પત્નીનો પુત્ર જે એનો સાચો મોટો પુત્ર છે તેની અવગણના કરીને માંનીતી પત્નીના પુત્રને મોટો પુત્ર ગણવો નહિ.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.21.17" />તેણે અણમાંનીતી સ્ત્રીના પુત્રના મોટા પુત્ર તરીકેના અધિકારો માંન્ય રાખવા તથા પોતાની બધી મિલકતમાંથી તેને બમણો ભાગ આપવો, કારણ, તે તેના પ્રથમ ખોળાનો પુત્ર છે, અને જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર તરીકેનો અધિકાર તેનો છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">આજ્ઞાભંગ કરનાર સંતાનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DEU.21.18" />“જો કોઈ વ્યકિતનો પુત્ર જીદ્દી અને બંડખોર હોય, અને માંતાપિતાની અવજ્ઞા કરતો હોય, અને શિક્ષા કરવા છતાં ગણકારતો ના હોય,
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.21.19" />તો તેનાં માંતાપિતાએ તેને પકડીને ગામના ચોરામાં ગામના વડીલો આગળ રજૂ કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="DEU.21.20" />અને તેમને કહેવું કે, ‘અમાંરો પુત્ર અમાંરા કહ્યામાં નથી, જીદ્દી અને બળવાખોર છે, તે લાલચુ અને પિયક્કડ છે, તે કાબૂ બહાર ચાલ્યો ગયો છે.’
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.21.21" />પછી તે ગામના બધા લોકોએ તેને ઇટાળી કરીને માંરી નાખવો. અને આ રીતે તમાંરે તમાંરી વચ્ચેથી એ અનિષ્ટ દૂર કરવું. પછી સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ આ જાણશે અને ગભરાઇને ચાલશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અપરાધીને માંરીને ઝાડ પર લટકાવાય છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.21.22" />“જો કોઈ વ્યકિત અપરાધ કરે જે તેના પર મૃત્યુ દંડ લાવે અને તે મરી જાય ત્યારે તમાંરે તેના શરીરને કોઈ વૃક્ષની ડાળીએ લટકાવવું.
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<v id="23" bcv="DEU.21.23" />પરંતુ તેના મૃતદેહને રાત્રિ સમયે લટકતો ન રાખવો, તે જ દિવસે તેને દાટી દેવો, કારણ કે વૃક્ષ પર લટકાવેલા માંણસ દેવથી શ્રાપિત થાય છે, જે ભૂમિ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને આપી રહ્યા છે તેને તમાંરે અશુદ્વ કરવી નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">અન્ય નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.22.1" />“જો તમે તમાંરા કોઈ ઇસ્રાએલીભાઈના ભૂલા પડી ગયેલા રખડતા બળદને કે ઘેટાને જુઓ તો જોયું ના જોયું કરવું નહિ, પરંતુ તેને સાથે લઈ જઈને તેના માંલિકને પાછું સોંપવું.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.22.2" />અને જો તેનો માંલિક નજીકમાં ન રહેતો હોય અને તમે તેને ઓળખતા ન હોય, તો એ પશુને તમાંરે પોતાને ઘેર લઈ જવું અને તે ખોળતો આવે ત્યાં સુધી તમાંરી પાસે રાખવું. જયારે એ આવી પહંોચે ત્યારે તે તેને પાછું સોંપી દો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="DEU.22.3" />કોઈના ગધેડાં, વસ્ત્રો અથવા બીજું જે કાંઈ તમને મળી આવે તો તેના માંટે પણ આ જ નિયમ છે, તેથી તેના માંલિક માંટે તે સાચવી રાખવું; જોયું ના જોયું કરવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.22.4" />“તમે તમાંરા ઇસ્રાએલીભાઈના ગધેડાને કે બળદને ભારને કારણે રસ્તામાં પડી ગયેલું કે બેસી પડેલું જુઓ તો તમાંરે તેને ફરી ઊભો કરવામાં સહાય કરવી; જોયું ના જોયું કરવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DEU.22.5" />“કોઈ પણ સ્ત્રીએ પુરુષનાં વસ્ત્રો પહેરવા નહિ, તેમજ કોઈ પણ પુરુષે સ્ત્રીના વસ્ત્રો પહેરવા નહિ; કારણ કે, જે કોઈ એમ કરે છે તે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અમંગળ લાગે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DEU.22.6" />“રસ્તે જતાં આવતાં કોઈ પક્ષીનો માંળો જમીન પર અથવા વૃક્ષ પર બાંધેલો તમાંરા જોવામાં આવે અને માંળામાં બચ્ચાં હોય અથવા ઇડા પર બેઠેલી માંદા હોય, તો બચ્ચાં સાથે તમાંરે એ માંદાને લેવી નહિ,
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="DEU.22.7" />ફકત બચ્ચાંને જ લો અને માંદાને જવા દો. આમ કરશો તો યહોવા તમને આશીર્વાદ આપશે અને સુખી થશો અને દીર્ઘાયુ પામશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.22.8" />“જયારે તમે નવું મકાન બંધાવો ત્યારે ધાબા પર ભીંત બાંધો, જેથી કોઈ પડી ન જાય અને મકાનમાંલિકને માંથે હત્યાનો દોષ ન આવે.
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</p>
<s style="s">બે જાતની વસ્તુઓનું મિશ્રણ રોકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.22.9" />“તમાંરી દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓમાં બે જુદી-જુદી જાતનું બિયારણ વાવવું નહિ; નહિ તો બધોજ દ્રાક્ષનો પાક તેમજ જે કંઈ વાવ્યું હશે તે તમાંરા ઉપયોગ માંટે નિષિદ્ધ થશે. તેને જુદુ રાખવું પડશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.22.10" />“બળદ તથા ગધેડાને એક સાથે જોતરીને તમાંરે હળ વડે ખેડવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.22.11" />“બે જાતના દોરામાંથી તૈયાર થયેલાં કપડાં જેમ કે ઊન અને શણના દોરાનું જેમાં મિશ્રણ હોય તે પહેરવાં નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.22.12" />“જે ઝભ્ભો તમે પહેરો છો તેને ચાર ખૂણે સુુશોભિત ફૂમતાં મૂકવાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લગ્ન વિષયક કાનૂનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DEU.22.13" />“કોઈ પુરુષ સ્ત્રી સાથે લગ્ન કરે અને તેની સાથે શારીરિક સંબંધ કર્યા પછી તેના પ્રત્યે અણગમો પેદા થાય,
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="DEU.22.14" />અને તેને બદનામ કરી તેના પર ખોટો આરોપ મૂકે, ‘લગ્ન સમયે તે કુંવારી ન હતી.’
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="DEU.22.15" />તો તે સ્ત્રીનાં માંતાપિતાએ તે સ્ત્રી અક્ષત હોવાનો પુરાવો ચોરામાં ગામના આગેવાનો સમક્ષ રજૂ કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="DEU.22.16" />ત્યાર બાદ પુત્રીના માંબાપે ગામના વડીલોને કહેવું; ‘મે માંરી પુત્રી આ પુરુષને પરણાવી, ને હવે તે તેને ધિક્કારે છે;
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="DEU.22.17" />અને તે એના પર ખોટું આળ મૂકયું એમ કહીને કે, “મને તમાંરી પુત્રી અક્ષત માંલૂમ પડી નથી.” પરંતુ આ રહ્યો અમાંરી પુત્રીના અક્ષતપણાનો પુરાવો.’ પછી તેમણે ગામના વડિલો સમક્ષ લોહીથી ખરડાયેલી ચાદર પાથરવી.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="DEU.22.18" />ત્યારબાદ શહેરનાં વડીલો તે પુરુષને સજા કરે,
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="DEU.22.19" />તથા ઇસ્રાએલની એક કન્યાની બદનામી કરવા બદલ તેનો 100 તોલા ચાંદીનો દંડ કરે. અને તેણે તે રકમ કન્યાના પિતાને આપવી. અને તે સ્ત્રી પેલા પુરુષની પત્ની તરીકે ચાલુ રહે. અને તે પુરુષ તે સ્ત્રીને કદી છૂટાછેડા આપી શકે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.22.20" />“પરંતુ જો એ માંણસના આરોપો સાચા હોય અને તે કન્યા કુંવારી ના હોય તો;
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="DEU.22.21" />ગામના વડીલો તે સ્ત્રીને તેના બાપના ઘરના બારણા આગળ લઈ જાય અને ત્યાં ગામના લોકોએ તે સ્ત્રીને ઇટાળી કરીને માંરી નાખવી, કારણ કે, તેણે પોતાના પિતાના ઘરમાં જ વ્યભિચાર કરીને ઇસ્રાએલમાં ગુનો કર્યો છે. તમાંરે તમાંરી વચ્ચેથી એ અનિષ્ટ દૂર કરવું જ જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">જાતિય પાપો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.22.22" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ અન્ય પરિણિત સ્ત્રી સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરતાં પકડાય, તો તે બંનેને-તે સ્ત્રીને તથા વ્યભિચાર કરનાર પુરુષને દેહાતદંડની શિક્ષા કરવી. આ રીતે ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી દુષ્ટતા દૂર થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="DEU.22.23" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ કોઈ શહેરમાં એક કુમાંરિકાને મળે જેની સગાઇ કોઇ બીજા માંણસ સાથે થઇ હોય, અને તેની સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરે,
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="DEU.22.24" />તો તમાંરે તે બંનેને ગામના ચોરા આગળ લાવીને જાહેરમાં ઇટાળી કરીને માંરી નાખવાં. છોકરીને એટલા માંટે માંરી નાખવી કે ગામમાં હોવા છતાં તેણે સહાય માંટે બૂમ પાડી નહિ. અને પેલા માંણસને એટલા માંટે માંરી નાખવો કે તેણે એ સ્ત્રી સાથે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો જેની તેના જાતભાઇ સાથે સગાઇ થઇ હતી. તમાંરે તમાંરી વચ્ચેથી એ દુષ્ટને દૂર કરવું જ જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="DEU.22.25" />“પરંતુ જો આ બનાવ નગર બહાર વગડામાં બન્યો હોય, તો ફકત તે પુરુષને જ ઇટાળી કરીને માંરી નાખવો.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="DEU.22.26" />છોકરીને છોડી મૂકવી કારણ કે તેણે દેહાંતદંડને યોગ્ય કૃત્ય કર્યું નથી. આ તો કોઈ માંણસ બીજા માંણસ પર હુમલો કરી તેને માંરી નાખે તેવું છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="DEU.22.27" />તેણે અન્ય પુરુષ સાથે સગાઇ થયેલી કન્યા પર શહેરથી બહાર નિર્જન સ્થળ પર વ્યભિચાર કર્યો અને તેણે મદદ માંટે બૂમો પાડી પણ તેણીને સાંભળવા અને બચાવવાં ત્યાં કોઇ નહોતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="DEU.22.28" />“વળી જો કોઈ માંણસ કુંવારી કુમાંરિકાને મળે અને તેની સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરતાં પકડાઈ જાય.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="DEU.22.29" />તો તે પુરુષે તે કન્યા સાથે લગ્ન કરવાં અને દંડ તરીકે કન્યાના પિતાને 50 તોલા ચાંદી આપે. તે છોકરી તેની પત્ની થશે. વળી તેણે બળજબરીથી તે કન્યા જોડે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો છે માંટે તે કદી તેને છૂટાછેડા આપે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="DEU.22.30" />“કોઈ પણ પુરુષે પોતાના પિતાની કોઈ પણ પત્ની સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરવો નહિ, કારણ કે તે તેના પિતાનું અપમાંન છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="23" />
<s style="s">નિયમો અને પ્રતિબંધો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.23.1" />“જો કોઈ વ્યકિતના વૃષણ ઘાયલ થયા હોય અથવા જેની જનેન્દ્રિય કાપી નાખવામાં આવી હોય, તેને યહોવાની સભામાં દાખલ થવા દેવો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="DEU.23.2" />વ્યભિચારથી જન્મેલ પોતે તથા તેની દશ પેઢી સુધી તેના કોઈ પણ વંશજને પણ યહોવાની સભામાં દાખલ ન કરવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="DEU.23.3" />“કોઇ આમ્મોનીને કે મોઆબીને અથવા દશ પેઢીના તેમના કોઈ પણ વંશજને યહોવાની ઉપાસના માંટેની સભામાં દાખલ ન કરવાં;
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="DEU.23.4" />આ નિયમનું કારણ છે કે જયારે તમે મિસરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા, ત્યારે આ પ્રજાએ પાણી અને રોટલી લઈને માંર્ગમાં તમને આવકાર પણ આપ્યો નહિ. વળી તમને શ્રાપ આપવા તેઓએ અરામનાહરાઈમના પથોરથી બયોરના પુત્ર બલામને પૈસાની લાલચ આપી બો લાવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="DEU.23.5" />પરંતુ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ બલામની વાત સાંભળી નહિ અને તેના શાપને પણ આશીર્વાદમાં ફેરવી નાખ્યો કારણકે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને તમાંરા પર પ્રેમ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="DEU.23.6" />તમે જીવનભર આમ્મોનીઓ અને મોઆબીઓની સાથે શાંતિ જાળવશો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ સ્વીકારવાની બાબતો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.23.7" />“પરંતુ અદોમીઓ અને મિસરવાસીઓ પ્રત્યે એવો વ્યવહાર રાખશો નહિ; અદોમીઓ તમાંરા ભાઈઓ છે અને મિસરવાસીઓ વચ્ચે તમે રહ્યા છો.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.23.8" />તેઓના વંશજોની ત્રીજી પેઢી એટલે કે અદોમીઓ અને મિસરવાસીઓના પૌત્રો-પ્રપૌત્રો યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરવા એકઠી થયેલી સભામાં જોડાઇ શકે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સેનાની છાવણીમાં સ્વચ્છતા જાળવો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.23.9" />“જયારે તમે કોઈ દુશ્મન સાથે યુદ્ધના સમયે છાવણીમાં રહેતા હોય ત્યારે દરેક પ્રકારની દુષ્ટતાથી દૂર રહો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="DEU.23.10" />જો તમાંરામાંથી કોઈ વ્યકિત રાત્રે વીર્યપાત થવાથી અશુદ્વ થયો હોય તો તેણે છાવણીમાંથી બહાર ચાલ્યા જવું અને સાંજ સુધી અંદર પાછા ન ફરવું.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.23.11" />સાંજે સૂર્યાસ્ત પછી તેણે સ્નાન કરવું અને તે પછી છાવણીમાં પાછા આવવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.23.12" />“કુદરતી હાજત માંટેનો વિસ્તાર છાવણીની બહાર હોવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="DEU.23.13" />કુદરતી હાજતે જતી વખતે સાથે પાવડો રાખવો, અને દર વખતે તમાંરે ખાડો ખોદીને મળને માંટી વડે ઢાંકી દેવો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="DEU.23.14" />“તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરું રક્ષણ કરવા તથા દુશ્મનોથી તમને ઉગારવા છાવણીમાં ફરે છે. માંટે તમાંરે છાવણીને શુદ્વ રાખવી. તમાંરી છાવણીમાં કોઈ અશુદ્વ વસ્તુ એમની નજરે ચડવી જોઈએ નહિ, નહિ તો તે તમાંરો ત્યાગ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અન્ય કાનૂનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.23.15" />“કોઈ ગુલામ તેના માંલિકને છોડીને રક્ષણ માંટે તમાંરી પાસે ભાગીને આવે તો તેને પાછો ન મોકલો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="DEU.23.16" />તમાંરા નગરોમાંથી એને જયાં ગમે ત્યાં રહેવા દેવો, અને તમાંરે તેને રંજાડવો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="DEU.23.17" />“મંદિરમાં કામ કરતી કોઈ પણ ઇસ્રાએલી વ્યકિત વારાંગનાવૃતિ આચરશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="DEU.23.18" />દેવદાસ કે દેવદાસીના વારાંગનાવૃતિથી થતી કમાંણીના પૈસા કોઇપણ કારણે દેવ યહોવાના પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં લાવવા નહિ; કારણ કે, વારાંગનાવૃતિને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા ધિક્કારે છે. તે પૈસાને યહોવાને કરેલા કોઇ પણ સમની કિંમત ભરવા ન વાપરવા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.23.19" />“તમે તમાંરા ઇસ્રાએલી જાતિબંધુને નાણાં, અનાજ કે બીજું કાંઈ ધીરો ત્યારે તેના પર વ્યાજ લેવું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="DEU.23.20" />પરંતુ તમે જો કોઈ વિદેશીને કંઈ ધીરો તો તેના પર વ્યાજ લઈ શકો છો, પણ તમાંરા ઇસ્રાએલી જાતિબંધુ પાસે વ્યાજ લેવું નહિ, તેથી તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને, તમે જે ભૂમિમાં પ્રવેશ કરનાર છો તેમાં બધાં કાર્યોમાં લાભ આપશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="DEU.23.21" />“જો તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની કોઈ બાબત માંટે બાધા રાખી હોય તો તે પૂર્ણ કરાવામાં વિલંબ ન કરો, કારણ કે બાધા કે પ્રતિજ્ઞા માંટે યહોવા તમને જ જવાબદાર ગણશે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="DEU.23.22" />પ્રતિજ્ઞા કે બાધા ન લેવી એ કોઈ પાપ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="DEU.23.23" />પરંતુ જો તમે સ્વેચ્છાએ તમાંરે માંથે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની બાધા રાખો તો પછી તમાંરે તે પૂર્ણ કરવી જ રહી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="DEU.23.24" />“જયારે તમે બીજાની દ્રાક્ષની વાડીમાંથી પસાર થતાં હોય ત્યારે જોઈએ તેટલી દ્રાક્ષ ધરાઈને ખાઈ શકો છો, પરંતુ કોઈ પાત્રમાં ભરીને તમે લઈ જાઓ નહિ,
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="DEU.23.25" />તેવું જ બીજાના ખેતરમાંના અનાજ સંબંધી છે. કોઈના ઊભા પાકમાં થઈને પસાર થતાં તમે હાથ વડે કણસલાં તોડીને એકાદ મુઠ્ઠી અનાજ ખાઈ શકો પણ તેના પાકને દાંતરડા વડે કાપી શકો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="24" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.24.1" />“જો કોઈ પુરુષ સ્ત્રીને પરણ્યો હોય, અને તેની સાથે થોડા સમય સંસાર માંડયા બાદ તેનામાં કંઈં શરમજનક હોવાને કારણે તેને તે પસંદ ના હોય તો તેને છૂટાછેડા લખી આપી ઘરમાંથી કાઢી મૂકી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="DEU.24.2" />અને તે તેનું ઘર છોડીને અન્ય પુરુષ સાથે લગ્ન કરે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="DEU.24.3" />અને તેનો બીજો પતિ પણ તેને ન ચાહે. અને છૂટાછેડા લખી આપી તેને ઘરમાંથી કાઢી મૂકે, અથવા જો તે અવસાન પામે,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="DEU.24.4" />એ સ્ત્રીને છૂટાછેડા આપનાર એનો પ્રથમ પતિ એને પોતાની પત્ની તરીકે ફરીથી લગ્ન કરીને રાખી શકે નહિ, કારણ કે, તે તેના માંટે અશુદ્ધ થયેલી છે. યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ એ પાપ છે. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે દેશ આપનાર છે તેને તમાંરે બગાડવો જોઈએ નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DEU.24.5" />“કોઈ પણ નવપરિણીત પુરુષની લશ્કરમાં કે અન્ય કોઈ જાહેર નોકરીમાં નિમણૂક કરવી નહિ; કારણ કે એક વર્ષ સુધી તે ઘેર પોતાની પત્ની સાથે રહીને આનંદ કરવા માંટે મુકત છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DEU.24.6" />“કોઈ પણ વ્યકિતએ ઘંટીનું પડ કે ઉપલું પડ પણ ગીરવે રાખવું નહિ; એ મનુષ્યનું જીવન ગીરવે રાખ્યા બરાબર છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.24.7" />“કોઈ વ્યકિતએ તેના જાતિબંધુ ઇસ્રાએલીનું અપહરણ કરી તેને ગુલામ બનાવે અને પછી તેને ગુલામ તરીકે વેચી દે, તો તેને મૃત્યુદંડની શિક્ષા કરવી. તમાંરામાંથી આ અનિષ્ટ દૂર કરવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.24.8" />“કોઈ વ્યકિતને રકતપિત્ત કોઢનો રોગ થયો હોય તો લેવી યાજકો જે સૂચનાઓ આપે તેનું અત્યંત કાળજીપૂર્વક પાલન કરો, કારણ કે, મેં તેઓેને સ્પષ્ટ માંર્ગદર્શન આપ્યું છે અને તે તમાંરે બહુ જ કાળજીપૂર્વક પાળવું
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="DEU.24.9" />તમે લોકો મિસરમાંથી આવતા હતા ત્યારે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ મરિયમની શી દશા કરી હતી તે યાદ રાખવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.24.10" />“તમે કોઈ વ્યકિતને કશું ધારો, તો ગીરવે વસ્તુ લેવા માંટે તમાંરે તેના ઘરમાં પ્રવેશ કરવો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="DEU.24.11" />બહાર ઊભા રહેવું, જે વ્યકિતએ ઉછીનું લીધું હશે તે તમને બહાર આવીને વસ્તુ ગીરવે મુકવા આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="DEU.24.12" />અને જો કોઈ માંણસ ગરીબ હોય તો ગીરવે મૂકેલો ઝભ્ભો પેહરીને તમે સૂઈ જાઓ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="DEU.24.13" />સાંજ પહેલાં તમાંરે તે ઝભ્ભો એને પાછો આપી દેવો, જેથી તે એ પેહરીને સૂએ અને તમને આશીર્વાદ આપે, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ તે ન્યાયી અને સાચું કાર્ય ગણાશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DEU.24.14" />“તમે કોઈ ગરીબ માંણસને દૈનિક વેતને મજૂરીએ રાખો તો તેને પજવશો નહિ, પછી તે તમાંરો જાતિબંધુ હોય કે તમાંરા નગરમાં વસતો વિદેશી હોય, પણ તેની રોજી અટકાવશો નહિ.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.24.15" />સૂર્યાસ્ત પહેલાં તે માંણસને તમાંરે તેની મજૂરી રોજની રોજ ચૂકવી દેવી, કારણ કે એ ગરીબ હોવાથી એ નાણાં પર જ તેના જીવનનો આધાર છે. તમે જો એમ કરશો તો એને તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ યહોવાને ફરિયાદ કરવી પડશે નહિ અને તમને પાપ પણ લાગશે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.24.16" />“પુત્રોનાં પાપને કારણે તેમના પિતાઓને મૃત્યુદંડની શિક્ષા થશે નહિ, અને પિતાઓનાં પાપને કારણે પુત્રોને મૃત્યુદંડની શિક્ષા થશે નહિ. પોતપોતાના પાપને કારણે પ્રત્યેકને મૃત્યુદંડની શિક્ષા થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="DEU.24.17" />“વિદેશીઓ કે અનાથો ન્યાયથી વંચિત રહી ન જાય તેનું ધ્યાન રાખવું. વિધવાનાં વસ્રો તેના દેવા પેટે કદી ગીરવે લેવાં નહિ.
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.24.18" />તમે મિસરમાં ગુલામ હતા અને તમાંરા યહોવા દેવે તમને મુકત કરાવ્યાં હતાં એ હંમેશા યાદ રાખવું. તેથી જ હું તમને આમ કરવાની આજ્ઞા જણાવું છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.24.19" />“જયારે પાકની કાપણી કરો ત્યારે એકાદ પૂળો ખેતરમાં રહી જાય, તો તે લેવા પાછા ખેતરે જવું નહિ; વિદેશીઓ, અનાથો તથા વિધવાઓ માંટે તેને ત્યાં જ પડયો રહેવા દેવો, જેથી તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ તમને આશીર્વાદ આપશે અને તમાંરા કામમાં લાભ આપશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.24.20" />જયારે તમે ફળ લેવાં જૈતૂનના વૃક્ષને ઝૂડો ત્યારે કોઈ ડાળને બીજી વાર ઝૂડવી નહિ, કંઈ રહી ગયું હોય તો તે વિદેશીઓ, વિધવાઓ અને અનાથો માંટે રહેવા દેવું.
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.24.21" />એ જ રીતે જયારે તમે દ્રાક્ષની વાડીમાંથી પાક ઉતારો ત્યારે દ્રાક્ષ બીજી વાર વીણો નહિ. જે કંઈ રહી જાય તે વિદેશીઓ, વિધવાઓ અને અનાથો માંટે રહેવા દો.
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<v id="22" bcv="DEU.24.22" />યાદ રાખો કે તમે મિસરમાં ગુલામ હતા, તેથી હું તમને આમ કરવાની આજ્ઞા કરું છું.
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<c id="25" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.25.1" />“જો કોઈ બે માંણસો વચ્ચે ઝઘડો હોય કે તકરાર હોય તો તેઓએ ન્યાય માંટે અદાલતમાં જવું જોઇએ. અને ન્યાયાધીશો કોણ નિદોર્ષ છે અને કોણ ગુનેગાર છે તેનો ફેસલો કરશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.25.2" />ગુના અનુસાર જો ગુનેગાર ફટકા માંરવા યોગ્ય હોય તો એ નક્કી કરાશે કે તેને કેટલા ફટકા માંરવા. ગુનેગારે પોતાનું મોઢું નીચે તરફ રાખી સુવુ અને તેને ઉચીત માંત્રામાં ફટકા માંરવા.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.25.3" />ચાબુકના ચાળીસ ફટકાથી વધારે ફટકાની સજા કરી શકાય નહિ; જો ચાળીસથી વધારે ફટકા માંરવામાં આવે તો તે બતાવે છે કે તમે તેના જીવનનું મહત્વ જેટલું અાંકવું જોઇએ તેટલું આંકતા નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.25.4" />“કોઈ પણ વ્યકિતએ બળદ ડૂંડાં ખૂંદતો હોય ત્યારે તેને મોરી પહેરાવવી નહિ.
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<s style="s">દિયરવટુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DEU.25.5" />“બે ભાઈઓ સાથે રહેતા હોય અને તેમાંનો એક નિ:સંતાન મૃત્યુ પામે, તો મરનારની પત્નીએ કુટુંબની બહાર કોઈ પારકા પુરુષને પરણવું નહિ. તેના પતિના ભાઈએ તેની સાથે લગ્ન કરીને દિયર તરીકેની ફરજ બજાવવી.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.25.6" />તેનાથી તે સ્ત્રીને જે પ્રથમ પુત્ર જન્મે તે મરનાર ભાઈનો પુત્ર ગણાય, જેથી તેનું નામ ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી ભૂસાઈ ન જાય.
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<v id="7" bcv="DEU.25.7" />પરંતુ જો તે પોતાના મૃત ભાઈની પત્ની સાથે લગ્ન કરવા ઇચ્છતો ના હોય તો તે સ્ત્રીએ ચોરામાં નગરના આગેવાનો સમક્ષ જઈને કહેવું કે, ‘માંરો દિયર તેના ભાઈના કુળનું નામ ઇસ્રાએલમાં જીવંત રાખવા માંગતો નથી, વળી તે માંરા પ્રત્યેની પતિ તરીકેની જવાબદારી લેવા ઇચ્છતો નથી.’
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.25.8" />ત્યારબાદ ગામના આગેવાન વડીલો તેને બોલાવી તેને સમજાવે, અને તેમ છતાં તે હઠ પકડીને જણાવે કે, ‘હું તેને પરણવા માંગતો નથી.’
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.25.9" />તો પછી તે વિધવા વડીલોની હાજરીમાં તેની પાસે જાય, તેના પગમાંથી તેનાં ચંપલ કાઢી નાખે અને તેના મુખ પર થૂંકે, પછી કહે, ‘જે માંણસ પોતાના ભાઈનો વંશ ચાલુ રાખવા ઇચ્છતો નથી તેના આવા જ હાલ થાય છે.’
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.25.10" />અને ત્યારબાદ હંમેશા તેનું ઘર ઇસ્રાએલમાં આ પ્રમાંણે ઓળખાશે જે વ્યકિતનાં ‘ચંપલ કાઢી નંખાયા હતા તેનું કુટુંબ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.25.11" />“જો બે વ્યકિતઓ વચ્ચે ઝઘડો થાય અને પોતાના પતિને બચાવવા તેમાંનાં એકની વહુ વચમાં પડે અને બીજા માંણસના વૃષણને પકડીને ખેંચે અને ઇજા પહોંચાડે,
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.25.12" />તો દયા બતાવ્યા વિના તમાંરે તે સ્ત્રીનો હાથ કાપી નાખવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DEU.25.13" />“તમાંરી થેલીમાં ખૂબ હલકાં કે ખૂબ ભારે કાટલાં ન હોવા જોઇએ.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.25.14" />વળી તમાંરા ઘરમાં તમાંરે ખૂબ નાનાં અને ખૂબ મોટા માંપ રાખવાં નહિ.
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.25.15" />તમાંરે સાચા અને પ્રમાંણિત વજન અને માંપનો ઉપયોગ કરવો, જેથી યહોવાએ આપેલી ભૂમિમાં તમે લાંબુ આયુષ્ય ભોગવો.
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.25.16" />જે કોઈ વ્યકિત ખોટાં વજન અને ખોટા માંપથી છેતરપિંડી કરે છે, તે તમાંરા યહોવા દેવની નજરમાં ધૃણાજનક છે.
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<s style="s">અમાંલેકીઓનો વિનાશ નિશ્ચિત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="DEU.25.17" />“તમે જયારે મિસરથી આવતા હતા ત્યારે અમાંલેકી પ્રજાએ તમાંરી સાથે કેવો વર્તાવ રાખ્યો હતો તે યાદ રાખજો.
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.25.18" />તે લોકો તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ લડ્યાં અને તમાંરા લોકો જે થાકી ગયા હતા અને નબળા હતા અને જેઓ બધાની પાછળ ધીમે ચાલી રહ્યાં હતાં તેમના પર આક્રમણ કર્યુ, અમાંલેકીઓને દેવનો ડર ન હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="DEU.25.19" />તેથી તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે દેશ આપી રહ્યા છે તેમાં તે તમાંરી આસપાસના શત્રુઓથી તમને રાહત આપે ત્યારે તમાંરે અમાંલેકીઓનું નામનિશાન ધરતીના પટ ઉપરથી ભૂંસી નાખવાનું છે, તે બાબત કદી ભૂલશો નહિ.
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<c id="26" />
<s style="s">પ્રથમ પેદાશ અને યહોવાનો ભાગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.26.1" />“તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે દેશ આપી રહ્યા છે તેમાં તમે પહોંચો અને તેનો કબજો લઈને તેમાં વસવાટ કરો,
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.26.2" />ત્યારે તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે ભૂમિ આપી રહ્યાં છે તેમાં થતા પ્રત્યેક પાકનો પ્રથમ ભાગ તમાંરે લઇ, અને તેને યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ તેની ઉપાસના કરવા જે જગ્યા પસંદ કરે ત્યાં લઇ જવો.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.26.3" />અને તે દિવસે ત્યાં જે કોઈ યાજક સેવા કરતો હોય તેની પાસે જઈને કહેવું કે, ‘હું તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા સમક્ષ જાહેર કરું છું કે, જે દેશ અમને આપવાનું યહોવાએ અમાંરા પિતૃઓને વચન આપ્યું હતું તેમાં અમે પ્રવેશ કર્યો છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.26.4" />“પછી યાજકે તમાંરા હાથમાંથી ટોપલો લઈને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની વેદી સમક્ષ મુકવો.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.26.5" />પછી તમાંરે તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ સમક્ષ કહેવું, ‘માંરા પિતૃઓ સ્થળાંતર કરીને આવેલા અરામીઓ હતા અને આશ્રય માંટે મિસરમાં ગયા હતા. તેઓ ઘણી ઓછી સંખ્યામાં હતા, પરંતુ તેઓ ત્યાં એક મોટી, શકિતશાળી અને અસંખ્ય પ્રજા બન્યા હતા,
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.26.6" />પરંતુ મિસરીઓએ અમાંરી સાથે દુર્વ્યવહાર કર્યો, અમને ગુલામ બનાવી, અમાંરા પર ત્રાસ ગુજારી અને અત્યાચાર કરી, અમાંરી પાસે મજુરી કરાવી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="DEU.26.7" />ત્યારે અમે અમાંરા યહોવા દેવને પોકાર કર્યો. તેમણે અમાંરો સાદ સાંભળ્યો અને અમાંરાં દુ:ખો, મુશ્કેલીઓ અને સતામણી જોયા;
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="DEU.26.8" />અને તેણે પરચાઓ તથા અદ્ભૂત કૃત્યો કર્યા, કે જે મિસરવાસીઓના મનમાં ખૂબ ભય લાવ્યાં,અને તેના પ્રચંડ બાહુબળથી તે આપણને મિસર માંથી બહાર લાવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="DEU.26.9" />અને અમને આ જગ્યાએ લાવીને દૂધ અને મધથી રેલછેલ થતો આ પ્રદેશ આપ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="DEU.26.10" />અને હવે, હે યહોવા જુઓ જે પ્રદેશ તમે મને આપ્યો છે તેની ઊપજનું પ્રથમ ફળ, હું લાવ્યો છું.’
</p>
<p style="p">“પછી ત્યાં તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ સમક્ષ તે ભાગ મૂકીને દંડવત પ્રણામ કરી તેમની ઉપાસના કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="DEU.26.11" />અને પછી તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમાંરું અને તમાંરા કુટુંબનું જે ભલું કર્યુ છે તેને માંટે તમાંરે લેવીઓએ અને તમાંરી વચ્ચે રહેતા વિદેશીઓએ ભેગા મળીને આનંદોત્સવ કરવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.26.12" />“પ્રત્યેક ત્રીજું વર્ષ ખાસ દશાંશનું વર્ષ ગણવું. તે વષેર્ તમાંરે તમાંરો સર્વ દશાંશ લેવીઓને, વિદેશીઓને, વિધવાઓને અને અનાથોને આપવો જેથી તેઓ તમાંરાં ગામોમાં ધરાઈને ખાવા પામે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="DEU.26.13" />પછી તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા સમક્ષ કહેવું કે, ‘મેં માંરા ઘરેથી બધી વસ્તુઓનો દશાંશ ભાગ કાઢી લીધો છે અને તે લેવીઓને, વિદેશીઓને, વિધવાઓને અને અનાથોને તમાંરી આજ્ઞા મુજબ આપી દીધો છે. તમાંરી એકપણ આજ્ઞાનો મેં ભંગ કર્યો નથી તેમજ હું ભૂલ્યો પણ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="DEU.26.14" />હું અશુદ્વ હતો ત્યારે હું દશાંશને અડકયો પણ ન હતો. શોકના સમયમાં મેં કાંઈ ખાધું નથી, કે મૃતાત્માંઓને ધરાવ્યું પણ નથી, હે માંરા યહોવા, મેં તમાંરું કહ્યું જ કર્યુ છે. તમે જે આજ્ઞાઓ જણાવી હતી તે બધી જ મેં પાળી છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="DEU.26.15" />તમાંરા પવિત્રધામ સ્વર્ગમાંથી નીચે જુઓ, અને તમાંરી ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા ઉપર, તેમ જ અમાંરા પિતૃઓને વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાંણે તમે અમને દૂધ અને મધથી છલકાતો જે દેશ આપ્યો છે તેના ઉપર આશીર્વાદ વરસાવો.’
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોવાની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.26.16" />“આજે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને આ નિયમો અને કાનૂનો પાળવાની આજ્ઞા કરે છે; તમાંરે પ્રામાંણિકતાથી હૃદયપુર્વક તેમને પાળવાના છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="DEU.26.17" />તમે આજે યહોવાને તમાંરા દેવ તરીકે સ્વીકાર્યા છે. તમે તેણે ચીંધેલા માંગેર્ ચાલવાનો કરાર કર્યો છે. તેનાં કાયદાઓ, આજ્ઞાઓ અને નિયમો પાળવાનાં છે અને એ જે કહે તે પ્રમાંણે કરવાનું વચન તમે આપ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="DEU.26.18" />યહોવાએ તમને જે વચન આપ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે આજે તમને પોતાના ખાસ લોકો તરીકે પસંદ કર્યા છે, તેથી તમાંરે તેની સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરવાનું છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="DEU.26.19" />તેથી જો તમે તે પ્રમાંણે કરશો તો યહોવા તમને અન્ય પ્રજાઓ કરતા મહાન પ્રજા બનાવશે, અને તમને માંન-પ્રતિષ્ઠા અને ગૌરવ પ્રાપ્ત થશે. અને યહોવાએ આપેલા વચન પ્રમાંણે તમે એક પવિત્ર દેશ બનશો કે જે યહોવાને વિશિષ્ટ રીતે સમપિર્ત છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="27" />
<s style="s">દિવ્ય શિલાલેખો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.27.1" />ત્યારબાદ મૂસાએ અને ઇસ્રાએલના આગેવાનોએ આ પ્રમાંણે જણાવ્યું, “આજે હું તમને બધાને જે આજ્ઞાઓ કરું છું તે સર્વનું પાલન કરજો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="DEU.27.2" />જયારે તમે યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને જે દેશ આપ્યો છે તેમાં પ્રવેશ કરો તે દિવસે તમાંરે ત્યાં મોટા પથ્થરો ઊભા કરીને તેના પર ચૂનાનું પ્લાસ્ટર કરવું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="DEU.27.3" />અને તેના ઉપર નિયમના સર્વ શબ્દો લખી નાખવા, પછી તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે ભૂમિ આપી રહ્યાં છે તેમાં સ્થાઇ થઇ શકશો. તમાંરા પિતૃઓના યહોવા દેવે તમને જે વચન આપ્યું હતું તેમ આ ભૂમિમાં દૂધ અને મધની રેલછેલ થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.27.4" />“અને યર્દનને સામે કિનારે તમે પહોંચો ત્યારે એબાલ પર્વત પર વહેલામાં વહેલી તકે સ્મૃતિચિન્હરૂપે પથ્થરોનો એક સ્તંભ ઊભો કરી તેના પર ચૂનાનું પ્લાસ્ટર કરો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="DEU.27.5" />પછી ત્યાં તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના નામે એક પથ્થરની વેદી બાંધવી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="DEU.27.6" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા માંટે વેદી બાંધવા માંટે વણઘડયા પથ્થરોનો ઉપયોગ કરવો. અને તેના ઉપર તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને આહુતિ ચઢાવવી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="DEU.27.7" />યજ્ઞો અને શાંત્યર્પણો કરો અને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા સમક્ષ આનંદથી ખાવુ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="DEU.27.8" />આ પથ્થરો ઉપર તમાંરે નિયમનાં શબ્દો સ્પષ્ટ વાંચી શકાય તે રીતે કાળજીપૂર્વક કોતરવા.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શ્રાપિત બાબતોના કાનૂનને લોકોની સહમતિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.27.9" />પછી મૂસાએ તથા લેવી યાજકોએ તમાંમ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહ્યું, “હે ઇસ્રાએલી બંધુઓ, શાંત થાઓ, અને સાંભળો. આજે તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની પોતાની પ્રજા માંટે બની ગયા છો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="DEU.27.10" />માંટે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા સાંભળો. આજે હું તમને જે આજ્ઞાઓ અને કાનૂનો જણાવું છું તેનું પાલન તમાંરે આજથી જ શરૂ કરવાનું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.27.11" />તે જ દિવસે મૂસાએ તે લોકોને આ મુજબ આજ્ઞા કરી:
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="DEU.27.12" />“યર્દન નદી પાર કર્યા પછી લોકો ઉપર આશીર્વાદ ઉચ્ચારાય, તે વખતે નીચેનાં કુળો ગરીઝીમ પર્વત પર ઊભા રહે: શિમયોન, લેવી, યહૂદા, ઇસ્સાખાર, યૂસફ અને બિન્યામીન,
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="DEU.27.13" />શ્રાપ ઉચ્ચારાય ત્યારે એબાલ પર્વત ઉપર રૂબેન, ગાદ, આશેર, ઝબુલોન, દાન અને નફતાલીના કૂળો ઊભા રહે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DEU.27.14" />“તે પછી લેવીઓ મોટે સાદે તમાંમ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.27.15" />“‘શ્રાપિત છે તે વ્યકિત જે ખોટા દેવ બનાવે છે, પછી તે કોતરેલી પ્રતિમાં હોય અથવા ધાતુની મૂર્તિ હોય અને તેની ગુપ્ત રીતે પૂજા કરે, કારણ કે મનુષ્યસજિર્ત દેવોનો યહોવા ધિક્કાર કરે છે.’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અને બધા લોકો ‘આમીન’ કહીને સ્વીકૃતિ આપશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.27.16" />“‘જો કોઈ વ્યકિત પોતાના પિતા કે માંતાનું અપમાંન કરે તો તેના પર શ્રાપ ઊતરો.’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અને બધા લોકો ‘આમીન’ કહીને સ્વીકૃતિ આપશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="17" bcv="DEU.27.17" />“‘જે કોઈ વ્યકિત પોતાના પડોશીની સીમાંનું નિશાન હઠાવે તો તેના પર શ્રાપ ઉતરો.’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અને બધા લોકો ‘આમીન’ કહીને સ્વીકૃતિ આપશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="18" bcv="DEU.27.18" />“‘જો કોઈ વ્યકિત અંધ વ્યકિતનો ફાયદો ઊઠાવે તો તેના પર શ્રાપ ઊતરો.’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અને બધા લોકો કહેશે ‘આમીન’.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.27.19" />“‘જો કોઈ વ્યકિત વિદેશી, અનાથ અને વિધવાને અન્યાય કરે તો તેના ઉપર શ્રાપ ઊતરો.’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અને બધા લોકો કહેશે ‘આમીન’
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.27.20" />“‘જે વ્યકિત પોતાના પિતાની પત્ની સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરે છે શ્રાપિત છે, કારણ કે, તે તેના પિતાની બદનામી કરે છે;’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અને બધા લોકો કહેશે ‘આમીન.’
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="21" bcv="DEU.27.21" />“‘જો કોઈ વ્યકિત પ્રાણીની સાથે અઘટિત કર્મ કરે તો તે શ્રાપિત થાઓ.’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“બધા લોકો કહેશે ‘આમીન.’
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.27.22" />“‘જો કોઈ વ્યકિત પોતાની બહેન સાથે, પછી તે સગી બહેન હોય કે ઓરમાંન, જો તેની સાથે કુકર્મ કરે તો તે શ્રાપિત થાઓ!’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અને બધા લોકો કહેશે, ‘આમીન.’
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="23" bcv="DEU.27.23" />“‘જો કોઈ વ્યકિત તેની સાસુ સાથે કુકર્મ કરે તો તે શ્રાપિત થાઓ.’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અને બધા લોકો કહેશે, ‘આમીન.’
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="24" bcv="DEU.27.24" />“‘જો કોઈ વ્યકિત ખાનગીમાં કોઈની હત્યા કરે તો તે શાપિત થાઓ;’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અને બધા લોકો કહેશે, ‘આમીન.’
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="25" bcv="DEU.27.25" />“‘જે વ્યકિત નિદોર્ષ માંણસની હત્યા કરવા માંટે પૈસા લે છે તે શ્રાપિત છે;’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અને બધા લોકો કહેશે, ‘આમીન.’
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="26" bcv="DEU.27.26" />“‘જો કોઈ વ્યકિત આ આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન ન કરે તો તે પણ શ્રાપિત થાઓ.’
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અને બધા લોકો કહેશે, ‘આમીન.’
<ve />
</p>

<c id="28" />
<s style="s">આજ્ઞા પાલન માંટેના આશીર્વાદો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.28.1" />“આજે હું તમને તમાંરા યહોવા દેવની આ બધી આજ્ઞાઓ કરું છું તે સર્વનું પાલન કરીને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાનું કહ્યું, નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક અનુસરશો તો તે તમને પૃથ્વીની બધી પ્રજાઓમાં ઉચ્ચ સ્થાને સ્થાપશે,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="DEU.28.2" />તેથી જો તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને અનુસરશો, તો નીચેના આશીર્વાદો તમાંરા પર ઊતરશે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="DEU.28.3" />“નગરમાં અને ખેતરમાં પણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે આશીર્વાદિત થશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.28.4" />ઘણાં સંતાનો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પુષ્કળ ધનધાન્ય,
</q>
<q style="q1">અસંખ્ય ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોરઢાંખર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવનાં આશીર્વાદથી પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="DEU.28.5" />તમાંરાં ટોપલાઓ અને ભોજનના થાળો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખૂબ ખોરાકથી આશીર્વાદિત થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="DEU.28.6" />વળી તમાંરી અંદરની અને બહારની પ્રવૃત્તિઓમાં તમને આશીર્વાદ પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.28.7" />“યહોવા તમાંરા ઉપર હુમલો કરવા આવનાર દુશ્મનોને પરાજીત કરશે; તેઓ ભેગા મળીને તમાંરી સામે એક દિશામાંથી આવશે તો પણ તમાંરી આગળથી સાત દિશાઓમાં ભાગી જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.28.8" />“તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ તમને જે દેશ આપે તેમાં જયારે તમે પહોંચશો ત્યારે તે તમાંરા અનાજના કોઠારો ભરીને તમને આશીર્વાદિત કરશે. અને તમે જે કાંઈ કામ કરશો તેમાં સફળતાનો આશીર્વાદ આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="DEU.28.9" />અને તમે જો તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરીને તેમના માંગેર્ ચાલશો, તો તેણે આપેલા વચન પ્રમાંણે તે તમને પવિત્ર દેશ તરીકે સ્થાપિત કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="DEU.28.10" />તેથી પૃથ્વી પરના બધા લોકો તમે યહોવાની પ્રજા છો એ જાણીને તમાંરાથી ગભરાતા રહેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.28.11" />“યહોવાએ તમને જે દેશ આપવાનું તમાંરા પિતૃઓને વચન આપ્યું હતું તે દેશમાં યહોવા તમને ઘણાં સંતાનો, ઢોરઢાંખર તથા પુષ્કળ ઊપજ આપીને સર્વ સારાં વાનાં સાથે સમૃદ્વિ આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="DEU.28.12" />યહોવા તમાંરા દેશમાં તમાંરી ભૂમિ પર તમને પ્રત્યેક ઋતુમાં પુષ્કળ પાક આપવા માંટે આકાશના પોતાના સમૃદ્વ ભંડારને ખોલીને યથાઋતુ વૃષ્ટિ કરશે, અને ખેતીના પ્રત્યેક કામમાં લાભ આપશે, જેથી તમે બીજી ઘણી પ્રજાઓને ઉછીનું આપશો પણ તેઓથી કઇ પણ ઉછીનું લેશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="DEU.28.13" />આજે હું તમને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની જે આજ્ઞાઓ જણાવું છું તેનું તમે નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક પાલન કરશો તો યહોવા તમને આગળ રાખશે, પાછળ રાખશે નહિ, અને તમે હંમેશા ઉપર રહેશો નીચે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="DEU.28.14" />આજે મેં તમને જે નિયમો દર્શાવ્યા છે તેમાંથી તમે આમ કે તેમ જરાય ચલિત થશો નહિ, અને અન્ય દેવોની કદાપી સેવાપૂજા કરશો નહિ, તેના ઉપર આ સર્વ આશીર્વાદોનો આધાર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આજ્ઞાભંગ માંટેના શ્રાપો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.28.15" />“પરંતુ જો તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા નહિ પાળો અને આજે હું જે એમની આજ્ઞાઓ અને નિયમો જણાવું છું તેનું નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક પાલન નહિ કરો તો આ સર્વ શ્રાપો તમાંરા પર ઊતરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.28.16" />“તમાંરાં શહેર અને ખેતરમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે શ્રાપિત થશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="DEU.28.17" />તમાંરા ટોપલાઓ અને ભોજનના થાળ ઉપર ખોરાકની દુર્લભતાનો શ્રાપ ઊતરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="DEU.28.18" />તમાંરી સંતતિ ઉપર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખેતીની ઉપજ ઉપર,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમાંરાં ઢોરઢાંખર ઉપર
</q>
<p style="p">તથા ઘેટાંબકરાં ઉપર શ્રાપ ઊતરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.28.19" />તમાંરી તમાંમ પ્રવૃતિઓમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમાંરા ઉપર શ્રાપ ઊતરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.28.20" />“કારણ કે યહોવા પોતે તેમનો શ્રાપ તમાંરા પર મોકલશે, યહોવા તમને શ્રાપ આપશે અને તમને વ્યાકુળ બનાવી દેશે. તમે જે કાંઇ કરશો તેમાં નિષ્ફળતા તથા આફતો આવશે. અંતે તમે થોડાજ સમયમાં નાશ પામશો. કારણ કે તમે દુષ્ટકર્મો કરીને યહોવાને છોડી દીધા છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="DEU.28.21" />અને તમે જે દેશનો કબજો લેવા જઈ રહ્યા છો ત્યાં યહોવા તમાંરામાં રોગચાળો મોકલશે, જેમાં તમે બધા સમાંપ્ત થઈ જશો,
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="DEU.28.22" />યહોવા તમને ઘાસણી, જવર, સોજા, દુકાળ, લૂ અને ગેરુના ભોગ બનાવશે. એ આફતો તમાંરો પીછો છોડશે નહિ અને અંતે તમાંરો નાશ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="DEU.28.23" />તમાંરા માંથા ઉપરનું આકાશ તાંબાના તવા જેવું અને નીચેની ધરતી લોખંડ જેવી બની જશે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="DEU.28.24" />યહોવા તમાંરી ધરતી પર પાણીની જગ્યાએ ધૂળ અને રેતીનો વરસાદ વરસાવશે, વરસાદની અછતને કારણે તમાંરો નાશ થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="DEU.28.25" />“યહોવા તમાંરા દુશ્મનોથી તમાંરો પરાજય કરાવડાવશે. તમે એક દિશામાંથી તેમના ઉપર હુમલો કરશો પરંતુ તમે તેમનાથી સાત જુદી દિશાઓમાં ભારે ગુંચવાઇને ભાગી જશો. સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીનાં રાજયો તમાંરી દશા જોઈને ભયભીત થઇ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="DEU.28.26" />આકાશમાં ઊડતાં પંખીઓ અને જંગલનાં પ્રાણીઓ તમાંરાં મૃતદેહને ખાવા આવશે; અને તેમને હાંકનાર કોઈ નહિ હોય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="DEU.28.27" />“યહોવા તમાંરા ઉપર મિસરમાં થતાં ગૂમડાં, ગાંઠો, પરુ અને ખૂજલીનો રોગ મોકલશે, કોઈ દવાની અસર તેના પર થશે નહિ. અને કોઈ તેને મટાડી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="DEU.28.28" />યહોવા તમને ગાંડા, આંધળા બનાવશે અને બીજા માંનસિક રોગો આપશે;
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="DEU.28.29" />જેથી તમે કોઈ આંધળો ધોળે દહાડે અંધારામાં ફાંફાં માંરે તેમ તમે ફાંફાં માંરશો છતાં તમને રસ્તો જડશે નહિ, સતત તમાંરું શોષણ થશે, તમે લૂંટાશો છતાં કોઈ તમને આવીને બચાવશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="DEU.28.30" />“તમાંરા વિવાહ કોઈ સ્ત્રી સાથે થશે, પરંતુ તેનો ઉપભોગ બીજો પુરુષ કરશે; તમે તમાંરા માંટે ઘર બાંધશો છતાં પણ તમે તેમાં રહેવા પામશો નહિ. દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ તમે કરશો પરંતુ તેનાં ફળ તમે ચાખી શકશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="DEU.28.31" />તમાંરાં ઢોરને તમાંરી આંખો સામે કાપવામાં આવશે, પણ તેનું માંસ તમે ખાવા પામશો નહિ, તમાંરી નજર સામે તમાંરો ગધેડો ચોરાઈ જશે પરંતુ તે તમને પાછો મળશે નહિ. વળી તમાંરા ઘેટા બકરાં તમાંરા શત્રુઓ ઉઠાવી જશે છતાં કોઈ તમાંરી મદદે આવશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="DEU.28.32" />“તમાંરા પુત્ર-પુત્રીઓને તમાંરાં દેખતાં પરદેશીઓ ઉપાડી જશે, અને રોજ તમે તેમને શોધશો પણ તેઓ તમને મળશે નહિ, પણ તમે કાંઈ મદદ કરી શકશો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="DEU.28.33" />“કોઈ અજ્ઞાત પ્રજા જ તમાંરા દેશ અને તમાંરી મહેનતનાં ફળ ભોગવશે, અને તમાંરે ભાગે તો હંમેશા શોષણ અને પીડા જ રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="DEU.28.34" />તમાંરી આજુબાજુ આ બધી દુ:ખદ ઘટનાઓ બનતી જોઇને તમાંરું માંથું ફટકી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="DEU.28.35" />યહોવા, તમને પગે અને ઘૂંટણે ગૂમડાંના ભોગ બનાવશે અને તેનો કોઈ ઉપાય હશે નહિ; અને એ ગૂમડાં પગથી માંથા સુધી પ્રસરી જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="DEU.28.36" />“યહોવા તમને અને તમાંરા નિયુકત કરેલા રાજાને વિદેશી પ્રજા વચ્ચે દેશવટે લઈ જશે કે જેનો તમે અને તમાંરા પિતૃઓએ કદીય વિચાર કર્યો નહિ હોય અને ત્યાં તમે લાકડાના અને પથ્થરના બનાવેલા બીજા જ દેવોની પૂજા કરશો.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="DEU.28.37" />યહોવા તમને જે દેશોમાં મોકલશે ત્યાં તમને થતી ખરાબ ચીજોથી લોકોને આઘાત લાગશે. તેઓ તમાંરા પર હસશે અને તમાંરા વિષે ખરાબ બોલશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નિષ્ફળતાનો શ્રાપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="DEU.28.38" />“તમે પુષ્કળ બી વાવશો પણ લણશો ઓછું. કારણ કે, તમાંરો બધો પાક તીડો ખાઈ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="DEU.28.39" />તમે દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓ રોપશો, કાળજીપૂર્વક કેળવશો, છતાં તમે તેની દ્રાક્ષ ખાવા કે દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવા પામશો નહિ, કારણ કે જંતુઓ દ્રાક્ષોને ખાઈ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="DEU.28.40" />તમાંરી જમીનમાં જૈતૂનનાં વૃક્ષો ઠેર ઠેર ઊગશે પણ તમે તમાંરે શરીરે તેનું તેલ ચોળવા નહિ પામો. કારણ કે, ફળો પાકે તે પહેલાં જ વૃક્ષો પરથી નીચે ખરી પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="DEU.28.41" />તમને પુત્ર-પુત્રીઓ પ્રાપ્ત થશે પણ તે તમાંરાં નહિ રહે, કારણ કે તમાંરી પાસેથી લઈ લેવાશે અને તેઓ ગુલામો બનશે.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="DEU.28.42" />તમાંરા દ્રાક્ષાવેલાઓનો, વૃક્ષોનો તથા ખેતીની બધી પેદાશનો તીડો નાશ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="DEU.28.43" />તમાંરી વચ્ચે રહેતા વિદેશીઓની ઉત્તરોત્તર પ્રગતિ થશે. તેઓ ધનવાન બનશે અને તમે ઉત્તરોત્તર પડતી થવાથી ગરીબ બનશો.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="DEU.28.44" />તેઓ તમાંરા લેણદાર બનશે. તમે તે લોકોના લેણદાર નહિ બનો, તેઓ ઉપર રહેશે અને તમે નીચે રહેશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="DEU.28.45" />“આ બધાં શ્રાપો તમાંરા પર ઊતરશે; તમાંરો પીછો પકડશે અને અંતે તમે નાશ પામશો-કારણ કે તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની વાણી સાંભળવા ના પાડો છો, તેમણે જણાવેલી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન તમે કર્યુ નથી,
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="DEU.28.46" />વળી એ ચેતવણીરૂપ શ્રાપો તમાંરા પાપના પુરાવા રૂપ બનશે અને તમાંરા તથા તમાંરા વંશજો પર કાયમ રહેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="DEU.28.47" />“જયારે તમાંરી પાસે યહોવાએ આપેલી વસ્તુઓ જોઈએ તેટલી હતી ત્યારે તમે પ્રસન્નચિત્તે આનંદપૂર્વક તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની સેવા કરી ન્હોતી,
<ve />
<v id="48" bcv="DEU.28.48" />તેથી તમે તમાંરા દુશ્મનોના ગુલામ બની જશો. યહોવા તમાંરા દુશ્મનોને તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ લાવશે અને તમે ભૂખ્યા, તરસ્યા અને નગ્ન રહેશો અને પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુની અછત અનુભવશો. તેઓ તમાંરી ડોક પર લોખંડી ઝૂંસરી લાદશે અને છેવટે તમે મોતને ભેટશો.
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</p>
<s style="s">દુશ્મનોથી શ્રાપિત ઇસ્રાએલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="DEU.28.49" />“યહોવા, તમે જેની ભાષા સમજતા નથી એવી દૂર દેશની પ્રજાને તમાંરી ઉપર ચઢાઈ કરીને ગરૂડની જેમ તરાપ માંરવા મોકલશે.
<ve />
<v id="50" bcv="DEU.28.50" />એ પ્રજાના માંણસો યુવાન કે વૃદ્વ પર જરાય દયા દાખવશે નહિ, કારણ કે તેઓ અતિ હિંસક અને ક્રોધી છે.
<ve />
<v id="51" bcv="DEU.28.51" />જ્યાં સુધી તમાંરો નાશ ન થઇ જાય ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ તમાંરા ઢોરઢાંખર અને પાક લઇ જશે. તમાંરું અનાજ, નવો દ્રાક્ષારસ, જૈતતેલ, વાછરડાં, ઘેટાં બચશે નહિ, પરિણામે તમે મોત ભેગા થઈ જશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="DEU.28.52" />“તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે ભૂમિ આપે છે તેમાંના બધાં નગરોને તેઓ ઘેરો ઘાલશે અને અંતે જે કોટો પર તમે સુરક્ષા માંટે આધાર રાખો છો, તે ઊંચા અને અભેધ કોટોને ભોંયભેંગા કરી નાખશે.
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="DEU.28.53" />તે આફતના દિવસોમાં જ્યારે તમાંરા શહેરો પર દુશ્મનો ઘેરો ઘાલશે, કોઇ પણ ખાદ્ય સામગીર્ શહેરોની અંદર આવવા નહિ દે ત્યારે તમે યહોવા તમાંરા દેવે આપેલા તમાંરા પોતાના દીકરાનું અને દીકરીઓનું માંસ ખાશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="DEU.28.54" />“તમાંરામાંનો અતિ કોમળ હૃદયનો નમ્ર વ્યકિત પણ તેના ભાઈ પ્રત્યે, વહાલી પત્ની પ્રત્યે અને હજીયે જીવતાં રહેલાં તેનાં સંતાનો પ્રત્યે નિષ્ઠુર બનશે.
<ve />
<v id="55" bcv="DEU.28.55" />તે પોતાના જ સંતાનનું માંસ ખાશે પણ કુટુંબના અન્ય સભ્યને તેમાંથી ભાગ આપવાની ના પાડી દેશે. તમાંરા દુશ્મનો તમાંરા શહેરોને ઘેરી લેશે અને તમને ખોરાક વિના તરફડાવશે ત્યારે તે આમ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="56" bcv="DEU.28.56" />“તમાંરામાંની અતિ કોમળ, અને નમ્ર સ્ત્રી, કે જેણે ધરતી પર પગ મૂક્યો નથી, તે પણ પોતાના પતિ જેને તે પ્રેમ કરે છે અને તેના પુત્ર અને પુત્રી સાથે ક્રૂર બનશે.
<ve />
<v id="57" bcv="DEU.28.57" />તે પોતાના તાજા જન્મેલા બાળકને તેઓથી છુપાવશે અને બાળકના જન્મ વખતે તેના શરીરમાંથી નીકળતા દ્રવ્યો અને તે બાળક તે પોતે ખાઈ જશે. તમાંરા દુશ્મનો તમાંરા શહેરોને ધેરે, અને તમે ખોરાક વિના તરફડો ત્યારે તેણી આમ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="58" bcv="DEU.28.58" />“આ પુસ્તકમાં નિયમના લખેલ એકેએક શબ્દો તમે નહિ પાળો અને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના મહિમાંવંત અને ભયજનક નામનો નકાર કરશો,
<ve />
<v id="59" bcv="DEU.28.59" />તો યહોવા તમને અને તમાંરા વંશજોને ભયંકર આફતો અને ખતરનાક અને અસાધ્ય રોગો આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="60" bcv="DEU.28.60" />યહોવા તમાંરા ઉપર મિસરમાં પ્રચલિત અસાધ્ય રોગો મોકલશે જેનાથી તમે ગભરાતા હતા અને તમને આ રોગો લાગુ પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="61" bcv="DEU.28.61" />ઉપરાંત, તે તમને આ
<bk>સંહિતામાં</bk> ન ગણાવેલા બીજા બધા રોગો અને મરકીઓનો ભોગ બનાવશે અને અંતે તમે હતા ન હતા થઈ જશો.
<ve />
<v id="62" bcv="DEU.28.62" />તમે સંખ્યામાં આકાશના તારાની જેમ ગણ્યા ગણાય નહિ એટલા બધા હોવા છતાં દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરવાને કારણે તમાંરામાંના બહુ જ થોડા બચી જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="63" bcv="DEU.28.63" />“જે રીતે યહોવાએ તમાંરા પર પ્રસન્ન થઈને તમાંરા માંટે અદભૂત કાર્યો કર્યા અને તમાંરી વંશવૃદ્ધિ પણ કરી તેટલી જ પ્રસન્નતા તેમને તમાંરો નાશ કરવામાં તેમ જ તમાંરું નિકંદન કાઢવામાં થશે. તમે જે પ્રદેશમાં દાખલ થાઓ છો તે પ્રદેશમાંથી તમને ઉખેડી નાખવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="64" bcv="DEU.28.64" />યહોવા તમને પૃથ્વીના એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધીના બધા રાષ્ટોમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખશે. અને ન કે તમે અથવા તમાંરા પિતૃઓ જેને જાણતા ન હતા તેવા, લાકડાં તથા પથ્થરમાંથી બનાવેલા દેવોનું પૂજન કરશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="65" bcv="DEU.28.65" />“ત્યાં તે રાષ્ટોમાં તમને નહિ મળે શાંતિ કે નહિ મળે આરામ કરવાની કોઇ જગ્યા. ત્યાં યહોવા તમને ચિંતા, નિરાશા અને વિષાદથી ભરી દેશે. તમે સતત ભયને કારણે અધ્ધર રહેશો.
<ve />
<v id="66" bcv="DEU.28.66" />તમાંરું જીવન ભયભીત જ રહેશે. રાતદિવસ તમે ભયમાં જ જીવશો. સવારનો પ્રકાશ તમે જોવા પામશો કે નહિ તેનો પણ વિશ્વાસ તમને નહિ હોય.
<ve />
<v id="67" bcv="DEU.28.67" />તમાંરા હૃદયમાં એવો ભય વ્યાપી જશે અને તમે એવાં દૃશ્યો જોશો કે દરરોજ સવારે તમે ઇચ્છશો કે ‘સાંજ પડે તો કેવું સારું!’ અને પ્રત્યેક સાંજે ઈચ્છશો કે ‘સવાર થાય તો કેવું સારું!’
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<v id="68" bcv="DEU.28.68" />યહોવાએ તમને વચન આપ્યું હતું કે તમાંરે મિસર પાછા જવાની જરૂર નહિ પડે, પરંતુ હવે યહોવા જાતે જ તમને વહાણોમાં બેસાડી મિસર પાછા મોકલી આપશે. ત્યાં તમે તમાંરી જાતને તમાંરા દુશ્મનોને ગુલામ તરીકે વેચવા તૈયાર થશો, છતાંય ત્યાં તમને ખરીદનાર કોઈ નહિ હોય.”
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<c id="29" />
<s style="s">યહોવા સાથે પુન:કરાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.29.1" />યહોવાએ હોરેબમાં ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો સાથે જે કરાર કર્યો. તેની ઉપરાંત યહોવાએ મૂસાને તેમની સાથે મોઆબમાં કરાર કરવા આજ્ઞા કરી તે કરાર આ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="DEU.29.2" />તેણે ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજાના સર્વ લોકોને બોલાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “તમાંરી નજર આગળ મિસર દેશમાં ફારુનને તથા તેના અધિકારીઓને તથા સમગ્ર દેશને યહોવાએ જે કર્યુ તે બધું તમે નિહાળ્યું છે;
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.29.3" />તમે જોયું કે યહોવાએ ફારુનને તેના તેના અમલદારોને અને સમગ્ર મિસર દેશને શું કર્યુ. યહોવાએ કરેલી ભયંકર મરકીઓ ચમત્કારો તથા અદભૂત પરાક્રમો તમે જોયા.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.29.4" />પણ યહોવાએ આજ સુધી તમને એ સમજવાની બુદ્વિ કે એ જોવાની આંખ કે એ સાંભળવાને કાન આપ્યા ન હતાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.29.5" />ચાળીસ વર્ષ સુધી તેમણે તમને રણમાં ચલાવ્યા, તેમ છતાં ન તો તમાંરાં શરીર પરનાં કપડાં ઘસાઈ ગયાં કે ન તો તમાંરાં પગરખાં ઘસાઈ ગયાં.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.29.6" />જોકે તમાંરી પાસે ખોરાક કે દ્રાક્ષારસ અથવા મધ ન હતા છતાં પણ તેમણે તમાંરી જરુરિયાતો પૂરી પાડી જેથી તમને સમજણમાં આવે કે તે યહોવા છે તમાંરા દેવ.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.29.7" />“જયારે આપણે આ જગ્યાએ આવ્યા ત્યારે હેશ્બોનનો રાજા સીહોન તથા બાશાનનો રાજા ઓગ આપણી સામે લડવા આવ્યા અને આપણે તેમનો પરાજય કર્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="DEU.29.8" />અને આપણે તેમનો દેશ કબજે કરી લીધો, અને રૂબેન વંશના, ગાદના વંશના તથા મનાશ્શાના અડધા વંશને તેણે વહેંચી આપ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="DEU.29.9" />તેથી આ કરારની તમાંમ કલમોનું તમાંરે પાલન કરવાનું છે. જો તમે તેમ કરશો તો તમે જે કોઈ કાર્ય હાથમાં લેશો તેમાં સફળ થશો,
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.29.10" />“આજે તમે બધા વંશોના વડાઓ, આગેવાનો, ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, તમાંરા ન્યાયાધીશો, તથા વહીવટી અધિકારીઓ-અહીં તમાંરા યહોવા દેવના સાન્નિધ્યમાં ઊભા છો.
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<v id="11" bcv="DEU.29.11" />વળી તમાંરી સાથે તમાંરાં સંતાનો, પત્નીઓ, તમાંરી સાથેના વિદેશીઓ, કઠિયારા તથા પખાલીઓ પણ છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.29.12" />તમે બધા તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા આજે તમાંરી સાથે જે કરાર કરે છે તે સ્વીકારવાને તથા એના ભંગ બદલ થતી શિક્ષા માંથે ચઢાવવાને તૈયાર થયા છો.
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.29.13" />તમને અને તમાંરા પિતૃઓ ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક અને યાકૂબને વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાંણે એ કરારથી યહોવા તમને આજે પોતાની પ્રજા બનાવે છે અને પોતે તમાંરા દેવ થાય છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.29.14" />આ કરાર અને તેની શરતો દેવ માંત્ર તમાંરી સાથે,
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<v id="15" bcv="DEU.29.15" />આજે તેમની સમક્ષ ઉભેલા આપણે સૌની સાથે અને આપણા વંશજો જે આજે અહીં હાજર નથી તેમની સાથે પણ તેઓ આ કરાર કરે છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.29.16" />તમે મિસરમાં કેવી રીતે રહેતા હતા અને તે છોડીને કેવી રીતે દુશ્મનોના દેશોના શહેરમાં થઈને સુરક્ષાપૂર્વક આપણે યાત્રા કરી, તે બધું તમને યાદ છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.29.17" />તમે તે લોકોના દેશની લાકડાની, પથ્થરની, ચાંદીની તેમ જ સોનાની ધૃણાજનક મૂર્તિઓ જોઈ છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.29.18" />તેથી ખાતરી કરો કે તમાંરામાંથી કોઈ પણ વ્યકિત-પુરુષ, સ્ત્રી, કુટુંબ કે ઇસ્રાએલનું કોઈ કુળ-તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ તરફથી ભટકી જઈને બીજી પ્રજાઓના આ દેવોની પૂજા કરવા ન ઇચ્છે. ખાતરી કરો કે તમાંરામાં કોઇ કડવું અને ઝેરી છોડ જેવું તો નથી ને.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.29.19" />“તમાંરામાં એવી કોઈ વ્યકિત ના હોવી જોઈએ, જે આજ્ઞાભંગની સજાનાં વચનો સાંભળ્યા છતાં તેને ગંભીરતાથી ન સ્વીકારે અને એવું વિચારે કે મન ફાવે તે રીતે ચાલીશ છતાં માંરું કશું અહિત નહિ થાય! કારણ, સૂકા ભેગું લીલું પણ બળી જશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.29.20" />તો યહોવા તેને માંફ નહિ કરે, તેની સામે યહોવાનો ઉગ્ર રોષ ભભૂકી ઊઠશે અને આ ગ્રંથમાં લખેલી એકેએક સજા તેના પર ઊતરશે, અને યહોવા પૃથ્વી પરથી તેનું નામનિશાન ભૂસી દેશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.29.21" />યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલના તમાંમ કુળસમૂહોમાંથી તેને જુદો પાડીને
<bk>નિયમના ગ્રંથમાં</bk> લખેલા કરારમાંના બધા શ્રાપો અનુસાર તેના ઉપર વિનાશ ઉતારશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.29.22" />“ભવિષ્યમાં તમાંરા વંશજો, તેમજ દૂર દેશથી આવનાર વિદેશીઓ પણ યહોવાએ તમાંરા અને તમાંરા દેશને આપેલા રોગો અને આફતો જોશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="DEU.29.23" />સમગ્ર પ્રદેશમાં સર્વત્ર ગંધક અને મીઠાથી બધી ધરતી બળી ગઈ હશે, કશુંય વાવી શકાય કે ઊગાડી શકાય એવું રહ્યું નહિ હોય, યહોવાએ જયારે રોષે ભરાઈને સદોમ અને ગમોરાહને, આદમાંહને અને સબોઈમને ખેદાન-મેદાન કરી નાખ્યાં હતાં તેના જેવા હાલ તમાંરા થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="DEU.29.24" />“આ જોઈને બધી પ્રજાઓ પૂછશે, ‘યહોવાએ પોતાના આ પ્રદેશના આવા હાલ શા માંટે કર્યા? એના ઉપર આવો ભારે રોષ શા માંટે ઉતાર્યો?’
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<v id="25" bcv="DEU.29.25" />તેઓને પ્રત્યુત્તર મળશે, ‘તેઓના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવા તેઓને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યા પછી તેમની સાથે કરેલા કરારને એ લોકોએ ફગાવી દીધો,
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<v id="26" bcv="DEU.29.26" />અને એ લોકોએ અગાઉ કદી પૂજ્યા ન્હોતા તથા યહોવાએ જેની પૂજા કરવાની મનાઈ કરી હતી એવા બીજા જ દેવોની તેમણે સેવાપૂજા કરવા માંડી.
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<v id="27" bcv="DEU.29.27" />તેથી યહોવાએ ભૂમિનાં લોકો પર રોષે ભરાયા અને આ ગ્રંથમાં લખેલા બધા શ્રાપો તેમના પર ઉતાર્યા,
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<v id="28" bcv="DEU.29.28" />અને તેમણે અતિ કોપાયમાંન થઈને તે લોકોને તેમની પોતાની ભૂમિમાંથી ઉખેડીને બીજા પ્રદેશમાં ફેકી દીધા, જયાં તેઓ આજે પણ વસે છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="DEU.29.29" />“તમાંરા યહોવા દેવે તેમના તમાંમ રહસ્યો આપણી સમક્ષ પ્રગટ કર્યા નથી. પરંતુ તેણે આ નિયમ હંમેશાને માંટે આપણી અને આપણા વંશજોની સમક્ષ પ્રગટ કરી છે, જેથી આપણે નિયમના એકેએક વચનોનું પાલન કરીએ.
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<c id="30" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તેમની ભૂમિમાં પાછા ફરશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.30.1" />“મે તમાંરી પસંદગી માંટે દર્શાવેલા આ બધાં આશીર્વાદો તેમજ શ્રાપો તમે અનુભવો પછી, યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ તમને બીજા દેશોમાં દેશવટે જવા દબાણ કરશે. ત્યાં તમે આ બધી બાબતો વિષે વિચારશો અને પસ્તાશો.
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<v id="2" bcv="DEU.30.2" />અને તમે તથા તમાંરા બાળકો ફરીવાર આધિન બનશો અને આજે હું જે આજ્ઞા તમને કરું છું તેનું પાલન પૂર્ણ હદયપૂર્વક કરશો.
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<v id="3" bcv="DEU.30.3" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરા પર દયાદૃષ્ટિ કરીને તમાંરું ભાગ્ય ફેરવી નાખશે, અને તમને જે બધા દેશોમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખ્યા હશે ત્યાંથી ફરી પાછા ભેગા કરશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="DEU.30.4" />તમે ધરતીના છેડા સુધી વેરવિખેર થઈને ગમે ત્યાં વસ્યા છો ત્યાંથી તમને તે શોધી કાઢશે અને તમને તમાંરા દેશમાં પાછા લાવશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="DEU.30.5" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને જે દેશ એક વખત તમાંરા પિતૃઓના કબજામાં હતો, ત્યાં ફરીથી લાવશે, અને તમે તેનો કબજો પાછો મેળવશો, પછી યહોવા તમાંરા પિતૃઓ કરતાં પણ તમાંરી આબાદી અને વસ્તીમાં વૃદ્વિ કરશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="DEU.30.6" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરાં તથા તમાંરાં સંતાનોનાં હદય પરિવર્તન કરશે, જેથી તમે તેને પૂર્ણ હૃદય અને આત્માંથી પ્રેમ કરો અને જેથી તમે જીવતા રહેશો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.30.7" />“ત્યારબાદ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા આ બધા શ્રાપ તમાંરા શત્રુઓ તથા તમને રંજાડનાર પર મોકલી આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="DEU.30.8" />અને તમે ફરીથી તેને આધિન થશો અને આજે હું તમને તેની જે આજ્ઞાઓ જણાવું છું તેનું ફરીથી પાલન કરશો,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="DEU.30.9" />તેથી તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ તમે જે કોઈ કામ કરશો તેમાં તમને સફળતા આપશે, અને તમને ઘણાં સંતાનો, પુષ્કળ ઢોરઢાંખર તથા ઉત્તમ પાકની ઉપજ આપશે. યહોવા તમાંરા પિતૃઓ પર પ્રસન્ન હતા તેમ તમાંરા પર પણ ફરી પ્રસન્ન થશે અને તમાંરું કલ્યાણ કરશે;
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<v id="10" bcv="DEU.30.10" />પણ તમાંરે તેને કાળજીપૂર્વક સાંભળવો જ. આ
<bk>નિયમના ગ્રંથમાં</bk> તમાંરા દેવે લખેલી આજ્ઞાઓ અને નિયમો પાળો. અને તેની તરફ પૂર્ણ હદય અને આત્માંથી પાછા ફરો ત્યારે તે બહું પ્રસન્ન થશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ સામેના બે વિકલ્પો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.30.11" />“હું આજે તમને જે આજ્ઞાઓ જણાવું છું તે તમાંરી શકિત બહારની નથી, તેમ તમાંરાથી છેક દૂરની પણ નથી.
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<v id="12" bcv="DEU.30.12" />આ નિયમો આકાશમાં ઉંચે નથી કે તમે કહો કે, ‘કોણ એટલું ઉપર જશે અને આપણા માંટે તે લાવશે, કે જેથી આપણે તે સાંભળી તેનું પાલન કરીએ.’
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<v id="13" bcv="DEU.30.13" />તેમ એ દરિયાપાર પણ નથી કે તમને એવું થાય કે, ‘દરિયાપાર જઈને કોણ અમાંરે માંટે એ લઈ આવે? અને અમને જણાવે, જેથી અમે તેનું પાલન કરી શકીએ?’
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<v id="14" bcv="DEU.30.14" />પરંતુ તે તો છેક તમાંરી નજીક છે, તમાંરે હોઠે અને હૈયે છે, તેથી તમે તેમને આધિન થાઓ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.30.15" />“જુઓ, આજે હું તમને જીવન અને મૃત્યુ વચ્ચે; સારા અને દુષ્ટ વચ્ચે પસંદગી આપું છું.
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<v id="16" bcv="DEU.30.16" />આજે હું તમને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની જે આજ્ઞાઓ જણાવું છું તેનો અમલ કરશો, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા પર પ્રેમ રાખશો અને તેમની આજ્ઞાઓ, નિયમો અને કાયદાઓનું પાલન કરીને તેને માંગેર્ ચાલશો, તો તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરા પર આશીર્વાદ વરસાવશે, તમે જે દેશનો કબજો લેવા માંટે તેમાં પ્રવેશ કરી રહ્યા છો ત્યાં સદાને માંટે રહી શકશો, તથા વૃદ્ધિ અને સમૃદ્ધિ પામશો.
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<v id="17" bcv="DEU.30.17" />પરંતુ જો તમાંરા હૃદય યહોવાથી વિમુખ થઈ જાય અને તમે તેની અવજ્ઞા કરો અને તેનું ન સાંભળો, અને અન્ય દેવોની તમે સેવા પૂજા કરવા માંટે દોરવાઈ જાઓ,
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.30.18" />તો આજે હું તમને જણાવી દઉ છું કે તમે નાશ પામશો, અને યર્દન ઓળંગીને તમે જે દેશમાં કબજો લેવા જઈ રહ્યા છો ત્યાં વધારે આયુષ્ય ભોગવી નહિ શકો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.30.19" />“આજે હું આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીની સાક્ષીએ તમાંરી આગળ જીવન અને મરણ, આશીર્વાદ અને શ્રાપ પસંદગી માંટે રજૂ કરું છું. તમે જીવન પસંદ કરો જેથી તમે અને તમાંરાં સંતાનો એ દેશમાં સદાય રહો.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.30.20" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા પર પ્રેમભાવ રાખજો; તેમને આધિન રહો, અને તેમને કદી છોડી દેશો નહિ, કારણ કે યહોવા તમાંરું જીવન છે. અને તે તમને તમાંરા પિતૃઓ ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક, અને યાકૂબને આપેલા વચન પ્રમાંણે આપેલા દેશમાં દીર્ધાયુ પ્રદાન કરશે.”
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</p>

<c id="31" />
<s style="s">મૂસાના અનુગામી યહોશુઆ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.31.1" />ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને ઉદેશીને મૂસાએ આ બધી બાબતો અંગે વધુમાં કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="DEU.31.2" />“હું હવે 120 વર્ષનો થયો છું, તેથી તમને સૌને દોરવા માંટે હું શકિતમાંન નથી. યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું છે કે, ‘હું યર્દન નદી પાર કરી શકીશ નહિ.’
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="DEU.31.3" />પરંતુ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરી આગળ રહીને યર્દન નદી ઓળંગશે અને તમાંરી સામેની પ્રજાઓનો નાશ કરશે અને તમે તેમનો પ્રદેશ કબજે કરશો. અને યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે યહોશુઆ તમાંરી આગેવાની લેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.31.4" />“યહોવાએ અમોરીઓના રાજાઓ સીહોન અને ઓગ અને તેમના દેશોનો નાશ કર્યો તે રીતે તે આ દેશમાં રહેતા લોકોનો નાશ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="DEU.31.5" />અને યહોવા તે લોકોને તમાંરા હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરશે અને તમાંરે તેમની સાથે મેં તમને આજ્ઞા કરી છે તે મુજબ વર્તવુ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="DEU.31.6" />તમાંરે બળવાન અને હિંમતવાન થવું, તેઓથી ગભરાવું નહિ, કારણ કે, તમાંરા યહોવા દેવ તમાંરી સાથે છે. તે તમને છોડી દેશે નહિ કે તમને તજી દેશે પણ નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.31.7" />ત્યારબાદ મૂસાએ યહોશુઆને બોલાવડાવીને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સમક્ષ તેને કહ્યું, “બળવાન તથા હિંમતવાન થજે, દૃઢ રહેજે, કારણ, તારે આ લોકોને યહોવાએ એમના પિતૃઓને જે દેશ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તે દેશમાં લઈ જવાના છે. અને તારે એ લોકોને તે દેશની ભૂમિ વહેંચી આપવાની છે,
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="DEU.31.8" />યહોવા જાતે તારી આગેવાની લેશે, તે તારી સાથે રહેશે, તે તારા પ્રત્યે અવિશ્વાસુ બનશે નહિ; કે તને એકલોે પણ મૂકશે નહિ, માંટે તું જરાય ગભરાઈશ નહિ કે નાહિંમત થઈશ નહિ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">નિયમનું પારાયણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.31.9" />મૂસાએ આ નિયમ લખીને યહોવાના
<bk>નિયમના ગ્રંથમાં</bk> ઉપાડનાર લેવી યાજકોને અને બધા આગેવાનોને પણ તે નિયમની એક એક નકલ આપી.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="DEU.31.10" />અને તેઓને એવી આજ્ઞા કરી કે, “દર સાતમે વષેર્, એટલે કે મુકિત માંટે નક્કી કરેલા વષેર્ માંડવાન ઉત્સવ વખતે,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="DEU.31.11" />જયારે બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ યહોવા તમાંરા દેવે પસંદ કરેલા સ્થાને દેવને મળવા આવે ત્યારે તમાંરે આ નિયમો જાહેરમાં વાંચી સંભળાવવો, કે જેથી ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો તેઓને સાંભળી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="DEU.31.12" />તમાંરે સૌ પુરુષો, સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકો તેમ જ તમાંરા ભેગા વસતા વિદેશીઓને આ સાંભળવા માંટે સભામાં એકત્ર કરવાં, જેથી તેઓ યહોવાથી ગભરાઇને જીવતાં શીખે અને આ
<bk>નિયમોનું</bk> કાળજીપૂર્વક પાલન કરે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="DEU.31.13" />અને આ નિયમથી જાણીતા નહિ એવા તેમના વંશજો પણ એ સાંભળશે, યર્દન નદીની સામેની ભૂમિ કે જે તમે કબજે કરવા જઇ રહ્યાં છો તેમાં યહોવા તમાંરા દેવથી ગભરાતા શીખે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોવાની છેલ્લી સૂચનાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DEU.31.14" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તારા મૃત્યુનો સમય નજીક આવી રહ્યો છે. યહોશુઆને બોલાવ અને તમે બંને મુલાકાત મંડપમાં માંરી પાસે આવો, જેથી હું તને માંરો આદેશ આપી શકું.” તેથી મૂસા અને યહોશુઆ ગયા અને મુલાકાત મંડપમાં ઉભા રહ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.31.15" />મુલાકાત મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર પાસે યહોવાએ મેઘસ્તંભમાં દર્શન આપ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="DEU.31.16" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “તારા પિતૃઓની જેમ તું પણ હવે મરવાની અણી પર છે. આ લોકો જે દેશમાં જઈ રહ્યા છે તેમાં જઈ વિદેશીઓ ભેગા રહેશે એટલે માંરા પ્રત્યેની ભકિતથી ચલિત થઈને તેઓ તે લોકોના દેવોની પૂજા કરવા માંડશે, મને છોડી દેશે અને મેં તેમની સાથે કરેલા કરારનો તેઓ ભંગ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="DEU.31.17" />ત્યારે માંરો કોપ તે લોકો પર ભભૂકી ઊઠશે અને હું તેઓને તજી દઈશ. અને તેમનાથી વિમુખ થઈ જઈશ. તેમના પર અનેક આફતો અને સંકટો ઊતરશે અને તેઓને ભરખી જશે, ત્યારે તેઓ કહેશે કે, ‘આપણા દેવ આપણી વચ્ચે નથી તેથી આ બધા સંકટો આપણા પર આવે છે.’
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<v id="18" bcv="DEU.31.18" />પણ અન્ય દેવોની પૂજા કરીને તેઓએ કરેલાં પાપને કારણે હું તેમનાથી તે દિવસે માંરું મુખ તેઓથી સંતાડીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.31.19" />“હવે આ ગીત તું લખી લે, અને પછી તું તે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને શીખવજે, તેમનો તે શીખવા અને રટણ કરવા કહે કે જેથી આ ગીત માંરા માંટે તેમની વિરુદ્ધ સાક્ષી તરીકે ઉભુ રહેશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="DEU.31.20" />જે દેશ મેં એમના પિતૃઓને આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું ત્યાં હું તેમને લઈ જઈશ ત્યારે તે દૂધ અને મધથી ઉભરાતો હશે, તેઓને જેટલું ખાવું હોય તેટલું ખાશે, કે જ્યાં સુધી સંપૂર્ણ તૃપ્ત ન થાય. અને તેઓ અન્ય દેવો તરફ વળી જઈને તેમની પૂજા કરશે, એમ તેઓ માંરી અવજ્ઞા કરીને માંરા કરારનો ભંગ કરશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="DEU.31.21" />અને તેઓના પર ભયંકર વિનાશ આવી પડે ત્યારે આ ગીત તે લોકોને તેમના દુ:ખનું કારણ યાદ કરાવશે. (કારણ કે આ ગીત પેઢી દર પેઢી ગવાશે.) તેઓ તે દેશમાં પ્રવેશે તે અગાઉ હું જાણું છું કે, આ લોકો કેવા મનસૂબા ઘડે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.31.22" />તેથી તે જ દિવસે મૂસાએ એ ગીતના શબ્દો લખી લીધા અને તે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને શીખવ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="DEU.31.23" />પછી યહોવાએ નૂનના પુત્ર યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “બળવાન થજે અને દૃઢ રહેજે, કારણ કે, ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મેં જે દેશ આપવા કહ્યું હતું ત્યાં તારે એમને લઈ જવાના છે, અને હું તારી સાથે રહીશ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">મૂસા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ચેતવણી સાથે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="DEU.31.24" />જયારે મૂસાએ આ નિયમોના શબ્દો અથથી ઇતિ સૂધી એક પુસ્તકમાં લખવાનું પૂર્ણ કર્યું.
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<v id="25" bcv="DEU.31.25" />ત્યાર પછી આમ કહીં તેણે યહોવાના કરારકોશને ઉપાડવાની લેવીઓને આજ્ઞા કરી,
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<v id="26" bcv="DEU.31.26" />“આ
<bk>નિયમના ગ્રંથમાં</bk> લો અને તેને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની કરારકોશની જોડે રાખો, જેથી એ ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને ગંભીર ચેતવણી તરીકે તે ત્યાં જ રહે.
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<v id="27" bcv="DEU.31.27" />મૂસાએ તેઓને કહ્યું, તમે કેવા બળવાખોર અને હઠીલા છો તે હું જાણું છું. હું હજી તમાંરી વચ્ચે જીવતો છું છતાં આજે તમે યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરો છો, તો માંરા મૃત્યુ પછી તો તમે શું નહિ કરો!
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<v id="28" bcv="DEU.31.28" />હવે તમાંરા બધા કુળસમૂહોના આગેવાનો, વડીલો અને અમલદારોને માંરી આગળ ભેગા કરો, જેથી હું તેઓ સાથે વાત કરું. અને આકાશ તથા પૃથ્વીને તેઓની વિરુદ્ધ સાક્ષી તરીકે રાખું.
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<v id="29" bcv="DEU.31.29" />મને ખબર છે કે માંરા મૃત્યુ પછી તમે દુષ્ટ થશો, મેં તમને જે માંર્ગ અપનાવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે માંર્ગ છોડી દઈને તમે યહોવાથી તથા તેમની આજ્ઞાઓથી ભટકી જશો, તેથી ભવિષ્યમાં તમાંરા પર આફત ઊતરવાની છે, કારણ કે યહોવાની નજરમાં જે ભૂંડું છે તે તમે કરશો અને તમે યહોવાને ખૂબ ગુસ્સે કરશો.”
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</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાનું વિદાયગીત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="DEU.31.30" />પછી મૂસાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના સમગ્ર સમાંજના સાંભળતાં એ આખા ગીતનો પાઠ કર્યો:
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</p>

<c id="32" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.32.1" />“અરે! હે આકાશો, હું કહું તે કાને ધરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હે પૃથ્વી, તુ માંરા શબ્દો સાંભળ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="DEU.32.2" />માંરા ઉપદેશો વર્ષાની જેમ વરસશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માંરાં શબ્દો ઝાકળની જેમ પડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘાસ પર પડતા વર્ષાના ટીંપાની જેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફુલ પર પડતા છાંટાની જેમ ખરશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="DEU.32.3" />હું યહોવાની મહાનતા પ્રગટ કરીશ આવો, આવો, અને તેની મહાનતા ગાઓ.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.32.4" />“યહોવા અચળ ખડક છે, તેમનાં કાર્યો પણ સંપૂર્ણ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તેઓ હંમેશા ન્યાયની સાથે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જે કઇ કરે તે ન્યાયી અને ઉત્તમ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે સર્વદા વિશ્વાસપાત્ર છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનામાં કંઇ પણ દુષ્ટતા નથી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="DEU.32.5" />તમે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ભ્રષ્ટ થયા અને પાપથી ખરડાયા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે એનાં, કેવાં કુટિલ-કપટી દુષ્ટ સંતાન નીવડયાં!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="DEU.32.6" />ઓ મૂર્ખ લોકો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જરા તો વિચારો, શું તમે યહોવાને આ બદબો આપો છો?
</q>
<q style="q1">એ શું તે તમાંરા પિતા નથી, જેણે તમને જન્મ દીધો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અરે! એણે જ તમને સજર્યા, સ્થાપ્યા અને દૃડ કર્યાં.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.32.7" />“ભૂતકાળનું તમે જરા સ્મરણ તો કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેવા હતા તમાંરા પૂર્વજો!
</q>
<q style="q1">પૂછો તમાંરા પિતાને, તે તમને કહેશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૂછો તમાંરા વડીલોને, તે પણ જણાવશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.32.8" />પરાત્પર યહોવાએ પૃથ્વી પર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રજાઓને વિભાજીત કર્યા,
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રત્યેકને ભૂમિ વહેંચીને બાંધી આપી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સરહદ દેવદૂતોની સંખ્યા સમ પ્રજાઓને સ્થાપી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.32.9" />પરંતુ તેમણે કોઇને ઇસ્રાએલ માંટે ન નીમ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, ઇસ્રાએલ દેવની પોતાની પ્રજા છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.32.10" />“વેરાન-રણમાં એમનું રક્ષણ કર્યું હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આંખની કીકીની જેમ સંભાળ કરીં હતી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.32.11" />જેમ કોઈ ગરૂડ પોતાના માંળાની ચોકી કરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના બચ્ચાં ઉપર ચક્કર માંર્યા કરે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમને પોતાની પાંખો ઉપર ઉપાડી લે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તેમણે સંભાળ લીધી અને ઇસ્રાએલ પર કૃપા કરી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.32.12" />એકલા યહોવાએ જ તેમને દોર્યા હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઈ વિદેશી દેવોનો તેને સાથ ન્હોતો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="DEU.32.13" />દેવે તેઓને ફળવંત પ્રદેશ આપ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખેતરોનો મોલ ખવડાવ્યો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને કરાડોમાંના મધ અને જૈતૂનના તેલ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપ્યા અને ઉચ્ચ પ્રદેશમાં લઇ જઇ સ્થાપ્યા.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="DEU.32.14" />યહોવાએ તેમને ગાયોનું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બકરીઓનું દૂધ,
</q>
<q style="q1">શ્રેષ્ઠ ઘેટાં અને સારામાં સારા ઘઉ આપ્યાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ દ્રાક્ષોમાંથી શ્રેષ્ઠ પીણું દ્રાક્ષારસ પીધો.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.32.15" />“પરંતુ યશુરૂને પસંદ કરેલા લોકોએ ચરબી વધારી અને રાજદ્રોહ કર્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો જાડાં અને ખાધે સુખી હતાં અને બગડી ગયા હતાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના સર્જનહાર દેવને છોડી દીધા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને બચાવનારા તેમના બળવાન તારણહારની ધૃણા કરવાનું શરુ કર્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.32.16" />અન્ય દેવોની કરી પૂજા, યહોવામાં ઇર્ષ્યા જગાડી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આચારો પાળી દેવનો રોષ વહોર્યો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="DEU.32.17" />જે દેવ ન હતાં એવા દૈત્યોને તેઓ બલિ ચઢાવવા લાગ્યાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ આસપાસની અજ્ઞાત પ્રજાઓમાંથી આવ્યા હતાં અને જેમની ભૂતકાળમાં પિતૃઓએ પૂજા કરી નહોતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવા દેવોની ભકિત કરીને સૌએ તેમને અર્પણો ચઢાવ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="DEU.32.18" />તેઓ તેમના સર્જનહાર, તેમના બળવાન તારણહાર દેવને ભૂલી ગયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તેમને જન્મઆપનાર દેવને ભૂલી ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.32.19" />“આ જોઇને યહોવા રોષે ભરાયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં પુત્રો અને પુત્રીઓએ તેને ગુસ્સે કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.32.20" />તેમણે વિચાર્યુ,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘હું વિમુખ થઈ જાઉં એ લોકોથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને જોંઉ તો ખરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">શા હાલ થાય છે એ લોકોના, એ પેઢી દગાબાજ અને વિશ્વાસઘાતી છોકરાં છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જોઉ તો ખરો, કેવી એ લોક પોક ભૂકે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="DEU.32.21" />કહેવાતા દેવોની પૂજા કરીને એ લોકોએ માંરામાં ઇર્ષ્યા જગાડી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મૂર્તિઓની કરી પૂજા, વહોર્યો છે એમણે માંરો રોષ;
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે તો હું પણ કહેવાતી પ્રજા વડે એમનામાં ઇર્ષ્યા જગાડીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અપીર્મુજ પ્રેમ વિદેશી પ્રજાઓને, હું એમનો જગાડીશ રોષ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.32.22" />એ મુજ ક્રોઘાગ્નિ ભભૂકી ઉઠયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાતાળના તળિયા સુધી બધુ ભસ્મ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મૂળમાંથી આખા પર્વતને અને પૃથ્વીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાકને ભરખી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="DEU.32.23" />“‘પછી હું તે લોકો પર એક પછી એક આફતો ઉતારીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તરકશનાં માંરાં તીક્ષ્ણ તીરોથી હું તેઓને વીંધી નાખીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="DEU.32.24" />કરી દુકાળ, રોગચાળો અને મરકી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જશે તેમનો કોળિયો.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને છૂટા મૂકીશ હું તેમના પર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઝેરી નાગો અને જનાવરો જંગલી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="DEU.32.25" />ઘર બહાર તરવાર તેમને પૂરા કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને ઘરમાં ભયથી ફફડી મરશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">જુવાન સ્ત્રી-પુરુષ કે વૃદ્વો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી ધાવણાં બાળક પણ નહિ બચે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="DEU.32.26" />“‘દૂરના દેશોમાં તેઓને વિખેરી નાખવાનો મે નિર્ણય કર્યો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનું સ્મરણ સુદ્ધાં ન રહે, તેવો મેં સંકલ્પ કર્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="DEU.32.27" />પરંતુ મને ભય છે એવો કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં શત્રુઓ ખોટું સમજશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અમાંરા બાહુબળથી ઇસ્રાએલનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કર્યો વિનાશ-બડાશ હાંકશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“યહોવાએ તેમનો વિનાશ નથી કર્યો.”’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="DEU.32.28" />“ઇસ્રાએલ સમજણ વગરની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૂર્ખ પ્રજા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="DEU.32.29" />તેઓમાં હોશિયારી-સમજણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હોત તો કેવું સારૂં?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કયાં જઈ રહ્યા છે એટલું પણ જાણતા હોત તો કેવું સારું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="DEU.32.30" />એક માંણસ કહો શી રીતે હજારને હરાવે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">10,000 ને બે માંણસ કહો શી રીતે નસાડે?
</q>
<q style="q1">સિવાય કે ખડક સમાં યહોવાએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને તજયા હોય;
</q>
<q style="q1">કે પછી તે સૌને દુશ્મનોના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હાથમાં સોંપ્યા હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="DEU.32.31" />અન્ય પ્રજાઓ પાસે આપણા ખડક સમ ખડક નથી, આપણા શત્રુઓ પણ તે જાણે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="DEU.32.32" />તેઓની દ્રાક્ષ લતાઓ અને ખેતરો અદોમ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ગમોરાહની જેમ કડવાશ અને ઝેરથી ભરેલા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="33" bcv="DEU.32.33" />વિષવેલ જેવા કડવા વખ, ને સર્પના જીવલેણ વિષ જેવા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દ્રાક્ષારસ તેઓ પીએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="DEU.32.34" />“યહોવા કહે છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">‘સજા માંરી પાસે રક્ષિત છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેને માંરા સંગ્રહખાનામાં તાળું માંરી રાખ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="DEU.32.35" />હું બદલો લઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમના દુશ્મનોને સજા કરીશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનાં દુશ્મનો લપસી પડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના વિનાશનો દિવસ નજીક છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="DEU.32.36" />“યહોવાનો ન્યાય તેના લોકોના પક્ષમાં હશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ દયા દર્શાવી સૌને બચાવી લેશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">ગુલામ અને મુકત બંનેની શકિત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્ષીણ થતાં જોઈ તે દુ:ખી થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="DEU.32.37" />યહોવા તે સમયે લોકોને, પૂછશે કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘તેઓના દેવો કયાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમને બળવાન તારણહાર “ખડક” માંન્યા હતા, તે તમાંરા દેવો કયાં છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="DEU.32.38" />કહેવાતા દેવ, જેમનું શરણું તમે લીધું હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે તમાંરા બલિની ચરબી ખાતાં હતા;
</q>
<q style="q1">જે પેયાર્પણનો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમાંરી મદદમાં કેમ આવતા નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="DEU.32.39" />“‘હું જ એકલો દેવ છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બીજો કોઇ દેવ નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">શું તમે નથી જોતા?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જ માંરું છું, ને હું જ જીવાડું છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું જ કરું છું ઘાયલ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને હું જ કરૂં છું સાજા;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમને મુજ હાથમાંથી કોઇ છોડાવી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="DEU.32.40" />હું માંરો હાથ આકાશ તરફ ઊંચો કરું છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સમ ખાઉ છું કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સદાય જીવંત છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="DEU.32.41" />કે હું જ માંરી ચળકતી તરવારની ધાર કાઢીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ન્યાય કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુશ્મનો પર હું વેર વાળીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે મને ધિક્કારે છે તેને હું સજા કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="DEU.32.42" />માંરા બાણો માંરા દુશ્મનોનું લોહી પીશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માંરી તરવાર જેઓને માંરી નાખવામાં આવ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તથા કેદીઓના માંસની મિજબાની કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તેઓના આગેવાનોના માંથા કાપી નાખશે.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="DEU.32.43" />“ઓ દેશજાતિઓ, દેવના લોકોનો જયનાદ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાના સેવકોના ખૂનનો બદલો લેશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કરશે સજા તે પોતાના દુશ્મનોને,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને કરશે પાવન પોતાના લોકોના દેશને.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">મૂસા તેનું ગીત લોકોને શીખવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="DEU.32.44" />મૂસાએ અને યહોશુઆએ આ ગીતના શબ્દો લોકોના સમક્ષ ગાઈ સંભળાવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="DEU.32.45" />મૂસાએ તમાંમ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આ વચનો આપવાનું પૂરૂં કર્યા પછી.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="DEU.32.46" />તેણે કહ્યું, “આજે મેં તમાંરી સમક્ષ જે વચનો ઉચ્ચાર્યા છે તે હૈયે કોતરી રાખજો, તમાંરા વંશજોને આ નિયમનાં વચનોનું પાલન કરવાનું જણાવજો.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="DEU.32.47" />આ નિયમો ફકત શબ્દો જ નથી, તે તમાંરું જીવન છે! તેને આધિન થઈને પાલન કરશો તો યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને જે દેશનો, તમે કબજો મેળવશો તેમાં તમે દીર્ઘકાળ સુખી અને સમુદ્વ આયુષ્ય ભોગવશો.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મૂસા નબો પર્વત પર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="DEU.32.48" />તે જ દિવસે યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="49" bcv="DEU.32.49" />“મોઆબના પ્રદેશમાં યરીખોની સામે અબારીમના પર્વતોમાં નબો પર્વત પર જા, તેની ટોચ પર ચઢીને ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને હું જે કનાનનો પ્રદેશ આપવાનો છું તે તું જોઈ લે.
<ve />
<v id="50" bcv="DEU.32.50" />તારો ભાઈ હારુન હોર પર્વત પર મૃત્યુ પામીને તારા પૂર્વજો સાથે જોડાઈ ગયો, તેમ તે દેશ જોયા પછી તારે પણ એ જ પર્વત પર મૃત્યુ પામીને પિતૃલોકમાં જવાનું છે,
<ve />
<v id="51" bcv="DEU.32.51" />કારણ કે તમે સીનના રણમાં કાદેશ આગળ આવેલા મરીબાહનાં ઝરણા નજીક માંરા પર અવિશ્વાસ કરીને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ આગળ માંરું અપમાંન કર્યુ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="52" bcv="DEU.32.52" />તેથી સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જે દેશ આપનાર છું. તેને તૂ દૂરથી જોઈ શકીશ. પણ તેમાં પ્રવેશ કરી શકીશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="33" />
<s style="s">સર્વ વંશોને મૂસાના અંતિમ આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.33.1" />દેવના વિશ્વાસુ સેવક મૂસાએ પોતાના મૃત્યુ પહેલાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આ પ્રમાંણે આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="DEU.33.2" />“મૂસાએ કહ્યું, યહોવા આપણી પાસે સિનાઈ પર્વત પરથી આવ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સેઈર પર્વત પરથી પોતાના લોકો સામે સૂર્યની જેમ પ્રગ્રટ થયા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પારાન પર્વત પરથી તે પ્રકાશ્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમની સાથે 10,000 દૂતો હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને જમણે હાથે ઝળહળતી જવાળા હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="DEU.33.3" />હા, યહોવા પોતાનાના લોકોને ચાહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના બધા પવિત્ર લોકો તેના હાથમાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તેના પગ આગળ બેસે છે, અને તેનો ઉપદેશ ગ્રહણ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="DEU.33.4" />મૂસાએ અમને જે નિયમનું પાલન કરવાનું કહ્યું હતું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જ અમાંરો યાકૂબના વંશજોના મૂલ્યવાન વારસો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="DEU.33.5" />યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોના રાજા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જયારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓના બધા વંશો પોતાના આગેવાનો સહિત ભેગા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મળ્યા ત્યારે તેમને પોતાના રાજા તરીકે પસંદ કર્યા હતા.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">રૂબેનને આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DEU.33.6" />મૂસાએ રૂબેન વંશ વિષે કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“રૂબેન સદા જીવંત રહો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેનું કુળસમૂહ હંમેશા નાનું રહે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહૂદાને આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DEU.33.7" />યહૂદા માંટે મૂસાએ કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે યહોવા, યહૂદાનો પોકાર સાંભળજે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને તેના લોકો પાસે લાવ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને બળ આપજો અને એમના દુશ્મનોનો સામનો કરવામાં એમને સહાય કરજો.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">લેવીઓને આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DEU.33.8" />ત્યારબાદ મૂસાએ લેવી વંશ વિષે કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે યહોવા, લેવી વંશજો તમાંરા સાચા સેવકો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ઉરીમ અને તુમ્મીમ રાખે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">માંસ્સાહ મુકામે તેં લેવીની પરખ કરી હતી,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મરીબાહના ઝરણાં આગળ તેં એમની કસોટી કરી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.33.9" />અને તેઓએ તમાંરી આજ્ઞા માંથે ચઢાવી હતી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તમાંરી સાથેના કરારને વળગી રહ્યા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">પોતાના માંતાપિતાને તેમણે કહ્યું હતું;
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે તમને જરા પણ ઓળખતા નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓએ પોતાના ભાઈઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સંતાનોને પણ ઓળખવાનો ઇન્કાર કર્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.33.10" />તારો નિયમ લેવીઓ ઇસ્રાએલને શીખવશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓ તમાંરી ધૂપવેદી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા દહનાર્પણની વેદી સમક્ષ સેવાઓ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="DEU.33.11" />“હે યહોવા, તારા આશીર્વાદથી એમની સંપત્તિની વૃદ્વિ કરજે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની પર પ્રસન્ન રહેજે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના દુશ્મનોની કમર તોડી નાખજે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેઓ ફરી વાર બેઠા જ ન થઈ શકે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">બિન્યામીનને આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DEU.33.12" />પછી બિન્યામીન વિષે મૂસાએ કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તે યહોવાનો પ્રિય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના રક્ષણમાં તે સુરક્ષિત છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરાત્પર દેવ સદાય તેનું રક્ષણ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ તેના ખોળામાં વસે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યૂસફના આશીવાંદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DEU.33.13" />પછી તેણે યૂસફ વંશ વિષે કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“યહોવા, તેના પ્રદેશને ખૂબ લાભ આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉપરથી આકાશની વૃષ્ટિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નીચેથી પાતાળના જળથી દેવ તેની ભૂમિને આશીર્વાદિત કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="DEU.33.14" />સૂર્ય તેમને શ્રેષ્ઠ પાક મેળવવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા ચંદ્ર તેમને શ્રેષ્ઠ ફળો મેળવવા મદદ કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="DEU.33.15" />એના પ્રાચીન પર્વતો અને જૂના પર્વતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉત્તમ ફળોથી લચી રહો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="DEU.33.16" />પૃથ્વીની સમગ્ર સમૃદ્વિ એને મળો.
</q>
<q style="q1">બળતાં ઝાંખરામાં પ્રગટ થયેલ યહોવાની તેના આશીર્વાદોથી તેને આશીર્વાદિત કરે એમના ઉપર કૃપાવૃષ્ટિ થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે, બધા ભાઈઓથી તેને જુદો કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો, તેમના પર સર્વ આશીર્વાદ ઊતરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="DEU.33.17" />એ મહાન પ્રતાપી બળદના જેવો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એનાં શિંગડાં રાની સાંઢના જેવાં છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે ભોંકી ભોંકીને તે પ્રજાઓને પૃથ્વીને છેડે હાંકી કાઢશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એફાઈમના અસંખ્ય યોદ્વાઓ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મનાશ્શાના હજારો યોદ્વાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના શિંગડાં છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઝબુલોન અને ઇસ્સાખારને આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DEU.33.18" />પછી મૂસાએ ઝબુલોન અને ઇસ્સાખાર વંશો વિષે કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ઝબુલોન, તેની મુસાફરીઓમાં આશીર્વાદિત થાઓ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ઇસ્સાખાર તેના તંબુઓમાં આશીર્વાદિત થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="DEU.33.19" />તેઓ બીજા લોકોને તેમની સાથે જોડાવા બોલાવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ બલિઓ બરાબર રીતે અર્પશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ સમુદ્રની સમૃદ્ધિ માંણશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રેતીમાં છુપાયેલ ભંડારોને ભોગવશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ગાદને આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DEU.33.20" />ગાદના આશીર્વાદો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ગાદના પ્રદેશને વિસ્તારનાર આશીર્વાદીત હો!
</q>
<q style="q1">ગાદ સિંહ જેવો છે, તેના શિકારને ઝડપવા તૈયાર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી તે તેઓના હાથોને કાઢી અને તેમની ખોપરીઓ ભાંગી નાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="DEU.33.21" />તેણે પોતાના માંટે ઉત્તમમાં ઉત્તમ પ્રદેશ કર્યો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે, તેને આગેવાન તરીકેનો ભાગ ફાળવવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે લોકોને નેતૃત્વ પૂરૂં પાડયું, કારણ કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલ માંટેની યહોવાની આજ્ઞાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ન્યાયચુકાદાનો તેણે અમલ કર્યો.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દાનને આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="DEU.33.22" />મૂસાએ દાન વિષે કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દાન તો સિંહનું બચ્ચું છે-તે બાશાનમાંથી ઢોળાવો પરથી ફાળ ભરતું આવે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">નફતાલીને આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="DEU.33.23" />ત્યારબાદ નફતાલી વિષે તેણે કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“નફતાલી પર તો યહોવાની કૃપા અપરંપાર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પર યહોવાના અસીમ આશીર્વાદ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનો પ્રદેશ ગાલીલના સરોવરથી છેક દક્ષિણ સુધી વિસ્તરે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">આશેરને આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="DEU.33.24" />આગળ જતાં તેણે આશેર વિષે કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“બધા પુત્રોમાં આશેર સૌથી વધારે વહાલો હોવાથી વધુ માંનીતો હતો તેથી વધુ લાભ પામ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાના પગ જૈતતેલમાં બોળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પ્રદેશમાં મબલખ તેલ પેદા થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="DEU.33.25" />તેની ભૂંગળો લોખંડ અથવા પિત્તળની થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સદા માંટે બળવાન રહે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવનો મહિમાં ગાતો મૂસા
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="DEU.33.26" />“હે ઇસ્રાએલ, તમાંરા દેવ જેવો બીજો કોઈ દેવ નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે આકાશમાંથી વાદળ પર સવાર થઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના ગૌરવમાં તમને મદદ કરવા આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="DEU.33.27" />સનાતન દેવ તમાંરો રક્ષક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના અનંત બાહુ તને ઝીલી લે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે દુશ્મનોને તારી આગળથી હાકી કાઢયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તને એમનો વિનાશ કરવાની આજ્ઞા કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="DEU.33.28" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ નિશ્ચિત થઈને સુરક્ષામાં વાસ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાકૂબના વંશજો મબલખ અનાજ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દ્રાક્ષારસના ભંડાર સમી ધરતી પર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અકળ વરસાવતા આકાશ નીચે સુરક્ષિત રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="DEU.33.29" />હે ઇસ્રાએલ, તું આશીર્વાદિત છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમાંરા આશીર્વાદો કેવા મહાન છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાના હાથે ઉદ્વાર થનાર તારા જેવી બીજી કોઈ પ્રજા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા ઢાલની જેમ તારૂં રક્ષણ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તને વિજય અપાવનાર તરવાર જેવા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમાંરા દુશ્મનો તમાંરા પગમાં પડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તમાંરા પગ વડે તેઓને છૂંદી નાખશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની પવિત્ર જગ્યાઓને કચરી નાખશો.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="34" />
<s style="s">મૂસાનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DEU.34.1" />ત્યારબાદ મૂસા મોઆબના મેદાનમાંથી યરીખોની પૂવેર્ આવેલા નબો પર્વત પર, પિસ્ગાહના શિખર પર ચઢયો, અને યહોવાએ તેને સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ બતાવ્યો: ગિલયાદથી દાન સુધીનો પ્રદેશ,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="DEU.34.2" />આખો નફતાલીનો પ્રદેશ, એફાઈમ અને મનાશ્શાનો પ્રદેશ, પશ્ચિમ સમુદ્ર સુધીનો યહૂદાનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="DEU.34.3" />નેગેબનો પ્રદેશ અને ખજૂરીઓના નગર યરીખોથી સોઆર સુધીનો સપાટ પ્રદેશ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="DEU.34.4" />પછી યહોવાએ મૂસાને કહ્યું, “આ રહ્યો તે પ્રદેશ જે તેમના વંશજોને આપવાનું મેં ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક અને યાકૂબને વચન આપ્યું હતું. ‘મેં તને તારી સગી આંખે એ જોવા દીધો છે, પણ તું તેમાં આગળ જઈને પ્રવેશ કરવા નહિ પામે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DEU.34.5" />આમ, યહોવાનો સેવક મૂસા તેમના કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે મોઆબની ભૂમિમાં મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="DEU.34.6" />તેને એ જ મોઆબની ભૂમિમાં બેથપેઓરની સામેની કોઈ ખીણમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, પરંતુ આજ સુધી કોઈને તેની કબરની ખબર નથી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="DEU.34.7" />મૂસા મૃત્યુ પામ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉમર 120 વર્ષની હતી. તેના શરીરે શકિત ગુમાંવી ન હતી કે તેની આંખોની શકિત ઓછી થઈ નહોતી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="DEU.34.8" />મોઆબના મેદાનમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ત્રીસ દિવસ સુધી મૂસાના મૃત્યુનો શોક પાળ્યો. અને ત્યાર બાદ શોકના દિવસો પૂરા થયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નવો આગેવાન યહોશુઆ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DEU.34.9" />નૂનનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ જ્ઞાનના આત્માંથી ભરપૂર હતો, કારણ કે મૂસાએ તેના મસ્તક પર પોતાનો હાથ મૂકયો હતો, તેથી ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો યહોશુઆને આધિન રહેતા અને યહોવાએ મૂસા દ્વારા આપેલી આજ્ઞાઓ પાળતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DEU.34.10" />ત્યાર બાદ ઇસ્રાએલમાં મૂસા જેવો કોઈ બીજો પ્રબોધક થયો નથી; યહોવાએ તેને પ્રત્યક્ષ દર્શન આપી તેની સાથે વાતો કરી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="DEU.34.11" />મિસરના દેશમાં ફારુન અને તેના અમલદારો તથા સમગ્ર દેશ વિરુદ્ધ યહોવાએ તેની પાસે જે ચમત્કારો અને પરચાઓ કરાવ્યા તેવા બીજા કોઈ પ્રબોધકે કર્યા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="DEU.34.12" />સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાના દેખતાં તેમણે જે મહાન અને આશ્ચર્યજનક કૃત્યો કર્યા, તેવાં કૃત્યો અન્ય કોઈ પ્રબોધક કરી શકયો નથી.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="JOS"><id id="JOS">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>યહોશુઆ
</h><toc level="1">યહોશુઆ
</toc><toc level="2">યહોશુઆ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યહોશુઆ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">યહોશુઆની ઇસ્રાએલના ઉત્તરાધિકારી તરીકે પસંદગી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.1.1" />મૂસા યહોવાનો સેવક હતો, નૂનનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ મૂસાનો મદદનીશ હતો. મૂસાના મૃત્યુ પછી યહોશુઆ સાથે યહોવાએ વાત કરી અને તેણે કહ્યું:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JOS.1.2" />“હવે માંરા સેવક મૂસાનું અવસાન થયું છે. તેથી તું ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોનો નેતા છે. તેથી ઇસ્રાએલના બધા લોકોને લઈ અને યર્દન નદીની પેલે પાર હું તને જે દેશ આપું છું ત્યાં જા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JOS.1.3" />મેં મૂસાને વચન આપ્યું હતું કે હું તમને આ જગા આપીશ. જે જમીન તમાંરા પગ નીચે આવશે તે હું તમને આપીશ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JOS.1.4" />હિત્તીઓની બધી ભૂમિ રણ અને લબાનોનથી મહાન નદી યુફ્રેતીસ સુધી અને પશ્ચિમમાં છેક મહાસાગર તમાંરી સીમાંમાં હશે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JOS.1.5" />તું જ્યાં સુધી જીવતો રહીશ ત્યાં સુધી કોઈ તને રોકી શકશે નહિ. હું જેમ મૂસાની સાથે રહેતો હતો. તે જ પ્રમાંણે તારી સાથે પણ હું રહીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.1.6" />“યહોશુઆ બળવાન અને હિમ્મતવાન થા. કારણ, તારે આ લોકોને જે દેશ તરફ દોરી જવાના છે જે મેં તેઓના પૂર્વજોની આગળ તેમને આપવા માંટે વચન આપ્યું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JOS.1.7" />તારે તો માંત્ર બળવાન અને હિમ્મતવાન થવાનું છે. અને માંરા સેવક મૂસાએ જે નિયમો તને આપ્યાં તેનું તારે સંપૂર્ણ પાલન કરવાનું છે. જો તું તેને સંપૂર્ણપણે અનુસરીશ તો તું જે કંઈ કરીશ તેમાં સફળ થઈશ. તેનાથી ફરતો નહિ, નહિ ડાબે કે નહિ જમણે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JOS.1.8" />એ નિયમ શાસ્ત્ર તારા મોંમાંથી જાય નહિ પણ રાતદિવસ તારે એનું મનન કરવાનું છે જેથી એમાં જે લખેલું છે તેનું તું કાળજીપૂર્વક પાલન કરી શકે: કારણકે તો જ તું સફળ થશે અને સમૃદ્ધિ પામશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JOS.1.9" />મેં તને બળવાન અને હિમ્મતવાન થવા આજ્ઞા કરી હતી. તેથી ભયભીત કે નાહિંમ્મત થઈશ નહિ કારણ હું તારો દેવ યહોવા છું. યહોશુઆ જ્યાં ક્યાંય તું જાય છે ત્યાં તારો દેવ, હું તારી સાથે છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોશુઆએ નેતૃત્વ કર્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOS.1.10" />ત્યારબાદ યહોશુઆએ લોકોના આગેવાનોને આ પ્રમાંણે આજ્ઞા કરી કે,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JOS.1.11" />“છાવણીમાં બધે ફરીને લોકોને કહો કે, ‘તમાંરી સાથે લેવા માંટે થોડું ખાવાનું તૈયાર રાખજો કારણકે યર્દન નદી ઓળંગવા માંટે તમને ત્રણ દિવસ લાગશે અને આપણા દેવ યહોવા આપણને વચન આપેલ દેશ આપશે. આપણે ત્યાં જઈશું અને રહીશું!’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JOS.1.12" />પછી તેણે રૂબેન અને ગાદના કુળસમૂહના સર્વ માંણસોને તથા મનાશ્શાના અર્ધ કુળસમૂહના આગેવાનોને ચેતવણી આપી
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JOS.1.13" />“યાદ કરો, યહોવાના સેવક મૂસાએ તમને શું કહ્યું હતું, તેણે કહ્યું કે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને આરામ આપશે. તે તમને આ દેશ આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="JOS.1.14" />તમાંરી પત્નીઓ અને બાળકો તે દેશમાં રહી શકે છે કે જે યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વે છે જે દેવે તમને આપી દીધી છે. પણ તમાંરા સૈનિકોએ તેઓની ભૂમિના બીજા ભાગો ધરાવતી વખતે તેમની સાથે યર્દન નદી પાર કરી અને તેઓની સાથે લડાઈ કરવા તેઓના ઇસ્રાએલી ભાઈઓને મદદ કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JOS.1.15" />કે જેથી તેઓ પણ યહોવા તેમને જે ભૂમિ આપી રહ્યા છે તે ધારણ કરી શકે. અને તેઓ પાસે આરામ કરવાનું સ્થાન હશે. તેના પછી તમે પાછા આવી શકો અને યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વની ભૂમિમાં રહી શકો જે યહોવાના સેવક મૂસાએ તમને આપી હતી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JOS.1.16" />તે લોકોએ યહોશુઆને ઉત્તરમાં જણાવ્યું, “તમે જે આજ્ઞા અમને આપી છે તે અમે પાળીશું અને તમે જયાં મોકલશો ત્યાં જઈશું.
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<v id="17" bcv="JOS.1.17" />અમે જે રીતે મૂસાની આજ્ઞાને આધીન હતા અને જે પ્રમાંણે તેનું કહ્યું માંનતા હતા, તે જ પ્રમાંણે તમને આધીન રહીશું. ફકત એટલું તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા જેમ મૂસાની સાથે હતા, તેમજ તમાંરી સાથે પણ રહે.
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<v id="18" bcv="JOS.1.18" />કોઈ પણ જે તમાંરી આજ્ઞાને ન અનુસરે અથવા કોઈ પણ જે તમાંરો વિરોધ કરે, તે કોઈ પણ હોય તોપણ તે માંર્યો જાય; એટલું જકે તું બળવાન અને હિમ્મતવાન થા!”
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">યરીખોમાં જાસૂસો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.2.1" />ત્યાર પછી નૂનના પુત્ર યહોશુઆએ શિટ્ટિમમાંથી ઇસ્રાએલી છાવણીમાંથી બે જાસૂસો મોકલ્યા. તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “જાઓ તમે જઈને દેશની તથા યરીખોનગરની બાતમી કાઢો.” તેથી તેઓ યરીખો ગયા. યરીખોમાં રાહાબ નામની વારાંગના સ્ત્રી, ધર્મશાળા ચલાવતી હતી,
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓ તેણીના સ્થાને ગયા અને ત્યાં રાત રોકાવાની યોજના કરતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JOS.2.2" />પણ યરીખોના રાજાએ કોઈ પાસેથી સાંભળ્યું કે, “ગઈ રાત્રે કેટલાક ઇસ્રાએલી જાસૂસો આપણા દેશની જાસૂસી કરવા આવ્યા હતા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JOS.2.3" />પછી યરીખોના રાજાએ રાહાબપસે માંણસો મોકલ્યાં અને તેનો તેણીને સંદેશ હતો: “જે માંણસો તારે ત્યાં આવીને તારા ઘરમાં રહેલા છે તેમને બહાર કાઢ, કારણ કે એ લોકો આપણા દેશમાં જાસૂસી કરવા આવેલા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JOS.2.4" />પરંતુ તે સ્ત્રીએ તે બે માંણસોને સંતાડી દીધા હતા, તેથી જવાબ આપ્યો કે, “માંરા ઘરમાં કેટલાક માંણસો આવ્યા હતા ખરા પણ તેઓ કયાંથી આવ્યા હતા અને તેઓ જાસૂસ છે એની મને ખબર નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.2.5" />રાત પડતાં શહેરના દરવાજા બંધ કરવાનો વખત થયો ત્યારે તેઓ ચાલ્યા ગયા હતા, પછી તેઓ ક્યાં ગયા તેની મને ખબર નથી. પણ જો તમે ઝડપથી તેમનો પીછો કરો તો તમે તેઓને પકડી પાડશો.”
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<v id="6" bcv="JOS.2.6" />ખરેખર તેણીએ તેઓને ધાબા ઉપર શણનાં ઢગલાઓની નીચે સંતાડી દીધા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.2.7" />રાજાના માંણસો તેમનો પીછો પકડવા યર્દન નદીના ઘાટ સુધી ગયા; અને તેઓ બહાર ગયા તે દરમ્યાન લોકોએ નગરના દરવાજાઓ બંધ કરી દીધા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JOS.2.8" />રાત્રે પેલા બંને જણ હજી સૂતા નહોતા ત્યાં તો રાહાબે ધાબા ઉપર તેમની પાસે આવીને તેઓને કહ્યું,
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<v id="9" bcv="JOS.2.9" />“મને ખબર છે કે યહોવાએ તમને આ દેશ આપી દીધો છે. અને અમે બધાં તમાંરાથી ડરી ગયાં છીએ, અને તમાંરા આવવાથી દેશના વતનીઓ થરથર ધ્રૂજી ગયા છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="JOS.2.10" />અમે સાંભળ્યું છે કે, તમે મિસરમાંથી આવતા હતા ત્યારે યહોવાએ રાતા સમુદ્રના પાણીને સૂકવી નાખ્યું હતું, અને અમે એમ પણ સાંભળ્યું છે કે બે અમોરી રાજાઓ સીહોન, ઓગ અને તેનું સૈન્ય તમાંરા દ્વારા યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વે મૃત્યુ અને પરાજય પામ્યું હતું.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.2.11" />આ સાંભળીને અમે બહુ ડરી ગયાઁ અને અમાંરી બહાદુરી ગુમાંવી દીધી. અહીં કોઈપણ તમાંરી સાથે લડવા પૂરતું બહાદુર નથી. કારણ યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ તેજ ઉપર આકાશમાં અને પૃથ્વી પર રાજ કરે છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="JOS.2.12" />હવે તમે યહોવાના નામે સોગંદ ખાઈને મને વચન આપો કે, મેં તમાંરા પ્રત્યે જેવો માંયાળુ વર્તાવ રાખ્યો છે તેવો માંયાળુ વર્તાવ તમે માંરા કુટુંબ પ્રત્યે રાખશો, અને એનુ કોઈ ચોક્કસ ચિહન આપો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JOS.2.13" />અને એવું વચન આપો કે, તમે માંરા પિતાને, માંતાને, માંરા ભાઈઓને અને માંરી બેહનોને અને તેમનાં બધાં જ મનુષ્યોને જીવનદાન આપશો અને અમને બધાંને મોતમાંથી ઉગારી લેશો!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.2.14" />પેલા બંને માંણસોએ તેણીને કહ્યું, “તમાંરા માંટે અમે અમાંરું જીવન હોડમાં મૂકવા તૈયાર છીએ, જો તું અમાંરી આ વાત ખુલ્લી ન પાડી દે તો, યહોવા અમને જ્યારે આ દેશ સુપ્રત કરશે ત્યારે અમે ચોક્કસ દયા દાખવશું અને તમને વફાદાર રહીશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.2.15" />રાહાબ જે મકાનમાં રહેતી હતી તે નગરની દીવાલની પાસે આવેલું હતું. તેથી તેણીએ તે બંને પુરુષોને તેણીના ઘરની બારીમાંથી દોરડાની મદદથી નીચે ઊતરવા દીધા.
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<v id="16" bcv="JOS.2.16" />અને તેમને કહ્યું, “તમે પર્વતોમાં ચાલ્યા જાઓ, નહિતર તમે પીછો પકડનારાઓના હાથમાં ઝડપાઈ જશો. ત્રણ દિવસ સુધી તમે સંતાઈને રહેજો, ત્યાં સુધીમાં એ લોકો પાછા આવી જશે. ત્યાર પછી તમે તમાંરા માંર્ગે આગળ વધજો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JOS.2.17" />વિદાય થતાં પહેલાં તે માંણસોએ તેને કહ્યું, “તું જો અમાંરા કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે નહિ કરે તો તેં અમાંરી પાસે જે વચન લીધું છે તેમાંથી અમે મુક્ત થઈ જઈશું.
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<v id="18" bcv="JOS.2.18" />સાંભળ, અમે જયારે આ દેશ ઉપર આક્રમણ કરીએ ત્યારે જે બારીમાંથી તેં અમને ઉતાર્યા છે, તે બારીએ આ કિરમજી રંગનું દોરડું બાંધજે, તારા માંતાપિતા, ભાઈબહેન અને તારા કુટુંબના સૌને તારા ઘરમાં ભેગા કરી રાખજે.
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<v id="19" bcv="JOS.2.19" />જો કોઈ તારા ઘરના બારણાની બહાર નીકળશે, તો તેના મોતના જવાબદારી તેને માંથે, એમાં અમાંરો દોષ નહિ; પણ તારી સાથે ઘરમાં હોય એવા કોઈને ઈજા થાય તો તેનો દોષ અમાંરે માંથે.
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<v id="20" bcv="JOS.2.20" />પણ જો તું અમાંરી વાત જહેર કરી દેશે, તો તેં અમાંરી પાસે કરેલો કરાર અમને બંધનકર્તા રહેશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JOS.2.21" />તેણે કહ્યું, “કબૂલ છે.” પછી તે સ્ત્રીએ તે લોકોને વિદાય કર્યા અને તેઓ ચાલી નીકળ્યા પછી તેણે બારીએ કિરમજી રંગનું લાલ દોરડું બાંધી દીધું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JOS.2.22" />પેલા માંણસો પહાડોમાં છુપાઈને ત્રણ દિવસ સુધી ત્યાં રહ્યા. એમનો પીછો પકડનારાઓ આખા દેશમાં એમને શોધી શોધીને થાક્યા અને અંતે પાછા ફર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JOS.2.23" />પછી આ બે જાસૂસો પર્વતો ઊતરી ગયા, ને નદી ઓળંગી પાછા નૂનના પુત્ર યહોશુઆ પાસે આવ્યા. અને પોતાને જે જે વીત્યું હતું તેની માંહિતી તેઓએ તેને આપી.
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<v id="24" bcv="JOS.2.24" />તેઓએ યહોશુઆને એમ કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ આખો દેશ આપણને સુપ્રત કર્યો છે. અને આપણા આગમનથી ત્યાંના વતનીઓ અત્યારથી જ ધ્રૂજી રહ્યા છે.”
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">યર્દન નદીને પેલે પાર આશ્ચર્યકૃત્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.3.1" />બીજે દિવસે વહેલી પરોઢે યહોશુઆ તથા બધા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો શિટ્ટિમ શહેરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા અને સાંજે તેઓએ નદી ઓળંગતા પહેલા યર્દન નદીના કિનારા પર મુકામ કર્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.3.2" />ત્રણ દિવસ પછી અધિકારીઓએ છાવણીમાં ફરીને લોકોને આજ્ઞા કરીને કહ્યું કે,
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.3.3" />“જ્યારે તમે લેવી યાજકોને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના પવિત્ર કરાર કોશને ઉપાડીને લઈ જતાં જુઓ, ત્યારે બધાંએ છાવણી છોડી તેમને અનુસરવું.
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.3.4" />જેથી તમને કયા રસ્તે જવું તેની ખબર પડે, કારણ, તમે આ રસ્તે પેહલાં કદી આવ્યા નથી. પરંતુ તમે પવિત્ર કરાર કોશની નજીક જશો નહિ. તમાંરી અને કરારકોશની વચ્ચે 2,000 હાથનું અંતર રાખશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JOS.3.5" />યહોશુઆએ લોકોને કહ્યું કે, “તમાંરી જાતની શુદ્ધિ કરો, કેમ કે આવતી કાલે યહોવા તમાંરી મધ્યે આશ્ચર્યકૃત્યો કરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.3.6" />બીજી સવારે યહોશુઓએ યાજકોને આજ્ઞા કરી, “કરાર કોશને ઉપાડી લોકોની આગળ ચાલો.” તેથી તેઓએ કરારકોશ ઉપાડ્યો અને લોકોની આગળ ચાલ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.3.7" />પછી યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “હું એવું કરીશ કે આજથી ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો તને મહાપુરુષ તરીકે ગણશે, પછી તેઓ જાણશે કે, હું જેમ મૂસાની સાથે હતો તેમ હું તારી સાથે પણ રહીશ.
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<v id="8" bcv="JOS.3.8" />કરારકોશ લઈ જતાં યાજકોને આજ્ઞા કરો: ‘તમે યર્દન નદીના કિનારે પહોંચો પછી તમે નદીના પાણીમાં પ્રવેશો તે પહેલાં ત્યાં ઉભા રહો.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.3.9" />પછી યહોશુઆએ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહ્યું, “અહીં આવો અને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા જે કહે છે તે સાંભળો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JOS.3.10" />આજે તમે ખાતરીપૂર્વક જાણશો કે જીવંત યહોવા તમાંરી મધ્યે વસે છે. આ દેશમાં વસતી પ્રજાઓ કનાનીઓ, હિત્તીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ, પરિઝઝીઓ, ગિર્ગાશીઓ, અમોરીઓ તથા યબૂસીઓને તે અચૂક હાંકી કાઢશે અને તમે તે દેશના માંલિક થશો.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.3.11" />જુઓ, સમસ્ત પૃથ્વીના યહોવાનો કરારકોશ તમાંરી આગળ યર્દન નદી ઓળંગશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="JOS.3.12" />હવે ઇસ્રાએલના બાર કુળસમૂહોમાંથી દરેકમાંથી એક એક આગેવાન ચૂંટી કાઢો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JOS.3.13" />આખી પૃથ્વીના પ્રભુ યહોવાને કોશ યોજકો ઉપાડશે એટલે યર્દન નદીનું વહેણ કપાઈ જશે, અને પાણી બંધની જેમ એકઠું થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.3.14" />તેથી લોકો તેમના તંબુઓમાંથી બહાર નીકળ્યા અને યર્દન નદીને ઓળંગી અને યાજકોએ કરાર કોશ લીધો અને તેમની આગળ ચાલ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="JOS.3.15" />આ ઋતું પાકની કાપણીની હતી. યર્દન નદી બંને કાઠે ભરપૂર વહેતી હતી. યાજકોએ યર્દન નદીને કિનારે પહોંચીને તેના પાણીમાં પગ મૂકતાં જ ઉપરવાસથી આવતું પાણી થંભી ગયું.
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<v id="16" bcv="JOS.3.16" />પાણી બંધની જેમ પાછળ એકઠું થયું, છેક ઉદ્દગમ સ્થાન આદામ, સારેથાન પાસેનાં શહરે તરફ અને ખારા સમુદ્ર તરફ વહેતાં રોકી દેવાયા હતાં. પછી લોકોએ યરીખો નજીક યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી.
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<v id="17" bcv="JOS.3.17" />બધા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો સૂકી જમીન પર ચાલ્યા અને નદી પાર કરી અને યહોવાના કરારકોશને લઈ જતાં યાજકો, નદીની મધ્યમાં રોકાયા. એમ આખી પ્રજા યર્દન ઊતરી ગઈ.
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</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">લોકોના સ્મરણ માંટે બાર સ્માંરકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.4.1" />સમગ્ર પ્રજા સુરક્ષિત રીતે યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી રહી એટલે યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.4.2" />“પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહમાંથી એક એમ બાર માંણસોને ચૂંટી કાઢો,
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.4.3" />અને તેમને જણાવો કે, યર્દન નદીની મધ્યે જયાં યાજકો ઊભા હતા તે જ જગ્યાએથી બાર પથ્થર લો. દરેકે એક પથ્થર ઉપાડવો અને તેને નદીની પાર લઈ જવો અને તમે રાત ગાળો ત્યાં તેને રાખો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JOS.4.4" />ત્યાર પછી પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહમાંથી એક એમ બાર કુળસમૂહોમાંથી બાર જણા જેઓને યહોશુઆએ પસંદ કર્યા હતા તેઓને બોલાવવામાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.4.5" />અને તેણે કહ્યું, “તમાંરામાંના બધા યાજકો દ્વારા ઉપાડાયેલા તમાંરા યહોવા દેવના કોશની આગળ યર્દન નદીમાં જાઓ, અને તમાંરામાંના દરેકે એક પથ્થર ઉપાડવો. ત્યાં દરેક કુળસમૂહ માંટે એક પથ્થર લો.
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<v id="6" bcv="JOS.4.6" />આ પથ્થરો હંમેશા તમાંરા માંટે સંકેત બનશે અને જ્યારે તમાંરાં સંતાનો પૂછશે, ‘આ સ્માંરક શા માંટે છે?’
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<v id="7" bcv="JOS.4.7" />ત્યારે તમે તેઓને કહેજો કે, જયારે યહોવાના કરારકોશ યર્દન નદી ઓળંગતા હતા ત્યારે યર્દનનું વહેણ કપાઈ ગયું હતું. આ પથ્થરો ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને આ દિવસે શું બન્યું હતું તેનું હમેશાનું સ્માંરક બની રહેશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JOS.4.8" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ યહોશુઆએ જણાવ્યા મુજબ કર્યુ. યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે મુજબ કુળસમૂહદીઠ એક એમ બાર ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યર્દનની અધવચ્ચેથી બાર પથ્થરો ઉપાડી લીધા અને જ્યાં તેઓ રાત્રે છાવણી કરવાના હતા ત્યાં તેઓએ સ્માંરક બનાવ્યું.
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<v id="9" bcv="JOS.4.9" />યહોશુઓએ યર્દન નદીની મધ્યમાં બાર પથ્થરો પણ ઉભા કર્યા જ્યાં યાજકો પવિત્ર કોશ સાથે ઉભા હતા, અને ત્યાં સ્માંરક કર્યું અને આજે પણ તે ત્યાં છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOS.4.10" />જે સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓ મૂસાએ યહોશુઆને આપી હતી, તે પ્રમાંણે જે કઈ લોકોને ફરમાંવવાનું યહોવાએ યહોશુઓને કહ્યું હતું તે સધળું પૂરું થયું ત્યાં સુધી યાજકો કરારકોશ સાથે યર્દન નદીની વચ્ચોવચ્ચ ઊભા રહ્યા. અને લોકો ઉતાવળ કરીને નદી પાર કરી ગયા.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.4.11" />બધા જ માંણસો નદી ઓળંગી ગયા ત્યારે યહોવાનો કરારકોશ ઊંચકનારા યાજકો નદીમાંથી બહાર આવતા લોકોએ નીહાવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JOS.4.12" />મૂસાએ જણાવ્યું હતું તે મુજબ રૂબેન, ગાદ અને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધકુળસમૂહની ટુકડીઓ સંપૂર્ણ શસ્ત્રસજજ થઈને ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાની આગળ નદી ઓળંગી ગઈ.
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<v id="13" bcv="JOS.4.13" />યહોવાની સમક્ષ યુદ્ધ માંટે તૈયાર 40,000 હથિયારબંધ માંણસો પસાર થયા. તેઓ યરીખોના મેદાનો તરફ કૂચ કરતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.4.14" />તે દિવસે યહોવાએ બધાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સમક્ષ યહોશુઆને મહાપુરુષ બનાવી દીધો. તે સમય પછી સમગ્ર જીવન દરમ્યાન તેઓ યહોશુઆનો આદર કરવા લાગ્યા. જે રીતે તેઓ મૂસાને આદર કરતાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.4.15" />યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું,
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<v id="16" bcv="JOS.4.16" />“સાક્ષ્યકોશને ઉપાડનારા યાજકોને યર્દન નદીમાંથી બહાર આવવાનું કહે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JOS.4.17" />અને યહોશુઆએ યાજકોને આજ્ઞા કરી, “યર્દન નદીમાંથી બહાર આવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JOS.4.18" />કરાર કોશ ઉપાડનારા યાજકો નદીમાંથી બહાર આવ્યાં, અને જ્યારે તેમનો પગ નદીની બીજી બાજુંની જમીનને અડ્યો, તરત નદીનો પ્રવાહ શરૂ થયો અને પહેલાની જેમ પાણીએ તેના કિનારા છલકાવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JOS.4.19" />એ લોકોએ પહેલા મહિનાની દશમી તારીખ યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને યરીખોની પૂર્વે ગિલ્ગાલમાં પડાવ નાખ્યો,
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<v id="20" bcv="JOS.4.20" />અને ત્યાં યહોશુઆએ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો દ્વારા યર્દન નદીમાંથી વીણી લાવેલા બાર પથ્થરો સ્માંરક તરીકે ત્યાં ઉભા કર્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="JOS.4.21" />પછી યહોશુઆએ ફરીથી પથ્થરો મૂકવાનો હેતુ સમજાવતાં કહ્યું, “ભવિષ્યમાં તમાંરાં સંતાનો જયારે તમને પૂછે કે, ‘આ પથ્થરોનો શો અર્થ છે?’
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<v id="22" bcv="JOS.4.22" />ત્યારે તમાંરે તેમને સમજાવવું અને કહેવું કે, ‘જયારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યર્દન નદી ઓળંગવાની હતી ત્યારે તે સૂકાઈ ગઈ હતી.’
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<v id="23" bcv="JOS.4.23" />તમે જ્યાં સુધી પસાર થયાં યહોવાએ તેને સૂકાવી નાખી હતી. જેમ યહોવાએ રાતા સમુદ્રને સૂકવી નાખ્યો હતો તેમ. ત્યારે તમે યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી રહ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="24" bcv="JOS.4.24" />યહોવાએ આ પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ જેથી પૃથ્વી પરના બધા માંણસો યહોવાની શક્તિ વિશે જાણે, અને તમાંરે પોતે પણ હમેશા તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાથી ડરતાં રહેવું જોઈએ.”
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.5.1" />જયારે યર્દન નદીના પશ્ચિમ કાંઠાના બધા કનાની રાજાઓએ તથા અમોરી રાજાઓએ સાંભળ્યું કે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ યર્દન નદીને ઓળંગી ગયા ત્યાં સુધી યહોવાએ તેનાં પાણી સૂકવી નાખ્યાં હતાં, ત્યારે તેઓ હિમ્મત હારી ગયા અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓથી ભયભીત થઈ ગયાં.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓની સુન્નત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JOS.5.2" />એ વખતે યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “ચકમકનાં પથ્થર માંથી તીક્ષ્ણ છરીઓ બનાવ, અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓની સુન્નત કર.”<f caller="+"><fr>5:2
</fr><fk>સુન્નત કર
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે “ફરીથી સુન્નત કર” આનો અર્થ એ છે કે સુન્નતનો રિવાજ જેને ઇસાએલના લોકો રણ પ્રદેશમાં યાત્રા કરતી વખતે પાળતા ન હતા તેને દેવ ફરીથી ચાલું રાખવા માંગે છે.</ft></f>
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JOS.5.3" />તેથી યહોશુઆએ તીક્ષ્ણ ચપ્પુ બનાવી અને ગીબત હેરોલોથ ઉપર ઇસ્રાએલીઓની સુન્નત કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JOS.5.4" />યહોશુઆએ બધાં ઇસ્રાએલી પુરુષોની સુન્નત કરી. તેને આમ કેમ કર્યું તેનું આ કારણ છે:
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.5.5" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ મિસર છોડ્યા પછી જે પુરુષો સેનામાં રહી શકે તેવા હતા તેઓની સુન્નત કરવામાં આવી હતી
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<v id="6" bcv="JOS.5.6" />રણમાં રહેતા ત્યારે ઘણા લડાકુ લોકોએ યહોવાનું માંન્યું નહિ તેથી યહોવાએ વચન આપ્યું તે લોકો “વધારે અનાજ ઉગે છે” તે જમીન નહિ જોવે. યહોવાએ આપણા પૂર્વજોને તે ભૂમિ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું. પણ તે માંણસોને કારણે દેવે લોકોને 40 વર્ષ રણમાં ભટકવાની ફરજ પાડી તે રીતે તે લડતા લોકો મરી જશે. તે બધાં લડતા લોકો મરી ગયા અને તેમના પુત્રોએ તેઓની જગ્યાં લીધી.
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<v id="7" bcv="JOS.5.7" />પણ મિસરમાંથી પ્રવાસ દરમ્યાન જેઓ રણમાં જન્મ્યા હતા તેમાંનાં એકેય છોકરાની સુન્નત નહોતી થઈ. તેથી યહોશુઆએ તેમની સુન્નત કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JOS.5.8" />યહોશુઆએ બધાં પુરુષોની સુન્નત કરાવવાનું પૂરું કર્યુ. બધાં પુરુષોના ઘા રુઝાયા ત્યાં સુધી લોકો પોતપોતાને ઠેકાણે છાવણીમાં રહ્યાં.
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<s style="s">કનાનમાં પ્રથમ પાસ્ખાપર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.5.9" />પછી યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “આજે મેં તમાંરામાંથી દોષ દૂર કર્યો છે જે તમને મિસરમાં હતો.” તેથી આજથી આ જગાને ગિલ્ગાલ કહેવાશે અને આજે પણ તે એ જ નામે ઓળખાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOS.5.10" />યરીખોના મેદાનો પર આવેલા ગિલ્ગાલમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ છાવણી કરી હતી ત્યારે તેઓએ તે મહિનાના ચૌદમાં દિવસની સાંજે પાસ્ખા પર્વ ઊજવ્યું.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.5.11" />પાસ્ખાપર્વ ઉજાણીના બીજે દિવસે તેઓએ ખેતરોમાં ઉગેલું અનાજ ખાધું; એટલે તેજ દિવસે આથા વગરની રોટલી અને ભૂંજેલા ધાન્ય ખાધું.
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<v id="12" bcv="JOS.5.12" />જેવું લોકોએ પ્રદેશની ઉપજનું અનાજ ખાધુ કે બીજી સવારથી સ્વર્ગમાંથી આવતો ખાસ ખોરાક (માંન્ના) બંધ થઈ ગયું અને તે વર્ષે તેઓએ કનાના ભૂમિમાં પાકતું ધાન્ય ખાધું.
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<s style="s">યહોવાની સેનાનો સેનાધિપતિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JOS.5.13" />જયારે યહોશુઆ યરીખો નજીક પહોંચ્ચોં ત્યારે તેણે પોતાની સામે ખુલ્લી તરવાર લઈને ઊભેલો એક માંણસ જોયો. તેથી યહોશુઆએ તેને પૂછયું, “તું કોના તરફ છે? તું અમાંરો મિત્ર છે કે દુશ્મન?”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.5.14" />તેણે પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તો એકે નથી,” પણ હું તો યહોવાની સેનાનો સેનાધિપતિ છું. અને એ તમને કહેવા માંટે આવ્યો છું.
</p>
<p style="p">યહોશુઆએ તેને જમીન પર મોઢું કરીને ભજન કરીને કહ્યું, “માંરા માંલિકની તેના સેવકને શી આજ્ઞા છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.5.15" />યહોવાની સેનાના સેનાપતિએ તેને કહ્યું, “તારાં પગરખાં ઉતારી નાખ, કારણ કે તું જે ભૂમિ પર ઊભો છે તે ભૂમિ પવિત્ર છે.” અને યહોશુઆએ તેમ કર્યું.
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<c id="6" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.6.1" />યરીખોનગરના કરવાજાઓ બંધ કરી દેવામાં આવ્યા હતા, કારણ કે તેના લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓથી ભયભીત થયેલા હતા. કોઈ અંદર કે બહાર આવ-જા કરનું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JOS.6.2" />યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું કે, “હું તને યરીખો તેના રાજા અને બહાદુર યોદ્ધાઓને હરાવવા દઈશ.
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.6.3" />તારે અને તારા સમગ્ર બહાદુર યોદ્ધાઓએ છ દિવસ સુધી પ્રતિદિન એક વખત શહેરની ફરતે પ્રદક્ષિણા કરવી.
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.6.4" />સાત યાજકોએ હાથમાં ઘેટાંના શિંગડામાંથી બનાવેલ સાત રણશિંગડાં લઈને કોશની આગળ ચાલે. સાતમે દિવસે તારે અને તારા સૈનિકોએ સાત વખત શહરને ફરતે પ્રદક્ષિણા કરવી અને યાજકે રણશિંગડાઓ વગાડવાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.6.5" />ત્યારબાદ તેઓ લાંબા જોરદાર ધમાંકા સાથે રણશિંગુ ફૂંકશે અને તે સાંભળીને લોકો મોટા અવાજે બૂમ પાડશે, ત્યારે નગરનો દરવાજો તૂટી પડશે; અને તમાંરે બધાએ સીધા નગરમાં ધુસી જવું.”
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<s style="s">યરીખોનું પતન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.6.6" />આથી યહોશુઆએ યાજકોને બોલાવ્યાં અને તેમને કહ્યું, “કરારકોશ ઊંચકો, અને 7 યાજકોને યહોવાના પવિત્રકોશ આગળ સાત રણશિંગડા લઈને ચાલે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.6.7" />અને તેણે લોકોને કહ્યું, “આગળ ચાલો અને નગરને ફરતે પ્રદક્ષિણા કરો અને હથિયારબંધ પુરુષો યહોવાનો પવિત્ર કોશની આગળ ચાલશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JOS.6.8" />જ્યારે યહોશુઆએ લોકો સાથે વાતો કરવાનું પૂરું કર્યું, ત્યારે સાત યાજકોએ યહોવાની આગળ સાત રણશિંગડાં ધરી રાખ્યાં હતાં તેને ફૂંક્યા. જ્યારે તેમને અનુસરતાં યાજકો દ્વારા લઈ જવાતો યહોવાનાં કરારનો કોશ તેમની પાછળ ચાલતો હતો.
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<v id="9" bcv="JOS.6.9" />યાજકોની આગળ સશસ્ત્ર સૈનિકો, અને પાછળના સંત્રીઓ પવિત્રકોશની પાછળ ચાલતા હતા સાથે રણશિંગડાં ફૂકતાં,
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<v id="10" bcv="JOS.6.10" />પણ યહોશુઆએ લોકોને શાંતિ જાળવવાની અને યુદ્ધનાદની બૂમો ન પાડવા કહ્યું. તેણે કહ્યું, “જ્યારે હું તમને બૂમ પાડવાનું કહીશ ત્યારે બૂમ પાડજો નહિતર કોઈ અવાજ ન કરતાં. જ્યારે હું તમને કહું ત્યારે જ તમે બૂમ પાડજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JOS.6.11" />એ પ્રમાંણે તેણે યહોવાનો પવિત્રકોશ લીધો અને પહેલી વાર શહેરની ફરતે પ્રદક્ષિણા કર્યા પછી તેઓ પોતાની છાવણીમાં પાછા ફર્યા અને રાતના ત્યાં આરામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JOS.6.12" />પછી સવારે યહોશુઆ વહેલો ઊઠયો, અને યાજકોએ યહોવાનો પવિત્રકોશ પાછો ઊંચકી લીધો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JOS.6.13" />ઘેટાનાં સાત રણશિંગડાં લઈને સાત યાજકો તેમને વગાડતાં યહોવાનાં પવિત્રકોશ આગળ ચાલ્યા. સશસ્ત્ર માંણસો આગળ ચાલતા હતા અને પાછળ રક્ષકોનું બીજું જૂથ ત્યાં કૂચ કરતું હતું. અને આ સર્વ સમય દરમ્યાન રણશિંગડાં વાગતા હતાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="JOS.6.14" />બીજા દિવસે ફરીથી તેમણે નગરની એક વાર પ્રદક્ષિણા કરી અને પાછા છાવણીમાં આવી ગયા. તેઓએ આ પ્રમાંણે છ દિવસ સુધી કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.6.15" />અને સાતમે દિવસે તેઓ મળસ્કે ઊઠયા અને એ જ રીતે સાત વખત નગરની પ્રદક્ષિણા કરી.
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<v id="16" bcv="JOS.6.16" />ફક્ત તે દિવસે જ તેમણે નગરની સાત વાર પ્રદક્ષિણા કરી હતી સાતમાં ફેરા વખતે લાંબા સમય સુધી યાજકોએ જોરથી રણશિંગડાં ફૂંકયા, તેથી યહોશુઆએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “જોરથી બૂમો પાડો યહોવાએ આપણને આ નગર આપી દીધું છે!
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<v id="17" bcv="JOS.6.17" />એ નગર તથા તેમાંનું બધુંજ યહોવાનું છે, કેવળ રાહાબ વારાંગના અને તેના ઘરના માંણસો સિવાયની પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને માંરી નાખજો, કારણ કે તેણે આપણે મોકલેલા જાસૂસોને રક્ષણ આપ્યું હતું.
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<v id="18" bcv="JOS.6.18" />તમાંરે બધાંએ સતર્ક બનવું તેમાંની કોઈ શાપિત વસ્તુ ન લેવી જેનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરવાનો છે. તમે એમાંથી કઈ લો અને રાખો તો ઇસ્રાએલી છાવણી પર વિપત્તિ આવશે અને તમે વિનાશ નોતરશો.
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<v id="19" bcv="JOS.6.19" />સોના અને ચાંદીની જેમ જ લોખંડનાં બધા પાત્ર યહોવાને માંટે અલગ રાખેલા છે અને તમાંરે તે બધું યહોવાના ભંડારમાં આપવાનું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JOS.6.20" />તેથી લોકોએ પોકાર કર્યો અને યાજકોએ રણશિંગાં ફૂંકયાં, જ્યારે લોકોએ રણશિંગાંનો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો તેઓએ મોટી બૂમ પાડી અને તે સમયે નગરની દીવાલ પડી ગઈ, અને ત્યાં જે બધા લોકો ઉભા હતા અંદર ધસી ગયા અને તેને કબજે કરી લીધું.
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<v id="21" bcv="JOS.6.21" />તેમણે નગરનાં સર્વ સજીવો આબાલવૃદ્ધ સ્ત્રી-પુરુષોને તરવારથી વિનાશ કર્યો ઢોર, ઘેટાં, તથા ગધેડાંને પણ જીવતાં રહેવા દીધાં નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JOS.6.22" />ત્યાર બાદ જે બે માંણસોએ દેશની જાસૂસી કરી હતી તેઓને યહોશુઆએ કહ્યું કે, “તમે બન્ને વારાંગનાના ઘરમાં જઈને તેને અને તેના પરિવારનાં માંણસોને તમે વચન આપ્યા મુજબ બહાર લઈ આવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JOS.6.23" />તેથી તેઓ ત્યાં ગયા અને રાહાબને, તેના પિતાને, માંતાને, ભાઈઓને અને તેના પરિવારના સર્વ લોકોને બહાર કાઢયા, અને ઇસ્રાએલી છાવણીની બહાર સુરક્ષિત જગ્યામાં રાખ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JOS.6.24" />પછી તેઓએ નગર અને તેમાંનું સઘળું બાળી મૂક્યું. ફકત સોના-રૂપાની અને પિત્તળની અને લોઢાની વસ્તુઓ યહોવાના ભંડારમાં મૂકવામાં આવી હતી.
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<v id="25" bcv="JOS.6.25" />આમ યહોશુઆએ રાહાબ વારાંગનાને અને તેનાં બધાં કુટુંબીજનોને અને પરિવારને જીવતદાન આપ્યું. કારણ, તેણે યહોશુઆએ ચરીખોમાં જાસૂસી કરવા મોકલેલા માંણસોને સંતાડી રાખીને રક્ષણ કર્યુ હતું. તેના વંશજો આજસુધી ઇસ્રાએલમાં વસતા આવ્યા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JOS.6.26" />તે સમયે યહોશુઆએ તેઓને એવા શપથ ખવડાવ્યા કે:
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<q style="q1">“જે કોઈ ઊઠીને આ યરીખો શહેરને ફરી બાંધવા માંટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રયત્ન કરશે તે યહોવાની આગળ શાપિત થાઓ.
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<q style="q1">જે કોઈ શહેરનો પાયો નાખશે તે
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<q level="2" style="q2">એનો વડો પુત્ર ગુમાંવશે.
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<q style="q1">અને જે કોઈ એના દરવાજા ઊભા કરશે
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો સૌથી નાનો પુત્ર ગુમાંવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JOS.6.27" />એ પ્રમાંણે યહોવા યહોશુઆની સાથે હતા, અને તેના નામની કીર્તિ આખા દેશમાં પ્રસરી ગઈ.
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<s style="s">આખાનનું પાપ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.7.1" />પણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ વિનાશ કરવાની શાપિત વસ્તુઓમાંથી લઈને પાપ કર્યુ છે. યહૂદા કુળસમૂહનો એક માંણસ આખાને જે ઝેરાહનો પુત્ર ઝાબ્દીનાં પુત્ર કાર્મીનો પુત્ર હતો તેણે ઘણી વસ્તુઓ પોતાને માંટે રાખી લીધી હતી. એટલે યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર રોષે ભરાયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JOS.7.2" />યરીખો નગરના પતન પછી તરત જ યહોશુઆએ કેટલાક માંણસોને યરીખોથી બેથેલની પૂર્વે બેથ-આવેન પાસે આવેલા આય નગરમાં મોકલ્યા અને તેમને કહ્યું કે, “આય જાઓ અને એ લોકો પર જાસૂસી કરો ને અમને સંદેશો મોકલો.” તેથી તેઓ ગયા અને આયની જાસુસી કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JOS.7.3" />ત્યાંથી પાછા ફર્યા બાદ તેમણે યહોશુઆને જણાવ્યું કે, “એ તો નાનું નગર છે, બધા માંણસોએ જવું નહિ, તેનો નાશ કરવા માંટે 2,000-3,000 માંણસો પૂરતા છે. બધાને તકલીફ આપવાની જરૂર નથી. તે લોકો બહું થોડા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JOS.7.4" />આથી આશરે 3,000 ઇસ્રાએલી પુરુષોને આય નગર ઉપર હુમલો કરવા મોકલવામાં આવ્યા; પણ આયના લોકોએ તેમને ઘોર પરાજય આપ્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.7.5" />પરંતુ આ હુમલા દરમ્યાન ઇસ્રાએલના 36 માંણસો માંર્યા ગયા; અને બાકીનાને નગરના દરવાજાથી તે છેક (શબારીમ) પથ્થરની ખાણો<f caller="+"><fr>7:5
</fr><fk>પથ્થરની ખાણો
</fk><ft>એ જગ્યા જ્યાં લોકો ખડક વડે પથ્થરો કાપે.</ft></f> સુધી પીછો કરવામાં આવ્યો અને ઢોળાવ પર તેઓને માંરી નાખવામાં આવ્યાં.
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<p style="p">આથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેમની હિમ્મત ગુમાંવી દીધી અને તેઓ ભયભીત થઈ ગયા.
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<v id="6" bcv="JOS.7.6" />યહોશુઆ તથા તેમના આગેવાનોએ વસ્ત્રો ફાડી નાખ્યાં અને માંથાઁ પર ધૂળ નાખ્યો, અને સાંજ સુધી મોઢું જમીન પર રાખી યહોવાના પવિત્રકોશ સમક્ષ પડી રહ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.7.7" />ત્યારે યહોશુઆએ યહોવા ને કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા માંરા માંલિક! તે અમને યર્દન નદીને પાર કરાવ્યા અને એમ આ તરફ આવ્યા શા માંટે? શું તારો ઈરાદો અમને અમોરીઓને સોંપી દેવાનો હતો જેથી અમાંરો વિનાશ કરવામાં આવે? અમે નદીને પેલે પાર શાંતિ અને સંતોષથી રહ્યા હોત તો કેવું સારું!
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<v id="8" bcv="JOS.7.8" />ઓ માંરા માંલિક! ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પોતાના શત્રુઓથી નાસી છુટ્યા છે, તે પછી હવે માંરે શું કહેવું?
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<v id="9" bcv="JOS.7.9" />કનાનીઓને તથા દેશના બધા જ વતનીઓને આ બાબતની જાણ થવાની છે. તેઓ બધા અમને ઘેરી વળશે અને અમને અમાંરી ભૂમિ પરથી કાઢી નાખશે અને પૃથ્વી પરથી અમાંરુ નામનિશાન ભૂંસી નાખશે. તો પછી તમાંરા મહાન નામ વિષે શું કરશો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOS.7.10" />યહોશુઓને યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “ઊભો થા, આમ ઊંધે માંથે જમીન પર શા માંટે પડયો છે?
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.7.11" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ પાપ કર્યુ છે અને માંરો કરાર તોડ્યો છે, જેને અનુસરવા મે આજ્ઞા કરી હતી. મે વિનાશ કરવા માંટે આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે શાપિત વસ્તુઓમાંથી તેઓએ ચોરી કરી છે. અને એના વિષે તેઓએ કહ્યું નહિ. અને તેમણે ચોરેલી વસ્તુઓ છુપાવી દીધી છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="JOS.7.12" />આથી તેઓ દુશ્મનો સામે ટકી શકતા નથી. અને તેઓ લડાઈ છોડીને પાછા ભાગી ગયા કારણકે તેઓ નાશ પામવા માંટે ઠરાવાયેલા છે. હવે જ્યા સુધી તમે તમાંરા દ્વારા લેવાયેલી બધી વસ્તુઓનો નાશ નહિ કરો, ત્યાં સુધી હું તમાંરી સાથે રહેનાર નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JOS.7.13" />“તેથી, ઊભો થા અને લોકોને શુદ્ધ કર. તેમને કહે: ‘આવતી કાલ માંટે તમે તમાંરી જાતન શુદ્ધ કરો, કારણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના યહોવા દેવે કહ્યું છે કે, લોકોએ ચોરી કરી છે અને જે તમાંરે ન રાખવી જોઈએ તે વસ્તુઓ રાખી લીધી છે, તમે તમાંરા તાબામાં તે શાપિત વસ્તુઓ રાખી છે જેનો મેં તમને નાશ કરવાની આજ્ઞા કરી હતી અને જો જ્યાં સુધી તે વસ્તુઓ નાશ ન પામે ત્યાં સુધી તમે તમાંરા દુશ્મનોને કરાવી શકવાના નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.7.14" />“‘આથી સવારે તમે બધા પોતાના કુળસમૂહ પ્રમાંણે આવજો અને જે કુળસમૂહને યહોવા પસંદ કરશે તે જાતિ પ્રમાંણે આગળ આવશે અને જે જાતિ યહોવા પસંદ કરશે તે કુટુંબો પ્રમાંણે આગળ આવશે. અને યહોવા જે કુટુંબને પસંદ કરે તે વ્યક્તિ પ્રમાંણે આગળ આવશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="JOS.7.15" />જો વ્યક્તિએ વસ્તુઓમાંથી ચોરી કરી હોય જેનો નાશ કરવાનો હતો, તેને તેની મિલ્કત સાથે જીવતો બાળી મુકાશે, કારણકે તેણે યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લઁધન કર્યું હતું, યહોવાના કરારને તોડ્યો છે, અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને ભયંકર ઈજા પહોચાડી છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JOS.7.16" />યહોશુઆ સવારમાં વહેલો ઊઠયો અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કુટુંબ પ્રમાંણે આગળ લઈ આવ્યો, અને યહૂદાના કુટુંબને પસંદ કરવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="JOS.7.17" />યહોશુઆ યહૂદાના કુટુંબોને આગળ લઈ આવ્યો અને ઝેરાહના કુટુંબને પસંદ કરવામાં આવ્યું. પછી તે ઝેરાહીઓના કુટુંબને આગળ લાવ્યો, અને ઝીમ્રીના કુટુંબને પસંદ કરવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="18" bcv="JOS.7.18" />ઝીમ્રી પોતાના કુટુંબના સભ્યોને વારાફરતી યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહમાંથી આગળ લાવ્યો, અને ઝેરાહના પુત્ર જાબ્દીના પુત્ર કાર્મીના પુત્ર આખાનને શોધી કાઢવામાં આવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JOS.7.19" />પછી યહોશુઆએ આખાનને કહ્યું, “પુત્ર, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાને આદર આપ અને તેં જે કાંઈ કર્યું હોય તે મને કહે. માંરાથી કશું છુપાવીશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JOS.7.20" />આખાને કહ્યું, “હું કબૂલાત કરું છું કે, મેં ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કર્યું છે, માંરો ગુનો આ છે:
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<v id="21" bcv="JOS.7.21" />લૂંટની વસ્તુઓમાં માંરી નજર શિનાર દેશના એક સુંદર ઝભ્ભા ઉપર અને બસો તોલા ચાંદી અને પચાસ તોલા સોનાની લગડી ઉપર પડી અને માંરું મન લલચાયું તેથી મે એ વસ્તુઓ ઉપાડી લીધી અને માંરા તંબુમાં જમીનમાં દાટી દીધી છે. ચાંદી સૌથી નીચે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JOS.7.22" />તેથી યહોશુઆએ તે શોધવા માંટે કેટલાક માંણસો મોકલ્યા. તેઓ દોડતા તંબુમાં ગયા અને આખાને કહ્યું હતું તે જ રીતે ચોરેલી વસ્તુઓ અને સૌથી નીચે ચાંદી જમીનમાં દાટેલા હતાં.
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<v id="23" bcv="JOS.7.23" />તેમણે એ વસ્તુઓ તંબુમાંથી બહાર કાઢી યહોશુઆ અને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ આગળ લાવીને યહોવા સમક્ષ રજૂ કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JOS.7.24" />ત્યાર પછી યહોશુઆ ઝેરાહના પુત્ર આખાનને ચાંદી, ઝભ્ભો અને સોનાની લગડી તથા તેનાં છોકરાછોકરી, ઢોર, ગધેડાં, તંબુ તથા તેના સર્વસ્વ સાથે આફતની ખીણમાં લઈ ગયો, અને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તેની સાથે ગયા.
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<v id="25" bcv="JOS.7.25" />યહોશુઆએ આખાનને કહ્યું, “તેં અમાંરા ઉપર આ આફત કેમ ઉતારી? હવે યહોવા તમાંરા ઉપર આફત ઉતારશે.” પછી બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેને ઈંટાળી કરીને માંરી નાખ્યો. તે લોકોએ તે બધાંને બાળી મૂકયાં, અને ઈંટાળી કરીને માંરી નાખ્યાં.
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<v id="26" bcv="JOS.7.26" />પછી તેઓએ તે જગ્યાએ પથ્થરોનો મોટો ઢગલો કર્યો, જે આજે પણ ત્યાં છે. તે જગ્યા આખોરની ખીણ<f caller="+"><fr>7:26
</fr><fk>આખોરની ખીણ
</fk><ft>“આફતની ખીણ.”</ft></f> ને નામે ઓળખાય છે. ત્યાર પછી યહોવા ગુસ્સે ન હતા.
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<s style="s">આયનગરનું પતન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.8.1" />યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “ભયભીત કે નાહિમ્મત થઈશ નહિ, સમગ્ર સેના સાથે તું આયનગર ઉપર ચઢાઈ કર. મેં આયનગરના રાજાને, તેની પ્રજાને, તેના શહેરને અને તેના પ્રદેશને તને સોંપી દીધાં છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.8.2" />તેં યરીખો અને તેના રાજાના જે હાલ કર્યા તે જ ‘આય’ ના અને એના રાજાના કરજે, પરંતુ આ વખતે તમે તેમાંનો માંલસામાંન તથા ઢોર-ઢાંખર પોતાને માંટે રાખી શકો છો, અને એ નગરની પાછળની બાજુએથી હુમલો કરવા સૈનિકોને છુપાવી રાખજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JOS.8.3" />તેથી યહોશુઆએ આખી સેના સાથે આય નગર ઉપર ચઢાઈ કરવાની તૈયારી કરી. તેણે રાતોરાત 30,000 શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓને ચૂંટી કાઢીને મોકલી આપ્યા,
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.8.4" />અને તેણે તેઓને હુકમ કર્યો, “નગરની પાછળના ક્ષેત્રમાં છૂપાઈ જાઓ નગરથી બહુ દૂર જશો નહિ અને હુમલો કરવા તૈયાર રહેજો.”
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.8.5" />હું પોતે બાકીની સેના સાથે બહાર આવું એટલે અમે ભાગવા માંડીશું.
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<v id="6" bcv="JOS.8.6" />તેઓ અમાંરો પીછો પકડશે અને અમે તેમને નગરથી દૂર લઈ જઈશું. તેઓ એમ માંનશે કે અમે પહેલાની જેમ તેમનાથી ડરીને નાસી જઈએ છીએ,
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<v id="7" bcv="JOS.8.7" />એ વખતે તમે જયાં સંતાઈ રહ્યાં હો ત્યાંથી નીકળી આવજો અને નગરનો કબજો લઈ લેજો, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમને વિજય આપશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JOS.8.8" />“તમે વિજયી થશો અને પછી યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે શહેર બાળી મૂકજો. યાદ રાખો આ માંરો આદેશ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.8.9" />આમ કહીને યહોશુઆએ તેઓને મોકલી દીધા અને તેઓ “આય”ની પાછળની બાજુએ બેથેલ અને આયની વચ્ચે સંતાઈ રહ્યા. પરંતુ યહોશુઆ અને બાકી રહેલું સૈન્ય યરીખોની છાવણીમાં રોકાયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOS.8.10" />યહોશુઆ સવારમાં વહેલો ઉઠયો અને તેના લશ્કરને ભેગું કર્યુ અને આય નગર ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો. તો પોતે અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના આગેવાનો લશ્કરની આગળ ગયા.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.8.11" />આખું લશ્કર તેની સાથે ઊપડયું અને શહેરની નજીક પહોંચી ગયું. તેઓ નગરની ઉત્તરે આવેલી ખીણ પાસે થોભ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JOS.8.12" />યહોશુઆએ તે રાત્રે નગરની પશ્ચિમે બેથેલ અને આયની વચ્ચે સંતાવા માંટે બીજા 5,000 માંણસોને મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="13" bcv="JOS.8.13" />એ મુખ્ય લશ્કરે નગરની ઉત્તરે છાવણી નાખી, અને છુપાયેલા લોકો પશ્ચિમે રહ્યા અને યહોશુઆએ રાત ખીણમાં પસાર કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.8.14" />આયના રાજાએ યહોશુઆના માંણસોને જોયા એટલે તે અને તેના માંણસો ઇસ્રાએલી સેના સાથે લડવા માંટે ઉતાવળે બહાર નિકળ્યા. તેઓએ શહેર છોડ્યું અને યર્દનની ખીણ તરફ ગયા. આયના રાજાને ખબર નહોતી કે નગરની પાછલી બાજુએ માંણસો બધાને માંરી નાખવા માંટે અને શહેર પર હુમલો કરવા સંતાયેલા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.8.15" />યહોશુઆ પોતે અને તેના માંણસો જાણે તેઓ હાર પામ્યા હોય તેમ નગરમાંથી રણ તરફ ભાગવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="JOS.8.16" />નગરના બધા લડવૈયાઓને તેઓનો પીછો પકડવા માંટે બોલાવવામાં આવ્યા અને યહોશુઆનો પીછો પકડવા માંટે તેઓને બોલાવવામાં આવ્યા અને યહોશુઆનો પીછો પકડતા તેઓ નગરથી દૂર નીકળી ગયા.
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<v id="17" bcv="JOS.8.17" />આય કે બેથેલમાં એક પણ યોદ્ધો રહ્યો નહિ બધા જ ઇસ્રાએલીઓની પાછળ ગયા હતા અને નગરનું રક્ષણ કરનાર કોઈ રહ્યું ન હતું અને નગરના દરવાજા પણ ખુલ્લા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JOS.8.18" />પછી યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “તારા હાથમાં ભાલો છે તેને આય નગર તરફ તાક, કારણ કે આ નગર મેં તને સોંપી દીધું છે.” તેથી યહોશુઆએ તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યું.
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<v id="19" bcv="JOS.8.19" />તેણે ભાલો ખેંચ્યો અને તરત જ સંતાઈ રહેલા માંણસો આગળ આવ્યા અને નગર તરફ દોડ્યાં અને તેમાં દાખલ થઈ ગયા, તેઓએ નગર કબજે કરીને આગ લગાડી દીધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JOS.8.20" />આયના માંણસોએ પાછળ જોયું તો તેમણે નગરમાંથી ધુમાંડો આકાશમાં ચઢતો જોયો. તેઓ કયાંય ભાગી જઈ શકે એમ રહ્યું નહિ, કારણ જે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વગડા તરફ ભાગી ગયા હતા તેમણે પાછા ફરીને પીછો પકડનારાઓ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="JOS.8.21" />જ્યારે યહોશુઆ અને તેના માંણસોએ જોયું કે સંતાઈ ગયેલા માંણસોએ શહેર કબજે કર્યુ છે અને શહેરમાંથી ધુમાંડાના ગોટા ઊંચે આકાશમાં ચઢી રહ્યાં છે, તેથી તેઓ પાછા ફર્યા અને “આય” ના માંણસો પર હુમલો કર્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="JOS.8.22" />તે જ સમયે નગરથી બહાર આવેલા સૈનિકોએ પણ તેમના ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો, આથી “આય” ના માંણસો બધી બાજુઓ ઘેરાઈ ગયા. ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેમનો સંહાર કર્યો. એક પણ માંણસ જીવતો ના રહ્યો કે ના ભાગી જવા પામ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="JOS.8.23" />પણ “આય” નો રાજા જીવતો કેદ પકડાયો અને તેને યહોશુઆ સમક્ષ લાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<s style="s">યુદ્ધનો ચિત્તાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JOS.8.24" />જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલની સેનાએ નગરની બહાર સર્વ માંણસોનો સંહાર કરવાનું કાર્ય પુરું કર્યુ ત્યારે તેઓ પાછા આવ્યા અને નગરની અંદર બાકી રહેલા સર્વનો સંહાર કર્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="JOS.8.25" />તે દિવસે “આય” નગરના બધા લોકો જેઓને માંરી નાખવામાં આવ્યાં તે 12,000 સ્ત્રી પુરુષો હતા.
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<v id="26" bcv="JOS.8.26" />યહોશુઆએ ભાલો તેના હાથમાં હતો અને તેણે તેને ઉપાડ્યો અને જ્યાં સુધી તેના બધા લોકો નાશ ન પામ્યાં ત્યાં સુધી તેને તેના તરફ તાક્યે રાખ્યો.
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<v id="27" bcv="JOS.8.27" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ બધા પ્રાણીઓ અને બીજી વસ્તુઓ જે નગરમાંથી લૂંટાઈ હતી તે પોતાના માંટે રાખી લીધી. તેઓએ આ યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કરેલ આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JOS.8.28" />યહોશુઆએ “આય” ને બાળી મુકયું અને તેને કાયમ માંટે ખંડેરોનો ઉજજડ ઢગલો બનાવી દીધું, તે આજે પણ એવું જ છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="JOS.8.29" />યહોશુઆએ “આય” ના રાજાને સાંજ સુધી જાડ પર ઉંધે માંથે લટકાવી રાખ્યો, પરંતુ સૂર્યાસ્ત સમયે તેના શરીરને જાડ ઉપરથી ઉતાર્યું અને યહોશુઆના આદેશ પ્રમાંણે નગરના દરવાજા આગળ નાખીને તેના પર પથ્થરોનો ઢગલો કર્યો, જે આજે પણ ત્યાં જ છે.
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<s style="s">આશીર્વાદ અને શાપનું વાંચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JOS.8.30" />ત્યારબાદ યહોશુઆએ એબાલ પર્વત પર ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવ માંટે એક વેદી બનાવી.
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<v id="31" bcv="JOS.8.31" />મૂસાએ તેના
<bk>નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં</bk> જણાવ્યાં પ્રમાંણે બધા નિયમો પાળવામાં આવ્યા હતા. જે પથ્થરો વાપરવામાં આવેલા તે કપાયેલા ન હતા. લોખંડથી બનાવેલા કોઈ પણ ઓજારો તેની ઉપર વપરાયા ન હતા. આ પથ્થરને વાપરીને વેદી બનાવ્યા પછી, તેઓએ તેના ઉપર દેવને દહનાર્પણો અર્પિત કર્યા. તેઓએ શાંત્યર્પણો પણ અર્પણ કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JOS.8.32" />પછી પથ્થરો ઉપર યહોશુઆએ મૂસાનો નિયમ લખ્યો ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલનાં બધા લોકો તેને જોઈ રહ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="33" bcv="JOS.8.33" />સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, તેમના આગેવાનો, અમલદારો અને ન્યાયાધીશો દેવના કરારકોશની બધી તરફ લેવી યાજકો જે તે લઈ ગયા તેની સામે ઊભા હતા. યહોવાના સેવક મૂસાએ યહોવાના ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પર આશીર્વાદ ઉચ્ચારણ કરવાના વિષે આપેલ આદેશ પ્રમાંણે અડધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ એબાલ પર્વત તરફ મોંઢું કર્યું અને બીજા અડધાએ ગરીઝીમ પર્વત તરફ મોંઢું કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JOS.8.34" />યહોશુઆએ નિયમશાસ્ત્રનાં બધાં શબ્દો આશીર્વાદો અને શ્રાપો સહિત વાંચ્ચાં જેમ તેઓ
<bk>નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં</bk> લખેલા હતાં ફક્ત તેમજ.
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<v id="35" bcv="JOS.8.35" />મૂસા દ્વારા આપવામાં આવેલી દરેક આજ્ઞાઓ યહોશુઆએ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સમક્ષ વાંચી. તે વખતે તમાંમ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સ્ત્રીઓ બાળક તેમજ તેમની સાથે વસતા વિદેશીઓ પણ ઉપસ્થિત હતા.
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<s style="s">યહોશુઆની વિરુદ્ધ ગિબયોનીઓની ચાલાકી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.9.1" />આ વસ્તુઓને યર્દન નદીની પશ્ચિમ દિશાના બધા રાજાઓ દ્વારા સાંભળવામાં આવી હતી. હિત્તીઓ, અમોરીઓ, કનાનીઓ, પરિઝઝીઓ, યબૂસીઓ, હિવ્વીઓના રાજાઓ. તેઓએ તેમનું રાજ્ય પર્વતીય દેશમાં અને ભુમધ્ય સમુદ્રના સમગ્ર કિનારાથી છેક લબાનોન.
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.9.2" />યહોશુઆ અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સામે લડવાના એક લક્ષ્ય સાથે આ બધા રાજાઓ મળી ગયાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JOS.9.3" />પણ જયારે ગિબયોનના લોકોએ યહોશુઆએ યરીખો અને “આય” ના નગરના શા હાલ કર્યા હતા તે સાંભળ્યું.
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.9.4" />ત્યારે તેઓએ તેની સાથે કપટ કરવાનું નકકી કર્યું. તેઓ થોડું ભાથું લઈને નીકળ્યા, તેઓએ ગધેડા પર જૂની ગુણપાટો તથા દ્રાક્ષારસની જૂની ને ફાટલી મશકો લાદી હતી.
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.9.5" />તેઓએ પોતાના એલચીઓને ફાટેલાં તથા થીગડાં માંરેલાં કપડાં પહેરાવીને યહોશુઆ પાસે મોકલ્યા, જેથી એવું લાગે કે તેઓ ઘણી લાંબી મુસાફરી કરીને આવ્યા છે. તેઓએ જૂના સાંધેલા પગરખાં પહેર્યા હતાં, તેમણે સાથે લીધેલા રોટલા સૂકા અને ફુગાઈ ગયેલા હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="JOS.9.6" />પછી તેઓ ગિલ્ગાલની છાવણીમાં યહોશુઆને મળ્યા અને તેઓએ યહોશુઆ તથા ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કહ્યું, “અમે દૂર દેશથી તમાંરી સાથે શાંતિના કરાર કરવાની માંગણી સાથે આવ્યા છીએ. અમાંરી સાથે સંધિ કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.9.7" />પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ હિવ્વીઓને કહ્યું, “તમે કદાચ અમાંરી પડોશમાં જ રહેતા હોવ એમ પણ બને. અને તમે પડોશમાં રહ્યાં હોય તો અમે તમાંરી સાથે સંધિ કેવી રીતે કરી શકીએ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JOS.9.8" />એટલે તેમણે યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “અમે તમાંરા સેવકો છીએ.”
</p>
<p style="p">યહોશુઆએ તેમને પૂછયું, “તમે કોણ છો અને તમે કયાંથી આવ્યાં છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.9.9" />તેઓએ પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “અમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની મહાન શક્તિ અને સમર્થના વિશે સાંભળ્યું છે. અને ખૂબ દૂરના દેશથી આવ્યા છીએ; અમે એ પણ સાંભળ્યું કેમ તેણે તમને બધાને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યા અને મિસરમાં તેણે કરેલ સર્વ વિષે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JOS.9.10" />અને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ અને યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વેના બે અમોરી રાજાઓ: હેશ્બોનના રાજા સીહોન અને આશ્તારોથમાં રહેતા બાશાનના રાજા ઓગને શું કર્યું છે તે અમે સાંભળ્યું છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.9.11" />તેથી અમાંરા આગેવાનોએ અને અમાંરા દેશના બધા લોકોએ અમને કહ્યું, ‘મુસાફરી માંટે જરૂરી ભાથું લઈને એ લોકોને જઈને મળો’ અને કહો કે, ‘અમે તમાંરા દાસ છીએ એટલે અમાંરી સાથે કૃપા કરીને સંધિ કરો. આ અમાંરા રોટલા જુઓ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JOS.9.12" />“અમે જયારે તમને મળવા માંટે ઘેરથી નીકળ્યા ત્યારે એ ગરમ હતા, પણ અત્યારે તમે જુઓ કે એ કેવા સૂકા અને ફુગાઈ ગયા છે!
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<v id="13" bcv="JOS.9.13" />અમે જયારે આ મશકોમાં દ્રાક્ષારસ ભર્યો ત્યારે એ નવા હતા, પણ અત્યારે એ બધા ફાટી ગયા છે, અમાંરાં કપડાં અને પગરખાં પણ લાંબા પ્રવાસને કારણે ઘસાઈ ને ફાટી ગયાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.9.14" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓના આગેવાનોએ તેમના થેલાઓમાંથી તેઓની રોટલીઓ ચાખી પણ યહોવાની સલાહ લીધી નહિ.
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<v id="15" bcv="JOS.9.15" />યહોશુઆએ તેમની સાથે શાંતિના કરાર કર્યા અને તેમને જીવનદાન આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું. અને ઇસ્રાએલના સમાંજના આગેવાનોએ તેને વચન આપીને મંજૂરી આપી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JOS.9.16" />પરંતુ સંધિ કર્યા બાદ ત્રણ દિવસ પછી સાચી હકીકત જાહેર થઈ કે એ લોકો તો તેમના નજીકના પાડોશીઓ જ હતા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="JOS.9.17" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો ગિબયોનીઓ જ્યાં રહ્યાં તે જગ્યાએ જવા તૈયાર થયા. ત્રીજે દિવસે તે લોકોનાં નગરો ગિબયોન, કફીરાહ, બએરોથ અને કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમ આવી પહોંચ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="JOS.9.18" />પરંતુ આગેવાનોએ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના નામ પર શપથ લીધાં હતા કે તેઓ તેમના પર હુમલો નહિ કરે, એટલે તેઓ તેમને માંરી શક્યાં નહિ, બધા લોકોએ આગેવાનો વિરુદ્ધ ફરિયાદ કરી.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="JOS.9.19" />તેથી આગેવાનોએ ભરી સભામાં જણાવ્યું, “આપણે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવો સમક્ષ એ લોકોને સમ લઈને વચન આપ્યું છે, એટલે આ પ્રમાંણે કરીશું:
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="JOS.9.20" />આપણે તેમને જીવતા રહેવા દઈશું; કારણ કે જો એમ વચનનો ભંગ કરીએ તો યહોવાનો કોપ આપણા પર આવી પડે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="JOS.9.21" />તેથી એ લોકો જીવતા રહે. પણ તેઓએ સમાંજના કઠિયારા અને પખાલી થવું પડશે.” લોકો આગેવાનોના કહ્યાં પ્રમાંણે કરવાને કબૂલ થયા અને શાંતિના કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JOS.9.22" />યહોશુઆએ ગિબયોનના માંણસોને બોલાવડાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “તમે અમાંરી નજીકમાં જ રહેતા હોવા છતાં, અમે દૂર દેશમાં રહીએ છીએ એ કહીને અમાંરી સાથે છેતરપિંડી શા માંટે કરી?
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="JOS.9.23" />આથી તમે હવે શાપિત થયા છો. તમે બધા સદા માંટે અમાંરા ગુલામ થશો. તમે અમાંરા દેવના મંદિરના પખાલી અને કઠિયારા રહેશો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JOS.9.24" />તેઓએ પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “અમે એવું એટલા માંટે કર્યું કે અમને ચોક્કસ ખબર મળી હતી કે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ પોતાના સેવક મૂસાને આ આખો દેશ તમને આપવાની અને એના સર્વ રહેવાસીઓનો સંહાર કરવાની આજ્ઞા કરી હતી. આથી તમે જેમ જેમ અમાંરા તરફ આગળ વધ્યા તેમ તેમ અમને તમાંરો ખૂબ ભય લાગવા માંડયો કે તમે અમને માંરી નાખશો, તેથી અમે આમ કર્યું.
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<v id="25" bcv="JOS.9.25" />પરંતુ હવે અમે તમાંરા હાથમાં છીએ, તમને જેમ યોગ્ય લાગે તેમ કરો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JOS.9.26" />તેથી યહોશુઆએ તે લોકોને માંરી નાખવાની પરવાનગી ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને આપી નહિં અને તેઓને ઉગારી લીધા.
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<v id="27" bcv="JOS.9.27" />પણ ત્યાર પછી યહોશુઆએ આ લોકોને લાકડું કાપવા અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો માંટે અને યહોવાના મંદિર માંટે પાણી લાવવા ફરજ પાડી. આજ દિવસ સુધી તેઓ યહોવાએ પસંદ કરેલ જગ્યાએ આજ કામ કરી રહ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">તે દિવસે સૂર્ય પણ થંભી ગયો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.10.1" />જયારે યરૂશાલેમના રાજા અદોની સદેકે સાંભળ્યું કે, યહોશુઆએ આયનગર કબજે કર્યુ છે અને તેણે જેમ યરીખોનો અને તેના રાજાનો નાશ કર્યો હતો તેમ આયનગરનો અને તેના રાજાનો પણ નાશ કર્યો છે, અને ગિબયોનની પ્રજાએ ઇસ્રાએલ સાથે શાંતિકરાર કરીને તેમની સાથે રહેવા માંડયું છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.10.2" />તે વિષે જાણ્યું ત્યારથી યરૂશાલેમના લોકો ઘણા જ ડરી ગયા, કારણ કે ગિબયોન તો મહાનગર હતું અને તે રાજનગર જેવું હતું અને તે આયનગર કરતાં વિશાળ હતું. તે નગરના લોકો બહાદુર હતાં, અને તેઓ તેના માંટે બહુ પ્રખ્યાત હતા.
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.10.3" />તેથી યરૂશાલેમના રાજા અદોનીસેદેકે હેબ્રોનના રાજા હોહામને, યાર્મૂથના રાજા પિરઆમને, લાખીશના રાજા યાફીઆને અને એગ્લોનના રાજા દબીરને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.10.4" />“માંરી સાથે આવ અને મને ગિબયોન પર આક્રમણ કરવા મદદ કર. ગિબયોને યહોશુઆ અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સાથે શાંતિકરાર કર્યો હતો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JOS.10.5" />એ પાંચ અમોરી રાજાઓ-યરૂશાલેમ હેબ્રોન, યાર્મૂથ, લાખીશ અને એગ્લોનના રાજાઓ ભેગા થઈને પોતાનાં લશ્કરો સાથે ઊપડયા અને ગિબઓનને ઘેરી લઈ તેમણે તેના ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.10.6" />પરંતુ ગિબયોનના લોકોએ યહોશુઆને ગિલ્ગાલની છાવણીમાં સંદેશો મોકલાવ્યો કે, “અમે તમાંરા દાસો છીએ, અમને એકલા ન મૂકશો, વહેલા અમાંરી તરફ આવો અને અમાંરું રક્ષણ કરો, કારણ કે પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં બધા અમોરી રાજાઓ અમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ એક થઈ ગયા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.10.7" />આથી યહોશુઆ પોતાના લશ્કરના બધા શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓને લઈને ગિલ્ગાલથી ત્યાં પહોંચી ગયો.
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<v id="8" bcv="JOS.10.8" />પછી યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “એ લોકોથી ડરતો નહિં. હું તમને, તેઓને હરાવવા દઈશ અને તેમનામાંનો કોઈપણ તમને હરાવી શકશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.10.9" />યહોશુઆએ ગિલ્ગાલથી નીકળી આખી રાત કૂચ કરીને તેમના ઉપર અચાનક છાપો માંર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOS.10.10" />યહોવાએ ગિબયોનના લશ્કરોને ખૂબ મૂંઝવી નાખ્યાં, તેથી ઇસ્રાએલે તેમને હરાવી દીધા. તેઓએ તેમનો પીછો બેથ-હોરોનના રસ્તા પર કર્યો અને તેમને બધાને અઝેકાહ અને માંક્કેદાહ સુધી માંરી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.10.11" />શત્રુનું સૈન્ય ઇસ્રાએલના સૈન્યથી ભાગીને બેથ-હોરોનના રસ્તે આવ્યું અને અઝેકાહ સુધીના સમગ્ર માંર્ગમાં યહોવાએ આકાશમાંથી તેમના ઉપર મોટા બરફના કરા વરસાવ્યા. ઇસ્રાએલી સૈનિકોને તરવારો કરતાં બરફના કરાઓથી વધારે શત્રુઓ માંર્યા હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JOS.10.12" />તે દિવસે યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને અમોરીઓને હરાવવા દીધા. અને તે દિવસે યહોશુઆ ઇસ્રાએલના બધા લોકો સમક્ષ ઊભો રહ્યો અને યહોવાને કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ઓ સૂર્ય, ગિબયોન ઉપર થંભી જા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઓ ચંદ્ર આયલોનની ખીણ ઉપર સ્થિર થા.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JOS.10.13" />તેથી જ્યાં સુધી આ લોકોએ શત્રુઓ પર વિજય મેળવ્યો સૂર્ય હલ્યો નહિ અને ચંદ્ર થોભી ગયો. આ ઘટનાનું વિશદ વિસ્તૃત વર્ણન
<bk>યાશારના ગ્રંથમાં</bk> લખેલું છે, તેમ સૂર્ય આકાશની વચ્ચોવચ થંભી ગયો અને લગભગ એક દિવસ સુધી તેણે આથમી જવામાં વિલંબ કર્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="JOS.10.14" />તે દિવસ પહેલા અને ત્યાર પછી આવું કદી બન્યું નથી કે જ્યારે સૂર્ય અને ચંદ્ર થોભી ગયા હોય. એ બધું એક માંણસની પ્રાર્થનાના કારણે થયું હતું. જેથી યહોવાએ કોઈ માંણસનું સાંભળ્યું અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો માંટે લડયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.10.15" />પછી યહોશુઆ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાથે ગિલ્ગાલની છાવણીમાં પાછા ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="JOS.10.16" />યુદ્ધ દરમ્યાન પેલા પાંચ રાજાઓ ભાગીને માંક્કેદાહની ગુફામાં છુપાઈ ગયા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="JOS.10.17" />તેઓને શોધવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં અને માંક્કેદાહ પાસેની ગુફામાં છુપાયેલા મળ્યા. જ્યારે યહોશુઆએ આના વિષે સાંભળ્યું. તેણે આમ કહીને જવાબ આપ્યો:
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="JOS.10.18" />“ગુફાના મુખદ્વાર ને બંધ કરવા મોટા પથ્થરો મુકો અને રાજાઓ ભાગી ન જાય તે જોવા રક્ષકો મૂકો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="JOS.10.19" />શત્રુ સૈન્યનો પીછો કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખો અને પાછળથી તેમના ઉપર હુમલા કરજો. તેમને તેમના શહેરમાં ફરવા દેશો નહિં. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ આ લોકોને તમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JOS.10.20" />યહોશુઆ અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ દુશ્મનો માંરવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ અને લગભગ બધાંને માંરી નાખ્યાં. તેઓ કે જે છટકી ગયાં કિલ્લાવાળા શહેરોમાં સંતાયા. થોડા બચી ગયા તેમણે કિલ્લાબંધ શહેરોમાં આશ્રય લીધો.
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<v id="21" bcv="JOS.10.21" />ત્યારબાદ યહોશુઆના માંણસો તેમની માંક્કેદાહની છાવણી પર સુરક્ષિત પાછા ફર્યા. પછી કોઈએ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સામે કંઈ પણ કહેવા માંટે હિમ્મત કરી નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JOS.10.22" />હવે યહોશુઆએ કહ્યું, “પેલી ગુફાનું મુખ ખોલો અને એ પાંચ રાજાઓને બહાર કાઢી માંરી પાસે લઈ આવો.”
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<v id="23" bcv="JOS.10.23" />એટલે તેઓએ તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ અને યરૂશાલેમના, હેબ્રોન, યાર્મૂથ, લાખીશ અને એગ્લોનના પાંચેય રાજાઓને ગુફામાંથી બહાર કાઢયા.
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<v id="24" bcv="JOS.10.24" />જ્યારે આ રાજાઓને યહોશુઆ સમક્ષ લાવવામાં આવ્યા, બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને બોલાવાયા અને યહોશુઆએ તેના સૈન્યના અધિકારીઓને કહ્યું: “અહીં આવો અને તેમની ડોક પર તમાંરો પગ રાખો.” તેથી તેઓએ તેઓનાં પગ રાજાની ડોક પર મૂક્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JOS.10.25" />પછી યહોશુઆએ તે લોકોને કહ્યું, “ગભરાશો નહિ કે જરા ય નાહિમ્મત થશો નહિ, બહાદૂર અને મક્કમ બનજો. કારણ કે તમાંરા દરેક દુશ્મન સાથે યહોવા આ પ્રમાંણે જ કરશે, આવા જ હાલ તેમના કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JOS.10.26" />પછી યહોશુઆએ તે રાજાઓને તરવારથી માંરી નાખ્યા. અને તેમનાં શબ પાંચ જાડ ઉપર લટકાવ્યાં, અને છેક સાંજ થતાં સુધી તે ત્યાં લકટતાં રહ્યાં.
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<v id="27" bcv="JOS.10.27" />પછી સૂર્યાસ્ત થવાના સમયે તેઓના મૃતદેહોને જાડ પરથી ઉતાર્યા અને તેઓ જે ગુફામાં સંતાઈ રહ્યાં હતા તેમાં ફેંકી દીધાં, પછી ગુફાના મુખદ્વાર આગળ મોટા પથ્થરો મૂકવામાં આવ્યા, જે આજે પણ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JOS.10.28" />યહોશુઆએ તે દિવસે માંક્કેદાહ કબજે કર્યું. અને તેના લોકોને તથા રાજાને મોતને ઘાટ ઉતાર્યા. નગરના બધા માંણસોનો તેણે સંહાર કર્યો. તેણે યરીખોના રાજાના જે હાલ કર્યા હતા તે જ હાલ માંક્કેદાહના રાજાના પણ કર્યા.
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<s style="s">દક્ષિણના શહેરોની પ્રાપ્તિ
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JOS.10.29" />ત્યારબાદ યહોશુઆ અને તેની સેનાએ માંક્કેદાહ છોડ્યું અને લિબ્નાહ જઈને તે શહેર પર આક્રમણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="30" bcv="JOS.10.30" />યહોવાએ એ પણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધું. અને તેમણે ત્યાંના બધાંજ માંણસોને તરવારને ઘાટ ઊતાર્યા. કોઈને છોડયા નહિં. અને યરીખોના રાજાની જે હાલત કરી હતી તે જ હાલત ત્યાંના રાજાની કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JOS.10.31" />એ પછી યહોશુઆ અને બધા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો લિબ્નાહથી લાખીશ ગયાં. તેમણે તે શહેરને ઘેરો ઘાલી તેના પર હુમલો કર્યો.
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<v id="32" bcv="JOS.10.32" />પછી યહોવાએ લાખીશ ઇસ્રાએલના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધું. બીજે દિવસે તેમણે તેનો કબજો લીધો અને લિબ્નાહમાં જે કર્યુ હતું તે જ ત્યાંના બધાં જ માંણસોનું કર્યુ. સૌને તરવારને ઘાટ ઉતાર્યા.
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<v id="33" bcv="JOS.10.33" />દરમ્યાનમાં ગેઝેરનો રાજા હોરામ લાખીશને મદદ કરવા આવ્યો પણ યહોશુઆએ અને તેના માંણસોએ તેમને બધાંને માંરી નાખ્યાં. તેનાં સૈન્યનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JOS.10.34" />ત્યારપછી યહોશુઆ અને તેનું સૈન્ય લાખીશથી એગ્લોન ગયું. તેમણે તેને ઘેરો ઘાલી હુમલો કર્યો.
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<v id="35" bcv="JOS.10.35" />તે જ દિવસે તેમણે તેને કબજે કર્યુ. અને લાખીશમાં કર્યું હતું તેમ ત્યાંનાં બધાં જ માંણસોનો સંહાર કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="JOS.10.36" />એગ્લોન છોડયા પછી તેઓએ હેબ્રોન પર આક્રમણ કર્યું.
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<v id="37" bcv="JOS.10.37" />અને રાજાની સાથે, લોકો અને નજીકનાં શહેરોમાં રહેતાં બીજા લોકોને પણ માંરી નાખવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં. કોઈને પણ જીવતું છોડવામાં આવ્યું નહોતું. તેઓએ એગ્લોનને જેમ કર્યુ હતું તેમ કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="JOS.10.38" />ત્યારબાદ યહોશુઆ અને તેના સૈન્યે પાછા દબીર જઈ તેના ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો.
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<v id="39" bcv="JOS.10.39" />તેમણે દબીરને, તેના રાજાને અને આજુબાજુનાં ગામોને કબજે કર્યો. અને તેમને મોતને ઘાટ ઊતારી દીધા, તેણે ત્યાંના બધાંજ માંણસોનો સંહાર કર્યો. યહોશુઆએ હેબ્રોન, લિબ્નાહ અને તેના રાજાઓના જે હાલ કર્યા હતા તે જ હાલ દબીરના અને ત્યાંના રાજાના કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="JOS.10.40" />આ રીતે યહોશુઆએ સંપૂર્ણ ભૂમિ હરાવી: પહાડી દેશ, નેગેબ, પશ્ચિમની તળેટીઓ, ઢોળાવો અને તેમના બધા રાજાઓ. તેણે કોઈને જીવતા જવા દીધાં નહિં. ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે તેમણે એકએક પ્રાણીનો નાશ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="JOS.10.41" />યહોશુઆએ કાદેશ-બાર્નેઆથી ગાજા સુધી બધાને હરાવ્યાં અને ગિબયોનના શહેર ગોશેનની બધી ભૂમિ.
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<v id="42" bcv="JOS.10.42" />એક જ સમયે યહોશુઆ આ બધા રાજાઓ અને તેમની જમીન જીત્યો. કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવ લોકોને પક્ષે રહીને લડતાં હતા.
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<v id="43" bcv="JOS.10.43" />આ પછી યહોશુઆ અને તેનું લશ્કર પાછાં ગિલ્ગાલની છાવણીમાં ગયા.
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<s style="s">અન્ય નગરો અને રાજાઓ પર વિજય
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.11.1" />આ સમાંચાર હાસોરના રાજા યાબીનને પહોંચ્યા. યાવીને આ શબ્દો આપેલા રાજાઓને મોકલ્યા: માંદોનનો રાજા શિમ્રોનનો રાજા યોબાબ અને આખ્શાફનો રાજા;
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.11.2" />ઉત્તરના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશનાં બધાં રાજાઓ: યર્દનની ખીણ, કિન્નેરોથ તળાવનું દક્ષિણ, થી પશ્ચિમ તળેટીઓ અને પશ્ચિમમાં નાફ્રોથ દોર.
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.11.3" />પૂર્વમાં અને પશ્ચિમમાં કનાનીઓને, અમોરીઓને, હિત્તીઓને, પરિઝઝીઓને અને પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં રહેતા યબૂસીઓ અને હિવ્વીઓ જે મિસ્પાહ ક્ષેત્રમાં હેર્મોન પર્વતના ચરણ પાસે રહ્યાં તે બધાને, તેણે સંદેશો મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.11.4" />આ સર્વ રાજાઓ ઇસ્રાએલને કચડી નાખવાના હેતુ સાથે પોતપોતાના આખા સૈન્યો સાથે નીકળી પડયા. એમાં સાગરકાંઠાની રેતીના કણોની જેમ ગણ્યા ગણાય નહિં એવા અસંખ્ય ઘોડા અને રથ હતા. વ્યૂહરચના કરીને અસંખ્ય લોકો મેરોમ સરોવરની આસપાસ એકત્ર થયા,
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JOS.11.5" />કારણ કે એ બધા રાજાઓએ ભેગા થઈને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સામે લડવા માંટે મેરોમ સરોવર પાસે પોતાનો પડાવ નાખ્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.11.6" />પછી યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “એ સૈન્યથી ગભરાઈશ નહિં. હું તમને તેઓને હરાવવા દઈશ. કાલ આ સમય સુધીમાં, તમે તે બધાને માંરી નાખ્યા હશે. તમે ઘોડાઓના પગો કાપશો અને તેઓના બધાં રથો બાળશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.11.7" />આથી યહોશુઆ અને તેના માંણસોનું સૈન્ય એકાએક મેરોમ સરોવર આગળ આવીને તેમના ઉપર તૂટી પડ્યું.
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<v id="8" bcv="JOS.11.8" />યહોવાએ એ લોકોને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા અને તેઓએ તેમને હરાવ્યા અને ઉત્તર તરફ છેક મહાનગર સિદોન અને પૂર્વમાં મિસ્રેફોથ-માંઈમ સુધી અને પૂર્વ તરફ ઠેઠ મિસ્પેહની ખીણ સુધી તેમને ભાગતાં કર્યાં બધાં શત્રુઓ મરી ગયાં ત્યાં સુધી ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ લડવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું.
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<v id="9" bcv="JOS.11.9" />જે યહોવાએ કહ્યું હતું યહોશુઆએ કર્યું યહોશુઆએ તેઓના ઘોડાઓનાં પગ કાપ્યાં અને તેમના રથ બાળ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOS.11.10" />ત્યારબાદ યહોશુઆએ પાછા ફરીને હાસોર કબજે કર્યું, અને તેના રાજાને મોતને ઘાટ ઉતાર્યો. તે સમયે હાસોર બધાં જ સંયુક્ત રાષ્ટ્રોનું પાટનગર હતું.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JOS.11.11" />તેમણે ત્યાંના એકેએક માંણસને માંરી નાખ્યો. કોઈનેય જીવતો જવા દીધો નહિં; અને નગરનો અગ્નિમાં નાશ કર્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JOS.11.12" />યહોશુઆ એ બધા રાજાઓને અને તેમનાં નગરોને કબજે કર્યા, અને યહોવાના સેવક મૂસાએ જણાવ્યા મુજબ હત્યાકાંડ ચલાવી તેમનો નાશ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JOS.11.13" />પણ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો ટેકરીઓ પર બાંધેલા નગરોમાંથી હાસોર સિવાય કોઈપણને બાળ્યું ન હતું.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="JOS.11.14" />ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને શહેરોમાંથી જે બધી વસ્તુઓ મળી તે પોતાનાં માંટે રાખી. તેઓએ શહેરમાં જે પ્રાણીઓ મળ્યાં તે રાખ્યાં. પણ તેઓએ ત્યાંના બધા માંણસોને માંરી નાખ્યાં. તેઓએ કોઈ લોકોને જીવતા ન છોડ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JOS.11.15" />જેમ યહોવાએ તેના સેવક મૂસાને આજ્ઞાંકિત કર્યો, ફક્ત તેમજ મૂસાએ યહોશુઆને આજ્ઞાંકિત કર્યો અને યહોશુઆએ તે પાળ્યું. તેણે તે બધું કર્યું જેના માંટે યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞાંકિત કર્યો હતો:
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JOS.11.16" />આ રીતે યહોશુઆએ સમગ્ર ભૂમિ ડુંગરાળ પ્રદેશ, નીચાણનો પ્રદેશ, સમગ્ર દક્ષિણનો પ્રદેશ, ગોશેનનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ, પશ્ચિમી ટેકરીઓ, યર્દનની ખીણ, ઇસ્રાએલનો પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ અને તેની ટેકરીઓ કબજે કરી.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="JOS.11.17" />તેણે સેઈર નજીક હાલાક પર્વતીય હેર્મોન પર્વત નીચે લબાનોનની ખીણમાં બઆલ-ગાદ સુધીની બધી જમીનનું શાસન લીધું. તેણે તે દેશોના રાજાઓને પકડયા અને તેઓને માંરી નાખ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="JOS.11.18" />આ બધા રાજાઓ સાથે યહોશુઆએ ખૂબ લાંબુ યુદ્ધ કર્યુ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="JOS.11.19" />ફક્ત ગિબયોનમાં રહેનારા હિવ્વીઓ સાથે યહોશુઆ અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ શાંતિકરાર કર્યો હતો. બીજા સર્વ નગરોને યુદ્ધમાં હરાવવામાં આવ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="JOS.11.20" />કારણકે યહોવાએ શત્રુઓના મન કઠોર બનાવી નાખ્યા હતાં જેઓ ઇસ્રાએલ સામે લડવા કૃતનિશ્ચય હતા, જેથી યહોવાએ મૂસાને જણાવ્યા મુજબ તેઓ નિર્દયી રીતે માંર્યા જાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JOS.11.21" />ત્યારબાદ યહોશુઆએ પર્વતીય દેશ, હેબ્રોન, દબીર, અનાબ, યહૂદિયાના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ અને ઇસ્રાએલના સમગ્ર પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં રહેનારા અનાકીઓનો નાશ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="JOS.11.22" />યહોશુઆએ બધા અનાકીઓનો તેમના નગરો સાથે નાશ કર્યો હતો. તેથી તેઓમાંનું કોઈ પણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓની ભૂમિમાં વચ્યું નહિં. બસ થોડા જ ગાજા, ગાથ અને આશ્દોદમાં બાકી રહ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="JOS.11.23" />જેમ યહોવાએ મૂસાને જણાવ્યુ હતું તે મુજબ યહોશુઆએ સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ કબજે કરી લીધો. તે તેણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આપ્યો યહોશુઆએ બધા કુળસમૂહોને તેમનો ભાગ આપ્યો પછી દેશમાં શાંતિ પ્રસરી રહી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">પરાજીત રાજવીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.12.1" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યર્દન નદીના પૂર્વકાંઠાનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ-અર્નોનની ખીણથી હેર્મોન પર્વત સુધીનો પ્રદેશ, અરાબાહની સમગ્ર પૂર્વીય બાજુ સાથે કબજે કરી લીધો. ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ પરાસ્ત કરેલા રાજાઓનાં નામ આ મુજબ છે:
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JOS.12.2" />હેશ્બોનવાસી અમોરીઓના રાજા સીહોન પાસે આર્નોનની ધારે આવેલા અરોએર અને ખીણનો મધ્યવર્તી પ્રદેશ, અને અર્ધા ગિલયાદ થી છેક આમ્મોનની સરહદ યાબ્બોક નદી સુધીનો પ્રદેશ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JOS.12.3" />તે પૂર્વીય યર્દનની ખીણ પર ગાલીલના સરોવરથી મૃતસરોવર સુધી, બેથ-યશીમોથ સુધીના અને દક્ષિણ તરફ પિસ્ગાહ પર્વતના ઢોળાવ પ્રદેશ સુધી રાજ્ય કરતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JOS.12.4" />બાશાનનો રાજા ઓગ, જે રફાઈઓમાંનો છેલ્લો હતો તે આશ્તારોથ અને એડ્રેઈમાં રહેતો હતો;
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JOS.12.5" />તે હેર્મોન પર્વત, સાલખાહ અને છેક ગશૂરીઓ તથા માંઅખાથીઓની સરહદ સુધીના આખા બાશાન પ્રાંત ઉપર તથા છેક હેશ્બોનના રાજા સીહોનની સરહદ સુધી અડધા ગિલયાદ પ્રાંત ઉપર રાજ કરતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.12.6" />યહોવાના સેવક મૂસાએ રાજાઓને ઇસ્રાએલીઓની મદદથી હરાવ્યા, અને તેમની ભૂમિ પ્રદેશ રૂબેન, ગાદના કુળસમૂહો અને મનાશ્શાના અડધા કુળસમૂહને મૂસા દ્વારા આપવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.12.7" />યહોશુઆ અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યર્દન નદીની પશ્ચિમે લબાનોની ખીણમાં આવેલ બઆલ-ગાદથી સેઈર નજીક આવેલા હાલાક પર્વત સુધીના બધા રાજાઓને હરાવ્યા અને આ ભૂમિને કુળસમૂહો વચ્ચે તેમના ભાગ પ્રમાંણે વહેંચી આપી. પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહને પોતાનો ભાગ વહેંચી આપ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JOS.12.8" />આ વિસ્તારમાં યર્દનની ખીણમાં, પૂર્વીય ઢોળાવોમાં, પર્વતીય પ્રદેશોમાં, પશ્ચિમી ટેકરીઓમાં, અરણ્ય પ્રદેશમાં, નેગેબમાં. આ ભૂમિમાં હિત્તીઓ, અમોરીઓ, કનાનીઓ, પરિઝઝીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ તથા યબૂસીઓ રહેતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.12.9" />યરીખોનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બેથેલની પાસેના આયનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="JOS.12.10" />યરૂશાલેમનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હેબ્રોનનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="JOS.12.11" />યાર્મૂથનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">લાખીશનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="JOS.12.12" />એગ્લોનનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ગેઝેરનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="JOS.12.13" />દબીરનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ગેદેરનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.12.14" />હોર્માંહનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અરાદનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.12.15" />લિબ્નાહનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અદુલ્લામનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="JOS.12.16" />માંક્કેદાહનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બેથેલનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="JOS.12.17" />તાપ્પુઆહનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હેફેરનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="JOS.12.18" />એફેકનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">લાશ્શારોનનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="JOS.12.19" />માંદોનનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હાસોરનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="JOS.12.20" />શિમ્રોન-મરોનનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આખ્શાફનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="JOS.12.21" />તાઅનાખનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મગિદ્દોનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="JOS.12.22" />કેદેશનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">કાર્મેલમાંના યોકનઆમનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="JOS.12.23" />દોરના પર્વત ઉપરનો દોરનો રાજા 1
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ગિલ્ગાલમાંના ગોઈમનો રાજા 1
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="JOS.12.24" />તિર્સાહનો રાજા 1
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">આ સર્વ રાજાઓ મળીને કુલ 31 હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">હજી સુધી ન મળેલી ભૂમિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.13.1" />હવે યહોશુઆ ખૂબ વૃદ્ધ થયો હતો અને યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું, “તું વયોવૃદ્ધ થયો છે, અને હજી બીજાં ઘણાં રાજ્યો જીતવાના બાકી છે, જે આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JOS.13.2" />પલિસ્તીઓનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ. ગશૂરીઓનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JOS.13.3" />મિસરની પૂર્વમાં શીહોરથી ઉત્તરમાં એકોન જે કનાનીઓની ભૂમિ છે, પાંચ પલિસ્તી શાસકો ગાજા આશ્દોદ, આશ્કેલોન, ગિત્તી અને એક્રોન તથા આવ્વીની ભૂમિ,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JOS.13.4" />દક્ષિણમાં કનાનીઓની બધી ભૂમિ અને મઆરાહ જે સિદોની લોકોના કબજમાં હતો તથા એમોરીઓની સરહદમાં આવેલ એફેક,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JOS.13.5" />અને ગબાલીઓનો પ્રદેશ. અને પૂર્વ તરફનું આખું લબાનોન, હેર્મોન પર્વત નીચે બઆલ-ગાદથી લબનોન સુધી,
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.13.6" />“લબાનોન થી મિસ્રેફોથ-માંઈમ સુધીના પર્વતીય દેશમાં રહેતા બધા સિદોની લોકો, ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોની સામે હું પોતેજ તેઓને હાંકી કાઢીશ. મેં તમને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તેમ તમે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વચ્ચે ભૂમિના ભાગલા પાડો ત્યારે આ ભૂમિ આવરી લેવાની ખાતરી કરો.
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<v id="7" bcv="JOS.13.7" />હવે આ ભૂમિને નવ કુળસમૂહો અને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધા કુળસમૂહ વચ્ચે વહેંચી આપ.”
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<s style="s">જમીનની ફાળવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JOS.13.8" />રૂબેન અને ગાદના કુળસમૂહો અને મનાશ્શા કુળના બાકીના અડધાને યર્દન નદીને પૂર્વની જમીન મળી જે દેવના સેવક મૂસાએ તેમને આપી હતી.
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<v id="9" bcv="JOS.13.9" />તેણે આ ભૂમિ આર્નોન ખીણની ધારે આવેલ અરોએરથી અને શહેર કે જે ખીણની વચ્ચે છે અને દીબોનથી મેદબા સુધીનો સમગ્ર સપાટ પ્રદેશ કબ્જે કર્યા હતાં.
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<v id="10" bcv="JOS.13.10" />અમોરી રાજા સીહોન જે હેશ્બોનથી ઓમ્મોનીટસની સરહદ સુધી રાજ્ય કરતો હતો, તેનાં બધાં શહેર.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.13.11" />અને ગિલયાદ; ગશૂર અને માંઅખાથ પ્રદેશ; હેર્મોન પર્વતનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ; બધું બાશાન છેક સાલખાહ,
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<v id="12" bcv="JOS.13.12" />ઓગ જેણે બાશાનમાં આશ્તારોથમાં અને એડ્રેઈમાં રાજ્ય કર્યુ તેનું સમગ્ર રાજ્ય તે ભૂમિ પર હતું. તે રફાઈઓનાં છેલ્લામાંનો એક હતો, કારણ મૂસાએ રેફાઈઓ પર હુમલો કર્યો હતો અને તેમને દૂર ખસેડી દીધાં હતાં.
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<v id="13" bcv="JOS.13.13" />પણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ગશૂરીઓને અને માંઅખાથીઓને હાંકી કાઢયા ન હતાં. તેઓ આજે પણ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો વચ્ચે રહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.13.14" />ફક્ત લેવી કુળસમૂહને કોઈ પણ ભૂમિ મળી ન હતી. તેઓનો ભાગ ફક્ત ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાને અર્પાતા દહનાર્પણો માંથી જ મળતો હતો જેમ યહોવાએ તેમને વચન આપ્યું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.13.15" />મૂસાએ રૂબેનના કુળસમૂહને ભૂમિ આપી તેમની ટોળીઓ દ્વારા.
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<v id="16" bcv="JOS.13.16" />તેઓને પ્રાપ્ત થયેલો અરોએરનો પ્રદેશ જે અર્નોની ખાડીની ધારે આવેલો છે, અને નગર જે ખીણની મધ્યમાં આવેલું છે, અને મેદબાનો સમગ્ર સપાટ પ્રદેશ.
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<v id="17" bcv="JOS.13.17" />અને હેશ્બોનની સપાટ ભૂમિ અને તેના બધા નગરો, દીબોન, બામોથ-બઆલ, બેથ-બઆલમેઓન,
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<v id="18" bcv="JOS.13.18" />યાહાસ, કદેમોથ, મેફાઆથ,
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<v id="19" bcv="JOS.13.19" />કિર્યાથાઈમ, સિબ્માંહ, ખીણમાંના ડુંગર ઉપરનું સેરેથશાહાર,
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<v id="20" bcv="JOS.13.20" />બેથ-પેઓર, પિસ્ગાહ અને બેથયશીમોથની ટેકરીઓ,
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<v id="21" bcv="JOS.13.21" />ભૂમિમાં સપાટ ભૂમિમાં બધાં નગરો અને અમોરી રાજા સીહોન જે હેશ્બોનમાં રાજ્ય કરતો હતો તેના બધા રાજ્યોનો સમાંવેશ થતો હતો. મૂસાએ તેને અને મિધાઅનના નેતાઓ તથા અવી, રેકેમ, સૂર, હૂર અને શિઓનના<f caller="+"><fr>13:21
</fr><fk>શિઓન અને શિઓનના
</fk><ft>રાજકુમાર રેબા ને પણ હરાવ્યા હતાં.</ft></f> રેબાને પણ હરાવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="22" bcv="JOS.13.22" />જે લોકોને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યુદ્ધમાં માંરી નાખ્યા હતાં તેમાં બયોર ના દીકરા બલામ કે જે એક ભૂવો હતો તેનો પણ સમાંવેશ થતો હતો.
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<v id="23" bcv="JOS.13.23" />રૂબેનીઓની સરહદ યર્દન નદી અને તેના કાંઠાનો પ્રદેશ હતો, રૂબેનીઓને આ રગ્યા તેમની ટોળીઓ દ્વારા આપવામાં આવી હતી. જેઓને આ શહેરો ગામો સાથે આપવામાં આવ્યા હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JOS.13.24" />મૂસાએ ગાદ કુળસમૂહને પણ તેમની ટોળીઓ પ્રમાંણે ભૂમિ આપી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JOS.13.25" />તેમની પાસે યાઝેરની ભૂમિ, ગિલયાદના બધાં શહેરો અને અમોરીઓની અડધી ભૂમિથી છેક અરોએર સુધી, જે રાબ્બાહની પૂર્વે છે તે હતાં.
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<v id="26" bcv="JOS.13.26" />એ પ્રદેશ હેશ્બોનથી તે રામાંથ-મિસ્પાહ અને બટોનીમ સુધી અને માંહનાઈમથી દબીરની સરહદ સુધી વિસ્તરેલો હતો.
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<v id="27" bcv="JOS.13.27" />અને ખીણમાં બેથ-હારામ, બેથ-નિમ્રાહ, સુક્કોથ અને સાફોન અને હેશ્બોનના રાજા સીહોનનુ બાકીનું રાજ્ય. ઉત્તરમાં ગાલિલના સરોવરનો પ્રદેશ, યર્દન નદીના પુર્વકાંઠા સુધીનો બધાં પ્રદેશ આવરી લેવાયેલો હતો, જે તેમની પશ્ચિમ સરહદ હતી.
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<v id="28" bcv="JOS.13.28" />ગાદના કુળસમૂહોએ તે ટોળીઓ પ્રમાંણે પ્રાપ્ત કરી, તેમાં શહેરો અને તેના ગામડાઓનો સમાંવેશ થતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JOS.13.29" />મૂસાએ મનાશ્શાના અર્ધા કુળસમૂહને તેમની ટોળીઓ પ્રમાંણે જમીન આપી હતી. મનાશ્શા કુળસમૂહના અડધા કુટુંબોને આ પ્રદેશ મળ્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JOS.13.30" />તેઓની હદ માંહનાઈમથી, આખું બાશાન, બાશાનના રાજા ઓગનું સમગ્ર રાજ્ય, બાશાનમાં આવેલા યાઈરનાં બધા શહેરો, કુલ 60 નગરો,
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<v id="31" bcv="JOS.13.31" />અને અડધું ગિલયાદ, બાશાનના નગરો આશ્તારોથ અને એડેઈ જ્યાં ઓગ રાજા રહેતો આ બધી ભૂમિ મૂસાએ મનાશ્શાના દીકરા માંખીરના અડધા કુટુંબોને આપી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JOS.13.32" />તેમજ મૂસાએ તેઓને યર્દન નદી પાર, યરીખો પૂર્વે, મોઆબનો સપાટ પ્રદેશ આપ્યો હતો.
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<v id="33" bcv="JOS.13.33" />પરંતુ મૂસાએ લેવીના કુળસમૂહને કોઈ ભૂમિ આપી ન હતી. યહોવાએ પોતે જ તેમનો ભાગ થવાનું વચન તેમને આપ્યું હતુ. ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ યહોવા એ જ તમાંરો ભાગ છે વતન વારસો છે, તમાંરી સર્વ જરૂરિયાતોનો સ્ત્રોત માંત્ર છે; અને તેથી યહોવા જ તેઓની પ્રત્યેક જરૂરિયાતની કાળજી રાખશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.14.1" />આ ભૂમિઓ કનાનમાં છે જે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ફાળવણી દ્વારા મેળવી. વહેચણી યાજક એલઆજાર, નૂનનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ અને ઇસ્રાએલના કુળસમૂહોના આગેવાનો દ્વારા કરવામાં આવી હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.14.2" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને સાડા નવ કુળસમૂહો વચ્ચે ચિઠ્ઠી નાખીને પ્રદેશની વહેંચણી કેમ કરવી તેની આજ્ઞા આપી હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.14.3" />મૂસાએ યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વે. રૂબેનના કુળસમૂહો, ગાદ અને મનાશ્શાના અડધાકુળને ભૂમિ આપી દીધી હતી. પણ તેણે લેવીકુળ સમૂહોને કોઈ પ્રદેશ આપ્યો નહોતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.14.4" />યૂસફના વંશજો બે કુળસમૂહોમાં વહેંચાયેલા હતા: મનાશ્શા અને એફ્રાઈમ. તેઓમાંના દરેકે થોડી જમીન મેળવી. પણ લેવીઓને જમીનનો કોઈ ભાગ ન મળ્યો. રહેવા અને તેમનાં ઢોરઢાંખર માંટે, તેઓએ અમુક શહેરો અને તેમના ખેતરો મેળવ્યાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.14.5" />જે પ્રમાંણે યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા આપી હતી, તે મુજબ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ભૂમિ વહેંચી લીધી.
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<s style="s">કાલેબને ભૂમિ પ્રાપ્તિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.14.6" />એક દિવસ યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહના લોકો ગિલ્ગાલમાં યહોશુઆ પાસે આવ્યાં. તેઓમાંના એક કનિઝઝી, કાલેબે તેમને કહ્યું, “દેવના માંણસ મૂસાએ કાદેશ-બાર્નેઆમાં તમાંરા અને માંરા વિષે શું કહ્યું હતું તે તમે જાણો છો?
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<v id="7" bcv="JOS.14.7" />યહોવાના સેવક મૂસાએ મને અમે જઈ રહ્યાં હતાં તે ભૂમિ જોવા મોકલ્યો. તે સમયે હું 40 વર્ષનો હતો. જ્યારે હું પાછો આવ્યો મે મૂસાને જમીન વિશે જે વિચાર્યુ તે કહ્યું.
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<v id="8" bcv="JOS.14.8" />હું એક પ્રમાંણિક અહેવાલ લાવ્યો, પણ માંણસો જે માંરી સાથે આવ્યા હતાં, તેઓએ લોકોને તેમના અહેવાલ વડે નિરૂસ્તાહ કર્યા. પણ હું માંરા યહોવા દેવમાં શ્રદ્ધા રાખી રહ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="JOS.14.9" />પછી તે દિવસે મૂસાએ મને વચન આપ્યું હતું, ‘તમે યહોવા માંરા દેવને સંનિષ્ઠ હતાં. તેથી જે કોઈ જમીન પર તમે ચાલો, તે તમને અને તમાંરા વંશજોને સદાને માંટે આપી દેવામાં આવશે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOS.14.10" />“હવે જો, યહોવાએ મને હજી 45 વર્ષ સુધી જીવતો રાખ્યો છે. તેના મૂસાના વચન પ્રમાંણે જે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ રણમાંથી મુસાફરી કરી રહ્યા હતાં ત્યારે આપવામાં આવ્યું હતું. અને હવે હું 85 વર્ષનો છું.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.14.11" />આજે હું 85 વર્ષનો થયો છું. અને મૂસાએ મને જાસૂસી કરવા મોકલ્યો ત્યારે હતો, તેવો જ હું મજબૂત છું. આજે પણ માંરામાં યુદ્ધમાં જવાની ને બધાં કામો કરવાની શક્તિ તે વખતે હતી તેટલી જ છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="JOS.14.12" />હવે મને પર્વત દેશ આપ જેનુ વચન યહોવાએ બહુ પહેલા આપ્યું હતું. તે સમયે તમને માંહિતગાર કરવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં કે, અનાકીઓ ત્યાં રહેલાં અને તેઓનાં શહેરો બહું મોટાં અને કિલ્લેબંધ હતાં. કદાચ મને યહોવાનો સાથ મળી રહેશે અને હું યહોવા દ્વારા અપાયેલા વચન પ્રમાંણે તેમને ત્યાંથી હાંકી કાઢીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JOS.14.13" />તેથી યહોશુઆએ યફૂન્નેહના દીકરા કાલેબને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા અને હેબ્રોનનો પ્રદેશ તેને આપી દીધો.
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<v id="14" bcv="JOS.14.14" />આજે પણ હેબ્રોનની ભૂમિ યફૂન્નેહના દીકરા કાલેબના કુટુંબના હાથમાં છે, કારણ તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું નિષ્ઠાથી પાલન કર્યું હતું.
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<v id="15" bcv="JOS.14.15" />આ પહેલા હેબ્રોન કિર્યાથ-આર્બા તરીકે જણીતું હતું. આર્બા અનાકીઓમાં સૌથી મહાન પુરુષ હતો.
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<p style="p">ત્યારે તે પ્રદેશમાં શાંતિ હતી.
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<s style="s">યહૂદા માંટેની ભૂમિ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.15.1" />યહૂદાના કુટુંબને ટોળીઓ પ્રમાંણે ચિઠ્ઠી નાંખી ભૂમિ વહેંચવામાં આવી હતી. એ દક્ષિણ તરફ અદોમની સરહદ, તેમાંનની ધારે આવેલા સીનના રણ સુધી ફેલાયલી છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.15.2" />તેમની દક્ષિણી સરહદ મૃતસમુદ્રના દક્ષિણ છેડાથી, આરંભ થતી હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.15.3" />ત્યાંથી સરહદ સ્કોર્પિયન ઘાટની દક્ષિણ સુધી જાય છે, સીનની પાસે થઈને કાદેશ-બાર્નેઆની દક્ષિણે થઈને અને પછી હેસ્રોન પચાસ થઈને આદાર સુધી અને ત્યાંથી તે કાર્કા તરફ વળી જાય છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.15.4" />પછી સરહદ આસ્મોન સુધી ચાલુ રહે છે, ઈજીપ્તના ઝરણાં અને પછી ભુમધ્ય સમુદ્ર સુધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JOS.15.5" />તેની પૂર્વની સરહદ મૃત સરોવર સુધી આવેલ યર્દન નદીના મુખ તથા ઉત્તરની સરહદ યર્દન નદીના મુખ પાસે આવેલ બેથ-હોગ્લાહ સુધી ઉપર જતી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.15.6" />પછી તે બેથ-હોગ્લાથી ઉપર જઈ અને બેથ-અરાબાહની ઉત્તરે ચાલુ રહીને બોહાન જે રૂબેનનો પુત્ર હતો તેની શિલા સુધી તે જાય છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="JOS.15.7" />પછી સરહદ આખોરની ખીણ આગળ થઈને દબીર સુધી જાય છે, પછી ઉત્તર તરફ વળીને ગિલ્ગાલ તરફ વળે છે. ગિલ્ગાલ કોતરની દક્ષિણ બાજુએ અદુમ્મીમના ઘાટની સામે આવેલું છે. અદુમ્મીમ ઘાટની વચ્ચેથી કોતરની દક્ષિણે જઈને પછી એનશેમેશ જળ સ્રોત સુધી ચાલુ રહીને એનરોગેલ આગળ અટકતી હતી.
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<v id="8" bcv="JOS.15.8" />પછી સરહદ યબૂસીઓ એટલે કે યરૂશાલેમના ઢાળની દક્ષિણથી બેન હિન્નોમની ખીણ સુધી જાય છે, પછી એ પર્વતના શિખર તરફ વળે છે, જે રફાઈમની ખીણના ઉત્તર છેડા પર, હિન્નોમ ખીણની પશ્ચિમે આવેલો છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="JOS.15.9" />પછી સરહદ પર્વતના શિખર પરથી “નેફતોઆહનો જળસમૂહ” ઝરણા તરફ વળીને ત્યાંથી એક્રોન પર્વત પરના નગરોમાં જાય છે. તે જગ્યાએથી સરહદ બાઅલાહ જે “કિયાર્થ-યઆરીમ” તરીકે ઓળખાય છે તેના તરફ વળી જાય છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JOS.15.10" />પછી સરહદ<f caller="+"><fr>15:10
</fr><fk>પછી સરહદ
</fk><ft>પશ્ચિમ તરફ સીરનાપહાડી પ્રદેશ તરફ વળે છે ત્યાંથી ઉત્તરી ઢોળવનો પર્વત યારીમ Њ કે જે સાલોમ તરીકે ઓળખાય છે Њ તરફ ચાલુ રહીને બેથ-શેમેશ તરફ નીચે ઉતરીને તિમ્નાહ સુધી ચાલુ રહે છે.</ft></f> બાઅલાહની પશ્ચિમે સેઈર ના પર્વતીય દેશ તરફ વળતી હતી; અને યઆરીમ પર્વતની ઉત્તર બાજુએ ઢાળ સુધી જઈને, નીચે ઊતરી બેથ-શેમેશ તરફ વળીને તિમ્નાહ તરફ જાય છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.15.11" />પછી સરહદ એક્રોની ઉત્તરની ટેકરી સુધી જાય છે. ત્યાંથી શિક્કરોન તરફ વળીને પછી બાઅલાહ પર્વત સુધી અને પછી યાબ્નએલ સુધી ચાલુ રહીને ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્રમાં પૂરી થાય છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="JOS.15.12" />પશ્ચિમી સરહદ ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્ર સુધી હતી. આ યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહની સરહદ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JOS.15.13" />જેમ યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તેમ, તેણે યફૂન્નેહના દીકરા કાલેબને યહૂદાના લોકોની ભૂમિમાંથી ભાગ આપ્યો. તેણે તેને કિર્યાથ-આર્બા આપ્યું હતું. આર્બા અનાકનો પિતા હતો.
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<v id="14" bcv="JOS.15.14" />કાલેબે ત્યાંથી અનાકના ત્રણ દીકરા-શેશાય, અહીમાંન અને તાલ્માંયને હાંકી કાઢયા.
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<v id="15" bcv="JOS.15.15" />કાલેબે ત્યાંથી જઈને દબીરના લોકો ઉપર ચઢાઈ કરી. પહેલાં દબીર કિર્યાથ-સેફેર તરીકે જાણીતું હતું.
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<v id="16" bcv="JOS.15.16" />કાલેબે કહ્યું, “જે કોઈ કિર્યાથ-સેફેર ઉપર હુમલો કરી તેને કબજે કરશે તેને હું માંરી દીકરી આખ્સાહ પરણાવીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JOS.15.17" />કાલેબના ભાઈ કનાઝના પુત્ર ઓથ્નીએલે એ શહેર કબજે કર્યું. તેથી કાલેબે તેને પોતાની દીકરી આખ્સાહ પરણાવી.
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<v id="18" bcv="JOS.15.18" />જ્યારે તે પરણીને આવી ત્યારે ઓથ્નીએલે તેને તેના બાપ પાસે એક ખેતરની માંગણી કરવા ચડાવી. તે કાલેબ પાસે ગઈ અને ગધેડા ઉપરથી ઊતરી એટલે કાલેબે તેને પૂછયું, “તારે શું જોઈએ છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JOS.15.19" />તેણીએ કહ્યું, “મને આશીર્વાદ આપો! તમે મને નેગેબનો સૂકો પ્રદેશ આપ્યો હતો. તેથી મને થોડી ભૂમિ આપો જેમાં પાણી હોય” આથી કાલેબે તેણીને ઉપરનાં અને નીચેનાં ઝરણાંઓ આપ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JOS.15.20" />યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહને મળેલ ભૂમિ આ છે. દરેક કુટુંબને જમીનનો ભાગ મળ્યો હતો:
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<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="21" bcv="JOS.15.21" />આ શહેરો યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહને મળેલા છે: નેગેબમાં અદોમની સરહદે આવેલાં શહેરો:
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<p sfm="li" style="li">કાબ્સએલ, એદેર, યાગૂર,
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<v id="22" bcv="JOS.15.22" />કીનાહ, દીમોનાહ, આદઆદાહ,
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<v id="23" bcv="JOS.15.23" />કેદેશ, હાસોર, પિથ્નાન,
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<v id="24" bcv="JOS.15.24" />ઝીફ, ટેલેમ, બેઆલોથ,
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<v id="25" bcv="JOS.15.25" />હાસોર હદાત્તાહ, ફરીયોથ-હેસ્રોન એટલે કે હાસોર.
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<v id="26" bcv="JOS.15.26" />અમાંમ, શમાં, મોલાદાહ,
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<v id="27" bcv="JOS.15.27" />હસાર-ગાદાહ તથા શ્હેમોન, બેથ-પેલેટ,
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<v id="28" bcv="JOS.15.28" />હસાર-શૂઆલ, બેર-શેબા, બિઝયોથ્યાહ.
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<v id="29" bcv="JOS.15.29" />બાઅલાહ, ઈયીમ, એસેમ,
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<v id="30" bcv="JOS.15.30" />એસ્તોલાદ, કસીલ, હોર્માંહ,
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<v id="31" bcv="JOS.15.31" />સિકલાગ, માંદમાંન્નાહ, સાન્સાન્નાહ,
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="JOS.15.32" />લબાઓથ, શિલ્હીમ, આયિન અને રિમ્મોન અને આસપાસના ગામડાઓ સહિત કુલ 29 શહેરો હતા,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="33" bcv="JOS.15.33" />પશ્ચિમ ટેકરીના ઢોળાવમાં શહેરો:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">એશ્તાઓલ, સોરાહ, આશ્નાહ હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="JOS.15.34" />જાનોઆહ, એનગાન્નીમ, તાપ્પૂઆહ, એનામ.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="JOS.15.35" />યાર્મૂથ, અદુલ્લામ, સોખોહ, અઝેકાહ,
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="JOS.15.36" />શાઅરાઈમ, અદીથાઈમ, ગદેરાહ, અને ગદરોથાઈમ અને તેની આજુબાજુના ગામો સહિત કુલ 14 નગરો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="37" bcv="JOS.15.37" />એ ઉપરાંત,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સનાન, હદાશાહ, મિગ્દાલ-ગાદ,
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="JOS.15.38" />દિલઆન-મિસ્પાહ, યોક્તએલ,
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="JOS.15.39" />લાખીશ, બોસ્કાથ, એગ્લોન,
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="JOS.15.40" />કાબ્બોન, લાહમાંમ, કિથ્લીશ,
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="JOS.15.41" />ગદેરોથ, બેથ-દાગોન, નાઅમાંહ અને માંક્કેદાહ: આજુબાજુના ગામો સહિત કુલ 16 નગર,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="42" bcv="JOS.15.42" />તદુપરાંત
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">લિબ્નાહ, એથેર આશાન,
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="JOS.15.43" />યફતા, આશ્નાહ, નસીબ,
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="JOS.15.44" />કઈલાહ, આખ્ઝીબ અને માંરેશાહ તથા તેની આજુબાજુના ગામો સહિત કુલ 9 નગરો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="JOS.15.45" />યહુદાના લોકોને એકોનનું નગર પણ મળ્યું અને બધાં શહેરો અને નજીકમાંના ગામો પણ મળ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="JOS.15.46" />તેઓને એક્રોનની પશ્ચિમનો પ્રદેશ પણ મળ્યો હતો, તેની સરહદ એકોનથી ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્ર સુધી અને આશ્દોદની પાસે આવેલાં નગરો તથા તેની આજુબાજુના ગામો સુધી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="JOS.15.47" />પછી આશ્દોદ અને તેની નજીકના શહેરો અને ગામો, ગાજાના અને તેની નજીકનાં શહેરો અને ગામોથી મિસરની નદી સુધી અને ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્રના કિનારા સુધી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="48" bcv="JOS.15.48" />પર્વતીય પ્રદેશના 44 નગરો તથા તેની આજુબાજુના ગામો પણ વતન તરીકે મળ્યા હતાં.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શામીર, યાત્તીર, સોખોહ,
<ve />
<v id="49" bcv="JOS.15.49" />દાન્નાહ, કિર્યાથ-સાન્નાહ (એટલે કે દબીર);
<ve />
<v id="50" bcv="JOS.15.50" />અનાબ, એશ્તમોહ, આનીમ,
<ve />
<v id="51" bcv="JOS.15.51" />ગોશોન, હોલોન, ગીલોહ અને તેની આજુબાજુના ગામો સહિત કુલ અગિયાર નગરો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="52" bcv="JOS.15.52" />અરાબ, દુમાંહ, એશઆન,
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="JOS.15.53" />યાનીમ, બેથ-તાપ્પૂઆહ, અફેકાહ,
<ve />
<v id="54" bcv="JOS.15.54" />હુમ્ટાહ, કિર્યાથ-આર્બા એટલે કે હેબ્રોન અને સીઓર અને તેની આજુબાજુના ગામો સહિત કુલ 9 શહેરો હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="55" bcv="JOS.15.55" />માંઓન, કાર્મેલ, ઝીફ, યૂટાહ,
<ve />
<v id="56" bcv="JOS.15.56" />યોકદઆમ, જાનોઆહ, યિજાએલ,
<ve />
<v id="57" bcv="JOS.15.57" />કાઈન, ગિબયાહ અને તિમ્નાહ અને તેની આજુબાજુના ગામો સહિત કુલ 10 શહેરો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="58" bcv="JOS.15.58" />હાલ્હૂલ, બેથ-સૂર, ગદોર,
<ve />
<v id="59" bcv="JOS.15.59" />માંઅરાથ, બેથ-અનોથ અને એલ્તકોન, આજુબાજુના ગામો સહિત કુલ ત્યાં 6 શહેરો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="60" bcv="JOS.15.60" />કિર્યાથ-બઆલ, (કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમ) રાબ્બાહ અને તેની નજીકનાં ગામો. સાથે ત્યાં બે શહેરો હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="61" bcv="JOS.15.61" />રણમાં:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બેથ-અરાબાહ, મિદીન તથા સખાખાહ;
<ve />
<v id="62" bcv="JOS.15.62" />નિબ્શાન, મીઠાનુંનગર અને અને ગેદી અને તેની આજુબાજુના ગામો સહિત કુલ 6 શહેરો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="63" bcv="JOS.15.63" />પણ યહૂદાના લોકો યરૂશાલેમમાંથી યબૂસીઓને હાંકી કાઢી શક્યા નહી, તેથી યબૂસીઓ યહૂદાના લોકોની સાથે આજ સુધી યરૂશાલેમમાં રહે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">એફ્રાઈમ કુળને ભાગમાં મળેલ પ્રદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.16.1" />યૂસફના વંશજોના પ્રદેશની સરહદ યરીખોથી માંડીને યર્દનથી શરૂ થઈ, યરીખોના ઝરણાની પૂર્વ તરફ રણમાં થઈને બેથેલના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ સુધી જતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JOS.16.2" />અને તેની સરહદ બેથેલથી, અટારોથમાં આર્કીઓની સરહદ સુધીની હતી;
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JOS.16.3" />અને પશ્ચિમ તરફ તે યાફલેટીઓની સીમાંથી છેક નીચલા બેથ-હોરોન અને ગેઝેર સુધી અને તે ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્ર તરફ ચાલી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JOS.16.4" />મનાશ્શા અને એફ્રાઈમના લોકોને મનાશ્શા અને એફ્રાઈમ યૂસફના પુત્રો હતાં આ ભૂમિ મળી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JOS.16.5" />એફ્રાઈમનાં કુટુંબીજનોને મળેલી ભૂમિ આ હતી; તેમની પૂર્વ દિશાની સરહદ આટારોથ-આદારથી ઉપરના બેથ-હોરોન સુધી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="JOS.16.6" />ત્યાંથી તે સમુદ્ર સુધી જતી રહી. ઉત્તરે મિખ્મથાથ હતું. પૂર્વમાં એ સરહદ તાઅનાથશીલોહ તરફ વળી અને ત્યાંથી યાનોઆહના નજીકના વિસ્તાર તરફ વળતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JOS.16.7" />પછી યાનોઆહ નીચે ઊતરીને આટારોથ અને નાઅરાહ જતી હતી. ત્યાંથી યરીખો જઈ યર્દન આગળ પૂરી થતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JOS.16.8" />સરહદ કાનાહ નદીથી પશ્ચિમ તપ્પુઆહ ગઈ. અને સમુદ્ર પર પુરી થઈ. આ બધી ભૂમિ છે જે એફ્રાઈમ લોકોને આપવામાં આવી હતી. તે કુળસમૂહમાં દરેક કુટુંબને આ ભૂમિનો ભાગ મળ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JOS.16.9" />એફ્રાઈમના ઘણા સરહદી નગરો મનાશ્શાની સરહદમાં હતાં, પણ એફ્રાઈમના લોકોને આ નગરો અને તેમની આજુબાજુના ખેતરો મળ્યા હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="JOS.16.10" />પણ એફ્રાઈમીઓ જે ગેઝેરમાં રહેતા અને કનાનીઓને તે ક્ષેત્રમાંથી તેઓએ કદીય હાંકી કાઢયા નહિ, તેથી તેઓ આજ સુધી એફ્રાઈમના લોકો વચ્ચે રહેતા આવ્યા છે; પણ તેમને ચાકરો તરીકે કામ કરવું પડે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">મનાશ્શાના અર્ધકુળને મળેલ પ્રદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.17.1" />મનાશ્શા યૂસફનો જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્ર હતો તેથી તેના કુળસમૂહને પણ પ્રદેશનો ભાગ આપવામાં આવ્યો હતો. ગિલયાદનો પિતા માંખીર મનાશ્શાનો જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્ર હતો જે યોદ્ધો હતો. તેથી ગિલયાદ અને બાશાનના પ્રાંતો તેને ફાળવવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JOS.17.2" />મનાશ્શાનાં બાકીના કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબોને પણ પ્રદેશ ફાળવવામાં આવ્યા હતા: અબીએઝેર, હેલેક, આસ્રીએલ, શેખેમ, હેફેર અને શમીદા એ યૂસફના દીકરા મનાશ્શાના દીકરા હતા. તેઓ કુટુંબના વડા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JOS.17.3" />મનાશ્શાના દીકરા માંખીરના દીકરા ગિલયાદના દીકરા હેફેરના દીકરા સલોફહાદને દીકરો ન હતો. ફક્ત દીકરીઓ જ હતી, તેમનાં નામ માંહલાહ, નોઆહ, હોગ્લાહ, મિલ્કાહ, અને તિર્સાહ હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JOS.17.4" />તેઓ યાજક એલઆજાર, નૂનના દીકરા યહોશુઆને આગેવાનો પાસે આવ્યા અને તેણે કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ મૂસાને હુકમ કર્યો હતો કે આપણા પુરુષ સબંધીઓની જેમ અમને પણ પ્રદેશ આપવો.” તેથી યહોશુઆ દેવને અનુસર્યો અને તેમના કાકાઓના ભાગની જેમ તેમને થોડી ભૂમિ આપી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JOS.17.5" />આમ મનાશ્શાના કુળસમુહને ભાગે યર્દન નદીને સામે કાંઠે આવેલાં ગિલયાદ અને બાશાનની ભૂમિ ઉપરાંત ભૂમિના દશ ભાગ મળ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="JOS.17.6" />જ્યારે, મનાશ્શાની દીકરીઓને પણ પુરુષ વંશજોની સાથે ભૂમિ મળી હતી. ગિલયાદની ભૂમિ મનાશ્શાના બાકીના કુટુંબોને આપવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.17.7" />મનાશ્શાના પ્રદેશની સરહદ આશેરથી શરૂ થઈ શખેમની પૂર્વે મિખ્મથાથ સુધી જતી હતી. પછી તે દક્ષિણમાં એન-તાપ્પૂઆહ લોકો સુધી જતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JOS.17.8" />તાપ્પૂઆહનો પ્રદેશ મનાશ્શાની માંલિકીનો હતો. પણ તાપ્પૂઆહ પોતે મનાશ્શાની સરહદ ઉપર આવેલું હતું અને તેના માંલિક એફ્રાઈમના વંશજો હતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="JOS.17.9" />ત્યારબાદ સરહદ કાનાહની ખીણ દક્ષિણ સુધી પહોંચી ગઈ. ખીણની દક્ષિણે આવેલા આ શહેરો મનાશ્શાના પ્રદેશમાં આવેલાં શહેરો વચ્ચે હોવા છતાં એફ્રાઈમના હતા. પરંતુ એફ્રાઈમની સરહદ ખીણની ઉત્તરે હતી અને ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્રમાં પૂરી થતી હતી.
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<v id="10" bcv="JOS.17.10" />દક્ષિણ તરફની ભૂમિ એફ્રાઈમની હતી અને ઉત્તર તરફની ભૂમિ મનાશ્શાની હતી. અને ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્ર તેની પશ્ચિમી સરહદ હતી, સરહદ ઉત્તરમાં આશેરની ભૂમિને અને પૂર્વમાં ઈસ્સાખારના પ્રદેશને અડતી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JOS.17.11" />મનાશ્શાના લોકોને ઈસ્સાખાર અને આશેરનાં ક્ષેત્રોમાં પણ શહેરો હતાં. આ શહેરોનો પણ તેમાં સમાંવેશ થતો હતો: બેથ-શેઆન અને તેના નજીકના શહેરો, યિબ્લઆમ અને તની નજીકના શહેરો, દોર અને તેનાં નજીકના શહેરો, એનદોર અને તાઅનાખ, મગિદોના નગરો અને તેમના નજીકના શહેરો. તેઓ મનાશ્શાના કુળ દ્વારા શાષિત હતાં. તેઓ નફોટાના ત્રણ શહેરોમાં પણ રહ્યાં.
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<v id="12" bcv="JOS.17.12" />મનાશ્શાના લોકો આ શહેરોની માંલિકી મેળવી શક્યા નહિ, તેથી કનાનીઓ ત્યાં રહ્યાં.
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<v id="13" bcv="JOS.17.13" />જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ બળવાન થયા ત્યારે પણ તેમણે કનાનીઓને હાંકી ન કાઢયા પણ તેમને ચાકરો બનાવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.17.14" />યૂસફના બે પુત્રોએ યહોશુઆ પાસે જઈને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે યહોવાએ અમને મોટી વસ્તી આપીને આશીર્વાદિત કર્યા છે પછી તેં અમને ભૂમિનો એક જ ભાગ કેમ આપ્યો છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.17.15" />યહોશુઆએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “જો એફ્રાઈમનો પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ તમે બધા મોટી સંખ્યામાં હો, ને તે પૂરતો ના હોય, તો તમે જો શક્તિમાંન હો તો પરિઝઝીઓ અને રફાઈઓ રહે છે તે જંગલોને કાપી નાખીને જગ્યા કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JOS.17.16" />યૂસફના લોકોએ કહ્યું, “ડુંગરાળ દેશ અમાંરા માંટે પૂરતો નથી, પણ કનાનીઓ જે સપાટ પ્રદેશમાં રહે છે, તેમની પાસે લોખંડના રથો છે. કનાનીઓ બેથશેઆન અને તેના નજીકના શહેરો અને યિઝ્એલ ખીણના ક્ષેત્રમાં રહેતાં.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JOS.17.17" />યહોશુઆએ યૂસફના લોકો મનાશ્શા અને એફ્રાઈમના કુટુંબના લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે બધા મોટી સંખ્યાંમાં છો અને બહુ શક્તિશાળી છો, તેથી તમને એક કરતા વધુ જમીનનો ભાગ મળવો જોઈએ.”
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<v id="18" bcv="JOS.17.18" />પણ તમને ડુંગરાળ પ્રદેશ મળશે, એ જંગલથી છવાયેલો છે, પણ તમે એને કાપીને જગ્યા લેજો. એના એક છેડેથી બીજા છેડા સુધી એ પ્રદેશ તમાંરો થશે. કનાનીઓ પાસે લોખંડના રથો છે, તેઓ બહુ શક્તિશાળી છે છતાંપણ મને ખાતરી છે કે તમે તેઓને ખીણમાંથી બહાર કાઢી શકશો.
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<s style="s">શેષ પ્રેદશની વહેંચણી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.18.1" />સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો શીલોહમાં એકત્ર થયા અને તેમણે મુલાકાતમંડપ ઉભો કર્યો, હવે બધાં ક્ષેત્રો જીતાઈ ગયા હતા અને તેમના તાબામાં હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.18.2" />હજી ઇસ્રાએલીઓના સાત કુળસમૂહોને જમીનનો ભાગ મળ્યો નહોતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JOS.18.3" />આથી યહોશુઆએ તેમને કહ્યું, “યહોવા તમાંરા પૂર્વજોના દેવે તમને આપેલી જમીન કબ્જે કરવાના સબંધમાં ક્યાં સુધી તમે આળસુ બની રહેવાનું ચાલુ રાખશો?
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.18.4" />પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહમાંથી ત્રણ માંણસો પસંદ કરો; હું તેમને આખા દેશમાં મોકલીશ. અને તેઓ પ્રદેશનું વર્ણન લખશે અને માંરી પાસે પાછા આવશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.18.5" />તેઓ ભૂમિને 7 ભાગમાં વહેંચી દેશે; યહૂદા પોતાના દક્ષિણના નિવાસમાં જ રહેશે અને યૂસફના લોકો ઉત્તરના પોતાના નિવાસમાં રહેશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="JOS.18.6" />તમાંરો દેશ સાત ભાગોમાં વિભાજીત અને ચિત્રિત થવાનો છે, અને તે લઈને માંરી પાસે આવજો, ત્યારબાદ હું આપણા દેવ યહોવાની સાક્ષીએ ચિઠ્ઠી નાખીશ તમને ભાગ સરખા પ્રમાંણમાં વહેંચી આપીશ.
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<v id="7" bcv="JOS.18.7" />પણ તમાંરી વચ્ચે રહેતા લેવી કુટુંબના લોકોને તેમનો ભાગ નહિ મળે, કારણ યાજક તરીકે સેવા કરવી તે તેમનો ભાગ છે. ગાદ અને રૂબેન કુળોના લોકો અને અર્ધા મનાશ્શા કુળને યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વ ભાગની જમીન આપવામાં આવી હતી, જે મૂસા દેવના સેવકે તેમને આપી હતી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JOS.18.8" />તેથી તે લોકો તેઓને ત્યાં શું મળ્યું તે વિશે યહોશુઆને અહેવાલ પાછો આપવા જમીન જોવા ગયા. યહોશુઆએ આ આદેશ તે માંણસોને આપ્યો: “તે જમીનનું વર્ણન લખો, તેમાંથી બધે મુસાફરી કરતી વખતે, અને પછી માંરી પાસે પાછા આવો. હું શીલોહ પર દેવની હાજરીમાં જમીનના વિભાજન માંટે ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.18.9" />આથી તે માંણસોએ જઈને આખો દેશ જોઈને બધી વાતની નોંધ લીધી. તેઓએ બધા નગરો નોંધ્યાં અને ભૂમિને સાત ભાગમાં વહેંચી અને શીલોહની છાવણીમાં યહોશુઆની પાસે પાછા ફર્યા.
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<v id="10" bcv="JOS.18.10" />યહોશુઆ શીલોહમાં હતો, અને યહોવા પાસે ગયો અને તેની સામે ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખી અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના દરેક કુળસમૂહને તેમનો પોતાનો ભાગ આપ્યો.
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<s style="s">બિન્યામિનને મળેલો પ્રદેશ
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JOS.18.11" />બિન્યામિનના કુટુંબોનો ભાગ ચિઠ્ઠી નાખ્યાં પછી નક્કી થયો હતો. તેમને આપવામાં આવેલો પ્રદેશ યહૂદાના અને યૂસફના પ્રદેશ વચ્ચે આવેલો હતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="JOS.18.12" />ઉત્તરમાં તેમની સરહદ યર્દન નદીથી શરૂ થતી, અને ત્યાંથી નીચાણની ભૂમિ પર યરીખોની ઉત્તરમાં તે ચાલુ રહી અને પછી તે પર્વતીય ક્ષેત્રની પશ્ચિમે ગઈ અને બેથ-આવેન રણ ક્ષેત્ર સુધી ચાલુ રહી.
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<v id="13" bcv="JOS.18.13" />ત્યાથી એ સરહદ લૂઝની આજુબાજુ જાય છે, ત્યાંથી લૂઝ (એટલે કે બેથેલ) ના દક્ષિણ ઢોળાવ સુધી જાય છે. ત્યાંથી તે નીચે અટારોથ-આદાર જઈ, બેથ-હોરોનની નીચે દક્ષિણે આવેલા પર્વતીય દેશ સુધી જાય છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="JOS.18.14" />ત્યાંથી સરહદ ધારદાર વળાંક લઈને પશ્ચિમ બાજુ પર, દક્ષિણ બાજુ તરફ પર્વત પર કે જે બેથ-હોરોનની દક્ષિણે છે ત્યાં જઈ, અને તે કિયાર્થ-બઆલ (એટલે કે કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમ) કે જે યહૂદા લોકોનું નગર છે ત્યાં પૂરી થાય છે આ તેમની પશ્ચિમી સરહદ હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.18.15" />દક્ષિણ છેડા તરફ કિયાર્થ-યઆરીમથી નેફતોઆહ નદી સુધી વિસ્તરી,
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<v id="16" bcv="JOS.18.16" />પછી સરહદ હિન્નોમની ખીણની સામે આવેલ પર્વતની તળેટી સુધી જાય છે કે રેફ્રાઈમની ખીણની ઉત્તરે છે, અને હિન્નોમ ખીણથી યબૂસી ઢોળાવ સુધી જઈ અને તે એન-રોગેલ સુધી જાય છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JOS.18.17" />ત્યાંથી એ ઉત્તરમાં વળીને અદુમ્મીમ ઘાટની સામ ગલીલોથ સુધી ચાલુ હતી ત્યાંથી સરહદ રૂબેનના દીકરા બોહાનના પથ્થરની નીચે જતી હતી.
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<v id="18" bcv="JOS.18.18" />પછી સરહદ અરાબાહના ઉત્તર ભાગ સુધી જતી હતી, પછી યર્દનની ખીણમાં જઈ,
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<v id="19" bcv="JOS.18.19" />ત્યાંથી તે બેથ-હોગ્લાહના ઉત્તરીય ઢોળાવથી થઈ અને યર્દન દક્ષિણ છેડે મૃત સમુદ્રની ઉત્તરની ખાડી આગળ સરહદ પૂરી થાય છે. આ હતી દક્ષિણની સરહદો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JOS.18.20" />યર્દન નદી એ પૂર્વની સરહદ હતી. બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબોને મળેલા પ્રદેશની આ સરહદો હતી.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="JOS.18.21" />બિન્યામીન કુળના કુટુંબો આ શહેરમાં રહ્યાં હતાં: યરીખો, બેથ-હોગ્લાહ, એમેક-કસીસ,
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="JOS.18.22" />બેથ-અરાબાહ, સમાંરાઈમ, બેથેલ,
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="JOS.18.23" />આવ્વીમ, પારાહ, ઓફ્રાહ,
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="JOS.18.24" />કફાર-આમ્મોની, ઓફની અને ગેબા, બધા મળીને ત્યાં બાર શહેરો અને તેમનાં નજીકના ખેતરો હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JOS.18.25" />ઉપરાંત, ગિબયોન, રામાં, બએરોથ,
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="JOS.18.26" />મિસ્પેહ, કફીરાહ, મોસાહ,
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="JOS.18.27" />રેકેમ, યિર્પએલ, તારઅલાહ,
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="JOS.18.28" />સેલાહ, એલેફ, યબૂસીશહેર (યરૂશાલેમ) ગિબયાથ, અને કિર્યાથ, બધા મળી 14 શહેરો અને તેમના ખેતરો હતા, બિન્યામીનનાં કુટુંબને આ બધા ક્ષેત્રો તેમના ભાગ તરીકે મળ્યા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">શિમયોન વંશને મળેલ પ્રદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.19.1" />શિમયોનના લોકોને જમીનનો બીજો ભાગ પ્રાપ્ત થયો. તેઓની ભૂમિ યહૂદાના લોકોના પ્રદેશની અંદર હતી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JOS.19.2" />તેઓને મળ્યા: બેર-શેબા, જે શેબા તરીકે ઓળખાય છે, માંલાદાહ,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JOS.19.3" />હસાર-શૂઆલ, બાલાહ, એસેમ,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JOS.19.4" />એલ્તોલાદ, બથૂલ હોર્માંહ,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JOS.19.5" />સિકલાગ, બેથ-માંર્કાબોથ, હસાર-સૂસાહ,
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="JOS.19.6" />બેથ-લબાઓથ અને શારૂહેન; અને આજુબાજુના ગામો સહિત કુલ 13 નગરો,
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.19.7" />તદુપરાંત, આયિન, રિમ્મોન, એથેર અને આશાન એમ ગામો સહિત ચાર શહેરો પણ એમાં આવતાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JOS.19.8" />એમાં બાઅલાથ-બએર અને નેગેવના રામાં સુધીનાં અને આ નેગેબની આજુબાજુના બધા ક્ષેત્રો તેનાં ગામડાઓ સાથે તેમજ શહેરો તેમાં આવરાયેલા હતાં. શિમયોનની કુળના લોકોને જે ભાગ મળ્યો તે આ પ્રમાંણે હતા. શિમયોનના કુળસમૂહે તેમનો પ્રદેશ યહૂદાની ભૂમિની અંદર મેળવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JOS.19.9" />યહૂદાના લોકો પાસે જોઈએ તે કરતાં વધારે પ્રદેશ હતો, તેથી શિમયોનનું ક્ષેત્ર તેમની ભૂમિ હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઝબુલોનને મળેલો પ્રદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOS.19.10" />ઝબુલોન કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબોના ભાગમાં ત્રીજો ભાગ આવ્યો. તેમને મળેલો પ્રદેશ સારીદ સુધી વિસ્તાર પામેલો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JOS.19.11" />ત્યાંથી પશ્ચિમ સરહદ માંરઅલાહની દિશામાં અને ત્યાંથી દાબ્બેશેથ સુધી અને યોકન-આમની પૂર્વે ખીણની પાસે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="JOS.19.12" />સારીદની બીજી બાજુએ એ સરહદ પૂર્વમાં કિસ્લોથ-તાબોરની સરહદ સુધી ગઈ, ત્યાંથી દાબરાથ અને યાફીઆ સુધી ઉપર જતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JOS.19.13" />ત્યાંથી તે પૂર્વ દિશમાં આગળના પ્રદેશમાં ગાથ-હેફેર અને એથ કાસીન થઈ ત્યાંથી તે રિમ્મોન જાય છે અને ધારદાર રીતે નેઆહ તરફ વળે છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="JOS.19.14" />નેઆહમાં સરહદ ફરીથી વળી અને ઉત્તર તરફ હાન્નાથોન તરફ અને પછી યફતાએલની ખીણમાં જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JOS.19.15" />તદુપરાંત કાટ્ટાથ, નાહલાલ, શિમ્રોન, યિદઅલાહ અને બેથેલેહેમ એમ ગામો સહિત 12 નગરોનો તેમાં સમાંવેશ થતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JOS.19.16" />ઝબુલોનના વંશના કુટુંબોના ભાગમાં આ નગરો તેમના ગામો સહિત આવ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસ્સાખારને મળેલો પ્રદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JOS.19.17" />ઈસ્સાખારના કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબોને ભાગે ચોથો ભાગ આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="JOS.19.18" />એના પ્રદેશમાં યિજાએલ, કસુલ્લોથ, શૂનેમ,
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="JOS.19.19" />હફારાઈમ, શીઓન, અનાહરાથ,
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="JOS.19.20" />રાબ્બીથ કિશ્યોન, એબેસ,
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="JOS.19.21" />રેમેથ, એન-ગાન્નીમ, એન-હાદાહ અને બેથ-પાસ્સેસનો સમાંવેશ થતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JOS.19.22" />એની સરહદ તાબોર, શાહસુમાંહ, અને બેથશેમેશને અડતી હતી અને યર્દન આગળ પૂરી થતી હતી, એમાં ગામો સહિત 16 નગરોનો સમાંવેશ થતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="JOS.19.23" />ઈસ્સાખારના કુળસમુહના કુટુંબોના ભાગમાં આ નગરો તેમના ગામો સહિત આવી જતાં હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આશોરને મળેલો પ્રદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JOS.19.24" />આશેરના કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબોને ભાગે પાંચમો ભાગ આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="JOS.19.25" />એની સરહદમાં હેલ્કાથ, હલી, બેટેન, આખ્શાફ,
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="JOS.19.26" />અલ્લામ્મેલેખ, આમઆદ, અને મિશઆલનો સમાંવેશ થતો હતો.
</p>
<p style="p">પશ્ચિમમાં એની સરહદ કાર્મેલને અને શીહોર-લિબ્નાથને અડતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="JOS.19.27" />પૂર્વ તરફ વળ્યા પછી એ સરહદ બેથ-દાગોન થઈ ઝબુલોનને ઉત્તરમાં યફતાએલની ખીણને, બેથ-એમેક અને નેઈએલને અડીને ઉત્તર તરફ જઈ કાબૂલ,
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="JOS.19.28" />એબ્દોન,<f caller="+"><fr>19:28
</fr><fk>અબ્દોન
</fk><ft>અથવા એબ્રોન.</ft></f> હેરોબ, હામ્મોન અને કાનાહથી છેક મહાન સિદોનથી. તે તેમની ભૂમિમાં સમાંવેશ પામતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="JOS.19.29" />પછી તેમની સરહદ દક્ષિણ રામાં તરફ ફરી અને સોરના તેણે વિસ્તારેલા શહેર સુધી ગઈ ત્યાંથી. તે હોસાહ ગઈ અને તે આખ્ઝીબ નજીક સમુદ્રમાં અંત પામી.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="JOS.19.30" />એમાં મહલબ, આખ્ઝીબ, ઉમ્માંહ, અફેક, અને રહોબનો સમાંવેશ થતો હતો:
</p>
<p style="p">ગામો સહિત કુલ 22 નગરો.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="JOS.19.31" />આશેરના કુળસમૂહનાં કુટુંબોના ભાગમાં આ શહેરો તેમના ગામો સહિત આવ્યાં હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નફતાલીને મળેલો પ્રદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JOS.19.32" />નફતાલીના કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબોને ભાગે છઠ્ઠો ભાગ આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="JOS.19.33" />તેમની સરહદ હેલેફ નજીક શરૂ થઈ, સાઅનાન્નીમમાં મોટા ઓક જાડથી અદામી નેકેબ અને યાબ્નએલ, લાક્કૂમ સુધી, અને તે યર્દન નદીએ પૂરી થઈ.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="JOS.19.34" />પશ્ચિમ દિશા પર સરહદ આઝનોથ તાબોર તરફ ફરી. અને ત્યાંથી તે હુક્કોક થોભી અને દક્ષિણમાં સરહદ ઝબુલોનને અડી અને પશ્ચિમ દિશામાં તે આશેર અડી અને પૂર્વમાં તેણે યર્દન નદીનો સમાંવેશ કર્યો જે યહૂદાના ક્ષેત્રને અડી.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="JOS.19.35" />એનાં ભાગમાં કિલ્લેબંદીવાળાં નગરો હતાં. સિદ્દીમ, સેર, હમ્માંથ, રાક્કાથ, કિન્નેરેથ,
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="JOS.19.36" />અદામાંહ, રામાં, હાસોર,
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="JOS.19.37" />કેદેશ, એડ્રેઈ, એનહાસોર,
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="JOS.19.38" />યિરઓન, મિગ્દાલએલ, હોરેમ, બેથ-અનાથ અને બેથશેમેશ એમ ગામો સહિત ઓગગણીશ નગરો હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JOS.19.39" />નફતાલીના કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબોના ભાગમાં આ નગરો તેમના ગામો સહિત આવ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દાનને મળેલો પ્રદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="JOS.19.40" />દાનના કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબોને ભાગે સાતમો હિસ્સો આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="JOS.19.41" />એમના પ્રદેશની સરહદમાં શોરાહ, એશ્તાઓલ, ઈર-શેમેશ,
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="JOS.19.42" />શાઅલાબ્બીન, આયાલોન, યિથ્લાહ,
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="JOS.19.43" />એલોન, તિમ્નાહ, એક્રોન,
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="JOS.19.44" />એલ્તકેહ, ગિબ્બથોન, બાઅલાથ,
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="JOS.19.45" />યહૂદ, બની-બરાક, ગાથરિમ્મોન,
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="JOS.19.46" />મે-યાર્કોન, અને રાક્કોન તેમજ યાફોની સામે આવેલો પ્રદેશ સમાંઈ જતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="JOS.19.47" />જ્યારે દાનના લોકો પોતાનો પ્રદેશ ખોઈ બેઠા ત્યારે તેમણે લેશેમ જઈને તેના ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો. અને તેને જીતી લીધું અને ત્યાંના લોકોને મોતને ઘાટ ઉતાર્યા; ત્યારબાદ તેમણે તેનો કબજો મેળવીને ત્યાં વસવાટ કર્યો. તેમણે તેનું નામ લેશેમ બદલીને પોતાના દાન કુળસમૂહના નામ પરથી “દાન” રાખ્યુ.
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<v id="48" bcv="JOS.19.48" />દાનનાં કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબોના ભાગમાં આ નગરો તેમના ગામો સહિત આવ્યાં હતાં.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહોશુઆને મળેલો પ્રદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="JOS.19.49" />આમ, સધળો પ્રદેશ સર્વ કુળસમૂહો વચ્ચે સીમાંવાર વહેંચવામાં આવ્યો; ઇસ્રાએલી પુત્રોએ પ્રદેશ વહેંચવાનું અને સરહદો નક્કી કરવાનું કામ પૂરું કર્યુ.
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<v id="50" bcv="JOS.19.50" />તેમણે નૂનના પુત્ર યહોશુઆને પ્રદેશનો એક ભાગ આપ્યો. યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે તેઓએ તેને એફ્રાઈમના પર્વતીય દેશમાં તિમ્નાથ-સેરાહ શહેર આપ્યું હતું. આ તે શહેર હતું જે યહોશુઆએ તેઓને કહ્યું હતુ કે તેને જોઈએ છે. યહોશુઆએ શહેર ફરીથી બાંધ્યું અને ત્યાં સ્થાયી થયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="JOS.19.51" />યાજક એલઆજાર, નૂનનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ અને ઇસ્રાએલી કુટુંબોના આગેવાનો શીલોહે મળ્યા. અને યહોવાની સામે મુલાકાત મંડપાના પ્રવેશ દ્વાર આગળ ભેગા થયા. અને તેઓએ ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખી અને તે પ્રમાંણે તેમને જમીન ફાળવી અને આ રીતે તેઓએ લોકો વચ્ચે જમીનની ફાળવણી પૂરી કરી.
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</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">સલામતીના નગરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.20.1" />પછી યહોવાએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.20.2" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને તું કહે કે, “યહોવાએ મૂસા માંરફતે તમને જે કહ્યું હતું તે મુજબ સલામતીના નગરો સ્થાપિત કરવાનાં છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.20.3" />અને જો ત્યાં કોઈ માંણસે અકસ્માંતથી કે અજાણતાં કોઈનું ખૂન કર્યું હોય તો આનગરો તેમના માંટે ખૂનીના સગાઓથી છુપાવા માંટેનું આશ્રય સ્થાન બની રહેશે, જેથી જેઓ ખૂનીને માંરી નાખવા માંગતા હોય, તેનાથી રક્ષણ પામી શકે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JOS.20.4" />“જ્યારે આવો માંણસ આ શહેરમાંથી કોઈ એકમાં આશરો લે, તે તેણે નગર દ્વાર પાસે ઉભા રહેવું અને શું બન્યું તે આગેવાનોને કહેવું અને તેઓ તેને શહેરમાં રહેવા પરવાનગી આપશે અને તેને જગ્યા આપશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.20.5" />જો બદલો લેવા માંગનાર વ્યક્તિ પણ તેનો પીછો તે શહેર તરફ કરે, તો શહેરના લોકોએ ખૂનીને તેના હાથમાં ન સોંપવો. કારણકે એણે ઈરાદા વગર પેલા માંણસનું ખૂન કર્યુ એને તેની સાથે વેર નહોતું.
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<v id="6" bcv="JOS.20.6" />હત્યાનો ન્યાય સમુદાયની સમક્ષ સંભળવવામાં આવશે અને જ્યાં સુધી તેઓ ઠરાવ પસાર કરે, તે વ્યક્તિએ શહેરમાં રહેવું. વડા યાજકના અવસાન પછી તે માંણસ પોતાના તે નગરમાં પાછો ફરી શકે છે, જયાંથી તે ભાગી આવ્યો હતો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.20.7" />આથી તેઓએ આ શહેરોને “સુરક્ષિતનગરો” તરીકે જુદા પાડ્યા: નફતાલીના ડુંગરાળ દેશ ગાલીલમાં આવેલું કેદેશ એફ્રાઈમના ડુંગરાળ દેશમાં આવેલું શેખેમ, અને યહૂદાના ડુંગરાળ દેશમાં આવેલું કિર્યાથ-આર્બા (એટલે કે હેબ્રોન).
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<v id="8" bcv="JOS.20.8" />યર્દનની બીજી બાજુએ, યરીખોની પૂર્વે રણમાં રૂબેનના પ્રદેશમાં આવેલુ બેશેર શહેર તેમણે પસંદ કર્યુ, બીજુ શહેર હતું ગાદની ભૂમિમાં આવેલુ ગિલયાદમાં આવેલું રામોથ, અને મનાશ્શાની ભૂમિ બાશાનમાં આવેલું ગોલાન શહેર.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.20.9" />બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ અને તેમની સાથે વિદેશીઓને આ સુરક્ષા માંટે નક્કી કરવામાં આવેલ નગરોમાં આશ્રય લેવાની રજા આપવામાં આવી હતી. કોઈ પણ માંણસે ભૂલમાં કોઈનું ખૂન કર્યુ હોય તો તે વ્યક્તિ આશ્રય લઈ શકે. પછી ખૂની સુરક્ષિત હશે, તેનું ખૂન બદલો લેનાર વ્યક્તિ દ્વારા નહિ થાય. પછી સમુદાય સમક્ષ તેનો ન્યાય થશે.
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</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">યાજકો અને લેવીઓનાં નગરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.21.1" />ત્યારબાદ લેવી કુળસમૂહના કુટુંબ શાશકોએ કનાન દેશમાં શીલોહમાં યાજક એલઆજાર અને નૂનના પુત્ર યહોશુઆ અને ઇસ્રાએલના બધા કુળસમૂહનાં કુટુંબોના આગેવાનો સાથે વાત કરવા ગયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.21.2" />આ કનાનની ભૂમિમાં શીલોહનાં શહેરમાં બન્યું. લેવી શાશકોએ તેમને કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા આપી હતી. તેણે આજ્ઞા આપેલી કે તું અમને રહેવા શહેરો આપ. અને તેણે આજ્ઞા આપેલી કે તું અમને ખેતરો આપ જ્યાંથી અમાંરા પ્રાણીઓ ખાઈ શકે.”
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.21.3" />આથી યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનુસાર ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ પોતાના પ્રદેશમાંથી લેવીઓને આ પ્રમાંણેનાં શહેરો અને ગૌચરો આપ્યાં:
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JOS.21.4" />કહાથનું કુટુંબ યાજક હારુન જે લેવી કુળસમૂહનો હતો, તેના વંશજો હતા. કહાથ કુટુંબના થોડા ભાગને 13 નગરો આપવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં જે પ્રદેશ યહૂદા, શિમયોન તથા બિન્યામીન કુળસમૂહઓની માંલિકીનો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JOS.21.5" />બાકીના કહાથ કુટુંબના લોકોને એફ્રાઈમ, દાન અને અર્ધા મનાશ્શાની કુળસમૂહના માંલિકીના પ્રદેશમાંથી દસ શહેરો આપવામાં આવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.21.6" />ગેર્શોનના કુટુંબના લોકોને ઈસ્સાખાર, આશેર, નફતાલી અને બાશાનમાંના અર્ધા મનાશ્શાની માંલિકીની ભૂમિમાંથી તેર નગરો આપવામાં આવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOS.21.7" />મરારીના કુટુંબના લોકોને રૂબેન, ગાદ અને ઝબુલોનની ટોળીઓની માંલિકીની ભૂમિમાંથી બાર શહેરો આપવામાં આવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JOS.21.8" />આ રીતે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને યહોવાએ મૂસા માંરફતે જણાવ્યા મુજબ ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખીને લેવીઓને આ નગરો અને તેનાં ગૌચરો ફાળવી આપ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.21.9" />તેઓએ આપેલા શહેરો યહૂદા અને શિમયોનની ટોળીઓ પાસેથી મેળવ્યાં:
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<v id="10" bcv="JOS.21.10" />કહાથ કુટુંબના લેવીઓને શહેરોનો પહેલો ભાગ આપવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JOS.21.11" />તેમને યહૂદાના ડુંગરાળ પ્રદેશમાં આવેલું કિર્યાથ-આર્બા અનાકના બાપનું નગર. એટલે કે હેબ્રોન અને તેની આજુબાજુનો ગૌચર પ્રદેશ મળ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="JOS.21.12" />પણ એ શહરેનાં અને તેના ગામડાઓનાં ખેતરો યફૂન્નેહના પુત્ર કાલેબને અપાયાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JOS.21.13" />હારુનના વંશજોને હેબ્રોન સુરક્ષાનું શહેર અને તેનો ગૌચર મળ્યો. તેમને આ બધાં શહેરો પણ મળ્યાં: લિબ્નાહ,
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="JOS.21.14" />યાત્તીર, એશ્તમોઆ,
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JOS.21.15" />હોલોન, દબીર,
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="JOS.21.16" />આયિન, યૂટ્ટાહ, અને બેથ-શેમેશ તેમનાં બધાં ગૌચર સહિત; આ વે કુળસમૂહોમાંથી તેઓએ નવ શહેરો આપ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JOS.21.17" />બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહના ભાગમાંથી તેમણે વંશજો સહિત ચાર શહેરો આપ્યા: ગિબયોન, ગેબા,
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<v id="18" bcv="JOS.21.18" />અનાથોથ અને આલ્મોન:
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="JOS.21.19" />આમ, હારુનના વંશજ યાજકોને ગૌચર સહિત કુલ તેર નગરો આપવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JOS.21.20" />લેવી કુળસમૂહના બાકીના કહાથી કુટુંબોને એફ્રાઈમ કુળસમૂહના શહેરો આપવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="21" bcv="JOS.21.21" />એફ્રાઈમના ડુંગરાળ પ્રદેશમાં તેઓને શખેમ સુરક્ષાનું શહેર<f caller="+"><fr>21:21
</fr><fk>સુરક્ષાનું શહેર
</fk><ft>ખૂનીને આમાનાં એક શહેરમાં આશ્રય આપવામાં આવ્યો હતો.</ft></f> અને તેનું ગેઝેરને તેનાં ગૌચર,
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<v id="22" bcv="JOS.21.22" />કિબ્સાઈમ અને બેથ-હોરોન: ગૌચરો સહિત ચાર શહેરો.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JOS.21.23" />દાનના કુળસમૂહ તરફથી તેમને એલ્તકે, ગિબ્બથોન, આયાલોન,
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<v id="24" bcv="JOS.21.24" />અને ગાથ-રિમ્મોન એ ચાર નગરો, ગૌચરો સહિત આપ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JOS.21.25" />મનાશ્શાના અડધા કુળસમૂહે તેમને આપ્યું: નાઅનાખ અને ગાથ-રિમ્મોન આ બે નગરો ગૌચરો સહિત અપાયાં હતાં.
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<v id="26" bcv="JOS.21.26" />આમ, કહાથના બાકીના કુટુંબને દસ નગરો ગૌચરો સહિત આપવામાં આવ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JOS.21.27" />લેવીઓની ટોળીમાંના ગેર્શોનીઓના કુટુંબને આપેલ શહેરો આપવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં. મનાશ્શાના અર્ધા વંશના ભાગમાંથી બે નગરો: બાશાન પ્રાંતમાંનું ગોલાન (સુરક્ષાનું શહેર) અને બએશ્તરાહ તેના ગેર્શોન સહિત. અને તેની સાથે ગૌચરો પણ અપાયા હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JOS.21.28" />ઈસ્સાખારના કુળસમૂહ તરફથી તેમને કિશ્યોન, દાબરા
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<v id="29" bcv="JOS.21.29" />યાર્મૂથ અને એન-ગાન્નીમ એ ચાર નગરો ગૌચરો સહિત મળ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JOS.21.30" />આશેરના કુટુંબ તરફથી તેમને મિશઆલ, આબ્દોન,
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<v id="31" bcv="JOS.21.31" />હેલ્કાથ અને રહોબ એ ચાર નગરો ગૌચરો સહિત પ્રાપ્ત થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JOS.21.32" />નફતાલીના કુળસમૂહ તરફથી તેમને મળ્યા: ગાલીલ માંનું કેદેશ (કેદેશ સુરક્ષાનું નગર હતું) અને હામ્મોથ-દોર અને કાર્તાન તેમના ગૌચરો સહિત-એમ ત્રણ નગરો મળ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JOS.21.33" />ગેર્શોનના કુટુંબને એકદરે ગૌચરો સહિત કુળ તેર નગરો મળ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JOS.21.34" />લેવી સમૂહના બીજા સમૂહને મરારી ઝબુલોનની ટોળીઓ દ્વારા યોકનઆમ, કાર્તાહ, તેમના ગૌચરો સહિત મળ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="35" bcv="JOS.21.35" />દિમ્નાહ અને નાહલાહ એ ચાર નગરો ગૌચરો સહિત પ્રાપ્ત થયા.
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<v id="36" bcv="JOS.21.36" />રૂબેનના કુળસમૂહ દ્વારા તેમને બેસેર, યાહાસ, તેમના ગૌચર સાથે મળ્યાં.
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<v id="37" bcv="JOS.21.37" />કદેમોથ, અને મેફાઆથ એ ચાર નગરો ગૌચરો સહિત મળ્યાં.
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<v id="38" bcv="JOS.21.38" />ગાદના કુળસમૂહો તરફથી તેમને ગિલયાદમાં આવેલું રામોથ (રામોથ એક સુરક્ષાનું શહેર છે) તેમજ માંહનાઈમ અને તેના ગૌચર ભૂમિ મળ્યાં.
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<v id="39" bcv="JOS.21.39" />હેશ્બોન અને યાઝેર એમ ગૌચર સહિત કૂલ ચાર નગરો પ્રાપ્ત થયાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="JOS.21.40" />આમ, મરારીનાં કુટુંબોને ચિઠ્ઠી દ્વારા 12 શહેરો આપવામાં આવ્યાં. જેઓ લેવીઓના બાકી રહેલા કુટુંબો હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="JOS.21.41" />આમ લેવીઓને કુલ 48 નગરો ગૌચર ભૂમિ સહિત મળ્યાં, આ શહેરો જે પ્રદેશમાં હતાં તે ઇસ્રાએલીઓના કુળસમૂહની માંલિકીનાં હતાં.
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<v id="42" bcv="JOS.21.42" />એ બધાં નગરોની ફરતે ચારે તરફ ગૌચર હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="JOS.21.43" />આમ યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને સર્વ પ્રદેશ આપી દીધો જે તેણે તેઓને આપવાનું તેઓના પિતૃઓને વચન આપ્યું હતું તેઓ આવ્યાં અને તેની માંલિકી લીધી અને ત્યાં સ્થાયી થયાં.
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<v id="44" bcv="JOS.21.44" />આમ યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને તેઓનાં પૂર્વજોને આપેલાં વચન પ્રમાંણે તેમના દેશની ચારે દિશાઓથી સુરક્ષા આપી. તેમના શત્રુઓ તેમના પર આક્રમણ કરી શક્યા નહિ અને તેઓ સુરક્ષિત હતાં. કારણ કે યહોવાએ તેમના બધાજ શત્રુઓને તેઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા હતાં.
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<v id="45" bcv="JOS.21.45" />યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને આપેલાં દરેક શુભ વચનો પાળ્યાં, દરેક વચન ફળીભૂત થયું.
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<c id="22" />
<s style="s">ત્રણ કુળસમૂહ પાછા ફર્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.22.1" />પછી યહોશુઆએ રૂબેન, ગાદ અને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધા કુળસમૂહના લોકોને બોલાવ્યા,
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.22.2" />અને તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “યહોવાના સેવક મૂસાએ તમને જે આજ્ઞાઓ કરી હતી તે બધી જ તમે પાળી છે અને માંરા તમાંમ આદેશોનું પણ તમે પાલન કર્યું છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.22.3" />તમે આ બધો સમય તમાંરા ભાઈઓને નહિ તજી દઈને તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કાળજીપૂર્વક કર્યું છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.22.4" />અને હવે યહોવા દેવે તમાંરા ઇસ્રાએલી બંધુઓને શાંતિ અને સુરક્ષા આપી છે. તેથી હવે તમે તમાંરે ધેર પાછા ફરો, યર્દન નદીને સામે કાંઠે આવેલ તમાંરા પ્રદેશમાં, જે તમને યહોવાના સેવક મૂસા દ્વારા આપવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.22.5" />ફક્ત જે કઈ યહોવાના સેવક, મૂસાએ નિયમ અને આજ્ઞાઓને લગતી તમને આજ્ઞા કરી છે, તમાંરે બધાએ બધી બહુ જ કાળજીથી પાળવી. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા ઉપર પ્રેમ રાખજો. હમેશા તેને માંર્ગે ચાલજો અને તેની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરજો, વફાદાર રહેજો અને પૂરા મનથી અને પૂરા ઉત્સાહથી તેની સેવા કરજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.22.6" />યહોશુઆએ તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપીને વિદાય કર્યા, અને તેઓ પોતાને ધેર પાછા ફર્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="JOS.22.7" />મૂસાએ મનાશ્શાની અડધી ટોળીને બાશાન પ્રાંતનો પ્રદેશ આપ્યો હતો અને યહોશુઆએ બાકીની અડધી મનાશ્શાની ટોળીને યર્દન નદીની પશ્ચિમ કાંઠા પ્રદેશ આપ્યો હતો. અને તેમના બીજા કુળભાઈઓને તે વિસ્તારનું મધ્યક્ષેત્ર મળ્યું.
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<v id="8" bcv="JOS.22.8" />યહોશુઆએ<f caller="+"><fr>22:8
</fr><fk>યહોશુઆએ
</fk><ft>તેમને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા અને ધરે મોકલ્યાં.</ft></f> એ લોકોને આશીર્વાદ આપીને વિદાય કરતી વખતે કહ્યું, “તમે પુષ્કળ સંપત્તિ, પુષ્કળ ઢોર, સોનું, ચાંદી, પિત્તળ અને લોઢું તથા પુષ્કળ જથ્થામાં વસ્ત્રો લઈને ઘેર પાછા જાઓ છો. તમાંરા દુશ્મનો પાસેથી મેળવેલી આ લૂંટમાંથી તમાંરા કુટુંબીઓને ભાગ આપજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.22.9" />આથી રૂબેનના, ગાદના અને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધા કુળસમૂહના લોકોએ કનાનામાં શીલોહ પર ઇસ્રાએલીઓને છોડ્યા અને પાછા પોતાના ગિલયાદ પ્રદેશમાં ગયા. એ પ્રદેશ જે મૂસાએ તેઓને યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે આપ્યાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOS.22.10" />જ્યારે રૂબેનીઓ, ગાદીઓ અને મનાશ્શાનું અર્ધ કુળસમૂહ કનાનમાં ગેલીલોથ પહોચ્ચું જે યર્દન નદીની નજીક હતું. તેઓએ યર્દન નદી પાસે મોટી અને સુંદર વેદી બનાવી.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.22.11" />બાકીના ઇસ્રાએલીઓને એવા સમાંચાર સાંભળવા મળ્યા કે, “જુઓ, રૂબેનના, ગાદના અને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધા કુળ સમૂહોના લોકોએ કનાનની સરહદ સામે, ઇસ્રાએલીઓની સરહદને પેલે પાર યર્દન નદીની આસપાસના પ્રદેશમાં વેદી બાંધી છે!”
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<v id="12" bcv="JOS.22.12" />આ સમાંચાર સાંભળીને ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો સમગ્ર સમાંજ તેઓની સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા જવાની તૈયારી માંટે શીલોહમાં ભેગો થયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JOS.22.13" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યાજક એલઆજારના પુત્ર ફીનહાસને ગિલયાદ પ્રાંતમાં રૂબેન, ગાદ અને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધા વંશના લોકો પાસે મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="JOS.22.14" />અને ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહોમાંથી એક એક એમ દસ આગેવાનો, જેઓ કુળસમૂહના વડા હોય તેઓને તેની સાથે મોકલ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.22.15" />તેઓ રૂબેનના, ગાદના અને અર્ધા મનાશ્શાની ટોળીના લોકો પાસે ગિલયાદમાં ગયા અને તેમણે કહ્યું,
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<v id="16" bcv="JOS.22.16" />“યહોવાની આખી સભા તમને પુછે છે, ‘તમે શા માંટે આ પાપ કર્યુ?’ તમે બધાએ આ વેદી પૂજા માંટે બનાવીને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કર્યું છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JOS.22.17" />પેઓરના પાપને લીધે આપણે હજુ પણ સહન કરી રહ્યા છીએ. તે ભયાનક પાપને લીધે યહોવાએ જમાંત પર પ્લેગ મોકલ્યો હતો. અને આજ સુધી આપણે એ પાપથી શુંદ્ધ થયા નથી.
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<v id="18" bcv="JOS.22.18" />તમે આજે યહોવાથી વિમુખ થઈ ગયા છો? જો તમે આજે તેની સામે બળવો કરશો તો આવતી કાલે તે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજ ઉપર રોષે ભરાશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JOS.22.19" />“જો તમાંરો પ્રદેશ અપવિત્ર હોય તો તમે બધા યહોવાના પોતાના પ્રદેશમાં આવી શકો. જયાં યહોવા દેવનો મુલાકાતમંડપ છે અને અમાંરી ભૂમિમાંથી તમે થોડી ભૂમિ લો. પરંતુ આપણા દેવ યહોવાની વેદીથી જુદી બીજી વેદી બાંધીને યહોવા સામે અને અમાંરી સામે બળવો કરશો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JOS.22.20" />“એ યાદ રાખજો કે ઝંરાહના પુત્ર આખાને શાપિત ઠરાવેલી વસ્તુઓની બાબતમાં આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યુ હતું. અને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજ ઉપર યહોવાનો કોપ ઊતર્યો હતો. આખાનના પાપને કારણે તેને એક્લાને મરવું પડયું નહોતું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JOS.22.21" />રૂબેનના, ગાદના અને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધા કુળસમૂહના લોકોએ ઇસ્રાએલી કુટુંબોના વડાઓને જવાબ આપ્યો,
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<v id="22" bcv="JOS.22.22" />“દેવાધિદેવ યહોવા જાણે છે અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ પણ જાણવું જોઈએ કે જો આપણે ઉલ્લંઘન દ્વારા યહોવા વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કરી રહ્યાં હોઈએ તો આજે એમને બચાવશો નહિ, એમને માંરી નાખો!
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<v id="23" bcv="JOS.22.23" />જો અમે વેદી તેના પર બલિઓ અર્પવા, બનાવી હોય કે જેથી અમે દેવથી ફરી શકીએ, તો યહોવા અમને તેના માંટે સજા કરે.
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<v id="24" bcv="JOS.22.24" />સાચી હકીકત તો એ છે કે અમે એવા ડરથી આમ કર્યુ છે કે, ભવિષ્યમાં તમાંરાં બાળકો અમાંરા બાળકોને એમ કહે પણ ખરા કે, ઇસ્રાએલના માંલિક યહોવા સાથે તમાંરે શો સંબંધ છે? ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા અમાંરા દેવની પૂજા કરવાનો તમને શો અધિકાર છે?
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<v id="25" bcv="JOS.22.25" />યહોવાએ અમને આપ્યું: યહોવાએ રૂબેન અને ગાદના લોકોને યર્દન નદીની બીજી બાજુ પરની ભૂમિ આપી તેથી નદી તમને અને અમને જુદા પાડે છે. તેથી તમાંરા બાળકો અમાંરા બાળકોને યહોવાનો ડર રાખતાં રોકશે. તેઓ અમાંરા બાળકોને કહેશે: ‘તમાંરો યહોવામાં કોઈ ભાગ નથી.’
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JOS.22.26" />“તેથી અમે વેદી બંધાવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો છે; એમાં યજ્ઞો કે દહનાર્પણો ધરાવવા માંટે નહિ,
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<v id="27" bcv="JOS.22.27" />પણ એ વેદી તમાંરી અને અમાંરી વચ્ચે અને આપણી ભાવિ પેઢીઓ વચ્ચે એ વાતની સાક્ષી થશે કે અમે પણ દેવને પૂજી શકીએ અને યહોવાને બલિઓ અને અર્પણો આપી શકીએ, જેથી તમાંરી ભવિષ્યની પેઢીઓ અમાંરી આવતી પેઢીઓને નહિ કહે કે, ‘તમને યહોવામાં કોઈ ભાગ નથી.’
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<v id="28" bcv="JOS.22.28" />અમે એમ વિયાર્યુ કે જો કદી તેઓ એવું કહે તો અમે એમ કહી શકીએ કે, ‘અમાંરા પૂર્વજોએ યહોવાની વેદીના જેવી જ આ વેદી બનાવી છે તે જુઓ, એ કંઈ યજ્ઞો ચડાવવા માંટે નથી, પણ તમાંરી અને અમાંરી વચ્ચે એક સાક્ષીરૂપ બની રહે એટલા માંટે છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JOS.22.29" />“યહોવાના પવિત્રમંડપ આગળની વેદી સિવાયના બીજી વેદી પર દહનાર્પણ કે ખાદ્યાર્પણ ચડાવવા માંટે બાંધીને અમાંરો ઈરાદો યહોવા વિરૂદ્ધ બંડ કરવાનો કે તેનાથી વિમુખ થઈ જવાનો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JOS.22.30" />જ્યારે યાજક ફીનહાસ તથા ઇસ્રાએલી આગેવાનોએ રૂબેન, ગાદ અને મનાશ્શાના વંશના લોકોએ જે કહ્યું તે સાંભળીને તેઓને સંતોષ થયો.
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<v id="31" bcv="JOS.22.31" />પછી યાજક એલઆજારના પુત્ર ફીનહાસે રૂબેન, ગાદ અને મનાશ્શાના લોકોને કહ્યું, “હવે અમને ખાતરી થઈ છે કે યહોવા આપણી વચ્ચે છે, કારણ તમે બધાએ યહોવા સામે બળવો કર્યો નથી, એથી તમે યહોવાની સજામાંથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ઉગારી લીધા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JOS.22.32" />ત્યારબાદ ફીનહાસ અને આગેવાનોએ રૂબેન અને ગાદના વંશના લોકોને ગિલયાદમાં છોડીને પાછા કનાન જઈ લોકોને બધી વાત કહી સંભળાવી.
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<v id="33" bcv="JOS.22.33" />એ સાંભળીને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને સંતોષ થયો. તેમણે દેવનો આભાર માંન્યો અને રૂબેન અને ગાદના વંશના લોકો જે પ્રદેશમાં વસ્યા હતા તેના પર યુદ્ધ કરીને તેને ખેદાનમેદાન કરી નાખવાની વાત છોડી દીધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JOS.22.34" />રૂબેન અને ગાદના લોકોએ વેદીનું નામ પાડ્યું: “તે આપણી વચ્ચેના સાક્ષી છે કે યહોવા એ જ દેવ છે.”
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<s style="s">યહોશુઆએ લોકોને ઉત્સાહિત કર્યા
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.23.1" />યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તેના આજુબાજુના શત્રુઓથી શાંતિ અપાવી. ત્યાર પછી ઘણાં વર્ષો વીતી ગયાં. યહોશુઆ વૃદ્ધ અને અશક્તિમાંન થયો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JOS.23.2" />તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના આગેવાનોને, ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને અને તેઓના કુટુંબોને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના દરેક કુટુંબના મુખી સાથે, ન્યાયાધીશોને અને અમલદારોને બોલાવીને અને કહ્યું, “હું હવે ખૂબ ઘરડો થયો છું.
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.23.3" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરા બધા માંટે લડ્યાં હતાં. તે તમે જોયું છે. તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા પોતે તમાંરા પક્ષે લડતા આવ્યા છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.23.4" />જુઓ, યર્દન નદીથી પશ્ચિમમાં ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્ર સુધી વચ્ચેના પ્રદેશમાંથી જે બધા દેશોને મે હરાવી દીધા છે તેમની ભૂમિ અને હજી જે દેશો બાકી રહ્યા છે તેમની જમીન મેં તમાંરી ટોળીઓને વારસાગત રૂપે આપી છે. તેથી હવે યર્દન નદીથી માંડીને સમુદ્ર સુધીનું બધું તમાંરું થશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="JOS.23.5" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તેઓને તમાંરી સમક્ષ દબાણથી હાંકી કાઢશે, અને તેણે તમને આપેલા વચન પ્રમાંણે, તમે તેમની ભૂમિ કબ્જે કરશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOS.23.6" />“તેથી મૂસાએ
<bk>મૂસાના નિયમ શાસ્ત્રનાં પુસ્તકમાં</bk> જે કંઈ લખ્યું છે, તે બધી વસ્તુઓ તેમાંની દરેકે પાળવી જોઈએ. તે નિયમથી ફરી ન જાઓ.
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<v id="7" bcv="JOS.23.7" />તમાંરી વચ્ચે જે રાષ્ટ્રો બાકી છે, તમાંરે તેમની સાથે મિત્ર ન બનવું જોઈએ, અને તમાંરે તેમનાં દેવો અનુસરવા ન જોઈએ. તમાંરે તેમના દેવોના નામ વાપરી સમ ન ખાવા, તમાંરે તેઓના દેવો પૂજવા નહિ કે તમાંરે નીચું નમીને તેમના પગે પડવુ નહિ.
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<v id="8" bcv="JOS.23.8" />તમે આજ સુધી તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને વળગી રહ્યાં છો તેમ વળગી રહેજો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.23.9" />“યહોવાએ મહાન કાર્ય કર્યુ છે અને તમાંરી સામેથી મહાન અને શક્તિશાળી રાષ્ટ્રોને હાંકી કાઢયાં છે અને કોઈ પણ તમાંરી વિરૂદ્ધ ઉભું રહેવા સમર્થ નથી.
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<v id="10" bcv="JOS.23.10" />તમાંરામાંના પ્રત્યેક જણ હજારોને ભગાડી શકે તેમ છે, કારણ, તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા વચન મુજબ તમાંરા વતી લડે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="JOS.23.11" />તેથી તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા ઉપર પ્રેમ રાખવાની બાબતમાં કાળજી રાખજો.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JOS.23.12" />“પણ જો તમે તેની વિરુદ્ધ ફરશો, જો તમે તમાંરી વચ્ચે હજુ જે રાષ્ટ્રો રહેલા છે તેમની સાથે જોડાવ, અને તેમની સાથે આંતરલગ્ન કરો,
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<v id="13" bcv="JOS.23.13" />તો ખાતરી રાખો, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવા તમાંરી આગળથી એ લોકોને પછી હાંકી કાઢશે નહિ, પરંતુ તેઓ તમાંરા બધા માંટે ભયંકર બની જશે, તેઓ આંખમાં ધુમાંડા કે કાંટા જેવા બનશે અથવા તમાંરી પાછળ સર્પ જેવાં જ્યાં સુધી યહોવા તમાંરા દેવ જેણે આ સારી ભૂમિ તમને આપી છે. તે તમને તેમાંથી બહાર જવા દબાણ નહિ કરે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.23.14" />“હું મૃત્યુ પામવા પર છું. તેથી તમાંરે બધાએ જાણવું અને સમજવું જોઈએ, તમાંરી બધી માંનસિક અને આધ્યાત્મિક ક્ષમતા સાથે કે યહોવાએ જે બધા સારાઁ વચનો જે તમને આપ્યાં હતાં તે તેણે પાળ્યાં છે, અને તે બધા સાચા પડ્યાં છે. તેમાંનું કોઈ પણ નકામું નથી ગયું.
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<v id="15" bcv="JOS.23.15" />સારાઁ વચનો જે યહોવાએ આપ્યાં હતાં, તેણે તેમાંના બધાં પાળ્યાં છે, અને જો તમે તેનું પાલન નહિ કરો તો તમાંરા બધા પર વિપત્તી આવશે અને તે તમને દબાણ કરી આ બધી ભૂમિમાંથી કાઢશે જે તેણે તમને આપી હતી અને તમાંરો નાશ કરશે.
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<v id="16" bcv="JOS.23.16" />જો તમે યહોવા દેવનો કરાર જાણવવા નિષ્ફળ થાવ જે તેણે આજ્ઞા કરી હતી અને જો તમે બીજા દેવોને પૂજો અને તેઓને નમો, તો યહોવા તમાંરી સાથે ગુસ્સે થશે અને તુરંત જ તમને આ ભૂમિ જે ફળદ્રુપ છે જે તેણે તમને આપી છે તેમાંથી દબાણ કરી બહાર કાઢશે.”
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<c id="24" />
<s style="s">યહોશુઆની વિદાય
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOS.24.1" />યહોશુઆએ ઇસ્રાએલના બધા કુળસમૂહોને શખેમમાં ભેગા કર્યા, તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના વડીલોને, આગેવાનોને, ન્યાયાધીશોને, અને અમલદારોને બોલાવી મંગાવ્યા, અને તેઓ બધા દેવ સમક્ષ હાજર થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JOS.24.2" />પછી યહોશુઆએ બધાં લોકોને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાએ આમ કહ્યું છે: ‘પ્રાચીનયુગમાં તમાંરા પૂર્વજો તેરાહ અને તેના પુત્રો સહિત ઈબ્રાહિમ અને નાહોર ફ્રાત નદીને કાંઠે રહતા હતા અને તેઓ બીજા દવીની પૂજા કરતા હતા.
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<v id="3" bcv="JOS.24.3" />હું તમાંરા પૂર્વજ ઈબ્રાહિમને ફ્રાંત નદીને બીજે કાંઠેથી કનાનના પ્રદેશમાંથી દોરી ગયો. મેં તેને અનેક વંશજો આપ્યાં, અને મેં તેને ઈસહાક આપ્યો,
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<v id="4" bcv="JOS.24.4" />અને મેં ઈસહાકને બે પુત્રો યાકૂબ અને એસાવ આપ્યો, અને એસાવને મેં સેઈરનો ડુંગરાળ દેશ સોંપ્યો. પણ યાકૂબ અને તેના પુત્રો મિસર યાલ્યા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JOS.24.5" />“‘મેં મૂસાને અને હારુનને મોકલ્યા, અને મેં મિસરીઓને ખૂબ મુશ્કેલીઓ આપી અને મિસર પર સંકટ મોકલ્યા અને ત્યાર પછી હું તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="JOS.24.6" />હું તમાંરા પિતૃઓને મિસરની બહાર લઈ આવ્યો; અને રાતા સમુદ્ર આગળ લાવ્યો. મિસરીઓ પોતાના રથોને અને ઘોડેસવારોને લઈને તમાંરા પિતૃઓને પીછો પકડતા પકડતા રાતા સમુદ્ર આગળ આવ્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="JOS.24.7" />પણ તમાંરા પૂર્વજોએ માંરી મદદ માંટે રૂદન કર્યુ-યહોવા અને મેં મિસરીઓની વચ્ચે અંધકારનો પડદો નાખી દીધો. અને તેમના ઉપર સમુદ્રને રેલાવી તેમને ડુબાવી દીધા. મેં મિસરના શા હાલ કર્યા, તે તમે નજરો નજર નિહાળ્યું છે,
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<p style="p">“‘ત્યારબાદ ઘણાં વર્ષો સુધી ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો રણમાં રહ્યાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="JOS.24.8" />પછી હું તમને યર્દન નદીની પૂર્વે, અમોરીઓની ભૂમિમાં લઈ આવ્યો: અને તેઓએ તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ યુદ્ધ કર્યુ. પણ મેં તેઓનો વિનાશ કર્યો અને તમને તેઓનો પ્રદેશ આપ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOS.24.9" />“‘ત્યારબાદ મોઆબના રાજા સિપ્પોરનો પુત્ર બાલાક ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સામે રણમાં ઊતર્યો, તેણે તમને શાપ આપવા માંટે બયોરના પુત્ર બલામને તેડાવ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JOS.24.10" />પણ મેં બલામનું સાંભળ્યુ નહિ તેથી તેણે તમને બધાને આશીર્વાદીત કર્યા, આમ મેં તમને બલામની તાકાતમાંથી બચાવી લીધા.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JOS.24.11" />“‘પછી તમે યર્દન નદી પાર કરીને યરીખોમાં આવ્યા. યરીખોના માંણસોએ તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ યુદ્ધ કર્યુ અને એવા બીજા ઘણાં એટલે કે પરિઝઝીઓ, અમોરીઓ, કનાનીઓ, હિત્તીઓ, ગિર્ગાશીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ અને યબૂસીઓ તમાંરી સામે યુદ્ધે ચડયા, પણ મેં તમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા.
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<v id="12" bcv="JOS.24.12" />અને મે તમાંરી આગળ હોર્નેટ મોકલ્યાં તેથી હોર્નેટ બે અમોરી રાજાઓ અને તેમનાં લોકોને હાંકી કાઢયાં. આ વિજય તમાંરી તરવાર અથવા ધનુષ અને તીરથી નહોતો મેળવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JOS.24.13" />“‘જે જમીન તમે ખેડી નહોતી અને જે નગરો તમે કદી બાંધ્યાં નહોતાં તે મેં તમને સોંપી દીધાં, તમે આ શહેરોમાં સ્થાયી થયાં અને હવે તમે દ્રાક્ષની અને જૈતૂનની દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓ ધરાવો છો. જે તમે બધાંએ વાવ્યું નહોતું પણ ફળ મેળવી રહ્યાં છો.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOS.24.14" />“તેથી હવે તમે બધાં યહોવાનો ડર રાખો અને નિષ્ઠા તથા સચ્ચાઈપૂર્વક તેની સેવા કરો. જે દેવોને તમાંરા પિતૃઓ ફ્રાતનદીને બીજે કાંઠે અને મિસરમાં પૂજતા હતા તેને સદાને માંટે દૂર ફેંકી દો અને યહોવાને આરાધો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOS.24.15" />યહોશુઆએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “પરંતુ જો તમને યહોવાની સેવા કરવાનું પસંદ ના હોય તો તમાંરે કોની પૂજા કરવી છે તેનો આજે જ નિર્ણય કરી લો: જે દેવોને તમાંરા પિતૃઓ ફ્રાત નદીને કાંઠે પૂજતા હતા તેની કે જેમના પ્રદેશમાં તમે વસો છો તે અમોરીઓના દેવોની? પણ હું અને માંરું કુટુંબ તો યહોવાની જ સેવા કરીશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JOS.24.16" />લોકોએ પ્રત્યુત્તર વાળ્યો, “અમે પણ યહોવાને કદીય તજીશું નહિ અને અન્ય દેવોની ભક્તિ પણ કરીશુ નહિ.
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<v id="17" bcv="JOS.24.17" />કારણ, અમને અને અમાંરા પિતૃઓને ગુલામીના દેશ મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવનાર અમાંરા દેવ યહોવા જ હતા. અને તેણે જ અમાંરી સમક્ષ તે મહાન ચમત્કારો કરી બતાવ્યા હતા અને અમે જે માંર્ગે થઈને અને જે જે લોકો વચ્ચે થઈને, જ્યારે અમે તેમની ભૂમિઓમાંથી પસાર થયાં તેમાં અમાંરું રક્ષણ કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="18" bcv="JOS.24.18" />તેમણે જ અમોરીઓને અને આ દેશમાં રહેતા બીજા બધા લોકોને અમાંરા માંર્ગમાંથી હાંકી કાઢયા હતા. એટલે અમે પણ યહોવાની જ સેવા કરીશું. કારણ તે અમાંરા દેવ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JOS.24.19" />પરંતુ યહોશુઆએ લોકોને જણાવ્યું, “તમાંરાથી યહોવાની સેવા થઈ શકે નહિ, કારણ, એ પવિત્ર દેવ છે. એકનિષ્ઠા માંગનાર દેવ છે. અને એ તમાંરાં ઉલ્લંઘનો કે પાપો માંફ નહિ કરે.
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<v id="20" bcv="JOS.24.20" />જો તમે યહોવાને છોડીને બીજા દેવોને ભજશો તો તે તમાંરી સામે થઈ જશે અને તમાંરા ઉપર વિપત્તી લાવશે, ભૂતકાળમાં તેણે તમાંરું સારું કર્યુ છે, પણ જો તમે તેની વિરુદ્ધ જશો તો, તે તમાંરા બધાનો નાશ કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JOS.24.21" />ત્યારે લોકોએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “અમે તો યહોવાની સેવા કરશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JOS.24.22" />યહોશુઆ બોલ્યો, “તમે બધા યહોવા દેવને પૂજો અને તેની નીચે રહેવા પસંદ કર્યું છે, અને તેને પૂજવા માંગો છો, અને તમે બધા તમે જે કહ્યું તેના સાક્ષી છો.”
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<p style="p">પછી લોકોએ જવાબ વાળ્યો, “અમે સાક્ષી છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JOS.24.23" />યહોશુઆ બોલ્યા, “તો આ ક્ષણે જ તમાંરામાં જે બીજા દેવો છે, તેનો ત્યાગ કરો અને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના તરફ તમાંરાં હૃદય વાળો અને એમની આજ્ઞાઓને આધીન થાઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JOS.24.24" />લોકોએ યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “અમે અમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની જ સેવા કરીશું અને તેની જ આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરીશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JOS.24.25" />આથી યહોશુઆએ તે જ દિવસે લોકો સાથે કરાર કર્યો અને તેણે તેઓને શખેમમાં કાનૂનો અને નિયમો આપ્યાં.
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<v id="26" bcv="JOS.24.26" />અને પછી તે બધું
<bk>યહોવાના નિયમો પુસ્તકમાં</bk> યહોશુઆએ લખ્યું. અને યહોશુઆએ લોકો પાસે કરાર કરાવ્યા પછી તેણે એક મોટો પથ્થર લઈ અને ત્યાં યહોવાના પવિત્ર મંડપ પાસે મોટા એલોન ઝાડ નીચે તેને રાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JOS.24.27" />પછી યહોશુઆએ લોકોને ઉદેશીને કહ્યું, “આ પથ્થર આપણો સાક્ષી છે, યહોવાએ આપણને જે કંઈ કહ્યું છે તે બધું તેણે સાંભળ્યુ છે. તમે જો તમાંરા યહોવા દેવનો વિરોધ કરશો, તે એ તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ સાક્ષી પૂરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JOS.24.28" />ત્યારબાદ યહોશુઆએ લોકોને પોતપોતાને મળેલી ભૂમિમાં પ્રદેશમાં મોકલી દીધા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોશુઆનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JOS.24.29" />એ બધી ઘટના ઓ બન્યા પછી, યહોવાનો સેવક, નૂનનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. તે 110 વર્ષનો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="JOS.24.30" />તેને ગાઆશ પર્વતના ઉત્તરે, એફ્રાઈમના પર્વતીય દેશમાં આવેલી તિમ્નાથ-સેરાહમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેને પોતાની ભૂમિમાં દફનાવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JOS.24.31" />યહોશુઆ જીવતો હતો ત્યાં સુધી, અને ઇસ્રાએલને માંટે યહોવાએ શું શું કર્યું છે તે બધું જેઓ જાણતા હતાં તેવા તેના પછી રહેલા આ ઇસ્રાએલી વડીલો, જીવ્યા ત્યાં સુધી યહોવાની સેવા કરતાં રહ્યાં.
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</p>
<s style="s">યૂસફની દફ્નવિધી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JOS.24.32" />મિસર છોડયું ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ યૂસફનાં અસ્થિ સાથે લીધાં હતા. તેમણે યૂસફના અસ્થિને શેખેમમાં દફનાવ્યાં. જે ભૂમિ યાકૂબ દ્વારા હામોર કે જે શેખેમનો પિતા હતો તેની પાસેથી 100 ચાંદીના ટૂકડાની બદલીમાં ખરીદવામાં આવી હતી. અને તે જમીન યૂસફના કુટુંબને ભાગ તરીકે આપવામાં આવી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JOS.24.33" />હારુનનો પુત્ર એલઆજાર મરણ પામ્યો ત્યારે તેને એફ્રાઈમના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં તેના પુત્ર ફીનહાસને આપવામાં આવેલા ગિબયાહ નગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="JDG"><id id="JDG">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>ન્યાયાધીશો
</h><toc level="1">ન્યાયાધીશો
</toc><toc level="2">ન્યાયાધીશો
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">ન્યાયાધીશો
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">યહૂદાના લોકોએ કનાનીઓથી યુદ્ધ કર્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.1.1" />યહોશુઆના અવસાન પછી ઈસ્રાએલીઓ યહોવા પાસે તેની ઇચ્છાજાણવા ગયા, તેઓએ યહોવાને પૂછયું, “અમાંરામાંથી કયું કુળસમૂહ કનાનીઓ ઉપર પ્રથમ યુદ્ધ કરે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JDG.1.2" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “સૌથી પહેલા યહૂદા કુળસમૂહ હુમલો કરે. હું તેઓને તે પ્રદેશ પર વિજય અપાવીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JDG.1.3" />યહૂદાના લોકોએ પોતાના ભાઈઓ શિમયોનના કુળસમૂહના લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે અમાંરા ભાગના પ્રદેશમાં અમાંરી સાથે આવો અને આપણે કનાનીઓ ઉપર આક્રમણ કરીએ. ત્યારબાદ અમે પણ તમાંરા ભાગના પ્રદેશમાં આવીશું.” તેથી શિમયોનના લોકો યહૂદાના લોકો સાથે ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.1.4" />પછી તેઓએ આક્રમણ કર્યુ, અને યહોવાએ કનાનીઓ અને પરિઝઝીઓને હરાવવામાં તેઓને મદદ કરી. તેઓએ બેઝેકમાં 10,000ના સૈન્યનો સંહાર કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JDG.1.5" />બેઝેકમાં રાજા અદોનીબેઝેકનો ભેટો થતાઁ તેની સામે લડયા અને કનાનીઓ તથા પરિઝઝીઓને હરાવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.1.6" />અદોનીબેઝેક ભાગી છૂટયો, પણ તે લોકોએ તેનો પીછો કરી તેને કેદ કર્યો. અને તેઓએ તેના અંગૂઠા અને તેની મોટી આંગળીઓ કાપી નાખી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JDG.1.7" />અદોનીબેઝેકે કહ્યું, “મેં આ જ રીતે 70 રાજાઓના હાથપગના અંગૂઠા કાપી નાખ્યા હતાં, ને તે બધા રાજાઓ માંરા ભાણામાંથી મેજ નીચે પડેલા ટુકડાઓ વીણી ખાતા હતા. તેવા જ હાલ દેવે માંરા કર્યા.” તેઓ તેને યરૂશાલેમ લઈ ગયા અને ત્યાં જ તેનું અવસાન થયું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.1.8" />યહૂદાના લોકોએ યરૂશાલેમ ઉપર આક્રમણ કરીને તેને કબજે કર્યુ. તે લોકોએ ત્યાંના વતનીઓનો પોતાની તરવારો દ્વારા સંહાર કર્યો અને નગરને આગ ચાંપી.
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.1.9" />તે પછી યહૂદાના લોકો પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ, દક્ષિણી નેગેબ અને પશ્ચિમી પર્વતીય ટેકરીઓ તરફ ગયા. તે વિસ્તારમાં રહેતા કનાનીઓ સાથે તેઓ લડયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JDG.1.10" />પછી તે લોકોએ હેબ્રોનના કનાનીઓ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો. (એ શહેરનું નામ પહેલાં “કિર્યાથ-આર્બા” હતું.) ત્યાં તેમણે શેશાય, અહીમાંન અને તાલ્માંય કુટુંબ સમૂહોને હરાવ્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">કાલેબ અને તેની પુત્રી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.1.11" />ત્યારબાદ તેઓએ દબીરના વતનીઓ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો. (પહેલાં દબીરનું નામ કિર્યાથ-સેફેર હતું.)
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<v id="12" bcv="JDG.1.12" />કાલેબે વચન આપતાં કહ્યું, “જે કોઈ કિયાર્થ-સેફેર ઉપર હુમલો કરીને તેને કબજે કરશે તેને હું માંરી પુત્રી આખ્સાહ પરણાવીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.1.13" />કાલેબના નાના ભાઈ કનાઝના પુત્ર ઓથ્નીએલે તે નગરનો કબજો મેળવ્યો, એટલે કાલેબે પોતાની પુત્રી આખ્સાહ સાથે તેના લગ્ન કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.1.14" />જ્યારે તેઓ પરણીને પોતાને નવા ઘરે જવા નીકળ્યા ત્યારે આખ્સાહને ઓથ્નીએલ તેના પિતા પાસે એક ખેતર માંગવા સમજાવી, એટલે તે ગધેડા પરથી ઊતરી તેના પિતા પાસે ગઈ એટલે કાલેબે તેને પૂછયું, “તારે શું જોઈએ છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.1.15" />એટલે તેણે કહ્યું, “પિતાજી, તમે મને આશીર્વાદ આપો, તમે મને નેગેબનો સૂકો પ્રદેશ આપ્યો છે, તો મને જ્યાં પાણીનાં કુદરતી ઝરણા હોય એવી જમીન આપો,” તેથી કાલેબે તેને પ્રદેશના ઉપરનાં અને નીચેનાં પાણીના ઝરણાંઓ આપ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JDG.1.16" />કેની જાતિના લોકોએ જેઓ મૂસાના સસરાના કુટુંબના હતાં, ખજૂરીના શહેરમાં આવેલા પોતાના ઘરો છોડી દીધાં. તેઓ યહૂદાના લોકોની સાથે યહૂદાના વગડામાં અરાદની દક્ષિણે આવેલા નેગેબમાં ગયાં, કનાનીઓ ત્યાં જઈને યહૂદાના લોકો સાથે વસ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JDG.1.17" />ત્યારબાદ યહૂદાના લોકો અને શિમયોનના કુળસમૂહના લોકો તેના ભાઈઓ સાથે જઈને સફાથમાં વસતા કનાનીઓ જેઓ યહૂદામાં રહેતાં હતાં તેમની ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો અને શહેરનો નાશ કર્યો, આથી એ શહેરનું નામ હોર્માંહ પડયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JDG.1.18" />યહૂદાના લોકોએ ગાઝા, આશ્કલોન, એક્રોન અને તેની આસપાસનો પ્રદેશ કબજે કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.1.19" />અને યહોવા, યહૂદાના લોકોની સાથે હતાં તેઓએ પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ કબજે કરી લીધો. પરંતુ તેઓ પાસે લોખંડના રથ નહિ હોવાથી નીચાણના દેશની પ્રજાને તેઓ કાઢી શક્યા નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JDG.1.20" />મૂસાના વચન મુજબ હેબ્રોન કાલેબને આપવામાં આવ્યું! અને તેણે અનાકના ત્રણ પુત્રોને ત્યાંથી હાંકી કાઢયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JDG.1.21" />પરંતુ બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહના લોકો યરૂશાલેમમાં વસતા યબૂસીઓને હાંકી કાઢવામાં નિષ્ફળ ગયા, તેથી આજે પણ<f caller="+"><fr>1:21
</fr><fk>આજે પણ
</fk><ft>એટલે કે તે સમય જ્યારે પુસ્તક લખાયું હતું અને નહીં કે વર્તમાન સમય.</ft></f> યબૂસીઓ બિન્યામીનનાં વંશજો સાથે યરૂશાલેમમાં વસે છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">યૂસફના લોકોનો બેથેલ પર કબજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JDG.1.22" />યોસેફના કુળસમૂહના લોકોએ બેથેલ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો ત્યારે યહોવા તેમની સાથે હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="JDG.1.23" />તેઓએ બેથેલમાં પહેલાં જાસૂસો મોકલ્યા. પહેલાં એ શહેરનું નામ લૂઝ હતું.
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<v id="24" bcv="JDG.1.24" />જાસૂસોએ એક માંણસને નગરમાંથી બહાર નીકળતા જોયો એટલે તેને પકડયો અને પૂછયું, “તું જો અમને નગરમાં પ્રવેશવાનો રસ્તો બતાવીશ તો અમે તારા પર કૃપા રાખીશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JDG.1.25" />તેથી તેણે નગરમાં પ્રવેશ કરવા માંટેનો રસ્તો બતાવ્યો. અને તેમણે નગરના બધા વતનીઓનો પોતાની તરવારથી સંહાર કર્યો, પરંતુ પેલા માંણસને તેના પરિવાર સાથે જીવતો જવા દીધો.
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<v id="26" bcv="JDG.1.26" />તે માંણસ પાછળથી હિત્તીઓના પ્રદેશમાં ચાલ્યો ગયો અને ત્યાં તેણે એક નગર વસાવ્યું અને તેનું નામ લૂઝ રાખ્યું. આજે પણ તે શહેર એ જ નામે ઓળખાય છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">અન્ય કુળસમૂહો કનાનીઓથી લડયાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JDG.1.27" />મનાશ્શાના કુળસમૂહના લોકોએ બેથશેઆન, તાઅનાખ, દોર, યિબ્લઆમ, મગિદોના એ શહેરો અને તેમની આજુબાજુના ગામડાંઓમાં વસતા લોકોને હાંકી કાઢયા નહિ; એ પ્રદેશમાં કનાનીઓનો પગદંડો ચાલુ રાખ્યો.
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<v id="28" bcv="JDG.1.28" />પાછળથી જ્યારે ઈસ્રાએલીઓ બળવાન થયા ત્યારે તેમણે કનાનીઓ પાસે ગુલામોની જેમ કામ કરાવ્યું પણ તેઓને હાંકી કાઢયા નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JDG.1.29" />એફ્રાઈમના કુળસમૂહના લોકોએ ગેઝેરમાં વસતા કનાનીઓને હાંકી કાઢયા નહી, આથી કનાનીઓએ તેમની સાથે ગેઝેરમાં રહેવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JDG.1.30" />ઝબુલોનના કુળસમૂહના લોકોએ કિટ્રોન, નાહલોલના વતનીઓને હાંકી ન કાઢયા. કનાનીઓ તેઓની ભેગાજ રહ્યાં અને તેમના ગુલામો તરીકે મજૂરી કરવા લાગ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JDG.1.31" />આશેરના કુળસમૂહના લોકોએ આક્કો, સિદોન, અહલાબ, આખ્ઝીબ, હેલ્બાહ, અફીક અને રહોબના વતનીઓને હાંકી ન કાઢયા.
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<v id="32" bcv="JDG.1.32" />આશેરના વંશજો ત્યાંના કનાનીઓ ભેગા જ રહેવા લાગ્યા; કારણ, તેમણે તે લોકોને હાંકી કાઢયા નહોતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JDG.1.33" />નફતાલી કુળસમૂહના લોકોએ બેથશેમેશ અને બેથઅનાથના વતનીઓને હાંકી કાઢયા નહિ, પણ તેઓ તે શહેરોના કનાની વતનીઓ ભેગા જ રહેવા લાગ્યા. આ કનાનીઓએ તેમના માંટે ગુલામો તરીકે કામ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JDG.1.34" />અમોરીઓએ દાનના કુળસમૂહના લોકોને પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં વસવા માંટે દબાણ કર્યુ અને તે લોકોને નીચે ખીણપ્રદેશમાં આવવા દીધા નહિ.
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<v id="35" bcv="JDG.1.35" />અમોરીઓ આયાલોનમાં આવેલા હેરેસના પર્વતમાં, અને શાઆલ્બીમમાં રહેવા ઈચ્છતા હતા, જ્યારે યૂસફનું કુળસમૂહ વધારે મજબૂત બની ગયું, ત્યારે તેઓએ અમોરીઓને ગુલામ બનાવી દીધા.
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<v id="36" bcv="JDG.1.36" />અદોમીઓની સરહદ આક્રાબ્બીમના ઘાટથી શરુ થઈ સેલામાંથી પસાર થઈને આગળ જતી હતી.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">બોખીમમાં યહોવાનો દૂત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.2.1" />એક દિવસ યહોવાએ પોતાના દેવદૂતને ગિલ્ગાલથી બોખીમ મોકલ્યો અને ઈસ્રાએલીઓને કહ્યું, “મેં તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર કાઢયા છે અને તમાંરા પિતૃઓને મેં વચન આપ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે આ ભૂમિ તમને આપી છે, મેં તમને આપેલું વચન ક્યારેય તોડીશ નહિ,
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<v id="2" bcv="JDG.2.2" />તેમ તમાંરે પણ આ દેશની પ્રજા સાથે કોઈ કરાર કરવો નહિ, તમાંરે તે લોકોની વેદીઓ તોડી પાડવી. પણ તમે માંરી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યું નથી, તમે લોકો આ શું કરી બેઠા છો?
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JDG.2.3" />“તમે માંરા કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે તેથી હું તમને કહું છું કે હવે હું આ લોકોને તમાંરી આગળથી હાંકી કાઢીશ નહિ, તેઓ તમાંરી કૂખોમાં કાંટાની જેમ ભોંકાશે અને તેઓના દેવો તમને સતત શત્રુઓની જેમ ફસાવશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.2.4" />દેવદૂતે બધા ઈસ્રાએલીઓને આ શબ્દો સંભળાવ્યા એટલે તેઓ મોટે સાદે રડવા લાગ્યા:
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<v id="5" bcv="JDG.2.5" />અને તે પરથી તે સ્થળનું નામ “બોખીમ”<f caller="+"><fr>2:5
</fr><fk>બોખીમ
</fk><ft>રૂદનની જગ્યા.</ft></f> પડયું. ત્યાં તેઓએ યહોવાને યજ્ઞો કર્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહોશુઆનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.2.6" />યહોશુઆએ લોકોને તેમના ઘરે પાછા મોકલી દીધાં. તેથી સર્વ કુળસમૂહના ઈસ્રાએલી લોકો તેમના ઘરે પાછા ગયા અને પોતાની ભૂમિનો કબજો લીધો.
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<v id="7" bcv="JDG.2.7" />જયારે યહોશુઆ જીવતા હતાં અને ઈસ્રાએલના વડીલો જેઓ યહોવાએ કરેલા મહાન કાર્યોના સાક્ષી હતાં, અને જેઓ યહોશુઆથી લાંબુ જીવ્યા હતાં, ત્યાં સુધી લોકો યહોવાની સેવા કરતા રહ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JDG.2.8" />એકસો દસ વર્ષની ઉંમરે નૂનનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ, યહોવાનો સેવક મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.2.9" />તેને ગાઆશ પર્વતની ઉત્તરે એફ્રાઈમના પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં આવેલી ભૂમિમાં જે તિમ્નાથ હેરેસની જમીન તેના હિસ્સામાં આવી હતી ત્યાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JDG.2.10" />તેના પછી આ આખી પેઢી ગુજરી ગઈ. બીજી પેઢી આવી, તેને ન હતી યહોવાની ખબર કે ન હતી ઈસ્રાએલીઓ માંટે તેણે કરેલાં ઉમદા કાર્યોની ખબર.
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<v id="11" bcv="JDG.2.11" />તેઓએ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ પાપ ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ અને અન્ય બઆલ દેવની મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="12" bcv="JDG.2.12" />યહોવાએ કરેલી મદદને કારણે તેઓ મિસરમાંથી બહાર આવી ગયા. પણ તેઓએ તેમના પિતૃઓને મદદ કરનાર દેવ યહોવાને છોડી દીધા અને તેમની આસપાસના દેવોની પૂજા કરવા લાગ્યા. અન્ય દેવોની પૂજા કરીને તેઓએ યહોવાને કોપ વધારી દીધો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JDG.2.13" />તે લોકોએ યહોવાની ઉપાસના છોડીને બઆલ દેવ અને આશ્તારોથ દેવોની પૂજા કરવા માંડી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.2.14" />યહોવાનો પ્રકોપ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ સામે ભભૂકી ઊઠયો અને તેણે તેઓને શત્રુઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા, જેઓ તેમને લૂંટતા રહ્યાં; તેણે તેમને આસપાસના શત્રુઓને હવાલે કરી દીધા અને ઈસ્રાએલીઓ તેમની સામે ટકી શક્યા નહિ,
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JDG.2.15" />ઈસ્રાએલી લોકો પોતાના શત્રુઓ સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા જતા ત્યારે યહોવાનો હાથ તેઓની વિરુદ્ધ રહેતો, યહોવાએ તે લોકોને ચેતવણી આપી હતી અને પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી હતી કે પોતે આ પ્રમાંણે કરશે. પરિણામે ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ભારે આફતમાં આવી પડયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JDG.2.16" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાએ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર ન્યાયાધીશો નીમ્યા. અને તેઓએ તેમને શત્રુઓના હાથમાંથી ઉગારી લીધા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="JDG.2.17" />પણ તેમણે તે ન્યાયાધીશોનું પણ સાંભળ્યું નહી. તેઓ દેવ પ્રત્યેની વફાદારી છોડી દઈને અન્ય દેવદેવીઓને માંનવા લાગ્યા અને એમની પૂજા કરવા લાગ્યા. તેમના પિતૃઓ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે રહેતા હતાં, પણ આ લોકોને આ ગમ્યું નહિ અને તેઓએ યહોવાના હુકમો માંનવાનું બંધ કરી દીધું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JDG.2.18" />જયારે જયારે યહોવા તેમના ઉપર કોઈ ન્યાયાધીશ નીમતા ત્યારે તેઓ તેની સાથે રહેતા, તેણે તેઓની કાળજી લીધી અને તેમનું તેમના શત્રુઓથી રક્ષણ કર્યુ. તેણે તેઓની ઉપર દયા બતાવવા આમ કર્યુ કારણકે તેઓના શત્રુઓ દ્વારા તેમના ઉપર જુલમો અને અત્યાચારો થયાં હતાં.
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<v id="19" bcv="JDG.2.19" />ન્યાયાધીશના અવસાન પછી તેઓ યહોવાથી દૂર ફરી ગયા અને પોતાના પિતૃઓથી પણ વધારે ભ્રષ્ટ થઈ ગયાં, તેઓ અન્ય દેવની પૂજા કરતાં, તેમને પગે લાગતા; તેઓએ પોતાના દુષ્ટ માંર્ગોથી પાછા ફરવાનો ઈન્કાર કરી દીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JDG.2.20" />આથી ફરીથી યહોવાનો કોપ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર ભભૂકી ઊઠતો, તે કહેતા, “આ પ્રજાએ મેં એમના પિતૃઓને પાળવા કહેલા કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે. મેં કરેલી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન તેમણે કર્યું નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="JDG.2.21" />તેથી યહોશુઆ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા તે વખતે જે જે પ્રજાઓ જીતવાની બાકી હતી તેઓને હવે હું હાંકી કાઢીશ નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="JDG.2.22" />અને એ રીતે, ઈસ્રાએલીઓ પોતાના પિતૃઓના પગલાને અનુસરશે કે નહિ, તેની હું કસોટી કરીશ.”
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<v id="23" bcv="JDG.2.23" />તેથી યહોવાએ એ પ્રજાઓને પોતાની ભૂમિમાંથી હાંકી કાઢયા વિના તેમને ત્યાં રહેવા દીધાં. તેણે તેમને યહોશુઆના હાથમાં પણ સોંપી દીધા નહોતા, અને તેણે ઈસ્રાએલીઓને તેઓનો નાશ કરવા દીધો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.3.1" />આ એ પ્રજાઓ છે જેને યહોવાએ ભૂમિમાં છોડી દીધી, તેણે આ મુજબ ઈસ્રાએલના લોકોની પરીક્ષા કરવા કર્યુ જેઓએ કનાનની ભૂમિમાં યુદ્ધોમાં ભાગ લીધો નહોતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JDG.3.2" />આમ કરવા પાછળ યહોવાનો હેતુ ઈસ્રાએલીઓની એક પછી એક આવતી પેઢીઓને અને ખાસ કરીને તો પ્રથમ જે લોકોને યુદ્ધનો અનુભવ નહોતો તેમને યુદ્ધની કળા શીખવવાનો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="JDG.3.3" />એ પ્રજાઓ આ પ્રમાંણે હતી: પાંચ પલિસ્તી રાજાઓ, બધાજ કનાનીઓ, સિદોનીઓ અને બઆલ હેર્મોન પર્વતથી માંડીને લબો-હમાંથ સુધી લબાનોન પર્વતના વિસ્તારમાં વસતા હિવ્વીઓ.
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<v id="4" bcv="JDG.3.4" />આ પ્રજાઓ ઈસ્રાએલીઓની કસોટી માંટે હતી અને જોવા કે યહોવાએ જે આજ્ઞાઓ મૂસા માંરફતે તેઓના પિતૃઓને આપી હતી તે ઈસ્રાએલી નવી પેઢી પાળશે કે નહી.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JDG.3.5" />આમ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ, કનાનીઓ, હિત્તીઓ, અમોરીઓ, પરિઝ્ઝીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ અને યબૂસીઓ ભેગા રહેવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="JDG.3.6" />ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ તે લોકોની કન્યાઓનો પત્નીઓ તરીકે સ્વીકાર કરવા માંડયો અને પોતાની કન્યાઓને બીજી પ્રજાઓના પુત્રોની સાથે પરણાવવા માંડી, અને તેમના દેવોની પૂજા કરી.
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<s style="s">પ્રથમ ન્યાયાધીશ ઓથ્નીએલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.3.7" />આમ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ દેવની દૃષ્ટિમાં દુષ્ટ પાપી થઈ ગયા. પોતાના દેવ યહોવાને છોડી બઆલ દેવ અને અશેરોથની પૂજા કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="8" bcv="JDG.3.8" />આથી ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર યહોવાનો કોપ ભભૂકી ઊઠયો અને તેણે તેમને અરામ-નાહરાઈમના રાજા કૂશાન રિશઆથાઈમના દ્વારા હરાવ્યા, અને આઠ વર્ષ સુધી તેઓએ તેની ગુલામી કરી.
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.3.9" />ત્યાર પછી ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ યહોવાને ધા નાખી અને તેણે તેમને ઉગારવા માંટે એક માંણસ મોકલ્યો. એ કાલેબના નાના ભાઈ કનાઝનો દીકરો ઓથ્નીએલ હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JDG.3.10" />યહોવાનો આત્માં તેની સાથે હતો, યહોવાએ તેને શક્તિ આપી હતી અને તે ઈસ્રાએલીઓનો ન્યાયાધીશ બન્યો. તેણે ઈસ્રાએલીઓને યુદ્ધમાં દોર્યા અને અરામના રાજા કૂશાનને હરાવવા માંટે યહોવાએ તેની સહાય કરી.
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<v id="11" bcv="JDG.3.11" />આમ, ઓથ્નીએલ કનાઝના પુત્રનું અવસાન થયું ત્યાં સુધી દેશમાં 40 વર્ષ શાંતિ રહી.
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<s style="s">ન્યાયાધીશ એહૂદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JDG.3.12" />ત્યારબાદ ફરી એકવાર ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ તેમના વર્તન દ્વારા યહોવા સામે પાપ કરવાનું શરું કર્યુ, તેથી યહોવાએ મોઆબના રાજા એગ્લોનને શક્તિશાળી બનાવ્યો અને તેને ઈસ્રાએલીઓ સામે મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JDG.3.13" />એગ્લોન આમ્મોનીઓને અને અમાંલેકીઓને ભેગા કરી ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો અને યરીખો ખજૂરીઓનો પ્રદેશ જીતી લીધું.
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<v id="14" bcv="JDG.3.14" />અઢાર વર્ષ પર્યંત ઈસ્રાએલીઓ મોઆબના રાજા એગ્લોનના તાબામાં રહ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.3.15" />ત્યારબાદ તેઓએ યહોવાને પોતાને બચાવવા પોકાર કર્યો તેથી યહોવાએ એક વ્યક્તિને બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહના ગેરાના પુત્ર એહૂદને ઊભો કર્યો. તે ડાબોડી હતો, ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ તેને ખંડણી સાથે મોઆબના રાજા એગ્લોન પાસે મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="JDG.3.16" />એહૂદે પોતાના માંટે દોઢફૂટ લાંબી બેધારી તરવાર બનાવી. અને પોતાની જમણી બાજુ કપડાં સાથે બાંધી દીધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JDG.3.17" />ત્યારબાદ એહૂદે મોઆબના રાજા એગ્લોનને ખંડણી આપી. એગ્લોન શરીરે બહુ પુષ્ટ હતો.
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<v id="18" bcv="JDG.3.18" />ખંડણી અર્પણ આપી રહ્યાં પછી એહૂદે ખંડણી ઉપાડી લાવનારા સાથીઓને પાછા મોકલી દીધા.
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<v id="19" bcv="JDG.3.19" />પણ તે પોતે ગિલ્ગાલની મૂર્તિઓ પાસે રાજા આગળ પાછો ફર્યો અને કહ્યું, “હે રાજા, માંરે આપને એક ખાનગી સંદેશો આપવાનો છે.”
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<p style="p">રાજાએ તેને ચૂપ રહેવાનો હુકમ કર્યો અને પોતાના બધા સેવકોને રાજાએ બહાર મોકલી દીધા.
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<v id="20" bcv="JDG.3.20" />રાજા તેના મહેલમાં ઉપલા માંળે આવેલા પોતાના વરંડાના શીતળ ભાગમાં હતો જ્યારે તે એકલો હતો.
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<p style="p">ત્યારે એહૂદ તેની પાસે ગયો અને તેને ગુપ્ત રીતે કહ્યું, “માંરે આપને દેવનો એક ગુપ્ત સંદેશ આપવાનો છે.” એટલે એગ્લોન પોતાના આસન ઉપરથી ઊભો થઈ ગયો;
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<v id="21" bcv="JDG.3.21" />અને એહૂદે પોતાના ડાબા હાથે જમણે પડખેથી તરવાર ખેંચી કાઢીને રાજાના પેટમાં ઊડે સુધી હુલાવી દીધી.
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<v id="22" bcv="JDG.3.22" />તરવારના પાના પછી મૂઠ પણ અંદર ઊતરી ગઈ અને તેના ઉપર ચરબી ફરી વળી, કારણ, એહૂદે તરવાર પાછી ખેંચી કાઢી નહોતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JDG.3.23" />પછી એહૂદે બહાર જઈ ઓરડીના બારણાં બંધ કરીને તાળું માંરી દીધું.
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<v id="24" bcv="JDG.3.24" />તેના ચાલ્યાં ગયા પછી એગ્લોનના નોકરો આવ્યા અને બારણાંને તાળું માંરેલું જોઈ તેમણે ધાર્યું કે રાજા ઠંડી ઓરડીના અંદરના ભાગમાં બાથરૂમમાં ગયા હશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="JDG.3.25" />લાંબા સમય સુધી રાહ જોયા પછી પણ રાજાએ બારણુંના ઉધાડયું ત્યારે તેઓને ચિંતા થઈ અને ચાવી લાવીને કળ ઉધાડી, બારણું ખોલીને જોયું તો તેઓનો રાજા જમીન પર મરેલો પડયો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JDG.3.26" />તે લોકો રાહ જોતા હતાં તે દરમ્યાન એહૂદ ભાગી ગયો. તે પત્થરની ખીણો ઓળંગીને સેઈરાહ સુધી પહોંચી ગયો હતો.
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<v id="27" bcv="JDG.3.27" />એફ્રાઈમના પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં આવીને તેણે રણશિંગડું વગાડયું અને ઈસ્રાએલી લોકો ટેકરી પરથી નીચે આવ્યા અને તેને અનુસર્યાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="JDG.3.28" />તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “માંરી પાછળ આવો! કારણ, યહોવાએ તમાંરા દુશ્મન મોઆબીઓને તમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા છે.”
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<p style="p">આથી તેઓ તેની પાછળ નીચે ઊતરી આવ્યા અને તે લોકો જે ઘાટેથી યર્દન નદી ઓળંગવાના હતાં તે કબજે કરી લીધા અને તેઓએ એક પણ જણને સીમાં ઓળંગીને જવા દીધો નહિ.
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<v id="29" bcv="JDG.3.29" />તે પછી તેમણે મોઆબીઓ પર હુમલો કરી તેઓના આશરે 10,000 શૂરવીર ખડતલ મોઆબી યોદ્ધાઓને માંરી નાખ્યા. એક પણ બચવા ન પામ્યો.
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<v id="30" bcv="JDG.3.30" />તે દિવસે મોઆબીઓને ઈસ્રાએલીઓ આગળ નમવું પડયું, પછીના 80 વર્ષ સુધી દેશમાં શાંતિ રહી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ન્યાયાધીશ શામ્ગાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JDG.3.31" />એહૂદ પછી આનાથનો પુત્ર શામ્ગાર ન્યાયાધીશ બન્યો. તેણે 600 પલિસ્તીઓને માંરી નાખ્યાં. તેણે ઈસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને ઉગારી હતી.
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</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">પ્રબોધિકા દબોરાહ સ્ત્રી ન્યાયધીશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.4.1" />એહૂદના મૃત્યુ પછી ઈસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ ફરી એક વાર યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ પાપ ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="JDG.4.2" />તેથી યહોવાની ઇચ્છાપ્રમાંણે ઈસ્રાએલીઓને હાસોરમાં રાજ કરનાર કનાની રાજા યાબીનના હાથે પરાજીત કરાયા હતાં. તેના સૈન્યના સેનાપતિનું નામ સીસરો હતું જે હરોશેથ હગોઈમમાં રહેતો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="JDG.4.3" />યાબીન પાસે લોખંડના 900 રથ હતાં અને 20 વર્ષ સુધી તેણે ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર ભારે જુલમ ગુજાર્યો હતો, તેથી તેઓએ યહોવાને સહાય માંટે પોકાર કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.4.4" />એ વખતે લાપીદોથની પત્ની દબોરાહ ઈસ્રાએલીઓની ન્યાયાધીશ હતી. તે પ્રબોધિકા હતી,
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<v id="5" bcv="JDG.4.5" />એફ્રાઈમના પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં રામાં અને બેથેલની વચ્ચે એક મોટું તાડનું ઝાડ હતું. તેની નીચે તે બેસતી હતી. અને ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ત્યાં તેમના ન્યાય વિષે નિર્ણય કરવા માંટે આવતા હતાં.
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<v id="6" bcv="JDG.4.6" />એક દિવસ દબોરાહએ નફતાલી પ્રાંતના કેદેશમાં રહેતા અબીનોઆમના પુત્ર બારાકને તેડાવ્યો અને તેને કહ્યું કે, “ઈસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાએ તને આ હુકમ કર્યો છે, ‘નફતાલી અને ઝબુલોનના કુળસમૂહોમાંથી 10,000 સૈનિકોને લઈને તાબોર પર્વત ઉપર જા.
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<v id="7" bcv="JDG.4.7" />હું યાબીનના સેનાપતિ સીસરાને તેના રથો અને યોદ્ધાઓ સાથે કીશોન નદીને કાંઠે લઈ આવીશ, પછી હું તેઓને તારા હાથમાં સોંપી દઈશ, તેથી તું એને ત્યાં હરાવી શકે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.4.8" />બારાકે તેને કહ્યું, “તું જો માંરી સાથે આવતી હોય તો હું જાઉં, પણ તું જો માંરી સાથે ન આવતી હોય તો હું ન જાઉં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JDG.4.9" />તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું તારી સાથે જરૂર આવીશ; પણ સીસરાને જીતવાનું શ્રેય તને મળશે નહિ, કારણ યહોવા સીસરાને એક સ્ત્રીના હાથમાં સોંપી દેનાર છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારબાદ દબોરાહ ઊભી થઈ અને બારક સાથે કેદેશ ગઈ.
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<v id="10" bcv="JDG.4.10" />બારાક નફતાલી અને ઝબુલોનના કુળસમૂહો પાસે ગયો અને લોકોને બોલાવ્યા અને લગભગ 10,000 માંણસોને સૈન્ય માંટે લઈને તે ગયો દબોરાહ પણ તેની સાથે ગઈ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.4.11" />કેની જાતિના હેબેર જે બીજા કેની લોકોથી અલગ પડી ગયો હતો અને તેણે પોતાનો તંબુ કેદેશ નજીક એલોન-સાઅનાન્નીમની પાસે નાખ્યો હતો. કેનીઓ-મૂસાના સાળા હોબાબના વંશજો હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JDG.4.12" />સીસરાને સમાંચાર મળ્યાં કે અબીનોઆમના પુત્ર બારાક તેના સૈન્ય સાથે તાબોર પર્વત ઉપર ગયા છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JDG.4.13" />એટલે સીસરાએ પોતાના બધા 900 લોખંડના રથોને તેમજ પોતાના બધા સૈનિકોને હરોશેથ-હગોઈમથી કીશોન નદી આગળ ભેગા કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.4.14" />ત્યારે બારાકને દબોરાહએ કહ્યું, “જલદી ઉભો થા! યહોવાએ આજે સીસરાને તારા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધો છે. અત્યારે પણ યહોવા તારા માંટે લડે છે.” આથી બારાક 10,000નું સૈન્ય લઈને દુશ્મનો પર હુમલો કરવા તાબોર પર્વતના ઢોળાવો પરથી નીચે ધસી આવ્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="JDG.4.15" />યહોવાએ બારાકને સીસરા પર હુમલો કરવા મદદ કરી અને તેના બધા રથ સૈનિકોને બારાકનું લશ્કર જોઈને બેબાકળાં બનાવી દીધાં. સીસરા પોતે રથમાંથી કૂદીને ભાગી ગયો.
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<v id="16" bcv="JDG.4.16" />બારાકે તેના સૈન્ય સાથે હરોશેથ-હગોઈમ સુધી સીસરાના રથોનો અને લશ્કરનો પીછો પકડયો. સીસરાનું સમગ્ર સૈન્ય હણાઈ ગયું એકેય માંણસ જીવતો રહેવા પામ્યો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JDG.4.17" />સીસરા ભાગી ગયો અને દોડતો કેની હેબેરની પત્ની યાએલના તંબુએ પહોંચી ગયો. કારણ હાસોરના રાજા યાબીન અને કેની હેબેરના પરિવાર વચ્ચે સારા પારિવારીક સંબંધો હતાં.
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<v id="18" bcv="JDG.4.18" />સીસરાને મળવા માંટે યાએલ સામે આવીને ઊભી રહી અને બોલી, “આવો, નામદાર, અંદર આવો, ડરશો નહિ.” આથી તે તંબુમાં ગયો અને તેણીએ તેને ધાબળા વડે ઢાંકી દીધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.4.19" />સીસરાએ યાએલને કહ્યં, “મને તરસ લાગી છે, મને પીવા માંટે થોડું પાણી આપ.” તેથી તેણીએ તેને દૂધની ભરેલી મશક આપી અને ફરી તેને ઢાંકી દીધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JDG.4.20" />પછી સીસરાએ યાએલને કહ્યું, “તંબુના બારણામાં ઊભી રહે, અને કોઈ માંરી તપાસ કરવા આવે અને પૂછે કે અંદર કોઈ છે, તો કહેજે, ‘ના.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JDG.4.21" />પણ તે ખૂબ થાકેલો હતો અને જલદીથી ઘસઘસાટ સૂઈ ગયો ત્યારે હેબરની પત્ની યાએલે એક હથોડો અને તંબુનો ખીલ્લો લઈને સીસરાના માંથામાં ઠોકી દીધો તેથી સીસરો આમ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JDG.4.22" />જ્યારે સીસરાને શોધતો શોધતો બારાક ત્યાં આવ્યો ત્યારે યાએલે આવીને તેને કહ્યું, “આવો, તમે જે માંણસને શોધો છો તે હું બતાવું.” તે તેની સાથે તંબુમાં ગયો અને ત્યાં તંબુનો ખીલ્લો જોયો જે સીસરાના માંથામાં હતો અને તે મૃત પડયો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JDG.4.23" />તેથી તે દિવસે દેવે કનાનના રાજા યાબીનને ઈસ્રાએલીઓ માંટે હરાવ્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="JDG.4.24" />ત્યારબાદ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ કનાનના રાજા યાબીન સામેના હુમલાઓમાં વધુને વધુ બળવાન થતા ગયા અને આખરે તેમણે તેનો નાશ કર્યો.
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">દબોરાહનું ગીત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.5.1" />તે દિવસે દબોરાહ અને અબીનોઆમના પુત્ર બારાકે આ ગીત ગાયું.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JDG.5.2" />“યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો, ગુણગાન ગાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે ઈસ્રાએલના યોદ્ધાઓ તૈયાર હતાં
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એક સક્ષમ નેતા દ્વારા દોરાઈ જવા માંટે આગળ આવ્યાં.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JDG.5.3" />“ઓ રાજાઓ, સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું યહોવાના ગીતો ગાઉં છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું ઈસ્રાએલના દેવ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાની સ્તુતિ ગાઉ છું.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.5.4" />“હે યહોવા, તમે સેઈરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે અદોમના પ્રદેશમાંથી નીકળ્યા,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે સમયે ધરતી ધ્રૂજતી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશ કંપતું હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વાદળાં પાણી રેડી રહ્યાં હતાં.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JDG.5.5" />સિનાઈના દેવ, યહોવાની સામે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઈસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાની સામે પર્વતો પણ થરથરી ગયા.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.5.6" />“આનાથના પુત્ર શામ્ગારના સમયમાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાએલના સમયમાં ધોરીમાંર્ગો પરની લોકોની અવરજવર થંભી ગઈ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકોએ નાના રસ્તાઓ પરથી ચાલવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.5.7" />“ઓ દબોરાહ, તું ઈસ્રાએલની માંતા સમી પ્રગટી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી ઈસ્રાએલનાં બધાં ગામડાંઓ બિલકુલ ઉજજડ-નિર્જન હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં ફકત મોટા નગરો હતાં.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.5.8" />“ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ નવા દેવ પસંદ કર્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી તેઓને નગર દરવાજે લડવું પડતું હતું.
</q>
<q style="q1">ભલે તેઓ સંખ્યાની દૃષ્ટિએ 40,000 યોદ્ધાઓ હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેમની પાસે તરવાર કે બખ્તર નહોતાં!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JDG.5.9" />“હું માંરી જાતને શૂરવીર ઈસ્રાએલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૈનિકોને સોપી દઈશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JDG.5.10" />“અરે, ઓ શ્વેત ગર્દભો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર સવારી કરનારાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કિંમતી ગાલીચા પર બેસનારાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પગપાળા પંથ કાપનારાઓ,
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.5.11" />ઓ જળાશયો આગળ એકત્ર થઈને આનંદના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોકારો કરતાં લોકો યહોવાનાં વિજયગીત ગાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાએ ઈસ્રાએલના ખેડૂતોના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૈન્ય વડે મહા ઉદ્ધાર કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાના લોકોએ દરવાજાઓમાં થઈને કૂચ કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JDG.5.12" />“યહોવાના લોકો નગરમાંથી બહાર દોડી આવ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દબોરાહ, ઊભી થા અને યહોવાની સ્તુતિ ગાઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અબીનોઆમના પુત્ર બારાક, ઊભો થા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુશ્મનોને પકડી લે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.5.13" />“પછી યહોવાના લોકોમાંથી બચેલા શક્તિશાળી યોદ્ધાઓની સામે નીચે આવ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યોદ્ધાઓની વિરૂદ્ધ તેઓ માંરી સાથે નીચે આવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.5.14" />“એફ્રાઈમના લોકો જેઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમાંલેકી વચ્ચે રહેતા હતાં,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે બિન્યામીન, તારા લોકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાથે નીચે આવ્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">માંખીરથી સેનાપતિઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કૂચ કરીને ધસી આવ્યા,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઝબુલોનના કુળસમૂહના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અધિકારીઓ પણ આવી પહોંચ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.5.15" />ઈસ્સાખારના આગેવાનો દબોરાહ સાથે હતાં:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઈસ્સાખારના લોકો બારાકની સાથે રહ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના હુકમથી તેઓ લડાઈના મેદાનમાં ગયા.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“પણ રૂબેનના કુળનાં સૈનિકો લાંબા સમય સુધી ચર્ચા કરતા રહ્યાં તેથી તેઓ લડવા માંટે ન ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JDG.5.16" />કેમ તમે ઢોરની કોંઢમાં બેસી રહ્યાં હતાં?
</q>
<q style="q1">ઘેટાંના ટોળા માંટે વગાડવામાં આવતું સંગીત સાંભળતા રૂબેનના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૈનિકો લાંબા વખત સુધી ચર્ચા કરતા હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JDG.5.17" />યર્દન નદીની બીજી બાજુએ ગિલયાદના
</q>
<q style="q1">લોકો ઘરમાં જ રહ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દાનના લોકો વહાણો પાસે શા માંટે રહ્યાં?
</q>
<q style="q1">આશેરના લોકો સમુદ્રકાંઠે રોકાઈ રહ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ ખાડી પાસે રાહ જોતા રહ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JDG.5.18" />“પણ ઝબુલોનના લોકોએ જીવ જોખમમાં મૂકયો, નફતાલીના લોકોએ પણ યુદ્ધના મેદાનમાં પ્રાણ આપવાની હિંમત કરી મૃત્યુનો સામનો કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.5.19" />રાજાઓ આવ્યા અને તાઅનાખમાં આવેલી મગિદોના નદીની નજીક યુદ્ધ શરું થયું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કનાનના રાજાઓ યુદ્ધ ચડયા,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તેઓને લૂંટ તરીકે ચાંદી ન મળી, જેના માંટે તેઓ લડયા હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JDG.5.20" />આકાશના તારાઓ પણ લડયા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ આકાશમાંના તેમના ભ્રમણ માંર્ગોમાંથી સીસરા સામે લડયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JDG.5.21" />પ્રાચીન કીશોન નદીના ધસમસતા પૂર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને તાણી ગયા, ઓ માંરા આત્માં,
</q>
<q style="q1">મજબૂત બન અને આગળ ધસ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JDG.5.22" />જેવા ધોડાઓ પૂરપાટ દોડવા લાગ્યા કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના દાબડા ભોંય પર પડધાવા લાગ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JDG.5.23" />“યહોવાનો દૂત કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘મેરોઝ પર શ્રાપ ઊતરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના વતનીઓ ઉપર શ્રાપ ઊતરશે.’
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ યહોવાની મદદે આવ્યા નહોતા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યોદ્ધાઓ વિરૂદ્ધ યહોવાને મદદ કરવા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JDG.5.24" />હેબેર કેનીની પત્ની યાએલ બધી સ્ત્રીઓથી વધારે આશીર્વાદિત થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તંબુઓમાં રહેનારી સ્ત્રીઓમાં એ સૌથી વધુ ભાગ્યશાળી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JDG.5.25" />સીસરાએ જ્યારે પાણી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માંગ્યું તો એણે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને કિંમતી દૂધ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપ્યું શ્રેષ્ઠ વાટકામાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JDG.5.26" />તેણે હાથ લંબાવીને તંબુનો ખીલો લીધો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જમણે હાથે તેણે કારીગરનો હથોડો ઉપાડયો,
</q>
<q style="q1">પછી સીસરાના માંથામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આરપાર ઠોકી દીધો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JDG.5.27" />તે યોએલના ચરણોમાં ઢળી પડયો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જયાં પડયો ત્યાં જ મરી ગયો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JDG.5.28" />“સીસરાની માં બારીમાંથી જોવા માંટે ડોકું કાઢે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મોટેથી ચીસ પાડે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘હજી તેનો રથ આવતો કેમ નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હજી તેના ઘોડા પાછા કેમ ફરતા નથી?’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JDG.5.29" />“તેથી તેણીની સખીઓમાંની સૌથી શાણીએ જવાબ આપ્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચોક્કસ તે પોતાની જાતને કહી રહી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JDG.5.30" />‘તેઓ પુષ્કળ વસ્તુઓ લૂંટતા હશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભાગ વહેંચતા હશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રત્યેક યોદ્ધાને માંટે એક સ્ત્રી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સીસરા માંટે બે રંગીને વસ્ત્રો,
</q>
<q style="q1">લૂંટારાની ગરદન માંટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખૂબ મોંધી એક શાલ!’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JDG.5.31" />“આમ, ઓ યહોવા, તમાંરા સર્વ શત્રુઓ નાશ પામો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તારા ભકતો ઊગતા પ્રખર સૂર્યની જેમ ઝળહળી ઊઠો.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">ત્યારબાદ 40 વર્ષ સુધી દેશમાં શાંતિ રહી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">મિદ્યાનીઓનું ઈસ્રાએલીઓ સાથે યુદ્ધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.6.1" />ત્યારબાદ ફરીવાર યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ પાપ ગણાય એવું આચરણ ઈસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ કર્યુ. અને તેણે તેઓને સાત વર્ષ સુધી મિદ્યાનીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી હેરાન-પરેશાન કર્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JDG.6.2" />ઈસ્રાએલી પ્રજા કરતાં મિદ્યાનીઓ વધારે શક્તિશાળી હતાં એટલે મિદ્યાનીઓની ક્રૂરતાથી પોતાને બચાવવા માંટે ઈસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને પર્વત પર ટેકરીની ગુફાઓમાં અને અન્ય ગુપ્ત જગ્યાએ ભરાઈ જવું પડયું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JDG.6.3" />જયારે જયારે ઈસ્રાએલી પ્રજા પોતાના ખેતરોમાં વાવણી કરતી ત્યારે ત્યારે મિદ્યાનીઓ, અમાંલેકીઓ અને બીજી પૂર્વની પ્રજાઓ આવીને તેમના ઉપર હુમલો કરતી.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JDG.6.4" />તેઓ છેક ગાઝા સુધીના પ્રદેશમાં પડાવ નાખીને ત્યાં નિવાસ કરતા, તેઓ ત્યાં રહેતા અને લોકોના પાક અને કાપણીનો નાશ કરતા. તેઓ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ માંટે કશું જ ખાવાનું રહેવા દેતા નહિ, નહિ ઘેટું, નહિ બકરી, નહિ બળદ કે નહિ ગધેડું.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JDG.6.5" />તેઓ તેમના ઢોર અને તેમના તંબુઓ સાથે ટોળાબંધ ચઢી આવતા, અને લોકો ઉપર મધમાંખીની જેમ ત્રાટકતા એમનાં ઊંટ ગણ્યા ગણાય એમ નહોંતા, અને તેઓ બધાં ભૂમિનો નાશ કરવા આવતા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="JDG.6.6" />આમ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ મિદ્યાનીઓ આગળ લાચાર હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.6.7" />આથી ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ મિદ્યાનીઓ સામે મદદ મેળવવા યહોવાને પોકાર કર્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="JDG.6.8" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ એક પ્રબોધક દ્વારા સંદેશો મોકલ્યો, તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “ઈસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા જે કહે છે ‘તે આ છે; તમને મિસરમાંથી મેં બહાર કાઢયા હતાં અને તમને ગુલામીમાંથી મુક્ત કર્યા હતાં.
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.6.9" />મિસરીઓના અને તમાંરા ઉપર જુલમ ગુજારનારાઓના હાથમાંથી તમને છોડાવનાર હું હતો. આ લોકોને મેં તમાંરી સામેથી હાંકી કાઢયા હતાં, અને તેમની જમીન તમને આપી હતી.’
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<v id="10" bcv="JDG.6.10" />મેં તમને કહ્યું હતું, ‘હું તમાંરો દેવ યહોવા છું; તમે જે અમોરીઓના દેશમાં અત્યારે વસો છો તેમના દેવોની પૂજા કરશો નહિ.’ પણ તમે માંરી વાત સાંભળી નથી.”
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<s style="s">ગિદિયોનની મુલાકાતે યહોવાનો દૂત
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.6.11" />એક દિવસ યહોવાનો દૂત અબીએઝેરી કુટુંબના યોઆશની માંલિકોના ઓફ્રાહ ગામે ગયો હતો અને ઓકના ઝાડ નીચે બેઠો. યોઆશનો પુત્ર ગિદિયોન મિદ્યાનીઓની નજર ન પડે માંટે દ્રાક્ષના કોલુમાં ઘઉં ઝૂડતો હતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="JDG.6.12" />યહોવાના દૂતે તેને દર્શન દઈને કહ્યું, “મહાન યોદ્ધા, યહોવા તારી સાથે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.6.13" />ત્યાર પછી ગિદિયોને કહ્યું, “માંરા યહોવા, જો યહોવા સાચે જ માંરી અને ઈસ્રાએલીઓની પડખે હોય તો અમને આ બધું શું થયું? અમાંરા પિતૃઓએ અમને યહોવાના પ્રચંડ કાર્યો વિષે કહ્યું હતું જ્યારે તેઓ તેમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા હતાં, અને જ્યારે તેઓએ આ વિષે વાત કરી ત્યારે તેઓએ અદભૂત શોર્ય અને મહાન ઘટનાનું વર્ણન કર્યુ હતું. તે બધાં કયાં ગયા? હવે આજે તો યહોવાએ અમાંરો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે અમને મિદ્યાનીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.6.14" />પછી યહોવાએ તેના તરફ વળીને કહ્યું, “જા, અને તારી તાકાતથી તું ઈસ્રાએલીઓને મિદ્યાનીઓના હાથમાંથી છોડાવ. હું પોતે જ તને મોકલું છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.6.15" />ગિદિયોને કહ્યું, “પણ, યહોવા હું ઈસ્રાએલીઓને કેવી રીતે છોડાવી શકું? તમે જાણો છો કે માંરું કુળસમૂહ મનાશ્શાના વંશમાં નબળામાં નબળું છે, અને માંરા બાપના કુટુંબમાં હું સૌથી નાનો માંણસ છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JDG.6.16" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “હું તારી મદદમાં રહીશ અને તું મિદ્યાનીઓને તેઓ જાણે એક જ માંણસ હોય તેમ કચડી શકીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JDG.6.17" />ગિદિયોને યહોવાને કહ્યું, “જો તમે માંરા પર પ્રસન્ન થયા હો તો તમે જ માંરી સાથે વાત કરો છો એની કોઈ નિશાની આપો;
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<v id="18" bcv="JDG.6.18" />અને જયાં સુધી હું તમને અર્પણ લાવીને ના ધરાવું ત્યાં સુધી અહીંથી ચાલ્યા જશો નહિ.”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તું પાછો આવે ત્યાં સુધી હું અહીં જ રહીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.6.19" />આથી ગિદિયોને જલ્દી ઘેર જઈને એક લવારું લઈને રાંધ્યું તથા એક એફ્રાહ<f caller="+"><fr>6:19
</fr><fk>એફ્રાહ
</fk><ft>એટલે દસ કિલોગ્રામ.</ft></f> લોટની બેખમીર રોટલી બનાવી. તેણે માંસ એક ટોપલીમાં મૂક્યું. રસો તપેલીમાં લીધો અને તે બધું તે ઓકના ઝાડ નીચે લાવ્યો અને તેણે યહોવાને ધરાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JDG.6.20" />યહોવાના દેવદૂત કહ્યું, “માંસ અને રોટલી આ ખડક ઉપર મૂક અને તેના પર રસો રેડી દે.” ગિદિયોને તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JDG.6.21" />ત્યારે યહોવાના દૂતે પોતાના હાથમાંની લાકડી લંબાવીને તેની અણી માંસને અને બેખમીર રોટલીને અટકાડી. તરત જ ખડકમાંથી અગ્નિ પ્રગટયો અને તે માંસને તથા રોટલીને સ્વાહા કરી ગયો. અને એ જ ક્ષણે યહોવાનો દૂત અલોપ થઈ ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JDG.6.22" />ગિદિયોને ત્યારે જાણ્યું અને તેને ખાતરી થઈ કે એ યહોવાનો દૂત હતો. અને તે બોલી ઊઠયો, “મને અફસોસ! ઓ યહોવા સર્વસમર્થ, કારણ કે મે યહોવાના દૂતને મોંઢા મોંઢ જોયો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JDG.6.23" />પણ યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું, “શાંતિ રાખ, ડરીશ નહિ, તું મરી નહિ જાય.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JDG.6.24" />ત્યારબાદ ગિદિયોન ત્યાં ગયો અને ત્યાં યહોવાને માંટે એક વેદી બાંધી અને તેનું નામ “યહોવાની શાંતિ” પાડયું. આજના દિવસે પણ એ વેદી “યહોવાની શાંતિ” યહોવા શાલોમ: ઓફ્રાહ નગરમાં છે જ્યાં અબીએઝરીનું કુટુંબ વસે છે.
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<s style="s">બઆલની વેદીને ભાંગતો ગિદિયોન
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JDG.6.25" />તે રાત્રે યહોવાએ ગિદિયોનને કહ્યું, “તારા પિતાનો સાત વર્ષની ઉમરનો શ્રેષ્ઠ બળદ લે. તારા પિતાની જે બઆલ દેવની બેદી છે તે તોડી પાડ.
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<v id="26" bcv="JDG.6.26" />અને તેની પાસેની અશેરાહ દેવીની પ્રતિમાંને કાપી નાખ, અને ત્યાર પછી આ ટેકરા ઉપર તારા દેવ યહોવાને માંટે યોગ્ય રીતે બાંધેલી યજ્ઞવેદી બનાવ. પછી પેલો બીજો બળદ લઈને તેં કાપી નાખેલી પ્રતિમાંનાં લાકડાં વડે અર્પણ ચઢાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JDG.6.27" />પછી ગિદિયોને દસ નોકરોને લઈને યહોવાના કહ્યાં પ્રમાંણે કર્યું. પણ તેને પોતાનાં કુટુંબીજનોની અને ગામ લોકોની બીક લાગતી હતી એથી તેણે આ કામ દિવસે ન કરતાં રાત્રે કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JDG.6.28" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે લોકોની અવરજવર શરૂ થઈ ત્યારે લોકોએ જોયું કે બઆલની વેદીને તોડી નાખી છે, તેની પાસેની અશેરા દેવીનો સ્તંભ તોડી નાખવામાં આવ્યો છે. તેઓએ એક નવી બાંધેલી વેદી પણ જોઈ જ્યાં બીજા બળદનું અર્પણ કરાયું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JDG.6.29" />તેઓ એકબીજાને પૂછવા લાગ્યા, “આ કોણે કર્યુ?” અને તેમણે તપાસ કરી, આખરે તેઓને ખબર પડી કે, “યોઆસના પુત્ર ગિદિયોને આ કર્યુ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JDG.6.30" />ત્યારે તેમણે યોઆશને કહ્યું, “તારા પુત્રને બહાર કાઢ, એને મૃત્યુદંડની સજા થશે જ; કારણ એણે બઆલની વેદી ઉખાડી નાખી છે અને તેની પાસેની અશેરાદેવીની પ્રતિમાં કાપી નાખી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JDG.6.31" />પરંતુ યોઆશે તેની સામે ભેગા થયેલાં લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે શા માંટે બઆલનો પક્ષ લો છો? શા માંટે તમે તેને બચાવવા માંગો છો? જે કોઈ બઆલનો પક્ષ કરશે તેને સવાર થતાં પહેલાં માંરી નાખવામાં આવશે. જો બઆલ ખરેખરા દેવ હોય અને કોઈ તેની વેદી તોડી પાડે તો તે પોતાની જાતનો બચાવ કરે.”
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<v id="32" bcv="JDG.6.32" />ત્યારથી ગિદિયોનનું નામ “યરૂબ્બઆલ પડયું, કારણ યોઆશે કહ્યું, તેણે બઆલની વેદી તોડી પાડી છે.”
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<s style="s">મિદ્યાનીઓને હરાવતો ગિદિયોન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JDG.6.33" />ત્યારબાદ મિદ્યાનીઓએ, અમાંલેકીઓએ અને પૂર્વની અન્ય પ્રજાઓએ ભેગા થઈને યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી યિઝ્રએલની ખીણમાં તેમના છાવણી તાણ્યા.
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<v id="34" bcv="JDG.6.34" />પછી યહોવાનો આત્માં ગિદિયોનમાં આવ્યો, યુદ્ધમાં જવાનું આહવાન આપવા તેણે રણશિંગડું ફૂંકયું, તેથી અબીએઝેરના પુરુષો તેની પાસે ભેગા થયા.
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<v id="35" bcv="JDG.6.35" />તેણે મનાશ્શાના કુળસમૂહના સમગ્ર પ્રદેશમાં પોતાના માંણસો મોકલ્યાં અને ત્યાથી લોકોને બોલાવી લીધા. અને તે બધાં તેની આજુબાજુ ભેગા થયાં તેણે આશેર, ઝબુલોન અને નફતાલીના લોકોને કાસદો મોકલ્યા અને તે કુળસમૂહોના લોકો પણ તેને આવી મળ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="JDG.6.36" />પછી ગિદિયોને દેવને પૂછયું, “તમે મને વચન આપ્યું છે તે મુજબ તમે કહ્યું છે કે તમે ઈસ્રાએલીઓને બચાવશો,
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<v id="37" bcv="JDG.6.37" />તેથી હું આ ઘઉં ઝૂડવાની જમીન ઉપર ઊન પાથરું છું, જો એ ઊન ઉપર જ ઝાકળ જોવામાં આવે અને બધી જમીન સૂકી હોય, તો હું સમજીશ કે તમે વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાંણે માંરા હાથે ઈસ્રાએલીઓને બચાવવાના છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="JDG.6.38" />અને એ જ પ્રમાંણે થયું. બીજા દિવસે તે સવારમાં વહેલો ઊઠયો, અને તેણે ઊનને નીચોવ્યું, તો તેમાંથી કટોરો ભરાય એટલું ઝાકળ નીકળ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JDG.6.39" />પછી ગિદિયોને દેવને કહ્યું, “માંરા પર કોપ ન કરશો, હજી એક વાર મને બોલવા દો. હજી એક વખત મને ઊન દ્વારા તમાંરી કસોટી કરવા દો. આ વખતે ઊન કોરું જ રહે અને માંત્ર ચારેબાજુ જમીન ઉપર જ ઝાકળ પડે એમ કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="JDG.6.40" />તે રાત્રે તેણે માંગ્યું તે પ્રમાંણે દેવે કર્યુ, ઊન કોરું રહ્યું અને જમીન ઉપર ઝાકળ પડયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.7.1" />યરૂબ્બઆલ એટલે કે ગિદિયોન અને તેની સાથેના બધા લોકો વહેલા ઊઠયા અને તેમણે હારોદના ઝરણા નજીક પોતાની છાવણી નાખી. મિદ્યાનીઓની છાવણી ઈસ્રાએલીઓની ઉત્તરે મોરેહ પર્વતની તળેટીની ખીણના પ્રદેશમાં હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JDG.7.2" />યહોવાએ ગિદિયોનને કહ્યું, “તારી પાસે લશ્કરમાં ઘણા બધાં સૈનિકો છે એટલી મોટી સંખ્યામાં કે હું તેમને મિદ્યાનીઓ સામે યુદ્ધમાં મોકલવા ચાહતો નથી, કારણ કે તેઓ કદાચ બડાશ માંરીને કહે કે, તેઓ પોતાના શોર્યથી જીત્યા છે. નહિ કે યહોવાની શક્તિથી.
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<v id="3" bcv="JDG.7.3" />માંટે તું એ લોકોમાં જાહેરાત કર કે, ‘જે કોઈ ડરનો માંર્યો થથરતો હોય તો તે તરત જ ગિલયાદ પર્વત છોડીને ઘેર પાછો ચાલ્યો જાય.’”
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<p style="p">ત્યારે 22,000 સૈનિકો પાછા ઘેર ગયા અને 10,000 બાકી રહ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.7.4" />પછી યહોવાએ ગિદિયોનને કહ્યં, “હજી પણ સંખ્યા મોટી છે. તમાંરું લશ્કર વિશાળ છે. તેઓને પાણીના ઝરા પાસે લાવ; ત્યાં હું નક્કી કરીશ કે તારા બદલે કોણ જશે. હું જો તને એમ કહું કે, ‘આ માંણસ તારી સાથે આવશે’ તો તે તારી સાથે આવશે, અને હું જ્યારે તને એમ કહું કે, ‘પેલો માંણસ તારી સાથે નહિ આવે’ તો તે તારી સાથે નહિ આવે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JDG.7.5" />ગિદિયોન બધા લોકોને પાણીના ઝરા પાસે લઈ ગયો. જ્યાં યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું, “જે લોકો કૂતરાની જેમ પોતાની જીભ વડે પાણી પીશે તેમને એક બાજુ રાખ અને જેઓ પાણી પીવા માંટે ઘૂંટણિયે પડે તેમને બીજા સમૂહમાં રાખ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.7.6" />કૂતરાની જેમ જીભ વડે પાણી પીનારા લોકોની સંખ્યા 300 હતી. બાકીના બધા પાણી પીવા માંટે ઘૂંટણિએ પડ્યા હતાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="JDG.7.7" />પછી યહોવાએ ગિદિયોનને કહ્યું, “જીમથી પાણી પીનારા માંણસોની સંખ્યા 300 છે. આ 300 માંણસ દ્વારા હું તને જીત અપાવીશ અને મિદ્યાનીઓને તારા હાથમાં સોંપી દઈશ; બાકીના બધા સૈનિકો પોતપોતાને ઘરે પાછા જાય.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.7.8" />તેથી ગિદિયોને 300 માંણસોને રાખીને બાકીના બધાને ઘરે પાછા મોકલ્યા, પણ આ માંણસોએ ખોરાક અને રણશિંગા પોતાના માંટે રાખી લીધાં.
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<p style="p">મિદ્યાનીઓની છાવણી તેઓની છાવણીની નીચેની ખીણમાં હતી.
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.7.9" />તે દિવસે રાત્રે યહોવાએ ગિદિયોનને કહ્યું, “ઊઠ, તારું સૈન્ય લઈને તું તાબડતોબ મિદ્યાનીઓની છાવણી પર હુમલો કર, કારણ મેં તેમને તારા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JDG.7.10" />પણ જો તને હુમલો કરતા ડર લાગતો હોય તો પહેલા તું એકલો તારા નોકર પુરાહ સાથે છાવણીમાં જા,
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<v id="11" bcv="JDG.7.11" />તેઓની વાત ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ, અને તને પુષ્કળ પ્રોત્સાહન મળશે.”
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<p style="p">તેથી તે પોતાના નોકર પુરાહને લઈને રાતના અંધારામાં દુશ્મનોની છાવણીમાં મિદ્યાનીઓની લશ્કરી ટૂકડી પાસે ત્યાં ગયો.
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<v id="12" bcv="JDG.7.12" />મિદ્યાનીઓ, અમાંલેકીઓ તથા પૂર્વની અન્ય પ્રજાઓ અસંખ્ય સૈનિકોની સાથે તીડોની જેમ ખીણમાં પથરાયેલી હતી, તેમની પાસે દરિયાની રેતીની જેમ પથરાયેલા અસંખ્ય ઊંટ હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.7.13" />જ્યારે ગિદિયોન ત્યાં પહોંચ્યો ત્યારે એક માંણસ બીજા માંણસને પોતાના સ્વપ્નની વાત કહેતો હતો; તે બોલ્યો, “મને એવું સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું કે એક જવની રોટલી મિદ્યાનીઓની છાવણીમાં ગબડતી ગબડતી આવી અને એક તંબુ આગળ પહોંચતાં તેની સાથે અથડાઈ એટલે તંબુ તૂટી પડયો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.7.14" />બીજા માંણસે જવાબ આપ્યો, “જરૂર, એ ઈસ્રાએલી યોઆશના પુત્ર ગિદિયોનની તરવાર જ હોવી જોઈએ. તારા સ્વપ્નનો એ જ ખુલાસો હોઈ શકે. દેવે મિદ્યાનને અને એના આખા સૈન્યને ગિદિયોનના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.7.15" />જ્યારે ગિદિયોને સ્વપ્ન અને તેનો ખુલાસો સાંભળ્યો ત્યારે તેણે દેવની ઉપાસના કરી અને પછી ઈસ્રાએલીઓની છાવણીમાં જઈને બોલ્યો, “ઊઠો, યહોવાએ મિદ્યાનીઓની છાવણી અને લોકો તમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા છે,”
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<v id="16" bcv="JDG.7.16" />તેણે 300 સૈનિકોનું સૈન્ય લીધું અને તેને ત્રણ ટૂકડીઓમાં વહેંચી નાખ્યું, તેણે દરેક માંણસને એક રણશિંગડુ આપ્યું અને એક ખાલી બરણી તેમાં મશાલ મૂકીને આપી.
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<v id="17" bcv="JDG.7.17" />પછી તેણે તેમને કહ્યું, “માંરા ઉપર નજર રાખજો, છાવણી પાસે પહોંચતાં જ હું જેમ કરું તેમ કરજો,
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<v id="18" bcv="JDG.7.18" />જયારે હું અને માંરા માંણસો અમાંરાં રણશિંગડાં વગાડીએ ત્યારે તમે પણ છાવણીને ફરતે તમાંરા રણશિંગડાં વગાડજો, અને પોકાર કરજો કે, ‘યહોવાનો જય! ગિદિયોનનો જય!’”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.7.19" />મિદ્યાન પાસે ગિદિયોન અને તેની સાથેના 100 માંણસો મધરાતી ચોકીની શરૂઆતમાં જ્યારે તેઓએ સંત્રીઓ હજી હમણાં જ બદલ્યા હતા. ત્યાં છાવણીમાં પહોંચ્યા એ લોકોએ તેમના રણશિંગડાં ફૂંકયાં અને હાથમાંની બરણીઓ ફોડી નાખી.
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<v id="20" bcv="JDG.7.20" />ગિદિયોનના લશ્કરની ત્રણ ટુકડીઓએ રણશિંગડાં ફૂક્યા અને બરણીઓ ફોડી નાખી, પછી તેમના ડાબા હાથમાં મશાલો પકડી અને જમણા હાથમાં રણશિંગડા પકડયા જેથી તેઓ તેને ફૂંકી શકે પછી તેઓએ પોકાર કર્યો, “યહોવાનો જય, ગિદિયોનનો જય!”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JDG.7.21" />પ્રત્યેક માંણસ છાવણીની ફરતે ગિદિયોનના બધાં માંણસો પોતાની જગ્યાએ ઊભા રહ્યાં. મિદ્યાની છાવણીના બધાં લોકો ભયથી ચીસ પાડીને ભાગવા લાગ્યાં.
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<v id="22" bcv="JDG.7.22" />જ્યારે પેલા 300 માંણસો રણશિંગડાં ફૂંકતા હતાં તેના અવાજથી યહોવાએ શત્રુ-સૈન્યને એવું ગૂંચવી નાખ્યું કે છાવણીમાં સર્વત્ર તેઓ બધા અંદરો અંદર લડીને એકબીજાને માંરવા લાગ્યા. તેઓનું લશ્કર સરેરાહની દિશામાં બેથશિટ્ટાહ સુધી અને ટાબ્બાથ નજીક આવેલા આબેલ-મહોલાહ સુધી નાસી ગયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JDG.7.23" />પછી ગિદિયોને નફતાલીના, આશેર અને આખા મનાશ્શાના કુળસમૂહોના પ્રદેશના ઈસ્રાએલીઓને તેને મદદ કરવા બોલાવડાવ્યા અને તેમણે નાસી ગયેલા મિદ્યાનીઓનો પીછો પકડ્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="JDG.7.24" />પછી ગિદિયોને એફ્રાઈમના સમગ્ર પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં પોતાના સંદેશવાહકો મોકલ્યા અને જાહેર કરાવડાવ્યું કે, “ઊતરી આવો, મિદ્યાનીઓનો સામનો કરો અને તેઓ નદી પાર ઊતરે તે પહેલા બેથબારાહથી યર્દન નદીના બધા પાણીવાળા સ્થળો કબજે કરી લો.”
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<p style="p">જેથી એફ્રાઈમના કુળસમૂહને ભેગું કરવામાં આવ્યું, અને તેમણે બેથબારાહ સુધીના યર્દન નદીના તમાંમ પાણીવાળા સ્થળો કબજો કરી લીધા.
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<v id="25" bcv="JDG.7.25" />તેમણે મિદ્યાનીઓના બે સરદારો ઓરેબ અને ઝએબને જીવતા કેદ પકડયા. ઓરેબને ઓરેબ ખડક પાસે માંરી નાખવામાં આવ્યો અને ઝએબને ઝએબના દ્રાક્ષાકુંડ<f caller="+"><fr>7:25
</fr><fk>ઓરેબને Ϲ ઝએબના દ્રાક્ષાકુંડ
</fk><ft>જે જગ્યા પર ઓરેબને મારી નંખાયો હતો તેને ઓરેબનો ખડક કહેવામાં આવે છે. અને જ્યાં ઝએબને મારી નંખાયો હતો તેને ઝએબના દ્રાક્ષાકુંડ કહે છે.</ft></f> પાસે માંરી નાખવામાં આવ્યો. તે પછી પણ તેઓએ ફરીથી મિદ્યાનીઓનો પીછો કરવો ચાલુ રાખ્યો, અને તેઓ ઓરેબ અને ઝએબનાં માંથાં યર્દનને પેલે પાર ગિદિયોન લઈ આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.8.1" />એફ્રાઈમ કુળના આગેવાન લોકોએ ગિદિયોન પર રોષે ભરાઈને કહ્યું, “તમે અમાંરી સાથે આવો વર્તાવ શા માંટે કર્યો? તમે મિદ્યાનીઓ સાથે લડવા માંટે ગયા ત્યારે તમે અમને શા માંટે ના બોલાવ્યા? આમ એમને તે લોકોએ સખત ઠપકો આપ્યો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JDG.8.2" />પણ ગિદિયોને કહ્યું, “તમાંરી તુલનામાં મેં જે કંઈ કર્યું છે એ તો કંઈ વિસાતમાં નથી. તમે એફ્રાઈમના લોકોએ જે કર્યું છે તે માંરા સમગ્ર કુળ કુટુંબે જે કર્યુ છે તેના કરતાં કયાંય ચડિયાતું છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JDG.8.3" />દેવે તમાંરા જ હાથમાં મિદ્યાનીઓના સરદારો ઓરેબ અને ઝએબને સુપ્રત કર્યા તેની તુલનામાં મેં શું કર્યું છે?” ત્યારે જ તેઓ શાંત થયા.
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<s style="s">બે રાજાઓ કબ્જે કરતો ગિદિયોન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.8.4" />ગિદિયોન 300 સૈનિકો સાથે યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી ગયો તેઓ બધા ખૂબ થાકેલા હોવા છતાં દુશ્મનોનો પીછો છોડતા નહોતા.
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<v id="5" bcv="JDG.8.5" />પછી ગિદિયોને સુક્કોથના લોકોને કહ્યું, “માંરા સૈનિકોને ખાવા માંટે થોડી રોટલી આપશો? એ લોકો ખૂબ થાકી ગયા છે, અને અમે હજી મિદ્યાની રાજાઓ ઝેબાહ અને સાલ્મુન્નાનો પીછો કરી રહ્યાં છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.8.6" />પણ સુક્કોથના આગેવાનોએ કહ્યું, “તમાંરા સૈનિકોને અમે શા માંટે ખાવા માંટે રોટલી આપીએ? તમને એટલી ખાતરી છે કે તમે ઝેબાહ અને સાલ્મુન્નાને પકડી શકશો? નિષ્ફળ જાઓ તો તેઓ પાછા આવીને અમાંરો નાશ કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.8.7" />એટલે ગિદિયોને તેમને ચેતવણી આપી, “ઠીક જયારે યહોવા ઝેબાહ અને સાલ્મુન્નાને માંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દેશે ત્યારે હું કાંટા ઝાંખરા વડે તમાંરી ચામડી ઊઝરડી નાખીશ અને તમને માંર માંરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.8.8" />ગિદિયોન ત્યાંથી પનુએલ ગયો, અને ત્યાંના લોકો પાસે ખોરાકની માંગણી કરી. તેઓએ પણ સુક્કોથના આગેવાનો જેવો જ જવાબ આપ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.8.9" />આથી તેણે પનુએલના લોકોને પણ કહ્યું, “જયારે હું યુદ્ધ પૂરું કરીને સુરક્ષિત પાછો આપીશ ત્યારે તમાંરો આ કિલ્લો તોડી પાડયા વિના નહિ રહું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JDG.8.10" />તે સમયે ઝેબાહ અને સાલ્મુન્ના એમના 15,000 ના સૈન્ય સાથે કાર્કોરમાં હતાં. પૂર્વની પ્રજાઓમાંથી ફકત એટલા જ બચી ગયા હતાં. એમનાં 1,20,000 માંણસો તો યુદ્ધમાં માંર્યા ગયા હતાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="JDG.8.11" />ગિદિયોન, નોબાહ તથા યોગ્બહાહની પૂર્વે રહેવાસીઓના માંર્ગે આવેલા મિદ્યાનીઓની છાવણીમાં ગયો અને મિદ્યાનના લશ્કર ઉપર ઓચિંતો છાપો માંર્યો.
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<v id="12" bcv="JDG.8.12" />ઝેબાહ અને સાલ્મુન્ના બંને રાજાઓ ભાગી ગયા, પરંતુ ગિદિયોને તેમનો પીછો પકડીને તેઓને જીવતા કેદ કર્યા, અને પછી તેણે સમગ્ર લશ્કરને ભયભીત કરી નાખ્યું તેમના સમગ્ર સૈન્યને વેરવિખેર કરી નાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.8.13" />ત્યારબાદ યોઆશનો પુત્ર ગિદિયોન યુદ્ધમાંથી હેરેસ ઘાટને માંર્ગે પાછો ફરતો હતો.
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<v id="14" bcv="JDG.8.14" />ત્યારે તેણે સુક્કોથના એક યુવાનને પકડીને તેની પાસેથી 77 વડીલો અને આગેવાનોનાં નામ લખાવી લીધાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.8.15" />ત્યારબાદ ગિદિયોન સુક્કોથના લોકો સમક્ષ આવ્યો અને તેઓને કહ્યું, “આ રહ્યાં ઝેબાહ અને સાલ્મુન્ના, જેમને વિષે તમે મને ટોણો માંર્યો હતો અને કહ્યું હતું કે ‘તારા હાથમાં ઝેબાહ અને સાલ્મુન્ના થોડાજ આવી ગયા છે કે અમે તારા થાકેલા તથા ભૂખ્યા માંણસોને ખાવાનું આપીએ?’”
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<v id="16" bcv="JDG.8.16" />પછી તેણે સુક્કોથ નગરના વડીલોને પકડયા અને વગડાંના કાંટા અને ઝાખરાં વડે માંર માંરીને તેમને પાઠ ભણાવ્યો.
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<v id="17" bcv="JDG.8.17" />ત્યારબાદ તે પનુએલ ગયો અને ત્યાનો કિલ્લો તોડી પાડી ત્યાંના લોકોની હત્યા કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JDG.8.18" />પછી તેણે ઝેબાહ અને સાલ્મુન્નાને પૂછયું, “તમે તાબોરમાં જે લોકોને માંરી નાખ્યા તે કોના જેવા હતાં?”
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<p style="p">તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તેઓ તમાંરા જેવા જ હતા. તેઓએ તમાંરા જેવા જ વસ્ત્રો પરિધાન કર્યા હતા, અને તેઓ રાજકુંવરો જેવા દેખાતા હતાં.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.8.19" />ગિદિયોને કહ્યું, “તો પછી તેઓ માંરા ભાઈઓ જ હોવા જોઈએ. માંરી સગી માંના પુત્રો, હું યહોવાના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે તમે જો તેમને જીવતા જવા દીધા હોત તો મેં તમાંરા પ્રાણ લીધા ના હોત. અને મે તમને જીવતા છોડી મૂક્યા હોત.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JDG.8.20" />પછી ગિદિયોને પોતાના સૌથી મોટા પુત્ર યેથેરને કહ્યું, “ઊઠ, અને આ લોકોને માંરી નાખ.” પરંતુ તેના પુત્રએ તરવાર ખેંચી નહિ, તે હજુ નાદાન હતો એટલે તેની હિંમત ચાલી નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JDG.8.21" />પરંતુ ઝેબાહ અને સાલ્મુન્નાએ કહ્યું, “તમે, જાતે જ અમાંરો સંહાર કરો, કારણ, જો માંણસ ખરેખર મજબૂત હશે તો તે પોતે જ તે કરશે.” પછી ગિદિયોને તે બંનને માંરી નાખ્યા અને તેમનાં ઊટોના શરીર પરથી અલંકારો ઉતારી લીધાં.
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<s style="s">એફ્રોદ બનાવતો ગિદિયોન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JDG.8.22" />ત્યારપછી ઈસ્રાએલી લોકોએ ગિદિઓનને કહ્યું, “તમે અમને મિદ્યાનીઓથી બચાવ્યા છે હવે તમે અમાંરા રાજા છો, તમાંરા પુત્રો અને તમાંરા વંશજો અમાંરા પર શાસન કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JDG.8.23" />પણ ગિદિયોને ઈસ્રાએલીઓને કહ્યું, “હું તમાંરા ઉપર રાજ નહિ કરું, તેમજ માંરો પુત્ર પણ નહી કરે, પણ યહોવા તમાંરા ઉપર રાજ કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JDG.8.24" />પછી તેણે કહ્યું, “માંરે તમને એક વિનંતી કરવાની છે, તમાંરામાંથી પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ મને તમે મેળવેલ લૂંટની સામગ્રીમાંથી એક એક બુટ્ટી આપી દો.” મિદ્યાનીઓનું લશ્કર ઈશ્માંએલીઓનું બનેલું હતું અને તેઓ કાનમાં સોનાની બુટ્ટી પહેરતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JDG.8.25" />પછી તેઓએ કહ્યું, “અમે રાજી ખુશીથી તે આપીશું.” પછી તેઓએ એક ઝભ્ભો પાથર્યો. પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિએ તેમાં લૂંટમાં મેળવેલી સોનાની બુટ્ટી નાંખી.
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<v id="26" bcv="JDG.8.26" />ગિદિયોને માંગી લીધેલા સોનાની બુટ્ટીનું વજન આશરે એક હજાર સાતસો શેકેલ થયું, તેમાં ઝવેરાત, ગળાનો હાર અને મિદ્યાની રાજાઓએ પહેરેલાં કિંમતી વસ્ત્રોનો સમાંવેશ થતો નહોતો તેમજ તેમાં ઊંટના ગળામાંથી લઈ લેવાયેલા ઘરેણાંઓનો સમાંવેશ થતો નહોતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JDG.8.27" />ગિદિયોને તેમાંથી એક એફોદ બનાવડાવ્યો અને તેની સ્થાપના પોતાના નગર ઓફ્રાહમાં કરી. બધા ઈસ્રાએલીઓ યહોવાને છોડીને તેની પૂજા કરવા લાગ્યા અને તે એફોદ ગિદિયોન અને તેના પરિવારના પતનનું કારણ થઈ પડ્યું.
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<s style="s">ગિદિયોનનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JDG.8.28" />આમ, મિદ્યાનીઓ ઈસ્રાએલીઓને તાબે થયા અને ત્યારપછી કદાપિ તેમણે માંથું ઊંચુ કર્યુ નહિ, અને ગિદિયોન જીવ્યો ત્યાં સુધી 40 વર્ષ દેશમાં શાંતિ રહી.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JDG.8.29" />યોઆશનો પુત્ર, યરૂબ્બઆલ રહેવા માંટે પોતાને ઘેર પાછો ફર્યો.
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<v id="30" bcv="JDG.8.30" />ગિદિયોનને ઘણી પત્નીઓ હતી અને 70 પુત્રો હતાં.
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<v id="31" bcv="JDG.8.31" />શખેમમાં તેને એક ઉપપત્ની હતી એની કૂખે અબીમેલેક નામનો પુત્ર અવતર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JDG.8.32" />યોઆસનો પુત્ર, ગિદિયોન અવસાન પામ્યો ત્યારે ઘણો ઘરડો હતો. તેઓએ તેને અબીએઝેરીઓના પ્રદેશમાં ઓફ્રાહ નગરમાં તેના પિતા યોઆશની કબરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="33" bcv="JDG.8.33" />એના અવસાન પછી ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ફરી પાછા દેવને છોડીને દેવદેવીઓની પૂજા કરવા લાગ્યા, અને તેમણે બઆલબરીથને ઈષ્ટદેવ તરીકે સ્વીકાર્યા.
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<v id="34" bcv="JDG.8.34" />ઈસ્રાએલીઓ આજુબાજુના શત્રુઓથી તેમને છોડાવનાર તેમના દેવ યહોવાને ભૂલી ગયા.
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<v id="35" bcv="JDG.8.35" />અને ઈસ્રાએલનું આટઆટલું ભલું કરનાર યરૂબ્બઆલ કટુંબને (ગિદિઓનને) પણ તેઓ વફાદાર નહોતા.
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<c id="9" />
<s style="s">અબીમેલેખ રાજા બન્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.9.1" />એક દિવસ યરૂબ્બઆલનો પુત્ર અબીમેલેખ શખેમમાં તેના માંમાંઓના ઘેર ગયો હતો અને તેમને અને તેની માંતાના કુટુંબના બધા સભ્યોને તેણે કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="JDG.9.2" />“તમે શખેમના નાગરિકોને આટલું પૂછી જુઓ કે, ‘તમાંરે માંટે શું સારું છે? તમાંરા ઉપર 70 જણ-યરૂબ્બઆલના સિત્તેર પુત્રો રાજ્ય કરે કે એક જણ રાજ્ય કરે? તેમ એ પણ યાદ રાખજો કે, હું અને તમે એક જ લોહીમાંસ અને હાડકાંના બનેલા છીએ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JDG.9.3" />તેના માંમાંઓએ શખેમના નાગરિકો સાથે વાત કરી અને તેમને આ બધી વસ્તુઓ વિષે પૂછયું. તેઓએ અબીમેલેક અને તેનો પક્ષ લેવાનું નક્કી કર્યું. કારણ કે તેઓએ વિચાર્યુ કે, “અબીમેલેખની માં તેઓના નગરની વતની છે તેથી તે તેમના ભાઈ જેવો જ છે.”
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<v id="4" bcv="JDG.9.4" />આથી તેઓએ બઆલવરીથના મંદિરમાંથી 70 ચાંદીના સિક્કા કાઢી લીધા અને એ સિક્કા વડે અબીમેલેખ તોફાની અને નકામાં લોકોને રોકયા, જેઓ તેને અનુસરતા હતાં અને તે જે કહે તે મુજબ કરતાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JDG.9.5" />તેઓને લઈને તે પોતાના પિતાના ઘેર આફ્રાહ ગયો અને ત્યાં એક જ પથ્થર ઉપર તેણે પોતાના 70 ભાઈઓને યરૂબ્બઆલના પુત્રોને રહેસી નાખ્યા. ફકત સૌથી નાનો પુત્ર યોથામ છુપાઈ ગયો તેથી તે ભાગી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.9.6" />ત્યારબાદ શખેમ અને બેથમિલ્લોના બધા લોકો ભેગા મળ્યા અને તેઓએ શેખેમમાં ઊભા કરેલા એલોનના થાંભલા નજીક અબીમેલેખને પોતાનો રાજા બનાવ્યો.
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<s style="s">યોથામની વાર્તા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.9.7" />જ્યારે યોથામે આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તે ગેરીઝીમ પર્વતના શિખર પર ગયો ત્યાં ઊભો રહ્યો અને મોટા સાદે શખેમના માંણસોને કહેવા લાગ્યો;
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<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“ઓ શખેમના લોકો, માંરી વાત સાંભળો, અને દેવ, તમને બધાને સાંભળે!
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.9.8" />“એક દિવસ બદા વૃક્ષો રાજા પસંદ કરવા ગયાં. તેમણે જૈતૂનના વૃક્ષને કહ્યું, ‘તું અમાંરો રાજા થા.’
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="9" bcv="JDG.9.9" />“પણ જૈતૂનના વૃક્ષે કહ્યું, ‘શું હું માંરું તેલ, જે દેવો અને માંનવોને સન્માંનવા માંટે વપરાય છે, તે છોડીને વૃક્ષો પર રાજ્ય કરવા આવું?’
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="10" bcv="JDG.9.10" />“પછી વૃક્ષોએ અંજીરના વૃક્ષને કહ્યું, ‘તું અમાંરા ઉપર રાજ્ય કર.’
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.9.11" />“પરંતુ અંજીરના વૃક્ષે કહ્યું, ‘શું હું માંરાં ફળ અને એની બધી મીઠાશ છોડીને વૃક્ષો ઉપર રાજ્ય કરવા આવું?’
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="12" bcv="JDG.9.12" />“પછી વૃક્ષોએ દ્રાક્ષના વેલાને કહ્યું, ‘તો તું આવ અને અમાંરો રાજા થા.’
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.9.13" />“પણ તેમણે જવાબ આપ્યો, ‘વૃક્ષોનો રાજા બનવા માંટે થઈને દેવ અને માંણસોને આનંદિત કરનાર દ્રાક્ષારસ ઉપજાવવાનું હું શા માંટે છોડી દઉં?’
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.9.14" />“ત્યારે બધાં વૃક્ષોએ કાંટાના છોડને કહ્યું, ‘તો તું આવ અને અમાંરા પર રાજ કર.’
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.9.15" />“એટલે કાંટાળા વૃક્ષે કહ્યું, ‘જો તમે મને ખરેખર તમાંરો રાજા બનાવવા માંગતા હો તો આવો અને માંરી છાયામાં આવીને બેસો, નહિ તો કાંટાળા ઝાડમાંથી આગ પ્રગટશે અને લબાનોનનાં દેવદારના વૃક્ષોને બાળી નાખશે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JDG.9.16" />“પછી યોથામ આગળ બોલ્યો, હવે તમે અબીમેલેખને સાચા મનથી પ્રમાંણિકપણે રાજા બનાવ્યો છે? તથા ગિદિયોન અને તેના પરિવાર પ્રત્યે યોગ્ય વર્તાવ કર્યો છે? તમે માંરા પિતાને એણે કરેલાં કાર્યોનો યોગ્ય બદલો આપ્યો છે? તેની ખાતરી કરી લો.
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<v id="17" bcv="JDG.9.17" />માંરા પિતાએ તો તમાંરે માંટે પોતાને જીવ જોખમમાં મૂકીને; યુદ્ધ કરીને તમને મિદ્યાનીઓના હાથમાંથી મુક્તિ અપાવી છે;
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<v id="18" bcv="JDG.9.18" />પરંતુ આજે તમે બધાએ માંરા પિતાની વિરુદ્ધ તમાંરા માંથા ઊંચક્યા છે અને તેમના 70 પુત્રોને એક જ પથ્થર પર માંરી નાખ્યા છે. અને હવે તેની દાસીના પુત્ર અબીમેલેખને, કારણકે તે તમાંરો ભાઈ છે. માંટે શખેમનો રાજા બનાવો છો.
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<v id="19" bcv="JDG.9.19" />જો તમે યરૂબ્બઆલ અને તેના પરિવાર પ્રત્યે વફાદાર હો તો ભલે તમે અબીમેલેખને રાજા તરીકે મેળવીને ખુશ થાઓ અને તમને તેની પ્રજા તરીકે મેળવીને ભલે તે ખુશ થતો.
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<v id="20" bcv="JDG.9.20" />નહિ તો પછી અબીમેલેખમાંથી અગ્નિ પ્રગટો અને તે શખેમના અને મિલ્લોના લોકોને બાળી નાખે અને શખેમ તથા મિલ્લોના લોકોમાંથી અગ્નિ પ્રગટો અને તે અબીમેલેખને બાળી નાખે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JDG.9.21" />એ પછી યોથામ ત્યાંથી ભાગી જઈને ધેર ચાલ્યો ગયો, અને પોતાના ભાઈ અબીમેલેખથી બચવા માંટે ત્યાં રહ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">શખેમ વિરુદ્ધ અબીમેલેખનું યુદ્ધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JDG.9.22" />અબીમેલેખ ઈસ્રાએલ ઉપર ત્રણ વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યુ.
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<v id="23" bcv="JDG.9.23" />ત્યાર પછી અબીમેલેખ અને શખેમના લોકો વચ્ચે દેવે વેર થવા દીધું. તેથી શખેમના લોકોએ અબીમેલેખ સામે બળવો કર્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="JDG.9.24" />આ એટલા માંટે થયું કે જેથી યરૂબ્બઆલના 70 પુત્રોને માંરી નાખવા બદલ અબીમેલેખને તથા તેને આ રક્તપાત કરવામાં મદદ કરનાર શખેમના લોકોને પાઠ શીખવા મળે.
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<v id="25" bcv="JDG.9.25" />શખેમના લોકોએ અબીમેલેખની ચોકી કરવા પર્વતો પર ગુપ્તચરો, અબીમેલેખ ઉપર હુમલો કરવા તેમજ તેને લૂંટી લેવા માંટે ગોઠવ્યા; તેઓ તે રસ્તે જતા બધા જ માંણસોને લૂંટવા લાગ્યા અને અબીમેલેખને એની ખબર પડી ગઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JDG.9.26" />એ સમય દરમ્યાન એબેદનો પુત્ર ગાઆલ તેના ભાઈઓ સાથે શખેમમાં રહેવા આવ્યો. અને તેણે શખેમના લોકોનો વિશ્વાસ જીતી લીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JDG.9.27" />તેઓ દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓમાં ગયા અને દ્રાક્ષ ભેગી કરી તેને તેઓએ કચડી અને દ્રાક્ષારસ બનાવ્યો અને ઉત્સવ ઊજવ્યો. તેઓએ તેમના દેવના મંદિરમાં આ ઉજવણી કરી તેઓએ ખાધું પીધું અને પછી અબીમેલેખને શાપ દેવા લાગ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JDG.9.28" />ગાઆલ એબેદનો પુત્ર ઘાંટા પાડવા લાગ્યો, “અબીમેલેખ કોણ છે? શા માંટે આપણે શખેમના લોકો કોણ છીએ કે આપણે તેની ગુલામી કરવી જોઈએ? અબીમેલેખ યરૂબ્બઆલનો પુત્ર નથી! અને ઝબૂલ તેનો અફસર નથી? શખેમના પિતા હમોરના માંણસોની સેવા કરો! આપણે શા માંટે અબીમેલેખને અનુસરવું જોઈએ?
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<v id="29" bcv="JDG.9.29" />તમે એક વખત મને રાજા બનાવો; પછી જુઓ, હું તેને પાઠ ભણાવીશ હુ તેને કહીશ, ‘તારું સૈન્ય લઈને યુદ્ધ કરવા માંરી સામે પડ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JDG.9.30" />નગરપતિ ઝબૂલે જયારે એબેદના પુત્ર ગાઆલે જે કહ્યું હતું તે સાંભળ્યું, ત્યારે તે ખૂબ ક્રોધે ભરાયો.
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<v id="31" bcv="JDG.9.31" />ગુપ્તરીતે તેણે અબીમેલેખ પાસે સંદેશવાહક એમ કહેવા માંટે મોકલ્યા કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“એબેદનો પુત્ર ગાઆલ અને તેના ભાઈઓ શખેમ રહેવા આવ્યા છે અને તેઓ નગરના લોકોને તારી વિરુદ્ધ ઉશ્કેરે છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="JDG.9.32" />માંટે તું અને તારા માંણસો રાત્રે અહીં આવો અને ખેતરોમાં સંતાઈ જાઓ.
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<v id="33" bcv="JDG.9.33" />સવારે સૂર્યોદય થતાં જ નગર ઉપર હુમલો કરો અને ગાઆલ અને તેના માંણસો તમાંરો સામનો કરવા બહાર આવે ત્યારે તારી ઇચ્છા મુજબ તેઓને શિક્ષા કરજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JDG.9.34" />આથી અબીમેલેખ અને તેના માંણસો રાતોરાત ઊપડ્યા અને ચાર ટુકડીઓમાં શખેમ ઉપર હુમલો કરવા સંતાઈને બેઠા.
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<v id="35" bcv="JDG.9.35" />બીજે દિવસે એબેદનો પુત્ર ગાઆલ બહાર આવીને શહેરના દરવાજાના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ ઊભો રહ્યો અને એ જ સમયે અબીમેલેખ અને તેના માંણસો તેમના છુપાવાના સ્થળોએથી બહાર આવ્યા, અને નગર પર હુમલો કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="JDG.9.36" />ગાઆલે તે લોકોને જોયા અને ઝબૂલને કહ્યં, “જો, ડુંગરોની ટોચ ઉપરથી માંણસો ઊતરે છે!”
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<p style="p">પણ ઝબૂલે કહ્યું, “ના, એ તો ડુંગરના પડછાયા તમને માંણસ જેવા લાગે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="JDG.9.37" />ફરીથી ગાઆલે કહ્યું, “ના, ત્યાં જો. હું પૂરેપૂરી ખાતરીથી કહું છું કે લોકો ટેકરીઓ પરથી નીચે ઊતરી આવે છે અને બીજી ટૂકડી જાદુગરનાં વૃક્ષ<f caller="+"><fr>9:37
</fr><fk>જાદુગરનાં વૃક્ષ
</fk><ft>હસ્તરેખા જોઈને ભવિષ્ય ભાખનારનું વૃક્ષ.</ft></f> પાસેથી આવી રહી છે.”
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<v id="38" bcv="JDG.9.38" />ત્યારે ઝબૂલે તેને કહ્યું, “હવે તારી બડાઈ કયાં ગઈ? તમે તો કહેતા હતાં કે, ‘એ અબીમેલેખ વળી કોણ છે? આપણે તેના ગુલામ થઈએ? તમે જેની મશ્કરી કરતા હતાં એ જ આ લોકો છે ને?’ તો પછી પડો મેદાને અને કરો યુદ્ધ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JDG.9.39" />ગાઆલ શખેમના માંણસો સાથે બહાર પડયો અને અબીમેલેખ સામે લડયો.
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<v id="40" bcv="JDG.9.40" />પણ અબીમેલેખ તેનો પીછો પકડતા તે ત્યાંથી ભાગી ગયો. શહેરના દરવાજા પાસે શખેમના ઘણા માંણસો ખરાબ રીતે ઘાયલ થઈને આજુબાજુ પડયા હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="JDG.9.41" />આ સમયે અબીમેલેખ અરૂમાંહમાં રહેતો હતો. ઝબૂલે ગાઆલ તથા તેના સગાઓને શખેમમાંથી કાઢી મૂક્યાં, તેઓને શખેમમાં રહેવા દીધાં નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="JDG.9.42" />બીજે દિવસે શખેમના લોકો ખેતરોમાં બહાર આવ્યા. અને અબીમેલેખને આ બાબતની જાણ થઈ.
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<v id="43" bcv="JDG.9.43" />તેથી તેણે પોતાના માંણસોની ત્રણ ટુકડીઓ પાડીને તે ખેતરમાં તેમના માંટે રાહ જોતો રહ્યો. જ્યારે તેણે નગરમાંથી લોકોને બહાર આવતા જોયા ત્યારે આ સંતાઈ રહેલા માંણસો બહાર આવ્યા અને તેમના ઉપર હુમલો કરીને તેમને બધાને માંરી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="44" bcv="JDG.9.44" />અબીમેલેખ અને તેની ટૂકડી આગળ વધીને શહેરના દરવાજાના પ્રવેશ દ્વાર આગળ ગોઠવાઈ ગઈ અને બીજી બે ટૂકડીઓએ જેઓ સીમમાં હતાં તેમના ઉપર તૂટી પડી અને તેમને પૂરા કર્યા,
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<v id="45" bcv="JDG.9.45" />આખો દિવસ યુદ્ધ ચાલ્યું. આખરે અબીમેલેખ શખેમ નગરને જીતી લીધું. તેણે નગરના સર્વ લોકોનો સંહાર કર્યો. અને નગરને ભોયભેગુ કરી નાખ્યું. અને ત્યાંની ભૂમિ પર મીઠું વેર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="JDG.9.46" />જયારે શખેમના કિલ્લાના આગેવાનોએ આ વાત જાણી ત્યારે તેઓ બધા એલબરીથ દેવના મંદિરના ભોંયરામાં ભેગા થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="JDG.9.47" />અબીમેલેખને ખબર પડી કે શખેમના કિલ્લાના સર્વ લોકો મંદિરના ભોયરામાં છે.
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<v id="48" bcv="JDG.9.48" />ત્યારે તે પોતાના સૈનિકો સાથે સાલ્મોન પર્વત પર ગયા, તેણે કુહાડી લઈને ઝાડની એક ડાળી કાપીને પોતાના ખભા પર મૂકી અને પોતાના સૈનિકોને કહ્યું, “મેં શું કર્યું એ તમે જોયું છે. તમે પણ ઝટપટ એ પ્રમાંણે કરો.”
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<v id="49" bcv="JDG.9.49" />આથી પ્રત્યેક માંણસે એક એક ડાળી કાપીને લીધી, પછી તેમણે અબીમેલેખની પાછળ પાછળ જઈને ભોંયરામાં તેનો મોટો ઢગલો કર્યો અને તેને આગ ચાંપી, તેથી શખેમ ગઢના ભોયરાંમાં રહેલા લોકોમાંથી આશરે 1,000 સ્ત્રી-પુરુષો મૃત્યુ પામ્યાં.
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<s style="s">અબીમેલેખનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="JDG.9.50" />ત્યારબાદ અબીમેલેખ તેબેસ જઈને તેને ઘેરો ધાલ્યો અને જીતી લીધું.
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<v id="51" bcv="JDG.9.51" />નગરીની વચ્ચોવચ્ચ એક મજબૂત કિલ્લો હતો અને તેમાં શહેરનાં બધાં સ્ત્રી-પુરુષોએ આશરો લીધો, તેમણે અંદર જઈ બારણાને ભોગળવાસી દીધી અને બધાં ધાબા ઉપર ચઢી ગયાં.
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<v id="52" bcv="JDG.9.52" />અબીમેલેખ કિલ્લા આગળ પહોંચી જઈને તેના ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો. ને કિલ્લાને આગ લગાડવા માંટે તેના દરવાજા આગળ ગયો.
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<v id="53" bcv="JDG.9.53" />ત્યારે ધાબા પરથી એક સ્ત્રીએ ઘંટીનું ઉપલું પડ અબીમેલેખના માંથા પર ફેકયું, અને તેની ખોપરી છુંદી નાખી.
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<v id="54" bcv="JDG.9.54" />તેણે તરત જ પોતાના બખ્તર ઉપાડનાર નોકરને બૂમ માંરી અને કહ્યું, “મને તરવારથી માંરી નાખ જેથી એક સ્ત્રીએ અબીમેલેખને માંરી નાખ્યો છે એવું કોઈ કહે નહિ.” તે યુવાને તેને તરવાર ભોકી દીધી અને તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<v id="55" bcv="JDG.9.55" />જ્યારે ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ જોયું કે અબીમેલેખનું મૃત્યુ થયું છે ત્યારે તેઓ પોતપોતાને ઘેર ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="56" bcv="JDG.9.56" />અબીમેલેખ પોતાના સિત્તેર ભાઈઓની હત્યા કરી પોતાના પિતા વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કર્યુ હતું. તેની દેવે આ રીતે તેને શિક્ષા કરી.
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<v id="57" bcv="JDG.9.57" />અને શખેમના લોકોને પણ તેમના ગુનાની સજા કરી, આમ ગિદિયોનના પુત્ર યોથામનો શાપ સાચો ઠર્યો.
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</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">ન્યાયાધીશ તોલા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.10.1" />અબીમેલેખના મૃત્યુ પછી દોદોના પુત્ર પૂઆહનો પુત્ર તોલા ઈસ્રાએલ આગળ આવ્યો. તે ઈસ્સાખારના કુળસમૂહનો હતો અને એફ્રાઈમનાં પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં શામીરમાં રહેતો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JDG.10.2" />ત્રેવીસ વર્ષ સુધી તે ઈસ્રાએલીઓનો ન્યાયાધીશ હતો. પછી તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તેને શામીરમાં દફનાવામં આવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ન્યાયાધીશ યાઈર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JDG.10.3" />તેના પછી ગિલયાદનો ન્યાયાધીશ યાઈર બન્યો. તેણે 22 વર્ષ સુધી ઈસ્રાએલનો ન્યાય કર્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JDG.10.4" />તેને 30 પુત્રો હતાં અને તેઓ 30 ગધેડા ઉપર સવારી કરતાં હતાં. તેઓના ગિલયાદમાં 30 નગરો હતાં જ આજે પણ યાઈરના નગરો તરીકે જાણીતા છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="JDG.10.5" />યાઈરનું મૃત્યુ થયું ત્યારે તેને કામોનમાં દફનાવાવામાં આવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસ્રાએલ વિરુદ્ધ લડતાં આમ્મોનીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.10.6" />ફરી ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ પાપ ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યું. તેમણે બઆલદેવની અને અશેરાદેવીની મૂર્તિની તેમજ અરામ, સિદોન, મોઆબ, આમ્મોન અને પલિસ્તીઓનાં દેવદેવીઓની પૂજા કરવા માંડી, તેમણે દેવને છોડી દીધો અને તેની ઉપાસના કરવાનું બંધ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.10.7" />આથી યહોવાનો રોષ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ સામે ભભૂકી ઊઠયો અને તેણે તેમને પલિસ્તીઓ અને આમ્મોનીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા.
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<v id="8" bcv="JDG.10.8" />તેમણે તે વર્ષે અને ત્યારપછી 18 વર્ષ સુધી યર્દન પારના ગિલયાદમાં આવેલા અમોરીઓના દેશમાં વસતા બધા ઈસ્રાએલીઓને પલિસ્તીઓ અને આમ્મોનીઓએ હેરાન-પરેશાન કર્યા હતાં અને ત્રાસ આપ્યો હતો.
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.10.9" />વળી આમ્મોનીઓએ યર્દન પાર કરીને યહૂદા, બિન્યામીન તથા એફ્રાઈમ કુળો પર હુમલા કર્યા. ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ભારે આફતમાં આવી પડયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JDG.10.10" />પછી ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ યહોવાને પોકારીને કહ્યું, “અમે અમાંરા દેવ, તમને તજી દઈને બઆલની પૂજા કરી અને તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કર્યુ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.10.11" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ ઈસ્રાએલીઓને કહ્યું, “મિસરીઓએ, અમોરીઓએ, આમ્મોનીઓએ, પલિસ્તીઓએ
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<v id="12" bcv="JDG.10.12" />જયારે સિદોનીઓએ, અમાંલેકીઓએ અને માંઓનીઓએ તમાંરા બદા ઉપર નિર્દયતાપૂર્વક વર્તન કર્યુ ત્યારે તમે મદદ કરવા માંટે મને બોલાવ્યો ત્યારે મેં તમને નહોતા ઉગારી લીધા?
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<v id="13" bcv="JDG.10.13" />પણ તમે મને છોડી દીધો અને બીજા દેવદેવીઓની પૂજા કરવા લાગ્યા એટલે હવે હું તમને ઉગારી લેનાર નથી.
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<v id="14" bcv="JDG.10.14" />તમે જે દેવોને પસંદ કર્યા છે તેમની પાસે જાઓ અને ધા નાખો. તે તમને તમાંરી આફતમાંથી ઉગારશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.10.15" />પરંતુ તેઓએ આજીજી કરીને કહ્યું, “અમે પાપ કર્યું છે, તમને યોગ્ય લાગે તે શિક્ષા અમને કરો. પરંતુ અમને ફકત આટલો વખત અમાંરા દુશ્મનોના હાથમાંથી છોડાવો.”
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<v id="16" bcv="JDG.10.16" />તેમણે વિધર્મીઓના દેવદેવલાં ફેંકી દીધાં અને યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરવા માંડી. યહોવાથી ઈસ્રાએલીઓનું કષ્ટ જોઈ શકાયું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JDG.10.17" />આમ્મોનીના સૈન્યને સાથે બોલાવવામાં આવ્યું હતું અને તેઓએ ગિલયાદમાં છાવણી નાખી હતી. ઈસ્રાએલનું સૈન્ય પણ સાથે થવા એકઠું થયું અને મિસ્પાહમાં છાવણી નાખી.
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<v id="18" bcv="JDG.10.18" />ગિલયાદના આગેવાનો એકબીજાને અને બધા લોકોને કહેવા લાગ્યા, “જે કોઈ આમ્મોનીઓ સાથે યુદ્ધ કરશે અને તેઓને હરાવશે તે ગિલયાદનો નેતા બનશે.”
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<c id="11" />
<s style="s">યફતાની આગેવાન તરીકે નિમણૂંક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.11.1" />હવે ગિલયાદમાં યફતા નામનો એક શૂરવીર અને બળવાન યોદ્ધો હતો. તે એક વારાંગનાનો પુત્ર હતો અને ગિલયાદ તેનો પિતા હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JDG.11.2" />ગિલયાદની પત્નીને પણ પુત્રો હતાં અને જયારે તેઓ મોટા થયા, ત્યારે તેમણે યફતાને એમ કહીને કાઢી મૂકયો, “અમાંરા પિતાના વારસામાં તારો કશો ભાગ નથી. કારણ, તું બીજી સ્ત્રીનો પુત્ર છે.”
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<v id="3" bcv="JDG.11.3" />તેથી યફતાએ તેના પિતાનું ઘર છોડી દીધું અને ટોબ પ્રદેશમાં આવ્યો, તે ત્યાં રહ્યો અને ઘણા નકામાં માંણસો તેની સાથે જોડાયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.11.4" />થોડા સમય પછી આમ્મોનીઓ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ સામે યુદ્ધે ચડયા;
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<v id="5" bcv="JDG.11.5" />અને જયારે લડાઈ થઈ ત્યારે ગિલયાદના વડીલો યફતાને લેવા ટોબ આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.11.6" />તેઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “આમ્મોનીઓ સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા માંટે તું અમાંરી સાથે આવ અને અમાંરો સેનાધિપતિ થા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.11.7" />પણ યફતાએ ગિલયાદના વડીલોને કહ્યું, “તમે સૌએ માંરો તિરસ્કાર કર્યો અને મને માંરા પિતાના ઘરમાંથી હાંકી કાઢયો હતો, હવે તમે આફતમાં આવી પડયા હોવાથી માંરી પાસે આવો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.11.8" />ગિલયાદના આગેવાનોએ યફતાને કહ્યું, “અમે તારી પાસે પાછા આવ્યા છીએ કારણ કે અમે ઊડી આફતમાં છીએ. અમાંરી સાથે ચાલ, આમ્મોનીઓ સામે યુદ્ધ કર અને ગિલયાદના બધા લોકોનો નેતા થા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JDG.11.9" />યફતાએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “જો તમે મને આમ્મોનીઓ સામે લડવા માંટે પાછો લઈ જવા માંગતા હો, અને જો યહોવા મને ત્યાં વિજય અપાવે, તો તમાંરે મને નેતા બનાવવો પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JDG.11.10" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “અમે યહોવાની સાક્ષીએ વચન આપીએ છીએ કે, અમે તમાંરા કહેવા પ્રમાંણે કરીશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.11.11" />તેથી યફતાએ તેઓની માંગણી સ્વીકારી અને લોકોએ તેને તેમનો નેતા અને લશ્કરનો સેનાધિપતિ બનાવ્યો, અને યફતાએ મિસ્પાહમાં યહોવા સમક્ષ આ બધા વચનો ફરીથી કહી સંભળાવ્યા.
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<s style="s">આમ્મોનીઓના રાજાને યફતાનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JDG.11.12" />યફતાએ સંદેશવાહકો મોકલીને આમ્મોનીઓના રાજાને કહેવડાવ્યું કે, “તમાંરે અમાંરી સાથે શો ઝગડો છે? તમે અમાંરા ઉપર શા માંટે આક્રમણ કર્યુ છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.11.13" />રાજાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “જ્યારે ઈસ્રાએલીઓ મિસર આવ્યા ત્યારે આર્નોન નદીથી યાબ્બોક અને યર્દન નદી સુધીનો સમગ્ર દેશ અમાંરો હતો, પણ ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ અમાંરી પાસેથી તે લઈ લીધો. હવે શાંતિથી અમાંરા સર્વ પ્રદેશ અમને પાછા આપી દો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.11.14" />યફતાએ ફરીથી તેની પાસે સંદેશવાહકો મોકલ્યા,
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<v id="15" bcv="JDG.11.15" />અને કહેવડાવ્યું કે,
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<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“મોઆબ કે આમ્મોનનો પ્રદેશ ઈસ્રાએલે લઈ લીધો છે તે હકીકત સાચી નથી.
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<v id="16" bcv="JDG.11.16" />જયારે ઈસ્રાએલીઓ મિસરથી આવ્યા ત્યારે રણમાં થઈને લાલ સમુદ્ર સુધી ગયા અને કાદેશ પહોચ્યા.
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<v id="17" bcv="JDG.11.17" />ત્યારબાદ તેઓએ અદોમના રાજાને ‘તેના દેશમાં થઈને તેઓને જવા દેવ માંટે પરવાનગી લેવા સંદેશવાહકો મોકલ્યા.’ પણ તેઓને પરવાનગી અપાઈ નહિ, તેથી તેઓએ મોઆબના રાજાને એવી જ રીતે વિનંતી કરી, પરંતુ તેણે પણ કહ્યું, ‘ના’ તેથી ઈસ્રાએલીઓ કાદેશના દેશમાં રહ્યાં.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="18" bcv="JDG.11.18" />“ત્યારબાદ તેઓ વન્ય પ્રદેશમાં ગયા અને અદોમ અને મોઆબ દેશની આસપાસ ગયા અને આર્નોન નદીની સામે પડાવ નાખ્યો. તેઓ મોઆબની સરહદની બહાર હતાં. કારણકે તેઓએ આર્નોન નદી ઓળંગી ન હતી જે મોઆબ દેશની સરહદ હતી.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.11.19" />“ત્યારપછી ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ હેશ્બોન નગરના અમોરીઓના રાજા સીહોનને સંદેશવાહકોને કહેવા મોકલ્યા; અમને તમાંરા દેશમાં પસાર થઈને જવાદો જેથી અમે અમાંરા અંતિમ મુકામ પર જઈ શકીએ.”
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<v id="20" bcv="JDG.11.20" />પરંતુ સીહોનને ઈસ્રાએલીઓમાં વિશ્વાસ ન હતો તેથી તેણે પોતાના દેશમાંથી પસાર થવા દીધા નહિ. પણ તેણે પોતાના બધા સૈનિકોને ભેગા કર્યા. તેઓએ યાહાસમાં છાવણી નાખી અને ઈસ્રાએલ સાથે લડ્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="JDG.11.21" />ઈસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાએ સીહોનને અને તેના સૈન્યને ઈસ્રાએલીઓને સોંપી દીધું. તેથી તેઓએ તેમને પરાજય આપ્યો અને ત્યાં રહેતા અમોરીઓના બધા પ્રદેશ કબજે કર્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="JDG.11.22" />તેઓએ અમોરીઓના દેશની સરહદની અંદરનું બધુ જ, આર્નોન નદીથી યાબ્બોક સુધી અને રણથી યર્દન નદી સુધી સમગ્ર દેશ કબજે કર્યો.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="23" bcv="JDG.11.23" />“આ રીતે, ઈસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાએ પોતાના લોકો ઈસ્રાએલીઓને માંટે અમોરીઓનો દેશ લઈ લીધો હતો અને હવે તેઓ તેના વારસદાર છે. અને તમે એ દેશ પાછો લેવા માંગો છો?
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<v id="24" bcv="JDG.11.24" />તમાંરા દેવ કમોશે તમને જે આપ્યો છે તે દેશ તમે રાખો, અને અમે અમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ અમને જે આપ્યો છે તે દેશ અમે રાખીશું.
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<v id="25" bcv="JDG.11.25" />શું મોઆબના રાજા સિપ્પોરના પુત્ર બાલાકના કરતાં શું તું ચઢિયાતો છે? ઈસ્રાએલે તેનો પરાજય કર્યા પછી શું તેણે પોતાનો દેશ પાછો મેળવવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો હતો? ના, બિલકુલ નહિ.
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<v id="26" bcv="JDG.11.26" />છેલ્લા 300 વર્ષથી ઈસ્રાએલીઓ હેશ્બોન અને તેની આસપાસનાં નગરોમાં, અરોએરની નજીકમાં અને તેની પાસેના નગરોમાં, અને અર્નોન નદી અને નજીકનાં નગરોમાં રહેતા આવ્યા છે, તમે કેમ એ બધાં નગરો આ સમય દરમ્યાન પાછાં લઈ ન લીધાં?
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<v id="27" bcv="JDG.11.27" />મેં તમાંરું કંઈ પાપ કર્યું નથી, પરંતુ તમે માંરા ઉપર ચડાઈ કરીને માંરું બગાડો છો, યહોવા ન્યાયાધીશ છે, અને એ જ આજે ઈસ્રાએલીઓ અને આમ્મોનીઓ વચ્ચે ન્યાય કરશે.”
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JDG.11.28" />પણ આમ્મોનીઓના રાજાએ યફતાએ મોકલેલો સંદેશો ધ્યાનમાં લીધો નહિ.
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<s style="s">યફતાનું વચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JDG.11.29" />એ વખતે યહોવાના આત્માંએ યફતામાં પ્રવેશ કર્યો, અને ગિલયાદ અને મનાશ્શામાં થઈને ગિલયાદમાં આવેલા મિસ્પાહ ગામે અને ત્યાંથી આમ્મોનીઓના દેશમાં ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JDG.11.30" />યફતાએ યહોવાને વચન આપ્યું, “જો તમે આમ્મોનીઓને માંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દેશો
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<v id="31" bcv="JDG.11.31" />તો હું આમ્મોનીઓ ઉપર વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કરીને પાછો ધેર જાઉં ત્યારે જે કોઈ માંરા ઘરમાંથી મને મળવા પ્રથમ બહાર આવશે તેનું દહનાર્પણ હું તમને ધરાવીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JDG.11.32" />ત્યાર પછી યફતાએ જઈને આમ્મોનીઓ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો અને યહોવાએ આમ્મોનીઓને તેના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા.
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<v id="33" bcv="JDG.11.33" />તેઓએ અરોએરથી મિન્નીથ સુધીના પ્રદેશ જીતી લીધાં અને 20 નગરોમાં તથા છેક આબેલ-કરામીમ સુધી તેણે આમ્મોનીઓનો પીછો કર્યો. આ એક મહાન વિજય હતો. આ રીતે, ઈસ્રાએલીઓ આમ્મોનીઓને હરાવી શક્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JDG.11.34" />જયારે યફતા મિસ્પાહમાં પોતાને ઘેર આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની પુત્રી ખંજરી વગાડતી, અને નાચતી તેને મળવા દોડી આવી. તે તેનું એકનું એક સંતાન હતું. તેને બીજા કોઈ પુત્ર કે પુત્રી ન હતાં.
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<v id="35" bcv="JDG.11.35" />તેને જોઈને તેણે શોકના માંર્યા કપડાં ફાડી નાખ્યાં અને કહ્યું “ઓ દીકરી, તેં તો મને આજે દુઃખી અને કંગાળ બનાવી દીધો! મેં યહોવાની સામે વિચાર્યા વગર માંનતા કરી હતી કે હું બલિદાન આપીશ. અને તે હું પાછી લઈ શકું નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="JDG.11.36" />તે બોલી, “પિતાજી, તમે વિચાર્યા વગર યહોવાની સમક્ષ માંનતા કરી છે, તો હવે મને તમાંરા મુખમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા પ્રમાંણે કરો; કારણ યહોવાએ તમાંરા શત્રુ આમ્મોનીઓ ઉપર તમને વેર વાળવામાં વિજયી બનાવવા મદદ કરી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="JDG.11.37" />“પરંતુ પ્રથમ બે મહિના સુધી મને માંરી સખીઓ સાથે પર્વત પર ફરી લેવા દો, અને માંરે કુંવારા મરવું પડે છે એનો શોક પાળીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="JDG.11.38" />તેથી તેણે કહ્યું, “તારી બહેનપણીઓ સાથે બે મહિના માંટે જા,” તે તેની બહેનપણીઓ સાથે પર્વતોમાં ચાલી ગઈ અને ત્યાં પોતાના કૌમાંર્ય માંટે શોક કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JDG.11.39" />બે મહિના પછી તે તેના પિતા પાસે પાછી આવી. અને તેણે તેના યહોવાને આપેલા વચન પ્રમાંણે તેણે કર્યુ તેથી તેણે લગ્ન કર્યો નહિ. ત્યારબાદ ઈસ્રાએલમાં આ રિવાજ થઈ ગયો.
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<v id="40" bcv="JDG.11.40" />યુવાન સ્ત્રીઓ પ્રતિવર્ષ ચાર દિવસ બહાર જતી અને ગિલયાદના યફતાની પુત્રીનો શોક મનાવતી.
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<c id="12" />
<s style="s">યફતાનો એફ્રાઈમ લોકો પર હુમલો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.12.1" />એફ્રાઈમના કુળસમૂહ યુદ્ધ માંટે ભેગા થયા અને સાફોન ગયા. તેમણે યફતાને કહ્યું, “તું અમને બોલાવ્યા વિના આમ્મોનીઓ સામે લડવા કેમ ગયો? અમે તને તથા તારા ઘરને પણ સળગાવી દઈશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JDG.12.2" />યફતાએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “માંરે અને માંરા માંણસોને આમ્મોનીઓ સાથે ભારે ઝધડો થયો હતો. મેં તમને મદદ માંટે બોલાવ્યા હતાં, પણ તમે અમને તેમનાથી બચાવવા આવ્યા નહિ,
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<v id="3" bcv="JDG.12.3" />મેં જોયું કે તમે અમને મદદ કરવા આવ્યા નહોતાં, તેથી તમાંરી મદદ વિના હું એકલો માંરા જીવના જોખમે આમ્મોનીઓ સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા ગયો, યહોવાએ મને માંરા દુશ્મનો પર વિજય અપાવ્યો, તો પછી તમે આજે માંરી સાથે લડવા શા માંટે આવો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.12.4" />ત્યાર પછી યફતાએ ગિલયાદના બધા માંણસોને એકત્રિત કર્યા અને એફ્રાઈમના કુળસમૂહ સાથે લડાઈ કરી અને તેઓને હરાવ્યા; કારણ કે, એફ્રાઈમના લોકો તેમને હંમેશા કહેતા, “તમે સર્વ જે ગિલયાદમાં રહો છો, એફ્રાઈમથી ભાગી આવેલા છો, તમાંરી પાસે તમાંરી પોતાની જમીન નથી તમે એફ્રાઈમ અને મનાશ્શા વચ્ચે રહો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JDG.12.5" />તેણે એફ્રાઈમના સૈન્યની પાછળ આવેલા યર્દનના આરા કબજે કરી લીધા, કોઈ એફ્રાઈમી યર્દન ઓળંગીને નાસી જવા પ્રયત્ન કરે તો ગિલયાદના રક્ષકો તેને પડકારતા. “શું તું એફ્રાઈમના કુળનો છે?” જો તે “ના” કહે તો
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<v id="6" bcv="JDG.12.6" />તેઓ કહેતા, “કે બોલ, ‘શિબ્બોલેથ’” પણ તે “સિબ્બોલેથ” બોલતો, કારણ તે એનો ચોખ્ખો ઉચ્ચાર કરી શકતો નહિ, એટલે તેઓ તેને પકડીને યર્દનના ઘાટ ઉપર માંરી નાખતા, તે યુદ્ધમાં 42,000 એફ્રાઈમીઓ માંર્યા ગયા હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.12.7" />ગિલયાદનો યફતા છ વર્ષ ઈસ્રાએલનો ન્યાયાધીશ તરીકે હતો. પછી તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તેને ગિલયાદમાં તેના પોતાના શહેરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<s style="s">ન્યાયાધીશ ઈબ્સાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.12.8" />યફતાહ પછી બેથલેહમનો ઈબ્સાન ઈસ્રાએલનો ન્યાયાધીશ થયો, તેને ત્રીસ પુત્રો અને ત્રીસ પુત્રીઓ હતી. તેણે તેની ત્રીસેત્રીસ પુત્રીઓને અજાણ્યા શખ્સોને પરણાવી હતી અને તેના ત્રીસ પુત્રો તેના અંદરના સગામાંથી ન હોય તેવી પત્નીઓ લાવ્યા હતાં.
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.12.9" />તે સાત વર્ષ સુધી ઈસ્રાએલીઓનો ન્યાયાધીશ હતો અને તેઓને ન્યાય આપ્યો હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JDG.12.10" />પછી ઈબ્સાનનું અવસાન થયું. તેને બેથલેહેમમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ન્યાયાધીશ એલોન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.12.11" />તેના પછી ઝબુલોનના કુળસમૂહનો એલોન ઈસ્રાએલનો ન્યાયાધીશ થયો. તેણે ઈસ્રાએલમાં 10 વર્ષ લોકોનો ન્યાય કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="JDG.12.12" />ત્યારબાદ એલોનનું પણ અવસાન થયું અને તેને ઝબુલોનના કુળસમૂહના આયાલોનમાં દફનવવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ન્યાયાધીશ આબ્દોન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.12.13" />તેના પછી હિલ્લેલનો પુત્ર આબ્દોન પિરઆથોની ઈસ્રાએલનો ન્યાયાધીશ થયો.
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<v id="14" bcv="JDG.12.14" />તેને ચાલીસ પુત્રો અને ત્રીસ પૌત્રો હતાં. જેઓ સીત્તેર ગધેડાઓ ઉપર સવારી કરતા, તેણે ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર આઠ વર્ષ સુધી શાસન કર્યું.
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<v id="15" bcv="JDG.12.15" />પછી હિલ્લેલના પુત્ર આબ્દોન પિરઆથોનીનું અવસાન થયું, તેને અમાંલેકીઓના પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં આવેલા એફ્રાઈમ દેશના પિરઆથોન નગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">સામસૂનનો જન્મ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.13.1" />ફરીથી ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ પાપ ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ એથી યહોવાએ પલિસ્તીઓને ઈસ્રાએલ ઉપર વિજય અપાવ્યો. ચાલીસ વર્ષ સુધી ઈસ્રાએલીઓ પલિસ્તીઓને તાબે રહ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JDG.13.2" />તે સમયમાં સોરાહમાં દાન કુળસમૂહનો માંનોઆહ નામનો માંણસ હતો, એની પત્ની વાંઝણી હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="JDG.13.3" />યહોવાના દૂતે તેને દર્શન આપીને કહ્યું, “તું લાંબા સમયથી નિઃસંતાન અને વાંઝણી છે, પણ હવે તું ગર્ભવતી થશે અને તને પુત્ર જન્મશે!
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JDG.13.4" />હવે હું તને કહું તે પ્રમાંણે તું કરજે, દ્રાક્ષારસ કે કોઈ પણ કેફી પીણું પીશ નહિ, અને કોઈપણ અશુદ્ધ ખોરાક ખાઈશ નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="JDG.13.5" />કારણ કે હવે તું ગર્ભવતી થશે અને એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપશે માંટે તેના વાળ કદી કપાવીશ નહિ, તે એક નાઝીરી<f caller="+"><fr>13:5
</fr><fk>નાઝીરી
</fk><ft>એક વ્યક્તિ જેણે દેવ સામે ખાસ પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી હોય. વાંચો <ref tgt="NUM.6.1">ગણના 6:1-21</ref> નાઝીરીની પ્રતિજ્ઞાને લગતા નિયમો.</ft></f> થશે. તે પલિસ્તીઓના હાથમાંથી ઈસ્રાએલીઓને મુક્ત કરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.13.6" />પછી એ સ્ત્રીએ જઈને પોતાના પતિને આ વાત કરી, “દેવનો માંણસ માંરી પાસે આવ્યો હતો. એનો દેખાવ દેવના દૂત જેવો ખૂબ જ તેજસ્વી દેખાતો હતો. તે કયાંથી આવ્યો તે મેં એને પૂછયું નહોતું, તેમ તેણે મને પોતાનું નામ પણ કહ્યું નહોતું.
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<v id="7" bcv="JDG.13.7" />પણ તેણે મને આમ કહ્યું, ‘તું સગર્ભા થશે અને તને પુત્ર અવતરશે. હવેથી તું દ્રાક્ષારસ કે કોઈ પણ કેફી પીણું પીશે નહિ તેમજ અશુદ્ધ ખોરાક ખાઈશ નહિ, કારણકે તે પુત્ર દેવને અર્પણ થશે અને નાઝીરી થશે અને તેના જન્મથી મૃત્યુ સુધી તે દેવની સેવામાં હશે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.13.8" />પછી માંનોઆહે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી, “કૃપા કરી તમે જે દેવના માંણસને મોકલ્યો હતો તેને પાછો મોકલો, જેથી તે અમને કહે કે પુત્ર જન્મ ધારણ કરવાનો છે, તેનું અમાંરે શું કરવું? તે માંટે વધારે સૂચનો આપો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JDG.13.9" />દેવે માંનોઆહની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી અને તેની પત્ની ખેતરમાં બેઠી હતી ત્યાં દેવના દૂતે તેને ફરી એકવાર દર્શન આપ્યાં. તેનો ધણી તેની પાસે નહોતો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="JDG.13.10" />આથી તે બાઈએ તરત જ દોડતા દોડતા જઈને પોતાના પતિને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, જે માંણસ પેલે દિવસે માંરી પાસે આવ્યો હતો એ જ માંણસ ફરીથી અહી આવ્યો છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.13.11" />માંનોઆહ ઊઠયો અને તેની પત્ની સાથે ઝડપથી પાછો આવ્યો. તેણે પેલા માંણસને પૂછયું, “તે દિવસે માંરી પત્ની સાથે વાત કરી હતી તે માંણસ તમે જ છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">દેવદૂતે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હા, હું તે જ છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JDG.13.12" />એટલે માંનોઆહે કહ્યું, “તમાંરા વચનો સાચા પડ્યા પછી અને બાળકના જન્મ પછી અમાંરે તેનો ઉછેર કેવી રીતે કરવો? અમાંરે તેની સાથે કેવી રીતે વર્તવું? એણે શું કરવું? કૃપાકરી આ બધુ અમને કહો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.13.13" />યહોવાના દૂતે કહ્યું, “તારી પત્નીને મેં જે સૂચનાઓ આપેલી છે તે કાળજીપૂર્વક તારે પાળવાની છે,
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<v id="14" bcv="JDG.13.14" />તેણે દ્રાક્ષામાંથી બનાવેલી કોઈ પણ ચીજ ખાવી નહિ, તેણે દ્રાક્ષારસ કે કોઈ પણ કેફી પીણાં પીવા નહિ, તેમજ અશુદ્ધ ખોરાક ખાવો નહિ; તેણે બધું મેં આપેલા હુકમ પ્રમાંણે કરવું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.13.15" />માંનોઆહે યહોવાના દૂતને કહ્યું, “અમે તમાંરા માંટે લવારું રાંધીએ ત્યાં સુધી કૃપા કરીને તમે અહી રહો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JDG.13.16" />યહોવાના દૂતે કહ્યું, “હું રોકાઈશ, તોયે તમાંરું ભોજન લઈશ નહિ, પણ જો તમાંરે દહનાર્પણ આપવું જ હોય તો યહોવાને આપો.” છતાં માંનોઆહને ખબર ન પડી કે આ યહોવાનો દૂત છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JDG.13.17" />આથી તેણે યહોવાના દેવદૂતને પૂછયું, “તમાંરું નામ જો અમને જાણવા મળે કે તમે જે કહ્યું છે તે સાચું છે તો અમે તમને સન્માંન આપી શકીએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JDG.13.18" />યહોવાના દેવદૂતે તેને કહ્યું, “માંરું નામ જાણીને તમને શું મળશે? તમે તે સમજી શકશો નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.13.19" />પછી માંનોઆહે એક બકરીનું બચ્ચું ખાદ્યાર્પણ સાથે લઈને યહોવાને એક પથ્થર ઉપર અર્પણ કર્યુ, જે વિસ્મયકારક ચીજો કરે છે અને માંનોઆહ અને તેની પત્ની તે જોતાં હતાં.
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<v id="20" bcv="JDG.13.20" />યજ્ઞનો ભડકો આકાશ તરફ ઊંચે ચડ્યો ત્યારે એ જવાળાઓમાં દેવનો દેવદૂત માંનોઆહ અને તેની પત્નીના દેખતાં એ જવાળાઓમાં આકાશમાં ઊચે ગયો.
</p>
<p style="p">આ જોયા પછી બંને જણાએ તેઓના મુખ નીચે જમીન તરફ રાખ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="JDG.13.21" />ત્યારબાદ માંનોઆહ કે તેની પત્નીએ યહોવાના દેવદૂતને ફરી જોયો નહિ. પછી માંનોઆહને ખાત્રી થઈ કે એ માંણસ યહોવાનો દેવદૂત હતો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="JDG.13.22" />માંનોઆહે પોતાની પત્નીને મોટે સાદે કહ્યું, “હવે આપણું મૃત્યુ નિશ્ચિત છે. કારણ કે આપણે દેવનાં દર્શન કર્યા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JDG.13.23" />પણ તેની પત્નીએ કહ્યું, “જો યહોવાએ આપણને માંરી નાખવા હોત તો તેણે આપણે અર્પણ કરેલા અર્પણ સ્વીકાર્યા ના હોત, તેણે આપણને આ બધુ બતાવ્યું ના હોત, તેમણે આ ચમત્કાર કર્યો ન હોત.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JDG.13.24" />પછી તે સ્ત્રીએ એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો અને તેનું નામ સામસૂન રાખ્યું. બાળક મોટો થયો અને તેને યહોવાના આશીર્વાદ પ્રાપ્ત થયા.
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<v id="25" bcv="JDG.13.25" />જ્યારે તે માંહનેહ દાનના શહેરમાં હતો તે દરમ્યાન યહોવાનો આત્માં તેની ઉપર પ્રેરણા કરવા લાગ્યો. તે શહેર સોરાહ અને એશ્તાઓલ, જે દાનની છાવણીમાં આવેલા છે, તેની વચ્ચે આવેલું છે.
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</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">સામસૂનનાં વિવાહ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.14.1" />એક દિવસ સામસૂન “તિમ્નાહ” ગયો તો ત્યાં એક પલિસ્તી યુવતી તરફ તેનું ધ્યાન ખેંચાયું.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JDG.14.2" />ધેર પાછા આવ્યા પછી તેણે પોતાના માંતાપિતાના કહ્યું કે, “તિમ્નાહમાં મેં એક યુવતી જોઈ છે, હું તમાંરા થકી તેને માંરી પાસે લાવવા માંગુ છું, જેથી હું તેને પરણી શકું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JDG.14.3" />પણ તેનાં માંબાપે તેને કહ્યું, “શું આપણાં સગાંસંબંધીઓમાં કે આપણી જાતિમાં શું કન્યાઓ નથી કે અમાંરે તને સુન્નતવગરના પલિસ્તીઓને સંબંધિત સ્ત્રી જોડે તને પરણાવવો પડે?”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ સામસૂને તેઓને કહ્યું, “મને એ ગમે છે, અને માંરા માંટે તેને લઈ આવો.”
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<v id="4" bcv="JDG.14.4" />તેના માંતાપિતાને ખબર નહોતી કે આ બધું યહોવા કરી રહ્યાં છે; તેને પલિસ્તીઓ સાથે લડવાનું કારણ જોઈતું હતું, કારણ એ વખતે પલિસ્તીઓ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર રાજ્ય કરતા હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JDG.14.5" />સામસૂન તેના માંતાપિતાના સાથે તિમ્નાહ ગયો. તેઓ દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ આગળ પહોંચ્યાં અને અચાનક એક સિંહનું બચ્ચું તેના પર હુંમલો કરવા આવ્યું.
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<v id="6" bcv="JDG.14.6" />યહોવાના આત્માંએ સામસૂનમાં પ્રવેશ કર્યો, અને તેના હાથમાં કોઈ હથિયાર નહોતું તેમ છતાં તેણે એ સિંહને જાણે લવારું ન હોય તેમ ચીરીને ફાડિયાં કરી નાખ્યો, પણ તેણે પોતાના માંતાપિતાને આ વાત કહી નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.14.7" />તે તિમ્નાહ આવ્યો પછી સામસૂને તે યૂવતી સાથે વાત કરી, અને તેને તે ગમી ગઈ.
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<v id="8" bcv="JDG.14.8" />થોડા દિવસો પછી તે તેની સાથે વિવાહ કરવા પાછો ફર્યો, જ્યાં સિંહને માંર્યો હતો તે જોવા માંટે તે સ્થળ તરફ ફર્યો, તેણે જોયું તો સિંહની લાશમાં મધપૂડો હતો અને તેમાં મધ પણ હતું!
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.14.9" />તેણે તેમાંથી થોડું મધ પોતાના હાથમાં લીધું અને ખાતો ખાતો ચાલવા લાગ્યો. જ્યારે તે તેના માંતાપિતા પાસે પહોચ્ચો ત્યારે તેણે તેમને પણ થોડું મધ ખાવા આપ્યું. તેમણે તે ખાધું પણ સામસૂને તેમને એમ ન જણાવ્યું કે પોતે એ સિંહના મૃતદેહમાંથી લાવ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JDG.14.10" />તેના પિતા કન્યાને ઘેર ગયા અને કન્યાના ઘરના રિવાજ પ્રમાંણે સામસૂને ઉજાણી તૈયાર કરી.
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<v id="11" bcv="JDG.14.11" />સામસૂનને જોઈને પલિસ્તીઓ એની સાથે રહેવા ત્રીસ જુવાનોને લઈ આવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JDG.14.12" />સામસૂને તેઓને કહ્યું, “હું તમને એક ઉખાણું પૂછું છું તમે જો માંરા મહેમાંન તરીકેના સાત દિવસના રહેવાસ દરમ્યાન એનો જવાબ આપી શકશો તો હું તમને ત્રીસ જોડ ઉમદા કપડાં અને ત્રીસ જોડ રોજ પહેરવાના કપડાં આપીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="JDG.14.13" />પણ જો તમે તેનો જવાબ ન આપી શકો તો તમાંરે મને ત્રીસ જોડ ઉમદા કપડાં અને ત્રીસ જોડ નિયમિત પહેરાવાના કપડાં આપવાં પડશે.” તેથી તેમણે કહ્યું, “તમાંરું ઉખાણું, અમને પૂછો અમાંરે સાંભળવું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.14.14" />એટલે તેણે કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“એક પ્રાણી જે ખાય છે, તેમાંથી ખોરાક આવે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એક બળવાન પ્રાણીમાંથી મીઠાશ આવે છે.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">ત્રણ દિવસ સુધી તેઓ ઉખાણાનો ઉકેલ શોધવા પ્રયત્ન કરી રહ્યાં હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.14.15" />ચોથે દિવસે તે લોકોએ સામસૂનની પત્નીને કહ્યું, “તારા પતિને લલચાવીને અમને આ ઉખાણાનો જવાબ કરે, નહિ તો અમે તારું અને તારા બાપનું ઘર બાળી નાખશું, તમે શું અમને લૂંટવા અહીં નોતર્યા હતા?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JDG.14.16" />એટલે સામસૂનની પત્ની તેને ગળે વળગીને રડવા લાગી અને બોલી, “તમને માંરા પ્રત્યે જરાયે પ્રેમ નથી, તમે મને ધિક્કારો છો, કારણ કે તમે માંરા લોકોને ઉખાણું પૂછયું છે અને મને તેનો જવાબ કહ્યો નથી!”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “મેં માંરા માંતાપિતાને પણ જવાબ નથી કહ્યો, પછી તને શા માંટે કહું?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JDG.14.17" />મહેમાંન તરીકે સાત દિવસ રહ્યાં પછી તેણે આખો દિવસ રડ્યા કર્યું, હઠ પકડી તેથી સામસૂને તેને ઉખાણાનો જવાબ કહ્યો, કારણ કે તેના રૂદને તેને ચિંતા કરાવે રાખી. અને પછી તેણે તે જવાબ પોતાના લોકોને કહી દીધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JDG.14.18" />એટલે સાતમે દિવસે સામસૂન શયનગૃહમાં દાખલ થાય તે પહેલાં શહેરના લોકોએ તેને કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મધ કરતાં મીઠું શું? સિંહ
</q>
<q style="q1">કરતાં બળવાન શું?”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">સામસૂને પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તમને જો માંરી ગાયથી ખેડ્યું ન હોત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો માંરા ઉખાણાનો પત્તો તમને કદી મળ્યો ન હોત.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.14.19" />પછી યહોવાના આત્માંએ સામસૂનમાં પ્રવેશ કર્યો, તે તરત જ આશ્કલોન ગયો અને ત્યાં તેણે ત્રીસ માંણસોને માંરી નાખ્યા, તેણે તેઓના વસ્ત્રો લઈ લીધા, અને તેઓને નગ્ન કરી દીધા અને તેમના વસ્ત્રો તેના ઉખાણાનો જવાબ આપનારા લોકોને આપી દીધાં, પછી તે ખૂબ ગુસ્સે થયો અને પોતાના પિતાને ઘેર ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<v id="20" bcv="JDG.14.20" />ત્યાર પછી સામસૂનની થનાર વહુ તેના મિત્ર સાથે પરણી ગઈ.
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</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">સામસૂન દ્વારા દુશ્મનોનો સંહાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.15.1" />થોડા સમય પછી ધઉની કાપણીની ઋતુમાં સામસૂન પોતાની પત્નીને મળવા ગયો અને સાથે તેને માંટે એક લવારું લેતો ગયો. તેણે પત્નીના પિતાને કહ્યું, “માંરે માંરી પત્નીના ઓરડામાં જવું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JDG.15.2" />તેણે સ્પષ્ટ રીતે કહ્યું, “મને જાણવા મળ્યું છે કે તું તેને જરાય પસંદ કરતો નથી અને ચાહતો નથી. તેથી મેં તેને તારા મિત્ર સાથે પરણાવી દીધી. પણ એની નાની બહેન એના કરતાંય વધુ સારી છે, એને બદલે તું તેને લઈ જા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JDG.15.3" />પણ સામસૂને ગુસ્સામાં મોટે સાદે કહ્યું, “હવે આ વખતે જો હું પલિસ્તીઓને નુકસાન કરું તો કોઈ માંરો વાંક કાઢી શકે તેમ નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.15.4" />આથી તેણે ત્રણસો શિયાળો અને મશાલો લીધી. અને બે શિયાળોની પૂંછડી એક બીજા સાથે બાંધી અને દરેકની વચમાં એક મશાલ ખોસી દીધી
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<v id="5" bcv="JDG.15.5" />પછી તેણે મશાલો સળગાવી અને શિયાળોને પલિસ્તીઓના અનાજના કોઠાર તથા ખેતરો સળગાવી મૂકવા છૂટાં મૂકી દીધાં. તેઓએ જૈતૂનની અને દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ પણ બાળી મૂકી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.15.6" />પલિસ્તીઓએ પૂછયું, “આ કોણે કર્યું?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી તેઓને કહેવામાં આવ્યું, “સામસૂને, કારણ કે તેની થનાર પત્નીના પિતા તિમ્નીએ તેને બીજા પુરુષ સાથે પરણાવી દીધી.” પછી પલિસ્તીઓએ જઈને પુત્રી અને તેના પિતાને પકડયાં અને તેઓના ઘરમાં જીવતાં સળગાવી મૂકયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.15.7" />સામસૂને તેઓને કહ્યું, “જો તમે આ રીતે વર્તશો તો હું ચોક્કસ કહું છું કે, હું બદલો લીધા વિના છોડવાનો નથી,”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.15.8" />તેણે તેઓના ઉપર તેની પૂરી તાકાતથી હુમલો કર્યો અને સર્વેને માંરી નાખ્યા. પછી તે એટામની ખડકની ગુફામાં જઈને રહેવા લાગ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JDG.15.9" />પલિસ્તીઓએ આવીને યહૂદામાં સૈન્યની ટુકડી મોકલી આપી અને લેહી ઉપર છાપો માંર્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JDG.15.10" />યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહે તેને પૂછયું, “તમે અહીં શા માંટે અમાંરી સાથે લડવા આવ્યા છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">પલિસ્તીઓએ કહ્યું, “અમે સામસૂનની ધરપકડ કરવા અને તેણે અમાંરી ઉપર જે કર્યુ છે, તે તેની પર કરવા આવ્યા છીએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.15.11" />તેથી યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહમાંથી ત્રણહજાર માંણસો “એટામ”ના ખડકની ગુફા આગળ ગયા સામસૂનને મળ્યા અને કહ્યું, “તને એટલી ખબર નથી કે અમે પલિસ્તીઓના તાબેદાર છીએ? તે અમને કેવી કફોડી સ્થિતિમાં મૂકી દીધા?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે કહ્યું, “મેં તેઓ સાથે એવોજ વર્તાવ કર્યો, જેવો વર્તાવ તેઓએ માંરી સાથે કર્યો હતો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JDG.15.12" />તેઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “અમે તને પકડીને પલિસ્તીઓ પાસે લઈ જવા માંટે આવ્યા છીએ.”
</p>
<p style="p">સામસૂને કહ્યું, “સારું પણ મને વચન આપો કે તમે પોતે મને માંરી નહિ નાખો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.15.13" />તેમણે કહ્યું, “અમે તને માંરી નહિ નાખીએ, અમે તો ફકત તને બાંધીને તે લોકોને સોંપી દઈશું.” પછી તેમણે તેને બે નવાં દોરડાં વડે બાંધ્યો અને ગુફામાંથી પાછો લાવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.15.14" />સામસૂન જયારે લેહી પહોચ્યો ત્યારે પલિસ્તીઓ જયનાદ કરતાં કરતાં એની સામે આવ્યા. પરંતુ યહોવાના આત્માંએ સામસૂનમાં સંચાર કર્યો અને તેને હાથે બાંધેલાં દોરડાં શણની લટ હોય તેમ તોડી નાખ્યાં.
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<v id="15" bcv="JDG.15.15" />તેણે ત્યાં જમીન પર પડેલું ગધેડાનું જડબું ઉપાડયું અને તેના વડે એકહજાર માંણસોને માંરી નાખ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JDG.15.16" />તેણે બોલવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ગધેડાના જડબાના હાડકા વડે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં એક હજાર માંણસોનો સંહાર કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ગધેડાના જડબાના હાડકા વડે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેઓના માંણસોને માંરી નાખ્યા અને તેઓને થપ્પી કરી મૂકી દીધા.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JDG.15.17" />એમ કહીને તેણે તે ગધેડાના જડબાનું હાડકું ફેંકી દીધું અને તે જગ્યાનું નામ રામાંથ લેહી<f caller="+"><fr>15:17
</fr><fk>રામાથ લેહી
</fk><ft>સ્થળનું નામ છે. અર્થ “જડબાના હાડકાનો પર્વત.”</ft></f> રાખ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JDG.15.18" />તેને ખૂબ તરસ લાગી હતી તેથી તેણે યહોવાને પોકાર કરીને કહ્યું, “તમે તમાંરા આ સેવકને આ વિજય અપાવ્યો છે, તો શું માંરે હવે તરસ્યા મરી જવું અને સુન્નત કર્યા વગરના લોકોના તાબામાં જવું?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.15.19" />ત્યારે દેવ ત્યાં લેહીની ધરતીમાં એક ખાડો પાડયો, અને તેમાંથી એકદમ પાણી બહાર આવ્યું, તે પીધા પછી સામસૂન તાજો થયો અને તે જગ્યાનું નામ તેણે એન-હાક્કોરે<f caller="+"><fr>15:19
</fr><fk>એન-હાક્કોરે
</fk><ft>હાંક મારનારનું ઝરણું.</ft></f> પાડયું, આજે પણ એ ઝરણું લેહીમાં છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JDG.15.20" />પલિસ્તીઓના સમયમાં સામસૂને પછી વીસ વર્ષ સુધી ઈસ્રાએલનો ન્યાય કર્યો.
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</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">સામસૂન પલિસ્તીઓના નગર ગાઝામાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.16.1" />પછી એક દિવસ સામસૂન પલિસ્તીઓના નગર ગાઝામાં ગયો, ત્યાં તેણે એક વારાંગના જોઈ અને તે તેની પાસે ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JDG.16.2" />ગાઝાનાં લોકોમાં વાત પ્રસરી ગઈ કે, “સામસૂન ત્યાં આવ્યો છે,” એટલે તેઓ તેને ધેરી વળ્યા અને આખી રાત તેના બહાર આવવાની રાહ જોતા નગરના દરવાજે ટાંપીને તેને પકડવા માંટે બેસી રહ્યાં, આખી રાત એમ જ બેસી રહ્યાં. તેમણે વિચાર્યુ, “સવાર સુધી આપણે રાહ જોઈશું અને પછી તેને માંરી નાખીશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JDG.16.3" />પણ સામસૂન મધરાત સુધી સૂઈ રહ્યો અને અડધી રાતે ઊઠીને તેણે નગરના દરવાજાનાં બારણાં પકડીને અને બારસાખ તેમજ ભૂગળ જે દરવાજાને તાળુ માંરી દે તે બધું જ નીચે ખેંચી કાઢયું અને આ સર્વ ખભા ઉપર ઉપાડી લીધું અને તે બધું હેબ્રોન નગરની પાસે આવેલા પર્વતની ચોટ પર લઈ ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">સામસૂન અને દલીલાહ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.16.4" />એ પછી સામસૂન સોરેકની ખીણમાં રહેતી દલીલાહ નામની એક સ્ત્રીના પ્રેમમાં પડયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JDG.16.5" />નગરના પલિસ્તી શાસનકર્તાઓ દલીલાહ પાસે ગયા. અને કહ્યું, “સામસૂનને લલચાવીને તું જાણી લે કે, એનામાં આટલી બધી શક્તિ કયાંથી આવે છે? અને અમે તેને કેવી રીતે બંદીવાન કરી શકીએ અને બાંધી શકીએ? અને અમે તેને કેવીરીતે લાચાર બનાવી શકીએ? તમે અમને આ સર્વ જણાવશો તો અમે તમને અગિયારસો ચાંદીના સિક્કા આપીશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.16.6" />દલીલાહે સામસૂનને કહ્યું, “તારું મહાબળ શામાં રહેલું છે, તથા તું સાથી બંધાય કે જેથી તને દુઃખ દઈ શકાય તે તું કૃપા કરીને મને કહે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.16.7" />સામસૂને કહ્યું, “મને જો તેઓ સાત લીલી પણછો કે જે સૂકાઈ ન હોયતે વડે બાંધે તો હું તેઓ જેવો દુર્બળ થઈ જાઉં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.16.8" />આથી પલિસ્તી સરદારોએ દલીલાહને સાત લીલી પણછો તેને બાંધવા જે સૂકાયેલી ન હતી આપી તેથી તેણે તેનો બાંધવા માંટે ઊપયોગ કર્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.16.9" />સામસૂનને પકડવા થોડા માંણસો તેના ઓરડામાં સંતાયા હતાં. દલીલાહે બૂમ પાડી, “સામસૂન, પલિસ્તીઓ તને પકડવા આવે છે!” પણ અગ્નિ પાસે લઈ જતા જેમ શણની દોરી અચાનક તૂટી જાય તમે તેણે પણછો તોડી નાખી, આ રીતે તેની શક્તિનુ રહસ્ય તેઓ જાણી શકયા નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JDG.16.10" />ત્યાર પછી દલીલાહે તેને કહ્યું, “તું માંરી મશ્કરી કરે છે! તે મને જૂઠું કહ્યું છે! કૃપા કરીને મને કહે, તને કેવી રીતે બાંધી શકાય?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.16.11" />તેણે કહ્યું, “જો મને કદી વપરાયાં ન હોય એવાં નવાંનકોર દોરડાં વડે બાંધે તો હું કોઈ પણ માંણસના જેવો દૂબળો થઈ જાઉં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JDG.16.12" />દલીલાહે તેને નવાં દોરડાં લઈને તેના વડે બાંધી દીધો. પછી તેણે બૂમ પાડી, “સામસૂન, પલિસ્તીઓ તમને પકડવા આવે છે! તેણે પોતાના ઓરડાનાં દરવાજાની બહાર માંણસોને સંતાડી રાખ્યા હતાં.” પણ સામસૂને પોતાને હાથે બાંધેલા નવા દોરડાંને તાંતણાની જેમ તોડી નાખ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.16.13" />ત્યારે દલીલાહે સામસૂનને કહ્યું, “અત્યાર સુધી તમે માંરી હાંસી ઉડાવી અને મને ખોટું કહ્યું, પણ હવે મને કહો, માંરે જો તમને બાંધવા હોય તો માંરે કેવી રીતે કરવું?”
</p>
<p style="p">સામસૂને કહ્યું, “જો તું માંરા માંથાના વાળની સાત લટોને સાળનો ઊપયોગ કરી તેની સાથે ગૂંથી લે અને મને ખીલીથી જકડી દે, તો હું કોઈ પણ બીજા માંણસ જેવો જ દૂર્બળ થઈ જાઉં,” તેથી તેણે તેને ઊંધાડી દીધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.16.14" />તે જ્યારે ઊંધી ગયો ત્યારે તેણે સાળ લીધી અને તેની સાત લટોને ગૂંથી અને તંબુના ખીલા સાથે જકડી દીધી અને પછી બૂમ પાડી, “સામસૂન, પલિસ્તીઓ તને પકડવા આવ્યા છે!” તે ઊંધમાંથી જાગ્યો અને તંબૂનો ખીલો ખેંચી કાઢયો અને પોતાના વાળની સાત લટોને છોડી નાખી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.16.15" />આથી દલીલાહે તેને ઠપકો આપતાં કહ્યું, “જો તને માંરામાં વિશ્વાસ ના હોય તો તું કેવી રીતે કહી શકે કે તું મને પ્રેમ કરે છે? આ ત્રીજી વાર તે માંરી હાંસી ઉડાવી, અને હજુ સુધી તમે મને બતાવ્યું નથી કે આટલી બધી તાકાત તમાંરામાં શાથી છે?”
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<v id="16" bcv="JDG.16.16" />દલીલાહ દરરોજ તેને આ સવાલ પૂછતી અને દબાણ કરતી એટલે આખરે થાકીને તેણે તેને ક્યાંથી શક્તિ મળે છે, તે સાચું રહસ્ય જણાવી દીધું.
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<v id="17" bcv="JDG.16.17" />તેણે કહ્યું, “માંરા માંથાના વાળ કદી અસ્ત્રાથી કાપવામાં આવ્યા નથી, કારણ કે હું જન્મ્યો તે દિવસથી એક નાઝીરી થવા માંટે હું દેવને સમર્પિત થયેલો છું. જો માંરું માંથું મૂંડાવામાં આવે તો માંરી તાકાત જતી રહે અને હું બીજા સામાંન્ય માંણસ જેવો દૂર્બળ થઈ જાઉં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JDG.16.18" />દલીલાહને લાગ્યું કે આખરે તેણે તેને સાચું કહ્યું હતું, આથી તેણે પલિસ્તી સરદારોને તેડવા માંણસો મોકલી કહેવડાવ્યું, “હવે આ વખતે છેલ્લી વાર તમે સૌ આવો. કારણ કે છેવટે તેણે મને પોતાની સાચી શક્તિના રહસ્ય વિશે મને કહ્યું છે.” આથી પલિસ્તી આગેવાનો તેઓની સાથે નાણાં લઈને આવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.16.19" />દલીલાહે સામસૂનને પોતાના ખોળામાં ઊધાડી દીધો અને એક માંણસને બોલાવી તેના વાળની સાત લટો બોડાવી નખાવી; આ રીતે દલીલાહે તેને નિર્બળ બનાવી દીધો અને તેની તાકાત તેને છોડી ચાલી ગઈ.
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<v id="20" bcv="JDG.16.20" />ત્યાર પછી દલીલાહે બૂમ પાડી, “સામસૂન, પલિસ્તીઓ તમને પકડવા આવ્યા છે!” તે ઊધમાંથી જાગી ઊઠયો અને વિચાર કરવા લાગ્યો કે, “હું ઝટકો માંરીને દર વખતની જેમ છૂટો થઈ જઈશ.” પણ તેને ખબર ન પડી કે યહોવા તેને છોડીને જતાં રહ્યાં છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JDG.16.21" />પલિસ્તીઓએ તેને પકડી લીધો અને તેની આંખો કાઢી નાખી, અને તેને ગાઝા લઈ ગયા, ત્યાં તેને પિત્તળની સાંકળોથી બાંધીને કેદખાનામાં અનાજ દળવાનું કામ સોંપવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="22" bcv="JDG.16.22" />પરંતુ તેના મૂંડી નાખેલા વાળ ફરી ઊગવા માંડયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JDG.16.23" />પલિસ્તી આગેવાનોએ તેમના દેવ દાગોનને મોટો ઉત્સવ અને અર્પણો આપવા માંટે તૈયારી કરતા હતાં અને આનંદ કરવા ભેગા થયા. તેઓ કહેતા હતાં, “આપણા દેવે, આપણા શત્રુ સામસૂનને આપણા હવાલે કરી દીધો છે.”
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<v id="24" bcv="JDG.16.24" />અને તેને જોઈને તેઓએ તેમના દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી અને કહ્યું, આપણા દેવે આપણા શત્રુને આપણે હવાલે કરી દીધો છે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે માંણસે દેશનો નાશ કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેણે આપણાં લોકોને માંરી નાખ્યા હવે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે આપણા કબજામાં છો!”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JDG.16.25" />નશાની હાલતમાં તેઓએ કહ્યું, “સામસૂનને બોલોવો; જેથી તે અમાંરું મનોરંજન કરી શકે!” આમ સામસૂનને કેદખાનામાંથી બહાર લાવવામાં આવ્યો અને તેણે તેઓ માંટે અભિનય કર્યો. પછી તેને મંદિરના બે થામભલાઓની વચ્ચે ઊભો રાખવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="26" bcv="JDG.16.26" />સામસૂને જે છોકરાએ તેનો હાથ પકડી રાખ્યો હતો, તેને કહ્યું, “મને એવી રીતે ઊભો રાખ કે મંદિરના મુખ્ય થાંભલાને હું અડી શકું, જેથી હું તેને અઢેલી આરામ કરી શકું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JDG.16.27" />મંદિર સ્ત્રી-પુરુષોથી ખીચોખીચ ભરેલું હતું. બધા જ પલિસ્તી સરદારો ત્યાં હાજર હતાં. અને આશરે 3,000 સ્ત્રી પુરુષો ધાબા ઉપરથી સામસૂનના ખેલ જોતાં હતાં,
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<v id="28" bcv="JDG.16.28" />પછી સામસૂને યહોવાને પોકાર કરીને કહ્યું, “ઓ સર્વસમર્થ યહોવા, મને સાંભળો, અને આ છેલ્લી વાર મને શક્તિ આપો કે જેથી હું માંરી આંખો માંટે પલિસ્તીઓ ઉપર બદલો લઈ શકું.”
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<v id="29" bcv="JDG.16.29" />પછી મંદિરના બે ટેકારૂપ વચ્ચેના થાંભલાને તેણે બાથમાં લીધા, તેણે જમણો હાથ એક થાંભલા ઉપર અને ડાબો હાત બીજા થાંભલા ઉપર મૂકીને બધું વજન તેના ઉપર નાખ્યું અને પોકાર કર્યો,
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<v id="30" bcv="JDG.16.30" />સામસૂને કહ્યું, “મને પલિસ્તીઓની સાથે મરવા દો.” પછી તેણે મંદિરના થાંભલા પર સંપૂર્ણ બળ વાપરીને નીચે એવી રીતે ખેચી પાડ્યા કે તે મંદિરના તમાંમ લોકો ઉપર તૂટી પડે જેમાં પલિસ્તીના આગેવાનો પણ હતાં આમ, તેણે ઘણા માંણસો માંરી નાખ્યા તે મરી રહ્યો હોવાથી તેણે જેટલા લોકોને માંર્યા હતાં તેના કરતા વધારે સંખ્યામાં લોકોને માંર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JDG.16.31" />પછીથી તેના ભાઈઓ અને તેનું આખુ કુટુંબ તેનો મૃતદેહ લેવા માંટે આવ્યાં. તેઓ તેને સોરાહ અને એશ્તાઓલ વચ્ચે આવેલી તેના પિતા માંનોઆહની કબરે લઈ ગયા; તેઓ તેને ત્યાં લઈ ગયા અને તેને દફનાવ્યો, તેણે વીસ વર્ષ સુધી ઈસ્રાએલનો ન્યાય કર્યો હતો.
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</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">મીખાહની મૂર્તિઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.17.1" />એફ્રાઈમના પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં મીખાહ નામે એક માંણસ રહેતો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JDG.17.2" />એક દિવસ તેણે તેની માંતાને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે તારા અગિયારસો ચાંદીના સિક્કા<f caller="+"><fr>17:2
</fr><fk>અગિયારસો ચાંદીના સિક્કા
</fk><ft>28 પૌંડ, 1,100 શેકેલ.</ft></f> ચોરાઈ ગયા ત્યારે તેં ચોરને શાપ દીધો હતો, તે મેં સાંભળ્યો હતો, એ સિક્કા માંરી પાસે જ છે, મેં જ તે ચોર્યા હતાં.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેની માંતાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવા તારું ભલું કરો, બેટા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JDG.17.3" />એટલે તેણે અગિયારસો ચાંદીના સિક્કા તેની માંને પાછા આપ્યા, માં બોલી, “માંરા પુત્રના હિત માંટે મેં આ ચાંદીના સિક્કા લાકડાની કોતરેલી અને ધાતુથી મઢેલી પ્રતિમાં બનાવવા માંટે યહોવાને સમર્પી દીધા હતાં, હવે તને પાછા સોંપું છું. પણ છોકરાએ તે પાછા આપ્યા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.17.4" />પછી મીખાહે ચાંદીના સિક્કા તેની માંતાને પાછા આપ્યા તેણી 200 શેકેલ<f caller="+"><fr>17:4
</fr><fk>200 શેકેલ
</fk><ft>5 પૌડ</ft></f> લઈને ઝવેરી પાસે ગઈ. તેણે તેમાંથી ધાતુની મૂર્તિ બનાવી અને તે મીખાહે તેના ઘરમાં રાખી.
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<v id="5" bcv="JDG.17.5" />મીખાહના ઘરમાં મંદિર હતું, ત્યાં તેણે એક એફ્રોદની મૂર્તિ મૂકી અને તેના કુળદેવતાની મૂર્તિઓ બનાવડાવી અને તે મૂર્તિના યાજક તરીકે તેણે તેના પુત્રોમાંથી એક પુત્રને યાજક તરીકે નીમ્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="JDG.17.6" />કારણ કે તે સમયે ઈસ્રાએલમાં કોઈ રાજા ન હતો, અને પ્રત્યેક માંણસ પોતાની ઇચ્છાપ્રમાંણે પોતાની નજરમાં જે સારું લાગે તે કરતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.17.7" />પૂર્વે એકવાર, યહૂદા કુળસમૂહમાંથી એક યુવાન માંણસ જે લેવી હતો. તે બેથલહેમમાં એક વિદેશીની જેમ રહેતો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="JDG.17.8" />વસવાટ માંટે બીજી કોઈ સારી જગ્યાની શોધમાં તે બેથલેહેમ છોડીને ફરતા ફરતા એફ્રાઈમના પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં મીખાહને ઘેર આવી ચડયો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JDG.17.9" />મીખાહે તેને કહ્યું, “તું કયાંથી આવ્યો?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું યહૂદામાં આવેલા બેથલેહેમના લેવી કુળનો યાજક છું અને વસવાટ માંટેની જગ્યાની શોધમાં છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JDG.17.10" />મીખાહે તેને કહ્યું, “તું માંરી સાથે રહે, કુળના વડા થવાની જવાબદારી લે અને અમાંરો યાજક બન, હું તને દર વરસે દસ ચાંદીના સિક્કા આપીશ, હું તને સરખું ખાવાનું અને સારા કપડાં પણ આપીશ તેથી લેવી તેની સાથે ગયો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.17.11" />લેવી તેની સાથે રહેવા કબૂલ થયો અને તેના એક પુત્ર જેવો જ બની ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="JDG.17.12" />મીખાહે તેની યાજકપદે નિમણુંક કરી અને તે તેનો યાજક બન્યો અને તેના ઘરમાં રહેવા લાગ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JDG.17.13" />મીખાહને થયું, “હવે મને ખાતરી થઈ કે, યહોવા માંરું કલ્યાણ કરશે, કારણ કે એક યાજક માંરો લેવીવંશી છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">દાનવંશીઓએ કરેલી મીખાહની મૂર્તિઓની ચોરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.18.1" />તે દિવસોમાં ઈસ્રાએલમાં કોઈ રાજા ન હતો અને દાનકુળસમૂહના લોકો સ્થાયી થવા માંટે સ્થળ શોધી રહ્યાં હતાં. કારણ કે તેઓને પ્રદેશનો એક ભાગ ઈસ્રાએલના બીજા કુળસમૂહોની સાથે આપવામાં આવ્યો નહતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JDG.18.2" />તેથી દાનના કુળસમૂહે પાંચ શૂરવીર પુરુષોને સોરાહ અને એશ્તાઓલ નગરોમાંથી પસંદ કર્યા, તેઓએ સ્થાયી થવા માંટે અને તેઓના કુળના ઉછેર માંટે યોગ્ય સ્થળ શોધવું હતું. તેથી તેઓએ “જાઓ અને દેશની શોધ કરો” કહીને પ્રદેશની શોધ કરવા આ શૂરવીરોને મોકલ્યા.
</p>
<p style="p">એફ્રાઈમના પર્વત ઉપર પહોંચ્યા અને મીખાહના ઘરે રાત રોકાયા,
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<v id="3" bcv="JDG.18.3" />તેઓ જ્યારે ત્યાં હતાં, તેઓએ લેવીનો અવાજ ઓળખી લીધો અને તેના તરફ વળીને તેને પૂછયું, “તને અહી કોણ લઈ આવ્યું? અહીં તું શું કરે છે? તું અહી શા માંટે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.18.4" />તેણે મીખાહે તેના માંટે જે કંઈ કર્યુ હતું તે તેઓને કહી દીધું અને કહ્યું કે, “તેણે મને કામ રાખ્યો છે અને હું તેનો યાજક છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JDG.18.5" />પેલા લોકોએ કહ્યું, “સારું, તો અમાંરા તરફથી દેવને પ્રશ્ન કર કે અમાંરો આ પ્રવાસ સફળ થશે કે કેમ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.18.6" />યાજકે કહ્યું, “શાંતિથી જાઓ. તમાંરા પ્રવાસ ઉપર યહોવાની દયા દૃષ્ટિ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JDG.18.7" />તેથી તે પાંચ જણ ત્યાંથી નીકળીને “લાઈશ” પહોચ્યા. ત્યાં તેમણે જોયું તો લોકો સિદોનના લોકોના શાસન હેઠળ નિશ્ચિંત જીવન ગાળતા હતાં. તે લોકોને શાંતિ હતી અને કોઈ ચિંતા નહોતી તેઓ એકબીજા સાથે ઝગડો કરતા ન હતાં, અત્યાચાર કરનાર કોઈ ન હતાં. તેઓ સિદોનીના લોકોથી ખૂબ દૂર રહેતા હતાં અને તેઓએ કોઈની પણ સાથે કોઈ કરાર કર્યા ન હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.18.8" />તેઓ સોરાહ અને એશ્તાઓલમાં પોતાના ભાઈઓ પાસે પાછા ફર્યા અને ત્યાં તેમને પૂછવામાં આવ્યું, “શું સમાંચાર છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JDG.18.9" />તેમણે કહ્યું, “ચાલો, આપણે જઈએ અને લાઈશ ઉપર હુમલો કરીએ. અમે એ ભૂમિ જોઈ છે અને તે બહુ સારી છે. આપણે અહીં સુસ્ત બેસી રહેવું ન જોઈએ, જલદી કરો, ઉભા થાવ અને તે દેશનો કબજો લઈ લો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JDG.18.10" />તમે ત્યાં જશો ત્યારે જોશો કે ત્યાંના લોકો નિશ્ચિંત છે. તે દેશ વિશાળ છે, દેવે તમાંરા હાથમાં એવો દેશ સોંપી દીધો છે જયાં કોઈ વાતની ખોટ નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.18.11" />આથી દાનકુળસમૂહના 600 સશસ્ત્ર સૈનિકો સોરાહ અને એશ્તાઓલથી નીકળી પડયા.
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<v id="12" bcv="JDG.18.12" />તેમણે જઈને યહૂદાના પ્રદેશમાં કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમમાં છાવણી નાખી, તેથી એ જગ્યા આજે પણ દાનની છાવણીને નામે ઓળખાય છે. એ કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમની પશ્ચિમેં આવેલી છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JDG.18.13" />ત્યાંથી તેઓ એફ્રાઈમના પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં મીખાહને ઘેર ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.18.14" />આ પાંચ જણ જેઓ “લાઈશ” ની આજુબાજુના પ્રદેશમાં લોકો વિશે જાણવા ગયા હતાં તેમણે પોતાના ભાઈઓને કહ્યું, “ત્યાં બધામાંથી એક ઘરમાં ચાંદીની એક મૂર્તિ તથા એક એફ્રોદ અને થોડા ઘરબારના દેવો છે! તમે શું વિચારો છો? આપણે શું કરવું જોઈએ?”
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<v id="15" bcv="JDG.18.15" />આથી તેઓ એ તરફ વળીને લેવી રહેતો હતો ત્યાં મીખાહને ઘેર ગયો અને તેને અભિનંદન આપ્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="JDG.18.16" />યુદ્ધ માંટે તૈયાર એવા દાન કુળસમૂહના સશસ્ત્ર 300 સૈનિકો દરવાજા બહાર ઊભા હતાં.
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<v id="17" bcv="JDG.18.17" />અને જે પાંચ જણ માંહિતી મેળવવા આવ્યા હતાં, તેઓએ અંદર જઈને લાકડાની કોતરકામ કરેલી અને ચાંદીથી મઢેલી મૂર્તિ, એફ્રોદ તથા કુળદેવતાઓને લઈ લીધા. દરમ્યાન યાજક 600 સશસ્ત્ર સૈનિકો સાથે દરવાજા આગળ ઊભો હતો.
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<v id="18" bcv="JDG.18.18" />જ્યારે યુવાન યાજકે પેલા પાંચ જણને મીખાહના ઘરમાં પેસીને લાકડાની કોતરેલી અને ચાંદીથી ઢાળેલી મૂર્તિ એફ્રોદ તથા બીજી મૂર્તિઓ લઈ બહાર જતા જોયા ત્યારે યાજકે તેમને પૂછયું, “શું કરો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.18.19" />ત્યારે તેઓએ કહ્યું, “ચૂપ રહો! એક શબ્દ પણ બોલશો નહિ, અમાંરી સાથે ચાલો અને અમાંરા કુળના યાજક અને અગ્રણીનું સ્થાન અમાંરે માંટે લો. ફક્ત એક જણના યાજક થવું તે સારું કે પછી સમગ્ર ઈસ્રાએલી કુળસમૂહના યાજક થવું તે સારું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JDG.18.20" />આ સાંભળીને તે યાજક તેઓની સાથે જવા માંટે રાજી થઈ ગયો, તેણે એફોદ, ઘરના દેવો તથા બીજી મૂર્તિઓ પોતાની સાથે લઈ લીધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JDG.18.21" />તેઓ બધાં પોતાને રસ્તે આગળ વધ્યા. તેઓએ બાળકો, ઢોરઢાંખર તથા ઘરવખરી સૌથી આગળ રાખ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JDG.18.22" />જ્યારે તેઓ મીખાહના ઘરથી થોડે દૂર નીકળી ગયા ત્યારે મીખાહના ઘરના માંણસો અને તેની આસપાસ રહેતા લોકોએ દાનકુળસમૂહનો પીછો કર્યો અને તેમને પકડી પાડયા.
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<v id="23" bcv="JDG.18.23" />તેમણે તેઓને થોભી જવા માંટે જોરથી બૂમ પાડી, એટલે દાનકુળસમૂહઓએ પાછા ફરીને જોયું અને મીખાહને પૂછયું, “શું વાત છે? શા માંટે તમાંરા માંણસોને લડવા બોલાવ્યા છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JDG.18.24" />મીખાહે ગુસ્સામાં કહ્યું, “મેં માંરા માંટે બનાવડાવેલી મૂર્તિને અને યાજકને લઈને તમે રસ્તે પડયા છો, પછી માંરી પાસે રહ્યું શું અને પાછા ઉપરથી પૂછો છો કે, શું છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JDG.18.25" />દાન કુળસમૂહે જવાબ આપ્યો, “મોટેથી ન બોલ. નહિ તો આ લોકોનો પિત્તો જશે અને તેઓ તારા ઉપર તૂટી પડશે. તું અને તારું કુટુંબ બંને હતાં નહતાં થઈ જશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JDG.18.26" />એમ કહીને દાનવંશીઓ રસ્તે પડયા અને મીખાહ સમજી ગયો કે એ લોકોને માંરાથી પહોંચાય એમ નથી, તેથી તે ઘેર પાછો ફર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JDG.18.27" />ત્યાર પછી દાન કુળસમૂહના લોકોએ મૂર્તિઓ અને યાજકને “લાઈશ” નામના સ્થળે લઈ ગયા જ્યાં શાંતિમય અને શંકારહિત લોકો હતાં. તેઓ નગરની અંદર ગયા અને સર્વ લોકોની તેઓની તરવારથી હત્યા કરી અને તેને બાળી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="28" bcv="JDG.18.28" />ત્યાં એ લોકોને મદદ કરે એવું કોઈ ન હતું. કારણ કે તેઓ નગર સિદોનથી ધણા દૂર હતા અને તેઓને અરામના લોકો સાથે કોઈ સંબધ નહોતો, લાઈશ એ બેથ-રહોબના એક ભાગમાં ખીણમાં આવેલું હતું. દાનકુળસમહોએ ફરી તે નગર બાંધવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ અને ત્યાં વસવાટ કર્યો.
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<v id="29" bcv="JDG.18.29" />તેઓએ પોતાના પિતૃના નામ ઉપરથી તે નગરનું નામ “દાન” પાડયું; દાન, જે ઈસ્રાએલમાં જન્મ્યો હતો, પણ તેનું મૂળ નામ “લાઈશ” હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JDG.18.30" />દાનકુળસમૂહોએ પેલી મૂર્તિઓ લઈ અને તેઓની પ્રતિષ્ઠા કરી યોનાથાન ગેર્શોમનો પુત્ર, તથા મૂસાનો પૌત્ર હતો અને તેના પુત્રો દેશ, બંદીવાન થયો ત્યાં સુધી દાન કુળસમૂહના યાજક બની રહ્યાં.
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<v id="31" bcv="JDG.18.31" />મુલાકાત મંડપ જયાં સુધી દેવનું ઘર શીલોહમાં રહ્યું ત્યાં સુધી દાનના કુળે મીખાહની મૂર્તિઓનું ભજન કર્યુ.
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<c id="19" />
<s style="s">એક ઉપપત્નીની વાત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.19.1" />એ વખતે ઈસ્રાએલમાં કોઈ રાજા નહોતો.
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારે એફ્રાઈમની ટેકરીઓ પર અંદરના ભાગમાં એક લેવી રહેતો હતો, તેણે બેથલેહેમની એક યહૂદી કન્યાને પોતની ઉપપત્ની તરીકે રાખી હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="JDG.19.2" />તે સ્ત્રી ગુસ્સે થઈને પોતાના બાપને ઘેર બેથલેહેમ પાછી ગઈ. તે સ્ત્રી ત્યાં લગભગ ચારેક મહિના માંટે રહી.
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<v id="3" bcv="JDG.19.3" />તેનો પતિ તેને સમજાવીને પાછી લાવવા માંટે એક નોકરને અને બે ગધેડાંને લઈને તેની પાછળ ગયો. જ્યારે તે તેને ઘેર પહોંચ્યો ત્યારે તે તેને પોતાના પિતાના ઘેર લઈ ગઈ; જ્યારે તેના પિતાએ તેને જોયો તેને મળીને તેને ખૂબ આનંદ થયો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JDG.19.4" />અને તે સ્ત્રીના પિતાએ તેના જમાંઈને થોડા સમય તેને ત્યાં રહેવા માંટે સમજાવ્યો. તે ત્યાં ત્રણ દિવસ રહ્યો અને તેઓએ ખાધુ, પીધું અને ત્રણ રાત ત્યાં ગાળી.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JDG.19.5" />ચોથે દિવસે વહેલી સવારે લેવી ઘરે પાછો જવા તૈયાર થયો. પણ તેના સસરાએ તેને કહ્યું, “પહેલા કાંઈ ખાઈ લો, પછી તમે જઈ શકો છો.”
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<v id="6" bcv="JDG.19.6" />તેથી તે બે જણે ભેગા બેસીને ખાધું પીધું; સસરાએ જમાંઈને કહ્યું, “માંની જાઓ, રાત અહીં જ ગાળો, અને મોજ કરો.”
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<v id="7" bcv="JDG.19.7" />છતાં તે માંણસે ના પાડી, પણ તેના સસરાએ તેને વિનંતી કર્યા જ કરી, આખરે તે ત્યાં રોકાવા તૈયાર થયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.19.8" />બીજા દિવસે તે વહેલા ઊઠયો અને તેના સસરાએ કહ્યું, “પહેલાં કાઈ ખાઈ લો, અને પછી થોડા સમય પછી જાઓ.” તેથી તેઓ ખાવા બેઠા મોડી બપોર સુધી તે રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JDG.19.9" />પછી લેવી પોતાની પત્ની અને નોકર સાથે જવા માંટે ઊઠયો. પણ તેના સસરાએ કહ્યું, “જુઓ હવે તો સાંજ થઈ ગઈ છે, અહી રાત રહી જાઓ, અને મોજ કરો પછી આવતી કાલે વહેલા ઘેર જજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JDG.19.10" />પરંતુ આ વખતે એ માંણસે સાંભળ્યું નહિ, તે રાત રોકાવા કબૂલ થયો નહિ અને જવા માંટે તૈયાર થયો, તેણે પોતાનાં બે લાદેલાં ગધેડાં અને પત્ની સાથે યબૂસ અર્થાત યરૂશાલમની નજીક પહોંચ્યા સુધી મુસાફરી કરી.
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<v id="11" bcv="JDG.19.11" />જ્યારે તેઓ યબૂસ પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે દિવસ પૂરો થવા આવ્યો હતો, તેથી નોકરે ઘણીને કહ્યું, “ચાલો આપણે આ યબૂસીઓના શહેરમાં જઈએ અને રાત ત્યાં ગાળીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JDG.19.12" />પણ તેના ધણીએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “ના, આ વિદેશી નગરમાં આપણે જવું નથી, ત્યાં કોઈ ઈસ્રાએલી નથી, આપણે ગિબયાહ જઈએ.”
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<v id="13" bcv="JDG.19.13" />“ચાલો, આપણે કોઈ બીજી જગ્યાએ જઈએ. ગિબયાહ કે રામાંમાં રાતવાસો કરીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JDG.19.14" />તેથી તેઓએ ચાલવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું અને સાંજ પડતાં બિન્યામીનકુળસમૂહના પ્રદેશમાં આવેલા ગિબયાહ નજીક આવી પહોંચ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="JDG.19.15" />રાતવાસો કરવા તેઓ ગિબયાહ ગયા. અને નગરના ચોકમાં બેઠા. કોઈએ તેઓને પોતાના ઘરે આમંત્રણ આપ્યું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JDG.19.16" />એવામાં જ્યારે સાંજ પડી, એક વૃદ્ધ માંણસ તે માંર્ગે પસાર થયો, તે તેના ખેતરથી કામ કરીને ઘેર પાછો ફરતો હતો. તે એફ્રાઈમના પહાડી પ્રદેશનો વતની હતો. અને ગિબયાહ આવ્યો હતો અને ત્યાં રહેતો હતો. તે નગરના લોકો બિન્યામીનકુળસમૂહના હતાં.
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<v id="17" bcv="JDG.19.17" />તેણે નજર કરતાં નગરના ચોકમાં પડાવ નાખેલા મુસાફરને જોયો અને પૂછયું, “તમે કયાંથી આવો છો? ક્યાં જાઓ છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JDG.19.18" />તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “યહૂદામાં આવેલા બેથલેહેમથી હું આવું છું, એફ્રાઈમના પહાડી પ્રદેશનો હું વતની છું. હું બેથલેહેમ ગયો હતો અને અત્યારે હું ઘેર પાછો જાઉં છું, પણ કોઈએ અમને રાત ગાળવા માંટે પોતાને ઘેર બોલાવ્યા નથી;
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<v id="19" bcv="JDG.19.19" />અમાંરી પાસે અમાંરા ગધેડાં માંટે અનાજ અને ઘાસ છે અને માંરા માંટે માંરી સ્ત્રી અને નોકર માંટે પૂરતો ખોરાક તથા દ્રાક્ષારસ છે. અમને કોઈ ચીજની જરૂર નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JDG.19.20" />પેલા ઘરડા માંણસે કહ્યું, “કશી ચિંતા ન કરશો. હું બધું સંભાળી લઈશ. અહીં ચોકમાં રાત ગાળવાની ના હોય, કેમકે અહી કોઈ સુરક્ષા નથી.”
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<v id="21" bcv="JDG.19.21" />એમ કહીને તે તેમને પોતને ઘેર લઈ ગયો અને તેણે તેઓનાં ગધેડાને ચારો નીર્યો, તેઓએ, તેઓના પગ ધોયા, ખાધું અને પીધું.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JDG.19.22" />જ્યારે આ લોકો ખાતાપીતાં અને આનંદ કરતા હતાં એવામાં નગરના દુષ્ટ માંણસો ઘરને ઘેરી વળ્યા અને બારણાં ખટખટાવ્યા. તેઓએ ઘરના ઘરડા માંણસને બૂમો પાડીને કહેવા લાગ્યા, “તારે ઘરે જે માંણસ આવ્યો છે તેને બહાર મોકલ, જેથી અમે તેની આબરૂ લઈએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JDG.19.23" />તેથી ઘરડો માંણસ બહાર આવ્યો. તેણે વિનંતી કરીને કહ્યું, “માંરા ભાઈઓ, આવું પાપ આચરશો નહિ, એ માંરો મહેમાંન છે, આવું મૂર્ખ અને નામોશી ભર્યુ કૃત્ય ન કરશો.
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<v id="24" bcv="JDG.19.24" />માંરે એક કુંવારી પુત્રી છે તથા તે માંણસને તેની ઉપપત્ની છે, હું તેઓને બહાર મોકલીશ. તમે તેઓની આબરૂ લો. અને તમાંરે તેમની સાથે જે કરવું હોય તે કરો. પણ આ માંણસ ઉપર તમે આવું ગુનાહિત કૃત્ય કરશો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JDG.19.25" />છતાં તેઓએ તેનું કહેવું સાંભળ્યું નહિ, તેથી તેણે તેની ઉપપત્નીને તેઓ પાસે બહાર જવા ફરજ પાડી, તેઓએ આખી રાત તેના ઉપર બધાએ વારા ફરતી અત્યાચાર કર્યોને તેના ઉપર બળાત્કાર કર્યો. અને જ્યારે સવાર થઈ ત્યારે તેને જવા દીધી.
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<v id="26" bcv="JDG.19.26" />પરોઢ થયું ત્યારે તે સ્ત્રી તેના ધણીના ઘરના દરવાજા આગળ ગઈ અને સવાર સુધી તે ત્યાં પડી રહી.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JDG.19.27" />સવારમાં તેના ધણી લેવીએ ફરી પ્રવાસે જવા માંટે તેણે બારણું ઉધાડયું, તો તેણે પોતાની ઉપપત્નીને ઘરના બારણાં આગળ પડેલી જોઈ. તેના હાથ બારણાના ઉંબરા પર પડેલા હતાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="JDG.19.28" />તેણે તેને કહ્યું, “ઊઠ, ચાલ, આપણે હવે જઈએ.” પણ કોઈ જવાબ ન મળ્યો, તે મૃત્યુ પામી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JDG.19.29" />આથી તેણે તેને ઉપાડીને ગધેડા ઉપર મૂકી અને તે ઘેર જવા નીકળ્યો. ઘરે પહોંચ્યા પછી તેણે એક છરો લીધો અને તેના શરીરના કાપીને બાર ટુકડા કર્યા પછી તે ટુકડાઓ તેણે આખા ઈસ્રાએલમાં મોકલી આપ્યા.
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<v id="30" bcv="JDG.19.30" />પછી એવું બન્યું કે જેમણે જેમણે એ જોયું તેમણે કહ્યું, “ઈસ્રાએલે મિસર છોડયું ત્યારથી આજ સુધી આવો ભયંકર ગુન્હો કદી નજરે ચડયો નથી. માંટે આનો વિચાર કરો, ચર્ચા કરો અને મને નિર્ણય જણાવો.”
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<s style="s">બિન્યામીનીઓનો સંહાર
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.20.1" />ઉત્તરે દાનથી માંડીને દક્ષિણે બેરશેબા પ્રદેશ સુધીના ઈસ્રાએલના સમગ્ર દેશમાંથી અને પૂર્વના ગિલયાદથી સર્વ લોકો મિસ્પાહ મુકામે યહોવા સમક્ષ એકત્ર થયાં.
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<v id="2" bcv="JDG.20.2" />ઈસ્રાએલી લોકોની આ સભામાં ઈસ્રાએલના સર્વ કુળસમૂહોના વડા હતાં. 4,00,000 તરવાર સાથે હથિયારબંધ સૈનિકો હતાં.
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<v id="3" bcv="JDG.20.3" />બિન્યામીનીઓને સમાંચાર મળ્યા હતાં કે ઈસ્રાએલી મિસ્પાહમાં ભેગા થયા છે. ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ પૂછયું, “આ અધમ કૃત્ય કેવી રીતે કરવામાં આવ્યું, તે અમને જણાવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.20.4" />લેવી માંણસ જેની ઉપપત્નીનું ખૂન થઈ ગયું હતું તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું અને માંરી ઉપપત્ની બિન્યામીનનાં ગિબયાહમાં રાતવાસો કરવા આવ્યાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="JDG.20.5" />ગિબયાહના લોકો માંરી વિરુદ્ધ થઈ ગયા અને તેમણે હું જે ઘરમાં હતો તેને ઘેરી લીધું. મને તેઓ માંરી નાખવા ઈચ્છતા હતાં; માંરી ઉપપત્ની ઉપર તેમણે બળાત્કાર ગુજાર્યો અને તે મૃત્યુ પામી.
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<v id="6" bcv="JDG.20.6" />તેથી મેં તેનું શબ કાપીને ટુકડા કર્યા અને એક એક ટુકડો ઈસ્રાએલનાં દરેક કુળસમૂહને મોકલી આપ્યો. કારણ તેઓએ ઈસ્રાએલમાં આ દુષ્ટ ગુનો કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="JDG.20.7" />હવે હે ઈસ્રાએલ પુત્રો, તમે બધા એ બાબતની ચર્ચા કરો અને અત્યારે ને અત્યારે શું કરવું તે જણાવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.20.8" />બધા લોકો એકી સાથે સંમત થયા, તેઓ ઊભા થઈ ગયા અને બોલ્યા, “જ્યાં સુધી આ સમસ્યાનો ઉકેલ આપણે ન લાવીએ, અમાંરામાંનો કોઈ આપણા ઘરે હવે પાછો જશે નહિ,
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.20.9" />અમે ગિબયાહની વાતમાં આ પ્રમાંણે કરવા ઈચ્છીએ છીએ. અમે ચિઠ્ઠી નાખીને ગિબયાહ ઉપર હુમલો કરવા માંટે માંણસો પસંદ કરીશું.
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<v id="10" bcv="JDG.20.10" />અમે ઈસ્રાએલના દરેક કુળસમૂહોમાંથી દર સો માંણસો લઈશું. દર હજાર માંણસોએ સો માંણસો લઈશું. અને દર દસહજાર માંણસોએ એક હજાર માંણસો લઈશું. તેઓ સૈન્યને માંટે ખોરાક પૂરો પાડશે. બાકીના બિન્યામીનના પ્રદેશમાં આવેલા ગિબયાહ સ્થળે જ્યાં તેઓએ ઈસ્રાએલમાં ખૂબજ ભયંકર કૃત્ય કર્યુ હતું તેની સજા કરવા જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JDG.20.11" />આમ, ઈસ્રાએલના તમાંમ લોકો તે નગર ઉપર હુમલો કરવાને એકમત થઈને એકઠા થયા.
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<v id="12" bcv="JDG.20.12" />પછી ઈસ્રાએલના કુળસમૂહોએ તેના માંણસોને બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહ પાસે મોકલ્યા, જેઓએ તેમને કહ્યું, “જુઓ તમાંરા લોકોમાં આ ભયંકર કૃત્ય જે થયું છે!
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<v id="13" bcv="JDG.20.13" />ગિબયાહ એ તમાંરામાંના દુષ્ટ માંણસો, જેઓએ આ કર્યુ છે તેઓને અમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દેવા જોઈએ એટલે અમે તેમને માંરી નાખીએ અને ઈસ્રાએલમાં કરેલા એ પાપને ભૂસી નાખીએ.”
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<p style="p">પરંતુ બિન્યામીન કુળસમૂહના લોકોએ પોતાના બીજા ઈસ્રાએલી ભાઈઓનું કહ્યું સાંભળ્યું નહિ.
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<v id="14" bcv="JDG.20.14" />બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહમાં ત્યાં સર્વ નગરોમાંથી ઈસ્રાએલી સામે લડવા માંટે લોકો બહાર આવ્યા અને ગિબયાહમાં એકત્ર થયા.
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<v id="15" bcv="JDG.20.15" />તે દિવસે બિન્યામીન કુળસમૂહે તરવાર સાથેના હથિયારબંધ 26,000 સૈનિકો ભેગા કર્યા હતા. આ સંખ્યામાં ગિબયાહના નગરમાંથી પસંદ કરેલા 700 માંણસોનો સમાંવેશ થતો હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="JDG.20.16" />આ પસંદ કરેલા 700 સૈનિકોને ડાબા હાથે લડવાની તાલિમ આપવામાં આવી હતી. અને તેઓ નિશાન ચુક્યાવગર સારી રીતે નિશાન તાકીને ગોફણમાંથી પથ્થર ફેંકી શકતા હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JDG.20.17" />બિન્યામીન કુળસમૂહ સિવાયના ઈસ્રાએલીઓ જે ત્યાં ભેગા થયા હતાં, તેઓ યુદ્ધ માંટે તાલિમ અપાયેલા 4,00,000 સશસ્ત્ર સૈનિકો હતાં.
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<v id="18" bcv="JDG.20.18" />યુદ્ધ શરૂ કરતાં પહેલાં ઈસ્રાએલી સૈન્ય દેવની સલાહ લેવાને બથેલમાં ગયું. તેમણે પૂછયું, “બિન્યામીન કુળસમૂહ ઉપર અમાંરામાંથી કોણ પહેલો હુમલો કરે?”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “યહૂદા કુળસમૂહે પ્રથમ હુમલો કરવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JDG.20.19" />તેથી ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ વહેલી સવારે કૂચ કરી અને ગિબયાહ પાસે છાવણી નાખી.
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<v id="20" bcv="JDG.20.20" />ઈસ્રાએલના લોકો બિન્યામીન ઉપર હુમલો કરવા માંટે ગયા અને તેઓના લશ્કરને ગિબયાહ પર યુદ્ધ કરવા તૈયાર કર્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="JDG.20.21" />બિન્યામીન કુળસમૂહના સૈનિકો લડવા માંટે ગિબયાહમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા તે દિવસે તેઓએ 22,000 ઈસ્રાએલીઓને રણભૂમિ ઉપર માંરી નાખ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JDG.20.22" />પરંતુ ઈસ્રાએલી સૈન્યે હાર માંની નહિ, બીજે દિવસે તેઓ લડવા માંટે તૈયાર થયા અને જ્યાં પહેલે દિવસે તેઓ ભેગા થયા હતાં તે જ સ્થળે સાથે ભેગા થયા.
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<v id="23" bcv="JDG.20.23" />ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ સાંજ સુધી યહોવા સમક્ષ રૂદન કર્યુ અને તેમને પૂછયું, “શું અમાંરે અમાંરા ભાઈ બિન્યામીન વિરુદ્ધની લડાઈ ચાલુ રાખવી?”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “યદ્ધે ચઢો.” તેથી ઈસ્રાએલીઓના લશ્કરમાં નવો ઉત્સાહ આવ્યો અને તેમણે આગલા દિવસની જ જગ્યાએ ફરી લશ્કર ગોઠવી દીધું.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JDG.20.24" />પછી બીજે દિવસે તેઓ બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહ સામે લડ્યા.
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<v id="25" bcv="JDG.20.25" />અને બિન્યામીનનું લશ્કર તેઓને યુદ્ધમાં મળવા માંટે ગિબયાહથી બહાર નીકળ્યું અને 18,000 ઈસ્રાએલી યોદ્ધાઓને બીજે દિવસે રણભૂમિમાં માંરી નાખ્યા, તેઓ બધા તરવારથી શસ્ત્ર સજજ હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JDG.20.26" />પછી બધા જ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ બેથેલ ગયા અને યહોવા સમક્ષ બેસીને વિલાપ કર્યો. અને સાંજ સુધી ઉપવાસ કર્યો. તેઓએ યહોવાને દહનાર્પણો અને શાંત્યર્પણો અર્પણ કર્યા.
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<v id="27" bcv="JDG.20.27" />ત્યાં ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ દેવને તેઓએ શું કરવું જોઈએ તે વિષે પૂછયું. તે દિવસોમાં દેવનો કરારકોશ ત્યાં હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="JDG.20.28" />એલઆઝારનો પુત્ર તથા હારુનનો પૌત્ર ફીનહાસ યાજક હતો. ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ યહોવાને પૂછયું, “અમાંરે ફરીથી જઈને અમાંરા ભાઈઓ સામે બિન્યામીનમાં લડાઈ કરવી કે અમાંરે તેઓ સામે લડવાનું બંધ કરવું?”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “જાઓ, કાલે બિન્યામીનને હું તમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JDG.20.29" />ત્યાર પછી ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ ગિબયાહ નગરની આજુબાજુ નજીકના સ્થળોમાં સૈનિકોને છુપાવી રાખ્યા.
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<v id="30" bcv="JDG.20.30" />પછી ત્રીજા દિવસે ઈસ્રાએલીઓ બિન્યામીનીઓની સામે આગળ વધ્યા અને પહેલાંની જેમ જ ગિબયાહ આગળ સૈન્ય ગોઠવી દીધું.
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<v id="31" bcv="JDG.20.31" />બિન્યામીનનું સૈન્ય હુમલો કરવાને માંટે નગરમાંથી સામે આવ્યું. ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ પીછે હઠ કરી. બિન્યામીનના સૈન્ય તેઓને નગરથી ઘણે દૂર સુધી પીછો કર્યો.
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<p style="p">પહેલાની જેમ જ તેઓએ બેથેલ સુધી જતા માંર્ગોમાંના એક માંર્ગ પર અને ગિબયાહ તરફના જતા રસ્તા પર ઈસ્રાએલીઓને માંરી નાખવા લાગ્યા અને ખેતરોમાં કુળ મળીને આશરે ત્રીસ માંણસોને માંરી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="32" bcv="JDG.20.32" />બિન્યામીનઓના માંણસોએ કહ્યું, “પહેલાંની જેમ આ લોકો અમાંરાથી યુદ્ધમાં હારી ગયા છે.”
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<p style="p">પરંતુ ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ કહ્યું, ચાલો આપણે ભાગી જઈએ અને તેઓને શહેરથી દૂર માંર્ગ ઉપર લઈ જઈએ.
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<v id="33" bcv="JDG.20.33" />ત્યાર પછી ઈસ્રાએલીઓના મુખ્ય સૈન્યે પોતાનું સ્થાન છોડીને બઆલ તમાંરના યુદ્ધ માંટે તેઓ પોતે તૈયારી કરવા લાગ્યા. ત્યારે સંતાઈ રહેલા ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ગિબયાહ નજીક આવેલા પોતાના સ્થાનથી યુદ્ધ માંટે બહાર ઘસી આવ્યા.
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<v id="34" bcv="JDG.20.34" />ઈસ્રાએલના 10,000 પસંદ કરાયેલા માંણસો ગિબયાહ નજીક તેઓના સંતાવાના સ્થાનેથી હુમલો કરવા બહાર આવ્યા તે છતા બિન્યામીન સૈન્યને સમજાયું નહિ કે ઈસ્રાએલ સૈન્યથી તેઓ પર ભયનો આભાસ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="JDG.20.35" />યહોવાએ બિન્યામીની કુળસમૂહને ઈસ્રાએલીઓને હાથે પરાજય અપાવ્યો અને તે દિવસે 25,100 બિન્યામીની યોદ્ધાઓ માંર્યા ગયા અને તે સર્વે તરવારથી શસ્ત્ર સજજ હતાં.
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<v id="36" bcv="JDG.20.36" />બિન્યામીનીઓ સમજી ગયા કે પોતાની હાર થઈ છે.
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<p style="p">ઈસ્રાએલીઓ બિન્યામીની કુળસમૂહથી પાછા હઠી ગયા હતાં કારણકે ગિબયાહની આસપાસ સંતાડી રાખેલા માંણસો ઉપર તેમણે આધાર રાખ્યો હતો.
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<v id="37" bcv="JDG.20.37" />સંતાઈ રહેલા સૈનિકો ગિબયાહ ઉપર ધસી ગયા અને નગરમાં પ્રવેશી તેમાંના દરેકની હત્યા કરી,
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<v id="38" bcv="JDG.20.38" />ઈસ્રાએલી સૈન્ય અને સંતાયેલા માંણસો વચ્ચે એવો સંકેત નક્કી થયો હતો કે નગરમાંથી ધુમાંડાનો ગોટો આકાશમાં ચડાવવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JDG.20.39" />અને ધુમાંડો જોયા પછી ઈસ્રાએલીઓ ફરીથી લડવા પાછા ફર્યા. બિન્યામીનીઓના કુળસમૂહે શરૂઆતમાં માંણસોને માંરવા લાગ્યા. અને આશરે 30 ઈસ્રાએલીઓને માંરી નાખ્યા હતાં. તેઓ કહેતા હતાં, “પહેલાની જેમ તેઓ આપણાથી હારી જશે.”
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<v id="40" bcv="JDG.20.40" />પરંતુ ત્યાં તો નગરમાંથી ધુમાંડો આકાશમાં ચડવા લાગ્યો. સંકેત પ્રમાંણે થયું. બિન્યામીનીઓએ પાછા વળીને જોયું તો આખું નગર ભડકે બળતું હતું.
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<v id="41" bcv="JDG.20.41" />ઈસ્રાએલીઓ પાછા ફર્યા એટલે બિન્યામીનીઓ ગભરાઈ ગયા. કારણ, તેઓ સમજી ગયા કે પોતાનું આવી બન્યું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="JDG.20.42" />તેઓ રણ તરફ ભાગ્યા પણ ઈસ્રાએલીઓ તેઓની પાછળ પડયા; અને જે સૈનિકો છુપાઈ રહ્યાં હતાં તેઓ બહાર આવ્યા અને બિન્યામીન કુળસૂમહને માંરવા લાગ્યા, જે બંને સૈન્યની વચ્ચે હતું.
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<v id="43" bcv="JDG.20.43" />ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ બિન્યામીન કુળસમૂહને ઘેરી લીધા. અને વિશ્રાંતિ લેવા થોભ્યા વગર તેમનો પીછો કર્યો અને ગિબયાહના પૂર્વ વિસ્તારમાં તેઓને પકડી પાડયા અને તેઓને માંરી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="44" bcv="JDG.20.44" />અઢાર હજાર બિન્યામીની વીર સૈનિકો માંર્યા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="JDG.20.45" />બાકીના સૈનિકો રણમાં રિમ્મોનના કિલ્લા તરફ ભાગી ગયા, ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ રસ્તે જતા 5,000 નો સંહાર કર્યો, અને બાકી રહેલાઓનો ગિદોમ સુધી પીછો કરી તેમાંના બીજા 2,000 માંરી નાખ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="JDG.20.46" />તે દિવસે લગભગ 25,000 બિન્યામીની વીર સૈનિકો માંર્યા ગયા હતા અને તેઓ સર્વ તરવારથી સજજ હતાં.
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<v id="47" bcv="JDG.20.47" />ફકત 600 સૈનિકો રણ તરફ રિમ્મોનના કિલ્લા પર ગયા અને તેઓ ત્યાં ચાર મહિના રહ્યાં.
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<v id="48" bcv="JDG.20.48" />ત્યાર પછી ઈસ્રાએલી સૈન્ય તેઓની પાછળ ગયું; બાકી રહેલા બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો અને નગરના સર્વ લોકો, પશુઓ પણ અને જે કોઈ તેઓને મળ્યું બધાને માંરી નાખ્યા. તેઓએ રસ્તામાં આવતા બધાં ગામોને પણ બાળી નાખ્યા.
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<s style="s">બિન્યામીનીઓ માંટે પત્નીઓ પ્રાપ્ત કરવી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JDG.21.1" />ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ મિસ્પાહમાં પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી કે; “તેઓમાંથી કોઈ પણ પોતાની પુત્રી બિન્યામીની કુળસમૂહમાં પરણાવશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JDG.21.2" />હવે ઈસ્રાએલીઓ બેથેલમાં સાથે મળ્યા અને દેવ સમક્ષ, સાંજ સુધી મોટેથી રડ્યા, અને મોટા સાદે કહેવા લાગ્યા:
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<v id="3" bcv="JDG.21.3" />“ઓ ઈસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા, આજે ઈસ્રાએલના પોતાના એક કુળસમૂહને ખોવાનું શાથી થયું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JDG.21.4" />બીજે દિવસે તેઓ સવારમાં વહેલા ઊઠ્યા અને ત્યાં એક વેદી બાંધી, દહનાર્પણ અને શાંત્યર્પણ તેના પર અર્પણ કર્યા.
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<v id="5" bcv="JDG.21.5" />અને તેમણે એકબીજાની તપાસ કરી અને પૂછયું, “ઈસ્રાએલના બધા કુળસમૂહોમાંથી યહોવાની સમક્ષ કયું કુળસમૂહ હાજર નથી?” કારણ તેમણે મિસ્પાહમાં વચન આપ્યું હતું કે જે કોઈ પણ ઈસ્રાએલી યહોવાની સમક્ષ હાજર નહિ હોય તેનો વધ કરવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JDG.21.6" />પોતાના ભાઈ બિન્યામીન કુળને ગુમાંવ્યાને લીધે સમગ્ર ઈસ્રાએલી પ્રજા ઊડું દુઃખ અનુભવતી હતી. તેઓ એક બીજાને કહેતા હતાં, સર્વનાશ થઈ ગયો, “આજે ઈસ્રાએલમાંથી એક કુળસમૂહ ભૂસાઈ ગયું.
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<v id="7" bcv="JDG.21.7" />તેથી તેઓ વિચાર કરવા લાગ્યા કે, હવે જે બચ્ચા છે તેઓને માંટે પત્નીઓ મેળવવા આપણે શું કરીશું? કારણ કે યહોવાની સાક્ષીએ આપણે વચન આપ્યું છે કે, અમે અમાંરી પુત્રીઓ તેમને પણાવીશું નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JDG.21.8" />પછી તેઓએ કહ્યું, “ઈસ્રાએલના સર્વ કુળસમૂહોમાંથી કોણ મિસ્પાહમાં યહોવા સમક્ષ આવ્યું નહોતું?” પછી તેઓને જાણ થઈ યાબેશ ગિલયાદથી છાવણી પર અને મિસ્પાહની સભામાં કોઈ આવ્યું નહોતું.
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<v id="9" bcv="JDG.21.9" />તેઓએ લોકોની ગણતરી કરી તો તેમને ખબર પડી કે યાબેશ-ગિલયાદથી કોઈ સભામાં ભાગ લેવા છાવણીમાં આવ્યું નહોતું.
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<v id="10" bcv="JDG.21.10" />આથી સભાએ પોતાના ઉત્તમ સૈનિકોમાંથી 12,000 ને યાબેશ-ગિલયાદના લોકોનો સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકોનો નાશ કરવા માંટે મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="11" bcv="JDG.21.11" />અને હુકમ કર્યો, “તમાંરે આમ કરવું જોઈએ; દરેક પુરુષ અને દરેક સ્ત્રી જેણે પણ પુરુષનો અનુભવ કર્યો હોય તે સૌને માંરી નાખો પરંતુ કુંવારી સ્ત્રીઓને માંરશો નહિ.”
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<v id="12" bcv="JDG.21.12" />તેઓને યાબેશ-ગિલયાદમાંથી 400 કુંવારી કન્યાઓ મળી, જેઓએ પુરુષ સાથે સંબંધ રાખ્યો નહોતો. અને તેઓને કનાનમાં શીલોહની છાવણીમાં લઈ આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JDG.21.13" />ત્યાર પછી સભાના સમગ્ર લોકોએ બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહ જેઓ રિમ્મોનના કિલ્લા પર હતાં ત્યાં સંદેશવાહકને શાંતિ કરવા મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="JDG.21.14" />તેથી બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહ તે વખતે પાછા ફર્યા તેમને યાબેશ-ગિલયાદની જે સ્ત્રીઓને ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ માંરી નાખી હતી તે આપવામાં આવી, પણ તે સર્વ માંટે પત્નીઓ પૂરતા પ્રમાંણમાં નહોતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JDG.21.15" />લોકો હજી બિન્યામીનીઓના કુળસમૂહ માંટે દુઃખી હતાં, કારણ કે યહોવાએ લગભગ ઈસ્રાએલીઓના આખા કુળસમહૂમાં ભંગાળ પાડયુ હતું.
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<v id="16" bcv="JDG.21.16" />ઈસ્રાએલના વડીલોએ ચર્ચા કરી. “બાકીના બિન્યામીનીઓને માંટે પત્ની મેળવવા આપણે શું કરીશું? બિન્યામીનીઓની બધી સ્ત્રીઓને તો માંરી નાખવામાં આવી છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JDG.21.17" />તેઓ માંટે પત્નીઓ લાવવાનો કોઈક રસ્તો હોવો જોઈએ. ઈસ્રાએલી બિન્યામીનીઓનો વંશવેલો તો ચાલુ રાખવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="18" bcv="JDG.21.18" />ઈસ્રાએલની એક જાતિને ભૂંસાઈ જવા દેવાની નહોતી. પણ અમે અમાંરી પુત્રીઓ તેમને પરણાવી શકીએ તેમ નથી. કારણકે અમે પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી હતી: ‘જે કોઈ બિન્યામીનીઓને પુત્રી આપશે તેઓ શાપિત થશે.’
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<v id="19" bcv="JDG.21.19" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, જુઓ, યહોવા માંટે બેથેલથી શખેમ જવાના મુખ્ય રસ્તાની પૂર્વ તરફ અને બેથેલની ઉપર તરફના નગરમાં અને દક્ષિણ લબોનાહમાં વાર્ષિક ધાર્મિક ઉત્સવ રાખવામાં આવ્યો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JDG.21.20" />તેથી તેમણે બિન્યામીનીઓને કહ્યું, “જાઓ, જઈને દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓમાં લાગ જોતા છુપાઈ રહેજો.
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<v id="21" bcv="JDG.21.21" />શીલોહની કન્યાઓ નૃત્ય કરવા માંટે બહાર આવે ત્યારે ત્યાં ધસી જઈને તેઓને પકડી લેજો અને તમાંરી પત્ની થવાને માંટે તમાંરી સાથે તમાંરી ઘેર લઈ જજો.
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<v id="22" bcv="JDG.21.22" />જો તેમના પિતા કે ભાઈ અમાંરી આગળ ફરિયાદ કરે તો અમે તેમને કહેશું, ‘મહેરબાની કરીને, તેમને આ સ્ત્રીઓ રાખવા દો. કારણકે, અમે યાબેશ ગિલયાદના યુદ્ધમાં તેઓ માંટે પૂરતા પ્રમાંણમાં સ્ત્રીઓ લીધી નથી; અને તમે તમાંરી પુત્રીઓ તેમને આપી નથી એટલે તમાંરે માંથે દોષ નહિ આવે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JDG.21.23" />બિન્યામીનીઓના કુળસમૂહે તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ: જ્યારે કન્યાઓ નૃત્ય કરતી હતી ત્યારે પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિએ એક કન્યા પસંદ કરી લીધી અને તેને તેઓના દેશમાં લઈ ગયા. તેમણે પોતાના નગરોનું પુનઃનિર્માંણ કર્યુ. અને તેમાં વસવાટ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="JDG.21.24" />પછી ઈસ્રાએલીઓ પણ શીલોહથી પોતપોતાના કુળસમૂહ અને કુટુંબ પ્રમાંણે પોતપોતાના વતનમાં પાછા ફર્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JDG.21.25" />એ વખતે ઈસ્રાએલમાં કોઈ રાજા નહોતો અને પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ પોતાને મન ફાવે તે રીતે વર્તતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="RUT"><id id="RUT">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>રૂથ
</h><toc level="1">રૂથ
</toc><toc level="2">રૂથ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">રૂથ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">યહૂદિયામાં દુકાળ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="RUT.1.1" />ન્યાયાધીશોના સમયમાં ઘણા વરસો પહેલા બેથલેહેમ-યહૂદિયામાં દુકાળ પડયો તેથી યહૂદિયામાં આવેલા બેથલેહેમનો એક માંણસ પોતાની પત્ની અને બે પુત્રોને લઈને મોઆબ દેશમાં રહેવા ચાલ્યો ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="RUT.1.2" />તે વ્યકિતનું નામ અલીમેલેખ હતું. એની પત્નીનું નામ નાઓમી હતું, અને એના પુત્રોનાં નામ માંહલોન અને કિલ્યોન હતાં. તેઓ યહૂદિયામાં આવેલા બેથલેહેમમાંથી મોઆબ દેશમાં આવીને તેઓ ત્યાં રહેવા લાગ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="RUT.1.3" />તેઓનાં ત્યાંના વસવાટ દરમ્યાન નાઓમીનો પતિ અલીમેલેખ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો એટલે તે અને તેના બે પુત્રો રહ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="RUT.1.4" />આ બંને યુવાનો મોઆબી કન્યાઓ ઓર્પાહ અને રૂથ સાથે પરણ્યા. તેઓ આશરે દસ વરસ ત્યાં રહ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="RUT.1.5" />પછી માંહલોન અને કિલ્યોન બંને મૃત્યુ પામ્યા; એટલે નાઓમીને તેના બે પુત્રો અને પતિનો વિયોગ થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નાઓમી ઘરે પાછી ફરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="RUT.1.6" />નાઓમીએ પોતાની બે પુત્રવધૂઓને લઇને પોતાની માંતૃ ભૂમિમાં ઘેર આવવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો; કેમકે તેણે સાંભળ્યું હતું કે યહોવા પોતાની પ્રજાને અન્ન આપીને મદદ કરી રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="RUT.1.7" />નાઓમી જયાં રહેતી હતી તે જગા છોડી ત્યાંથી બંને પુત્રવધૂઓ સાથે વતનમાં પાછી જવા ચાલી નીકળી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="RUT.1.8" />રસ્તામાં તેણે પોતાની પુત્રવધૂઓને કહ્યું કે “તેઓ તેમના વતન મોઆબ પાછા ફરે, તેણે તેમ કહ્યું, તમે ઘરે પાછી જાઓ. તમે માંરી તથા માંરા મૃત પુત્રો પર ખૂબ દયા રાખી છે. યહોવા પણ તમાંરા પર એવી જ દયા રાખો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="RUT.1.9" />હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે યહોવા તમને વર મેળવવા અને તેની સાથે સુખી જીવન ગાળવા માંટે મદદ કરે.” પછી તેણીએ પુત્રવધુઓને ચુંબન કર્યું, અને તેઓ રડવા લાગી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="RUT.1.10" />અને બોલી, “પણ અમને તો તમાંરી સાથે તમાંરા લોકોમાં અને દેશમાં આવવું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="RUT.1.11" />પણ નાઓમીએ કહ્યું, “માંરી પુત્રીઓ પાછી જાઓ. તમે શું કામ માંરી સાથે આવવા માંગો છો? હવે મને વધુ પુત્રો કયાં થવાના છે, જે મોટા થઈને તમને પરણે?
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="RUT.1.12" />જાઓ, માંરી પુત્રીઓ પાછા જાઓ, હવે હું વૃદ્ધ થઈ છું અને ફરીથી પરણું તો પણ કોઇ પુત્રોને જન્મ દઇ શકુ તેમ નથી. હું આજે પરણુ અને આજ રાત્રે ગર્ભવતી બનું અને પુત્રને જન્મ આપુ તો પણ હું તમાંરે માંટે કોઇ કામની નથી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="RUT.1.13" />તો પણ તે મોટો થાય ત્યાં સુધી શું તમે રાહ જોશો? ત્યાં સુધી પરણવાનું રોકી રાખી એકલા રહેશો? ના, ના, માંરી દીકરીઓ એવું ન થાય. યહોવાએ મને એવી શિક્ષા કરી છે, માંરે લીધે તમાંરી આ દશા થઈ છે તે જોઈને માંરું મન દુ:ખી થઈ ગયું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="RUT.1.14" />આ બધું સાંભળીને તેઓ બંને ફરીથી મોટા સાદે રડવા લાગી. પછી ઓર્પાહે નાઓમીને ચુંબન કર્યું. અને પોતાને પિયર ચાલી ગઈ, પણ રૂથ ગઇ નહિ તેણે નાઓમીની સાથે જ રહેવાનો આગ્રહ રાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="RUT.1.15" />એટલે નાઓમીએ તેને કહ્યું, “જો, તારી દેરાણી તેના લોકો અને તેના દેવ પાસે પાછી ગઈ છે. તો તારે પણ તેની સાથે જવું જોઇએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="RUT.1.16" />પરંતુ રૂથે જવાબ આપ્યો, “મને તમાંરાથી વિખૂટી પાડવાનો આગ્રહ કરશો નહિ. તમે જયાં જશો ત્યાં હું જઈશ. અને તમે રહેશો ત્યાંજ હું રહીશ. તમાંરા લોકો એ માંરા લોકો અને તમાંરા દેવ એ માંરા દેવ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="RUT.1.17" />તમે જયાં મરણ પામશો ત્યાં જ હું પણ મરીશ ને ત્યાં જ દટાઈશ. મૃત્યુ સિવાય બીજા કશાથી જો હું તમાંરાથી વિખૂટી પડું તો યહોવા મને એથી પણ વધારે દુ:ખ દે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઘરે આવવુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="RUT.1.18" />નાઓમીને થયું કે, રૂથે એની સાથે આવવાનો દૃઢ નિશ્ચય કર્યો છે એટલે તેને કોઈ રીતે સમજાવાય તેમ નથી, એમ માંનીને બોલવાનું બંધ કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="RUT.1.19" />તે બંને બેથલેહેમ સુધી મુસાફરી કરીને ગઇ. તેઓ તેમને ગામ પહોચ્યા પછી લોકો તેમને જોઇને ખુશી થયા અને પૂછયું કે, “શું ખરેખર તેણી નાઓમી છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="RUT.1.20" />નાઓમીએ કહ્યું, “મને નાઓમી એટલે મીઠી ન કહેશો, મને એટલે કડવી માંરા કહો કારણ, સર્વસમર્થ દેવે માંરા પર મહાસંકટ આણ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="RUT.1.21" />હું અહીંથી ભરીભાદરી ગઈ હતી, યહોવાએ મને પાછી ખાલી મોકલી છે. યહોવાએ માંરી અવદશા કરી છે, તો શા માંટે મને નાઓમી કહો છો?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="RUT.1.22" />આમ નાઓમી તેની પુત્રવધૂ રૂથ સાથે મોઆબથી બેથલેહેમ પાછી આવી. તેઓ પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે જવની કાપણીની ઋતું શરૂ થઈ હતી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">બોઆઝ સાથે રૂથ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="RUT.2.1" />બેથલેહેમમાં બોઆઝ નામનો એક ધનવાન પુરુષ હતો. તે અલીમેલેખના કુટુંબનો હતો. તે નાઓમીના નજીકના સગામાંનો એક હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="RUT.2.2" />એક દિવસ રૂથે નાઓમીને કહ્યું કે, “કદાચ ખેતરમાં મને કોઇ મળશે જે માંરા પર દયા કરી મને અનાજ વીણવા દેશે.તેથી હું ખેતરમાં જઇશ અને થોડા બચેલા દાણા આપણા ખાવા માંટે લાવીશ.”
</p>
<p style="p">નાઓમીએ કહ્યું, “હા દીકરી, તું જઇ શકે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="RUT.2.3" />આથી તે ખેતરમાં ગઈ અને કામ કરનારાઓની પાછળ પાછળ ગઇ અને ખેતરમાં રહી ગયેલા કણસલાં વીણી લીધા; બન્યું એવું કે, આ ખેતર અલીમેલેખના કુટુંબના બોઆઝનું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="RUT.2.4" />તે ખેતરમાં કામ કરતી હતી ત્યારે બોઆઝ બેથલેહેમથી આવ્યો લણનારાઓને આવકાર આપ્યો અને કહ્યું કે, “યહોવા તમાંરી સાથે હોજો.”
</p>
<p style="p">લણનારાઓએ તેમને પ્રત્યુ્ત્તર આપ્યો કે, “યહોવા તમને આશીર્વાદ દો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="RUT.2.5" />પછી બોઆઝે કામ કરનારાઓ ઉપર દેખરેખ રાખનાર માંણસને પૂછયું; “આ કોની યુવતી છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="RUT.2.6" />તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો કે, “એ તો નાઓમી સાથે મોઆબથી પાછી આવેલી મોઆબી યુવતી છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="RUT.2.7" />આજે સવારે એણે મને પૂછયું કે; હું લણનારાઓની સાથે તેમની પાછળ પાછળ ચાસમાં કણસલાં વીણું? આમ, એ છેક પરોઢથી આવી છે અને અત્યાર સુધી વિસામો લીધા વગર ઉભા પગે કામ કરતી રહી છે. ફકત થોડી વાર કેટલીક ઘડી છાયડામાં આરામ કર્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="RUT.2.8" />બોઆઝે રૂથને કહ્યું, “માંરી દીકરી, મને સાંભળ. બીજી કોઇ વ્યકિતના ખેતરમાં જતી નહિ. તું માંત્ર માંરા ખેતરોમાંજ આવજે અને દાણા વીણતી વખતે માંરી કામદાર બાઇઓને અનુસરવાનું ચાલુ રાખજે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="RUT.2.9" />એ લોકો કયા ખેતરમાં લણે છે તે જોજે અને તેઓને અનુસરજે. અને મેં માંરા જુવાન માંણસોને તને હેરાન ન કરવા જણાવ્યું છે. અને જ્યારે તને તરસ લાગે ત્યારે જઇને માંરા યુવાનોના પાણીનાં કુંજામાંથી પાણી પીજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="RUT.2.10" />આ બધું સાંભળ્યા પછી તેનો આભાર વ્યકત કરતા રૂથ જમીન પર નીચી વળી. તેણીએ કહ્યું, “હું વિદેશી છું અને આ જગાની નથી છતાં તમે કેમ આટલા મદદગાર છો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="RUT.2.11" />બોઆઝે જવાબ આપ્યો, મે સાંભળ્યું છે કે, “તારા પતિના ગુજરી ગયા પછી તે તારા વતન મોઆબને અને માંબાપને છોડ્યા,અને તારી સાસુ સાથે આ દેશમાં આવી છે અને જે લોકોને તું આજ સુધી જાણતી નહોતી, તેઓમાં તું રહેવા આવી છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="RUT.2.12" />યહોવા તને તારા કર્મનો બદલો આપો. ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા, જેની પાંખમાં તેં આશ્રય લીધો છે તે તને પૂરો બદલો આપો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="RUT.2.13" />રૂથ નમ્રભાવે બોલી, “માંરા સાહેબ, હું તમાંરી અત્યંત ઉપકાર વશ છું માંરી પર ખૂબ જ દયાળુતા દર્શાવવા માંટે અને માંરા જેવી દાસીને આશ્વાસન ભર્યા શબ્દો કહેવા માંટે. હું તો તમાંરા સેવકોમાંનાં એકની પણ બરાબર નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="RUT.2.14" />બપોરે જમવાના સમયે બોઆઝે તેને કહ્યું, “અહીં આવ, સરકામાં બોળીને થોડો રોટલો ખાઈ લે.”
</p>
<p style="p">આથી તે લણનારાઓ ભેગી બેઠી અને બોઆઝે તેને પોંક આપ્યા. તેણે ધરાઈને ખાધું ને તેમાંથી થોડો પોંક વધ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="RUT.2.15" />ત્યારબાદ ફરીથી તે કામ કરવા ગઈ ત્યારે બોઆઝે જુવાનોને કહ્યું કે, “તેને પૂળીઓમાંથી પણ કણસલાં વીણવા દો. તેને અટકાવતા નહિ.
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<v id="16" bcv="RUT.2.16" />પૂળામાંથી પણ થોડાં કણસલાં ખેંચી કાઢી બહાર રહેવા દેજો, જેથી એ વીણી લઈ શકે. એને ઠપકો ન આપશો.”
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<s style="s">નાઓમીએ બોઆઝ વિષે સાંભળ્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="RUT.2.17" />આ રીતે તેણે સાંજ સુધી ખેતરમાં કામ કર્યું, પછી વીણેલાં કણસલાં મસળીને તેણે દાણા કાઢયા તો આશરે એક એફાહ બરાબર 50 રતલ જવ થયા.
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<v id="18" bcv="RUT.2.18" />તે લઈને તે ગામમાં ગઈ, અને પોતે જે ભેગું કર્યુ હતું તે સાસુને બતાવ્યું. પછી ખાતાં જે વધ્યું હતું તે કાઢીને સાસુને આપ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="RUT.2.19" />તેની સાસુએ તેને પૂછયું, “આ બધા દાણા તેં ક્યાંથી ભેગા કર્યા? અને તેં ક્યાં કામ કર્યું? તારું ધ્યાન રાખનાર માંણસને આશીર્વાદ આપજે.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણીએ કહ્યું કે, “આજે મેં બોઆઝ નામના એક માંણસના ખેતરમાં કામ કર્યું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="RUT.2.20" />નાઓમીએ કહ્યું, “બોઆઝ આપણો સંબંધી છે. એ આપણા રક્ષણ કરનારાઓમાંથી એક છે તે આપણો નજીકનો સગો છે. દેવના આશીર્વાદ એના પર રહે કારણકે એમણે જીવીત અને મૃત પામેલા પર પણ હંમેશા દયા દાખવી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="RUT.2.21" />એટલે રૂથે કહ્યું, “તેમણે મને લણણી પૂરી થાય ત્યાં સુધી તેના માંણસોની પાછળ પાછળ જવા કહ્યું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="RUT.2.22" />નાઓમીએ કહ્યું, “માંરી દીકરી, એ તો બહુ સારું, તું બીજા ખેતરમાં જાય અને તને કોઈ હેરાન કરે તેના કરતાં એના માંણસો સાથે રહેવું એ વધું સારું છે.”
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<v id="23" bcv="RUT.2.23" />આમ જવની અને ત્યારબાદ ઘઉંનીં પણ લણણી પૂરી થઈ ત્યાં સુધી રૂથે બોઆઝના માંણસો સાથે વીણ્યા કર્યું અને પોતાની સાસુ સાથે જ રહેવાનું પણ ચાલુ રાખ્યું.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">રૂથનું બોઆઝ સાથે ખેતરમાં જવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="RUT.3.1" />એક દિવસ રૂથની સાસુ નાઓમીએ રૂથને કહ્યું, “માંરી દીકરી, હવે હું તારા માંટે પતિ શોધી કાઢું, અને તને આનંદથી ફરી પરણાવું એ માંટે આ યોગ્ય સમય છે ખરું ને?
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<v id="2" bcv="RUT.3.2" />તેં બોઆઝના ખેતરમાં દાણા ભેગા કર્યા. તે આપણો નજીકનો સગો છે. આજે રાત્રે તે ખળામાં જવ ઊપણવાનો છે
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<v id="3-4" bcv="RUT.3.3" />તેથી તું, હું કહું છું તેમ કર. નાહીધોઈને શરીરે અત્તર લગાવી સારાં વસ્ત્રો પહેરી ખળામાં જા, પણ તે રાત્રીનું ખાણું પતાવે ત્યાં સુધી તેને જાણવા ન દેતી કે તું આવી છે, તે સૂઇ જાય પછી તેના પગ પાસે સૂઇ જજે અને તેના પગ પરથી પાગરણ ઉચું કરીને તેની પાસે સૂઈ જજે. પછી તારે શુંકરવું તે તને તે કહેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="RUT.3.5" />પછી રૂથે કહ્યું, “સારું, હું તમાંરા કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે જ બધું કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="RUT.3.6" />આથી રૂથે ખળામાં જઈને તેની સાસુએ કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ.
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<v id="7" bcv="RUT.3.7" />બોઆઝ પોતાનું કામ પુરું કરી અને જમીને ખૂબ પ્રસન્નતા અને સંતોષમાં હતો, તે ઘાસના ઢગલા પાસે જઈને સૂઈ ગયો. પછી રૂથ છાનીમાંની આવી અને તેના પગ ઉપરથી પાગરણ ખસેડીને તેની બાજુમાં સૂઈ ગઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="RUT.3.8" />મધરાતે પડખું ફેરવતી વખતે તે અચાનક જાગી ગયો, અને તેના પગ પાસે એક જુવાન યુવતી સૂતી હતી તે જોઇને ચોંકી ગયો.
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<v id="9" bcv="RUT.3.9" />તેણે તેણીને પૂછયું; “તું કોણ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી રૂથે ઉત્તર આપ્યો કે, “હું તમાંરી સેવિકા રૂથ છું. કેમ કે તમે માંરા નજીકના સગા છો. તેથી માંરા પર તમાંરું પાગરણ પાથરો.”<f caller="+"><fr>3:9
</fr><fk>તેથી … પાથરો
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે: આથી બતાવામા આવ્યું હતું કે રૂથ મદદ અને રક્ષણ માંગી રહી હતી.</ft></f>
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="RUT.3.10" />બોઆઝે કહ્યું, “માંરી દીકરી, દેવ, તને આશીર્વાદ આપો. તારી માંરા પ્રત્યેની માંયા, પહેલા નાઓમી પ્રત્યે દર્શાવેલ માંયા કરતા પણ અધિક છે. તું કોઈ જુવાન માંણસને લગ્ન કરવા શોધી શકી હોત પછી તે ધનવાન હોય કે ગરીબ પણ બદલામાં તું માંરી પાસે આવી.
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<v id="11" bcv="RUT.3.11" />દીકરી, ગભરાઈશ નહિ, તું જે કાંઈ કહેશે તે હું કરીશ.
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<v id="12" bcv="RUT.3.12" />આખું નગર જાણે છે કે તું સદગુણી સ્ત્રી છે, પણ તારી સંભાળ લેવાની જવાબદારી માંરી હોવા છતાં માંરા કરતાં પણ વધારે નજીકનો સગો માંણસ બીજો એક છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="RUT.3.13" />આજની રાત તો તું અહીં રહે અને સવારમાં જો તે તારી જવાબદારી સ્વીકારવાનો પોતાનો હક્ક બજાવવા રાજી હોય તો ઠીક, નહિ તો હું યહોવાને નામે વચન આપીને કહું છું કે, હું તારી જવાબદારી ઉપાડી લઈશ, સવાર થતાં સુધી તું અહીં સૂઈ રહે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="RUT.3.14" />તેથી સવાર થતાં સુધી તે તેના પગ આગળ સૂઈ રહી, અને લોકો એકબીજાને ઓળખી શકે તેટલુ અજવાળું થતા પહેલાં તે ઊઠી ગઈ કારણ કે બોઆઝે
</p>
<p style="p">તેને કહ્યું, “હતું કે તે રાત દરમ્યાન ત્યાં હતી તે કોઇને ખબર પડવી જોઇએ નહિ.”
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<v id="15" bcv="RUT.3.15" />બોઆઝે રૂથને ઓઢણું તેની આગળ પાથરવા કહ્યું “તેણે તેના ઓઢણામાં થોડા છ માંપ જવના દાણા તેની સાસુને ભેટ તરીકે વીંટાળીને આપ્યા અને ત્યારબાદ તે ઘરે ગઈ.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે એના કોટમાં થોડા જવના દાણા વીંટાળીને મૂક્યા. અને તેને ખભે ચડાવી દીધો. પછી તે નગરમાં પાછી ફરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="RUT.3.16" />પછી તે તેની સાસુ પાસે આવી ત્યારે નાઓમીએ તેને પૂછયું, “માંરી દીકરી, ત્યાં શું થયું?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="RUT.3.17" />બોઆઝે તેને માંટે જે જે કર્યું હતું તે બધું રૂથે કહી સંભળાવ્યું, અને કહ્યું કે, “ઉપરાંત, તેણે મને આ છ માંપ જવ પણ આપ્યા, અને કહ્યું કે તારે ખાલી હાથે સાસુ પાસે પાછા જવાનું નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="RUT.3.18" />એટલે પછી નાઓમીએ તેને કહ્યું, “માંરી દીકરી ધીરજ રાખ, અને આનું પરિણામ શું આવે છે તે જો. આજેને આજે એ કામ પૂરું કર્યા વિના તે જંપવાનો નથી.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">રૂથ અને બોઆઝના વિવાહ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="RUT.4.1" />બોઆઝ શહેરના દરવાજા પાસે લોકો ભેગા થાય છે તે જગ્યાએ ગયો. એના પરિવારનો નજીકનો સગો ત્યાંથી પસાર થાય ત્યાં સુધી ત્યાં બેસી રહ્યો. એણે એને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “અરે ફલાણા આવ અને અહીં બેસ હું તારી સાથે થોડી વાત કરવા માંગું છું. એટલે તે આવીને બેઠો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="RUT.4.2" />ત્યાર પછી બોઆઝે નગરના દશ વડીલોને તેડાવ્યા અને કહ્યું અહીં બેસો, અને તેઓ બેઠા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="RUT.4.3" />તેણે નાઓમીના સગાને બોલાવીને કહ્યું કે, “તમને બધાને ખબર છે કે નાઓમી મોઆબથી પાછી આવી છે અને એને પોતાના પતિ અલીમેલેખની જમીન વેચી દેવી છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="RUT.4.4" />મને લાગ્યું કે માંરે તમને તે વિષે વાત કરવી જોઈએ કે, અહીં આપણા જે વડીલો બેઠા છે તેમની સાક્ષીએ તું એ ખરીદી લે. જો તારે કુટુંબી તરીકેનો હક્ક ભોગવવો હોય તો ખરીદી લે, અને જો તારે હક્ક ન ભોગવવો હોય તો તે કહે, જેથી મને ખબર પડે, કારણ નજીકના કુટુંબી તરીકેનો પહેલો હક્ક તારો છે અને તારા પછી માંરા પોતાનો છે.” તેણે કહ્યું, “હું ખરીદી લેવા તૈયાર છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="RUT.4.5" />બોઆઝે કહ્યું, “તું જે દિવસે નાઓમી પાસેથી એ જમીન ખરીદી લેશે,મરનાર માંણસની પત્ની રૂથ જે મોઆબથી છે તે તારી પત્ની બનશે. જ્યારે એને પુત્ર થશે એ જમીન એને મળશે, આ રીતે જમીન મરનાર માંણસના પરિવારની જ રહેશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="RUT.4.6" />ત્યારે પેલા માંણસે કહ્યું કે, “હું એ જમીન ખરીદવા માંગતો નથી, કારણકે એમ કરતા હું માંરી પોતાની જમીન ખોઇ બેસીશ. તેથી તું બોઆઝ જમીન ખરીદી લે.”
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="RUT.4.7" />હવે તે સમયમાં ઇસ્રાએલમાં મિલકતનું વેચાણ અથવા ફેરબદલી કરતી વખતે સોદો પાકો કરવા મૂળ માંલિક પોતાનું પગરખું કાઢીને સામાંને આપે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="RUT.4.8" />નાઓમીના સગાએ બોઆઝને કહ્યું કે, “તું જમીન તારે પોતાને માંટે ખરીદી લે.” અને પોતાનું પગરખું બોઆઝને આપ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="RUT.4.9" />પછી બોઆઝે વડીલોને તથા ત્યાં હાજર રહેલા બધા લોકોને કહ્યું કે, “આજે તમે સાક્ષી છો કે મેં નાઓમી પાસેથી અલીમેલેખ, કિલ્યોન અને માંહલોન પાસે જે હતું તે સર્વસ્વ ખરીધું છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="RUT.4.10" />તદુપરાંત, તમે એ વાતના પણ આજે સાક્ષી છો કે હું માંહલોનની વિધવા મોઆબી રૂથનો પતિ બનું છું જેથી મિલકત મરનારને નામે જ રહે. અને તેનું નામ કુટુંબીઓમાંથી અને તેના નગરમાંથી ભૂંસાઈ જાય નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="RUT.4.11" />શહેરની ભાગોળમાં સર્વ લોકો તથા વડીલોએ કહ્યું કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“અમે સાક્ષી છીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા આ સ્ત્રીને રાહેલ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને લેઆહ જેવી બનાવે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેણે ઇસ્રાએલનું ઘર બનાવ્યું હતું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું એફ્રાથાહમાં સુખી થા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બેથલેહેમમાં નામાંકિત થા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="RUT.4.12" />યહોવા તમને રૂથ દ્વારા પુત્રો આપે જેઓ તમને પ્રખ્યાત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મહાન બનાવશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારું કુટુંબ યહૂદા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તામાંરના પુત્ર પેરેસના<f caller="+"><fr>4:12
</fr><fk>પેરેસ
</fk><ft>બોઆઝનો એક પૂર્વજ.</ft></f> કુટુંબ જેવું (મહાન) બનો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="RUT.4.13" />તેથી બોઆઝ રૂથને પરણ્યો, ને તે તેતી પત્નિ થઇ. તે તેની પાસે ગયો, અને યહોવાની કૃપાથી તે સગર્ભા બની અને એક પુત્રનો પ્રસવ થયો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="RUT.4.14" />નગરની સ્રીઓ નાઓમીને કહેવા લાગી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“આશીર્વાદિત દેવ પાસેથી આવું સંતાન<f caller="+"><fr>4:14
</fr><fk>સંતાન
</fk><ft>શાબ્દિક રીતે-આનો અર્થ થાય છે રક્ષણ કરનાર. મૂળ પ્રમાણે છંદ કહે છે, “આશીર્વાદિત છે યહોવા જેણે આજે તને ઉદ્ધારક વિના નથી રાખી.” આ સંતાન અથવા રક્ષણ કરનાર બોઆઝ ને ઉલ્લેખ કરતું હોય, અથવા સ્ત્રીઓએ સંતાન માટે આ નામનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો હોય કારણ કે તે નાઓમી અને તેના કુટુંબની સંભાળ લેનાર થશે અને અલીમેલેખનું નામ આગળ લઇ જનાર હશે.</ft></f> મેળવનાર તું નસીબદાર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ઇસ્રાએલમાં પ્રખ્યાત થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="RUT.4.15" />તે તને આનંદથી ફરી જીવંત બનાવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વૃદ્ધાવસ્થામાં તે તારી સંભાળ રાખશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે આમ એટલા માંટે કરશે કારણકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની માંતા રૂથને તારા ઉપર પ્રેમ છે અને તારી સંભાળ રાખે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા માંટે એ સાત પુત્રો કરતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ વધુ સારી છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="RUT.4.16" />નાઓમીએ તે બાળકને પોતાની ગોદમાં મૂક્યું અને તેની સંભાળ લીધી.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="RUT.4.17" />આડોસપાડોસની સ્રીઓએ કહ્યું, “નાઓમીને પુત્ર અવતર્યો છે.” અને મહોલ્લાની સ્ત્રીઓએ તે બાળકનું નામ ઓબેદ પાડયું. તે યશાઈનો પિતા હતો અને યશાઈ દાઉદનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">રૂથ અને બોઆઝનો પરિવાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="RUT.4.18" />બોઆઝની વંશાવળી તેના પૂર્વજ પેરેસથી શરૂ થઈ તે આ પ્રમાંણે છે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">પેરેસથી હેસ્રોન થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="RUT.4.19" />હેસ્રોનથી રામ
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને રામથી આમ્મીનાદાબ થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="RUT.4.20" />આમ્મીનાદાબથી નાહશોન
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને નાહશોનથી સલ્મોન થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="RUT.4.21" />સલ્મોનથી બોઆઝ
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને બોઆઝનો પુત્ર ઓબેદ થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="RUT.4.22" />ઓબેદનો પુત્ર યશાઇ
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને યશાઇનો પુત્ર દાઉદ થયો.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="1SA"><id id="1SA">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>1 શમુએલનું
</h><toc level="1">શમુએલનું પહેલું પુસ્તક
</toc><toc level="2">1 શમુએલનું
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">શમુએલનું
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">પહેલું પુસ્તક
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">શીલોહમાં એલ્કાનાહ અને તેના કુળની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.1.1" />એફાઈમના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં એલ્કાનાહ નામનો માંણસ રહેતો હતો. તે સૂફ કુળમાંથી હતો. તેના પિતાનું નામ યરોહામ હતું. યરોહામના પિતાનું નામ અલીહૂ હતું. અલીહૂના પિતાનું નામ તોહૂ હતું અને તોહૂના પિતાનું નામ સૂફ હતું જે એફાઇમ કુળસમૂહમાંથી હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.1.2" />તેને હાન્ના અને પનિન્ના નામની બે પત્નીઓ હતી. પનિન્નાને સંતાનો હતા; જયારે હાન્ના નિ:સંતાન હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.1.3" />પ્રતિવર્ષ એલ્કાનાહ અને તેનું કુટુંબ સાથે સર્વસમર્થ દેવની ઉપાસના કરવા અને અર્પણો અર્પણ કરવા માંટે શીલોહ જતા હતા. ત્યાં એલીના બે પુત્રો હોફની અને ફીનહાસ યહોવાના યાજકો તરીકે સેવા આપતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1SA.1.4" />જયારે જયારે એલ્કાનાહ પોતાના અર્પણો અર્પણ કરતો ત્યારે તે પોતાની પત્ની પનિન્નાને અને તેનાં બધાં બાળકોને ખોરાકનો ભાગ આપતો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1SA.1.5" />એલ્કાનાહ હાન્નાને હમેશા ખોરાકનો એક સરખો ભાગ આપતો, હાન્નાને યહોવાએ નિ:સંતાન રાખી હતી છતા એલ્કાનાહ આમ કરતો. એલ્કાનાહ એટલા માંટે આમ કરતો કેમકે હાન્નાજ એ પત્ની હતી જેની પર તે વધારે પ્રેમ કરતો હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">પનિન્નાના મહેણાંથી હેરાન હાન્ના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.1.6" />પનિન્ના હમેશા હાન્નાને ચિંતિત કરતી અને તેને ખરાબ લાગે તેમ કરતી હતી. પનિન્નાએ આમ કર્યું કારણકે હાન્ના સંતાન મેળવી શકતી ન હતી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1SA.1.7" />પ્રતિવર્ષ આમ બનતું; જયારે તેઓ યહોવાના મંદિરે શીલોહ જતા ત્યારે પનિન્ના તેને મહેણાં માંરતી અને તેની મશ્કરી કરતી, તેથી હાન્ના રડી પડતી અને ખાતી પણ નહિ.
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.1.8" />તેનો પતિ હઁમેશા તેણીને પૂછતો, “હાન્ના, તું શા માંટે રડે છે? અને તું ખાતી કેમ નથી? તું શા માંટે આટલી ઉદાસ છે? હું દસ પુત્રો કરતાં સારો છું તેમ તારે વિચારવું.”
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</p>
<s style="s">હાન્નાની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.1.9" />એક વખત મંદિરમાં તેમણે પ્રસાદ ગ્રહણ કર્યા પછી હાન્ના પવિત્રમંડપમાં ગઈ યહોવાની સામે ઊભી રહી. તે વખતે યાજક એલી યહોવાના મંદિરના પ્રવેશદ્વાર પાસે પોતાના આસન ઉપર બેઠો હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.1.10" />હાન્ના બહુ દુ:ખી હતી. તેણીએ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી ત્યારે તેણી બહુ રડી.
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.1.11" />તેણે એવી માંનતા રાખી કે, “ઓ સર્વસમર્થ યહોવા, તું જો તારી આ દાસી પર કૃપાદૃષ્ટિ કરે, માંરી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળે, ભૂલી ન જાય અને મને એક પુત્ર આપે, તો હું તે પુત્ર દેવને સમર્પણ કરીશ, જે જીવનપર્યંત દેવનો થઈને રહેશે અને તેના વાળ કદી કપાવીશ નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.1.12" />આમ લાંબા સમય સુધી હાન્નાએ યહોવા સમક્ષ પ્રાર્થના કરી એલીએ જોયું કે માંત્ર તેના હોઠ હાલતા હતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.1.13" />તે મનમાં પ્રાર્થના કરતી હતી; તેના હોઠ હાલતા હતા પરંતુ તેનો અવાજ સંભળાતો નહોતો,
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.1.14" />આથી એલીએ માંન્યું કે, “તે પીધેલી છે. તમે બહું જ પી લીધુ છે! તેણે તેણીને કહ્યું દ્રાક્ષારસ છોડ અને ધીરજ ધર.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.1.15" />હાન્નાએ કહ્યું, “ના માંરા ધણી, મેં દ્રાક્ષારસ કે કોઈ કેફી પીણું પીધું નથી. પણ હું ઊંડી ઉપાધિમાં છું, હું સર્વસમર્થ દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરી રહી છું અને તેમને માંરા દુ:ખો અને ઇચ્છાઓ વિષે કહી રહી છું.
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<v id="16" bcv="1SA.1.16" />મને એવી પતિત ના માંનશો. પણ આ બધો વખત હું માંરી વ્યથા અને દુ:ખોની બહાર થઇ દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરતી હતી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.1.17" />એટલે એલીએ તેને કહ્યું, “શાંતિથી જા, અને ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ તારી ઇચ્છા પૂરી કરશે અને તારી પ્રાર્થનાનો બદલો આપે!”<f caller="+"><fr>1:17
</fr><fk>શાંતિથી … આપે
</fk><ft>કદાચ એલ્કાના એલીનાં હાન્નાને આશીર્વાદ નો ઉલ્લેખ કરી રહ્યો છે.</ft></f>
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.1.18" />હાન્નાએ કહ્યું, “તમાંરો આભાર, માંરા ઉપર દયા રાખતા રહેજો.” અને પછી તે ચાલી ગઈ. તેણે થોડું ખાધું, હવે તે ઉદાસ રહેતી નહોતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1SA.1.19" />બીજે દિવસે સવારમાં તેઓ વહેલાં ઊઠયાં અને મંદિરે ગયાં. ત્યાં તેઓએ સર્વસમર્થ યહોવાનું ભજન કર્યુ. પછી તેઓ તેમના ઘરે પાછા રામાં ગયા.
</p>
<s style="s">શમુએલનો જન્મ
</s>
<p style="p">એલ્કાનાહ તેની પત્ની હાન્ના સાથે સૂતો, અને દેવે તેને યાદ કરી અને તેની ઇચ્છા પૂરી થઇ.
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.1.20" />આજ સમયે તેના પછીના વષેર્ હાન્ના ગર્ભવતી બની અને તેણે એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો, તેણે તેનું નામ શમુએલ પાડયું. કારણ, તે કહેતી, “મેં યહોવા પાસે તેને માંગ્યો હતો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1SA.1.21" />એક વર્ષ બાદ એલ્કાનાહ અને તેનું સમગ્ર કુટુંબ પ્રતિ વર્ષની જેમ યહોવા દેવને પ્રાર્થના અને યજ્ઞ કરવા અને તેણે દેવને આપેલું વચન પૂરુ કરવા શીલોહ ગયાં.
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.1.22" />પણ હાન્ના ગઈ નહિ, તેણે તેના પતિને કહ્યું, “પુત્ર ખાતો થાય પછી હું એને યહોવા સમક્ષ લઈ જઈશ, અને યહોવાને અર્પણ કરીશ પછી કાયમ માંટે તે ત્યાં જ રહેશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1SA.1.23" />એટલે તેના પતિ એલ્કાનાહે કહ્યું, “તને જેમ ઠીક લાગે તેમ કર અને ત્યાં સુધી તું બાળકને રાખ. યહોવાના શબ્દો સાચા પડે,” તે બાળક સાથે ઘરમાં રહી અને તે નક્કર આહાર લેવા જેટલો મોટો થયો ત્યાં સુધી એની સાચવણી કરી.
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</p>
<s style="s">શમુએલ દેવને સમર્પણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1SA.1.24" />પછી ધાવણ છોડાવ્યા બાદ તે તેને શીલોહ યહોવાના મંદિરમાં લઈ ગઈ, તેણે ત્રણ વર્ષનો એક બળદ, એક એફાહ લોટ અને થોડો દ્રાક્ષારસ પણ સાથે લીધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1SA.1.25" />તેમણે બળદને વધેર્યો, પછી બાળકને એલી આગળ રજૂ કર્યો.
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<v id="26" bcv="1SA.1.26" />હાન્નાએ કહ્યું, “માંરા મુરબ્બી, હું સમ ખઇને કહું છું કે હું સાચું બોલી રહી છું. હું એજ સ્રી છું જે તમાંરી પાસે ઊભી હતી અને યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરતી હતી.
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<v id="27" bcv="1SA.1.27" />મેં આ બાળક મેળવવા માંટે પ્રાર્થના કરી અને યહોવાએ માંરી પ્રાર્થનાનો જવાબ આપ્યો છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="1SA.1.28" />હવે હું આ પુત્રને યહોવાને સમપિર્ત કરું છું. તે જ્યાઁ સુધી જીવશે ત્યાં સુધી યહોવાની સેવામાં રહેશે.” પછી તેણે યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરી.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">હાન્નાનું વચનપાલન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.2.1" />પછી હાન્નાએ આ મુજબ દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“યહોવા તમે માંરું હૃદય આનંદથી ભરી દીધું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું માંરા દેવમાં બહું વિશ્વાસ કરું છું
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હવે માંરા શત્રુઓને હું જવાબ આપીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે મને મદદ કરીને માંરી મુશ્કેલી દૂર કરી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એથી હું તમાંરા તારણમાં અતિ આનંદમાં છું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.2.2" />યહોવા જેવાં પવિત્ર દેવ કોઈ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના સિવાય બીજા કોઈ દેવ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા દેવ જેવા કોઈ રક્ષણહાર નથી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.2.3" />અભિમાંન અને બડાઇ હાંકનાર ન બનો.
</q>
<q style="q1">બડાશ માંરવાનું બંધ કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે દેવ બધું જાણે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે લોકોને દોરવે છે અને તેમનો ન્યાય કરે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.2.4" />બળવાન યોદ્ધાઓના ધનુષ્ય તૂટે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હવે નિર્બળ બળવાન બન્યા છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.2.5" />જે ધનવાન લોકો પાસે પુષ્કળ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખોરાક ભૂતકાળમાં હતો
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ ખોરાક માંટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે કામ કરવું પડશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જયારે ભૂખ્યાઓને હવે ભૂખ રહી નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાંઝણી સ્ત્રીઓને સાત સાત સંતાનો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જે સ્ત્રીને ઘણાં સંતાનો હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દુ:ખી છે કેમકે તેમના સંતાનો જતા રહ્યાં છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.2.6" />યહોવા જ માંરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે જ જીવન આપે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા જ માંણસોને મૃત્યુલોકમાં લઈ જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાછા લાવે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.2.7" />યહોવા જ રંક બનાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તવંગર પણ એજ બનાવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા કોઇ લોકોને ઉતારી પાડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીજાને માંનવંતા બનવા દે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.2.8" />યહોવા જ એકલા ગરીબ લોકોને ધૂળમાંથી ઉપાડે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની મુશ્કેલીઓ દુર કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા જ તેમને રાજાઓની સાથે બેસાડે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇચ્છા પ્રમાંણે બહુમુલ્ય આસનો અને સન્માંન આપે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આ આખી ધરતી યહોવાની પોતાની છે, તેના પાયાઓ સુધી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાએ તેના પર જગત ઉભુ કર્યું છે.<f caller="+"><fr>2:8
</fr><fk>યહોવાએ … કર્યું છે
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે: યહોવા ગરીબોને રાખમાંથી ઉપાડે છે.</ft></f>
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.2.9" />યહોવા પોતાના ભકતોની સંભાળ રાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દુષ્ટો ને અંધકારમાં રખાય છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓ નાશ પામશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની શકિત તેમને વિજય
</q>
<q style="q1">મેળવવામાં મદદ નહિ કરે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.2.10" />યહોવા તેમના શત્રુઓનો નાશ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરાત્પર દેવ લોકોની વિરુદ્ધ આકાશમાંથી ગર્જના કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા દૂરનાં પ્રદેશોનો પણ ન્યાય કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાના રાજાને બળ આપશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના ખાસ રાજાને બળવાન બનાવશે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.2.11" />ત્યાર બાદ તેઓએ શમુએલને શીલોહમાં રાખ્યો અને એલ્કાનાહ અને તેનો પરિવાર પોતાને ઘેર પાછા ફર્યાં. બાળક શમુએલ યહોવાનો સેવક બન્યો અને તે એલી યાજકને દેવની સેવામાં મદદ કરતો હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">એલીના પુત્રોની દુષ્ટતા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.2.12" />હવે એલીના પુત્રો દુષ્ટ હતા. તેઓને યહોવા પ્રતિ પ્રેમ ન હતો!
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.2.13" />યાજકોએ લોકો સાથે કેવી રીતે વર્તવું તેની તેઓને ચિંતા ન હતી. યાજકોએ લોકો માંટે આ કરવું જોઇએ કે જ્યારે કોઇ વ્યકિત યજ્ઞાર્પણ લાવે, યાજકોએ માંસને ઉકળતા પાણીના વાસણમાં નાખવું. પછી યાજકનાં સેવકે ત્રણ અણીવાળો ખાસ કાંટો લાવવો.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.2.14" />યાજકના સેવકે તે કાટો વાસણમાંથી થોડું માંસ કાઢવા વાપરવો. સેવકે વાસણમાંથી કાટાં વડે જેટલું માંસ કાઢયું તેટલુંજ યાજકને મળે. શીલોહ પર અર્પણો કરવા આવેલા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માંટે યાજકોએ આવી રીતે કરવાનું હતું.
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.2.15" />પરંતુ એલીના પુત્રોએ તેમ ન કર્યુ. ઘણી વખત વેદી પર ચરબી બળી જાય તે પહેલાંજ, યાજકનો સેવક અર્પણ કરનારાઓ પાસે આવતો અને કહેતો, “શેકવા માંટે યાજકને માંસ આપો. તે તમાંરી પાસેથી રાંધેલું માંસ નહિ સ્વીકારે; તે ફકત કાચું માંસ જ સ્વીકારશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.2.16" />જો બલિદાન અર્પણ કરનાર એમ કહે: “તારે જેટલું જોઈએ તેટલું લઈ જા, પણ ચરબીનું દહન થઈ જવા દે.” તો તે કહેતો, “ના, તે નહિ ચાલે, મને અત્યારે જ આપ; તું જો મને નહિ આપે તો હું બળજબરીથી લઈ જઈશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.2.17" />એલીના પુત્રોનું આ પાપ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિમાં અત્યંત ગંભીર હતું, કારણ કે તેઓ યહોવાના અર્પણનો અનાદર કરતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.2.18" />શમુએલ યહોવાનો સેવક હતો. તે યહોવાની સેવા કરતો અને એક શણનું કેડિયું પહેરતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.2.19" />તેની માંતા પ્રતિવર્ષ તેને માંટે એક નાનો ઝભ્ભો સીવતી અને તેના પતિની સાથે યજ્ઞ કરવા આવતી ત્યારે સાથે લઈને આવતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1SA.2.20" />તે વખતે યાજક એલી એલ્કાનાહને અને તેની વહુને આશીર્વાદ આપતો અને કહેતો, “તમે તમાંરા પુત્રને યહોવાને સમપિર્ત કર્યો છે. તેના બદલામાં તે તને આ સ્ત્રીથી વધારે બાળકો આપો.”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારબાદ તેઓ પાછાં ઘેર જતાં.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.2.21" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાએ હાન્ના ઉપર કૃપા કરી અને તેણે ત્રણ પુત્રો અને બે પુ્ત્રીઓને જન્મ આપ્યો. એ દરમ્યાન બાળક શમુએલ પણ યહોવાના પવિત્ર સાન્નિધ્યમાં મોટો થતો ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">એલી પોતાના દુષ્ટ પુત્રોની સંભાળ લેવામાં અસફળ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1SA.2.22" />હવે એલી ઘણો વૃદ્વ થયો હતો. પોતાના પુત્રો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાથે કેવી રીતે વર્તતા તે, અને યહોવાના મુલાકાતમંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ ભેગી થતી સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે સૂતા પણ હતા એ બધુ તે સાંભળતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1SA.2.23" />તેથી તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “તમે આવું દુષ્કૃત્ય શા માંટે કરો છો? તમે જે ખરાબ રીતે વતોર્ છો, બધા લોકો મને એમ કહે છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="1SA.2.24" />દીકરાઓ, આ બધું બંધ કરો. યહોવાના લોકો જે વાત કરે છે તે અતિ દુ:ખદ છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="1SA.2.25" />જો કોઈ માંણસ બીજા માંણસ સામે પાપ કરે તો દેવ તેને મદદ કરે. પરંતુ કોઈ માંણસ યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કરે તો કોણ વચ્ચે પડે અને તેને બચાવે? આ રીતે એલીએ તેમને ઠપકો આપ્યો.”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ તેના દીકરાઓએ તેનું સાંભળ્યું નહિ. તેથી યહોવાએ બંનેને માંરી નાખવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1SA.2.26" />દરમ્યાન બાળક શમુએલ મોટો થતો ગયો, અને યહોવાની અને લોકોની પ્રીતિ પામતો ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">એલીના પરિવાર વિષે ભયંકર ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1SA.2.27" />દેવના એક માંણસે એલીની પાસે આવીને કહ્યું, “આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે; ‘જયારે તારા પિતૃઓ ફારુનનાં ગુલામ હતાં, ત્યારે મેં તેને દર્શન આપ્યા હતાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="1SA.2.28" />ઇસ્રાએલના બધા કુળોમાંથી મેઁ તમાંરા કુળને માંરા યાજકો તરીકે, અર્પણો અર્પણ કરવા માંટે, અને વેદી ઉપર ધૂપ બાળવા માંટે અને યાજકને પહેરવાનો ખાસ ઝભ્ભો પહેરવા માંટે પસંદ કર્યું. ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મને જે અર્પણો અર્પણ કરે છે તેમાંથી મેઁ તારા કુળસમૂહને માંસ લેવા દીધું.
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<v id="29" bcv="1SA.2.29" />તું એ અર્પણોને અને ભેટોને કેમ માંન નથી આપતો? તું માંરા કરતાં તારા પુત્રોને શા માંટે વધુ માંન-સન્માંન આપે છે? માંરા લોકોએ અર્પણ કરેલાં બલિદાનોમાંથી તમને ઉત્તમ ભાગ મળે છે અને તે ખાઇને પુષ્ટ બન્યા છો.’
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="1SA.2.30" />“ઇસ્રાએલના દેવે ભૂતકાળમાં એવું વચન આપ્યું હતું કે, તારુ કુટુંબ કાયમ માંટે માંરી સેવામાં રહેશે, પરંતુ તેવું કદી નહિ બને! લોકો મને માંન આપશે તો હું તેમને માંન આપીશ, પરંતુ લોકો જો માંરી અવજ્ઞા કરશે, તો હું એમની અવજ્ઞા કરીશ.
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<v id="31" bcv="1SA.2.31" />જો, હવે એવો દિવસ આવી રહ્યો છે, જયારે હું તારા કુટુંબના અને કૂળના બધા વંશજોને માંરી નાખીશ, જેથી તારા કુટુંબમાં કોઇ ઘડપણ જોવા પામશે નહિ.
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<v id="32" bcv="1SA.2.32" />ઇસ્રાએલ સાથે સારી ઘટનાઓ ઘટશે પણ તમે તમાંરા ઘરમાં ખોટી ઘટનાઓ જોશો, પણ તારા કુટુંબમાં હવે પછી કોઈ કદાપિ ઘડપણ જોવા નહિ પામે,
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<v id="33" bcv="1SA.2.33" />પણ હું તારા વંશજોમાંથી એકને જીવતો રહેવા દઈશ અને તે યાજક અને સેવક તરીકે માંરી સેવા કરશે, એની આંખો નબળી થશે ત્યાં સુધી તે જીવશે. તે ઘરડો, અને બહુ નબળો થઇ જશે. પરંતુ તારા કુટુંબના બધા લોકો કમોતે મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="34" bcv="1SA.2.34" />તારા બે પુત્રો હોફની અને ફીનહાસ બંને એક જ દિવસે મૃત્યુ પામશે, અને એમના હાલ જોઈને તને ખાત્રી થશે કે માંરું કહ્યું સાચું પડવાનું છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="1SA.2.35" />હું માંરા માંટે એક વિશ્વાસુ યાજક પસંદ કરીશ. તે માંરી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરશે. હું તેને માંટે સ્થિર ઘર બાંધીશ. જે કાયમ માંરા અભિષિકત રાજાની સમક્ષ સેવા કરશે.
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<v id="36" bcv="1SA.2.36" />તારા કુટુંબમાં જે કોઈ બચવા પામશે તે આવીને યાજક સામે નમશે. તેઓ થોડા પૈસા અને રોટલા માંટે ભીખ માંગશે, એમ કહીને: ‘મને યાજક તરીકે નોકરી આપો જેથી મને ખાવાનું મળે.’”
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">શમુએલને દેવની હાકલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.3.1" />બાળક શમુએલ એલીની હજૂરમાં રહીને યહોવાની સેવા કરતો હતો. એ દિવસો દરમ્યાન યહોવાના શબ્દો જવલ્લેજ સાંભળવા મળતા. ત્યારે બહુ ઓછા સંદર્શન દેખાતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.3.2" />એક રાત્રે એલી પોતાની કાયમની જગ્યા એ સૂતો હતો. ઘડપણને કારણે તેની આંખો બહુ જ નબળી બની ગઇ હતી, તે લગભગ આંધળો બની ગયો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.3.3" />અને દેવના દીવાની જ્યોત હજી હોલવાય નહોતી. યહોવાના મંદિરમાં દેવના પવિત્ર કોશની પાસે શમુએલ સૂતેલો હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.3.4" />તે સમયે યહોવાએ તેને હાંક માંરી, “શમુએલ!” શમુએલે કહ્યું “હું અહિંયાં છું!”
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.3.5" />અને શમુએલ એલી પાસે દોડી ગયો અને બોલ્યો, “તમે મને બોલાવ્યો? હું આ રહ્યો.”
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<p style="p">એલીએ કહ્યું, “ના, મેં તને બોલાવ્યો નથી. જા પાછો સૂઈ જા.”
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<p style="p">આથી તે જઈને સૂઈ ગયો.
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.3.6" />યહોવાએ ફરી વાર શમુએલને હાંક માંરી અને તે ઊઠીને એલી પાસે જઈને બોલ્યો, “તમે મને બોલાવ્યો? હું આ રહ્યો.”
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<p style="p">એલીએ કહ્યું, “મેં તને બોલાવ્યો નથી. પાછો સૂઈ જા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.3.7" />શમુએલ હજી સુધી યહોવાને જાણતો ન હતો, કારણકે યહોવાએ ત્યાં સુધી તેની સાથે સીધી વાત કરી ન હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.3.8" />જયારે યહોવાએ તેને ત્રીજી વાર હાંક માંરી ત્યારે તે ફરીથી એલીની પાસે જઈને બોલ્યો, “તમે મને બોલાવ્યો? હું આ રહ્યો.”
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<p style="p">ત્યારે એલી સમજી ગયો કે યહોવા છોકરાને બોલાવે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.3.9" />એટલે એલીએ શમુએલને કહ્યું, “હવે તું સૂઈ જા, જો તને ફરી હાંક માંરે, તો કહેજે કે, ‘હા, માંરા દેવ, કૃપા કરીને બોલો. હું તમાંરો સેવક છું અને હું સાંભળી રહ્યો છું.’”
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<p style="p">આથી શમુએલ જઈને પોતાની જગ્યાએ સૂઈ ગયો.
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.3.10" />પછી યહોવાએ ત્યાં આવીને ઊભા રહીને પહેલાંની જેમ બૂમ માંરી, “શમુએલ! શમુએલ!”
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<p style="p">શમુએલે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા આપનો સેવક સાંભળું છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.3.11" />યહોવાએ શમુએલને કહ્યું, “થોડા જ સમયમાં હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માંટે કંઈક કરવાનો છું. જેઓ તે સાંભળશે તેને આઘાત લાગશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="1SA.3.12" />તે દિવસ આવશે ત્યારે એલી અને તેના કુટુંબ વિરુદ્ધ મેં જે કંઈ કહ્યું છે તેને પહેલેથી જ તે છેલ્લે સુધી અક્ષરે અક્ષર હું સાચું પાડીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.3.13" />કારણ કે મેં તેને કહ્યું હતું કે તેના કુળને હું કાયમ માંટે સજા કરીશ. કારણ કે તેના પુત્રો માંરી નિંદા કરે છે અને એલી તે જાણતો હોવા છતાં તેણે તેઓને વાર્યા નહોતા.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.3.14" />એટલે મેં એલીના કુટુંબની વિરુદ્ધ સમ ખાધા છે. હું સમ ખાઉ છું કે અર્પણો અને ખાધાર્પણો એલીના કુટુંબના પાપો દુર નહિ કરે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.3.15" />શમુએલ સવાર થતાં સુધી સૂઈ રહ્યો, અને પછી તેણે યહોવાના મંદિરના બારણાં ખોલી નાખ્યાં. પરંતુ તેણે સાંભળેલી દૈવી દર્શનની વાત એલીને કહેતાં તે બીતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.3.16" />એલીએ શમુએલને બોલાવ્યો, “શમુએલ, માંરા પુત્ર.”
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<p style="p">શમુએલે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હુ આ રહ્યો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.3.17" />એલીએ પૂછયું, “યહોવાએ તને શું કહ્યું છે? તે માંરાથી છુપાવીશ નહિ; તેમણે તને જે જે કહ્યું તેમાંથી કંઈપણ જો તું માંરાથી છુપાવે તો દેવ તને એવું ને એ કરતાં પણ વધારે કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.3.18" />પછી શમુએલે એલીને કઇ જ છુપાવ્યા વગર બધું કહ્યું.
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<p style="p">એલીએ બધું સાંભળ્યું અને કહ્યું: “તે તો યહોવા છે તેને જે ઠીક લાગે તે કરે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1SA.3.19" />આમ, શમુએલ મોટો થતો ગયો અને યહોવા તેની સાથે હતા. યહોવાએ શમુએલની બધી ભવિષ્યવાણી સાચી સાબિત કરી.
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.3.20" />દાનથી બેર-શેબા સુધી ઇસ્રાએલમાં સૌ કોઈ યહોવાના સાચા પ્રબોધક તરીકે શમુએલને માંન્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.3.21" />યહોવાએ શીલોહમાં શમુએલને દર્શન આપવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું. જયાં તે શમુએલની સમક્ષ દેવના શબ્દ તરીકે પ્રગટ થયો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.4.1" />શમુએલ વિષેની ખબર આખા ઇસ્રાએલમાં ફેલાઇ ગઇ. તે દિવસોમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પલિસ્તીઓ વિરુદ્ધ લડવા નીકળી પડ્યા. ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ એબેન-એઝેરમાં છાવણી નાખી અને પલિસ્તીઓએ અફેકમાં છાવણી નાખી.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.4.2" />પલિસ્તીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલ સામે વ્યૂહ ગોઠવ્યો, યુદ્ધ જામ્યું. ઇસ્રાએલીઓ હાર્યા.
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<s style="s">પલિસ્તીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને હરાવ્યા
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<p style="p">પલિસ્તીઓએ લગભગ 4,000 ઇસ્રાએલીઓને રણભૂમિ ઉપર કાપી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.4.3" />જયારે બાકીનાં સૈનિકો તેમની છાવણીમાં પાછા આવ્યા ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓના આગેવાનોએ પૂછયું, “યહોવાએ પલિસ્તીઓના હાથે આપણને કેમ હરાવ્યા? ચાલો, આપણે શીલોહ જઈને યહોવાના કરારકોશને લઈ આવીએ. આ રીતે દેવ આપણી વચ્ચે રહેશે અને આપણું દુશ્મનોથી રક્ષણ કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.4.4" />તેથી લોકોએ દેવનો કરારકોશ લાવવા માંટે માણસોને શીલોહ મોકલ્યા. કોશની ઉપર કરૂબ દેવદૂતો હતા, જે દેવના સિંહાસન જેવા હતા. એલીના બે પુત્રો હોફની અને ફીનહાસ કોશની સાથે આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.4.5" />જયારે યહોવાનો કરારકોશ છાવણીમાં આવ્યો, ત્યારે બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેને એવા તો મોટા હર્ષનૅંદથી વધાવી લધો કે ધરતી ધણધણી ઊઠી.
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.4.6" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો હર્ષનાદ સાંભળીને પલિસ્તીઓ પૂછવા લાગ્યા, “હિબ્રૂઓની છાવણીમાં આ બધો અવાજ અને આનંદ શેના છે?”
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<p style="p">પદ્ધી તેઓને સમજ પડી કે યહોવાનો કરારકોશ ઇસ્રાએલીઓની છાવણીમાં આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.4.7" />તેથી તેઓ ગભરાઈ ગયા અને કહ્યું, “દેવ તેમની છાવણીમાં આવ્યા છે! હવે આપણે પહેલા કદી નથી પડી તેવી મુશ્કેલીમાં પડીશું.
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.4.8" />આ પ્રબળ દેવોથી આપણને કોણ બચાવશે? આ દેવોએ મિસરીઓને રણમાં ભયંકર રોગોથી હરાવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.4.9" />પલિસ્તીઓ હિંમત રાખો, બહાદુર બનો, નહિ તો હિબ્રૂઓ આપણા ગુલામ હતા, તેમ આપણે તેમના બનીશું. માંટે બહાદુરીથી લડો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.4.10" />તેથી પલિસ્તીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને હરાવ્યા. ઇસ્રાએલના 30,000 સૈનિકો મર્યા, બાકીના છાવણીમાં નાસી ગયા.
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.4.11" />દેવનો પવિત્રકોશ કબજે કરવામાં આવ્યો અને એલીના પુત્રો હોફની અને ફીનહાસ માંર્યા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.4.12" />બિન્યામીન વંશનો એક મૅંણસ યદ્ધભૂમિમાંથી દોડીને તે જ દિવસે શીલોહ આવી પહોંચ્યો. શોકમાં તેણે વસ્ત્રો ફાડી નાખ્યાં હતા; અને મૅંથે ધૂળ નાખી હતી.
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.4.13" />જયારે તે આવી પહોંચ્યો ત્યારે એલી શહેરના દરવાજા પાસે બેઠો હતો અને યહોવાના કરારકોશની રાહ જોતો હતો. પવિત્ર કોશની સુરક્ષાની તેને ચિંતા હતી. યદ્ધભૂમિ પરથી આવેલા સંદેશવાહકે તેઓને દુ:ખદ સમાંચાર આપ્યા એટલે બધા લોકો જોરથી રડવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.4.14" />તે સાંભળીને એલીએ પૂછયું, “આ ઘોંઘાટ શાનો છે?” પેલા મૅંણસે એકદમ એલી પાસે દોડી જઈને બધું કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.4.15" />એલીની ઉંમર 98 વર્ષની થઈ હતી અને તે ઔંધળો બની ગયો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.4.16" />પેલા મૅંણસે કહ્યું, “હું યદ્ધભૂમિ પરથી હમણા જ ચાલ્યો આવું છું. હું આજે જ યદ્ધમાંથી ભાગીને આવ્યો છું.”
</p>
<p style="p">એલીએ તેને પૂછયું, “માંરા દીકરા, ત્યાં શું થયું છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.4.17" />ભાગી આવેલા કાસદે કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલીઓની હાર થઈ છે. હજારો ઇસ્રાએલી સૈનિકો માંર્યા ગયા છે, હોફની અને ફીનહાસ પણ મરી ગયા છે; અને દેવનો પવિત્રકોશ શત્રુઓએ કબજે લધો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.4.18" />સંદેશવાહકોએ દેવના પવિત્ર કોશનો ઉલ્લેખ કરતાની સૅંથે જ તે દરવાજની બાજુ પાસેના આસન પરથી પડી ગયો; અને તેની ડોક તુટી ગઇ અને તે મરણ પામ્યો કેમકે તે વ૳દ્ધ હતો અને તેનું શરીર બહુ ભારે હતું. એલીએ 40 વર્ષ ઇસ્રાએલનો ન્યાય કર્યો હતો.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનું ગૌરવ ગયું
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1SA.4.19" />એલીની પુત્રવધૂ ફીનહાસની વહુ સગર્ભા હતી, અને તેની પ્રસૂતિનો સમય પાસે આવ્યો હતો, જયારે તેણે દેવનો પવિત્રકોશ બીજાઓએ કબજે કર્યાનું અને પોતાના સસરાનું અને પતિનું અવસાન થયાનું સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તેને એકદમ વેણ ઊપડી આવી, તે નમી પડી અને તેને પ્રસૂતિ થઈ ગઈ.
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.4.20" />તે જ્યારે પડામાં હતી અને મૃત્યુની નધ્ક હતી ત્યારે તેને મદદ કરતી સ્રીઓમાંથી એક સ્રીએ કહ્યું: “ચિંતા કરીશ નહિ; તેઁ પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p">પણ તેણે કોઈ જવાબ આપ્યો નહિ, અને તેના પર ધ્યાન ન આપ્યું.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.4.21" />તેણે તે છોકરાનું નામ ઈખાબોદ પૅંડયું એમ કહેતા, “ઇસ્રાએલીઓનું ગૌરવ જતું રહ્યું છે.” તેણે આ કહ્યું કારણ કે દેવનો પવિત્રકોશ દુશ્મનો લઇ ગયા છે, અને તેના ધણીનું તથા સસરાનું અવસાન થયું છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.4.22" />તેણે કહ્યું કે: “ઇસ્રાએલનું ગૌરવ જતું રહ્યું છે,” એટલા માંટે કે યહોવાનો પવિત્રકોશ દુશ્મનો લઇ ગયા હતા.
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<c id="5" />
<s style="s">પવિત્રકોશ પલિસ્તીઓ માંટે મુશ્કેલીઓ લાવ્યાં
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.5.1" />દેવનો પવિત્રકોશ કબજે કર્યા પછી પલિસ્તીઓ તેને એબેન-એઝેરથી આશ્દોદ લઈ આવ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.5.2" />તેઓ પવિત્રકોશને દાગોનના મંદિરમાં લઈ ગયા અને દાગોનની મૂર્તિ પાસે મૂક્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.5.3" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે આશ્દોદના લોકો ઊઠયા, ત્યારે દાગોન ઊંઘે માંથે યહોવાના કોશ આગળ પડેલો હતો. તેઓએ તેને ઉપાડીને પાછો તેની જગ્યા પર બેસાડયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.5.4" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે તેઓ ઊઠયા ત્યારે, ફરી દાગોન યહોવાના પવિત્રકોશ આગળ ઉધે માંથે પડેલો હતો. તેનું માંથું અને બંને હાથ ભાંગી ગયાં હતાં અને ઉબરા આગળ પડેલાં હતાં. માંત્ર દાગોનનું ધડ તેની જગ્યાએ રહ્યું હતું,
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.5.5" />માંટે દાગોનના યાજકો કે, બીજા લોકો દાગોનના મંદિરમાં આવે છે તેઓ આજ સુધી આશ્દોદમાં દાગોનના મંદિરના ઉંબરા પર પગ મૂકતા નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.5.6" />યહોવાએ આશ્દોદના લોકોને સખત સજા કરીને તેમને ભયભીત બનાવી દીધા; તેમણે આશ્દોદ અને તેની આસપાસના પ્રદેશના લોકોમાં ગૂંમડાંનો રોગચાળો ફેલાવી દીધો.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.5.7" />આ બધું જોઈને તેઓ કહેવા લાગ્યા કે, “ઇસ્રાએલીઓના દેવનો પવિત્રકોશ આપણી સાથે અહીં રખાય નહિ, કારણ, તે દેવ આપણને અને આપણા દેવ દાગોનને સખત સજા કરી રહ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.5.8" />આથી તેમણે સર્વ પલિસ્તી રાજાઓને બોલાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલીઓના દેવના પવિત્રકોશ સાથે આપણે શું કરીશું?”
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<p style="p">શાસનકર્તાઓએ કહ્યું, “તેને ગાથ ખસેડો.” તેથી તેઓ તેને ગાથ લઈ ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.5.9" />પણ તેઓ તેને ત્યાં લઈ ગયા ત્યારબાદ યહોવાએ તે શહેરને ભારે સજા કરી અને સમગ્ર શહેરમાં ભય વ્યાપી ગયો. શહેરમાં નાનાંમોટાં સૌને ગૂંમડાં ફૂટી નીકળ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.5.10" />આથી તેમણે તેમના દેવ યહોવાના કરારકોશને એક્રોન મોકલી આપ્યો, જયારે પવિત્રકોશ એક્રોન પહોંચ્યો ત્યારે ત્યાંના લોકો પોકાર કરી ઊઠયા કે, “આપણને અને આપણી પ્રજાને માંરી નાખવા માંટે એ લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓના દેવનો કરારકોશ અહીં લઈ આવ્યા છે!”
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.5.11" />આથી એક્રોનના લોકોએ બધા પલિસ્તી રાજાઓની સભા બોલાવી અને કહ્યું, કૃપા કરીને “ઇસ્રાએલીઓના દેવનો પવિત્રકોશને તેની જગ્યા પર પાછો મોકલી દો, જેથી એ આપણને તથા આપણી પ્રજાને માંરી ન નાખે.”
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<p style="p">સમગ્ર શહેરમાં લોકો ભારે ભયભીત થઇ ગયા કારણ દેવે તેમને સખત સજા કરી હતી.
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<v id="12" bcv="1SA.5.12" />જે મરી નહોતા ગયા, તેમને ગૂમડાં ફૂટી નીકળ્યા; અને એક્રોન શહેરનો આર્તનાદ આકાશ સુધી પહોંચ્યો.
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<s style="s">દેવનો પવિત્રકોશ ઘરે પાછો મોકલાયો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.6.1" />યહોવાનો પવિત્રકોશ પલિસ્તીઓની ભૂમિમાં સાત મહિના હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.6.2" />પછી પલિસ્તીઓએ પોતાના જાદુગરોને અને યાજકોને બોલાવીને પૂછયું, “યહોવાના કરારકોશનું આપણે શું કરીશું? અમને કહો કે શી રીતે એને પાછો એના ઠેકાણે મોકલવો? તે અમને કહો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.6.3" />તેઓએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “જો તમાંરે યહોવાના પવિત્રકોશને તેની જગ્યાએ પાછો મોકલવો હોય, તો તે ખાલી મોકલશો નહિ. તેને દોષાર્થાપણે સાથે મોકલો જેથી ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ તમને માંફ કરે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.6.4" />પલિસ્તીઓએ કહ્યું, “આપણને માંફ કરવા માંટે આપણે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવને અર્પણમાં શુ મોકલવું?”
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<p style="p">તેથી તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આપણી પાસે પાઁચ પલિસ્તી સરદારો છે, તેથી આપણે ઉંદરના પાંચ સોનાના નમૂના અને ગુમડાં જેવા લાગતા પાંચ સોનાના નમૂના મોકલવા જોઇએ કારણ તમને અને તમાંરા સરદારો તે જ મુશ્કેલીથી પીડાતા હતા.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.6.5" />ઉંદરો દેશનો નાશ કરી રહ્યાં હતા, અને લોકો પણ ગુમડાંથી હેરાન થયા. તેથી ઉંદરના પાંચ સોનાના નમૂના અને ગુમડાં ના પાંચ સોનાના નમૂના બનાવો અને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવને તેમની પ્રશંસામાં અર્પણ કરો. જેથી દેવ તમને તમાંરા દેવોને અને તમાંરી ભૂમિને સજા કરવાનું બંધ કરે.
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.6.6" />ફારુન અને મિસરીઓની જેમ હઠીલા થશો નહિં! યાદ રાખજો કે તેમણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મિસરમાંથી જવા ન દીધા ત્યાં સુધી દેવે તેમને હેરાન કર્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.6.7" />“હવે એક નવું ગાડું તૈયાર કરો, અને જેને કદી ખેતરોમાં ખેડવા માંટે ન વાપર્યું હોય, અને હાલમાં જ વાછરડાં જન્મ્યાં તેવી બે ગાય મંગાવો, વાછરડાઓને તેની માંતાઓ પાછળ જવા ન દેતા. ગાયોને ગાડે જોડો, તેમનાં વાછરડાંને વાડામાં પાછા મોકલો.
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.6.8" />પછી પવિત્ર કોશને ગાડા ઉપર મૂકો. કોશની બાજુની થેલીમાં સોનાનાં નમૂનાઓ મુકો. સોનાનાં નમૂનાઓ તમાંરા પાપોને માંફ કરવા માંટે દેવને ભેટ છે. પછી ગાડાને સીધું તેના રસ્તે મોકલો.
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.6.9" />ગાડા ઉપર નજર રાખો. આ ભયંકર આફત ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાથી આપણી પર આવી છે. પણ જો એ બેથ-શેમેશ ન જાય તો આ ભયંકર આફત યહોવાથી નથી આવી, તે આપમેળે અણધાર્યું થયું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.6.10" />પછી તે લોકોએ એ પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ. તેમણે બે દૂઝણી ગાયો લીધી અને તેમને ગાડાએ જોડી અને તેમનાં વાછરડાંને કોઢમાં પૂરી દીધાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.6.11" />તેમણે દેવના પવિત્રકોશને ગાડામાં મૂકી અને તેની સાથે સોનાનાં ઉંદરો અને સોનાનાં ગુમડાના નમૂનાઓ મૂક્યા.
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<v id="12" bcv="1SA.6.12" />ગાયો સીધી બેથ-શેમેશને માંગેર્ ચાલવા માંડી. તેઓ ભાંભરડા નાખતી ડાબે કે જમણે હાથે વળ્યા વગર સીધીને સીધી ચાલતી રહી. પલિસ્તી સરદારો બેથ-શેમેશની સરહદ સુધી તેમની પાછળ પાછળ ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.6.13" />તે વખતે બેથ-શેમેશના લોકો ખીણમાં, નીચાણમાં ઘઉં કાપતા હતા. એકાએક ઊંચું જોતાં જ પવિત્રકોશ તેમની નજરે પડ્યો, અને એને જોઈને તેઓ આનંદમાં આવી ગયા.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.6.14" />ગાડું બેથ-શેમેશના યહોશુઆના ખેતરમાં આવ્યું. તે એક મોટા ખડક પાસે ઊભું રહ્યું, લોકોએ લાકડાનું ગાડું તોડી નાખ્યું અને તેઓએ ગાયોને યહોવાની પ્રશંસામાં અર્પણ કરી નાખી.
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.6.15" />પછી લેવીઓએ યહોવાનો પવિત્રકોશ અને સોનાના દાગીનાવાળો દાબડો ઉતારી લીધાં અને પેલા મોટા પથ્થર ઉપર મૂકયાં, પછી બેથ-શેમેશના લોકોએ તે દિવસે યહોવાને દહનાર્પણો ચડાવ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.6.16" />પાંચ પલિસ્તી શાસનકર્તાઓએ આ બધું જોયું અને તે જ દિવસે પાછા એક્રોન ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.6.17" />આ રીતે પલિસ્તીઓએ દર એક પલિસ્તી નગર માંટે ગૂમડાંના સોનાના નમુનાઓ પોતાના પાપોના પ્રાયશ્ચિત તરીકે મોકલ્યા આ નગરો છે આશ્દોદ, ગાઝા, આશ્કલોન, ગાથ અને એક્રોન.
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<v id="18" bcv="1SA.6.18" />પલિસ્તીઓએ પાંચ પલિસ્તી શાસનકર્તાઓના કિલ્લાબંધી નગરોની સંખ્યા પ્રમાંણે ઉંદરોના સોનાના નમૂના મોકલ્યા.
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<p style="p">બેથ-શેમેશના લોકોએ દેવના પવિત્રકોશને ખડક પર મુક્યો. આ ખડક હજી પણ બેથ-શેમેશમાં યહોશુઆનાં ખેતરમાં છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.6.19" />જ્યારે પવિત્રકોશ બેથ-શેમેશ પહોચ્યો, તો સામાંન્ય લોકોએ તે જોયું ત્યાં કોઇ યાજક ન હતા, તેથી યહોવા ગુસ્સે થયા અને 50,070 લોકોને માંરી નાખ્યા. બેથ-શેમેશનાં લોકો રડ્યા અને શોક મનાવ્યો; કેમકે દેવે તેમને બહું કઠોર રીતે સજા કરી હતી.
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.6.20" />બેથ-શેમેશના લોકો ચિંતા કરવા લાગ્યા. કહેવા લાગ્યા, “આ પવિત્ર દેવ આગળ કોણ ટકી શકે એમ છે? આ પવિત્રકોશને અહીથી ક્યાં મોકલવો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1SA.6.21" />તેમણે કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમ લોકોને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “પલિસ્તીઓએ યહોવાનો પવિત્રકોશ પાછો સોંપી દીધો છે. તમે નીચે ઊતરીને તે તમાંરે ત્યાં લઈ જાઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.7.1" />એટલે કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમના લોકો આવીને યહોવાનો પવિત્રકોશ લઈ ગયા. તેઓ તેને ટેકરી ઉપર આવેલા અબીનાદાબને ઘેર લઈ ગયા. અને તેમણે તેના પુત્ર એલઆઝારની એની સંભાળ રાખવા નિમણૂક કરી.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.7.2" />આ રીતે, યહોવાનો કરારકોશ 20 વર્ષ સુધી કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમમાં રાખવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
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<s style="s">યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને બચાવ્યું
</s>
<p style="p">એ સમયે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ફરીથી યહોવાને અનુસરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.7.3" />શમુએલે બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહ્યું, “તમે જો હૃદયપૂર્વક યહોવાની તરફ વળશો તો તમાંરે બીજા દેવોની પ્રતિમાંઓ અને આશ્તારોથની મૂર્તિઓ કાઢી નાખવી પડશે; તમાંરે સંપૂર્ણપણે યહોવાને સમપિર્ત થવું પડશે અને માંત્ર યહોવાની સેવા કરવી પડશે! તો યહોવા તમાંરું પલિસ્તીઓથી રક્ષણ કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.7.4" />ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ બઆલ તથા આશ્તારોથ દેવીની મૂર્તિઓને હઠાવી દીધી અને તેઓ ફકત યહોવાને જ પૂજવા લાગ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.7.5" />ત્યારબાદ શમુએલે કહ્યું કે, “બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મિસ્પાહમાં ભેગા થાઓ, એટલે હું તમાંરા માંટે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.7.6" />આથી બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મિસ્પાહમાં ભેગા થયા. તેમણે પાણી લીધું અને યહોવાની આગળ રેડ્યું, ને તે દિવસે તેમણે ઉપવાસ કર્યો, અને કહ્યું, “અમે યહોવા વિરુદ્ધ પાપો કર્યા છે.” શમુએલે મિસ્પાહમાં ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોના ન્યાયાધીશ તરીકે સેવા બજાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.7.7" />પલિસ્તીઓએ જયારે સાંભળ્યું કે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મિસ્પાહમાં ભેગા થયા છે ત્યારે પલિસ્તી સરદારો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર હુમલો કરવા લશ્કર લઈને ઊપડ્યા. આ સમાંચાર સાંભળીને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ગભરાઇ ગયા.
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.7.8" />અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ શમુએલને કહ્યું, “પ્રાર્થના કરતા રહો અને યહોવાને કહો કે પલિસ્તીઓથી અમાંરું રક્ષણ કરજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.7.9" />શમુએલે એક ધાવણું ઘેટું લઈ યહોવાને તેની આહુતિ ધરાવી અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વતી યહોવાને ધા નાખી, અને યહોવાએ તે સાંભળી.
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.7.10" />શમુએલ દહનાર્પણ કરતો હતો એટલામાં પલિસ્તીઓ ઇસ્રાએલની સાથે લડાઈ કરવા માંટે પાસે આવ્યા; પરંતુ તે દિવસે યહોવાએ પલિસ્તીઓ પર મોટા ધડાકા સાથે ગર્જના કરીને તેઓને હરાવ્યા; તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સામે હારીને ભાગી ગયા.
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.7.11" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ મિસ્પાહથી નીકળીને તેમની પાછળ પડ્યાં અને તેમને માંરતા માંરતા બેથ-કાર સુધી પહોંચી ગયા.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલમાં શાંતિ
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.7.12" />ત્યારે શમુએલે ત્યાં એક પથ્થર લઈને મિસ્પાહ અને શેન વચ્ચે ઊભો કર્યો. અને તેનું નામ “એબેન-એઝેર” પાડીને કહ્યું કે, “અત્યાર સુધી યહોવાએ આપણને મદદ કરી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.7.13" />આમ, પલિસ્તીઓનો પરાજય થયો. અને શમુએલ જીવ્યો ત્યાં સુધી યહોવાએ તેમને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના પ્રદેશ ઉપર આક્રમણ કરવા દીધું નહિ.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.7.14" />એફોનથી ગાથ સુધીનાં શહેરો જે પલિસ્તીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસેથી કબજે કર્યા હતા, તે બધાં શહેરો તેમને પાછાં સોંપી દેવામાં આવ્યાં, આ શહેરોની આસપાસની જગ્યા પણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પાછી મળી.
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<p style="p">વળી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ અને અમોરીઓ વચ્ચે પણ સુલેહશાંતિ જળવાઈ રહી.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.7.15" />શમુએલે પોતાના જીવનપર્યંત ઇસ્રાએલનો ન્યાય કર્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="1SA.7.16" />તે પ્રતિવર્ષ બેથેલ, ગિલ્ગાલ અને મિસ્પાહમાં સવારીએ જતો અને બધેજ ઠેકાણે તે ઇસ્રાએલનો ન્યાય કરતો હતો.
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<v id="17" bcv="1SA.7.17" />રામાં શમુએલનું વતન હતું. તેથી તે રામાં જતો હતો. એ શહેરથી શમુએલ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો પર રાજ્ય કરતો હતો અને તેમનો ન્યાય કરતો હતો અને ત્યાં યહોવા માંટે એક વેદી પણ બાંધી.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલની રાજા માંટેની અરજ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.8.1" />જયારે શમુએલ વુદ્વ થયો ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના બે પુત્રોને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના ન્યાયાધીશ બનાવ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.8.2" />મોટા પુત્રનું નામ યોએલ હતું, અને નાનાનું નામ અબિયા હતું; તેઓ બેર-શેબામાં ન્યાયાધીશ હતા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.8.3" />પરંતુ તેઓ તેમના પિતા જેવી રીતે રહેતા હતા તેવી રીતે ન રહ્યાં. તેઓ પૈસાના લોભી હતા. તેઓ લાંચ-રૂશ્વત લેતા અને ન્યાય આપવામાં તેઓ પક્ષપાત કરતા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.8.4" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ વડીલો ભેગા મળીને “રામાં”માં શમુએલની પાસે આવ્યા;
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.8.5" />તેઓએ તેમને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, તમે હવે વૃદ્વ થયા છો, અને તમાંરા પુત્રો તમાંરે પગલે ચાલતા નથી, માંટે જેમ બીજી પ્રજાઓમાં છે તેમ અમાંરા ઉપર શાસન કરવા માંટે એક રાજાની નિમણૂક કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.8.6" />પણ, અમાંરા ઉપર શાસન કરવા માંટે એક રાજા આપો. એવી તેમણે વિનંતી કરી, એથી શમુએલ નારાજ થયો, અને તેણે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.8.7" />યહોવાએ શમુએલને કહ્યું, “લોકો જે કાંઈ કહે તે પ્રમાંણે કરો. કારણ કે તેઓએ તને નકાર્યો નથી, પણ હું તેઓ પર રાજ ન કરું માંટે મને નકાર્યો છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.8.8" />મેં જ્યારથી તેમનો મિસરમાંથી બહાર કાઢયાં છે. તે સમયથી તેઓ તે જ કામ કરી રહ્યાં છે, જે તેઓ કરતાં આવ્યાં છે. તેઓએ માંરો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે અને અન્ય દેવોની પૂજા કરી છે. અને હવે તારી સાથે પણ તેઓ આ જ કરી રહ્યાં છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.8.9" />તો પછી એ લોકો કહે તેમ કર, પણ એમને સ્પષ્ટ ચેતવણી આપજે અને સમજ પાડજે કે, એમના ઉપર રાજ્ય કરનાર રાજાનો વ્યવહાર કેવો હશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.8.10" />યહોવાએ જે કાંઈ કહ્યું તે સર્વ શમુએલે જે લોકો રાજાની માંગણી કરતા હતા તેમને કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.8.11" />શમુએલે કહ્યું, “તમાંરા ઉપર રાજય કરનાર રાજા આવો વ્યવહાર રાખશે; તે તમાંરા પુત્રોને લઈને તેમની પાસે બળજબરીથી પોતાની રથસેનામાં અને અશ્વસેનામાં સેવા લેશે. અને તેમને પોતાના રથની આગળ આગળ રક્ષક તરીકે દોડાવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.8.12" />“તેમાંનાં કેટલાક એક હજારની ટૂકડીના સરદાર બનશે અને બીજા પચાસ માંણસોની સેનાની ટૂકડીના સરદાર બનશે. તે તેઓની પાસે તેના ખેતરમાં કામ કરાવશે અને પાક લણાવશે.
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<p style="p">“તે બળજબરીથી તેમની પાસે તેના સૈન્ય માંટે યુદ્ધના શસ્રો અને રથનાં સાધનો તૈયાર કરાવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.8.13" />“અને તે તમાંરી પુત્રીઓને પકડીને તેમને કંદોયણો, રસોયણો બનાવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.8.14" />“વળી તે તમાંરાં ખેતરો, તમાંરી દ્રાક્ષવાડીઓ અને જૈતૂનના બગીચા લઈ લેશે અને પોતાના અધિકારીઓને જે જે ઉત્તમ હશે તે લઈને આપશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.8.15" />તે તમાંરા અનાજનો અને દ્રાક્ષનો દસમો ભાગ લેશે અને પોતાના દરબારીઓને અને અમલદારોને આપી દેશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.8.16" />“તે તમાંરાં સારામાં સારાં નોકરો અને નોકરડીઓને ઢોરોને અને ગધેડાઓને કબજે લેશે અને પોતાને કામે લગાડશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="1SA.8.17" />તે તમાંરાં ઘેટાં-બકરાંનો દશમો ભાગ લેશે.
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<p style="p">“અને તમને તેના ગુલામ બનાવી દેશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="1SA.8.18" />તે દિવસે તમે તમાંરા પસંદ કરેલા રાજાને કારણે તેમની વિરુદ્ધ પોકાર કરશો, પણ તે વખતે યહોવા તમાંરું સાંભળશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1SA.8.19" />એમ છતાં લોકોએ શમુએલને સાંભળવાની ના પાડી, તેમણે કહ્યું, “ના, અમાંરે તો રાજા જોઈએ જ,
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.8.20" />આથી અમે પણ અન્ય પ્રજાઓ જેવા થઈએ; અને અમાંરા રાજા અમાંરા ઉપર રાજય કરે અને આગળ રહી અમાંરાં યુદ્ધો લડે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1SA.8.21" />આથી શમુએલે લોકોનું કહેવું સાંભળી લીધું. પછી તેણે યહોવાને લોકોના શબ્દો કહી સંભળાવ્યા. ત્યારે યહોવાએ શમુએલને કહ્યું,
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.8.22" />“યહોવાએ કહ્યું કે લોકો કહે તે પ્રમાંણે કરો એમને એક રાજા આપો.”
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<p style="p">પછી શમુએલે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહ્યું, તમને એક નવો રાજા મળશે તમે બધા લોકો નગરમાં જાઓ.
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<s style="s">શાઉલ પોતાના પિતાના ગધેડાની શોધમાં
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.9.1" />બિન્યામીનના કુળમાં કીશ નામનો એક માંણસ હતો. તે બહુ શૂરવીર હતો. કીશ બિન્યામીની અફીઆહના પુત્ર બખોરાથના પુત્ર સરોરના પુત્ર અબીએલનો પુત્ર થતો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.9.2" />તેને શાઉલ નામનો એક પુત્ર હતો. તે યુવાન અને રૂપાળો હતો. ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાં તેના કરતાં વધારે રૂપાળું કોઈ ન હતું અને બીજા કરતાં તે એક વેંત વધું ઊંચો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.9.3" />એક વખત શાઉલના પિતા કીશનાં કેટલાંક ગધેડાં ખોવાઈ ગયાં, તેથી કીશે શાઉલને કહ્યુ, “એક ચાકરને સાથે લઈને ગધેડાઓને શોધવા જા.”
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.9.4" />તેઓ એફાઈમનાં ડુંગરાળ પ્રદેશમાં અને શાલીશામાં ગયા, તેઓને ગધેડાઓ મળ્યા નહિ. તેઓ શાઅલીમ ગયા, પણ તે ન મળ્યા. તેઓએ બિન્યામીનના પ્રદેશમાં મુસાફરી કરી, પરંતુ ત્યાં પણ તે ન મળ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.9.5" />છેવટે તેઓ સૂફ પ્રદેશમાં પ્રવેશ થયા, ત્યારે શાઉલે પોતાની સાથેના ચાકરને કહ્યું, “ચાલ, હવે આપણે પાછા જઈએ, નહિ તો માંરા પિતા ગધેડાંની ચિંતા કરવાનું છોડીને આપણી ચિંતા કરવા લાગશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.9.6" />તેથી ચાકરે જવાબ આપ્યો, “આ, શહેરમાં એક દેવનો માંણસ રહે છે. તેનું માંન ઘણું છે. તે જે કાંઈં કહે છે તે સાચું પડે છે. તો આપણે તેની પાસે જવું જોઈએ, કદાચ એ આપણને કહે કે આપણે કયા માંગેર્ જવું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.9.7" />ત્યારે શાઉલે પોતાના ચાકરને કહ્યું, “ધારો કે આપણે જઈએ તો તેની આગળ ભેટ આપવા શું લઈએ? આપણી થેલીમાં કંઈ ખાવાનું તો રહ્યું નથી, એ દેવના માંણસને ભેટ ધરવા આપણી પાસે તો કશું જ નથી, આપણે તેને આપીશું શું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.9.8" />તેથી ચાકરે શાઉલને પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો કે, “જો, માંરી પાસે પા શેકેલ ચાંદી છે; તે હું એ દેવના માંણસને આપીશ કે, તે આપણને આપણો માંર્ગ બતાવે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.9.9" />ભૂતકાળમાં ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પ્રબોધકને દેવ પાસેથી કઇ જાણવું હોય તો તેઓ કહેતા, “ચાલો આપણે દૃષ્ટા પાસે જઇએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.9.10" />શાઉલ સંમત થયો, “ઠીક આપણે પ્રયત્ન કરી જોઈએ!”
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.9.11" />તેઓ નગરમાં જવા ટેકરો ચઢતા હતા, ત્યારે પાણી ભરવા જતી કેટલીક યુવાન કન્યાઓ તેઓને સામે મળી. તેઓએ તેમને પૂછયું, “શું દૃષ્ટા નગરમાં છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.9.12" />કન્યાઓએ કહ્યું, “હાજી, આ જ માંગેર્ આગળ વધો, મળશે. વહેલા જાઓ. તે હમણાં જ શહેરમાં આવ્યા છે, કેમ કે આજે ટેકરી ઉપરનાં મંદિરમાં લોકોએ ઉપાસના અને શાંત્યર્પણ રાખ્યાં છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.9.13" />તમે શહેરમાં દાખલ થશો કે તરત જ ટેકરી પર જમવાં જતાં પહેલાં તમે તેમને મળશો. એના આવ્યા પહેલાં લોકો જમશે નહિ, એ યજ્ઞને આશીર્વાદ આપે ત્યાર પછી જ મહેમાંનો જમશે. તમે હમણા જ ઉપર જાઓ એટલે તરત જ તેઓ તમને મળશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.9.14" />તેઓ નગરમાં ગયા અને દરવાજાની અંદર પ્રવેશ્યા તે જ સમયે તેમણે શમુએલને ઉપાસના સ્થાન તરફ આવતા જોયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.9.15" />શાઉલ આવ્યો તેને આગલે દિવસે યહોવાએ શમુએલને કહ્યું હતું,
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<v id="16" bcv="1SA.9.16" />“આવતી કાલે આ સમયે હું બિન્યામીનના પ્રદેશમાંથી એક વ્યકિતને હું તારી પાસે મોકલીશ. તેનો તું ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોના રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કરજે, અને તે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને પલિસ્તીઓંથી બચાવશે. કેમકે મેં માંરા લોકોનું દુ:ખ જોયું છે, અને તેમની ફરિયાદ સાંભળી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.9.17" />જયારે શમુએલે શાઉલને જોયો ત્યારે યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું, “મેં તને જે માંણસની વાત કરી હતી તે જ આ છે, એ માંણસ માંરા લોકો ઉપર શાસન કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.9.18" />એ જ વખતે શાઉલ શમુએલ પાસે ગયો અને કહ્યુું, “કૃપા કરીને મને કહેશો, દૃષ્ટાનું ઘર કયાં છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1SA.9.19" />શમુએલે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું જ દૃષ્ટા છું! માંરી આગળ તું ટેકરા પરના મંદિરે પહોંચી જા. આજે તમાંરે માંરી સાથે જમવાનું છે. તારા મનમાં જે પ્રશ્ર્ન છે તેનો ઉત્તર હું તને સવારે આપીશ. અને તને તારે રસ્તે જવા દઈશ.
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.9.20" />ત્રણ દિવસ પહેલાં જે ગધેડાં ખોવાઈ ગયાં હતાં તે વિષે ચિંતા કરીશ નહિ, તે મળી ગયા છે. પણ બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તમાંરી અને તમાંરા કુટુંબની ભણી જોઇ રહ્યાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1SA.9.21" />શાઉલે કહ્યું, “હું બિન્યામીનના વંશનો છું. અમાંરો વંશ તો ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાં સૌથી નાનો છે અને બિન્યામીની પ્રજામાં અમાંરૂ કુટુંબ નાનામાં નાનુ છે. તો તમે આવું કેમ કહો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1SA.9.22" />પછી શમુએલે શાઉલને અને તેના ચાકરને ભોજનખંડમાં લઈ ગયો, અને તેમને મહેમાંનોની આગળ બેસાડ્યા. લગભગ ત્રીસેક મહેમાંનો હતા.
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<v id="23" bcv="1SA.9.23" />શમુએલે રસોઈયાને કહ્યું, “એક ખાસ મહેમાંન માંટે રાખવા મે તને જે માંસનો ઉત્તમ ટુકડો આપ્યો હતો તે લઈ આવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1SA.9.24" />આથી રસોઈયાએ અર્પણનો જાંધનો ભાગ લાવીને શાઉલને આપ્યો. શમુએલે કહ્યું, “કૃપા કરીને જમવા માંડ આ ખાસ મેળાવડા પર આ ભાગ મે તારે માંટે રાખી મૂક્યો હતો.” આ રીતે શાઉલે અર્પણને શમુએલ સાથે ખાધુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1SA.9.25" />તેઓ પ્રાર્થના સ્થાનેથી નીચે આવ્યા અને નગરમાં ગયા. શમુએલે શાઉલને રાત્રે ધાબા ઉપર સૂવા માંટે આંમત્રણ આપ્યુ અને તે ત્યાં સૂઇ ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1SA.9.26" />વહેલી પરોઢે શમુએલે શાઉલને ધાબા ઉપર બૂમ પાડી અને કહ્યું, “ઊઠ, હું તને તારે માંગેર્ જવા દઉં છું.” શાઉલ ઊઠયો અને તે અને શમુએલ બંને રસ્તા ઉપર નીકળી પડ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1SA.9.27" />તેઓ શહેરને નાકે આવ્યા, ત્યારે શમુએલે શાઉલને કહ્યું, “તારા ચાકરને આગળ મોકલી દે.” ચાકર ચાલતો થયો. શમુએલે કહ્યું, “તું થોડી વાર અહીં ઊભો રહે. હું તને દેવનો સંદેશો કહું છું.”
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<s style="s">શાઉલનો રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.10.1" />પછી શમુએલે તેલની શીશી લઈને શાઉલના માંથા ઉપર રેડી અને તેને ચુંબન કર્યું. શમુએલે કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ તને ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાના રાજા તરીકે અભિષિકત કર્યો છે. તું યહોવાના લોકો પર શાસન કરીશ.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.10.2" />આજે તું માંરી પાસેથી વિદાય થશે ત્યારે તને બિન્યામીનના પ્રદેશમાં સેલ્સાહ ખાતે આવેલ ‘રાહેલ’ની કબર નજીક બે માંણસો મળશે. તેઓ તને કહેશે કે, ‘જે ગધેડાંની શોધ કરવા તું ગયો હતો તે મળ્યાં છે. હવે ગધેડાંની બદલે તારા પિતા તારી ચિંતા કરતા હશે. તેઓ વિચાર કરતા હશે કે, માંરા પુત્રને શોધવા હું શું કરું?’”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.10.3" />શમુએલ કહ્યું, “પછી ત્યાંથી તું તાબોરના મોટા ઓક વૃક્ષ સુધી ચાલ્યો જજે. ત્યાં જતાં તને યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરવા જતા ત્રણ માંણસો મળશે. તેઓ આ વસ્તુઓ લઇ જતા હશે: પહેલા જુવાને બકરીઓ ઉપાડેલી હશે, બીજાએ ત્રણ રોટલા ઉપાડ્યા હશે અને ત્રીજાએ દ્રાક્ષારસની એક શીશી ઉપાડેલી હશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.10.4" />ત્યાં તેઓ તને પ્રણામ કરીને તને બે રોટલા આપશે. તારે એ બે રાટેલા તેમની પાસેથી સ્વીકારી લેવા.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.10.5" />ત્યારબાદ તારે ‘ગિબેય ઇલોહિમ’ જવુ જયાં પલિસ્તી કિલ્લો છે, ત્યાં તને ઢોલ, શરણાઈ, વીણા અને વાંસળી વગાડતા ઉપાસનાસ્થાનેથી ઊતરતા પ્રબોધકોનો સંઘ મળશે, અને તેઓ પ્રબોધ કરતા ખબર પડશે,
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.10.6" />એ વખતે યહોવાનો આત્માં ઘણા બળ સાથે તારામાં સંચારિત થશે. ત્યારબાદ તું બીજી વ્યકિતમાં બદલાઇ જઇશ. આ પ્રબોધકો સાથે તું પ્રબોધ કરીશ.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.10.7" />જ્યારે આ બધી ઘટનાઓ બને ત્યારે તને જે સૂઝે તે તારે કરવું. કારણ, તને દેવનો સાથ હશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.10.8" />“તું માંરા પહેલાં ગિલ્ગાલ ચાલ્યો જજે. પછી હું તને ત્યાં મળવા આવીશ. ત્યાં હું તને દહનાર્પણો તથા શાંત્યર્પણો અર્પણ કરીશ. પણ તારે સાત દિવસ સુધી માંરી રાહ જોવી; પછી હું આવીશ અને તને કહીશ કે તારે શું કરવું.”
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<s style="s">શાઉલ પ્રબોધક જેવો બન્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.10.9" />અને પછી શમુએલ પાસેથી જવા માંટે શાઉલે જેવી પીઠ ફેરવી કે તરત જ દેવે તેને સમૂળગો ફેરવી નાખ્યો; અને તે જ દિવસે એ બધી ઘટનાઓ બની.
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.10.10" />જયારે શાઉલ અને તેનો ચાકર પેલી ટેકરી પર પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે પ્રબોધકોનો સંઘ તેને મળવા સામે આવ્યો અને દેવના આત્માંનો તેનામાં સંચાર થયો; આથી તે પણ પ્રબોધકના જેવા ભાવાવેશમાં આવી ગયો.
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.10.11" />અને જે લોકો તેને પહેલેથી ઓળખતા હતા તેઓ એ તેને પ્રબોધકની સાથે પ્રબોધ કરતા જોયો. તેઓ એક બીજાને પૂછવા લાગ્યા, “કીશના પુત્રને શું થયું છે? શું શાઉલ પણ પ્રબોધકો માંથી એક છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.10.12" />ત્યારે ત્યાં રહેનાર એક માંણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તેઓના બાપ કોણ છે?” ત્યારબાદ આ કહેવત પ્રખ્યાત થઇ: “શું શાઉલ પણ પ્રબોધકોમાંથી એક છે?”
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<s style="s">શાઉલ ઘરે ગયો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.10.13" />જયારે શાઉલે પ્રબોધ કરવાનું બંધ કર્યું, તે ઉપાસનાનાં ઉચ્ચસ્થાને ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.10.14" />શાઉલના કાકાએ તેને અને પેલા ચાકરને પૂછયું, “તમે કયાં ગયા હતા?”
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<p style="p">એટલે તેણે કહ્યું કે, “ગધેડાની શોધ કરવા; અને તે ન મળ્યાં એટલે અમે શમુએલને મળવા ગયા હતા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.10.15" />શાઉલના કાકાએ પૂછયું, “મને કહો, તેણે તમને શું કહ્યું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.10.16" />શાઉલે જવાબ આપ્યો, “તેણે અમને કહ્યું કે, ગધેડા મળ્યાં છે.” પણ તેના કાકાને રાજ્ય વિષે શમુએલે જે કહ્યું હતું તે વિષે તેણે કઇજ કહ્યું નહિ.
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<s style="s">શાઉલની રાજા તરીકે શમુએલની જાહેરાત
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.10.17" />શમુએલે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને યહોવાને મળવા માંટે મિસ્પાહમાં ભેગા કર્યા, અને કહ્યું,
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<v id="18" bcv="1SA.10.18" />“ઇસ્રાએલીઓના દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, ‘હું તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો હતો. તમને તમાંરી મિસરીઓ નીચેની ગુલામીમાંથી અને તમાંરા ઉપર ત્રાસ ગુજારનાર સૌ રાજયોથી છોડાવી લાવ્યો હતો.’
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.10.19" />પરંતુ આજે તમે બધાં દુ:ખોથી તથા આફતોથી ઉગારનાર તમાંરા દેવને નકાર્યા છે, પંરતુ તમે કહ્યું, ‘અમાંરા ઉપર શાસન કરવા માંટે એક રાજા નક્કી કરી આપો,’ તો તમે બધાં આવો અને તમાંરા કુળસમૂહો અને કુટુંબવાર અહી ઉભા રહો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1SA.10.20" />પછી શમુએલે પ્રત્યેક કુળસમૂહને આગળ આવવા કહ્યું અને યહોવાએ બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહને તારવી કાઢયો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.10.21" />ત્યારબાદ બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહને પસંદ કરવામાં આવ્યું અને કુટુંબવાર આગળ આવ્યા; ત્યારે માંટીના કુટુંબને પસંદ કરવાનાં આવ્યું અને છેવટે કીશના પુત્ર શાઉલને પસંદ કરવામાં આવ્યો.
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<p style="p">તેમણે તેની શોધ કરી પણ તે મળ્યો નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.10.22" />તેમણે યહોવાને પૂછયું, “એ માંણસ અહીં આવ્યો છે?”
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<p style="p">ત્યારે યહોવાએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો કે, “તે પેલા સામાંનમાં સંતાયેલો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1SA.10.23" />ત્યારબાદ લોકો દોડીને તેને ત્યાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા; અને તેને લોકોની વચ્ચે ઊભો રાખ્યો. શાઉલ તે બધા કરતાં એક વેંત ઊંચો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1SA.10.24" />શમુએલે લોકોને કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ પસંદ કરેલા માંણસને તમે જોયો છે? સમગ્ર પ્રજામાં એના જેવો કોઇ નથી.”
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<p style="p">પછી લોકોએ પોકાર્યું, “રાજા ઘણું જીવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1SA.10.25" />પછી શમુએલે લોકોને રાજાના કાયદાઓ વિષે કહ્યું અને તેને પુસ્તકમાં લખીને યહોવાની સમક્ષ મૂક્યું. પછી તેને લોકોને ઘેર મોકલી દીધા.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1SA.10.26" />શાઉલ પણ પાછો પોતાને ઘેર ગિબયાહમાં ગયો; તેની સાથે કેટલાક યોદ્ધાઓ ગયા. જેમના હૃદયમાં દેવે શાઉલ પ્રત્યે વફાદારી જગાડી હતી.
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<v id="27" bcv="1SA.10.27" />પરંતુ કેટલાક મુશ્કેલી કરનારાઓએ કહ્યું, “આ માંણસ આપણો બચાવ શી રીતે કરવાનો છે?” અને તેમણે તેને તિરસ્કૃત કર્યો. અને તેને કશી ભેટ ધરી નહિ છતાં પણ શાઉલ શાંત રહ્યો.
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<c id="11" />
<s style="s">આમ્મોનના રાજા નાહાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.11.1" />આમ્મોનના રાજા નાહાશ યાબેશ ગિલયાદ ઉપર ચડાઈ કરવા આવ્યો અને તેની સૈનાથી શહેર પર ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો. યાબેશના લોકોએ નાહાશને કહ્યું, “અમાંરી સાથે સંધિ કરો અને અમે તમાંરા સેવકો બનશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.11.2" />એટલે નાહાશે કહ્યું, “હું એક જ શરતે તમાંરી સાથે સંધિ કરું; હું તમાંરી બધાની જમણી આંખ કોતરી કાઢું અને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલીની નામોશી કરું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.11.3" />પછી યાબેશના આગેવાનોએ કહ્યું, “તમે અમને ઇસ્રાએલના બધા લોકોને સંદેશવાહકો મોકલવાને માંટે એક અઠવાડિયું આપો. જો કોઈ અમાંરી મદદ કરવા ન આવે, તો અમે તમાંરે તાબે થઈશું.”
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<s style="s">યાબેશ અને ગિબયાહ બચાવતો શાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.11.4" />પછી કાસદોએ શાઉલના ગિબયાહમાં આવીને લોકોને આ સમાંચાર કહ્યા; ત્યારે બધા લોકો મોટે સાદે આક્રંદ કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.11.5" />એ જ વખતે શાઉલ ખેતરમાંથી બળદો લઈને ગામમાં આવતો હતો. તેણે પૂછયું, “શું થયું છે? બધા કેમ રડે છે?”
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<p style="p">તેમણે તેને યાબેશના માંણસોએ કહેલી વાત કહી સંભળાવી.
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.11.6" />શાઉલે એ વાત સાંભળી, ત્યારે શાઉલમાં દેવનો આત્માં મહાશકિત સહિત આવ્યો, અને તેનો ક્રોધ ભભૂકી ઊઠયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.11.7" />તેણે બળદની એક જોડ લઈને તેમને કાપી કાપીને ટૂકડા કરી નાખ્યા. અને એ ટૂકડા સાથે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલમાં કાસદો મોકલી તેણે એવો સંદેશો કહેવડાવ્યો કે, “જે કોઈ શાઉલ તથા શમુએલની પાછળ નહિ આવે તેના બળદના આ હાલ થશે.”
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<p style="p">એટલે લોકોને યહોવાનો ભય લાગ્યો, ને એક મતે તેઓ સૌ નીકળી પડયા.
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.11.8" />પછી શાઉલે બેઝેકમાં માંણસો ભેગા કર્યા; ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી લગભગ 3,00,000 માંણસો હતા અને યહુદામાંથી 30,000 માંણસો હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.11.9" />અને જે કાસદો આવ્યા હતા તેમને તેઓએ કહ્યું કે, તમે યાબેશ-ગિલયાદના માંણસોને કહો, “આવતી કાલે સૂરજ માંથે આવે ત્યાં સુધીમાં તમાંરો છૂટકારો થયો હશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">આ સંદેશો સાંભળીને યાબેશના લોકોના આનંદનો પાર ન રહ્યો તેમણે નાહાશને કહ્યું,
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.11.10" />“આવતી કાલે અમે તમાંરે તાબે થઈશું અને તમને જે યોગ્ય લાગે તે કરજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.11.11" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે શાઉલે લશ્કરને ત્રણ ટુકડીમાં વહેંચી નાખ્યું. અને પરોઢ થતાં તેઓ દુશ્મનની છાવણીમાં ધસી ગયા અને બપોર થતાં સુધી આમ્મોનીઓની હત્યા કરી. જે લોકો બચી ગયા તેઓ એવા તો વેરવિખેર થઈ ગયા કે, બે જણ પણ ભેગા ન રહ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.11.12" />પછી લોકોએ શમુએલને કહ્યું, “કોણ હતાં એ માંણસો જેણે પુછયું કે, શાઉલ આપણા પર રાજા તરીકે રાજ કરશે? એ લોકોને અમાંરી પાસે લાવો અને અમે તેમનો સંહાર કરીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.11.13" />પરંતુ શાઉલે કહ્યું, “આજે કોઈનો પ્રાણ લેવાનો નથી. કારણ, આજે યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને વિજય અપાવ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.11.14" />પછી શમુએલે લોકોને કહ્યું, “ચાલો, આપણે ગિલ્ગાલ જઈને ત્યાં શાઉલને ફરી વાર રાજા જાહેર કરીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.11.15" />આથી તેઓ બધા ગિલ્ગાલ ગયા, અને ત્યાં યહોવા સમક્ષ શાઉલને પોતાના રાજા જાહેર કર્યો. તેઓએ યહોવાને શાંત્યર્પણો અર્પણ કર્યા; શાઉલે તથા ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ પ્રજાજનોએ મોટો ઉત્સવ કર્યો.
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<c id="12" />
<s style="s">શમુએલનું ઉદૃબોધન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.12.1" />ઇસ્રાએલની સમગ્ર પ્રજાને શમુએલે કહ્યું, “તમે મને જે કરવાનું કહ્યું તે મેં કર્યુ છે, હવે તમાંરા ઉપર શાસન કરવા માંટે રાજા છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.12.2" />હવે એ રાજા તમને દોરશે; હું તો ઘરડો થયો છું અને મને પળિયાં આવ્યાં છે, પણ માંરા પુત્ર તમાંરી સૅંથે છે. હું માંરી યુવાવસ્થાથી તમાંરી સેવા કરતો આવ્યો છું,
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.12.3" />હવે હું તમાંરી સમક્ષ ઊભો છું. જો મે કઇ ખોટુ કર્યું હોય તો તમાંરે યહોવાને અને એના અભિષિકત રાજાને કહેવું. મે કોઇનો બળદ અથવા ગાધેડો લધો છે? મે કોઇને ઇજા પહોચાડી છે અથવા કોઇને વિશ્વાસઘાત કર્યોં છે? જો મે ઉપરની બાબતોમાંથી કઇ કર્યું હોય તો હું તેને ઠીક કરીશ. મે આંખો બૈંધ કરીને લાંચ લધી છે જેથી માંરા ગુન્હાની ઉપેક્ષા થાઓ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.12.4" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તમે અમાંરું ખોટું કર્યુ નથી કે અમાંરી ઉપર જુલમ કર્યો નથી. તમે કોઈની પાસે કશું ય લીધું નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.12.5" />ત્યારે શમુએલે તેમને કહ્યું, “યહોવા અને તેણે પસંદ કરેલો રાજા આજે એ વાતના સાક્ષી છે કે, તમને માંરામાં કોઈ દોષ જડતો નથી.” લોકોએ કહ્યું, “હા, યહોવા સાક્ષી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.12.6" />પદ્ધી શમુએલે લોકોને કહ્યું, “જે યહોવાએ મૂસાને અને હારુનને પસંદ કર્યા હતા, અને જે તમાંરા પિતૃઓને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યો હતો, તે યહોવા તમાંરા શબ્દોનાં સાક્ષી છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.12.7" />તો હવે તમે છાનામાંના ઊભા રહો, તમાંરા અને તમાંરા પિતૃઓ ઉપર યહોવાએ જે મહાન ઉપકાર કર્યા હતા તેની યાદ આપીને હું યહોવા સમક્ષ તમાંરા ઉપર દોષારોપણ કરું છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.12.8" />“યાકૂબ મિસર ગયો. ખ્યાં મિસરીઓએ તેના વંશજો ઉપર જુલમ ગુજાર્યો. તેથી તેઓએ યહોવાને ધા નાખી. એટલે તેણે મૂસાને અને હારુનને મોકલી આપ્યા, તેઓ તમાંરા પિતૃઓને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા અને તેમને અહીં વસાવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.12.9" />“પરંતુ તેઓ યહોવા તેમના દેવને ભૂલી ગયા. તેથી તેણે તેઓને હાસોરમાં સૈન્યના સેનાપતિ સીસરાના ગુલામો બનાવ્યા. અને પલિસ્તીઓના ગુલામો અને મોઆબના રાજાના ગુલામો. તેઓ બધા તમાંરા પિતૃઓ વિરુદ્ધ લડ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.12.10" />ત્યારે તમાંરા પિતૃઓએ યહોવાને ધા નાખી અને કહ્યું, ‘અમે પાપમાં પડયા છીએ, અમે યહોવાનો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે, અને બઆલ તથા આશ્તારોથની સેવા કરી છે; પણ હવે અમાંરા શત્રુઓના હાથમાંથી અમને છોડાવો; અમે તમાંરી સેવા કરીશું.’
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.12.11" />“આથી યહોવાએ યરૂબ્બઆલને, બરાકને, યફતાને અને છેવટે મને મોકલ્યો અને તમાંરી આસપાસના શત્રુઓથી તમાંરું રક્ષ્ૅંણ કર્યુ અને તમે સૌ સુરક્ષાથી રહેવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="12" bcv="1SA.12.12" />પણ પદ્ધી તમે આમ્મોનના રાજા નાહાશ તમાંરા ઉપર હુમલો કરવા આવ્યો. તે સમયે યહોવા તમાંરા રાજા હતા પણ તમે કહ્યું, ‘નહિ, અમાંરા ઉપર શાસન કરવા એક રાજા જોઇએ.’
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.12.13" />હવે આ રહ્યો તમે માંગેલો રાજા, તમાંરા ઉપર રાજ કરવા યહોવાએ એને રાજા તરીકે પસંદ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.12.14" />જો તમે તમાંરા દેવ યહોવૅંથી ડરીને ચાલશો, તેની સેવા કરશો, તેની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરશો તેનો વિરોધ કરશો નહિ, તમે અને તમાંરો રાજા તેને અનુસરશો તો તમને આંચ પણ નહિ આવે.
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.12.15" />પરંતુ જો તમે તેનું કહ્યું નહિ સાંભળો, અને તેની સામે થશો, તો તે તમાંરી અને તમાંરા રાજાની વિરુદ્ધ થઈ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.12.16" />“તો હવે ઊભા રહો, અને યહોવા તમાંરી પોતાની નજર સમક્ષ જે મહાન કાર્ય કરશે તે જુઓ.
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<v id="17" bcv="1SA.12.17" />અત્યારે ઘઉંની કાપણીની ઋતું છે, હું યહોવાને પ્રૅંર્થના કરીશ એટલે તે ગાજવીજ સૅંથે પુષ્કળ વરસાદ મોકલશે; અને એ જોઈને પદ્ધી તમને ખાતરી થશે કે, તમે રાજાની માંગણી કરીને યહોવાની નજરમાં કેવો મોટો ગુનો કર્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.12.18" />પદ્ધી શમુએલે યહોવાને વિનંતી કરી. એજ દિવસે યહોવાએ ગર્જના વિજળી તથા વરસાદ મોકલ્યા, આને કારણે લોકો યહોવૅંથી અને શમુએલથી ડરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.12.19" />તે બધાએ શમુએલને કહ્યું, “તારા સેવકોને માંટે તારા દેવ યહોવાને પ્રૅંર્થના કર, જેથી અમે મરી ન જઈએ. કારણ, અમાંરા બધાં પાપમાં રાજાની માંગણીના ઘોર પાપનો અમે ઉમેરો કર્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1SA.12.20" />શમુએલે લોકોને કહ્યું, “ગભરાશો નહિ, એ વાત સાચી છે કે યહોવા વિરુદ્ધ તમે ઘોર પાપ કર્યુ છે, તેમ છતાં યહોવૅંથી વિમુખ થશો નહિ. પરંતુ સાચા અંત:કરણથી તેમની સેવા કરજો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.12.21" />યહોવાનો ત્યાગ કરશો નહિ, મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કે સેવા કરશો નહિ કારણ કે તે પુતળા માંત્ર છે, તે તમાંરી મદદ કરી શકશે નહિ. તે કઇંજ નથી!
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1SA.12.22" />“પોતાના મોટા નામની ખાતર યહોવા તમાંરો ત્યાગ નહિ કરે, કારણ, તેણે તમને પોતાની પ્રજા બનાવ્યા છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="1SA.12.23" />હું તો તમાંરે માંટે પ્રૅંર્થના કરવાનું બૈંધ કરીને યહોવા વિરુદ્ધ પાપ નહિ કરું, હું તમને સાચો અને સધો માંર્ગ બતાવતો જ રહીશ.
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<v id="24" bcv="1SA.12.24" />માંત્ર યહોવૅંથી ગભરાઇને ચાલો, અને સાચા હૃદયથી યહોવાની શ્રદ્ધાપૂર્વક સેવા કરો. તમાંરે માંટે જે મહાન કાર્યો તેણે કર્યા છે તેનો વિચાર કરો.
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<v id="25" bcv="1SA.12.25" />પણ જો તમે પાપકર્મમાં રચ્યા પચ્યા રહેશો, તો તમાંરો અને તમાંરા રાજાનો નાશ નિશ્ચિત છે એમ જાણજો.”
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<s style="s">શાઉલની પહેલી ભુલ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.13.1" />એ સમયે શાઉલના રાજયશાસનનું એક વર્ષ પસાર થઈ ગયું હતું. ઇસ્રાએલ ઉપર 2 વર્ષ શાસન કર્યા પછી
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.13.2" />તેણે ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી 3,000 સૈનિકોની ભરતી કરી. તેમાંના 2,000 પોતાની સાથે બેથેલ પહાડી દેશમાં મિખ્માંશમાં રાખ્યા. જયારે બાકીના હજારનું સૈન્ય શાઉલનો પુત્ર યોનાથાનની સાથે બિન્યામીનના પ્રદેશના ગિબયાહમાં રાખ્યું. બાકીના સૈનિકોને શાઉલે પોતપોતાને ઘેર મોકલી દીધા.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.13.3" />પછી યોનાથાને ગેબામાંના પલિસ્તી સેનાપતિને માંરી નાખ્યો અને પલિસ્તીઓએ આના વિશે સાંભળ્યું.
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<p style="p">પછી શાઉલે તેના સૈનિકોને ધરતીના એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી રણસિંગુ ફૂકવા કહ્યું અને કહ્યું, “ભલે હિબ્રૂ લોકો આ સમાંચાર સાંભળે.”
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.13.4" />અને બધાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ આ સમાંચાર સાંભાળ્યા અને કહ્યું, “શાઉલે પલિસ્તી સેનાપતિને માંરી નાખ્યો છે. હવે પલિસ્તીઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ખરેખર ધિક્કારે છે.”
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<p style="p">અને ગિલ્ગાલમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓને શાઉલ સાથે જોડાવા કહેવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.13.5" />પલિસ્તીઓ ઇસ્રાએલ ઉપર હુમલો કરવા માંટે ભેગા થયા. તેમની પાસે 3,000 રથ, 6,000 ઘોડેસ્વાર અને દરિયાકાંઠાની રેતીની જેમ અગણિત પાયદળ હતું. તેમણે બેથ આવેનની પૂર્વમાં મિખ્માંશ જઈને છાવણી નાખી.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.13.6" />ઇસ્રાએલી સૈનિકોએ જોયું કે તેઓ ભારે સંકટમાં છે અને તેઓનું લશ્કર ભીંસમાં આવી પડયું છે, ત્યારે તેઓ ગભરાઇ ગયા અને ગુફાઓમાં, ઝાડીઓમાં, ખડકોમાં, અને કોતરોમાં તેમજ પાણીની ટાંકીઓમાં સંતાઈ જવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.13.7" />તેથી કેટલાક હિબ્રૂઓએ યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી અને ગિલયાદ ગાદ ભૂમિ તરફ ગયા. શાઉલ હજુ ગિલ્ગાલમાં રહ્યો. તેની સાથે તેના બધા લોકો હતા જેઓ ગભરાયેલા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.13.8" />અને શમુએલે કરેલા વાયદા મુજબ શાઉલે સાત દિવસ રાહ જોઈ; પણ શમુએલ ગિલ્ગાલમાં આવ્યો નહિ, એટલે લશ્કર શાઉલને છોડીને વિખરાઈ જવા લાગ્યું.
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.13.9" />તેથી શાઉલે તેમને કહ્યું: “માંરી પાસે દહનાર્પણ તથા શાંત્યર્પણો લાવો.” પછી તેણે દહનાર્પણ અર્પ્યા.
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.13.10" />અર્પણોની વિધિ તે પૂર્ણ કરી રહ્યો ત્યાં જ શમુએલ આવી પહોંચ્યો. શાઉલ તેને આવકાર આપવા સામે ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.13.11" />કહ્યું, “તેં આ શું કયુંર્?”
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<p style="p">શાઉલે જવાબ આપ્યો, “મેં જોયું કે લોકો માંરી પાસેથી વિખરાઈ રહ્યા છે, તેઁ જણાવેલા સમય પ્રમાંણે તું આવ્યો નહિ, અને પલિસ્તીઓ મિખ્માંશ પાસે યુદ્ધને માંટે એકત્ર થયા છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="1SA.13.12" />તેથી મેં વિચાયુંર્ કે, ‘હવે પલિસ્તીઓ ગિલ્ગાલ ઉપર હુમલો કરવાને તૈયાર છે, અને મેં હજી યહોવાને પ્રસન્ન કરવા પ્રાર્થના કરી નથી; તેથી માંરું હૃદય દુ:ખાવીને વધારે રાહ જોયા વિના દહનાર્પણોનાં<f caller="+"><fr>13:12
</fr><fk>દહનાર્પણ
</fk><ft>યાજક શમુએલની જગ્યામાં શાઉલને અપણોર્ અપર્ણ કરવા દેવામાં આવ્યો હતો.</ft></f> બલિદાન અર્પણ કર્યા.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.13.13" />ત્યારે શમુએલે શાઉલને કહ્યું, “તે ગાંડપણ કર્યું છે, તને તારા દેવ યહોવાએ જે આજ્ઞા આપી હતી તેનું તેઁ પાલન નથી કર્યુ. તેં જો તેમ કર્યું હોત તો યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલ ઉપર તારી અને તારા વંશની રાજસત્તા કાયમ માંટે સ્થાપી હોત.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.13.14" />પરંતુ હવે તારી સત્તા ટકશે નહિ. યહોવા પોતાને મનગમતો માંણસ શોધી કાઢશે અને તેને પોતાના લોકો ઉપર રાજય કરવા નીમશે, કારણ તેં તેમની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યુ નથી.”
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.13.15" />ત્યારબાદ શમુએલ ગિલ્ગાલ છોડીને દૂર ગયો.
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<s style="s">મિખ્માંશની લડાઇ
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<p style="p">બાકીનાં સૈન્યે શાઉલ સાથે ગિલ્ગાલ છોડયું. તેઓ ગિલ્ગાલથી બિન્યામીનના ગિબયાહમાં ગયા. તેણે સૈન્યમાં માંણસો ગણ્યાં ત્યાં લગલગ 600 માંણસો હતાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="1SA.13.16" />શાઉલે, તેના પુત્ર યોનાથાનને અને તેમની સાથેના લશ્કરે બિન્યામીનના પ્રદેશમાં ગેબા ખાતે મુકામ કર્યો, અને પલિસ્તીઓએ મિખ્માંશમાં છાવણી નાખી.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.13.17" />પલિસ્તીઓની છાવણીમાંથી ધાડપાડુઓની ત્રણ ટુકડીઓ બહાર પડી. એક ટુકડી શૂઆલ જિલ્લામાં આવેલા ઓફાહ ભણી ગઈ.
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<v id="18" bcv="1SA.13.18" />બીજી બેથ-હોરોન તરફ ગઈ અને ત્રીજી રણ તરફ સબોઈમની ખીણમાં ગઈ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1SA.13.19" />સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલમાં એક પણ ઇસ્રાએલી લુહાર શોધ્યો જડતો ન હતો. કારણ, પલિસ્તીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલીઆને લોઢાની તરવાર અને ભાલા બનાવવાની કળા શીખવી હતી નહિ તેના કારણે તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓથી ડરતા હતા.
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.13.20" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પોતાનાં હળ, ખરપડી, કુહાડા, અને દાતરડાંને ધાર કઢાવવા પલિસ્તીઓ પાસે જવું પડતું.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="1SA.13.21" />હળ અને ખરપડીને ધાર કાઢવાની મજૂરી આ પ્રમાંણે આપવી પડતી; હળની ધાર કાઢવા માંટે બે તૃતિયાંશ શેકેલ, ખરપડીની ધાર કાઢવાના બે તૃતિયાંશ શેકેલ, કુહાડીની ધાર કાઢવા માંટે એક તૃતિયાંશ શેકેલ, દાતરડાની ધાર કાઢવાના એક તૃતિયાંશ શેકેલ. બળદને હાંકવાની પરોણીની ધાર કાઢવાના એક તૃતિયાંશ શેકેલ.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="1SA.13.22" />આથી જયારે યુદ્ધ ફાટી નીકળ્યું ત્યારે શાઉલ અને તેના પુત્ર યોનાથાન સિવાય તેમના કોઈ લડવૈયા પાસે નહોતી તરવાર કે નહોતો ભાલો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1SA.13.23" />પછી પલિસ્તીઓની એક ટૂકડી મિખ્માંશ ઘાટનું રક્ષણ કરવા પહોંચી ગઈ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">યોનાથાને પલિસ્તીઓ પર આક્રમણ કર્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.14.1" />એક દિવસે શાઉલના પુત્ર યોનાથાને પોતાના શસ્ત્ર ઉપાડનાર માંણસને કહ્યું, “ચાલ, આપણે પેલી બાજુ પર આવેલી પલિસ્તીઓની ચોકીએ જઈએ.” પરંતુ તેણે એ વિષે પોતાના પિતાને કશું કહ્યું નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.14.2" />શાઉલે પહાડની કિનારે આવેલા મિગ્રોનમાં દાડમના ઝાડ નીચે મુકામ કર્યો હતો. તે ખળાની નજીક હતું. તેની સાથે લગભગ 600 સૈનિકો હતાં.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.14.3" />તે સમયે શીલોહમાં અહિયા યાજક હતો. તે અહીટુબના ભાઇ ઇખાબોદનો પુત્ર હતો. ઇખાબોદ ફીનહાસનો પુત્ર હતો, ફીનહાસ યાજક એલીનો પુત્ર હતો. હવે અહિયાએ એફોદ પહેરેલો હતો.
</p>
<p style="p">યોનાથાન ગયેલો છે તે લોકો જાણતા નહોતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.14.4" />યોનાથાન ઘાટીમાં થઈને પલિસ્તીઓની છાવણીમાં જવાની યોજના કરતો હતો. ધાટીની બન્ને બાજુએ મોટા ખડકો હતા. આ ખડકોના નામ બોસેસ અને સેનેહ હતા.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.14.5" />એક મોટો ખડક ઉત્તરમાં મિખ્માંશની સામે અને બીજો ખડક દક્ષિણમાં ગેબાની સામે હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.14.6" />યોનાથાને પોતાના શસ્ત્રસજ્જ યુવાન માંણસને કહ્યું, “ચાલ, આપણે આ વિદેશીઓની છાવણીમાં જઈએ. કદાચ યહોવા આપણને તેઓને હરાવવા મદદ કરે. કઈં પણ યહોવાને રોકી શકે નહિ- ભલે આપણી પાસે વધારે સૈનિકો કે થોડા સૈનિકો હોય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.14.7" />તેથી શસ્ત્રવાહકે કહ્યું, “તમાંરા મનમાં જે કંઈ હોય તે પ્રમાંણે કરો, હું તમાંરી સાથે છું,”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.14.8" />યોનાથાને કહ્યું, “ઠીક આપણે સામી બાજુ જઈએ અને તે લોકોની નજર આપણા ઉપર પડે તેમ કરીએ.
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.14.9" />જો તેઓ એમ કહે કે, ‘અમે આવીએ ત્યાં સુધી ઊભા રહો.’ તો આપણે આપણી જગ્યાએ ઊભા રહીશું, તેમની પાસે નહિ જઈએ.
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.14.10" />પણ જો તેઓ એમ કહે કે, ‘અહી અમાંરી પાસે ઉપર આવો.’ તો આપણે ઉપર જઈશું. કારણ, યહોવા આપણને તેમને હરાવવા દેશે. એ આપણ માંટે એંધાણી રહેશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.14.11" />આથી તેઓ પલિસ્તીઓની નજરે ચડયા અને પલિસ્તીઓ બોલી ઊઠયા, “જુઓ, પેલા હિબ્રૂઓ ગુફાઓમાં છુપાયેલા હતા ત્યાંથી બહાર આવે છે.”
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<v id="12" bcv="1SA.14.12" />પલિસ્તી ચોકીદારોએ યોનાથાનને અને તેના સેવકને કહ્યું, “અહી ઉપર આવો, અમાંરે તમને કંઈક કહેવું છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી યોનાથાને તેના સેવકને કહ્યું, “માંરી પાછળ પર્વત ઉપર આવ. યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પલિસ્તીઓને હરાવવા દેશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.14.13" />આથી તેઓ ધૂંટણિયે પડીને ઉપર ચઢી ગયાં અને યોનાથાને તથા તેના યુવાન રક્ષકે પલિસ્તીઓ પર હુમલો કરીને તેઓને માંરી નાખ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1SA.14.14" />આ પહેલા હુમલામાં, યોનાથાને અને તેના મદદગારે આશરે દોઢ એકર ક્ષેત્રમાં વીસેક માંણસોને મોતને ઘાટ ઉતાર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.14.15" />પલિસ્તીઓની છાવણીમાં, અને સમગ્ર સૈન્યમાં ભય વ્યાપી ગયો. સૈનિક ટોળીઓના માંણસો થથરી ગયા. ધરતી ધ્રૂજવા લાગી. ભયંકર ભીતિ ફેલાઈ ગઈ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.14.16" />બિન્યામીનના ગિબયાહમાંના શાઉલના પહેરેગીરોએ જોયું; પલિસ્તીઓનાં ટોળાના માંણસો આમતેમ વિખરાઈ જતાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="1SA.14.17" />તેથી શાઉલે પોતાના માાંણસોને હુકમ કર્યો, “સૈનિકોની હાજરી લો અને કોણ ખૂટે છે તે શોધી કાઢો.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓએ જોયું તો યોનાથાન અને તેનો અંગરક્ષક ત્યાં ન હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.14.18" />શાઉલે અહિયાને દેવનો પવિત્રકોશ લાવવા આજ્ઞા કરી, કારણ તે ઈસ્રાએલીઓ પાસે હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.14.19" />પરંતુ જ્યારે શાઉલ યાજક અહિયા સાથે બોલતો હતો તે દરમ્યાન પલિસ્તીઓની છાવણીમાં કોલાહલ વધતો જ ગયો. શાઉલે યાજકને કહ્યું, “બસ! તારો હાથ નીચે કર અને
<add>પ્રાર્થના કરવાનું બંધ કર</add>!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1SA.14.20" />પછી શાઉલ અને તેના માંણસો રણભૂમિમાં જતા રહ્યા. પલિસ્તી સૈનિકો ભારે અંધાધૂધીમાં હતા અને એકબીજા ઉપર તરવાર ચલાવી રહ્યાં હતા.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.14.21" />અત્યાર સુધી જે હિબ્રૂઓ પલિસ્તીઓના પક્ષમાં હતા અને જેઓ તેમની સાથે છાવણીમાં ગયા હતા, તેઓ ફરી ગયા અને શાઉલ અને યોનાથાન સાથેના ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાથે જોડાઈ ગયા.
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.14.22" />તેમજ જે ઇસ્રાએલી સૈનિકો એફાઈમના પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં છુપાઈ ગયા હતાં તે બધા પણ, પલિસ્તીઓ નાસે છે એવું સાંભળીને, તેઓ પણ યુદ્ધમાં જોડાયા અને પલિસ્તીઓની પાછળ પડયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1SA.14.23" />આ રીતે યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને વિજય અપાવ્યો, અને લડાઈ બેથ-આવેન સુધી પ્રસરી ગઈ. બધી સેના શાઉલ સાથે હતી. તેની પાસે લગભગ 10,000 પુરુષો હતા, એફાઇમના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશના દરેક શહેરમાં યુદ્ધનું વાતાવરણ હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ફરી ભૂલ કરતો શાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1SA.14.24" />તે દિવસે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ થાકીને લોથ થઈ ગયા હતા, કારણ, શાઉલે લોકોને સમ દઈને કહ્યું હતું કે, “હું માંરા શત્રુઓ ઉપર વેર વાળું તે પહેલાં સાંજ સુધી કાંઈ ખાશો નહિ, જે ખાશે તેને માંથે શાપ ઊતરશે.” આથી કોઈએ કશું ય ખાધું નહોતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1SA.14.25" />તેઆએ જંગલમાં પ્રવેશ કર્યો ત્યારે તેમણે જમીન પર મધ જોયું. મધપૂડામાંથી મધ ટપકતું હતું.
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<v id="26" bcv="1SA.14.26" />તેઓ મધપૂડા સુધી ગયા છતાં શાઉલને આપેલા સોંગદને કારણે કોઇએ તે ખાધું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="1SA.14.27" />પણ શાઉલે લોકોને સમ દીધા હતા એની યોનાથાનને ખબર નહોતી, આથી તેણે પોતાના હાથમાંની લાકડી લંબાવીને મધપૂડામાં ખોસી મોઢામાં નાખી; તેથી તે એકદમ તાજો થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1SA.14.28" />ત્યારે લોકોમાંથી કોઈએ તેને કહ્યું, “તારા પિતાએ લોકોને સમ દીધા છે કે, ‘આજે જે કોઈ કાંઈ ખાશે તેના ઉપર શાપ ઊતરશે.’ તેથી જ આ બધા લોકો ભૂખથી અર્ધા થઈ ગયા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1SA.14.29" />યોનાથાને તેને કહ્યું, “માંરા પિતાએ લોકોની ભારે કુસેવા કરી છે. જો, થોડું મધ ચાખવાથી પણ હું કેવો તાજો થઈ ગયો છું!
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="1SA.14.30" />એ જ રીતે જો આપણા બધા માાંણસોએ શત્રુઓ પાસેથી પ્રાપ્ત થયેલી લૂંટમાંથી ધરાઈને ખાધું હોત, તો તેમણે હજી કેટલા બધા પલિસ્તીઓનો ઘાણ કાઢી નાખ્યો હોત!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="1SA.14.31" />પરંતુ ભૂખ્યા હોવા છતાં તેઓએ મિખ્માંશથી આયાલોન સુધી પલિસ્તીઓનો પીછો કરીને આખો દિવસ તેઓની હત્યા કરીને હરાવ્યા.
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<v id="32" bcv="1SA.14.32" />પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ભૂખથી અર્ધા થઈ ગયા હોવાથી લૂંટ ઉપર તૂટી પડયા, અને ઘેટાં, બળદ અને વાછરડાં લઈને તેમને જમીન ઉપર વાઢી નાખ્યા, અને લોહી સાથે જ માંસ ખાવા લાગ્યા,
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1SA.14.33" />કોઈકે શાઉલને કહ્યું, “તારા લોકો રકત સાથે માંસ ખાઈને યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કરે છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">શાઉલે કહ્યું, “તમે પાપ કર્યું છે! એક મોટો પથ્થર લાવીને અહીં મુકો.”
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<v id="34" bcv="1SA.14.34" />પછી તેણે તેમને કહ્યું, “જાવ, અને પુરુષોને કહો કે દરેક પોતાનું ઘેટું ને બળદ અહીં લઈ આવે, અને તેને કાપીને ખાય. તેઆએ લોહીવાળું માંસ ખાવાનું નથી કારણ કે તે યહોવા વિરુદ્ધ પાપ છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યાર પછી તે રાત્રે તેઓ બધાં તેમના પશુઆને લાવ્યા અને ત્યાં કાપ્યા.
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<v id="35" bcv="1SA.14.35" />પછી શાઉલે યહોવાને માંટે એક વેદી બાંધી. તેણે પોતે તેને બાંધવાનું શરુ કર્યું. યહોવાને માંટે બાંધેલી તેની તે પહેલી વેદી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="1SA.14.36" />શાઉલે કહ્યું, “ચાલો, આપણે આજે રાત્રે પલિસ્તીઓ ઉપર છાપો માંરીએ, સવાર સુધી તેમને લૂંટીને અને એકેએકને પૂરા કરીએ.”
</p>
<p style="p">સૈનિકોએ કહ્યું, “તમને ઠીક લાગે તેમ કરો.”
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ યાજકે કહ્યું, “આપણે દેવની સલાહ લઈએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="1SA.14.37" />તેથી શાઉલે દેવને પૂછયું, “હું પલિસ્તીઓ પર હુમલો કરું? તમે એમને ઇસ્રાએલના હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરશો?” પણ તે દિવસે દેવે કોઈ જવાબ આપ્યો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="1SA.14.38" />પછી શાઉલે કહ્યું, “લોકોના સર્વ આગેવાનો, તમે આગળ આવો; અને આજે શામાં આ પાપ થયું છે એ તપાસ કરી શોધી કાઢો.
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<v id="39" bcv="1SA.14.39" />ઇસ્રાએલને વિજય અપાવનાર યહોવાના સમ ખાઈને હું કહું છું કે, માંરા પુત્ર યોનાથાનનો દોષ હશે તો તેને પણ મોતની સજા થશે.” પણ કોઈ કશું બોલ્યું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="1SA.14.40" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તેણે કહ્યું, “તમે બધા એક બાજુએ ઊભા રહો અને હું માંરો પુત્ર યોનાથાન બીજી બાજુએ ઊભા રહીએ.”
</p>
<p style="p">લોકોએ કહ્યું, “તમને ઠીક લાગે તેમ કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="1SA.14.41" />પછી શાઉલે પ્રાર્થના કરી, “ઈસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા, તમે તમાંરા સેવકને આજે જવાબ કેમ નથી આપ્યો. જો મે કે માંરા પુત્રે પાપ કર્યું હોય તો ઉરીમ આપ. જો ઈસ્રાએલીઓએ પાપ કર્યું હોય તો થુમ્મીમ આપ. શાઉલ અને યોનાથાન પસંદગી પામ્યા પણ લોકો બચી ગયા.”
</p>
<p style="p">યોનાથાન અને શાઉલનો દોષ નીકળ્યો અને લોકો નિદોર્ષ ઠર્યા.
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<v id="42" bcv="1SA.14.42" />પછી શાઉલે કહ્યું, “માંરી અને માંરા પુત્ર વચ્ચે નિર્ણય કરવા પાસા નાખો.” અને દોષ યોનાથાનનો નીકળ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="1SA.14.43" />શાઉલે યોનાથાનને પૂછયું, “તે શું કર્યુું છે તે મને કહે.”
</p>
<p style="p">યોનાથાને કહ્યું, “મેં માંરી લાકડીને છેડે લાગેલું સહેજ મધ ખાધું હતું. હું અહીં ઊભો છું અને હું મરવાને તૈયાર છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="1SA.14.44" />શાઉલ બોલ્યો, “યોનાથાન, હું જો તને મોતની સજા ન કરું તો દેવ મને પૂછે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="1SA.14.45" />પણ લોકોએ શાઉલને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલને માંટે આવો મોટો વિજય મેળવનાર યોનાથાનને મરવું પડશે? એ તો કદી ય બને જ નહિ. અમે દેવના સમ ખાઈને કહીએ છીએ કે, એનો એક વાળ પણ વાંકો નહિ થાય, કારણ, આજે એણે જે કંઈ કર્યું છે તે દેવની મદદથી કર્યું છે.” આમ, લોકોએ યોનાથાનને મરતો ઉગારી લીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="1SA.14.46" />શાઉલે પલિસ્તીઓનો પીછો કરવો છોડી દીધો. અને તેઓ પોતાના પ્રદેશમાં પહોંચી ગયા.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના દુશ્મનો સામે લડતો શાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="1SA.14.47" />ઇસ્રાએલમાં રાજપદ ધારણ કર્યા પછી શાઉલે ચારે બાજુના દુશ્મનો સામે યુદ્ધ ખેડયાં, તેણે મોઆબીઓ, આમ્મોનિઓ, અદોમીઓ, સોબાહના રાજા, અને પલિસ્તીઓ સાથે યુદ્ધ કર્યા, તે જે દિશામાં વળ્યો ત્યાં તેને વિજય મળ્યો.
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<v id="48" bcv="1SA.14.48" />તેણે ભારે પરાક્રમ કરીને અમાંલેકીઓને પણ હરાવ્યાં. તેણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને બધા દુશ્મનોના હુમલામાંથી બચાવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="1SA.14.49" />હવે શાઉલના પુત્ર યોનાથાન, યિશ્વી અને માંલકીશૂઆ હતા. તેની બે પુત્રીઓનાં નામ આ પ્રમાંણે હતા: મોટીનું નામ મેરાબ અને નાનીનું નામ મીખાલ.
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<v id="50" bcv="1SA.14.50" />શાઉલની પત્નીનુ નામ અહીનોઆમ હતું. એ અહીમાંઆસની પુત્રી હતી.
</p>
<p style="p">શાઉલના સેનાપિતનું નામ આબ્નેર હતું. તે તેના કાકા નેરનો પુત્ર હતો.
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<v id="51" bcv="1SA.14.51" />શાઉલના પિતા કીશ અને આબ્નેરના પિતા નેર અબીએલના પુત્ર હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="1SA.14.52" />શાઉલને જીવનપર્યંત ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માંટે પલિસ્તીઓની સાથે ખૂનખાર યુદ્ધો લડવાં પડયાં. તેથી શાઉલ કોઈ પરાક્રમી વ્યકિતને કે કોઈ શૂરવીર માંણસને જોતો, તો તેને પોતાના લશ્કરમાં ભરતી કરી દેતો.
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<c id="15" />
<s style="s">અમાંલેકીઓનો નાશ કરતો શાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.15.1" />શમુએલે એક દિવસે શાઉલને કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ મને રાજા તરીકે તારો અભિષેક કરવા મોકલ્યો છે. હવે તું યહોવાના વચન સાંભળ.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.15.2" />યહોવા સર્વસમર્થ કહે છે, ‘ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, તે સમયે જ્યારે તેઓ મિસરમાંથી આવતા હતા, અમાંલેકના લોકોએ તેમને તેમની ભૂમિમાંથી પસાર થતાં રોકયા. અમાંલોકીઓએ શું કર્યું તે મે જોયું હતું.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.15.3" />હવે તમે જઈને અમાંલેકીઓ ઉપર તૂટી પડો અને તેમના સર્વસ્વનો નાશ કરો. કોઈને જીવતું જવા દેશો નહિ; પુરુષો, સ્ત્રીઓ, બાળકો, બચ્ચાઓ, ઢોરો અને ઘેટાં, ઊંટો અને ગધેડાં બધાની હત્યા કરજો.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.15.4" />આથી શાઉલે બધા લોકોને “ટલાઈમ” બોલાવવા તે જગ્યાએ ભેગા કર્યા. ત્યાં 2,00,000 પાયદળ અને બીજા 10,000 માંણસો હતાં. તેમાં યહૂદાનાં માંણસોનો સમાંવેશ છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.15.5" />પછી તેઓ અમાંલેકીઓના નગર પાસે ગયા, અને નદીના કોતરોમાં તેમની રાહ જોઇ.
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.15.6" />તેમણે કેનીઓને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “તમે તો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ જયારે મિસરમાંથી આવ્યા ત્યારે તેમની સાથે મૈત્રીભર્યો વ્યવહાર રાખ્યો હતો. તમે અમાંલેકીઓનો પ્રદેશ છોડીને ચાલ્યા જાઓ, નહિ તો માંરે તેમની સાથે તમને પણ માંરી નાખવા પડશે.” તેથી કેનીઓ અમાંલેકીઓનો પ્રદેશ છોડીને ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.15.7" />ત્યાર પછી શાઉલે અમાંલેકીઓને હરાવ્યા અને તેમને દૂર હાંકી કાઠયાં, હવીલાહથી શૂર સુધી, મિસરની સરહદે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.15.8" />તેણે અમાંલેકીઓના રાજા અગાગને જીવતો પકડયો પરંતુ બાકીના બધા લોકોની હત્યા કરીને સર્વનાશ કર્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.15.9" />પછી શાઉલ અને તેના સૈન્યે અગાગને જીવતો છોડયો પછી શ્રેષ્ઠ જાડી ગાયો, ઘેટાઁ અને હલવાનોને માંર્યા નહિ. પણ તેઓએ નબળાં પ્રાણીઓ જેઓ મૂલ્યહીન હતા અને બીજી નકામી ચીજોનો નાશ કર્યો.
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<s style="s">શાઉલ અયોગ્ય જાહેર થાય છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.15.10" />પછી શમુએલને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઈ:
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.15.11" />“હુ શાઉલને રાજા બનાવવા માંટે પસ્તાવું છુ, કારણ તે મને ભૂલી ગયો છે અને માંરુ ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યુઁ છે.” શમુએલને ખૂબ ક્રોધ ચઢયો; અને આખી રાત તેણે યહોવા આગળ વિનંતી કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.15.12" />શમુએલ સવારનાં વહેલો ઉઠયો; અને શાઉલને મળવા ગયો પણ લોકોએ તેને કહ્યું, “શાઉલ પોતાની ખ્યાતિમાં એક સ્માંરક ઊભું કરવા કામેર્લ ગયો છે. ત્યાથી તે બીજી જગ્યાઓએ જશે અને છેવટે ગિલ્ગાલ જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.15.13" />શમુએલ જ્યારે શાઉલ પાસે પહોંચ્યો; ત્યારે શાઉલે તેને આવકારતા કહ્યું, “યહોવા તમાંરું ભલું કરો; મેં યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પાળી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.15.14" />એટલે શમુએલે પૂછયું, “તો પછી માંરે કાને ઘેટાંના રડવાનો અને બળદ અને ગાયના ભાંભરવાનો અવાજ કેમ આવે છે? આવું કેમ છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.15.15" />શાઉલે જવાબ આપ્યો, “માંરા માંણસોએ એ બધાં પ્રાણીઓ અમાંલેકીઓ પાસેથી પડાવી લીધાં છે. સારામાં સારાં ઘેટાં અને બળદને તેમણે જીવતાં રહેવા દીધાં છે જેથી તેઓ તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાનો યજ્ઞ કરી શકે. બાકીનાં બધાંનો અમે પૂરો નાશ કર્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.15.16" />શમુએલે શાઉલને કહ્યું, “થોભો, ગઈ રાત્રે યહોવાએ મને શું કહ્યું તે માંરે તને કહેવુંજ પડશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">શાઉલ બોલ્યો, “કહો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.15.17" />શમુએલે કહ્યું, “જયારે તેઁ વિચાર્યુ તું કાઇ પણ નથી, યહોવાએ તને ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો રાજા બનાવ્યો, અને હવે તું ઇસ્રાએલના કુળસમૂહોનો મુખી છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="1SA.15.18" />યહોવાએ તને વિશિષ્ટ કામ સોંપીને મોકલ્યો હતો, તને જણાવ્યું હતું, ‘જા, અને દુષ્ટ અમાંલેકીઓનો નાશ કર. જયાં સુધી તેમનું નામનિશાન નાશ ના પામે ત્યાં સુધી તેઓની સાથે લડાઈ કર.’
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.15.19" />તો પછી તેઁ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા કેમ માંની નહિ? તું શા માંટે લૂંટ કરવા તૂટી પડયો, અને યહોવાની નજરમાં ગુનો ગણાય તેવું તેં શા માંટે કર્યુ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1SA.15.20" />શાઉલે જવાબ આપ્યો, “પણ મેં યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યુ છે. મને યહોવાએ જયાં જવાનું કહ્યું હતું ત્યાં હું ગયો હતો, અને હું અમાંલેકીઓના રાજા અગાગને જીવતો પકડી લાવ્યો છું, અને બાકીનાઓને મેં પૂરો નાશ કર્યા છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.15.21" />માંરા માંણસોએ નાશ કરવાની વસ્તુઓમાંથી લૂંટમાં મળેલાં સારામાં સારાં ઘેટાં અને બળદોને માંરી નાખવાને બદલે ગિલ્ગાલમાં તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાનો યજ્ઞ કરવા લઈ લીધા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1SA.15.22" />પરંતુ જવાબ આપ્યો, “યહોવાને અર્પણો વધારે ગમે છે કે તેમની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન ગમે છે? અર્પણો કરતાં તેમની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન બેહતર છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="1SA.15.23" />પરંતુ તેમની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરવું એ મૂર્તિ પૂજા અને જંતરમંતરના પાપ જેટલુજ ખરાબ છે. તમે યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પાળવાની ના પાડી તેથી હવે યહોવા તમને રાજા તરીકે રાખવાની ના પાડે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1SA.15.24" />શાઉલે શમુએલને કહ્યું, “મેં પાપ કર્યું છે. મેં યહોવાની આજ્ઞાની અને તમાંરા હુકમની અવગણના કરી છે. હું માંરા માંણસોથી ડરી ગયો અને તેમના કહ્યાં પ્રમાંણે વત્ર્યો,
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<v id="25" bcv="1SA.15.25" />પણ હવે કૃપા કરીને માંરું પાપ માંફ કરો. હું તમને પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે તમે માંરી સાથે પાછા ફરો, જેથી હું યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરી શકું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1SA.15.26" />શમુએલે કહ્યું, “હું તારી સાથે પાછો નહિ આવું, તેં યહોવાની આજ્ઞાને નકારી દીધી છે એટલે યહોવાએ તને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા તરીકે હવે અપાત્ર ઠરાવ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1SA.15.27" />શમુએલ જવા માંટે ફર્યો ત્યારે તેને અટકાવવા માંટે શાઉલે તેના ઝભ્ભાની ચાળ પકડી લીધી અને તે ફાટી ગઈ.
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<v id="28" bcv="1SA.15.28" />શમુએલે તેને કહ્યું, “તેં માંરો ઝભ્ભો ફાડ્યો છે. તે જ રીતે યહોવાએ આજે તારી પાસેથી ઇસ્રાએલનું રાજ્ય ફાડી લીધું છે અને જે તારા કરતાઁ સારી વ્યકિત છે તે તારા મિત્રોમાંથી એકને આપી દીધું છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="1SA.15.29" />ઇસ્રાએલનો મહાન દેવ યહોવા કદી જૂઠું બોલતો નથી કે, પોતાનો નિર્ણય બદલતો નથી. તે માંણસ જેવો નથી જે પસ્તાય અને તેનો નિર્ણય ફેરવે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="1SA.15.30" />શાઉલે કહ્યું, “મેં પાપ કર્યું છે; પણ માંરા લોકોના આગેવાનો આગળ અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ આગળ માંરું માંન જાળવો અને માંરી સાથે પાછા આવો, જેથી હું તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરી શકું.”
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<v id="31" bcv="1SA.15.31" />આથી શમુએલ શાઉલની સાથે પાછો ગયો અને શાઉલે યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="1SA.15.32" />પછી શમુએલે કહ્યું, “અમાંલેકીઓના રાજા અગાગને માંરી પાસે લાવો.”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે અગાગ લથડાતા પગે તેની સામે આવ્યો અને બોલ્યો, “ખરેખર, મૃત્યુની ઘડી હવે વીતી ગઈ છે અને માંરો જીવ બચી ગયો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1SA.15.33" />શમુએલે કહ્યું, “તારી તરવારે ઘણી માંતાઓને પુત્રહીન બનાવી છે, એટલે હવે તારી માંતા પુત્રહીન બનશે.” અને તેણે ગિલ્ગાલની વેદી સામે અગાગને કાપી નાખ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="1SA.15.34" />પછી શમુએલ રામાંમાં ચાલ્યો ગયો અને, રાજા શાઉલ પોતાને ઘેર ગિબયાહમાં ગયો.
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<v id="35" bcv="1SA.15.35" />શમુએલે જીવનપર્યંત ફરી કદી શાઉલનું મોં જોયું નહિ. પરંતુ તેને માંટે તેને શોક ઘણો થયો. કારણ કે, તેને ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બનાવ્યો તે માંટે યહોવાને પસ્તાવો થયો હતો.
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<s style="s">શમુએલ બેથલેહેમ ગયો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.16.1" />યહોવાએ શમુએલને કહ્યું, “શાઉલને માંટે તું કયાં સુધી શોક કર્યા કરીશ? મેં એને રાજા પદેથી ઉઠાડી મૂકયો છે. તારા શિંગડામાં તેલ ભરી લે અને જા. હું તને બેથલેહેમના યશાઇ પાસે મોકલું છું. કારણ કે, મેં તેના પુત્રોમાંથી એકને રાજા તરીકે પસંદ કર્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.16.2" />શમુએલે પૂછયું, “હું કેવી રીતે જાઉં? જો શાઉલને તેની ખબર પડી જાય તો તે મને માંરી નાખશે.”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તું તારી સાથે એક વાછરડું લઈ જા, અને તેને કહેજે કે, ‘હું યહોવાને યજ્ઞ અર્પવા આવ્યો છું.’
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.16.3" />યશાઇને એ યજ્ઞમાં બોલાવજે. પછી તારે શું કરવાનું છે તે હું તને કહીશ. જે વ્યકિત હુઁ તને દેખાડું, તમાંરે તેનો રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કરવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.16.4" />પછી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, તે મુજબ શમુએલે કર્યું. તે બેથલેહેમ ગયો અને શહેરના વડીલો તેને મળવા દોડી આવ્યા. તેઓએ પૂછયું, “આપ શા માંટે આવ્યા છો? સમાંચાર તો સારા છે ને?”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.16.5" />શમુએલે કહ્યું, “હા, હું શાંતિમાં આવ્યો છું. હું યહોવાને યજ્ઞ અર્પણ આપવા આવ્યો છુઁ. તમે બધા તમાંરી જાતને શુદ્ધ કરો અને માંરી સાથે યજ્ઞ અર્પણ માંટે આવો.” તેણે તેની જાતે યશાઇ અને તેના પુત્રોને તૈયાર કર્યો અને તેમને યજ્ઞ અર્પણ માંટે આમંત્રિત કર્યાં
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.16.6" />તેઓ આવ્યા એટલે અલીઆબને જોઈને શમુએલને વિચાર આવ્યો કે, “જરૂર, યહોવાનો પસંદ કરેલો માંણસ એની સમક્ષ આવ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.16.7" />પણ યહોવાએ શમુએલને કહ્યું, “એનો દેખાવ અને ઊંચાઈ જોઈને તેને ધ્યાનમાં ન લો, કારણ હું તેનો અસ્વીકાર કરું છુ. યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિ અને માંનવની દૃષ્ટિમાં તફાવત હોય છે. માંણસો બાહ્ય દેખાવ જુએ છે, પરંતુ યહોવા માંણસના અંતર અને ભાવનાઓને જુએ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.16.8" />પછી યશાઇએ અબીનાદાબને બોલાવીને શમુએલની આગળ રજૂ કર્યો. અને શમુએલે કહ્યું, “ના, યહોવાએ તેને પસંદ કર્યો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.16.9" />પછી યશાઇ શામ્માંહને લાવ્યો, પણ શમુએલે કહ્યું: “નહિ, યહોવાએ તેને પસંદ કર્યો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.16.10" />યશાઇએ પોતાના સાતે પુત્રોને શમુએલ આગળ રજૂ કર્યા. પણ તેણે કહ્યું, “આમાંના એકે ય ને યહોવાએ પસંદ કર્યો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.16.11" />પછી શમુએલે યશાઇને પૂછયુ, “શું તારે આ સાત પુત્રો જ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">યશાઇએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હજી સૌથી નાનો બાકી છે, પણ તે ઘેટાં અને પ્રાણીઓ ચરાવવા ગયો છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી શમુએલે યશાઇને કહ્યું, “તેને બોલાવવા માંટે મોકલો, અને તેને લાવો, તે ન આવે ત્યાં સુધી આપણે ભોજન નહિ કરીએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.16.12" />એટલે યશાઇએ તેને લાવવા માંણસ મોકલ્યો, તે દેખાવે રૂપાળો હતો, તેનો ચહેરો લાલ અને આંખો તેજસ્વી હતી.
</p>
<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તે પસંદ કરાયેલો છે. ઊઠ, અને એનો અભિષેક કર.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.16.13" />શમુએલે તેલનું શીગડું લઈને તેનો તેના ભાઈઓના દેખતાં અભિષેક કર્યો. પછી યહોવાના આત્માંએ દાઉદમાં સંચાર કર્યો અને તે દિવસથી તેના ભેગો રહ્યો. શમુએલ પછી તેની જગ્યાએ પાછો ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">શાઉલને સતાવતો દુષ્ટઆત્માં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.16.14" />હવે યહોવાનો આત્માં શાઉલ પાસેથી જતો રહ્યો હતો, અને યહોવાનો મોકલાયેલો કોઈ દુષ્ટ આત્માં તેને સતાવતો હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.16.15" />શાઉલના સેવકોએ તેને કહ્યું, “સ્વામી, જોયું ને, દેવનો પ્રેર્યો કોઈ દુષ્ટ આત્માં આપને કેવો સતાવે છે?
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<v id="16" bcv="1SA.16.16" />જો તમે આજ્ઞા આપો તો અમે સારો વીણાવાદક શોધી કાઢીએ. તમાંરા પર ત્રાસદાયક આત્માં આવે ત્યારે તે વીણા વગાડે; અને તેથી તમને શાંતિ થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.16.17" />શાઉલે સેવકોને કહ્યું, “કોઈ કુશળ બજવૈયાને શોધી કાઢો અને માંરી પાસે લઈ આવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.16.18" />તેમાંના એક સેવકે કહ્યું, “મેં બેથલેહેમના યશાઇના એક પુત્રને જોયો છે. તે વગાડવામાં કુશળ છે, ને બહાદુર અને બહુ કુશળ છે, તે દેખાવડો પણ છે અને યહોવા દેવ તેની સાથે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1SA.16.19" />તેથી શાઉલે યશાઇને વિનંતી કરતાં માંણસો મોકલ્યાં, “તમાંરા પુત્ર દાઉદને મોકલો જે માંરા ઘેંટા ચારે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1SA.16.20" />ત્યારે યશાઇએ રોટલી, દ્રાક્ષારસની એક કૂંડી તથા બકરાનું એક બચ્ચુ એક ગધેડાં પર લાદીને પોતાના પુત્ર સાથે શાઉલને મોકલાવ્યાં જેથી તે રાજી થાય.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.16.21" />દાઉદ શાઉલ પાસે આવ્યો, ને તેની સન્મુખ ઊભો રહ્યો. તેને જોતાં જ તેના પર તેને ખૂબ પ્રેમભાવ જાગ્યો; અને તેને તેનો શસ્ત્ર વાહક બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.16.22" />એટલે શાઉલે યશાઇને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “દાઉદને માંરી સેવામાં રહેવા દે, કારણ હું એના ઉપર પ્રસન્ન છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1SA.16.23" />અને જયારે જયારે દેવનો પ્રેર્યો કોઈ દુષ્ટ આત્માં શાઉલમાં પ્રવેશ કરતો ત્યારે દાઉદ વીણા લઈને વગાડતો, એટલે શાઉલને આરામ અને શાંતિ થઇ જતી. દુષ્ટ આત્માં ત્યારે તેને છોડી દેતો અને તે બરાબર થઇ જતો.
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<c id="17" />
<s style="s">ગોલ્યાથનો પડકાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.17.1" />પલિસ્તીઓ યહૂદાના લોકો સાથે લડવા તૈયાર થયા અને યહૂદામાં સોખોહ આગળ ભેગા થયા, સૈન્ય ભેગુ થયું અને સોખોહ અને અઝેકાહ વચ્ચે છાવણી નાખી, એફેસ દામ્મીમ બોલાવાતા એક શહરેમાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.17.2" />શાઉલ અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ભેગા થઈને એલાહની ખીણમાં છાવણી નાખી અને પલિસ્તીઓ સામે લડવા, તેઓએ પર્વત હરોળ કરી.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.17.3" />પલિસ્તીઓ એક ટેકરી ઉપર એકઠાં થયાં અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ બીજી ટેકરી ઉપર; બંનેની વચ્ચે એક ખીણ હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.17.4" />પલિસ્તીઓની છાવણીમાંથી ગોલ્યાથ નામનો એક યોદ્ધો ઇસ્રાએલીઓને દ્વંદ્ધયુદ્ધ માંટે પડકારવા બહાર આવ્યો. તે ગાથનો વતની હતો. તે આશરે નવ ફૂટ ઊંચો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.17.5" />એ ગાથ નગરનો વતની હતો. તે નવ ફૂટ કરતા ઊંચો હતો. તેણે કાંસાનો ટોપ પહેર્યો હતો, અને માંછલીની ચામડી ઉપરના ભીંગડા જેવુ બખતર પહેરેલુ હતું આ કાંસાનાં બખતરનું વજન પાંચ હજાર શેકેલ હતું.
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.17.6" />તેને પગે કાંસાનું બખ્તર ચડાવેલું હતું અને તેના ખભા ઉપર કાંસાનો ભાલો લટકાવેલો હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.17.7" />તેના ભાલાનો હાથો વણકરની સાળના તાર જેવો હતો અને તેનું લોખંડનું પાંનુ આશરે છસો શેકેલ વજનનું હતું, તેની ઢાલ ઉપાડનારો તેની આગળ ચાલતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.17.8" />તેણે ઊભા રહીને ઇસ્રાએલનાં સૈન્યને હાંક માંરી, “તમે ત્યાં યુદ્ધ માંટે વ્યુહબદ્ધ કેમ થયા છો? હું પલિસ્તી છું અને તમે બધાં શાઉલના ગુલામો છો. માંરી સાથે લડવા તમે તમાંરો એક માંણસ પસંદ કરો.
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.17.9" />જો તે માંણસ મને માંરી નાખે, તો અમે તમાંરા ગુલામ થઈશું. પણ જો હું તેને માંરી નાખું, તો તમાંરે બધાએ અમાંરા ગુલામ થઈને અમાંરી સેવા કરવી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.17.10" />તેણે વધુમાં કહ્યું, “હું આજે ઇસ્રાએલી સેનાને પડકાર કરું છું, માંરી સાથે લડવા માંટે એ માંણસોને મોકલવાં હું આહવાન આપુ છુ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.17.11" />આ સાંભળીને શાઉલ અને તેના માંણસો ભયથી થથરી ગયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">લડવા જતો દાઉદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.17.12" />યહુદાના બેથલેહેમમાં એફાથી કુલમાંના યશાઇનો પુત્ર દાઉદ હતો. યશાઇને સાઠ પુત્રો હતા. શાઉલના સમયે યશાઇ વૃદ્વ ગણાતો.
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.17.13" />યશાઇના ત્રણ મોટા પુત્રો શાઉલ સાથે યુદ્ધમાં ગયા હતા. તે હતા: એલીઆબ પહેલો પુત્ર, અબીનાદાબ બીજો અને શમ્માંહ ત્રીજો.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.17.14" />દાઉદ સૌથી નાનો હતો. મોટા ત્રણ પુત્રો શાઉલની સેનામાં જોડાયા હતાં.
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.17.15" />પરંતુ દાઉદ ઘેટાંની સંભાળ રાખવા શાઉલની છાવણી અને બેથલેહેમ વચ્ચે આવજા કરતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.17.16" />ચાળીસ દિવસ સુધી સવાર અને સાંજ પેલો પલિસ્તી ગોલ્યાથ બહાર આવતો અને તેમને પડકાર કરતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.17.17" />પછી એક દિવસે યશાઇએ તેના પુત્ર દાઉદને કહ્યું, “તારા ભાઈઓ માંટે આ દસ રોટલી અને થોડા શેકેલ દાણા લઈ જા.
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<v id="18" bcv="1SA.17.18" />અને આ દસ પનીરના ટુંકડા તેઓના સહસ્રાધિપતિને આપજે અને તારા ભાઈઓના કુશળ સમાંચાર જાણીને અને તેમની કંઈ એંધાણી લઈને પાછો આવ!
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.17.19" />રાજા શાઉલ, તારા ભાઈઓ અને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ એલાહની ખીણમાં પલિસ્તીઓ સામે લડી રહ્યા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1SA.17.20" />બીજે દિવસે વહેલી સવારે દાઉદ ઊઠયો અને ઘેટાં સંભાળવાનું રખેવાળને સોંપીને, ખાવાનું લઈને યશાઇની આજ્ઞા મુજબ ચાલી નીકળ્યો. લશ્કર યુદ્ધનાદ કરતું કરતું યુદ્ધક્ષેત્ર ભણી જતું હતું, ત્યાં દાઉદ છાવણીએ આવી પહોંચ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.17.21" />થોડીવારમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ અને પલિસ્તીઓની સેના યુદ્ધ માંટે સામસામી ગોઠવાઈ ગઈ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1SA.17.22" />દાઉદ પોતાનો સામાંન, ભંડાર સાચવનાર અમલદારને સોંપીને તેના ભાઈઓને મળવા ઝડપથી સૈન્ય તરફ દોડ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="1SA.17.23" />તે તેઓની સાથે વાતો કરતો હતો તે જ સમયે પલિસ્તી યોદ્ધા ગોલ્યાથે સેનામાંથી બહાર આવીને રોજની જેમ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પડકાર ફેંક્યો. દાઉદે એ સાંભળ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1SA.17.24" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ગોલ્યાથને જોઈને ભયના માંર્યા નાસવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="25" bcv="1SA.17.25" />એક ઇસ્રાએલી સૈનિકે કહ્યું, “પેલા માંણસને તેઁ જોયો જે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પડકારવા આવ્યો હતો? અને એને જે કોઈ માંરી નાખે તેને રાજા મોટું ઇનામ આપશે, અને તે તેને ઘણી સંપત્તિ આપશે, પોતાની કુંવરી તેની સાથે પરણાવશે અને તેના કુટુંબને કરવેરો ભરવામાંથી મુકિત આપવામાં આવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1SA.17.26" />દાઉદે ત્યા ઊભેલા માંણસોને પૂછયું, “જે કોઈ આ પલિસ્તીને માંરી નાખે અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓની નામોશી ભૂંસી નાખે તેને શું ઇનામ મળે? આખરે આ ગોલ્યાથ છે કોણ? તે કોઇ જ નથી. એક વિદેશી થઇને જીવતાજાગતા દેવના સૈન્યનો તિરસ્કાર કરવાની હિંમત તે કેવી રીતે કરી શકે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1SA.17.27" />દાઉદને ગોલ્યાથને માંરી નાખવાના ઇનામનો જવાબ લોકો પાસેથી મળી ગયો.
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<v id="28" bcv="1SA.17.28" />પરંતુ દાઉદના સૌથી મોટા ભાઈ અલીઆબે તેને લોકો સાથે વાત કરતાં સાંભળ્યો, એટલે તેને એકદમ ગુસ્સો ચડ્યો. તેણે દાઉદને કહ્યું. “તું અહીં શું કરે છે? અને તું વગડામાં તારાં મૂઠીભર ઘેટાં કોને સોંપીને આવ્યો? હું જાણું છું; તું કેવો ઘમંડી અને ઉદ્ધત છોકરો છે. તું લડાઈ જોવા જ આવ્યો છે ને?”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1SA.17.29" />દાઉદે જવાબ આપ્યો, “મેં શું કર્યું છે? માંરે કોઈને સવાલ પણ ના પૂછવો?”
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<v id="30" bcv="1SA.17.30" />એમ કહીને તેણે બીજા માંણસ તરફ ફરીને તેને એ જ સવાલ પૂછયો, પણ બધાએ એ જ જવાબ આપ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="1SA.17.31" />દાઉદે જે કહ્યું હતું તે થોડા લોકોએ સાંભળ્યું, તેમણે શાઉલને આ વિષે કહ્યું. તેથી શાઉલે તેને બોલાવડાવ્યો.
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<v id="32" bcv="1SA.17.32" />દાઉદે શાઉલને કહ્યું, “હિંમત હારવાની જરૂર નથી. હું તે પલિસ્તી સાથે લડીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1SA.17.33" />શાઉલે કહ્યું, “ના, તું જઈને એ પલિસ્તી સાથે કેવી રીતે લડશે? તું તો નાનો છોકરો છે અને તેણે તો નાનો હતો ત્યારથી આખી જીંદગી લડવામાં જ ગાળી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="1SA.17.34" />દાઉદે ભારપૂર્વક જણાવ્યું, “નામદાર, હું માંરા પિતાનાં ઘેટાં ચારું છું. જો કોઈ વાર સિંહ કે રીંછ આવીને અમાંરા ટોળામાંથી ઘેટું ઉપાડી જાય છે,
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<v id="35" bcv="1SA.17.35" />તો હું તેની પાછળ પડી તેના ઉપર હુમલો કરીને તેના મોંમાંથી તેને છોડાવી લાવું છું. જો તે માંરી સામે થાય છે તો હું તેની દાઢી પકડીને માંરી માંરીને તેનો જીવ લઉં છું.
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<v id="36" bcv="1SA.17.36" />આ રીતે મેં સિંહને અને રીંછને માંર્યા છે. આ વિદેશી પલિસ્તીના પણ હું એવા જ હાલ કરીશ. કારણ કે તેણે જીવતા જાગતા દેવની સેનાનો તિરસ્કાર કર્યો છે.
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<v id="37" bcv="1SA.17.37" />યહોવાએ મને સિંહોના અને રીછોના પંજામાંથી બચાવ્યા છે, તે જ મને આ પલિસ્તીઓના પંજામાંથી પણ બચાવશે.”
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<p style="p">આખરે શાઉલ સંમત થયો અને કહ્યું, “જા, ભલે જા, યહોવા તારું રક્ષણ કરો.”
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<v id="38" bcv="1SA.17.38" />શાઉલે દાઉદને પોતાનું બખ્તર પહેરાવ્યું. તેના માંથા પર કાંસાનો ટોપ મૂકયો અને કવચ પહેરાવ્યું.
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<v id="39" bcv="1SA.17.39" />પછી તેના બખ્તર ઉપર શાઉલે પોતાની તરવાર લટકાવી, અને દાઉદે ચાલવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરી જોયો, પણ તે આ બધાથી ટેવાયેલો ન હોવાથી તે ચાલી શકયો નહિ.
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<p style="p">તેણે શાઉલને કહ્યું, “આ બધાં સાથે મને ચાલતાં ફાવતું નથી. હું એનાથી ટેવાયેલો નથી,” આથી તેણે તે બધુ ઉતારી નાખ્યું.
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<v id="40" bcv="1SA.17.40" />પછી તેણે પોતાની થેલી લીધી અને નદીના વહેણમાંથી પાંચ સુંવાળા પથરા ઉપાડીને થેલીમાં મૂકયા, અને હાથમાં ગોફણ લઈને તે પેલા પલિસ્તી તરફ ઊપડ્યો.
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<s style="s">ગોલ્યાથને માંરતો દાઉદ
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="1SA.17.41" />તેની ઢાલ ઊંચકનાર તેની આગળ આગળ ચાલતો હતો. તે દાઉદની નજીક આવતો જતો હતો.
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<v id="42" bcv="1SA.17.42" />તેણે દાઉદને ધારી ધારીને જોયો અને તેના ઉપર હસતો હતો, કારણ કે તે દાઉદ તો હજુ એક ગલગોટા જેવો રૂપાળો જુવાન હતો.
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<v id="43" bcv="1SA.17.43" />તેણે દાઉદને કહ્યું, “હું તે કંઈ કૂતરો છું કે તું માંરી સામે લાકડી લઈને આવ્યો છે?” તેણે પોતાના દેવોના નામે દાઉદને શાપ આપ્યો.
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<v id="44" bcv="1SA.17.44" />તેણે દાઉદને કહ્યું, “માંરી નજીક આવ, હું તારું માંસ આકાશનાં પક્ષીઓને અને જંગલી પ્રાણીઓને આપીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="1SA.17.45" />દાઉદે જવાબ આપ્યોં, “તું માંરી સામે તરવાર, ભાલો ને કટારી લઈને આવ્યો છે, પરંતુ હું તારી સામે જે ઇસ્રાએલી સૈન્યનું તેઁ અપમાંન કર્યુ છે; તેના જીવતા દેવ સર્વસમર્થ યહોવાના નામે આવ્યો છું.
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<v id="46" bcv="1SA.17.46" />આજે યહોવા તને માંરા હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરી દેશે અને હું તારો જીવ લઈશ. આજે હું તારું માંથું કાપી નાખીશ અને તારા શબને પક્ષીઓને અને જંગલી પ્રાણીઓને ખાવા આપીશ; અમે બીજા પલિસ્તી સૈનિકોના શબોનું પણ આમ જ કરીશું. ત્યારે સમસ્ત જગત જાણશે કે ઇસ્રાએલમાં દેવ છે.
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<v id="47" bcv="1SA.17.47" />અહીં ભેગા થયેલા સૌ કોઈ જાણે કે, યહોવાને રક્ષણ કરવા માંટે નથી જરૂર તરવારની કે નથી જરૂર ભાલાની; યુદ્ધમાં વિજય યહોવાનો છે અને તે તમને અમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="1SA.17.48" />પછી તે પલિસ્તી ઊઠીને દાઉદની સામે લડવા આગળ આવવા લાગ્યો, એટલે દાઉદ પલિસ્તીઓના લશ્કર તરફ તેનો સામનો કરવા દોડી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="1SA.17.49" />દાઉદે ઝોળીમાં હાથ નાખીને એક પથ્થર કાઢયો અને તે ગોફણમાં મૂકીને પલિસ્તીના કપાળમાં માંર્યો. પથરો તેના કપાળમાં જોરથી વાગ્યો અને તે ઊંધે માંથે ભોંય પર પટકાઈ પડયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="1SA.17.50" />આમ, દાઉદે પથ્થર અને ગોફણ વડે પલિસ્તી ઉપર જીત મેળવી અને તરવાર વગર જ તેને માંરી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="51" bcv="1SA.17.51" />પછી તેણે તેની પાસે દોડી જઈને તેની છાતી ઉપર ઊભા રહી તેની મ્યાનમાંથી તરવાર ખેંચી કાઢી તેનું માંથું ધડથી જૂદું કરીને તેને માંરી નાખ્યો.
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<p style="p">પલિસ્તીઓએ જયારે જોયું કે પોતાનો યોદ્ધો માંર્યો ગયો છે ત્યારે તેઓ ભાગવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="52" bcv="1SA.17.52" />ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદાના લોકો રણગર્જના કરી આગળ ધસી આવ્યા અને ગાથ સુધી તથા એક્રોનની ભાગોળો સુધી પલિસ્તીઓની પાછળ પડયા. શાઅરાઈમથી માંડીને છેક ગાથ અને એક્રોન સુધીનો આખો રસ્તો ઘવાયેલા પલિસ્તીઓથી છવાઈ ગયો.
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<v id="53" bcv="1SA.17.53" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ પલિસ્તીઓનો પીછો કરીને પાછા ફરતા તેમની છાવણી લૂંટી.
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<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="1SA.17.54" />દાઉદે ગોલ્યાથનું મસ્તક લીધું અને તે યરૂશાલેમ લઈ ગયો; એ પલિસ્તીના હથિયારો પોતાના તંબુમાં જ રહેવા દીધાં.
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<s style="s">દાઉદથી શાઉલના ભયની શરૂઆત
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<p style="p"><v id="55" bcv="1SA.17.55" />જયારે શાઉલે દાઉદને ગોલ્યાથની સામે લડવા જતો જોયો ત્યારે તેણે તેના સેનાપતિ આબ્નેરને સવાલ કર્યો, “આબ્નેર, એ જુવાન કોણ છે?”
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<p style="p">આબ્નેરે જવાબ આપ્યો, “નામદાર, આપના સમ, એ કોણ છે, હું જાણતો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="56" bcv="1SA.17.56" />એટલે રાજાએ તેને કહ્યું, “જા, તે કોનો પુત્ર છે, તે હકીકત શોધી લાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="1SA.17.57" />આથી દાઉદ જયારે પલિસ્તીને માંરી નાખીને તેનું માંથું હાથમાં લઈને પાછો આવ્યો ત્યારે આબ્નેર તેને શાઉલ પાસે લઈ ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="58" bcv="1SA.17.58" />શાઉલે પૂછયું, “તું, કોનો પુત્ર છે?”
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<p style="p">દાઉદે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું આપના સેવક બેથલેહેમના યશાઇનો પુત્ર છું.”
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</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">યોનાથાન દાઉદનો નજીકનો મિત્ર બન્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.18.1" />દાઉદની અને શાઉલની વાતચીત પૂરી થઈ, શાઉલના પુત્ર યોનાથાન દાઉદનો મિત્ર બન્યો, અને તેને પોતાના પ્રાણની જેમ પ્રેમ કરવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.18.2" />તે દિવસથી શાઉલે દાઉદને પોતાની સાથે જ રાખી લીધો અને તેને પાછો ઘેર જવા દીધો નહિ.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.18.3" />યોનાથાન અને દાઉદ બંને વચ્ચે પ્રાણસમાંન પ્રેમ હોવાથી કાયમ મૈત્રીભાવ રાખવાની સંધિ શપથપૂર્વક કરી.
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.18.4" />અને યોનાથાને પોતાનો ઝભ્ભો કાઢીને દાઉદને આપી દીધો. ઉપરાંત, પોતાનું બખ્તર, તરવાર, ધનુષ્ય અને કમરપટો પણ મિત્રતાના પ્રતીક તરીકે આપ્યા. હવે રાજા શાઉલ દાઉદને યરૂશાલેમમાં જ રાખતો હતો અને તેને ઘેર જવા દેતો નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદની સફળતા નોંધતો શાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.18.5" />શાઉલે દાઉદને ઘણા યુદ્ધો લડવા મોકલ્યો, દાઉદે ખૂબ સફળતા મેળવી, તેથી શાઉલે તેને સૈન્યમાં ઊંચી પદવી આપી, તેને યોદ્ધાઓની દેખરેખનું કામ આપ્યું. શાઉલના માંણસોને અને બધાં લોકોને પણ આ ગમ્યું.
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.18.6" />દાઉદે ગોલ્યાથને માંર્યા પછી વિજયી ઇસ્રાએલી સૈન્ય પાછું ફરતું હતું ત્યારે રસ્તે આવતાં ઇસ્રાએલનાં બધાંજ શહેરોની સ્ત્રીઓ રાજા શાઉલને વધાવવા ખંજરી અને વીણા વગાડતી વગાડતી નાચતી અને આનંદનાં ગીતો ગાતી બહાર આવતી.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.18.7" />તેઓ ઉત્સવનાં ઉલ્લાસમાં એવું ગીત ગાતી હતી કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“શાઉલે હજારોને સંહાર્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દાઉદે તો લાખોને.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.18.8" />શાઉલને આ ગમ્યું નહિ, તેને ગુસ્સો ચડયો, તે બોલ્યો, “દાઉદને એ લોકો લાખોનું શ્રેય આપે છે, જયારે મને માંત્ર હજારોનું જ! હવે તો એને રાજા થવું જ બાકી છે.”
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.18.9" />તે દિવસથી શાઉલ રાજા દાઉદને ઇર્ષ્યાની દૃષ્ટિથી જોવા લાગ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદથી ડરતો શાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.18.10" />અને બીજે દિવસે દેવ તરફથી એક દુષ્ટાત્માંએ શાઉલને વશમાં કર્યો, તેણે શાઉલનો કબજો લીધો અને તે ગાંડા જેવો થઈ ગયો, અગાઉની જેમ દાઉદ વીણા વગાડીને તેને શાંત પાડવા લાગ્યો, પણ શાઉલ તો પોતાના હાથમાં ભાલો ફેરવતો હતો.
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.18.11" />શાઉલે અચાનક દાઉદને ભીંત સાથે જડી દેવાના ઇરાદાથી બે વખત તેની તરફ ભાલો ફેંકયો. પરંતુ દાઉદે બે વાર બાજુ પર ખસી જઈને ઘા ચુકાવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.18.12" />શાઉલ ત્યારથી દાઉદથી ડરવા લાગ્યો, કારણ, યહોવા શાઉલ પાસેથી જતા રહ્યા હતા અને દાઉદની સાથે હતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.18.13" />તેથી શાઉલે તેને પોતાની હજૂરમાંથી ખસેડીને તેને પોતાના સૈન્યમાં સહસ્ત્રાધિપતિ તરીકે નીમ્યો. પછી તે લોકોને યુદ્ધમાં દોરી જતો હતો અને પાછા લાવતો હતો.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.18.14" />દાઉદ બધાં જ કામોમાં સફળ થતો હતો કારણ કે યહોવા તેની સાથે હતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.18.15" />દાઉદની સફળતા જોઈને શાઉલ તેનાથી વધારે ડરવા લાગ્યો,
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<v id="16" bcv="1SA.18.16" />પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલના અને યહૂદાના બધા લોકો તેના ઉપર પ્રેમ રાખતા હતા, કારણ તે યુદ્ધમાં ટૂકડીઓને દોરવતો હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">પોતાની પુત્રીના લગ્ન કરવા ઇચ્છતો શાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.18.17" />પછી એક દિવસ શાઉલે દાઉદને કહ્યું, “આ માંરી મોટી પુત્રી મેરાબ છે એને હું તારી સાથે પરણાવું. જો તું યુદ્ધમાં બહાદુરી અને વફાદારીપૂર્વક માંરી સેવા બજાવતો હોય અને યહોવાની લડાઈઓ લડીને પોતાને સાચા સૈનિક તરીકે સાબિત કરી શકતો હોય,” શાઉલના મનમાં એમ કે, આ રીતે એ પલિસ્તીઓને હાથે માંર્યો જશે અને માંરે તેને માંરવો પડશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.18.18" />દાઉદે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું એવો તે કોણ છું ને માંરા પરિવારનું ઇસ્રાએલમાં એવું તે કયું સ્થાન છે કે હું રાજાનો જમાંઈ થાઉં?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1SA.18.19" />પણ જયારે દાઉદ સાથે શાઉલની પુત્રી મેરાબનો પરણાવવાનો સમય આવ્યો ત્યારે શાઉલે મહોલાથના આદ્રીએલ સાથે તેને પરણાવી દીધી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1SA.18.20" />ત્યાર બાદ શાઉલની બીજી પુત્રી મીખાલ દાઉદનાં પ્રેમમાં પડી અને શાઉલને જયારે એની જાણ થઈ ત્યારે તે બહુ રાજી થયો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.18.21" />તેણે વિચાર્યું, “હું મીખાલને દાઉદ સાથે પરણાવીશ. તે દાઉદને ફસાવશે અને પછી તે પલિસ્તીઓને હાથે મૃત્યુ પામશે.” આથી શાઉલે બીજી વાર દાઉદને કહ્યું, “તારે માંરા જમાંઈ થવાનું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1SA.18.22" />શાઉલે પોતાના દરબારીઓને કહ્યું, “તમે ખાનગી રીતે દાઉદને એમ કહો કે, ‘રાજા તારા ઉપર ઘણા પ્રસન્ન છે અને રાજાના બધા અમલદારો પણ તારા પર પ્રેમભાવ રાખે છે. રાજાના જમાંઈ થવા માંટે તારા માંટે આ ખરો સમય છે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1SA.18.23" />શાઉલના માંણસોએ દાઉદના કાને આ વાત નાખી, ત્યારે દાઉદે કહ્યું, “શું તમે રાજાના જમાંઈ થવાનું એટલું સહેલું માંનો છો કે, માંરા જેવો એક ગરીબ અને સામાંન્ય માંણસ પણ રાજાનો જમાંઈ થઈ શકે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1SA.18.24" />શાઉલના અમલદારોએ જયારે દાઉદના શબ્દો તેમને કહ્યાં ત્યારે શાઉલે જણાવ્યું,
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<v id="25" bcv="1SA.18.25" />“તેણે તેમને કહ્યું કે, દાઉદને કહો કે, ‘રાજાને તારી પાસેથી દહેજમાં ફકત સો પલિસ્તીઓની ઇન્દ્રીયની ચામડી જ જોઈએ છે તેને તેના દુશ્મનો ઉપર વેર વાળવું છે.’” શાઉલના મનમાં એવું હતું કે, આ રીતે દાઉદ પલિસ્તીને હાથે માંર્યો જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1SA.18.26" />દાઉદના અમલદારોએ શાઉલનાં શબ્દો તેને કહ્યાં. દાઉદે આ પ્રસ્તાવ સહર્ષ સ્વીકારી લીધો. અને તરત કામ ઉપાડ્યું.
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<v id="27" bcv="1SA.18.27" />દાઉદે અને તેના માંણસોએ જઈને બ સો પલિસ્તીઓને માંરી નાખ્યા; દાઉદે તેમની ઇન્દ્રિયની ચામડી લાવીને રાજાને આપી; જેથી પોતે રાજાનો જમાંઈ થઈ શકે. આથી શાઉલે પોતાની પુત્રી મીખાલ દાઉદને પરણાવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1SA.18.28" />શાઉલે જોયું કે, યહોવા દાઉદની સાથે છે, વળી તેની પુત્રી મીખાલ પણ તેના પ્રેમમાં પડી છે,
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<v id="29" bcv="1SA.18.29" />આથી તે દાઉદથી વધુને વધુ ડરવા લાગ્યો અને તેનો જીવનભર દુશ્મન બની ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="1SA.18.30" />જયારે પલિસ્તીઓનું સૈન્ય હુમલો કરતું, ત્યારે દરેક વખતે શાઉલના બીજા અમલદારો કરતા દાઉદને વધારે સફળતા મળતી અને આથી દાઉદનું નામ સમગ્ર દેશમાં ખૂબ જ ખ્યાતિ પામ્યું.
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</p>

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">યોનાથાને દાઉદને મદદ કરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.19.1" />શાઉલે પોતાન પુત્ર યોનાથાનને અને પોતાના બધા અમલદારોને દાઉદને માંરી નાખવાના પોતાના ઇરાદાની વાત કરી, પરંતુ યોનાથાનને દાઉદ ઉપર ખૂબ મિત્રપ્રેમ હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.19.2" />તેથી તેણે દાઉદને ચેતવ્યો કે, “માંરા પિતા શાઉલ તારો જીવ લેવાની તક શોધે છે, માંટે આવતી કાલે સવારે સાવધાન રહેજે; કોઈ ગુપ્ત જગ્યાએ છુપાઈ રહેજે.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.19.3" />પછી હું માંરા પિતાની સાથે તું જે ખેતરમાં છુપાયો હશે ત્યાં આવીશ, અને તેની સાથે તારા વિષે વાત કરીશ, અને મને જે કઈ જાણવા મળશે તે હું તને જણાવીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.19.4" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે યોનાથાને શાઉલ આગળ દાઉદની પ્રશંસા કરતાં કહ્યું, “મુરબ્બી, તમાંરે તમાંરા જમાંઈ અને સેવક દાઉદને અન્યાય ન કરવો જોઈએ. તેણે તમાંરું કંઈ બગાડયું નથી, તેણે જે કંઈ કર્યુ છે તેનાથી તો તમને લાભ જ થયો છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.19.5" />તેણે પોતાનો જીવ જોખમમાં મૂકીને પેલા પલિસ્તીને માંર્યો હતો અને યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને મોટો વિજય અપાવ્યો હતો એ જોઈને તમે પણ આનંદ પામ્યા હતા. તો પછી એક નિદોર્ષ માંણસને શા માંટે અન્યાય કરવો અને વગર કારણે શા માંટે દાઉદને માંરી નાખવો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.19.6" />આખરે શાઉલ તેની સાથે સંમત થયો અને યહોવાના નામે પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી કે, “માંરે દાઉદને માંરી નાખવો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.19.7" />યોનાથાને દાઉદને બોલાવીને આ બધી વાત કહી સંભળાવી. પછી તેને શાઉલ પાસે લઈ ગયો. દાઉદ ફરી પહેલાંની માંફક રાજાની સેવા કરવા લાગ્યો.
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<s style="s">દાઉદને માંરવા ફરી પ્રયત્ન કરતો શાઉલ
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.19.8" />તે પદ્ધી ટૂંક સમયમાં ફરી યદ્ધ ફાટી નીકળ્યું. અને દાઉદે પલિસ્તીઓ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો; અને તેમને એવા હરાવ્યા કે, તેઓ જીવ લઈને ભાગ્યાં.
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.19.9" />એક દિવસે શાઉલ પોતાના ઘરમાં બેઠો બેઠો દાઉદનું વણાવાદન સાંભળી રહ્યો હતો ત્યારે તેના હાથમાં તેનો ભાલો હતો. અચાનક તેના પર યહોવા તરફથી દુષ્ટ આત્માં આવ્યો; અને શાઉલમાં પ્રવેશ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.19.10" />અને શાઉલે દાઉદને પોતાના ભાલા વડે ભીંત સૅંથે જડી દેવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો; પણ દાઉદે ઘા ચુકાવ્યો અને શાઉલનો ભાલો ભીંતમાં પેસી ગયો; એ રાત્રે દાઉદ ત્યાંથી ભાગી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.19.11" />દાઉદના ઘર પર નજર રાખવા સારુ શાઉલે સૈનિકો મોકલ્યા અને તેઓને જણાવ્યું કે સવારે દાઉદ ઘરની બહાર નીકળે કે તરત તેને માંરી નાખવો. પરંતુ દાઉદની પત્ની મીખાલે તેને ચેતવ્યો, “જો આજે રાત્રે તું નાસી નહિ જાય તો કાલે સવારે નણ્ી તું મૃત્યુ પામશે.”
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<v id="12" bcv="1SA.19.12" />મીખાલે દાઉદને એક બારીમાંથી નીચે ઉતાર્યો અને તે ભાગી ગયો અને બચી ગયો.
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.19.13" />પદ્ધી મીખાલે કુળદેવતાની મૂર્તિ લઈને પથારીમાં મુકી, તેને કપડા વડે ઢાંકી દીધી, પદ્ધી તેને બકરાંના વાળ તેના માંથા પર નાખી દીધાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.19.14" />જયારે શાઉલના માણસો દાઉદને પઢડવા આવ્યા, ત્યારે મીખાલે કહ્યું, “એ બિમાંર છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.19.15" />પણ શાઉલે એ લોકોને દાઉદને નજરો નજર જોવા પાછા મોકલ્યા અને કહ્યું, “તેને પથારી સહિત અહીં ઉપૅંડી લાવો એટલે હું તેને માંરી નાખું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.19.16" />શાઉલના મૅંણસો અંદર ગયા, અને જોયું તો પથારીમાં કૂળદેવતાની મૂર્તિ માંત્ર હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.19.17" />એટલે શાઉલે મીખાલને કહ્યું, “માંરા શત્રુને ભાગી જવા દઇને, તેઁ મને શા માંટે છેતર્યો”
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<p style="p">મીખાલે શાઉલને જવાબ આપ્યો, “દાઉદે એમ કહ્યું કે, જો ભાગી જવામાં હું તેની મદદ નહિ કરું તો તે મને માંરી નાખશે.”
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<s style="s">રામાંના તંબૂઓમાં દાઉદ
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.19.18" />આમ દાઉદ ભાગીને રામાંમાં શમુએલ પાસે ગયો અને શાઉલે તેને જે બધું કર્ચું તે કહ્યું. પદ્ધી દાઉદ અને શમુએલ નાયોથ જઈને ત્યાં રહ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1SA.19.19" />શાઉલને સમાંચાર મળ્યા કે, દાઉદ રામાં ખાતે આવેલા નાયોથમાં છે,
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.19.20" />તેથી શાઉલે તેના મૅંણસો દાઉદને પઢડવા માંટે મોકલ્યા. તેમણે ત્યાં કેટલાક પ્રબોધકોને તેમના આગેવાન શમુએલ સૅંથે પ્રબોધ કરતા જોયા. શાઉલના માણસોમાં દેવના આત્માંનો સંચાર થયો અને તેઓ પણ પ્રબોધ કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1SA.19.21" />જયારે શાઉલને ખબર પડી કે શું બન્યું હતું ત્યારે તેણે વધારે માણસોને દાઉદને પઢડવા માંટે મોકલ્યા, અને તેઓમાં પણ દેવના આત્માંનો સંચાર થયો અને તેઓ પણ પ્રબોધ કરવા લાગ્યા તેથી તેણે ત્રીજી વાર બીજા મૅંણસોને મોકલ્યા તો તેમની પણ એ જ હાલત થઈ અને તેઓ પ્રબોધ કરવા લાગ્યાં.
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.19.22" />આખરે તે પોતે રામાં જવા નીકળ્યો, અને સેખુમાંના મોટા કૂવા નધ્ક આવીને તેણે પૂછયું, “શમુએલ અને દાઉદ કયાં છે?”
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<p style="p">લોકોએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “તેઓ તો રામાં ખાતે નાયોથમાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1SA.19.23" />પરંતુ તે ત્યાં જતો હતો ત્યારે તેનામાં પણ દેવના આત્માંનો સંચાર થયો અને તે પણ નાયોથ સધી પ્રબોધ કરતો ગયો.
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<v id="24" bcv="1SA.19.24" />શાઉલ ત્યાં ગયો, પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો કાઢી નાખ્યાં અને શમુએલની સામે પ્રબોધ કર્યો. એ ત્યાં આખો દિવસ અને રાત નવસ્ત્રો જ પડી રહ્યો.
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<p style="p">આથી લોકો કહેવા લાગ્યાં, “શાઉલ પણ પ્રબોધક થઈ ગયો કે શું?”
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<s style="s">યોનૅંથાન અને દાઉદની સંધિ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.20.1" />દાઉદે રામાંમાં આવેલા નાયોથમાંથી ભાગીને યોનાથાન પાસે જઈને તેને કહ્યું, “મેં શું કર્યુ છે? માંરો શો ગુનો છે? તારા પિતા કેમ માંરો જીવ લેવા પાછળ પડયા છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.20.2" />યોનાથાને કહ્યું, “આ ખ્યાલ ખોટો છે. તારો જીવ લેવાનો કોઈ ઇરાદો નથી. માંરા પિતા મને જણાવ્યા વિના કોઈ મહત્વનું કે બિનમહત્વનું કામ કરતા જ નથી. તેથી તે આ વાત માંરાથી છુપાવે શા માંટે? ના, એ સાચું નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.20.3" />દાઉદે જવાબ આપ્યો, “તારા પિતા બરાબર જાણે છે; કે તું માંરો સાચો મિત્ર છે. તેથી તેણે એમ વિચાર્યુ હશે કે, ‘તને આની ખબર પડવી જોઈએ નહિ. નહિ તો તને દુ:ખ થશે અને એ વિષે તું મને કહીશ.’ પણ હું તને યહોવાના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું, તારા સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે, માંરી અને મોતની વચ્ચે એક પગલાનું જ અંતર છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.20.4" />યોનાથાને કહ્યું, “તો હું તારા માંટે શું કરું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.20.5" />દાઉદે કહ્યું, “આવતી કાલે અમાંસનો પર્વ છે. આ ઉજવણી ના દિવસે માંરે રાજા સાથે જમવાનું હોય છે, પણ હવે ખેતરમાં છુપાવા દો અને બીજે દિવસ પણ ત્યાં રહીશ. પહેલાં હું આ ઉત્સવમાં હંમેશા તારા પિતા પાસે રહેતો હતો, પણ આવતી-કાલે હું સીમમાં સંતાઈ રહીશ અને ત્રીજા દિવસની સાંજ સુધી હું ત્યાં જ રહીશ.
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.20.6" />જો માંરી ગેરહાજરી તારા પિતાના ધ્યાનમાં આવે તો તું કહેજે કે, ‘દાઉદ માંરી રજા લઈને એકાએક તેને ઘેર બેથલેહેમ ગયો છે. કારણ, આખા કુટુંબનો વાષિર્ક યજ્ઞોત્સવ છે.’
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.20.7" />જો તે એમ કહે કે ‘સારું’ તો સમજવું કે, મને આંચ આવે એમ નથી. પણ જો તે ગુસ્સે થઈ જાય તો તારે ચોક્કસ સમજવું કે, તેણે માંરું કાસળ કાઢવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.20.8" />યહોવાના નામે આપણે ભાઈઓ તરીકે કરાર કરેલો છે, તેથી તું માંરે માંટે આટલું કર, અથવા તારા પિતાની વિરુદ્ધ મેં પાપ કર્યુ હોય તો તું જાતે જ મને માંરી નાખ, પણ મને તારા પિતાને સ્વાધીન કરતો નહિ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.20.9" />યોનાથાને કહ્યું, “તું એ ખ્યાલ જ મગજમાંથી કાઢી નાખ. મને જો ચોક્કસ ખબર હોત કે, માંરા પિતાએ તારું કાસળ કાઢવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ છે, તો મેં તને કહ્યું ન હોત?”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.20.10" />ત્યારે દાઉદે યોનાથાનને કહ્યું, “જો તારા પિતા તારી સાથે કઠોરતાથી વાત કરશે તો એની જાણ મને કોણ કરશે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.20.11" />યોનાથાને દાઉદને કહ્યું, “આપણે ખેતરની અંદર જઇએ.” પછી તે બંને ખેતરમાં ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.20.12" />ત્યાં યોનાથાને દાઉદને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાની સાક્ષીએ હું તને વચન આપું છું કે, ત્રણ દિવસ સુધીમાં હું માંરા પિતાને તારા વિષે વાત કરીશ અને તારા માંટે તે શું ધારે છે તેની તને તરત જ જાણ કરીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.20.13" />જો માંરા પિતા તને હાનિ કરવાના હોય, તો હું તને સંદેશો મોકલીશ અને સુરક્ષિત જવા દઇશ. જો હું આમ ન કરું તો ભલે યહોવા મને સજા કરે. યહોવા જેમ માંરા પિતાની મદદમાં રહેતા હતા તેમ તારી મદદમાં રહો.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.20.14" />હું જ્યાં સુધી જીવું ત્યાં સુધી માંરા ઉપર દયા રાખજે,
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.20.15" />અને જો હું મૃત્યુ પામું તો માંરા કુટુંબ ઉપર દયા દેખાડવાનું બંધ ન કરતા. જ્યારે યહોવા આ જગતમાંથી તારા બધા દુશ્મનોનો નાશ કરે ત્યારે પણ માંરા સંતાનો પર દયા રાખજે.”
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<v id="16" bcv="1SA.20.16" />આ પ્રમાંણે યોનાથાને દાઉદ સાથે એક સંધિ કરી,<f caller="+"><fr>20:16
</fr><fk>આ … કરી
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે “દાઉદના ઘર સાથે.”</ft></f> કહેતા, યહોવા દાઉદના દુશ્મનોને સજા કરે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.20.17" />યોનાથાનને દાઉદ પ્રાણ સમાંન વહાલો હતો, આથી તેણે ફરી દાઉદ પાસે મૈત્રીની પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરાવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.20.18" />પછી તેણે દાઉદને કહ્યું, “આવતીકાલે અમાંસ છે; અને તારી ગેરહાજરી જણાઈ આવશે, કેમ કે તારી બેઠક ખાલી હશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.20.19" />ત્રીજે દિવસે પહેલાં જયાં તું સંતાયો હતો તે જ જગ્યાએ જજે. તે પર્વત પાસે રાહ જોજે.
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.20.20" />પછી હું ત્યાં આવીને જાણે કે નિશાન તાકતો હોઉં તેમ ખડક ઉપર ત્રણ તીર છોડીશ.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.20.21" />પછી હું માંરા નોકરને મોકલીશ અને કહીશ કે, તીર શોધી લાવ. જો હું નોકરને એમ કહું કે, ‘તીર તારી આ બાજુએ છે, ઉપાડી લે,’ તો તારે સમજવું કે તું સુરક્ષિત છે, અને બહાર આવવું, હું તને યહોવાના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે તારા માંથે જરાપણ ભય નહિ હોય.
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.20.22" />પણ જો હું તેને એમ કહું છું કે ‘તીર હજી આગળ છે જા અને લઇ આવ.’ તો તારે ભાગી જવું કારણ, યહોવા પોતે જ તને મોકલી દે છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="1SA.20.23" />આપણે એકબીજા સાથે કરેલા કરારને પાળવાનું આપણે યાદ રાખીએ યહોવા આપણી મદદ કરશે કારણકે તે આપણા સદાના સાક્ષી છે.”
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<v id="24" bcv="1SA.20.24" />આથી દાઉદ ખેતરમાં સંતાઈ ગયો.
</p>
<s style="s">શાઉલનો ખાવા પ્રત્યે અભિગમ
</s>
<p style="p">અમાંસ આવી એટલે રાજા ભોજનમાં ભાગ લેવા આવ્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="1SA.20.25" />અને પોતાનું હંમેશનું દિવાલ પાસેનું આસન લીધું. આબ્નેર તેની જોડેના આસન ઉપર બેઠો. અને યોનાથાન સામેના આસન પર બેઠો.
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<v id="26" bcv="1SA.20.26" />દાઉદનું આસન ખાલી હતું. પણ તે દિવસે શાઉલ કંઈ બોલ્યો નહિ, તેણે ધાર્યું કે, “કંઈક થયું હોવું જોઈએ, જેથી દાઉદ અશુદ્વ થયો હશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1SA.20.27" />શાઉલે જોયું કે અમાંસ પછીના દિવસે પણ દાઉદનું આસન ખાલી હતું. એટલે શાઉલે યોનાથાનને પૂછયું, “શા માંટે યશાઇનો પુત્ર ગઈકાલે અને આજે જમવા ન આવ્યો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1SA.20.28" />યોનાથાને શાઉલને જવાબ આપ્યો, “દાઉદે માંરી પાસે બેથલેહેમ જવાની રજા માંગી હતી.
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<v id="29" bcv="1SA.20.29" />તેણે કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘કૃપા કરીને મને જવા દો, કારણ, અમાંરું કુટુંબ ગામમાં યજ્ઞ ઊજવે છે, અને માંરા ભાઈએ મને હાજર રહેવા જણાવ્યું છે; એટલે જો તને માંરે માંટે લાગણી હોય, તો મને માંરા ભાઈઓને મળવા જવા દે.’ તેથી તે રાજાના ભોજનમાં ગેરહાજર છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="1SA.20.30" />શાઉલ યોનાથાન ઉપર ગુસ્સે થઈ ગયો, અને કહ્યું, “તું એક ગુલામ સ્રીનો દીકરો છે જે આજ્ઞા પાળવાની મનાઇ કરે છે? તને ખબર નથી કે યશાઇનાં દીકરાનો પક્ષ લેવાથી તું તારા કુટુંબને અપમાંનિત કરીશ અને તારી માંતાની બદનામી કરીશ.
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<v id="31" bcv="1SA.20.31" />જયાં સુધી યશાઇનો પુત્ર આ ધરતી ઉપર જીવે છે ત્યાં સુધી ન કે તું કે તારું રાજય સ્થાપિત થશે. તેથી કોઇને મોકલ તો તેને માંરી પાસે લાવવા, કેમ કે તેને મરવાનું છે જ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="1SA.20.32" />અને યોનાથાન તેના પિતા શાઉલ પાસે આવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “શા માંટે આપણે તેને માંરી નાખવો જોઈએ? તેણે શું કર્યુ છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1SA.20.33" />એટલે શાઉલે યોનાથાનને માંરવા માંટે ભાલો ઉગામ્યો, એટલે યોનાથાન સમજી ગયો કે માંરા પિતાએ દાઉદનો જીવ લેવાનો નિશ્ચય કર્યો છે.
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<v id="34" bcv="1SA.20.34" />તેથી યોનાથાન ગુસ્સે થઈને ખાણા પરથી ઊઠી ગયો. અને બીજને દિવસે તેણે કશું ય ખાધું નહિ, કારણ કે તેના પિતાએ દાઉદનું અપમાંન કર્યુ એથી તેને ઘણું દુ:ખ થયું હતું.
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</p>
<s style="s">ફરી મળીશું કહેતા યોનાથાન અને દાઉદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="1SA.20.35" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે યોનાથાન દાઉદ સાથે નક્કી કર્યા મુજબ એક છોકરાને લઈને ખેતરમાં ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="1SA.20.36" />તેણે છોકરાને કહ્યું, “હું હમણા જે તીર છોડું છું તેને દોડીને લઇ આવ.” છોકરો દોડયો અને યોનાથાને તેના માંથાની ઉપરથી તીરો છોડ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="1SA.20.37" />છોકરો તીર જયાં પડ્યાં હતાં ત્યાં પહોંચી ગયો ત્યારે યોનાથાને તેને બૂમ પાડીને કહ્યું, “તીર તો ઘણા આગળ છે.”
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<v id="38" bcv="1SA.20.38" />“જલદી દોડ, ઉતાવળ કર, વિલંબ ન કરીશ.” છોકરો તીર ઉપાડી લઈને તેના ધણીની પાસે પાછો આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="1SA.20.39" />ફકત યોનાથાન અને દાઉદ જ આનો અર્થ સમજતા હતા. છોકરાને કશી ખબર નહોતી.
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<v id="40" bcv="1SA.20.40" />યોનાથાને પોતાનાં હથિયાર છોકરાને આપીને કહ્યું, “પાછો શહેરમાં લઈ જા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="1SA.20.41" />છોકરાના ગયા પછી તરત જ દાઉદ દક્ષિણ બાજુએથી ઊઠીને આવ્યો, અને યોનાથાનને ત્રણ વાર સાષ્ટાંગ દંડવત પ્રણામ કર્યા; અને તેઓએ એકબીજાને ચુંબન કર્યું. અને એકબીજાને ભેટીને રડ્યા. દાઉદ યોનાથાન કરતાં વધારે રડતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="1SA.20.42" />યોનાથાને દાઉદને કહ્યું, “શાંતિથી જા, કારણ તારી અને માંરી વચ્ચે અને તારા કુટુંબ અને માંરાં કુટુંબ વચ્ચે એક સંધિ છે અને યહોવા તેના સાક્ષી છે. આપણે પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી છે અને કહ્યું છે કે યહોવા આપણી વચ્ચે સદા માંટે સાક્ષી રહેશે.”
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</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">દાઉદ અહીમેલેખ યાજકને મળવા ગયો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.21.1" />ત્યારબાદ દાઉદ ગયો અને યોનાથાન પોતાના ગામે પાછો આવ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">દાઉદ નોબ નગરમાં અહીમેલેખ યાજકને મળવા ગયો, અહીમેલેખે તેને જોયો એટલે તે કાંપવા લાગ્યો, તેણે પૂછયું, “તું કેમ એકલો છે? કેમ તારી સાથે કોઇ નથી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.21.2" />એટલે દાઉદે અહીમેલેખ યાજકને કહ્યું કે, “રાજાએ મને એમ કહીને આદેશ કર્યો છે કે, હું તને ખાનગી કામ પર મોકલી રહ્યો છું. તેના વિષે કોઇને ખબર પડવી જોઇએ નહિ. મેં માંરા માંણસોને મને એક જગા પર મળવાનું કહ્યું.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.21.3" />અત્યારે હવે એ કહો કે ભોજન માંટે શું છે? પાંચેક રોટલી છે? હોય તો આપો, જે હોય તે લાવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.21.4" />પછી યાજકે દાઉદને કહ્યું, “આપણી પાસે સાદી રોટલી બિલકુલ નથી, આપણી પાસે માંત્ર પવિત્ર રોટલી છે, જો તે અને તારા માંણસોએ કોઇ સ્ત્રીઓથી દૂર રહેલા હોય તો તમે તે ખાઈ શકો છો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.21.5" />દાઉદે કહ્યું, “હું તમને ખાતરી આપું છું કે અમે કોઇ સ્ત્રી સાથે જાતિય સંબધ નથી કર્યો, માંરા માંણસો સામાંન્ય ફરજો પર લડવા જાય છે ત્યારે પણ પોતાની જાતને શુદ્ધ રાખે છે. આજે પણ આ વિષેશ કર્તવ્ય માંટે તેઓએ પોતાની જાતને શુદ્ધ રાખી છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.21.6" />યાજકે ત્યાં બીજી રોટલી ન હતી તેથી તેમને પવિત્ર રોટલી આપી. જે યહોવાની સમક્ષ અર્પણ તરીકે મૂકવામાં આવી હતી. દરરોજ તાજી પવિત્ર રોટલી અર્પણ કરવામાં આવતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.21.7" />તે દિવસે શાઉલનો એક માંણસ ત્યાં હતો, તેને યહોવા સમક્ષ રાખવામાં આવ્યો હતો; તેનું નામ દોએગ અદોમી હતું, તે શાઉલના ભરવાડોનો મુખ્ય હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.21.8" />દાઉદે અહીમેલેખને કહ્યું, “તમાંરી પાસે કોઇ શસ્ર છે જેવું કે ભાલો અથવા તરવાર? હું માંરી તરવાર કે ભાલો માંરી સાથે લાવ્યો નથી, કારણ, રાજાનું કામ તાકીદનું હતું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.21.9" />યાજકે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “માંરી પાસે ગોલ્યાથ પલિસ્તીની તરવાર છે, જેને તમે એલાહની ખીણમાં માંરી નાખ્યો હતો, તે કપડાંમાં વીંટાંળીને એફોદની પાછળ મૂકેલી છે. જો તારી ઈચ્છા હોય તો તે લે; માંરી પાસે બીજી કોઇ નથી.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી દાઉદે કહ્યું, “એના જેવી એકે નથી; તેથી એ મને આપ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ગાથ ભાગી જતો દાઉદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.21.10" />દાઉદ ઊભો થયો અને શાઉલથી આખીશનાં રાજા પાસે નાસી ગયો.
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.21.11" />રાજાના સેવકોએ આખીશને કહ્યું, “આ શું તે દેશનો રાજા દાઉદ નથી? એને વિષે જ લોકો નાચતાં નાચતાં ગાતાં નહોતા કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“શાઉલે હજારોને સંહાર્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દાઉદે તો લાખોને?”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.21.12" />દાઉદે આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે રાજા આખીશ તેને શું કરશે તે વાતથી એ ગભરાયો.
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.21.13" />પછી તેણે ગાંડા હોવાનો ઢોંગ કર્યો. તેણે નગરના દરવાજા પર લીટા દોર્યા, અને દાઢી ઉપર લાળના રેલા ઉતારવા માંડયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.21.14" />આખીશે પોતાના સેવકોને કહ્યું, “તમે જુઓ છો કે એ માંણસ ગાંડો છે, પછી એને માંરી પાસે શા માંટે લાવો છો?
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.21.15" />માંરી પાસે ગાંડા માંણસોની ખોટ છે કે તમે આ માંણસને માંરી હજૂરમાં ગાંડા ચાળા કરવાને લાવ્યા છો? શું આવા માંણસને માંરા ઘરમાં રાખવાનો છે?”
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</p>

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">દાઉદનું અનેક સ્થળોએ જવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.22.1" />તેથી દાઉદે ત્યાંથી ભાગી જઈને અદુલ્લામની ગુફામાં આશરો લીધો, જયારે તેના ભાઈઓએ અને આખા કુટુંબે એમ સાંભળ્યું કે એ ત્યાં છે, ત્યારે તેઓ તેને ત્યાં જઈને મળ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.22.2" />માંણસો જે મુશ્કેલીમાં હતા, અથવા જેને દેવું થઈ ગયું હતું અથવા જેઓ દુ:ખી હતાં તેઓ દાઉદ સાથે જોડાવા ભેગા થયા. આશરે 400 માંણસો હતાં. અને તે એ લોકોનો આગેવાન બન્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.22.3" />ત્યાથી દાઉદ મોઆબના પ્રદેશમાં મિસ્પેહ ગયો. તેણે મોઆબના રાજાને કહ્યું, “યહોવા મને શું કરશે તેની મને ખબર નથી અને તેની મને જાણ થાય ત્યાં સુધી, કૃપા કરીને માંરા માંબાપને તમાંરી સાથે આવીને સુરક્ષા સાથે રહેવા દો.”
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.22.4" />આમ, દાઉદે પોતાનાં માંબાપને મોઆબના રાજા સાથે રાખ્યાં અને જયાં સુધી દાઉદ સંતાતો છુપાતો રહ્યો, ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ ત્યાં જ રહ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.22.5" />પણ ગાદ પ્રબોધકે દાઉદને કહ્યું કે, “કિલ્લાની અંદર રહીશ નહિ. યહૂદાના પ્રદેશમાં જા” આથી દાઉદ કિલ્લામાંથી નીકળીને હેરેથના જંગલમાં ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">અહીમેલેખના કુટુંબનો વિનાશ કરતો શાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.22.6" />અને શાઉલ ગિબયાહમાં ટેકરી ઉપર આવેલા સરુના ઝાડ નીચે હાથમાં ભાલો લઈને બેઠો હતો અને તેના દરબારીઓ તેની આસપાસ ઊભા હતા એવામાં તેને સમાંચાર મળ્યા કે દાઉદ અને તેની સાથેના માંણસોનો પત્તો મળ્યો છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.22.7" />તેથી શાઉલે પોતાની આજુબાજુના નોકરોને કહ્યું, “સાંભળો, બિન્યામીનના માંણસો! તમે એમ માંનો છો કે યશાઇનો પુત્ર તમને ખેતરો અને દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ આપવાનો છે? તમે એમ માંનો છો કે એ તમને 1,000 કે 100 સૈનિકના અમલદાર બનાવવાનો છે?
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.22.8" />તમે માંરી સામે કાવતરું કરો છો! તમાંરામાંથી કોઇ એકે મને માંરા પુત્રે યશાઈના પુત્ર સાથે કરેલ કરાર વિષે કહ્યું નથી. માંરી કોઈને પડી નથી. તમાંરામાંથી કોઈ એકે મને એ કહ્યું નહિ કે માંરા દીકરાએ દાઉદને સંતાઇને માંરા ઊપર હુમલો કરવા પ્રોત્સાહન આપ્યુ હતું. તેથી હવે માંરો સેવક દાઉદ માંરા ઊપર હુમલો કરવા સંતાયો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.22.9" />ત્યારે શાઉલના ચાકરો પાસે દોએગ અદોમી ઊભો હતો. તેણે કહ્યું, “હું નોબમાં હતો ત્યારે મેં દાઉદને અહીટૂબના પુત્ર અહીમેલેખ યાજક સાથે વાત કરતાં જોયો હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.22.10" />અહીમેલેખે દાઉદ માંટે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી અને તેને ખાવાનું આપ્યું હતું અને પલિસ્તી ગોલ્યાથની તરવાર તેને આપી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.22.11" />શાઉલે અહીટૂબના પુત્ર અહીમેલેખને અને તેના યાજક કુટુંબીઓને નોબમાંથી બોલાવ્યા, અને તેઓ બધા રાજાની સમક્ષ હાજર થયા.
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<v id="12" bcv="1SA.22.12" />શાઉલે અહીમેલેખને કહ્યું, “અહીટૂબના પુત્ર, સાંભળ.”
</p>
<p style="p">“જેવી ધણીની આજ્ઞા.” તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.22.13" />શાઉલે તેને પૂછયું, “તેં અને યશાઇના પુત્રે માંરી વિરુદ્ધ કાવતરું શા માંટે કર્યુ? તેં તેને ખાવાનું આપ્યું, તરવાર આપી અને તેના માંટે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના પણ કરી. હવે તે સંતાઇ ગયો છે મને માંરી નાખવાની રાહમાં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.22.14" />અહીમેલેખે જવાબ આપ્યો, “તમાંરા બધા અમલદારોમાં દાઉદ જેવો કોઈ વફાદાર નથી; તે તમાંરો જમાંઈ છે, તમાંરા અંગરક્ષકોનો નાયક છે, અને તમાંરા દરબારમાં માંનભર્યુ સ્થાન ધરાવે છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.22.15" />ભૂતકાળમાં મેઁ દાઉદ માંટે પ્રાર્થના કરી હતી તેથી તે પહેલીવારની ન હતી. મેં તારી વિરુદ્ધ કંઈ કરવાનો વિચાર પણ નથી કર્યો. તેથી એના માંટે માંરે માંરો અથવા માંરા કુટુંબીનો વાંક ન કાઢવો કારણ, કે તમાંરા આ સેવકને એના વિષે કોઇ જાણ હતી નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.22.16" />ત્યારે રાજાએ કહ્યું, “હે અહીમેલેખ, તું તારા પિતાના આખા કુટુંબ સહિત ખચીત માંર્યો જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.22.17" />પછી રાજાએ પોતાની પાસે ઊભેલા રક્ષકોને કહ્યું, “આગળ વધો અને યહોવાના યાજકોને માંરી નાખો, કારણ કે તેઓ સર્વ દાઉદ સાથે મળી જઈ કાવતરું કરનારા છે, દાઉદ માંરી પાસેથી ભાગી જતો હતો તે તેઓ જાણતા હતા છતાં એમણે મને જાણ કરી નથી.”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ રાજાના સેવકો યહોવાના યાજકોના જીવ લેવા હાથ ઉગામવા તૈયાર નહોતા,
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<v id="18" bcv="1SA.22.18" />આથી શાઉલે અદોમી દોએગને કહ્યું, “દોએગ, તું જ યાજકોને માંરી નાખ.” તેથી દોએગે યાજકોને માંરી નાખ્યા; એ જ દિવસે તેણે તેઓમાંના 85 ને માંરી નાખ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="1SA.22.19" />અને યાજકોના નગર નોબને પણ તેણે તરવારની ધારથી કતલ કર્યુ. શાઉલે બાળબચ્ચાં સુદ્ધાં, યાજકોના નગર નોબમાં વસતાં બધાં જ સ્ત્રી-પુરુષોની, તેમ જ બળદો, ગધેડાં અને ઘેટાંની હત્યા કરાવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1SA.22.20" />પરંતુ અહીમેલેખનો એક પુત્ર અબ્યાથાર છટકી ગયો અને દાઉદને જઈ મળ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.22.21" />અબ્યાથારે શાઉલે યહોવાના યાજકોની હત્યા કર્યાની વાત દાઉદને કરી.
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.22.22" />ત્યારે દાઉદે કહ્યું, “મેં તે દિવસે અદોમી દોએગને જોયો ત્યારે જ હું સમજી ગયો હતો કે એ જરૂર શાઉલને વાત કરશે, તારા કુટુંબીઓના શાઉલ દ્વારા મોત માંટે હું જવાબદાર છું.
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<v id="23" bcv="1SA.22.23" />તું અહીં માંરી સાથે રહે, ગભરાઈશ નહિ. જે કોઈ (શાઉલ) તારો જીવ લેવા પ્રયાસ કરે છે તે માંરો જીવ પણ લેવા મથે છે. માંરી સાથે તું સલામત છે.”
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<c id="23" />
<s style="s">દાઉદ દ્વારા કઇલાહનગરનું રક્ષણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.23.1" />લોકોએ દાઉદને કહ્યું, “પલિસ્તીઓએ કઈલાહ શહેર ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો છે અને ખળાં લૂંટી રહ્યા હતા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.23.2" />તેથી તેમણે યહોવાને પ્રશ્ર કર્યો કે, “માંરે જઈને આ પલિસ્તીઓ ઉપર હુમલો કરવો?”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હા, તું જઈને પલિસ્તીઓ ઉપર હુમલો કર અને કઈલાહને બચાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.23.3" />પરંતુ દાઉદના માંણસોએ કહ્યું, “અહીં આપણે યહૂદાના લોકોથી છુપાઇ રહ્યા છીએ અને ભયભીત છીએ. આપણે કઇલાહમાં જઇને પલિસ્તીઓ સાથે યુદ્ધ કેવી રીતે કરીશુ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.23.4" />દાઉદે ફરી વાર યહોવાને પૂછયુ; યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું, “કઇલાહ જાવ. હું તમને વિજયી બનાવીશ. તમે પલિસ્તીઓને હરાવશો.”
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.23.5" />આથી દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસોએ કઈલાહ જઈને પલિસ્તીઓ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો, તેમને સખત હાર આપી. અને તેઓ તેમનાં ઢોરને હાંકી ગયા. આમ તેમણે શહેરને બચાવી લીધું.
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.23.6" />અને અહીમેલેખનો પુત્ર અબ્યાથાર દાઉદ પાસે કઈલાહ ભાગી ગયો, ત્યારે તે પોતાના હાથમાં એક એફોદ લેતો આવ્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.23.7" />શાઉલને જયારે સમાંચાર પ્રાપ્ત થયા કે દાઉદ કઈલાહ ગયો છે, ત્યારે તે બોલ્યો, “દેવે એને માંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધો છે, કારણ, દરવાજા અને ભૂંગળોવાળા શહેરમાં પેસીને તે ફસાયો છે.”
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.23.8" />કઈલાહે જઈને દાઉદને અને તેના માંણસોને ઘેરી લેવા માંટે શાઉલે લશ્કરને તૈયાર થવા જણાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.23.9" />દાઉદને તેની વિરુદ્ધ શાઉલની યોજનાની ખબર પડી. દાઉદે અબ્યાથાર યાજકને એફોદ લઇ આવવા કહ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.23.10" />પછી દાઉદે કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ મેં, તારા સેવકે એવું સાંભળ્યું છે કે શાઉલ કઈલાહ આવીને માંરે કારણે શહેરનો નાશ કરવાનો છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.23.11" />કઈલાહના નાગરિકો મને શાઉલના હાથમાં સોંપી દેશે? મેં સાંભળ્યા પ્રમાંણે શાઉલ ખરેખર આવશે? ઓ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા, કૃપા કરીને આ સેવકને જવાબ આપો.”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “શાઉલ આવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.23.12" />એટલે દાઉદે કહ્યું, “શું ‘કઈલાહ’ના માંણસો મને તથા માંરા માંણસોને શાઉલના હાથમાં સોંપી દેશે?”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “તેઓ તને સોંપી દેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.23.13" />આથી દાઉદ અને તેના આશરે 600 માંણસો તરત જ કઈલાહ છોડી ગયા અને અહીંથી તહીં ભટકતા રહ્યા. જયારે શાઉલને ખબર પડી કે દાઉદ કઈલાહથી ભાગી ગયો છે, ત્યારે તેણે હુમલાનો વિચાર માંડી વાળ્યો.
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<s style="s">દાઉદને શોધતો શાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.23.14" />દાઉદ રણની અંદર કિલ્લામાં રહેતો. પદ્ધી તે તેના માણસો સાથે પર્વતોમાં ઝીફ રણમાં સંતાઇ ગયો. શાઉલ હમેશા તેઓને શોધતો હતો. પરંતુ દેવે શાઉલને દાઉદને પઢડવા ન દીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.23.15" />તેમ છતાં દાઉદ ઝીફના રાનમાં આવેલા હોરેશમાં માંર્યો માંર્યો ફરતો હતો, કારણ, શાઉલ તેનો જીવ લેવા તેની પાછળ પડ્યો હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="1SA.23.16" />પદ્ધી શાઉલનો દીકરો યોનૅંથાન હોરેશમાં દાઉદ જ્યા સંતાયો હતો ત્યાં મળવા ગયો અને દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખવા પ્રોત્સાહન આપ્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="1SA.23.17" />તેણે કહ્યું, “ગભરાઈશ નહિ. માંરા પિતા તને ઇજા કરી શકે તેમ નથી. તું ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થનાર છે, માંરું સ્થાન તારા પદ્ધી હશે. માંરા પિતા એ જાણે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.23.18" />અને બંનેએ યહોવાની સાક્ષીએ મૈત્રીના કરાર કર્યા. તેથી દાઉદ હોરેશમાં રહ્યો, અને યોનૅંથાન ઘેર ગયો.
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<s style="s">દાઉદ વિશે શાઉલને માંહિતગાર કરતાં ઝીફીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1SA.23.19" />ત્યારબાદ ઝીફીઓએ ગિબયાહમાં શાઉલ પાસે આવીને કહ્યું, “દાઉદ અમાંરા ક્ષેત્રમાં, યશીમોનની દક્ષિણમાં, હખીલાહ ડુંગર પર કિલ્લામાં સંતાએલો છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.23.20" />આપ નામદારની જયારે ઇચ્દ્ધા થાય ત્યારે આવો, અને તેને આપ નામદારને સોંપી દેવાનું કામ અમાંરું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1SA.23.21" />શાઉલે કહ્યું, “માંરા ઉપર મહેરબાની કરવા બદલ યહોવા તમાંરું ભલું કરો.
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.23.22" />તમે જઈને વધુ ખાતરી કરો, તે કયાં રહે છે અને કોણે તેને જોયો છે, તેની ચોક્કસ તપાસ કરો. ‘મને જાણવા મળ્યું છે કે તે બહું પાકો છે.’
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<v id="23" bcv="1SA.23.23" />તમે બધાં જાવ અને તે કયાં સંતાયો છે તેની તપાસ કરો; તમને એ વિષે ખાતરી થાય ત્યારે માંરી પાસે પાછા આવજો ત્યારે હું તમાંરી સૅંથે આવીશ, જો તે એ પ્રદેશમાં હશે તો, યહૂદાના એકે એક કુટુંબની શૅંેધ કરવી પડે તો ય હું તેને શોધી કાઢીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1SA.23.24" />ત્યાર બાદ ઝીફનાં લોકો ઝીફ પહોંચી ગયા.
</p>
<p style="p">દાઉદ અને તેના મૅંણસો યશિમોનની દક્ષિણે આવેલાં માંઓનના રણમાં હતા.
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<v id="25" bcv="1SA.23.25" />જ્યારે તેને દાઉદનાં સંતાવા વિષે ખબર પડી ત્યારે શાઉલ અને તેના મૅંણસો દાઉદની શોધમાં નીકળી પડ્યા. પણ દાઉદને એની જાણ થતાં તે માંઓનના રણમાં એક ખડકની ભેખડમાં ચાલ્યો ગયો. શાઉલને આની ખબર પડી અને ત્યાં તેનો પીછો કર્યો,
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1SA.23.26" />શાઉલ અને તેના મૅંણસો ડુંગરની એક બાજુએ હતા. દાઉદ અને તેના મૅંણસો બીજી બાજુએ હતાં. દાઉદ અને તેના મૅંણસો શાઉલથી ઝટપટ ભાગી છૂટવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતા હતા, અને શાઉલ અને તેના મૅંણસો તેમને આંતરી લઈને પઢડી લેવાની અણી ઉપર હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1SA.23.27" />એવામાં એક કાસદે આવીને શાઉલને કહ્યું, “તાબડતોબ પાછા આવો! પલિસ્તીઓએ દેશ પર હુમલો કર્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1SA.23.28" />શાઉલે દાઉદનો પીછો પઢડવાનું બૈંધ કર્યું અને પલિસ્તીઓનો સામનો કરવા તે પાછો વળ્યો. આથી તે જગ્યા “સેલા-હામ્માંહલઢોથ” ને નામે ઓળખાય છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="1SA.23.29" />દાઉદ માંઓનના રણમાંથી નીકળીને એન-ગેદીના ગઢોમાં ગયો.
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</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">દાઉદે શાઉલને શરમિંદો કર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.24.1" />પલિસ્તીઓ સાથે યુદ્ધ કરીને શાઉલ પાછો આવ્યો તેને કોઈએ કહ્યું કે, “દાઉદ એન-ગેદીના વગડામાં છુપાયો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.24.2" />એટલે શાઉલે સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી 3,000 માંણસોને પસંદ કર્યા અને તેમની સાથે દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસોને શોધવા જંગલી બકરાંના ખડક પર ગયા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.24.3" />અને પછી તે રસ્તે ઘેટાઁના વાડા હતા અને તેની પાસે એક ગુફા હતી ત્યાં શાઉલ પગ ઢાંકવા ગયો. એ જ ગુફાની છેક અંદરના ભાગમાં દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસો સંતાયેલા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.24.4" />દાઉદના માંણસોએ તેને કાનમાં કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ તમને કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘હું તારા દુશ્મનોને તારા હાથમાં સોંપી દઈશ અને તારે તેને જે કરવું હોય તે કરજે. એ દિવસ આજે આવ્યો છે.’”
</p>
<p style="p">દાઉદે ઊભા થઈને ખબર ન પડે તે રીતે શાઉલના ઝભ્ભાની ચાળ કાપી લીધી.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.24.5" />પણ પછી ચાળ કાપવા માંટે તેનું અંતર તેને ડંખવા લાગ્યું.
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.24.6" />પછી તેણે તેના માંણસોને કહ્યું, “માંરે તે પ્રમાંણે કરવું જોઈતું નહોતું. કારણ કે, તે યહોવાએ અભિષેક કરેલો રાજા છે,”
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.24.7" />આમ કહીને દાઉદે પોતાના માંણસોને પાછા વાર્યા, તેમને શાઉલની સામે ઊઠવા દીધા નહિ, પછી શાઉલ ગુફામાંથી ઊભો થઈને રસ્તે પડ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.24.8" />દાઉદ પણ પાછળથી ઊઠયો, ને ગુફાની બહાર નીકળીને શાઉલને હાંક માંરીને કહ્યું, “માંરા ધણી અને રાજા!”
</p>
<p style="p">શાઉલે પાછા ફરીને જોયું. દાઉદે ભૂમિ પર લાંબા થઈને પ્રણામ કર્યા અને કહ્યું,
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.24.9" />“દાઉદ આપને માંરી નાખવા ફરે છે. ‘એવું કહેનાર લોકોનું તમે સાંભળો છો શા માંટે?’
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.24.10" />આ તમે પોતે જોઇ રહ્યાં છો. આજે યહોવાએ એ ગુફામાં તમને માંરા હાથમાં સોપી દીધા અને હું તમને ત્યાજ માંરી નાખી શકત. માંરા માંણસોએ તમને માંરી નાખવાનુ કહ્યું, ‘પરંતુ મે તમાંરા જીવ પર દયા કરી, કારણ કે હુ માંરા ધણીને માંરી શકતો નથી કારણ કે યહોવાએ પોતે તમને રાજા બનાવ્યા હતા.’
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.24.11" />જુઓ, માંરા હાથમાં શું છે? આ રહી માંરા હાથમાં આપના ઝભ્ભાની ચાળ, મેં એ કાપી લીધી, પણ આપનો વધ ન કર્યો. એથી આપને ખાતરી થશે કે, માંરા મનમાં આપની સામે બળવો કરવાનો કે આપને ઇજા પહોંચાડવાનો ખ્યાલ જ નથી. મેં આપનું કશું જ બગાડયું નથી, તેમ છતાં આપ માંરો જીવ લેવા માંરી પાછળ પડયા છો.
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<v id="12" bcv="1SA.24.12" />યહોવા તારી અને માંરી વચ્ચે ન્યાયાધીશ રહેશે. તમે માંરી સાથે ખોટું કર્યુ છે, યહોવા તેના માંટે તમને સજા કરે. પણ હું આપની સામે હાથ ઉગામવાનો નથી.
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.24.13" />એક જૂની કહેવત છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘દુષ્ટતા દુષ્ટોમાંથી નીકળે છે.’
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">“પણ હું તમાંરું કદી નુકસાન કરીશ નહિ.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.24.14" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા કોને પકડવા નીકળી પડયા છે? તમાંરે શું મરેલા કૂતરા અથવા ચાંચડ હાંકવાના છે?
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.24.15" />ભલે યહોવા તારી અને માંરી વચ્ચે ન્યાયધીશ રહે. યહોવા માંરો પક્ષ લેશે અને હું સાબિત કરીશ કે હું સાચો છું. તેઓ માંરી સાથે રહે અને તારા હાથમાંથી મને બચાવે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.24.16" />દાઉદ બોલી રહ્યો એટલે શાઉલે કહ્યું, “આ માંરો પુત્ર દાઉદ બોલે છે?” એમ બોલીને મોટેથી રડવા લાગ્યો,
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<v id="17" bcv="1SA.24.17" />પછી તેણે દાઉદને કહ્યું, “ન્યાય તારે પક્ષે છે, માંરે પક્ષે નથી, તેં માંરું કેટલું બધું ભલું કર્યુ છે પણ હું તારા પર ક્રૂર હતો.
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<v id="18" bcv="1SA.24.18" />આજે તેં માંરા પ્રત્યે અદૃભુત ભલાઈ દર્શાવી છે. યહોવાએ મને તારા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધો હતો, પણ તેં મને માંરી નાખ્યો નહિ.
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.24.19" />જો કોઈ માંણસના હાથમાં તેનો દુશ્મન આવે, તો તે તેને શાંતિથી જવા ન દે. આજ તેઁ માંરું ભલું કર્યુ છે તેથી યહોવા તને તારા સારા કામ માંટે સારો બદલો આપશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.24.20" />હું જાણું છું કે તું ચોકકસ રાજા બનશે અને ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા પર તું રાજ કરશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="1SA.24.21" />માંટે આજે તું યહોવાના નામની પ્રતિજ્ઞા લે અને મને વચન આપ કે માંરા મરણ પછી તું માંરા વંશજોને નહિ માંરી નાખે અને માંરા પિતાના કુટુંબમાંથી માંરું નામ ભૂંસી નહિ નાખે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1SA.24.22" />દાઉદે શાઉલને એ પ્રમાંણે વચન આપ્યું અને શાઉલ પાછો ઘેર ગયો. પરંતુ દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસો પાછા ગઢોમાં ગયા.
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</p>

<c id="25" />
<s style="s">દાઉદ અને મુર્ખ નાબાલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.25.1" />થોડા સમય બાદ શમુએલનું અવસાન થયું. સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તેના દફન માંટે ભેગા થયા અને તેના અવસાન પર તેઓએ શોક જાહેર કર્યો, અને રામાંમાં તેને ઘરમાં દફનાવ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">એ પછી દાઉદ પારાનના રણમાં ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.25.2" />ત્યાં માંઓનમાં એક માંણસ રહેતો હતો, તે ઘણો ધનવાન હતો, તેની પાસે 3,000 ઘેટાઁ અને 1,000 બકરાં હતાં. તે કામેર્લમાં તેના ઘેટાઁના ઊન કાપવાની દેખરેખ કરી રહ્યો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.25.3" />તેનું નામ નાબાલ હતું; અને તેની પત્નીનું નામ અબીગાઈલ હતું, તે ખૂબ રૂપાળી અને બુદ્ધિશાળી સ્ત્રી હતી. પરંતુ તેનો પતિ અસભ્ય અને તોછડો હતો. તે કાલેબ વંશનો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.25.4" />દાઉદને વગડામાં ખબર મળી કે, નાબાલ ઘેટાંનું ઊન ઉતરાવે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.25.5" />એટલે તેણે દસ જુવાન માંણસોને બોલાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “તમે કામેર્લ પહોંચી જાઓ, અને નાબાલને ‘પ્રણામ’ કરજો અને માંરા અભિનંદન કહેજો.”
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.25.6" />તમાંરે માંરા ભાઈને એમ કહેવું કે, “દાઉદ તમાંરી, તમાંરા કુટુંબની અને તમાંરી સંપત્તિની સુરક્ષા, આબાદી અને વૃદ્ધિ ઈચ્છે છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.25.7" />મેં સાંભળ્યું છે કે તમાંરા સેવકો તમાંરા ઘેટાઁનું ઊન ઉતારી રહ્યા છે. તમાંરા ઘેટાઁપાળકો થોડા સમય માંટે કામેર્લમાં અમાંરી સાથે હતા અને અમે તેમને હેરાન કર્યા નહોતા, અથવા ઈજા કરી નહોતી અને તેમનું કશું ચોર્યુ ન હતું.
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.25.8" />જો તમે એમને પૂછશો તો તેઓ કહેશે, આથી માંરા માંણસોનો સત્કાર કરજો, કારણ અમે ઉત્સવના દિવસે તમાંરી પાસે આવીએ છીએ. કૃપા કરીને તમને જે મળે તે અમને તારા સેવકોને તથા તારા પુત્ર દાઉદને આપજે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.25.9" />દાઉદના માંણસોએ આવીને નાબાલને દાઉદના નામે સંદેશો પહોંચાડયો, તેઓ બોલી રહ્યા એટલે
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.25.10" />નાબાલે દાઉદના માંણસોને કહ્યું, “દાઉદ કોણ છે? આ યશાઇનો પુત્ર કોણ છે? આજકાલ કેટલાય ગુલામો ધણી પાસે થી ભાગી જાય છે!
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.25.11" />મે રોટલી, દ્રાક્ષારસ અને માંસ માંરા સેવકો જે ઊન ઉતારવાનું કરે છે તેમના માંટે રાખ્યા, તેને માંટે માંરે એ લોકોને સોંપી દેવા, જેઓને હું જાણતો પણ નથી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.25.12" />દાઉદના માંણસો પાછા ફર્યા અને તેમણે દાઉદને આ બધું કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<v id="13" bcv="1SA.25.13" />દાઉદે કહ્યું, “દરેક જણ તરવાર બાંધી લે!” બધાએ તરવાર બાંધી લીધી. દાઉદે પણ તરવાર બાંધી લીધી, અને 400 માંણસો તેની સાથે ગયા અને સામાંન સાચવવા માંટે 200 માંણસો પાછળ રહ્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">મુસીબત ટાળતી અબીગાઇલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.25.14" />તે દરમ્યાન નાબાલના એક સેવકે નાબાલની પત્ની અબીગાઈલને કહ્યું, “દાઉદે જગંલમાંથી કેટલાક સંદેશવાહકો માંરફતે આપણા ધણીને પ્રણામ કહેવડાવ્યા; પણ એ તેમના પર ઉકળી ઊઠયો.
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.25.15" />પરંતુ એ લોકો અમાંરી સાથે બહુ દયાથી ર્વત્યા હતા. એ લોકોએ અમને કોઈ ઇજા કરી નહોતી અને અમે એમની સાથે ચરામાં હતા ત્યારે અમાંરું કંઈ ખોવાયું નહોતું;
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<v id="16" bcv="1SA.25.16" />વળી જયારે અમે ઘેટાં સંભાળતા હતા, ત્યારે રાતદિવસ તેઓ અમાંરું રક્ષણ કરતા હતા.
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<v id="17" bcv="1SA.25.17" />તેથી હવે આ બાબતનો સંપૂર્ણ વિચાર કરીને શું કરવું તે નક્કી કરીને કહો. નહિ તો આપણા ઘણીને અને તેમના આખા કુટુંબને મુશ્કેલી નો સામનો કરવો પડશે. નાબાલ એટલો દુષ્ટ છે કે તેની સાથે વાત કરવી અશક્ય છે કે જેથી તે તેનુ મન બદલાવી શકે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.25.18" />એટલે અબીગાઈલે તરત જ 200 રોટલી, દ્રાક્ષારસની બે મશકો, પાંચ રાંધેલાં તૈયાર ઘેટાઁ, એક બુશેલ શેકેલી ધાણી, સો ઝૂમખાં સૂકી દ્રાક્ષ, તથા સૂકાં અંજીરનાં 200 ચકતાં લઈને ગધેડાં ઉપર ચડાવી દીધાં.
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.25.19" />પછી તેણે સેવકોને કહ્યું, “તમે આગળ જાઓ, હું તમાંરી પાછળ આવું છું,” અને તેણે પોતાના પતિને કશુ કહ્યું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1SA.25.20" />ગધેડા પર બેસીને તે એક ટેકરી ઉપર વળાંક લેતી હતી, ત્યાં દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસો તેને સામાં મળ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1SA.25.21" />દાઉદને થતું હતુ કે, “મેં આ માંણસની મિલકત વગડામાં સાચવી એ ભારે ભૂલ કરી. એનું કશું જ ગયું નહોતું, છતાં એણે ઉપકારનો બદલો અપકારથી વાળ્યો!
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.25.22" />હું જો સવાર સુધીમાં એનો એક પણ માંણસ જીવતો રહેવા દઉં તો દેવનો શાપ માંરા પર ઉતરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1SA.25.23" />દાઉદને જોતાં જ અબીગાઈલ તરત જ ગધેડા ઉપરથી નીચે ઊતરી. અને દાઉદ સામે નીચું મોઢુ કરીને નમી.
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<v id="24" bcv="1SA.25.24" />અબીગાઇલ દાઉદના પગે પડી અને કહ્યું “ધણી, જે થયું તેના માંટે મને દોષ આપો. કૃપા કરીને મને તમને કઇંક કહેવા દો. આ તમાંરી દાસી તમને એનઁુ સાંભળવા કહે છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="1SA.25.25" />તમે એ દુરાચારી માંણસ ઉપર ધ્યાન આપશો નહિ, એનું નામ નાબાલ છે અને તે એના નામ જેવો જ છે તે ખરેખર એક દુષ્ટ છે. ધણી, તમે કેટલાક માંણસોને મોકલ્યા, પણ મે તેમને જોયા નહિ.
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<v id="26" bcv="1SA.25.26" />અને, માંરા માંલિક, યહોવાએ જ આપને ખૂનરેજીથી અને પોતાને હાથે વેરનો બદલો લેવાથી રોકયા છે. હું યહોવાના અને આપના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે આપના દુશ્મનો અને આપનું ભૂંડું ઇચ્છનારાઓના હાલ નાબાલ જેવા થશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="1SA.25.27" />જે ભેટ આ દાસી લાવી છે તે આપના તાબા હેઠળના માંણસોને આપી દો.
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<v id="28" bcv="1SA.25.28" />માંરો જો કોઈ અપરાધ થયો હોય તો ધણી માંફ કરે. યહોવા આપને અને આપનાં વંશજોને સદાને માંટે રાજપદે સ્થાપનાર છે. કારણ કે આપ યહોવાની લડાઈ લડી રહ્યા છો અને જીવન ભર આપને કોઈ આફત આવે તેમ નથી.
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<v id="29" bcv="1SA.25.29" />હું કહુ છું, જો કોઈ માંણસ આપની પાછળ પડે અને આપનો જીવ લેવા માંગે, તો આપના દેવ યહોવા આપના જીવનનું રક્ષણ કરશે, પણ યહોવા તમાંરા દુશ્મનોનો જીવ ગોફણમાંથી પથરાની જેમ ફેંકી દેશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="1SA.25.30" />અને જયારે યહોવા આપનું ભલું કરવાનાં બધાં વચનો પૂરાં કરશે અને આપને દેવ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા બનાવશે,
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<v id="31" bcv="1SA.25.31" />તમે નિદોર્ષ માંણસની હત્યાંનાં અપરાધી નહિ બનો, તમે આમ પડશો નહિ. અને યહોવા જ્યારે તમને વિજય અને સફળતા આપે ત્યારે તમાંરી આ દાસીને યાદ કરજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="1SA.25.32" />દાઉદે અબીગાઈલને કહ્યું, “ધન્ય છે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાને, જેણે આજે તમને મળવા માંટે મને મોકલી!
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<v id="33" bcv="1SA.25.33" />વળી ધન્ય છે તારી ચતુરાઈને અને તને! તેં મને આજે ખૂનરેજીમાંથી અને પોતાને હાથે વેર વાળવામાંથી રોકી લીધો.
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<v id="34" bcv="1SA.25.34" />તમને ઇજા કરતાં મને રોકનાર ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે, જો તું મને અહીં મળવા માંટે વહેલી તકે આવી ન હોત તો સવાર સુધીમાં નાબાલનો એક પણ માંણસ જીવતો રહ્યો ન હોત.”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="1SA.25.35" />ત્યાર પછી દાઉદે તેને માંટે અબીગાઈલ જે લાવી હતી તેનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો અને કહ્યું, “નચિંત થઈને શાંતિથી પાછી ઘરે જા, મેં તારી વાત સાંભળી છે, અને હું તારી વિનંતી માંન્ય રાખું છું.”
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<s style="s">નાબાલનું મૃત્યુ
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="1SA.25.36" />અબીગાઈલ પાછી ઘેર ગઈ ત્યારે નાબાલ કોઈ રાજાને છાજે એવી ઉજાણી માંણતો હતો; તે લહેરમાં આવ્યો હતો અને તે ઘણો પીધેલો હતો, આથી અબીગાઈલે તેને સવાર થતાં સુધી કંઈજ કહ્યું નહિ.
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<v id="37" bcv="1SA.25.37" />સવારે તેનો દ્રાક્ષારસનો નશો ઊતરી ગયો, ત્યારે અબીગાઈલે તેને બધું કહી સંભળાવ્યું. જ્યારે તેણે બધું સાંભળીલીધુ ત્યારે તેને હૃદય પર હુમલો થયો અને તે પથ્થર જેવો કઠણ થઈ ગયો.
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<v id="38" bcv="1SA.25.38" />દસ દિવસ પછી યહોવાએ તેનુ મરણ નિપજાવ્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="1SA.25.39" />જયારે દાઉદે જાણ્યું કે, નાબાલ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો છે ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, “ધન્ય છે યહોવાને જેણે માંરું અપમાંન કરવા બદલ નાબાલને સજા કરી. એણે પોતાના આ સેવકને ખોટું કરતાં રોકયો! અને તેના દુષ્ટ કાર્યોને લીધે નાબાલનું મરણ નિપજાવ્યુ.”
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<p style="p">પછી દાઉદે અબીગાઈલને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે તે તેણીને પરણવા ઇચ્છે છે.
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<v id="40" bcv="1SA.25.40" />દાઉદના માંણસોએ કામેર્લમાં અબીગાઈલ પાસે આવીને કહ્યું, “દાઉદે અમને તને તેની પત્ની તરીકે લઈ જવાને મોકલ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="1SA.25.41" />અબીગાઈલે જમીન સુધી વાંકી વળીને નમન કર્યું કહેતા, “આ દાસી માંરા ધણીના સેવકોના ચરણ ધોવા તૈયાર છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="1SA.25.42" />પછી અબીગાઈલે તરત ઊઠીને ગધેડા પર સવારી કરી, તેની પાંચ દાસીઓ પણ તેની પાછળ ચાલી; અને તે દાઉદના હલકારાઓ સાથે ગઈ, ને તેની સ્ત્રી થઈ.
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<v id="43" bcv="1SA.25.43" />દાઉદ પરણેલો હતો અને હવે તેને બે પત્નીઓ હતી. તેઓ છે: યિઝએલી અહીનોઆમ અને કામેર્લની અબીગાઇલ.
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<v id="44" bcv="1SA.25.44" />દેરમ્યાનમાં શાઉલે પોતાની પુત્રી મીખાલ જે દાઉદની પત્ની હતી તેને ગાલ્લીમના વતની લાઈશના પુત્ર પાલ્ટી સાથે પરણાવી દીધી હતી.
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<s style="s">દાઉદ અને અબીગાઈલ શાઉલની છાવણીમાં ગયાં
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.26.1" />ઝીફના લોકોએ ગિબયાહમાં શાઉલની પાસે આવીને કહ્યું કે, “દાઉદ યહૂદાના વગડાની સામે આવેલા હખીલાહના પર્વતમાં છૂપાયેલો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.26.2" />એ સાંભળીને શાઉલ ઊઠયો, ઇસ્રાએલના 3,000 ચૂંટી કાઢેલા માંણસોને પોતાની સાથે લઈને તે ઝીફના રાનમાં દાઉદની શોધ કરવાને પહોંચી ગયો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.26.3" />શાઉલે હખીલાહના ડુંગરાંમાં છાવણી નાખી.
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<p style="p">તે રસ્તાની બાજુમાં હતી. દાઉદ રણમાં રહેતો હતો, અને તેને ખબર પડી કે શાઉલ હખીલાહ આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.26.4" />તેથી દાઉદે અમુક જાસૂસોને મોકલ્યા અને તેઓએ પાકુ કર્યુ કે શાઉલ ખરેખર હખીલાહ આવ્યો છે. ખબર મેળવી કે શાઉલ અમુક સ્થળે પહોંચ્યો છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.26.5" />પછી દાઉદ શાઉલની છાવણી પર ગયો. તેણે શાઉલ અને તેનો સેનાપતિ નેરનો પુત્ર આબ્નેર કયાં સૂતેલા છે તે જોઈ લીંધુ. શાઉલ છાવણીની વચ્ચે સૂતેલો હતો અને લશ્કર શાઉલની આસપાસ હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.26.6" />દાઉદે હિત્તી અહીમેલેખ અને સરૂયાનો પુત્ર અબીશાય સાથે વાત કરી (અબીશાય યોઆબનો ભાઇ હતો) અને કહ્યું, “માંરી સાથે સેનાની છાવણીમાં શાઉલને મળવા માંટે કોણ આવે છે?”
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<p style="p">અબીશાયે કહ્યું, “હું તૈયાર છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.26.7" />આથી દાઉદ અને અબીશાય રાત્રે છાવણીમાં ગયા. તેમણે શાઉલને સૈનિકોની વચ્ચે છાવણીની મધ્યે સૂતેલો જોયો. તેનો ભાલો તેના માંથા આગળ જમીનમાં ખોસેલો હતો. આબ્નેર અને લશ્કર તેની ફરતે સૂતેલા હતા.
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<v id="8" bcv="1SA.26.8" />અબીશાયે દાઉદને કહ્યું, “દેવે આજે તારા દુશ્મનને તારા હાથમાં સુપ્રત કર્યા છે. હું એને ભાલાના એક જ ઘાથી ભોંય સાથે જડી દઈશ. માંરે બીજો ઘા કરવો પડે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.26.9" />દાઉદે અબીશાયને કહ્યું, “શાઉલની હત્યા કરીશ નહિ, રાજા યહોવાનો પસંદ કરાયેલો છે, જે કોઇ તેની હત્યા કરશે તેને સજા થશે?
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.26.10" />દાઉદે વધુમાં કહ્યું, યહોવાના સમ, યહોવા જ એને પૂરો કરશે; અથવા તો એનો સમય ભરાશે ને તે મરી જશે, અથવા તે યુદ્ધે ચઢશે અને તેમાં તેનો નાશ થશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.26.11" />પણ યહોવાને હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે તેમને અભિષેક કર્યો છે તે રાજા ઉપર મને ઇજા ન કરવા દે! હવે તું એના માંથા આગળથી ભાલો અને પાણીનો કૂજો લઈ લે અને આપણે અહીંથી ચાલતા થઈએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.26.12" />આથી દાઉદે શાઉલના માંથા પાસે રહેલો ભાલો અને પાણીનો કૂંજો લીધો અને ચાલ્યો ગયો. પણ કોઇએ દાઉદ અને અબીશાયને શાઉલના માંથા પાસે રહેલો ભાલો અને કૂંજો લઇ જતા જોયા નહિ. કોઇએ કઇજ જોયું નહિ. છાવણી માં બધાં ઊંઘતા હતા અને યહોવાએ તેમને બધાને ગાઢ નિદ્રામાં નાખ્યા હતા.
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<s style="s">શાઉલને ફરી શરમાંવતો દાઉદ
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.26.13" />પછી દાઉદ બીજી બાજુએ ચાલ્યો ગયો અને દૂર એક ટેકરી ઉપર જઈને ઊભો રહ્યો. તેમની વચ્ચે અંતર ઘણું હતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.26.14" />દાઉદે લશ્કરને અને નેરના પુત્ર આબ્નેરને હાંક માંરી કહ્યું, “આબ્નેર, જવાબ આપ!”
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<p style="p">આબ્નેર બોલ્યો, “એ કોણ રાજાને ઘાંટો પાડે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.26.15" />દાઉદે આબ્નેરને કહ્યું, “બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાં તું એમ સમજે છે કે તું બીજા માંણસ કરતા સારો છે, તે એમ છે? તો તે તારા ધણી રાજાને માંરી નાખવા એક સામાંન્ય માંણસ આવ્યો ત્યારે શા માંટે રક્ષણ કર્યુ નહિ?
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<v id="16" bcv="1SA.26.16" />જે તે કર્યુ છે તે સારુ ન હતુ, કારણ તેઁ તારા ધણીનું રક્ષણ નથી કર્યુ, આપણા યહોવાએ તેને રાજા બનાવ્યો છે અને તે એની રક્ષા નથી કરી, તું અને તારા માંણસો મરવાને લાયક છો! રાજાના માંથા પાસે હતો તે ભાલો અને કૂંજો ક્યાં છે તે જુઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1SA.26.17" />શાઉલે દાઉદનો અવાજ ઓળખ્યો અને કહ્યું, “આ કોણ માંરો પુત્ર દાઉદ બોલે છે કે?”
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<p style="p">દાઉદે કહ્યું, “હાં માંરા ધણી અને રાજા હું છું!
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<v id="18" bcv="1SA.26.18" />આપ માંરી તમાંરા સેવકની પાછળ કેમ પડ્યાં છો? મેં શો ગુનો કર્યો છે? મેં કયું કાવતરું કર્યુ છે?
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.26.19" />માંરા ધણી અને રાજા, માંરુ સાંભળો, તમાંરા સેવકને વાત કરતા: જો યહોવાએ આપને માંરી વિરુદ્ધ ઉશ્કેર્યો હોય, તો તેઓ માંરા અર્પણો સ્વીકારે, પણ જો માંણસોએ આપને માંરી વિરુદ્ધ ઉશ્કેર્યો હોય તો ભલે દેવથી એમના માંટે ખરાબ થાય. યહોવાએ આપણને આપેલ ભૂમિમાંથી લોકોએ મને બહાર હાંકી કાઢયો. તેઓએ કહ્યું ચાલ્યો જા, અને બીજા વિદેશી દેવોની સેવા કર.
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.26.20" />મને યહોવાની હાજરીથી દૂર માંરી નાખતા નહિ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા માંત્ર માંખીની પાછળ પડ્યાં છે, તમે તો પર્વતો ઉપર તેતરનો શિકાર કરે એ માંણસ જેવા છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1SA.26.21" />ત્યારે શાઉલે કહ્યું, “માંરી ભૂલ થઈ, માંરા પુત્ર દાઉદ, તું પાછો આવ; આજે તેઁ મને બતાવ્યું છે કે માંરો જીવ તારા માંટે કિંમતી છે. હવે હું તને કદી ઇજા નહિ કરું અને ફરી કદી મૂર્ખાઇથી વતીર્શ નહિ. મેં બહું ખોટું કર્યુ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1SA.26.22" />દાઉદે જવાબ આપ્યો, “આ રહ્યો રાજાનો ભાલો. તમાંરા કોઈ માંણસને મોકલીને મંગાવી લો.
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<v id="23" bcv="1SA.26.23" />ભલે યહોવા માંણસને તેના સાચા કાર્યો અને વિશ્વાસુપણા પ્રમાંણે બદલો આપે. આજે યહોવાએ તને માંરા હાથમાં સોપી દીધો હતો પરંતુ યહોવાએ તને રાજા બનાવ્યો છે. તેથી હું એમના પસંદ કરેલા માંણસને ઇજા ન કરી શકું.
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<v id="24" bcv="1SA.26.24" />જેમ મેં તમાંરો જીવ બચાવ્યો છે જે આજે કિંમતી છે, તેમ યહોવા બતાડશે કે માંરો જીવ એમને કિંમતી છે! બધી મુશ્કેલીઓથી તેઓ માંરુ રક્ષણ કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1SA.26.25" />પછી શાઉલે દાઉદને કહ્યું, “માંરા પુત્ર, દાઉદ, હું તને આશીર્વાદ આપુ છું. તને આશીર્વાદ મળે, તું મહાન કાર્યો કરે અને વિજયી બને.”
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<p style="p">પછી દાઉદ પોતાને રસ્તે પડયો અને શાઉલ પોતાને ઘેર પાછો ફર્યો.
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<s style="s">પલિસ્તીઓ વચ્ચે દાઉદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.27.1" />દાઉદે પોતાના મનમાં વિચાર કર્યો, “કોઈ દિવસ શાઉલ મને માંરી નાખશે, એટલે હું પલિસ્તીઓના પ્રદેશમાં નાસી જાઉં એ જ ઉત્તમ છે. તો શાઉલ માંરી આશા છોડી દેશે; અને આખા ઇસ્રાએલમાં માંરી શોધ કરવાનું માંડી વાળશે અને હું સુરક્ષિત રહી શકીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.27.2" />આથી દાઉદ અને તેના 600 માંણસો ઊપડયા અને ગાથના રાજા માંઓખના પુત્ર આખીશ પાસે ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1SA.27.3" />દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસો પોતપોતાનાં કુટુંબોની સાથે આખીશની પાસે ગાથમાં સ્થાયી થયા. દાઉદની સાથે તેની બે પત્નીઓ હતી: યિઝએલી અહીનોઆમ તથા નાબાલની વિધવા કામેર્લની અબીગાઈલ,
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.27.4" />જયારે શાઉલને ખબર પડી કે દાઉદ ગાથમાં નાસી ગયો છે, ત્યારે તેણે તેને શોધવાનું છોડી દીધું.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.27.5" />દાઉદે આખીશને કહ્યું, “તમે જો માંરાથી પ્રસન્ન હોવ તો, મને ગ્રામ પ્રદેશના એકાદ નગરમાં એક જગ્યા આપો. હું તો માંત્ર એક સેવક છું તેથી માંરે આપ નામદાર સાથે પાટનગરમાં શા માંટે રહેવું જોઈએ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.27.6" />આથી તે દિવસે આખીશે તેને સિકલાગ આપ્યું; તેથી સિકલાગ આજ સુધી યહૂદાના રાજાની મિલકત છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.27.7" />સોળ મહિના સુધી દાઉદ પલિસ્તીઓના હાથમાં રહ્યો.
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<s style="s">રાજા આખીશને મૂર્ખ બનાવતો દાઉદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.27.8" />દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસો ગશૂરીઓ, ગિઝીર્ઓ, અને અમાંલેકીઓના પ્રદેશમાં ધાડ પાડવા નીકળી પડતા. એ લોકો જૂના જમાંનાથી શૂર અને મિસર સુધીના પ્રદેશમાં વસતા હતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="1SA.27.9" />દાઉદ કોઈ દેશ પર હુમલો કરતો ત્યારે ત્યાં સ્ત્રી કે પુરુષ કોઈને જીવતા જવા દેતો નહિ; ઘેટાં, બળદો, ગધેડાં, ઊંટ અને વસ્ત્રો સુદ્ધાં હરી લેતો અને પાછો આખીશ પાસે આવતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.27.10" />આખીશ પૂછતો કે, “આજે તમે કયાં હુમલો કરવા જાવ છો?” અને દાઉદ કહેતો, “યહૂદાના દક્ષિણ પ્રદેશમાં,” અથવા “યરાહમએલીઓના દક્ષિણમાંના પ્રદેશમાં.” અથવા “કેનીઓના દક્ષિણમાંના પ્રદેશમાં.”
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<v id="11" bcv="1SA.27.11" />દાઉદ કદી કોઈ સ્ત્રીને કે પુરુષને જીવતાં ગાથ લાવતો નહિ, રખેને તેઓ દાઉદ અને તેનાં માંણસોની વિરુદ્ધ કહે કે, “દાઉદે આમ કર્યુ છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">દાઉદ પલિસ્તીઓના પ્રદેશમાં રહ્યો; તે બધો સમય આ પ્રમાંણે જ કરતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="1SA.27.12" />આખીશને દાઉદ ઉપર વિશ્વાસ હતો, કારણ, તે એમ ધારતો કે, “તે એના લોકો ઇસ્રાએલમાં એવો અકારો થઈ પડયો છે કે, તે હંમેશા માંરો દાસ થઈને રહેશે.”
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<c id="28" />
<s style="s">પલિસ્તીઓ યુદ્ધની તૈયારીમાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.28.1" />થોડા સમય પછી પલિસ્તીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સામે લડવા લશ્કર ભેગું કર્યું, અને આખીશે દાઉદને કહ્યું, “તારે તથા તારા માંણસોએ માંરી સાથે સૈન્યમાં આવવું પડશે એમ તારે ખચીત જાણવું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1SA.28.2" />દાઉદે આખીશને કહ્યું, “સારું, અને આ સેવક શું કરી શકે છે તેની આપને ખબર પડશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">આખીશે કહ્યું, “સારું, હું તને માંરો કાયમનો અંગરક્ષક બનાવીશ.”
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<s style="s">એન-દોરમાં શાઉલ અને સ્ત્રી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.28.3" />શમુએલ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો હતો. પછી ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેનો શોક પાળ્યો હતો અને તેને તેના ગામ “રામાં”માં દફનાવ્યો હતો.
</p>
<p style="p">શાઉલે આખા દેશમાંથી બધા મેલી વિંધા વાપરનારાઓને અને ભૂવાઓને હાંકી કાઢયા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.28.4" />શુનેમમાં પલિસ્તી સેના ભેગી થઇ અને છાવણી નાખી. શાઉલે તેની સેના એકઠી કરી અને ગિલ્બોઆમાં ડુંગર ઉપર છાવણી નાખી.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.28.5" />શાઉલે જયારે પલિસ્તીઓની સેનાને જોઈ ત્યારે તે ગભરાઈ ગયો, અને તેની હિંમત છૂટી ગઈ.
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<v id="6" bcv="1SA.28.6" />તેણે યહોવાને પ્રશ્ર્ન કર્યો, પણ દેવે તેને જવાબ ન આપ્યો, ન સ્વપ્ન દ્વારા, ન પાસા દ્વારા કે ન પ્રબોધક દ્વારા.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.28.7" />પછી શાઉલે તેના અમલદારોને કહ્યું, “જાવ અને કોઇ સ્ત્રી જે તાંત્રિક છે તેણીને બોલાવો. પછી હું તેને મળીશ અને આ યુદ્ધનું પરિણામ શું હશે તેની આગાહી કરવા કહીશ.”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી તેઓએ કહ્યું “એન-દોરમાં તેવી એક સ્રી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.28.8" />આથી શાઉલે રાજવી-ઝભ્ભો ઉતારી મૂકયો, અને સામાંન્ય પોશાક પહેરીને વેશપલટો કર્યો અને રાત્રે પોતાના બે માંણસો સાથે તે સ્ત્રીને ઘેર મળવા ગયો. તેણે વિનંતી કરી, “પ્રેતને પૂછીને મને માંરું ભવિષ્ય કહે, હું કહું તેના પ્રેતને તું બોલાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.28.9" />તે સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “શાઉલે શું કર્યું છે તે તમે જાણો છો, તેણે બધા મેલી વિદ્યા વાપરનારઓને અને ભૂવાઓને દેશમાંથી હાંકી કાઢયા છે. તો તમે શું કરવા મને ફસાવવા અને માંરી નાખવા માંગો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1SA.28.10" />ત્યારે શાઉલે તેની આગળ એવા સમ ખાધા કે, “હું તને યહોવાના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે, એ માંટે તને કોઈ સજા કે નુકસાન થશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.28.11" />ત્યારે પેલી સ્ત્રીએ પૂછયું, “હું કોને બોલાવું?”
</p>
<p style="p">શાઉલે કહ્યું, “શમુએલને.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1SA.28.12" />જયારે તે સ્ત્રીએ શમુએલને જોયો ત્યારે તે ચીસ પાડી ઊઠી. તેણે શાઉલને કહ્યું, “તું શાઉલ છે, તેઁ મને છેતરી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.28.13" />રાજાએ તેને કહ્યું, “તું ગભરાઈશ નહિ, તને શું દેખાય છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “હું એક આત્માંને ભૂમિમાંથી બહાર આવતો જોઉં છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1SA.28.14" />એટલે શાઉલે પૂછયું, “એનો દેખાવ કેવો છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી તે સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “એક વૃદ્વ પુરુષ ઉપર આવે છે અને તેણે ખાસ ઝભ્ભો પહેરેલો છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે શાઉલને ખબર પડી કે, એ શમુએલ હતો. તેથી તે નીચે નમ્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="1SA.28.15" />શમુએલે શાઉલને પૂછયું કે, “તેં શા માંટે મને અહીં બોલાવીને હેરાન કર્યો છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">શાઉલે કહ્યું, “હું ભારે મુશ્કેલીમાં આવી પડયો છું, પલિસ્તીઓ માંરી સામે યુદ્ધે ચડયા છે, યહોવા માંરી પાસેથી જતા રહ્યા છે, તે મને પ્રબોધક માંરફતે કે સ્વપ્ન માંરફતે જવાબ આપતા નથી; એટલે માંરે શું કરવું એ જાણવા મેં તમને બોલાવ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.28.16" />શમુએલે કહ્યું કે, “યહોવા તારી પાસેથી જતા રહ્યાં છે ને તારા દુશ્મન થયાં છે, તો તું મને કેમ પૂછે છે?
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<v id="17" bcv="1SA.28.17" />એ જે કરવાના છે તે કહેવા દેવે માંરો ઉપયોગ કર્યો છે. અને હમણા તેઓ આ કરી રહ્યાં છે. હમણા તેઓ રાજ્યને તારા હાથેથી અલગ કરીને તારા મિત્ર દાઉદને આપી રહ્યાં છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="1SA.28.18" />તેં યહોવાની આજ્ઞા માંની નહોતી, તેઁ અમાંલેકીઓનો વિનાશ કર્યો નહિ અને બતાવ્યું નહિ કે દેવ તેમના ઉપર કેટલા કોપાયમાંન હતા. તેથી યહોવા તમને આજે આ કરી રહ્યાં છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.28.19" />અને એ જ કારણે તે તને અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને સુદ્ધાં પલિસ્તીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દેશે, એટલું જ નહિ, પણ આવતી કાલે તું અને તારા પુત્રો અહીં માંરી સાથે હશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1SA.28.20" />શમુએલનાં વચનો સાંભળતાં જ શાઉલ ભયભીત થઈને જમીન પર ચત્તોપાટ પડી ગયો, તેનામાં કંઈ શકિત રહી નહોતી, કારણ કે તેણે આખો દિવસ અને આખી રાત કશુંય ખાધું નહોતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1SA.28.21" />પેલી સ્ત્રી શાઉલની નજીક આવી અને જોયું કે તે ઘણો ભયભીત થઇ ગયો છે.એટલે તેણે કહ્યું, “જુઓ સાહેબ, આ દાસીએ તમે જે કઇ કહ્યું તે કર્યું. મેં માંરા જીવને જોખમમાં નાખીને જે મને કરવા માંટે આજ્ઞા કરી હતી તે કર્યું.
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.28.22" />હવે આપ માંરી વાત સાંભળો, આપને થોડું ભોજન આપવા દો, જેથી આપને પ્રવાસ માંટે શકિત મળી રહે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1SA.28.23" />પણ તેણે ના પાડી અને કહ્યું, “માંરે ખાવું નથી.”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ પેલી સ્ત્રીએ અને અમલદારોએ પણ આગ્રહ કર્યો, એટલે છેવટે તે માંની ગયો, અને ભોંય ઉપરથી ઉઠીને ખાટલા ઉપર બેઠો.
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<v id="24" bcv="1SA.28.24" />એ સ્ત્રી પાસે એક માંતેલું વાછરડું હતું; તે તેણે ઝટપટ વધેરી નાખ્યો. પછી તેણે થોડો લોટ લઈ ગૂંદીને ખમીર વગરની ભાખરી શેકી કાઢી;
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<v id="25" bcv="1SA.28.25" />અને શાઉલને અને તેના અમલદારોને પીરસી દીધી, તેઓ જમ્યા પછી ઊભા થઈને તે જ રાત્રે વિદાય થયા.
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<c id="29" />
<s style="s">દાઉદ પર પલિસ્તીઓનો અવિશ્વાસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.29.1" />પલિસ્તીઓએ પોતાનું સમગ્ર લશ્કર અફેક આગળ ભેગું કર્યું, અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યિઝએલમાં આવેલા ઝરણાં પાસે છાવણી નાખી.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.29.2" />જયારે પલિસ્તીઓ અને તેઓના સરદારો પોતાની સો સો અને હજાર હજારની પલટણો લઈને કૂચ કરતા હતા ત્યારે દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસો આખીશ રાજાની સાથે લશ્કરના પાછલા ભાગે કૂચ કરતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.29.3" />પરંતુ પલિસ્તી સેનાપતિઓએ પૂછયું. “આ યહૂદાના લોકો અહીં શું કરે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">રાજા આખીશે કહ્યું. “આ દાઉદ છે, જે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા શાઉલનો અમલદાર હતો. તેણે શાઉલને છોડ્યો ત્યારથી અને માંરી સૅંથે જોડાયા પદ્ધી લાંબા સમય દરમ્યાન તેનામાં મને કોઇ દોષ દેખાયો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1SA.29.4" />પલિસ્તી સેનાપતિઓએ રોષે ભરાઈને કહ્યું, “તમે એને જે શહેર આપ્યું હતું, ત્યાં એને પાછો મોકલો, એને યદ્ધમાં આપણી સાથે આવવા દેતા નહિ. કારણ, યદ્ધ દરમ્યાન એ આપણને કદાચ દગો દે. તે કદાચ તેના પોતાના ધણીને પ્રસન્ન કરવા આપણા મૅંણસોને માંરી નાખે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.29.5" />એ જ દાઉદ છે જેને વિષે એ લોકો નાચતાં નાચતાં ગાતા હતા:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘શાઉલે હજારોનો સંહાર કર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દાઉદે તો લાખોનો.’”
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.29.6" />આખીશે દાઉદને તેડાવ્યા બાદ કહ્યું, “હું તમને યહોવાના નામે કહું છું કે તું મને વફાદાર છે. તને માંરી સેનામાં નોકરીમાં રાખવા મને પ્રસન્નતા થશે. જ્યારથી તું માંરી સૅંથે જોડાયો છે, મને તારામાં કોઇ દોષ દેખાયો નથી. તું એક સારો અને બહાદુર મૅંણસ છે. હું માંનું છું કે તારે અમાંરી સૅંથે આવવું જોઈએ. પણ અમલદારો તને માંન્ય રાખતા નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.29.7" />માંટે તું શાંતિથી પાછો જા, અને પલિસ્તી સેનાપતિઓને ખોટું લાગે એવું કશું કરીશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.29.8" />દાઉદે આખીશને પૂછયું, “ઓ માંરા માંલિક માંરા રાજા, મેં શું કર્યું છે? હું જ્યારથી આપની પાસે આવ્યો છું, માંરામાં શું ખરાબ બાબત તમને મળી છે? રાજાના દુશ્મનોની વિરુદ્ધ મને જોડાવા દેવાને બદલે તમે મને કેમ પાછો જવા કહી રહ્યાં છો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.29.9" />પણ આખીશે કહ્યું, “માંરી નજરમાં તું દેવે મોકલેલા દૂત જેવો છે, હું જાણું છું કે તું સારો મૅંણસ છે. પણ પલિસ્તી સૈનિકના સેનાપતિઓ કહે છે ‘દાઉદ આપણી સાથે યદ્ધમાં ન આવવો જોઈએ.’
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.29.10" />માંટે સવારમાં વહેલા તારા માણસો સાથે તારી જગાએ પાછો નીકળી જજે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.29.11" />તેથી આગલે દિવસે દાઉદ અને તેના મૅંણસો તેમના રસ્તે પલિસ્તીઓની ભૂમિમાં પાછા ફરવા નીકળી પડ્યા અને પલિસ્તીઓ યિઝએલ ગયા.
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</p>

<c id="30" />
<s style="s">સિકલાગ સામે યુદ્વ કરતા અમાંલેકીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.30.1" />ત્રીજે દિવસે દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસો સિકલાગ પહોંચ્યા. તેમણે જોયું કે અમાંલેકીઓએ સિકલાગ પર હુમલો કર્યો હતો અને નેગેબ પર આક્રમણ કર્યુ હતું. અને તેને બાળી મૂકયું હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="1SA.30.2" />અમાંલેકીઓએ સ્રીઓને કેદ પકડી લીધી અને સિકલાગમાં જે કંઇ હતું, જુવાન કે વૃદ્ધ તેને કેદ તરીકે લઇ ગયા. તેમણે કોઇની હત્યા કરી નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.30.3" />જ્યારે દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસો સિકલાગ પહોચ્યા; તેમણે જોયું કે શહેરને બાળી મૂકવામાં આવ્યું હતું અને તેમની સ્ત્રીઓને અને બાળબચ્ચાંને કેદીઓ તરીકે લઇ જવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="4" bcv="1SA.30.4" />દાઉદ અને તેની સાથેના માંણસો મોટેથી રડવા લાગ્યા અને એટલું રડયા કે અંતે રડવાની શકિત જ ન રહી.
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<v id="5" bcv="1SA.30.5" />દાઉદની બે પત્નીઓ યિઝ્એલી અહીનોઆમને અને નાબાલની વિધવા કામેર્લની અબીગાઈલને પણ કેદ કરવામાં આવી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1SA.30.6" />દાઉદ ભારે મુશ્કેલીમાં હતો, કારણ તેમના કુટુંબો ખોવાને કારણે તેના માંણસો બહું ઉદાસ બની ગયા હતા અને તેઓ બધા એને માંરી નાખવા માંગતા હતા. પણ દાઉદે પોતાના દેવ યહોવામાંથી બળ પ્રાપ્ત કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="7" bcv="1SA.30.7" />દાઉદે અહીમેલેખના પુત્ર યાજક અબ્યાથારને કહ્યું, “માંરી પાસે એફોદ લઈ આવ.” અને અબ્યાથાર લઈ આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.30.8" />પછી દાઉદે યહોવાને પ્રશ્ર્ન કર્યો, “હું આ હુમલાખોરોનો પીછો પકડું? હુ એ લોકોને પકડી પાડીશ?”
</p>
<p style="p">યહોવાનો જવાબ મળ્યો, “પીછો પકડ, તું જરૂર તેમને પકડી પાડીશ, અને બાનમાં પકડાયેલાઓને છોડાવી શકીશ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">મિસરી ગુલામ પ્રાપ્ત કરતા દાઉદ અને સાથીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1SA.30.9" />આથી, દાઉદ અને તેના 600 માંણસો અમાંલેકીઓની પાછળ ગયાં અને બસોરના કોતરમાં પહોંચી ગયા.
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<v id="10" bcv="1SA.30.10" />જે 200 માંણસો એટલા થાકી ગયા હતા કે કોતરને ઓળંગી ન શકે, તેઓ ત્યાં જ રોકાઈ ગયા, પરંતુ બાકીના 400 માંણસોએ તો પીછો જારી રાખ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.30.11" />રસ્તામાં તેમને ખેતરમાં એક મિસરી મળ્યો, તેને તેઓ દાઉદ આગળ લઈ ગયા,અને ખાવા માંટે રોટલી અને પીવા માંટે પાણી આપ્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="1SA.30.12" />તેઓએ તેને થોડા અંજીર અને દ્રાક્ષાની બે લૂમો પણ ખાવા માંટે આપ્યા અને ત્યાર બાદ તેને થોડી શાંતિ પાછી મળી, કારણ કે ત્રણ દિવસ અને ત્રણ રાત તેણે કશું ખાધું કે પીધું નહોતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1SA.30.13" />દાઉદે તેને પૂછયું, “તારો ધણી કોણ છે? અને તું કયાંથી આવે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે કહ્યું, “હું મિસરી જુવાન છું. એક અમાંલેકીનો ગુલામ છું. પણ હું ત્રણ દિવસ પહેલા માંદો પડયો, તેથી માંરા ધણી મને મૂકીને ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<v id="14" bcv="1SA.30.14" />અમે નેગેબ પર આક્રમણ કર્યુ જ્યાં કરેથીઓ અને કાલેબના લોકો રહે છે અને યહૂદાની ભૂમિ ઉપર આક્રમણ કરીને સિકલાગને અમે બાળી નાખ્યું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1SA.30.15" />દાઉદે તેને પૂછયું, “તું મને એ હુમલા-ખોરો પાસે લઈ જશે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે યુવાને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જો તમે મને દેવના સોગંદ ખાઈને વચન આપો કે તમે મને માંરી નહિ નાખો, અથવા માંરા ધણીને નહિ સોંપી દો, તો હું તમને ત્યાં લઈ જાઉં.”
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</p>
<s style="s">અમાંલેકીઓને હરાવતો દાઉદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1SA.30.16" />પછી તે તેને ત્યાં લઈ ગયો. તેણે જોયું કે તે લોકો મેદાનમાં ચારે તરફ લાંબા થઈને પડયા હતા, તેઓ ખાઈ પીને મોજ ઉડાવતા હતા, તેઓ પલિસ્તી અને યહૂદામાંથી કબજે કરેલી પુષ્કળ લૂંટનો આનંદ માંણતા હતા.
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<v id="17" bcv="1SA.30.17" />દાઉદે બીજે દિવસે પરોઢિયે તેમના ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો અને છેક સાંજ સુધી ચાલુ રાખ્યો, ફકત 400 માંણસો ઊંટ ઉપર સવાર થઈને ભાગી ગયા, તે સિવાય કોઈ બચવા પામ્યું નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1SA.30.18" />અમાંલેકીઓ લૂંટીને લઈ ગયા હતા તે સર્વ દાઉદ પાછું લાવ્યો, દાઉદે તેની બંને પત્નીઓને પણ છોડાવી.
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<v id="19" bcv="1SA.30.19" />કઇજ ગુમ થયેલું નહતું. તેમને એમના બધાં સંતાનો અને તેમના બધા સગાઓ, જુવાન અને વૃદ્ધ પાછા મળી ગયા. તેમને તેમની બધી બહુંમૂલ્ય વસ્તુઓ પાછી મળી ગઇ. અમાંલેકીઓ જે બધું લઇ ગયા હતા તેમને પાછું મળી ગયું. દાઉદ બધી જ વસ્તુઓ પાછી લઇ આવ્યો.
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<v id="20" bcv="1SA.30.20" />તેણે ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોરોનો પણ કબજો લીધો અને તેના માંણસો “આ દાઉદની લૂંટ છે” એમ કહીને દાઉદની આગળ આગળ તેમને હાંકવા લાગ્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">સર્વને સમાંન ભાગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1SA.30.21" />ત્યારબાદ દાઉદ જે 200 માંણસો થાકને કારણે એની સાથે જઈ શકયા નહોતા અને જેમને એ બસોરના કોતર આગળ મૂકી ગયો હતો, તેમની પાસે પાછો ગયો, તેઓ એને અને એના માંણસોને મળવા સામાં આવ્યા. દાઉદે તેમની પાસે જઈ કુશળ સમાંચાર પૂછયા.
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<v id="22" bcv="1SA.30.22" />દાઉદની સાથે જે માંણસો ગયા હતા તેમાંના કેટલાક દુષ્ટ માંણસો હતા તેઓએ કહ્યું, “એ માંણસો આપણી સાથે આવ્યા નહોતા. આપણે જે લૂંટ પાછી મેળવી છે તેમાંથી આપણે તેમને કશું આપીશું નહિ. એ માંણસો પોતપોતાનાં બૈરીછોકરાંને લઈને જતા રહે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1SA.30.23" />પરંતુ દાઉદે કહ્યું, “ના, માંરા ભાઈઓ! યહોવાએ આપણને બચાવ્યા છે, અને આપણા દુશ્મનોને હરાવવામાં આપણને મદદ કરી છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="1SA.30.24" />તમે આ પ્રમાંણે બોલો તે કોણ સાંભળશે? જે લોકોએ આપણા ગયા બાદ, આપણી સેનાનો પૂરવઠો સંભાળ્યો હતો તેમને પણ યુદ્ધમાં જે માંણસો ગયા હતા તેમના જેટલો સરખો ભાગ મળવો જોઇએ.”
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<v id="25" bcv="1SA.30.25" />તે દિવસથી દાઉદે ઇસ્રાએલ માંટે આ નિયમ કર્યો જે આજપર્યંત ચાલું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1SA.30.26" />દાઉદ સિકલાગ પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે તેણે લૂંટનો થોડો ભાગ પોતાના મિત્રોને, યહૂદાના આગેવાનોને, આ સંદેશા સાથે મોકલી આપ્યો કે, “યહોવાના દુશ્મનો પાસેથી જે લૂટ મેં પાછી લીધી તેમાંથી તમને આ ભેટ મોકલી છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1SA.30.27" />દાઉદે મેળવેલી લૂંટમાંથી તેણે જે નગરોના વડીલો પર ભેટો મોકલી તેની યાદી: બેથેલ, દક્ષિણમાં રામોથ, યાત્તીર
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="1SA.30.28" />અરોએર, સિફમોથ, એશ્તમોઆ,
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<v id="29" bcv="1SA.30.29" />રાખાલ, યરાહમએલી, કેનીઓનાં નગરો.
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<v id="30" bcv="1SA.30.30" />હોર્માંહ, કાર-આશાન, આથાખ
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<v id="31" bcv="1SA.30.31" />અને હેબ્રોન તથા દાઉદના રઝળપાટ દરમ્યાન તે અને તેના માંણસો જયાં જયાં રહ્યાં હતાં તે બધાં સ્થળોના માંણસોને મોકલી આપી.
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</p>

<c id="31" />
<s style="s">શાઉલ અને તેના પુત્રોનો કરુણ અંત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1SA.31.1" />પલિસ્તીઓ ઇસ્રાએલી સામે લડ્યા; જેઓ નાસી ગયા અને ગિલ્બોઆ પર્વત ઉપર માંર્યા ગયા. ઘણા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ત્યાં મરી ગયા અને તેમાંનાં ઘણાં ભાગી ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1SA.31.2" />પલિસ્તીઓએ શાઉલના ત્રણ પુત્રોને માંરી નાખ્યાં યોનાથાનને, અબીનાદાબને અને માંલ્કીશૂઆને તેઓએ એમનો પીછો પકડયો અને માંરી નાખ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1SA.31.3" />અને શાઉલની વિરુદ્ધ ખૂનખાર યુદ્ધ થયું હતું. કેટલાક ધનુર્ધારીઓએ તેની પાસે પહોંચી જઈ તેને સખત ઘાયલ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1SA.31.4" />ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના બખ્તર ઉપાડનારને કહ્યું, “તારી તરવાર લે અને મને માંરી નાખ, નહિતર આ વિદેશીઓ આવશે અને મને ઇજા કરશે અને માંરી હાંસી ઉડાવશે.” પણ તે બખ્તર ઉપાડનાર ડરતો હતો અને તેને તેણે માંરી નાખવાની ના પાડી આથી શાઉલે પોતાની તરવાર લીધી અને પોતાને પોતાની તરવારથી માંરી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1SA.31.5" />શાઉલને મૃત્યુ પામેલો જોઈને બખ્તરવાહક પણ પોતાની તરવાર ઉપર પડતું મુકી તેની સાથે મોતને ભેટયો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1SA.31.6" />આમ તે દિવસે શાઉલ, તેના ત્રણ પુત્રો, તેનો બખ્તરવાહક અને તેના માંણસો બધાજ તે જ દિવસે સાથે મૃત્યુ પામ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શાઉલના મૃત્યુથી આનંદીત પલિસ્તીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1SA.31.7" />ખીણની પેલી પાર રહેતા ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ જોયું કે ઇસ્રાએલી સેના ભાગી ગઇ હતી અને શાઉલ અને તેના ત્રણ પુત્રો મરી ગયા હતા. તેથી તેઓએ તેમના નગરો છોડ્યા અને ભાગી ગયા. ત્યાર બાદ પલિસ્તીઓ આવ્યા અને ત્યાં રહ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1SA.31.8" />બીજે દિવસે પલિસ્તીઓ, મૃતદેહો પરથી વસ્રાદિ અલંકારો લૂંટી લેવા આવ્યા, ત્યારે તેમણે શાઉલને અને તેના ત્રણ પુત્રોને ગિલ્બોઆના ડુંગર પર મરેલા પડેલા જોયા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1SA.31.9" />તે લોકોએ તેનું માંથું કાપી નાખ્યું અને તેના શસ્ત્રો ઉતારી લીધાં અને દેશભરમાં મંદિરોને અને લોકોને આ શુભ સમાંચાર પહોંચાડવા માંણસો મોકલ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="1SA.31.10" />ત્યાર પછી તે લોકોએ શાઉલનાં બખ્તરને આશ્તારોથના મંદિરમાં મૂકયું. તેઓએ તેના શબને બેથશાનની દિવાલ ઉપર લટકાવી દીધું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1SA.31.11" />પલિસ્તીઓએ શાઉલના શરીરને અને બખ્તર ઉપાડનારને શું કર્યું તે યાબેશ ગિલયાદના લોકોએ સાંભળ્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1SA.31.12" />પછી યાબેશના બધા સૈનિકોએ આખી રાત કૂચ કરી; તેઓએ શાઉલ અને તેના ત્રણે દીકરાઓના શરીર બેથશાનની દિવાલોથી ઉતાર્યા અને યાબેશ ગિલયાદ લઇ ગયા અને અગ્નિમાં બાળી નાખ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="1SA.31.13" />પછી તેમણે તેમનાં હાડકાંઓ લીધા અને તેમને યાબેશમાં મોટા વૃક્ષ નીચે દાટી દીધા, અને સાત દિવસના ઉપવાસ કર્યા.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="2SA"><id id="2SA">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>2 શમુએલનું
</h><toc level="1">શમુએલનું બીજું પુસ્તક
</toc><toc level="2">2 શમુએલનું
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">શમુએલનું
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">બીજું પુસ્તક
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">દાઉદને શાઉલના મૃત્યુના સમાંચાર મળ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.1.1" />શાઉલના મૃત્યુ પછી દાઉદ અમાંલેકીઓને હરાવીને પાછો ફર્યો અને બે દિવસ સિકલાગમાં રહ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2SA.1.2" />ત્રીજા દિવસે શાઉલની છાવણીમાંથી એક યુવાન આવ્યો. તે માંણસના કપડાં ફાટેલાઁ હતાં, અને તેના માંથા પર ધૂળ હતી,<f caller="+"><fr>1:2
</fr><fk>માણસના કપડાં … માથા પર ધૂળ હતી
</fk><ft>તેનો અર્થ એ કે માણસ ખુબ દુ:ખી હતો.</ft></f> તેણે દાઉદ પાસે જઈને જમીન પર લાંબા થઈને તેને પ્રણામ કર્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.1.3" />દાઉદે તેને પૂછયું, “તું કયાંથી આવે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે કહ્યું, “હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓની છાવણીમાંથી ભાગીને આવ્યો છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.1.4" />દાઉદે તેને પૂછયું, “ત્યાં શું થયું? યુદ્ધનું પરિણામ શું આવ્યું તે મને કહે.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “લશ્કર યુદ્ધના મેદાનમાંથી ભાગી ગયું છે અને યુદ્ધમાં ઘણા માંણસો માંર્યા ગયા હતા. શાઉલ અને તેનો દીકરો યોનાથાન પણ યુદ્ધમાં મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.1.5" />એટલે સમાંચાર લાવનાર માંણસને દાઉદે પૂછયું, “શાઉલ અને તેનો દીકરો યોનાથાન મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે તે, તેં કેવી રીતે જાણ્યું?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.1.6" />તેણે કહ્યું, “એ સમયે હું ગિલ્બોઆના પર્વત પર હતો. મેં શાઉલને તેના ભાલા પર ટેકો લઇને પડેલો જોયો. તેના દુશ્મનના રથો તેની પાછળ નજીક આવી ગયા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2SA.1.7" />તેણે પાછા વળીને જોયું, અને મને જોઈને તેણે મોટે સાદે મને બૂમ પાડી, એટલે મેં કહ્યું કે હું આ રહ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2SA.1.8" />તેણે મને પૂછયું; તું કોણ છે? મેં કહ્યું, હું અમાંલેકી છું.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2SA.1.9" />તેણે મને વિનંતી કરી અને કહ્યું ‘તું આવ અને મને માંરી નાખ, કારણ કે હું ખરાબ રીતે ઘવાયેલો છું અને ગમે તેમ મરવાનો જ છું.’
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2SA.1.10" />તેથી મેં તેને માંરી નાખ્યો, કારણ મને ખબર હતી કે તે મરવાનો તો હતો જ. ત્યાર પછી મેં તેના માંથા ઉપરથી તાજ અને હાથ ઉપરથી કડું ઉતારી લીધાં, અને તે હું તમાંરી પાસે અહીંયા લઈ આવ્યો છું માંરા દેવ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.1.11" />આ સાંભળીને દાઉદે અને તેના માંણસોએ શોકને કારણે પોતાનાં કપડાં ફાડી નાખ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="2SA.1.12" />લોકો ઘણા દુ:ખી હતા. તેઓએ વિલાપ કર્યો, ને સાંજ સુધી ઉપવાસ કર્યો; કારણ કે શાઉલ, તેનો પુત્ર યોનાથાન યહોવાના લોકો તથા ઇસ્રાએલના ઘણા સૈનિકો યુદ્ધમાં માંર્યા ગયા હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદે અમાંલેકીને માંરી નાંખવાની આજ્ઞા કરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2SA.1.13" />દાઉદે ખબર આપનાર માંણસને પૂછયું, “તું કયાંથી આવે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું તો આ દેશમાં વસતા એક પરદેશી અમાંલેકીનો પુત્ર છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.1.14" />દાઉદે તેને પૂછયું, “યહોવાએ પસંદ કરેલા રાજાને, માંરી નાખવાની તારી હિંમત કેવી રીતે ચાલી?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.1.15" />તે પછી દાઉદે પોતાના એક યુવાન નોકરને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “તું જા અને આ માંણસને માંરી નાંખ. તેથી તે ગયો અને જે માંણસ સંદેશો લાવ્યો હતો તેને માંરી નાંખ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="2SA.1.16" />ત્યાર પછી દાઉદે કહ્યું, તારા મૃત્યુ માંટે તું જ જવાબદાર છે, કારણ કે તે પોતે જ કબૂલ કર્યુ છે કે તેં જ યહોવાથી અભિષ્કિત રાજાને માંરી નાખ્યો, તારા પોતાના શબ્દોએ તને અપરાધી સાબિત કર્યો.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદનું શોક ગીત શાઉલ અને યોનાથાન માંટે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.1.17" />દાઉદે શાઉલ અને તેના પુત્ર યોનાથાન માંટે મરશિયો ગાયો.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="2SA.1.18" />અને તેણે એ મરશિયો યહૂદાના લોકોને શીખવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી; તે “ધનુષ્ય” કહેવાય છે અને
<bk>યાશારના પુસ્તકમાં</bk> લખેલું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="2SA.1.19" />“ઓ ઇસ્રાએલ, તારા પર્વતો ઉપર તેં તારા બળવાન સૈનિકો ગુમાંવ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અરે! તે શૂરવીરો કેવા માંર્યા ગયા!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.1.20" />ગાથમાં એની વાત કરશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આશ્કલોનની શેરીઓમાં, આ સમાંચાર તમે જાહેર કરશો નહિ;
</q>
<q style="q1">આ કદાચ પલિસ્તીઓની પુત્રીઓને ખુશ કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બેસુન્નતીઓની પુત્રીઓ આનંદ પામશે અને ખુશ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.1.21" />“હે ગિલ્બોઆના પર્વતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમાંરા પર વરસાદ કે ઝાકળ ન પડો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમાંરાં ખેતરોમાં કઇ ન ઉપજે જેથી તમાંરા તરફથી કોઇ અર્પણો ન આવે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, યોદ્ધાઓની ઢાલ નકામી ગણીને ફેંકી દેવામાં આવી હતી
</q>
<q style="q1">અને શાઉલની ઢાલ જે તેલમાં બોળવામાં આવી ન હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાટ ખાઇ ગઇ હતી અને ત્યાં પડેલી છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.1.22" />યોનાથાનના ધનુષે તેના ભાગના દુશ્મનોને માંર્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનુ લોહી રેડાયું!
</q>
<q style="q1">તેવી જ રીતે શાઉલની તરવાર એક સાચ્ચા યોદ્વાની તરવાર જેવી હતી જે
</q>
<q style="q1">માંર્યા વિના કદી પાછી ફરી નહોતી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.1.23" />“શાઉલ તથા યોનાથાન એક બીજાને ચાહતા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને એક બીજાના સાહચર્યમાં આનંદ માંણતા હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જીવનમાં અને મૃત્યુમાં તેઓ કદી વિખૂટા પડયા નહોતા;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ગરુડ કરતાં વેગવાન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સિંહો કરતાં બળવાન હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="2SA.1.24" />ઓ ઇસ્રાએલની પુત્રીઓ, શાઉલને માંટે વિલાપ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે તમને સર્વને સુંદર કિરમજી વસ્ત્રો પહેરાંવ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમને સુવર્ણ આભૂષણોથી શણગાર્યાં.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="2SA.1.25" />“યુદ્ધભૂમિમાં શૂરવીરો કેવા વીરગતિને પામ્યા!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યોનાથાન, તું ગિલ્બોઆ પર્વત પર મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="2SA.1.26" />હે માંરા વીરા યોનાથાન, તું મને બહુ પ્રિય હતો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા માંટે માંરું હૃદય રડે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારો માંરા પ્રત્યેનો પ્રેમ સ્ત્રીઓના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રેમ કરતાંય અધિક અદભુત હતો!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="2SA.1.27" />યુદ્ધ ભૂમિમાં શુરવીરો વીરગતિને પામ્યા!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને યુદ્ધનાં શસ્ત્રો વ્યર્થ ગયાં!”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસો હેબ્રોન ગયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.2.1" />ત્યાર પછી દાઉદે યહોવાને પૂછયું, “શું હું યહૂદાના કોઈ એક શહેરમાં જાઉં?”
</p>
<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “જા.”
</p>
<p style="p">દાઉદે પૂછયું, “હું કયા નગરમાં જાઉં?”
</p>
<p style="p">અને યહોવાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હેબ્રોન.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2SA.2.2" />તેથી દાઉદ પોતાની બે પત્નીઓ, યિઝએલી અહીનોઆમ અને કામેર્લના નાબાલની વિધવા અબીગાઈલને લઈને હેબ્રોન ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2SA.2.3" />અને પોતાની સાથેના માંણસોને પણ તેમનાં પરિવાર સાથે તે લઈ ગયો. અને તેઓ હેબ્રોન અને આજુબાજુના કસબાઓમાં વસ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.2.4" />ત્યારબાદ યહૂદાના લોકોએ ત્યાં આવીને દાઉદનો યહૂદાના રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કર્યો. જયારે દાઉદને સમાંચાર મળ્યા કે, “યાબેશમાં ગિલયાદના લોકોએ શાઉલને દફનાવ્યો હતો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.2.5" />ત્યારે તેણે યાબેશ ગિલયાદને માંણસો મોકલી સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “તમાંરા માંલિક શાઉલ પ્રત્યે દયા દેખાડવા બદલ અને તેને દફનાવવા માંટે યહોવા તમાંરું ભલું કરો,
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="2SA.2.6" />અને તમાંરા ઉપર એમની અવિચળ કરુણા વરસાવતા રહો. હું પણ તમાંરા આ કૃત્ય બદલ તમાંરી સાથે સારો વ્યવહાર રાખીશ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2SA.2.7" />હવે તારી જાતને મજબૂત બનાવ કારણ કે તમાંરો માંલિક શાઉલ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો છે, અને યહૂદાના લોકોએ માંરો રાજા તરીકે રાજ્યાભિષેક કર્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઇશબોશેથ રાજા બન્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.2.8" />પરંતુ શાઉલનો સરસેનાપતિ નેરનો પુત્ર આબ્નેર તે શાઉલના પુત્ર ઇશબોશેથને માંહનાઈમ લઇ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2SA.2.9" />અને ત્યાં તેને ગિલયાદ, આશેર, યિઝએલ, એફ્રાઈમ, બિન્યામીન એટલે કે આખા ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બનાવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2SA.2.10" />જ્યારે ઇશબોશેથને ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બનાવવામાં આવ્યો ત્યારે તે 40 વર્ષનો હતો. તેણે બે વર્ષ રાજય કર્યું. પણ યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહ દાઉદને વફાદાર રહ્યાં,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="2SA.2.11" />દાઉદ હેબ્રોનમાં રહ્યો અને યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહ પર સાડાસાત વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પ્રાણઘાતક સ્પર્ધા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2SA.2.12" />નેરનો પુત્ર આબ્નેર અને શાઉલના પુત્ર ઇશબોશેથના અમલદારો માંહનાઈમ છોડી ગિબયોન ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2SA.2.13" />અને સરુયાનો પુત્ર યોઆબ દાઉદના માંણસોને હેબ્રોન લઇ ગયો. તેઓ ગિબયોન ગયા અને આબ્નેર અને ઇશબોશેથના અમલદારો ને તળાવ આગળ મળ્યા, આબ્નેરની ટોળકી તળાવની એક બાજુ અને યોઆબની ટોળકી બીજી બાજુ બેઠી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.2.14" />આબ્નેરે યોઆબને કહ્યું, “જુવાન સૈનિકો ઉભા થાય અને અહી હરીફાઇ કરે.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને “યોઆબ તેની સાથે સહમત થયો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.2.15" />આ સ્પર્ધાની રમત માંટે ઇશબોશેથ અને બિન્યામીનના વંશના પક્ષ તરફથી બાર જણ અને દાઉદના માંણસોમાંથી બાર જણ આગળ આવ્યા અને સામસામે ગોઠવાઈ ગયાં.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="2SA.2.16" />દરેક જણે પોતાના હરીફના માંથાના વાળ પકડયા અને તેના શરીરની આરપાર પોતાની તરવાર ખોસી દીધી. અને એ રીતે તેઓ બધાજ એકી સાથે જમીન પર પડી મૃત્યુ પામ્યા, આથી તે સ્થળનું નામ “તરવારનીધારનું ખેતર” પડ્યું. જે ગિબયોનમાં છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="2SA.2.17" />તે દિવસે બંને સૈન્યો વચ્ચે ઉગ્ર યુદ્ધ થયું, અને દાઉદના અમલદારોએ આબ્નેર અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને હરાવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આબ્નેરે અસાહેલને માંરી નાખ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.2.18" />સરુયાના ત્રણે દીકરાઓ, યોઆબ, અબીશાય અને અસાહેલ પણ ત્યાં યુદ્ધમાં હતા, અસાહેલ જંગલી હરણની જેમ ખૂબ ઝડપથી દોડી શકતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="2SA.2.19" />અસાહેલ જમણી કે ડાબી બાજુએ વળ્યા વિના સીધો જ આબ્નેરની પાછળ પડયો
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="2SA.2.20" />આબ્નેરે પાછા ફરીને તેને પૂછયું, “કોણ? અસાહેલ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે કહ્યું, “હા, હું જ અસાહેલ છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.2.21" />આબ્નેરે કહ્યું, “માંરો પીછો કરવો છોડી દે, કોઈ સૈનિકને પકડ અને તેની પાસે જે કંઈ હોય તે લૂંટી લે.” પણ અસાહેલે તેનું માંન્યું નહિ અને તેની પાછળ દોડવાનું ચાલું જ રાખ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.2.22" />આબ્નેરે તેને ફરી એક વાર કહ્યું, “માંરો પીછો કરવો છોડી દે, શા માંટે તું માંરા હાથે મોત માંગે છે? જો એમ થાય તો હું તારા ભાઈ યોઆબને માંરું મોંઠુ શી રીતે દેખાડું?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.2.23" />છતાં અસાહેલે પાછા ફરવાનો ઇન્કાર કર્યો, એટલે આબ્નેરે ભાલાનો પાછલો છેડો તેના પેટમાં એટલા જોરથી માંર્યો કે તે શરીરમાં થઈને આરપાર નીકળ્યો.
</p>
<s style="s">યોઆબ અને અબીશાયે આબ્નેરનો પીછો કર્યો
</s>
<p style="p">અસાહેલ જમીન પર ઢળી પડયો અને ત્યાં જ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો, અસાહેલ જયાં મરેલો પડયો હતો ત્યાં જે કોઈ આવતા તે બધા ઊભા રહી જતા.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="2SA.2.24" />હવે યોઆબ અને અબીશાય આબ્નેરની પાછળ પડયા હતા. સૂર્યાસ્તના સમયે તેઓ ગિબયોન રણના રસ્તે જતાં ગીઆહ સામે આમ્માંહ ટેકરી પાસે પહોચ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="2SA.2.25" />બિન્યામીનનું કુળસમૂહ પર્વતના શિખર પર આબ્નેરની આસપાસ ભેગા થયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2SA.2.26" />આબ્નેરે યોઆબને બૂમ પાડીને કહ્યું, “શું આપણે હંમેશા લડતા રહી અને એકબીજાને માંરી નાખવાના છે? તમે જરુર જાણો છો કે આનો અંત દુ:ખમાં જ આવશે. આ લોકોને પોતાના ભાઈઓનો પીછો છોડી દેવાનું કહે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2SA.2.27" />યોઆબે કહ્યું, “જીવતા દેવના સમ, જો તું કંઇ ન બોલ્યો હોત તો આ લોકો હજીપણ સવારમાં તેઓના ભાઇઓનો પીછો કરતા હોત.”
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="2SA.2.28" />પછી યોઆબે રણશિંગડું વગાડયું, એટલે આખું લશ્કર થંભી ગયું, અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો પીછો કરવો છોડી દીધો, ને લડવાનું બંધ કર્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2SA.2.29" />તે રાત્રે આબ્નેર અને તેના માંણસો યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને સવાર સુધી મુસાફરી કરીને માંહનાઈમ પહોંચ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2SA.2.30" />યોઆબે આબ્નેરનો પીછો કરવો છોડીને પોતાના માંણસો ભેગા કર્યા, તો ખબર પડી કે દાઉદના માંણસોમાંથી અસાહેલ ઉપરાંત બીજા ઓગણીસ ખૂટતાં હતાં.
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<v id="31" bcv="2SA.2.31" />બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહમાંથી આબ્નેરના 360 માંણસોને દાઉદના અમલદારોએ માંરી નાંખ્યા હતાં.
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<v id="32" bcv="2SA.2.32" />યોઆબ અને તેના માંણસો અસાહેલના શબને બેથલેહેમ લઈ ગયાં, અને તેના પિતાની કબરમાં દફનાવ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">તે પછી આખી રાત તેઓ ચાલ્યા, અને તેઓ સવાર પડતાં હેબ્રોન આવી પહોંચ્યા.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદા વચ્ચે યુદ્ધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.3.1" />શાઉલ અને દાઉદના કુળ વચ્ચે લાંબો સમય યુદ્ધ ચાલ્યું. દાઉદ વધુ અને વધુ બળવાન થતો ગયો, જયારે શાઉલનું કુળ નબળામાં નબળું થતું ગયું.
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</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદના છ પુત્રો હેબ્રોનમાં જન્મ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2SA.3.2" />હેબ્રોનમાં દાઉદને ત્યાં છ પુત્રોનો જન્મ થયો.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">તેનો જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર આમ્નોન હતો. દાઉદની પત્ની આહીનોઆમ જે યિઝએલની હતી તેને જન્મ આપ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.3.3" />બીજો પુત્ર કિલઆબ હતો, જેની માંતા કામેર્લના નાબાલની વિધવા અબીગાઈલ હતી.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ત્રીજો પુત્ર આબ્શાલોમ હતો. તેની માંતા ગશૂરના રાજા તાલ્માંયની પુત્રી માંઅખાહ હતી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.3.4" />ચોથો પુત્ર અદોનિયા હતો જેની માંતા હાગ્ગીથ હતી
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને પાંચમાં પુત્ર શફાટયાંની માં અબીટાલ હતી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.3.5" />છઠ્ઠા પુત્ર યિર્થઆમની માંતા દાઉદની પત્ની એગ્લાહ હતી.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">આ બધા દાઉદને ત્યાં હેબ્રોનમાં જન્મ્યાં હતાં.
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</p>
<s style="s">આબ્નેરનો દાઉદ સાથે ભળવાનો નિર્ણય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.3.6" />આબ્નેર શાઉલની સેનામાં વધારે બળવાન થતો ગયો, જ્યારે શાઉલ અને દાઉદ એકબીજા સાથે લડતાં રહ્યાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="2SA.3.7" />શાઉલની, રિસ્પાહ નામની રખાત હતી જે એયાહની પુત્રી હતી ઇશબોશેથે આબ્નેરને પૂછયું, “તું માંરા પિતાની રખાત સાથે કેમ સૂતો હતો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.3.8" />આ સાંભળીને આબ્નેર બોલ્યો, “શું હું યહૂદાના કૂતરાનું માંથુ છું?<f caller="+"><fr>3:8
</fr><fk>શું હું … માંથુ છું?
</fk><ft>શબ્દશ: “હું યહૂદા માટે કામ કરનાર દેશદ્રોહી નથી.”</ft></f> આજપર્યંત હું તારા પિતા શાઉલના કુટુંબને, તેના ભાઈઓને, મિત્રોને અને બીજાઓને વફાદાર રહ્યો છું. અને મેં તને દાઉદના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધો નથી; અને છતાં હવે તું આ સ્ત્રી માંટે થઇને માંરા ઉપર ગુસ્સે થાય છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="2SA.3.9" />યહોવાએ પ્રતિજ્ઞા લઈને દાઉદના હક્કમાં જે કરવા વચન આપ્યું છે તે જો હું પૂર્ણ ન કરું તો દેવ મને ભારે શિક્ષા કરો.
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<v id="10" bcv="2SA.3.10" />શાઉલના હાથમાંથી રાજ્ય લઈને દાનથી બેરશેબા સુધી ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદાના રાજા તરીકે દાઉદ સાથે હું રાજય સ્થાપીશ.”
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<v id="11" bcv="2SA.3.11" />ઈશબોશેથ એક અક્ષર પણ બોલી ન શકયો. કારણ, તે આબ્નેરથી ખૂબ ગભરાતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2SA.3.12" />પછી આબ્નેરે સંદેશવાહકને દાઉદ પાસે મોકલ્યો અને કહેવડાવ્યું. “આ ધરતી કોની છે? માંરી સાથે કરાર કર, તો હું સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તારી સત્તા હેઠળ લાવવામાં મદદરૂપ થઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2SA.3.13" />દાઉદે કહ્યું, “એમ કરવામાં મને કોઇ સમસ્યા નથી. હું તારી સાથે કરાર કરીશ, પણ એક શરતે કે, તું જ્યારે મને મળવા આવે ત્યારે તારે માંરી પત્ની શાઉલની પુત્રી મીખાલ તારી સાથે આવે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.3.14" />પછી દાઉદે તેના સંદેશવાહકો માંરફત ઇશબોશેથ પર આ સંદેશો મોકલ્યો, “મને માંરી પત્ની મીખાલ પાછી સોંપી દે. સો પલિસ્તીઓને માંરીને હું તેને પરણ્યો હતો.”<f caller="+"><fr>3:14
</fr><fk>સો … હતો
</fk><ft>શાબ્દિક રીતે, “મેં તેને 100 પલિસ્તીઓની ખરીદી હતી.” વાચો શમુએલ 1-18; 20-30, 25:44.</ft></f>
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.3.15" />તેથી ઈશબોશેથ મીખાલને તેના પતિ લાઈશના પુત્ર પાલ્ટીએલ પાસેથી લાવવા મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="2SA.3.16" />પાલ્ટીએલ બાહુરીમ સુધી તેની પાછળ રડતો રડતો આવ્યો, પણ આબ્નેરે તેને કહ્યું, “ઘેર પાછો જા.” એટલે તે પાછો ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.3.17" />તે સમય દરમ્યાન આબ્નેરે ઇસ્રાએલના આગેવાનો સાથે વાટાઘાટ કરી હતી. “તમે કયારના દાઉદ તમાંરો રાજા થાય તેમ ઈચ્છતા આવ્યા છો.
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<v id="18" bcv="2SA.3.18" />તેથી અત્યારે તે કરવા માંટે ખરો સમય છે, કારણ કે, યહોવાએ દાઉદની વિષે કહેલું, કે, ‘માંરા સેવક દાઉદ દ્વારા હું સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પલિસ્તીઓ અને તેમના બધા દુશ્મનોના હાથમાંથી છોડાવીશ.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2SA.3.19" />આબ્નેરે આ બધું દાઉદને અને બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહના લોકોને હેબ્રોનમાં કહ્યું. તેણે જે કંઇ કહ્યું તે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ અને બિન્યામીનીઓએ માંન્ય રાખ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.3.20" />આબ્નેર વીસ માંણસો સાથે હેબ્રોન ગયો અને દાઉદે તે બધાને આવકાર આપ્યો અને તેઓ માંટે જમણ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.3.21" />પછી આબ્નેરે દાઉદ ને કહ્યું: “મને તુરંત જવા દો અને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તમાંરી પાસે લાવવા દો, જેથી માંરા ધણી, માંરા રાજા તમાંરી સાથે કરાર કરે અને તમાંરી ઇચ્છા પ્રમાંણે તમે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ પર રાજ કરશો.”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યાર બાદ દાઉદે આબ્નેરને જવા દીધો અને પોતે શાંતિથી ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">આબ્નેરનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.3.22" />તે સમય દરમ્યાન યોઆબ દાઉદના સૈન્ય સાથે પાછો ફર્યો, તેઓએ કોઈ સ્થળે છાપો માંરીને પુષ્કળ લૂંટ કરી હતી. તે વખતે આબ્નેર હેબ્રોનમાં દાઉદ પાસે ન હતો. કારણ કે, દાઉદે તેને સુરક્ષાની ખાતરી સાથે વિદાય કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="23" bcv="2SA.3.23" />જયારે યોઆબ પોતાની સાથેના માંણસો સાથે આવી પહોંચ્યો ત્યારે તેને જણાવવામાં આવ્યું કે, “આબ્નેર રાજા પાસે આવ્યો હતો, છતાં તમે તેને સુરક્ષાની ખાતરી સાથે પાછો વિદાય કર્યો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2SA.3.24" />આથી યોઆબે રાજાની પાસે જઈને કહ્યું, “તમે આ શું કર્યુ! આબ્નેર તમાંરી પાસે આવ્યો હતો છતાં તમે તેને સુરક્ષા સાથે પાછો વિદાય શા માંટે કર્યો? તમે આબ્નેરને નથી ઓળખતાં?
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<v id="25" bcv="2SA.3.25" />તમે નેરના પુત્ર આબ્નેરને જાણો છો! એ તમને છેતરવા અને તમાંરી બધી હિલચાલની જાસૂસી કરવા આવ્યો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2SA.3.26" />દાઉદ પાસેથી પાછા આવીને, યોઆબે આબ્નેરને સંદેશવાહક મોકલ્યો. સીરાહના કૂવા પાસે તેઓ તેને મળ્યા અને ત્યાંથી પાછો લઈ આવ્યાં. પણ દાઉદને એની કશી ખબર નહોતી.
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<v id="27" bcv="2SA.3.27" />આબ્નેર હેબ્રોન પહોંચ્યો અને જ્યારે તે નગરના દરવાજા પાસે પહોચ્યો, તે વખતે યોઆબ તેની સાથે જાણે ખાનગીમાં વાત કરવાનો દેખાવ કરીને તેને એક બાજુ લઈ ગયો અને તેનો છરો કાઢયો અને પેટમાં ભોંકી તેને માંરી નાંખ્યો. યોઆબે તેને માંર્યો કારણકે આબ્નેરે તેના ભાઇ અસાહેલને માંરી નાખ્યો હતો.
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<s style="s">આબ્નેર માંટે દાઉદ રડ્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2SA.3.28" />દાઉદ આ સમાંચાર સાંભળીને બોલી ઊઠયો. “નેરના પુત્ર આબ્નેરના ખૂન વિષે હું તથા માંરું રાજય નિદોર્ષ છીએ; યહોવા આ જાણે છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="2SA.3.29" />તે માંટે યોઆબ અને તેનું કુટુંબ દોષિત છે, જે માંટે તેનાં સંતાનોને ઘાતકી રોગ થશે. અથવા રકતપિત્તના ભોગ બનશે અથવા અપંગ થશે અથવા ભૂખમરાથી મૃત્યુ પામશે કે પછી તરવારના ઘાથી મૃત્યુ પામશે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2SA.3.30" />આમ, યોઆબ અને તેના ભાઈ અબીશાયે આબ્નેરને માંરી નાખ્યો, કારણ, તેણે ગિબયોનના યુદ્ધમાં તેમના ભાઈ અસાહેલને માંરી નાખ્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2SA.3.31" />પછી દાઉદે યોઆબ તથા તેની સાથેના સૌ કોઈને કહ્યું, “આબ્નેરને માંટે શોકમાં તમાંરાં કપડાં ફાડી નાખો, શરીર પર કંતાન વીંટાળો અને ઘણું આક્રંદ કરો.”
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<v id="32" bcv="2SA.3.32" />દાઉદ પોતે જનાજાની પાછળ જયાં આબ્નેરને હેબ્રોનમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો ત્યાં ગયો, અને તેની કબર આગળ પોક મૂકીને રડયો, અને તેની સાથે બધા લોકોએ આક્રંદ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="2SA.3.33" />દાઉદે આ મરસિયો ગાયો આબ્નેરના જનાજાની આગળ;
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“આબ્નેર શું એક દુષ્ટ અપરાધીની જેમ મર્યો?
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<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="34" bcv="2SA.3.34" />તારા હાથ બાંધવામાં આવ્યા નહોતાં,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પગમાં બેડીઓ નંખાઈ નહોતી;
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<q level="2" style="q2">કોઈ ખૂનીને હાથે મરે તેમ તું મર્યો;
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<q style="q1">દુષ્ટજનોના કપટનો તું ભોગ બન્યો.”
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<p style="p">અને આમ ફરીવાર બધા લોકોએ આક્રંદ કર્યો.
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<v id="35" bcv="2SA.3.35" />તે દિવસે દાઉદે કંઇજ ખાધું નહિ, લોકોએ તેમને ખાવા માંટે વિનંતી કરી પરંતુ દાઉદે એક ખાસ સમ લીધા, “જો હું સૂર્યાસ્ત પહેલા રોટલી કે કાંઇપણ ખાઉં તો દેવ મને સજા કરે અને ઘણા દુ:ખ આપે.”
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<v id="36" bcv="2SA.3.36" />દાઉદનું ર્વતન જોઈ લોકો ખૂબ રાજી થયા. કેમકે તેમને લાગ્યું કે દાઉદે સાચું કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="37" bcv="2SA.3.37" />તે દિવસે યહૂદાના લોકો અને ઇસ્રાએલના બધા લોકો સમજી શકયા કે નેરના પુત્ર આબ્નેરના ખૂન માંટે રાજાને દોષ આપવો ન જોઇએ કારણકે તેણે આબ્નેરને માંરવા હૂકમ કર્યો ન હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="2SA.3.38" />દાઉદે પોતાના માંણસોને કહ્યું, “તમે જાણો છો કે આજે ઇસ્રાએલમાં એક મહાન નેતા મૃત્યુ પામ્યો છે.
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<v id="39" bcv="2SA.3.39" />અને આજે હું રાજા તરીકે અભિષિકત થયો હતો. સરૂયાના આ પુત્રોએ મને ઘણી પીડા પહોચાડી છે, દેવ તેઓને લાયક સજા કરે!”
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<s style="s">શાઉલના પરિવાર ઉપર મુશ્કેલીઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.4.1" />જયારે શાઉલના પુત્ર ઇશબોશેથે સાંભળ્યું કે આબ્નેરને હેબ્રોનમાં માંરી નાખવામાં આવ્યો છે, ત્યારે તે ઘણો ગભરાઇ ગયો અને આખું ઇસ્રાએલ ભયથી ધ્રૂજી ઊઠયું.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.4.2" />બે પુરુષો, લશ્કરના સેનાપતિ, શાઉલના પુત્ર ઇશબોશેથને મળવા ગયા. તેઓના નામ રેખાબ અને બાઅનાહ હતા. બએરોથના રિમ્મોનના પુત્રો હતા, તેઓ બિન્યામીનો હતા કેમકે બએરોથ બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહનું હતું. ઇસ્રાએલના સૈન્યની જવાબદારી સોંપીને આગેવાન બનાવ્યા, તેઓ બિન્યામીનના બએરોથ નગરના વતની અને રિમ્મોનના પુત્રો હતા, અને બિન્યામીન કુળસમૂહના હતા, બએરોથ બિન્યામીનનો ભાગ ગણાય છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="2SA.4.3" />બએરોથના મૂળ વતનીઓ ગિત્તાઈમ ભાગી ગયા હતા અને ત્યારથી તેઓ ત્યાં જ રહેતા આવ્યા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.4.4" />શાઉલના પુત્ર યોનાથાન, યોનાથાનનો પુત્ર મફીબોશેથ લંગડો હતો. જ્યારે યુદ્ધમાં શાઉલ અને યોનાથાન મરી ગયા, તે સમયે તે પાંચ વરસનો હતો. જ્યારે યિઝએલથી શાઉલ અને યોનાથાનના મૃત્યુના સમાંચાર તેની આયાને મળ્યા ત્યારે ઉતાવળે તેને ઉપાડીને ભાગી નીકળી હતી, પરંતુ ભાગતી વખતે અકસ્માંતથી તેનાથી છોકરો પડી ગયો અને બન્ને પગે લંગડો થઈ ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.4.5" />બએરોથી રેખાબના પુત્રો રિમોન અને બાઅનાહ શાઉલના પુત્ર ઇશબોશેથને ધરે બપોરના ગયા. ઇશબોશેથ બહુ ગરમી ને કારણે આરામ કરતો હતો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2SA.4.6" />રેખાબ અને બાઅનાહ ઘઉં લેવાને બહાને અંદર ગયા, ઇશબોશેથ તેના શયનખંડમાં પલંગ પર સુતો હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2SA.4.7" />તેઓએ તેને છરો ભોંકી માંરી નાંખ્યો પછી તેનઁુ માંથુ કાપી નાખ્યું અને ઘરથી નાસી જતી વખતે તેને સાથે લઇને ગયા. તેઓએ આખી રાત અરાબાહ સપાટ ભૂમિ પર પ્રવાસ કર્યો અને હેબ્રોન પહોચ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.4.8" />પછી રાજા દાઉદને મળવા ગયા અને તેની સમક્ષ ઇશબોશેથનું મસ્તક રજૂ કરીને કહ્યું, “જુઓ! તમને માંરી નાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરનાર તમાંરા દુશ્મન શાઉલના પુત્ર ઇશબોશેથનું આ મસ્તક તમાંરે માંટે લાવ્યાં છીએ. આજે યહોવાએ માંરા પ્રભુ રાજાનું વેર શાઉલ અને તેના કુળ ઉપર વાળ્યું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.4.9" />દાઉદે રિમ્મોનના પુત્રોને રેખાબ અને તેના ભાઈ બાઅનાહને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મને તમાંમ સંકટોમાંથી ઉગારનાર યહોવાના સમ ખાઈને હું કહું છું.
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<v id="10" bcv="2SA.4.10" />જે માંણસ મને શાઉલના મૃત્યુના સમાંચાર આપવા આવ્યો હતો, તે પોતે સમજતો હતો કે તે માંરા માંટે સારા સમાંચાર લાવ્યો છે અને હું તેને ઇનામ આપીશ. પણ મે તેને પકડીને સિકલાગમાં માંરી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="2SA.4.11" />તેથી હવે માંરે તમને બન્ને દુષ્ટોને માંરી નાખવા જોઇએ, કેમકે તમે એક નિદોર્ષ માંણસને એના શયનખંડમાં પથારી પર માંરી નાખ્યો છે. હવે હું તેનુ લોહી તમાંરા હાથોમાંથી માંગું છું અને હું તમને ધરતી પરથી રવાના કરીશ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2SA.4.12" />દાઉદે પોતાના યુવાનોને હુકમ કર્યો, એટલે તેમણે રેખાબ અને બાઅનાહને માંરી નાખ્યા. અને તેમના હાથપગ કાપી નાખીને હેબ્રોનના તળાવ પાસે લટકાવ્યા. તેમણે હેબ્રોનમાં આવેલી આબ્નેરની કબરમાં ઇશબોશેથનું માંથું દાટી દીધું.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ દાઉદને રાજા બનાવ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.5.1" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ કુળસમૂહો દાઉદને મળવા હેબ્રોનમાં આવ્યા, તેઓએ તેમને કહ્યું, “અમે તમાંરા સગા ભાઈઓ છીએ. અમે તમાંરા રકતમાંસ છીએ.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.5.2" />ભૂતકાળમાં જયારે અમાંરો રાજા શાઉલ હતો ત્યારે પણ યુદ્ધમાં તમે જ ઇસ્રાએલી સૈન્યની આગેવાની લેતા હતા, અને યહોવાએ તમને કહ્યું કે, ‘માંરી પ્રજા ઇસ્રાએલની સારસંભાળ લેનાર માંણસ તું જ છે, તું જ તેમનો શાસનકર્તા થનાર છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.5.3" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલના આગેવાનોએ દાઉદ સાથે હેબ્રોનમાં યહોવાની સમક્ષ કરાર કર્યો, અને દાઉદ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના રાજા તરીકે અભિષિકત થયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.5.4" />દાઉદ રાજગાદી પર બેઠો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 30 વર્ષની હતી. તેણે 40 વરસ રાજય કર્યુ.
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<v id="5" bcv="2SA.5.5" />તે હેબ્રોનમાં રહ્યો અને યહૂદાના લોકો ઉપર સાડા સાત વર્ષ રાજય કર્યુ. ત્યારબાદ તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં રહીને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદાના લોકો ઉપર 33 વર્ષ રાજય કર્યું.
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<s style="s">દાઉદે યરૂશાલેમ શહેરને જીત્યું
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.5.6" />ત્યાર પછી દાઉદ પોતાનું સૈન્ય લઈને યરૂશાલેમ ગયો અને ત્યાં યબૂસીઓ સાથે યુદ્ધમાં લડ્યો. યબૂસીઓએ દાઉદને કહ્યું, “તું અમાંરા શહેરમાં આવી શકશે નહિ. અમાંરા આંધળા અને લંગડા લોકો સુદ્ધાં તને રોકી શકશે.” તેઓ માંનતા હતા કે દાઉદ તેઓના નગરમાં દાખલ થઇ શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="2SA.5.7" />પરંતુ દાઉદે તો સિયોનનો ગઢ કબજે કર્યો, જે પછીથી દાઉદનું નગર બની ગયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.5.8" />તે દિવસે દાઉદે તેના સૈન્યના માંણસોને કહ્યું, “પાણીના વહેળા વચ્ચે થઈને જાઓ, અને આંધળા તથા લંગડા શત્રુઓ સુધી પહોચો.”આથી લોકો કહે છે કે, “આંધળા અને લંગડા ઘરમાં પ્રવેશી શકશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.5.9" />દાઉદ ગઢમાં રહેતો અને તેનું નામ “દાઉદનગર” પાડયું. ત્યાર બાદ તેણે મિલ્લો બાંધ્યો અને નગરની અંદર બીજા મકાનો બાંધ્યા.
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<v id="10" bcv="2SA.5.10" />આ રીતે દાઉદ બળવાન અને વધુ બળવાન થતો ગયો, કારણ, સર્વસમર્થ દેવ યહોવા તેની સાથે હતા અને તેને મદદ કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.5.11" />સૂરના રાજા હીરામે કાસદો, સુથારો, પથ્થરકામ કરનારા અને દેવદાર કાષ્ટના, દાઉદને માંટે તેનો મહેલ બાંધવા મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="12" bcv="2SA.5.12" />દાઉદને પ્રતીતિ થઈ “કે દેવે તેને રાજા બનાવ્યો છે અને તેના રાજયને ઇસ્રાએલને માંટે પદ ગૌરવ તેના લોકો માંટે વધારી આપ્યું હતું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2SA.5.13" />હેબ્રોનથી આવ્યા પછી દાઉદે યરૂશાલેમમાંથી વધારે પત્નીઓ તથા ઉપપત્નીઓ કરી; અને તેને અનેક દીકરા તથા દીકરીઓ થયાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="2SA.5.14" />યરૂશાલેમમાં જન્મેલાં તેનાં સંતાનોનાં નામ નીચે પ્રમાંણે છે; શામ્મુઆ, શોબાબ, નાથાન, સુલેમાંન,
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<v id="15" bcv="2SA.5.15" />યિબ્હાર, એલીશૂઆ, નેફેગ, યાફીયા,
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<v id="16" bcv="2SA.5.16" />અલીશામાં, એલ્યાદા અને અલીફેલેટ.
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<s style="s">દાઉદ પલિસ્તીઓ વિરુદ્ધ યુદ્ધમાં ગયો
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.5.17" />પલિસ્તીઓએ સાંભળ્યું કે, દાઉદ સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો રાજ્યકર્તા બન્યો છે; તેઓ સાથે ભેગા થઈને દાઉદને માંરી નાખવા તેની શોધખોળ કરવા નીકળી પડયા, દાઉદે આ સાંભળ્યું અને યરૂશાલેમના કિલ્લામાં ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<v id="18" bcv="2SA.5.18" />પલિસ્તીઓ આવી પહોંચ્યા અને રફાઈમની ખીણમાં ફેલાઈ ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2SA.5.19" />દાઉદે યહોવાને સવાલ કર્યો, “શું હું પલિસ્તીઓ પર હુમલો કરું? તમે તેમને માંરા હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરશો?”
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<p style="p">યહોવાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હુમલો કર. હું તેઓને તારા હાથમાં જરૂર સુપ્રત કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.5.20" />તેથી દાઉદે બઆલ-પરાસીમમાં તેઓને હરાવ્યા. દાઉદે કહ્યું, “જેમ તૂટેલા બંધમાંથી પાણીના પૂરની જેમ યહોવાએ માંરા શત્રુઓમાં ભંગાણ પાડયું છે.” તેથી એ જગ્યાનું નામ “બઆલ-પરાસીમ” રાખવામાં આવ્યું છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="2SA.5.21" />પલિસ્તીઓ પોતાના દેવની મૂર્તિઓ બઆલ-પરાસીમમાં મૂકીને ભાગી ગયા હતા. દાઉદ અને તેના સૈનિકોએ તેઓની મૂર્તિઓ કબજે કરી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.5.22" />પલિસ્તીઓએ ફરીવાર હુમલો કરીને રફાઈમની ખીણ કબજે કરી ત્યાં છાવણી નાખી.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.5.23" />દાઉદે ફરીથી યહોવાને પૂછયું એટલે તેમણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “તેમના ઉપર સામેથી હુમલો કરીશ નહિ, તું ચકરાવો માંર્યા પછી તેમના ઉપર પાછળથી શેતુરની ઝાડી નજીક હુમલો કરજે.
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<v id="24" bcv="2SA.5.24" />જયારે તું ઝાડની ટોચ ઉપરથી યુદ્ધમાં કૂચ કરવા જતો હોય તેવો પલિસ્તીઓનો અવાજ સાંભળે ત્યારે આગળ વધજે, કારણ કે, યહોવા તારી આગળ હશે અને પલિસ્તીઓની સેના તેનાથી હારી જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2SA.5.25" />દાઉદે યહોવાની સૂચના પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ; અને પલિસ્તીઓને ગેબાથી છેક ગેઝર સુધી માંર્યા.
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<s style="s">દેવનો પવિત્ર કોશ યરૂશાલેમમાં ખસેડાયો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.6.1" />દાઉદે ફરીથી ઇસ્રાએલમાં આશરે 30,000 માંણસોનું લશ્કર બનાવવા માંટે સર્વમાં સારામાં સારા સૈનિકોને એકઠાં કર્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.6.2" />પછી દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસો દેવનો કરારકોશ ત્યાંથી લઈ આવી યરૂશાલેમ ફેરવવાં માંટે યહૂદામાં આવેલા “બાલા” મુકામે ગયો,
<add>દેવનો પવિત્ર કોશ દેવના સિંહાસન જેવો છે.</add> તેની ઉપર કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની પ્રતિમાં છે અને યહોવા આ દેવદૂતો પર રાજાની જેમ બેસે છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="2SA.6.3" />દાઉદના માંણસોએ ટેકરી પર આવેલા અબીનાદાબના ઘરમાંથી દેવનો પવિત્રકોશ લઈને નવા ગાડામાં મૂક્યો. અબીનાદાબના પુત્રો ઉઝઝાહ અને આહયો ગાડાઁને હાંકતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.6.4" />આમ તેઓએ ટેકરી પરના અબીનાદાબના ઘરમાંથી દેવનો પવિત્રકોશ બહાર કાઢી લીધો, ઉઝઝાહ ગાડામાં પવિત્રકોશ સાથે હતો અને આહયો ગાડાઁની આગળ ચાલતો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2SA.6.5" />દાઉદ અને સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ યહોવા સમક્ષ વીણા, સારંગી, સિતાર, ડફ, કરતાલ, ઝાંઝ તથા સર્વ પ્રકારના સંગીતનાં સાધનો વગાડતા વગાડતા નાચતા ગાતા હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="2SA.6.6" />જયારે તેઓ નાખોનના ખળા આગળ આવ્યા ત્યારે બળદો ગબડી પડ્યાં અને દેવનો પવિત્રકોશ ગાડામાંથી પડવાનો જ હતો ત્યાં ઉઝઝાહએ પોતાનો હાથ લાંબો કરી કરારકોશ પકડી લીધો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2SA.6.7" />આથી યહોવા ઉઝઝાહ પર ગુસ્સે થયા કેમકે તેણે પવિત્રકોશને અડીને દેવનું અપમાંન કર્યુ હતું તેથી ઉઝઝાહને યહોવાએ માંરી નાખ્યો; અને તે કરારકોશની બાજુમાં મરી ગયો.
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<v id="8" bcv="2SA.6.8" />યહોવાએ જે કર્યું તેને કારણે દાઉદ નારાજ થયો. તેણે તે સ્થળનું નામ “પેરેસ-ઉઝઝાહ” (ઉઝઝાહ પર આવેલો કોપ) પાડયું. આજે પણ તે સ્થળ એ જ નામથી ઓળખાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.6.9" />તે દિવસે દાઉદને યહોવાનો ભય લાગ્યો અને તે બોલ્યો, “પવિત્રકોશને હું અહીંયા કેવી રીતે લાવી શકીશ?”
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<v id="10" bcv="2SA.6.10" />આથી તેણે પવિત્ર કોશને દાઉદનગરમાં નહિ લઈ જવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો, અને તે તેને ગાથનગરમાં ઓબેદ-અદોમ નામની વ્યકિતને ઘેર રાખ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="2SA.6.11" />ત્રણ માંસ સુધી પવિત્રકોશ ઓબેદ-અદોમને ઘેર રહ્યો અને યહોવાએ ઓબેદ-અદોમના કુટુંબને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2SA.6.12" />જયારે દાઉદને આ સમાંચાર મળ્યા કે “દેવે ઓબેદ-અદોમને તેના કુટુંબને અને તેની માંલિકીની દરેક વસ્તુને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યાં ત્યારે તે આનંદ પામ્યો અને ખુશીથી કોશને ઓબેદ-અદોમના ઘરમાંથી દાઉદનગર લઈ આવ્યો.”
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<v id="13" bcv="2SA.6.13" />જ્યારે યહોવાના પવિત્રકોશને ઉપાડનારા માંણસો છ ડગલાં આગળ ચાલ્યા એટલે દાઉદે એક બળદ અને એક પુષ્ટ વાછરડાને ભોગ તરીકે અર્પણ કર્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="2SA.6.14" />દાઉદ શણના કપડાઁનું એફોદ પહેરીને ખૂબ આનંદથી યહોવા સમક્ષ નાચતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.6.15" />દાઉદ અને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાથે હર્ષથી નાચતા હતા અને રણશિંગા વગાડતા, ગાતા અને નાચતા પવિત્રકોશને નગરમાં લઈ આવ્યાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="2SA.6.16" />પરંતુ જ્યારે યહોવાનો પવિત્રકોશ દાઉદનગરમાં દાખલ થતો હતો ત્યારે શાઉલની દીકરી મીખાલે એક બારીમાંથી જોયું તો રાજા દાઉદ પવિત્રકોશ સમક્ષ નાચતો હતો; તે તેને ગમ્યું નહિ અને તેના હૃદયમાં દાઉદ પ્રત્યે ઘૃણા પેદા થઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.6.17" />પવિત્રકોશને દાઉદે તૈયાર કરેલા ખાસ મંડપમાં મૂકવામાં આવ્યો, અને દાઉદે યહોવાને દહનાર્પણો અને શાંત્યર્પણો અર્પણ કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.6.18" />પછી તેણે સર્વસમર્થ યહોવાના નામમાં સર્વ લોકોને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="2SA.6.19" />અને ત્યારબાદ તેણે બધા લોકોને પ્રસાદ આપ્યો; તેણે પ્રત્યેક ઇસ્રાએલી સ્ત્રી-પુરુષને એક-એક રોટલી, થોડું ખજૂર અને થોડું શેકેલું માંસ તથા સૂકી દ્રાક્ષાની બાટી વહેંચી આપ્યાં. આ બધું પૂરું થયા પછી બધા પોતપોતાને ઘેર ગયા.
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<s style="s">મીખાલે દાઉદને ઠપકો આપ્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.6.20" />જયારે દાઉદ પોતાનાં કુટુંબીજનોને આશીર્વાદ આપવા પોતાને ઘેર પાછો આવ્યો ત્યારે શાઉલની દીકરી મીખાલ તેને મળવા સામે આવી, અને બોલી, “ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા આજે તમે જેમ કોઇ મૂર્ખ પોતાના વસ્ત્રો કાઢી નાખે તેમ તમે તમાંરી દાસીઓની સામે આજે નવસ્ત્રો થઇને કેટલા ઉમદા દેખાતાં હતાં.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.6.21" />દાઉદે મીખાલને કહ્યું, “હું યહોવાની સમક્ષ નાચતો હતો. તેમણે મને પસંદ કર્યો, તારા પિતા અને તારા કુટંબના માંણસોને નહિ. અને યહોવાએ સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલીઓની સામે મને તેઓનો આગેવાન બનાવ્યો. તેથી તેમની આગળ હું માંરો આનંદ દર્શાવતો હતો અને તેમની સામે નાચતો હતો.
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<v id="22" bcv="2SA.6.22" />અને એટલું જ નહિ, હું હજી પણ નમ્ર બની માંરી જાતને હજી વધારે નમાંવીશ, તું કદાચ મને માંન નહિ આપે. પરંતુ તું જે દાસીઓ વિષે વાત કરે છે તેઓ સર્વથા મને માંન આપશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.6.23" />શાઉલની પુત્રી મીખાલ મરતાં સુધી નિ:સંતાન જ રહી.
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<s style="s">દાઉદે મંદિર બાંધવા માંગ્યું
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.7.1" />રાજા પોતાના મહેલમાં સ્થાયી થયા અને યહોવાએ તેને ચારે બાજુના શત્રુઓથી સુરક્ષા આપી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.7.2" />રાજાએ પ્રબોધક નાથાનને કહ્યું, “હું અહીં સુંદર મહેલમાં રહું છું અને યહોવાનો પવિત્રકોશ મંડપમાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.7.3" />ત્યારે નાથાને રાજાને કહ્યું, “ઠીક, આપના મનમાં જે હોય તે પ્રમાંણે કરો. કારણ, યહોવા આપની સાથે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.7.4" />પરંતુ તે જ રાત્રે નાથાનને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઈ કે,
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.7.5" />“તું જઈને માંરા સેવક દાઉદને કહે કે, ‘આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે: માંરા માંટે મંદિર બાંધનાર તું એક જ છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="2SA.7.6" />કારણ, હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મિસરમાંથી લઈ આવ્યો ત્યારથી આજ સુધી હું કદી કોઈ મકાનમાં રહ્યો નથી, હું તંબૂમાં જ ફરતો રહ્યો છું.
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<v id="7" bcv="2SA.7.7" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાથેના માંરા પ્રવાસ દરમ્યાન મેં કદી ઇસ્રાએલની કોઇપણ જાતિને કે જેને મેં માંરા ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પર નિયંત્રણ કરવાનો હૂકમ કર્યો હતો કે, તમે માંરે માંટે દેવદારના લાકડાનું મંદિર બંધાવો?’
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.7.8" />“તો તારે માંરા સેવક દાઉદને એમ કહેવું પડશે કે, ‘સર્વસમર્થ યહોવાનાં આ વચન છે; તું જ્યારે બહાર ચરાણમાં ઘેટાંઓનું ધ્યાન રાખતો હતો. ત્યારે હું તને લઇ આવ્યો અને તને માંરી ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજાનો આગેવાન મેં બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="2SA.7.9" />તું જયાં જયાં ગયો ત્યાં ત્યાં હું તારી સાથે રહ્યો છું. અને તારી આગળના બધા દુશ્મનોનો મેં નાશ કર્યો છે. હું તને પૃથ્વીના મહાપુરુષોના જેવો વિખ્યાત બનાવીશ.
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<v id="10-11" bcv="2SA.7.10" />મેં માંરી ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા માંટે એક જગા પસંદ કરી છે. હું ત્યાં તેઓને વસાવીશ. તે તેઓનું પોતાનું સ્થાન બનશે. અને કોઈ તેઓને ત્યાંથી દૂર કરશે નહિ. મેં એમના માંર્ગદર્શન કરવા ન્યાયાધીશો નીમ્યા ત્યારથી આજ સુધી દુષ્ટ લોકો તેમને રંજાડતા આવ્યા છે; પણ હવે એમ નહિ થાય. સર્વ શત્રુઓ તરફથી હું તને શાંતિ આપીશ. યહોવા પોતે તને કહે છે કે તે તારા માંટે તારું કુટુંબ સ્થાપન કરશે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="12" bcv="2SA.7.12" />“‘તું મૃત્યુ પામીશ ત્યારે તને તારા પૂર્વજો સાથે દફનાવવામાં આવશે. હું તારા પુત્રોમાંના એકને તારા રાજયાસન ઉપર બેસાડીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="2SA.7.13" />માંરા માંટે તે સુંદર મંદિર બાંધશે, અને હું તેના રાજયાસનને સદાને માંટે સ્થાપન કરીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="2SA.7.14" />હું તેનો પિતા થઈશ, અને તે માંરો પુત્ર થશે. અને તે જે કંઇ પણ ખોટું કરશે, તો હું તેને બાપની જેમ સજા કરીશ, તેને સજા કરવા હું બીજા લોકોનો ઉપયોગ કરીશ, તેઓ માંરા ચાબખા બનશે. છતાં
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<v id="15" bcv="2SA.7.15" />તારા પુરોગામી શાઉલ ઉપરથી મેં માંરો પ્રેમ અને કૃપા લઈ લીધાં, તેમ હું તેના ઉપરથી માંરી કૃપાદૃષ્ટિ ઉઠાવી લઈશ નહિ.
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<v id="16" bcv="2SA.7.16" />તારું કુળ અને તારું રાજય માંરી નજર સમક્ષ કાયમ રહેશે અને તારી રાજગાદી સદાકાળ રહેશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.7.17" />નાથાને દાઉદને તેને યહોવાએ સંદર્શનમાં જે કાંઈ કહ્યું હતું તે સર્વ તેને કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<s style="s">દાઉદની દેવને પ્રાર્થના
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.7.18" />ત્યાર બાદ દાઉદે મુલાકાતમંડપમાં યહોવાની સમક્ષ બેસીને પ્રાર્થના કરી,
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“હે યહોવા દેવ, માંરા જેવા તુચ્છ માંણસ ઉપર તમે શા માંટે તમાંરા આશીર્વાદોની વૃષ્ટિ કરી છે?
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<v id="19" bcv="2SA.7.19" />અને તેમ છતાં પણ આ આશીર્વાદ પૂરતા ના હોય તેમ તમે માંરા કુળને ભવિષ્ય માંટે પણ આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા છે, ઓ યહોવા માંરા પ્રભુ, તમે હંમેશા લોકો સાથે આ પ્રમાંણે વ્યવહાર કરતાં નથી. શું તમે, કરો છો?
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<v id="20" bcv="2SA.7.20" />અને હવે હું બીજું કહું પણ શું? હું કેવો છું, તે તમે કયઁા નથી જાણતા. તમે તમાંરા સેવકને બરાબર ઓળખો છો.
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<v id="21" bcv="2SA.7.21" />તમે આ બધા અદ્ભૂત કાર્યો કરો છો કારણકે તમે કહ્યું, તમે તે કરશો કારણકે એમ કરવાની તમાંરી ઇચ્છા હશે. આ બાબત મને તમાંરા સેવકને જણાવવાનું તમે કહ્યું હતું.
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<v id="22" bcv="2SA.7.22" />ઓ યહોવા દેવ, તમે મહાન છો, અમે જે સાંભળ્યું છે તે પ્રમાંણે તમે જ એક માંત્ર દેવ છો અને તમાંરા વિના અન્ય કોઈ દેવ નથી.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.7.23" />“આ પૃથ્વી ઉપર તમાંરી ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા જેવા બીજા લોકો છે જેમને તમે ગુલામીમાંથી મુકિત અપાવી અને તમાંરા પોતાના લોકો બનાવ્યા? તમે મિસરમાં અમને ગુલામીમાંથી મુકત કર્યા. તમે અમને બીજા દેશો અને તેઓના દેવોમાંથી છોડાવ્યા, તમે મહાન અને અદ્ભૂત કાર્યો તમાંરી પ્રજા અને ઇસ્રાએલ માંટે કર્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="2SA.7.24" />તમે તમાંરા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તમાંરા પોતાના ગણ્યા અને સદાને માંટે તમાંરા પોતાના બનાવી અપનાવી લીધા છે, અને ઓ યહોવા, તમે પોતે તેઓના દેવ બન્યા છો.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="25" bcv="2SA.7.25" />“પણ હવે, ઓ યહોવા દેવ! તમે તમાંરા સેવકને માંટે અને ફકત એને માંટે નહિ પણ તેના ભવિષ્યના વંશજો માંટે પણ વચન આપ્યું છે તો, હવે મહેરબાની કરી, તમે વચન આપેલ બાબતો પૂર્ણ કરો; માંરા કુળને રાજાનુંકુળ સદા માંટે બનાવો.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="2SA.7.26" />જેથી સદાકાળ તમાંરા નામનો મહિમાં થાય, અને લોકો કહેશે કે, ‘સર્વસમર્થ યહોવા દેવ, ઇસ્રાએલ પર રાજ્ય કરે છે! આમ તમાંરી સમક્ષ તમાંરા સેવક દાઉદનું કુળ સદા સ્થિર સ્થાવર સ્થાપિત રહે.’
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="27" bcv="2SA.7.27" />“ઓ સર્વસમર્થ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, તમે આ બાબતો માંરી સામે પ્રગટ કરી, તમે કહ્યું: ‘હું તારા કુળને મહાન બનાવીશ,’ તેથી હવે હું તમાંરો સેવક તમાંરી આગળ આ પ્રાર્થનાની અભ્યર્થના કરું છું.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="2SA.7.28" />ઓ સર્વસમર્થ યહોવા, તમે જ દેવ છો અને તમાંરાં વચનો સત્ય છે. તમે આ સર્વ આશીર્વાદોનું વચન મને આપ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="2SA.7.29" />કૃપા કરીને તમાંરા સેવકના કુળને તમાંરી સમક્ષ સદા રહેવા માંટે આશીર્વાદ આપો, કારણકે તમે માંરા દેવે આમ કહ્યું હતું, તમે માંરા કુળને યુગો પર્યંત કાયમ રહે એવા આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા છે.”
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</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">દાઉદ અનેક યુદ્ધો જીતે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.8.1" />ત્યારબાદ દાઉદે પલિસ્તીઓને હરાવ્યાં, તેણે તેઓના દેશને અને તેઓની રાજધાની નગરના મોટા વિસ્તારને કબજે કરી લીધો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.8.2" />તેણે મોઆબીઓને પણ હરાવ્યાં અને તેમને જમીન પર સુવાડી દીધા અને દોરડાથી હારબંધ તેઓને છૂટા પાડ્યા. બે હારના માંણસો માંર્યા પરંતુ ત્રીજા હારના માંણસો જીવતા રહ્યાં. આમ મોઆબીઓ તેના તાબેદાર બન્યા તેઓ તેને માંટે કામ કરવા લાગ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.8.3" />રાહોબના પુત્ર સોબાહના રાજા હદાદએઝેરને દાઉદે હરાવ્યો, જ્યારે દાઉદ યુફ્રેતિસ નદી પાસેના વિસ્તારને અંકુશમાં રાખવા ગયો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2SA.8.4" />દાઉદે તેની પાસેથી 1,700 ઘોડેસ્વાર સૈનિકો અને 20,000 પાયદળના સૈનિકોને કબજે કર્યા. દાઉદે 100 ઘોડાઓ રાખ્યા અને બાકીનાને લંગડા કરી દીધાd
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.8.5" />દમસ્કસના અરામીઓ સોબાહના રાજા હદાદએઝેરની મદદ કરવા આવ્યા, પરંતુ દાઉદે 22,000 અરામીઓને હરાવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="2SA.8.6" />દાઉદે દમસ્કસમાં સૈન્ય રાખ્યું અને અરામીઓ દાઉદના સેવકો બની ગયા અને ખંડણી ભરવા લાગ્યા. આમ, દાઉદ જયાં જયાં ગયો ત્યાં યહોવાએ તેને વિજય અપાવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2SA.8.7" />હદાદએઝેરના સેવકો જે સોનાની ઢાલ રાખતા હતા તે પડાવી લઈને દાઉદ યરૂશાલેમ લઈ આવ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="2SA.8.8" />પછી દાઉદે બેટાહ અને બેરોથાયથી પિત્તળમાંથી બનાવેલી ઘણી વસ્તુઓ લીધી, આ નગરો હદાદએઝેરની માંલિકીની હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.8.9" />જયારે હમાંથના રાજા ટોઈને ખબર મળી કે દાઉદે હદાદએઝેરના આખા લશ્કરને હરાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2SA.8.10" />એટલે તેણે પોતાના પુત્ર યોરામને રાજા દાઉદને હદાદએઝેર પર વિજય મેળવવા માંટે અને તેના લશ્કરને પરાજય આપવા બદલ અભિનંદન આપવા મોકલ્યો; હદાદેઝરને ટોઈની સાથે હંમેશા યુદ્ધ ચાલ્યા કરતાં હતાં. યોરામ પોતાની સાથે સોના અને ચાંદીથી બનેલી વસ્તુઓ અને પિત્તળનાં વાસણો લઈ ગયો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="2SA.8.11" />દાઉદે આ બધી વસ્તુઓ લીધી અને યહોવાને અર્પણ કરી અને બધું યહોવાના મંદિરમાં સેવા માંટે અર્પણ કર્યું. આ બધી વસ્તુઓ દાઉદે તેણે હરાવેલા દેશોમાંથી લીધી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="2SA.8.12" />દાઉદે અરામીઓ, મોઆબીઓ, આમ્મોનીઓ, પલિસ્તીઓ, અને અમાંલેકીઓ તથા સોબાહના રાજા હદાદએઝેર રાહોબના પુત્રને હરાવ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2SA.8.13" />વળી, દાઉદે મીઠાની ખીણમાં જ 18,000 અરામીઓને હરાવીને ભારે નામના મેળવી,
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="2SA.8.14" />અને દાઉદે સમગ્ર અદોમ પ્રદેશમાં સૈનિકોના સમૂહની નિમણૂક કરી. બધા અદોમીઓ દાઉદના ગુલામ થઈ ગયા. યહોવાએ દાઉદને સર્વત્ર વિજય અપાવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદનું શાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.8.15" />દાઉદે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ પર રાજય સ્થાપ્યું અને પોતાની બધી પ્રજા ઉપર ધર્મ અને ન્યાયપૂર્વક શાસન કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="2SA.8.16" />સરૂયાનો પુત્ર યોઆબ તેના લશ્કરનો સેનાપતિ હતો. અહીલૂદનો પુત્ર યહોશાફાટ તેનો ઇતિહાસકાર હતો.
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<v id="17" bcv="2SA.8.17" />અહીલૂબનો પુત્ર સાદોક તથા અબ્યાથારનો પુત્ર અહીમેલેખ પ્રમુખ યાજકો હતાં. સરૂયા અંગતમંત્રી હતો.
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<v id="18" bcv="2SA.8.18" />યહોયાદાનો પુત્ર બનાયા કરેથીઓનો અને પલેથીઓનો<f caller="+"><fr>8:18
</fr><fk>કરેથીઓ અને પલેથીઓ
</fk><ft>અર્થ આ દાઉદના ખાસ અંગરક્ષકો હતા. અરામિક ભાષાંતરમાં “તીરંદાજ અને પથ્થર ફેકનાર ગોફણધારી” અર્થ કે આ માણસોને ધનુષબાણ અને ગોફણ વાપરવાનું ખાસ પ્રશિક્ષણ અપાયેલું હતું.</ft></f> અંગરક્ષક હતો. અને દાઉદના પુત્રો મુખ્ય કારભારી હતા.
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">દાઉદની શાઉલના કુળ પ્રત્યે દયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.9.1" />દાઉદે એક દિવસ વિચાર્યુ, “શાઉલના કુટુંબમાં કોઈ હજુ સુધી જીવંત હશે શું? જેના ઉપર હું યોનાથાનને કારણે કૃપાદૃષ્ટિ રાખી શકું?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2SA.9.2" />શાઉલને સીબા નામનો એક નોકર હતો; તેને દાઉદ સમક્ષ બોલાવવામાં આવ્યો, રાજાએ તેને પૂછયું, “તું સીબા છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">“જી, હું તમાંરો સેવક સીબા છું” તેણે પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.9.3" />રાજાએ કહ્યું, “શાઉલના કુટુંબમાં એવું કોઇ છે જેના પર હું યહોવાને નામે દયા કરી શકું?”
</p>
<p style="p">સીબાએ કહ્યું, “હાજી, યોનાથાનનો બંને પગે લગંડો એક દીકરો હજુ જીવંત છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.9.4" />દાઉદે પૂછયું, “તે કયાં છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">સીબાએ કહ્યું, “તે લોદબારમાં આમ્મીએલના પુત્ર માંખીરના ઘરમાં છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.9.5" />આથી દાઉદે યોનાથાનના પુત્રને લોદબારના આમ્મીએલના પુત્ર માંખીરને ત્યાંથી તેડી મંગાવ્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2SA.9.6" />તે યોનાથાનનો પુત્ર અને શાઉલનો પૌત્ર મફીબોશેથ આવ્યો અને તેણે રાજા દાઉદ સમક્ષ મસ્તક નમાંવી નમન કર્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">દાઉદે કહ્યું, “મફીબોશેથ?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે કહ્યું, “હાજી, આપનો સેવક હાજર છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2SA.9.7" />ત્યારે દાઉદે કહ્યું, “ગભરાઈશ નહિ, તારા પિતા યોનાથાનને કારણે હું તારા ઉપર કૃપા કરીશ. હું તને તારા દાદા શાઉલની બધી જમીન સોંપી દઈશ; અને તું રોજ માંરી સાથે ભોજન કરજે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.9.8" />મફીબોશેથે પુન:લાંબા થઈને પ્રણામ કર્યા. અને કહ્યું, “હું તો મરેલા કુતરા જેવો છું, માંરા ઉપર આપ આટલી બધી કૃપાદ્રષ્ટિ શા માંટે રાખો છો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.9.9" />પછી રાજા દાઉદે શાઉલના નોકર સીબાને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “હું તારા શેઠના પૌત્રને શાઉલની અને તેના કુટુંબની બધીજ મિલકત સોંપી દઉં છું.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2SA.9.10" />તું, તારા કુટુંબ અને પુત્રો અને તારા ચાકરો સાથે આ પ્રદેશમાં તેને માંટે ખેતી કરશે અને તેના કુટુંબને માંટે અનાજ ઉત્પન્ન કરશે. પરંતુ મફીબોશેથ તારા માંલિકનો પૌત્ર, માંરા મેજ પર હંમેશા જમી શકશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">સીબાને 15 પુત્રો અને 20 ચાકરો હતા.
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<v id="11" bcv="2SA.9.11" />સીબાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “આપ નામદારની બધી આજ્ઞા આ સેવક ઉઠાવશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">આમ, મફીબોશેથના રાજાના કુંવરની જ જેમ રાજા સાથે ભોજન કરતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="2SA.9.12" />મફીબોશેથને મીખા નામનો નાનો પુત્ર હતો. સીબાના કુટુંબનાં બધાં જ માંણસો મફીબોશેથના નોકર હતાં.
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<v id="13" bcv="2SA.9.13" />પણ મફીબોશેથ મહેલમાં રહેવા માંટે યરૂશાલેમ ગયો અને ત્યાં રાજાની સાથે ભોજન લેતો હતો. એ બંને પગે અપંગ હતો.
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</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">દાઉદનું આમ્મોને કરેલું અપમાંન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.10.1" />થોડા સમય બાદ આમ્મોનીઓનો રાજા નાહાશ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો, અને તેના પછી તેની જગ્યાએ તેનો પુત્ર હાનૂન રાજ કરવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.10.2" />દાઉદે કહ્યું, “હું તેના પર દયા રાખીશ. તેનો પિતા નાહાશ મને હંમેશા વફાદાર હતો. અને માંરી સાથે દયાળુ હતો.” તેથી તેના પિતાના મૃત્યુ માંટે દિલસોજી વ્યકત કરવા દાઉદે પોતાનાં માંણસોને હાનૂન પાસે મોકલ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.10.3" />ત્યારે આમ્મોની સરદારોએ પોતાના ધણી હાનૂનને કહ્યું, “તમે શું એમ માંનો છો કે તમાંરા પિતાને માંન આપવાના હેતુથી દાઉદે આ માંણસોને મોકલ્યા છે? એના આ માંણસો તો જાસૂસો છે, અને દાઉદે તેમને આ શહેરોને શી રીતે જીતી લેવું એની માંહિતી પ્રાપ્ત કરવા મોકલ્યા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.10.4" />આથી હાનૂને દાઉદના માંણસોને પકડીને, તેઓની અડધી દાઢી મૂંડાવી નાખી, તેમનાં કપડાં કમર નીચેથી કપાવી નાંખ્યા અને તેમને મોકલી દીધા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.10.5" />જયારે દાઉદે આ વાત સાંભળી ત્યારે તેણે તેઓને મળવા માંણસ મોકલ્યો, કારણ, તેઓ ખૂબ શરમ અનુભવતાં હતાં. દાઉદે તેમને કહેવડાવ્યું કે, “તમાંરી દાઢી પાછી ઊગે ત્યાં સુધી તમે યરીખોમાં રહેજો, પછી જ અહીં આવજો.”
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</p>
<s style="s">આમ્મોનીઓ વિરુદ્ધ યુદ્ધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.10.6" />હવે આમ્મોનીઓને ભાન થયું કે પોતે દાઉદની દુશ્મનાવટ વહોરી લીધી છે, એટલે તેમણે બેથ-રહોબના અને સોબાહના પ્રાંતોમાંથી 20,000 સિરિયન પાયદળને, માંઅખાહના રાજા પાસેથી 1,000 સૈનિકોને અને ટોબાના પ્રાંતમાંથી 12,000 સૈનિકોને ભાડે રાખ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2SA.10.7" />આ સમાંચાર મળતા દાઉદે યોઆબને પોતાના અતિ શકિતશાળી સૈનિકોવાળા સમગ્ર સૈન્ય સાથે મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="2SA.10.8" />આમ્મોનીઓ બહાર આવીને નગરના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ ગોઠવાઈ ગયા. અને સોબાહના અને રાહોબનાં અરામીઓ તથા ટોબના અને માંઅખાહના માંણસો ખુલ્લા મેદાનમાં યુદ્ધ લડવા માંટે આવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.10.9" />જયારે યોઆબે જોયું કે, તેને બે મોરચે યુદ્ધ કરવું પડશે, ત્યારે તેણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને અરામીઓની સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા હારબંધ ગોઠવી દીધા.
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<v id="10" bcv="2SA.10.10" />બાકીની સેનાને તેણે પોતાના ભાઈ અબીશાયની સરદારી હેઠળ મૂકી દીધી અને તેણે આમ્મોનીઓની સામે મોરચો માંડયો.
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<v id="11" bcv="2SA.10.11" />યોઆબે તેને કહ્યું, “જો હું અરામીઓને હરાવી નહિ શકું તો તમાંરે આવીને મને મદદ કરવી પડશે, અને જો તમે બધા આમ્મોનીઓને નહિ હરાવી શકો તો હું તમને મદદ કરવા આવીશ.
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<v id="12" bcv="2SA.10.12" />પરંતુ તમે સૌ હિંમત રાખજો. અને આપણા લોકો માંટે અને આપણા દેવનાં નગરો માંટે બહાદુરીથી લડજો, અને યહોવાની જે ઇચ્છા હશે તે મુજબ થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2SA.10.13" />યોઆબ અને તેના માંણસો જયારે અરામીઓ સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા માંટે આગળ વધ્યા ત્યારે અરામીઓ ભાગવા લાગ્યાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="2SA.10.14" />આમ્મોનીઓએ જોયું કે અરામીઓ ભાગી રહ્યાં હતા.
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે તેઓ પણ અબીશાયથી ભાગીને નગરમાં ભરાઈ ગયા, અને યોઆબ યરૂશાલેમ પાછો ફર્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">અરામીઓએ ફરી લડવાનો નિશ્ચય કર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.10.15" />અરામીઓએ જોયું કે તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલ આગળ હારી ગયા છે, એટલે તેઓએ પોતાના સૈન્યને ફરીથી એકઠું કર્યુ.
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<v id="16" bcv="2SA.10.16" />હદારએઝેરે કાસદો મોકલીને ફ્રાત નદીની પેલે પારના પ્રદેશમાંથી બીજા અરામીઓને બોલાવ્યા, અને તેઓ હદારએઝેરના સેનાપતિ શોબાખની સરદારી હેઠળ હેલામ તરફ આગળ વધ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.10.17" />દાઉદને સંદેશો મળ્યો ત્યારે તે પોતે અને તેના ઇસ્રાએલી સેનિકોને યર્દન ઓળંગી અને હેલામમાં કૂચ કરી, ત્યાં અરામીઓ યુદ્ધ કરવા તૈયાર થયા અને લડાઈ કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.10.18" />પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેમને ભગાડી મૂકયા. દાઉદે 700 રથ હાંકનારને અને 40,000 ઘોડેસ્વાર સૈનિકોનો સંહાર કર્યો, અને તેમના સેનાપતિ શોબાખને ગંભીરપણે ઘાયલ કર્યો અને તે રણભૂમિમાં જ અવસાન પામ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2SA.10.19" />અરામ સૈન્યની હાર થઈ છે તે જાણીને હદારએઝેર અને તેના તાબેદાર રાજાઓ દાઉદના તાબેદાર થયા, અને તેમની સેવાઓ સ્વીકારી, ત્યારબાદ ફરી અરામીઓએ આમ્મોનીઓની યુદ્ધમાં મદદ કરવાની હિંમત કદી કરી નહિ.
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</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">બૅંથ-શેબા સૅંથે દાઉદનું પાપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.11.1" />વસંત ઋતુમાં જયારે રાજાઓ યુદ્ધ લડવા નીકળે, તે સમય દાઉદે યોઆબાને, સૈન્યના અમલદારોને ઇસ્રાએલના બધાજ સૈન્યોને હુમલો કરવા અને આમ્મોનીઓનો નાશ કરવા મોકલ્યા, તેઓએ રાબ્બાહનગરને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ દાઉદ તો યરૂશાલેમમાં જ રહ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.11.2" />એક દિવસે મોડી સાંજે દાઉદ પથારીમાંથી ઊઠીને મહેલની અગાસીમાં જઈને ફરતો હતો, એવામાં તેણે એક સ્ત્રીને નાહતી જોઈ; જે ખૂબ રૂપાળી હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="2SA.11.3" />તે સ્ત્રી કોણ હતી તે તેને જાણવું હતુ; તેણે તેના માંણસને મોકલ્યા, તો જાણવા મળ્યું કે, “તે એલીઆમની પુત્રી અને ઊરિયા હિત્તીની પત્ની બાથ-શેબા હતી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.11.4" />પછી દાઉદે તેને લઈ આવવા માંણસો મોકલ્યા, અને તે આવી એટલે દાઉદ તેની સાથે સૂઇ ગયો તે સ્ત્રીએ માંસિક ધર્મ પછીની શુદ્ધિકરણની વિધિ તે જ દિવસે પૂરી કરી હતી, પછી તે પોતાને ઘેર પાછી ફરી.
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<v id="5" bcv="2SA.11.5" />તે સ્ત્રીને ગર્ભ રહ્યો અને તેણે દાઉદને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “મને ગર્ભ રહ્યો છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદે પોતાના પાપ ને છુપાવવા ચાહ્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.11.6" />દાઉદે યોઆબને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “ઊરિયા હિત્તીને માંરી પાસે તાત્કાલિક મોકલ.”
</p>
<p style="p">આથી યોઆબે ઊરિયાને દાઉદ પાસે મોકલી આપ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2SA.11.7" />જયારે દાઉદ પાસે ઊરિયા હિત્તી આવ્યો, ત્યારે દાઉદે યોઆબના સૈન્યના સમાંચાર તથા યુદ્ધમાં થયેલી પ્રગતિ વિષે પૂછયું.
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<v id="8" bcv="2SA.11.8" />અને પછી તેને કહ્યું, “તારે ઘેર જઈને આરામ કર.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઊરિયા મહેલમાંથી ચાલ્યો ગયો અને દાઉદે ઊરિયાને ઘેર ભેટ મોકલી.
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<v id="9" bcv="2SA.11.9" />પરંતુ ઊરિયા પોતાને ઘેર ગયો નહિ. અને મહેલના દરવાજા પાસે રાજાના અંગરક્ષકો સાથે તેણે રાત વિતાવી.
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<v id="10" bcv="2SA.11.10" />ઊરિયાએ જે કંઈ કર્યુ હતું તે દાઉદે જાણ્યું,
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે તેને બોલાવીને પૂછયું, “તને શું થઈ ગયું છે? તું લાંબા પ્રવાસેથી પાછો ફર્યો છે, તું તારે ઘેર કેમ ન ગયો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.11.11" />ઊરિયાએ પ્રત્યુ્ત્તર આપ્યો, “પવિત્રકોશ, ઇસ્રાએલના અને યહુદાના સેનાપતિઓ મંડપમાં રહે છે. તથા અધિકારી યોઆબ અને રાજાના અમલદારો ખુલ્લામાં છાવણી નાંખી પડયા છે, તેથી હું ઘેર જઈ ખાઈ-પીને પત્ની સાથે સૂવા જાઉં? તે સારું ન કહેવાય હું સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે, એવું હું કદી નહિ કરું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2SA.11.12" />ત્યારે દાઉદે ઊરિયાને કહ્યું, “આજની રાત તું અહીં રહે. અને આવતી કાલે હું તને લડાઈમાં પાછો મોકલીશ.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી ઊરિયા તે દિવસે યરૂશાલેમમાં બીજી સવાર સુધી રહ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="2SA.11.13" />બીજે દિવસે દાઉદે તેને પોતાની સાથે ખાણી-પાણી માંટે લઇ ગયો; તેણે તેને દારૂ પીવા બોલાવ્યો અને ખૂબ દારૂ પાયો પણ સાંજે ઊરિયા ઘેર જવાને બદલે બહાર જઈ રાજાના અંગરરક્ષકો ભેગો તેઓની પથારી ઉપર મહેલના દરવાજાની બહાર સૂઈ રહ્યો.
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<s style="s">દાઉદે ઊરિયાના મૃત્યુની યોજના બનાવી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.11.14" />આખરે બીજી સવારે દાઉદે યોઆબને પત્ર લખ્યો, અને ઊરિયા માંરફતે મોકલી આપ્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="2SA.11.15" />પત્રમાં તેણે લખ્યું, “જયાં ભીષણ યુદ્ધ ચાલતું હોય ત્યાં આગળ ઊરિયાને મૂકવો અને પછી તમાંરે પાછા હઠી જવું અને એને મરવા દેવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2SA.11.16" />તેથી યોઆબે ઘેરી લેવાયેલો નગરની એકદમ નજીકની જગ્યાએ તેને મૂકયો, તે જાણતો હતો કે તે જગ્યાએ શત્રુના શ્રેષ્ઠ માંણસો લડી રહ્યા હતાં.
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<v id="17" bcv="2SA.11.17" />શહેરમાંથી શત્રુઓએ ધસી આવીને યોઆબ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો અને દાઉદના કેટલાક અમલદારો માંર્યા ગયા. હિત્તી ઊરિયા પણ માંર્યો ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.11.18" />યુદ્ધનો સંપૂર્ણ અહેવાલ યોઆબે દાઉદને મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="2SA.11.19" />અને યોઆબે પણ સંદેશવાહકને કહ્યું કે, “યુદ્ધ વિષે તું રાજાને અહેવાલ સુપ્રત કરી રહે તે પછી
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<v id="20" bcv="2SA.11.20" />“કદાચ તેઓ ગુસ્સે થશે અને પુછશે કે, ‘તમે લડવા માંટે શહેરની નજીક એટલા બધા શા માંટે ગયા? શત્રુઓ ઉપર સૈનિકો તીર છોડશે તેની તમને ખબર નહોતી?
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<v id="21" bcv="2SA.11.21" />શું તેબેસમાં એક સ્ત્રીએ ઘંટીનું પડ ફેંકીને યરૂબ્બેશેથના પુત્ર અબીમેલેખને માંરી નાખ્યો નહોતો? તમે એટલા બધા કોટની નજીક ગયા જ શા માંટે?’ તો તારે એમ કહેવું કે, ‘તમાંરો સેવક ઊરિયા હિત્તી પણ ત્યાં ગયો હતો અને મરી ગયો હતો.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.11.22" />એટલે સંદેશવાહક તો ઊપડયો, અને દાઉદ પાસે પહોંચીને તેણે યોઆબે કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે બધું કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<v id="23" bcv="2SA.11.23" />તેણે કહ્યું, “શત્રુઓ અમાંરા કરતાં વધુ બળવાન હતા અને અમાંરી સામે લડવા માંટે શહેરમાંથી નીકળીને મેદાનમાં આવ્યાં હતાં. પણ અમે તેમને છેક દરવાજા સુધી પાછા માંરી હટાવ્યાં.
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<v id="24" bcv="2SA.11.24" />ત્યાર બાદ તેઓએ કોટ ઉપરથી અમાંરા ઉપર બાણોનો માંરો ચલાવ્યો અને આપ નામદારના કેટલાક અમલદારો માંર્યા ગયા, આપનો સેવક ઊરિયા હિત્તી પણ માંર્યો ગયો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2SA.11.25" />દાઉદે સંદેશવાહકને કહું, “યોઆબને હિંમત આપજે, અને કહેજે કે, ‘તે નિરાશ થાય નહિ, તરવાર આડી અવળી એક વ્યકિતને તથા તેની પછીનાને પણ માંરી શકે. નગર પર જોરદાર આક્રમણ કરીને તેનો કબજો મેળવો!’”
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<s style="s">દાઉદે બાથ-શેબા સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2SA.11.26" />જયારે ઊરિયાની પત્ની બાથ-શેબાએ જાણ્યું કે તેના પતિ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે, ત્યારે તેણે તેનો શોક પાળ્યો.
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<v id="27" bcv="2SA.11.27" />અને જયારે તેના શોકના દિવસો પૂરા થયા એટલે દાઉદે તેને પોતાના મહેલ પર બોલાવી લીધી. પછી તે તેની પત્ની થઈને રહી અને તેણે એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો. પરંતુ દાઉદે જે કૃત્ય કર્યુ તેનાથી યહોવા ખુશ ન હતા.
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<c id="12" />
<s style="s">નાથાને દાઉદ સાથે વાત કરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.12.1" />પછી યહોવાએ પ્રબોધક નાથાનને દાઉદ પાસે મોકલ્યો, અને તેની પાસે પહોંચ્યા પછી નાથાન બોલ્યો, “એક નગરમાં બે માંણસો રહેતા હતા. એક ધનવાન હતો અને બીજો ગરીબ હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.12.2" />શ્રીમંત પાસે ઘણાં ઘેટાં તથા ઢોર હતાં.
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<v id="3" bcv="2SA.12.3" />પણ પેલા ગરીબ માંણસ પાસે એક નાની ઘેટી સિવાય કંઈ જ નહોતું. તેણે ઘણી મુશ્કેલીઓ વેઠીને ખરીધું હતું. તે ઘેટું તેનાં બાળકોને ખૂબ પસંદ હતું. તે તેના ઘરમાં તેના છોકરાઓ ભેગી જ મોટી થતી હતી. તે તેની થાળીમાંથી જમતી, તેના પ્યાલામાંથી પાણી પીતી અને તેના ખોળામાં સૂતી હતી. તે તેને દીકરીની જેમ ઊછેરતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.12.4" />“એક દિવસ કોઈ યાત્રી પેલા પૈસાદાર માંણસને ત્યાં આવ્યો પણ પોતાનાં ઘેટાંબકરાંમાંથી અથવા ઢોરોને તે માંણસ માંટે રાંધવા માંર્યા નહિ; એટલે તેણે પેલા ગરીબ માંણસના ઘેટાંના બચ્ચાને લઇને પોતાને ત્યાં આવેલા મહેમાંન માંટે રાંધી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.12.5" />આ સાંભળીને દાઉદ તે માંણસ પર એકદમ ગુસ્સે થયો અને બોલ્યો, “યહોવાના સમ, આવું કાર્ય કરનાર માંણસને મૃત્યુદંડ આપવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="6" bcv="2SA.12.6" />તે આવી ક્રૂર રીતે વત્ર્યો, ગરીબનું ઘેટું ચોરી લીધું તેથી તેણે તે ગરીબને તે ઘેટાંના બચ્ચાની કિંમતની ચારગણી કિંમત આપવી જ પડશે.”
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<s style="s">નાથાને દાઉદને તેના પાપ વિષે કહ્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2SA.12.7" />ત્યારે નાથાને દાઉદને કહ્યું, “એ માંણસ તું જ છે. ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાએ તને કહેવડાવ્યું છે કે, ‘મેં તારો ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કર્યો, તારા ધણી શાઉલના હાથમાંથી તને બચાવ્યો,
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<v id="8" bcv="2SA.12.8" />મેં તેનું રાજય તને આપ્યું, અને તેની સ્ત્રીઓ તને પત્ની તરીકે આપી; મેં તને ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદાનું રાજય આપ્યું, અને આ બધું જો ઓછું પડયું હોત તો તને આવું બીજું ઘણું બધું આપ્યું હોત.
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<v id="9" bcv="2SA.12.9" />તો પછી તેં દેવની આજ્ઞાની ઉપેક્ષા શા માંટે કરી? તેની નજરમાં જે ખોટું છે તે શા માંટે કર્યુ? તેં હિત્તી ઊરિયાને તરવારના ઘાથી માંરી નાખ્યો છે,
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<v id="10" bcv="2SA.12.10" />તેં એ માંણસને આમ્મોનીઓના કબજામાં ફેંકીને માંરી નાખ્યો છે અને તેની પત્નીને તારા ઘરમાં રાખી છે. તરવાર તારા કુટુંબને છોડશે નહિ. તેઁ ઊરિયાની પત્નીને તારી બનાવી, આ રીતે તેં માંરું અપમાંન કર્યુ છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.12.11" />“તેથી યહોવા કહે છે, ‘હું તારા પર મુશ્કેલીઓ લાવીશ. પોતાના જ કુટુંબીજનો તારા પર આફત લાવશે. હું તારી પત્નીઓને લઈને તારા દેખતાં બીજા માંણસોને આપી દઈશ. અને ધોળે દિવસે જાહેરમાં તેઓ તેની સાથે સૂશે જેથી દરેક જણ જોઇ શકે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2SA.12.12" />તેં જે કયુઁ તે તો ખાનગીમાં કર્યું હતું, પણ હું તો આ કાર્ય ધોળે દહાડે બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ જુએ એ રીતે કરીશ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2SA.12.13" />દાઉદે નાથાન સમક્ષ કબૂલ કર્યુ, “મેં યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કર્યુઁ છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">નાથાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “યહોવાએ તને આ પાપ માંટે પણ ક્ષમાં આપી છે. તું મરીશ નહિ,
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<v id="14" bcv="2SA.12.14" />પણ તેં આમ કરીને જે યહોવાના શત્રુઓનું તેને માંટેનું માંન ગુમાંવડાવ્યું છે, તેથી તારું નવજાત બાળક મરી જશે.”
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<s style="s">દાઉદ અને બાથ-શેબાનું બાળક મૃત્યુ પામ્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.12.15" />તેથી નાથાન પોતાને ઘેર પાછો ફર્યો. ઊરિયાની પત્નીને દાઉદથી જે સંતાન અવતર્યો તેને યહોવાએ સખત માંદગીમાં પટકયો.
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<v id="16" bcv="2SA.12.16" />દાઉદ તે બાળકને યહોવાની પાસેથી જીવતદાન અપાવવા ખૂબ આજીજી કરી, અને ઉપવાસ કરીને આખી રાત જમીન ઉપર પડી રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.12.17" />તેના દરબારીઓએ તેને ભોંય ઉપરથી બેઠો કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો, પણ તે ઊઠયો નહિ; અને તેમની સાથે તેણે ભોજન પણ લીધું નહિ.
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<v id="18" bcv="2SA.12.18" />સાતમાં દિવસે તે બાળકનું મૃત્યુ થયું. દાઉદને આ સંદેશો આપવાનો હતો જે આપવા ચાકરોની હિંમત ચાલી નહિ, તેમણે વિચાર્યું, “બાળક જીવતું હતું, ત્યારે તો તે આપણું કહેવું સાંભળતો નહોતો, પણ હવે જ્યારે બાળક મરી ગયું છે એમ જો આપણે તેને કહીએ તો તે તેને કાંઇ અનિષ્ટ કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2SA.12.19" />દાઉદનું ધ્યાન ગયું કે તેના સેવકો એકબીજાના કાનમાં વાતો કરતા હતા, એટલે તે સમજી ગયો કે બાળક મરી ગયું છે. તેથી તેણે પૂછયું, “બાળક મરી ગયુ?”
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<p style="p">અને તેઓએ કહ્યું, “હા, એ મરી ગયું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.12.20" />પછી દાઉદ ભૂમિ પરથી ઊઠયો, સ્નાન કર્યુ; શરીર પર અત્તર લગાડયું અને નવાં વસ્ત્રો પરિધાન કર્યા, પછી તેણે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં જઈને ભજન કર્યું. પછી તેણે ઘેર જઈને ખાવાનું માંગ્યું અને પીરસ્યું તેટલું ખાધું.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.12.21" />દાઉદના ચાકરો વિસ્મય પામ્યા, તેમણે તેને પૂછયું, “આ કેવું? જયારે છોકરો જીવતો હતો ત્યારે તમે અન્ન ત્યાગ કર્યો અને તેને માંટે રડ્યા, પરંતુ અત્યારે હવે તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો, ત્યારે તમે ઊઠીને ખાધું!”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.12.22" />તેણે કહ્યું, “બાળક હજી જીવતું હતું ત્યારે મેં એવું ધારીને અન્ન છોડી દીધું અને હું રડયો કે, કદાચ યહોવા માંરા ઉપર દયા કરે અને બાળક જીવી જાય,
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<v id="23" bcv="2SA.12.23" />પણ હવે એ મરી ગયું છે, ત્યારે હું શા માંટે અન્ન ત્યાગ કરું? હું થોડો જ એને પાછો જીવતો કરી શકવાનો છું? હું જ તેની પાસે જઈશ; તે કંઈ પાછો માંરી પાસે આવવાનો નથી.”
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<s style="s">સુલેમાંનનો જન્મ
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2SA.12.24" />ત્યારબાદ દાઉદે તેની પત્ની બાથ-શેબાને આશ્વાસન આપ્યું; પછી તે તેની સાથે સૂતો અને થોડા સમય બાદ તેણે એક પુ્ત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો. દાઉદે તેનું નામ સુલેમાંન પાડયું. અને યહોવાને તેના પર પ્રેમ હતો.
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<v id="25" bcv="2SA.12.25" />એટલે તેણે નાથાન માંરફતે સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, યહોવાને માંટે એનું નામ યદીદયા રાખવું,
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<s style="s">દાઉદે રબ્બાહને કબ્જે કર્યુ
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2SA.12.26" />આમ્મોનીઓના પાટનગર રબ્બાહ ઉપર યોઆબે લડાઇ કરી અને તે કબજે કર્યું.
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<v id="27" bcv="2SA.12.27" />યોઆબે સંદેશવાહકો મોકલીને દાઉદને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો: “મેં રબ્બાહ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો છે અને પાણીના નગરને કબજે કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="2SA.12.28" />તમે બાકીનું લશ્કર ભેગું કરી જાતે શહેરને ઘેરો ઘાલી કબજે કરી લો, નહિ તો માંરે એ કબજે કરવું પડશે, અને એ માંરે નામે ઓળખાશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2SA.12.29" />આથી દાઉદ સૈન્ય લઈને રબ્બાહ ગયો અને તેને જીતી લીધું.
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<v id="30" bcv="2SA.12.30" />તે નગરમાંથી પુષ્કળ લૂંટ યરૂશાલેમ લઈ જવામાં આવી. રબ્બાહના રાજાનો મૂલ્યવાન રત્નો જડેલો એક તાલંત સોનાનો મુગટ દાઉદે પોતાના માંથા પર મૂકયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2SA.12.31" />વળી શહેરના લોકોને લઈ જઈને તેણે તેમની પાસે કરવત, તીકમ અને કુહાડા વડે મજૂરી કરાવી અને તેમને ઇટઁવાડામાં કામે લગાડયા. તેણે આમ્મોનીઓના સર્વ નગરોની આ દશા કરી, અને પછી તે અને તેના બધા માંણસો યરૂશાલેમ પાછા ફર્યા.
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<s style="s">આમ્નોન અને તામાંર
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.13.1" />દાઉદના પુત્ર આબ્શાલોમને તામાંર નામે એક સુંદર રૂપાળી બહેન હતી. દાઉદનો પુત્ર આમ્નોન તેના પ્રેમમાં પડયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.13.2" />આમ્નોનને તે ખૂબ સુંદર લાગી અને તામાંરની એવી મોહિની લાગી હતી કે તે માંદો પડયો, તામાંર કુમાંરિકા હતી અને આમ્નોનને તેને કંઈ અનિષ્ટ કરવાનું વિચાર્યુ નહિ પણ તેને તે જોઇતી જ હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.13.3" />પરંતુ યોનાદાબ જે દાઉદના ભાઈ શિમઆહનો પુત્ર હતો, તે તેનો મિત્ર હતો, તે ઘણો પાક્કો હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="2SA.13.4" />એક દિવસે તેણે આમ્નોનને કહ્યું, “ઓ રાજકુમાંર, તું દિવસે દિવસે આમ સુકાતો કેમ જાય છે? તું રાજાનો પુત્ર છે મને મહેરબાની કરીને કહે તો ખરો?”
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<p style="p">ત્યારે આમ્નોને કહ્યું, “હું માંરા ભાઈ આબ્શાલોમની બહેન તામાંરના પ્રેમમાં છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.13.5" />યોનાદાબે કહ્યું, “હવે, શું કરવું તે હું તને કહીશ, તારા પલંગ પર સૂઈ જા, અને બિમાંર હોવાનો ઢોંગ કર. તારા પિતા તારી ખબર જોવા આવશે, અને જ્યારે તને જોવા આવે ત્યારે તેમને કહેજે કે, ‘માંરી બહેન તામાંરને માંરા માંટે રોટલી પકવવાનું કહો, જ્યારે હું જોઉં અને તે મને પોતે જ પીરશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.13.6" />આથી આમ્નોન માંદો હોવાનો ઢોંગ કરીને સૂઈ ગયો. રાજા દાઉદ તેને મળવા ગયો એટલે આમ્નોને તેને કહ્યું, “માંરી બહેન તામાંરને અહીં આવીને માંરા દેખતાં એક ભાખરી બનાવી, પોતાને હાથે મને ખવડાવવા દો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2SA.13.7" />દાઉદ સહમત થયો અને તામાંરને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “તારા ભાઈ આમ્નોનને ઘેર જઈ તેના માંટે રસોઈ તૈયાર કર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.13.8" />તામાંર પોતાના ભાઈ આમ્નોનને ઘેર તેના શયનખંડમાં ગઈ, જેથી ભાખરી માંટે લોટ બાંધતા તે તેને જોઈ શકે. તેણે થોડો લોટ લીધો, ગૂંદ્યો અને તેના દેખતાં ભાખરી બનાવીને શેકી.
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<v id="9" bcv="2SA.13.9" />પછી તેણે આમ્નોન આગળ થાળીમાં ભાખરી પીરસી, પણ તેણે ખાવાનો ઇન્કાર કર્યો, અને કહ્યું, “બધાને બહાર મોકલી દો.” એટલે બધા બહાર ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<s style="s">આમ્નોને તામાંર પર બળાત્કાર કર્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2SA.13.10" />પછી તેણે તામાંરને કહ્યું, “હવે અહીં માંરા શયનખંડમાં ખાવાનું લઈ આવ, જેથી હું તારે હાથે ખાઈ શકું.”
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<p style="p">આથી તામાંરે પોતે બનાવેલી ભાખરી અંદરના ઓરડામાં તેના ભાઈ આમ્નોન પાસે લઈ ગઈ.
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<v id="11" bcv="2SA.13.11" />તામાંર તેને ખાવાનું આપવા ગઈ ત્યારે આમ્નોને તેને પકડી લીધી અને કહ્યું, “આવ, મને પ્રેમ કર, માંરી સાથે સૂઈ જા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2SA.13.12" />પણ તેણે કહ્યું, “ના, ભાઈ, મને નીચું જોવડાવશો નહિ આવું શરમજનક કરશો નહિ. ઇસ્રાએલમાં આ જાતની ભયંકર બાબત કદી થઇ નથી.
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<v id="13" bcv="2SA.13.13" />શરમની માંરી હું માંરું મોઢું કયાંય બતાવી શકીશ નહિ. અને તમે પણ ઇસ્રાએલમાં એક સામાંન્ય ગુનેગારમાં ખપશો. તમે રાજાને કહોને; મને તમાંરી સાથે પરણવા દે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.13.14" />પણ તેણે તેની વાત સાંભળી નહિ, તેણે તેના ઉપર બળાત્કાર કરી તેની લાજ લીધી.
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<v id="15" bcv="2SA.13.15" />પછી અચાનક આમ્નોનને તામાંર ઉપર તિરસ્કાર છૂટયો. પહેલાં એને માંટે જેટલો તેને પ્રેમ હતો હવે તેના કરતાં પણ વધારે તેના પ્રત્યે તિરસ્કાર થયો. તે બોલ્યો, “બેઠી થઈ જા અને અહીંથી તુરંત ચાલી જા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2SA.13.16" />“ના, ભાઈ તે બોલી, આ રીતે મને કાઢી મૂકવી એ તમે અત્યારે કર્યુ એના કરતાં પણ વધુ ખરાબ છે.”
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<p style="p">પણ તેણે એની વાત સાંભળી નહિ,
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<v id="17" bcv="2SA.13.17" />તેણે પોતાના અંગત નોકરને બોલાવીને હુકમ કર્યો, “આ સ્ત્રીને માંરા મોઢા આગળથી દૂર કર, એને બહાર કાઢ અને બારણું બંધ કરી દે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.13.18" />નોકરે તેને બહાર કાઢીને બારણું બંધ કરી દીધું.
</p>
<p style="p">તે દિવસોના રિવાજ મુજબ રાજાની કુંવરીઓ વિવિધ રંગના<f caller="+"><fr>13:18
</fr><fk>વિવિધ રંગના
</fk><ft>અર્થ “વિવિધ રંગો” અથવા તો “પટ્ટાઓ.”</ft></f> લાંબા ઝભ્ભા પહેરતી હતી, તામાંરે પણ પહેર્યો હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="2SA.13.19" />તામાંરે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડયાં, પોતાના માંથામાં રાખ નાખી અને બંને હાથ પોતાના માંથા ઉપર મૂકી જોરથી પોક મૂકી રડતી રડતી તે ચાલી ગઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.13.20" />તેના ભાઈ આબ્શાલોમે તેને પૂછયું, “તારા ભાઈ આમ્નોને તને ઇજા પહોંચાડી છે? કોઈને કહેતી નહિ, માંરી બહેન. ગમે તેમ તો તે તારો ભાઈ છે. તે માંટે રડીશ નહિ.” આથી તામાંર કાંઇ કહી ન શકી અને પોતાના ભાઈ આબ્શાલોમના ઘરમાં રહી.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.13.21" />જયારે દાઉદે આખી વાત જાણી ત્યારે તેને ઘણો ક્રોધ ચડયો.
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<v id="22" bcv="2SA.13.22" />આબ્શાલોમે આ વિષે આમ્નોનને કશું કહ્યું નહિ, પરંતુ આમ્નોને પોતાની બહેન તામાંરનો બળાત્કાર કર્યો હતો તેને લીધે તેને આમ્નોન ઉપર ભારે તિરસ્કાર હતો.
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<s style="s">આબ્શાલોમનો બદલો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.13.23" />પૂરાં બે વર્ષ પછી આબ્શાલોમે પોતાના ઘેટાંનું ઊન ઉતરાવતી વખતે રાજાના બધા પુત્રોને એફ્રાઈમ નજીક બઆલ-હાસોર મુકામે આમંત્રણ આપ્યું.
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<v id="24" bcv="2SA.13.24" />આબ્શાલોમે રાજા પાસે જઈને કહ્યું, “અત્યારે તો અમે ઘેટાંની ઊન કાતરી રહ્યાં છીએ, તેથી આપ આપના સેવકો સાથે પધારવાની કૃપા કરશો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2SA.13.25" />રાજાએ તેને કહ્યું, “ના, માંરા દીકરા, જો અમે સર્વ તારે ઘેર આવીશું તો તને ઘણો જ ભાર પડશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">આબ્શાલોમે ફરી ફરી વિનંતી કરી; પરંતુ રાજાને જવું ન હતું, અને તેણે આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2SA.13.26" />પણ આબ્શાલોમે કહ્યું, “તો પછી માંરા ભાઈ આમ્નોનને તો મોકલશોને?”
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<p style="p">રાજાએ પૂછયું, “આમ્નોન જ શા માંટે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2SA.13.27" />પણ આબ્શાલોમે ફરી આગ્રહ કર્યો, તેથી રાજાએ આમ્નોનને અને પોતાના બધા પુત્રોને જવા દીધા.
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<s style="s">આમ્નોનની હત્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2SA.13.28" />આબ્શાલોમે પોતાના માંણસોને કહ્યું, “બરાબર ધ્યાન રાખજો, આમ્નોન દાક્ષારસની મસ્તીમાં આવી જાય અને હું એમ કહું કે, આમ્નોનને પૂરો કરો, ત્યારે તેને માંરી નાખવો. ડરશો નહિ, હુકમ કરનાર હું છું. હિંમત રાખજો અને બહાદુરીથી કામ લેજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2SA.13.29" />તેથી આબ્શાલોમના યુવાન સૈનિકોએ તેના કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે કર્યું. અને તેઓએ આમ્નોનને માંરી નાખ્યો. પછી રાજાના બીજા પુત્રો ઝડપથી ઊભા થયા અને તેઓના ઘોડાઓ પર સવાર થઈને ભાગી ગયાં.
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<s style="s">દાઉદને આમ્નોનની હત્યાના સમાંચાર મળ્યાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2SA.13.30" />હજી તેઓ યરૂશાલેમના રસ્તામાં હતા, ત્યાં દાઉદને કાને એવી અફવા આવી કે, “આબ્શાલોમે રાજાના બધા પુત્રોને માંરી નાખ્યા છે, એક પણ જીવતો રહેવા પામ્યો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2SA.13.31" />એટલે રાજાએ ઊભા થઈને પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડયાં અને તે ભૂમિ પર પડયો. તેના નોકરોએ પણ ભય અને દુ:ખને કારણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડયાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="2SA.13.32" />પણ દાઉદના ભાઈ શિમઆહના પુત્ર યોનાદાબે કહ્યું, “હે માંરા ધણી, માંરા રાજા, એમ ન માંનશો કે આપના બધા જ પુત્રો મરી ગયા છે. ફકત આમ્નોનને માંરી નાખ્યો છે. આમ્નોને આબ્શાલોમની બહેન તામાંરનું અપમાંન કર્યુ ત્યારથી આબ્શાલોમે તેનો બદલો લેવાનો નિશ્ચય કર્યો છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="2SA.13.33" />તારા સર્વ પુત્રોનો સંહાર થયો નથી! ફકત આમ્નોન જ માંરી નંખાયો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="2SA.13.34" />તે સમય દરમ્યાન આબ્શાલોમ ભાગી ગયો.
</p>
<p style="p">નગરના પહેરેદારોએ લોકોનું એક મોટું ટોળું ટેકરીની બીજી બાજુથી આવતું જોયું. તેણે રાજાને સમાંચાર આપ્યા કે, કેટલાક માંણસો હોરાનાઈમની દિશામાંથી ટેકરો ઊતરતા જણાય છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="2SA.13.35" />યોનાદાબે રાજાને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, મેં કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે તારા પુત્રો આવી રહ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="2SA.13.36" />તે બોલી રહ્યો તે જ ક્ષણે, રાજકુમાંરો આવી પહોંચ્યા. અને મોટેથી રડવા લાગ્યા. રાજા અને તેના બધા અમલદારો પણ ખૂબ રડવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="37" bcv="2SA.13.37" />આબ્શાલોમ નાસી જઈને આમ્મીહૂરના પુત્ર ગશૂરના રાજા તાલ્માંયની પાસે જતો રહ્યો, રાજા દરરોજ તેના પુત્ર માંટે શોક કરતો હતો.
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<s style="s">આબ્શાલોમ ગશૂર નાસી ગયો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="2SA.13.38" />આબ્શાલોમ ગશૂરના રાજા પાસે ત્રણ વર્ષ સુધી રહ્યો.
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<v id="39" bcv="2SA.13.39" />આમ્નોનના મૃત્યુનો શોક હળવો થતાં દાઉદ આબ્શાલોમને માંટે ઝૂરવા લાગ્યો.
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<s style="s">યોઆબની મધ્યસ્થી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.14.1" />સરૂયાના પુત્ર યોઆબને ખ્યાલ આવી ગયો કે રાજા દાઉદનું મન આબ્શાલોમને મળવા ઘણું આતુર છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.14.2" />તેથી તેણે તકોઓમાંથી એક ચતુર સ્ત્રીને તેને મળવા લઇ આવવા સંદેશો મોકલ્યો. તેને કહ્યું, “તું શોકમાં હોય તેવો ઢોંગ કરજે. શોકનાં વસ્ત્રો ધારણ કરજે. તું લાંબા સમયથી શોકમાં છે તેવો તારો દેખાવ અને વર્તન રાખજે.
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<v id="3" bcv="2SA.14.3" />પછી રાજા પાસે જજે અને મુલાકાત માંગજે, અને પછી રાજાને આ શબ્દો કહેજે.” પછી યોઆબે તેને રાજાને શું કહેવું તે કહ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.14.4" />તે સ્ત્રી રાજા પાસે ગઈ, ભોંય પર પડી, લાંબા થઇને પ્રણામ કર્યા અને કહ્યું, “હે રાજા, મને મદદ કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.14.5" />એટલે રાજાએ પૂછયું, “શું છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે બોલી, “હું વિધવા છું, માંરો પતિ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો છે,
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<v id="6" bcv="2SA.14.6" />માંરે બે પુત્રો હતા, તેઓ બહાર ખેતરમાં ઝઘડતા હતા, ત્યાં તેમને છોડાવનાર કોઈ ન હતું, એટલે તેમાંના એકે બીજાને માંરી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2SA.14.7" />હવે માંરાં સગાં સંબંધીઓ તથા આખું કુટુંબ માંરી વિરુદ્ધ થઈ ગયાં છે, અને તેઓ એવી માંગણી કરે છે કે, ‘હું માંરો જીવતો રહેલો પુત્ર તેઓને સોંપું, જેથી તેઓ ભાઈનો જીવ લેવા બદલ તેનો જીવ લઈ લે. અને તેના વંશનો અંત આણે.’ જો તેઓ એમ કરે તો માંરો બાકી રહેલો અંગારો પણ બુઝાઈ જાય, અને માંરા પતિનું આ ધરતી ઉપર નામનિશાન કે વારસ ન રહે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.14.8" />રાજાએ તેને કહ્યું, “તું તારે ઘેર જા, માંરા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખ, તેની હું કાળજી રાખીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.14.9" />પરંતુ તે સ્ત્રી બોલી, “હે માંરા રાજા, દોષ બધો માંરા માંથેને માંરા બાપના કુટુંબને માંથે છે, આપ અને આપની ગાદી નિદોર્ષ છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2SA.14.10" />પછી રાજાએ કહ્યું, “જો કોઈ તને ધમકી આપે તો તેને માંરી પાસે લાવજે; તે ફરી કદી તને હેરાન નહિ કરે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.14.11" />ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, “આપ માંરા રાજા, આપના દેવ યહોવાનું નામ લો, અને પ્રતિજ્ઞા લો કે, તમે માંરા સગાસંબધીઓને વેર લેવા નહિ દો અને તેના ભાઇનું ખૂન કરવા બદલ માંરા બીજા પુત્રને માંરવા નહિ દો.”
</p>
<p style="p">રાજાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું યહોવાના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે, તારા પુત્રનો એક વાળ પણ વાંકો નહિ થવા દઉં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2SA.14.12" />પછી તે સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “મુરબ્બીની રજા હોય તો માંરે હજી એક વાત કહેવી છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">તો રાજાએ કહ્યું, “તું પૂછી શકે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2SA.14.13" />આથી તે સ્ત્રી બોલી, “તો પછી આપે આવી યોજના દેવના લોકો વિરુદ્ધ શા માંટે રચી છે? આપે આપના જે પુત્રને ઘર છોડવા જબરદસ્તી કરી હતી તેને પાછા લાવ્યા નથી. આપ જે કહો છો તેમાં આપ પોતે જ પોતાને ગુનેગાર ઠરાવો છો.
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<v id="14" bcv="2SA.14.14" />આપણે સૌ મૃત્યુ પામવાના છીએ. આપણે એક દિવસ જમીન પર ઢોળાયેલા પાણી જેવા થઇશું એ કાંઈ પાછું ભેગું થાય નહિ. દેવ લોકોને માંફ કરે છે. તે લોકો માંટે, જેને જબરદસ્તી સુરક્ષા માંટે ભાગવું પડે છે. પાછા બોલાવવાની યોજના બનાવે છે. તે તેઓને તેનાથી ભાગી જવા બળજબરી કરતા નથી.
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<v id="15" bcv="2SA.14.15" />માંરા મુરબ્બી, રાજાને હું એ કહેવા માંટે આવી છું, કારણ કે લોકોએ મને ગભરાવી અને કહ્યું કે, ‘જો હું રાજાને કહું; તો માંરે જે કાંઇ તેની પાસે કરાવવું હશે તેઓ કદાચ માંરી માંગણી પૂરી કરશે.
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<v id="16" bcv="2SA.14.16" />તેઓ માંરી વાત ધ્યાન પર લેશે અને જે માંણસ મને અને માંરા પુત્રને માંરી નાખી; અમને ઇસ્રાએલથી દેવે પોતાના લોકોને આપેલી ભૂમિમાંથી મીટાવી દેવા ઈચ્છે છે તેનાથી મને બચાવશે.’
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<v id="17" bcv="2SA.14.17" />તેથી મેં માંરી જાતને કહ્યું કારણ, આપ તો દેવના દૂત જેવા છો, તમને સરખી સમજ શકિત છે. અને સારાસારનો વિવેક કરી શકો છો, અને યહોવા આપની સાથે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.14.18" />એટલે રાજાએ તે સ્ત્રીને કહ્યું, “હું તને એક વાત પૂછું છું તેનો સાચો જવાબ આપજે.”
</p>
<p style="p">સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “માંરા ધણી, માંરા રાજા કૃપા કરી પૂછો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2SA.14.19" />રાજાએ પૂછયું, “આ બધામાં તારી સાથે યોઆબ સંડોવાયેલ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “આપના સમ ધણી, આપના પ્રશ્ર્નનો ઉત્તર ટાળી શકાય તેમ નથી. માંરે સાચું જ કહેવું પડશે, આપના સેવક યોઆબે જ મને અહીં મોકલી છે. અને આમ કહેવા કહ્યું છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="2SA.14.20" />સમગ્ર વાતને જુદું રૂપ આપવા માંટે જ તેણે આમ કર્યું હતું. માંરા દેવ, આપ તો દેવના દૂત જેવા જ્ઞાની છો અને પૃથ્વી પર શું થઈ રહ્યું છે તે બધુંય આપ જાણો છો.”
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</p>
<s style="s">આબ્શાલોમ યરૂશાલેમ પાછો ફર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.14.21" />રાજા દાઉદે યોઆબને કહ્યું, “મેં જે વચન આપ્યું છે તે પ્રમાંણે હું કરીશ. જાવ અને યુવાન આબ્શાલોમને પાછો ઘરે લઇ આવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.14.22" />યોઆબે રાજાને પ્રણામ કર્યા અને રાજાને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા અને કહ્યું, “હવે મને ખાતરી થઈ કે, આપ માંરા પર પ્રસન્ન છો, આપે માંરું સાંભળ્યું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.14.23" />યોઆબ તરત જ ગશૂર ગયો અને આબ્શાલોમને યરૂશાલેમ લઈ આવ્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="2SA.14.24" />પણ રાજાએ કહ્યું, “તે પોતાના નિવાસસ્થાને રહેવા જાય, તે અહીં ન આવે. હું તેને જોવા માંગતો નથી.” તેથી આબ્શાલોમ તેના ઘેર ગયો અને રાજાને મળ્યો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2SA.14.25" />આખા ઇસ્રાએલમાં દેખાવડો અને સુંદર આબ્શાલોમ જેવો વિખ્યાત બીજો કોઈ પુરુષ નહોતો. પગથી માંથા સુધી તેનામાં કોઈ દોષ નહોતો.
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<v id="26" bcv="2SA.14.26" />તેના વાળ બોજારૂપ બની જતા હતા ત્યારે તે દર વરસે વાળ ઉતરાવતો અને ત્યારે તે વાળનું વજન શાહી કાટલાં મુજબ આશરે પાંચ રતલ થતું.
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<v id="27" bcv="2SA.14.27" />આબ્શાલોમને ત્રણ પુત્રો થયા હતા અને તામાંર નામે એક પુત્રી હતી, તે ખૂબ રૂપાળી હતી.
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</p>
<s style="s">આબ્શાલોમે યોઆબને તેને મળવા માંટે વિવશ કર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2SA.14.28" />આબ્શાલોમ યરૂશાલેમ આવ્યો, તેને બે વર્ષ થઈ ગયા, પણ તે કદી રાજા આગળ ગયો નહિ.
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<v id="29" bcv="2SA.14.29" />ત્યાર પછી આબ્શાલોમે તેને માંટે રાજા સામે જવા સંદેશો મોકલવા યોઆબને સંદેશો મોકલાવ્યો, પણ યોઆબે આવવાની; આબ્શાલોમ સાથે વાત કરવાની ના પાડી, આબ્શાલોમે ફરી સંદેશો મોકલ્યો, તો પણ યોઆબે આવવાની ના પાડી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2SA.14.30" />ત્યારે આબ્શાલોમે પોતાના નોકરોને મોકલ્યા, “અને તેઓને જઈને આબ્શાલોમના ખેતરની પાસે આવેલા યોઆબના જવના ખેતરને બાળી નાખવાનું કહ્યું.”
</p>
<p style="p">આથી આબ્શાલોમના નોકરોએ ખેતરોને બાળી નાખ્યાં.
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<v id="31" bcv="2SA.14.31" />યોઆબ આબ્શાલોમને ઘેર તરત જ પહોંચી ગયો અને પૂછવા લાગ્યો. “તારા નોકરોએ માંરા ખેતરને આગ શા માંટે ચાંપી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="2SA.14.32" />આબ્શાલોમે કહ્યું, “માંરી ઇચ્છા એવી છે કે તું રાજાને એમ પૂછ કે, જો તે મને જોવા ઇચ્છતો નથી તો મને શા માંટે ગશૂરમાંથી પાછો બોલાવ્યો છે? હું ત્યાં જ રહ્યો હોત તો માંરા માંટે વધારે સારું હતું. માંરે રાજાની સાથે મુલાકાત કરવી છે, અને જો મેં કંઈ પાપ કર્યું હોય એમ તેમને લાગે તો મને મોતની સજા કરી શકે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">આબ્શાલોમ દાઉદને મળ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="2SA.14.33" />આબ્શાલોમે જે કહ્યું હતું તે યોઆબે જઈને રાજાને કહ્યું, રાજાએ આબ્શાલોમને તેડાવ્યો, તેણે જઈને ભોંય પર પડીને લાંબા થઈને રાજાને પ્રણામ કર્યા અને દાઉદે આબ્શાલોમને ચુંબન કર્યુ અને ભેટી પડયો.
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</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">આબ્શાલોમે ઘણાં મિત્રો બનાવ્યાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.15.1" />ત્યારબાદ આબ્શાલોમે પોતા માંટે રથ તથા ઘોડાઓની તજવીજ કરી. તે રથ ચલાવતો હોય ત્યારે તેની આગળ દોડવા પચાસ માંણસો રાખ્યા હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.15.2" />તે પ્રતિદિન સવારે વહેલો ઊઠતો અને શહેરના દરવાજાના રસ્તા પાસે જઈને ઊભો રહેતો, અને જયારે જયારે કોઈ માંણસ રાજા પાસે ફરિયાદ લઈ ન્યાય કરાવવા આવતો ત્યારે આબ્શાલોમ તેને પોતાની પાસે બોલાવતો, અને પૂછતો કે, “તું કયાંથી આવે છે?” પેલો માંણસ જવાબ આપતો, “સાહેબ, હું ઇસ્રાએલના ફલાણા કુળસમૂહમાંથી આવું છું.”
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<v id="3" bcv="2SA.15.3" />ત્યારે આબ્શાલોમ તેને કહેતો, “ઓ ભાઈ, તું સાચો છે, પણ રાજા દાઉદ તને સાંભળશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.15.4" />અને પોતાને કહેતો, “હું ન્યાયાધીશ હોત તો કેવું સારુ હતું! તો કોઈને જટિલ સમસ્યા કે કોઇ કારણ હોય તે માંરી પાસે આવત, અને હું તેને ન્યાય આપત.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.15.5" />અને જો કોઈ માંણસ આબ્શાલોમ પાસે એને પ્રણામ કરવા આવે તો આબ્શાલોમ તેનો હાથ લંબાવી તે વ્યકિતને બાથમાં લઈ અને તેને ચુંબન કરતો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2SA.15.6" />રાજા પાસે ન્યાય મેળવવા આવતા એકેએક ઇસ્રાએલી સાથે આબ્શાલોમ આ રીતે વર્તતો અને એમ કરીને તેણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓનાં હૃદય જીતી લીધાં.
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</p>
<s style="s">આબ્શાલોમનો દાઉદ વિરુદ્ધ બળવો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2SA.15.7" />ચાર વર્ષ પછી<f caller="+"><fr>15:7
</fr><fk>ચાર વર્ષ પછી
</fk><ft>કોઇ પ્રાચીન લખાણમાં “40 વર્ષ” કહેવાય છે.</ft></f> આબ્શાલોમે રાજાને કહ્યું, “ઓ ધણી, મેં યહોવા આગળ એક પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી છે, તેથી મને હેબ્રોન જવા પરવાનગી આપો. માંરે માંરી પ્રતિજ્ઞા પૂર્ણ કરવી છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="2SA.15.8" />હું જયારે અરામમાં આવેલા ગશૂરમાં રહેતો હતો, ત્યારે મેં યહોવાની એવી માંનતા રાખી હતી કે, જો ‘યહોવા મને પાછો યરૂશાલેમ લાવશે, તો હું યહોવાની સેવા કરીશ.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.15.9" />એટલે રાજાએ કહ્યું, “ઠીક, સુખેથી જા, જઈને તારી માંનતા પૂર્ણ કર.”
</p>
<p style="p">આથી આબ્શાલોમ હેબ્રોન ગયો.
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<v id="10" bcv="2SA.15.10" />પણ તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના બધા કુળસમૂહોમાં જાસૂસો મોકલીને સંદેશો કહેવડાવ્યો કે, “રણશિંગડાનો અવાજ સાંભળો કે તરત જ તમે પોકાર કરજો કે, ‘આબ્શાલોમ હેબ્રોનમાં રાજા બન્યા છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.15.11" />યરૂશાલેમથી 200 માંણસો આબ્શાલોમની સાથે ગયા હતા, પરંતુ તેઓને તેના કાવતરા સંબંધી કાંઈ જ જાણ ન હતી.
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<v id="12" bcv="2SA.15.12" />આબ્શાલોમે રાજા દાઉદના સલાહકારોમાંનો એક અહીથોફેલને એના નગર ગીલોનીથી બોલાવ્યો, તે વખતે આબ્શાલોમ યજ્ઞ અર્પણ કરતો હતો. આબ્શાલોમનું કાવત્રું સારી રીતે પાર પડી રહ્યું હતું અને ઘણા લોકો તેને સાથ આપી રહ્યાં હતા. આબ્શાલોમના ટેકેદારોની સંખ્યા પણ વધતી ગઈ.
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<s style="s">દાઉદને આબ્શાલોમના કાવત્રા વિષે જાણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2SA.15.13" />એક સંદેશવાહકે યરૂશાલેમમાં દાઉદને જઇને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલની પ્રજાએ આબ્શાલોમને અનુસરવાનું શરું કર્યુ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.15.14" />તેથી તરત જ દાઉદે પોતાના અમલદારોને કહ્યું, “આપણે અહીંથી તાબડતોબ ચાલ્યા જઈએ અને પલાયન થઇ જઇએ નહિ તો આબ્શાલોમ થોડી વારમાં જ અહીં આવશે, તે આપણને પકડશે, આપણો સંહાર કરશે અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકોને માંરી નાખશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.15.15" />રાજાના અમલદારોએ દાઉદને કહ્યું, “આપ જેમ કહેશો તેમ અમે કરશું અમે આપના સેવકો છીએ.”
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<s style="s">દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસો ઊગરી નીકળ્યાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2SA.15.16" />તેથી રાજા પોતાના આખા પરિવાર સાથે ચાલી નીકળ્યો. ફકત દસ ઉપપત્નીઓને મહેલની સંભાળ રાખવા પાછળ મૂકતો ગયો.
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<v id="17" bcv="2SA.15.17" />પછી રાજા અને તેના બધાં માંણસો નગર છોડીને નીકળ્યાં ત્યારે તેઓ છેલ્લા ઘર આગળ થોભી ગયાં.
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<v id="18" bcv="2SA.15.18" />રાજાના સર્વ અંગરરક્ષકો કરેથીઓ અને પલેથીઓ અને તેની સાથે ગાથથી આવેલા 600 માંણસો રાજાની બાજુએ થઇને પસાર થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2SA.15.19" />ત્યારે રાજાએ ગાથથી આવેલા ઇત્તાયને કહ્યું, “અરે, તમે બધાં શા માંટે માંરી સાથે આવો છો? પાછા જાઓ અને નવા રાજા સાથે રહો; કારણ તમે બધાં પરદેશીઓ છો અને તમાંરા પોતાના દેશમાંથી આવેલા છો.
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<v id="20" bcv="2SA.15.20" />તમે તો હજી ગઈ કાલે જ આવ્યા છો, તો પછી માંરે તમને માંરી સાથે સ્થળે સ્થળે શા માંટે રખડાવવા જોઈએ? તમાંરા માંણસોને લઇને પાછા જાવ. તમાંરા પ્રત્યે સદવ્યવહાર અને વફાદારી દર્શાવાય.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.15.21" />પરંતુ ઇત્તાયએ કહ્યું, “યહોવાના અને આપના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે, માંરા દેવ, અને રાજા, જયાં ક્યાંય પણ આપ જશો, હું તમાંરી સાથે જઇશ, પછી ભલે મરવું પડે તોય.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.15.22" />ત્યારે દાઉદે ઇત્તાયને કહ્યું, “સારું, આગળ વધો.”
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<p style="p">એટલે ઇત્તાય પોતાના બધા માંણસો અને પરિવારને લઈને રાજા આગળથી પસાર થયો.
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<v id="23" bcv="2SA.15.23" />આખા લશ્કરે આગળ કૂચ કરી ત્યારે બધા લોકો મોટેથી રડવા લાગ્યા. પછી રાજા કિદ્રોનના નાળાને વટાવી ગયો ત્યારે બધાં લોકો બહાર નિર્જન પ્રદેશ તરફ ગયા.
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<v id="24" bcv="2SA.15.24" />સાદોક તથા તેની સાથેના સર્વ લેવીઓ દેવના પવિત્રકોશને ઉંચકીને જતા હતા. તેઓ થોભ્યા અને તેને નીચે મૂક્યો અને અબ્યાથારે સર્વ લોકો યરૂશાલેમ છોડીને ગયા ત્યાં સુધી પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2SA.15.25" />ત્યારબાદ રાજાએ સાદોકને કહ્યું, “દેવના પવિત્રકોશને નગરમાં પાછો લઈ જા. જો યહોવા માંરા પર પ્રસન્ન હશે તો કોઇક દિવસ મને પવિત્રકોશ અને દેવનું મંદિર જોવા માંટે મને પાછો આવવા દેશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="2SA.15.26" />પણ જો યહોવા માંરા પર પ્રસન્ન ન હોય તો તેમની નજરમાં માંરા માંટે જે સાચું લાગશે તે કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2SA.15.27" />રાજાએ યાજક સાદોકને કહ્યું, “તું એક પ્રબોધક છે. તારા પુત્ર અહીમાંઆસ તથા અબ્યાથારના પુત્ર યોનાથાનને તારી સાથે લઈ અને તારા નગરમાં શાંતિથી જા.
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<v id="28" bcv="2SA.15.28" />જ્યાં લોકો નદી ઓળંગી અને રણમાં જાય છે, તે સ્થળોએ તમાંરો સંદેશ મેળવવાની રાહ જોઈશ; હું અરણ્યમાં ભાગી જાઉં તે પહેલાં યરૂશાલેમમાં શું બને છે તેની માંહિતી મને મોકલાવજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2SA.15.29" />આથી સાદોક અને અબ્યાથાર દેવના પવિત્રકોશને લઇને પાછા યરૂશાલેમ ગયા અને તેઓ ત્યાં જ રહ્યાં.
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<s style="s">અહીથોફેલ વિરુદ્ધ દાઉદની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2SA.15.30" />દાઉદ જૈતૂનના પર્વતો પર રૂદન કરતો કરતો ચડવા લાગ્યો, શોકને કારણે તેણે માંથું ઢાંકેલું રાખ્યું હતું અને તેના પગ ઉઘાડા હતા, તેની સાથેના બધાં માંણસો પણ ઢાંકેલા માંથે રૂદન કરતાં કરતાં ચડતાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2SA.15.31" />જયારે કોઈકે દાઉદને કહ્યું કે “અહીથોફેલ જે લોકોએ આબ્શાલોમની સાથે યોજના બનાવી છે.” તેની સાથે ભેગો ભળી ગયો છે, દાઉદે પ્રાર્થના કરી: “ઓ યહોવા, કૃપા કરીને અહીથોફેલની સલાહને નિરર્થક બનાવજે.”
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<v id="32" bcv="2SA.15.32" />દાઉદ ટેકરીના શિખર પર પહોંચ્યો જ્યાં તે દેવની ઉપાસના કરવા ઘણીવાર જતો હતો, ત્યાં તે તેના મિત્ર આકીર્ હૂશાયને મળ્યો. શોકમાં તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડી નાખ્યાં હતાં અને માંથા પર ધૂળ નાખી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="2SA.15.33" />દાઉદે તેને કહ્યું, “તું જો માંરી સાથે આવીશ તો મને ભારરૂપ થઈ પડીશ.
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<v id="34" bcv="2SA.15.34" />પણ જો તું નગરમાં જઈને આબ્શાલોમને કહે કે, ‘હું આપની સેવા કરીશ, મેં આપના પિતાની સેવા કરી હતી પરંતુ હવે હું આપની સેવા કરીશ.’ આ રીતે તું અહીથોફલની સલાહ નિરર્થક બનાવી દઇશ.
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<v id="35" bcv="2SA.15.35" />યાજક સાદોક અને અબ્યાથાર પણ ત્યાં તારી સાથે જ હશે. રાજાના મહેલમાં તું સાંભળે તે સર્વ અને સર્વ યોજનાઓ કરવામાં આવે, તેની જાણ તું તેઓને કહેતો રહેજે.
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<v id="36" bcv="2SA.15.36" />તેમની સાથે સાદોકનો પુત્ર અહીમાંઆસ અને અબ્યાથારનો પુત્ર યોનાથાન છે. તું જે કંઈ સાંભળે, તે તેમની માંરફતે મને પહોંચાડતો રહેજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="2SA.15.37" />તેથી આબ્શાલોમ યરૂશાલેમમાં દાખલ થતો હતો ત્યાં જ દાઉદનો મિત્ર હૂશાય પાછો નગરમાં આવ્યો.
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<s style="s">સીબા દાઉદને મળ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.16.1" />દાઉદ પર્વતના શિખરથી સહેજ આગળ ગયો ત્યાં તેને મફીબોશેથનો નોકર સીબા મળ્યો, તેની પાસે બે ગધેડાં હતાં, અને તેમનાં પર 200 સૂકી રોટલી, 100 દ્રાક્ષોવાળી મીઠી પાંઉરોટી, 100 ઉનાળાની ઋતુનાં ફળ અને એક બરણી ભરીને દાક્ષારસ હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.16.2" />સીબાને રાજાએ પૂછયું, “તું આ બધું શા માંટે લાવ્યો છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">સીબાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “આ ગધેડાં રાજાના કુટુંબના સભ્યો માંટે છે. રોટલી અને ઉનાળાની ઋતુનાં ફળ તમાંરા યુવાન નોકરો માંટે છે. અને આ દ્રાક્ષારસ તમાંરામાંથી જે કોઈને રણમાં નબળાઇ લાગે તેને પીવા માંટે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.16.3" />રાજાએ તેને સવાલ કર્યો, “તારા ધણી શાઉલનો પૌત્ર મફીબોશેથ કયાં છે?”
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<p style="p">સીબાએ કહ્યું, “તે યરૂશાલેમમાં રહે છે, કારણ, ‘તેને એમ લાગે છે કે, હવે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તેના દાદા શાઉલનું રાજય તેને પાછું આપશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.16.4" />રાજાએ સીબાને કહ્યું, “મફીબોશેથનું જે કંઈં છે તે બધું હવે તારું છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">સીબાએ કહ્યું, “ઓ પ્રભુ, માંરા રાજા, હું આપને પ્રણામ કરું છું. અને હું સદા આપને પ્રસન્ન કરતો રહું.”
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<s style="s">દાઉદને શિમઇનો શ્રાપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.16.5" />દાઉદ રાજા બાહૂરીમ પાસે પહોંચ્યો ત્યાં, તેઓને શાઉલના કુટુંબનો માંણસ ગેરાનો પુત્ર જેનું નામ શિમઈ હતું, તે તેઓને શાપ દેતો દેતો આગળ આવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.16.6" />દાઉદના બધા અગંરક્ષકોને દાઉદની ડાબી અને જમણી બાજુએ તેનું રક્ષણ કરવા ફરી વળ્યાં હતાં, કારણકે શિમઇએ દાઉદ અને તેના અમલદારો ઉપર પથ્થર ફેંકવાની કોશિષ કરી હતી.
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<v id="7" bcv="2SA.16.7" />તેણે દાઉદને અપશબ્દો કહ્યાં, “ઓ ખૂન કરનાર, લોહી તરસ્યા! અહીંથી ચાલ્યો જા!
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<v id="8" bcv="2SA.16.8" />તેં શાઉલનું રાજય લઇ લીધું છે. અને તેં જે ખૂન કર્યું અને દરેકને માંરી નાખ્યા; તેનો બદલો દેવ તારા ઉપર લઈ રહ્યા છે, તેથી યહોવાએ તારું રાજય લઇ લીધું અને તારા પુત્ર આબ્શાલોમને આપ્યું છે. ઓ ખૂની, તને તારા પાપોની સજા મળી રહી છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.16.9" />ત્યારે સરૂયાના પુત્ર અબીશાયે દાઉદને કહ્યું, “માંરા પ્રભુ માંરા રાજા, આપ આ મરેલા કૂતરાં જેવાને શા માંટે આપને શાપ આપવા દો છો? મને જઇને તેનું માંથું ધડથી જુદું કરવાની મંજૂરી આપો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2SA.16.10" />પરંતુ રાજાએ અબીશાય અને તેના ભાઈ યોઆબને કહ્યું, “ઓ સરૂયાના પુત્ર, તને શું થયું છે? જો તેઓને યહોવાએ કહ્યું હોય કે, ‘દાઉદને શાપ આપ,’ તો તમે એને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરવાવાળા કોણ છો? તું આમ શા માંટે કરે છે? અને કયા કારણથી?”
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<v id="11" bcv="2SA.16.11" />દાઉદે અબીશાયને અને બીજા બધા અમલદારોને કહ્યું, “જો માંરો સગો પુત્ર માંરો જીવ લેવા તૈયાર હોય તો આ બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહના માંણસને એમ કરવાનો વધુ અધિકાર છે. તેને મને શાપ આપવા દો. યહોવાએ તેને આમ કરવા કહ્યું છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2SA.16.12" />કદાચ યહોવા માંરા દુ:ખ સામે જોશે અને આજના આ શાપને બદલે મને આશીર્વાદ આપશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2SA.16.13" />આથી દાઉદ અને તેના માંણસોએ આગળ ચાલવા માંડયું અને શિમઈ નજીકની ટેકરીઓ પર ધારે ધારે તેઓની ઝડપે તેઓની સાથે થવા જ ચાલતો હતો અને ચાલતાં ચાલતાં તે દાઉદને શાપ આપતો જતો હતો, અને દાઉદ પર પથરા ફેંકતો હતો. અને ધૂળ ઉડાડતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.16.14" />રાજા અને તેના માંણસો યર્દન નદી પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે તેઓ સર્વ થાકી ગયા હતાં, આથી તેમણે ત્યાં વિશ્રામ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.16.15" />આબ્શાલોમ અને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યરૂશાલેમમાં પ્રવેશ કર્યો અને અહીથોફેલ તેમની સાથે આવ્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="2SA.16.16" />દાઉદનો મિત્ર આકીર્હૂશાય જયારે આબ્શાલોમને મળ્યો ત્યારે તેણે તેને કહ્યું, “નામદાર રાજા, ઘણું જીવો! નામદાર રાજા ઘણું જીવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.16.17" />પરંતુ આબ્શાલોમે તેને કહ્યું, “શું તારા મિત્ર પ્રત્યેની તારી આવી જ વફાદારી છે? તું તારા મિત્ર દાઉદ સાથે શા માંટે ન ગયો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.16.18" />હૂશાયે તેને જવાબ આપ્યો, “એ શી રીતે બને? જેને યહોવાએ, આ લોકોએ તથા ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ માંણસોએ પસંદ કર્યો, તેનો જ હું થઈશ, ને તેના જ પક્ષમાં હું રહીશ.
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<v id="19" bcv="2SA.16.19" />વળી, જો હું માંરા ધણીના પુત્રની સેવા ન કરું તો કોની સેવા કરવાનો હતો? મેં આપના પિતાની હજૂરમાં સેવા કરી હતી તેમ તારી હજૂરમાં પણ હું સેવા કરીશ.”
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<s style="s">આબ્શાલોમે અહીથોફેલની સલાહ લીધી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.16.20" />પછી આબ્શાલોમે અહીથોફેલને કહ્યું, “હવે આપણે શું કરવું તે વિષે તું મને તારી સલાહ આપ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.16.21" />અહીથોફેલે તેને કહ્યું, “આપના પિતા તેની થોડી ઉપપત્નીઓને મહેલમાં તેની સંભાળ લેવા માંટે મૂકી ગયા હતા, જાઓ અને તેમની આબરૂ લો. તેથી સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જાણ થશે કે, આપને આપના પિતા સાથે દુશ્મનાવટ છે. અને આપના ટેકેદારોને હિંમત મળશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.16.22" />તેથી તે લોકોએ મહેલની અગાસી ઉપર માંડવો કર્યો અને સૌ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના દેખતાં તે પોતાના પિતાની ઉપપત્નીઓ સાથે સૂતો.
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<v id="23" bcv="2SA.16.23" />તે સમયમાં અહિથોફલની સલાહ દેવનીવાણી જેવીજ માંનવામાં આવતી હતી. દાઉદ અને આબ્શાલોમ પણ અહીથોફેલની સલાહને એ જ પ્રમાંણે માંનતા હતાં.
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<s style="s">અહીથોફેલે દાઉદ વિષે સલાહ આપી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.17.1" />અહીથોફેલે આબ્શાલોમને કહ્યું, “આજે રાત્રે મને 12,000 માંણસો પસંદ કરવા દો. હું આજે રાત્રે જ દાઉદનો પીછો કરવા નીકળી પડીશ.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.17.2" />જયારે તે થાકેલો અને હતાશ હશે ત્યારે હું તેની પાસે જઇશ અને તેને ગભરાવીશ. અને તેના બધા માંણોસો ભાગી જશે અને હું જ રાજાને માંરી નાખીશ.
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<v id="3" bcv="2SA.17.3" />અને તેના બધા માંણસોને, તારી પાસે પાછા લાવીશ. તમાંરે તો ફકત એક જ માંણસને માંરવાનો છે, બીજા બધા સુરક્ષિત રહેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.17.4" />આબ્શાલોમ અને ઇસ્રાએલના આગેવાનોને આ સલાહ ગમી.
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<v id="5" bcv="2SA.17.5" />પછી આબ્શાલોમે કહ્યું, “આકીર્ હૂશાયને બોલાવો. આ યોજના સંબંધી તે શું વિચારે છે તે તેને પૂછો.”
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<s style="s">હૂશાયનો વિનાશ અહીથોફેલની સલાહ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.17.6" />હૂશાય આવ્યો એટલે આબ્શાલોમે તેને કહ્યું, “અહીથોફેલ કહે છે, તે મુજબ અમે કરીએ? જો તેમ કરવું યોગ્ય ના હોય તો પછી શું કરવું તે તું જ કહે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2SA.17.7" />હૂશાયે જવાબ આપ્યો, “આ વખતે અહીથોફેલે જે સલાહ આપી છે તે અયોગ્ય છે.”
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<v id="8" bcv="2SA.17.8" />તને ખબર છે કે, તારા પિતા અને તેના માંણસો બહુ હિંમતવાન છે. જેમ બચ્ચાં છીનવી લીધેલ જંગલી રીંછણ જોખમકારક બની જાય છે, તેવી જ રીતે તારા પિતા અને તેના માંણસો ભયાવહ છે. તારા પિતા એક અનુભવી યોદ્ધા છે, અને રાત્રે તે તેના લશ્કર સાથે રહેતા નથી.
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<v id="9" bcv="2SA.17.9" />આ સમયે તે કોઈ ગુફામાં કે ઊંડી સાંકડી ખીણમાં સંતાયેલો હશે. તે તેના સંતાઇ રહેવાના સ્થાનેથી અચાનક બહાર આવશે અને સૌથી પહેલા તારા માંણસો પર હુમલો કરશે પછી જે કોઇ આ વિષે સાંભળશે તેઓ કહેશે. “આબ્શાલોમના લોકોનો સંહાર થઈ રહ્યો છે.”
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<v id="10" bcv="2SA.17.10" />ત્યાર પછી સિંહ જેવા બહાદુર માંણસો પણ નિરાશ થઇ જશે. અને હાર માંની લેશે. કારણ આખું ઇસ્રાએલ જાણે છે કે તારા પિતા શૂરવીર યોદ્ધા છે અને તેના માંણસો પણ.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.17.11" />“તેથી માંરી સલાહ છે કે, દાનથી બેર-શેબા સુધીના સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તેઓ સૌને તું એકઠા કર. આમ સમુદ્રની રેતીની જેમ ઘણાં સૈનિકોથી તારું સૈન્ય વિશાળ થઇ જશે, અને પછી તારે જાતે જ યુદ્ધનાં લશ્કરની આગેવાની લેવી પડશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2SA.17.12" />દાઉદ જયાં હશે, ત્યાંથી આપણે તેને શોધી કાઢીશું. અને ઝાકળ જેમ જમીન પર પડે છે તેમ આપણે તેના ઉપર હુમલો કરીશું અને તેને કે તેના લશ્કરના એક પણ માંણસને આપણે જીવતો જવા નહિ દઈએ, અને દરેકને માંરી નાંખીશું.
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<v id="13" bcv="2SA.17.13" />અને જો કોઈ નગરમાં ભાગી ગયો હશે, તો સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ દોરડાં લઈ તેની દીવાલ તોડી પાડશે. અને તેઓને ખીણમાં ઘસડીને લઇ જશે અને એક નાની કાંકરીએ નગરમાં રહેવા નહિ પામે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.17.14" />ત્યારબાદ આબ્શાલોમે તથા ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ આગેવાનોએ કહ્યું, “હૂશાયની સલાહ અહીથોફેલની સલાહ કરતા વધારે સારી છે.” યહોવાએ અહીથોફેલની સારી સલાહને મીટાવી દેવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ હતું, જેથી દેવ આબ્શાલોમનું ખરાબ કરે.
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<s style="s">હૂશાયે દાઉદને ચેતવણી મોકલી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.17.15" />હૂશાયે યાજક સાદોક અને અબ્યાથારને કહ્યું, “અહીથોફેલ આબ્શાલોમને અને ઇસ્રાએલીના આગેવાનોને આ પ્રમાંણેની સલાહ આપી હતી, પણ મેં આ મુજબની સલાહ આપી હતી.
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<v id="16" bcv="2SA.17.16" />હૂશાયએ તેઓને કહ્યું, ઉતાવળ કરો, દાઉદને શોધી કાઢો અને તેને કહો જે સ્થળો ઓળંગીને લોકો રણમાં જાય છે ત્યાં આજે રાત્રે ન રહે એને કહો તે તાત્કાલિક યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી જાય, નહિ તો રાજા અને તેના સર્વ માંણસો માંર્યા જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.17.17" />યોનાથાન અને અહીમાંઆસ એન-રોગેલ પાસે થોભ્યા હતા, કારણ કે જો તેઓ શહેરમાં દાખલ થાય તો કોઈ જોઈ જાય એક દાસી જે કાંઇ બને તે તેમને જઈને કહેતી હતી અને ત્યારબાદ તેઓ જે કાંઇ બન્યું હોય તે રાજા દાઉદને જણાવતાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.17.18" />પરંતુ યોનાથાન અને અહીમાંઆસને એક છોકરો જોઈ ગયો અને તે આબ્શાલોમને કહેવા દોડી ગયો આથી એ બે જણા તાબડતોબ “બાહૂરીમ” પાસે એક માંણસને ઘેર ગયા. ત્યાં તેના ફળિયામાં એક કૂવો હતો, તેમાં તેઓ નીચે ઊતરી ગયાં.
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<v id="19" bcv="2SA.17.19" />તે માંણસની પત્નીએ કૂવા પર એક ચાદર પાથરી. અને તેના પર સૂકવવા અનાજ પાથરી દીધું, જેથી કોઈને કશી ખબર ન પડે.
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<v id="20" bcv="2SA.17.20" />આબ્શાલોમના અમલદારોએ ઘેર આવીને તે સ્ત્રીને પૂછયું, “અહીમાંઆસ અને યોનાથાન કયાં છે?”
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<p style="p">તે સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યુ. “તેઓ તો નદી ઓળંગીને ચાલ્યા ગયા છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">તે માંણસોએ તેમની શોધ કરી પણ સફળતા મળી નહિ, એટલે તેઓ યરૂશાલેમ પાછા ફર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.17.21" />તેમના ગયા પછી પેલા બે માંણસોએ કૂવામાંથી બહાર નીકળી રાજા દાઉદ પાસે જઈને કહ્યું, “ઝટ કરો, આજે રાત્રે જ યર્દન નદીની પાર જતા રહો!” અહીથોફેલે દાઉદને બંદીવાન કરી તેનો સંહાર કરવા જે સલાહ આપી હતી તે તેઓ તેને કહી સંભળાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.17.22" />આથી દાઉદ અને તેની સાથેના માંણસો યર્દન નદી ઓળંગવા લાગ્યા અને સૂર્યોદય થતાં પહેલાં બધા સામે પાર પહોંચી ગયા.
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<s style="s">અહીથોફેલે આત્મહત્યા કરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.17.23" />અહીથોફેલે જોયું કે પોતાની સલાહ માંનવામાં આવી ન હતી, ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના ગધેડા પર જીન બાંધ્યું અને પોતાના નગરમાં ગયો; પોતાના કુટુંબની વ્યવસ્થા કરીને પછી તે પોતાના ઘરમાં ગળે ફાંસો ખાઈને મરી ગયો. અને તેને તેના પિતાની કબર પાસે દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<s style="s">આબ્શાલોમે યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2SA.17.24" />તે પછી દાઉદ ઉતાવળથી માંહનાઈમ ગયો, તે દરમ્યાન આબ્શાલોમે ઇસ્રાએલના સમગ્ર પ્રજાજનો સાથે યર્દન ઓળંગી.
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<v id="25" bcv="2SA.17.25" />અને આબ્શાલોમે યોઆબની જગાએ અમાંસાને લશ્કરનો સેનાપતિ નીમ્યો. અમાંસા યિર્થા ઇસ્રાએલીનો પુત્ર હતો. તેની માં ઇસ્રાએલી હતી અને તેનું નામ અબીગાઈલ હતું. તે નાહાશની પુત્રી અને યોઆબની માં સરૂયાની બહેન હતી.
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<v id="26" bcv="2SA.17.26" />આબ્શાલોમ અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ગિલયાદના પ્રદેશમાં છાવણી નાખી.
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<s style="s">શોબી, માંખીર, બાઝિર્લ્લાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2SA.17.27" />જયારે દાઉદ મહાનાઈમ પહોંચ્યો ત્યારે તે રાબ્બાહના આમ્મોની નાહાશનો પુત્ર શોબીને લો દબારના આમ્મીએલનો પુત્ર માંખીર, તથા રોગલીમનો, ગિલયાદીના બાઝિર્લ્લાયને મળ્યો.
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<v id="28" bcv="2SA.17.28" />તેઓ ખાટલા, વાસણો, હાઁલ્લાં, ઘઉં, જવ, લોટ, અને ધાણી કઠોળ અને મસૂર,
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<v id="29" bcv="2SA.17.29" />મધ અને દહીં, ઘેટાં અને પનીર લઈને તેમને મળ્યા, અને આ બધું દાઉદને અને તેનાં મૅંણસોને ખાવા માંટે આપ્યું, તેઓને થયું કે, “એ લોકો રાનમાં ભૂખ્યાં-તરસ્યાં થયા હશે અને થાકી ગયાં હશે.”
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<c id="18" />
<s style="s">દાઉદે યદ્ધની તૈયારી કરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.18.1" />રાજા દાઉદે તેના લશ્કરની ગણતરી કરી. અને તેણે 1,000 માંણસો પર અને 100 માંણસો પરના પદવીધર અલગ અલગ નીમ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.18.2" />ત્યાર પછી તેણે સેનાને ત્રણ ભાગમાં વહેંચી નાખી, એક યોઆબના હાથ નીચે, બીજી યોઆબના ભાઈ અને સરૂયાના પુત્ર અબીશાયના હાથ નીચે અને ત્રીજી ગાથના ઇત્તાયના હાથ નીચે,
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<p style="p">પછી દાઉદે સેનાને ઉદ્દેશીને કહ્યું, “હું જાતે તમાંરી સાથે આવીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.18.3" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “ના, તમાંરે અમાંરી સાથે આવવાનું નથી, અમે પીછે હઠ કરીને નાશી જઈએ અને અમાંરામાંથી અડધા ભાગના માંર્યા જાય તો પણ આબ્શાલોમના માંણસોને અમાંરી કાંઇ પડી નથી, તેઓ તમાંરી પાછળ પડ્યાં છે અને તમે તો અમાંરા 10,000 માંણસોની બરાબર છો! તમે અહીં નગરમાં રહી જાવ તે વધારે સારું છે. તમે નગરમાં રહીને અમને મદદ મોકલતા રહો એ જ વધારે સારું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.18.4" />છેવટે રાજા દાઉદે કહ્યું, “તમને જેમ યોગ્ય લાગે તેમ હું કરીશ.”
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<p style="p">પછી તે દરવાજા પાસે ઊભો રહ્યો અને લશ્કર સો અને હજારની ટૂકડીમાં ગોઠવાઇ ગયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.18.5" />રાજાએ યોઆબ, અબીશાય અને ઇત્તાયને હુકમ કર્યો કે, “માંરે ખાતર તમે યુવાન આબ્શાલોમ સાથે નરમાંશથી બોલજો.” અને આખા લશ્કરે આ હુકમને સાંભળ્યો.
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<s style="s">દાઉદના સૈન્યે આબ્શાલોમના સૈન્યને હરાવ્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.18.6" />આ પ્રમાંણે દાઉદનું લશ્કર આબ્શાલોમની સેના સાથે યુદ્ધ કરવા મેદાને પડયું અને એફ્રાઈમના જંગલમાં યુદ્ધ જામ્યું.
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<v id="7" bcv="2SA.18.7" />દાઉદના સૈન્ય આગળ ઇસ્રાએલના સૈન્યની હાર થઈ. આબ્શાલોમના માંણસો હારી ગયા. એ હાર એવી ભંયકર હતી કે તે દિવસે 20,000 માંણસોએ પોતાના પ્રાણ ગુમાંવ્યા.
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<v id="8" bcv="2SA.18.8" />સમગ્ર વિસ્તારમાં યુદ્ધ ફેલાઈ ગયું પરંતુ તે દિવસે તરવારથી મરવા કરતાં જંગલમાં વધુ માંણસો મરી ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.18.9" />યુદ્ધના સમયે આબ્શાલોમનો દાઉદના કેટલાક અમલદારો સાથે ભેટો થઈ ગયો, અને તેણે ભાગવાની કોશિષ કરી. આબ્શાલોમ ગધેડા પર બેસીને જતો હતો, તે ગધેડો એક મોટા ઇમાંરતી કાષ્ઠના વૃક્ષની ઘટામાંથી પસાર થતો હતો. એવામાં આબ્શાલોમનું માંથું ડાળીઓમાં ભરાઈ ગયું. તે આકાશ અને જમીન વચ્ચે અદ્ધર લટકવા લાગ્યો અને ગધેડો આગળ ચાલી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2SA.18.10" />કોઈ એક માંણસની નજર તેના પર પડી. એટલે તેણે જઈને યોઆબને ખબર આપી, “મેં આબ્શાલોમને એક ઝાડે લટકતો જોયો હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.18.11" />યોઆબે કહ્યું, “ખરેખર તેં જોયો? તો પછી તેં તેને શા માંટે માંરી નાખ્યો નહિ? મેં તને દસ-ચાંદીના સિક્કા અને એક પટ્ટો આપ્યો હોત,”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2SA.18.12" />પેલા માંણસે કહ્યું, “તમે માંરા હાથમાં 1,000 ચાંદીના સિકકા મુકો તો પણ હું રાજાના કુંવર સામે આંગળી સરખી ઊંચી ન કરું; ‘કેમકે, અમાંરા સાંભળતા રાજાએ તને, અબીશાયને તથા ઇત્તાયને એવું કહ્યું હતું કે, ખબરદાર, જુવાન આબ્શાલોમને કોઇ હાથ અડકાડે નહિ.’
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<v id="13" bcv="2SA.18.13" />મેં જો આબ્શાલોમને માંર્યો હોત તો રાજાને તેની ખબર પડી હોત અને તમે પોતે જ માંરી વિરુદ્ધ થઇ ગયા હોત. માંરા ઉપર આરોપ મૂકવામાં તમે પહેલા હોત.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.18.14" />યોઆબે કહ્યું, “માંરી પાસે તારી સાથે નિરર્થક વાતોની ચર્ચા કરવાનો સમય નથી.”
</p>
<p style="p">એમ કહીને તેણે ત્રણ ભાલા લીધા અને ઝાડે લટકતાં અને હજી જીવતા રહેલા આબ્શાલોમની છાતીમાં ભોંકી દીધા.
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<v id="15" bcv="2SA.18.15" />પછી યોઆબના દસ અંગરક્ષકોએ આબ્શાલોમને ઘેરી લઈ, ઘા કરીને તેને પૂરો કર્યો,
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<v id="16" bcv="2SA.18.16" />પછી યોઆબે યુદ્ધનું રણશિંગડું વગાડી લશ્કરને ઇસ્રાએલીના લશ્કરનો પીછો કરતા રોક્યું. તેથી તેઓ પાછા ફર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.18.17" />તેઓએ આબ્શાલોમના શબને લઈને જંગલમાં એક ખાડામાં ફેંકી દીધું.
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<p style="p">અને તેની ઉપર ઘણાં બધાં પથ્થરો મૂક્યાં, બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પોતાને ઘેર જતા રહ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.18.18" />પોતાના જીવન દરમ્યાન આબ્શાલોમે રાજાઓની ખીણમાં સ્માંરક સ્તંભ ઊભો કર્યો હતો. કારણ, તેને એમ થયું હતું કે, “માંરું નામ રાખવા માંટે મને પુત્ર તો છે નહિ.” આથી તે સ્તંભને તેણે પોતાનું નામ આપ્યું હતું; અને આજે પણ તે “આબ્શાલોમના સ્માંરક” તરીકે ઓળખાય છે.
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<s style="s">યોઆબે દાઉદને સમાંચાર મોકલ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2SA.18.19" />ત્યારબાદ સાદોકના પુત્ર અહીમાંઆસે કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ રાજાના શત્રુ આબ્શાલોમથી તેનું રક્ષણ કર્યું છે, આ શુભ સમાંચાર કહેવાને મને રાજા દાઉદ પાસે દોડતો જવા દો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.18.20" />યોઆબે તેને કહ્યું, “આજે તારે ખબર કહેવા જવાનું નથી, જવું હોય તો કોઈ બીજા દિવસે જજે; આજે તો નહિ જ, કારણ, રાજકુમાંરનું અવસાન થયું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.18.21" />ત્યારબાદ યોઆબે એક કૂશીને કહ્યું, “તું જા, અને તેં જે જોયું છે તે રાજાને કહેજે.”
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<p style="p">તે ગુલામ યોઆબને પ્રણામ કરીને રાજાને કહેવા દોડ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.18.22" />પણ સાદોકના પુત્ર અહીમાંઆસે યોઆબને વિનંતી કરી અને “તેને વિનંતી કરવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું, જે થવાનું હોય તે થાય માંરે કૂશીની પાછળ જવું જ છે અને રાજાને મળવું છે.”
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<p style="p">યોઆબે પૂછયું, “તારે શા માંટે જવું જોઈએ? તને કંઈ ઇનામ નહિ મળે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.18.23" />અહીમાંઆસ ફરી બોલ્યો, “જે થવાનું હોય તે થાય, હું તો જવાનો જ.”
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<p style="p">યોઆબે કહ્યું, “તો જા.”
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<p style="p">આથી તે યર્દનના કાંઠાને રસ્તે દોડવા લાગ્યો અને કૂસીની આગળ નીકળી ગયો.
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<s style="s">દાઉદે સમાંચાર સાંભળ્યાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2SA.18.24" />દાઉદ નગરના બે દરવાજા વચ્ચે બેઠો હતો. ચોકીદાર નગરના કોટ ઉપર ચઢી ગયો તેણે જોયું, તો જુઓ એક મૅંણસ એકલો દોડતો આવતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2SA.18.25" />રાજાએ કહ્યું, “જો તે મૅંણસ એકલો હોય તો ખબર લઈને આવે છે.” દોડનાર મૅંણસ નધ્કને નધ્ક આવતો જતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2SA.18.26" />ત્યારે ચોકીદારે જોયું કે બીજો એક મૅંણસ પણ દોડતો આવતો હતો, તેણે બૂમ પૅંડીને દરવાનને સમાંચાર આપ્યા, એટલે રાજાએ કહ્યું, “એ પણ ખબર લઈને આવે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2SA.18.27" />ચોકીદારે કહ્યું, “પ્રથમ મૅંણસ સાદોકના પુત્ર અહીમાંઆસ જેવો લાગે છે.”
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<p style="p">રાજાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “તે સારો મૅંણસ છે, અને સારા સમાંચાર લઈને આવે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2SA.18.28" />અહીમાંઆસે બૂમ પૅંડીને રાજાને કહ્યું, “બધુઁ ઠીક છે,” રાજાની આગળ સાષ્ટાંગ દંડવત્ત પ્રણામ કરીને તેણે કહ્યું, “માંરા ધણી માંરા રાજા, તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાને ધન્ય હોજો, જેઓએ આપની સામે બળવો પોકારનારાઓને હરાવી દીધા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2SA.18.29" />રાજાએ પૂછયું, “જુવાન આબ્શાલોમ સુરક્ષિત તો છે ને?”
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<p style="p">અહીમાંઆસે જવાબ આપ્યો, “યોઆબે મને મોકલ્યો ત્યારે ત્યાં ખૂબ લડાઇ અને ભાગદોડ થતી હતી, પણ પદ્ધી શું થયું એની મને ખબર નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2SA.18.30" />રાજાએ કહ્યું, “એક બાજુ ખસીને થોડી વાર ઊભો રહે.” આથી તે ખસીને એક બાજુએ ઊભો રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2SA.18.31" />પદ્ધી પેલા કૂશીએ આવીને કહ્યું, “ઓ, પ્રભુ આપને માંટે શુભ સમાંચાર છે! જે મૅંણસે આપની સામે બળવો પોકાર્યો હતો, તે આપણા દેવ યહોવાની મદદથી હારી ગયો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="2SA.18.32" />પદ્ધી રાજાએ તે કૂશીને કહ્યું “શું આબ્શાલોમ સુરક્ષિત નથી?”
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<p style="p">દોડનારે જવાબ આપ્યો, “આપના બધા દુશ્મનોના અને આપની સામે બળવો પોકારનાર એ આ મૅંણસ જેવા થાઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="2SA.18.33" />પદ્ધી રાજા બહુ જ ગુસ્સે થયો, તે નગરના દરવાજા પરની ઓરડી પર ગયો, તેની આંખો આંસથી ભરાઇ આવી, તે રડવા લાગ્યો. અને જતાં જતાં તે બોલ્યો, “ઓ માંરા પુત્ર આબ્શાલોમ! માંરા પુત્ર, ઓ માંરા પુત્ર આબ્શાલોમ! તારા બદલે હું જો મૃત્યુ પામ્યો હોત તો કેવું સારું! ઓ આબ્શાલોમ, માંરા પુત્ર! માંરા પુત્ર!”
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<s style="s">યોઆબે દાઉદને ઠપકો આપ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.19.1" />રાજા દાઉદ આબ્શાલોમ માંટે વિલાપ કરતાં કરતાં શોકમાં ડૂબી ગયો તેની જાણ યોઆબને થઈ ગઈ.
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<v id="2" bcv="2SA.19.2" />તે દિવસે દાઉદનું સૈન્ય યુદ્ધ જીતી ગયું હતું. પણ સર્વ લોકો માંટે જીતનો આનંદ દુ:ખમાં ફેરવાઇ ગયો હતો. આ એક ખૂબ જ ઉદાસ દિવસ હતો કારણકે લોકોએ સાંભળ્યું કે, “રાજા પોતાના પુત્ર માંટે ઘણો જ દુ:ખી હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.19.3" />સૈન્યના માંણસો જાણે કે યુદ્ધમાં પરાજય પામવાથી શરમાંતા હોય તેમ છાનામાંના નગરમાં ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<v id="4" bcv="2SA.19.4" />રાજા પોતાના હાથ વડે પોતાનું મુખ ઢાંકીને વિલાપ કર્યા કરતો હતો. “ઓ માંરા પુત્ર આબ્શાલોમ! ઓ આબ્શાલોમ, માંરા પુત્ર, માંરા પુત્ર!”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.19.5" />પછી યોઆબ રાજાના મહેલમાં ગયો અને કહ્યું, “આજે આપે આપના અમલદારોનું અપમાંન કર્યું છે, જેમણે તમાંરો જીવ અને તમાંરા પુત્રોના અને પુત્રીઓના, આપની પત્નીઓના અને ઉપપત્નીઓના પ્રાણ બચાવ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="6" bcv="2SA.19.6" />અમને લાગે છે કે આપના ઉપર જેઓ પ્રેમ રાખે છે તેમને આપ ધિક્કારો છો, અને જેઓ આપને ધિક્કારે છે તેમના ઉપર આપ પ્રેમ રાખો છો. આપે એ સ્પષ્ટ બતાવી આપ્યું છે કે સેનાપતિઓની અને લડાયકોની આપને કશી કિંમત નથી. હુ સ્પષ્ટ જોઉં છું કે જો આજ આબ્શાલોમ જીવતો હોત અને અમે બધા મરી ગયા હોત તો આપ રાજી થયા હોત.
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<v id="7" bcv="2SA.19.7" />હવે જાવ અને આપના સૈનિકોને પ્રોત્સાહન આપો, કારણ, આપ, જો તેમ નહિ કરો તો હું યહોવાના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે, સવાર સુધીમાં કોઇ આપની સાથે હશે નહિ, એ આપના જીવનની મોટામાં મોટી આફત શરૂ થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.19.8" />પછી રાજા ઊઠયો અને નગરના દરવાજા આગળ જઈને બેઠો, પછી લોકોને ખબર પડી કે તે ત્યાં છે તો લોકો રાજાની પાસે આવ્યાં.
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<s style="s">દાઉદ ફરી રાજા બન્યો
</s>
<p style="p">દરમ્યાનમાં આબ્શાલોમના અનુયાયીઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પોતાને ઘેર ભાગી ગયા.
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<v id="9" bcv="2SA.19.9" />સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ એકબીજાને ચર્ચા કરતા હતા અને કહેતા હતા કે, “રાજાએ આપણને શત્રુઓના હાથમાંથી પણ બચાવ્યા, અને પલિસ્તીઓના હાથમાંથી બચાવ્યા હવે આબ્શાલોમને કારણે તે આપણને છોડી જાય છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="2SA.19.10" />આપણે આબ્શાલોમનો રાજ્યાભિષેક કર્યો પણ તે તો યુદ્ધમાં માંર્યો ગયો છે, તેથી પાછા આવીને ફરીથી આપણો રાજા બનવા માંટે આપણે દાઉદને વિનંતી કરીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.19.11" />દાઉદરાજાએ સાદોક અને આબ્યાથાર યાજકોને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો. “આમ કહેતો કે યહૂદાના આગેવાનો સાથે વાત કરી તેઓને કહો, ‘રાજાને ફરીથી મહેલમાં લાવવામાં કુળસમૂહમાં તમે સૌથી છેલ્લા કેમ છો? સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ રાજાને ઘરે લાવવાની વાતો કરે છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2SA.19.12" />તમે તો માંરા ભાઈઓ છો, માંરું જ લોહી અને માંરું જ માંસ છો. રાજાને પાછો લાવવામાં તમે શા માંટે સૌથી છેલ્લા છો?’
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<v id="13" bcv="2SA.19.13" />અને અમાંસાને કહો કે, ‘તમે માંરા સગા સંબંધી છો. હું તને યોઆબને સ્થાને લશ્કરનો સેનાપતિ નિયુકત કરું છું; જો ના નિયુકત કરું તો દેવ મને શિક્ષા કરો.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.19.14" />આ રીતે તેણે યહૂદાના લોકોના સર્વ કોઈનાં હૃદય જીતી લીધાં અને તેઓએ સૌએ સાથે રાજાને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “આપ અને આપના બધા માંણસોએ પાછા આવવું જ જોઇશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.19.15" />આથી રાજા પાછો ફર્યો, અને યર્દન નદી આગળ આવી પહોંચ્યો. યહૂદાના લોકો તેને મળવા માંટે અને નદીને સામે પાર લઈ જવા માંટે ગિલ્ગાલ આવ્યા.
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<s style="s">શિમઇએ દાઉદની માંફી માંગી
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2SA.19.16" />ત્યાર પછી બાહૂરીમનો બિન્યામીનકુળનો ગેરાનો પુત્ર શિમઈ યહૂદાના લોકો સાથે રાજા દાઉદને મળવા આવ્યો અને જલ્દીથી ત્યાં પહોંચી ગયો.
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<v id="17" bcv="2SA.19.17" />તેઓની સાથે બિન્યામીનકુળના 1,000 માંણસો હતા, તેઓમાં શાઉલનો સેવક સીબા, તેના 15 પુત્રો, અને 20 સેવકો પણ તેની સાથે હતા. તેઓ તેઓના રાજાના આગમન માંટે ઝડપભેર યર્દન નદીના કિનારા પર પહોંચી ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.19.18" />તેઓએ રાજાના કુટુંબને તથા તેના સૈન્યને નદી પાર કરાવવા સખત પરિશ્રમ કર્યો અને શકય તેટલી સહાય કરી. રાજા નદી ઓળંગવાની તૈયારી કરતો હતો ત્યારે શિમઈ તેમને પગે પડયો.
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<v id="19" bcv="2SA.19.19" />તેણે રાજાને વિનંતી કરી અને કહ્યું, “ઓ પ્રભુ માંરા ખોટા કાર્યોને જ્યારે આપ યરૂશાલેમ છોડી ગયા, ત્યારે મેં જે ખરાબ કાર્યો કર્યા હતા, તે કૃપા કરી સંભારશો નહિ, ને તેના વિષે વિચાર કરશો નહિ.
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<v id="20" bcv="2SA.19.20" />કારણ, મેં પાપ કર્યુ છે તે હું તમાંરો સેવક જાણું છું, તેથી જ માંરા દેવ અને રાજા આજે યૂસફના કૂળમાંથી તમને મળવા માંટે સૌથી પહેલા હું અહીં આવ્યો છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.19.21" />સરૂયાના પુત્ર અબીશાયે કહ્યું, “દેવના પસંદ કરેલા રાજાને શિમઈએ શાપ આપ્યો છે, શું આ માંટે તેને માંરી નાખવો જોઈએ નહિ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.19.22" />ત્યારે દાઉદે કહ્યું, “ઓ સરૂયાના પુત્રો, આજે માંરી સામે આવશો નહિ! આજનો દિવસ લોકોને મૃત્યુદંડ ફરમાંવવા માંટેનો નહિ પણ ખુશી અને આનંદિત થવાનો છે. હું ફરી એક વાર ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બન્યો છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.19.23" />પછી દાઉદે શિમઈ તરફ ફરીને પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી, “હું તને જીવનદાન આપું છું.” અને રાજાએ તેને સમ ખાઈને વચન આપ્યું.
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<s style="s">મફીબોશેથ દાઉદને મળવા ગયો
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2SA.19.24" />શાઉલનો પૌત્ર મફીબોશેથ પણ રાજાને મળવા ગયો હતો, રાજા યરૂશાલેમ છોડીને ગયા તે દિવસથી, તે જીત મેળવીને પાછા ન ફરે ત્યાં સુધી, તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્રો કે પગ ધોયાઁ નહોતાં, કે દાઢી પણ વ્યવસ્થિત રીતે કરી નહોતી.
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<v id="25" bcv="2SA.19.25" />અને જ્યારે તે યરૂશાલેમના રાજાને મળવા આવ્યો, રાજાએ તેને પૂછયું, “મફીબોશેથ, તું માંરી સાથે કેમ આવ્યો નહિ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2SA.19.26" />તેણે કહ્યું, “હે માંરા પ્રભુ અને રાજા, માંરા સેવક સીબાએ મને દગો દીધો. હું લંગડો છું એટલે મેં તેને કહ્યું, ‘માંરા ગધેડા પર જીન નાખ, માંરે રાજા સાથે જવું છે.’
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<v id="27" bcv="2SA.19.27" />પરંતુ પછી માંરો સેવક જ તમને મળવા આવ્યો, અને તમને માંરા વિષે દુષ્ટ વાતો કરી છે. હું જાણું છું કે તમે દેવદૂત જેવા છો, આપને યોગ્ય લાગે તેમ કરો.
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<v id="28" bcv="2SA.19.28" />હું અને માંરા પિતાનું આખું કુટુંબ આપ નામદારના હાથે મૃત્યુદંડને પાત્ર હતા, પરંતુ આપે આ સેવકને આપની સાથે પોતાની મેજ પર ભોજન લેનારાઓ સાથે બેસાડીને માંન આપ્યું છે. તેથી હું તમને કઈ રીતે ફરિયાદ કરી શકું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2SA.19.29" />દાઉદે કહ્યું, “હવે તમાંરે વધુ કહેવાની જરૂર નથી. મેં નિર્ણય કર્યો છે કે, હું તારી અને સીબાની વચ્ચે શાઉલની બધી મિલકત વહેંચી દઇશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2SA.19.30" />મફીબોશેથે કહ્યું, “ભલે તે બધી મિલકત લેતો. આપ નામદાર સુરક્ષિત પાછા આવ્યા, એ જ માંરે મન પૂરતું છે.”
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<s style="s">દાઉદે બાઝિર્લ્લાયને પોતાની સાથે આવવાનું કહ્યું
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2SA.19.31" />ગિલયાદનો બાઝિર્લ્લાય પણ રોગલીમથી રાજાને યર્દન નદી પાર પહોંચાડવાને આવી પહોંચ્યો.
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<v id="32" bcv="2SA.19.32" />બાઝિર્લ્લાય એંસી વર્ષનો ખૂબ વૃદ્વ માંણસ હતો, ધનવાન માંણસ હતો, અને તેણે રાજાને તથા તેના લશ્કરને રાજાના માંહનાઈમના મુકામ દરમ્યાન ખોરાક અને બીજી જરૂરિયાતની વસ્તુઓ પૂરી પાડી હતી.
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<v id="33" bcv="2SA.19.33" />રાજાએ તેને કહ્યું, “માંરી સાથે યર્દન નદીની પેલે પાર યરૂશાલેમમાં રહે અને હું તારું પોષણ કરીશ અને સંભાળ લઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="2SA.19.34" />બાઝિર્લ્લાયે કહ્યું, “હવે માંરે કેટલાં વર્ષ કાઢવાનાં છે કે આપની સાથે યરૂશાલેમ આવું!
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<v id="35" bcv="2SA.19.35" />અત્યારે મને 80 વર્ષ તો થઇ ગયા. હું હવે કશું કરી શકતો નથી, સારું કે ખરાબ શું એ કહેવા માંટે હું ખૂબ વૃદ્ધ છું. ખાવાપીવાનો સ્વાદ અને આનંદ લેવા માંટે હું ખૂબ ઘરડો છું. અને ગાયકોને ગીતગાતાં સાંભળવાનો આનંદ માંણવા માંટે પણ હું ખુબ વૃદ્ધ છું. શું કરવા તો પછી તમને ભારરૂપ બની અને તમાંરી સાથે આવું?
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<v id="36" bcv="2SA.19.36" />અને આપે મને આવો બદલો શા માંટે આપવો જોઈએ? તમાંરી સાથે નદી પાર કરું તે જ માંરા માંટે મોટું સન્માંન છે.
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<v id="37" bcv="2SA.19.37" />મને માંરા નગરમાં પાછો જવા દો ત્યાં માંરાં માંતાપિતાને મેં દફનાવ્યાં છે. હું રહીશ અને માંરા બાકીના વષોર્ તેમની કબર આગળ પૂરા કરીશ; ને ત્યાં જ મૃત્યુ પામીશ. માંરો સેવક કિમ્હામ ભલે તમાંરી સાથે આવે. અને આપને જેમ ઠીક લાગે તેમ એનું કરજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="2SA.19.38" />રાજાએ તે મંજૂર રાખીને કહ્યું, “ભલે, કિમ્હામ માંરી સાથે આવે અને મેં તારા માંટે જે સારું હશે તે જ તેને માંટે કરીશ અને તમે જે કાંઇ કહેશો, તે હું તમાંરા માંટે કરીશ.”
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<s style="s">દાઉદ ઘરે પાછો ગયો
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="2SA.19.39" />પછી રાજા અને તેના લોકો યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી ગયા. બાઝિર્લ્લાયને મળ્યા બાદ રાજાએ તેને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા, અને બાઝિર્લ્લાય પાછો પોતાને નગર ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="2SA.19.40" />રાજા ગિલ્ગાલ ગયા અને કિમ્હામ રાજા સાથે ગયો. યહૂદાના બધા લોકો અને ઇસ્રાએલના અડધા લોકો પણ તેઓ સાથે ગયા અને નદી પાર આવ્યા.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યહૂદાના લોકો વિરુદ્ધ દલીલ કરી
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="2SA.19.41" />ત્યાર પછી ઇસ્રાએલના બાકીના બધા લોકો રાજા પાસે ગયા અને તેમને વિનંતી કરી, “અમાંરા ભાઈઓ યહૂદાના લોકોએ આપને છાનામાંના લઈ જઇને આપને, આપના પરિવારને અને આપનાં બધાં લશ્કરને શા માંટે નદી પાર લઇ આવ્યા?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="2SA.19.42" />યહુદાના લોકોએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જવાબ આપ્યો, “આ માંટે તમે અમાંરી પર ગુસ્સે કેમ થાઓ છો? રાજા અમાંરા નજીકના સગા છે. અમે રાજાના ખચેર્ ખાવાનું ખાધું નથી અને રાજાએ અમને કોઈ ભેટસોગાદો આપી નથી?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="2SA.19.43" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “અમાંરો રાજા ઉપર દસગણો વધારે હક્ક છે. તમે શા માંટે અમાંરી અવગણના કરી? રાજાને પાછો લાવવા વિષે વાત કરવાવાળા અમે પ્રથમ લોકો હતા.”
</p>
<p style="p">યહૂદાના લોકોએ કઠોરતાથી જવાબ આપ્યો, તેઓના શબ્દો ઇસ્રાએલીઓના શબ્દો કરતાં વધારે કઠોર હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">શેબાનો દાઉદ વિરુદ્ધ બળવો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.20.1" />બિખ્રીને શેબા નામે એક પુત્ર હતો, જે એક બિન્યામીની હતો, અને દુષ્ટ અને સંતાપ આપનાર હતો, તેણે દાઉદ સામે રણશિંગું ફૂંકીને કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દાઉદ સાથે અમાંરે કોઇ સંબંધ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યશાઇના પુત્ર સાથે અમાંરે કોઇ સંબંધ નથી!
</q>
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, તમે સૌ તમાંરે ઘેર જાઓ!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2SA.20.2" />આથી ઇસ્રાએલના બધા લોકો દાઉદને છોડીને બિખ્રીના પુત્ર શેબાની સાથે ગયા. પરંતુ યહૂદાના લોકો રાજાની સાથે રહ્યા અને તેની સાથે યર્દનથી યરૂશાલેમ ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.20.3" />દાઉદ યરૂશાલેમમાં પોતાના મહેલમાં ગયો, ત્યાં તેને દસ ઉપપત્નીઓ હતી જેને મહેલને વ્યવસ્થિત રાખવા માંટે રાખી હતી અને મહેલનો ચોકીપહેરો કરવા રાખી હતી. તેણે તેમનું ભરણપોષણ કર્યું અને તેઓને ખોરાક અને કપડાં આપ્યા, પણ કદી તેમની સાથે સૂતો નહિ, તેના મૃત્યુ પર્યંત તેણે તેઓને છતે પતિએ વિધવાની જેમ મહેલમાં રાખી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.20.4" />પછી રાજાએ અમાંસાને કહ્યું, “યહૂદાના માંણસોને લડવા માંટે ભેગા કર, અને ત્રણ દિવસમાં માંરી સમક્ષ પાછો હાજર થઈ જા.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.20.5" />તેથી અમાંસા યહૂદાના માંણસોને બોલાવવા ગયો; પણ તેને રાજાએ ઠરાવેલી મુદત કરતા પાછા ફરવામાં વિલંબ થયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદે અબીશાયને શેબાની હત્યા કરવાનુ કહ્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.20.6" />તેથી દાઉદે અબીશાયને કહ્યું, “હવે બિખ્રીનો પુત્ર શેબા આપણને આબ્શાલોમ કરતાં વધુ હેરાન કરશે. માંરા અંગરક્ષકોને લઈને તેનો પીછો કર, નહિ તો તે કિલ્લેબંધીવાળાં નગરોમાં પહોંચી જશે. અને આપણા હાથમાંથી છટકી જશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2SA.20.7" />આથી યોઆબના માંણસો, રાજાના અંગરક્ષકો અને બધા યોદ્ધાઓ અબીશાયની સાથે બિખ્રીના પુત્ર શેબાનો પીછો કરવા યરૂશાલેમથી બહાર નીકળ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યોઆબે અમાંસાની હત્યા કરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.20.8" />જયારે તેઓ ગિબયોનમાં મહાશિલા આગળ પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે તેમને અમાંસાનો ભેટો થયો. યોઆબે યુદ્ધનો વેશ ધારણ કર્યો હતો અને તેની ઉપર તેણે પટ્ટો ચડાવી તેમાં મિયાન સાથે તરવાર લટકાવી હતી, તે જરા આગળ વધ્યો એટલામાં તરવાર પડી ગઈ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2SA.20.9" />યોઆબે અમાંસાને કહ્યું, “કેમ માંરા ભાઈ, કુશળ તો છે ને?” અને તેને ચુંબન કરવા માંટે તેણે તેનો જમણા હાથ લંબાવી તેણે તેની દાઢી પકડી.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2SA.20.10" />પણ યોઆબના હાથમાંની તરવાર વિષે અમાંસા સાવધાન ન હતો. યોઆબે તેના પેટમાં તરવારથી ઘા કર્યો એટલે તેનાં આંતરડાં જમીન પર પડ્યા, તરત જ તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. યોઆબને બીજો ઘા કરવાની જરૂર પડી નહિ,
</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદના માંણસોએ શેબાની શોધખોળ કરી
</s>
<p style="p">ત્યારબાદ યોઆબ અને તેનો ભાઈ અબીશાય બિખ્રીના પુત્ર શેબા પાછળ પડયા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="2SA.20.11" />યોઆબના માંણસોમાંના એકે અમાંસાના શબ પાસે ઊભા રહીને પોકાર કર્યો, “જેઓ યોઆબ અને દાઉદના પક્ષમાં હોય, તેઓ બધા યોઆબ સાથે જાય!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2SA.20.12" />પરંતુ લોહીથી તરબોળ અમાંસા વચ્ચે પડયો હતો. યોઆબના યુવાન સૈનિકે જોયું કે અમાંસાના શબને જોવા માંટે લોકોનું ટોળું એકત્ર થઈ ગયું હતું, તેથી તેણે તેના શબને રસ્તા પરથી લઇને ખેતરમાં મૂક્યું અને તેના ઉપર ચાદર ઢાંકી દીધી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2SA.20.13" />અમાંસાને રસ્તા ઉપરથી ખસેડી નાખ્યા પછી બધા લોકો યોઆબની પાછળ તેની સાથે જોડાવા અને બિખ્રીના પુત્ર શેબાનો પીછો કરવા ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શેબા આબેલ-બેથ-માંઅખાહથી બચી નીકળ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.20.14" />શેબા ઇસ્રાએલના બધા કુળો પાસે થઈને રસ્તામાં આવતા આબેલ-બેથ-માંઅખાહ પાસે ગયો અને ત્યાં બિખ્રીઓના કુટુંબના બધા મૅંણસો તેની આસપાસ એકઠા થઈ ગયા અને તેની પાછળ નગરમાં ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.20.15" />યોઆબનું લશ્કર આવી પહોંચ્યું, અને તેઓએ આબેલ-બેથ-માંઅખાહને ઘેરી લીધું. નગરની દીવાલની સામે કચરાનો ઢગલો ઉભો કર્યો અને નગરની દીવાલને તોડી પૅંડવા માંટે દીવાલમાંથી પથ્થરો તોડવાનું શરું કર્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2SA.20.16" />ત્યારે શહેરની એક ચતુર સ્ત્રીએ કોટ ઉપર ઊભા રહીને બૂમ પૅંડીને કહ્યું, “સાંભળો, સાંભળો યોઆબને કહો કે અહીં આવે, માંરે તેની સૅંથે વાત કરવી છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.20.17" />આથી યોઆબ આગળ આવ્યો અને પેલી સ્ત્રીએ તેને પૂછયું, “તમે યોઆબ છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હા, હું યોઆબ છું.”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “તો કૃપા કરીને માંરી વાત સાંભળો.”
</p>
<p style="p">યોઆબે કહ્યું, “હું સાંભળું છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.20.18" />તેથી તેણે કહ્યું, “જૂના જમાંનામાં લોકો એમ કહેતા કે, ‘મદદ માંટે આબેલ જાઓ અને તે તમને મળશે.’
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="2SA.20.19" />આ શહેરના ઘણા વિશ્વાસુ અને શાંત મૅંણસોમાંની હું એક છું. તમે ઇસ્રાએલનું એક મોટું અને મહત્વના શહેરનો નાશ કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરી રહ્યા છો. શા માંટે તમે યહોવાની મિલકતનો નાશ કરવા માંગો છો?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.20.20" />યોઆબે કહ્યું, “ના, ના, માંરો એવો ઇરાદો હોય જ નહિ, માંરે તમાંરા શહેરનો નાશ કરવો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="2SA.20.21" />વાત એમ નથી. પણ એફ્રાઇમના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશનો એક મૅંણસ, બિખ્રીનો પુત્ર શેબા છે, તેણે રાજા દાઉદ સામે બળવો કર્યો છે, તે મૅંણસ અમને સોંપી દો એટલે હું તમાંરા નગરનો ઘેરો ઉઠાવી લઈને નગરને શાંતિમાં રહેવા દઈશ.”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે પેલી સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “જો એમ હોય તો તેનું માંથું અમે કોટ ઉપરથી તમાંરા તરફ નાખીશું,”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.20.22" />પદ્ધી તે સ્ત્રી પોતાની ચતુરાઈથી સર્વ લોકો પાસે ગઈ અને તેમને સમજાવ્યાં. તેમણે શેબાનું માંથું કાપી નાખ્યું અને કોટ પરથી યોઆબ તરફ ફેંકયું.
</p>
<p style="p">પદ્ધી તેણે રણશિંગડું ફૂંકાવ્યું અને આખા લશ્કરે ઘેરો ઉઠાવી લધો, અને સૌ પોતપોતાને ઘેર પાછા ગયા, પદ્ધી યોઆબ રાજા પાસે પાછો યરૂશાલેમ ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદના લોક સેવકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.20.23" />યોઆબ લશ્કરનો સેનાપતિ હતો. યહોયાદાનો પુત્ર બનાયા રાજાના અંગરક્ષકોનો નાયક હતો.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="2SA.20.24" />અદોરામ લોકો પાસે વેઠ કરાવવા માંટે જવાબદાર હતો. અહીલૂદનો પુત્ર યહોશાફાટ ઐતિહાસીક બનાવોની નોધ રાખનાર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="2SA.20.25" />શેવા મંત્રી હતો, અને સાદોક અને અબ્યૅંથાર યાજકો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="2SA.20.26" />અને યાઈરનો ઈરા દાઉદનો મુખ્ય સેવક<f caller="+"><fr>20:26
</fr><fk>મુખ્ય સેવક
</fk><ft>આનો શબ્દશ: અર્થ, “યાજક થાય છે.”</ft></f> હતો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">શાઉલના કુળનો વિનાશ અને અંત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.21.1" />દાઉદના શાસનકાળ દરમ્યાન ત્રણ વર્ષ સુધી દેશમાં દુષ્કાળ પડયો, આથી દાઉદે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી અને યહોવાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “શાઉલ અને તેના ખૂનીઓના કુટુંબ<f caller="+"><fr>21:1
</fr><fk>ખૂનીઓના કુટુંબ
</fk><ft>અર્થ “લોહી નું ઘર” થાય છે.</ft></f> આ કુળ માંટે કારણરુપ છે, કારણ તેણે ગિબયોનીઓની હત્યા કરી હતી.”
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2SA.21.2" />તેથી રાજા દાઉદે ગિબયોનના લોકોને બોલાવ્યા, તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના પુત્રો નહોતાં પણ તેઓ ત્યાં રહેતા બીજા અમોરીઓના પુત્રો હતાં. ઇસ્રાએલપુત્રોએ તેઓનો નાશ નહિ કરવા માંટે પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી હતી, પણ શાઉલને ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદા માંટે ઊંડી લાગણી હતી તેથી તેણે તેઓનો વિનાશ કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.21.3" />આથી દાઉદે ગિબયોનના લોકોને બોલાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “હું તમાંરા માંટે શું કરું? હું કેવું પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરું તો તમે યહોવાના લોકો અમાંરા માંટે પ્રાર્થના કરો કે, દેવ અમને આશીર્વાદ આપે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.21.4" />“તેમણે અમાંરા માંટે જે કર્યુ છે તેના બદલા તરીકે સોનું અને ચાંદી શાઉલના કુટુંબ માંટે પૂરતા નથી અને અમને ઇસ્રાએલના કોઇ પણ માંણસને માંરી નાખવાનો અધિકાર નથી.”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે દાઉદે કહ્યું, “તો તમે માંરી પાસે શું કરાવવા માંગો છો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.21.5" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “જે માંણસે અમાંરો નાશ કરવાનું અને આખા ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી અમાંરું નિકંદન કાઢવાનું યોજયું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="2SA.21.6" />એટલે તમે અમને તેના સાત પુત્રો સુપ્રત કરો અને અમે તેમને યહોવાએ પસંદ કરેલા રાજા શાઉલના ગામ ગિબયાહમાં લઇ જઇશું અને ફાંસી આપીશું.”
</p>
<p style="p">રાજાએ કહ્યું. “હું તેઓને તમને સોંપી દઈશ.”
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2SA.21.7" />પરંતુ દાઉદ અને યોનાથાને યહોવાની સાક્ષીએ લીધેલી પ્રતિજ્ઞાને કારણે દાઉદે યોનાથાનના પુત્ર અને શાઉલના પૌત્ર મફીબોશેથની સુરક્ષા કરી. દાઉદે યોનાથાનના પુત્ર મફીબોશેથને જીવતો છોડી મૂક્યો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2SA.21.8" />દાઉદે રિસ્પાહ અને શાઉલના પુત્રો અમોર્ની અને મફીબોશેથને પણ આપ્યા અને શાઉલની પુત્રી મેરાબના જે મહોલાહના બાઝિર્લ્લાય આદ્રીયેલની પત્ની હતી તેના પાંચ પુત્રોને પણ,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2SA.21.9" />તેણે તેઓને લઇને ગિબયોનના લોકોને આપ્યા. ગિબયોનીઓએ આ માંણસોને ગિલ્યાદ પર્વત પર લઇ ગયા અને યહોવા સમક્ષ ફાંસીએ લટકાવ્યા, તે સાતેય જણ એક સાથે માંર્યા ગયા. તે સમયે જવની કાપણીની શરૂઆત થઇ રહી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદ અને રિસ્પાહ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2SA.21.10" />ત્યારબાદ રિસ્પાહે શોકના વસ્ત્રો લીધા અને ખડક ઉપર મૂક્યાં, તે કાપણીની શરૂઆતથી તે ચોમાંસુ આવ્યું ત્યાં સુધી ત્યાં રહ્યાં. રિસ્પાહે શબ ઉપર ચોકી પહેરો રાખ્યો. તે દિવસે દરમ્યાન કોઈ જંગલી પક્ષીને કે રાત દરમ્યાન કોઈ જંગલી પશુને તેના પર આવવા દેતી નહોતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.21.11" />જયારે દાઉદને આયાની પુત્રી રિસ્પાહે એટલે શાઉલની ઉપપત્નીએ જે કર્યુ હતું તેની જાણ થઈ,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="2SA.21.12" />ત્યારે તે યાબેશ ગિલયાદના લોકો પાસે ગયો અને શાઉલનાં અને તેના પુત્ર યોનાથાનનાં અસ્થિ લઈ લીધાં. જે દિવસે પલિસ્તીઓએ ગિલયાદના ડુંગર ઉપર શાઉલને હરાવ્યો હતો તે દિવસે તેઓએ શાઉલ અને તેના પુત્રોનાં મૃતદેહોને બેથશાનના દરવાજા પર ખુલ્લા ચોકમાં લટકાવ્યાં હતાં, તે સ્થળેથી તેઓ તેઓના અસ્થિ લાવ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2SA.21.13" />દાઉદ શાઉલનાં અને તેના પુત્ર યોનાથાનનાં અસ્થિ ત્યાંથી લઈ આવ્યો, જે સાત જણને ફાંસી આપવામાં આવી હતી તેમનાં અસ્થિ પણ ભેગાં કરવામાં આવ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="2SA.21.14" />પછી બિન્યામીન પ્રદેશના શાઉલના પિતા કીશની કબરમાં તેઓએ શાઉલના અને તેના પુત્ર યોનાથાનનાં અસ્થિ દફનાવ્યાં. બધું રાજાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે કરવામાં આવ્યું, ત્યારબાદ યહોવાએ તેઓની દેશ માંટેની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પલિસ્તીઓ સાથે યુદ્ધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.21.15" />ફરીથી પલિસ્તીઓ અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓની લડાઇ થઇ. દાઉદ અને તેનું આખું સૈન્ય તે વખતે પૂર જોશમાં લડ્યા. દાઉદ થાકી ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="2SA.21.16" />તે વખતે યિશ્બીબનોબ વિરાટકાય માંણસોમાંનો એક હતો, તેની પાસે નવી તરવાર અને એક ભાલો હતો, તે આશરે સાડાસાત પાઉન્ડનો હતો. તેને દાઉદને માંરી નાખવો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="2SA.21.17" />પરંતુ સરૂયાનો પુત્ર અબીશાય દાઉદનું રક્ષણ કરવા આવી પહોંચ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે પેલા પલિસ્તીઓ પર હુમલો કરીને તેને માંરી નાખ્યો, ત્યાર બાદ દાઉદના માંણસોએ તેને આગ્રહ કર્યો કે, “હવે કદી તમાંરે અમાંરી સાથે યુદ્ધમાં આવવું નહિ, ઇસ્રાએલનો દીવો હોલવાઈ જાય તેવું જોખમ અમાંરે શા માંટે લેવું?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.21.18" />થોડા સમય પછી ફરીથી પલિસ્તીઓ સાથે ગોબમાં યુદ્ધ થયું, એ વખતે હુશાથી સિબ્બખાયે સાફ કે જે બીજો વિરાટકાય માંણસ હતો તેને માંરી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2SA.21.19" />ફરીથી ગોબમાં પલિસ્તીઓ સાથે બીજું યુદ્ધ થયું એલ્હાનાએ ગિત્તી ગોલ્યાથના ભાઈને માંરી નાખ્યો, જેની પાસે એક ભાલો વણકરની સાળના પાટડા જેવો મોટો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.21.20" />ત્યારબાદ ફરીથી પલિસ્તીઓ સાથે ગાથમાં યુદ્ધ થયું, તેમાં એક મહાકાય યોદ્વો એવો હતો જેને તેના હાથમાં અને પગમાં છ છ આંગળીઓ હતી, તે પણ મહાકાય માંણસોના કુળનો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="2SA.21.21" />આ માંણસે ઇસ્રાએલને પડકાર કર્યો અને તેઓની ઠેકડી ઊડાડી પણ દાઉદના ભાઈ શિમાંયના પુત્ર યોનાથાને તેને માંરી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.21.22" />આ ચારેય મહાકાય માંણસો ગાથના હતા, અને એ બધા જ દાઉદના સૈનિકોના હાથે માંર્યા ગયા હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">દાઉદની આભારસ્તુતિનું ગાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.22.1" />યહોવાએ દાઉદને તેના સર્વ શત્રુઓના અને શાઉલના હાથમાંથી ઉગારી લીધો ત્યારે તેણે આ પ્રમાંણે યહોવાનાં ગુણગાન ગાયાં.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="2SA.22.2" />યહોવા માંરો ખડકછેi તે માંરો કદી નિષ્ફળ ન જાય એવો આશરો છે, તે માંરૂં છુપાવાનું સ્થળ છે, માંરું શરણ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.22.3" />ઓ માંરા દેવ ખડક, હું એમની શરણ લઉં છું
</q>
<q style="q1">તે માંરી ઢાલ છે તથા માંરા તારણનું શિંગ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માંરો ઊંચો બુરજ તથા આશ્રય સ્થાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.22.4" />યહોવા જે સ્તુતિપાત્ર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને હું હાંક માંરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ હું માંરા શત્રુઓથી બચી જઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.22.5" />માંરા ઉપર મોતનાં મોજાં ચારેબાજુથી ફરી વળ્યાં હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પૂરે મને બીવડાળ્યો અને મને મોતના સ્થળે ઘસડી રહ્યું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.22.6" />કબરનાં દોરડાએ મને ઘેરી લીધો હતો:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૃત્યુની જાળ માંરી સામે મૂકવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="2SA.22.7" />મેં સંકટ સમયે યહોવાને પોકાર કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માંરા દેવને મેં પોકાર કર્યો;
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાએ પોતાના મંદિરમાં સાદ સાંભળ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માંરી અરજ તેને કાને પહોચી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.22.8" />પૃથ્વી હાલી અને કાંપી ઊઠી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશોના પાયા ધ્રૂજયા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે યહોવા ગુસ્સે થયા હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.22.9" />તેના નાકમાંથી ધૂમાંડો બહાર કાઢે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના મુખમાંથી જવાળાઓ બહાર આવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે થી કોલસાં સળગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="2SA.22.10" />દેવ આકાશ ફાડીને નીચે ઉતરી આવ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે અંધકારમય ગાઢવાદળ પર ઉભા રહ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.22.11" />યહોવા કરૂબ દેવદૂત પર બેઠા અને ઊડ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પવનની પાંખો ઉપર ચઢીને ઊડ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="2SA.22.12" />દેવે કાળા વાદળો તંબૂની જેમ પોતાની આસપાસ વીંટાળ્યાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે જળ એકઠું કરી અને ગાઢા ગર્જતા વાદળોમાં આસપાસ અંધકારનું રૂપાંતર કર્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="2SA.22.13" />તેમની સામે રહેલા પ્રકાશમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અગ્નિના કોલસા સળગ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.22.14" />યહોવાએ ત્રાડ પાડી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરાત્પર દેવે પોતાનો અવાજ સંભળાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.22.15" />યહોવાએ વિજળીની જેમ બાણ છોડ્યા અને શત્રુઓને વિખેરી નાખ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ અસ્વસ્થ બની ભાગી ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="2SA.22.16" />યહોવા ભારપૂર્વક બોલ્યા, જાણે એના નાક તણા ફૂંફાડે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પવન તેમના મોઢામાંથી બહાર ફૂંકાયો, સાગરનાં પાણી પાછા ઠેલાયા,
</q>
<q style="q1">સાગરના તળિયાં દેખાવા લાગ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વીના પાયા હચમચી ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.22.17" />તેમણે ઉપરથી હાથ લંબાવી ને મને બચાવ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે મને મુશ્કેલીરૂપી ઊંડા પાણીમાંથી મજબૂત રીતે પકડી અને બહાર કાઢયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.22.18" />મને શકિતશાળી શત્રુઓથી ઉગાર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માંરા શત્રુઓ માંરાથી બળવાન હતા, તેમનાથી બચાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="2SA.22.19" />અણધારી આફત માંરા ઉપર આવી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માંરા પર શત્રુઓએ હુમલો કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.22.20" />યહોવાએ મને આધાર આપ્યો, અને ભયમાંથી મને ઉગાર્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ માંરા પર પ્રસન્ન હતા, તેથી માંરા જીવનનો ઉદ્ધાર કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="2SA.22.21" />હું જે સાચું છે તે કરું છું અને કાંઇ ખોટું કર્યુ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને યહોવા પાસેથી હંમેશા માંરા કર્મ પ્રમાંણે બદલો મળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.22.22" />હું યહોવાના માંર્ગ પર સદા ચાલ્યો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવથી વિમુખ થઈ કશું ભૂડું કર્યું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="2SA.22.23" />મેં સાચા હૃદયથી સદા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના આદેશનું પાલન કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="2SA.22.24" />હું નિદોર્ષ છું ને પોતાને દેવ સન્મુખ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાપથી દૂર રાખ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="2SA.22.25" />તેથી દેવે માંરી સચ્ચાઇ પ્રમાંણે મને બદલો આપ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમની દ્રષ્ટિમાં મેં કોઇ ખોટું કામ કર્યુ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="2SA.22.26" />ભલાની સાથે તમે ભલા બનો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને સાત્ત્વિક સાથે તમે સાત્ત્વિક છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="2SA.22.27" />જેઓ સીધા છે તેમની સાથે તમે સીધા રહો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મહાપ્રપંચી લોકોની ચાલાકી પણ નકામી થઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="2SA.22.28" />નિર્બળ અને ગરીબોને તમે મદદ કરો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને ગવિર્ષ્ઠોને તમે શરમિંદા બનાવો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="2SA.22.29" />હે યહોવા, તમે જ માંરા દીપક છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જ માંરા જીવનનો અંધકાર દૂર કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="2SA.22.30" />યહોવા, આપની મદદથી હું સૈનિકો સાથે દોડી શકું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવની મદદથી હું દુશ્મનોની દીવાલો કૂદીને જઇ શકું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="2SA.22.31" />દેવનો માંર્ગ સંપૂર્ણ ર્છ, દેવની વાણી સત્ય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે કોઈ તેમનામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનુ હંમેશા રક્ષણ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="2SA.22.32" />એકલા યહોવા આપણા એક માંત્ર દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને એ જ આપણા તારણહાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="2SA.22.33" />દેવ એ માંરો મજબૂત ગઢ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સારા લોકોને તેમને માંર્ગે ચાલવામાં મદદ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="2SA.22.34" />યહોવા માંરા પગોને હરણના પગ જેવા તેજ ગતિના બનાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઊચા શિખરો પર સ્થિર પગલે ફેરવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="2SA.22.35" />યહોવા મને યુદ્ધનું પ્રશિક્ષણ આપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માંરા ભુજો પિત્તળના ધનુષ્યને ખેચી શકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="2SA.22.36" />યહોવા તમે માંરું રક્ષણ કર્યુ છે, અને મને વિજયી બનાવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમાંરી મદદે મને મહાન બનાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="2SA.22.37" />યહોવા માંરા પગો અને પગની ઘૂંટીઓને આપ મજબૂત કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી હું લથડ્યા વગર ચાલી શકું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="2SA.22.38" />હું માંરા શત્રુઓ પાછળ જઇશ અને તેઓનો નાશ કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જયાં સુધી હું તેઓ સવેર્નો નાશ નહિ કરું ત્યાં સુધી હું ફરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="2SA.22.39" />મેં માંરા શત્રુઓનો નાશ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેઓનો સંપૂર્ણ પણે નાશ કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ પાછા ઊભા થઇ શકશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ અહીં માંરા પગ નીચે પડ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="2SA.22.40" />દેવ તમે મને યુદ્ધ માંટે શકિતશાળી બનાવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે માંરા શત્રુઓને હરાવ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="2SA.22.41" />તમે માંરા શત્રુઓને ભગાડ્યા છે અત:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેઓને હરાવી શકુ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="2SA.22.42" />તેઓએ પરિણામ વગર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મદદ મેળવવા પ્રયત્નો કર્યા,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ યહોવા પાસે પણ મદદ માંટે ગયા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેમણે તેઓને પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="2SA.22.43" />મેં માંરા શત્રુઓને માંરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ટૂકડાં કરી નાખ્યા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ રસ્તાની ધૂળ જેવા થઇ ગયાં હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેઓ પર, જાણે તેઓ ધૂળ હોય તેમ ચાલ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="2SA.22.44" />જ્યારે માંરા લોકોએ માંરી સામે બળવો કર્યો ત્યારે તમે મને બચાવ્યો અને માંરી રક્ષા કરવા આવ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને દેશનો રાજકર્તા બનાવ્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે લોકોને હું કદી જાણતો પણ ન હતો, હવે માંરી સેવા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="45" bcv="2SA.22.45" />બીજા દેશના લોકો માંરી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જ્યારે માંરો હુકમ સાંભળે છે કે તરત તેઓ માંરા હુકમ મુજબ વર્તવા તૈયાર થઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="46" bcv="2SA.22.46" />અન્ય દેશોના લોકો ભયભીત થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોતાના છૂપાવાના સ્થાનોથી ભયથી થરથર ધ્રૂજતા બહાર આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="47" bcv="2SA.22.47" />યહોવા જીવંત છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ખડકની પ્રશંસા કરૂં છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ મહાન છે તે એક ખડક છે જે માંરું તારણ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="48" bcv="2SA.22.48" />દેવે માંરા માંટે થઇને માંરા દુશ્મનો ઉપર વેર વાળ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે દેશોને અંકુશમાં રાખવાની સત્તા મને આપી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="49" bcv="2SA.22.49" />માંરા દુશ્મનોથી મને છોડાવે છે;
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">ને માંરા વિરોધીઓ સામે માંરું મસ્તક ઊંચું રાખે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને હિંસાથી તે માંરું સદા રક્ષણ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="50" bcv="2SA.22.50" />એ માંટે હે યહોવા, હું હંમેશા આપનો આભાર માંનીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દેશોમાં હંમેશા તમાંરી સ્તુતિ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમાંરા નામનાં સ્તોત્રો ગાઈશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="51" bcv="2SA.22.51" />યહોવા તેના રાજાને ઘણા યુદ્ધોમાં વિજયો અપાવવામાં મદદ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા તેમના પસંદ કરેલા રાજાને સાચો પ્રેમ અને દયા દર્શાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ દાઉદ અને તેનાં વંશજો પ્રત્યે, સદાકાળને માંટે કર્તવ્ય પાલન કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="23" />
<s style="s">દાઉદના અંતિમ વચનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.23.1" />દાઉદનાં અંતિમ વચનો આ છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“આ વચનો યશાઇનો પુત્ર દાઉદ તરફથી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ વચનો એ માંણસ તરફથી છે
</q>
<q style="q1">કે જેને યાકૂબના દેવે રાજા તરીકે અભિષિકત કર્યો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ઇસ્રાએલનો મધુર ગાયક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="2SA.23.2" />યહોવાનો આત્માં માંરા દ્વારા બોલે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનાં વચનો માંરા હોઠ ઉપર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.23.3" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ માંરી સાથે બોલે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલના ખડકે મને કહ્યું કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘જે ન્યાયપૂર્વક લોકો પર શાસન કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે રાજા દેવનો આદર કરીને રાજ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.23.4" />તે વ્યકિત પ્રભાતના તેજસ્વી પ્રકાશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેવો વાદળ વિનાની સવાર જેવો થશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">વર્ષા પછી સૂર્યપ્રકાશથી ઊગી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નીકળતાં કૂમળા ઘાસ જેવો તે થશે.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="2SA.23.5" />“દેવે માંરા કુળને મજબૂત અને સુરક્ષિત બનાવ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે કરાર કર્યો છે જે અનંતકાળ રહેશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે દરેક રીતે સુરક્ષિત છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે મને વિજય અને મને જે કાંઇ જોઇએ તે આપશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે માંરી બધી ઇચ્છાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મહત્વકાંક્ષાઓ પરિપૂર્ણ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.23.6" />“પરંતુ દુષ્ટ લોકો કાંટા જેવા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે જે કોઇને પણ તેઓના હાથમાં રાખવા ગમતાં નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેમને ફેંકી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="2SA.23.7" />જો કોઇ વ્યકિત તેમને અડવા જાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો લોખંડના લાકડાના ભાલાની જેમ વાગે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એમને તો આગમાં ફેંકી દેવામાં આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સદંતર નાશ કરી દેવામાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ત્રણ શૂરવીરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2SA.23.8" />દાઉદના સૈન્યના શ્રેષ્ઠ શૂરવીરોમાં પ્રથમ ત્રણ આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
</p>
<p style="p">પ્રથમ તાહખમોની યોશેબ-બાશ્શેબેથ, જે વીર-ત્રિપુટીનો નાયક હતો, એક યુદ્ધમાં એણે ભાલો ચલાવીને 800 માંણસોનો સંહાર કર્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.23.9" />દાઉદના ત્રણ શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓમાં બીજો દોદોનો પુત્ર આહોહીનો એલઆઝાર હતો. જે દાઉદ સાથેના ત્રણ શૂરવીરોમાંથી એક હતો, જ્યારે પલિસ્તાનીઓએ પડકાર કર્યો હતો. તેઓ લડાઇને સારું એકઠાં થયા હતા પણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓનું લશ્કર ભાગી ગયું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2SA.23.10" />તે થાકી ગયો ત્યાં સુધી પલિસ્તીઓની સાથે લડ્યો છતાં પણ તેણે તરવાર હાથમાં પકડી રાખી હતી. તે દિવસે દેવે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મહાન વિજય આપ્યો. એલઆઝારે પલિસ્તાનીઓને હરાવ્યા પછી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ દુશ્મન સૈનિકોના મૃતદેહો આગળથી ફકત લૂંટેલો માંલ લેવા ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.23.11" />ત્રીજો શૂરવીર સૈનિક આગીનો પુત્ર હારારનો શામ્માંહ હતો. એક વખત પલિસ્તીઓ લડવા માંટે એકઠાં થયા હતાં, ત્યાં મસૂરનું એક ખેતર હતું. પલિસ્તીઓથી ડરીને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ નાસી ગયાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="2SA.23.12" />પણ શામ્માંહ ખેતરની વચ્ચે ઊભો રહ્યો, ખેતરનું રક્ષણ કર્યુ અને પલિસ્તીઓને હરાવી દીધા. તે દિવસે પણ યહોવાએ મોટો વિજય અપાવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2SA.23.13" />કાપણીના સમયે શરૂઆતમાં જયારે પલિસ્તીઓની એક ટુકડી રફાઈમની ખીણમાં હતી ત્યારે ત્રીસ શૂરવીરોમાંના ત્રણ તે વખતે અદુલ્લામની ગુફામાં રહેતા દાઉદ સાથે જોડાયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.23.14" />બીજીવાર ત્યારે દાઉદ ગઢમાં રહેતો હતો. પલિસ્તી સૈનિકોની ટૂકડી બેથલેહેમમાં હતી.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="2SA.23.15" />દાઉદ ઝૂરવા લાગ્યો અને બોલી ઊઠયો, “આહ! બેથલેહેમના દરવાજા પાસેના કૂવાનું પાણી મને કોઈ લાવી આપે તો કેવું સારું!”
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="2SA.23.16" />ત્યારે આ ત્રણ શૂરવીરોએ પલિસ્તીઓની છાવણીમાંથી પસાર થઈને કૂવામાંથી પાણી ખેંચ્યું અને દાઉદ પાસે લાવ્યાં. પણ દાઉદે તે પીવાની ના પાડી અને યહોવાની આગળ રેડી દીધું.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="2SA.23.17" />તે બોલ્યો, “ઓ યહોવા, આ હું કેવી રીતે પી શકું? એ તો માંરા માંટે પોતાના પ્રાણ સંકટમાં મૂકનાર આ ત્રણ શૂરવીરોનું લોહી પીધા બરાબર છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અન્ય શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.23.18" />યોઆબના ભાઈ સરૂયાનો પુત્ર અબીશાય ત્રણ શૂરવીરોમાં સૌથી વધારે શૂરવીર હતો. એક વખતે તેણે એકલા હાથે ત્રણસો માંણસોની સાથે યુદ્ધ કરી તેઓનો સંહાર કર્યો હતો. આ વીરતા ભરેલા કાર્યને લીધે આ ત્રણ શૂરવીરોમાં તે ખૂબ પ્રખ્યાત થયો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="2SA.23.19" />તે પ્રખ્યાત હોવાથી તે તેઓમાંનો ન હોવા છતાં તેઓનો સરદાર બન્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2SA.23.20" />યહોયાદાનો પુત્ર કાબ્સએલનો બનાયા પણ શૂરવીર પુરુષ હતો અને તેણે અનેક શૂરવીર કાર્યો કર્યા હતા. તેણે મોઆબના અરીએલના બે બળવાન પુત્રોને માંરી નાખ્યા હતા, અને એક દિવસે જ્યારે બરફ પડતો હતો, તેણે એક ખાડામાં ઊતરીને એક સિંહને માંર્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="2SA.23.21" />વળી પ્રચંડકાય એક મિસરીને પણ માંરનાર એ જ હતો. તે મિસરીના હાથમાં ભાલો હતો પણ બનાયા ફકત એક લાકડી લઈને તેની સામે પહોંચી ગયો અને તેના હાથમાંથી ભાલો ઝૂંટવી લઈ તેના વડે જ તેને માંરી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="2SA.23.22" />બનાયા આવાં કાર્યોને લીધે જ પેલા ત્રણ શ્રેષ્ઠ શૂરવીરો જેટલું જ નામ મેળવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="2SA.23.23" />તે ત્રીસ વીરો કરતાં પણ વધારે વિખ્યાત હતો, પણ તે ત્રણ વીરોમાંનો એક નહોતો. દાઉદે તેને પોતાના અંગરક્ષકોનો મુખ્ય અધિકારી બનાવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ત્રીસ શૂરવીરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2SA.23.24" />બીજા શૂરવીરોનાં નામ આ પ્રમાંણે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોઆબનો ભાઈ અસાહેલ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બેથલેહેમમાંથી દોદોનો પુત્ર એલ્હાનાન;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="2SA.23.25" />હરોદમાંથી શામ્માંહ અને અલીકા;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="2SA.23.26" />પાલટીમાંથી હેલેસ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તકોઈમાંથી ઇકેકેશનો પુત્ર ઇરા,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="2SA.23.27" />અનાથોથમાંથી અબીએઝેર;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હુશાથમાંથી મબુન્નાય;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="2SA.23.28" />અહોહમાંથી સાલ્મોન;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નટોફાથમાંથી માંહરાય;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="2SA.23.29" />નટોફાથી બાઅનાહનો પુત્ર હેલેબ;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બિન્યામીન ગિબયાહમાંથી રીબાયનો પુત્ર ઇત્તાય;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="2SA.23.30" />પિરઆથોનમાંથી બનાયા;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ગાઆશના નાળામાંથી હિધ્રાય;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="2SA.23.31" />આર્બાથી અબીઆલ્બોન;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બાર્હુમીમાંથી આઝમાંવેથ;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="32" bcv="2SA.23.32" />શાઆલ્બોનમાંથી એલ્યાહબા;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યાશેનના પુત્રોમાંથી
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોનાથાન;
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="2SA.23.33" />હારારથી શામ્માંહ, પુત્ર,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અરારમાંથી શારારનો પુત્ર અહીઆમ;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="2SA.23.34" />માંઅખાથીના પુત્ર અહાસ્બાય દીકરો
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અલીફેલેટ અહીથોફેલ ગિલોનીનો દીકરો અલીઆમ;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="35" bcv="2SA.23.35" />કામેર્લમાંથી હેસ્રોઇ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આર્બામાંથી પ્રાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="36" bcv="2SA.23.36" />સોબાહમાંથી નાથાનનો પુત્ર યિગઆલ;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ગાદમાંથી બાની;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="37" bcv="2SA.23.37" />આમ્નોનમાંથી સેલેક;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બએરોથમાંથી નાહરાય; નાહરાય સરૂયાના પુત્ર યોઆબનો શસ્ત્રવાહક હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="38" bcv="2SA.23.38" />યિથામાંથી ઇરા અને ગારેબ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="39" bcv="2SA.23.39" />ઊરિયા હિત્તી,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">એમ બધા મળીને કુલ સાડત્રીસ માંણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">સૈૈન્ય ગણતરીનો દાઉદનો નિર્ણય.
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2SA.24.1" />યહોવા ફરી એક વાર ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર કોપાયમાંન થયા; અને તેણે દાઉદને ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો વિરોધી બનાવ્યો તેણે તેને કહ્યું, “જા ઇસ્રાએલની વસ્તી અને યહૂદાના લોકોની ગણતરી કર.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2SA.24.2" />તેથી દાઉદે યોઆબને અને તેના લશ્કરના સેનાપતિને કહ્યું, “જાઓ, અને દાનથી બેર-શેબા સુધી ઇસ્રાએલના કુળની વસ્તીની ગણતરી કરી આવ. માંરે જાણવું છે માંરા લોકોની સંખ્યા કેટલી છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2SA.24.3" />પણ યોઆબે કહ્યું, “આપના દેવ યહોવા આપને સો ગણા વધારે લોકો આપે. અને આપની આંખો આ થતી જૂઓ! પણ આપને લોકોની સંખ્યા ગણવાનો આ વિચાર શાથી આવ્યો?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2SA.24.4" />પરંતુ રાજાએ સખ્તાઇથી આગળ યોઆબ અને લશ્કરના અમલદારોને લોકોની ગણતરી કરવાનો હુકમ કર્યો તેથી તેઓ રાજાની પરવાનગી લઇ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોની સંખ્યા ગણવા ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="2SA.24.5" />તેઓએ યર્દન નદી ઓળંગી અને યાઝેર પાસે ગાદની ખીણની વચમાં નગરની જમણી બાજુએ અરોએરમાં છાવણી નાખી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2SA.24.6" />પછી તેઓ ગિલયાદ ગયા અને છેક નીચે તાહતીમ હોદશી ગયા. ત્યાર પછી તેઓ ઉત્તર તરફ દાન યાઆન થઇને સિદોન ગોળ ફરીને આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2SA.24.7" />પછી તેઓ સૂરના મજબૂત કિલ્લામાં તથા હિવ્વીઓનાં ને કનાનીઓનાં સઘળાં નગરોમાં આવ્યાં; અને યહૂદાના દક્ષિણ ભાગમાં બેર-શેબા ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2SA.24.8" />આમ, તેઓ આખા દેશમાં ફર્યા અને નવ મહિના ને વીસ દિવસ પછી તેઓ પાછા યરૂશાલેમ આવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2SA.24.9" />યોઆબે રાજાને દેશના લોકોની કુલ સંખ્યા રજૂ કરી; હથિયાર ચલાવી શકે તેવા માંણસો ઇસ્રાએલમાં 8,00,000 માંણસો અને યહૂદામાં 5,00,000 માંણસો હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોવા એ દાઉદને સજા કરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2SA.24.10" />દાઉદનું અંત:કરણ વસ્તી ગણતરી કરાવ્યા પછી ડંખવા લાગ્યું. તેણે યહોવાને કહ્યું, “મેં જે કર્યું છે તે ખોટું છે. કૃપા કરીને માંરી આ મૂર્ખતાભરી દુષ્ટતા બદલ મને ક્ષમાં કરો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2SA.24.11" />પણ બીજે દિવસે જ્યારે દાઉદ ઊઠયો ત્યારે દાઉદના પ્રબોધક ગાદને યહોવા તરફથી આ સંદેશો મળ્યો હતો કે,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="2SA.24.12" />“દાઉદને જઈને કહે કે, ‘યહોવા આ પ્રમાંણે કહેવડાવે છે; હું તારી આગળ ત્રણ વાત મૂકું છું. તું ગમે તે એક પસંદ કર એટલે હું તે પ્રમાંણે કરીશ.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2SA.24.13" />તેથી પ્રબોધક ગાદે દાઉદ પાસે જઈને કહ્યું, “તારા દેશમાં ત્રણ વરસ દુષ્કાળ પડશે, અથવા તારે ત્રણ મહિના સુધી દુશ્મનોથી ભાગતા ફરવું પડશે, અથવા તારા દેશમાં ત્રણ દિવસે રોગચાળો ફાટી નીકળે, તને શું પસંદ છે? હવે વિચાર કરીને મને કહે કે મને મોકલનાર દેવને માંરે શો જવાબ આપવો?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2SA.24.14" />દાઉદે ગાદને કહ્યું, “આ બાબતમાં નિર્ણય કરવો અતિ મુશ્કેલ છે. પરંતુ માંણસોના હાથમાં પડવું તેના કરતાં હું દેવના હાથમાં સોંપાવું પસંદ કરું છું કારણ કે તેઓ મહાદયાળુ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2SA.24.15" />આથી યહોવાએ સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલમાં મરકીનો રોગ મોકલ્યો સવારથી તે ઠરાવેલા સમય સુધી; દાનથી બેર-શેબા સુધીમાં કુલ 70,000 માંણસો<f caller="+"><fr>24:15
</fr><fk>70,000 માણસો
</fk><ft>કેટલીક હિબ્રૂ પ્રતમાં 77,000 લખાયેલું છે.</ft></f> મરણ પામ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="2SA.24.16" />ત્યારબાદ (દેવદૂત) સંદેશવાહકે યરૂશાલેમનો નાશ કરવા માંટે તે તરફ હાથ લંબાવ્યો, પણ યહોવાને જે ખરાબ બન્યું હતું તે માંટે દિલગીરી થઇ અને લોકોનો સંહાર કરતા દેવદૂતને કહ્યું, “બસ, બહું થયું તારો હાથ પાછો ખેંચી લે.” એ વખતે (દેવદૂત) સંદેશવાહક યબૂસી અરાવ્નાહના ખળા પાસે હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદે અરાવ્નાહની ખળી ખરીદી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2SA.24.17" />દાઉદે દૂતને લોકોનો સંહાર કરતા જોયો એટલે તેણે યહોવાને કહ્યું, “દોષ માંરો છે, પાપ મેં કર્યું છે, પણ આ ગરીબ લોકો, એમણે શું કર્યુ છે? સજા કરવી હોય તો મને અને માંરા કુટુંબને કરો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2SA.24.18" />તે વખતે દિવસે ગાદે દાઉદની પાસે આવીને કહ્યું, “તું અરાવ્નાહની ખળીમાં જા અને યહોવાને માંટે તે જગ્યાએ એક વેદી બંધાવ.”
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="2SA.24.19" />તેથી યહોવાની આજ્ઞાથી ગાદે આમ કહ્યું અને દાઉદ અરાવ્નાહહ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="2SA.24.20" />અરાવ્નાહએ સામે જોયું તો તેણે રાજાને અને તેના અમલદારોને પોતાના તરફ આવતા જોયા, એટલે તે સામો આવ્યો અને ભૂમિ ઉપર લાંબો થઈને રાજાના પગમાં પડયો.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="2SA.24.21" />તેણે પૂછયું, “તમે માંરા રાજા, તમે તમાંરા સેવકને ત્યાં કેમ પધાર્યા છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">દાઉદે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તારી આ જમીન ખરીદવા માંટે આવ્યો છું. અહીં હું યહોવાને માંટે યજ્ઞની વેદી બનાવીશ, જેથી લોકોમાં ફેલાયેલો મરકીનો રોગચાળાનો અંત આવે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2SA.24.22" />અરાવ્નાહે કહ્યું, “આપ તે લઈ લો, અને આપને યોગ્ય લાગે તે રીતે તેનો ઉપયોગ કરો. ને અર્પણ કરો. દહનાર્પણ માંટે આ બળદો તૈયાર છે અને વેદી પર અગ્નિ માંટે ખળીના ઓજારો તથા બળદ માંટેની લાકડાની ઝૂંસરીનો પણ તમે ઉપયોગ કરી શકો છો.”
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="2SA.24.23" />અરાવ્નાહએ એ બધું રાજાને આપી દીધું અને કહ્યું, “આપના દેવ યહોવા આપના ઉપર પ્રસન્ન થાઓ!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2SA.24.24" />પણ રાજાએ કહ્યું, “ના, માંરે તને એના પૈસા આપવા જોઈએ. માંરા દેવ યહોવાને હું મફતનું દહનાર્પણ નહિ ધરાવું.”
</p>
<p style="p">આથી દાઉદે પચાસ ચાંદીના શેકેલ આપીને ખળી અને બળદ ખરીદી લીધાં.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="2SA.24.25" />અને ત્યાં દાઉદે દેવ માંટે યજ્ઞવેદી બાંધી અને તેના પર દહનાર્પણ અને શાંત્યર્પણ અર્પણ કર્યા ત્યારે યહોવાએ દેશ માંટેની તેની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી, અને તેણે યજ્ઞમાં અર્પણ કર્યા પછી ઇસ્રાએલનાં લોકોની માંદગી ચાલી ગઇ અને બધું સારું થયું.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="1KI"><id id="1KI">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>1 રાજાઓનું
</h><toc level="1">રાજાઓનું પહેલું પુસ્તક
</toc><toc level="2">1 રાજાઓનું
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">રાજાઓનું
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">પહેલું પુસ્તક
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">અદોનિયાની રાજા બનવાની ઇચ્છા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.1.1" />હવે દાઉદ રાજા ઘણો વૃદ્ધ થયો હતો. તેમને અનેક ધાબળાઓ ઓઢાડયાં, છતાં તેનું શરીર ગરમ રહેતું નહોતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.1.2" />તેથી તેમના સેવકોએ તેને કહ્યું, “આપ, નામદારની આજ્ઞા હોય તો આપને માંટે કોઈ યુવાન કુમાંરિકા શોધી કાઢીએ, જે આપની સેવામાં ઊભી રહે અને આપની સારવાર કરે, આપની સોડમાં સૂઈ જશે, જેથી આપનું શરીર હુંફાળું થઇ જશે.”
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.1.3" />તેમણે આખા ઇસ્રાએલમાં એક સુંદર, જુવાન અને અપરણિત કન્યા મેળવવા તપાસ કરી, આખરે તેમને શૂનામ્મી અબીશાગ નામની કન્યા પસંદ આવી, તેથી તેઓ તેને રાજા પાસે લઈ આવ્યા.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.1.4" />તે ખૂબ રૂપાળી હતી અને સતત રાજાની સાથે રહેતી અને તેણ રાજાની મદદ અને સેવા કરી, છતાં રાજાએ તેનો સંસર્ગ કર્યો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1KI.1.5" />તે સમયે દાઉદ અને હાગ્ગીથના પુત્ર અદોનિયાએ પોતાના વૃદ્વ પિતાની જગ્યાએ રાજા થવાની મહત્વાકાંક્ષા રાખી હોવાથી તેણે એક રથ મેળવ્યો, ઘોડા અને પોતાના રસાલા માંટે પચાસ માંણસો મેળવ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.1.6" />તેના પિતાએ તેને આખા જીવન દરમ્યાન કદી ઠપકો આપ્યો નહોતો કે, તેને પૂછયું સરખુંય નહોતું કે, “તું આમ શા માંટે કરે છે?” વળી તે દેખાવડો હતો; અને આબ્શાલોમ પછી જન્મ્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.1.7" />તેણે સરૂયાના પુત્ર સરદાર યોઆબ અને યાજક અબ્યાથાર ને સર્વ પ્રથમ પોતાના વિશ્વાસમાં લીધા. તેઓએ તેને રાજા બનવામાં મદદરૂપ થવા તૈયારી બતાવી.
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<v id="8" bcv="1KI.1.8" />પરંતુ યાજક સાદોકે, યહોયાદાના પુત્ર બનાયા, પ્રબોધક નાથાન, શિમઈ, રેઈ અને દાઉદના સૈન્યના સરદારોએ અદોનિયાને સાથ આપવાનો ઇન્કાર કર્યો,
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<p style="p"><v id="9-10" bcv="1KI.1.9" />તેથી એક વખત અદોનિયાએ એન-રોગેલના ઝરણાં પાસે આવેલા ઝોહેલેથના ખડક પર ઘેટાં, ગાય અને વાછરડાઓનું બલિદાન કર્યુ. અને તેણે પોતાના સર્વ ભાઈઓને-રાજકુમાંરોને અને જે યહૂદાવાસીઓ રાજાના સેવકો હતા તે બધાને તેણે આમંત્રણ આપ્યું હતું. પરંતુ તેણે પ્રબોધક નાથાનને, યાજક બનાયાને કે અંગરક્ષકોને અથવા ભાઈ સુલેમાંનને આમંત્રણ આપ્યું નહિ.
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<s style="s">નાથાન બાથશેબાને મળ્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1KI.1.11" />ત્યારબાદ પ્રબોધક નાથાને સુલેમાંનની માંતા બાથશેબા પાસે જઈને પૂછયું; તમને ખબર છે કે, “હાગ્ગીથનો પુત્ર અદોનિયા રાજા થઈને બેઠો છે, ને આપણા ધણી રાજા દાઉદ એનાથી અજાણ છે?
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.1.12" />હવે જો તમે તમાંરો અને તમાંરા પુત્ર સુલેમાંનનો જીવ બચાવવા ઇચ્છતા હોય તો માંરી તમને સલાહ છે કે,
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.1.13" />તમે અત્યારે જ દાઉદ રાજા પાસે જાઓ, અને તેમને કહો કે, ‘ધણી, આપે આપની દાસીને એવું વચન નહોતું આપ્યું કે, માંરા પછી તારો પુત્ર સુલેમાંન રાજા થશે, અને તે જ માંરી ગાદી પર બેસશે? તો પછી શા માંટે અદોનિયા રાજા થયો છે?’
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<v id="14" bcv="1KI.1.14" />અને તમે રાજા સાથે વાત કરતા હશો, એટલામાં જ હું આવી પહોંચીશ અને તમે શું કહો છો તેની ચોકસાઇ કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.1.15" />તેથી બાથશેબા રાજાના ઓરડામાં ગઈ, રાજા ઘણો વૃદ્વ થઈ ગયો હતો અને શુનામ્મી અબીશાગ તેમની સેવા ચાકરી કરતી હતી.
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.1.16" />બાથશેબાએ રાજાની સમક્ષ જમીન પર પડી સાષ્ટાંગ પ્રણામ કર્યા. રાજાએ પૂછયું, “બોલ, તારી શી ઇચ્છા છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1KI.1.17" />તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “નામદાર, આપે આ દાસીને આપના દેવ યહોવાને નામે વચન આપ્યું હતું કે, ‘માંરા પછી તારો પુત્ર સુલેમાંન રાજા થશે અને ફકત તે જ માંરી રાજગાદી પર બેસશે.’
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.1.18" />પણ અત્યારે તો આપની જાણ બહાર અદોનિયા જ રાજા થઈ બેઠો છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1KI.1.19" />તેણે બળદો અને ઘણા તંદુરસ્ત બકરાઓનું શાંત્યર્પણ અર્પણ કર્યુ, તમાંમ રાજકુમાંરોને, યાજક અબ્યાથારને અને લશ્કરના સેનાપતિ યોઆબને નિમંત્રણ આપ્યાં છે, પરંતુ તેણે આપના સેવક સુલેમાંનને નિમંત્રણ આપ્યું નથી.
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.1.20" />અને હવે માંરા ધણી, માંરા રાજા, સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ આપના પછી કોણ રાજગાદી પર આવશે એની જાહેરાત માંટે આપના પર મીટ માંડી રહ્યું છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.1.21" />જો તમે એમ નહિ કરો તો તમે જ્યારે તમાંરા પિતૃઓ સાથે દટાયા હશો, ત્યારે માંરા પુત્ર સુલેમાંન અને માંરી સાથે ગુનેગારનું વર્તન થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1KI.1.22" />બાથશેબા હજી તો રાજાની સાથે વાત કરતી હતી, ત્યાં જ પ્રબોધક નાથાન આવી પહોંચ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="1KI.1.23" />સેવકોએ રાજાને જણાવ્યું કે, “પ્રબોધક નાથાન આવ્યા છે.” અને નાથાને રાજાની સમક્ષ આવીને ભૂમિ પર પડી પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.1.24" />તેણે કહ્યું, “તો શું આપ નામદારની એવી આજ્ઞા છે કે, અદોનિયા આપના પછી રાજા થાય અને તે આપની ગાદીએ બેસે?
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<v id="25" bcv="1KI.1.25" />કારણ, આજે તેણે પોતાના રાજયાભિષેકની ઉજવણી માંટે બળદો, અને ઘણાં પુષ્ટ બકરાઓનાં બલિદાન આપ્યાં છે અને તેની ખાણીપીણીમાં તેણે તમાંરા પુત્રો ઉપરાંત લશ્કરના સેનાપતિ અને યાજક અબ્યાથાર, તેઓ તેની સાથે ખાન-પાન કરે છે અને કહે છે. ‘ઇશ્વર રાજા અદોનિયાને ઘણું જીવાડો!’
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<v id="26" bcv="1KI.1.26" />તેમ છતાં તેણે આપના સેવક મને કે યાજક સાદોકને કે યહોયાદાના પુત્ર બનાયા અથવા આપના સેવક સુલેમાંનને આમંત્રણ આપ્યું નથી.
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<v id="27" bcv="1KI.1.27" />શું આ બધું તમાંરી જાણમાં છે? આ બધું આપ નામદારની સંમતિથી થયું છે, અને તમે આ સેવકોને જણાવ્યું પણ નથી કે, આપના પછી રાજગાદીએ કોણ આવનાર છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1KI.1.28" />ત્યારબાદ રાજા દાઉદે કહ્યું, “બાથશેબાને માંરી પાસે બોલાવો.” તેથી તે રાજા સમક્ષ આવીને ઊભી રહી.
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<p style="p"><v id="29-30" bcv="1KI.1.29" />રાજા દાઉદે કહ્યું કે, “મેં ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાને નામે પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી હતી, તારો પુત્ર સુલેમાંન માંરા પછી રાજા થશે અને માંરી રાજગાદી પર બેસશે. માંરા બધા સંકટોમાંથી મને યહોવાએ ઉગાર્યો છે. હું યહોવાના સોગંદ ખાઉં છું કે આજે હું માંરું વચન પાળીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="1KI.1.31" />ફરીવાર બાથશેબાએ તેની સમક્ષ ભૂમિ પર પડીને રાજાને પ્રણામ કર્યા અને બોલી, “માંરા નામદાર રાજા દાઉદ અમર રહો!”
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<s style="s">નવો રાજા સુલેમાંન
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="1KI.1.32" />ત્યારબાદ રાજા દાઉદે કહ્યું, “યાજક સાદોકને પ્રબોધક નાથાનને અને યહોયાદાના પુત્ર બનાયાને પોતાની પાસે બોલાવી લાવવાની સેવકોને આજ્ઞા આપી,” અને તેઓ રાજાની સમક્ષ ઉપસ્થિત થયા.
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<v id="33" bcv="1KI.1.33" />તેણે હુકમ કર્યો, “માંરા અંગરક્ષકોને સાથે લઈ જાઓ, માંરા પુત્ર સુલેમાંનને માંરા ખચ્ચર પર બેસાડો અને તેને ગીહોન લઈ જાઓ.
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<v id="34" bcv="1KI.1.34" />ત્યાં યાજક સાદોક અને પ્રબોધક નાથાન તેનો રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કરશે. તે વખતે તમે રણશિંગડું વગાડી પોકાર કરજો કે, ‘રાજા સુલેમાંન ઘણું જીવો!’
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<v id="35" bcv="1KI.1.35" />ત્યારબાદ તમે સુલેમાંનને ત્યાંથી અહીં લઈ આવો અને માંરા બદલે સુલેમાંનને રાજગાદી પર બેસાડો. સુલેમાંન ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદાનો રાજા થશે; આ માંરો આદેશ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="1KI.1.36" />ત્યારે યહોયાદાના પુત્ર બનાયાએ રાજાને કહ્યું, “ભલે એમ થાઓ! યહોવા, તમાંરા દેવ તમાંરી ઇચ્છાઓ પૂરી કરે!
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<v id="37" bcv="1KI.1.37" />માંરા માંલિક અને રાજા, જેવી રીતે યહોવા તમાંરી સાથે રહ્યાં છે, તેઓ સુલેમાંન સાથે પણ રહો! એનું રાજ્ય રાજા દાઉદ કરતા પણ વધુ શકિતશાળી અને મહાન બને.”
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="1KI.1.38" />એ પછી યાજક સાદોક પ્રબોધક નાથાન. યહોયાદાના પુત્ર બનાયા અને રાજાના અંગરક્ષકોએ જઈને સુલેમાંનને રાજા દાઉદના ખચ્ચર પર બેસાડયો અને તેને લઈને તેઓ ગીહોન ગયા.
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<v id="39" bcv="1KI.1.39" />યાજક સાદોકે એક તેલનું શિંગડુ લીધું અને સુલેમાંનના માંથા પર તેનો રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કરવા રેડ્યું. તેમણે રણશિંગડું વગાડયું; અને બધા લોકો બોલી ઊઠયા. “રાજા સુલેમાંન ઘણું જીવો.”
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<v id="40" bcv="1KI.1.40" />પછી બધા લોકો વાંસળી વગાડતા અને ધરતીકંપ કરતા પણ મોટા અવાજે બૂમો પાડતા આનંદ કરતા તેની સાથે ઉપર ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="1KI.1.41" />તે વખતે અદોનિયા અને તેના મહેમાંનોએ ભોજન પૂરું કર્યુ, ત્યાં તેમણે સૌએ આ અવાજ સાંભળ્યો. રણશિંગડાનો નાદ સાંભળીને યોઆબ બોલી ઊઠયો. “શહેરમાં આ શોરબકોર શાનો છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="1KI.1.42" />તે હજી બોલતો હતો, એટલામાં જ, યાજક અબ્યાથારનો પુત્ર યોનાથાન આવી પહોંચ્યો. અદોનિયાએ કહ્યું, “અંદર આવ, તું પ્રામાંણિક માંણસ છે અને શુભ-સંદેશ જ લાવ્યો હશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="1KI.1.43" />યોનાથાને જવાબ આપ્યો “નાજી, એમ નથી. આપણા નામદાર રાજા દાઉદે સુલેમાંનને રાજા બનાવ્યો છે.
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<v id="44" bcv="1KI.1.44" />તેણે યાજક સાદોક, પ્રબોધક નાથાન અને યહોયાદાના પુત્ર બનાયા તથા રાજાના અંગરક્ષકોને તેની સાથે મોકલ્યા છે. તેમણે તેને રાજાના ખચ્ચર પર બેસાડયો છે.
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<v id="45" bcv="1KI.1.45" />ત્યાં યાજક સાદોકે અને પ્રબોધક નાથાને સુલેમાંનના માંથા પર, તેલ રેડીને તેને રાજા બનાવવા અભિષેક કર્યો છે, તેઓ હમણા જ ગીહોન ઝરણાથી નગરમાં પાછા આવ્યા છે, અને સમગ્ર નગર હષોર્લ્લાસથી ઉત્સવ ઊજવી રહ્યું છે, અત્યારે શહેરમાં ભારે કોલાહલ મચી રહ્યો છે તમે જે સાંભળો છો તે એનો જ અવાજ છે.
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<v id="46" bcv="1KI.1.46" />સુલેમાંન હવે રાજગાદી પર બેસે છે.
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<v id="47" bcv="1KI.1.47" />એટલું જ નહિ, બધા જ દરબારીઓ અને પ્રજાજનો રાજા દાઉદને અભિનંદન આપતાં કહે છે, ‘દેવ સુલેમાંનને તમાંરા કરતા પણ વધુ પ્રસિદ્ધ બનાવે. તમાંરા રાજય કરતાં સુલેમાંનનું રાજ્ય દેવ વધારે પ્રતાપી બનાવો.’ રાજા દાઉદે પલંગમાંથી જ દેવને પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="48" bcv="1KI.1.48" />અને કહ્યું, ‘ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાનો જય હો! માંરા એક વંશજને માંરી રાજગાદી પર બેઠેલો હું માંરી નજરે જોઈ શકયો છું.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="1KI.1.49" />આ સાંભળીને અદોનિયાના બધા મહેમાંનો ભયભીત બની, એકદમ ઊઠીને સૌ પોતપોતાને ધેર ગયાં.
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<v id="50" bcv="1KI.1.50" />અદોનિયા પણ વેદી પાસે દોડી ગયો અને તેણે વેદીના શિંગ પકડી લીધાં.
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<v id="51" bcv="1KI.1.51" />સુલેમાંનને સમાંચાર આપવામાં આવ્યા કે, “અદોનિયા સુલેમાંનથી ડરતો હતો અને વેદીનાં શિંગ પકડીને કહેતો હતો, ‘સુલેમાંન પહેલાં મને વચન આપો કે પોતે આ સેવકનો વધ નહિ કરો,’”
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<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="1KI.1.52" />પછી સુલેમાંને કહ્યું, “જો તે સારી રીતે વર્તશે તો તેને આંચ નહિ આવે; પણ જો એ પ્રતિકારપૂર્વક વર્તશે તો એને માંરી નખાશે.”
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<v id="53" bcv="1KI.1.53" />ત્યારબાદ રાજા સુલેમાંને તેને માંણસો મોકલીને યજ્ઞવેદી પરથી તેડાવી મંગાવ્યો. તેણે આવીને રાજા આગળ પ્રણામ કર્યા; અને સુલેમાંને તેને કહ્યું કે, “તું તારે ઘેર જા.”
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">દાઉદનુ મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.2.1" />રાજા દાઉદના જીવનનો અંત જયારે નજીક આવ્યો ત્યારે; તેણે પોતાના પુત્ર સુલેમાંનને બોલાવ્યો અને તેને આ પ્રમાંણે હુકમ કર્યો:
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.2.2" />“જગતના સૌ માંનવીઓને જયાં જવાનું છે ત્યાં હું પણ હવે જાઉં છું. તું બળવાન બનજે અને વીરની જેમ વર્તજે.
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.2.3" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને જેનું પાલન કરવા કહ્યું છે તેનું પૂર્ણ પાલન કરજે. મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્રમાં લખેલી દેવ યહોવાના પ્રત્યેક કાનૂન અને આજ્ઞાને આધીન થજે, જેથી તું જે કામ કરે ને જયાં જાય ત્યાં તેમાં તને સફળતા પ્રાપ્ત થાય.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.2.4" />જો તું એમ કરીશ તો યહોવા મને આપેલું વચન પાળશે, યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું છે, ‘જો તારા પુત્રો ધ્યાનપૂર્વક વફાદારીથી અને સાચા અંત:કરણથી મને અનુસરશે તો ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા સદા તમાંરા પરિવારમાંથી જ આવશે,’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1KI.2.5" />“સરૂયાના પુત્ર યોઆબે માંરી સાથે કેવો વર્તાવ રાખ્યો હતો તે તું જાણે છે, તને ખબર નથી કે તેણે ઇસ્રાએલી લશ્કરના બે સેનાપતિ નેરનો પુત્ર આબ્નેર અને યેથેરના પુત્ર અમાંસાને માંરી નાખ્યા હતા? યુદ્ધમાં તે બનેલો બનાવ હતો એવો તેણે દેખાવ કર્યો હતો, પણ હકીકતમાં એ કૃત્ય શાંતિના સમયમાં કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું. અને તેની તરવારબંધ અને પગરખાને નિદોર્ષના લોહીથી કલંકિત કર્યા હતાં.
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.2.6" />તું તારા ડહાપણ અનુસાર કામ કરજે, અને તેને શાંતિપૂર્વક મરવા દેતો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.2.7" />“પરંતુ ગિલયાદના બાઝિર્લ્લાયના પરિવાર પ્રતિ સદા મિત્રભાવ રાખજે, તેમને પણ ભોજન સમયે તારી સાથે રાખજે, કારણ કે હું જયારે તારા ભાઈ આબ્શાલોમથી ભાગતો ફરતો હતો, ત્યારે તેઓ માંરા પ્રત્યે વફાદાર રહ્યાં હતા, અને માંરી સારસંભાળ રાખી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1KI.2.8" />“બાહૂરીમનો બિન્યામીની જાતિના ગેરાનો પુત્ર શિમઈ હજી તારી સાથે છે, હું માંહનાઈમ ગયો ત્યારે તેણે મને ભારે શાપ આપ્યો હતો, પણ યર્દન નદી આગળ મળવા આવ્યો હતો અને મેં તેને યહોવાને નામે સોગંદ ખાઈને વચન આપ્યું હતું કે, હું તેને માંરી તરવારથી માંરીશ નહિ.
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<v id="9" bcv="1KI.2.9" />પરંતુ હવે તારે એને સજા વગર જવા દેવો નહિ, તું સમજુ છે અને એની સાથે કેમ કામ પાર પાડવું એ તને સમજાઈ રહેશે, ખાતરી કરજે કે તે વેદનાપૂર્ણ મૃત્યુથી મરે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1KI.2.10" />પછી દાઉદનું અવસાન થયું અને તેને દાઉદના નગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="1KI.2.11" />તેણે ઇસ્રાએલ પર ચાળીસ વર્ષ રાજય કર્યુ સાત વર્ષ હેબ્રોનથી અને તેત્રીસ વર્ષ યરૂશાલેમથી.
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</p>
<s style="s">રાજ સંભાળતો સુલેમાંન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1KI.2.12" />પછી તેના પિતા દાઉદને સ્થાને સુલેમાંને રાજગાદી સંભાળી; તેણે રાજ્ય પર કાબૂ મેળવ્યો હતો, તેનો રાજ્ય પરનો કાબૂ મજબૂત બન્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1KI.2.13" />એક વખત હાગ્ગીથના પુત્ર અદોનિયાએ સુલેમાંનની માંતા બાથશેબા પાસે જઈને તેણે પ્રણામ કર્યા. બાથશેબાએ પૂછયું, “તું શાંતિથી આવ્યો છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હા, હું શાંતિપૂર્વક આવ્યો છું.
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<v id="14" bcv="1KI.2.14" />એટલે તેણે કહ્યું, માંરે તમને એક વાત કરવી છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">બાથશેબાએ કહ્યું “તમાંરે શું કહેવું છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.2.15" />એટલે તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “તમે જાણો છો કે રાજગાદી મને મળવી જોઈતી હતી અને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ હું રાજા થઈશ એવી અપેક્ષા રાખતું હતું; પણ તેને બદલે રાજગાદી મને ટાળીને માંરા ભાઈને મળી છે, તેને યહોવાએ તે આપી.
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.2.16" />અને હવે માંરે તમને એક વિનંતી કરવાની છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">કૃપા કરીને તમે ના ન પાડશો, બાથશેબાએ પૂછયું, “તો શું?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1KI.2.17" />તેથી અદોનિયાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “તમે મહેરબાની કરી સુલેમાંનને પૂછો, મને અબીશાગ સાથે પરણવાની રજા આપે. તમને તે ના પાડશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1KI.2.18" />એટલે બાથશેબાએ કહ્યું, “સારું, હું રાજાને વાત કરીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1KI.2.19" />પછી બાથશેબા અદોનિયા વિષે વાત કરવા રાજા સુલેમાંન પાસે ગઈ. અને આવકાર આપવા રાજા ઊભો થઇને પગે લાગ્યો, પછી પાછો રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠો, રાજાએ તેની માંતા માંટે પણ એક આસન લાવવાનો હુકમ કર્યો અને તેણી તેની જમણી બાજુ બેઠી.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1KI.2.20" />પછી તેણે કહ્યું, “માંરે તને એક નાની વિનંતી કરવાની છે, ના પાડતો નહિ.”
</p>
<p style="p">રાજાએ કહ્યું, “કહો, શી વિનંતી છે. માંતાજી? હુ ના નહિ પાડું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1KI.2.21" />બાથશેબાએ કહ્યું, “શૂનામ્મી અબીશાગનાં લગ્ન તારા ભાઈ અદોનિયા સાથે થાય તો સારું,”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1KI.2.22" />રાજા સુલેમાંને તેની માંતાને કહ્યું, “તમે એમ શું કામ પૂછો છો કે, શૂનામ્મી અબીશાગનાં લગ્ન અદોનિયા સાથે થાય! માંરા રાજ્ય માંટે પૂછો, તે એના માંટે પૂછયા બરોબર છે? કારણ, એ માંરો મોટો ભાઈ છે. અને યાજક અબ્યાથાર અને સરૂયા નો પુત્ર યોઆબે તેને ટેકો આપ્યો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.2.23" />રાજા સુલેમાંને સમ લીધા, યહોવા મને દંડ આપે સિવાય કે, “અદોનિયા આ વિનંતી કરવા માંટે પોતાનો જીવ આપે!
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.2.24" />જે યહોવાએ મને માંરાં પિતા દાઉદની ગાદી પર સ્થિર કરીને સ્થાપ્યો છે, અને જેણે વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાંણે માંરા વંશની સ્થાપના કરી છે. તેના સમ ખાઈને હું કહું છું કે, અદોનિયાને આજે જ મોતને હવાલે કરવામાં આવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1KI.2.25" />તેથી સુલેમાંને યહોયાદાના પુત્ર બનાયાને આજ્ઞા કરી, અદોનિયાને માંરી નાખવાની.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1KI.2.26" />પછી અબ્યાથાર યાજકને રાજાએ કહ્યું, “તું તારે ઘેર અનાથોથ જતો રહે. તું મૃત્યુદંડને જ લાયક છે; પણ હું તને માંરી નાખીશ નહિ. કારણ કે તેં દેવ યહોવાનો પવિત્રકોશ માંરા પિતા દાઉદ સમક્ષ ઉચક્યો હતો અને તેમનાં બધાં કષ્ટોમાં તેં ભાગ પડાવ્યો હતો.”
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<v id="27" bcv="1KI.2.27" />આમ સુલેમાંને યહોવાના યાજકપદેથી અબ્યાથારને પદષ્ટ કર્યો. આમ એલી યાજકના વંશજો વિષે યહોવાએ શીલોહમાં જે વાણી ઉચ્ચારી હતી તે સાચી પાડી.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1KI.2.28" />જયારે યોઆબને આ સમાંચાર મળ્યા ત્યારે, તે યહોવાના મંડપ પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં ભાગી ગયો. અને વેદીનાં શિંગ પકડી લીધાં; કારણ, તેણે અદોનિયાનો પક્ષ લીધો હતો. જો કે આબ્શાલોમનો પક્ષ લીધો નહોતો.
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<v id="29" bcv="1KI.2.29" />રાજા સુલેમાંનને સમાંચાર મળ્યા કે, યોઆબ યહોવાના પવિત્રમંડપમાં ભાગી ગયો છે, અને ત્યાં વેદી પાસે છે. ત્યારે સુલેમાંને યહોયાદાના પુત્ર બનાયાને મોકલીને કહ્યું કે, “જા, તેને પૂરો કર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="1KI.2.30" />એટલે બનાયાએ યહોવાના મંડપમાં જઈને કહ્યું, “તને રાજાનો હુકમ છે કે બહાર આવ.”
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<p style="p">પરંતુ યોઆબે કહ્યું, “ના, હું તો અહીં જ મરીશ.”
</p>
<p style="p">બનાયાએ રાજાને સમાંચાર આપ્યા કે, યોઆબે મને આમ કહ્યું અને આવો જવાબ આપ્યો,
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<v id="31" bcv="1KI.2.31" />તેથી રાજાએ કહ્યું, “તેના કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે કર. તેને પૂરો કરીને દફનાવી દે; અને મને અને માંરા કુટુંબને, નિદોર્ષ લોકોને માંરીને યોઆબે કરેલા ગુનાહમાંથી મુકત કર.
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<v id="32" bcv="1KI.2.32" />યહોવા એણે કરેલા ખૂનનું પાપ એને પોતાને માંથે નાખશે; કારણ, એણે બે નિદોર્ષ માંણસો કે જે તેના કરતા વધારે સારા હતા, તેને માંરી નાખ્યા હતા, માંરા પિતા જાણતા નહોતા કે યોઆબે ઇસ્રાએલના સેનાધિપતિ નેરનો પુત્ર આબ્નેરનું અને યહૂદિયાના સેનાધિપતિ યેથેરના પુત્ર અમાંસાનું ખૂન કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="33" bcv="1KI.2.33" />યોઆબ અને તેનાં સંતાનોને માંથે એમના રકતનું પાપ કાયમ રહો, પણ દાઉદને અને તેનાં વંશજોને અને તેના વંશને અને તેની રાજગાદીને યહોવા સદા સુખશાંતિ આપો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="1KI.2.34" />તેથી યહોયાદાના પુત્ર બનાયાએ જઇને યોઆબને માંરી નાખ્યો. તેના ઘર પાસે તેને વગડામાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="35" bcv="1KI.2.35" />પછી રાજાએ યોઆબને બદલે યહોયાદાના પુત્ર બનાયાને લશ્કરના સેનાધિપતિ તરીકે અને યાજક તરીકે; અબ્યાથારને બદલે સાદોકની નિમણૂંક કરી.
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<v id="36" bcv="1KI.2.36" />એ પછી રાજાએ શિમઇને તેડાવી મંગાવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “તું યરૂશાલેમમાં ઘર બંધાવીને ત્યાં રહે, યરૂશાલેમ છોડીને તારે બીજે જવાનું નથી.
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<v id="37" bcv="1KI.2.37" />જે દિવસે તું શહેર છોડીને કિદ્રોનનું નાળું ઓળંગીશ તે દિવસે જરૂર તારું મોત થવાનું. અને તારા મોત માંટે તું જ જવાબદાર ગણાશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="1KI.2.38" />શિમઇએ રાજાને કહ્યું, “સારું, હું આપ નામદારની આજ્ઞા મુજબ વતીર્શ,” અને લાંબા વખત સુધી શિમઇ યરૂશાલેમમાં જ રહ્યો.
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<v id="39" bcv="1KI.2.39" />પણ ત્રણ વરસ પછી તેના બે ગુલામો ગાથના રાજા માંઅખાહના દીકરા આખીશ પાસે ભાગી ગયા. જયારે શિમઇને કહેવામાં આવ્યું કે, તારા ગુલામો ગાથમાં છે.
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<v id="40" bcv="1KI.2.40" />ત્યારે શિમઇ તુરંત જ ગધેડા પર જીન નાખીને ગુલામોની શોધમાં ગાથમાં આખીશ પાસે જવા ગયો. પછી તે તેઓને ગાથમાંથી પાછા લાવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="1KI.2.41" />જયારે રાજા સુલેમાંનને સમાંચાર મળ્યા કે, “શિમઇ યરૂશાલેમથી ગાથ ગયો હતો; અને પાછો આવી ગયો છે,”
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<v id="42" bcv="1KI.2.42" />પછી માંણસ મોકલીને તેણે તેને બોલાવડાવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “મેં તને યહોવાના સમ નહોતા લેવડાવ્યા, મેં તને સખત ચેતવણી નહોતી આપી કે, તું જે દિવસે શહેર છોડીને બીજે જશે તે દિવસે જરૂર મોંત આવ્યું સમજજે! અને તેં કહ્યું હતું કે, સારું, હું એ પ્રમાંણે કરીશ.
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<v id="43" bcv="1KI.2.43" />તો પછી તેં યહોવાના સમ ખાઈને આપેલું વચન કેમ પાળ્યું નહિ, અને માંરી આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કેમ કર્યું?
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<v id="44" bcv="1KI.2.44" />માંરા પિતા દાઉદ સાથે તેં જે દુષ્ટ વ્યવહાર કર્યો હતો તે તું બરાબર જાણે છે. યહોવા તને તારાં એ દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો માંટે સજા કરશે;
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<v id="45" bcv="1KI.2.45" />પણ રાજા સુલેમાંન આશીર્વાદિત હશે અને દાઉદની ગાદી યહોવાની હાજરીમાં સદાયને માંટે મજબૂત રીતે સ્થાપિત રહેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="1KI.2.46" />ત્યારબાદ યહોયાદાના પુત્ર બનાયાએ રાજાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે શિમઇને બહાર લઈ જઈને માંરી નાખ્યો. આમ, સુલેમાંનની સત્તા સ્થાપીત થઈ.
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<s style="s">સુલેમાંનની જ્ઞાન માંટેની યાચના
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.3.1" />સુલેમાંને મિસરના રાજા ફારુનની સાથે કરાર કર્યો, તેણે તેની પુત્રી સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા. તે તેને દાઉદનગરમાં લઈ આવ્યો. સુલેમાંનનો મહેલ, યહોવાનું મંદિર અને યરૂશાલેમની ફરતી દીવાલ બાંધવામાં આવી, ત્યાં સુધી તે ત્યાં રહીં.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.3.2" />તે સમયે યહોવાનું મંદિર હજી બંધાયુ ન હોવાથી લોકો પોતાના બલિદાનો ટેકરી પરના થાનક પર અર્પણ કરતા હતા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.3.3" />સુલેમાંન પોતે યહોવા પર પ્રેમ રાખતો હતો અને તેના પિતા દાઉદે ઠરાવેલા તમાંમ નિયમો અને વિધિઓનું પાલન કરતો હતો. પરંતુ તે છતાં પણ તે ટેકરી પરના સ્થાનકો ઉપર જ બલિદાનો અર્પણ કરતો હતો અને ધૂપ પેટાવતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1KI.3.4" />પર્વતનાં શિખરો પર આવેલા બધાં સ્થાનકોમાં સૌથી વધારે પ્રખ્યાત ઉચ્ચસ્થાન ગિબયોનમાં હતું. રાજાએ ત્યાં જઈને 1,000 દહનાર્પણો અર્પણ કર્યા!
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.3.5" />તે રાત્રે યહોવાએ તેને સ્વપ્નમાં દર્શન આપ્યું અને કહ્યું, “તારે જે જોઈએ તે તું માંગી લે, હું તને તે આપીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1KI.3.6" />ત્યારે સુલેમાંને જવાબ આપ્યો, “હે યહોવા, તમે માંરા પિતા દાઉદ પ્રત્યે પુષ્કળ પ્રેમ દર્શાવ્યો છે. કારણ કે તમાંરી સાથેના સંબંધમાં તે પ્રામાંણિક, સત્ય અને વિશ્વાસુ હતા, અને તમાંરી આજ્ઞાઓને આધીન હતા. વળી તમે તેને એક પુત્ર આપીને નાઆજે તેની જગ્યાએ રાજા બનાવ્યો છે તેના પ્રત્યેનો તમાંરો પ્રેમ બતાવ્યો છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1KI.3.7" />હવે, ઓ માંરા યહોવા દેવ, તમે તમાંરા આ સેવકને માંરા પિતા દાઉદ પછી રાજા બનાવ્યો છે, જો કે હું તો હજી છોકરો છું. કયાં જવું અને શું કરવું એ હું જાણતો નથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="1KI.3.8" />હું અહીં તમાંરા પસંદ કરેલા લોકો વચ્ચે આવી પડયો છું. આ એક મહાન પ્રજા છે અને તેઓની સંખ્યા અગણિત છે!
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<v id="9" bcv="1KI.3.9" />તેથી, મને વિવેકબુદ્વિવાળું હૃદય આપો; જેથી કરીને હું ન્યાયપૂર્વક તમાંરા લોકો પર રાજ કરી શકું અને તેમને સાચા અને ખોટા વચ્ચેનો તફાવત સમજાવી શકું, નહિ તો તમાંરા મહાન લોકો પર કોણ રાજ કરી શકશે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1KI.3.10" />સુલેમાંનની વિનંતીથી યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થયા.
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<v id="11" bcv="1KI.3.11" />અને તેણે સુલેમાંનને કહ્યું, “તેં આ માંગણી કરી છે અને પોતાના માંટે લાબું આયુષ્ય કે સંપત્તિ કે તારા દુશ્મનોનાં મોત પણ માંગ્યાઁ નથી, પરંતુ ન્યાય પૂર્વક લોકો પર રાજય કરવા માંટે ડહાપણ માંગ્યું છે,
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.3.12" />અને એટલે જ જો, હું તારી માંગણી પૂરી કરું છું. હું તને એવું ડહાપણ અને સમજ શકિતવાળું હૃદય આપું છું કે, તારા પહેલાં તારા જેવો કોઈ થયો નથી અને તારા પછી કોઈ થવાનો નથી.
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.3.13" />તદુપરાંત તેં જે માંગ્યું નથી; એ પણ હું તને આપીશ; સમૃદ્વિ અને સન્માંન! તારા જીવનપર્યંત તારા જેવો શ્રીમંત કે ખ્યાતનામ વિશ્વમાં અન્ય કોઈ થશે નહિ!
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<v id="14" bcv="1KI.3.14" />અને, જો તું તારા પિતાની જેમ માંરે માંગેર્ ચાલશે અને માંરી આજ્ઞાઓ, અને વિધિઓનું પાલન કરશે તો હું તને દીર્ઘાયુ આપીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.3.15" />પછી સુલેમાંન જાગી ગયો, તેને સમજાયું કે આ તો સ્વપ્ન છે. સુલેમાંન યરૂશાલેમ પાછો આવ્યો, અને યહોવાએ ખાસ ઇસ્રાએલ સાથે કરેલા કરારનામાં ધરાવતા પવિત્રકોશ સામે ઊભો રહ્યો, અને દહનાર્પણ તથા શાત્યર્પણ અર્પણ કર્યા. પછી તેણે તેના બધા અધિકારીઓ માંટે મિજબાની રાખી.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1KI.3.16" />તે પછી બે વારાંગનાઓ રાજાની સમક્ષ આવીને ઊભી રહી.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.3.17" />પહેલી બોલી, “નામદાર, આ બાઈ અને હું એક જ ઘરમાં રહીએ છીએ. એક પુત્રને મેં ઘરમાં જન્મ આપ્યો એ જ્યારે ત્યાં માંરી સાથે હતી.
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.3.18" />માંરી પ્રસૂતિ પછી ત્રીજે દિવસે તે સ્રીને પણ એક બાળક અવતર્યું. ઘરમાં અમે એકલાં જ હતાં; ઘરમાં ત્યાં બીજું કોઇ નહોતું.
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<v id="19" bcv="1KI.3.19" />એક રાત્રે ઊંઘમાં પાસું ફેરવતાં તેનો પુત્ર દબાઇને મૃત્યુ પામ્યો
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.3.20" />પછી રાત્રે ઊઠીને તેણે માંરી પાસેથી માંરા પુત્રને મને ખબર ન પડે તેમ ઉઠાવી લીધો, તે વખતે હું ઊઁઘતી હતી તે દરમ્યાન તેણે માંરું બાળક પોતાની બાજુમાં મૂકયું અને તેનું મૃત બાળક માંરી બાજુમાં મૂક્યું.
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.3.21" />જયારે સવારમાં હું માંરા બાળકને ધવડાવવા ઊઠી, તો તે મરેલો જણાયો, પણ અજવાળામાં મેં ધારીને જોયું તો ખબર પડી કે, એ મને અવતરેલું બાળક નહોતું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1KI.3.22" />ત્યારે બીજી સ્ત્રી બોલી; “જે પુત્ર જીવતો છે એ તો માંરો, અને જે મરી ગયો છે તે તારો છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">પ્રથમ સ્રીએ કહ્યું, “ના, મરેલો પુત્ર એ તારો છે, અને જે જીવતો છે, એ માંરો છે.” આમ તેઓ બંને પોતાની દલીલો રાજા સમક્ષ રજૂ કરવા લાગી.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.3.23" />રાજાએ મનમાં વિચાર કર્યો, “આ કહે છે કે, જીવતો છોકરો માંરો છે અને મરેલો તારો છે, જયારે પેલી સ્રી કહે છે કે, ‘એ વાત ખોટી છે, મરેલો તારો છે અને જીવતો માંરો છે.’”
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.3.24" />પછી તેણે કહ્યું, “મને એક તરવાર લાવી આપો.” એટલે રાજા આગળ તરવાર રજૂ કરવામાં આવી.
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<v id="25" bcv="1KI.3.25" />પછી રાજાએ કહ્યું, “આ જીવતા બાળકના બે ભાગ કરો અને બંને સ્રીઓને એક એક ભાગ આપો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1KI.3.26" />આ સાંભળીને જીવતા બાળકની સાચી માંતાના હૃદયમાં પ્રેમની લાગણી જન્મી અને તેણે રાજાને કહ્યું, “નામદાર, બાળક ભલે એને આપી દો, પણ એને માંરી નાખશો નહિ.” પણ પેલી બીજી સ્રી બોલી, “બાળક તો કોઈને નહિ મળે, ના એને મળે કે ના મને મળે, એના બે ટુકડા કરી નાખો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1KI.3.27" />ત્યારે રાજાએ ચુકાદો આપ્યો, “જીવતુ બાળક પહેલી સ્ત્રીને આપી દો. એને માંરી નાખશો નહિ. એજ એની ખરી માંતા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1KI.3.28" />રાજાએ જે અદલ ઇન્સાફ કર્યો તેની જાણ સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલમાં થઈ ગઈ, ત્યારે તેમના રાજયના લોકોના મનમાં રાજા માંટે આદરભાવ જાગ્યો. તેઓ સમજી ગયા કે, એ ન્યાય કરવા માંટે દિવ્ય જ્ઞાન ધરાવે છે.
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<c id="4" />
<s style="s">સુલેમાંનના અમલદારો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.4.1" />સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ પર રાજા સુલેમાંન રાજય કરતો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.4.2" />તેના અમલદારો નીચે પ્રમાંણે હતા:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">સાદોકનો પુત્ર અઝાર્યા યાજક હતો.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="1KI.4.3" />શીશાના પુત્રો અલીહોરેફ તથા અહીયાલ પત્રકારો હતા.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અહીલૂદનો પુત્ર યહોશાફાટ ઇતિહાસકાર હતો.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="1KI.4.4" />યહોયાદાનો પુત્ર બનાયા લશ્કરનો સરસેનાધિપતિ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સાદોક તથા અબ્યાથાર યાજકો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="1KI.4.5" />નાથાનનો પુત્ર અઝાર્યા રાજયપાલોનો વડો હતો.
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<p sfm="li" style="li">યાજક નાથાનનો પુત્ર ઝાબૂદ રાજાનો મિત્ર હતો.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="1KI.4.6" />રાજમહેલની બાબતોનો વ્યવસ્થાપક અહીશાર હતો;
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<p sfm="li" style="li">અને આબ્દાનો પુત્ર અદોનીરામ વેઠ મજૂરોનો અધિકારી હતો.
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.4.7" />ઇસ્રાએલમાં બાર પ્રશાશક હતા અને દરેક જણ રાજાના પરિવાર માંટે અનાજ પુરું પાડતા હતા. દર વષેર્ દરેક પ્રશાશક એક મહિનાનું અનાજ પૂરું પાડતા હતાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="1KI.4.8" />એ બાર પ્રશાશકનાં નામ નીચે પ્રમાંણે છે;
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<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">બેનહૂર એફ્રાઈમના પહાડી પ્રદેશનો પ્રશાશક હતો.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="1KI.4.9" />બેન-દેકેર માંકાશ, શાઆલ્બીમ, બેથશેમેશ અને એલોન બેથહાનાનનો પ્રશાશક હતો.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1KI.4.10" />બેન-હેશેદ અરૂબ્બોથ, સોખોહ અને હેફેરના બધાં પ્રદેશોનો પ્રશાશક હતો.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="1KI.4.11" />નાફોથ પહાડી પ્રદેશ પર બેન-અબીનાદાબ પ્રશાશક હતો. તે સુલેમાંનની પુત્રી, રાજકુંવરી ટાફાથને પરણ્યો હતો.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="1KI.4.12" />અહીલૂદના પુત્ર બાઅનાએ તાઅનાખ તથા મગિદ્દો, અને સારથાનની બાજુમાં યિઝએલ તળે આખા બેથશઆનમાં પ્રશાશક હતો, તેણે બેથશઆનથી છેક આબેલ મહોલાહ અને યોકમઆમની પેલી પાર સુધી શાસન કર્યું.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="1KI.4.13" />બેનગેબેર રામોથ ગિલયાદ, મનાશ્શાના પુત્ર યાઈરના ગિલયાદમાં આવેલ ગામો તથા બાશાનમાંનો આગોર્બ પ્રદેશ પર પ્રશાશક હતો. આમાં કાંસાના સળીયાં અને દીવાલો વાળા સાંઇઠ મોટાઁ નગરો પણ સમાંયેલા હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="1KI.4.14" />ઇદ્દોના પુત્ર અહીનાદાબ માંહનાઇમનો પ્રશાશક હતો.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.4.15" />અહીમાંઆસ નફતાલીનો પ્રશાશક હતો અને તે સુલેમાંનની પુત્રી બાસમાંથને પરણ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="1KI.4.16" />હૂશાયના પુત્ર બાઅનાઅ આશેર અને બઆલોથનો પ્રશાશક હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="1KI.4.17" />પારૂઆહના પુત્ર યહોશાફાટ ઇસ્સાખારનો પ્રશાશક હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="1KI.4.18" />એલાના પુત્ર શિમઇ બિન્યામીનનો પ્રશાશક હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="1KI.4.19" />ઉરીના પુત્ર ગેબેર ગિલયાદનો પ્રશાશક હતો, એ ભૂમિનો જેના પર અમોરીઓનો રાજા સીહોન અને બાશાનનો રાજા ઓગ એક સમયે રાજ્ય કરતાં હતાં યહૂદામાં ત્યારે એક જ પ્રશાશક હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1KI.4.20" />યહૂદા અને ઇસ્રાએલ સમુદ્ર કિનારે રહેલી રેતીની જેમ લોકોથી ભરેલા હતાં અને તેઓ પાસે ખાવાપીવાનું પુષ્કળ હતું અને સુખી હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1KI.4.21" />સુલેમાંન રાજા યુફ્રેતિસ નદીથી પલિસ્તીઓના દેશ સુધી તથા દક્ષિણે મિસર સરહદ સુધીના સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ પર શાસન કરતો હતો. આ પ્રદેશના તાબેદાર લોકો સુલેમાંનને ઉપહાર આપતા હતા. સુલેમાંનના જીવનકાળ દરમ્યાન તેઓ તેમને આધીન રહેતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1KI.4.22" />રાજમહેલમાં વસનારાં રાજવી કુટુંબીના રોજીંદા ખોરાક માંટે 30 માંપ મેંદો, 60 માંપ લોટ,
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<v id="23" bcv="1KI.4.23" />તબેલામાં ચરાવેલા દસ ગોધા, અને ચરાણમાં ચરાવેલા 20 ગોધા, 100 ઘેટાં અને અવારનવાર હરણ, સાબર, કાળિયાર અને પુષ્ટ પક્ષીઓ રાજાના રસોડામાં પૂરાં પાડવામાં આવતાં હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1KI.4.24" />રાજા સુલેમાંને ફ્રાંત નદી પેલે પારના વિસ્તારમાં છેક તિફસાહથી તે ગાઝા સુધી શાસન કર્યું. ત્યાંના બધા રાજાઓ પર તેણે રાજ કર્યું, અને તેના રાજયમાં સર્વત્ર શાંતિ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="1KI.4.25" />સુલેમાંનના સર્વ દિવસો સુરક્ષા ભરેલાં હતાં જે બધાંને, દાનથી તે બેરશેબા સુધી યહૂદિયા તથા ઇસ્રાએલના બધાં લોકો જેઓ પોતપોતાના દ્રાક્ષાવેલા નીચે તથા પોતપોતાની અંજીરી નીચે રહેતાં તે લોકોને અપાઇ હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1KI.4.26" />સુલેમાંન પાસે રથોના ઘોડાઓ માંટે 40,000 તબેલા હતા અને 12,000 રથ ચાલકો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="1KI.4.27" />પોતાને ભાગે આવેલા માંસમાં સુલેમાંન રાજાને તથા સુલેમાંનને ત્યાં જમવા આવનાર સઘળાંને ખોરાક પૂરો પાડતો હતો; દરેક અધિકારી એક મહિના માંટે ખોરાક પૂરો પાડતો હતો. તેઓ કોઇપણ વસ્તુ છોડી મૂકવા માંગતાં નથી.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="1KI.4.28" />તેઓ, પ્રત્યેક પોતપોતાને સોંપેલી ફરજ પ્રમાંણે, પોતાના ઘોડાઓને માંટે તથા રાજાના ઘોડાઓ માંટે જવ તથા સુકુ ઘાસ મોકલતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સુલેમાંનનું ડહાપણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1KI.4.29" />દેવે સુલેમાંનને ઘણું ડહાપણ તથા વિવેકબુદ્ધિ તથા સમુદ્ર કિનારે રહેલી રેતીની જેમ વિશાળ સમજણશકિત આપ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="1KI.4.30" />મિસર તથા પૂર્વના દેશોના મહાન જ્ઞાનીઓને ઘણું જ્ઞાન હતું પરંતુ તે સુલેમાંનના ડહાપણથી ઓછું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="1KI.4.31" />એથામ એઝ્હી તથા માંહોલના પુત્રો હેમાંન, કાલ્કોલ, અને દાર્દા જ્ઞાનીઓ હતાં પરંતુ તેમના કરતાં સુલેમાંન અધિક જ્ઞાની હતો. આજુબાજુની પ્રજાઓમાં તેની કીતિર્ પ્રસરેલી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="1KI.4.32" />તેણે 3,000 કહેવતો અને 1,005 ગીતોની રચના કરી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1KI.4.33" />સુલેમાંને લબાનોનના દેવદાર વૃક્ષથી માંડીને દીવાલોમાંથી ઉગતા ઝુફાના વૃક્ષો બાબત જ્ઞાન આપ્યું. સુલેમાંને પશુઓ, પક્ષીઓ, પેટે ચાલનારા પ્રાણીઓ તથા માંછલીઓ વિષે જ્ઞાન આપ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="1KI.4.34" />જે સર્વ લોકોએ તથા પૃથ્વી પરના જે સર્વ રાજાઓએ સુલેમાંનના જ્ઞાન વિષે સાંભળ્યું હતું, તેઓ તેની જ્ઞાનની વાતો સાંભળવા આવતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">મંદિર નિર્માંણ માંટે તૈયારી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.5.1" />તૂરનો રાજા હીરામ રાજા દાઉદ સાથે સંલગ્ન થઇ ગયો, તેણે પોતાના નોકરોને સુલેમાંન રાજા પાસે મોકલ્યા; કારણ કે તેણે જાણ્યું હતું કે દાઉદનો પુત્ર સુલેમાંન ઇસ્રાએલના નવા રાજા તરીકે અભિષિકત થયો છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1KI.5.2" />હીરામને પ્રત્ત્યુત્તર આપતાં સુલેમાંને કહેવડાવ્યું કે,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1KI.5.3" />તું જાણે છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“માંરા પિતા યહોવા દેવના માંનમાં મંદિર બાંધી શકયા નહિ, કારણ કે તેમને આજુબાજુના દુશ્મન રાજયો સાથે ઘણાં યુદ્ધો કરવાં પડયાં હતાં, અને યહોવા શાંતિ સ્થાપન કરે તેની તે રાહ જોતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1KI.5.4" />પરંતુ હવે યહોવા માંરા દેવે ઇસ્રાએલમાં સર્વ સરહદોએ શાંતિ સ્થાપી છે. કોઈ શત્રુ નથી કે નથી કોઈ આપત્તિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="5" bcv="1KI.5.5" />“તેથી હવે હું માંરા યહોવા માંટે મંદિર બનાવી શકું અને હું તેમ કરવા માંટે યોજના કરું છું, એ કામ માંરે કરવાનું છે એવી સૂચના યહોવાએ માંરા પિતાને આપી હતી. યહોવાએ તેમને કહ્યું હતું, તારા પછી તારા પુત્રને હું તારા રાજયાસન પર બેસાડીશ. તે માંરા નામ માંટે થઇને મંદિર બંધાવશે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1KI.5.6" />તેથી હવે લબાનોનમાં તમાંરા સેવકોને માંરા માંટે દેવદાર વૃક્ષ કાપવા હુકમ કરો, માંરા સેવકો તમાંરા સેવકોની સાથે રહેશે; અને તમે જે પ્રમાંણે કહેશો તે મુજબ હું તમાંરા સેવકોને વેતન ચૂકવી આપીશ; કારણ કે તમે જાણો છો કે, કોઇ પણ ઇસ્રાએલી સિદોનીઓની જેમ કેવી રીતે વૃક્ષો કાપવા તે જાણતો નથી!”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.5.7" />જયારે હીરામે સુલેમાંનનો સંદેશો સાંભળ્યો ત્યારે તે ખૂબ પ્રસન્ન થયો; તેણે કહ્યું, “યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થજો! કારણકે તેમણે દાઉદને આ મહાન પ્રજા પર રાજ્ય કરવા એક શાણો પુત્ર આપ્યો છે.”
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1KI.5.8" />હીરામે રાજા સુલેમાંનને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“તમે દેવદારના અને ફરના વૃક્ષ કાપવા માંટેનો જે સંદેશો મોકલ્યો છે તે મેં સાંભળ્યો છે, હું તમાંરી સઘળી ઇચ્છાઓ પરિપૂર્ણ કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1KI.5.9" />માંરા માંણસો લબાનોનથી સમુદ્ર સુધી લાકડાં લઇ આવશે અને ત્યાંથી તમે કહેશો ત્યાં હું તે લાકડાં બાંધીને તરાપા બનાવીને, સમુદ્રમાંગેર્ વહાવી દઇશ, પછી લાકડાં છૂટાં કરી તમને સોંપી દેવાશે. તમાંરે તો માંરા માંણસોને ફકત વેતન, ખોરાક અને રહેવા માંટેની જગ્યા આપવી પડશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1KI.5.10" />એમ આ રીતે હીરામે સુલેમાંને જેમ ઇચ્છયું હતું તેમ કર્યુ અને જરૂરિયાત મુજબનું ફર અને દેવદાર વૃક્ષોનું લાકડું મોકલી આપ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1KI.5.11" />તેના બદલામાં સુલેમાંને પ્રતિવર્ષ હીરામને 20,000 માપ ઘઉં અને 20 માપ શુદ્વ જૈતતેલ મોકલી આપ્યાં,
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1KI.5.12" />અને યહોવાએ સુલેમાંનને વચન આપ્યું હતું, તે મુજબ તેણે તેને જ્ઞાન આપી; અને હીરામ તથા સુલેમાંનની વચ્ચે સુલેહ-શાંતિના કરાર કર્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1KI.5.13" />રાજા સુલેમાંને પોતાને માંટે કામ કરવા ઇસ્રાએલના 30,000 માંણસોને મજબૂર કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1KI.5.14" />તે તેઓમાંથી તે વારા પ્રમાંણે પ્રતિમાંસ 10,000 માંણસોને લબાનોન મોકલતો હતો; તેઓ એક માંસ લબાનોનમાં અને બે માંસ પોતાના ઘેર રહેતા; અદોનીરામ બધાં મજૂરોનો ઊપરી હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="1KI.5.15" />સુલેમાંન પાસે તેના માંટે બાંધકામની સામગ્રી ઊપાડનારા વધારાના 70,000 માંણસો હતા. વળી પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં પથ્થર તોડનારા 80,000 માંણસો હતા.
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.5.16" />બાર પ્રશાશકો ઊપરાંત સુલેમાંન પાસે મજૂરોના કામ પર દેખરેખ રાખનારા 3,300 મુકાદૃમો હતા.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.5.17" />રાજાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ ઘડેલા પથ્થરોથી મંદિરનો પાયો નાખવા માંટે તેઓ મોટા તથા મૂલ્યવાન પથ્થરો ખોદી કાઢતા હતા.
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.5.18" />અને ગબાલ પ્રદેશના માંણસો પણ સુલેમાંનના અને હીરામના કામદારોને મંદિર બાંધવા માંટે પથ્થર કાપવાના અને મંદિર માંટે લાકડા કાપવાના કામમાં મદદ કરતા હતા.
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<c id="6" />
<s style="s">મંદિરનું બાંધકામ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.6.1" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મિસરમાંથી 480 વર્ષ પછી બહાર આવ્યા પછી, રાજા સુલેમાંનના ઇસ્રાએલ પરના શાસનનું ચોથું વર્ષ હતું, બીજા મહિનામાં એટલે કે ઝીવ માંસમાં તેણે યહોવાના મંદિરનું બાંધકામ શરૂ કર્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.6.2" />રાજા સુલેમાંને જે મંદિર યહોવા માંટે બંધાવ્યું તે 60 હાથ લાંબુ, 20 હાથ પહોળું અને 30 હાથ ઊંચું હતું.
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.6.3" />મંદિરની સામેની પરસાળની પહોળાઈ 20 હાથ અને લંબાઇ 10 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.6.4" />તેણે ચોકઠાં અને આડશવાળી બારીઓવાળું મંદિર બંધાવ્યું.
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.6.5" />તેણે બરોબર મંદિરની દીવાલોની ફરતે એક બાંધકામનું માંળખું બનાવ્યું જેની અંદર નાની ઓરડીઓ હતી.
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.6.6" />આ ઓરડીઓના ત્રણ માંળ હતા. ભોંયતળિયાની ઓરડીઓ 5 હાથ પહોળી, વચ્ચેના માંળની 6 હાથ પહોળી અને ઉપલા માંળની 7 હાથ પહોળી હતી. તેણે દીવાલની બહારના ભાગમાં થાંભલા બનાવ્યા હતા જેથી કરીને ટેકાવાળાં ખંભા મંદિરના અંદરના ભાગની દીવાલમાં દેખાય નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="1KI.6.7" />મંદિર બાંધવામાં જે પથ્થરો વપરાતા હતા, તેને ખાણમાંજ કાપીને ચમકદાર બનાવાતાં હતા. તેથી મંદિર બંધાતુ હતુ ત્યારે હથોડા કુહાડી કે બીજા કોઈપણ લોખંડના ઓજારનો અવાજ સંભળાયો નહોતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1KI.6.8" />ભોંય તળિયાનું પ્રવેશદ્વાર મંદિરની દક્ષિણ બાજુએ આવેલું હતું, ત્યાં વચલા માંળે જવાનો એક વળાંક વાળો ગોળાકાર દાદરો હતો અને વચલા માંળેથી સૌથી ઉપલે માંળે જવાતું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1KI.6.9" />સુલેમાંને મંદિરનું બાંધકામ પૂરું કર્યુ અને છત દેવદારના પાટડા અને પાટિયાની બનાવી.
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<v id="10" bcv="1KI.6.10" />મંદિરની દીવાલો બંધાઇ ગઇ હતી અને દીવાલોની દરેક બાજુએ દેવદારના પાટિયા હતાં. બધાં માંળ પાંચ હાથ ઊંચા હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1KI.6.11" />પછી સુલેમાંનને યહોવાના વચન સંભળાયાં;
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.6.12" />“તું માંરા માંટે આ મંદિર બાંધે છે, તો હવે જો તું માંરા ઉપદેશનો અમલ કરશે અને માંરા બધા કાનૂનો અને આજ્ઞાઓનું નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક પાલન કરશે; તો મેં તારા પિતા દાઉદને તારે વિષે જે વચન આપ્યું હતું તે હું પાળીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.6.13" />વળી હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વચ્ચે વસવાટ કરીશ અને માંરા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને તજી દઈશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1KI.6.14" />આમ, સુલેમાંને મંદિરનું બાંધકામ લાકડાથી પૂરું કર્યુ.
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<v id="15" bcv="1KI.6.15" />તેણે મંદિરની અંદરની દીવાલોને ભોંયતળિયાથી છત સુધી દેવદારના પાટિયાથી જડી દીધી હતી અને તેણે ચીડના લાકડાંથી મંદિરના ભોંયતળિયાને જડી દીધો હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.6.16" />મંદિરની પાછળની બાજુ તેણે 20 હાથ લાંબો એક ઓરડો બાંધ્યો. તેણે તેની દીવાલો દેવદારથી જડી દીધી હતી અને તે તળિયેથી છેક છત સુધી પહોંચતી હતી, આ અંદરની જગ્યા હતી, પરમપવિત્ર સ્થળ હતું.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.6.17" />પરમ પવિત્રસ્થળની સામેની બાકીની જગ્યા 40 હાથ લાંબી હતી.
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.6.18" />મંદિરની અંદરની બાજુના હિસ્સામાં દેવદારના લાકડા પર ફૂલો અને વેલાઓ કોતરેલાં હતાં. અંદરનો બધો જ ભાગ દેવદારના લાકડાથી મઢી લેવામાં આવ્યો હતો. જેથી મંદિરની અંદરના હિસ્સામાં કયાંય પથ્થર દેખાતો નહોતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1KI.6.19" />મંદિરના પાછલા ભાગમાં “પવિત્રકોશ” રાખવાની પરમ પવિત્ર જગ્યા હતી, આ કોશમાં દેવનો ઇસ્રાએલ સાથેનો ખાસ કરાર હતો.
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.6.20" />તે 20 હાથ લાંબું, 20 હાથ પહોળું અને 0 હાથ ઊંચું હતું અને તેને શુદ્વ સોનાના પતરાથી મઢી લીધું હતું. અને વેદીને દેવદારના લાકડાંથી મઢી હતી.
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.6.21" />પછી સુલેમાંને મંદિરની અંદરની દીવાલો સોનાના આવરણથી મઢી લીધી, અને અંદરની ઓરડીઓને પણ શુદ્વ સોનાના પતરાથી મઢી લીધી. અને તે પવિત્રસ્થાનના પ્રવેશદ્વારના એક છેડેથી બીજા છેડા સુધી સોનાની સાંકળો લટકતી હતી.
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<v id="22" bcv="1KI.6.22" />આમ, સુલેમાંને મંદિરની અંદરનો આખો ભાગ સોનાથી મઢી લીધો હતો. તેણે અંદરની પવિત્ર જગ્યામાંની વેદીને પણ સોનાથી મઢી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.6.23" />સુલેમાંને પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનમાં જૈતૂનના લાકડામાંથી બનાવેલા બે કરૂબ દેવદૂતો મૂકયા. તે દરેક દસ હાથ ઉંચા હતા.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.6.24" />દરેક કરૂબને બે પાંખ હતી અને તે દરેક પાંખ 5 હાથ લાંબી હતી; આથી દરેકની એક પાંખથી બીજી પાંખના છેડાઓ વચ્ચેનું અંતર 10 હાથ હતું.
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<v id="25" bcv="1KI.6.25" />બીજા કરૂબની બે પાંખો વચ્ચેનું અંતર પણ 10 હાથ હતું, બંને કરૂબો કદ અને આકારમાં સરખા જ હતા.
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<v id="26" bcv="1KI.6.26" />દરેક દેવદૂતની ઊંચાઈ 10 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="27" bcv="1KI.6.27" />તેઓએ એ બંન્ને કરૂબોને મંદિરના પરમ પવિત્ર સ્થાનમાં ગોઠવ્યા હતાં. કરૂબની પાંખો ફેલાયેલી હતી, તેથી એક દેવદૂતની પાંખ એક ભીંતને અને બીજા દેવદૂતની પાંખ બીજી ભીંતને અડતી હતી, અને તેમની બીજી પાંખો ખંડની વચ્ચોવચ્ચ એકબીજાને મળતી હતી.
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.6.28" />એ કરૂબ સોનાથી મઢેલા હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1KI.6.29" />મંદિરની બંને ઓરડીઓની બધી જ દીવાલો પર કરૂબ દેવદૂતો ખજૂરીનાં વૃક્ષો અને ખીલેલાં ફૂલોનું કોતરકામ કરેલું હતું.
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<v id="30" bcv="1KI.6.30" />મંદિરના બધાજ ભાગના તળિયાં સોનાથી મઢેલાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="1KI.6.31" />પરમપવિત્ર સ્થળના પ્રવેશ માંટે સુલેમાંને જૈતૂનના લાકડાના દરવાજા બનાવ્યા હતા. થાંભલા અને દરવાજાના ચોકઠાને પાંચ બાજુ હતી.
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<v id="32" bcv="1KI.6.32" />બંને દરવાજા પર કરૂબો, ખજૂરીનાં વૃક્ષો અને ખીલેલા ફૂલોનું કોતરકામ કરેલું હતું અને તેને સોનેથી મઢી દીધું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1KI.6.33" />એ જ રીતે મંદિરના બારણા માંટે પણ જૈતૂનના લાકડાની બારસાખ કરાવી હતી અને ઉંબર ચારખૂણિયો હતો.
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<v id="34" bcv="1KI.6.34" />અને દરવાજાના બેબારણાં સાયપ્રસના લાકડાંનાં પાટિયાંમાંથી બનાવ્યાં હતાં. દરવાજાના દરેક બારણાના બે ભાગ હતા અને એક પર એક વાળી શકાતા હતા.
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<v id="35" bcv="1KI.6.35" />એ બારણાંઓ પર કરૂબ દેવદૂતો, ખજૂરીનાં વૃક્ષો, અને ખીલેલાં ફૂલોનું કોતરકામ કરેલું હતું અને બારણાં સોનાના પતરાંથી મઢેલાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="1KI.6.36" />તેણે કાપીને ઘસીને ચકચકિત કરેલાં પથ્થરોની ત્રણ હાર અને દેવદારના ખંભાની એક હાર વડે અંદરનું પ્રાંગણ બનાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="1KI.6.37" />સુલેમાંનના રાજયશાસન દરમ્યાન ચોથા વર્ષના ઝીવ માંસમાં મંદિરના બાંધકામનો પાયો નાખવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="38" bcv="1KI.6.38" />અને અગિયારમાં વર્ષનો આઠમો મહિનો, એટલે કે બુલનાં મહિનામાં મંદિરનું સર્વ બાંધકામ પૂરું થયું. આમ મંદિરનું બાંધકામ પૂરુું થવામાં સાત વર્ષ લાગ્યાં હતાં.
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<s style="s">સુલેમાંનનો રાજમહેલ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.7.1" />સુલેમાંનને પોતાનો મહેલ પૂરો કરતાં 13 વર્ષ લાગ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.7.2" />તેણે એક મકાન બંધાવ્યું જેનું નામ “લબાનોનનું વનગૃહ” રાખ્યું. તેની લંબાઈ 100 હાથ, પહોળાઈ 50 હાથ અને ઊંચાઈ 30 હાથ હતી. તે દેવદારના સ્તંભોની ચાર હારમાંળાઓ પર ટેકવેલું હતું. આ સ્તંભો પર પાટડાઓની હાર હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.7.3" />પાટડાઓની હાર ત્રણ હતી, અને પ્રત્યેક હારમાં 15 પ્રમાંણે કુલ બધા મળીને 45 પાટડા હતા. આ દેવદારના થાંભલા છતને ટેકો આપતા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.7.4" />ત્રણ હારમાં બારીના ચોકઠાઓ એકબીજાની સામસામે હતાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.7.5" />બધા પ્રવેશદ્રાર અને બારણાંનાં ચોકઠાં ચોરસ આકારના હતા. અને તે એકબીજાની સામસામે ત્રણ હારમાં ગોઠવેલાં હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1KI.7.6" />બીજા ઓરડાનું નામ “સ્તંભની પરસાળ” હતું. તેની લંબાઈ 50 હાથ હતી અને તે 30 હાથ પહોળો હતો. આ ઓરડાની આગળ થાંભલાઓ હતાં જે પરસાળની છતને ટેકવતાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.7.7" />એક રાજ્યાસનખંડ અથવા “ન્યાયખંડ” પણ હતો, જેમાં બેસીને સુલેમાંન ન્યાય કરતો હતો. એ ખંડ આખો ભોંયતળિયાથી છત સુધી દેવદારની તકતીઓથી જડેલો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1KI.7.8" />સુલેમાંને તેનો પોતાનો મહેલ બનાવ્યો, જેમાં તે રહ્યો હતો “ન્યાયખંડ”ની પાછળના ભાગમાં હતો. તે મહેલ, અને ફારુનની પુત્રી જેને એ પરણ્યો હતો તેને માંટે બાંધેલો મહેલ સરખાંજ હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1KI.7.9" />રાજમહેલના આ ઓરડાઓનાં બાંધકામ માંટે અતિમૂલ્યવાન અને જોઇતા માંપ પ્રમાંણે તૈયાર કરેલા મોટા કદના પથ્થરોનો ઉપયોગ થયો હતો. સમગ્ર માંળખામાં આ પથ્થરો વપરાયા હતા.
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<v id="10" bcv="1KI.7.10" />એમના પાયા મોટા આઠથી દસ હાથ પહોળા કિંમતી પથ્થરોના બનેલાં હતા.
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<v id="11" bcv="1KI.7.11" />અને તેના પર માંપસર ઘડેલા પથ્થરોના અને દેવદારના થર હતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.7.12" />મોટા ચોકની ફરતી દીવાલમાં ત્રણ થર ઘડેલાં પથ્થરના અને એક થર દેવદારના લાકડાનો હતો અને યહોવાના મંદિરના અંદરના ચોકમાં તેમ જ મંદિરની પરસાળમાં પણ એ જ પ્રમાંણે થરો હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1KI.7.13" />રાજા સુલેમાંને હીરામને: તૂરથી બોલાવડાવ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="1KI.7.14" />તે નફતાલી કુળસમૂહની એક વિધવાનો પુત્ર હતો. અને તેનો પિતા તૂરનો એક કંસારો હતો. તે પોતે પણ બધી જાતના કાંસાના કામનો ઘણો બુદ્ધિશાળી અને કુશળ કારીગર હતો, તેણે આવીને સુલેમાંન રાજાનું તમાંમ કામ કરી આપ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.7.15" />તેણે કાંસાને ઢાળીને બે થાંભલાઓ તૈયાર કર્યા. દરેક થાંભલાની ઊંચાઈ 18 હાથ હતી અને તેનો પરિઘ 12 હાથનો હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.7.16" />સ્તંભની ટોચ પર મૂકવા માંટે તેણે કાંસાના બે કળશ બનાવ્યા; દરેકની ઊંચાઈ 5 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.7.17" />કળશને શણગારવા માંટે કાંસાની સાંકળીઓ વડે ઝાલરો બનાવી. દરેક કળશની ચારેબાજુ સાત કાંસાની સાંકળીઓનું જાળી કામ કરેલ હતું.
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.7.18" />કળશ પર મૂકવા માંટે તેણે દરેક જાળીની ગૂંથણીની આસપાસ દાડમની બે હારમાંળા બનાવી.
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<v id="19" bcv="1KI.7.19" />આ કળશનો આકાર કમળ જેવો હતો, અને તેમની ઊંચાઈ ચાર હાથ હતી.
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.7.20" />આ કળશો જાળી ગૂંથણીની બાજુમાં સ્તંભની પર ગોળાકાર કિનારીની પર સ્તંભની ટોચ પર હતા. દરેક સ્તંભો પર હારબંધ 200 દાડમો કોતરેલાઁ હતાઁ.
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.7.21" />એ થાંભલા મંદિરની ઓસરી આગળ આવેલા હતા. જમણે હાથે આવેલા થાંભલાનું નામ યાખીન હતું અને ડાબે હાથે આવેલા થાંભલાનું નામ બોઆઝ હતું.
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<v id="22" bcv="1KI.7.22" />સ્તંભ પર મૂકેલા કળશો કમળોના આકાર જેવાં હતાં. આમ સ્તંભોનું કામ પૂર્ણ થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.7.23" />પછી તેણે ગાળેલા કાંસામાંથી “સમુદ્ર” નામનો હોજ બનાવ્યો, એનો આકાર ગોળાકાર હતો, અને તેનો વ્યાસ 10 હાથ હતો. તેની ઊંચાઇ 5 હાથ; તેનો પરિઘ 30 હાથનો હતો.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.7.24" />“સમુદ્રની” કિનાર નીચે “સમુદ્રને” ફરતી દસ હાથ લાંબી દીવાલો હતી, દીવાલો બે હારમાં ગોઠવાયેલી હતી અને હોજની જેમજ ઢળાયેલી હતી.
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<v id="25" bcv="1KI.7.25" />કાંસાના બનાવેલા 12 બળદ પર હોજ મૂકેલો હતો. ત્રણ બળદનાં મુખ ઉત્તર તરફ, ત્રણનાં દક્ષિણ તરફ ત્રણનાં પશ્ચિમ તરફ અને ત્રણનાં પૂર્વ તરફ હતા. તેઓની પૂંછડી અંદરની બાજુએ હતી.
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<v id="26" bcv="1KI.7.26" />હોજની દીવાલની જાડાઈ ચાર આંગળ જેટલી હતી, તેની કોરનો આકાર વાટકાની કોર જેવો અને કમળના ફૂલ સમાંન હતો, તેમાં 2,000 બાથ પાણી સમાંઈ શકે તેમ હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1KI.7.27" />તદુપરાંત તેણે કાંસાની 10 ઘોડીઓ બનાવી, પાયો બનાવી; દરેક ઘોડીનો, પાયો 4 હાથ લાંબો, 4 હાથ પહોળો, અને 3 હાથ ઊંચો હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.7.28" />આ ધોડીઓની, એવી રીતે રચના આવી હતી; કે તેની સપાટી પર કિનારી હતી.
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<v id="29" bcv="1KI.7.29" />અને એ તખતીઓ પર, સિંહો, બળદો અને કરૂબો ચીતરેલા હતા. એ સિંહો, બળદો અને કરૂબોની પર અને નીચે વેલ અને ફુલની કોતરણીવાળી ઝાલરો હતી.
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<v id="30" bcv="1KI.7.30" />દરેક ઘોડીને કાંસાના ચાર પૈડા હતાં. અને તેની ધરી પણ કાંસાની હતી. મેજને ચાર ખૂણા હતાં જેને ગાળેલા પીતળમાંથી બનાવેલા ચાર ટેકાઓ મૂક્યાં હતાં. એ હાથા પર ફુલ વેલની ભાત કોતરેલી હતી.
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<v id="31" bcv="1KI.7.31" />તે મથાળેથી અંદરની તરફ ખૂલતું હતું અને તે દોઢ હાથ ઉંચુ હતું, મથાળા પર કોતરકામ કરેલું હતું અને એની તકતીઓ ચોરસ હતી, ગોળ નહોતી,
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<v id="32" bcv="1KI.7.32" />ઘોડીઓની નીચે અંદરમાં ચાર પૈડા હતાં અને તેની ધરી મેજના પાયામાં બેસાડેલી હતી. પૈડાં દોઢ હાથ ઊંચા હતાં.
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<v id="33" bcv="1KI.7.33" />પૈડાંનો ઘાટ રથના પૈડાં જેવો હતો. તેમની ધરીઓ, તેમની વાટો તેમના આરા તથા તેમનાં ચક્ર એ બધાં કાંસાના બનેલાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="1KI.7.34" />દરેક ઘોડીને ચાર ખૂણે ચાર ટેકાઓ હતા, તે બધાં ઘોડીની સાથે એક જ ટૂકડામાંથી બનાવેલાં હતાં.
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<v id="35" bcv="1KI.7.35" />ઘોડીની પર એક ગોળાકાર ઘુંમટ હતો, અને તેની ઊંચાઈ અડધા હાથની હતી. તેનો કિનારો અને ટેકાઓ બધાં એક જ ટૂકડામાંથી બનાવ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="36" bcv="1KI.7.36" />એ તકતીઓ પર જયાં જયાં ખાલી જગ્યા હતી ત્યાં ત્યાં કરૂબ દેવદૂતો, હરણો, મૃગો સિંહો અને ખજૂરનાં વૃક્ષો કોતરેલાં હતા, અને તેની ફરતે ફુલ વેલની ભાત કોતરેલી ઝાલરો હતી.
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<v id="37" bcv="1KI.7.37" />આ રીતે એણે 10 ઘોડીઓ બનાવી હતી; તે બધીજ એક સરખી અને ગાળેલા કાંસામાંથી બનાવેલી હતી અને કદમાં અને આકારમાં સમાંન હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="1KI.7.38" />પછી તેણે કાંસાની 10 કૂંડીઓ બનાવી, દરેક કૂંડીમાં 40 બાથ<f caller="+"><fr>7:38
</fr><fk>બાથ
</fk><ft> મુળ પ્રમાણે એક બાથ 22 લીટર.</ft></f> પાણી માંય એવી અને 4 હાથ વ્યાસની હતી. દરેક ધોડી માંટે એક ઘડો હતો.
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<v id="39" bcv="1KI.7.39" />તેણે 5 કૂંડી મંદિરની દક્ષિણ તરફ અને પાંચ ઉત્તર તરફ મૂકી. તેણે પિતળનો “સમુદ્ર” મંદિરના અગ્નિખૂણા પર રાખ્યો.
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<v id="40" bcv="1KI.7.40" />તદુપરાંત હીરામે કૂંડા-પાવડા તથા તપેલાં બનાવ્યાં. આ પ્રમાંણે હીરામે યહોવાના મંદિરને લગતું સુલેમાંન રાજાને માંટે તે સર્વ તેણે પૂરું કર્યુ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="41" bcv="1KI.7.41" />તેણે 2 થાંભલા,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને કળશ અને સ્તંભની ટોચ પરના ઘુંમટને ઢાંકતી બે જાળી બનાવી હતી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="42" bcv="1KI.7.42" />અને એ 2 જાળીને માંટે 400 દાડમ; એટલે થાંભલાની ટોચ પરના બે કળશના બંને ઘુંમટ ઢાંકવાની પ્રત્યેક જાળીને માંટે દાડમની બબ્બે હારો;
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="43" bcv="1KI.7.43" />તેણે 10 ધોડી બનાવી અને તેને માંટે 10 કૂંડા બનાવ્યા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="44" bcv="1KI.7.44" />બાર બળદો પર ટેકવેલો એક મોટો હોજ,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="45" bcv="1KI.7.45" />દેગડા, પાવડા, અને વાસણો, યહોવાના મંદિર માંટેની આ સર્વ વસ્તુઓ અને બીજાં બધાં વાસણો હીરામે મંદિરમાં વાપરવા માંટે બનાવ્યાં હતાં.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">જે મંદિર રાજા સુલેમાંન યહોવા માંટે બંધાવતો હતો અને તે કાંસાનાં બનાવેલાં હતાં.
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<v id="46" bcv="1KI.7.46" />આ બધી વસ્તુઓ તેણે યર્દન નદીના મેદાન પ્રદેશમાં સુક્કોથ અને સારથાનની વચ્ચે માંટીના બીબા વાપરીને ગાળેલા કાંસાની બનાવેલી હતી.
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<v id="47" bcv="1KI.7.47" />સુલેમાંને એ સર્વ વાસણો વજન કર્યા વિના રહેવા દીધાઁ, કારણ તેમની સંખ્યા ઘણી હતી. તેથી કાંસાનું કુલ વજન ક્યારેય નક્કી ન થઇ શક્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="1KI.7.48" />સુલેમાંને યહોવાના મંદિર માંટેનાં સાધનો બનાવ્યા:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">સોનાની વેદી
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને જેના પર અપિર્ત રોટલી રાખી હતી તે સોનાનો બાજઠ,
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="49" bcv="1KI.7.49" />તેણે શુદ્ધ સોનાના પાંચ ઊભા દીવા દક્ષિણ બાજુએ અને પાંચ ઉત્તર બાજુ;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">પરમ પવિત્રસ્થાનની સામે મૂક્યા. દરેક પર ફૂલો દીવીઓ અને ચીપિયાઓ હતાં જે બધા સોનાનાઁ બનેલાઁ હતાઁ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="50" bcv="1KI.7.50" />શુદ્વ સોનાનાઁ પ્યાલાં, કાતરો, તપેલાં, વાટકા, અને ધૂપદાનીઓ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને ગર્ભગૃહનાં તેમજ પરમ-પવિત્રસ્થાનના બારણાં માંટે મિજાગરાં પણ સોનાનાં બનાવડાવ્યાં.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="1KI.7.51" />આમ યહોવાના મંદિરનું બાંધકામ પૂર્ણ થયું. ત્યારે સુલેમાંન રાજાએ તેના પિતાએ યહોવાને અર્પણ કરેલા બધાં સોનાઁ અને ચાંદીના પાત્રો લઈ જઈને યહોવાના મંદિરના ભંડારમાં જમાં કરાવ્યાં.
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</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">કરારકોશનું મંદિરમાં આગમન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.8.1" />સુલેમાંને ઇસ્રાએલના બધાજ વડીલો અને ઇસ્રાએલના દરેક કુળમાંથી બધાજ અગ્રણીઓને યરૂશાલેમ બોલાવ્યા. જેથી તેઓ યહોવાનું ઇસ્રાએલ સાથેનું વિશેષ કરારનામું દર્શાવતો પવિત્રકોશ દાઉદના નગરમાંથી જે સિયોન પણ કહેવાય છે ત્યાંથી લાવી શકે.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.8.2" />અને તેઓ બધા એથાનીમ એટલે કે દશમાં મહિનામાં માંડવાપર્વને પ્રસંગે રાજા સુલેમાંન સમક્ષ ભેગા થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1KI.8.3" />આ ઉજવણી વખતે ઇસ્રાએલના બધાજ વડીલો આવ્યા અને યાજકોએ “પવિત્રકોશ” ઊપર ઊચક્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.8.4" />તે યાજકો અને લેવીઓ યહોવાના પવિત્રકોશને મુલાકાત મંડપમાં લાવ્યા અને બીજી બધી વસ્તુઓને જે યહોવાને પૂજવા માંટે વપરાતી હતી.
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.8.5" />ત્યારબાદ રાજા સુલેમાંન અને તમાંમ ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાજનો પવિત્રકોશની સમક્ષ એકત્ર થયા અને અસંખ્ય ઘેટાં અને બળદોના અર્પણો આપ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.8.6" />ત્યારબાદ યાજકો યહોવાના ઇસ્રાએલ સાથેના કરારનામાંનો પવિત્રકોશ મંદિરના પરમ પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં લઈ ગયા, અને કરૂબીઓ દેવદૂતોની નીચે તેને મૂકયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="1KI.8.7" />પવિત્રકોશ જયાં મૂકવામાં આવ્યો, તેનાં પર પાંખો પ્રસરેલી રહે એ રીતે કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની રચના કરવામાં આવી હતી. આમ કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની પાંખોએ કોશ અને તેના છેડાઓ પર આચ્છાદન કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="8" bcv="1KI.8.8" />પેલા છેડાઓ એટલા લાંબા હતા કે તેમના છેડા તેજ ઓરડામાંથી જોઈ શકાતા નહોતા, પરંતુ બીજા રૂમની બહારથી તે જોઈ શકાતા હતા, પણ બહારથી તે જોઇ શકાતા નહોતાં, અને આજ સુધી તે ત્યાં છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="1KI.8.9" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મિસરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા ત્યારે યહોવાએ તેમને આપેલા વચનો જે પથ્થરની બે તકતીઓમાં આલેખાયેલા હતાં; જે મૂસા હોરેબ પર્વત પરથી લાવ્યો હતો અને તેણે પવિત્રકોશમાં મૂકી હતી, પવિત્રકોશમાં ફકત આ બે તકતીઓ જ હતી તે સિવાય તેમાં બીજું કશું નહોતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1KI.8.10" />જુઓ, જયારે યાજકો યહોવાના મંદિરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા ત્યારે યહોવાનું મંદિર વાદળ વડે ભરાઈ ગયું!
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<v id="11" bcv="1KI.8.11" />અને તેથી તેઓ સેવા ચાલુ રાખી શકે તેમ નહોતાં. આખા મંદિરમાં યહોવાનું ગૌરવ વ્યાપી ગયું હતું.
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.8.12" />ત્યારે સુલેમાંને કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ઓ યહોવા, તમે ગાઢ વાદળોમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રહેવાનું પસંદ કર્યુ છે;
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="1KI.8.13" />મેં તમાંરે માંટે એક ભવ્ય મંદિર બાંધ્યુ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમાં તમે સદાકાળ નિવાસ કરો.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1KI.8.14" />પછી રાજા લોકોની સભા તરફ ફર્યો, લોકો તેમની સમક્ષ ઊભા રહ્યા હતા, તેણે લોકોને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="1KI.8.15" />રાજાએ કહ્યું,
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<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ હોજો! તેમણે માંરા પિતા દાઉદને જે વચન આપ્યું હતું, તે તેમણે પોતાના બાહુબળથી કરી બતાવ્યું છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.8.16" />તેણે કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘હું માંરા લોકોને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો, તે દિવસથી મેં ઇસ્રાએલના કોઈ કુળસમૂહના પ્રદેશમાંથી માંરા માંટે મંદિરનું સ્થાન નક્કી કર્યુ નહોતું. પરંતુ લોકોના આગેવાન થવા માંટે મેં એક પુરુષ દાઉદની પસંદગી કરી હતી.’
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="17" bcv="1KI.8.17" />“હવે માંરા પિતા દાઉદે ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવના નામનું એક મંદિર બાંધવાનો સંકલ્પ કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.8.18" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું, ‘માંરા નામનું મંદિર બાંધવાનો તેં નિર્ણય કર્યો છે, અને એ વિચાર સારો છે,
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<v id="19" bcv="1KI.8.19" />હજી પણ તે મંદિર તું બનાવીશ નહિ, પણ તારો સગો પુત્ર માંરા નામ માંટે મંદિર બાંધશે.’
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="20" bcv="1KI.8.20" />“હવે યહોવાએ પોતાનું વચન પાળ્યું છે. યહોવાએ વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાંણે, હું માંરા પિતા દાઉદ પછી ઇસ્રાએલની ગાદી પર આવ્યો છું, અને મેં ઇસ્રાએલીઓના યહોવા દેવના નામનું મંદિર બંધાવ્યું છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.8.21" />અને તેમાં યહોવાએ આપણા પિતૃઓને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યા પછી તેમની સાથે કરેલા કરાર આ પવિત્ર કોશમાં રાખવામાં આવેલા છે.”
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1KI.8.22" />ત્યારબાદ સુલેમાંને યહોવાની વેદી સમક્ષ ઊભા રહીને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજના દેખતાં આકાશ તરફ પોતાના હાથ ફેલાવ્યા,
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.8.23" />“ઓ ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવ, પર આકાશમાં અને નીચે પૃથ્વીમાં તમાંરા જેવું કોઈ નથી, તમે પ્રેમાંળ અને દયાળું છો. તમે કરાર પાળો છો, અને તમાંરા સેવકોને વફાદાર રહો છો, જેઓ તમાંરી સામે પૂર્ણ હૃદયથી વતેર્ છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.8.24" />તમાંરા સેવક, માંરા પિતા દાઉદને આપેલું તમાંરું વચન આજે તમે પૂર્ણ કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="1KI.8.25" />અને હવે, હે ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવ, દાઉદને આપેલું આ બીજું વચન પણ તમે પૂર્ણ કરો; ‘માંરા પિતા દાઉદનાં સંતાનો તમાંરાં વચનો પ્રમાંણે વર્તશે અને તમે ચીંધેલા માંગેર્ ચાલશે અને તમાંરી આજ્ઞાઓને આધીન રહેશે, તો દરેક પેઢીમાં દાઉદના વંશજોમાંનો જ એક ઇસ્રાએલની રાજગાદી પર બેસશે.’
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<v id="26" bcv="1KI.8.26" />ઓહ, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, જે કરાર તમે તમાંરા સેવક, માંરા પિતા દાઉદ સાથે કર્યો હતો તે પૂર્ણ કરો.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="27" bcv="1KI.8.27" />“પરંતુ ઓ! દેવ! શું એ શકય છે કે તમે સાચે જ આ પૃથ્વી પર રહેશો? કારણ કે આકાશ, અરે! ઉંચામાંઉંચા સ્વગોર્, પણ તમને ધારણ કરી શકે તેમ નથી, તો આ મંદિર જે મેં બંધાવેલું છે તેની શી વિસાત?
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.8.28" />તેમ છતાં, ઓ માંરા યહોવા, આ તમાંરા સેવકને આજે તમે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો અને તેની વિનવણી વિષે વિચારજો.
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<v id="29" bcv="1KI.8.29" />રાતદિવસ તમાંરી આંખો આ મંદિર પર ઠરેલી રહો, આ સ્થાન પર રહો, જેને વિષે તમે કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘માંરું નામ એમાં વાસો કરશે.’ તમાંરો સેવક આ સ્થાને જે પ્રાર્થના કરે તે સાંભળજો
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<v id="30" bcv="1KI.8.30" />વળી તમાંરો સેવક અને ઇસ્રાએલના તમાંરા લોકો, આ મંદિર તરફ મુખ રાખીને પ્રાર્થના કરે, ત્યારે તેઓની દરેક અરજ તરફ કાન ધરજો; અને આકાશમાં તે સાંભળીને તમે તેઓને ક્ષમાં કરજો.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="31" bcv="1KI.8.31" />“જો કોઈ માંણસ બીજા માંણસનો ગુનો કરે, અને એ બીજો માંણસ જો તમાંરા મંદિરમાં આવે અને તમાંરી વેદીની સામે ઊભા રહીને સોગંદ પૂર્વક પ્રતિજ્ઞા લે,
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<v id="32" bcv="1KI.8.32" />તો તમે આકાશમાંથી સાંભળજો, અને જેમ કરવું જોઇએ તે મુજબ કરજો અને તમાંરા એ સેવકને ન્યાય આપજો. જેનો વાંક હોય તેને તમે તે પ્રમાંણે સજા કરજો, અને જે નિદોર્ષ હોય તેઓને તેઓની નિદોર્ષતા માંટે તમે જરૂર બદલો આપજો.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="33" bcv="1KI.8.33" />“તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કરવાને કારણે તમાંરા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ કોઈ દુશ્મન સામે હારી જાય; તો તેઓ પાછા તમાંરા તરફ વળે, તમાંરું નામ લે અન આ મંદિરમાં તમાંરી પ્રાર્થના અને વિનવણી કરે,
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<v id="34" bcv="1KI.8.34" />તો તમે આકાશ-માંથી સાંભળજો અને તમાંરા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તેમના પાપો માંટે માંફી આપજો, અને તેમના પિતૃઓને તમે જે જમીન આપી ત્યાં તેમને પાછા લાવજો,
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="35" bcv="1KI.8.35" />“તમાંરા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ દ્વારા તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કરવાને લીધે આકાશમાંથી વરસાદ ન વરસે, અને જો તેઓ આ મંદિરમાં આવીને પ્રાર્થના કરે, તમાંરું નામ લે, અને તમાંરી સજા પામીને પશ્ચાતાપ કરે.
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<v id="36" bcv="1KI.8.36" />તો તમે આકાશમાંથી સાંભળજો, તમાંરા સેવકોને તમે માંફ કરજો, તેઓને જીવવા માંટેનો સાચો માંર્ગ શીખવજો અને તમાંરા લોકોને તમે આપેલી ભૂમિ પર વરસાદ વરસાવજો.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="37" bcv="1KI.8.37" />“જો દેશમાં દુકાળ પડે કે મરકી ફાટી નીકળે, પાક લૂથી બળી જાય, કે મસી આવે, તીડ કે કાતરા પડે; એ લોકોના કોઈ દુશ્મનો એમના કોઈ શહેરને ઘેરો ઘાલે કે કોઈ આફત ઊતરે કે, રોગચાળો ફાટી નીકળે.
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<v id="38" bcv="1KI.8.38" />અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો જ્યારે ખરી લાગણી સાથે પશ્ચાતાપ કરે અને આ મંદિરમાં હાથ પ્રસારીને તમાંરી પ્રાર્થના કરવા આવે.
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<v id="39" bcv="1KI.8.39" />તો તમે આકાશમાંથી તેઓની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળીને તેઓને ક્ષમાં આપજો. પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિતને તેની લાયકાત પ્રમાંણે આપજો, તમે એક જ માંત્ર જાણો છો, લોકોના હૃદયમાં શું છે.
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<v id="40" bcv="1KI.8.40" />તમે અમાંરા પિતૃઓને આ જમીન આપી હતી જેથી તેઓ હંમેશા તમાંરો આદર કરે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="41" bcv="1KI.8.41" />“બિનઇસ્રાએલી લોકો તમાંરા નામના ગૌરવને માંટે દૂર દેશથી આ મંદિરમાં આવે,
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<v id="42" bcv="1KI.8.42" />કારણ કે તેઓ તમાંરું વિખ્યાત નામ, તમાંરા મજબૂત હાથ, તમાંરી શકિતશાળી ભૂજા વિષે જાણે છે અને તેઓ તમાંરાં મંદિરમાં તમને પ્રાર્થના કરવા આવશે,
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<v id="43" bcv="1KI.8.43" />ત્યારે તમે તમાંરા ધામ આકાશમાંથી તે સાંભળજો, અને તે વિદેશી જે કંઈ માંગે તે બધું આપજો, જેથી આખી પૃથ્વીમાં લોકો તમાંરું નામ જાણવા પામે અને તમાંરા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓની જેમ તમને અનુસરે અને તમાંરાથી ડરીને ચાલે અને જાણે કે મેં બધાંવેલું આ મંદિર તમને અર્પણ કરેલું છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="44" bcv="1KI.8.44" />“વળી તમે તમાંરા લોકોને તેઓના શત્રુઓની સામે યુદ્ધમાં મોકલો અને ત્યારે જો તેઓ તમાંરા પસંદ કરેલા નગર અને મંદિર જે મેં તમાંરે નામે બંધાવેલ છે તેની તરફ જોઇને યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરે.
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<v id="45" bcv="1KI.8.45" />તો તમાંરે સ્વર્ગમાં તેઓની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળજો અને તેમને મદદ કરજો.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="46" bcv="1KI.8.46" />“જો તેઓ તમાંરી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કરે-કોણ નથી કરતું? અને તું રોષે ભરાઈને તેમને શત્રુના હાથમાં સોંપી દે, અને તેઓ તેમને કેદ કરીને પોતાના દેશમાં લઈ જાય, પછી એ દૂર હોય કે નજીક હોય.
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<v id="47" bcv="1KI.8.47" />જ્યારે તેઓ તે દેશમાં છે જ્યાં તેઓને બંદી તરીકે લઇ જવાયા હતા, જો તેઓ પોતાના દુષ્કૃત્યો અને પાપો વિષે જાણે અને તમાંરી તરફ પાછા વળે અને પ્રાર્થના કરે કે, ‘હે દેવ, અમે ખોટું કર્યુ છે! અમે પાપ કર્યુ છે.’
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<v id="48" bcv="1KI.8.48" />અને તેઓ ખરેખર તમાંરા તરફ પાછા વળે, જ્યારે તેઓ તેના દુશ્મન જેણે તેમને બંદી કર્યા હતા, તેના દેશમાં હોય અને પ્રમાંણિકપણે તમાંરી તરફ વળે, અને જે દેશ તમે તેઓના પૂર્વજોને આપ્યો હતો, નગર જે તમે પસંદ કર્યું હતું અને મંદિર જે મેં તમાંરા માંટે બાંધ્યું હતું, તેના સામે જોઇને તેઓ પ્રાર્થના કરે.
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<v id="49" bcv="1KI.8.49" />તો તમે સ્વર્ગમાં તમાંરા નિવાસમાંથી જો જો અને તેમની વિનવણી સાંભળજો; તેઓ પ્રત્યે ન્યાયપૂર્વક વર્તજો.
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<v id="50" bcv="1KI.8.50" />તેમણે તમાંરી સામે કરેલાં બધાં પાપો અને ગુનાઓની ક્ષમાં આપજો, તેમને કેદ કરનારાઓનાં હૃદયમાં દયા જગાડજો;
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<v id="51" bcv="1KI.8.51" />કારણ કે તેઓ તમાંરા પોતાના લોકો છે. તમાંરા વારસો છે. અને જ્યારે તમે તેમનેજે લોખંડની ભઠ્ઠી જેવું હતું. મિસર તેમાંથી બહાર લઇ આવ્યા.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="52" bcv="1KI.8.52" />“તેઓના પ્રત્યે કૃપાદૃષ્ટિ રાખજો અને તેઓની પ્રાર્થના તમે સાંભળજો. હે યહોવા, તેઓ મદદ માંટે આગ્રહપૂર્વક તમને વિનંતી કરે ત્યારે તે સાંભળીને તેઓને ઉત્તર આપજો.
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<v id="53" bcv="1KI.8.53" />કારણ કે યહોવા દેવ તમે અમાંરા પિતૃઓને મિસરમાંથી મુકત કરીને બહાર લઈ આવ્યા ત્યારે તમે તમાંરા સેવક મૂસાને કહ્યું હતું કે પૃથ્વી પરની તમાંમ પ્રજાઓમાંથી તમાંરા ખાસ લોકો થવા માંટે તમે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને પસંદ કરી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="1KI.8.54" />હવે જ્યારે સુલેમાંને યહોવા માંટેની આખી ઉપાસના કરવાનું પૂરું કર્યુ; તે ઘૂંટણિયે પડ્યો હતો ત્યાંથી ઉભો થયો. અને યહોવાની વેદી સમક્ષ, અને આકાશ તરફ જોતાં, રાજા સુલેમાંને પોતાના હાથ સ્વર્ગ તરફ લંબાવ્યા.
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<v id="55" bcv="1KI.8.55" />ત્યારબાદ ઊઠીને ટટાર ઊભા રહી મોટે સાદે આખા ઇસ્રાએલી સમાંજને તેણે આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="56" bcv="1KI.8.56" />“તે બોલ્યો, યહોવાની પ્રસંશા થાઓ કારણ કે, તેણે જેમ કહ્યું હતું તેમ પોતાના લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આરામ આપ્યો, તેણે તેના સેવક મૂસાને આપ્યા હતા તે બધાં વચનો તેણે પાળ્યા.
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<v id="57" bcv="1KI.8.57" />આપણા દેવ યહોવા આપણા પિતૃઓની જેમ આપણી સાથે સદાય રહો, તે કદી આપણો હાથ ન છોડો અથવા આપણો ત્યાગ ન કરો,
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<v id="58" bcv="1KI.8.58" />તે ભલે આપણાં હૃદયને તેની મહાનતા તરફ વાળે, જેથી આપણે તેનામાં શ્રદ્ધા રાખીએ, તેના ચીંધેલા માંગોર્ને અનુસરીએ અને તેમણે આપણા પિતૃઓને આપેલી આજ્ઞાઓ, વિધિઓ અને ધારાઓનું આપણે પાલન કરીએ.
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<v id="59" bcv="1KI.8.59" />માંરા આ શબ્દો, દેવ યહોવા આગળની માંરી આ વિનવણી આપણા દેવ યહોવા સમક્ષ દિવસરાત હાજર રહો, જેથી રોજરોજ ઊભી થતી જરૂરીયાત પ્રમાંણે તે પોતાના સેવકનું અને પોતાના લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓને માંટે ઘટતું કરે.
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<v id="60" bcv="1KI.8.60" />આથી આખી દુનિયાના લોકોને ખાતરી થશે કે, યહોવા એ જ આપણા દેવ છે અને તેના સિવાય બીજા કોઇ દેવ નથી.
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<v id="61" bcv="1KI.8.61" />તમાંરાં હૃદય સંપૂર્ણપણે આપણા યહોવા દેવને સ્વાધીન થવા જોઇએ અને આજે તમે તેના વિધિઓ અને આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરો છો તેમ હમેશાં પાલન કરતા રહો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="62" bcv="1KI.8.62" />પછી રાજાએ તથા તમાંમ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ યહોવાને યજ્ઞો અર્પણ કર્યા.
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<v id="63" bcv="1KI.8.63" />સુલેમાંન રાજાએ 22,000 બળદ અને 1,20,000 ઘેટાં અને બકરાં યહોવાને શાંત્યર્પણો તરીકે અર્પણ કર્યા. આમ રાજાએ અને ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ મંદિરને પવિત્ર કાર્ય માંટે અર્પણ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="64" bcv="1KI.8.64" />રાજાએ મંદિરની સામેના ખુલ્લા આંગણાને પાવન કરાવ્યું. પછી ત્યાં દહનાર્પણો, ખાદ્યાર્પણો ઉપરાંત શાંત્યર્પણોમાં પશુઓનાં ચરબીવાળા ભાગો ધરાવ્યા, કારણ; યહોવા આગળની કાંસાની વેદી આ બધી વસ્તુઓને સમાંવવા માંટે પૂરતી નહોતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="65" bcv="1KI.8.65" />આમ, સુલેમાંને અને તેની સાથે બધાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ઉત્તરમાં હમાંથની ઘાટીથી તે દક્ષિણમાં મિસરની હદ સુધીનાં આખા સમુદાયે સાત દિવસ સુધી મંદિરનું સમર્પણ ઉજવ્યું.
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<v id="66" bcv="1KI.8.66" />આઠમે દિવસે રાજાએ લોકોને વિદાય કર્યા, અને તેઓ રાજાને આશીર્વાદ આપીને, યહોવાએ પોતાના સેવક દાઉદનું અને પોતાના ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોનું જે કલ્યાણ કર્યુ હતું તેથી આનંદ અને હર્ષથી છલકાતાં હૈયે તેઓ પોતપોતાને ઘેર ગયા.
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<s style="s">દેવનુ સુલેમાંન પાસે ફરી આગમન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.9.1" />સુલેમાંન જયારે યહોવાનું મંદિર અને રાજમહેલ તથા અન્ય જે જે બાંધવાની એમની ઉત્કંઠા હતી તે બધું પૂરું કર્યુ.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.9.2" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ તેને જેમ ગિબયોનમાં દર્શન દીધા હતા, તેમ બીજી વાર દર્શન આપ્યાં.
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.9.3" />યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું,
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“મેં તારી પ્રાર્થના અને અરજ સાંભળી છે, તેં બંધાવેલું આ મંદિર હું પુનિત કરું છું. જેથી માંરું નામ હમેશાં ત્યાં હશે. માંરું હૃદય અને માંરી દૃષ્ટિ નિરંતર હું ત્યાં રાખીશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.9.4" />અને જો તું તારા પિતા દાઉદની જેમ તારૂં કામ નીતિમત્તાથી કરીશ અને પ્રામાંણિકતાથી વતીર્શ અને માંરા આદેશો, કાનૂનો અને નિયમોને અનુસરીશ તો.
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.9.5" />મેં જે રીતે તારા પિતા દાઉદને કહ્યું છે તેમ ઇસ્રાએલ પર હંમેશ માંટે તારા દ્વારા શાસન કરાવડાવીશ. મેં તેને કહ્યું હતું કે, તારા વંશજોમાંનો એક હંમેશા ઇસ્રાએલની રાજગાદી પર બેસશે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="6" bcv="1KI.9.6" />“પણ તમે કે તમાંરા વંશજો માંરાથી વિમુખ થઈ જશો અને તમાંરી સમક્ષ રજૂ કરેલા વિધિઓ અને આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન નહિ કરો અને જો તમે અન્ય દેવોની સેવાપૂજા કરશો,
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<v id="7" bcv="1KI.9.7" />તો હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જે ભૂમિ આપી છે તેમાંથી તેમને હાંકી કાઢીશ; મંદિર કે જેને મેં માંરી ખ્યાતિ માંટે સમપિર્ત કરેલું તેનો ત્યાગ કરીશ અને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ બીજા બધા રાષ્ટો માંટે એક મહેણાંટોણાં અને ધૃણાનું કારણ બનશે;
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<v id="8" bcv="1KI.9.8" />તથા આ મંદિર ખંડેર બની જશે, અને જતા આવતા સૌ કોઈ એને જોઈને આશ્ચર્યથી પૂછશે, ‘યહોવાએ આ ભૂમિના અને આ મંદિરના આવા હાલ શા માંટે કર્યા?’
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<v id="9" bcv="1KI.9.9" />અને તેમને પ્રત્યુત્તર મળશે, ‘કારણ, આ લોકોએ જેના પિતૃઓને મિસરમાંથી તેમના દેવે બહાર કાઢયા હતાં તેને છોડી દીધો છે અને બીજા દેવોને સ્વીકાર કરીને તેમની આરાધના કરવાનું શરૂં કર્યુ છે. એ જ કારણથી યહોવાએ આ બધી વિપત્તિ તેમના પર મોકલી દીધી છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1KI.9.10" />સુલેમાંનને મંદિર અને મહેલ બાંધતાં 20 વર્ષ થયાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="1KI.9.11" />તૂરના રાજા હીરામે સુલેમાંનને દેવદારનું લાકડું, એરેજનું લાકડું, સોનું અને બીજું જે કાઇ જોઇતું હોય તે આપ્યું હતું તેથી રાજા સુલેમાંને હીરામને ગાલીલ પ્રદેશમાંના 20 ગામો આપ્યા હતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.9.12" />પણ જયારે હીરામ તેને સુલેમાંને આપેલાં ગામો જોવા માંટે તૂરથી ગયો ત્યારે તેને એ ગામોથી સંતોષ ન થયો,
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.9.13" />તે બોલ્યો, “ભાઈ, તમે મને આ તે કેવાં ગામો આપ્યાં છે?” અને તેથી તેણે એ પ્રદેશ નું નામ “કાબૂલ” રાખ્યું, તે પ્રદેશ આજે પણ એ નામે ઓળખાય છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="1KI.9.14" />હીરામે રાજાને તે ઉપરાંત 4,080 કિલો સોનું મંદિરના બાંધકામ માંટે મોકલી આપ્યું હતું
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.9.15" />સુલેમાંને યહોવાનું મંદિર અને પોતાનો મહેલ, મિલ્લોનો કિલ્લો, યરૂશાલેમનો કોટ, હાસોર, મગિદૃો તથા વેઠ મજૂરીની પ્રથા દ્વારા બંધાવ્યા હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1KI.9.16" />મિસરના રાજા ફારુને ગેઝેર પર હુમલો કરી તેને કબજે કર્યુ હતું અને બાળી મૂકયું હતું, અને ત્યાં વસતા કનાનીઓની હત્યા કરી હતી. ત્યારબાદ તેણે એ નગર પોતાની દીકરીને દહેજ તરીકે આપ્યું જેના લગ્ન રાજા સુલેમાંન સાથે થયાં હતાં.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.9.17" />અને સુલેમાંને ગેઝેર નીચાણનો બેથહોરોન,
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.9.18" />બાઅલાથ અને વગડામાં આવેલું તાહમોર ફરી બાધ્યાં,
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<v id="19" bcv="1KI.9.19" />તેમજ પોતાનાં બધાં ભંડારનાં નગરો, તેમજ જે શહેરોમાં એ પોતાના રથ અને ઘોડાઓ રાખતો હતો તે પણ ફરી બંધાવ્યાં. અને યરૂશાલેમ લબાનોન અને તેના સમગ્ર સામ્રાજ્ય ફરતે એણે જે કંઈ બંધાવવા વિચાર્યુ હતું તે બધું પણ તેણે બંધાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1KI.9.20" />ત્યાં હજી થોડાં અમોરીઓ, હિત્તીઓ, પરિઝઝીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ તથા યબૂસીઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓની વચ્ચે રહેતા હતાં.
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.9.21" />તેઓ તેમના વંશજો હતાં, ઇસ્રાએલીઓ જેમનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરી શકયા નહોતા. સુલેમાંને તેમને બળજબરીથી ગુલામ મજૂર બનાવી દીધાં.
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<v id="22" bcv="1KI.9.22" />પણ સુલેમાંને કોઈ ઇસ્રાએલીને ગુલામ નહોતા બનાવ્યાં. તેઓ તેના સૈનિકો હતા; તેઓ તેના કારભારીઓ, સરકારી અમલદારો, સેનાપતિઓ, રથસેના અને અશ્વસેનાના નાયકો અને સારથીઓ હતા.
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<v id="23" bcv="1KI.9.23" />સુલેમાંનના બાંધકામોમાં કામ કરનારા કારીગરો પર દેખરેખ રાખનાર અધિકારીઓની સંખ્યા 550 હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1KI.9.24" />ત્યારબાદ ફારુનની પુત્રી દાઉદ નગરથી સુલેમાંને તેને માંટે બંધાવેલા રાજમહેલમાં ગઈ અને ત્યાર પછી સુલેમાંને મિલ્લો બંધાવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1KI.9.25" />મંદિરનું કામ પૂરું કર્યા પછી સુલેમાંને પોતે બંધાવેલી વેદી પર વર્ષમાં ત્રણ વાર દહનાર્પણો અને શાંત્યર્પણોનાં બલિદાન અર્પણ કરતો હતો. તેવી જ રીતે તે વેદી પર ધૂપનું અર્પણ પણ કરતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1KI.9.26" />સુલેમાંને અદોમના પ્રદેશમાં રાતા સમુદ્રને કાંઠે આવેલા એલોથની નજીકના એસ્યોન ગેબેરમાં વહાણો બાંધ્યાં.
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<v id="27" bcv="1KI.9.27" />હીરામે કુશળ કારીગરો અને કેળવાયેલા નાવિકોને તેને વહાણ બાંધવામાં મદદ કરવા માંટે મોકલ્યા;
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.9.28" />તેઓ ઓફીર જઈને ત્યાંથી 14,280 કિલો સોનું લઈ આવ્યાં, અને તે તેમણે રાજા સુલેમાંનને પહોંચાડયું.
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<s style="s">શેબાની રાણીની મુલાકાત
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.10.1" />સુલેમાંનની કીતિર્ સાંભળીને શેબાની રાણીએ સુલેમાંનને અટપટા પ્રશ્ર્નો પૂછીને તેના જ્ઞાનની કસોટી કરવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.10.2" />તે પોતાની સાથે મોટો રસાલો, અને લાદેલાં ઊંટો અત્તરો, પુષ્કળ સોનું અને ઝવેરાત લઈને યરૂશાલેમ આવી પહોંચી. તેણે સુલેમાંન પાસે આવીને પોતાના મનમાં હતા, તે બધા પ્રશ્ર્નો તેને પૂછયા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.10.3" />સુલેમાંને તેના તમાંમ પ્રશ્રોના ઉત્તર આપ્યા. તેને માંટે એકેય પ્રશ્ર બહુ મુશ્કેલ ન હતો, તેથી તે તેને બધું જ કહી શક્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.10.4" />પછી રાણીને ખાતરી થઈ કે રાજા સુલેમાંન ખૂબ શાણો હતો. રાજાએ બંધાવેલો સુંદર મહેલ પણ તેણે જોયો.
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.10.5" />વળી તેના ભાણામાં પીરસાતી વિવિધ વાનગીઓ તેની આસપાસ બેઠેલા દરબારીઓ, તેના સેવકો, તેમનો પોષાક અને તેમના વસ્રો, તેના પાત્રવાહકો અને જુદી જુદી જાતના યજ્ઞો જે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં અર્પણ કર્યા હતા તે જોઈને રાણી સ્તબ્ધ થઈ ગઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1KI.10.6" />અને તેણે રાજાને કહ્યું, “મેં માંરા દેશમાં તમાંરે વિષે તથા તમાંરા જ્ઞાન વિષે જે સાંભળ્યું હતું તે બધું સાચું હતું.
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<v id="7" bcv="1KI.10.7" />હું અહીં આવી એ પહેલાં આ સઘળું માંરા માંન્યામાં આવતું ન હતું; પણ હવે તો મેં પોતે જોયું છે! અને સાચે જ. આમાંનું અડધું પણ મને કહેવામાં આવ્યું ન હતું; મેં સાંભળ્યું હતું તેના કરતા તમાંરું જ્ઞાન અને સમૃદ્ધિ ઘણાં વધારે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1KI.10.8" />તમાંરા લોકો કેટલાં સુખી છે! સદા તમાંરી હાજરીમાં રહેતા અને તમાંરી જ્ઞાનવાણી સાંભળતા આ દરબારીઓ કેટલા ભાગ્યશાળી છે!
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<v id="9" bcv="1KI.10.9" />તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થજો, જેણે તમાંરા પર પ્રસન્ન થઈને તમને ઇસ્રાએલની ગાદીએ બેસાડયા! કારણકે ઇસ્રાએલ પર યહોવાને કાયમ પ્રેમ હોવાથી તેણે તમને ઇસ્રાએલમાં ન્યાય અને સત્ય પરાયણતા મેળવવા માંટે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા બનાવ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1KI.10.10" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે રાજાને 4,080 કિલો સોનું અને પુષ્કળ અત્તરો અને ઝવેરાત ભેટ ધર્યુ. શેબાની રાણીએ રાજા સુલેમાંનને ભેટ ધરેલાં અત્તરો જેવાં પહેલાં ક્યારેય જોવામાં આવ્યા નહોતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1KI.10.11" />આ ઉપરાંત હીરામનાં વહાણોનો જે કાફલો ઓફીરથી સોનું લાવ્યો હતો, તે ત્યાંથી પુષ્કળ સુખડનું લાકડું અને ઝવેરાત લઈ આવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.10.12" />રાજાએ એ લાકડું યહોવાના મંદિર અને તેના પોતાના મહેલના પાયા બનાવવા માંટે અને સંગીતકારો માંટે વાજિંત્રો બનાવવામાં વાપર્યુ હતું; ત્યાર પછી એવું લાકડું ક્યારેય લવાયું નથી, કે જોવામાં સુદ્ધાં આવ્યું નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1KI.10.13" />રાજા સુલેમાંને શેબાની રાણી અને તેના સેવકોને તેણે જે જે માંગ્યું તે બધું આપ્યું, તેણે રાણીને જે એક રાજા આપી શકે તે બધું ઉદારતાથી આપ્યું હતું અને પછી રાણી પોતાના દેશમાં પાછી ફરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1KI.10.14" />સુલેમાંન રાજાને પ્રતિવર્ષ લગભગ 22,644 કિલો સોનું મળતું હતું.
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<v id="15" bcv="1KI.10.15" />તદુપરાંત વેપારની વસ્તુઓ, પરદેશો સાથેના વેપારનો નફો અને આરબ રાજાઓએ મોકલાવેલી વસ્તુઓ વગેરે તો વધારાનું.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1KI.10.16" />રાજા સુલેમાંને સોનાની 200 મોટી ઢાલો બનાવી; અને દરેક મોટી ઢાલમાં લગબગ 7 કિલો સોનું વપરાયું હતું.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.10.17" />વળી તેણે બીજી 300 નાની ઢાલો બનાવી, એ પ્રત્યેક નાની ઢાલમાં પોણાબે કિલો પર સોનું વપરાયું હતું. આ સઘળી ઢાલને તેણે પોતાના રાજમહેલમાં “લબાનોનના વનગૃહ” નામની જગ્યામાં રાખી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1KI.10.18" />વળી રાજાએ હાથીદાંતનું એક મોટું સિંહાસન બનાવડાવ્યું, અને તેને શુદ્વ સોનાથિ મઢાવ્યું.
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<v id="19" bcv="1KI.10.19" />એ સિંહાસનને છ પગથિયાં હતાં એની પાછળનો આકાર ગોળ હતો, તેને બાજુમાં બે હાથા હતા અને પ્રત્યેક હાથાને અડીને એકેક સિંહ ઊભેલો હતો,
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.10.20" />અને દરેક પગથિયાને સામે છેડે સિંહો ઉભેલા હતા બધું મળીને કુલ બાર સિંહો હતા, બીજા કોઈ પણ રાજયમાં આવું સિંહાસન કદી બનાવવામાં આવ્યું નહોતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1KI.10.21" />રાજા સુલેમાંનના બધા પ્યાલાઓ શુદ્ધ સોનાના બનેલા હતા, અને લબાનોનના વનગૃહની દરેક વસ્તુઓ શુદ્વ સોનાની બનાવેલી હતી. ચાંદી બિલકુલ વાપરવામાં આવી નહોતી, કારણ, સુલેમાંનના જમાંનામાં તેની કશી કિંમત નહોતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1KI.10.22" />સુલેમાંન રાજા અને હીરામ રાજા વચ્ચે વેપારી વહાણોનો વિશાળ કાફલો હતો. દર ત્રણ વષેર્ એક વખત આ વહાણોનો કાફલો સોનું, ચાંદી, હાથીદાંત, વાનરો અને મોર લઈને આવતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.10.23" />સમૃદ્ધિ અને જ્ઞાનની બાબતમાં પૃથ્વી પરના તમાંમ રાજાઓ કરતાં સુલેમાંન રાજા ચઢિયાતો હતો.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.10.24" />સમગ્ર વિશ્વમાંથી લોકો તેની દેવદત્ત જ્ઞાનની વાતો સાંભળવા માંટે આવતા હતા.
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<v id="25" bcv="1KI.10.25" />તેને મળવા આવનાર પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિત સોના-ચાંદીના પાત્રો, સુંદર વસ્ત્રો, શસ્ત્રો, સુગંધી દ્રવ્યો, ઘોડા અને ખચ્ચરો રાજાને માંટે વાષિર્ક વસૂલી તરીકે લાવતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1KI.10.26" />સુલેમાંને રથો અને ઘોડાઓની એક મોટી સેના ઊભી કરી, તેની પાસે 1,400 રથો અને 12,000 ઘોડા હતા. એમાંના કેટલાક એણે ચોક્કસ નિયુકત નગરોમાં રાખ્યા અને બાકીના યરૂશાલેમમાં રાખ્યા.
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<v id="27" bcv="1KI.10.27" />સુલેમાંને યરૂશાલેમમાં ચાંદી પથ્થર જેટલી સામાંન્ય બનાવી દીધી હતી; અને દેવદારનું લાકડું શેફેલાહના અંજીરના વૃક્ષના લાકડાના જેવું સામાંન્ય બનાવી દીધું હતું.
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.10.28" />સુલેમાંનને માંટે ઘોડા મિસર અને કિલકિયાથી આયાત કરવામાં આવતા હતાં, રાજાના આડતિયાઓ કિલકિયાથી ઠરાવેલી કિંમતે ઘોડા ખરીદતા હતા.
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<v id="29" bcv="1KI.10.29" />રથોની કિંમત લગભગ સાત કિલો ચાંદી જેટલી મિસરથી લાવવામાં આવતી હતી, અને ઘોડા દરેક પોણા બે કિલો ચાંદી વડે ખરીદાયા હતા. હિત્તીઓના રાજાઓ અને અરામના રાજાઓ પણ ઘોડા અને રથો તે વેપારીઓ પાસેથી ખરીદતાં હતાં જેઓ તેની આયાત કરતાં હતાં.
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<s style="s">સુલેમાંનની અનેક પત્નીઓ,
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.11.1" />મિસરના ફારુનની પુત્રી સહિત અન્ય દેશોની ધણી સ્ત્રીઓને સુલેમાંન ચાહતો હતો તેમાં મોઆબની, આમ્મોનની, અદોમની, સિદોનની અને હિત્તીની સ્રીઓનો સમાંવેશ થતો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.11.2" />આ પ્રજાઓ માંટે યહોવાએ પોતાના લોકોને સ્પષ્ટ ફરમાંન આપેલું હતું કે, તેઓમાંની સ્રીઓ સાથે લગ્ન ન કરવાં, એ સ્રીઓ પોતાના પતિઓને બીજા દેવોને પૂજતાં કરી દેશે. આમ છતાં સુલેમાંન આ સ્ત્રીઓને ચાહતો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.11.3" />તેને 700 રાજવંશની રાણીઓ હતી અને 300 ઉપપત્ની હતી; જેઓએ તેને દેવથી વિમુખ કરી દીધો હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.11.4" />તેની વૃદ્વાવસ્થામાં તે તેના પિતા દાઉદ જેવો નહોતો જેણે યહોવા પર સંપૂર્ણ વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો. તેને બદલે તેની પાસે તેની પત્નીઓએ પોતાના દેવોની પૂજા કરાવડાવી.
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.11.5" />તેણે સિદોનીઓ જેની પૂજા કરતાં તે આશ્તોરેથ દેવી અને ધિક્કારપાત્ર મિલ્કોમ જેને આમ્મોનીઓ પૂજતા તેને પૂજવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.11.6" />આ રીતે સુલેમાંને યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિમાં અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ, અને પિતા દાઉદની જેમ યહોવાને હૃદયપૂર્વક અનુસર્યા નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.11.7" />એ વખતે સુલેમાંને મોઆબના ધિક્કારપાત્ર દેવ કમોશ માંટે અને આમ્મોનીઓના ધિક્કારપાત્ર દેવ મોલેખ માંટે યરૂશાલેમની નજીક આવેલા પર્વતના શિખર પર એક ઉચ્ચ સ્થાન બંધાવ્યું.
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<v id="8" bcv="1KI.11.8" />એ જ રીતે તેણે જુદા જુદા દેશની બધી પોતાની રાણીઓ માંટે મંદિરો બંધાવ્યાં અને તેઓએ ત્યાં પોતાના દેવોને ધૂપ અર્પણ કર્યુ અને યજ્ઞો કર્યા,
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1KI.11.9" />તેને લીધે યહોવા સુલેમાંન પર ખૂબ ગુસ્સે થયો. કારણકે યહોવાએ તેને બે વખત દર્શન આપ્યાં છતાં સુલેમાંને યહોવાથી મોઢું ફેરવી લીધું હતું.
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<v id="10" bcv="1KI.11.10" />અને તેને અન્ય દેવની પૂજા ન કરવાની ચેતવણી આપી હતી આમ છતાં તેણે યહોવાના હુકમનો અનાદર કર્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="1KI.11.11" />તેથી યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું, “આપણી વચ્ચે થયેલા કરારોનું પાલન તેં કર્યું નથી અને માંરા હુકમો પાળ્યા નથી, તેથી હું તારી પાસેથી રાજય ખૂંચવી લઈશ અને તારા સેવકોમાંથી કોઈ એકને આપીશ.
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.11.12" />તેમ છતાં તારા પિતા દાઉદને કારણે તું જીવતો રહીશ ત્યાં સુધી હું આમ નહિ કરું, પરંતુ તારા પુત્રના હાથમાંથી હું રાજય ખૂંચવી લઈશ;
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.11.13" />તેમ હું આખું રાજય પણ નહિ લઈ લઉં; પરંતુ હું માંરા સેવક દાઉદને માંટે અને માંરી પસંદગીના નગર યરૂશાલેમને માંટે એક કુળ તારા પુત્રોના હાથમાં રહેવા દઈશ.”
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<s style="s">સુલેમાંનનાં શત્રુઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1KI.11.14" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાએ સુલેમાંનની સામે, એક શત્રુ ઊભો કર્યો, તે શત્રુ અદોમીના રાજવંશનો હદાદ હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="1KI.11.15" />જ્યારે દાઉદ અદોમમાં હતો, ત્યારે તેના સેનાપતિ યોઆબે ત્યાં બધા શબોને દફનાવી દીધા અને ત્યારે અદોમના દરેક જીવતા પુરુષને માંરી નાખ્યાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.11.16" />અદોમના એક-એક પુરુષની હત્યા પૂર્રી થઈ ત્યાં સુધી, એટલે કે છ મહિના સુધી યોઆબ આખી ઇસ્રાએલી સેના સાથે ત્યાં જ રહ્યો હતો.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.11.17" />પણ હદાદ, જે તે વખતે બાળક હતો, તે તેના પિતાનાં કેટલાક નોકરોની સાથે મિસર ભાગી ગયો.
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.11.18" />તેઓ મિધાનમાંથી નીકળીને પારાનમાં ગયા. પારાનમાંથી તેમણે થોડા માંણસોને ભેગા કર્યા અને ત્યાંથી તેઓ સર્વ મિસર ગયા અને ત્યાં મિસરના રાજા ફારુને તેઓના ખોરાકની અને રહેવાની જગ્યાની વ્યવસ્થા કરી અને તેમને અમુક જમીન ભેટ તરીકે આપી.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1KI.11.19" />ફારુનને હદાદ ખૂબ પસંદ પડયો, અને તેણે રાણી તાહપનેસની બહેન હદાદને પરણાવી.
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.11.20" />તાહપનેસની બહેનને એનાથી ગનુબાથ નામે એક પુત્ર થયો, અને તેને તાહપનેસે રાજમહેલમાં ઉછેરી મોટો કર્યો, તે ફારુનનાં બાળકો સાથે જ રહેતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1KI.11.21" />જયારે હદાદને મિસરમાં સમાંચાર મળ્યા કે દાઉદ ચિરનિંદ્રામાં પોઢી ગયો છે, અને તેનો સેનાપતિ યોઆબ પણ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો છે, ત્યારે તેણે ફારુનને કહ્યું, “મને માંરા પોતાના દેશમાં પાછો જવા દો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1KI.11.22" />પરંતુ ફારુને કહ્યું, “તને અહીં કોઇ વસ્તુની ખોટ છે કે તું તારે દેશ પાછો જવા માંગે છે?”
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<p style="p">હદાદે કહ્યું, “ના, પણ મહેરબાની કરીને મને જવા દો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.11.23" />યહોવાએ સુલેમાંન સામે એક બીજો શત્રુ ઊભો કર્યો; તે એલ્યાદાનો પુત્ર રઝોન હતો. જે તેનો માંલિક સોબાહના રાજા હદાદએઝેરને છોડીને ભાગી છૂટયો હતો.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.11.24" />એ સમયે જ્યારે દાઉદે સોબાહ પર હુમલો કર્યો ત્યારે રઝોને માંણસોની ટોળી ભેગી કરીને પોતે તેનો નાયક બની ગયો, ત્યાંથી તેઓ દમસ્ક ગયા અને ત્યાં સ્થાયી થઇ ગયા, અને રેઝોન તેમનો રાજા બની ગયો.
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<v id="25" bcv="1KI.11.25" />સુલેમાંન જીવ્યો ત્યાં સુધી રઝોન તે ઇસ્રાએલનો દુશ્મન રહ્યો. તેણે હાદાદ અને ઇસ્રાએલ માંટે મુશ્કેલીઓ ઉભી કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1KI.11.26" />બીજો એક બળવાખોર આગેવાન યરોબઆમ નબાટનો પુત્ર હતો. એફ્રાઈમ પ્રદેશના સરૂઆહ નગરમાંથી તે આવતો હતો, તેની માંતા સરૂઆહ વિધવા સ્રી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1KI.11.27" />યરોબઆમ બળવાનો વૃત્તાંત આ પ્રમાંણે છે: તેણે સુલેમાંન મિલ્લોનો જીણોર્દ્ધાર કરાવ્યો હતો, અને પોતાના પિતા દાઉદના નગરની દીવાલનું બાકોરું બંધ કરાવ્યું.
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.11.28" />હવે આ યરોબઆમ ઘણો સક્ષમ માંણસ હતો. સુલેમાંને જોયું કે યુવાન માંણસ તેનું કામ કેટલી સુંદર રીતે કરતો હતો, અને તેને યૂસફના વંશના વેઠ મજૂરોનો મુકાદમ બનાવી દીધો.
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<v id="29" bcv="1KI.11.29" />એક દિવસ યરોબઆમ યરૂશાલેમની બહાર ગયો હતો, ત્યારે શીલોનો પ્રબોધક અહિયા એને રસ્તામાં મળ્યો. અહિયાએ નવો ઝભ્ભો પહેર્યો હતો; એ બંને ખુલ્લા વગડામાં તદૃન એકલા જ હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="1KI.11.30" />અહિયાએ પોતે જે નવો ઝભ્ભો પહેર્યો હતો, તે લઈ તેને ફાડીને બાર ભાગ કરી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="31" bcv="1KI.11.31" />પછી અહિયાએ યરોબઆમને કહ્યું કે, “આમાંના દશ ટુકડા લે, કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવ કહે છે, ‘હું સુલેમાંનના હાથમાંથી રાજ્ય આંચકી લઈશ અને દશ ટોળીઓ હું તને આપીશ.
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<v id="32" bcv="1KI.11.32" />પણ માંરા સેવક દાઉદને કારણે હું સુલેમાંન અને તેના કુટુંબને રાજ્ય કરવા માંટે એક જાતિ અને યરૂશાલેમ આપીશ જે નગર મેં ઇસ્રાએલની બધી ટોળીઓમાંથી પસંદ કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="33" bcv="1KI.11.33" />કારણ કે સુલેમાંને માંરો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે, તેણ સિદ્દોનીઓની દેવી આશ્તોરેથની, મોઆબના દેવ કમોશની અને આમ્મોનીઓના દેવ મિલ્કોમની પૂજા કરી છે. તે માંરા માંગેર્ ચાલ્યો નથી અને માંરી દૃષ્ટિમાં જે સારું છે, તે તેણે કર્યું નથી, તેના પિતા દાઉદે માંરા બધા વિધિઓ અને ફરમાંનો પાળ્યા હતાં, પણ સુલેમાંને તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ નથી.
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<v id="34" bcv="1KI.11.34" />આમ હોવા છતાં પણ માંરા પસંદ કરેલા સેવક દાઉદે માંરા હૂકમોનું પાલન કર્યુ હતું તેને લીધે, હમણાં હું તેની પાસેથી આખું રાજય આંચકી લઈશ નહિ, અને તેના બાકીના જીવનકાળ દરમ્યાન તે રાજ્ય કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખશે.
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<v id="35" bcv="1KI.11.35" />પરંતુ હું એના પુત્રના હાથમાંથી રાજય ખૂંચવી લઈશ અને તને દસ ટોળીઓ સુપ્રત કરીશ.
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<v id="36" bcv="1KI.11.36" />તેના પુત્રને હું એક ટોળી આપીશ, જેથી માંરા સેવક દાઉદનું નામ માંરા પસંદ કરેલા નગર યરૂશાલેમમાં કાયમ રહે.
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<v id="37" bcv="1KI.11.37" />તને હું ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બનાવીશ, અને તું ઇચ્છે તેટલા પ્રદેશમાં રાજ્ય કરીશ.
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<v id="38" bcv="1KI.11.38" />જો તું માંરી બધી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરીને અને માંરા સેવક દાઉદની જેમ મને જે યોગ્ય લાગતું હોય તેનું આચરણ કરીશ, તથા માંરા બધા હુકમ અને નિયમોનું પાલન કરીશ, માંરે માંગેર્ ચાલીશ અને હું જેમ ઇચ્છું છુઁ તેમ રહીશ તો હું તારી બાજુએ રહીશ, તને ઇસ્રાએલ આપીશ અને દાઉદના વંશની જેમ તારા વંશનું પણ નામ રાખીશ.
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<v id="39" bcv="1KI.11.39" />સુલેમાંનનાં પાપ માંટે દાઉદના કુટુંબને સજા કરીશ, પણ સજા કાયમ માંટે નહિ હોય.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">સુલેમાંનનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="1KI.11.40" />આ પછી સુલેમાંને યરોબઆમને માંરી નાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો, પણ તે મિસરના રાજા શીશાક પાસે ભાગી ગયો, અને સુલેમાંનના મૃત્યુ સુધી મિસરમાં જ રહ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="1KI.11.41" />સુલેમાંનના રાજયના બીજા બધા બનાવો અને તેમનાં કાર્યો, તેમજ તેની બધી જ્ઞાનવાર્તા
<bk>સુલેમાંનના વૃત્તાંતના</bk> ગ્રંથમાં નોંધેલા છે.
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<v id="42" bcv="1KI.11.42" />સુલેમાંને યરૂશાલેમમાંથી સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ પર ચાળીસ વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="43" bcv="1KI.11.43" />ત્યારબાદ સુલેમાંન પોતાના પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો, તેને તેના પિતા દાઉદના નગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો; અને તેની જગાએ તેનો પુત્ર રહાબઆમ ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">આંતરિક યુદ્ધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.12.1" />રહાબઆમ શખેમમાં ગયો. કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલના બધાં લોકો તેને રાજા બનાવવા માંટે ત્યાં ગયા હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.12.2" />તે વખતે યરોબઆમ મિસરમાં હતો, સુલેમાંન રાજાની આગળથી તે ત્યાં નાસી ગયો હતો. આ રાજયાભિષેક વિષે તેણે તેના મિત્રો પાસેથી સાંભળ્યું, અને તે મિસરમાંથી પાછો આવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1KI.12.3" />કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ તેને બોલાવી લીધો હતો, પછી તે એ બધા લોકો સાથે રહાબઆમ પાસે ગયો અને કહ્યું,
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.12.4" />“તમાંરા પિતા અમાંરા પ્રત્યે બહુ કઠોર હતા અને અમાંરી પાસે સખત કામ કરાવ્યા, હવે તમે અમાંરા પર તમાંરા પિતાએ મૂકેલો આ ભાર હળવો કરો, અને અમે તમાંરી સેવા કરીશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1KI.12.5" />પછી રહાબઆમે જણાવ્યું, “અહીંથી ચાલ્યા જાવ અને ત્રણ દિવસ પછી પાછા આવજો.” પછી લોકો તેમની પાસેથી દૂર ગયા.
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.12.6" />ત્યારબાદ રાજા રહાબઆમે પોતાના પિતા સુલેમાંન જીવતા હતા ત્યારે જે વડીલો તેના સલાહકારો હતા તેઓની સલાહ લીધી. તેણે પૂછયું, “તમે મને આ લોકોને શો જવાબ આપવો તેની સલાહ આપો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.12.7" />તેમણે કહ્યું, “હવે આપ એ લોકોની ઇચ્છાને તાબે થઈ જાઓ અને એમની સાથે નમ્રતાથી વાત કરશો, તો તેઓ કાયમ માંટે તમાંરી સેવા કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1KI.12.8" />પરંતુ રહાબઆમે આ વડીલોની સલાહની અવગણના કરી; અને તેણે પોતાની સાથે ઉછરેલા જુવાન મિત્રોને બોલાવ્યા અને તેમની સલાહ લીધી,
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<v id="9" bcv="1KI.12.9" />તેણે પૂછયું, “આ લોકોએ જે મને કહ્યું છે કે, ‘તમાંરા પિતાએ અમાંરા પર જે ભાર મૂકયો છે તે હળવો કરો.’ તેઓને જવાબ આપવા માંટે તમે શી સલાહ આપો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1KI.12.10" />જુવાન મિત્રોએ તેને કહ્યું, “તમે તેઓને એવો જવાબ આપો કે, ‘માંરા પિતાની કમર કરતાં માંરી ટચલી આંગળી જાડી છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1KI.12.11" />અને માંરા પિતાએ તમાંરા પર જે બોજ મૂકયો હતો તેને હું વધારીશ. માંરા પિતા તમને કોરડાથી ફટકારતા હતા, હું તમને લોખંડના ટૂકડા બાંધેલા કોરડાથી ફટકારીશ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1KI.12.12" />યરોબઆમ અને તેના માંણસો ત્રણ દિવસ પછી રહાબઆમ પાસે ગયા. બરાબર જે પ્રમાંણે રાજાએ તેમને કરવા કહ્યું હતું તેમજ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.12.13" />રાજાએ વડીલોની સલાહ માંની નહિ પણ લોકોને કઠોરતાથી જવાબ આપ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="1KI.12.14" />જેમ તેના મિત્રોએ તેને કહ્યું હતું તેમ તેણે કહ્યું, “માંરા પિતાએ તમાંરા પર જે ભાર મૂકયો હતો તે ભાર હું હજી વધારીશ. માંરા પિતા તો તમને ચાબુકથી ફટકારતા હતા, હું તો તમને લોખંડના ટુકડા બાંધેલા કોરડાથી ફટકારીશ.”
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<v id="15" bcv="1KI.12.15" />આમ, રાજાએ લોકોની વાત પર ધ્યાન આપ્યું નહિ, યહોવાએ શીલોના પ્રબોધક અહિયા માંરફતે નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમને જે સંદેશો મોકલાવ્યો હતો તે પૂરો કરવાનો હતો, તેથી રાજાએ તે પ્રમાંણે વર્તન કર્યુ હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1KI.12.16" />જયારે લોકોએ જોયું કે રાજા આપણી વાત સાંભળતો નથી, ત્યારે તેઓએ જવાબ આપ્યો,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દાઉદ સાથે અમાંરે શું સામ્ય છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યશાઇના પુત્ર સાથે અમાંરે શું લેવા દેવા છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">ઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, સૌ પોતપોતાને ઘેર પાછા જાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દાઉદ, હવેથી તું તારું ઘર સંભાળ.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">આમ, બધાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પોતપોતાને ઘેર ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.12.17" />અને આમ રહાબઆમે યહૂદાના નગરમાં વસતા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પર રાજય કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1KI.12.18" />રાજા રહાબઆમે વેઠ મજૂરોનું ખાતુ સંભાળતા અદોરામને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસે મોકલ્યો, પણ તેઓએ તેને પથ્થરો માંરીને માંરી નાંખ્યો, આથી રાજા રહાબઆમને રથમાં બેસી યરૂશાલેમ ભાગી જવું પડયું.
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<v id="19" bcv="1KI.12.19" />ત્યારથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ દાઉદના કુટુંબ સામે બળવો કર્યો છે અને તેઓ આજ સુધી અલગ રહેતા આવ્યા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1KI.12.20" />જયારે ઇસ્રાએલના બધા લોકોએ સાંભળ્યું કે, યરોબઆમ પાછો આવ્યો છે, ત્યારે તેમણે તેને ઇસ્રાએલી સભા સમક્ષ બોલાવી, આખા ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બનાવ્યો. યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહ સિવાય કોઈ દાઉદના રાજવંશને વફાદાર રહ્યું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1KI.12.21" />રહાબઆમે યરૂશાલેમ જઈને યહૂદાની ટોળીના અને બિન્યામીનના કુટુંબના કુલ 1,80,000 ચુનંદા યોદ્વાઓને લઇને ઇસ્રાએલના વંશો સામે યુદ્ધ કરી પોતાનું રાજય પાછું મેળવવા ભેગા કર્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="1KI.12.22" />પણ ઇશ્વર ભકત શમાંયાને દેવની વાણી સંભળાઈ કે,
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<v id="23" bcv="1KI.12.23" />“યહૂદાના સુલેમાંનના રાજા પુત્ર રહાબઆમને, તથા યહૂદાના તથા બિન્યામીનના વંશના બધા લોકો જે આજ સુધી તેની સાથે છે તેમને કહે.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.12.24" />‘આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે: તમાંરા ભાઈઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સામે લડવા જશો નહિ, સૌ કોઈ પોતપોતાને ઘેર પાછા જાય, જે કંઈ બન્યું છે તે માંરી ઇચ્છાથી બન્યું છે.’” તેમણે યહોવાનું કહ્યું માંન્યું અને તેની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાંણે તેઓ પાછા ઘેર ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1KI.12.25" />પછી યરોબઆમે એફ્રાઈમના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં શખેમ નગરની કિલ્લેબંધી કરી અને ત્યાં રહ્યો; અને ત્યાંથી તેણે પનુએલનગરની પણ કિલ્લેબંધી કરાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1KI.12.26" />યરોબઆમે વિચાર કર્યો, “આજે સ્થિતી એવી છે કે, માંરા રાજયના લોકો પાછા દાઉદના રાજવંશને સ્વીકારશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="1KI.12.27" />જો આ લોકો યરૂશાલેમમાં આવેલા યહોવાના મંદિરે યજ્ઞો અર્પણ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખશે, તો તેમના હૃદયમાં તેમના નેતા યહૂદાના રાજા રહાબઆમ પ્રત્યે ફરી વફાદારી જાગશે; અને તેઓ મને માંરી નાખશે, અને ફરી પાછા યહૂદાના રાજા રહાબઆમને અનુસરશે.”
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.12.28" />આથી તેણે આ બાબત પર વિચારીને બે સોનાના વાછરડા કરાવ્યા અને લોકોને કહ્યું, “હવે તમાંરે બધાએ યરૂશાલેમ જવાની જરૂર નથી, ઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ; આ રહ્યા તમાંરા દેવ જે તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા હતા.”
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<v id="29" bcv="1KI.12.29" />એક વાછરડાને તેણે બેથેલમાં સ્થાપ્યો અને બીજો દાનમાં આપ્યો.
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<v id="30" bcv="1KI.12.30" />આથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ પાપ કર્યુ. લોકો એક મૂર્તિ સામે પૂજા કરવા બેથેલ જતા અને બીજી મૂર્તિ સામે પૂજા કરવા દાન સુધી જતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="1KI.12.31" />યરોબઆમે ટેકરીઓ પર કબરો બનાવી, અને લેવીવંશી ન હોય એવા બીજા કોઈ પણ કુટુંબોમાંથી યાજકો નિયુકત કર્યા.
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<v id="32" bcv="1KI.12.32" />આઠમાં મહિનામાં પંદરમાં દિવસે, યરોબઆમે યહૂદામાં જે ઉજવાતો હતો તેવો એક ઉત્સવ શરૂ કર્યો, અને તે બેથેલની વેદી પર ઉજવાતો હતો જે તેણે બનાવી હતી. તેણે વાછરડાઓને બલિદાનો અર્પણ કરવાનું શરુ કર્યું જે તેણે બનાવ્યા હતાં. અને તેણે ઉચ્ચ સ્થાનો પરથી યાજકોને નિયુકત કર્યા, બેથેલની કબરોમાં સેવા કરવા માંટે જે તેણે બનાવી હતી.
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<v id="33" bcv="1KI.12.33" />આમ, ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માંટે પોતે શરૂ કરેલો ઉત્સવ ઊજવવા પોતે પસંદ કરેલા આઠમાં મહિનાનાં પંદરમાં દિવસે તે બેથેલ ગયો, અને બલિદાનો અર્પણ કરવા તે પોતે બનાવેલી વેદી પર ગયો.
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<s style="s">બેથેલ વિરુદ્ધ ચેતવણી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.13.1" />યરોબઆમ વેદી પાસે બલિદાનો ચડાવવા માંટે ઊભો હતો, ત્યારે યહોવાએ એક દેવના માંણસને યહૂદાથી બેથેલ મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.13.2" />અને યહોવાના વચનથી તેણે વેદીને પોકારીને કહ્યું,
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<p style="p">“વેદી, વેદી આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે; ‘સાંભળ, દાઉદનાં વંશમાં યોશિયા નામે એક બાળક અવતરશે, તે તારી પર બલિદાન ચઢાવશે, પર્વતના શિખર ઉપરની દેરીઓના યાજકો જેઓ અત્યારે તારા પર ધૂપ ચઢાવે છે પરંતુ યોશિયા તારી પર મનુષ્યનાં હાડકાને બાળશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1KI.13.3" />અને તે જ વખતે તેણે વધુમાં જણાવ્યું કે, “આ વેદી તૂટી જશે અને તેના પરની રાખ ફેલાઈ જશે, યહોવાની આ ભવિષ્યવાણી સાચી પડશે, તે સમયે તું જાણશે કે, મેં જે કહ્યું હતું તે સત્ય હતું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1KI.13.4" />જયારે યરોબઆમે પેલા દેવના માંણસને બેથેલની વેદીને શાપ આપતો સાંભળ્યો, તે સમયે તેણે વેદી પાસેથી હાથ લઇ લીધો, તે માંણસ તરફ ચીંધ્યો અને કહ્યું, “તેને પકડો.” પણ જેવું તેણે આમ કહ્યું કે, તરત જ એ માંણસ સામે એણે લંબાવેલો હાથ એ જ સ્થિતિમાં લકવાગ્રસ્ત થઈ ગયો, તે પોતાના હાથને પાછો ખેંચી શકયો નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.13.5" />એ સમયે દેવના માંણસની આગાહી પ્રમાંણે વેદીમાં મોટી તિરાડ પડી અને તેના પરની રાખ વેરાઈ ગઈ. જે પ્રમાંણે યહોવાએ દેવના માંણસને કહેવા માંટે કહ્યું હતું તેમજ બન્યું.
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.13.6" />રાજાએ દેવના માંણસને કાલાવાલા કર્યા, “મેહરબાની કરીને તમાંરા યહોવા દેવને કહો કે, માંરો હાથ ફરીથી સાજો કરી આપે.”
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<p style="p">તેથી દેવના માંણસે દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરી, એટલે રાજાનો હાથ પહેલા હતો તેવો થઈ ગયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="1KI.13.7" />પછી રાજાએ દેવના માંણસને વિનંતી કરી, “માંરી સાથે માંરા રાજમહેલમાં આવ, ત્યાં આરામ કર અને ભોજન લે. તેં માંરો હાથ સાજો કર્યો તે માંટે હું તને ભેટ આપીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1KI.13.8" />પણ દેવના માંણસે રાજાને કહ્યું, “તું મને તારો અડધો મહેલ આપે, તો પણ હું તમાંરી સાથે નહિ આવું, હું અહીં કશું ખાઈશ કે પીશ નહિ,
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<v id="9" bcv="1KI.13.9" />કારણ, મને યહોવાની આજ્ઞા છે કે, તારે કશું ખાવાનું કે પીવાનું નહિ, અને જે રસ્તે જાય તે રસ્તે પાછા ફરવાનું નહિ.”
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<v id="10" bcv="1KI.13.10" />આથી તે બીજે રસ્તે પાછો ગયો; જે રસ્તે બેથેલ આવ્યો હતો તે રસ્તે પાછો ન ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1KI.13.11" />એ વખતે બેથેલમાં એક વૃદ્વ પ્રબોધક રહેતો હતો. તેના પુત્રોએ ઘેર જઈને પ્રબોધકે બેથેલમાં જે કર્યુ હતું તે અને તેણે રાજાને જે કહ્યું હતું તે પોતાના પિતાને જણાવ્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.13.12" />પિતાએ પૂછયું, “તે કયા રસ્તે ગયો?” પુત્રોએ તેને યહૂદાનો દેવનો માંણસ જે રસ્તે ગયો તે બતાવ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.13.13" />વૃદ્વ પ્રબોધકે પોતાના પુત્રોને કહ્યું, “જલ્દીથી ગધેડા પર જીન બાંધો.” તેઓએ તેને માંટે ગધેડા પર જીન બાંધ્યું. પછી તે પર ચઢીને ગધેડા પર સવાર થઇ ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1KI.13.14" />પછી એ વૃદ્વ પ્રબોધક પેલા દેવના માંણસની પાછળ ગયો, અને તેને એક એલોન વૃક્ષની નીચે બેઠેલો જોયો.
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<p style="p">તેણે તેમને પૂછયું, “તું યહૂદાથી આવેલો દેવનો માંણસ છે?” જવાબમાં તેણે કહ્યું, “હા, હું તે જ છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.13.15" />વૃદ્વ પ્રબોધકે તેને કહ્યું, “માંરી સાથે માંરે ઘરે આવ અને ભોજન લે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1KI.13.16" />તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “ના, હું આવી શકું તેમ નથી, કેમકે મને તારી સાથે આવવાની રજા નથી કે તારી સાથે આ જગ્યાએ કંઇ ખાવાની કે પીવાની રજા નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.13.17" />કારણ, મને યહોવાની આજ્ઞા છે કે, ‘તારે ત્યાં કશું ખાવાનું કે પીવાનું નહિ, અને જાય તે રસ્તે પાછા ફરવાનું નહિ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1KI.13.18" />વૃદ્વ પ્રબોધકે કહ્યું, “હું પણ તમાંરા જેવો પ્રબોધક છું;” અને આજે મને એક દેવદૂતે યહોવાનો સંદેશો આપતા કહ્યું છે કે, “માંરે તને ખોરાક અને પાણી માંટે માંરી સાથે ઘેર લઈ જવો.” હકીકતમાં વૃદ્વ પ્રબોધક તેની આગળ જૂઠ્ઠું બોલતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1KI.13.19" />તેથી તેઓ બંને પાછા વળ્યા, અને દેવનો માંણસ પેલા વૃદ્વ પ્રબોધકને ઘેર ગયો અને ત્યાં ખાધું પીધું.
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.13.20" />જ્યારે તેઓ હજુ ભાણા પર બેઠા હતા ત્યારે વૃદ્ધ પ્રબોધક જે દેવના માંણસને પાછો લઈ આવ્યો હતો તેને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઈ.
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.13.21" />અને તેણે યહૂદાથી આવેલા દેવના માંણસને કહ્યું, “આ યહોવાની વાણી છે. તેં યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યુ છે અને તેણે કરેલાં હુકમો પાળ્યાં નથી,
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<v id="22" bcv="1KI.13.22" />પણ તેણે મના કરી હતી, ત્યાં પાછા આવીને તેં ખાધુંપીધું છે, આથી તારું મડદું તારા પૂર્વજોની કબરે નહિ પહોંચે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.13.23" />ભોજન લીધા પછી વૃદ્વ પ્રબોધકે યહૂદાથી આવેલા દેવના માંણસ માંટે ગધેડા પર જીન બાંધી.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.13.24" />અને યહૂદાના એ દેવના માંણસે પોતાની મુસાફરી શરૂ કરી, અને એ રસ્તામાં જતો હતો ત્યારે એક સિંહે ત્યાં આવીને તેને માંરી નાખ્યો. તેનું શબ ત્યાં રસ્તામાં પડયું હતું, અને ગધેડો તથા સિંહ તેની બાજુ પર ઊભા હતા.
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<v id="25" bcv="1KI.13.25" />થોડા માંણસો જેઓ તે રસ્તેથી પસાર થતા હતાં વચ્ચે પડેલા શબને અને તેની બાજુએ શાંતિથી ઊભેલા ગધેડા તથા સિંહને જોયો. અને નગરમાં જઈને આના વિષે વાત કરી, જ્યાં વૃદ્વ પ્રબોધક રહેતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1KI.13.26" />જ્યારે વૃદ્ધ પ્રબોધકે આ વિષે સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, “એ તો એ જ દેવનો માંણસ છે, કે જેણે યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનો અનાદર કર્યો છે! સિંહ દ્વારા તેને માંરી નંખાવીને યહોવાએ તેને આપેલી ચેતવણી પૂર્ણ કરી છે.”
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<v id="27" bcv="1KI.13.27" />પછી તેણે પોતાના પુત્રોને ગધેડા પર જીન બાંધવા માંટે કહ્યું અને તેઓએ તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ.
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.13.28" />તે ગયો અને તેણે જોયું કે દેવના માંણસનું શરીર માંર્ગમાં વચ્ચે પડયું હતું અને ગધેડો તથા સિંહ હજી પણ તેની નજીક ઊભા હતા, વળી સિંહે મનુષ્યનું શરીર ખાધું ન હતું અને સિંહે ગધેડા પર હુમલો નહોતો કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1KI.13.29" />પછી શોક પ્રદશિર્ત કરવા માંટે અને દફનવિધિ કરવા પેલા શબને ગધેડા પર મૂકીને નગરમાં લઈ ગયો.
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<v id="30" bcv="1KI.13.30" />તેણે એ શબને પોતાની કબરમાં મૂકીને “ઓ માંરા ભાઈ રે! કહીને પોક મૂકી.”
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<v id="31" bcv="1KI.13.31" />તેને દફનાવ્યા પછી, તે પ્રબોધકે પોતાના પુત્રોને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “હું મરી જાઉં ત્યારે મને આ પ્રબોધકની સાથે એક જ કબરમાં દફનાવજો. માંરા અસ્થિ એ દેવના માંણસના અસ્થિ સાથે જ મૂકજો;
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<v id="32" bcv="1KI.13.32" />કારણ કે, બેથેલની આ વેદી અને સમરૂન પાસેના ઉચ્ચ સ્થાનો માંટે યહોવાનો સંદેશો જે તેણે આ દેવના માંણસ દ્વારા આપ્યો હતો તે ચોક્કસ સાચો પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1KI.13.33" />આ ઘટના પછી પણ યરોબઆમે પોતાનું દુષ્ટ આચરણ છોડયું નહિ. પણ તેણે ઉચ્ચસ્થાનો માંટે કોઈ પણ કુળસમૂહના લોકોમાંથી યાજક તરીકે નીમવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું. જે કોઈ યાજક થવા તૈયાર થતો તેને તે ઉચ્ચસ્થાન પરનાં મંદિરનો યાજક નીમતો.
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<v id="34" bcv="1KI.13.34" />તેથી કરીને યરોબઆમે પોતાના આખા વંશને પાપમાં નાખ્યો અને તેમનું ભૂમિમાંથી સંપૂર્ણપણે ભૂંસાઇ જવું નિશ્ચિત કર્યુ.
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<c id="14" />
<s style="s">યરોબઆમના પુત્રનુઁ અવસાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.14.1" />યરોબઆમનો પુત્ર અબિયા ગંભીર માંદગીમાં સપડાયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.14.2" />અને યરોબઆમે પોતાની પત્નીને કહ્યું, “આમ જો, તું માંરી પત્ની છે એની લોકોને ખબર ન પડે, કોઇ તને ઓળખી ન શકે તે રીતે વેશપલટો કરીને તું શીલોહ જા. અહિયા પ્રબોધક ત્યાં રહે છે, જેણે કહ્યું હતું કે, હું આ લોકોનો રાજા થવાનો છું.
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.14.3" />તારી સાથે દસ રોટલી, થોડી ફળોના ટૂકડાવાળી રોટલી અને એક કુપ્પી મધ લઈને તેની પાસે જા. આ બાળકનું શું થવાનું છે તે તને કહેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1KI.14.4" />યરોબઆમની પત્નીએ તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ. તે તરત જ નીકળી અને શીલોહ ગઈ, અહિયાને ઘેર પહોંચી, હવે વાત એમ હતી કે અહિયાને દેખાતું નહોતું. ઘડપણને લીધે તેની આંખને ઝાંખ આવી હતી,
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.14.5" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું હતું કે, “યરોબઆમની પત્ની પોતાના માંદા બાળક વિષે તને સવાલ કરવા આવી રહી છે; તેણી આવશે ત્યારે કોઈક બીજુંજ હોવાનો ઢોંગ કરશે. તેણીને આ કહેજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1KI.14.6" />આથી અહિયાએ જયારે બારણાં આગળ તેનાં પગલાંનો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, “આવ, અંદર આવ, યરોબઆમની પત્ની, તું બીજી સ્રી હોવાનો ઢોંગ શા માંટે કરે છે? માંરે તને માંઠા સમાંચાર આપવાના છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1KI.14.7" />જા, યરોબઆમને જણાવ કે, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા એમ કહે છે કે, ‘મેં તને એક સામાંન્ય માંણસમાંથી ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="1KI.14.8" />મેં દાઉદના હાથમાંથી રાજય છીનવી લઈને તને આપ્યું. પણ તું માંરા સેવક દાઉદ જેવો ન નીકળ્યો. તે તો માંરી આજ્ઞાઓ પાળતો હતો. અને પૂરા મનથી માંરા માંગેર્ ચાલતો હતો તથા માંરી નજરમાં જે સાચું હોય તે જ કરતો હતો.
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<v id="9" bcv="1KI.14.9" />તેઁ તારા બધા પૂર્વજો કરતાં વધારે ખરાબ કામો કર્યા છે, તેં બીજા દેવોની મૂર્તિઓ બનાવી છે, અને સોનાના વાછરડા બનાવીને માંરો રોષ વહોરી લીધો છે; તેં તો માંરી અવગણના કરી છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="1KI.14.10" />તેથી હું તારા વંશ પર આફત ઉતારીશ. તારા કુટુંબમાં દરેક પુરુષને માંરી નાખીશ, ઇસ્રાએલમાં તારા વંશનો કોઇ પણ નર જીવતો બચશે નહિ જેમ છાણ રાખ થાય ત્યાં સુધી બળ્યા કરે છે. તેવી જ રીતે તારું સમગ્ર કુટુંબ નાશ પામશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1KI.14.11" />તારા કુટુંબમાંથી જેઓ શહેરમાં મરણ પામશે તેમને કૂતરાં ખાશે, અને જેઓ વગડામાં મૃત્યુ પામશે તેમને પંખીઓ ખાશે. આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1KI.14.12" />પછી અહિયાએ યરોબઆમની પત્નીને કહ્યું, “હવે તું તારે ઘેર જા. તું નગરમાં પહોંચશે તે જ સમયે છોકરો મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.14.13" />સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો તેને માંટે આક્રંદ કરશે અને તેને દફનાવશે, તારા કુટુંબમાંથી સારો ભૂમિદાહ પામનાર તારો પુત્ર આ એક જ હશે. કેમકે ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવને યરોબઆમના સમગ્ર પરિવારમાંથી માંત્ર આ છોકરાને જ સારી વ્યકિત તરીકે જોયો છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="1KI.14.14" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલ માંટે એક રાજા નિયુકત કરશે, અને તે યરોબઆમના વંશનો અંત લાવશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="1KI.14.15" />જેવી રીતે છોડની કુંમળી દાંડી નદીમાં ઝોલાં ખાય છે તેવી જ રીતે યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલ પર પ્રહાર કરશે. યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તેણે તેના પિતૃઓને આપેલા દેશમાંથી જડમૂળથી ઉખેડી નાખશે. અને નદીને પેલે પાર તેઓને વિખેરી નાખશે, કારણ કે અશેરીમનો સ્તંભ બનાવી તેઓએ યહોવાને કોપાયમાંન કર્યા છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.14.16" />યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને છોડી દેશે. કારણ કે યરોબઆમે પોતે પાપ કર્યુ છે અને પોતાની સાથે સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને પણ પાપ કરવા માંટે દોરી ગયો છે, ને પાપ કરાવ્યા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1KI.14.17" />યરોબઆમની પત્ની ઊઠીને ચાલતી થઈ, તે તિર્સાહ આવી પહોંચી અને જ્યારે તેના ઘરના ઊંમરા પર પહોચી તે જ ઘડીએ બાળક મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.14.18" />યહોવાએ પોતાના સેવક અહિયા પ્રબોધક દ્વારા આગાહી કરી હતી તેમ જ બધું બન્યું અને તેઓએ તેને દફનાવ્યો અને આખા ઇસ્રાએલે તેનો શોક પાળ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1KI.14.19" />યરોબઆમના રાજયના બીજા પ્રસંગો, તેણે કયાં કયાં યુદ્ધો કર્યા, કેવી રીતે રાજય કર્યુ,
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલી રાજાઓનાં કાળવૃત્તાંતમાં</bk> નોંધાયેલું છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.14.20" />યરોબઆમ 22 વર્ષ રાજય કરી પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર નાદાબ ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1KI.14.21" />યહૂદાનાં રાજા સુલેમાંનનો પુત્ર રહાબઆમ જ્યારે તે 41 વર્ષની ઊંમરનો હતો ત્યારે યહૂદાનો રાજા બન્યો. રહાબઆમે યરૂશાલેમમાં 17 વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યુ. ઇસ્રાએલની બધી જાતિઓમાંથી યરૂશાલેમ નગર હતું જેને યહોવાએ પોતાના માંટે પસંદ કર્યુ હતું. રહાબઆમની માંતાનું નામ નાઅમાંહ હતું, તે આમ્મોની હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1KI.14.22" />યહૂદાના લોકોએ યહોવાની નજરમાં પાપ ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ, તેમણે પૂર્વજોએ કરેલાં પાપોથી પણ વધુ પાપો કરી યહોવાનો કોપ વહોરી લીધો.
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<v id="23" bcv="1KI.14.23" />તેમણે દરેક ઊંચી ટેકરી અને દરેક છાયો આપતા વૃક્ષ નીચે લોકોએ ઉચ્ચસ્થાને પવિત્ર સ્તંભો અને અશેરાહના સ્તંભ બાંધ્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.14.24" />એટલું જ નહિ, આખા પ્રદેશમાં દેવદાસો અને દેવદાસીઓ બીજા દેવોની સેવા કરતી હતી, આ તો ભૂમિના રાષ્ટોએ કરેલું અધમ પાપ જેવું હતું, આને કારણે યહોવાએ તેમની પાસેથી ભૂમિ લઇને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આપી દીધી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1KI.14.25" />રહાબઆમના રાજયમાં પાંચમાં વષેર્ મિસરના રાજા શીશાકે યરૂશાલેમ પર આક્રમણ કર્યું,
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<v id="26" bcv="1KI.14.26" />અને તેણે યહોવાના મંદિરના અને રાજમહેલના બધા ભંડારો લૂંટી ગયો. 26 તેણે સોનાની ઢાલો જે સુલેમાંને બનાવડાવી હતી તે લઇ લીધી.
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<v id="27" bcv="1KI.14.27" />પેલી સોનાની ઢાલોને બદલે રાજા રહાબઆમે કાંસાની ઢાલો કરાવી, ને તે રાજમહેલના પ્રવેશદ્વારનું રક્ષણ કરતા સૈનિકોના સરદારોને સોંપી.
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.14.28" />જયારે જયારે રાજા યહોવાના મંદિરે જતો ત્યારે ત્યારે રક્ષકોએ ઢાલ સાથે લઈ જતા અને પછીથી પાછી તે શસ્રાગારમાં મૂકી દેતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1KI.14.29" />રહાબઆમના રાજ્યનાં બીજા બનાવો અને એણે કરેલા બીજા બધા કાર્યો
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક ગ્રંથમાં લખાયા છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="1KI.14.30" />યરોબઆમ અને રહાબઆમ વચ્ચે સતત યુદ્ધ ચાલ્યા કર્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="1KI.14.31" />અંતે રહાબઆમ પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો, ત્યારે તેને દાઉદ નગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો તેની માંતાનું નામ નાઅમાંહ હતું, તે એક આમ્મોની હતી. રહાબઆમના મૃત્યુ પછી તેનો પુત્ર અબીયામ રાજા બન્યો.
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</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">યહૂદાના અબીયામનો અમલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.15.1" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા યરોબઆમના અઢારમાં વર્ષમાં અબીયામ યહૂદાનો રાજા બન્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.15.2" />તેણે ત્રણ વર્ષ યરૂશાલેમમાં રાજ્ય કર્યુ. અબીશાલોમની પુત્રી માંઅખાહ તેની માંતા હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1KI.15.3" />તેના પિતાએ તેની પહેલાં જે પાપો કર્યા હતાં, તેણે તેજ બધાં કર્યા. તેના પિતા દાઉદ પોતાના દેવ યહોવાને સંપૂર્ણ વફાદાર રહ્યો હતો તેવો તે ન રહ્યો;
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.15.4" />તેમ છતાં દાઉદ પ્રત્યેના પ્રેમને માંટે તેના દેવ યહોવાએ યરૂશાલેમમાં તેના કુટુંબનો દીવો બળતો રાખ્યો. તેણે તેને પુત્ર આપ્યો અને યરૂશાલેમને સુરક્ષિત રાખ્યું.
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.15.5" />ફકત ઊરિયા હિત્તીની બાબત સિવાય દાઉદે હંમેશા યહોવાને જે ન્યાયી લાગ્યું તે પ્રમાંણે જ કર્યું અને જીવનપર્યત સંપૂર્ણ પણે દેવને આજ્ઞાંકિત રહ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1KI.15.6" />રહાબઆમનો પુત્ર અને યરોબઆમનો પુત્ર એકબીજા સાથે સતત લડતા રહ્યાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="1KI.15.7" />અબીયામનાઁ શાસન વિષે અને શાસન દરમ્યાન બનેલા બીજાં બનાવો વિષે
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક ગ્રંથમાં લખાયેલા છે.
</p>
<p style="p">અબીયામ અને યરોબઆમના પુત્રો એકબીજા સાથે યુદ્ધો લડ્યાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="1KI.15.8" />પછી અબીયામ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તેને દાઉદના નગરમાં તેના પિતૃઓ સાથે દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર આસા રાજા બન્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદાનો રાજા આસા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1KI.15.9" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા યરોબઆમના રાજયકાળનાં વીસમાં વષેર્ આસા યહૂદાનો રાજા બન્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="1KI.15.10" />તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં એકતાળીસ વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું, તેની માંતાનું નામ માંઅખાહ હતું, તે અબીશાલોમની પુત્રી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1KI.15.11" />તેના પિતૃ દાઉદની જેમ યહોવાને જે ન્યાયી લાગ્યું તેમ કર્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.15.12" />તેણે દેવદાસીઓ જે પ્રદેશનાં બીજા દેવોની સેવા કરતી હતી, તેને હાંકી કાઢી અને તેના પિતૃઓએ બનાવેલી મૂર્તિઓને દૂર કરી.
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.15.13" />તેણે તેની માંતા માંઅખાહને સુદ્ધા રાજમાંતાના પદેથી દૂર કરી, કારણ તેણે અશેરાહ દેવીની પૂજા માંટે એક ધિક્કારપાત્ર મૂર્તિ કરાવી હતી. આસાએ એ મૂર્તિને તોડી નાખી અને કિદૃોન નદીના તટ પરની ખીણમાં બાળી મૂકી,
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<v id="14" bcv="1KI.15.14" />જો કે ઉચ્ચ સ્થાનોની સમાંધિઓને દૂર કરવામાં આવી નહોતી, તેમ છતાં આસા જીવનભર યહોવાને પૂરેપૂરો વફાદાર રહ્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="1KI.15.15" />તેના પિતાએ તેમજ તેણે પોતે યહોવાને સોનું, ચાંદી અને ચાંદીના વાસણો વગેરે યહોવાને અર્પણ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1KI.15.16" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા બાઅશા અને આસા વચ્ચે તેમના સમગ્ર શાસન દરમ્યાન એકબીજા સામે લડાઇ લડ્યા કરી.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.15.17" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા બાઅશાએ યહૂદાને ઘેરી લીધું, અને રામાં નગરને કિલ્લેબંધી કરી, જેથી કોઇ પણ યહૂદાના રાજા આસાને મદદ કરી ન શકે.
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.15.18" />ત્યારબાદ આસાએ મંદિરના તથા રાજમહેલના ખજાનામાં બાકી રહેલું સોનું અને ચાંદી એકઠાં કરીને દમસ્કમાં રહેતા અરામના રાજા બેનહદાદને આપવા પોતાના અધિકારીઓને મોકલ્યા. બેનહદાદ ટાબ્રિમ્મોનનો પુત્ર અને હેઝયોનનો પૌત્ર હતો. અધિકારીઓ સાથે રાજાએ આ સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે,
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<v id="19" bcv="1KI.15.19" />“તમાંરા પિતા અને માંરા પિતા વચ્ચે શાંતિકરાર હતો, તેવો આપણી વચ્ચે પણ છે. આ સાથે હું તમને સોનાચાંદીની ભેટ મોકલું છું. તમે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા બાઅશા સાથેનો શાંતિકરાર તોડી નાખો એટલે તેણે માંરા પ્રદેશમાંથી હઠી જવું પડશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1KI.15.20" />બેનહદાદે આ કરાર માંન્ય રાખ્યો અને તેણે પોતાના સૈન્યને ઇસ્રાએલનાં કેટલાંક નગરો સામે લડવા મોકલ્યું. તેઓએ ઇયોન, દાન, આબેલ-બેથ-માંઅખાહ, સમગ્ર કિન્નેરોથ અને નફતાલી પ્રદેશનાં તમાંમ નગરોનો નાશ કર્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.15.21" />બાઅશાએ આ આક્રમણના સમાંચાર સાંભળ્યા, ત્યારે તેણે રામાં નગરનું બાંધકામ પડતું મૂકયું. અને પાછો તિર્સાહ ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<v id="22" bcv="1KI.15.22" />પછી આસા રાજાએ સમગ્ર યહૂદામાં જાહેરાત કરી કે, દરેક સશકત પુરુષે “રામાં”નો નાશ કરવામાં મદદ કરવી અન તેનાં લાકડાં તથા પથ્થરો ઉઠાવી લાવવાં. રાજા આસાએ તે સાધનસામગ્રીનો ઉપયોગ બિન્યામીનનું નગર ગેબા અને મિસ્પાહ બાંધવા માંટે કર્યોં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.15.23" />આસાના રાજયના બીજા બધા પ્રસંગો, તેનાં વિજયો અને તેનાં બધાં કાર્યો, તેમજ તેણે બંધાવેલા નગરો તે બધું
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસનાં</bk> ગ્રંથમાં લખેલું છે. વૃદ્ધાવસ્થામાં તેને પગનો રોગ લાગુ પડયો.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.15.24" />પછી તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો, અને તેને તેના પિતૃઓ સાથે દાઉદ નગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેનો પુત્ર યહોશાફાટ તેના પછી રાજગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા નાદાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1KI.15.25" />એ સમય દરમ્યાન ઇસ્રાએલમાં યરોબઆમનો પુત્ર નાદાબ રાજા બન્યો. તે આસાના રાજયકાળના બીજા વષેર્ ગાદીએ આવ્યો હતો. તેણે બે વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ.
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<v id="26" bcv="1KI.15.26" />તેણે યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ પાપ ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ; તે પોતાના પિતાને પગલે ચાલ્યો; પિતાની જેમ પોતે પાપ કર્યુ, ને ઇસ્રાએલ પાસે પણ પાપ કરાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1KI.15.27" />અહિયાનો પુત્ર બાઅશા જે ઇસ્સાખાર કુળનો હતો. તેણે નાદાબની સામે બળવો કર્યો. નાદાબે ઇસ્રાએલી સૈન્યની સાથે પલિસ્તીઓના નગર ગિબ્બથોનને ઘેરી લીધું હતું. ત્યારે બાઅશાએ કાવત્રુ કરીને તેનું ખૂન કર્યું.
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.15.28" />રાજા આસાના યહૂદામાં શાસનના ત્રીજા વર્ષ દરમ્યાન બાઅશાએ નાદાબને માંરી નાખ્યો અને પોતે રાજા બન્યો.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બાઅશા
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1KI.15.29" />જેવો એ રાજા બન્યો કે તરત તેણે યરોબઆમના કુટુંબનોે નાશ કર્યો. તેણે કોઈનેય જીવતા છોડયા નહિ. આ રીતે યહોવાએ જે વાત તેના સેવક શીલોના અહિયાને કહી હતી તે સાચી પડી.
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<v id="30" bcv="1KI.15.30" />આ બધું બન્યું કારણકે યરોબઆમે પાપ કર્યું, અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પણ પાપ કરવા પ્રેર્યા અને આમ તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાને ખુબ ગુસ્સે કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="1KI.15.31" />નાદાબના શાસન વખતના બીજા બનાવો અને બીજુ જે કાઇ તેણે કર્યુ હતું તે
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક ગ્રંથમાં લખેલું છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="1KI.15.32" />યહૂદાના રાજા આસા અને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા બાઅશા વચ્ચે સતત સંઘર્ષ ચાલ્યા કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1KI.15.33" />યહૂદાના રાજા આસાના શાસનના ત્રીજા વર્ષ દરમ્યાન અહિયાનો પુત્ર બાઅશા ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બન્યો. બાઅશાએ તિર્સાહમાં ચોવીસ વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું,
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<v id="34" bcv="1KI.15.34" />યહોવાએ જેને અનિષ્ટ કહ્યું હતું તે જ તેણે કર્યું, અને તે યરોબઆમના ઉદાહરણને અનુસર્યો. તેના જેવા જ પાપ કર્યાં અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પાપના માંગેર્ દોર્યા.
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<c id="16" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.16.1" />તેના પછી યહોવાએ હનાનીના પુત્ર યેહૂને બાઅશા માંટે સંદેશો આપ્યો, તે સંદેશો આ હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.16.2" />“કે મેં તને સામાંન્ય માંણસમાંથી માંરા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોનો રાજા બનાવ્યો. પણ તું યરોબઆમને પગલે ચાલ્યો, તેં માંરા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસે એવાં પાપ કરાવ્યાં અને તેમના આ પાપોએ મને કોપાયમાંન બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.16.3" />હવે હું તારો અને તારા કુટુંબનો ઉચ્છેદ કરી નાખીશ, નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમના કુટુંબનાં મેં જે હાલ કર્યા હતા, તેવા તારા પણ કરીશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.16.4" />બાઅશાના કુટુંબના જે કોઈ નગરમાં મુત્યુ પામશે તેમને કૂતરાં ખાઈ જશે, અને જેઓ વગડામાં મૃત્યુ પામશે તેમને પંખીઓ ખાઈ જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1KI.16.5" />બાઅશાનાઁ શાસનના બીજા બનાવો, અને તેનાં કાર્યો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામનાં ગ્રંથમાં લખેલ છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.16.6" />પછી બાઅશા પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેને તિર્સાહમાં તેના પિતૃઓ સાથે દફનાવ્યો. તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર એલાહ તેની ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.16.7" />હનાનીના પુત્ર યેહૂ પ્રબોધક, યહોવા તરફથી બાઅશા અને તેના કુટુંબ માંટે એક સંદેશો લાવ્યો. એનું કારણ એ કે, બાઅશાએ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કરીને યહોવાનો રોષ વહોરી લીધો હતો; તેણે યરોબઆમના કુટુંબના જેવું આચરણ કર્યું હતું, તેથી યહોવા તેના કુળનો પણ નાશ કરશે.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા એલાહ
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1KI.16.8" />યહૂદાના રાજા આસાના શાસનના છવ્વીસમાં વષેર્ જ્યારે બાઅશાનો પુત્ર એલાહ તિર્સાહમાં રાજા થયો અને તેણે બે વર્ષ રાજય કર્યુ,
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1KI.16.9" />તેના એક અમલદાર, અડધી રથસેનાના નાયક ઝિમ્રીએ તેની વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કર્યું. તિર્સાહમાં રાજાએ કેફી પીણું પીધું અને આર્સાના ઘરમાં ભાન ભૂલી ગયો. જે આર્સા તિર્સાહના મહેલમાં ઉપરી હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="1KI.16.10" />ઝિમ્રી ત્યાં આવ્યો અને એલાહને ત્યાં માંરી નાખ્યો અને પછી રાજા બન્યો. આ યહૂદાના રાજા આસાના અમલના સત્તાવીસમાં વર્ષ દરમ્યાન બન્યું.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા ઝિમ્રી
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1KI.16.11" />તે જેવો ગાદીએ આવ્યો કે તરત જ તેણે આસાના સમગ્ર પરિવારને રહેંસી નાખ્યું. તેણે તેના કુટુંબમાંથી તેના ખૂબ દૂરના સગાસંબધી કે મિત્રોનાં એકેય માંણસને તેણે જીવતા રહેવા દીધા નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.16.12" />ઝિમ્રી દ્વારા બાઅશાનાઁ કુળના સભ્યોનો સંહાર થયો, જેની પ્રબોધક યેહૂએ ભવિષ્યવાણી કરી હતી અને આમ યહોવાના વચન સાચાં પડ્યાં.
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.16.13" />બાઅશા અને તેના પુત્ર એલાહનાંઁ પોતાના જ અનિષ્ટ કૃત્યો અને દુષ્ટ કમોર્ને લીધે તેઓનો સંહાર થયો. કેમકે તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરવામાં દોરી ગયા અને ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવને સખત ક્રોધાયમાંન કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1KI.16.14" />એલાહનાઁ શાસનના બીજા બધાં બનાવો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક ગ્રંથમાં લખેલ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.16.15" />યહૂદાના રાજા આસાના અમલના સત્તાવીસમેં વષેર્ ઝિમ્રીએ તિર્સાહમાં સાત દિવસ રાજ્ય કર્યુ. તે વખતે ઇસ્રાએલી સૈન્યે ગિબ્બથોનના પલિસ્તીઓના શહેર પાસે પડાવ નાખ્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.16.16" />જ્યારે સેનાને ખબર પડી કે ઝિમ્રીએ રાજા વિરુદ્ધ કાવતરું કરી, તેનું ખૂન કર્યુ છે. ત્યારે તેઓએ સેનાપતિ ઓમ્રીને નવા રાજા તરીકે જાહેર કર્યો.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.16.17" />ઓમ્રીએ અને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સેનાએ ગિબ્બથોન છોડીને તિર્સાહને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો.
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.16.18" />જયારે ઝિમ્રીએ જોયું કે શહેર દુશ્મનને હાથ ગયું છે, એટલે તેણે રાજમહેલમાં જઈને આખા મહેલને આગ લગાડી અને તે મરી ગયો.
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<v id="19" bcv="1KI.16.19" />યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કરી તેણે જે પાપ કર્યું હતું તથા તેણે આચરેલા દુષ્કૃત્યોનું આ ફળ હતું. તે યરોબઆમને પગલે ચાલ્યો હતો. તેણે યરોબઆમની જેમ પાપ કર્યુ હતું, અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસે પણ પાપ કરાવ્યું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1KI.16.20" />ઝિમ્રીના શાસનના બીજા બનાવો અને તેણે કરેલા બળવાની વાત
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં નોંધાયેલી છે.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા ઓમ્રી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1KI.16.21" />ત્યારબાદ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોમાં બે પક્ષો પડી ગયા. એક પક્ષ ગિનાથના પુત્ર તિબ્નીને ટેકો આપતો હતો અને તેને રાજા બનાવવા માંગતો હતો અને બીજો ઓમ્રીને ટેકો આપતો હતો.
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<v id="22" bcv="1KI.16.22" />જે લોકો ઓમ્રીને ટેકો આપતા હતા, તેઓ વધુ બળવાન હતાં. તિબ્નીને માંરી નાખવામાં આવ્યો અને ઓમ્રીનો વિજય થયો, તેથી તેણે કોઈના વિરોધ વિના રાજ કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.16.23" />જ્યારે આસા યહૂદાના રાજા તરીકે 31 વર્ષ રહ્યો. ઓમ્રી ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બન્યો, અને તેણે 12 વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યું. એમાંથી તેણે છ વર્ષ તિર્સાહમાં રાજય કર્યું,
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.16.24" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે શેમેર નામની વ્યકિત પાસેથી સમરૂનની ટેકરી સમરૂન પર્વત લગભગ 68 કિલો ચાંદી આપીને ખરીદી લીધી અને તેના પર તેણે શહેર બંધાવ્યું અને શેમેરના નામ પરથી તેનું નામ સમરૂન પાડયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1KI.16.25" />ઓમ્રીએ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યું; દુષ્ટતામાં તે પોતાના બધા પૂર્વજો કરતાં વધી ગયો.
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<v id="26" bcv="1KI.16.26" />તેણે નબાટના પુ્ત્ર યરોબઆમને માંગેર્ ચાલી, યરોબઆમની જેમ પોતે પાપ કર્યા અને ઇસ્રાએલ પાસે પણ પાપ કરાવ્યાં તથા મૂર્તિની પૂજા કરીને, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાને કોપાયમાંન કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1KI.16.27" />ઓમ્રીના શાસનના બીજા બનાવો અને તેનાં વિજયો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલીઓના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક ગ્રંથમાં નોંધેલાં છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.16.28" />પછી ઓમ્રી પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેને સમરૂનમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર આહાબ ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા આહાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1KI.16.29" />યહૂદાના રાજા આસાના અમલમાં આડત્રીસમે વષેર્ ઓમ્રીનો પુત્ર આહાબ ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બન્યો; અને તેણે સમરૂનમાં 22 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું.
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<v id="30" bcv="1KI.16.30" />ઓમ્રીના પુત્ર આહાબે યહોવાની નજરે અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ. અને પોતાના બધા પૂર્વજો કરતાં પણ તે વધારે ખરાબ નીવડયો.
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<v id="31" bcv="1KI.16.31" />તેને માંટે નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમના પગલે ચાલવું એ પૂરતું ન હતું. તેથી તેણે ઇઝેબેલ સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા જે સિદોનના રાજા એથ્બઆલની પુત્રી હતી, અને બઆલ દેવની પૂજા કરી હતી.
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<v id="32" bcv="1KI.16.32" />તેણે સમરૂનમાં બઆલ દેવની પૂજા માંટે એક મંદિર બંધાવી તેમાં એક વેદી ચણાવી.
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<v id="33" bcv="1KI.16.33" />આહાબે અશેરાહ દેવીની પણ એક મૂર્તિ ઊભી કરી, અને બીજાં પાપો પણ કર્યા, પરિણામે તેણે તેની સામે બીજા ઇસ્રાએલી રાજાઓ કરતાં પણ વધુ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાનો કોપ વહોરી લીધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="1KI.16.34" />તેના સમય દરમ્યાન બેથેલના હીએલે યરીખો નગર ફરી બંધાવ્યું, તેણે જ્યારે તેનો પાયો નાખ્યો ત્યારે તેનો સૌથી મોટો પુત્ર અબીરામ મરી ગયો, અને પોતાનો સૌથી નાનો પુત્ર સગૂબ જ્યારે તેના દરવાજાઓ ઊભા કર્યા ત્યારે મરી ગયો. નૂનના પુત્ર યહોશુઆના શબ્દો, કે જે યહોવાની ભવિષ્યવાણી હતી, આ રીતે સાચી પડી.
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<c id="17" />
<s style="s">એલિયાની દુષ્કાળ અંગેની આગાહી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.17.1" />એલિયા ગિલયાદના તિશ્બેનો હતો, તેણે આહાબને કહ્યું કે, “ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા જેની સંમુખ ઊભો રહું છું તેનો હું સેવક છું, અને હું માંરા જીવના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે હવેનાં વષોર્માં હું કહું નહિ ત્યાં સુધી ઝાકળ કે વરસાદ પડવાના નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1KI.17.2" />ત્યારબાદ તેને યહોવા તરફથી આ સંદેશો મળ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.17.3" />“આ જગ્યા છોડીને તું પૂર્વ તરફ જા, યર્દન નદીની બાજુમાં કરીથના વહેળા પાસે સંતાઈ જા.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.17.4" />ઝરણાનું પાણી પીજે, અને મેં કાગડાઓને આજ્ઞા કરી છે કે તે તને ત્યાં ખવડાવે.”
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.17.5" />તેણે યહોવાનાં કહ્યાં પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ. તે યર્દન નદીની બાજુમાં આવેલ કરીથના વહેળા પાસે ગયો.
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.17.6" />કાગડાઓ સવાર-સાંજ તેને રોટલી તથા માંસ લાવી આપતા, અને તે ઝરણામાંથી પાણી પીતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.17.7" />પણ થોડા સમય પછી, નાની નદીનું પાણી સુકાઈ ગયું કેમકે દેશમાં કોઈ સ્થળે વરસાદ વરસ્યો ન હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="1KI.17.8" />પછી યહોવાએ એલિયાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="9" bcv="1KI.17.9" />“તું ઊઠ, અને સિદોન નગરની પાસેના સારફત ગામમાં જઈને રહે, ત્યાં એક વિધવા સ્ત્રી રહે છે, તે તારું પોષણ કરશે, તે માંટે મેં તેને આજ્ઞા આપી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1KI.17.10" />આથી તે સારફત ચાલ્યો ગયો, જયારે તે ગામની ભાગોળે પહોંચ્યો ત્યારે, તેણે એક વિધવા સ્ત્રીને લાકડાં વીણતી જોઈ, તેણે તેનું અભિવાદન કર્યુ અને કહ્યું, “જરા મને કૂંજામાં થોડું પાણી પીવા લાવી આપોને.”
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<v id="11" bcv="1KI.17.11" />તે પાણી લેવા જતી હતી એટલામાં એલિયાએ તેને બૂમ પાડીને કહ્યું, “માંરે માંટે ટૂકડો રોટલીનો પણ લાવજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1KI.17.12" />પણ તે વિધવા બોલી, “તમાંરા દેવ યહોવાના સમ માંરી બરણીમાં મુઠ્ઠી લોટ અને કૂજામાં થોડું તેલ છે; એ સિવાય માંરી પાસે કશું ખાવાનું નથી. હું અહીં આ થોડા લાકડાં ભેગાં કરવા આવી છું, જેથી જઈને મરતાં પહેલાં માંરે માંટે ને માંરા પુત્રના છેલ્લા ભોજન માંટે કંઈ રાંધી શકું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1KI.17.13" />એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “ગભરાઈશ નહિ, જા ને હું કહું છું એ પ્રમાંણે કર. પહેલાં માંરા માંટે એક નાની રોટલી બનાવજે, પછી એક તારા માંટે બનાવ, અને ત્યાર પછી એક તારા પુત્ર માંટે બનાવ.
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<v id="14" bcv="1KI.17.14" />કારણ, ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવનાં વચન છે કે, ‘યહોવા ભૂમિ પર વરસાદ ન મોકલે, ત્યાં સુધી બરણી માંનો લોટ અને તેલનો કૂંજો કદી ખાલી થશે નહિ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.17.15" />આથી તેણે જઈને એલિયાના કહેવા મુજબ કર્યુ; અને લાંબા સમય સુધી એલિયાને, તે સ્રીને અને તેના કુટુંબને ખાવાનું મળતું રહ્યું.
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.17.16" />એલિયા માંરફતે યહોવાએ જે ભવિષ્યવાણી કરી હતી તે સાચી પડી અને તે પ્રમાંણે લોટની બરણી અને તેલનો કૂંજો કદી ખાલી થયા નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1KI.17.17" />ત્યારબાદ તે ઘરવાળી સ્રીનો પુત્ર માંદો પડયો, તેની માંદગી એટલી ભારે હતી કે તેનું મૃત્યુ થયું.
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.17.18" />ત્યારે તેણે એલિયાને કહ્યું, “ઓ યહોવાના માંણસ, તમે શા માંટે આવીને માંરા એ પાપ વિષે યાદ કરાવો છો? જેને લીધે માંરો પુત્ર મરી ગયો હતો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1KI.17.19" />એલિયાએ તેને કહ્યું, “તારા પુત્રને માંરી પાસે લાવ.” એમ કહીને એલિયાએ તેના ખોળામાંથી બાળકને લઈ લીધો અને પોતે રહેતો હતો તે માંળ ઉપરની ઓરડીમાં લઈ જઈ તેને પોતાની પથારીમાં નીચે મૂક્યો.
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.17.20" />પછી તેણે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરતાં કહ્યું, “ઓ માંરા યહોવા દેવ, હું જેને ત્યાં ઊતર્યો છું, તે વિધવાને તમાંરે સાચેજ નુકસાન પહોંચાડવું છે? એના પુત્રને તમે શા માંટે માંરી નાખ્યો?”
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.17.21" />તેણે પોતે બાળક તરફ ખેંચાઇને ત્રણ વખત લાંબા થઈને યહોવાને મોટેથી પ્રાર્થના કરી કે, “ઓ માંરા દેવ, આ બાળકને ફરી જીવતો કરી દે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1KI.17.22" />યહોવાએ તેનો પોકાર સાંભળ્યો. પેલા બાળકને ફરીથી જીવતો કર્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="1KI.17.23" />એલિયાએ તેને ઉપાડી લઈ ઘરના પરના માંળપરની ઓરડીમાંથી તેને તેની માંતા પાસે લઇ આવ્યો. તે બાળકને તેની માંતાને સુપ્રત કરીને તેણે કહ્યું, “જો, તારો પુત્ર તો જીવે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1KI.17.24" />તેથી તે સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “હવે હું ખાતરી પૂર્વક જાણું છું કે તમે દેવના માંણસ છો, અને તમે બોલો છો તે યહોવાનું વચન છે તે સત્ય છે.”
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<c id="18" />
<s style="s">એલિયા અને બઆલદેવના પ્રબોધકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.18.1" />ઘણા દિવસો પછી, દુકાળના ત્રીજે વષેર્ એલિયાને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઈ, “જા, આહાબ સમક્ષ હાજર થા, હવે હું આ ધરતી પર વરસાદ વરસાવવાનો છું.”
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.18.2" />આથી એલિયા આહાબને મળવા નીકળી પડયો, તે સમયે સમરૂનમાં દુકાળ ઘણો વિષમ હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1KI.18.3" />આ સમયે ઓબાદ્યા નામનો એક માંણસ જે યહોવાનો ખૂબ વફાદાર હતો અને મહેલનો વ્યવસ્થાપક પણ હતો તેને આહાબે બોલાવડાવ્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.18.4" />જયારે રાણી ઇઝેબેલ યહોવાના પ્રબોધકોને માંરી નાખતી હતી, ત્યારે તેણે એકસો પ્રબોધકોને આશ્રય આપ્યો, અને દરેક ગુફામાં 50 પ્રબોધકો એમ બે ગુફામાં તેઓને સંતાડ્યાં, અને તેમને અનાજપાણી પૂરાં પાડયાં હતાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.18.5" />આહાબે ઓબાદ્યાને જણાવ્યું, “ચાલ, આપણે બંને આખા દેશમાં ફરીને એકેએક ઝરણું અને એકેએક નદી જોઈ વળીએ. જો આપણને પૂરતું ઘાસ મળી જાય તો આપણા ઘોડાઓ અને ખચ્ચરોને થોડાં સમય માંટે જીવતાં રાખી શકીએ, નહિ તો આપણે તેમની હત્યા કરવી પડશે.”
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.18.6" />તેમણે દેશ વહેંચી લીધો, આહાબ એકલો એક બાજુ ગયો અને ઓબાદ્યા એકલો બીજી બાજુ ગયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="1KI.18.7" />ઓબાદ્યા પોતાને માંગેર્ જતો હતો ત્યારે, ત્યાં એને એલિયા મળ્યો, ઓબાદ્યાએ તેને ઓળખ્યો એટલે તેને સાષ્ટાંગ પ્રણામ કરી કહ્યું, “આપ જ માંરા માંલિક એલિયા ને?”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1KI.18.8" />એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “હા, જા અને તારા ધણીને (આહાબ) કહે કે એલિયા અહીં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1KI.18.9" />ઓબાદ્યાએ કહ્યું, “મેં તમાંરા સેવકે, એવું શું અનિષ્ટ કર્યું છે કે જે તમાંરે મને આહાબ પાસે મોકલવો જોઇએ. તે મને માંરી નાખશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="1KI.18.10" />જેટલી ખાત્રી યહોવા તમાંરા દેવની હાજરીની છે તેટલી જ ખાત્રીથી હું કહું છું કે, આ પૃથ્વી પર એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી એવા કોઈ રાજય કે પ્રજા બાકી નથી, જયાં રાજાએ તમાંરી શોધ કરી ના હોય, અને દેશના રાજાએ જયારે બધાંને પૂછયું અને તેઓ બધાં કહેતા કે ‘એલિયા’ અહીં નથી ત્યારે એ કથન સાચું છે એવું પૂરવાર કરવા રાજા તેની પાસે વચન લેવડાવતો હતો.
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<v id="11" bcv="1KI.18.11" />અને હવે તમે કહો છો જા તારા ધણી (આહાબ) ને જઇને કહે કે એલિયા અહીંયા છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.18.12" />એટલે એવું થશે કે હું આપની પાસેથી જઈને આહાબને કહીશ, અને યહોવાનો આત્માં તમને દૂર લઇ જશે અને મને ખબર પણ નહિ પડે તમે ક્યાં છો અને જ્યારે રાજા તમને જોવા નહિ પામે, તો તે મને માંરી નાખશે. હું તમાંરો સેવક નાનપણથી યહોવાને અનુસરૂં છું તેમ છતાં પણ તમે જાણતા નથી કે,
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.18.13" />જયારે ઈઝેબેલ યહોવાના પ્રબોધકોને માંરી નાખતી હતી ત્યારે મેં યહોવાના પ્રબોધકોને બે ગુફામાં છૂપાવ્યાં હતાં. દરેક ગુફામાં 50 માંણસો, અને તેમને અનાજ-પાણી પણ પૂરાં પાડયાં હતાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="1KI.18.14" />અને અત્યારે આપ મને કહો છો કે, જા, તારા ધણી (આહાબ) ને કહે કે એલિયા અહીં છે! તે જરૂર મને માંરી નાખશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.18.15" />એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “જેટલી ખાત્રી મને સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા જેની હું સેવા કરું છું તેમાં છે તેટલી જ ખાત્રીથી હું તમને વચન આપું છું કે, આજે આહાબ સમક્ષ માંરી જાતને છતી કરી દઇશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1KI.18.16" />તેથી ઓબાદ્યા આહાબને શોધવા ગયો અને તેણે તેને સમાંચાર આપ્યા; એટલે આહાબ એલિયાને મળવા ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1KI.18.17" />જ્યારે આહાબે એલિયાને જોયો ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, “તું એ જ વ્યકિત છે જે ઇસ્રાએલ માંટે સમસ્યા ઊભી કરી રહ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1KI.18.18" />એલિયાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “મેં નહિ, પણ તેં જ આ વિપત્તિ તારી ભૂમિ પર નોતરી છે, કારણ કે તેં અને તારા પરિવારના સભ્યોએ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનો અનાદર કરીને બઆલની પૂજા કરી છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1KI.18.19" />પરંતુ બઆલના 450 પ્રબોધકો અને અશેરાહના 400 પ્રબોધકો છે જેઓને ઇઝેબેલનો ટેકો છે. તેઓને કામેર્લ પર્વત પર ભેગા કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1KI.18.20" />તેથી આહાબે કામેર્લ પર્વત પર બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ભેગા કર્યા, અને પ્રબોધકોને પણ ભેગા કર્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.18.21" />એલિયાએ આગળ આવીને લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે કેટલો વખત અને ક્યાં સુધી તમે બે અભિપ્રાયની વચ્ચે ફર્યા કરશો? જો યહોવા દેવ હોય, તો તેની પૂજા કરો, જો બઆલ દેવ હોય તો તેની પૂજા કરો.”
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<p style="p">પણ કોઈ એક અક્ષરે બોલ્યું નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="1KI.18.22" />પછી એલિયાએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “યહોવાના બધાં પ્રબોધકોમાંથી એક હું જ એકલો બાકી રહ્યો છું, જયારે બઆલના તો 450 પ્રબોધકો છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="1KI.18.23" />બે બળદો લઈ આવો, તેઓને એક બળદ પસંદ કરવા દો અને તેને વધેરીને બલિદાનના લાકડા પર મૂકો, પણ અગ્નિ ન પેટાવો, બીજા બળદને હું બલિદાન માંટે તૈયાર કરીને લાકડા પર મૂકું, પણ અગ્નિ નહિ પેટાવું.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.18.24" />તમાંરે તમાંરા દેવનું આહવાહન કરવું અને હું યહોવાને આહવાહન કરું. જે કોઇ દેવ અગ્નિને પેટાવી શકશે તે સાચા દેવ હશે.”
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<p style="p">બધા લોકો સંમત થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1KI.18.25" />પછી એલિયાએ બઆલના પ્રબોધકોને કહ્યું, “એક બળદ પસંદ કરો અને પહેલાં તમે ધરાવો, કારણ તમે સંખ્યામાં ઘણા છો, તમાંરા દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરો, પણ લાકડામાં આગ ન મૂકશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1KI.18.26" />તેથી તેઓએ તેના કહ્યા મુજબ કર્યું અને એક બળદ તૈયાર કર્યો, અને સવારથી તે બપોર સુધી બઆલનું નામ જપ્યા કર્યું, “તેઓ ઓ બઆલ, અમને જવાબ આપ.” એવા પોકારો કરતાં રહ્યાં, પણ ત્યાં કોઇ અવાજ ન હતો અને જવાબ ન હતો. તેઓએ વેદીની ગોળ ફરતે નૃત્ય પણ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1KI.18.27" />આમને આમ બપોર થઈ ગઇ એટલે એલિયાએ તેમની મશ્કરી કરવા માંડી, તે બોલ્યો, “હજી મોટા સાદે બૂમો પાડો, તેઓ દેવ છે; એ વિચારમાં ઊંડા ડૂબી ગયા હશે, અથવા કંઈ કામમાં ગૂંથાયા હશે કે, પ્રવાસે ગયા હશે, કદાચ ઊંઘી પણ ગયા હોય તો જગાડવા પડે ને?”
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<v id="28" bcv="1KI.18.28" />આથી તેઓ વધારે મોટે સાદે બૂમો પાડવા લાગ્યા અને તેમના રિવાજ મુજબ તરવાર અને ભાલા વડે પોતાના શરીર પર એવા ઘા કરવા લાગ્યા કે, લોહીના રેલા વહેવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="29" bcv="1KI.18.29" />બપોર વીતી ગઇ અને છેક સંધ્યાબલિનો સમય થયો ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ ધૂણતા રહ્યાં, અને તેઓના દેવને બોલાવતા રહ્યાં; પણ ત્યાં કંઈ અવાજ કે જવાબ ન મળ્યો, કારણકે કોઇ સાંભળતું નહોતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="1KI.18.30" />પછી એલિયાએ બધાં લોકોને કહ્યું, “અહીં આવો.” લોકો આવ્યા; અને તેની ગોળ ફરતા ભેગા થયા. યહોવાની વેદી જે તોડી નાખવામાં આવી હતી, તેને તેમણે સમી કરી.
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<v id="31" bcv="1KI.18.31" />યાકૂબ કે જેનું નામ યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલ રાખ્યું હતું, તેના પુત્રોનાં કુળસમૂહોની સંખ્યા અનુસાર તેણે બાર પથ્થર લીધા.
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<v id="32" bcv="1KI.18.32" />તે પથ્થરો વડે એલિયાએ એક વેદી બનાવી અને તેને યહોવાને અર્પણ કરી. તેણે તે વેદીની ફરતે બે માંપ બી સમાંય તેવડી ખાઈ ખોદી.
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<v id="33" bcv="1KI.18.33" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે લાકડા પણ ગોઠવ્યાં. બળદના ટૂકડા કર્યા અને તેને લાકડાં પર ગોઠવ્યો.
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<v id="34" bcv="1KI.18.34" />પછી તેણે કહ્યું, “ચાર ઘડા ભરીને પાણી લાવીને અર્પણ રેડો અને લાકડાં પર છાંટો.” લોકોએ એ પ્રમાંણે કર્યું. તે બોલ્યો, “ફરી પાણી રેડો.” લોકોએ ફરી વાર પાણી રેડયું, તેણે કહ્યું, “ત્રીજી વાર પાણી રેડો.” અને લોકોએ ત્રીજીવાર પાણી રેડયું.
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<v id="35" bcv="1KI.18.35" />આથી પાણી વેદીની ચારે બાજુએ ફેલાઇ ગયું. અને પેલી ખાઈ સુદ્ધાં પાણીથી બધી બાજુ ભરાઈ ગઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="1KI.18.36" />સાંજે જ્યારે બલિનો સમય થયો તે સમયે પ્રબોધક એલિયા આગળ આવીને બોલ્યો, “ઓ ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક અને યાકૂબના યહોવા દેવ, આજે આ લોકોને ખબર પડવા દો કે, ઇસ્રાએલમાં તમે સાચા દેવ છો, અને હું તમાંરો સેવક છું, અને આ બધું હું તમાંરા હુકમથી કરું છે.
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<v id="37" bcv="1KI.18.37" />મને જવાબ આપો, ઓ યહોવા મને જવાબ આપો. જેથી આ લોકોને ખાતરી થાય કે, તમે જ યહોવા દેવ છો, અને તમે જ તેમનાં હૃદય પાછાં પોતાના તરફ વાળી લીધાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="1KI.18.38" />એટલામાં એકાએક આકાશમાંથી યહોવાનો અગ્નિ યજ્ઞમાં પડ્યો અને, દહનાર્પણ. લાકડાં, પથ્થર અને રેતીને બાળી નાખ્યા અને તેણે ખાડાના પાણી પણ સૂકવી નાખ્યાં!
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<v id="39" bcv="1KI.18.39" />લોકોએ આ જોયું ત્યારે તેઓ ભૂમિ પર પ્રણામ કરવા નમ્યાં, અને પોકાર કર્યો, “યહોવા એ જ દેવ છે! યહોવા એ જ દેવ છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="1KI.18.40" />એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “બઆલના પ્રબોધકોને પકડી લો, જોજો, એક પણ છટકી ન જાય.” લોકોએ તેમને પકડી લીધા અને એલિયા તેમને કીશોન નદીને કાંઠે લઇ ગયા અને તેઓ સર્વને ત્યાં માંરી નાખ્યાં.
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</p>
<s style="s">વરસાદનું પુનરાગમન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="1KI.18.41" />એલિયાએ આહાબને કહ્યું, “હવે પાછો જા, અન્નજળ લે, કારણ, મને મૂશળધાર વરસાદનો અવાજ સંભળાય છે.”
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<v id="42" bcv="1KI.18.42" />આહાબે જઈને અન્નજળ લીધાં અને એલિયા, કામેર્લ પર્વતની ટોચે સુધી ગયો, ત્યાં તે જમીન પર પડ્યો અને ઘૂંટણ વચ્ચે પોતાનું માંથું ઘાલી દીધું.
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<v id="43" bcv="1KI.18.43" />તેણે પોતાના નોકરને કહ્યું, “ઉપર જઈને દરિયા તરફ નજર કર.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે ઉપર જઈને નજર કરી, તે બોલ્યો, “ત્યાં કાંઈ નથી.” એલિયાએ તેને સાત વાર પાછો મોકલ્યો, અને તે સાત વાર પાછો ગયો.
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<v id="44" bcv="1KI.18.44" />સાતમી વખતે તે બોલ્યો, “માંણસના હાથના માંપનું નાનું વાદળું દરિયામાંથી પર ચઢે છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારે એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “હવે જઈને આહાબને કહે, રથ જોડીને ચાલ્યો જા, નહિ તો વરસાદ તેને રોકી રાખશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="1KI.18.45" />દરમ્યાન આકાશ વાદળથી કાળું થઈ ગયું, પવન જોરથી ફૂંકાવા લાગ્યો અને ધોધમાંર વરસાદ વરસ્યો. આહાબ રથમાં બેસી ગયો અને યિઝએલ જવા માંટે નીકળી પડ્યો.
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<v id="46" bcv="1KI.18.46" />એલિયામાં યહોવાની શકિતનો સંચાર થયો અને તે ઝભ્ભો ઊંચો ખોસીને આહાબના રથની આગળ આગળ ઠેઠ તે યિઝએલ પહોંચ્યો ત્યાં સુધી દોડતો ગયો.
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<c id="19" />
<s style="s">સિનાઇ પર્વત પર એલિયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.19.1" />એલિયાએ જે કંઈ કર્યું હતું તે, ને તેણે કેવી રીતે સઘળા પ્રબોધકોને તરવારથી માંરી નાખ્યા હતા, તે પણ આહાબે ઇઝેબેલને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.19.2" />પછી ઈઝેબેલે કાસદ મોકલી એલિયાને કહેવડાવ્યું કે, “તેં જેમ તે પ્રબોધકોના પ્રાણ લીધા છે તેમ હું તારા પ્રાણ આવતી કાલે રાત્રે બરાબર આવી જ રીતે આ સમય પહેલા હું તને માંરી નાખીશ. જો હું તેમ નહિ કરૂં તો, ભલે દેવ તેવું જ અને તેનાથી વધારે ખરાબ માંરા પ્રત્યે કરે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1KI.19.3" />તેથી એલિયા ડરી ગયો, ને જીવ બચાવવા યહૂદામાં આવેલા બેર-શેબા નગરમાં દોડી ગયો, પછી તેણે પોતાના નોકરને ત્યાં છોડી દીધો.
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.19.4" />અને તેણે એક આખો દિવસ મુસાફરી કરી, ત્યાં તે એક ઝાડ નીચે બેઠો અને પ્રાર્થના કરી કે પોતે મરી જાય, તેણે કહ્યું “યહોવા દેવ, માંરા પ્રાણ લઇ લો, હું માંરા પિતૃઓથી જરાય સારો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1KI.19.5" />પછી તે વૃક્ષ નીચે આડો પડયો અને ઊંઘી ગયો, તે ઊંઘતો હતો, ત્યારે એક દેવદૂતે તેને સ્પર્શ કરીને કહ્યું, “ઊઠ અને ખાઈ લે,”
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.19.6" />તેણે જોયું, તો તેના માંથા આગળ હૂંફાળો રોટલો અને પાણીનો કૂજો હાજર હતો, તે ખાઈ પીને પાછો સૂઈ ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.19.7" />યહોવાના દૂતે ફરી આવીને તેને બીજી વાર સ્પર્શ કરીને કહ્યું, “ઊઠ, ને ખાઈ લે, તારે લાંબો પંથ કાપવાનો છે.”
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<v id="8" bcv="1KI.19.8" />તેણે ઊઠીને ખાઈને પાણી પીધું અને તે ખોરાકને આધારે 40 દિવસ અને ચાળીસ રાતનો પંથ કાપીને તે યહોવાનો પર્વત જે હોરેબ પર્વત કહેવાય છે ત્યાં સુધી પહોંચી ગયો.
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<v id="9" bcv="1KI.19.9" />એક ગુફામાં દાખલ થઈને તેણે ત્યાં રાત વિતાવી, અચાનક તેને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઈ;
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<p style="p">તેમણે કહ્યું “એલિયા, તું અહીં શા માંટે આવ્યો છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1KI.19.10" />એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “હું સર્વસમર્થ દેવ યહોવાને સંપૂર્ણ રીતે સમપિર્ત છું, ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ તમાંરા કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે, તમાંરી વેદીનો નાશ કર્યો છે અને તમાંરા પ્રબોધકોને તરવારથી કાપી નાખ્યા છે. હું એકલો બાકી રહ્યો છું, અને હવે તેઓ માંરો જીવ લેવા ઈચ્છે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1KI.19.11" />યહોવાએ તેને જણાવ્યું, “બહાર જા અને પર્વત પર યહોવાની ઉપસ્થિતિમાં ઊભો રહે.” કારણ યહોવા ત્યાંથી પસાર થઇ રહ્યાં છે, પ્રચંડ પવન ફુંકાવા લાગ્યો, જે યહોવાની હાજરીમાં પર્વતને હલાવી શકે અને પથ્થરોને તોડી શકે એટલો શકિતશાળી હતો. પરંતુ યહોવા તે પવનમાં નહોતા. પવન પછી ભૂકંપ થયો, પરંતુ યહોવા કંઈ એ ભૂકંપમાં નહોતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.19.12" />ભૂકંપ પછી અગ્નિ ફાટી નીકળ્યો, પણ યહોવા એ અગ્નિમાં પણ નહોતા, અગ્નિ પછી ત્યાં સંપૂર્ણ શાંતિ હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1KI.19.13" />આ સાંભળતાં જ એલિયાએ પોતાના ઝભ્ભાથી મોં ઢાંકી દીધું અને બહાર નીકળીને તે ગુફાના બારણા આગળ ઊભો રહ્યો. ત્યાં એક અવાજ આવ્યો, “એલિયા, તું અહીં શા માંટે આવ્યો છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1KI.19.14" />તેણે ફરીથી જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું સંપૂર્ણરીતે સર્વસમર્થ દેવ યહોવાને અર્પણ થઇ ગયો છુ, ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ તમાંરો કરાર ફગાવી દીધો છે, તમાંરી વેદી તોડી પાડી છે, અને તમાંરા પ્રબોધકોને તરવારથી કાપી નાખ્યા છે, હું એકલો બાકી રહ્યો છું, અને હવે તેઓ માંરો જીવ લેવા માંગે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.19.15" />યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું, “તું પાછો ફર, અને દમસ્કના રણ વિસ્તારમાં જા, ત્યાં જઈને અરામના રાજા તરીકે હઝાએલનો અભિષેક કર.
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.19.16" />નિમ્શીના પુત્ર યેહૂનો ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કર, અને અબેલ-મહોલાહના શાફાટના પુત્ર એલિશાને તારા પછીના પ્રબોધક તરીકે નિયુકત કર,
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.19.17" />હઝાએલની તરવારથી જે કોઇ પણ છટકી ને ભાગી જશે યેહૂ તેને માંરી નાખશે, અને યેહૂની તરવારથી જે કોઇ પણ છટકીને ભાગી જશે તેને એલિશા માંરી નાખશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.19.18" />પરંતુ હજી પણ 7,000 એવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ છે, જેઓ કદી બઆલને નમ્યા નથી કે નથી તેને તેની મૂર્તિને ચુમ્યાં.”
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<s style="s">પ્રબોધક બનતો એલિશા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1KI.19.19" />એલિયા ત્યાંથી વિદાય થયો, અને તેણે શાફાટના પુત્ર એલિશાને ખેડ કરતો જોયો, તેની આગળ બાર જોડ બળદ હતા, અને તે પોતે છેલ્લી જોડ સાથે હતો; એલિયાએ ત્યાંથી પસાર થતાં પોતાનો ઝભ્ભો તેના પર નાખ્યો.
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.19.20" />એલિશા, બળદોને છોડીને એલિયાની પાછળ દોડયો અને કહેવા લાગ્યો, “માંરે માંરા પિતા અને માંતાને વિદાય વચન કહેવું છે, પછી હું તારી સાથે આવીશ.”
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<p style="p">એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “જા, અને પાછો આવ. હું તને રોકીશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1KI.19.21" />એટલે એલિશાએ પાછા ફરી શાંત્યર્પણ તરીકે બળદની જોડ લીધી અને માંસ રાંધી લોકોને વહેંચી દીધું અને ત્યાર પછી તે એલિયાને અનુસર્યો અને તેનો સેવક બની ગયો.
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<s style="s">બેનહદાદ અને આહાબ યુદ્ધ માંટે તૈયાર
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.20.1" />અરામના રાજા બેન-હદાદે પોતાનું બધું લશ્કર ભેગું કર્યું અને બત્રીસ રાજાઓને તથા ઘણા ઘોડાઓ અને ઘોડાના રથોને પોતાની સાથે લીધાં. તેણે સમરૂનને ઘેરી લઈ તેના પર હુમલો કર્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.20.2" />તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા આહાબને જે નગરમાં હતો તેને સંદેશવાહક મોકલ્યો,
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<v id="3" bcv="1KI.20.3" />“સંદેશો આ પ્રમાંણે હતો બેન-હદાદ કહે છે, ‘તારાં સોના ચાંદી માંરાં છે, તારી સ્રીઓ માંરી છે, તારા સંતાનો માંરાં છે, અને દરેક સારી વસ્તુ જે તારી પાસે છે તે માંરી છે!’”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1KI.20.4" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “જેવી આપની આજ્ઞા, માંરા ધણી, હું અને માંરી પાસે જે બધું છે તે સર્વસ્વ આપના જ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1KI.20.5" />સંદેશવાહકો પાછા આવ્યા અને કહ્યું “બેન-હદાદ કહે છે કે, ‘તમાંરું સોનું, ચાંદી, સ્રીઓ, અને સંતાનો મને આપી દો.
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<v id="6" bcv="1KI.20.6" />હવે આવતી કાલે આ વખતે હું માંરા અમલદારોને તારા ઘર અને તારા અમલદારોના ઘરોને તપાસવા મોકલીશ અને તેઓ તેમને જે કાંઈ ગમશે તે બધું તેઓ ઝૂંટવી લેશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.20.7" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ દેશના બધા વડીલોને તથા પ્રદેશના અગ્રણીઓને તેડાવી મંગાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “જોયું ને! આ માંણસ મને મુશ્કેલીમાં મૂકી રહ્યો છે! એણે માંરી પાસે માંરી સ્રીઓ, બાળકો, સોનું અને ચાંદી માંગ્યાં અને મેં ના નહોતી પાડી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1KI.20.8" />બધા જ વડીલો-અગ્રણીઓ અને લોકો-સેનાએ સલાહ આપી, “તારે તેના કહેવા પર ધ્યાન આપવું નહિ અને તેની માંગણી પૂરી કરવી નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1KI.20.9" />તેથી આહાબે બેન-હદાદના સંદેશવાહકોને જણાવ્યું, “માંરા ધણી માંરા રાજાને કહેજો કે, પહેલી વારની માંગણી પ્રમાંણેનું હું બધું જ આપીશ.”
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<p style="p">પણ હું તમાંરી બીજી માંગણી સાથે સહમત થતો નથી પછી સંદેશવાહકો બેન-હદાદ પાસે પાછા ગયા.
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<v id="10" bcv="1KI.20.10" />ત્યાર બાદ બેન-હદાદે તેને એવો સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “સમરૂનનો હું એવો સંપૂર્ણપણે નાશ કરીશ કે માંરા સેનાના દરેક માંણસ માંટે ભેગી કરવા એક મુઠ્ઠી ધૂળ પણ નહિ મળે. જો હું આમ નહિ કરું તો, કદાચ મને દેવતાઓ ખૂબ નુકસાન પહોચાડે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1KI.20.11" />પણ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ જવાબ મોકલ્યો કે, “યુદ્ધ પૂરુ થયા પહેલા તેના પરિણામની બડાશ કરો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1KI.20.12" />જયારે બેન-હદાદને આ સંદેશો મળ્યો ત્યારે તે બીજા રાજાઓ સાથે સુકોથમાં દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતો હતો, તેણે પોતાના માંણસોને કહ્યું, “જાવ અને શહેર પર હુમલો કરો.” અને તેમણે તે પ્રમાંણે કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1KI.20.13" />એટલામાં પ્રબોધકોમાંનો એક ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા આહાબની પાસે આવ્યો અને બોલ્યો, “આ યહોવાની વાણી છે; ‘તેં આ મોટી સેના જોઈ? આજે હું તમને તેઓ પર જીત અપાવીશ, અંતમાં તને ખબર પડશે કે, હું યહોવા છું.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1KI.20.14" />આહાબે પૂછયું, “કોની માંરફતે?”
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<p style="p">પ્રબોધકે કહ્યું, “આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે: ‘જેઓ પ્રાંતના આગેવાનોની સેવા કરે છે તે યુવાનો માંરફતે.’”
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<p style="p">આહાબે પૂછયું, “યુદ્ધ કોણ શરૂ કરશે?” પ્રબોધકે કહ્યું, “તું”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.20.15" />પછી આહાબે યુવાનો કે જે પ્રાંતના આગેવાનોની સેવા કરતા હતા તેમને ભેગા કર્યા, તેઓ 232 જણા હતા, પછી આહાબે આખી ઇસ્રાએલી સેનાને હાજર થવા કહ્યું, બધાં મળીને ત્યાં 7,000 સૈનિકો હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1KI.20.16" />તેઓએ ખરે બપોરે કૂચ કરી ત્યારે બેન-હદાદ તેના તંબૂમાં તેના 32 રાજાઓ સાથે જેઓએ તેની સાથે જોડાણ કર્યુ હતું તેમની સાથે દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવામાં ચકચૂર હતો.
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<v id="17" bcv="1KI.20.17" />યુવાનો જેમણે ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રાંતના આગેવાનોની સેવા કરી હતી તેઓ રસ્તાની આગળ હતા. બેન-હદાદને ખબર આપવામાં આવી કે, “કેટલાક માંણસો સમરૂનમાંથી: આવ્યા છે.”
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.20.18" />તેણે કહ્યું “તેઓ શરણે થવા આવ્યા હોય કે લડવા આવ્યા હોય, તેઓને જીવતા પકડી લો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1KI.20.19" />પરંતુ યુવાનો જે ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રાંતના આગેવાનોની સેવા કરતા હતા, તેઓ નગરમાંથી પાછા ફરી ગયાં હતાં. અને સેના તેની પાછળ હતી.
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.20.20" />પ્રત્યેકે પોતાના સામાંવાળાને માંરી નાખ્યો. અરામીઓ ભાગવા લાગ્યા અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેમનો પીછો પકડયો. અરામનો રાજા બેન-હદાદ કેટલાક ઘોડેસ્વારો સાથે ઘોડા પર છટકી ગયો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.20.21" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલીઓના રાજાએ બહાર આવીને ઘોડાઓ અને રથો કબજે કર્યા, અને અરામીઓને સખત હાર આપી.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1KI.20.22" />પછી પ્રબોધકે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા પાસે જઈને કંહ્યું, “તું તારું બળ વધારજે, અને સાવધ રહેજે, અને જે કંઈ કરે તે વિચારીને કરજે, કારણ, આવતે વરસે વસંતના સમયે અરામનો રાજા તારા પર હુમલો કરશે.”
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<s style="s">ફરી આક્રમણ કરતું બેન-હદાદ
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.20.23" />તેના પરાજય પછી બેન-હદાદના લશ્કરના વડાઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ તો પર્વતોના દેવ છે, તેથી તેઓ જીતી ગયા છે. સપાટ મેદાનોમાં યુદ્ધ થાય તો પછી આપણે જીતી શકીએ.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.20.24" />તે સમયે તમાંરે આટલું કરવું જોઈએ, આ બધા રાજાઓને તેના હોદૃાઓ પરથી હટાવી દો અને તેના બદલે પ્રશાસકની નિંમણૂંક કરો.
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<v id="25" bcv="1KI.20.25" />તમે જે લશ્કર ગુમાંવ્યું છે તેવું બીજું ઊભું કરો, પહેલાના જેટલાં ઘોડા અને રથો તૈયાર કરો, એ પછી જો આપણે તેમની સાથે સપાટ મેદાનમાં લડીશું, તો જરૂર આપણે તેમને હરાવીશું.” બેન-હદાદે તેમની સલાહ માંની અને તે પ્રમાંણે જ કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1KI.20.26" />બીજે વષેર્ વસંતના સમયે તેણે અરામીઓનું લશ્કર ભેગું કરીને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાથે લડવા અફેક પર કૂચ કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1KI.20.27" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પણ લડવા ભેગા થયા. તેઓએ બખ્તર અને બીજા હથિયારો સાથે લીધાં અને અરામીઓનો સામનો કરવા નીકળી પડયા અને તેમની સામે પડાવ નાખ્યો. ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તો બકરાનાં બે ટોળાં જેવાં લાગતા હતાં અને અરામીઓ તો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશમાં ફેલાઇ ગયા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1KI.20.28" />દેવના એક માંણસે આવીને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાને કહ્યું, “આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે; ‘અરામીઓ એવું માંને છે કે, યહોવા તો પર્વતોના દેવ છે. કાંઇ ખીણોના દેવ નથી, આથી હું તમને આ મહાન સૈન્ય તમાંરા હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરીશ, જેથી તમને ખાતરી થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1KI.20.29" />સાત દિવસ સુધી તેઓ સામસામે છાવણી નાખીને પડી રહ્યાં. સાતમાં દિવસ પછી યુદ્ધ શરૂ થયું અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ એક જ દિવસમાં ફોજના 1,00,000 અરામી પાયદળના સૈનિકોને કાપી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="30" bcv="1KI.20.30" />બીજા સૈનિકો અફેકના નગરમાં ભાગી ગયા પરંતુ તેઓ જેવા દાખલ થયા નગરની દીવાલ તૂટી ગઇ, જેમાં તેઓમાંનાં 27,000 માંર્યા ગયા. બેન-હદાદે ભાગી જઈને શહેરમાં એક અંદરના હિસ્સામાં આશ્રય લીધો હતો.
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<v id="31" bcv="1KI.20.31" />તેના અમલદારોએ તેને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, અમે સાંભળ્યુ છે, કે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓ દયાળુ હોય છે. આપણે શોકના વસ્રો પહેરીએ અને માંથા પર દોરડાં વીટીં ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા પાસે જઈએ, કદાચ તે આપણને માંફી અને જીવનદાન આપે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="1KI.20.32" />આથી તેઓએ શોકના વસ્રો પહેર્યા અને માંથા પર દોરડાં બાંધીને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા પાસે જઈને તેને કહ્યું, “આપના સેવક બેન-હદાદ કહેવડાવે છે, મહેરબાની કરીને મને જીવનદાન આપો.”
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<p style="p">તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “શું તે હજી જીવતો છે? તે તો માંરો ભાઈ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1KI.20.33" />બેન-હદાદના માંણસોએ આને શુભ શુકન માંની લઈ તરત જ તેના શબ્દો પકડી લઈ કહ્યું, “જી, બેન-હદાદ આપના ભાઈ છે.” આહાબે કહ્યું, “જાઓ, તેને લઈ આવો.”
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<p style="p">પછી બેન-હદાદ બહાર આવ્યો અને આહાબે તેને પોતાના રથમાં બેસાડ્યો.
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<v id="34" bcv="1KI.20.34" />બેન-હદાદે કહ્યું, “માંરા પિતાએ તમાંરા પિતા પાસેથી લઈ લીધેલાં શહેરો હું પાછાં આપીશ, અને માંરા પિતાએ જેમ સમરૂનમાં બજાર ખોલ્યાં હતાં તેમ તમે દમસ્કમાં ખોલજો.”
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<p style="p">આહાબે કહ્યું, “હું તમને આ શરતો પર જવા દઇશ.” આથી આહાબે તેની સાથે શાંતિકરાર કર્યા અને તેને મુકત કર્યો.
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<s style="s">આહાબ વિરૂદ્ધ બોલતો પ્રબોધક
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="1KI.20.35" />યહોવાની આજ્ઞાઓથી યુવાન પ્રબોધકોમાંથી એકે પોતાના એક સાથીને કહ્યું. “કૃપા કરીને મને માંર.” પણ પેલા માંણસે તેમ કરવાની ના પાડી,
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<v id="36" bcv="1KI.20.36" />એટલે તેણે તેને કહ્યું, તેં યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યુ છે, “તેથી તું માંરી પાસેથી જશે તે જ ક્ષણે એક સિંહ તને માંરી નાખશે.” અને તે માંણસ ગયો કે તરત જ તેને એક સિંહ મળ્યો અને તેણે તેને માંરી નાખ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="1KI.20.37" />ત્યાર બાદ પેલા યુવાન પ્રબોધક બીજા માંણસને મળ્યો અને તેને કહ્યું, “કૃપા કરીને મને માંર.”
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<p style="p">અને તે માંણસે તેને માંર્યો અને ઘાયલ કર્યો.
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<v id="38" bcv="1KI.20.38" />પછી તે પ્રબોધક ત્યાંથી ચાલ્યો ગયો અને આંખો પર પાટો બાંધ્યો પોતાની જાતને છુપાવી દીધી અને રસ્તા પર જઈને રાજાના આવવાની રાહ જોતો બેઠો.
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<v id="39" bcv="1KI.20.39" />જ્યારે રાજા ત્યાંથી પસાર થયો એટલે તેણે તેને બૂમ પાડીને કહ્યું, “હું યુદ્ધની વચ્ચોવચ્ચ જતો હતો એવામાં એક યોદ્ધાએ એક કેદીને લઈને માંરી પાસે આવીને કહ્યું, ‘આ માંણસને સંભાળ, એ જો ભાગી ગયો તો એને બદલે તારે તારો જીવ આપવો પડશે અથવા 34 કિલો ચાંદી આપવી પડશે.’
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<v id="40" bcv="1KI.20.40" />પણ હું કોઈને કોઈ કામમાં રોકાયેલો હતો, એવામાં તે અદૃશ્ય થઈ ગયો.”
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<p style="p">ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ કહ્યું, “તને એ જ સજા થવી જોઈએ. તેં જાતે જ ફેંસલો આપ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="1KI.20.41" />તરત જ યુવાન પ્રબોધકે આંખ પર બાંધેલો પાટો છોડી નાખ્યો અને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ તેને ઓળખી કાઢયો કે, આ તો પ્રબોધક છે.
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<v id="42" bcv="1KI.20.42" />તેણે રાજાને કહ્યું, “આ યહોવાના વચન છે, ‘મેં તને બેનહદાદ પર વિજય અપાવ્યો જેથી તું તેને માંરી નાખે, પણ તેં તેને જીવતો છોડ્યો. તેથી તે માંણસના બદલામાં તું મરી જશે અને તારા સૈનિકો મરી જશે તેના સૈનિકોના બદલે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="1KI.20.43" />ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા ઉદાસ અને ગુસ્સે થઈને ઘેર જવા નીકળ્યો અને સમરૂન આવી પહોંચ્યો.
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<s style="s">નાબોથની દ્રાક્ષાવાડી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.21.1" />ત્યારબાદ એવું બન્યું કે, નાબોથ નામના માંણસ પાસે દ્રાક્ષની વાડી હતી, નાબોથ યિઝએલનો હતો અને તેની દ્રાક્ષવાડી યિઝએલમાં હતી, સમરૂનના રાજા આહાબના ઘર પાસે.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.21.2" />આહાબે નાબોથને કહ્યું, “તારો દ્રાક્ષનો બગીચો માંરા મહેલને અડીને આવેલો છે, તું મને વાડી બનાવવા માંટે તે આપી દે, એના બદલામાં હું તને એના કરતાં સારો દ્રાક્ષનો બગીચો આપીશ; અથવા તું ઇચ્છે તો તેની બદલે હું તને ચાંદીમાં ચૂકવણી કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1KI.21.3" />પણ નાબોથે જવાબ આપ્યો, “માંરા પૂર્વજોની જમીન હું તમને આપું તે માંટે યહોવાનો નિષેધ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1KI.21.4" />યિઝએલી નાબોથનો જવાબ સાંભળી આહાબ ધૂંવાપૂંવા થઈને ઘેર પાછો ફર્યો, તે દીવાલ તરફ મોં ફેરવીને પથારીમાં સૂઈ ગયો, અને ખાવાનો ઇન્કાર કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1KI.21.5" />તેની પત્ની ઇઝેબેલે તેની પાસે આવીને કહ્યું, “તમે આટલા બધા ઉદાસ કેમ છો? અને તમે ખાવાની ના કેમ પાડો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1KI.21.6" />તેણે કહ્યું, “યિઝએલીના નાબોથ સાથે માંરે વાત થઈ. મેં કહ્યું, તું તારી દ્રાક્ષની વાડી મને આપ. હું તને ચાંદી આપીશ, જો તે ઇચ્છે તો અથવા; તો એના બદલામાં બીજો બગીચો અપાવીશ. પણ તેણે કહ્યું, હું માંરી દ્રાક્ષવાડી તમને નહિ આપુ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.21.7" />ત્યારે તેની પત્ની ઈઝેબેલે કહ્યું, “તમે તે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા છો કે કોણ છો? ચાલો, ઊઠો, ખાઈ લો, એટલે સારું લાગશે. યિઝએલીના નાબોથની દ્રાક્ષાવાડી હું તમને અપાવીશ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1KI.21.8" />પછી આહાબને નામે પત્રો ઈઝેબેલે લખ્યા, તે પર મહોર છાપીને બંધ કર્યા અને નાબોથ રહેતો હતો તે યિઝયેલ નગરના વડીલો અને આગેવાનોને એ પત્રો તેણે મોકલી આપ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1KI.21.9" />તેણીએ પત્રમાં લખ્યું કે,
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“ઉપવાસ કરવાનું શરૂ કરો અને નાબોથને બધા લોકોની સામે બેસાડો.
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<v id="10" bcv="1KI.21.10" />સભાની આગળમાં બે બદમાંશોને પણ બેસાડો અને તેમની પાસે કહેવડાવો કે નાબોથે યહોવાને અને રાજાને શ્રાપ આપ્યો છે. તો તેને બહાર લઇ જાવ અને તેના પર પથ્થરો ફેંકીને તેને માંરી નાખો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1KI.21.11" />વડીલો અને આગેવાનોએ તથા જાણીતા માંણસોએ ઇઝેબેલે, પત્રમાં લખી મોકલેલા હુકમ પ્રમાંણે કર્યુ.
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.21.12" />તેમણે ઉપવાસ જાહેર કર્યો, અને નાબોથને લોકોની સામે બેસાડયો.
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<v id="13" bcv="1KI.21.13" />અને પેલા બે બદમાંશો આવીને તેની સામે બેઠા અને તેના વિષે લોકો સમક્ષ જુબાની આપી અને કહ્યું તેણે (નાબોથ) દેવને અને રાજાને શ્રાપ આપીને ખોટું કર્યુ છે. પછી તેઓ તેને શહેરની બહાર લઈ ગયા અને પથ્થરો ફેકીને માંરી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="1KI.21.14" />તેમણે ઇઝેબેલને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “નાબોથને પથ્થરો ફેકીને માંરી નાખવામાં આવ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.21.15" />જયારે ઈઝેબેલને ખબર પડી કે, નાબોથ પર પથ્થરો ફેકીને માંરી નાખવામાં આવ્યો છે ત્યારે તેણે આહાબને કહ્યું, “ઊઠો, અને યિઝએલના નાબોથે જે દ્રાક્ષનીવાડી તમને વેંચવાનો ઇન્કાર કર્યો હતો તેનો કબજો લઈ લો; કારણ નાબોથ હવે જીવતો નથી, મરી ગયો છે.”
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<v id="16" bcv="1KI.21.16" />જયારે આહાબે સાંભળ્યું કે, યિઝએલનો નાબોથ મરી ગયો છે, ત્યારે તે ઊઠીને દ્રાક્ષના બગીચાનો કબજો લેવા ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1KI.21.17" />ત્યારબાદ તિશ્બેના પ્રબોધક એલિયાને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઈ,
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<v id="18" bcv="1KI.21.18" />“ઊઠ, સમરૂનમાં વસતા ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા આહાબ પાસે પહોંચી જા. તે તને નાબોથની દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીમાં મળશે. તે ત્યાં દ્રાક્ષાવાડીનો કબજો લેવા ગયો છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1KI.21.19" />તારે તેને આ પ્રમાંણે કહેવું, આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે; ‘તેં તારા વેરીનું ખૂન તો કર્યુ છે અને હવે તું તેની મિલકત પચાવી પાડે છે? આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે: જયાં કૂતરાંઓએ નાબોથનું લોહી ચાટયું હતું ત્યાં જ કૂતરાંઓ તારું લોહી પણ ચાટશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1KI.21.20" />આહાબે એલિયાને કહ્યું, “ઓ માંરા દુશ્મન, તેં આખરે મને પકડી પાડયો!”
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<p style="p">એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “મેં તને પકડી પાડયો છે, કારણ, યહોવાની નજરમાં તેઁ ખોટું કર્યુ છેં.
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.21.21" />હવે યહોવા કહે છે, ‘હું તારે માંથે આફત ઊતારીશ, હું તારા કુટુંબનો નાશ કરીશ. ઇસ્રાએલમાંના તારા એકેએક વંશજને ધરતીના પડ પરથી નાશ કરીશ.
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<v id="22" bcv="1KI.21.22" />મેં નાબોથના પુત્ર યરોબઆમ અને અહિયાના પુત્ર બાઅશાના કુટુંબોનો નાશ કર્યો છે, હું તેવું જ તારા કુટુંબ સાથે કરીશ. કારણ તેઁ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પાસે પાપ કરાવ્યા છે અને તેં માંરો રોષ વહોરી લીધો છે.’
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<v id="23" bcv="1KI.21.23" />યહોવાએ ઈઝેબેલ વિષે પણ વાણી ઉચ્ચારી કે, ઇસ્રાએલના કૂતરાં ઈઝેબેલના શરીરને ‘યિઝએલના ખેતરોમાં ફાડી ખાશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="1KI.21.24" />આહાબનાં કુટુંબના જે માંણસો શહેરમાં મૃત્યુ પામશે તેમને કૂતરાં ખાઈ જશે. અને જેઓ વગડામાં મૃત્યુ પામશે તેને પંખીઓ ખાઈ જશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1KI.21.25" />આહાબ જેવું બીજું કોઈ નહોતું. દેવની દૃષ્ટિમાં જે પાપ હતું તે કરવા માંટે સંપૂર્ણ રીતે તે સમપિર્ત થઈ ગયો હતો, કેમકે તેની પત્ની ઈઝેબેલ સર્વ પ્રકારની દુષ્ટતા કરવા તેને ઉત્તેજન આપતી હતી.
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<v id="26" bcv="1KI.21.26" />જે રીતે અમોરીઓએ મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરી હતી તે રીતે આહાબે પણ કરી. જો કે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જમીન આપવા માંટે યહોવાએ અમોરીઓને હાંકી કાઢયાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1KI.21.27" />પ્રબોધકનાં વચનો સાંભળીને આહાબે પશ્ચાત્તાપથી કપડાં ફાડી નાખ્યાં. તેણે ઉપવાસ કર્યા અને શોકના કપડાં પહેર્યા, તેમાં સૂઇ ગયો અને ચૂપચાપ બધે ચાલતો રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1KI.21.28" />એ સમય દરમ્યાન એલિયા જે તિશ્બેનો હતો તેને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઈ,
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<v id="29" bcv="1KI.21.29" />“આહાબ માંરી સમક્ષ નમ્ર બની ગયો છે તે તેં જોયું? તે આમ નમ્ર બન્યો છે એટલે હું એ જીવશે ત્યાં સુધી એના કુટુંબ પર આફત નહિ ઊતારું, પણ જ્યારે તેનો પુત્ર રાજા બનશે ત્યારે ઊતારીશ.”
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<s style="s">મીખાયાની આહાબને ચેતવણી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1KI.22.1" />ત્રણ વર્ષ સુધી અરામીઓ અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વચ્ચે કોઈ લડાઈ થઈ નહિ.
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<v id="2" bcv="1KI.22.2" />પરંતુ ત્રીજે વષેર્ યહૂદાનો રાજા યહોશાફાટ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાને મળવા ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1KI.22.3" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ પોતાના અમલદારોને કહ્યું, “તમે જાણો છો કે અરામના રાજાએ હજી સુધી રામોથ-ગિલયાદને પોતાના કબજા હેઠળ રાખ્યું છે જે આજે પણ આપણાં છે અને આપણે હજી સુધી કશું કર્યા વગર શાંત બેસી રહ્યા છીએ.”
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<v id="4" bcv="1KI.22.4" />પછી યહોશાફાટ તરફ ફરીને તેણે કહ્યું, “તમે રામોથ-ગિલયાદ પર ચડાઈ કરવા માંરી સાથે આવશો?”
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<p style="p">યહોશાફાટે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “આપણે બે કંઈ જુદા નથી. માંરા સૈનિકો એ તમાંરા જ સૈનિકો છે. માંરા ઘોડા એ તમાંરા જ ઘોડા છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1KI.22.5" />પણ પહેલાં યહોવાને આ બાબતમાં તેમની શી ઇચ્છા છે, તે જાણવા પ્રશ્ર્ન કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1KI.22.6" />આથી ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ 400 પ્રબોધકોને બોલાવીને ભેગા કર્યા. અને તેમને પૂછયું, “માંરે રામોથ-ગિલયાદ પર હુમલો કરવો કે રાહ જોવી?”
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<p style="p">તેમણે કહ્યું, “હુમલો કરો, યહોવા તેને રાજાના હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1KI.22.7" />“પણ યહોશાફાટે પૂછયું, અહીં યહોવાનો બીજો કોઈ પ્રબોધક નથી, જેને આપણે આ પ્રશ્ર્ન પૂછી શકીએ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1KI.22.8" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “બીજો એક પ્રબોધક છે, જેના દ્વારા આપણે યહોવાને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરી શકીએ; પણ હું તેનો તિરસ્કાર કરું છે, કારણ તે કદી માંરે વિષે સારું ભવિષ્ય ભાખતો નથી. તે ફકત માંરું ખરાબ જ બોલે છે, તેનું નામ મીખાયા છે, ને તે યિમ્લાહનો પુત્ર છે.”
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<p style="p">તેથી યહોશાફાટે કહ્યું, “રાજા આહાબ, તમાંરે તેવી વાત ન કરવી જોઇએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1KI.22.9" />આથી ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ પોતાના એક અમલદારને બોલાવી કહ્યું, “મીખાયાને તાત્કાલિક બોલાવી લાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1KI.22.10" />ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા અને યહૂદાનો રાજા યહોશાફાટ સમરૂનના દરવાજા પાસે સિંહાસનો પર બેઠા હતા. તેઓએ રાજાનો પોષાક પહેર્યો હતો અને તેમની સામે બધા પ્રબોધકો ભવિષ્યવાણી કરી રહ્યાં હતા.
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<v id="11" bcv="1KI.22.11" />આ બધાં પ્રબોધકોમાં એક પ્રબોધક સિદકિયા હતો, જે કનાઅનાહનો પુત્ર હતો. તેણે લોખંડના શિંગડા બનાવીને જાહેર કર્યું, “યહોવા કહે છે કે ‘આ લોખંડના શિંગડાઓ વાપરીને તમે અરામીઓને ઘાયલ કરશો અને અંતે તેમનો નાશ થશે.’”
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<v id="12" bcv="1KI.22.12" />તમાંમ પ્રબોધકોએ એવું જ ભવિષ્ય ભાખ્યું; તેમણે કહ્યું, “રામોથ-ગિલયાદ પર હુમલો કરો અને વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કરો. યહોવા તેને રાજાના હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1KI.22.13" />મીખાયાને તેડવા ગયેલા માંણસે મીખાયાને કહ્યું, “ધ્યાન રાખજો કે બધા જ પ્રબોધકોએ એકી અવાજે રાજાને માંટે સારું ભવિષ્ય ભાખ્યું છે, તમે પણ તેના માંટે તેમના જેવું જ કહેજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1KI.22.14" />પરંતુ મીખાયાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવાના સમ હું તો યહોવા કહેશે તે જ પ્રમાંણે કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1KI.22.15" />જયારે મીખાયા રાજાની સન્મુખ આવ્યો, ત્યારે રાજાએ તેને કહ્યું, “મીખાયા, અમે રામોદ-ગિલયાદ પર હુમલો કરીએ કે રોકાઈ જઈએ?”
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<p style="p">તેણે કહ્યું, “હુમલો કરો અને વિજય પામો. યહોવાએ નગર રાજાના હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરી દેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1KI.22.16" />રાજાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવાને નામે માંત્ર સાચું જ બોલવા માંટે માંરે તારી પાસે કેટલી વખત સોગંદ લેવડાવવા?”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1KI.22.17" />મીખાયાએ કહ્યું, “મેં બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને એક ઘેટાપાળક વગરનાં ઘેટાંના ટોળાની જેમ પર્વતો પર વેરવિખેર થઈ ગયેલા જોયા છે, અને મેં યહોવાને એમ બોલતા સાંભળ્યા છે કે, ‘એ લોકોનો કોઈ ધણી નથી, તેથી તેઓ ભલે શાંતિથી ઘેર જાય.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1KI.22.18" />આ સાંભળીને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ યહોશાફાટને કહ્યું, “મેં તમને નહોતું કહ્યું કે, એ કદી માંરા માંટે કંઇ પણ સારુ બોલતો નથી પણ હંમેશા ખરાબ જ બોલે છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1KI.22.19" />મીખાયાએ વધુમાં કહ્યું, “હવે યહોવાની વાણી સાંભળો, મેં યહોવાને તેના સિંહાસન પર આકાશમાં બિરાજેલા જોયા છે. તેમને જમણે અને ડાબે બધા દેવદૂતો તેમની સેવામાં ઊભા છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="1KI.22.20" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, ‘આહાબને રામોથ ગિલીયાદના ધરે જઇ આમ્મોનિયો વિરુદ્ધ લડાઇ કરવા અને ત્યાં મરવા કોણ લલચાવશે?’ આ વિષે તેમની વચ્ચે ઘણા સૂચનો થયાં,
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<v id="21" bcv="1KI.22.21" />છેવટે એક દૂતે યહોવાની નજીક આવીને કહ્યું, ‘હું એ કામ કરીશ.’ યહોવાએ પૂછયું, કેવી રીતે?
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<v id="22" bcv="1KI.22.22" />તેણે કહ્યું, ‘હું જઈને તેના બધા પ્રબોધકોના મોઢે જૂઠી ભવિષ્યવાણી ઉચ્ચારાવીશ.’ પછી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, ‘તું જરૂર તેને લલચાવવામાં સફળ થઈશ. જા, અને એ પ્રમાંણે કર.ֹ’”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1KI.22.23" />આમ, આપ જુઓ છો કે, “યહોવાએ તમાંરા બધા પ્રબોધકો પાસે જૂઠી ભવિષ્યવાણી કરાવડાવી છે, કારણ કે તેણે આપને માંથે આફત ઊતારવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1KI.22.24" />એ વખતે કનાઅનાહના પુત્ર સિદિક્યાએ આવીને મીખાયાના મોઢા પર લાફો ચોડી દીધો, અને પૂછયું, “જ્યારે મને તમાંરી પાસે જવા માંટે છોડી મુક્યો ત્યારે યહોવાની શકિત ક્યાં ચાલી ગઇ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1KI.22.25" />મીખાયાએ સામે જવાબ આપ્યો, “એ તો તું જયારે ભાગીને ઘરના અંદરના ઓરડામાં સંતાઈ જશે ત્યારે તને એની ખબર પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1KI.22.26" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ કહ્યું, “મીખાયાને કેદ પકડો અને નગરના આગેવાન આમોનને અને રાજાના પુત્ર યોઆશને સોંપી દો.
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<v id="27" bcv="1KI.22.27" />અને તેમને કહો કે, રાજાની એવી આજ્ઞા છે કે, આને કેદમાં પૂરી દો, અને હું સુરક્ષિત પાછો આવું ત્યાં સુધી જીવતો રહે એટલાં જ રોટલા અને પાણી સિવાય બીજું કશું આપશો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1KI.22.28" />મીખાયાએ કહ્યું કે, “તમે જો સુરક્ષિત પાછા આવો તો સમજવું કે માંરી માંરફતે યહોવા નહોતા બોલ્યા. તેણે એમ પણ કહ્યું તમે બધા લોકો સાંભળો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1KI.22.29" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા અને યહૂદાનો રાજા યહોશાફાટ રામોથ-ગિલયાદ પર ચડાઈ કરવા ગયો.
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<v id="30" bcv="1KI.22.30" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ યહોશાફાટને કહ્યું, “હું વેશપલટો કરીને યુદ્ધમાં જઈશ; પણ તમે તમાંરા બાદશાહી પોશાક પહેરી રાખજો,” આમ ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા વેશપલટો કરીને યુદ્ધમાં ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="1KI.22.31" />અરામના રાજાએ પોતાના રથદળના બત્રીસ સરદારોને આજ્ઞા આપી હતી કે, તેઓએ બીજા કોઈની સાથે નહિ પણ માંત્ર રાજા આહાબની સામે જ યુદ્ધ કરવું.
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<v id="32" bcv="1KI.22.32" />સારથિઓએ યહોશાફાટ રાજાને તેના રાજવી પોષાકમાં જોયો ત્યારે તેઓએ માંની લીધું કે, જેને આપણે માંરી નાખવાનો છે તે ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા એ જ છે. તેથી તેઓ તેના પર હુમલો કરવા વળ્યા. પણ યહોશાફાટે જોરથી બૂમો પાડી,
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<v id="33" bcv="1KI.22.33" />પછી સારથિઓ સમજી ગયા કે આ ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા નથી. અને તેમણે તેનો પીછો કરવો છોડી દીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="1KI.22.34" />પરંતુ એક સૈનિકે અનાયાસે તીર છોડયું. એ તીર ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાને તેના બખ્તરના સાંધાની વચ્ચે વાગ્યું. તેથી આહાબે પોતાના સારથિને કહ્યું, “રથ ફેરવીને મને યુદ્ધભૂમિની બહાર લઈ જા. હું ઘવાયો છું,”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="1KI.22.35" />દિવસ ચડતો ગયો તેમ તેમ યુદ્ધ વધુને વધુ ભીષણ બનતું ગયું અને રાજા તેના રથમાં અરામીઓ તરફ મોં કરીને ઢળેલો પડ્યો હતો, તેના ઘામાંથી લોહી વહીને રથમાં ભેગું થતું હતું, સાંજ થતાં તેણે દેહ છોડયો.
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<v id="36" bcv="1KI.22.36" />દિવસને અંતે સૂર્યાસ્ત થતાંજ રાજાની લશ્કરી છાવણીમાં એક મોટો પોકાર થયો, “દરેક જણ પોતપોતાના દેશમાં પોતપોતાને ઘેર જાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="1KI.22.37" />રાજાના મૃતદેહને સમરૂનમાં લાવવામાં આવ્યો, ત્યાં તેને દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="38" bcv="1KI.22.38" />સમરૂનના તળાવને તીરે બાજુમાં રથ ઘોવામાં આવ્યો. કૂતરાં તેનું લોહી ચાટી ગયાં અને હવે ત્યાં તો વારાંગનાઓ સ્નાન કરતી હતી આમ, યહોવાની વાણી સાચી પડી.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="1KI.22.39" />આહાબના શાસનના બીજા બનાવોની અને તેનાં કાર્યોની, તેણે બંધાવેલાં હાથીદાંતનાં મહેલની અને તેણે કિલ્લેબંધી કરાવેલા નગરો, તે સર્વ
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક ગ્રથમાં લખાયેલું છે.
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<v id="40" bcv="1KI.22.40" />આમ, આહાબ, પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર અહાઝયા રાજા બન્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદાનો રાજા યહોશાફાટ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="1KI.22.41" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા આહાબના રાજયના ચોથા વર્ષમાં આસાનો પુત્ર યહોશાફાટ યહૂદીયાઓનો રાજા થયો.
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<v id="42" bcv="1KI.22.42" />જયારે તે રાજા બન્યો, ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 35 વર્ષની હતી અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 25 વર્ષ રાજય કર્યું. તેની માંનું નામ અઝૂબાહ હતું અને તે શિલ્હીની પુત્રી હતી.
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<v id="43" bcv="1KI.22.43" />તે તેના પિતા આસાને પગલે ચાલ્યો અને તેના માંગેર્થી ચલિત થયો નહિ. તેણે યહોવાને જે સારું લાગ્યું તે કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="1KI.22.44" />પણ ઉચ્ચસ્થાનો નાશ કરવામાં આવ્યા નહોતા, અને લોકોએ ત્યાં ધૂપ બાળવાનું અને અર્પણો ચડાવવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું હતું.
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<v id="45" bcv="1KI.22.45" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા સાથે યહોશાફાટ મિત્રતાથી શાંતિપૂર્વક રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="1KI.22.46" />યહોશાફાટના શાસન વખતના બીજા બનાવો, તેણે કરેલા મહાન કાર્યો, તેણે લડેલી લડાઇઓ, તે સર્વ વિષે
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક ગ્રથમાં લખેલું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="1KI.22.47" />તેણે તેના પિતા આસાનાં સમયની દેવદાસીઓ જે હજી સુધી રહેતી હતી તેઓને ભૂમિમાંથી હાંકી કાઢી.
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<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="1KI.22.48" />અદોમમાં કોઈ રાજા નહોતો, તેથી એક પ્રશાસક ત્યાં અમલ કરતો હતો.
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<v id="49" bcv="1KI.22.49" />સોનું લઇ આવવા માંટે ઓફીર જવા માંટે યહોશાફાટે મોટા વહાણો બનાવ્યા હતા, પણ વહાણ કદી ત્યાં પહોચ્યાં નહિ કારણ કે, એસ્યોનગેબેર આગળ તે તૂટી પડ્યા હતા.
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<v id="50" bcv="1KI.22.50" />આહાબના પુત્ર અહાઝયાએ યહોશાફાટને કહ્યું કે, “તમાંરા માંણસો સાથે માંરા માંણસોને તમાંરા વહાણમાં જવા દો.” પણ યહોશાફાટ સંમત થયો નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા અહઝિયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="1KI.22.51" />યહોશાફાટ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો પછી તેના મૃતદેહને દાઉદના નગરમાં લઇ જવાયો અને યરૂશાલેમમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર યહોરામ રાજા બન્યો.
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<v id="52" bcv="1KI.22.52" />યહૂદાના રાજા યહોશાફાટના રાજયના સત્તરમે વષેર્ આહાબનો પુત્ર અહઝિયા સમરૂનમાં ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થયો. તેણે ઇસ્રાએલ પર બે વર્ષ રાજય કર્યું. યહોવાને જે અનિષ્ટ લાગ્યું તે તેણે કર્યું. કારણ કે તેણે તેના પિતા તેની માંતા અને નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમ જેવું આચરણ કર્યું, જે બધાએ ઇસ્રાએલ પાસે પાપ કરાવડાવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="53" bcv="1KI.22.53" />તેણે તેના પિતા જેવું આચરણ કર્યું અને દેવ બઆલની પૂજા કરીને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાનો કોપ વહોરી લીધો.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="2KI"><id id="2KI">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>2 રાજાઓનું
</h><toc level="1">રાજાઓનું બીજું પુસ્તક
</toc><toc level="2">2 રાજાઓનું
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">રાજાઓનું
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">બીજું પુસ્તક
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">અહાઝયા માંટે સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.1.1" />આહાબના મૃત્યુ પછી મોઆબે ઇસ્રાએલ સામે બળવો કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2KI.1.2" />જયારે અહાઝયા સમરૂનમાં તેના મહેલના ઉપરના ખંડમાં હતો અને ઝરૂખામાંથી પડી ગયો હતો, અને પથારીવશ હતો. ત્યારે ઇજા પામ્યા પછી તેણે પોતાના માંણસોને, એક્રોનના દેવ બઆલ-ઝબૂબ પાસે એમ કહીને મોકલ્યા કે, “જાણી આવો કે હું આ માંદગીમાંથી સાજો થઈશ?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2KI.1.3" />પરંતુ યહોવાના દૂતે તિશ્બેના એલિયાને જણાવ્યું, “અહાઝયાના સંદેશવાહકો પાસે જા, તેઓને પૂછી જો, ‘શું ઇસ્રાએલમાં કોઇ દેવ નથી? તો શા માંટે તમે બઆલઝબૂબ પાસે એવું પૂછવા એક્રોન જાઓ છો કે, રાજાને સારું થશે કે નહિ?
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<v id="4" bcv="2KI.1.4" />તમે આવું બધુ કર્યુ છે તેથી યહોવા એ કહ્યું છે, તું જે પથારીમાં પડયો છે એમાંથી ઊઠવાનો નથી. તું જરૂર મરી જશે.’” ત્યાર પછી એલિયા ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.1.5" />સંદેશવાહકો રાજા પાસે પાછા ગયા એટલે રાજાએ તેઓને પૂછયું, “તમે શા માંટે આટલા જલદી પાછા આવ્યા?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.1.6" />તેમણે કહ્યું, “એક માંણસ અમને મળવા આવ્યો અને તેણે અમને કહ્યું કે, જે રાજાએ તમને મોકલ્યા છે તેની પાસે પાછા જાઓ અને તેને કહો કે, ‘આ યહોવાના વચન છે; ઇસ્રાએલમાં કોઈ દેવ નથી કે, તમે એક્રોનના દેવ બઆલ-ઝબૂબને જઈને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરો છો? આને કારણે તું જે પથારીમાં પડયો છે તેમાંથી ઊઠવાનો નથી, તું જરૂર મરી જશે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.1.7" />રાજાએ પૂછયું, “તમને જે માંણસ મળ્યો હતો અને જેણે તમને આ બધું કહ્યું તે કેવો હતો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.1.8" />તેમણે કહ્યું, “તે વાળની રુંવાટી વાળો માંણસ હતો અને તેણે તેની કમર ફરતે ચામડાનો પટ્ટો પહેર્યો હતો.”
</p>
<p style="p">રાજા બોલ્યો, “તે તો તિશ્બેનો એલિયા છે!”
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</p>
<s style="s">અહાઝયાના માંણસોને ભસ્મ કરતો અગ્નિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.1.9" />ત્યાર પછી રાજાએ પચાસ સૈનિકોના એક નાયકને તેની ટુકડી સાથે એલિયા પાસે મોકલ્યો. તે જયારે ત્યાં પહોંચ્યો ત્યારે તેમણે તેને એક ટેકરીની ટોચે બેઠેલો જોયો. પેલા નાયકે તેને કહ્યું કે, “હે દેવના માંણસ, રાજાએ તને નીચે આવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.1.10" />એલિયાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “જો હું દેવનો માંણસ હોઉં તો સ્વર્ગમાંથી નીચે અગ્નિ વરસો અને તું અને તારા સૈનિકો અહીં મરી જશો!”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી આકાશમાંથી અગ્નિ નીચે વરસ્યો અને બધા સૈનિકોના મૃત્યુ થયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.1.11" />રાજાએ પચાસ સૈનિકોના બીજા નાયકને પચાસ સૈનિકો સાથે ફરી મોકલ્યો અને તેણે જઈને કહ્યું કે, “હે દેવના માંણસ, રાજાએ કહેવડાવ્યું છે કે, ‘તારે અત્યારે જ આવવું પડશે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2KI.1.12" />એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “જો હું દેવનો માંણસ હોઉં, તો આકાશમાંથી અગ્નિ વરસશે અને તું તથા તારા પચાસ સૈનિકો અહીં મરી જશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">ફરીથી સ્વર્ગમાંથી અગ્નિ વરસ્યો અને બધા સૈનિકોને માંરી નાંખ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.1.13" />ફરી પાછા રાજાએ બીજા પચાસ સૈનિકોને દેવના માંણસ પાસે મોકલ્યા, પચાસ સૈનિકોના ત્રીજા નાયકે એલિયા પાસે આવી તેની આગળ ઘૂંટણિયે પડી વિનંતી કરી કે, “હે દેવના માંણસ, કૃપા કરીને માંરું જીવન તથા આ માંરા પચાસ સૈનિકોના જીવન બચાવશો.
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<v id="14" bcv="2KI.1.14" />છેક સ્વર્ગમાંથી વરસેલા અગ્નિએ અમાંરી પહેલા આવેલા બન્ને નાયકોનો સંહાર કર્યો હતો. તું ચોક્કસ જાણ પણ હવે અમાંરા પર દયા કર.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.1.15" />યહોવાના દૂતે એલિયાને કહ્યું કે, “એની સાથે જા, ગભરાઈશ નહિ.”
</p>
<p style="p">તે તેની સાથે રાજા પાસે ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.1.16" />અને બોલ્યો, “આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે: કારણ કે ‘તેં એક્રોનના દેવ બઆલઝબૂબને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરવા સંદેશવાહકો મોકલ્યા હતા, તેથી તું હમણા જે પથારીમાં પડયો છે તેમાંથી ઊઠવાનો નથી, તું ચોક્કસપણે મરી જશે.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">અહાઝયાનું સ્થાન લેતો યહોરામ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.1.17" />અને જેમ એલિયાએ કહ્યું હતું તેમ યહોવાના શબ્દો સાચા પડ્યાં અને રાજા મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. તેને પુત્ર નહતો એટલે તેનો ભાઈ યહોરામ ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો રાજા બન્યો. યહૂદાના રાજા યહોરામ જે યહોશાફાટનો પુત્ર હતો-તેના શાસનના બીજા વર્ષમાં આ બન્યું
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2KI.1.18" />અહાઝયાના શાસન દરમ્યાન બનેલા બાકીના બનાવો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ વિષેના પુસ્તકમાં</bk> આલેખવામાં આવ્યાં છે.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">એલિયાને લઇ જવાની યહોવા યોજના ઘડે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.2.1" />જયારે યહોવા માંટે એલિયાને વંટોળિયા માંરફતે આકાશમાં લઈ લેવાનો સમય આવ્યો, ત્યારે એલિયા અને એલિશા ગિલ્ગાલથી આવી રહ્યાં હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2KI.2.2" />એલિયાએ એલિશાને કહ્યું કે, “તું અહીં રહે, કારણ કે યહોવાએ મને બેથેલમાં જવાનું કહ્યું છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ એલિશાએ કહ્યું કે, “યહોવાના અને તમાંરા સમ કે, હું તમને છોડીને જવાનો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2KI.2.3" />આથી તેઓ બન્ને બેથેલ ગયા. બેથેલમાં રહેતા પ્રબોધકોનો સંઘ એલિશાને મળવા આવ્યો અને તેમણે તેને કહ્યું, “ખબર છે કે, યહોવા આજે તારા ધણીને તારાથી દૂર લઇ જવાના છે!”
</p>
<p style="p">એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “મને ખબર છે, હવે કશું બોલશો નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.2.4" />પછી એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “એલિશા, તું અહીં રોકાઈ જા, યહોવા મને યરીખો મોકલે છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">એલિશાએ ફરીથી જવાબ આપ્યો, “યહોવાના અને તમાંરા સમ કે હું તમને છોડીને જવાનો નથી.” અને તેઓ યરીખો ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.2.5" />યરીખોમાં રહેતા પ્રબોધકોના સંઘે એલિશા પાસે જઈ તેને કહ્યું, “તને ખબર છે કે, યહોવા આજે તારા ધણીને તારાથી દૂર લઇ જવાના છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે કહ્યું, “મને ખબર છે, હવે કશું બોલશો નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.2.6" />એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “એલિશા, તું અહીં રહી જા, યહોવા તો મને યર્દન મોકલે છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “યહોવાના અને તમાંરા સમ કે હું તમને છોડીને જવાનો નથી.” અને તેઓ આગળ ચાલ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.2.7" />પચાસ પ્રબોધકો તેમની પાછળ પાછળ ગયા. જ્યારે તેઓ યર્દન નદી પાસે ઊભા રહ્યા, ત્યારે પ્રબોધકો તેમનાથી અંતર રાખીને દૂર ઉભા રહ્યાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="2KI.2.8" />એલિયાએ પોતાનો ઝભ્ભો લઈ તેનો વીંટો વાળી તેના વડે પાણી પર પ્રહાર કર્યો અને તે સાથે નદીનું પાણી જમણી અને ડાબી બાજુ વહેંચાઈ ગયું અને તેઓ પલળ્યાં વગર નદી ઓળંગી ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.2.9" />જ્યારે તેઓ નદીની સામે પાર પહોંચી ગયા, ત્યારે એલિયાએ એલિશાને કહ્યું, “દેવ મને તારી પાસેથી લઈ લે તે પહેલાં હું તારે માંટે શું કરું? તારી શી ઇચ્છા છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “તમાંરી પાસે છે તેનાથી બમણી દૈવી શકિત મને આપો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.2.10" />એલિયાએ કહ્યું, “તારી માંગણી મુશ્કેલ છે, મને તારી પાસેથી લઈ લેવાતો જો તું જોઈ શકીશ, તો તારી ઇચ્છા પૂરી થશે; પણ જો તું જોવા ન પામે તો એ પૂરી નહિ થાય.”
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</p>
<s style="s">એલિયાને સ્વર્ગમાં લેતા દેવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.2.11" />આમ વાતો કરતાં કરતાં આગળ ચાલ્યા જતા હતા, એવામાં એકાએક તેમની બે જણની વચ્ચે અગ્નિરથ દેખાયો, અગ્નિના બે ઘોડા એ રથને જોડેલા હતા. આ અગ્નિરથે એલિયા અને એલિશાને જુદા પાડી દીધા; અને વંટોળિયાએ આવીને એલિયાને આકાશમાં ઉઠાવી લીધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2KI.2.12" />એલિશાએ તે જોયું, અને તે બોલી ઊઠયો, “ઓ માંરા બાપ! બાપ રે બાપ! તમે તો ઇસ્રાએલનો રથ અને તેના ઘોડેસવાર છો!”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી એલિયા તેને દેખાતો બંધ થઈ ગયો ત્યારે એલિશાએ પોતાનો ઝભ્ભો ફાડીને તેના બે ટુકડા કરી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="13" bcv="2KI.2.13" />પછી એલિયાનો ઝભ્ભો પડી ગયો હતો, તે તેણે ઉપાડી લીધો, અને પછી તે યર્દનને કિનારે જઈને ઊભો રહ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="2KI.2.14" />એલિયાના ઝભ્ભા વડે તેણે નદીના પાણી પર પ્રહાર કર્યો, તે મોટેથી બોલ્યો, “એલિયાના દેવ યહોવા કયાં છે?” અને પાણી બે ભાગમાં વહેચાઇ ગયું, એલિશા નદી પાર કરી ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">એલિયા વિશે પૂછતા પ્રબોધકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.2.15" />યરીખોના પ્રબોધકોના સંઘે તેને દૂરથી જોયો અને કહ્યું, “એલિયાની શકિત એલિશા પર ઊતરી છે.” તેઓ તેને મળવા આવ્યા અને આદરપૂર્વક તેને પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.2.16" />તેઓએ એલિશાને કહ્યું, “ધણી, તમે અમને માંત્ર આજ્ઞા કરો એટલે શકિતશાળી એવા અમાંરા પચાસ માંણસો જશે અને તમાંરા ધણીની શોધ કરશે, કદાચ યહોવાએ તેને લઇને કોઇ પર્વત પર અથવા ખીણમાં ફેંકી દીધો હોય.”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ એલિશાએ તેઓને ના પાડી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.2.17" />પણ તેમણે તેને એટલો બધો આગ્રહ કર્યો કે, આખરે કંટાળીને હા પાડી.
</p>
<p style="p">આથી તેમણે પચાસ માંણસોને મોકલ્યા. તેમણે ત્રણ દિવસ સુધી શોધખોળ કરી પણ પત્તો ન લાગ્યો.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.2.18" />તેઓ પાછા આવ્યા, ત્યાં સુધી એલિશા યરીખોમાં જ રહ્યો હતો, તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “તમે જશો નહિ એવું મેં તમને નહોતું કહ્યું?”
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</p>
<s style="s">પાણી શુદ્ધ કરતો એલિશા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.2.19" />હવે યરીખો નગરના કેટલાક આગેવાનો એલિશાને મળવા આવ્યા, તેઓએ તેમને કહ્યું, “ધણી, આપ જોઈ શકો છો કે અમાંરું શહેર કેવું રમણીય છે! પણ અહીંનું પાણી સારું નથી અને દેશમાં સ્ત્રીઓને કસુવાવડ થઈ જાય છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.2.20" />તે બોલ્યો, “એક નવો વાટકો લાવો અને તેમાં થોડું મીઠું મૂકો.”
</p>
<p style="p">લોકો લઈ આવ્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="2KI.2.21" />એટલે તેણે ઝરણા પાસે જઈને તેમાં મીઠું નાખીને કહ્યું, “આ યહોવાના વચન છે: ‘હું આ પાણીને નિરોગી કરું છું. હવે પછી એનાથી કોઈને મોત કે કસુવાવડ નહિ આવે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2KI.2.22" />પાણી શુદ્વ થઈ ગયું અને એલિશાએ કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે આજ સુધી એ પાણી શુદ્વ રહ્યું છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">એલિશાની ઠેકડી ઉડાળતા બાળકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.2.23" />ત્યાંથી તે બેથેલ જવા નીકળ્યો; અને તે રસ્તે થઈ જતો હતો એવામાં શહેરમાંથી કેટલાંક નાનાં બાળકો આવીને તેમની ઠઠ્ઠા મશ્કરી કરવા લાગ્યાં, તેઓ બૂમ પાડવા લાગ્યાં, “હે, ટાલિયા, આગળ જા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2KI.2.24" />એલિશાએ પાછળ ફરી તેમને જોયાં, અને યહોવાના નામે તેમને શ્રાપ આપ્યો, તે જ વખતે જંગલમાંથી બે રીંછડીઓ આવી અને બેંતાળીસ બાળકોને રહેંસી નાખ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.2.25" />ત્યાંથી પછી એલિશા કામેર્લ પર્વત પર ગયો અને ત્યાંથી સમરૂન પાછો ફર્યો.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">યહોરામ ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થયો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.3.1" />યહૂદાના રાજા યહોશાફાટના શાસન દરમ્યાન અઢારમાં વષેર્ આહાબનો પુત્ર યહોરામ સમરૂનમાં ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થયો, અને તેણે બાર વર્ષ રાજય કર્યુ.
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.3.2" />તેણે યહોવાને નારાજ કરે તેવો કામો કાર્યા હતા, જો કે તેના કાર્યો એ છેક એના માંતા પિતાના કાર્યો જેવા નહોતા, કારણ, એણે એના પિતાએ ઊભુ કરેલુ બઆલનું પૂતળું પૂજાસ્થળેથી કાઢી નાખ્યુ હતું.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.3.3" />તેમ છતાં તે નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમ જેણે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને પાપ કરવા માંટે પ્રોત્સાહન આપ્યું હતું-તેના પાપને વળગી રહ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">મોઆબનું ઇસ્રાએલ વિરુદ્ધ બંડ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.3.4" />મોઆબનો રાજા મેશા ઘેટાં ઉછેરતો હતો, અને તે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાને નિયમિત એક લાખ ઘેટાંનાં બચ્ચાં અને એક લાખ ઘેટાનું ઊન વસુલીરૂપે આપતો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2KI.3.5" />જયારે આહાબ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો ત્યારે મોઆબના રાજાએ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા સામે બળવો કર્યો,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.3.6" />એટલે યહોરામ રાજાએ સમરૂનથી બહાર નીકળીને ઇસ્રાએલના બધા માંણસોને યુદ્ધ માંટે ભેગા કર્યાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.3.7" />પછી તેણે યહૂદાના રાજાને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “મોઆબના રાજાએ માંરી સામે બળવો કર્યો છે. મોઆબ પર હુમલો કરવામાં તમે મને સાથ આપશો?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “જરૂર, આપણે બે કંઈ જુદા નથી; માંરા સૈનિકો એ તમાંરા જ સૈનિકો છે, માંરા ઘોડા એ તમાંરા જ ઘોડા છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">એલિશાની સલાહ માંગતા ત્રણ રાજાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.3.8" />તેણે પૂછયું, “આપણે હુમલો કરવા ક્યો રસ્તો લેવો જોઇએ?”
</p>
<p style="p">યહોરામે જવાબ આપ્યો, “અદોમના રણમાંથી પસાર થતો રસ્તો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.3.9" />આમ, ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા યહોરામ યહૂદાના રાજા અને અદોમના રાજાને સાથે લઈ યુદ્ધે ચડયો. સાત દિવસ સુધી ચકરાવાવાળે રસ્તે કૂચ કર્યા પછી લશ્કર માંટે કે સરસામાંન ઉપાડતાં જાનવરો માંટે પાણી ખૂટી ગયું.
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<v id="10" bcv="2KI.3.10" />ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બોલી ઊઠયો કે, “અફસોસ! યહોવાએ આપણને ત્રણ રાજાઓને મોઆબીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દેવા માંટે જ ભેગાં કર્યા છે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.3.11" />પણ યહોશાફાટે કહ્યું, “અહીં કોઈ યહોવાનો પ્રબોધક નથી કે, જેના માંરફતે આપણે યહોવાને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરી શકીએ?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાના એક અમલદારે કહ્યું, “એલિશા અહીં છે, તે શાફાટનો પુત્ર હતો, જે એલિયાની સેવામાં રહેતો હતો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2KI.3.12" />યહૂદાના રાજાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવા તેના દ્વારા બોલે છે.” આથી ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા, યહોશાફાટ અને અદોમનો રાજા તેની પાસે ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.3.13" />પણ એલિશાએ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાને કહ્યું કે, “માંરી પાસે તમાંરું શું છે? તમે તમાંરા માંતા પિતાના જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો પાસે જાઓ.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ તેને કહ્યું કે, “ના! યહોવાએ અમને ત્રણ રાજાઓને મોઆબીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દેવા માંટે જ બોલાવ્યા છે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.3.14" />એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “હું જેમની સેવા કરું છું તે સર્વસમર્થ યહોવાના સમ, યહૂદાના રાજા યહોશાફાટ પ્રત્યે મને માંન છે, તેથી જ હું તમાંરા ભણી જોઉં છું નહિ તો મેં નજર સરખી કરી ના હોત.
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<v id="15" bcv="2KI.3.15" />હવે કોઈ વીણા વગાડનારને માંરી પાસે લઈ આવો.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને બન્યું એવું કે જ્યારે વીણા વગાડનારે વીણા વગાડવા માંડી એટલે યહોવાની શકિત એલિશામાં આવી.
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.3.16" />અને તે બોલ્યો, “આ યહોવાનાં શબ્દો છે: આ ખીણને ખાડાંથી ભરી દો.
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<v id="17" bcv="2KI.3.17" />તમે બધા વરસાદ કે પવન જોવા પામશો નહિ; પણ આ કોતર પાણીથી ભરાઈ જશે. અને તેમાં તમે, તમાંરું લશ્કર અને જાનવરો માંટે પીવા પૂરતું પાણી હશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.3.18" />પણ આ યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિએ જાણે ઓછું હોય તેમ તે મોઆબને જ તમાંરા હાથમાં સોંપી દેશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.3.19" />તમે તેમનાં બધાં જ સારા સારા અને કિલ્લેબંદીવાળા નગરોને ભોંયભેગા કરી નાખશો, બધાં જ સારા વૃક્ષોને કાપી નાખશો, બધાં જ ઝરણાંને પૂરી દેશો, અને પ્રત્યેક ખેતરને તેમાં પથ્થર નાખીને નકામાં બનાવી દેશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.3.20" />પછી ખરેખર એમ જ થયું. બીજે દિવસે સવારમાં યજ્ઞ કરવાને વખતે અદોમની દિશામાંથી પાણી વહેવા લાગ્યું અને આખો દેશ જળબંબાકાર થઈ ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2KI.3.21" />જયારે મોઆબીઓને ખબર પડી કે ત્રણ રાજાઓ તેમની સાથે યુદ્ધ કરવા આવ્યા છે, ત્યારે હથિયાર ધારણ કરી શકે એવા એકે એક પુખ્ત વયના માંણસને બોલાવવામાં આવ્યો, અને સરહદ પર ગોઠવી દેવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="2KI.3.22" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે સૂર્યના લાલ રંગનો પ્રકાશ પાણી પર પડયો એટલે મોઆબીઓને પાણી રકત જેવું દેખાયું!
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<v id="23" bcv="2KI.3.23" />તેઓ બોલી ઊઠયા, “આ તો લોહી છે! રાજાઓ અંદર અંદર લડ્યા હોવા જોઈએ અને તેમણે એકબીજાને કાપી નાખ્યા હોવા જોઈએ. માંટે ચાલો, આપણે તેઓની છાવણીમાં જઈને લૂંટ ચલાવીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2KI.3.24" />પરંતુ જયારે મોઆબીઓ ઇસ્રાએલીની છાવણીએ આવ્યા ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ઉભા થઇને મોઆબીઓની સામે હુમલો કર્યો અને પછી મોઆબીઓ ત્યાથી ભાગવા લાગ્યા. ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ મોઆબીઓને પૂર્ણ રીતે હરાવ્યા.
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<v id="25" bcv="2KI.3.25" />તેમણે નગરોને ભોંયભેગા કરી નાખ્યાં, દરેક માંણસે એક એક પથ્થર નાખીને દરેક ખેતરને પથ્થરથી ભરી દીધાં. બધા ઝરણાંને તેમણે બંધ કરી દીધા, અને બધાં જ સારા વૃક્ષો કાપી નાખ્યાં, આખરે તેમણે કીર-હરેસેથને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો અને પથ્થરથી હુમલો કરવા માંટે ગોફણિયાઓનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2KI.3.26" />જયારે મોઆબના રાજાએ જોયું કે, યુદ્ધનું પરિણામ પોતાની વિરૂદ્ધ જાય છે, ત્યારે તેણે સાતસો તરવારધારી સૈનિકોને ભેગા કર્યા, અને અદોમના રાજાના સૈનિકોને તોડી પાડવાનો પ્રયાસ કર્યો. જો કે તેના પ્રયત્નોમાં તે સફળ ન થયો.
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<v id="27" bcv="2KI.3.27" />મોઆબના રાજાએ તેના પછી તેનો જયે પુત્ર જે રાજા થવાનો હતો તેને લઇને નગરના કોટ પર તેનું બલિદાન ચઢાવ્યું, આથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ એટલા તો બેબાકળા બની ગયા કે, તેઓએ પીછે હઠ કરીને પોતાને દેશ પાછા ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<s style="s">એલિશાએ પ્રબોધકની વિધવાને મદદ કરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.4.1" />હવે પ્રબોધકોના સંઘના એક પ્રબોધકની પત્નીએ એલિશાને કહ્યું, “આપનો સેવક માંરો પતિ મરી ગયો છે, આપ જાણો છો કે, તે યહોવાથી ડરીને ચાલતો હતો, હવે એક લેણદાર આવ્યો છે અને તે માંરા બે પુત્રોને લઈ જઈ ગુલામ બનાવવા માંગે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2KI.4.2" />એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “હું તને શી મદદ કરી શકું? તું મને એ કહે કે, તારી પાસે ઘરમાં શું છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે સ્રીએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “થોડુંક તેલ છે, એ સિવાય બીજું કશું જ નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2KI.4.3" />એટલે એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “તો બહાર જઈને તારા બધા આડોશી-પાડોશી પાસેથી ખાલી વાસણો અને બરણીઓ માંગી લાવ.
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<v id="4" bcv="2KI.4.4" />પછી પાછી આવીને તું તારાં બાળકો સાથે અંદર જઈને બારણાં વાસી દેજે. પછી તારી પાસે જે તેલ છે તેને પેલાં વાસણોમાં અને બરણીમાં રેડવા માંડજે અને જેમ જેમ ભરાઈ જાય તેમ તેમ બરણીઓ બાજુએ મૂકતી જજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.4.5" />પેલી સ્રીએ ત્યાંથી જઈને બાળકો સાથે ઘરમાં જઈ બારણાં વાસી દીધાં, બાળકો જેમ જેમ તેને બરણીઓ આપતાં ગયાં તેમ તેમ તે તેમાં તેલ રેડતી ગઈ.
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.4.6" />જયારે બધી બરણીઓ ભરાઈ ગઈ ત્યારે તેણે બાળકોને કહ્યું, “મને બીજી બરણી આપ.”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, “હવે બરણી રહી નથી.” એટલે તેલ વહેતું બંધ થઈ ગયું!
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.4.7" />પછી સ્રીએ જઈને દેવના માંણસને આ વાત જણાવી એટલે દેવના માંણસે તેને કહ્યું, “તું જઈને એ તેલ વેચીને તારું દેવું ભરપાઈ કરી દેજે, અને જે નાણાં બાકી રહે તે તારા બાળકો માંટે રાખી લેજે.”
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<s style="s">એલિશાને ખંડ આપતી શૂનેમની સ્ત્રી
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.4.8" />એક દિવસ એવું બન્યું કે એલિશા શૂનેમ ગયો હતો. ત્યાં એક ધનવાન સ્રીએ તેને રહેવા અને જમવા માંટે આમંત્રિત કર્યો; આથી તે જયારે જયારે એ બાજુ આવતો, ત્યારે ત્યારે ત્યાં રોકાતો અને જમતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.4.9" />એ સ્રીએ એક વાર પોતાના પતિને કહ્યું, “મને ખાતરી છે કે જે માંણસ હંમેશા આપણે ત્યાં આવે છે તે દેવનો માંણસ હોવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="10" bcv="2KI.4.10" />તો આપણે એને માંટે એક નાની ઓરડી બનાવીએ અને તેમાં એક પથારી, એક મેજ, એક ખુરસી અને એક દીવાની વ્યવસ્થા કરીએ, તેથી એ જયારે અહીં આવે ત્યારે અહીં આ ઓરડીમાં રહી શકે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.4.11" />એક દિવસ એલિશા ત્યાં આવ્યો. ત્યારે તે ઉપરની ઓરડીમાં જઈને આરામ કરવા પથારીમાં સૂતો,
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.4.12" />તેણે પોતાના નોકર ગેહઝીનને કહ્યું, “માંરે એ સ્રીની સાથે વાત કરવી છે માંટે તું તેની પત્નીને બોલાવ.”
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<p style="p">નોકરે બોલાવી એટલે તે આવીને દેવના માંણસ સામે ઊભી રહી.
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<v id="13" bcv="2KI.4.13" />દેવના માંણસે નોકરને કહ્યું, “તું એને એમ કહે કે, ‘તેં અમાંરા માંટે આટલી બધી તકલીફ ઉઠાવી છે તો અમે તારા માંટે શું કરીએ? રાજા કે લશ્કરના સેનાપતિ તારું ધ્યાન રાખે કે તને બીજી કોઇ મદદ જોઇએ છે?’”
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<p style="p">પણ તે સ્રીએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું માંરા પોતાના માંણસો વચ્ચે રહું છું અને હું સુખી છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.4.14" />થોડીવાર પછી દેવના માંણસે નોકર ગેહઝીનને પૂછયું, “આપણે તેને માંટે શું કરી શકીએ?”
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<p style="p">ગેહઝીએ જવાબા આપ્યો, “એક વાત છે કે તેની પાસે પુત્ર નથી અને એનો પતિ ઘરડો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.4.15" />એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “એને પાછી બોલાવ.”
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<p style="p">નોકરે તેને બૂમ પાડી અને તે બારણામાં આવીને ઊભી રહી.
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.4.16" />એટલે દેવના માંણસે કહ્યું, “આવતે વષેર્ આ વખતે તારા ખોળામાં બાળક હશે.”
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<p style="p">પણ તેણે કહ્યું, “ના, દેવભકત! આપ દેવના ભકત છો! આ દાસીને છેતરશો નહિ.”
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<s style="s">શૂનેમની સ્ત્રીને પુત્ર થયો
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.4.17" />પણ એ સ્ત્રીને ગર્ભ રહ્યો જ, અને એલિશાએ કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાંણે, તે વખતે પુત્ર અવતર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2KI.4.18" />પછી તે બાળક મોટો થયો, એક દિવસ એના પિતા ખેતરમાં લણનારાઓ સાથે કામ કરતા હતા, ત્યાં તેમની મુલાકાતે ગયો.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.4.19" />એકાએક માંથું દુ:ખતા તેણે તેના પિતાને ફરિયાદ કરી,
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<p style="p">તેથી તેના પિતાએ પોતાના એક નોકરને કહ્યું, “તું છોકરાને તેની માંતા પાસે ઘેર લઈ જા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.4.20" />તેથી તે છોકરાને ઘેર લઈ ગયો, તે (છોકરો) તેની માંતાના ખોળામાં બપોર સુધી બેઠો અને પછી મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<s style="s">શૂનેમની સ્ત્રી એલિશાને મળવા જાય છે
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2KI.4.21" />પછી તે સ્રીએ પોતાના પુત્રના મૃતદેહને ઉપાડીને દેવના માંણસના ઓરડામાં લાવીને તેની પથારીમાં સૂવડાવી દીધો અને પછી તેણી બારણું વાસી ને બહાર ચાલી ગઈ.
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<v id="22" bcv="2KI.4.22" />પછી તેણે પોતાના પતિને કહ્યું, “મને એક ગધેડો અને એક નોકર મોકલી આપો, કારણ કે હું જલ્દીથી દેવના માંણસ પાસે જઇ શકું અને પાછી આવી શકું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.4.23" />તેના પતિએ પૂછયું, “આજે કેમ? આજે નથી અમાંવાસ્યા કે નથી વિશ્રામવાર.”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ સ્રીએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “બધું સારું થશે, સૌ સારા વાનાં થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2KI.4.24" />ગધેડા પર જીન નંખાવીને તેણે નોકરને કહ્યું, “ઉતાવળ કરજે, અને સિવાય કે હું તને કહું ધીમો પડતો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.4.25" />આમ, તે નીકળી પડી અને કામેર્લ પર્વત પર આવી ત્યારે એલિશાએ તેને દૂરથી જોઈને ગેહઝીનને કહ્યું, “જો શૂનેમથી પેલી સ્ત્રીઆવી રહી છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="2KI.4.26" />દોડતો જા, તેને મળ અને પૂછ કે, તું કુશળ તો છે ને? તારો પતિ કુશળ છે ને? તારો પુત્ર કુશળ તો છે ને?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે સ્રીએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2KI.4.27" />તે ટેકરી પર દેવભકત એલિશાના પગમાં પડી, તેને દૂર કરવા ગેહઝીન આગળ આવ્યો પણ એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “એ છો રહેતી, એના માંથે ભારે દુ:ખ છે, અને યહોવાએ એ વાત માંરાથી છુપાવી છે, મને કહ્યું નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2KI.4.28" />તે સ્ત્રી બોલી, “માંરા મુરબ્બી! મેં આપની પાસે પુત્ર માંગ્યો હતો? મેં એમ નહોતું કહ્યું કે, મને છેતરશો નહિ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2KI.4.29" />એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “ગેહઝીન, કમર કસ, માંરી લાકડી લે અને દોડતો જા, રસ્તે કોઈ મળે તો તેને પ્રણામ કરવા પણ રોકાઈશ નહિ, માંરી લાકડી તે બાળકના મોંઢા પર મૂકજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2KI.4.30" />પણ છોકરાની માંતાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવાના સમ, તમાંરા સમ; હું આપને છોડવાની નથી.”
</p>
<p style="p">આથી એલિશા ઊઠયો અને તેની સાથે ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2KI.4.31" />ગેહઝીને તે લોકો કરતાં વહેલાં પહોંચી જઈને લાકડી છોકરાના મોં પર મૂકી, પણ જીવનાં કોઈ લક્ષણ જણાયાં નહિ, આથી તેણે પાછા જઈ એલિશાને જણાવ્યું કે, “છોકરો, હજુ જાગ્યો નથી.”
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<s style="s">પુર્નજીવિત થતો શૂનેમી સ્ત્રીનો પુત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="2KI.4.32" />એલિશા પછી ઘરમાં દાખલ થયો અને ત્યા તેની પથારીમાં મરેલો છોકરો પડેલો હતો.
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<v id="33" bcv="2KI.4.33" />તેણે ઓરડામાં જઈને બારણાં વાસી દીધાં. તે બે જણ અંદર રહ્યા, પછી તેણે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="34" bcv="2KI.4.34" />ત્યાર પછી તે પલંગ પર ચઢીને છોકરાની પર લાંબો થયો તેણે પોતાનું મોઢું છોકરાના મોઢાં પર, આંખ છોકરાની આંખ પર અને હાથ છોકરાના હાથની પર એટલે છોકરાના શરીરમાં ગરમાંવો આવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="2KI.4.35" />પછી એલિશા ઊભો થયો અને ઓરડામાં આંટા માંરી ફરી છોકરા પર સૂઇ ગયો. પછી છોકરાને સાત વખત છીંક આવી અને પોતાની આંખો ઉઘાડી.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="2KI.4.36" />પછી પ્રબોધકે ગેહઝીનને બૂમ પાડી અને કહ્યું, “શૂનેમની સ્ત્રીને બોલાવ.”
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<p style="p">એટલે તેણે તેણીને બોલાવી. તે આવી એટલે એલિશાએ તેને કહ્યું, “લે આ તારો પુત્ર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="2KI.4.37" />તે સ્રીએ અંદર જઈને જમીન પર લાંબા થઈને તેમને પ્રણામ કર્યા.અને પછી પોતાના બાળકને લઈને બહાર ચાલી ગઈ.
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<s style="s">ઝેરી શાક અને એલિશા
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="2KI.4.38" />એલિશા ગિલ્ગાલ પાછો ફર્યો. તે સમયે ત્યાં મોંધવારી હતી. એક દિવસ જ્યારે પ્રબોધકોનો સમૂહ તેની પાસે બેઠા હતા; ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના નોકરને કહ્યું, “એક મોટું તપેલું અગ્નિ પર ચઢાવીને પ્રબોધકોના સમૂહ માંટે માંસની વાનગી રાંધવા માંટે મૂકો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="2KI.4.39" />એક જણ ખેતરમાં શાકપાંદડું ભેગા કરવા ગયો ત્યાં તેણે એક જંગલી વેલામાંથી તેના ગોળ નાના ફળ તોડીને માંસની વાનગી રંધાતી હતી તેમાં નાખ્યાં. પણ તેઓ આને ઓળખતા નહોતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="2KI.4.40" />પછી તેમણે માંણસોને આવીને ખાવા માંટે બોલાવ્યા જેવી તેમણે માંસની વાનગી ચાખી, તેઓ બોલી ઊઠયાં, “દેવના માંણસ, આ તપેલામાં તો મોંત ભર્યું છે!” અને તેઓ તે ખાઈ શકયાં નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="2KI.4.41" />ત્યારે એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “તો થોડોલોટ લાવો.” એ લોટ તેણે તપેલામાં નાખ્યો અને કહ્યું, “હવે માંણસોને પીરસી દો.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને આ વખતે તપેલામાં કંઈ વાંધો નહોતો.
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<s style="s">પ્રબોધકોને પોષતો એલિશા
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="2KI.4.42" />બઆલ-શાલીશાહથી એક માંણસ એલિશા પાસે, પહેલા પાકના જવમાંથી બનાવેલા વીસ રોટલા અને ભરેલાં દાણાવાળાં તાજાં કણસલાં લઈને આવ્યો. એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “આ લોકોને તે ખાવા આપી દો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="2KI.4.43" />પણ તેના નોકરે કહ્યું, “સો માંણસોને હું આ શી રીતે પીરસું?”
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<p style="p">છતાં એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “તું તારે લોકોને પીરસી દે. આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે; ‘એ લોકો ખાઈ રહેશે અને વધશે પણ ખરું.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="2KI.4.44" />તેણે લોકોને પીરસી દીધું અને તેઓ ખાઈ રહ્યા અને યહોવાના કહેવા મુજબ વધ્યું પણ ખરું.
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<s style="s">સેનાપતિ નામાંનનો કોઢ મટી ગયો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.5.1" />અરામના રાજાનો સેનાપતિ નામાંન તેના રાજાનો માંનીતો અને કૃપાપાત્ર માંણસ ગણાતો હતો, કારણ, યહોવાએ એની માંરફતે અરામીઓને વિજય અપાવ્યો હતો. તે વીર યોદ્ધો હતો, પણ તે કોઢથી પીડાતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2KI.5.2" />અરામના દળો ઇસ્રાએલમાં થઈને પાછાં ફરતાં હતા ત્યારે કેટલાંક બંદીવાનો સાથે એક નાની છોકરીને પણ તેઓ ગુલામ તરીકે પકડી ગયા હતા. તેને નામાંનની પત્નીની દાસી તરીકે રાખવામાં આવી હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.5.3" />તેણે પોતાની શેઠાણીને કહ્યું, “હું ઇચ્છું છું કે, ઇશ્વર કરે ને માંરા શેઠ પ્રબોધક પાસે સમરૂનમાં જાય, તેઓ તેના ચામડીના રોગનો ઇલાજ કરશે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.5.4" />નામાંને જઈને પોતાના રાજાને કહ્યું કે, ઇસ્રાએલ દેશની છોકરી આમ કહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.5.5" />અરામના રાજાએ કહ્યું, “સારું, તું જરૂર જા, હું ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા પર તને પત્ર લખી આપીશ.”
</p>
<p style="p">આથી નામાંન 10 મણ ચાંદી, 6,000 સોનામહોર અને 10 જોડ પોશાક લઈને સમરૂન જવા ઉપડયો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.5.6" />તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાને પત્ર આપ્યો, જે નીચે મુજબ હતો, “હું માંરા સેવક નામાંનને તમાંરી પાસે મોકલું છું, તમે એનો ચામડીનો રોગ કોઢ મટાડશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.5.7" />જેવો ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ પત્ર વાંચ્યો, તે ગભરાઈ ગયો અને પોતાનાં કપડાં એમ કહેતા ફાડી નાખ્યાં, “કે હું તે કંઈ દેવ નથી કે જે મરેલા માંણસને જીવતો કરે? એણે મને આ માંણસને એનો રોગ મટાડવા માંટે મોકલી આપ્યો છે! જરૂર એ માંરી સાથે યુદ્ધ કરવા માંગે છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.5.8" />પણ જ્યારે દેવના માંણસ એલિશાના જાણવામાં આવ્યુ કે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ પોતાનાં વસ્ત્ર ફાડયાં છે, ત્યારે તેણે તેને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો: “તું શા માંટે ગભરાઈ ગયો છે? તું નામાંનને માંરી પાસે મોકલ, એટલે એ જાણશે કે અહીં ઇસ્રાએલમાં યહોવાનો એક સાચો પ્રબોધક છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.5.9" />તેથી પોતાના રથો અને માંણસો સાથે નામાંન એલિશા પ્રબોધકના ઘરે ગયો અને તેના બારણા સામે આવીને ઊભો રહ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="2KI.5.10" />એલિશાએ અંદર રહીને જ તેને કહેવડાવ્યું કે, “તું યર્દન નદીએ જા; અને તેમાં સાત વખત સ્નાન કર, તારો કોઢનો રોગ મટી જશે અને તું શુદ્વ થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.5.11" />પણ નામાંન તો ગુસ્સે થઈને બબડતો બબડતો ચાલ્યો ગયો કે, “હું તો એમ ધારતો હતો કે, તે બહાર આવી માંરી પાસે ઊભો રહી, પોતાના દેવ યહોવાનું નામ લઈ, રોગવાળા ભાગ પર હાથ ફેરવી કોઢ મટાડી દેશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.5.12" />દમસ્કની નદીઓ અબાનાહ અને ફાર્પાર ઇસ્રાએલની બીજી નદીઓ કરતાં વધારે સારી નથી? તેમાં સ્નાન કરીને હું રોગમુકત ન થઈ શકું?” આમ તે પાછો ફરીને ગુસ્સામાં ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.5.13" />પણ તેના નોકરોએ તેની પાસે જઈને તેને કહ્યું, “પ્રબોધકે આપને કોઈ મુશ્કેલ કાર્ય કરવા માંટે કહ્યું હોત, તો તમે કર્યુ હોત કે નહિ? તેથી તેની આજ્ઞાને આધીન અવશ્ય થાઓ. જાઓ, સ્નાન કરીને શુદ્વ થાઓ!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.5.14" />આથી તેણે જઈને દેવભકત એલિશાએ કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે યર્દનમાં સાત વખત ડૂબકી માંરી, એટલે તેની ચામડી, બાળકની ચામડી જેવી ચોખ્ખી થઈ ગઈ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.5.15" />ત્યાર પછી તે પોતાના આખા રસાલા સાથે દેવભકત એલિશા પાસે પાછો જઈ તેમની સામે ઊભો રહીને બોલ્યો, “હવે મને ખાતરી થઈ કે; ઇસ્રાએલ સિવાય પૃથ્વી પર કયાંય દેવ નથી; હવે આપ આ સેવકની એક ભેટ સ્વીકારવાની કૃપા કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.5.16" />પણ એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “જે યહોવાનો હું સેવક છું તેના સમ ખાઈને કહું છું કે, હું કોઈ ભેટ સ્વીકારીશ નહિ.”
</p>
<p style="p">નામાંને તેને કંઈક સ્વીકારવા માંટે આગ્રહ કર્યો, પણ તેણે માંન્યું નહિ,
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<v id="17" bcv="2KI.5.17" />ત્યારે નામાંન બોલ્યો, “આપ ના જ પાડો છો તો આ સેવકને બે ખચ્ચર માંટી આપો, કારણ, હું હવે યહોવા સિવાય બીજા કોઈ દેવને દહનાર્પણ કે યજ્ઞો ચડાવવાનો નથી.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.5.18" />માંત્ર આટલી એક બાબતમાં હું યહોવાની ક્ષમાં યાચું છું, અને તે એ કે માંરા રાજા જયારે રિમ્મોન દેવના મંદિરમાં પૂજા કરવા જાય છે, ત્યારે માંરા હાથનો ટેકો લે છે. અને તેઓ ત્યાં પગે લાગે છે. ત્યારે હું પણ પગે લાગું છું. યહોવા, આ સેવકને આટલી ક્ષમાં કરો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.5.19" />એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “સારું, શાંતિથી જા,”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી નામાંન સ્વદેશ જવા રવાના થયો.
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<v id="20" bcv="2KI.5.20" />ત્યાં દેવભકત એલિશાના નોકર ગેહઝીએ મનમાં કહ્યું, “શું માંરા શેઠે આ અરામી નામાંનને તે જે ભેટ લાવ્યો તે સ્વીકાર્યા વિના જ એમને એમ જવા દીધો? યહોવાના સમ. હું દોડતો તેની પાછળ જાઉ છું અને તેની પાસેથી કંઈ લઈ આવું છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2KI.5.21" />એમ વિચારીને ગેહઝીએ નામાંનની પાછળ દોડતો નીકળી પડયો. જયારે નામાંને તેને પોતાની પાછળ દોડતો જોયો ત્યારે તે રથમાંથી તેને મળવા કૂદી પડયો અને બોલ્યો, “બધું કુશળ તો છે ને?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2KI.5.22" />તેણે કહ્યું, “બધું કુશળ છે. માંરા શેઠે મને મોકલ્યો છે. તેણે કહ્યું કે, ‘એફ્રાઈમના ટેકરી પ્રદેશના પ્રબોધકોના સમૂહમાંથી બે યુવાનો હમણાં જ આવ્યા છે, તેમને લગભગ 34 કિલો ચાંદી અને બે જોડી કપડાં જોઇએ છે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.5.23" />નામાંને કહ્યું, “જરૂર; ખુશીથી 68 કિલો લઈ જાઓ.” આ રીતે નામાંને તેને ખૂબ કિંમતી એવાં બે જોડ વસ્ત્રો આપ્યાં, અને બે થેલામાં લગભગ 68 કિલો ચાંદી આપી તે તેણે તેના નોકરોના માંથે ચઢાવી; અને તેઓ ગેહઝીએની આગળ ચાલવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="2KI.5.24" />જયારે ગેહઝીએ એલિશા રહેતો હતો તે ટેકરી પર પહોંચ્યો, ત્યારે તેણે પેલા બે માંણસો પાસેથી વસ્તુઓ લઈને ઘરમાં મૂકી દઈ તેમને મોકલી દીધા, પછી તેઓ વિદાય થયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.5.25" />જયારે તે અંદર જઈને પોતાના શેઠની આગળ ઊભો રહ્યો ત્યારે અલિશાએ કહ્યું, “ગેહઝીએ, તું કયાં ગયો હતો?”
</p>
<p style="p">ગેહઝીએ કહ્યું, “કયાંય નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2KI.5.26" />પણ એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “જયારે રથમાંથી કૂદીને કોઇ તમને મળવા આવ્યું, ત્યારે માંરો આત્માં તમાંરી સાથે નહોતો? આ કંઈ ભેટ લેવાનો પ્રસંગ છે? આ કંઈ પૈસા, કપડાં, જેતૂનની વાડીઓ, અને દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ ઘેટાં અને બળદો તથા દાસ અને દાસીઓ લેવાનો પ્રસંગ છે?
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<v id="27" bcv="2KI.5.27" />એથી નામાંનનો કોઢ તને અને તારા વંશજોને કાયમનો વળગશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">તે ક્ષણે જ ગેહઝીને તરત જ કોઢ ફૂટી નીકળ્યો, અને તેની ચામડી હિમ જેવી સફેદ થઈ ગઈ અને તે એલિશાથી દૂર ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<c id="6" />
<s style="s">એલિશા અને કુહાડી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.6.1" />એક દિવસે પ્રબોધકોના પુત્રો એલિશાની પાસે ગયા અને તેને કહ્યું, “તું જાણે છે કે, અમાંરી રહેવાની જગ્યા ઘણી સાંકડી છે,
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.6.2" />માંટે અમે યર્દન જઈએ અને દરેક જણ એક એક મોટું લાકડું લઈ આવીએ અને રહેવા માંટે નિવાસ બાંધીએ.”
</p>
<p style="p">એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “જાઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2KI.6.3" />ત્યારે એક જણ બોલ્યો, “આપ પણ આ સેવકો સાથે આવવાની કૃપા કરો.”
</p>
<p style="p">એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “સારું, હું આવીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.6.4" />અને તે તેમની સાથે ગયો. યર્દન પહોંચીને તેમણે લાકડાં કાપવા માંડયાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="2KI.6.5" />પણ થયું એવું કે એક જણ લાકડા કાપતો હતો, એવામાં તેની કુહાડી જળમાં પડી ગઇ; તે બોલી ઊઠયો, “ગુરુજી, એ કુહાડી તો કોઈની માંગી લાવેલી હતી!”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.6.6" />દેવના માંણસ એલિશાએ પૂછયું, “કયાં પડી?”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે પેલાએ જગ્યા બતાવી. પછી એલિશાએ એક લાકડી કાપીને તે જગાએ નાખી અને લોખંડની કુહાડીને તરતી કરી.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.6.7" />પછી તેણે કહ્યું, “ઉપાડી લે.” અને પેલા માંણસે હાથ લંબાવીને તે ઉપાડી લીધી.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ હડપ કરવા પ્રયત્નશીલ અરામ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.6.8" />અરામનો રાજા ઇસ્રાએલ સામે યુદ્ધે ચડયો હતો, એ દરમ્યાન તેણે પોતાના અમલદારોને ચર્ચા કરવા ભેગા કરી કહ્યું, “આપણે અમુક અમુક જગ્યાએ હુમલો કરવા માંગીએ છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.6.9" />પણ દેવભકત એલિશાએ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાને સંદેશો મોકલી ચેતવ્યો કે, “અમુક જગ્યાએ સાવધ રહેજો, કારણ, અરામીઓ ત્યાં હુમલો કરનાર છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.6.10" />આથી ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ દેવના માંણસ એલિશાએ કહેલી જગાએ માંણસો મોકલી આપ્યા. એલિશા દરેક વખતે ચેતવણી આપતો રહ્યો અને રાજા સાવધ થઈ જતો. આવું એક બે વાર નહિ અનેક વાર બન્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.6.11" />આથી અરામનો રાજા ખૂબ વ્યથિત થઇ ગયો અને તેણે પોતાના અમલદારોને ભેગા કરી કહ્યું, “તમાંરામાંથી કોણ ફૂટી ગયો છે અને આપણી વાત ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાને જણાવી દે છે? કોણ છે તે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2KI.6.12" />ત્યારે એક અમલદાર બોલ્યો, “મુરબ્બી રાજા, કોઈ નહિ, પણ ઇસ્રાએલમાં રહેતા પ્રબોધક એલિશા તમે તમાંરા શયનખંડમાં પણ જે શબ્દો ઉચ્ચારો છો, તે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાને કહી દે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.6.13" />રાજાએ કહ્યું, જાઓ, અને શોધી કાઢો કે, તે કયાં છે, “જેથી હું તેને માંણસો મોકલીને પકડાવી લઉં.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેને પછી જણાવવામાં આવ્યું કે, “પ્રબોધક અત્યારે દોથાનમાં છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.6.14" />એટલે તેણે એક મોટી ટુકડી રથો અને ઘોડાઓ સાથે ત્યાં મોકલી અને તેમણે રાતે પહોંચી જઈ શહેરને ઘેરી લીધું.
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<v id="15" bcv="2KI.6.15" />બીજે દિવસે વહેલી સવારે એલિશાનો ચાકર વહેલો ઊઠયો અને બહાર ગયો, તો તેણે એક સૈન્યની ટુકડીને રથો અને ઘોડાઓ સહિત શહેરને ઘેરો ઘાલીને પડેલી જોઈ, તે બોલી ઊઠયો, “હે શેઠ, હવે તમે શું કરશો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.6.16" />તેણે કહ્યું, “ગભરાઈશ નહિ, કારણ, જેઓ આપણી સાથે છે તેઓ તેમની સાથે જેઓ છે તેઓનાં કરતાં વિશેષ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.6.17" />પછી એલિશાએ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી કે, “હે યહોવા, તેની આંખો ખોલી નાખો અને તેને જોવા દો.”
</p>
<p style="p">યહોવાએ તેના ચાકરની આંખ ખોલી નાખી પછી ચાકરને એ જોઇને આશ્ચર્ય થયું કે નગરની આજુબાજુના પર્વતો અગ્નિ રથો અને ઘોડાઓથી ભરાઇ ગયા હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2KI.6.18" />અરામીઓ એલિશા તરફ ધસી આવ્યા, એટલે એલિશાએ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી, “હે યહોવા, તેઓને અંધ બનાવી દો.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને યહોવાએ એલિશા એ કહ્યા પ્રમાંણે તેમને આંધળા બનાવી દીધા.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.6.19" />પછી એલિશાએ તેમને કહ્યું, “તમે ખોટા રસ્તા પર છો. આ ખરું નગર નથી. તમે માંરી પાછળ આવો તમે જેને શોધો છો તેની પાસે હું તમને લઈ જઈશ.” પછી તે તેમને સમરૂન પાસે દોરી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.6.20" />તેઓ જ્યારે ત્યાં આવી પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે તરત જ એલિશાએ પ્રાર્થના કરી, “હે યહોવા, હવે તેઓની આંખો ઉઘાડો અને તેઓને જોવા દો.”
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<p style="p">પછી યહોવાએ તેઓની આંખો ઉઘાડી. તેઓએ જોયું કે તેઓ બરાબર ઇસ્રાએલના પાટનગર સમરૂનની વચ્ચોવચ છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="2KI.6.21" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ તેમને જોયા ત્યારે તેણે એલિશાને કહ્યું, “ધણી, હું એમનો વધ કરું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2KI.6.22" />તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “વધ ન કરીશ, જયારે તું તારી તરવાર અને ધનુષને જોરે માંણસોને કેદ પકડે છે ત્યારે પણ તેમનો વધ કરે છે ખરો? એમને ખાવાપીવાનું આપ અને પાછા પોતાના રાજા પાસે જવા દે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.6.23" />આથી રાજાએ તેમને સારું ખાવાનું આપ્યું, તેમનું ધ્યાન રાખ્યું અને તેઓને તેઓના રાજા પાસે પાછા સ્વદેશ મોકલી દીધા. ત્યારબાદ અરામી ધાડપાડુ ટૂકડીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલ પર કદી હુમલો કર્યા નહિ.
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<s style="s">સમરૂનમાં ભયંકર ભૂખમરો
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2KI.6.24" />આ પછી એવું બન્યું કે, અરામના રાજા બેન-હદાદે પોતાનું આખું લશ્કર ભેગું કર્યુ અને સમરૂનને ઘેરો ઘાંલ્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="2KI.6.25" />શહેરમાં લોકો ભારે ભૂખમરો વેઠતા હતા. દુકાળ એટલો લાંબો ચાલ્યો હતો કે ગધેડાનું 1 માંથું ચાંદીના 80 સિક્કામાં વેચાતું હતું. પા કિલો “કબૂતરની અઘારના” 5 ચાંદીના સિક્કા વચાંવી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2KI.6.26" />એક દિવસ ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા નગરના કોટ ઉપરથી પસાર થતો હતો, ત્યારે એક સ્ત્રીતેની સામે આવી અને તેને અરજ કરી, “હે રાજા, અમને મદદ કરો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2KI.6.27" />રાજાએ કહ્યું, “જો યહોવા તને મદદ ન કરતા હોય, તો હું તને કયાંથી મદદ કરવાનો હતો? તને આપવા માંટે માંરી પાસે નથી અનાજ કે નથી દ્રાક્ષારસ.”
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<v id="28" bcv="2KI.6.28" />પછી રાજાએ તેને પૂછયું, “શી બાબત છે?”
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<p style="p">પેલી સ્રીએ કહ્યું, “આ સ્રીએ મને એમ કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘તું તારો પુત્ર આપ અને આપણે આજે તેને ખાઈશું અને માંરા પુત્રને આવતી કાલે ખાઈશું.’
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<v id="29" bcv="2KI.6.29" />તેથી અમે માંરા પુ્ત્રનું માંસ રાંધીને ખાધું, બીજે દિવસે મેં જયારે તેને કહ્યું, ‘હવે તારા પુત્રને માંરી નાખ કે, આપણે તેનું માંસ ખાઈએ.’ ત્યારે તેણે તેને સંતાડી દીધો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2KI.6.30" />જેવું રાજાએ આ સાંભળ્યું કે તેણે દુ:ખના માંર્યા પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડી નાખ્યાં. જ્યારે રાજા નગરના કોટ પરથી જતો હતો ત્યારે લોકોએ જોયું કે રાજાએ તેના કપડાંની નીચે શણના કપડાં પહેર્યા હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2KI.6.31" />તે બોલ્યો, “જો આજે હું શાફાટના પુત્ર એલિશાનું માથું તેના ધડ પર રહેવા દઉં, તો યહોવા મારી આવી અને આથી ય ખરાબ હાલત કરો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="2KI.6.32" />એલિશા પોતાના ઘરમાં બેઠો હતો અને તેની સાથે વડીલો બેઠા હતા. રાજાએ અગાઉથી એક સંદેશવાહક મોકલ્યો હતો, પણ તે પહોંચે તે પહેલાં જ એલિશાએ વડીલોને કહ્યું હતું કે, “જોયું? એ જન્મજાત ખૂનીએ મારું માથું ઉડાવી દેવાને માણસ મોકલ્યો છે. સાવધ રહેજો. સંદેશવાહક આવે ત્યારે બારણાં વાસી દેજો અને તેને અંદર પ્રવેશવા દેશો નહિ, એની પાછળ જ આવતા એના રાજાનાં પગલાં નથી સંભળાતાં?”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="2KI.6.33" />હજી તો એલિશા આ વાત કરતો હતો, ત્યાં જ રાજા આવી પહોંચ્યો, અને બોલ્યો, “આ આફત જરૂર યહોવા તરફથી આવેલી છે! મારે યહોવા પાસેથી વધારે મદદની અપેક્ષા શા માટે રાખવી જોઈએ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.7.1" />એલિશાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે: ‘આવતી કાલે આ સમયે સમરૂનના બજારમાં એક શેકેલની સાટે એક માપ લોટ અને એક શેકેલ સામે બે માપ જવ વેચાશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2KI.7.2" />ત્યારે રાજાના અંગત મદદનીશે દેવના માણસ એલિશાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “જો યહોવા આકાશમાં બારીઓ કરે તો પણ એ વાત બની શકે શું?”
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<p style="p">અને તેણે કહ્યું કે, “જો તું તે નજરે જોશે, પણ તેમાંથી ખાવા પામશે નહિ.”
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<s style="s">અરામી તંબૂ ખાલી જોતા રોગીઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2KI.7.3" />હવે નગરના દરવાજા આગળ ચાર લોકો જેઓને ચામડીનો રોગ થયો હતો; તેઓ એકબીજાને પૂછતાં હતા, “આપણે શા માટે બેઠાં છીએ?
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<v id="4" bcv="2KI.7.4" />જો આપણે શહેરમાં જવાનો વિચાર કરીએ તો ત્યાં ભૂખમરો છે, અને આપણે મરી જઈશું. જો આપણે અહીં રહીએ છીએ તો ય આપણું મોત નિશ્ચિત છે, તો ચાલો, આપણે અરામીઓની છાવણીમાં ચાલ્યા જઈએ; તેઓ જો આપણને જીવતદાન આપશે, તો આપણે જીવી જઈશું, અને મારી નાખશે તોયે શું, મરી જઈશું!”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.7.5" />આથી સંધ્યા સમયે તેઓ અરામીઓની છાવણીએ જવા નીકળી પડયા; પણ જયારે તેઓ છાવણીની હદમાં પહોચ્યાં ત્યારે ત્યાં કોઈ નહોતું.
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.7.6" />કારણ, યહોવાએ એવું કર્યું કે અરામીઓને રથો, ઘોડાઓ અને મોટા સૈન્યના અવાજ જેવો અવાજ સંભળાયો, અને તેથી છાવણીમાં વાત ફેલાઈ ગઈ કે, “ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ હિત્તીઓના અને મિસરના રાજાઓને આપણા પર હુમલો કરવા મોકલ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.7.7" />તેથી સંધ્યાકાળે જ તેઓ તેમના ઘોડાઓ, તંબુઓ અને બીજી બધી વસ્તુઓ છોડીને ભાગી ગયા, અને તેઓએ તેમનો પડાવ છોડી દીધો અને તેમનો જીવ બચાવવા માટે ભાગી ગયા.
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<s style="s">દુશ્મનના પડાવમાં રોગીઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.7.8" />રકતપિત્તના રોગીઓ છાવણીમાં પહોંચીને એક તંબુમાથી બીજા તંબુમાં ગયા, ત્યાં તેઓએ ખાધું-પીધું, વળી તેઓને સોનું ચાંદી અને વસ્ત્રો જે મળ્યું તે લઇ લીધું અને તેને સંતાડી દીધું.
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<v id="9" bcv="2KI.7.9" />પછી તેઓએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું, “આપણે જે કરી રહ્યાં છીએ તે બરાબર નથી. આ તો ઉજવણીનો દિવસ છે અને આપણે નગરના લોકોને જણાવતા નથી! જો આપણે સવાર સુધી રાહ જોઇશું, તો એ તો ગુનો હશે તેથી ચાલો, આપણે રાજાના મહેલ પાસે પાછા જઇએ અને રાજાને કહીએ કે શું થયું હતું.”
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<s style="s">ખુશખબર આપતા રોગીઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.7.10" />આથી તેઓ ગયા, અને નગરના દરવાજાના ચોકીદારોને બૂમ પાડીને કહ્યું, “અમે અરામીઓની છાવણીએ ગયા હતા, ત્યાં કોઈ માણસો ન હતાં કે ન હતો કશો અવાજ, ફકત ઘોડા અને ગધેડાં બાંધેલાં હતાં, અને તંબૂઓ જેમના તેમ ઊભા હતા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.7.11" />પછી દરવાજાના ચોકીદારોએ બૂમ પાડીને રાજાના મહેલમાં ખબર પહોંચાડી.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.7.12" />હજી તો અંધારું હતું ત્યાં જ ઊઠીને રાજાએ પોતાના અમલદારોને કહ્યું, “અરામીઓએ શું કર્યુ છે તે હું તમને કહું છું, તે લોકો જાણે છે કે આપણે ભૂખે મરીએ છીએ, આથી તેઓ છાવણી છોડીને વગડામાં સંતાઈ ગયા છે. તેમણે એમ ધાર્યુ છે કે, ‘એ લોકો શહેરમાંથી બહાર આવશે એટલે આપણે તેમને જીવતા પકડી લઈશું અને શહેરમાં દાખલ થઈ જઈશું.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.7.13" />રાજાના અમલદારોમાંના એકે કહ્યું, “તમે કોઇને સત્ય જાણવા ત્યાં મોકલશો તો સારું થશે. ભલે થોડા માણસો નગરમાં બાકી બચેલા ઘોડામાંથી પાંચ ઘોડાને લઇને જાય, આ ઘોડાઓ જો મરી જશે તો તેમનું નશીબ ઇસ્રાએલના નશીબથી જુદું નહિ હોય આખરે તો આપણે બધાં પણ મરી જવાના છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.7.14" />આથી તેમણે બબ્બે ઘોડા જોડેલા બે રથ તૈયાર કરાવ્યા અને અરામીઓ ક્યાં સંતાઇ ગયા છે “તેની તપાસ કરવા માટે બે રથચાલકોને મોકલવામાં આવ્યા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.7.15" />તેઓ યર્દન સુધી પાછળ પાછળ ગયા, તો આખો રસ્તો અરામીઓએ ગભરાટમાં ને ગભરાટમાં ફેંકી દીધેલાં વસ્ત્રો અને સરસામાનથી છવાઈ ગયેલો હતો. સંદેશવાહકોએ પાછા આવીને રાજાને ખબર આપી.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.7.16" />પછી લોકોએ બહાર જઈને અરામીઓની છાવણી લૂંટી લીધી, અને યહોવાએ કહ્યું હતું તેમ એ દિવસે સમરૂનના બજારમાં એક માપ મેંદો એક શેકેલે અને બે માપ જવ એક શેકેલે વેચાયાં
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.7.17" />રાજાએ પોતાના અંગત મદદનીશને શહેરના દરવાજાની ચોકી કરવા રોકયો હતો; પણ લોકોએ તેને ત્યાં જ પગ તળે છૂંદીને મારી નાખ્યો. આમ રાજા જયારે દેવના માણસ એલિશાને મળવા આવ્યો હતો ત્યારે એલિશાએ જે વાતની ભવિષ્યવાણી કરી હતી તે સાચી પડી.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.7.18" />એલિશાએ રાજાને કહ્યું હતું કે, “આવતી કાલે, આ વખતે સમરૂનના દરવાજા પાસે એક માપ મેંદો એક શેકેલે અને બે માપ જવ એક શેકેલે વેચાશે.” આમ પણ પ્રબોધકે રાજાને કહ્યું હતું.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.7.19" />ત્યારે એ અમલદારે કહ્યું હતું કે, “યહોવા આકાશમાં બારીઓ પાડે તો પણ આ સાચું પડે એમ છે ખરું?” અને એલિશાએ જવાબ આપ્યો હતો કે, “તું તારી સગી આંખે એ જોવા પામશે. જો કે એમાનું કશું તું ખાવા નહિ પામે.”
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<v id="20" bcv="2KI.7.20" />અને એમ જ બન્યું; લોકોએ તેને દરવાજા આગળ જ પગ નીચે કચડી નાખ્યો અને તે મરી ગયો.
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<s style="s">શૂનેમની સ્ત્રીની સંપતિનું પુન:સ્થાપન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.8.1" />જે સ્રીના છોકરાને એલિશાએ ફરી સજીવન કર્યો હતો તેને તેણે કહ્યું હતું કે, “તું તારા પરિવાર સાથે ચાલી જા અને જયાં નિવાસ મળે ત્યાં કોઈ પરદેશમાં રહે, કારણ, યહોવા દેશમાં સાત વર્ષનો દુકાળ પાડનાર છે અને તે આવી પહોંચ્યો જાણ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2KI.8.2" />તે સ્રીએ ઝટપટ દેવના માણસ એલિશાના કહેવા પ્રમાણે કર્યું; તે તેના કુટુંબ સાથે નીકળી પડી, અને સાત વર્ષ સુધી પલિસ્તીઓના દેશમાં રહી.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.8.3" />સાત વર્ષ પૂરાં થતાં તેણે પાછાં આવીને પોતાનું ઘર અને જમીન પાછાં મેળવવા માટે રાજાને જઈને ફરિયાદ કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.8.4" />હવે બન્યું એવું કે રાજા એલિશાના નોકર ગેહઝીની સાથે વાત કરતો હતો, તે કહેતો હતો, “દેવના માણસ એલિશાએ કરેલા બધા ચમત્કારોની તું મને વાત કર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.8.5" />ગેહઝી રાજાને એલિશાએ સજીવન કરેલા છોકરાની વાત કરતો હતો, ત્યાં જ તે સ્ત્રીએ રાજાને પોતાનું ઘર અને જમીન પાછાં અપાવવા વિનંતી કરી, એટલે ગેહઝી બોલ્યો, “મારા મુરબ્બી અને રાજા, આ જ તે સ્ત્રીછે અને આ જ તેનો છોકરો છે, જેને એલિશાએ સજીવન કર્યો હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.8.6" />રાજાએ તે સ્રીને પૂછયું, “શું આ સાચી વાત છે?”
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<p style="p">સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “હા, એવું જ બન્યું હતું.” તેથી રાજાએ એક અધિકારીને આજ્ઞા કરી કે, આ સ્ત્રીની માલિકીનું જે સર્વ છે તે તેને સોંપી દેવામાં આવે અને તેની ગેરહાજરીમાં તેની જમીનમાં આ જ સુધી થયેલી ઊપજનાં નાણાં પણ તેને આપવામાં આવે.
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<s style="s">હઝાએલને એલિશા પાસે મોકલતો બેન-હદાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.8.7" />પછી એલિશા અરામના પાટનગર દમસ્કમાં ગયો, ત્યાં બેન-હદાદ, રાજા માંદગીમાં પથારીવશ હતો, અને તેને ખબર મળી કે, “દેવના માણસ છેક આપણે આંગણે આવ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.8.8" />જ્યારે રાજાએ એ જાણ્યું, ત્યારે તેણે હઝાએલને કહ્યું, “કંઈ ભેટ લઈને એલિશા ને મળવા જા. તેમની મારફતે યહોવાને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરીને જાણી લાવ કે, હું આ માંદગીમાંથી સાજો થઈશ કે કેમ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.8.9" />આથી હઝાએલ દમસ્કની ઉત્તમોત્તમ વસ્તુઓથી લાદેલાં 40 ઊંટો ભેટરૂપે સાથે લઈને એલિશાને મળવા ગયો. દેવના માણસ સમક્ષ જઈ તેમની સામે ઊભા રહીને તેણે કહ્યું, “તમારા દીકરા અરામના રાજા બેન-હદાદે મને તમને એ પૂછવા મોકલ્યો છે કે, હું મારી માંદગીમાંથી સાજો થઈશ ખરો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.8.10" />એલિશાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “જા અને તેને એમ કહે કે, ‘તું ચોક્કસ સાજો થશે’ પરંતુ યહોવાએ મને જણાવ્યું કે, ‘તું જરૂર મરણ પામશે.’”
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<s style="s">હઝાએલ વિષે પ્રબોધ કરતો એલિશા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.8.11" />પછી એલિશા તેની સામે જ્યાં સુધી તે ક્ષોભ પામ્યો ત્યાં સુધી અનિમેષ ષ્ટિથી જોતો રહ્યો પછી દેવનો માણસ રડી પડયો.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.8.12" />હઝાએલે પૂછયું, “સાહેબ, કેમ રડો છો?”
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<p style="p">એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “કારણ તમે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જે જે નુકસાન કરવાના છો તેની મને ખબર છે: તમે તેમના કિલ્લાઓ બાળી મૂકશો, તેમના ચુનંદા યોદ્ધાઓની હત્યા કરશો, તેમનાં બાળકોને ભોંય પર પછાડશો, અને તેમની સગર્ભા સ્રીઓનાં પેટ ચીરી નાખશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.8.13" />હઝાએલ બોલ્યો, “પણ આ સેવક તે શી વિસાતમાં? હું તો એક કૂતરો માત્ર છું, એવું મોટુ કામ શી રીતે કરી શકું?”
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<p style="p">એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “તું અરામનો રાજા થવાનો છે તે યહોવાએ મને બતાવ્યું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.8.14" />હઝાએલ એલિશા પાસેથી નીકળીને પાછો પોતાના રાજા પાસે આવ્યો.
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<p style="p">તેણે તેને પૂછયું, “એલિશાએ તને શું કહ્યું?” તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “તમારા સાજા થવાની જાણ એલિશાએ મને કરી છે.”
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<s style="s">બેન-હદાદ મારતો હઝાએલ
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.8.15" />બીજે દિવસે હઝાએલે એક ધાબળો લીધો. તેને પાણીમાં પલાળ્યો, પછી તેને રાજાના મોં પર વીંટાળી દીધો. રાજા ગૂંગળાઈને મરણ પામ્યો, તેની જગાએ હઝાએલ રાજા થયો.
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<s style="s">રાજ શરૂ કરતો યોરામ
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.8.16" />તે આહાબના પુત્ર યોરામનું ઇસ્રાએલ પરના શાસનનું પાંચમું વર્ષ હતું જ્યારે યહોશાફાટનો પુત્ર યહોરામ યહૂદાનો રાજા થયો.
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<v id="17" bcv="2KI.8.17" />યહોરામ ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 32 વર્ષની હતી, અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં આઠ વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યું.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.8.18" />તે આહાબની પુત્રીને પરણ્યો હતો એટલે તેણે આહાબના કુટુંબની જેમ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓને પગલે ચાલી યહોવાની નજરમાં ખોટું ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યું.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.8.19" />પરંતુ યહોવા યહૂદાનો વિનાશ કરવા માગતાં નહોતા, કારણ કે તેમનો પોતાનો સેવક દાઉદ જેને તેમણે વચન આપ્યું હતું કે, હું તારા વંશનો દીવો હંમેશા ઝળહળતો રાખીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.8.20" />યહોરામના શાસનકાળ દરમ્યાન, અદોમીઓ યહૂદાના શાસનમાંથી છૂટા પડી ગયા અને પોતાના માટે એક રાજા પસંદ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2KI.8.21" />યહોરામ પોતાના બધા રથો લઇને યર્દન નદીને સામે કાંઠે અને તેના રથના સેનાપતિઓ સાથે સાઈર ચાલ્યો ગયો. પછી રાત્રે ઊઠીને અદોમીઓ પર હુમલો કર્યો જેણે તેને ઘેરી લીધા હતા.પણ તેની લશ્કરી ટૂકડીઓ પોતાના ઘરે નાસી ગઇ.
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<v id="22" bcv="2KI.8.22" />આ રીતે અદોમે બળવો કર્યો હતો અને યહૂદાના શાસન માંથી મુકિત મેળવી હતી. જે આજ દિવસ સુધી આ પ્રમાણે જ છે.
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<p style="p">લિબ્નાહે પણ યહૂદા સામે આજ રીતે બળવો કર્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.8.23" />યહોરામના શાસન દરમ્યાનનાં બીજાં બનાવો અને તેણે કરેલા કાર્યો
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓના ઈતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2KI.8.24" />ત્યાર પછી યહોરામ પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો. અને તેને દાઉદના નગરમાં તેના પિતૃઓ ભેગો દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર અહાઝયા ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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<s style="s">રાજ શરૂ કરતો અહાઝયા
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.8.25" />જયારે યહોરામનો પુત્ર અહાઝયા રાજા બન્યો તે સમયે ઇસ્રાએલમાં આહાબનો પુત્ર યોરામ ઇસ્રાએલ પર શાસન કરતો હતો અને આ તેના શાસનનું બારમું વર્ષ ચાલતું હતું.
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<v id="26" bcv="2KI.8.26" />અહાઝયા રાજા થયો ત્યારે તે બાવીસ વર્ષનો હતો, પણ તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં માત્ર એક વર્ષ સુધી રાજ્ય કર્યું, તેની માતાનું નામ અથાલ્યા હતું, તે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા ઓમ્રીની પુત્રી હતી.
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<v id="27" bcv="2KI.8.27" />તે આહાબના કુટુંબને પગલે ચાલ્યો અને આહાબના કુટુંબની જેમ તેણે યહોવાની નજરમાં ખોટું ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યું. કારણ, તે એ કુટુંબ સાથે લગ્ન સંબંધથી જોડાયેલો હતો.
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<s style="s">હઝાએલ સામેના યુદ્ધમાં ઘાયલ યોરામ
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2KI.8.28" />અહાઝયા આહાબના પુત્ર યોરામ જોડે અરામના રાજા હઝાએલ સામે રામોથ ગિલયાદ મુકામે યુદ્ધે ચડયો, પણ અરામીઓએ યોરામને ઘાયલ કર્યો.
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<v id="29" bcv="2KI.8.29" />રાજા યોરામ જે અરામના રાજા હઝાએલ સાથે લડતાં ઘાયલ થયો હતો, તે તેમાંથી સાજો થવા પાછો યિઝએલ ચાલ્યો ગયો, તે માંદો હતો તેથી અહાઝયા તેની ખબર કાઢવા યિઝએલ ગયો.
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<s style="s">યેહૂનો રાજયાભિષેક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.9.1" />આ સમયે એલિશાએ યુવાન પ્રબોધકોમાંના એકને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “તું તૈયાર થા; અને તેલની આ બરણી લઈને રામોથ-ગિલયાદ જા.
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.9.2" />તું ત્યાં પહોંચે એટલે નિમ્શીના પુત્ર યહોશાફાટના પુત્ર યેહૂને શોધી કાઢજે, તેને પોતાના મિત્રોથી છૂટો પાડજે અને અંદરની ઓરડીમાં લઈ જજે.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.9.3" />પછી આ તેલની કુપ્પીમાંથી તેના માથા પર તેલ રેડજે અને કહેજે કે, ‘આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે, હું તારો ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કરું છું.’ પછી બારણાં ઉઘાડીને જીવ લઈને ભાગી જજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.9.4" />તેથી યુવાન પ્રબોધક રામોથ-ગિલયાદ જવા તરત જ નીકળ્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2KI.9.5" />તે ત્યાં પહોંચ્યો ત્યારે તેણે લશ્કરના ઉપલા અમલદારોને ભેગા થયેલા જોયા.
</p>
<p style="p">તે બોલ્યો, “સેનાપતિ સાહેબ, હું આપને માટે એક સંદેશો લાવ્યો છું.”
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<p style="p">યેહૂએ પૂછયું, “તે કોને માટે છે?” અને તેણે કહ્યું, “સાહેબ, તમારા માટે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.9.6" />પછી યેહૂ ઊઠીને ઘરમાં ગયો અને પ્રબોધકે તેના માથા પર તેલ રેડી દીધું અને કહ્યું, “આ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાનાં વચન છે, ‘હું તારો યહોવાના લોકો પર ઇસ્રાએલીઓના રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કરું છું.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.9.7" />તારે તારા રાજા આહાબના કુટુંબને મારી નાખવાનું છે. ઇઝેબેલ અને તેણીના કુટુંબને મારીને હું મારા સેવકો તથા પ્રબોધકોના ખૂનનો બદલો લઇશ. આહાબના આખા કુટુંબનો નાશ કરવાનો છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="2KI.9.8" />હું આહાબના કુટુંબના પ્રત્યેક માણસનો સંહાર કરીશ.
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<v id="9" bcv="2KI.9.9" />નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમના કુટુંબનો અને અહિયાના પુત્ર બાઅશાના કુટુંબનો મેં નાશ કર્યો છે, તેમજ આહાબના કુટુંબનો પણ હું નાશ કરીશ.
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<v id="10" bcv="2KI.9.10" />યિઝએલમાં આહાબની પત્ની ઈઝેબેલનું માંસ કૂતરા ખાશે, અને તેને દાટનાર કોઈ હશે નહિ.’”
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<p style="p">પછી તેણે બારણું ઉઘાડયું અને દોડી ગયો.
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<s style="s">યેહૂને રાજા ઘોષિત કરતા નોકરો
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.9.11" />યેહૂ તેના મિત્રોની પાસે પાછો ગયો. તેઓમાંના એકે તેને પૂછયું, “પેલા પાગલ માણસને શું જોઈતું હતું? બધું કુશળ તો છે ને?”
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<p style="p">યેહૂએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “તમને તે માણસ કેવા પ્રકારની વાતો કરે છે તે ખબર છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2KI.9.12" />અમલદારો બોલી ઊઠયા, “વાત ઉડાવો નહિ, સાચેસાચું કહી દો.” ત્યારે યેહૂએ કહ્યું, “તેના કેહવાનો સાર આ હતો: ‘તેણે કહ્યું, આ યહોવાના વચન છે: હું તો તારો ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કરું છું.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.9.13" />વાત સાંભળીને તે લોકોએ પોતાના ઝભ્ભા ઉતારી નાખી તેને ચરણે સીડીના પગથિયા પર પાથરી દીધા, અને રણશિંગડું વગાડી પોકાર કર્યો. “યેહૂ રાજા છે!”
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<s style="s">યિઝએલ જતો યેહૂ
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.9.14" />આ રીતે નિમ્શીના પુત્ર યહોશાફાટના પુત્ર યેહૂએ યોરામ સામે કાવત્રું કર્યું, દરમ્યાન યોરામ અને ઇસ્રાએલનું આખું લશ્કર અરામના રાજા હઝાએલ વિરૂદ્ધ રામોથ-ગિલયાદમાં ઇસ્રાએલનું રક્ષણ કરતાં હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.9.15" />પણ ઘાયલ થયા પછી યોરામ સાજો થવા માટે યિઝએલ પાછો ફર્યો હતો, જે માણસો ત્યાં યેહૂની સાથે હતા તેઓને યેહૂએ કહ્યું, “જો તમે મને રાજા બનાવવા ઇચ્છતા હો તો આપણે અહીં જે વાત કરી છે તેની તમારામાંથી કોઇપણ યિઝએલમાં જઇને આ વાત કહેશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.9.16" />પછી યેહૂ પોતાના રથમાં બેસીને યિઝએલ જવા નીકળ્યો, કારણ, યોરામ ત્યાં પથારીવશ હતો અને યહૂદાનો રાજા અહાઝયા ત્યાં ગયો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.9.17" />યિઝએલના બૂરજ પરના ચોકીદારે યેહૂને તેના લશ્કર સાથે આવતો જોઈને બૂમ પાડી, “મારા જોવાંમાં એક ટૂકડી આવતી દેખાય છે.”
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<p style="p">ત્યારે યોરામે કહ્યું, “એક ઘોડેસવારને મોકલીને પૂછાવો કે તેઓ શાંતિ માટે આવે છે કે કેમ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2KI.9.18" />ઘોડેસવાર યેહૂને મળ્યો અને કહ્યું, “રાજા પૂછે છે કે, ‘તમે શાંતિ માટે આવ્યા છો કે નહિ?’”
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<p style="p">યેહૂએ કહ્યું, “અમે શાંતિ માટે આવ્યા છીએ કે નહિ તેનું તારે શું કામ છે?”
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<p style="p">આવો, મને અનુસરો ચોકીદારે રાજાને ખબર આપી કે, “આપણો માણસ ત્યાં જઈને તેમને મળ્યો છે, પણ તે પાછો ફર્યો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.9.19" />રાજાએ બીજો ઘોડેસવાર મોકલ્યો, તેણે ત્યાં પહોંચીને કહ્યું, “રાજા પૂછાવે છે કે, તમે શાંતિ માટે આવો છો ને?”
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<p style="p">યેહૂએ કહ્યું, “અમે શાંતિ માટે આવ્યા છીએ કે નહિ તેનું તારે શું કામ છે? આવો મને અનુસરો”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.9.20" />ચોકીદારે ખબર આપી, “આપણો માણસ ત્યાં ગયો હતો અને તેને મળ્યો છે, પણ પાછો ફર્યો નથી. તેની ઘોડા પર બેસવાની રીત પરથી લાગે છે કે એ યેહૂ છે, કારણ કે તે અહીં ગાંડાની જેમ આવી રહ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2KI.9.21" />યોરામે કહ્યું, “મારો રથ તૈયાર કરો.”
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<p style="p">અને રથ તૈયાર થતાં જ ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા યોરામ અને યહૂદાનો રાજા અહાઝયા પોતપોતાના રથમાં યેહૂનો સામનો કરવા નીકળી પડયા અને નાબોથના ખેતર આગળ તેનો ભેટો થઈ ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2KI.9.22" />યોરામે યેહૂને જોતાં જ પૂછયું, “શાંતિ માટે આવ્યો છે ને?”
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<p style="p">યેહૂએ કહ્યું “તમારી માનાં ઈઝેબેલ મૂર્તિપૂજા અને કામણટૂમણ કર્યા કરતાં હોય ત્યારે શાંતિ કયાંથી હોય?”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.9.23" />આ સાંભળીને યોરામે રથ ફેરવીને ભાગતાં ભાગતાં અહાઝયાને બૂમ પાડીને કહ્યું, “દગો દગો, અહાઝયા!”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2KI.9.24" />પણ યેહૂએ ધનુષ્ય ચડાવીને યોરામને બે ખભા વચ્ચે વીંધી નાખ્યો; બાણ તેના હૃદયને વીંધીને પાર નીકળી ગયું અને તે રથમાં જ ઢળી પડયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.9.25" />યેહૂએ પોતાના મદદનીશ બિદકારને કહ્યું, “એને ઉપાડીને નાબોથના ખેતરમાં નાખી દે. યાદ છે, તું અને હું એના બાપ આહાબની પાછળ પાછળ ઘોડે બેસીને આવતા હતા ત્યારે યહોવાએ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ એવી દેવવાણી ઉચ્ચારી હતી ને યાદ કર. યહોવા કહે છે;
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<v id="26" bcv="2KI.9.26" />ગઈકાલે મેં નાબોથનું અને તેના પુત્રોનું રકત નજરે નિહાળ્યું છે. હું પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરું છુ કે, ‘એ જ ખેતરમાં હું તારા પર બદલો લઈશ.’ આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું. માટે એને ઉપાડીને ખેતરમાં ફેંકી દે અને યહોવાની વાણી સાચી પાડ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2KI.9.27" />યહૂદાના રાજા અહાઝયાએ જ્યારે આ બધું જોયું કે તરત જ તે બેથ-હાગ્ગાનને રસ્તે ભાગી ગયો. પણ યેહૂએ તેનો પીછો પકડયો. અને કહ્યું, “એને પણ મારી નાખો.”
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<p style="p">યિબ્લઆમ પાસે આવેલા ગૂરના ચઢાવ આગળ તેઓએ તેને તેના રથમાં મારી નાખ્યો; તેણે મગિદૃોમાં આશરો લીધો. અને તે ત્યાં મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<v id="28" bcv="2KI.9.28" />ત્યાં જ તેનું અવસાન થયું. તેના નોકરો તેને રથમાં યરૂશાલેમ લઈ ગયા અને દાઉદના નગરમાં પિતૃઓ સાથે કબરમાં દફનાવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2KI.9.29" />આહાબના પુત્ર યોરામના ઇસ્રાએલ ઉપરના શાસનના અગિયારમાં વર્ષે અહાઝયા એ યહૂદા પર રાજ્ય કરવાનું શરું કર્યુ.
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<s style="s">ઈઝેબેલનું ભયંકર મૃત્યુ
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2KI.9.30" />યેહૂ યિઝએલ પહોચી ગયો, ઈઝેબેલને બધી વાતની જાણ થઈ ગઇ હતી, તેણે આંખોનો શણગાર કર્યો, માથું ઓળ્યું અને બારીમાંથી જોવા લાગી.
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<v id="31" bcv="2KI.9.31" />જેવો યેહૂ નગરના દરવાજે પહોચ્યો કે તરત જ તે બોલી, “ઓ ખૂની, તું તો તારા ધણીનો ખૂની છે! તું અહીં શાંતિ થી આવ્યો છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="2KI.9.32" />યેહૂએ બારી તરફ ઊંચું જોયું અને કહ્યું, “મારા પક્ષે કોણ છે? કોઈ છે?”
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<p style="p">બેત્રણ અમલદારોએ ઉપરથી તેના તરફ જોયું.
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<v id="33" bcv="2KI.9.33" />એટલે તે બોલ્યો, “તેણીને નીચે ફેકી દો.”
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<p style="p">તેથી તે લોકોએ તેણીને નીચે ફેંકી દીધી, તેના લોહીંનાં છાંટા થોડા ભીંત પર અને થોડા ઘોડાઓ પર પડ્યા જેમણે તેને કચડીને મારી નાખી હતી.
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<v id="34" bcv="2KI.9.34" />પછી તે ખાવા અને પીવા માટે અંદર ગયો અને કહ્યું, “આ શાપિત સ્રીને લઇ જાવ અને તેને દફનાવો; કારણ કે આખરે તો તે રાજાની પુત્રી હતી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="2KI.9.35" />જ્યારે તેઓ દફનાવવા ગયા ત્યારે ખોપરી, પગ તથા હાથની હથેળી સિવાય બીજું કઇ ન મળ્યું.
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<v id="36" bcv="2KI.9.36" />તેમણે પાછા આવીને યેહૂને વાત કરી ત્યારે તે બોલ્યો, “યહોવાએ પોતાના સેવક તિશ્બી એલિયા મારફત ઉચ્ચારેલાં આ વચન છે;
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<v id="37" bcv="2KI.9.37" />‘યિઝએલના પ્રદેશમાં કૂતરાઓ ઇઝેબેલના મૃત શરીરનું માંસ ખાશે, આ મૃતદેહ ઇસ્રાએલની ભૂમિનું ખાતર બનશે; અને કોઈને ખબર નહિ પડે કે આ ઈઝેબેલનું શરીર હતું.’”
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<c id="10" />
<s style="s">યેહૂ સમરૂનના અમલદારોને લખે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.10.1" />આહાબને 70 પુત્રો હતા જે સમરૂનમાં રહેતા હતા. યેહૂએ સમરૂન શહેરના અમલદારોને, વડીલોને અને આહાબના વંશજોના વાલીઓને લખ્યું;
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.10.2" />“તમારા રાજાનાં પુત્રો તમારી પાસે છે, તમારી પાસે રથ અને ઘોડા છે, તમારી પાસે કિલ્લેબંધ નગરો અને શસ્રો પણ છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.10.3" />એટલે આ પત્ર પહોંચતાં જ તમારા ધણીના વંશજોમાંથી જે સૌથી સારો અને લાયક હોય તેને તેના પિતાની રાજગાદીએ બેસાડો અને તમારા ધણીના વંશ માટ યુદ્ધે ચડો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.10.4" />પણ તેઓ અતિશય ભયભીત થઈ ગયા અને બોલ્યા, “બબ્બે રાજાઓ તેની સામે ટકી ન શકયા, તો પછી આપણે કેમ કરી ટકી શકીશું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.10.5" />આથી મહેલના મુખ્ય કારભારીઓએ, વડીલોએ, અમલદારોએ અને છોકરાઓના વાલીઓએ યેહૂને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “અમે આપના તાબેદાર છીએ. આપ જે કહેશો તે અમે કરીશું, પણ અમે કોઈને રાજા જાહેર કરવાના નથી. આપને જે ઠીક લાગે તેમ કરો.”
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<s style="s">આહાબનાં સંતાનો મારતા સમરૂનના વડીલો
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.10.6" />ત્યારે યેહૂએ તેમને બીજો પત્ર લખ્યો અને જણાવ્યું, “જો તમે મારે પક્ષે હો, અને મારું કહ્યું કરવા તૈયાર હો, તો આવતી કાલે આ વખતે તમારા રાજાના પુત્રોનાં માથા લઈને યિઝએલમાં મારી સમક્ષ હાજર થઈ જાઓ.”
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<p style="p">રાજાના 70 રાજકુમારો શહેરના મુખ્ય માણસોનાં હવાલામાં હતાં જેઓ તેમની સુખાકારી માટે જવાબદાર હતાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.10.7" />જયારે આ પત્ર તેમને પહોંચ્યો ત્યારે તેમણે રાજાના 70 રાજકુમારોને મારી નાખ્યા, અને તેમનાં માથાં ટોપલીઓમાં ભરીને યેહૂને યિઝએલ મોકલી આપ્યાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="2KI.10.8" />સંદેશવાહકે આવીને યેહૂને ખબર આપી કે, “એ લોકો રાજકુંવરોનાં માથાં લઈ આવ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p">ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, “બે ઢગલા કરીને તે માથાં કાલ સવાર સુધી શહેરના દરવાજા આગળ રહેવા દો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.10.9" />બીજે દિવસે દરવાજામાંથી બહાર આવીને લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમારો કોઈ દોષ નથી. એ તો હું છું કે જેણે મારા ધણીની સામે કાવતરું કરીને તેને મારી નાખ્યો; પણ આ બધાને કોણે મારી નાખ્યા?
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<v id="10" bcv="2KI.10.10" />તમે એ જરૂર સમજી લો કે, યહોવાએ આહાબના કુટુંબ વિરૂદ્ધ ઉચ્ચારણો કર્યા છે અને તેણે જે કહ્યું છે એ બધું જ બનશે. યહોવાએ પોતાના સેવક એલિયા મારફતે સંદેશો મોકલ્યો હતો અને તેણે જે કહ્યું હતું તે સાચું કરી બતાવ્યું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.10.11" />ત્યાર પછી યેહૂએ આહાબના વંશના યિઝએલમાં બાકી રહેલા સૌને તેમજ તેના ઉમરાવોને, નિકટના મિત્રોને અને તેના યાજકોને મારી નાખ્યા, કોઈને જીવતો જવા ન દીધો.
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<s style="s">અહાઝયાના સબંધીઓ મારતો યેહૂ
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2KI.10.12" />પછી યેહૂ સમરૂન જવા નીકળ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="2KI.10.13" />રસ્તામાં તેને અહાઝયાના (સબંધીઓ) મળ્યા, તેણે તેમને પૂછયું, “તમે કોણ છો!”
</p>
<p style="p">તેમણે કહ્યું, “અમે અહાઝયાના સબંધીઓ છીએ અને અમે રાજાનાં અને રાણીનાં સંતાનોને મળવા જઈએ છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.10.14" />યેહૂએ કહ્યું, “એ લોકોને જીવતા કેદ પકડો.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેમને જીવતા પકડવામાં આવ્યા પછી, ત્યાં જે ખાડો હતો તેની પાસે તેમને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યા. એ લોકો 42 હતા, તેમને એકને પણ જીવતો જવા ન દીધો.
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<s style="s">યહોનાદાબને મળતો યેહૂ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.10.15" />ત્યાંથી નીકળીને તે જવા લાગ્યો, ત્યારે સામેથી રેખાબનો પુત્ર યહોનાદાબ તેને મળવા આવતો હતો. તેમણે એકબીજાની કુશળતા પૂછી. પછી યેહૂએ તેને કહ્યું, “હું તારા પ્રત્યે જેવો વિશ્વાસુ છું તેવો તું મારા પ્રત્યે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">યહોનાદાબે કહ્યું, “હા છું.”
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<p style="p">પછી યેહૂએ કહ્યું, “તારો હાથ મને આપ.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને યેહૂએ તેને રથમાં પોતાની બાજુએ ખેંચી લીધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.10.16" />યેહૂએ તેને જણાવ્યું, “તું મારી સાથે ચાલ, અને યહોવાને માટે મેં શું શું કર્યુ છે તે જો!”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી તેણે યહોનાદાબને પોતાની સાથે રથમાં બેસાડી દીધો.
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<v id="17" bcv="2KI.10.17" />સમરૂનમાં દાખલ થતાં જ તેણે ત્યાં બચવા પામેલા આહાબના કુટુંબીજનોની હત્યા કરી, અને આમ, યહોવાએ એલિયાને કહ્યું હતું તે મુજબ તેના વંશનો નાશ કર્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">બઆલના સેવકોને બોલાવતો યેહૂ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2KI.10.18" />પછી યેહૂએ બધાં લોકોને ભેગા કરીને કહ્યું, “આહાબે તો બઆલ દેવની થોડી સેવા કરી હતી, પણ યેહૂ તેની ઘણી વધારે સેવા કરનાર છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.10.19" />બઆલના તમામ પ્રબોધકો અને યાજકોને બોલાવો. તેઓની સાથે તેઓના બધા જ અનુયાયીઓને પણ હાજર રાખો. એક પણ વ્યકિત બાકી રહેવો જોઈએ નહિ. કારણ કે આપણે, બઆલના ભકતોએ ભેગા થઈને તેની પૂજા માટે મોટી ઉજવણી કરવાની છે. બઆલના માણસોમાંનો જે કોઈ અહીં નહિ આવે તેને મારી નાખવામાં આવશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ બઆલના ભકતોને મારી નાખવા માટેનું યેહૂનું આ ષડયંત્ર હતું.
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<v id="20" bcv="2KI.10.20" />યેહૂએ હુકમ કર્યો. “બઆલને માટે એક પવિત્ર મેળો બોલાવો.” અને મેળો બોલાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="2KI.10.21" />યેહૂએ પોતે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલમાં સંદેશવાહકો મોકલ્યા અને બઆલના બધા જ સેવકો ભેગા થયા. એક પણ માણસ આવ્યા વગર રહ્યો નહિ. તે બધા બઆલના મંદિરમાં એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી ભરાયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2KI.10.22" />પછી યેહૂએ પૂજાનાં વસ્ત્રોના ભંડારીને કહ્યું, “બઆલના બધા સેવકો માટે વસ્ત્રો લાવ.” એટલે તે લઈ આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.10.23" />પછી યેહૂ અને રેખાબનો પુત્ર યહોનાદાબ લોકોને સંબોધન કરવા મંદિરના અંદરના ભાગમાં ગયા; તેઓએ કહ્યું, “જેઓ બઆલનું ભજન કરે છે તેઓ જ અહીં હોવા જોઈએ તે ખાસ ધ્યાનમાં રાખજો. જેઓ યહોવાનું ભજન કરે છે તેઓમાંનો કોઈ અહીં હોવો જોઈએ નહિ!”
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<v id="24" bcv="2KI.10.24" />પછી તે યજ્ઞો અને દહનાર્પણો આપવા અંદર ગયો.
</p>
<p style="p">યેહૂએ 80 માણસોને બહાર ગોઠવ્યા હતા અને તેમને કહ્યું હતું કે, “હું તમને સોંપી દઉં છું. એમાંના કોઈને પણ તમારામાનો જે કોઈ જીવતો જવા દેશે તે પોતે જીવતો નહિ રહે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.10.25" />દહનાર્પણ પછી તેણે નાયકો અને ચોકીદારોને કહ્યું, “અંદર જાઓ અને બધાંને મારી નાખો, એકનેય જવા દેશો નહિ.”
</p>
<p style="p">ચોકીદાર અને નાયકોએ અંદર જઈને એકેએકની હત્યા કરતાં કરતાં છેક બઆલના મંદિરના ગર્ભગૃહ સુધી પ્રયાણ કર્યું.
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<v id="26" bcv="2KI.10.26" />બઆલના મંદિરમાં જે સ્તંભ હતો તેને તેઓ બહાર લઇ આવ્યા અને તેને બાળી મૂકયો.
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<v id="27" bcv="2KI.10.27" />આ રીતે તેઓએ બઆલના સ્તંભનો વિનાશ કરી નાખ્યો. તેઓએ બઆલના દેવનું મંદિર તોડી પાડ્યું અને તે જગ્યાને જાહેર શૌચાલય બનાવી દીધું જે આજે પણ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2KI.10.28" />આ રીતે યેહૂએ ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી બઆલને સંપૂર્ણ રીતે સમાપ્ત કરી નાખ્યું.
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<v id="29" bcv="2KI.10.29" />જે ઇસ્રાએલ પાસે પાપ કરાવતો હતો તે નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમને ફકત યેહૂ રોકી ન શક્યો. બેથેલ અને દાનમાં ચાલતી સોનાના વાછરડાને પૂજવાની પ્રણાલીને તે બંધ ન કરી શક્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યેહૂનું ઇસ્રાએલ પર રાજ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2KI.10.30" />પછી યહોવાએ યેહૂને કહ્યું, “આહાબના પરિવારનો નાશ કરવા માટેની મારી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન તેઁ કર્યું છે તેથી હું તારા પુત્રને, પૌત્રને અને પ્રપૌત્રીને એમ ચોથી પેઢી સુધી તારા વંશજોને ઇસ્રાએલની ગાદી પર બેસાડીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2KI.10.31" />પણ યેહૂએ યહોવાના આદેશોનું હૃદયપૂર્વક પાલન ન કર્યું. યરોબઆમ ઇસ્રાએલ પાસે જે પાપ કરાવતો હતો તે કરવામાંથી પોતે દૂર રહી શક્યો નહિ.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલને હરાવતો હઝાએલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="2KI.10.32" />તે દિવસોમાં યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને નાનું બનાવવાની શરુઆત કરી. હઝાએલે તેમને તેમના પોતાનાજ પ્રદેશમાં હરાવીને તેમની ભૂમિ કબજે કરી.
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<v id="33" bcv="2KI.10.33" />યર્દનથી પૂર્વ તરફ, આનોર્ન નદી પાસે અરોએર સુધી, આખો પ્રદેશ જીતી લીધો, તેમાં ગિલયાદ અને બાશાનનો પ્રદેશ જેમાં ગાદના રૂબેનના અને મનાશ્શાના કુળસમૂહોના લોકો રહેતા હતા, તે આવી જતો હતો.
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<s style="s">યેહૂનું મૃત્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="2KI.10.34" />યેહૂના રાજયનાં બીજાં બનાવો અને કાર્યો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓનાઁ કાળ વૃત્તાંતમાં</bk> નોંધેલા છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="2KI.10.35" />પછી યેહૂ પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો, અને તેને સમરૂનમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="36" bcv="2KI.10.36" />તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર યહોઆહાઝ ગાદીએ આવ્યો. યેહૂએ ઇસ્રાએલ પર સમરૂનમાં અઠ્ઠાવીસ વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું હતું.
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</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">યહૂદાની અથાલ્યાનું શાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.11.1" />અહાઝયાની માતા અથાલ્યાએ જાણ્યું કે તેનો પુત્ર મરણ પામ્યો છે, તે સમયે તેણે રાજાના કુટુંબનો સંહાર કરવાનું શરૂ કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2KI.11.2" />પણ રાજકુમારોની હત્યા ચાલતી હતી ત્યાં અહાઝયાની બહેન અને રાજા યોરામની પુત્રી યહોશેબાએ અહાઝયાના પુત્ર યોઆશને અને તેની દાસીને લઇ જઇને શયનખંડમાં પૂરી દીધાં આમ, તેણે તેને અથાલ્યાથી છુપાવી દીધો અને તેનો વધ થતો રહી ગયો,
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2KI.11.3" />તે છ વર્ષ સુધી દાસી સાથે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં છુપાઈ રહ્યો અને એ દરમ્યાન અથાલ્યા દેશ પર રાજ કરતી રહી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.11.4" />સાતમે વષેર્ મુખ્ય યાજક યહોયાદાએ રાજાના અને મહેલના રક્ષણદળને અને તેના નાયકોને બોલાવી મંગાવ્યા. અને તેમને મંદિરમાં પોતાની પાસે બોલાવ્યા. તેણે તેમની સાથે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં કરાર કર્યો. પછી તેણે તે લોકોને રાજકુમારને બતાડ્યો અને તેમની પાસે વચન લેવડાવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.11.5" />“તમારે આ પ્રમાણે કરવાનું છે: તમારી પાસે સૈન્યની ત્રણ ટૂકડી છે, જેઓ વિશ્રામવારે ફરજ પર આવે છે. તેમાની એક ટૂકડીએ મહેલની ચોકી કરવાની છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.11.6" />બીજી અને ત્રીજી ટૂકડીના માણસો મુખ્ય દરવાજે અને પાછળના દરવાજે ચોકી કરે. આ રીતે તમે લોકોને મંદિરથી દૂર રાખી શકશો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.11.7" />જેઓને વિશ્રામવારે રજા છે તે બે ટુકડીઓએ યહોવાના મંદિરે પહેરો ભરી પોતપોતાનાં શસ્રો સાથે રાજાનું રક્ષણ કરવાનું છે. જે કોઈ તમારી હરોળને ભેદવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે તેને મારી નાખવાનો છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="2KI.11.8" />રાજા જયાં જયાં જાય કે આવે, ત્યાં ત્યાં તમારે તેની સાથે રહેવાનું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.11.9" />તેથી અધિકારીઓએ યહોયાદાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યું, તેમણે વિશ્રામવારે કામ ન કરતા પોતાના બધા માણસોને એકઠા કર્યા અને તેમને લઈને તેઓ યાજક યહોયાદા પાસે આવ્યા.
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<v id="10" bcv="2KI.11.10" />યાજકે સો સૈનિકોની ટૂકડીના નેતાને રાજા દાઉદના ભાલા અને ઢાલ આપ્યાં જે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં રખાયા હતાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.11.11" />પછી એ રક્ષકો શસ્ર સજીને મંદિરના દક્ષિણ ખૂણાથી તે ઉત્તર ખૂણા સુધી, વેદીને અને યહોવાના મંદિરને ઘેરીને રાજાનું રક્ષણ કરવા ગોઠવાઈ ગયા.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.11.12" />પછી યહોયાદા રાજકુંવર યોઆશને સંતાડયો હતો ત્યાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યા. અને તેના માથા પર રાજમુગટ મૂકયો. તેને કરારની નકલ આપી અને રાજા તરીકે તેનો અભિષેક કર્યો. લોકોએ તાળીઓ પાડીને પોકાર કર્યો, “રાજા ઘણું જીવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.11.13" />લોકોનાં પોકાર સાંભળીને અથાલ્યા યહોવાના મંદિરે પહોંચી ગઈ.
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<v id="14" bcv="2KI.11.14" />જઈને જોયું તો, લોકો ટોળે વળ્યાં હતાં અને રીતરિવાજ મુજબ રાજા મંચ પર ઊભો હતો, અને બધાં દેશજનો હર્ષના પોકારો કરીને રણશિગડાં વગાડતાં હતા. અથાલ્યાએ રોષમાં આવી પોતાનાં કપડાં ફાડી નાખ્યાં અને તે જોરથી બૂમ પાડી ઊઠી, “રાજદ્રોહ! રાજદ્રોહ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.11.15" />યાજક યહોયાદાએ સેનાના નાયકોને હુકમ કર્યો, “એને મંદિરની બહાર લઈ જાઓ, યહોવાના મંદિરમાં એનો વધ કરવો નહિ, અને જે કોઈ એની સાથે આવે તેની હત્યા કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.11.16" />તેથી તે લોકોએ તેને પકડી લીધી અને ઘોડાને દરવાજેથી તેને રાજમહેલમાં લઈ ગયા; ત્યાં તેનો વધ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.11.17" />યહોયાદા રાજાએ, યહોવા અને પ્રજા વચ્ચે કરાર કર્યો કે તેઓ બધા યહોવાને વિશ્વાસુ રહેશે. તેણે રાજા અને પ્રજા વચ્ચે પણ કરાર કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2KI.11.18" />પછી દેશના બધા લોકોએ બઆલના મંદિરે જઈ તેને તોડી પાડયું. તેમણે તેની વેદીઓ અને મૂર્તિઓ તોડી નાખી અને બઆલના યાજક માત્તાનને વેદીઓ સામે જ મારી નાખ્યો.
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<p style="p">યાજકે યહોવાના મંદિરનું રક્ષણ કરવા માટે ચોકીદારો ગોઠવી દીધા.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.11.19" />પછી રાજાના અને મહેલના રક્ષકદળના નાયકોને તથા દેશના બધા લોકોને સાથે લઈ રાજાને યહોવાના મંદિરમાંથી રક્ષકોને દરવાજે થઈને રાજમહેલમાં પહોંચાડી દીધો. યોઆશે રાજ સિંહાસન પર આસન લીધું.
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<v id="20" bcv="2KI.11.20" />અથાલ્યાનો રાજમહેલમાં વધ કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો એટલે દેશના બધા લોકો ખૂબ આનંદમાં આવી ગયા, અને શહેરમાં સર્વત્ર શાંતિ વ્યાપી ગઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2KI.11.21" />યોઆશ જ્યારે રાજ કરવા આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર સાત વર્ષની હતીં.
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<c id="12" />
<s style="s">યોઆશ શાસન કરે છે
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.12.1" />યેહૂના ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા તરીકેના શાસનના સાતમે વષેર્ યોઆશ રાજા બન્યો હતો, અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં ચાળીસ વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ હતું. તેની માનું નામ સિબ્યા હતું અને તે બેરશેબાની હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.12.2" />યહોયાદા યાજકના ઉપદેશાનુસાર તેણે જીવન પર્યત યહોવાની નજરમાં સાચાં ગણાય એવાં કાર્યો કર્યા હતાં.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.12.3" />તેમ છતાં ઉચ્ચસ્થાનોનો નાશ કરવામાં આવ્યો નહોતાં, અને લોકોએ ત્યાં ધૂપ ચડાવવાનું અને દહનાર્પણો ચાલુ રાખ્યા હતા.
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<s style="s">યહોઆશનો મંદિર જીણોર્દ્ધારનો હુકમ
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.12.4" />યોઆશે યાજકોને કહ્યું હતું કે, “મંદિરમાં અર્પણ તરીકે આવેલી રકમ, માથાદીઠ ઉઘરાવેલી જકાત, તથા લોકોએ સ્વેચ્છાએ મંદિરમાં આપેલી રકમ યાજકોએ સ્વીકારવી જોઇએ.
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<v id="5" bcv="2KI.12.5" />અને જયાં જયાં મંદિરમાં સમારકામ કરવાની જરૂર હોય ત્યાં ત્યાં સમારકામ કરાવે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.12.6" />પરંતુ યાજકોએ યોઆશ રાજાના ત્રેવીસમા વર્ષ સુધી મંદિરમાં જરૂરી કોઈ પણ પ્રકારનું સમારકામ કરાવ્યું નહોતું.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.12.7" />તેથી રાજાએ બીજા યાજકોને બોલાવડાવ્યા, અને તેમને પૂછયું, “તમે મંદિરનું સમારકામ કેમ કરાવતા નથી? હવેથી તમારે તમારા ભંડારમાંથી કોઇ પૈસા લેવાના નથી, કારણ કે તે પૈસા તમને મંદિરના સમારકામ માટે આપવામાં આવ્યા હતાં.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.12.8" />યાજકો લોકો પાસેથી કોઇ પૈસા ન લેવા તેમજ મંદિરનું સમારકામ બંધ કરાવવા માટે કબૂલ થયાં.
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<v id="9" bcv="2KI.12.9" />પછી યહોયાદા યાજકે એક મોટી પેટી બનાવડાવી, તેના ઢાંકણામાં કાણું પડાવ્યું અને તેણે એ પેટીને મંદિરના પ્રવેશદ્વાર પાસે બલિદાનની વેદીની જમણી બાજુએ મૂકાવી. મંદિરના દરવાજે કામ કરતા યાજકો લોકો મંદિરમાં જે કોઈ પૈસા લાવતા તે બધાં તે પેટીમાં નાખતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.12.10" />તેમાં મૂકેલાં નાણાંથી પેટી જયારે ભરાઈ જતી ત્યારે રાજાનો નાણામંત્રી અને મુખ્ય યાજક એ નાણાં ગણીને થેલીઓમાં મૂકતાં હતાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.12.11" />પછી એ તોળેલાં-ગણેલાં નાણાં તેઓ સમારકામ પર દેખરેખ રાખનારાઓને આપતા હતા. તેઓ આ નાણાં સુથાર, કડિયા,
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.12.12" />લાકડાના વેપારીઓ, પથ્થર અને ઇટના વેપારીઓ, અને જેઓએ યહોવાના મંદિરના બાંધકામ માટે સામગ્રી આપી હોય તેમને અને યહોવાના મંદિરના સમારકામ માટેની સામગ્રી લેવા માટે આપતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.12.13" />આ નાણાં યાજકો યહોવાના મંદિર માટે વાપરતા હતાં પણ ચાંદીનાં પ્યાલા, કાતરો, વાસણો, રણશિંગડાં અથવા કોઇપણ જાતના સોના-ચાંદીના વાસણો આ પૈસામાંથી નહોતા લેતાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="2KI.12.14" />પણ તેઓ આ નાણાંમાંથી કારીગરોને મજૂરી ચૂકવતા અને સમારકામનું ખર્ચ કરતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="2KI.12.15" />જે દેખરેખ રાખનારા મુકાદૃમોને એ નાણાં કારીગરોને ચૂકવવા માટે આપવામાં આવતાં હતાં તેમની પાસે કશો હિસાબ માગવામાં આવતો નહોતો, કારણ કે તેઓ પ્રામાણિક અને વિશ્વાસુ હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.12.16" />દોષાર્થાર્પણ તથા પાપાર્થાર્પણ માટે આપેલાં નાણાં યહોવાના મંદિરમાં લાવવામાં આવતાં નહિ; એ સીધાં યાજકોને તેમના પોતાના ઉપયોગ માટે આપવામાં આવતાં હતાં. આ નાણાં પેલી પેટીમાં મૂકવામાં આવતાં નહિ.
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<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમને ઇસ્રાએલથી બચાવતો હઝાએલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.12.17" />આ અરસામાં અરામનો રાજા હઝાએલ ગાથની સામે યુદ્ધે ચડયો અને તેને કબજે કરી યરૂશાલેમ પર હુમલો કરવાની તૈયારી કરવા લાગ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2KI.12.18" />તેથી યહૂદિયાના રાજા યોઆશે તેના પિતૃઓએ, એટલે કે યહૂદિયાના રાજાઓ યહોશાફાટે, યહોરામે તથા અહાઝયાએ જે સર્વ પવિત્ર વસ્તુઓ અર્પણ કરી હતી તે તથા તેની પોતાની અર્પણ કરેલી વસ્તુઓ, તેમજ યહોવાના મંદિરના તથા રાજાના મહેલના ભંડારમાંથી જે સોનું મળી આવ્યું તે સર્વ લઈને અરામના રાજા હઝાએલ પર મોકલ્યાં; એટલે તે યરૂશાલેમથી જતો રહ્યો.
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<s style="s">યહોઆશનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.12.19" />યોઆશના બીજાં કાર્યો અને તેના શાસન દરમ્યાન બનેલા બનાવો
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસના</bk> પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.12.20" />તેના પોતાના નોકરો તેની વિરૂદ્ધ થઇ ગયાં. અને સિલ્લાના માર્ગ પર આવેલા મિલ્લો મુકામે તેના પોતાના ઘરમાં તે માર્યો ગયો.
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<v id="21" bcv="2KI.12.21" />તેને ઇજા કરીને મારનાર લોકો શિમઆથનો પુત્ર યોઝાખાર અને શોમેરનો પુત્ર યહોઝાબાદ હતા.
</p>
<p style="p">તેમણે તેને દાઉદના નગરમાં તેના પિતૃઓ ભેગો દફનાવી દીધો અને તેના પુત્ર અમાસ્યાને તેની પછી રાજા બનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<c id="13" />
<s style="s">યહોઆહાઝનું શાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.13.1" />જ્યારે યહૂદાના રાજા યોઆશ રાજયકાળના ત્રેવીસમા વર્ષમાં હતો ત્યાંરે યેહૂનો પુત્ર યહોઆહાઝ ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બન્યો. તેણે સમરૂનમાં સત્તર વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2KI.13.2" />તેણે યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ અને નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમે જે પાપકમોર્ કર્યા હતા તે ચાલુ રાખ્યાં, તેણે તે છોડ્યા નહિ.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.13.3" />તેથી યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પર ગુસ્સે થયા. અને તેણે તેમને વષોર્ સુધી અરામના રાજા હઝાએલને અને તેના પુત્ર બેન-હદાદને ગુલામ તરીકે સોંપી દીધાં.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પર દયાળુ દેવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.13.4" />પરંતુ યહોઆહાઝે યહોવાને પ્રસન્ન કરવા પ્રાર્થના કરી અને યહોવાએ તેની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી, કારણ અરામના રાજાએ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને કેવો ત્રાસ આપ્યો હતો, તે તેણે જોયું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.13.5" />યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને એક છોડાવનાર આપ્યો અને તેણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને અરામના પંજામાંથી મુકત કર્યા અને તેઓ ફરી પોતાનાં ઘરમાં પહેલાંની જેમ સુખશાંતિમાં રહેવા લાગ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.13.6" />છતાં યરોબઆમે તેમની પાસે જે પાપકમોર્ કરાવ્યાં હતાં તે તેમણે છોડયાં નહિ. સમરૂનમાં અશેરા દેવીની એક પ્રતિમા પણ હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.13.7" />યહોઆહાઝ પાસે કોઇ સૈન્ય નહોતું સિવાય કે 50 ઘોડેસવાર, 10 રથ અને 10,000 સૈનિકો કારણ કે અરામના રાજાએ તેના બાકીના સૈન્યનો નાશ કરી નાખ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.13.8" />યહોઆહાઝના શાસનના બીજાં બનાવો અને તેણે કરેલાં કાર્યો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="2KI.13.9" />પછી યહોઆહાઝ મરી ગયો અને તેને સમરૂનમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, પછી તેનો પુત્ર યોઆશ ગાદી પર બેઠો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યોઆશનું ઇસ્રાએલ પર શાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.13.10" />જ્યારે યહૂદાના રાજા યોઆશના શાસનના સાડત્રીસ વર્ષમાં હતો, ત્યારે યહોઆહાઝનો પુત્ર યોઆશ સમરૂનમાં ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થયો અને તેણે સોળ વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું,
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.13.11" />તેણે યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કર્યું અને નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમે જે પાપ કમોર્ કર્યા હતાં તે કરવાનું તેણે ચાલું રાખ્યું, તેણે તે વસ્તુઓ છોડી નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.13.12" />રાજાનું શાસન, તેમાં બનેલા અને તેણે કરેલાં મહાન કાર્યો તેણે યહૂદાના અમાસ્યા સામે લડેલી લડાઇ સહિત, બધું
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલું છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2KI.13.13" />અને, યોઆશ મરી ગયો અને તેને સમરૂનમાં ઇસ્રાએલના બધા રાજાઓ ભેગો દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો પછી, તેની જગ્યાએ, યરોબઆમ રાજા બન્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">એલિશાની મુલાકાતે યહોઆશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.13.14" />જયારે એલિશા ભયંકર માંદગીમાં પથારીવશ થઈ ગયો ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા યોઆશ તેની પાસે જઈને રડવા લાગ્યો અને બોલ્યો, “હે મારા પિતા! મારા પિતા! તમે તો ઇસ્રાએલના રથ અને ઘોડેસવાર છો!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.13.15" />એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “ધનુષબાણ લઈ આવ.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને તેણે ધનુષબાણ મંગાવ્યાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.13.16" />પછી એલિશાએ રાજાને કહ્યું, “ધનુષ્ય પર બાણ ચડાવ.” અને તેણે ચડાવ્યું, એલિશાએ પોતાના હાથ તેના હાથ પર મૂકયા અને કહ્યું,
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<v id="17" bcv="2KI.13.17" />“પૂર્વ તરફની બારી ઉઘાડી નાખ.” અને યોઆશે તેમ કર્યુ, પછી એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “બાણ છોડ.” અને તેણે છોડયું,
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે એલિશા બોલ્યો, “એ અરામ પરના યહોવાના વિજયનું બાણ હતું. તું અરામને એફક પાસે પૂરેપૂરી હાર આપીશ!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2KI.13.18" />“હવે બીજા બાણ ઉપાડી લે.” એલિશાએ કહ્યું, રાજાએ બાણ ઉપાડી લીધાં એટલે એલિશાએ કહ્યું, “જમીન પર પછાડ.”
</p>
<p style="p">રાજાએ ત્રણ વાર પછાડયાં અને પછી તે અટકી ગયો.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.13.19" />તેથી દેવના માણસ એલિશા તેના પર ગુસ્સે થયા અને રાજાને કહ્યું, “તારે જમીનમાં પાંચ કે છ બાણ મારવા જોઈતા હતાં. જો એમ કર્યું હોત તો અરામીઓનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ થઈ જાય ત્યાં સુધી તેં તેઓને પરાજય આપ્યો હોત, હવે તું અરામને ફકત ત્રણ જ વાર હરાવી શકીશ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">એલિશાની સમાધિ પાસે અદ્ભૂત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.13.20" />ત્યારબાદ એલિશાનું મૃત્યુ થયું અને તેને દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">વરસોવરસ મોઆબી દરોડાખોરોની ટોળીઓ દેશ પર આક્રમણ કરતી હતી.
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<v id="21" bcv="2KI.13.21" />એક વખત થોડાં લોકો (ઇસ્રાએલીઓ) એક માણસને દફનાવતા હતા. જેવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ મોઆબી સૈનિકોને જોયા, લોકો મૃતદેહને એલિશાની કબરની અંદર ફેંકી દઈને ભાગી ગયા. જેવો મૃતદેહ એલિશાનાં હાડકાંને અડ્યો કે મૃત માણસ જીવતો થઈ ગયો અને ઊઠીને ઊભો થઈ ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલી શહેરો ફરી જીતતો યહોઆશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2KI.13.22" />યહોઆહાઝના સમગ્ર રાજયશાસન દરમ્યાન અરામના રાજા હઝાએલે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પર ત્રાસ ગુજાર્યો હતો.
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<v id="23" bcv="2KI.13.23" />પણ યહોવાએ કૃપા કરીને તેમની દયા ખાધી. ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક અને યાકૂબ સાથે કરેલા કરારને કારણે તેની તેમના પ્રત્યે કૃપાદૃષ્ટિ હતી અને તેમનો નાશ કરવાની તેની ઇચ્છા નહોતી, તેમ અત્યાર સુધી તેણે તેમને પોતાની નજરથી દૂર પણ કર્યા નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2KI.13.24" />અરામનો રાજા હઝાએલ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તેનો પુત્ર બેનહદાદ તેની ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="2KI.13.25" />ત્યાર પછી યોઆશે તેમને ત્રણ વખત પરાજય આપ્યો, અને જે શહેરો હઝાએલના પિતા બેનહદાદે તેના પિતા યહોઆહાઝ પાસેથી લઇ લીધાં હતાં તે પાછાં કબજે કર્યાં.
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</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">યહૂદામાં અમાસ્યાનું રાજ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.14.1" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા યહોઆહાઝના પુત્ર યોઆશને બીજે વષેર્ યહૂદાના રાજા યોઆશનો પુત્ર અમાસ્યા રાજ કરવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.14.2" />તે ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 25 વર્ષની હતી, અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 29 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું. તેની માનું નામ યહોઆદ્દીન હતું અને તે યરૂશાલેમની હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.14.3" />અમાસ્યાએ યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિએ યોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યું. જો કે છેક પિતૃ દાઉદના જેવું તો નહિ જ, તે બધી બાબતમાં પોતાના પિતા યોઆશને પગલે ચાલ્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="2KI.14.4" />પણ તેણે મહત્વના સ્થાનકોનો, મહત્વની જગ્યાઓનો નાશ નહોતો કર્યો. અને લોકોએ ત્યાં બલિદાનો અર્પણ કરવાનું અને ધૂપ પેટાવવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.14.5" />તેનું શાસન સુસ્થાપિત થઇ ગયા પછી તરત જ તેણે પોતાના પિતાનું ખૂન કરનારા અમલદારોને મારી નાખ્યા,
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.14.6" />પણ તેમના બાળકોને જીવતા રહેવા દીધા, કારણ,
<bk>મૂસાની સંહિતામાં</bk> યહોવાએ જણાવેલું છે કે, “સંતાનોના ગુના માટે મા-બાપને કે મા-બાપના ગુના માટે સંતાનોને દેહાંતદંડ ન દેવો, પ્રત્યેકને તેના પોતાના પાપ માટે જ દેહાંતદંડ દેવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.14.7" />અમાસ્યાએ 10,000 અદોમીઓને મીઠાની ખીણમાં હરાવ્યા અને તેણે સેલા નગરને કબજે પણ કરી લીધું, તેણે તેનું નામ “યોકતએલ” પાડયું અને આજે એ જ નામે ઓળખાય છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહોઆશ વિરૂદ્ધ યુદ્ધ ઇચ્છતો અમાસ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.14.8" />પછી અમાસ્યાએ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા યોઆશને સંદેશો મોકલીને પડકાર કર્યો, “તારું સૈન્ય લઈને યુદ્ધ માટે આવી જા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.14.9" />રાજા યોઆશે અમાસ્યાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “લબાનોન કાંટાળી ઝાડીએ લબાનોનના એરેજવૃક્ષ પાસે સંદેશો મોકલ્યો છે, ‘મારે તારી દીકરી જોઇએ છે; મારા પુત્રની પત્ની બનવા માટે.’ પણ લબાનોનના જંગલી પશુઓએ આવીને કાંટાળી ઝાડીને કચડી નાખી.
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<v id="10" bcv="2KI.14.10" />સાચે જ તેં અદોમનો નાશ કર્યો છે માટે તને એનો ખૂબ ગર્વ છે. પણ મારી સલાહ છે કે તારી જીતથી સંતોષ માન અને તારા ઘેર જ બેસી રહે. તારા પોતાના પર અને યહૂદા પર એમ બંને પર શા માટે આફત નોતરે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.14.11" />છતાં અમાસ્યાએ સાંભળવાની ચિંતા કરી નહિ, તેથી ઇસ્રાએલનાં રાજા યોઆશ યુદ્ધે ચડયો, તે અને અમાસ્યા યહૂદામાં આવેલા બેથશેમશ આગળ બળનું પારખું કરવા ભેગા થયા.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.14.12" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યહૂદાના લોકોને હરાવ્યા અને તેઓ પોતાને ઘેર ભાગી ગયા. યહૂદાના રાજા અમાસ્યાને પકડયો અને યરૂશાલેમ ગયા.
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<v id="13" bcv="2KI.14.13" />ત્યાં તેણે એફ્રાઈમ દરવાજાથી તે ખૂણાના દરવાજા સુધીનો 400 હાથની યરૂશાલેમની ભીત તોડી પાડી.
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<v id="14" bcv="2KI.14.14" />તેણે બધું સોનું, ચાંદી, મંદિરમા મળી શકે તે બધાં વાસણો, અને રાજમહેલનો ખજાનો લઇ લીધો અને બંધકોને પણ લઇને તે સમરૂન પાછો ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.14.15" />યોઆશના શાસનનાં બીજાં બનાવો, તેનો વિજય અને યહૂદાના રાજા અમાસ્યા સાથેનાં તેનાં યુદ્ધો તે બધું
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.14.16" />આમ યોઆશ પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓ ભેગો સમરૂનમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર યરોબઆમ રાજગાદી પર આવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">અમાસ્યાનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.14.17" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા યોઆશના મૃત્યુ પછી યહૂદાનો રાજા અમાસ્યા 15 વર્ષ જીવ્યો.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.14.18" />અમાસ્યાના શાસન દરમ્યાનના બીજા બનાવો
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.14.19" />તેની સામે યરૂશાલેમમાં કાવતરું રચવામાં આવ્યું, તેથી તે લાખીશ ભાગી ગયો, પણ લાખીશ સુધી તેના દુશ્મનોએ હત્યારા મોકલીને તેનો પીછો કર્યો અને ત્યાં જ તેને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="20" bcv="2KI.14.20" />ઘોડસવારો મારફતે તેના મૃતદેહને યરૂશાલેમ લાવવામાં આવ્યો અને તેને દાઉદના નગરમાં તેના પિતૃઓ ભેગો દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદા પર રાજ શરૂ કરતો અઝાર્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2KI.14.21" />યહૂદાના બધા લોકોએ 16 વર્ષની ઉંમરના તેના પુત્ર અઝાર્યાને પસંદ કર્યો અને તેના પિતા પછી તેને રાજા બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="2KI.14.22" />અમાસ્યાના અવસાન પછી અઝાર્યાએ એલાથ યહૂદા માટે પાછું મેળવ્યું અને તેને ફરી બંધાવ્યું.
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</p>
<s style="s">યરોબઆમ બીજાનું ઇસ્રાએલ પર રાજ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.14.23" />યહૂદાના રાજા યોઆશના પુત્ર અમાસ્યાના શાસનના 15મા વષેર્ યોઆશનો પુત્ર યરોબઆમ સમરૂનમાં ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થયો અને તેણે 41 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું.
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<v id="24" bcv="2KI.14.24" />તેણે યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કર્યુ. નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને પાપકમોર્ કરવા પ્રેર્યા હતાં તે એણે છોડયાં નહિ,
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<v id="25" bcv="2KI.14.25" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાએ પોતાના સેવક ગાથ-હેફેરના પ્રબોધક આમિત્તાયના પુત્ર યૂના મારફતે ઉચ્ચારેલી વાણી પ્રમાણે યરોબઆમે હમાથના ઘાટથી તે મૃતસરોવર સુધીની ઇસ્રાએલની સરહદ પાછી મેળવી લીધી,
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<v id="26" bcv="2KI.14.26" />કારણ, યહોવાએ જોઈ લીધું હતું કે ઇસ્રાએલને કેવાં આકરાં કષ્ટો સહન કરવાં પડે છે અને ઇસ્રાએલની સાથે ચડે એવું કોઈ રહ્યું નહોતું.
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<v id="27" bcv="2KI.14.27" />પણ યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલના નામને ધરતીના પડ પરથી ભૂંસી ન નાખવાનો નિશ્ચય કર્યો હતો, આથી તેમણે યોઆશના પુત્ર યરોબઆમ મારફત તેમણે તેઓને વિજય અપાવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2KI.14.28" />યરોબઆમના શાસનના બીજા બનાવો, તેણે મેળવેલા વિજયો અને તેના પરાક્રમો અને તેણે દમસ્ક અને હમાથ પર ઇસ્રાએલનો કબજો પાછો મેળવી આપ્યો એ બધું
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં નોંધાયેલું છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="2KI.14.29" />પછી યરોબઆમ બીજો મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તેને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓ ભેગો સમરૂનમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર ઝખાર્યા રાજગાદી પર આવ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">યહૂદા પર શાસન કરતો અઝાર્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.15.1" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા યરોબઆમના રાજયના 27માઁ વષેર્ અમાસ્યાનો પુત્ર “અઝાર્યા” યહૂદાનો રાજા થયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.15.2" />તે ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 16 વર્ષની હતી. તેણે 52 વર્ષ યરૂશાલેમમાં રાજ કર્યું, તેની માતાનું નામ યખોલ્યા હતું, અને તેનું વતન યરૂશાલેમ હતું.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.15.3" />તેણે પોતાના પિતા અમાસ્યાની જેમ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ યોગ્ય ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કર્યું. તે ભલો રાજા હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="2KI.15.4" />મહત્વના ઉચ્ચસ્થાનોનો નાશ કર્યો નહિ, લોકોએ ત્યાં બલિદાનો આપવાનું અને ધૂપસળી પેટાવવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.15.5" />યહોવાએ તેને રકતપિત્તનો રોગી બનાવ્યો, અને મરતાં સુધી તે રોગથી પીડાતો રહ્યો. તેથી તેને બધા કાર્યોથી મુકત કરવામાં આવ્યો અને તે પોતાના ઘરમાં એકલો રહેતો હતો, તેનો પુત્ર યોથામે મહેલનો કબજો લઇને દેશના લોકો પર શાસન કર્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.15.6" />હવે અઝાર્યાનાં શાસનના બીજા બનાવો,
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.15.7" />તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તેને દાઉદના નગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર યોથામ રાજા બન્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઝખાર્યાનું ઇસ્રાએલ પર ટૂંક્ક શાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.15.8" />યહૂદાના રાજા અઝાર્યાના રાજયના 38માં વષેર્ યરોબઆમનો પુત્ર ઝખાર્યા સમરૂનમાં ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થયો, અને તેણે 6 મહિના રાજ કર્યું.
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<v id="9" bcv="2KI.15.9" />તેણે તેના પિતૃઓની જેમ યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ, તેણે નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસે જે પાપકમોર્ કરાવ્યાં હતાં તે પાપકમોર્ છોડયાં નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.15.10" />યાબેશના પુત્ર શાલ્લૂમે તેની વિરૂદ્ધ કાવતરું કર્યું. ઇબ્લામ ખાતે તેને મારી નાખ્યો અને તેના પછી તે પોતે ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.15.11" />ઝખાર્યાના શાસનનાં બીજા બનાવો અને તેના વિજયો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલનાઁ રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="2KI.15.12" />આમ, યહોવાએ યેહૂને જે કહ્યું હતું તે સાચું પડયું કે, “ચાર પેઢી સુધી તારા વંશજો ઇસ્રાએલની ગાદી પર બેસશે.” અને એમ જ થયું.
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</p>
<s style="s">શાલ્લૂમનું ઇસ્રાએલ પર ટૂંક શાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.15.13" />ઇસ્રાએલના નવા રાજાનું નામ શાલ્લૂમ હતું, તેના પિતાનું નામ યાબેશ હતું. તેણે સમરૂનમાં એક માસ રાજ કર્યું. એ રાજા થયો ત્યારે યહૂદામાં ઉઝિઝયા રાજા છેલ્લા 39 વર્ષથી રાજ કરતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.15.14" />ત્યારબાદ ગાદીના પુત્ર મનાહેમ તિર્સાહથી જઈને સમરૂનમાં પ્રવેશ કરી શાલ્લૂમને મારી નાખ્યો, અને તેના પછી પોતે ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.15.15" />રાજા શાલ્લૂમ અને તેણે કરેલાં કૃત્યો, તેના વર્ણનો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મનાહેમનું ઇસ્રાએલ પર રાજ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.15.16" />એ સમય દરમ્યાન મનાહેમ તિર્સાહથી આવ્યો અને તિફસાહને હરાવ્યો. તેણે નગરમાં તથા આજુબાજુના પ્રદેશોમાં વસતાં સૌ લોકોનો સંહાર કર્યો; કારણ કે એ લોકોએ તેના માટે નગરનાં દ્વાર ખોલ્યાં નહોતાં, તેણે નગરની સર્વ સગર્ભા સ્રીઓનાં પેટ ચીરી નાખ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.15.17" />યહૂદાના રાજા અઝાર્યાએ 39 વષોર્ સુધી શાસન કર્યુ અને તે વષેર્ ગાદીનો પુત્ર મનાહેમ ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થયો. અને તેણે સમરૂનમાં 10 વર્ષ શાસન કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="2KI.15.18" />તેણે યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કર્યું. તેણે નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમે શરું કરેલા પાપકમોર્ કરવાનાં ચાલુ રાખ્યાં. તેણે તે છોડ્યા નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.15.19" />તેના શાસન દરમ્યાન આશ્શૂરના રાજા પૂલે ઇસ્રાએલ પર આક્રમણ કર્યુ. ઇસ્રાએલમાં પોતાની સત્તા મજબૂત કરવામાં તેની મદદ મેળવવા માટે મનાહેમે તેને 34,000 કિલો<f caller="+"><fr>15:19
</fr><fk>34,000 કિલો
</fk><ft>1,000 તાલંત.</ft></f> ચાંદી આપી.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="2KI.15.20" />આ પૈસા મેળવવા માટે મનાહેમે ધનવાન લોકો પર કર નાખ્યો, દરેક પાસેથી 50 શેકેલ ચાંદી તેથી આશ્શૂરનો રાજા દેશમાં ન રહેતાં પાછો ચાલ્યો ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2KI.15.21" />મનાહેમના શાસનના બીજાં બનાવો અને તેણે કરેલા કાર્યો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="2KI.15.22" />આમ, મનાહેમ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તેને દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેના પછી, તેનો પુત્ર પકાહ્યા સિંહાસન પર બેઠો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પકાહ્યાનું ઇસ્રાએલ પર રાજ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.15.23" />યહૂદાના રાજા અઝાર્યાના રાજયના 50મે વષેર્ મનાહેમનો પુત્ર પકાહ્યા સમરૂનમાં ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થયો અને તેણે 2 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="2KI.15.24" />તેણે યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કર્યુ હતું. તેણે નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમે જે પાપકમોર્ શરુ કર્યા હતાં તે કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું, તેણે તે વસ્તુઓ છોડી નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.15.25" />રમાલ્યાનો પુત્ર પેકાહ તેનો સેનાપતિ હતો, તેણે તેની સામે બળવો કર્યો અને કાવતરું કર્યું; જેમાં તેણે સમરૂનનાં રાજમહેલના કિલ્લામાં 50 માણસોને મારી નાંખ્યા. તેણે અને ગિલયાદના 50 માણસોએ પકાહ્યાને, આગોર્બ અને આયેર્હને પણ ત્યાં મારી નાખ્યા. પછી પોતે ગાદી પર બેઠો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2KI.15.26" />પકાહ્યાનાઁ શાસનના બીજ બનાવો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પેકાહનું ઇસ્રાએલ પર રાજ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2KI.15.27" />યહૂદાના રાજા અઝાર્યાના રાજયના 52 મેં વષેર્ પેકાહ સમરૂનમાં ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થયો, જે રમાલ્યાનો પુત્ર હતો. તેણે 20 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="2KI.15.28" />તેણે યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કર્યું. નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસે જે પાપકમોર્ કરાવ્યાં હતાં તે કરવાનું તેણે ચાલું રાખ્યું. તેણે તે વસ્તુઓ છોડી નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2KI.15.29" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા પેકાહના શાસન દરમ્યાન આશ્શૂરનો રાજા તિગ્લાથે-પિલેસેરથી ચઢી આવીને ઇયોન, આબેલ બેથ-માઅખાહ, યાનોઆહ, કેદેશ, હાસોર, ગિલયાદ તેમ જ ગાલીલ અને નફતાલીના બધા પ્રદેશને સર કરી લીધાં અને ત્યાંના લોકોને આશ્શૂરમાં બંદી બનાવીને લઇ ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2KI.15.30" />યહૂદાના રાજા ઉઝિઝયાના પુત્ર યોથામના શાસનના વીસમે વષેર્ એલાહના પુત્ર હોશિયાએ રમાલ્યાના પુત્ર પેકાહ વિરૂદ્ધ કાવત્રું કરી, તેને મારી નાખ્યો અને પોતે રાજા બન્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2KI.15.31" />પેકાહનાઁ શાસનનાં બાકીનાઁ બનાવો અને બીજાં કાર્યો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદા પર રાજ કરતો યોથામ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="2KI.15.32" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા રમાલ્યાના પુત્ર પેકાહના શાસનના બીજા વર્ષ દરમ્યાન ઉઝિઝયાનો પુત્ર યોથામ યહૂદાનો રાજા થયો.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="2KI.15.33" />તે જ્યારે ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 25 વર્ષની હતી. તેણે યરૂશાલેમ પર 16 વર્ષ શાસન કર્યું. સાદોકની પુત્રી યરૂશા, તેની માતા હતી.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="2KI.15.34" />તેણે પોતાના પિતા ઉઝિઝયાની જેમ યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિએ યોગ્ય ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="2KI.15.35" />પરંતુ અગત્યની જગ્યાના થાનકોને હજી દૂર કરવામાં આવ્યાં નહોતાં, અને લોકો હજી ત્યાં બલિદાનો અર્પણ કરતાં હતાં અને ધૂપ બાળતા હતાં. (તે એ વ્યકિત હતો જેણે યહોવાના મંદિરનો ઉપરનો દરવાજો બંધાવ્યો હતો.)
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="2KI.15.36" />યોથામનાઁ શાસન દરમ્યાન બનેલા બાકીનાઁ બનાવો,
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="2KI.15.37" />એ સમય દરમ્યાન યહોવાએ અરામના રાજા રસીનને અને રમાલ્યાના પુત્ર પેકાહને યહૂદા પર ચડાઈ કરવા મોકલવા માંડયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="2KI.15.38" />પછી યોથામ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો, અને દાઉદના નગરમાં તેને દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર આહાઝ રાજા બન્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">આહાઝનું યહૂદા પર શાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.16.1" />રમાલ્યાના પુત્ર પેકાહના શાસનનું 17મું વર્ષ ચાલતું હતું, યહૂદાના રાજા યોથામનો પુત્ર આહાઝ રાજા બન્યો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2KI.16.2" />જ્યારે તે ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 20 વર્ષની હતી, તેણે યરૂશાલેમ પર 16 વર્ષ શાસન કર્યુ, તેણે દાઉદની જેમ પોતાના દેવ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ યોગ્ય ગણાય એવું કંઇ કર્યું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2KI.16.3" />તે ઇસ્રાએલી રાજાઓને પગલે ચાલ્યો; તેણે પોતાના પુત્રને પણ અગ્નિની આરપાર ચલાવ્યો હતો. આ એ લોકો દ્ધારા અનુસરાતી ઘૃણાજનક પ્રણાલી હતી, જેમને યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી હાંકી કાઢયા હતાં જ્યારે તેમણે ઇસ્રાએલ પર હુમલો કર્યો હતો
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2KI.16.4" />ત્યારે ડુંગરોને ટેકરીઓ પરનાં થાનકોએ, અને દરેક ઘટાદાર વૃક્ષો નીચે તે યજ્ઞો અને ધૂપ ચડાવતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.16.5" />આ સમય દરમ્યાન અરામના રાજા રસીન અને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા પેકાહ બિન રમાલ્યાએ યરૂશાલેમ પર ચડાઈ કરી આહાઝને ઘેરી લીધો, પણ તેને નમાવી ન શકયા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="2KI.16.6" />તે જ સમયે અરામના રાજા રસીને એલાથને પાછું કબજે કરી લીધું, ને તેણે એલાથમાંથી યહૂદીઓને હાંકી કાઢયાં. અરામીઓ એલાથમાં આવીને ત્યાં વસ્યા. આજ સુધી તેઓ ત્યાં જ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.16.7" />પછી આહાઝે આશ્શૂરના રાજા તિગ્લાથ પિલેસેરને સંદેશવાહકો મોકલીને કહેવડાવ્યું કે, “હું તથા આપના પુત્ર બરાબર છીએ. અને આપનો સેવક છું, આવો, અને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓ અને અરામીઓ સામે લડવામાં મારી મદદ કરો.”
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2KI.16.8" />આહાઝે મંદિરમાંના અને રાજમહેલના ભંડારમાંના સોનું તથા ચાંદી લઈને આશ્શૂરના રાજાને ભેટ મોકલી આપ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2KI.16.9" />આશ્શૂરના રાજાએ તેની વિનંતી માન્ય રાખી અને દમસ્ક પર ચડાઈ કરી તે કબજે કર્યું. અને ત્યાંના વતનીઓને કીરમાં દેશવટો આપ્યો અને અરામના રાજા રસીનને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.16.10" />રાજા આહાઝ જયારે આશ્શૂરના રાજા તિગ્લાથ પિલેસેરને મળવા દમસ્ક ગયો ત્યારે તેણે દમસ્કની વેદી જોઈ, પછી તેણે એ વેદીનાં બધાં માપ સાથેની આકૃતિ યાજક ઊરિયાને મોકલી.
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.16.11" />પછી દમસ્કથી આહાઝે મોકલેલી રૂપરેખા પ્રમાણે યાજક ઊરિયાએ યરૂશાલેમમાં એક વેદી બંધાવી. આહાઝ દમસ્કથી પાછો ફરે તે પહેલાં તેણે વેદી તૈયાર કરાવી દીધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2KI.16.12" />રાજાએ પાછા આવીને વેદી જોઈ, તેની પાસે જઈ, પર ચડી,
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<v id="13" bcv="2KI.16.13" />અને પોતાના તરફથી દહનાર્પણ, ખાદ્યાર્પણ અને પેયાર્પણ ચડાવ્યાં અને પોતે ચડાવેલાં શાંત્યર્પણનાં પશુઓનું લોહી વેદી પર છાંટયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.16.14" />મંદિરની આગળ ઉભી કરેલી કાંસાની વેદીને તેણે ખસેડીને નવી વેદીની ઉત્તર તરફ મૂકાવી દીધી. એટલે કે મંદિર અને નવી વેદીની વચ્ચે.
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<v id="15" bcv="2KI.16.15" />પછી રાજા આહાઝે યાજક ઊરિયાને આજ્ઞા કરી કે, “હવેથી તમારે સવારની આહુતિ અને સાંજનું અર્પણ અને રાજાના અર્પણો બધા લોકોની આહુતિ અને પેયાર્પણો બધુ આ મોટી વેદી પર જ ચડાવવું. દરેક બલિદાનોનું લોહી અને બધાં અર્પણોનું લોહી તેની પર જ છાંટવું. કાંસાની વેદી ફકત મારી એકલાની જ રહેશે.”
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.16.16" />યાજક ઊરિયાએ રાજાના કહ્યા પ્રમાણે બધું કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.16.17" />રાજા આહાઝે ખસતી ઘોડીઓની આડી પાટડીઓ કાઢી નાખી, અને તેમાથી કૂંડીઓ હટાવી દીધી, અને કાંસાના બળદો પર જ્યાં તેમને રાખી હતી ત્યાંથી ઉપાડીને પથ્થરની ઘોડી પર મૂકી દીધી.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.16.18" />આશ્શૂરના રાજાને પ્રસન્ન કરવા માટે તેણે મંદિરમાંથી પડદાવાળી બેસવાની જગ્યા અને બહારનો દરવાજો પણ દૂર કરી નાખ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.16.19" />આહાઝના શાસનનાં બીજાં બધાં કાર્યો
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓનાઁ ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="2KI.16.20" />અને એ પછી રાજા આહાઝ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તે પિતૃઓ ભેગો પોઢી ગયો, અને તેને દાઉદના નગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર હિઝિક્યા ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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<c id="17" />
<s style="s">હોશિયાનું ઇસ્રાએલ પર શાસન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.17.1" />યહૂદાના રાજા આહાઝના શાસનનું 12મું વર્ષ ચાલતું હતું તે સમયે, એલાહનો પુત્ર હોશિયા સમરૂનમાં ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થયો અને તેણે 9 વર્ષ શાસન કર્યુ,
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.17.2" />તેણે યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યું. જો કે ઇસ્રાએલના આગળના રાજાઓ જેવું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2KI.17.3" />આ આશ્શૂરના રાજા શાલ્માનેસેરે હોશિયાને હરાવ્યો અને હોશિયા તેનો ગુલામ બની ગયો અને તેને ખંડણી આપતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.17.4" />પણ હોશિયાએ તેને દગો આપ્યો અને મિસરના રાજા “સો”ને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો. અને તે ખંડણી ભરતો હતો તે પણ ભરી નહિ પાછળથી જ્યારે રાજાને આની ખબર પડી ત્યારે તેને પકડીને કેદમાં પૂર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.17.5" />પછી આશ્શૂરનો રાજા સમગ્ર દેશ પર ચઢી આવ્યો, ને સમરૂન સુધી આવીને 3 વર્ષ સુધી તેને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.17.6" />હોશિયાના શાસનના 9મે વરસે આશ્શૂરનો રાજા સમરૂન કબજે કરવામાં સફળ થયો અને તે આશ્શૂરમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓને લઇ આવ્યો. તેણે તેમને હલાહ શહેરમાં, ગોઝાનની નદી, હાબોર નદીને પાસે અને માદીઓના નગરમાં વસાવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.17.7" />આમ થવાનું કારણ એ હતું કે, ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેમને મિસરના રાજા ફારુનની ચુંગાલમાંથી છોડાવી, મિસરની બહાર લાવનાર પોતાના દેવ યહોવાનો ગુનો કર્યો હતો, તેમણે બીજા દેવોની પૂજા કરવા માંડી હતી,
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<v id="8" bcv="2KI.17.8" />તેઓ યહોવાએ હાંકી કાઢેલી પ્રજાના રિવાજો તથા ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓએ શરું કરેલા રિવાજો અનુસરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="2KI.17.9" />યહોવા દેવની દ્રષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય હતું તેવું આચરણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ગુપ્ત રીતે કર્યુ.
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<p style="p">તેઓએ તેમના બધાં શહેરોમાં, નિરીક્ષણ બુરજથી માંડીને કિલ્લેબંધ નગરોમાં ઉચ્ચસ્થાનકો બાંધ્યાં.
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<v id="10" bcv="2KI.17.10" />તેમણે દરેક ઉચ્ચસ્થાન પર અને ઘટાદાર વૃક્ષ નીચે સ્તંભો અને અશેરાદેવીનાં પ્રતીકો ઊભાં કર્યા,
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.17.11" />અને યહોવાએ જેમને હાંકી કાઢયા હતાં, તે લોકોની જેમ ઉચ્ચસ્થાનકો પર દહનાર્પણ અને આહવાહન કરવા લાગ્યા.તેમની આ વર્તણૂકથી યહોવાનો રોષ ભભૂકી ઊઠયો.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.17.12" />યહોવાએ તેમને કહ્યું હતું કે, “આ તમારે કરવાનું જ નથી.” તેમ છતાં તેમણે મૂર્તિપૂજા શરૂ કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.17.13" />ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદાના લોકોને યહોવાએ પ્રબોધકો અને દ્રષ્ટાઓ દ્વારા ચેતવણી આપી. જેઓએ તેમને કહ્યું, “તમારા અનિષ્ટ રસ્તાઓથી પાછા વળો, અને મારા નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પાલન કરો જે મેં તમારા પિતૃઓને આપ્યો હતો, અને મારા સેવક પ્રબોધકો દ્વારા તમને કહેવડાવ્યો હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.17.14" />પણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેમના આદેશોનું પાલન ન કર્યું અને પોતે જે કરતા હતાં તે કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું. તેઓ તેમના વડવાઓની જેમ જીદી હતા અને તેમને જે ગમ્યું તે જ કર્યું. તેમને યહોવા તેમના દેવ પર વિશ્વાસ નહોતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="2KI.17.15" />તેમણે યહોવાના હુકમોની, તેમના પિતૃઓએ કરેલા કરારની અવગણના કરી તેમજ તેણે તેમને આપેલી ચેતવણીઓની કાળજી ન કરી. તેઓએ નકામી મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરી. આસપાસની પ્રજાઓનું અનુકરણ કર્યુ જેમના વિષે યહોવાએ તેમને ન કરવાની આજ્ઞા આપી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.17.16" />તેમણે તેમના પોતાના યહોવા દેવની આજ્ઞાઓનો ત્યાગ કર્યો અને તેમણે પોતાના માટે ઢાળેલા બે પોઠિયા બનાવડાવ્યાં. તેમણે અશેરાદેવીની મૂર્તિ કરાવી અને આકાશનાં બધાં નક્ષત્રોની અને બઆલદેવની સેવાપૂજા કરવા લાગ્યાં.
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<v id="17" bcv="2KI.17.17" />તેમણે પોતાનાં સંતાનોને હોમયજ્ઞમાં હોમ્યાં. તેમણે ભવિષ્ય જોવાનું શરું કર્યું અને કામણટૂંમણ કરવાનું પણ શરૂ કર્યુ. યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ જે અયોગ્ય હતું એવા આચરણને તેમણે અનુસર્યું. અને આ રીતે પોતાની જાતને વેચી મારી જેનાથી યહોવા ગુસ્સે થયા.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.17.18" />આ બધાને કારણે યહોવાનો રોષ ઇસ્રાએલ સામે ભભૂકી ઊઠયો અને તેણે તેમને પોતાની નજર આગળથી દૂર કર્યા. ફકત યહૂદાનું કુળસમૂહ રહ્યું.
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<s style="s">યહૂદાના લોકો પણ દોષિત
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.17.19" />યહૂદાના લોકોએ પણ પોતાના યહોવા દેવની આજ્ઞાઓની અવજ્ઞા કરી અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના દુષ્ટ માગોર્નું તેઓએ અનુકરણ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.17.20" />તેથી યહોવાએ બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો ત્યાગ કર્યો, તેમને સજા કરી, અને તેમને ધાડપાડુઓને સોંપી દીધા અને છેલ્લે તેમને પોતાની નજર આગળથી દૂર કર્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="2KI.17.21" />જયારે ઇસ્રાએલ દાઉદના ઘરમાંથી છૂટું પડી ગયું ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ નબાટના યરોબઆમને રાજા બનાવ્યો; તેણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને યહોવા વિરૂદ્ધ પાપ કરવા પ્રેર્યા અને ભયંકર પાપમાં નાખ્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="2KI.17.22" />તેમણે ખૂબ મુશ્કેલીઓનો સામનો કર્યો; યરોબઆમે જે પાપ કર્યા હતા તે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું.
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<v id="23" bcv="2KI.17.23" />આખરે પ્રબોધકોએ જે ભવિષ્યકથન કર્યું હતું તે બધું જ બન્યું. એટલે સુધી કે યહોવાએ તેઓને પોતાની નજર આગળથી દૂર કર્યા. ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તેમનું વતન છોડવું પડ્યું અને તેમને આશ્શૂર જવા માટે વિદાય કરવામાં આવ્યા, અને આજે પણ તેઓ ત્યાં જ છે.
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<s style="s">સમરૂનના લોકોની શરૂઆત
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2KI.17.24" />આશ્શૂરના રાજાએ બાબિલ, કૂથાહ, આવ્વા, હમાથ અને સફાર્વાઈમના લોકોને લાવીને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને બદલે સમરૂનનાં શહેરોમાં વસાવ્યા. આથી તેઓએ સમરૂનનો કબજો લઈ તેનાં નગરોમાં વસવાટ કર્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="2KI.17.25" />પણ જ્યારે તેઓએ ત્યાં વસવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ ત્યારે તેઓએ યહોવાની આરાધના કરી નહોતી, તેથી યહોવાએ તેઓની પાસે સિંહ મોકલ્યા, અને સિંહોએ તેઓમાંના કેટલાકને મારી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="26" bcv="2KI.17.26" />આશ્શૂરના રાજાને કહેવામાં આવ્યું કે, “જે લોકોને દેશ છોડાવીને તમે સમરૂનના નગરોમાં વસાવ્યા છે, તેઓને એ દેશના દેવની ઉપાસનાની વિધિની ખબર નથી, આથી તેણે તેમની વચ્ચે સિંહો મોકલ્યા છે અને તે સિંહો એમને ખાઈ જશે, કારણ, તેમને પ્રદેશના દેવની ઉપાસનાની વિધિની ખબર નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2KI.17.27" />આથી આશ્શૂરના રાજાએ એવી આજ્ઞા કરી કે, “સમરૂનમાંથી દેશ નિકાલ કરેલા યાજકોમાંથી એકને ત્યાં પાછો મોકલો, જેથી તે ત્યાં જઈને રહે અને લોકોને દેશના દેવની ઉપાસના કરવાની રીત શીખવે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2KI.17.28" />તેથી એક યાજક બેથેલમાં આવ્યો અને તેણે બાબિલમાંથી આવેલા લોકોને યહોવાની ઉપાસના કેવી રીતે કરવી એની વિધિ શીખવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2KI.17.29" />છતાં પ્રત્યેક પ્રજાના લોકોએ પોતપોતાના દેવોની મૂર્તિઓ બનાવવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું અને તેને સમરૂનના લોકોએ ઉચ્ચસ્થાનો પર ઊભાં કરેલાં થાનકોમાં મૂકી. તેમની આજુબાજુના નગરના લોકોએ પણ તેમની ઇચ્છા મુજબ કર્યુ.
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<v id="30" bcv="2KI.17.30" />બાબિલના લોકો સુક્કોથ-બનોથને પૂજતા હતા. કૂથના લોકો નેર્ગાલને, હમાથના લોકો અશીમાને,
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<v id="31" bcv="2KI.17.31" />અને આવ્વીના લોકો નિબ્હાઝ અને તાંર્તાકને પૂજતા હતા, તો સફાવીર્મના લોકો આદ્રામ્મેલેખ અને અનામ્મેલેખને પોતાનાં બાળકોની અગ્નિમાં આહુતિ આપતાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="2KI.17.32" />આ લોકો યહોવાની પણ પૂજા કરતા હતા, અને તેમણે પોતાનામાંથી કોઇ એકને યાજક નિયુકત કર્યો જે તેઓના મુખ્યસ્થાનોની મૂર્તિઓની સેવાપૂજા કરતો હતો.
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<v id="33" bcv="2KI.17.33" />તેઓ યહોવાની પૂજા કરતા હતા અને સાથો સાથ પોતે જે દેશમાંથી આવ્યા હતા તેની વિધિ પ્રમાણે પોતાના દેવોની પણ પૂજા કરતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="2KI.17.34" />આજે પણ તે લોકોમાં આ જ રીત છે. યાકૂબ જે ઇસ્રાએલ કહેવાયો-ના વંશજોને યહોવાએ જે પ્રમાણે સૂચનાઓ આપી હતી તે પ્રમાણે, તેઓ યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરતાં નથી.
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<v id="35" bcv="2KI.17.35" />યહોવાએ તેઓની સાથે કરાર કર્યો હતો કે, તેઓએ વિદેશીઓના કોઈ-દેવોની પૂજા કરવી નહિ અને તેઓને યજ્ઞો અર્પણ કરવાં નહિ.
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<v id="36" bcv="2KI.17.36" />જે તમને પોતાની મહાન શકિત દ્વારા મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઇ આવ્યા હતાં, તમારે ફકત યહોવાની જ ઉપાસના કરવાની છે, તમારે ફકત તેના જ પગે પડવાનું છે અને યજ્ઞો અર્પવાનાં છે. તેને અને ફકત તેને જ માટે બલિદાન અર્પણ કરવાના છે.
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<v id="37" bcv="2KI.17.37" />નિયમો, કાયદા, સૂચના અને હૂકમો જે તેણે (યહોવાએ) તમને આપ્યા છે, તેનું તમારે જીવન પર્યત નિષ્ઠા પુર્વક પાલન કરવાનું છે. તમારે બીજા કોઇ દેવની સેવા કરવાની નથી.
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<v id="38" bcv="2KI.17.38" />યહોવાએ જણાવ્યું હતું, “મેં તારી સાથે જે કરાર કર્યો છે; તેને તારે કદી ભૂલવાનો નથી, અને તેથી તારે અન્ય દેવોની પૂજા કદી કરવી નહિ.
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<v id="39" bcv="2KI.17.39" />તારે કેવળ યહોવાની ભકિત કરવી, એ જ એક એવો છે જે તને તારા સર્વ શત્રુઓથી બચાવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="2KI.17.40" />પણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તે સાંભળ્યું નહિ ને અન્ય દેવોનું આહવાહન કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું.
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<v id="41" bcv="2KI.17.41" />આમ, એ લોકો યહોવાની પણ ઉપાસના કરતા અને પોતાની મૂર્તિઓની પણ પૂજા કરતા, અને તેમનાં સંતાનો તેમજ તેમનાં સંતાનોનાં સંતાનો પણ આજે તેમના પિતૃઓની વિધિઓને વળગી રહ્યાં છે.
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<s style="s">યહૂદાના રાજા હિઝિક્યાનું રાજ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.18.1" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા એલાહના પુત્ર હોશિયાના શાસનના ત્રીજા વષેર્ આહાજનો પુત્ર હિઝિક્યા યહૂદાનો રાજા થયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.18.2" />તે રાજા થયો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 25 વર્ષની હતી અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 29 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ, તેની માતાનું નામ અબીયા હતું અને તે ઝખાર્યાની પુત્રી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2KI.18.3" />તેણે પોતાના પિતૃ દાઉદની જેમ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ યોગ્ય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.18.4" />તેણે ઉચ્ચસ્થાનો પરની સમાધિઓ દૂર કરી, અશેરાદેવીની મૂર્તિ કાપી નાખી અને મૂસાએ તૈયાર કરાવેલા કાંસાના સાપને તોડી ટુકડા કરી નાખ્યા, કારણ કે ત્યાં સુધી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તેને બલિદાનો અર્પણ કરતા હતા, તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, આ તો ફકત કાંસાનો ટૂકડો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.18.5" />તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો હતો. તેની પેહલાં થઈ ગયેલા કે તેની પછી થયેલા યહૂદાના રાજાઓમાં કોઇ પણ તેના જેવો નહોતો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.18.6" />તે યહોવાને સંપૂર્ણ નિવાન હતો અને નિવાનીમાં તે કદી ચલિત થયો નહોતો, અને યહોવાએ મૂસાને જણાવેલી આજ્ઞાઓનું તે પાલન કરતો હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.18.7" />આથી યહોવા તેની મદદમાં રહ્યાં અને તે જે કોઈ જવાબદારી સ્વીકારતો, તેમાં સફળ થતો, તેણે આશ્શૂરના રાજા સામે બળવો કર્યો અને તેની તાબેદારી સ્વીકારવાની ના પાડી.
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<v id="8" bcv="2KI.18.8" />તેણે દૂર ગાઝા સુધીના પલિસ્તીઓને હરાવ્યા અને નાના ગામોથી માંડીને મોટા કિલ્લેબંધીવાળાં શહેરો તેણે જીતી લીધા.
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<s style="s">સમરૂનને કબ્જે કરતા આશ્શૂરીઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.18.9" />યહૂદાના રાજા હિઝિક્યાના શાસનના 4થા વષેર્, એટલે કે ઇસ્રાએલમાં હોશિયા રાજાના શાસનનું 7મું વર્ષ ચાલતું હતું આશ્શૂરના રાજા શાલ્માનેસેરે ઇસ્રાએલ પર આક્રમણ કર્યુ અને સમરૂન નગરને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો, અને તે કબજે કર્યુ.
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<v id="10" bcv="2KI.18.10" />તેણે તે 3વર્ષ પછી કબજે કર્યું. ઇસ્રાએલમાં, રાજા હોશિયા તેના શાસનના 9માં વર્ષમાં હતો અને તે વષેર્ રાજા હિઝિક્યા તેના યહૂદા પરના શાસનના છઠ્ઠા વર્ષમાં હતો. તે સમય દરમ્યાન, સમરૂન નગરનું પતન થયું.
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.18.11" />તે વખતે આશ્શૂરનો રાજા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને પકડીને લઈ ગયો. તેણે તેઓને આશ્શૂરના નગર હલાહમાં, ગોઝાન પ્રદેશમાં, હાબોર નદીના કિનારા પર અને માદીઓનાં નગરોમાં વસાવ્યા.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.18.12" />આમ થવાનું કારણ એ હતું કે તેઓ પોતાના દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા માનતા નહોતા અને યહોવાના કરારનો તેમજ યહોવાના સેવક મૂસાએ જણાવેલી એકેએક આજ્ઞાઓનો ભંગ કરતા હતા. તેઓએ પોતાના યહોવા દેવની વાણી સાંભળી નહિ અને તેમની ઇચ્છા મુજબ ચાલ્યા નહિ.
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<s style="s">યહૂદા લેવા તત્પર આશ્શૂરીઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.18.13" />હિઝિક્યાના અમલના 4માં વષેર્ આશ્શૂરના રાજા સાન્હેરીબે યહૂદાનાં બધાં કિલ્લેબંદી નગરો પર ચડાઈ કરીને તે કબજે કરી લીધાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="2KI.18.14" />ત્યારે યહૂદાના રાજા હિઝિક્યાએ લાખીશ સુધી પહોંચેલા આશ્શૂરના રાજાને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “મારી ભૂલ થઈ છે, તું મારી પાસેથી પાછો જા, તું જે શરતો મારી આગળ રજૂ કરીશ તેનો હું સ્વીકાર કરીશ.”
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<p style="p">આથી આશ્શૂરના રાજાએ 11 ટન ચાંદીની અને એક ટન સોનાની વસુલી માગી લીધી.
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<v id="15" bcv="2KI.18.15" />હિઝિક્યાએ તેને યહોવાના મંદિરમાંની અને રાજમહેલના ભંડારમાંથી બધી ચાંદી આપી દીધી;
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.18.16" />તે સમયે તેણે, યહોવાના મંદિરમાં સોનાના પતરાંથી મઢેલા બારણાં અને બારસાખોને કાપી નાખ્યાં, તેણે તે બધુંય આશ્શૂરના રાજાને આપી દીધું.
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<s style="s">માણસોને યરૂશાલેમ મોકલતો આશ્શૂરનો રાજા
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.18.17" />લાખીશથી આશ્શૂરના રાજાએ સેનાપતિઓને, અને તેના મહત્વના અમલદારોને વિશાળ લશ્કર સાથે યરૂશાલેમ મોકલ્યા. અને તેમણે યરૂશાલેમ પહોંચીને ધોબીઘાટને ઘોરી માર્ગ પર આવેલા ઉપલા તળાવના ગરનાળા આગળ પડાવ નાખ્યો,
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.18.18" />અને રાજાને તેડાવ્યો; એટલે રાજાના મહત્વના અમલદારો હિલ્કિયાનો પુત્ર એલ્યાકીમ જે મહેલનો મુખ્ય કારભારી હતો, રાજયમંત્રી શેબ્ના અને આસાફનો પુત્ર યોઆહ જે નોંધણીકાર હતો એ સૌને તેમણે મળવા મોકલ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.18.19" />સેનાપતિઓએ તેમને કહ્યું કે, હવે તમે હિઝિક્યાને જઈને કહો કે, “આશ્શૂરનો રાજા કહે છે કે,
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi">‘તને આટલો બધો આત્મવિશ્વાસ શેનાથી છે?
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<v id="20" bcv="2KI.18.20" />શું તું એમ સમજે છે કે, ખાલી મોઢાની વાતો, મુત્સદ્દીગીરી અને લશ્કરી બળનું સ્થાન લઈ શકે છે? તું કોનો આધાર રાખીને મારી સામે બંડ પોકારે છે?
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<v id="21" bcv="2KI.18.21" />મિસરીઓ ઉપર? મિસર તો ભાગેલા બરુ જેવું છે; જે કોઈ એનો આધાર લે છે તેમના હાથ કપાઈ જાય છે. મિસરના રાજા ફારુનનો વિશ્વાસ કે આધાર રાખી શકાય નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="2KI.18.22" />અને કદાચ તમે એવું કહો, “અમને મુશ્કેલીઓ અને પીડામાંથી બચાવવા માટે અમે યહોવા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખીએ છીએ,” તો શું એ તમે નહોતા કે જેણે, ઉચ્ચસ્થાનો, જ્યાં યહોવાને યજ્ઞો કરાતાં હતાં તેનો નાશ કર્યો? અને એ તમે નહોતા કે, જેણે યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકોને કહ્યું હતું કે, “તેઓએ ફકત યરૂશાલેમમાં પૂજા કરવી જોઇએ?”
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.18.23" />‘તેથી હવે હું તમને કહું છું, મારા ધણી આશ્શૂરના રાજા સાથે સોદો કરી શકે તેવા 2,000 સૈનિકો તમારી પાસે હોય તો હું તમને 2,000 ઘોડા આપવા તૈયાર છું.
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<v id="24" bcv="2KI.18.24" />તમે મારા ઘણીના સેવકોનાં એક પણ કપ્તાનને કેવી રીતે હરાવી શકો? જો તમે રથો અને ઘોડાઓ માટે મિસર પર આધાર રાખો તો?
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.18.25" />‘તમે શું એમ માનો છો કે, હું આ દેશને ખેદાન-મેદાન કરવા ચઢી આવ્યો છું. તે યહોવાની સંમતિ વગર આવ્યો હોઈશ? યહોવાએ પોતે મને કહ્યું છે કે, “તું આ દેશ પર ચઢાઈ કરી એને ખેદાનમેદાન કરી નાંખ.”’”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2KI.18.26" />એલ્યાકીમ, શેબ્ના અને યોઆહે સેનાપતિઓને કહ્યું, “મહેરબાની કરીને અમારી સાથે અરામીભાષામાં બોલો, અમે એ ભાષા સમજીએ છીએ. અમારી સાથે યહૂદીઓની ભાષામાં ના બોલશો. કારણ કે બધા લોકો જેઓ દિવાલ પર છે તેઓ સમજી જશે કે તમે શું કહી રહ્યાં છો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2KI.18.27" />પણ સેનાપતિએ કહ્યું, “શું અમારા રાજાએ મને તમારી સાથે અને તમારા રાજાની સાથે જ વાત કરવા મોકલ્યો છે? તેણે મને આ કોટ પરના લોકોને પણ કહેવા મોકલ્યો છે. કારણ કે તેમણે પણ તમારી જેમ પોતાનાં મળમૂતર પર જીવવું પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2KI.18.28" />પછી આશ્શૂરના આ સંદેશવાહકે પેલા કોટ પર ઊભેલા લોકો સાંભળે તે રીતે મોટા સાદે હિબ્રૂ ભાષામાં કહ્યું, “આશ્શૂરના રાજાધિરાજનો સંદેશ સાંભળો:
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<v id="29" bcv="2KI.18.29" />રાજા કહે છે, ‘હિઝિક્યાથી ભોળવાશો નહિ, એ તમને મારા હાથમાંથી કદાપિ બચાવી શકશે નહિ.’
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<v id="30" bcv="2KI.18.30" />હિઝિક્યાને અનુમતિ ન આપશો કે, તે તમને યહોવા પર આધાર એમ કહીને રખાવે, ‘યહોવા ચોક્કસપણે આપણને બચાવશે અને આ નગરનું આશ્શૂરના રાજાના હાથે પતન નહિ થાય.’
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<v id="31" bcv="2KI.18.31" />તમે હિઝિક્યા રાજાનું ચોક્કસ સાંભળશો નહિ, કારણકે આશ્શૂરનો રાજા કહે છે કે,
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<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">‘મારી સાથે સુલેહ કરો અને મારી પાસે આવો. પછી તમે દરેક તમારા પોતાના દ્રાક્ષના વાડાના અને અંજીરના ઝાડોના ફળનો આનંદ માણશો. અને તમારા પોતાના કૂંવાનું પાણી પીશો.
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<v id="32" bcv="2KI.18.32" />ત્યાં સુધી અહીં તમારા દેશમાં તમે શાંતિથી રહી શકો છો. ત્યાર પછી હું તમને તમારા દેશ જેવા જ એક દેશમાં લઇ જઇશ, અનાજ અને દ્રાક્ષારસનો દેશ, રોટલી અને દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીઓનો દેશ, જૈતુન અને મધનો દેશ-તમે આમ કરો જેથી તમે મરશો નહિ પણ જીવી જશો પણ જ્યાંરે હિઝિક્યા રાજા તમને કહે કે, “યહોવા તમને ઉગારશે તો તેને સાંભળશો નહિ.”
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<v id="33" bcv="2KI.18.33" />કોઈ પણ પ્રજાના દેવે મારા હાથમાંથી એના દેશને બચાવ્યો છે ખરો?
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<v id="34" bcv="2KI.18.34" />હમાથ અને આર્પાદના દેવો કયાં છે? કયાં છે સફાર્વાઈમ, હેના અને ઇવ્વાહના દેવો? એ દેવો સમરૂનને મારા હાથમાંથી છોડાવવા સમર્થ હતા ખરા?
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<v id="35" bcv="2KI.18.35" />આ બધા દેશોના દેવોમાંથી કયા દેશના દેવો પોતાના દેશને મારા હાથમાંથી છોડાવી શક્યા? તો કેવી રીતે યહોવા યરૂશાલેમને મારા હાથમાંથી છોડાવશે?’”
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="2KI.18.36" />બધા લોકો મૂંગા રહ્યા, કોઈ એક શબ્દ પણ બોલ્યું નહિ. કારણ, રાજાએ હુકમ કર્યો હતો કે, “કોઈ એને જવાબ ન આપશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="2KI.18.37" />મહેલોના મુખ્ય કારભારી હિલ્કિયાનો પુત્ર એલ્યાકીમ, મંત્રી શેબ્ના અને આસાફનો પુત્ર નોંધણીકાર યોઆહ, હિઝિક્યા રાજાની પાસે ગયા. તેઓએ નિરાશ થઇને પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડયાં અને આશ્શૂરના રાજાના મુખ્ય સેનાપતિએ જે કહ્યું હતું તે તેને કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<s style="s">પ્રબોધક યશાયાની યહૂદા માટે મધ્યસ્થી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.19.1" />હિઝિક્યા રાજાએ તેઓની પાસેથી સંદેશો સાંભળ્યો ત્યારે તરત જ તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડયાં. ત્યાર પછી તેણે શણનાં વસ્ત્રો પહેર્યાં પછી તે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં પ્રાર્થના કરવા ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2KI.19.2" />તેણે મહેલના કારભારી એલ્યાકીમને, મંત્રી શેબ્નાને તથા વડીલ યાજકોમાંના કેટલાકને જે બધાએ શણનાં વસ્ત્રો પહેર્યા હતા, તેમને આમોસના પુત્ર યશાયા પ્રબોધક પાસે સંદેશો આપવા મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.19.3" />તેમણે જઈને કહ્યું, હિઝિક્યાએ આ પ્રમાણે કહેવડાવ્યું છે: “આજે અમારા માટે દુ:ખનો દિવસ છે, સજાનો અને નામોશીનો દિવસ છે; કેમ કે બાળક જન્મવા તૈયાર છે, પણ તેને જન્મ આપવાની શકિત માતા પાસે નથી, એવી અમારી દશા છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="2KI.19.4" />આશ્શૂરના રાજાએ પોતાના સેનાપતિઓને અમારા યહોવાની મશ્કરી કરવા મોકલ્યા છે. તમારા દેવ યહોવા તેના શબ્દો સાંભળો અને તેને સજા કરે, તેથી હવે બાકી રહેલાઓ માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.19.5" />રાજા હિઝિક્યાના મંત્રીઓએ યશાયા પાસે આવીને રાજાનો સંદેશો જણાવ્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.19.6" />યશાયાએ જવાબ આપ્યો કે, “જાવ અને તમારાં રાજાને કહો, યહોવા કહે છે કે, ‘આશ્શૂરના રાજાના સેવકો એ મારા વિષે ખોટી વાતો કરી હતી તેનાથી તમે ગભરાશો નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.19.7" />જુઓ, હું તેનામાં એક આત્મા મૂકીશ, ને તે એક અફવા સાંભળીને પોતાના દેશમાં પાછો જશે; પછી હું તેને તેના પોતાના દેશમાં તરવારથી મારી નાખીશ.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">હિઝિક્યાને ચેતવતો આશ્શૂરનો રાજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.19.8" />આશ્શૂરનો વડો અમલદાર પાછો ફર્યો, ત્યારે તેને સમાચાર મળ્યા કે, રાજા લાખીશ તેને છોડી જઈ લિબ્નાહ સામે લડી રહ્યો છે એટલે તે તેને ત્યાં જઈને મળ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="2KI.19.9" />આશ્શૂરના રાજાને એવા સમાચાર મળ્યા કે, “કૂશનો રાજા તિર્હાકાહ તેના પર ચઢાઈ કરવા આવે છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે તેણે ફરી યહૂદાના રાજા હિઝિક્યાને પત્ર મોકલી કહેવડાવ્યું કે,
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<v id="10" bcv="2KI.19.10" />“તું, યહૂદાના રાજા હિઝિક્યાને જરુર કહેજે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">‘તું જેના પર વિશ્વાસ રાખીને બેઠો છે તે તારો યહોવા દેવ તને એમ કહીને છેતરે નહિ કે,યરૂશાલેમ આશ્શૂરના રાજાના તાબામાં જવાનું નથી.
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.19.11" />તું તો સારી રીતે જાણે છે કે આશ્શૂરના રાજાઓ જ્યાં ગયા ત્યાં તેઓએ શું કર્યુ છે. તેઓએ સર્વનાશ કર્યો છે, તો પછી એ તને કયાંથી છોડવાનો છે?
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.19.12" />પ્રજાઓના દેવો, જેનો મારા પૂર્વજોએ વિનાશ કર્યો હતો તેમને બચાવી શક્યા? તેમાં ગોઝાન, હારાન, રેસેફ અને તલાસ્સારમાં રહેતા એદેનના લોકોનો સમાવેશ થાય છે?
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<v id="13" bcv="2KI.19.13" />હમાથના રાજાની, આર્પાદના રાજાની, સફાર્વાઇમના રાજાની તથા હેનાના અને ઇવ્વાહના રાજાની કેવી દશા થઈ?’”
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</p>
<s style="s">યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરતો હિઝિક્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.19.14" />હિઝિક્યાએ સંદેશવાહકો પાસેથી પત્ર લીધો, પછી તે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં ગયો અને યહોવાની સમક્ષ એ પત્ર ખુલ્લો કરીને વાંચ્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="2KI.19.15" />પછી હિઝિક્યાએ યહોવા આગળ પ્રાર્થના કરી કે, હે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા, “જેમનું આસન કરૂબના દેવદૂતો પર છે, પૃથ્વી પરનાં સર્વ લોકોના દેવ તમે એકલા જ છો, તમે આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીના સર્જનહાર છો.
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.19.16" />હે યહોવા, તમે કાન દઈને સાંભળો, તમારી આંખો ઉઘાડો અને જુઓ, અને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો કે કેવી રીતે સાન્હેરીબ હાજરાહજુર દેવની મશ્કરી કરે છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="2KI.19.17" />હવે યહોવા, ખરેખર આશ્શૂરના રાજાઓએ પ્રજાઓનો તથા તેમના દેશોનો નાશ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.19.18" />અને તેમના દેવોને અગ્નિમાં પધરાવી દીધા છે! પણ એ દેવો નહોતા, એ તો માણસોના હાથની બનાવેલી વસ્તુ, ફકત પથ્થર અને લાકડાં હતા, અને તેથી જ તેમણે તેમનો નાશ કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.19.19" />પણ હવે, ઓ અમારા દેવ યહોવા, અમને તેમના હાથમાંથી ઉગારો અને પૃથ્વીનાં બધાં રાજયોને ખબર પડવા દો કે, તમે જ એક માત્ર દેવ છો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.19.20" />પછી આમોસના પુત્ર યશાયાએ હિઝિક્યાને સંદેશો પહોંચાડયો કે, “ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા આમ કહે છે કે: તેઁ આશ્શૂરના રાજા સાન્હેરીબ વિરૂદ્ધ મને પ્રાર્થના કરી હતી. મેં તારી પ્રાર્થના સંભળી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2KI.19.21" />“તેના વિષે યહોવા જે વચન બોલ્યા છે તે આ છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘સિયોનની કુંવારી પુત્રી તને તુચ્છ ગણે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તિરસ્કાર સહિત તારી હાંસી ઉડાવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમની પુત્રીએ તારા તરફ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાનું ડોકું ધુણાવ્યું છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="2KI.19.22" />તમે કોની મજાક કરી છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોની ટીકા કરી છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં કોની સામે અવાજ ઉઠાવ્યો છે, ને ઉદ્વતાઈભરી નજર કરી છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર દેવ વિરુદ્ધ જ!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.19.23" />તારા નોકરો મારફતે તેં યહોવા વિષે ખરાબ વાતો કરી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઁ કહ્યું છે કે, “મારા રથો વડે હું પર્વતોના શિખર પર, લબાનોનના દૂરતમ ખૂણાઓમાં ચઢયો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં સૌથી ઊંચા એરેજવૃક્ષોને તથા તેનાં ઉત્તમ દેવદારનાં વૃક્ષોને મેં કાપ્યા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જંગલના સૌથી ગીચ પ્રદેશોમાં પ્રવેશ્યો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="2KI.19.24" />મેં જીતેલાં પ્રદેશોમાં કૂવા ખોદીને પરભોમનાં પાણી પીધાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પગનાં તળિયાથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મિસરની બધી નદીઓ સૂકવી નાખી છે.”
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.19.25" />તેં સાંભળ્યું નથી પણ મેં વિચારી જ રાખ્યું હતું.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રાચીન કાળથી મેં એની યોજના કરી હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અત્યારે મેં એ પરિપૂર્ણ કરી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તને કિલ્લેબંધ શહેરોને ખંડેરોમાં બદલવા દીધા હતાં.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="2KI.19.26" />તેથી ત્યાંના રહેવાસીઓ શકિતહીન,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભયભીત અને હાંફળાં-ફાંફળાં બની ગયા હતા,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને વગડાના છોડ જેવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કુમળાં ઘાસ જેવા,
</q>
<q style="q1">ધાબા પર ઊગી નીકળેલાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને લૂથી બળી ગયેલા ઘાસ જેવા બની ગયા હતા.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="2KI.19.27" />તારું નીચે બેસવું,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારું બહાર જવું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું અંદર આવવું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા મારા પર તારું
</q>
<q style="q1">કોપાયમાન થવું એ સર્વ હું જાણું છું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="2KI.19.28" />મારા પર ક્રોધ કરવાને લીધે હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા નાકમાં કડી પહેરાવવાનો છું
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારા મોંમા લગામ નાખવાનો છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે રસ્તે તું આવ્યો એ જ રસ્તે હું
</q>
<q style="q1">તને પાછો વાળી દેવાનો છું.’”
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</q>
<s style="s">હિઝિક્યાને યહોવાનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2KI.19.29" />પછી યહોવાએ હિઝિક્યાને કહ્યું, “આ તારા માટે આ ચિન્હ છે. આ વરસે તમે આપમેળે ઊગી નીકળેલા દાણા ખાશો, અને બીજે વરસે એના દાણાંમાંથી પાકેલું અનાજ ખાશો, અને ત્રીજે વર્ષે તમે વાવજો અને લણજો, દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ કરજો અને તેનાં ફળ ખાજો.
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<v id="30" bcv="2KI.19.30" />યહૂદાના વંશના રહ્યાસહ્યા માણસો, જેનાં મૂળ ઊંડાં ગયાં છે એવા છોડની જેમ ફૂલશે-ફાલશે;
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<v id="31" bcv="2KI.19.31" />કારણ કે યરૂશાલેમમાં અને સિયોન પર્વત પર કેટલાક માણસો બચી જવા પામશે, યહોવાની આસ્થાના પ્રતાપે આ બધું સિદ્ધ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="2KI.19.32" />“એટલે આશ્શૂરના રાજાના સંબંધમાં યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તે આ શહેરમાં પ્રવેશ નહિ કરે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તે એની સામે બાણ પણ નહિ વીંધે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઢાલ લઈને એની સામે નહિ આવે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ એની સામે મોરચો નહિ બાંધશો ઘેરો ઘાલવાનો ઢોળાવ પણ નહિ બાંધો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="2KI.19.33" />તે જે રસ્તે આવ્યો તે રસ્તે પાછો જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ શહેરમાં તે પ્રવેશ નહિ કરે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="2KI.19.34" />મારે પોતાને માટે તેમજ મારા સેવક દાઉદને માટે હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ નગરનું રક્ષણ કરીશ અને તેને ઉગારી લઈશ.’”
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</q>
<s style="s">આશ્શૂરી સેનાનો વિનાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="2KI.19.35" />એ જ રાત્રે યહોવાના દૂતે જઈને આશ્શૂરીઓની છાવણીમાં 1,85,000 માણસોને મારી નાખ્યા, અને સવારે લોકોએ જાગીને જોયુ તો બધા મરેલાં પડ્યાં હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="2KI.19.36" />તેથી આશ્શૂરનો રાજા સાન્હેરીબ પાછો ઘરે જતો રહ્યો. તે નિનવેહમાં રહ્યો.
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<v id="37" bcv="2KI.19.37" />એક દિવસ તે પોતાના દેવ નિસ્રોખના મંદિરમાં પૂજા કરતો હતો, ત્યારે તેના પુત્રો આદામ્મેલેખે અને શારએસેરે તેને તરવારથી મારી નાખી “અરારાટ” દેશમાં ભાગી ગયા. તેનો પુત્ર એસાર-હાદોન તેના પછી ગાદીએ આવ્યો અને રાજ કર્યું.
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</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">હિઝિક્યાની માંદગી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.20.1" />આ સમય દરમ્યાન રાજા હિઝિક્યા મરણતોલ માંદગીમાં સપડાયો, ત્યારે આમોસના પુત્ર યશાયા પ્રબોધકે તેની મુલાકાતમાં રાજાને કહ્યું, “આ યહોવાનાં વચન છે, ‘તારા કુટુંબની છેલ્લી વ્યવસ્થા જે કરવી હોય તે કરી લે, મરણની તૈયારી કર, હવે તું સાજો થવાનો નથી.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2KI.20.2" />ત્યારે હિઝિક્યાએ ભીત તરફ મોં કરી યહોવાને આ પ્રમાણે પ્રાર્થના કરી;
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.20.3" />“ઓ યહોવા, એટલું ધ્યાનમાં રાખજે, અને યાદ રાખજે કે હું સફળ અને પ્રામાણિક જીવન જીવ્યો છું” અને તે ચોધાર આંસુએ રડી પડયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.20.4" />યશાયા ત્યાંથી નીકળીને નગરની અધવચ પહોંચ્યો તે પહેલાં એમ બન્યું કે, તેને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઈ કે,
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<v id="5" bcv="2KI.20.5" />“તું પાછો જઈને મારા લોકોના આગેવાન હિઝિક્યાને કહે કે, ‘આ તારા પિતૃ દાઉદના દેવ યહોવાનાં વચન છે: મેં તારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી છે અને તારાં આંસુ મેં જોયાં છે. હું તને સાજો કરીશ અને આજથી ત્રિજે દિવસે તું મંદિરે જઈશ.
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.20.6" />હું પંદર વર્ષ તારું આયુષ્ય વધારીશ. તને અને આ શહેરને આશ્શૂરના રાજાના હાથમાંથી ઉગારી લઈશ. મારી પોતાની અને મારા સેવક દાઉદને આપેલ વચન માટે હું એનું રક્ષણ કરીશ.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.20.7" />યશાયાએ કહ્યું, “અંજીરની પોટીસ લાવીને તેના ગૂંમડા પર લગાવો અને રાજા સાજો થઈ જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.20.8" />પછી હિઝિક્યાએ યશાયાને પૂછયું, “યહોવા મને સાજો કરી દેશે અને હું ત્રીજે દિવસમાં મંદિરે જઈશ, એની એંધાણી શી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.20.9" />યશાયાએ કહ્યું, “આ એંધાણી યહોવા તરફથી આવે છે. હાં, તેમણે જેનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તે જરુર કરે છે. આ છાંયડો 10 ડગલા આગળ જાય કે 10 ડગલા પાછો જાય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.20.10" />ત્યારે હિઝિક્યાએ કહ્યું, “છાંયડોને 10 ડગલા આગળ જવું તો સહેલું છે, પણ એ 10 ડગલા પાછળ જાય એમ કરો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.20.11" />પ્રબોધક યશાયાએ યહોવાને મોટેથી પોકાર કર્યો, છાંયડાને 10 ડગલા પાછળ હઠાવ્યો, આ રીતે સૂર્ય આહાઝના સૌર-ઘડિયાલ પર ક્ષીણ થયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">બાબિલનો માણસ અને હિઝિક્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2KI.20.12" />તે સમયે બાબિલના રાજા બાલઅદાનના પુત્ર બરોદાખ-બાલઅદાને કેટલાક માણસોને શુભેચ્છા પત્રો અને ભેટ લઈને હિઝિક્યા પાસે મોકલ્યા કારણ કે તેણે તેની માંદગીના સમાચાર જાણ્યા હતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="2KI.20.13" />હિઝિક્યાએ તેઓનો આભાર માન્યો અને તેઓને પોતાનો આખો ખજાનો બતાવ્યો, તેના ભંડારના બધા જ ચાંદી, સોનું, સુગંધી દ્રવ્યો, મૂલ્યવાન તેલ અને શસ્રભંડાર એ સર્વ તેને બતાવ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.20.14" />ત્યારે પ્રબોધક યશાયાએ આવીને હિઝિક્યાને પૂછયું, “એ લોકો કયાંથી આવ્યા અને તેમણે શું કર્યુ?”
</p>
<p style="p">હિઝિક્યાએ કહ્યું, “તેઓ દૂરના દેશ બાબિલથી આવ્યા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.20.15" />યશાયાએ પૂછયું, “એ લોકોએ તારા મહેલમાં શું શું જોયું?”
</p>
<p style="p">હિઝિક્યાએ કહ્યું, “એ લોકોએ મારા મહેલમાં બધું જ જોયું છે. જે કંઇ પણ ભંડારમાં હતું તે બધું તેમણે જોયું છે, ત્યાં કંઇ બાકી નહોતું રાખ્યું જે મેં તેમને ન બતાવ્યું હોય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2KI.20.16" />ત્યારે યશાયાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવાનાં વચન સાંભળ, તે કહે છે;
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<v id="17" bcv="2KI.20.17" />એવો સમય આવી રહ્યો છે જયારે તારા મહેલમાંનું બધું જ, તારા પિતૃઓએ આજ સુધી જે કંઈ ભેગું કર્યુ છે તે બધું જ, બાબિલ લઇ જશે. કશું જ બાકી રહેશે નહિ.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.20.18" />અને તારા પોતાના પુત્રોને લઈ જઈને બાબિલના રાજાના મહેલમાં નોકરો તરીકે રાખવામાં આવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.20.19" />હિઝિક્યાએ કહ્યું, “તમે યહોવાનાં જે વચન સંભળાવ્યાં તે સારાં છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે વિચાર્યુ કે, “હું જીવીશ ત્યાં સુધી તો શાંતિ અને સુરક્ષા કાયમ રહેશે ને?”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.20.20" />હિઝિક્યાનાઁ શાસનનાં બીજા બનાવો અને તેણે કરેલા કાર્યોની તથા તેણે નગરમાં પાણી લાવવા માટે બંધાવેલાં નહેરો અને બંધો આ બધું
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓનાં ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="2KI.20.21" />એ પછી હિઝિક્યા પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો એટલે તેનો પુત્ર મનાશ્શા તેના પછી ગાદીએ આવ્યો અને રાજ કરવા લાગ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">મનાશ્શાનો દુષ્ટ અમલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.21.1" />યહૂદાનો નવો રાજા મનાશ્શા ગાદીએ આવ્યો, ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 12 વર્ષની હતી, તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 55 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ, તેની માતાનું નામ હેફસીબાહ હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2KI.21.2" />યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કર્યું જેવી કે પ્રજાઓ દ્વારા કરાતી તિરસ્કૃત વસ્તુઓ જેને યહોવાએ હાંકી કાઢી હતી જ્યારે યહોવાએ તેમની જમીન ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આપી દીધી હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.21.3" />તેના પિતા હિઝિક્યાએ તોડી પાડેલા ઉચ્ચસ્થાનો પરનાં થાનકો તેણે ફરી બંધાવ્યાં, તેણે બઆલને માટે યજ્ઞ વેદીઓ ચણાવી અને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાની જેમ અશેરાદેવીની મૂર્તિ બનાવી અને તેની પૂજા કરી, અને આકાશમાંનાં બધાં નક્ષત્રોની સેવાપૂજા કરવાનું શરૂ કર્યું.
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<v id="4" bcv="2KI.21.4" />જે મંદિર વિષે યહોવાએ એમ કહ્યું હતું કે, “યરૂશાલેમમાં મારા નામની સ્થાપના કરીશ.” તે મંદિરમાં તેણે વેદીઓ ઊભી કરી.
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<v id="5" bcv="2KI.21.5" />યહોવાના મંદિરનાં, બંને પ્રાંગણમાં આકાશમાંના બધાં નક્ષત્રો અને ગ્રહો માટે વેદીઓ બંધાવી.
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.21.6" />તેણે પોતાના પુત્રને હોમયજ્ઞમાં હોમી દીધો. તે લાભમુહૂર્ત પૂછતો, જાદુ કરતો, ને ભૂવાઓ તથા જાદુગરો સાથે વ્યવહાર રાખતો;
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે યહોવાને ન ગમે તેવાં બીજા અનેક કાર્યો કરી યહોવાનો રોષ વહોરી લીધો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.21.7" />તેણે અશેરાદેવીની કંડારેલી મૂર્તિ બનાવડાવી અને તેને યહોવાના મંદિરમાં સ્થાપી, જે યહોવાએ દાઉદને અને તેના પુત્ર સુલેમાનને કહ્યું હતું કે, ઇસ્રાએલના બધા વંશોના પ્રદેશમાંથી યરૂશાલેમ નગરીનો આ પ્રદેશ પસંદ કર્યો હતો. જ્યાં મારું મંદિર છે અને મારું નામ જ્યાં હંમેશા સ્થપાયેલું રહેશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="2KI.21.8" />જો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મારા સેવક મૂસાએ તેમને સોંપેલી મારી બધી આજ્ઞાઓ અને મારા ઉપદેશોનું પાલન કરશે તો હું તેમને, તેમના પૂર્વજોની ભૂમિમાંથી જવા નહિ દઉ.
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<v id="9" bcv="2KI.21.9" />પણ તે લોકોએ સાંભળ્યું નહિ અને મનાશ્શાએ તેમની પાસે હજુ ખરાબ કામો કરાવ્યા જે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પહેલાની પ્રજા જેનો યહોવાએ વિનાશ કર્યો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.21.10" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ પોતાના સેવક પ્રબોધકો મારફતે કહ્યું કે,
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.21.11" />“યહૂદાના રાજા મનાશ્શાએ આ બધાં શરમજનક કાર્યો કર્યા છે, અને એના પહેલાં અમોરીઓએ કરેલાં દુષ્ટ કૃત્યોને પણ તેઓ વટાવી ગયાં છે, અને તેણે યહૂદાના લોકોને મૂર્તિપૂજા કરાવીને પાપમાં પ્રેર્યા છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.21.12" />તેથી હું આ વચનો ઉચ્ચારું છું: ‘હું યહોવા, યરૂશાલેમ અને યહૂદા પર એવી આફત ઉતારીશ કે જે કોઈ એ સાંભળશે તેના કાનમાં તે ગુંજયાં કરશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2KI.21.13" />હું યરૂશાલેમને, સમરૂનને જે દોરીથી માપ્યું હતું તે જ દોરીથી માપીશ, અને આહાબને માટે વાપર્યો હતો તે જ ઓળંબો એને માટે પણ વાપરીશ, કોઈ માણસ થાળી સાફ કરીને ઊંધી પાડી દે, તેમ હું યરૂશાલેમને સાફ કરી નાખીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="2KI.21.14" />મારા પોતાના લોકોમાંના બાકી રહેલાઓને હું તજી દઈશ અને તેમને તેમના દુશ્મનોના હાથમાં સોંપી દઈશ; તેઓ લૂંટનો અને દુશ્મનોનો ભોગ થઈ પડશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="2KI.21.15" />કારણ તેમના પિતૃઓએ મિસરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા ત્યારથી આજ સુધી મારી દ્રષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કરી તેમણે મારો રોષ વહોરી લીધો છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.21.16" />વળી મનાશ્શાએ યરૂશાલેમ લોહીથી છલોછલ ભરાઈ જાય એટલું બધું નિદોર્ષોનું લોહી રેડયું હતું. ઉપરાંત, તેણે યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કરી, યહૂદાવાસીઓને જે પાપ કરવા પ્રેર્યા તે તો જુદું.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.21.17" />મનાશ્શાનાઁ શાસનનાં બીજા બનાવો અને કાર્યો
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.21.18" />મનાશ્શા પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેને ઉઝઝાના બગીચામાં આવેલી તેના કુટુંબની કબરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર આમોન ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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<s style="s">આમોનનું ટૂંક શાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.21.19" />જ્યારે આમોન રાજા બન્યો ત્યાંરે તેની ઉંમર બાવીસ વર્ષની હતી અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં બે વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ, તેની માતાનું નામ મશુલ્લેમેથ હતું, તે યોટબાહના હારુસની પુત્રી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.21.20" />તેણે તેના પિતા મનાશ્શાની જેમ યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિમાં અયોગ્ય તેવું આચરણ કર્યું.
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<v id="21" bcv="2KI.21.21" />તેના પિતાની જેમ તેણે પણ ભૂંડાઈથી રાજ કર્યુ, તેણે એ જ મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા ચાલુ રાખી.
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<v id="22" bcv="2KI.21.22" />તેણે પોતાના પિતૃઓના યહોવા દેવનો ત્યાગ કર્યો અને દેવની સલાહ સાંભળવાની ના પાડી.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.21.23" />આખરે તેના નોકરોએ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ કાવતરું ઘડીને, અને તેને રાજમહેલમાં મારી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="2KI.21.24" />પરંતુ દેશના લોકોએ બધા કાવતરાઁ ખોરોને મારી નાખ્યા અને તેના પુત્ર યોશિયાને ગાદીએ બેસાડયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.21.25" />રાજા આમોનનાઁ શાસનનાં બીજાં બનાવો અને કાયેરા
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="2KI.21.26" />તેને ઉઝઝાના બગીચામાં તેના પિતાની કબરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર યોશિયા ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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<s style="s">યોશિયાનું યહૂદા પર શાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.22.1" />જ્યારે યહૂદાનો નવો રાજા યોશિયા ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે આઠ વર્ષનો હતો, તેણે યરૂશાલેમ પર એકત્તીસ વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું, તેની માતાનું નામ યદીદા હતું. તે બોસ્કાથના અદાયાની પુત્રી હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.22.2" />તેનું શાસન સારું હતું. તે તેના પિતૃ દાઉદને પગલે ચાલ્યો અને સંપૂર્ણ રીતે યહોવાને આધીન રહ્યો.
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<s style="s">મંદિરના જીણોર્દ્ધારનો આદેશ આપતો યોશિયા
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2KI.22.3" />પોતાના રાજયના 18મેં વષેર્ તેણે મશુલ્લામના પુત્ર અસાલ્યાના પુત્ર શાફાનને બોલાવ્યો અને તેમને યહોવાના મંદિરમાં આ સંદેશો આપીને મોકલ્યો:
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<v id="4" bcv="2KI.22.4" />“મુખ્ય યાજક હિલ્કિયા પાસે જા અને કહે કે, તે પૈસા સાથે તૈયાર રહે જે પૈસા લોકોએ યહોવાને અર્પણ કર્યા હતા અને દરવાનોએ એકઠા કર્યા હતાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="2KI.22.5" />અને પછી યહોવાના મંદિરમાં ચાલતા કામના વ્યવસ્થાપકોને સોંપતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.22.6" />તેઓએ તે પૈસા મંદિરના સમારકામમાં રોકાયેલા સુથારો, મિસ્રીઓ અને કડિયાઓને પગાર ચૂકવવામાં અને મંદિરના સમારકામ માટે લાકડું અને વહેરેલા પથ્થર ખરીદવામાં આપ્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.22.7" />તેમને સોંપેલાં નાણાંનો તેઓ હિસાબ માગવાના નથી. કારણ, તેઓ પ્રામાણિક છે.”
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<s style="s">નિયમશાસ્ત્રના પુસ્તકની મંદિરમાં પ્રાપ્તિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.22.8" />મુખ્યયાજક હિલ્કિયાએ સચિવ શાફાનને કહ્યું, “મને યહોવાના મંદિરમાંથી
<bk>નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પુસ્તક</bk> મળી આવ્યું છે.” હિલ્કિયાએ તે પોથી શાફાનને આપી અને તેણે તે વાંચી જોઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2KI.22.9" />પછી સચિવ શાફાને રાજા પાસે જઈને જણાવ્યું કે, “આપના સેવકોને મંદિરમાંથી ચાંદી મળી અને તે તેમણે મંદિરનું સમારકામ કરતાં માણસોને આપી દીધી.”
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<v id="10" bcv="2KI.22.10" />પછી તેણે ખબર આપી કે, “યાજક હિલ્કિયાએ મને એક પોથી આપી છે.” અને તેણે રાજાને તે પોથી મોટેથી વાંચી સંભળાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2KI.22.11" />એ જે ક્ષણે રાજાએ
<bk>ટીપણાંમાં</bk> શું લખેલું છે સાભળ્યું, રાજા ખૂબ વ્યથિત બની ગયો અને તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડી નાખ્યાં.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.22.12" />તેણે હિલ્કિયા યાજકને, શાફાનને, પોતાના મદદનીશ અસાયાને, શાફાનના પુત્ર અહીકામને તથા મીખામાહના પુત્ર આખ્બોરને આજ્ઞા કરી.
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<v id="13" bcv="2KI.22.13" />“જાઓ અને મારા અને લોકોના વતી આ જે પોથી મળી આવી છે તેમાંનાં વચનો વિષે યહોવાને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરો. આપણા પર યહોવા ખૂબ રોષે ભરાયા છે અને તેઓ આપણને સજા કરશે, કારણકે આપણા પૂર્વજોએ આ પોથીમાં જે કંઈ કરવાનું લખવામાં આવ્યું છે તેનું પાલન કર્યુ નહોતું. તેમાં જે આપણે કરવું જોઇએ તેમ કહ્યું છે, તે આપણે નહોતું કર્યું.”
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<s style="s">પ્રબોધિકાઓ હુલ્દાહ અને યોશીયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.22.14" />યાજક હિલ્કિયા, અહીકામ, આખ્બોર, શાફાન અને અસાયાલ પ્રબોધિકા હુલ્દાહની સલાહ લેવા ગયા, તેણી તિકવાહનો પુત્ર અને હાહાર્સનો પૌત્ર, શાલ્લુમની પત્ની હતી. શાલ્લુમ મંદિરના વસ્રભંડારનો ઉપરી હતો, તેની પત્ની હુલ્દાહ યરૂશાલેમ નગરમાં બીજા વિસ્તારમાં રહેતી, તેણી એક પ્રબોધિકા હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.22.15" />આ પ્રબોધિકાએ ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવ તરફથી તેઓને સંદેશો આપ્યો, “તમને મારી પાસે મોકલનાર માણસને કહેજો,
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.22.16" />‘યહોવા આમ કહે છે, જુઓ હું આ નગર અને તેના લોકો પર મુશ્કેલીઓ લાવવાનો છું. હા, યહૂદાના રાજાએ પુસ્તકમાં વાંચ્યા પ્રમાણે.
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<v id="17" bcv="2KI.22.17" />કારણ એ લોકોએ મને છોડી દઈને બીજા દેવોને ધૂપ અર્પણ કરવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ છે. આ બધાં કુકમોર્થી તેમણે મને ગુસ્સે કર્યો છે; મારો રોષ આ ભૂમિ પર ભભૂકી ઊઠશે અને તે શાંત પડવાનો નથી.’
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2KI.22.18" />“અને જે વ્યકિતએ તમને યહોવાને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરવા મોકલ્યો છે તે યહૂદાના રાજાને તમે જઇને કહો, ‘ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા તમે સાંભળેલી વાતો વિષે આમ કહે છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.22.19" />જ્યારે તમે ખૂબ દિલગીર થયા અને મારા પગે પડ્યા, જ્યારે તમે જાણ્યું કે આ નગર અને તેના લોકો શ્રાપિત થશે અને નિર્જન થઇ જશે, ત્યારે તમે તમારા વસ્રો ફાડી નાખ્યાં અને પશ્ચાતાપથી મારી પાસે રડ્યાં, તેથી હું પણ તમને સાંભળીશ.’ અને એટલે હું આ જગ્યા પર જે આફતો ઉતારનાર છું તે તારે નજરે જોવી નહિ પડે.
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<v id="20" bcv="2KI.22.20" />‘તે પહેલાં તું તારા પિતૃઓ ભેગો થઈ જશે, અને શાંતિથી તું કબરમાં પહોંચી જશે.’”
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<p style="p">તેઓ આ ઉત્તર લઈને રાજા પાસે ગયા.
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<c id="23" />
<s style="s">લોકોએ નિયમ સાંભળ્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.23.1" />ત્યારબાદ રાજાએ પોતાની સાથે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં આવવા માટે સંદેશવાહકો મોકલીને યરૂશાલેમના તથા યહૂદાના વડીલો તથા આગેવાનોને બોલાવ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.23.2" />યરૂશાલેમ અને યહૂદાના સર્વ યાજકો, પ્રબોધકો, અને નાનાથી મોટા સર્વ લોકો મંદિર આગળ ભેગા થયા. રાજાએ તેઓની આગળ મંદિરમાંથી મળી આવેલું દેવના
<bk>નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પુસ્તક</bk> પૂરેપૂરું વાચી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2KI.23.3" />ત્યારબાદ રાજાએ મંચ પર ઊભા રહીને, તેમને યહોવાને અનુસરવાનું કહ્યું. અને તેના બધા આદેશો અને હુકમોનું પાલન કરવાનું અને તેમની બધી સુચનાઓને તેમના પૂર્ણ હૃદયથી અને તેમના પૂર્ણ આત્માથી અનુસરવાનું કહ્યું. અને એ રીતે આ પુસ્તકમાં લખેલા કરારની શરતોનો પૂરેપૂરો અમલ કરવાની પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી; અને બધા લોકોએ પણ એ કરારનું પાલન કરવાની પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.23.4" />એ પછી રાજાએ વડા યાજક હિલ્કિયાને તથા મદદનીશ યાજકને તેમજ દ્વારના રક્ષકોને બઆલદેવની અશેરાદેવીની તેમજ આકાશનાં નક્ષત્રોની પૂજામાં વપરાતી બધી સામગ્રી યહોવાના મંદિરમાંથી હઠાવી લેવાનો હુકમ કર્યો, અને તે બધીને તેણે યરૂશાલેમ બહાર કિદ્રોનનાં કોતરમાં બાળી મુકાવી, અને તેની રાખ બેથેલ લઈ જવામાં આવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.23.5" />તેણે યહૂદાના રાજાઓએ, યહૂદાના નગરોમાંના અને યરૂશાલેમની આસપાસનાં ઉચ્ચસ્થાનોમાં ધૂપ અર્પણો કરવા નીમેલા વિધમીર્ર્ યાજકોને બરતરફ કર્યા, આમાં બધાં જેમણે બઆલમાં અર્પણો કર્યા હતા તે, સૂર્ય, ચંદ્ર, નક્ષત્રો અને આકાશના બધાં સમૂહોનો સમાવેશ થતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.23.6" />યરૂશાલેમના મંદિરમાંથી અશેરાદેવીની મૂર્તિને યરૂશાલેમની બહાર કિદ્રોનના કોતરમાં લઈ જઈને બાળીને ભસ્મ કરી નાખી અને તેની રાખ ગાઝા નજીક સામાન્ય લોકોની કબરો પર ફેંકી દીધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.23.7" />તેણે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં આવેલું દેવદાસો અને દેવદાસીઓ માટેનું ઘર, જેમાં સ્રીઓ અશેરા માટે વસ્ત્રો વણતી, તે તોડી પાડયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.23.8" />યહૂદાના નગરોમાંથી તેણે બધા યાજકોને યરૂશાલેમમાં ભેગા કર્યા, અને ગેબાથી બેર-શેબા સુધી સર્વત્ર તેઓ જ્યાં જ્યાં અર્પણ સ્તંભ અને અર્પણ વેદીઓ હતી, તે બધાં તેણે ષ્ટ કર્યા. પછી તેણે નગરના શાસક યહોશુઆના દરવાજા પાસે આવેલા ઉચ્ચસ્થાનો તોડી નાખ્યા. જે મુખ્ય નગર દરવાજાની ડાબી બાજુએ હતો.
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<v id="9" bcv="2KI.23.9" />પરંતુ એ થાનકોના યાજકો યરૂશાલેમમાં આવેલી વેદીની પૂજા કરવા આવ્યા નહોતા, તેઓએ તેમના કુટુંબો વચ્ચે બેખમીર રોટલી ખાધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.23.10" />હવે પછી કોઈ પણ વ્યકિત પોતાના પુત્ર કે પુત્રીને મારી નાખીને તેનું બલિદાન તરીકે અર્પણ ન કરી શકે, કારણકે રાજાએ બેન-હિન્નોમની ખીણમાં આવેલી તોફેથની વેદીને પણ તોડી પાડી હતી.
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.23.11" />તેણે નાથાન મેલેખના નિવાસસ્થાન પાસે મંદરિના મુખ્ય પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ આવેલી ઘોડાઓની પ્રતિમાઓને તોડી પાડી. તેણે સૂર્ય દેવને સમર્પિત થયેલા રથોને બાળી મૂક્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2KI.23.12" />આહાઝના ઉપરના ઓરડા પર યહૂદાના રાજાઓએ બંધાવેલી વેદીઓ હતી, તેને તોડી પાડી. ત્યાર પછી મંદિરના બંને આંગણામાં મનાશ્શાએ બાંધેલી બે વેદીઓ હતી, તે પણ તેણે તોડી નાખી, એ સર્વને ભાંગીને ભૂકો કર્યો અને એ ભૂકો કિદ્રોનની ખીણમાં ફેંકી દીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.23.13" />વળી તેણે ઇસ્રાએલની પૂર્વ તરફના ઉચ્ચસ્થાનકો અપવિત્ર કર્યા. તે ઇસ્રાએલના સુલેમાન રાજાએ બંધાવેલી “વિનાશક ટેકરીઓની” દક્ષિણે હતાં જે તેણે આશ્તોરેથ માટે બંધાવી હતી જે સિદોનીઓની ભયાનક દેવી હતી, મોઆબીઓના ભયાનક દેવ કમોશ અને આમ્મોનીઓના ભયાનક દેવ, મિલ્કોમના સ્થાનકો પણ તોડી પાડ્યાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="2KI.23.14" />તેણે સ્તંભો તોડી પાડયા અને અશેરાદેવીનાં પ્રતીકો કાપી નાખ્યાં. તેઓ જે જગ્યાએ ઊભાં હતાં તે જગ્યાઓ માણાસોનાં હાડકાંઓથી પૂરી દીધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2KI.23.15" />એ જ રીતે બેથેલની વેદી અને ઉચ્ચસ્થાનો, જે ઇસ્રાએલને પાપ કરવા પ્રેરનાર નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમે બંધાવી હતી તેનો પણ તેણે નાશ કર્યો, તેના પથ્થરોને ભેગા કરીને ભાંગીને ભૂકો કરી ફેકી દીધો અને અશેરાદેવીની બધી નિશાનીઓને બાળી મૂકી.
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.23.16" />જ્યારે યોશિયા બીજી તરફ ફર્યો ત્યારે તેણે એક ટેકરી પર કેટલીક કબરો જોઈ, આ રીતે, જે રીતે દેવના માણસે ભવિષ્યવાણી ભાખી હતી તે પ્રમાણે જ તેણે વેદીને ષ્ટ કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.23.17" />અને તેણે પૂછયું, “ત્યાં પેલું સ્મારક શાનું છે?”
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<p style="p">નગરના લોકોએ કહ્યું, “એ તો જે દેવના માણસ એલિયાએ યહૂદાથી આવીને તમે બેથેલની વેદીના જે હાલ કર્યા તેની અગમ વાણી ભાખી હતી તેની કબર છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2KI.23.18" />તેણે કહ્યું, “એ ભલે રહી. કોઈ એનાં હાડકાં ખસેડશો નહિ.” તેથી તેઓએ તેનાં હાડકાં છોડી દીધાં અને સમરૂનથી આવેલા દેવના માણસનાં હાડકાંને પણ કોઈ અડયું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.23.19" />વળી, યોશિયાએ સમરૂનનાં નગરોમાં ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓએ બનાવેલા ઉચ્ચસ્થાનકોનો નાશ કરીને જે યહવોનો રોષ વહોરી લીધો હતો, તે બધાંની પણ તેણે બેથેલમાં કરી હતી તેવી જ દશા કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.23.20" />એ ટેકરી ઉપરનાં થાનકોના બધા યાજકોનો તેણે વેદીઓ પર વધ કર્યો, અને તે વેદીઓ પર તેણે માણસનાં હાડકાં બાળ્યાં, પછી તે યરૂશાલેમ પાછો ગયો.
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<s style="s">પાસ્ખાપર્વ ઉજવતાં યહૂદાના લોકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2KI.23.21" />રાજાએ સમગ્ર પ્રજાને આ પ્રમાણે આજ્ઞા કરી, “તમારા દેવ યહોવાના માનમાં,
<bk>કરારના આ પુસ્તકમાં</bk> ઠરાવ્યા મુજબ, પાસ્ખાપર્વ ઊજવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2KI.23.22" />ન્યાયાધીશોના સમયથી કયારેય આવો પાસ્ખાપર્વ ઊજવાયો નહોતો, ઇસ્રાએલ કે યહૂદાના એક પણ રાજા દ્વારા પણ નહિ.
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<v id="23" bcv="2KI.23.23" />પણ યોશિયાના અમલના 18મે વષેર્ જ આ પાસ્ખાપર્વ યહોવાના માનમાં યરૂશાલેમમાં ઊજવાયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2KI.23.24" />આ ઉપરાંત યોશિયાએ યાજક હિલ્કિયાને યહોવાના મંદિરમાંથી મળેલી પોથીમાંના નિયમશાસ્ત્રાનાં વચનોનું પાલન કરવા માટે કહ્યું અને બધાં તાંત્રિકો, મેલી વિદ્યાના ઉપાસકો, કુળદેવો અને યહૂદાના પ્રદેશમાં અને યરૂશાલેમમાં જોવામાં આવતી બધી મૂર્તિઓ જે અનાદરને પાત્ર હોય તે બધી બાળી નાખીને તેનો નાશ કરીને તે જગ્યા સાફ કરી નાખી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.23.25" />એના પહેલાં કે પછી એવો કોઈ રાજા થયો નથી, જેણે મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પાલન કરીને પૂરા હૃદયથી અને સંપૂર્ણ બળથી યહોવાની ભકિત કરી હોય.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2KI.23.26" />તેમ છતાં મનાશ્શાના ખરાબ કૃત્યોને કારણે યહૂદા વિરૂદ્ધ યહોવાને ચઢેલો ભારે રોષ હજુ શમ્યો ન હતો.
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<v id="27" bcv="2KI.23.27" />યહોવાએ જાહેર કર્યુ કે, “હું યહૂદીઓને પણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓની જેમ મારા સાન્નિધ્યથી દૂર હડસેલી મુકીશ. મેં પસંદ કરેલા આ નગર યરૂશાલેમને તેમજ યહોવાના જે મંદિરને વિષે મેં એમ કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘ત્યાં મારું નામ કાયમ રહેશે.’ તેને પણ હું દૂર કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2KI.23.28" />યહૂદાના રાજા યોશિયાનાઁ શાસનનાં બીજા બનાવો
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">યોશિયાનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2KI.23.29" />એના અમલ દરમ્યાન મિસરના રાજા ફારુન નકોહ આશ્શૂરના રાજાને મદદ કરવા ફ્રાત નદી આગળ જવા નીકળ્યો હતો અને રાજા યોશિયાએ તેને માર્ગમાં અટકાવ્યો હતો; નકોહ રાજાએ તેને જોયો ત્યારે તેણે એને મગિદ્દોમાં મારી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="30" bcv="2KI.23.30" />તેના અધિકારીઓ તેના મૃતદેહને રથમાં મૂકીને મગિદ્દોથી યરૂશાલેમ લાવ્યા અને તેના મૃત્યુ અગાઉથી તેણે પસંદ કરી રાખેલી કબરમાં તેને દફનાવ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">પછી તેના પુત્ર યહોઆહાઝને તેના પિતાની જગ્યાએ નવા રાજા તરીકે પસંદ કરીને અભિષ્કિત કર્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદાનો નવો રાજા યહોઆહાઝ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2KI.23.31" />યહૂદાનો નવો રાજા યહોઆહાઝ ગાદીએ બેઠો, ત્યારે તે ત્રેવીસ વર્ષનો હતો, તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં ત્રણ મહિના રાજ કર્યું, તેની માતાનું નામ હમૂટાલ હતું. તે લિબ્નાહના યમિર્યાની પુત્રી હતી.
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<v id="32" bcv="2KI.23.32" />યહોઆહાઝે પોતાના પિતૃઓની જેમ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="2KI.23.33" />ફારુન નકોહે તેને યરૂશાલેમ કબજે કરતો અટકાવવા માટે હમાથમાં કેદ પકડયો અને પછી તેણે દેશ પર 7,500 પાઉંડ ચાંદી અને 75 પાઉંડ સોનાનો કર નાખ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="2KI.23.34" />ફારુને યોશિયાના પુત્ર એલ્યાકીમને તેના પિતા યોશિયા પછી રાજા બનાવ્યો અને તેનું નામ બદલીને યહોયાકીમ રાખ્યું. યહોઆહાઝને તે મિસર લઈ ગયો અને ત્યાં તેનું અવસાન થયું.
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<v id="35" bcv="2KI.23.35" />યહોયાકીમે ફારુનને સોનું અને ચાંદી આપ્યાં.પરંતુ લોકો પર, તેમના દરજ્જા પ્રમાણે કર નાખ્યો, તેણે તેમ કર્યું જેથી તે ફારુનની માંગોને પહોંચી વળે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="2KI.23.36" />યહોયાકીમ ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 25 વર્ષની હતી. અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 11 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ. તેની માતાનું નામ ઝબીદાહ હતું અને તે રૂમાહના પેદાયાની પુત્રી હતી.
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<v id="37" bcv="2KI.23.37" />યહોયાકીમે પોતાના પિતૃઓની જેમ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કર્યું.
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</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર યહૂદા આવ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.24.1" />યહોયાકીમે રાજાના અમલ દરમ્યાન બાબિલનો રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર યરૂશાલેમ પર ચઢી આવ્યો. યહોયાકીમ તેને તાબે થઈ ગયો. પરિણામે ત્રણ વર્ષ પર્યંત તેને વસૂલી ભરવી પડી, પણ પછી તેણે બંડ કર્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.24.2" />આથી યહોવાએ બાબિલ, અરામ, મોઆબ અને આમ્મોનના સશસ્ત્ર સૈનિકોને તેની સામે લડવા મોકલ્યા. અને આમ, યહોવાએ પોતાના પ્રબોધકો મારફતે જણાવ્યા મુજબ યહૂદાને ખેદાન-મેદાન કરી નાખ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2KI.24.3" />યહૂદાની આવી સ્થિતી એક જ કારણથી થઈ હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="2KI.24.4" />તે કારણ હતુ કે, યહોવાએ તેમને મનાશ્શાના પાપોની સજા કરવા માટે આ હુકમ કર્યો હતો. આ એટલા માટે થયું, કારણકે તેણે નિદોર્ષ લોકોને મારીને તેમના લોહીથી યરૂશાલેમને ભરી દીધું હતું. યહોવા આ પાપ માટે તેમને કદી માફ કરવા નહોતા માગતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2KI.24.5" />યહૂદાના રાજા યહોયાકીમનાઁ શાસનનાં બીજાં બનાવો અને કાર્યો,
<bk>યહૂદાના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલાઁ છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="2KI.24.6" />તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તેનો પુત્ર યહોયાખીન રાજા બન્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2KI.24.7" />મિસરનો રાજા ત્યાર પછી ફરી કદી પોતાના દેશમાંથી હુમલો કરવા બહાર આવ્યો નહોતો, કારણ બાબિલના રાજાએ મિસરના વહેળાથી ફ્રાત નદી સુધીનો તેના કબજા હેઠળનો પ્રદેશ પડાવી લીધો હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ પ્રાપ્ત કરતો નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.24.8" />યહોયાખીન ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 18 વર્ષની હતી અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 3 મહિના રાજ કર્યુ, તેની માતાનું નામ નહુશ્તા હતું અને તે યરૂશાલેમના એલ્નાથાનની પુત્રી હતી.
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<v id="9" bcv="2KI.24.9" />યહોયાખીને તેના પિતાની જેમ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.24.10" />તે સમયે બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારના સેનાપતિઓએ યરૂશાલેમ પર ચઢાઈ કરી તેને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.24.11" />તેનું લશ્કર શહેરને ઘેરો ઘાલીને પડયું હતું એ દરમ્યાન તે જાતે ત્યાં આવી પહોંચ્યો.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.24.12" />અને યહૂદાનો રાજા યહોયાખીન, તેની મા, તેના અમલદારો, તેના આગેવાનો અને દરબારીઓ સૌ બાબિલના રાજા પાસે ગયાં અને બાબિલના રાજાએ તેમને પકડીને કેદ કર્યા. નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજા હતો ત્યારે તેના શાસનના 8મેં વષેર્ આ બન્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.24.13" />નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર, યહોવાએ અગમવાણી જણાવ્યા મુજબ, યહોવાના મંદિરના તેમજ રાજમહેલના બધા ખજાના ઉપાડી ગયો, અને તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા સુલેમાને બનાવડાવેલા બધાં સોનાના વાસણો પણ દૂર કર્યા, તેણે જેમ યહોવાએ કીધું હતું તેમજ કર્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2KI.24.14" />તેણે યરૂશાલેમના બધા વતનીઓને-બધા ઉમરાવોને અને અગ્રગણ્ય માણસોને અને ધનવાનો તથા લુહારો અને બીજા કારીગરો સુદ્ધાં સૌનો દેશનિકાલ કર્યો; તે બધા મળીને કુલ 10,000 હતા, ફકત વસ્તીનો ગરીબમાં ગરીબ વર્ગ જ બાકી રહ્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="2KI.24.15" />યહોયાખીનને તેની માને તેના દરબારીઓને અને દેશના બધા આગળ પડતા માણસોને તે યરૂશાલેમથી બાબિલ લઈ ગયો.
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.24.16" />વળી તે દેશના 7,000 બળવાન માણસોને, 1,000 લુહારો અને કારીગરોને, જે બધા જ બળવાન અને યુદ્ધે ચડી શકે એવા હતા તેમને બાબિલ દેશવટે લઈ ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">રાજા સિદકિયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2KI.24.17" />બાબિલના રાજાએ યહોયાખીનના કાકા માત્તાન્યાને તેની પછી રાજા બનાવ્યો અને તેનું નામ બદલીને સિદકિયા રાખ્યું.
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<v id="18" bcv="2KI.24.18" />સિદકિયા ગાદીએ આવ્યો, ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 21 વર્ષની હતી, અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 11 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યું, તેની માતાનું નામ હમૂટાલ હતું, અને લિબ્નાહના યમિર્યાની પુત્રી હતી.
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<v id="19" bcv="2KI.24.19" />સિદકિયાએ યહોયા ખીનની જેમ યહોવાની દૃષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="20" bcv="2KI.24.20" />યરૂશાલેમે અને યહૂદાએ યહોવાનો એટલો બધો રોષ વહોરી લીધો કે છેલ્લે તેણે તેમને પોતાની નજર આગળથી દૂર કર્યા.
</p>
<s style="s">નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર દ્વારા સિદકિયાના શાસનની સમાપ્તિ
</s>
<p style="p">પછી રાજા સિદકિયાએ બાબિલના રાજાની વિરૂદ્ધ બળવો કર્યો.
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</p>

<c id="25" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2KI.25.1" />તેના શાસનના નવમા વર્ષમાં, દશમાં મહિનાના, દશમા દિવસે બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે પોતાની આખી સેના સહિત આવીને યરૂશાલેમ પર હુમલો કર્યો, તેણે એ શહેરને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો અને ચારે બાજુ ઘેરાના ઢાળીયા બાધ્યાં.
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<v id="2" bcv="2KI.25.2" />એ પ્રમાણે સિદકિયા રાજાના અગિયારમા વર્ષ સુધી નગરને ઘેરો રહ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="2KI.25.3" />રાજયમાં ચોથા મહિનાના નવમા દિવશે દુકાળ એટલો સખત બની ગયો કે, ખાવા માટે કઇ ખોરાક બાકી ન રહ્યો. તે ચોથા મહિનાનો નવમો દિવસ હતો, નગરમાં અનાજની ભારે તંગી વર્તાતી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2KI.25.4" />આખરે, નબૂખાદનેસ્સારના સૈન્યએ નગરના કોટમાં ગાબડું પાડયું અને તે રાત્રે તેમાંથી સિદકિયા અને તેના માણસો, બે દિવાલોની વચ્ચે આવેલા એક ગુપ્ત દરવાજામાંથી રાજાના બગીચાના માગેર્ શહેરમાં ચારે બાજુ બાબિલવાસીઓ હતાં તે છતાં પણ, રણ તરફ નાસી ગયા.
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<v id="5" bcv="2KI.25.5" />બાબિલના રાજાના સૈન્યે તેનો પીછો કર્યો અને તેને યરીખોના મેદાનમાં પકડી પાડયો, અને તેની સાથેના લોકો વિખેરાઈ ગયા અને તેને છોડી ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2KI.25.6" />બાબિલના સૈનિકોએ સિદકિયાને પકડીને તેમના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારની પાસે રિબ્લાહ લઈ ગયા. અને ત્યાં તેને સજા કરવામાં આવી.
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<v id="7" bcv="2KI.25.7" />તેની નજર આગળ તેના દીકરાઓને રહેંસી નાખવામાં આવ્યા અને ત્યાર પછી તેની આંખો ફોડી નાખી, સાંકળે બાંધી તેને બાબિલ લઈ જવામાં આવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમનો વિનાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2KI.25.8" />બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારના શાસનના ઓગણીસમાં વર્ષમાં, પાંચમા મહિનાના સાતમા દિવસે, રાજાના અંગરક્ષકો, તેમનો સરદાર, નબૂઝારઅદાન અને તેના મંત્રીઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં પ્રવેશ્યા,
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<v id="9" bcv="2KI.25.9" />યહોવાના મંદિરને, રાજાના મહેલને અને શહેરનાં બધાં મકાનોને બાળી મૂક્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2KI.25.10" />તેના લશ્કરે નગરની દીવાલો તોડી નાખી.
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<v id="11" bcv="2KI.25.11" />તેણે શહેરની બાકી રહેલી વસ્તીને, અને જેઓ બાબિલના રાજાના પક્ષમાં ચાલ્યા ગયા હતા તેમને રક્ષકોના નાયક નબૂઝારઅદાને દેશવટો દીધો.
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<v id="12" bcv="2KI.25.12" />અને ફકત વસ્તીના ગરીબમાં ગરીબ વર્ગને દ્રાક્ષની વાડીમાં અને ખેતરમાં મજૂરી કરવા માટે પાછળ રહેવા દીધા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2KI.25.13" />બાબિલવાસીઓએ યહોવાના મંદિરમાંના કાંસાના થાંભલા, પૈડાવાળી ઘોડીઓ અને કાંસાનો સમુદ્ર તે બધું તેમણે ભાંગી નાખ્યું અને કાંસુ બાબિલ લઈ ગયા.
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<v id="14" bcv="2KI.25.14" />વળી તેઓ યહોવાના મંદિરમાં વપરાંતા કાંસાના બધાં વાસણો, કૂંડાં, કુહાડીઓ, થાળીઓ, વાટકા અને બધી વસ્તુઓ પણ લઈ ગયા.
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<v id="15" bcv="2KI.25.15" />સોનાચાંદીનાં પાત્રોને પણ કબજે કરીને તેઓ લઈ ગયા.
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<v id="16" bcv="2KI.25.16" />કાંસાના બે સ્તંભો, સમૂદ્ર અને પૈડાવાળી ઘોડીઓનું વજન કરવું અશકય હતું કેમ કે તે ઘણા વજનદાર હતા. આ સર્વ વસ્તુઓ સુલેમાન રાજાએ યહોવાના મંદિરને માટે બનાવડાવી હતી.
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<v id="17" bcv="2KI.25.17" />એક સ્તંભની ઊંચાઈ અઢાર હાથ હતી, અને તેના પર કાંસાની મથોટી હતી અને તેની ઉંચાઈ ત્રણ હાથ હતી, તે એક ઢાંકણું હતું જે ગોળ ફરતું હતું અને દરવાજે લટકતું હતું મથાળા પર ચોગરદમ જાળી તથા દાડમો પાડેલાં હતાં, અને તે એક ગોળાકાર જેવું માળખું હતું. બીજો સ્તંભ પણ જાળીદાર નકશી પાડેલી હતી અને તેના જેવો જ હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">બંદિવાન બનતા યહૂદીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2KI.25.18" />રક્ષકોના નાયકે મુખ્ય યાજક સરાયાને, તેની હાથ નીચેના યાજક સફાન્યાને અને ત્રણ દ્વારપાળોને કેદ પકડયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2KI.25.19" />ત્યાર પછી તેણે નગરમાંથી લશ્કરના વડા અમલદારને, નગરમાંથી મળી આવેલા રાજાના પાંચ સલાહકારોને, સેનાપતિના લશ્કરની ભરતી અને તાલીમનું કામ સંભાળનાર મંત્રીને, તેમજ પ્રદેશના 60 સામાન્ય લોકોને, જેઓ નગર માંથી મળ્યા હતાં તેમને સાથે લીધા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2KI.25.20" />અને એ બધાને તે હમાથના પ્રદેશમાં આવેલા રિબ્લાહમાં બાબિલના રાજા આગળ લઈ ગયા.
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<v id="21" bcv="2KI.25.21" />અને ત્યાં બાબિલના રાજાએ તેમને ફટકા મરાવીને મારી નંખાવ્યા. આમ યહૂદાવાસીઓને બંદીવાન બનાવીને, તેઓના દેશમાંથી લઈ જવામાં આવ્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદાનો શાસન કર્તા ગદાલ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2KI.25.22" />બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે જે લોકોને યહૂદાના પ્રદેશમાં રહેવા દીધા હતા, તેમના પર રાજય કરવાને તેણે શાફાનના પુત્ર અહીકામના પુત્ર ગદાલ્યાને યહૂદામાં શાસન કર્તા તરીકે નીમ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2KI.25.23" />જયારે લશ્કરી ટુકડીઓના સેનાપતિઓએ અને તેમના માણસોએ સાંભળ્યું કે બાબિલના રાજાએ ગદાલ્યાને શાસન કર્તા નીમ્યો છે, ત્યારે તેઓ તેને મળવા મિસ્પાહ ગયા, એટલે નથાન્યાનો પુત્ર ઇશ્માએલ, કારેઆહનો પુત્ર યોહાનાન, નટોફાથી તાન્હુમેથનો પુત્ર સરાયા, માઅખાથીનો પુત્ર યાઅઝાન્યા, અને તેઓના માણસો ગદાલ્યાને મળ્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="2KI.25.24" />તેમની અને તેમના માણસોની સામે ગદાલ્યાએ વચન આપીને કહ્યું કે, “બાબિલવાસીઓથી ડરશો નહિ, દેશમાં શાંતિથી રહો અને બાબિલના રાજાનું પ્રભુત્વ સ્વીકારો, એટલે તે તમારી પ્રત્યે સારો રહેશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2KI.25.25" />સાતમા મહિનામાં રાજવંશના એલીશામાનો અને નથાન્યાના પુત્ર ઇશ્માએલે દસ માણસો સાથે ગદાલ્યા પાસે આવીને તેમજ મિસ્પાહમાં તેની સાથે રહેતા યહૂદાવાસીઓને અને બાબિલવાસીઓને મારી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="26" bcv="2KI.25.26" />ત્યારબાદ નાનાંમોટાં બધાંજ લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તથા લશ્કરના અમલદારો બાબિલવાસીઓની બીકથી મિસર ભાગી ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2KI.25.27" />યહૂદાના રાજા યહોયાખીનને પણ બંદીવાસમાંથી મુકત કરવામાં આવ્યો. આમ આ દેશનિકાલના સાડત્રીસમા વર્ષમાં બન્યું. છેલ્લા માસના સત્તાવીસમે દિવસે બાબિલના રાજા એવીલ-મરોદાખે, પોતે ગાદીએ બેઠો અને તે જ વરસે યહૂદાના રાજા યહોયાખીનને માફી અપાઇ અને તેને કારાવાસમાંથી મુકત કરવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="28" bcv="2KI.25.28" />તેણે તેના પ્રત્યે માયાળુ વર્તાવ રાખ્યો અને તેને બાબિલમાં પોતાની સાથેના બીજા રાજાઓ કરતાં ઊંચે આસને બેસાડયો.
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<v id="29" bcv="2KI.25.29" />આથી યહોયાખીને કારાવાસનાં કપડાં ઉતારી સામાન્ય નાગરિકનો પોષાક પહેરી, બાકીનું જીવન રાજાના આશ્રિત તરીકે વિતાવ્યું. એક જ મેજ પર બેસી તેણે તેમની સાથે ભોજન લીધું
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<v id="30" bcv="2KI.25.30" />અને જ્યાં સુધી તે જીવ્યો ત્યાં સુધી રાજાએ તેને ભાણું અને આધાર આપ્યો.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="1CH"><id id="1CH">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>1 કાળવૃત્તાંતનું
</h><toc level="1">કાળવૃત્તાંતનું પહેલું પુસ્તક
</toc><toc level="2">1 કાળવૃત્તાંતનું
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">કાળવૃત્તાંતનું
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">પહેલું પુસ્તક
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">વંશાવળીઓની નોંધ – આદમથી નૂહ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.1.1" />આદમ, શેથ, અનોશ;
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1CH.1.2" />કેનાન, માહલાલએલ, યારેદ;
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1CH.1.3" />હનોખ, મથૂશેલા, લામેખ; નૂહ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.1.4" />નૂહના પુત્રો: શેમ, હામ તથા યાફેથ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યાફેથના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.1.5" />યાફેથના પુત્રો: ગોમેર, માગોગ, માદાય, યાવાન, તુબાલ, મેશેખ તથા તીરાશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.1.6" />ગોમેરના પુત્રો: આશ્કનાજ, રીફાથ અને તોગાર્માહ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.1.7" />યાવાનના પુત્રો: એલિશા, તાશીર્શ, કિત્તીમ તથા દોદાનીમ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">હામના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.1.8" />હામના પુત્રો: કૂશ, મિસરાઈમ, પૂટ તથા કનાન.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.1.9" />કૂશના પુત્રો: સબાહ, હવીલાહ, સાબ્તાહ, રાઅમાહ તથા સાબ્તેકા.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">રાઅમાહના પુત્રો: શબા અને દદાન.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.1.10" />કૂશનો બીજો એક પુત્ર નિમ્રોદ હતો જે પૃથ્વી પરનો સૌથી પહેલો શકિતશાળી યોદ્ધો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.1.11" />મિસરાઈમ આ બધાનો પિતૃ હતો: લૂદીમ, અનામીમ, લહાબીમ, નાફતુહીમ,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1CH.1.12" />પાથરૂસીમ, કાસ્લુહીમ (પલિસ્તી કાસ્લુહીમથી ઉતરી આવ્યાં હતા) અને કાફતોરીમ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.1.13" />કનાનના પુત્રો: સિદોન જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્ર અને હેથ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1CH.1.14" />યબૂસી, અમોરી, ગિર્ગાશી;
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1CH.1.15" />હિવ્વી, આકીર્, સીની;
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="1CH.1.16" />આર્વાદી, સમારી તથા હમાથી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શેમનાં વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.1.17" />શેમના પુત્રો: એલામ, આશ્શૂર, આર્પાકશાદ, લૂદ, અરામ, ઉસ, હૂલ, ગેથેર, તથા મેશેખ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.1.18" />આર્પાકશાદથી શેલાહ થયો, ને શેલાહથી એબેર થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.1.19" />એબેરને બે પુત્રો હતા; એકનું નામ પેલેગ હતું, કારણ તેના દિવસોમાં પૃથ્વીના લોકોમાં વિભાજન થયું હતું; એના ભાઈનું નામ યોકટાન
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="1CH.1.20" />અને તેના પુત્રો હતા: આલ્મોદાદ, શેલેફ, હસાર્માવેથ, યેરાહ;
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="1CH.1.21" />હદોરામ, ઉઝાલ, દિકલાહ,
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="1CH.1.22" />એબાલ અબીમાએલ, શબા,
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="1CH.1.23" />ઓફીર, હવીલાહ અને યોઆબ, આ બધા યોકટાનના વંશજો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.1.24" />શેમ, આર્ફાકશાદ, શેલાહ,
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="1CH.1.25" />એબેર, પેલેગ, રેઉ,
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="1CH.1.26" />સરૂગ, નાહોર, તેરાહ,
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="1CH.1.27" />ઇબ્રામ (એટલે ઇબ્રાહિમ).
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈબ્રાહિમના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.1.28" />ઇબ્રાહિમના પુત્રો: ઇસહાક અને ઇશ્માએલ.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="1CH.1.29" />આ તેઓની વંશાવળી છે:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઇશ્માએલનો: જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર નબાયોથ, કેદાર, આદબએલ, મિબ્સામ,
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="1CH.1.30" />મિશ્મા, દૂમાહ, માસ્સા, હદાદ, તેમા,
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="1CH.1.31" />યટર, નાફીશ અને કેદમાહ. આ ઇશ્માએેલના પુત્રો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="32" bcv="1CH.1.32" />ઇબ્રાહિમની ઉપપત્ની કટૂરાહના પુત્રો: ઝિમ્રાન, યોકશાન, મદાન, મિદ્યાન, યિશ્બાક અને સૂઆહ થયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="33" bcv="1CH.1.33" />મિદ્યાનના પુત્રો: એફાહ, એફેર, હનોખ, અબીદા અને એલ્દાઆહ, આ સર્વ કટૂરાહના વંશજો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઇબ્રાહિમના પુત્રો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="1CH.1.34" />ઇબ્રાહિમ ઇસહાકનો પિતા હતો. ઇસહાક, એસાવ અને ઇસ્રાએલનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="35" bcv="1CH.1.35" />એસાવના પુત્રો: અલીફાઝ, રેઉએલ, યેઉશ, યાલામ તથા કોરાહ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="36" bcv="1CH.1.36" />અલીફાઝના પુત્રો: તેમાન, ઓમાર, સફી, ગાતામ, કનાજ, તિમ્ના તથા અમાલેક.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="37" bcv="1CH.1.37" />રેઉએલના પુત્રો: નાહાથ, ઝેરાહ, શામ્માહ તથા મિઝઝાહ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સેઇરનું કુટુંબ
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="38" bcv="1CH.1.38" />સેઇરના પુત્રો: લોટાન, શોબાલ, સિબયોન, અનાહ, દિશોન, એસેર, તથા દીશાન.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="39" bcv="1CH.1.39" />લોટાનના પુત્રો: હોરી અને હોમામ અને લોટાનની બહેન તિમ્ના હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="40" bcv="1CH.1.40" />શોબાલના પુત્રો: આલ્યાન, માનાહાથ, એબાલ, શફી તથા ઓનામ.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સિબયોનના પુત્રો: આયાહ તથા અનાહ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="41" bcv="1CH.1.41" />અનાહનો પુત્ર:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">દિશોન, દિશોનના પુત્રો: હામ્રાન, એશ્બાન, યિથાન તથા કરાન.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="42" bcv="1CH.1.42" />એસેરના પુત્રો: બિલ્હાન, ઝાઅવાન તથા યાઅકાન,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">દિશાનના પુત્રો: ઉસ તથા આરાન.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અદોમના રાજાઓ
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="43" bcv="1CH.1.43" />ઇસ્રાએલમાં કોઇ પણ રાજાએ રાજ કર્યું તે અગાઉ આ બધાં રાજા હતા;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બયોરનો પુત્ર બેલા, જે દીનહાબાહ નગરમાં રહેતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="44" bcv="1CH.1.44" />બેલા મૃત્યુ પામ્યો પછી બોસ્રાહના વતની ઝેરાહનો પુત્ર યોબાબ રાજા બન્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="45" bcv="1CH.1.45" />યોબાબના મૃત્યુ પછી, તેમાનીઓના દેશનો હૂશામ રાજા બન્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="46" bcv="1CH.1.46" />હૂશામના મૃત્યુ પછી, બદાદનો પુત્ર હદાદ રાજા બન્યો. હદાદે મોઆબના મેદાનમાં મિદ્યાનીઓને હરાવ્યા; તેના નગરનું નામ અવીથ હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="47" bcv="1CH.1.47" />હદાદના મુત્યુ પછી, તેની જગ્યાએ માસ્રેકાહના સામ્લાહે રાજ કર્યુ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="48" bcv="1CH.1.48" />સામ્લાહના મૃત્યુ બાદ, તેની જગ્યાએ નદી પરના રહોબોથના શાઉલે રાજ કર્યુ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="49" bcv="1CH.1.49" />શાઉલના મૃત્યુ પછી, આખ્બોરનો પુત્ર બઆલ-હાના રાજા થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="50" bcv="1CH.1.50" />બઆલ-હાનાના મૃત્યુ પછી, પાઇ નગરનો હદાદ રાજા થયો. તેની પત્નીનું નામ મહેટાબએલ હતું. તે મેઝાહાબની પુત્રી માટેદની પુત્રી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="51" bcv="1CH.1.51" />હદાદ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો પછી અદોમના સરદારો આ હતા: તિમ્ના, આલ્યાહ, યથેથ,
<ve />
<v id="52" bcv="1CH.1.52" />આહોલીબામાહ, એલાહ, પીનોન,
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="1CH.1.53" />કનાઝ, તેમાન, મિબ્સાર,
<ve />
<v id="54" bcv="1CH.1.54" />માગ્દીએલ અને ઇરામ. આ બધા અદોમના સરદારો હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.2.1" />ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રો આ છે: રૂબેન, શિમોન, લેવી, યહૂદા, ઇસ્સાખાર, ઝબુલોન,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1CH.2.2" />દાન, યૂસફ, બિન્યામીન, નફતાલી, ગાદ તથા આશેર.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદાના પુત્રો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.2.3" />યહૂદાના પુત્રો: એર, ઓનાન અને શેલાહ, એ ત્રણેની માતા કનાની સ્રી બાથશુઆ હતી. યહૂદાનો જ્યેષ્ઠપુત્ર એરે એવું કર્યું જે યહોવાની નજરમાં અનિષ્ટ હતું અને યહોવાએ તેનું મોત નિપજાવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1CH.2.4" />પછી યહૂદાની પુત્રવધૂ તામાર અને યહૂદા પેરેસ તથા ઝેરાહના માતાપિતા બન્યાં. આમ યહૂદાને પાંચ પુત્રો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.2.5" />પેરેસના પુત્રો: હેસ્રોન અને હામૂલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.2.6" />ઝેરાહના પુત્રો: ઝિમ્રી, એથાન, હેમાન, કાલ્કોલ અને દાશ; તેઓ બધા થઇને કુલ પાંચ હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.2.7" />કામીર્નો પુત્ર: આખાર કે જે દેવને સમપિર્ત વસ્તુઓની ચોરી કરીને ઇસ્રાએલ પર સંકટ લાવનાર હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.2.8" />એથાનનો પુત્ર: અઝાર્યા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.2.9" />હેસ્રોનના પુત્રો: યરાહમએલ, રામ અને કલૂબાય.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">રામના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.2.10" />રામનો પુત્ર આમ્મીનાદાબ હતો અને તેનો પુત્ર નાહશોન હતો, તે યહૂદાનો આગેવાન હતો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1CH.2.11" />નાહશોનનો પુત્ર સાલ્મા હતો અને તેનો પુત્ર બોઆઝ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1CH.2.12" />બોઆઝ ઓબેદનો પિતા હતો અને ઓબેદ યશાઈનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="1CH.2.13" />યશાઈનો જયેષ્ઠપુત્ર અલીઆબ, બીજો અબીનાદાબ, ત્રીજો શિમઆ;
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1CH.2.14" />ચોથો નથાનિયેલ, પાંચમો રાદ્દાય,
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1CH.2.15" />છઠ્ઠો ઓસેમ, અને સાતમો દાઉદ;
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="1CH.2.16" />તેમની બહેનો સરૂયા તથા અબીગાઈલ હતી. સરૂયાના પુત્રો: અબીશાય, યોઆબ તથા અસાહેલ, એ ત્રણ.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="1CH.2.17" />અબીગાઈલે અમાસાને જન્મ આપ્યો અને અમાસાના પિતા ઇશ્માએલી યેથેર હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કાલેબના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.2.18" />હેસ્રોનના પુત્ર કાલેબ, તેની પત્ની અઝુબાહ દ્વારા થયેલા પુત્ર યરીઓથનો પિતા હતો. તેના પુત્રો આ હતા: યેશેર, શોબાબ તથા આદોર્ન.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="1CH.2.19" />અઝુબાહના મૃત્યુ પછી, કાલેબ એફાથને પરણ્યો, જેણે હૂરને જન્મ આપ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="1CH.2.20" />હૂરથી ઉરી અને ઉરીથી બસાલએલ થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="1CH.2.21" />પાછળથી 60 વર્ષની વયે હેસ્રોન ગિલયાદના બાપ માખીરની પુત્રીને પરણ્યો અને તેણીને પેટે તેને સગૂબ જનમ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="1CH.2.22" />સગૂબથી યાઈર થયો, યાઈર ગિલયાદનાં 23 શહેરોનો ધણી હતો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="1CH.2.23" />પાછળથી ગશૂર અને અરામના લોકોએ ત્યાંનાં 60 શહેરો જીતી લીધાં; એમાં યાઈરનાં ગામોનો તથા કનાથ અને તેની આસપાસનાં ગામોનો સમાવેશ થતો હતો. એ બધાંમાં ગિલયાદના પિતા માખીરના વંશજો વસતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.2.24" />હેસ્ત્રોનના મૃત્યુ પછી કાલેબને તેના પિતા હેસ્ત્રોનની વિધવા એફ્રાથા સાથે જાતિય સંબંધ હતો અને તેનાથી તેણીએ તકોઆના સ્થાપક આશ્શૂરને જન્મ આપ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યરાહમએલના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.2.25" />હેસ્રોનના જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્ર યરાહમએલને પાંચ પુત્રો હતા: જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્ર રામ, પછી બૂનાહ, ઓરેન, ઓઝઝેમ અને અહિયા.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="1CH.2.26" />યરાહમએલને અટારાહ નામે બીજી પત્ની હતી, તેનાથી ઓનામ જન્મ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="1CH.2.27" />યરાહમએલના જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્ર રામના પુત્રો: માઆસ, યામીન અને એકેર.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.2.28" />ઓનામના પુત્રો: શામ્માય અને યાદા. શામ્માયના પુત્રો: નાદાબ અને અબીશૂર. અબીશૂર અબીહાઈલને પરણ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.2.29" />તેનાથી તેને આહબાન અને મોલીદ જનમ્યાં હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="1CH.2.30" />નાદાબના પુત્રો: સેલેદ અને આપ્પાઈમ, સેલેદ નસંતાન અવસાન પામ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="1CH.2.31" />આપ્પાઇમનો પુત્ર: યિશઈ, યિશઇનો પુત્ર શેશાન અને શેશાનનો પુત્ર આહલાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="32" bcv="1CH.2.32" />શામ્માયના ભાઈ યાદાના પુત્રો: યેથેર અને યોનાથાન, યેથેર નસંતાન અવસાન પામ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="33" bcv="1CH.2.33" />યોનાથાનના પુત્રો: પેલેથ અને ઝાઝા, આ બધા યરાહમએલના વંશજો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="1CH.2.34" />શેશાનને પુત્ર નહોતો, ફકત પુત્રીઓ જ હતી, અને ત્યાં યાર્હા નામે એક મિસરી ચાકર હતો,
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="1CH.2.35" />તેની સાથે તેણે પોતાની પુત્રીને પરણાવી હતી, અને તેને આત્તાય નામે એક પુત્ર થયો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="1CH.2.36" />આત્તાયનો પુત્ર નાથાન, તેનો પુત્ર ઝાબાદ,
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="1CH.2.37" />તેનો પુત્ર એફલાલ, તેનો પુત્ર ઓબેદ,
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="1CH.2.38" />તેનો પુત્ર યેહૂ, તેનો પુત્ર અઝાર્યા,
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="1CH.2.39" />તેનો પુત્ર હેલેસ, તેનો પુત્ર એલઆસાહ,
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="1CH.2.40" />તેનો પુત્ર સિસ્માય, તેનો પુત્ર શાલ્લૂમ,
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="1CH.2.41" />તેનો પુત્ર યકામ્યા અને યકામ્યાનો પુત્ર અલીશામા થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કાલેબનું કુટુંબ
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="42" bcv="1CH.2.42" />યરાહમએલના ભાઈ કાલેબના પુત્રોમાં આ બધાં હતા: જયેષ્ઠપુત્ર મેશા, જે ઝીફનો પિતા હતો; અને હેબ્રોનના પિતા મારેશાહના પુત્રો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="43" bcv="1CH.2.43" />હેબ્રોનના પુત્રો: કોરાહ, તાપ્પુઆહ, રેકેમ તથા શેમા.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="1CH.2.44" />શેમા રાહામનો પિતા અને રાહામ ર્યોકઆમનો પિતા હતો. રેકેમ શામ્માયનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="1CH.2.45" />શામ્માયનો પુત્ર માઓન હતો; માઓન બેથસૂરનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="46" bcv="1CH.2.46" />કાલેબની ઉપપત્ની એફાહથી થયેલા કાલેબના પુત્રો: હારાન, મોસા, અને ગાઝેઝ તથા હારાનનો એક પુત્ર હતો, તેનઁુ નામ ગાઝેઝ હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="47" bcv="1CH.2.47" />યહદાયના પુત્રો: રેગેમ, યોથામ, ગેશાન, પેલેટ, એફાહ તથા શાઆફ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="48" bcv="1CH.2.48" />કાલેબની ઉપપત્ની માઅખાહને પેટે શેબેર તથા તિર્હનાહ થયા.
<ve />
<v id="49" bcv="1CH.2.49" />વળી તેને પેટે માદમાન્નાહનો પિતા શાઆફ, માખ્બેનાનો પિતા શવા તથા ગિબયાના પિતા થયા; કાલેબની પુત્રી આખ્સાહ હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="50" bcv="1CH.2.50" />આ બધા કાલેબના વંશજો હતા: એફ્રાથાહથી જન્મેલા હૂરને શોબાલ નામે પુત્ર હતો. તે કિર્યાથયઆરીમનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
<v id="51" bcv="1CH.2.51" />સાલ્મા, જે બેથલેહેમનો પિતા હતો, અને હારેફ, બેથગાદેરનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="52" bcv="1CH.2.52" />કિર્યાથયઆરીમનો પિતા શોબાલને આ પુત્રો હતા: હારોએહ તથા મનુહોથના અર્ધા ભાગના લોકો,
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="1CH.2.53" />અને કિર્યાથયઆરીમના કુટુંબો: યિથીર્, પૂથી, શુમાથી અને મિશ્રાઈ, સોરઆથી અને એશ્તાઓલીઓ આ લોકોના વંશજ હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="54" bcv="1CH.2.54" />સાલ્માના વંશજો હતા: બેથલેહેમ, નટોફાથીઓ, આટોથ, બેથ-યોઆબના લોકો તથા માનાહાથીઓનો અધોર્ ભાગ અને સોરઇઓ હતા.
<ve />
<v id="55" bcv="1CH.2.55" />યાબ્બેસમાં વસતા લહિયાઓનઁા કુટુંબો: તિરઆથીઓ, શિમઆથીઓ અને સૂખાથીઓ. આ સર્વ બેથ રેખાબના કુટુંબના પૂર્વજ હામ્માથથી ઉતરી આવેલા કેનીઓ હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">રાજા દાઉદના વંશજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.3.1" />દાઉદને હેબ્રોનમાં જે પુત્રો થયા તેમાં યિઝએલી અહીનોઆમથી જન્મેલો આમ્મોન,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">દાઉદ રાજાનો જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બીજો પુત્ર, કામેર્લની અબીગાઈલથી જન્મેલો દાનિયેલ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="2" bcv="1CH.3.2" />દાઉદનો ત્રીજો પુત્ર, ગશૂરના રાજા તાલ્માયની પુત્રી માઅખાહથી જન્મેલો આબ્શાલોમ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ચોથો, હાગ્ગીથનો પુત્ર અદોનિયા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.3.3" />પાંચમો, શફાટયા જેની માતા અબીટાલ હતી,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને છઠ્ઠો, યિથઆમ જેની માતા એગ્લાહ હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.3.4" />આ છ પુત્રો હેબ્રોનમાં જન્મ્યાં હતા.
</p>
<p style="p">જયાં દાઉદે સાત વર્ષ અને છ માસ રાજ કર્યુ હતું. યરૂશાલેમમાં તેણે તેત્રીસ વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ હતું
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1CH.3.5" />અને ત્યાં તેને આમ્મીએલની પુત્રી બાથ-શૂઆથી જન્મેલા પુત્રો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">શિમઆ, સોબાબ, નાથાન અને સુલેમાન.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1CH.3.6" />દાઉદને બીજા નવ પુત્રો હતા: યિબ્હાર, અલીશામા, અલીફેલેટ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1CH.3.7" />નોગાહ, નેફેગ, યાફીઆ;
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1CH.3.8" />અલીશામા, એલ્યાદા અને અલીફેલેટ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1CH.3.9" />તેની ઉપપત્નીઓના પુત્રો ઉપરાંત એ સઘળા દાઉદના પુત્રો હતા; અને તામાર તેઓની બહેન હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદ પછીના યહૂદાના રાજાઓ
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.3.10" />સુલેમાનનો પુત્ર રહાબઆમ, તેનો પુત્ર અબિયા, તેનો પુત્ર આસા, તેનો પુત્ર યહોશાફાટ;
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1CH.3.11" />તેનો પુત્ર યહોરામ, તેનો પુત્ર અહાઝયા, તેનો પુત્ર યોઆશ;
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1CH.3.12" />તેનો પુત્ર અમાસ્યા તેનો પુત્ર અઝાર્યા, તેનો પુત્ર યોથામ;
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="1CH.3.13" />તેનો પુત્ર આહાઝ, તેનો પુત્ર હિઝિક્યા, તેનો પુત્ર મનાશ્શા;
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1CH.3.14" />તેનો પુત્ર આમોન, તેનો પુત્ર યોશિયા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="1CH.3.15" />યોશિયાના પુત્રો: તેના જયેષ્ઠપુત્ર યોહાનાન; બીજો યહોયાકીમ; ત્રીજો, સિદકિયા; ચોથો, શાલ્લૂમ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.3.16" />યહોયાકીમના પુત્રો: તેનો પુત્ર યખોન્યા, તેનો પુત્ર સિદકિયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">બાબિલમાં બંદીવાન દાઉદનું કુટુંબ
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.3.17" />બંદીવાન યખોન્યાના પુત્રો: તેનો પુત્ર શઆલ્તીએલ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="1CH.3.18" />માલ્કીરામ, પદાયા, શેનઆસ્સાર, યકામ્યા, હોશામા તથા નદાબ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.3.19" />પદાયાના પુત્રો: ઝરુબ્બાબેલ તથા શિમઈ; ઝરુબ્બાબેલના પુત્રો: મશુલ્લામ તથા હનાન્યા; તેઓની બહેન શલોમીથ હતી:
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="1CH.3.20" />અને હશુબાહ, ઓહેલ, બેરેખ્યા, હસાદ્યા તથા યુશાબહેસેદ, એ પાંચ ઝરૂબ્બાબેલના બીજા પુત્રો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="1CH.3.21" />હનાન્યાના પુત્રો: પલાટયા અને તેનો પુત્ર યશાયા, તેનો પુત્ર રફાયા, તેનો પુત્ર આનાન, તેનો પુત્ર ઓબાદ્યા, તેનો પુત્ર શખાન્યા,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="1CH.3.22" />શખાન્યાનો વંશજ શમાયા, શમાયાના છ પુત્રો: હાટુશ, યિગઆલ, બારિયા, નઆર્યા, તથા શાફાટ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.3.23" />નઆર્યાના ત્રણ પુત્રો: એલ્યોએનાય, હિઝિક્યા તથા આઝીકામ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.3.24" />એલ્યોએનાયના સાત પુત્રો: હોદાવ્યા, એલ્યાશીબ, પલાયા, આક્કૂબ, યોહાનાન, દલાયા તથા અનાની.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">યહૂદાના અન્ય વંશજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.4.1" />યહૂદાના પુત્રો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">પેરેસ, હેસ્રોન, કામીર્, હૂર તથા શોબાલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="2" bcv="1CH.4.2" />શોબાલનો પુત્ર રઆયા યાહાથનો પિતા હતો. યાહાથ અહૂમાય અને લાહાદનો પૂર્વજ હતો. સોરાથીઓ એમના વંશજો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.4.3" />એટામના વંશજો: યિઝએલ, યિશ્મા તથા યિદબાશ, હાસ્સલએલ્પોની તેની પુત્રી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.4.4" />ગદોરના પિતા પનુએલ, તથા યહૂશાના પિતા એઝેર,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તેઓ બેથલેહેમના પિતા એફ્રાથાહનો જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર હૂરના પુત્રો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.4.5" />તકોઆના પિતા આશ્હૂરને બે પત્નીઓ હતી. હેલઆહ તથા નાઅરાહ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1CH.4.6" />તેને નાઅરાહને પેટે અહૂઝઝામ, હેફેર, તેમની અને હાઅહાશ્તારી થયા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1CH.4.7" />હેલઆહથી તેને જન્મેલા પુત્રો: સેરેથ, ઝોહાર, એથ્નાન અને હાક્કોસ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1CH.4.8" />આનૂમ અને સોબેબાહનો પિતા હાક્કોસ હતો; વળી તે હારુનના પુત્ર અહાહેલના નામથી ઓળખાતા અહાહેલ કુલસમૂહોનો પૂર્વજ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.4.9" />યાબેસ પોતાના ભાઈઓ કરતાં વધારે નામાંકિત હતો, તેની માતાએ તેનું નામ યાબેસ પાડ્યું કારણકે તેણીએ કહ્યું “તેને જન્મ આપતી વખતે ઘણી પીડા સહન કરવી પડી હતી.”
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="1CH.4.10" />યાબેસે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરી કે, હું તમને, પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે, તમે મને આશીર્વાદ આપો અને મારી ભૂમિનો વિસ્તાર કરો, “તમે મારી સાથે રહો અને મને ગૌચર ભૂમિ આપો જેથી મને પરિશ્રમ કરવો ન પડે.” દેવે તેની પ્રાર્થના માન્ય રાખી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11-12" bcv="1CH.4.11" />રેખાહના વંશજો; શૂહાહનો ભાઈ કલૂબ હતો, તેનો પુત્ર મહીર થયો. તે એસ્તોનનો પિતા હતો. એસ્તોન બેથરાફા, પાસેઆહ અને તહિન્નાહના પિતા તે એસ્તોન હતા. તહિન્નાહ ઇર્નાહાશના પિતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.4.13" />કનાઝના પુત્રો: ઓથ્નીએલ અને સરાયા, ઓથ્ની-એલના પુત્રો: હથાથ અને મઓનોથાય.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1CH.4.14" />મઓનોથાય ઓફ્રાહના પિતા હતા.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સરાયા યોઆબના પિતા હતા. યોઆબ “કારીગરોની ખીણ” નો સ્થાપક હતો તે એમ ઓળખાતી હતી કારણ કે તેઓ ત્યાં કારીગરો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="1CH.4.15" />યફૂન્નેહના પુત્ર કાલેબના પુત્રો: ઇરૂ, એલાહ અને નાઆમ, એલાહનો પુત્ર: કનાઝ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.4.16" />યહાલ્લેલએલના પુત્રો: ઝીફ, ઝીફાહ, તીર્યા અને અસારએલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17-18" bcv="1CH.4.17" />એઝાહના પુત્રો: યેથેર, મેરેદ, એફેર, અને યાલોન, મેરેદ મરિયમ, શામ્માય અને યિશ્બાહનો પિતા હતો. એશ્તમોઆના સંસ્થાપક મેરેદેની પત્ની મિસરની હતી, તે યેરેદ ગદોરીઓના સંસ્થાપક હેબેર સોખો ના સંસ્થાપકઅને યકુથીએલ(ઝાનાઈઓના સંસ્થાપક)ની માતા હતી. આ બધાં પુત્રો મેરેદની પત્ની મિસરની બિથ્યા જે ફારુનની પુત્રી હતી તેના હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.4.19" />હોદિયા નાહામની બહેનને પરણ્યો હતો, તેમના વંશજો કેઇલાવાસી ગામીર્ લોકોના તેમજ એશ્તમોઆવાસી માઅખાથી લોકોના પૂર્વજો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="1CH.4.20" />શિમોનના પુત્રો: આમ્મોન, રિન્નાહ, બેન-હાનાન અને તીલોન, યિશઇના પુત્રો:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઝોહેથ અને બેન-ઝોહેથ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="1CH.4.21" />યહૂદાના પુત્ર શેલાહના પુત્રો: લેખાહના પિતા એર, મારેશાહના પિતા લાઅડાહ, તથા બેથ-આશ્બેઆના રહેવાસીઓ, એટલે જેઓ શણનાં ઝીણાં વસ્ત્ર વણનારા કુલસમૂહો હતા, તેઓનાં કુટુંબો;
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="1CH.4.22" />યોકીમ, કોઝેબાના લોકો, યોઆશ તથા સારાફ, જેણે મોઆબની સ્ત્રી સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા હતા અને મોઆબમાં રહેવા ગયો હતો પરંતુ પાછળથી પ્રાચીન નોંધો પ્રમાણે લેહેમમાં પાછો ફર્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="1CH.4.23" />એ લોકો કુંભાર હતા અને નટાઈમ અને ગદેરાહમાં રહેતા હતા, અને રાજાની સાથે નોકરી કરતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શિમોનના પુત્રો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.4.24" />શિમોનના પુત્રો: નમૂએલ, યામીન, યારીબ, ઝેરાહ અને શાઉલ,
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="1CH.4.25" />શાઉલનો પુત્ર શાલ્લુમ, તેનો પુત્ર મિબ્સામ, તેનો પુત્ર મિશ્મા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="1CH.4.26" />મિશ્માના પુત્રો: પુત્ર હામ્મુએલ, તેનો પુત્ર ઝાક્કૂર, ને તેનો પુત્ર શિમઈ.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="1CH.4.27" />શિમઈને સોળ પુત્રો તથા છ પુત્રીઓ હતી: પણ તેના ભાઈઓને ઘણાં સંતાન નહોતાં, તેમજ તેઓનું આખું કુલસમૂહ યહૂદાના કુલસમૂહોની જેમ વૃદ્ધિ પામ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.4.28" />તેઓ બેરશેબામાં, મોલાદાહમાં, હસાર શૂઆલમાં;
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="1CH.4.29" />બિલ્લાહમાં એસેમમાં, તોલાદમાં,
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="1CH.4.30" />બથુએલમાં; હોર્માહમાં; સિકલાગમાં;
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="1CH.4.31" />બેથ-માર્કબોથમાં, હસાર-સૂસીમમાં, બેથ-બીરઈમાં તથા શાઅરાઈમમાં રહેતા હતા, દાઉદના અમલ સુધી એ નગરો પર તેઓ શાસન કરતાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="1CH.4.32" />તેઓના પાંચ શહેરો હતા: એટામ, આઈન, રિમ્મોન, તોખેન તથા આશાન;
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="1CH.4.33" />તથા બઆલ સુધી તે જ નગરોની ચારે તરફનાઁ સર્વ ગામો પણ તેઓનાં હતા, એ તેઓનાં રહેઠાણ હતા, તેઓએ પોતાની વંશાવળી રાખેલી છે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="1CH.4.34" />મશોબાબ, યામ્લેખ, અમાસ્યાનો પુત્ર યોશાહ;
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<v id="35" bcv="1CH.4.35" />યોએલ તથા અશીએલના પુત્ર સરાયા જેનો પુત્ર યોશિબ્યા અને તેનો પુત્ર યેહૂ;
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<v id="36" bcv="1CH.4.36" />એલ્યોએનાય, યાઅકોબાહ, યશોહાયા, અસાયા, અદીએલ, યસીમીએલ તથા બનાયા;
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<v id="37" bcv="1CH.4.37" />શમાયાના પુત્ર શિમ્રી, તેનો પુત્ર યદાયા, તેનો પુત્ર આલ્લોન, તેનો પુત્ર શિફઈ, તેનો પુત્ર ઝીઝા.
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<v id="38" bcv="1CH.4.38" />આ બધા પુરુષો પોતાનાં કુટુંબોના સરદારો હતા; તેઓનાં કુટુંબો બહુ વૃદ્ધિ પામ્યાં.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="1CH.4.39" />ઢોરઢાંખરને માટે ઘાસચારાની શોધમાં તેઓ ખીણની પૂર્વ બાજુ ગદોર સુધી પહોંચ્યાં હતા.
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<v id="40" bcv="1CH.4.40" />તેઓને ઉત્તમ ચરાણ મળ્યું, તે પ્રદેશ શાંત અને સુરક્ષિત હતો, હામના વંશજો ત્યાં ભૂતકાળમાં રહેતા હતા.
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<v id="41" bcv="1CH.4.41" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા હિઝિક્યાના સમયમાં આ આગેવાનોએ તે પ્રદેશ પર ચઢાઈ કરી, હામના વંશજોના તંબુઓ અને મકાનોનો નાશ કર્યો, અને તેના વતનીઓને મારી નાખી તેનો કબજો મેળવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="1CH.4.42" />ત્યારબાદ શિમોનના કુલસમૂહના પાંચસો પુરુષો સેઈર પર્વત સુધી ગયા, તેઓના સરદારો પલાટયા, નઆર્યા, રફાયા, અને ઉઝઝીએલ હતા, એ સર્વ યિશઈના પુત્રો હતા.
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<v id="43" bcv="1CH.4.43" />ત્યાં આગળ જે અમાલેકીઓ બચી ગયા હતા તેઓનો તેઓએ સંહાર કર્યો, ત્યારથી તેઓ ત્યાં વસેલા છે.
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">રૂબેનના વંશજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.5.1" />ઇસ્રાએલનો જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર રૂબેન હતો, પણ તેણે પોતાના પિતાની એક પત્ની સાથે મેળાપ કરી પિતાનું અપમાન કર્યુ હતું, તેથી તેનો જયેષ્ઠપણાનો હક્ક તેના ભાઈ યૂસફને આપવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.5.2" />પોતાના ભાઈઓ કરતાં યહૂદા વધુ બળવાન નીવડયો, કારણ તેના વંશમાંથી એક રાજા થયો હતો, પણ યૂસફને મોટા પુત્રનો હક્ક મળ્યો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CH.5.3" />ઇસ્રાએલના જયેષ્ઠપુત્ર રૂબેનના પુત્રો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">હનોખ, પાલ્લુ, હેસ્રોન તથા કામીર્.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.5.4" />યોએલના વંશજો: તેનો પુત્ર શમાયા, તેનો પુત્ર ગોગ, તેનો પુત્ર શિમઈ;
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<v id="5" bcv="1CH.5.5" />તેનો પુત્ર મીખાહ, તેનો પુત્ર રઆયા, તેનો પુત્ર બઆલ;
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<v id="6" bcv="1CH.5.6" />તેનો પુત્ર બએરાહ, જેને આશ્શૂરનો રાજા, તિગ્લાથ-પિલ્નેસેર બંદીવાન કરીને લઈ ગયો હતો; તે રૂબેનીઓના કુલસમૂહના સરદાર હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.5.7" />તેઓની પેઢીઓની વંશાવળી ગણાઈ, ત્યારે તેઓનાં કુલસમૂહો પ્રમાણે તેના ભાઈઓ આ હતા: એટલે મુખ્ય યેઈએલ, પછી ઝખાર્યા.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CH.5.8" />યોએલના પુત્ર શેમાના પુત્ર આઝાઝનો પુત્ર બેલા, જેઓ અરોએરમાં છેક નબો તથા બઆલમેઓને લગી રહેતા હતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CH.5.9" />તેઓ, અરણ્યના પૂર્વ છેડાથી તે છેક ફ્રાત નદી સુધી વસેલા હતા કારણ કે ગિલયાદ દેશમાં તેઓ પાસે ઢોરોની સંખ્યા બહુ મોટી હતી.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CH.5.10" />શાઉલ રાજાના સમયમાં તેઓએ યુદ્વમાં હાગ્રીઓને હરાવ્યા અને તેઓ ગિલયાદની પૂર્વ બાજુએ તેમના તંબૂ તાણીને વસ્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ગાદના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.5.11" />ગાદના કુલસમૂહો તેઓની સામી બાજુએ આવેલા બાશાન દેશમાં સાલખાહ સુધી વસતા હતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CH.5.12" />યોએલ જેષ્ઠ હતો, બીજો શાફામ, અને ત્યાર પછી યાનાઈ, અને શાફાટ બાશાનમાં હતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CH.5.13" />તેઓના ભાઇઓ મિખાયેલ, મશુલ્લામ, શેબા, યોરાય, યાકાન, ઝીઆ અને એબેર, એ કુલ સાત હતા.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CH.5.14" />બૂઝના વંશજો હતા: યાહદો, તેનો પુત્ર યશીશાય, તેનો પુત્ર મિખાયેલ, તેનો પુત્ર ગિલયાદ, તેનો પુત્ર યારોઆહ, તેનો પુત્ર હૂરી, તેનો પુત્ર અબીહાઈલ,
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<v id="15" bcv="1CH.5.15" />ગૂનીના પુત્ર આબ્દીએલનો પુત્ર અહીં તેના કુલનો આગેવાન હતો.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.5.16" />આ કુટુંબ-કુલ બાશાનના પ્રદેશમાં આવેલા ગિલયાદમાં, તેના નાના ગામડાં ઓમાં, તથા શારોનનાઁ સર્વ ગૌચરોમાં વસતા હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.5.17" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા યોથામના સમયમાં તથા ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા યરોબઆમના સમયમાં તેઓ સર્વ ગાદના કુટુંબના ઇતિહાસમાં નોંધાયા હતા.
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</p>
<s style="s">યુદ્ધ માટે તૈયાર સૈનિકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.5.18" />રૂબેનના પુત્રો, ગાદીઓ, તથા મનાશ્શાનું અધુંર્ કુલસમૂહ, તેઓમાં ઢાલ તથા તરવાર બાંધી શકે એવા, ધનુવિર્દ્યા જાણનારા, યુદ્ધકુશળ, યુદ્ધમાં જઈ શકે એવા શૂરવીર પુરુષો 44,760 હતા.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CH.5.19" />તેઓએ હાગ્રીઓની, યટૂરની, નાફીશની તથા નોદાબની સાથે યુદ્ધ કર્યુ.
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<v id="20" bcv="1CH.5.20" />તેઓએ યુદ્ધમાં દેવને વિનંતી કરી; કારણ કે તેઓ તેમના પર શ્રદ્ધા રાખતા હતા; તેથી તેઓની વિરૂદ્ધ તેઓને દેવની સહાય મળવાથી હાગ્રીઓ તથા જે સર્વ તેઓની સાથે હતા, તેઓ તેઓથી હારી ગયા.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CH.5.21" />તેઓએ લૂંટમાં 50,000 ઊંટ, 2,50,000 ઘેટાં, 2,000 ગધેડાં અને 1,00,000 બંદીવાનો કબજે કર્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="1CH.5.22" />તેઓમાંના ઘણા તો માર્યા ગયા હતા, કેમ કે તે યુદ્ધ દેવનું હતું. તેઓ એમની જગ્યાએ બંદીવાસ થતાં સુધી વસ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.5.23" />મનાશ્શાનું અર્ધ કુલસમૂહ બાશાનથી બઆલ-હેમોર્ન, સનીર અને હેમોર્ન પર્વત સુધીના વિસ્તારમાં ફેલાઇ ગયું હતું. તેઓની સંખ્યા બહુ જ મોટી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.5.24" />તેઓના સરદારો આ હતા: એફેર, યિશઈ, અલીએલ, આઝીએલ, યમિર્યા, હોદાવ્યા, તથા યાહદીએલ; એ પરાક્રમી શૂરવીરો તથા નામાંકિત પુરુષો પોતપોતાના કુલના સરદારો હતા.
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<v id="25" bcv="1CH.5.25" />તેઓએ પોતાના પિતૃઓના દેવ વિરૂદ્ધ પાપ કર્યુ, તેઓની આગળથી દેશના જે લોકોનો વિનાશ દેવે કર્યો હતો, તેઓના દેવોની ઉપાસના કરીને તેઓ ધર્મષ્ટ થયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1CH.5.26" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ આશ્શૂરના રાજા પૂલનું તથા આશ્શૂરના રાજા તિલ્ગાથ-પિલ્નેસેરનું મન ઉશ્કેર્યું, તેથી તેણે તેઓને, એટલે રૂબેનીઓને, ગાદીઓને તથા મનાશ્શાના અર્ધકુલસમૂહને, પકડી લઈ જઈને તેઓને હલાહ; હાબોર, હારામ અને ગોઝાન નદીને કાંઠે લાવીને વસાવ્યા; ત્યાં આજપર્યત તેઓ રહે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">લેવીના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.6.1" />લેવીના પુત્રો: ગેશોર્મ, કહાથ તથા મરારી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="2" bcv="1CH.6.2" />કહાથના પુત્રો: આમ્રામ, યિસ્હાર, હેબ્રોન અને ઉઝઝીએલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.6.3" />આમ્રામનાં સંતાન: હારુન, મૂસા અને મરિયમ.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હારુનના પુત્રો: નાદાબ, અબીહૂ, એલઆઝાર અને ઇથામાર.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1CH.6.4" />એલઆઝાર, તેનો પુત્ર ફીનહાસ, તેનો પુત્ર આબીશૂઆ,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1CH.6.5" />તેનો પુત્ર બુક્કી, તેનો પુત્ર ઉઝઝી,
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<v id="6" bcv="1CH.6.6" />તેનો પુત્ર ઝરાહયા, તેનો પુત્ર મરાયોથ,
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<v id="7" bcv="1CH.6.7" />તેનો પુત્ર અમાર્યા, તેનો પુત્ર અહિટૂબ,
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<v id="8" bcv="1CH.6.8" />તેનો પુત્ર સાદોક, તેનો પુત્ર અહીમાઆસ,
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<v id="9" bcv="1CH.6.9" />તેનો પુત્ર અઝાર્યા, તેનો પુત્ર યોહાનાન,
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="1CH.6.10" />તેનો પુત્ર અઝાર્યા, યરૂશાલેમમાં સુલેમાને બંધાવેલા મંદિરનો યાજક હતો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1CH.6.11" />અઝાર્યાનો પુત્ર અમાર્યા, તેનો પુત્ર અહીટૂબ,
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<v id="12" bcv="1CH.6.12" />તેનો પુત્ર સાદોક, તેનો પુત્ર શાલ્લૂમ,
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<v id="13" bcv="1CH.6.13" />તેનો પુત્ર હિલ્કિયા, તેનો પુત્ર અઝાર્યા,
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<v id="14" bcv="1CH.6.14" />તેનો પુત્ર સરાયા અને તેનો પુત્ર યહોસાદાક થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="1CH.6.15" />જ્યારે યહોવાએ નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમ પર વિજય અપાવ્યો તે સમયે યહોસાદાકને દેશનિકાલ કરવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લેવીના અન્ય વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.6.16" />લેવીના પુત્રો હતા: ગેશોર્મ, કહાથ અને મરારી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.6.17" />ગેશોર્મના પુત્રો: લિબ્ની અને શિમઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.6.18" />કહાથના પુત્રો: આમ્રામ, યિસ્હાર, હેબ્રોન અને ઉઝઝીએલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.6.19" />મરારીના પુત્રો: માહલી અને મૂશી,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">લેવીઓના કુલનાં હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.6.20" />ગેશોર્મના વંશજો: પેઢીના ક્રમ પ્રમાણે: લિબ્ની, એનો પુત્ર યાહાથ, એનો પુત્ર ઝિમ્માહ,
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<v id="21" bcv="1CH.6.21" />એનો પુત્ર યોઆહ, એનો પુત્ર યિદ્રો, એનો પુત્ર ઝેરાહ અને એનો પુત્ર યેઆથરાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="1CH.6.22" />કહાથના વંશજો: પેઢીના ક્રમ પ્રમાણે; એનો પુત્ર આમ્મીનાદાબ, એનો પુત્ર કોરાહ, એનો પુત્ર આસ્સીર,
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<v id="23" bcv="1CH.6.23" />એનો પુત્ર એલ્કાનાહ, એનો પુત્ર એબ્યાસાફ, એનો પુત્ર આસ્સીર,
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<v id="24" bcv="1CH.6.24" />એનો પુત્ર તાહાથ, એનો પુત્ર ઉરીએલ, એનો પુત્ર ઉઝિઝયા, એનો પુત્ર શાઉલ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.6.25" />એલ્કાનાહના વંશજો આ પ્રમાણે છે: અમાસાય તથા અહીમોથ,
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<v id="26" bcv="1CH.6.26" />એલ્કાનાહની વંશાવળી: એલ્કાનાહનો પુત્ર સોફાય, એનો પુત્ર નાહાથ,
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<v id="27" bcv="1CH.6.27" />એનો પુત્ર અલીઆબ, એનો પુત્ર યરોહામ, એનો પુત્ર એલ્કાનાહ.
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<v id="28" bcv="1CH.6.28" />શમુએલના પુત્રો: જયેષ્ઠપુત્ર યોએલ તથા બીજો એબિયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.6.29" />મરારીના પુત્રો: મરારીનો પુત્ર માહલી, માહલીનો પુત્ર લિબ્ની, અને લિબ્નીનો પુત્ર શિમઈ, તથા શિમઇનો પુત્ર ઉઝઝાહ,
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<v id="30" bcv="1CH.6.30" />ઉઝઝાહનો પુત્ર શિમઆ, શિમઆનો પુત્ર હાગ્ગિયા અને હાગ્ગિયાનો પુત્ર અસાયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મંદિરના ગાયકગણો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="1CH.6.31" />કરાર કોશને મુલાકાત મંડપમાં લાવ્યા, પછી દાઉદ રાજાએ ત્યાં યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરવા માટે ગાયકગણો અને તેમના આગેવાનો નીમ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="1CH.6.32" />સુલેમાને યહોવાનું મંદિર યરૂશાલેમમાં બાંધ્યું નહોતું. ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ ગાયન કરીને મુલાકાત મંડપનાં તંબુ આગળ સેવા કરતા હતા, તેઓ અનુક્રમે વારા પ્રમાણે સેવા માટે હાજર રહેતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1CH.6.33" />ગાયકગણોના આગેવાનોનાં નામ અને કુટુંબ: ગાયકગણનો આગેવાન હેમાન કહાથના કુટુંબનો હતો, તેના પૂર્વજો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોએલ – શમુએલનો પુત્ર;
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="1CH.6.34" />તેનો અલ્કાનાહનો પુત્ર, તેનો યરોહામનો પુત્ર, તેનો અલીએલનો પુત્ર, તેનો તોઆહનો પુત્ર,
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="1CH.6.35" />તેનો સૂફનો પુત્ર, તેનો એલ્કાનાહનો પુત્ર, તેનો માહાથનો પુત્ર, તેનો અમાસાયનો પુત્ર,
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="1CH.6.36" />તેનો એલ્કાનાહનો પુત્ર, તેનો યોએલનો પુત્ર, તેનો અઝાર્યાનો પુત્ર, તેનો સફાન્યાનો પુત્ર,
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="1CH.6.37" />તેનો તાહાથનો પુત્ર, તેનો આસ્સીરનો પુત્ર, તેનો એબ્યાસાફ કોરાહનો પુત્ર,
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="1CH.6.38" />તેનો યિસ્હારનો પુત્ર, તેનો કહાથનો પુત્ર, તેનો લેવીનો પુત્ર, તેનો ઈસ્રાએલનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="39" bcv="1CH.6.39" />હેમાનનો મદદનીશ, અને સાથીદાર આસાફ હતો, તે તેને જમણે હાથે ઊભો રહેતો હતો. આસાફના પૂર્વજો: તેનો બેરેખ્યાનો પુત્ર, તેનો શિમઆનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="1CH.6.40" />શિમઆન મિખાયેલનો પુત્ર, તેનો બાઅસેયાનો પુત્ર, તેનો માલ્કિયાનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="1CH.6.41" />માલ્કિયાને એથ્નીનો પુત્ર, તેનો ઝેરાહનો પુત્ર, તેનો અદાયાનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="1CH.6.42" />અદાયાને એ એથાનનો પુત્ર, તેનો ઝિમ્માહનો પુત્ર, તેનો શિમઈનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="1CH.6.43" />શિમઈને યાહાથનો પુત્ર, તેનો ગેશોર્મનો પુત્ર, તેનો લેવીનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="44" bcv="1CH.6.44" />હેમાનનો બીજો મદદનીશ એથાન મરારીનો વંશજ હતો. તે હેમાનને ડાબે હાથે ઊભો રહેતો હતો. એથાનના પૂર્વજો: તેનો કીશીનો પુત્ર, તેનો આબ્દીનો પુત્ર, તેનો માલ્લૂખનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="1CH.6.45" />માલ્લૂખને હશાબ્યાનો પુત્ર, તેનો અમાસ્યાનો પુત્ર, તેનો હિલ્કિયાનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="1CH.6.46" />હિલ્કિયાને આમ્સીનો પુત્ર, તેનો બાનીનો પુત્ર, તેનો શેમેરનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="1CH.6.47" />શેમેરને માહલીનો પુત્ર, તેનો મૂશીનો પુત્ર, તેનો મરારીનો પુત્ર, તેનો લેવીનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="1CH.6.48" />તેઓનાં સગાંઓ, બીજા સર્વ લેવીઓ-મુલાકાત મંડપમાં, દેવના ઘરમાં જુદી જુદી સેવાઓ માટે નિમાયેલા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="49" bcv="1CH.6.49" />પણ હારુન તથા તેના વંશજો દહનાર્પણની વેદી પર તથા ધૂપવેદી પર, પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનના સર્વ કામને સારું, તથા ઇસ્રાએલને માટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવા સારુ, દેવના સેવક મૂસાએ જે સર્વ નિયમો અને કાનૂનો આપ્યા હતા તે મુજબ અર્પણ ચઢાવતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">હારુનના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="50" bcv="1CH.6.50" />હારુનના પુત્રો આ છે: તેનો પુત્ર એલઆઝાર, એનો પુત્ર ફીનહાસ, એનો પુત્ર અબીશૂઆ.
<ve />
<v id="51" bcv="1CH.6.51" />અબીશૂઆનો પુત્ર બુક્કી, એનો પુત્ર ઉઝઝી, એનો પુત્ર ઝરાયા.
<ve />
<v id="52" bcv="1CH.6.52" />ઝરાયાનો પુત્ર મરાયોથ, એનો પુત્ર અમાર્યા, એનો પુત્ર અહીટૂબ.
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="1CH.6.53" />અહીટૂબનો પુત્ર સાદોક, અને એનો પુત્ર અહીમાઆસ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લેવીઓનું ઘર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="1CH.6.54" />આ એ જગ્યાઓ છે જ્યાં હારુનના વંશજો રહેતા હતા; તેમની સીમાઓની અંદર ચિઠ્ઠીઓ ફેંકીને કહાથીઓને રહેઠાણો માટે એક ભાગ આપવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="55" bcv="1CH.6.55" />તેઓને તેઓએ યહૂદિયા દેશમાં હેબ્રોન તથા તેની આજુબાજુનાં તેનાં પાદરો આપવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="56" bcv="1CH.6.56" />પણ તે નગરનાં ખેતરો તથા તેનાં ગામો તેઓએ યફુન્નેહના પુત્ર કાલેબને આપ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="57" bcv="1CH.6.57" />વળી આસપાસના ગૌચરો સાથેનાં આશ્રયનગરો: લિબ્નાહ, યાત્તીર, એશ્તમોઆ,
<ve />
<v id="58" bcv="1CH.6.58" />હીલેન, દબીર,
<ve />
<v id="59" bcv="1CH.6.59" />આશન અને બેથ-શમેશ તેનાં પાદરો સહિત.
<ve />
<v id="60" bcv="1CH.6.60" />બિન્યામીનના કુલસમૂહે યાજકોને બીજા તે નગરો તેમનાં ગૌચરો સાથે આપ્યાં હતા, જેમાં ગેબા, આલ્લેમેથ અને અનાથોથનો પણ સમાવેશ થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="61" bcv="1CH.6.61" />કહાથના બાકીના પુત્રોને ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખવાથી એફ્રાઈમ, દાન, તથા મનાશ્શાના અર્ધકુલસમૂહમાંથી દશ નગરો મળ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="62" bcv="1CH.6.62" />ગેશોર્મના પુત્રોને તેઓનાં કુલસમૂહો માટે ઇસ્સાખારના કુલમાંથી, આશેરના કુલમાંથી, નફતાલીના કુલમાંથી, અને બાશાનમાં રહેતા મનાશ્શાના કુલમાંથી થોડો હિસ્સો મળીને તેર નગરો મળ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="63" bcv="1CH.6.63" />મરારીના વંશજોને, તેઓનાં કુલસમૂહો પ્રમાણે, રૂબેનના કુલમાંથી, ગાદના કુલમાંથી તથા ઝબુલોનના કુલમાંથી ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખવાથી બાર નગરો મળ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="64" bcv="1CH.6.64" />ઇસ્રાએલપુત્રોએ લેવીઓને એ નગરો તેઓનાં પાદરો સહિત આપ્યાં.
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<v id="65" bcv="1CH.6.65" />તેઓએ યહૂદાના કુલસમૂહોમાંથી, શિમોનના કુલસમૂહોમાંથી તથા બિન્યામીનના કુલ સમૂહોમાંથી, આ નગરો જેઓનાં નામ આપેલાં છે તે, ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખીને આપ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="66" bcv="1CH.6.66" />કહાથનાં કુલસમૂહોને એફ્રાઈમના કુલ પાસેથી
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<v id="67" bcv="1CH.6.67" />તેના ગૌચરો સાથે અપાયેલાં આશ્રયનગરો: એફ્રાઈમના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં આવેલું શખેમ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; ગેઝેર તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે;
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<v id="68" bcv="1CH.6.68" />યોકમઆમ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; બેથહોરોન તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે;
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<v id="69" bcv="1CH.6.69" />આયાલોન તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; અને ગાથ-રિમ્મોન તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે;
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<v id="70" bcv="1CH.6.70" />કહાથનાં કુટુંબોને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધકુલસમૂહ પાસેથી ગૌચરો સાથે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ દ્વારા અપાયેલાં આશ્રયનગરો: આનેર તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; અને બિલહામ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઘર પ્રાપ્ત કરતા અન્ય લેવીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="71" bcv="1CH.6.71" />ગેશોર્મના કુટુંબોને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધકુલસમૂહ પાસેથી ગૌચરો સાથે અપાયેલા શહેરો આ પ્રમાણે હતા: બાશાન પ્રદેશનું ગોલાન તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; અને આશ્તારોથ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="72" bcv="1CH.6.72" />વળી ઇસ્સાખારના કુલસમૂહો તેઓને ગૌચરો સાથે કેદેશ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; દાબરાથ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે;
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<v id="73" bcv="1CH.6.73" />રામોથ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; અને આનેમ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે આપ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="74" bcv="1CH.6.74" />આશેરના કુલસમૂહે તેઓને ગૌચરો સાથે આબ્દોન તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે માશાલ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે,
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<v id="75" bcv="1CH.6.75" />હુક્કોક તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; અને રહોબ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે આપ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="76" bcv="1CH.6.76" />નફતાલીના કુલસમૂહે તેઓને ગૌચરો સાથે ગાલીલનું કેદેશ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; હામ્મોન તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; અને કિર્યાથાઈમ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે આપ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="77" bcv="1CH.6.77" />ઝબુલોનના કુલસમૂહે રિમ્મોન તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; અને તાબોર શહેરો અને તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; મરારીનાં કુટુંબોને આપ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="78" bcv="1CH.6.78" />રૂબેનના કુલસમૂહે તેઓને બેસેર તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; યાહસાહ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે;
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<v id="79" bcv="1CH.6.79" />કદેમોથ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; અને મેફાઆથ નગરો ગૌચરો સાથે આપ્યાં. આ નગરો યર્દન નદીની સામી બાજુએ આવેલા રણમાં છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="80" bcv="1CH.6.80" />ગાદના કુલસમૂહે તેઓને ગિલયાદમાંનું રામોથ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; માહનાઈમ તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે;
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<v id="81" bcv="1CH.6.81" />હેશ્બોન તેનાં ગૌચરો સાથે; અને યાઝેર નગરો ગૌચરો સાથે આપ્યાં.
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</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્સાખારના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.7.1" />ઇસ્સાખારના પુત્રો: તોલા, પૂઆહ, યાશૂબ તથા શિમ્રોન એ ચાર.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="2" bcv="1CH.7.2" />તોલાના પુત્રો: ઉઝઝી, રફાયા, યરીએલ, યાહમાય, યિબ્સામ અને શમુએલ હતા, તેઓ પોત પોતાના કુટુંબોના આગેવાનો હતા. દાઉદ રાજાના સમયમાં આ કુટુંબોમાંના 22,600 પુરુષો શૂરવીર યોદ્વાઓ હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.7.3" />ઉઝઝીનો પુત્ર યિઝાહયા હતો. યિઝાહયાના પુત્રો: મિખાએલ, ઓબાધા, યોએલ અને યિશ્શીયા હતા, આ બધાં પાંચેય તેમના કુટુંબોના આગેવાનો હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="1CH.7.4" />દાઉદ રાજાના સમયમાં તેઓનાં કુટુંબોમાંથી 36,000 યોદ્વાઓ સૈન્યમાં હતા; કારણ કે, આ પાંચ આગેવાનોને ઘણી પત્નીઓ હતી અને ઘણાં પુત્રો હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.7.5" />ઇસ્સાખારના કુલસમૂહના સર્વ કુટુંબોમાંથી યુદ્ધને માટે ઉપલબ્ધ એવા પુરુષોની સંખ્યા 87,000 હતી, તેઓ શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓ હતા, તેઓનાં નામ વંશાવળીમાં સામેલ કરેલાં છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">બિન્યામીનના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.7.6" />બિન્યામીનના ત્રણ પુત્રો હતા: બેલા, બેખેર અને યદીઅએલ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.7.7" />બેલાના પુત્રો: એસ્બોન, ઉઝઝી, ઉઝઝીએલ, યરીમોથ અને ઇરી. આ પાંચ શૂરવીર યોદ્વાઓ કુટુંબોના આગેવાનો હતા અને તેઓના સૈન્યની સંખ્યા 22,034 હતી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.7.8" />બેખેરના પુત્રો: ઝમીરાહ, યોઆશ, અલીએઝેર, એલ્યોએનાય, ઓમ્રી, યરેમોથ, અબિયા, અનાથોથ તથા આલેમેથ. એ સર્વ બેખેરના પુત્રો.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CH.7.9" />તેઓની વંશાવળી પ્રમાણે તથા પેઢીઓ પ્રમાણે તેમની ગણતરી કરતાં તેઓ 20,200 પરાક્રમી ને શૂરવીર પુરુષો, પોતાના પિતૃઓનાં કુટુંબોના સરદારો હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.7.10" />યદીઅએલનો પુત્ર બિલ્હાન, બિલ્હાનના પુત્રો: યેઉશ, બિન્યામીન, એહૂદ, કનાઅનાહ, ઝેથાન, તાશીર્શ તથા અહીશાહાર.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CH.7.11" />એ સર્વ યદીઅએલના પુત્રો હતા, તેઓના પિતૃઓનાં કુટુંબોના સરદારો, 17,200 પરાક્રમી ને શૂરવીર પુરુષો હતા કે, જેઓ લડાઈ વખતે સૈન્યમાં જવાને લાયક હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.7.12" />ઇરના પુત્રો: હુપ્પીમ તથા શુપ્પીમ; અને આહેરનો પુત્ર હુશીમ હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">નફતાલીના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.7.13" />નફતાલીના પુત્રો: યાહસીએલ, ગુની, યેસેર તથા શાલ્લૂમ; તેઓની માતા બિલ્હાહ હતી.
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</p>
<s style="s">મનાશ્શાના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.7.14" />મનાશ્શાના વંશજો: અરામી ઉપપત્નીને પેટે તેને આસ્રીએલ જન્મ્યો અને ગિલયાદના પિતા માખીરને પણ જન્મ તેણે જ આપ્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CH.7.15" />માખીર હુપ્પીમ તેમ જ શુપ્પીમ માટે બે પત્નીઓ લાવ્યો, એની બહેનનું નામ માઅખાહ હતું. બીજા પુત્રનું નામ સલોફહાદ હતુ. સલોફહાદને ફકત પુત્રીઓ જ થઈ.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CH.7.16" />માખીરની પત્ની માઅખાહને પુત્ર થયો; તેણે તેનું નામ પેરેશ પાડયું. તેના ભાઈનું નામ શેરેશ હતું; તેના પુત્રો ઉલામ તથા રેકેમ હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.7.17" />ઉલામનો પુત્ર બદાન.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મનાશ્શાના પુત્ર માખીરના પુત્ર ગિલયાદના વંશજો હતા.
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<v id="18" bcv="1CH.7.18" />તેની બહેન હામ્મોલેખેથને પેટે ઇશ્હોદ, અબીએઝેર તથા માહલાહ થયા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.7.19" />શમીદાના પુત્રો આહ્યાન, શેખેમ, લિકહી તથા અનીઆમ હતા.
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</p>
<s style="s">એફ્રાઇમના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.7.20" />એફ્રાઈમના વંશજો: એફ્રાઇમનો પુત્ર શૂથેલાહ હતો; એનો પુત્ર બેરેદ, એનો પુત્ર તાહાથ, એનો પુત્ર એલઆદાહ, એનો પુત્ર તાહાથ,
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<v id="21" bcv="1CH.7.21" />એનો પુત્ર ઝાબાદ, એના પુત્રો: શૂથેલાહ, એસેર તથા એલઆદ, તેમના દેશના મૂળ રહેવાસી ઓને ગાથના પુરુષોએ મારી નાખ્યા, કારણ કે તેઓેનાં ઢોરઢાંખરને લઈ જવા માટે તેઓ ઊતરી આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="22" bcv="1CH.7.22" />તેઓના પિતા એફ્રાઈમે ઘણા દિવસો સુધી શોક કર્યો, ને તેના ભાઈઓ તેને સાંત્વના આપવા આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="1CH.7.23" />પછી તેની પત્ની ગર્ભવતી બની, ને તેણે પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો, ને તેણે તેનું નામ બરીઆહ (ભાગ્યહીન) પાડયું, કારણ કે તેના કુટુંબની દુર્દશા થઈ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="1CH.7.24" />તેને શેઅરાહ નામની એક પુત્રી હતી. તેણે નીચેનું તથા ઉપરનું બેથ-હોરોન તથા ઉઝઝેન-શેઅરાહ બાંધ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.7.25" />એફ્રાહિમનો પુત્ર રેફા હતો, રેફાનો પુત્ર રેશેફ હતો, અને રેશેફનો પુત્ર તેલાહ હતો, અને પુત્ર તાહાન હતો;
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="1CH.7.26" />એનો પુત્ર લાઅદાન, એનો પુત્ર આમ્મીહૂદ; એનો પુત્ર અલીશામા;
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<v id="27" bcv="1CH.7.27" />એનો પુત્ર નૂન, ને એનો પુત્ર યહોશુઆ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.7.28" />તેઓનાં વતન તથા તેઓનાં રહેઠાણ બેથેલ તથા તેના કસબાઓ હતાઁ, ને પૂર્વ તરફ નાઅરાન, પશ્ચિમ તરફ ગેઝેર તથા તેના કસબાઓ; વળી શખેમને તેના કસબાઓ અને અઝઝાહ તથા તેના કસબાઓ સુધી હતા;
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="1CH.7.29" />અને તેનો પુત્ર રેફાહ હતો અને બેથશઆન તથા તેના કસબાઓ, તાઅનાખ તથા તેના કસબાઓ ત્યાં હતા. મગિદૃો તથા તેના કસબાઓ, દોર તથા તેના કસબાઓ મનાશ્શાના વંશજોના હતા. આ બધી જગ્યાઓ પર ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્ર યૂસફના વંશજો રહેતાં હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આશેરના વંશજો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="1CH.7.30" />આશેરના પુત્રો: યિમ્નાહ, યિશ્વાહ, યિશ્ચી, બરીઆહ, તેમની બહેન સેરાહ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="1CH.7.31" />બરીઆના પુત્રો: હેબેર અને માલ્કીએલ જે બિઝાઈથનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="32" bcv="1CH.7.32" />હેબેરના પુત્રો: યાફલેટ, શોમેર, હોથામ, તેમની બહેન શૂઆ હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="33" bcv="1CH.7.33" />યાફલેટના પુત્રો: પાસાખ, બિમ્હાલ અને આશ્વાથ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="1CH.7.34" />શેમેરના પુત્રો: અહી, રોહગાહ, યહુબ્બાહ અને અરામ,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="35" bcv="1CH.7.35" />તેના ભાઈ હેલેમના પુત્રો: સોફાહ, યિમ્ના, શેલેશ અને આમાલ,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="36" bcv="1CH.7.36" />સોફાહના પુત્રો: સૂઆહ, હાનેફેર, શૂઆલ, બેરી, યિમ્રાહ.
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<v id="37" bcv="1CH.7.37" />બેસેર, હોદ, શામ્મા, શિલ્શાહ, યિથ્ાન તથા બએરા,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="38" bcv="1CH.7.38" />યેથેરના પુત્રો: યફુન્નેહ, પિસ્પાહ, તથા અરા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="39" bcv="1CH.7.39" />ઉલ્લાના પુત્રો: આરાહ, હાન્નીએલ તથા રિસ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="1CH.7.40" />એ બધા આશેરના વંશજો હતા; તેઓ પોતાના પિતૃઓનાં કુટુંબોના ચૂઁટી કાઢેલા સરદારો તથા પરાક્રમી ને શૂરવીર પુરુષો હતા; અને વંશાવળી મુજબ યુદ્વના કામ માટેની તેઓની ગણતરી કરતાં તેઓ 26,000 પુરુષો હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">રાજા શાઉલનો પરિવાર ઇતિહાસ
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.8.1" />બિન્યામીનનો જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર બેલા, બીજો આશ્બેલ, ત્રીજો આહરાહ:
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.8.2" />ચોથો નોહાહને પાંચમો રાફા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.8.3" />બેલાને આ પુત્રો હતા: આદ્દાર, ગેરા, એહૂદ,
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<v id="4" bcv="1CH.8.4" />અબીશૂઆ, નામાન, અહોઆહ;
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1CH.8.5" />શફૂફાન અને હૂરામ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.8.6" />એહૂદના વંશજો ગેબામાં વસતાં કુટુંબોના આગેવાનો હતા. યુદ્વમાં તેઓને બંદીવાન કરીને માનાહાથમાં લઈ જવામાં આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1CH.8.7" />તેઓનાં નામ આ પ્રમાણે છે: નામાન, અહિયા, ગેરા (જેણે તેઓને દેશવટો અપાવ્યો), ઉઝઝી અને અહીહૂદનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.8.8" />શાહરાઈમે તેની પત્નીઓ હુશીમ અને બાઅરાને છૂટાછેડા આપી દીધા, પણ મોઆબ દેશમાં
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1CH.8.9" />તેની નવી પત્ની હોદેશથી યોબાબ, સિલ્યા, મેશા, માલ્કામ,
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<v id="10" bcv="1CH.8.10" />યેઉસ, શાખ્યા અને મિર્માહનો જન્મ થયો. આ તેના પુત્રો તેમના કુટુંબોના આગેવાનો બન્યા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1CH.8.11" />તેની પત્ની હુશીમથી અબીટુબ અને એલ્પાઆલ થયા હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.8.12" />એલ્પાઆલના પુત્રો: એબેર, મિશઆમ, તથા શેમેદ, જેણે ઓનો તથા લોદ તેમના કસબાઓ સહિત વસાવ્યાં;
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<v id="13" bcv="1CH.8.13" />તેના બીજા પુત્રો બરીઆહ ને શેમા હતા. તેઓ કુટુંબોના આગેવાનો હતા અને આયાલોનમાં રહેતા હતા. તેઓએ ગાથના રહેવાસીઓને હાંકી કાઢયા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.8.14" />એલ્પાલનાં પુત્રો: આહ્યો શાશાક અને યેરેમોથ,
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1CH.8.15" />બરીઆહના પુત્રો: ઝબાધા, અરાદ, એદેર,
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<v id="16" bcv="1CH.8.16" />મિખાએલ, યિશ્પાહ અને યોહા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="1CH.8.17" />એલ્પાઆલના પુત્રો હતો: ઝબાદ્યા, મશુલ્લામ, હિઝકી, હેબેર.
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<v id="18" bcv="1CH.8.18" />યિશ્મરાય, યિઝલીઆહ, અને યોબાબ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19-21" bcv="1CH.8.19" />શિમઇના પુત્રો: યાકીમ, ઝિખ્રી, ઝાબ્દી, અલીએનાય, સિલ્લાથાય, અલીએલ, અદાયા, બરાયા, અને શિમ્રાથ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22-25" bcv="1CH.8.22" />શાશાકનાં પુત્રો: યિશ્પાન, એબેર, અલીએલ, આબ્દોન, ઝિખ્રી, હાનાન, હનાન્યા, એલામ, આન્થોથીયા યિફદયા અને પનુએલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26-27" bcv="1CH.8.26" />યરોહામનાં પુત્રો હતો: શામ્શરાય, શર્હાયા,અથાલ્યા, યાઅરેશ્યા, એલિયા અને ઝિખ્રી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.8.28" />આ બધાં તેમના સમયમાં કુટુંબોના આગેવાનો હતા અને યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.8.29" />ગિબયોનના પિતા યેઇએલ<f caller="+"><fr>8:29
</fr><fk>યેઇએલ
</fk><ft>હિબ્રૂમાં આ શબ્દ નથી. સરખાવો 9:35 પણ ગીર્કમાં અને બીજા પ્રાચીન અનુવાદમાં છે.</ft></f> ગિબયોનમાં રહેતા હતા.તેમની પત્નીનું નામ માઅખાહ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="1CH.8.30" />તેનાં પુત્રો: જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર આબ્દોન, સૂર, કીશ બઆલ, નાદાબ,
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="1CH.8.31" />ગદોર, આહ્યો, ઝેખેર,
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="1CH.8.32" /><add>અને મિકલોથ</add> જે શિમઆહનો પિતા હતા. આ બધા કુટુંબો યરૂશાલેમમાં પોતાના ભાઇઓ સાથે રહેતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="33" bcv="1CH.8.33" />નેર કીશના પિતા હતા અને કીશ શાઉલના પિતા હતા. શાઉલનાં પુત્રો: યોનાથાન માલ્કી-શૂઆ, અબીનાદાબ અને એશ્બઆલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="1CH.8.34" />યોનાથાનનો પુત્ર મરીબ-બઆલ હતો. મરીબ-બઆલનો પુત્ર મીખાહ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="35" bcv="1CH.8.35" />મીખાહના પુત્રો: પીથોન, મેલેખ, તારેઆ અને આહાઝ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="36" bcv="1CH.8.36" />આહાઝ યહોઆદાહના પિતા હતા. યહોઆદાહના પુત્રો: આલેમેથ, આઝમાવેથ અને ઝિમ્રી, મોસા ઝિમ્રીનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="1CH.8.37" />મોસા બિનઆનો પૂર્વજ હતો, બિનઆના પુત્રો: રાફાહ, શફાહનો પુત્ર એલઆસાહ, એલઆસાહનો પુત્ર આસેલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="38" bcv="1CH.8.38" />આસેલના છ પુત્રો હતા; આઝીર્કામ, બોખરૂ, ઇશ્માએલ, શઆર્યા, ઓબાદ્યા અને હાનાન.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="39" bcv="1CH.8.39" />આસેલના ભાઇ એશેકના પુત્રો: જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર ઉલામ, બીજો યેઉશ ને ત્રીજો અલીફેલેટ.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="1CH.8.40" />ઉલામના પુત્રો પરાક્રમી શૂરવીર પુરુષો અને તીરંદાજ હતા, તેઓને ઘણા પુત્રો ને પુત્રોના પુત્રો એટલે 150 જેટલા હતા. એ સર્વ બિન્યામીન વંશજો હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">બેબિલોનના બંદીવાસમાંથી પાછા ફરેલા લોકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.9.1" />આ પ્રમાણે સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓની ગણતરી તેમની વંશાવળી પ્રમાણે કરવામાં આવી; તેઓની નોંધ
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓના પુસ્તકમાં</bk> છે. યહૂદિયા દેશના લોકોને મૂર્તિપૂજા કરવાને કારણે બાબિલમાં બંદીવાન તરીકે લઇ જવામાં આવ્યાં.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.9.2" />પોતપોતાનાં દેશનાં શહેરોમાં જે પ્રથમ રહેવા આવ્યા તે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ હતા, યાજકો, લેવીઓ તથા મંદિરમાં કામ કરવાવાળા સેવકો હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.9.3" />યહૂદાના પુત્રોમાંના બિન્યામીનના પુત્રોમાંના, એફ્રાઇમના તથા મનાશ્શાના પુત્રોમાનાં જેઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેતા હતા તેઓ આ છે:
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.9.4" />યહૂદાના પુત્ર પેરેસના વંશજોમાંથી બાનીના પુત્ર ઇમ્રીના પુત્ર ઓમ્રીના પુત્ર આમ્મીહૂદનો પુત્ર ઉથાય.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.9.5" />બીજું કુટુંબ શીલોનીઓનું હતું. શીલોનીનો જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્ર અસાયા અને તેના પુત્રો.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.9.6" />ઝેરાહના પુત્રો: યેઉએલ અને તેનાં કુટુંબીજનો સર્વ મળીને 690 હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.9.7" />બિન્યામીનના કુલસમૂહના હાસ્સેનુઆહના પુત્ર હોદાવ્યાહના પુત્ર મશુલ્લામનો પુત્ર સાલ્લૂ;
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<v id="8" bcv="1CH.9.8" />યરોહામનો પુત્ર યિબ્નિયા, મિખ્રીના પુત્ર ઉઝઝીનો પુત્ર એલાહ, યિબ્નિયાના પુત્ર રેઉએલના પુત્ર શફાટયાનો પુત્ર મશુલ્લામ;
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<v id="9" bcv="1CH.9.9" />તેઓની વંશાવળી પ્રમાણે તેઓના ભાઇઓ 956 જેટલા હતા. એ સર્વ પુરુષો તેઓના પિતૃઓનાં કુટુંબોનાં સરદારો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.9.10" />જે યાજકો પાછા ફર્યા તે યદાયા, યહોયારીબ અને યાખીન;
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<v id="11" bcv="1CH.9.11" />અઝાર્યા જે અહીટૂબના પુત્ર મરાયોથના પુત્ર સાદોકના પુત્ર મશુલ્લામના પુત્ર હિલ્કયાનો પુત્ર-દેવના મંદિરનો મુખ્ય કારભારી હતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CH.9.12" />ત્યાં અદાયા યહોરામનો પુત્ર હતો. યહોરામ પાશ્હૂરનો પુત્ર હતો. પાશ્હૂર માલ્કિયાનો પુત્ર હતો. અને ત્યાં અદીએલનો પુત્ર માઅસાય હતો. અદીએલ તે યાહઝેરાહનો પુત્ર હતો. યાહઝેરાહ તે મશુલ્લામનો પુત્ર હતો અને મશુલ્લામ મશિલ્લેમીથનો પુત્ર હતો. મશિલ્લેમીથ ઇમ્મેરનો પુત્ર હતો.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.9.13" />આ બધાં અને તેઓના ભાઇઓ, તેઓના પિતૃઓનાં કુટુંબોના સરદારો, 1,760 યાજકો હતા. તેઓ દેવના મંદિરની સેવાના કામમાં ઘણા કુશળ પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.9.14" />લેવીઓમાંના મરારીના કુલસમૂહોના; તેના પુત્ર હશાબ્યા; હશાબ્યાના પુત્ર આઝીર્કામ; આઝીર્કામના પુત્ર હાશ્શૂબ; હાશ્શૂબના પુત્ર શમાયા.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CH.9.15" />બાકબાક્કાર, હેરેશ તથા ગાલાલ, ને આસાફના પુત્ર ઝિખ્રીના પુત્ર મીખાનો પુત્ર માત્તાન્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CH.9.16" />ઓબાદ્યા એ શમાયાનો પુત્ર હતો. શમાયા ગાલાલનો પુત્ર હતો. ગાલાલ યદૂથૂનનો પુત્ર હતો, અને બેરેખ્યા આસાનો પુત્ર હતો. આસા એલ્કાનાહનો પુત્ર હતો. તેઓ નટોફાથીઓનાઁ ગામોના રહેવાસીઓ હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.9.17" />દ્વારપાળો; શાલ્લુમ મુખ્ય દ્વારપાળ આક્કુબ, ટાલ્મોન, અને અહીમાન અને તેના સગાવહાલા.
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<v id="18" bcv="1CH.9.18" />આ બધાં લેવી કુલસમૂહના હતા. પૂર્વ દિશાના રાજદ્વારની જવાબદારી તેમના માથે હતી.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CH.9.19" />શાલ્લુમ તે કોરનો પુત્ર, તે એબ્યાસાફનો પુત્ર, તે કોરાહનો પુત્ર, અને શાલ્લુમ અને તેના પિતાના કુટુંબના તેના ભાઇઓ, એટલે કોરાહીઓ, તેઓ મંડપના દ્વારપાળો હતા; તેઓના પિતૃઓ પવિત્ર મંડપના પ્રવેશદ્વારની રક્ષા કરતાં હતા.
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<v id="20" bcv="1CH.9.20" />ત્યારે એલઆઝારનો પુત્ર ફીનહાસ તેઓનો પ્રથમ ઉપરી હતો અને યહોવા તેની સાથે હતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CH.9.21" />મશેલેમ્યાનો પુત્ર ઝખાર્યા મુલાકાતમંડપનો દ્વારપાળ હતો.
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1CH.9.22" />એ સર્વને દરવાજાના દ્વારપાળ તરીકે પસંદ કરવામાં આવ્યા હતા. તેઓ 212 જણા હતા. તેઓ પોતપોતાનાં ગામોમાં તેમની વંશાવળી મુજબ ગણાયા હતા તેઓને દાઉદે તથા પ્રબોધક શમુએલે ચોક્કસ નક્કી કરેલા કામ પર નીમ્યા હતા.
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<v id="23" bcv="1CH.9.23" />આમ તેઓનું તથા તેઓના વંશજોનું કામ યહોવાના મંદિરનાં દ્વારોની એટલે મુલાકાતમંડપની વારા પ્રમાણે ચોકી કરીને સંભાળ રાખવાનું હતું.
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<v id="24" bcv="1CH.9.24" />દ્વારપાળો ચારેબાજુએ હતા. એટલે પૂર્વ, પશ્ચિમ ઉત્તર તથા દક્ષિણ.
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<v id="25" bcv="1CH.9.25" />તેઓના જે ભાઇઓ તેઓનાં ગામોમાં હતા, તેઓને સાત સાત દિવસને અંતરે વારાફરતી તેઓની સાથે ભાગ લેવા આવવાનુ હતુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1CH.9.26" />ચાર મુખ્ય દ્વારપાળો લેવીઓ હતા. દેવના મંદિરની ઓરડીઓ અને ભંડારો સંભાળવાની મોટી જવાબદારી તેઓ પર હતી.
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<v id="27" bcv="1CH.9.27" />તેઓની જવાબદારી મહત્વની હોવાથી તેઓ દેવના ઘરની પાસે દરેક રાત ગુજારતાં હતા અને પ્રતિદિન સવારે દરવાજાઓ ઉધાડતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.9.28" />તેઓમાંના કેટલાકને બલીદાન અને આરાધનામાં વપરાતા વિવિધ પાત્રોની જવાબદારી સોંપી હતી. તેઓ ચોકસાઇથી પાત્રો બહાર લઇ જતા અને પાછા લાવતા.
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<v id="29" bcv="1CH.9.29" />બીજાઓ વાસણોની અને બધી ઉપાસનાની સામગ્રીની તેમજ લોટ, દ્રાક્ષારસ, તેલ, ધૂપ અને અત્તરોની સંભાળ રાખતા હતા.
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<v id="30" bcv="1CH.9.30" />અત્તરોની મેળવણી કરવાનું કામ યાજકોનું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="1CH.9.31" />ભાખરી શેકવાની કાયમી જવાબદારી કોરાહના વંશના શાલ્લુમના મોટા પુત્ર લેવી માત્તિથ્યાની હતી. કારણકે તે વિશ્વાસપાત્ર હતો.
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<v id="32" bcv="1CH.9.32" />દરેક વિશ્રામવારે મેજ પર પ્રદશિર્ત કરવા માટેની તાજી રોટલી બનાવવાની જવાબદારી કોરાહના વંશના બીજા કેટલાંક માણસોની હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1CH.9.33" />કેટલાંક લેવી કુટુંબોને મંદિરમાં સંગીતનું કામ સોંપવામાં આવ્યુ હતું. એ કુટુંબના વડાઓ મંદિરનાં જ મકાનોમાં રહેતા હતા અને તેમને રાત દિવસ ફરજ બજાવવાની હોવાથી તેમને બીજી સેવાઓમાંથી મુકત રાખવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="1CH.9.34" />એ બધાં વંશાવળી મુજબ લેવીઓના કુટુંબના વડા હતા અને યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેતા હતા.
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<s style="s">રાજા શાઉલનો કુટુંબ ઇતિહાસ
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="35" bcv="1CH.9.35" />યેઇએલ ગિબયોનનો સંસ્થાપક હતો. તે ગિબયોનમાં રહેતો હતો, તેની પત્નીનું નામ માઅખાહ હતું.
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<v id="36" bcv="1CH.9.36" />યેઇએલના પુત્રો: આબ્દોન જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્ર, સૂર, કીશ, બઆલ, નેર, નાદાબ હતા,
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<v id="37" bcv="1CH.9.37" />ગદોર, આહ્યો, ઝખાર્યા અને મિકલોથ.
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<v id="38" bcv="1CH.9.38" />મિકલોથ તેના પુત્ર શિમઆમ સાથે યરૂશાલેમમાં તેના કુટુંબીજનોની નજીક રહેતો હતો.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="39" bcv="1CH.9.39" />નેર કીશના પિતા હતા, કીશ શાઉલના પિતા હતા અને શાઉલ યોનાથાન, માલ્કીશૂઆ, અબીનાદાબ અને એશ્બઆલના પિતા હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="40" bcv="1CH.9.40" />યોનાથાન મરીબબઆલના પિતા હતા. મરીબબઆલ મીખાહના પિતા હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="41" bcv="1CH.9.41" />મીખાહના પુત્રો: પીથોન, મેલેખ, તાહરેઆ અને આહાઝ.
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<v id="42" bcv="1CH.9.42" />આહાઝ યારાહના પિતા હતા, યારાહના પુત્રો: આલેમેથ, આઝમાવેથ અને ઝિમ્રી. ઝિમ્રીનો પુત્ર મોસા હતો.
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<v id="43" bcv="1CH.9.43" />મોસાના વંશજો: બિનઆ, તેનો પુત્ર રફાયા, રફાયાનો પુત્ર એલઆસાહ અને તેનો પુત્ર આસેલ
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="44" bcv="1CH.9.44" />આસેલને છ પુત્રો હતા: આઝીકામ, બોખરુ, ઇશ્માએલ, શઆર્યા, ઓબાદ્યા અને હાનાન.
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</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">રાજા શાઉલનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.10.1" />પલિસ્તીઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સામે ગિલ્બોઆના ડુંગર પર યુદ્ધે ચઢયા. ઘણા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માર્યા ગયા અને બાકી રહ્યા તે ભાગી ગયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.10.2" />પછી પલિસ્તીઓએ શાઉલનો અને તેના પુત્રો યોનાથાન, અબીનાદાબ અને માલ્કીશૂઆનો પીછો પકડ્યો અને ત્રણે પુત્રોને મારી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CH.10.3" />શાઉલની આસપાસ ખૂંખાર યુદ્ધ મચ્યુ હતું, અને કેટલાંક તીરંદાજોએ તેની પાસે પહોંચી જઇ તેને સખત ઘાયલ કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.10.4" />ત્યારે શાઉલે જે માણસ તેના બાણ ઉપાડી રહ્યો હતો તેને કહ્યું, “તારી તરવાર કાઢી મને વીંધી નાખ; નહિ તો આ બે સુન્નતી માણસો આવીને મારી હાંસી ઉડાવશે,”
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ બખ્તર ઉપાડનારની હિંમત ચાલી નહિ એટલે તેણે ના પાડી. આથી શાઉલે પોતે તરવાર ખેંચીને તેની ધાર પર પડતું મુક્યું
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<v id="5" bcv="1CH.10.5" />શાઉલને મૃત્યુ પામેલો જોઇને બખ્તર ઉપાડનાર પણ પોતાની તરવાર પર પડતું મુકી મોતને ભેટયો.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CH.10.6" />આમ શાઉલ અને તેના ત્રણ પુત્રો એક સાથે મૃત્યુ પામ્યા અને તેના વંશનો અંત આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.10.7" />ખીણમાં વસતા સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ જ્યારે જોયું કે ઇસ્રાએલી સેના ભાગી ગઇ છે અને શાઉલ અને તેના પુત્રો મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે, ત્યારે તેઓ પોતાનાં ગામો છોડીને ચાલ્યા ગયા. પછી પલિસ્તીઓએ આવીને તેમાં વસવાટ કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.10.8" />બીજે દિવસે પલિસ્તીઓએ યુદ્ધમાં મૃત્યુ પામેલાઓના શરીરો પરથી લૂંટ ભેગી કરવા પાછા ગયા, ત્યારે તેઓએ શાઉલ અને તેના પુત્રોના શબ જોયાં.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CH.10.9" />તેઓએ શાઉલનું બખ્તર ઉતારી લીધું અને તેનું માથું કાપી નાખ્યું. પછી સમગ્ર દેશમાં વધામણી આપવા સંદેશાવાહકો મોકલ્યા અને તેઓની મૂર્તિઓ આગળ ઉજવણી કરી.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CH.10.10" />શાઉલના બખ્તરને તેઓએ પોતાના દેવના મંદિરમાં લટકાવ્યું. દાગોનના મંદિરમાં ભાલા પર તેનું માથું મુક્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.10.11" />પલિસ્તીઓએ શાઉલના આ હાલ કર્યા છે એની જાણ યાબેશ-ગિલયાદના લોકોને થઇ.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CH.10.12" />ત્યારે ત્યાંના બધા યોદ્ધાઓ શાઉલ અને તેના પુત્રના શબ શોધવા નીકળી પડ્યા અને તેઓએ તેમને પાછાં લઇ આવી યાબેશમા એક એલોન ઝાડ નીચે તેમનાં અસ્થિ દફનાવ્યાં, અને પછી તેઓએ સાત દિવસના ઉપવાસ કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.10.13" />શાઉલને મરવું પડ્યું કારણ, તે યહોવાને બેવફા નીવડ્યો હતો, તેણે યહોવાની આજ્ઞા માની નહોતી અને યહોવાને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરવાને બદલે મેલીવિદ્યા જાણનારની સલાહ લીધી.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CH.10.14" />આથી યહોવાએ તેનો વધ કર્યો અને તેનું રાજ્ય યશાઇના પુત્ર દાઉદને સોંપી દીધું.
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</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા તરીકે દાઉદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.11.1" />ત્યારબાદ સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ હેબ્રોનમાં ભેગા થઇને દાઉદને કહ્યું, “અમે તમારા જ કુટુંબીજનો છીએ.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.11.2" />ભૂતકાળમાં જ્યારે શાઉલ અમારો રાજા હતો ત્યારે પણ તમે જ ઇસ્રાએલી સેનાની આગેવાની લેતા હતા, અને તમારા દેવ યહોવાએ તમને કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘મારા લોકોની, ઇસ્રાએલની સારસંભાળ લેનાર માણસ તું છે, તું જ તેમનો શાસનકર્તા થવાનો છે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.11.3" />આથી ઇસ્રાએલના બધા આગેવાનો રાજા દાઉદ પાસે હેબ્રોનમાં આવ્યા અને દાઉદે યહોવાની સાક્ષીએ તેમની સાથે હેબ્રોનમાં કરાર કર્યો અને તેમણે દાઉદનો ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કર્યો, અને એ રીતે યહોવાએ શમુએલને આપેલું વચન પરિપૂર્ણ થયું.
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</p>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ કબ્જે કરતો દાઉદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.11.4" />પછી દાઉદ અને આખુ ઇસ્રાએલ યરૂશાલેમ જે યબૂસ તરીકે ઓળખાતું ત્યાં ગયા; ત્યાં યબૂસી અને તેના મૂળ વતનીઓ રહેતા હતા.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CH.11.5" />યબૂસના રહેવાસીઓએ તેઓને નગરમાં પ્રવેશવા દીધા નહિ. તો પણ દાઉદે સિયોનનો કિલ્લો જીતી લીધો. તે પાછળથી દાઉદનગર તરીકે ઓળખાયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.11.6" />દાઉદે કહ્યું, “જે કોઇ યબૂસીઓને મારવામાં પહેલ કરશે તેને સરસેનાપતિ બનાવવામાં આવશે.” યોઆબ બીન સરૂયાએ સૌથી પહેલો હુમલો કર્યો અને તેથી તેને સરસેનાપતિ બનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.11.7" />દાઉદે એ ગઢમાં વસવાટ કર્યો અને તેથી તેનું નામ દાઉદ-નગર પડ્યું.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CH.11.8" />દાઉદે મિલ્લોથી લઇને બધી બાજુ બાકીના શહેરને ફરીથી બંધાવ્યા. બાકીનું શહેર પછી યોઆબે બંધાવ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CH.11.9" />આમ દાઉદ ઉત્તરોત્તર બળવાન થતો ગયો, કારણકે સર્વસમર્થ યહોવા દેવ તેની સાથે હતા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ત્રણ નાયકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.11.10" />દાઉદના પરાક્રમી મુખ્ય યોદ્ધાઓ જેમણે તેને ટેકો આપ્યો હતો અને યહોવાએ વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાણે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા થવામાં તેને મદદ કરી હતી. તેમની યાદી આ પ્રમાણે છે;
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.11.11" />પહેલો હાખ્મોની કુલનો યાશોબઆમ જે રાજાની ખાસ સેનાનો નાયક હતો.
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે ભાલા વડે 300 માણસોને એકી સાથે રહેંસી નાખ્યા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.11.12" />વીર ત્રિપુટીનો બીજો અહોહીનાં વંશનો એલઆઝાર હતો. તે દોદોનો પુત્ર હતો.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CH.11.13" />જ્યારે પલિસ્તીઓ પાસ-દામ્મીમમાં યુદ્ધ માટે ભેગા થયા ત્યારે એ જવના એક ખેતરમાં દાઉદની સાથે હતો. સૈન્ય પલિસ્તીઓથી ભાગી ગયું હતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CH.11.14" />પણ એલઆઝાર ભાગ્યો નહિ અને તેણે પલિસ્તીઓ પર હુમલો કર્યો. યહોવાએ તેને ભવ્ય વિજ્ય અપાવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1CH.11.15" />બીજી વખતે પલિસ્તીઓની એક ટુકડીએ જ્યારે રફાઇમની ખીણમાં છાવણી નાખી હતી ત્યારે ત્રીસ શૂરવીરોમાંના ત્રણ અદુલ્લામની ગુફા નજીકના ખડક આગળ દાઉદને જઇને મળ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.11.16" />તે વખતે દાઉદ ત્યાં સંતાયેલો હતો અને પલિસ્તીઓની છાવણી બેથલેહેમમાં હતી.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CH.11.17" />દાઉદને તીવ્ર ઈરછા થઇ અને તેણે પુછયું, “મને, બેથલેહેમના દરવાજા બાજુ આવેલા કૂંવાનુઁ પાણી પીવાની ઇચ્છા થઇ છે.”
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<v id="18" bcv="1CH.11.18" />એટલે આ વીરત્રિપુટી પલિસ્તીઓની છાવણીમાં થઇને બેથલેહેમ પહોંચી, તેઓએ કૂવામાથી પાણી કાઢયું અને દાઉદ પાસે લઇ આવ્યા. દાઉદે તે પીવા ના પાડી. પણ યહોવા સમક્ષ તે પાણી અર્પણ તરીકે રેડી દીધું.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CH.11.19" />તેણે કહ્યું, “આ પાણી હું પીઉં એમ બને કેવી રીતે? હે દેવ! એ તો પોતાના પ્રાણ જોખમમાં મૂકનાર આ શૂરવીરોનું લોહી પીધા બરોબર થાય. પોતાના જીવના જોખમે એ લોકો તે લાવ્યા છે.” આથી તેણે તે પીવાની ના પાડી. આ “વીરત્રિપુટી” ઓના આવા કામો હતા.
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</p>
<s style="s">અન્ય બહાદુર સૈનિકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.11.20" />યોઆબનો ભાઇ અબીશાય એ ત્રણ શૂરવીરોનો સરદાર હતો. એક વખત તેણે ભાલા વડે 300 દુશ્મનો સાથે યુદ્ધ કરી તેમને પૂરા કર્યા હતા અને તે ત્રિપુટીમાં પ્રખ્યાત બની ગયો હતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CH.11.21" />ત્રણ શૂરવીરોમાં તે સૌથી વધુ પ્રખ્યાત હતો અને તેથી તેમનો સરદાર બન્યો, પણ તે પહેલા ત્રણેય માંથી એક નહતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1CH.11.22" />યહોયાદાનો પુત્ર કાબ્સેએલ ગામના બનાયાનો પરાક્રમી યોદ્ધો હતો. તેણે મોઆબના બે પ્રખ્યાત કદાવર પુરુષોને મારી નાખ્યા હતા. વળી એક વાર હિમ પડતું હતું ત્યારે કોતરમાં ઊતરીને તેણે એક સિંહને મારી નાખ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="1CH.11.23" />વળી, સાડાસાત ફૂટ ઊંચા મહાકાય મિસરીને મારનાર પણ એ જ હતો. એ મિસરી પાસે સાળના પાટડા જેવો મોટો ભાલો હતો. પણ બનાયા ફકત એક લાકડી લઇને તેની સામે પહોંચી ગયો. અને તેના હાથમાંથી ભાલો ઝૂંટવી તેના જ ભાલા વડે તેને મારી નાંખ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="1CH.11.24" />ત્રિપુટીમાં તે પ્રખ્યાત થયો અને
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="1CH.11.25" />ત્રીસ શ્રેષ્ઠ યોદ્ધાઓમાં તે ઘણો પ્રખ્યાત હતો. દાઉદે તેને પોતાના અંગરક્ષકોનો નાયક બનાવ્યો હતો. તે ત્રિપુટીમાંનો એક નહોતો છતાં પણ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ત્રીસ શૂરવીરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1CH.11.26" />દાઉદનાં બીજા શૂરવીરોનાં નામ આ પ્રમાણે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોઆબનો ભાઇ અસાહેલ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બેથલેહેમના દોદોનો પુત્ર એલ્હાનાન,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="1CH.11.27" />હરોરનો વતની શામ્મોથ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">પલોનનો વતની હેલેસ;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.11.28" />ઇરા-ઇક્કોશનો પુત્ર અને તકોઆનો વતની,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અનાથોથનો વતની અબીએઝેર,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.11.29" />હુશાનો વતની સિબ્બખાય,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અયોહીનો વતની ઇલાહ;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="1CH.11.30" />નટોફાનો વતની માહરાય,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હેલેદ-બાઅનાહનો પુત્ર અને નટોફાનો વતની,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="1CH.11.31" />બિન્યામીનના ગિબયાહનો વતની ઇથાય-રીબાયનો પુત્ર,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">પિરઆથોનનો વતની બનાયા;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="32" bcv="1CH.11.32" />ગાઆશની ઘાટ પાસેનો વતની હૂરાય,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આર્બાથનો વતની અબીએલ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="33" bcv="1CH.11.33" />બાહરૂમનો વતની આઝમાવેથ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શાઆલ્બોનીનો વતની એલ્યાહબા,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="1CH.11.34" />ગેઝોનીના હાશેમના પુત્રો,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હારારીનો વતની શાગેનો પુત્ર યોનાથન,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="35" bcv="1CH.11.35" />હારારી સાખારનો પુત્ર અહીઆમ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઉરનો પુત્ર અલીફાહ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="36" bcv="1CH.11.36" />મખેરાથનો વતની હેફેર
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">પલોનનો વતની અહિયા,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="37" bcv="1CH.11.37" />કામેર્લનો વતની હેસ્રો
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને એઝબાયનો પુત્ર નાઅરાય,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="38" bcv="1CH.11.38" />નાથાનનો ભાઇ યોએલ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હાગ્રીનો પુત્ર મિબ્હાર,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="39" bcv="1CH.11.39" />આમ્મોનનો પુત્ર સેલેક,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બેરોથનો પુત્ર નાહરાય-જે સરૂયા પુત્ર યોઆબનો શસ્રવાહક હતો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="40" bcv="1CH.11.40" />યિથોના ઇરા,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને ગારેબ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="41" bcv="1CH.11.41" />ઊરિયા હિત્તી,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આહલાયનો પુત્ર ઝાબાદ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="42" bcv="1CH.11.42" />રૂબેનના કુલસમૂહના શીઝાનો પુત્ર અદીના,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">જે રૂબેનના કુલના આગેવાનોમાંનો એક હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને તેની સાથે બીજા ત્રીસ હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="43" bcv="1CH.11.43" />માઅખાહનો પુત્ર હાનાન,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મિથ્નાનનો વતની યહોશાફાટ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="44" bcv="1CH.11.44" />આશ્તરાથી ઉઝિઝયા,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હોથામનો પુત્ર શામા અને અરોએરનો યેઇએલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="45" bcv="1CH.11.45" />શિમ્રીનો પુત્ર યદીઅએલ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યદીઅએલનો ભાઇ તીસાનો વતની યોહા તીસી;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="46" bcv="1CH.11.46" />માહવીનો પુત્ર અલીએલ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">એલ્નાઆમના પુત્ર યરીબાય
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તથા યોશાવ્યા ને મોઆબી યિથ્માહ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="47" bcv="1CH.11.47" />યાઅસીએલ, ઓબેદ અને મસોબાનો વતની અલીએલ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">દાઉદ સાથે ભળતા પરાક્રમી સૈનિકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.12.1" />દાઉદને કીશના પુત્ર શાઉલ નજીક આવવાની મનાઇ હતી.અને તે સિકલાગમાં રહેતો હતો. ત્યારે યુદ્ધમાં મદદ કરી શકે એવા અનેક વીર યોદ્ધાઓ આવી ને તેની સાથે જોડાયા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1CH.12.2" />તેઓ બિન્યામીન કુલસમૂહના, શાઉલના જાતભાઇઓ જ હતા, અને તીર ચલાવવામાં કે ગોફણથી પથ્થર ફેંકવામાં સહાય કરનાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.12.3" />તેમના નાયકો ગિબયાથી શમાઆહના પુત્ર અહીએઝેરા અને યોઆશ હતા.યોદ્ધાઓ નીચે પ્રમાણે હતા: આઝમાવેથના પુત્ર યઝીએલ અને પેલેટ. અનાથોથના બરાખાહ અને યેહૂ,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1CH.12.4" />ગિબયોનનો યિશ્માયા, જે “ત્રીસ શૂરવીરો”માં નો એક અને તેમનો એક આગેવાન હતો. ગદેરાના યમિર્યા, યાહઝીએલ, યોહાનાન અને યોઝાબાદ,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1CH.12.5" />હરૂફીના એલઉઝાય, યરીમોથ, બઆલ્યા, શમાર્યા અને સફાટયા,
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1CH.12.6" />કોરાહના વંશજો, એલ્કાનાહ યિશ્શિયા, અઝારએલ, યોએઝેર, અને યાશોબઆમ;
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1CH.12.7" />અને ગદોરના યરોહામના પુત્ર યોએલાહ અને ઝબાધા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ગાદના કુલસમૂહો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.12.8" />ગાદ કુલસમૂહના પણ કેટલાક માણસો શાઉલને છોડીને વગડાના ગઢમાં દાઉદની સાથે ભળી ગયા. તેઓ બળવાન અને કેળવાયેલા યોદ્ધાઓ હતા. અને ભાલો અને ઢાલ વાપરવામાં પાવરધા હતા. તેઓ સિંહ જેવા વિકરાળ અને પર્વત પરનાં હરણો જેવા ચપળ હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.12.9" />એઝર તેમનો નાયક હતો. અને ઓબાદ્યા બીજો, અરીઆબ ત્રીજો,
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="1CH.12.10" />મિશ્માન્નાહ ચોથો, યમિર્યા પાંચમો,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1CH.12.11" />છઠ્ઠો આત્તાય, સાતમો અલીએલ,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1CH.12.12" />આઠમો યોહાનાન, નવમો એઝાબાદ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="1CH.12.13" />દશમો યમિર્યા, અને અગિયારમા ક્રમે માખ્બાન્નાય હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.12.14" />ગાદના કુલસમૂહોમાંના તેઓ સૈન્યના સરદારો હતા; તેઓમાંનો જે સૌથી નબળો હતો તે સૌની બરાબર હતો, ને તેઓમાંનો જે સૌથી મહાન તે હજારની બરાબર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1CH.12.15" />પહેલા મહિનામાં જ્યારે યર્દન નદી પોતાના કાંઠા પર થઇને ઊભરાતી હતી ત્યારે તેઓએ તેને ઓળંગી જઇને એના પૂર્વ અને પશ્ચિમ કાંઠે વસતા લોકોને ભગાડી મૂક્યા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદ સાથે ભળતા અન્ય સૈનિકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.12.16" />બિન્યામીન અને યહૂદાના કુલસમૂહના કેટલાંક માણસો ગઢમાં દાઉદ પાસે આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="1CH.12.17" />દાઉદ તેમની સામે ગયો અને બોલ્યો, “જો તમે મિત્ર તરીકે મને મદદ કરવા આવતા હો તો હું તમારું સ્વાગત કરું છું. મારી સાથે જોડાઇ જાઓ. પણ મેં કઇં નુકશાન કર્યુ ન હોવા છતાં તમે દગો કરીને મને મારા દુશ્મનોના હાથમાં સોંપી દેવાની ઇરછાથી આવ્યા હો, તો આપણા પિતૃઓના દેવ એ ધ્યાનમાં લો અને તમને સજા કરો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.12.18" />તે જ વખતે દેવના આત્માએ “ત્રીસ વીરો” ના નાયક અમાસાયમાં પ્રવેશ કર્યો અને તે બોલી ઊઠયો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે દાઉદ, અમે તમારા પક્ષે છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યશાઇ પુત્ર, અમે તારી સાથે છીએ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારો જય હો! તારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાથીઓનો જય હો! દેવ તારી સહાયમાં છે!”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">દાઉદે તેમને આવકાર આપ્યો અને તેમને પોતાની ટૂકડીઓના નાયક બનાવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.12.19" />દાઉદ જ્યારે શાઉલ સાથે લડવા પલિસ્તીઓ ભેગો જતો હતો ત્યારે મનાશ્શાના કુલસમૂહના કેટલાક માણસો ફૂટી જઇને તેની સાથે મળી ગયા હતા. જો કે દાઉદે પલિસ્તીઓને ખરેખર મદદ કરી નહોતી; ખુદ તેમના રાજવીઓએ નિર્ણય કર્યા પછી એવું કહીને તેને જાકારો દીધો હતો કે, “જો એ ફૂટીને પોતાના ધણી શાઉલને મળી ગયો તો આપણા મસ્તક જશે.”
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<v id="20" bcv="1CH.12.20" />જ્યારે દાઉદ સિકલાગ જતો હતો, ત્યારે મનાશ્શાના વંશના નીચેના માણસો એ પોતાના લોકોને છેતરીને તેની સાથે જોડાયા હતા; આદનાહ, યોઝાબાદ યદીઅએલ, મિખાયેલ, અલીહૂ અને સિલ્લથાય. એ બધા જ મનાશ્શાના લોકોના આગેવાન હતા અને તેઓ હર એક હજાર હજાર યોદ્ધાઓના નાયકો હતા.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CH.12.21" />એ બધા ટુકડીના નાયક તરીકે દાઉદને મદદ કરતા હતા, કારણ તેઓ બધા જ કસાયેલા યોદ્ધા હતા એટલે પાછળથી તેઓ લશ્કરમાં સેનાપતિઓ થયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1CH.12.22" />રોજ રોજ માણસો દાઉદ પાસે આવતા જ રહ્યા અને એ રીતે તેનું લશ્કર ઘણું મોટું થઇ ગયું.
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</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદ સાથે હેબ્રોનમાં મળતા અન્ય સૈનિકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.12.23" />યહોવાએ વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાણે શાઉલને બદલે દાઉદને રાજા બનાવવા માટે જે યોદ્ધાઓ હેબ્રોન ખાતે આવી મળ્યા તેમની સંખ્યા નીચે મુજબ છે;
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.12.24" />યહૂદાના કુલસમૂહના ઢાલ અને ભાલાધારી 6,800 યુદ્ધ માટે સજ્જ યોદ્ધાઓ;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.12.25" />શિમોનના કુલસમૂહના: 7,100 વીર યોદ્ધાઓ;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="1CH.12.26" />લેવીના કુલસમૂહના: 4,600 યોદ્ધાઓ;
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<v id="27" bcv="1CH.12.27" />ઉપરાંત હારુનના કુલના યહોયાદની આગેવાની હેઠળ 3,700 યોદ્ધાઓ;
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<v id="28" bcv="1CH.12.28" />તરુણ પરાક્રમી યોદ્ધો સાદોક અને તેના કુલના 22 નાયકો;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.12.29" />બિન્યામીનના કુલસમૂહના: 3,000 શાઉલ એ વંશનો જ હતો. અને એમાંના મોટા ભાગના અત્યાર સુધી એને વફાદાર રહ્યા હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="1CH.12.30" />એફ્રાઇમના કુલસમૂહના: 20,800 વીર યોદ્ધાઓ, જેમણે બધાએ જ પોતપોતાના કુલમાં ખ્યાતિ મેળવી હતી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="1CH.12.31" />મનાશ્શાના અર્ધા કુલસમૂહના: 18,000 યોદ્ધાઓ જેમણે જઇને દાઉદને રાજા જાહેર કરવાને ચૂંટી મોકલ્યા હતા:
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="32" bcv="1CH.12.32" />ઇસ્સાખારના 200 આગેવાનો, જેઓ ઇસ્રાએલે ક્યારે અને કેવા પગલાં લેવા તેનો નિર્ણય કરવામાં કુશળ હતા. અને તેમના હાથ નીચેના બધા સગાવહાલા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="33" bcv="1CH.12.33" />ઝબુલોનના કુલસમૂહના યુદ્ધ માટે સારું પ્રશિક્ષણ પામેલાં અને બધી જાતનાં શસ્ત્રોથી શજ્જ એવા બહાદુર અને વ્યૂહ રચી શકે એવા 50,000 માણસો.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="1CH.12.34" />નફતાલીના કુલસમૂહના 1,000 નાયકો અને તેમના 37,000 ઢાલ અને ભાલાથી શજ્જ યોદ્ધાઓ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="35" bcv="1CH.12.35" />દાનના કુલસમૂહના 28,600 શિક્ષણ પામેલા યોદ્ધાઓ;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="36" bcv="1CH.12.36" />આશેરના કુલસમૂહના 40,000 શિક્ષણ પામેલા યોદ્ધાઓ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="37" bcv="1CH.12.37" />રૂબેન, અને ગાદ અને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધા કુલસમૂહના શિક્ષણ પામેલા અને બધા પ્રકારના શસ્ત્રો શજ્જ 1,20,000 યોદ્ધાઓ, તેઓ યર્દનની પેલે પારના હતા.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="1CH.12.38" />આ સર્વ યોદ્ધા શસ્ત્ર સાથે શજ્જ થઇને દાઉદને ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બનાવવાના એકમાત્ર હેતુથી હેબ્રોન આવ્યા હતા. એકંદરે ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ નેતાઓ આવું ઇચ્છતા હતા.
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<v id="39" bcv="1CH.12.39" />તેઓએ દાઉદ સાથે ત્રણ દિવસ ઉજાણી માણી કારણકે તેઓ માટે પૂરી તૈયારી કરવામાં આવી હતી.
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<v id="40" bcv="1CH.12.40" />પાસેના લોકો અને દૂરના ઇસ્સાખાર, ઝબુલોન અને નફતાલી લોકો ગધેડાં, ઊંટો, ખચ્ચરો અને બળદો પર ખોરાક લઇ આવ્યા. મોટા જથ્થામાં મેંદો, અંજીરના ચકતાં, દ્રાક્ષની લૂમો, દ્રાક્ષારસ, તેલ અને મોટી સંખ્યામાં ઢોરઢાંખર અને ઘેટાં ઉજવણી માટે લાવવામાં આવ્યાં, કારણકે આખો દેશ આનંદોત્સવ મનાવતો હતો.
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</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">કરારકોશને પાછો લાવ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.13.1" />દાઉદે પોતાની સેનાના યોદ્ધાઓ, જે 1,000 માણસોની ટુકડીના અને 100 માણસોની ટુકડીના સેના નાયક હતા તેમની સાથે વાત કરી.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.13.2" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલીઓના એકત્ર થયેલા લોકોને સંબોધીને કહ્યું, “જો તમને સૌને મંજૂર હોય અને આપણા યહોવાની એવી ઇચ્છા હોય તો આપણે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલના બાકીના દેશબંધુઓને તેમજ આજુબાજુની ભૂમિ સહિતના પોતાનાં શહેરોમાં વસતા યાજકોને અને લેવીઓને સંદેશો મોકલીને આપણી સાથે જોડાવા માટે તેઓને આમંત્રણ આપીએ.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CH.13.3" />આપણા દેવનો કરારકોશ પાછો લાવીએ કારણકે શાઉલ જીવતો હતો. ત્યારથી આપણે ત્યાં ઉપાસના કરી નહોતી.”
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<v id="4" bcv="1CH.13.4" />સમગ્ર સભા તેમની સાથે સહમત થઇ, કારણ બધા લોકોની ષ્ટિએ એ જ યોગ્ય હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.13.5" />તેથી દાઉદે મિસરની સરહદે આવેલા શિહોરથી માંડીને છેક હમાથ સુધીના દેશભરના બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કરારકોશ કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમથી યરૂશાલેમ લઇ આવવા માટે ભેગા કર્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CH.13.6" />પછી દાઉદ અને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, જે યહોવાનું નામ ધરાવે છે, ને જેના પરના કરૂબો પર દેવ યહોવા બિરાજે છે, તે કરારકોશ લઇ આવવા યહૂદામાં આવેલા બાઅલાહ મુકામે ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.13.7" />તેઓએ અબીનાદાબના ઘરમાંથી દેવના કોશને લઇને નવા ગાડામાં મૂક્યો. ઉઝઝા અને આહ્યો ગાડું હાંકતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.13.8" />દાઉદ અને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ દેવની સમક્ષ વીણા, સારંગી, ખંજરી, ઝાંઝ અને રણશીંગડા વગાડીને જોરશોરથી નાચતા અને ગાતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.13.9" />જ્યારે તેઓ કીદોનની ખળી આગળ આવ્યા; ત્યારે બળદોને ઠોકર વાગી એટલે ઉઝઝાએ કોશને પડી જતો અટકાવવા હાથ લંબાવીને તેને પકડ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CH.13.10" />તે કોશને અડક્યો તેથી યહોવાનો રોષ તેના પર ભભૂકી ઊઠયો. તેમણે ઉઝઝાને માર્યો અને તે દેવ સમક્ષ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CH.13.11" />યહોવાએ આમ ઉઝઝા પર આક્રમણ કર્યુ. એથી દાઉદને ખોટું લાગ્યુ. અને તેણે તે જગ્યાનું નામ “પેરેસ-ઉઝઝા” પાડ્યું જે આજે પણ તે જ નામે ઓળખાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.13.12" />દાઉદને તે દિવસે દેવનો ભય લાગ્યો અને તે બોલ્યો, “હું ‘દેવના કોશ’ ને મારે ઘેર શી રીતે લઇ જાઉં?”
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<v id="13" bcv="1CH.13.13" />આથી દાઉદ કોશને પોતાને ઘેર દાઉદનગરમાં ન લઇ ગયો, પણ ગાથના વતની ઓબેદ-અદોમની પાસે લઇ ગયો.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CH.13.14" />ત્રણ મહિના સુધી દેવનો કોશ ઓબેદ-અદોમના કુટુંબ સાથે હતો અને યહોવાએ ઓબેદ-અદોમના કુટુંબ અને તેના સર્વને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
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</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">દાઉદને ઘેર યરૂશાલેમમાં બાળકો જન્મ્યાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.14.1" />તૂરના રાજા હીરામે દાઉદ પાસે એલચીઓ મોકલ્યાં અને તેમની સાથે મહેલ બાંધવા માટે ગંધતરુનું લાકડું, કડીયાઓ અને સુથારો મોકલી આપ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.14.2" />હવે દાઉદને ખાતરી થઇ ગઇ કે, યહોવાએ તેને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા તરીકે સ્થાપ્યો છે અને પોતાના ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો માટે થઇને તેના રાજ્યને મહાન બનાવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.14.3" />યરૂશાલેમમાં દાઉદે વધારે પત્નીઓ કરી અને તેને વધુ પુત્રપુત્રી જન્મ્યાં.
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<v id="4" bcv="1CH.14.4" />તેને યરૂશાલેમમાં થયેલા બાળકોનાં નામ આ પ્રમાણે છે; શામ્મુઆ, શોબાબ, નાથાન, સુલેમાન,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1CH.14.5" />યિબ્હાર, અલીશૂઆ, એલ્પેલેટ,
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1CH.14.6" />નોગાહ, નેફેગ, યાફીઆ,
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1CH.14.7" />અલીશામા, બએલ્યાદા અને અલીફેલેટ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પલિસ્તીઓને હરાવતો દાઉદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.14.8" />જ્યારે પલિસ્તીઓએ સાંભળ્યું કે હવે દાઉદનો સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા તરીકે અભિષેક કરવામાં આવ્યો છે, ત્યારે તેઓ ભેગા મળીને તેની શોધમાં નીકળી પડ્યા. દાઉદે જ્યારે આ વિષે સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તે તેમનો સામનો કરવા નીકળી પડ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1CH.14.9" />પલિસ્તીઓએ આવીને રફાઇમની ખીણમાં જમાવટ કરી.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="1CH.14.10" />દાઉદે દેવની સલાહ લીધી, “હું પલિસ્તીઓ પર હુમલો કરુ? તું તેમને મારા હાથમાં સોંપી દેશે?”
</p>
<p style="p">યહોવાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હુમલો કર. હું તેઓને તારા હાથમાં સોંપી દઇશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.14.11" />આથી દાઉદે બઆલ-પરાસીમ આગળ તેમના પર હુમલો કરી તેમને હરાવ્યા. દાઉદે કહ્યું, “જેવી રીતે પાણી ભંગાણ પાડે તેમ દેવે મારા દુશ્મનોમાં ભંગાણ પાડ્યું છે” તેથી તે જગ્યાનું નામ “બઆલ-પરાસીમ” રાખવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CH.14.12" />પલિસ્તીઓ તેમની મૂર્તિઓને પાછળ મૂકીને ચાલ્યા ગયા હતા, દાઉદની આજ્ઞાથી તે બધી મૂર્તિઓ બાળી નાખવામાં આવી.
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</p>
<s style="s">પલિસ્તીઓ પર ફરી વિજય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.14.13" />પલિસ્તીઓએ ફરી ખીણમાં જમાવટ કરી.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CH.14.14" />દાઉદે ફરીથી દેવની સલાહ લીધી અને દેવે જવાબ આપ્યો, “આગળથી તેમની પર હુમલો કરીશ નહિ, પરંતુ ફરીને તેમની પાછળ જઇ મેંદીના છોડ નજીક હુમલો કરજે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1CH.14.15" />જ્યારે તું છોડને મથાળે પગરવ જેવો અવાજ સાંભળે ત્યારે તું હુમલો કરજે, કારણ, એ દેવ તારી આગળ પલિસ્તીઓની સૈનાને હરાવવા માટે નીકળી પડ્યો હશે.”
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<v id="16" bcv="1CH.14.16" />દાઉદે દેવની સલાહ પ્રમાણે કર્યુ અને તેણે ગિબયોનથી ઠેઠ ગેઝેર સુધી પલિસ્તીઓના લશ્કરને હાંકી કાઠયુ.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CH.14.17" />દાઉદની ખ્યાતિ સર્વત્ર પ્રસરી ગઇ અને યહોવાએ બધી પ્રજાઓને તેનાથી ભયભીત બનાવી દીધી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમમાં કરારકોશની સ્થાપના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.15.1" />યરૂશાલેમમાં દાઉદે દાઉદનગરમાં પોતાના માટે આવાસ બાંધ્યા અને “દેવના કોશ” માટે નવો મંડપ બંધાવ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.15.2" />ત્યારપછી તેણે કહ્યું, “ફકત લેવીઓએ જ દેવનો કોશ ઊંચકવો. કારણકે તેમનો કોશ ઊંચકવા માટે તથા તેમની સેવા કરવા માટે યહોવાએ તેઓને પસંદ કર્યા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.15.3" />તેથી યહોવાના કોશને માટે યરૂશાલેમમાં તૈયાર કરેલી જગ્યાએ તેને લઇ જવા માટે તેણે સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ભેગા કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1CH.15.4" />વળી તેણે હારુનના વંશજોને તથા લેવીઓને પણ ભેગા કર્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.15.5" />કહાથના કુલમાંથી ઉરીએલની આગેવાની હેઠળ તેના 120 કુટુંબીઓ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.15.6" />મરારીના કુલસમૂહમાંથી અસાયાની આગેવાની હેઠળ તેના 220 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.15.7" />ગેશોર્મના કુલસમૂહમાં મુખ્ય યોએલ, તથા તેના ભાઇઓ 130;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.15.8" />અલીસાફાનના કુલસમૂહમાંથી શમાયાની આગેવાની હેઠળ તેના 200 કુટુંબીઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.15.9" />હેબ્રોનના કુલસમૂહમાંથી અલીએલની આગેવાની હેઠળ તેના 80 કુટુંબીઓ;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.15.10" />અને ઉઝઝીએલના કુલમાંથી આમ્મીનાદાબની આગેવાની હેઠળ તેના 112 કુટુંબીઓ આવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લેવીઓ અને યાજકો સાથે વાત કરતો દાઉદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.15.11" />ત્યારબાદ દાઉદે યાજકો સાદોક અને અબ્યાથારને તથા લેવી આગેવાનો ઉરીએલ, યસાયા, યોએલ, શમાયા, અલીએલ, અને આમ્મીનાદાબને તેડાવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1CH.15.12" />અને કહ્યું, “તમે લેવી વંશના કુલસમૂહોના આગેવાનો છો. તમે અને તમારા કુટુંબીઓ તમારી જાતને પવિત્ર કરીને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના કોશને મેં તેને માટે તૈયાર કરેલા મંડપમાં લઇ આવજો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="1CH.15.13" />તમે પહેલી વખતે ઉપાડ્યો નહિ માટે યહોવા આપણા દેવ આપણા પર ક્રોધે ભરાયા, કારણ આપણે તેની સૂચના પ્રમાણે તેને પકડયો નહોતો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.15.14" />તેથી યાજકોએ અને લેવીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના કોશને લઇ આવવા માટે પોતાની જાતને પવિત્ર કરી.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1CH.15.15" />યહોવાએ મૂસાને આજ્ઞા આપી હતી તે પ્રમાણે લેવીઓએ દેવના કોશના દાંડા પોતાના ખભા પર મૂકીને તેને ઊંચક્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ગાયકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.15.16" />પછી દાઉદે લેવીઓના આગેવાનોને તેમના અમુક કુટુંબીઓની વીણા, સિતાર, અને ઝાંઝ વગાડી આનંદના ગીતો મોટે સ્વરે ગાવા માટે નિમણૂક કરવા કહ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.15.17" />આથી લેવીઓએ નીચેના સંગીતકારોની નિંમણૂક કરી; હેમાન-યોએલનો પૂત્ર, આસાફ-બેરેખ્યાનો પુત્ર અને મરારીના કુટુંબમાંથી કૂશાયાનો પુત્ર એથાન.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="1CH.15.18" />તથા તેઓના મદદનીશ તરીકે પસંદ થયેલાઓની યાદી: ઝખાર્યા, બની, યઅઝીએલ, શમીરામોથ, અહીએલ, ઉન્ની, અલીઆબ, બનાયા, માઅસેયા, માત્તિથ્યા, અલીફલેહૂ, મિકનેયા, અને દ્વારપાળો ઓબેદ-અદોમ ને યેઇએલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.15.19" />આ સંગીતકારોમાંથી હેમાન, આસાફ અને એથાને કાંસાનાં ઝાંઝ વગાડવાના હતા;
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="1CH.15.20" />ઝખાર્યા અઝીએલ, શમીરામોથ, યહીએલ, ઉન્ની, અલીઆબ, માઅસેયા અને બનાયાએ “આલામોથ”ના સૂર પ્રમાણે વીણા વગાડવાની હતી;
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="1CH.15.21" />અને માત્તિથ્યા, અલીફલેહૂ મિકનેયા, ઓબેદ, અદોમ, યેહિએલ અને અઝાઝયાએ “સેંમીનીથ” ના સૂર પ્રમાણે સિતાર વગાડવાની હતી.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="1CH.15.22" />લેવીઓનો એક આગેવાન કનાન્યા રાગરાગણીની તાલીમ આપતો હતો અને ગવૈયાનો ઉસ્તાદ હતો; તેથી તેને આ બધાનો ઉપરી નિમવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.15.23" />બેરખ્યા એલ્કાનાહને કોશના દ્વારપાળ તરીકે સેવા આપવાની હતી.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="1CH.15.24" />અને યાજકો, શબાન્યા, યોશાફાટ, નથાનએલ, અમાસાઇ, ઝખાર્યા, બનાયાર અને અલીએઝેરને દેવના કોશ સમક્ષ ચાંદીના રણશિંગા વગાડવાના હતા અને ઓબેદ-અદોમ અને યહિયાએ પણ કોશના દ્વારપાળ તરીકે સેવા આપવાની હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.15.25" />દાઉદ, ઇસ્રાએલના વડીલો અને સૈન્યના ઉચ્ચ અમલદારો ઓબેદ-અદોમના ઘરમાંથી યહોવાના કરાર કોશને બહુ આનંદ અને ઉલ્લાસ સાથે યરૂશાલેમ લઇ આવવા માટે ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="1CH.15.26" />યહોવાના કરારકોશ ઊંચકનારા લેવીઓને જ્યારે દેવે સહાય કરી ત્યારે તેઓએ તેને સાત બળદો તથા સાત ઘેટાનું અર્પણ કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="1CH.15.27" />કોશ ઊંચકનારા સર્વ લેવીઓ, ગાયકગણના સભ્યો અને ગાયકગણના આગેવાન કનાન્યાએ શણના ઝભ્ભા પહેર્યા હતા. દાઉદે પણ શણનો એફોદ પહેર્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.15.28" />આમ સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો હર્ષનાદ કરતા, શરણાઇ રણશિંગડા, ઝાંઝ, સિતાર, વીણા વગાડી મોટી ગર્જના કરતા કરતા યહોવાના કરારકોશ લઇ આવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.15.29" />જ્યારે કરારકોશ દાઉદનગરમાં લાવવામાં આવ્યો ત્યારે શાઉલની પુત્રી મીખાલે બારીમાંથી જોયું, તો રાજા દાઉદ આનંદમાં આવીને નાચતો હતો. અને એ જોઇને તેના દિલમાં રાજા પ્રત્યે ધૃણા થઇ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="16" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.16.1" />દાઉદે બાંધેલા નવા મંડપમાં દેવનો કોશ લાવવામાં આવ્યો અને દેવની સમક્ષ દહનાર્પણ અને શાંત્યર્પણ ચઢાવ્યાં.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.16.2" />અર્પણોની વિધિ પૂરી થઇ પછી દાઉદે યહોવાના નામે લોકોને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CH.16.3" />પછી તેણે હાજર રહેલી પ્રત્યેક ઇસ્રાએલી વ્યકિતને, સ્ત્રી તથા પુરુષને સમાન રીતે માંસનો કટકો, સૂકી દ્રાક્ષાનો અકેક ઝૂમખો તથા એક એક ભાખરી વહેંચી આપી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.16.4" />યહોવાના કોશ સમક્ષ સેવા કરવા, યાજક તરીકે ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવની સેવા કરવા, લોકોને તેના વિષે યાદ દેવડાવવા માટે અને તેની સતત આભારસ્તુતિ કરવા; દાઉદે કેટલાંક લેવીઓને નિમ્યા.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CH.16.5" />આસાફ આગેવાન હતો અને ઝાંઝ વગાડતો હતો. ઝખાર્યા, યઅઝીએલ, શમીરામોથ, યહીએલ, માત્તિથ્યા, અલીઆબ, બનાયા, ઓબેદ-આદોમ અને યેઇએલ સિતાર અને વીણા વગાડતા હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CH.16.6" />યાજકો બનાયા અને યાહઝીએલને યહોવાના દેવના કોશ સમક્ષ આખો વખત ચાંદીનું રણશિંગુ તે સમયે વગાડવાનુ હતું,
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<v id="7" bcv="1CH.16.7" />જ્યારે દાઉદે આસાફ અને તેના કુટુંબીજનોને યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરવા માટે લોકોને દોરવા માટે કહ્યું.
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<s style="s">દાઉદની આભારસ્તુતિ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.16.8" />યહોવાના નામની ઘોષણા કરો અને તેઓનો ધન્યવાદ માનો.
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<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રજાઓ માટેના તેના અદભુત કાર્યોની સ્તુતિ ગાઓ.
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<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.16.9" />એના ગુણ-ગાન ગાઓ, અને તેની સ્તુતિગાન કરો.
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેના સર્વ અદભૂત કાર્યો વિષે વાતો કરો.
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<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.16.10" />તમે તેના પવિત્ર નામથી ગવિર્ષ્ઠ થાઓ,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તમે યહોવાના ભકતો, આનંદો!
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<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.16.11" />યહોવાને અને તેના સાર્મથ્યને તમે શોધો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સદાસર્વદા તેના મુખને શોધો.
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<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.16.12" />એનાં અનુપમ કાર્યો,
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<q level="2" style="q2">એના મુખનાં ન્યાયવચનો અને ચમત્કારને યાદ કરો.
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<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.16.13" />તમે યહોવાના દાસ, ઇસ્રાએલના વંશજો છો,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તમે યાકૂબના વંશજો છો જેને તેમણે પસંદ કર્યા છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.16.14" />તે આપણા યહોવા દેવ છે.
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો ન્યાય સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="1CH.16.15" />જે આજ્ઞા, તેણે હજારો પેઢીઓને આપી હતી,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તે કરારને તમે સદાકાળ યાદ રાખજો.
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<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.16.16" />તેણે ઇબ્રાહિમની સાથે જે કરાર કર્યો
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેણે ઇસહાકને જે વચન આપ્યું.
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<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.16.17" />યાકૂબને માટે એ જ વચન નિયમ તરીકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇસ્રાએલને માટે સદાકાળના કરાર તરીકે રહેશે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.16.18" />તેણે કહ્યું, “હું તને આ કનાન દેશ આપીશ.
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<q level="2" style="q2">તે તારી પોતાની જ માલિકીની ભૂમિ બની રહેનાર છે.”
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<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.16.19" />તે સમયે તમે સંખ્યામાં થોડાજ હતા.
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<q level="2" style="q2">છેક થોડાંજ, ને પાછા તમે પારકા હતા.
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<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.16.20" />એક દેશથી બીજે, ને એક પ્રજામાંથી બીજી પ્રજામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ભટક્યા કરતા હતા.
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<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="1CH.16.21" />છતાઁ યહોવાએ કોઇ અત્યાચાર થવા દીધો નહિ,
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<q level="2" style="q2">એમને માટે તેણે રાજાઓને શિક્ષા કરી.
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<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="1CH.16.22" />“મારા અભિષિકતોને કોઇ અડશો નહિ,
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<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પ્રબોધકોને કોઇ ઉપદ્રવ કરશો નહિ.”
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<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.16.23" />સૌ પૃથ્વીવાસી, યહોવાનાઁ ગુણગાન કરો,
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<q level="2" style="q2">દિનપ્રતિદિન સૌ તેના વિજયગાન ગાઓ.
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<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.16.24" />દેશવિદેશમાં લોકો સમક્ષ તેના ગૌરવ અને મહિમાની વાત કરો.
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<q level="2" style="q2">એમની અદ્ભૂત પરાક્રમ-ગાથા સંભળાવો.
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<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.16.25" />યહોવા, પરમ સ્તુત્ય ને મહાન છે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">એ સર્વ દેવો કરતાં ભયાવહ છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="1CH.16.26" />સર્વ લોકોના દેવ તો કેવળ મૂર્તિઓ છે!
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<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ યહોવાએ તો આકાશો બનાવ્યાઁ છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="1CH.16.27" />યહોવાની આજુબાજુ ઝળહળ પ્રકાશની આભા છે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો આવાસ આનંદથી ભરેલો છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.16.28" />તમે બધી પ્રજાઓ, યહોવાના ગૌરવ
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને સાર્મથ્ય વિષે બોલો.
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<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.16.29" />યહોવાના નામનું ગૌરવ કરો;
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<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેની સમક્ષ અર્પણ લઇ આવો,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તમે શુદ્ધ વસ્ત્રો ધારણ કરીને તેના ચરણોમાં તમારું માથુ નમાવો.
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<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="1CH.16.30" />સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી તેની સમક્ષ થથરે છે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને એણે સ્થાપિત કરેલું જગ સદા અચલ રહે છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="1CH.16.31" />ભલે આકાશો આનંદ કરે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">ને પૃથ્વી હરખાય. “યહોવા રાજા છે” એવી ઘોષણા ભલે પ્રજાઓમાં થાય.
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<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="1CH.16.32" />સમુદ્ર તથા તેમાં જે છે તે ગર્જના કરે છે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">ખેતરો તથા તેઓમાં જે છે, તે સર્વ ઉત્સાહ કરે છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="1CH.16.33" />અરણ્યાનાં વૃક્ષો યહોવા સમક્ષ હર્ષનાદ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તે પૃથ્વીનો ન્યાય કરવા આવે છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="1CH.16.34" />યહોવાનો આભાર માનો કારણ કે તે ભલા છે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેની કૃપા હંમેશ માટે રહે છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="1CH.16.35" />બોલો, “હે દેવ અમને તારણ કરનાર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે અમારો ઉદ્ધાર કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">બીજી પ્રજાઓથી અમારી રક્ષા કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમને એકત્રિત કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે સહુ તમારા પવિત્ર નામનો આભાર માનીશું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે તમારી સ્તુતિ ગાવા માટે ગૌરવ લઇશું.”
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<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="1CH.16.36" />હે યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ,
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<q level="2" style="q2">અનાદિકાળથી તે અનંતકાળ પર્યંત તમે સ્તુત્ય થાઓ.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">સર્વ લોકોએ “આમીન” કહીને યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="1CH.16.37" />ત્યાર પછી દાઉદે યહોવાની સામે કોશની સેવા કરવા માટે આસાફની અને તેના કુટુંબીઓની કાયમ માટે નિમણૂંક કરી.
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<v id="38" bcv="1CH.16.38" />ઓબેદ-અદોમ જે યદૂથૂનનો પુત્ર હતો તે અને હોસાહને તેઓના અડસઠ સબંધીઓને દ્વારપાળો તરીકે નીમવામાં આવ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="1CH.16.39" />યાજક સાદોક અને તેના યાજકોના કુટુંબને ગિબયોનની ટેકરી પર આવેલા યહોવાના મંડપની સેવામાં મૂક્યા.
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<v id="40" bcv="1CH.16.40" />તેમણે યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલ માટે ફરમાવેલી સંહિતામાં કહ્યા પ્રમાણે દરરોજ સવારે અને સાંજે યજ્ઞવેદી પર યહોવાને દહનાર્પણ ચઢાવવાનું હતું.
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<v id="41" bcv="1CH.16.41" />તેમની સાથે તેણે હેમાન અને યદૂથૂનને તેમ જ યહોવાની શાશ્વત કરુણા બદલ તેનાં સ્તવનગાન કરવા માટે ખાસ પસંદ કરેલા બીજા માણસોને મૂક્યા.
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<v id="42" bcv="1CH.16.42" />એમણે અને યદૂથૂને ચાંદીના રણશિંગડાં, ઝાંઝ અને ભજન સાથે વગાડવાનાં અન્ય વાજિંત્રો દેવ સમક્ષ વગાડવાના હતા. યદૂથૂનના પુત્રોને દ્વારપાળનું કામ સોંપવામા આવ્યું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="1CH.16.43" />પછી બધા સૌ સૌને ઘેર ચાલ્યા ગયા અને દાઉદ પોતાના કુટુંબને આશીર્વાદ આપવા પાછો આવ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">દેવનું દાઉદને વચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.17.1" />પોતાના નવા મહેલમાં થોડો સમય રહ્યા પછી દાઉદે પ્રબોધક નાથાનને કહ્યું, “જો હું દેવદારના કાષ્ટના મહેલમાં રહું છું. પરંતુ યહોવાનો કરારકોશ મંડપમાં છે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1CH.17.2" />નાથાને દાઉદને કહ્યું, “આપના મનમાં જે હોય તે કહો, કારણ, દેવ આપની પડખે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.17.3" />પરંતુ તે જ રાત્રે નાથાનને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.17.4" />“જા, અને મારા સેવક દાઉદને આ સંદેશો આપ, ‘તું મારે માટે રહેવાનું મંદિર બાંધવાનો નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CH.17.5" />હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઇ આવ્યો ત્યારથી આજપર્યંત હું કદી કોઇ મકાનમાં રહ્યો નથી. હું એક મંડપમાંથી બીજા મંડપમાં ફરતો રહું છું.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CH.17.6" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાથેના મારા પ્રવાસ દરમ્યાન મેં કદી મારી પ્રજાના ભરવાડ તરીકે નિમેલા નેતાઓમાંના કોઇને કદી એમ પૂછયું છે કે, તેમણે મારા માટે દેવદારનું મકાન કેમ બાંધ્યુ નથી?’
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.17.7" />“મારા સેવક દાઉદને કહે, ‘સર્વસમર્થ યહોવાનાં આ વચન છે; તું ચરાણમાં ઘેટાં ચરાવતો હતો. ત્યાંથી લઇને મેં તને મારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો આગેવાન બનાવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CH.17.8" />તું જ્યાં જ્યાં ગયો, ત્યાં ત્યાં હું તારી સાથે રહ્યો છું. અને તારી આગળના બધા દુશ્મનોનો મેં નાશ કર્યો છે. હું તને પૃથ્વીના મહાપુરૂષો જેવો વિખ્યાત બનાવીશ.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CH.17.9" />હું મારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓને માટે એક સ્થાન મુકરર કરીશ અને તેઓને તેમાં સ્થિર કરીને વસાવીશ; ત્યાં તેઓ વસશે અને કોઇ તેમને રંજાડશે નહિ અગાઉ, બનતું હતું તેવું થશે નહિ.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CH.17.10" />જ્યારે મે મારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પર ન્યાયાધીશો નિયુકત કર્યા હતા. પરંતુ તારા સર્વ શત્રુઓને તારે શરણે લાવીશ, અને હું હવે જાહેર કરું છું, હું તારા વંશજોને રાજા બનાવીશ.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.17.11" />“‘અને જ્યારે તારો સમય પૂરો થશે અને જઇને તું તારા પિતૃઓની સાથે જોડાઇશ, ત્યારે હું તારા સગા પુત્રને ગાદીએ બેસાડીશ અને તેના રાજ્યને સુરક્ષિત કરીશ.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CH.17.12" />તે જ મારે માટે મંદિર બંધાવશે. અને હું તેની રાજગાદીને કાયમ કરીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CH.17.13" />હું તેનો પિતા થઇશ અને તે મારો પુત્ર થશે. મેં તારા પુરોગામી ઉપરથી મારી કૃપાષ્ટિ પાછી ખેંચી લીધી હતી તેમ હું એના પ્રત્યે કદીય દયાળુ થવાનું બંધ નહિ કરું.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CH.17.14" />હું એના હાથમાં મારા લોકો અને મારું રાજ્ય સોંપીશ. અને તેની ગાદી હંમેશા સુરક્ષિત રહેશે.’”
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1CH.17.15" />પછી નાથાન દાઉદ રાજા પાસે ગયો અને યહોવાએ દર્શનમાં જે કહ્યું હતું તે સર્વ તેને કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.17.16" />ત્યારબાદ રાજા દાઉદ યહોવા સમક્ષ ગયો અને તેની સામે બેસીને બોલ્યો,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“હે યહોવા દેવ, હું કોણ અને મારું કુટુંબ કોણ? કે તેં મને આટલે ઊંચે સુધી ઊઠાવ્યો છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CH.17.17" />અને તેમ છતાં, હે દેવ, એટલું પૂરતું ન હોય તેમ તેઁ તારા સેવકના દૂરના ભવિષ્યના વંશજો માટે પણ વચન આપ્યું છે અને તું તો મને અત્યારથી જ એક મહાપુરૂષ ગણીને ચાલે છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="1CH.17.18" />તેં તારા સેવકને જે માન આપ્યું છે તે વિષે તો હું વધુ શું કહું? તું તારા સેવકને બરાબર ઓળખે છે;
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<v id="19" bcv="1CH.17.19" />હે યહોવા, મારા પ્રત્યે તમારું માયાળુપણું અને તમારી ઉદારતા અતિઘણાં થયા છે અને તમે આ અદભૂત વચનો મને આપ્યાં છે, એ સર્વ તમારી મહાન ઉદારતાને કારણે છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="1CH.17.20" />હે યહોવા, અમે તમારા સમાન અન્ય કોઇ દેવ વિષે સાંભળ્યું નથી. તમારા સિવાય અન્ય કોઇ દેવ નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CH.17.21" />પૃથ્વીના પટ પર તમારા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો જેવા કોઇ લોકો છે ખરા, જેમનો ગુલામીમાંથી ઉધ્ધાર કરી, પોતાના કરી લેવા માટે દેવ જાતે ગયા હોય, જેમને માટે તમે મહાન અને ભીષણ કાર્યો કર્યા હોય, જેમને મિસરમાંથી છોડાવી લાવી તેમના માર્ગમાંથી અનેક પ્રજાઓને હાંકી કાઢી હોય?
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<v id="22" bcv="1CH.17.22" />તમે તમારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓને સદાને માટે અપનાવી લીધા છે અને, હે યહોવા, તમે તેમના દેવ બન્યા છો.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.17.23" />“અને હવે, હે યહોવા, તમે તમારા સેવક અને તેમના વંશ માટે જે વચન આપ્યું છે તેનું કાયમ માટે પાલન કરજો અને તમે જે કહ્યું છે તે પ્રમાણે કરજો.
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<v id="24" bcv="1CH.17.24" />જેથી સદાકાળ તમારા નામનો મહિમા થાય, અને લોકો કહે કે, ‘સર્વસમર્થ યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ છે.’ અને એ રીતે તમારા સેવક દાઉદનો વંશ તમારી નજર નીચે અવિચળ રહેશે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.17.25" />“હે મારા દેવ, તમારા આ સેવકના વંશને રાજગાદી પર સ્થાપવાનો તમારો ઇરાદો તમે મારી આગળ પ્રગટ કર્યો છે તેથી હું તમારી આગળ આવી પ્રાર્થના કરવાની હિંમત કરું છું.
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<v id="26" bcv="1CH.17.26" />હે યહોવા, તમે જ દેવ છો, અને તમે જ તમારા સેવકને આ શુભ વચન આપ્યુ છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="1CH.17.27" />આ સેવકના વંશને આશીર્વાદ આપવાની કૃપા કરશો, જેથી તે સદાસર્વદા તમારી નજર નીચે રહે. જ્યારે તમે તમારા આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા છે, તો એ આશીર્વાદ હંમેશા માટે રહો.”
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</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">દુશ્મનો પર દાઉદનો વિજય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.18.1" />એ પછી દાઉદે પલિસ્તીઓને હરાવી તેમને તાબે કર્યા અને તેમના હાથમાંથી ગાથ અને તેની આસપાસના ગામો કબ્જે કરી લીધાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1CH.18.2" />તેણે મોઆબીઓને પણ હરાવ્યાં, તેઓ તેના તાબેદાર બન્યા અને તેને ખંડણી ભરવા લાગ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.18.3" />એ પછી દાઉદે ફ્રાત નદીની આસપાસના પ્રદેશ પર કબજો જમાવવા જતા સોબાહના રાજા હદારએઝેરને હમાથ આગળ હરાવ્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="1CH.18.4" />દાઉદે તેની પાસેથી તેના 1,000 રથ, 7,000 ઘોડેસવારો અને 20,000 પાયદળ કબજે કર્યા. તેણે રથોના સર્વ ઘોડાની પગની નસો કાપી નાખી, પણ તેણે પોતાના 100 રથોને માટે પૂરતાં ઘોડાઓને બચાવી રાખ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.18.5" />દમસ્કના અરામીઓ સોબાહના રાજા હદારએઝેરની વહારે આવ્યાં તો દાઉદે 22,000 અરામી સૈનિકોને મારી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CH.18.6" />અને તેમના પ્રદેશમાં લશ્કરી થાણાં સ્થાપ્યાં. તેઓ દાઉદના તાબેદાર બની ગયા અને તેને ખંડણી ભરવા લાગ્યાં.આમ દાઉદ જ્યાં જ્યાં ગયો, ત્યાં ત્યાં યહોવાએ તેને વિજય અપાવવામાં મદદ કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.18.7" />દાઉદ, હદારએઝેર રાજાના સેવકોની સોનાની ઢાલો યરૂશાલેમમાં લઇ આવ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CH.18.8" />વળી તેણે હદારએઝર શહેરો ટિબ્હાથ અને કૂનમાંથી પુષ્કળ કાંસુ પણ કબજે કર્યુ. સુલેમાને પાછળથી કાંસાનો મોટો કુંડ, થાંભલાઓ અને વાસણો મંદિર માટે તૈયાર કરાવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.18.9" />હમાથના રાજા તોઉએ સાંભળ્યું કે દાઉદે સોબાહના રાજા હદારએઝેરના સૈન્યનો નાશ કર્યો છે,
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<v id="10" bcv="1CH.18.10" />તેણે પોતાના પુત્ર હદોરામને દાઉદને સત્કાર કરવા અને હદારએઝેરને યુદ્ધમાં હરાવવા માટે ધન્યવાદ આપવા મોકલ્યો. કારણ, હદારએઝેરને તોઉ સાથે વિગ્રહ ચાલ્યાં કરતો હતો. હદોરામ પોતાની સાથે સોના-ચાંદી અને કાંસાના વાસણો લઇ ગયો હતો.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CH.18.11" />તે બધાં દાઉદે યહોવાના મંદિરની સેવા માટે અપીર્ દીધાં. એ જ રીતે, તેણે જીતેલી બધી પ્રજાઓ અદોમ, મોઆબી, આમ્મોનીઓ, પલિસ્તીઓ અને અમાલેકીઓ પાસેથી કબજે કરેલું સોનું ચાંદી તેણે યહોવાને અર્પણ કરી દીધું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.18.12" />સરૂયાના પુત્ર અબીશાયે મીઠાની ખાણમાં 18,000 અદોમીઓને મારી નાંખ્યા.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CH.18.13" />સમગ્ર અદોમ પ્રદેશમાં લશ્કરી થાણાં ગોઠવ્યાં. બધા અદોમીઓ હવે દાઉદના તાબેદાર બની ગયા. આમ, દાઉદ જ્યાં જ્યાં ગયો, ત્યાં ત્યાં યહોવાએ તેને વિજય અપાવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદના મહત્વના કામદારો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.18.14" />દાઉદે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ પર રાજ્ય સ્થાપ્યું, અને સમગ્ર રાષ્ટમાં નીતિમત્તા અને ન્યાયને સ્થાપિત કર્યાં.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CH.18.15" />સરૂયાનો પુત્ર યોઆબ સૈન્યનો સેનાપતિ હતો. અહીલૂદનો પુત્ર યહોશાફાટ ઇતિહાસકાર હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CH.18.16" />અહીટૂબનો પુત્ર સાદોક અને અબ્યાથારનો પુત્ર અબીમેલેખ યાજકો હતા. શાવ્શા રાજાનો લહિયો હતો.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CH.18.17" />યહોયાદાનો પુત્ર બનાયા રાજાના અંગરક્ષકો કથેરીઓ અને પલેથીઓનો ઉપરી હતો.અને દાઉદના પુત્રો રાજાની તહેનાતમાં રહેતા માણસોમાં મુખ્ય હતા.
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<c id="19" />
<s style="s">દાઉદનું આમ્મોનીઓ સાથે યુદ્ધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.19.1" />થોડા સમય પછી આમ્મોનીઓના રાજાનું અવસાન થયું. એટલે તેના પછી તેના પુત્રને રાજા બનાવાયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.19.2" />દાઉદે વિચાર્યું, “નાહાશે મારા પ્રત્યે દાખવ્યો હતો તેવો સદૃભાવ મારે તેના પુત્ર હાનૂન પ્રત્યે રાખવો જોઇએ.” તેથી દાઉદે હાનૂનના પિતાના મૃત્યુનું આશ્વાસન આપવા માણસો મોકલી આપ્યા. પણ જ્યારે દાઉદના માણસો હાનૂન પાસે આશ્વાસન આપવા આમ્મોન પહોંચ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.19.3" />ત્યારે આમ્મોની સરદારોએ હાનૂનને કહ્યું, “તમે શું એમ માનો છો કે, તમારા પિતાને માન આપવાના હેતુથી દાઉદે આ માણસોને આશ્વાસન આપવા મોકલ્યા છે? એ માણસો તો તેના જાસૂસો છે અને આ દેશને શી રીતે જીતી લેવો એની બાતમી મેળવવા આવ્યા છે.”
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<v id="4" bcv="1CH.19.4" />આથી રાજા હાનૂને રાજા દાઉદનાં રાજદૂતોનું અપમાન કર્યુ. તેઓની દાઢી અડધી મૂંડાવી નાખી અને તેઓનો પોષાક મધ્યમાંથી કાપી નાખ્યો જેના કારણે તેઓના શરીર ઉઘાડાં દેખાય. પછી તેણે તેઓને શરમજનક સ્થિતિમાં દાઉદ પાસે પાછા મોકલ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.19.5" />જ્યારે કેટલાક લોકોએ દાઉદને ખબર આપી કે તેમના માણસોના શા હાલ કરવામાં આવ્યા છે, ત્યારે તેણે તેમને મળવા માણસો મોકલ્યા, કારણ, તેઓ ખૂબ શરમાતા હતા, દાઉદે તેમને કહેવડાવ્યું કે, “તમારી દાઢી પાછી ઊગે ત્યાં સુધી યરીખોમાં રહેજો, પછી જ અહીં આવજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.19.6" />જ્યારે આમ્મોનીઓને ભાન થયું કે તેઓ દાઉદની નજરમાં ધિક્કારપાત્ર બન્યા હતા, હાનૂન અને આમ્મોનીઓએ, અરામ નાહરાઇમમાંથી, અરામ-માઅખાહમાંથી અને સોબાહમાંથી રથો તેમજ અશ્વદળો ભાડેથી મેળવવા માટે 34,000 કિલો ચાંદી મોકલી આપી.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CH.19.7" />તેણે 32,000 રથો ભાડે રાખ્યા અને માઅખાહના રાજા તથા તેના સમસ્ત સૈન્યનો પગાર ચૂકવી આપવા ગોઠવણ કરી. આ સર્વ સૈન્યે મેદૃબા આગળ છાવણી નાખી. જે આમ્મોનીઓ પોતપોતાના શહેરમાંથી ભેગા થયા હતા તેઓ ત્યાં તેમની સાથે જોડાયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.19.8" />દાઉદને જ્યારે આ વાતની જાણ થઇ ત્યારે તેણે યોઆબને પોતાના શૂરવીરો અને આખી સૈના સાથે મોકલી આપ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CH.19.9" />આમ્મોનીઓ બહાર આવીને શહેરના દરવાજા આગળ ગોઠવાઇ ગયા અને તેમની મદદે આવેલા રાજાઓ ખુલ્લા મેદાનમાં ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.19.10" />જ્યારે યોઆબે જોયું કે, પોતાના પર આગળપાછળથી બંને બાજુએથી હુમલો થવાનો છે. ત્યારે તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના ચુનંદા લડવૈયાઓને પસંદ કરીને અરામીઓની સામે ગોઠવી દીધા.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CH.19.11" />બાકીનું સૈન્ય તેણે પોતાના ભાઇ અબીશાયની સરદારી હેઠળ મૂકી દીધું. અને તેમણે આમ્મોનીઓની સામે મોરચો માંડ્યો.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CH.19.12" />યોઆબે તેના ભાઇને કહ્યું, “જો અરામીઓ મારા પર વિજયી થાય, તો તું આવીને મને મદદ કરજે અને જો આમ્મોનીઓ તારા પર વિજય પામે તો, હું આવીને તને મદદ કરીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CH.19.13" />હિમ્મતવાન થા અને પુરુષાતન દેખાડ કે, આપણે દેવનાં નગરો અને આપણા લોકોનો બચાવ કરીએ. યહોવાને જે શ્રેષ્ઠ લાગે તે કરે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.19.14" />જ્યારે યોઆબ અને તેના માણસો અરામીઓ સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા આગળ વધ્યા ત્યારે અરામીઓ ભાગવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CH.19.15" />અને આમ્મોનીઓએ તેમને ભાગતા જોયા એટલે તેઓ પણ અબીશાયથી ભાગીને શહેરમાં ભરાઇ ગયા. પછી યોઆબ પાછો યરૂશાલેમ આવી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.19.16" />અરામીઓ સમજી ગયા કે પોતે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને હાથે હાર ખાધી છે. એટલે તેમણે સંદેશાવાહકો મોકલીને નદી પારના બીજા અરામીઓને હદારએઝેરના સેનાપતિ શોફાખની આગેવાની હેઠળ બોલાવી લીધા.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.19.17" />આ સમાચાર મળતાં જ દાઉદે ઇસ્રાએલની આખી સૈના ભેગી કરી યર્દન નદી ઓળંગીને તેમની સામે મોરચો માંડ્યો. યુદ્ધ શરૂ થયું અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ અરામીઓને ભગાડી મૂક્યાં.
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<v id="18" bcv="1CH.19.18" />અરામીઓ ફરીથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ આગળથી નાસવા લાગ્યા. દાઉદે અરામના 7,000 સૈનિકો અને 40,000 બીજા સૈનિકોને મારી નાખ્યા. અરામના સૈન્યના સેનાપતિ શોફાખને પણ તેણે મારી નાખ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.19.19" />જ્યારે હદારએઝેરના માણસોએ જોયું કે, તેમણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને હાથે હાર ખાધી છે. ત્યારે તેમણે દાઉદ સાથે સુલેહ કરી અને તેની શરણાગતિ સ્વીકારી. ત્યારબાદ અરામીઓ આમ્મોનીઓની મદદ કરવા રાજી નહતા.
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<c id="20" />
<s style="s">યોઆનું આમ્મોનીઓ સાથે યુદ્ધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.20.1" />વસંત ઋતું બેસતાં સામાન્ય રીતે રાજાઓ યુદ્ધે ચઢે છે ત્યારે યોઆબે સૈનાનું માર્ગદર્શન કરી આમ્મોનના પ્રદેશનો સંપૂર્ણ વિનાશ કરી નાખ્યો અને પછી તે રાબ્બાહ આવ્યો અને તેને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો. પણ દાઉદ યરૂશાલેમમાં જ રહ્યો, યોઆબે શહેર પર હુમલો કર્યો અને તે જીતી લીધું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1CH.20.2" />દાઉદે રાબ્બાહના રાજા મિલ્કોમના મસ્તક પરથી મુગટ લઇ લીધો અને તેને તેના પોતાના મસ્તક પર મૂક્યો. આ મુગટ સોનાનો બનેલો હતો. અને તેમાં રત્નો જડેલાં હતા. તેનું વજન 75 પૌન્ડ હતું. દાઉદે નગરમાંથી પુષ્કળ લૂંટનો માલ ભેગો કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CH.20.3" />તેણે નગરનાં લોકોને બહાર લાવીને કરવતો, તીકમો અને કુહાડીઓથી કરવાનું કામ સોંપ્યુ. આમ્મોનીઓ રાજા સાથેના વ્યવહારમાં દાઉદની આ રીત હતી. પછી દાઉદ અને તેનું સૈન્ય યરૂશાલેમ પાછું ફર્યુ.
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<s style="s">પલિસ્તીના મહારથીઓ હણાયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.20.4" />કેટલાંક સમય પછી ગેઝરમાં પલિસ્તીઓ સાથેનું યુદ્ધ ફરી ફાટી નીકળ્યું. એ વખતે હુશાના સિબ્બખાયે રફાઇમના એક વંશજ સિપ્પાયને મારી નાખ્યો. અને પલિસ્તીઓ હારી ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.20.5" />પલિસ્તીઓ સામે ફરી યુદ્ધ ફાટી નીકળ્યું. અને યાઇરના પુત્ર એલ્હાનાને હમીને મારી નાખ્યો, જે ગાથના ગોલ્યાથનો ભાઇ હતો અને તેના ભાલાનો દાંડો વણકરની તોર જેટલો જાડો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.20.6" />ગાથ પાસે ફરી યુદ્ધ થયું. ત્યાં એક કદાવર સૈનિકને હાથે અને પગે છ છ આંગળા હતા. તે પણ એક રફાઇઓમાંનો હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CH.20.7" />અને જ્યારે તેણે ઇસ્રાએલને પડકાર્યુ, ત્યારે દાઉદનાં ભાઇ શિમઆના પુત્ર યોનાથાને તેને મારી નાખ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.20.8" />આ બધા રફાઇઓ દાઉદ અને તેના માણસોને હાથે માર્યા ગયા હતા.
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<c id="21" />
<s style="s">અમંગળ વસ્તીગણતરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.21.1" />પછી શેતાન ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સામે લડવા તૈયાર થયો. તેણે દાઉદને વસ્તી ગણતરી કરવા ભડકાવ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.21.2" />આથી દાઉદે યોઆબને અને લશ્કરી વડા અધિકારીઓને કહ્યું, “જાઓ અને બેર-શેબાથી દાન સુધી સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલની વસ્તી ગણતરી કરો. અને પછી આવીને જણાવો કે, મારી પ્રજાની વસ્તી કેટલી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.21.3" />પરંતુ યોઆબે વાંધો લેતા જણાવ્યું, “યહોવા પ્રજાની વસ્તીને બમણી કરે તોયે, એ બધા આપ નામદારના સેવકો જ નથી? આપ શા માટે ઇસ્રાએલને દોષી ઠરાવવા ચાહો છો? અને તમે ઇસ્રાએલને અપરાધી શા માટે ઠેરવો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.21.4" />પરંતુ રાજાની આજ્ઞા આગળ યોઆબનું કાંઇ ચાલ્યુ નહિ. સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ દેશમાં ફરીને તે યરૂશાલેમ પાછો ફર્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CH.21.5" />યોઓબે વસતી ગણતરીના આંકડા દાઉદને આપ્યા; લશ્કરમાં જોડાઇ શકે, ને શસ્ત્ર ચલાવી શકે તેવા પુખ્ત માણસો ઇસ્રાએલમાં 11,00,000 અને યહૂદિયામાં તે 4,70,000 હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CH.21.6" />યોઆબને રાજાની આજ્ઞા એટલી અણગમતી લાગી હતી કે તેણે લેવીની અને બિન્યામીનની ગણતરી જ કરી ન હતી.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CH.21.7" />આ બધી કાર્યવાહીથી દેવ નારાજ થયા અને તેથી તેણે ઇસ્રાયેલને શિક્ષા કરી.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલને સજા કરતા દેવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.21.8" />એટલે દાઉદે દેવને કહ્યું, “આમ કરવામાં મેં ઘોર પાપ કર્યું છે, પણ હવે આ સેવકનો દોષ કૃપા કરીને માફ કરો. આ કામ માટે મેં ઘોર અપરાધ કર્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.21.9" />તેથી યહોવાએ દાઉદના પ્રબોધક ગાદને કહ્યું,
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<v id="10" bcv="1CH.21.10" />“જા, અને દાઉદને કહે, ‘યહોવા આ મુજબ જણાવે છે: હું તારી સમક્ષ ત્રણ વસ્તુ રજૂ કરું છું. તું ગમે તે એક પસંદ કર, અને જે તું પસંદ કરે તે પ્રમાણે હું કરીશ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.21.11" />ગાદ દાઉદ પાસે ગયો અને યહોવાએ જે કહ્યું, “તે જણાવ્યું. અને પૂછયું, ‘તું શું પસંદ કરે છે?
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<v id="12" bcv="1CH.21.12" />ત્રણ વરસનો દુકાળ પડે. અથવા ત્રણ મહિના સુધી દુશ્મનો તરવાર લઇને તારો પીછો પકડી તને હેરાન કરે, અથવા ત્રણ દિવસ સુધી યહોવાની તરવાર કામે લાગે, સમગ્ર દેશમાં રોગચાળો ફાટી નીકળે અને યહોવાનો દૂત આખા ઇસ્રાએલમાં વિનાશ કરતો ફરે.’ હવે તું વિચાર કરીને કહે, કે મને મોકલનાર માટે શો જવાબ આપવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.21.13" />એટલે દાઉદે ગાદને કહ્યું, “હું ભારે મુશ્કેલીમાં આવી પડ્યો છું, પણ હું માણસોના હાથમાં પડવા કરતાં હું યહોવાના હાથમાં પડું એ વધારે સારું છે, કારણ, તે અનંત કૃપાળુ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.21.14" />આથી યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલમાં રોગચાળો મોકલ્યો અને 70,000 ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CH.21.15" />પછી દેવે યરૂશાલેમનો નાશ કરવા એક દેવદૂતને મોકલ્યો, પણ તે નાશ કરવાની અણી પર હતો ત્યારે યહોવાને દયા આવી અને તેણે કહ્યું, “બસ કર, બહુ થયું, હવે તારો હાથ પાછો ખેંચી લે.” એ વખતે યહોવાનો દૂત યબૂસીની ઓર્નાનની ખળી પાસે ઉભો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.21.16" />દાઉદે પર નજર કરીને જોયું તો યહોવાનો દૂત આકાશ અને પૃથ્વી વચ્ચે ઉઘાડી ખેંચેલી તરવાર લઇને યરૂશાલેમ તરફ પોતાના હાથ લંબાવી ઊભો હતો. કંતાન પહેરેલા દાઉદ અને વડીલોએ ભૂમિ પર લાંબા થઇને પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CH.21.17" />અને દાઉદે દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરી, “વસતી ગણતરીનો હુકમ આપીને મેં પાપ કર્યુ છે. આ ઘેટાઁઓએ શું કર્યું છે? હે યહોવા મારા દેવ, મારો અને મારા કુટુંબનો નાશ કરો, પણ તમારા લોકોનો નાશ ન કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.21.18" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાના દૂતે ગાદને કહ્યું કે, “તું દાઉદને જઇને કહે કે, યબૂસી ઓર્નાનના ખળામાં યહોવાને પૂજવા એક વેદી બાંધે.”
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<v id="19" bcv="1CH.21.19" />યહોવાને નામે ગાદે જે કહ્યું હતું તે મુજબ દાઉદ ચાલી નીકળ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.21.20" />ઓર્નાને પાછું વળીને જોતાં દેવદૂતને જોયો. તેના પુત્રો નાસી ગયા અને છુપાઇ ગયા, પણ ઓર્નાન ઘઉં ઝૂડતો રહ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CH.21.21" />જ્યારે ઓર્નાને દાઉદને આવતો જોયો, ત્યારે તે ખળીમાંથી બહાર આવ્યો અને તેણે દાઉદને સાષ્ટાંગ દંડવત પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1CH.21.22" />દાઉદે તેને કહ્યું, “તું મને તારી ખળીની જગ્યા આપ જેથી હું યહોવાને માટે યજ્ઞવેદી બાંધુ. તો જ લોકોમાં ફેલાયેલો રોગચાળો બંધ થશે. હું તને એની પૂરેપૂરી કિંમત ચૂકવીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.21.23" />ઓર્નાને કહ્યું, “લઇ લો, અને આપ મુરબ્બીને જેમ ઠીક લાગે તેમ તેનું કરો. આ બળદોનું પણ દહનાર્પણ કરજો, આ ઝૂડવાના પાટિયા ઇંધણ તરીકે વાપરજો અને આ ઘઉંને ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે ચઢાવજો. હું બધું જ આપને સોંપી દઉં છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.21.24" />પણ રાજા દાઉદે ઓર્નાનને કહ્યું, “ના પૂરી કિંમતે હું તે ખરીદીશ. યહોવાને અર્પણ કરવા માટે તારું જે છે તે હું મફત લઇ શકું નહિ. જેની કિંમત મેં ચૂકવી નથી તેનું અર્પણ હું તેમને નહિ ચઢાવું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.21.25" />પછી દાઉદે ઓર્નાનને એ જમીનના માટે 15 પૌન્ડ સોનું આપ્યું.
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<v id="26" bcv="1CH.21.26" />અને ત્યાં યહોવાને માટે તેણે વેદી બાંધી અને તેના પર તેણે દહનાર્પણ કર્યુ. તેણે તેની પર શાઁત્યર્પણ કર્યુ અને યહોવાનું આવાહન કર્યું. વેદી પર અગ્નિ ઉતારીને યહોવાએ તેને જવાબ આપ્યો.
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<v id="27" bcv="1CH.21.27" />યહોવાએ દૂતને તરવાર મ્યાન કરવા કહ્યું અને દૂતે તે પ્રમાણે કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.21.28" />જ્યારે દાઉદે જોયું કે ઓર્નાનના ખળીમાં યહોવાએ તેની પ્રાર્થનાનો જવાબ આપ્યો છે, ત્યારે તેણે ત્યાં યજ્ઞ અર્પ્યા.
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<v id="29" bcv="1CH.21.29" />એ વખતે મૂસાએ વગડામાં બનાવેલો યહોવાનો પવિત્ર મંડપ અને દહનાર્પણની વેદી હજી ગિબયોનના ઉચ્ચસ્થાન પર હતા.
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<v id="30" bcv="1CH.21.30" />પરંતુ યહોવાના દૂતની તરવારનો દાઉદને એટલો બધો ડર લાગતો હતો કે યહોવાને દર્શને પણ જઇ શકતો નહોતો.
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<c id="22" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.22.1" />પછી દાઉદે કહ્યું, “આ યહોવાનું મંદિર છે અને આ ઇસ્રાએલ માટેની દહાનાર્પણની વેદી છે.”
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<s style="s">મંદિરના બાંધકામની તૈયારી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1CH.22.2" />દાઉદે ઇસ્રાએલ રહેતા બધા વિદેશીઓને ભેગા કરવાનો હુકમ આપ્યો. અને તેમને દેવનું મંદિર બાંધવા માટે પથ્થરો ઘડવા સલાટ તરીકે કામે લગાડી દીધા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CH.22.3" />તેણે બારણાં માટે ખીલા અને મિજાગરા બનાવવા પુષ્કળ લોઢું ભેગું કર્યુ અને જોખ્યું જોખાય નહિ એટલું કાંસુ,
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<v id="4" bcv="1CH.22.4" />અને પાર વગરનું દેવદારનું લાકડું પણ ભેગું કર્યું. સિદોન અને તૂરના લોકો દાઉદ માટે પુષ્કળ દેવદારનુ લાકડું લઇ આવ્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.22.5" />દાઉદે જણાવ્યું, “મારો પુત્ર સુલેમાન યુવાન અને બિનઅનુભવી છે. યહોવા માટે જે મંદિર બાંધવાનું છે તે ખૂબ ભવ્ય અને દેશવિદેશમાં વિખ્યાત થવું જોઇએ. એટલે તેના માટે બધો જ સામાન મારે જ ભેગો કરવો જોઇએ.” આથી તેણે પોતાના મૃત્યુ પહેલા બાંધકામની સર્વ સામગ્રી એકઠી કરી તૈયાર કરી નાખી.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.22.6" />પછી તેણે પોતાના પુત્ર સુલેમાનને બોલાવી, ઇસ્રાયેલના દેવ યહોવા માટે એક મંદિર બાંધવાની આજ્ઞા કરી.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CH.22.7" />તેણે કહ્યું, “પુત્ર મેં યહોવા દેવને માટે મંદિર બાંધવાનો નિશ્ચય કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CH.22.8" />પણ યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, ‘તે મારા દેખતાં પુષ્કળ ખૂનરેજી કરી છે અને મોટાં યુદ્ધો કર્યા છે, એટલે તારે મારા માટે મંદિર બાંધવાનું નથી;
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<v id="9" bcv="1CH.22.9" />પણ તને એક પુત્ર થશે; તે શાંતિપૂર્વક રાજ્ય કરશે, કારણકે આસપાસના શત્રુ દેશો તરફથી હું તેને સુરક્ષિત બનાવીશ. તેને સુલેમાન નામ અપાશે અને તેના રાજ્યકાળ દરમ્યાન ઇસ્રાએલ શાંતિ અનુભવશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CH.22.10" />તે મારે માટે મંદિર બાંધશે. તે મારો પુત્ર થશે અને હું તેનો પિતા થઇશ, અને હું ઇસ્રાએલમાં તેનું શાસન કાયમ કરીશ.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.22.11" />“હવે, પુત્ર સુલેમાન, ભલે તમારા દેવ યહોવા તને સહાય કરે અને તેણે કહ્યા પ્રમાણે એમનું મંદિર બાંધવામા તને સફળતા મળે તે માટે આશીર્વાદ આપે.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CH.22.12" />તારા દેવ યહોવા તને શાણપણ અને વિવેકબુદ્ધિ આપે જેથી તે તને ઇસ્રાયેલમાં રાજ્યસત્તા આપે ત્યારે તું એના નિયમ મુજબ રાજ્ય ચલાવે.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CH.22.13" />યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાયેલને માટે મૂસાને જે નિયમો અને કાનૂનો જણાવેલાં છે તેનું તું કાળજીપૂર્વક પાલન કરશે તો જ તું સફળ થશે. બળવાન થજે, મક્કમ રહેજે. હિંમત હારીશ નહિ કે ગભરાઇશ નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.22.14" />“મેં પુષ્કળ મહેનત કરીને યહોવાના મંદિર માટે 3,750 ટન સોનું, 37,500 ટન ચાંદી, અને જોખ્યું જોખાય નહિ તેટલું કાંસુ અને લોઢું એકઠાં કર્યા છે. લાકડાં અને પથ્થર પણ મેં ભેગા કર્યા છે, પણ તારે થોડા વધારે એકઠાં કરવા પડશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CH.22.15" />તારી પાસે પુષ્કળ કારીગરો છે, સલાટો, કડીયાઓ, સુથારો
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<v id="16" bcv="1CH.22.16" />અને સોનાચાંદીના અને કાંસાના તથા લોઢાના બધી જાતના કામમાં અસંખ્ય કારીગરો પણ છે. માટે હવે કામ શરૂ કરી દે અને યહોવા તને સહાય કરો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.22.17" />પછી દાઉદે ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ આગેવાનોને આજ્ઞા કરી કે તેઓ તેના પુત્રને આ કાર્યમાં મદદ કરે.
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<v id="18" bcv="1CH.22.18" />વળી તેણે કહ્યું, “યહોવા તમારા દેવ તમારી સાથે છે. આસપાસની પ્રજાઓ સાથે તેમણે તમને શાંતિ આપી છે, કારણકે યહોવાના નામમાં અને તેમના લોકોને માટે મેં તેઓ પર જીત મેળવી છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CH.22.19" />આથી હવે પૂરા હૃદયથી યહોવા, તમારા દેવના હૂકમોને પાળો. ઊભા થાવ અને યહોવા આપણા દેવ માટે પવિત્રસ્થાન બનાવો. ટૂંક સમયમાં તમે યહોવાના કરારકોશને અને દેવના પવિત્ર વાસણોને મંદિરમાં લાવશો જે યહોવાને નામે સમપિર્ત કરવામાં આવશે.”
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</p>

<c id="23" />
<s style="s">લેવીઓની ફરજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.23.1" />હવે દાઉદ ઘણો વૃદ્ધ થયો હતો તેથી તેણે તેના પુત્ર સુલેમાન પાસે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા તરીકે રાજ્ય કરવાનું શરૂ કરાવ્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.23.2" />દાઉદે ઇસ્રાએલના બધા આગેવાનોને, યાજકોને અને લેવીઓને બોલાવ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CH.23.3" />ત્રીસ વર્ષના અને તેની ઉપરના લેવીઓની ગણતરી કરવામાં આવી તો પુરુષોની સંખ્યા 38,000 થઇ.
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<v id="4" bcv="1CH.23.4" />“એમાંના 24,000 ને યહોવાના મંદિરની સેવા સોંપવામાં આવી. 6,000 ને અમલદારો અને ન્યાયાધીશો નીમવામાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CH.23.5" />ચાર હજારને દ્વારપાળો તરીકે નીમવામાં આવ્યા અને 4,000ને દાઉદે બનાવેલા વાજિંત્રો સાથે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ ગાવા માટે નિયુકત કરવામાં આવ્યા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.23.6" />પછી દાઉદે તેમને ગેશોર્ન, કહાથ અને મરારી કુલસમૂહની વંશાવળી પ્રમાણે તેઓને ત્રણ જૂથમાં વહેંચી દીધા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ગેશોર્નનું કુલસમૂહ
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.23.7" />ગેશોર્નના પુત્રો હતા: લાઅદાન અને શિમઇ.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CH.23.8" />લાઅદાનના પુત્રો: પહેલો યહીયેલ પછી ઝેથામ અને યોએલ, એમ કુલ ત્રણ.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CH.23.9" />એ લોકો લાઅદાનના વંશજોનાં કુટુંબોના વડા હતા. શિમઇને ત્રણ પુત્રો હતા: શલોમોથ, હઝીએલ, અને હારાન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.23.10" />શલોમોથને ચાર પુત્રો હતા: યાહાથ, ઝીઝાહ, યેઉશ, અને બરીઆહ.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CH.23.11" />યાહાથ જ્યેષ્ઠ હતો અને ઝીઝાહ બીજો હતો; યાહાથ અને બરીઆહને ઘણા પુત્રો ન હતા તેથી તેઓ એક જ કુટુંબ તરીકે ગણાયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">કોહાથનું કુલસમૂહ
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.23.12" />કેહાથના ચાર પુત્રો: આમ્રામ, યિસ્હાર, હેબ્રોન અને ઉઝઝીએલ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CH.23.13" />આમ્રામનાપુત્રો: હારુન અને મૂસા. હારુનને અને તેના વંશજોને કાયમને માટે જુદા પાડવામાં આવ્યા હતા. તેમણે ઉપાસનાની સાધનસામગ્રી સંભાળવાની હતી, યહોવા આગળ ધૂપ કરવાનો હતો, તેની યાજક તરીકે સેવા કરવાની હતી, અને તેને નામે આશીર્વાદ આપવાના હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.23.14" />દેવના સેવક મૂસાના વંશજોને લેવીઓમાં ગણવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CH.23.15" />મૂસાને બે પુત્રો હતા: ગેશોર્મ અને એલીએઝેર,
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<v id="16" bcv="1CH.23.16" />ગેશોર્મનો સૌથી મોટો પુત્ર હતો; શબુએલ,
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<v id="17" bcv="1CH.23.17" />એલીએઝરનો સૌથી મોટો પુત્ર રહાબ્યા; એલીએઝેરને બીજા પુત્રો ન હતા, પણ રહાબ્યાને ઘણા હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.23.18" />યિસ્હારનો સૌથી મોટો પુત્ર શલોમીથ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.23.19" />હેબ્રોનના પુત્રો: સૌથી મોટો યરિયા, બીજો અમાર્યા, ત્રીજો યાહઝીએલ અને ચોથો યકામઆમ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.23.20" />ઉઝઝીએલના પુત્રો: સૌથી મોટો મીખાહ અને બીજો યિશ્શિયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">મરારીનું કુલસમૂહ
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="1CH.23.21" />મરારીના પુત્રો: માહલી અને મૂશી. માહલીના પુત્રો: એલઆઝાર અને કીશ.
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<v id="22" bcv="1CH.23.22" />એલઆઝાર મરી ગયો ત્યારે તેને કોઇ પુત્ર નહોતો. બધી પુત્રીઓ જ હતી. તેના ભાઇ કીશના પુત્રો તેમને પરણ્યા.
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<v id="23" bcv="1CH.23.23" />મૂશીને ત્રણ પુત્રો હતા; માહલી, એદેર અને યરેમોથ.
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</p>
<s style="s">લેવીના કામ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.23.24" />લેવીના વંશજોના વીસ વર્ષ અને તેથી વધારે ઉંમરના પુરુષોની ગણતરી કરીને પર પ્રમાણે વિભાગો અને પેટાવિભાગોમાં તેઓનું વગીર્કરણ કરવામાં આવ્યું. યહોવાના મંદિરમાં જુદી જુદી સેવાઓ માટે તેઓને નિયુકત કરવામાં આવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.23.25" />દાઉદે કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવે આપણને શાંતિ બક્ષી છે. યહોવા હંમેશા યરૂશાલેમમાં નિવાસ કરશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="1CH.23.26" />હવે લેવીઓને પવિત્ર મંડપ અને તેની સામગ્રીને લઇને એક સ્થળેથી બીજે સ્થળે લઇ જવાની જરૂર પડશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1CH.23.27" />મૃત્યુ પહેલા દાઉદે જે છેલ્લું કામ કર્યુ તે જે વીસ વરસ કે તેથી વધારે ઉમર વાળા હતા. લેવીના કુલસમૂહના વંશજોની ગણતરી કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.23.28" />લેવીઓને સોંપાયેલા કામ; યાજકોને એટલે હારુનના વંશજોને મંદિરમાં બલિદાનની વિધિમાં મદદ કરવી. આંગણાઓની તેમજ ઓરડાઓની જવાબદારી યહોવાના પવિત્ર મંદિરમાંની પવિત્ર વસ્તુઓના શુદ્ધિકરણમાં મદદ કરવી.
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<v id="29" bcv="1CH.23.29" />દેવને ધરાવેલી રોટલી માટે, ખાદ્યાર્પણ માટેના લોટ માટે, ખમીર વગરની રોટલી માટે, શેકેલા ખાદ્યાર્પણ માટે તેલથી મોયેલા લોટ માટે તેમજ મંદિરમાં ધરાવેલી વસ્તુઓના વજન અને માપ માટે તેઓ જ જવાબદાર હતા.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="1CH.23.30" />વળી, તેમણે જ દરરોજ સવારે અને સાંજે યહોવાના ભજન-કીર્તન કરવાનાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="1CH.23.31" />વિશ્રામવાર, ચંદ્ર દર્શન અને અન્ય તેહવારોને દિવસે યહોવાને દહનાર્પણો ચઢાવતી વખતે તેમણે ઠરાવેલી સંખ્યામાં સતત યહોવાની સેવામાં મદદમાં રહેવાનું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="1CH.23.32" />લેવીઓએ મુલાકાત મંડપની અને પવિત્રસ્થાનની સંભાળ રાખવાની હતી. તેઓ તેમના હારુનવંશી સંબંધીઓને યહોવાનાં મંદિરની સંભાળ રાખવામાં મદદ કરવાની હતી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">યાજકોની ફરજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.24.1" />હારુનનાં વંશજોને પણ જૂથોમાં વહેંચી નાખવામાં આવ્યા હતા. હારુનને પુત્રો હતા: નાદાબ, અબીહૂ, એલઆઝાર અને ઇથામાર.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1CH.24.2" />નાદાબ અને અબીહૂ તેમના પિતા જીવતા હતા એ દરમ્યાન જ નિ:સંતાન મરી ગયા હતા. આથી એલઆઝાર અને ઇથામાર યાજકપદે આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1CH.24.3" />દાઉદે એલઆઝારના વંશજ સાદોક અને ઇથામારના વંશજ અહીમેલેખેની મદદથી હારુનના કુલસમૂહોને તેમની ફરજ પ્રમાણે જૂથોમાં વહેંચી નાખ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1CH.24.4" />એલઆઝાર વંશજો ઇથામારના વંશજો કરતાં સંખ્યામાં વધારે હતા, આથી એલઆઝારના વંશજોનાં જુદાં-જુદાં કુટુંબના સોળ જૂથ પાડવામાં આવ્યા અને ઇથામારના વંશજોનાં કુટુંબોના આઠ જૂથ પાડવામાં આવ્યાં. અને એ દરેક જૂથનો આગેવાન તે પોતાના કુટુંબનો વડો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1CH.24.5" />બન્ને, એલઆઝારના વંશજો અને ઈથામારના વંશજોમાં પ્રખ્યાત માણસો મંદિરના અધિકારીઓ હતા. તેથી ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખીને જુદા જુદા જૂથોને તેમની ફરજો સોંપવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.24.6" />નથાનએલનો પુત્ર, લેવી કુલસમૂહનો શમાયા, નોંધણીકાર હતો. આ બધું કામ તે રાજા તથા સાદોક યાજક, અબ્યાથારના પુત્ર અહીમેલેખ તથા યાજકો અને લેવીઓના મુખ્ય આગેવાનોની હાજરીમાં તે કરતો હતો. એલઆઝારના કુંળકુટુંબોએ અને ઇથામારના કુલ કુટુંબોએ ફરજોને વહેંચી લીધી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.24.7" />પહેલું સમૂહ યહોયારીબનું હતું;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બીજુ સમૂહ યદાયાનું હતું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.24.8" />ત્રીજું સમૂહ હારીમનું હતું;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ચોથું સમૂહ સેઓરીમનું હતું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.24.9" />પાંચમું સમૂહ માલ્કિયાનું હતું;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">છઠ્ઠું સમૂહ મીયામીનનું હતું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.24.10" />સાતમું સમૂહ હાક્કોસનું હતું;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આઠમું સમૂહ અબિયાનું સમૂહ અલિયાનું હતું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.24.11" />નવમું સમૂહ યેશૂઆનું હતું;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">દસમું સમૂહ શખાન્યાનું હતું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.24.12" />અગિયારમું સમૂહ એલ્યાશીબનું હતું;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બારમું સમૂહ યાકીમનું હતું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.24.13" />તેરમું સમૂહ હુપ્પાહનું હતું;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ચૌદમું સમૂહ યેશેબઆબનું હતું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.24.14" />પંદરમું સમૂહ બિલ્ગાહનું હતું,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સોળમું સમૂહ ઇમ્મેરનું હતું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="1CH.24.15" />સત્તરમું સમૂહ હેઝીરનું હતું;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અઢારમું સમૂહ હાપ્પિસ્સેસનું હતું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.24.16" />ઓગણીસમું સમૂહ પથાહ્યાનું હતું;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">વીસમું સમૂહ યહેઝકેલનું હતું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.24.17" />એકવીસમું સમૂહ યાખીનનું હતું;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બાવીસમુઁ સમૂહ ગામૂલનું હતું;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.24.18" />ત્રેવીસમું સમૂહ દલાયાનું હતું;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ચોવીસમું સમૂહ માઆઝયાનીનું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.24.19" />આ બધાં માણસોને યહોવાના મંદિરમાં જવા માટે અને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાએ જણાવ્યા મૂજબ આ માણસોના વડવા હારુને નક્કી કરેલી ફરજો બજાવવા માટે નીમવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">બાકીના લેવીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.24.20" />લેવી કુટુંબના બાકીના વંશજો નીચે મુજબ છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">આમ્રામનો વંશજ શુબાએલ
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને શુબાએલનો વંશજ યહદયા;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="1CH.24.21" />રહાબ્યાનો વંશજ યિશ્શિયા જે આગેવાન હતો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="1CH.24.22" />યિસ્હારના વંશજ શલોમોથનો વંશજ યાહાથ;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.24.23" />હેબ્રોનના પુત્રો: સૌથી મોટો યરિયા,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બીજો અમાર્યા,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ત્રીજો યાહઝીએલ અને
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ચોથો યકામઆમ;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.24.24" />ઉઝઝીયેલના વંશજ
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મીખાહનો પુત્ર શામીર;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.24.25" />મીખાહનો ભાઇ યિશ્શિયા,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યિશ્શિયાનો પુત્ર ઝખાર્યા;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="1CH.24.26" />મરારીના વંશજો; માહલી, મૂશી અને તેનો પુત્ર યાઅઝીયાહ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="1CH.24.27" />મરારીના વંશજો વચ્ચે એના પુત્ર યાઅઝીયાના મારફતે: શોહામ, ઝાક્કૂર અને ઇબ્રી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.24.28" />માહલીના પુત્રો: એલઆઝાર અને કીશ. એલઆઝારને પુત્ર નહોતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.24.29" />કીશનો યરાહમએલ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="1CH.24.30" />મૂશીના પુત્રો: માહલી, એદેર અને યરીમોથ.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">આ બધા તેમના પૂર્વજોની વંશાવળી પ્રમાણે નોંધેલા લેવીઓના વંશજો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="1CH.24.31" />બરાબર તેમના કુટુંબી હારુનના વંશજોની માફક આ કુટુંબોમાં પણ મોટા અને નાના કુટુંબનો ભેદ રાખ્યા વિના ચિઠ્ઠીઓ ફેંકીને તેમની ફરજો નક્કી કરવામાં આવી હતી. આ બંધુ રાજા દાઉદ, સાદોક, અહીમેલેખ અને યાજકોના આગેવાનોની અને લેવીઓનાં કુટુંબને સાક્ષી રાખીને કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="25" />
<s style="s">મંદિરના સંગીતકારોની ફરજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.25.1" />દાઉદે અને તેના મુખ્ય અમલદારોએ આસાફના, હેમાનના અને યદૂથૂનના કુટુંબને સેવા માટે નિમ્યા. તેમને સિતાર વીણા અને ઝાંઝ વગાડતાં વગાડતાં ભવિષ્યવાણી કરવાની હતી. તેમના નામો તથા એમની સેવાના પ્રકાર નીચે પ્રમાણે છે;
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="2" bcv="1CH.25.2" />આસાફના પુત્રો હતા; ઝાક્કૂર, યૂસફ, નથાન્યા અને અશ્શારએલાહ. આ બધા આસાફના પુત્રો હતા અને તે તેઓનો આગેવાન હતો. તે રાજાની સૂચના મુજબ દેવની ભવિષ્યવાણી કરતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="1CH.25.3" />યદૂથૂનના છ પુત્રો હતા: ગદાલ્યા, સરી, યશાયા, શિમી, હશાબ્યા અને માત્તિથ્યા. એ છ પોતાના પિતા યદૂથૂનની આગેવાની હેઠળ વીણા વગાડતાં અને ભવિષ્યવાણી કરતા, અને તેઓ યહોવાનો આભાર માનતા અને તેની સ્તુતિ કરતાં હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.25.4" />હેમાનના પુત્રો: બુક્કીયા, માત્તાન્યા, ઉઝઝીએલ, શબુએલ, યરીમોથ, હનાન્યા, હનાની, અલીઆથાહ, ગિદાલ્તી, રોમામ્તી-એઝેર, યેશ્બકાશાહ, માલ્લોથી, હોથીર અને માહઝીઓથ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1CH.25.5" />દેવે પોતે વચન આપ્યા મુજબ રાજાના ષ્ટા હેમાનને તેનું ગૌરવ વધારવા ચૌદ પુત્રો અને ત્રણ પુત્રી આપ્યાં હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.25.6" />એ બધા પોતપોતાના પિતાની આગેવાની હેઠળ, યહોવાના મંદિરમાં સારંગી, વીણા અને ઝાંઝની સંગાથે ગાતા અને રાજાએ સોંપેલા કામ મુજબ દેવના મંદિરમાં સેવા બજાવતા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1CH.25.7" />યહોવાના કીર્તન ગાવાની તાલીમ પામેલા તેમના કુટુંબીઓ બીજા લેવીઓ સાથે ગણાતાં કુશળ સંગીતકારોની કુલ સંખ્યા 288 ની હતી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1CH.25.8" />કામની વહેંચણી માટે જુવાન ઘરડા, ઉસ્તાદ અને શાગીર્દ સૌએ ચિઠ્ઠી નાખી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.25.9" />પ્રથમ ચિઠ્ઠી આસાફના સમૂહની નીકળી: એમાં કુલ બાર માણસો હતા જેમાં યૂસફ, તેના ભાઇઓ અને પુત્રોનો સમાવેશ થતો હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બીજી ચિઠ્ઠી ગદાલ્યાની: તેના ભાઇઓની અને પુત્રોની નીકળી; તેઓ કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.25.10" />ત્રીજી ચિઠ્ઠી ઝાક્કૂરની: તેના પુત્રોની અને તેના ભાઇઓની નીકળી. તેઓ કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.25.11" />ચોથી ચિઠ્ઠી મિસ્રીની: તેના પુત્રોની અને તેના ભાઇઓની નીકળી. જે બધાં કુલ મળીને બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.25.12" />પાંચમી ચિઠ્ઠી નથાન્યાની: તેના ભાઇઓ અને પુત્રો મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.25.13" />છઠ્ઠી બુક્કીયાની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.25.14" />સાતમી યશારએલાહની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="1CH.25.15" />આઠમી યશાયાની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.25.16" />નવમી મત્તાન્યાની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.25.17" />દશમી શિમઇ: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.25.18" />અગિયારમી અઝારએલ: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.25.19" />બારમી હશાબ્યાની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.25.20" />તેરમી શુબાએલની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="1CH.25.21" />ચૌદમી માત્તિથ્યાની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="1CH.25.22" />પંદરમી યરેમોથની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.25.23" />સોળમી હનાન્યાની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.25.24" />સત્તરમી યોશ્બકાશાહની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.25.25" />અઢારમી હનાનની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="1CH.25.26" />ઓગણીશમી માલ્લોથીની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="1CH.25.27" />વીસમી અલીયાથાહની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.25.28" />એકવીસમી હોથીરની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.25.29" />બાવીસમી ગિદ્દાલ્તીની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="1CH.25.30" />ત્રેવીસમી માહઝીઓથની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="1CH.25.31" />ચોવીસમી રોમામ્તી-એઝેરની: તેના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ બાર હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">મંદિરના દ્વારપાળો-રક્ષકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.26.1" />કોરાહ કુટુંબમાંથી દ્વારપાળોના સમૂહ નીચે પ્રમાણે હતા:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">આસાફના વંશજોના કોરાહનો પુત્ર મશેલેમ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1CH.26.2" />મશેલેમ્યાના પુત્રો હતા; ઝર્ખાયા જ્યેષ્ઠ પુત્ર હતો, બીજો યદીઅએલ હતો, ત્રીજો ઝબાધા, ચોથો યાથ્નીએલ,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1CH.26.3" />પાંચમો એલામ, છઠ્ઠો યહોહાનાન, સાતમો એલ્યહોએનાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.26.4" />આ બધાં ઓબેદ-અદોમના પુત્રો હતા: સૌથી મોટો શમાયા, બીજો યહોઝાબાદ, ત્રીજો પુત્ર યોઆહ, ચોથો પુત્ર શાખાર હતો, નથાનએલ પાંચમો પુત્ર હતો,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1CH.26.5" />છઠ્ઠો આમ્મીએલ, સાતમો યિસ્સાખાર, અને આઠમો પેઉલથ્થાઇ. આ પુત્રો આપીને દેવે તેને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1CH.26.6" />શમાયાના પુત્રો બહુ નામાંકિત હતા અને તેઓના ગોત્રમાં તેઓ ઉચ્ચ અધિકારના સ્થાને હતા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1CH.26.7" />તેઓનાં નામ: ઓથ્ની, રફાએલ, ઓબેદ, અને એલઝાબાદ. તેના ભાઇઓ અલીહૂ અને સમાખ્યા બહાદૂર પુરુષો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1CH.26.8" />આ બધા ઓબેદ-અદોમના વંશજો હતા. તેઓ, એમના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળીને કુલ 62 હતા. અને તે બધા શકિતશાળી પુરુષો હતા. અને મંદિરમાં સેવા કરવાને લાયક હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.26.9" />મશેલેટયાના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ મળી કુલ અઢાર શકિતશાળી બહાદુર માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.26.10" />મરારીની વંશજોના હોસાહએ તેના પુત્રોમાંથી એક શિમ્રીને સમૂહના નેતા તરીકે પસંદ કયો. જો કે તે જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર ન હતો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1CH.26.11" />હિલ્કિયા બીજો હતો, ત્રીજા નંબરે ટબાલ્યા. ચોથા નંબરે ઝખાર્યા હતા, હોસાહના પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓની કુલ સંખ્યા તેર હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.26.12" />આ બધાં દ્વારપાળો તેમના આગેવાનો દ્વારા ક્રમવાર નોંધવામાં આવ્યા હતા. તે પોતાના કુટુંબો પ્રમાણે વારા ફરતી યહોવાના મંદિરમાં સેવા બજાવતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="1CH.26.13" />નાનાંમોટાં બધાં કુટુંબોએ ચિઠ્ઠી નાખી નિર્ણય કર્યો કે દરેક દરવાજા પર કોણ ચોકી કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.26.14" />પૂર્વનો દરવાજો શેલેમ્યાને ભાગે આવ્યો. ત્યારબાદ એના હોશિયાર પુત્ર સલાહકાર ઝખાર્યાને માટે ચિઠ્ઠી ઉપાડવામાં આવી તો તેને ભાગે ઉત્તરનો દરવાજો આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1CH.26.15" />ઓબેદ-અદોમને ભાગે દક્ષિણનો દરવાજો આવ્યો, અને તેના પુત્રોને ભાગે કોઠાર આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="1CH.26.16" />પશ્ચિમ તરફના દરવાજાની અને પર જતા માર્ગ પર આવેલા શાલ્લેખેથ દરવાજાની જવાબદારી શુપ્પીમ અને હોસાહને સોંપવામાં આવી.
</p>
<p style="p">પહેરા વારાફરતી બદલતા રહેતા હતા;
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="1CH.26.17" />પૂર્વને દરવાજે દરરોજ છ લેવી રહેતા તથા ઉત્તરને દરવાજે ચાર, દક્ષિણને દરવાજે ચાર, અને દરેક કોઠાર પર બબ્બે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="1CH.26.18" />પશ્ચિમના દરવાજાની ઓશરી તરફના રસ્તાનું રક્ષણ કરવા ચાર રક્ષકો અને ખુદ ઓશરીનું રક્ષણ કરવા બે રક્ષકો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.26.19" />એમ કોરાહના અને મરારીના વંશજોને દ્વારપાળોનું કામ વહેંચી આપવામાં આવ્યું હતુ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તિજોરીના તથા અન્ય અધિકારીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.26.20" />અહિયાની આગેવાની નીચે બીજા લેવીઓને દેવનાં મંદિરના ખજાનાની અને પવિત્રસ્થાનની રખેવાળી કરવાની જવાબદારી સોંપાઇ હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1CH.26.21" />આ માણસો ગેશોર્નના કુલસમૂહના લાઅદાનના વંશજો હતા. યહીએલી તેઓનો આગેવાન હતો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="1CH.26.22" />યહીએલનો પુત્રો ઝેથામ અને તેનો ભાઈ યોએલ પણ તે બધામાં હતા. તેઓ યહોવાના મંદિરના કોઠારની સંભાળ રાખતાં હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.26.23" />તેમાંથી કેટલાક આમ્રામનાં યિસ્હારના, હેબ્રોનના અને ઉઝઝીએલના વંશજો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="1CH.26.24" />શબુએલ ભંડારનો મુખ્ય અધિકારી હતો. શબુએલ ગેશોર્મનો પુત્ર હતો અને ગેશોર્મ મૂસાનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="1CH.26.25" />અલીએઝરના વંશજો શબુએલનાં સગા થતા હતા; અલીએઝરનો પુત્ર રહાબ્યા હતો, રહાબ્યાનો પુત્ર યશાયા હતો, યોરામ યશાયાનો પુત્ર હતો, યોરામનો પુત્ર ઝિખ્રી હતો અને ઝિબ્રીનો પુત્ર શલોમોથ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="1CH.26.26" />એ શલોમોથ અને તેના કુટુંબીઓ રાજા દાઉદે, કુટુંબોના વડાઓએ, હજાર સૈનિકોના અને સો સૈનિકોના નાયકોએ તથા બીજા ઉચ્ચ અમલદારો દ્વારા અર્પણ કરાયેલી ભેટોના ભંડારની સંભાળ રાખતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="1CH.26.27" />એ લોકોએ યુદ્ધો દરમ્યાન મળેલી લૂંટમાંનો કેટલોક ભાગ યહોવાના મંદિરને ભેટ તરીકે આપ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="1CH.26.28" />ષ્ટા શમુએલ, કીશનો પુત્ર શાઉલ, નેરનો પુત્ર આબ્નેર, સરૂયાનો પુત્ર યોઆબે અથવા બીજું કોઇ પણ વ્યકિત ભેટ લાવે તે બધાની કાળજી રાખવાની જવાબદારી શલોમોથ અને તેના ભાઇઓને સોંપવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.26.29" />યિસ્હારના વંશજોમાંથી કનાન્યા અને તેના પુત્રોને ઇસ્રાએલના વહીવટી અધિકારીઓનું અને ન્યાયાધીશોનું કામ સોંપવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="1CH.26.30" />યર્દન નદીની પશ્ચિમે આવેલા ઇસ્રાએલ દેશના વિસ્તારની જવાબદારી હેબ્રોન વંશજોમાંથી હસાબ્યા અને તેના 1,700 કુટુંબીજનોને સોંપવામાં આવી. તેઓ સર્વ નામાંકિત હતા અને તે વિસ્તારમાં જાહેર વહીવટ અને યહોવાની સેવા માટેના જવાબદાર અધિકારીઓ હતા.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="1CH.26.31" />દાઉદના રાજ્યના ચાળીસમા વષેર્ હેબ્રોનના કુટુંબની વંશાવળી તપાસતા એના કાબેલ માણસો ગિલયાદમાં આવેલા યઝેરમાં વસતા માલૂમ પડ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="1CH.26.32" />રાજા દાઉદે 2,700 આવા કાબેલ માણસોને- કુટુંબવાળાઓને રૂબેન, ગાદ અને મનાશ્શાના અર્ધા કુલસમૂહના પ્રદેશનો ધામિર્ક અને રાજકીય વહીવટ સંભાળવાનું કામ સોંપ્યું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="27" />
<s style="s">મંદિરના રક્ષકોની ફરજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.27.1" />રાજ્યની સેવામાં રોકાયેલા સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ એટલે કે કુટુંબના વડાઓ, હજાર સૈનિકોના અને સો સૈનિકોના નાયકો અને અધિકારીઓની સંખ્યા દરેક જૂથમાં 24,000ની હતી. વરસ દરમ્યાન દર મહિને જુદા જુદા જૂથો ફરજ બજાવતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="2" bcv="1CH.27.2" />પહેલા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો 24,000 માણસોના જૂથનો નાયક, ઝાબ્દીએલનો પુત્ર યાશોબઆમ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1CH.27.3" />તે પેરેસનો વંશજ હતો. દર વષેર્ પ્રથમ માસની જવાબદારી તેની હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.27.4" />બીજા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો નાયક અહોહીના વંશનો દોદાય હતો. તેના હાથ નીચે 24,000 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="1CH.27.5" />ત્રીજા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો નાયક યાજક યહોદાયાનો પુત્ર બનાયા હતો.તેના હાથ નીચે 24,000 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1CH.27.6" />આ બનાયા 30 શૂરવીરોમાં મુખ્ય હતો. એનો પુત્ર અમીજાબાદ એની ટોળીનો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="1CH.27.7" />ચોથા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો નાયક યોઆબનો ભાઇ અસાહેલ હતો. એના પછી એનો પુત્ર ઝબાદ્યા એની જગ્યાએ આવ્યો હતો. તેના હાથ નીચે 24,000 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.27.8" />પાંચમા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો નાયક યિઝાહીનો વંશજ શામ્હૂથ હતો. તેના હાથ નીચે 24,000 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.27.9" />છઠ્ઠા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો નાયક તકાંઓનો ઇક્કેશનો પુત્ર ઇરા તેના હાથ નીચે 24,000 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.27.10" />સાતમા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો નાયક એફ્રાઇમના વંશજ પલોનનો હેલેસ હતો જેના હાથ નીચે 24,000 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.27.11" />આઠમા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો નાયક ઝેરાહ સમૂહનો હુશાનો સિબ્બખાય હતો. તેના હાથ નીચે 24,000 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.27.12" />નવમા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો નાયક બિન્યામીનનો વંશજ અનાથોથનો અબીએઝેર હતો. તેના હાથ નીચે 24,000 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.27.13" />દશમા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો નાયક ઝેરાહના વંશજ નટોફાનો માહરાય હતો.તેના હાથ નીચે 24,000 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.27.14" />અગિયારમા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો નાયક એફ્રાઇમ કુલસમૂહનો પિરઆથોનનો બનાયા હતો. તેના હાથ નીચે 24,000 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="1CH.27.15" />બારમા મહિનાની ટૂકડીનો નાયક ઓથ્નીએલનો વંશજ નટોફાનો હેલેદ હતો. તેના હાથ નીચે 24,000 માણસો હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કુલસમૂહોના આગેવાનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.27.16" />ઇસ્રાએલના કુલસમૂહો પર નિયુકત થયેલા ઉચ્ચ અધિકારીઓની યાદી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">રૂબેનના કુલસમૂહ પર ઝિખ્રીનો પુત્ર અલીએઝેર;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શિમોનના કુલ પર માઅખાહનો પુત્ર શફાટયા;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.27.17" />લેવીના કુલ પર કમુએલનો પુત્ર હશાબ્યા;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હારુનના વંશજો પર સાદોક;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.27.18" />યહૂદિયાના કુલ સમૂહ પર દાઉદ રાજાનો ભાઇ અર્લાહૂ;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઇસ્સાખારના કુલ સમૂહ પર મિખાયેલનો પુત્ર ઓમ્રી;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.27.19" />ઝબુલોનના કુલ પર ઓબાદ્યાનો પુત્ર યિશ્માયા;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નફતાલીના કુલ પર આઝીએલનો પુત્ર યરેમોથ;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.27.20" />એફ્રાઇમના કુલ પર અઝાઝયાનો પુત્ર હોશિયા;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મનાશ્શાના અર્ધકુલ પર પદાયાનો પુત્ર યોએલ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="1CH.27.21" />ગિલયાદમાં વસતાં મનાશ્શાના અર્ધકુલ પર ઝખાર્યાનો પુત્ર યિદ્દો;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બિન્યામીનના કુલ પર આબ્નેરનો પુત્ર યાઅસીએલ;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="1CH.27.22" />દાનના કુલસમૂહ પર યરોહામનો પુત્ર અઝારએલ.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલનાં કુલોના અધિકારીઓ હતા
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">વસ્તી ગણતરી કરતો દાઉદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.27.23" />દાઉદે તેની પ્રજામાંથી 20 વર્ષથી નીચેનાની વસ્તી ગણતરી કરાવી નહોતી, કારણકે યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓની સંખ્યા આકાશના તારા જેટલા અગણિત બનાવવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="1CH.27.24" />સરૂયાના પુત્ર યોઆબે વસ્તી ગણતરી શરુ કરી પણ તેણે પૂરી કરી નહોતી. કારણકે ઇસ્રાએલ પર દેવનો રોષ ઊતર્યો હતો. અને એટલે તે વસ્તી ગણતરીના આંકડા
<bk>રાજા દાઉદના રાજ્યના ઇતિહાસમાં</bk> નોંધાયા નહોતા
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">રાજાના અમલદારો
</s>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.27.25" />અદીયેલનો પુત્ર અઝમાવેથ રાજાનો કોઠાર સંભાળતો હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઉઝિઝયાનો પુત્ર યોનાથાન જિલ્લાનાં નગરોના, ગામડાંના અને કિલ્લાઓના ભંડાર સંભાળતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="1CH.27.26" />કલૂબનો પુત્ર એઝીર્, જેઓ ખેતરમાં કામ કરતાં હતા તેની પર દેખરેખ રાખતો હતો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="1CH.27.27" />રામાથી શિમઇ દ્રાક્ષારસની વાડીઓ પર દેખરેખ રાખતો હતો;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શેફમનો ઝબ્દી દ્રાક્ષારસના ભંડાર પર દેખરેખ રાખતો હતો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="1CH.27.28" />ગદેરનો બઆલ-હાનાન જેતૂનનાં વૃક્ષ અને નીચાણના પ્રદેશમાં થતાં અંજીર પર દેખરેખ રાખતો હતો;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોઆશ તેલના ભંડાર પર દેખરેખ રાખતો હતો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.27.29" />શારોનનો શિટાય શારોનના મેદાનમાં ચરતાં ઢોરો પર દેખરેખ રાખતો હતો;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શાફાટ તે અદલાયનો પુત્ર હતો, ને ખીણોમાં ચરતાં ઢોરો પર દેખરેખ રાખતો હતો,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="1CH.27.30" />ઇશ્માએલી ઓબીલ ઊંટોની સંભાળ રાખતો હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મેરોનોથી યેહદયા ગધેડાંની સંભાળ રાખતો હતો;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="1CH.27.31" />હાગ્રી યાઝીઝ ઘેટાંબકરાં સંભાળતો હતો.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">આ બધા માણસો રાજા દાઉદની મિલકત સંભાળનાર અમલદારો હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="1CH.27.32" />દાઉદના કાકા યોનાથાન નિપુણ સલાહકાર અને એક લહિયો હતો. હાખ્મોનીના પુત્ર યહીયેલ રાજાના પુત્રોની સાથે હતો.
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<v id="33" bcv="1CH.27.33" />અહીથોફેલ રાજાનો સલાહકાર હતો; અને હૂશાય આકીર્ રાજાનો મિત્ર હતો.
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<v id="34" bcv="1CH.27.34" />બનાયાનો પુત્ર યહોયાદા અને અબ્યાથાર હતા. અહીથોફેલના મદદનીશ યોઆબ રાજાના સૈન્યનો સેનાધિપતિ હતો
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</p>

<c id="28" />
<s style="s">સુલેમાનને મંદિર માટેનાં સૂચનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.28.1" />દાઉદે ઇસ્રાએલના બધા અધિકારીઓને યરૂશાલેમમાં ભેગા કર્યા. એમાં કુલસમૂહોના આગેવાનો, રાજ્યની સેવામાં રોકાયેલા અમલદારો, હજાર હજારની અને સો સોની ટુકડીઓના નાયકો, રાજાની અને તેના પુત્રોની તમામ મિલકત અને ઢોરને સંભાળનાર વહીવટદારો, તેમજ દરબારીઓ, શૂરવીરો, ટૂંકમાં બધા જ મહત્વના માણસોનો સમાવેશ થતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1CH.28.2" />દાઉદ રાજાએ તેઓ સમક્ષ ઊભા થઇને સંબોધન કરતાં કહ્યું, “મારા ભાઇઓ, અને મારાં પ્રજાજનો, મારી વાત સાંભળો, મારો વિચાર આપણા દેવ યહોવાના કરારકોશ માટે એક વિશ્રાંતિનું મંદિર બાંધવાનો હતો, જે આપણા દેવ માટે પાયાસન જેવું બનશે. અને મેં તેની તૈયારીઓ પણ કરી હતી;
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<v id="3" bcv="1CH.28.3" />પરંતુ, દેવે મને કહ્યું, ‘તારે મારે નામે મંદિર બાંધવાનું નથી, કારણ, તે ઘણાં યુદ્ધો કર્યા છે. અને પુષ્કળ લોહી રેડ્યું છે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1CH.28.4" />“તેમ છતાં ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવે મારા પિતાના કુલસમૂહમાંથી ઇસ્રાએલ પર રાજ્ય કરવા માટે મને સહાય માટે પસંદ કર્યો, કારણ, તેણે રાજકર્તા વંશ તરીકે યહૂદાના કુલસમૂહને પસંદ કર્યો અને તે યહૂદાનાં કુલસમૂહમાંથી મારા પિતાના કુટુંબને પસંદ કર્યુ. અને તેઓ મારા એટલાં બધાં કૃપાળુ હતા કે પિતાના પુત્રોમાંથી તેમણે મને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CH.28.5" />અને મારા બધા પુત્રોમાંથી-કારણ, યહોવાએ મને ઘણા પુત્રો આપ્યા છે- યહોવાના રાજ્ય સમાન ઇસ્રાએલની રાજગાદી પર બેસવા માટે સુલેમાનને પસંદ કર્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CH.28.6" />અને મને જણાવ્યું, ‘તારો પુત્ર સુલેમાન મારે માટે મંદિર બંધાવશે, કારણકે, મેં તેને મારા પુત્ર તરીકે પસંદ કર્યો છે. અને હું તેનો પિતા થઇશ.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CH.28.7" />જો તે મારા આજ્ઞાઓ તથા હુકમો પાલન આજે કરે છે તેમ ઢતાથી કરતો રહેશે તો હું તેની રાજ્યસત્તા કાયમ માટે સ્થાપન કરીશ.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CH.28.8" />ત્યારબાદ દાઉદે સુલેમાન તરફ ફરીને કહ્યું, “આથી હવે આખા ઇસ્રાએલની, એટલે કે યહોવાના સમાજની સમક્ષ અને યહોવાની સમક્ષ હું તમને સૌને તમારા દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાઓનો અભ્યાસ કરવાનું અને અનુસરવાનું જણાવું છું. જેથી તમે આ સમૃદ્ધ ભૂમિના માલિક રહો અને તમારા પછી તમારા વંશજોને એ કાયમ માટે વારસામાં આપી જઇ શકો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1CH.28.9" />“અને મારા પુત્ર સુલેમાન, તું તારા પિતાના દેવનો સ્વીકાર કર અને તેની પૂરા હૃદયપૂર્વક અને રાજીખુશીથી સેવા કર, કારણ, યહોવા અંતર્યામી છે અને તે માણસના બધા વિચારો અને હેતુઓ જાણે છે, જો તું તેની શોધ કરીશ તો તે તારી આગળ પ્રગટ થશે પરંતુ જો તું તેનો ત્યાગ કરીશ તો તે સદા માટે તારો ત્યાગ કરશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CH.28.10" />તું એટલું યાદ રાખજે, જે યહોવાએ તને મંદિર બાંધવા માટે પસંદ કર્યો છે; મન મજબૂત રાખી એ કામ પૂરું કરજે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.28.11" />પછી દાઉદે સુલેમાનને મંદિર, તેનું પ્રાંગણ અને તેની આસપાસના મકાનોનો નકશો આપ્યો. તેણે તેને ભંડારના, માળ ઉપરની ઓરડીઓ, અંદરની ઓરડીઓ અને દયાસન માટે ઓરડીનો નકશો પણ આપ્યો.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CH.28.12" />યહોવાના મંદિરનું પ્રાગણ બહારની ઓરડીઓ, દેવના મંદિરના ભંડારો અને લોકો જે ભેટો અર્પણ કરે તે રાખવાના કોઠારનો નકશો આપ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CH.28.13" />તદુપરાંત યાજકો અને લેવીઓના સમૂહો વિષે, યહોવાના મંદિરની ઉપાસનાને લગતાં સર્વ કાર્યો વિષે તથા એ સેવામાં વપરાતાં વાસણો વિષે પણ તેણે કહ્યું.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CH.28.14" />જુદી જુદી સેવામાં વપરાતા સોનાનાં વાસણો માટે કેટલું સોનું વાપરવું, અને ચાંદીના વાસણો માટે કેટલી ચાંદી વાપરવી,
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<v id="15" bcv="1CH.28.15" />સોના-ચાંદીની દીવીઓ અને તેના કોડિયા માટે કેટલા સોના-ચાંદી વાપરવાં,
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<v id="16" bcv="1CH.28.16" />અપિર્ત રોટલી માટેના બાજેઠોમાંના દરેકમાં કેટલું સોનું વાપરવું, અને ચાંદીના બાજઠો માટે કેટલી ચાંદી વાપરવી,
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<v id="17" bcv="1CH.28.17" />ત્રિશૂળો, થાળીઓ, કટોરા અને રકાબીઓ માટે કેટલું ચોખ્ખુ સોનું વાપરવું, દરેક સોનાની થાળીઓ માટે કેટલું સોનું વાપરવું અને ચાંદીની થાળી માટે કેટલી ચાંદી વાપરવી,
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<v id="18" bcv="1CH.28.18" />ધૂપની વેદી માટે કેટલું ચોખ્ખું સોનું વાપરવું, અને રથ માટે કેટલું ચોખ્ખુ સોનું વાપરવું તથા યહોવાના કરારકોશ પર પાંખ પ્રસારીને ઊભેલા કરૂબ દેવદૂતો માટે કેટલું ચોખ્ખું સોનું વાપરવું તે કહ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.28.19" />અને તેણે કહ્યું, “આ બધી નકશાની વિગતો યહોવાએ મને આપ્યા મુજબ તારા માટે મેં લખી રાખી છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.28.20" />વળી દાઉદે પોતાના પુત્ર સુલોમાનને કહ્યું, “બળવાન અને નિર્ભય બન અને કામ શરૂ કર. આવું જંગી કામ જોઇને ગભરાઇ જતો નહિ. કારણકે જ્યાં સુધી યહોવાના મંદિરનું બાંધકામ તું પૂરું કરે ત્યાં સુધી. યહોવા મારા દેવ તારી સાથે રહેશે, અને તને છોડેશે નહિ અને તારો ત્યાગ નહિ કરે.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CH.28.21" />યાજકોની અને લેવીઓની દેવના મંદિરમાં સેવા કરવા માટેની ટુકડીઓ મેં નક્કી કરી છે. તે બધાં કામોમાં કુશળ કારીગરો તને રાજીખુશીથી મદદ કરશે અને બધા અમલદારો તેમજ લોકો પણ તારી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરવા તત્પર રહેશે.”
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</p>

<c id="29" />
<s style="s">લોકો તરફથી મંદિરના બાંધકામ માટે ભેટ-સોગાદો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CH.29.1" />ત્યારબાદ રાજા દાઉદે સમગ્ર સભાને ઉદૃેશીને કહ્યું, “દેવે મારા પુત્ર સુલેમાનને એકલાને જ પસંદ કર્યો છે, પણ તે હજી નાદાન છોકરો છે અને કામ મોટું છે, કારણકે, આ મંદિર માણસ માટે નથી પણ દેવ યહોવા માટે છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CH.29.2" />મેં મારી તમામ શકિત અનુસાર મારા દેવના મંદિર માટે તૈયારી રાખી છે. સોનાની વસ્તુઓ માટે, સોનું, ચાંદીની વસ્તુઓ માટે ચાંદી, કાંસાની વસ્તુઓ માટે કાંસા, લોખંડની વસ્તુઓ માટે લોખંડ, લાકડાની વસ્તુઓ માટે લાકડું, બેસાડવા માટે ગોમેદ પથ્થરો, જડાવકામ માટે દરેક જાતનાં રત્નો અને પુષ્કળ પ્રમાણમાં આરસપહાણ તૈયાર રાખ્યો છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CH.29.3" />તદુપરાંત, પવિત્રસ્થાનના બાંધકામ માટે મારો ફાળો આપવા ઉપરાંત મારા ભંડારમાં જે કાઇં સોનું અને ચાંદી છે તે બધું હું મારા દેવના મંદિર માટે આપી દઉં છું.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1CH.29.4" />લગભગ એકસો દશ ટન ઊંચી જાતનું સોનું, અને લગભગ 260 ટન ચોખ્ખી ચાંદી મંદિરની ભીંતોને ઢાંકવા;
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1CH.29.5" />અને કારીગરો જે વસ્તુઓ બનાવવાના છે તેને મઢવા આપી દઉં છું. હવે તમારામાંથી કોણ યહોવાને માટે છૂટે હાથે આપવા ઇચ્છે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CH.29.6" />ત્યારે કુટુંબોના વડાઓ, ઇસ્રાએલના કુલસમૂહોના આગેવાનો, હજાર હજારના અને સો સો ના નાયકો,
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1CH.29.7" />અને રાજાની મિલકતના વહીવટદારોએ દેવના મંદિરનાં કાર્ય માટે રાજીખુશીથી 190 ટન સોનું, 5,000 સિક્કા 375 ટનથી વધારે ચાંદી, 675 ટનથી વધારે કાંસા અને આશરે 3,750 ટન લોખંડ આપવાની તૈયારી બતાવી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1CH.29.8" />વળી, જેમની પાસે રત્નો હતા તેમણે રત્નો યહોવાના મંદિરના ભંડારને આપી દીધાં. એનો વહીવટ ગેશોર્નનો વંશજ યહીએલ કરતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1CH.29.9" />આ લોકોએ યહોવાને માટે ઉદાર મનથી અને હોંશે હોંશે આપ્યું અને એ જોઇને સૌ કોઇને ખૂબ આનંદ થયો અને રાજા દાઉદ પણ પ્રસન્ન થયો
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદની સુંદર પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1CH.29.10" />સર્વ ઉપસ્થિત સભાજનો સમક્ષ દાઉદે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ અને પ્રાર્થના કરતાં કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“યહોવા અમારા પૂર્વજ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી સદા સર્વદા સ્તુતિ હો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="1CH.29.11" />યહોવા તમે જ મહાન, શકિતશાળી, ગૌરવવંત, ભવ્ય અને પ્રતાપી દેવ છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ પૃથ્વી પર અને આકાશમાં જે કઇં છે તે સર્વ તમારું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એ બધાં પર તમારી જ સત્તા સવોર્પરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા તમે સર્વ રાજ્યોની પર છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="1CH.29.12" />ધન અને યશ આપનાર તમે જ છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જ સર્વ પ્રજા પર શાસન કરનાર છો.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સાર્મથ્ય અને સત્તા તમારા હાથમાં જ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જ સૌને માનપાન અને શકિત પ્રદાન કરો છો,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="1CH.29.13" />અને અત્યારે, હે અમારા દેવ, અમે તમારો આભાર માનીએ છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા મહિમાવંત નામની સ્તુતિ કરીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="1CH.29.14" />પરંતુ આ પ્રમાણે દાન કરનાર હું કે મારી પ્રજા કોણ?
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે સર્વસ્વ તમારું જ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા તરફથી જ મળેલું છે જે અમે તમને આપીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="1CH.29.15" />કારણકે અમે અમારા પૂર્વજોની જેમ તમારી આગળ યાત્રી છીએ,
</q>
<q style="q1">આ ભૂમિ પર અમારું જીવન પડછાયા જેવું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેની આગળ અમે કઇ પણ જોઇ શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="1CH.29.16" />હે અમારા દેવ યહોવા, તમારા પવિત્ર નામ માટે મંદિર બાંધવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે ભેગી કરેલી બધી સંપત્તિ
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા તરફથી મળેલી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ બધું તમારું જ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="1CH.29.17" />હું જાણું છું, મારા દેવ કે તમે અંતરને તપાસો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખરા મનની સચ્ચાઇ તમને ગમે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને આ બધું મેં સ્વેચ્છાએ સાચા હૃદયથી અર્પ્યુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અત્યારે અહીં હાજર રહેલ તમામ લોકો
</q>
<q style="q1">તમને સ્વેચ્છાએ ભેટ-સોગાદો અપેર્ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જોઇને મને આનંદ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="1CH.29.18" />હે યહોવા અમારા પિતૃઓ ઇબ્રાહિમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસહાક અને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા લોકોનાં હૃદયમાં આવી ભકિત સદા ઢ રાખો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના હૃદયને તમારા પ્રત્યે સમપિર્ત રાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="1CH.29.19" />મારા પુત્ર સુલેમાનને સંપૂર્ણ સમપિર્ત હૃદય આપો જેથી તે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી બધી જ આજ્ઞાઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">વિધિઓ અને નિયમોનું નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક અનુસરણ કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેને માટે મેં આ બધી તૈયારી કરી છે તે મંદિર બાંધે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1CH.29.20" />યારબાદ દાઉદે સર્વ લોકોને જણાવ્યું, “યહોવા તમારા દેવની સ્તુતિ કરો!” અને લોકોએ યહોવા તેમના પૂર્વજના દેવ સમક્ષ નમીને તેમની સ્તુતિ કરી અને રાજાનું સન્માન કર્યુ
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">રાજા બનતો સુલેમાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1CH.29.21" />બીજે દિવસે યહોવાના માટે તેઓએ 1,000 બળદો, 1,000 ઘેટાં અને 1,000 બકરાંઓનું યજ્ઞબલિ આપ્યું અને તેઓએ પેયાર્પણ પણ કર્યું, તેમણે બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વતી ઘણી બલીઓ આપી.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="1CH.29.22" />પછી, તે દિવસે, યહોવા સમક્ષ ખાંધુપીધું, ને તેમણે ખૂબ આનંદ કર્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારબાદ તેમણે દાઉદના પુત્ર સુલેમાનને બીજીવાર રાજા જાહેર કર્યો અને તેનો યહોવાને નામે શાસક તરીકે અને સાદોકને યહોવાના ઉચ્ચ યાજક તરીકે અભિષેક કર્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1CH.29.23" />આમ, સુલેમાન પોતાના પિતા દાઉદ પછી યહોવાએ સ્થાપેલી રાજગાદી પર આવ્યો. તેણે સફળતાપૂર્વક રાજ્ય કર્યુ. અને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલે તેની આજ્ઞા માથે ચઢાવી.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="1CH.29.24" />તમામ અધિકારીઓએ અને યોદ્ધાઓએ તેમજ રાજા દાઉદના બધા પુત્રોએ રાજા સુલેમાન પ્રત્યે વફાદારીના સમ લીધાં
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દાઉદનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1CH.29.25" />યહોવાએ સુલેમાનને ઇસ્રાએલની નજરમાં ખૂબ મોટો કર્યો અને ઇસ્રાએલના કોઇ પણ રાજાએ પહેલાં કદીય ભોગવી ના હોય તેવી જાહોજલાલી તેને આપી.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="1CH.29.26" />યશાઇ પુત્ર દાઉદે સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ પર શાસન કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="1CH.29.27" />ઇસ્રાએલ પર તેનું રાજ્ય ચાળીસ વર્ષ ચાલ્યું; હેબ્રોનમાંથી તેણે સાત વર્ષ અને યરૂશાલેમમાંથી તેત્રીસ વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યુ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="1CH.29.28" />તેણે સંપત્તિ અને સન્માન સાથે દીર્ધાયુ ભોગવી ખૂબ મોટી ઉંમરે દેહ છોડ્યો, અને તેના પુત્ર સુલેમાને તેના પછી શાસન કર્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1CH.29.29" />રાજા દાઉદના શાસનમાં બનેલા બધા જ બનાવો પહેલેથી છેલ્લે સુધી ષ્ટા શમુએલ, પ્રબોધક નાથાન અને પ્રબોધક ગાદના ગ્રંથોમાં નોંધેલાઁ છે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="1CH.29.30" />આ લખાણ બતાવે છે કે તેણે કેવી રીતે રાજ્ય કર્યુ, તેણે અદભૂત કાર્યો કર્યા, અને તેના ઉપર, ઇસ્રાએલ પર અને જગતના બધાં રાજ્યો પર શું શું વિત્યું.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="2CH"><id id="2CH">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>2 કાળવૃત્તાંતનું
</h><toc level="1">કાળવૃત્તાંતનું બીજું પુસ્તક
</toc><toc level="2">2 કાળવૃત્તાંતનું
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">કાળવૃત્તાંતનું
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">બીજું પુસ્તક
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">સુલેમાનની જ્ઞાન માટેની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.1.1" />દાઉદનો પુત્ર સુલેમાન પોતાના રાજ્યમાં બળવાન થયો. કારણકે તેના દેવ યહોવા તેની મદદમાં હતા. દેવે તેનો મહિમા ખૂબ વધાર્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2CH.1.2" />તેણે લશ્કરના સર્વ અધિકારીઓને, ન્યાયાધીશોને તેમજ આગેવાનો અને ઇસ્રાએલના કુટુંબના વડીલોને ગિબયોનમાં એકત્ર કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2CH.1.3" />ત્યારબાદ સુલેમાન, સૌને ગિબયોન પર્વતની ટોચે લઇ ગયો, જ્યાં દેવનો મુલાકાત મંડપ હતો, જે મૂસા અને તેના લોકોએ તેમની અરણ્યની મુસાફરી દરમ્યાન તે બાંધ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2CH.1.4" />દેવનો કરારકોશ ત્યાં ન હતો કારણકે દાઉદ દેવનો કરારકોશ કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમથી યરૂશાલેમ લઇ આવ્યો હતો જ્યાં તેણે તેના માટે એક નવો મંડપ તૈયાર કર્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="2CH.1.5" />વળી હૂરના પુત્ર ઉરીના પુત્ર બસાલએલે જે કાંસાની વેદી બનાવી હતી તે ગિબયોનના પવિત્રમંડપની સામે હતી; સુલેમાન તથા એકત્ર થયેલા અધિકારીઓએ તથા આગેવાનોએ ત્યાં યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરી.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.1.6" />સુલેમાને યહોવાની સામે મુલાકાતમંડપ પાસે જે પિત્તળની વેદી હતી. તેના પર 1,000 દહનાર્પણો ચઢાવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.1.7" />તે દિવસે રાત્રે દેવે સુલેમાનને દર્શન આપ્યા અને કહ્યું, “માગ, તારી જે ઇચ્છા હોય તે, હું તને તે અવશ્ય આપીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.1.8" />સુલેમાને કહ્યું, “હે દેવ, તમે મારા પિતા દાઉદ પ્રત્યે બહુ જ ભલાઇ અને દયા દર્શાવી હતી, અને હવે તમે મને રાજ્ય સોંપ્યું છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.1.9" />હે દેવ યહોવા, મારા પિતા દાઉદને આપેલું વચન પૂરું કરો. તમે મને ધરતીની ધૂળના કણ જેટલા અગણિત લોકોનો રાજા બનાવ્યો છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.1.10" />હવે તમે મને ડહાપણ અને જ્ઞાન આપો, જેથી હું આ લોકોને દોરવણી આપી શકું, કારણ, આ તમારી મહાન પ્રજાને માર્ગદર્શન કોણ કરી શકે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.1.11" />દેવે સુલેમાનને કહ્યું, “તારો અભિગમ સારો છે, તેં ધન, સંપત્તિ કે જાહોજલાલી અથવા તારા દુશ્મનોનાં મોત કે પોતાના માટે દીર્ધાયુષ્યની પણ માગણી કરી નથી, પણ તારા પર હું ડહાપણ અને જ્ઞાનની વર્ષા કરીશ, જેથી તું મારા લોકો પર શાશન કરી શકે જેમનો મેં તને રાજા બનાવ્યો છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.1.12" />ઉપરાંત, હું તને એવાં તો ધન, સંપત્તિ અને જાહોજલાલી આપીશ કે જેવાં તારી પહેલાંના કોઇએ પણ ન ભોગવ્યાં હોય કે તારી પછી કોઇ ભોગવશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CH.1.13" />ત્યારબાદ ગિબયોનના ઉચ્ચસ્થાનેથી, મુલાકાત મંડપથી પાછા યરૂશાલેમ આવીને સુલેમાને ઇસ્રાએલ ઉપર રાજ્ય કરવા માંડ્યું
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<s style="s">સેના અને સંપત્તિ ઊભી કરતો સુલેમાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CH.1.14" />સુલેમાને રથો અને ઘોડાઓની એક મોટી સેના ઊભી કરી. તેની પાસે 1,400 રથો અને 12,000 ઘોડા હતા, તેમાંના કેટલાક તેણે રથ રાખવાના નગરોમાં રાખ્યા અને બાકીના પોતાની પાસે યરૂશાલેમમાં રાખ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.1.15" />એના શાસન દરમ્યાન યરૂશાલેમમાં સોનું અને ચાંદી કાંકરા જેટલાં સસ્તાં થઇ ગયાં હતા અને મૂલ્યવાન દેવદાર વૃક્ષોનું ઇમારતી લાકડું સામાન્ય ગુલ્લરકાષ્ટની જેમ મળતું થઇ ગયું હતું.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.1.16" />સુલેમાનના ઘોડા મિસર માંથી આણેલા હતા; રાજાના સોદાગરો એ ઘોડાઓને જથાબંદમા ખરીદી કરી હતી.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.1.17" />મિસરથી 600 ચાંદીના શેકેલ ભાવે રથો આયાત કરવામાં આવતા હતા. અને ઘોડા 150 ચાંદીના શેકેલ ભાવે, હિત્તીઓના તેમજ અરામના બધા રાજાઓ પણ ઘોડા અને રથો એ આડતિયાઓ પાસેથી આયાત કરતા હતા.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">મંદિરના બાંધકામનું આયોજન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.2.1" />સુલેમાને યહોવાને માટે એક મંદિર અને પોતાને માટે એક રાજમહેલ બાંધવાનો નિર્ધાર કર્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.2.2" />તેણે 70,000 લોકોને હમાલ તરીકે સામાન ઊંચકવા માટે, 80,000 માણસોને પર્વતોમાં પથ્થરો કાપવા માટે તથા 3,600 લોકોને તેઓના ઉપર દેખરેખ રાખવા મુકાદમો તરીકે રાખ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2CH.2.3" />ત્યારબાદ સુલેમાને તૂરના રાજા હૂરામને સંદેશો મકલ્યો કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“તમે મારા પિતા દાઉદને રાજમહેલ બાંધવા માટે સુખડનું લાકડું મોકલ્યું હતું.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.2.4" />અત્યારે હું મારા દેવ યહોવા માટે મંદિર બાંધવા માંગુ છું, જ્યાં તેની સમક્ષ નિત્ય ધૂપ થાય, નિત્ય એની સામે રોટલી અપિર્ત થતી રહે, વિશ્રામવારોએ, અમાસને દિવસે અને અમારા દેવ યહોવા દ્વારા ઠરાવાયેલા બીજા ઉત્સવોને દિવસે સવારેને સાંજે દહનાર્પણ અપાય, કારણકે ઇસ્રાએલને માથે એ કાયમી ફરજ છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="5" bcv="2CH.2.5" />“હું જે મંદિર બાંધવાનો છું તે ઘણું મોટું થવાનું છે, કારણ, અમારો દેવ સર્વ દેવો કરતઁા મોટો છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.2.6" />પરંતુ તેમને માટે યોગ્ય નિવાસસ્થાન કોણ બાંધી શકે? અપાર ઊંચામાં ઊંચું આકાશ પણ તેને સમાવી શકતું નથી. તો પછી હું કોણ કે તેને માટે મંદિર બાંધું? એ તો માત્ર તેની સમક્ષ ધૂપ કરીને તેમનું ભજન કરવાનું સ્થાન જ બનશે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.2.7" />“તેથી સોના ચાંદીનું, અને પિત્તળ તથા લોખંડનું કામ કરનારા કુશળ કારીગરો; તથા કિરમજી, લાલ અને આસમાની રંગના કાપડ નું શું કરવું એ જાણનાર લોકોને મારી પાસે મોકલી આપો. વળી મારા પિતા દાઉદે પસંદ કરેલા યહૂદિયા અને યરૂશાલેમના કારીગરો સાથે કામ કરી શકે તેવા કોતરણી કામના નિષ્ણાંત કારીગરોને મોકલી આપો.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.2.8" />વળી, મને દેવદારનું, પાઇનના વૃક્ષનું અને ઓલ્ગમંના વૃક્ષનું લાકડું પણ મોકલાવશો, કારણ, મને ખબર છે કે તમારા માણસો દેવદારમાં વૃક્ષો પાડવામાં પાવરધાં છે. મારા માણસો તમારા માણસો સાથે કામ કરશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.2.9" />તેઓને સહાય કરવા માટે હું મારા માણસો મોકલી આપીશ. હું જે મંદિર બાંધુ છું તે માટે પુષ્કળ પ્રમાણમાં ઇમારતી લાકડું જોઇશે કારણકે તે મંદિર બહુ જ મોટું અને અતિ ભવ્ય બનશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.2.10" />તમારા વૃક્ષો પાડનારા માણસો માટે હું 1,25,000 બુશેલ ઘઉં, 1,25,000 બુશેલ જવ, 1,15,000 ગેલન દ્રાક્ષારસ અને 1,15,000 ગેલન તેલ મોકલીશ.”
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.2.11" />તૂરના રાજા હૂરામે રાજા સુલેમાનને પત્ર દ્વારા નીચેનો જવાબ મોકલ્યો,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“યહોવાને તેના લોકો માટે પ્રેમ છે માટે તેણે આપને તેમના રાજા બનાવ્યા છે.”
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.2.12" />હૂરામે વધુમાં લખ્યું છે, “ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાનો જય હો! તેણે આકાશ અને પૃથ્વી બનાવ્યાં છે, અને રાજા દાઉદને જ્ઞાની, બુદ્ધિશાળી અને સમજુ પુત્ર આપ્યો છે, જે યહોવાને માટે મંદિર અને પોતાને માટે રાજમહેલ બંધાવનાર છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.2.13" />હું તમારી પાસે મારા પ્રખ્યાત અને નિપુણ કારીગર હૂરામ-અલીને મોકલું છું. તે ઘણો હોંશિયાર છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.2.14" />એનાં માતા દાનવંશના અને પિતા તૂરના છે. એ સોના-ચાંદીનું, કાંસાનું અને લોઢાનું પથ્થરનું અને લાકડાનું તેમજ જાંબુડીયા, કિરમજી અને ભૂરા રંગના કિંમતી કાપડનું કામ કરવામાં કુશળ છે. વળી, એ બધી જાતનું કોતરકામ કરવામાં પણ હોશિયાર છે. એને સોંપેલી કોઇ પણ ભાત એ કોતરી શકે છે. એ મારા ધણી અને આપના પિતા દાઉદના કારીગરો અને આપના કારીગરો સાથે કામ કરી શકે તેમ છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="15" bcv="2CH.2.15" />“તેથી તમારા જણાવ્યા મુજબ ઘઉં, જવ, તેલ અને દ્રાક્ષારસ મોકલી આપો.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.2.16" />અમે લબાનોનમાંથી આપને જોઇતાં બધાં લાકડાં કાપીશું, અને દરિયાઇ માગેર્ યાફા સુધી પહોંચાડીશું. ત્યાંથી તેને યરૂશાલેમ પહોંચાડવાની જવાબદારી તમારી રહેશે.”
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2CH.2.17" />સુલેમાને પોતાના પિતા દાઉદે કરાવેલી વસ્તી ગણતરીની જેમ ઇસ્રાએલમાં વસતા બધા વિદેશીઓની વસ્તી ગણતરી કરાવી તો તેમની સંખ્યા 1,53,000 અને છસો જેટલી થઇ.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.2.18" />તેણે તેઓમાંના 70,000ને મજૂરો તરીકે, 80,000ને પથ્થરોની ખાણોમાં કામ કરવા અને 36,000ને છસોને આ લોકો પાસે કામ કરાવવા મુકાદમ તરીકે નીમ્યા.
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<c id="3" />
<s style="s">મંદિરના બાંધકામનો પ્રારંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.3.1" />સુલેમાને યહોવાનું મંદિર બાંધવાની શરૂઆત કરી, જ્યા એના પિતા દાઉદને મોરિયા પર્વત પર યહોવાએ દર્શન આપ્યા હતા. એ જગ્યા યબૂસી ઓર્નાન ઘઉં ઝૂડવાની ખળી ઉપર હતી. સુલેમાન બાંધકામ શરૂ કરે તે પહેલા દાઉદે તે જગ્યા તૈયાર કરી હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.3.2" />સુલેમાને બાંધકામની શરૂઆત પોતાના શાશનના ચોથા વર્ષના બીજા મહિનામાં કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2CH.3.3" />હવે સુલેમાને દેવનું મંદિર બાંધવા માટે જે પાયો નાખ્યો હતો તે જૂના પ્રમાણિત માપ મૂજબ 60 હાથ લાંબો અને 20 હાથ પહોળો હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.3.4" />મંદિરના આગળના પ્રાગણની લંબાઇ, મંદિરની પહોળાઇ જેટલી 20 હાથ હતી, અને ઊંચાઇ 120 હાથ હતી, એનો અંદરનો ભાગ સુલેમાને શુદ્ધ સોનાથી મઢાવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.3.5" />મંદિરની અંદરના મોટા ઓરડાની અંદરની દીવાલોને દેવદારના પાટિયાંથી જડી દીધેલી હતી અને તેમને શુદ્ધ સોનાથી મઢી દીધી હતી અને તેમના ઉપર ખજૂરીઓ તથા સાંકળીઓ કોતરેલી હતી.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.3.6" />તેણે એ મંદિરને રત્નોથી શણગાર્યું. અને તેમાં તેણે પાર્વાઇમની ભૂમિનું સોનું વાપર્યું હતું.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.3.7" />તેણે મંદિરનો અંદરનો ભાગ, તેના ઉંબરા, તેની પરસાળો તેની ભીંતો અને તેના બારણાં સોનાથી મઢાવ્યાં અને ભીંતો ઉપર ફરૂબોના ચિત્રો કોતરાવ્યાં હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.3.8" />મંદિરમાં એક તરફ પરમપવિત્રસ્થાન હતું, તેનું માપ: પહોળાઇ 20 હાથ અને ઊંચાઇ 20 હાથ હતી. તેને સોનાથી મઢવામાં આવ્યું હતું. જેનું વજન લગભગ 20,400 કિલો જેટલું હતું.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.3.9" />સોનાના ખીલાઓનું વજન પચાસ શેકેલ હતું અને ઉપરના ઓરડાઓને પણ સોનાથી મઢાવ્યા હતાં.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.3.10" />તેણે પરમપવિત્રસ્થાન કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની બે પૂતળાં ઘડાવ્યાં અને તેને સોનાથી મઢાવ્યા.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.3.11" />એ કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની પાંખોનો કુલ વિસ્તાર 20 હાથનો હતો. એક કરૂબ દેવદૂતની એક પાંખ પાંચ હાથ ફેલાઇને મંદિરની ભીંતને અડતી હતી અને બીજી પાંખ, 5 હાથ ફેલાઇને બીજા કરૂબ દેવદૂતની પાંખને અડતી હતી.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.3.12" />એજ રીતે બીજા કરૂબ દેવદૂતની એક પાંખ ફેલાઇને મંદિરની બીજી ભીંતને અડતી હતી. અને બીજી પાંખ પહેલા કરૂબ દેવદૂતની પાંખને અડતી હતી
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.3.13" />આ પ્રમાણે કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની પાંખો 20 હાથ ફેલાયેલી હતી; તેઓ પોતાના પગ ઉપર ઊભા રહેલા, ને તેઓનાં ચહેરા અંદરની તરફ વળેલા હતાં અને તેઓ પગ પર ટટ્ટાર ઉભાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CH.3.14" />તેણે નીલા, જાંબુડા, અને ઉજળા લાલ રંગના શણના પડદા બનાવ્યા, ને તેના ઉપર કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની આકૃતિનું ભરતકામ કરેલું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2CH.3.15" />મંદિરની આગળ 35 હાથ ઊંચા બે સ્તંભ ચણાવ્યા અને તેઓ પર 5 હાથ ઊંચા કળશ મૂક્યા,
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.3.16" />તેણે તોરણો બનાવડાવીને તે સ્તંભોના મથાળાં ફરતે બાંધ્યા અને 100 દાડમો કરાવી તે તોરણે મુકાવ્યાં.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.3.17" />એ બે સ્તંભો તેણે મંદિરની સામે ઊભા કરાવ્યા, એક જમણી બાજુએ અને એક ડાબી બાજુએ. જમણી બાજુના સ્તંભનુ નામ “યાખીન” અને ડાબી બાજુનાનું નામ “બોઆઝ” રાખ્યું.
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<c id="4" />
<s style="s">હૂરામનું કાર્ય અને મંદિર માટેની સામગ્રી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.4.1" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે કાંસામાંથી 20 હાથ લાંબી, 20 હાથ પહોળી અને 10 હાથ ઊંચી વેદી બનાવડાવી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.4.2" />તેણે ઢાળેલી ધાતુનો હોજ પણ કરાવ્યો. એનો આકાર ગોળ હતો, અને તેનો વ્યાસ 10 હાથ હતો. એ 5 હાથ ઊંચો હતો અને તેનો પરિઘ 30 હાથનો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.4.3" />એ હોજની ફરતે બહારની બાજુએ બળદના પૂતાળાની બે હારમાળા હતી, દરેક તેના પરિઘમાં દસ હાથ ગોળ હતી. જે હોજની સાથે જ ઢાળેલી હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.4.4" />એ હોજ બાર બળદની પ્રતિમા ઉપર ગોઠવેલો હતો. ત્રણના મોંઢા ઉત્તર તરફ અને ત્રણના મોંઢા પૂર્વ અને ત્રણના મોંઢા પશ્ચિમ અને ત્રણના મોંઢા દક્ષિણ તરફ હતા. તેમની પૂછડીઓ અંદરના ભાગમાં હતી. હોજ એ બળદો પર બેસાડેલો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.4.5" />એની જાડાઇ ત્રણ ઇંચ હતી. અને તેનો આકાર ખીલેલાં કમળ જેવો હતો. તેમાં 17,500 ગેલન પાણી સમાતું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CH.4.6" />એ કુંડ યાજકોને હાથપગ ધોવા માટે કરાવ્યો હતો. તેણે દહનાર્પણના પશુને ધોવા માટે દસ કૂંડીઓ કરાવી અને પાંચ ડાબી બાજુએ અને પાંચ જમણી બાજુએ મૂકાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.4.7" />સુલેમાને, આ દીપવૃક્ષ માટે બનાવેલી યોજના અનુસાર, સોનાનાં દશ દીપવૃક્ષ બનાવ્યાં; અને પછી તેણે આ દીપવૃક્ષો મંદિરમાં અંદર મૂકાવ્યાં; પાંચ જમણી તરફ અને પાંચ ડાબી તરફ.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.4.8" />સુલેમાને 10 મેજ બનાવીને મંદિરમાં મૂકાવ્યાં. એણે મંદિરમાં 5 મેજ જમણી બાજુએ અને 5 મેજ ડાબી બાજુએ મૂક્યા. વળી તેણે સોનાના 100 કટોરા બનાવ્યાં.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.4.9" />તેણે યાજકો માટે અલગ ચોક કરાવ્યો, એણે સામાન્ય લોકો માટે એક મોટું પ્રાંગણ બનાવ્યું. તેના દરવાજા ત્રાંબાથી મઢેલા હતાં.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.4.10" />યાજકો માટેનો મોટો કાંસાનો હોજ મંદિરના બહારના ભાગમાં અગ્નિ ખૂણામાં મૂકવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.4.11" />હૂરામે કૂંડા, પાવડા અને ડોયા પણ બનાવ્યાં. આ રીતે તેણે દેવના મંદિરમાં રાજા સુલેમાન તરફથી માથે લીધેલું મંદિરનું બધું કામ પૂરું કર્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.4.12" />એટલે બે સ્તંભો, વાટકા તથા સ્તંભોની ટોચો ઉપર બે કળશ, તથા સ્તંભોની ટોચો ઉપરના કળશોને ઢાંકવા સારુ બે જાળીઓ,
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.4.13" />અને એ બે જાળીને માટે 400 દાડમ; એટલે સ્તંભો ઉપરના કળશોને ઢાંકનાર દરેક જાળીને માટે દાડમની બબ્બે હારો બનાવી.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.4.14" />તેણે ઘોડીઓ બનાવી અને તેના ઉપર કટોરાઓ મૂક્યાં.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.4.15" />એક કુંડ અને એને જેના પર મૂક્યો હતો એ બાર બળદો.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.4.16" />રાખ માટેના કૂંડા, પાવડીઓ અને ચીપિયા.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.4.17" />આ બધી વસ્તુઓ, મુખ્ય કારીગર હૂરામે, યહોવાના મંદિર માટે, રાજા સુલેમાન તરફથી અપાયેલા કાંસામાંથી બનાવી. આ બધું તેણે સુકકોથ અને સરેદાહની વચ્ચેની યર્દન નદીની ખીણમાં માટીનાં બીબા વાપરીને બનાવ્યું હતું.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.4.18" />સુલેમાને એ વસ્તુઓ મોટા જથ્થામાં બનાવી, અને એમાં વપરાયેલા કાંસાના વજનનો કોઇ હિસાબ નહોતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2CH.4.19" />તદુપરાંત સુલેમાને દેવના મંદિર માટે બીજા સાધનો પણ બનાવડાવ્યાં; સોનાની વેદી, અને રોટલી ધરાવવાનો સોનાનો બાજઠ.
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<v id="20" bcv="2CH.4.20" />યજ્ઞવેદી આગળ મૂકવા માટેનું દીપવૃક્ષ જેનાં શુદ્ધ સોનામાંથી બનાવેલી દીવીઓમાં અખંડ જ્યોત બળતી હોય.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.4.21" />શુદ્ધ સોનાનાં ફૂલ, કોડિયાં, ચીપિયા,
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<v id="22" bcv="2CH.4.22" />દીપવૃક્ષો સાફ કરવાની કાતરો, કટોરાઓ, ચમચા અને સગડીઓ-આ સર્વ શુદ્ધ સોનાનાં બનાવ્યાં. તેમજ મંદિરના સર્વ દરવાજા સોનાથી મઢવામાં આવ્યા.
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.5.1" />યહોવાના મંદિર માટે સુલેમાને ઠરાવેલા બધાં કામ પૂરાં થયા ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના પિતા દાઉદે યહોવાને સમપિર્ત કરેલી તમામ ભેટો સોનું, ચાંદી અને બીજી બધી સામગ્રી લાવીને દેવના મંદિરના ભંડારમાં મૂકી દીધી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કરારકોશની મંદિરમાં સ્થાપના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2CH.5.2" />ત્યારબાદ સુલેમાને, યહોવાના કરારકોશને સિયોનમાંથી લઇ આવવા માટે, ઇસ્રાએલના બધા આગેવાનોને બધા કુળસમૂહોના અને કુટુંબોના વડીલોને બોલાવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2CH.5.3" />ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ પુરુષો એથાનિમ એટલે કે સાતમા મહિનામાં માંડવાપર્વને ટાણે રાજા સમક્ષ ભેગા થયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2CH.5.4" />ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ વડીલો આવી ગયા એટલે લેવીઓએ કરારકોશ ઉપાડ્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.5.5" />લેવીઓ તથા યાજકો કરારકોશને અને મુલાકાતમંડપને તેમાની બધી પવિત્ર સાધનસામગ્રી સહિત ઉપાડી મંદિરે લઇ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="2CH.5.6" />રાજા સુલેમાને અને ભેગા થયેલા આખા ઇસ્રાએલી સમાજે કરારકોશ સમક્ષ ગણ્યાં ગણાય નહિ એટલા ઘેટાં અને બળદોની આહુતિ ચઢાવી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2CH.5.7" />ત્યારબાદ યાજકો યહોવાના કરારકોશને તેને સ્થાને ગર્ભગૃહમાં લઇ આવ્યાં એટલેકે પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનમાં કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની પાંખો નીચે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2CH.5.8" />કરારકોશ અને તેને ઊંચકવાના દાંડાઓ ઉપર કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની પાંખો ફેલાયેલી હતી અને તેઓ ઉપર છાયા કરતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2CH.5.9" />કરારકોશના દાંડા ઘણા લાંબા હતા અને પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનની બહારના ભાગમાંથી દેખાતા હતા; પરંતુ દરવાજાની બહારથી દેખાતા નહોતા. આજે પણ કરારકોશ ત્યાં જ છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.5.10" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મિસરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા ત્યારે યહોવાએ તેમની સાથે કરેલા કરારની પથ્થરની બે તકતીઓ મૂસાએ હોરેબ પર્વત ખાતે કરારકોશમાં મૂકી હતી તે સિવાય તેમાં બીજું કશું નહોતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.5.11" />બધા યાજકોએ પોતાને વિશુદ્ધ કર્યા હતાં જ્યારે યાજકો પવિત્રસ્થાનમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા. ત્યારે તેઓ સાથે ઉભા હતાં પણ હમેશ મુજબના સમૂહમાં ન હતાં.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.5.12" />તે વખતે લેવીઓ યહોવાની આરાધના કરતા હતા. ગાયકગણમાં આસાફ, હેમાન, યદૂથૂન અને તેઓના સર્વ પુત્રો અને ભાઇઓ હતા. તેઓ સફેદ શણના ઝભ્ભા પહેરીને વેદીની પૂર્વ બાજુએ ઊભા હતા. તેઓ સંગીતનાં સાધનો વગાડતા હતા. રણશિંગડા વગાડતા 120 યાજકો તેઓની સાથે હતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.5.13" />વાજિંત્રો વગાડનારા અને ગીત ગાનારા એક સૂરે યહોવાની આરાધના કરતા હતા. અને આભાર માનતા હતા. તેઓના ગીતો સાથે રણશિંગડા, ઝાંઝ, અને અન્ય વાજિંત્રોનો મોટો અવાજ દૂર સુધી ફેલાતો હતો. તેઓ સર્વ પણ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરતા હતા, અને આભાર માનતા હતા:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દેવ ઉત્તમ છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો પ્રેમ સર્વકાળ ટકે છે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CH.5.14" />તે જ સમયે તેજસ્વી વાદળરૂપે યહોવાનું ગૌરવ ઉતરી આવ્યું. અને મંદિર તેનાથી ભરાઇ ગયું, તેથી યાજકો સેવા કરવા માટે મંદિરમાં ઊભા રહી શક્યાં નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="6" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.6.1" />તે પ્રસંગે સુલેમાને પ્રાર્થના કરી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“યહોવા તમે કહ્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે હું ગાઢ અંધકારમાં રહીશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="2CH.6.2" />પરંતુ મેં તમારા માટે મંદિર બંધાવ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમાં તમે સદાકાળ નિવાસ કરી શકો.”
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</q>
<s style="s">સુલેમાનનું મંદિરમાં ઉદૃબોધન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2CH.6.3" />ત્યારબાદ રાજાએ સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાજ જ્યાં ઊભો હતો તેના તરફ ફરીને આશીર્વાદ આપતાં કહ્યું,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="4" bcv="2CH.6.4" />“ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાનો જય હો! તેમણે મારા પિતા દાઉદને જે વચન આપ્યું હતું તે પોતાના સાર્મથ્યથી પાળ્યું છે. તેમણે મારા પિતા દાઉદને કહ્યું હતું કે,
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.6.5" />‘તે દિવસથી મારા નિવાસ માટે મંદિર બાંધવા ઇસ્રાએલના કોઇ કુળસમૂહના પ્રદેશમાંથી કોઇ શહેર પસંદ કર્યુ નહોતું, તેમ મારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર શાસન કરવા માટે મેં કોઇ માણસની પસંદગી કરી નહોતી, જ્યારથી મેં ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને મિસરમાંથી બહાર કાઢયા ત્યારથી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="2CH.6.6" />પણ હવે એ નગર તરીકે મેં યરૂશાલેમને અને ઇસ્રાએલી રાજા તરીકે દાઉદને પસંદ કર્યો છે.’
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.6.7" />“મારા પિતા દાઉદે યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવના નામનું મંદિર બાંધવાનો નિશ્ચય કર્યો હતો પણ યહોવાએ કહ્યું,
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.6.8" />‘તે મારા નામનું મંદિર બાંધવાનો વિચાર કર્યો છે, અને એ વિચાર સારો છે,
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.6.9" />તેમ છતાં તારે એ મંદિર બાંધવાનું નથી, તારો સગો પુત્ર મારા નામનું મંદિર બાંધશે.’
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2CH.6.10" />હવે યહોવાએ પોતાનું વચન પાળ્યું છે, યહોવાએ વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાણે હું મારા પિતા દાઉદ પછી ઇસ્રાએલની ગાદીએ આવ્યો છું.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="2CH.6.11" />અને મેં ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના નામનું મંદિર બાંધ્યું છે. અને તેમાં કરારકોશ મૂક્યો છે. આ કરારકોશમાં યહોવા અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો વચ્ચે થયેલો કરાર છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સુલેમાનની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.6.12" />યહોવાની વેદીની સમક્ષ, સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી સમાજની સન્મુખ ઊભા રહીને સૌના દેખતા પ્રાર્થના કરવા માટે પોતાના હાથ પ્રસાર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2CH.6.13" />સુલેમાને એક મોટો મંચ બનાવ્યો હતો, આ મંચ કાંસાનો બનાવેલો હતો અને તે 5 હાથ લાંબો, 5 હાથ પહોળો અને 3 હાથ ઊંચો હતો; અને તેને ચોકની વચ્ચે મૂક્યો હતો, સુલેમાન તેના ઉપર ઊભો રહ્યો. સર્વ લોકોની હાજરીમાં સુલેમાને ઘૂંટણ ટેકવી આકાશ તરફ હાથ પ્રસારીને પ્રાર્થના કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="14" bcv="2CH.6.14" />“હે યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, આકાશમાં કે પૃથ્વી પર તારા જેવો બીજો કોઇ દેવ નથી. તારા સર્વ કરારો તેઁ પૂર્ણ કર્યા છે. અને જેઓ તારી શરણે આવવા ઇચ્છે છે અને તારી ઇચ્છા પૂર્ણ કરવા આતુર છે, તેના પ્રત્યે તું કૃપાળુ છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="2CH.6.15" />તે તારા સેવક મારા પિતા દાઉદને આપેલું વચન પાળ્યું છે, તઁ તારા મોઢેથી જે કહ્યું તે આજે, તેઁ તારા હાથથી કરી બતાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="2CH.6.16" />અને હવે, હે યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, તેઁ તારા સેવક દાઉદને જે બીજું વચન આપ્યું હતું તે પૂરું કર. તેઁ એને એમ કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘જો તારા વંશજો સંભાળીને ચાલશે અને તારી જેમ મારા નિયમોનું સદા પાલન કરશે તો મારી નજર હેઠળ ઇસ્રાએલની ગાદી પર સદા તારો વંશજ બેસશે.’
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="2CH.6.17" />માટે ઇસ્રાએલના હે દેવ યહોવા, હવે તું તારા સેવક મારા પિતા દાઉદને આપેલું એ વચન કૃપા કરીને પૂર્ણ કર.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.6.18" />“પરંતુ હે દેવ, તું કદી માણસો ભેગા પૃથ્વી પર વસે ખરો? અરે, ઊંચામાં ઊંચુ સ્વર્ગ સુદ્ધાં તને ધારણ ન કરી શકે, અને ન તો મેં બંધાવેલ મંદિર તને સમાવી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="2CH.6.19" />હે યહોવા, મારા દેવ, મારી પ્રાર્થનાઓ ધ્યાનમાં લેવા તથા દયા કરવા હું તને વિનંતી કરું છું. હાલ હું જે પ્રાર્થના કરું છું તે તું સાંભળ.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="2CH.6.20" />રાત દિવસ તારી ષ્ટિ આ મંદિર ઉપર ઠરેલી રહો. આ સ્થાન ઉપર રહો, જેને વિષે તં કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘મારું નામ એમાં વાસો કરશે.’
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.6.21" />તારા સેવકો અને તારા લોકો આ મંદિર તરફ જોઇને જે પ્રાર્થના કરે તે સાંભળજે; તમારા પરમ ધામ સ્વર્ગમાંથી તું એ સાંભળજે અને સાંભળીને એમના ગુના માફ કરજે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="22" bcv="2CH.6.22" />“જ્યારે કોઇ વ્યકિત પાપ માટે દોષિત ઠરે, ગુનો કરે, અને તે અહીં પોતાની નિદોર્ષતા પૂરવાર કરવાના સમ લે,
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.6.23" />ત્યારે આકાશમાંથી તેનું સાંભળીને તેનો ન્યાય કરજો. જો તે જૂઠું બોલતો હોય તો તેને શિક્ષા કરજો અને સાચું બોલતો હોય તો તેને ક્ષમા કરજો.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="24" bcv="2CH.6.24" />“જ્યારે પાપ કરવાને કારણે તારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ દુશ્મનો સામે હારી જાય, અને જો તેઓ પાછા તારા તરફ વળે, તારું નામ લે અને આ મંદિરમાં તને પ્રાર્થના અને વિનવણી કરે,
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<v id="25" bcv="2CH.6.25" />તો તું આકાશમાંથી સાંભળજે, તારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓના પાપ માફ કરજે અને તું તેમને અને એમના પિતૃઓને જે ભૂમિ આપી હતી તેમાં તેમને પાછા લાવજે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="26" bcv="2CH.6.26" />“તારા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો, તારી વિરૂદ્ધ પાપ કરવાને કારણે અને આકાશમાંથી વરસાદ ન વરસે અને જો તેઓ આ મંદિરમાં આવીને પ્રાર્થના કરે, તારું નામ લે, અને તારી સજા પામીને પશ્ચાતાપ કરે,
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<v id="27" bcv="2CH.6.27" />તો તું આકાશમાંથી સાંભળજે, અને તારા સેવકોનો ગુનો માફ કરજે, અને શું સારું છે તે તેમને શીખવજે. અને તારા લોકોને વતન તરીકે આપેલા તેઓના દેશમાં વરસાદ મોકલજે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="28" bcv="2CH.6.28" />“જો દેશમાં દુષ્કાળ પડે, જીવલેણ રોગ ફેલાય, ખેતરના પાકમાં રોગ આવે, ઇયળો પડે કે તીડ પાકનો નાશ કરે અથવા શત્રુઓ તારા લોકના નગરોને ઘેરો ઘાલે, કોઇ પણ મુશ્કેલી આવી પડે,
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<v id="29" bcv="2CH.6.29" />ત્યારે તારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાંનો જે કોઇ આ મંદિર તરફ હાથ પ્રસારીને પોતાની મુશ્કેલી અને દુ:ખને જાણીને પ્રાર્થના અને આજીજી કરે;
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<v id="30" bcv="2CH.6.30" />તો તારા આકાશના નિવાસ સ્થાનમાંથી તે સાંભાળીને માફી આપજે. અને પ્રત્યેકને યોગ્ય બદલો આપજે, કારણ, તું અંતર્યામી છે તું જ બધા માણસોના અંતરને જાણે છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="2CH.6.31" />એ રીતે તેઓ તારાથી ડરીને ચાલશે અને અમારા પિતૃઓને તેઁ જે ભૂમિ આપી હતી, તેમાં જીવનભર તેઓ તારી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરશે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="32" bcv="2CH.6.32" />“અને કોઇ વ્યકિત જે ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાંનો નથી એવો કોઇ વ્યકિત દૂર દેશથી તારા મહાન નામની અને પ્રચંડ શકિતની કીતિર્ સાંભળીને આવે અને આ મંદિર તરફ જોઇને પ્રાર્થના કરે,
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<v id="33" bcv="2CH.6.33" />તો તારા નિવાસસ્થાન આકાશમાંથી તે સાંભળીને તેઓની વિનંતી માન્ય કરજે. ત્યારે પૃથ્વીની સર્વ પ્રજાઓ તારી ખ્યાતિ વિષે સાંભળશે અને તારા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોની જેમ તારો ડર રાખશે અને તેઓ જાણશે કે મેં જે મંદિર બાંધ્યું છે, તે સાચે જ તારું છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="34" bcv="2CH.6.34" />“જો તારા લોકોને તું જે કોઇ માગેર્ મોકલે તે માગેર્ તેઓ પોતાના શત્રુઓની સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા જાય, ને આ નગર જે તે પસંદ કર્યુ છે, ને મેં જે મંદિર તારા નામને માટે બાંધ્યું છે, તેની તરફ મુખ ફેરવીને તેઓ તારી પ્રાર્થના કરે;
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<v id="35" bcv="2CH.6.35" />તો તું તેઓની પ્રાર્થના તથા અરજી સાંભળીને તેઓનો પક્ષ લેજે અને તેમને ન્યાય મેળવવા માટે મદદ કરજે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="36" bcv="2CH.6.36" />“જો તેઓ તારી વિરૂદ્ધ પાપ કરે, કોણ નથી કરતું? અને તું રોષે ભરાઇને તેઓને દુશ્મનોના હાથમાં સોંપી દે. અને તેઓ તેમને કેદ કરીને પોતાના દેશમાં લઇ જાય પછી એ દૂર હોય કે નજીક હોય,
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<v id="37" bcv="2CH.6.37" />અને એ વિદેશમાં તેમને ભાન થાય અને તેઓ પશ્ચાતાપ કરી તને વિનવે કે, અમે પાપ કર્યુ છે, અને દુષ્ટ વર્તન કર્યુ છે ‘એમ કહીને પાછા ફરે,’
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<v id="38" bcv="2CH.6.38" />અને જો તેઓ પૂરા મનથી તારી તરફ પાછા વળે અને તેં તેમના પિતૃઓને આપેલી ભૂમિ અને તે પસંદ કરેલા શહેર તથા તારા નામ માટે મેં બાંધેલા આ મંદિર તરફ મોં કરીને પ્રાર્થના કરે.
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<v id="39" bcv="2CH.6.39" />તો તું તારા ધામ આકાશમાંથી તેમની પ્રાર્થના અને વિનવણી સાંભળજે અને તેમને ન્યાય મેળવવા માટે મદદ કરજે, અને તારા લોકોને તેમણે તારી વિરૂદ્ધ કરેલાં બધાં પાપો માટે ક્ષમા કરજે.
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<v id="40" bcv="2CH.6.40" />હવે, હે મારા દેવ, આ મંદિરમાં થતી પ્રાર્થના માટે તારી આંખ ઉઘાડી રાખજે, અને જાગૃત રહીને ધ્યાન આપજે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="2CH.6.41" />“હે દેવ યહોવા, ઊઠો, તું અને તારું સાર્મથ્ય દર્શાવતો કરારકોશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા વિશ્રામસ્થાને ઊઠી આવ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે દેવ યહોવા, તારા યાજકો વિજયી વસ્ત્રથી શુશોભિત થાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભલે તારા ભકતો સમૃદ્ધિ પામે અને આનંદોત્સવ મનાવે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="2CH.6.42" />હે દેવ યહોવા, તે જેનો અભિષેક કર્યો છે તેનાથી વિમુખ ન થઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા સેવક દાઉદ પ્રત્યેનો તારો શાશ્વત પ્રેમ સંભારી કૃપાનું સ્મરણ કર.”
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</q>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">મંદિરમાં પ્રતિષ્ઠાપન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.7.1" />સુલેમાને પ્રાર્થના પૂરી કરી એટલે આકાશમાંથી અગ્નિએ ઊતરીને દહનાર્પણ અને હોમબલિઓને ભસ્મીભૂત કર્યા અને યહોવાના ગૌરવથી મંદિર ભરાઇ ગયું.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.7.2" />જેથી યાજકો યહોવાના મંદિરમાં પ્રવેશ કરી શક્યાં નહિ. વળી યહોવાના ગૌરવથી મંદિર ભરાઇ ગયું હતું.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.7.3" />તમામ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ અગ્નિને ઉતરતો અને યહોવાના ગૌરવને મંદિર ઉપર સ્થિર થતો જોઇને ફરસબંદી ઉપર લાંબા થઇને પ્રણામ કર્યા. અને યહોવાનો આભાર માન્યો, અને એમ કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તે ભલાઇનો ભંડાર છે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેની કરૂણા શાશ્વત છે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2CH.7.4" />ત્યારબાદ રાજાએ અને સર્વ લોકોએ મંદિરનું અર્પણ કાર્ય કરી, યહોવા સમક્ષ તેઓએ હોમબલિઓ આપ્યાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.7.5" />રાજા સુલેમાને 22,000 બળદ અને 1,20,000 ઘેટાનું બલિદાન આપ્યું. આ રીતે, રાજાએ અને બધા લોકોએ મંદિરનું સમર્પણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.7.6" />યાજકો પોતપોતાના કામ પ્રમાણે નિયત સ્થાને ઊભા રહ્યા, એ જ રીતે લેવીઓ પણ યહોવાના કીર્તન વખતે વગાડવા માટે દાઉદે બનાવેલાં વાજિંત્રો લઇને ઊભા રહ્યા અને દાઉદે રચેલા સ્તવનો ગાવા લાગ્યાં કે, “તે ભલાઇનો ભંડાર છે, અને તેની કરૂણા શાશ્વત છે.” તેમની બાજુમાં યાજકો રણશિંગડાં ફૂંકતા હતા. બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ત્યાં ઊભા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.7.7" />ત્યારબાદ સુલેમાને યહોવાના મંદિરની આગળ આવેલા ચોકનો વચલો ભાગ પણ પવિત્ર કર્યો. ત્યાં તેણે દહનાર્પણો, ખાદ્યાર્પણો તથા શાંત્યર્પણોના ચરબીવાળા ભાગો ધરાવ્યાં. કારણ સુલેમાને જે પિત્તળની વેદી બનાવડાવી હતી તેમાં આ બધી બલિઓ સમાઇ શકે એમ ન હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.7.8" />આ રીતે સુલેમાને અને સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ઉત્તરમાં ઠેઠ હમાથની ઘાટીથી તે દક્ષિણમાં મિસર સુધીના સમગ્ર સમુદાયે સાત દિવસ સુધી ઉત્સવ ઊજવ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.7.9" />અને આઠમે દિવસે ખાસ મુલાકાત રાખી કરી. કારણ કે સાત દિવસ સુધી વેદીના સમર્પણની ઉજવણી કરી હતી અને સાત દિવસ સુધી તે લોકોએ ઉજવણી કરી.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.7.10" />સાતમા મહિનાના ત્રેવીસમા દિવસે સુલેમાને લોકોને પોતપોતાને ઘેર મોકલી દીધા. યહોવાએ દાઉદનું, સુલેમાનનું, અને પોતાની ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાનું જે કલ્યાણ કર્યુ હતું તેથી આનંદ અને હર્ષથી છલકતાં હૈયે સૌ છૂટા પડ્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">સુલેમાનને દેવ દર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.7.11" />આમ સુલેમાને દેવનાં મંદિરનું અને પોતાના મહેલનું બાંધકામ પૂર્ણ કર્યું. જે કાંઇ તેણે વિચાર્યુ હતું તે બધું જ તેણે પૂર્ણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.7.12" />તેથી રાત્રે યહોવાએ તેને દર્શન આપ્યા અને કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“મેં તમારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી છે અને મને હોમયજ્ઞ અર્પવા માટે આ સ્થાન પસંદ કર્યું છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.7.13" />હું આકાશના દ્વાર બંધ કરી દઉં અને વરસાદ ન વરસે, અથવા હું તીડોને પાક ખાઇ જવાની આજ્ઞા કરું, અથવા લોકોમાં રોગચાળો મોકલું,
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.7.14" />તે વખતે મેં જેમને પોતાના કર્યા છે તે, લોકો મારે શરણે આવીને પ્રાર્થના કરે અને મારુ માર્ગદર્શન માગે અને ખોટે માગેર્થી પાછા ફરે તો હું આકાશમાંથી સાંભળીશ અને તેમનાં પાપોને માફ કરીશ અને તેમની ભૂમિને સ્વસ્થ કરી દઇશ.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.7.15" />આ સ્થળે કરેલી પ્રત્યેક પ્રાર્થના સંબંધી હું જાગ્રત રહીશ અને તે સાંભળીશ.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.7.16" />કારણકે મારા સદાકાળના નિવાસસ્થાન માટે મેં આ મંદિરને પસંદ કરીને પવિત્ર કર્યુ છે. મારી આંખો અને મારું અંત:કરણ સદા અહીં જ રહેશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.7.17" />તારા પિતા દાઉદની જેમ જો તું મને આધીન રહેશે, હું જે કઇં કહું તે બધું કરશે અને મારા નિયમો અને કાનૂનનોનું પાલન કરશે,
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.7.18" />પછી તે હું કરીશ, તે તું અને તારા વંશજો હંમેશા ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા બની રહો. એવું વચન મે તારા પિતા દાઉદને આપ્યુ હતું
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="19" bcv="2CH.7.19" />“પણ જો તમે મારાથી વિમુખ થઇ જશો અને મારી આજ્ઞાઓ અને મારી આજ્ઞાઓ ત્યાગ કરી બીજા દેવોની આરાધના અને સેવા કરશો,
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<v id="20" bcv="2CH.7.20" />તો મેં તમને જે ભૂમિ આપી છે તેમાંથી તમને ઉખેડી નાખીશ અને મને અર્પણ કરેલા આ મંદિરનો હું ત્યાગ કરીશ અને આ જગ્યામાં કાંઇક ખરાબ બન્યું હતું તેના માટે આ મંદિરને હું પ્રસિદ્ધ કરીશ.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.7.21" />તેની ખ્યાતિને બદલે ત્યાં થઇને પસાર થનારાઓ આશ્ચર્ય પામી પૂછશે, ‘યહોવાએ આ દેશ અને આ મંદિરની આવી દુર્દશા શા માટે કરી?’
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<v id="22" bcv="2CH.7.22" />અને જવાબ મળશે, ‘કારણકે એ લોકોએ પોતાને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવનાર પોતાના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાનો ત્યાગ કર્યો અને બીજા દેવોનો અંગીકાર કરીને તેમની સેવાપૂજા કરવા માંડી, એ કારણથી યહોવાએ આ બધી આફતો તેમના પર ઉતારી છે.’”
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</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">સુલેમાને વસાવેલા નગરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.8.1" />સુલેમાનને યહોવાનું મંદિર અને પોતાનો રાજમહેલ બાંધતા વીસ વર્ષ થયાં હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.8.2" />રાજા હૂરામે સુલેમાનને નગરો આપ્યા હતા, હવે સુલેમાને તે નગરોને ફરી બાંધ્યાં પછી તે લોકોને શહેરમાં રહેવા લઇ આવ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.8.3" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે હમાથ જઇને તે કબ્જે કર્યું.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.8.4" />અને તેણે રણમાં આવેલા તાદમોરને ફરીથી બંધાવ્યું અને હમાથમાં શહેરો બંધાવ્યા જ્યા લશ્કરી પડાવ હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.8.5" />તેણે ઉપરના બેથ-હોરોન અને નીચેના બેથ-હોરોન કિલ્લેબંધીવાળા બનાવ્યાં. તેણે શહેરોને સળિયા જડેલા દરવાજાઓ સાથે મજબૂત કિલ્લામાં ફેરવી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.8.6" />તેઓને પણ કોઠારના કેન્દ્રો બનાવ્યા ઉપરાંત બાઅલાથ અને પોતાની માલિકીના બધા લશ્કરી થાણા વાળા શહેરો, એના રથો અને ધોડાઓ જેમાં રાખવામાં આવ્યા હતા તે નગરી તથા પોતે યરૂશાલેમમાં, લબાનોનમાં તથા પોતાના તાબાના આખા પ્રદેશમાં જે જે બંધાવવાનું ધાર્યુ હતું તે બધું એણે બંધાવ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.8.7" />હિત્તીઓ, અમોરીઓ, પરિઝઝીઓ, હિવ્વીઓ, યબૂસીઓ વગેરે બિન ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોમાંના જેઓ દેશમાં બાકી રહ્યા હતા,
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.8.8" />એટલે કે જેઓનું ઇસ્રાએલીઓ નિકંદન કાઢી શક્યા નહોતા, તેઓ પાસે સુલેમાને ગુલામનું કામ કરાવડાવ્યું, જે આજે પણ ચાલુ છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.8.9" />પણ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને માથે સુલેમાને વેઠ નાખી નહોતી, તેઓ તેના યોદ્ધા, સેનાનાયકો, રથસેનાના તથા અશ્વસેનાના નાયકો તરીકે કામ કરતા હતા.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.8.10" />લોકો ઉપર દેખરેખ રાખનાર અધિકારીઓની કુલ સંખ્યા 250 હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.8.11" />સુલેમાન ફારુનની કુંવરીને તેને માટે બંધાવેલ ખાસ ઘરમાં લઇ આવ્યો, તેણે કહ્યું, “દાઉદ રાજાના મહેલમાં તેણે રહેવું જોઇએ નહિ, કારણકે યહોવાનો કરારકોશ ત્યાં હતો તેથી તે સ્થાન પવિત્ર છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.8.12" />ત્યારબાદ સુલેમાને મંદિરની સામે બંધાવેલી વેદી ઉપર યહોવાને, મૂસાની આજ્ઞા મુજબ, તે દહનાર્પણો ચઢાવવાનું શરૂ કર્યું.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.8.13" />દરરોજ, વિશ્રામવારને દિવસે, ચંદ્રદર્શનને દિવસે, તથા ત્રણ વાષિર્ક ઉત્સવોને દિવસે એટલે કે બેખમીર રોટલીને ઉત્સવ, સપ્તાહોના પર્વનો ઉત્સવ, અને માંડવાઓપર્વના ઉત્સવને દિવસે સુલેમાન મૂસાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે બલિદાનો અર્પણ કરતો હતો.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.8.14" />તેણે દેવના સેવક પોતાના પિતા દાઉદે તૈયાર કરેલા આયોજન મુજબ સેવાપૂજાનાં કાર્યો માટે યાજકોની ટોળી નક્કી કરી, રોજની વિધિ અનુસાર યાજકોને સેવાપૂજામાં મદદ કરવા લેવીઓની ટૂકડીઓની નિમણૂંક કરી, અને દરેક દરવાજે દરવાનોની ટૂકડી પણ નક્કી કરી.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.8.15" />દાઉદે યાજકોને, લેવીઓને અને ભંડારોને લગતી જે આજ્ઞાઓ આપી હતી તેનું ચુસ્તપણે પાલન કરવામાં આવ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.8.16" />આમ, યહોવાના મંદિરના પાયાથી માંડીને એની સમાપ્તિ સુધીનું સુલેમાનનું બધું કામ પૂર્ણ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2CH.8.17" />પછી સુલેમાન અદોમ દેશમાં દરિયાકિનારે આવેલાં એસ્યોનગેબેર અને એલોથ નગરોમાં ગયો.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.8.18" />હૂરામે પોતાના અમલદારો મારફતે સુલેમાન માટે અનુભવી નાવિકો સાથે હોડીઓ મોકલી આપી, તેઓ સુલેમાનના માણસો સાથે ઓફીર જઇને ત્યાંથી 15,300 કિલો સોનું લઇ આવ્યાં અને તે સુલેમાનને પહોંચાડ્યું.
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">શેબાની રાણીની મુલાકાત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.9.1" />સુલેમાનનાં અદ્ભૂત ડહાપણ અને તેની કીતિર્ સાંભળીને શેબાની રાણી, તેની કસોટી કરવા માટે અઘરા પ્રશ્ર્નો લઇને યરૂશાલેમ આવી, તે પોતાની સાથે અંગરક્ષકો અને અમલદારોનો મોટો રસાલો અને ઊંટ ઉપર લાદીને અત્તરો, પુષ્કળ સોનું અને ઝવેરાત લઇને આવી હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.9.2" />સુલેમાન આગળ આવીને, તેણે પોતાના મનમાં હતા તે બધાં પ્રશ્ર્નો પૂછયા અને સુલેમાને તેના બધા જ પ્રશ્ર્નોના જવાબ આપ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.9.3" />એક પ્રશ્ર્ન પણ એવો નહોતો જેનો સુલેમાન જવાબ ન આપી શકે. શેબાની રાણીએ જાણ્યું કે, સુલેમાન સાચે જ જ્ઞાની હતો અને તેના મહેલની સુંદરતા અવર્ણનીય હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.9.4" />શેબાની રાણીની થાળીમાં પીરસાતી વાનગીઓ, આસપાસ બેઠેલા દરબારીઓ, તેના સેવકો તથા સુંદર પોષાકોમાં અંગરક્ષકો, વહીવટી અમલદારો તથા યહોવાના મંદિરમાં ધરાવાતા દહનાર્પણો જોઇને આશ્ચર્યચકિત થઇ ગઇ.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CH.9.5" />પછી તેણે રાજાને કહ્યું, “મેં મારા દેશમાં તમારા વિષે તથા તમારા જ્ઞાન વિષે જે સાંભળ્યું હતું તે બધું સાચું હતું.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.9.6" />અહીં આવીને મેં મારી આંખોએ આ જોયું નહોતું ત્યાં સુધી હું તે માનતી નહોતી, મેં કલ્પના કરી હતી તેના કરતાં તમારું જ્ઞાન અતિ વિશાળ છે!
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.9.7" />તમારી રાણીઓ કેટલી સુખી છે! સદા તમારી તહેનાતમાં રહેતા અને તમારી જ્ઞાનવાણી સાંભળતા આ દરબારીઓ પણ કેટલાં ભાગ્યશાળી છે!
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.9.8" />યહોવા તમારા દેવની સ્તુતિ થાઓ! એ તમારા પર પ્રસન્ન છે. ઇસ્રાએલ પર તે એટલો બધો પ્રેમ કરે છે કે, તેમણે તમારા જેવો ન્યાયી રાજા તેઓને આપ્યો છે. દેવ ઇચ્છે છે કે, સદાને માટે ઇસ્રાએલ મહાન અને બળવાન રાજ્ય બને.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2CH.9.9" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે રાજાને 4,080 કિલો સોનું, પુષ્કળ અત્તરો અને ઝવેરાત ભેટ ધર્યું. શેબાની રાણીએ રાજા સુલેમાનને ભેટ ધરેલાં અત્તરો કદી કોઇએ જોયાં નહોતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.9.10" />હૂરામ રાજાના નાવિકો અને સુલેમાન રાજાના સેવકો ઓફીરથી સોનું લાવ્યા, વળી સાથે ચંદનના લાકડા અને મૂલ્યવાન રત્નો પણ લાવ્યા.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.9.11" />એ ચંદનના લાકડામાંથી રાજાએ યહોવાના મંદિરના અને મહેલના પગથિયા, અને ગાયકગણ માટે સિતાર, અને વીણા બનાવડાવ્યાં. આવાં સુંદર વાજિંત્રો યહૂદીયા દેશમાં અગાઉ કદી હતા નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.9.12" />રાજા સુલેમાને શેબાની રાણીને તેણે જે જે માંગ્યું હતું તે બધું આપ્યું. ઉપરાંત, રાણી સુલેમાન માટે જે ભેટસોગાદ લઇ આવી હતી તેટલી ભેટસોગાદો રાજાએ તેને આપી હતી તે જુદી, ત્યારબાદ તે પોતાના રસાલા સાથે પોતાને દેશ પાછી ફરી.
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<s style="s">સુલેમાનની ભવ્ય સંપત્તિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CH.9.13" />રાજા સુલેમાનને પ્રતિ વર્ષ 22,644 કિલો સોનું આવતું હતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.9.14" />આ તો વેપારીઓ ને ધંધાંદારીઓ જે સોનું લાવ્યાં હતા તે ઉપરાંતનું હતું. તથા અરબસ્તાનના રાજવીઓ તથા પ્રાંતોના સૂબાઓ પણ રાજાને સોનુંચાંદી આપતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2CH.9.15" />રાજા સુલેમાને સોનાની 200 ઢાલો ઘડાવી. અને દરેક ઢાલમાં લગભગ સાડાસાત પૌંડ સોનું વપરાયું હતું.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.9.16" />વળી તેણે ટીપેલાં સોનાની 300 નાની ઢાલો ઘડાવી અને એવી દરેક ઢાલો આશરે પોણાચાર પૌન્ડ સોનાની બનેલી હતી. એ ઢાલો તેણે “લબાનોનના વનગૃહ” કહેવાતા મહેલમાં મૂકાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2CH.9.17" />સુલેમાન રાજાએ પોતાના માટે એક હાથીદાંતનું મોટું સિંહાસન બનાવડાવ્યું અને તેને સોનાથી મઢાવ્યું.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.9.18" />એ સિંહાસનના છ પગથિયાં અને પગ મૂકવાનો બાજઠ પણ સોને મઢેલા હતા. સિંહાસનની દરેક બાજુએ હાથ ટેકવાના હાથા હતા અને તેના દરેક હાથાની બાજુમાં એક સિંહનું પૂતળું હતું.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.9.19" />છ પગથિયાં ઉપર દરેક છેડે એક એક એમ બાર સિંહો ઊભા હતા. બીજા કોઇ પણ રાજ્યમાં આવું સિંહાસન કદી બનાવવામાં આવ્યું નહોતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2CH.9.20" />સુલેમાન રાજાના સર્વ પ્યાલાઓ શુદ્ધ સોનાનાં હતા અને લબોનોન વનગૃહના સર્વ પાત્રો સોનાનાં હતા. તે દિવસોમાં ચાંદીની કોઇ વિસાત નહોતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2CH.9.21" />દર ત્રણ વષેર્ રાજાના વહાણો, હૂરામ રાજાના નાવિકો સાથે તાશીર્શ જતાં અને ત્યાંથી સોનું-ચાંદી, હાથીદાંત, વાંદરા અને મોર લાવતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2CH.9.22" />આમ પૃથ્વીના સર્વ રાજાઓમાં રાજા સુલેમાન સૌથી શ્રેષ્ઠ, શ્રીમંત અને જ્ઞાની હતો,
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.9.23" />સમગ્ર દુનિયાના સર્વ રાજાઓ દેવે સુલેમાનને જે જ્ઞાન આપ્યું હતું તે સાંભળવા માટે એના દરબારમાં આવતા,
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<v id="24" bcv="2CH.9.24" />તેઓ બધા પ્રતિવર્ષ એક યા બીજી વસ્તું ભેટ સોગાદો રૂપે લઇને આવતા: સોનાચાંદીના વાસણો, કીમતી વસ્રો, શસ્રો, અત્તરો, ઘોડાઓ અને ખચ્ચરો.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2CH.9.25" />સુલેમાન પાસે ઘોડાઓ અને રથો માટે 4,000 તબેલા તેમજ 12,000 ઘોડેસવારો હતા, એમાંના કટેલાંક એણે રથનગરોમાં રાખ્યા અને બાકીના પોતાની પાસે યરૂશાલેમમાં રાખ્યા.
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<v id="26" bcv="2CH.9.26" />યુફ્રેટીસના બધાં રાજાથી માંડીને પલિસ્તીઓની ભૂમિ સુધી અને મિસરની સરહદ સુધી તેની આણ વર્તાતી હતી.
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<v id="27" bcv="2CH.9.27" />સુલેમાને યરૂશાલેમમાં ચાંદીનો જથ્થો એટલા વિપુલ પ્રમાણમાં વધારી દીધો કે તે રસ્તા પરના પથ્થરો જેવી સામાન્ય થઇ ગઇ. વળી દેવદારવૃક્ષોનું મુલ્યવાન લાકડું નીચાણ જમીનના ગુલ્લરકાષ્ટ વૃક્ષ જેવું સામાન્ય થઇ ગયું હતું.
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<v id="28" bcv="2CH.9.28" />સુલેમાનને માટે મિસર અને બીજા બધા દેશોમાંથી ઘોડા આયાત કરવામાં આવતા હતા.
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<s style="s">સુલેમાનનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2CH.9.29" />સુલેમાન રાજાના જીવનની બાકીની વિગતો પ્રબોધક નાથાને લખેલા ઇતિહાસમાં, શીલોની
<bk>અહિયાના પ્રબોધના પુસ્તકમાં</bk> અને નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમ વિષે
<bk>check દ્વો પ્રબોધકને થયેલાં દર્શનના</bk> પુસ્તકમાં આપવામાં આવેલી છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="2CH.9.30" />સુલેમાન રાજાએ યરૂશાલેમમાંથી સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ ઉપર 40 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ.
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<v id="31" bcv="2CH.9.31" />ત્યારબાદ તે પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેને તેના પિતા દાઉદના નગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર રહાબઆમ રાજગાદી પર આવ્યો.
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<c id="10" />
<s style="s">રહાબઆમે મૂર્ખતાપૂર્ણ કામ કર્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.10.1" />રહાબઆમનો રાજ્યાભિષેક કરવા માટે ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ આગેવાનો શખેમના શહેરમાં ભેગા થયા હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.10.2" />જ્યારે સુલેમાન રાજા હતો, ત્યારે યરોબઆમ તેનાથી ભાગીને મિસરમાં રહ્યો. એ દરમ્યિન નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમના મિત્રોએ તેને સમાચાર મોકલ્યા કે સુલેમાન મૃત્યુ પામ્યો છે. તેથી તે મિસરમાંથી પાછો ફર્યોં.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.10.3" />કારણકે માણસ મોકલીને તેને ત્યાંથી તેડાવ્યો હતો.
</p>
<p style="p">યરોબઆમે તથા સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ આવીને રહાબઆમને વિનંતી કરી કે,
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.10.4" />“તમારા પિતાએ અમારા પર ભારે ઝૂંસરી મૂકી હતી; માટે હવે તું એ આકરી ગુલામીની ભારે ઝૂંસરી હળવી કર, એટલે અમે તારે તાબે રહીશું. અને અમારા રાજા તરીકે સ્વીકારીશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CH.10.5" />રહાબઆમે હહ્યું, “જાઓ, તમે મને ત્રણ દિવસની મુદત આપો, ત્યાર પછી પાછા આવજો.” તેથી તેઓ ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CH.10.6" />ત્યારબાદ રહાબઆમે તેના વડીલોની સલાહ લીધી, જેઓ તેના પિતા સુલેમાન, જીવતા હતાં ત્યારે તેની સાથે હતાં. તેણે પૂછયું, “આ લોકોને શું જવાબ આપવો તેની તમે મને શી સલાહ આપો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.10.7" />તેમણે કહ્યું, “જો આપ એ લોકો સાથે માયાળુપણે વર્તશો અને તેમની સાથે મીઠાશથી વાત કરી, તેમને પ્રસન્ન રાખશો તો તેઓ સદાને માટે આપના તાબેદાર થઇને રહેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.10.8" />પરંતુ વડીલોએ આપેલી સલાહને તેણે ફગાવી દીધી અને પોતાની સાથે ઊછરેલા અને પોતાની તહેનાતમાં રોકાયેલા જુવાનીયાઓની સલાહ લીધી.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.10.9" />તેણે પૂછયું, “મિત્રો, અમારા લોકો પર જે ઝૂંસરી લાદેલી હતી તેને મારે હળવી કરવી એવી એ લોકોની વિનંતી છે, તેનો જવાબ આપવાની તમે મને શુ સલાહ આપો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.10.10" />જુવાનીયાઓએ કહ્યું, “તમે તે લોકોને એવો જવાબ આપો કે, ‘મારા પિતાની કમર કરતાં મારી ટચલી આંગળી વધારે જાડી છે!’
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.10.11" />‘મારા પિતાએ તમારા ઉપર ભારે ઝૂંસરી લાદી હતી, હું એને વધુ ભારે બનાવીશ, મારા પિતા તમને ચાબૂકથી ફટકારતા હતા, હું તમને લોખંડના ટુકડા બાંધેલા કોરડાથી ફટકારીશ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.10.12" />રાજા રહાબઆમનો નિર્ણય સાંભળવા માટે ત્રણ દિવસ પછી યરોબઆમ તથા લોકો તેની પાસે પાછા આવ્યા.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.10.13" />રાજાએ તેઓની સાથે ઊદ્ધતાઇથી વાત કરી, વૃદ્ધ મંત્રીઓની સલાહ તેણે નકારી કાઢી.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.10.14" />અને જુવાનીયાઓની સલાહ પર ધ્યાન આપ્યું. તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “મારા પિતાએ તમારા ઉપર ભારે ઝૂંસરી લાદી હતી, હું એને હજી વધારે ભારે બનાવીશ. મારા પિતા તમને ચાબુકથી ફટકારતા હતા, હું તમને લોખંડના ટુકડા બાંધેલા કોરડાથી ફટકારીશ.”
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.10.15" />આમ, રાજાએ લોકોની વાત પર ધ્યાન આપ્યું નહિ, યહોવાએ શીલોના અહિયા મારફતે નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમે દેવ તરફથી જે ભવિષ્યકથન પ્રગટ કર્યું હતું તે પૂર્ણ કરવા દેવે તેમ થવા દીધું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.10.16" />રાજાનું કહ્યું સાંભળ્યા પછી ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ રાજા તરફ પીઠ ફેરવી અને ચાલ્યા ગયા. ગુસ્સે થઇને તેણે પોકાર કર્યો, “દાઉદ અને તેના કુટુંબને ભૂલી જાઓ! અમે અન્ય કોઇને અમારો રાજા બનાવીશું, રહાબઆમ ભલે યહૂદાના કુળ પર રાજ કરે, ચાલો આપણે ઘેર જઇએ!” પછી લોકો ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.10.17" />આમ, બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પોતપોતાને ઘેર ચાલ્યા ગયા, અને રહાબઆમ યહૂદાના પ્રદેશમાં વસતા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર રાજ્ય કરતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.10.18" />રાજા રહાબઆમે હદોરામને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસે મોકલ્યો હદોરામ વેઠ મજૂરોનો ઉપરી હતો. પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ તેને મારી નાખ્યો. આથી રાજાને રથમા બેસીને યરૂશાલેમ ભાગી જવું પડ્યું.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.10.19" />આજ દિવસપર્યંત ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજાએ દાઉદના વંશજોને પોતાના પર રાજ કરવા દીધું નથી.
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<c id="11" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.11.1" />રહાબઆમે યરૂશાલેમ આવીને યહૂદા અને બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહના કુલ 1,80,000 ચુનંદા યોદ્ધાઓને ભેગા કર્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.11.2" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ દેવભકત શમાયાને કહ્યું કે,
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.11.3" />“યહૂદાના રાજા અને સુલેમાનના પુત્ર રહાબઆમને અને સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જે યહૂદા અને બિન્યામીનમાં રહે છે તેઓને કહે કે:
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.11.4" />‘આ યહોવાના વચન છે: તમારા ભાઇઓ સામે લડવા જશો નહિ, ભલે સૌ કોઇ પોતપોતાને ઘેર પાછા જાય, જે કાઇં બન્યું છે તે ફકત મારી ઇચ્છાથી જ બન્યું છે.’” તેમણે યહોવાનું કહ્યુ માન્યું અને યરોબઆમની સાથે લડવાનું માંડી વાળ્યું.
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<s style="s">યહૂદાને શકિતશાળી બનાવતો રહાબઆમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CH.11.5" />રહાબઆમ યરૂશાલેમમાં રહ્યો. અને યહૂદાના કેટલાંક શહેરોની કિલ્લેબંદી કરાવી. તેણે કિલ્લેબંદી કરાવેલા શહેરો આ પ્રમાણે છે:
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.11.6" />બેથલેહેમ, એટામ, તકોઆ
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.11.7" />બેથ-સુર, સોખો, અદુલ્લામ
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.11.8" />ગાથ, મારેશાહ, ઝીફ,
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.11.9" />અદોરાઇમ, લાખીશ અઝેકાહ
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.11.10" />સોરાહ, આયાલોન, અને હેબ્રોન, આ શહેરો યહૂદામાં અને બિન્યામીનમાં આવેલાં છે,
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.11.11" />તેણે ત્યાં મજબૂત કિલ્લા બંધાવ્યા અને તેમાં અનાજ, તેલ અને દ્રાક્ષારસનો સંગ્રહ કરી ત્યાં સૈન્યોના વડાઓને મૂકયા.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.11.12" />પ્રત્યેક નગરના શાસ્ત્રાગારમાં નગરનું રક્ષણ કરવા માટે તેણે ઢાલો અને ભાલાઓ મૂક્યા, આમ, યહૂદા અને બિન્યામીન તેને વફાદાર રહ્યાં હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CH.11.13" />યાજકો અને લેવીઓ ઉત્તરના રાજ્યમાંથી પોતાના ઘરબાર તજીને તેની સાથે સહમત થવા માટે આવી ગયાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.11.14" />યરોબઆમ રાજાએ તેઓને ફરજ પરથી છૂટા કર્યા હતા અને કહ્યું હતું કે હવે તમારે યહોવાના યાજકો તરીકે કામ કરવું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2CH.11.15" />તેઓના સ્થાને તેણે બીજાઓને યાજકો બનાવ્યા. આ યાજકોએ લોકોને ઉચ્ચસ્થાનોમાં, યરોબઆમે બનાવેલ વાછરડાંના પૂતળાંની પૂજા કરવા માટે લોકોને ઉત્તેજન આપ્યું.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.11.16" />ઇસ્રાએલની બધી ટોળીઓમાંથી યહોવાના જેટલા ભકતો હતા, તે બધાએ યાજકો અને લેવીઓની પાછળ પાછળ, યહોવા પોતાના પિતૃઓના દેવને બલિ ચઢાવવા યરૂશાલેમ આવ્યા.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.11.17" />એ લોકોએ આને કારણે યહૂદાના રાજ્યના બળમાં વધારો કર્યો અને ત્રણ વર્ષ સુધી તેમણે રહાબઆમને ટેકો આપ્યો, કારણ, એ ત્રણ વર્ષ દરમ્યાન તે દાઉદ અને સુલેમાનને પગલે ચાલ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">રહાબઆમનું કુટુંબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.11.18" />રહાબઆમે માહલાથ સાથે લગ્ન કર્યું. માહલાથનો પિતા, દાઉદનો પુત્ર યરીમોથ હતો અને તેની માતા દાઉદના ભાઇ અલીઆબની પુત્રી અબીહાઇલ હતી.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.11.19" />તેઓને ત્રણ પુત્રો થયા; યેઉશ, શમાર્યા અને ઝાહામ,
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<v id="20" bcv="2CH.11.20" />ત્યારબાદ તે આબ્શાલોમની પુત્રી માઅખાહને પરણ્યો અને તેનાથી તેને અબિયા, અત્તાય, ઝીઝા અને શલોમીથ જન્મ્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.11.21" />પોતાની બધી પત્નીઓ અને ઉપપત્નીઓ કરતાં રહાબઆમ માઅખાહ ઉપર વધારે પ્રેમ રાખતો હતો. તેને બધી મળીને 18 પત્નીઓ અને 60 ઉપપત્ની હતી. અને તેમનાથી તેને 28 પુત્રો અને 60 પુત્રીઓ થઈ હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2CH.11.22" />રહાબઆમે માઅખાહના પુત્ર અબિયાને બધા ભાઇઓમાં વડો નીમ્યો અને તેને પોતાના પછી રાજા બનાવવાની ષ્ટિએ પાટવી કુંવર ઠરાવ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.11.23" />રહાબઆમે યુકિતપૂર્વક તેના બીજા પુત્રોને યહૂદિયા અને બિન્યામીનના બધા પ્રદેશોમાં કિલ્લેબંદ નગરોમાં રહેવા માટે મોકલી દીધા. તેણે તેઓને મોટા સાલિયાણાં બાંધી આપ્યા. અને પ્રત્યેકને ઘણી સ્રીઓ સાથે પરણાવ્યા.
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</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">મિસરના રાજાનો યરૂશાલેમ પર વિજય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.12.1" />જ્યારે રહાબઆમનું રાજ્ય સ્થિર થયું અને તે બળવાન બન્યો, ત્યારે તેણે અને યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહે યહોવાની સંહિતાનો માર્ગ છોડી દીધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2CH.12.2" />તેઓએ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાઓનું ઉલ્લંધન કર્યુ તેથી રહાબઆમ રાજાના શાસનના પાંચમે વષેર્ મિસરના રાજા શીશાકે યરૂશાલેમ ઉપર 1,200 રથો તથા 60,000 સવારો લઇને હુમલો કર્યોં.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.12.3" />મિસરમાંથી તેની સાથે અસંખ્ય લૂબીઓ, સુક્કીઇઓ તથા કૂશીઓ આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.12.4" />યહૂદિયાના તાબાનાં કિલ્લાવાળાં નગરો સર કરતો કરતો તે યરૂશાલેમ સુધી આવી પહોંચ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CH.12.5" />રહાબઆમ તથા યહૂદિયાના સરદારો, જેઓ પ્રબોધક શીશાકને લીધે યરૂશાલેમમાં એકઠા થયા હતા, તેઓની પાસે શમાયા પ્રબોધકે આવીને તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “તમે મને અને મારા કાનૂનોને તજી દીધા છે, માટે મેં પણ તમને શીશાકના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધાં છે.” એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CH.12.6" />ઇસ્રાએલના આગેવાનો અને રાજાઓ પોતે નમ્ર થઇને બોલ્યા, “યહોવાની વાત ન્યાયી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.12.7" />યહોવાએ જ્યારે જોયું કે એ લોકો શરણે થઇ ગયા છે, ત્યારે તેણે ફરી શમાયાને પોતાની વાણી સંભળાવી કે, “એ લોકો શરણે થઇ ગયા છે એટલે હું એમનો નાશ નહિ કરું; હું એમને થોડીવારમાં રાહત આપીશ, હું મારો રોષ શીશાક મારફતે યરૂશાલેમ પર નહિ ઉતારું.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.12.8" />પરંતુ એ લોકોએ શીશાકના ગુલામ થવું પડશે, અને ત્યારે તેમને સમજાશે કે મારી સેવા કરવામાં અને વિદેશી રાજાઓની સેવા કરવામાં કેટલો ફેર છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2CH.12.9" />મિસરના રાજા શીશાકે યરૂશાલેમ ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરી અને તે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં તથા રાજમહેલના બધા ભંડાર લૂંટી ગયો. તે સુલેમાને બનાવડાવેલી સોનાની ઢાલો સહિત બધું જ લઇ ગયો.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.12.10" />રહાબઆમ રાજાએ તેમને ઠેકાણે પિત્તળની ઢાલો બનાવડાવીને રાજાના મહેલમાં દ્વારપાળોના તથા અમલદારોના હાથમાં સોંપી.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.12.11" />જ્યારે જ્યારે રાજા યહોવાના મંદિરમાં જતો ત્યારે ત્યારે રક્ષકો તે ઢાલ લઇને આવતા અને પછીથી શસ્રાગારમાં મૂકી દેતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.12.12" />રહાબઆમ યહોવાને શરણે થઇ ગયો, વળી યહૂદામાં ધણાં સારા લોકો હતા, તેથી યહોવાએ તેનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ ન કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CH.12.13" />આમ, રહાબઆમ રાજાએ યરૂશાલેમમાં બળવાન થઇને રાજ્ય કર્યુ. તે ગાદીએ આવ્યો અને ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 41 વર્ષની હતી. તેણે યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલના બધા કુળસમૂહોના પ્રદેશોમાંથી પોતાના નામની સ્થાપના માટે પસંદ કરેલા નગર યરૂશાલેમમાં 17 વર્ષ સુધી રાજ્ય કર્યુ. રહાબઆમની માતા આમ્મોનની હતી અને તેનું નામ નાઅમાહ હતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.12.14" />યહોવાની ભકિત સાચા હૃદયથી ન કરીને, રહાબઆમે ખોટું આચરણ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2CH.12.15" />રહાબઆમનાં અમલના બધા જ કૃત્યો પહેલેથી તે છેલ્લે સુધી, શમાયા પ્રબોધકની તથા ઇદૃો દ્રષ્ટાની તવારીખમાં વંશાવળીના અનુક્રમે નોંધેલા છે. રહાબઆમ અને યરોબઆમ વચ્ચે સતત યુદ્ધ ચાલ્યા કર્યું.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.12.16" />રહાબઆમ પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો, અને તેને દાઉદનગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો; અને તેની જગ્યાએ તેનો પુત્ર અબિયા રાજા થયો.
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</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">યહૂદાનો રાજા અબિયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.13.1" />રાજા યરોબઆમના અમલના અઢારમા વષેર્ અબિયા યહૂદિયાનો રાજા થયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.13.2" />તેણે ત્રણ વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યુ. તેની માતાનું નામ મીખાયા હતું. તે ગિબયાહના ઉરીએલની પુત્રી હતી. અબિયા અને યરોબઆમ વચ્ચે યુદ્ધ ફાટી નીકવ્યું.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.13.3" />અબિયા 4,00,000 ચુનંદા શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓની સાથે આવ્યો અને યરોબઆમ 8,00,000 ચુનંદા શૂરવીર લડવૈયાઓને લઇને સામે આવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2CH.13.4" />જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલનું સૈન્ય એફ્રાઇમના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં આવેલા સમારાઇમ આવી પહોંચ્યું, ત્યારે રાજા અબિયાએ રાજા યરોબઆમ અને ઇસ્રાએલના સૈન્યને મોટા સાદે કહ્યું,
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.13.5" />“સાંભળો! યરોબઆમ અને સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, શું તમે નથી જાણતા કે ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવે વચન આપ્યું છે કે, દાઉદના સંતાનો જ ઇસ્રાએલ ઉપર સદાકાળ રાજ કરશે?
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.13.6" />તેમ છતાં દાઉદના પુત્ર સુલેમાનના નોકર નબાટના પુત્ર યરોબઆમે પોતાના માલિક સામે બળવો કર્યો છે,
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.13.7" />અને કેટલાક નકામા અને અનિષ્ટ માણસો તેની સાથે મળી ગયા છે. અને સુલેમાનનો પુત્ર રહોબઆમ નાદાન અને મૂર્ખ હતો, અને તેમનો સામનો ન કરી શકે એવો હતો. તેઓ રહોબઆમ કરતા શકિતશાળી હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.13.8" />“અને હવે તમે દાઉદના વંશજોના રાજ્યને હરાવવાની વાત કરો છો, જેને યહોવાએ શાસન કરવાની શકિત આપી હતી. અને તમે વિશાળ સમૂહ છો અને યરોબઆમે બનાવડાવેલી સોનાના વાછરડાની મૂર્તિઓને તમારા દેવ તરીકે સાથે લઇને તમે આવ્યા છો!
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.13.9" />તમે હારુનના વંશજોને – યહોવાના યાજકોને અને લેવીઓને હાંકી કાઢયા છે અને વિદેશી લોકોની જેમ તમે મનગમતા યાજકો નીમ્યા છે! જે કોઇ એક વાછરડો અને સાત ઘેટાં લઇને યાજક બનવા આવે તેને તમે જેઓ દેવ નથી તેમની સેવા કરવા માટે યાજક બનાવી દો છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.13.10" />“પરંતુ અમારા માટે તો યહોવા જ અમારા દેવ છે; અને અમે તેમને તજી દીધા નથી. ફકત હારુનના વંશજો અમારા યાજકો છે અને માત્ર લેવીઓ જ યાજકોને તેઓના કામમાં મદદ કરે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.13.11" />તેઓ રોજ સવારે તથા સાંજે દહનાર્પણો અને સુવાસિત ધૂપનું દહન કરે છે અને પવિત્ર મેજ ઉપર પ્રદશિર્ત કરવા માટેની રોટલી મૂકે છે. દરરોજ સાંજે સોનાના દીપવૃક્ષ પર દીવાઓ પ્રગટાવે છે. કારણકે યહોવા અમારા દેવની આજ્ઞાઓને અનુસરવા અમે કાળજી રાખીએ છીએ; પણ તમે તો તેમને તજી દીધા છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.13.12" />જુઓ, અમારા દેવ અમારી આગળ અને અમારી સાથે છે, અને તેના યાજકો રણશિંગા લઇને તમારી સામે યુદ્ધનાદ કરે છે, ‘હે ઇસ્રાએલ પુત્રો, તમારા પિતૃઓના યહોવા દેવની સામે ન લડો; તેમાં તમે જીતી શકશો નહિ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CH.13.13" />પણ યરોબઆમે પોતાના લશ્કરની એક ટૂકડીને યહૂદાવાસીઓની પાછળ જઇ છુપાઇ રહેવા મોકલી આપી, એટલે મુખ્ય લશ્કર યહૂદાવાસીઓની સામે રહ્યું અને છુપાયેલા માણસો તેમની પાછળ રહ્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.13.14" />યહૂદાએ પાછળ જોયું; તો જુઓ, પોતાની આગળ તથા પાછળ યુદ્ધની તૈયારી કરી રાખી હતી; ત્યારે તેઓએ યહોવાને આજીજી કરી, ને યાજકોએ રણશિંગડા વગાડ્યાં.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.13.15" />યહૂદિયાના સૈનિકોએ મોટા સાદે પોકાર કર્યો. જ્યારે તેઓએ પોકાર કર્યો, ત્યારે દેવે અબિયા રાજા અને યહૂદિયા સૈન્યનો એવો ઉપયોગ કર્યો કે યરોબઆમ રાજા અને ઇસ્રાએલનું સૈન્ય હારવા લાગ્યું.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.13.16" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ યહૂદાવાસીઓથી ભાગવા લાગ્યા, પણ દેવે તેમને યહૂદાવાસીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.13.17" />અબિયાએ અને તેની સેનાએ તેમનો સખત પરાજય કર્યો, ઇસ્રાએલના શ્રેષ્ઠ યોદ્ધાઓમાંથી 5,00,000 સૈનિકો માર્યા ગયા.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.13.18" />આમ, તે સમયે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ હારી ગયા, ને યહૂદાના સૈન્યનો વિજય થયો, કારણકે તેઓએ પોતાના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવા પર ભરોસો રાખ્યો હતો,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2CH.13.19" />અબિયાએ યરોબઆમનો પીછો પકડી, તેના કબજામાંથી આસપાસના કસબા સહિત બેથેલ, યશાનાહ, અને એક્રોન નગરો લઇ લીધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2CH.13.20" />અબિયા જીવતો હતો ત્યાં સુધી યરોબઆમ ફરી શકિતશાળી બની શક્યો નહિ અને આખરે યહોવાએ તેને સજા કરી અને તે મરી ગયો.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.13.21" />પરંતુ અબિયાનું બળ વધતું ગયું; તે 14 સ્રીઓ સાથે પરણ્યો, તેને
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<v id="22" bcv="2CH.13.22" />પુત્રો તથા 16 પુત્રીઓ થયાં.અબિયાનો બાકીનો ઇતિહાસ, તેનાં કાર્યો તેનાં આચરણ અને તેનાં વચનો ઇદ્દો પ્રબોધકના ટીકાગ્રંથમાઁ નોંધેલા છે.
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<c id="14" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.14.1" />એ પછી અબિયા પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો, અને તેને દાઉદનગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર આસા યહૂદિયાનો રાજા બન્યો. તેના શાસનકાળના પ્રથમ દશ વર્ષ દરમિયાન દેશમાં શાંતિ હતી.
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<s style="s">આસા રાજા યહોવાને આધીન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2CH.14.2" />આસાએ એના દેવ યહોવાની નજરમાં સારું અને યોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.14.3" />તેણે પારકી મૂર્તિઓની વેદીઓ અને પર્વતો પરનાં ઉચ્ચસ્થાનો તોડી પાડ્યાં. તેણે પૂજાસ્તંભો ભાંગી નાખ્યા, અને અશેરા દેવીના લાકડાના થાંભલા કાપી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.14.4" />અને યહૂદાના લોકોને તેમના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાની સેવાપૂજા કરવાનો અને તેના કાનૂનો અને આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરવાનો હુકમ કર્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.14.5" />તેણે યહૂદાના પ્રત્યેક શહેરમાંના ટેકરી ઉપરના થાનકોનો અને ધૂપવેદીઓનો નાશ કર્યો. તેના અમલ દરમિયાન રાજ્યમાં શાંતિ રહી.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.14.6" />તેને લીધે સમગ્ર યહૂદિયામાં તે કિલ્લાવાળા નગરો બાંધી શક્યો. તે ભૂમિને યહોવાએ શાંતિ આપી.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.14.7" />તેણે યહૂદાના લોકોને કહ્યું, “ચાલો, આપણે આ શહેરો નવેસરથી બાંધીએ, તેમની ફરતે કોટ કરીએ અને તેના બુરજો અને ભૂંગળોવાળા દરવાજા મૂકીએ, આ ભૂમિ હજી આપણી છે, કારણ, આપણે આપણા દેવ યહોવાની સેવાપૂજા કરીએ છીએ અને તેણે આપણા ઉપર દયા કરી, આપણને બધી બાજુએથી શાંતિ અને સલામતી આપી છે.” આથી તેમણે નગરો બાંધવા માંડ્યાં અને એ કામ સફળતાપૂર્વક પાર ઉતાર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.14.8" />આસા પાસે ઢાલ અને ભાલાથી સજ્જ 3,00,000 યહૂદાવંશીઓ, અને 2,80,000 ઢાલ ધનુષ્યથી સજ્જ બિન્યામીન વંશીઓનું સૈન્ય હતું. એ બધા જ શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓ હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2CH.14.9" />કૂશ દેશનો સેનાપતિ ઝેરાહ 10,00,000 સૈનિકો અને 300 રથનું સૈન્ય લઇને આસા સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા આવ્યો અને તે મારેશાહ સુધી આવી પહોંચ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.14.10" />આસા તેનો સામનો કરવા બહાર પડ્યો અને તેણે મારેશાહ આગળ સફાથાહના મેદાનમાં સેનાને યુદ્ધ માટે ગોઠવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.14.11" />આસાએ પોતાના દેવ યહોવાને અરજ કરી, “હે યહોવા, બળવાનની વિરૂદ્ધ નિર્બળને સહાય કરનાર, તારા સિવાય બીજો કોઇ નથી; હે યહોવા, અમારા દેવ, અમને સહાય કર; અમને માત્ર તારો જ આધાર છે. અને તારું નામ લઇને જ અમે આ મોટા સૈન્યની સામે આવ્યા છીએ, હે યહોવા, તું અમારો દેવ છે. લોકો તારી પર વિજયી ન થાય, એ જોજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.14.12" />યહોવાએ આસા અને યહૂદાવાસીઓને હાથે કુશીઓને હરાવી દીધા અને તેઓ ભાગવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.14.13" />આસા અને તેના માણસોએ ગરાર સુધી તેમનો પીછો કર્યો. યહોવા અને તેની સેના આગળ કુશીઓ છિન્નભિન્ન થઇ ગયા; તેથી ઘણા કુશીઓ મરી ગયા કે તેઓ બીજુ લશ્કર ઊભુ કરી શક્યા નહિ. યહૂદાવાસીઓએ મોટા જથ્થામાં લૂંટ ભેગી કરી.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.14.14" />તેમણે ગરારની આસપાસના બધાં શહેરોનો નાશ કર્યો, કારણ, યહોવાએ લોકોને ભયભીત બનાવી દીધાં હતા, તેમણે બધા શહેરો લૂંટી લીધા, અને તેમને એ શહેરોમાંથી પુષ્કળ લૂંટ મળી,
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.14.15" />તેઓએ નગરોને લૂંટી લીધા અને ઘેટાંપાળકોનાં ઢોર રાખવાના માંડવા તોડી નાખ્યા અને સંખ્યાબંધ ઘેટાં તથા ઊંટો લઇને અંતે તેઓ યરૂશાલેમ પાછા આવ્યા.
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<c id="15" />
<s style="s">આસામા પરિવર્તન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.15.1" />ત્યારબાદ ઓદેદના પુત્ર અઝાર્યામાં યહોવાનો આત્મા પ્રવેશ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.15.2" />તેથી તે આસાને મળવા ગયો, ને કહ્યું, “આસા તથા યહૂદા અને બિન્યામીનના બધા લોકો, મારી વાત સાંભળો, જ્યાં સુધી તમે યહોવા સાથે રહેશો ત્યાં સુધી તે તમારી સાથે રહેશે, તમે જો તેને શોધશો, તો તે તમને મળશે. જો તમે તેનો ત્યાગ કરશો, તો તે તમારો ત્યાગ કરશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.15.3" />ઘણા લાંબા સમયથી ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ સાચા દેવની પ્રાર્થના કરી ન હતી, અને તેઓને તે વિષેનું શિક્ષણ આપવા માટે ત્યાં કોઇ યાજક ન હતો. દેવના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર અનુસર્યા વિના તેઓ જીવન પસાર કરતા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.15.4" />પરંતુ જ્યારે પોતાના સંકટના સમયે તેમણે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા તરફ વળી તેની શોધ આદરી ત્યારે તે તેમને પ્રાપ્ત થયા.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.15.5" />તેઓએ દેવ વિરુદ્ધ બળવો પોકાર્યો હતો, તેથી તે સમયે કોઇને શાંતિ નહોતી, દેશ દરેક રીતે મુશ્કેલીમાં આવી પડ્યો હતો અને સર્વત્ર ગુનાઓ વધી રહ્યા હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.15.6" />પ્રજાઓ અને નગરો એકબીજા સાથે લડીને પાયમાલ થતાં હતા. કારણકે દેવ તેઓને દરેક પ્રકારની આફતો વડે શિક્ષા કરતા હતા.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.15.7" />પણ હવે તમે બળવાન બનજો અને હિંમત હારશો નહિ. તમને તમારા કાર્યોના ફળ મળશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.15.8" />જ્યારે આસાએ દિવ્યવાણીના વચનો ઓદેદની ભવિષ્યવાણીમાં સાંભળ્યા, ત્યારે તેણે હિંમત રાખીને યહૂદા તથા બિન્યામીનના દેશમાંથી તથા જે શહેરો તેણે એફ્રાઇમના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશમાં જીતી લીધાં હતા, તે બધામાંથી ઘૃણાસ્પદ મૂર્તિઓને હઠાવી દીધી. અને યહોવાના મંદિરની સામેની વેદી તેણે ફરી બંધાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2CH.15.9" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે યહૂદા અને બિન્યામીનના બધા લોકોને પોતાની સામે આવવા હુકમ કર્યો, યહોવા દેવ રાજા આસાની સાથે છે, તે જાણીને એફ્રાઇમ, મનાશ્શા અને શિમયોન પ્રદેશોમાંથી ઇસ્રાએલમાં વસવા આવેલાં લોકોને ભેગા કરવાનો હુકમ કર્યોં.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.15.10" />આસાના અમલ દરમ્યાન પંદરમા વર્ષના ત્રીજા મહિનામાં તેઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં ભેગા થયા.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.15.11" />અને તેમણે તે દિવસે પોતે જે લૂંટ સાથે લાવ્યા હતા, તેમાંથી 700 બળદો અને 7,000 ઘેટાંનાં હોમબલિ તેઓએ યહોવાને ચઢાવી.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.15.12" />તેમણે પોતાના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાની સાચા હૃદયથી ઉપાસના કરવાનો કરાર કર્યો;
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.15.13" />નાનો હોય કે મોટો, સ્રી હોય કે પુરુષ, જે કોઇ ઇસ્રાએલનાં દેવ યહોવાની ઉપાસના ન કરે તેને મૃત્યુદંડ દેવાનું ઠરાવવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.15.14" />ત્યારબાદ તેમણે શરણાઇ અને રણશિંગડા ને તુરાઇઓ વગાડીને મોટા સાદે યહોવા સમક્ષ પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.15.15" />તે બધા ખૂબ આનંદમાં હતા; કારણકે તેઓએ પોતાના પૂરા અંત:કરણથી અને સંપૂર્ણ ઇચ્છાથી દેવ સાથે આ કરાર કર્યો હતો. અને દેવને સર્વશ્રેષ્ઠ સ્થાન આપીને યહોવાને શોધ્યા. તે તેઓને મળ્યા; અને તેમણે તેઓને ચોતરફ શાંતિ આપી અને સલામતી બક્ષી.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.15.16" />આસાએ પોતાની દાદી માઅખાહને પણ રાજમાતા પદેથી ષ્ટ કરી, કારણકે તેણે અશેરાહની પૂજા માટે અશ્લીલ મૂર્તિ કરાવી હતી. આસાએ તે મૂર્તિને તોડી, તેના ભૂક્કેભૂક્કા કરી નાખ્યા અને કિદ્રોનની ખીણમાં સળગાવી દીધી.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.15.17" />જો કે ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી ટેકરી ઉપરના સ્થાનકો દૂર કરવામાં આવ્યા નહોતા. તેમ છતાં આસા જીવનભર યહોવાને સંપૂર્ણ વફાદાર રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.15.18" />તેના પિતાએ તેમજ તેણે પોતે યહોવાને ધરાવેલી બધી ભેટો સોનુંરૂપું, અને વાસણો બધું યહોવાના મંદિરમાં જમા કરાવી દીધું.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.15.19" />આસા રાજાની કારકિદીર્ના પાંત્રીસ વર્ષ સુધી ત્યાં બીજું કોઇ યુદ્ધ કે લડાઇ થયા નહિ.
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<c id="16" />
<s style="s">આસાના રાજ્યકાળનો અંત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.16.1" />રાજા આસાના અમલના છત્રીસમા વર્ષમાં ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા બાઅશાએ યહૂદા ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરી, તેના રાજા આસા પાસે આવતાં લોકોની નાકાબંધી કરવા માટે રામાની કિલ્લેબંદી કરી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.16.2" />એટલે આસાએ યહોવાના મંદિરના અને રાજમહેલના ભંડારોમાંથી સોનુચાંદી બહાર કાઢી દમસ્કમાં રહેતા અરામના રાજા બેનહદાદને સંદેશો મોકલાવ્યો કે,
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.16.3" />“તારા પિતા અને મારા પિતા વચ્ચે સલામતીનો કરાર કરેલો હતો, તે આપણે તાજો કરીએ, જો, આ ચાંદી અને સોનું મેં મોકલ્યું છે. ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા બાઅશા સાથેનો તારો કરાર તોડી નાખ, જેથી તે પાછો ચાલ્યો જાય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2CH.16.4" />બેનહદાદ સંમત થયો અને તેણે પોતાના સેનાપતિઓને ઇસ્રાએલનાં શહેરો ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરવા મોકલી આપ્યા; તેમણે ઇયોન, દાન, આબેલ-માઇમ અને નફતાલીનાં સંગ્રહાલય શહેરો જીતી લીધાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.16.5" />જ્યારે બાઅશાને આની જાણ થઇ, ત્યારે તેણે રામાની કિલ્લેબંદી કરવાનું છોડી દીધું, અને બધું કામ બંધ કરાવી દીધું.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.16.6" />ત્યારબાદ રાજા આસાએ યહૂદાના બધા માણસોને સાથે લીધા અને તેઓ જે પથ્થર અને લાકડાં વડે બાઅશા રામામાં કિલ્લેબંદી કરતો હતો તે ઉઠાવી ગયા, અને તેના વડે તેમણે ગેબા અને મિસ્પાહ બાંધ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.16.7" />તે જ સમયે હનાની પ્રબોધક આસા રાજા પાસે ગયો અને તેને કહ્યું, “તમે દેવ યહોવાને બદલે અરામના રાજા ઉપર ભરોસો રાખ્યો છે, તેથી ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાનું લશ્કર તમારા હાથમાંથી છટકી ગયું છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.16.8" />કૂશીઓ અને લૂબીઓનું લશ્કર પણ ઘણું મોટું હતું અને તેમની પાસે અસંખ્ય રથો અને ઘોડેસવારો હતા. તેમ તું યહોવાના ભરોસે રહ્યો હતો એટલે તેણે તેમને તારા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા હતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.16.9" />યહોવાની ષ્ટિ સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર ફરતી હોય છે. અને જેઓનું અંત:કરણ યહોવા પ્રત્યે સંપૂર્ણ છે, તેઓને તે શોધે છે, જેથી તેઓને મદદ કરીને તે પોતાનું મહાન સાર્મથ્ય પ્રગટ કરે છે. તેઁ કેવી મૂર્ખાઇ કરી છે! હવેથી તારે યુદ્ધો ખેલવા પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.16.10" />પ્રબોધકના આ શબ્દોથી આસાને હનાની પર ખૂબ ગુસ્સો આવ્યો; ને તેણે તેને કેદમાં પૂરી દીધો. એ જ વખતે તેણે ઘણાં પ્રજાજનો પર પણ કેર વર્તાવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.16.11" />આસાના રાજ્યના બધા બનાવો પહેલેથી તે છેલ્લે સુધી
<bk>યહૂદાના અને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓના વૃતાંતમાં</bk> નોંધાયેલા છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.16.12" />તેના રાજ્યના 39મા વષેર્ તેને પગનો રોગ પડ્યો. અને તે વધતો જ ગયો. તેણે યહોવાને શરણે જવાને બદલે વૈદોની સલાહ લીધી.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.16.13" />તે એના અમલના 41મા વષેર્ તો પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેને દાઉદનગરમાં તેણે પોતાના માટે ખોદાવેલી કબરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.16.14" />તેમણે તેના શરીરને સુગંધી દ્રવ્યોથી ભરેલી કબરમાં સુવડાવ્યો, કફનમાં મૂક્યા બાદ તેની દફનવિધિ વખતે તેના લોકોએ બહુ મોટા પ્રમાણમાં ધૂપ બાળ્યા.
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</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">યહોશાફાટના શાસનનો પ્રારંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.17.1" />ત્યારબાદ તેનો પુત્ર યહોશાફાટ રાજા બન્યો. અને ઇસ્રાએલથી સુરક્ષિત રહેવા તેણે યહૂદાને શકિતશાળી બનાવ્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.17.2" />તેણે યહૂદાના બધાં કિલ્લેબંદીવાળા નગરોમાં લશ્કર ગોઠવ્યું, અને આખા યહૂદાના તેમજ તેના પિતાએ કબજે કરેલાં એફ્રાઇમનાં શહેરોમાં સૂબાઓ મૂક્યા,
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2CH.17.3" />યહોવા તેની સાથે હતા, કેમ કે તેના પિતૃ દાઉદ શરૂઆતના વષોર્માં જે માગેર્ ચાલ્યા તે માર્ગ પર જ યહોશાફાટ ચાલ્યો. તેણે મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરી નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.17.4" />ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રદેશમાં વસતા લોકો કરતાં તેનું જીવન જુદા જ પ્રકારનું હતું. તે તેના પિતૃઓના દેવની આજ્ઞાઓને આધીન રહીને જીવન ગુજારતો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.17.5" />આથી યહોવાએ તેના હાથમાં યહૂદા પરની સત્તા કાયમ રાખી, આખું યહૂદા તેને ભેટસોગાદ આપતું હતું. અને તે પુષ્કળ કીતિર્ અને સંપત્તિ પામ્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.17.6" />તે યહોવાની સેવામાં ગૌરવ લેતો હતો અને તેણે યહૂદામાંની ટેકરીઓ ઉપરના સ્થાનકોનો તેમજ પૂજાસ્તંભોનો પણ નાશ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.17.7" />તેના શાસનકાળના ત્રીજા વષેર્ તેણે પોતાના અમલદારો બેન-હાયિલ, ઓબાદ્યા, ઝખાર્યા, નથાનએલ અને મીખાયાને,
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.17.8" />લેવીઓ શમાયા, નથાન્યા, ઝબાદ્યા, અસાહેલ, શમીરામોથ, યહોનાથાન, અદોનિયા, ટોબીયા, અને ટોબઅદોનિયા તેમજ યાજકો અલીશામા અને યહોરામ સાથે યહૂદાના ગામેગામ ઉપદેશ કરવા મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.17.9" /><bk>દેવના નિયમશાસ્ત્રના</bk> પુસ્તકની નકલો તેઓ પોતાની સાથે લઇ ગયા. અને યહૂદિયાનાં સર્વ ગામોમાં જઇને લોકોને નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું શિક્ષણ આપ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.17.10" />આથી યહૂદાની આસપાસના બધા પ્રદેશોમાં રાજાઓ યહોવાથી ડરવા લાગ્યા, અને તેમણે યહોશાફાટ સાથે લડાઇ કરી નહિ.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.17.11" />કેટલાક પલિસ્તી લોકો ખંડણી તરીકે તેની પાસે ઉપહાર તરીકે ચાંદી લઇને આવ્યા. રણના રહેવાસીઓ પણ 7,700 બકરીઓ અને 7,700 ઘેંટાની ભેટ લઇને આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.17.12" />યહોશાફાટ ઉત્તરોત્તર વધુને વધુ મહત્વ પ્રાપ્ત કરતો ગયો અને તેણે યહૂદામાં કિલ્લાઓ અને ભંડાર માટે નગરો બાંધ્યા
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.17.13" />અને તેણે યહૂદાના શહેરોમાં ઘણું કામ કર્યુ. તેણે રાજધાની યરૂશાલેમમાં મોટું સૈન્ય રાખ્યું.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.17.14" />યરૂશાલેમમાં તેણે શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓનું થાણું ઉભું કર્યું હતું અને તેની કુળસમૂહવાર યાદી નીચે પ્રમાણે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">યહૂદાના સેનાનાયકો- યહૂદાના મુખ્ય સેનાપતિ આદનાહના
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને તેના હાથ નીચે 3,00,000 સૈનિકો;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="2CH.17.15" />તેના પછી યહોહાનાન અને તેના હાથ નીચે 2,80,000 સૈનિકો;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.17.16" />તેના પછી યહોવાને સ્વેચ્છાએ આત્મસમર્પણ કરનાર અમાસ્યા જે ઝિખ્રીનો પુત્ર હતો; તેના હાથ નીચે 2,00,000 સૈનિકો.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="2CH.17.17" />બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહના સેનાનાયકો:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શૂરવીર એલ્યાદાહ અને તેના હાથ નીચે 2,00,000 ધનુષ્ય અને ઢાલથી સજ્જ સૈનિકો;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.17.18" />તેના પછી યહોઝાબાદ અને તેના હાથ નીચે 1,80,000 યુદ્ધ માટે સજ્જ યોદ્ધાઓ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="19" bcv="2CH.17.19" />આ સર્વ સૈન્યો હતા. અને તે પાટનગરના રાજાની પાસે હતા. સમગ્ર યહૂદા રાજ્યના કિલ્લેબંદીવાળાં નગરોમાં રાજાએ જેમને નિયુકત કર્યા હતા તે સૈન્યો તો જુદા.
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</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">પ્રબોધક મીખાયાની ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.18.1" />યહૂદાના રાજા યહોશાફાટે પુષ્કળ સંપત્તિ અને લોકપ્રિયતા પ્રાપ્ત કરી. તેણે તેના પુત્રનું સગપણ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા આહાબની પુત્રી સાથે કર્યુ.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.18.2" />થોડાં વરસો પછી તે આહાબને મળવા સમરૂન ગયો. આહાબ તેને અને તેના રસાલાને માટે મોટી સંખ્યામાં બકરીઓ અને બળદનું બલિદાન આપ્યું અને તેને રામોથ-ગિલયાદ ઉપર હુમલો કરવા ભોળવ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.18.3" />આહાબે યહોશાફાટને કહ્યું, “તમે મારી સાથે રામોથ-ગિલયાદ આવશો?” યહોશાફાટે કહ્યું, “આપણે બે કાઇં જુદા નથી. મારા સૈનિકો એ તમારા જ સૈનિકો છે. આપણે સાથે મળીને આપણી લડાઇ લડીશું.”
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.18.4" />પણ પહેલાં યહોવાને પશ્ર્ન કરો કે, “તમારી શી ઇચ્છા છે તે કૃપા કરીને કહો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CH.18.5" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ આશરે 400 પ્રબોધકોને બોલાવીને ભેગા કર્યા, અને તેમને પૂછયું, “અમારે રામોથ-ગિલયાદ ઉપર હુમલો કરવો કે, રોકાઇ જવું?”
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<p style="p">તેમણે કહ્યું, “હુમલો કરો. દેવ તેને તમારા હાથમાં સોંપી દેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CH.18.6" />યહોશાફાટે પૂછયું, “અહીં યહોવાનો બીજો કોઇ પ્રબોધક નથી, જેને આપણે પ્રશ્ર્ન કરી શકીએ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.18.7" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ કહ્યું, “બીજો એક છે જેની મારફતે આપણે યહોવાને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરી શકીએ, પણ મને તેનો તિરસ્કાર છે, કારણ, તે કદી મારે વિષે સારું ભવિષ્ય ભાખતો નથી, હંમેશા માઠું ભવિષ્ય જ ભાખે છે, તે તો યિમ્લાનો પુત્ર મીખાયા છે.”
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<p style="p">યહોશાફાટ બોલી ઉઠયો, “નામદાર, એવું ન બોલશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.18.8" />આથી ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ એક અમલદારને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “મીખાયાને તાબડતોબ બોલાવી લાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2CH.18.9" />ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા અને યહૂદાનો રાજા બાદશાહી પોશાક પહેરીને સમરૂનના દરવાજાની આગળ બે સિંહાસન પર બેઠેલા હતા. બધા પ્રબોધકો પોત પોતાનો સંદેશો, એક મોટી ખુલ્લી જગ્યામાં તેમની સામે આપી રહ્યાં હતા.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.18.10" />એમાંનો એક સિદકિયા કે જે કનાઅનાહનો પુત્ર હતો જેણે પોતાના માટે લોખંડના શિંગડા બનાવડાવ્યા હતા. તે બોલ્યો, “આ, યહોવાનાં વચનો છે; આવાં શિંગડાઓ વડે આપ અરામીઓને મારીને પૂરા કરી નાખશો.”
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.18.11" />સર્વ પ્રબોધકોએ એવો જ પ્રબોધ કર્યો છે કે, “રામોથ-ગિલયાદ પર ચઢાઇ કરીને વિજયી થા; કારણકે યહોવા તે તારા હાથમાં સોંપી દેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.18.12" />મીખાયાને તેડવા મોકલેલ માણસોએ મીખાયાને કહ્યું, “ખ્યાલ રાખજો કે બધા પ્રબોધકોએ એક અવાજે રાજાને માટે સારું ભવિષ્ય ભાખ્યું છે. તમે પણ તેમના જેવું જ ભવિષ્ય ભાખજો અને વિજયની આગાહી કરજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CH.18.13" />પણ મીખાયાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવાના સોગંદ, હું તો મારા દેવ જે કહેશે તે જ ભાખીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CH.18.14" />મીખાયા રાજાની સન્મુખ આવ્યો ત્યારે રાજાએ તેને કહ્યું, “મીખાયા, અમે રામોથ-ગિલયાદ પર ચઢાઇ કરીએ કે રોકાઇ જઇએ?”
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<p style="p">મીખાયાએ કહું, “ચઢાઇ કરો અને વિજય પામો. એ તમારા હાથમાં આવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2CH.18.15" />પરંતુ રાજાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવાને નામે મને કેવળ સત્ય જ કહેવા માટે મારે તારી પાસે કેટલી વાર સમ લેવડાવવાં?”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.18.16" />એટલે મીખાયાએ કહ્યું, “મેં બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ભરવાડ વગરનાં ઘેટાંની જેમ પર્વતો ઉપર વેરવિખેર થઇ ગયેલા જોયા છે, અને મેં યહોવાને બોલતા સાંભળ્યાં છે કે, ‘એ લોકોનો કોઇ ધણીધોરી નથી. તેથી તેઓ ભલે શાંતિથી ઘેર જતા.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2CH.18.17" />આ સાંભળીને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા આહાબે યહોશાફાટને કહ્યું, “મેં તમને નહોતું કહ્યું કે, એ કદી મારે વિષે સારું ભવિષ્ય ભાખતો જ નથી. માઠું જ ભવિષ્ય ભાખે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.18.18" />મીખાયાએ વધુમાં કહ્યું, “હવે યહોવાની વાણી સાંભળો; મેં યહોવાને તેના સિંહાસન ઉપર બિરાજેલા જોયા છે, તેને ડાબે અને જમણે હાથે બધા દેવદૂતો તેની તહેનાતમાં ઊભા હતા.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.18.19" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું કે, ‘કોણ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા આહાબને ફોસલાવીને રામોથ-ગિલયાદ લઇ જાય કે, ત્યાં તે માર્યો જાય?’ ત્યારે એકે આમ કહ્યું, ને બીજાએ તેમ કહ્યું.
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<v id="20" bcv="2CH.18.20" />પછી એક આત્માએ આગળ આવીને યહોવાની સન્મુખ ઊભા રહ્યીને કહ્યું કે, ‘હું તેને ફોસલાવીશ’- યહોવાએ તેને પૂછયું કે, ‘શી રીતે?’
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.18.21" />તેણે કહ્યું, ‘હું જઇને તેના બધા પ્રબોધકોને મોઢે જૂઠી ભવિષ્યવાણી ઉચ્ચારાવીશ.’ યહોવા બોલ્યા, ‘તું જરૂર તેને લલચાવવામાં સફળ થશે. જા અને એ પ્રમાણે કર.’
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2CH.18.22" />“તેથી આપ જોઇ શકો છો કે, યહોવાએ આપના બધા પ્રબોધકોને મોઢે જૂઠી ભવિષ્યવાણી ઉચ્ચારાવી છે. કારણ, તેણે આપને માથે આફત ઉતારવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2CH.18.23" />ત્યારે કનાનનો પુત્ર સિદકિયા મીખાયા પાસે ગયો અને તેના ગાલ પર તમાચો મારીને બોલ્યો, “તું જૂઠો છે, યહોવાનો આત્મા મને તજીને તારામાં ક્યારે આવ્યો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2CH.18.24" />મીખાયાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “એ તો તું જે દિવસે ભાગી જઇને અંદરના ખંડમાં છુપાઇ જશે ત્યારે તને ખબર પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2CH.18.25" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ કહ્યું, “મીખાયાને પકડો. અને તેને આમોન શહેરના પ્રશાસક અને રાજકુંવર યોઆશને સોંપી દો, અને કહો,
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<v id="26" bcv="2CH.18.26" />‘રાજાનો એવો હુકમ છે કે, આને કેદમાં પૂરો અને હું સુરક્ષિત પાછો આવું ત્યાં સુધી જીવતો રહે એટલા જ રોટલા ને પાણી સિવાય કશું આપશો નહિ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2CH.18.27" />મીખાયાએ જણાવ્યું, “જો તું સુરક્ષિત પાછો ફરે તો યહોવા મારા દ્વારા બોલ્યા નથી એમ માનજે.” પછી આસપાસ ઊભા રહેલા લોકો તરફ ફરીને તેણે કહ્યું, “મેં જે કહ્યું તેની નોંધ લો.”
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<s style="s">રામોથ-ગિલયાદ પર આદાબનું મૃત્યુ
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="2CH.18.28" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા અને યહૂદાનો રાજા યહોશાફાટ સૈન્યો સાથે રામોથ-ગિલયાદ ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરવા ગયો.
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<v id="29" bcv="2CH.18.29" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ યહોશાફાટને કહ્યું, “યુદ્ધમાં જતી વખતે હું વેશપલટો કરીશ પણ તમે તમારો બાદશાહી પોશાક પહેરી રાખજો.” આમ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાએ વેશપલટો કર્યો અને યુદ્ધમાં ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2CH.18.30" />હવે અરામના રાજાએ પોતાના રથાધિપતિઓને એવો હુકમ આપ્યો હતો કે, “તમારે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા સિવાય બીજા ગમે તેના ઉપર હુમલો કરવો નહિ.”
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<v id="31" bcv="2CH.18.31" />રથાધિપતિઓએ યહોશાફાટને જોયો ત્યારે તેઓએ એમ ધાર્યુ કે, “એ ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા છે.” માટે તેઓ તેની સાથે લડવાને આવ્યા; એટલે યહોશાફાટે બૂમ પાડી, ને યહોવાએ તેને મદદ કરી; અને દેવે તેઓનાં મન ફેરવ્યાં, જેથી તેઓ તેની પાસેથી જતા રહ્યાં.
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<v id="32" bcv="2CH.18.32" />રથાધિપતિઓએ જોયું કે, એ તો ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા નથી, ત્યારે તેને પકડવાની કોશિષ મૂકી દીધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="2CH.18.33" />પરંતુ એક યોદ્ધાએ અમસ્તુ જ બાણ છોડ્યું અને તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાને બખતરના સાંધા આગળથી વીંધી નાખ્યો. આહાબે પોતાના સારથીને કહ્યું, “રથ ફેરવીને મને યુદ્ધભૂમિની બહાર લઇ જા. હું ઘવાયો છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="2CH.18.34" />તે દિવસે યુદ્ધ વધુને વધુ ભીષણ બનતું ગયું. સાંજ થતાં સુધી આહાબ, અરામીઓ તરફ મોં રાખીને રથમાં ટટ્ટાર બેઠો હતો. પછી તે મરી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.19.1" />યહૂદાનો રાજા યહોશાફાટ શાંતિથી યરૂશાલેમમાં પોતાના ઘરમાં પાછો ફર્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.19.2" />ત્યારે પ્રબોધક હનાનીનો પુત્ર યેહૂ તેને મળવા ગયો અને બોલ્યો, “તમે દુષ્ટોને મદદ કરી છે અને યહોવાના દુશ્મનો સાથે મૈત્રી બાંધી છે, તેથી યહોવા તમારા ઉપર રોષે ભરાયા છે;
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.19.3" />જો કે તેં કેટલાંક સારાં કામો પણ કર્યા છે; તમે દેશમાંથી પૂજા-સ્તંભોનો નાશ કર્યો છે અને દેવની ઉપાસના કરવાનું મનથી ચાલુ રાખ્યું છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">યહોશાફાટ ન્યાયાધીશોને નીમ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2CH.19.4" />તેથી યહોશાફાટ ફરીથી ઇસ્રાએલ ગયો નહિ, પણ યરૂશાલેમમાં રહ્યો. પછીથી તેણે બેરશેબાથી માંડીને એફ્રાઇમના પહાડી પ્રદેશ સુધી મુસાફરી કરી અને તેઓના પિતૃઓનાં દેવનું ભજન કરવા ઉત્તેજન આપ્યું.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.19.5" />તેણે દેશમાં, એટલે યહૂદાના સર્વ કિલ્લેબંદી નગરોમાંના પ્રત્યેક નગરમાં, ન્યાયાધીશો નીમ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.19.6" />અને તેમને કહ્યું, “પૂર્ણ વિચાર કરીને તમારી ફરજ બજાવજો, કારણ, તમે માણસને નામે નહિ પણ યહોવાને નામે ન્યાય કરો છો. તમે જ્યારે ચૂકાદો આપો છો ત્યારે યહોવા તમારી સાથે હોય છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.19.7" />માટે યહોવાથી ડરીને ચાલજો, જે કંઇ કરો તે સાવચેતીપૂર્વક કરજો, કારણ, યહોવા આપણો દેવ અન્યાય, પક્ષપાત અને લાંચ સહન કરતા નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.19.8" />ઉપરાંત યહોશાફાટે યરૂશાલેમમાં પણ અદાલતો સ્થાપી અને લેવીઓ, યાજકો, કુટુંબોના આગેવાનોને ન્યાયાધીશ તરીકે નિમણૂંક કર્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.19.9" />અને તેમને આ પ્રમાણે આદેશ આપ્યો, “તમારે યહોવાને માથે રાખીને વફાદારીથી અને પ્રામણિકપણે ફરજ બજાવવી.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.19.10" />બીજાં શહેરોમાં રહેતા બંધુઓમાંથી જે કોઇ ફરિયાદ, ઝઘડો આવે, પછી તે ખૂનમરકીને લગતો હોય કે નિયમો અને આજ્ઞાઓના ઉલ્લંધનનો હોય; તમારે લોકોને ચેતવણી આપવી કે, ખોટું કામ ન કરે અને તેઓને ન્યાયી નિર્ણય લેવા માટે સહાય કરવી; નહિ તો રખેને દેવનો કોપ તમારા ઉપર અને તેઓ પર ઉતરે. જો તમે આ પ્રમાણે વર્તશો તો તમારી જવાબદારી યોગ્ય રીતે પૂરી કરી શકશો અને તમે ગુનેગાર ઠરશો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.19.11" />“બધી ધામિર્ક બાબતોમાં મુખ્ય યાજક અમાર્યા તમારા પ્રમુખ રહેશે અને રાજ્યને લગતી તમામ બાબતોમાં યહૂદાના વંશના વડા ઇશ્માએલના પુત્ર ઝબાદ્યા તમારા પ્રમુખ રહેશે. લેવીઓ તમારા ચિટનીસ તરીકે કામ કરશે, હિંમતપૂર્વક કામ લેજો; સત્ય અને પ્રામાણિકતાને વળગી રહો, નિદોર્ષનું રક્ષણ કરવામાં દેવ તમારા પક્ષે રહેશે.”
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<c id="20" />
<s style="s">યહોશાફાટે યુદ્ધનો સામનો કર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.20.1" />કેટલાક સમય પછી એવું બન્યું કે, મોઆબીઓ અને આમ્મોનીઓએ કેટલાંક મેઉનીઓ સાથે મળીને યહૂદા પર આક્રમણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.20.2" />યહોશાફાટને ખબર મોકલાવી કે, “તમારી તરફ એક લશ્કર મૃતસમુદ્રને સામે કિનારે આવેલા અદોમથી આગળ વધી રહ્યું છે,” અને તે લોકો હાસસોન તામાર એટલે કે એનગેદી સુધી આવી પહોંચ્યા છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.20.3" />યહોશાફાટ ગભરાઇ ગયો અને તેણે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરવાનો નિશ્ચય કર્યો. અને આખા યહૂદામાં ઉપવાસ જાહેર કર્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.20.4" />બધા યહૂદાવાસીઓ યહોવાની મદદ માંગવા ભેગા થયા.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.20.5" />યરૂશાલેમમાં મળેલી યહૂદાના લોકોની સભામાં યહોશાફાટ યહોવાના મંદિરના નવા ચોક સામે ઊભો થયો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.20.6" />અને બોલ્યો,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“હે યહોવા, અમારા પિતૃઓના દેવ, તું સ્વર્ગાધીપતિ છે અને બધી પ્રજાઓના રાજ્યો ઉપર તારી જ આણ પ્રવતેર્ છે. તારું બળ અને સાર્મથ્ય એવું છે કે કોઇ તારી સામે થઇ શકે તેમ નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.20.7" />હે દેવ, તેં જ આ દેશના મૂળ વતનીઓને આ ભૂમિમાંથી હાંકી કાઢી, તારા મિત્ર ઇબ્રાહિમના વંશજોને, તારા પોતાના લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓને એ આપી હતી.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.20.8" />તેઓ તેમાં વસ્યા અને તેમણે તારા નામ માટે એક મંદિર બાંધ્યું.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.20.9" />અને કહ્યું કે, ‘આ મંદિરમાં તારો વાસ છે. એટલે જો અમારા પર કોઇ આફત આવે- યુદ્ધ આવે કે પૂર આવે, રોગચાળો આવે કે દુકાળ આવે તો અમે આ મંદિરમાં તારી સમક્ષ ઊભા રહીને, એ સંકટ સમયે તને યાદ કરીશું અને તું અમારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી અમને બચાવી લેશે.’
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.20.10" />“અને હવે જો, આ આમ્મોનીઓ, મોઆબીઓ અને અદોમીઓ આવ્યા છે. અમે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મિસરમાંથી આવતા હતા ત્યારે તમે અમને એ લોકોના દેશમાં દાખલ થવા દીધા નહોતા એટલે અમે એક તરફ વળી ગયા, અને એ લોકોનો નાશ ન કર્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.20.11" />અને હવે જો, એ લોકોનો નાશ ન કર્યો, જો, તમે અમને જે તમારા વતનનો વારસો આપ્યો છે તેમાંથી અમને કાઢી મૂકવાને તેઓ આવ્યા છે, જો, તેઓ અમને કેવો બદલો આપે છે!
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.20.12" />હે અમારા દેવ યહોવા, તું તેમને સજા નહિ કરે? કારણ, અમે અમારા ઉપર આક્રમણ કરતા એ મોટા સૈન્ય આગળ લાચાર છીએ, શું કરવું એની અમને સમજ પડતી નથી, અમે તો તારા ઉપર આધાર રાખીએ છીએ.”
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CH.20.13" />યહૂદાના બધા લોકો, નાનામોટાં બાળકો અને સ્રીઓ સુદ્ધા યહોવા સમક્ષ ઊભાં હતા.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.20.14" />પછી એ સભાની વચ્ચે યહોવાનો આત્મા યાહઝીએલ ઉપર આવ્યો, યાહઝીએલ લેવી આસાફના વંશજ માત્તાન્યાના પુત્ર, યેઇએલના પુત્ર બનાયાના પુત્ર, ઝર્ખાયાનો પુત્ર હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.20.15" />તેણે કહ્યું, “હે યહૂદાના બધા પ્રજાજનો, યરૂશાલેમના બધા વતનીઓ અને રાજા યહોશાફાટ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો, યહોવા તમને કહે છે: ‘ડરશો નહિ; આ મોટા સૈન્યથી ગભરાઇ જશો નહિ, આ યુદ્ધ પણ દેવનું છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.20.16" />આવતીકાલે તમે જાઓ, અને તેમના પર હુમલો કરો. તેઓ “સીસના ઢોળાવ” થઇને આવે છે, યરૂએલના રણની સામે ખીણને છેડે તમારો તેમની સાથે ભેટો થશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.20.17" />તમારે લડવાની જરુર નહિ પડે. તમે મક્કમપણે ઊભા રહેજો અને જોયા કરજો કે યહોવા તમને શી રીતે બચાવી લે છે. હે યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમ, ગભરાશો નહિ. આવતીકાલે તેમનો સામનો કરવા બહાર જાઓ, યહોવા તમારે પક્ષે છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.20.18" />ત્યારબાદ રાજા યહોશાફાટે સાષ્ટાંગ દંડવત પ્રણામ કર્યા અને યહૂદા તથા યરૂશાલેમના સર્વ લોકોએ પણ દંડવત પ્રણામ કરીને યહોવાનું ભજન કર્યુ.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.20.19" />ત્યાર પછી કહાથ અને કોરાહના કુળસમૂહોના લેવીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાની ઊંચા સ્વરે સ્તુતિ કરવા લાગ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2CH.20.20" />બીજે દિવસે તેઓ સવારમાં વહેલા ઊઠયા અને “તકોઆના વગડા” તરફ જવા નીકળી પડ્યા. તેઓ જતા હતા ત્યારે યહોશાફાટે ઊભા થઇને કહ્યું, “યહૂદા-વાસીઓ અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ, મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો: જો તમે તમારા દેવ યહોવા ઉપર વિશ્વાસ રાખશો, તો તમારે કોઇથી ડરવાનું રહેશે નહિ, જો તમે તેમના પ્રબોધકો ઉપર વિશ્વાસ રાખશો, તો તમારો વિજય થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2CH.20.21" />પછી લોકોના આગેવાનો સાથે મંત્રણા કર્યા પછી, તેણે જેઓ યહોવાના માટે ગાય છે અને એની મહાન પવિત્રતાની સ્તુતિ કરે છે તેવાઓને સૌથી આગળ કર્યા અને તેઓ ગાવા લાગ્યા,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો, કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની કરૂણા શાશ્વત છે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="22" bcv="2CH.20.22" />જેવું તેઓએ ગાયન અને સ્તુતિ શરૂ કર્યુ, યહોવાએ આમ્મોનિઓ, મોઆબીઓ અને સેઇર પર્વતના લોકો દ્વારા અચાનક હુમલો કરાવીને તેમને પછાડયા અને તેમનો પરાજય કર્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.20.23" />આમ્મોન અને મોઆબના સૈન્યોએ સેઇર પર્વતના સૈન્યની વિરૂદ્ધ લડીને તેનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કર્યો, તેમ કર્યા પછી તેઓ માંહેમાંહે યુદ્ધ કરીને એકબીજાનો સંહાર કરવા લાગ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2CH.20.24" />તેથી યહૂદાના માણસો જ્યારે અરણ્ય તરફ નજર કરી શકાય તેવી જગ્યાએ આવી પહોંચ્યા, ત્યારે તેમણે શત્રુઓના સૈન્ય તરફ ફરીને જોયું અને તેમણે ચારે બાજુ ભૂમિ ઉપર મૃતદેહો પડેલાં જોયા. એક પણ જીવતો નહોતો.
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<v id="25" bcv="2CH.20.25" />યહોશાફાટ રાજા અને તેના લોકો લૂંટ એકત્ર કરવા લાગ્યા. તેઓને નાણાં, પોશાક, અલંકારો અને રોજીંદા જીવનની વસ્તુસંગ્રહ કરી અને લઇ લીધી. આ લૂંટ એટલી બધી હતી કે તે બધી લઇ જવા માટે તેઓને ત્રણ દિવસ લાગ્યા.
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<v id="26" bcv="2CH.20.26" />ચોથે દિવસે તેઓ બરાખાહની ખીણમાં ભેગા થયા, અને ત્યાં તેમણે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરી તેથી તે જગ્યાનું નામ “બરાખાહ પાડવામાં” આવ્યું અને આજે પણ એ ખીણ એ જ નામે ઓળખાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2CH.20.27" />યારબાદ યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમના બધા માણસો યહોશાફાટને મોખરે રાખી આનંદપૂર્વક પાછા નગરમાં ગયા, કારણ યહોવાએ તેમને શત્રુઓ ઉપર વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કર્યાનો આનંદ માણવાનો અવસર આપ્યો હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="2CH.20.28" />તેઓ સિતાર વીણા અને રણશિંગડાંના સરોદો સાથે યરૂશાલેમમાં પ્રવેશ કરીને યહોવાના મંદિરમાં દાખલ થયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2CH.20.29" />અગાઉ બન્યુ હતું તે જ રીતે આજુબાજુના રાજ્યોએ સાંભળ્યું કે યહોવાએ પોતે જ ઇસ્રાએલના દુશ્મનો સાથે યુદ્ધ કર્યુ હતું, ત્યારે તેઓ દેવથી ભયભીત થઇ ગયા.
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<v id="30" bcv="2CH.20.30" />આમ, યહોશાફાટના રાજ્યમાં શાંતિ હતી, કારણકે દેવે તેને સર્વ બાજુએથી સર્વ પ્રકારની શાંતિ આપી હતી.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહોશાફાટના રાજ્યકાળનો અંત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2CH.20.31" />આમ, યહોશાફાટે યહૂદા ઉપર રાજ્ય કર્યુ. તે જ્યારે ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉમર 35 વર્ષની હતી. અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 25 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ. શિલ્હીની પુત્રી અઝુબાહ તેની મા થતી હતી.
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<v id="32" bcv="2CH.20.32" />તે પોતાના પિતા આસાને પગલે ચાલ્યો અને તેના માગેર્થી ચલિત થયો નહિ. તેણે યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ યોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="33" bcv="2CH.20.33" />પણ ટેકરી ઉપરના સ્થાનકો દૂર કરવામાં આવ્યા નહોતાં અને લોકોનાં હૃદય હજી પોતાના પિતૃઓનાં દેવ પ્રત્યે પૂરેપૂરાં વળ્યાં નહોતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="2CH.20.34" />યહોશાફાટના શાસનના બાકીના બનાવો શરૂઆતથી તે અંત સુધી
<bk>હનાનીના પુત્ર યેહૂના વૃત્તાંતમાં</bk> નોંધાયેલા છે. આ બનાવોની નોંધ કરી અને તેની નકલ કરીને તેનો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસ</bk> નામક પુસ્તકમાં સમાવેશ કરવામાં આવ્યો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="2CH.20.35" />તેના જીવનના અંતકાળમાં યહૂદાના રાજા યહોશાફાટે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા અહાઝયા સાથે કરાર કર્યો. અહાઝયા ઘણો દુષ્ટ હતો.
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<v id="36" bcv="2CH.20.36" />તેની સાથે મળીને યહોશાફાટે એસ્યોન-ગેબેરમાં બનાવેલ વહાણને તાશીર્શ મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="37" bcv="2CH.20.37" />પણ મારેશ્શાહના વતની દોદાવાહૂના પુત્ર અલીએઝેરે યહોશાફાટની વિરૂદ્ધ ભવિષ્યવાણી ભાખી કે, “તેં અહાઝયા સાથે મૈત્રી કરી છે તેથી યહોવા તારા વહાણોને ભાંગી નાખશે.” તેથી એ વહાણો નાશ પામ્યાં અને તેઓે કદી તાશીર્શ પહોંચી શક્યાં નહિ.
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</p>

<c id="21" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.21.1" />યહોશાફાટ પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેને દાઉદના નગરમાં તેના પૂર્વજો સાથે દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેનો પુત્ર યહોરામ તેની જગ્યાએ યહૂદાનો રાજા બન્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.21.2" />તેને છ ભાઇઓ હતા: અઝાર્યા, યહીએલ, ઝખાર્યા, અઝાર્યા, મીખાએલ અને શફાટયા. એ બધા યહૂદાના રાજા યહોશાફાટના પુત્રો હતા,
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.21.3" />અને તેણે એમને ઘણા ઉપહાર આપ્યા, સોનું, ચાંદી, કીંમતી વસ્તુઓ, અને યહૂદામાં કિલ્લેબંદીવાળા નગરો. પણ રાજગાદી તેણે યહોરામને આપી હતી. કારણકે તે સૌથી મોટો હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદાના યહોરામનો દુષ્ટ અમલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2CH.21.4" />રાજા તરીકે સ્થિર થયા પછી યહોરામે તેના ભાઇઓને તથા ઇસ્રાએલના કેટલાક આગેવાનોને મારી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.21.5" />બત્રીસ વર્ષની ઉંમરે તે રાજગાદીએ આવ્યો, અને યરૂશાલેમમાં તેણે આઠ વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.21.6" />તે આહાબની પુત્રીને પરણ્યો હતો એટલે તેણે આહાબના કુટુંબની જેમ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓને પગલે ચાલી યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ ખોટું ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.21.7" />તેમ છતાં યહોવા દાઉદના વંશનો નાશ કરવા રાજી નહોતા, કારણ, તેણે દાઉદ સાથે કરાર કરીને તેને વચન આપ્યુ હતું કે, “હું તારા વંશનો દીવો સદાસર્વદા સળગતો રાખીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.21.8" />એના અમલ દરમ્યાન અદોમના લોકોએ બળવો પોકાર્યો અને પોતાને યહૂદાથી સ્વતંત્ર જાહેર કર્યા પછીથી તેઓએ પોતાની પસંદગીથી પોતાના રાજા ચુટયાં.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.21.9" />યહોરામે તેના લશ્કરી અધિકારીઓ અને રથો સાથે અદોમ તરફ કૂચ કરી, અદોમીઓએ તેઓને ચારે તરફથી ઘેરી લીધા પરંતુ યહોરામે તેમના ઉપર રાત્રે આક્રમણ કર્યુ અને પોતાના લશ્કર અને રથોની મદદથી તેઓને હરાવી દીધા. યહોરામ અને તેનું લશ્કર પાછું યહૂદા ભાગી ગયું.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.21.10" />પણ આજ સુધી યહૂદાની ઝૂંસરી પોતાના પરથી ફેંકી દેવામાં અદોમ સફળ રહ્યો હતો. પછી લિબ્નાહે પણ યહૂદા સામે બળવો કર્યો. કારણકે યહોરામ તેના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાથી દૂર ભટકી ગયો હતો.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.21.11" />યહૂદાની ટેકરીઓ ઉપર સ્થાનકો બાંધ્યા હતા, યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ મૂર્તિપૂજા કર્યા કરતા હતા. અને આખા યહૂદાને ખોટે માગેર્ ચડાવ્યું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.21.12" />ત્યારબાદ એલિયા પ્રબોધકે તેના ઉપર પત્ર લખ્યો,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“તારા પિતૃ દાઉદના યહોવા દેવ કહે છે: ‘તારા પિતા યહોશાફાટ અને આસા રાજા જે સારા માગોર્ પર ચાલ્યાઁ, તે માગોર્ ઉપર તું ચાલ્યો નથી.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.21.13" />પરંતુ તું ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓને પગલે ચાલ્યો છે, અને આહાબના કુટુંબે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને મારાથી વિમુખ કરી દીધા હતા તેમ તેં યરૂશાલેમના અને યહૂદાના લોકોને મારાથી વિમુખ બનાવી દીધા છે અને તારા કરતાં સારા એવાં તારા ભાઇઓને તેં મારી નાખ્યા છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.21.14" />એટલે હું તારા પર, તારી પ્રજા પર, તારા વંશજો પર, તારી પત્નીઓ પર અને બધી મિલકત પર ભયંકર રોગ લાવીશ.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.21.15" />તને પોતાને આંતરડાનો ર્જીણ રોગ લાગુ પડશે અને આખરે એ રોગને કારણે તારાં આંતરડાં બહાર નીકળી પડશે.’”
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.21.16" />પછી યહોવાએ કૂશીઓ વચ્ચે વસતા પલિસ્તીઓ અને આરબોને યહોરામ પર ચઢાઇ કરવા ઉશ્કેર્યા.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.21.17" />તેમણે યહૂદા પર હુમલો કર્યો અને દેશ પર આક્રમણ કર્યું અને રાજાના મહેલમાં જે કાઇં હાથ આવ્યું, તે બધું તેઓ લૂંટી ગયા, રાજાનાં પુત્રો અને પત્નીઓને પણ લઇ ગયા; એક માત્ર સૌથી નાનો પુત્ર યહોઆહાઝ બચી ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.21.18" />આ બધું બની ગયા પછી યહોવાએ તેને આંતરડાના અસાધ્ય રોગનો ભોગ બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.21.19" />બે વર્ષ સુધી તે બહુ જ પીડાયો, તેનાં આંતરડા બહાર નીકળી પડ્યાં અને ભારે વેદના સહીને તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. તેની પ્રજાએ તેના પિતાના માનમાં જે અગ્નિ પ્રગટાવી હતી તેવી એના માનમાં પ્રગટાવી નહિ.
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<v id="20" bcv="2CH.21.20" />તે ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તે બત્રીસ વર્ષનો હતો અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં આઠ વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ. તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો ત્યારે કોઇએ તેને માટે શોક કર્યો નહિ. તેને યરૂશાલેમમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, પણ રાજાઓનાં ખાસ કબ્રસ્તાનમાં નહિ.
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</p>

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">યહૂદાના અહાઝયાનું શાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.22.1" />ત્યારબાદ યરૂશાલેમનાં લોકોએ તેના સૌથી નાના પુત્ર અહાઝયાને તેના પછી રાજા બનાવ્યો, કારણ, આરબો સાથે જે ધાડપાડુઓએ છાવણી ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો હતો, તેમણે એના બીજા બધા મોટા પુત્રોને મારી નાખ્યા હતા. તેથી યહોરામનો પુત્ર અહાઝયા યહૂદાનો રાજા થયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.22.2" />તે ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 42 વર્ષની હતી અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં એક વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યુ. તેણે એ જ કામ કર્યા જે આહાબના કુટુંબીઓએ કર્યા હતા.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.22.3" />કારણકે તેની માતા તેને દુષ્ટ સલાહ આપતી હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.22.4" />તેથી તે પણ આહાબના કુટુંબને પગલે ચાલ્યો, અને આહાબના કુટુંબની જેમ તેણે યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય તેવું આચરણ કર્યુ, કારણકે આહાબના કુટુંબીઓ જ એના પિતાના અવસાન પછી એને સલાહ આપતા હતા જેને પરિણામે તે પાયમાલ થયો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.22.5" />તેઓની ભૂંડી સલાહ માનીને અહાઝયાએ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા, યહોરામ સાથે મિત્રતા બાંધી, યહોરામ આહાબનો પુત્ર હતો. અરામના રાજા હઝાએલ સામે તેણે યુદ્ધ જાહેર કર્યુ હતું. અહાઝયા પણ પોતાનું સૈન્ય લઇને આ યુદ્ધમાં સામેલ થવા રામોથ-ગિલયાદ ગયો. યહોરામ આ યુદ્ધમાં ઘાયલ થયો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.22.6" />અને તે રામોથ આગળ અરામના રાજા હઝાએલ સાથે લડતાં પડેલાં ઘામાંથી સાજો થવા માટે પાછો ઇસ્રાએલ ચાલ્યો ગયો, એ ઘવાયેલો હતો તેથી અહાઝયા તેની ખબર કાઢવા યિઝ્એલ ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.22.7" />યહોરામને મળવા જવા યહોવાએ અહાઝયાએ પ્રેર્યો હતો, જેથી તેનો વિનાશ થાય. એ મુલાકાત દરમ્યાન તે યહોરામની સાથે જઇને નિમ્શીના પુત્ર યેહૂને પડકાર્યો, યેહૂને આહાબના કુટુંબનો નાશ કરવા માટે યહોવાએ નિમિર્ત કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.22.8" />યેહૂ એ કામમાં રોકાયેલો હતો તેવામાં તેને યહૂદાના અમલદારોનો અને અહાઝયાની સેવામાં રહેતાં તેનાં કુટુંબીઓનો ભેટો થઇ ગયો, અને તેણે તેમને મારી નાખ્યાં અને પછી તે અહાઝયાની શોધમાં ગયો.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.22.9" />અહાઝયા સમરૂનમાં સંતાઇ ગયો હતો. ત્યાંથી તેને પકડીને યેહૂ પાસે લઇ આવ્યા અને તેને ત્યાં મારી નાખ્યો, તેમણે તેને દફનાવ્યો ખરો, કારણકે, તેમણે કહ્યું કે, “એ યહોવાના સાચા ભકત યહોશાફાટનો વંશજ છે.” પછી અહાઝયાનુ કુટુંબ કોઇ રાજ કરવા જેટલું બળવાન રહ્યું નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">રાણી અથાલ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.22.10" />જ્યારે અથાલ્યાએ પોતાના પુત્ર અહાઝયાના મૃત્યુના સમાચાર સાંભળ્યા, ત્યારે તેણીએ યહૂદાના સમગ્ર રાજકુટુંબનો નાશ કર્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.22.11" />ત્યારે રાજકુંવરી યહોશાબ સાથે અહાઝયાના પુત્ર યોઆશને અને તેની આયાને લઇ જઇ શયનખંડમાં પૂરી દીધા. યહોશાબ સાથે રાજા યોરામની પુત્રી અને યાજક યહોયાદાની પત્ની હતી. તેણી અહાઝયાની બહેન પણ થતી હતી. અથાલ્યા યોઆશને મારી ન શકી કારણકે યહોશાબ સાથે તેને સંતાડી દીધો હતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.22.12" />તે છ વરસ સુધી યાજકોની સાથે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં છુપાઇ રહ્યો. તે સમય દરમિયાન અથાલ્યા દેશ ઉપર રાજ્ય કરતી હતી.
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</p>

<c id="23" />
<s style="s">યાજક યહોયાદા અને રાજા યોઆશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.23.1" />અથાલ્યા રાણીના શાસનકાળના સાતમા વષેર્ યહોયાદાએ હિંમતવાન બનીને યહોરામના પુત્ર અઝાર્યાને, યહોહાનાન પુત્ર ઇશ્માએલને, ઓબેદનો પુત્ર અઝાર્યાને, અદાયાના પુત્ર માઅસેયાને, તથા ઝિખ્રીના પુત્ર અલીશાફાટને, અને બીજાઓને બોલાવડાવી તેમની સાથે કોલકરાર કર્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.23.2" />તેઓએ સમગ્ર યહૂદામાં ફરીને યહૂદાના બધાં નગરોમાં લેવીઓને તેમજ ઇસ્રાએલી કુટુંબોના વડીલ આગેવાનોને યરૂશાલેમમાં એકઠા કર્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.23.3" />અને એ સમગ્ર સમૂહે દેવનાં મંદિરમાં રાજા સાથે કરાર કર્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">યહોયાદાએ તેમને કહ્યું, “રાજાનો કુંવર શાસન કરશે. દાઉદના વંશજો જ રાજા થશે, એવું યહોવાએ વચન આપ્યું હતું તે મુજબ જ થશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.23.4" />તમારે બધાએ આ પ્રમાણે કરવાનું છે: તમારી ત્રણ ટૂકડી છે. તેમાંથી યાજકો અને લેવીઓની જેજે ટૂકડીઓ વિશ્રામવારે ફરજ પર રહેવાનું છે, તેણે દરવાજાની ચોકી કરવી; બીજી ટૂકડીએ રાજમહેલની ચોકી કરવી,
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.23.5" />અને ત્રીજી ટૂકડીએ પાયાના દરવાજાની ચોકી કરવી અને બધા લોકોએ યહોવાના મંદિરના પ્રાંગણમાં રહેવું.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.23.6" />પરંતુ યાજકો તથા જે લેવીઓ સેવા કરતા હોય તેઓના સિવાયના કોઇએ યહોવાના મંદિરમાં પ્રવેશ કરવો નહિ; ફકત તેમણે જ અંદર જવું, કારણકે તેઓ પવિત્ર છે; પરંતુ સર્વ લોકોએ યહોવાના નિયમોનો અમલ કરવો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.23.7" />લેવીઓએ પોતાની તરવાર હાથમાં રાખીને રાજાની આસપાસ ગોઠવાઇ તેનું રક્ષણ કરવું. જે કોઇ મંદિરમાં પ્રવેશવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે તેને મારી નાખવો. રાજા જ્યાં જાય ત્યાં તેમણે તેની સાથે રહેવું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.23.8" />મુખ્ય યાજક યહોયાદાની આજ્ઞાનું લેવીઓએ તથા સર્વ યહૂદાવાસીઓએ અક્ષરશ: પાલન કર્યુ. યાજક યહોયાદાએ સમૂહમાંથી કોઇને પણ છોડ્યા નહિ. તેથી દરેક આગેવાન તેના માણસો સાથે આવ્યાં, તે બન્ને પ્રકારના માણસો જેઓ વિશ્રામવારને દિવસે અંદર આવ્યા, અને જેઓ વિશ્રામવારને દિવસે બહાર ગયા.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.23.9" />પછી યાજક યહોયાદાએ રથાધિપતિઓને રાજા દાઉદે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં આપેલાં ભાલા અને નાની-મોટી ઢાલો વહેંચી આપ્યાં;
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.23.10" />અને એ લોકોના હાથમાં હથિયાર સાથે મંદિરની જમણી બાજુ અને ડાબી બાજુ સુધી વેદી અને મંદિરને ઘેરીને રાજાનું રક્ષણ કરવા ગોઠવી દીધા.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.23.11" />ત્યારબાદ યહોયાદા રાજકુંવરને લઇ આવ્યો અને તેના માથા ઉપર રાજમુગટ પહેરાવ્યો. પછી તેણે તેના હાથમાં નિયમશાસ્ત્રના ગ્રંથની નકલ આપી તેને રાજા જાહેર કર્યો. ત્યારબાદ, યહોયાદા અને તેના પુત્રો દ્વારા તેનો રાજ્યાભિષેક કરાયા બાદ તેઓએ રાજા ઘણું જીવો ના પોકારો કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.23.12" />જ્યારે અથાલ્યા રાણીએ, લોકોની ભાગદોડનો અવાજ અને રાજાની સ્તુતિના પોકારો સાંભળ્યા ત્યારે શું બની રહ્યું છે તે જોવા માટે તે મંદિરમાં દોડી આવી.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.23.13" />ત્યાં તેણે રાજાને પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ મંચ ઉપર ઊભેલો જોયો. તેની પાસે લશ્કરી અધિકારીઓ અને રણશિંગડાં વગાડનારાઓ ઊભા હતા. દેશનાં દરેક ભાગોમાંથી આવેલા લોકો આનંદ કરીને રણશિંગડાં વગાડતા હતા. ગાયકો વાજિંત્રો સાથે ગીતો ગાઇને દેવની સ્તુતિ કરતાં હતાં. અથાલ્યાએ પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડ્યાં અને તેણે મોટે સાદે બૂમ પાડી, “રાજદ્રોહ, રાજદ્રોહ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CH.23.14" />યાજક યહોયાદાએ સેનાનાયકોને હુકમ કર્યો, “એને મંદિરની બહાર લશ્કરની વચ્ચે લઇ જાઓ અને જે કોઇ એની સાથે આવે તેની હત્યા કરો.” પછી યાજકે ચેતવણી આપતાં કહ્યું, “યહોવાના મંદિરમાં એનો વધ કરવાનો નથી.”
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.23.15" />તેથી તેઓ તેને પકડીને રાજમહેલ સુધી લઇ ગયા અને ત્યાં “ઘોડા-દરવાજાના” પ્રવેશ દ્વાર પાસે તેનો વધ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.23.16" />તે પછી યહોયાદાએ ગંભીર કરાર કર્યો કે, તે પોતે રાજા અને લોકો યહોવાના જ બનીને રહેશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.23.17" />અને પછી બધા લોકોએ બઆલને મંદિરે જઇ તેને તોડી નાખ્યું; તેમણે તેની વેદીઓ અને મૂર્તિઓ ભાંગી નાખી અને યાજક મત્તાનને વેદીઓની સામે જ મારી નાખ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.23.18" />ત્યારબાદ મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રના જણાવ્યા પ્રમાણે યહોયાદાએ, યજ્ઞો અર્પણ કરવા માટે લેવીઓમાંથી યાજકોની નિમણૂંક કરી. દાઉદ રાજાના સમયમાં જે કુટુંબો સેવા આપતા હતા, તેઓને એ જ સેવાઓ સોંપી. તેઓ યહોવા માટે કામ કરતાં આનંદથી ગીતો ગાતા હતા.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.23.19" />પછી તેણે યહોવાના મંદિરના દરવાજાઓ આગળ દ્વારપાળો ગોઠવી દીધા જેથી કોઇ પણ રીતે અશુદ્ધ હોય એવો માણસ તેમાં દાખલ ન થાય.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2CH.23.20" />ત્યારબાદ રક્ષકદળના નાયકોને, આગળપડતા પુરુષોને, અમલદારોને તથા દેશના બધા લોકોને સાથે લઇને રાજાને મંદિરની બહાર લઇ જવામાં આવ્યો અને પછી યહોવાનાં મંદિરના “ઉપલા દરવાજાથી” રાજમહેલમાં લઇ ગયાને તેને રાજસિંહાસન ઉપર બેસાડ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.23.21" />દેશનાં સર્વ લોકો ખૂબ આનંદ પામ્યા હતા અને નગરમાં સર્વત્ર શાંતિ વ્યાપી ગઇ હતી કારણકે રાણી અથાલ્યા મૃત્યુ પામી હતી.
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<s style="s">રાજા યોઆશ દ્વારા મંદિરનું પુન:નિર્માણ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.24.1" />યોઆશ ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર સાત વર્ષની હતી. અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં ચાળીસ વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ. તેની માતાનું નામ સિબ્યા હતું. તે બેરશેબાની હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.24.2" />યહોયાદા યાજકના જીવનકાળ દરમિયાન યોઆશે યહોવાને પ્રસન્ન કરવા પૂરાં ઉમંગ-ઉત્સાહથી કામ કર્યુ.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.24.3" />યહોયાદાએ બે સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે તેનાં લગ્ન કરાવ્યાં અને તેના પુત્રો અને પુત્રીઓ થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2CH.24.4" />યોઆશે યહોવાના મંદિરનો જીણોર્દ્ધાર કરવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.24.5" />આથી તેણે યાજકોને અને લેવીઓને એકઠા કરીને કહ્યું, “યહૂદાના ગામેગામ જઇને બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસેથી તમારા દેવ યહોવાના મંદિરની મરામત માટે વાષિર્ક પૈસા ઉઘરાવો. જાઓ, જલદી કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CH.24.6" />પણ લેવીઓએ કામમાં વિલંબ કર્યો. આથી રાજાએ મુખ્ય યાજક યહોયાદાને બોલાવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “તમે શા માટે યહોવાના સેવક મૂસાએ સાક્ષ્યમડંપ માટે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો ઉપર નાખેલાં કર અને યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેતા લેવીઓ પાસેથી કર ઉઘરાવ્યો નથી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.24.7" />દુષ્ટ અથાલ્યાના અનુયાયીઓએ યહોવાના મંદિરને લૂંટી લીધું હતું. દેવના ભજનને માટે સમપિર્ત કરેલા પાત્રો મંદિરમાંથી લઇ જઇને પૂજા માટે તેઓએ બઆલના મંદિરમાં મૂક્યાં હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.24.8" />રાજાએ એક પેટી બનાવડાવીને યહોવાના મંદિરના દરવાજા બહાર મૂકાવી.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.24.9" />અને આખા યહૂદામાં અને યરૂશાલેમમાં લેવીઓએ એવો ઢંઢેરો પિટાવ્યો કે, યહોવાના સેવક મૂસાએ રણમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પર જે કર નાખ્યો હતો તે લોકોએ લાવવો જોઇએ.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.24.10" />બધા આગેવાનો અને બધા લોકો ઉત્સાહપૂર્વક પૈસા લઇ આવીને એ પેટીમાં નાખવા લાગ્યાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.24.11" />પેટી ભરાઇ જતી ત્યારે એ પેટી રાજાના અમલદાર આગળ લઇને આવતા, અને જ્યારે તેમને ખાતરી થતી કે, પેટી બરાબર ભરાઇ ગઇ છે, ત્યારે રાજાનો મંત્રી અને મુખ્ય યાજકનો અમલદાર આવીને તે ખાલી કરતાં અને ત્યારબાદ તેને પાછી તેની જગ્યાએ લઇ જતા. રોજ આ પ્રમાણે કરવામાં આવતું અને મોટી રકમ ભેગી થતી.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.24.12" />રાજા અને યહોયાદા એ રકમ દેવના મંદિરનાં કામ ઉપર દેખરેખ રાખનારા અધિકારીને સોંપી દેતા, તેમણે કડિયાઓ અને સુથારોને મંદિરના જીણોર્દ્ધાર માટે રોક્યા. લોખંડનું અને પિત્તળનું કામ કરનાર કારીગરોને પણ મરામત કરવા માટે રોક્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CH.24.13" />કારીગરો કામે લાગી ગયા અને તેમણે યહોવાના મંદિરના જીણોર્દ્ધારનું કામ પૂરું કર્યુ; તેમણે દેવના મંદિરને પહેલાનાં જેવું મજબૂત બનાવી દીધું.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.24.14" />બધું જ કામ પૂરું થતાં તેઓ વધેલાં નાણાં રાજાની અને યહોવાની આગળ લઇ આવ્યા, અને તેમાંથી મંદિરમાં પૂજા માટે વાપરવાના વાસણો અને બીજાં સોનાચાંદીના વાસણો મંદિર માટે બનાવડાવવામાં આવ્યાં. યહોયાદા જીવ્યો ત્યાં સુધી મંદિરમાં હંમેશા દહનાર્પણ અપાતાં રહ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2CH.24.15" />યહોયાદા ઘરડો થયો અને એકસોને ત્રીસ વર્ષની ઉંમરે અવસાન પામ્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.24.16" />અને તેને રાજાઓ ભેગો દાઉદનગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. કારણ, તેણે ઇસ્રાએલમાં દેવની અને તેના મંદિરની સારી સેવા બજાવી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2CH.24.17" />યહોયાદાના મૃત્યુ પછી યહૂદાના આગેવાનો રાજાને સલામ ભરવા આવવા લાગ્યા અને રાજા હવે તેમની સલાહ લેતો થયો, તેઓએ તેને ખોટી સલાહ આપી.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.24.18" />તે આગેવાનોએ તેમના વંશજોના દેવ યહોવાનું મંદિર છોડી દીધું અને અશેરાદેવીની, ને બીજાં દેવદેવીઓની મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરવા લાગ્યા. તેમના આ દોષને કારણે યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમ ઉપર યહોવાનો રોષ ઊતર્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.24.19" />યહોવાએ તેમને પોતાના તરફ પાછા લાવવા માટે તેમની વચ્ચે પ્રબોધકો મોકલ્યા. પરંતુ તેમનો સંદેશો તેમણે સાંભળ્યો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2CH.24.20" />પછી યહોયાદાના પુત્ર ઝખાર્યા પર દેવનો આત્મા આવ્યો. અને તેણે લોકોની સમક્ષ ઊભા થઇને કહ્યું, “‘શા માટે તમે યહોવાની આજ્ઞાઓનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરીને આફત વહોરો છો? તમે યહોવાને છોડી દીધા છે એટલે તેણે તમને છોડી દીધા છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2CH.24.21" />પરંતુ તેઓ બધા તેની વિરૂદ્ધ એક થઇ ગયા અને રાજાના હુકમથી તેમણે તેને મંદિરના પ્રાંગણમાં તેના પર પથ્થર ફેકીને મારી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="2CH.24.22" />ઝર્ખાયાના પિતા યહોયાદાએ પોતાના પ્રત્યે બતાવેલી વફાદારીને ભૂલી જઇને રાજા યોઆશે તેના પુત્રને મારી નાખ્યો. મરતાં મરતાં ઝર્ખાયા કહેતો ગયો કે, “યહોવા આ જુઓ અને એનો બદલો લો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2CH.24.23" />એક વર્ષ પૂરું થતાં અરામીઓની સેનાએ યોઆશ ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરી. તેમણે યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમ ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો અને લોકોના બધા આગેવાનોને મારી નાખ્યા અને લૂંટનો માલ રાજાને દમસ્ક મોકલી આપ્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="2CH.24.24" />અરામીઓએ હુમલો કર્યો ત્યારે તેમનું લશ્કર કઇં મોટું નહોતું; તેમ છતાં યહોવાએ યહૂદાની ભારે મોટી સૈના ઉપર તેમને વિજય અપાવ્યો. કારણ, એ યહૂદાના લોકોએ પોતાના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાનો ત્યાગ કર્યો હતો, આમ અરામીઓએ યોઆશને ઘટતી સજા કરી.
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<v id="25" bcv="2CH.24.25" />અરામીઓ યોઆશને સખત ઘવાયેલી હાલતમાં મૂકી ગયા અને ત્યાર પછી તેના પોતાના અમલદારોએ યાજક યહોયાદાના પુત્રના મૃત્યુનું વેર લેવા તેની સામે ગુપ્તયોજના ઘડી તેને પથારીમાં જ મારી નાખ્યો. આમ તે મરણ પામ્યો અને તેને દાઉદનગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. જો કે રાજાઓના કબ્રસ્તાનમાં તો નહિ જ.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2CH.24.26" />જે સેવકોએ તેની સામે કાવત્રું કરીને તેને મારી નાખ્યો હતો તેઓ આ બધાં હતાં; ઝાબાદ અને યહોઝાબાદ. આમ્મોની શિમઆથ તે ઝાબાદની માતા હતી અને યહોઝાબાદની માતા તે મોઆબેણ શિમ્રીથ હતી.
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<v id="27" bcv="2CH.24.27" />યોઆશનાં છોકરાની વિગતો, તેની સામે પ્રબોધકોએ ઉચ્ચારેલી અનેક ચેતવણીઓ, તેમજ તેણે કરાવેલી મંદિરની મરારત વગેરે વિષે
<bk>રાજાઓના વૃત્તાંતના ગ્રંથમાં</bk> લખ્યું છે. તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર અમાસ્યા ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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<c id="25" />
<s style="s">રાજા અમાસ્યાનો અમલ અને મૂર્તિપૂજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.25.1" />અમાસ્યા ગાદી પર આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 25 વર્ષની હતી. તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં ઓગણત્રીસ વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ. તેની માતાનું નામ યહોઆદાન હતું અને તે યરૂશાલેમની હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.25.2" />તેણે યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ જે યોગ્ય હતું તે કર્યું. પણ હંમેશા તે પૂરા હૃદયથી તેમ કરતો ન હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.25.3" />રાજા તરીકે તે સ્થિર થયો ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના પિતાના ખૂનીઓને મારી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.25.4" />જો કે તેણે તેઓનાં બાળકોને મારી નાખ્યા નહિ,
<bk>મૂસાના નિયમમાં</bk> લખેલી દેવની આજ્ઞાને તે આધીન થયો, “બાળકોના પાપોને કારણે પિતા માર્યા ન જાય, અને પિતાના પાપોને કારણે બાળકો માર્યા ન જાય, પ્રત્યેક પોતાનાં પાપની શિક્ષા ભોગવે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CH.25.5" />ત્યારબાદ અમાસ્યાએ રાજ્યના બધા લોકોને- યહૂદાના તેમજ બિન્યામીનના વંશના લોકોને ભેગા કર્યા, અને તેમને કુટુંબવાર હજાર હજારના અને સો સોના નાયકો નીચે ગોઠવી દીધા. 20 વરસના અને તેની ઉપરનાની તેણે ગણતરી કરી તો 3,00,000 ચુનંદા યોદ્ધાઓ થયા. તેઓ બધા ઢાલ અને ભાલાથી યુદ્ધ કરવાને સજ્જ હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.25.6" />એ પછી તેણે ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી 1,00,000 શૂરવીરોને 3,400 કિલો ચાંદી આપવાની કહીને ભાડે રાખ્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.25.7" />પણ એવામાં એક દેવના માણસે આવીને તેને કહ્યું, “મહારાજ, ઇસ્રાએલી સૈનાને તમારી સાથે આવવા ન દેશો, કારણ એ એફ્રાઇમીઓ સાથે યહોવા નથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.25.8" />એ લોકો જો તમારી સાથે આવશે, તો તમે ગમે તેટલી ધીરતાપૂર્વક લડશો, તો પણ દેવ તમને દુશ્મનો આગળ પરાજય અપાવશે. કારણ, જયપરાજય આપવો એ એના હાથની વાત છે.”
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.25.9" />અમાસ્યાએ કહ્યું, “પણ મેં જે ચાંદી આપી છે તેનું શું?” દેવના માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “યહોવા તને એથી પણ વિશેષ આપવાને સમર્થ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.25.10" />આથી અમાસ્યાએ એફ્રાઇમમાંથી જે સૈનિકો આવ્યા હતા તેમને જુદા પાડીને ઘેર પાછા મોકલી દીધા. એ લોકો યહૂદા પર ભારે રોષે ભરાયા અને ધૂંધવાતા ધૂંધવાતા ઘેર ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.25.11" />ત્યારપછી અમાસ્યા પોતાના સૈન્યને હિંમતપૂર્વક મીઠાની ખીણમાં લઇ ગયો અને ત્યાં તેણે અદોમના 10,000 માણસોને કાપી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.25.12" />યહૂદાના માણસોએ બીજા 10,000ને જીવતા કેદ પકડ્યા અને તેમને ખડકની ટોચે લાવી ત્યાંથી હડસેલી મૂક્યા. આથી તેમના બધાના ટુકડે ટુકડા થઇ ગયા. નીચેની ખડકો ઉપર પછડાઇને તેઓ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CH.25.13" />આ દરમ્યાન ઇસ્રાએલના જે સૈન્યને ઘેર મોકલી દીધું હતું, તેઓએ બેથ-હોરોનથી સમરૂન સુધીના યહૂદાના શહેરોમાં લૂંટ ચલાવી. તેઓ 3,000 માણસોને મારી નાખીને, મોટી લૂંટ એકત્ર કરીને ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CH.25.14" />અદોમીઓને હરાવીને અમાસ્યા પાછો આવ્યો અને જે અદોમીઓના પૂતળાં સાથે લઇ આવ્યો હતો, તેની તેણે પોતાના દેવો તરીકે સ્થાપના કરી, પછી તેણે તેની પૂજા કરવાનું અને તેમની સામે ધૂપ બાળવાનું શરૂ કર્યું.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.25.15" />આથી યહોવા તેના ઉપર ખૂબ કોપાયમાન થયા અને તેમણે એક પ્રબોધકને તેની પાસે મોકલ્યો. તેણે અમાસ્યાને કહ્યું, “તમે એ લોકોના દેવો પાસેથી સલાહ શા માટે લીધી જે દેવો પોતાના માણસોને પણ તમારા હાથમાંથી બચાવી શક્યા નહોતા?”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.25.16" />પરંતુ રાજાએ ગુસ્સે થઇને કહ્યું, “મેં તારી સલાહ ક્યાં માંગી છે? ચૂપ રહે, નહિ તો હું તને મારી નાખીશ.” પ્રબોધકે જતાં જતાં ચેતવણી આપી, “હું જાણું છું કે, દેવે તારો નાશ કરવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો છે કારણકે તેઁ આ મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરી છે, અને મારી સલાહ માની નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2CH.25.17" />એ પછી યહૂદાના રાજા અમાસ્યાએ સલાહ મસલત કરીને યેહૂના પુત્ર યહોઆહાઝના પુત્ર યોઆશ પાસે સંદેશાવાહક મોકલી કહેવડાવ્યું કે, “ચાલો, આપણે મોઢા મોઢ મળીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.25.18" />પછી ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા યહોઆશે (યોઆશે) એમ કહીને વળતો જવાબ મોકલ્યો કે, “લબાનોનના એક નાનકડાં જાંખરાએ લબાનોનના દેવદારને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો, ‘મારા પુત્ર સાથે તારી પુત્રી પરણાવ.’ પણ લબાનોનના એક જંગલી પશુએ ત્યાંથી પસાર થતી વખતે પેલા જાંખરાને પોતાના પગ તળે કચડી નાંખ્યુ.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.25.19" />‘મેં અદોમ સર કર્યુ છે’ એમ તું કહે છે, અને તેથી તારું મગજ ફાટી ગયું છે. અદોમ ઉપર વિજય મળવાથી તું ઘણો અભિમાની થઇ ગયો છે, પણ મારી સલાહ છે કે, તું તારે ઘેર રહે અને મારી સાથે યુદ્ધ કરીશ નહિ, રખેને તું અને સમગ્ર યહૂદા ભારે નુકશાન વહોરી લો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2CH.25.20" />પણ અમાસ્યાએ સાંભળ્યું નહિ. કારણકે તેઓ અદોમના દેવને ભજતા હતા. લડાઇમાં યહૂદા હારી જાય એમ દેવ ઇચ્છતા હતા. તેથી જ તેમણે અમાસ્યાને ઇસ્રાએલ સામે લડાવ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.25.21" />માટે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા યોઆશે ચઢાઇ કરી; અને તે તથા યહૂદાનો રાજા અમાસ્યા યહૂદાના બેથશેમેશમાં એકબીજાને સામસામે મળ્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="2CH.25.22" />યહૂદાના માણસો ઇસ્રાએલના માણસોથી હારીને પોતપોતાને ઘેર ભાગી ગયા.
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.25.23" />પણ ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા યોઆશ યહૂદાના હારી ગયેલા રાજા અમાસ્યાને કેદ કરીને યરૂશાલેમ લઇ ગયો. ત્યાં તેણે એફ્રાઇમના દરવાજાથી ખૂણાના દરવાજા સુધીનો 200 હાથ જેટલો યરૂશાલેમનો કોટ તોડી નંખાવ્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="2CH.25.24" />વળી દેવના મંદિરમાંથી જે બધું સોનું-ચાંદી તથા જે સર્વ પાત્રો તેને મળ્યા હતાં, તે લઇને તે સમરૂન પાછો ફર્યો. આ બધી વસ્તુઓ ઓબેદ-એદોમના તાબામાં હતી-તે રાજાના મહેલમાંથી પણ સંપત્તિ લઇ આવ્યો હતો અને થોડા કેદીઓને પણ સમરૂન પાછા લાવ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2CH.25.25" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા યહોઆહાઝના પુત્ર યહોઆશના મૃત્યુ પછી યહૂદાના રાજા યોઆશનો પુત્ર અમાસ્યા 15 વર્ષ જીવ્યો.
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<v id="26" bcv="2CH.25.26" />અમાસ્યાનાં બાકીના કૃત્યો પહેલેથી તે છેલ્લે સુધી
<bk>યહૂદાના તથા ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓના પુસ્તકમાં</bk> નોંધેલા છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="2CH.25.27" />અમાસ્યા યહોવાનું અનુકરણ ન કરતાં અવળે માગેર્ ચાલવા લાગ્યો તે સમયથી યરૂશાલેમમાં લોકોએ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ બંડ કર્યુ. તેથી તે લાખીશ ભાગી ગયો, પણ લાખીશ સુધી તેનો પીછો કરવામાં આવ્યો અને તેને ત્યાં જ ઠાર કરવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="28" bcv="2CH.25.28" />ત્યારબાદ તેનો મૃતદેહ ઘોડા ઉપર યરૂશાલેમ લાવવામાં આવ્યો અને ત્યાં દાઉદના નગરમાં તેના પિતૃઓ ભેગો દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">રાજા ઉઝિઝયાનું શાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.26.1" />યહૂદાના બધા લોકોએ 16 વર્ષની ઉંમરના થયેલા ઉઝિઝયાને પસંદ કર્યો અને તેને તેના પિતા અમાસ્યા પછી રાજા બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.26.2" />અમાસ્યાના અવસાન પછી ઉઝિઝયાએ એલોથ યહૂદા માટે પાછું મેળવ્યું અને તેને ફરી બંધાવ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2CH.26.3" />યરૂશાલેમમાં તેણે 52 વર્ષ રાજ કર્યુ; તેની માતા યખિલ્યા યરૂશાલેમની વતની હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.26.4" />તે પોતાના પિતા અમાસ્યાને માગેર્ ચાલ્યો, અને યહોવાની ષ્ટિમાં તે સારો રાજા હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.26.5" />ઝખાર્યાની હયાતીમાં ઉઝિઝયા દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરવા હંમેશા આતુર હતો. ઝખાર્યાએ લોકોને દેવની સેવા કરવાનો સાચો રસ્તો બતાવ્યો હતો. જ્યારે રાજા દેવના માગેર્ ચાલ્યો; ત્યારે દેવે તેને સફળતા આપી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CH.26.6" />તેણે પલિસ્તીઓ ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરી ગાથ, યાબ્નેહ અને આશ્દોદની દીવાલો તોડી પાડી અને તેણે આશ્દોદની નજીક અને પલિસ્તીઓના બાકીના પ્રદેશમાં શહેરો બંધાવ્યાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.26.7" />દેવે તેને પલિસ્તીઓ, ગૂર-બઆલમાં વસતા આરબો અને મેઉનીઓની વિરુદ્ધ મદદ કરી.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.26.8" />આમ્મોનીઓ ઉઝિઝયાને ખંડણી ભરવા લાગ્યા. તેની કીતિર્ ઠેઠ મિસરની સરહદ લગી ફેલાઇ, કારણ, તે ખૂબ બળવાન બની ગયો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2CH.26.9" />એ ઉપરાંત તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં “ખૂણાના દરવાજા,” ખીણના દરવાજા અને કિલ્લા દરવાજા પાસે અને દીવાલનાં વળાંક પાસે બુરજો બંધાવ્યા.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.26.10" />તેણે રણમાં પણ બુરજો બંધાવ્યા અને અનેક કૂવાઓ ખોદાવ્યા, કારણ, તેની પાસે નીચાણના પ્રદેશમાં તેમજ ઉચ્ચ પ્રદેશમાં ઘણાં ઢોરો હતાં. તેને ખેતીવાડીનો શોખ હતો, એટલે એણે દ્રાક્ષવાડીઓ ઉગાડનાર અને ફળદ્રૂપ ભૂમિમાં અને પર્વતીય પ્રદેશોમાં કામ કરનાર ખેડૂતો રાખ્યા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.26.11" />ઉઝિઝયા પાસે યુદ્ધ માટે સજ્જ તાલીમ પામેલી સેના હતી, અને મહામંત્રી યેઇએલ અને અધિકારી માઅસેયાએ રાજાના એક સેનાપતિ હનાન્યાના હાથ નીચે તૈયાર કરેલી યાદી પ્રમાણે તેની ટૂકડીઓ પાડવામાં આવી હતી.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.26.12" />સેનાનાયકોની કુલ સંખ્યા 2,600 હતી.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.26.13" />તેમના નેતૃત્વ હેઠળ 3,07,500 સૈનિકોનું તાલિમબદ્ધ સૈન્ય હતું અને તે દુશ્મનો સામે રાજાનું રક્ષણ કરતું હતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.26.14" />ઉઝિઝયાએ આખા સૈન્ય ને ઢાલો, ભાલાઓ, ટોપાઓ, બખ્તરો, ધનુષ્ય અને ગોફણો માટે પથ્થરો આપ્યાં હતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.26.15" />કુશળ શોધકોએ શોધેલાં યુદ્ધના નવાં યંત્રોનું ઉઝિઝયાએ યરૂશાલેમમાં ઉત્પાદન કર્યુ. આ યંત્રો બુરજો પરથી અને દીવાલોને ખૂણેથી બાણો અને મોટા કદનાં પથ્થરો ફેંકવા માટે ઉપયોગી હતા. તેની કીતિર્ ઘણે દૂર સુધી ફેલાઇ ગઇ. તેને ઘણી બધી મદદ મળી અને તે એક સાર્મથ્યવાન રાજા બની ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.26.16" />પણ જેમ જેમ તેનું બળ વધતું ગયું, તેમ તેમ તે અભિમાની બનતો ગયો અને તેમાંથી તેનો વિનાશ થયો. તેણે ધૂપની વેદી ઉપર ધૂપ ચઢાવવા માટે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં પ્રવેશ કરીને યહોવાનો ગુનો કર્યો.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.26.17" />યાજક અઝાર્યાએ યહોવાના 80 બહાદુર યાજકો સાથે રાજા ઉઝિઝયાની પાછળ પાછળ જઇ તેને રોકીને કહ્યું,
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.26.18" />“ઉઝિઝયા, યહોવાને ધૂપ ચઢાવવાનો તમને અધિકાર નથી. તે અધિકાર તો એ સેવા માટે પવિત્ર બનાવવામાં આવેલ હારુનના વંશજોને જ છે. પવિત્ર સ્થાનમાંથી બહાર નીકળો. તમે યહોવાનો ગુનો કર્યો છે. હવે યહોવા દેવ તરફથી તમને સન્માન મળશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2CH.26.19" />એટલે ઉઝિઝયાને ક્રોધ ચઢયો; તેના હાથમાં ધૂપ કરવા માટે ધૂપદાન હતું; યાજકો પર તે કોપાયમાન થયો હતો, એટલામાં ધૂપવેદીની પાસે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં યાજકોના દેખતાં તેના કપાળમાં કોઢ ફૂટી નીકળ્યો.
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<v id="20" bcv="2CH.26.20" />મુખ્ય યાજક અઝાર્યા અને બીજા યાજકોએ તેના તરફ જોયું તો તેના કપાળ પર કોઢ જણાયો, અને તેને એકદમ મંદિરની બહાર હડસેલી મૂક્યો. યહોવાએ તેને સજા કરી હતી. તેથી તે પોતે પણ બહાર જવા માટે આતુર હતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.26.21" />પોતાના મૃત્યુ સુધી ઉઝિઝયા કોઢી જ રહ્યો અને એકાંતવાસમાં જીવ્યો. તે મંદિરથી અને પોતાના લોકોથી અલગ કરાયેલો હતો. તેના પુત્ર યોથામે રાજાનો વહીવટ સંભાળી લીધો અને દેશના લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવાનું કામ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2CH.26.22" />ઉઝિઝયાના રાજ્યના બીજા બનાવો પરથી પહેલેથી છેલ્લે સુધી પ્રબોધક યશાયા-આમોસના પુત્રએ નોંધેલું છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.26.23" />ઉઝિઝયા પોતાના પિતૃઓની સાથે ઊંઘી ગયો; અને તે કોઢિયો છે એમ કહીને તેઓએ તેને રાજાઓના કબ્રસ્તાન પાસેના ખેતરમાં તેના પિતૃઓની સાથે ન દફનાવતાં પાસેના ખેતરમાં તેને દફનાવ્યો; પછી તેનો પુત્ર યોથામ નવો રાજા બન્યો.
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</p>

<c id="27" />
<s style="s">રાજા યોથામનો અમલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.27.1" />યોથામ ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 25 વર્ષની હતી અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 16 વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યુ. તેની માતાનું નામ યરૂશા હતું. અને તે સાદોકની પુત્રી હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.27.2" />તેના પિતા ઉઝિઝયાએ જે સઘળું કર્યુ હતું તે પ્રમાણે તેણે યહોવાની ષ્ટિમાં જે સારું હતું તે કર્યુ; પરંતુ યહોવાના મંદિરમાં તે જતો નહિ; પણ લોકોએ ષ્ટ કાર્યો કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.27.3" />તેણે યહોવાના મંદિરનો ઉપલો દરવાજો બંધાવ્યો અને ઓફેલના કોટનું ઘણું બાંધકામ કરાવ્યું.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.27.4" />તેણે યહૂદાના પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં નગરો બંધાવ્યાં અને જંગલોમાં કિલ્લાઓ અને બુરજો ચણાવ્યાઁ.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.27.5" />તેણે આમ્મોનીઓના રાજા સાથે યુદ્ધ કરી તેને હરાવ્યો, અને તે વરસે આમ્મોનીઓએ તેને 3,400 કિલો ચાંદી, 10,000 માપ ઘઉં, તથા 10,000 માપ જવ સતત ત્રણ વર્ષ સુધી તેને આપતાં રહ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CH.27.6" />યોથામ પોતાના બધા નિર્ણયો દેવના માગોર્ને અનુસરીને લેતો હતો. તેથી તે ઘણો બળવાન બનવા પામ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.27.7" />યોથામના રાજ્યના બીજા બનાવોની, તેના બધા યુદ્ધોની અને તેના રાજ્યવહીવટની નોંધ
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદાના રાજાઓના વૃત્તાંતમાં</bk> લેવામાં આવેલી છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.27.8" />તે જ્યારે ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 25 વર્ષની હતી અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 16 વર્ષ શાસન કર્યુ.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.27.9" />ત્યારપછી તે પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેને દાઉદનગરમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર આહાઝ ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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<c id="28" />
<s style="s">રાજા આહાઝનો શાસનકાળ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.28.1" />આહાઝ જ્યારે રાજા બન્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 20 વર્ષની હતી; અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 16 વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.28.2" />પોતાના પિતૃ દાઉદની જેમ યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય એવું આચરણ કરવાને બદલે તે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓને પગલે ચાલ્યો અને તેણે બઆલદેવોની મૂર્તિઓ પણ ઢળાવી.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.28.3" />તેણે બેનહિન્નોમની ખીણમાં ધૂપ બાળવા શરુ કર્યા. અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના પ્રવેશ પહેલાં યહોવાએ જે પ્રજાઓને હાંકી કાઢી હતી, તેમના ઘૃણાજનક રિવાજોને અનુસરીને પોતાના પુત્રોને પણ બલી તરીકે અગ્નિમાં હોમી દીધા.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.28.4" />તેણે પર્વતો પર આવેલાં ઉચ્ચસ્થાનકોમાં અને પર્વત ઉપરના પ્રત્યેક લીલા વૃક્ષ નીચે યજ્ઞો કરીને ધૂપ બાળ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CH.28.5" />આથી યહોવા તેના દેવે તેને અરામીઓના રાજાના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધો; તેઓએ તેના લશ્કરને હરાવ્યું અને તેની પ્રજામાંથી ઘણા માણસોને બંદીવાન કરી દમસ્ક લઇ ગયા. યહોવાએ તેને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા પેકાહ દ્વારા હરાવ્યો. પેકાહ રમાલ્યાનો પુત્ર હતો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.28.6" />ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા પેકાહ જે રમાલ્યાનો પુત્ર હતો. તેણે એક જ દિવસમાં 1,20,000 શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓને કાપી નાખ્યા. કારણકે તેમણે તેમના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાની અવજ્ઞા કરી હતી.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.28.7" />એફ્રાઇમના શૂરવીર ઝિખ્રીએ રાજાના કુંવર માઅસેનાહને અને રાજમહેલના કારભારી હાઝ્ીકામને તેમજ રાજાના મુખ્યમંત્રી એલ્કાનાહને મારી નાખ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.28.8" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓના લશ્કરે પોતાના જાતભાઇઓમાંથી 2,00,000 સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકોને કેદ પકડ્યાં, ઉપરાંત, પુષ્કળ લૂંટનો માલ પણ કબ્જે કરી, તેઓ સમરૂન લઇ આવ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.28.9" />ત્યાં ઓદેદ નામે યહોવાનો એક પ્રબોધક રહેતો હતો. તે સમરૂન પાછા ફરતાં ઇસ્રાએલી લશ્કરને મળવા ગયો અને તેણે કહ્યું, “યહોવા તમારા પિતૃઓના દેવ યહૂદાના લોકો ઉપર ક્રોધે ભરાયા હતા અને તેથી તેણે તેમને તમારા હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા, પણ તમે તેમને મારી નાખીને, દેવને તમારા ઉપર ગુસ્સે કર્યા છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.28.10" />અને હવે તમે યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમમાં સ્ત્રીપુરુષોને તમારાં ગુલામ બનાવવા માંગો છો. તમારા દેવ યહોવાની આગળ તમે લોકો ક્યાં ઓછા ગુનેગાર છો?
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.28.11" />માટે હવે મારું કહેવું સાંભળો, આ તમારા સગાઓને તેઓનાં ઘરે પાછાં મોકલી આપો, કારણકે યહોવાનો ઉગ્ર કોપ તમારા ઉપર છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.28.12" />ત્યારબાદ કેટલાક એફ્રાઇમી આગેવાનો યોહાનાનનો પુત્ર અઝાર્યા, મશિલ્લેમોથનો પુત્ર બેરેખ્યા, શાલ્લુમનો પુત્ર હિઝિક્યા અને હાદલાઇનો પુત્ર અમાસા યુદ્ધમાંથી પાછા ફરતા ઇસ્રાએલી માણસોની સામે ગયા.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.28.13" />અને તેમને કહ્યું, “તમે આ કેદીઓને અમારા દેશમાં લાવશો નહિ. તમે જે કરવા માંગો છો એથી અમે યહોવા આગળ ગુનેગાર ઠરીશું, અને અમારા પાપોમાં વધારો થશે. આમ પણ અમારા ગુના ઓછા નથી. અને યહોવાનો ભયંકર રોષ ઇસ્રાએલ ઉપર ઝઝૂમે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CH.28.14" />આથી લશ્કરના માણસોએ કેદીઓ અને લૂંટનો સામાન અમલદારોને અને ભેગા થયેલા લોકોને સોંપી દીધો.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.28.15" />પછી અગાઉ જણાવેલ ચાર આગેવાનોએ લૂંટમાંથી કપડાં લઇને બંદીવાનોમાંથી જે સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકોને જરૂર હતી, તેઓને તે પ્રમાણે વહેંચી આપ્યા, તેમજ પગરખાં, ખોરાક અને દ્રાક્ષારસ પણ આપ્યાં, વળી જેઓ બીમાર અને વૃદ્ધ હતા તેઓને ગધેડા ઉપર બેસાડીને ખજૂરીઓનાં નગર યરીખોમાં તેઓનાં કુટુંબ પાસે લઇ ગયા. પછી બંદીવાનો સાથે ગયેલી ટૂકડી સમરૂન પાછી ફરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.28.16" />એ વખતે રાજા આહાઝે આશ્શૂરના રાજાને પોતાની વહારે આવવા કહેવડાવ્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.28.17" />કારણ, અદોમીઓ ફરી એકવાર યહૂદા ઉપર ચઢી આવ્યા અને ઘણા લોકોને બંદીવાન તરીકે પકડી ગયા.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.28.18" />પલિસ્તીઓએ પણ નીચાણના પ્રદેશોમાં તેમજ દક્ષિણનાં શહેરો ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો અને આજબાજુના ગામડાઓ સહિત બેથ-શેમેશ, આયાલોન, ગદેરોથ, સોખો તેમજ તિમ્નાહ અને ગિમ્ઝો કબજે કર્યા, અને તેમાં વસવાટ કર્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.28.19" />આહાઝ યહૂદાના લોકોને પાપ કરવા માટે પ્રોત્સાહન આપતો હતો. અને તે યહોવાને વફાદાર રહ્યો નહોતો એટલે યહોવાએ યહૂદાના લોકોને નીચા પાડ્યા.
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<v id="20" bcv="2CH.28.20" />આશ્શૂરનો રાજા તિલ્ગાથ-પિલ્નેસેર આવ્યો ખરો પણ તેને મદદ કરવાને બદલે તેણે તેને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.28.21" />આહાઝે યહોવાના મંદિરને, રાજમહેલ અને પોતાના અમલદારોનાં ઘરોને લૂંટીને એ લૂંટનો માલ આશ્શૂરના રાજાને આપ્યો પણ કશું વળ્યું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2CH.28.22" />અતિ સંકટના આ સમયે રાજા આહાઝ વધુને વધુ પાપ કરતો ગયો.
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.28.23" />દમસ્કના સૈન્યે તેને હાર આપી હતી, તેથી તેણે તેઓના દેવના બલિદાનો કર્યા, તેણે માન્યું કે “જો એ દેવોએ અરામના રાજાઓને સહાય કરી તો આ બલિદાનો ચઢાવવાને લીધે એ દેવો મારી પણ મદદ કરશે.” પણ તેમ કરવાથી ઊલટું તેનું અને યહૂદીયાના લોકોનું મોટું નુકશાન થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2CH.28.24" />આહાઝે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં વાસણો ભાંગી નાખ્યા, અને યહોવાના મંદિરના બારણાં બંધ કરી યરૂશાલેમમાં શેરીએ શેરીએ બીજા દેવોની વેદી ચણાવી,
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<v id="25" bcv="2CH.28.25" />અને યહૂદાના એકે એક ગામમાં તેમને ધૂપ ચઢાવવા ટેકરી પરનાં સ્થાનકો ઊભાં કર્યા; અને એમ કરીને પોતાના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાનો રોષ વહોરી લીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2CH.28.26" />તેના રાજ્યના બીજા બનાવો અને તેના જીવનની વિગતો
<bk>યહૂદા અને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓનાં વૃત્તાંતમાં</bk> નોંધેલી છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="2CH.28.27" />પછી આહાઝ પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેને યરૂશાલેમમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, પરંતુ તેને રાજાઓના કબ્રસ્તાનમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો નહિ, તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર હિઝિક્યા ગાદી પર આવ્યો.
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<c id="29" />
<s style="s">રાજા હિઝિક્યા દ્વારા મંદિરનું શુદ્ધિકરણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.29.1" />પચીસ વર્ષની ઉંમરે હિઝિક્યા યહૂદાનો રાજા બન્યો અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 29 વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યુ. તેની માતાનું નામ અબિયા હતું. તે ઝખાર્યાની પુત્રી હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.29.2" />હિઝિક્યાએ પોતાના પિતૃ દાઉદની જેમ યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ યોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2CH.29.3" />તેના શાસનના પહેલા વર્ષના પહેલા મહિનામાં તેણે યહોવાના મંદિરના બારણા ખોલી નાંખ્યાં અને તેમની મરામત કરાવી.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.29.4" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે યાજકોને અને લેવીઓને બોલાવીને પૂર્વ તરફના ચોકમાં ભેગા કરી કહ્યું,
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.29.5" />“લેવીઓ, મારી વાત સાંભળો; અત્યારે તમે વિધિપૂર્વક દેહશુદ્ધિ કરો, અને તમારા પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાના મંદિરની પણ શુદ્ધિ કરો, અને એ પવિત્રધામમાં જે કઇં ગંદવાડ પેસી ગયો છે તે બધો હઠાવી દો.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.29.6" />આપણા પિતૃઓએ ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યુ છે. અને તેમણે આપણા દેવ યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ ખરાબ ગણાય એવું વર્તન કર્યું છે. તેમણે તેનો ત્યાગ કર્યો હતો, અને તેના મંદિરથી વિમુખ થઇ ગયાં હતાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.29.7" />તેમણે મંદિરના દરવાજા બંધ કરી દીધા હતા, દીપ ઓલવી નાખ્યા હતા, અને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવના પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં ધૂપ કે દહનાર્પણ ચઢાવવાનું બંધ કરી દીધું હતું.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.29.8" />આથી યહોવાનો કોપ યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમ ઉપર ઉતર્યો છે અને તેણે, તમે જુઓ છો તેમ, તેમના એવા હાલ કર્યા છે કે જેઓ તેમની સામે જુએ છે, તેઓ તેની સામે સ્તબ્ધતાથી હાંફે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.29.9" />આ કારણે આપણા પિતૃઓ યુદ્ધમાં માર્યા જાય છે. અને આપણા પુત્રો, પુત્રીઓ અને પત્નીઓ બંદીવાન બન્યાં છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.29.10" />હવે મેં ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવ સાથે કરાર કરવાનો નિશ્ચય કર્યો છે, જેથી તેનો ભયંકર રોષ આપણા ઉપરથી ઊતરી જાય,
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.29.11" />માટે, મારા પુત્રો, વખત બગાડશોં નહિ, કારણ, યહોવાએ તેની સેવા કરવા માટે અને તેને ધૂપ આપવા માટે તમને જ પસંદ કર્યાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12-14" bcv="2CH.29.12" />ત્યારબાદ કામ કરવા માટે લેવીઓ આગળ આવ્યા;
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<p sfm="li" style="li">કહાથના કુટુંબમાંથી અમાસાયનો પુત્ર માહાથ, તથા અઝાર્યાનો પુત્ર યોએલ, મરારીના કુટુંબોમાંથી;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આબ્દીનો પુત્ર કીશ તથા યહાલ્લેલએલ નો પુત્ર અઝાર્યા;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ગેશોર્નીઓના કુટુંબમાંથી ઝિમ્માહનો પુત્ર યોઆહ, તથા યોઆહનો પુત્ર એદેન;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અલીસાફાનના વંશજોમાંથી શિમ્રી તથા યેઉએલ;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આસાફના વંશજોમાંના ઝખાર્યા તથા માત્તાન્યા;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હેમાનના વંશજોમાંના યહૂએલ અને શિમઇ;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યદ્દૂથૂનના વંશજોમાના શમાયા તથા ઉઝઝીએલ.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2CH.29.15" />તેઓએ પોતાના ભાઇઓને ભેગા કર્યા, ને પોતાને પવિત્ર કરીને તેઓ યહોવાના વચનથી રાજાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે યહોવાના મંદિરને શુદ્ધ કરવા સારુ અંદર ગયા,
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.29.16" />યાજકો યહોવાના મંદિરના અંદરના ભાગમાં સાફસૂફ કરવા ગયા, ને જે સર્વ કચરો યહોવાના મંદિરમાંથી તેઓને મળ્યો તે તેઓ યહોવાના મંદિરના આંગણામાં બહાર લાવ્યા, અને લેવીઓ તે કચરો કિદ્રોન નાળા આગળ બહાર લઇ ગયા.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.29.17" />તેમણે પહેલા મહિનાના પહેલા દિવસે શુદ્ધિનો વિધિ શરૂ કર્યો આઠમે દિવસે તેઓ યહોવાના મંદિરની પરસાળે પહોંચ્યા. ત્યારબાદ આઠ દિવસ સુધી તેમણે મંદિરની શુદ્ધિ કરી અને પહેલા મહિનાના સોળમા દિવસે કામ પૂરું કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.29.18" />ત્યારબાદ તેમણે રાજમહેલમાં જઇ રાજા હિઝિક્યાને કહ્યું, “અમે દહનાર્પણ ચઢાવવાની વેદી અને તેને લગતાં સાધનો, તેમજ ધરાવેલી રોટલી મૂકવાના બાજઠ અને તેને લગતાં સાધનો સહિત આખું મંદિર શુદ્ધ કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.29.19" />વળી રાજા આહાઝ ધર્મષ્ટ થઇ ગયો હતો ત્યારે તેણે હઠાવી દીધેલાં બધાં પૂજાના સાધનો અમે પાછા લાવી શુદ્ધ કર્યા છે, તે બધાં અત્યારે યહોવાની વેદી આગળ મૂકેલાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2CH.29.20" />બીજે દિવસે સવારે રાજા હિઝિક્યાએ શહેરના અમલદારોને ભેગા કર્યા અને તેમને સાથે લઇને તે યહોવાને મંદિરે ગયો.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.29.21" />એ લોકો સાત બળદ, સાત મેંઢા અને સાત ઘેટા, સાત નર બકરાંને રાજ્યને માટે, પવિત્રસ્થાન માટે અને યહૂદા માટે પાપાર્થાપણ તરીકે લઇ આવ્યા અને રાજાએ હારુનના વંશજોને અર્થાત્ યાજકોને યહોવાની વેદી ઉપર બલિદાન અર્પણ કરવા જણાવ્યું.
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<v id="22" bcv="2CH.29.22" />આથી યાજકોએ બળદોને વધેર્યા અને તેમનું લોહી વેદી પર છાંટયું. ત્યારબાદ તેણે ઘેટાંઓને વધેર્યા અને તેનું લોહી વેદી પર છાંટયું. પછી નર બકરાઁ વધેરી તેમનું લોહી વેદી ઉપર છાંટયું.
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.29.23" />ત્યારબાદ યાજકો દ્વારા પ્રાયશ્ચિતના બલિના બકરાને રાજાની અને સભાની સમક્ષ લાવવામાં આવ્યા. અને તેમણે તેમના ઉપર હાથ મૂક્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="2CH.29.24" />યાજકોએ તેમનો વધ કરી તેમનું લોહી સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલના પાપના પ્રાયશ્ચિત રૂપે વેદી ઉપર છાંટયું. રાજાનું એવું ફરમાન હતું કે, આખા ઇસ્રાએલ તરફથી દહનાર્પણ તેમજ પાપાર્થાર્પણ બંને ચઢાવવા. તે મુજબ આ થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="2CH.29.25" />યહોવાના મંદિરમાં રાજાએ લેવીઓને ઝાંઝો, સિતારો, અને વીણાઓ આપી હતી, આ વ્યવસ્થા દાઉદ તથા ષ્ટા ગાદ અને નાથાન પ્રબોધકોએ ઠરાવ્યા મુજબની હતી, આ માટે તેઓને પ્રબોધકો દ્વારા યહોવા તરફથી સૂચનાઓ મળી હતી.
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<v id="26" bcv="2CH.29.26" />લેવીઓ પાસે દાઉદનાં વાજિંત્રો હતા. અને યાજકો પાસે રણશિંગડાં હતા.
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<v id="27" bcv="2CH.29.27" />એટલે હિઝિક્યાએ વેદી ઉપર દહનાર્પણ ચઢાવવાનો હુકમ કર્યો; અને દહનાર્પણ ચઢાવવાનું શરૂ થતાં જ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ પણ શરૂ થઇ અને તેની સાથે જ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા દાઉદના વાજિંત્રો સહિત રણશિંગડા પણ વાગી ઊઠયાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="2CH.29.28" />સમગ્ર સભાએ સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કર્યા, સંગીતકારો ગાવા લાગ્યા. અને રણશિંગડા વગાડનારાઓએ રણશિંગડા ફૂંક્યા,
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2CH.29.29" />દહનાર્પણ આપવાનું પૂરું થયું અને રાજા અને સમગ્ર સભાએ સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કરીને આરાધના કરી.
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<v id="30" bcv="2CH.29.30" />અને રાજા હિઝિક્યાએ તથા તેના અમલદારોએ લેવીઓને દાઉદ અને પ્રબોધક આસાફે રચેલાં યહોવાનાં સ્તોત્રો ગાવા આજ્ઞા કરી. આથી તેમણે ઉલ્લાસપૂર્વક સ્તોત્રો ગાયાં અને સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કરી દેવનું ભજનકર્યું.
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<v id="31" bcv="2CH.29.31" />ત્યારબાદ હિઝિક્યાએ કહ્યું, “હવે તમે યહોવાની સેવાને સમપિર્ત થયા છો. આગળ આવો, અને યહોવાના મંદિર માટે હોમબલિ અને આભારના બલિ લઇ આવો.” આથી સભાજનો હોમબલિ અને આભારના બલિ લઇ આવ્યા, અને જેમની ઇચ્છા હતી તેઓ દહનાર્પણો લઇ આવ્યા.
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<v id="32" bcv="2CH.29.32" />સભાજનો જે દહનાર્પણો લાવ્યા હતા તેમાં 70 બળદો, 100 ઘેટાં, અને 200 લવારાં હતા; આ યહોવાના હોમબલિના પશુ હતા.
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<v id="33" bcv="2CH.29.33" />વળી ઉપકારાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે 600 બળદ તથા 300 ઘેટાં ચઢાવવામાં આવ્યાં,
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<v id="34" bcv="2CH.29.34" />પણ યાજકો ઓછા હોવાથી એ સર્વ દહનાર્પણો તેઓ ઉતરડી શક્યા નહિ, માટે તેઓના ભાઇ લેવીઓએ એ કામ પૂરું થતાં સુધી તથા યાજકોએ પોતાને પવિત્ર કર્યા ત્યાં સુધી તેઓને મદદ કરી; કેમ કે પોતાને પવિત્ર કરવા વિષે યાજકો કરતાં લેવીઓ વધારે કાળજી રાખતાં હતા.
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<v id="35" bcv="2CH.29.35" />વળી દહનાર્પણો, શાંત્યર્પણો અને પેયાર્પણો પણ પુષ્કળ હતા. એ પ્રમાણે યહોવાના મંદિરની સેવા કરવાની વ્યવસ્થા કરવામાં આવી.
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<v id="36" bcv="2CH.29.36" />આ રીતે ફરી યહોવાના મંદિરમાં ઉપાસના ચાલુ કરવામાં આવી અને હિઝિક્યા અને બધા લોકો ખૂબ આનંદમાં આવી ગયા. કારણકે બધુ ખૂબ જલ્દી બની ગયું.
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<c id="30" />
<s style="s">હિઝિક્યા પાસ્ખાપર્વ ઉજવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.30.1" />એ પછી હિઝિક્યાએ સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલના અને યહૂદાના લોકોને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો અને એફ્રાઇમ અને મનાશ્શાના લોકોને પત્રો લખ્યા અને તેમને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના માનમાં પાસ્ખાનું પર્વ ઉજવવા યરૂશાલેમમાં યહોવાના મંદિરમાં આવવા જણાવ્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.30.2" />રાજા, તેના અધિકારીઓ અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકોએ નિર્ણય કર્યો કે વર્ષના બીજા મહિનામાં, પાસ્ખાપર્વ ઉજવવો.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.30.3" />પરંતુ પૂરતી સંખ્યામાં યાજકો પવિત્ર થયા ન હતા, અને યરૂશાલેમમાં ઘણા લોકો નહોતા, તેથી તેઓ પ્રથમ મહિનામાં સમયસર પાસ્ખા પર્વ ઉજવી ન શક્યા.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.30.4" />આ કરાર રાજાને તેમજ સમગ્ર સભાને સ્વીકાર્ય હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.30.5" />આથી એવું નક્કી કરવામાં આવ્યું કે દાનથી તે બેર-શેબા સુધી સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલમાં એવો ઢંઢેરો કરાવવો કે, બધા લોકોએ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના માનમાં પાસ્ખાનું પર્વ ઉજવવા માટે યરૂશાલેમ આવવું, કારણ, બહુ ઓછા માણસોએ નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં લખેલી સૂચનાઓ મુજબ ઉજવ્યું હતું.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.30.6" />રાજાના અને તેના અમલદારોના પત્રો લઇને કાસદો સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલમાં અને યહૂદામાં પહોંચી ગયા. રાજાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે કહ્યું કે,
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“હે ઇસ્રાએલ પુત્રો, તમો ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક અને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા પ્રત્યે પાછા વળો, જેથી આશ્શૂરના રાજાઓના પંજામાંથી તમારામાંના જે બચી ગયા છે, તેમના પ્રત્યે યહોવા પાછો વળે.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.30.7" />તમારા પૂર્વજોએ- વડીલો અને દેશબંધુઓ જેવા થશો નહિ; એમણે તો પોતાના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાનો દ્રોહ કર્યો હતો અને યહોવાએ તેમને વિનાશના મોંમા સોંપી દીધા હતા તે તમે જોયું છે;
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.30.8" />હવે તમે અમારા પિતૃઓના જેવા હઠીલા થશો નહિ. યહોવાને તાબે થાઓ. સદાને માટે એણે જેને પવિત્ર કર્યું છે તે પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનમાં આવો, તમારા દેવ યહોવાની સેવા કરો, જેથી તેનો રોષ તમારા ઉપરથી ઊતરી જાય.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.30.9" />જો તમે સાચા દિલથી યહોવા તરફ પાછા વળશો તો, તમારા દેશબંધુઓ અને તમારા પુત્રો ઉપર તેમને બાન પકડનારાઓ દયા કરશે અને તેઓ પાછા આ ભૂમિમાં આવી શકશે, કારણ, તમારો દેવ યહોવા કૃપાળુ અને દયાળુ છે. તમે જો તેના તરફ પાછા વળશો તો, એ તમારાથી વિમુખ નહિ રહે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.30.10" />સંદેશવાહકો એફ્રાઇમ અને મનાશ્શા અને ઠેઠ ઝબુલોન સુધી ગામેગામ ફરી વળ્યા, પણ લોકોએ તેમની હાંસી ઉડાવી અને હસી કાઢયા.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.30.11" />જો કે આશેર મનાશ્શા અને ઝબુલોનમાં થોડા માણસો સમજી ગયા અને તેઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.30.12" />પણ દેવે યહૂદાના લોકોને એવી પ્રેરણા કરી કે રાજાએ અને તેના અમલદારોએ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાથી જે ફરમાવ્યું હતું તે એક મતે તેમણે માથે ચઢાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CH.30.13" />બેખમીર રોટલીનું પર્વ મે માસમાં કરવા માટે મોટો લોકસમુદાય યરૂશાલેમમાં એકત્ર થયો.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.30.14" />તેઓએ યરૂશાલેમમાં આવેલી અન્ય દેવોની વેદીઓનો નાશ કર્યો, સર્વ ધૂપવેદીઓ તોડી નાખી અને તેઓને કિદ્રોન નાળામાં નાખી દીધી.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.30.15" />લોકોએ બીજા મહિનાના ચૌદમાં દિવસે પાસ્ખાનાં હલવાન વધ કર્યા. યાજકો અને લેવીઓ શરમીંદા થઇ ગયા હતા અને તેઓએ પોતાને પવિત્ર કર્યા અને યહોવાનાં મંદિરમાં દહનાર્પણો કર્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.30.16" />પછી તેઓ, મૂસાના નિયમ મુજબ પોતાના દરજ્જા પ્રમાણે પોતપોતાની જગ્યાએ ઊભા રહ્યા; યાજકોએ લેવીઓ પાસેથી રકત લઇને વેદી પર છાંટયું.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.30.17" />જે લોકો ભેગા થયા હતા તેઓમાંના ઘણાએ વિધિપૂર્વક દેહશુદ્ધિ કરી નહોતી, એટલે એ લોકો રિવાજ પ્રમાણે પાસ્ખાના હલવાન ચઢાવી શકે એમ નહોતા. આથી તેમના વતી યહોવા માટે હલવાનો પવિત્ર કરીને, પાસ્ખાના બલિ ચઢાવવાનું કામ લેવીઓને સોંપવામાં આવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.30.18" />ખરું જોતાં, એફ્રાઇમ, મનાશ્શા, ઇસ્સાખાર અને ઝબુલોનના ઘણાંખરાં માણસોએ દેહશુદ્ધિ કરી નહોતી, છતાં તેમણે વિધિપૂર્વક નિયમો પાળ્યા વગર જ પાસ્ખાનું ભોજન લીધું હતું. પણ હિઝિક્યાએ તેમને માટે પ્રાર્થના કરી કે,
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.30.19" />“કૃપાળુ યહોવા જે કોઇ પોતાના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાની અંત:કરણથી ઉપાસના કરે છે તેના દોષ માફ કરો- પછી ભલે તેણે વિધિપૂર્વક દેહશુદ્ધિ ન કરી હોય.”
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<v id="20" bcv="2CH.30.20" />યહોવાએ હિઝિક્યાની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી અને લોકોને કશી ઇજા ન કરી.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.30.21" />આ રીતે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ યરૂશાલેમમાં સાત દિવસ સુધી બહુ આનંદ સાથે બેખમીર રોટલીના પાસ્ખાપર્વની ઉજવણી કરી. તે દરમ્યાન લેવીઓ અને યાજકો દરરોજ ગીતો અને વાજિંત્રો સાથે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરતા હતા.
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<v id="22" bcv="2CH.30.22" />હિઝિક્યા રાજાએ લેવીઓને દેવળમાં ઉત્તમ સેવા આપવા બદલ અત્યંત પ્રશંસા કરી. આમ સાત દિવસ સુધી ઉજવણી ચાલુ રાખી, અને શાંત્યર્પણોના બલિદાન અર્પવામાં આવ્યાં અને લોકોએ તેઓના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાનો આભાર માન્યો અને તેમની સ્તુતિ કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2CH.30.23" />ત્યારબાદ સમગ્ર સંઘ બીજા સાત દિવસ સુધી ઉત્સવ ઉજવવા માટે સંમત થયો. અને તેમણે બીજા સાત દિવસ સુધી આનંદોત્સવ કર્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="2CH.30.24" />કારણકે, યહૂદાના રાજા હિઝિક્યાએ સંઘ તરફથી ધરાવવા માટે 1,000 બળદો અને 7,000 ઘેંટા પૂરા પાડ્યા હતા, અને તેના અમલદારોએ એ ઉપરાંત બીજા 1,000 બળદો અને 10,000 ઘેંટા આપ્યા હતા અને યાજકોએ મોટી સંખ્યામાં દેહશુદ્ધિ કરી હતી.
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<v id="25" bcv="2CH.30.25" />એ યાજકો અને લેવીઓ સહિત યહૂદાના સમગ્ર સંઘે તેમજ ઇસ્રાએલથી આવેલા સમગ્ર સંઘે તથા જે વિદેશીઓ ઇસ્રાએલથી આવ્યા હતા તેમજ જેઓ યહૂદામાં વસતાં હતા એ બધાએ આનંદોત્સવ માણ્યો.
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<v id="26" bcv="2CH.30.26" />યરૂશાલેમમાં પણ ભવ્ય આનંદ ઉત્સવ ઉજવાયો. જે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા સુલેમાનના સમય પછી કદી થયો જાણ્યો નથી.
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<v id="27" bcv="2CH.30.27" />ત્યારબાદ યાજકો અને લેવીઓએ ઊભા થઇ આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા, તેમનો અવાજ દેવના પવિત્ર નિવાસમાં-સ્વર્ગમાં પહોંચ્યો અને દેવે તેમની પ્રાર્થના સ્વીકારી.
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<c id="31" />
<s style="s">હિઝિક્યાએ શરૂ કરેલી સુધારણા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.31.1" />ત્યારબાદ હાજર રહેલાં બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ યહૂદાના ગામડાઓમાં પાછા ગયા, અને ત્યાંના પૂજાસ્તંભો તોડી પાડ્યાં, અશેરાદેવીની પ્રતિમાઓ, ટેકરી ઉપરનાં થાનકો અને વેદીઓ ભાંગી નાખ્યાં. અને સમગ્ર યહૂદા, બિન્યામીન, એફ્રાઇમ અને મનાશ્શાના વંશના પ્રદેશોમાંથી તેમનું નામનિશાન મીટાવી દીધું. એ પછી બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પોતપોતાના ગામમાં પોતપોતાને ઘેર પાછા ફર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2CH.31.2" />તે પછી હિઝિક્યાએ યાજકોને અને લેવીઓને ફરી ટોળીવાર ગોઠવી દીધા અને દરેક યાજકને કે લેવીને તેણે કરવાનું ચોક્કસ કામ નક્કી કરી આપ્યું- પછી તે દહનાર્પણ આપવાનું હોય કે શાંત્યર્પણ ધરવાનું હોય, કે મંદિરના જુદા જુદા ભાગોમાં સેવા કરવાનું હોય, સ્તોત્રો ગાવાનું હોય કે ભજન-કીર્તન કરવાનું હોય,
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.31.3" />રાજાએ પોતાના અંગત ઢોરઢાંખરમાંથી દરરોજ સવારે તેમજ સાંજે, તથા વિશ્રામવારોએ, ચંદ્રદર્શનને દિવસે અને ખાસ પવોર્ને દિવસે યહોવાના નિયમમાં લખ્યા અનુસાર ચઢાવવાના દહનાર્પણની જોગવાઇ કરી આપી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2CH.31.4" />વળી તેણે યરૂશાલેમના લોકોને આજ્ઞા કરી કે તેઓ પોતાની ઉપજનો થોડો ભાગ યાજકો તથા લેવીઓ પાસે લાવે, જેથી તેઓ દેવના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર પ્રત્યે પોતાને સંપૂર્ણ સમય આપી શકે.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.31.5" />રાજાનું ફરમાન બહાર પડતાં જ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ અનાજનો, દ્રાક્ષારસનો, તેલનો, મધનો અને બધી જ ખેતીવાડીની પેદાશનો પહેલો ફાલ ઉદાર હાથે આપ્યો. વળી એટલી જ ઉદારતાથી તેઓ દરેક વસ્તુમાંથી દસમો ભાગ લઇ આવ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.31.6" />યહૂદાના ગામોમાં વસતા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ અને યહૂદિયો પણ તેમના દસમા ભાગના ઢોર અને ઘેટાં લઇ આવ્યા અને બીજી ભેટોનો દસમો ભાગ લઇ આવ્યા જે યહોવાને સમપિર્ત કરાયો હતો અને તેના ઢગલા કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.31.7" />તેમણે આ ઢગલા ખડકવાનું ત્રીજા મહિનામાં શરૂ કર્યુ અને સાતમાં મહિનામાં પૂરું કર્યુ.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.31.8" />હિઝિક્યાએ અને તેના અમલદારોએ આવીને એ ઢગલા જોઇ, યહોવાને અને તેના લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ધન્યવાદ આપ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2CH.31.9" />હિઝિક્યાએ યાજકોને અને લેવીઓને એ ઢગલાઓ વિષે પૂછયું.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.31.10" />અને મુખ્ય યાજક સાદોકવંશથી અઝાર્યાએ જણાવ્યું કે, “લોકોએ યહોવાના મંદિરમાં ભેટો લાવવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ, ત્યારથી અમને પૂરતું ખાવાનું મળી રહે છે. અને એ ઉપરાંત પુષ્કળ વધે છે, કારણ યહોવાએ પોતાના લોકોને પુષ્કળ આશીર્વાદ આપ્યો છે, આ મોટો ઢગ તો જે કઇં વધ્યું તેનો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.31.11" />ત્યારે હિઝિક્યાએ યાજકોને યહોવાના મંદિરમાં કોઠારો કરાવી લેવાને ફરમાવ્યું ને તેમ કરવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.31.12" />યાજકો પ્રામાણિકપણે દસમો ભાગ અને યહોવાને સમર્પણની બીજી બધી ભેટો લાવ્યાં, લેવી કોનાન્યા એની સંભાળ રાખતો હતો અને તેનો ભાઇ શિમઇ તેનો મદદનીશ હતો.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.31.13" />રાજા હિઝિક્યાએ અને મંદિરના મુખ્ય કારભારી અઝાર્યાએ કોનાન્યાના અને તેના ભાઇ શિમઇના હાથ નીચે કામ કરવા યહીએલ, અઝાઝયા, નાહાથ, અસાહેલ યરીમોથ, યોઝાબાદ, અલીએલ, યિસ્માખ્યા, માહાથ, અને બનાયાની નિમણૂંક કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CH.31.14" />પૂર્વના દરવાજાના દ્વારપાળ લેવી યિમ્નાહના પુત્ર કોરેને યહોવાનાં અર્પણો તથા પરમપવિત્ર વસ્તુઓ સ્વીકારવાની અને તેમની ફાળવણી કરવાની જવાબદારી સોંપવામાં આવી હતી.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.31.15" />એદેન, મિનિયામીન, યેશૂઆ, શમાયા, અમાર્યા અને સખાન્યાએ કોરેને મદદ કરી, યાજકોના નગરોમાં તેઓ રહ્યાં અને નાના મોટા સર્વ લેવીબંધુઓને તેમના વર્ગ અનુસાર તેમના ભાગની ફાળવણી કરતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.31.16" />ગમે તે કુળના હોય તો પણ, જે કાંઇ યહોવાના મંદિરમાં આવતું તે બધા લોકોમાં કે જે 3 વર્ષ અને તેનાથી ઉપરની ઉંમરના હોય કે જે મંદિરમાં કામ કરવા માટે તેમની જવાબદારી નિભાવવા આવ્યા હોય તેમના વર્ગ અનુસાર ભાગ વહેંચવામાં આવતો હતો.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.31.17" />યાજકોની નોંધણી કુટુંબવાર કરવામાં આવી હતી. જ્યારે વીસ વર્ષના અને તેથી વધુ ઉંમરના લેવીઓની નોંધણી તેમની ફરજો અને દરજ્જા વાર કરવામાં આવી હતી.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.31.18" />આ રીતે, નોંધાયેલા સર્વ કુટુંબોના બાળકોને, પત્નીઓને તેઓ ખોરાક આપતા હતા, કારણકે તેઓ પોતાનો સર્વ સમય અને શકિત મંદિરનું કામ કરવામાં વાપરતા હતા અને તેઓ પાસે આવકનું બીજું કોઇ સાધન હતું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2CH.31.19" />વળી જે હારુનના વંશજો યાજકો હતા તેઓ પોતાના દરેક નગરની આસપાસના ગામડામાં રહેતા હતા. તેઓને માટે પણ કેટલાક ચૂંટેલા માણસોને નીમવામાં આવ્યા હતા, જેથી તેઓ યાજકોમાંના સર્વ પુરુષોને તથા લેવીઓમાં જેઓ વંશાવળી પ્રમાણે ગણાયા હતા, તેઓ સર્વને ભાગ વહેંચી આપે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2CH.31.20" />સમગ્ર યહૂદામાં આ વ્યવસ્થા અમલમાં હતી. હિઝિક્યાએ યહોવા પોતાના દેવ સામે, સાચું અને સારૂં ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યું.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.31.21" />તેણે યહોવાના મંદિરની સેવા અથેર્ અને ધર્મસંહિતાને તેની આજ્ઞાઓના પાલન અથેર્ જે જે કર્યુ તે બધું સાચા હૃદયથી તે દેવ પ્રત્યેની પૂર્ણ નિષ્ઠાથી કર્યુ. અને તેને સફળતા મળી.
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<c id="32" />
<s style="s">યહૂદા ઉપર આશ્શૂરનું આક્રમણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.32.1" />હિઝિક્યા રાજાએ આ સેવાભકિતના કાર્યો નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક કર્યા પછી આશ્શૂરના રાજા સાન્હેરીબે યહૂદા ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરી અને કિલ્લેબંદીવાળાં શહેરો સામે પડાવ નાખ્યો અને તેમને હુમલો કરીને કબજે કરવાનો હુકમ આપ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.32.2" />જ્યારે હિઝિક્યાએ જોયું કે સાન્હેરીબ આવ્યો છે, તે યરૂશાલેમ ઉપર હૂમલો કરવા આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.32.3" />ત્યારે હિઝિક્યાએ પોતાના સરદારો અને અધિકારીઓને યુદ્ધ અંગે મંત્રણા કરવા બોલાવ્યા. નગરની બહાર આવેલા પાણીના ઝરાઓને બંધ કરી દેવા એવું નક્કી કરવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.32.4" />મોટી સંખ્યામાં લોકો ભેગા થયા અને તેમણે બધાં ઝરાને બંધ કરી દીધાં અને એ વિસ્તાર, પ્રદેશમાંથી પસાર થતાં વહેતા ઝરણાને પણ બંધ કરી દીધા. તેમણે વિચાર્યું કે, “આશ્શૂરના રાજા જ્યારે અહીં આવે ત્યારે તેમને મબલખ પાણી શા માટે મળવા દેવું?”
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.32.5" />હિઝિક્યાએ સંરક્ષણની પાકી વ્યવસ્થા કરી, અને કિલ્લાની દીવાલ જ્યાં જ્યાં તૂટી ગઇ હતી, ત્યાં ત્યાં તેનું સમારકામ કર્યું, બુરજો બાંધીને તથા કિલ્લાની બહાર બીજી દીવાલ ચણીને તેણે નગરને વધુ સુરક્ષિત બનાવ્યું. “દાઉદનું નગર” નામે ઓળખાતા નગરના જૂના ભાગને તેણે ફરીથી બંધાવ્યુઁ. અને મોટી સંખ્યામાં હથિયારો અને ઢાલો બનાવડાવ્યાં.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.32.6" />તેણે લશ્કરના સેનાપતિઓની નિમણૂંક કરી અને તેમને શહેરના દરવાજા પાસેના ચોકમાં એકઠા કરી ઉત્તેજન આપતાં આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું,
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.32.7" />“તમે બળવાન તથા બહાદુર થાઓ અને આશ્શૂરના રાજાથી કે તેના મોટા સૈન્યથી ડરશો નહિ. કારણકે આપણી સાથે જે એક દેવ છે તે તે બધાં કરતાં અતિ મહાન છે,
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.32.8" />તેની પાસે મોટું સૈન્ય છે પણ તેઓ માત્ર માણસો છે, જ્યારે આપણાં યુદ્ધો લડવા આપણી સાથે યહોવા આપણા દેવ છે.” હિઝિક્યાના ભાષણથી લોકો ઉત્સાહિત થયા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2CH.32.9" />તે પછી પોતાના લશ્કર સાથે લાખીશની બહાર પડાવ નાખીને રહેલા આશ્શૂરના રાજા સાન્હેરીબ યહૂદાના રાજા હિઝિક્યાને અને યરૂશાલેમમાં વસતા બધા યહૂદીઓને માણસો મોકલીને સંદેશો પાઠવ્યો કે,
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.32.10" />“આશ્શૂરના રાજા સાન્હેરીબનો સંદેશો સાંભળો, ‘તમે કોના ઉપર ભરોસો રાખીને યરૂશાલેમની ઘેરાબંધી સહન કરી રહ્યા છો?
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.32.11" />“યહોવા અમારા દેવ અમને આશ્શૂરના રાજાના હાથમાંથી બચાવશે,” એમ હિઝિક્યા તમને કહે છે, “તે તમને છેતરે છે, તમે દુકાળ અને તરસથી મરી જશો.”
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.32.12" />શું એ જ હિઝિક્યાએ ટેકરી પરના દેવના પૂજા સ્થળને ખસેડી તથા તેની વેદીઓ તોડીને યહૂદિયાને તથા યરૂશાલેમને સૂચના નહોતી આપી કે તમારે એક જ વેદી આગળ પૂજા કરવી તથા તેના જ ઉપર તમારે ધૂપ બાળવો?
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.32.13" />તમને ખબર નથી કે મેં અને મારા પિતૃઓએ બીજા દેશોના લોકોના શા હાલ કર્યા છે? એ દેશોની એક પણ પ્રજાના દેવો તેમને મારાથી કદી બચાવી શક્યા છે?
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.32.14" />મારા પિતૃઓએ ઉચ્છેદી નાખેલી પ્રજાઓના દેવોમાંથી મને એક નામ તો બતાવો જે પોતાના લોકોને અમારાથી બચાવી શક્યા હોય? તો પછી તમારા દેવ તમને શી રીતે બચાવવાના છે?
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.32.15" />હિઝિક્યાથી ભોળવાશો નહિ, એનાથી આમ છેતરાશો નહિ, એની વાત માનશો નહિ, કારણ કોઇ પણ પ્રજાનો કે રાજ્યના કોઇ પણ દેવ પોતાના લોકોને મારાથી કે મારા પૂર્વજોથી બચાવી શક્યા નથી. તો પછી તમારા દેવ શું કરવાના હતા?’”
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.32.16" />આ મુજબ, સંદેશવાહકે, યહોવા દેવની, અને દેવના સેવક હિઝિક્યાની વિરૂદ્ધ કાંઇક વધારે બોલ્યો.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.32.17" />ઉપરાંત સાન્હેરીબ પોતે પણ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાનું અપમાન કરતા પત્રો લખ્યા હતા. તેમાં તેણે લખ્યું હતું કે, “જેમ બીજા દેશોની પ્રજાઓના દેવો પોતાના લોકોને મારાથી બચાવી શક્યા નથી તેમ હિઝિક્યાના દેવ પણ એની પ્રજાને મારાથી નહિ બચાવી શકે.”
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.32.18" />સંદેશવાહકોએ જેમણે પત્ર વાંચ્યા તેમણે નગરની દિવાલ પર એકઠાં થયેલાં લોકોને યહૂદીભાષામાં મોટે અવાજે ધમકીઓ આપીને તેઓને ડરાવીને યરૂશાલેમને કબ્જે કરવા પ્રયત્નો કર્યા.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.32.19" />યરૂશાલેમના દેવ પણ જગતના બીજા લોકોના દેવો જેવા માણસે ઘડેલા દેવ હોય એમ તેઓ તેને વિષે બોલતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2CH.32.20" />આ પરિસ્થિતિમાં રાજા હિઝિક્યાએ અને આમોસના પુત્ર યશાયા પ્રબોધકે આકાશમાંના દેવની પ્રાર્થના કરી અને દેવને ઘા નાખી.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.32.21" />આથી યહોવાએ એક દેવદૂતને મોકલ્યો. તેણે આશ્શૂરના રાજાની છાવણીમાંના બધા યોદ્ધાઓને, સેનાપતિઓને અને અમલદારોને કાપી નાંખ્યા, અને સાન્હેરીબને શરમિંદા બનીને પોતાને દેશ પાછું જવું પડ્યું, તે પોતાના દેવના મંદિરમાં ગયો અને ત્યાં તેના પોતાના જ કોઇ પુત્રએ તેને તરવારથી કાપી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="2CH.32.22" />આ રીતે યહોવાએ હિઝિક્યાને તથા યરૂશાલેમના રહેવાસીઓને આશ્શૂરના રાજા સાન્હેરીબના હાથમાંથી તથા સર્વના હાથમાંથી ઉગારી લીધા, ને ચારે બાજુથી તેઓનું રક્ષણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.32.23" />ઘણાં લોકો યરૂશાલેમમાં યહોવાને માટે અર્પણો લાવ્યા, તથા યહૂદાના રાજા હિઝિક્યાને ઉત્તમ વસ્તુઓ ભેટમાં આપી; આ સમયથી તે સર્વ પ્રજાઓમાં નામાંકિત થયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2CH.32.24" />પછીથી હિઝિક્યા માંદો પડ્યો, અને મરણપથારીએ હતો, ત્યાંથી તેણે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી; તેના જવાબમાં તેને એક ચિહ્ન આપવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="25" bcv="2CH.32.25" />છતાં પણ હિઝિક્યાએ પોતાના પર થયેલા ઉપકારનો બદલો યોગ્ય રીતે વાળ્યો નહિ; તેથી હિઝિક્યા પર, તેમજ યહૂદિયા તથા યરૂશાલેમ પર દેવ કોપાયમાન થયો.
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<v id="26" bcv="2CH.32.26" />ત્યારે તેનો ગર્વ ગળી ગયો અને તેણે અને યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓએ પણ ભૂલ કબૂલ કરી. આથી હિઝિક્યાના જીવન દરમ્યાન યહોવાનો રોષ ફરી તેમના પર ઊતર્યો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2CH.32.27" />હિઝિક્યા પુષ્કળ સંપત્તિ અને કીતિર્ પામ્યો. તેણે સોનું ચાંદી, રત્નો, અત્તરો, ઢાલ અને બીજી કિંમતી વસ્તુઓ રાખવા ભંડારો
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<v id="28" bcv="2CH.32.28" />તેમજ અનાજની ફસલ, દ્રાક્ષારસ અને તેલ માટે કોઠારો, અને બધી જાતનાં ઢોર માટે તબેલા-કોઠાર તથા ઘેટાં માટે વાડા બંધાવ્યા.
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<v id="29" bcv="2CH.32.29" />વળી તેણે નગરો બંધાવ્યા, અને પુષ્કળ ઘેટાઁબકરાઁના ટોળાં તથા ઢોરઢાંખર પણ ભેગા કર્યા. દેવે તેને સાચે જ પુષ્કળ સંપત્તિ આપી હતી.
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<v id="30" bcv="2CH.32.30" />એ જ હિઝિક્યાએ ગીહોનના ઉપરથી વહેતા ઝરણાંને બંધ કરી તેના પાણીને સીધાં દાઉદનગરની પશ્ચિમે વાળ્યાં, હિઝિક્યાએ જે કઇં હાથમા લીધું તેમાં તે સફળ થયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="2CH.32.31" />બાબિલના સત્તાવાળાઓએ દેશમાં બનેલા ચમત્કાર વિષે તેને પૂછવા મોકલેલા દૂતોની બાબતમાં જ દેવે તેનો ત્યાગ કર્યો હતો, પણ તે ફકત તેની પરીક્ષા કરવા અને તેના મનમાં શું છે તે જાણવા માટે જ.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="2CH.32.32" />હિઝિક્યાની અન્ય વાતો અને તેણે જે સારા કાર્યો કર્યા હતા તે વિષેની નોંધ
<bk>આમોસના પુત્ર યશાયા પ્રબોધકના</bk> પુસ્તકમાં તથા
<bk>યહૂદાના અને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસના</bk> પુસ્તકમાં નોંધેલી છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="2CH.32.33" />આખરે હિઝિક્યા પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેને તેના પિતૃઓ સાથે દાઉદના વંશજોના કબ્રસ્તાનમાં ઉપરના ભાગમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો ત્યારે યહૂદિયાના બધા લોકોએ અને યરૂશાલેમના બધાં વતનીઓએ તેનું સન્માન કર્યુ અને તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર મનાશ્શા ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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<c id="33" />
<s style="s">યહૂદાનો રાજા મનાશ્શા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.33.1" />મનાશ્શા બાર વર્ષની ઉંમરે ગાદીએ આવ્યો અને તેણે 55 વર્ષ યરૂશાલેમમાં રાજ્ય કર્યુ.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.33.2" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ખાતર યહોવાએ જે પ્રજાઓને હાંકી કાઢી હતી તે પ્રજાઓના ધૃણાજનક આચારોનું અનુસરણ કરી તેણે યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.33.3" />એના પિતા હિઝિક્યાએ ટેકરી ઉપરનાં જે સ્થાનકો તોડી પાડ્યા હતા તે એણે ફરી બંધાવ્યાં, બઆલ દેવને માટે વેદીઓ ચણાવી, અશેરા દેવીની પ્રતિમાઓ ઊભી કરાવી, અને આકાશના બધાં નક્ષત્રોની સેવાપૂજા કરવાનું શરું કર્યું.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.33.4" />જે મંદિરને વિષે યહોવાએ એમ કહ્યું હતું કે, “યરૂશાલેમમાં મારું નામ સદાકાળ કાયમ રહેશે.” તે મંદિરમાં અન્ય દેવોની તેણે વેદીઓ બંધાવી.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.33.5" />તે મંદિરના બંને આંગણામાં તેણે તારાઓની પૂજા કરવા વેદીઓ બંધાવી.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.33.6" />હિન્નોમની ખીણમાં મનાશ્શાએ પોતાનાં જ બાળકોનો હોમયજ્ઞ કર્યો. તેણે મેલીવિદ્યા જાણનારા ભૂવાઓની સલાહ લીધી. તેણે સર્વ પ્રકારની ભૂંડાઇને ઉત્તેજન આપ્યું. આમ યહોવાને તેણે ઘણા ગુસ્સે કર્યા, અને તેમનો ગુસ્સો વહોરી લીધો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.33.7" />મનાશ્શાએ દેવના એ મંદિરમાં મૂર્તિ સ્થાપન કરી કે જેના માટે દેવે દાઉદ અને તેના પુત્ર સુલેમાને કહ્યું હતું કે, “જે મંદિર, માણસો તથા શહેરને મેં મારું નામ રાખવા માટે પસંદ કર્યુ છે કે, ઇસ્રાએલના બીજા કોઇ પણ શહેરો કરતાં, તે શહેર યરૂશાલેમ છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.33.8" />અને જો તમે મારી આજ્ઞાઓને એટલે કે મૂસાએ તમને આપેલા સર્વ નિયમો અને સૂચનાઓને આધીન રહેશો તો તમારા પિતૃઓને મેં આપેલા આ દેશમાંથી ઇસ્રાએલને હું કદી કાઢી મૂકીશ નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2CH.33.9" />પરંતુ મનાશ્શાએ યહૂદાના અને યરૂશાલેમનાં વતનીઓને ગેરમાગેર્ દોર્યા, જેથી તેમણે યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ખાતર જે પ્રજાઓનું નિકંદન કાઢયું હતું તેમના કરતાં પણ ભૂંડા કાર્યો કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.33.10" />યહોવાએ મનાશ્શાને અને તેના લોકોને ચેતવણી આપી પરંતુ તેમણે તે તરફ લક્ષ ન આપ્યું.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.33.11" />તેથી યહોવાએ આશ્શૂરના રાજાના સેનાપતિઓને તેમની સામે મોકલ્યા અને તેઓ મનાશ્શાને આંકડી વતી પકડીને જંજીરથી જકડી બાબિલ લઇ ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CH.33.12" />મનાશ્શા સંકટમાં ફસાઇ ગયો એટલે તેણે પોતાના દેવ યહોવાને પ્રસન્ન કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો, અને તેની સમક્ષ ખૂબ ખૂબ પશ્ચાતાપ કર્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.33.13" />તેણે પ્રાર્થના કરતાં દેવે તેની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી, તેની અરજ મંજૂર રાખી અને તેને પાછો યરૂશાલેમમાં લાવી ફરી ગાદીએ બેસાડ્યો ત્યારે મનાશ્શાને ખાતરી થઇ કે યહોવાએ જ દેવ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CH.33.14" />આમ બન્યા પછી તેણે દાઉદના નગરની બહારની દિવાલ ફરી બાંધી, અને કિદ્રોન ખીણમાં ગીહોનના ઝરાની પશ્ચિમ બાજુએ મચ્છી દરવાજા સુધી તે દિવાલ બાંધી, આ દિવાલ ઓફેલ પર્વતની બહારની બાજુથી લેવામાં આવી હતી અને ત્યાં ઘણી ઊંચાઇ સુધી બાંધવામાં આવી હતી પછી તેણે યહૂદાના સર્વ કિલ્લાવાળા નગરોમાં તેના સેનાપતિઓને મૂક્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.33.15" />તેણે અન્ય દેવોને તથા યહોવાના મંદિરમાંથી પેલી મૂર્તિને, તથા જે સર્વ વેદીઓ તેણે યહોવાના મંદિરના પર્વત પર તથા યરૂશાલેમમાં બાંધી હતી, તે સર્વને કાઢીને નગર બહાર નાખી દીધી.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.33.16" />તેણે યહોવાની વેદી ફરી બંધાવી. અને ત્યાં શાંત્યર્પણ અને આભારબલિ ચઢાવ્યાં અને યહૂદાના લોકને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાની સેવા કરવા માટે ફરમાવ્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.33.17" />તેમ છતાં લોકોએ ટેકરી ઉપરનાં સ્થાનકોને હોમબલિ ચઢાવવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું, જો કે એ હોમબલિ તેઓ ફકત પોતાના દેવ યહોવાને જ ચઢાવતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CH.33.18" />મનાશ્શાના બાકીના કાર્યો, તેણે કરેલી તેમના દેવની પ્રાર્થના, અને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાનો સંદેશો તેને આપનાર પ્રબોધકોનાં વચનો
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાઓના વૃત્તાંતમાં</bk> નોંધાયેલા છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.33.19" />તેણે કરેલી પ્રાર્થના અને દેવે આપેલો તેનો જવાબ, તેનાં બધાં પાપો, યહોવા પ્રત્યેની તેની બિનવફાદારી અને પસ્તાવો કર્યા પહેલાં તેણે ક્યાં ક્યાં ટેકરી પરનાં સ્થાનકો અને અશેરાદેવીનાં પ્રતીકો ઊભા કર્યા હતા અને મૂર્તિઓની સ્થાપના કરી હતી તે બધું
<bk>પ્રબોધકના વૃત્તાંતમાં</bk> નોંધેલું છે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="2CH.33.20" />અંતે મનાશ્શા પિતૃલોકને પામ્યો અને તેને તેના મહેલમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો. તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર આમોન ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદાનો રાજા આમોન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2CH.33.21" />આમોન રાજા થયો ત્યારે તે બાવીસ વર્ષનો હતો; તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં બે વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યુ.
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<v id="22" bcv="2CH.33.22" />જેમ તેના પિતા મનાશ્શાએ કર્યુ હતું તેમ તેણે યહોવાની ષ્ટિમાં જે ભૂંડું હતું તે જ કર્યુ. તેના પિતા મનાશ્શાએ કોતરેલી મૂર્તિઓ બનાવી હતી તે સર્વને આમોને હોમબલિ આપ્યાં; ને તેઓની પૂજા કરી.
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.33.23" />જેમ તેનો પિતા મનાશ્શાહ નમ્ર થઇ ગયો હતો તેમ તે યહોવાની આગળ થયો નહિ; પણ આમોન ઉત્તરોત્તર અધિક પાપો કરતો ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="2CH.33.24" />જેમ તેના પાપો વધતાં ગયા, તેના દરબારીઓએ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ કાવતરું કર્યુ. અને તેને મહેલમાં જ મારી નાંખ્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="2CH.33.25" />પણ દેશના લોકોએ, બધા કાવતરાખોરોને મારી નાંખ્યા અને એના પુત્ર યોશિયાને ગાદીએ બેસાડ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="34" />
<s style="s">યહૂદાનો રાજા યોશિયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.34.1" />જ્યારે યોશિયા ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર આઠ વર્ષની હતી અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં 31 વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.34.2" />યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ યોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ તેણે કર્યું, સહેજ પણ આમ કે તેમ ફંટાયા વગર તે પોતાના પિતૃ દાઉદને પગલે ચાલ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.34.3" />તેના શાસનના આઠમે વષેર્ તે હજી કાચી ઉંમરનો જ હતો ત્યારે, તેણે પોતાના પિતૃ દાઉદના દેવની ભકિત કરવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ. બારમે વષેર્ તેણે ટેકરી ઉપરનાં સ્થાનકો, અશેરાદેવીની પ્રતિમાઓ અને બીજી બધી મૂર્તિઓ હઠાવી, યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમનું શુદ્ધિકરણ કરવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.34.4" />તેણે પોતાની દેખરેખ નીચે બઆલદેવની વેદીઓ ભાંગી નંખાવી અને તેની પાસેની ધૂપની વેદીઓ તોડી પડાવી. અને કોતરેલી અને ઢાળેલી અશેરાદેવીની અને બીજી બધી મૂર્તિઓ ભંગાવી નંખાવી. તેણે તેમનો દળીને ભૂકો કરાવી તેને તેઓની કબર ઉપર ભભરાવ્યો જેઓ આ મૂર્તિઓને બલિ ચઢાવતાં હતાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.34.5" />તેણે તે લોકોના યાજકોના હાડકાં તેમની વેદીઓ ઉપર બાળી નંખાવ્યાં અને એ રીતે યહૂદાની અને યરૂશાલેમની શુદ્ધિ કરી.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.34.6" />તેણે આ પ્રમાણે મનાશ્શા, એફ્રાઇમ, શિમયોન, અને ઠેઠ નફતાલીના નગરોમાં કર્યું અને આસપાસના ખેદાન-મેદાન થઇ ગયેલા વિસ્તારોમાં પણ તેણે આમ જ કર્યુ.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.34.7" />સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલમાં તેણે વેદીઓ ભાંગી નંખાવી અને અશેરાદેવીના સ્તંભો તોડી પાડ્યાં અને તેણે મૂર્તિઓ તોડી પડાવી, તેમનો દળીને ભૂકો કરી નંખાવ્યો, ને બધી ધૂપની વેદીઓનો નાશ કરાવ્યો. ત્યાર પછી તે પાછો યરૂશાલેમ આવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CH.34.8" />દેશનું અને મંદિરનું શુદ્ધિકરણ કર્યા પછી તેના શાસનના અઢારમા વષેર્, તેણે અસાલ્યાના પુત્ર સાફાનને તથા નગરના સૂબા માઅસેયાને તથા ઇતિહાસકાર યોઆહાઝના પુત્ર યોઆહને પોતાના દેવ યહોવાનું મંદિર ફરી બાંધવા, મરામત કરાવવા મોકલ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2CH.34.9" />તેમણે મુખ્ય યાજક હિલ્કિયા પાસે જઇને દેવના મંદિર માટે ઉઘરાવાયેલી બધી ચાંદી તેને આપી. એ ચાંદી લેવીઓ દ્વારા મનાશ્શા, એફ્રાઇમના દરવાજેથી અને ઇસ્રાએલના બાકીના ભાગમાંથી ઉઘરાવાયેલી હતી, તેમજ યહૂદામાંથી બિન્યામીનના પ્રદેશમાંથી તેમજ યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ પાસેથી પણ તેમણે ચાંદી ઉઘરાવી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2CH.34.10" />ત્યારબાદ એ ચાંદી યહોવાના મંદિરમાં ચાલતા કામ ઉપર દેખરેખ રાખનારાઓને સોંપવામા આવી અને તેમણે એ ચાંદી મંદિરની મરામત કરવા માટે
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="2CH.34.11" />સુથારોને અને કડિયાઓને આપી દીધી. જેથી તેઓ યહોબાના યહૂદાના રાજાઓ દ્વારા ભંગાર થઇ જવા દીધેલાં મોભ અને પાટિયા માટે લાકડું તેમજ ઘડેલા પથ્થર ખરીદી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="2CH.34.12" />એ માણસો પ્રામાણિકતાથી કામ કરતા હતા. મરારીના કુટુંબના લેવીઓ યાહાથ અને ઓબાદ્યા અને કહાથના કુટુંબના ઝખાર્યા અને મશુલ્લામ તેમના ઉપર દેખરેખ રાખતા હતા. બીજા લેવીઓ પણ હતા જે કુશળ સંગીતકાર હતા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2CH.34.13" />ભાર ઊંચકનારાઓના તેમજ જુદાં જુદાં કામોના કારીગરો પર પણ તેઓ જ નજર રાખતા હતા. કેટલાક લહિયા, કારભારીઓ અને દ્વારપાળો તરીકે કામ કરતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નિયમના પુસ્તકની પ્રાપ્તી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CH.34.14" />જે પૈસા લોકોએ યહોવાના મંદિરમાં સંગ્રહ કરેલા હતા. તે તેઓ કાઢતા હતા તેવામાં મૂસા મારફતે આપવામાં આવેલુ
<bk>યહોવાનું નિયમનું પુસ્તક</bk> હિલ્કિયા યાજકને મળી આવ્યું.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.34.15" />તેણે રાજમંત્રી શાફાનને કહ્યું, “યહોવાના મંદિરમાંનું
<bk>નિયમનું પુસ્તક</bk> મને મળ્યું છે;” અને પુસ્તક તેને આપી દીધું.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.34.16" />શાફાન તે પુસ્તક રાજા પાસે લઇ ગયો અને કહ્યું, “આપના સેવકો તેમને સોંપેલું કામ કરી રહ્યાં છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.34.17" />તેમણે યહોવાના મંદિર માટે આવેલી ચાંદી બહાર કાઢી લીધી છે, અને મુકાદમોને અને કારીગરોને સોંપી દીધી છે.”
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.34.18" />રાજમંત્રી શાફાને રાજાને એ પણ કહ્યું કે, “યાજક હિલ્કિયાએ મને એક પુસ્તક આપ્યું છે.” અને તેણે તે રાજા સમક્ષ વાંચી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.34.19" />નિયમશાસ્ત્રનાઁ વચનો સાંભળીને રાજાએ શોકથી પોતાના વસ્ત્રો ફાડી નાખ્યાં
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<v id="20" bcv="2CH.34.20" />અને હિલિક્યાને, શાફાનના પુત્ર અહીકામને, મીખાહના પુત્ર આબ્દોનને, મંત્રી શાફાનને તથા સેવક અસાયાને હુકમ કર્યો કે,
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.34.21" />“તમે જાઓ, મારી ખાતર, તેમજ ઇસ્રાએલમાં તથા યહૂદામાં બાકી રહેલાઓને ખાતર, મળી આવેલા પુસ્તકનાં વચનો સંબંધી યહોવાની સલાહ પૂછો; કેમ કે યહોવાનો રોષ આપણા ઉપર થયો છે તે ભયંકર છે, કારણકે આ પુસ્તકમાં જે જે લખેલું છે તે પ્રમાણે આપણા પિતૃઓએ યહોવાનું વચન પાળ્યું નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2CH.34.22" />આ માણસો હુલ્દાહ પ્રબોધિકા પાસે ગયા અને રાજાની મુશ્કેલી જણાવી. હુલ્દાહ પ્રબોધિકા શાલ્લુમની પત્ની હતી. હાસ્રાહના પુત્ર તોકહાથનો પુત્ર શાલ્લુમ રાજાના વસ્ત્રભંડારનો ઉપરી હતો. હુલ્દાહ યરૂશાલેમનાં નવા ભાગમાં રહેતી હતી.
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.34.23" />પ્રબોધકોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવ કહે છે કે, “જે માણસે તમને મોકલ્યો છે તેને કહો,
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<v id="24" bcv="2CH.34.24" />આ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે; ‘હું આ જગ્યા પર અને એના વતનીઓ પર આફત ઉતારનાર છું, યહૂદાના રાજા સમક્ષ વાંચવામાં આવેલા પુસ્કતમાં લખેલા બધા શાપો અમલમાં આણનાર છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="2CH.34.25" />કારણ, એ લોકોએ મને છોડી દઇને અન્ય દેવોની આગળ ધૂપ બાળ્યા છે. અને પોતાનાં બધાં કૃત્યોથી મારો રોષ વહોરી લીધો છે. મારો રોષ આ જગ્યા સામે ભડભડી રહ્યો છે અને એ શાંત પડવાનો નથી.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2CH.34.26" />“આ બાબતમાં યહોવાને પૂછવા માટે તમને મોકલનાર રાજાને કહી દો કે, જે વાતો તમે થોડા સમય પહેલા સાંભળી છે તે માટે, ‘ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા કહે છે,
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<v id="27" bcv="2CH.34.27" />આ જગ્યા અને એના વતનીઓ વિરૂદ્ધ મેં ઉચ્ચારેલી ચેતવણી સાંભળીને તારું હૃદય પીગળી ગયું છે, અને પશ્ચાતાપથી તેં તારા કપડાં ફાડ્યાં છે અને તું મારી સમક્ષ રડી પડીને મને પગે લાગ્યો છે, તેથી મેં પણ તારી અરજ સાંભળી છે,
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<v id="28" bcv="2CH.34.28" />હું આ જગ્યા અને તેના વતનીઓ ઉપર જે આફતો ઉતારનારો છું તે તારે નજરે જોવી નહિ પડે, તે પહેલાં તું તારા પિતૃઓ ભેગો થઇ જશે અને શાંતિથી કબરમાં જશે.’” આ જવાબ લઇને તેઓ રાજા પાસે ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="2CH.34.29" />પછી રાજાએ યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમના સર્વ વડીલોને એકત્ર થવાની આજ્ઞા કરી.
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<v id="30" bcv="2CH.34.30" />તેણે યાજકો, લેવીઓ અને નાનામોટા સર્વ લોકોને પોતાની સાથે મંદિરમાં એકત્ર કર્યા. રાજાએ મંદિરમાંથી મળી આવેલા
<bk>કરારનાં પુસ્તકમાંથી</bk> વચનો વાંચી સંભળાવ્યા.
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<v id="31" bcv="2CH.34.31" />ત્યારબાદ મંચ ઉપર ઊભા રહીને રાજાએ યહોવા સમક્ષ યહોવાને અનુસરવાની, અને તેની બધી આજ્ઞાઓ, સાક્ષ્યો અને વિધિઓ પૂર્ણ હૃદયથી પાલન કરવાની, અને તે રીતે પુસ્તકમાં લખેલી કરારની બધી શરતોનો અમલ કરવાની પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી.
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<v id="32" bcv="2CH.34.32" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે બિન્યામીનના લોકો અને યરૂશાલેમમાં જેઓ હાજર હતા તેઓ બધા પાસે કરારનું પાલન કરવાની પ્રતિજ્ઞા લેવડાવી. એ પછી યરૂશાલેમમાં વતનીઓએ પોતાના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવા સાથેનો કરાર પાળ્યો પણ ખરો.
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<v id="33" bcv="2CH.34.33" />યોશિયાએ યહૂદીઓ જે પ્રદેશમાં રહેતા હતા ત્યાંથી સર્વ મૂર્તિઓ દૂર કરી, અને તેમના દેવ યહોવાનું ભજન કરવા આજ્ઞા કરી. તેના બાકીના જીવનકાળ દરમિયાન સર્વ લોકો તેઓના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાની સેવામાં ચાલુ રહ્યાં, યહોવાના માગેર્ ચાલવામાં તેઓ જરા પણ પાછા ન પડ્યાં.
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</p>

<c id="35" />
<s style="s">યોશિયા પાસ્ખાપર્વની ઉજવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.35.1" />ત્યારબાદ યોશિયાએ જાહેર કર્યુ કે એપ્રિલ મહિનાના ચૌદમા દિવસે યરૂશાલેમમાં પાસ્ખાપર્વ ઉજવવામાં આવશે. તે સાંજે પાસ્ખાના હલવાનો વધ કરવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.35.2" />તેણે યાજકોને પોતપોતાને સ્થાને ફરી નીમ્યા અને તેમને યહોવાના મંદિરમાં પોતાની ફરજ બજાવવા માટે ઉત્તેજન આપ્યું.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.35.3" />પછી તેણે લેવીઓ, જેઓ યહોવાને સમપિર્ત ઇસ્રાએલના બોધ કરનાર હતા તેમને કહ્યું કે, “ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા દાઉદના પુત્ર સુલેમાને બંધાવેલા મંદિરમાં પવિત્ર કોશ મૂકો. હવે એને તમારે ખભે ઉપાડવાની જરૂર નથી, હવે તમે યહોવા તમારા દેવની અને તેના લોકો, ઇસ્રાએલીઓની સેવા કરો;
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.35.4" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા દાઉદ અને તેના પુત્ર સુલેમાનની સૂચનાઓમાં લખ્યા પ્રમાણે તમે કુટુંબવાર ટૂકડીઓમાં ગોઠવાઇ જાઓ. જેથી
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<v id="5" bcv="2CH.35.5" />સામાન્ય પ્રજાજનોના પ્રત્યેક કુળ સમૂહ દીઠ લેવીઓની એક ટૂકડી સેવામાં હોય.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CH.35.6" />પાસ્ખાનો બલિ વધેરો, તમારી દેહશુદ્ધિ કરો અને તમારા ભાઇઓ માટે બધી તૈયારી કરો, જેથી તેઓ મૂસા મારફતે અપાયેલી યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરી શકે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CH.35.7" />પાસ્ખાનાં અર્પણો માટે રાજાએ લોકોને 30,000 હલવાનો અને લવારાં આપ્યો. વળી 3,000 જવાન બળદો પણ આપ્યાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.35.8" />રાજાના અધિકારીઓએ રાજીખુશીથી યાજકોને અને લેવીઓને અને બાકીના લોકોને દાન આપ્યાં. મંદિરના અધિકારીઓ હિલ્કિયા, ઝખાર્યા અને યહીએલે યાજકોને પાસ્ખાનાં અર્પણો તરીકે 2,600 ઘેટાં અને બકરા તથા 300 બળદો આપ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CH.35.9" />લેવીઓના આગેવાનો, કોનાન્યા, શમાયા, નથાનએલ, અને તેના ભાઇઓ હશાબ્યા, યેઇએલ, અને યોઝાબાદે પાસ્ખાનાં અર્પણો માટે લેવીઓને 5,000 ઘેટાંબકરા અને 500 બળદો આપ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CH.35.10" />સેવાની વ્યવસ્થા કરતાં યાજકો પોતાને સ્થાને અને લેવીઓ પોતપોતાની ટૂકડીઓમાં રાજાના હુકમ મુજબ ગોઠવાઇ ગયા. તેમણે પાસ્ખાના બલિનો વધ કરવા માંડ્યો;
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<v id="11" bcv="2CH.35.11" />તેઓએ પાસ્ખાના પશુઓની બલિ ચઢાવી લેવીઓ બલિ ચઢાવેલા પશુઓની ચામડી ઊતારતા હતા. પછી યાજકોએ લેવીઓએ આપેલું લોહી વેદી ઉપર છાંટયું.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.35.12" />અને દહનાર્પણમાં હોમવાના ભાગ જુદા પાડી સામાન્ય પ્રજાજનોના કુટુંબોને મૂસાનાં નિયમોમાં જણાવ્યા મુજબ યહોવાને ચઢાવવા માટે, વહેંચી આપતા હતા. એવું જ બળદોનું પણ કરવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CH.35.13" />મૂસાના નિયમોમાં જણાવ્યા પ્રમાણે તેઓએ પાસ્ખાનાં હલવાનો અગ્નિમાં શેક્યાં અને પવિત્ર અર્પણોને તપેલાં, કઢાઇઓ અને તાવડાઓમાં ઉકાળી ઝટપટ પ્રજાને પીરસી દીધાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.35.14" />ત્યારબાદ તેમણે પોતાને માટે અને યાજકોને માટે ખાવાનું બનાવ્યું. યાજકો જે હારુનના વંશજો હતા તેઓ ખૂબ વ્યસ્ત હતા તેથી પોતાનું ખાવાનું બનાવવા અસમર્થ હતાં, તેઓ અંધારુ થાય ત્યાં સુધી દહનાર્પણો તથા મેંદાર્પણ ચઢાવતા હતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.35.15" />આસાફના કુળના ગાયકો, આસાફ, હેમાન, અને રાજાના ષ્ટા, યદૂથૂન દાઉદે ઠરાવેલા નિયમ મુજબ પોતાને સ્થાને ઊભા રહ્યાં, દ્વારપાળો પણ પોતપોતાને દરવાજે ઊભા રહ્યાં. તેમને પોતાનું સ્થાન છોડાવાની જરૂર નહોતી કારણ, તેમના ભાઇઓ લેવીઓએ તેમને માટે બધી તૈયારી કરી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CH.35.16" />આ રીતે, તે દિવસે રાજા યોશિયાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે યહોવાની સેવાની બધી વ્યવસ્થા કરવામાં આવી, પાસ્ખાની ઉજવણી થઇ અને યહોવાની વેદી ઉપર દહનાર્પણ ચઢાવવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CH.35.17" />ત્યાં હાજર રહેલા ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ એ વખતે પાસ્ખાનું પર્વ અને બેખમીર રોટલીનો ઉત્સવ સાત દિવસ સુધી ઉજવ્યાં.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CH.35.18" />પ્રબોધક શમુએલના વખતથી ઇસ્રાએલમાં કદી પાસ્ખાનું પર્વ આ રીતે ઊજવાયું નહોતું. ઇસ્રાએલના કોઇ પણ રાજાએ યોશિયાની પેઠે પાસ્ખાનું પર્વ યાજકો, લેવીઓ, હાજર રહેલા બધા યહૂદાવાસીઓ તથા ઇસ્રાએલવાસીઓ અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ સાથે કદી ઊજવ્યું નહોતું.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CH.35.19" />યોશિયાના રાજ્યને અઢારમે વષેર્ આ પાસ્ખાપર્વ ઊજવવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
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<s style="s">યોશિયાનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2CH.35.20" />આ બધું બન્યા પછી, જ્યારે યોશિયાએ મંદિર બાંધવાનું પૂરુ કરી નાખ્યું હતું ત્યારે, મિસરનો રાજા નખો યુદ્ધ કરવા માટે ફ્રાતના કાંઠા પરના કાર્કમીશ ઉપર ચઢી આવ્યો. યોશિયા તેની સામે લડવા ગયો.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CH.35.21" />પરંતુ નખોએ એલચીઓ મોકલીને કહેવડાવ્યું કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“ઓ યહૂદાના રાજા, તારે ને મારે શો ઝઘડો છે? આજે હું તારી સાથે લડવા નથી આવ્યો, પણ જેની સાથે મારે દુશ્મનાવટ છે તે રાજા સાથે લડવા આવ્યો છું, અને યહોવાએ મને ઉતાવળ કરવા કહ્યું છે. દેવ મારા પક્ષે છે, તેની આડે આવીશ નહિ, નહિ તો તે તારો નાશ કરશે.”
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2CH.35.22" />પણ યોશિયાએ તેનું સાંભળ્યું નહિ. અને તેની સાથે લડવા માટે પોતે વેશપલટો કર્યો. દેવની આજ્ઞાથી ઉચ્ચારાયેલાં નખોના વચન તેણે કાન પર લીધાં નહિ, અને મગિદોના મેદાનમાં તે યુદ્ધે ચડ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="2CH.35.23" />બાણાવળીઓએ તેના ઉપર મારો ચલાવ્યો અને તેણે પોતાના અંગરક્ષકોને કહ્યું, “મને લઇ જાઓ, હું સખત ઘવાયો છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2CH.35.24" />તેઓ તેને તેના રથમાંથી ઉપાડી બીજા રથમાં મૂકી પાછો યરૂશાલેમ લઇ ગયા, ત્યાં તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તેને પિતૃઓની કબરોમાં દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો, સમગ્ર યહૂદાએ અને યરૂશાલેમે તેનો શોક પાળ્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="2CH.35.25" />યમિર્યા પ્રબોધકે તથા મંદિરના ગાયકવૃંદે પણ તેના માટે વિલાપ કર્યો. આજ દિવસ સુધી તેના મૃત્યુ વિષે વિલાપના ગીતો ગવાય છે, અને આ ગીતો
<bk>વિલાપના અધિકૃત</bk> પુસ્તકમાં નોંધેલા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="2CH.35.26" />યોશિયાનાં બાકીનાં કૃત્યો, તથા
<bk>યહોવાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં</bk> લખ્યા પ્રમાણે કરેલાં તેના સુકૃત્યો,
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<v id="27" bcv="2CH.35.27" />તથા તેના બીજાં કામો, પહેલેથી તે છેલ્લે સુધી, ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદાના રાજાઓના ઇતિહાસના પુસ્તકમાં નોંધેલા છે.
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<c id="36" />
<s style="s">યહોઆહાઝનો અમલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CH.36.1" />દેશના લોકોએ યોશિયાના પુત્ર યહોઆહાઝને નવા રાજા તરીકે પસંદ કર્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CH.36.2" />તે જ્યારે ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 23 વર્ષની હતી અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં ત્રણ મહિના રાજ્ય કર્યુ.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CH.36.3" />ત્યારબાદ મિસરના રાજા નખોએ તેને જેલમાં નાખ્યો અને યહૂદાના દેશ ઉપર 3,400 કિલોગ્રામ ચાંદીની અન 34 કિલોગ્રામ વજનદાર સોનાની વાષિર્ક ખંડણી નાખી અને યહોઆહાઝનો એ રીતે દંડ કર્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CH.36.4" />તથા તેની જગ્યાએ તેના ભાઇ એલ્યાકીમને યહૂદાનો અને યરૂશાલેમનો રાજા બનાવ્યો, અને તેનું નામ બદલીને યહોયાકીમ રાખ્યું. નખો તેના ભાઇ યહોઆહાઝ ને મિસર ઉપાડી ગયો.
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<s style="s">યહૂદાનો રાજા યહોયાકીમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CH.36.5" />યહોયાકીમ ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઊંમર 25 વર્ષની હતી અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં અગિયાર વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CH.36.6" />તેણે દેવ યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ ખોટું ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યુ. આથી બાબિલનો રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર તેના ઉપર ચઢી આવ્યો અને તેને સાંકળ બાંધી બાબિલ લઇ ગયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CH.36.7" />વળી તે યહોવાના મંદિરની કેટલીક સામગ્રી પણ બાબિલ લઇ ગયો અને તેને પોતાના મહેલમાં રાખી.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CH.36.8" />યહોયાકીમનાઁ રાજ્યમાં બીજા બનાવો, તેણે ઘૃણાજનક કાર્યો કર્યા હતા અને જેને માટે તેને ગુનેગાર ઠરાવવામાં આવ્યો હતો તે બધું
<bk>ઇસ્રાએલના અને યહૂદાના રાજાઓનાં વૃત્તાંતમાં</bk> નોંધાયેલું છે, તેના પછી તેનો પુત્ર યહોયાખીન ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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<s style="s">યહૂદાનો રાજા યહોયાકીન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2CH.36.9" />યહોયાખીન જ્યારે ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 8 વર્ષની હતી. તેણે માત્ર ત્રણ માસ અને ત્રણ દિવસ યરૂશાલેમમાં રાજ્ય કર્યુ. દેવની ષ્ટિમાં તે ભૂંડાઇનું રાજ્ય હતું.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CH.36.10" />ત્યારબાદ વસંતઋતુમાં નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજાએ તેને બાબિલ બોલાવ્યો. તે વખતે મંદિરમાંથી ઘણો ખજાનો બાબિલ લઇ જવામાં આવ્યો. નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજાએ યહોયાખીનના ભાઇ સિદકિયાને યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમમાં નવા રાજા તરીકે નીમ્યો.
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<s style="s">યહૂદાનો રાજા સિદકિયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CH.36.11" />સિદકિયા ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 21 વર્ષની હતી. અને તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં અગિયાર વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યુ.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CH.36.12" />તેણે તે દેવ યહોવા વિરૂદ્ધ પાપ કર્યુ, અને યહોવાના મુખ્ય પાત્ર પ્રબોધક યમિર્યાનું કહ્યું તેણે માથે ચડાવ્યું નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમનો વિનાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CH.36.13" />વળી તેણે નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર સામે બળવો કર્યો. જેને વફાદાર રહેવાને તેણે દેવને નામે સમ ખાધા હતા. તે જક્કી હતો અને તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાને શરણે પાછા વળવાની હઠપૂર્વક ના પાડી.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CH.36.14" />ઉપરાંત યહૂદાના બધા આગેવાનો, યાજકો અને લોકો વધુ બગડતા અને બગડતા ગયા. તેઓ આજુબાજુની પ્રજાઓના દેવોની મૂર્તિઓને પૂજતા હતા, આમ તેઓએ યરૂશાલેમમાં આવેલા યહોવાના મંદિરને ષ્ટ કર્યુ જે તેણે પાવન કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CH.36.15" />તેઓના પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાએ વારંવાર પોતાના પ્રબોધકો મોકલીને તેઓને ચેતવણી આપી, કારણકે પોતાના લોકો પર અને પોતાના નિવાસ પર તેને દયા આવતી હતી.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CH.36.16" />પણ તેમણે દેવના સંદેશવાહકોની ઠેકડી ઉડાવી, દેવના વચનોની ઉપેક્ષા કરી, અને પ્રબોધકોને હસી કાઢયા, એટલે સુધી કે આખરે તેમના ઉપર યહોવાનો રોષ એવો તો ઊતર્યો કે, કોઇ ઉપાય ન રહ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="2CH.36.17" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ બાબિલના રાજાને તેમના ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરવા મોકલ્યો. બાબિલના રાજાએ તેમના યુવાન માણસોને જ્યારે તેઓ મંદિરની અંદર જ હતાં ત્યારે મારી નાખ્યાં. તેણે સ્ત્રી કે પુરુષ, વૃદ્ધ કે યુવાન, સાજાં કે માંદા કોઇનેય છોડ્યાં નહિ. દેવે તેમને બધાંને તેના હાથમાં સુપ્રત કર્યા હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="2CH.36.18" />તે યહોવાના મંદિરની નાનીમોટી બધી જ સામગ્રી તેમજ મંદિરમાંના, રાજાના અને તેના અમલદારોના ખજાના, બધું જ બાબિલ લઇ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="2CH.36.19" />તેણે મંદિર બાળી મૂક્યું. યરૂશાલેમની દિવાલ ભોંયભેગી કરી નાખવામાં આવી હતી. તેના મહેલોને આગ ચાંપી અને બધી જ કિંમતી વસ્તુઓનો નાશ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="2CH.36.20" />હત્યાઓમાંથી બચી જવા પામેલાઓને તે બાબિલ બાન પકડી ગયો, અને ઇરાનીઓ સત્તા પર આવ્યા ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ તેના તથા તેના વંશજોના ગુલામ રહ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="2CH.36.21" />આ રીતે યમિર્યા મારફતે ઉચ્ચારાયેલું યહોવાનું વચન સાચું પડ્યું ભૂમિ 70 વષોર્ સુધી વેરાન થઇ જશે. લોકો દ્વારા વિશ્રામવર્ષની વિશ્રાંતિ<f caller="+"><fr>36:21
</fr><fk>વિશ્રામવર્ષની વિશ્રાંતિ
</fk><ft>મૂસાના નિયમ પ્રમાણે દર સાતમે વષેર્ (વિશ્રામ વર્ષ) ભૂમિને વણ ખેડેલી રાખીને તેને વિશ્રાંતિ આપવી.</ft></f> ન પાળવા માટેની આ ભરપાઈ હશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2CH.36.22" />યમિર્યા પ્રબોધક દ્વારા આપવામાં આવેલ યહોવાનું વચન પૂર્ણ થાય માટે ઇરાનના રાજા કોરેશના પહેલા વર્ષમાં યહોવાએ કોરેશને પ્રેરણા કરી કે, તે તેના સમગ્ર રાજ્યમાં એક લેખિત ઢંઢેરો પ્રગટ કરે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi"><v id="23" bcv="2CH.36.23" />આકાશના યહોવા દેવે મને પૃથ્વીના સર્વ રાજ્યો આપ્યા છે;
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">તેણે મને તેને માટે યહૂદામાં આવેલા યરૂશાલેમમાં મંદિર બાંધવા કહ્યું છે, તેના લોકોમાંથી તમારામાં જે કોઇ હોય; તે ભલે જાય. તેના દેવ યહોવા તેને સાથ આપો.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="EZR"><id id="EZR">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>એઝરા
</h><toc level="1">એઝરા
</toc><toc level="2">એઝરા
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">એઝરા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">કોરેશની બંદીવાનોને મુકિત સમયે મદદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZR.1.1" />ઇરાનના રાજા કોરેશના અમલ દરમ્યાન પહેલા વષેર્ યહોવાએ યમિર્યા દ્વારા આપેલું વચન પૂરું કરવા માટે ઇરાનના રાજા કોરેશને પ્રેરણા કરી કે, તેણે પોતાના આખા રાજ્યમાં લેખિત ઢંઢેરો પિટાવવો;
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi"><v id="2" bcv="EZR.1.2" />“ઇરાનના રાજા કોરેશ જાહેર કરે છે કે:
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">આકાશના દેવ યહોવાએ મને પૃથ્વી પરનાં બધાં રાજ્યો આપ્યાં છે, અને તેણે પોતે મને તેને માટે યહૂદામાં આવેલ યરૂશાલેમમાં મંદિર બંધાવવાની જવાબદારી સોંપી છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EZR.1.3" />તેથી યરૂશાલેમમાં આવેલા ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાનું મંદિર ફરીથી બાંધવા માટે રાજ્યમાંના કોઇ પણ યહૂદામાં આવેલા યરૂશાલેમમાં જઇ શકશે. તેનો દેવ તેની સાથે રહ્યો. યરૂશાલેમમાં એ જ દેવની પૂજા થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EZR.1.4" />એટલા માટે કોઇ પણ જગ્યાએ જ્યાં એમાંનો કોઇ બાકી રહેલો હોય તો તેની જગ્યાના લોકો તેને યરૂશાલેમનાં મંદિરનાં બાંધકામ માટે યથાશકિત સોના, ચાંદી, સામાન, પશુઓ અને અર્પણ આપીને મદદ કરે.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZR.1.5" />તેથી યહૂદા અને બિન્યામીનના કુળસમૂહોના બધાં આગેવાનો, યાજકો, લેવીઓ અને યહોવા દ્વારા પ્રેરાયેલાઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં યહોવાનું મંદિર બાંધવા જવા તૈયાર થયા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EZR.1.6" />તેમના આજુબાજુના પાડોશીઓએ તેમને આ બધાં અર્પણ ઉપરાંત સોનાચાંદીનાં પાત્રો, સામાન, ઢોરઢાંખર તથા કિંમતી ભેટ આપી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EZR.1.7" />વળી રાજા કોરેશે પણ તેમને યહોવાના મંદિરમાંથી વસ્તુઓ આપી. આ વસ્તુઓ નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજાએ યરૂશાલેમના યહોવાના મંદિરમાંથી લઇ જઇને પોતાના દેવોના મંદિરમાં મૂકી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EZR.1.8" />તદુપરાંત ઇરાનના કોરેશ રાજાએ ખજાનચી મિથદાથ પાસે તે વસ્તુઓને લાવ્યો અને તેણે આ વસ્તુઓ યહૂદાના આગેવાન શેશ્બાસ્સારને સોંપી દીધી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZR.1.9" />આ તે બધી વસ્તુઓ છે જે કોરેશ રાજા યહોવાના મંદિરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યો હતો: 30 સોનાની થાળીઓ, 1,000 ચાંદીની થાળીઓ અને 29 બીજા વાસણો,
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EZR.1.10" />ત્રીસ સોનાના કટોરા, 410 ચાંદીના જુદા જુદા પ્રકારના પ્યાલાઓ, 1,000 અન્ય ચીજ વસ્તુઓ,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EZR.1.11" />સોનાચાંદીનાં સર્વ પાત્રો મળીને 5,400 હતાં, જ્યારે બંદીવાનો બાબિલથી યરૂશાલેમ આવ્યા, ત્યારે આ બધાં પાત્રો શેસ્બાસ્સાર પોતે પોતાની સાથે લાવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">પાછા ફરેલા બંદીવાનોની નામાવલી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZR.2.1" />બાબિલનો રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર યહૂદાના જે લોકોને બંદીવાન કરીને બાબિલ લઇ ગયો હતો, તેઓમાંથી જે માણસો છૂટીને યરૂશાલેમમાં તથા યહૂદામાં પોતપોતાના નગરમાં પાછા આવ્યા તેઓનાં નામોની યાદી આ પ્રમાણે છે:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZR.2.2" />તેઓમાં યેશૂઆ, નહેમ્યા, સરાયા, રએલાયા, મોર્દખાય, બિલ્શાન, મિસ્પાર, બિગ્વાય, રહૂમ, તથા બાઅનાહની ઝરુબ્બાબેલની સાથે આવ્યા. ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોની સંખ્યા:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="EZR.2.3" />પારોશના વંશજો 2,172
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="EZR.2.4" />શફાટાયાના વંશજો 372
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="EZR.2.5" />આરાહના વંશજો 775
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="EZR.2.6" />પાહાથ-મોઆબના વંશજો, યેશૂઆ તથા યોઆબના વંશજો 2,812
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="EZR.2.7" />એલામના વંશજો 1,254
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="EZR.2.8" />ઝાત્તુના વંશજો 945
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="EZR.2.9" />ઝાક્કાયના વંશજો 760
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="EZR.2.10" />બાનીના વંશજો 642
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="EZR.2.11" />બેબાયના વંશજો 623
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="EZR.2.12" />આઝગાદના 1,222
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="EZR.2.13" />અદોનીકામના વંશજો 666
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="EZR.2.14" />બિગ્વાયના વંશજો 2,056
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="EZR.2.15" />આદીનના વંશજો 454
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="EZR.2.16" />હિઝિકયાના આટેરના વંશજો 98
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="EZR.2.17" />બેસાયના વંશજો 323
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="EZR.2.18" />યોરાહના વંશજો 112
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="EZR.2.19" />હાશુમના વંશજો 223
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="EZR.2.20" />ગિબ્બારના વંશજો 95
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="EZR.2.21" />બેથલહેમના વંશજો 123
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="EZR.2.22" />નટોફાહના મનુષ્યો 56
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="EZR.2.23" />અનાથોથના મનુષ્યો 128
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="EZR.2.24" />આઝમાવેથના વંશજો 42
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="EZR.2.25" />કિર્યાથ-આરીમના, કફીરાહના અને બએરોથના વંશજો 743
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="EZR.2.26" />રામાને ગેબાના વંશજો 621
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="EZR.2.27" />મિખ્માસના મનુષ્યો 122
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="EZR.2.28" />બેથેલ ને આયના મનુષ્યો 223
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="EZR.2.29" />નબોના વંશજો 52
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="EZR.2.30" />માગ્બીશના વંશજો 156
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="EZR.2.31" />બીજા શહેરના (પુત્રો) એલામના વંશજો 1,254
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="32" bcv="EZR.2.32" />હારીમના વંશજો 320
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="33" bcv="EZR.2.33" />લોદના, હાદીદના અને ઓનોના વંશજો 725
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="EZR.2.34" />યરીખોના વંશજો 345
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="35" bcv="EZR.2.35" />સનાઆહના વંશજો 3,630
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="36" bcv="EZR.2.36" />યાજકો:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યદાયાના વંશજો, યોશૂઆના વંશજો 973
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="37" bcv="EZR.2.37" />ઇમ્મેરના વંશજો 1,052
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="38" bcv="EZR.2.38" />પાશહૂરના વંશજો 1,247
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="39" bcv="EZR.2.39" />હારીમના વંશજો 1,017
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="40" bcv="EZR.2.40" />લેવીઓ:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હોદાવ્યાના, યેશૂઆના તથા કાદમીએલના વંશજો 74
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="41" bcv="EZR.2.41" />ગવૈયાઓ:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આસાફના વંશજો 128
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="42" bcv="EZR.2.42" />મંદિરના દ્વારપાળોના વંશ:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શાલુમ, આટેર, ટાલ્મોન, આક્કૂબ, હટીટા અને શોબાયના વંશજો, 139
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="43" bcv="EZR.2.43" />મંદિરના સેવકો:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સીહા, હસૂફા અને ટાબ્બાઓથ
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="44" bcv="EZR.2.44" />કેરોસ, સીઅહા અને પાદોનના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="45" bcv="EZR.2.45" />લબાનાહ, હાગાબાહ અને આક્કૂબના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="46" bcv="EZR.2.46" />હાગાબા, શામ્લાય, અને હાનાનના વંશજો:
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="47" bcv="EZR.2.47" />ગિદેલ, ગાહાર, અને આયાના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="48" bcv="EZR.2.48" />રસીન, નકોદા અને ગાઝઝામના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="49" bcv="EZR.2.49" />ઉઝઝા, પાસેઆહ અને બેસાયના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="50" bcv="EZR.2.50" />આસ્નાહ મેઉનીમ અને નફીસીમના વંશજો:
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="51" bcv="EZR.2.51" />બાકબૂક, હાક્રૂફા અને હાહૂરના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="52" bcv="EZR.2.52" />બાસ્લૂથ, મહીદા અને હાર્શાના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="53" bcv="EZR.2.53" />બાકોર્સ, સીસરા, અને તેમાહના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="54" bcv="EZR.2.54" />નસીઆહ અને હટીફાના વંશજો:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="55" bcv="EZR.2.55" />સુલેમાનના સેવકોના વંશજો:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સોટાય, હાસ્સોફેદેથ અને પરૂદાના વંશજો:
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="56" bcv="EZR.2.56" />યાઅલાહ, દાકોર્ન અને ગિદ્દોલના વંશજો:
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="57" bcv="EZR.2.57" />શફાટયા, હાટીલ અને પોખેરેશના વંશજો હાસ્બાઇમ અને આમીના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="58" bcv="EZR.2.58" />મંદિરના સર્વ સેવકો અને સુલેમાનના સેવકોના વંશજો 392 હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="59" bcv="EZR.2.59" />તેલ-મેલાહ, તેલ હાર્શા, ખરૂબ, અદ્દાન, તથા ઇમ્મેરમાંથી પાછા આવેલા લોકો અને જેઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાંના હતાં કે નહિ એમ સાબિત કરવા માટે પોતાના પૂર્વજોની વંશાવળી દેખાડી શક્યા નહિ, તેઓ આ છે:
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="60" bcv="EZR.2.60" />દલાયા, ટોબિયા, અને નકોદાના ગોત્રના 652 વંશજોનો સમાવેશ થતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="61" bcv="EZR.2.61" />યાજકોના ત્રણ કુટુંબો:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હબાયાના વંશજો, હાક્કોસના વંશજો અને બાઝિર્લ્લાય જે ગિલયાદી બાઝિર્લ્લાયની પુત્રીઓમાંથી એકને પરણી લાવ્યો હતો ને જેથી તેનું એ નામ પાડ્યું હતું તેના વંશજો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="62" bcv="EZR.2.62" />તેઓએ સર્વ વંશાવળીમાં તપાસ કરી પણ તેઓનાં નામ મળ્યાં નહિ, તેથી તેઓ અશુદ્ધ ગણાયા ને યાજકપદમાંથી બરતરફ થયા.
<ve />
<v id="63" bcv="EZR.2.63" />ઉરીમ અને તુમ્મીમ દ્વારા તપાસ કરી કે તેઓ સાચેજ યાજકોના વંશજો છે કે નહિ એ નક્કી થાય ત્યાં સુધી પ્રશાશકે અર્પણોના હિસ્સામાંથી પણ ખાવાની તેઓને મના કરી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="64" bcv="EZR.2.64" />સર્વ મળીને કુલ 42,360 માણસો યહૂદા પાછા આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="65" bcv="EZR.2.65" />તદુપરાંત 7,337 દાસદાસીઓ તથા ગાયકગણના સભ્યો એવા 200 સ્ત્રી પુરુષો પાછા ફર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="66" bcv="EZR.2.66" />તેઓ પાસે 736 ઘોડા અને 245 ખચ્ચરો,
<ve />
<v id="67" bcv="EZR.2.67" />435 ઊંટ અને 6,720 ગધેડાં હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="68" bcv="EZR.2.68" />દેશવટેથી પાછા ફરેલા ટોળાઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં યહોવાના મંદિરે પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે કેટલાંક કુટુંબના વડીલોએ જુના સ્થાને મંદિર ફરી બાંધવા માટે સ્વેચ્છાએ દાન આપ્યાં,
<ve />
<v id="69" bcv="EZR.2.69" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિતએ પોતાની યથા શકિત પ્રમાણે બાંધકામ માટે આપ્યુ. 500 કિલો સોનું;<f caller="+"><fr>2:69
</fr><fk>500 કિલો સોનું
</fk><ft>પ્રાચીન માપ પ્રમાણે લગભગ 1,000 દારીક.</ft></f> 3,000 કિલો<f caller="+"><fr>2:69
</fr><fk>3,000 કિલો ચાંદી
</fk><ft>પ્રાચીન માપ પ્રમાણે લગભગ 5,000 માનેહ.</ft></f> ચાંદી અને યાજકો માટે 100 પોશાકો આપ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="70" bcv="EZR.2.70" />યાજકો, લેવીઓ તથા બીજા કેટલાક લોકો યરૂશાલેમમાં તથા નજીકના ગામોમાં વસ્યા. ગવૈયાઓ, દ્વારપાળો અને મંદિરના સેવકો અને બાકી બચેલાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પોતાના નગરમા વસ્યા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">વેદીના જીણોર્દ્ધારનો પ્રારંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZR.3.1" />ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્રો પોતાનાં નગરોમાં વસ્યા પછી, સાતમો માસ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેઓ બધા એક દિલથી યરૂશાલેમમાં ભેગા થયા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZR.3.2" />યોસાદાકનો પુત્ર યેશૂઆએ તેના યાજકો સાથે તથા શઆલ્તીએલનો પુત્ર ઝરુબ્બાબેલ અને તેના સાથીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવની વેદી ફરીથી બાંધી, જેથી દેવના સેવક મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર પ્રમાણે તેની પર દહનાર્પણો ચઢાવી શકાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EZR.3.3" />આજુબાજુના બીજા લોકોનો ડર હોવા છતાં તેમણે પહેલાંને સ્થાને જ વેદી ઊભી કરી અને તેના પર સવાર સાંજ યહોવાને દહનાર્પણો આપવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EZR.3.4" />તેઓએ મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યા પ્રમાણે માંડવાપર્વ ઊજવ્યો અને નિયમ પ્રમાણે દરરોજ જોઇતા પ્રમાણમાં દહનાર્પણો ચઢાવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EZR.3.5" />એના પછી લોકોએ નિત્યનાં દહનાર્પણો, ચંદ્રદર્શનના દિવસની ઉજવણીના અર્પણો તથા બીજાં વાષિર્ક પવોર્ની ઉજવણીનાં અર્પણો ચઢાવ્યા જે યહોવાને માટે પવિત્ર હતા એ લોકોએ ઉપહાર પણ અર્પણ કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EZR.3.6" />તેઓએ સાતમા મહિનાના પ્રથમ દિવસથી યહોવાને દહનાર્પણો ચઢાવવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ; પરંતુ યહોવાના મંદિરનો પાયો હજી નંખાયો ન હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મંદિરના જીણોર્દ્ધારનો પ્રારંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZR.3.7" />તેમણે કડિયાઓને અને સુથારોને પૈસા આપ્યા અને સિદોન અને તૂરના લોકોને ખોરાક પાણી અને તેલ મોકલ્યાં, જેથી તેઓ લબાનોનથી સમુદ્રમાગેર્ યાફા સુધી દેવદારનું લાકડું લઇ આવે. ઇરાનના રાજા કોરેશે એ માટે પરવાનગી આપી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZR.3.8" />બીજા વર્ષના બીજા મહિનામાં યરૂશાલેમમાં દેવના મંદિરમાં પહોચ્યા પછી, શઆલ્તીએલનો પુત્ર ઝરુબ્બાબેલે અને યોસાદાકનો પુત્ર યેશૂઆએ તેમના બીજા જાતભાઇઓની મદદ વડે, યાજકો લેવીઓ અને દેશવટેથી યરૂશાલેમ પાછા ફરેલા બાકીના બધા લોકોની મદદથી મંદિરનું ખરેખરું બાંધકામ શરૂ કર્યુ. તેમણે વીસ વર્ષના અને તેથી મોટા લેવીઓને યહોવાના મંદિરનાં બાંધકામની દેખરેખ રાખવા નીમ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EZR.3.9" />આ સમગ્ર યોજના પર દેખરેખ રાખવાનું કામ યેશૂઆ, કાદમીએલ અને તેના પુત્રો, હેનાદાદ અને તેઓના પુત્રો તથા સબંધીઓને સોંપવામા આવ્યું. તેઓ સર્વ લેવીઓ હતા.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EZR.3.10" />જ્યારે યહોવાના મંદિરનો પાયો નાખવાનું કામ પૂરું થયું ત્યારે, યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરવા માટે તેઓએ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા દાઉદના હુકમ પ્રમાણે, યાજકોને તેઓના પોશાક પહેરાવીને રણશિંગડા સાથે તથા લેવીઓને તેમના હાથમાં ઝાંઝની જોડી આપીને ઊભા રાખ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EZR.3.11" />તેઓએ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ અને આભાર ગીત ગાયાં,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દેવ ભલા છે અને તેમનો પ્રેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા દયા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પર સદાકાળ રહેશે.”
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<p sfm="m" style="m">ત્યારે બધા લોકો ઊંચે સાદે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરવા લાગ્યા, કારણ; યહોવાના મંદિરનો પાયો નંખાઇ ચૂક્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZR.3.12" />ઘણા યાજકો, લેવીઓ અને કુટુંબના આગેવાનો અને વડીલો, જેમણે પહેલાનું મૂળ મંદિર જોયું હતું તેઓ પોતાની નજર સામે પાયો નંખાતો જોઇને રડી પડ્યા, પણ બીજા ઘણા લોકો મોટે સાદે હર્ષના પોકારો કરતા હતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZR.3.13" />તેથી લોકોના પોકારો હર્ષના છે કે વિલાપના છે તે પારખી શકાતા નહોતા, કારણકે લોકો દૂર સુધી સંભળાય એટલે મોટે અવાજે પોકારો કરતા હતા.
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<s style="s">શત્રુઓ તરફથી મંદિરનો વિરોધ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZR.4.1" />યહૂદા અને બિન્યામીનના દુશ્મનોને ખબર પડી કે દેશવટેથી પાછા આવેલા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાનું મંદિર બાંધે છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZR.4.2" />એટલે તેઓએ ઝરૂબ્બાબેલ અને કુટુંબના વડીલો પાસે આવીને કહ્યું, “અમે પણ તમારી સાથે મંદિર બાંધવાના કામમાં જોડાવા માગીએ છીએ, કારણ, અમે પણ તમારી જેમ તમારા દેવના ઉપાસક છીએ અને અમને અહીં વસાવનાર આશ્શૂરના રાજા એસાર-હાદોનના વખતથી એને યજ્ઞો અર્પણ કરતા આવ્યા છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EZR.4.3" />ઝરૂબાબ્બેલ, યેશુઆ અને ઇસ્રાએલી કુટુંબના બીજા વડવાઓએ કહ્યું, “અમારા દેવનું મંદિર બાંધવામાં તમારે અમારી સાથે જોડાવું નહિ. ઇરાનના રાજા કોરેશે અમને ફરમાવ્યા પ્રમાણે અમે એકલા જ યહોવાનું મંદિર બાંધીશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZR.4.4" />ત્યારબાદ દેશના લોકોએ યહૂદિયાઓને ડરાવીને ના હિંમત બનાવી તેમને આગળનું બાંધકામ કરતા રોકવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZR.4.5" />તેઓએ તેમના વિરૂદ્ધ સલાહકારો ભાડેથી રાખ્યા, આ માણસોએ તેમની યોજનાઓને નિષ્ફળ બનાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો, કોરેશ રાજાના સમગ્ર રાજ્યકાળ દરમ્યાન અને દાર્યાવેશ રાજા ગાદી પર આવ્યો ત્યાં સુધી આમ ચાલ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZR.4.6" />ત્યારબાદ રાજા અહાશ્વેરોશના અમલની શરૂઆતમાં તે લોકોએ યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ વિરૂદ્ધ લેખિત ફરિયાદ કરી.
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<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમના બાંધકામ વિરૂદ્ધ શત્રુઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZR.4.7" />વળી ઇરાનના રાજા આર્તાહશાસ્તાના અમલ દરમ્યાન બિશ્લામે, મિથદાથ, તાબએલે અને તેમના બીજા સાથીઓએ રાજાને પત્ર લખ્યો. એ પત્ર અરામી ભાષામાં લખેલો હતો. તેનું ભાષાંતર કરીને સંભળાવવાનું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZR.4.8" />આમાં મુખ્યત્વે પ્રશાશક રહૂમે અને મંત્રી શિમ્શાયે, આર્તાહશાસ્તા રાજા પર યરૂશાલેમ વિરૂદ્ધ પત્ર મોકવ્યો.
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<p sfm="mi" style="mi"><v id="9" bcv="EZR.4.9" />આ પત્રમાં સામેલ થનારાઓની યાદી: શાસન કર્તા રહૂમે અને મંત્રી શિમ્શાય અને તેમના સાથીદારો; ન્યાયાધીશો અને અધિકારીઓ તેઓ ત્રિપોલીસના, ઇરાનના, ઇરેખના અને બાબિલના લોકો, સુસાના એલામીઓ,
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<v id="10" bcv="EZR.4.10" />અને બાકીની બધી પ્રજાઓ, જેઓને મહાન અને સજ્જન રાજા અશૂરબનિપાલ સમરૂનનાં ગામોમાં અને ફ્રાંત નદીની પશ્ચિમના બીજા પ્રદેશમાં લાવ્યો હતો તેમને ત્યાં વસાવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZR.4.11" />પત્ર નીચે મુજબ છે:
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<p sfm="mi" style="mi">રાજા આર્તાહશાસ્તા પ્રત્યે લિ. ફ્રાંતની પશ્ચિમના પ્રાંતના તેમના સેવકોના પ્રણામ.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="12" bcv="EZR.4.12" />અમે તમારું ધ્યાન ખેચીએ છીએ કે, બાબિલથી યરૂશાલેમ મોકલવામાં આવેલા યહૂદિયાઓ બળવાખોર અને દુષ્ટ નગરનું ફરીથી બાંધકામ કરી રહ્યા છે. તેઓ નગરના કિલ્લાની દીવાલ બાંધી રહ્યાં છે અને પાયાનું સમારકામ કરી રહ્યાં છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="13" bcv="EZR.4.13" />એટલે હવે અમારે રાજાને જણાવવું જોઇએ કે, જો એ નગર બંધાશે એના કિલ્લાની દીવાલો પૂરી થશે, તો તેઓ ખંડણી, કરવેરા કે જકાત આપશે નહિ, તેથી આખરે રાજ્યની ઉપજમાં ઘટાડો થશે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="14" bcv="EZR.4.14" />અમે તમારી સેવામાં છીએ એટલે તમને આ રીતે લજ્જિત થતા જોઇ રહેવું અમને યોગ્ય લાગતું નથી તેથી અમે આપ નામદારને આ હકીકત જણાવીએ છીએ.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="15" bcv="EZR.4.15" />અમે તમને વિનંતી કરીએ છીએ કે તમે તમારા પૂર્વજોની અધિકૃત નોંધોની તપાસ કરો તો, તમને ખબર પડશે કે આ નગર કેવું બંડખોર હતું, કેટલાક રાજાઓ અને પ્રજાઓ વિરૂદ્ધ વિદ્રોહ કરવા માટેના એક લાંબા ઇતિહાસના કારણે તેને પાયમાલ કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="16" bcv="EZR.4.16" />તેથી અમે તો આપ નામદારને નિવેદન કરીએ છીએ કે, “જો એ નગરો બંધાઇ જશે ને એના કોટ પૂરા થશે, તો નદી પાર આપનુ શાસન પશ્ચિમના પ્રદેશમાં રહેશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZR.4.17" />એટલે રાજાએ આ પ્રમાણે જવાબ મોકલ્યો:
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<p sfm="mi" style="mi">પ્રશાસક રહૂમ, સચીવ શિમ્શાય તથા સમરૂન અને ફ્રાંતની પશ્ચિમના પ્રદેશમાં વસતા તેમના બીજા સાથીઓ સદગૃહસ્થો પ્રત્યે.
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<p sfm="mi" style="mi">શુભકામના.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="18" bcv="EZR.4.18" />તમે મોકલેલ પત્ર મને મળ્યો અને તેને અનુવાદ કરાવીને મને વાંચી સંભળાવાયો છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZR.4.19" />મેં કાર્યાલયોમાં તપાસ કરાવી છે અને શોધી કાઢયું છે કે, યરૂશાલેમના લોકોએ ભૂતકાળમાં ઘણાં રાજાઓ સામે બળવો કર્યો છે. બળવો અને દગો ખરેખર તેઓને માટે સામાન્ય બાબત છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZR.4.20" />યરૂશાલેમમાં પ્રતાપી રાજાઓ પણ છે અને તેમણે ફ્રાત પારના સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ પર સત્તા ભોગવી છે અને કરવેરા વસૂલ કર્યા છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="21" bcv="EZR.4.21" />માટે હવે તમારે એવો હુકમ કરવો જોઇએ કે, “એ લોકોની પ્રવૃત્તિ બંધ થાય, અને બીજી આજ્ઞા આપના તરફથી થતાં સુધી એ નગર ન બંધાય.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZR.4.22" />સાવધાન રહો, હવે આ બાબતની જરાપણ અવગણના કરશો નહિ, નહિ તો રાજ્યને વધારે નુકશાન થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EZR.4.23" />જ્યારે આર્તાહશાસ્તા રાજાનો આ પત્ર રહૂમ અને શિમ્શાય અને તેમના બીજા સાથીઓને વાંચી સંભળાવવામાં આવ્યો ત્યારે તેઓ ઝડપથી યરૂશાલેમ ધસી ગયા અને જોરજુલમથી યહૂદીયાઓને કામ કરતાં રોકી દીધા.
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<s style="s">મંદિરનું બાંધકામ સ્થગિત
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZR.4.24" />અને એ જ રીતે યરૂશાલેમમાંના યહોવાના મંદિરનું કામ થંભી ગયું હતું અને ઇરાનના રાજા દાર્યાવેશના બીજા વર્ષ સુધી તે સ્થગિત જ રહ્યું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZR.5.1" />પરંતુ તે સમયે પ્રબોધકો હાગ્ગાય તથા ઉદ્દોના પુત્ર ઝખાર્યાએ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના નામે જેઓની તેમના પર કૃપા હતી યહૂદા તથા યરૂશાલેમમાં જે યહૂદીયાઓ હતા, તેઓને ભવિષ્યવાણી સંભળાવી.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZR.5.2" />ત્યારે શઆલ્તીએલના પુત્ર ઝરુબ્બાબેલ તથા યોસાદાકના પુત્ર યેશૂઆએ યરૂશાલેમમાં યહોવાનું મંદિર બાંધવાનું શરૂ કરી દીધું. દેવના પ્રબોધકો તેમને ટેકો આપતાં હતાં.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZR.5.3" />પરંતુ તે જ સમયે યુફ્રેતિસ નદીની પશ્ચિમ તરફના પ્રદેશનો પ્રશાશક તાત્તનાય અને શથાર-બોઝનાય તથા તેઓના સાથીદારો યરૂશાલેમ આવ્યા અને પૂછયું, “આ મંદિર ફરીથી બાંધવાની અને લાકડાનું કામ પુરું કરવાની પરવાનગી તમને કોણે આપી છે?”
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<v id="4" bcv="EZR.5.4" />પછી તેઓએ પૂછયું, “જે માણસો આ મંદિર બાંધે છે તેમના નામ શાં છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZR.5.5" />પરંતુ યહૂદીઓના વડીલો પર તેઓના દેવ યહોવાની કૃપાદ્રષ્ટિ હતી, માટે આ બાબત દાર્યાવેશને કાને પહોંચ્યા પછી રાજાનો જવાબ આવે ત્યાં સુધી તેમને કામ કરતા અટકાવવામાં આવ્યા નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZR.5.6" />તાત્તનાય પ્રશાશક, શથાર-બોઝનાય તથા બીજા અધિકારીઓએ દાર્યાવેશ રાજા પર નીચે પ્રમાણે પત્ર મોકલ્યો:
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EZR.5.7" />પ્રતિ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">દાર્યાવેશ રાજા:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">સલામ! ક્ષેમકુશળ હશો.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="8" bcv="EZR.5.8" />આપને વિદિત થાય કે, અમે યહૂદા પ્રાંતમાં મહાન દેવના મંદિરમાં ગયાં હતા, તે મંદિર પથ્થરની મોટી શિલાઓથી બાંધવામાં આવી રહ્યું છે, એની ભીંતોએ લાકડાની તખ્તીઓ જડવામાં આવે છે, ખૂબ સફળતાપૂર્વક અને ઉત્સાહથી કામ ચાલી રહ્યું છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="9" bcv="EZR.5.9" />અમે ત્યાં આગેવાનોને પૂછયું, “તમને આ મંદિરનું બાંધકામ કરવાની અને તેનું લાકડાનું કામ પુરું કરવા માટે કોણે પરવાનગી આપી છે?”
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<v id="10" bcv="EZR.5.10" />વળી અમે તેમના નામ પણ પૂછયાં, જેથી અમે આપને જણાવવા માટે આગેવાનોના નામની યાદી તૈયાર કરી શકીએ.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="11" bcv="EZR.5.11" />તેઓએ અમને ઉત્તર આપ્યો કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“અમે આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીના દેવના સેવકો છીએ; ઇસ્રાએલના એક મહાન રાજાએ ઘણાં વષોર્ પહેલાં બંધાવેલ મંદિરનો અમે જીણોર્દ્ધાર કરીએ છીએ.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZR.5.12" />અમારા પિતૃઓએ સ્વર્ગના દેવને ગુસ્સે કર્યા, તેથી તેણે તેઓનો ત્યાગ કર્યો. તેણે નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજા દ્વારા આ મંદિરનો નાશ કરાવ્યો અને રાજાએ લોકોનો દેશનિકાલ કરીને બાબિલ મોકલ્યા.”
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<v id="13" bcv="EZR.5.13" />પણ બાબિલના રાજા કોરેશે પોતાના રાજ્યના પહેલા વર્ષમાં દેવના આ મંદિરનો જીણોર્દ્ધાર કરવાની પરવાનગી આપી.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZR.5.14" />ઉપરાંત દેવના મંદિરની સોના ચાંદીની વસ્તુઓ નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર યરૂશાલેમના દેવના મંદિરમાંથી કાઢીને બાબિલના મંદિરમાં લઇ ગયો હતો, ને તે બધી વસ્તુઓ કોરેશ રાજાએ બાબિલના મંદિરમાંથી પાછી લઇને શેશ્બાસ્સારને સોંપી જેને તેણે પ્રશાશક નિમ્યો હતો;
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="15" bcv="EZR.5.15" />“રાજાએ તેને સૂચના આપી કે, તે સર્વ વસ્તુઓ યરૂશાલેમના મંદિરમાં પાછી મોકલે અને દેવના મંદિરને તેની અસલ જગ્યાએ બંધાવે.”
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="16" bcv="EZR.5.16" />પછી તે જ શેશ્બાસ્સારે આવીને દેવના એ મંદિરનો પાયો યરૂશાલેમમાં નાખ્યો; અને ત્યારથી તેનું બાંધકામ ચાલુ છે, તે હજી પૂરું થયું નથી.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="17" bcv="EZR.5.17" />તેથી આપ નામદારને યોગ્ય લાગે તો બાબિલના ભંડારમાં તપાસ કરાવશો કે રાજા કોરેશે યરૂશાલેમમાં દેવનું મંદિર ફરી બાંધવાની પરવાનગી આપી હતી કે કેમ, અને આ બાબતમાં આપનો નિર્ણય જણાવશો.
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</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">દાર્યાવેશનો વટહુકમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZR.6.1" />એ પછી દાર્યાવેશ રાજાએ બાબિલના ભંડારોના કાર્યાલયમાં તપાસ કરવાનો હુકમ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZR.6.2" />ત્યારે માદાય પ્રાંતના “એકબાતાના” કિલ્લામાંથી એક લેખ મળી આવ્યો;
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">એમાં આ ટીપ્પણી હતી:
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EZR.6.3" />રાજા કોરેશે પોતાના શાસનના પ્રથમ વર્ષ દરમ્યાન યરૂશાલેમમાં આવેલા દેવના મંદિરના સંબંધમાં આ હુકમ ફરમાવ્યો હતો, લોકોનું યજ્ઞો અર્પણ કરવાનું જે સ્થાન છે એ સ્થાન પર મંદિર ફરી બાંધવું.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">તેના પાયાઓ જાળવી રાખવા એની ઊંચાઇ 90 ફુટ અને પહોળાઇ 90 ફુટ રાખવી.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZR.6.4" />ભીંતોમાં મોટા પથ્થરના ત્રણ થર અને નવા લાકડાનો એક થર રાખવો. તમામ ખર્ચ રાજભંડારમાંથી કરવો.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZR.6.5" />તદુપરાંત યરૂશાલેમના મંદિરમાંથી નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર જે સોના ચાંદીના વાસણો બાબિલ લઇ આવ્યો હતો તે પાછાં સોંપી દેવા, તે બધાં પાછા યરૂશાલેમના દેવના મંદિરમાં લઇ જઇ ત્યાં તેના મૂળસ્થાને ફરી ગોઠવી દેવાં.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZR.6.6" />ત્યારબાદ દાર્યાવેશે આ મુજબ હુકમ બહાર પાડ્યો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">ફ્રાંતની પશ્ચિમે આવેલા પ્રદેશના સૂબા તાત્તનાય, શથાર-બોઝનાય અને તેમના સાથી અમલદારો જોગ. તેઓએ ત્યાથી દૂર રહેવું.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZR.6.7" />દેવના મંદિરના બાંધકામમાં તમારે વિઘ્નો ન નાખવા, યહૂદાના પ્રશાસક અને યહૂદીયાઓના આગેવાનો દેવનું મંદિર એના અસલ સ્થાને ફરીથી બાંધે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="8" bcv="EZR.6.8" />યહૂદીયાઓના વડીલોને દેવનું મંદિર બાંધવામાં તમારે મદદ કરવી એવું મારું ફરમાન છે: એનો સમગ્ર ખચોર્ ફ્રાત પારના પ્રદેશના મહેસૂલમાંથી થતી રાજ્યની આવકમાંથી અચૂક ચૂકવી દેવો. જેથી કામ અટકી પડે નહિ.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZR.6.9" />આકાશના દેવને દહનાર્પણો અર્પવા માટે યરૂશાલેમના યાજકોને જુવાન વાછરડાં, બકરા, ઘેટાં, હલવાનો, તથા ઘઉં, મીઠું, દ્રાક્ષારસ અને તેલ તેઓ જે કઇં માગે તે બધું અચૂક દરરોજ પૂરું પાડવું.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZR.6.10" />જેથી તેઓ આકાશના દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરવા માટે સુવાસિત દહનાર્પણો કરે, અને રાજાના તથા તેના પુત્રોના દીર્ધાયુષ્ય માટે પ્રાર્થના કરે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="11" bcv="EZR.6.11" />વળી એવો હુકમ પણ કર્યો છે કે, “જે કોઇ આ હુકમનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરે તેના ઘરનો એક મોભ ખેંચી કાઢવામાં આવશે. અને તેનું ઘર કચરાનો ઢગલો કરી નાખવું.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="12" bcv="EZR.6.12" />જે રાજાઓ કે પ્રજાઓ યરૂશાલેમના દેવના મંદિરનો ફેરફાર કરવાનો કે વિનાશ કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરશે તેનો ભલે દેવ વિનાશ કરે.”
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">હું દાર્યાવેશ તમને આ હુકમ કરું છું. તેનું સંપૂર્ણ વફાદારીથી પાલન કરવામાં આવે.
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</p>
<s style="s">મંદિરની પ્રાણપ્રતિષ્ઠા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZR.6.13" />ત્યારપછી ફ્રાંતની પશ્ચિમના પ્રદેશના સૂબા તાત્તનાયએ, શથાર-બોઝનાયે અને તેમના સાથીઓએ રાજા દર્યાવેશે મોકલેલી આજ્ઞાનું અક્ષરશ: પાલન કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EZR.6.14" />યહૂદીયાઓના વડીલોએ પણ પ્રબોધકો હાગ્ગાય અને ઇદ્દોના પુત્ર ઝખાર્યાના વચનોથી પ્રેરાઇને મંદિરનું બાંધકામ ફરીથી ચાલુ કર્યુ અને તેમનું ઉદેશ્ય પુરું કર્યુ. તેઓએ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવના ફરમાન મુજબ તથા કોરેશ, દાર્યાવેશ અને આર્તાહશાસ્તા અને ઇરાનના રાજાઓના ફરમાન મુજબ બાંધકામને પૂરું કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EZR.6.15" />તે મંદિર રાજા દાર્યાવેશના રાજ્યના છઠ્ઠા વષેર્ અદાર મહિનાના ત્રીજે દિવસે પૂર્ણ થયું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZR.6.16" />ત્યારબાદ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ યાજકોએ, લેવીઓએ અને દેશવટેથી પાછા ફરેલા બાકીના બધા લોકોએ ભારે આનંદપૂર્વક એ મંદિરનું સમર્પણ ઉજવ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZR.6.17" />તેમણે 100 બળદો, 200 ઘેટાં, 400 હલવાન, અને બાર બકરાની આખા ઇસ્રાએલ માટેની પાપાર્થાપણની બલી આપી.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EZR.6.18" />ત્યારબાદ તેમણે
<bk>મૂસાના ગ્રંથમા</bk> લખ્યા મુજબ, યાજકોને અને લેવીઓને દેવનાં મંદિરની સેવા કરવા ટૂકડીવાર ફરીથી નીમી દીધા.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાસ્ખાપર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EZR.6.19" />દેશવટેથી પાછા ફરેલા માણસોએ પહેલા મહિનાના ચૌદમા દિવસે પાસ્ખાનું પર્વ ઊજવ્યું.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZR.6.20" />બધા જ યાજકો અને લેવીઓએ પોતાનું શુદ્ધિકરણ કર્યુ હતું અને તેઓ હવે વિધિવત્ત શુદ્ધ હતા. લેવીઓએ બંદીવાસમાંથી આવેલા સર્વ લોકો તેમના સગાંવહાંલા, યાજકો અને પોતાને માટે પાસ્ખાના હલવાનનો વધ કર્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZR.6.21" />ઇસ્રાએલી જેઓ દેશવટેથી પાછા આવ્યા હતા તેઓએ પાસ્ખા ખાધું, કેટલાક બીજાઓએ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાને શોધવા પોતાને પ્રજાની અશુદ્ધિઓથી જુદા કર્યા અને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા પાસે આવ્યા. તેઓએ તેમની સાથે ખાધું પણ ખરું.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZR.6.22" />સાત દિવસ સુધી તેમણે આનંદભેર બેખમીર રોટલીનું પર્વ ઊજવ્યું. તેઓ ખૂબ આનંદમાં હતા કારણકે યહોવાએ આશ્શૂરના રાજાના હૃદયમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પ્રત્યે સદ્ભાવ જગાડી તેમના દેવ યહોવાના મંદિરના કામમાં તેમને મદદ કરવા પ્રેર્યાં હતાં.
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<c id="7" />
<s style="s">એઝરાનું યરૂશાલેમમાં આગમન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZR.7.1" />ઇરાનના રાજા આર્તાહશાસ્તાના શાસનમાં એઝરા બાબિલથી યરૂશાલેમ આવ્યો. પોતાના કુટુંબના ઇતિહાસ પ્રમાણે એઝરા સરાયાનો પુત્ર હતો; સરાયા અઝાર્યાનો પુત્ર હતો. અઝાર્યા હિલ્કિયાનો પુત્ર હતો;
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<v id="2" bcv="EZR.7.2" />હિલ્કિયા શાલ્લૂમનો પુત્ર હતો; શાલ્લૂમ સાદોકનો પુત્ર હતો; સાદોક અહીટૂબનો પુત્ર હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZR.7.3" />અહીટૂબ અઝાર્યાનો પુત્ર હતો; અઝાર્યા મરાયોથનો પુત્ર હતો;
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<v id="4" bcv="EZR.7.4" />મરાયોથ ઝરાહ્યાનો પુત્ર હતો; ઝરાહ્યા ઉઝઝીનો પુત્ર હતો; ઉઝઝી બુક્કીનો પુત્ર હતો
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<v id="5" bcv="EZR.7.5" />બુક્કી અબીશુઆનો પુત્ર હતો. અબીશુઆ ફીનહાસનો પુત્ર હતો; ફીનહાસ એલઆઝારનો પુત્ર હતો; એલઆઝાર પ્રમુખ યાજક હારુનનો પુત્ર હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZR.7.6" />એઝરા બાબિલથી આવ્યો, તે એક મહાન શિક્ષક હતો. જે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાએ આપેલા મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં ઘણો નિપૂણ હતો. તેના પર યહોવાની કૃપા હતી તેથી રાજાએ તેની સર્વ અરજ મંજૂર રાખી.
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<v id="7-8" bcv="EZR.7.7" />કેટલાક યાજકો લેવીઓ, ગવૈયાઓ, દ્વારપાળો મંદિરના સેવકો અને કેટલાક બીજા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાથે રાજા આર્તાહશાસ્તાના શાસનના સાતમા વર્ષના પાંચમા મહિનામાં તે યરૂશાલેમ પહોંચ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZR.7.9" />એઝરાએ પ્રથમ માસના પ્રથમ દિવસે બાબિલથી ઊપડવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ હતું, અને તેના પર તેના દેવ યહોવાની હતી. એટલે તે પાંચમા મહિનાના પહેલે દિવસે યરૂશાલેમ આવી પહોંચ્યો હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZR.7.10" />એઝરાએ પોતાનું આખું જીવન યહોવાના નિયમોનો અભ્યાસ કરવામાં, તેને આચારમાં ઉતારવામાં અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તેનાં કાનૂનો અને આજ્ઞાઓ સમજાવવામાં ગાળ્યું હતું.
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</p>
<s style="s">એઝરાને આર્તાહશાસ્તાનો પત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZR.7.11" />રાજા આર્તાહશાસ્તાએ આ પત્ર યાજક એઝરાને આપ્યો, જે યહોવાના નિયમશાસ્રનો અને યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને આપેલા હુકમોનો શિક્ષક હતો.
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<p sfm="mi" style="mi"><v id="12" bcv="EZR.7.12" />રાજાઓનાં રાજા આર્તાહશાસ્તા તરફથી:
</p>
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">આકાશના દેવનું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર શીખવનાર શિક્ષક એઝરા યાજકને ક્ષેમકુશળ:
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="13" bcv="EZR.7.13" />હું આથી આજ્ઞા ફરમાવું છું કે, મારા રાજ્યમાંના ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાંથી તેમના યાજકોમાંથી કે લેવીઓમાંથી, જે કોઇ પોતાની રાજીખુશીથી યરૂશાલેમ જવા ઇચ્છે, તેમને તારી સાથે જવા દેવા.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="14" bcv="EZR.7.14" />મેં અને મારા સાત સલાહકારોએ તારા દેવનો જે નિયમ તારી પાસે છે તેની બાબતમાં યહૂદામાં અને યરૂશાલેમમાં શી સ્થિતિ છે તે તપાસવા માટે તને મોકલ્યો છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="15" bcv="EZR.7.15" />અને અમે તમને તમારી સાથે લઇ જવા માટે ચાંદી અને સોનું આપી રહ્યાં છીએ, આ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ માટે ભેટ છે, જે યરૂશાલેમમાં નિવાસ કરે છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZR.7.16" />તદુપરાંત તારે બાબિલના સર્વ રાજ્યોમાંથી યરૂશાલેમના દેવના મંદિર માટે ચાંદી તથા સોનું સૈચ્છિકાર્પણો તરીકે યહૂદીયા અને તેઓના યાજકો પાસેથી ઉઘરાવવું.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="17" bcv="EZR.7.17" />આ બધી ભેટો સાથે બળદો, ઘેટાં, હલવાન, ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા પેયાર્પણ પણ ચોક્કસ ખરીદવામાં આવે, જ્યારે તમે યરૂશાલેમ પહોંચો ત્યારે તે સર્વ અર્પણોનું યરૂશાલેમમાં તમારા દેવના મંદિરની વેદી પર બલિદાન ચઢાવવામાં આવે.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZR.7.18" />જે કઇં સોનુંચાંદી વધે તેનો ઉપયોગ તમારા દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરવા, જેમ તને અને તારા સાથીઓને ઠીક લાગે તે રીતે કરવો.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZR.7.19" />તમારા દેવના મંદિરની સેવા માટે જે વાસણો તને આપવામાં આવ્યાં છે, તે તારે પૂરેપૂરા યરૂશાલેમમાં દેવને આપી દેવાં.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZR.7.20" />અને જો તારા દેવનાં મંદિર માટે બીજા કશાની તને જરૂર પડે તો તું રાજ્યની તિજોરીમાંથી જરૂર વાપરી શકે છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="21" bcv="EZR.7.21" />હું રાજા આર્તાહશાસ્તા ફ્રાંત નદી પારના પ્રાંતના સર્વ ખજાનચીઓને હુકમ કરું છું કે, આકાશના દેવના નિયમશાસ્ત્રના લહિયા યાજક એઝરા જે કઇં માગે તે તમારે વિના વિલંબે પૂરું પાડવાનું છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZR.7.22" />3,400 કિલો<f caller="+"><fr>7:22
</fr><fk>3,400 કિલો ચાંદી
</fk><ft>પ્રાચીન તોલમાપ પ્રમાણે 3 3,4 ચાંદી, અથવા 100 તાલંત ચાંદી.</ft></f> ચાંદી, 16,300 કિલો<f caller="+"><fr>7:22
</fr><fk>16,300 કિલો ઘઉં
</fk><ft>પ્રાચીન તોલમાપ પ્રમાણે 600 બુશેલ, અથવા 100 બોરી ઘઉં.</ft></f> ઘઉં, 600 ગેલન<f caller="+"><fr>7:22
</fr><fk>600 ગેલન
</fk><ft>પ્રાચીન માપ પ્રમાણે લગભગ 2,200 લિટર અથવા 100 બાથ.</ft></f> દ્રાક્ષારસ અને 600 ગેલન તેલથી પ્રમાણ વધી ન જાય; મીઠું જોઇએ તેટલું આપવું.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZR.7.23" />આકાશના દેવ પોતાના મંદિર માટે જે કઇં ફરમાવે, તે બધું તમારે તાબડતોબ કરવાનું છે, નહિ તો કદાચ મારા રાજ્ય પર અને મારા વંશજો પર તેમનો રોષ ઊતરે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="24" bcv="EZR.7.24" />અને તમને એ પણ જણાવવામાં આવે છે કે, કોઇ પણ વધારાનો કરવેરો યાજકો, લેવીઓ, ગાયકો, દ્વારપાળો કે મંદિરના સેવકો કે દેવના મંદિરના બીજા કર્મચારીઓ પાસેથી લેવાનો નથી.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZR.7.25" />અને એઝરા, તું તને દેવે જે બુદ્ધિ આપી છે તે વડે ન્યાયાધીશો અને અન્ય અધિકારીઓની પસંદગી કર અને ફ્રાંત નદીની પશ્ચિમ તરફ વસતા જે લોકો તારા દેવના નિયમો જાણે છે તેઓ પર વહીવટ ચલાવવા તેઓને નિયુકત કર; જો તેઓને યહોવાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું જ્ઞાન ના હોય તો તારે તેઓને શીખવવું.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZR.7.26" />દેવના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું તથા રાજાના કાનૂનનું પાલન કરવાની ના પાડનારને તાત્કાલિક મૃત્યુદંડ અથવા દેશમાંથી હદપાર કરવાની સજા અથવા તેનો સામાન જપ્ત કરવાની અથવા કેદની સજા કરવી.
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</p>
<s style="s">એઝરાની દેવને સ્તુતિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EZR.7.27" />ત્યારે એઝરાએ કહ્યું, “અમારા પૂર્વજોના દેવ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ હો! કારણ કે તેણે રાજાને યરૂશાલેમના યહોવાના મંદિરનો મહિમાં વધારવાની પ્રેરણા કરી છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="EZR.7.28" />અને તેમણે રાજાને, તેના મંત્રીઓને અને બધા ઉચ્ચ અધિકારીઓને મારા પ્રત્યે સદ્ભાવના ધરાવતા કર્યા છે. મને ખબર છે કે મારા પર મારા યહોવા દેવની કૃપા હતી તેથી મેં ઇસ્રાએલના આગેવાનોને મારી સાથે યરૂશાલેમ જવા માટે ભેગા કર્યા.”
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<c id="8" />
<s style="s">એઝરા સાથે પાછાં ફરેલાં આગેવાનોની યાદી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZR.8.1" />આર્તાહશાસ્તા રાજાના શાસનકાળ દરમ્યાન બાબિલથી મારી સાથે જેઓ આવ્યા હતા તેઓના કુટુંબના વડવાઓના નામ આ મુજબ છે:
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="2" bcv="EZR.8.2" />ફીનહાસના વંશજોમાંનો ગેશોર્મ; ઇથામારના વંશજોમાંનો દાનિયેલ; દાઉદના વંશજોમાંનો શખાન્યાનો પુત્ર હાટ્ટુશ.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="EZR.8.3" />પારોશના વંશજોમાંનો ઝખાર્યા; તેની સાથે વંશાવળી મુજબ 150 પુરુષો નોંધાયા હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="EZR.8.4" />પાહાથ-મોઆબના વંશજોમાંથી ઝરાહ્યાનો પુત્ર એલ્યહોએનાય; તેની સાથે 200 પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="EZR.8.5" />શખાન્યાના વંશજોમાંનો યાહઝીએલનો પુત્ર; તેની સાથે ત્રણસો પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="EZR.8.6" />આદીનના વંશજોમાંનો યોનાથાનનો પુત્ર એબેદ; તેની સાથે 50 પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="EZR.8.7" />એલામના વંશજોમાંના અથાલ્યાનો પુત્ર યશાયા; તેની સાથે સિત્તેર પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="EZR.8.8" />શફાટયાના વંશજોમાંના મિખાયેલનો પુત્ર ઝબાદ્યા; તેની સાથે 80 પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="EZR.8.9" />યોઆબના વંશજોમાંના યહીએલનો પુત્ર ઓબાદ્યા; તેની સાથે 218 પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="EZR.8.10" />શલોમીથના વંશજોમાંના યોસિફયાનો પુત્ર તેની સાથે 160 પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="EZR.8.11" />બેબાયના વંશજોમાનાં બેબાયનો પુત્ર ઝર્ખાયા; તેની સાથે 28 પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="EZR.8.12" />અઝગાદના વંશજોમાંના હાક્કાટાનનો પુત્ર યોહાનાન; તેની સાથે એકસો દશ પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="EZR.8.13" />છેલ્લા અદોનીકામના વંશજો હતા; તેઓનાં નામ આ છે: અલીફેલેટ, યેઉએલ, શમાયા, ને તેઓની સાથે 60 પુરુષો હતા.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="EZR.8.14" />બિગ્વાયના વંશજોમાંના ઉથાય તથા ઝાબ્બૂદ; તેઓની સાથે 70 પુરુષો હતા.
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<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમમાં પુન:પ્રયાણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZR.8.15" />અમે નદીને કિનારે એકઠા થયા જે આહવા તરફ વહેતી અને ત્યાં ત્રણ દિવસ માટે પડાવ નાખ્યો. તે દરમ્યાન મેં બંદીવાસમાંથી આવેલા લોકોની યાદી તપાસી તો મને ખબર પડી કે તેમાં યાજકો હતા પણ એક પણ લેવી નોંધાયો ન હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZR.8.16" />તેથી મેં અલીએઝેર, અરીએલ, શમાયા, એલ્નાથાન, યારીબ, નાથાન ઝખાર્યા અને મશુલ્લામ તથા લેવી આગેવાનોને તેડાવ્યા. વળી મેં યોયારીબ અને એલ્નાથાન બોધકોને પણ બોલાવ્યા, કારણકે તેઓ ખૂબ અભ્યાસી માણસો હતા.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZR.8.17" />અને તેમને આશ્શૂરના યહૂદી સમાજના આગેવાન ઇદ્દો પાસે મોકલ્યા, અને તેમની મારફતે ઇદ્દોને અને આશ્શૂરમાં રહેતા તેના જાતભાઇઓને અમારા દેવનાં મંદિર માટે સેવકો મોકલવા કહેવડાવ્યું.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZR.8.18" />અને અમારા પર દેવની કૃપા હતી. એટલે તેમણે અમારી પાસે નીચે પ્રમાણે સેવકો મોકલ્યા: ઇસ્રાએલના પુત્ર લેવીના પુત્ર માહલીનો વંશજ શેરેબ્યા, તેના ભાઇઓ અને તેના પુત્રો, કુલ 18 પુરુષો. શેરેબ્યા ખૂબ હોશિયાર માણસ હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZR.8.19" />મરારીના વંશજો હશાબ્યા અને યશાયા, તેના ભાઇઓ તથા તેઓના પુત્રો કુલ 20 પુરુષો.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZR.8.20" />દાઉદે તથા તેના સરદારોએ મંદિરની સેવાને માટે જે નથીનીમને નીમ્યા હતા, તેઓમાંના 220 ને; એ બધાનાં નામ દર્શાવેલા હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZR.8.21" />અમે આહવા નદીને કિનારે હતા ત્યારે મેં ઉપવાસની જાહેરાત કરી, જેથી અમે અમારા દેવની આગળ પોતાને નમ્ર બનાવીએ; અમે પ્રાર્થના કરી કે તે અમારું, અમારા બાળકોનું તથા અમારા સામાનનું મુસાફરી દરમ્યાન રક્ષણ કરે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZR.8.22" />શત્રુઓથી માર્ગમાં અમારું રક્ષણ કરવા માટે રાજા પાસે પાયદળના સૈનિકો અને ઘોડેસવારોની માગણી કરતાં મને શરમ આવી. કારણ અમે રાજાને કહ્યું હતું કે, “જે કોઇ દેવની આરાધના કરે છે તેના પર દેવ પ્રસન્ન થાય છે અને તેમનું કલ્યાણ કરે છે, પણ જે કોઇ તેના પ્રત્યે વિમુખ હોય છે તેના પર તેનો ભયંકર કોપ ઉતરે છે.”
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<v id="23" bcv="EZR.8.23" />આથી અમે ઉપવાસ કર્યો અને સુરક્ષિત મુસાફરી માટે દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરી, અને તેણે અમારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZR.8.24" />પછી મેં યાજકોમાંથી બાર આગેવાનોને પસંદ કર્યા, મેં શેરેબ્યાને, હશાબ્યાને તથા તેના ભાઇઓમાંથી દસને પસંદ કર્યા;
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<v id="25" bcv="EZR.8.25" />મેં તે બધું સોનુ ચાંદી અને બીજી વસ્તુઓનું વજન કર્યુ જે રાજાએ, તેના સલાહકારોએ, અધિકારીઓએ અને ત્યાં હાજર રહેલા બધાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ દેવના મંદિર માટે આપ્યું હતું.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZR.8.26" />મેં તેમને 22,100 કિલો ચાંદી, 3,400 કિલો વજનના ચાંદીના વાસણો, 3,400 કિલોગ્રામ સોનું.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZR.8.27" />સોનાનાં 20 ઘડાઓ, જેનું વજન 8 1/2 કિલોગ્રામ હતું, અને પિત્તળના બે વાસણો, જે સોના જેટલાં જ કિંમતી હતાં તે આપ્યાં.
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<v id="28" bcv="EZR.8.28" />અને મેં તે યાજકોને કહ્યું, “તમે યહોવાને સમપિર્ત થયેલા છો, તેમ આ વાસણો પણ યહોવાને સમપિર્ત થયેલા છે. આ સોનું અને ચાંદી તમારા પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવાને સ્વેચ્છાએ ધરાવેલી ભેટ છે.”
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<v id="29" bcv="EZR.8.29" />મેં તેઓને કહ્યું, “આ ખજાનાને કાળજીપૂર્વક સંભાળજો; મંદિરે પહોંચો ત્યાં સુધી એનું રક્ષણ કરજો. ત્યાં યહોવાના મંદિરના ભંડારના ઓરડાઓમાં યાજકોના અને લેવીઓના આગેવાનો તથા યરૂશાલેમના ઇસ્રાએલીઓનાં કુટુંબના વડાઓની સમક્ષ વજન કરીને સોંપી દેજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EZR.8.30" />આથી યાજકોએ અને લેવીઓએ યરૂશાલેમ દેવના મંદિરે લઇ જવા માટે ચાંદી, સોનું અને વાસણો સંભાળી લીધાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EZR.8.31" />અમે પહેલા મહિનાને બારમે દિવસે આહવા નદીથી યરૂશાલેમ આવવા ઊપડ્યા. અમારા પર દેવની કૃપાષ્ટિ હતી અને તેણે માર્ગમાં દુશ્મનોનાં હુમલાથી અને ચોર લૂંટારાથી અમારું રક્ષણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="32" bcv="EZR.8.32" />અને આમ અમે યરૂશાલેમ પહોંચ્યા પછી અમે ત્રણ દિવસ આરામ લીધો.
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<v id="33" bcv="EZR.8.33" />અને ચોથે દિવસે, યાજક ઊરિયાનો પુત્ર મરેમોથ, ફીનહાસનો પુત્ર એલઆઝાર, યેશુઆનો પુત્ર યોઝાબાદ અને બિન્નઇનો પુત્ર નોઆદ્યાએ ચાંદી, સોનું અને બીજી કિંમતી વસ્તુઓનું અમારા દેવનાં મંદિરમાં વજન કર્યુ.
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<v id="34" bcv="EZR.8.34" />દરેક વસ્તુઓનું ગણીને વજન કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું અને તે સમયે સોના અને ચાંદીનું કુલ વજન નોંધી લેવાયું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="EZR.8.35" />ત્યારપછી જેઓ દેશવટેથી પાછા ફર્યા હતા, તેમણે આખા ઇસ્રાએલ તરફથી યહોવાને બાર બળદો અર્પણ કર્યા, 96 ઘેટાં, 77 ઘેટાંઓ દહનાર્પણ તરીકે, અને પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે બાર બકરા ધરાવ્યાં; તેઓએ આ બધું જ યહોવાને દહનાર્પણ રૂપે ચઢાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="EZR.8.36" />રાજાનો હુકમ ફાત નદીની પશ્ચિમ તરફના સર્વ રાજ્યોમાં તેના સરદારોને તેમજ પ્રશાશકોને જણાવવામાં આવ્યો અને તે નેતાઓએ લોકોને અને દેવના મંદિરના કામમાં ઘણો જ સહકાર આપ્યો.
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<s style="s">બિનયહૂદીઓ સાથેના લગ્ન-વિરૂદ્ધ એઝરાનો બોધ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZR.9.1" />પરંતુ આ બધું પૂરું થયા પછી કેટલાક આગેવાનો મારી પાસે આવ્યા ને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, યાજકો અને લેવીઓએ પોતાની જાતને દેશમાં રહેતા વિદેશી લોકોથી જુદી પાડી નથી. તેઓએ કનાનીઓ, હિત્તીઓ, પરિઝિઝઓ, યબૂસીઓ, આમ્મોનીઓ, મોઆબીઓ, મિસરવાસીઓ અને અમોરીઓના ઘૃણાપાત્ર રીત રિવાજો અને માગોર્ અપનાવ્યા છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZR.9.2" />તેમણે આ લોકોની સ્ત્રીઓને પોતાની અને પોતાના પુત્રોની પત્ની તરીકે સ્વીકારી છે; આમ પવિત્ર લોકોની પ્રદેશના લોકો સાથે ભેળસેળ થઇ ગઇ છે. આ પાપ કરવાવાળામાં આગેવાનો અને અમલદારો જ પહેલા છે.”
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<v id="3" bcv="EZR.9.3" />મેં જ્યારે આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે મેં મારાં વસ્ત્ર ફાડ્યાં, મારા માથાના તથા દાઢીના વાળ ખેંચી કાઢયાં અને હું અતિશય સ્તબ્ધ થઇ બેસી ગયો.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZR.9.4" />આ સમયે બંદીવાસવાળાઓના પાપને લીધે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવના વચનોથી જેઓ ધૂજતા હતા. તે સર્વ મારી પાસે ભેગા થયા; સાંજના અર્પણ સુધી હું સ્તબ્ધ થઇને બેસી રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZR.9.5" />સાંજના અર્પણનો સમય થતાં હું શોકમગ્ન થઇને બેઠો હતો ત્યાંથી ઊઠયો અને મારાં ફાટેલા ઝભ્ભા અને ઉપરણાં સાથે જ ઘૂંટણિયે પડી, મારા દેવ યહોવા તરફ હાથ લંબાવી હું બોલ્યો,
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZR.9.6" />“હે મારા દેવ મારી નામોશીનો પાર નથી. તારી સામે જોતાં પણ મને શરમ આવે છે. અમારાં પાપોનો ઢગલો અમારાં માથાથી પણ ઊંચો થઇ ગયો છે અને અમારા અપરાધ ઠેઠ ઊંચા આકાશને અડે છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZR.9.7" />અમારા પિતૃઓના સમયથી અમે ઘણા અપરાધ કર્યા છે; અમે અમારા રાજા તથા અમારા યાજકોએ અમારા પાપોને કારણે અમારી જાતને અન્ય દેશોના રાજાઓને હવાલે કરી દીધી છે અને અમે તરવારને, બંદીવાસને, લૂંટફાટને અને બેઆબરૂને વશ થયા છીએ અને અમને અપમાનિત કરવામાં આવ્યા છે. આજે અમે એ જ બેહાલ દશામાં છીએે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZR.9.8" />“પરંતુ ટૂંકા સમય માટે તમે, અમારા દેવે અમારા પર કૃપા કરીને અમારામાંથી કેટલાંકને ઉગારી લીધા છે અને આ પવિત્ર ભૂમિમાં અમને આશ્રયસ્થાન આપ્યું છે. તમે અમારી આંખોમાં તેજ આપ્યું છે અને અમારી ગુલામ દશામાં તમે અમારામાં નવા પ્રાણ પૂર્યા છે:
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<v id="9" bcv="EZR.9.9" />કારણ, અમે તો ગુલામ છીએ; તેમ છતાં અમારી ગુલામ દશામાં પણ તમે અમને ભૂલી નથી ગયા, અને તમે ઇરાનના રાજાના હૃદયમાં અમારા માટે દયા જગાડી છે અને તેમણે અમને જીવતદાન તો આપ્યું જ છે, ઉપરાંત અમારા દેવના મંદિરનો જીણોર્દ્ધાર કરી ફરી બાંધવાની પરવાનગી આપી છે, અને યહૂદામાં અને યરૂશાલેમમાં અમને દીવાલ આપી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZR.9.10" />“હવે, હે અમારા દેવ, અમે તમને શું કહીએ? કારણકે અમે ફરીથી તમારી આજ્ઞાઓ પાળી નથી અને તમારાથી દૂર ભટકી ગયા છીએ.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZR.9.11" />દેવે, તેમના સેવકો પ્રબોધકો મારફત અમને ચેતવ્યા હતા કે, જે ભૂમિ અમને વારસામા મળવાની છે તે ત્યાંના રહેવાસીઓના ભયંકર રીતરિવાજને લીધે તદૃન અશુદ્ધ થયેલી છે અને એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી તેમાં વ્યાપેલી અશુદ્ધિઓને લીધે ષ્ટ થયેલી છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZR.9.12" />માટે તમારી પુત્રીઓને તેમના પુત્રો સાથે પરણાવશો નહિ. તેઓએ અમને કહ્યું હતું, અને તમારા પુત્રોને તેમની પુત્રીઓ સાથે પરણાવશો નહિ; અને એ લોકોની સુખ સમૃદ્ધિ માટે કશું કરશો નહિ. તો જ તમે બળવાન બનશો, એ ભૂમિની ઉત્તમ ઉપજને માણી શકશો, અને તમારા વંશજોને એ સદાકાળ માટે વારસામાં આપતા જશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZR.9.13" />“અમારાઁ દુષ્ટ કમોર્ને લીધે તથા અમારા મોટા અપરાધને લીધે અમારા પર જે કઇ વીત્યું છે, તે સર્વ ને માટે, હે યહોવા અમારા દેવ, જેટલી થવી જોઇએ તે કરતાં તમે અમને થોડી શિક્ષા કરી છે; વળી અમારામાંથી તમે આટલાને બચાવી પણ લીધા છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZR.9.14" />છતાં અમે તમારા હુકમોનો અનાદર કરીને ફરી આ ધિક્કારપાત્ર કૃત્યો કરનાર લોકોની સાથે આંતરવિવાહ કરીશું? તો પછી શું તું અમારા પર કોપાયમાન થઇને અમારો એવો વિનાશ નહિ કરશે કે કઇ પણ અથવા કોઇ પણ ન બચે?
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZR.9.15" />“હે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા, તું ન્યાયી છે તેથી જ અમે આજે છીએ એટલા ઊગરવા પામ્યા છીએ. અમે અપરાધીઓ તમારી સમક્ષ ઊભા છીએ, જુઓ. અમારા અપરાધને કારણે અમને તમારી સમક્ષ આવવાનો કોઇ અધિકાર નથી.”
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<s style="s">લોકોની પોતાનાં પાપોની કબૂલાત
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZR.10.1" />એઝરા દેવનાં મંદિર આગળ પગે પડીને રડતો રડતો પ્રાર્થના કરતો હતો અને અપરાધની કબૂલાત કરતો હતો, તે દરમ્યાન ઇસ્રાએલી સ્રીઓ, પુરુષો અને બાળકોનું એક મોટું ટોળું તેની આજુબાજુ ભેગું થઇ ગયું અને હૈયાફાટ રૂદન કરવા લાગ્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZR.10.2" />ત્યારે એલામના એક વંશજ યહીએલના પુત્ર શખાન્યાએ એઝરાને કહ્યું, “આપણે આ દેશની વિધમીર્ સ્ત્રીઓને પરણીને દેવનો અવિશ્વાસ કર્યો છે. તેમ છતાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માટે હજી આશા છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZR.10.3" />હવે આપણે આપણા દેવ સમક્ષ કરાર કરીએ કે, આપણે આ સ્ત્રીઓને તેમના પુત્રો સાથે હાંકી કાઢીશું. અમે આ પ્રમાણે તમારી અને દેવથી ડરીને ચાલનારા બીજાઓની સલાહ પ્રમાણે કરીશું. દેવના નિયમનું પાલન થવું જ જોઇએ.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZR.10.4" />ઊઠો, આ કામ તમારું છે. અમે તમને ટેકો આપીશું. હિંમત રાખો અને કામ પાર ઉતારો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZR.10.5" />ત્યારે એઝરાએ ઊઠીને મુખ્ય યાજકોને, લેવીઓને તથા સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને સમ ખવડાવ્યા કે અમો એ વચન પ્રમાણે જ કરીશું. તેથી તેઓએ સમ ખાધા.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZR.10.6" />ત્યારબાદ એઝરાએ મંદિર સામેની તેની જગ્યા છોડી અને એલ્યાશીબના પુત્ર યહોહાનાનની ઓરડીમાં પ્રવેશ્યો. અને દેશવટેથી પાછા ફરેલા ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ દીધેલા છેહથી શોકમાંને શોકમાં અન્નજળ લીધા વગર તેણે ત્યાં જ રાત ગાળી.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZR.10.7" />તેઓએ ઢંઢેરો પિટાવીને આખા યહૂદામાં તથા યરૂશાલેમમાં તથા જેઓ બધાં બંધક બનાવાયા હતાં તે બધાંને યરૂશાલેમમાં ભેગા થવા માટે કહેવડાવ્યું.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZR.10.8" />અને ત્રણ દિવસમાં જે કોઇ આવી નહિ પહોચે તેની બધી માલમિલકત જપ્ત કરવામાં આવશે અને તેમને બંધકોના સમૂહમાંથી દૂર કરવામાં આવશે આ આગેવાનો અને વડીલોનો નિર્ણય હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZR.10.9" />આથી ત્રણ દિવસની અંદર યહૂદાના અને બિન્યામીનના પ્રદેશના બધા લોકો યરૂશાલેમમાં ભેગા થયા અને નવમા મહિનાના વીસમાં દિવસે તેઓ બધા દેવના મંદિરનાં પ્રાંગણમાં બેઠા આ વાતના ભયના લીધે તેઓ બધાં ગંભીર અને મૂશળધાર વરસાદમાં થરથર ૂજતાં હતાં.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZR.10.10" />પછી યાજક એઝરાએ ઊભા થઇને કહ્યું, “તમે વિધમીર્ સ્ત્રીઓને પરણીને યહોવાને છેહ દીધો છે, અને ઇસ્રાએલના અપરાધમાં વધારો કર્યો છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZR.10.11" />માટે હવે તમારા પિતૃઓના દેવ યહોવા આગળ પાપોની કબૂલાત કરો અને તેની ઇચ્છાને અનુસરીને તમારી નજીક વસતા અન્ય દેશોના લોકોથી અને તમારી વિધમીર્ પત્નીઓથી અલગ થઇ જાઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZR.10.12" />ત્યારે આખી સભા મોટે સાદે બોલી ઊઠી, “જરૂર, તમે કહો તે પ્રમાણે અમારે કરવું જ જોઇએ.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZR.10.13" />પણ તમે લોકો ઘણા છો, ને આ વખતે ઘણો વરસાદ પડે છે, તેથી આપણે બહાર ઊભા રહી શકતા નથી, વળી આ કામ એક બે દિવસનું પણ નથી; આ બાબતમાં અમે તો મોટું પાપ કર્યું છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZR.10.14" />આપણા આગેવાનો આખા સમાજનું પ્રતિનિધિત્વ કરે, અને દરેક શહેરમાં તમારામાંના જેઓ વિધમીર્ સ્ત્રીઓને પરણ્યા છે તેઓ વડીલો અને ન્યાયાધીશો સાથે ઠરાવેલ સમયે હાજર થાય, જ્યાં સુધી આપણા પરથી આ કારણે ભભૂકી ઊઠેલો દેવનો કોપ ઉતરી ન જાય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZR.10.15" />કેવળ અસાહેલનો પુત્ર યોનાથાન તથા તિકવાહનો પુત્ર યાહઝયા એ વાતના વિરોધી થયા; અને તેમને લેવીઓ મશુલ્લામ તથા શાબ્બાથાયે ટેકો આપ્યો. બાકીના લોકોએ એનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZR.10.16" />તેથી બંધકોએ પણ તે પ્રમાણે કર્યુ. યાજક એઝરાએ તે તે કુટુંબના પ્રતિનિધિ તરીકે કેટલાંક કુટુંબના વડાઓને પસંદ કર્યા અને તેમનાં નામની યાદી બનાવી. દશમા મહિનાના પહેલા દિવસે તેમણે આ બાબતની તપાસ શરૂ કરી
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<v id="17" bcv="EZR.10.17" />અને પહેલા મહિનાના પહેલા દિવસ સુધીમાં તેમણે વિધમીર્ સ્ત્રીઓને પરણેલાં બધા માણસોની તપાસ પૂરી કરી.
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</p>
<s style="s">વિધમીર્ સ્ત્રીઓને પરણેલા પુરુષોની નામાવલી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZR.10.18" />યાજકોના કુટુંબોમાં નીચેના માણસો વિધમીર્ સ્ત્રીઓને પરણેલા માલૂમ પડ્યા હતા, તેઓ આ મુજબ છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">યેશુઆના વંશજોમાંના, યોશાદાકનો પુત્ર તથા તેના ભાઇઓ માઅસેયા, અલીએઝેર, યારીબ તથા ગદાલ્યા.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZR.10.19" />એ બધાએ પોતાની પત્નીઓને હાંકી કાઢવાનું વચન આપ્યું અને દરેકે પોતાના પાપના પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે એક ઘેટો ધરાવ્યો;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="EZR.10.20" />ઈમ્મેરના વંશજોમાંથી હનાની અને ઝબદીયા;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="EZR.10.21" />હારીમના વંશજોમાંથી માઅસેયા, એલિયા, શમાયા, યહીએલ, અને ઊઝઝિયા,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="EZR.10.22" />પાશહૂરના વંશજોમાંથી એલ્યોએનાય, માઅસેયા, ઇશ્માએલ, નથાનએલ, યોઝાબાદ અને એલઆસાહ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="23" bcv="EZR.10.23" />લેવીઓમાંથી
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોઝાબાદ, શિમઇ, કેલાયા (કેલીટા પણ કહેવાય છે), પથાહ્યા યહૂદા અને અલીએઝેર.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="EZR.10.24" />ગાયકોમાંથી એલ્યાશીબ, દ્વારપાળોમાંથી શાલ્લુમ, ટેલેમ અને ઉરી.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="25" bcv="EZR.10.25" />અન્ય ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાં:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">પારોશના વંશજોમાંના; રામ્યાહ, યિઝિઝયા, માલ્કિયા, મીયામીન, એલઆઝાર, માલ્કિયા તથા બનાયા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="EZR.10.26" />માત્તાન્યા, ઝર્ખાયા, યહીએલ, આબ્દી, યરેમોથ તથા એલિયા તે બધાં એલામના વંશજોમાંથી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="EZR.10.27" />ઝાત્તૂના વંશજોમાંના: એલ્યોએનાય, એલ્યાશીબ, માત્તાન્યા, યરેમોથ, ઝાબાદ તથા અઝીઝા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="EZR.10.28" />બેબાયના વંશજોમાંના; યહોહાનાન, હનાન્યા, ઝાબ્બાય તથા આથ્લાય.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="EZR.10.29" />બાનીના વંશજોમાંના: મશુલ્લામ, માલ્લૂખ, અદાયા, યાસૂબ, શેઆલ તથા યરેમોથ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="EZR.10.30" />પાહાથમોઆબના વંશજોમાંના; આદના, કલાલ, બનાયા, માઅસેયા, માત્તાન્યા, બસાલએલ, બિન્નૂઇ તથા મનાશ્શા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="EZR.10.31" />હારીમના વંશજોમાંના: અલીએઝેર, યિશ્શિયા, માલ્કિયા, શમાયા, શિમયોન,
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<v id="32" bcv="EZR.10.32" />બિન્યામીન, માલ્લૂખ તથા શમાયા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="33" bcv="EZR.10.33" />હાશુમના વંશજોમાંના; માત્તનાય, માત્તાત્તાહ, ઝાબાદ, અલીફેલેટ, યરેમાઇ, મનાશ્શા તથા શિમઇ,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="EZR.10.34" />બિગ્વાયના વંશજોમાંના; માઅદાય, આમ્રામ, ઉએલ;
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<v id="35" bcv="EZR.10.35" />બનાયા, બેદયા, કલૂહુ;
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<v id="36" bcv="EZR.10.36" />વાન્યા, મરેમોથ, એલ્યાશીબ;
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<v id="37" bcv="EZR.10.37" />માત્તાન્યા, માત્તનાય, યાઅસુ;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="38" bcv="EZR.10.38" />બિન્નૂઇના વંશજોમાંથી બાની, શિમઇ,
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<v id="39" bcv="EZR.10.39" />નાથાન, શેલેમ્યા, અદાયા,
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<v id="40" bcv="EZR.10.40" />માખ્નાદબાય, શાશાય, શારાય,
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<v id="41" bcv="EZR.10.41" />અઝારએલ, શેલેમ્યા, શેમાર્યા,
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<v id="42" bcv="EZR.10.42" />શાલ્લૂમ, અમાર્યા અને યૂસેફ;
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="43" bcv="EZR.10.43" />નબોના વંશજોમાંના; યેઇએલ, માત્તિથ્યા, ઝાબાદ, ઝબીના, યિદો, યોએલ તથા બનાયા.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="44" bcv="EZR.10.44" />એ સર્વ પરદેશી સ્ત્રીઓને પરણ્યા હતા; તેઓમાંના કેટલાકને તે સ્ત્રીઓથી છોકરાં થયાં હતા.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="NEH"><id id="NEH">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>નહેમ્યા
</h><toc level="1">નહેમ્યા
</toc><toc level="2">નહેમ્યા
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">નહેમ્યા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">નહેમ્યાની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.1.1" />હખાલ્યાનો પુત્ર નહેમ્યાનું વૃત્તાંત. આર્તાહશાસ્તાનાં શાસનના વીસમા વર્ષમાં કિસ્લેવ માસમાં હું પાટનગર સૂસામાં હતો ત્યારે.
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<v id="2" bcv="NEH.1.2" />યહૂદાથી મારા એક સગાવહાલા હનાની યહૂદિયાના બીજા કેટલાક માણસો સાથે આવ્યો; અને બંદીવાસમાંથી બચેલાઓમાંના જે યહૂદીઓ હતા, તેઓ તથા યરૂશાલેમ વિષે મેં તેમને પૂછયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NEH.1.3" />તેઓએ મને કહ્યું કે, “જેઓ બચી ગયા હતા અને જે પ્રાંતમાં રહે છે તેઓ ખૂબ મુશ્કેલીમાં છે. યરૂશાલેમની આજુબાજુની દીવાલમાં ભંગાણ પડી ગયા છે, અને દરવાજા બાળી નાખવામાં આવ્યા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.1.4" />જ્યારે એ સમાચાર મેં સાંભળ્યા ત્યારે હું નીચે બેસીને રડવા લાગ્યો. કેટલાક દિવસો સુધી મેં શોક પાળ્યો. અને ઉપવાસ કરીને આકાશના દેવ સમક્ષ મેં પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="5" bcv="NEH.1.5" />મેં કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“હે યહોવા આકાશના દેવ, મહાન અને ભયાવહ દેવ! જે પોતાના કરારને પાળે છે! તે પોતાના કરારને જે તેને ચાહે છે અને જે તેની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરે છે તેની સાથે વફાદારી પૂર્વક પાળે છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="6" bcv="NEH.1.6" />“કૃપયા તમારા સેવકની અરજ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો અને તમારી આંખો ઉઘાડી રાખો. અને મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો; ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તમારા સેવકો માટે રાતદિવસ હું તમારી સમક્ષ તમને પ્રાર્થના કરું છું. અમે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ જે પાપ આચર્યા છે, તેની હું કબૂલાત કરું છું.
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<v id="7" bcv="NEH.1.7" />અમે તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ સાચે જ પાપ કર્યા છે, અમે બધાંએ તમારા સેવક મૂસા મારફતે તમે જે આજ્ઞાઓ, નિયમો તથા કાનૂનો અમને આપ્યાં હતાં તેનો અનાદર કરીને અમે પાપ કર્યુ છે.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="8" bcv="NEH.1.8" />“તમે મૂસાને જણાવ્યું હતું તે યાદ કરો, ‘જો તમે બેવફા નીવડશો તો હું તમને બીજી પ્રજાઓમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખીશ.
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<v id="9" bcv="NEH.1.9" />પરંતુ જો તમે મારી પાસે પાછા આવશો અને મારી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરશો અને તેનો અમલ કરશો, તો તમારા વંશજો પૃથ્વીના છેડા સુધી વેરવિખેર થઇ ગયા હશે તો પણ હું તેમને મારા નામ માટે મેં જે સ્થાન પસંદ કર્યુ છે ત્યાં પાછા લાવીશ.’
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="10" bcv="NEH.1.10" />“તેઓ તમારા સેવકો અને પ્રજા છે, જેઓને તમે તમારા મહાન સાર્મથ્ય વડે અને તમારાં બાહુબળથી બચાવ્યાં છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="NEH.1.11" />હે યહોવા, તારા સેવકની પ્રાર્થના ધ્યાનપૂર્વક સાંભળ, અને તારા તે સેવકોની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળ જેઓ તમારો આદર કરવામાં આનંદ માને છે આજે તમે તમારા સેવકને સફળતા આપો. અને જ્યારે હું રાજા પાસે જઇને તેમની મદદ માગું ત્યારે રાજા મારા તરફ દયાભાવ દર્શાવે, એ અરસામા હું રાજાનો પાત્રવાહક હતો.”
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<c id="2" />
<s style="s">રાજાનું નહેમ્યાને યરૂશાલેમ મોકલવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.2.1" />વીસમા વર્ષના ચોથા નીસાન મહિનામાં રાજા આર્તાહશાસ્તાના રાજ્યમાં, જ્યારે રાજા ભોજન કરતો હતો ત્યારે દ્રાક્ષારસ લઇને મેં તેને આપ્યો. આ અગાઉ હું ઉદાસ ચહેરે રાજા સમક્ષ ગયો ન હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="NEH.2.2" />તેથી, રાજાએ મને સવાલ કર્યો, “તું આવો ઉદાસ શા માટે દેખાય છે? તું માંદો તો લાગતો નથી, એટલે જરૂર તારા મનમાં કોઇ ભારે ખેદ હોવો જોઇએ.”
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<p style="p">આ સાંભળી હું બહુ ગભરાઇ ગયો.
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<v id="3" bcv="NEH.2.3" />છતાં મેં રાજાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “રાજા, ચિરંજીવ રહો; હું કેમ ઉદાસ ના હોઉં? કારણકે જે નગરમાં મારા પિતૃઓને દફનાવવામાં આવ્યાં છે તે ખંડેર થઇ ગયું છે, અને નગરના દરવાજા અગ્નિથી બળીને ભસ્મ થઇ ગયાઁ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.2.4" />રાજાએ મને પૂછયું, “તું મારી પાસેથી શું ઇચ્છે છે?”
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<p style="p">ત્યારે મેં આકાશના દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="5" bcv="NEH.2.5" />અને મેં રાજાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “જો તમે પ્રસન્ન હો અને તમને ઠીક લાગે તો મને યહૂદા જવાની રજા આપો. કારણકે હું તે શહેરને ફરીથી બાંધી શકું જ્યાં મારા પૂર્વજોને દફનાવ્યા હતા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NEH.2.6" />રાજાની સાથે રાણી પણ હાજર હતી, રાજાએ મને કહ્યું, “ત્યાં તારે કેટલો સમય લાગશે? અને તું ક્યારે પાછો આવશે?”
</p>
<p style="p">આમ મને જવા માટે રજા મળી ગઇ! મેં તેમની સાથે મારો જવાનો સમય નક્કી કર્યો!
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<v id="7" bcv="NEH.2.7" />ત્યારબાદ મેં રાજાને કહ્યું, “જો આ વાત રાજાને પ્રસન્ન કરે તો મને ફ્રાંત નદીની પશ્ચિમે આવેલા પ્રદેશના સૂબાઓ પર પત્રો આપજો, જેથી તેઓ મને પોતાના પ્રદેશમાંથી પસાર થઇને યહૂદામાં જવા દે.
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<v id="8" bcv="NEH.2.8" />તથા બીજો એક પત્ર રાજાના વનરક્ષક આસાફ પર પણ આપશો જેથી તે મંદિરની નજીકના કિલ્લાનો દરવાજો ફરી બાંધવા માટે, નગરની દીવાલ માટે, અને મારા ઘર માટે, ઇમારતી લાકડું આપે.”
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<p style="p">મારા પર મારા દેવની કૃપા હોવાથી રાજાએ મારી અરજ માન્ય કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NEH.2.9" />પછી હું યુફ્રેતિસ નદીની પશ્ચિમ તરફના પ્રાંતોમાં આવ્યો અને ત્યાંના પ્રશાસકોને મેં રાજાના પત્રો આપ્યા. રાજાએ મારી સાથે સૈન્યના અધિકારીઓ તથા ઘોડેસવારો મોકલ્યા હતા.
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<v id="10" bcv="NEH.2.10" />પરંતુ જ્યારે હોરેનના સાન્બાલ્લાટ અને આમ્મોની અમલદાર ટોબિયાએ આના વિષે જાણ્યું કે કોઇ ઇસ્રાએલીઓનું ભલું કરવા આવ્યું છે ત્યારે તેઓ ખૂબ નારાજ થયા.
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<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમની દીવાલનું નિરીક્ષણ કરતો નહેમ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NEH.2.11" />ત્યારબાદ હું યરૂશાલેમ પહોંચ્યો, અને ત્યાં ત્રણ દિવસ રહ્યો.
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<v id="12" bcv="NEH.2.12" />જ્યારે રાત્રે હું ઉઠયો તો થોડા માણસો લઇને બહાર નીકળ્યો; યહોવાએ યરૂશાલેમ વિષે મારા હૃદયમાં જે યોજના મૂકી હતી તેના વિષે મેં કોઇને કશુંય જણાવ્યું નહોતું, હું જે જાનવર પર સવાર હતો ફકત તે એક જ જાનવર મારી સાથે હતું.
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<v id="13" bcv="NEH.2.13" />રાત્રે હું ખીણનો દરવાજો પસાર કરીને અજગરકુંડ થઇને છેક કચરાના દરવાજા સુધી ગયો; તેમ જતાં રસ્તામાં મેં યરૂશાલેમની દીવાલમાં પડેલા ભંગાણ અને તેના બળી ગયેલા દરવાજાનું નિરક્ષણ કર્યું.
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<v id="14" bcv="NEH.2.14" />પછી ત્યાંથી આગળ ચાલીને કારંજાના દરવાજામાંથી પસાર થઇને રાજાના તળાવ તરફ ગયો. પણ હું જે જાનવર પર સવાર હતો તેને પસાર થવા માટે પૂરતી જગ્યા ન હતી.
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<v id="15" bcv="NEH.2.15" />તેથી હું અંધકારમાં દીવાલનું નિરક્ષણ કરતો ખીણ સુધી ગયો. પછી હું પાછો વળ્યો અને ખીણના દરવાજામાંથી પ્રવેશીને પાછો ફર્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="NEH.2.16" />અધિકારીઓને હું ક્યાં ગયો હતો અથવા હું શું કરતો હતો તે વિષે કશી જ ખબર પડી નહિ, કારણકે મેં મારી યોજના સંબંધી કોઇને કઇંજ જણાવ્યું ન હતું, યહૂદીઓને, યાજકોને, ઉમરાવોને અધિકારીઓને સુદ્ધાં નહિ. અરે, જેઓ આ કાર્ય કરવાના હતા તેઓમાંથી પણ કોઇનેય નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NEH.2.17" />પછી મેં તેઓને કહ્યું, “આપણે કેવી દુર્દશામાં છીએ તે તમે જુઓ છો, યરૂશાલેમ ખંડેર બનીને પડેલું છે, તેના દરવાજા અગ્નિથી ભસ્મ થયેલા છે; ચાલો, આપણે યરૂશાલેમને ફરતી દીવાલો બાંધીએ, જેથી આપણે વધારે ધિક્કારપાત્ર ન થઇએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NEH.2.18" />મે એમને કહ્યું કે મારા દેવનાં હાથે મને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા અને રાજાએ મને જે કહ્યું હતું તે પણ મેં તેમને કહી સંભળાવ્યું. તેથી તેઓ બોલી ઊઠયા, “ચાલો બાંધવાનું શરૂ કરી દઇએ.” એમ કહીને તેઓએ ઉત્સાહપૂર્વક કામ કરવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ.
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<v id="19" bcv="NEH.2.19" />પરંતુ હોરોનના સાન્બાલ્લાટે, આમ્મોની અધિકારી ટોબિયાએ તથા અરબી ગેશેમે આ સાંભળીને અમારી હાંસી કરી, અને અમારો તિરસ્કાર કરીને કહ્યું, “આ શું છે જે તમે કરી રહ્યાં છો? શું તમે રાજાની સામે બંડ કરવા ઇચ્છો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NEH.2.20" />ત્યારે મેં તેઓને જવાબ આપ્યો કે, “આકાશના દેવ અમને સફળતા આપશે. અમે તેના સેવકો છીએ અને અમે બાંધકામ શરૂ કરવાના છીએ. પરંતુ તમારે અહીં યરૂશાલેમમાં તમારો કોઇં ભાગ નથી, કોઇ દાવો નથી, કે નથી કોઇ અધિકાર!”
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<c id="3" />
<s style="s">નગરની દીવાલની મરામત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.3.1" />મુખ્ય યાજક એલ્યાશીબે ઘેટાં દરવાજાનું નવેસરથી બાંધકામ ચાલું કર્યુ, પછી તેણે તેની પ્રતિષ્ઠા કરી અને પછી તેનાં બારણાં ચઢાવ્યાં; તેઓએ છેક હામ્મેઆહના ગુંબજ સુધી અને ત્યાંથી છેક હનાનએલના ગુંબજ સુધી દીવાલને પવિત્ર બનાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="NEH.3.2" />યાજકો પાસે યરીખોના માણસો કામ કરતા હતા. અને ઇમ્રીનો પુત્ર ઝાક્કૂરે તેમની નજીક દીવાલ ફરી બાંધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NEH.3.3" />હસ્સેનાઆહના વંશજોએ માછલી દરવાજો બાંધ્યો; તેમણે તેની પાસે બારસાખ ઊભી કરી અને બારણાં, આગળા અને ભૂંગળ ચઢાવી દીધાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.3.4" />એ પછીના ભાગની મરામત હાક્કોસના પુત્ર ઊરિયાના પુત્ર મરેમોથે કરી.
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<p style="p">તેની પાસે મશેઝાબએલનો પુત્ર બેરેખ્યાનો પુત્ર મશુલ્લામ મરામત કરતો હતો.
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<p style="p">તેની પાસે બાઅનાનો પુત્ર સાદોક મરામત કરતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NEH.3.5" />તેમની પછી તકોઆના માણસો સમારકામ કરતા હતા. પરંતુ તેમના આગેવાનોએ તેમના ધણીના કામમાં મદદ કરી નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NEH.3.6" />પાસેઆહના પુત્ર યોયાદા તથા બસોદ્યાનો પુત્ર મશુલ્લામ જૂના દરવાજાની મરામત કરતા હતા; તેઓએ તેના પાટડા ગોઠવ્યા, તેના કમાડો ચઢાવ્યાઁ, અને મિજાગરાં જડીને દરવાજાના સળિયા બેસાડ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="NEH.3.7" />તેની પછીના ભાગનું સમારકામ ગિબયોની મલાટયાએ અને મેરોનોથી યાદોને કર્યુ, તેઓ ગિબયોન અને મિસ્પાહના હતાં. જે સ્થળો ફ્રાંત નદીની પશ્ચિમ બાજુના પ્રશાશકની તાબેદારીમાં હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NEH.3.8" />એ પછીના ભાગમાં હાર્હયાનો પુત્ર ઉઝિઝયેલ સમારકામ કરતો હતો, તે સોની હતો. સુગંધી દ્રવ્યો બનાવનાર હનાન્યાએ યરૂશાલેમનું સમારકામ છેક પહોળી દીવાલ સુધી કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NEH.3.9" />પછીના ભાગનું સમારકામ હૂરના પુત્ર રફાયાએ કર્યુ, જે અડધા ઉપરાંત યરૂશાલેમનો પ્રશાશક હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NEH.3.10" />તેની પાસે હરૂમાફનો પુત્ર યદાયા પોતાના ઘરની સામે મરામત કરતો હતો. અને તેની પાસે હાશાબ્નયાનો પુત્ર હાટ્ટુશ મરામત કરતો હતો.
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<v id="11" bcv="NEH.3.11" />હારીમનો પુત્ર માલ્કિયા, તથા પાહાથમોઆબનો પુત્ર હાશ્શૂબ બીજા એક ભાગની તથા ભઠ્ઠીઓના બુરજની મરામત કરતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NEH.3.12" />હાલ્લોહેશનો પુત્ર શાલ્લુમ, જે યરૂશાલેમના બીજા અડધા ભાગનો પ્રશાશક હતો, તે તેની પુત્રીઓ સાથે તેની પછીના ભાગનું સમારકામ કરતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NEH.3.13" />હાનૂન અને ઝાનોઆહના માણસોએ ખીણના દરવાજાનું સમારકામ કર્યુ હતું. તેઓએ તે બાંધીને તેના કમાડ ચઢાવ્યાં અને તેમને મિજાગરાં જડ્યાં તથા દરવાજાના સળિયા બેસાડ્યા. તે પછી તેઓએ કચરા દરવાજા સુધી 1,000 હાથ જેટલી દીવાલનું સમારકામ કર્યુ હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NEH.3.14" />કચરાના દરવાજાનું સમારકામ રેખાબના પુત્ર માલ્કિયાએ કર્યું હતું. તે બેથહાક્કેરેમ પ્રાંતનો પ્રશાશક હતો. તેણે તેને કમાડો ચઢાવ્યાં, તેને મિજાગરાઁ જડ્યાં અને દરવાજાના સળિયા બેસાડ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NEH.3.15" />કોલહોઝેહનો પુત્ર શાલ્લૂન મિસ્પાહ પ્રાંતનો પ્રશાસક હતો. તેણે કારંજાના દરવાજાનું સમારકામ કરી ફરી બનાવ્યો અને તેને ઉપરથી ઢાંકી દીધો અને તેનાં બારણા, આગળા અને દરવાજાના સળિયા ચઢાવ્યાં. વળી તેણે રાજાના બગીચાને અડીને આવેલા શેલાહના તળાવની દીવાલ, દાઉદના શહેરથી નીચે આવતા પગથિયાં સુધી બાંધી.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NEH.3.16" />તેના પછી નહેમ્યા, જે આઝબૂકનો પુત્ર હતો અને બેથ-સૂરના અડધા પ્રાંતનો પ્રશાસક હતો, તેણે દાઉદની કબરોની સામે વાળી જગ્યાથી લઇને ખોદીને બનાવેલા તળાવ સુધી અને શૂરવીરોના ઘર સુધીના ભાગનું સમારકામ કરાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NEH.3.17" />તેના પછી બાનીના પુત્ર રહૂમની આગેવાની હેઠળ તેના પછીના ભાગની મરામત લેવીઓ કરતા હતા, તેની પાસે હશાબ્યા, જે કઇલાહના અડધા જિલ્લાનો પ્રશાશક હતો તે પોતાના ભાગની મરામત કરતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NEH.3.18" />તેના પછીનું સમારકામ બાવ્વાય જે હેનાદાદનો પુત્ર હતો અને કઇલાહ જિલ્લાના અડધા ભાગનો પ્રશાશક હતો, તેની આગેવાની નીચે તેના સબંધીઓએ આ કામ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="NEH.3.19" />તેના પછી યેશૂઆનો પુત્ર એઝેરે અન્ય ભાગનું સમારકામ કર્યુ. એઝેર મિસ્પાહના અડધા ભાગનો પ્રશાશક હતો, આ ભાગ સામેના રસ્તાથી લઇને તે જગ્યાએ જતો હતો જ્યાં ખૂણા પર શસ્રો મૂકવામાં આવતા હતાં.
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<v id="20" bcv="NEH.3.20" />ઝાક્કાયનો પુત્ર બારૂખે એના પછીના ભાગનું મરામત કર્યુ જે દરવાજાના, ખૂણાથી લઇને મુખ્ય યાજક એલ્યાશીબના ઘરના બારણાં સુધી જતો હતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="NEH.3.21" />તેના પછીના એલ્યાશીબના ઘરના બીજા છેડા સુધીના ભાગની મરામત હાક્કોસના પુત્ર ઊરિયાના પુત્ર મરેમોથે કરી.
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<v id="22" bcv="NEH.3.22" />પછીના ભાગની આસપાસ રહેતા યાજકોએ મરામત કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="NEH.3.23" />તેના પછી બિન્યામીન તથા હાશ્શૂબે અન્ય ભાગની મરામત કરી જે તેમના ઘરની પોતાના ઘરનાં આગળના ભાગની મરામત કરી. અઝાર્યા જે માઅસેયાનો પુત્ર જે અનાન્યાનો પુત્ર હતો, પોતાના ઘર પાસે તેણે બાજુના ભાગની મરામત કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="NEH.3.24" />હેનાદાદનો પુત્ર બિન્નૂઇ અઝાર્યાના ઘરથી તે ખૂણાના વળાંકથી માંડીને, દીવાલના ભાગની મરામત કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NEH.3.25" />ઉઝાયનો પુત્ર પાલાલ કોટના ખાંચા સામે, તથા જે બુરજ રાજાના ઉપલા મહેલ પાસે ચોકીદારોના આંગણામાં હતો, તેની સામે મરામત કરતો હતો. તેના પછી પારોશના પુત્ર પદાયા મરામત કરતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="NEH.3.26" />અને મંદિરના સેવક જે ઓફેલમાં રહેતા હતા, તેઓએ પૂર્વની બાજું પાણીના દરવાજાથી તે બહાર પડતા બુરજ સુધીના ખૂણાનું સમારકામ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="NEH.3.27" />તેના પછી તકોઇઓ બહાર પડતા મોટા બુરજ સામેથી તે છેક ઓફેલની દીવાલ સુધી અન્ય એક ભાગની મરામત કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="NEH.3.28" />ઘોડા દરવાજા ઉપરની મરામત યાજકોએ કરી; દરેક જણ પોતપોતાના ઘરની મરામત કરતો હતો.
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<v id="29" bcv="NEH.3.29" />તેમના પછી ઇમ્મેરનો પુત્ર સાદોકે પોતાના ઘરની સામેના ભાગની મરામત કરી. તેના પછી શખાન્યાનો પુત્ર શમાયાએ મરામત કરી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="NEH.3.30" />તેના પછી શેલેમ્યાનો પુત્ર હનાન્યા અને સાલાફનો છઠ્ઠો પુત્ર હાનૂને બીજા એક ભાગની મરામત કરી.
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<p style="p">તેના પછી બેરેખ્યાનો પુત્ર મશ્શુલામે તેના ઘરની સામે વાળા ભાગની મરામત કરી.
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<v id="31" bcv="NEH.3.31" />માલ્કિયા નામના સોનીએ મંદિરના સેવકો અને વેપારીઓના ઘરો સુધીનું, અને નિરીક્ષણ દરવાજાની સામે દીવાલના ખૂણા ઉપરની ઓરડીનું સમારકામ કર્યું.
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<v id="32" bcv="NEH.3.32" />દીવાલના ખૂણાની બાજુની ઓરડી તથા ઘેટાં દરવાજા વચ્ચેના ભાગનું સમારકામ સોનીઓ તથા વેપારીઓ કરતા હતા.
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<s style="s">સાન્બાલ્લાટ અને ટોબિયા
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.4.1" />અમે યરૂશાલેમની દીવાલનું બાંધકામ ફરીથી કરી રહ્યા હતા તેવી ખબર સાન્બાલ્લાટને પડી ત્યારે તે અસ્વસ્થ થઇ બહુ રોષે ભરાયો, અને તેણે યહૂદીઓની હાંસી ઉડાવી.
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<v id="2" bcv="NEH.4.2" />તે પોતાના મિત્ર અને સમરૂનની સૈનાની સામે બોલ્યો, “આ નિર્બળ યહૂદીઓ શું કરી રહ્યાં છે? શું તેઓ આને ફરીથી નવું બનાવશે? શું તેઓ યજ્ઞ ચઢાવશે? શું તેઓ આ કામ એક દિવસમાં પુરું કરી નાખશે? શું તેઓ ધૂળ ઢેફાંના ઢગલામાંથી ફરીથી પથ્થર બનાવશે જે બળીને રાખ થઇ ગયા છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NEH.4.3" />આમ્મોની ટોબિયા જે તેની બાજુમાં ઊભો હતો, તેણે કહ્યું, “તેઓ બાંધી રહ્યાં છે તે દીવાલ પર એક શિયાળવું ચઢે તોય તે તૂટી પડશે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.4.4" />ત્યારે મેં મારી પ્રાર્થનામાં કહ્યું, “જુઓ હે અમારા દેવ, અમારી મશ્કરી કરવામાં આવે છે; તેઓના ઉપહાસને તેમના જ માથે માર અને તેઓ પોતાની જાતેજ, તેઓને વિદેશમાં બંદીવાસમાં લઇ જવામાં આવો.
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<v id="5" bcv="NEH.4.5" />તેઓનાં પાપ ના સંતાડો. તેઓના પાપ ભૂંસી નાખશો નહિ, કારણકે તેઓએ બાંધનારાઓનું તેમના મોઢા પર જ અપમાન કર્યું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NEH.4.6" />તેથી અમે તો દીવાલ બાંધતા જ રહ્યાં અને લોકોનો ઉત્સાહ એટલો બધો હતો કે, સમગ્ર દીવાલ તેની નિર્ધારિત ઊંચાઇથી અડધી તો જોતજોતામાં બંધાઇ ગઇ.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="NEH.4.7" />પરંતુ જ્યારે સાન્બાલ્લાટ અને ટોબિયાને, આરબો, આમ્મોનીઓ અને આશ્દોદીઓને જાણ થઇ કે, યરૂશાલેમનાં દીવાલની મરામતનું કામ આગળ વધી રહ્યું છે અને દીવાલમાં પડેલા ગાબડાં પુરાવા માંડ્યા છે, ત્યારે તેઓ ખૂબ ગુસ્સે થઇ ગયા.
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<v id="8" bcv="NEH.4.8" />તેઓ બધાં ભેગા થયા અને યરૂશાલેમ વિરૂદ્ધ લડવા માટે અને એમને નિષ્ફળ બનાવવા માટે કાવત્રું કર્યુ.
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<v id="9" bcv="NEH.4.9" />પણ અમે અમારા દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરી અને તેમની સામે ચોકી કરવા રાતદિવસનો પહેરો ગોઠવી દીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NEH.4.10" />યહૂદાના લોકોએ કહ્યું કે, “મજૂરોની શકિત ઘટતી જાય છે, અને ત્યાં એટલી બધી ગંદકી છે કે આ દીવાલ અમે ફરી બાંધી શકતા નથી.
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<v id="11" bcv="NEH.4.11" />અમારા શત્રુઓએ કહ્યું, ‘આપણે તેમના પર તૂટી પડીશું અને તેમને ખબર પડે અને જુએ તે પહેલાં તેમને મારી નાખીશું. આપણે કામ પણ અટકાવી દઇશું.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NEH.4.12" />તેઓની પડોશમાં જે યહૂદીઓ રહેતાં હતાં, તેઓએ અમારી પાસે વારંવાર આવીને કહ્યું કે, “તેઓ જ્યાં રહે છે ત્યાથી આવી રહ્યાં છે આપણી વિરૂદ્ધ ભેગા થઇ રહ્યાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NEH.4.13" />તેથી મેં દીવાલની પાછળ ખુલ્લી જગ્યાઓમાં સૌથી નીચેના ભાગમાં બેસાડ્યાં અને લોકોને તેઓનાં વંશો પ્રમાણે, તરવારો, ભાલાઓ તથા ધનુષ્યબાણ વડે તેમને શસ્રસજ્જ કર્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="NEH.4.14" />જ્યારે મેં જોયું કે શું થઇ રહ્યું છે, ત્યારે મેં ઉભા થઇને ઉમરાવો, અધિકારીઓ, અને બીજા લોકોને ઉદૃેશીને કહ્યું, “તમારે તે લોકોથી ડરવું નહિ; આપણા યહોવા કેવા મહાન અને ભયાવહ છે તે યાદ કરીને તમારા દેશબંધુઓ અને પુત્રો, પુત્રીઓ માટે, તથા પત્નીઓ અને તમારા ઘર માટે લડજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NEH.4.15" />જ્યારે અમારા વિરોધીઓને ખબર પડી કે અમને તેઓના કાવત્રાની જાણ થઇ ગઇ છે અને યહોવાએ તેઓની યોજના નિષ્ફળ બનાવી છે. પછી અમે સર્વ દીવાલ સમારવા ગયા.
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<v id="16" bcv="NEH.4.16" />તે દિવસથી મારા માણસોના અડધા માણસો બાંધકામ કરતા અને બાકીના ભાલા ઢાલ. તીરકામઠાં અને બખ્તર ધારણ કરીને ચોકી કરતા ઊભા રહેતા. અને યહૂદાના બધાં લોકોને આગેવાનો તેમની જોડે રહીને પીઠબળ પુરું પાડતાં.
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<v id="17" bcv="NEH.4.17" />જેઓ દીવાલ બાંધતા હતા તેઓ, અને વજન ઉપાડતા હતા તેઓ બધાં એક હાથથી કામ કરતાં, ને બીજા હાથમાં શસ્ત્ર રાખતાં;
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<v id="18" bcv="NEH.4.18" />બાંધકામ કરનારાઓ પણ કમરે તરવાર લટકાવેલી રાખી કામ કરતા હતા, મારી બાજુમાં રણશિંગડું ફૂંકનાર હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="NEH.4.19" />મેં ઉમરાવો, અધિકારીઓ, અને બાકીના લોકોને ઉદૃેશીને કહ્યું, “કામ મોટું છે અને ખૂબ ફેલાયેલું છે, આપણે દીવાલની ફરતે ઘણાં દૂર સુધી પથરાયેલા છીએ.
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<v id="20" bcv="NEH.4.20" />તમે જ્યાં પણ હો જ્યારે રણશિંગડાનો અવાજ સાંભળો ત્યારે એકીસાથે બધા લોકો દોડીને મારી પાસે ભેગા થઇ જજો, આપણા દેવ આપણા માટે યુદ્ધ લડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="NEH.4.21" />આ પ્રમાણે અમે નિર્માણનું કામ કરતા; અને અમારાંમાંના અડધા સવારથી રાતે તારા નીકળતા સુધી અડધા હાથમાં ભાલા લઇને ચોકી કરતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NEH.4.22" />મેં તેઓને તે સમયે એમ કહ્યું કે, “દરેક પુરુષ અને તેનો મદદગાર યરૂશાલેમમાં જ રહે, જેથી તેઓ રાત્રે અમારું રક્ષણ કરે અને દિવસે કામ કરે.”
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<v id="23" bcv="NEH.4.23" />આમ, હું મારા સગાંવહાંલા, મારા સેવકો મારી પાછળ ચાલતા અંગરક્ષકો કોઇ કદી કપડા ઉતારતા નહિ, અને જ્યારે અમે પાણી મેળવવા જતાં ત્યારે અમે દરેક જણ અમારા શસ્ત્રો પકડી રાખતાં.
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<s style="s">નહેમ્યાએ ગરીબોને મદદ કરી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.5.1" />તે વખતે યહૂદીઓ વિરૂદ્ધ લોકોએ તથા તેઓની સ્ત્રીઓએે જબરો મોટો પોકાર કર્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="NEH.5.2" />એમાંના કેટલાક કહેવા લાગ્યાં કે, “અમારા પુત્રો તથા અમારી પુત્રીઓ સહિત અમે ઘણાં માણસો છીએ; અમને અનાજ આપો કે જેથી અમે તેને ખાઇને જીવતાં રહીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NEH.5.3" />તો બીજા કેટલાંક કહેવા લાગ્યાં કે, “અમે આ દુકાળમાં અનાજ ખરીદવા માટે અમારાં ખેતરો, દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓ તથા ઘરો ગીરો મૂકી રહ્યાં છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.5.4" />તો વળી બીજા કેટલાક એમ કહેવા લાગ્યા કે, “રાજાને મહેસૂલ ભરવા માટે અમે અમારાઁ ખેતરો તથા દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓ સામે કરજ લીધું છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="NEH.5.5" />અને જોકે અમે અને અમારા સગાંવહાંલા સરખાંજ રકતમાંસના બનેલા છીએ અને અમારાં બાળકો તેમના જેવાઁ જ છે, તેમ છતાં અમારે અમારાં પુત્રપુત્રીઓને ગુલામ તરીકે વેચવા પડે છે. અને અમારી કેટલીક પુત્રીઓ પર બળાત્કાર પણ થયો છે. અમે તદૃન નિરુપાય છીએ; કારણકે બીજા લોકો અમારાં ખેતરો તથા દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓના માલિક બની બેઠાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NEH.5.6" />તેઓની આ ફરીયાદ સાંભળીને હું બહુ ક્રોધિત થયો,
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<v id="7" bcv="NEH.5.7" />ત્યારે મેં મનમાં વિચાર કર્યો અને ઉમરાવો તથા અમલદારો સામે આરોપ મૂકીને કહ્યું કે, “તમે બધા પોતાના સગાંવહાંલા પાસેથી બહુ આકરું વ્યાજ લો છો.” મેં તેનું નિવારણ કરવાં તે બધાંની સભા બોલાવી,
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<v id="8" bcv="NEH.5.8" />“અને તેમને કહ્યું કે, પરદેશીઓને ગુલામ તરીકે વેચાઇ ગયેલા યહૂદીઓને અમે બને ત્યાં સુધી છોડાવતા આવ્યા છીએ; અને હવે તમે જ તમારા પોતાના જ ભાઇઓને ગુલામ તરીકે વેચી રહ્યાં છો, જેમને અમારે જ છોડાવવા પડશે ને?”
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<p style="p">તેઓ મૂંગા થઇ ગયા અને કંઇ બોલી ન શક્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="NEH.5.9" />વળી મેં કહ્યું કે, “તમે આ બધું ખોટું કરી રહ્યા છો! શું તમારે દેવથી ડરીને ચાલવું નથી જેથી આપણા શત્રુઓ વિદેશીઓ આપણી હાંસી ન ઉડાવે.
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<v id="10" bcv="NEH.5.10" />તે ઉપરાંત હું, મારા સગાવહાલાં તથા મારા સેવકો, તેઓને પૈસાને અનાજ ધીરતા આવ્યા છીએ. તો હવે તમે વ્યાજ લેવાનું બંધ કરો.
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<v id="11" bcv="NEH.5.11" />અને હવે મહેરબાની કરીને અત્યારે જ તેમનાઁ ખેતરો, દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ, જૈતૂનના બગીચા અને તેમનાં ઘરબાર પાછાં આપી દો, અને તેમની પાસે તમારું જે કઇં લેણું હોય, પછી એ નાણાં હોય, અનાજ હોય, દ્રાક્ષારસ હોય કે તેલ હોય તે બધું માંડી વાળો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NEH.5.12" />પછી તેમણે કહ્યું કે, “અમે બધું પાછું સોંપી દઇશું અને હવે અમે બીજી કોઇ વસ્તુની માંગ નહિ કરીએ. અમે તમારા કહ્યા પ્રમાણે કરીશું.”
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<p style="p">તેથી મેં યાજકોને બોલાવીને તેઓની પાસે સમ લેવડાવ્યાં, તેઓ પોતાનું વચન પાળશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="NEH.5.13" />ત્યારબાદ મેં મારા કપડા પર પડેલી ઘડીઓ ખંખેરતા કહ્યું, “જે માણસ પોતાનું વચન ન પાળે તેની પાસેથી દેવ તેનું ઘર અને મિલકત આ રીતે ખંખેરી લો; એને ખંખેરીને ખાલી કરી નાખો.”
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<p style="p">તેથી ત્યાં ભેગા થયેલા બધા લોકો બોલી ઊઠયા, “આમીન!” પછી તેઓએ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરી. અને તેઓ બધા આપેલા વચન પ્રમાણે ર્વત્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NEH.5.14" />તદુપરાંત જે સમયથી યહૂદાના દેશમાં મારી પ્રશાસક તરીકે નિમણૂક થઇ ત્યારથી, એટલે આર્તાહશાસ્તા રાજાના વીસમા વર્ષથી તે બત્રીસમા વર્ષ સુધી, બાર વર્ષના પ્રશાસકના હોદ્દાંમાં મેં તથા મારા ભાઇઓએ પ્રશાસકને જે ખાવાનું અપાતું હતું તે ખાધું નથી.
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<v id="15" bcv="NEH.5.15" />મારી પહેલાનાં પ્રશાસકો લોકોને ભારરૂપ થઇ પડ્યા હતા; તેઓ લોકો પાસેથી ખોરાક અને દ્રાક્ષારસ તેમજ 40 શેકેલ<f caller="+"><fr>5:15
</fr><fk>40 શેકેલ ચાંદી
</fk><ft>1 પૌન્ડ, અથવા 1/2 કિલોગ્રામ.</ft></f> ચાંદી લેતા હતા. તે ઉપરાંત તેમના નોકર લોકો પર ત્રાસ ગુજારતા તે તો જુદું. પણ મેં દેવથી ડરીને તેમની સાથે એવો વર્તાવ કર્યો નહોતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="NEH.5.16" />વળી, હું એ કિલ્લાના બાંધકામમાં મંડી રહ્યો, ને અમે કઇં પણ જમીન ખરીદી નહિ; અને મારા સર્વ ચાકરો પણ તે કામ કરવા ભેગાં થયાં હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NEH.5.17" />મારી સાથે 150 થી વધારે અમલદારો અને બીજા યહૂદીઓ મારા ટેબલ પર જમતા હતા. આજુબાજુની પ્રજાઓમાંથી જે લોકો આવતા તે તો જુદા.
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<v id="18" bcv="NEH.5.18" />દરરોજ એક બળદ, છ ઉત્તમ ઘેટાં અને મુરધાં રંધાતા હતા. અને દર દશ દિવસે પીપડા ભરીને દ્રાક્ષારસ પૂરો પાડવામાં આવતો હતો. તો પણ મેં પ્રશાશક તરીકેનું ખાધાં ખોરાકી ભથ્થું માગ્યું નહિ, કારણકે આ લોકો પર ભારે બોજો હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="NEH.5.19" />હે મારા દેવ, મેં આ લોકો માટે જે જે કર્યુ છે તે બધું યાદ કરી મારું ભલું કરજે.
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<c id="6" />
<s style="s">અધિક સમસ્યાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.6.1" />જ્યારે સાન્બાલ્લાટ, ટોબિયા, અરબી ગેશેમ અને અમારા બીજા દુશ્મનોને ખબર મળી કે મેં દીવાલો ફરી બાંધી છે, અને તેમાં એક પણ બાકોરૂં રહ્યું નથી, ભલે આ સાચું હોય પણ જોકે તે વખતે હજી મેં દરવાજાને બારણાં ચઢાવ્યાં નહોતાં.
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<v id="2" bcv="NEH.6.2" />ત્યારે સાન્બાલ્લાટ અને ગેશેમે મને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો કે, “ચાલો આપણે ઓનોના મેદાનમાં એક દીવાલ વગરના નગરમાં સાથે મળીએ,” પરંતુ તેઓ મને નુકશાન પહોચાડવા માંગતાં હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NEH.6.3" />તેથી મેં તેઓની પાસે સંદેશાવાહક મોકલીને આ જવાબ આપ્યો કે, “હું એક મોટું ચણતર કામ કરવામાં રોકાયેલો છું. માટે મારાથી આવી શકાય તેમ નથી. હું જો તમને મળવા આવું તો કામ અટકી પડે. હું એવું શું કામ કરું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.6.4" />તેઓએ મને એ જ સંદેશો ચાર વખત મોકલ્યો અને દરેક વખતે મેં તેમને એ જ પ્રત્યુતર આપ્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="NEH.6.5" />એટલે પાંચમી વખતે સાન્બાલ્લાટે પોતાના સેવકને હાથમાં એક ખુલ્લો પત્ર આપીને મારી પાસે મોકલ્યો;
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<v id="6" bcv="NEH.6.6" />તે આ પ્રમાણે હતો,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“પ્રજાઓમાં એવી અફવા ચાલે છે, ને ગેશેમ પણ કહે છે કે, તું અને યહૂદીઓ બળવો કરવાનું વિચારો છો, અને તે કારણથી જ તેં દીવાલની મરામત કરવા માંડી છે.” એમ પણ કહેવાય છે કે તું પોતે એમનો રાજા બનવાની ઇચ્છા રાખે છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="NEH.6.7" />અને યરૂશાલેમ વિષે તને માહિતી આપવા માટે અને યહૂદામાં રાજા છે તેમ કહેવા માટે તેઁ પ્રબોધક નીમ્યા છે. રાજા આ અફવા વિષે સાંભળશે. તેથી ચાલ, આપણે સાથે યોજના ઘડીયે.
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“રાજાને આ અફવાની જાણ થયા વગર રહેવાની નથી. માટે આવો આપણે મળીને યોજના બનાવીએ.”
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NEH.6.8" />ત્યારે મેં તેને કહેવડાવ્યું કે, “તું જાણે છે કે તું જૂઠું બોલે છે. એ તો તારા મનની માત્ર કલ્પના જ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NEH.6.9" />કારણ કે તેઓ અમને ડરાવવા માગતા હતા, એમ વિચારીને કે તેમના હાથ ચણતરકામ અટકાવશે અને તે પૂરું નહિ થાય પણ “હે દેવ, મારા હાથ મજબૂત કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NEH.6.10" />એ સમયે હું, દલાયાના પુત્ર શમાયાને ઘેર ગયો, દલાયા મહેટાબએલનો પુત્ર હતો. તે પોતાના જ ઘરમાં પૂરાયો હતો. તેણે કહ્યું:
</p>
<p style="p">“આપણે દેવનાં ઘરમાં, મંદિરની મધ્યમાં મળીએ અને આપણે મંદિરના બારણાં વાસી દઇએ, કારણકે તેઓ તને મારી નાખવા માટે આવનાર છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NEH.6.11" />ત્યારે મેં કહ્યું, “શું મારા જેવા માણસે નાસી જવું જોઇએ? મારા જેવો માણસ જીવ બચાવવા મંદિરમાં ભરાય? હું નહિ જાઉં.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NEH.6.12" />પછી મને ખ્યાલ આવ્યો કે દેવે તેને મોકલ્યો ન હતો પણ ટોબીયાએ અને સાન્બાલ્લાટે એને મારી વિરૂદ્ધ ભવિષ્યવાણી કરવા મહેનતાણું આપીને રોક્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="NEH.6.13" />મને ગભરાવા માટે શમાયાને ભાડે રાખ્યો હતો, જેથી હું પાપ કરું. અને તેને પરિણામે તેમને મારા નામને કલંક લગાડવાની અને મારી હાંસી ઉડાવવાની તક મળે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NEH.6.14" />હે મારા દેવ! ટોબિયાને ને સાન્બાલ્લાટને તેઓએ કરેલા કાર્ય પ્રમાણે તું યાદ રાખજે, ને નોઆદ્યા પ્રબોધિકા તથા બાકીના પ્રબોધકો, જેઓ મને ડરાવવા ઇચ્છતા હતાં, તેઓને પણ યાદ રાખજે.
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<s style="s">દીવાલનું સમારકામ સમાપ્ત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NEH.6.15" />દીવાલનું કામ બાવન દિવસોમાં અલૂલ મહિનાના પચીસમાં દિવસે પૂરું થયું.
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<v id="16" bcv="NEH.6.16" />જ્યારે અમારી આજુબાજુના અમારા શત્રુઓએ એ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તેઓ અતિશય ઉદાસ થઇ ગયા અને તેમને આ વાત સમજાઇ કે આ કામ તો અમારા દેવની મદદથી જ પૂરું થયું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="NEH.6.17" />તદઉપરાંત તે સમયે યહૂદાના ઉમરાવોએ ટોબિયા પર ઘણા પત્રો લખ્યા હતા, તેમજ ટોબિયાએ પણ તેમને પત્રો મોકલ્યાં હતા.
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<v id="18" bcv="NEH.6.18" />યહૂદાના ઘણા લોકોએ તેને વફાદાર રહેવાના સમ ખાધા હતા, કારણકે તે આરાહનો પુત્ર શખાન્યાનો જમાઇ હતો; અને તેનો પુત્ર યહોહાનાન બેરેખ્યાના પુત્ર મશુલ્લામની પુત્રી સાથે પરણ્યો હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="NEH.6.19" />તેમણે મને તેના સુકૃત્યો વિષે કહ્યું હતું. અને પછી તેઓએ તેને તે સર્વ કહ્યું જે મેં તેમને કહ્યું હતું, અને મને ડરાવવા માટે ટોબિયાએ અનેક ધમકીઓ આપતા પત્રો મોકલ્યા હતા.
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<c id="7" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.7.1" />હવે દીવાલ બંધાઇ ચૂકી હતી અને તેના દરવાજાઓ જગ્યા પર ઊભા કરવામાં આવ્યાં હતા અને દ્વારપાળો, ગવૈયાઓ અને લેવીઓની નિમણૂંક કરવામાં આવી.
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<v id="2" bcv="NEH.7.2" />ત્યારે યરૂશાલેમનાં વહીવટની જવાબદારી મેં મારા ભાઇ હનાનીને અને કિલ્લાના સેનાપતિ હનાન્યાને સોંપી દીધી; કારણ કે તે ઘણો વિશ્વાસુ હતો તથા બીજા કરતાં દેવથી વિશેષ ડરનારો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="NEH.7.3" />મેં તેમને કહ્યું, “દિવસ ચઢે ત્યાં સુધી યરૂશાલેમના દરવાજા ખોલવા નહિ, અને જ્યારે હજી પહેરેગીરો ચોકી કરતા હોય ત્યારે તમારે દરવાજા બંધ રાખી અને દરવાજા પર કમાડ વાસી દેવા. યરૂશાલેમના વતની ઓમાંથી તમારે પહેરેગીરો નીમવા. કેટલાક ચોક્કસ જગ્યાએ ચોકીઓ સંભાળે અને બાકીના પોતાના ઘર આગળ ચોકી કરે.”
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<s style="s">દેશવટેથી પાછા ફરેલાંઓની નામાવલી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.7.4" />શહેરનો વિસ્તાર ખૂબ મોટો હતો; પણ વસ્તી ઓછી હતી અને વધારે ઘરો બંધાયાઁ નહોતાઁ.
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<v id="5" bcv="NEH.7.5" />મારા દેવે મને પ્રેરિત કર્યો કે, ઉમરાવોને, અધિકારીઓને અને લોકોને સાથે બોલાવવા અને તેમને ભેગા કરી તેમની કુટુંબવાર નોંધ કરવી. દેશવટેથી જેઓ સૌથી પહેલા આવ્યાં હતા તેઓની વંશાવળીની યાદી મને મળી, તેમાં મને આ લખાણ જોવા મળ્યું કે,
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NEH.7.6" />બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર દ્વારા જેઓનો દેશનિકાલ કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો. જેઓને બંદીવાન બનાવીને લઇ જવાયાં હતા, તે પ્રાંતના આ લોકો છે. તેઓ યહૂદાના પોતપોતાના નગરોમાં અને યરૂશાલેમમાં પાછા આવ્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="NEH.7.7" />એટલે જેઓ ઝરુબ્બાબેલ, યેશૂઆ, નહેમ્યા, અઝાર્યા, રાઆમ્યા, નાહમાની, મોદેર્ખાય, બિલ્શા, મિસ્પરેથ, બિગ્વાય, નહૂમ તથા બાઅનાહની સાથે આવ્યા તેઓ આ બધાં છે: ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોના પુરુષોની સંખ્યા:
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<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="NEH.7.8" />પારોશના વંશજો 2,172
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="NEH.7.9" />શફાટયાના વંશજો 372
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="NEH.7.10" />આરાહના વંશજો 652
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="NEH.7.11" />પાહાથ-મોઆબના વંશજો એટલે કે યેશૂઆ તથા યોઆબના વંશજો, 2,818
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="NEH.7.12" />એલામના વંશજો 1,254
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="NEH.7.13" />ઝાત્તૂના વંશજો 845
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="NEH.7.14" />ઝાક્કાયના વંશજો 760
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="NEH.7.15" />બિન્નૂઇના વંશજો 648
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="NEH.7.16" />બેબાયના વંશજો 628
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="NEH.7.17" />આઝગાદના વંશજો 2,322
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="NEH.7.18" />અદોનીકામના વંશજો 667
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="NEH.7.19" />બિગ્વાયના વંશજો 2,067
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="NEH.7.20" />આદીનના વંશજો 655
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="NEH.7.21" />આટેરના વંશજો એટલે હિઝિક્યા 98
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="22" bcv="NEH.7.22" />હાશુમના વંશજો 328
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="23" bcv="NEH.7.23" />બેસાયના વંશજો 324
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="NEH.7.24" />હારીફના વંશજો 112
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="NEH.7.25" />ગિબયોનના વંશજો 95
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="NEH.7.26" />બેથલેહેમના તથા નટોફાહના મનુષ્યો 188
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="NEH.7.27" />અનાથોથના મનુષ્યો 128
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="NEH.7.28" />બેથ-આઝમાવેથના મનુષ્યો 42
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="NEH.7.29" />કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમના કફીરાહના તથા બએરોથના મનુષ્યો 743
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="NEH.7.30" />રામાના તથા ગેબાના મનુષ્યો 621
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="NEH.7.31" />મિખ્માસના મનુષ્યો 122
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="32" bcv="NEH.7.32" />બેથેલના તથા આયના મનુષ્યો 123
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="33" bcv="NEH.7.33" />નબોના બીજા નગરના મનુષ્યો 52
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="NEH.7.34" />એલામના બીજા શહેરના વંશજો 1,254
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="35" bcv="NEH.7.35" />હારીમના વંશજો 320
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="36" bcv="NEH.7.36" />યરીખોના વંશજો 345
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="37" bcv="NEH.7.37" />લોદના વંશજો, હાદીદના વંશજો તથા ઓનોના વંશજો 721
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="38" bcv="NEH.7.38" />સનાઆહના વંશજો 3,930
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="39" bcv="NEH.7.39" />યાજકો: યદાયાના વંશજો,યેશૂઆના કુટુંબના 973
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="40" bcv="NEH.7.40" />ઇમ્મેરના વંશજો 1,052
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="41" bcv="NEH.7.41" />પાશહૂરના વંશજો 1,247
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="42" bcv="NEH.7.42" />હારીમના વંશજો 1,017
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="43" bcv="NEH.7.43" />લેવીઓ:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યેશૂઆના અને કાદ્મીએલ અને, હોદૈયાના વંશજોમાંના 74
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="44" bcv="NEH.7.44" />ગવૈયાઓ:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આસાફના વંશજો 148
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="45" bcv="NEH.7.45" />દ્વારપાળો:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શાલ્લૂમના વંશજો,આટેર, ટાલ્મોન, આક્કૂબ, હટીટા અને સોબાયના વંશજો 138
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="46" bcv="NEH.7.46" />મંદિરના સેવકો:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સીહા, હસૂફા અને ટાબ્બાઓથના વંશજો:
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="47" bcv="NEH.7.47" />કેરોસના વંશજો, સીઆના વંશજો, પાદોનના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="48" bcv="NEH.7.48" />લબાનાહના વંશજો, હગાબાના વંશજો, સાલ્માયના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="49" bcv="NEH.7.49" />હાનાનના વંશજો, ગિદ્દેલના વંશજો, ગાહારના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="50" bcv="NEH.7.50" />રઆયાના વંશજો, રસીનના વંશજો, નકોદાના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="51" bcv="NEH.7.51" />ગાઝઝામના વંશજો, ઉઝઝાના વંશજો, પાસેઆહના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="52" bcv="NEH.7.52" />બેસાયના વંશજો, મેઉનીમના વંશજો, નફૂશશીમના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="53" bcv="NEH.7.53" />બાકબૂકના વંશજો, હાકૂફાહના વંશજો, હાર્હૂરના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="54" bcv="NEH.7.54" />બાસ્લીથના વંશજો, મહિદાના વંશજો, હાર્શાના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="55" bcv="NEH.7.55" />કાકોર્સના વંશજો, સીસરાના વંશજો, તેમાહના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="56" bcv="NEH.7.56" />નસીઆહના વંશજો અને હટીફાના વંશજો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="57" bcv="NEH.7.57" />સુલેમાનના સેવકોના વંશજો:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સોટાયના વંશજો, સોફેરેથના વંશજો, પરીદાના વંશજો,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="58" bcv="NEH.7.58" />યાઅલાના વંશજો; દાકોર્નના વંશજો; ગિદૃેલના વંશજોે;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="59" bcv="NEH.7.59" />શફાટયાના વંશજો; હાટ્ટીલના વંશજો, પોખેરેથ-હાસ્સબાઇમના વંશજો અને આમોનના વંશજો;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="60" bcv="NEH.7.60" />મંદિરના બધાં સેવકોની તથા સુલેમાનના સેવકોના વંશજો સર્વ મળીને 392 હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="61" bcv="NEH.7.61" />કેટલાક લોકો તેલમેલાહ, તેલ-હાર્શા, કરૂબ, આદૃોન, તથા ઇમ્મેરમાંથી આવ્યા, પરંતુ તેઓ તેમના કુટુંબના પિતૃઓને કે તેમની વંશાવળીને સાબિત કરી શક્યા નહોતા કે તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલના છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="62" bcv="NEH.7.62" />તેઓ દલાયાના વંશજો, ટોબિયાના વંશજો તથા નકોદાના વંશજો 642 હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="63" bcv="NEH.7.63" />યાજકોમાંના:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હબાયાના વંશજો, હાકકોસના વંશજો અને બાઝિર્લ્લાયના વંશજોએ ગિલયાદી બાઝિર્લ્લાયની પુત્રીઓમાંથી એકની સાથે પરણ્યો હતો, માટે તેઓના નામ પરથી તેનું નામ એ પડ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="64" bcv="NEH.7.64" />તેઓ તેઓના પરિવારના પૂર્વજોને સાબિત કરી ન શક્યા તેથી તેઓને યાજક તરીકે કાર્ય કરવા દેવામાં આવ્યુ નહિ કારણ તેઓ અયોગ્ય ગણાતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="65" bcv="NEH.7.65" />પ્રશાશકે તેઓને કહ્યું કે જ્યાં સુધી, ઉરીમ અને તુમ્મીમ ધારણ કરનાર એક યાજક ઊભો થાય નહિ ત્યાં સુધી તેઓએ પરમ પવિત્ર વસ્તુઓમાંથી ખાવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="66" bcv="NEH.7.66" />આખા સમૂહની કુલ સંખ્યા 42,360 હતી.
<ve />
<v id="67" bcv="NEH.7.67" />જેમા સેવક અને સેવિકાઓની ગણત્રી કરી નહોતી જેઓ 7,337 હતાં અને 245 ગાયક અને ગાયીકાઓ હતા.
<ve />
<v id="68" bcv="NEH.7.68" />તેઓ પાસે 736 ઘોડા અને 245 ખચ્ચર હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="69" bcv="NEH.7.69" />તેઓ પાસે 435 ઊંટ અને 6,720 ગધેડાં હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="70" bcv="NEH.7.70" />પૂર્વજોના કુટુંબોમાંના મુખ્ય આગેવાનોમાંથી કેટલાકે આ કામ માટે ભેટ આપી હતી. પ્રશાસકે 8 1/2 કિલો<f caller="+"><fr>7:70
</fr><fk>8 1/2 કિલો
</fk><ft>1,000 દારીક, અથવા 19 પૌન્ડ.</ft></f> સોનું, પચાસ પાત્રો અને 530 યાજકવસ્ત્રો ભંડારમાં આપ્યાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="71" bcv="NEH.7.71" />અન્ય પિતૃઓનાં કુટુંબોના આગેવાનોમાંથી કેટલાકે 170 કિલો<f caller="+"><fr>7:71
</fr><fk>170 કિલો
</fk><ft>20,000 દારીક, અથવા 375 પૌન્ડ.</ft></f> સોનું તથા 2,200 માનેહ<f caller="+"><fr>7:71
</fr><fk>2,200 માનેહ
</fk><ft>લગભગ 1 1,3 ટઁન અથવા 1,350 કિલો.</ft></f> ચાંદી આ કામ માટે ભંડારમાં આપ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="72" bcv="NEH.7.72" />બાકીના લોકોએ જે આપ્યું તે 170 કિલો સોનું, 2,000 માનેહ<f caller="+"><fr>7:72
</fr><fk>2,000 માનેહ
</fk><ft>લગભગ 1 1,4 ટઁન અથવા 1,250 કિલો.</ft></f> રૂપું તથા 6 યાજકવસ્ત્ર હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="73" bcv="NEH.7.73" />હવે યાજકો, લેવીઓ, દ્વારપાળો, ગવૈયાઓ, થોડાં લોકો, મંદિરના સેવકો, તથા સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તેમનાં પોતપોતાનાં નગરોમાં વસ્યા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">એઝરા દ્વારા નિયમશાસ્રનું વાચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.8.1" />બધા લોકો પાણી દરવાજાના સામેના મેદાનમાં ભેગા થયા અને તેમણે લહિયા એઝરાને, યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને જે
<bk>નિયમશાસ્ત્ર</bk> ફરમાવ્યુ હતું તે પુસ્તક લાવવા માટે પૂછયું.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="NEH.8.2" />અને તેથી સાતમાં મહિનાનાં પહેલા દિવસે યાજક એઝરા, સ્ત્રીઓ અને પુરુષો તેમજ સમજણાં થયેલાં બાળકોની સભા સમક્ષ
<bk>નિયમશાસ્ત્ર</bk> લઇ આવ્યો. જેઓ સાંભળીને સમજી શકતા હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="NEH.8.3" />અને પાણીના દરવાજા સામેના ચોક આગળ તે ઊભો રહ્યો અને પરોઢથી તે બપોર સુધી તેણે સ્ત્રી, પુરુષો અને તેઓ જે સમજી શકે તેમની સમક્ષ તે
<bk>નિયમોનું</bk> વાચન કર્યુ. તેઓ સર્વ ખૂબ ધ્યાનપૂર્વક
<bk>નિયમશાસ્ત્ર</bk> સાંભળતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.8.4" />આ માટે ઊભા કરેલા લાકડાના મંચ પર લહિયો એઝરા ઊભો હતો, તેની જમણી બાજુએ માત્તિથ્યા, શેમા, અનાયા ઊરિયા, હિલ્કિયા, અને માઅસેયા; અને તેની ડાબી બાજુએ પદાયા મીશાએલ, માલ્કિયા, હાશુમ, હાશ્બાદાનાહ, ઝખાર્યા, અને મશુલ્લામ ઊભા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NEH.8.5" />એઝરા બધા કરતાં ઊંચે ઉભેલો હતો. તેણે સર્વ લોકોના દેખતાં તે
<bk>નિયમશાસ્ત્ર</bk> ઊઘાડ્યું; તેને ઉઘાડતો જોતાં જ તેઓ બધા ઊભા થઇ ગયા.
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<v id="6" bcv="NEH.8.6" />ત્યારબાદ એઝરાએ મહાન દેવ યહોવાને ધન્યવાદ આપ્યા. સર્વ લોકોએ કહ્યું, “આમીન આમીન” અને પોતાના હાથ આકાશ તરફ ઊંચા કર્યા અને ભૂમિ સુધી નીચે નમીને પોતાના મુખ ભૂમિ તરફ રાખીને યહોવાનું ભજન કર્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="NEH.8.7" />યેશૂઆ, બાની, શેરેબ્યા, યામીન, આક્કૂબ, શાબ્બથાય, હોદિયા, માઅસેયા, કલીટા, અઝાર્યા, યોઝાબાદ, હાનાન અને પલાયાએ એમ બધા લેવીઓએ પોતપોતની જગ્યાએ ઊભેલા કુળસમૂહોને નિયમશાસ્ત્રની સમજણ આપી.
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<v id="8" bcv="NEH.8.8" />તેમણે
<bk>દેવના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાંથી</bk> વાંચ્યુ, અને જે વાંચ્યુ તેનો અર્થ સ્પષ્ટ કરીને સમજાવ્યો જેથી લોકો સમજી શકે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NEH.8.9" />નિયમશાસ્ત્રનાં વચનો સાંભળતા સાંભળતા એ લોકો રડતાં હતાં તેથી પ્રશાસક નહેમ્યાએ એઝરા જે યાજક અને લહિયો હતો તથા લોકોને શિક્ષણ આપનાર લેવીઓએ સર્વ લોકોને કહ્યુ કે, “આ દિવસ તમારા દેવ યહોવાને માટે પવિત્ર છે, માટે શોક કરતાં હોય તેવી રીતે વર્તવું નહિ પરંતુ બધાં લોકો જેમણે નિયમશાસ્રના વચનો સાંભળ્યાં તે બધાં લોકો રડ્યાં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NEH.8.10" />પછી તેણે તેમને કહ્યુ કે, “હવે આગળ વધો, સારું સ્વાદિષ્ટ ભોજલ ખાઓ, પીઓ અને જેઓની સ્થિતિ ન હોય તેમને સૌને માટે મિષ્ટાન મોકતવામાં આવ્યા, કારણ, આજ્નો દિવસ આપણા યહોવાનો પવિત્ર દિવસ છે. ઉદાસ થશો નહિ, કારણ, યહોવાનો આનંદ એ જ તમારું બળ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NEH.8.11" />“છાના રહો, કારણકે આજનો દિવસ પવિત્ર છે; માટે ઉદાસ ન થાઓ, એમ કહીને લેવીઓએ સર્વ લોકોને શાંત પાડ્યાં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NEH.8.12" />આથી બધાં લોકોએ જઇને ખાધુંપીધું, બીજાઓને તેમના હિસ્સા મોકલ્યા અને તેઓ ઘણાં જ આનંદમાં હતા. કારણ તેમને જે શાસ્ત્રવચનો વાંચી સંભળાવવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં તે તેઓ સમજ્યા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NEH.8.13" />બીજે દિવસે સમગ્ર પ્રજાના કુટુંબના આગેવાનો, યાજકો અને લેવીઓ સાથે નિયમશાસ્રના શબ્દનો અભ્યાસ કરવા શાસ્રી એઝરા સમક્ષ ભેગા થયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NEH.8.14" />પછી તેઓને ખબર પડી કે નિયમમાં એવું લખેલુ છે કે યહોવાએ મૂસા મારફતે એવી આજ્ઞા જણાવી હતી કે સાતમા મહિનાનાં ઉત્સવ દરમ્યાન ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ કામચલાઉ માંડવાઓમાં રહેવું જોઇએ;
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<v id="15" bcv="NEH.8.15" />એટલે તેમણે યરૂશાલેમમાં અને બીજા બધાં શહેરોમાં ઢંઢેરો પિટાવીને એવું જાહેર કરવું કે, “ડુંગરો પર જાઓ અને નિયમમાં લખ્યા પ્રમાણે કામચલાઉ માંડવા બનાવવા માટે જૈતૂનની, જંગલી જૈતૂનની, મેંદીની અને ખજૂરીની તેમજ બીજા ઘટાદાર વૃક્ષોની ડાળીઓ લઇ આવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NEH.8.16" />એ સાંભળીને લોકો જઇને તે પ્રમાણે લઇ આવ્યા, ને તેઓમાંના દરેક પોતાના ઘરના ધાબા પર, પોતાનાં આંગણામાં, દેવના મંદિરના આંગણામાં, પાણીના દરવાજાના ચોકમાં તથા એફ્રાઇમના દરવાજાના ચોકમાં કામચલાઉ માંડવાઓ બાંધવા માટે તેનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો.
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<v id="17" bcv="NEH.8.17" />જેઓ બંદીવાસમાંથી પાછા આવ્યા હતા તેમણે બધાએ કામચલાઉ માંડવાઓ બાંધીને તેમાં વાસ કર્યો. નૂનના પુત્ર યહોશુઆના દિવસોથી માંડીને આજપર્યત ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ કદી આવું કર્યુ નહોતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NEH.8.18" />સાત દિવસોના આ પર્વના પ્રત્યેક દિવસે તેણે
<bk>દેવના નિયમશાસ્રમાંથી</bk> વાંચન કર્યુ અને તેઓએ સાત દિવસ ઉત્સવ રાખ્યો અને આઠમા દિવસે પૂર્ણાહુતિ સભા હતી જેવી રીતે નિયમમાં જણાવ્યું છે તેમ.
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.9.1" />એ જ મહિનાને ચોવીસમાં દિવસે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો શોકકંથા પહેરીને અને માથે ધૂળ નાખીને ઉપવાસ કરવા ભેગા થયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="NEH.9.2" />તે બધાં જેઓના પૂર્વજ ઇસ્રાએલી હતા, તેઓએ પોતાને વિદેશીઓથી જુદા કર્યા અને તેઓએ ઉભા થઇને પોતાના અને પોતાના પૂર્વજોના પાપ કબૂલ કર્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="NEH.9.3" />અને તેઓએ ત્રણ કલાક સુધી પોતાના દેવ યહોવાના
<bk>નિયમશાસ્રનું પુસ્તક</bk> વાચ્યું; બીજા ત્રણ કલાક સુધી તેઓએ પાપ કબૂલ કરીને તેમના યહોવા દેવની ઉપાસના કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.9.4" />પછી આ લોકો લેવીઓના ઊંચા આસન પર ઊભા રહીને તેમના યહોવા દેવને મોટેથી વિનંતા કરી. તેમના નામ: યેશૂઆ, બાની, કાદ્મીએલ, શબાન્યા, બુન્ની, શેરેબ્યા, તથા કનાની હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="NEH.9.5" />ત્યારબાદ લેવીઓ, યેશૂઆ, કાદ્મીએલ, બાની, હશાબ્નયા, શેરેબ્યા, હોદિયા, શબાન્યા, અને પથાહ્યાએ કહ્યું, “ઊભા થાઓ અને તમારા યહોવા દેવની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે અનાદિ અને અનંત છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ધન્ય છે તારું મહિમાવંતુ નામ જે કોઇપણ ધન્યવાદ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રશંસાની પરિસીમાથી પર છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="NEH.9.6" />તું જ એક માત્ર યહોવા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં આકાશ અને સૌથી ઉંચુ સ્વર્ગ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા, પૃથ્વી અને જે બધી વસ્તુ તેમાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમુદ્ર અને તેમાં જે બધું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં બધું બનાવ્યું. બધાંને જીવતા રાખ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આકાશના તારાઓ પણ તને નમન કરે છે!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="NEH.9.7" />તું તે જ યહોવા દેવ છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેણે ઇબ્રામને પસંદ કર્યો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં જ તેને ખાલ્દીઓના ઉરમાંથી બહાર કાઢયો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેં જ તેનું નામ ઇબ્રાહિમ પાડ્યું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="NEH.9.8" />તેનું અંત:કરણ તારી પ્રત્યે વિશ્વાસુ જાણ્યુ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં તેની સાથે એક કરાર કર્યો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેને કનાનીઓનો, હિત્તીઓનો, અમોરીઓનો, પરિઝઝીઓનો, યબૂસીઓનો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગિર્ગાશીઓનો દેશ
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનાઁ વંશજોને આપવાનું તેને વચન આપ્યું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ન્યાયી હોવાથી તેઁ તારૂં વચન પાળ્યું છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="NEH.9.9" />તેં મિસરમાં અમારા પિતૃઓનાં દુ:ખ જોયાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રાતા સમુદ્ર આગળ તેઓનો પોકાર સાંભળ્યો;
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="NEH.9.10" />તેં ફારુનને અને તેના બધા સેવકોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની ભૂમિની બધી એંધાણીઓ
</q>
<q style="q1">બતાવીને આશ્ચર્યો ર્સજ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તું જાણતો હતો કે તેઓ અમારા પૂર્વજો
</q>
<q style="q1">કરતા સારી રીતે વર્તતા હતાં અને સારા હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઁ તારા નામને પ્રતિષ્ઠિત કર્યુ જે આજ સુધી છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="NEH.9.11" />તેઁ તેઓની સામે સમુદ્રને વિભાજીત કર્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેઓ તેમાંથી કોરી જમીન પરથી જઇ શકે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં તેઓની પાછળ પડેલાઓને ઊંડા સાગરમાં ફેંકી દીધા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેમ એક પથ્થરને વિશાળ સમુહમાં ફેકવામાં આવે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="NEH.9.12" />તું દિવસે તેઓને વાદળના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્તંભ રૂપે દોરતો હતો,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને રાત્રે અગ્નિના સ્તંભરૂપે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો માર્ગ ઉજાળતો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="NEH.9.13" />તું સિનાઇ પર્વત પર પણ ઊતરી આવ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું આકાશમાંથી તેઓની સાથે બોલ્યો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં તેઓને સત્ય નિયમો સારી વિધિઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હિતકારી આજ્ઞાઓ આપી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="NEH.9.14" />તેં તારા પવિત્ર સાબ્બાથો વિષે તેઓને જ્ઞાન આપ્યું,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારા સેવક મૂસા મારફતે તેઓને માટે
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી આજ્ઞાઓ વિધિઓ અને નિયમો જણાવ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="NEH.9.15" />તેઓ ભૂખ્યા હતા ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં તેઓને આકાશમાંથી રોટલી આપી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તરસ્યા હતા ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં ખડકમાંથી પાણી વહેવડાવ્યું.
</q>
<q style="q1">જે વતન તેં તેઓને આપવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વચન આપ્યું હતું તેમાં પ્રવેશ કરવા
</q>
<q style="q1">તથા તેને જીતી લેવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેઓને આજ્ઞા આપી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="NEH.9.16" />પરંતુ તેઓ અને અમારા પૂર્વજો અભિમાની અને હઠીલા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ અક્કડ થયા અને તેઓએ તારી આજ્ઞાઓની અવગણના કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="NEH.9.17" />તેઓ સમક્ષ તેં જે ચમત્કારો કર્યા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ભૂલી જઇને તેમણે તારૂં કહ્યું કરવાની ના પાડી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ અક્કડ થઇ ગયાં અને તેમણે મિસર જઇ ફરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગુલામી સ્વીકારવાનો વિચાર સુદ્ધાં કર્યો.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“પણ તું તો ક્ષમાશીલ, દયાળુ અને પ્રેમાળ દેવ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ઝટ ક્રોધ કરતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી કરૂણાનો પાર નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી તેં તેમનો ત્યાગ ન કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="NEH.9.18" />હા, તેઓએ પોતાના માટે વાછરડાનું પૂતળું બનાવી અને કહ્યું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘આ અમારાં દેવ છે!’ જે તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર કાઢી લાવ્યા હતાં, આમ તેઓએ ઘણી દેવ નિંદા કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="NEH.9.19" />છતાંય તેં અપાર કરૂણા બતાવી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને વગડામાં છોડી ન દીધાં,
</q>
<q style="q1">દિવસે વાદળના સ્તંભે તેમને દોરવાનું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રાત્રે અગ્નિના સ્તંભે તેમના
</q>
<q style="q1">ચાલવાના માર્ગને ઉજાળવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="NEH.9.20" />વળી બોધ આપવા માટે તેં તારો ઉત્તમ આત્મા તેમને આપ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેં તેમને શ્રેષ્ઠ આહાર પણ ખવડાવવાનું બંધ કર્યુ નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની તૃષા છીપાવવા તેં તેઓને જળ આપ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="NEH.9.21" />ચાળીસ વર્ષ સુધી તેં રણમાં તેમની સંભાળ લીધી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સમય દરમ્યાન તેઓને કશાની ખોટ પડી નહોતી;
</q>
<q style="q1">ન તેમનાં વસ્ત્રો ઘસાઇ ગયા કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ના તેમના પગ ફૂલી ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="NEH.9.22" />તેં તેઓને રાજ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા પ્રજાઓ આપ્યાઁ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી તેઓએ હેશ્બોનના રાજા સીહોન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા બાશાનના રાજા ઓગની ભૂમિ લઇ લીધી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="NEH.9.23" />વળી તેં તેઓના વંશજોની આકાશના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાઓની જેમ વૃદ્ધિ કરી,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જે દેશ વિષે તેં તેઓના પૂર્વજોને કહ્યું હતું કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેમાં પ્રવેશ કરીને તેમની ભૂમિ પ્રાપ્ત કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમાં તું તેઓને લાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="NEH.9.24" />જ્યારે તેઓએ એ ભૂમિમાં પ્રવેશ કરીને એનો કબજો લીધો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તેં ત્યાંના વતની કનાનીઓને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની આગળ નમાવી દીધા અને ત્યાંના રાજાઓને
</q>
<q style="q1">અને લોકોને તેમના હાથમાં જે કરવું હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કરવા સોંપી દીધા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="NEH.9.25" />પછી તેઓએ કિલ્લાવાળાં નગરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા રસાળ ભૂમિવાળા પ્રદેશ લઇ લીધાં;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ સર્વ ઉત્તમ વસ્તુઓથી ભરપૂર ઘરો, ટાંકાઓ, દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓ, જૈતવાડીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા પુષ્કળ ફળનાં વૃક્ષો તેઓના કબજામાં આવ્યાં;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી તેઓ ધરાય ત્યાં સુધી ખાધું, આ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ સમૃદ્ધિઓથી તેઓ તૃપ્ત થયા,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હૃષ્ટપુષ્ટ થયાં અને તારી મહાન કૃપાથી આનંદ પામ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="NEH.9.26" />પરંતુ આ બધુંય હોવા છતાં તેઓ તમને આધીન રહ્યા નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી વિરૂદ્ધ બંડ પોકાર્યુ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તમારા નિયમશાસ્ત્રને નકાર્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જે પ્રબોધકોએ તેઓને તારા તરફ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાછા ફરવા કહ્યું તેઓને તેઓએ મારી નાખ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી તેઓએ બીજાં અનેક ભયંકર કૃત્યો કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="NEH.9.27" />માટે તેં તેઓને તેમના શત્રુઓનાં હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓએ તેમને ત્રાસ આપ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ પોતાના સંકટ સમયે તારી આગળ પોકાર કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેં સ્વર્ગમાંથી સાંભળ્યું;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મહાન દયાળુ હોવાથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં તેઓને ઉદ્ધારકો આપ્યા કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમણે તેઓને દુશ્મનોના હાથમાંથી બચાવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="NEH.9.28" />પરંતુ તેઓએ પછી આરામ કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફરી તેઓએ તારી સંમુખ દુષ્કૃત્યો કર્યા;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે માટે તેં તેઓને તેમના દુશ્મનોના હાથમાં સોપી દીધા.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી તેમના દુશ્મનો તેમના ધણી બન્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ જ્યારે ફરીથી તે લોકોએ
</q>
<q style="q1">તને પોકાર કર્યો ત્યારે તેઁ આકાશમાંથી સાંભળ્યું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તને તેઓને કેટલીયે વાર બચાવ્યા કેમકે તું દયાળુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="NEH.9.29" />અને તેં તેમને તારી સંહિતાનું પાલન
</q>
<q style="q1">કરવા માટે ફરી ચેતવણી આપી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ ઘમંડી વર્તણૂક કરીને તેઓએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા વિધિઓનું પાલન ન કર્યુ;
</q>
<q style="q1">જેના પાલનથી મનુષ્યને જીવન મળે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવા તારા નિયમોના વિરૂદ્ધ તેમણે પાપ કર્યુ,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને તેઓના ખભા હઠીલા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની ગરદન અક્કડ હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે તારું કહ્યું માન્યું નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="NEH.9.30" />“છતાં પણ તેં ઘણાં વરસો સુધી ધીરજ રાખી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા આત્મા દ્વારા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારાં પ્રબોધકો દ્વારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં તેમને ચેતવ્યા,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તેમણે કાને ન ધર્યુ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેં તેમને વિદેશીઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="NEH.9.31" />“છતાં પણ તું મહાન દયાળુ દેવ હોવાથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે લોકોનો છેક અંત આણ્યો નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">કે તેઓનો ત્યાગ કર્યો નહિ, કારણકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું કૃપાળુ તથા દયા કરનારો દેવ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="NEH.9.32" />હે અમારા દેવ, હે મહાન શકિતશાળી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભયાવહ દેવ;
</q>
<q style="q1">અનંત પ્રેમથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું કરારનું પાલન કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારા પર, અમારા રાજાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા આગેવાનો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા યાજકો,
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારા પ્રબોધકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી આ સમગ્ર પ્રજા
</q>
<q style="q1">પર આશ્શૂરના રાજાઓના સમયથી આજપર્યંત જે યાતનાઓ થઇ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ઓછી છે એમ ન ગણીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="NEH.9.33" />અમારા પર જે કઇં વીત્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમાં તું દેવ તો ન્યાયી જ રહ્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં તો તારુ ન્યાયપણુ સાચવ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખોટું તો અમે કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="NEH.9.34" />અમારા રાજાઓ, અમારા અધિકારીઓ, અમારા યાજકો અને અમારા પિતૃઓએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી વિધિઓને અનુસર્યા નહિ કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી ચેતવણીઓ કે હુકમો પ્રત્યે ધ્યાન આપ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="NEH.9.35" />જ્યારે તેઓ પોતાનાજ રાજ્યમાં હતાં અને મહાન ઉદારતા ધરાવતાં હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેં તેઓને વિશાળ ફળદ્રુપ જમીન આપી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓએ તારી સેવા ના કરી
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓએ પોતાની ભૂંડાઇથી પાછા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફરવાનો પણ ઇન્કાર કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="NEH.9.36" />પરંતુ અમારી તરફ જુઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે તે જમીનમાં ગુલામ છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે તેં અમારા પૂર્વજોને આપી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેઓ એના ફળો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઉત્તમ ઉપજનો આનંદ માણી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="NEH.9.37" />અમારાં પાપોને કારણે જે રાજાઓને તેં અમારા પર વિજય અપાવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ આ દેશમાંથી પુષ્કળ ઊપજ પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓનો અમારા શરીરો તથા અમારાં ઢોરઢાંખર પર અધિકાર છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમે તેઓની ઇચ્છા મુજબ તેઓની સેવા કરીએ છીએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે મોટાં સંકટમાં આવી પડ્યાં છીએ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="NEH.9.38" />આ બધી બાબતોને લીધે અમે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફરીથી એક કરાર કરીએ છીએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની નોંધ કરીને
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના પર અમારા અધિકારીઓ, અમારા લેવીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યાજકો પોતપોતાની મહોર મારે છે.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="10" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.10.1" />મહોર મારેલા કરાર પર:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">હખાલ્યાનો પુત્ર પ્રશાશક નહેમ્યા અને સિદકિયાના નામ છે;
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="NEH.10.2" />સરાયા, અઝાર્યા, યમિર્યા;
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="NEH.10.3" />પાશહૂર, અમાર્યા, માલ્કિયા,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="NEH.10.4" />હાટ્ટુશ, શબાન્યા, માલ્લૂખ,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="NEH.10.5" />હારીમ મરેમોથ ઓબાદ્યા,
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="NEH.10.6" />દાનિયેલ, ગિન્નથોન, બારૂખ,
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="NEH.10.7" />મશુલ્લામ, અબિયા, મીયામીન
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="NEH.10.8" />માઆઝયા, બિલ્ગાય, અને શમાયા; આ બધા યાજકો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="NEH.10.9" />અને લેવીઓ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">યેશૂઆ, તે અઝાન્યાનો પુત્ર, બિન્નૂઇ, હેનાદાદના પુત્રોમાંનો એક કાદ્મીએલ,
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="NEH.10.10" />અને તેમના સગાંવહાંલા, શબાન્યા, હોદિયા, કલીટા, પલાયા, હાનાન,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="NEH.10.11" />મીખા, રહોબ, હશાબ્યા,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="NEH.10.12" />ઝાક્કૂર, શેરેબ્યા, શબાન્યા,
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="NEH.10.13" />હોદિયા, બાની અને બનીનુ,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NEH.10.14" />લોકોના આગેવાન:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">પારોશ, પાહાથ-મોઆબ, એલામ, ઝાત્તુ, બાની,
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="NEH.10.15" />બુન્ની, આઝગાદ, બેબાય,
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="NEH.10.16" />અદોનિયા, બિગ્વાય, આદીન,
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="NEH.10.17" />આટેર, હિઝિક્યા, અઝઝૂર,
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="NEH.10.18" />હોદિયા, હાશુમ, બેસાય,
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="NEH.10.19" />હારીફ, અનાથોથ, નેબાય,
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="NEH.10.20" />માગ્પીઆશ, મશૂલ્લામ, હેઝીર,
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="NEH.10.21" />મશેઝાબએલ, સાદોક, યાદૂઆ,
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="NEH.10.22" />પલાટયા, હાનાન, અનાયા,
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="NEH.10.23" />હોશિયા, હનાન્યા, હાશ્શૂબ,
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="NEH.10.24" />હાલ્લોહેશ, પિલ્હા, શોબેક,
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="NEH.10.25" />રહૂમ, હશાબ્નાહ, માઅસેયા,
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="NEH.10.26" />અહિયા, હાનાન, આનાન,
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="NEH.10.27" />માલ્લૂખહારીમ તથા બાઅનાહ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="NEH.10.28" />બાકીના લોકો, યાજકો, લેવીઓ, દ્વારપાળો, ગવૈયાઓ, મંદિરના સેવકો અને તે દરેક જેણે ભૂમિના લોકોથી પોતાને જુદા પાડ્યાં હતાં, તેમની પત્નીઓ, તેમના પુત્રો, અને પુત્રીઓ સાથે અને જેમનામાં જ્ઞાન અને સમજણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="NEH.10.29" />તેઓએ પોતાના સગાંવહાંલા અને ઉમરાવો સાથે મળીને, દેવના નિયમ પ્રમાણે ચાલવાના સમ ખાધા, જે દેવના સેવક મૂસાએ આપ્યા હતા કે, અમે યહોવા અમારા દેવની આજ્ઞા અને નિયમોનું આદેશ અનુસાર પાલન કરીશું અને તેમના હુકમોને માનીશું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="NEH.10.30" />“અમે અમારી પુત્રીઓ બીજી ભૂમિના લોકોને આપીશું નહિ, તેમ તેમની પુત્રીઓ અમારા પુત્રો માટે લઇશું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NEH.10.31" />“વળી જો ભૂમિના લોકો કંઇ વેચવા માટે અથવા અનાજ લાવશે, તો અમે તે સાબ્બાથના દિવસે કે બીજા કોઇ પવિત્ર દિવસે ખરીદીશું નહિ. પ્રત્યેક સાતમે વષેર્ અમે ભૂમિને ખેડશું નહિ અને અમારું બધું લેણું માફ કરીશું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="NEH.10.32" />“અમે અમારા પોતાના દેવના મંદિરની પૂરતી કાળજી રાખવા માટે પ્રતિવર્ષ 1/3 શેકેલ<f caller="+"><fr>10:32
</fr><fk>1/3 શેકેલ
</fk><ft>લગભગ 4 ગ્રામ.</ft></f> આપવાનો નિયમ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="NEH.10.33" />પવિત્ર રોટલી,<f caller="+"><fr>10:33
</fr><fk>પવિત્ર રોટલી
</fk><ft>આ પવિત્ર રોટલી તે મંદિરમાં લેવાતી ખાસ રોટલી હતી, આ રોટલી કેવી રીતે બનાવાતી હતી અને કેવી રીતે વપરાતી હતી તે <ref tgt="LEV.24.5">લેવીય. 24:5-9</ref> વિભાગમાં સમજાવવામાં આવ્યું છે. આ રોટલી ‘દાઉદ અને તેના લોકો’ 1 શમુએલ 21:1-6 માટે પણ મહત્વની હતી.</ft></f> નિત્યના ખાદ્યાર્પણો માટે, નિત્યના દહનાર્પણો માટે, સાબ્બાથ અને ચંદ્રદર્શન માટે, તે ઉત્સવો માટે જે ઉજવવા માટે અમને નિયમશાસ્રમાં જણાવાયું છે, અને પવિત્ર અર્પણો માટે પૈસાની જરૂર છે, આ ઇસ્રાએલ માટે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવા પાપાર્થાપણો અને દેવના મંદિરનાં સર્વ કામો કરવા માટે જરૂરી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="NEH.10.34" />“ત્યારબાદ નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યા પ્રમાણે, અમારા દેવ યહોવાની વેદી પર બાળવા માટે, અમારા પિતૃઓનાં પરિવારો પ્રમાણે પ્રતિવર્ષ ઠરાવેલા ચોક્કસ સમયે અમારા દેવના મંદિરમાં લાકડાંઓના અર્પણો લાવવા માટે, અમે, યાજકો, લેવીઓ તથા લોકો વચ્ચે ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="NEH.10.35" />“અમે પ્રતિવર્ષ, અમારી ભૂમિનો પ્રથમ પાક અને દરેક વૃક્ષના પ્રથમ ફળો યહોવાના મંદિરમાં લાવવા માટે નિયમ પણ બનાવીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="NEH.10.36" />“વળી, નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યા પ્રમાણે, અમારાં પુત્રોમાંના પ્રથમજનિત, અને પશુઓ અને ઢોરઢાંખરનાઁ તથા ઘેટાંબકરાંનાં પ્રથમજનિતને અમારા યહોવાના મંદિરમાં, અમારા દેવના મંદિરનાં યાજકો પાસે લાવીશું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="NEH.10.37" />“અમે અમારા યાજકોને તથા દેવનાં મંદિરની ઓરડીમાં અમારા બાંધેલા લોટનો પહેલો ભાગ, અને દરેક વૃક્ષના ફળો, દ્રાક્ષારસ અને તેલનું અર્પણ લાવીશું. વળી અમારી ભૂમિની પેદાશમાંથી પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુનો દશમો ભાગ અમે લેવીઓ માટે લાવીશું. કારણ કે અમારા સર્વ દેશના નગરોમાંથી દશાંશ એકત્ર કરવાની જવાબદારી લેવીઓની છે.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="NEH.10.38" />અમારા બધાં ખેતીવાડીવાળાં ગામોમાંથી ઊપજનો દશમો ભાગ ઉઘરાવવા આવનાર લેવીઓને અમારી જમીનની ઊપજનો દશમો ભાગ આપીશું. દશમો ભાગ ઉઘરાવતી વખતે હારુનના વંશના એક યાજક લેવીઓની સાથે રહેશે, અને લેવીઓએ ઉઘરાવેલા દશમા ભાગનો દશમો ભાગ દેવના મંદિરનાં ભંડારમાં લઇ જશે અને એક ઓરડામાં મુકશે.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="NEH.10.39" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ અને લેવીઓએ પોતે ઉઘરાવેલાં બધાં અનાજના અર્પણો, દ્રાક્ષારસ, તેલ વગેરે ભંડારના ઓરડાઓમાં લાવવાં, જ્યાં મંદિરની સેવાની સામગ્રી રાખવામાં આવે છે, અને જ્યાં તે વખતે સેવા કરતા યાજકો, દ્વારપાળો તથા ગાયકો રહે છે.
</p>
<p style="p">“આમ અમે સૌ અમારા દેવનાં મંદિરની અવગણના નહિ કરીએ.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમમાં નવાં લોકોનો પ્રવેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.11.1" />લોકોના તમામ આગેવાનો યરૂશાલેમમાં વસ્યા અને બાકીના લોકોમાંથી દશ માણસમાંથી એક માણસ માટે પવિત્ર નગરી યરૂશાલેમમાં વસે તે માટે ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખવામાં આવી. જ્યારે બાકીના નવ અન્ય નગરોમાં જઇને વસ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="NEH.11.2" />યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેવા માટે જે લોકો રાજીખુશીથી આગળ આવ્યા, તે સર્વ માણસો પર લોકોએ આશીર્વચન ઉચ્ચાર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="NEH.11.3" />આ યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેતાં પ્રાંતના આગેવાનો છે તેમ છતાં યહૂદિયાના નગરોમાં સહુ પોતપોતાની ભૂમિ પર પોતપોતાના ગામમાં રહેતાં હતાં; ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, યાજકો, લેવીઓ, મંદિરના સેવકો, અને સુલેમાનના સેવકોના વંશજો.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.11.4" />કેટલાક યહૂદાના અને કેટલાક બિન્યામીનના લોકો યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેતા હતા તેઓ આ છે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">અથાયા ઉઝિઝયાનો પુત્ર, (ઉઝિઝયા ઝખાર્યાનો, ઝખાર્યા અમાર્યાનો, અમાર્યા શફાટયાનો, શફાટયા માહલાલેલનો, હલાલએલ પેરેશના વંશજોમાંથી હતો.)
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<v id="5" bcv="NEH.11.5" />અને માઅસેયા (માઅસેયાને બારૂખનો પુત્ર, બારૂખ કોલહોઝેહનો, કોલહોઝેહ હઝાયાનો, હઝાયા અદાયાનો, અદાયા યોયારીબનો, યોયારીબ ઝખાર્યાનો, ઝખાર્યા શીલોનીનો.)
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<v id="6" bcv="NEH.11.6" />પેરેશના સર્વ વંશજો જેઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં વસ્યા તેઓ 468 પરાક્રમી પુરુષો હતા.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="7" bcv="NEH.11.7" />આ બિન્યામીના પુત્રો છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">સાલ્લુ મશુલ્લામનો પુત્ર, (મશુલ્લામ યોએલનો, યોએલ પદાયાનો, કોલાયાનો પુત્ર પદાયા હતો, જે માઅસેયાનો પુત્ર હતો, જે ઇથીએલનો પુત્ર હતો, અને ઇથીએલ યશાયાનો.)
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<v id="8" bcv="NEH.11.8" />અને તેના સગાંવહાંલા ગાબ્બાય, સાલ્લાય, તેઓ કુલ 928 હતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="NEH.11.9" />ઝિખ્રીનો પુત્ર, યોએલ, તેઓનો આગેવાન હતો; હાસ્સનૂઆહનો પુત્ર યહૂદા એ નગરના પ્રભુત્વનો દ્વિતીય ક્રમનો ઉપરી હતો.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="10" bcv="NEH.11.10" />યાજકોમાંના:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">યોયારીબનો પુત્ર યદાયા, યાખીન,
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<v id="11" bcv="NEH.11.11" />સારાયા હિલ્કિયાનો પુત્ર, હિલ્કિયા મશુલ્લામનો, મશુલ્લામ સાદોકનો, સાદોક મરાયોથનો, મરાયોથ અહીટુબનો પુત્ર હતો જે દેવના મંદિરનો કારભારી હતો,
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<v id="12" bcv="NEH.11.12" />અને તેમના સગાંવહાંલા જેઓ મંદિરનું કામ કરતા હતા, તેઓ 822 હતા; યહોરામ પલાલ્યાનો પુત્ર હતો જે આમ્સીનો પુત્ર હતો, આમ્સી ઝખાર્યાનો પુત્ર હતો, જે પાશહૂરનો પુત્ર હતો અને પાશહૂર માલ્કિયાનો પુત્ર હતો,
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<v id="13" bcv="NEH.11.13" />તથા તેના સગાંવહાંલા જેઓ પોતાના કુટુંબોના આગેવાનો હતાં તેઓ 242 હતાં; ઇમ્મેરના પુત્ર મશિલ્લેમોથના પુત્ર આહઝાયના પુત્ર અઝારએલનો પુત્ર અમાશસાય,
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<v id="14" bcv="NEH.11.14" />તથા તેઓના સગાંવહાંલા, એ પરાક્રમી પુરુષો 128 હતા; હાગ્ગદોલીમનો પુત્ર ઝાબ્દીએલ તેઓનો ઉપરી હતો.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="15" bcv="NEH.11.15" />લેવીઓમાંથી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">હાશ્શૂબનો પુત્ર શમાયા (હાશ્શૂબ તે આઝીકામનો પુત્ર હતો, તે હશાબ્યાનો પુત્ર હતો અને હશાબ્યા બુન્નીનો પુત્ર હતો);
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<v id="16" bcv="NEH.11.16" />શાબ્બથાય તથા યોઝાબાદ, (શાબ્બથાય અને યોઝાબાદ લેવીઓના આગેવાન હતા જેઓ દેવના મંદિરના બહારના કામકાજ પર દેખરેખ રાખતા હતા;)
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<v id="17" bcv="NEH.11.17" />અને પ્રાર્થના તથા આભારસ્તુતિનો આરંભ કરવામાં આસાફના પુત્ર ઝાબ્દીના પુત્ર મીખાનો પુત્ર માત્તાન્યા મુખ્ય હતો, ને બાકબુક્યા પોતાના સગાઓમાં બીજો હતો, તથા યદૂથૂનના પુત્ર ગાલાલના પુત્ર શામ્મૂઆનો પુત્ર આબ્દા હતો.
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<v id="18" bcv="NEH.11.18" />પવિત્ર નગરમાં સર્વ મળીને લેવીઓ 284 હતા.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="19" bcv="NEH.11.19" />દ્વારપાળ
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">આક્કૂબ, ટાલ્મોન તથા તેનાં સગાંઓ, જે દરવાજાની રખેવાળી કરતા હતા, તેઓ 172 હતા.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NEH.11.20" />ઇસ્રાએલનાં બાકીના લોકો, યાજકો, તથા લેવી યહૂદાના નગરોમાં રહેતા હતા, દરેક જણ પોતાના કુટુંબની જમીન પર.
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<v id="21" bcv="NEH.11.21" />પણ મંદિરના સેવકો ઓફેલમાં રહેતા હતા. સીહા અને ગિશ્પા તેના આગેવાન હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NEH.11.22" />મીખાના પુત્ર માત્તાન્યાના પુત્ર હશાબ્યાના પુત્ર બાનીનો પુત્ર ઉઝઝી યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેતા લેવીઓનો આગેવાન હતો, અને ઉઝઝીના પિતા અને પિતૃઓ ગવૈયા હતા, તે આસાફના વંશજો હતા. તેઓ દેવના મંદિરના કામનો કારભાર સંભાળતા હતાં.
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<v id="23" bcv="NEH.11.23" />તેઓના વિષે રાજાનો એક હુકમ હતો, ગાયકો માટે નિયત ભત્તુ આપવું, જેની દરરોજ જરૂર પડતી હતી.
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<v id="24" bcv="NEH.11.24" />યહૂદાના પુત્ર ઝેરાહના વંશજ મશેઝાબએલનો પુત્ર પેથાહ્યા જનસંપર્કના સર્વ વહીવટમાં રાજાને મદદ કરતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NEH.11.25" />અને તેમના ખેતરો અને ગામડાઓ માટે યહૂદાના લોકો આ ગામમાં રહ્યાં: કિયાર્થઆર્બા અને તેના ગામ, દીબોન અને તેના ગામ, યકાબ્સએલ અને તેના ગામમાં,
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<v id="26" bcv="NEH.11.26" />અને યેશૂઆમાં મોલાદાહમાં, બેથ-પેલેટમાં;
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<v id="27" bcv="NEH.11.27" />હસાર-શૂઆલમાં અને બેરશેબા અને તેના ગામોમાં;
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<v id="28" bcv="NEH.11.28" />સિકલાગમાં, મખોનાહ અને તેનાં ગામોમાં,
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<v id="29" bcv="NEH.11.29" />એન-રિમ્મોનમાં, સોરાહમાં યાર્મૂથમાં,
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<v id="30" bcv="NEH.11.30" />ઝાનોઆહમાં, અદુલ્લામ અને તેઓનાઁ ગામમાં. લાખીશ અને તેનાઁ ખેતરોમાં, અઝેકાહ તથા તેનાઁ ગામમાં. આમ લોકોએ બેર-શેબાથી હિન્નોમની ખીણ સુધી છાવણી દરેક ઠેકાણે નાખી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NEH.11.31" />બિન્યામીન કુળના લોકો જ્યાં વસ્યા તે નગરો આ પ્રમાણે હતા: ગેબા, મિખ્માશ, આયા, બેથેલ, તેઓની આસપાસના ગામો સાથે હતા.
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<v id="32" bcv="NEH.11.32" />અનાથોથ, નોબ, અનાન્યા,
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<v id="33" bcv="NEH.11.33" />હાસોર, રામા, ગિત્તાઇમ,
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<v id="34" bcv="NEH.11.34" />હાદીદ, સબોઇમ, નબાલ્લાટ,
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<v id="35" bcv="NEH.11.35" />લોદ, ઓનો અને કારીગરોની ખીણ. આ સર્વ સ્થળોએ તેઓ વસ્યા હતા.
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<v id="36" bcv="NEH.11.36" />અને યહૂદામાં રહેતા કેટલાક લેવીઓના સમુહો બિન્યામીનનો ભાગ બન્યા.
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</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">યાજકો અને લેવીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.12.1" />શઆલ્તીએલના પુત્ર ઝરુબ્બાબેલ અને યેશૂઆની સાથે જે યાજકો આવ્યાં તેઓનાં નામની યાદી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">સરાયા, યમિર્યા, એઝરા,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="2" bcv="NEH.12.2" />અમાર્યા, માલ્લૂખ, હાટ્ટૂશ,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="NEH.12.3" />શખાન્યા, રહૂમ, મરેમોથ,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.12.4" />ઇદ્દો, ગિન્નથોઇ, અબિયા,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="NEH.12.5" />મીયામીન, માઆદ્યા, બિલ્ગાહ,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="NEH.12.6" />શમાયા, યોયારીબ, યદાયા,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="NEH.12.7" />સાલ્લૂ, આમોક, હિલ્કિયા અને યદાયા.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">યેશૂઆના સમયમાં આ લોકો યાજકોના અને તેના સંબંધીઓના આગેવાનો હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NEH.12.8" />વળી તેઓની સાથે આવેલા લેવીઓ આ હતા: યેશૂઆ, બિન્નૂઇ, કાદ્મીએલ, શેરેબ્યા, યહૂદા, માત્તાન્યા માત્તાન્યાએ પોતાના સગાંવહાંલાની સાથે આભાર સ્તુતિનું ગીતનું માર્ગદર્શન આપ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="NEH.12.9" />સેવા દરમ્યાન લેવીઓના સગાંવહાંલા બાકબુક્યા અને ઉન્નો વારાફરતી પહેરો ભરવા ઉભા રહ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="10" bcv="NEH.12.10" />યેશૂઆ યોયાકીમનો પિતા હતો. યોયાકીમ એલ્યાશીબનો પિતા હતો. એલ્યાશીબ યોયાદાનો પિતા હતો;
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<v id="11" bcv="NEH.12.11" />યોયાદા યોનાથાનનો પિતા હતો; યોનાથાન યાદૂઆનો પિતા હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="NEH.12.12" />યોયાકીમ મુખ્ય યાજકના હાથ નીચે જે યાજકો સેવા કરતા હતા તેઓના આગેવાનોના નામ નીચે પ્રમાણે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">સારાયા ગોત્રનો આગેવાન મરાયા;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યમિર્યા ગોત્રનો આગેવાન હનાન્યા.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="NEH.12.13" />એઝરા ગોત્રનો આગેવાન મશુલ્લામ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અમાર્યા ગોત્રનો આગેવાન યહોહાનાન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="NEH.12.14" />મેલીકુ ગોત્રનો આગેવાન યોનાથાન;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શબાન્યા ગોત્રનો આગેવાન યોસેફ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="NEH.12.15" />હારીમ ગોત્રનો આગેવાન આદના;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મરાયોથ ગોત્રનો આગેવાન હેલ્કાય.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="NEH.12.16" />ઇદ્દો ગોત્રનો આગેવાન ઝખાર્યા;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ગિન્નથોન ગોત્રનો આગેવાન મશુલ્લામ.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="NEH.12.17" />અબિયા ગોત્રનો આગેવાન ઝિખ્રી;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મિન્યામીન તથા મોઆદ્યા ગોત્રનો આગેવાન પિલ્ટાય.
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<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="NEH.12.18" />બિલ્ગાહ ગોત્રનો આગેવાન શામ્મૂઆ;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શમાયા ગોત્રનો આગેવાન યહોનાથાન.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="NEH.12.19" />યોયારીબ ગોત્રનો આગેવાન માત્તાનાય;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યદાયા ગોત્રનો આગેવાન ઉઝઝી.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="20" bcv="NEH.12.20" />સાલ્લાય ગોત્રનો આગેવાન કાલ્લાય;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આમોક ગોત્રનો આગેવાન એબેર.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="21" bcv="NEH.12.21" />હિલ્કિયા ગોત્રનો આગેવાન હશાબ્યા;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યદાયા ગોત્રનો આગેવાન નથાનએલ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NEH.12.22" />લેવીઓ માટે એલ્યાશીબ, યોયાદા, યોહાનાન અને યાદૂઆના સમયમાં કુટુંબોના આગેવાનોની સંપૂર્ણ યાદી તૈયાર થઇ હતી, એવી એક યાદી યાજકોને માટે ઇરાનના રાજા દાર્યાવેશના શાસન દરમ્યાન પણ તૈયાર કરી હતી.
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<v id="23" bcv="NEH.12.23" />લેવીય કુટુંબોના આગેવાનોના નામ એલ્યાશીબના પુત્ર યોહાનાનના સમય સુધી જ ઇતિહાસના પુસ્તકમાં નોંધ કરવામાં આવી હતી.
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<v id="24" bcv="NEH.12.24" />લેવીઓના મુખ્ય આગેવાનો આ પ્રમાણે હતા, હશાબ્યા, શેરેબ્યા તથા કાદ્મીએલનો પુત્ર યેશૂઆ, તથા તેઓના સગાંવહાંલા. આ સમૂહો સામસામે ઊભા રહીને ગાતા, વારાફરતી પોતપોતાના સમયે ઇશ્વર ભકત દાઉદની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે, સ્તુતિના ગીત ગાતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="NEH.12.25" />માત્તાન્યા, બાકબુક્યા, ઓબાદ્યા, મશુલ્લામ, ટાલ્મોન અને આક્કૂબ, તેઓ ભંડારોના દરવાજાની ચોકી કરતાં દ્વારપાળો હતા.
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<v id="26" bcv="NEH.12.26" />તેઓ યોસાદાકના પુત્ર યેશૂઆના પુત્ર યોયાકીમના સમયમાં તેમજ પ્રશાશક નહેમ્યાના સમયમાં તથા એઝરા યાજક જે લહિયો હતો તેના સમયમાં હતા.
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</p>
<s style="s">કોટની પ્રતિષ્ઠા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="NEH.12.27" />યરૂશાલેમની દીવાલની પ્રતિષ્ઠાને પ્રસંગે લોકોએ લેવીઓને તેઓની સર્વ જગ્યાઓમાંથી શોધી કાઢયા અને તેમને, દેવની આભારસ્તુતિનાં ગાયનો ગાવા, તથા ઝાંઝો, સિતાર અને વીણાઓ વગાડતાં ઉત્સાહથી પ્રતિષ્ઠાપર્વ પાળવા માટે તેઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં લાવે, તેઓએ પ્રતિષ્ઠા વિધિ ખૂબ ઉત્સાહપૂર્વક ઉજવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="NEH.12.28" />ગવૈયાઓના પુત્ર યરૂશાલેમની આસપાસના મેદાનમાંથી તથા નટોફાથીઓનાં ગામોમાંથી એકઠા થયા;
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<v id="29" bcv="NEH.12.29" />વળી તેઓ બેથ ગિલ્ગાલથી તથા ગેબાના અને આઝમાવેથનાઁ પ્રદેશમાંથી પણ એકઠા થયા; કારણકે ગવૈયાઓએ પોતાને માટે યરૂશાલેમની આસપાસ ગામો બાંધ્યા હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="NEH.12.30" />યાજકોએ તથા લેવીઓએ પોતાની જાતને પવિત્ર કરી અને પછી લોકોને, દરવાજાઓને તથા દીવાલોને પણ પવિત્ર કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="NEH.12.31" />ત્યાર પછી મેં યહૂદાના આગેવાનોને બે મોટા સમૂહ બનાવી દેવનો આભાર માનવા ભેગા કર્યા. તેઓ ચાલતા ચાલતા આભાર સ્તુતિના ગીત ગાતા હતા અને એક સમુહ દીવાલની ધારેધારે ચાલીને “કચરાના દરવાજા” પાસે ગયા.
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<v id="32" bcv="NEH.12.32" />હોશાયા તેઓની પાછળ ચાલતો હતો અને યહૂદાના અડધા આગેવાનો તેની પાછળ ચાલતા હતા.
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<v id="33" bcv="NEH.12.33" />તેમાં અઝાર્યા, એઝરા, મશુલ્લામ,
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<v id="34" bcv="NEH.12.34" />યહૂદા, બિન્યામીન, શમાયા અને યમિર્યાનો સમાવેશ થતો હતો.
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<v id="35" bcv="NEH.12.35" />તથા યાજકોના સમૂહમાંના કેટલાક રણશિંગડા લઇને ચાલ્યા; ઝખાર્યા પણ તેમાંનો એક હતો, (ઝખાર્યા યોનાથાનનો પુત્ર હતો, યોનાથાન શમાયાનો પુત્ર, જે માતાન્યાનો પુત્ર હતો તે મીખાયાનો પુત્ર હતો, મીખાયા ઝાક્કૂરનો પુત્ર હતો, અને ઝાક્કૂર આસાફનો પુત્ર હતો.)
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<v id="36" bcv="NEH.12.36" />અને તેના સગાંવહાંલા દરમ્યાન, શમાયા તથા અઝારએલ, મિલલાય, ગિલલાય, માઆય, નથાનએલ, યહૂદા તથા હનાની, તેઓ ઇશ્વર ભકત દાઉદના વાજિંત્રો લઇને ચાલ્યા. અને લહિયો એઝરા તેઓની આગળ ચાલતો હતો;
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<v id="37" bcv="NEH.12.37" />તેઓ “ઝરાના દરવાજા” પાસે આવ્યા. ત્યાંથી તેઓ સીધા આગળ ચાલીને દાઉદના શહેરના પગથિયાં પર ચઢયા જ્યાં દીવાલ દાઉદના મહેલની પર થઇને જાય છે અને પછી પૂર્વ તરફ “પાણીના દરવાજા” તરફ વળી જાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="NEH.12.38" />આભારસ્તુતિ કરનારાઓની બીજી ટોળી તેઓની ડાબી બાજુ તરફ ગઇ. હું બાકીના અડધા લોકો સાથે દીવાલ પર તેની પાછળ ગયો અને ભઠ્ઠીના મિનારાને વટાવીને પહોળી દીવાલ સુધી ગયો,
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<v id="39" bcv="NEH.12.39" />અને ત્યાંથી એફ્રાઇમ દરવાજાના પર, “જૂનો દરવાજો,” મચ્છી દરવાજો, હનાનએલનો બૂરજ અને હામ્મેઆહ બૂરજ વટાવીને ઘેટાં-દરવાજા સુધી ગયા. ચોકીદારના દરવાજા આગળ આવીને અમે અટક્યા.
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<v id="40" bcv="NEH.12.40" />પછી બંને આભાર સ્તુતિના ગાયક વૃંદના સમૂહો દેવના મંદિરમાં ઉભા રહ્યાં. હું તથા મારી સાથે અડધા અધિકારીઓ પણ મંદિરમાં ઊભા રહ્યા;
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<v id="41" bcv="NEH.12.41" />પછી આ યાજકો તેમની જગ્યાએ ઉભા રહ્યાં. એલ્યાકીમ, માઅસેયા, મિન્યામીન, મીખાયા, એલ્યોએનાય, ઝખાર્યા, હનાન્યા, એ યાજકો રણશિંગડા લઇને ઊભા રહ્યા;
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<v id="42" bcv="NEH.12.42" />અને યાજકો માઅસેયા, શમાયા, એલઆઝાર, ઉઝિઝ, યહોહાનાન, માલ્કિયા, એલામ અને એઝેર અને ગવૈયાઓએ તેમના નેતા યિઝાહ્યાની સાથે ગાતા હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="NEH.12.43" />તે દિવસે તેમણે પુષ્કળ બલીઓ અપીર્ તથા આનંદોત્સવ કર્યો; કારણ કે દેવે તેઓને આનંદથી અને સુખથી ભરપૂર કર્યા હતા; વળી સ્ત્રીઓએ તથા બાળકોએ પણ આનંદ કર્યો; તે આનંદ એવો ભારે હતો કે તેનો ધ્વનિ યરૂશાલેમથી ઘણે દૂર સુધી સંભળાતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="NEH.12.44" />તે દિવસે અર્પણો, દશાંશો, અને પ્રથમ ફળોના અર્પણો નિયમો પ્રમાણે એકત્ર કરીને તેને ભંડારોમાં મૂકવા માટે માણસોની નિમણૂંક કરવામાં આવી. આ અર્પણો યાજકો તથા લેવીઓને આપવામાં આવતા હતા. યહૂદાના લોકો, યાજકો તથા લેવીઓની સેવાથી ખૂબ જ પ્રસન્ન હતા.
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<v id="45" bcv="NEH.12.45" />તેઓએ, ગવૈયાઓએ તથા દ્વારપાળોએ પોતાના દેવની સેવા કરી, તથા દાઉદ તથા તેના પુત્ર સુલેમાનની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે લોકોને પવિત્ર કર્યા.
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<v id="46" bcv="NEH.12.46" />કારણ કે પ્રાચીનકાળમાં દાઉદના અને આસાફના સમયમાં ગાયકોનો એક આગેવાન થતો હતો. વળી દેવના સ્તવનનાઁ તથા આભારસ્તુતિના ગીતો પણ હતાઁ.
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<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="NEH.12.47" />ઝરુબ્બાબેલનાઁ તથા નહેમ્યાના સમયમાં સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ ગવૈયાઓને તથા દ્વારપાળોને દરરોજ તેમનો હિસ્સો આપ્યો; જે લેવીઓને માટે હતું તે તેઓએ એક બાજુ મુકી દીધું, અને લેવીઓએ જે હારુનના વંશજો માટે હતું તે એક બાજુ મૂક્યું.
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<c id="13" />
<s style="s">નહેમ્યાની અંતિમ આજ્ઞા
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NEH.13.1" />તે દિવસે
<bk>મૂસાનું પુસ્તક</bk> લોકોને વાંચી સંભળાવવામાં આવ્યું હતું. ત્યાં તેમને એવું લખાણ મળ્યું કે, કોઇ પણ આમ્મોનીને કે મોઆબીને દેવની મંડળીમાં કદી દાખલ ન કરવો.
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<v id="2" bcv="NEH.13.2" />કારણ કે એ લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓને માટે અન્નપાણી લઇને સામે મળવા આવ્યા નહોતા, પણ તેમણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને શાપ આપવા માટે પૈસા આપીને બલામને રોક્યો હતો; જોકે આપણા દેવે તે શાપને આશીર્વાદમાં ફેરવી નાખ્યો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="NEH.13.3" />જ્યારે લોકોએ આ નિયમશાસ્ત્ર સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે સર્વ વિદેશીઓને ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી કાઢી મૂકવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="NEH.13.4" />પરંતુ આ અગાઉ યાજક એલ્યાશીબ જોડે એક ઘટના બની, જેને દેવના મંદિરની ઓરડીનો કારભારી નીમ્યો હતો, તે ટોબિયાના સગાંમાંથી એક હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="NEH.13.5" />ટોબિયાને તે વિશાળ ઓરડી વાપરવા માટે આપી; જે ઓરડીમાં ખાદ્યાર્પણો, ધૂપ, વાસણો તથા અનાજ, નવો દ્રાક્ષારસ અને જૈતતેલના દશાંશ રાખવામાં આવતા હતા. આ વસ્તુઓ નિયમ પ્રમાણે લેવીઓ, ગવૈયાઓ તથા દ્વારપાળોને આપવામાં આવતી હતી અને આમાંની થોડી વસ્તુઓ યાજકો માટે પણ રાખવામાં આવતી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="NEH.13.6" />તે સમયે જ્યારે આ બધું ચાલતું હતું ત્યારે હું યરૂશાલેમમાં નહોતો, કારણ, રાજા આર્તાહશાસ્તાના અમલના બત્રીસમાં વષેર્ હું રાજાને મળવા બાબિલ ગયો હતો. ત્યાર પછી મેં રાજા પાસે રજા માંગી.
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<v id="7" bcv="NEH.13.7" />અને પાછો યરૂશાલેમ આવ્યો, ત્યારે મને ખબર પડી કે એલ્યાશીબે દેવના ઘરના ચોકમાં ટોબિયાને ઓરડી આપીને ભૂલ કરી છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="NEH.13.8" />ત્યારે હું ઘણો ક્રોધિત થયો અને મેં તે ઓરડીમાંથી ટોબિયાનો સર્વ સામાન બહાર ફેંકી દીધો.
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<v id="9" bcv="NEH.13.9" />પછી મેં તેં ઓરડીને સંપૂર્ણપણે શુદ્ધ કરવાનો હુકમ કર્યો. પછી હું દેવના ઘરના પાત્રો, ખાદ્યાર્પણો અને ધૂપ પાછાં લાવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="NEH.13.10" />મને એ પણ ખબર પડી કે લેવીઓ અને યાજકો પોતપોતાના ખેતરમાં પાછા ફર્યા હતા, કારણ, તેમને તેમનો જે ભાગ મળવા પાત્ર હતો તે તેઓને ન મળ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="NEH.13.11" />મેં તરત જ આગેવાનોને તેની ફરિયાદ કરી અને કહ્યું, “તમે દેવના મંદિરની શા માટે અવગણના કરી છે?” ત્યારબાદ મેં સર્વ લેવીઓને પાછા બોલાવ્યા અને ફરીથી તેઓને ફરજ પર મંદિરમાં નીમ્યા.
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<v id="12" bcv="NEH.13.12" />ત્યારબાદ બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ અનાજ, દ્રાક્ષારસ અને તેલનો દશમો ભાગ ભંડારમાં લાવવા લાગ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NEH.13.13" />અને મેં યાજક શેલેમ્યા તથા સાદોક ચિટનીસ, અને લેવી પદાયાને ભંડાર સંભાળવા મૂક્યા અને મેં તેમની મદદમાં માત્તાન્યાના પુત્ર, ઝાક્કૂરના પુત્ર હાનાનને તેઓને મદદ કરવા નીમ્યો. આ માણસોની શાખ ઘણી સારી હતી. તેઓનું કામ પોતાના સાથી લેવીઓને પ્રામાણિકપણે પૂરવઠાની વહેંચણી કરી આપવાનું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NEH.13.14" />હે મારા દેવ, આ મારાં સારાં કાર્યોને યાદ રાખજો અને દેવના મંદિર માટે અને તેમની સેવા માટે મેં જે સારા કામ કર્યા છે તે ભૂલી જશો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="NEH.13.15" />એક દિવસ હું જ્યારે બહાર યહૂદામાં હતો, ત્યારે મેં કેટલાક લોકોને સાબ્બાથના દિવસે દ્રાક્ષા પીલવાનું કામ કરતા જોયા તથા અનાજની ગુણો અંદર લાવી ગધેડા પર લાદતાં હતાં અને સાબ્બાથના દિવસે દ્રાક્ષારસ, દ્રાક્ષો, અંજીર તથા સર્વ પ્રકારના ભાર યરૂશાલેમમાં લાવતાઁ જોયા. તેથી મેં તેમને ત્યાં જ ચેતવણી આપી અને એ બધી વસ્તુઓ વેચવાની મનાઇ કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="NEH.13.16" />તૂરથી આવેલા કેટલાક લોકો જેઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેતાં હતાં, તેઓ પણ માછલી અને બીજી બધી જાતનો માલ લઇને આવ્યાં અને તેને સાબ્બાથના દિવસે યહૂદાના લોકો અને યરૂશાલેમમાં પણ વેચ્યો.
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<v id="17" bcv="NEH.13.17" />મેં યહૂદાના ઉમરાવોને ફરિયાદ કરી અને કહ્યું, “આ કઇ રીતનું અનિષ્ટ છે? તમે પોતાનું સામાન્ય કામ સાબ્બાથના દિવસે કરી રહ્યાં છો?
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<v id="18" bcv="NEH.13.18" />તમારા પિતૃઓએ પણ બરાબર આ કર્યુ હતું અને તેથી આપણા દેવે આપણા પર અને આ નગર પર આ બધાં દુ:ખો વરસાવ્યા હતાં. તમે સાબ્બાથ દિવસને ષ્ટ કરીને ઇસ્રાએલ પર નવેસરથી દેવનો રોષ ઉતારો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="NEH.13.19" />તેથી મેં તેઓને આજ્ઞા કરી કે શુક્રવારની રાતે અંધારું થતાં નગરના દરવાજાઓ બંધ કરવામાં આવે અને સાબ્બાથનો દિવસ પૂરો થાય ત્યાં સુધી તેને ઉઘાડવામાં ન આવે. મારા કેટલાક સેવકોને મેં દરવાજા આગળ ગોઠવી દીધા કે જેથી સાબ્બાથે કોઇ પણ જાતનો માલ અંદર લાવવામાં ન આવે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="NEH.13.20" />એક બે વખત તો જુદી જુદી જાતના માલના વેપારીઓ રાત્રે યરૂશાલેમ બહાર પડી રહ્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="NEH.13.21" />પણ મેં તેમને ચેતવણી આપી કે, “તમે રાત્રે નગરની દીવાલ આગળ કેમ પડી રહો છો? જો ફરી એ પ્રમાણે કરશો તો તમારી સામે પગલાં લઇશ.” ત્યાર પછી તેઓ સાબ્બાથના દિવસે ક્યારેય આવ્યા નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="NEH.13.22" />અને મેં લેવીઓને પોતાની જાતને પવિત્ર કરવાની અને દરવાજો સાચવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી, જેથી સાબ્બાથનો દિવસ પવિત્ર રહે.
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<p style="p">હે મારા દેવ, આ બધું પણ યાદ રાખી મારા પર કૃપા કરજે, હે કરુંણાના સાગર, મારા પર દયા રાખજે કારણ કે તારી કરંણા અપાર છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="NEH.13.23" />હવે તે સમય દરમ્યાન મારા જાણવામાં આવ્યું કે કેટલાક યહૂદીઓએ આશ્દોદી, આમ્મોની તથા મોઆબી સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે લગ્ન કર્યા છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="NEH.13.24" />અને તેઓમાંના અડધા બાળકો આશ્દોદી ભાષા બોલે છે, અને તેઓ યહૂદાની ભાષા બોલી શકતા નથી. તેને બદલે પોતપોતાના લોકોની ભાષા બોલતા હતા.
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<v id="25" bcv="NEH.13.25" />તેથી મેં તેઓને તેમની બૂરાઇ માટે કહ્યું અને તેમને શ્રાપ આપ્યો. તેઓમાંના કેટલાકને મેં માર્યા, તેઓના વાળ ખેંચી કાઢયા, ને તેઓ પાસે દેવનાં સમ લેવડાવ્યા કે, અમે અમારી પોતાની પુત્રીઓને તેઓના પુત્રો સાથે પરણાવીશું નહિ અને તેઓની પુત્રીઓને અમારી કે અમારા પુત્રો સાથે પરણાવીશું નહિ.
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<v id="26" bcv="NEH.13.26" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા સુલેમાને શું આવી સ્ત્રીઓને કારણે પાપ કર્યુ નહોતું? જો કે ઘણાં રાષ્ટોમાં તેના જેટલો મહાન રાજા કોઇ નહોતો. તે પોતાના દેવનો વહાલો હતો અને દેવે તેને સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પર રાજા ઠરાવ્યો હતો; તેમ છતાં વિદેશી સ્ત્રીઓએ તેને પાપ કરવા પ્રેર્યો હતો.
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<v id="27" bcv="NEH.13.27" />શું અમે તમારા વિષે પણ સાંભળીએ કે તમે વિદેશી સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે લગ્ન કરીને આપણા દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ મહા પાપ આચર્યા છે?
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="NEH.13.28" />હવે યોયાદાના પુત્રોમાંથી એકા, યોયાદા મુખ્ય યાજક એલ્યાશીબનો પુત્ર હોરોની સાન્બાલ્લાટનો જમાઇ હતો. તેથી મેં તેને મારી આગળથી હાંકી કાઢયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="NEH.13.29" />હે મારા દેવ, યાદ કર કે તે લોકોએ યાજકો તથા લેવીઓનો કરારનો ભંગ કરીને યાજકપદને કલંકિત કર્યુ છે,
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="NEH.13.30" />આ રીતે મેં સર્વ લોકોને બધી વિદેશીઓ સંબંધમાંથી શુધ્દ કર્યા. અને મેં યાજકો તથા લેવીઓને માટે તેમની ફરજો માટે નિયમો બનાવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="NEH.13.31" />અને મેં ઠરાવેલા સમયે કાષ્ટાર્પણ માટે અને પ્રથમ ફળોના અર્પણ માટે વ્યવસ્થા કરી જ્યારે તે નિર્ધારિત હતું.
</p>
<p style="p">હે મારા દેવ, આ યાદ કરી મને આશીર્વાદ આપજે!
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="EST"><id id="EST">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>એસ્તેર
</h><toc level="1">એસ્તેર
</toc><toc level="2">એસ્તેર
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">એસ્તેર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">રાણી વાશ્તી પદષ્ટ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EST.1.1" />આ બધું બન્યું ત્યારે અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજા, ભારતથી તે કૂશ સુધીના એકસો સત્તાવીસ પ્રાંતોનો સમ્રાટ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EST.1.2" />રાજા અહાશ્વેરોશ પાટનગર સૂસામાં તેના સિંહાસન પર મહેલમાંથી રાજ્ય કરતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EST.1.3" />તેના અમલના ત્રીજા વષેર્ તેણે પોતાના બધા અમલદારો અને દરબારીઓને એક ઉજાણી આપી. તે સમય દરમ્યાન ઇરાન તથા માદાયના લશ્કરી આગેવાનો અને મહત્વના નેતાઓ પણ ઉજાણીમાં હાજર હતા;
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EST.1.4" />તે સમયે તેણે તેમની સમક્ષ એક સો એંશી દિવસ સુધી પોતાના રાજ્યની વિપુલ સંપત્તિનું અને પોતાના રાજવૈભવનું પ્રદર્શન કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EST.1.5" />એક સો એંશી દિવસની ઉજવણીને અંતે રાજાએ પાટનગર સૂસાના સર્વ લોકોને, સૌથી વધારે મહત્વની વ્યકિતઓથી માંડીને સૌથી ઓછા મહત્વના લોકોને ઉજાણી આપી, જે સતત સાત દિવસો સુધી મહેલના ઉદ્યાનમાં રાખવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EST.1.6" />ત્યાં લટકતાં સફેદ અને ભૂરા રંગના શણના કપડા જેને સફેદ શણની અને જાંબુડી રંગની દોરીઓ વડે ચાંદીની કડીઓ પર અને આરસના સ્તંભો દ્વારા લગાડવામાં આવ્યા હતા. સોનાચાંદીના પલંગો આરસ અને બીજા ભાતભાતના મૂલ્યવાન પથ્થરોની ફરશ પર ગોઠવ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EST.1.7" />તેઓને અનેકવિધ પ્રકારના આકારના સોનાના પાત્રોમાં દ્રાક્ષારસ પીરસવામાં આવ્યો હતો. રાજાએ પોતાને શોભે એ રીતે દ્રાક્ષારસ છૂટથી પીવડાવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EST.1.8" />રાજાએ દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવા સંબંધી નિયમ કર્યો હતો; દરેક વ્યકિત પોતાની ખુશી પ્રમાણે ભલે પીએ, પરંતુ કોઇને વધારે પીવા માટે ફરજ પાડવી નહિ. રાજાએ પોતાના મહેલના સર્વ કારભારીઓને હુકમ કર્યો હતો કે, તે દરેકને પોતપોતાની ઇચ્છા મુજબ પીવા દેવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EST.1.9" />રાણી વાશ્તીએ પણ સ્રીઓ માટે અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજાના રાજમહેલમાં એક ઉજાણી આપી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EST.1.10" />ઉજાણીના સાતમા દિવસે રાજા દ્રાક્ષારસ પીને ખુબ નશામાં હતો અને તેણે પોતાની સેવા કરતા સાત ખોજાઓ મહૂમાન, બિઝથા, હાબોર્ના, બિગ્થા, અબાગ્થા, ઝેથાર અને કાર્કાસને બોલાવ્યા અને હુકમ કર્યો કે,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EST.1.11" />રાણી વાશ્તીને તેણીનો મુગટ પહેરાવીને લાવો, જેથી આગેવાનો અને મહત્વના લોકો તેના સૌદર્યનું દર્શન કરે. રાણી સાચે જ બહુ સુંદર હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EST.1.12" />પરંતુ જ્યારે ખોજાઓએ રાજાના આદેશ વિષે રાણીને કહ્યું ત્યારે તેણે આવવાનો ઇન્કાર કર્યો. આથી રાજાને ખૂબ ગુસ્સો ચઢયો, અને તે ક્રોધથી ભભૂકી ઊઠયો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EST.1.13" />તેથી રાજાએ બુદ્ધિમાન માણસોની કાનૂની નિષ્ણાંતોની અને હાલના વિષયોમાં જાણકારોની સલાહ લીધી, કારણ, રાજા માટે કાનૂન અને વ્યવસ્થાના નિષ્ણાતોની સલાહ લેવાનો ત્યારે રિવાજ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EST.1.14" />બુદ્ધિમાન માણસો જે રાજાની ખૂબ નજીક હતાં તે કાર્શના, શેથાર આદમાથા, તાશીર્શ, મેરેસ, માર્સના, અને મમૂખાન જેવા સૌથી નજીકના માણસો હતા. એ સાતે ઇરાનના અને માદાયના નેતાઓ હતા. તેઓ રાજાને સીધા મળી શકતા હતા, અને રાજ્યમાં ઉંચી પદવીઓ ધરાવતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EST.1.15" />રાજાએ તેઓને પ્રશ્ર્ન કર્યો, “દરબારીઓ મારફતે પહોંચાડવામાં આવેલી રાજાની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરવા માટે કાયદેસર રીતે રાણી વાશ્તી સામે શાં પગલાં લેવાં જોઇએ?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EST.1.16" />પછી રાજા અને તેના અમલદારો સમક્ષ મમૂખાને કહ્યુ કે, “વાશ્તી રાણીએ કેવળ રાજા વિરૂદ્ધ જ નહિ પરંતુ અહાશ્વેરોશના સામ્રાજ્યના પ્રત્યેક અધિકારી તથા પ્રત્યેક નાગરિક વિરૂદ્ધ અપરાધ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EST.1.17" />બધી જ સ્ત્રીઓને રાણીના વર્તનની જાણ થશે અને તેઓ પણ પોતાના પતિ પ્રત્યે અનાદર કરવા પ્રેરાશે, તેઓ પોતાના પતિઓને કહેશે કે, ‘અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજાએ વાશ્તી રાણીને પોતાની સંમુખ આવવા આજ્ઞા કરી પણ રાણીએ તેનુ પણ પાલન કર્યુ નહિ.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EST.1.18" />“તે જ દિવસે ઇરાન તથા માદાયના આગેવાનો અને અમલદારોની પત્નીઓ જેને રાણીના જવાબની જાણ થઇ, તેઓ પોતાના પતિઓની સાથે એની વાત કરવાની અને તેને પરિણામે સમગ્ર રાજ્યમાં અવિનય અને ક્રોધ મોટી માત્રામાં ફેલાઇ જશે,
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EST.1.19" />“જો રાજાને પસંદ પડે તો અમારીં સલાહ આ છે: જેને ઇરાન અને માદાયના કાનૂનોમાં લખવામાં આવશે અને તેને બદલી શકાશે નહિ, શાહી ફરમાન બહાર પાડો: ‘વાશ્તી રાણીએ અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજાની હાજરીમાં ક્યારેય ન આવવું.’ પછી આપ બીજી કોઇ વધુ પાત્રતાવાળી સ્ત્રીને રાણી બનાવો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EST.1.20" />આ શાહી ફરમાન આખા સામ્રાજ્યમાં જાહેર થશે, પછી બધી જ સ્ત્રીઓ પોતાના પતિને માન આપશે પછી તે મહાન અને અગત્યનો હોય કે અગત્યનો ન હોય.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EST.1.21" />રાજા તથા તેના અધિકારીઓને મમૂખાનની સલાહ પસંદ પડી અને તે પ્રમાણે કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EST.1.22" />તેણે રાજ્યનાં બધાં પ્રાંતોમાં તેઓની સ્થાનિક ભાષામાં પત્રો મોકલી આપ્યાં, તે પત્રોને દરેક પ્રાંતની ભાષામાં જાહેરાત કરવામાં આવી કે, પ્રત્યેક પુરુષ જ પોતાના કુટુંબનો ઉપરી હોવો જોઇએ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">એસ્તેરને રાણીપદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EST.2.1" />જ્યારે અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજાનો ગુસ્સો શમી ગયો, ત્યારે તેણે વાશ્તી રાણી વિશે વિચાર્યુ અને તેને યાદ કર્યુ કે, તે કેવી રીતે વતીર્ હતી અને તેણીની સામે કેવા પગલાં ભરવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EST.2.2" />ત્યારે રાજાના અંગત સેવકોએ સલાહ આપી, ચાલો રાજ્યની સૌથી વધુ સ્વરૂપવાન કુમારિકાઓની શોધ થાય અને તેઓને તમારી પાસે લાવીએ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EST.2.3" />ભલે રાજા દરેક પ્રાંતમાં આ કામને માટે લોકોને નીમે. તેઓ જુવાન સૌદર્યવાન કુમારિકાઓને પસંદ કરીને પાટનગર સૂસાના મહેલના જનાનખાનામાં લઇ આવે. જનાનખાના પર નીમેલા રાજાના ખોજા હેગેની સંભાળ નીચે તેઓ રહે. આ કુમારિકાઓને સૌંદર્યના દ્રવ્યો હેગે પુરા પાડશે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EST.2.4" />પછી જે કન્યા રાજાને સૌથી વધુ પસંદ પડે તે કુમારિકા વાશ્તીને બદલે રાણી થાય. આ સલાહ રાજાને ગમી, તેણે તરત જ આ યોજનાનો અમલ કર્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EST.2.5" />પાટનગર સૂસામાં એક યહૂદી રહેતો હતો. તેનું નામ મોર્દખાય હતું. તે બિન્યામીન ટુકળીના, કીશના પુત્ર શિમઇના પુત્ર યાઇરનો પુત્ર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EST.2.6" />જ્યારે નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજાએ યરૂશાલેમનો નાશ કર્યો અને યહૂદાના રાજા યહોયાકીન અને તે બીજા અનેક યહૂદીઓની સાથે દેશ નિકાલ કરાવી તેને બંદીવાન તરીકે બાબિલ લઇ જવાયો હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="EST.2.7" />તેના કાકાની પુત્રી હદાસ્સાહ ઊફેર્ એસ્તેરને માબાપના મૃત્યુ પછી મોર્દખાયએ પોતાની પુત્રી તરીકે ખોળે લીધી હતી. અને તેને ઉછેરીને મોટી કરી હતી. તે કુમારિકાનો દેહ ઘાટીલો અને મુખ રૂપાળું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EST.2.8" />રાજાનો હુકમ બહાર પડ્યા પછી ઘણી કુમારિકાઓને પાટનગર સૂસા લાવીને હેગેને સોંપવામાં આવી હતી. એસ્તેરને પણ રાજાના મહેલમાં લઇ જઇને હેગેને સોંપવામાં આવી હતી.
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<v id="9" bcv="EST.2.9" />જ્યારે હેગેએ એસ્તેરને જોઇ ત્યારે તે તેનાથી ખૂબજ પ્રભાવિત થયો અને તેને પ્રસન્ન રાખવા તેણે પોતાનાથી બનતું બધું જ કર્યુ. તેણે એસ્તેર માટે તરત જ સૌંદર્ય પ્રસાધનો અને વિશિષ્ટ ખોરાકની વ્યવસ્થા કરી આપી અને રાજમહેલમાંથી તેને સાત ચૂંટેલી દાસીઓ પણ આપી, ઉપરાંત તેણીને અને તેણીની દાસીઓને જનાનખાનાનો શ્રે ભાગ રહેવા માટે આપ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="EST.2.10" />પોતે યહૂદી છે તેવું એસ્તેરે કોઇને જણાવ્યું ન હતું કારણકે મોર્દખાયે તેને તેમ કરવાની ના પાડી હતી.
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<v id="11" bcv="EST.2.11" />એસ્તેરની શી સારસંભાળ છે અને નિયતિ વિષે પૂછપરછ કરવા માટે મોર્દખાય પ્રતિદિન સ્ત્રીઓના કક્ષોના ચોગાન સામે આગળ પાછળ ચાલ્યા કરતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EST.2.12" />રાજા અહાશ્વેરોશની સામે કુમારિકાઓના દરેકના વારા આવે તે પહેલાં તેઓને છ માસ સુધી સુગંધી પદાથોર્ વડે માવજત આપવામાં આવતી. પછી બીજા છ માસ તેઓને તેલો અને સૌંદર્ય માવજતો આપવામાં આવતી. આમ તેઓની બાર માસ સુધી કાળજી લઇ તૈયાર કરવામાં આવતી.
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<v id="13" bcv="EST.2.13" />જ્યારે અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજા પાસે જવાનો કુમારિકાનો વારો આવે ત્યારે તેને જનાનખાનામાંથી જે કંઇ ગમે તે આપવામાં આવતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="EST.2.14" />સાંજે તે કુમારિકા મહેલમાં જતી, અને સવારે બીજી સ્રીના જનાનખાનામાં પાછી ફરતી, જેની સંભાળ રાજાની ઉપપત્નીઓનો રક્ષક જે ખોજો શાઆશ્ગાઝની દેખરેખ હેઠળ હતી. રાજાને તે ખાસ પસંદ પડી હોય અને તેને નામ લઇને બોલાવે તે જ કુમારિકા રાજા પાસે ફરી જતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EST.2.15" />એસ્તેરનો વારો જ્યારે રાજા પાસે જવાનો આવ્યો ત્યારે તેણે કોઇ પણ વસ્તુની માગણી ન કરી અને તેણીએ હેગેની સલાહ સ્વીકારી કે તેણીએે શું લેવું (હેગે રાજાના જનાનખાનાનો અખત્યાર સંભાળતો ખોજો હતો. એસ્તર તેના કાકાની દીકરીની દત્તક પુત્રી હતી.) બીજી કુમારિકાઓએ જ્યારે તેને જોઇ ત્યારે તેઓએ તેની ખૂબ પ્રશંસા કરીને પ્રસન્નતા વ્યકત કરી. એસ્તેર તે સૌનુ મન હરી લીધું જેઓએ તેણીને જોઇ.
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<v id="16" bcv="EST.2.16" />રાજા અહાશ્વેરોશના શાસનના સાતમા વષેર્ દશમા એટલે કે ટેબેથ મહિનામાં તેને રાજા પાસે લઇ જવામાં આવી ત્યારે બીજી કુમારિકાઓ કરતાં રાજાને તે વધારે પસંદ પડી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EST.2.17" />અને રાજા એસ્તેરથી બહુંજ ખુશ હતો અને તે એસ્તેરને પ્રેમ કરતો અને બીજી કોઇ કુમારિકાઓ કરતાં એસ્તેરને વધારે માન્ય રાખતો. તે એસ્તેરથી એટલો બધો પ્રસન્ન થયો કે તેણે સોનાનો મુગટ તેણીના માથા પર મૂક્યો અને વાશ્તી રાણીની જગ્યાએ તેને રાણી તરીકે જાહેર કરી.
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<v id="18" bcv="EST.2.18" />ત્યારપછી રાજાએ એસ્તેરના માનમાં પોતાના અમલદારોને અને દરબારીઓને મોટો ભોજન સમારોહ આપ્યો. વળી તેણે રાજ્યના બધા પ્રાંતોમાં રજા જાહેર કરી અને રાજાને શોભે એવી ભેટોની લ્હાણી કરી.
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</p>
<s style="s">કાવત્રાં વિશે જાણતો મોર્દખાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EST.2.19" />ત્યારબાદ જ્યારે બીજીવાર સુંદર કુમારિકાઓને એકત્રિત કરવામાં આવી તે સમયે મોર્દખાય રાજાના દરવાજાની બાજુમાં બેઠો હતો.
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<v id="20" bcv="EST.2.20" />મોર્દખાયની સૂચના પ્રમાણે એસ્તેરે પોતે યહૂદી છે તેવું કોઇને જણાવ્યું ન હતું. હજુ પણ તે મોર્દખાયના ઘરમાં રહેતી હતી, ત્યારે તેણી જેમ તેની સૂચનાઓનું પાલન કરતી હતી તે જ પ્રમાણે પાળવાનું તેણે ચાલુ રાખ્યું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EST.2.21" />જ્યારે મોર્દખાય રાજાના દરવાજાની બાજુમાં બેઠો હતો તે દરમ્યાન રાજાના દરવાજાના માગેર્ ચોકી કરતા બે અધિકારીઓ બિગ્થાન અને તેરેશ જે રાજાથી ગુસ્સે થયા હતા અને તેમણે અહાશ્વેરોશનું ખૂન કરવાનું કાવત્રું રચ્યું.
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<v id="22" bcv="EST.2.22" />મોર્દખાયને તેની જાણ થતાં તેણે રાણી એસ્તેરને વાત કરી, અને તેણે મોર્દખાયનું નામ દઇને રાજાને જાણ કરી.
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<v id="23" bcv="EST.2.23" />તપાસ કરતાં તે સાચુ નીકળ્યું. બંને ચોકીદારોને ફાંસીએ ચઢાવવામાં આવ્યાં. આ બધી વાતો રાજાની પાસે રખાતા કાળવૃત્તાંતના પુસ્તકમાં લખવામાં આવી હતી.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">યહૂદીઓના વિનાશ માટે હામાનની યોજના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EST.3.1" />ત્યારબાદ થોડા સમય પછી અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજાએ અગાગી હામ્મદાથાના પુત્ર હામાનને ઊંચી પદવીએ ચઢાવ્યો. તેને બધા અમલદારોથીં ઉંચી પદવી આપવામાં આવી.
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<v id="2" bcv="EST.3.2" />અને રાજાની આજ્ઞાથી રાજાના બધા સેવકો રાજાના દરવાજે હામાનને નીચા નમીને પ્રણામ કરવા લાગ્યા; પરંતુ મોર્દખાયે તેમ કર્યુ નહિ અને માન આપવાની ના પાડી.
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<v id="3" bcv="EST.3.3" />તેથી દરવાજે રહેલા રાજાના સેવકોએ મોર્દખાયને પૂછયું; “તું શા માટે રાજાની આજ્ઞાનો ભંગ કરે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EST.3.4" />આ રીતે તેઓ રોજ તેને પૂછતા હતા અને તે તેમની વાત સાંભળતો નહોતો, તેણે તેઓને એટલું જ કહ્યું કે, “હું એક યહૂદી છું.” તે લોકોએ આ બાબતની જાણ હામાનને કરી, એ જાણવા માટે કે, તે મોર્દખાયની વર્તણૂંક સહન કરે છે કે કેમ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EST.3.5" />જ્યારે હામાને જોયું કે, મોર્દખાય તેની આગળ નીચો નમતો નથી કે તેને માન આપતો નથી, ત્યારે તે ખૂબજ ગુસ્સે થયો,
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<v id="6" bcv="EST.3.6" />અને મોર્દખાય યહૂદી છે એવી જાણ થતાં ફકત મોર્દખાયનો જીવ લઇને સંતોષ માનવાને બદલે તેણે આખા સામ્રાજ્યમાંથી એકેએક યહૂદીનો નાશ કરવાનો નિશ્ચય કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EST.3.7" />રાજા અહાશ્વેરોશના અમલના બારમા વર્ષ પહેલા એટલે કે નીસાન મહિનામાં હામાને ફાંસીનો દિવસ નક્કી કરવા ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાંખી. બારમો મહિનો એટલે કે અદાર મહિનો અને તેરમો દિવસ પસંદ થયો.a
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<v id="8" bcv="EST.3.8" />ત્યારે હામાને રાજાને કહ્યું, “આપના રાજ્યના બધા પ્રાંતોમાંની બીજી પ્રજાઓ વચ્ચે એક પ્રજાના લોકો પ્રસરેલા છે; બીજા બધા લોકો કરતાં તેમના રીત રિવાજો જુદા છે અને તેઓ આપ નામદારના કાનૂનો સુદ્ધાં માનતા નથી. તેમને નભાવી લેવા તે તમારા હિતમાં નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EST.3.9" />“માટે જો આપને યોગ્ય લાગે તો એમનો નાશ કરવાની આજ્ઞા ફરમાવો, તો જેઓ આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરશે, તેઓને હું દશ હજાર ચાંદીના સિક્કાઓ રાજભંડારમાં લઇ જવા માટે આપીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EST.3.10" />એ સાંભળીને રાજાએ પોતાની આંગળી ઉપરથી રાજમુદ્રા કાઢીને યહૂદીઓના દુશ્મન અગાગી હામાન કે જે હામ્મદાથાનો પુત્ર હતો તેને આપી.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EST.3.11" />અને રાજાએ હામાનને કહ્યું કે, “એ નાણાં અને એ લોકો પણ છો તારા હાથમાં રહેતાં, તારે જેમ કરવું હોય તેમ કર.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EST.3.12" />ત્યારબાદ પહેલા મહિનાને તેરમે દિવસે રાજાના મંત્રીઓને બોલાવવામાં આવ્યા; અને હામોનની આજ્ઞાઓ પ્રમાણે અમલદારો પર, દરેક પ્રાંતના સૂબાઓ પર, તથા દરેક પ્રજાના આગેવાનો પર, અર્થાત્ પ્રત્યેક પ્રાંતની લિપિમાં અને પ્રત્યેક પ્રાંતની ભાષામાં અને અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજાને નામે તે આદેશો લખાયા અને રાજાની મુદ્રિકાથી તેના પર મહોર મારવામાં આવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EST.3.13" />સંદેશાવાહકો મારફત એ પત્રો રાજાના બધા પ્રાંતોમાં મોકલવામાં આવ્યા જેમાં આજ્ઞા હતી કે, બારમા એટલે કે અદાર મહિનાના તેરમા દિવસે એક જ દિવસમાં બધાં જ યહૂદી જુવાન અને વૃદ્ધો સ્ત્રી-પુરુષો સહિતની હત્યા કરવામાં આવે અને તેમને સાફ કરી નાખવામાં આવે, તેમની માલમિલકત લૂંટાઇ જવી જોઇએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EST.3.14" />આ આદેશની નકલને બધાં પ્રાંતોમાં નિયમ તરીકે વહેચવી તેને જાહેરમાં પ્રગટ કરવી જેથી નિર્ધારિત સમયે રાજ્યનાં બધાં લોકો તે દિવસ માટે તૈયાર જ રહે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EST.3.15" />સંદેશાવાહકોએ આ હુકમનામાની જાહેરાત સૌપ્રથમ સૂસાનાં પાટનગરમાં કરી. પછી સંદેશવાહકો આ આદેશપત્રોને દરેક પ્રાંતમાં આપવા ગયા. સૂસાનું સમગ્ર નગર ભયભીત થઇ ગયું અને મુંઝવણમાં મૂકાઇ ગયું. પણ રાજા અને હામાન દ્રાક્ષારસ માણી રહ્યાં હતાં.
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</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">મદદ માટે એસ્તેરને મોદેર્ખાયની વિનંતી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EST.4.1" />જ્યારે મોર્દખાયે આ બધું જાણ્યું ત્યારે તેણે પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડ્યાં, શરીરે રાખ ચોળી ટાટ પહેર્યુ, અને મોટા સાદે રડતો રડતો નગરમાં નીકળી પડ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="EST.4.2" />તે છેક મહેલના દરવાજે જઇને બહાર ઊભો રહ્યો, કારણ કે ટાટ પહેરીને અંદર પ્રવેશવાની કોઇનેય પરવાનગી ન હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="EST.4.3" />જ્યાં જ્યાં રાજાની આજ્ઞા પહોંચી ગઇ તે બધા પ્રાંતોમાં યહૂદીઓમાં શોક ફેલાઇ ગયો અને લોકો ઉપવાસ કરી રડવા લાગ્યા અને છાતી કૂટવા લાગ્યા. ઘણા તો ટાટ પહેરીને રાખ પાથરીને તેમાં સૂતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EST.4.4" />જ્યારે એસ્તેરની દાસીઓએ તથા ખોજાઓએ આવીને તેને મોર્દખાય વિષે કહ્યું, ત્યારે તે ખૂબ દુ:ખી થઇ ગઇ. મોર્દખાય ટાટ વસ્રો કાઢી બદલી નાખે તે માટે તેણીએ વસ્ત્રો મોકલી આપ્યાં. પરંતુ મોર્દખાયે તેનો અસ્વીકાર કર્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="EST.4.5" />પછી એસ્તેરે રાજાએ તેણીની સેવામાં નીમેલા ખોજા હથાખને બોલાવી, તેને મોર્દખાય પાસે જઇ તેને શેની તકલીફ છે અને શાથી, તે પૂછી લાવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી.
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<v id="6" bcv="EST.4.6" />હથાક મોર્દખાય પાસે મહેલના દરવાજે ગયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="EST.4.7" />અને તેણે મોર્દખાય પાસેથી તેની સાથે શું બન્યું હતું તે બધી વાત સાંભળી. હામાને યહૂદીઓનો નાશ કરવા માટે રાજ્યની તિજોરીમાં જે નાણાં આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તેનો ચોક્કસ આંકડો પણ મોર્દખાયે તેને કહ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="EST.4.8" />વળી તેઓનો નાશ કરવાનો હૂકમ સૂસામાં કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો, તેની નકલ તેણે તેને આપી કે, તે એસ્તેરને તે દેખાડે, અને તેને વિનંતી કરે કે રાજાની હજૂરમાં જઇને તે પોતાના લોકોને માટે કાલાવાલા કરીને તેમને બચાવવા અરજ કરે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EST.4.9" />પછી હથાકે પાછા ફર્યા બાદ મોર્દખાયનું કહેલું બધું એસ્તેરને કહ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EST.4.10" />એટલે એસ્તેરે હથાકને કહ્યું કે, જા, અને મોર્દખાયને આ મુજબ કહે,
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<v id="11" bcv="EST.4.11" />“આ કાનૂન રાજાના બધાંજ આગેવાનો અને પ્રાંતોના બધાં જ લોકો જાણે છે કે, કોઇ પણ સ્ત્રી કે પુરુષ વગર પરવાનગીથી છેક અંદરના સભામંડળમાં જઇ શકતું નથી કારણ કે જે કોઇ બોલાવ્યાં વગર તેમ કરે તો તેને મૃત્યુની સજા કરવામાં આવે છે, સિવાય કે રાજા તે વ્યકિત સામે પોતાનો સોનાનો રાજદંડ ધરે. પણ છેલ્લા એક મહિનાથી રાજાએ મને બોલાવી નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EST.4.12" />એસ્તેરનો સંદેશો તેણે જઇને મોર્દખાયને કહી સંભળાવ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="EST.4.13" />જવાબમાં મોર્દખાયે એસ્તેરને કહેવડાવ્યું, “તું એવું ના વિચારતી કે તું રાજમહેલમાં રહેતી હોવાથી જ્યારે બધાં યહૂદીઓની હત્યા થાય ત્યારે તું બચી જશે?”
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<v id="14" bcv="EST.4.14" />“જો તે સમયે તું મૌન રહીશ અને યહૂદીઓને બચાવવા માટે કાઇં નહિ કરે તો બીજી કોઇ રીતે ચોક્કસ યહૂદીઓ માટે મદદ અને રાહત મોકલાશે, પરંતુ તારુ તથા તારાં પિતાના કુટુંબનો નાશ થશે. અને કોને ખબર છે કે તને રાણીપદ કદાચ આવા સમય માટે તો પ્રાપ્ત થયું હશેં?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EST.4.15" />ત્યારે એસ્તેરે તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “તમારે મોર્દખાયને એવો જવાબ આપવો કે,
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<v id="16" bcv="EST.4.16" />જા, સૂસામાં જેટલા યહૂદીઓ છે તે સર્વને ભેગા કર. અને તમે સર્વ આજે મારે માટે ઉપવાસ કરો, ત્રણ દિવસ સુધી રાત્રે કે દિવસે તમારે કોઇએ ખાવું-પીવું નહિ; હું અને મારી દાસીઓ પણ એ જ રીતે ઉપવાસ કરીશું. જો કે એ પણ નિયમ વિરૂદ્ધ છે તોપણ હું રાજાની હજૂરમાં જઇશ; જો મારો નાશ થાય, તો ભલે થાય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EST.4.17" />ત્યારે મોર્દખાય પોતાને રસ્તે ગયો, અને એસ્તેરે તેને જે આજ્ઞા આપી હતી તે પ્રમાણે તેણે કર્યુ.
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">એસ્તેરની રાજાને અરજ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EST.5.1" />ત્રીજા દિવસે એસ્તેર રાણીનો પોષાક પહેરીને રાજાના ખંડની સામે મહેલની અંદરના પ્રવેશમાં જઇને ઊભી રહી. એ વખતે રાજા રાજમહેલના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ સિંહાસન પર બિરાજેલ હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="EST.5.2" />તેમણે એસ્તેરને દરબારમાં ઊભેલી જોઇ અને તેને જોઇને ખુશ થયા, તેમણે સોનાનો રાજદંડ લંબાવ્યો. એટલે એસ્તેરે જઇને રાજદંડની અણીને સ્પર્શ કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EST.5.3" />રાજાએ પૂછયું, “રાણી એસ્તેર, તારી શી ઇચ્છા છે? તારી શી માગણી છે? તું અડધું રાજ માગશે તો પણ તે તને આપવામાં આવશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EST.5.4" />એસ્તેરે તેને કહ્યું કે, “આપ નામદાર જો મારા પર પ્રસન્ન હોય તો આજે મેં રાખેલી ઉજાણીમાં આપ હામાન સાથે પધારો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EST.5.5" />એટલે રાજાએ નોકરોને કહ્યું કે, હામાનને જલદી હાજર કરો કે જેથી આપણે એસ્તરના કહેવા મુજબ કરી શકીએ.
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી રાજા તથા હામાન એસ્તેરની ઉજાણીમાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="EST.5.6" />દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતાં પીતાં રાજાએ એસ્તેરને કહ્યું, “એસ્તેર રાણી, તારી ખરેખર શી માગણી છે તે કહે, અડધા રાજ સુધી હું તે મંજૂર કરીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EST.5.7" />ત્યારે એસ્તેરે પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “મારી અરજ તથા મારા અંતરની ઇચ્છા આ છે:
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<v id="8" bcv="EST.5.8" />જો આપની મારા પર કૃપાદ્રષ્ટિ હોય, અને જો આપને મારી અરજ પ્રમાણે ઇનામ આપવાની તથા મારી વિનંતી પ્રમાણે આપ આપવા માગતા હોય તો આવતી કાલે પણ આપ તથા હામાન આજ રીતે ઉજાણીમાં પધારો. આવતી કાલે હું આપની આગળ મારી ઇચ્છા પ્રગટ કરીશ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">મોર્દૃખાય પર ક્રોધિત હામાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EST.5.9" />ત્યારે તે દિવસે ઉજાણીમાંથી વિદાય લેતી વખતે હામાન ખુશ-ખુશાલ દેખાતો હતો! પાછા જતાં તેણે મોર્દખાયને દરવાજામાં બેઠેલો જોયો, તેણે જોયું કે, તેને જોઇને તે ઊભો થયો નહિ કે બીકથી થથર્યો પણ નહિ, તેથી હામાન ખૂબજ ક્રોધે ભરાયો.
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<v id="10" bcv="EST.5.10" />તેમ છતાં હામાને ગુસ્સા પર કાબૂ રાખ્યો અને ઘેર પાછો આવ્યો અને તેની પત્ની ઝેરેશ તથા તેના મિત્રોને ભેગા કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EST.5.11" />તેઓની સમક્ષ પોતાની પુષ્કળ સમૃદ્ધિ, પોતાનાં સંતાનોની વિશાળ સંખ્યા, કેવી રીતે રાજાએ તેનું સન્માન કર્યું અને તેને બીજા બધા આગેવાનોથી ઉંચી પદવી આપી તેની બડાઇ હાંકવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="12" bcv="EST.5.12" />પછી તેણે કહ્યું: “એસ્તેર રાણીએ જે આપેલી ઉજાણીમાં તેણીએ મારા અને રાજા સિવાય બીજા કોઇને પણ આમંત્રણ આપ્યું નહોતું અને આવતી કાલે પણ તેણીએ મને રાજા સાથે ઉજાણી માટે આમંત્રણ આપ્યું છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="EST.5.13" />પરંતુ જ્યાં સુધી પેલા યહૂદી મોર્દખાયને હું રાજાના દરવાજા આગળ બેઠેલો જોઉં ત્યાં સુધી આ સર્વ મને કંઇ સંતોષ આપતું નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EST.5.14" />ત્યારે તેની પત્ની તથા મિત્રોએ તેને સલાહ આપી, “પંચોતેર ફૂટ ઊંચો ફાંસીનો માચડો તૈયાર કરાવ અને સવારે રાજા પાસેથી મોર્દખાયને તે પર લટકાવી મારી નાખવાની પરવાનગી લઇ આવ. અને આમ થશે ત્યારે તું આનંદથી રાજા સાથે ઉજાણી માણી શકશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">આ સલાહ હામાનને પસંદ પડી અને તેણે ફાંસીનો માચડો તૈયાર કરવાનો હુકમ કર્યો.
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</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">મોર્દખાયનું સન્માન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EST.6.1" />તે રાત્રે રાજાને ઊંઘ આવી નહિ; તેથી તેણે તેના શાસનની વિગતો માટે
<bk>રાજાઓનાં કાળવૃત્તાંતોના પુસ્તકોમાં</bk> મંગાવ્યું જેને તેની સમક્ષ વાંચવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="EST.6.2" />તેમાં લખેલું હતું કે, રાજાના બે ખોજાઓ કે જેઓ દ્ધારની ચોકી કરતા હતાં, તે બિગ્થાના અને તેરેશ રાજાનું ખૂન કરવાનું કાવતરું ઘડ્યું હતું અને તેની ખબર મોર્દખાયે આપી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EST.6.3" />આ ઉપરથી રાજાએ પૂછયું કે, “એ માટે મોર્દખાયને શું માન-મોભો કે ઇનામ આપવામાં આવ્યાં છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારે રાજાની સેવામાં દરબારીઓ હતા તેમણે જણાવ્યું કે, “મોર્દખાયને કઇં જ આપવામાં આવ્યું નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EST.6.4" />તેથી રાજાએ પૂછયું, “ત્યાં પ્રાંગણમાં કોણ છે?” હવે બન્યું એવું કે એ જ ક્ષણે હામાન મોર્દખાયને ફાંસીએ ચઢાવવાનું રાજાને પૂછવાં રાજમહેલના બહારના પ્રાંગણમાં દાખલ થયો હતો,
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<v id="5" bcv="EST.6.5" />તેથી રાજાના સેવકોએ તેને કહ્યું કે, પ્રાંગણમાં હામાન ઊભો છે.
</p>
<p style="p">રાજાએ કહ્યું, “એને અંદર લઇ આવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EST.6.6" />અને હામાન દાખલ થયો એટલે રાજાએ તેને સવાલ કર્યો, “રાજા જેનું બહુમાન કરવા ઇચ્છતો હોય તે માણસ માટે શું કરવું જોઇએ?”
</p>
<p style="p">હામાને વિચાર્યું કે, “રાજા મારું નહિ તો બીજા કોનું બહુમાન કરવાના હતા?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EST.6.7" />એટલે હામાને રાજાને કહ્યું કે, “જે માણસને પ્રેમથી માન આપવા રાજા ઇચ્છતા હોય,
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<v id="8" bcv="EST.6.8" />તેને માટે રાજા પોતે પહેરતા હોય તે પોશાક મંગાવે અને રાજા પોતે જેના પર સવારી કરતા હોય તે, ઘોડો મંગાવી તેનું માથું રાજમુગટથી શણગારો;
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<v id="9" bcv="EST.6.9" />પછી એ લાંબા ઝભ્ભાઓ અને ઘોડો રાજાના સૌથી વધુ માનવંતા મુખિયાને સોંપો અને તે માણસને એ પોશાક પહેરાવવા અને તેને ઘોડા પર બેસાડી નગરની ગલીઓમાં તેને ફેરવો એમ જાહેર કરતા, ‘રાજા જેનું બહુમાન કરવા ઇચ્છે છે તે વ્યકિતનું આવી રીતે સન્માન કરવું.’ એમ જાહેર કરવામાં આવે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EST.6.10" />ત્યારે રાજાએ હામાનને કહ્યું, “ઝટ જા અને પોશાક અને ઘોડો લઇ આવીને રાજમહેલના દરવાજે બેઠેલા યહૂદી મોર્દખાયને તેં કહ્યું તે પ્રમાણે તું કર; તું જે બોલ્યો છે તે સઘળામાંથી કઇં જ રહી જવું જોઇએ નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EST.6.11" />આથી હામાને પોશાક અને ઘોડો લઇ જઇને મોર્દખાયને સજાવ્યો અને તેને ઘોડા પર બેસાડીને શહેરના ચોકમાં થઇને, “રાજા જેનું બહુમાન કરવા ઇચ્છે છે તેને આ રીતે સન્માને છે.” એમ પોકાર કરતાં કરતાં ફેરવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EST.6.12" />પછી મોર્દખાય પાછો મહેલને દરવાજે આવ્યો અને શરમાયેલો અને દુભાયેલો હામાન મોં છુપાવીને ઝડપથી ઘેર ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<v id="13" bcv="EST.6.13" />પછી તેણે પોતાની પત્ની ઝેરેશને અને બધા મિત્રોને તેણે જે બન્યું હતું તે બધું કહી સંભળાવ્યું. ત્યારે હામાનની પત્ની અને તેને સલાહ આપનારા માણસોએ કહ્યું “જો મોર્દખાય એક યહૂદી હોય, તો તું ન જીતી શકે; તારું પતન શરૂ થઇ ગયું છે, ચોક્કસ તું નાશ પામીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EST.6.14" />હજીતો તેઓ વાત કરી રહ્યાં હતાં એટલામાં રાજાના માણસો આવી પહોંચ્યા અને એસ્તેરે તૈયાર કરેલી ઉજાણીમાં હામાનને ઉતાવળે લઇ ગયા.
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</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">હામાનને ફાંસીની સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EST.7.1" />રાજા તથા હામાન રાણી એસ્તેરની દ્રાક્ષારસની ઉજાણીમાં જમવા ગયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="EST.7.2" />બીજે દિવસે પણ દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતાંપીતાં રાજાએ એસ્તેરને પૂછયું; “એસ્તેર રાણી, તારી અરજ શી છે? તે તને આપવામાં આવશે; તારી વિનંતી શી છે? તારે શું જોઇએ છે? તું જે માગશે તે હું તને આપીશ, અડધું રાજ પણ હું તને આપવા તૈયાર છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EST.7.3" />રાણી એસ્તેરે કહ્યું, “જો આપ મારા પર પ્રસન્ન થયા હોય, અને જો આપને આ યોગ્ય લાગતું હોય, તો મારી એટલી વિનંતી છે કે, મને અને મારા લોકોને જીવવા દો.
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<v id="4" bcv="EST.7.4" />મને અને મારા લોકોને, મારી નાખવા માટે અમારું અસ્તિત્વ મિટાવી દેવા માટે, વેચી દેવામાં આવ્યાં છે, જો અમને ફકત ગુલામ તરીકે વેચી દેવામાં આવ્યાં હોત તો મેં કંઇ પણ માંગ્યું ન હોત, કારણ, તેથી અમારી દશા એટલી ખરાબ ન થઇ હોત કે જેને માટે મારે આપ નામદારને તસ્દી આપવી પડે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EST.7.5" />“તું શી વાત કરે છે?” અહાશ્વેરોશે ભારપૂર્વક પૂછયું; “કોણ છે એ માણસ જેણે આવું કરવાની ધૃષ્ટતા કરી છે? તે ક્યાં છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EST.7.6" />એસ્તેરે જવાબ આપ્યો, “આ દુષ્ટ હામાન અમારો શત્રુ છે,”
</p>
<p style="p">આ સાંભળીને હામાન રાજા અને રાણીની સામે ડરવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="EST.7.7" />રાજા તો ગુસ્સામાં ઉજાણી છોડીને રાજમહેલમાં બગીચામાં ચાલ્યો ગયો. હામાન સમજી ગયો કે રાજાએ તેને મારવાનું નક્કી કરી લીધું હતું. તેથી તે રાણી એસ્તેર પાસે જીવનની માફી માંગવા ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EST.7.8" />જ્યારે રાજા મહેલના બગીચામાંથી ઉજાણી રૂમમાં પાછો આવ્યો, ત્યારે એસ્તરની દયા યાચવા હામાન એસ્તરના પલંગ પર પડી રહ્યો હતો. આ જોઇને રાજા બોલ્યો; “શું મારા મહેલમાં મારા દેખતાં જ રાણી પર બળાત્કાર કરવા માઁગે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">રાજાના મોઢામાંથી આ શબ્દો નીકળતાંજ રાજાના સેવકોએ હામાનનું મોઢું ઢાંકી દીધું.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EST.7.9" />જે ખોજાઓ રાજાની સન્મુખ તે વખતે હાજર હતા તેઓમાંના એક, જેનું નામ હાબોર્નાહ હતું તેણે કહ્યું કે, મોર્દૃખાય, જેણે કાવત્રાની માહિતી આપીને રાજાની મદદ કરી હતી, તેને લટકાવવા માટે હામાને પોતાના ઘરની પાસે પંચોતેર ફુટનો ફાંસીનો માંચડો કરાવ્યો છે.
</p>
<p style="p">રાજાએ કહ્યું, “હામાનને તેના પર ફાંસી આપો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EST.7.10" />એટલે હામાને મોર્દખાયને માટે તૈયાર કરેલી ફાંસી પર તેને પોતાને ચઢાવી દેવામાં આવ્યો. તે પછી રાજાનો ગુસ્સો શમી ગયો.
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</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">રાજાનો આદેશ યહૂદીઓની મદદ માટે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EST.8.1" />તે જ દિવસે રાજા અહાશ્વેરોશે રાણી એસ્તેરને યહૂદીઓના શત્રુ હામાનનાં ઘરબાર અને માલમિલકત આપી દીધાં. અને એસ્તેરે મોર્દૃખાય સાથેનો પોતાનો સંબંધ જણાવતાં મોર્દખાયને રાજા સમક્ષ લાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="EST.8.2" />રાજાએ હામાન પાસેથી પાછી લીધેલી રાજમુદ્રાવાળી વીંટી આંગળીએથી ઉતારીને મોર્દખાયને આપી, અને એસ્તેરે તેને હામાનનાં ઘરબાર અને માલમિલકત સંભાળવાનું સોંપ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EST.8.3" />રાણી એસ્તેર ફરીથી એકવાર રાજાના દરબારમાં આવી અને રાજાના પગમાં પડીને આંસુઓ ભરેલી આંખો સાથે અગાગી હામાને યહૂદીઓની વિરૂદ્ધ ઘડેલું કાવતરું રદ કરવા કાલાવાલા કરવા લાગી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EST.8.4" />પછી રાજાએ એસ્તેર તરફ સોનાનો રાજદંડ ધર્યો, એટલે તે ઊઠીને રાજાની સમક્ષ ઊભી રહી.
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<v id="5" bcv="EST.8.5" />તેણીએે કહ્યું, “જો રાજાને આ યોગ્ય લાગતું હોય, અને જો તમે મારાથી પ્રસન્ન હોય અને જો રાજાને વિચાર સારો લાગે તો અગાગી હામાને યહૂદીઓનો નાશ કરવાનો જે હુકમ રાજાના સર્વ પ્રાંતોમાં મોકલી આપ્યો છે તેને રદ કરતો આદેશ તમે મોકલી આપો;
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<v id="6" bcv="EST.8.6" />કારણ, મારા લોકો પર આફત ઊતરે એ જોવાનું હું શી રીતે સહન કરું? હું મારા પોતાના કુટુંબનો નાશ થતો જોઇ હું કેમ સહન કરી શકું?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EST.8.7" />ત્યારે અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજાએ યહૂદી મોર્દખાય તથા રાણી એસ્તેરને કહ્યું, “મેં હામાનનું ઘર અને મિલકત એસ્તેરને સોંપી છે તથા હામાનને ફાંસી પર લટકાવવામાં આવ્યો છે, કેમ કે તેણે યહૂદીઓનો નાશ કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="EST.8.8" />રાજાને નામે બહાર પાડવામાં આવેલો અને રાજાના સિક્કાવાળો એક હુકમ કદી રદ થઇ શકતો નથી માટે હવે તું મારે નામે યહૂદીઓને માટે તને સૌથી યોગ્ય લાગે એવી આજ્ઞા બહાર પાડી દે અને રાજમુદ્રાથી તેના પર સિક્કો મારી દે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EST.8.9" />આથી ત્રીજા એટલે કે સીવાન મહિનાના, ત્રેવીસમા દિવસે રાજાના મંત્રીઓને બોલાવવામાં આવ્યા અને બરાબર મોર્દૃખાયના કહેવા પ્રમાણે યહૂદીઓને લગતો એક હુકમ હિંદુસ્તાનથી તે કૂશ સુધીના એકસો ને સત્તાવીશ પ્રાંતના સૂબાઓ, રાજ્યપાલો, અને અમલદારોને તે પ્રાંતની ભાષાઓમાં અને લિપિમાં, તેમજ યહૂદીઓની ભાષા અને લિપિમાં લખાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="EST.8.10" />મોર્દૃખાયે આ હુકમ રાજાના નામે લખાવ્યો અને રાજાની મુદ્રાથી સિક્કો મારીને રાજાની સેવામાં વપરાતા ઝડપી ઘોડાઓ પર સવારી કરતા સંદેશાવાહકો દ્વારા સર્વ જગ્યાઓએ આ પત્રો મોકલી આપવામાં આવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EST.8.11" />એ પત્રોમાં તેણે કોઇ પણ શહેરમાં રહેતા યહૂદીઓને સ્વરક્ષણ માટે ભેગા થવાની અને તેમના પર હુમલો થાય તો કોઇ પણ પ્રાંતની કોઇ પણ જાતની સૈનાને મારી નાખવાની, તેમના સ્ત્રી અને બાળકો મારી નાખવાની, તેમનો નાશ કરવાની અને તેમજ તેમને લૂંટી લેવાની છૂટ આપી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EST.8.12" />આ હુકમ રાજા અહાશ્વેરોશના બધાજ પ્રાંતોમાં એક જ દિવસે એટલે કે બારમા અર્થાત અદાર મહિનાના, તેરમા દિવસે અમલમાં આવવાનો હતો.
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<v id="13" bcv="EST.8.13" />વળી આ કાનૂનની એક એક નકલ સર્વ પ્રાંતોમાં અને રાજ્યમાં જાહેરાત કરવા માટે મોકલી આપવામાં આવી અને તે એક કાયદો બની ગયો જેના દ્ધારા યહૂદીઓ પોતાના શત્રુઓનો સામનો કરવા અને તેમના પર બદલો લેવા માટે પોતાની જાતને તૈયાર કરી શકે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EST.8.14" />રાજાની આજ્ઞાથી સંદેશાવાહકો ઝડપી ઘોડાઓ પર સવાર થઇ રવાના થયા. આ કાનૂન રાજધાની સૂસામાં પણ પ્રકાશિત કરવામાં આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EST.8.15" />જ્યારે મોર્દખાય રાજા પાસેથી નીકળ્યો ત્યારે તેણે સફેદ અને ભૂરા રંગના વસ્રો માથે મોટો સોનાનો મુગટ અને ઝીણા શણનો જાંબુડી રંગનો ઝભ્ભો પહેર્યા હતાં. આખા સૂસા શહેરે આનંદથી ઉજવણી કરી.
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<v id="16" bcv="EST.8.16" />યહૂદીઓએ ખૂબ આનંદ અને ખુશીથી ઉજવણી કરી. રાજાના પ્રાંતોમાં વસતા બાકી રહેલા યહૂદીઓ પોતાના રક્ષણ માટે અને શત્રુઓથી છૂટકારો પામવા માટે સાથે એકઠા થયા. તેઓએ 75,000 શત્રુઓને મારી નાખ્યા પણ તેઓએ કોઇની વસ્તુઓ લૂટી નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EST.8.17" />જે જે નગર તથા પ્રાંતમાં રાજાનો આદેશ પહોંચ્યો ત્યાં ત્યાં યહૂદીઓમાં આનંદ વ્યાપી ગયો અને હર્ષ પ્રદષિર્ત કરવા માટે તે ઉત્સવનો દિવસ બની રહ્યો અને તેઓએ તે મહાઆનંદપૂર્વક ઊજવ્યો. ઘણાં લોકોએ પોતાને યહૂદી તરીકે ઓળખાવ્યા કારણકે તે લોકો યહૂદીઓથી ડરી ગયા હતા.
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">યહૂદીઓનો શત્રુઓ પર વિજય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EST.9.1" />હવે બારમા, એટલે કે અદાર મહિનાના, તેરમા દિવસે રાજાનો હુકમ અમલમાં આવવાનો હતો, એ દિવસે યહૂદીઓના દુશ્મનોએ તેમને કચડી નાખવાની આશા રાખી હતી. પણ બન્યુ તેનાથી ઊલટું જ; યહૂદીઓએ દુશ્મનોને કચડી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="EST.9.2" />તે દિવસે અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજાના સર્વ પ્રાંતોમાઁ યહૂદીઓ પોતપોતાનાં નગરોમાં એકઠા થયા, જેથી તેઓનું નુકશાન કરવાની જે લોકો કોશિશ કરતા હતા, તેઓના પર તેઓ હાથ નાખે; તેઓની વિરુદ્ધ કોઇ ઉભો રહી શક્યું નહિ; કારણ કે તેઓ બધા તેમનાથી ડરેલા હતા.
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<v id="3" bcv="EST.9.3" />અને પ્રાંતોના બધાં અમલદારો, સૂબાઓ, રાજ્યપાલો, અને રાજાના વહીવટકર્તાઓ યહૂદીઓને મદદ કરી, કારણ કે, તે બધાં મોર્દખાયથી ડરેલા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="EST.9.4" />મોર્દખાય રાજમહેલમાં ખૂબ મહત્વનો બની ગયો હતો, તેની નામના બધાં પ્રાંતમા ફેલાઇ ગઇ હતી. તેની સત્તા દિવસે દિવસે વધતી ગઇ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EST.9.5" />નક્કી કરેલા દિવસે યહૂદીઓએ પોતાના શત્રુઓની હત્યા કરી. વિરોધીઓ સાથે તેઓએ મન ફાવે તેવું વર્તન કર્યુ.
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<v id="6" bcv="EST.9.6" />પાટનગર સૂસામાં યહૂદીઓએ પાંચસો માણસોને મારી નાખીને તેઓનો નાશ કર્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="EST.9.7" />વળી તેઓએ પાર્શાન્દાથા, દાલ્ફોન, આસ્પાથા,
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<v id="8" bcv="EST.9.8" />પોરાથા, અદાલ્યા, અરીદાથાને,
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<v id="9" bcv="EST.9.9" />પાર્માશ્તાને, અરીસાય, અરીદાય તથા વાઇઝાથાને.
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<v id="10" bcv="EST.9.10" />આ રીતે તેઓએ યહૂદીઓના શત્રુ હામ્મદાથાના પુત્ર હામાનના દશે પુત્રોને, તેઓએ મારી નાખ્યા; પણ તેઓએ તેમને લૂંટી લીધા નહિ અને તેમની કોઇ પણ વસ્તુને હાથ લગાડ્યો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EST.9.11" />સૂસામાં મારી નાખવામાં આવેલા માણસોની સંખ્યા તે જ દિવસે રાજાને જાહેર કરવામાં આવી.
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<v id="12" bcv="EST.9.12" />તેણે રાણી એસ્તેરને જણાવ્યું, “પાટનગર સૂસામાં યહૂદીઓએ પાંચસો માણસો અને હામાનના દશ પુત્રોને મારી નાખ્યા છે, તો પછી તેમણે રાજ્યના બીજા પ્રાંતોમાં તું મારા દ્વારા શું કરાવા માંગે છે! જે માગે તે આપુ, તારે બીજું શું જોઇએ છે? માંગ અને તે મંજૂર થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EST.9.13" />ત્યારે એસ્તેરે તેને જણાવ્યું કે, “જો રાજાને ગમે તો સૂસામાં જે યહૂદીઓ છે તેઓને આજના હુકમ પ્રમાણે કાલે પણ તેમજ કરવા દેવામાં આવે. અને હામાનના દશે પુત્રોને ફાંસીને માચડે લટકાવવા જોઇએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EST.9.14" />રાજા સંમત થયા અને પાટનગર સૂસામાં હુકમ જાહેર કરવામાં આવ્યો. હામાનના દશ પુત્રોના મૃત શરીરને ફાંસી પર લટકાવવામાં આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EST.9.15" />સૂસામાંના યહૂદીઓ અદાર મહિનાને ચૌદમે દિવસે પણ ભેગા થયા. તેઓએ સૂસામાં ત્રણસો માણસોને મારી નાખ્યા; પણ લૂંટ પર તેઓએ હાથ નાખ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EST.9.16" />રાજાના પ્રાંતોમાં વસતા બાકીના યહૂદીઓ પણ પોતાનો બચાવ કરવા અને શત્રુઓથી છૂટકારો મેળવવાં માટે ભેગા થયા. તેમણે પંચોતેર હજાર શત્રુઓનો સંહાર કર્યો; પણ તેમણે કોઇની કોઇ વસ્તુ લૂંટી નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EST.9.17" />આ તો અદાર મહિનાના તેરમા દિવસે બન્યું. ચૌદમે દિવસે તેમણે વિશ્રાંતી લીધી અને તે દિવસે તેમણે ઉજવણી કરીને આનંદોત્સવ ઊજવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પૂરિમનું પર્વ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EST.9.18" />પણ સૂસામાં યહૂદીઓ અદાર મહિનાના તેરમા તથા તેના ચૌદમા દિવસે સ્વરક્ષણ માટે ભેગા થયા; પંદરમા દિવસે તેઓએ ઉજાણી કરી અને વિશ્રાંતિ લીધી.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EST.9.19" />આ કારણથી જ યહૂદીઓ કોટ વિનાના ગામડાંઓમાં અને શહેરોમાં રહે છે, તેઓ અદાર માસના ચૌદમા દિવસને ઉત્સવના દિવસ તરીકે એક બીજાને ભેટો આપી અને ઉજાણી કરીને ઉજવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EST.9.20" />મોર્દખાયે આ સર્વ બનાવોને લખી અને અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજાના નજીકના તેમજ દૂરના પ્રાંતોના સર્વ યહૂદીઓ પર પત્રો મોકલ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EST.9.21" />તેણે જણાવ્યું કે, દર વષેર્ અદાર મહિનાનો ચૌદમો અને પંદરમો દિવસ ઊજવવો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EST.9.22" />કારણ તે દિવસે યહૂદીઓએ પોતાના દુશ્મનોનો નાશ કર્યો હતો, અને તે મહિનામાં તેમનો શોક આનંદમા પલટાઇ ગયો હતો, અને તેમના દુ:ખના દિવસો આનંદના દિવસોમાં બદલાઇ ગયા હતાં, જેમાં એકબીજાને ભેટ આપવી અને ગરીબોને દાન આપવું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EST.9.23" />આથી યહૂદીઓએ મોર્દખાયની સૂચના મુજબ દરેક વષેર્ તે જ સમયે તહેવાર ઉજવવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ હતું અને રિવાજ પાળવાનો ચાલુ રાખવાનું માથે લીધું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EST.9.24" />યહૂદીઓના દુશ્મન અગાગી હામ્મદાથાના પુત્ર હામાને યહૂદીઓને સંહાર કરી નાખવાની યોજના કરી હતી. અને તેઓનો સંહાર કરવા અને વિનાશ કરવા ચિઠ્ઠીઓ (એટલે “પૂર”) નાખી હતી;
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EST.9.25" />પરંતુ જ્યારે તે વાતની રાજાને ખબર પડી, ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના પત્રો દ્વારા આજ્ઞા કરી કે, હામાને જે દુષ્ટ યોજના યહૂદીઓ વિરૂદ્ધ યોજી હતી તે અને તેના કુટુંબીઓને જ તેનો ભોગ બને; અને હામાનને તેના સંતાનો સાથે ફાંસીએ લટકાવવો જોઇએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EST.9.26" />આથી “પૂર” નામ ઉપરથી આ ઉત્સવના દિવસો પૂરીમ તરીકે ઓળખાયા, એ મોર્દખાયના પત્રમાં જે લખ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાણે જ ઉજવાયા, તેને કારણે તેમણે જાતે જે નજરોનજર જોયું હતું અને તેમના પર જે વીત્યું હતું,
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EST.9.27" />યહૂદીઓએ પોતાના તરફથી, પોતાના વંશજો તરફથી અને યહૂદીધર્મ પાળનારાઓ તરફથી પ્રતિવર્ષ આ બે દિવસો ચૂક્યા વગર ઠરાવેલ સમયે અને મોર્દખાયની સૂચના મુજબ અચૂક ઊજવવાનું માન્ય રાખ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EST.9.28" />એ દિવસોને, વંશપરંપરાગત પ્રત્યેક કુટુંબમાં ઉજવવાના હતાં, તેઓએ પ્રત્યેક પ્રાંતમાં, તથા પ્રત્યેક નગરમાં તેને ઉજવ્યાં, જેથી એ પૂરીમના દિવસો યહૂદીઓ દ્વારા ઉજવવાનું બંધ ન થાય, અને તેઓના વંશજોએ કદી તે ભૂલવું જોઇએ નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EST.9.29" />ત્યારબાદ અબીહાઇલની પુત્રી રાણી એસ્તેર અને યહૂદી મોર્દખાયે, બીજા પત્રને સંપુર્ણ અધિકાર સાથે પ્રમાણિત કરવા, પૂરીમ વિષે પૂર્ણ અધિકારથી પત્ર લખ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="EST.9.30" />તેથી મોર્દખાયે અહાશ્વેરોશના રાજ્યમાં એકસો સત્તાવીસ પ્રાંતોમાંના સર્વ યહૂદીઓને સાચી શાંતિ પાઠવતા પત્રો મોકલ્યા
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="EST.9.31" />તે પત્રો એ જાણવા માટે મોકલવામાં આવ્યા હતા કે પૂરીમનાં દિવસો<f caller="+"><fr>9:31
</fr><fk>તે પત્રો … પૂરીમનાં દિવસો
</fk><ft>ઉજવણી નિશ્ચિત સમયે કરવા માટે નક્કી કરવા માટે મોકલવામાં આવ્યા હતાં જેને યહૂદી મોર્દખાય અને રાણી એસ્તેર તેમના માટે કાનૂની બનાવ્યા હતાં.</ft></f> યહૂદી મોર્દખાય અને રાણી એસ્તરે આપેલા આદેશ પ્રમાણે એના નિર્ધારિત સમયે ઉજવવામાં આવેલા હતા. આ તેઓએ બે વિશ્રામવારોને તેમના અને તેમના વંશજોને માટે નક્કી કર્યા
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="EST.9.32" />તેઓ એસ્તેરની આજ્ઞાથી વિશ્રામવારને યાદ રાખશે જેમ તેઓ ઉપવાસ અને વિલાપના દિવસો યાદ રાખે છે. “પૂરીમ” વિષેના નિયમો કાયમ કર્યા; અને પુસ્તકમાં આ બાબતો લખવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">મોર્દખાયનું સન્માન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EST.10.1" />અહાશ્વેરોશ રાજાએ રાજ્યના સર્વ પ્રદેશો પર તથા સમુદ્રના ટાપુઓ ઉપર કર નાખ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EST.10.2" />તેના મહાન શૌર્યનાઁ તથા તેના સાર્મથ્યનાઁ સર્વ કૃત્યો, તથા જે ઉચ્ચ પદવીએ રાજાએ મોર્દખાયને ચઢાવ્યો હતો તેની સંપૂર્ણ માહિતી
<bk>ઇરાનના તથા માદાયના રાજાઓનાં કાળવૃત્તાંતોના પુસ્તકોમાં</bk> લખેલી છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EST.10.3" />યહૂદી મોર્દખાયનો દરજ્જો રાજા પછીનો હતો. યહૂદીઓમાં તે આદર પાત્ર બન્યો અને ઘણો લોકપ્રિય હતો. કારણ કે તેણે પોતાના લોકોના ભલા માટે પરિશ્રમ કર્યો અને તેમની કાળજી રાખી. તેણે બધાં યહૂદીઓ માટે શાંતિ લાવી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="JOB"><id id="JOB">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>અયૂબ
</h><toc level="1">અયૂબ
</toc><toc level="2">અયૂબ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">અયૂબ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">અયૂબની કસોટી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.1.1" />ઉસ નામના દેશમાં અયૂબ નામે એક માણસ રહેતો હતો. તે ભલો, પ્રામાણિક અને દેવથી ડરનાર અને દુષ્ટ વસ્તુ કરવાની મનાઇ કરતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JOB.1.2" />તેનો પરિવાર મોટો હતો. અયૂબને સાત પુત્રો અને ત્રણ પુત્રીઓ મળી કુલ દશ સંતાન હતા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JOB.1.3" />તેની પાસે મિલકતમાં 7,000 ઘેટાં, 3,000 ઊંટ, 500 જોડ બળદ, 500 ગધેડીઓં અને અનેક નોકર-ચાકર હતાં. સમગ્ર પૂર્વવિસ્તારમાં અયૂબના જેવો કોઇ ધનાઢય માણસ ન હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.1.4" />અયૂબના સર્વ પુત્રોમાં રિવાજ હતો, દરેક પુત્ર પોતપોતાના જન્મદિનની ઉજવણીમાં પોતાનાં ભાઇબહેનોને નિમંત્રણ આપતા. તે સમયે સૌ સાથે મળીને ખાતાંપીતા અને આનંદપ્રમોદ કરતાં. અયૂબના પુત્રો વારા પ્રમાણે તેઓને ઘરે ઉજવણી રાખતા અને તેઓ તેઓની બહેનોને આમંત્રણ આપતા.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JOB.1.5" />તેના સંતાનો એ ઉજવણી કર્યા પછી અયૂબ વહેલી સવારમા ઊઠતો અને દહનાર્પણ કરતો. તે વિચારતો, “મારા સંતાનોએ કદાચ ચિંતાહીન થઇને તેઓની ઉજવણી પર દેવ વિરૂદ્ધ કોઇ પાપ કર્યું હોય.” અયૂબ હંમેશા આ દહનાર્પણ કરતો જેથી તેના સંતાનોને તેઓના પાપોની માફી મળી જાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.1.6" />એક દિવસ દેવદૂતો યહોવાની આગળ ભેગા થયા હતા. તેઓની સાથે દુષ્ટ શેતાન પણ ઉપસ્થિત હતો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JOB.1.7" />યહોવાએ શેતાનને પૂછયું, “તું ક્યાં ગયો હતો?”
</p>
<p style="p">શેતાને યહોવાને જવાબ આપ્યો. “હું પૃથ્વી પર આમતેમ ભટકતો હતો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.1.8" />પછી યહોવાએ શેતાનને કહ્યું, “તો પછી તેં મારા સેવક અયૂબને જોયો હશે! તે ભલો, પ્રામાણિક, દેવથી ડરનાર, અનિષ્ટ વસ્તુનો ઇન્કાર કરનાર છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.1.9" />શેતાને કહ્યું, “અયૂબ કારણ વિના દેવની ઉપાસના કરે છે?
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="JOB.1.10" />તમારા રક્ષણથી તેનું જીવન, તેનું ઘર, તેની સંપતિ બધુંજ સુરક્ષિત છે. તે જે કઇ કરે છે તેમાં તમે તેને સફળ બનાવ્યો છે. હા, તમે તેને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા છે. તે એટલો શ્રીમંત છે કે તેના ગાયના અને ઘેટાઁ બકરાઁના ઘણનાઘણ આખા દેશભરમાં છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JOB.1.11" />એક વાર તેની સંપત્તિને સ્પર્શ કરો, પછી જુઓ, એ કેવો તમારી સામો થાય છે? તે તમને તમારી સામે જ શાપ આપે છે કે નહિ?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.1.12" />યહોવાએ શેતાનને કહ્યું, “જો, તેની તમામ ચીજો હું તને સોપુઁ છુઁ; પણ તેને નુકસાન કરતો નહિ,”
</p>
<p style="p">એ પછી શેતાન યહોવાની હાજરી છોડી ચાલ્યો ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અયૂબનું બધું જતું રહ્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.1.13" />એક દિવસે તેના પુત્રો અને તેની પુત્રીઓ તેઓનો મોટા ભાઈના ઘરમાં ખાતાઁ હતાઁ અને દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતા હતા. તે સમયે,
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="JOB.1.14" />એક સંદેશવાહક આવ્યો અને અયૂબને જણાવ્યુ, “તમારા બળદો ખેતર ખેડતા હતા અને પાસે ગધેડા ચરતાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JOB.1.15" />એટલામાં અચાનક શબાઇમ લોકોએ અમારા પર હુમલો કર્યો. અને તમારા બધા પશુઓને ઊપાડી ગયા અને બધા સેવકોને મારી નાંખ્યા, ફકત હું જ બચી ગયો છું તેથી હું તમને આ સમાચાર આપવા આવ્યો છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.1.16" />જ્યારે એક સંદેશવાહક આ કહેતો હતો, એટલામાં વળી બીજો સેવક આવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “આકાશમાંથી વીજળી પડી છે અને ગાયના ઘણો અને સેવકો બળીને રાખ થઇ ગયા છે. ફકત હું જ બચી ગયો છું. તેથી તમને હું આ દુ:ખદ સમાચાર કહેવા આવ્યો છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.1.17" />તે બોલવાનું પૂરું કરે તે પહેલા, એક ત્રીજો સંદેશવાહક આવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “કાસ્દીઓએ સૈનિકોના ત્રણ ટોળા મોકલ્યા. તેઓએ અમારા પર હુમલો કર્યો અને ઊંટો લઇ લીધા. તેઓએ સેવકોને મારી નાખ્યા છે. તમને આ સમાચાર આપવા ફકત હું જ બચી ગયો છુ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.1.18" />જ્યારે તે આ કહેતો હતો, ત્યાં હજી એક આવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “તારા પુત્રો તથા તારી પુત્રીઓ તેમના મોટાભાઇના ઘરમાં ખાતાઁ હતાઁ અને દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતાઁ હતાઁ.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="JOB.1.19" />પછી રણમાઁથી અણધાર્યો જોરદાર પવન આવ્યો અને ઘરને ફૂંકી માર્યુ. ઘર તમારા પુત્રો અને પુત્રીઓ પર પડ્યું અને તેમને મારી નાખ્યા ફકત હું જ બચીગયો છુઁ. તેથી હું તમને આ સમાચાર આપવા આવ્યો છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.1.20" />પછી અયૂબ ઊભો થયો. તેણે શોકમાં તેના કપડાં ફાડી નાખ્યાં, માથું મૂંડાવી નાંખ્યું અને જમીન પર પડીને દેવને ઉપાસના કરી.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="JOB.1.21" />કહ્યું કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મારી માતાના ગર્ભસ્થાનમાંથી હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નગ્ન આવ્યો હતો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારા મૃત્યુ સમયે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મારી પાસે કશું જ નહિ હોય.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાએ આપ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાએ લઇ લીધું છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાના નામને ધન્ય હો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.1.22" />આ બધું બની ગયું, પણ અયૂબે દુષ્ટતા કરી નહિ. દેવે ખોટું કર્યુ હતું એમ તેણે કહ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">શેતાન દ્વારા ફરી અયૂબને દુ:ખ આપવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.2.1" />ફરી એક વખત દેવદૂતો યહોવાની સમક્ષ હાજર થયા, ત્યારે તેઓની સાથે શેતાન પણ આવીને યહોવાની આગળ હાજર થયો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JOB.2.2" />યહોવાએ શેતાનને પૂછયું, “તું ક્યાં જઇ આવ્યો?”
</p>
<p style="p">શેતાને યહોવાને કહ્યું, “હું પૃથ્વી પર ચારે તરફ ભટકતો હતો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.2.3" />યહોવાએ શેતાનને પૂછ્યું કે, “શું તેઁ મારા સેવક અયૂબને ધ્યાનથી જોયો છે? પૃથ્વી પર તેના જેવો કોઇ નથી. તે ભલો, પ્રામાણિક, દેવથી ડરનાર, અનિષ્ટ કમોર્ કરવાનો ઇન્કાર કરનાર છે. એને હેરાન કરવાને તેઁ મને પડકાર ફેક્યો અને તે પણ કોઇ કારણ વગર, અને તે છતાં પણ તે તેની પ્રામાણિકતાને દ્રઢતાથી વળગી રહ્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.2.4" />શેતાને યહોવાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “માણસ કોઇપણ ભોગે પોતાનું જીવન બચાવતો હોય છે. તે ચામડીને બદલે ચામડી પણ આપે છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JOB.2.5" />તમે તેના શરીરને સ્પર્શ કરો અને માંદગી આપો. પછી જુઓ, તે તમારી સામો થશે અને તમારા પર શાપ વરસાવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.2.6" />પછી યહોવાએ શેતાનને કહ્યું કે, “જા, હું એને તારા હાથમાં સોંપુ છું. તારે એનું જે કરવું હોય તે કરજે; ફકત તેનો જીવ બચાવજે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.2.7" />પછી યહોવા પાસેથી શેતાન ચાલ્યો ગયો, તેણે અયૂબને તેના પગના તળિયાથી તે તેના માથા સુધી દુ:ખદાયક ગૂંમડાથી ભરી દીધો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JOB.2.8" />તેથી અયૂબ ધૂળમાં બેઠો, અને તેની ખંજવાળ મટાડવા તેના ઘા ને ખજવાળવા તેણે માટીના એક તૂટેલા ટૂકડાનો ઊપયોગ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JOB.2.9" />તેની પત્નીએ તેને કહ્યું, “તમે હજુ પણ દેવને વળગી રહ્યાં છો? તમે દેવ પર શાપ વરસાવો અને જીવનનો ત્યાગ કરો!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.2.10" />પરંતુ અયૂબે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તું તો એક મૂર્ખ સ્ત્રીની જેમ બોલે છે, શું આપણે દેવના હાથથી માત્ર સુખ જ સ્વીકારવાનું, દુ:ખ નહિ?” આવા દુ:ખમાં પણ અયૂબે કદી દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ એક શબ્દ પણ ઉચ્ચાર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અયૂબના મિત્રોનું આગમન અને આશ્વાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.2.11" />આ અયૂબ પર આવી પડેલી આફતોની વાત તેના ત્રણ મિત્રોના જાણવામાં આવી તેઓએ તેમના ઘર છોડ્યા એક બીજાને સાથે મળ્યા. તેઓ અયૂબ પ્રત્યે સહાનુભૂતિ દર્શાવવા અને તેને આશ્વાસન આપવા જવા માટે સંમંત થયા. તે મિત્રોના નામ તેમાનથી અલીફાઝ, શૂહીથી બિલ્દાદ અને નાઅમાંથી સોફાર હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="JOB.2.12" />તેઓએ દૂરથી અયૂબને જોયો અને હવે તે ઓળખી ન શકાય તેવો થઇ ગયો હતો તેથી તેઓ મોટે અવાજે રડ્યા, શોકના માર્યા પોતાના વસ્ત્રો ફાડી નાંખ્યા અને તેઓનો શોક વ્યકત કરવા, તેઓ તેઓના માથા પર રેતી વરસાવવા લાગ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JOB.2.13" />તેઓ સાત દિવસ અને સાત રાત તેની સાથે જમીન પર બેસી રહ્યા. તેઓ એક શબ્દ પણ બોલ્યા નહિ. કારણકે તેઓએ જોયું કે અયૂબનું દુ:ખ ખૂબ વિશાળ હતું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો આર્તનાદ અને અફસોસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.3.1" />અયૂબ જન્મ્યો હતો તે દિવસને શાપ દે છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JOB.3.2" />અયૂબે કહ્યું:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.3.3" />“મને એમ થાય છે કે હું જન્મ્યો તે દિવસ હંમેશ માટે અર્દ્રશ્ય થઇ જાય!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.3.4" />મને થાય છે તે દિવસ અંધકારમાં જ હોત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું ઇચ્છું છું દેવ તે દિવસ ભૂલી જાય!
</q>
<q style="q1">મને થાય છે તેઓએ કહ્યું કે ‘તે એક છોકરો છેં,’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે રાત આવી ન હોત! હું ઇચ્છું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દિવસે કોઇ રોશની ઝળકતી ન હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.3.5" />હું ઇચ્છું છું તે દિવસ અંધકાર ભર્યો હોત એવો કાળો જેવું કાળું મૃત્યુ, હું ઇચ્છું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દિવસે વાદળો સંતાઇ ગયા હોય, હું ઇચ્છું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જન્મ્યો તે દિવસથી કાળાં વાદળો પ્રકાશને બિવડાવી ભગાડી મૂકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.3.6" />હું ઇચ્છું છું અંધકાર તે રાત્રિને પાસે રાખે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પંચાગમાં તે સુખનો દિવસ કોઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહિનામાં પણ તે ન ગણાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.3.7" />તે રાત્રિ કોઇ વસ્તુ ઉત્પન કરે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે રાત્રે આનંદની એકપણ બૂમ ન સંભળાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.3.8" />કેટલાક જાદૂગરો હંમેશા અજગરને જગાડવા ચતુર હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો તેઓને હું જન્મ્યો હતો તે દિવસને શાપ ઉપર શાપ આપવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.3.9" />તે દિવસના પ્રભાતના તારા અંધકારમાં રહે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે રાત્રિ ભલે સવાર થવાની રાહ જોયા કરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ પ્રકાશ તે આ ઉગતા સૂર્યના પહેલા કિરણોને ન જુએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.3.10" />તે રાત્રિ મારા જન્મ કરાવ્યા વગર રહી નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી મને આ મુશ્કેલીઓ દેખાયા વગર રહી નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.3.11" />હું ગર્ભસ્થાનમાં જ મરી કેમ ન ગયો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જન્મતાંજ કેમ પ્રાણ ન છોડ્યો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.3.12" />મારી માતાએ શા માટે મને તેના ઘૂંટણો પર રાખ્યો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માતાએ શા માટે મને ધવડાવ્યો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.3.13" />જ્યારે હું જન્મ્યો ત્યારે જ મરી ગયો હોત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો અત્યારે મને શાંતિ હોત મને થાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું આરામમાં ઊંઘતો હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.3.14" />જેઓ અગાઉ પૃથ્વી પર રાજાઓ અને વિદ્વાન માણસો સાથે રહેતા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે માણસોએ પોતાને માટે મકાનો બંધાવ્યા હતા તે અત્યારે નાશ પામી ગયા છે અને સમાપ્ત થઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.3.15" />અને હું ધનવાન રાજકર્તાઓ જેમણે તેમના ઘરો અઢળક સોના અને ચાંદીથી ભરી દીધેલા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની સાથે શાંતિમય અને સુખદાયી થઇ ગયો હોત!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.3.16" />મરેલું જન્મે અને જમીનમાં દાટી દે તેમની પેઠે શા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું એ બાળક ન હતો?
</q>
<q style="q1">મને થાય છે જેણે દિવસનો પ્રકાશ જોયો નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે એક બાળક જેવો હું હોત!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.3.17" />અધમ માણસો જ્યારે કબર ભેગા થાય છે ત્યારે હેરાન કરવાનું બંધ કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે લોકો થાકેલા છે તેઓને કબરમાં શાંતિ લાગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.3.18" />ગુલામોને પણ કબરમાં આરામ મળે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તેઓને ચોકીદારો તેના પર બૂમો પાડતા તે સંભળાતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.3.19" />બધાજ જાતના લોકો કબરમાં છે-મહત્વશીલ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મહત્વ વગરના લોકો ગુલામ તેના ધણીથી મુકત હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.3.20" />“માણસ જે પીડા ભોગવી રહ્યો છે શા માટે જીવતા રહ્યાં કરવું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક દુ:ખી આત્માવાળા માણસને શા માટે જીવન અપાય છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.3.21" />તે માણસને મરવાની ઇચ્છા છે પણ મોત આવતું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દુ:ખદાયી માણસ છૂપાયેલા ખજાના કરતા મોતને વધારે શોધે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.3.22" />તે લોકોને તેઓની કબર મળતા ખુશ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેઓની સમાધિ મેળવવાથી આનંદ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.3.23" />પરંતુ દેવ તેઓની આસપાસ રક્ષા કરતી એક દિવાલ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનું ભવિષ્ય ગુપ્ત રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.3.24" />જ્યારે ખાવાનો સમય થાય છે ત્યારે હું માત્ર દુ:ખથી નિસાસો નાખું છું, આનંદનો નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી ફરિયાદો બહાર પાણીની જેમ રેડાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.3.25" />મને ડર છે કે મને કાંઇ ભયંકર થવાનું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બરોબર તેમજ થયું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.3.26" />હું શાંત રહીં શકતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સ્વસ્થ થઇ શકતો નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું આરામ કરી શકતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ખૂબજ ઉદ્ધિગ્ન થયો છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેની મને વધારે બીક લાગતી હતી તેજ મને થયું.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">તેમાનના અલીફાઝનો સંવાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.4.1" />પછી તેમાનના અલીફાઝે જવાબ આપ્યો કે,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.4.2" />“શું, હું તને એકાદ બે શબ્દ કહું તો તું સહન કરી શકીશ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હવે હું કહ્યાં વગર પણ કેવી રીતે રહી શકું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.4.3" />જો, તેં ઘણા લોકોને સલાહ આપી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેં અનેક દુર્બળ હાથોને મજબૂત કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.4.4" />તારા શબ્દોએ પડતાને ઊભા કર્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેં લોકો પોતાની જાતે પગભર નથી તેમને તેં પ્રબળ કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.4.5" />પરંતુ હવે જ્યારે મુશ્કેલીઓ તારે માથે આવી પડી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તું ઉત્સાહ ભંગ થઇ ગયો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે તારો વારો આવ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તું ગભરાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.4.6" />દેવ પ્રત્યે તને ખરેખર વિશ્વાસ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી વિશ્વસનીયતાને કારણે તું આશા રાખે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.4.7" />વિચારી જો, નિદોર્ષ લોકો કદી નાશ પામ્યા છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કદી એક સારી વ્યકિતનો નાશ થયો છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.4.8" />મને એવો અનુભવ છે કે, જેઓ પાપ અને અડચણો વાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેવું જ તે લણે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.4.9" />દેવની એક ફૂંકથી જ તેઓ ઊડી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના એક કોપના ફૂંફાડા માત્રથી જ તેઓ ફેંકાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.4.10" />દુષ્ટો બરાડા પાડે છે અને સિંહની જેમ ઘુરકે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ દેવ દુષ્ટોને મૂંગા કરી દે છે, અને તેઓના દાંત તોડી નાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.4.11" />હા, તે દુષ્ટ લોકો, શિકાર શોધી ન શકે તેવા સિંહ જેવા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મરી જાય છે અને તેઓના બચ્ચાં રખડી પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.4.12" />“હમણા એક ગુપ્ત વાત મારી પાસે આવી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના ભણકારા મારા કાને પડ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.4.13" />જ્યારે માણસને રાત્રે નિદ્રા ઘેરી વળે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે રાતનાં સંદર્શનો પરથી આવતા વિચારોમાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.4.14" />હું ભયથી જી ગયો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારાઁ સર્વ હાડ થથરી ઊઠયાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.4.15" />ત્યારે એક આત્મા મારા મોંને સ્પશીર્ને પસાર થઇ ગયો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા શરીરનાં રૂઆં ઉભા થઇ ગયાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.4.16" />તે સ્થિર ઊભો રહ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તેનું સ્વરૂપ ઓળખી શક્યો નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">એક આકૃતિ મારી સમક્ષ આવીને ઊભી રહી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યાં શાંતિ હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી મેં એક ખૂબજ શાંત અવાજ સાંભળ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.4.17" />‘શું માણસ દેવ કરતાં વધારે ન્યાયી હોઇ શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તે તેના સર્જનહાર કરતાં વધારે પવિત્ર હોઇ શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.4.18" />જુઓ, તેને તેના સ્વર્ગના સેવકોમાં વિશ્વાસ નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ તો એના દેવદૂતોનો પણ વાંક કાઢે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.4.19" />તો વસ્તુત: લોકો વધારે ખરાબ છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">લોકો પાસે માટીના ઘરો જેવા શરીર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના પાયા ગંદવાડમાં હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને કચરીને મારવું તે પતંગિયા મારવા કરતાં પણ સહેલું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.4.20" />તેઓ સવારમાં જીવતા હોય છે પણ સાંજ પડતા તો મૃત્યુ પામે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સદાને માટે ચાલ્યા જાય છે, કોઇ તેઓની ચિંતા કરતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.4.21" />જો તેઓના તંબૂના દોરડાં ઉપર તાણ્યાં હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો આ લોકો ડહાપણ રહિત મરી જાય છે.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">પશ્ચાતાપ કરવા અલીફાઝની અયૂબને અરજ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.5.1" />“હાંક મારી જો હવે; તને જવાબ આપનાર કોઇ છે ખરું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું હવે ક્યા દેવદૂતને શરણે જશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.5.2" />ક્રોધ મૂર્ખ માણસને મારી નાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇર્ષ્યા મૂર્ખનો નાશ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.5.3" />મેં મૂર્ખ માણસને જડ નાખતાઁ જોયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ પછી અચાનક આફત આવી પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.5.4" />તેનાં સંતાનોને મદદ કરવાવાળું કોઇ નથી, તેઓ ન્યાયાલયમાં ભાગી પડ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનો બચાવ કરે એવું કોઇ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.5.5" />તેઓનો ઊભો પાક ભૂખ્યા લોકો ખાઇ જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">થોરકાંટામાંથી પણ તેઓ લૂંટી જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની સંપત્તિનો ઉપયોગ તેઓને બદલે બીજા કરે છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.5.6" />જટિલ સમસ્યાઓ ધરતીમાંથી નથી ઉગતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મુશ્કેલીઓ જમીનમાંથી નથી ફૂટતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.5.7" />પરંતુ જેમ અગ્નિ તણખો પેદા કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવીજ રીતે મનુષ્ય જટિલ સમસ્યાઓનો સામનો કરવા જ જન્મ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.5.8" />છતાં જો તમે મને પૂછો તો હું દેવ પાસે જઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની સામે મારો કિસ્સો રજુ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.5.9" />દેવ, ઘણી અશક્ય અને મહાન વસ્તુઓ કરે છે જે લોકો સમજી શકતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે અગણિત ચમત્કારો કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.5.10" />તે પૃથ્વી પર વર્ષા વરસાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખેતરોમાં જળ પહોંચાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.5.11" />તે ગરીબ અને નમ્ર લોકોને ઉચ્ચ બનાવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા શોકાતુરોને ઊંચે ચઢાવી સુરક્ષા આપે છે અને શાંતિ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.5.12" />તે ચાલાક, દુષ્ટ લોકોની યોજનાઓ બગાડી નાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેઓ સફળ ન થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.5.13" />કપટી લોકો પણ પોતાના જ છળકપટમાં ફસાઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તેમના દુષ્ટકમોર્નો નાશ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.5.14" />ધોળે દહાડે તેઓ અંધારાને ભટકાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ અંધજનની જેમ ખરે બપોરે રાતની જેમ ફાંફા મારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.5.15" />દેવ ગરીબને મોતમાંથી બચાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેઓને મજબૂત લોકોના બળથી બચાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.5.16" />તેથી ગરીબને આશા રહે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટોનું મોઢું ચૂપ કરી દેવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.5.17" />દેવ જેને સુધારે છે તે ભાગ્યશાળી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે તું સર્વ સમર્થ દેવની શિક્ષાની અવજ્ઞા કરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.5.18" />કારણકે તે દુ:ખી કરે છે અને તે જ પાટો બાંધે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘા કરે છે અને ઘા રુઝાવે પણ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.5.19" />તેઓ તમને છ આફતોમાંથી બચાવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાતમીથી તમને દુ:ખ થશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.5.20" />તેઓ તમને દુકાળના સમયે મૃત્યુમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યુદ્ધના સમયે તરવારના ત્રાસમાંથી બચાવી લેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.5.21" />નિંદાખોરોથી તું સુરક્ષિત રહીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આફતની સામે પણ તું નિર્ભય રહીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.5.22" />વિનાશ અને દુકાળને તું હસી કાઢીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વી પરનાં હિંસક પશુઓથી તું ગભરાઇશ નહિ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.5.23" />તારા ખેતરના પથ્થરો પણ તારી દલીલમાં ભાગ લેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જંગલી જાનવરો પણ તારી સાથે સુલેહ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.5.24" />તું બહાર હોઇશ ત્યારે પણ તારે તારા ઘરની કશી ચિંતા કરવાની રહેશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું તારા પોતાના વાડાને તપાસી જોઇશ, તો બધું સુરક્ષિત હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.5.25" />તને પુષ્કળ સંતાનો થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વી પરના ઘાસની જેમ તારા વંશજો પણ ઘણા થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.5.26" />તું જેમ લણણીની ઋતું સુધી ઘંઉ ઊગે છે તેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તારી બરોબર પાકી ઉંમરે તારી કબરમાં જઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.5.27" />“અમે આ વાતનો અભ્યાસ કર્યો અને અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે તેઓ સાચા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પોતાના ભલા માટે મારી આ સલાહને તું ધ્યાનમાં લે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.6.1" />પછી અયૂબે આ મુજબ જવાબ આપ્યો:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.6.2" />“અરે! મારા દુ:ખો અને વેદનાઓને ત્રાજવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તોળી શકાય એમ હોત તો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.6.3" />તો તે સમુદ્રોની રેતી કરતાઁ પણ વજનમાં વધારે હોત.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા વચનો મૂર્ખ જેવા લાગવાનું એજ કારણ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.6.4" />સર્વસમર્થ દેવે મને તેના બાણથી ભરી દીધો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના વિષમય બાણથી મારો આત્મા વીંધાઇ ગયો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના ભયાનક શસ્રો મારી સામે મૂકાયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.6.5" />જંગલી ગધેડા જ્યારે ઘાસ મળે છે ત્યારે ભૂંકતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે ઘાસ મળતું હોય ત્યારે બળદો બરાડા પાડતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.6.6" />મીઠા વગરનો બેસ્વાદ ખોરાક કોણ ખાય?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા ઇડાના સફેદ ભાગનો કોઇ સ્વાદ હોય છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.6.7" />હું તેને અડકવા નથી માગતો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ જાતના ખાવાનાથી હું થાકી ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.6.8" />“અરે! દેવ મારી પ્રાર્થના સ્વીકારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી આશા પૂરી કરે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.6.9" />મને થાય છે દેવ મને કચરી નાખે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જરા આગળ વધે અને મને મારી નાખે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.6.10" />અને જો એ મને મારી નાખે, તો મને એક વાતનો દિલાસો થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને એક વાતની ખુશી થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે આટલું બધું દુ:ખ હોવા છતાં મે પવિત્ર દેવનાં વચનો પ્રમાણે ચાલવાની ના પાડી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.6.11" />“હવે મારામાં એવું તે કર્યું બળ છે કે હું સહન કયેર્ જાઉં?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એવો તે કેવો મારો અંત આવવાનો છે કે હવે હું ધીરજ રાખું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.6.12" />શું હું કાઇં પથ્થર જેવો મજબૂત છું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું મારું શરીર પિત્તળનું બનેલું છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.6.13" />અત્યારે મને મારી જાતને મદદ કરવાની શકિત નથી કારણકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પાસેથી સફળતા લઇ લીધી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.6.14" />“મુસીબતમાં પડેલા માણસને એના મિત્રોનો સાથ હોવો જોઇએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કદાચને તે સર્વસમર્થ દેવને ત્યજીદે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.6.15" />પણ તમે, મારા ભાઇઓ, મને વિશ્વાસુ ન હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા પર વિશ્વાસ કરી શકું નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ઝરણાં જેવા છો જે કોઇવાર વહે છે અને બીજી કોઇવાર નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.6.16" />ઝરણાઓ ઘેરા હોય છે જ્યારે તેઓ બરફ અને હિમથી ભરેલા હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.6.17" />પરંતુ ગરમીમાં તે શોષાઇ જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એમના પેટ સૂકાઇ જાય છે;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.6.18" />વેપારીઓ વળાંક ને અનુસરીને જતા જતા રણમાં આવી જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ અશ્ય થઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.6.19" />તેમના વેપારીઓ પાણીની શોધ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શેબાના મુસાફરો આશાપૂર્વક રાહ જુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.6.20" />તેઓને ખાત્રી હતી કે તેઓને પાણી મળશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેઓ નિરાશ થયા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.6.21" />તેવીજ રીતે તમે મારા કઠિન સમયમાં ગભરાઇ જઇને મારાથી મોઢું ફેરવી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને મદદ કરવાની ના પાડી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.6.22" />મેં તને પૂછયું હતું! કે, મેં તમારી સલાહ માટે પૂછયું હતું?
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.6.23" />શું મે તમને કહ્યું, ‘મને મારા શત્રુના પંજામાંથી બચાવો?
</q>
<q style="q1">હેરાન કરનારાઓથી મને મુકત કરો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે મને મુકત રીતે તમારી સલાહ આપી.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.6.24" />“મને કહો મેં શું પાપ કર્યુ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને શીખવો અને હું તમને અટકાવીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.6.25" />સત્ય વચન ઘણાં અસરકારક હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમારી દલીલો કાઇપણ પૂરાવા કરતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.6.26" />શું તમે માનો છો કે તમે મને ફકત શબ્દોથી સુધારી શકો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હતાશ માણસના શબ્દો પવન જેવા હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.6.27" />અનાથોના ભાગની વસ્તુઓ જીતવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે કદાચ જુગાર પણ રમો એવા છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા તમારા મિત્રોના ભોગે નફો કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.6.28" />મારી સામે જુઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી આગળ જૂઠું નહિ બોલું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.6.29" />આટલેથી અટકી જાવ, મને અન્યાય ન કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આટલેથી અટકો, મેં કાઇ ખોટું કર્યું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.6.30" />તમે એમ માનો છો કે હું જૂઠું બોલું છું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાચું અને ખોટુ એ બે વચ્ચેનો ભેદ હું પારખી શકતો નથી?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="7" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.7.1" />અયૂબે કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“શું પૃથ્વી પર માણસે મુશ્કેલીઓ વેઠવી પડતી નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું માણસનું જીવન મહેનતાણું આપી કામે રાખેલ કામદાર જેવી નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.7.2" />એ તો આતુરતાથી છાંયડાની રાહ જોનાર સેવક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના પગારની રાહ જોનાર મહેનતાણુ લઇ કામે રહેલા કામદાર જેવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.7.3" />મારે અર્થહીન મહિનાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કંટાળાભરેલી રાત્રિઓ પસાર કરવી પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.7.4" />હું જ્યારે સૂવા જાઉ છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘ત્યારે પહેલા વિચારું છું કે ઊઠવાના સમયને થવાને કેટલી વાર લાગશે?’
</q>
<q style="q1">રાત્રિ પસાર થયા કરે છે. હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૂર્ય ઊગે ત્યાં સુધી પડખા ફેરવ્યા કરું છુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.7.5" />મારા શરીર પર ધૂળ જામી જાય છે અને એમાં કીડા પડ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી ચામડી સૂકાઇને તરડાઇ ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.7.6" />“મારા દિવસો વણકરના કાંટલા કરતાઁ વધુ ઝડપી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આશાઓ વિનાનો મારા જીવનનો અંત આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.7.7" />દેવ યાદ રાખજો, મારું જીવન માત્ર એક શ્વાસ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ફરી કંઇ સારું જોઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.7.8" />દેવ, તમે મને ફરી જોશો નહિ; થોડીવાર પછી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને શોધશો પણ હું ચાલ્યો ગયો હોઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.7.9" />જેમ વાદળાં વિખેરાઇ અને અલોપ થઇ જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે કબરમાં જાય છે ને ફરી કદી ઉપર આવશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.7.10" />તે પોતાને ઘેર ફરી કદી પાછો ફરશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કુટુંબથી અને ઘરથી હમેશ માટે દૂર થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.7.11" />“મને મારો ઊભરો ઠાલવવા દો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો આત્મા સંકટમાં છે તેથી હું શાંત રહીશ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું બોલીશ; મારા આત્માની વેદનાને કારણે હું મારું દુ:ખ રડીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.7.12" />હે દેવ! તમે મને એકલો શા માટે મૂકતા નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું હું સમુદ્ર કે સમુદ્રનું પ્રચંડ પ્રાણી છું કે તમે મારો ચોકી-પહેરો રાખો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.7.13" />જ્યારે હું એમ કહું છું, “હવે પથારીમાં સૂઇ જાઉં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મને ચેન પડશે, મને કળ વળશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.7.14" />ત્યારે તમે મને ભયાનક સ્વપ્નો દ્વારા બીવડાવો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સંદર્શનોથી મને ગભરાવો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.7.15" />ત્યાં હું જીવવાને બદલે ગુંગળાઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મરી જાઉ તો વધારે સારું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.7.16" />હવે હું ત્રાસી ગયો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે કાયમ માટે જીવવું નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">મને એકલો રહેવા દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા જીવનનો કોઇ અર્થ નથી!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.7.17" />દેવ, તમે મનુષ્યને મહત્વપૂર્ણ શા માટે ગણો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારે શા માટે તેને માન આપવું જોઇએ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે શા માટે તેના પર ધ્યાન આપવાની પણ તસ્દી લો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.7.18" />રોજ સવારે તમે તેની મુલાકાત કરો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે પ્રત્યેક ક્ષણે તેની કસોટી કરો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.7.19" />શા માટે તમે મને છોડી દેતાં નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારું થૂંક ગળું એટલો સમય પણ તમે મને એકલો કેમ મૂકતા નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.7.20" />દેવ, તમે લોકો ઉપર ધ્યાન આપો, જો મે પાપ કર્યુ હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાંઇ વાંધો નહિ, હું શું કરી શકું?
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે શા માટે મને તમારું નિશાન બનાવ્યો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી હું બોજારૂપ થઇ ગયો છું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.7.21" />તમે મને ખોટુ કરવા બદલ શા માટે સીધી રીતે માફ કરતા નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા પાપોને શા માટે સીધી રીતે માફ કરતા નથી?
</q>
<q style="q1">થોડાજ સમયમાં હું મરી જઇશ અને માટીમાં મળી જઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને શોધશો, પણ હું ત્યાં હોઇશ જ નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">બિલ્દાદ શૂહીનો અયૂબને જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.8.1" />ત્યારે બિલ્દાદ શૂહીએ અયૂબને જવાબ આપ્યો,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.8.2" />“તું ક્યાં સુધી આવી વાતો કર્યા કરીશ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા તોફાની શબ્દો ક્યાં સુધી વંટોળિયાની જેમ તારા મુખમાંથી નીકળ્યા કરશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.8.3" />શું દેવ અન્યાય કરે છે? સર્વસમર્થ દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે વાત સાચી છે તેને શું બદલે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.8.4" />જો તારા સંતાનોએ તેમની વિરૂદ્ધ પાપ કર્યા હશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો તેણે તેમને તે માટે સજા કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.8.5" />જો તું ખંતથી દેવની શોધ કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એમની કરુણા યાચશે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.8.6" />અને તું જો પવિત્ર અને સારો હોઇશ તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ તને ઝડપથી મદદ કરવા આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તને તારાં કાયદેસરના ઘરને, પાછા આપી દેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.8.7" />પછી તારી પાસે પહેલા હતું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના કરતા ઘણું વધારે હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.8.8" />“તું પહેલાની પેઢીઓને પૂછી જો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણી લે આપણા પિતૃઓ શું શીખ્યા હતા?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.8.9" />આપણે તો આજકાલના છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કાંઇજ જાણતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અહીં પૃથ્વી પરનું આપણું જીવન પડછાયા જેવું અલ્પ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.8.10" />તેઓ કદાચ તને શીખવી શકશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કદાચ તેઓ તને તેઓ જે બાબત શીખ્યા હોય તે શીખવી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.8.11" />“શું કાદવ વિના કમળ ઊગે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જળ વિના બરુ ઊગે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.8.12" />ના, જો પાણી સૂકાઇ જાય તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પણ સૂકાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.8.13" />લોકો જે ઈશ્વરને ભૂલી જાય છે તે પેલા બરુઓ જેવા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે વ્યકિત ઈશ્વરને ભૂલી જાય છે તેને આશા રહેશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.8.14" />તે માણસ પાસે અઢેલવા માટે કાઇ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની સુરક્ષા કરોળિયાના જાળ જેવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.8.15" />જો એક વ્યકિત કરોળિયાના જાળાને અઢેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને ટેકો લે તો તે તૂટી જાય
</q>
<q style="q1">તે કરોળીયાના જાળાનો આશ્રય લે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે તેને ટેકો આપશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.8.16" />તે માણસ વનસ્પતિના એક છોડ જેવો છે જેની પાસે પુષ્કળ પાણી અને સૂર્ય પ્રકાશ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની ડાળીઓ આખા બગીચામાં ફેલાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.8.17" />પથ્થર પર ઉગવાની જગ્યા શોધતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જથ્થાબંદ પથ્થરોને ઢાંકી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.8.18" />પણ જો એને એકવાર ઊખેડવામાં આવે તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી એ ઊગ્યાં હતાં કે નહિ એની ખબર પણ પડે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.8.19" />આ તો તેના માર્ગનું સુખ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જમીનમાંથી બીજા છોડ ઊગી નીકળે છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.8.20" />પરંતુ દેવ નિદોર્ષ લોકોને કદી અસમર્થ કરશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અધમીર્ને કદી મદદ કરશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.8.21" />તેઓ તારા ચહેરાને હાસ્યથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા હોઠોને આનંદના પોકારોથી ભરી દેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.8.22" />તારો તિરસ્કાર કરનારા દુશ્મનો શરમથી છુપાઇ જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટોના ઘરબાર નાશ પામશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો વળતો જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.9.1" />ત્યારે અયૂબે જવાબ આપ્યો:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.9.2" />“હા, હું જાણું છું કે તું સાચું બોલે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ દેવ સાથેની દલીલ માણસ કેવી રીતે જીતી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.9.3" />જો દેવ તેની સાથે દલીલ કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો દેવના 1,000 પ્રશ્ર્નોમાંથી શું ઓછામાંઓછો એકનો જવાબ તે આપી શકશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.9.4" />તે વિદ્વાન તથા સર્વસમર્થ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇપણ માણસ ઇજા પામ્યા વગર દેવ સામે લડી શકે તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.9.5" />તે દેવ જ્યારે ગુંસ્સે થાય છે ત્યારે પર્વતોને હલાવી દે છે અને તેઓને તેની ખબર પડતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.9.6" />દેવ પૃથ્વીને હલાવવા ધરતીકંપો મોકલે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ પૃથ્વીના પાયાઓ હલાવી નાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.9.7" />જો તે આજ્ઞા કરે, તો સૂર્ય ઊગશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ તારાઓને ગોંધી શકે છે જેથી તેઓ ઝગમગી શકે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.9.8" />તેણે એકલે હાથે આકાશને પાથર્યુ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમુદ્રના મોજા પર ચાલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.9.9" />તેણે સપ્તષિર્, મૃગશીર્ષ તથા કૃત્તિકા બનાવ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે દક્ષિણી આકાશના નક્ષત્રો ર્સજ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.9.10" />દેવ અદભુત કાર્યો કરે છે જે લોકો સમજી શકતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કોઇ ગણી ન શકે તેનાથી વધારે ચમત્કારી કાર્યોનો કર્તા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.9.11" />તે મારી બાજુમાંથી પસાર થાય છે; પણ હું તેમને જોઇ શકતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આગળ ચાલ્યા જાય છે, પણ હું તેમને જોઇ શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.9.12" />તે જો ઓચિંતાના આવે અને તેમને જે કઇં જોઇતું હોય તે ઝડપમારી પડાવી લે તો તેમને કોણ રોકી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને કોણ પૂછી શકે, ‘તમે આ શું કરો છો?’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.9.13" />ઈશ્વર તેમનો ગુસ્સો રોકશે નહિ રહાબનાં મદદગારો પણ દેવથી ડરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માણસનો ગર્વ તેની સામે ઓગળી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.9.14" />તો પછી માત્ર મારા જેવા કઇ દલીલોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બળે એની સામે ઊભા રહી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.9.15" />નિદોર્ષ હોવા છતાં હું તેમને જવાબ આપી શકતો નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા ન્યાયાધીશ પાસે દયાની ભીખ માંગું એટલું જ હું કરી શકું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.9.16" />હું જો એની સામે ફરિયાદ કરું અને તે જવાબ આપે તો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને ખાત્રી છે તે મારું સાંભળશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.9.17" />તે મને કચરી નાખવા તોફાન મોકલશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ વગર તે મને વધારે ઘાયલ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.9.18" />તે મને શ્વાસ લેવા દેશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મને મુશ્કેલીઓથી ભરપૂર કરી દેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.9.19" />હું દેવને હરાવી શકીશ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ખુબજ શકિતશાળી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું દેવને ન્યાયાલયમાં લઇ જઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી તરફ નિષ્પક્ષ રહેવાનો આગ્રહ કરી શકીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.9.20" />હું નિદોર્ષ છું, પણ હું જે કાંઇ કહું છું તેમાં હું ગુનેગાર જ દેખાઉ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું નિદોર્ષ છું પણ જ્યારે હું બોલુ છુ, મારુ મોઢુ મને અપરાધી સાબિત કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.9.21" />હું નિદોર્ષ છુઁ, પણ શું વિચાર કરવો તે હું જાણતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારા પોતાના જીવનને ધિક્કારું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.9.22" />‘માણસ કદાચ ભલે વાંક વગરનો કે અનિષ્ટ હોય પરંતુ દરેકને સરખીજ વસ્તુ થાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બધાનો નાશ કરે છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.9.23" />જ્યારે કોઇ ભયંકર બાબત બની જાય અને એક નિદોર્ષ માણસને મારી નાખવામાં આવે તો શું દેવ તેના પર હસશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.9.24" />જ્યારે દુષ્ટ માણસ એક પ્રદેશને કબ્જામાં લઇ લે છે, તો તે ન્યાયાધીશોને શું થઇ રહ્યું છે તે જોવા માટે રોકે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ જો સાચું હોય તો પછી દેવ કોણ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.9.25" />“મારા દિવસો એક દોડવીર કરતા પણ વધારે ઝડપથી પસાર થઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા દિવસો પસાર થઇ રહ્યા છે અને તેમા કોઇ આનંદ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.9.26" />ઝડપથી પસાર થતા વહાણની જેમ અંતે પોતાના શિકાર પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તૂટી પડતા ગરૂડની જેમ મારા દિવસો ચાલ્યાં જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.9.27" />“જો હું એમ કહું કે ‘હું મારા દુ:ખ વિષે ભૂલી જઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખુશ થઇને દેવ સામે ફરિયાદ ન કરવાનો નિર્ણય કરું.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.9.28" />વાસ્તવમાં કશું બદલાતું નથી. વ્યથા હજી પણ મને ડરાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જાણું છું કે તમે મને નિદોર્ષ નહિ ગણો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.9.29" />હું પહેલેથીજ ગુનેગાર ઠરાયો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો હું ફોકટ શા માટે શ્રમ કરું છું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.9.30" />જો હિમથી હું મારું શરીર ધોઉં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સાબુથી મારા હાથ ચોખ્ખાં કરું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JOB.9.31" />તો પણ દેવ મને ખાઇમાં નાખી દેશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પોતાનાં જ વસ્ત્રો મને ઘૃણા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JOB.9.32" />હું મારો પોતાનો બચાવ કરી શકતો નથી કારણકે તમે મારા જેવા માણસ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણે એક બીજાને ન્યાયાલયમાં મળી શકીએ તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે માણસ હોત તો આપણે સારી રીતે વાદ-વિવાદ કરી શક્યાં હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JOB.9.33" />મારી ઇચ્છા છે, કોઇ આડતિયો હોત કે જે બંને પક્ષને સાંભળી શકે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઇચ્છું છું એવું કોઇ હોત જે આપણ બંનેનો ન્યાય કરી શક્યો હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="JOB.9.34" />હું ઇચ્છું છુઁ, દેવનો શિક્ષા દંડ મારા પરથી લઇલે એવું કોઇ હોત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પછી દેવ મને ક્યારેય ડરાવશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="JOB.9.35" />તો હું દેવનો ડર રાખ્યા વગર તેને મોઢામોઢ કહી દઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હમણાં હું એમ કરી શકું તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="10" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.10.1" />“હું જીવનથી કંટાળી ગયો છું. હું મુકત રીતે ફરિયાદ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દુ:ખ અને કડવાશથી બોલીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.10.2" />હું દેવને કહીશ કે, ‘મને દોષિત ન ઠરાવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારી સાથે શા માટે ઝગડો કરો છો તે મને બતાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.10.3" />દેવ, શું મને દુ:ખ આપીને તમને આનંદ મળે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવું લાગે છે તમે જે સર્જન કર્યુ છે તેની તમને કાળજી નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">અથવા તો કદાચ તમે દુષ્ટ લોકોની યોજનાઓથી ખુશ થાઓ છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.10.4" />શું તને ચર્મચક્ષુ છે, અથવા શું તું માણસની જેમ જુએ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.10.5" />શું તમારા દિવસો અમારા દિવસો જેટલાં ટૂંકાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારું જીવન માણસના જીવન જેટલું ટૂંકુ છે
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.10.6" />કે તમે મારી ભૂલ શોધો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પાપ શોધો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.10.7" />તમે સારી રીતે જાણો છો કે હું નિદોર્ષ છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જાણો છો કે તમારા હાથમાંથી મને કોઇ બચાવી શકે તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.10.8" />તમે તમારા પોતાના હાથે મને ઘડ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હવે તેઓ ભેગા થઇને મારો વિનાશ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.10.9" />યાદ રાખો કે હું માટીમાંથી બનેલો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું હવે તમે મને પાછો માટીમાં મેળવી દેશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.10.10" />તમે મને એક બાટલીમાંથી બીજીમાં એમ દૂધની જેમ રેડ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને પનીરની જેમ વલોવો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.10.11" />તમે મને ચામડી અને માંસથી મઢી લીધો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને હાડકાં અને સ્નાયુઓથી વણી લીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.10.12" />તમે મને જીવન આપ્યું, મારી સાથે દયાળુ રહ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારું ધ્યાન રાખ્યું અને મારા આત્માનું રક્ષણ કર્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.10.13" />છતાં તમારા હૃદયમાં તો તમે આ છુપાવ્યું હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જાણું છું કે તમારા મનમાં આ હતું:
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.10.14" />તમે જોતા હતાં કે હું પાપ કરું છું કે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવા ઇરાદાથી કે જો હું પાપ કરું તો મને શિક્ષા કર્યા વગર છોડવો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.10.15" />જો હું પાપ કરું, તો મારે માટે બહું ખરાબ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જો હું નિદોર્ષ હોઇશ તો
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ હું મારું માથું ઊપર ઉઠાવી શકીશ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ખૂબજ શરમિંદો અને મુંઝાયેલો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.10.16" />જો હું અભિમાની હોઉ તો તમે સિંહની જેમ મારી પાછળ છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફરીથી તમે મારી સામે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી અદભૂત શકિત બતાવો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.10.17" />તમે મારી વિરુદ્ધ નવા સાક્ષીઓ લાવો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા ઉપર તમારો રોષ વધારો છો:
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારો સામનો કરવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક પછી એક સૈન્ય મોકલો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.10.18" />તો પછી તમે મને શા માટે ગર્ભમાંથી બહાર કાઢયો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના કરતાં તો હું મૃત્યુ પામ્યો હોત, કોઇએ મને જોયો સુદ્ધાં ન હોત તો એ કેવું સારું થાત!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.10.19" />હું ઇચ્છું છું કે હું ક્યારેય જીવ્યો ન હોત!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઈચ્છું છું કે હું મારી માતાના ગર્ભમાંથી સીધો કબરમાં લઇજવાયો હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.10.20" />તમને ખબર નથી કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું હવે થોડા સમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે જીવવાનો છું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.10.21" />મૃત્યુના પડછાયા અને અંધકારનો પ્રદેશ, કે જ્યાંથી કોઇ પાછા આવતું નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં હું જાઉ તે પહેલા મારી પાસે જે થોડો સમય બચ્યો છે તેનો આનંદ મને માણી લેવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.10.22" />આ મૃત્યુ દેશ તો મધ્યરાત્રિના ઘોર અંધકાર જેવો દેશ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ તો મૃત્યુછાયાનો દેશ છે જ્યાં બધું અસ્તવ્યસ્ત છે તથા પ્રકાશ પણ અંધકારરૂપ છે.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">સોફાર નાઅમાથીનો અયૂબને જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.11.1" />ત્યારે સોફાર નાઅમાથીએ અયૂબને ઉત્તર આપ્યો:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.11.2" />“આટલા બધા શબ્દો નિરૂત્તર રહેશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો કોઇ માણસ બહુ બોલે તો તે તેને સાચો ઠરાવશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.11.3" />શું તું વિચારે છે કે વાતો કરીને તું બીજા માણસોને ચૂપ કરી દઇશ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું શું વિચારે છે કે તું દેવની મશ્કરી કરીશ અને તને કોઇ ઠપકો નહિ આપે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.11.4" />કારણકે તું કહે છ કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘હું જે કહું છું તે સાચું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દેવની નજરમાં નિદોર્ષ છું.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.11.5" />હું ઇચ્છું છું કે, દેવ બોલશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તને કહેશે કે પોતે શું વિચારે છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.11.6" />દેવ તને ડહાપણના રહસ્યો વિષે કહેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તને કહેશે કે દરેક વાત ને બે બાજુ હોય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તું ખાતરી રાખજે કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તને તારા દોષોની પાત્રતાથી ઓછી સજા આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.11.7" />“અયૂબ, શું તું ખરેખર માને છે કે તું દેવને સમજે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું સર્વસમથઁ દેવને સમજી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.11.8" />તું સ્વર્ગની બાબત કાંઇ કરી શકશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શેઓલ બાબતે તું કાંઇ જાણતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.11.9" />તેનું માપ પૃથ્વી કરતાં પણ મહાન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમુદ્ર કરતાં પણ વિશાળ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.11.10" />“તે ધસી જઇને કોઇની પણ ધરપકડ કરે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનો ન્યાય કરવા તેને ન્યાયાલયમાં ઊભો કરી દે તો તેમ કરતાં તેમને કોણ અટકાવી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.11.11" />સાચે જ દેવ જાણે છે કોણ નિરર્થક છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે દેવ અનિષ્ટ જુએ છે ત્યારે તે તેને યાદ રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.11.12" />પણ મૂર્ખ માણસને તે બુદ્ધિમાન કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જંગલી ગધેડીના બચ્ચા જેવા માણસને તે સુધારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.11.13" />પણ તારે તારા હૃદયને માત્ર દેવની સેવા કરવા માટે જ તૈયાર કરવું જોઇએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની પ્રાર્થના કરવા તારે તારા હાથ તેની ભણી ઉપર કરવા જોઇએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.11.14" />જો તારા હાથ પાપથી ભરેલા હોય તો તેને સ્વચ્છ કરી નાખ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાં ઘરમાં અનિષ્ટ ને દાખલ થવા દેતો નહિ
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.11.15" />પછી તું દેવ સામે શરમાયા વગર જોઇ શકશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભય વિના દેવ સમક્ષ ઊભો રહી શકશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.11.16" />વહી ગયેલા પાણીની જેમ તું તારું દુ:ખ ભૂલી જઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા દુ:ખો ભૂતકાળ બની જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.11.17" />તારું જીવન મધ્યાનના સૂર્યથી પણ વધુ ઊજળું થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અંધકાર પણ પ્રભાતના પ્રકાશ જેવો બની જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.11.18" />પછી તું સુરક્ષા અનુભવીશ કારણકે ત્યાં આશા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તારી સંભાળ લેશે અને તને વિસામો આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.11.19" />તું નિરાંતે સૂઇ શકશે અને તને કોઇ હેરાન કરશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘણા લોકો તારી પાસે મદદ માગવા આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.11.20" />દુષ્ટ લોકો કદાચ મદદ માગશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેઓ તેમની મુશ્કેલીમાંથી છટકી શકશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની આશાઓ તેમને મૃત્યુ સુધી દોરી જશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો ઉત્તર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.12.1" />ત્યારે અયૂબે ઉત્તર આપ્યો કે,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.12.2" />“હા, તમે જ પ્રજાના ડહાપણનો ભંડાર છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા મૃત્યુની સાથે ડહાપણ પણ મરી પરવારશે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.12.3" />પરંતુ તમારી જેમ મને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ડહાપણ અને અક્કલ છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હું તમારા કરતાં ઊતરતો નથી; હા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ બધું કોણ નથી જાણતું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.12.4" />‘એક દિવસ દેવ મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળતા હતા;’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હવે તો મારા મિત્રો પણ મારી પર હસે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું ખરેખર સાચો છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નિદોર્ષ છું છતાં તેઓ હસે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.12.5" />જે લોકોને મુશ્કેલીઓ નથી, તેઓ જે લોકોને મુશ્કેલીઓ છે તેમનો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્થિર માણસ જેના પગ લથડી રહ્યાં છે તેને છેતરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.12.6" />ચોર ડાકુઓના ઘર આબાદ થાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સુખથી જીવે છે અને દેવને પડકારનારાઓ સુરક્ષિત હોય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની તાકાત તે જ તેમનો દેવ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.12.7" />“પરંતુ પશુઓને તમે પૂછો તો તે તમને શીખવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો પક્ષીઓને પૂછો તો તે તમને કહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.12.8" />અથવા પૃથ્વીને પૂછો, તે તમને શીખવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમુદ્રમાંની માછલીઓને પૂછો તો તે તમને માહિતી આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.12.9" />દરેક વ્યકિત જાણે છે કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ સર્વનું યહોવાએ સર્જન કર્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.12.10" />બધાંજ જીવો તથા મનુષ્યનો આત્મા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દેવના જ હાથમાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.12.11" />જેમ મારું મુખ સારા ભોજનનો સ્વાદ પારખે છે તે જ રીતે જ્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સાંભળું છું ત્યારે મારું મન સત્યની પરખ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.12.12" />અમે કહીયે છીએ, ‘વૃદ્ધ પુરૂષોમાં ડહાપણ હોય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાકી વયમાં સમજણ હોય છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.12.13" />પરંતુ ખરું ડહાપણ અને સાર્મથ્ય તો દેવનાં જ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમજ અને સત્તા તો તેની પાસે જ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.12.14" />તે મહા પરાક્રમી છે. તે જે કાંઇ ફાડી નાખે છે તે ફરીથી બાંધી શકાતું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તે માણસને કેદ કરે છે, ત્યારે કોઇ તેને છોડાવી શકતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.12.15" />જ્યારે તે વરસાદને અટકાવે છે, એટલે જમીન સૂકાઇ જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યારે તે વરસાદને છોડી દે છે, ત્યારે પાણી પૃથ્વી પર ફરી વળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.12.16" />દેવ સર્વસમર્થ છે અને હંમેશા જીતે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છેતરનારા અને છેતરાયેલાં બંને તેનાં હાથમાં જ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.12.17" />તે રાજમંત્રીઓની બુદ્ધિ લૂંટી લે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ન્યાયકર્તાઓને મૂર્ખા બનાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.12.18" />રાજાઓ ભલે લોકોને કેદમાં પૂરે, પણ દેવ તે લોકોને મુકત કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને શકિતશાળી બનાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.12.19" />તે દેવ યાજકો પાસેથી તેમની સત્તા આંચકી લે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સરકારી અધિકારીઓને તેમની નોકરીમાંથી કાઢી મુકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.12.20" />વિશ્વાસપાત્ર સલાહકારોને એ ચૂપ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વડીલોનું શાણપણ પણ છીનવી લે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.12.21" />દેવ રાજાઓ ઉપર તિરસ્કાર કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે શકિતશાળીઓની સત્તા આંચકી લે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.12.22" />દેવ ગુપ્તમાં ગુપ્ત રહસ્ય પણ પ્રગટ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મૃત્યુ જેવી કાળી જગ્યાએ પણ પ્રકાશ પહોચાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.12.23" />તે રાષ્ટને મોટું બનાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી તેના લોકોને વિખેરી નાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.12.24" />તે પૃથ્વીના લોકોના આગેવાનોની સમજશકિત હણી લે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને દિશા-વિહોણા અરણ્યમાં રખડતાં હોય તેવા,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.12.25" />ઘોર અંધકારમાં અથડાતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને છાકટા માણસની જેમ લથડતાં તેઓને કરી મૂકે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="13" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.13.1" />અયૂબે કહ્યું “તમે જે કઇં મને કહ્યું તે બધું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો મેં મારા કાનેથી સાંભળ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી આંખોએ જોયું છે અને હું એ બધું સમજું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.13.2" />તમે જે બધુ જાણો છો તે હું પણ જાણું છુ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જેવા હોશિયાર છો તેવો જ હું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.13.3" />પણ મારે સર્વ સમર્થ દેવ સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોઢાંમોઢ વાત કરવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે એમની સાથે વિવાદ કરવો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.13.4" />તમે ત્રણ જણા તમારી અજ્ઞાનતાને જૂઠાણાથી છૂપાવવાની કોશિશ કરો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે બધાં ઊંટવૈદ જેવા છો. જે કોઇને સાજા કરી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.13.5" />તમે મૂંગા રહ્યા હોત તો સારું હતું!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે એમાં તમારું ડહાપણ જણાત.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.13.6" />“હવે મારી દલીલો સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી બાબત પર ધ્યાન આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.13.7" />શું તમે દેવ માટે જૂઠું બોલશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમે સાચે એમ માનો છો કે તે તમારી પાસે જૂઠુ બોલાવવા માગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.13.8" />શું તમે દેવનો મારી સામે બચાવ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરી રહ્યાં છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે પક્ષપાત કરો છો તમે દેવનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પક્ષ પસંદ કરો છો કારણકે તે દેવ છે એટલા માટે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.13.9" />સાવચેત રહેજો, તમે જે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાંઇ કરો છો એ બધું તે જાણે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">શું તમે એમ માનો છો કે તમે જેમ માણસને મૂર્ખ બનાવો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ દેવને પણ બનાવી શકશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.13.10" />તમે જાણો છો કે જો તમે ન્યાયાલયમાં કોઇ વ્યકિતનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પક્ષ ફકત તે મહત્વપૂર્ણ વ્યકિત છે તે માટે લો છો તો દેવ તમને ધિક્કારશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.13.11" />દેવની મહાનતા તમને નહિ ડરાવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેનાથી કરશો નહિ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.13.12" />તમારાં બધા જોરદાર સૂત્રો નિરર્થક છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી બધી દલીલો કોઇ કામની નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.13.13" />“હવે તમે છાના રહો, મને બોલવા દો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે થવાનું હોય તે થવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.13.14" />ભલે ગમે તે થાય, હું મારું જીવન જોખમમાં મૂકવાં તૈયાર છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારો જીવ મૂઠીમાં લઇને ફરવા તૈયાર છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.13.15" />આમ કહેવાને કારણે દેવ ભલે મને મારી નાખે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમની રાહ જોઇશ; તેમ છતાં હું તેમની સમક્ષ મારો બચાવ જરૂર રજૂ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.13.16" />ફકત એ જ મારું તારણ પણ થઇ પડશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે દુષ્ટ લોકોની દેવ સામે ઊભા રહેવાની હિંમત હોતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.13.17" />હવે તમે મારી વાત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સહેજ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.13.18" />હું કાળજીપૂર્વક મારી દલીલો રજૂ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું જાણું છું કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું નિદોર્ષ છૂટીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.13.19" />મને કોણ ખોટો ઠરાવી શકે એમ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો કોઇ પણ હોય તો હું તત્કાળ ચૂપ થઇ જઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.13.20" />“હે દેવ! માત્ર બે બાબતોથી તમે મને મુકત કરો પછી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારાથી મારું મુખ સંતાડીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.13.21" />મને સજા કરવાનું બંધ કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને ડરાવવાનું બંધ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.13.22" />પછી જો તમે મારી સાથે બોલશો તો હું તમને જરૂર જવાબ આપીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા મને બોલવા દો અને તમે જવાબ આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.13.23" />મને કહો, “મેં શું ખોટું કર્યુ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને મદદ કરો! મારાં પાપ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અપરાધ મને જણાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.13.24" />શા માટે તમે મારાથી મુખ ફેરવી લો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે તમે મારી સાથે તમારા દુશ્મન જેવું વર્તન કરો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.13.25" />શું તમે પવનથી ખરી પડેલા પાંદડાને શિક્ષા કરશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમે સૂકા નિરર્થક તણખલાની પાછળ પીછો કરશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તો એવો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.13.26" />તમે મારી વિરુદ્ધ સખત ઠરાવ લખો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી યુવાવસ્થાના પાપોની સજા મને આપો છો;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.13.27" />હે દેવ, તમે મારા પગમાં બેડીઓ બાંધો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા બધા રસ્તાઓ ધ્યાનથી નિરખો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારું એકેએક ડગલું તપાસો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.13.28" />જો કે હું નીચે પડી સડી ગયેલ વૃક્ષ જેવો છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઊધઇથી ખવાઇ ગયેલા વસ્ર જેવો છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">અયૂબની સમસ્યા અને દેવનો વ્યવહાર
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.14.1" />અયૂબે કહ્યું, “માણસ કેવો નિર્બળ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું આયુષ્ય અલ્પ છે અને સંકટથી ભરપૂર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.14.2" />જેમ ફૂલ ખીલે છે અને થોડીવારમાં કરમાઇ જાય છે, વાદળ પસાર થઇ જાય છે અને તેની છાયા જતી રહે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મનુષ્યનું જીવન એક પડછાયા જેવું છે કે જે અહીં ટૂંકા સમય માટે રહે છે અને પછી તે અશ્ય થઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.14.3" />શું આવા નિર્બળ માનવીની સામે જોવાની ચિંતા તમે કરો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું ન્યાય મેળવવા માટે તેને તમારી સમક્ષ ઊભો કરવામાં આવશે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.14.4" />“અશુદ્ધ વસ્તુમાંથી શુદ્ધ વસ્તુ બનાવી શકે તો કેવું સારું!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ એવું બનવું અશક્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.14.5" />તમે માણસના આયુષ્યના મહિનાઓ એવાં મર્યાદિત કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નાંખ્યા છે કે તેને ઓળંગી શકે નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના મહિનાઓની ગણતરી તમારા હાથમાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.14.6" />તેથી દેવ અમારી સામે જોવાનું બંધ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને એકલા રહેવા દો, દિવસને અંતે ભાડૂતી મજુરને મળતા મહેનતાણાની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને અમારા વળતરનો આનંદ માણવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.14.7" />“ઝાડને પણ આશા છે. તે ભલે કપાઇ ગયું હોય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પાછું વિકાસ પામી શકે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને નવાં અંકુર ફૂટી શકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.14.8" />તેનાં મૂળિયા કદાચ જમીનમાં ઊગે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું થડ જમીનમાં સૂકાઇ જાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.14.9" />તે છતાંપણ તે જો ફરતે પાણી સૂંધે તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ નવા છોડની જેમ ડાળીઓ ઉગાડી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.14.10" />પરંતુ માણસ જો મૃત્યુ પામે છે તો તે સમાપ્ત થઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તે મરી જાય છે એ ચાલ્યો જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.14.11" />જેમ સાગરમાંથી પાણી ઊડી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નદી ક્ષીણ થઇને સુકાઇ જાય છે;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.14.12" />તેમ માણસ સૂઇ જઇને ક્યારેય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાછો ઊઠતો નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યાં સુધી આકાશોનું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અસ્તિત્વ ન રહે
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યાં સુધી માણસ ફરીથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની ઊંઘમાંથી જાગશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.14.13" />“હું ઇચ્છું છું કે તમે મને શેઓલમાં સંતાડો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારો ક્રોધ શમી જાય ત્યાં સુધી છુપાવી રાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને ઠરાવેલ સમય ઠરાવી આપીને યાદ રાખો તો કેવું સારું!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.14.14" />માણસ મૃત્યુ પામ્યાં પછી શું તે ફરીથી સજીવન થશે ખરો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં સુધી મને મુકત કરવામાં ન આવે ત્યાં સુધી હું રાહ જોઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.14.15" />દેવ તમે મને બોલાવશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે હું તમને જવાબ આપીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">પછી હું જેનું તમે સર્જન કર્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા માટે મહત્વનો હોઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.14.16" />પછી તમે મારાં એકેએક પગલાંને નજરમાં રાખશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મારા દુષ્કૃત્યો તમને યાદ નહિ આવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.14.17" />તમે મારા પાપોને એક થેલામાં બાંધશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા તમે મારા ગુનાઓ ઉપર ચીતરશો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.14.18" />“પર્વતો પડીને નષ્ટ થાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખડકો પોતાની જગાએથી ચળી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.14.19" />પથ્થરો પર સતત વહેતું પાણી તેને ઘસારો પહોચાડે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાણીના પૂર પૃથ્વી પરની જમીનને ધોઇ નાખે છે અને તેવી જ રીતે દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મનુષ્યની આશાઓનો વિનાશ કરી નાખો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.14.20" />તમે મનુષ્યને સંપૂર્ણ રીતે હરાવ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી તે દૂર ચાલ્યો જાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે તેને ઉદાસ બનાવીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દૂર મોકલી દો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.14.21" />તેના સંતાનો આદરપાત્ર થયાં છે કે નહિ, તેની તેને જાણ નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા જો તેઓ નીચે લવાયા હોય તો અપમાનિત કરાયા હોય, એ વિષે પણ તે અજાણ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.14.22" />તે માત્ર પોતાના દેહનું દુ:ખ અનુભવી શકે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મોટેથી પોતાના માટે રડે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">અલીફાઝ તેમાનીનો બીજો સંવાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.15.1" />પછી અલીફાઝ તેમાનીએ જવાબ આપ્યો:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.15.2" />“અયૂબ જો તું ખરેખર બુદ્ધિમાન હોત તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રડતા શબ્દોથી તું ઉત્તર ન આપત.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું કોઇ શાણો માણસ, પોલા શબ્દોથી દલીલ કરે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.15.3" />તને એવું લાગે છે કે શાણો માણસ નકામા શબ્દો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અર્થ વગરની વાતોથી દલીલ કરશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.15.4" />અયૂબ, જો તારી પાસે તારા પોતાના રસ્તા હોત તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇએ પણ દેવને માન આપ્યું કે ઉપાસના કરી ન હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.15.5" />તું જે વાતો કરે છે તે તારા પાપો બતાવે છે. અયૂબ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ચતુરાઇ ભરેલા શબ્દો વડે તારા પાપ છૂપાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.15.6" />હું નહિ, તારા શબ્દો જ તને દોષિત ઠરાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા, તારી વાણી જ તારું પાપ પોકારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.15.7" />“તું જ પહેલવહેલો જન્મ્યો છે એમ તું માને છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું પર્વતો ઉત્પન્ન થયા તે પહેલાં તું જન્મ્યો હતો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.15.8" />દેવની ગુપ્ત યોજનાઓ વિષે તમે સાંભળ્યું છે ખરું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તને એમ છે તું એક જ બુદ્ધિશાળી વ્યકિત છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.15.9" />અમારી પાસે ન હોય એવું ક્યું જ્ઞાન તારી પાસે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારાં કરતાં તારામાં કઇ વિશેષ સમજદારી છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.15.10" />જેઓ તારા પિતા કરતાં પણ મોટી ઉમરનાં છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વૃદ્ધ અને અનુભવવાળાં માણસો અમારા પક્ષે છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.15.11" />દેવ તને આશ્વાસન આપવાની કોશિષ કરે છે, પણ એ તારા માટે પૂરતું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે તને દેવનો સંદેશો નમ્રતા પૂર્વક કહ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.15.12" />તું શા માટે ઉશ્કેરાઇ જાય છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી આંખો કેમ મિચાય છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.15.13" />તું તારો ગુસ્સો દેવની ઉપર કેમ ઠાલવો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે શા માટે આમ બોલો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.15.14" />“શું માણસ પવિત્ર હોઇ શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્ત્રીજન્ય માનવી કદી નિદોર્ષ હોઇ શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.15.15" />જો, તે પોતાનાં સંત પુરુષોનો પણ ભરોસો કરતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની દ્રષ્ટિએ તો આકાશો પણ સ્વચ્છ અને શુદ્ધ નથી!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.15.16" />મનુષ્ય તો અધમમાં અધમ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મનુષ્ય મલિન અને અપ્રામાણિક છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી માણસનું શું તે જે પાપોને પાણીની જેમ પી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.15.17" />“હું કહું તે સાંભળો; અને હું તો મેં જે જોયું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણ્યું છે તે જ કહેવાનો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.15.18" />આવા જ અનુભવો જ્ઞાની માણસોને થયેલા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેઓનાં પિતૃઓ પાસેથી જે શીખ્યા હતા તે કાંઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓએ છૂપાવ્યું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.15.19" />એકલા આપણા પિતૃઓનેજ તેઓની પોતાની ભૂમિ આપવામાં આવી હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ વિદેશીઓ તેઓની ભૂમિમાથી પસાર થતા નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ જે તેમના પિતાઓ પાસે શીખ્યા તેમાંથી કાઇ પણ છૂપાવ્યું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ જ આ ડહાપણ ભરેલી શિખામણ આપેલી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.15.20" />એક દુષ્ટ માણસ તેના આખા જીવન પર્યંત પીડા ભોગવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ લોકોના દહાડા બહુ ટૂંકા હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.15.21" />દરેક અવાજ તેને ડરાવે છે. જે સમયે તે વિચારે છે કે તે સુરક્ષિત છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેના દુશ્મનો આવી અને તેના પર હૂમલો કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.15.22" />અંધકારમાંથી છટકવાની એને કોઇ આશા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇક જગ્યાએ ત્યાં એક તરવાર તેને મારવાની રાહ જોઇ રહી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.15.23" />તે ખોરાક માટે ભટકે છે પરંતુ તે ક્યાં મેળવે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જાણે છે કે મૃત્યુના દિવસો નજીક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.15.24" />સંકટ તથા વેદના તેને ભયભીત કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યુદ્ધને માટે સજ્જ થયેલા રાજાની જેમ તેઓ તેના પર વિજય મેળવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.15.25" />તેણે દેવની સામે પોતાની મુઠ્ઠી ઉગામી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વસમર્થ દેવની સામે લડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.15.26" />તે દુષ્ટ વ્યકિત બહુ દુરાગ્રહી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મજબૂત ઢાલથી સજ્જ થઇને તે દેવને પડકાર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.15.27" />એ દુષ્ટ માણસ છકી ગયેલો, પુષ્ટ અને ધનવાન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે માણસ કદાચ ચરબી યુકત અને ધનવાન હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.15.28" />પરંતુ તેના નગરો ખંડેર બની જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના ઘરનો નાશ થઇ જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું ઘર ઉજ્જડ થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.15.29" />તે ધનવાન નહિ રહે એની સમૃદ્ધિ ટકશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેની સંપતિ ટકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.15.30" />દુષ્ટ માણસ અંધકારમાંથી બચશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે એક વૃક્ષ જેવો થશે જેની કુમળી ડાળીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જવાળાઓથી બળી જાય છે અને પવનમાં ફૂંકાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JOB.15.31" />દુષ્ટ માણસે નિરર્થક બાબતોમાં વિશ્વાસ કરીને પોતાને મૂર્ખ બનાવવો જોઇએ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તેને કાંઇ મળશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JOB.15.32" />દુષ્ટ માણસ તેના જીવનનો અંત આવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પહેલા વૃદ્ધ થશે અને કરમાઇ જશે, તે સૂકી શાખા જેવો થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JOB.15.33" />તે જેની કાચી દ્રાક્ષ ખરી પડે એવા દ્રાક્ષના વેલા જેવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેનું અપકવ ફળ ખરી પડે એવા જૈતૂનના વૃક્ષ જેવો છે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="JOB.15.34" />કારણકે દેવ વિનાના લોકો પાસે કાઇ હોતું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ પૈસાને પ્રેમ કરે છે, તેઓના ઘરો અગ્નિથી નાશ પામી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="JOB.15.35" />દુષ્ટ લોકો હમેશા હેરાન કરવા માટે દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓ બનાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ હંમેશા લોકોને છેતરવાની યોજનાઓ બનાવતા હોય છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો પ્રત્યુતર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.16.1" />ત્યારે અયૂબે પ્રત્યુતર આપ્યો,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.16.2" />“આ બધું તો મેં પહેલાં સાંભળેલું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો તો આશ્વાસન પણ ત્રાસદાયક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.16.3" />શું તમારા નકામા શબ્દોનો અંત નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી સાથે શું ખોટું થયું છે કે તમે આ પ્રમાણે દલીલો કર્યા કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.16.4" />જો તમારી જગાએ હું હોત તો હું આ પ્રમાણે જ બોલી શક્યો હોત.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તમારી સામે ડાહી વાતો કરી અને માથું હલાવ્યું હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.16.5" />માત્ર મૌખિક રીતેજ હું તમને હિંમત આપી શક્યો હોત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માત્ર મારા હોઠ ફફડાવીને જ હું તમને આશ્વાસન આપી શક્યો હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.16.6" />“જો કે હું બોલું તો પણ મારું દુ:ખ દૂર થવાનું નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જો હું ચૂપ રહું તો મને કેવી રીતે આરામ મળે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.16.7" />સાચેજ દેવ! તમે મારી શકિત લઇ લીધી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા આખા કુટુંબનો નાશ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.16.8" />હે દેવ! તમે મને કેવો હાડપિંજર જેવો બનાવી દીધો છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો એને મારાં પાપોનું પરિણામ માને છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.16.9" />“દેવ મારા પર હુમલો કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મારી સાથે ઉદ્વિગ્ન છે અને મારા શરીરને કાપીને અલગ કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવ મારી સામે તેના દાંત પીસે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા દુશ્મનો મારી સામે ધિક્કારથી જુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.16.10" />લોકો મારી આજુબાજુ ટોળે વળી ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારી મશ્કરી કરે છે અને મારા મોઢા પર તમાચો મારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.16.11" />દેવે મને દુષ્ટ લોકોને સોંપી દીધો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે દુષ્ટ લોકોને મને ઇજા પહોંચાડવાની મંજૂરી આપી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.16.12" />હું સુખચેનમાં હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેણે મને કચડી નાખ્યો;
</q>
<q style="q1">હા, તેમણે મને ગરદનમાંથી પકડ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા ટૂકડેટૂકડા કરી નાખ્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવે મારો નિશાન તરીકે ઉપયોગ કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.16.13" />દેવના ધનુર્ધારી માણસોએ મને ઘેરી લીધો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ મારુ હૃદય ફાડી નાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દયા દાખવતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મારુ પિત્ત જમીન પર ઢોળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.16.14" />મારાં પર તે વારંવાર આક્રમણ કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યોદ્ધાની જેમ તે મારા પર તૂટી પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.16.15" />“હું ખૂબ ઊદાસ છું તેથી મે આ શોકના વસ્ત્રો પહેર્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું અહી ધૂળ અને રાખ પર હાર માનીને બેઠો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.16.16" />હું કોઇ ઉપર ક્રૂર થયો ન હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પ્રાર્થનાઓ પવિત્ર અને સાચી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.16.17" />રડી રડીને મારું મોં લાલ થઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આંખોની આજુબાજુ કાળા કુંડાળા પડી ગયાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.16.18" />“હે પૃથ્વી ન્યાય માટે તલસતાં મારા લોહીને તું ઢાંકી દઇશ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી ફરિયાદ માટે પોકારતાં મારા અવાજને તું દાટી દઈશ નહિં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.16.19" />હજુ પણ આકાશમાં કોઇ છે જે મારી તરફેણમાં બોલે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉપર કોઇ છે જે મારી સાક્ષી પૂરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.16.20" />મારા મિત્રો મારી વિરૂદ્ધ બોલે છે જયારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દેવ આગળ આંસુ રેડું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.16.21" />જેમ એક વ્યકિત તેના મિત્ર માટે દલીલો કરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ દેવ સામે મારા માટે બોલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.16.22" />“થોડાજ વષોર્ માં હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ જગ્યાએ જઇશ જ્યાંથી હું પાછો ફરવાનો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">અયૂબની દુ:ખદ અભિવ્યકિત
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.17.1" />“હું ત્રાહિત છું. મારો આત્મા રૂંધાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જીવનને આરે આવી ઊભો છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે કબર સિવાય મારે માટે કોઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી રાહ જોતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.17.2" />મારી આજુબાજુ હવે માત્ર મારી હાંસી કરનારાઓ જ રહ્યાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યારે તેઓ કઠોર વચનો બોલે છે, હું તેઓને નજરમાં રાખું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.17.3" />“દેવ, મને બતાવો કે તમે ખરેખર મને આધાર આપો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બીજુ કોઇ મને આધાર નહિ આપે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.17.4" />હે દેવ, તમે જ તેઓને આ સમજવા દીધું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તમે તેઓને જીતવા દેશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.17.5" />તમે જાણો છો, લોકો શું કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘જ્યારે એક માણસ પોતાની સંપતિનો હિસ્સો મેળવવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના મિત્રોને વાત કરે છે, તેના બાળકો અંધ બની જશે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.17.6" />દેવે મને લોકોમાં હાંસીપાત્ર બનાવ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી લોકો મારા મોઢા પર થૂંકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.17.7" />દુ:ખથી આંસુ સારવાથી હવે મારી આંખે અંધારા આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારાં અંગો પડછાયા જેવા બની ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.17.8" />ન્યાયી લોકો આને લીધે ઉદ્વિગ્ન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નિદોર્ષ લોકો જેઓ દેવની કાળજી કરતાં નથી તેને લીધે વ્યથિત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.17.9" />છતાંય સજ્જન પુરૂષો પોતાના માર્ગમાં ટકી રહેશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રામાણિક નીતિવાન અધિકાધિક બળવાન થતાં રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.17.10" />“પરંતુ તમે બધા રહેવા જ દો, પાછા આવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તમારી વચ્ચે એકપણ શાણો માણસ નહિ મળે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.17.11" />મારું જીવન પસાર થતું જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી યોજનાઓ નષ્ટ થઇ ગઇ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આશાઓ અદ્રશ્ય થઇ ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.17.12" />પણ મારા મિત્રો રાત ને દિવસ માને છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંધકાર હોવા છતાં તેઓ કહે છે, ‘પ્રકાશ નજીકમાં છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.17.13" />“હું કદાચ આશા રાખુંકે કબર મારું નવું ઘર બને.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું કબરના અંધકારમાં પથારી પાથરવાની પણ કદાચ આશા રાખું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.17.14" />મેં કબરને એમ કહ્યું છે, ‘તમે મારા પિતા છો.’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં કીડાઓને કહ્યું છે, ‘તમે મારી માતા અને બહેનો છો.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.17.15" />તો પછી હવે, મારે માટે કોઇ આશા રહી ખરી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોણ જોશે, મારા માટે કોઇ આશા છે કે નહિ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.17.16" />મારી આશા, નીચે મૃત્યુલોક સુધી જશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે માટીમાં સાથે મળી જઇશું?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">બિલ્દાદ શૂહીનો જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.18.1" />એટલે બિલ્દાદ શૂહીએ જવાબ આપ્યો કે,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.18.2" />“અયૂબ, તું ક્યાં સુધી આમ શબ્દોને પકડવા જાળ ફેલાવ્યા કરીશ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમજદાર થા, પછી અમે તારી સાથે વાત કરીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.18.3" />તમે અમને શા માટે ઢોર જેવા ગણો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શા માટે અમને મૂર્ખ માનો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.18.4" />અયૂબ, તું જ તારા ક્રોધથી તારી જાતને દુ:ખ પહોંચાડી રહ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તારા માટે લોકોએ પૃથ્વી છોડીને જવું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમે વિચારો છો કે માત્ર તમારા સંતોષ માટે દેવ પર્વતોને હલાવશે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.18.5" />“હા, દુષ્ટ લોકોનું તેજ બહાર ચાલ્યું જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો અગ્નિ બળતો બંધ થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.18.6" />તેના પ્રકાશિત ઘરમાઁ અંધારૂ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની પાસેનો દીવો હોલવાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.18.7" />તેનાં મજબૂત પગલાં નબળાં પડી જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની અનિષ્ટ ઇચ્છાઓ તેને નીચે પાડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.18.8" />તે ફાસલામાં ચાલે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પગ એમાં ફસાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.18.9" />ફાસલો તેના પગની પાની પકડી લે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના પાશમાં તે જકડાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.18.10" />જમીન પર જાળ સંતાઇને પડી હશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં માર્ગમાં એ પાથરેલી હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.18.11" />એની ચારેકોર ભય તેની પર ત્રાટકવા ટાંપી રહ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દરેક પગલું તેની પાછળ તે ભરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.18.12" />ભૂખથી તેનું બળ ક્ષીણ થઇ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિનાશ તેને નીચો પાડવાં રાહ જોઇને ઊભા હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.18.13" />ભયંકર બિમારીઓ તેની ચામડીને કોરી ખાશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના હાથ, પગ કોહવાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.18.14" />એ જે ઘરમાં નિરાંતે જીવે છે એમાંથી એને બહાર ખેંચી કાઢવામાં આવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એને ભયના રાજાની હાજરીમાં લાવવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.18.15" />જેઓ તેનાં નથી તેઓ તેના ઘરમાં વસશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના ઘર પર ગંધક છાંટવામાં આવે શે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.18.16" />તેની નીચેથી મૂળીયાં સડી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની ઉપરની ડાળીઓ સુકાઇ જાય છે. તેથી તે મૃત્યુ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.18.17" />આ દુનિયામાં તેનું નામનિશાન રહેશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એને કોઇ પણ યાદ કરશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.18.18" />પ્રકાશમાંથી તેને અંધકારમાં ધકેલી દેવામાં આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જગતમાંથી તેને હાંકી કાઢવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.18.19" />તેને કોઇ સંતાન કે પૌત્ર, પૌત્રીઓ હશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના કુટુંબમાંથી કોઇ જીવતું નહિ રહે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.18.20" />પશ્ચિમના લોકો દિગમૂઢ થઇ જશે જ્યારે તેઓ સાંભળશે કે તે દુષ્ટ માણસને શું થયું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૂર્વના લોકો ભયને કારણે તેમના વાળ ખેચી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.18.21" />દુષ્ટ લોકોના ઘરને ખરેખર આમ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેને દેવનું જ્ઞાન નથી તેની આવી જ દશા થશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો પ્રત્યુતર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.19.1" />ત્યારબાદ અયૂબે જવાબ આપ્યો:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.19.2" />“તમે ક્યાં સુધી મને આવો ત્રાસ આપ્યા કરશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મહેણાં મારીને મને કચડ્યા કરશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.19.3" />તમે પહેલેથીજ મને દસ વખત મહેણાં માર્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જયારે તમે મારા પર હુમલો કરો છો, તમને શરમ આવતી નથી!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.19.4" />જો મેં પાપ કર્યુ પણ હોય, તો તે મારી સમસ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમને દુ:ખ નહિ પહોંચાડે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.19.5" />તમારે ફકત તમારી જાતને મારી કરતા સારી દેખાડવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે કહો છો કે મારી સમસ્યા એ મારો દોષ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.19.6" />આટલું સમજી લો દેવે મને વિના વાંકે દંડ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને ફાંસલામાં પકડી લીધો છે તે સાચું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.19.7" />જો હું એમ બૂમો પાડું, “મારી મદદ કરો, મારા ઉપર હુમલો થયો છે.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો કોઇ મારી મદદે આવતું નથી. જો હું પોકાર કરું તોય મને ન્યાય મળતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.19.8" />દેવે મારો માર્ગ બંધ કરી દીધો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે મારા રસ્તાઓને અંધકારથી ઢાંકી દીધા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.19.9" />એમણે મને બેઆબરુ કર્યો છે અને અપમાનિત પણ કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા માથા પરનો મુગટ ઉતારી નાંખ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.19.10" />જ્યાં સુધી મારો વિનાશ ન થાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી ચારે બાજુથી તે મારા પર પ્રહાર કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આશાઓ ઝાડની જેમ મૂળમાંથી ઉખેડાઇ ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.19.11" />તદુપરાંત તેમણે પોતાનો બધો રોષ મારી વિરુદ્ધ પ્રગટ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મને પોતાનો શત્રુ જેવો ગણે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.19.12" />તેણે તેનું આખું સૈન્ય મારી સામે મૂકી દીધું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આજુબાજુ હુમલો કરવા માટે ઊંચી મજબૂત ઇમારતો બાંધી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા ઘરની આસપાસ છાવણીઓ નાખી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.19.13" />“તેમણે મને મારા ભાઇઓ અને સાથીઓથી વિખૂટો પાડ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું બધાય સ્વજનોમાં અજાણ્યા જેવો લાગું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.19.14" />સગાંવહાંલાઓએ મને તજી દીધો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા મિત્રો પણ મને ભૂલી ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.19.15" />મારા ઘરમાં જે મુલાકાતીઓ રહે છે તે તથા મારા નોકરો પણ મને પારકા જેવો ગણે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને હું વિદેશી જેવો લાગુ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.19.16" />મારા નોકરને હું બોલાવું છું અને તે આવતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો હું મદદ માટે આજીજી કરું તો પણ તે જવાબ આપતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.19.17" />મારી પત્ની મારા શ્વાસનેજ ધિક્કારે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા સગા ભાઇઓ પણ મારો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.19.18" />નાનાં બાળકો પણ મારો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યારે હું ઊઠું છું ત્યારે તેઓ મને ખરાબ શબ્દો કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.19.19" />મારા ગાઢ મિત્રો મારો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા સૌ પ્રિયજનો મારી વિરૂદ્ધ થઇ ગયાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.19.20" />“હું ખૂબ પાતળો છું, મારાં હાડકાંમાંથી મારી ચામડી ઢીલાશથી લટકે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારામાં થોડોકજ જીવ બાકી રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.19.21" />“હે મારા મિત્રો, મારા પર દયા કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે દેવ મારી વિરૂદ્ધ થઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.19.22" />શા માટે દેવની જેમ તમે પણ મારી પાછળ પડ્યાં છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં વેઠેલા દુ:ખોથી પણ તમને સંતોષ નથી થતો શું?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.19.23" />“હું ઇચ્છું છું, કોઇ હું શું બોલું છું તે યાદ રાખે અને તે એક ચોપડીમાં લખે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઇચ્છું છું મારા શબ્દો ટીપણી પર લખાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.19.24" />હું ઇચ્છું છું કે, હું જે કહું છું તે લોખંડની કલમથી સીસાથી ખડક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર કોતરવામાં આવે તો તે સદાય રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.19.25" />હું જાણું છું કે મારો ઉધ્ધાર કરનાર કોઇ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જાણુ છું તે જીવે છે. અને આખરે તે અહીં પૃથ્વી પર ઊભો રહેશે અને મારો બચાવ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.19.26" />મારી ચામડી ઉતરડાઇ જશે અને મારો દેહ પડી જશે પછી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું મારા દેવને મળીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.19.27" />હા, હું તેમને મારી પોતાની આંખો વડે જોઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બીજું કોઇ નહિ હું પોતેજ દેવને જોઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે મને મનમાં કેટલો ક્ષુબ્ધ અનુભવ કરાવે છે તે હું તમને કહી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.19.28" />“તમે કદાચ કહો, ‘અમે અયૂબને હેરાન કરીશું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનો વાંક કાઢવા કઇક કારણ શોધીશું.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.19.29" />તરવારથી તમારે ડરવું જોઇએ; કારણકે દેવ ગુનેગાર ને સજા આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને સજા આપવા દેવ તરવારનો ઊપયોગ કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તમને ખબર પડશે કે ન્યાય કરનાર એક છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">સોફાર નાઅમાથીનો પ્રત્યુતર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.20.1" />પછી નાઅમાથી સોફારે પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.20.2" />“હવે હું અકળામણ અનુભવું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જવાબ આપવાને અધીરો બની ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.20.3" />તમે તમારા જવાબોથી અમારું અપમાન કર્યું! પણ હું ચાલાક છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તને કેવી રીતે જવાબ આપવો તે જાણું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.20.4" />“શું તને ખબર નથી કે, પ્રાચીન કાળથી, એટલે કે મનુષ્ય પૃથ્વી પર આવીને વસ્યો ત્યારથી
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.20.5" />દુષ્ટ લોકોની કીતિર્ ક્ષણભંગુર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા નાસ્તિકનો આનંદ ક્ષણિક છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.20.6" />એનું ઘમંડ ભલેને આકાશ જેટલું ઉંચુ થાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એનું મસ્તક ભલેને વાદળોને આંબી જાય;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.20.7" />પણ એ પોતાના જ વિષ્ટાની જેમ હંમેશને માટે નાશ પામે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમણે એને જોયો છે તેઓ પૂછે છે; ‘તે ક્યાં છે?’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.20.8" />સ્વપ્નની જેમ તે અદ્રશ્ય થઇ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાત્રિના સંદર્શનની જેમ તે અદ્રશ્ય થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.20.9" />જેણે તેને જોયો હતો, તે તેને ફરી કદી જોઇ શકશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું કુટુંબ તેની સામે ક્યારેય નહિ જોવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.20.10" />દુષ્ટ માણસનાં સંતાનો એ ગરીબ પાસેથી જે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લીધું હતું તે પાછું આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.20.11" />તે જ્યારે જુવાન હતો, તેના હાડકા મજબૂત હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેના બાકીના શરીરની જેમ, તેઓ ધૂળમાં મળી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.20.12" />“તેણે પોતાની દુષ્ટતાના સ્વાદમાં આનંદ માણ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટતાને તેણે પોતાના મુખમાં ધીમે ધીમે ઓગળવા દીધી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.20.13" />દુષ્ટ માણસ અનિષ્ટ ને માણે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેનાથી છૂટવા માગતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેના મોઢામાં સાકરના ટૂકડા જેવું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.20.14" />પરંતુ તેનાં પેટમાં એ અનિષ્ટ ઝેરમાં બદલાઇ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેની અંદર કડવા ઝેર જેવું થઇ જશે, સાપના ઝેર સમાન.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.20.15" />એણે જે ધનસંપતિ ગળી ગયો છે તે એણે ઓકી નાખવી પડે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ એનાં પેટમાંથી એ કઢાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.20.16" />એણે જે શોષી લીધું હતું તે સાપનું ઝેર હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાપનો એ ડંખ એને મારી નાંખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.20.17" />તેણે હડપ કરી લીધેલી વસ્તુઓ તેને આનંદ આપશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને દૂધ અને મધની નદીઓનો આનંદ મળશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.20.18" />એણે મહેનતથી જે મેળવ્યું છે તે ભોગવ્યાં વિનાજ એને પાછું આપવું પડશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ધનસંપતિ એ કમાયો છે તે એ માણી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.20.19" />કારણકે એણે ગરીબોને રંજાડ્યાં છે ને તરછોડ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બીજાના બાંધેલા ઘર પચાવી પાડ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.20.20" />“તે કદી ધરાયો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની ધનસંપતિ તેને બચાવી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.20.21" />તે જ્યારે ખાય છે, કાંઇ બાકી રહેતું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની સફળતા સતત રહેતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.20.22" />એ સિદ્ધિના શિખરે હશે ત્યારે જ આફતો તેને હંફાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની આફતો સંપૂર્ણ શકિત પૂર્વક તેના ઉપર ઊતરી પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.20.23" />જ્યારે તેનું પેટ તેને જે જોઇએ છે તેનાથી ભરાયું હશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તેની સામે ભભૂકતા ક્રોધનો વરસાદ વરસાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તેના પર સજાનો વડસાદ વરસાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.20.24" />જો એ લોઢાની તરવારમાંથી છટકી જશે તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાંસાનું બાણ એને વીંધી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.20.25" />તેના પેટમાંથી બાણ આરપાર નીકળી જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પીઠમાંથી ભોંકાઇને બહાર આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની ચળકતી ધાર તેના પિત્તાશયને વીંધી નાખશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ભયથી આઘાત પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.20.26" />તેનો ખજાનો અંધકારના ઊંડાણમાં ખોવાઇ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રચંડ અગ્નિ કે જેનો કોઇ માનવે આરંભ કર્યો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના માલ સામાનનો નાશ કરશે અને તેનું જે કાંઇ બાકી છે તે સર્વ ભસ્મીભૂત થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.20.27" />આકાશ તેનો ગુનો ઉઘાડો પાડશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી એની વિરુદ્ધ સાક્ષી પૂરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.20.28" />જે દિવસે દેવનો પ્રકોપ ફાટી નીકળશે તે દિવસે ધસમસતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૂરમાં એનાં ઘરબાર તણાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.20.29" />દેવ દુષ્ટ લોકોને આ પ્રમાણે કરશે અને આ એજ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે તે તેમને આપવાની યોજના કરે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.21.1" />પછી અયૂબે જવાબ આપ્યો અને કહ્યું:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.21.2" />“હું જે કહું તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને એટલો તો દિલાસો આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.21.3" />મારા બોલી રહ્યા પછી ભલે તમે મારી હાંસી કરજો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું બોલું છું ત્યાં સુધી ધીરજ રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.21.4" />“શું મારી ફરિયાદ માણસ સામે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું શા માટે અધીરો ના થાઉં?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.21.5" />મારી દશા તો જુઓ! અને આઘાત પામજો મહેરબાની કરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા મોઢા પર તમારો હાથ મૂકી અને ઢાંકી દેશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.21.6" />હું યાદ કરું છું ત્યારે ગભરાઇ જાઉં છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ભયથી જી ઊઠું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.21.7" />શા માટે દુષ્ટ માણસો લાંબુ જીવે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે તેઓ વૃદ્ધ થાય છે અને સફળ રહે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.21.8" />દુષ્ટ લોકો તેમના સંતાનોને મોટાં થતા જુએ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ લોકો પોતાના પૌત્ર-પૌત્રીઓને જોવા માટે જીવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.21.9" />એમનાં ઘર સુરક્ષિત હોય છે, તેઓ ડરતા નથી તેઓને સજા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપવા માટે દેવ લાકડીનો ઊપયોગ કરતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.21.10" />તેઓના બળદો જાતીય સંબધ બાંધવામાં કદી નિષ્ફળ જતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની ગાયો વાછરડાંઓને જન્મ આપે છે અને વાછરડાંઓ મરેલા જન્મતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.21.11" />દુષ્ટ લોકો તેઓના સંતાનોને ઘેટાંના બચ્ચાંઓની જેમ બહાર રમવા મોકલે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના સંતાનો આસપાસ નાચે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.21.12" />તેઓ નાચગાનમાં પોતાનો સમય પસાર કરે છે, તેઓ વાંસળી, સારંગી અને ખંજરીના તાલે ગાય છે અને ઝૂમે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.21.13" />દુષ્ટ લોકો તેઓના જીવન દરમ્યાન સફળ થવાનો આનંદ માણે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાર પછી તેઓ મૃત્યુ પામે છે અને પીડા વગર તેઓની કબરમાં જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.21.14" />તો પણ દુષ્ટ લોકો દેવને કહે છે, ‘અમને એકલા મૂકી દો’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે અમારી પાસે શું કરાવવા માગો છો તેની અમને ચિંતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.21.15" />તેઓ કહે છે, ‘સર્વસમર્થ દેવ કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારે તેમની સેવા શા માટે કરવી જોઇએ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું એમને પ્રાર્થના કરીને કાઇ નહિ વળે?’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.21.16" />“એ સાચું છે કે દુષ્ટ લોકો પોતાની જાતે સફળ થયા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેઓની સલાહ પ્રમાણે અનુસરી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.21.17" />પણ કેટલીવાર દેવ અવારનવાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ લોકોનો દીવો ફૂંક મારીને ઓલવે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેટલીવાર દુષ્ટ લોકોને સમસ્યાઓ હોય છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.21.18" />આપણે એને કેટલીવાર હવામાં ખરસલાંની જેમ ઊડી જતો જોયો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વંટોળિયામાં ફોતરાઁની જેમ ફૂકાંઇ જતો જોયો છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.21.19" />તમે કહેશો, ‘દેવ તેઓના પાપની સજા તેઓના સંતાનોને કરે છે.’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દેવ જો તેઓને સજા કરે, તોજ તેઓને જાણ થશે કે તેઓ તેઓના પોતાના પાપોને લીધેજ સજા ભોગવી રહ્યાં છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.21.20" />પાપીને પોતાની સજા જોવા દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને સર્વસમર્થ દેવનો ક્રોધ અનુભવવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.21.21" />જ્યારે દુષ્ટ માણસના જીવનનો અંત આવે છે, અને તે મરી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેની પાછળ રહેલા કુટુંબની ચિંતા કરતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.21.22" />“માણસ શું દેવને પાઠ ભણાવી શકશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ ઉચ્ચ સ્થાનના લોકોનો પણ અભિપ્રાય બાંધે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.21.23" />કોઇ માણસ મરી જાય છે ત્યાં સુધી તંદુરસ્ત રહે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા સુખચેનમાં રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.21.24" />તેના શરીરને સારું પોષણ મળ્યું હતું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના હાડકાં હજીપણ મજબૂત હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.21.25" />પરંતુ બીજો તો પોતાના જીવનમાં કષ્ટ ભોગવતો મૃત્યુ પામે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કદી સુખનો અનુભવ કરતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.21.26" />પણ માટીમાં તો એ બંને એક સાથે મળી જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જીવડાં તેઓ બંને ઉપર પથરાઇ જાય છે અને તેમને ઢાંકી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.21.27" />“જુઓ, તમારા વિચારો હું જાણું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું જાણું છું તમે મને દુ:ખ પહોચાડવા માગો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.21.28" />તમે કહો છો, ‘એ મહાશયનું ઘર ક્યાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ દુષ્ટ માણસ વસતો હતો તે જગા ક્યાં છે?’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.21.29" />“શું તમે રસ્તે જનારાઓને પૂછયું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ખાત્રીપૂર્વક તેઓની વાતો માનશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.21.30" />ભૂંડો માણસ સંકટના સમયે બચી જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના કોપમાંથી દુષ્ટ ઊગરી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JOB.21.31" />તેણે જે દુષ્કમોર્ કર્યા તે માટે તેને કોઇ જાહેરમાં ઠપકો આપી શકતું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે જે કર્યુ છે તે માટે તેને સજા આપનાર કોઇ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JOB.21.32" />ઊલટું તેની કબરનુ રક્ષણ કરવાની વ્યવસ્થા કરવામાં આવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને માન અપાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JOB.21.33" />એની કબરમાં માટી પણ એની આસપાસ નરમાશથી પથરાઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એની આગળ અને પાછળ મોટી મેદની હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="JOB.21.34" />“અને તમે! શા માટે મને ખોટા આશ્વાસન આપો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા એક એક જવાબ સદંતર જૂઠા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">અલીફાઝનો ત્રીજો સંવાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.22.1" />ત્યારે અલીફાઝ તેમાનીએ જવાબ આપ્યો કે,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.22.2" />“શું કોઇપણ માણસ દેવને ઉપયોગી છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ડાહ્યામાં ડાહ્યો માણસ પણ દેવને ઉપયોગી છે ખરો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.22.3" />તું સાચી રીતે જીવે તો પણ તેથી દેવને શું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું વર્તન ગમે તેટલું નિદોર્ષ હોય તો પણ તેથી દેવને શો ફાયદો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.22.4" />અયૂબ, દેવ તને શા માટે સજા આપે છે, અને તારો વાંક કાઢે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તેની ઉપાસના કરે છે એટલા માટે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.22.5" />તારા અનિષ્ટો ઘણા ભયંકર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાં પાપ પાર વિનાનાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.22.6" />કદાચ તેઁ તારા ભાઇને થોડા પૈસા ઊછીના આપ્યા હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે તને પાછા આપશે તેની સુરક્ષાનો પૂરાવો આપવાનો આગ્રહ કર્યો હોય.
</q>
<q style="q1">કદાચ એમ હોય કે તેઁ ઉછીના પૈસાના દેણા માટેના વચન તરીકે ગરીબ માણસના કપડાં લીધા હોય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઁ આ કદાચ કારણ વગર કર્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.22.7" />કદાચ તમે તરસ્યાને પાણી પાયું નહિ હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ભૂખ્યાને રોટલો આપ્યો નહિ હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.22.8" />અયૂબ, તમે પુષ્કળ જમીનની માલિકી ધરાવો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકો તમને માન આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.22.9" />કદાચ તમે વિધવાઓને ખાલી હાથે પાછી વાળી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે કદાચ અનાથોને છેતર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.22.10" />તેથી તારી ચારેતરફ ફાંસલો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અણધારી આફત તને ડરાવી મૂકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.22.11" />એટલા માટે તું અંધકારમાં જોઇ શકતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પુરના પાણી તને ઢાંકી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.22.12" />“શું દેવ આકાશમાં, ઊંચ્ચસ્થાનમાં, નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાઓની ઊંચાઇ જો, તેઓ કેટલાં ઊંચા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.22.13" />અને છતાં તું કહે છે, ‘દેવ શું જાણે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાળા વાદળોની<f caller="+"><fr>22:13
</fr><fk>કાળા વાદળો
</fk><ft>વાદળાં તેની દ્રષ્ટિને ધૂંધલી કરી નાખે છે.</ft></f> આરપાર જોઇને તે આપણા વિશે અભિપ્રાય કેવી રીતે આપી શકવાનો છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.22.14" />જેવો તે આકાશની ધાર પર ચાલે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગાઢ વાદળ તેને એવી રીતે ઢાંકી દે છે કે તે કાંઇ જોઇ શકતો નથી.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.22.15" />“અયૂબ, તું પ્રાચીન માર્ગમા ચાલી રહ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેના પર દુષ્ટ લોકો પહેલા ચાલતા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.22.16" />તે દુષ્ટ લોકો, તેઓનો મૃત્યુનો સમય આવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પહેલાંજ નાશ પામી ગયા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.22.17" />કારણકે તેઓ દેવને કહેતા હતાં કે, ‘તમે અમારાથી દૂર ચાલ્યા જાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વસમર્થ દેવ તમે અમને શું કરી શકવાનાં છો?’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.22.18" />તેમ છતઁા પણ દેવે જ એમનાં ઘર ખજાનાથી ભર્યા હતા ના!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દુષ્ટ લોકોની સલાહ પ્રમાણે અનુસરી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.22.19" />ભલા લોકો તેમનો નાશ થતો જોઇને ખુશ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નિદોર્ષો દુષ્ટો પર હસશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.22.20" />તેઓ કહે છે, ‘જુઓ, બાકી રહેલા અમારા દરેક શત્રુઓનો નાશ થઇ ગયો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અગ્નિ તેઓની સંપતિને ભરખી જાય છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.22.21" />“અયૂબ, હવે તું તારી જાત દેવને સમપિર્ત કરી દે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની સાથે સુલેહ કર, જેથી તારું ભલું થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.22.22" />કૃપા કરીને એના મોઢેથી એનો બોધ સાંભળ અને સ્વીકાર કર.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એની વાણી તારા હૃદયમાં ધારણ કર!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.22.23" />જો તું સર્વસમર્થ દેવ પાસે પાછો વળે તો તારો પુનરોદ્ધાર થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાપને તારા ઘરથી દૂર રાખજે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.22.24" />જો તું તારું ધન ધૂળ સમાન ગણીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કંચનને કથીર સમાન માનીશ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.22.25" />ભલે સર્વસમર્થ દેવ તારું સોનું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચાંદીનો સંગ્રહ બને.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.22.26" />તો સર્વસમર્થ દેવ તારો પરમ આનંદ બની જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું દેવ સામે નજર મેળવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.22.27" />તું જે કઇં અરજ કરીશ તે એ સાંભળશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી તું તારી માનતાઓ પૂરી કરી શકીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.22.28" />તારી સર્વ યોજનાઓ સફળ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા માર્ગમાં આકાશનું તેજ ઝળહળશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.22.29" />દેવ અભિમાનીને પાડે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નમ્રને બચાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.22.30" />તે જેઓ નિદોર્ષ નથી તેઓને પણ ઉગારે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા હાથ ચોખ્ખા હશે તો તને પણ ઉગારશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="23" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.23.1" />ત્યારે અયૂબે જવાબ આપ્યો કે,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.23.2" />“આજે પણ મારી વાણીમાં ફરિયાદ અને કડવાશ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે હું હજી પણ પીડા સહન કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.23.3" />હું ઇચ્છું છું, હું જાણતો હોત, હું દેવને ક્યાં શોધી શકીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેના સ્થાને આવી શકત!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.23.4" />હું મારી દલીલો દેવને સમજાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી નિદોર્ષતા બતાવવા મારું મોઢું દલીલોથી ભરેલું હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.23.5" />મારે જાણવું છે, દેવ મારી દલીલોના જવાબ કેવી રીતે આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે દેવના જવાબો સમજવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.23.6" />શું દેવ તેની શકિતનો મારી સામે ઊપયોગ કરશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ના, હું જે કઇં કહું તે જરૂર સાંભળશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.23.7" />હું એક પ્રામાણિક માણસ છું. દેવ મને મારી દલીલો કહેવા દેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી મારો ન્યાયાધીશ મને મુકત કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.23.8" />“પણ હું પૂર્વમાં આગળ વધું છું અને એ ક્યાંય જડતાં નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પશ્ચિમમાં જોઉં છું અને એ ક્યાંય નજરે પડતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.23.9" />જ્યારે દેવ ઉત્તરમાં કામ કરે છે તે ત્યાં દેખાતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે દેવ દક્ષિણ તરફ ફરે છે તે ત્યાં પણ દેખાતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.23.10" />પણ દેવ તો જાણે છે કે હું ક્યા માગેર્ જાઉં છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ મને કસી જોશે ત્યારે હું સુવર્ણ જેવો શુદ્ધ પુરવાર થવાનો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.23.11" />હું દેવના માગોર્માં રહ્યો છું. તેમને પગલે ચાલ્યો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું આમતેમ ભટકી ગયો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.23.12" />તેમણે જે આજ્ઞાઓ કરી છે એનું હું પાલન કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારું ધાર્યુ નહિ, એનું ધાર્યું કરૂં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.23.13" />“પરંતુ દેવ બદલાતા નથી. કોઇપણ તેની સામે ઊભું રહી શકતું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તેને જે કરવું હોય તેજ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.23.14" />તેમણે મારે માટે જે યોજના બનાવી છે તે પ્રમાણે જ તે કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની પાસે મારે માટે બીજી ઘણી યોજનાઓ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.23.15" />એજ કારણે હું તેમની હાજરીમાં જું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે હું આ બાબતો વિશે વિચાર કરું છું ત્યારે હું તેનાથી ગભરાઇ જાઉં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.23.16" />દેવે મારું મન નબળું પાડી દીધું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમાં સર્વસમર્થ દેવે ડર પેસાડી દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.23.17" />મારી સાથે બનેલા દુષ્ટ બનાવો મારું મુખ ઢાંકતા કાળા વાદળ જેવા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે અંધકાર મને ચૂપ રહેવા દેશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">દેવના વ્યવહાર સામે સવાલ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.24.1" />“સર્વસમર્થ દેવ, લોકોનું કયારે બૂરું થવાનું છે તે કેમ જાણે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેના અનુયાયીઓ તે એવું કાંઇક ક્યારે કરવાના છે તેનું ભવિષ્ય ભાખી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.24.2" />“કારણકે દુષ્ટો પારકાની જમીન પચાવી પાડવાં સંપતિની આંકણી કરનારાઓને બદલી નાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ઘેટાંબકરાં ચોરી જાય છે અને ચરાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.24.3" />તેઓ અનાથોની માલિકીના ગધેડાઓને ચોરી જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિધવાની માલિકીના બળદોને જ્યાં સુધી તે તેનું દેવું તેઓને ચૂકવે નહિ ત્યાં સુધી લઇ લે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.24.4" />તેઓ ઘર વગરના એક જગ્યાએથી બીજી જગ્યાએ જતા ગરીબોનો પીછો કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધા ગરીબ લોકોને આ દુષ્ટ લોકોથી છુપાવાની ફરજ પાડવામાં આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.24.5" />“જંગલી ગધેડાની જેમ, ગરીબોએ કામ અને ખોરાકની શોધમાં ભટકવું પડે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ખોરાકની શોધમાં બહાર જવા માટે વહેલી સવારે ઉઠે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓના સંતાનો માટે ખોરાક મેળવવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મોડી સાંજ સુધી કામ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.24.6" />ગરીબ લોકોએ ખેતરમાં સૂકું ઘાસ અને પરાળ કાપતા મોડી રાત સુધી કામ કરવું જોઇએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ દ્રાક્ષની વાડીમાં દ્રાક્ષ ભેગી કરીને ધનવાન લોકો માટે કામ કરવું જોઇએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.24.7" />તેઓ અન્ય લોકોના ખેતરોમાં કામ કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટ લોકોનું વધ્યું ઘટયું ખાવાનું ખાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.24.8" />તેઓ આખી રાત વસ્રો વિના ઉઘાડા સૂઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઠંડીમાં ઓઢવા માટે એમની પાસે કાઇં હોતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.24.9" />બાપ વગરના ગરીબ સંતાનો વેચાવા માટે માતાના ખોળામાંથી ઊપાડી લેવામાં આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉછીના લીધેલા નાણાંની જામીનગીરી તરીકે બાળકોને રાખવામાં આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.24.10" />તેઓને વસ્ત્ર વિના ઉડા ફરવું પડે છે, તેઓ જથ્થાબંધ અનાજ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ લોકો માટે ઊંચકે છે છતાં પણ તેઓ ભૂખ્યાં રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.24.11" />તેઓને જૈતૂનનું તેલ કાઢવાની અને દ્રાક્ષો પીલીને તેનો રસ કાઢવાની ફરજ પાડવામાં આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ છતાં તેઓ તે તેલનો કે દ્રાક્ષાસવનો ઉપયોગ કરી શકતાં નથી, તેઓ તો તરસ્યા જ રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.24.12" />નગરોમાં મરતાં લોકોના દુ:ખદાયક અવાજો તમે સાંભળી શકો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘાયલોના આત્મા બૂમ પાડે છે; તે છતાં દેવ તેઓનું સાંભળતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.24.13" />“એવા લોકો પણ છે જે પ્રકાશ સામે બળવો કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જાણતા નથી દેવની શું જરૂરિયાત છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ દેવને જે રીતે જોઇએ છે તેમ રહેતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.24.14" />અજવાળું થતાં ખૂની માણસ ગરીબો અને દરિદ્રી લોકોના ખૂન કરવાં નીકળી પડે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રાત પડે તે ચોરી કરવાં ફર્યા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.24.15" />જે વ્યકિત વ્યભિચાર કરે છે, તે સાંજે પરોઢ થવાની રાહ જુએ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘તને લાગે છે તેને કોઇ જોઇ શકે તેમ નથી’ તે છતાં પણ તે તેનું મોઢું ઢાંકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.24.16" />રાત પડે ત્યારે ચોરો ઘરોમાં ખાતર પાડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દિવસમાં તેઓ પોતાના ઘરમાં પૂરાઇને રહે છે અને અજવાળાથી દૂર રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.24.17" />અંધારી રાત એ તેઓની સવાર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંધકારના ભય સાથે તેઓ ફકત મિત્રતાજ રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.24.18" />“દુષ્ટ માણસને પૂરનાં પાણી તાણી જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એની જમીનને દેવનો શાપ લાગે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તેઓ દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીમાંથી દ્રાક્ષો એકઠી કરશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.24.19" />અનાવૃષ્ટિ તથા ગરમીમાં બરફ ઓગળી જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ મૃત્યુ પાપીઓનો નાશ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.24.20" />તેની માતા તેને ભૂલી જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કીડો મગ્નથી તેનું ભક્ષણ કરી જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને કોઇ સંભારશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુરાચારી માણસ કોહવાયેલાં વૃક્ષની જેમ તૂટી પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.24.21" />સ્રીઓ કે જેને સંતાન થઇ શકે નહિ, દુષ્ટ લોકો તેઓને દુ:ખ પહોચાડે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ લાચાર વિધવાઓને સહાય કરતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.24.22" />દુષ્ટ લોકો તેઓનું બળ શકિતશાળી માણસોના નાશ કરવામાં વાપરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ લોકો કદાચ સત્તા મેળવે પણ તેઓ પોતાના જીવનનો કોઇ વિશ્વાસ કરી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.24.23" />હા, દેવ તેઓને સુરક્ષાની ભાવનામાં આરામથી રહેવા દે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેઓના માગોર્ ઉપર દેવની નજર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.24.24" />ઘડીક માટે દુષ્ટ માણસ ઊંચો આવે છે પણ પછી તે મળતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બીજા દરેકની જેમજ તે ધાન્યની જેમ કપાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.24.25" />“કોણ કહી શકશે આ સાચું નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોણ પૂરવાર કરી શકશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે મારા શબ્દો ખોટા છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="25" />
<s style="s">બિલ્દાદ શૂહીનો ઉત્તર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.25.1" />પછી બિલ્દાદ શૂહીએ ફરીથી ઉત્તર આપ્યો અને કહ્યું,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.25.2" />“દેવ કર્તા-હર્તા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે લોકોને તેનાથી ડરે એવા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને માન આપે તેવા બનાવે છે, તે ઉપર તેના રાજ્યમાં શાંતિ જાળવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.25.3" />તેની સેનાની સંખ્યા કોણ ગણી શકે તેમ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના તારાઓ કોઇ ગણી શકે તેમ નથી.<f caller="+"><fr>25:3
</fr><fk>તેના … તેમ નથી
</fk><ft>દેવની સ્વર્ગની સેના તેનો અર્થ કદાચ બધા દેવદૂતો અથવા તો આકાશના સઘળા તારાઓ એમ થાય.</ft></f>
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવનો સૂર્ય દરેક પર સરખો, પ્રકાશ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.25.4" />દેવની સમક્ષ ઊભો રહી શકે તેવો શુદ્ધ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ન્યાયી માણસ કોણ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.25.5" />દેવની નજરમાં ચંદ્ર અને તારાઓ પણ નિર્મળ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રકાશિત નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.25.6" />મનુષ્ય એવો પવિત્ર નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મનુષ્ય જંતુ જેવા છે, મૂલ્યહીન જીવડાં જેવા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.26.1" />પછી અયૂબે ઉત્તર આપ્યો અને કહ્યું કે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.26.2" />“હા, તમે ખૂબ પ્રોત્સાહન આપનારા છો અને તમે મારા દુર્બળ હાથને મજબૂત બનાવ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બિલ્દાદ, સોફાર અને અલીફાઝ, તમે આ થાકેલા, પજવાયેલા માણસને ખુબ મદદ કર્તા રહ્યાં છો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.26.3" />હા, તમે શાણપણ વગરના આ માણસને અદભૂત શિખામણ આપી!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ખરેખર દેખાડ્યું, તમે કેવા જ્ઞાની છો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.26.4" />તમે કોની મદદથી બોલો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને કોના આત્માએ પ્રેરણા આપી છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.26.5" />“પૃથ્વી તળે તથા પાણીમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મરેલાઓના આત્મા ભયથી ધૂજે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.26.6" />દેવની સમક્ષ શેઓલ ઉઘાડું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિનાશને કોઇ ઢાંકણ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.26.7" />દેવ ઉત્તરને ખાલી આકાશમાં ફેલાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વીને શૂન્યાવકાશ પર લટકાવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.26.8" />એમણે ગાઢ વાદળામાં પાણી ભર્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને છતાં પાણીના ભારથી વાદળ ફૂંટતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.26.9" />દેવ આખા રાજ્યાસનને ઢાંકી દે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેના પર વાદળાંઓ પાથરી અને સંતાડી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.26.10" />દેવે સમુદ્ર પર જે જગ્યાએ પ્રકાશ અને અંધકાર મળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગોળાકાર જેવી ક્ષિતિજ અંકિત કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.26.11" />જ્યારે દેવ તેઓને ડરાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશના આધારસ્તંભો હાલવા લાગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.26.12" />દેવની શકિત સમુદ્રને શાંત કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના ડહાપણથી તેણે રહાબનો<f caller="+"><fr>26:12
</fr><fk>રહાબ
</fk><ft>સંમ્ભવત મગરમચ્છ, અથવા સમુદ્ર પ્રાણી.</ft></f> નાશ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.26.13" />એમના શ્વાસથી આકાશ સ્વચ્છ રહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમણે એમના બળથી ભાગી જતાં સાપને હણ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.26.14" />આ તો માત્ર થોડીકજ અદભૂત ચીજો દેવ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે તો માત્ર દેવનો મંદ ગણગણાટ જ સાંભળીએ છીએ.
</q>
<q style="q1">કોઇ ખરેખર જાણી શકતું નથી કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ કેવા મહાન અને શકિતશાળી છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="27" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો અંતિમ બચાવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.27.1" />અયૂબે તેનું ષ્ટાંત કહેવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.27.2" />“દેવે મારો ન્યાયનો હક છીનવી લીધો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વસમર્થ દેવે મારા જીવનને દુ:ખી બનાવી દીધું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના નામના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું;
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.27.3" />જ્યાં સુધી હું જીવું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવનો શ્વાસ મારાઁ નસકોરાઁમાં છે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.27.4" />જૂઠી બાબત મારા હોઠ પર નહિ આવે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી જીભ અસત્ય નહિ ઉચ્ચારે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.27.5" />તમે લોકો સાચા છો તે હું કદી જ સ્વીકારીશ નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મૃત્યુ પામું ત્યાં સુધી મારી નિદોર્ષતા જાહેર કર્યા કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.27.6" />હું મારી નિદોર્ષતાને વળગી રહીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેને કદી છોડીશ નહિ હું જીવું ત્યાં સુધી મારો અંતરઆત્મા મને કદી દુ:ખ પહોચાડશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.27.7" />લોકો મારી વિરુદ્ધ થઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઇચ્છુ છું મારા દુશ્મનોને સજા થાય જેવી રીતે દુષ્ટ માણસોને સજા થવી જોઇએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.27.8" />જો માણસ દેવની કાળજી કરતો નથી તો તે મરી જાય ત્યારે તેની પાસે કોઇ આશા રહેતી નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ જ્યારે તેનું જીવન લઇ લે છે, તે વ્યકિત ને કોઇ આશા રહેતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.27.9" />તે દુષ્ટ વ્યકિત દુ:ખમાં આવી પડશે અને દેવને મદદ માટે પોકારશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ દેવ તેને સાંભળશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.27.10" />તે વ્યકિતએ સર્વ પ્રસંગે દેવની પ્રાર્થના કરવી જોઇતી હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વશકિતમાનથી આનંદ માનશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.27.11" />“ઇશ્વરની સત્તા વિષે હું તમને શીખવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વસમર્થ દેવની યોજનાઓ હું છુપાવીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.27.12" />તમે તમારી પોતાની આંખોથી દેવની શકિત જોઇ છે ને?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં મારી સાથે તમે શામાટે વ્યર્થ વાતો કરો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.27.13" />“દેવ પાસેથી દુષ્ટ માણસનો ભાગ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા સર્વસમર્થ દેવ પાસેથી દુષ્ટોને મળતો વારસો આ છે
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.27.14" />જો તેમનાં સંતાનોની વૃદ્ધિ થાય, તો તે તરવારથી હત્યા થવા માટે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના વંશજો ભૂખમરાને કારણે મૃત્યુ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.27.15" />તેમાંથી જેઓ બચી જશે તેઓ રોગ અને મૃત્યુના ભોગ બનશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની વિધવા શોક કરશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.27.16" />જો દુષ્ટ લોકો ધૂળની જેમ પુષ્કળ સંપત્તિ એકઠી કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પણ ઢગલાબંધ કપડાં ઢગલાબંધ માટીની જેમ ધરાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.27.17" />પરંતુ અંતમાં તેઓને બદલે ભલા લોકો તેમના વસ્ત્રો પહેરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નિદોર્ષ લોકો તેની ચાંદી તેઓમાં વહેંચી લેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.27.18" />તેણે બાંધેલા ઘર કરોળિયાના જાળાં જેવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચોકીદારના છાપરા જેવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.27.19" />દ્રવ્યવાન જ્યારે સૂવા જાય છે ત્યારે એ કદાચ ધનવાન હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જ્યારે તે આંખ ખોલે છે ત્યારે બાકી કાંઇ હોતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.27.20" />તે ગભરાયેલો હશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે એક જળપ્રલય જેવું લાગશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણેકે એક વંટોળિયો આવ્યો હતો અને બધું ઉપાડી ને લઇ ગયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.27.21" />પૂર્વનો વાયુ તેને ઉડાવીને લઇ જાય છે, એટલે તે લોપ થાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વંટોળિયો તેને તેની જગાએથી બહાર ખેચી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.27.22" />દુષ્ટ વ્યકિત કદાચ વંટોળિયાના જોરથી બચવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તોફાન તેના પર દયા વગર તૂટી પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.27.23" />માણસો તેની સામે તાળી પાડશે કારણકે તે દુષ્ટ વ્યકિત ભાગી ગયો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેવો તે તેના ઘરમાંથી ભાગે છે તેઓ તેના તરફ સીટી વગાડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="28" />
<s style="s">જ્ઞાનનાં ગુણગાન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.28.1" />“ત્યાં ચાંદીની ખાણો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સોનું ગાળી તેને શુદ્ધ બનાવવા માટે એક જગા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.28.2" />લોઢું જમીનમાંથી ખોદી કાઢવામાં આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પિત્તળ ખડકમાંથી ગાળવામાં આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.28.3" />માણસ અંધકારને ભેદે છે, કાળમીંઢ ખડકોને ખોદી કાઢે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખાણમાં ઊંડાઁમાં ઊંડે ઊતરીને કઇંક શોધી કાઢે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.28.4" />ખનીજ ધાતુની શિરાના ચિહન દ્વારા કામદારો જમીનની અંદર નીચે ઊંડાણમા ખોદે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ, લોકો રહે છે તેનાથી દૂર એવી જગ્યાએ જયાં કોઇ કદી ગયું નથી ત્યાં રહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જમીનમાં નીચે ઊંડા ઊતરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.28.5" />ધરતીની ઉપર અનાજ ઊગે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ નીચે તો બધું અલગ જ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણે અગ્નિથી ઓગળી ગયું હોય એમ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.28.6" />તેના ખડકોમાંથી નીલમણિઓ મળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમાંથી સોનાના ગઠ્ઠા નીકળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.28.7" />શિકારી બાજ પક્ષીની આંખે પણ તે જમીનની નીચેનો રસ્તો દેખાતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શિકારી પક્ષી પણ તે રસ્તો જાણતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.28.8" />વિકરાળ પશુ પણ ત્યાં પહોંચ્યુ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મદોન્મત સિંહના પગ પણ ત્યાં પડ્યા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.28.9" />પરંતુ લોકો જાણે છે, કેવી રીતે અચલ ખડકોને કોતરી કાઢવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પર્વતોના મૂળિયાઓને કેવી રીતે ઊખાડી નાખવા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.28.10" />તેઓ ખડકોમાં ભોંયરાઓ ખોદી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધા ખડકોના ખજાનાઓ જુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.28.11" />તેઓ નદીઓના મૂળ શોધી કાઢે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને છૂપાયેલી વસ્તુઓને પ્રકાશમાં લાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.28.12" />“પરંતુ તમને જ્ઞાન ક્યાંથી મળે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમજશકિત ક્યાં મળી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.28.13" />આપણે જાણતા નથી કે જ્ઞાન કેટલું કિંમતી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વીપરના લોકો ધરતીમાં ખોદીને જ્ઞાન મેળવી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.28.14" />ઊંડાણ કહે છે, ‘એ અમારી પાસે પણ નથી.’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહાસાગરો કહે છે, ‘એ અમારી પાસે નથી.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.28.15" />તે સોનાથી ખરીદી શકાય નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખી દુનિયામાં અનુભૂત જ્ઞાન ખરીદવા માટે ચાંદી પર્યાપ્ત નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.28.16" />ઓફીરના સોનાને ધોરણે કે મૂલ્યવાન ગોમેદ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે નીલમને ધોરણે તેની કિંમત થાય નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.28.17" />સોના કે હીરા સાથે તેની તુલના થઇ શકે તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે સોનાના પાત્રથી પણ તે ખરીદી શકાય તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.28.18" />એની આગળ પરવાળાં કે રત્નની કોઇ તુલના થાય તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ જ્ઞાનની કિંમત તો માણેકથી પણ વધુ ઊંચી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.28.19" />કૂશ દેશના પોખરાજ પણ અનુભૂત જ્ઞાન જેટલા કિંમતી નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શુદ્ધ સુવર્ણથી પણ તમે અનુભૂત જ્ઞાન ખરીદી શકો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.28.20" />“તો અનુભૂત જ્ઞાન ક્યાંથી આવે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણને સમજશકિત ક્યાંથી મળી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.28.21" />અનુભૂત જ્ઞાન પૃથ્વી પરની દરેક સજીવ વસ્તુથી છૂપાયેલું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશના પક્ષી પણ અનુભૂત જ્ઞાનને જોઇ શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.28.22" />વિનાશ તથા મૃત્યુ કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘અમે અમારા કાનોએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની અફવા સાંભળી છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.28.23" />દેવ જ તે તરફનો માર્ગ જાણે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એને એના રહેઠાણની ખબર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.28.24" />કારણકે એને ધરતીના છેડાની જાણ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશની નીચે જે કઇં છે તે બધું એ જોઇ શકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.28.25" />જ્યારે દેવ પવનનું વજન કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પાણીને માપથી નાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.28.26" />જ્યારે તેમણે વરસાદ માટે નિયમ ઠરાવ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મેઘર્ગજીત વાવાઝોડાનો માર્ગ નક્કી કર્યો,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.28.27" />તે વખતે દેવે અનુભૂત જ્ઞાન જોયું હતું. અને તે વિશે ધ્યાનપૂર્વક વિચાર્યુ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે જોયું હતું અનુભૂત જ્ઞાનની કેટલી મહત્તા હતી અને તે મંજૂર કર્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.28.28" />તેણે માણસને કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘યહોવાનો ડર અને તેમનો આદરભાવ કરવો એ જ અનુભૂત જ્ઞાન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટતાથી દૂર રહેવું તે જ સમજશકિત છે.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="29" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો રોષ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.29.1" />વધુમાં અયૂબે અનુસંધાનમાં કહ્યું:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.29.2" />“હું ઇચ્છું છું, મારું જીવન થોડા મહિના પહેલા હતું તેવું હોત.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વખતે દેવ મારું ધ્યાન રાખતા હતા અને મારી સંભાળ લેતા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.29.3" />ત્યારે તેનો દીવો મારા પર ઝળહળતો હતો અને એના પ્રકાશથી હું અંધકારમાં ચાલી શકતો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે મને જીવવા માટેનો સાચો રસ્તો બતાવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.29.4" />હું એ દિવસો માટે ઇચ્છું છું જ્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સફળ હતો અને દેવ મારા નિકટના મિત્ર હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.29.5" />તે વખતે સર્વસમર્થ દેવ મારી સાથે હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા સંતાનો મને વીંટળાયેલા રહેતા હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.29.6" />તે વખતે જીવન સારું હતું, હું મારા પગ દૂધની તરથી ધોતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી પાસે પુષ્કળ પ્રમાણમાં સારામાં સારુ તેલ હતું.<f caller="+"><fr>29:6
</fr><fk>સારામાં સારુ તેલ હતું
</fk><ft>અર્થ તેની પાસેના ખડકમાં તેલના ઝરણાં હતા. એ અર્થ કે અયૂબ પાસે એટલુ બધુ તેલ હતું કે તે વેદીના પર પડતું હતું જે અયૂબે દેવને ભેટ આપી હતી.</ft></f>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.29.7" />“એ દિવસોમાં હું જ્યારે નગરના દરવાજે જતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે આદરપાત્ર આગેવાનોની વચ્ચે જાહેર સભાના સ્થળમાં હું બેઠો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.29.8" />ત્યારે યુવાનો મને જોઇને માર્ગ મૂકતા હતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વૃદ્ધો ઊભા થઇને મને માન આપતા હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.29.9" />નેતાઓ પણ મને જોઇને બીજાઓને ચૂપ કરવા માટે બોલવાનું બંધ કરી દેતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મોં પર તેઓના હાથ મૂકતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.29.10" />નગરનાં ઉચ્ચ અધિકારીઓ ધીમા અવાજે બોલ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની જીભ તેઓના મોઢાના તાળવે ચોંટી ગઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.29.11" />મેં જે કહ્યું તે લોકોએ સાંભળ્યુઁ અને પછી મારા વિશે સારી વાતો કરી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં જે કર્યું તે લોકોએ જોયું અને પ્રસંશા કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.29.12" />કારણકે જ્યારે ગરીબોએ મદદ માટે બોલાવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં અનાથને મદદ કરી કે જેની સંભાળ લે તેવું કોઇન હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.29.13" />જેઓ મરવા પડ્યા હતાં તેઓ મને આશીર્વાદ આપતા હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિધવાઓના હૈયા હું ઠારતો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.29.14" />સદાચારી રહેવું એ મારા વસ્ત્રો હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રામાણિક વર્તન એ મારો ઝબ્બો અને પાઘડી હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.29.15" />હું અંધજનોની આંખ સમાન હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને જ્યાં ક્યાંય પણ જવાની ઇચ્છા હતી, મેં તેઓને રસ્તો બતાવ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હું લંગડા માટે પગ સમાન હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જ્યાં જવાં માંગતા હતા હું તેઓને ઊંચકીને લઇ ગયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.29.16" />ગરીબો સાથે હું તેઓના પિતાની જેમ વર્તતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં લોકોને ન્યાયાલયમાં તેઓની દલીલો જીતવા મદદ કરી જેઓને હું જાણતો પણ ન હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.29.17" />મેં દુષ્ટ લોકોને તેઓની શકિતનો દુરુપયોગ કરતા રોક્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નિદોર્ષ લોકોને તેઓથી બચાવ્યા.<f caller="+"><fr>29:17
</fr><fk>મેં દુષ્ટ લોકોને … બચાવ્યા
</fk><ft>અર્થ મેં તેઓના દાંત ભાંગીને તેની જકડમાંથી નિદોર્ષ લોકોને બચાવ્યા.</ft></f>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.29.18" />“હું આખો વખત વિચાર કરતો કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારી આસપાસ મારા કુટુંબ સાથે લાંબુ જીવન જીવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.29.19" />મેં વિચાર્યુ, હું નીરોગી છોડ જેના મૂળિયા ને ખૂબ પાણી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેની ડાળીઓ ઝાકળથી ભીની છે તેના જેવો તંદુરસ્ત અને મરદાન પુરુષ થઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.29.20" />મેં વિચાર્યું દરેક નવો દિવસ તેજસ્વી અને નવી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઉત્તેજિત વસ્તુઓથી ભરેલો હશે.<f caller="+"><fr>29:20
</fr><fk>મેં વિચાર્યું … ભરેલો હશે
</fk><ft>અર્થ મારા આત્મા ને દરેક દિવસ નવો લાગે છે. અને મારા હાથ હમેશા એટલા મજબૂત છે કે રોજ નવું ધનુષ લઇ મારી શકુ છું.</ft></f>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.29.21" />“લોકો મારા બોધને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળતા હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ શાંતિ પૂર્વક મારી સલાહની રાહ જોતા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.29.22" />મારા બોલી રહ્યાં પછી એ કોઇ દલીલ કરતા ન હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે મારી સલાહથી તેઓને સંતોષ થતો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.29.23" />જેમ પ્રતિકૂળ સમયમાં વરસાદની રાહ જોવાતી હોય તેવી રીતે લોકોએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી સલાહ માટે આતુરતાપૂર્વક રાહ જોઇ.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા શબ્દો જાણે વસંત ઋતુનો વરસાદ હોય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તેઓ તેનો આસ્વાદ માણી રહ્યાં હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.29.24" />તેઓ વિશ્વાસ કરી શકતા નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે હું મોં મલકાવીને તેઓને ઉત્તેજન આપતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા સ્મિતે તેઓને સારું લગાડ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.29.25" />હું એમની વચ્ચે વડીલની જેમ બેસી અને તેઓની બધી બાબતોનો ઉકેલ લાવતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું છાવણીમાં તેના લશ્કર સાથેના એક રાજા જેવો હતો,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જ્યારે તેઓ નિરાશ-હતાશ થતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે હું તેમને હિંમત અને આશ્વાસન આપતો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="30" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.30.1" />“પરંતુ હવે જે મારા કરતાં ઉંમરમાં નાના છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પણ મારી મશ્કરી ઉડાવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓના પિતા એટલા લાયકાત વગરના હતા કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેઓને મારા ઘેટાંઓનું ધ્યાન રાખનાર કૂતરાઓ સાથે પણ રાખીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.30.2" />એ યુવાન માણસોના પિતાઓ મને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મદદ કરવા માટે ખૂબ નિર્બળ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ વૃદ્ધ અને થાકેલા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના સ્નાયુઓ હવે મજબૂત અને કઠણ રહ્યાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.30.3" />ખાવા માટે કંઇ ન હોવાને કારણે તેઓ ભૂખ્યા રહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તેઓ રણની સૂકી ધૂળ ખાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.30.4" />તેઓ રણમાં ખારી ભાજી ચૂંટી કાઢે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને છોડના મૂળીયાં ખાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.30.5" />તેઓના નાગરિક તરીકેના હક પણ છીનવી લેવાયા હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો તેઓની પાછળ દોડતા હતા, જાણે તેઓ ચોર હોય અને પીછો થઇ રહ્યો હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.30.6" />તેઓ ખીણમાં, ખડકોમાં, ગુફાઓમાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખાડાઓમાં પડી રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.30.7" />તેઓ પશુની જેમ ઝાડીઓમાં બરાડા પાડે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ઝાડ નીચે સમૂહમાં ભેગા થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.30.8" />તેઓ દેશમાંથી કાઢી મૂકાયેલા નામ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વગરના નિરર્થક લોકોનો એક સમૂહ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.30.9" />હવે તે માણસોના પુત્રો અનુપ્રાસવાળી કવિતા ગાઇ મારી મશ્કરી કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેઓ મધ્યે મશ્કરી રૂપ બન્યો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.30.10" />તેઓ મારા પ્રત્યે ઘૃણા કરે છે અને મારી પાસે આવતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા મોં પર થૂંકતા પણ તેઓ અચકાતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.30.11" />દેવે મારા ધનુષ્યની દોરી લઇ લીધી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને દુર્બળ બનાવી દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.30.12" />તેઓ મારી જમણી બાજુથી મારા પર હૂમલો કરે છે તેઓ મારા પગે ફટકો મારી પાડી દે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કબજે કરેલા નગર જેવું મને લાગે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હુમલો કરવા અને મારો નાશ કરવા તેઓએ ગંદા ટેકરા મારી દિવાલ સામે બાંધ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.30.13" />તેઓ રસ્તા તોડી નાખે છે જેથી હું ભાગી ન શકું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો નાશ કરવામાં તેઓ સફળ થયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને કોઇની મદદની જરૂર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.30.14" />તેઓ દિવાલમાં એક કાણું પાડે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેની આરપાર ધસી જાય છે અને પથ્થરો મારી પર પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.30.15" />હું ભયથી જુ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ યુવાન માણસો જેમ પવન વસ્તુઓને ફૂંકી નાખે તેમ મારા સ્વમાન પાછળ પડ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી સુરક્ષા વાદળોની જેમ ચાલી ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.30.16" />“હવે મારું જીવન લગભગ લુપ્ત થઇ ગયું છે અને હું મરવાની અણી પર છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુ:ખના દિવસોએ મને ઘેરી લીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.30.17" />રાત્રી દરમ્યાન મારા હાડકાઓને પીડા થાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પીડા મને સતાવવાનું છોડતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.30.18" />દેવે મારો કાંઠલો પકડ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા વસ્ત્રોને ચોળીને બગાડી નાખ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.30.19" />દેવે મને કાદવમાં ફેંકી દીધો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે હું ધૂળ તથા રાખ જેવો બની ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.30.20" />હે દેવ, હું કાલાવાલા કરું છું, પણ તમે મારું સાંભળતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી સમક્ષ આવીને ઊભો છું પણ તમે મારી સામે નજર કરતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.30.21" />તમે મારા પ્રત્યે નિષ્ઠુર થઇ ગયા છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તમારી શકિતનો ઉપયોગ મને ઈજા પહોંચાડવામાં કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.30.22" />દેવ તમે મજબૂત પવનને મને ફૂંકી દેવા દો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને હવાના તોફાનમાં ઊછાળો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.30.23" />હું જાણું છું કે તમે મને મોતને ઘાટ ઉતારી રહ્યા છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યા બધા જીવંત માણસોને મળવાનું છે ત્યાં તમે મને લઇ જાઓ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.30.24" />“મુશ્કેલીમાં આવી પડેલો માણસ મદદને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે કાલાવાલા કરે છે અને હાથ લંબાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.30.25" />શું દુ:ખી માનવીઓ માટે મેં આંસુ સાર્યા નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દીનદુ:ખિયાઓ માટે મારું હૃદય શું રડી ઊઠયું નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.30.26" />તેમ છતાં મેં જ્યાં સારી વસ્તુની આશા રાખી હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં મને ખરાબ વસ્તુ મળી, જ્યાં મેં પ્રકાશની આશા રાખી હતી ત્યાં મને અંધકાર મળ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.30.27" />મારું અંતર ઉકળે છે. દુ:ખનો અંત આવતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પીડા હજી તો શરૂજ થઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.30.28" />હું સૂર્યના પ્રકાશ વિના, આખો વખત ઉદાસ અને ઉત્સાહ ભંગ રહું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાહેર સભામાઁ ઊભો રહું છું અને મદદ માટે બૂમો પાડુઁ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.30.29" />હવે હું રડતાં શિયાળવા જેવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચીખતાં શાહમૃગો જેવો બની ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.30.30" />મારી ચામડી કાળી પડી ગઇ છે, અને ખરી પડી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું શરીર તાવથી તપી ગયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JOB.30.31" />તેથી મારી વીણામાંથી હવે વેદનાના સૂર નીકળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી વાંસળીમાંથી હવે વ્યથાનું સંગીત સંભળાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="31" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.31.1" />“મેં મારી આંખો સાથે કરાર કર્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે કોઇ કુમારિકા સામે લાલસાભરી નજરે જોવું નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.31.2" />સર્વસમર્થ દેવ, લોકોને માટે શું કરે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના ઉચ્ચસ્થાનથી લોકોને બદલો કેવી રીતે આપે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.31.3" />શું તે દુરાચારીઓને માટે વિપત્તિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખોટું કરનારાઓ માટે વિનાશ મોકલી આપતા નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.31.4" />શું તે મારા આચરણ નથી જોતા?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા બધાં પગલાં નથી ગણતા?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.31.5" />જો મેં કપટ ભરેલો આચાર કર્યો હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા જો મારો પગ કોઇને છેતરવા તરફ વળ્યો હોય;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.31.6" />જો દેવ ચોક્કસ માપનું ત્રાજવું ઊપયોગમાં લે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો તેને જાણ થશે કે હું નિદોર્ષ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.31.7" />જો હું સત્યના માર્ગથી પાછો ફર્યો હોઉં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આંખોએ મારા હૃદયને અનિષ્ટ કરવા દીધું હોય અથવા તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો મેં બીજા કોઇની નાની વસ્તુ પણ આંચકી લીધી હોય, તો દેવને જાણ થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.31.8" />તો મારું વાવેલું અનાજ બીજાઓ ખાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા ઉગાવેલા છોડ ઊખેડી નાખવાનું યોગ્ય જ હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.31.9" />“જો મારું મન કોઇ સ્ત્રી ઉપર લોભાયું હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો મેં મારા પાડોશીના બારણે તેની પત્ની સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરવાની રાહ જોઇ હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.31.10" />તો ભલે મારી પત્ની બીજા પુરુષ માટે રસોઇ કરે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભલે બીજા પુરુષની થઇ જાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.31.11" />કારણકે જાતીય પાપ એ શરમજનક પાપ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ તો ભયંકર શિક્ષાને પાત્ર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.31.12" />તે તો એક અગ્નિ છે જે તમામ વસ્તુઓને સળગાવી નાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં જે કાઇ વાવ્યું છે તેને તે ઉખાડી શકે તેમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.31.13" />“મેં મારા કર્મચારીઓનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હક કદી ડૂબાડી દીધો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.31.14" />મેં જો એમ કર્યુ હોય તો જ્યારે દેવ મારી સામે આવીને ઊભા રહેશે તો હું શું કરીશ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તે પૂછશે મેં શું કર્યું, તો મારે શું કહેવું જોઇએ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.31.15" />કારણકે જે દેવે મને સજ્ર્યો છે તેણે જ મારાં નોકરચાકરોને ર્સજ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અ મને માતાઓના ગર્ભની અંદર દેવે અ મને સૌને આકાર આપ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.31.16" />“મેં ગરીબોને કશું આપ્યું ન હોય તેવું કદી બન્યું નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિધવાઓને મેં કદી રડાવી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.31.17" />અનાથો ભૂખ્યા હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મેં એકલપેટાની જેમ કદી ખાધું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.31.18" />હું જુવાન હતો ત્યારથી મેં એમના પિતાની જેમ એમની સંભાળ લીધી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિધવાઓને તો મેં પહેલેથી જ મદદ કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.31.19" />અને કોઇને ઠંડીથી થરથરતા અથવા તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક ગરીબ માણસને ડગલા વગરનો જોયો હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.31.20" />મેં હમેશા તેઓને કપડાં આપ્યા તેઓને હૂંફાળા કરવા
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં મારા પોતાના ઘેટાંઓનું ઊન આપ્યું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ મને હૃદયપૂર્વક આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.31.21" />મેં એક અનાથ મદદ માગવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જ્યારે દરવાજા પર આવ્યો હોય ત્યારે હાથ ઉઠાવ્યો હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.31.22" />જો મેં આવું કશું કર્યુ હોય તો મારો હાથ તોડી નાંખવામાં આવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને ખભામાંથી ખેંચી કાઢવામાં આવે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.31.23" />પણ મેં કાંઇ ખોટુ કર્યુ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દેવની શિક્ષાથી ડરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની મહાનતા મને ડરાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.31.24" />“મેં મારી ધનસંપત્તિ પર કદી આધાર રાખ્યો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હંમેશા મદદ કરવા માટે મને દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં કદી કહ્યું નથી કે શુદ્ધ સ્વર્ણ, ‘તુંજ મારી એકમાત્ર આશા છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.31.25" />હું ધનવાન છું પણ તેથી હું અભિમાની નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ખૂબ પૈસા કમાયો.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તે એકજ એવી વસ્તુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નથી જેનાથી હું સુખી થયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.31.26" />મેં તેજસ્વી સૂર્ય કે સુંદર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચંદ્રની પૂજા કરી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.31.27" />હું સૂર્ય અને ચંદ્રની પૂજા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કરું એવો મૂર્ખ ન હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.31.28" />તે પણ એક પાપ છે જેની સજા થવીજ જોઇએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો મેં એવી કોઇપણ વસ્તુની ઉપાસના કરી હોય તો હું દેવને વિશ્વાસુ રહ્યો હોઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.31.29" />“હું મારા શત્રુના દુ:ખે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કદી ખુશ થયો નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓની મુશ્કેલીમાં મેં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કદી હાંસી નથી ઉડાવી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.31.30" />મે મારા મુખને મારા દુશ્મનોને શાપ આપવાનું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ મરી જાય તેમ ઇચ્છવાનું પાપ કદી કરવા દીધું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JOB.31.31" />મારા ઘરમાં દરેક જણ જાણે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે મેં અજાણ્યાને કાયમ ખાવાનું આપ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JOB.31.32" />પરદેશીને માર્ગમાં ઉતારો કરવો પડતો નહોતો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મુસાફરને માટે મારાઁ બારણાં હંમેશા ઉઘાડાં હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JOB.31.33" />જો આદમની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મારાં પાપ સંતાડ્યાં હોય,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="JOB.31.34" />લોકો કદાચ શું કહેશે એવો મને કદી ડર લાગ્યો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ડરે મને કદી ચૂપ રહેવા દીધો નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">એણે મને કદી બહાર જતા રોક્યો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોના મારા પરના ધિક્કારથી હું ડરતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="JOB.31.35" />“અરે હું ઇચ્છું છું, મને કોઇ સાંભળતું હોત!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને મારી બાજુ સમજાવવા દો.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું ઇચ્છું છું કે સર્વસમર્થ દેવ મને જવાબ આપે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઇચ્છું છું કે તેને જે લાગે મેં ખોટું કર્યુ છે તો તે લખી નાખે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="JOB.31.36" />તો હું એને મારે ખભે લટકાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું રાજમુગટની જેમ તેને પહેરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="JOB.31.37" />હું મારા એકેએક પગલાનો અહેવાલ તેને આપીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારું માથું ઊચુ રાખીને એની સામે ઊભો રહીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="JOB.31.38" />“મેં મારી જમીન કોઇ પાસેથી ચોરી નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇપણ મને તેની ચોરી માટે દોષિત ઠરાવી શકે તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="JOB.31.39" />મેં હંમેશા ખેડૂતોને તેના ખોરાક માટે પૈસા ચૂકવ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે મને આ જમીનમાંથી મળ્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં કદી બીજા માણસની જમીન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને મારી નાખીને ઝૂંટવવાની કોશિષ કરી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="JOB.31.40" />જો મેં કોઇ આવી ખરાબ બાબત કરી હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો એવું થજો કે મારી જમીનમાં ઘંઉ અને જવને બદલે કાંટા અને ખડ ઉગે!”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">અયૂબનું નિવેદન પૂરું થયું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="32" />
<s style="s">અલીહૂનું ઉદ્બોદન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.32.1" />પછી અયૂબના ત્રણ મિત્રોએ અયૂબને જવાબ આપવાનું મૂકી દીધુ કારણકે અયૂબને એટલો આત્મ વિશ્વાસ હતો કે તે પોતે સાચે નિદોર્ષ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JOB.32.2" />પરંતુ રામના કુળનો બુઝનો વંશજ બારાકેલનો પુત્ર અલીહૂ અયૂબ પર ગુસ્સે થયો હતો, કારણકે અયૂબ પોતાને નિદોર્ષ અને દેવને દોષિત માનતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JOB.32.3" />વળી તેના ત્રણ મિત્રો વિરુદ્ધ પણ તેનો ક્રોધ ચઢયો, કેમ કે તેઓ તેની વાતોનો ઉત્તર આપી શક્યા નહોતા, તો પણ તેઓએ અયૂબને દોષિત ઠરાવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JOB.32.4" />તેઓ બોલતા હતાં ત્યારે અલીહૂ બોલ્યા વિના બેસી રહ્યો હતો, કારણકે તેઓ એનાથી ઉંમરમાં મોટા હતા;
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JOB.32.5" />પણ જ્યારે એણે જોયું કે એ ત્રણેના મોંમા ઉત્તર નથી ત્યારે એને રોષ થયો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="JOB.32.6" />બુઝનો વંશજ બારાકેલના પુત્ર અલીહૂએ ઉત્તર આપતા કહ્યું કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું નાનો છું, અને તમે ઘણા વૃદ્ધ છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે હું દબાઇ ગયો, અને મારો મત તમને જણાવવાની મારી હિંમત ચાલી નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.32.7" />મને લાગ્યું, ‘મોટેરાઓએ બોલવું જોઇએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વયોવૃદ્ધોએ એમનું જ્ઞાન શીખવવું જોઇએ.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.32.8" />પરંતુ માણસમાં રહેલો આત્મા વ્યકિતને ડાહ્યો બનાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને સર્વસમર્થ દેવનો શ્વાસ લોકોને સમજાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.32.9" />માત્ર મોટી ઉંમરવાળા બુદ્ધિમાન હોય છે, એમ નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વૃદ્ધો ન્યાય સમજે છે એમ હંમેશા હોતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.32.10" />“માટે હું કહું છું કે, ‘મને સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પણ મારો મત દર્શાવીશ.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.32.11" />જુઓ, જ્યારે તમે બોલતા હતા ત્યારે મેં રાહ જોઇ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તમે શબ્દો શોધતા હતા, હું તમારી દલીલો સાંભળતો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.32.12" />તમને મેં ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ્યા, પણ તમે કોઇએ અયૂબને ખોટો પાડ્યો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અયૂબને સામો જવાબ આપ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.32.13" />તમે ત્રણ જણાઓ કહી ન શકો કે તમને જ્ઞાન મળ્યુ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે નહિ લોકોએ અયૂબની દલીલોનો જવાબ આપવો જેઇએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.32.14" />એ મારી સાથે દલીલમાં ઊતર્યો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તમારી જેમ સામે જવાબ આપીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.32.15" />“અયૂબ, તેઓ દલીલ હારી ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કંઇ વધારે સામો જવાબ આપતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમની પાસે હવે શબ્દો રહ્યા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.32.16" />અયૂબ, તને જવાબ આપવા હું આ માણસોની રાહ જોતો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ ચૂપ રહ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તમારી સાથે દલીલ કરવાનું બંધ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.32.17" />ના, હવે હું મારે જે કંઇ કહેવાનું છે તે કહીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જે વિચારું છું તે કહીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.32.18" />મારી પાસે ઘણી બાબતો કહેવા માટે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી અંદરનો આત્મા મને ફરજ પાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.32.19" />હું દ્રાક્ષારસની તે નવી બાટલી જેવો છું કે જે હજી ખોલી ન હોય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તે નવા દ્રાક્ષારસના ઢાંકણા જેવો છું કે જે ખોલાયા પછી ઊડવાની તૈયારીમાં હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.32.20" />મારું મન સ્વસ્થ થાય માટે મારે બોલવું જ જોઇએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે મોઢે અયૂબની દલીલોનો જવાબ આપવો જ જોઇએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.32.21" />હું કોઇનો પક્ષ નહિ લઉં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું કોઇની પ્રશંસા નહિ કરું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.32.22" />મને પ્રશંસા કરતાઁ નથી આવડતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો હું એમ કરું તો દેવ મને કબરની તરફ મોકલી દેશે!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="33" />
<s style="s">અયૂબને અલીહૂનો ઠપકો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.33.1" />“અને હવે, અયૂબ, હું જે કહું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કૃપા કરીને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.33.2" />જો, હવે મેં મારું મોં ખોલ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી જીભ બોલવાની તૈયારીમાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.33.3" />મારું હૃદય પવિત્ર છે, તેથી હું પ્રામાણિકતાથી બોલીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા હોઠો હું જે જાણું છું એ વિશે સચ્ચાઇથી બોલશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.33.4" />દેવના આત્માએ મને ઉત્પન્ન કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વસમર્થ દેવનો શ્વાસ મને જીવન આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.33.5" />જો તારાથી બની શકે, તો તું મને ઉત્તર આપ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી દલીલો વિચારી લે અને મારી સાથે દલીલ કર.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.33.6" />દેવની નજરમાં તો હું તારા જેવો જ છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પણ માટીમાંથી જ પેદા થયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.33.7" />તારે મારાથી ડરવા જેવું કાંઇ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તારી સાથે કઠોર નહિ થાઉં.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.33.8" />“મારી સુનાવણીમાં તમે કહ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘તમારા એ શબ્દો મેં સાંભળ્યા હતા.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.33.9" />હું નિર્મળ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘મે ખોટું કાંઇ કર્યુ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.33.10" />દેવ મારી વિરુદ્ધ થવા બહાનું શોધી કાઢે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ મારી સાથે એક શત્રુ જેવો વર્તાવ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.33.11" />તે મારું એકેએક પગલું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધ્યાનથી જુએ છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.33.12" />“જો, હું તને કહું છું કે એમાં તું સાચો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ માણસથી બહુ મહાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.33.13" />તું શા માટે એમની સાથે દલીલ કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે એ તારા એક પણ સવાલનો જવાબ આપતા નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.33.14" />દેવ વારંવાર અનેક રીતે બોલતા હોય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ માણસ સમજતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.33.15" />જ્યારે માણસો ગાઢ નિદ્રામાં હોય કે, પથારી પર ઝોકાં ખાતાં હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સ્વપ્નમાં, અથવા રાતના સંદર્શનમાં પડ્યાં હોય;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.33.16" />દેવ લોકોના કાન ખોલી નાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એમને ચેતવણી આપીને ભયભીત કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.33.17" />અને એમ એ માણસને પાપ કરતાં અટકાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અભિમાનથી બચાવે છે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.33.18" />દેવ, લોકોને ચેતવણી આપે છે જેથી તે તેઓને કબરમાં જતાં બચાવી શકે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માણસને વિનાશમાંથી બચાવવા માટે દેવ આમ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.33.19" />“તદુપરાંત, દેવ માણસને પથારીવશ કરીને સતત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના હાડકાઓમાં પીડા મારફતે તે તેઓને સમજાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.33.20" />પછી તે માણસ ખાઇ શકતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે માણસને એટલી બધી પીડા થાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તેને સ્વાદિષ્ટ ભોજનનો પણ અણગમો થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.33.21" />એનું શરીર સુકાઇ જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચામડી નીચેથી હાડકાં દેખાઇ આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.33.22" />તે વ્યકિત કબરની પાસે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનુ જીવન મૃત્યુની નજીક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.33.23" />દેવને હજારો દેવદૂતો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કદાચ તે દેવદૂતોમાંથી એક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વ્યકિત પર બરોબર નજર રાખે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.33.24" />અને તેના પર દયાળુ થઇને દેવને કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘એને કબરમાં ધકેલો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પાપનો ચુકાદો કરવા મેં એક રસ્તો શોધી કાઢયો છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.33.25" />તો એનો દેહ ફરીથી પાંગરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ ફરીથી જ્યારે તે યુવાન હતો તેવો બની જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.33.26" />તે દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરે છે, અને દેવ તેની પ્રાર્થનાનો જવાબ આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે વ્યકિત એનું મુખ જોઇને આનંદમાં આવી જઇ બૂમો પાડશે અને દેવની ઉપાસના કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફરીથી તે સારું જીવન જીવવા લાગશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.33.27" />તે માણસ પોતાના મિત્રની આગળ કબૂલ કરશે, ‘મેં પાપ કર્યુ હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં સારા ને ખરાબમાં બદલાવ્યુ હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ દેવે હું જે સજાને પાત્ર હતો તે મને આપી નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.33.28" />તેમણે મને મોતના મુખમાંથી બચાવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે હું ફરીથી જીવનનો આનંદ માણી શકીશ.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.33.29" />“દેવ તો માણસની સાથે એકવાર, બેવાર, વારંવાર આમ વતેર્ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.33.30" />“તે મનુષ્યને ચેતવવા અને તેના આત્માને કબરમાંથી બચાવવા જેથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે માણસ જીવનનો આનંદ માણી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JOB.33.31" />“હે અયૂબ, હવે હું જે કહું તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું મૌન રહે અને મને બોલવા દે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JOB.33.32" />પણ અયૂબ, તારે જો મારી સાથે સંમત થવું ન હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો બોલવાનું ચાલુ રાખ, તારી દલીલ મને કહે કારણકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તને નિદોર્ષ જાહેર કરવા માગું છુ
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JOB.33.33" />પણ જો તારે કાઇ કહેવાનું જ ન હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું સાંભળો, છાના રહો અને હું તમને ડહાપણના જ્ઞાનના પાઠ શીખવીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="34" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.34.1" />અલીહૂએ અનુસંધાનમાં આગળ બોલતા કહ્યું:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.34.2" />“હે શાણા માણસો, તમે મારા શબ્દો સાંભળો; અને હે જ્ઞાનીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા કહેવા પર ધ્યાન આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.34.3" />જેમ જીભ સ્વાદને ઓળખી શકે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ કાન શબ્દોને પારખી શકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.34.4" />ચાલો આપણે પસંદ કરીએ કે સાચું શું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાલો આપણે નક્કી કરીએ કે સારું શું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.34.5" />કારણ કે અયૂબે કહ્યું છે કે, ‘હું નિદોર્ષ છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવ મારી સાથે ન્યાયી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.34.6" />હું નિદોર્ષ છું છતાં હું જૂઠા બોલો તરીકે ગણાઉં છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમણે મને સતત જીવલેણ પ્રહાર કર્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મેં કઇં વાંક ગુનો કર્યો નથી.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.34.7" />“અયૂબના જેવો બીજો કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અયૂબ જેટલી સરળતાથી પાણી પીએ છે તેટલી સરળતાથી તિરસ્કાર પી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.34.8" />એને દુષ્ટ લોકોનીં સંગત ગમે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ દુષ્ટ લોકોની સાથે ફરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.34.9" />તેણે કહ્યું છે, ‘દેવને ખુશ કરવાથી તેમાઁ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને કોઇ લાભ નથી.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.34.10" />“તેથી હે શાણા માણસો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું સાંભળો દેવ કદી કંઇ ખોટું કરેજ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વસમર્થ દેવ કદી કંઇ અનિષ્ટ કરે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.34.11" />તે માણસે જે કર્યુ હશે તેનો બદલો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે માણસને દેવ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.34.12" />દેવ ખોટું કરશે જ નહિ, અન્યાય કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ નહિ. આના કરતાં વધારે સાચું કોઇ વિધાન નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.34.13" />પૃથ્વી પર કામગીરી બજાવવા માટે કોઇએ દેવને પસંદ કર્યા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇએ દેવને આખી દુનિયાની જવાબદારી સોંપી નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવેજ બધી વસ્તુઓ બનાવી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે વસ્તુઓ પર હમેશા તેમની જ સત્તા રહી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.34.14" />જો દેવ પોતાનો આત્મા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શ્વાસ પૃથ્વી પરથી લઈ લે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.34.15" />તો તમામ સજીવોનો વિનાશ થાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માણસ જાત પાછી ધૂળ ભેગી થઇ જાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.34.16" />“જો તમારામાં સમજ શકિત હોય તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને સાંભળો! મારા શબ્દો ધ્યાનમાં રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.34.17" />જે ન્યાયને ધિક્કારે, તો એ કદી રાજ ચલાવી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ ન્યાયી અને પરાક્રમી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તને લાગે છે તું તેને દોષિત ઠરાવી શકીશ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.34.18" />શું દેવ કદી રાજાઓને કહે છે કે, ‘તમે નકામા છો’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા રાજકુમારોને કે, ‘તમે દુષ્ટ છો?’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.34.19" />દેવ રાજકર્તાઓને બીજા લોકો કરતા વધારે પ્રેમ કરતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધનવાનોને ગરીબ લોકો કરતા વધારે પ્રેમ કરતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે બધા તેના હાથે સર્જાયેલા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.34.20" />એક ક્ષણમાં, મધરાતે પણ, તેઓ મૃત્યુ પામે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે દેવ પ્રહાર કરે છે, બળવાન પણ મરી જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહાન લોકો અદ્રશ્ય થઇ જાય છે અને તેમાં માણસનો હાથ સંડોવાયેલો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.34.21" />“કારણકે, દેવની નજર માણસની ચાલચલગત પર હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેની સઘળી વર્તણૂક જુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.34.22" />દુષ્ટ માણસને સંતાડી શકે એવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ પડદો કે અંધકાર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.34.23" />દેવને લોકોની વધુ પરીક્ષા કરવા માટે સમય પસંદ કરવાની જરૂર નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવને લોકો વિશે અભિપ્રાય આપવા તેમને સામે લાવવાની જરૂર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.34.24" />જો શકિતશાળી લોકો પણ દુષ્કર્મ કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો દેવને તેઓને માટે પ્રશ્ર્ન કરવાની જરૂર નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે સર્વથા તે લોકોનો વિનાશ કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીજાઓને નેતા તરીકે નિયુકત કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.34.25" />તેથી દેવ જાણે છે કે લોકો શું કરે છે એજ કારણે દેવ રાતોરાત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ લોકોને પાયમાલ કરશે અને તેઓનો નાશ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.34.26" />દેવ દુષ્ટ લોકોને તેઓએ જે દુષ્કમોર્ કર્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને માટે બીજાઓ જ્યારે જોતા હશે ત્યારે સજા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.34.27" />કારણકે તેઓ દેવથી પાછા ફરી ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ એના માર્ગને અનુસરવા માગતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.34.28" />તેમનો પોકાર દેવ સુધી પહોંચે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવ એ દુ:ખી લોકોનો સાદ સાંભળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.34.29" />પણ જો દેવ તેઓને મદદ ન કરવાનો નિશ્ચય કરે તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇપણ દેવને દોષિત ઠરાવી શકે તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">જો દેવ પોતે લોકોથી સંતાઇ જાય તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ તેને શોધી શકે તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.34.30" />અને જો તે લોકોને પાપ કરવાનું કારણ શાસન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છે તો દેવ તેને તેની સત્તા પરથી ઊતારી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JOB.34.31" />“શું કોઇએ ઇશ્વરને એમ કહ્યું છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘હું ગુનેગાર છું, હવે પછી હું કદી પાપ કરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JOB.34.32" />દેવ, હું તમને જોઇ શકતો નથી તે છતાં મને જીવવાની સાચી રીત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને શીખવશો જો મેં ખોટું કર્યુ હોય તો હું ફરી એવું કરીશ નહિ.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JOB.34.33" />અયૂબ, તને દેવ પાસેથી ફળ જોઇએ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તારે તે બદલવું નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">અયૂબ એ તારો નિર્ણય છે અને મારો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને કહે તું શું જાણે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="JOB.34.34" />ડાહ્યો માણસ મને સાંભળશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ડાહ્યો માણસ કહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="JOB.34.35" />‘અયૂબ જ્ઞાન વગર બોલે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના શબ્દોમાં કોઇ તાત્પર્ય નથી.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="JOB.34.36" />મને લાગે છે કે અયૂબને વધારે સજા થવી જોઇએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે અયૂબ અમને
</q>
<q style="q1">દુષ્ટ માણસો જેવા જવાબ આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંત સુધી તેની કસોટી થવી જોઇએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="JOB.34.37" />અયૂબ તેના બીજા પાપોમાં બળવાખોરીનો ઉમેરો કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અયૂબ ત્યાં અમારું અપમાન કરી અમારી પહેલા બેસે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે દેવની વિરુદ્ધ લાંબી લાંબી વાતો કરે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="35" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.35.1" />વળી અલીહૂએ અનુસંધાનમાં કહ્યું,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.35.2" />“અયૂબ, તું દેવને પૂછ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘જો કોઇ દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે તો તેને શું ફાયદો થાય?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો મે પાપ ન કર્યા હોત તો મને વધારે ફાયદો થાત?’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.35.3" />તું એમ માને છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘આમ કહેવું તે યોગ્ય છે? તું કહે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ કરતા હું વધારે સાચો સત્ય છું?’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.35.4" />“હું તને તથા તારા બધા મિત્રોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક સાથે જવાબ આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.35.5" />ઊંચે આકાશમાં જો! જો વાદળાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા કરતાં કેટલાં ઊંચા છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.35.6" />અયૂબ, જો તમે પાપ કરો, તો તેમાં દેવને કોઇ રીતે હાનિ થવાની નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો તમારી પાસે ખૂબ પાપ ભર્યા હોય તો તેમાં દેવનું કાંઇ નુકસાન નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.35.7" />અને અયૂબ, જો તું સારો હોય તો તે કોઇ રીતે દેવને સહાયરૂપ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી પાસેથી દેવને કાંઇ મળવાનું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.35.8" />અયૂબ, તુ જે કાંઇ સારું કે ખરાબ કાર્ય કરે છે તે તારી જેમ ફકત બીજાઓને અસર થાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ દેવને મદદ કે હાનિ કરતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.35.9" />“જો દુષ્ટ લોકોને હાનિ થાય તો તેઓ મદદ માટે પોકાર કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ શકિતશાળી લોકો પાસે જાય છે અને મદદ માંગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.35.10" />પરંતુ તે દુષ્ટ લોકો, તેઓને મદદ કરવાનું દેવને કહેતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કહેશે નહિ મારા સર્જનહાર દેવ ક્યાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ જેઓ ઉત્સાહ ભંગ છે, તેઓને મદદ કરે છે. તો તે ક્યાં છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.35.11" />જે દેવે આપણને પશુઓ અને પંખીઓ કરતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વધારે સમજુ બનાવ્યા છે તો તે ક્યાં છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.35.12" />તેઓ બૂમો પાડે છે, પણ કોઇ એમને સાંભળતું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે એમનામાં અનિષ્ટનું અભિમાન હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.35.13" />એ સાચું છે, દેવ તેઓની નિરર્થક માંગણીઓ પર ધ્યાન આપશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વસમર્થ દેવ તેઓ તરફ જરા પણ ધ્યાન આપશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.35.14" />તેથી અયૂબ, તું કહે છે કે, તું તેને જોતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે દેવ તેને સાંભળશે નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું કહે છે કે તું દેવને મળવાની તકની રાહ જુએ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી નિદોર્ષતા સાબિત કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.35.15" />“અયૂબ, વિચારે છે કે દેવ દુષ્ટ લોકોને સજા કરતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વિચારે છે કે દેવ પાપ જોતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.35.16" />તેથી અયૂબ, તેની અર્થ વગરની વાતો કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અયૂબ જાણે તે મહત્વશીલ હોય તેમ વતેર્ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ સહેલાઇથી જાણી જવાય છે કે અયૂબને તે શેના વિશે બોલે છે તેની તેને ખબર નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="36" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.36.1" />વળી અલીહૂએ આગળ અનુસંધાનમાં કહ્યું,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.36.2" />“જરા લાંબો સમય મને નિભાવી લે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના પક્ષમાં હું થોડા વધુ શબ્દો છે કહેવા ઇચ્છું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.36.3" />હું મારું જ્ઞાન એકેએક સાથે વહેચીશ, દેવે મારું સર્જન કર્યુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે ન્યાયી છે તે હું સાબિત કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.36.4" />હું તને જણાવું છું કે તે ખરેખર સત્ય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમ કે હું સંપૂર્ણ જ્ઞાની છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.36.5" />“દેવ મહા બળવાન છે, પણ એ કોઇનો તિરસ્કાર કરતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ ખૂબ બુદ્ધિમાન છે, પણ ખૂબ વિદ્વાન પણ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.36.6" />એ દુષ્ટોને જીવતા રહેવા દેતા નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ગરીબોનો ન્યાય કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.36.7" />જે સચ્ચાઇથી રહે છે, તે લોકો પર દેવ નજર રાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેઓને રાજાઓની સાથે સિંહાસન પર બેસાડે છે અને તેઓ સદાય ઉચ્ચ સ્થાન પર રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.36.8" />તેથી જો લોકોને સજા થઇ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો તેઓ સાંકળ અને દોરડાથી બંધાયેલા છે, તો તેઓએ કાંઇક ખોટું કર્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.36.9" />અને દેવ તેને કહેશે, તેઓએ શું કર્યું હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તેને કહેશે કે તેઓએ પાપ કર્યા હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તેઓને કહેશે તેઓ ઉદ્ધત હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.36.10" />દેવ તેઓને પાપ કરવાનું મૂકી દેવાનો આદેશ આપશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના શિક્ષણ તરફ કાન ઉઘાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.36.11" />“તેઓ જો એનું માને અને એની સેવા કરે તો તેઓ તેમનું બાકીનું જીવન સમૃદ્ધિમાં ગાળશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના વષોર્ સુખથી ભરેલા હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.36.12" />પરંતુ જો તેઓ એનું ન માને તો તેઓ અજ્ઞાનમાંજ મૃત્યુ પામે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મૃત્યુલોકમાં પહોંચી જાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.36.13" />“લોકો જે દેવની ચિંતા કરતા નથી જ્યારે આખો વખત તેઓ દુ:ખી રહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તેઓને શિક્ષા કરે છે ત્યારે પણ તેઓ તેમને મદદ માટે પ્રાર્થના કરતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.36.14" />તેઓ હજુ જુવાન હશે મરી જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનો જીવ દુષ્ટોની સાથે નાશ પામે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.36.15" />પણ દુષ્ટલોકોને તેઓના દુ:ખ દ્વારા નરમ બનાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તે દુ:ખ દ્વારા લોકોને જગાડી અને તેને સાંભળતા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.36.16" />“તેણે તને દુ:ખમાંથી દૂર કર્યો છે, તેણે તને નિરાંતનું જીવન આપ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે તને પુષ્કળ પ્રમાણમાં ખોરાક પીરસ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.36.17" />પરંતુ હવે અયૂબ, તું દોષિત ઠરાયો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તને એક દુષ્ટ વ્યકિતની જેમ સજા થઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.36.18" />હવે તમે સાવધ રહેજો, જેથી સમૃદ્ધિ તમને ફોસલાવે નહિઁ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લાંચ તમારું મન બદલાવે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.36.19" />સંકટમાં તારી અઢળક સમૃદ્ધિ તને શા કામની?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી શકિત તારા શા કામની?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.36.20" />રાતે આવવાની ઇચ્છા કરતો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો રાત્રિમા અલોપ થઇ જવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ વિચારે છે કે તેઓ પોતાને દેવથી સંતાડી શકશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.36.21" />અયૂબ, તેઁ ખૂબજ પીડા ભોગવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ અનિષ્ટ પસંદ કરતો નહિ કંઇ પણ ખોટું નહિ કરવાની સાવચેતી રાખજે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.36.22" />“દેવ પોતાના સાર્મથ્ય વડે મહિમાવાન કાર્યો કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના જેવો ગુરુ છે કોણ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.36.23" />એમણે શું કરવું એ કોઇ એમને કહી શકે ખરું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ખોટું કર્યુ છે ‘એમ એમને કોણ કહી શકે?’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.36.24" />તેમણે પ્રતાપી કાર્યો કરેલા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે કરેલાં મહાન કાર્યો માટે તેમની સ્તુતિ કરવાનું યાદ રાખ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોએ દેવની સ્તુતિ વર્ણવતા ઘણા ગીતો લખ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.36.25" />દેવે જે કાઇં કર્યુ છે તે બધાએ જોયું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દૂર દેશાવરમાં પણ લોકો તે જોઇ શકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.36.26" />દેવ એટલાં મહાન છે કે આપણે તેમને સમજી શકતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેટલા સમયથી દેવ છે તે કોઇ સમજી શકે એમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.36.27" />“દેવ, પૃથ્વી પરથી પાણીને ઊંચે લઇ જઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું ઝાકળ અને વરસાદમાં રૂપાંતર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.36.28" />જે વાદળોમાંથી પૃથ્વી પર વરસે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અનેક લોકો પર પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.36.29" />દેવ કેવી રીતે વાદળો પાથરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમાં થતી ગર્જનાઓને કોઇ સમજી શકે છે ખરું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.36.30" />જુઓ, દેવ પૃથ્વી પર વિજળી ફેલાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મહાસાગરના ઊંડામાં ઊંડા ભાગને ઢાંકી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JOB.36.31" />દેવ પોતાના અદ્ભૂત અંકુશ વડે, તે લોકો પર શાસન કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને ભરપૂર ખોરાક પૂરો પાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JOB.36.32" />તેઓ પોતાના હાથથી વીજળીને પકડે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યાં તેને પાડવી હોય ત્યાં પડવાની આજ્ઞા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JOB.36.33" />ગર્જના ચેતવણી આપે છે કે તોફાન નજીક આવી રહ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દ્વારા પણ સમાચાર પહોંચાડે છે કે તોફાન નજીક આવી રહ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="37" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.37.1" />“વીજળી અને ગર્જના મને બીવડાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું હૃદય મારી છાતીમાં ધડકારા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.37.2" />દેવની ગર્જના તથા તેના મુખમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નીકળતી વાચા ધ્યાન થી સાંભળ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.37.3" />આખા આકાશને તે વીજળીથી ઝળકાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ ધરતીના એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી ફરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.37.4" />વીજળીનો ચમકારો થાય ત્યાર પછી દેવની ગર્જનાના અવાજ સાંભળી શકાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તેના મહત્વથી ગર્જના કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે વીજળી ચમકે છે, દેવનો અવાજ ગજેર્ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.37.5" />તેમની ગર્જનાનો અવાજ ભવ્ય હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે મહાન કૃત્યો કરે છે જે આપણે સમજી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.37.6" />દેવે બરફને કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘પૃથ્વી પર પડો’
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવે વરસાદને કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘પૃથ્વી પર મૂશળધાર વરસો.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.37.7" />અને આ રીતે એ માણસોને કામે જતાં અટકાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેને લીધે તેઓ સમજશે કે તે શું કરી શકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.37.8" />ત્યારે પશુઓ તેમની ગુફામાં ભરાઇ જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એમાં પડ્યાં રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.37.9" />દક્ષિણ દિશામાંથી વંટોળિયો આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉત્તર દિશામાંથી ઠંડા પવનો ઊતરી આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.37.10" />દેવના શ્વાસથી હિમ બને છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમુદ્રો થીજી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.37.11" />તે ધાડા વાદળોને પાણીથી ભરી દે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમાં વીજળીઓ ચમકાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.37.12" />દેવ વાદળોને આખી પૃથ્વી પર વિખેરાઇ જવાનો આદેશ આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાદળો દેવની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.37.13" />દેવ પૂર લાવી લોકોને શિક્ષા કરવા અથવા તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાણી લાવી પોતાનો પ્રેમ દર્શાવવા વાદળો બનાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.37.14" />“હે અયૂબ, સાંભળ, જરા થોભ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવના અદ્ભૂત કાર્યોનો વિચાર કર!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.37.15" />દેવ વાદળોને કેવી રીતે નિયંત્રણમાં રાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વાદળોમાંથી વીજળીને કેવી રીતે ચમકાવે છે એ શું તું જાણે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.37.16" />તે કેવી રીતે હવામાં વાદળાંને અદ્ધર સમતુલીત રાખે છે તે તું જાણે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાદળો દેવના અદભૂત સર્જનોનું એક દ્રષ્ટાંત છે અને દેવ તેઓ વિષે સર્વ જાણે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.37.17" />પણ અયૂબ, તું આ બાબતો જાણતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું એટલુંજ જાણે છે કે તને જ્યારે પરસેવો થાય ત્યારે તારા કપડાં તારી ચામડી ને ચોંટી જાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જ્યારે દક્ષિણ દિશામાંથી હુફાળો પવન વાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે બધું શાંત અને સૂમસામ થઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.37.18" />શું તમે પથરાયેલા આકાશને ચકચકીત કરેલા પીતળની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ ચમકીલુ બનાવામાં દેવને મદદ કરી શકશો?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.37.19" />“અયૂબને કહેવા દો કે અમારે દેવને શું કહેવું!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા માં અંધકાર છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે એની સાથે દલીલો કરી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.37.20" />હું દેવને કહીશ નહિ કે મારી ઇચ્છા તેની સાથે બોલવાની હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એતો પોતેજ પોતાનો વિનાશ માગવા જેવું થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.37.21" />હવે પવને આકાશને ચોખ્ખું કર્યુ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યાં એટલું બધુ અજવાળું છે કે અમે સૂર્ય સામે જોઇ શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.37.22" />તે જ રીતે આકાશમાંથી આપણી ઉપર આવતા અને આંખોને આંજી દેતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના ભવ્ય પ્રતાપ સામે પણ આપણે જોઇ શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.37.23" />સર્વસમર્થ દેવ મહાન છે! આપણે તેને સમજી શકતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ ખૂબજ શકિતશાળી છે પણ તે આપણી સાથે ન્યાયી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણને નુકસાન પહોચાડવું દેવને ગમતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.37.24" />એ કારણથી લોકો દેવનો આદર કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જે અભિમાની છે અને પોતાની જાતને વિદ્વાન માને છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તે લોકોને માન આપતા નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="38" />
<s style="s">યહોવાએ આપેલો જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.38.1" />પછી યહોવાએ વંટોળિયામાંથી અયૂબને જવાબ આપતાં કહ્યું કે,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.38.2" />“મૂર્ખતાથી ઇશ્વરી ઘટનાને પડકારનાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ વ્યકિત કોણ છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.38.3" />તારી કમર બાંધ; કારણકે હું તને પૂછીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું મને જવાબ આપીશ, જવાબ આપવાનો તારો વારો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.38.4" />“જ્યારે મેં પૃથ્વીના પાયા નાખ્યા ત્યારે તું ક્યાં હતો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું બહુ સમજે છે તો એ તો કહે કે
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.38.5" />પૃથ્વીને ઘડવા માટે એનાં તોલમાપ કોણે નક્કી કર્યા હતાં?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુનિયાને એક માપરેખાથી કોણે માપી હતી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.38.6" />એના મજબૂત પાયાં શાના ઉપર નાંખવામાં આવ્યા છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની જગ્યામાં પહેલો પથ્થર કોણે મૂક્યો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.38.7" />પ્રભાતના તારાઓએ સાથે ગીત ગાયું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવદૂતોએ જ્યારે તે થઇ ગયું ત્યારે આનંદથી બૂમો પાડી!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.38.8" />“સમુદ્રને પૃથ્વીના ઊંડાણમાંથી ધસી આવતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રોકવા દરવાજાઓ કોણે બંધ કર્યા હતા?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.38.9" />વાદળાં અને ગાઢ અંધકારરૂપી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વસ્રો મેં તેને પહેરાવ્યેં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.38.10" />મે તેની બાજુઓની હદ બનાવી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બંધ દરવાજાઓની સીમાઓ પાછળ તેને મૂકી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.38.11" />મે સમુદ્રને કહ્યું, ‘તું અહીં સુધી ગતિ કરજે, અહીંથી આગળ ઉલ્લંઘન કરીશ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પ્રચંડ મોજા અહીં અટકી જશે.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.38.12" />“શું આ પ્રભાત થાય છે, તે તમારા આદેશથી થાય છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સવારે સૂર્યના કિરણોએ કઇં દિશામાં ઊગવું તે શું તમે નક્કી કરો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.38.13" />અયૂબ, તે ક્યારે પણ પ્રભાતના પ્રકાશને પૃથ્વીને ઝૂંટવી લઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ લોકોને તેઓની સંતાવાના સ્થાનેથી જાવી નાખવાનું કહ્યું છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.38.14" />પ્રભાતનો પ્રકાશ ટેકરીઓ અને ખીણોને ષ્ટિ ગોચર કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે દિવસનો પ્રકાશ પૃથ્વી પર પડે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તે જગ્યાઓની આકૃતિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કપડાની ઘડીની જેમ બહાર દેખાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે સ્થળો પોચી માટી પર છાપ વડે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પડેલી છાપ જેવો આકાર લે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.38.15" />દુષ્ટ લોકોને દિવસનો પ્રકાશ ગમતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તે તેજથી પ્રકાશે છે, તે તેઓને તેઓના દુષ્કમોર્ની યોજના કરતા રોકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.38.16" />“અયૂબ, તું કદી સમુદ્રના ઉદ્ગમસ્થાનના ઊંડાણમાં ગયો છે ખરો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ક્યારેય મહાસાગરની સપાટી પર ચાલ્યો છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.38.17" />શું તે કદી મૃત્યુના દ્વાર જોયા છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે કદી મૃત્યુની અંધારી જગાના દ્વાર જોયા છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.38.18" />તું જાણે છે કે પૃથ્વી કેટલી વિશાળ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવું જ્ઞાન તારી પાસે હોય તો તે મને કહે!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.38.19" />“પ્રકાશનું ઉદગમસ્થાન ક્યાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંધકારની જગા ક્યાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને જણાવ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.38.20" />તમે પ્રકાશ અને અંધકારને તે જે સ્થાનેથી આવ્યા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં પાછા લઇ જઇ શકો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેના ઉદ્ભવસ્થાને જઇ શકો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.38.21" />આ બધું તો તું જાણે છે, કારણકે ત્યારે તારો જન્મ થઇ ચૂક્યો હતો ને!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું તો ઘણો અનુભવી વૃદ્ધ ખરું ને?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.38.22" />બરફના તથા કરાઁ ભંડારોમાં બેઠો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા સંગ્રહસ્થાન છે, શું તેઁ જોયાં છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.38.23" />મેં બરફ અને કરાઁની જગાઓને આફતના સમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લડાઇ અને યુદ્ધના સમય માટે બચાવી રાખી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.38.24" />તમે કદી જ્યાં સૂર્ય ઊગે છે, જ્યાં તે પૂર્વ તરફના પવનને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખી પૃથ્વી પર ફૂંકાવે છે તે સ્થળે ગયા છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.38.25" />વરસાદના પ્રચંડ પ્રવાહ માટે નાળાં અને ખીણો કોણે ખોદ્યા છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગર્જના કરતો વીજળીનો માર્ગ કોણે બનાવ્યો છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.38.26" />જ્યાં માનવીએ પગ પણ નથી મૂક્યો એવી સૂકી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઉજ્જડ ધરતી પર તે ભરપૂર વરસે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.38.27" />જેથી ઉજ્જડ તથા વેરાન જમીન તૃપ્ત થાય અને લીલોછમ ઘાસચારો ફૂટી નીકળે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે માટે ત્યાં વરસાદ કોણ મોકલે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.38.28" />શું વરસાદનો કોઇ જનક છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઝાકળનાં બિંદુઓ ક્યાંથી આવે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.38.29" />કોના ગર્ભમાંથી હિમ ને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોણ જન્મ આપે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.38.30" />પાણી તો પથ્થરના ચોસલા જેવું થઇ જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મહાસગાર પણ થીજી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JOB.38.31" />“આકાશના તારાઓને શું તું પકડમાં રાખી શકે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તું કૃતિકા અથવા મૃગશીર્ષના બંધ નક્ષત્રોને છોડી શકે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JOB.38.32" />શું તું રાશિઓને નક્કી કરેલા સમયો અનુસાર પ્રગટ કરી શકે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તું સપ્તષિર્ને તેના મંડળ સહિત ઘેરી શકે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JOB.38.33" />શું તું આકાશને અંકુશમાં લેવાના સિદ્ધાંતો જાણે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તું તેઓને પૃથ્વી પર શાસન કરાવી શકે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="JOB.38.34" />“શું તમે તમારો અવાજ વાદળાં સુધી પહોંચાડી શકો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તમે પુષ્કળ વરસાદ લાવી શકો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="JOB.38.35" />શું તમે વીજળીને આજ્ઞા કરી શકો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ તમારી પાસે આવીને કહેશે કે, ‘અમે અહીંયા છીએ, તમને શું જોઇએ છે?’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારે તેને જ્યાંજયાં લઇ જવી હશે શું તે જશે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="JOB.38.36" />“અયૂબ, વાદળાંમાં જ્ઞાન કોણે મૂક્યું છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા ધૂમકેતુને કોણે સમજણ આપી છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="JOB.38.37" />બધાં વાદળોની ગણતરી કરી શકે અથવા પાણી ભરેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશની મશકો રેડી શકે એવો પર્યાપ્ત વિદ્વાન કોઇ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="JOB.38.38" />જેથી ધરતી પર સર્વત્ર ધૂળ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઢેફાં પાણીથી પલળીને એકબીજા સાથે ચોંટી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="JOB.38.39" />“શું તમે સિંહણને માટે શિકાર પકડી શકો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમે સિંહણના બચ્ચાંની ભૂખને સંતોષી શકો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="JOB.38.40" />એટલે જ્યારે તેઓ તેમની બોડમાં લપાઇને બેઠા હોય ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા ઝાડીમાં સંતાઇને તેઓના શિકાર પર તરાપ મારવા તૈયાર બેઠા હોય ત્યારે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="JOB.38.41" />જ્યારે કાગડીનાં બચ્ચાં તેઓના માળામાં ભૂખે ટળવળતાં હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવને પોકારતાં હોય ત્યારે તેઓને ખોરાક કોણ પૂરો પાડે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="39" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.39.1" />“ડુંગર પરની જંગલી બકરીઓ કેવી રીતે બચ્ચાંને જન્મ આપે છે તે શું તું જાણે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જંગલી હરણીં બચ્ચાઁને જન્મ આપે ત્યારે તમે એમને જોયાં છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.39.2" />તમે તેને જાણો છો પર્વતની બકરી અને હરણે કેટલા મહિનાઓ સુધી તેઓના બચ્ચાંઓને પેટમાં રાખવા જોઇએ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જાણો છો તે ક્યારે પ્રસવ કરશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.39.3" />તે પ્રાણીઓ નીચે સૂવે છે, તેઓને પ્રસૂતિ પીડાનો અનુભવ થાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તેઓના બચ્ચાને જન્મ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.39.4" />આ બચ્ચાં વનવગડામાં ઊછરે છે અને મોટાં થાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી તેઓ પોતાની માતાને છોડીને જાય છે અને પાછા ફરતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.39.5" />“જંગલી ગધેડાંને કોણે છૂટો મૂક્યો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા જંગલી ગધેડાના બંધ કોણે છોડી નાખ્યા છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.39.6" />મેં જંગલી ગધેડાઓ માટે રણને ઘર તરીકે રહેવા દીધુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેઓને રહેવા માટે ખારી જમીન આપી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.39.7" />જંગલી ગધેડાઓ ઘોંઘાટવાળા નગરો પર હસે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કોઇ તેઓને અંકુશમાં લઇ શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.39.8" />જંગલી ગધેડાઓ પર્વતો પર રહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે જે તેઓનું ચરાણ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તેઓનો ખોરાક શોધી કાઢે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.39.9" />“શું તમારી સેવા કરવામાં જંગલી બળદો આનંદ માનશે ખરા?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તમારી ગમાણમાં રાત્રે આવીને તે રહેશે ખરાં?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.39.10" />જમીન ખેડવા માટે તમે તેને ઉપયોગમાં લઇ શકશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તે તમારા માટે હળ ખેંચશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.39.11" />જંગલી બળદ ખૂબ શકિતશાળી છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમારું કામ કરાવવા માટે શું તમે તેની અપેક્ષા કરી શકશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.39.12" />ખળામાંથી દાણા લાવીને વખારમાં ભરવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે તેના પર ભરોસો રાખી શું તેને મોકલશો?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.39.13" />“શાહમૃગ પોતાની પાંખો આનંદથી હલાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની પાંખો અને પીંછાઓ બગલાંની પાંખો જેવા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.39.14" />તે પોતાનાં ઇંડા જમીન પર મૂકે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ રેતીમાં હૂંફાળા થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.39.15" />કોઇ પગ મૂકીને ઇંડાને છૂંદી નાંખશે અથવા જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો નાશ કરી નાખશે તેની તેને ચિંતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.39.16" />તે પોતાના બચ્ચાં વિષે એવી બેદરકાર રહે છે કે જાણે તે બચ્ચાં તેના પોતાના હોય જ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મરી જાય તો પણ તેને તેમની કશી ચિંતા હોતી નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તેની તે બધી મહેનત નિરર્થક થઇ ગઇ હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.39.17" />કારણકે દેવે તેને બુદ્ધિહીન સરજી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે તેને અક્કલ આપી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.39.18" />પરંતુ તે જ્યારે કૂદે છે અને દોડવા લાગે છે, તે ઘોડા અને તેના સવાર પર હસે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તે કોઇપણ ઘોડા કરતાં વધુ ઝડપથી દોડી શકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.39.19" />“શું ઘોડાને તમે બળ આપો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની ગરદનંને કેશવાળીથી તમે ઢાંકો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.39.20" />તીડની જેમ તમે તેને કુદાવો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો હણહણાટ કેવો ભવ્ય અને ભયજનક હોય છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.39.21" />એક ઘોડો ખુશ છે કારણકે તે ખૂબ બળવાન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેની પગની ખરીથી જમીન ખોતરે છે અને યુદ્ધમાં ઝડપથી દોડી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.39.22" />તે ડરતો નથી, તે ડર ઉપર હસે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તરવાર જોઇને પાછો પડતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.39.23" />સૈનિકના તીરો નું ભાથું ઘોડાની બાજુમા જતા જે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભાલો અને બીજા શસ્ત્રો જે તેનો સવાર ઊંચકીને લઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સૂર્યથી ચળકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.39.24" />ઘોડો ઊશ્કેરાઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ખૂબ ઝડપથી જમીન પર દોડે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે રણશિંગડાનો અવાજ તે સાંભળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સ્થિર રહી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.39.25" />રણશિંગડાના નાદે નાદે એ હણહણે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યુદ્ધની ગંધ તેને દૂરથી આવે છે. સેનાપતિઓના હુકમો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હકોટા એ સમજી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.39.26" />“બાજ પક્ષી કેવી રીતે આકાશમાં ઊડે છે અને પોતાની પાંખો દક્ષિણ તરફ ફેલાવે છે તે શું તેઁ શીખવ્યું છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.39.27" />શું તારી આજ્ઞાથી ગરૂડ પક્ષી ઊંચે ઊડે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તેં તેને પર્વતોમાં ઉંચે માળો બાંધવાનું કહ્યું હતું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.39.28" />ગરૂડ પર્વતના શિખર પર રહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખડક એ ગરૂડોનો કિલ્લો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.39.29" />ત્યાંથી તે પોતાનો શિકાર શોધી કાઢે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની આંખો તેને દૂરથી શોધી કાઢે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.39.30" />તેનાં બચ્ચાં પણ લોહી ચૂસે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યાં મુડદાં પડ્યાં હોય ત્યાં જાય છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="40" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.40.1" />યહોવાએ અયૂબને ઉત્તર આપતાં કહ્યું કે,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.40.2" />“અયૂબ, તેઁ સર્વસમર્થ દેવ સાથે દલીલ કરી છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મને ખોટું કરવા માટે દોષિત ઠરાવ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે તું કબૂલ કરીશ કે તું ખોટો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તું મને જવાબ આપીશ?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.40.3" />ત્યારે અયૂબે યહોવાને જવાબ આપ્યો કે,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.40.4" />“મારી કશીજ વિસાત નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને કેવી રીતે જવાબ આપી શકું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો હાથ મારા મોં પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાખીને હું મૌન રહું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.40.5" />હું એક વખત બોલ્યો, પણ, હું ફરીથી બોલીશ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું બે વખત બોલ્યો, પણ હવે હું વધારે કહીશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.40.6" />પછી યહોવાએ વંટોળિયામાંથી અયૂબને જવાબ આપ્યો કે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.40.7" />“તું અયૂબ, તારી જાતને કાબૂમાં રાખ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું પ્રશ્ર્ન પૂછું તેનો જવાબ આપવા તૈયાર થા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.40.8" />“અયૂબ, શું તું માને છે કે હું ગેરવાજબી છુ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું કહે કે હું ખોટું કરવા માટે દોષિત છું, તેથી શું તું નિદોર્ષ દેખાઇ શકીશ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.40.9" />તારે મારા જેવા ભુજ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી જેમ તું ગર્જના કરી શકે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.40.10" />તો તું જો દેવ સમાન હોય, તો તું ગર્વ કરી શકે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો તું દેવ સમાન હોય, તો માન અને પ્રતિષ્ઠાને વસ્ત્રો ની જેમ ધારણ કરી શકીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.40.11" />જો તું દેવ સમાન હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો તું તારો ક્રોધ વ્યકત કરી શકીશ અને ઘમંડીઓને પછાડીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.40.12" />હાં અયૂબ! એ ગવિર્ષ્ઠ લોકો સામે જો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને નમ્ર બનાવ. દુષ્ટો જ્યાં ઊપસ્થિત હોય, કચરી નાખ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.40.13" />સર્વ ગવિર્ષ્ઠ લોકો ને ધૂળમાં દાટી દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના મુખને કબરોમાં ઢાંકી દે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.40.14" />જો તું એવું કરી શકીશ તો હું પણ તારા વખાણ કરીશ મને ખાતરી થશે કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તારા પોતાના બળથી પોતાને બચાવી શકશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.40.15" />“ગેંડાની સામે જો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તારી સાથે ગેંડાને ઉત્પન્ન કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બળદની જેમ ઘાસ ખાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.40.16" />તેના પેટમાંના સ્નાયુઓ ખુબજ બળવાન છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના શરીરમાં ઘણી શકિત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.40.17" />એની પૂંછડી દેવદાર વૃક્ષની જેમ ટટ્ટાર ઊભી રહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એની પગની પિંડીના સ્નાયુઓ કેવા મજબૂત છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.40.18" />તેના હાડકાં કાંસા જેવા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પગ લોખંડના સળિયા જેવા મજબૂત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.40.19" />મારા પ્રાણીઓના સર્જનોમાં ગેંડો શ્રેષ્ઠ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો કોઇ તેનું સર્જન કરવાનો દાવો કરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો ભલે તે મારી સાથે તરવાર લઇને લડવા આવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.40.20" />જંગલનાં બીજાં પ્રાણીઓ જ્યાં વસે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવા પર્વતો પરથી તેને ઘાસ મળી રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.40.21" />તે કાદવ કીચડવાળી જગ્યામાં કમળના છોડ નીચે પડી રહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બરૂઓની વચ્ચે કાદવ કીચડમાં સંતાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.40.22" />કમળના છોડો તેને પોતાની છાયાથી ઢાંકે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે નદી પાસે ઉગતા વેલા નીચે રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.40.23" />જો નદીમાં પૂર આવે, તો ગેંડો ભાગી જશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે યર્દન નદી તેના મોઢા પર પાણી ઊડાડે તો પણ તે ગભરાતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.40.24" />તેને આંકડીમાં ભરાવીને કોણ તેને પકડી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના નાકમાં નથ કોણ નાખી શકે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="41" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.41.1" />“અયૂબ, શું તું મહાકાય સમુદ્રના પ્રાણીને માછલી પકડવાના આંકડાથી પકડી શકે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તું તેની જીભ દોરીથી બાંધી શકશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.41.2" />શું તેના નાકમાં નથ નાખીને તું તેને નાથી શકે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના જડબામાં આંકડી ભરાવી શકે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.41.3" />શું તેને છોડી દેવા માટે તે તને કાલાવાલા કરશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તે તારી સાથે નમ્રતાથી બોલશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.41.4" />શું તે તારી સાથે એવો કરાર કરશે કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આજીવન તારો ગુલામ રહેવા સંમત થશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.41.5" />શું તું તેની સાથે પાળેલા પક્ષીઓની જેમ રમી શકશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તું તેને દોરડેથી બાંધશે જેથી તારી નોકરાણીઓ તેની સાથે રમી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.41.6" />શું તારી પાસેથી લિબ્યાથ<f caller="+"><fr>41:6
</fr><fk>લિબ્યાથન
</fk><ft>મુળ પ્રમાણે આ નામ સમુદ્ર પ્રાણીનું છેં.</ft></f> ખરીદવા માટે વેપારીઓ કોશીશ કરશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ વેપારીઓની વચ્ચે તેને વહેંચી નાખશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.41.7" />શું કાટાળું અસ્ત્રથી તેની ચામડીને છેદી શકાય?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું અણીદાર ભાલો તેના માથામાં ભોંકી શકાય?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOB.41.8" />“તારો હાથ તેના માથા પર મૂકશે ત્યારે જે યુદ્ધ થશે તે તને લાંબા સમય સુધી યાદ રહેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ફરીથી એવું ક્યારેય કરશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.41.9" />શું તને લાગે છે કે તું મહાકાય સમુદ્ર પ્રાણીને હરાવી શકશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભૂલી જા! એમાં કોઇ આશા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને જોઇનેજ તું ગભરાઇ જઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.41.10" />તેને છંછેડીને ગુસ્સે કરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવો હિંમતવાળો કોઇ નથી.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તો મારી સામે કોણ ઊભો રહી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOB.41.11" />તેની સાથે યુદ્ધ કરીને કોણ સફળ થયો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખા આકાશ તળે એવો કોઇ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.41.12" />“હવે મારે, તેના પગ, મજબૂત સ્નાયુઓના સાર્મથ્ય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તેના શરીરના આકર્ષક આકાર વિષે બોલવું જ જોઇએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOB.41.13" />તેની ચામડીને કોઇ ભોંકી શકે તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની ચામડી એક બખ્તર જેવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOB.41.14" />તેનું મોઢું કોણ ઉધાડી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તેના દાંત લોકોને બીવડાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOB.41.15" />મહાકાય સમુદ્ર પ્રાણીની પીઠ પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઢાલ સંપૂર્ણપણે બંધ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.41.16" />તે ઢાલો એક બીજાની એટલી નજીક છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તેમની વચ્ચે હવા પણ જઇ શકતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOB.41.17" />તેઓ એકબીજા સાથે એવાં સજ્જડ ચોટેઁલાં હોય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તેમને કશાથી ઉખેડી શકાય નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOB.41.18" />તે છીંકે છે ત્યારે તે વીજળી નાં ચમકારા બહાર નીકળતા હોય એવું લાગે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની આંખો સવારના સૂરજની જેમ ચમકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOB.41.19" />તેના મુખમાંથી અગ્નિની જવાળાઓ નીકળે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અગ્નિની ચિનગારીઓ વછૂટે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOB.41.20" />ઊકળતા ઘડા નીચેના બળતાં ખડની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહાકાય સમુદ્ર પ્રાણીના નાકમાંથી ધુમાડા નીકળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOB.41.21" />મહાકાય સમુદ્ર પ્રાણીના ઉચ્છવાસથી કોલસા પણ સળગી ઊઠે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના મુખમાંથી ભડકા નીકળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOB.41.22" />તેની ગરદનમાં બળ છે, લોકો ગભરાઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનાથી દૂર ભાગી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOB.41.23" />તેની ચામડી પર કોઇ હળવા ચિહન નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે લોઢા જેવું કઠણ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOB.41.24" />તેનું હૃદય ખડક જેવું મજબૂત અને ઘંટીના પથ્થર જેવું સખત છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને કોઇ ડર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOB.41.25" />તે મહાકાય સમુદ્ર પ્રાણી જ્યારે ઊભું થાય છે ત્યારે સૌથી બળવાન પણ તેનાથી ડરી જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જ્યારે તેની પૂંછડી હલાવે છે ત્યારે તેઓ ભાગી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOB.41.26" />મહાકાય સમુદ્ર પ્રાણીને તરવાર, ભાલો અને અણીદાર શસ્ત્ર મારવામાં આવે તો તે ફેંકાઇને પાછા આવે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે શસ્ત્રો તેને જરાપણ ઈજા પહોંચાડી શકે તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOB.41.27" />તેની આગળ લોખંડ ઘાસ જેવું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કાંસુ સડી ગયેલા લાકડા જેવું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOB.41.28" />તે તેના પર બાણના મારથી પણ ગભરાતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પથ્થરની શિલા પણ તેને વાગીને ખરસલા ની જેમ પાછી ફરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOB.41.29" />જ્યારે લાકડાની ડાંગો મહાકાય સમુદ્ર પ્રાણીને વાગે છે ત્યારે તેને તો તે સળીનો ટૂકડો હોય તેમ લાગે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની ઉપર ફેંકેલા ભાલાને તે હસી કાઢે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOB.41.30" />તેના પેટની ચામડી પરનાં ભીંગડાઁ ઠીકરાં જેવાં કઠણ અને ધારદાર હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના ચાલવાથી કાદવમાં ચાસ જેવાં નિશાન પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JOB.41.31" />મહાકાય સમુદ્ર પ્રાણીને ઊકળતા પાણીના ઘડાની જેમ હલાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઊકળતા તેલની જેમ તે પરપોટો ઊડાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JOB.41.32" />જ્યારે મહાકાય સમુદ્ર પ્રાણી તરે છે ત્યારે તે તેની પાછળ માર્ગ કરી મૂકે છે, તે પાણીને હલાવી નાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાછળ સફેદ ફીણ મૂકી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JOB.41.33" />પૃથ્વી પર બીજું કોઇપણ પ્રાણી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં જેવું નિર્ભય સૃજાયેલુ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="JOB.41.34" />તે સૌથી ગવિર્ષ્ઠ પ્રાણીની પણ ઉપેક્ષા કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વ ગવિર્ષ્ઠ પ્રાણીઓનો રાજા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મેં યહોવાએ તેનું સર્જન કર્યુ છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="42" />
<s style="s">અયૂબનો જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOB.42.1" />ત્યારે અયૂબે યહોવાને જવાબ આપતાં કહ્યું કે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOB.42.2" />“હું જાણું છું કે તું ધારે તે બધુંજ કરી શકે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને કોઇ અટકાવી શકે તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOB.42.3" />યહોવા તેં આ પ્રશ્ર્ન પૂછયો: “આવી મૂર્ખ બાબતો બોલવાવાળો આ કોણ છે?”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં એવી ઘણી બાબતોની વાત કરી જે હું સમજી શકતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા માટે અતિ અદૃભુત બાબતો જેને હું જાણતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOB.42.4" />“તેં કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘સવાલ પૂછવાનો વારો મારો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને જવાબ આપવાનો વારો તારો છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOB.42.5" />આજ સુધી મેં તારા વિષે પહેલા સાંભળ્યું જ હતું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હવે મેં તને નજરે નિહાળ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOB.42.6" />અને યહોવા, મને શરમ આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ખૂબ દિલગીર છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેવો હું ધૂળ તથા રાખ પર બેસુ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારું હૃદય અને જીવન બદલવાનું વચન આપું છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા અયૂબને એની સંપતિ પાછી આપે છેં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JOB.42.7" />યહોવાએ આ બધું અયૂબને બોલી રહ્યા પછી તેણે અલીફાઝને કહ્યું કે, “હું તારા પર અને તારા બંને મિત્રો પર પણ ગુસ્સે થયો છું, કારણકે તમે, અયૂબ મારા સેવકની જેમ, મારા વિષે સાચું બોલ્યા નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JOB.42.8" />તેથી અલીફાઝ, સાત બળદો અને સાત નર ઘેટા લાવી આપ. આ મારા સેવક માટે લઇ આવ. તેઓને મારી નાખ અને તેઓને તારા પોતાને માટે દહનાર્પણ ચઢાવો. મારો સેવક અયૂબ તમારે માટે પ્રાર્થના કરશે અને હું તેની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળીશ પછી હું તને સજા નહિ આપું, જેને તું લાયક છે. તને સજા થવીજ જોઇએ કારણકે તું બહુ મૂર્ખ હતો. તું મારા વિષે સાચું બોલ્યો નહિ. પણ મારો સેવક અયૂબ મારા વિષે સાચું બોલ્યો હતો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JOB.42.9" />અલીફાઝ, બિલ્દાદ, અને સોફારે યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે કર્યુ ને યહોવાએ અયૂબની પ્રાર્થનાનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JOB.42.10" />ત્યારબાદ અયૂબે એના ત્રણ મિત્રો માટે પ્રાર્થના કરી. પછી યહોવાએ તેની દુર્દશા ફેરવી નાખી અને પૂવેર્ એની પાસે જેટલું હતું એનાથી બેવડું એને આપ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JOB.42.11" />અયૂબના બધાંજ ભાઇઓ બહેનો અને અગાઉના મિત્રો અયૂબને મળવા આવ્યાં અને એમણે તેનાં ઘરમાં તેની સાથે ભોજન કર્યું. તેમણે તેમની સહાનુભૂતિ પ્રગટ કરી અને દેવે તેની પર જે દુ:ખ નાખ્યું એ માટે તેને દિલાસો આપ્યો. દરેક જણે તેને ચાંદીનો એકેક સિક્કો અને એક-એક સોનાની વીંટી આપી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JOB.42.12" />યહોવાએ અયૂબને વધારે આશીર્વાદ એની પાછલી ઉંમરમાં આપ્યાં. હવે અયૂબની પાસે 14,000 ઘેટાં, 6,000 ઊંટ, 2,000 બળદ અને 1,000 ગધેડીઓ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JOB.42.13" />તેને પણ સાત પુત્રો અને ત્રણ પુત્રીઓ હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="JOB.42.14" />અયૂબની સૌથી મોટી પુત્રીનું નામ યમીમાહ, વચલીનું નામ કસીઆહ અને સૌથી નાનીનું નામ કેરેન-હાપ્પૂખ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JOB.42.15" />સમગ્ર દેશમાં અયૂબની પુત્રીઓ જેવી અન્ય કોઇ સુંદર સ્રીઓ ન હતી. તેમના પિતાએ તેઓના ભાઇઓની સાથે હિસ્સો આપ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JOB.42.16" />ત્યાર પછી અયૂબ 140 વર્ષ સુધી જીવ્યો; અને તે પોતાના સંતાનો, પૌત્ર-પૌત્રી, પ્રપૌત્ર-પ્રપૌત્રી અને તેના સંતાનોને જોવા સુધી જીવ્યો. હા, ચાર પેઢીઓ જોઇ.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="JOB.42.17" />આ પ્રમાણે સારું જીવન જીવીને અયૂબ સંપૂર્ણ વૃદ્ધ વયે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="PSA"><id id="PSA">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>ગીતશાસ્ત્ર
</h><toc level="1">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p sfm="ms" style="ms1">ભાગ પહેલો
</p>
<p sfm="mr" style="mr">(ગીત 1-41)
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.1.1" />દુષ્ટ લોકોની સલાહ જેઓ સ્વીકારતાં નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાપીઓનાં માર્ગમાં જેઓ ઉભા રહેતા નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવની હાંસી ઉડાવનારા સાથે બેસતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સાચેજ સુખી છે, તેઓને ધન્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.1.2" />યહોવાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રથી તેઓ આનંદ માણે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાત દિવસ યહોવાનાં વચનોનું જે મનન કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવામય જીવન જીવવાં વિચાર્યા કરે છે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.1.3" />તેઓ નદી કિનારે રોપાયેલાં વૃક્ષો જેવા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ વૃક્ષો ઋતુ પ્રમાણે ઉત્તમ ફળો આપે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓનાં પાંદડા કદી કરમાતાં નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જે કાઇ કામ કરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમાં સફળ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.1.4" />પણ દુષ્ટો એવા નથી હોતા, તેઓની વાત જુદી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ખરેખર પવનમાં ઉડતાં ફોતરાં જેવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.1.5" />તેથી દુષ્ટો ન્યાયાસન આગળ ટકશે નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ન્યાયીઓની સભામાં પાપીઓ ઊભા રહી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.1.6" />યહોવા ન્યાયીઓની સંભાળ રાખે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તે દુષ્ટ લોકોનો વિનાશ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="2" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.2.1" />બીજા રાષ્ટના લોકો શા માટે ધાંધલ કરે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે તેઓ આવી નિરર્થક યોજનાઓ ઘડે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.2.2" />કારણ, આ રાષ્ટના રાજાઓ અને નેતાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા અને તેણે પસંદ કરેલા રાજાઓની વિરુદ્ધ જોડાયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.2.3" />તેઓ કહે છે, “આવો આપણે દેવના બંધન તોડી પાડીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગુલામીમાંથી મુકત થઇ જઇએ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.2.4" />આકાશમાં બેઠેલા યહોવા તેમના પર હસે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો માલિક તેમની મજાક કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.2.5" />અતિ ક્રોધમાં બોલી તેઓને ઠપકો આપશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના પ્રકોપથી તેઓ અતિ ત્રાસ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.2.6" />યહોવા કહે છે, “મારા પવિત્ર સિયોન પર્વત પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મારા રાજાને અભિષિકત કર્યો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.2.7" />મને સાંભળો, ઓ લોકો, હું તમને યહોવાના ઠરાવ વિષે કહીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાએ મને કહ્યુ, “તું મારો પુત્ર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આજે હું તારો પિતા થયો છુ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.2.8" />તું મારી પાસે માગ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે હું તને સર્વ જાતની પ્રજાઓ આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.2.9" />તેમના પર લોઢાનાં દંડથી રાજ કર કે જે તેઓને વિખેરી નાખે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેવી રીતે લોઢાનો સળિયો માટીના ઘડાને તોડી નાખે તેમજ તું કરજે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.2.10" />પૃથ્વીના રાજાઓ, તમે સૌ સમજણ રાખો, હજુ સમય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સત્તાધીશો તમે હવે આ બોધ લો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.2.11" />યહોવાની સેવા આદર અને પ્રેમથી કરો, અને ભયથી થર થર કાંપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.2.12" />તેના પુત્રને ચુંબન કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તે રોષે ન ચઢે અને તારો નાશ ન થાય.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે યહોવા કોઇપણ સમયે તેનો કોપ દેખાડવા તૈયાર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ યહોવા પર ભરોસો રાખે છે તેઓ આશીર્વાદીત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="3" />
<s level="2" style="s2">પોતાના પુત્ર આબ્શાલોમથી નાસી જતી વખતનું દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.3.1" />હે યહોવા, મારા વેરીઓ ઘણા વધી ગયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘણા લોકો મારું ખોટું ઇચ્છનારા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.3.2" />“મને દેવ કદી તારશે નહિ,” એમ પણ મારા વિષે અનેક લોકો કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.3.3" />પણ, હે યહોવા, તમે મારી ઢાલ છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારું ગૌરવ છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શરમથી ઝૂકી ગયેલા મારા માથાને ફકત તમે જ ઉપર ઊઠાવી શકશો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.3.4" />હું મારી વાણીથી યહોવાને વિનંતી કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તે પોતાના પવિત્ર પર્વત પરથી, તેમના મંદિરમાંથી મને ઉત્તર આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.3.5" />પછી હું શાંતિથી સૂઇ જાઉં છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સવારે જાગીશ પણ ખરો! કારણ યહોવા મારું રક્ષણ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.3.6" />જે હજારો શત્રુઓએ મને ઘેરી લીધો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓથી હું જરાય ડરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.3.7" />હે યહોવા, ઉઠો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું તારણ કરો મારા દેવ;
</q>
<q style="q1">એમ હું તમને હાંક મારીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તમે મારા સર્વ શત્રુઓના જડબાં પર પ્રહાર કર્યો છે અને તે દુષ્ટોના તમે દાંત તોડી નાખ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.3.8" />યહોવાની પાસે તારણ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો પર તમારો આશીર્વાદ ઉતારો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="4" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે, તારવાળાં વાજીંત્રો સાથે ગાવા માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.4.1" />મારા ઉમદા દેવ, હું જ્યારે પ્રાર્થના કરું ત્યારે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને ઉત્તર આપજો,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળીને તમારી કૃપા વરસાવજો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને મારી મુશ્કેલીઓમાં રાહત આપજો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.4.2" />હે મનુષ્યો, કયાં સુધી મારા માટે ખરાબ બોલશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્યાં સુધી મને કહેવા માટે નવા જૂઠાણાં શોધશો? તમે તો તે જૂઠાણાં કહેવાનું ચાહો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.4.3" />તમારે જાણવું જોઇએ કે યહોવા તેમના વિશ્વાસુ અનુગામીને સાંભળે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી હું હાંક મારીશ ત્યારે યહોવા જરૂર મને સાંભળશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.4.4" />તમે ગુસ્સે થયા હશો પણ પાપતો કરશોજ નહિ, જ્યારે તમે પથારીમાં સૂવા જાવ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તમારાં હૃદયમાં ઉંડે સુધી વિચાર કરો અને શાંત થઇ જાવ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.4.5" />યહોવાને ઉમદા અને યોગ્ય અર્પણો ચઢાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવા પર ભરોસો રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.4.6" />એવું પુછનાર તો ધણા છે, “અમને દેવની સુંદરતા કોણ બતાવશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તમારા ચમકતા ચહેરાનો પ્રકાશ અમને બતાવો!”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.4.7" />હે યહોવા, ઋતુંનો પાક જોઈ લોકો પ્રસન્નતા પામે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તે કરતાં અધિક પ્રસન્નતા તમે મારા હૃદયમાં મૂકી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.4.8" />હું સૂઇ જઇશ ને શાંતિથી ઉંઘી પણ જઇશ, કારણ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તમે જ એક મને સુરક્ષાથી સુવા દો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="5" />
<s level="2" style="s2">સંગીત નિર્દેશક માટે, બંસરી વાદ્ય માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.5.1" />હે યહોવા, મારી પ્રાર્થના પર કાન ઘરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જરા મારા ચિંતન પર લક્ષ રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.5.2" />હે દેવ, મારા રાજા, મારી અરજ જરા સાંભળો; કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું માત્ર તમારી જ પ્રાર્થના કરીશ, અન્યની નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.5.3" />હે યહોવા, નિત્ય સવારે તમે મારો અવાજ સાંભળો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે હું તમારી સમક્ષ પ્રાર્થના કરું છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હું તમારા જવાબની આશા રાખીને રાહ જોઉં છુ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.5.4" />હે યહોવા, મને ખબર છે, તમે દુષ્ટતાથી પ્રસન્ન થાવ તેવા દેવ નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે કોઇની ભૂંડાઇ કે પાપ સાંખી લેતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.5.5" />તમે ઉદ્ધત લોકોનો અસ્વીકાર કરો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અનિષ્ટ કરનારાને ધિક્કારો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.5.6" />હે યહોવા, તમે જૂઠું બોલનારાઓનો નાશ કરો છો, તમે ખૂનીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગુપ્ત રીતે બીજાને ઇજા પહોચાડવા યોજના કરતાં લોકોનો તિરસ્કાર કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.5.7" />પણ હું તો તારી મહા કૃપાથી તારા મંદિરમાં આવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, ડરથી અને આદરથી હું તમારા પવિત્ર મંદિરની સામે ઘૂંટણિયે પડીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.5.8" />હે યહોવા, તમારા ન્યાયી અને સાચા માગેર્ મને ચલાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે મારા દુશ્મનો મારા દરેક
</q>
<q style="q1">પગલાં પર નજર રાખે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને સમજાવો, મારે શું કરવું અને ક્યાં જવું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.5.9" />કારણ, તેમની વાણીમાં કોઇ સચ્ચાઇ નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનું હૃદય નીચતાથી ભરેલું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ મધુરભાષી છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનું ગળું એક ઉધાડી કબર જેવુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાની જીભે પ્રશંસા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.5.10" />હે દેવ, એ સૌને તમે દોષી ગણો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને તેમના પોતાના જ છટકામાં સપડાવા દો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમને તેમના પાપના બોજ તળે કચડાઇ જવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દો કારણ કે તેઓ તમારી વિરુદ્ધ થઇ ગયાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.5.11" />પરંતુ જેમને તમારામાં વિશ્વાસ છે તેને ખૂબ સુખી કરો-તેમને હંમેશ માટે આનંદિત કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનું રક્ષણ કરો, જેઓ તમારા નામને ચાહે છે તેઓ આનંદિત થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.5.12" />હે યહોવા, જ્યારે તમે સજ્જન લોકોને આશીર્વાદ આપો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તમે તેની આજુબાજુ રક્ષણ કરતી ઢાલ જેવા છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="6" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે; તારવાળાં વાજીંત્રો સાથે અને શમીનીથ સાથે ગાવા માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.6.1" />હે યહોવા, તમારા ક્રોધમાં, મને ધમકાવશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા રોષમાં, મને શિક્ષા કરશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.6.2" />હે યહોવા, મારા પર દયા કરો, કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું માંદો અને દુર્બળ છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યહોવા, મને સાજો કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, મારા હાડકાં બહુ દુ:ખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.6.3" />હું ઘણો ભયભીત છું;
</q>
<q style="q1">મારું મન ભય અને અતિ વ્યથાથી ભરાઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યહોવા, મને મદદ કરવામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્યાં સુધી વિલંબ કરશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.6.4" />હે યહોવા, પાછા આવો, મારો જીવ બચાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કરી દયા દાખવી મને મરણથી બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.6.5" />લોકો પોતાની કબરોમાં તમને યાદ કરતાં નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૃત્યુની જગાએ કોઇપણ તમારી સ્તુતિ કરતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.6.6" />આખી રાત પ્રાર્થના કરીને અને નિસાસા નાખીને હું નિર્બળ થયો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રોજ રાત્રે મારા આંસુઓથી મારું બિછાનું ભીંજવું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.6.7" />મારા શત્રુઓએ મને આપેલ કષ્ટોને લીધે શોકને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણે રૂદનથી મારી આંખો દુર્બળ બની ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.6.8" />ઓ ભૂંડુ કરનારાઓ, મારાથી બધા દૂર થઇ જાઓ. કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાએ મારા વિલાપનો સાદ સાંભળ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.6.9" />યહોવાએ મારા કાલાવાલા સાંભળ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા મારી સર્વ પ્રાર્થનાઓ માન્ય કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.6.10" />મારા બધા શત્રુઓ ભયભીત અને નિરાશ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઓચિંતા કઇ થશે અને તેઓ બધા લજ્જિત બની ચાલ્યા જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="7" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું બિન્યામીનીતે કૂશના પુત્ર શાઉલના સંદર્ભમાં ગાયેલું યહોવાનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.7.1" />હે યહોવા મારા દેવ, હું તમારો વિશ્વાસ કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પાછળ પડેલા શત્રુઓથી તમે મારી રક્ષા કરો ને મને બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.7.2" />રખેને સિંહની જેમ તે મને ચીરીને ફાડી નાખે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને છોડાવનાર કોઇ ના હોય, એવું થવા દેશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.7.3" />હે મારા યહોવા દેવ, જો મેં એમ કર્યુ હોય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો મારા હાથમાં કઇ ભૂડાઇ હોય,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.7.4" />અને જો મેં શાંતિમાં મારી સાથે રહેનારનું નુકશાન કર્યું હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિના કારણે કોઇ શત્રુ પર હુમલો કર્યો હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની પાસેથી વસ્તુઓ લૂંટી હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.7.5" />તો ભલે મારા શત્રુઓ મને પકડીને મારો નાશ કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ મારું પતન કરે; અને મને ધૂળમાં રગદોળી નાખે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા આત્માને મૃત્યુની જગાએ ધકેલી દેવાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.7.6" />હે યહોવા, કોપ કરીને ઉઠો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા શત્રુઓના ક્રોધની સામે ઊભા થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, મારા માટે જાગૃત થાઓ અને ન્યાયની માગણી કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.7.7" />હે યહોવા, સર્વ પ્રજાઓને તમારી સમક્ષ એકત્ર કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા રાજ્યાસન પર ઉચ્ચસ્થાને પુન: બિરાજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.7.8" />હે યહોવા, તમે સર્વ લોકોનો ન્યાય કરો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને જાહેરમાં ન્યાયી ઠરાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ સમક્ષ મને તમે નિદોર્ષ ને પ્રામાણિક સાબિત કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.7.9" />હે યહોવા, દુષ્ટ લોકોના દુષ્ટ કાર્યોનો અંત લાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ન્યાયી અને નિષ્પક્ષ લોકોને ટેકો અને સાર્મથ્ય આપો,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તમે ન્યાયી દેવ છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધાના હૃદય અને આત્મા જોઇ શકો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.7.10" />દેવ મારી ઢાલ છે, જે સત્ય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ન્યાયી હૃદયવાળાને તારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.7.11" />દેવ ન્યાયી ન્યાયાધીશ છે, તે સત્યતાથી ન્યાય કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વ દુષ્ટો પર હંમેશા કોપાયમાન થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.7.12" />જો માણસ પાપનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત નહિ કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો તે તેની તરવાર તીક્ષ્ણ કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે પોતાના ધનુષ્યને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તાણીને સિદ્ધ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.7.13" />યહોવાએ તેને માટે ભયંકર હથિયાર સજ્જ કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના તીરોને અગ્નિથી સળગતાં કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.7.14" />એક દુષ્ટ માણસ દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો કરવાની યોજના બનાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દુષ્ટ કૃત્યોનો ગર્ભ ધારણ કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જૂઠને જન્મ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.7.15" />તેણે ખાડા અને ખાઇ ખોધ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પોતેજ તેમાં જઇને પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.7.16" />પોતાના દુષ્કૃત્યોથી તે પોતેજ મુશ્કેલીમાં મુકાશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાની ઉગ્રતાથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતેજ ત્રાસ સહન કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.7.17" />હું યહોવાનો આભાર માનું છું, અને તેમની પ્રશંસા કરું છુ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, તે ન્યાયી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પરાત્પર યહોવાના નામને સન્માનવા સ્તોત્ર ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="8" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે,
<tl>ગિત્તીથ</tl> સાથે ગાવાનું દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.8.1" />હે યહોવા, અમારા દેવ, સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર તમારું નામ ઉત્તમ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારો મહિમા આકાશમાં ભરપૂર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.8.2" />નવજાતો અને બાળકોના મુખમાંથી તમારી સ્તુતિની ગાથાઓ પ્રગટી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા શત્રુઓને ચૂપ કરી દેવા માટે તમે તેમને આ શકિતશાળી ગીતો આપ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.8.3" />હે યહોવા, જ્યારે રાત્રે હું આકાશદર્શન કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચંદ્ર તથા તારાઓથી ભર્યું નભ નિહાળું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તમારા હાથનાં અદ્ભૂત કૃત્યો વિષે હું વિચારું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.8.4" />પછી મને આશ્ચર્ય થાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે માનવજાત શું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેનું તમે સ્મરણ કરો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માણસો તે કોણ છે કે તેઓની તમે મુલાકાત લો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.8.5" />કારણ, તમે એને દેવ કરતાં થોડોજ ઊતરતો સૃજ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના માથા પર મહિમા ને માનનો મુગટ મૂકયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.8.6" />તમે જ તેને, તમે ઉત્પન્ન કરેલી સૃષ્ટિનો અધિકાર આપ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે સઘળી સૃષ્ટિનો તમે તેને કારભારી બનાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.8.7" />એટલે સર્વ ઘેટાં તથા બળદો, અને જંગલી પ્રાણીઓનો પણ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.8.8" />વળી આકાશનાં પક્ષીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમુદ્રમાં રહેતા માછલાં તથા જીવોનો પણ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.8.9" />હે યહોવા, અમારા પ્રભુ, સમગ્ર વિશ્વમાં તમારું નામ સૌથી મહાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="9" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. રાગ: “મુથ-લાબ્બેન” દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.9.1" />હું યહોવાની, મારા સંપૂર્ણ હૃદયથી આભારસ્તુતિ કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના અદભૂત કૃત્યો હું પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિત સમક્ષ પ્રગટ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.9.2" />હે દેવ, હું તમારામાં આનંદ પામીશ અને ખુશ થઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૌથી ઉયા દેવ હું તમારી પ્રશંશા કરતાં સ્તોત્રો ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.9.3" />જ્યારે મારા સર્વ શત્રુઓ પાછા ફરીને તમારાથી ભાગશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ ઠોકર ખાઇને નાશ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.9.4" />સૌથી ઉયા અને ન્યાયાસન પર બેસીને તમે સાચો ન્યાય કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને ન્યાય કરીને મારી સજા નિશ્ચિત કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.9.5" />હે યહોવા, તમે વિદેશી રાષ્ટોને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અન્ય પ્રજાઓને અને દુષ્ટ લોકોનો નાશ કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે સદાને માટે તેઓના નામ ભૂંસી નાખ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.9.6" />હે યહોવા, સર્વ શત્રુઓનો અંત આવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સદાકાળ માટે નાશ પામ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે નગરો તમે પાયમાલ કર્યા છે, તેના નામોનિશાન નથી રહ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.9.7" />પરંતુ યહોવા સદાકાળ રાજા તરીકે બિરાજે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની રાજગાદી સદા ન્યાય કરવાં સ્થાયી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.9.8" />તે જગતનો ન્યાય નિશ્પક્ષતાથી કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે રાષ્ટોનો ન્યાય પ્રામાણિકતાથી કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.9.9" />યહોવા, ત્રાસીને હેરાન થયેલા લોકોને કિલ્લારૂપ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વ સંકટોમાં સહુ લોકોના ગઢ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.9.10" />જેઓ તમારૂં નામ જાણે છે તેઓ તમારો વિશ્વાસ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તમારી પાસે મદદ માટે આવેલાંઓને તમે કયારેય તરછોડયા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.9.11" />યરૂશાલેમમાં વસનાર યહોવાના સ્તુતિગાન ગાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભૂલી ન શકાય તેવાં તેમના કૃત્યો જગતને જણાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.9.12" />કારણ જે ન્યાય શોધતા હોય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને તે યાદ રાખે છે.<f caller="+"><fr>9:12
</fr><fk>કારણ … યાદ રાખે છે
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે, “લોહી શોધતા.” જે માણસને મારી નાંખવામાં આવ્યો હોય તેનો પરિવાર મારનારને સજા અપાવવા ન્યાયાલયમાં જઇ શકે. અહી, દેવ ન્યાયધીશ જેવા છે જે બીજા લોકોથી પિડીત લોકોને સાંભળે છે.</ft></f>
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ રૂદન કરતા ગરીબ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોને મદદ કરવાનું ભુલતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.9.13" />“હે યહોવા, તમે મારા પર દયા કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને મોતના મુખમાંથી બચાવો,
</q>
<q style="q1">મને કેવું દુ:ખ છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમે જુઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.9.14" />જેથી પછી હું યરૂશાલેમના દરવાજે બધાં લોકોની સમક્ષ તમારી સ્તુતિ ગાઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા રક્ષણમાં ખુશ રહીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.9.15" />જે રાષ્ટોએ બીજાઓ માટે ખાડા ખોધ્યા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોતેજ ખાડામાં પડયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોતે ગોઠવેલા છટકામાં પોતેજ સપડાયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.9.16" />યહોવાએ ન્યાયી ચુકાદાઓ આપીને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાની ઓળખાણ આપી છે અને દુષ્ટો પોતાનીજ પ્રપંચી જાળમાં ફસાઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.9.17" />દેવને ભૂલનારા દુષ્ટોને નરકમાં ધકેલી દેવાશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાને ભૂલનારા સઘળાં લોકો શેઓલમાં જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.9.18" />ભિખારીઓ કદીય ભૂલાઇ જશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગરીબોની આશા હંમેશ માટે નિરાશામાં નહિ ફેરવાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.9.19" />હે યહોવા, ઊઠો; માણસને વધુ બળવાન થવા ન દેશો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલે રાષ્ટોનો ન્યાય તમારી સંમુખ થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.9.20" />હે યહોવા, તેઓને ભયભીત કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેઓ એમ જાણે કે તેઓ માત્ર સામાન્ય મનુષ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="10" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.10.1" />હે યહોવા, તમે શા માટે આધા ઊભા રહો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંકટ સમયે અમને તમારી ખૂબ જરૂર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે પાછા કયાં સંતાઇ ગયા છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.10.2" />દુષ્ટ ઉધ્ઘત પ્રપંચીઓ ગરીબોને સતાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગરીબ લોકો દુષ્ટ લોકોની યોજનાઓમાં ફસાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.10.3" />ખરેખર દુષ્ટ લોકો તેમની દુષ્ટ ઇચ્છાઓનું અભિમાન કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોભીઓને યહોવામાં વિશ્વાસ હોતો નથી, અને તેઓ તેમની નિંદા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.10.4" />દુષ્ટ, અતિ અભિમાની, ઉદ્ધત માણસો માને છે કે દેવ છે જ નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તરફ ફરવાનો વિચાર સુદ્ધાં જરાય તેઓ કરતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.10.5" />તેમ છતાં જે કરે છે તે સર્વમાં તે સફળતા મેળવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ પોતાના શત્રુઓને હરાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવનો ન્યાય તેમનાથી ઘણો ઊચો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.10.6" />“હું ડગનાર નથી, મને અથવા મારા વંશજોને પેઢીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુધી કોઇ વિપત્તિ નહિ આવે.” એવી બડાઇ તેઓ હાંકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.10.7" />તેમનું મોઢું જુઠ્ઠાણાંઓથી અને શ્રાપોથી ભરેલું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની જીભ દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓને જન્મ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.10.8" />નિદોર્ષ લોકોને ઓચિંતો હુમલો કરીને મારી નાખવા માટે ગુપ્ત જગ્યાઓમાં બેસે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ કમનસીબ વ્યકિતને પસાર થતો જોવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે તેઓ છુપાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.10.9" />જેમ સિંહ ગુફામાં છુપાઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગુપ્ત જગામાં ભરાઇ રહે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જેમ શિકારી શિકારને ફસાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તે ગરીબોને પોતાની જાળમાં ફસાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.10.10" />તેઓના બળ આગળ ગરીબો દબાઇને નીચા નમી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લાચાર બની તેઓના પંજામાં સપડાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.10.11" />તે પોતાના હૃદયમાં વિચાર કરે છે “આ શું થઇ રહ્યું છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ ભૂલી ગયા છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે પોતાનું મુખ જોયુ નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંતાડી રાખ્યુ છે. અને શું તે કદી જોશે નહિં?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.10.12" />હે યહોવા, ઊઠો! હે દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો હાથ ઉંચો કરીને દુષ્ટ લોકોને શિક્ષા કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગરીબને ભૂલશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.10.13" />હે દેવ, દુષ્ટો શા માટે તમારો દુરુપયોગ કરે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે તેઓ તેમનાં હૃદયમાં વિચારે છે કે દેવ તેમની પાસે કયારેય જવાબ નહિ માગે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.10.14" />હે યહોવા, તેઓ જે કાંઇ કરી રહ્યાં છે તે તમે જુઓ છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના દુષ્ટ આચરણની નોંધ તમે લીધી છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓની નજરમાં હંમેશા ઉપદ્રવ અને ઇર્ષા હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તો અનાથનાં બેલી છો, હવે તેઓને શિક્ષા કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યહોવા, ગરીબ માણસની દ્રૃષ્ટિ મદદ માટે તમારા પર જ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે લોકોમાં, નિરાધારની સહાય માટે જાણીતા છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.10.15" />દુષ્ટ લોકોના હાથ તમે તોડી નાખો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમાંથી એકને પણ છોડશો નહિ અનિષ્ટ કરનારાઓનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટતાથી નાશ કરો જ્યાં સુધી તેમાંનો એક પણ બાકી ન રહે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.10.16" />યહોવા સદાકાળનો રાજા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિદેશી રાષ્ટોને તેના દેશમાંથી ભૂંસી નાખ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.10.17" />હે યહોવા, તમે નમ્રની અભિલાષા જાણો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેઓના પોકારો સાંભળશો અને સહાય કરશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના વ્યથિત હૃદયોને દિલાસો આપશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.10.18" />અનાથ તથા ત્રસ્ત, લોકોનો ન્યાય કરો જેથી પૃથ્વીનો કોઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ માણસ તેમના દમનનો ભોગ બનનારા લોકોને હવે પછી ડરાવે કે ત્રાસ આપે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="11" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.11.1" />યહોવા પર હું ભરોસો રાખું છું, તો પછી “શા માટે તમે મને સુરક્ષા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે પક્ષીની જેમ ઊડીને મારા પર્વતો પર નાસી જવાનું કહો છો?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.11.2" />કારણ કે દુષ્ટ લોકો તેમના ધનુષ્યની પણછ ખેંચે છે જુઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે પણછ પર તેમના તીર ચઢાવ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ અચાનક આક્રમણ કરવા માટે જાડીમાં છુપાઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ પ્રામાણિક માણસોના હૃદયમાં તીર વીંધવાનું ધ્યેય રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.11.3" />જ્યારે સમાજના પાયાઓનો જ નાશ થઇ ગયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પછી સારા લોકો શું કરી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.11.4" />યહોવા હજુ પોતાના પવિત્ર મંદિરમાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાનું રાજ્યાસન આકાશમાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે સ્વર્ગમાંથી શાસન કરે છે અને તેમની આંખો લોકો જે કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બધું જુએ છે અને તેઓ સારા છે કે ખરાબ તેને પારખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.11.5" />યહોવા ઉમદા માણસોની પરીક્ષા કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દુષ્ટ અને અન્યાયી લોકોને ધિક્કારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.11.6" />દુષ્ટ લોકો પર વરસાદની જેમ વરસાવવા માટે તે અગ્નિ અને ગંધકનુ નિર્માણ કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ ગરમ લૂ સિવાય કંઇ નહિ મેળવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.11.7" />કારણ, યહોવા ન્યાયી છે અને ન્યાયીપણાને ચાહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે પવિત્ર ને ન્યાયી છે, તેજ તેનું મુખ જોઇ શકશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="12" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે, શેમીનીથ મુજબ ગાવા માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.12.1" />હે યહોવા, રક્ષા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવથી ડરનારાઓનો નાશ થઇ રહ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પછી વિશ્વમાં વિશ્વાસુ માણસો કયાં મળશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.12.2" />લોકો તેમના પોતાના પડોશીઓ સાથે જૂઠ્ઠુ બોલે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો જૂઠાણાંથી એકબીજાની ખોટી પ્રશંસા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.12.3" />પણ યહોવા પ્રશંસા કરનારા હોઠોનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બડાઇ કરનારી જીભોનો નાશ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.12.4" />તેઓએ એમ કહ્યું, “અમારી જીભથી અમે જીતીશું;
</q>
<q style="q1">હોઠ અમારા પોતાના છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારો કોણ માલિક છે જે અમને અટકાવે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.12.5" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હવે હું ઊભો થઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારું રક્ષણ કરવા આવીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે ગરીબો લૂટાયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને લીધે તેઓ નિસાસા લઇ રહ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને જે સુરક્ષાની જરૂર છે તે હું તેમને આપીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.12.6" />યહોવાના શબ્દો સાત વખત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભઠ્ઠીમાં તપાવેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાંદી જેવા સાચા અને પવિત્ર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.12.7" />હે યહોવા, તેઓને સંભાળજો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ દુષ્ટ પેઢીથી તેમને સદાય બચાવજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.12.8" />દુષ્ટ લોકો શિકારની શોધમાં ચારેબાજુ ફરતાં હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકોમાં આવા નકામાં લોકોને માન મળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="13" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.13.1" />હે યહોવા, ક્યાં સુધી તમે મને ભૂલી જશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું સદાને માટે?
</q>
<q style="q1">હું નિ:સહાય છું, તમે ક્યાં સુધી મારાથી મુખ ફેરવશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.13.2" />આખો દિવસ મારું હૃદય દુ:ખથી ભરાઇ ગયું છે અને હું મારી જાતને પૂછયા કરું છું:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો તમે મને ભૂલી ગયા હો તો કયાં સુધી મારે વિચારવું કે તમે મને ભૂલી ગયા છો?
</q>
<q style="q1">કયાં સુધી મારા હૃદયમાં આ દુ:ખનો અનુભવ કરવો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કયાં સુધી મારા દુશ્મનો મને જીતતા રહેશે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.13.3" />હે યહોવા, મારા દેવ, ધ્યાન દઇ અને મારા સવાલોના જવાબ આપો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં સુધી હું મૃત્યુનિંદ્રામાં ન પડું ત્યાં સુધી મારી આંખોમાં જયોતિ પ્રગટાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.13.4" />શત્રુઓને કહેવા દેશો નહિ કે, અમે તેની ઉપર વિજય મેળવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી હાર જોવામાં તેઓને રાજી ન કરતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.13.5" />મેં હંમેશા તમારી કૃપા પર ભરોસો રાખ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી પાસેથી મુકિત મેળવવામાં મારા હૃદયને આનંદ મળશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.13.6" />યહોવા સમક્ષ હું ગાયન ગાઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ યહોવાએ મારા પર કૃપા કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="14" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.14.1" />મૂર્ખ, દુષ્ટ માણસ માને છે: “દેવ છે જ નહિ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે માણસ ષ્ટ અને અનૈતિક છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેવા માણસો દુષ્ટ, તિરસ્કારપાત્ર કૃત્યો કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓમાં કોઇ સત્કર્મ કરનાર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.14.2" />યહોવા સ્વર્ગમાંથી બધાંને જુએ છે એ જાણવા માટે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે કોઇ ડાહ્યાં લોકો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે જેમને દેવની મદદની જરૂર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.14.3" />પણ ના! ત્યાં કોઇ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધાએ સાચો રસ્તો છોડી દીધો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને યહોવાથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દૂર થઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.14.4" />તેઓ રોટલીની જેમ મારા લોકોને ખાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે દુષ્કમોર્ કરનારાઓ દેવને નથી જાણતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ નથી યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરતા કે નથી તેની ઉપાસના કરતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.14.5" />જુઓ! તેઓ ભયભીત થઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ યહોવા, ન્યાયીઓની સાથે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.14.6" />દુષ્ટ લોકો ગરીબ લોકોની શિખામણની મજાક ઉડાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ગરીબોને તો યહોવાનું રક્ષણ અને આશ્રય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.14.7" />ભલે ઇસ્રાએલનું તારણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિયોન પર્વત પર આવે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તેમની સ્વતંત્રતા પાછી લાવી આપશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે યાકૂબ પ્રસન્ન થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇસ્રાએલ સુખી થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="15" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.15.1" />હે યહોવા, તમારા પવિત્ર મંડપમાં કોણ નિવાસ કરશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા પવિત્ર પર્વત પર આવીને કોણ રહેશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.15.2" />જે સાધુશીલતા પાળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ન્યાયથી વર્તતા હૃદયથી સત્ય બોલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.15.3" />તે કદી બીજા લોકો માટે ખરાબ બોલતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેના પરિવાર માટે શરમજનક વાત કયારેય કરતો નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે કયારેય પોતાના મિત્રનું ભૂંડુ કરતો નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કયારેય પોતાના પડોશીને હાની પહોંચાડતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.15.4" />તેની દ્રૃષ્ટિમાં પાપી માણસ વખોડવાને પાત્ર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ યહોવાનો ભય અને આદર રાખે છે તેને તે માન આપે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને નુકશાન સહન કરવું પડે તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ પોતાના વચન કયારેય તોડતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.15.5" />તે તેણે ધીરેલાં નાણાં ઉપર વ્યાજ લઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કોઇનું શોષણ કરતો નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે નિદોર્ષ માણસો સામે જૂઠી સાક્ષી દઇને કદી લાંચ લેતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ આ રીતે જીવે છે તે હંમેશા સુરક્ષિત રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="16" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું મિખ્તામ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.16.1" />હે યહોવા, મારી રક્ષા કરો, કારણ કે હું તમને આધીન છુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.16.2" />મે યહોવાને કહ્યુ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તમે મારા માલિક છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પાસે જે બધું સારું છે તે ફકત તમારી પાસેથી જ આવ્યું છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.16.3" />પૃથ્વી પર યહોવાથી ડરનારા સંતો ઉત્તમ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“એવાં સ્રી પુરુષના સંગમાંજ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને આનંદ મળે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.16.4" />જેઓ યહોવાને બદલે બીજા દેવોની પૂજા કરવા દોડે છે તે સર્વ દુ:ખના દરિયામાં ડૂબી જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેઓની મૂર્તિ પર ચડાવાતા લોહીના પેયાર્પણમાં જોડાઇશ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમના દેવોના નામ કદી પણ ઉચ્ચારીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.16.5" />યહોવા, તમે મારા વારસાનો તથા મારા પ્યાલાનો ભાગ છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તમે મને સહાય કરો! તમે મને મારો ભાગ આપો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.16.6" />આનંદદાયક સ્થાનમાં મારા સુશોભિત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વારસાનો ભાગ મને મળ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.16.7" />મને બોધ આપવા માટે હું યહોવાની પ્રશંસા કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રોજ રાત્રે તે મને જ્ઞાન આપે છે અને મારે શું કરવું તે મને જણાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.16.8" />મેં યહોવાને સદા મારી સામે રાખ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી મને કદી પડવાનો કે ઠોકર ખાવાનો ડર નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેમના જમણા હાથ પાસે જ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાંથી મને કોઇ ખસેડી શકે તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.16.9" />તેથી મારું હૃદય ભરપૂર આનંદમાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારો આત્મા પણ ખુશ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી મારું શરીર સુરક્ષિત રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.16.10" />કારણ, તમે મારો આત્મા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શેઓલને સોંપશો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તમારા ભકતોને કબરમાં જવા દેશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.16.11" />તમે પોતેજ મને જણાવો છો, જીવનમાં ક્યા માગેર્ મારે જવું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી હાજરીથી સંપૂર્ણ આનંદ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી જમણી બાજુએ અનંતકાલીન અને અસીમ સુખો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="17" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદની પ્રાર્થના.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.17.1" />હે યહોવા, મને સાંભળો! ન્યાય માટેની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પ્રાર્થના પર ધ્યાન આપો;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે હું પ્રામાણિક છુઁ અને સત્ય બોલું છુઁ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ન્યાયી છે તે જ મેં કર્યુ છે તો મારી નમ્ર પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.17.2" />હે યહોવા, મારો ન્યાય તમારી પાસેથી આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે સત્યને જોઇ શકો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.17.3" />તમે મારા હૃદયને ઊંડાણમાંથી જોયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે રાત્રે મારી સાથે હતાં. તમે મારું પારખું કર્યુ છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારો કોઇ દોષ કાઢયો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું કદી ખરાબ યોજના કરતો નથી અને તે તમે જાણો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.17.4" />મેં સદા તમારી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યુ છે અને જુલમીઓના માર્ગથી હું દૂર રહ્યો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને ક્રૂર દુષ્ટ માણસોની મેં કદી સંગત કરી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.17.5" />મારા પગલાં તમારા માગોર્માં સ્થિર રહ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારો પગ કદી લપસ્યો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.17.6" />હે દેવ, મારી વિનંતી છે કે તમે મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનો જવાબ આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.17.7" />ભરોસો રાખીને જેઓ તમારી પાસે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શત્રુઓની વિરુદ્ધ સહાય માંગે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓને તમે તમારા જમણાં હાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી અદ્ભૂત કરુણા બતાવી બચાવી લો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.17.8" />તમારી આંખની કીકી સમજીને તમે મારી રક્ષા કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી પાંખોની છાયા નીચે મને સંતાડી દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.17.9" />મને લૂંટવા પ્રયત્ન કરતા દુષ્ટ લોકોથી મને બચાવો,
</q>
<q style="q1">મને ચારેબાજુ ધેરી વળેલા ભયજનક શત્રુઓથી મુકત કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.17.10" />તેઓ તો દયાહીન અને ઉદ્ધત છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના મોઢે તેમની બડાઇ સાંભળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.17.11" />તેઓ અમને ડગલે ડગલે ઘેરીને ઊભા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની આંખો અમને ભૂમિ પર
</q>
<q style="q1">પછાડવાને તાકી રહી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.17.12" />તેઓ સિંહની જેમ શિકારને ફાડી ખાવા આતુર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્રાટકવાની રાહ જોતા છુપાઇ ગયેલા સિંહના બચ્ચાના જેવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.17.13" />હે યહોવા, તમે ઉઠો, આવો અને શત્રુઓની સામે થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને પાડી નાખી પરાજીત કરી દો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી તરવાર વડે મને દુષ્ટોથી બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.17.14" />હે યહોવા, તમારી શકિત દ્વારા દુષ્ટ લોકોને આ દુનિયામાંથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ સજીવોની દુનિયામાંથી દૂર કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ જે લોકો મદદ માટે તમારી પાસે આવ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તેમને ખાવા માટે પુષ્કળ આપો તેથી તેમનાં બાળકો પાસે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ પુષ્કળ હશે અને તેથી તેઓ તેમનાં પૌત્રો માટે પણ પૂરતું બચાવી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.17.15" />પણ હું ન્યાયપૂર્વક વત્ર્યો છું તેથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારો ચહેરો જોઇ શકું અને તમને જોઇને મને સંતોષ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="18" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. યહોવાના સેવકનું ગીત, જે દિવસે યહોવાએ તેને તેના બધાં શત્રુઓના હાથમાંથી તથા શાઉલનાં હાથમાંથી છોડાવ્યો, તે દિવસે તેણે યહોવાને આ ગીતનું વચન કહ્યું.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.18.1" />“હે યહોવા, મારા સાર્મથ્ય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને ચાહું છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.18.2" />યહોવા મારો ખડક, મારો મજબૂત કિલ્લો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ મારો ખડક છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે મારું આશ્રયસ્થાન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મારી ઢાલ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની શકિત મારું રક્ષણ કરે છે.<f caller="+"><fr>18:2
</fr><fk>તેની … કરે છે
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે: “તે મારા તારણનું શિંગ છે.”</ft></f>
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર્વતોમાં ખૂબ ઉંચાઇ પર તે મારું સુરક્ષાનું સ્થાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.18.3" />યહોવા સ્તુતિપાત્ર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમને વિનંતી કરીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારું સર્વ શત્રુઓથી રક્ષણ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.18.4" />મને મૃત્યુનાં બંધનોએ ઘેરી લીધો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટતાનાં મોજાં મારા પર ફરી વળ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.18.5" />શેઓલનાં બંધનોએ મને બધી બાજુએથી ધેરી લીધો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૃત્યુનો ગાળિયો; મારી સામેજ આવી પડ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.18.6" />મને મારા સંકટમાં સહાય કરવાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં યહોવાને કરુણાભરી વિનંતી કરી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે પોતાના પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં મારો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનાં કાનમાં મારી અરજ પહોંચી ગઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.18.7" />ત્યારે ધરતી થરથર ધ્રુજી ઊઠી ને પર્વતોના પાયા ખસી ગયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હલવા લાગ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર્વતો ધ્રુજી ઊઠયા, કારણ, યહોવા કોપાયમાન થયા હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.18.8" />તેમનાં નસકોરાંમાંથી ધુમાડો નીકળવા લાગ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવના મુખમાંથી ભસ્મ કરનાર અગ્નિ નીકળવા લાગ્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનામાંથી સળગતાં તણખા નીકળ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.18.9" />તેમણે આકાશને ચીર્યુ અને પગની નીચે કાળા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાદળા સાથે નીચે ઉતર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.18.10" />તેકરૂબ પર ચડીને ઊડતા હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ પવનમાં ઉંચે ઊડતા હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.18.11" />તેમણે પોતાની આસપાસ અંધકારથી ઢાંકી દીધું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના માર્ગને મેઘજળનાં ગાઢ વાદળોથી ઢાંકી દીધેલ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.18.12" />એકાએક તેમના ઉજ્જવળ ધડાકા સાથે વીજળી ચમકી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરિણામે ત્યાં કરાં વરસવાં લાગ્યા અને આગના તણખાં ઝર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.18.13" />યહોવાએ આકાશમાંથી ગર્જના કરી અને પરાત્પર દેવે મોટો અવાજ કાઢયો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના પરિણામે ત્યાં કરાઁ પડ્યા અને વીજળીના ચમકારા થયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.18.14" />તેણે તેના વીજળીના તીક્ષ્ણ બાણો મારાં બધાં શત્રુઓ પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છોડ્યા અને તેમને મુંજવીને વિખેરી નાખ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.18.15" />પછી હે યહોવા, તમારી આજ્ઞાથી, જુઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમુદ્રનાં તળિયાં દેખાયાઁ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારાં નસકોરાઁના શ્વાસથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધરતીના પાયા ઉઘાડા થઇ ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.18.16" />તેમણે હાથ લંબાવી મને આકાશમાંથી પકડી લીધો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મહા વિપત્તિના ઊંડા પાણીમાંથી મને બહાર ખેંચી લીધો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.18.17" />તેમણે મને મારા બળવાન શત્રુથી અને દ્વેષીઓથી બચાવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેઓ મારા કરતાઁ જોરાવર હતા અને મને ધિક્કારતાં હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.18.18" />મારી વિપત્તિનાં દિવસોમાં તેઓ મારા પર તૂટી પડ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તો અતિ નિર્બળ હતો પરંતુ યહોવાએ મને સ્થિર રાખ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.18.19" />તેઓ મને ખુલ્લી જગામાં દોરી ગયાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ તેઓ હતાં કે જેણે મને બચાવ્યો, કારણકે તેઓ મારાથી ખુશ હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.18.20" />મને યહોવાએ, મારા ન્યાયીપણાનું ફળ આપ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા જીવનની શુદ્ધતા પ્રમાણે તેમણે મને પાછું વાળી આપ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.18.21" />કારણ કે મેં યહોવાની આજ્ઞા પાળી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મેં તેમની વિમુખ થઇને ભૂંડાઇ કરી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.18.22" />હું તેમનાં સર્વ નિયમોને કાળજીપૂર્વક અનુસર્યો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેમની આજ્ઞા હંમેશા મારી સંમુખ રાખી છે અને તેમાની એકેય આજ્ઞાની અવગણના કરી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.18.23" />હું તેમની સાથે વિશુદ્ધ અને પ્રામાણિક હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મેં મારી જાતને અનિષ્ટ અને અયોગ્ય કરવાથી દૂર રાખી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.18.24" />યહોવાએ મારું ન્યાયીપણુઁ અને મારા હાથની શુદ્ધતા જોઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પ્રમાણે મને પ્રતિદાન દીધું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.18.25" />હે યહોવા, જેઓ તમારી પ્રત્યે વિશ્વાસુ છે, તેને તમે વિશ્વાસુ છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ તમારી પ્રત્યે એકનિષ્ઠ છે, એને તમે એકનિષ્ઠ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.18.26" />જેઓ શુદ્ધ અને સારા છે તેમની સાથે તમે શુદ્ધ અને સારા છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જેઓ હઠીલા છે તેઓને સાથે હઠીલા દેખાશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.18.27" />તમે ગરીબ લોકોને બચાવો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અભિમાની લોકોને અપમાનિત કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.18.28" />યહોવા, મારા દેવ! તમે મારા હૃદયમાં દીવાં પ્રગટાવો છો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા અંધકારને તમે પ્રકાશમાં ફેરવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.18.29" />તમારા સાર્મથ્ય વડે હું હવે કિલ્લો પણ કૂદી જાઉઁ છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કોઇપણ સૈન્યની ટૂકડી પર હું આક્રમણ કરી શકું છુ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.18.30" />દેવનો માર્ગ તો પરિપૂર્ણ છે અને યહોવાનો શબ્દ પરખેલો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ તેના પર ભરોસો રાખે છે તે સઘળાની તે ઢાલ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.18.31" />કારણ, યહોવા વિના બીજા દેવ કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં વિના ખડક સમાન બીજું કોણ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PSA.18.32" />તેમની શકિતથી તેઓ મને ભરી દે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પવિત્ર જીવન જીવવાં માટે મને સહાય કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PSA.18.33" />તે મારા પગોને હરણીના જેવું દોડવાં જેવા બનાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઉંચાઇઓ પર મને સ્થિર રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PSA.18.34" />મારા હાથોને તેઓ લડતાં શીખવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પિત્તળનું ધનુષ્ય ખેંચવાની શકિત તેઓ મને આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PSA.18.35" />તમે તમારા તારણની ઢાલ મને છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા જમણા હાથથી તમે મને ટેકો આપ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી અમીષ્ટિએ મને મોટો કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="PSA.18.36" />તમે મને ઝડપથી દોડવામાં મદદ કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી મારા પગ કદી લપસ્યાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="PSA.18.37" />હું મારા શત્રુઓને તેઓની પાછળ પડીને જરૂર પકડી પાડીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનો નાશ નહિ થાય ત્યાં સુધી પાછો ફરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="PSA.18.38" />હું તેઓને એવા વીંધી નાખીશ કે તેઓ ફરી ઊભા નહિ થઇ શકે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારા પગે પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="PSA.18.39" />કારણ તમે મને યુદ્ધને સારુ શકિતરૂપી શસ્ત્રથી સજ્જ કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી સામે થનારને તમે મારે તાબે કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="PSA.18.40" />શત્રુઓની ડોક પર પ્રહાર કરવાની તમે મને તક આપી હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી જેઓએ મારો તિરસ્કાર કર્યો છે, તે સવેર્નો મેં સંહાર કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="PSA.18.41" />તેઓએ ઘણી બૂમો પાડી છતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને બચાવનાર કોઇ નહોતું. હા,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ યહોવાને વિનંતી કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ કોઇ જવાબ મળ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="PSA.18.42" />પવનથી ફૂંકાતી ધૂળની જેમ તેમને મેં વિખેરી નાખ્યાં છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગલીઓમાંની ધૂળની જેમ તેમને કચડી નાખ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="PSA.18.43" />તમે મને મારા વિરુદ્ધ લડતાં લોકોથી બચાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને બીજા રાષ્ટોનો રાજા બનાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે લોકોને હું જાણતો પણ નથી તેઓ મારી સેવા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="PSA.18.44" />મારે શરણે પરદેશીઓ આવ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારો હુકમ સાંભળતાં જ તેઓ મારી આજ્ઞાને આધીન થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="45" bcv="PSA.18.45" />પરદેશીઓ હિંમત ગુમાવી બેઠાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધૂજતા ધૂજતા તેઓ કિલ્લાની બહાર આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="46" bcv="PSA.18.46" />યહોવા જીવતા જાગતા દેવ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા રક્ષકને ધન્ય હો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો ઉદ્ધાર કરનાર દેવની મહાનતાનો પ્રચાર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="47" bcv="PSA.18.47" />યહોવા મારા દુશ્મનોને શિક્ષા કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રાષ્ટોને મારા તાબામાં મૂકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="48" bcv="PSA.18.48" />તે મારા શત્રુઓથી મને છોડાવે છે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">અને મારી સામે થનાર પર મને વિજય અપાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી લાજ લૂંટનાર માણસથી મને બચાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="49" bcv="PSA.18.49" />માટે હે યહોવા, વિદેશીઓમાં હું તારી સ્તુતિ કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તારા નામનાં સ્રોત્ર ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="50" bcv="PSA.18.50" />યહોવા તેમના દ્વારા પસંદ કરેલા રાજાઓને ઘણા વિજયો મેળવવામાં મદદ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા પોતે અભિષિકત કરેલા રાજાઓ પ્રતિ દયા બતાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા દાઉદ તથા તેનાં વંશજો પ્રતિ હંમેશા વિશ્વાસુ રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="19" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.19.1" />આકાશો દેવનાં મહિમા વિષે કહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંતરિક્ષ તેના હાથે સર્જન થયેલી અદ્ભુત વસ્તુઓ વિષે કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.19.2" />પ્રત્યેક નવો દિવસ તેના સર્જનની સાચી વધારે વાતો કહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દરેક રાત દેવના સાર્મથ્ય વિષે વધારે કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.19.3" />ત્યાં વાણી નથી અને ત્યાં શબ્દો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ અવાજ સંભળાતો નથી,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.19.4" />પણ તેમનો “અવાજ” આખી પૃથ્વી પર જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમગ્ર જગત તેના છેડાઓ સુધી તેમના “શબ્દો” સાંભળે છે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તેમણે સૂર્ય માટે એક મંડપ નાખ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.19.5" />તે સૂર્ય પોતાના ઓરડામાંથી પરણવા નીકળતા વરરાજા જેવો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે દોડની સ્પર્ધાના આનંદિત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેજસ્વી અને બળવાન ખેલાડી જેવો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.19.6" />તે આકાશને એક છેડેથી નીકળી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના બીજા છેડા સુધી પરિક્રમણ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની ઉષ્ણતા પામ્યા વિના કોઇ બાકી રહી જતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.19.7" />યહોવાના પવિત્ર વચનો સંપૂર્ણ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આત્માને તાજગી આપે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાની સાક્ષી, ખરેખર વિશ્વાસપાત્ર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મૂર્ખને ડાહ્યાં થવા માટે મદદ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.19.8" />યહોવાના વિધિઓ યથાર્થ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ હૃદયને ભરપૂર આનંદ આપે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાની આજ્ઞાઓ નિર્મળ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે આંખોને પ્રકાશ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.19.9" />યહોવા માટેનો ભય શુદ્ધ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અનાદિ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાના ઠરાવો નિષ્પક્ષ અને સાચા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સંપૂર્ણપણે ન્યાયી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.19.10" />તે શુદ્ધ સોના કરતાં પણ વધુ પસંદ કરવા યોગ્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી મધપૂડાનાં ટીંપાં કરતાંય તે ખરેખર વધારે મીઠાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.19.11" />કારણ, તમારો ઉપદેશ તેના સેવકોને ચેતવણી આપે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓ તેનું સદા પાલન કરે છે તેઓને સફળતા આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.19.12" />મારા હૃદયમાં છુપાયેલા પાપોને હું જાણી શકતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છાની રીતે કરેલા પાપોમાંથી મને શુદ્ધ કરો અને મુકત કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.19.13" />મને કોઇનું ખરાબ કરવાના વિચારો અને પાપથી દૂર રાખો અને તેમ કરતા અટકાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને ખરાબ કાર્ય ન કરવા માટે તમે સહાય કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે જ હું દોષમુકત અને પૂર્ણ થઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મહાપાપ કરવામાંથી બચી જઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.19.14" />હે મારા રક્ષક અને ઉદ્ધારક યહોવા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા મુખના શબ્દો, તથા હૃદયનાં વિચારો તમારી સમક્ષ માન્ય રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="20" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.20.1" />સંકટનાં દિવસોમાં યહોવા તારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી તને ઉત્તર આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાકૂબનાં દેવ, સર્વ પ્રકારની વિપત્તિમાં તારી રક્ષા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.20.2" />ભલે તેઓ પોતાના પવિત્રસ્થાનમાંથી તેમની મદદ મોકલે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમને સિયોનમાંથી શકિત આપે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.20.3" />તારા કરેલા સર્વ અર્પણોને યાદ રાખી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારું દહનાર્પણ સ્વીકારે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.20.4" />તને તારી ઇચ્છા પ્રમાણે આપે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી સર્વ યોજનાઓને પાર પાડે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.20.5" />તમારી મુકિત અમને સુખી બનાવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા દેવને નામે આપણી ધ્વજાઓ ચઢાવીશું;
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા તમારી બધી વિનંતિઓનો સ્વીકાર કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.20.6" />યહોવાએ પોતે જેને અભિષિકત કર્યા છે, તેને વિજય અપાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પવિત્ર આકાશમાંથી પોતાના જમણા હાથની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારક શકિતથી તેને જવાબ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.20.7" />કોઇ રાષ્ટો પોતાના સૈન્યો અને શસ્રો વિષે અભિમાન કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બીજા કોઇ તેમના રથો અને ઘોડાઓ પર અભિમાન કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ અમે અમારા દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખીએ છીએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે અમારા યહોવાના નામના પોકાર કરીશું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.20.8" />તેઓ નમીને પડી ગયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ આપણે અડગ ઊભા રહીશુ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.20.9" />હે યહોવા, અમારા રાજાને વિજય આપો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે ભાર પૂર્વક વિનંતી કરીએ છીએ ત્યારે તમે જવાબ આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="21" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.21.1" />હે યહોવા, તમારી શકિતથી રાજા ખૂબ આનંદ પામે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા તારણથી તેને એટલો બધો ગર્વ અને આનંદ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.21.2" />કારણ કે તમે તેને તેનાં હૃદયની ઇચ્છા પ્રમાણે આપ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના હોઠે કરેલી અરજીને તમે કદી નકારી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.21.3" />કારણ કે તમે તેને સફળતાં અને સમૃદ્ધિ આપી રાજ્યાસન પર બેસાડ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રેમથી તમે તેના માથે શુદ્ધ સોનાનો મુગટ પહેરાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.21.4" />હે યહોવા, રાજાએ તમારી પાસે જીવન માગ્યું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે તેને સર્વકાળ રહે એવું દીર્ધાયુષ્ય આપ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.21.5" />તમે તેને જે વિજય અપાવ્યો તેનાથી તેની કિતિર્માં ઘણો વધારો થયો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેને કૃપાના અને ગૌરવના વસ્રોથી શણગાર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.21.6" />કારણ કે તમે તેને હંમેશા આશીર્વાદ આપો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે તેને તમારી સમક્ષ રહેવાનો આનંદ આપો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.21.7" />કારણ રાજા યહોવાનો ભરોસો કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને કદીય પરાત્પર દેવની કૃપાથી વંચિત કરવામાં નહિ આવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.21.8" />તમે તમારા તમામ શત્રુઓને પકડી લેશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારો જમણો હાથ શોધી કાઢશે કે કોણ તમને ધિક્કારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.21.9" />જયારે તમે પ્રગટ થશો ત્યારે તેઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી પવિત્ર ઉપસ્થિતિના દિવ્ય અગ્નિમાં નાશ પામશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા પોતાના કોપથી તેઓને ગળી જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનો કોપાજ્ઞિ તેમને બાળીને રાખ કરી દેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.21.10" />યહોવા પૃથ્વી પરના તેઓના પરિવારોનો વિનાશ કરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માણસ જાતમાંથી તેમના વંશજો નાશ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.21.11" />કારણ, હે યહોવા, આ માણસોએ તમારી વિરુદ્ધ કાવતરું કર્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં તેઓને કદાપિ સફળતાં મળવાની નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.21.12" />તમારી પણછથી તમે તેઓ પર જે નિશાન તાકયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જ્યારે તેઓ જોશે, ત્યારે તેઓએ પાછા હઠી જવું પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.21.13" />હે યહોવા, તમારા મહાન સાર્મથ્ય માટે અમે તમારી સ્તુતિ કરીએ છીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા મહાન કમોર્ની ઉજવણી કરવા સ્તુતિગીતો બનાવી ગાઇશું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="22" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. ઢાળ: “પરોઢનું હરણ.” દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.22.1" />હે મારા દેવ, તમે મને કેમ તજી દીધો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા દેવ, તમે શા માટે સહાય કરવાની ના પાડો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે મારો વિલાપ સાંભળતાં નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.22.2" />હે મારા દેવ, દિવસ દરમ્યાન હું રૂદન કરૂં છું અને તમને પ્રાર્થના કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તમે મારી પ્રાર્થનાનો જવાબ દેતા નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તમને આખી રાત દરમ્યાન સતત બોલાવું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.22.3" />દેવ, તમે પવિત્ર છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ઇસ્રાએલના સ્તોત્ર પર બિરાજો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.22.4" />અમારા પૂર્વજોએ તમારા પર ભરોસો રાખ્યો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ ભરોસો રાખ્યો હોવાથી તમે તેઓને છોડાવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.22.5" />જ્યારે તેઓએ તમને પ્રાર્થના કરી, તમે તેમને મદદ કરી અને તેમને બચાવ્યાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તમારામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો અને તેઓ નિરાશ થયા નહોતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.22.6" />હું માણસ નથી પણ માત્ર કીડો છુ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમગ્ર માનવ જાત મારો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને તુચ્છ ગણે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.22.7" />જેઓ મને જુએ છે તેઓ બધા મારી હાંસી કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ મો મરડી-ડોકું ધુણાવી ને કડવી વાણી બોલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.22.8" />તેઓ મારી મશ્કરી કરતાં કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તે જરૂર તને ઉગારશે કારણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તને ખૂબ પસંદ કરે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.22.9" />હે યહોવા, અગાઉ તમે મને કેવી મદદ કરી હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને માતાના ઉદરમાંથી સુરક્ષિત બહાર લાવ્યાં હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું જ્યારે મારી માતાને ધાવતો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે પણ તમે મારી સંભાળ લઇને વિશ્વાસ જગાવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.22.10" />હું જન્મથી જ તમારા હાથમાં સોંપાયેલો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા બાળપણથી જ તમે મારા દેવ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.22.11" />તમે મારાથી જરાય આઘા ખસશો નહિ કારણ મારા માથે સંકટ આવ્યુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને સહાય કરે તેવું મારી સાથે કોઇ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.22.12" />ઘણા ભયંકર શત્રુઓએ મને ઘેરી લીધો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાશાનના આખલા, મારી ચારેબાજુએ ફરી વળ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.22.13" />જેમ ફાડી ખાનાર તથા ગર્જના કરતો સિંહ પોતાના શિકાર પર આક્રમણ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તેઓ પોતાના મોં ખુલ્લા રાખીને મારી તરફ ધસી આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.22.14" />જેમ પાણી વહી જાય તેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી શકિત પણ ચાલી ગઇ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેમ સાંધામાંથી હાડકાં ઢીલાઁ થઇ છૂટા પડી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ મારું હૃદય પણ મીણનાં જેવું પોચું થઇ મારાં આંતરડામાં ઓગળી ગયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.22.15" />મારું બળ માટીનાં વાસણના એક તુટેલા ટુકડાં જેવુ સુકું થઇ ગયું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી જીભ મારા મુખના તાળવે ચોંટી જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને ધૂળભરી મૃત્યુશૈયા ઉપર નાખી દેવામા આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.22.16" />કારણ, મારી આસપાસ કૂતરાં ફરી વળ્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને દુષ્ટોની ટોળીએ ઘેરી લીધો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ મારા હાથપગ વીંધી નાખ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.22.17" />હું મારા શરીરનાં સર્વ હાડકાં ગણી શકું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ માણસો કેટલા દુષ્ટ અને ક્રૂર છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ધારી ધારી ને કેવા જુએ છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.22.18" />તેઓ મારા વસ્રો અંદરો અંદર વહેંચી લે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા ઝભ્ભા માટે અંદરો અંદર ચિઠ્ઠી નાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.22.19" />હે યહોવા, મારાથી દૂર ન જશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દેવ! હે મારા આશ્રય; મારા સાર્મથ્ય, મારી મદદે આવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.22.20" />મને આ તરવારથી બચાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી રક્ષા કરી મારું મૂલ્યવાન જીવન પેલાં કૂતરાઓથી બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.22.21" />મને સિંહોના જડબામાંથી બચાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બળદોના શિંગડાઓથી મારું રક્ષણ કરો.<f caller="+"><fr>22:21
</fr><fk>બળદોના શિંગડાઓથી મારું રક્ષણ કરો
</fk><ft>અક્ષરશ: તમે મને બળદના શિંગડાઓથી જવાબ આપ્યો છે.</ft></f>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.22.22" />હું તમારા વિષે મારા બધા ભાઇઓને વાત કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ભરી સભામાં તમે કરેલી અદભૂત વસ્તુઓ વિષે વાત કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.22.23" />હે યહોવાનો ભય રાખનારાઓ, તેમના ગુણગાન ગાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે બધા યાકૂબના વંશજો, તેને માન આપો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે ઇસ્રાએલી પરિવારો, તેમનો ભય રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.22.24" />તે ગરીબને જ્યારે મુસીબતો હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે કદી એમની અવગણના નથી કરતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ કદી તેમનું મુખ એમનાથી છુપાવતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મદદ માટે તેમને પોકાર કરે છે ત્યારે તેઓ તેમને સાંભળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.22.25" />હું તમારી કૃપાથી મોટી મંડળીમાં તમારી સ્તુતિ કરું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ ભય રાખનારાઓની સામે, હા, હું મારી માનતા પૂરી કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.22.26" />દરિદ્રીજનો ખાઇને તૃપ્ત થશે, જેઓ યહોવાને શોધે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેમની કૃપા પ્રાપ્ત કરશે, અને તેઓ હર્ષનાદ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અવિનાશી આનંદથી તેમની સ્તુતિ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.22.27" />ભલે દૂર દેશના લોકો યહોવાનું સ્મરણ કરે અને તેમની પાસે પાછા ફરે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલે રાષ્ટોના બધા કુટુંબો નીચે નમીને યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.22.28" />કારણ, યહોવા રાજા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે સર્વ પ્રજા ઉપર રાજ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.22.29" />બધા લોકો, જેઓ મજબૂત અને તંદુરસ્ત છે તેઓએ ખાધું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવા સમક્ષ નીચે નમ્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હા, એ બધાં જેઓ મૃત્યુ પામવાની તૈયારીમાં છે અને તે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ લોકો જેઓ અત્યાર સુધીમાં મરણ પામ્યા છે તે બધાં યહોવાની સામે નીચા નમશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.22.30" />યહોવાનાં અદ્ભુત કમોર્ વિષે આવતી પેઢી પણ સાંભળશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણાં સર્વ સંતાનો પણ તેમની સેવા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.22.31" />આવનાર પેઢીઓ જે જન્મી નથી તેઓને પણ તેમનાં સર્વ ચમત્કાર વિષે પ્રગટ કરીને કહેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનું ન્યાયીપણું પ્રગટ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="23" />
<d style="d">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</d>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.23.1" />યહોવા મારા પાલનકર્તા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી મને કશી ખોટ પડશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.23.2" />તે મને લીલાં બીડમાં સુવાડે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને શાંત જળની તરફ દોરી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.23.3" />તે મને નવું સાર્મથ્ય ને તાજગી આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં નામનો મહિમા વધે તે માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મને ન્યાયીપણાને માગેર્ ચલાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.23.4" />મૃત્યુની કાળી ખીણમાં પણ મારે ચાલવાનું હશે તો હું ડરીશ નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ હે યહોવા, તમે મારી સાથે છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી લાકડી તથા તમારી છડી મને દિલાસો દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.23.5" />તમે મારા દુશ્મનોની સામે મારું મેજ ગોઠવો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા માથા પર તેલ રેડો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો પ્યાલો તમે વરસાવેલા આશીર્વાદથી છલકાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.23.6" />તમારી ભલાઇ અને દયા મારા જીવનનાં સર્વ દિવસોમાં મારી સાથે રહેશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું યહોવાની સાથે તેના ઘરમાં લાંબા સમય સુધી રહીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="24" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.24.1" />આ પૃથ્વી યહોવાની છે અને જગતનું સર્વ કાંઇ પણ તેનુંજ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ જગત અને જગતમાં રહેનારા સર્વ તેનાંજ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.24.2" />તેમણે સમુદ્રો પર તેમનો પાયો નાખ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે નદીઓ પર તેને સ્થાપન કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.24.3" />યહોવાના પર્વત પર કોણ ચઢી શકશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં કોણ ઊભો રહી શકશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.24.4" />ફકત તેઓ જેમના હાથ શુદ્ધ છે અને હૃદય નિર્મળ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ મારા નામના જૂઠા સમ લીધા નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ જેમણે ખોટાં વચનો આપ્યાં નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જૂઠ્ઠુ બોલ્યાં નથી. તેઓજ યહોવાના પર્વત પર ચઢી શકશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.24.5" />તેઓ યહોવાનો આશીર્વાદ પ્રાપ્ત કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના તારણ કરનાર દેવથી તેઓ ન્યાયીપણું પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.24.6" />તેઓ પેઢીના લોકો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ યાકૂબના દેવને શોધતાં આવ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.24.7" />હે પ્રવેશદ્વારો, તમારાં માથા ઊંચા કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે પ્રાચીન પ્રવેશદ્વારો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઊઘડી જાઓ ગૌરવવાન રાજા અંદર આવશે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.24.8" />તે ગૌરવવાન રાજા કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ સાર્મથ્યવાન બળવાન યહોવા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે યહોવા જે યુદ્ધમાં પરાક્રમી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.24.9" />હે પ્રવેશ દ્વારો, તમારા માથાં ઊંચા કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગૌરવવાન રાજાને અંદર આવવા દો.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે પ્રાચીન પ્રવેશદ્વારો, ઉઘડી જાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગૌરવવાન રાજા અંદર આવશે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.24.10" />આ ગૌરવવાન રાજા કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા આકાશોના સર્વ સૈન્યોનો માલિક અને ગૌરવવાન રાજા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="25" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.25.1" />હે યહોવા, મારી જાતને તને સોપું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.25.2" />હું હમેશા તમારો વિશ્વાસ કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો મારી સાથે કોઇ એવી વસ્તુ
</q>
<q style="q1">ન બને કે જેથી મારે શરમાવું પડે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા શત્રુઓને મારી ઉપર હસવા દેતા નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.25.3" />જેઓ યહોવામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તેઓએ કદી કશાથી પણ શરમાવાનું નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ વિશ્વાસઘાતીઓની માનહાનિ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને તેમના વિશ્વાસઘાતથી કોઇ ફાયદો નહિ થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.25.4" />હે યહોવા, મને તમારાં માર્ગ બતાવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા રસ્તા વિષે મને શીખવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.25.5" />મને માર્ગદર્શન અને જ્ઞાન આપો; કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જ માત્ર મને તારણ આપનાર દેવ છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું આખો દિવસ તમારી રાહ જોઉ છુઁ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.25.6" />હે યહોવા, તમારી કૃપા અને તમારી પ્રેમાળ દયાળુતાને યાદ રાખો કારણ તે સનાતન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.25.7" />મારી જુવાનીનાં પાપ અને મારા અપરાધનું સ્મરણ ન કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યહોવા, તમારા શુભ નામને માટે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી કૃપા અને અનુકંપા સાથે મને યાદ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.25.8" />યહોવા સારા અને પ્રામાણિક છે, તેથી તેઓ પાપીઓને સાચા માગેર્ દોરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તેમને શું ન્યાયી અને નિષ્પક્ષ છે તે શીખવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.25.9" />તેઓ નમ્ર લોકોને ન્યાયી બનવા માટે દોરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તેમને તેમના માગેર્ જીવવાનું શીખવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.25.10" />જે લોકો તેનો પવિત્ર કરાર અને કાયદાઓનું પાલન કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં તરફ યહોવા દયાળુ અને વિશ્વાસુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.25.11" />હે યહોવા, મારા પાપ તો ઘણાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા નામના મહિમા માટે મને ક્ષમા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.25.12" />યહોવાથી ડરે એવા માણસો કયાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શ્રેષ્ઠ જીવન જીવવાનો શ્રેષ્ઠ રસ્તો પસંદ કરવાનું તેમને યહોવા શીખવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.25.13" />તે માણસ પર યહોવાના આશીર્વાદ રહેશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં સંતાન પૃથ્વીનો વારસો પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.25.14" />જેઓ યહોવાનો ભય અને તેમના માટે માન રાખે તેઓની સાથે તેઓ પોતાના રહસ્યો વહેંચે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેઓને તેમનો કરાર શીખવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.25.15" />મારી ષ્ટિ સહાય માટે સદાય યહોવા તરફ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, તે એકલાં જ મારા પગ ફાંદામાંથી કાઢશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.25.16" />હે યહોવા, હવે તમે આવો, ને મારા પર દયા કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું નિરાશ્રિત, દુ:ખી, નિ:સહાય અને એકલો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.25.17" />મારી મુસીબતો અને સમસ્યાઓ દિનપ્રતિદિન વધુ ખરાબ થતા જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તે બધામાંથી મને મુકત કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.25.18" />મારાઁ દુ:ખ તથા વેદના પર જરા નજર કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કૃપા કરી મારાં સર્વ પાપની ક્ષમા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.25.19" />મારા શત્રુઓ ઘણાં છે તે જરા જુઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કેટલી ક્રૂરતાથી મારી ધૃણા કરે છે તે જુઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.25.20" />મારું રક્ષણ કરો અને મારો જીવ બચાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી લાજ જવા દેતા નહિ, કારણ હું તમારો વિશ્વાસ કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.25.21" />મારા પ્રામાણિપણું તથા ન્યાયીપણાના, તમે રક્ષક બનો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, રક્ષણ માટે હું તમારી આશા રાખું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.25.22" />હે યહોવા, હવે તમે ઇસ્રાએલને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ સંકટોમાંથી છોડાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="26" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.26.1" />હે યહોવા, મારો ન્યાય કરો, હું સદા પ્રામાણિકપણે વત્ર્યો છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારો યહોવા પરનો વિશ્વાસ કદાપિ ડગ્યો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી વિરુદ્ધના લોકોની સામે મને સર્વ આક્ષેપોમાંથી નિદોર્ષ જાહેર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.26.2" />હે યહોવા, પૂરી તપાસ કરીને મારી પરીક્ષા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા અંત:કરણની ઇચ્છાઓને પણ કસોટીની એરણે ચઢાવી પરીક્ષા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.26.3" />કારણ, હું તમારી કૃપા મારી સગી આંખે નિહાળું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું હંમેશા સત્યો દ્વારા જીવી રહ્યો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.26.4" />મેં ક્યારેય દુરાચારીઓની સંગત કરી નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ક્યારેય નકામા લોકો સાથે જોડાયો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.26.5" />હું દુષ્ટોની સંગતને ધિક્કારું છું ને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટોની મંડળીમાં કદાપિ બેસીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.26.6" />હું મારી નિદોર્ષતા સાબિત કરવા મારા હાથ ધોઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, એ પ્રમાણે જ હું વેદીની પ્રદક્ષિણા કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.26.7" />હું આભારસ્તુતિનાં ગીત ત્યાં ગાઉં છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા સર્વ ચમત્કારી કર્મ પ્રગટ કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.26.8" />હે યહોવા, મને પ્રિય છે તમારુ મંદિર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે જગા જ્યાં તમારુ ગૌરવ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.26.9" />પાપીઓની સાથે મારો સર્વનાશ કરશો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માણસોની સાથે મને મારી નાખશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.26.10" />તેઓ હમેશા ધૃણાજનક કૃત્યો કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના જમણા હાથ લાંચરુસ્વતથી ભરેલાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.26.11" />હે યહોવા, હું તેઓના જેવો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પ્રામાણિકપણાના માગેર્ ચાલું છું, મારા પર દયા કરી મારો બચાવ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.26.12" />યહોવાએ મને પડી જવા દીધો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે હું યહોવાની સ્તુતિ જનસમૂહમાં ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="27" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.27.1" />યહોવા મારું તારણ અને પ્રકાશ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે મારે કોઇથીય ડરવું?
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા, મારા જીવનનું સાર્મથ્ય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે મારે કોઇનાથી ડરવું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.27.2" />જ્યારે દુષ્ટ શત્રુઓ મારો સંહાર કરવા આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓ ઠોકર ખાઇને નીચે પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.27.3" />ભલે સૈન્ય મારી વિરુદ્ધ છાવણી નાખે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પણ હું જરાય ડરવાનો નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">ભલે એ મારી વિરુદ્ધ યુદ્ધ કરે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મને યહોવા પર ભરોસો છે કે, તેઓ મારું રક્ષણ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.27.4" />હું એકજ વસ્તુ માંગુ છું યહોવાથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“મારા જીવનના સર્વ દિવસો પર્યંત
</q>
<q style="q1">મને યહોવાનાં મંદિરમાં બેસવા દો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી સદા યહોવાના દિવ્ય સૌંદર્યનું અવલોકન કરી શકું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના પવિત્રસ્થાનની મુલાકાત કરું.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.27.5" />સંકટના સમયે તેઓ ખરેખર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને પોતાના પવિત્ર મંડપમાં સંતાડી દેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને તેમની સુરક્ષિત જગાએ લઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.27.6" />મારા શત્રુઓ મને ઘેરી વળ્યા છે, પણ તેમને હરાવવા યહોવા મારી મદદ કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેના મંડપમાં હર્ષનાદ સાથે અર્પણો ચઢાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સ્તુતિગીતો ગાઇશ, અને તેઓ જે મારો આભાર યહોવાને વ્યકત કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.27.7" />હે યહોવા, મારી વિનંતી સાંભળો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પર દયા કરીને મને જરૂરી સહાયતા આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.27.8" />મારું હૃદય તમારા વિષે કહે છે કે તમે ઇચ્છો છો કે અમે તમને શોધીએ, તેથી હે યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી પાસે તમારૂં મુખડું શોધવા આવું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.27.9" />હે યહોવા, હું તમારી પાસે આવું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તમારું મુખ મારાથી ફેરવશો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા આ સેવક પર ગુસ્સો ન કરો, હે મારા તારણહાર,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા દેવ, હવે મને છોડી ન દેતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને તજી ન દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.27.10" />મારા માતાપિતાએ મને તજી દીધો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ યહોવા મને સંભળશે અને સ્વીકારશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.27.11" />હે યહોવા, મને કહો, હવે મારે શું કરવું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું શત્રુઓથી ધેરાએલો છું અને તમારી મદદની રાહ જોઉ છું માટે હવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તમે સત્કર્મના સરળ માગેર્ દોરી જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.27.12" />હે યહોવા, મને મારા શત્રુઓના હાથમાં સુપ્રત ન કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તેઓએ મારા ઉપર ખોટા આરોપો મૂક્યાં છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તેઓ હંમેશા મને નિષ્ઠુરતાથી ઇજા પહોંચાડવાની યોજનાઓ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.27.13" />હું આશા રાખું છું કે યહોવા ખરેખર મને ફરીથી છોડાવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું આ જીવનમાં તેમની દયાનો અનુભવ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.27.14" />તું યહોવાની રાહ જોજે, ધૈર્ય ગુમાવીશ નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જરૂર આવશે અને તને બચાવશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">બળવાન થા અને હિંમત રાખ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા, તું યહોવાની રાહ જોજે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તને સહાય કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="28" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.28.1" />હે યહોવા, તમને મદદ માટે પ્રાર્થના કરૂં છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે મારા ખડક, તમારા કાન બંધ રાખતો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તમે મારા મદદના
</q>
<q style="q1">પોકાર નો જવાબ નહિ આપો તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી ગણના કબરમાંના મૃત લોકો જેવી જ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.28.2" />હે યહોવા, મદદ માટેની મારી બૂમો સાંભળો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી પરમપવિત્રસ્થાન તરફ હું હાથ ઊંચા કરું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી સહાય માટે ખરા મનથી પ્રાર્થના કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.28.3" />મને દુષ્ટતા કરનારા અને પાપીઓ વચ્ચે ધકેલી ન દેતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કુકમીર્ઓ તેમના પડોશીઓને “સલામ”<f caller="+"><fr>28:3
</fr><fk>સલામ
</fk><ft>આ હિબ્રૂ શબ્દનો અર્થ છે શાન્તિ. એ શબ્દ સત્કાર માટે વપરાતો હતો.</ft></f> કરે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ તેઓ તેમની વિરુદ્ધ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટતા કરવાની યોજના કરી રહ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.28.4" />તમે તેમને તેમની દુષ્ટતા પ્રમાણે ફળ આપજો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને તેમની સર્વ દુષ્ટતાનો તમે બદલો વાળી આપજો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ભારી શિક્ષાને તેઓ યોગ્ય છે, તમે તેમને તે શિક્ષા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.28.5" />તેઓ યહોવાની, તેમના મહાન કમોર્ની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના હાથનાં કામોની સંપૂર્ણ અવગણના કરે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">જૂનાં પુરાણાં મકાનની જેમ યહોવા તેઓને તોડી પાડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફરી કદી સ્થાપિત કરશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.28.6" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તેમણે મારા કાલાવાલા સાંભળ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.28.7" />યહોવા મારું સાર્મથ્ય અને ભયસ્થાનોમો મારી ઢાલ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા હૃદયે તેમનો ભરોસો રાખ્યો છે, અને મને તેમની સહાય મળી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા હૃદયમાં અત્યંત આનંદ થાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સ્તુતિ ગાઇને હું તેમનો આભાર માનું છુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.28.8" />યહોવા તેમનાં લોકોને મજબૂત બનાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા તારણહાર છે, અને તેમના પસંદ કરેલાઓનું સાર્મથ્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.28.9" />હે યહોવા, તમારા લોકોનો તમે ઉદ્ધાર કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા વારસાને આશીર્વાદ આપો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી તેઓનું હંમેશા પાલનપોષણ કરી તમારા લોકોને ઊંચકી રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="29" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.29.1" />હે પરાક્રમી યહોવાના દૂતો, તમે સૌ તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના ગૌરવ અને સાર્મથ્ય માટે સૌ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.29.2" />યહોવાના ગૌરવ માટે સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાના ભવ્ય નામ માટે તમે ગાઓ તમારા પવિત્ર વસ્રો
</q>
<q style="q1">પહેરીને આવો અને તેમની ઉપાસના કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવો અને તેમનું ભજન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.29.3" />યહોવાનો સાદ સમુદ્રો પર ગાજે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગૌરવવાન દેવ મહાસાગર પર ગર્જના કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.29.4" />યહોવાનો સાદ તેમની શકિત નિરૂપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાનો સાદ તેમનો મહિમા નિરૂપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.29.5" />યહોવાના સાદથી ગંધતરુઓ ભાંગી ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લબાનોનનાં વિશાળ ગંધતરુઓ યહોવા તોડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.29.6" />યહોવા હેમોર્ન પર્વતને અને લબાનોનનાં પર્વતોને, ધ્રુજાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેમને વાંછરડાની જેમ કૂદાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.29.7" />યહોવાનો સાદ વીજળીઓને ભેદી અને ગર્જના કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.29.8" />યહોવાના સાદના પડઘા રણને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કાદેશના રણને ધ્રુજાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.29.9" />યહોવાનો સાદ દેવદારના વૃક્ષોને ધ્રુજાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધા ઉપાસના કરનારાઓ તેના મંદિરમાં સ્તુતિ કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">“યહોવાનો મહિમા થાય.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.29.10" />યહોવા જળપ્રલય સમયે સત્તાસ્થાને ત્યાં બિરાજમાન થયા હતા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવા સર્વકાળ રાજા તરીકે બિરાજમાન થનાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.29.11" />યહોવા પોતાના લોકોને સાર્મથ્ય આપશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને શાંતિનો આશીર્વાદ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="30" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિરની પ્રતિષ્ઠા માટેનાં ગીતોમાંનુ. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.30.1" />હે યહોવા, હું તમારી સ્તુતિ કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તમે મને મુશ્કેલીઓમાંથી બહાર કાઢયો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા શત્રુઓને વિજયનો આનંદ લેવા દીધો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.30.2" />હે યહોવા, મારા દેવ, મેં તમને અરજ કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે મને સાજો કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.30.3" />હે યહોવા, તમે મને શેઓલમાંથી પાછો કાઢી જીવતો રાખ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને કબરમાં પડવા દીધો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.30.4" />હે દેવના વિશ્વાસુ અનુયાયીઓ, તમે સૌ તેમની સ્તુતિ ગાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના પવિત્ર નામની આભાર સ્તુતિ ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.30.5" />તેમનો કોપ તો કેવળ ક્ષણિક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેમની કૃપા “જીવન” ભર માટે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">રૂદન ભલે આખી રાત રહે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ સવારમાં હર્ષાનંદ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.30.6" />હું જ્યારે નિર્ભય અને સુરક્ષિત હતો, ત્યારે મેં કહ્યું હતું, “હું ડગીશ નહિ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સમજતો હતો કે આ સ્થિતિ સદાય રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.30.7" />હે યહોવા, તમે મારા પર કૃપા કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને પર્વતની જેમ સ્થિર બનાવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ પછી મારાથી મુખ આડુ ફેરવીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને ભયભીત કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.30.8" />હે યહોવા, મેં તમને પોકાર કર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મેં તમને વિનંતી કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.30.9" />“હે યહોવા, હું મરી જઇશ તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારું શું સારું થશે?
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી કબરની ધૂળ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી સ્તુતિ કરી શકશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તે તમારી વિશ્વસનીયતા વિષે કહી શકશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.30.10" />હે યહોવા, મારા પર દયા કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી અરજીને સંભળો મને સહાય કરો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.30.11" />પછી તમે મારા દુ:ખનું સુખ કર્યુ, અને રૂદનને બદલે નૃત્યુ આપ્યું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા શોકના વસ્ત્રો ઉતારી લીધા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને ઉત્સાહથી ઢાંકી દીધો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.30.12" />કબરમાં શાંત પડી રહેવાને બદલે, હું આનંદપૂર્વક યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, મારા દેવ, હું સદાય તમારી આભારસ્તુતિ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="31" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.31.1" />હે યહોવા, હું તમારી ઉપર આધાર રાખું છું મને નિરાશ ન કરશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી સાથે હમેંશા સારા રહેજો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને કૃપા આપતા રહેજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.31.2" />હે યહોવા, મને સંભળો, ઉતાવળથી મારી મદદે આવો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા ખડક બનો.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી સુરક્ષાની જગા બનો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો કિલ્લો બનો અને મને બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.31.3" />દેવ મારા ખડક અને કિલ્લો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તમારા નામને માટે મને દોરવણી આપો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મને માર્ગદર્શન આપો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પર ચલાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.31.4" />મારા શત્રુઓએ પાથરેલી ગુપ્ત જાળમાંથી મને બચાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તમે મારો આશ્રય છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.31.5" />હું, મારો આત્મા તમારા હાથમાં સોંપુ છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે સત્યના દેવ યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારો ઉદ્ધાર કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.31.6" />જૂઠ્ઠા દેવોની પૂજા કરનારને હું ધિક્કારું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ફકત યહોવામાં ભરોસો કરું છું;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.31.7" />યહોવા, હું તમારી દયાથી આનંદથી હરખાઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારું સઘળું દુ:ખ જોયું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા આત્માની વ્યથા નિહાળી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.31.8" />તમે મને શત્રુઓના હાથમાં સોંપ્યો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા પગ વિશાળ જગા પર સ્થિર કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.31.9" />હે યહોવા; હું સંકટમાં છુ, હિંમત હારી ગયો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પર દયા કરો; શોકથી મારું શરીર, આંખ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો પ્રાણ ક્ષીણ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.31.10" />મારા જીવનનો અંત આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉદાસીમાં મારા વષોર્ નિસાસામાં પસાર થાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા પાપોએ મારી શકિત હણી લીધી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારાઁ હાડકાઁ બરડ થઇ રહ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.31.11" />મારા બધા દુશ્મનો મને મહેણાં મારે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પડોશીઓ મારી હાંસી ઉડાવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા સબંધીઓને મારો ભય લાગે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તેઓ મને અવગણે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ મને જુએ છે તેઓ તેમના મુખ ફેરવી લે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.31.12" />મૃત્યુ પામેલ મનુષ્યની જેમ હું વિસરાઇ ગયો છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ફેંકી દીધેલાં અને ફુટી ગયેલાં વાસણ જેવો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.31.13" />મેં ઘણાં લોકોને મારી બદનક્ષી કરતાં સાંભળ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ભેગા થઇને મારી વિરુદ્ધ મને મારી નાખવાની યોજના અને કાવતરાં કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.31.14" />પરંતુ હે યહોવા, હું તમારો વિશ્વાસ કરૂં છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં કહ્યું, “ફકત તમે જ મારા દેવ છો.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.31.15" />મારા જીવનની બધીજ બીનાઓ તમારા હાથમાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પર દયા કરો અને મને દુશ્મનોથી અને જેઓ મારો પીછો કરી રહ્યાં છે તેમનાથી બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.31.16" />તમારા સેવક ઉપર તમારા મુખનો પ્રકાશ ફરીથી પાડો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પર તમારી કૃપા દર્શાવી મારો બચાવ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.31.17" />હે યહોવા, હું નિરાશ થઇશ નહિં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે મેં તમને પ્રાર્થના કરી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દુષ્ટજનોને લજ્જિત કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચૂપચાપ તેઓને કબરોમાં સુવડાવી દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.31.18" />જૂઠા હોઠ મૂંગા થાઓ; તેઓ ડંફાસ મારે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સજ્જનોની વિરુદ્ધ દ્વેષભાવ રાખીને ખરાબ વાતો કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.31.19" />જે ઉદારતા તમારા ભકતોને ખાતર તમે રાખી મૂકી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમે તમારા ભરોસો પર રાખનાર માટે ખૂબ દાખવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારો ભય રાખનારા માટે તમારો આશીર્વાદ મહાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.31.20" />તમે તમારી સંમુખ તેઓને સંતાડી રાખશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનું કાવતરાબાજો વિરુદ્ધ રક્ષણ કરશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તમારા મંડપમાં તેમને સુરક્ષિત રાખશો અને તેમને અનિષ્ટ જીભોથી બચાવશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.31.21" />યહોવાને ધન્ય છે! કારણ તેણે મારા પર અસીમ પ્રેમ વરસાવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે દુશ્મનોએ નગરને ઘેરી લીધું હતું ત્યારે તેમણે મારા પર અદભૂત દયા દેખાડી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.31.22" />અધીરતાથી મેં કહીં દીધું હતું કે, યહોવાએ મને તરછોડી દીધો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિચાર કર્યા વિના હું એવું બોલ્યો હતો છતાં મારી અરજ તમે સાંભળી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.31.23" />હે યહોવાના સર્વ ભકતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેમનાં પર પ્રેમ રાખો;
</q>
<q style="q1">વિશ્વાસુઓની તેઓ રક્ષા કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અભિમાનીને શિક્ષા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.31.24" />તમારામાંના બધાં, જેઓ યહોવાની મદદની રાહ જુએ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલે તમારા હૃદય નિર્ભય અને હિંમતવાન બને, અને તમે સહુ ભલે બળવાન બનો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="32" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત. માસ્કીલ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.32.1" />જેના દોષને માફી મળી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા જેનું પાપ ઢંકાઇ ગયું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને ધન્ય છે અને તે જ સુખી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.32.2" />જેને યહોવા દોષિત ગણતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેના આત્મામાં કંઇ કપટ નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે માણસ આશીર્વાદિત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.32.3" />હું ભયંકર પાપી છું તેનો હું સ્વીકાર કરતો ન હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દિવસથી મારી વ્યથા વધી ગઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા હાડકાં ર્જીણ થઇ ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.32.4" />આખો દિવસ અને આખી રાત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો ભારે હાથ મારા પર હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેમ ઉનાળાની ગરમીમાં જળ સુકાઇ જાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ મારી શકિત હણાઇ ગઇ હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.32.5" />પણ મેં મારા બધાં પાપો તમારી સમક્ષ કબૂલ કરવાનો નિર્ણય લીધો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મે મારા પાપોને છુપાવવાનું બંધ કર્યુ.
</q>
<q style="q1">મે પોતાને કહ્યું, “હું મારા પાપો યહોવા સમક્ષ કબૂલ કરીશ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે મારા પાપો બદલ મને ક્ષમા આપી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.32.6" />તેથી જ્યારે દેવનાં અનુયાયીઓને તેમનાં પાપનું ભાન થાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓ પ્રાર્થના કરીને તેમનાં પાપની કબૂલાત કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જો પ્રચંડ પૂરની જેમ મુશ્કેલીઓ આવશે તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે તેઓ સુધી પહોંચી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.32.7" />જીવનનાં સર્વ સંકટોમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારી છુપાવવાની જગા છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે મને સંકટોમાં ઉગારી લો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આસપાસ તમારા ઉધ્ધારનાં સ્તોત્રો ગવડાવશો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.32.8" />યહોવા કહે છે, “જીવનનાં પ્રત્યેક તબક્કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે ક્યાં માગેર્ ચાલવું તે હું તને બતાવીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તારો સતત ખ્યાલ રાખીને હું તને હંમેશા સાચો બોધ આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.32.9" />ધોડા તથા ખચ્ચર જેને કંઇ સમજ નથી તેને કાબૂમાં રાખવા માટે લગામની જરૂર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તેમનાં જેવો અણસમજુ થઇશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.32.10" />દુષ્ટ લોકોને ઘણી તકલીફો સહન કરવી પડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જેઓ દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે, તેઓ તો યહોવાની કૃપાથી ધેરાયેલાં રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.32.11" />હે સદાચારી લોકો, યહોવાથી આનંદીત થાઓ અને પ્રસન્ન થાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે શુદ્ધ હૃદયી માણસો, હર્ષના પોકાર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="33" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.33.1" />હે ન્યાયી લોકો, યહોવામાં હરખાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શુદ્ધ હૃદયવાળા લોકો યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરે તે સારું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.33.2" />વીણા વગાડી યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો, દશ તારનું વાજીંત્ર વગાડી ગાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્તુતિના મધુર ગીતો આનંદથી ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.33.3" />યહોવાના નૂતન ગીતો ગાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાજીંત્રોને કુશળતાથી અને મોટેથી વગાડો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.33.4" />યહોવાનો પ્રત્યેક શબ્દ ન્યાયી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં સર્વ કાર્ય ભરોસાપાત્ર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.33.5" />તે ન્યાય અને નિષ્પક્ષતાને ચાહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી યહોવાની કૃપાથી ભરાઇ ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.33.6" />એમણે શબ્દોચ્ચાર કર્યો અને અકાશનું નિર્માણ થયું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના મુખમાંના શ્વાસે આકાશના સમગ્ર તારાઓની રચના કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.33.7" />તેમણે સમુદ્રો બનાવ્યાં અને મશકની માફક પાણી ભેગા કર્યાર્
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના અતિશય ઊઁડાણોને વખારોમાં ભરી રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.33.8" />સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી યહોવાથી બીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વીવાસી તેનું ભય રાખો અને આદર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.33.9" />કારણ, તેઓ બોલ્યા અને સૃષ્ટિ ઉત્પન્ન થઇ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે આજ્ઞા કરી અને તે સ્થિર થઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.33.10" />યહોવા તેમનો વિરોધ કરતી પ્રજાઓની યોજનાઓને નિષ્ફળ બનાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુઓ, યહોવા બધા લોકોની યોજનાઓને નિરર્થક બનાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.33.11" />યહોવાની યોજનાઓ સદાકાળ ટકે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે કરેલી ઘારણા પેઢી દર પેઢી રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.33.12" />જે પ્રજાના દેવ યહોવા છે, અને જેઓને તેમણે પોતાના લોકો તરીકે પસંદ કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને ધન્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.33.13" />યહોવાનું નિવાસસ્થાન આકાશમાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાંથી તે સર્વ માનવજાત પર નજર રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.33.14" />હા, તે આકાશમાંથી સૃષ્ટિમાં વસતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ જીવોને ધ્યાનથી જુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.33.15" />યહોવા સર્વના હૃદયના સરજનહાર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ જે કાંઇ કરે છે તે એ સમજે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.33.16" />રાજા ફકત તેના સુસજ્જ સૈન્યના બળથી જીતી ન શકે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બળવાન યોદ્ધો ફકત પોતાની બહાદુરીથી બચી જતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.33.17" />યુદ્ધમાં વિજય માટે ધોડાઓ પર આધાર રાખવો વ્યર્થ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોતાના બાહુબળથી કોઇને ઉગારી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.33.18" />યહોવા તેઓની નજર અને સંભાળ રાખે છે જેઓ તેનો ભય રાખે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનો આદર કરે છે જેઓ તેમની કૃપાની રાહ જુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.33.19" />તે તેઓના જીવને મૃત્યુથી બચાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુકાળ સમયે તેઓને જીવતાઁ રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.33.20" />અમે પૂર્ણ શ્રદ્ધાથી અમારી રક્ષા માટે યહોવાની પ્રતિક્ષા કરીએ છીએ, તે અમારા સાચા સહાયક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે અમારી ઢાલ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.33.21" />અમે યહોવામાં આનંદિત છીએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે તેમનામાં ભરોસો રાખીએ છીએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને તેમનાં પવિત્ર નામમાં વિશ્વાસ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.33.22" />હે યહોવા, અમે રાહ જોઇ અને તમારી આશા રાખી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તમારી કૃપા અમારા પર થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="34" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત. એ ત્યારે લખાયું હતું જ્યારે તેણે ગાંડપણનો ઢોંગ કર્યો જેથી અબીમેલેખ તેને કાઢી મૂકે. દાઉદ આ રીતેતેનાથી નાસી છુટયો.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.34.1" />હું હમેશા યહોવાની પ્રશંશા કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું હંમેશા તેમના મહિમા વિષે વાત કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.34.2" />મારો આત્મા યહોવાની મોટાઇ કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આથી નમ્ર માણસો મારી સ્તુતિ સાંભળશે અને આનંદિત થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.34.3" />આપણે સૌ સાથે મળી યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરીએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના નામનો મહિમા વધારીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.34.4" />યહોવાને મેં પ્રાર્થના કરી અને તેમણે મારી પ્રાર્થનાનો ઉત્તર આપ્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે મને જે બધી બાબતોનો ભય હતો તેમાથી છોડાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.34.5" />જેઓ યહોવાની કૃપા પામ્યા છે, તેઓના મુખ પ્રકાશિત છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના મુખ પર કોઇ નિરાશા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.34.6" />આ લાચાર માણસે યહોવાને પોકાર કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે સાંભળીને તેમણે તેને સર્વ સંકટમાંથી ઉગાર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.34.7" />યહોવાનો દૂત, યહોવાના ભકતોની આસપાસ પડાવ નાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને મુશ્કેલીમાંથી ઉગારે છે, તેમનું રક્ષણ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.34.8" />યહોવા કેટલાં ઉમદા છે તેનો અનુભવ કરો અને જુઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ તેમના ઉપર આધાર રાખે છે તેઓ ને ધન્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.34.9" />યહોવાનાં પવિત્ર અનુયાયીઓ તેનું ભય રાખે છે અને તેમનો આદર કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમકે, તેને કોઇ વસ્તુની ખોટ પડની નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.34.10" />અને કદાચ તંગી પડે સિંહના બચ્ચાંને અને ભૂખ વેઠવી પડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દેવની સહાય શોધનારને ઉત્તમ વસ્તુઓની અછત પડતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.34.11" />મારા બાળકો આવો, મારું સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હું તમને યહોવાનો આદર કરતાં શીખવીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.34.12" />સુખી-લાંબા જીવનની ઈચ્છા કોને છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારામાંથી જીવન વહાલું કોને છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.34.13" />તો હંમેશા તમારી જીભ પર કાબૂ રાખો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તમારા હોઠોને જૂઠું બોલવાથી દૂર રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.34.14" />દરેક દુષ્ટાથી દૂર રહો અને ભલું કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શાંતિ શોધી તેની પાછળ લાગો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.34.15" />યહોવાની આંખો હંમેશા સત્યનિષ્ઠ લોકો પર નજર રાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની મદદ માટેની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળવા માટે તેમનો કાન સદા ખુલ્લો હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.34.16" />દુષ્ટ માણસોની યાદને પૃથ્વી પરથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભૂંસી નાંખવાનો યહોવાએ સંકલ્પ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.34.17" />યહોવા ન્યાયીઓના પોકાર સાંભળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને સર્વ સંકટમાંથી છોડાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.34.18" />યહોવા હંમેશા તેઓની સાથે હોય છે જેમના હૃદય ભાંગી ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમનો આત્મા કચડાઇ ગયો છે અને જેઓ નમ્ર છે તેમને યહોવા મુકિત આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.34.19" />ન્યાયી માણસનાં જીવનમાં ઘણા દુ:ખો આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ કૃપાળુ યહોવા તેમને તે સર્વમાંથી ઉગારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.34.20" />યહોવા તેનાં સર્વ હાડકાંનું રક્ષણ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓમાંનું એકપણ ભાંગવામાં આવતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.34.21" />દુષ્ટો પોતાની જ દુષ્ટતાથી નાશ પામશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ન્યાયીઓના દ્વેષીઓ દોષિત ઠરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.34.22" />યહોવા પોતાના સેવકોના પ્રાણોનો ઉદ્ધાર કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવામાં ભરોસો રાખનારાઓમાંથી કોઇ દોષિત ઠરશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="35" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.35.1" />હે યહોવા, મારી વિરુદ્ધ યુદ્ધ કરનારા સામે તમે યુદ્ધ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી ઉપરના તેઓના આક્રમણ સામે તમે યુદ્ધ જાહેર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.35.2" />તમે ઢાલ અને બખતર ધારણ કરી ઊભા રહો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારું રક્ષણ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.35.3" />ભાલો હાથમાં લઇને મારી પાછળ પડેલાને અટકાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા આત્માને ખાત્રીથી કહો કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તમેજ મારો ઉદ્ધાર કરનાર છો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.35.4" />જેઓ મારા જીવના તરસ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ફજેત થઇને બદનામ થાઓ;
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ મારું નુકશાન ઇચ્છે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ રઝળી પડો અને પાછા હઠો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.35.5" />તેઓ પવનથી ઊડતાં ભૂંસા જેવા થાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને યહોવાનો દૂત હાંકી કાઢો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.35.6" />હે યહોવા, તેઓનો માર્ગ અંધકારમય ને લપસણો થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાનો દૂત તેમની પાછળ પડો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.35.7" />તેઓનું ખરાબ નથી કર્યું છતાં તેઓએ મારા માટે ફાંદો ગોઠવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વગર કારણે જીવ લેવા ખાડો ખોધ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.35.8" />તેમનાં પર અચાનક વિપત્તિ આવી પડો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના ફાંદામાં તેઓ પોતેજ ફસાઇ જાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના ખોદેલા ખાડામાં પડી તેઓનો સંહાર થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.35.9" />પણ હું યહોવાથી આનંદિત થઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનાં તારણમાં સુખી થઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.35.10" />મારું સમગ્ર વ્યકિતત્વ પોકારશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હે યહોવા, તમારા જેવું કોણ છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">જે લાચારને બળવાનથી બચાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કંગાલને લૂંટનારાથી છોડાવે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.35.11" />નિર્દય લોકો જૂઠી સાક્ષી આપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેના વિષે મેં કદી સાંભળ્યું નથી તેના માટે મારા પર આરોપ મૂકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.35.12" />તેઓ ઉપકારને બદલે અપકાર કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારા આત્માને રડાવે છે અને દુ:ખી કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.35.13" />તેઓ જ્યારે બિમાર હતા ત્યારે મેં ઉપવાસ કરીને કંતાનના વસ્રો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પહેરીને મારી દિલગીરી બતાવી હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં માટે પ્રાર્થના કરવાથી મને જે મળ્યું તે શું આ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.35.14" />તે લોકો જાણે મારા ભાઇઓ અને મારા નજીકનાં મિત્રો હોય તેવો વર્તાવ મેં તેમની સાથે રાખ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ કોઇ માણસ તેની માતા જે મૃત્યુ પામી છે તેના માટે શોક કરે તેમ હું તેમના માટે દુ:ખી હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.35.15" />તેઓ ટોળામાં ભેગા થયાં અને મારી પડતી વખતે તેઓ આનંદિત હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે લોકો સાચા મિત્રો ન હતાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેમને ઓળખતો પણ ન હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેઓ મને ઘેરી વળ્યા અને મારા પર હુમલો કર્યો અને ચૂપ રહ્યાં નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.35.16" />તેઓએ મારી હાંસી ઉડાવી અને મારી વિરુદ્ધ ખરાબ ભાષા બોલ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ મારા તરફ દાંત કચકચાવીને ગુસ્સો વ્યકત કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.35.17" />હે યહોવા, મારા પ્રભુ ક્યાં સુધી શાંત બેસી રહી જોયા કરશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના ખૂની હુમલાઓથી મારા પ્રાણને બચાવી લો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા મૂલ્યવાન જીવનને આ સિંહોથી બચાવી લો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.35.18" />હે યહોવા, હું મહામંડળીમાં તમારી આભારસ્તુતિ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘણા લોકોની સભામાં હું તમારી પ્રસંશા કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.35.19" />મારા જૂઠા શત્રુઓને મારા પર હસવા દેશો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ દુશ્મનો જેઓ વિના કારણ મને ધિક્કારે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારા તરફ આંખ પણ ન મિચકારે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.35.20" />કારણ, તેઓ ખરેખર શાંતિની યોજનાઓ કરતાં નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગુપ્ત રીતે તેઓ આ દેશનાં શાંતિપ્રિય લોકોનું અનિષ્ટ કરવાની યોજનાઓ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.35.21" />તેઓ મોટેથી કહે છે કે, “તેઓએ અયોગ્ય આચરણ કરતાં મને જોયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કહે છે, અમે તને અમારી પોતાની આંખે એ પ્રમાણે કરતાં જોયો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.35.22" />હે યહોવા, તમે તેના વિષે બધુંજ જાણો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે તમે શાંત બેસી રહેશો નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને તરછોડી મારાથી દૂર થશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.35.23" />હે યહોવા, ઊઠો! મને ન્યાય કરવા જાગૃત થાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા દેવ તથા મારા ધણી ઊભા થાઓ અને મારા કિસ્સાનો બચાવ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.35.24" />હે યહોવા મારા દેવ, તમારા ન્યાયીપણાથી મારો ન્યાય કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા શત્રુઓને મારા પર હસવા દેશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.35.25" />તેમને એમ કહેવાની તક આપશો નહિ કે, “તેમનાથી વિમુખ થવાની અમારી ઇચ્છા પરિપૂર્ણ થઇ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનો વિનાશ કર્યો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.35.26" />મારા નુકસાનમાં આનંદ પામનારાં સવેર્ની ફજેતી થાવ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ લજ્જિત થાવ.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી વિરુદ્ધ બડાઇ કરનારા સઘળા અપમાનિત થઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શરમાઇ જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.35.27" />જે લોકો મને નિદોર્ષ ઠરાવવા માંગતા હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ હર્ષ મનાવે અને સુખી થાય.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ હંમેશા કહો કે, “યહોવા મહાન છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના સેવકો સુખી થાય અને શાંતિ પામે તેવું તે ઇચ્છે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.35.28" />મારી જીભ આખો દિવસ તમારા ન્યાયીપણા વાતો કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી પ્રસંશાની સ્તુતિ ગાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="36" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. યહોવાના સેવક દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.36.1" />દુષ્ટના ગહન હૃદયમાં પાપ તેને લલચાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટ કાર્યો કરવા પ્રેરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના હૃદયમાં દેવનો ભય કે જે તેને પાપ કરતાં અટકાવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.36.2" />તે પોતાના મનમાં અભિમાન કરે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો અન્યાય પ્રગટ થશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારો તિરસ્કાર થશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.36.3" />તેના શબ્દો મૂલ્યહીન જૂઠાણા અને છેતરપિંડીવાળા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે ડાહ્યું અને ભલું રહેવાનું છોડી દીધું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.36.4" />તે રાત્રે પલંગમાં જાગતો રહે છે અને કપટ કરવાની યોજના ઘડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે અન્યાયના માર્ગમાં ઊભો રહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે દુષ્ટતાથી કંટાળતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.36.5" />હે યહોવા, તમારો સનાતન પ્રેમ આકાશ જેટલો વિશાળ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારું વિશ્વાસપણું વાદળો સુધી પહોંચે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.36.6" />તમારી નિષ્પક્ષતા ઊંચામાં ઊંચા પર્વતથી<f caller="+"><fr>36:6
</fr><fk>ઊંચામાં ઊંચા પર્વત
</fk><ft>એટલે “અલનો પર્વત.”</ft></f> પણ ઉંચી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારો ન્યાય અતિ ગહન અને અગાથ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે માનવજાત અને પ્રાણીઓનું રક્ષણ કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.36.7" />હે યહોવા, તમારી અવિરત કૃપા કેવી અમૂલ્ય છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી પાંખોની છાયામાં સર્વ માનવીઓ આશ્રય લે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.36.8" />તમારા આશીર્વાદોથી તેઓને ખૂબજ તૃપ્તિ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી સુખ-સમૃદ્ધિની નદીમાંથી તેઓ પાણી પીશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.36.9" />કારણ, તમારી પાસે જીવનનો ઝરો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમે તમારા અજવાળામાં પ્રકાશ જોઇશું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.36.10" />હે યહોવા, જેઓ તમને સાચી રીતે ઓળખે છે, તેમના પર તમારી દયા બતાવવાનું ચાલુ રાખજો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેમના હૃદય ચોખ્ખા છેં તેમની સાથે ન્યાયીપણું ચાલુ રાખજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.36.11" />મને ઘમંડીઓના પગ નીચે કચડાવા દેશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ લોકોના હાથ મને હાંકી કાઢે નહિ તે તમે જોજો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.36.12" />“જુઓ! અન્યાય કરનારાઓનું કેવું પતન થયું છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ એવા ફેંકી દેવાયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે પાછા ઊઠી શકશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="37" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.37.1" />દુષ્ટ લોકો પ્રતિ ગુસ્સે થઇશ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અન્યાય કરનારની ઇર્ષા કરતો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.37.2" />કારણ તેઓ તો ઘાસ અને લીલા છોડવા જેવાં છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ચીમળાઇને મરી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.37.3" />યહોવાનો વિશ્વાસ કર અને સત્કર્મ કર, તો તું તારા દેશમાં રહીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે (યહોવા) વિશ્વસનીયતાથી જે આપે તેનો આનંદ માણ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.37.4" />યહોવા સાથેના તારા સબંધોનો આનંદ માણ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખાતરી રાખ કે તારા હૃદયની ઇચ્છાઓ તેના (યહોવા) દ્વારા પૂર્ણ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.37.5" />તું જે કંઇ કર્મ કરે તે સર્વ યહોવાને આધીન કર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું એના પર ભરોસો રાખ, અને તે તારા સર્વ કામ ફળીભૂત કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.37.6" />તે તારું ન્યાયીપણું પ્રભાતની જેમ પ્રકાશિત કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા પ્રામાણિકપણાને બપોરના સૂર્ય ની જેમ તેજસ્વી કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી નિદોર્ષતાની સર્વ માણસોને જાણ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.37.7" />યહોવાની સમક્ષતામા શાંત થાં, અને ધીરજથી તેમની વાટ જો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે કુયુકિતઓથી ફાવી જાય છે એમના પર તું ખીજવાતો નહિં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.37.8" />ખીજાવાનું બંધ કર. અને તારો ગુસ્સો ત્યાગી દે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આટલો બેચેન ન બન કે તું પણ કઇંક અનિષ્ટ કામ કરી બેસે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.37.9" />કારણ, દુષ્કમીર્ઓનો વિનાશ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓ યહોવાની મદદની રાહ જુએ છે તેમને ભૂમિ મળશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.37.10" />થોડા સમયમાં દુષ્ટ લોકોનો જડમૂળથી નાશ થઇ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તેમને શોધવાની સખત મહેનત કરીશ તોપણ તને તેમના નામોનિશાન નહિ મળે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.37.11" />નમ્ર લોકોને દેશનું વતન પ્રાપ્ત થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને સર્વ વસ્તુઓનો આશીર્વાદ મળશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને મનની અદ્ભૂત શાંતિ મળશે અને સુખી થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.37.12" />દુષ્ટો ન્યાયીઓની વિરુદ્ધ ખરાબ યુકિતઓ ઘડે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની જ સામે પોતાના દાંત પીસે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.37.13" />પ્રભુ જુએ છે કે તેમનો કાળ નજીક આવ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તે દુષ્ટ માણસોની હાંસી ઉડાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.37.14" />દુષ્ટોએ દરિદ્રી અને કંગાળનો, તથા સત્ય આચરણ કરનારનો સંહાર કરવા ખુલ્લી તરવાર લીધી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધનુષ્યથી નિશાન તાક્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.37.15" />તેઓની પોતાની જ તરવાર તેઓના પોતાના જ હૃદયને વિંધશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનાઁ ધનુષ્યને ભાંગી નાંખવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.37.16" />નીતિમાન લોકો પાસે જે અલ્પ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દુષ્ટ લોકોની વિપુલ સંપત્તિ કરતાં વધારે સારું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.37.17" />કારણ, દુષ્ટ લોકોના હાથોની શકિતનો નાશ કરવામાં આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ યહોવા નીતિમાન લોકોની કાળજી લેશે અને તેમને ટેકો આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.37.18" />યહોવાને યથાથીર્ઓના સર્વ પ્રસંગોની ખબર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની દ્રૃષ્ટિમાં તેઓ નિદોર્ષ છે, તેઓનો વારસો સદાય ટકી રહેશે
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.37.19" />યહોવા તેઓની વિકટ સંજોગોમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ કાળજી રાખે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">દુકાળનાં સમયે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે સવેર્ તૃપ્ત થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.37.20" />પણ દુષ્ટો અને યહોવાના શત્રુઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘાસની જેમ ચીમળાઇ જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ધુમાડા ની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ અદ્રશ્ય થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.37.21" />દુષ્ટો ઉછીનું લે છે ખરા પણ પાછું કદી આપતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ન્યાયી જે આપવામાં ઉદાર છે તે કરુણાથી વતેર્ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.37.22" />જેઓ યહોવાથી આશીર્વાદિત છે, તેઓ પૃથ્વીનું વતન પામશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જેઓ દેવથી અભિશાપિત છે તેઓનો અવશ્ય સંપૂર્ણ વિનાશ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.37.23" />યહોવા ન્યાયીને માર્ગ બતાવે છે, અને તેના પગલાં સ્થિર કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા પ્રસન્ન થાય છે તેથી તેનું જીવન સ્થિર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.37.24" />તેઓ ઠોકર ખાશે છતાં પડશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેમને ટેકો આપવા માટે અને સ્થિર રાખવાં માટે યહોવા ત્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.37.25" />હું જુવાન હતો અને હવે વૃદ્ધ થયો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં ન્યાયીને તરછોડ્યા હોય કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં સંતાન ભીખ માંગતા હોય એવું કદાપિ મેં જોયું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.37.26" />તે ન્યાયીઓ છે ઉદાર, તેઓ હંમેશા પોતાની પાસે જે છે તે છૂટથી બીજાને આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના સવેર્ સંતાનોને યહોવાના આશીર્વાદ મળશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.37.27" />ભૂંડાથી દૂર થા, અને ભલું કર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેશમાં સદાકાળ રહે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.37.28" />કારણ, યહોવા ન્યાય અને પ્રામાણિકતાને ઇચ્છે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેમના વિશ્વાસુ ભકતોને કદી છોડી દેતાં નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તેમનું સદા રક્ષણ કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટોનાં સંતાનોનો વિનાશ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.37.29" />ન્યાયીઓ વતનનો વારસો પામશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સદાકાળ ત્યાં નિવાસ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.37.30" />ન્યાયીની વાણી ડહાપણ ભરેલી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની જીભ સદા ન્યાયની વાત કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.37.31" />તેમનાં પોતાના હૃદયમાં યહોવાનું નિયંત્રણ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમાંથી તે કદાપિ ચલિત થતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PSA.37.32" />દુષ્ટો સદા ન્યાયી માણસોની જાસૂસી કરે છે, અને તેઓને મારી નાખવાના લાગ શોધતાં ફરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PSA.37.33" />પણ યહોવા દુષ્ટ માણસોના હાથમાં ન્યાયીઓને પડવા દેશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલે તેઓને ન્યાયાલયોમાં લઇ જાય તોય તેઓ દોષિત ઠરાવાશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PSA.37.34" />ધીરજથી યહોવાની રાહ જુઓ અને તેના માર્ગને અનુસરો, અને યહોવા તમને વિજયી કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમને જે દેશનું વચન અપાયેલું હતું તે તમને વારસામાં મળશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે દુષ્ટ લોકોનો નાશ થતો જોશો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PSA.37.35" />અનુકુળ ભૂમિમાં રોપેલા લીલા વૃક્ષની જેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં દુષ્ટને મોટા સાર્મથ્યમાં ફેલાતો જોયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="PSA.37.36" />હું ફરી ત્યાં થઇને ગયો ત્યારે તે ત્યાં નહોતો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેને શોધ્યો, પરંતુ તેનો પત્તો મળ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="PSA.37.37" />હવે જે નિદોર્ષ છે તેનો વિચાર કરો. જે પ્રામાણિક છે તેનો વિચાર કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમ કે શાંતિપ્રિય લોકો તેમના વંશજો માટે ઉજ્જવળ ભવિષ્ય પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="PSA.37.38" />પણ દુષ્ટો સમૂળગા વિનાશ પામશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંતે તેઓના વંશજોનો અંત આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="PSA.37.39" />યહોવા ન્યાયીઓનો ઉદ્ધાર કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંકટ સમયે માત્ર યહોવા જ તેમનું તારણ-આશ્રયસ્થાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="PSA.37.40" />જે યહોવા પર ભરોસો રાખે છે, તેઓને તે દુષ્ટોથી છોડાવીને તારે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની આવીને સહાય કરે છે; કારણ, તેમણે તેનો આશરો લીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="38" />
<s level="2" style="s2">સંભારણું- દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.38.1" />હે યહોવા, તમે ક્રોધમાં આવી મને ઠપકો આપશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા ગુસ્સામાં મને તમે શિક્ષા કરશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.38.2" />તમારા બાણોએ મને વીંધી નાખ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા હાથે મને કચડી નાખ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.38.3" />તમારા ગુસ્સાને લીધે મારું શરીર જરાપણ તંદુરસ્ત નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પાપોને લીધે અને તમારી શિક્ષાને લીધે મારા બધા હાડકાઁઓ ઇજા પામ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.38.4" />મારા માથા પર પાપો અને અન્યાયનો ભાર વધી ગયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભારે બોજાની જેમ તે મને અસહ્ય થઇ પડ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.38.5" />મારી મૂર્ખાઇને કારણે ઘા પડી ગયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કોહવાઇને ગંધાઇ ઊઠયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.38.6" />હું લથડી ગયો છું અને વાંકો વળી ગયો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આખો દિવસ હું શોક કર્યા કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.38.7" />મારી કમરમાં અસહ્ય બળતરા થાય છેં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારું શરીર રોગગ્રસ્ત થઇ ગયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.38.8" />હું નિર્બળ થઇને કચડાઇ ગયો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હૃદયની વેદનાને કારણે નિસાસા નાખું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.38.9" />હે યહોવા, તમને મારી સર્વ ઇચ્છાની ખબર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા એ નિસાસાથી તમે અજાણ્યા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.38.10" />મારા હૃદયના ધબકારા વધી ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આંખોનું તેજ ઘટી ગયું છે. અને શકિત ઘટી ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.38.11" />મારા રોગનાં ભયથી, મારા સ્નેહીજનો અને મિત્રો દૂર થઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા સગાસબંધી સૌ કોઇ, મારાથી જૂદા જઇ રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.38.12" />શત્રુઓ મને મારવા ફાંદા ગોઠવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું અહિત કરનારા હાનિકારક વાતો કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.38.13" />મારી વિરુદ્ધ આખો દિવસ કપટી કાવતરા કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તો બહેરા માણસની જેમ સાંભળતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાનું મોઢું ઉઘાડી ન શકું એવો હું મૂગો માણસ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.38.14" />સાંભળી ન શકે, ઉત્તર ન આપી શકે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું એવા માણસ જેવો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.38.15" />હે યહોવા, મારા દેવ, હું તમારી વાટ જોઉં છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, હું આશા રાખું છું કે તમે મને ઉત્તર આપશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.38.16" />મેં કહ્યું, “મારો પગ લપસે ત્યારે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી વિરુદ્ધ બડાઇ કરનારા મારી દુ:ખદ પરિસ્થિતિ જોઇને કદાચ આનંદ પામે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.38.17" />હું હવે કોઇપણ સમયે ઢળી પડીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું દુ:ખ હંમેશા મારી સાથે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.38.18" />હું મારા પાપ ને અન્યાય કબુલ કરું છુ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પાપ માટે હું બહુ દિલગીર છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.38.19" />જેઓ વિના કારણે મારા શત્રુ થયા છે તેઓ અતિ પ્રબળ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ વિના કારણ મારો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે તેઓની સંખ્યા વધી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.38.20" />ભલાઇ ને બદલે દુષ્ટતા પાછી વાળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અન્યાયથી તેઓ મારો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, હું જે સારું છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને અનુસરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.38.21" />હે યહોવા, તમે મને તરછોડશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે મારા દેવ, મારાથી દૂર ન થશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.38.22" />હે યહોવા, મારા તારણના દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જલદી આવો અને મને મદદ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="39" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. યદૂથૂન માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.39.1" />મેં કહ્યું, “મારા આચાર વિચારની હું સંભાળ રાખીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી જીભે હું પાપ કરીશ નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યાં સુધી, દુષ્ટો મારી આસપાસ હશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારા મોઢા પર લગામ રાખીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.39.2" />સત્ય બોલવાનું હતું પણ હું બોલ્યો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છાનોમાનો મૂંગો ઊભો રહ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મારી આંતરિક વ્યથા વધી અને મારો શોક વધી ગયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.39.3" />મારા હૃદયમાં આગ ભભૂકતી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અગ્નિ સળગી ઊઠયો મારા વિચારનો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અંતે હું મારી જીભે બોલ્યો કે,
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.39.4" />હે યહોવા, મને જણાવો કે પૃથ્વી પર મારું આયુષ્ય કેટલુ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું જીવન કેવું ક્ષણભંગુર છે તે મને સમજાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.39.5" />તમે મને જીવવા માટે ખૂબ ટૂંકો સમય આપ્યો છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું ટૂંકુ જીવન તમારી તુલનામાં કંઇ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિતનું જીવન ઝડપથી અદ્રશ્ય થઇ જતાં વાદળ જેવું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.39.6" />મનુષ્યનું અસ્તિત્વ તો ફકત આરસીમાંનું પ્રતિબિંબ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જે કરે છે તે મૂલ્યહીન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સંપત્તિનો સંચય કરે છે પણ જાણતો નથી કે તેના મૃત્યુ પછી તે કોને મળશે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.39.7" />હે પ્રભુ, મારે શું આશા હોય?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જ મારી આશા છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.39.8" />હે યહોવા, મને મારા પાપોમાંથી ઉગારો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ માણસની જેમ મને તિરસ્કૃત ન થવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.39.9" />હે યહોવા, હું મૂગો રહ્યો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી સમક્ષ મારા મોઢેથી ફરિયાદ કરીશ નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, તમે જે કર્યુ છે એ હું જાણું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.39.10" />હે યહોવા, હવે મને વધુ શિક્ષા ન કરશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા પ્રબળ હાથના પ્રહારે હું ખરેખર નષ્ટ જેવોજ થઇ ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.39.11" />યહોવા, જીવન જીવવાનો સાચો રસ્તો શીખવવા માટે તમે જે લોકો ખોટાં કાર્યો કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને શિક્ષા કરો છો એ લોકો જે વસ્તુ ઇચ્છે છે અને જેની ઇચ્છા રાખે છે તેનો તમે નાશ કરો છો.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેમ ઉધઇ કપડાનો નાશ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા, અમારાં જીવન એક નાના વાદળ જેવાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે જલ્દી અદ્રશ્ય થઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.39.12" />હે યહોવા, મારી પ્રાર્થના ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા આંસુઓની અવગણના ન કરશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ જીવનમાં હું તમારી સાથે એક યાત્રી જેવો છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા પિતૃઓની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું અહી એક કામચલાઉ વતની છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.39.13" />મૃત્યુ પછી હું પૃથ્વી પરથીજાઉ તે પહેલાં તમારી વેધક દ્રૃષ્ટી મારા પરથી દૂર કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી ખરેખર બળ પામું ને ફરીથી આનંદ પામું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="40" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.40.1" />મેં ધીરજથી સહાય માટે યહોવાની વાટ જોઇ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે મારી વિનંતી સાંભળી ને મને ઉત્તર આપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.40.2" />યહોવાએ મને ઉંચકીને કબરની બહાર કાઢયો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે મને કાદવમાંથી બહાર કાઢયો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે મારા પગને અચળ ખડક પર ગોઠવ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પગલા સ્થિર કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.40.3" />તેમણે આપણા દેવનું સ્તોત્ર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા મુખમાં મૂક્યું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">એટલે ઘણા નવું ગીત જોશે અને બીશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવા પર ભરોસો રાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.40.4" />જે યહોવાનો વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તે ને ધન્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દૈત્યો પાસે અને ખોટા દેવ પાસે મદદ માટે જતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.40.5" />હે યહોવા મારા દેવ, તમે અમારા માટે મહાન ચમત્કારો કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી પાસે અમારા માટે અદૃભૂત યોજનાઓ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા જેવું કોઇ નથી!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તે અસંખ્ય અદભૂત કૃત્યોના વિષે વારંવાર કહીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.40.6" />તમારે ખરેખર યજ્ઞોની અને ખાદ્યાર્પણની જરૂર નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે દહનાર્પણ અથવા પાપાર્થાર્પણ માગ્યાઁ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા કાન ઉઘાડ્યા છે જેથી હું તમારો સાદ સાંભળી શકુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.40.7" />મેં કહ્યું, “હું મારા વિષે પ્રબોધકોએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગ્રંથમાં લખાએલી ભવિષ્યવાણી પ્રમાણે આવ્યો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.40.8" />હે મારા દેવ, હું તમારી ઇચ્છાનુસાર કાર્ય કરવાને માટે રાજી છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો નિયમ મારા હૃદયમાં છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.40.9" />એક મહા મંડળીમાં તમારાં ન્યાયના શુભ સમાચારની જાહેરાત કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તમે જાણો છો કે મેં ક્યારેય મારું મોઢું બંધ નથી રાખ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.40.10" />મેં કયારેય તમારી નિષ્પક્ષતાને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા હૃદયમાં છુપાવી નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં મહામંડળીમાં તમારી વિશ્વસનીયતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારણ વિષે જાહેરાત કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.40.11" />હે યહોવા, તમારી અખૂટ કૃપા મારાથી પાછી ન રાખશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો સાચો પ્રેમ હંમેશા મારી રક્ષા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.40.12" />કારણ, મારા માથે સમસ્યાઓનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઢગલો ખડકાયો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા અસંખ્ય પાપોનાં બોજ નીચે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દબાઇ ગયો છું મારા પાપો
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા માથાના વાળથીયે વધારે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મારી હિંમત ગુમાવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.40.13" />હે યહોવા, કૃપા કરી ને મારી રક્ષા કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, હવે મને સહાય કરવા ઉતાવળ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.40.14" />હે યહોવા, જેઓ મને મારી નાંખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ફજેત થાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પરાજય પામો જેઓ
</q>
<q style="q1">મારું નુકશાન કરવા માગે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ શરમથી નાસી જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.40.15" />જેઓ મારી મજાક કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પરાજયથી પાયમાલ થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.40.16" />યહોવા પર અને તેના તારણ પર પ્રેમ કરનાર સર્વના હિતમાં, તેમના યહોવાના આનંદનો ભાગ સદા કાયમ રહો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉદ્ધાર ચાહનારા નિરંતર કહો, “યહોવા મોટા મનાઓ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.40.17" />હું દીન તથા દરિદ્રી છું, મારી ચિંતા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે મારા દેવ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે મારા સહાયક તથા મુકિતદાતા છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે હવે વિલંબ ન કરશો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="41" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.41.1" />જે દરિદ્રીની ચિંતા કરે છે, તે યહોવાથી આશીર્વાદિત છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંકટ સમયે ખરેખર યહોવા તેને વિપત્તિમાંથી છોડાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.41.2" />તેનું યહોવા રક્ષણ કરે છે તથા તેને જીવંત રાખે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેના શત્રુઓના બળને નષ્ટ કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જાહેરમાં તેને માન આપે છે જેથી તે સંસારમાં સુખ પામે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.41.3" />યહોવા તેને બીમારીના બિછાના પર ટકાવી રાખશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મંદવાડમાં તેનાં દુ:ખ અને ચિંતા લઇ લેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.41.4" />મેં પ્રાર્થના કરી, “હે યહોવા, મારા પર દયા રાખો અને મને મારી માંદગીમાંથી સાજો કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે મેં કબૂલાત કરી હતી કે મેં તમારી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કર્યા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.41.5" />મારા શત્રુઓ આ બધી ખરાબ બાબતો મારી વિરુદ્ધ કહે છે, “તે ટૂંક સમયમાં મૃત્યુ પામશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું નામ સમગ્ર સંસારમાંથી વિસરાઇ જશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.41.6" />મારી માંદગીમાં મુલાકાતે આવી, ઢોંગ કરી મિત્રતાનો દાવો કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હૃદયમાં અન્યાયનો સંગ્રહ કરે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે તે બહાર જાય છે તો નામોશી કરી અને તે જાહેર કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નિર્બળતાની હાંસી ઉડાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.41.7" />મારો દ્વેષ કરનારા અંદરો અંદર કાનમાં વાતો કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા વિષે તે અત્યંત ખરાબ કલ્પના કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.41.8" />તેઓ કહે છે; “તેની માંદગી એવી પ્રાણધાતક છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તે પથારીમાં પડ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઓટલે પાછો ઊઠવાનો નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.41.9" />મારો જે શ્રેષ્ઠ મિત્ર હતો, જેની સાથે મેં ઘણીવાર ભોજન લીધું હતુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને જેના પર ભરોસો હતો, તે મારી વિરુદ્ધ થઇ ગયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.41.10" />હે યહોવા, મારા પર કૃપા કરો, અને મને ફરી સાજો કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને પથારીમાંથી ઊઠાડો, જેથી હુ તેમનો ઇલાજ કરું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.41.11" />તમે મારા પર પ્રસન્ન છો એની મને ખબર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા પર શત્રુઓને વિજય આપ્યો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.41.12" />હું નિદોર્ષ હતો અને તમે મને ટેકો આપ્યો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી સમક્ષ હંમેશા ઉભો રહેવા તમે મારી મદદ કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.41.13" />ઇસ્રાએલનાં દેવ યહોવા પુરાતન કાળથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે અનંતકાળ સુધી સ્તુત્ય રહે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">આમીન તથા આમીન.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="42" />
<p sfm="ms" style="ms1">ભાગ બીજો
</p>
<p sfm="mr" style="mr">(ગીત 42-72)
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. કોરાહનાં કુટુંબઓનું માસ્કીલ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.42.1" />હરણ જેમ પાણીના ઝરણાં માટે તલપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ હે યહોવા, હું તમારા માટે તલપું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.42.2" />મારો આત્મા જીવતા દેવ માટે તરસે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારી જાતને એમની સમક્ષ ક્યારે હાજર કરી શકીશ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.42.3" />મારા આંસુ રાત દિવસ મારો ભોજન થયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શત્રુ મહેણા મારે છે, “તારા દેવ ક્યાં છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.42.4" />હે મારા આત્મા, તે સમય કયાંથી વીસરી શકાય?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉત્સવના દિવસોમાં હું મોટા લોકસમુદાયમાંથી પસાર થયો,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ આનંદથી યહોવાના સ્તુતિગીતો ગાતા હતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું સૌને એક સાથે દેવના મંદિરમાં દોરી જતો હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">એનું સ્મરણ કરતાં, મારું હૃદય ભાંગી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.42.5" />હે મારા આત્મા, તું ઉદાસ કેમ થયો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું આટલો અસ્વસ્થ અને વ્યાકુળ કેમ થયો છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવની મદદ માટે રાહ જો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની કૃપા અને મદદ માટે હું હજી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેમની પ્રાર્થના કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.42.6" />હે મારા દેવ, મારો આત્મા નિરાશ થયો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી હું તમારી કૃપાનું મિઝાર પર્વત પરથી જયાં હેમોર્ન પર્વત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યર્દન નદી મળે છે ત્યાંથી હું સ્મરણ કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.42.7" />ઘરતીના ઊંડાણનું પાણી ભાંગી ને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘોઘમાં પડવાનો અવાજ મને સંભળાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા બધા મોજાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મોટા મોજાઓ મારા પર ફરી વળ્યાઁ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.42.8" />અને છતાં યહોવા મારા માટે તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ પ્રતિદિન દર્શાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રોજ રાત્રે હું તેમના સ્તુતિગીત ગાઉં છું, એટલે મારા જીવનદાતા દેવની પ્રાર્થના કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.42.9" />દેવ મારા ખડક છે, હું તેમને કહીશ કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તમે કેમ મને ભુલી ગયા? મને કેમ તજી દીધો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે શત્રુઓના જુલમ મારે સહન કરવા પડે?”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.42.10" />તારો દેવ ક્યાં છે એમ મશ્કરીમાં રોજ પૂછીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા શત્રુઓના મહેણાં મારા હાડકાં ને કચરી નાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.42.11" />હે મારા આત્મા, શા માટે તું આટલો દુ:ખી છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું શા માટે આટલો અસ્વસ્થ અને વ્યાકુળ બની ગયો છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવની મદદ માટે રાહ જો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે મારા મુખનું તારણ તથા મારો દેવ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું હું હજી સ્તવન કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="43" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.43.1" />હે દેવ, મારો ન્યાય કરો, અને મને નિદોર્ષ પુરવાર કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે તમારો સંનિષ્ઠ અનુયાયી નથી તેવાથી મને બચાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવા ઠગ અને છેતરપીંડી કરનારા માણસથી મને બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.43.2" />કારણ, હે દેવ, તમે મારું સાર્મથ્ય છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને શા માટે તજી દીધો?
</q>
<q style="q1">દુશ્મનોની ક્રૂરતાને લીધે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું શોક કરતો ફરૂં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.43.3" />હે યહોવા, તમારું સત્ય અને પ્રકાશ પ્રગટ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી હું માર્ગદર્શન મેળવું અને તેઓ મને તમારા પવિત્ર પર્વતમાં તથા તમારા મંડપમાં લાવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.43.4" />તમે મારા અતિઆનંદ છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી વેદી પાસે હું જઇશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હે દેવ, મારી વીણા સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી આભારસ્તુતિ ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.43.5" />હે મારા આત્મા, તું શા માટે આટલો બધો ઉદાસ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું શા માટે બેચેન છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવની મદદની રાહ જો, જે મારા મુખનું તારણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા મારા દેવ છે હજી હું તેની કૃપા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મદદ માટે પ્રાર્થના કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="44" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. કોરાહનાં કુટુંબનું ગીત. માસ્કીલ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.44.1" />હે દેવ, તમે પુરાતન કાળમાં, પિતૃઓના સમયે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે મહાન કૃત્યો કર્યા હતા, તેના વિષે તેઓએ અમને કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે અમે અમારા કાનોએ સાંભળ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.44.2" />વિદેશીઓની પ્રજાને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તમારા હાથે હાંકી કાઢી,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલીઓને એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને ત્યાં વસાવ્યા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.44.3" />જેણે તેમને વિજય અપાવ્યો, તે તેમની તરવારો ન હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને તે ભૂમિનો કબજો લેવા દીધો હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ પોતાના હાથની શકિતથી પોતાનું રક્ષણ કરી શક્યાં ન હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તમારા જમણા હાથે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા ભુજે તમારા દૈવી પ્રકાશે તેઓને બચાવ્યાં હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, તમે તેમનાથી પ્રસન્ન હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.44.4" />હે દેવ, તમે મારા રાજા છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આજ્ઞા આપો અને યાકૂબના લોકોને તારણ સુધી દોરી જાવ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.44.5" />અમે અમારા શત્રુઓને માત્ર તમારી સહાયથી હરાવીશું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા નામે અમે અમારા વેરીઓને કચરી નાખીશું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.44.6" />હું મારા ધનુષ પર ભરોસો રાખતો નથી, “તરવાર”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મારો બચાવ કરી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.44.7" />તમે અમારા શત્રુના લશ્કરથી અમારી રક્ષા કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ અમારો દ્વેષ કરે છે, તેઓને તમે લજ્જિત કરો છો
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.44.8" />આખો દિવસ પર્યંત અમો દેવની સ્તુતિ કરીશું!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે સદાકાળ તમારા નામની આભારસ્તુતિ ચાલુ રાખીશું!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.44.9" />પણ હે યહોવા, તમે અમને તજી દીધા છે અને શરમિંદા કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે અમારી સાથે યુદ્ધ માટે આવ્યાં ન હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.44.10" />તમે શત્રુઓ આગળ અમારી પીછેહઠ કરાવી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ અમને તેમની ઇચ્છા મુજબ લૂંટયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.44.11" />તમે અમને તજી દીધાં છે, અમારી હાલત કાપવા માટેનાં ઘેટાઁઓ જેવી થઇ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે અમને વિદેશી પ્રજાઓમાં વિખેરી નાખ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.44.12" />તમે અમને નજીવી કિંમતમાં વેચી દીધાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમારી નજરમાં અમારી કોઇ કિંમત નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.44.13" />અમારા પડોશીઓ આગળ તમે અમને નિંદા રૂપ બનાવ્યાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારી આસપાસનાં લોકો સમક્ષ અમને હાંસીરૂપ બનાવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.44.14" />તમે અમને રાષ્ટો વચ્ચે તિરસ્કાર અને હાંસીને પાત્ર બનાવ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ અમારી સામે જુએ છે, તેઓના માથા હલાવે છે અને અમારા પર હસે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.44.15" />આખો દિવસ હું મારું કલંક જોઉં છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારું માથું શરમથી ઝૂકી ગયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.44.16" />કારણ, મારી નિંદા થાય છે અને મારા વિષે ખરાબ બોલાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુઓ, મારા શત્રુ તથા વેર વાળનારા આવું કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.44.17" />ભલે, આ બધું અમારા પર આવી પડ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તોય અમે તમને ભૂલી નથી ગયા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તમારા કરાર પ્રતિ વિશ્વાસઘાતી નથી થયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.44.18" />અમારું હૃદય તમારાથી પાછું હઠી ગયું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા માર્ગથી, અમે એક ડગલું પણ ચલિત થયા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.44.19" />તો પણ તમે અમને શિયાળવાની જગામાં કચડ્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમને તમે મોતની ગાઢ છાયાથી ઢાંકી દીધાં છે
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.44.20" />જો અમે અમારા દેવનું નામ ભૂલી ગયા હોત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા પારકા દેવોની તરફ અમારા હાથ ફેલાવ્યા હોત,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.44.21" />તો શું દેવે તે જાણ્યું ન હોત? હા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા સર્વના હૃદયનું રહસ્ય જાણે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.44.22" />પરંતુ તમારે કારણે જ અમે આખો દિવસ માર્યા જઇએ છીએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારે કારણે અમને કાપવા માટે દોરી જવાતાં ઘેટાં જેવા ગણવામાં આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.44.23" />હે યહોવા, જાગૃત થાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે ઊંઘસો નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમને સદાને માટે, દૂર કરશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.44.24" />તમે તમારું મુખ અમારાથી શા માટે અવળું ફેરવો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે અમારા સંકટો અને અમારી સતા વણીની અવગણના શા માટે કરો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.44.25" />અમો ધૂળમાં નીચે મ્હો રાખીને પડયાં છીએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારા પેટ જમીનમાં દબાઇ રહ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.44.26" />હે દેવ, અમને મદદ કરવા ઊઠો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી કૃપાથી અમને બચાવી લો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="45" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. રાગ: “શોશાન્નિમ.” કોરાહના કુટુંબનું માસ્કીલ. પ્રેમનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.45.1" />મારૂં હૃદય સુંદર શબ્દોથી ભરાઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં રાજા માટે કવિતા રચી છે તે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું બોલ છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી જીભ શ્રેષ્ઠ લેખકની જેમ ઘણા શબ્દોથી ભરાઇ ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.45.2" />તમે કોઇ પણ માણસ કરતાં વધારે સુંધર છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારાં શબ્દો કૃપાથી ભરેલાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમો દેવ દ્વારા સદાને માટે આશીર્વાદ પામેલા છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.45.3" />હે પરાક્રમી, તમે તમારી તરવાર કમરે બાંધો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગૌરવથી પ્રતાપ પરિધાન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.45.4" />તમે ભવ્ય દેખાઓ છો, જાઓ, સત્ય અને ભલાઇ અને ન્યાયની લડતમાં વિજયી થાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રભાવશાળી કાર્યો કરવા માટે તમારી શકિતશાળી જમણી બાહુ કેળવાયલી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.45.5" />તમારા તીક્ષ્ણ બાણો મારા શત્રુઓના હૃદયો વીંધે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તમારા ચરણોમાં ઢળી પડે છે અને લોકો તમારા શરણે આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.45.6" />હે દેવ, તમારૂં રાજ્યાસન સનાતન છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારો રાજદંડ એ તમારૂં ન્યાયી શાસન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.45.7" />તમને ન્યાયીપણા પર પ્રીતિ છે, અને દુષ્ટતા પ્રતિ તિરસ્કાર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે સર્વસમર્થ દેવ, હા, તારા દેવે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને સર્વ કરતાં શ્રેષ્ઠ ગણીને આનંદના તેલથી અભિષિકત કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.45.8" />હાથીદાંતના મહેલોમાં મારાં વસ્રો બોળ, અગરને તજની સુગંધથી કેવા મહેકે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તારનાં વાદ્યો તને આનંદ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.45.9" />તમારી માનીતી સ્રીઓમાં ઘણી રાજકુમારીકાઓ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શુદ્ધ સોનામાંથી બનાવેલો મુગટ પહેરેલી રાણી તમારી જમણે ઊભી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.45.10" />હે રાજકન્યા, હું કહું તે તું કાને ધર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને પછી વિચાર કર;
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા લોકોને ભૂલી જા અને તારા બાપનું ઘર ભૂલી જા.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.45.11" />તારા સૌંદર્યમાં મોહિત થઇને રાજા અતિ આનંદ પામે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તારા સ્વામી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે તેની સેવાભકિત કર.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.45.12" />તૂરના ધનવાન લોકો તમારા માટે ભેટ સોગાદો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લઇને તમને મળવા આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.45.13" />અતિ સુંદર રાજકન્યા, જનાનખાનામાં રાહ જુએ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં સુંદર જરીનાં વસ્રોમાં, સોનાના તાર વણેલા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.45.14" />તેણીએ સુંદર, શણગારેલા વસ્ત્રો પરિધાન કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણીને રાજા પાસે લઇ જવામાં આવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા માટે લાવવામાં આવેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કુમારિકાઓ તેને અનુસરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.45.15" />જ્યારે રાજમહેલમાં તેઓ પ્રવેશ કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓ આનંદ તથા ઉત્સાહથી ભરેલાં હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.45.16" />તારા વંશજો તારા પછી શાસન કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તેમને સમગ્ર પ્રદેશના હાકેમ બનાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.45.17" />હું તારું નામ સદા સર્વ પેઢીઓમાં અત્યંત પ્રિય કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી પરનાં સર્વ લોક સદા તારી આભારસ્તુતિ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="46" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. કોરાહના કુટુંબનું ગીત. અલામોથ સાથે ગાવાનું.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.46.1" />દેવ આપણો આશ્રય તથા આપણું સાર્મથ્ય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે અનુભવ કર્યો છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">સંકટ સમયનાં તેઓ સાથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્વરિત મદદ કરનાર હાજરાહજૂર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.46.2" />માટે જ્યારે પૃથ્વી પર ભારે ધરતીકંપ થાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પર્વતો તૂટી ને સમુદ્રમાં પડે, તો પણ આપણે સૌએ ડરવાની જરૂર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.46.3" />ભલે સમુદ્રનાં પાણી વિશાળકાય મોજાથી ગર્જના કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને પર્વતો ધ્રુજી ઉઠે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.46.4" />ત્યાં એક નદી છે અને ઝરણાંઓ છે જે દેવનાં નગર પરાત્પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના પવિત્રસ્થળમાં સુખને વહેતું રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.46.5" />દેવ સ્વયં તે નગરમાં વસે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ પરોઢિયે તેની સહાય કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી નગરનું પતન ક્યારેય નહિ થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.46.6" />ભયથી ધ્રુજશે વિદેશીઓ, અને ડગમગી જશે રાજ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં યહોવા ગર્જના કરશે એટલે પૃથ્વી ગઇ પીગળી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.46.7" />આપણી સાથે આકાશી સૈન્યોના અધિકારી યહોવા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણો આશ્રય યાકૂબનાં દેવ આપણી રક્ષા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.46.8" />આવો અને યહોવાના પરાક્રમો જુઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે કરેલાં પ્રભાવશાળી કાર્યો જુઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.46.9" />તે પૃથ્વીના છેડાઓ સુધી યુદ્ધોને બંધ કરી દે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધનુષ્યને ભાંગી નાખે છે, ભાલાને કાપી નાખે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રથોને અગ્નિથી સળગાવી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.46.10" />દેવ કહે છે, “લડાઇ બંધ કરો, નિશ્ચૈ જાણો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે હું દેવ છું, સવેર્ રાષ્ટો મારો આદર કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું પૃથ્વી પર સૌથી મહાન માનવામાં આવીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.46.11" />સૈન્યોના યહોવા આપણી સાથે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાકૂબનાં દેવ સદા આપણો બચાવ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="47" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. કોરાહનાં કુટુંબનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.47.1" />આવો તમે, હે સર્વ લોકો, તાળી પાડો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આનંદથી મોટા અવાજે દેવના સ્તુતિગાન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.47.2" />કારણ પરાત્પર યહોવા સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાજાધિરાજ એ અતિ ભયાવહ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.47.3" />તે બીજા રાષ્ટોને આપણા તાબામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણા શાસન નીચે મૂકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.47.4" />તે આપણા માટે આપણો વારસો પસંદ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એટલે જ તેમણે, પોતાના વહાલા યાકૂબની ઉત્તમતા પસંદ કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.47.5" />હા, આનંદના પોકારો સાથે અને રણશિંગડાના નાદ સાથે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા રાજગાદી પર ચઢી ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.47.6" />દેવનાં સ્તોત્રો ગાઓ, આપણા રાજાના સ્તોત્રો ગાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રશંસા કરતાં ગીતો ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.47.7" />દેવ સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીના રાજા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની પ્રશંસાના ગીતો ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.47.8" />તે પોતાનાં પવિત્ર સિંહાસન પર બિરાજમાન છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ પ્રજાઓ પર રાજ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.47.9" />ઇબ્રાહિમનાં દેવના લોકો સાથે બધાં રાષ્ટોના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નેતાઓ ભેગા થયા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">બધાં રાષ્ટોના બધા નેતાઓ દેવની માલિકીના જ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ સવોર્ચ્ચ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="48" />
<s level="2" style="s2">ગાયન: કોરાહનાં કુટુંબનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.48.1" />યહોવા મહાન છે, આપણ દેવના નગરમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનાં પવિત્ર પર્વતો પર તેમની ધણી સ્તુતિ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.48.2" />કેવું સિયોન પર્વતની ઊંચાઇએ આવેલું અતિ સુંદર નગર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખી પૃથ્વીના આનંદરૂપ, મહાન રાજાનું નગર,
</q>
<q style="q1">સર્વ લોકો જોઇ શકે તેવું, રમ્ય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આનંદરૂપ દ્રશ્ય, કેવું અદૃભૂત છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.48.3" />તે નગરના મહેલોમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ આશ્રયની જગા તરીકે ઓળખાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.48.4" />પૃથ્વીના સર્વ રાજાઓ એકત્ર થયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એકત્ર થઇ સૌ નગર પર
</q>
<q style="q1">કૂચ કરીને ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.48.5" />જ્યારે તેઓએ તે જોયું ત્યારે તેઓ સૌ વિસ્મય પામી ગયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભયથી ગભરાઇ ગયાં તેથી ઝડપથી પાછા ચાલ્યા ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.48.6" />તેમને ભયથી ધ્રુજારી થઇ ગઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રસૂતિની પીડા જેવું કષ્ટ થયું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.48.7" />દેવ તમે તેમને બરાબર એવી રીતે ધ્રુજાવ્યા જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે પૂર્વનાં શકિતશાળી વાયુ વડે તાશીર્શનાં વહાણોને ભાંગી નાંખો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.48.8" />આપણે દેવની શકિત વિષે સાંભળ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે તેને સૈન્યોના યહોવા દેવના નગરમાં, આપણા દેવના નગરમાં,
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે તે આપણે પોતે નિહાળીએ છીએ યરૂશાલેમનું સદાકાળ માટે દેવે સ્થાપન કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.48.9" />હે યહોવા, તમારા મંદિરમાં તમારી અચળ કૃપા વિષે અમે મનન કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.48.10" />હે દેવ, સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર તમારું નામ જાણીતું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વીની સીમા પર્યંત તમારી સ્તુતિ થાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો જમણો હાથ ન્યાયીપણાથી ભરેલો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.48.11" />તમારા ન્યાયનાં કાર્યોથી સિયોન પર્વત આનંદ પામશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહૂદિયાનાં નગરો હરખાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.48.12" />સિયોનની આસપાસ પ્રદક્ષિણા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના બુરજોની ગણતરી કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.48.13" />તેનો કોટ ધ્યાનથી જુઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના મહેલોની મુલાકાત લો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તમે તે વિષે તમારાં સંતાનોને કહી શકો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.48.14" />કારણ, આ દેવ આપણા સનાતન દેવ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે આપણને સદાય દોરી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="49" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. કોરાહનાં કુટુંબનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.49.1" />હે સર્વ પ્રજાજનો, તમે આ સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે વિશ્વવાસી લોકો તમે સાંભળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.49.2" />નિમ્ન કક્ષના કે ઉચ્ચકક્ષાનાં, શ્રીમંત કે દરિદ્રી, તમે સૌ માણસો મારા શબ્દો પર ધ્યાન આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.49.3" />હું બુદ્ધિ વિષે મારા મુખેથી બોલીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા હૃદયમાંથી નિકળતા ઉદૃગારો જ્ઞાન વિષે હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.49.4" />હું દ્રષ્ટાંત પર કાન લગાડીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વીણા પર મારો મર્મ ખોલીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.49.5" />જ્યારે સંકટો આવે છે ત્યારે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચારેબાજુથી મને શત્રુઓ ઘેરી લે એવા દુષ્ટોના સકંજામાં મારે ડરવાની જરૂર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.49.6" />જેઓ પોતાની સંપત્તિ પર ભરોસો રાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કેટલાં ધનવાન છે તેનું અભિમાન કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.49.7" />તેઓમાંનો કોઇ પોતાના ભાઇને કોઇ રીતે છોડાવી શકતાં નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવને તે તેનાં બદલામાં ખંડણી આપી શકતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.49.8" />માનવ-જીવનની એટલી મોટી કિંમત છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે દુન્યવી સંપત્તિથી તેનો મૃત્યુદંડ ચૂકવી શકાતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.49.9" />જેથી તે સદાકાળનું જીવન પામે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નરકનાં ખાડાની શિક્ષાથી બચી જાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.49.10" />બધા લોકો સાક્ષી છે કે વિદ્ધાન મૃત્યુ પામે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મૂર્ખ તેમજ હેવાન માણસો પણ મૃત્યુ પામે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તેમની પાછળ તેમની સંપત્તિ બીજાઓ માટે મૂકી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.49.11" />તેઓ જમીનજાગીરને પોતાના નામથી ઓળખાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણેકે સદાકાળને માટે તે તેઓની જ રહેવાની હોય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જાણે તેઓ સદાકાળ અધિકાર ભોગવવાના હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.49.12" />માણસો ભલે ધનવાન હોય, પણ તેઓ અહીં કાયમ માટે રહેવાના નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેવી રીતે બીજા પ્રાણીઓ મરી જાય છે તેમ તેઓ પણ મૃત્યુ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.49.13" />એવા મૂર્ખ લોકો જેમણે તેમની સંપત્તિનો વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંતે તો તેમનો અંત એવોજ આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.49.14" />પેલા લોકો બરાબર ઘેટાઁ જેવાજ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શેઓલ તેમનો વાડો બનશે અને મૃત્યુ તેમનો ઘેટાંપાળક બનશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે પેલાં અભિમાની લોકોના શરીરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના વૈભવી ઘરોથી ખૂબ દૂર શેઓલમાં ધીમેથી સડી જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દિવસે નિષ્ઠાવાન લોકો વિજયી બનશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.49.15" />દેવ મને શેઓલની પકડમાંથી છોડાવશે કારણ કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મને તેમની સાથે રહેવા લઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.49.16" />કારણ, તે લોકો ધનવાન છે, અને વૈભવી મકાનો ધરાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલા માટે તે લોકોથી ડરશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.49.17" />તેઓ જ્યારે મૃત્યુ પામે છે ત્યારે તેઓ સાથે કશુંય લઇ જઇ શકશે નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનો વૈભવ તેમની પાછળ જવાનો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.49.18" />ધનવાન વ્યકિત તેના જીવનકાળ દરમ્યાન પોતાની જાતને મહાન ગણતી હશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાની જાતને ધન્યવાદ આપ્યા હશે કે તે મહાન હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની દુન્યવી સફળતાઓ માટે લોકોએ પ્રશંસા કરી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.49.19" />પરંતુ આખરે તો તે પણ તેના પૂર્વજોની જેમ મૃત્યુ પામશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી તે જીવનનું અજવાળું ક્યારેય પણ નહિ જુએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.49.20" />જે વ્યકિત પાસે દુન્યવી વૈભવ છે, પણ આત્મિક સમજ નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વ્યકિત બુદ્ધિહીન નાશ પામનાર પશુ સમાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="50" />
<s level="2" style="s2">આસાફનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.50.1" />યહોવા, દેવોના દેવ બોલ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સમગ્ર માનવ જાતને પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધી બોલાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.50.2" />સિયોનમાંથી દેવ સવોર્ચ્ચ સુંદરતા સાથે પ્રકાશે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.50.3" />આપણા દેવ આવે છે, તેઓ મૌન રહેશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભસ્મ કરનાર અગ્નિ આગળ આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની આસપાસ મહાતોફાન જાગશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.50.4" />તેઓ અહીં પોતાના લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવા આવ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તેઓ પોતાના લોકોનો ન્યાય કરશે ત્યારે તેઓ પૃથ્વી અને આકાશને સાક્ષી તરીકે બોલાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.50.5" />જેઓએ યજ્ઞથી મારી સાથે કરાર કર્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવાં ભકતોને મારી પાસે ભેગા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.50.6" />દેવ પોતે જ ન્યાયાધીશ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનું ન્યાયીપણું આકાશો પ્રગટ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.50.7" />“હે મારા લોકો, હું કહું તે સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે ઇસ્રાએલ, હું તારી વિરુદ્ધ સાક્ષી પૂરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે હું દેવ છું, હા, હું તારો દેવ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.50.8" />મારી વેદી પર તમે જે યજ્ઞો કરો છો, મારી સામે જે નિરંતર દહનાર્પણો થાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે માટે, હું તને ઠપકો દઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.50.9" />હું તમારા ઢોરવાડામાંથી બળદો નહિ લઉં કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા નેસડામાંથી બકરાં નહિ લઉં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.50.10" />કારણકે અરણ્યનાં પ્રત્યેક પશુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હજારો ડુંગરો પરનાં પ્રાણી મારાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.50.11" />હું પર્વતો પરના સર્વ પક્ષીઓને ઓળખું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જઁગલનાં સર્વ હિંસક પ્રાણીઓ પણ મારા જ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.50.12" />જો હું ભૂખ્યો હોઇશ, તોય તમને કહીશ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ સમગ્ર સૃષ્ટિનું સર્વ મારું જ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.50.13" />શું હું બળદોનું માંસ ખાંઉ, અથવા બકરાઓનું રકતપાન કરું?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.50.14" />તેથી દેવ માટેના આભાર સ્તુતિનાં અર્પણો લઇ આવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પરાત્પર તમે આપેલા વચનો પરિપૂર્ણ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.50.15" />“મારામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખીને સંકટ સમયે મને પ્રાર્થના કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી રક્ષા કરીશ અને પછી તમે મારો મહિમા કરી શકશો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.50.16" />પણ દુષ્ટ લોકોને દેવ કહે છ કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“શા માટે તમે મારા વિધિઓ વિષે બોલો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે તમારે મારા કરાર વિષે વાત કરવી જોઇએ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.50.17" />મારા શિખામણનો તેઁ તિરસ્કાર કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી શિસ્તની તેં અવગણના કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.50.18" />જો તમે એક ચોરને જુઓ છો, તો તમે તેની સાથે જોડાવા દોડો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે વ્યભિચારીઓ સાથે વ્યભિચારમાં જોડાઓ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.50.19" />તારું મુખ શાપ આપે છે, અને તારી વાણી અસત્ય વદે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી જીભનો ઉપયોગ તું કપટની ચાલમાં કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.50.20" />તું તારા પોતાનાં ભાઇની નિંદા કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તારી માતાના પુત્રની બદનામી કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.50.21" />તમે આ ખરાબ કામો કર્યા છે છતાં મેં કાઇં કહ્યું નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તમે વિચાર્યુ કે હું હતો તમારા જેવો,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ હવે આવ્યો છે સમય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા માટે તમારી સામે આ આરોપો મૂકવાનો અને તમારા મોઢાં પર ઠપકો આપવાનો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.50.22" />તમે કે જે દેવને ભૂલી ગયા છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ટુકડા કરૂં તે પહેલા
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારે આ સમજવાનુ છે કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને બચાવવાવાળું કોઇ નહિ હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.50.23" />જે વ્યકિત આભારસ્તુતિનાં અર્પણો અર્પણ કરે છે તે મને માન આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ન્યાયને માગેર્ ચાલે છે તે વ્યકિતનું રક્ષણ કરવાં હું મારું તારણ બતાવીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="51" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.જ્યારે નાથાન પ્રબોધક દાઉદને મળ્યો, બાથશેબા સાથે પાપ કર્યા ત્યાર પછી લખાયું છે.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.51.1" />હે પ્રેમાળ દયાળુ દેવ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પર દયા કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારી મહાન સહાનુભૂતિથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પાપો ભૂંસી નાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.51.2" />હે યહોવા, મારા અપરાધ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાપોથી મને ધુઓ અને મને પરિશુદ્ધ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.51.3" />હું મારા શરમજનક કૃત્યોની કબૂલાત કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું હંમેશા મારા પાપો વિશે વિચારું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.51.4" />મેં તમારી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કર્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા તમારી વિરુદ્ધ;
</q>
<q style="q1">જે ભયંકર કૃત્યો મેં કર્યા છે તે તમે જોયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તમે તમારા નિર્ણયો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી વિરુદ્ધ લીધેલા ઠરાવોમાં સાચા અને ન્યાયી છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.51.5" />હું પાપમાં જન્મ્યો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી માતાએ પાપમાં મારો ગર્ભ ધારણ કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.51.6" />તમે માંગો છો અંત:કરણની સત્યતા અને પ્રામાણિકતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારામાના ઊંડાણમાં સાચું જ્ઞાન મૂકો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.51.7" />મારા પાપો ઝુફાથી દૂર કરો, જેથી હું શુદ્ધ થઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેથી મને હિમથી પણ શ્વેત બનાવવા માટે ધુઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.51.8" />મને સુખ અને આનંદ આપો, અને ભલે મારા હાડકાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે તમે કચડી નાંખ્યા હતાં તે ફરીથી આનંદ પામે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.51.9" />મારા પાપો તરફ જોશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભૂંસી નાખો મારા સર્વ પાપ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.51.10" />હે દેવ, મારામાં નવું શુદ્ધ હૃદય ઉત્પન્ન કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા આત્માને મજબૂત કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.51.11" />મને તમારી સંમુખથી સદાકાળ માટે દૂર કરશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે મારી પાસેથી તમારો પવિત્ર આત્મા છીનવી ન લેશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.51.12" />જ્યારે તમે મને બચાવતા જે આનંદ આપ્યો હતો તે મને પાછો આપો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા આત્માને મજબૂત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તૈયાર અને તમને અનુસરવા તત્પર બનાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.51.13" />ત્યારે હું ઉલ્લંધન કરનારાઓને તમારા માગોર્ શીખવીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાપીઓ તમારા તરફ ફરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.51.14" />હે મારા દેવ, મારા તારણહાર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને મૃત્યુદંડથી બચાવો;
</q>
<q style="q1">હું આનંદથી તમારી સ્તુતિ ગાઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તમારી નિષ્પક્ષતા વિષે બોલીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.51.15" />હે યહોવા, તમે મારા હોઠ ઉધાડો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે મારું મુખ સ્તુતિ પ્રગટ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.51.16" />તમે યજ્ઞોથી રીઝતા નથી, નહિ તો હું તે અર્પણ કરત;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને વેદી પર અર્પણ કરેલાં દહનાર્પણ પસંદ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.51.17" />દેવને જે અર્પણ જોઇએ છે તે છે ભંગિત, ખેદિત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પશ્ચાતાપી આત્મા. હે દેવ, નમ્ર અને આજ્ઞાંકિત હૃદયના વ્યકિતનો અસ્વીકાર તમે કરશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.51.18" />દેવ, તમે સિયોનનું ભલું કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યરૂશાલેમની આજુબાજુ તમે ફરી દિવાલ બાંધો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.51.19" />અને પછી તમારી વેદી પર, ગોધાઓનું અર્પણ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમને ન્યાયીપણાના યજ્ઞોથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દહનાર્પણ તથા અખંડ દહનાર્પણોથી પ્રસન્ન કરાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="52" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું માસ્કીલ, જ્યારે દોએગ અદોમીએ આવીને શાઉલને ખબર આપી કે, “દાઉદ અહીમેલેખને ત્યાં આવ્યો છે,” તે વખતે લખાયેલું છે.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.52.1" />અરે ઓ જુલમગાર, તું તારા દુષ્ટ કાર્યો વિષે શા માટે અભિમાન કરે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું લગાતાર દેવને અપકીતિર્ કરનાર છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.52.2" />તું દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓ બનાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી જીભ અણીદાર અસ્રા જેવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી જીભ દુષ્ટતા કરવા જૂઠું બોલ્યા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.52.3" />તું ભલાઇ કરતાં વધારે દુષ્ટતા ચાહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું સત્ય કરતાં વધારે અસત્ય આચરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.52.4" />તું અને તારી જૂઠી જીભ લોકોને ઇજા કરવા માંગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.52.5" />પણ દેવ તને નીચો પાડશે, અને તને ઘરમાંથી ખેંચી કાઢશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇહલોકમાંથી તને ઉખેડી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.52.6" />નિષ્પક્ષો આ જોશે અને ભય રાખશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવને માન આપશે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ હસશે અને કહેશે કે,
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.52.7" />“જે પુરુષે ઇશ્વરને પોતાનો આશ્રય ન કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્કમોર્ને વળગી રહ્યો તે પોતાના આ ધન પર ભરોસો રાખીને રહ્યો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.52.8" />પણ હું તો દેવના મંદિરમાં આબાદી પામતાં જૈતવૃક્ષ જેવો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું હંમેશા ઇશ્વરની કૃપા પર ભરોસો રાખીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.52.9" />હે યહોવા, તમે જે કાંઇ કર્યું છે, તે માટે હું સદાકાળ આભાર સ્તુતિ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા સંતોની સામે તમારું નામ ઉત્તમ છે એવું હું પ્રગટ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="53" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. માહલાથ સાથે ગાવાનું. દાઉદનું માસ્કીલ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.53.1" />માત્ર મૂર્ખ પોતાના મનમાં કહે છે કે, “દેવ છે જ નહિ” તેનું હૃદય દુષ્ટતાથી ભરેલું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવા માણસો ઘૃણાને પાત્ર અને દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓમાં કોઇ સારા કૃત્યો કરનાર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.53.2" />દેવ આકાશમાંથી નીચે મનુષ્યો ઉપર દૃષ્ટિ કરીને તપાસ કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે એવી કોઇ વ્યકિત છે જેને સાચી સમજ હોય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને મનથી દેવની શોધ કરતી હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.53.3" />તેઓમાંનાં દરેક માર્ગષ્ટ થયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ સઘળા અશુદ્ધ થયા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">કોઇ વ્યકિત ન્યાયી જીવન જીવતી નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલું કરનાર હવે કોઇ રહ્યુ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.53.4" />દેવ કહે છે કે, “દુષ્ટ કરનારાઓ શું આ નથી સમજતા?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા લોકોને તે જાણે રોટલી ખાતાં હોય તેમ ખાઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ દેવ પાસે જતા નથી, અને કદી પ્રાર્થના કરતાં નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.53.5" />જોકે કશું ડરવા જેવું નહિ હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં તેઓ અચાનક ભયભીત થઇ જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવે તે બધા દુષ્ટ લોકોને નકાર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી દેવના લોકો તેમને હરાવશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દેવ તે દુષ્ટ લોકોના હાડકાઁને વિખેરી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.53.6" />સિયોનમાંથી ઇસ્રાએલનું તારણ વહેલું આવે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા પોતે પોતાના લોકોને બંધનમાંથી છોડાવશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમને પાછા તેમના વતનમાં લાવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી યાકૂબ ખુશ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા ઇસ્રાએેલ આનંદિત થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="54" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. વાજીંત્ર સાથે ગાવા માટે દાઉદનું માસ્કીલ. જ્યારે ઝીફીઓએ આવીને શાઉલને કહ્યું કે, “દાઉદ અમારી વચ્ચે સંતાઇ રહ્યો છે.” ત્યારનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.54.1" />હે યહોવા દેવ, તમારા નામે મને બચાવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા પરાક્રમથી મારો ન્યાય કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.54.2" />હે દેવ, મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા મોઢાંની વાતો કાને ઘરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.54.3" />વિદેશનાં માણસો મારી વિરુદ્ધ થયા છે, તેઓ અતિ ક્રૂર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો જીવ લેવા ઇચ્છે છે. “દેવ છે” એ હકીકતની તેમને દરકાર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.54.4" />યહોવા દેવ, મને સહાય કરનાર છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા જીવનનો એજ આધાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.54.5" />યહોવા મારા શત્રુઓને દુષ્ટતાનો બદલો આપશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દેવ, તમારા સત્ય વચનો પ્રમાણે દુષ્ટોનો અંત લાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.54.6" />હું તમારી પાસે, રાજીખુશીથી મારા અર્પણો લાવું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, હું તમારા શુભ નામની સ્તુતિ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.54.7" />દેવે મારી, સર્વકાળે સર્વ સંકટમાં રક્ષા કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા શત્રુઓ પર વિજય અપાવ્યો, તે મેં નજરે નિહાળ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="55" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. સંગીતનાં વાજીંત્રો સાથે ગાવા માટેનું દાઉદનું માસ્કીલ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.55.1" />હે દેવ, મારી પ્રાર્થનાને સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી દયા માટેની પ્રાર્થનાની અવગણના કરશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.55.2" />હે યહોવા, મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો; ને મને ઉત્તર આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું શોકને કારણે અશાંત છું; અને વિલાપ કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.55.3" />દુશ્મનો મારી સામે બૂમો પાડી રહ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ મને ધમકી આપી ગુસ્સામાં અને ધિક્કારથી મારા પર હુમલો કર્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારા ઉપર તકલીફો લાવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.55.4" />મારા હૃદયમાં ઘણી વેદના થાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મૃત્યુની ધાકે મારા પર કબજો જમાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.55.5" />મારું શરીર ભયથી ધ્રુજે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ભયથી ઘેરાઇ ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.55.6" />મને કબૂતરની જેમ પાંખ હોત, તો કેવું સારું!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે હું દૂર ઊડી શકત અને વિશ્રામ કરત.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.55.7" />હું રણમાં દૂર સુધી ઊડી જાત અને ત્યાં મુકામ કરત.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.55.8" />વિનાશકારી પવનનાં તોફાનથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઉતાવળે નાસીને આશ્રયસ્થાને પહોંચત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.55.9" />હે યહોવા, આ દુષ્ટજનોમાં અંદરો અંદર ગેરસમજ ઊભી કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં એકબીજાની વિરુદ્ધ નગરમાં હિંસક ઝગડા જોયાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.55.10" />આખા શહેરમાં રાત-દિવસ હિંસા અને ઉપાધિ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શહેરમાં ક્રૂરતા અને દુષ્ટતા પ્રવતીર્ રહી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.55.11" />નગરમાં કેવાં વિનાશકારી પરિબળો સક્રિય છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં જુઓ ત્યાં રસ્તામાં છેતરપિંડી તથા જુલમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.55.12" />મને મહેણાં મારનાર કે નિંદા કરનાર, મારા શત્રુ ન હતા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ તો મારાથી સહન કરી શકાત;
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી વિરુદ્ધ ઊઠનાર મારો વેરી ન હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નહિ તો હું સંતાઇને નાસી છૂટયો હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.55.13" />પણ તે તો તમો છે મારા જેવા માણસ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા મિત્ર ને મારા સાથીદાર છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.55.14" />આપણે એકબીજાની સાથે સુખે વાતો કરતાં હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જનસમુદાય સાથે દેવના મંદિરમાં જતા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.55.15" />એકાએક તેમના પર મોત આવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જીવતા જ શેઓલમાં ઉતરી પડો, કારણ, તેઓનાં ઘરોમાં પાપ થાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનાં અંતરનાં ઊંડાણોમાં દુષ્ટતા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.55.16" />હું તો દેવને પોકાર કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી યહોવા મારું તારણ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.55.17" />પણ હું, મારા દુ:ખમાં; સવારે બપોરે ને રાત્રે દેવને સાદ કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.55.18" />હું ઘણા યુદ્ધોમાં લડ્યોં છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ દેવે હંમેશા મને બચાવ્યો છે અને મને સુરક્ષિત રીતે પાછો લાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.55.19" />દેવ અનાદિકાળથી ન્યાયાસન પર બિરાજમાન છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેઓને તેઓના શબ્દો સાંભળીને નમાવશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ યહોવાનો ભય રાખતાં નથી ને પોતાના માર્ગ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ બદલતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.55.20" />તેઓએ તેમનાં મિત્રો પર હુમલો કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તેમની સાથે કરેલા કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.55.21" />તેના શબ્દો છે માખણ જેવાં સુંવાળા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેનું હૃદય યુદ્ધનાં વિચારોથી ભરેલુ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">શબ્દો તેલ કરતાય વધુ નરમ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે શબ્દો છરીની જેમ કાપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.55.22" />તમારી ચિંતાઓ યહોવાને સોંપી દો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે તમને નિભાવી રાખશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ક્યારેય સદાચારી લોકોને પરાજીત થવા દેતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.55.23" />હે દેવ, તમે મારા શત્રુઓને વિનાશની ખાઇમાં ધકેલી દો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખૂની-કપટી પોતાનું અડધું આયુષ્ય પણ નથી ભોગવી શકતાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ મારા રક્ષણ માટે તો હું તમારા પર ભરોસો રાખીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="56" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. રાગ: “દૂરના ઓકમાં કબૂતર.” દાઉદનું મિખ્તામ, ગાથમાં પલિસ્તીઓએ તેને પકડ્યો તે વખતે લખાયેલું છે.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.56.1" />હે દેવ દયા કરો મારા પર, શત્રુઓ મને નડી રહ્યાં છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારી વિરુદ્ધ સતત લડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.56.2" />મારા શત્રુઓ સતત મારા પર હુમલો કરી રહ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘણા લડવૈયાઓ મારી સામે ઊભા થયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.56.3" />જ્યારે મને બીક લાગશે ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારો ભરોસો કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.56.4" />હું દેવની કૃપાથી તેમના વચન માટે સ્તુતિ કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ પર આધાર રાખું છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી મને જરાપણ બીક નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માત્ર મરણાધીન માનવી મને શું કરે તેમ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.56.5" />મારા શત્રુઓ હંમેશા મારા શબ્દોને મચડી નાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી વિરુદ્ધ કાવતરા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.56.6" />તેઓ એકઠા થાય છે ને સંતાઇ રહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારાઁ પગલાં પકડે છે, જીવ લેવાની રાહ જુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.56.7" />યહોવા, તેમને તેમના દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો માટે દેશનિકાલ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને વિદેશી રાષ્ટોનો કોપ સહન કરવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.56.8" />તમે મારી બધી વેદના જોઇ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા આંસુઓથી જ્ઞાત છો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે તેને તમારી શીશીમાં સંઘર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે બધાંયનો તમે હિસાબ રાખ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.56.9" />હું જે સમયે વિનંતી કરું છું, તે સમયે મારા શત્રુઓ પાછા ફરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ખાત્રી પૂર્વક જાણું છું કે દેવ મારા પક્ષે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.56.10" />હું દેવની તેમનાં વચનને માટે સ્તુતિ કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું યહોવાની તેનાં વચન માટે સ્તુતિ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.56.11" />મને દેવ પર ભરોસો છે, હું જરાય ડરનાર નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી માણસ મને શું કરનાર છે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.56.12" />હે યહોવા, મેં તમને વચનો આપ્યા છે, અને હું તેમને પરિપૂર્ણ કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને મારી આભાર સ્તુતિનાં અર્પણ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.56.13" />કારણકે મને તમે મૃત્યુમાંથી બચાવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા પગને લથડતાં બચાવ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી હું જીવનનાં અજવાળામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવની સામે જીવી શકું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="57" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે: રાગ: “વિનાશ કરતો નહિ” દાઉદનું મિખ્તામ. તે શાઉલથી ભાગી જઇને ગુફામાં રહેતો હતો તે વખતનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.57.1" />હે દેવ, મારા પર દયા કરો, કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો આત્મા તારા શરણ આપ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">આ તોફાન શમી જાય ત્યાં સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી પાંખોની છાયામાં આશ્રય લઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.57.2" />હું પરાત્પર દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દેવને જે મારી સંપૂર્ણ સંભાળ રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.57.3" />તે આકાશમાંથી સહાય મોકલશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને બચાવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ મને નુકશાન કરવા માગે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાથી મને ઉગારશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.57.4" />મારું જીવન જોખમમાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું માનવભક્ષી સિંહોનાં જેવા
</q>
<q style="q1">હિંસક દુશ્મનોથી ઘેરાયો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના દાંત તીર ને ભાલાં જેવા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની જીભ જાણે ધારદાર તરવાર સમાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.57.5" />હે દેવ, તમે આકાશથી પણ ઊંચે છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો મહિમા સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી કરતાં મોટો થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.57.6" />મારા શત્રુઓએ મારા માટે ફાંદો ગોઠવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને પ્રબળ દુશ્મનોએ નીચો નમાવી દીધો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ મારા માર્ગમાં ખાડો ખોધ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુઓ! તેમાંજ તેઓ પોતે પડી ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.57.7" />હે દેવ! મારું હૃદય તૈયાર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું હૃદય તમારો વિશ્વાસ કરવા માટે અડગ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દેવ સ્તોત્રો ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.57.8" />હે મારા આત્મા, મારી વીણા અને તંબુરાઓ જાગ્રત થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પ્રભાતમાં વહેલો જાગીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને હું પરોઢને આવકાર આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.57.9" />હે યહોવા, હું રાષ્ટો વચ્ચે તમારી પ્રશંસાના ગીતો ગાઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા લોકો પાસે હું તમારા વિષે ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.57.10" />તમારો પ્રેમ એટલો મહાન છે કે તે આભને આંબે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી વિશ્વસનીયતા પણ આકાશ જેટલી ઉંચે પહોંચે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.57.11" />હે દેવ, તમે આકાશથી પણ ઊંચે છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો મહિમા સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી કરતાં મોટો થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="58" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. રાગ “વિનાશ કરતો નહિ” દાઉદનું મિખ્તામ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.58.1" />ઓ ન્યાયાધીશો, શું ખરેખર જે ન્યાય છે તે તમે બોલો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું ખરેખર તમે લોકોનો નિષ્પક્ષપણે ન્યાય કરો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.58.2" />ના, તમે કેવળ દુષ્ટતા કરવાના વિચાર કરો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા હાથે જ તમે પૃથ્વી પર હિંસા થાય તેવું કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.58.3" />દુષ્ટ માણસો જન્મથી જ ખોટા માગેર્ વળે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારથી જ દેવથી દૂર થાય છે, ને અસત્ય બોલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.58.4" />તેઓનું વિષ સાપના વિષ જેવું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેમનાં કાન બંધ રાખે છે, તેઓ બહેરા સાપ જેવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.58.5" />ગારુડી અતિ કુશળતાથી મહવર વગાડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાંય તેનો સાદ સંભળાતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.58.6" />હે દેવ, તમે તેઓના દાંત તોડી નાંખો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તમે યુવાન સિંહોની દાઢો તોડી પાડો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.58.7" />સૂકી ધરતી પર જેમ પાણી ચૂસાઇ જાય તેમ તેમને અદ્રશ્ય થવા દો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુકાયેલા ઘાસની જેમ તેઓને કચડાઇ અને ચગદાઇ જવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.58.8" />તમે તેઓને કાદવમાં ઓગળતી જતી ગોકળગાય જેવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેણે સૂર્ય કદી જોયો નથી તેવા સમય પહેલા જન્મેલા મૃતબાળકના જેવા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.58.9" />તમારા હાંલ્લાંને કાંટાનો તાપ લાગે તે પહેલાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી તે લીલા હોય કે સૂકા,
</q>
<q style="q1">તો પણ, વંટોળિયો પળવારમાં ઘસડીને લઇ જશે તેમ તેનાથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ વધુ ઝડપે યુવાન અને વૃદ્ધનો નાશ થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.58.10" />દુષ્ટ લોકોએ તેના તરફ કરેલાં દુષ્ટ કાર્યો માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને શિક્ષા થતી જોઇને સજ્જન વ્યકિતને આનંદ થશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે એક સૈનિક જેવો થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેણે તેનાં શત્રુઓને હરાવ્યાં છે.<f caller="+"><fr>58:10
</fr><fk>તે એક … હરાવ્યા છે
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે, “તે તેનો પગ દુષ્ટ માણસોના લોહીથી ધોસે.”</ft></f>
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.58.11" />માટે લોકો કહેશે કે, ન્યાયીજનને અવશ્ય બદલો મળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંસારમાં ખરેખર ન્યાય કરનાર દેવ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="59" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. રાગ: “વિનાશ કરતો નહિ” દાઉદનું મિખ્તામ-શાઉલે તેને મારવા માટે ઘરની ચોકી કરવા માણસો મોકલ્યા તે વખતે લખાયેલું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.59.1" />હે મારા દેવ, મારા શત્રુઓથી મારી રક્ષા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી વિરુદ્ધ જેઓ ઊઠે છે, તેઓથી તમે મને ઉગારો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.59.2" />દુષ્ટતા કરનારાઓથી તમે મને બચાવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખૂની માણસોથી તમે મને બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.59.3" />ઘાતકી માણસો છુપાઇ રહીને મારો જીવ લેવા કેવા રાહ જોઇ રહ્યાં છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, મેં કોઇ પાપ કર્યુ છે કે કોઇ અપરાધ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે જેથી વિપત્તિ મારા ઉપર આવી છે, એવું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.59.4" />જો કે મારો દોષ ન હોવા છતાં તેઓ અહીં ધસી આવ્યા છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારા ઉપર હુમલો કરવાની તૈયારી કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, જાગૃત થાઓ, આ બધું જુઓ, અને મને સહાય કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.59.5" />હે યહોવા, સૈન્યોના દેવ; ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, જાગૃત થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ વિદેશી પ્રજાઓને શિક્ષા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે કપટ કરનાર દુષ્ટ અપરાધીઓ પર જરાય દયા રાખશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.59.6" />તેઓ સંધ્યાકાળે પાછા આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ કૂતરાની જેમ ઘૂરકે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નગરની આસપાસ ફેરા ખાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.59.7" />તેઓ અપમાનો અને ધમકીઓ ઉચ્ચારે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના હોઠોમાંથી તરવારની જેમ શબ્દો નીકળે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને કોણ સાંભળે છે તેની ચિંતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.59.8" />હે યહોવા, તમે તેઓને હસી કાઢો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિદેશી પ્રજાની હાંસી ઉડાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.59.9" />હે દેવ, મારા સાર્મથ્ય! હું તમારી વાટ જોઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારી સુરક્ષાનો ઊંચો મજબૂત ગઢ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.59.10" />યહોવા મારો કૃપાળુ દેવ મને મદદ કરવા આગળ આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મને શત્રુઓનો પરાજય જોવા દેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.59.11" />દેવ, હમણાં તેઓનો સંહાર ન કરશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે મારા માણસો ભૂલી જાય. હે યહોવા, અમારી ઢાલ, વિખેરી નાખો અને તેમને તમારા સાર્મથ્યથી હરાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.59.12" />તેઓ બધા પોતાના મુખનાં શબ્દોથી શાપ આપી પાપ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના જ હોઠે અસત્ય બોલે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના જ અભિમાનમાં તેઓને ફસાઇ જવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.59.13" />તમે તમારા ક્રોધમાંજ તેઓનો સંહાર કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી સંપૂર્ણ વિનાશ થાય;
</q>
<q style="q1">પછી સર્વ લોકો જાણશે કે ઇસ્રાએલમાં દેવ રાજ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનો જ અધિકાર સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.59.14" />સંધ્યાકાળે દુષ્ટો પાછા આવી કૂતરાની જેમ ધૂરકે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ ચોરી છૂપીથી નગરમાં ફરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.59.15" />તેઓ ખાવા સારું ખોરાક માટે રખડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને સંતોષ ન થાય ત્યારે ઘૂરકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.59.16" />પણ હું તો તમારા સાર્મથ્યનું ગીત ગાઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સવારમાં હું તમારી કૃપા વિષે ગાઇશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ તમે મારા મજબૂત ગઢ છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સંકટના સમયે સુરક્ષિત સ્થળ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.59.17" />હે મારા સાર્મથ્ય, હું તમારા સ્તોત્રો ગાઉં છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તમે મારા મજબૂત ગઢ છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ, તમે મને પ્રેમ કરનારા છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="60" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. રાગ: “કરાર નું કમળ” શિખામણ માટે દાઉદનું મિખ્તામ, તે અરામ-નાહરાઇમ તથા અરામ-સોબાહ સાથે લડ્યો, ને યોઆબે પાછા ફરીને ખારના નીચાણમાં અદોમમાંના 12,000 સૈનિકો માર્યા તે સમયે લખાયેલું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.60.1" />હે દેવ, તમે અમને તજી દીધા છે.અમારું કવચ તૂટી ગયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તમે અમારા પર કોપાયમાન થયા છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહેરબાની કરીને અમને ફરીથી સંપૂર્ણ બનાવી દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.60.2" />તમે ધરતીકંપ કરીને પૃથ્વીને ચીરી નાખી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તેને ફરીથી યથાર્થ બનાવી દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુઓ તેના પાયા હલી ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.60.3" />તમે તમારા લોકોને અતિ વિકટ સમયમાં લઇ ગયાં છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારેલી લપડાકોએ અમને લથડિયાં ખવડાવ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.60.4" />તમે તમારી બીક રાખનારાઓને ધ્વજા આપી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચેતવણી આપી છે, જેથી તેઓ વિનાશમાં રક્ષા પામે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.60.5" />આવો અને તમારા જમણા હાથથી અમને બચાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પ્રાર્થનાનો જવાબ આપો અને જેને તમે પ્રેમ કરો છો તેમને તમે બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.60.6" />જ્યારે દેવે તેમની પવિત્રતાએ કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“વિજય પામીને હું શખેમનાં ભાગ પાડીશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સુક્કોથની ખીણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા લોકમાં વહેંચીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે હું ખૂબ ખુશ થઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.60.7" />ગિલયાદ મારું છે, મનાશ્શા મારું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એફ્રાઈમ મારું શિરસ્રણ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહૂદિયા મારો રાજદંડ બનશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.60.8" />મોઆબ મારા પગ ધોવા માટેનો વાટકો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે મારા પગરખાં લઇ જાય છે તે અદોમ મારૂં ગુલામ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પલિસ્તીઓ હરાવીશ અને વિજયના પોકાર કરીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.60.9" />મોરચાબંધ અદોમ નગરમાં મને કોણ લાવશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના પર વિજય મેળવીને કોણ પ્રવેશ કરાવશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.60.10" />હે દેવ, શું તમે અમને તજી દીધા છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે અમારા સૈન્ય સાથે આગેકૂચ કરતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.60.11" />હા યહોવા, અમારા શત્રુઓ વિરુદ્ધ તમે અમારી સહાય કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, માણસોની સહાય વ્યર્થ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.60.12" />દેવના સાથથી અમે પરાક્રમો કરીશું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, તેજ અમારા શત્રુઓને કચડી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="61" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. તારવાળાં વાજીંત્ર સાથે ગાવા માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.61.1" />હે દેવ, મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી અરજી પર ધ્યાન આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.61.2" />જ્યારે મારું હૃદય વ્યાકુળ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે પૃથ્વીને છેડેથી હું આપને પ્રાર્થના કરીશ!
</q>
<q style="q1">હું પોતે સુરક્ષાનો મજબૂત ખડક ચઢી શકતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તે પર તમે મને લઇ જજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.61.3" />તમે મારૂં આશ્રય છો અને મજબૂત બૂરજ છો જે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને મારા શત્રુઓથી બચાવે છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.61.4" />હું સદાકાળ તમારા મંડપમાં રહીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી પાંખોના આશ્રયે રહીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.61.5" />હે દેવ, મેં તમને કરેલી પ્રતિજ્ઞાઓ તમે સ્વીકારી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ તમારો ડર રાખે છે અને તમારો આદર કરે છે તેને તમે ઉપહાર આપો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.61.6" />રાજાના વષોર્માં વૃદ્ધિ કરો જેથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આવનાર પેઢીઓ સુધી જીવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.61.7" />તે સદાકાળ દેવની સંમુખ રહેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની રક્ષા કરવા સત્ય ને કૃપા તૈયાર રાખજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.61.8" />હું, નિરંતર તમારા નામની સ્તુતિ ગાઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દરરોજ મારી પ્રતિજ્ઞા પરિપૂર્ણ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="62" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. યદૂથૂનની રીત મુજબ ગાવા માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.62.1" />દેવ સમક્ષ મારો આત્મા શાંત રહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી રક્ષા કરવા તેની ધીરજથી રાહ જોઉ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ ફકત તે જ મારૂં તારણ કરી શકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.62.2" />હા, તે એકલાં જ મારા ખડક તથા તારક, તે મારા ગઢ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમર્થ શત્રુઓ પણ મને પરાજય આપી શકે તેમ નથી, પછી મને શાનો ભય?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.62.3" />જે વ્યકિત નમી ગયેલી ભીંત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે ભાગી ગયેલી વાડ જેવી નિર્બળ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના ઉપર તમે સર્વ માણસો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્યાં સુધી આક્રમણ કરશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.62.4" />તેઓ તેને તેના શ્રેષ્ઠ સ્થાનેથી નીચે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાડી દેવા ચાહે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ જૂઠથી હરખાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મુખેથી આશીર્વાદ આપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હૃદયથી શાપ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.62.5" />મારો આત્મા દેવ સમક્ષ શાંતિથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધૈર્યથી રાહ જુએ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું અપેક્ષા રાખુ છુ કે તે મારી રક્ષા કરે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, તે એકલોજ મને બચાવી શકે તેમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.62.6" />હા, તે એકલા જ મારા ખડક, તારક અને ગઢ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઉથલાઇ જનાર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.62.7" />ઇશ્વરમાં મારું ગૌરવ તથા તારણ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો સાર્મથ્યનો ખડક અને આશ્રય પણ ઇશ્વરમાંજ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.62.8" />હે લોકો, દેવનો હંમેશા ભરોસો કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી શું મનોકામના છે તે તેને કહો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા સૌનો આશ્રય દેવ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.62.9" />ખરેખર લોકો મદદ કરી શકતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવની સાથે સરખાવીએ તો, તેઓ કાંઇજ નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">ફકત તમારી દમન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દબાણથી હવાના એક સુસવાટા સમાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.62.10" />દમન કરીને બળજબરીથી વસ્તુઓ લેવાની તમારી શકિત પર આધાર રાખશો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લૂંટ કરીને મેળવવું છે એવું વિચારશો નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">જો તમે ધનવાન બનો તો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી સંપત્તિ તમને મદદ કરશે એવો આધાર રાખશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.62.11" />દેવ એકવાર બોલ્યાં છે, ને મેં બે વાર સાંભળ્યું છે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“સાર્મથ્ય દેવ પાસે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.62.12" />ઓ યહોવા, કૃપા પણ તમારી જ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિતને કર્માનુસાર તેના કર્મનું ફળ આપો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="63" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત. તે યહૂદિયાના અરણ્યમાં હતો તે વખતનુ ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.63.1" />હે દેવ, તમે મારા દેવ છો; તમારી શોધમાં હું કેટલું ફર્યો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જળ ઝંખતી વેરાન સૂકી ભૂમિની જેમ;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારે માટે મારો આત્મા કેટલો તલસે છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને દેહ તલપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.63.2" />તેથી તમારું સાર્મથ્ય તથા ગૌરવ જોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં હું અપેક્ષા રાખું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.63.3" />કારણ, તમારી કૃપા જીવન કરતાં ઉત્તમ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી જ હું તમારી પુષ્કળ સ્તુતિ કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.63.4" />હું તમારી સ્તુતિ મૃત્યુપર્યંત કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને હું બે હાથ જોડીને પ્રાર્થના કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.63.5" />મારી પથારીમાં હું તમારૂં સ્મરણ કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મધરાતે તમારૂં ધ્યાન ધરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.63.6" />જાણે કે મેં શ્રેષ્ઠ ખોરાક ખાધો હોય તેમ મારો આત્મા તૃપ્તિ અનુભવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આનંદી હોઠોથી મારું મુખ તમારી સ્તુતિ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.63.7" />તમે મને સહાય કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તમારી પાંખોની છાયામાં હરખાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.63.8" />મારા આત્માએ તમારો કેડો પકડ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી મને તમારો જમણો હાથ ઊંચકી રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.63.9" />જેઓ મારું જીવન નષ્ટ કરવાની યોજના ઘડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જરૂર પૃથ્વીના ઉંડાણમાં ધકેલાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.63.10" />તેઓ તરવારથી માર્યા જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જંગલી શિયાળો દ્વારા ખવાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.63.11" />પરંતુ રાજા દેવમાં આનંદ કરશે, અને તેમાંના દરે કે જેણે તેમને આજ્ઞાંકિત રહેવા વચન આપ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેમની સ્તુતિ કરશે, અને જૂઠાઓનાં મોંઢા બંધ કરી દેવાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="64" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.64.1" />હે યહોવા, મારી ફરિયાદનો પોકાર સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શત્રુ તરફના ભયથી મને ઉગારો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.64.2" />દુષ્ટ લોકો મારી વિરુદ્ધ કાવતરાં કરે છે અને મારી સામે ગુપ્ત યોજનાઓ ઘડે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાથી મને છુપાવી દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.64.3" />તેઓએ તેમની જીભને તરવાર જેવી તીક્ષ્ણ બનાવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં કડવાં શબ્દો તીર જેવાં છે, જે પાછા ખેંચાઇને વીંધવા માટે તૈયાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.64.4" />તેઓ જાડીમાં છુપાય છે અને નિદોર્ષો ઊપર તેમનાં તીર ચલાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ઓચિંતો જ હુમલો કરીને તેઓને મારી નાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આમ કરતાં તેઓ ગભરાતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.64.5" />તેઓ પોતાની દુષ્ટ ધારણા ઢ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગુપ્ત જાળ બીછાવવા મસલત કરે છે; તેઓ કહે છે કે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“અમને અહીં જોનાર કોણ છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.64.6" />તેઓ દુષ્ટકૃત્યો કરવા માટે યોગ્ય તકની ચતુરાઇથી રાહ જુએ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનાં હૃદયનાં ઊંડાણમાં દુષ્ટ વિચારો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ખરાબ યોજનાઓ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.64.7" />પણ દેવ પોતે તેઓને “બાણ” મારશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એકાએક તેઓને વીંધી નાંખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.64.8" />દેવ તેઓના પોતાના શબ્દો તેમની વિરુદ્ધ ફરે તેમ કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ ઠોકર ખાશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">જે કોઇ તેઓને જોશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વ આશ્ચર્યથી માથાઁ ધુણાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.64.9" />ત્યારે લોકોને દેવનો ભય લાગશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ દેવનાં કૃત્યો વિશે બીજાઓને કહેશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દેવનાં અદ્ભૂત કાર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિષે બીજાઓને શીખવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.64.10" />સદાચારીઓ યહોવામાં આનંદ માણશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દેવ પર આધાર રાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધાં સાચા અનુયાયીઓ તેની સ્તુતિ ગાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="65" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. પ્રશંસાનું દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.65.1" />હે દેવ, સિયોનમાં અમે તમારી સ્તુતિ કરતાં શાંતપણે વાટ જોઇએ છીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમે અમારી પ્રતિજ્ઞાઓ પૂર્ણ કરીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.65.2" />તમે હંમેશા લોકોની પ્રાર્થનાઓ સાંભળો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેથી બધાં તમારી પાસે પ્રાર્થના સાથે આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.65.3" />અમારા પાપો અમારા માટે ખૂબ ભારે બન્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે સર્વ પાપોને ભૂંસી નાંખો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.65.4" />તેઓ કે જેઓને તમારા પવિત્ર મંડપનાં આંગણાઓમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી નજીક પહોંચવા તમે પસંદ કર્યા છે, તેઓ આશીર્વાદિત છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા ઘરની, એટલે તમારા પવિત્ર મંદિરની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સારી વસ્તુઓથી અમે તૃપ્ત થયા છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.65.5" />હે અમારા તારણનાં દેવ, ન્યાયીકરણથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે અદ્ભૂત કૃત્યો વડે અમને ઉત્તર દેશો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે પૃથ્વીની સર્વ સીમાઓના તથા દૂરનાં સમુદ્રો સુધી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે સર્વ માનવ જાતનાં એકમાત્ર આશ્રય છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.65.6" />દેવે તેમની અદભૂત શકિતથી પર્વતો રચ્યાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સાર્મથ્યથી સુસજજીત હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.65.7" />તોફાની “સમુદ્રોને” અને મોજાઓની ગર્જનાને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા લોકોનાં હુલ્લડને તમે શાંત કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.65.8" />આખી પૃથ્વી પરના લોકો દેવનાં મહિમાવંત કાર્યો નિહાળશે, અને આશ્ચર્ય પામશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૂર્યનાં ઉદય અને અસ્તનાં સ્થળોએ તમે આનંદનાં ગીતો ગવડાવશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.65.9" />તમે એ છો જે પૃથ્વીની સંભાળ લે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભૂમિને પાણી આપે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવની નદી પાણીથી ભરેલી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેના લોકોને સારી ફસલ મળે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.65.10" />તમે ખેતરનાં ચાસોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વરસાદનું પાણી આપો છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">વરસાદનાં ઝાપટાંથી તમે ભૂમિને નરમ કરો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમાં થતી ફસલને આશીર્વાદ આપો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.65.11" />તમે વર્ષને પુષ્કળ ફસલથી આશીર્વાદિત કરો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ઋતુઓના ચક્રને ખૂબ વિપુલતાથી પૂર્ણ કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.65.12" />વેરાન ખેતરો ઘાસથી ભરાઇ ગયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘાસથી ભરેલી ટેકરીઓ આનંદથી ભરાઇ ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.65.13" />વળી ઘાસનાં બીડો ઘેટાઓના ટોળાથી ઢંકાઇ જાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ખીણો ભરપૂર અનાજના પાકથી ઢંકાયેલી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખી પૃથ્વી હર્ષનાદનાં પોકાર કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હા, તેઓ ગીતો ગાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="66" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. સ્તુતિગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.66.1" />હે સર્વ પૃથ્વીવાસી લોકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે દેવ સંમુખ હર્ષના ગીત ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.66.2" />તેમનાં નામનાં ગૌરવની સ્તુતિ ગાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્તુતિગાનથી તેમને મહિમાવાન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.66.3" />દેવને કહો, તમારા કામ કેવાં અદ્ભૂત છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શત્રુઓ તમારા સાર્મથ્યથી તમારી આગળ નમે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.66.4" />આખી પૃથ્વીની બધી પ્રજાઓ તમારી આગળ નમી જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી ઉપાસના કરશે, તેઓ તમારા નામનાં ગૌરવની સ્તુતિ ગાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.66.5" />આવો, અને દેવના મહાન કૃત્યો નિહાળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેવાં આશ્ચર્યકારક કાર્યો તેમણે લોકો માટે કર્યા છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.66.6" />સૂકવી નાખ્યો તેણે સમુદ્રને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં લોકોએ પગે ચાલીને નદી પાર કરી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં અમે તેનામાં આનંદિત થયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.66.7" />તે પોતાના પરાક્રમથી સદાકાળ રાજ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રજાઓની સર્વ હિલચાલ તેની આંખો જુએ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બંડખોર પ્રજાજનો દેવ વિરુદ્ધ માથું ઊંચુ નહિ કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.66.8" />હે પ્રજાજનો, આપણા દેવને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધન્યવાદ આપો અને તેનાં સ્તવનનો ધ્વનિ સંભળાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.66.9" />તે આપણા આત્માને જીવનમાં સુરક્ષિત રાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણા પગને લપસી જવા દેતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.66.10" />હે યહોવા, તમે અમારી કસોટી કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને ચાંદીની જેમ અગ્નિથી શુદ્ધ કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.66.11" />તમે અમને તમારી જાળમાં પકડ્યાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારી પીઠ પર ભારે બોજો મૂક્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.66.12" />તમે અમારા શત્રુઓને અમારા ઉપર ચાલવા દીધાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને અગ્નિ અને પાણીમાંથી ચાલવું પડ્યું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે અમને અંતે સંપત્તિ અને સમૃદ્ધિનાં સ્થળે લઇ આવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.66.13" />દહનાર્પણો લઇને હું તમારા મંદિરમાં આવીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી સંમુખ માનતાઓ પૂર્ણ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.66.14" />હું સંકટમાં હતો ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તમારી સમક્ષ પ્રતિજ્ઞાઓ લીધી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.66.15" />તેથી હું તમારી પાસે આ પુષ્ટ બકરાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘેટાં અને વાછરડાં લાવ્યો છું;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારી સમક્ષ દહનાર્પણોની ધૂપ પહોંચશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.66.16" />હે દેવનાં ભકતો, તમે સર્વ સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે મારા હકમાં જે કાંઇ કર્યુ છે તે હું તમને કહીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.66.17" />મેં મારા મુખે તમને અરજ કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી જીભે તેમનું સ્તવન કર્યુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.66.18" />જો હું મારા હૃદયમાઁ દુષ્ટતા કરવાનો ઇરાદો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાખું તો યહોવા મારું નહિ સાંભળે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.66.19" />પણ દેવે ચોક્કસ મારું સાંભળ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી પ્રાર્થના પર કાન ધર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.66.20" />સ્તુતિ હો દેવની,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે મારી પ્રાર્થના નકારી કાઢી નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે મારા પરની કૃપા તેમણે અટકાવી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="67" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. વાજીંત્રો સાથે સ્તુતિનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.67.1" />હે દેવ, અમારા પર કૃપા કરો, અને આશીર્વાદ આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને અમારા પર તમારા મુખનો પ્રકાશ આવવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.67.2" />જેથી પૃથ્વી પરનો પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિત તમારા માગોર્ વિષે ભલે શીખે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલે બધીજ પ્રજાઓ તમારા તારણની શકિત વિષે જાણે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.67.3" />હે દેવ, લોકો તમારી આભારસ્તુતિ કરે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ લોકો તમારી આભારસ્તુતિ કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.67.4" />પ્રજાઓ આનંદ કરશે અને હર્ષથી ગાશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, પૃથ્વી પરની પ્રજાઓ ઉપર તમે રાજ કરશો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકોનો અદલ ઇન્સાફ કરશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.67.5" />હે દેવ, લોકો તમારી આભારસ્તુતિ કરે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે પ્રજાઓ, તમે તેમનો આભાર માનો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.67.6" />પૃથ્વીએ આપણને તેનો વિપુલ પાક આપ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા, યહોવા આપણા દેવ આપણને આશીર્વાદ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.67.7" />દેવ આપણને આશીર્વાદ આપશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વીનાં સર્વ લોકો દેવનો ભય રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="68" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. પ્રશઁસાનું દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.68.1" />હે દેવ ઊઠો, તમારા શત્રુઓ વિખરાઇ જાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં સર્વ શત્રુઓ તેની પાસેથી ભાગી જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.68.2" />તેઓને ધુમાડાની જેમ ઉડાવી નાંખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ મીણ અગ્નિથી ઓગળી જાય છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ દુષ્ટો દેવ સંમુખ નાશ પામો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.68.3" />પણ ન્યાયીઓ આનંદ કરો, અને હર્ષ પામો દેવ સંમુખ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા, સૌ અતિ આનંદ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.68.4" />દેવ સમક્ષ ગીત-ગાન કરો, તેમનાં નામનાં સ્તુતિગાન કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે રેતીનાં રણમાં તેનાં રથ પર સવારી કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">રણમાં તેમના માટે સડકો બાંધો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમનું નામ છે યાહ,<f caller="+"><fr>68:4
</fr><fk>યાહ
</fk><ft>આ દેવ માટેનું હિબ્રુ નામ છે. આ સામાન્ય રીતે “યહોવા” જેમ ભાષાંતરિત થતું હિબ્રૂ નામ છે.</ft></f> તેમની સામે ઉલ્લાસ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.68.5" />આ દેવ, પોતાના પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં અનાથનાં પિતા ને વિધવાઓનાં રક્ષક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.68.6" />દેવ એકાકી લોકોને ઘર આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેદીઓને બંધનમાથી મુકત કરે છે અને સંપન્ન કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ બંડખોરોને સૂકા અને વેરાન પ્રદેશમાં રહેવાની ફરજ પાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.68.7" />હે દેવ, જ્યારે તમે લોકોની આગળ આગળ ચાલ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે વેરાન રણમાં કૂચ કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.68.8" />દેવ, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સિનાઇ પર્વત પાસે આવ્યાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘરા ધ્રુજી ઊઠી અને આકાશ ઓગળી ગયું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.68.9" />હે દેવ, તમે ધોધમાર વરસાદ મોકલ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સૂક્કી જમીનને તાજી કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.68.10" />ત્યાં તમારી પ્રજાએ કાયમી વસવાટ કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દેવ, તમે તમારી સમૃદ્ધિથી દરિદ્રીઓની ભૂખ ભાંગી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.68.11" />જ્યારે યહોવાએ આદેશ આપ્યો, સ્ત્રીઓનું મોટું ટોળું બધી જગાએ હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોને તે વિષે તું સારા સમાચાર વિષે કહે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.68.12" />“ઉતાવળથી રાજાઓ અને તેના સૈન્યો ભાગી જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘરે સ્રીઓ લડાઇમાં કરેલી લૂંટ વહેંચી લે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.68.13" />જેઓ ધેર રહ્યાં છે તેમને રૂપાથી મઢેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સુવર્ણથી ચળકતી કબૂતરની પાંખો મળશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.68.14" />જેમ સાલ્મોનના હિમાચ્છાદિત શિખરોનો બરફ પીગળી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ જુઓ દેવે તેઓના શત્રુઓને વિખેરી નાંખ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.68.15" />બાશાનનો પર્વત દેવનો ભવ્ય પર્વત છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાશાનનો ઘણાં શિખરોવાળો પર્વત ઘણો મજબૂત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.68.16" />હે પર્વતો, શા માટે તમે સિયોન પર્વતની અદેખાઇ કરો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે જેને યહોવા પોતાને રહેવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે ઇચ્છતા હતાં જ્યાં તે સદાકાળ રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.68.17" />યહોવા, પોતાના અસંખ્ય રથો સાથે સિનાઇના પર્વત પરથી આવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પોતાના પવિત્ર મંદિરમાં આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.68.18" />જ્યારે તે ઉંચાઇ પર જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બંદીવાનોની કૂચને ઘેરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે લોકો તેમની વિરુદ્ધ થયા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની પાસેથી તથા માણસો<f caller="+"><fr>68:18
</fr><fk>જે … તથા માણસો
</fk><ft>“તેણે માણસોને ભેટો તરીકે લીધા.” અથવા, “તેણે માણસોને ભેટો આપી,” પૌરાણીક સાવરીઆક અને અરમાનીક અનુવાદો પ્રમાણે.</ft></f> પાસેથી ભેટો સ્વીકારવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા દેવ ત્યાં નિવાસ કરવાં ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.68.19" />ધન્ય છે પ્રભુને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે જેઓ રોજ આપણો બોજો ઊંચકી લે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓજ સૌનું તારણ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.68.20" />તેઓજ આપણને મૃત્યુથી મુકત કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા જ આપણા તારણના દેવ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.68.21" />પણ દેવ પોતાનાં શત્રુઓનાં માથા ફોડી નાખશે, કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ અપરાધના માગોર્ છોડી દેવાની ના પાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.68.22" />મારા પ્રભુને કહ્યું, “હું તેમને બાશાનથી પાછા લાવીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ શત્રુઓને ઊંડા સમુદ્રમાંથી પાછા લાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.68.23" />જેથી ભલે તમે શત્રુઓનાં રકતમાં ચાલો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા કૂતરાઓની જીભને પણ તે ભલે ચાખવા મળે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.68.24" />હે દેવ, તેઓ તમારી વિજયકૂચ જોશે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારા રાજાને, વિજય કૂચને દોરતા મારા પવિત્ર દેવને જોશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.68.25" />આગલી હરોળમાં ગાયકો કૂચ કરતાં આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના પછી સંગીતકારો, અને તેઓ ડફલી વગાડતી કન્યાઓથી ઘેરાયેલા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.68.26" />હે મંડળો, તમે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલના સંતાનો તમે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, એ ઇસ્રાએલનાં ઝરા સમાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.68.27" />બિન્યામીનનું નાનું કુળ ત્યાં આગેવાની આપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહૂદાના સરદારો, ઝબુલોન,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નફતાલીના સરદારો તેઓની સભા પાછળ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.68.28" />હે યહોવા, તમારુ સામથર્ય બતાવો અને અગાઉ તમે અમારે માટે કર્યુ હતું તેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા મોટાં કાર્યો અમારી ભલાઇ માટે જાણ થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.68.29" />યરૂશાલેમનાં તમારાં મંદિરમાં પૃથ્વીનાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાજાઓ ઉપહારો લઇને આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.68.30" />બરુઓ વચ્ચે છુપાયેલા “પ્રાણીઓને” ઠપકો આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાષ્ટોના વાછરડાઁ જેવા લોકોને આખલાઓનાં ટોળાઓને પણ ઠપકો આપો,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી તેઓ તમારે શરણે આવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા માટે ચાંદીની ભેટો લાવે,
</q>
<q style="q1">યુદ્ધમાં આનંદ માણનારાઓને વિખેરી નાંખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.68.31" />મિસરવાસીઓ તમારા માટે તેમની સંપત્તિ લઇને આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કૂશનાં લોકો દેવને તેઓની અર્પણ પ્રશંસા આપવાં ઉતાવળા થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PSA.68.32" />હે પૃથ્વીના સર્વ રાજ્યો તમે દેવ સમક્ષ ગાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાનું સ્તવન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PSA.68.33" />પુરાતન કાળનાં આકાશોમાં થઇને વાદળ પર સવારી કરનારા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ અને જેમનાં પરાક્રમી અવાજથી આકાશમાં ગર્જના થાય છે તે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PSA.68.34" />પરાક્રમ કેવળ દેવનું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સત્તા ઇસ્રાએલ પર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનું સાર્મથ્ય તથા પરાક્રમ પણ આકાશોમાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PSA.68.35" />હે દેવ, તમે તમારા પવિત્રસ્થાનોમાં અતિ મહિમાવાન અને ભયાવહ છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએેલના દેવ જેઓ પોતાના લોકોને સાર્મથ્ય તથા પરાક્રમ આપે છે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તેમને ધન્ય હો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="69" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. રાગ: “શોશાન્નીમ.” દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.69.1" />હે દેવ, મારા માથા સુધી પાણી ચઢી આવ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી રક્ષા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.69.2" />કીચડમાં હું ઊંડે ને ઊંડે ખૂપતો જાઉં છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં ઊભા રહેવાને પણ આધાર નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું ઊઁડા જળમાં આવી પડ્યો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જળપ્રલયે મને ડૂબાડી દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.69.3" />હું રડી રડીને નિર્ગત થઇ ગયો છું અને મારું ગળું સુકાઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા દેવની વાટ જોતાં મારી આંખોનું તેજ ઘટી ગયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.69.4" />જેઓ વિનાકારણે મારો દ્વેષ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારા માથાના વાળથી વધારે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું નિદોર્ષ છું છતાં મારો સંહાર કરવાની યોજના ઘડનારાં વધુ શકિતશાળી બન્યાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે શત્રુઓ મારા વિષે અસત્ય બોલે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કહે છે મેં વસ્તુઓ ચોરી હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ મેં જે વસ્તુઓ ચોરી ન હતી તેનું ભરણ કરવા મને ફરજ પાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.69.5" />હે દેવ, તમે મારી મૂર્ખાઇ જાણો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પાપો તમારાથી છુપાવેલા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.69.6" />હે સૈન્યના પ્રભુ યહોવા, મારા લીધે તમારા અનુયાયીઓ શરમીંદા ન થાય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે ઇસ્રાએલનાં દેવ, ભલે જેઓ તમને શોધવા નીકળ્યા છે તેઓનું મારા લીધે અપમાન ન થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.69.7" />મેં તમારા માટે શરમ સહન કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને મારું મુખ પણ શરમથી ઢંકાયેલું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.69.8" />મારા ભાઇઓને મન હું પારકા જેવો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી માના પુત્રને મન હું પરદેશી જેવો થયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.69.9" />કારણ, મારું હૃદય દેવ અને તેનાં મંદિર માટેના ઉત્સાહથી ઉત્તેજીત થયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ તમારું અપમાન કરે છે તેમના અપમાનો મારી ઉપર આવ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.69.10" />જ્યારે હું યહોવા સમક્ષ રૂદન અને ઉપવાસ કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓ મારી મશ્કરી કરીને નિંદા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.69.11" />જ્યારે હું મારા પાપનું દુ:ખ પ્રગટ કરવા અને આત્માનું રાંકપણું દર્શાવવાં ટાટનાં વસ્ર ધારણ કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓ મારી મશ્કરી કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.69.12" />ભાગળમાં બેસનારાઓ મારી મશ્કરી કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને છાકટાઓ મારા વિષે રાસડા ગાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.69.13" />પરંતુ હે યહોવા, તમારી કૃપાનાં સમયમાં મેં તમારી પ્રાર્થના કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારાં ભરપૂર પ્રેમમાં, તારણની સત્યતાએ પ્રત્યુતર આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.69.14" />મને કીચડમાંથી કાઢો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને ઊંડા પાણીમાં ડૂબવાં દેશો નહિ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દ્વેષીઓથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી રક્ષા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.69.15" />રેલ સંકટ મારા પર ફરી ન વળે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાગરનાં ઊંડાણ મને ગળી ન જાય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ડરાવનાર કબરમાં મારી રક્ષા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.69.16" />હે યહોવા, મારી પ્રાર્થનાનો ઉત્તર આપો; કારણ તારી કૃપ ઉત્તમ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા પુષ્કળ વાત્સલ્ય મુજબ મારા તરફ વળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.69.17" />તમારું મુખ તમારા આ દાસથી છુપાવશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું અપાર સંકટોમાં છું, મને જલદી ઉત્તર આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.69.18" />હે યહોવા, આવો, મારા આત્માની રક્ષા કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને મારા સર્વ શત્રુઓથી મુકત કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.69.19" />તમે જાણો છો કે મારે શરમ તથા અપમાન અને નિંદા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સહન કરવાં પડે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા શત્રુઓએ મારી સાથે કરેલી વસ્તુઓ તમે જોઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.69.20" />નિંદાએ મારું હૃદય ભાંગ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું લાંબુ જીવવા
</q>
<q style="q1">માટે ખૂબ દુર્બળ બની ગયો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દિલાસો અને આરામ
</q>
<q style="q1">બતાવનારની રાહ જોઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ મને કોઇ પણ મળ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.69.21" />ખોરાકને બદલે મને પિત્ત ખાવા મળ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તરસ લાગતાં મને સરકો પાવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.69.22" />ભલે તેમનું મેજ તેમના માટે છટકું બને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનું મૈત્રીભોજન તેમનો ફાંસલો બને.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.69.23" />ભલે તેઓની આંખો કઇપણ જોવા માટે ઝાંખી બને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભલે તેઓ અંધ બની જાય.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ભલે તેમની કમરો નબળી બને.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.69.24" />ભલે તમે તમારો કોપ તેઓ પર વરસાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો ક્રોધાજ્ઞિ તેઓને પકડી પાડો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.69.25" />તેમનાં ઘરો ઉજ્જડ થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેમાં કદી કોઇ નિવાસ કરે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.69.26" />કારણ, જેને તમે શિક્ષા કરી છે તેઓ તેની પૂઠ પકડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેને તમે ઘાયલ કર્યો છે તેનાં દુ:ખની વાત કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.69.27" />તેઓને શિક્ષા કરો જેને તેઓ પાત્ર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે કેટલાં સારા છો તે તેમને ન બતાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.69.28" />જીવન પુસ્તકમાંથી આ લોકોનાં નામ ભૂઁસી નાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સારા લોકોનાં નામોની યાદીના પુસ્તકમાં તેમનાં નામો સાથે ન મૂકો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.69.29" />પણ હે દેવ હું તો નિ:સહાય અને ઉદાસ છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દેવ, મારી રક્ષા કરો અને મને ઉપર ઊઠાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.69.30" />પછી હું ગીત ગાઇને દેવના નામનું સ્તવન કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આભાર માનીને તેમનાં નામની હું સ્તુતિ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.69.31" />અને તે બળદનાં અથવા વાછરડાંનાં બલિદાન કરતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને વધુ આનંદ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PSA.69.32" />નમ્ર જનો તે જોઇને આનંદ પામશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવને શોધનારાઓ તમારા હૃદયો નવું જીવન પામો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PSA.69.33" />કારણ યહોવા દરિદ્રીઓની અરજ સાંભળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનાં જે લોકો બંદીવાન આપે છે તેઓનાથી તેઓ પોતાનું મુખ આડું ફેરવતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PSA.69.34" />આકાશ તથા પૃથ્વી તેમનું સ્તવન કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમુદ્રો તથાં તેમાનાં સર્વ જળચર તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PSA.69.35" />કારણ, દેવ સિયોનને તારશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહૂદિયાનાં નગરોનું નવનિર્માણ કરશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનાં લોકો તે નગરોમાં વસવાટ કરશે અને તે જન્મભૂમિનો કબજો મેળવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="36" bcv="PSA.69.36" />વળી તેના સેવકોનાં સંતાન દેશનો વારસો પામશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં નામ પર પ્રીતિ રાખનારાઁ તેમાં વસશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="70" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું એક ગીત. લોકોને યાદ રાખવા માટે.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.70.1" />હે દેવ, મારું રક્ષણ કરો; હે યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને સહાય કરવાં દોડી આવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.70.2" />જેઓ મારો પ્રાણ લેવા ઇચ્છે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ નિરાશ થાઓ અને મુંજાઇ જાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ મારું અનિષ્ટ ઇચ્છે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ પાછા પડો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શરમ અનુભવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.70.3" />જેઓ મારી મશ્કરી કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોતાના પરાજયથી લજ્જિત થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.70.4" />જેઓ તમારું મુખ શોધે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તમારામાં આનંદ કરો અને હર્ષ પામો;
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ તમારા તારણ પર પ્રેમ કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોકારીને કહો કે દેવને મહાન માનો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.70.5" />પણ હું તો દરિદ્રી અને લાચાર છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, ઝટ તમે મારી મદદે આવો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે જ એકલાં મારા સહાયક તથા ઉદ્ધાર કરનાર છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, હવે જરાપણ વિલંબ ન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="71" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.71.1" />હે યહોવા, મેં તમારું શરણું લીધું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને શરમિંદો કરશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.71.2" />મારા તરફ ન્યાયી થાઓ, અને મને મુકત કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી રક્ષા કરો, મારા તરફ વળો અને મારી તરફ કાન ધરી મારો ઉદ્ધાર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.71.3" />જ્યાં હું સદાને માટે રહી શકું તેવો ગઢ તમે થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને તારવાની આજ્ઞા કરી છે
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે તમે મારા ખડક અને મારો ગઢ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.71.4" />હે મારા દેવ, તમે મને દુષ્ટોના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘાતકી અન્યાયી હાથોમાંથી બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.71.5" />હે પ્રભુ, ફકત તમે જ મારી આશા છો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં બાળપણથી તમારો વિશ્વાસ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.71.6" />હું ગર્ભસ્થાનમાં હતો, ત્યારથી તમે મારા આધાર રહ્યાં છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી માતાનાં ઉદરમાંથી મને કાઢનારા તમે જ છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દેવ, હું હંમેશા તમારી સ્તુતિ ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.71.7" />હું બીજા લોકો માટે એક ષ્ટાંત બન્યો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે તો મારો શકિતશાળી આશ્રય છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.71.8" />તમારી સ્તુતિથી મારું મુખ ભરપૂર થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખો દિવસ તમારા ગૌરવની ભરપૂર વાતો થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.71.9" />વૃદ્ધાવસ્થા કાળે, મારી શકિત ખૂટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મને તરછોડી મારો ત્યાગ ન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.71.10" />મારા શત્રુઓ જેઓ મારી વિરુદ્ધ વાતો કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો પ્રાણ લેવાં તાકી રહ્યાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ અંદરો અંદર મસલત કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.71.11" />તેઓ કહે છે કે, “દેવે તેને તજી દીધો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે પાછળ દોડીને તેને પકડી પાડીએ; કારણકે તેને છોડાવનારું કોઇ નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.71.12" />હે દેવ, મારાથી દૂર ન જશો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારી પાસે આવવાં ઉતાવળ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને સહાય કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.71.13" />મારા આત્માનાં દુશ્મનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફજેત થઇને નાશ પામો;
</q>
<q style="q1">મને ઉપદ્રવ કરવાને મથનારાઓ નિંદા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા અપમાનથી ઢંકાઇ જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.71.14" />પણ હું તમારી નિત્ય આશા રાખીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દિવસે દિવસે અધિક સ્તુતિ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.71.15" />તમારાં ન્યાયીપણાનાં અને ઉદ્ધારનાં કૃત્યો મારું મુખ આખો દિવસ પ્રગટ કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની સંખ્યા કેટલી મોટી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે હું જાણતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.71.16" />હે પ્રભુ યહોવા, સર્વસમર્થ! હું આવીશ, અને તમારાં અદભૂત કાર્યોને પ્રગટ કરીશ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ન્યાયીપણા વિષે લોકોને જણાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.71.17" />હે દેવ, મારા બાળપણમાં તમે મને શીખવ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારથી હું તમારા ચમત્કારો વિષે જણાવતો રહ્યો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.71.18" />હે દેવ, હું હવે ઘરડો થયો છું ને વાળ પણ સફેદ થયાં છે, ત્યારે મારો ત્યાગ ન કરશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા સર્વ ચમત્કારો વિષે હું નવી પેઢી અને તેનાં સંતાનોને જણાવું તે માટે મને સમય આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.71.19" />હે દેવ, તમારું ન્યાયીપણું અતિશય ઉચ્ચ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દેવ, તમે મોટાં કામો કર્યાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા જેવો બીજો કોણ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.71.20" />ઘણાં ખેદજનક સંકટો તમે અમને દેખાડ્યાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે પૃથ્વીનાં ઊંડાણોમાંથી અમને પાછા કાઢી લાવશો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે અમને પુર્નજીવિત કરશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.71.21" />તમે મને અગાઉ કરતાંય વધારે માન આપશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાછા ફરીને મને દિલાસો પણ આપશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.71.22" />હું તમારું સિતાર સાથે સ્તવન કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે મારા દેવ, હું તમારી સત્યતાનું સ્તવન કરીશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">હે ઇસ્રાએલનાં પવિત્ર દેવ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું વીણા સાથે તમારા સ્તોત્રો ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.71.23" />હું તમારી સ્તુતિ કરીશ, ત્યારે મારા હોઠો હર્ષનો પોકાર કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઉદ્ધાર પામેલો મારો આત્મા અતિશય આનંદ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.71.24" />મારી જીભ આખો દિવસ તમારી દયા અને તમારા ન્યાયીપણાની વાતો કરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ મને હાની પહોંચાડવા ઇચ્છે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને લજ્જિત અને અપમાનિત કરાયાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="72" />
<s level="2" style="s2">સુલેમાનનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.72.1" />હે દેવ, તમે રાજાને ન્યાય કરવા માટે તમારા જ્ઞાન અને અધિકાર આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રાજાનાં પુત્રોને તમારું ન્યાયીપણું આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.72.2" />તેઓ તમારા લોકોનો નિષ્પક્ષતાથી ન્યાય કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારાં ગરીબ લોકોને તેઓ ન્યાય કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.72.3" />પર્વતો અને ડુંગરો ન્યાયીપણે લોકો માટે શાંતિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આબાદી ને સમૃદ્ધિ લાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.72.4" />તે લોકોમાં ન્યાય કરશે દીનદુ:ખીઓનો, દરિદ્રીઓનાં દીકરાઓનો ઉદ્ધાર કરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જુલમગાર પાપીઓને કચડી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.72.5" />તે લોકો, તેઓની પેઢી દર પેઢી આકાશમાં સૂર્ય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચંદ્ર રહે ત્યાં સુધી બીહો અને રાજાને માન આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.72.6" />જેમ ખેતરો પર વરસાદ પડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વરસાદનાં ઝાપટાં જમીન પર પડે છે તેમ રાજા રહે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.72.7" />તેના શાસનકાળમા ન્યાયીઓની આબાદી થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યાં સુધી ચંદ્ર રહેશે શાંતિ ટકી રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.72.8" />વળી તે સમુદ્રથી સમુદ્ર સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યુફ્રેતિસ નદીથી પૃથ્વીના છેડા સુધી તે રાજ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.72.9" />તેની સમક્ષ રણવાસીઓ નમશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનાં સર્વ શત્રુઓ ધૂળ ચાટશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.72.10" />તાશીર્શના રાજાઓ, અને ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્રના કિનારાના રાજાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના માટે ભેટો લાવશે અને શેબાના રાજાઓ તેમની ખંડણી તેઓ પાસે લાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.72.11" />સર્વ રાજાઓ તેને નમન કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ રાષ્ટો તેની સેવા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.72.12" />કારણકે તે ગરીબ અને જરુરીયાતવાળા લોકોને બચાવે છે જે તેમને મદદ માટે પોકારે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જેમનો કોઇ મદદગાર નથી, તેમને તે બચાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.72.13" />તે લાચાર તથા દરિદ્રીઓ ઉપર દયા બતાવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દરિદ્રીઓના આત્માનું તારણ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.72.14" />તે તેઓનાં આત્માઓને જુલમ અને હિંસાથી છોડાવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની નજરોમાં તેઓનું રકત મૂલ્યવાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.72.15" />શેબાનું સોનું તેમને આપવામાં આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાજા ઘણું લાંબુ જીવો!
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના માટે નિત્ય પ્રાર્થનાઓ થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધન્યવાદ આપશે સર્વ લોકો સદા તેને.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.72.16" />દેશમાં પર્વતોનાં શીખરો પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પુષ્કળ ધાન્યનાં ઢગલાં થશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનાં ફળ લબાનોનનાં ફળ જેવાં થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘાસની જેમ વધશે નગરનાં રહેવાસીઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.72.17" />તેમનાં નામનો સર્વકાળ આદર કરવામાં આવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનું નામ સૂર્ય તપે ત્યાં સુધી ટકશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમનાથી સર્વ લોકો આશીર્વાદ પામશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને દેશનાં સર્વ લોકો ધન્યવાદ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.72.18" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવને, યહોવા દેવને ધન્ય હોજો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એકલા તેઓ જ આશ્ચર્યકારક કમોર્ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.72.19" />તેમનાં મહિમાવંત નામની સર્વદા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્તુતિ થાઓ! સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી તેમનાં મહિમાથી ભરપૂર થાઓ!
</q>
<q style="q1">આમીન તથા આમીન!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.72.20" />યશાઇના પુત્ર દાઉદની પ્રાર્થનાઓ અહીં પૂર્ણ થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="73" />
<p sfm="ms" style="ms1">ભાગ ત્રીજો
</p>
<p sfm="mr" style="mr">(ગીત 73-89)
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">આસાફના સ્તુતિગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.73.1" />જેઓના હૃદય શુદ્ધ છે ઇસ્રાએલ પર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના પર ખરેખર દેવ કૃપાવાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.73.2" />પરંતુ હું લગભગ લપસ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાપ કરવા લાગ્યો,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.73.3" />કારણ જ્યારે મેં પેલા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ લોકોની શાંતિ અને સમૃદ્ધિ જોઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.73.4" />તેઓને જીવનપર્યંત મુશ્કેલી આવતી નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ સમૃદ્ધ અને બળવાન થતાં જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.73.5" />તેમનાં પર માનવજાતનાં દુ:ખો આવતાં નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીજાઓની જેમ તેઓને પીડા થતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.73.6" />તેઓનો ગર્વ ગળાની કંઠી જેવો છે, જે હીરાની જેમ ચમકે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ હિંસા રૂપી વસ્ર ધારણ કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.73.7" />તેઓ જે વસ્તુઓને જુએ છે તેને વધુ ને વધુ રાખવા ઇચ્છે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને પ્રાપ્ત કરવાના માગોર્ હંમેશા શોધે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.73.8" />તેઓ અન્યોની મશ્કરી કરે છે અને ધિક્કારથી વાત કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે અન્યો પર કેવી રીતે દમન કર્યું તેના વિષે અભિમાનથી બોલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.73.9" />દેવની વિરુદ્ધ તેઓ બણગાં ફૂંકે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની જીભ અભિમાનથી વાતો કરે છે; પૃથ્વી પર.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.73.10" />તેથી દેવના લોકો પણ તેમની તરફ વળે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ જે કહે તે સ્વીકારે છે.<f caller="+"><fr>73:10
</fr><fk>તેથી … સ્વીકારે છે
</fk><ft>આ છંદ હિબ્રૂમાં સમજવો મુશ્કેલ છે.</ft></f>
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.73.11" />તેઓ પૂછે છે કે, “જે કાંઇ બની રહ્યું છે, તે વિષે શું દેવ માહિતગાર છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું પરાત્પરમાં કાંઇ જ્ઞાન છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.73.12" />દુષ્ટ લોકોને જુઓ તો તેઓ હંમેશા ચિંતામુકત હોય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ શાંતિમાં રહીને સંપત્તિ વધારતા જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.73.13" />મે મારું હૃદય શુદ્ધ રાખ્યું છે, અને મારા હાથ નિદોર્ષ રાખ્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેથી કોઇ વિશેષ ફાયદો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.73.14" />કારણ હું આખો દિવસ પીડાયા કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દર સવારે મને શિક્ષા થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.73.15" />પરંતુ જો મેં આ પ્રમાણે કહેવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો હોત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો મેં તમારા લોકોનો વિશ્વાસઘાત કર્યો હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.73.16" />જ્યારે મેં તે સમજવા ઊંડો વિચાર કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મને લાગ્યું કે તે સમજવું મારે માટે બહુ કઠીન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.73.17" />પછી હું દેવના પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં એક દિવસ ધ્યાન કરવા માટે ગયો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં હું આખરે દુષ્ટ લોકો વિષે તેમનાં ભવિષ્ય અને તેમના અંત વિષે સમજ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.73.18" />તમે તેઓને લપસણી જગાએ મૂકો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને વિનાશમાં ફેંકી દો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.73.19" />તેમની સુખસમૃદ્ધિનો તત્કાળ અંત આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ અનંતકાળપર્યંત ત્રાસ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.73.20" />તેઓનું વર્તમાન જીવન કેવળ એક સ્વપ્ન જેવું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માનવ સ્વપ્નમાંથી જાગી વાસ્તવિકતા નિહાળે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ તેઓ જાગ્રત થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા સત્ય સબંધી નીશ્ચે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.73.21" />જ્યારે હું આ બધી વસ્તુઓ વિષે વિચારતો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મારું હૃદય ઉદાસ બની ગયું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.73.22" />કેટલો મૂર્ખ અને અજ્ઞાની છું, હું તે જાણી શક્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દેવ, તમારી સમક્ષ હું તો હતો માત્ર એક પશુ જેવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.73.23" />પરંતુ, તેમ છતાંય, હું હંમેશા તમારી સાથે છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે મારા જમણા હાથને પકડી રાખ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.73.24" />તમારા બોધથી અને સલાહથી જીવનપર્યત તમે દોરવણી આપશો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી તમે તમારા મહિમામાં મારો સ્વીકાર કરશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.73.25" />આકાશમાં તમારા વિના મારું બીજું કોણ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વી પર મને બીજું કોઇ પ્રિય નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.73.26" />મારી તંદુરસ્તી ભલે મને છોડી જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું હૃદય ભલે તૂટી જાય, પણ મારી પાસે ખડક છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેને હું ચાહું છું મારી પાસે દેવ સદાકાળ માટે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.73.27" />પરંતુ તેઓ જે દેવથી દૂર છે તેમનો વિનાશ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓ તમને વફાદાર રહેતા નથી, તેમનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ તમારા દ્વારા થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.73.28" />પરંતુ હું દેવની નજીક રહ્યો છું અને તે મારા માટે સારું છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મારા પ્રભુ યહોવાને મારો આશ્રય બનાવ્યો છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા બધાં અદભૂત કૃત્યો વિષે કહેવા આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="74" />
<s level="2" style="s2">આસાફનું માસ્કીલ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.74.1" />હે દેવ તમે અમને સદાને માટે શા માટે તજી દીધા છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તમારાં ઘેટાનાં ટોળા સામે હજી આજેય ગુસ્સામાં છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.74.2" />હે યહોવા, સ્મરણ કરો; પુરાતન સમયમાં તમે લોકોને પસંદ કરીને ખરીદ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે લોકોને બચાવ્યાં અને તેમને તમારા પોતાના બનાવ્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">સ્મરણ કરો સિયોન પર્વત, જે જગાએ તમે રહો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.74.3" />દેવ આવો અને આ પ્રાચીન ખંડેરમાંથી ચાલ્યા આવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા પવિત્રસ્થાનને શત્રુઓએ કેટલું મોટું નુકશાન કર્યુ છે!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.74.4" />તમે જ્યાં અમારી મુલાકાત લો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સ્થળમાં શત્રુ ગર્જના કરે છે; પોતાનો વિજય દર્શાવવા તેઓએ પોતાની ધ્વજાઓ ઊભી કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.74.5" />તેઓ જંગલનાં વૃક્ષો પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કુહાડા ઉગામનારાઓના જેવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.74.6" />તેઓ તેનું તમામ નકશીદાર કામ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કુહાડી-હથોડાથી તોડી નાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.74.7" />તેઓએ તમારા પવિત્રસ્થાનને આગ લગાડી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તમારાં રહેઠાણનો નાશ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.74.8" />તેઓએ તેમને પોતાને કહ્યું હતું: “તેમને પૂરેપૂરા કચડી નાંખીએ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ દેશમાંના દેવના બધાં સભા સ્થાનોને બાળી મૂક્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.74.9" />અમે તમારા લોકો છીએને દર્શાવતી એક પણ નિશાની બચી નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નાશ પામ્યાં છે સર્વ પ્રબોધકો, આ સર્વનો અંત ક્યારે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોણ કરી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.74.10" />હે દેવ, ક્યાં સુધી અમારા શત્રુઓ તમારા નામનું અપમાન કરશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમે તેઓને સદા આમ કરવા દેશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.74.11" />શા માટે તમે વિલંબ કરો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે તમારા સાર્મથ્યને અટકાવી રાખો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હાથ ઉગામીને તેઓ પર તમારો અંતિમ ઘા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.74.12" />પુરાતન કાળથી, દેવ મારા રાજા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પૃથ્વીના એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી લોકોનું તારણ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.74.13" />તમે તમારા મહાન પરાક્રમ વડે રાતા સમુદ્રનાં બે ભાગ પાડ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી તમે પાણીમાં મહા મત્સ્યોનાં માથાં ફોડી નાખ્યાઁ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.74.14" />પેલા પ્રચંડ પ્રાણીઓના માથાઓને ટૂકડે ટૂકડા કરીને ભાંગી નાખ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના શરીરને રણનાં પ્રાણીઓને ખાવા માટે આપી દીધાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.74.15" />તમારા લોકોને પાણી પૂરુ પાડવાં, ઝરણાં અને નદીઓ સઘળે વહેવડાવી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નિરંતર વહેતી નદીઓને સૂકવીને તમે સૂકી ભૂમિનો રસ્તો તૈયાર કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.74.16" />દિવસ અને રાત બંને તમારા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે જ સૂર્ય અને ચંદ્રનું સર્જન કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.74.17" />પૃથ્વીની સીમાઓ, સ્થાપન તમે જ કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉનાળો-શિયાળો ઋતુઓ પણ તમે બનાવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.74.18" />હે યહોવા, શત્રુઓ તમારી મશ્કરી કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૂર્ખ લોકો તમારા નામનો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ વસ્તુઓ યાદ રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.74.19" />હે યહોવા, તમારા હોલાનો જીવ હિંસક પ્રાણીઓનાં હાથમાં જવા દેશો નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા લોકોને ભૂલશો નહિ અને હિંસક પ્રાણીઓથી બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.74.20" />હે યહોવા, તમે કરેલો કરારનું સ્મરણ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ દેશના અંધકારમય ભાગમાં હિંસા વ્યાપક બની છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.74.21" />હે દેવ, તમારા આ દુ:ખી લોકોનું સતત અપમાન થવા ના દેશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દરિદ્રીઓ અને લાચારોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારું સ્તવન કરવાને કારણ આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.74.22" />હે દેવ તમે ઉઠો, અને તમારી લડાઇમાં લડો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૂખોર્ આખો દિવસ તમારું અપમાન કરે છે, તેનું સ્મરણ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.74.23" />જેઓ તમારી વિરુદ્ધ થયા છે અને નિત્ય ઊંચાને ઊંચા ચઢે છે તે તમારા શત્રુઓની ધાંધલ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બરાડાઓને તમે ના વિસરશો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="75" />
<d style="d">નિર્દેશક માટે. રાગ: “ના કરશો વિનાશ.” આસાફના સ્તુતિગીતોમાંનુ એક.
</d>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.75.1" />હે યહોવા, અમે તમારો પુષ્કળ આભાર માનીએ છીએ, તમારું નામ સન્નિધ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે તમારો આભાર માનીએ છીએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો તમારા આશ્ચર્યકારક કામો પ્રગટ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.75.2" />યહોવાએ પ્રત્યુતર આપ્યો, “હા, હું ચોક્કસપણે ચુકાદા માટે સમય પસંદ કરીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નિષ્પક્ષતાથી ન્યાય કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.75.3" />પૃથ્વી અને તેનાં બધાં નિવાસીઓ કદાચ ધ્રુજતાં હશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પડવાની તૈયારીમાં હશે પણ હું તેને સ્થિર કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.75.4" />“મેં ધમંડીઓને અભિમાન નહિ કરવાં ચેતવણી આપી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટોને મેં કહ્યું છે કે, ‘ઘમંડ કરીને ડંફાસ ન મારો.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.75.5" />શિંગ ઉંચું કરીને અભિમાન સાથે ન બોલો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘમંડ કરીને ડંફાસ ન મારો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.75.6" />તેથી જે લોકોને મહત્વના બનાવે તે નથી પૂર્વમાંથી કે નથી પશ્ચિમમાંથી આવતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે રણ પર્વતોમાંથી પણ નથી આવતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.75.7" />પણ દેવ છે, તે જ ન્યાયાધીશ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે એકને નીચે પાડી નાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીજાને ઊંચો કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.75.8" />યહોવાના હાથમાં કડક ક્રોધના દ્રાક્ષારસનો પ્યાલો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને ન્યાય ચુકાદો છે જે પૃથ્વી પરના
</q>
<q style="q1">દુષ્ટો પર રેડી દેવાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટોએ તેને છેલ્લાં ટીપાં સુધી પીવો પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.75.9" />પરંતુ હું તો સદાકાળ બીજાઓને આ બાબતો માટે કહીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું યાકૂબના દેવની સ્તુતિઓ ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.75.10" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “હું દુષ્ટ લોકોનાં સાર્મથ્યને નષ્ટ કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હું ન્યાયીઓનાં શિંગ ઊંચા કરીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="76" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. વાજીંત્રો સાથે. આસાફનું સ્તુતિ ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.76.1" />યહૂદિયામાં દેવ પ્રગટ થયેલો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલમાં તેમના નામનો ઊંચો આદર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.76.2" />તેમનો મંડપ યરૂશાલેમમાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનું નિવાસસ્થાન સિયોનમાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.76.3" />ત્યાં તેણે ચળકતાં બાણોને ભાંગી નાખ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઢાલ-તરવારને શસ્ર ભાંગી નાઁખ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.76.4" />દેવ, તમે તમારા શત્રુઓને જ્યાં હરાવ્યાં તે ટેકરીઓ પાછળથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે આવો છો ત્યારે તમે મહિમાવંત લાગો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.76.5" />જેઓ શૂરવીર છે, તેઓ લૂંટાયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને ચિર નિંદ્રાવશ થયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કોઇ પરાક્રમીઓના હાથથી કઁઇ પણ થઇ શક્યું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.76.6" />હે યાકૂબના દેવ, તમારી ધમકીથી રથ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘોડા બંને ચિરનિદ્રામાં પડ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.76.7" />દેવ તમે ભયાવહ છો, તમે કોપાયમાન હો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તમારી સામે કોણ ઊભું રહી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.76.8" />તમે આકાશમાંથી ન્યાય ચુકાદો ફરમાવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધરતી ભયભીત બની શાંત થઇ ગઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.76.9" />હે દેવ, તમે ન્યાય કરવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા દેશના નમ્ર લોકોને બચાવવા માટે ઊભા થયા છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.76.10" />તમારા માણસો વિરુદ્ધ કોપ તમારી ખચીત પ્રશંસા કરાવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારો જે કોપ બાકી રહ્યો તે તમે તમારી કમરે બાંધશો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.76.11" />જે પ્રતિજ્ઞાઓ તમે યહોવા તમારા દેવની સમક્ષ લીધેલી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમે પૂર્ણ કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">ભયાવહ દેવ સમક્ષ તમે સૌ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા દાન લાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.76.12" />પૃથ્વીના રાજાઓ તેમનો ભય રાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ સરદારોનો ગર્વ તે તોડી નાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="77" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. યદૂથૂનની રીત પ્રમાણે રચાયેલું.આસાફનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.77.1" />મે યહોવાને મદદ માટે પોકાર કર્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી વિનંતી સાંભળે તે માટે પોકાર કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.77.2" />જ્યારે મારા માથે ભારે સંકટ આવ્યું, મેં સહાય માટે યહોવા તરફ દ્રૃષ્ટિ કરી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેમને આકાશ તરફ હાથ ઊંચા કરીને આખી રાત પ્રાર્થના કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં સુધી મારા હકમાં કઈં કરશે નહિ ત્યાં સુધી દિલાસો પામીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.77.3" />હું દેવનું સંભારું છું, અને નિસાસાની શરુઆત કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને શું થાય છે તે કહેવા માટે હું પ્રાર્થના કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હું નિર્બળ અને લગભગ મૂછિર્ત થાઉં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.77.4" />તમે મને ઊંછમાંથી જાગતો રાખ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ખૂબ મુશ્કેલીમાં હતો કે બોલી શકતો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.77.5" />હું અગાઉના દિવસો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૂર્વનાં વષોર્નો વિચાર કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.77.6" />તે સમયે આનંદના ગીતોથી મારી રાત્રીઓ ભરપૂર હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મનન કરી બદલાયેલી સ્થિતિ વિષે આત્મખોજ કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.77.7" />“શું યહોવા સર્વકાળ માટે તજી દેશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફરીથી કદી તે શું પ્રસન્ન થશે નહિ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.77.8" />શું અશ્ય થઇ ગયો તેમનો અચળ પ્રેમ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું નિષ્ફળ ગયાં તેમણે અમને આપેલા વચન?”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.77.9" />અમારા પર કૃપા કરવાનુ દેવ શું ભૂલી ગયાં?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તેમણે તેમની સહાનુભૂતિને કોપમાં બદલી નાખી?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.77.10" />પછી મેં મારી જાતે વિચાર્યુ, “મને જે સૌથી વધારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અસ્વસ્થ કરે છે તે આ છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.77.11" />શું પરાત્પર દેવે તેમનું સાર્મથ્ય બતાવવાનું બંધ કર્યુ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તેમનાં અગાઉનાં ચમત્કાર સંભારીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.77.12" />હું તમારાં સર્વ કામોનું મનન કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા કૃત્યો વિષે વિચાર કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.77.13" />હે યહોવા, તમારા માગોર્ પવિત્ર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા જેવા મહાન કોઇ દેવ નથી!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.77.14" />તમે ચમત્કારો અને અદભૂત કાર્યો કરનાર દેવ છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે રાષ્ટોને તમારું સાર્મથ્ય બતાવી દીધું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.77.15" />તમે તમારા લોકો યાકૂબ અને યૂસફનાં બાળકોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા મહાન સાર્મથ્યથી બચાવ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.77.16" />તમને રાતા સમુદ્રે જ્યારે નિહાળ્યાં ત્યારે તે ભયભીત થયો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનાં ઊંડાણો પણ ધ્રૂજી ઊઠયાતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.77.17" />વાદળોએ પાણી વરસાવ્યું, ગર્જનાના પડઘા આકાશે પાડ્યાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વીજળીરૂપી બાણો ચોતરફ ઊડ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.77.18" />મેઘ ગર્જનામાંથી ભયંકર ઘોંઘાટ આવ્યો તારી ગર્જનાનો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વીજળીઓ ચમકી અને જગતને પ્રકાશિત કર્યુ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વી કંપી તથા ડોલી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.77.19" />તમારો માર્ગ તો સમુદ્રમાં, અને વાટો હતી મહાજળમાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા પગલાં કોઇનાં જોવામાં આવ્યાં નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.77.20" />તમે મૂસા તથા હારુનની મારફતે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા લોકોને ઘેટાનાં ટોળાની માફક દોર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="78" />
<s level="2" style="s2">આસાફનું માસ્કીલ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.78.1" />મારા લોકો, મારો નિયમ સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા મુખના શબ્દોને તમે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.78.2" />હું ષ્ટાંતો દ્વારા તમારી સાથે વાત કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું ભૂતકાળનાં રહસ્યોની વાત સમજાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.78.3" />જે વાત આપણે સાંભળી છે તથા જાણી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે આપણા પૂર્વજોએ આપણને કહી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.78.4" />યહોવાના મહિમાવંત સ્તુતિપાત્ર કૃત્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનું પરાક્રમ અને આશ્ચર્યકમોર્
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણા સંતાનોથી આપણે સંતાડીશું નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે આપણી ભાવિ પેઢીને જણાવીશું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.78.5" />કારણકે તેમણે યાકૂબ સાથે તેમનો કરાર કર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેણે ઇસ્રાએલને નિયમ આપ્યો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે આપણા પૂર્વજોને આદેશ આપ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તેમણે તેમના બાળકોને આ બાબતમાં કહેવું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.78.6" />જેથી આવતી પેઢીનાં જે બાળકો જન્મે તેઓ તે જાણે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ મોટાઁ થઇને પોતાનાં સંતાનોને તે જણાવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.78.7" />જેથી તેઓ સહુ દેવનો આશા રાખે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવનાં અદભૂત કાર્યોને વિસરી જાય નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની આજ્ઞાઓને પાળે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.78.8" />વળી તેઓ પોતાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પિતૃઓ જેવા હઠીલા, બંડખોર,
</q>
<q style="q1">અવિશ્વાસુ અને દેવને પોતાનું અંત:કરણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સોંપવાનો નકાર કરનાર ન થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.78.9" />એફ્રાઇમના લોકો શસ્રસજ્જ હતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં તેઓએ યુદ્ધ દિને પીછેહઠ કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.78.10" />કારણ, તેમણે દેવનો કરાર પાળ્યો નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના નિયમ પ્રમાણે વર્તવાની ના પાડી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.78.11" />તેમણે કરેલા અદૃભૂત ચમત્કારો તેઓએ નિહાળ્યા હતાઁ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં તેમનાં કૃત્યો વિસરી ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.78.12" />તેઓના પિતૃઓએ મિસર દેશમાં, સોઆનનાં મેદાનમાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે કરેલા ચમત્કારો જોયા હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.78.13" />તેમણે તેઓની સમક્ષ સમુદ્રનાં બે ભાગ કર્યા હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને તેમાં થઇને સામે પાર મોકલ્યા હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની બંને બાજુએ પાણી દિવાલની જેમ સ્થિર થઇ ગયું હતું,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.78.14" />વળી તે તેઓને દિવસે મેઘથી અને આખી રાત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અગ્નિનાં પ્રકાશથી દોરતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.78.15" />તેમણે રણમાં ખડકને તોડીને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઊંડાણમાંથી વહેતું હોય તેમ પુષ્કળ પાણી તેઓને આપ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.78.16" />પછી તેમણે ખડકમાંથી પાણી કાઢયું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વહેતી નદીની જેમ પ્રવાહ વહેવડાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.78.17" />તેમ છતાં તેઓએ દેવ વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કરવાનું ચાલું જ રાખ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અરણ્યમાં પરાત્પર દેવ વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કરતાં રહ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.78.18" />તેઓએ હઠીલાઇ કરીને દેવની કસોટી કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તેઓને આપતાહતા તે કરતાં જુદા જ ખોરાકની માગણી કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.78.19" />તેઓ દેવની વિરુદ્ધ બોલ્યા અને કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“શું રણમાં તે ભોજન મોકલી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.78.20" />તેમણે ખડકને લાકડી મારી ને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાણીના ઝરણાં વહેવડાવ્યાં તે સાચું છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">શું તે આપણને રોટલી આપી શકે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનાં લોકોને માંસ આપી શકે?”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.78.21" />તેઓએ જે કહ્યું તે સાંભળ્યા પછી, યહોવા કોપાયમાન થયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલ પર ભારે કોપાયમાન થયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યાકૂબ પર બહુ જ ગુસ્સે થયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.78.22" />કારણ, તેઓએ દેવમાં તેમનો વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના તારણ પર વિશ્વાસ કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.78.23" />છતાં તેમણે વાદળાંને આજ્ઞા આપી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આકાશનાં દ્વાર ખોલી નાખ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.78.24" />તેઓના ખોરાક માટે માન્નાની વૃષ્ટિ કરી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે સ્વર્ગમાંથી ભોજન આપ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.78.25" />તેઓએ દેવદૂતોનો ખોરાક ખાધો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તૃપ્ત થયા ત્યાં સુધી યહોવાએ ભોજન આપ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.78.26" />દેવે તેમનાં મહાન સાર્મથ્યથી દક્ષિણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૂર્વનો પવન ફૂંકાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.78.27" />તેમણે ધૂળની જેમ માંસ અને સમુદ્રની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રેતીની જેમ પક્ષીઓ તેમનાં પર વરસાવ્યાઁ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.78.28" />તેમણે તેઓની છાવણી મધ્યે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનાં તંબુઓની ચોપાસ પક્ષીઓ પાડ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.78.29" />લોકો ધરાઇ રહ્યાં ત્યાં સુધી ખાધું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાએ તેઓને, માગણી પ્રમાણે આપ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.78.30" />પણ તેઓ તેમની ભૂખનું નિયંત્રણ કરી શક્યાં નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માંસ હજી પણ તેમના મોંઢાં માઁ હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.78.31" />પછી તેમની સામે યહોવાનો કોપ પ્રગટયો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે ઇસ્રાએલમાં જેઓ સૌથી વધુ શકિતશાળી હતા તેમને મારી નાખ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે શ્રેષ્ઠ યુવાનોને મારી નાખ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PSA.78.32" />આમ છતાં લોકો પાપ કરતાં રહ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના ચમત્કારો પર ભરોસો કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PSA.78.33" />દેવે તેઓના વ્યર્થ જીવનનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંત આપત્તિઓ સાથે કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PSA.78.34" />જ્યારે જ્યારે તેમણે તેમાંના કેટલાંકને મારી નાખ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે બીજાઓ તેમના તરફ વળ્યા, અને તેમની મદદ માંગી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PSA.78.35" />ત્યારે તેઓએ યાદ કર્યુ કે, દેવ તેઓના ખડક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પરાત્પર દેવ તેઓના તારક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="PSA.78.36" />પરંતુ તેઓએ પોતાના મુખે તેની પ્રસંશા કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાની જીભે તેની સમક્ષ જૂઠું બોલ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="PSA.78.37" />તેઓનાં હૃદય યહોવા પ્રત્યે વિશ્વાસુ નહોતા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કરારને વફાદાર નહોતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="PSA.78.38" />તેમ છતા તેમણેં દયા દર્શાવી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનાં પાપોની ક્ષમા આપી, નાશ ન કર્યો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે ઘણીવાર ક્રોધ સમાવી દીધો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાનો પૂરો કોપ પ્રગટ કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="PSA.78.39" />યહોવાએ સંભાર્યુ કે તેઓ કેવળ ક્ષુદ્ર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એક ક્ષણમાં પસાર થતાં વાયુ જેવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="PSA.78.40" />તેઓએ વષોર્ દરમ્યાન કેટલીવાર રણમાં યહોવા વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કર્યું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રાનમાં દુ:ખી તેમને કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="PSA.78.41" />વારંવાર તેઓએ દેવની કસોટી કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર યહોવાને દુ:ખી કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="PSA.78.42" />તેઓ દેવનાં મહાન સાર્મથ્યને ભૂલી ગયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તેમણે શત્રુઓથી તેઓને બચાવ્યાં હતાં, તે ભૂલી ગયાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="PSA.78.43" />યહોવાએ મિસરમાં ચમત્કારિક ચિન્હો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સોઆનના મેદાનમાં આશ્ચર્યકમોર્ કર્યા હતાં તે પણ ભૂલી ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="PSA.78.44" />તેણે તેઓની નદીઓને તથા તેઓના વહેળાઓને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોહી વહેતાં બનાવી દીધાં જેથી તેઓ પી ન શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="45" bcv="PSA.78.45" />તેમણે મધમાખીઓનું મોટું ઝૂંડ મોકલ્યું, અને જે તેઓને કરડ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેડકાઓએ બધી વસ્તુઓનો નાશ કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="46" bcv="PSA.78.46" />તેઓની ફસલ તેમણે કાતરાઓને આપી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેઓનો બધો જ પાક તીડો ખાઇ ગયા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="47" bcv="PSA.78.47" />તેમણે તેઓની દ્રાક્ષવાડીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કરાથી તથા હિમથી તેઓના ગુલ્લરઝાડોનો નાશ કર્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="48" bcv="PSA.78.48" />તેઓના ઢોરઢાંખર પર આકાશમાંથી મોટાં કરાનો માર પડ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘેટાનાં ટોળાઁ પર વીજળીઓ પડી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="49" bcv="PSA.78.49" />દેવે પોતાનો કોપ તેઓ પર પ્રગટ કર્યો, તેમનો રોષ, ગુસ્સો અને તિરસ્કાર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની વિરુદ્ધ નાશ કરનારા દૂતોની માફક મોકલ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="50" bcv="PSA.78.50" />તેમણે પોતાના કોપ માટે રસ્તો ખૂલ્લો કર્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મિસરવાસીઓના જીવન બચાવ્યાં નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓને વિપત્તિ તથા માંદગીને સોંપી દીધા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="51" bcv="PSA.78.51" />પછી તેણે સર્વ પ્રથમ, મિસરમાં સર્વ પ્રથમ જનિતને મારી નાખ્યાઁ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હામના પ્રથમ જનિત નર બાળકોને તંબુઓમાં માર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="52" bcv="PSA.78.52" />પરંતુ તે પોતાના લોકોને ઘેટાઁનાં ટોળાઁની જેમ બહાર લાવ્યાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રણમાં થઇને તેઓને સુરક્ષિત ચલાવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="53" bcv="PSA.78.53" />તેઓને તેમણે એવા સુરક્ષિત ચલાવ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તેઓ બીધા નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ સમુદ્રના પાણી શત્રુઓ પર ફરી વળ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="54" bcv="PSA.78.54" />તેણે તેઓને તેની પવિત્ર ભૂમિમાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ડુંગરોવાળા દેશ તરફ જે તેઓએ તેમની શકિતથી લીધો હતો તેમા ચાલતાં કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="55" bcv="PSA.78.55" />અને તેમણે અન્ય રાષ્ટોને તે જમીનમાંથી આગળ કાઢી મૂક્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલનાં પ્રત્યેક કુટુંબસમુહને કાયમ વસવાટ કરવા માટે જમીનનો હિસ્સો આપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="56" bcv="PSA.78.56" />છતાં ત્યારે પણ, તેઓએ પરાત્પર દેવની કસોટી કરવાનું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું અને તેમની આજ્ઞાઓનું અનુસરણ કરવાનો ઇન્કાર કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="57" bcv="PSA.78.57" />તેઓ દેવ પાસેથી દૂર થયા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેમનાં પૂર્વજોની જેમ દેવને અવિનયી થયાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">ફેંકનાર<f caller="+"><fr>78:57
</fr><fk>ફેંકનાર … હતા મૂળ પ્રમાણે:
</fk><ft>પક્ષીઓના શિકાર કરવામાં વપરાતી એક વાંકી લાકડી. સરખી રીતે ફેંકતા તે સીધી ઉડે છે અને જમીન તરફ નમે છે અને એકાએક હવાંમાં ઉચી થાય છે, કોઇવાર ફેંકનારની પાસે પાછી આવે છે. મૂળ પ્રમાણે “ઉડતું ધનુષ” અથવા “વાંકુ ધનુષ.”</ft></f> તરફ પાછા ફરતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાંકા શસ્રની જેમ તેઓ પૂર્વજોની જેમ દિશા બદલતા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="58" bcv="PSA.78.58" />તેઓએ ઉચ્ચાસ્થાનો બનાવીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જૂઠાં દેવોની મૂર્તિથી દેવને ગુસ્સે કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="59" bcv="PSA.78.59" />જ્યારે તેઓનાં કૃત્યો દેવે જોયાં દેવનો ક્રોધ પ્રબળ થયો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના લોકોનો ત્યાગ કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="60" bcv="PSA.78.60" />પછી માણસો મધ્યે તે નિવાસ કરતા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ શીલોહના મંડપનો તેમણે ત્યાગ કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="61" bcv="PSA.78.61" />દેવે બીજા લોકોને પોતાના લોકોને પકડવાં દીધા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુશ્મનોએ દેવનું “ગૌરવ રત્ન” લઇ લીધું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="62" bcv="PSA.78.62" />તેમણે પોતાના લોકોનો સંહાર થવા દીધો, કારણકે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો ક્રોધ અતિ વધારે હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="63" bcv="PSA.78.63" />તેઓના યુવાનો અગ્નિથી નાશ પામ્યાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની કન્યાઓ તેઓનાં લગ્નગીતો ગવાય તે પહેલાં જ મૃત્યુ પામી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="64" bcv="PSA.78.64" />યાજકોનો વધ થયો અને તેઓની વિધવાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ માટે રૂદન કરે તે પહેલાં તેઓ પણ મૃત્યુ પામી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="65" bcv="PSA.78.65" />ત્યારે ઊંઘમાંથી કોઇ જાગે, તેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા દ્રાક્ષારસમાંથી શૂરવીર પુરૂષને શૂરાતન આવે તેમ યહોવા ઊઠયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="66" bcv="PSA.78.66" />તે તેમના શત્રુઓ તરફ ઢળ્યા, તેમણે તેઓને પાછા વાળ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને કાયમ માટે હિણપદ કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="67" bcv="PSA.78.67" />દેવે યૂસફના પરિવારનો અસ્વીકાર કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એફાઇમના પરિવારનો પણ સ્વીકાર કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="68" bcv="PSA.78.68" />પણ યહૂદા કુળને તથા જેના ઉપર તે પ્રેમ કરતા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સિયોન પર્વતને તેમણે પસંદ કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="69" bcv="PSA.78.69" />ત્યાં તેમણે પર્વત જેવું ઉન્નત અને સદા માટે સ્થાપન કરેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી જેવું અચળ પોતાનું પવિત્રસ્થાન બાંધ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="70" bcv="PSA.78.70" />તેમણે ઘેટાંની સંભાળ રાખનાર દાઉદને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના સેવક તરીકે પસંદ કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="71" bcv="PSA.78.71" />જ્યાં એ ઘેટા ચારતો હતો ત્યાંથી દેવ તેને લઇ આવ્યા અને પોતાના લોકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાકૂબનાં સંતાન અને ઇસ્રાએલનાં લોકોના પાલક તરીકે અને દેવની સંપત્તિના પાલક તરીકે નિયુકત કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="72" bcv="PSA.78.72" />દાઉદે તેમને શુદ્ધ હૃદયથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કૌશલ્ય સભર શાણપણથી દોર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="79" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. આસાફના સ્તુતિગીતોમાંનુ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.79.1" />હે દેવ, વિદેશી રાષ્ટોએ તમારા લોકો પર આક્રમણ કર્યુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા પવિત્ર મંદિરને અશુદ્ધ કર્યુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે યરૂશાલેમ તારાજ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.79.2" />તેઓએ તમારા સેવકોનાં મૃતદેહોને જંગલી પક્ષીઓને ખાવા માટે આપ્યાં છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ તમારા વફાદાર અનુયાયીઓના મૃતદેહોને ખાવા માટે જંગલી પશુઓ છોડ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.79.3" />તેઓએ, યરૂશાલેમની આસપાસ, પાણીની રેલની જેમ રકત વહેવડાવ્યું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં મૃતદેહોને દફનાવનાર કોઇ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.79.4" />અમારી આસપાસ આવેલી પ્રજાઓ અમારી નિંદા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તિરસ્કાર કરે છે, અને અમારા પડોશીઓ મશ્કરી કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.79.5" />હે યહોવા, તમે અમારા ઉપર ક્યાં સુધી કોપાયમાન રહેશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા કોપનો અગ્નિ ક્યાં સુધી સળગતો રહેશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.79.6" />તમે જે વિદેશીઓ જાણતા નથી તેઓ ઉપર તમારો ક્રોધ ઉતારો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે રાજ્યની પ્રજાઓ તમારા નામે અરજ કરતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.79.7" />કારણ તેઓએ યાકૂબનો વિનાશ કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના વતનને ઉજ્જડ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.79.8" />હે યહોવા, અમારા પૂર્વજોનાં પાપોને લીધે અમને દોષિત ઠરાવશો નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા પર તમારી દયા કરવામાં વિલંબ કરશો નહિ કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બહુ દુર્દશામાં આવી પડ્યાં છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.79.9" />હે અમારા તારણના દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારી સહાય કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા નામના મહિમાને માટે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દેવ અમારી રક્ષા કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા નામની માટે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને અમારા પાપોની માફી આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.79.10" />વિદેશીઓ શા માટે એવું કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“ક્યાં છે તેઓના દેવ?”
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ તમારા લોકોનું લોહી વહેવડાવ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને એવી રીતે શિક્ષા કરો કે અમારી આંખો જુએ અને લોકો તેના વિષે જાણે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.79.11" />બંદીવાનોના નિસાસા તમારી આગળ પહોંચો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા હાથના પરાક્રમે મૃત્યુદંડ પામેલાઓનું રક્ષણ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.79.12" />હે યહોવા, જે અમારા પડોશી રાષ્ટો તમારું અપમાન કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને તમે સાતગણી સજા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.79.13" />પછી નિરંતર અમે તમારી આભારસ્તુતિ કરીશું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા લોક તથા ચારાના ઘેટાઁ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પેઢી દર પેઢી તમારું સ્તવન કરીશું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="80" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. રાગ: “કમળ નો કરાર.” આસાફનું સ્તુતિગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.80.1" />હે ઇસ્રાએલનાં પાળક, અમારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તે જાણો છો જેણે યૂસફના લોકોને ઘેટાંની જેમ દોર્યા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">કરૂબ દેવદૂત પર બેઠેલા હે દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને પ્રકાશ આપો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.80.2" />એફાઇમ, બિન્યામીન અને મનાશ્શા આગળ તમારું સાર્મથ્ય બતાવો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને તારવાને આવ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.80.3" />હે દેવ, અમને તમે ફેરવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા મુખનો પ્રકાશ પાડો એટલે અમારો ઉદ્ધાર થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.80.4" />હે સૈન્યોના યહોવા દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્યાં સુધી ક્રોધાયમાન રહીને અમારી પ્રાર્થનાઓ નકારશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.80.5" />તમે તમારા લોકોને આંસુવાળી રોટલી ખવડાવી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પુષ્કળ આંસુઓ પાયાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.80.6" />તમે અમને અમારા પડોશીઓને લડવા માટે યુદ્ધના નિશાન બનાવ્યાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમરા શત્રુઓ અમારી હાંસી કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.80.7" />હે સૈન્યોના દેવ, અમને પાછા ફેરવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા મુખનો પ્રકાશ અમારા પર પાડો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી અમારો ઉદ્ધાર થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.80.8" />તમે વિદેશી રાષ્ટોને હાંકી કાઢયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અહીં “દ્રાક્ષાવેલો” રોપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.80.9" />તમે ભૂમિને તેને વાસ્તે સાફ કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમાં દ્રાક્ષાવેલાના મૂળ નાંખ્યા અને તેનાથી દેશ ભરપૂર થયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.80.10" />તેની છાયાથી પર્વતો ઢંકાઇ ગયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની વિશાળ લાંબી ડાળીઓથી દેવદારનાં વૃક્ષો ઢંકાઇ ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.80.11" />તેણે પોતાની ડાળીઓ સમુદ્ર સુધી પ્રસારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની ડાંખળીઓ નદી સુધી પ્રસારી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.80.12" />તમે તેનો કોટ એવી રીતે કેમ તોડ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે જેથી રસ્તે જતાં મુસાફરો તેની દ્રાક્ષો ચૂંટી લે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.80.13" />જંગલમાંથી ડુક્કરો આવીને તેને બગાડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રાની પશુઓ તેને ખાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.80.14" />હે સૈન્યોના દેવ, તમે પાછા આવો, આકાશમાંથી નીચે દ્રષ્ટિ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આ દ્રાક્ષાવેલાની રક્ષા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.80.15" />તમે તમારા જમણા હાથે જેને રોપ્યો છે, અને તમે બળવાન કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે દીકરાને પોતાને માટે, તેનું રક્ષણ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.80.16" />તમારા “દ્રાક્ષાવેલા”ને કાપી નાખ્યો છે અને અગ્નિથી બાળી નાખ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ક્રોધથી તમારા લોકો નાશ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.80.17" />તમારા જમણા હાથે જે માણસ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે તમારા પોતાના માટે જે માનવપુત્રને બળવાન કર્યો છે તેના પર તમારો હાથ રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.80.18" />તમારાથી અમે કદી વિમુખ થઇશું નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને પુર્નજીવન આપો, અને અમે તમારા નામમાં પ્રાર્થના કરીશું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.80.19" />હે સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા, અમને પાછા ફેરવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા મુખનો પ્રકાશ અમારા પર પાડો, જેથી અમારો ઉદ્ધાર થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="81" />
<d style="d">નિર્દેશક માટે. રાગ:
<tl>ગિત્તિથ</tl> આસાફના ગીતોમાંનુ એક.
</d>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.81.1" />દેવ જે આપણું સાર્મથ્ય છે તેમની સમક્ષ મોટેથી સ્તુતિ ગાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાકૂબના દેવ સમક્ષ હર્ષનાદ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.81.2" />ઢોલક અને સિતાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મધુર વીણા સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના સ્તુતિ-ગાન ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.81.3" />રણશિંગડું વગાડો! આવો અને પૂનમનો દિવસ ઉજવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નૂતન ચંદ્રનો પવિત્ર દિવસ અને અન્ય સર્વ પવિત્રપવોર્; ઉમંગે ઊજવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.81.4" />એમ કરવુંએ ઇસ્રાએલનાં લોકો માટે તે વિધિ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે યાકૂબને તે હુકમ આપ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.81.5" />જ્યારે તે મિસરમાંથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓને લાવ્યાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે દેવે યૂસફ<f caller="+"><fr>81:5
</fr><fk>યૂસફ
</fk><ft>અહીં તેનો અર્થ છે યૂસફનો પરિવાર, ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો.</ft></f> સાથે કરાર કર્યો;
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યાં અમે એક ભાષા સાંભળી જે અમે સમજ્યાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.81.6" />દેવ કહે છે, “મેં તમારા ખભાને બોજથી મુકત કર્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તમારા હાથોને વજનદાર ટોપલાંથી મુકત કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.81.7" />સંકટમાં તમે મને પોકાર કર્યો, તેથી મેં તમને છોડાવ્યાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગુપ્તસ્થાનમાંથી ગર્જના દ્વારા મેં તમને પ્રત્યુતર આપ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મરીબાહનાં પાણી આગળ મેં તમારી પરીક્ષા કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.81.8" />“હે મારા લોકો, સાંભળો; હે ઇસ્રાએલ માત્ર મારું સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને કડક ચેતવણી આપું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.81.9" />અન્ય દેવતાઓની આરાધના તમારે કદાપિ કરવી નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘરમાં મૂર્તિ રાખવી નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.81.10" />કારણ, મિસર દેશમાંથી તમને બહાર કાઢી લાવનાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ‘યહોવા’ તમારો દેવ છું!
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારું મુખ ઉઘાડો અને હું તેને ભરી દઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને ખવડાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.81.11" />“પણ ના! મારા લોકોએ મને સાંભળી નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલ મારી ચેતવણી સ્વીકારવા ઇચ્છતુ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.81.12" />તેથી તેઓને મેં જવા દીધા તેમના અંધારિયાં તથા હઠીલા માગેર્;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની ઇચ્છા પ્રમાણે જીવવા દીધા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.81.13" />મારા લોકો મારું સાંભળે તો કેવું સારું! અરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલ મારું અનુસરણ કરો અને મારા માગોર્ પર ચાલે તો કેવું સારું!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.81.14" />તો હું તેઓના શત્રુઓને પરાજીત કરું અને વહેલા નમાવું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના વેરીની વિરુદ્ધ, મારો હાથ ઝડપથી ઉપાડું!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.81.15" />જેઓ યહોવાને ધિક્કારે છે તેઓ તેમની સામે ભયથી ધૂજશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેમની સજા તો સદાને માટે રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.81.16" />પરંતુ તમને હું, શ્રેષ્ઠ ઘઉંથી તૃપ્ત કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમને, ખડકમાંના મધથી સંતોષ આપીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="82" />
<s level="2" style="s2">આસાફના સ્તુતિગીતોમાંનુ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.82.1" />દેવની સભામાં ઇશ્વર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ન્યાયાધીશ તરીકે ઊભા રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.82.2" />દેવ કહે છે, “તમે ક્યાં સુધી ખોટો ન્યાય કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્યાં સુધી તમે દુષ્ટો ઉપર વિશેષ કૃપા કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખશો?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.82.3" />“તમે અબળ અને અનાથને ન્યાય કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુ:ખિત અને લાચારને તેમના હકો પાછા મેળવવા મદદ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.82.4" />અબળ અને દરિદ્રી ને છોડી મૂકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને દુષ્ટોની પકડમાંથી મુકત કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.82.5" />“તેઓ જાણતા નથી કે સમજતા નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ અંધકારમાં ચાલે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે દુનિયા તેમની આજુબાજુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નીચે ઉતરી રહી છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.82.6" />મેં કહ્યું કે “તમે દેવો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે પરાત્પર દેવના દીકરાઓ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.82.7" />તો પણ માણસની જેમ મૃત્યુ પામશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અન્ય સરદારની મ પડશો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.82.8" />હે દેવ, ઊઠો! પૃથ્વીનો ન્યાય કરો; કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ પ્રજાઓ તમારા હાથમાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="83" />
<s level="2" style="s2">આસાફના સ્તુતિગીતોમાંનુ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.83.1" />હે દેવ, તમે છાના ન રહો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દેવ, તમે ચૂપ ન રહો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શાંત ન રહો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.83.2" />જુઓ, તમારા શત્રુઓ હુલ્લડ મચાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓ તમને ધિક્કાર છે તેમણે તમારી સામે માથું ઊંચું કર્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.83.3" />તેઓ તમારા લોકો વિરુદ્ધ કપટભરી યોજનાઓ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા લોક જેઓ તમને મૂલ્યવાન છે, તેઓની વિરુદ્ધ પ્રપંચ રચે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.83.4" />તેઓ કહે છે, “ચાલો, પ્રજા તરીકેના તેમના અસ્તિત્વનો આપણે સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી ઇસ્રાએલના નામનું સ્મરણ કદી ન રહે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.83.5" />તેઓ નિર્ણય સર્વાનુમતે કરે છે, અને યોજનાઓ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તમારી વિરુદ્ધ કરાર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.83.6" />તંબુમાં રહેનાર અદોમીઓ, ઇશ્માએલીઓ, મોઆબીઓ તથા હાગ્રીઓ,
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.83.7" />ગબાલ, તથા આમ્મોન ને અમાલેક;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તૂર દેશના લોકો પલિસ્તીઓ કરાર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.83.8" />તેઓની સાથે આશ્શૂર પણ સામેલ થાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોતના વંશજોને સહાય કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.83.9" />તમે જે મિદ્યાન સાથે વ્યવહાર કર્યો હતો, કીશોન નદી પર સીસરા તથા યાબીન સાથે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવોજ વ્યવહાર તમે તેઓની સાથે કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.83.10" />એન-દોરમાં તેઓ નાશ પામ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભૂમિ મૃતદેહોના કહોવાણથી ફળદ્રુપ થઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.83.11" />જેમ ઓરેબ તથા ઝએબ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા, તેમ તેઓના સર્વ શૂરવીરો મૃત્યુ પામો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ અધિકારીઓના હાલ ઝેબાહ તથા સાલ્મુન્ના જેવા થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.83.12" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, ચાલો આપણે પોતાને માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના નિવાસસ્થાનને કબજે કરીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.83.13" />હે મારા દેવ, તેઓને વંટોળિયાની ધૂળ જેવા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પવનથી ઊડતાં ફોતરાં જેવા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.83.14" />જેમ અગ્નિ જંગલોને ભસ્મ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આગ પર્વતોને સળગાવે તેમ વિનાશ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.83.15" />તમારા વંટોળિયાઓ અને તોફાનોથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો પીછો કરો અને તેમને ડરાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.83.16" />તેઓ લજ્જિત થઇ પોતાનાં મુખ સંતાડે તેમ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તેઓ તમારું નામ શોધે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.83.17" />તેઓ હંમેશા લજ્જિત થાઓ, અને ગૂંચવાઇ જાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ અપમાનિત થાઓ અને નાશ પામો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.83.18" />જેથી તેઓ જાણે કે તમારું નામ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“યહોવા” છે અને તમે એકલાં જ સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર પરાત્પર દેવ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="84" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે.
<tl>ગિત્તિથ</tl> સાથે ગાવા માટે કોરાહના કુટુંબનું સ્તુતિગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.84.1" />હે સૈન્યોનાં યહોવા, તમારું નિવાસસ્થાન કેવું સોહામણું છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.84.2" />તમારા આંગણામાં આવવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો આત્મા ખૂબ ઉત્સુક છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">જીવતા જાગતા યહોવા દેવ માટે મારું હૃદય તથા મારો દેહ હર્ષનાદ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.84.3" />હે સૈન્યોના યહોવા, મારા રાજા તથા મારા દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચકલીઓને પોતાનું રહેવાનું સ્થાન
</q>
<q style="q1">તથા અબાબીલને પોતાનાં બચ્ચાં રાખવા માળો બાંધવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી વેદીની પાસે જ છે તે સ્થાન મળ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.84.4" />તમારા ઘરમાં વસનારાઓને ધન્ય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સદા તમારા સ્તુતિગીત ગાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.84.5" />જેઓ યહોવામાં બળવાન, અને જેઓનાં હૃદય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા માગોર્ માટે ઉત્સુક છે, તેઓને ધન્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.84.6" />તેઓ બાકાની ખીણમાંથી યાત્રા કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેને દેવે પાણીના ઝરા જેવી બનાવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાનખર ઋતુંની વર્ષા પાણીનો ઝરો બનાવે છે.<f caller="+"><fr>84:6
</fr><fk>પાનખર … બનાવે છે
</fk><ft>અથવા “શિક્ષક આશીર્વાદો આપે છે.” આ એક બીજી રીત હોય શકે એમ કહેવા માટે કે દેવ આપણા શિક્ષક છે અને તેઓ આપણને ઘણા આશીર્વાદો આપે છે.</ft></f>
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.84.7" />તેઓ વધારે ને વધારે સાર્મથ્યવાન, થતાઁ આગળ વધે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓમાંનો દરેક જણ સિયોનમાં, દેવ સમક્ષ હાજર થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.84.8" />હે સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા; મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યાકૂબના દેવ, મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.84.9" />હે દેવ, અમારી ઢાલને જુઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જેને રાજા તરીકે અભિષિકત કર્યા છે, તેમના પર કૃપાષ્ટિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.84.10" />કારણ, અન્યસ્થળનાં હજાર દિવસ કરતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા આંગણામાંનો એક દિવસ શ્રેષ્ઠ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">દુષ્ટોના તંબુમાં રહેવુ તે કરતાં મારા દેવના મંદિરમાં દરવાન થવું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મને વધારે પસંદ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.84.11" />કારણ કે યહોવા દેવ સૂર્ય તથા ઢાલ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા કૃપા તથા ગૌરવ આપશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">ન્યાયથી વર્તનારને માટે તે કંઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ શ્રેષ્ઠ બાબત બાકી રાખશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.84.12" />હે સૈન્યોના યહોવા, તેને ધન્ય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે રાખે છે ભરોસો તમારા ઉપર.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="85" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. કોરાહના દીકરાઓનું એક સ્તુતિગીત
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.85.1" />હે યહોવા, તમારા દેશ પર તમે તમારી કૃપા દર્શાવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે યાકૂબના બંદીઓને આ દેશમાં પાછા મોકલી આપ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.85.2" />તમારા લોકોના પાપો તમે માફ કર્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે તેઓનાઁ બધા પાપોનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.85.3" />તેથી હવે તમારા કોપનો ભસ્મ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કરનારા ક્રોધનો અંત આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.85.4" />હે મારા દેવ, અમારા તારનાર, તમારા પર પ્રેમ કરવામાં તમે અમને સંસ્થાપિત કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી ફરી કદી તમારે અમારા ઉપર ક્રોધીત ન થવું પડે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.85.5" />શું તમે સદા અમારા પર કોપાયમાન રહેશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમારો કોપ પેઢી દર પેઢી લંબાવાશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.85.6" />હે યહોવા, અમને પુન:પ્રસ્થાપિત કરો જેથી અમે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા લોકો ફરી તમારામાં આનંદ પામીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.85.7" />તમારો પ્રેમ અને દયા, અમારા ઉપર રેડી દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમને તમારું તારણ પમાડો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.85.8" />યહોવા દેવ જે કહે છે તે હું કાળજી પૂર્વક સાંભળુ છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા તેના લોકોને અને તેના વફાદાર અનુયાયીઓને શાંતિનું વચન આપે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેઓ તેમની મૂર્ખાઇ તરફ ચોક્કસ પાછા ન વળે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.85.9" />જેઓ તેમનો ભય રાખે છે તેમને દેવનું તારણ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બહુ જલદી અમારી ભૂમિ પર અમે માન પૂર્વક રહીશું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.85.10" />કૃપા અને સત્યતા એકબીજાની સાથે મળેલી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ન્યાયીપણાએ તથા શાંતિએ એકબીજાને ચુંબન કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.85.11" />પૃથ્વીમાંથી સત્ય ઉપર ઉંચે જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ન્યાયીપણું આકાશમાંથી વરસશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.85.12" />હા, યહોવા “કલ્યાણ” આપશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણો દેશ મબલખ પાક ઉપજાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.85.13" />તેમનું ન્યાયીપણું આગળ ચાલશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનાં પગલા માટે માર્ગ તૈયાર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="86" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદની પ્રાર્થના.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.86.1" />હે યહોવા, મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો અને મને ઉત્તર આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે હું નિર્ધન તથા અસહાય છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.86.2" />મારા જીવનની રક્ષા કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ હું તમારો વફાદાર અનુયાયી છું, હે મારા દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા પર આસ્થા રાખનાર સેવકને બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.86.3" />હે યહોવા, મારા પર દયા કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ; આખો દિવસ હું તમારી સમક્ષ પોકાર કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.86.4" />હે યહોવા, તમારા સેવકને આનંદ આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે પ્રભુ, હું મારું જીવન તારા હાથમાં સોંપુ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.86.5" />હે પ્રભુ, તમે ઉત્તમ; અને ક્ષમા કરનાર છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સહાયને માટે તમને પ્રાર્થના કરનારા પર તમે બંધનમુકત પ્રેમ દર્શાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.86.6" />હે યહોવા, મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી કૃપા માટેની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.86.7" />મારા સંકટના ટાણે હું તમને પોકાર કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને મને ખાતરી છે કે તમે મને ઉત્તર આપશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.86.8" />હે યહોવા, અન્ય દેવોમાં તમારા જેવો દેવ કોઇ નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા જેવા પરાક્રમો પણ કોઇનાઁ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.86.9" />હે યહોવા, તમે જે રાષ્ટોનું સર્જન કર્યુ છે તે બધાં આવીને તમને પ્રણામ કરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તમારા નામનો મહિમા ગાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.86.10" />કારણ તમે મહાન દેવ છો, અને અદૃભૂત ચમત્કારના કરનાર છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જ એકલાં દેવ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.86.11" />હે યહોવા, તમે તમારા માર્ગ શીખવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તે માર્ગ પર ચાલીશ અને સત્યનું પાલન કરીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા નામનો આદર કરવાને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા હૃદયને એકાગ્ર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.86.12" />હે પ્રભુ, મારા દેવ, મારા પૂર્ણ અંત:કરણથી હું તમારી સ્તુતિ કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તમારા નામને સર્વદા મહિમા આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.86.13" />કારણ, મારા પર તમારી અનહદ કૃપા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે શેઓલનાં ઊંડાણથી મારી રક્ષા કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.86.14" />હે દેવ ઘમંડી અને ઉદ્ધત માણસો મારી સામા થયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ક્રૂર અને દુષ્ટ માણસો મારો સંહાર કરવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પાછળ પડ્યાં છે તેઓ તમારું સન્માન કરતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.86.15" />પણ, હે પ્રભુ, તમે તો દયાને કરુણાથી ભરપૂર છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ક્રોધ કરવામાં ધીમા પણ નિરંતર કૃપા અને સત્યતાથી ભરપૂર છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.86.16" />મારી તરફ ફરો, ને મારા પર દયા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા આ દાસને તમારું સાર્મથ્ય આપો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી રક્ષા કરો, હું તમારો વફાદાર પુત્ર છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.86.17" />તમારી ભલાઇ ચિન્હ મને આપો; મારા શત્રુઓ તે જોશે અને નિરાશ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ હે યહોવા એ તમે છો જેણે મને મદદ કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દિલાસો આપ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="87" />
<s level="2" style="s2">કોરાહના પરિવારનાં સ્તુતિગીતોમાંથી એક.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.87.1" />તેમણે તેનો પાયો પવિત્ર પર્વત પર સ્થાપન કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.87.2" />યાકૂબના સર્વ નગરો કરતાઁ, સિયોનના દરવાજાઓને યહોવા વધુ ચાહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.87.3" />હે દેવના નગર, તમારા વિષે અદભૂત વાતો કહેવાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.87.4" />જેઓ મને જાણે છે તેમની વચ્ચે હું મિસર અને બાબિલનો એક યાદીમાં ઉમેરો કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા કેટલાક લોકો પલિસ્તી, તૂર અને કૂશમાં જન્મ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.87.5" />વળી સિયોન વિષે કહેવાશે કે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“આ માણસ સિયોનમાં જન્મેલો હતો, અને તે માણસ પણ ત્યાં જન્મ્યો હતો.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે તે શહેર બાંધ્યુ અને તેની સ્થાપના કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.87.6" />યહોવા પોતાના બધા લોકોની એક યાદી રાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમાં દરેક જન્મ્યો હતો તે જગાનો સમાવેશ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.87.7" />વળી તેઓ ઉત્સવમાં ગીત ગાશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“મારું સર્વસ્વ તારામાં છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="88" />
<s level="2" style="s2">કોરાહના કુટુંબનું એક સ્તુતિગીત. નિર્દેશકને – દર્દનાક બિમારી વિષે, હેમાન એઝાહીનું માસ્કીલ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.88.1" />હે યહોવા, મારા તારણના દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં રાતદિવસ તમારી વિનંતી કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.88.2" />હવે તમે મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પોકાર તમારે કાને ધરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.88.3" />કારણ, મારું જીવન મુશ્કેલીઓથી ભરેલું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું જલદીથી મૃત્યુ પામીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.88.4" />હું કબરમાં ઊતરનાર ભેગો ગણાયેલો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લાચાર સ્થિતિમાં આવી પડ્યો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.88.5" />હું મૃત્યુ પામેલાઓની વચ્ચે પેડેલા મૃતદેહ જેવો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ યુદ્ધમાં મરાયા હતાં અને કબરમાં દટાયા હતાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હવે તમે તેઓને યાદ કરતાં નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તમારી કાળજીથી દૂર રખાયાં છે, હું તેમના જેવો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.88.6" />તમે મને છેક નીચલા ખાડામા ધકેલી દીધોં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવા ઊંડાણોમાં અતિશય અંધકાર હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.88.7" />મારા પર તમારો કોપ અતિ ભારે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા સર્વ મોજાંથી હું દુ:ખમાં ડૂબી ગયો છું;
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.88.8" />તમે મારા મિત્રો પાસે મારો તિરસ્કાર કરાવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારાથી તેઓ દૂર નાસે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">હું ફાંદામા ફસાઇ ગયો છું, અને તેમાંથી બહાર નીકળી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.88.9" />દુ:ખને લીધે મારી આંખો ક્ષીણ થાય છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યહોવા, મેં તને સદા અરજ કરી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી સંમુખ મેં મારા હાથ જોડ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.88.10" />શું તમે મૂએલા સમક્ષ ચમત્કારો દેખાડશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તેઓ ઊઠીને તારી આભારસ્તુતિ કરશે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.88.11" />શું તારી કૃપા કબરમાં કે વિનાશમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું વિશ્વાસપણું જાહેરમાં કરવામાં આવશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.88.12" />શું અંધકારમાં તારાં કૃત્યો જે આશ્ચર્યકારક છો, તે વિષે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિસ્મરણના દેશમાં તમારાં ન્યાયીપણાંનાં કૃત્યો વિષે જણાવવામાં આવે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.88.13" />પણ, હે યહોવા, સહાય માટે હું વિનંતી કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દરરોજ સવારે મારી પ્રાર્થના તમારી સમક્ષ આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.88.14" />હે યહોવા, તમે મને તજો છો શા માટે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે તમે તમારું મુખ મારાથી ફેરવો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.88.15" />મારી યુવાવસ્થાથી જ મારા પર દુ:ખ આવી પડ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા ગુસ્સાથી દુ:ખી થયો છું. હું અસહાય છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.88.16" />તમારો ઉગ્ર કોપ મારા પર આવી પડ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા તરફથી મને ત્રાસ થાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેથી હું ભાંગી પડ્યો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.88.17" />મને જળપ્રલયની જેમ દરરોજ ઘેરી લે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ મને ડૂબાડી દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.88.18" />તમે મારા મિત્રોને અને સબંધીઓને મારાથી દૂર કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફકત અંધકાર જ મિત્ર તરીકે મારી પાસે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="89" />
<s level="2" style="s2">એથાન એઝાહીનું માસ્કીલ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.89.1" />યહોવાની કૃપા વિષે હું સદા ગાઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ પેઢી સમક્ષ વિશ્વાસ પ્રગટ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.89.2" />મે કહ્યું છે, “તમારો સાચો પ્રેમ સદાકાળ અવિચળ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી વિશ્વસનીયતા આકાશની જેમ સતત રહે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.89.3" />યહોવા દેવ કહે છે, “મેં મારા પસંદ કરેલા સાથે કરાર કર્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા સેવક દાઉદને વચન આપ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.89.4" />‘તારા સંતાનને હું સદા ટકાવી રાખીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વંશપરંપરાગત તારું રાજ્યાસન સ્થિર રાખીશ.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.89.5" />પણ, હે યહોવા, તમારા ચમત્કારોની સ્તુતિ આકાશો કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સંતોની મંડળી તમારી વિશ્વસનીયતા વિષે ગાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.89.6" />આકાશમાં કોણ છે એવું જેની તુલના થાય યહોવા સાથે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જનોમાં દેવદૂતોમાં તેના જેવો કોણ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.89.7" />સંતોની સભા દેવથી ડરે છે અને આદર આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ તેમની આસપાસ છે તે સર્વ કરતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ ભયાવહ અને સન્માનનીય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.89.8" />હે સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા; તમારા જેવું શકિતશાળી બીજું કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે સંપૂર્ણ રીતે વિશ્વાસપાત્ર છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.89.9" />સમુદ્રના ગર્વ પર તમે અધિકાર ચલાવો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા શબ્દોચ્ચાર તોફાની ઊછળતાં મોજાઓને શાંત કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.89.10" />તમે એ છો જેણે રાહાબને હરાવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી શકિતશાળી ભુજે તમારા શત્રુઓને વિખેરી નાખ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.89.11" />આકાશો અને પૃથ્વી તમારાં છે, કારણ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જગત તથા તેના સર્વસ્વને સ્થાપન કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.89.12" />ઉત્તર તથા દક્ષિણ તમારાથી ઉત્પન્ન થયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તાબોર ને હેમોર્ન તમારા નામે હર્ષનાદ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.89.13" />તમારો હાથ બળવાન છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ભુજમાં પરાક્રમ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારો જમણો હાથ ઊંચો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહિમાવંત સાર્મથ્યમાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.89.14" />ન્યાયીપણું તથા ન્યાય તમારા રાજ્યાસનનો પાયો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારું વિશ્વાસપણું અને પ્રેમ સર્વ કૃત્યોમાં પ્રગટ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.89.15" />હે યહોવા, ધન્ય છે આનંદદાયક નાદને જાણનાર લોકોને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તમારા મુખના પ્રકાશમાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.89.16" />તેઓ આખો દિવસ તમારા નામમાં આનંદ માણે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા ન્યાયીપણાંથી તેઓને ઊંચા કરાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.89.17" />તમે તેમની અદભૂત શકિત છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી ઇચ્છા પ્રમાણે તેઓની વૃદ્ધિ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.89.18" />હા, યહોવા અમારી ઢાલ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારો ઇસ્રાએલનો પવિત્ર રાજા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.89.19" />તમારા ભકતોને તમે દર્શનમાં કહ્યું,
</q>
<q style="q1">“જે પરાક્રમી છે તેને મેં સહાય કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એક યુવાનને મેં સામાન્ય લોકોમાંથી પસંદ કરીને ઊંચો કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.89.20" />મારો સેવક દાઉદ મને મળ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેને મારા પવિત્ર તેલથી અભિષિકત કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.89.21" />મારો હાથ તેને ટકાવી રાખશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારો ભુજ તેને સાર્મથ્ય આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.89.22" />તેનાં શત્રુઓ તેને હરાવીં નહિ શકે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટ લોકો તેની પર વિજય પામી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.89.23" />તેમનાં શત્રુઓને તેમની સમક્ષ હું પાડી નાખીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તેમના દ્વેષીઓનો પણ નાશ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.89.24" />પરંતુ મારું વિશ્વાસપણું તથા મારી કૃપા તેમની સાથે ચાલુ રહેશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને હું નિરંતર પ્રેમ રાખીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા નામને માટે પણ હું તેમને મહાન બનાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.89.25" />હું તેના હાથ સમુદ્ર પર સ્થાપન કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નદીઓ પર તેનો જમણો હાથ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.89.26" />તે મને કહેશે; ‘તમે મારા પિતા છો તમે મારું તારણ કરનાર ખડક છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા દેવ છો જે મને બચાવે છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.89.27" />હું એની સાથે, મારા પ્રથમજનિત પુત્રની જેમ વ્યવહાર કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને પૃથ્વી પર સૌથી મહાન બળવાન રાજા બનાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.89.28" />મારી કૃપા તેના પર સદા રહેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારો વિશ્વાસપાત્ર કરાર સદાકાળ તેની પાસે રહેશે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.89.29" />હું તેમની વંશાવળી સદાને માટે પ્રસ્થાપિત કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્વર્ગના અવિનાશી દિવસો જેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના શાસનનો અંત આવશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.89.30" />જો તેનાં સંતાનો મારા નિયમોનો ભંગ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા હુકમોને નહિ અનુસરે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.89.31" />જો તેઓ મારા વિધિઓને તોડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી આજ્ઞાઓ પ્રમાણે નહિ જીવે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PSA.89.32" />તો હું તેમને તેમના પાપોની શિક્ષા સોટીથી કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનાં અન્યાયને ફટકાથી જોઇ લઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PSA.89.33" />પરંતુ હું મારી કૃપા તેમની પાસેથી લઇ લઇશ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તેમને અવિશ્વાસુ નહિ બનું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PSA.89.34" />ના, હું મારા કરારનું ખંડન નહિ કરું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેમને જે વચન આપ્યું છે તે હું કદાપિ નહિ બદલું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PSA.89.35" />મેં એકવાર તારી પવિત્રતાના સમ ખાધા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દાઉદ સાથે જૂઠું બોલીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="PSA.89.36" />તેમનાં સંતાન સર્વકાળ ટકશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સૂર્યની જેમ તેમની હકૂમત સર્વદા ટકશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="PSA.89.37" />તેમનું શાસન મારા વિશ્વાસુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાક્ષી ચંદ્રની જેમ અચળ રહેશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="PSA.89.38" />પરંતુ, દેવ, તમે તમારા અભિષિકતને તજી દીધાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તિરસ્કાર કર્યો છે અને સજા કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="PSA.89.39" />તમે તમારા સેવક સાથે કરેલો કરાર રદ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે રાજાના મુગટને કચરામાં ફેંકી દીધો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="PSA.89.40" />તેનું રક્ષણ કરનાર દીવાલોને તમે તોડી પાડી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના દરેક કિલ્લાને તમે ખંડેર બનાવ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="PSA.89.41" />માગેર્ જનારા સર્વ કોઇ તેને લૂટી લે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પડોશીઓથી તે અપમાનિત થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="PSA.89.42" />તમે તેમના વૈરીઓને તેમની વિરુદ્ધ બળવાન કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના સર્વ શત્રુઓને તમે આનંદિત કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="PSA.89.43" />તમે તેમની તરવાર નીચી પાડી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને યુદ્ધમાં સહાય નથી કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="PSA.89.44" />તેના ગૌરવનો તમે અંત આણ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનું રાજ્યાસન ઉથલાવી મૂક્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="45" bcv="PSA.89.45" />તેના યુવાનીના દિવસો તમે ટૂંકા કર્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે તેને શરમાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="46" bcv="PSA.89.46" />હે યહોવા, ક્યાં સુધી આમ ચાલ્યા કરશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમે આમ છુપાઇ રહેશો સદાકાળ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમારો કોપ અગ્નિની જેમ સળગતો રહેશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="47" bcv="PSA.89.47" />હે યહોવા, તમે મારા આયુખ્યને કેટલું ટૂંકુ બનાવ્યું છે તે જરા સંભારો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમે માનવજાતનું નિર્માણ વ્યર્થતાને માટે કર્યુ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="48" bcv="PSA.89.48" />છે કોઇ એવો જે જીવશે ને મરણ દેખશે નહિ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શેઓલના કબજામાંથી પોતાનો આત્મા કોણ છોડાવશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="49" bcv="PSA.89.49" />હે યહોવા, તમારી અગાઉની કૃપા ક્યાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેનું તમે તમારી વિશ્વસનીયતા દ્વારા દાઉદને વચન આપ્યું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="50" bcv="PSA.89.50" />હે યહોવા, તમારા સેવકોનું અપમાન કરનાર તે બધાં લોકોને હું સહન કરું છું તે શરમનું સ્મરણ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="51" bcv="PSA.89.51" />હે યહોવા, તમારા શત્રુઓએ મારું અપમાન કર્યુ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ તમારા પસંદ કરેલા રાજાનું પણ અપમાન કર્યુ!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="52" bcv="PSA.89.52" />યહોવાની સદાય સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આમીન તથા આમીન!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="90" />
<p sfm="ms" style="ms1">ભાગ ચોથો
</p>
<p sfm="mr" style="mr">(ગીત 90-106)
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">દેવના ભકત મૂસાની પ્રાર્થના.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.90.1" />હે દેવ, સર્વ પેઢીઓમાં તમે અમારું નિવાસસ્થાન થયા છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.90.2" />તમે પૃથ્વી અને જગતને રચ્યાં હતાં અને પર્વતો ઉત્પન્ન થયા હતાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પહેલાંથી તમે જ દેવ છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી શરૂઆત નથી કે અંત નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.90.3" />તમે મનુષ્યોને ધૂળમાં પાછા લઇ જાઓ છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કહો છો; મનુષ્યપુત્રો પાછા ફરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.90.4" />કારણ, તમારી દ્રષ્ટિમાં હજાર વષોર્ વીતી ગયેલી કાલના જેવાં છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રાતના એક પહોર જેવાં છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.90.5" />તમે અમને, પાણીના પ્રવાહની જેમ ઘસડી જાઓ છો;
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારું જીવન એક સ્વપ્ન જેવું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સવારમાં અમે જોઇ ચૂક્યા હોઇએ છીએ કે અમે ઘાસ જેવાં છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.90.6" />તે સવારે ખીલે છે અને વધે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાંજે સૂકાઇ જાય છે ને પછી ચીમળાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.90.7" />કારણ, તમારા કોપથી અમારો નાશ થાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા રોષથી અમને ત્રાસ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.90.8" />તમે અમારાં બધાં પાપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારા ગુપ્ત પાપો પણ જાણો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે બધાં તમે જોઇ શકો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.90.9" />તમારા રોષમાં અમારા સર્વ દિવસો વીતી જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નિસાસાની જેમ અમે વષોર્ પૂરાં કરીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.90.10" />અમારી વયના દિવસો સિત્તેર વર્ષ જેટલા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેટલાંક તેમનાં બળને કારણે એંસી વર્ષ પણ જીવે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તો પણ શ્રેષ્ઠ વષોર્ મિથ્યા, શ્રમ, તથા દુ:ખ માત્ર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તે ઝડપથી પસાર થઇ જાય છે અને અમારો અંત આવી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.90.11" />તમારા ક્રોધના બળને અને કોપને કોણ જાણી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમને ઘટે છે તેવો તમારો ભય કોણ રાખી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.90.12" />અમારા જીવન કેટલાં ટૂંકા છે તે તમે અમને શીખવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી અમે ખરેખર જ્ઞાની બની શકીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.90.13" />હે યહોવા, અમારી પાસે પાછા આવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાછા આવો અને તમારા સેવકોને દિલાસો આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.90.14" />પ્રત્યેક સવારે અમને તમારી કૃપાથી ભરી દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી અમે અમારા સર્વ દિવસો સુખ અને આનંદમાં વિતાવીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.90.15" />અમારા અગાઉનાં દુ:ખોનાં પ્રમાણમાં અમને વધુ આનંદ આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારી પીડાના વરસોના બદલામાં અમને સારા વષોર્ આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.90.16" />તમારા સેવકોને ફરીથી, તમારા ચમત્કારો દેખાડો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારો મહિમા તેઓના પુત્રો પર દેખાડો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.90.17" />અમારા યહોવા દેવની કૃપા અમારા પર થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમને સફળતા આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારાં સર્વ કૃત્યોને તમે કાયમ માટે સ્થાપન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="91" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.91.1" />પરાત્પર દેવના આશ્રયસ્થાનમાં જે વસે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વસમર્થની છાયામાં રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.91.2" />હું યહોવાને કહું છું કે, “તમે મારો આશ્રય અને ગઢ છો એજ મારા દેવ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારો વિશ્વાસ કરું છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.91.3" />કારણકે તે તને સર્વ ફાંદાઓથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જીવલેણ રોગ મરકીથી બચાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.91.4" />તેની પાંખો પ્રસરાવીને તે તારું રક્ષણ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને તેની પાંખો નીચે આશ્રય મળશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની સત્યતા તમારું રક્ષણ કરતી ઢાલ અને દીવાલ જેવાં હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.91.5" />હવે તું રાત્રે બીશ નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે દિવસે ઊડતા તીરોથી તું બીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.91.6" />અંધકારમાં ફેલાતા ભયંકર ચેપી રોગથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે મધ્યાહને આવતી પ્રાણઘાતક બિમારીથી તું ગભરાઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.91.7" />તારી બાજુએથી હજાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારે જમણે હાથ પડશે દશ હજાર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં તને સ્પશીર્ શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.91.8" />તે તમે તમારી પોતાની આંખોથી જોશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે દુષ્ટ લોકોને કેવી સજા થાય છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.91.9" />શા માટે? કારણ તમે યહોવાનો વિશ્વાસ કરો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે પરાત્પર દેવને તમારી સુરક્ષિત જગા બનાવ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.91.10" />તેથી તમારા પર કોઇ અણધારી આફત આવશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી પાસે, તમારા રહેઠાણની જગાની નજીક કોઇ બિમારી આવશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.91.11" />કારણ, તું જ્યાં જાય છે ત્યાં દેવ તારું રક્ષણ કરવા માટે તેના દેવદૂતોને આજ્ઞા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.91.12" />તેઓ તને પોતાના હાથોમાં ધરી રાખશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તારો પગ માર્ગમાં ખડકો સાથે અફળાય નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.91.13" />માર્ગમાં સિંહ મળે કે પગ પડે ઝેરી સાપ પર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પણ તું સુરક્ષિત રહેશે; હા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તેઓને પગ નીચે છૂંદી નાંખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.91.14" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તે મને ચાહે છે તેથી હું તેને મુકત કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેને મહાન બનાવીશ, કારણકે તે મારું નામ જાણે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.91.15" />તે પોકાર કરશે એટલે હું ઉત્તર દઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંકટમાં હું તેની સાથે રહીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને છોડાવીને સન્માનીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.91.16" />હું તેને દીર્ઘ આયુષ્યથી તૃપ્ત કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું મારું તારણ તેને આપીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="92" />
<s level="2" style="s2">વિશ્રામવાર માટેનું સ્તુતિગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.92.1" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરવી અને આભાર વ્યકત કરવો અને તમારા નામના,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરાત્પર દેવના સ્તોત્ર ગાન કરવા તે સારું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.92.2" />દસ તારવાળા વાજીંત્ર તથા સિતાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે વીણાના મધુર સ્વર સાથે ગાવું તે ખરેખર સારું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.92.3" />પ્રત્યેક સવારે તેમના માટે તમારો પ્રેમ વ્યકત કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રત્યેક રાત્રે તેમનામાં તમારો વિશ્વાસ વ્યકત કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.92.4" />હે યહોવા, તમે તમારા કૃત્યોથી મને આનંદ પમાડ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા હાથે થયેલાં કામને લીધે હર્ષનાદ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.92.5" />હે યહોવા, તમારા કૃત્યો કેવાં મહાન છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા વિચારો બહુ ગહન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.92.6" />ઊંડો વિચાર ન કરી શકે તેવા લોકો તે સમજી શકતાં નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મૂર્ખ માણસ કદાપિ તેનો અર્થ પામી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.92.7" />દુષ્ટ માણસો ઘાસની જેમ પુષ્કળ ઉગે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભૂંડુ કરનાર દરેક જગાએ ફૂટી નીકળે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેમનો સદાને માટે વિનાશ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.92.8" />પણ, હે યહોવા, તમે સર્વકાળનાં પરાત્પર દેવ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.92.9" />હે યહોવા, તમારા શત્રુઓ અવશ્ય નાશ પામશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ ભૂંડુ કરનારાઓ વિખેરાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.92.10" />પણ તમે મને, જંગલી ગોધાના જેવો, બળવાન કર્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને મૂલ્યવાન તેલ ચોળવામાં આવ્યું છે, જે ચેતનવંતો બનાવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.92.11" />મેં નજરે નિહાળ્યું છે ને મારા શત્રુઓની હાર થઇ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મેં સાંભળ્યું છે, કે મારા દુષ્ટ દુશ્મનોને ભગાડી મૂકવામાં આવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.92.12" />સદાચારી લોકો તાડના વૃક્ષની જેમ ખીલશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લબાનોનના દેવદાર વૃક્ષોની જેમ વધશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.92.13" />યહોવાના મંદિરમાં જેઓને રોપવામાં આવેલા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ આપણા દેવનાં આંગણામાં ખીલી ઊઠશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.92.14" />તેઓ ઘડપણમાં પણ ફળધારક થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તાજાં લીલાં વૃક્ષો જેવાં હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.92.15" />તેથી તેઓ કહેશે કે, યહોવા સારા અને પ્રામાણિક છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારા ખડક છે, અને તેમના વિશે કઁઇ અન્યાયી નથીં.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="93" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.93.1" />યહોવા રાજ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભવ્યતા અને સાર્મથ્યને તેણે વસ્રોની જેમ ધારણ કર્યા છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે જગતને તેવી રીતે પ્રસ્થાપિત કર્યુ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તે અચળ રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.93.2" />હે દેવ, પુરાતન કાળથી તમારું રાજ્યાસન સ્થપાયેલું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે સદાકાળ અસ્તિત્વ ધરાવો છો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.93.3" />હે યહોવા, નદીઓએ ગર્જનાકરી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વહેતી નદીઓએ તેમનો અવાજ વધાર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના મોજાં ઊંચા ઉછાળ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.93.4" />તમે વધુ ગર્જના કરતાં સમુદ્રોથી વધારે શકિતશાળી છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમુદ્રોનાઁ મોજાઁઓથી વધારે બળવાન.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉપરવાળો દેવયહોવા,પરમ ઊંચામાં પરાક્રમી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.93.5" />તમારા કરારો સંપૂર્ણ રીતે વિશ્વાસપાત્ર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, સર્વકાળ પવિત્રતા તમારા મંદિરને શોભે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="94" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.94.1" />હે દેવ યહોવા, ખોટું કરનારને તમે શિક્ષા કરો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે બદલો લેનારા દેવ! દર્શન આપો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.94.2" />હે પૃથ્વીના ન્યાયાધીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઊઠો અને ગવિર્ષ્ઠોને યોગ્ય શિક્ષા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.94.3" />હે યહોવા, ક્યાં સુધી તમે દુષ્ટ લોકોને તેમની હસીમજાક કરવા દેશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેટલી વધારે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.94.4" />તેઓ અભિમાન યુકત વાતો કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ અન્યાય કરનારા વડાઇ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.94.5" />હે યહોવા, તેઓ તમારા લોકો પર જુલમ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તમારા વારસાને દુ:ખ દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.94.6" />તેઓ વિધવાઓ અને વિદેશીઓની ભારે હત્યા કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અનાથની હત્યા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.94.7" />તેઓ કહે છે, “યહોવા અમને જોતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાકૂબના દેવ ધ્યાન આપતા નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.94.8" />હે મૂર્ખ લોકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ડાહ્યાં થાઓ!
</q>
<q style="q1">ઓ અજ્ઞાની લોકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ક્યારે ડાહ્યાં થશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.94.9" />જે કાનનો ઘડનાર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે નહિ સાંભળે?
</q>
<q style="q1">આંખનો રચનાર જે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે શું નહિ જુએ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.94.10" />જે રાષ્ટોને શિસ્તમાં રાખે છે, તે શું તમને સખત ઠપકો આપતા નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ લોકોને તેઓ જે જાણે છે તે શીખવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.94.11" />યહોવા સારી રીતે જાણે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે માનવજાતના વિચારો કેવાં વ્યર્થ અને મર્યાદિત છે!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.94.12" />હે યહોવા, તમે જેને શિસ્તમાં રાખો છો અને તમારા નિયમશાસ્ત્ર શીખવો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને આશીર્વાદ મળેલા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.94.13" />તમે તેના પર સંકટના દિવસો નથી આવવા દેતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટને માટે ખાડો ખોદાય ત્યાં સુધી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.94.14" />યહોવા, પોતાના લોકોને તરછોડશે નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના વારસાનો ત્યાગ કરશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.94.15" />કારણ, ન્યાય પાછો વળશે અને તે ન્યાયીપણું લાવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ યથાર્થ હૃદયવાળાં તેને અનુસરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.94.16" />મારો પક્ષ લઇને દુષ્ટોની સામે કોણ ઉભું રહેશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્કમીર્ઓથી મારું રક્ષણ કરવા કોણ મારી બાજુમાં ઉભું રહેશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.94.17" />યહોવાએ મારી સહાય ન કરી હોત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો હું જરૂર મૃત્યુ પામ્યો હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.94.18" />જ્યારે મેં વિચાર્યુ કે હું હવે પડવાનો છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે યહોવા દેવે મને ટેકો આપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.94.19" />હે યહોવા, મારા મન અને હૃદય ચિંતા અને પરેશાનીથી ભરાઇ ગયા હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તમે મને દિલાસો આપ્યો અને મને સુખી બનાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.94.20" />હે દેવ, ચોક્કસ, તમે દુષ્ટ શાસકોને ટેકો આપતા નથી જેઓએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના નિયમો દ્વારા લોકોનું જીવન વધારે મુશ્કેલ બનાવી દીધું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.94.21" />તેઓ સારા લોકો પર હુમલો કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ નિદોર્ષને દોષિત ઠરાવીને તેમને મૃત્યદંડ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.94.22" />પણ યહોવા મારા ગઢ છે, અને મારો દેવ મારા સાર્મથ્યવાન ખડક છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તેમનો આશ્રય લઉં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.94.23" />દેવ દુષ્ટ માણસોના પાપ પ્રમાણે તેઓને બદલો આપ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે બધાનો સંહાર કરશે, તેઓની દુષ્ટતાને કારણે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા આપણો દેવ તેઓનો જરૂર સંહાર કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="95" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.95.1" />આવો, યહોવા સમક્ષ આપણે ગાઇએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા તારણના ખડક સમક્ષ હર્ષનાદ કરીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.95.2" />તેની હજૂરમાં આભારસ્તુતિ સાથે આવીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણે તેની સમક્ષ સ્તુતિગાન કરીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.95.3" />કારણ, યહોવા મહાન દેવ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વ દેવો પર મહાન રાજા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.95.4" />તેમનાં હાથમાં પૃથ્વીનાં ઊંડાણો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઊંચા પર્વતોના માલિક પણ તે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.95.5" />જેણે સમુદ્ર બનાવ્યો અને કોરી ભૂમિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ બનાવી તેમના તે માલિક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.95.6" />આવો આપણે તેને ભજીએ અને નમીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને આપણા કર્તા યહોવાને ઘૂંટણિયે પડીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.95.7" />કારણ તે આપણા દેવ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે તેના ચારાના લોક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના હાથના ઘેટાં છીએ.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">આજે જો તમે તેની વાણી સાંભળો તો કેવું સારું!
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.95.8" />દેવ કહે છે, “ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ અરણ્યમાં મરીબાહમાં તથા માસ્સાહમાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના હૃદય કઠણ કર્યા, તેવું તમે કરશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.95.9" />તમારા પિતૃઓએ મારી કસોટી કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ પછીથી તેઓએ જોયું કે હું શું કરી શકું છું!”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.95.10" />યહોવા દેવ કહે છે, “ચાળીસ વર્ષ સુધી મેં તે પેઢીને સહન કરી છે પણ જ્યારે હું તેમનાથી કંટાળ્યો ત્યારે મેં કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે લોકો અવિનયી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ મારા માગોર્ કદી શીખ્યાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.95.11" />મેં મારા અતીશય ક્રોધમાં પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે મેં તેઓ માટે નક્કી કરેલા વિશ્રામમાં વચનનાં દેશમાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કદાપિ પ્રવેશ કરશે જ નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="96" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.96.1" />યહોવા સમક્ષ નવું ગીત ગાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર સર્વત્ર એ ગીત ગાઓ, યહોવા સમક્ષ ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.96.2" />તેમના નામને ધન્યવાદ આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દિનપ્રતિદિન તેનું તારણ પ્રગટ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.96.3" />પ્રજાઓને તેના મહિમા વિષે જણાવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધા લોકોને તેમના ચમત્કારો વિષે કહો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.96.4" />કારણ, યહોવાની મહાનતા અવર્ણનીય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે બહુ સ્તુત્ય છે; તેજ માત્ર ભયાવહ દેવ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ “દેવોની” ઉપર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.96.5" />લોકોના સર્વ “દેવો,” મૂર્તિઓ માત્ર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ યહોવાએ આકાશોને ઉત્પન્ન કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.96.6" />ભવ્યતા અને મહિમા તેમની સામે ચમકે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાર્મથ્ય અને સૌન્દર્ય તેમના પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.96.7" />હે વિશ્વની સર્વ પ્રજાઓ, યહોવા એકલા જ છે મહિમાવાન અને પરાક્રમી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમે કબૂલ કરો ને તેમને માન આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.96.8" />યહોવાને ઘટે છે ગૌરવ જે તે તેમને આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની આરાધના કરવાને તમારા અર્પણો લઇને તેનાં આંગણામાં જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.96.9" />પવિત્રતાની સુંદરતા ધારણ કરી, યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરો;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ધ્રૂજો સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી તેમની સમક્ષ.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.96.10" />પ્રજાઓની વચ્ચે જાહેર કરો, યહોવા એ છે જે જગત પર શાસન કરે છે અને ટકાવી રાખે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી તેનો વિનાશ થશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધાં લોકોનો નિષ્પક્ષતાથી ન્યાય કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.96.11" />આકાશો આનંદ પામો! હે પૃથ્વી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુખી થાવ! હે ગર્જના કરતા સમુદ્રની વિશાળતા હર્ષથી પોકારો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.96.12" />ખેતરો અને તેમાં જે કઇં ઊગે છે તે સર્વ સુખી થાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે વનનાં સર્વ વૃક્ષો યહોવાની આગળ હર્ષ સાથે ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.96.13" />પૃથ્વીનો ન્યાય કરવાને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા આવે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે સર્વ પ્રજાઓનો ન્યાય સત્યતાએ કરશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જગતનો યથાર્થપણે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="97" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.97.1" />યહોવા શાસન કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે પૃથ્વી, આનંદિત થાઓ!
</q>
<q style="q1">હે દૂરનાં પ્રદેશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુખી થાઓ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.97.2" />તેની આસપાસ મેઘ ને અંધકાર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ન્યાયીપણું તથા ન્યાય તેના રાજ્યાસનનો પાયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.97.3" />અગ્નિ તેમની આગળ ચાલે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનાં સર્વ શત્રુઓને ભસ્મ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.97.4" />તેમની વીજળીઓ જગતને ચમકાવે છે અને પ્રકાશિત કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જોઇને પૃથ્વી થરથર કાંપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.97.5" />પૃથ્વી પરના બધાં પર્વતો સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રભુ યહોવા સમક્ષ મીણની જેમ પીગળી ગયાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.97.6" />તેનું ન્યાયીપણું આકાશો પ્રગટ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ લોકોએ તેનો મહિમા જોયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.97.7" />મૂર્તિઓનું પૂજન કરનારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના વિષે ડંફાસ હાંકનારા સહુ શરમાઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના “દેવો” નમશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.97.8" />હે યહોવા, તમારા અદલ ન્યાયથી સિયોન આનંદ પામ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સાંભળી યહૂદિયાની દીકરીઓ હરખાઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.97.9" />હે યહોવા, સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીના પરાત્પર દેવ છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે સર્વ દેવો કરતાં શ્રેષ્ઠ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.97.10" />હે યહોવા, પર પ્રેમ કરનારાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે દુષ્ટતાને ધિક્કારો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે પોતાના ભકતોના આત્માઓનું રક્ષણ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેઓને દુષ્ટોના હાથમાંથી છોડાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.97.11" />સજ્જનો પર તેજ પ્રકાશે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓના હૃદય શુદ્ધ છે તેઓને સુખથી ભરી દેવામાં આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.97.12" />હે ન્યાયી લોકો, તમે યહોવામાં આનંદ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનાં પવિત્ર નામને માન આપો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="98" />
<s level="2" style="s2">સ્તુતિગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.98.1" />યહોવા સમક્ષ, કોઇ એક નવું ગીત ગાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમ કે તેણે અદભૂત કૃત્યો કર્યાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એણે પવિત્ર બાહુબળનાં પુણ્ય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રતાપે જીત પ્રાપ્ત કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.98.2" />યહોવાએ પોતાની તારણ શકિત બતાવી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે તેમનું ન્યાયીપણું પ્રજાઓ સમક્ષ પ્રગટ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.98.3" />તેણે પોતાનો સાચો પ્રેમ તથા વિશ્વાસીપણું ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો માટે સંભાર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા દૂરના રાષ્ટોએ બધી સીમાઓએ તેમાં વસતાં પોતાની સગી આંખે જોયું કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા દેવે તેમના લોકોને કેવી રીતે બચાવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.98.4" />હે પૃથ્વીનાં લોકો, યહોવાની આગળ હર્ષનાદ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આનંદ અને ઉત્સાહથી તેમની સ્તુતિ ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.98.5" />તમે સિતારનાં તાર સાથે તાર મેળવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૂર સાથે યહોવાના સ્તોત્રો ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.98.6" />આપણા રાજા યહોવા સમક્ષ આનંદના પોકારો કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભૂંગળા અને રણશિંગડા જોરથી વગાડો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.98.7" />સઘળા સમુદ્રોને ત્યાં સંચરનારા ર્ગજી ઊઠો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખું જગત અને આ ધરતી પર રહેનારાં ગાજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.98.8" />નદીઓના પ્રવાહો તાળી પાડો અને પર્વતો ગાન પોકારો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાની સમક્ષ અકત્ર હર્ષનાદ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.98.9" />યહોવા ધરતી પર ન્યાય શાસન કરવાં પધારે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ન્યાયીપણાએ પૃથ્વીનો, અને યથાર્થપણાએ લોકોનો ન્યાય કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="99" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.99.1" />યહોવા રાજ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રજાઓ તેમની સમક્ષ કાઁપો,
</q>
<q style="q1">કરૂબીમ પર તે બિરાજે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી કાપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.99.2" />સિયોનમાં યહોવા મહાન છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વ પ્રજાઓમાં પ્રતિષ્ઠિત છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.99.3" />તેઓ તમારા મહાન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભયાવહ નામની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પવિત્ર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.99.4" />સાર્મથ્યવાન રાજા ન્યાયને ચાહે છે, હે દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ભલાઇનું સર્જન કર્યુ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે ભલમનસાઇ અને ન્યાય ઇસ્રાએલમાં સ્થાપિત કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.99.5" />આપણા દેવ યહોવા મોટો મનાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના ચરણોમાં તેમના પાયાસન પાસે આવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની ઉપાસના કરો, તે પવિત્ર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.99.6" />તેમના યાજક, મૂસા, હારુન અને શમુએલે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સહાયને માટે યહોવાને વિનંતી કરી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેમણે તેઓને ઉત્તર આપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.99.7" />તેમણે મેઘસ્તંભમાંથી તેમની સાથે વાત કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેમને આપેલા તેના આદેશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કાયદાને અનુસર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.99.8" />હે યહોવા, અમારા દેવ, તેં તેઓને ઉત્તર દીધો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો કે તેં તેઓના કામનો બદલો વાળી દીધો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પણ તેઓને ક્ષમા કરનાર દેવ તો તું હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.99.9" />આપણા યહોવા દેવને પ્રતિષ્ઠિત કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પવિત્ર પર્વત પર તેમની ઉપાસના કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમ કે આપણા દેવ યહોવા પવિત્ર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="100" />
<s level="2" style="s2">આભારસ્તુતિનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.100.1" />હે પૃથ્વીના લોકો, યહોવાની સમક્ષ ગાઓ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.100.2" />આનંદથી યહોવાની સેવા કરો, હર્ષથી સ્તુતિગાન કરતાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સમક્ષ આવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.100.3" />અને તમે જાણો, યહોવા તે જ દેવ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે આપણને ઉત્પન્ન કર્યા છે, અને આપણે તેનાં જ છીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે તેમનાં લોકો અને આપણે તેમનાં ઘેટા છીએં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.100.4" />આભારસ્તુતિ સાથે તેમના દરવાજામાંથી પ્રવેશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સ્તવન કરતાં તેના આંગણામાં આવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આભાર માનીને તેના નામને આશીર્વાદ આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.100.5" />કારણ, યહોવા ઉત્તમ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની કૃપા સર્વકાળ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પેઢી દરપેઢી તેમનું ન્યાયીપણું ટકી રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="101" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.101.1" />હે યહોવા, હું તમારા માટે આ ગીત ગાઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી કૃપા અને ન્યાય વિષે ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.101.2" />હે યહોવા, હું મારા ઘરમાં શુદ્ધ હૃદય સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંભાળપૂર્વક શુદ્ધ જીવન જીવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારી પાસે ક્યારે આવશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.101.3" />હલકી અને દુષ્ટ બાબતોનો નકાર કરવાં મને મદદ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ પ્રકારની અપ્રામાણિક બાબતો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમાં મારો કોઇ લાગભાગ ન હોય તેને ધિક્કારવા મને મદદ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.101.4" />હું ઠગ અને અપ્રામાણિક લોકોનો અસ્વીકાર કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું દરેક દુષ્ટથી પણ દૂર રહીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.101.5" />હું જે કોઇ તેમનાં પડોશીઓની વિરુદ્ધમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખાનગીમાં બોલે છે તેમને અટકાવીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેની આંખો અને હૃદય અભિમાનથી ભરેલાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને હું સહન કરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.101.6" />હું આખા દેશમાં ભરોસાપાત્ર લોકોની ખોજ કરીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને મારા મહેલમાં રહેવા દઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફકત જેઓ સંપૂર્ણ પ્રામાણિક છે તેઓ મારી સેવા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.101.7" />વિશ્વાસઘાતી લોકો મારા ઘરમાં રહી શકશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જૂઠું બોલનારા કોઇ મારી નજીક રહેશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.101.8" />આ દેશમાં રહેતા દુષ્ટ લોકોનો હું હંમેશા વિનાશ કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તે દુષ્ટ લોકોને યહોવાના નગરમાંથી જબરદસ્તીથી બહાર મોકલી આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="102" />
<s level="2" style="s2">એક ગરીબ માણસની પ્રાર્થના. જ્યારે તે દુ:ખી હોય છે ત્યારે તે દેવને ફરિયાદ કરે છે.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.102.1" />હે યહોવા, મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પોકારને કાન પર આવવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.102.2" />મારા સંકટને દુ:ખના સમયમાં તમે મારાથી મુખ અવળું ના ફેરવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાન ધરીને તમે મને સાંભળો અને તમે મને જલ્દી ઉત્તર આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.102.3" />કારણ, મારા દહાડા; ધુમાડાની જેમ વીતી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા હાડકાં ખોયણાની જેમ બળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.102.4" />મારું હૃદય તો ઘાસના જેવું કપાયેલું અને ચીમળાયેલું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે એટલે સુધી કે રોટલી ખાવાનું પણ હું ભુલી જાઉં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.102.5" />મારા ઘેરા વિષાદ ને નિસાસાને કારણે ફકત ચામડીથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઢંકાયેલા હાડપિંજર જેવો હું થઇ ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.102.6" />હું દૂરના રણનાં ઘુવડ જેવો થઇ ગયો છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિધ્વંસની વચ્ચે જીવતા એક ઘુવડ જેવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.102.7" />હું જાગતો પડ્યો રહું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છાપરે બેઠેલી એકલવાયી ચકલીના જેવો થઇ ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.102.8" />મારા શત્રુ આખો દિવસ મને મહેણાઁ મારે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીજાને શાપ દેવા મારા નામનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.102.9" />રોટલીને બદલે હું રાખ ખાઉં છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા આંસુ વહીને મારા પ્યાલામાં પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.102.10" />તે તમારા રોષ તથા કોપને કારણે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમકે તમે મને ઊંચો કરી નીચે ફેંકી દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.102.11" />મારા દિવસો નમતી છાયા જેવા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘાસની જેમ હું કરમાઇ ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.102.12" />પરંતુ હે યહોવા, તમે સદાકાળ શાસન કરશો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પેઢી દર પેઢી સુધી તમે યાદ રહેશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.102.13" />મને ખબર છે; તમે ચોક્કસ આવશો અને તમે સિયોન પર તમારી કૃપા વરસાવશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા વચન પ્રમાણે, મદદ કરવાનો અને તેના પર કૃપા વરસાવવાનો આજ સમય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.102.14" />કારણકે તમારા સેવકો તેની દીવાલનાં પ્રત્યેક પથ્થરને ચાહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની શેરીઓની ધૂળ પ્રત્યે તેઓ મમતા ધરાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.102.15" />પ્રજાઓ બીશે અને યહોવાના નામનો આદર કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના રાજાઓ તમારા ગૌરવનો આદર કરશે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.102.16" />કારણ, યહોવા સિયોનને ફરીથી બાંધ્યું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે તમારી સમક્ષ પોતાનાં સંપૂર્ણ મહિમા સહિત પ્રગટ થયો છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.102.17" />તે લાચાર અને દુ:ખીની પ્રાર્થનાઓ સાંભળશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની પ્રાર્થનાની અવગણના કરી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.102.18" />આવનાર પેઢી માટે આ સર્વ બાબતોની નોંધ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેઓ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે લોકો હજી જન્મ્યા નથી તેઓ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.102.19" />તેઓને કહો કે; દેવે સ્વર્ગમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નીચે પૃથ્વી પર દ્રૃષ્ટિ કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.102.20" />તે બંદીવાનોની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ મૃત્યુ માટે દોષી ઠરાવાયા હતા તેઓને મુકત કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.102.21" />પછી સિયોનનાં લોકો યહોવાનું નામ જાહેર કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં તેમની સ્તુતિ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.102.22" />તે વખતે યહોવાની સેવા કરવા માટે લોકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા પૃથ્વીનાં રાજ્યો એકઠાં થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.102.23" />મારા જીવનનાં મધ્યાહને તેમણે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી શકિત ઘટાડી ને મારા દિવસો ટૂંકા કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.102.24" />મેં તેમને પોકાર કર્યો, “હે મારા દેવ, તમે સદા સર્વકાળ જીવંત છો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને મારા જીવનના મધ્યાહને મરવા ન દેશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.102.25" />તમે યુગો પહેલાં પૃથ્વીનો પાયો નાખ્યો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા હાથો વડે આકાશો રચ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.102.26" />એ સર્વ પણ નાશ પામશે, તમે સર્વકાળ છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જૂના થશે, ફાટી ગયેલાં કપડા જેવાં થશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને માણસ જૂનું વસ્ર ફેંકી નવું ધારણ કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તમે પણ તેઓને બદલી નાંખશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.102.27" />પરંતુ તમે હે દેવ, તમે કદી બદલાતાં નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા વષોર્નો કદી અંત આવશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.102.28" />તમારા સેવકોનાં બાળકો અહીં વસશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનાં વંશજો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી સમક્ષ પ્રસ્થાપિત થશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="103" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.103.1" />હે મારા આત્મા, યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કર!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા સંપૂર્ણ હૃદયથી દેવનાં પવિત્ર નામને આશીર્વાદ આપ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.103.2" />હે મારા આત્મા, યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભૂલીશ નહિ, તેઓ અદભૂતકાર્યો તારા ભલા માટે કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.103.3" />તારાં સઘળાં પાપ તે માફ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારાં સર્વ રોગ મટાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.103.4" />અનંત નાશમાંથી તે તને છોડાવી લે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રેમભરી ભલાઇ અને કૃપાથી નવાજે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.103.5" />તારા જીવનને તે ઉત્તમ વસ્તુઓથી ભરી દે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તારી યુવાની ગરૂડની જેમ તાજી કરાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.103.6" />જેઓ જુલમથી હેરાન થયેલા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સૌને માટે એ યહોવા ન્યાયનાં કામ, ને ચુકાદા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.103.7" />મૂસા તથા ઇસ્રાએલનાં લોકો સમક્ષ તેમણે તેમના માગોર્
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના કાર્યો પ્રગટ કર્યા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.103.8" />યહોવા દયાળુ અને ક્ષમાશીલ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દયા તથા પ્રેમથી ભરપૂર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે ગુસ્સે થવામાં ધીમાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.103.9" />યહોવા હંમેશા ટીકા કરતાં નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે કદીય સદાને માટે ગુસ્સામાં રહેતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.103.10" />તેઓ આપણા પાપ પ્રમાણે આપણી સાથે નથી ર્વત્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે આપણને આપણા અન્યાયી કાર્યો પ્રમાણે શિક્ષા કરી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.103.11" />કારણ તેના ભકતો પરની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની કૃપા જેટલું આકાશ પૃથ્વીથી ઊંચુ છે તેટલી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.103.12" />પૂર્વ જેટલું દૂર છે પશ્ચિમથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલાં દૂર કર્યા છે આપણાં પાપ તેમણે આપણાથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.103.13" />જેમ પિતા પોતાના સંતાનો પર દયાળુ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ યહોવા પોતાના ભકતો પર દયાળુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.103.14" />કારણકે તે જાણે છે બંધારણ આપણું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માત્ર ધૂળ છીએ આપણે એવું તે સંભારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.103.15" />આપણા જીવનનાં દિવસો ઘાસ જેવા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે ફૂલની જેમ ટૂંકા અને થોડા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.103.16" />પવન તેના પર થઇને વાય છે, અને તે ઊડી જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અસ્તિત્વની નિશાની રહેતી નથી, અને તે નષ્ટ થઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.103.17" />પણ યહોવાની કૃપા તેમના ભકતો પર અનાદિકાળથી તે અનંતકાળસુધી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે તેનું ન્યાયીપણું તેના બીજા વંશજોને સર્વદા બતાવવાનું ચાલુ રાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.103.18" />જેઓ તેમનો કરાર અનુસરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરે છે તે સર્વ પર તે કૃપા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.103.19" />દેવે આકાશમાં રાજ્યાસન સ્થાપ્યું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યાંથી તે સર્વ ઉપર શાસન ચલાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.103.20" />તેમના હુકમનો અમલ કરનારાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની આજ્ઞાઓને સાંભળનારા તેના સમર્થ દૂતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે યહોવાને ધન્યવાદ આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.103.21" />હે યહોવાનાં સૈન્યો તમો બધા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે તેમના સેવકો છો તે જે ઇચ્છે છે તે કરો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.103.22" />યહોવાનાં રાજ્યમાં સર્વત્ર તેમનાં ઉત્પન્ન કરેલા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે મારા આત્મા તેમની સ્તુતિ કર;
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવની સ્તુતિ કર!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="104" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.104.1" />હે મારા આત્મા, યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કર!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા મારા દેવ, તમે ઘણા મહાન છો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે માન અને ગૌરવના ધારણ કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.104.2" />તમે પ્રકાશથી વિંટળાયેલા છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમે આકાશને મંડપની જેમ ફેલાવો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.104.3" />તમારા આકાશી ઘરનો પાયો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે અંતરિક્ષના પાણી પર નાખ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાદળાં તમારા રથ છે, અને તમે પવનની પાંખો પર સવારી કરો છો;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.104.4" />તમે પવનોને (વાયુઓને) તમારા દૂત બનાવો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા સેવકો અગ્નિના ભડકા છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.104.5" />તમે પૃથ્વીને તેનાં પાયા પર સ્થિર કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તે કદી ચલિત થાય નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.104.6" />તમે પૃથ્વીને વસ્રની જેમ ઊંડાણથી ઢાંકી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાણીએ તેનાં પર્વતોને ઢાંકી દીધાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.104.7" />તમે આદેશ આપ્યો અને પાણી દૂર ઘસી ગયાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તમારી ગર્જનાના અવાજથી પોકાર કર્યો અને પાણી દૂર ધસી ગયાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.104.8" />તમે જણાવેલી સપાટી સુધી પર્વતો ઊંચા થયાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખીણો ઊંડી થઇ ગઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.104.9" />તમે મહાસાગરોને હદ બાંધી આપી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તે ઓળંગે નહિ અને પૃથ્વીને ઢાંકી ન દે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.104.10" />તમે ખીણોમાં વહેતાં ઝરણાં બનાવ્યાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પર્વતોમાં વહેતી નદીઓ બનાવી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.104.11" />તેઓ સર્વ પ્રાણીઓને પાણી પૂરું પાડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગધેડાઓ ત્યાં તરસ છીપાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.104.12" />પક્ષીઓ ઝરણાંઓને કિનારે માળા બાંધે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વૃક્ષોની ડાળીઓ મધ્યે ગાયન કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.104.13" />તમે પર્વતો પર વરસાદ વરસાવો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વી તમારાં કામનાં ફળથી તૃપ્ત થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.104.14" />તે ઢોરને માટે ઘાસ ઉપજાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આપણને ખેડવા છોડ આપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે છોડો આપણને જમીનમાંથી ખોરાક આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.104.15" />દેવે આપણને ખુશ કરવા માટે દ્રાક્ષ આપી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણી ત્વચાને નરમ કરવા તેલ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શરીરને ટકાવી રાખવા રોટલી આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.104.16" />યહોવાનાં વૃક્ષ, એટલે લબાનોનનાં દેવદારો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે તેણે રોપ્યાં હતાં તેઓ ધરાયેલાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.104.17" />ત્યાં પક્ષીઓ પોતાના માળા બાંધે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી દેવદાર વૃક્ષ બગલાઓનું રહેઠાણ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.104.18" />ઊંચા પર્વતો પર જંગલી બકરાને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખડકોમાં સસલાને રક્ષણ અને આશ્રય મળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.104.19" />ઋતુઓને માટે તેમણે ચંદ્રનું સર્જન કર્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્યારે આથમવું એ સૂર્ય હંમેશા જાણે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.104.20" />રાત્રિ અને અંધકાર તમે મોકલો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જંગલનાં પ્રાણીઓ ત્યારે બહાર આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.104.21" />પછી સિંહનાં બચ્ચાં શિકાર માટે ગર્જના કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ દેવ પાસે પોતાનું ભોજન માંગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.104.22" />પરોઢિયે તેઓ ગૂપચૂપ જંગલોમાં પાછા જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાની ગુફાઓમાં સૂઇ જાય છેં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.104.23" />માણસ પોતાનો ઉદ્યમ કરવાં બહાર નીકળે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સાંજ સુધી પોતપોતાના કામ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.104.24" />હે યહોવા, કેટલા છે તારા સર્જનો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે બહુ બુદ્ધિપૂર્વક તેમને બનાવ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી બનાવેલી વસ્તુઓથી પૃથ્વી ભરપૂર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.104.25" />જુઓ આ વિશાળ મહાસાગરમાં નાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મોટા કેટલા અસંખ્ય જીવજંતુઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા જાનવરો તેની અંદર છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.104.26" />અને જુઓ, વહાણો તેમાં આવજા કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી સમુદ્રમાં રમવાને મગરમચ્છ પેદા કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.104.27" />તમે તેઓને યોગ્ય ટાણે ખાવાનું આપો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી આ સઘળાં જીવો તમારી વાટ જુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.104.28" />તમે જે કાંઇ આપો છો તે તેઓ વીણે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તમારો હાથ ખોલો છો ત્યારે તેઓ બધાં ઉપકારથી તૃપ્ત થાય છે
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.104.29" />તમે જ્યારે તેમની પાસેથી પાછા ફરો છો ત્યારે તેઓ ડરી જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનો પ્રાણ તેઓને છોડે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓ નબળા થઇને મૃત્યુ પામે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં શરીર પાછાં માટી બની જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.104.30" />પછી, જ્યારે તમે તમારો આત્મા મોકલો છો તેઓ ઉત્પન્ન થાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વીની સપાટી તેઓથી ભરપૂર થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.104.31" />યહોવાનો મહિમા સદાકાળ ટકી રહો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના સર્જનથી યહોવા આનંદ પામો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PSA.104.32" />જ્યારે યહોવા પૃથ્વી પર દ્રૃષ્ટિ કરે છે, ત્યારે તે ડરથી કંપે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યારે તે પર્વતોને સ્પશેર્ છે ત્યારે તેમનામાંથી ધૂમાડો નીકળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PSA.104.33" />હું જીવનપર્યંત યહોવાની પ્રશંસાનાં ગીતો ગાઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારા છેલ્લા શ્વાસ સુધી યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PSA.104.34" />તેમના માટેનાં મારા શબ્દો વડે તે પ્રસન્ન થાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે યહોવા મારા સર્વ આનંદનું ઉદૃભવ સ્થાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PSA.104.35" />પૃથ્વીમાંથી સર્વ પાપીઓ નાશ પામો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટોનું અસ્તિત્વ મીટાવી દેવામાં આવે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">હે મારા આત્મા, યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કર!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="105" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.105.1" />યહોવાનો આભાર માનો, તેના નામની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં કૃત્યો લોકોમાં પ્રસિદ્ધ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.105.2" />યહોવા સમક્ષ ગાઓ, તેનાં સ્તોત્ર ગાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં સર્વ ચમત્કારોનું મનન કરો અને સૌને તે જણાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.105.3" />તમે યહોવાનાં પવિત્ર નામનું અભિમાન કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાની આરાધના કરનારાઓ આનંદ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.105.4" />યહોવાને તથા તેના સાર્મથ્યને શોધો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સદા-સર્વદા તમે તેના મુખને શોધો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.105.5" />તેણે જે આશ્ચર્યકારક કમોર્ કર્યા છે તે તથા તેનાં ચમત્કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનાં ન્યાયચુકાદા યાદ રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.105.6" />તમે લોકો દેવના સેવક ઇબ્રાહિમના વંશજો છો, તમે યાકૂબના વંશજો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે યહોવાની પસંદગીના લોકો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.105.7" />તેઓ આપણા દેવ યહોવા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના સાચાં નિર્ણયો સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીમાં પ્રસિદ્ધ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.105.8" />તે પોતાનો કરાર સર્વદા યાદ રાખે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હજાર પેઢીઓને આપેલું વચન પાળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.105.9" />એટલે કરાર તેમણે ઇબ્રાહિમ સાથે કરેલો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે ઇસહાક પ્રત્યેની પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધેલી,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.105.10" />તેમણે યાકૂબ માટેના નિયમ તરીકે, તેનું સ્થાપન કર્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે ઇસ્રાએલ માટે સર્વકાળનો કરાર બનાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.105.11" />તેમણે કહ્યું, “આ કનાન દેશ હું તમને આપીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે સર્વદા તમારું પોતાનું વતન થશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.105.12" />જ્યારે યહોવાએ આ કહ્યું તેઓ અલ્પ સંખ્યામાં હતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કનાન દેશમાં ફકત પ્રવાસીઓ તરીકે જ હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.105.13" />તેઓ એક દેશથી બીજે દેશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એક રાજ્યમાંથી બીજા રાજ્યમાં ફરતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.105.14" />તેમણે તેઓ પર કોઇને દુર્વ્યવહાર કરવા દીધો નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે રાજાઓને તેમને ઇજા નહિ કરવાની ચેતવણી આપી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.105.15" />દેવ કહે છે, “તેમણે ચેતવણી આપી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા અભિષિકતોને રંજાડશો નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પ્રબોધકોને તકલીફ આપશો નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.105.16" />તેમણે કનાનની ભૂમિમાં દુકાળ આવવા દીધો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અન્નનો આધાર તેમણે તોડી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.105.17" />પછી તેમણે તેઓની પહેલાં યૂસફને મિસર મોકલ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને ગુલામ તરીકે વેચ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.105.18" />બંદીખાનામાં તેઓએ તેના પગોએ સાંકળો બાંધી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ લોખંડનો પટ્ટો તેના ગળે બાંધ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.105.19" />યહોવાના શબ્દે પૂરવાર કર્યુ કે તે યૂસફ સાચો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી યૂસફ જેલમાં રહો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.105.20" />પછી રાજાએ માણસો મોકલીને તેને છોડાવ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકોના અધિપતિઓએ તેનો છુટકારો કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.105.21" />પછી રાજાએ યૂસફને તેના મહેલનો તેમજ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની સર્વ મિલકતનો વહીવટ સોંપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.105.22" />અને યૂસફે રાજાના અમલદારોને સૂચનાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપી વૃદ્ધ નેતાઓને સમજાવ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.105.23" />પછી યાકૂબ મિસરમાં આવ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યાં હામનાં દેશમાં પોતાના પુત્રોની સાથે રહ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.105.24" />દેવે તેમની વૃદ્ધિ કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના દુશ્મનો કરતાં વધારે બળવાન કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.105.25" />દેવે મિસરવાસીઓને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વિરુદ્ધ કર્યા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મિસરવાસીઓએ તેનો ધિક્કાર કર્યો અને તેઓને ગુલામ બનાવ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.105.26" />પણ યહોવાએ પોતાના સેવક મૂસાને તેના પ્રતિનિધિ તરીકે મોકલ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની સાથે તેમણે યાજક તરીકે પસંદ કરેલા હારુનને મોકલ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.105.27" />દેવે તેમને હામની ભૂમિ પર મોકલ્યા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભયાવહ ચમત્કાર કરવા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.105.28" />દેવે પૃથ્વી પર ખૂબ ગાઢ અંધકાર મોકલ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાંય મિસરવાસીઓએ તેમને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ્યાં નહોતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.105.29" />અને તેમણે તેમના દેશનાં સમગ્ર પાણીને લોહીમાં ફેરવી દીધું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ માછલાં મારી નાંખ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.105.30" />પછી દેશ પર અસંખ્ય દેડકા ચઢી આવ્યાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે રાજાનાં ખાનગી ઓરડામાં ઘૂસી ગયાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.105.31" />યહોવાએ આદેશ આપ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જૂઓ મિસરમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી ફેલાઇ ગઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PSA.105.32" />તેણે વરસાદને બદલે કરા મોકલ્યા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વીજળીની સાથે ઘસી ગયા અગ્નિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PSA.105.33" />તેમણે તેઓના દ્રાક્ષવેલાઓ તથા અંજીરીના ઝાડોનો નાશ કર્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની આખી સરહદો પરનાં બધાં વૃક્ષો તોડી પાડ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PSA.105.34" />તેઓ બોલ્યા; અને ત્યાં અગણિત તીતીઘોડા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તીડો આવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PSA.105.35" />તેઓ તેઓના દેશની સર્વ વનસ્પતિ ખાઇ ગયાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જમીનનાં બધાં ફળ ભક્ષ કરી ગયાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="PSA.105.36" />તેઓનાં દેશમાંના સર્વ પ્રથમજનિતને મારી નાખ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે તેમના બધા સૌથી મોટા પુત્રોને મારી નાખ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="PSA.105.37" />તેઓ તેમના લોકોને, તેમના સોના ચાંદી સાથે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુરક્ષિત રીતે પાછા લઇ આવ્યાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓમાંથી કોઇ નિર્બળ ન હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="PSA.105.38" />તેઓ ગયાં ત્યારે મિસરવાસી આનંદ પામ્યાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તેઓ તેમનાથી ત્રાસ પામ્યા હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="PSA.105.39" />યહોવાએ મેઘસ્તંભથી તેઓ પર છાયા કરી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રાત્રે પ્રકાશ માટે અગ્નિસ્તંભ આપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="PSA.105.40" />જ્યારે તેઓએ માંગ્યુ ત્યારે લાવરીઓે લાવ્યાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આકાશમાંની માન્ના રૂપે રોટલીઓથી તૃપ્ત કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="PSA.105.41" />તેમણે ખડક તોડ્યો એટલે ત્યાં પાણી નીકળ્યું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે નદી થઇને સૂકી ભૂમિમાં વહેવા લાગ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="PSA.105.42" />તેમણે પોતાના સેવક ઇબ્રાહિમને આપેલા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના વચનનું સ્મરણ કર્યુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="PSA.105.43" />તેઓ પોતાના લોકોને, પોતાના પસંદ કરેલાઓને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખુશીથી પાછા લઇ આવ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="PSA.105.44" />તેમણે તેઓને પરદેશીઓની ભૂમિ આપી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે અન્ય લોકોએ બનાવેલી વસ્તુઓ તેમને વારસારૂપે મળી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="45" bcv="PSA.105.45" />તેઓ ભરોસો કરે અને તેનાં વિધિઓનું પાલન કરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના માગોર્ને અનુસરે તેથી યહોવાએ આ કર્યુ;
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">હાલેલૂયા!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="106" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.106.1" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાનો આભાર માનો, કારણકે તે ભલા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ સદાકાળ છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.106.2" />યહોવાના મહાન કૃત્યો કોણ વર્ણવી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સંપૂર્ણ સ્તુતિ કોણ કરી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.106.3" />ધન્ય છે તેઓને જેઓ ન્યાયને અનુસરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હંમેશા જે સાચું છે તે જ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.106.4" />હે યહોવા, તમે તમારા લોકો પર કૃપા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મને યાદ રાખશો, અને તમે જેઓને બચાવ્યાં છે તે લોકોમાં મારો સમાવેશ કરવાનું યાદ રાખશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.106.5" />જેથી તમારા પસંદ કરેલાઓનું કલ્યાણ હું જોઉં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી પ્રજાનાં આનંદમાં હું પણ આનંદ માણું;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમારા વારસોની સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું હર્ષનાદ કરું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.106.6" />અમારા પિતૃઓની જેમ અમે પણ પાપ કર્યુ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અન્યાય કર્યા છે, અમે દુષ્ટતા કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.106.7" />મિસરમાઁના તમારાં ચમત્કારોમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા પિતૃઓ કાઇં શીખ્યાં નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓ તમારો પ્રેમ અને દયા જલ્દી ભૂલી ગયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ રાતા સમુદ્ર પાસે તમારી વિરુદ્ધ બંડ પોકાર્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.106.8" />તો પણ, પોતાના નામની માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને પોતાના પરાક્રમ દેખાડવાં માટે તેણે તેમને તાર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.106.9" />તે દેવે રાતા સમુદ્રને આદેશ આપ્યો એટલે તે સૂકાઇ ગયો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેણે અમારા પિતૃઓને ઊંડા સમુદ્રમાંથી રેતીના રણ જેવી સૂકી ભૂમિ પર દોર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.106.10" />તેમણે તેઓને વૈરીઓના હાથમાંથી તાર્યા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુશ્મનનાં હાથમાંથી તેઓને છોડાવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.106.11" />તેઓના દુશ્મનો પર પાણી ફરી વળ્યું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓમાંનો એકેય બચ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.106.12" />ત્યાર પછી જ તેના લોકોએ તેમનાં શબ્દો પર વિશ્વાસ કર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની પ્રશંસામાં સ્તુતિ ગાઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.106.13" />તેઓ તેમનાં કૃત્યો જલદી ભૂલી ગયા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સલાહ સાંભળવા, ધીરજ રાખી નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.106.14" />રણમાં તેઓ પોતાની ઇચ્છાઓને આધીન થયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વેરાન ભૂમિમાં દેવની પરીક્ષા કરી!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.106.15" />યહોવાએ તેમની માંગણીઓ પૂરી કરી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ પછી તેણે તેમના પર ભયંકર રોગ મોકલી આપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.106.16" />તેઓએ છાવણીમાં મૂસાની ઇર્ષા કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા યહોવાના પવિત્ર યાજક હારુનની ઇર્ષ્યા કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.106.17" />તેથી પૃથ્વીએ મોં ખોલ્યુ અને; દાથાન,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અબીરામ અને તેમના સમૂહને ગળી ગઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.106.18" />આકાશમાંથી અગ્નિ તેમની છાવણીમાં આવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આ દુષ્ટ માણસોને તે ભરખી ગયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.106.19" />તેઓએ સિનાઇ પર્વત પર હોરેબ આગળ વાછરડો બનાવ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ મૂર્તિની પૂજા કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.106.20" />તેઓએ આ પ્રમાણે તેમના મહિમાવંત દેવને બદલી નાખ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘાસ ખાનાર ગોધાની પ્રતિમા પસંદ કરીને!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.106.21" />આ રીતે તેઓ, પોતાના ચમત્કારીક કાર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વડે મિસરમાં બચાવનાર દેવને ભૂલી ગયાં!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.106.22" />તેઓ “આ લાલ સમુદ્ર પાસે કરેલા ભયંકર કામો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના તારનાર દેવને ભૂલી ગયાં.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.106.23" />યહોવાએ તેમનો વિનાશ કરવો હતો પણ મૂસા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવનો પસંદ કરેલો, દેવના વિનાશી કોપને શાંત પાડવા તેમની સામે ઊભો રહ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મૂસાએ તેમને રોક્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેમણે લોકોનો વિનાશ ન કર્યો.<f caller="+"><fr>106:23
</fr><fk>અને … કર્યો
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે: દેવે કહ્યું કે તેમાં તેમનો વિનાશ કરશે. પણ મૂસા, દેવના પસંદ કરેલો વચ્ચે પડ્યો અને દેવનો વિનાશ કરવા માટેના કોપને પાછો હટાવ્યો. આ બતાવે છે કે મૂસા એક સૈનિક જેવો હતો જે નગરની દીવાલની બખોલમાં ઊભા રહીને શત્રુઓના સૈનિકો (દેવના કોપ) થી નગર (ઇસ્રાએલ) ની રક્ષા કરી.</ft></f>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.106.24" />તેમણે તે મનોહર દેશને તુચ્છ ગણ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ તેની વાતનો વિશ્વાસ કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.106.25" />તેઓ પોતાના મંડપોમાં જઇને પોતાની અંદરો અંદર દેવની વિરુદ્ધ ફરિયાદ કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને યહોવાની વાણીનો અનાદર કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.106.26" />તેથી યહોવાએ રેતીનાં રણમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને મારી નાખવા સમ લીધા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.106.27" />તેઓ તેમના વંશજોને દૂર ફેંકી દેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને પ્રજાઓમાં વિખેરી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.106.28" />પછી પેઓરમાં આપણા પિતૃઓ, બઆલનાં ભજનમાં જોડાયા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલુંજ નહિ પણ તેમણે મૃતાત્માઓને અર્પણ કર્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બલિદાનમાંથી તેમણે તે ખાધાં પણ ખરાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.106.29" />યહોવાને આ બધી બાબતો દ્વારા તેઓએ કોપાયમાન કર્યા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તેઓ મધ્યે જીવલેણ રોગ મરકી ફાંટી નીકળ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.106.30" />ફીનહાસે પ્રાર્થના કરી ત્યાં સુધી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ચાલુ રહ્યો અને પછી પ્લેગ અટકી ગયો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.106.31" />પેઢી દરપેઢી સર્વકાળપર્યંત ન્યાયીપણાને અથેર્
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું આ કામ તેના હકમાં યાદ કરાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PSA.106.32" />મરીબાહમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ દેવને ક્રોધિત કર્યા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૂસાએ તેઓને કારણે કઈંક ખરાબ કર્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PSA.106.33" />તેઓના વર્તનને કારણે મૂસા ગુસ્સે થયા હતાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પોતાને મોઢે અવિચારી વાણી બોલ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PSA.106.34" />યહોવાએ કનાનીઓનો નાશ કરવાની આજ્ઞા કરી હતી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તેમનો નાશ કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PSA.106.35" />પણ તેઓ પરદેશીઓ સાથે ભળી ગયા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના દુષ્ટ માગોર્ અપનાવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="PSA.106.36" />તેઓએ તેઓની મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે તેઓને ફાંદા રૂપ થઇ પડ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="PSA.106.37" />વળી તેઓએ ભૂતોનેપોતાના નાનાં દીકરાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દીકરીઓના બલિદાનો આપ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="PSA.106.38" />તેઓએ તેઓના પુત્ર અને પુત્રીઓનું નિદોર્ષ લોહી વહેવડાવ્યું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કનાનની મૂર્તિઓ સમક્ષ બલિદાન કર્યુ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આમ દેશ લોહીથી ષ્ટ થયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="PSA.106.39" />તેમનાં દુષ્ટ કાર્યોથી તેઓ અપવિત્ર બન્યા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, દેવની ષ્ટિમાં તેમનો મૂર્તિઓ પ્રત્યેનો પ્રેમ વ્યભિચાર હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="PSA.106.40" />તેથી યહોવાનો કોપ પોતાના લોકો સામે સળગી ઊઠયો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના વારસોથી કંટાળી ગયા, ને તેમના પર ધૃણા થઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="PSA.106.41" />તેમણે તેઓને વિદેશીઓના હાથમા સોંપી દીધાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના શત્રુઓએ તેમના ઉપર રાજ કર્યુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="PSA.106.42" />તેઓના શત્રુઓએ પણ તેઓને કચડ્યા; અને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના હાથ નીચે પડીને તેઓ તાબેદાર થયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="PSA.106.43" />યહોવાએ વારંવાર મુકત કર્યા ગુલામીમાંથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં દેવ વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યુ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના પાપને લીધે તેઓ તારાજ થયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="PSA.106.44" />તેમ છતાં યહોવાએ તેમની પ્રાર્થનાઓ સાંભળી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની આફતો તરફ તેમણે ધ્યાન આપ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="45" bcv="PSA.106.45" />યહોવાએ તેમની સાથે કરેલો તેમનો કરાર યાદ કર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ પ્રતિ તેમનો મહાન પ્રેમ દર્શાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="46" bcv="PSA.106.46" />જે શત્રુઓએ તેના લોકો કેદ કર્યા હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે તેઓની પાસે તેમનાં પર કરુણા દર્શાવડાવી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="47" bcv="PSA.106.47" />હે યહોવા અમારા દેવ, અમને તાર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રજાઓ મધ્યેથી અમને ફરીથી એકત્ર કરો;
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી અમે તમારા પવિત્ર નામનો આભાર માનીએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સ્તુતિ ગાઇને તમારો જયજયકાર કરીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="48" bcv="PSA.106.48" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અનાદિકાળથી અનંતકાળ સુધી સ્તુત્ય મનાઓ;
</q>
<q style="q1">સર્વ લોકો આમીન કહો.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">અને તમે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="107" />
<p sfm="ms" style="ms1">ભાગ પાંયમો
</p>
<p sfm="mr" style="mr">(ગીત 107-150)
</p>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.107.1" />યહોવાનો આભાર માનો, કારણ તે ઉત્તમ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની કૃપા સર્વકાળપર્યંત ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.107.2" />જે યહોવાના છોડાવાયેલા છે તેઓએ આ પ્રમાણે કહેવું જોઇએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે દેવે તેઓને તેમના શત્રુઓથી બચાવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.107.3" />પૃથ્વીના દૂર દૂરનાં ખૂણે ખૂણેથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૂર્વ, પશ્ચિમ, ઉત્તર દક્ષિણ દિશામાંથી તેમણે પોતાના લોકોને સાથે ભેગા કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.107.4" />કેટલાંક ઉજ્જડ માગેર્ રણમાં ભટકતાં હતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને વસવા નગર ન મળ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.107.5" />તેઓ ભૂખ્યા અને તરસ્યા હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નબળા પડી રહ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.107.6" />પોતાના સંકટમાં તેઓએ યહોવાને પોકાર કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાએ તેઓને દુ:ખમાંથી છોડાવ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.107.7" />યહોવા તેઓને, જ્યાં તેઓ વસવાટ કરી શકે તેવા નગરમાં સીધે રસ્તે દોરી ગયાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.107.8" />દેવની કૃપા માટે તથા માનવ જાત માટે તેમણે કરેલાં અદભૂત કાર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે માણસો યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરે તો કેવું સારું!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.107.9" />કારણ કે તે તરસ્યા આત્માને સંતોષે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભૂખ્યા આત્માને ઉત્તમ વાનાઁથી તૃપ્ત કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.107.10" />કારણ કે તેઓએ દેવના વચનોની સામે બંડ પોકાર્યુ હતું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે પરાત્પર દેવના બોધનો તિરસ્કાર કર્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.107.11" />કેટલાંક લોકોને અંધારી જેલમાં સળિયા પાછળ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તાળું મારીને કેદ કરવામાં આવ્યાં હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.107.12" />તેઓ તેમની મુશ્કેલીઓથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નરમ થઇ ગયાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ લથડીને નીચે પડ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં તેમને મદદ કરનાર કોઇ ન હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.107.13" />તેઓએ પોતાના સંકટમાં યહોવાને પોકાર કર્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે તેણે તેઓને દુ:ખમાંથી તાર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.107.14" />તે તેઓને અંધકાર અને મરણછાયામાંથી કાઢી લાવ્યાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બંધન તોડી નાખ્યાઁ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.107.15" />ભલે આભાર માને તેઓ યહોવાનો તેમની કૃપા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિસ્મયજનક કાર્યો જે તેઓ માનવજાત માટે કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.107.16" />તેણે બંદીખાનાના પિત્તળના દરવાજા તોડી નાખ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની લોખંડની ભૂંગળો પણ તોડી નાખી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.107.17" />મૂર્ખ લોકો પોતાના પાપથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા પોતાની ભૂંડાઇથી સંકટમાં આવી પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.107.18" />સર્વ પ્રકારના ખોરાકથી, તેઓના જીવ કંટાળી જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મૃત્યુ તરફ પહોંચી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.107.19" />પોતાના સંકટોમા તેઓ યહોવાને પોકારે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવા તેઓને દુ:ખમાંથી તારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.107.20" />તેઓ પોતાનું વચન મોકલીને તેમને સાજા કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેણે તેઓને દુર્દશામાંથી ઉગાર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.107.21" />ભલે આભાર માને તેઓ યહોવાનો તેમની કૃપા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિસ્મયજનક કાર્યો જે તેઓ માનવજાત માટે કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.107.22" />તેમને દેવને આભારસ્તુતિનાં અર્પણો આપવા દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાના કાર્યોને ગીતો દ્વારા પ્રગટ થવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.107.23" />જે નાવિકો સમુદ્રમાં એક બાજુએથી બીજી બાજુ સુધી નૌકા વિહાર કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમુદ્ર પર કૌશલ્યનું કામ કરે છે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.107.24" />તેઓ પણ દેવની કાર્યશકિત નિહાળે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અદ્ભૂત કૃત્યો ઊંડાણોમાં જુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.107.25" />તે આજ્ઞા આપે છે તો તોફાની પવનો ચડી આવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી મોજાઓ ઊંચા ઊછળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.107.26" />મોજા સાથે તેઓના વહાણો ઊંચા ઊંચકાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાછા ઊંડાણમાં પટકાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લાચાર સ્થિતિમાં ખલાસીઓની હિંમત ઓગળી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.107.27" />તેઓ પીધેલાની જેમ આમતેમ ડોલતા લથડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમ તેઓની બુદ્ધિ બહેર મારી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.107.28" />તેઓ સંકટમાં હોય ત્યારે “યહોવાને” પોકારે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેઓને દુ:ખમાંથી કાઢે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.107.29" />તેણે તોફાનને અટકાવ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા મોજાઓને શાંત કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.107.30" />પછી તેઓ મહાસાગરની સ્થિરતાનો આનંદ માણે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવ તેઓને તેમની પસંદગીના બંદરે દોરી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.107.31" />તેમની આ કૃપા તથા માનવજાતને માટેના, તેનાં અદભૂત કાર્યો માટે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને યહોવાનો આભાર માનવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PSA.107.32" />લોકોની સભામાં યહોવાને મોટા મનાવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વડીલોના મંડળમાં તેઓની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PSA.107.33" />તે જ્યાં નદીઓ છે ત્યાં રણ કરી દે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યાં ઝરા વહે છે ત્યાં તરસી ભૂમિ કરી દે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PSA.107.34" />વળી ત્યાં વસતાં લોકોની દુષ્ટતાને કારણે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફળદ્રુપ ભૂમિને ખારવાળી બનાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PSA.107.35" />વળી તે રણમાં સરોવર કરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કોરી ભૂમિમાં તે ઝરણાંઓને વહેતા કરે છે
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="PSA.107.36" />અને ત્યાં ભૂખ્યાંજનોને વસવા લાવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેઓ પોતાને રહેવા માટે નગર બાંધે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="PSA.107.37" />તેઓ ખેતરમાં વાવેતર કરે છે, અને દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓમાઁ રોપણી કરીને;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેનાં ફળની ઊપજ ઉત્પન કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="PSA.107.38" />તે તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપે છે, તેથી તેમની પુષ્કળ વૃદ્ધિ થાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઢોર-ઢાંખર પણ વધે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="PSA.107.39" />પરંતુ જેમ સમય પસાર થાય છે, તેમ તેમની વસ્તી જુલમો વિપત્તિઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શોકથી ઓછી થાય છે તેમની સંખ્યામાં ઘટાડો થયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="PSA.107.40" />તે અમીર ઉમરાવો ઉપર તે અપમાન લાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માર્ગ વિનાના રણમાં રખડતાં કરી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="PSA.107.41" />પણ પછી દેવ તે ગરીબ લોકોને તેમનાં દુ:ખોમાંથી બહાર કાઢયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના કુટુંબોની સંખ્યા વધારી જે ઘેટાંના ટોળાઓની જેમ વધી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="PSA.107.42" />તે જોઇને ન્યાયીઓ આનંદ પામશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સઘળાં અન્યાયીઓનાં મોઢા બંધ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="PSA.107.43" />જેનામાં શાણપણ છે, તે આ બધું ધ્યાનમાં લેશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાના અવિકારી પ્રેમ વિષે વિચાર કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="108" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.108.1" />હે દેવ, મેં મારા હૃદય અને આત્માને તૈયાર કર્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી સ્તુતિ કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">ગીતો ગાઇશ અને તમારી સમક્ષ ખુશ થઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.108.2" />જાગો, ઓ વીણા અને સારંગી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાલો આપણે પ્રભાતને જગાડીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.108.3" />“હે યહોવા, હું પ્રજાઓની તથા બીજા લોકોની વચ્ચે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમારી સ્તુતિ કરીશ, હું તમારા સ્તોત્ર ગાઇશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.108.4" />કારણ, તમારી કૃપા આકાશ કરતાં મોટી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારું વિશ્વાસુપણું વાદળો સુધી પહોંચે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.108.5" />હે દેવ, સ્વર્ગથીય ઊંચા ઊઠો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલે સમગ્ર દુનિયા તમારું ગૌરવ જુએ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.108.6" />દેવ, તમારા પ્રિય મિત્રોની રક્ષા માટે આ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તમારા મહાસાર્મથ્ય સહિત આવો અને તેમને ઉગારો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.108.7" />દેવ તેમના પવિત્ર મંદિરમાંથી બોલ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હું યુદ્ધ જીતીશ અને આનંદ પામીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું આ ભૂમિ વહેંચીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને શખેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા સુકકોથની ખીણ આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.108.8" />ગિલયાદ અને મનાશ્શા પણ મારા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એફ્રાઇમ માથાનો ટોપ છે અને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહૂદિયા મારો રાજદંડ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.108.9" />મોઆબ મારા પગ ધોવાનો વાટકો બનશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અદોમ મારા ખાસડા ઊંચકી લાવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પલિસ્તીઓને હરાવીશ અને જયનાદ કરીશ!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.108.10" />મને કોટબંધ નગરમાં કોણ લઇ જશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને અદોમમાં કોણ દોરી જશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.108.11" />હે યહોવા, શું તમે અમને તરછોડ્યાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દેવ, તમે અમારા સૈન્યને તજ્યું છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.108.12" />અમને અમારા શત્રુઓ સામે મદદ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને મદદ કરો, લોકો તરફની મદદ નકામી છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.108.13" />અમે દેવની સહાયથી પરાક્રમો કરીશું; હા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ જ અમારા શત્રુઓને કચડી નાંખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="109" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદના સ્તુતિગીતોમાંનુ એક
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.109.1" />હે મારા દેવ, તમે તે એક છો જેની હું સ્તુતિ કરું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છું તમે મૌન ધારણ કરીને દૂર ઊભા ન રહો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.109.2" />કારણ, દુષ્ટ અને કપટી માણસો મારા પર આક્ષેપો મૂકે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારી સામે પોતાની જીભે જ જૂઠું બોલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.109.3" />તેઓએ મને તિરસ્કૃત શબ્દોથી ઘેરી લીધો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને વિના કારણ મારી સાથે લડાઇ કરવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.109.4" />તેઓ મારી પ્રીતિના બદલામાં મારા શત્રુ થયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તો તેઓ માટે પ્રાર્થના જ કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.109.5" />તેઓ ઉપકારને બદલે અપકાર કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી પ્રીતિને બદલે તેઓ દ્વેષ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.109.6" />મારા શત્રુનો સામનો કરવા માટે એક દુષ્ટ માણસને નિયુકત કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને એક અપ્રામાણિક ન્યાયાધીશ સામે ઊભો રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.109.7" />અને તેનો મુકદૃમો ચાલે ત્યારે ભલે તેને દોષી ઠરાવાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભલે દેવ દ્વારા તેની પ્રાર્થના પાપથી ભરેલી ગણાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.109.8" />તેનાં આયુષ્યનાં વષોર્ થોડાં અને ટૂંકા થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું પદ કામ લેવાંને બીજા આગળ આવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.109.9" />તેમના સંતાનો પિતૃવિહોણા થાઓ, અને તેની પત્ની વિધવા, થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.109.10" />તેનાં સંતાનો રખડી રખડીને ભીખ માગો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉજ્જડ થયેલા પોતાના ઘરોમાંથી તેઓને હાંકી કાઢો, અને તેઓ રોટલાં માગી ખાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.109.11" />જોરજુલમથી લેણદાર તેમનું બધું લઇ જાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં મહેનતનાં ફળ પરાયા લૂંટી જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.109.12" />તેના પર દયા દાખવનાર કોઇ ન રહો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનાં અનાથ છૈયાં પર કોઇ કૃપા રાખનાર ન રહો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.109.13" />ભલે મારા શત્રુઓ અને તેના પરિવારોનો નાશ થાય!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભલે આવતી પેઢીમાંથી તેનું નામ સંપૂર્ણ પણે ભૂંસાઇ જાય!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.109.14" />યહોવાને ભલે યાદ રહો; તેના બાપદાદાના પાપો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માતાપિતાના પાપની તેને સજા મળે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનાં પાપો પ્રત્યે તે (દેવ) આંખ આડા કાન ન કરે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.109.15" />તે પાપો યહોવાની નજરમાં નિત્ય રહો; જેથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું પૃથ્વી પરથી નામનિશાન ઉખેડી નાખવામાં આવે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.109.16" />કારણ, તેણે બીજાઓ પ્રત્યે માયાળુ બનવા ના પાડી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગરીબોની સતાવણી કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભગ્નહૃદયી માણસોને મારી નાખ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.109.17" />બીજાઓને શાપ દેવાનું તેને ગમતું હતું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલે શાપો તેની ઉપર આવે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે બીજા કોઇને કદી આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી ભલે આશીર્વાદોને તેનાથી દૂર રહેવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.109.18" />શાપોને તેના વસ્રો થવા દો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શાપોને તેનું પીવાનું પાણી થવા દો!
</q>
<q style="q1">શાપોને તેના શરીર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરનું તેલ થવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.109.19" />પહેરવાના વસ્રની જેમ તે તેને ઢાંકનાર થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કમરબંધની જેમ તે સદા વીંટળાઇ રહો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.109.20" />જેઓ મારા શત્રુ છે, અને જેઓ મારા આત્માની વિરુદ્ધ બોલનાર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને આ યહોવા તરફની શિક્ષા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.109.21" />પણ, હે યહોવા દેવ, તમે મારા પ્રભુ છો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તમારા નામને માટે મારા ભલા માટે કામ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી કૃપા ઉત્તમ છે, યહોવા, મારો ઉદ્ધાર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.109.22" />હું ગરીબ છું અને તંગી અનુભવું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને મારું હૃદય ઊંડે સુધી ઘાયલ થયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.109.23" />મારું જીવન સંધ્યા સમયના પડછાયાની જેમ અંત પામે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તીડની જેમ ખંખેરી નાખ્યો હોય તેવું લાગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.109.24" />ઉપવાસથી મારાં ઘૂંટણ નબળા પડ્યાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પુષ્ટિ વિના મારું માંસ ઘટી ગયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.109.25" />હું સર્વ માણસો માટે નિષ્ફળતાનું પ્રતિક બન્યો છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે મને જુએ છે ત્યારે પોતાના માથાઁ હલાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.109.26" />હે યહોવા મારા દેવ, મને મદદ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું તારણ કરો, તમે કૃપાળુ અને પ્રેમાળ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.109.27" />જેથી હે યહોવા, આ તારે હાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં જ કર્યુ છે એમ તે સર્વ લોકો જાણે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.109.28" />તેઓ ભલે મને શાપ આપે, હું તેની કાળજી કરીશ નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તમે મને આશીર્વાદ આપો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તેઓ મારા પર હુમલો કરે ત્યારે તેમને હારવા દો, પછી હું તમારો સેવક આનંદ પામીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.109.29" />મારા શત્રુઓ વસ્રની જેમ લાજથી ઢંકાઇ જાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ડગલાની જેમ તેઓ નામોશીથી ઢંકાઇ જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.109.30" />પરંતુ હું યહોવાનો વારંવાર આભાર માનીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તેમની ઘણા લોકોમાં સ્તુતિ ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.109.31" />કારણકે તે ઊભા રહે છે ગરીબ અને ભૂખ્યાંઓની જોડે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓ તેમને મોતની સજા કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાથી તે અસહાય લોકોને બચાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="110" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.110.1" />યહોવાએ મારા પ્રભુને કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“જ્યાં સુધી; હું તારા દુશ્મનોને હરાવું અને તેઓને તારી સમક્ષ નીચા નમાવું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી તું મારી જમણી તરફ બેસ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.110.2" />યહોવા સિયોનમાંથી તારા સાર્મથ્યનો રાજદંડ મોકલશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા શત્રુઓ પર રાજ કર.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.110.3" />તારા લોકો તારા યુદ્ધને દિવસે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી સાથે જોડાવવા ઇચ્છશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">સવારે તેં તારા પવિત્ર વસ્રો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધારણ કરેલા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી યુવાવસ્થાનું જોર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને દોરવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.110.4" />યહોવાએ પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તું મલ્ખીસદેકની જેમ,
</q>
<q style="q1">સદાને માટે યાજક છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનું આ વચન તે કદી રદબાતલ કરશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.110.5" />તારી રક્ષા માટે, તારી પાસે પ્રભુ તારા જમણા હાથે ઊભા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ધણા રાજાઓનો પોતાના ક્રોધને દિવસે નાશ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.110.6" />તે સર્વ પ્રજાઓનો ન્યાય કરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની પ્રજાઓના પ્રદેશ મૃતદેહથી ભરી દેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની વિશાળ ભૂમિમાં માથાઓને છૂંદી નાંખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.110.7" />તે માર્ગમાંના ઝરાઓમાંથી પાણી પીશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નવી તાજગી સાથે પોતાનું માથું ઊંચુ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="111" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.111.1" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">ન્યાયીઓની સભામાં અને મંડળીઓમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ખરા હૃદયથી યહોવાનો આભાર માનીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.111.2" />યહોવાના કાર્યો મહાન છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોને જે સારી વસ્તુઓ જોઇએ છે જે દેવ પાસેથી આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.111.3" />તેના કાર્યો તેજસ્વી અને અદ્ભૂત છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની નિષ્પક્ષતા સદાકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.111.4" />દેવે તેના ચમત્કારોને અવિસ્મરણીય સ્મૃતિ બનાવી દીધાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા દયાળુ અને કૃપાથી ભરપૂર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.111.5" />તે તેના અનુયાયીઓને ખોરાક પૂરો પાડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પોતાના વચનોને કદી ભૂલતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.111.6" />તેણે તેના લોકોને બીજા રાષ્ટોની જમીન આપી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આ રીતે તેમને તેના સાર્મથ્યભર્યા કૃત્યો દેખાડ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.111.7" />તેમણે જે કાંઇ કર્યુ છે તેમાં સત્યતા અને ન્યાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓ વિશ્વાસ યોગ્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.111.8" />કારણ, આ નિયમો સત્યમાંથી અને વિશ્વાસુપણામાંથી ઉદૃભવ્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સદાને માટે અચળ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.111.9" />દેવે તેના લોકોને ઉદ્ધાર મોકલ્યો છે, અને તેમણે તેઓની સાથે એક સનાતન કરાર બનાવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનું નામ પવિત્ર તથા ભયાવહ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.111.10" />દેવ માટે માન અને ડરથી ડહાપણ શરૂ થાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે લોકો તેના આદેશોનું પાલન કરે છે તેઓ ડાહ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના માટે સદાય સ્તુતિના ગાન ગવાતા રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="112" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.112.1" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થાઓ!
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">જે યહોવાનો ડર રાખે છે અને માન આપે છે તેને ધન્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓ ખુશીથી તેની આજ્ઞાને અનુસરે છે તેઓ આશીર્વાદિત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.112.2" />તેઓનાં સંતાન પૃથ્વી પર બળવાન થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ન્યાયીઓના વંશજો સાચા અર્થમાં આશીર્વાદ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.112.3" />તેમના ઘરમાં ધનદોલતની વૃદ્ધિ થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનું ન્યાયીપણુ કદી વિસરાશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.112.4" />સારા લોકો માટે અંધકારમાં પ્રકાશ પ્રગટ થાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને માટે દેવ ભલા, દયાળુ અને કૃપાળુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.112.5" />વ્યકિત માટે દયાળુ અને ઉદાર થવું તે સારું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વ્યકિત માટે એ તેના બધાં વ્યવહારમાં ન્યાયી રહેવું તે સારું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.112.6" />તે વ્યકિત કદી પડશે નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી સારા માણસનું સ્મરણ સર્વકાળ રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.112.7" />તે ખરાબ સમાચારથી ડરતો નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શું થશે તેની પણ ચિંતા કરતો નથી તે દેવ પર ભરોસો રાખી દ્રઢ રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.112.8" />તેનું અંત:કરણ શાંત અને સ્થિર રહે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તે ડરશે નહિ. શત્રુઓ પર જીત મેળવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.112.9" />તેણે ઉદારતાથી નિર્ધનોની મદદ કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું ન્યાયીપણું સર્વકાળ ટકે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે મોટું સન્માન પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.112.10" />જ્યારે દુષ્ટો આ જોશે ત્યારે ગુસ્સે થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ક્રોધમાં પોતાના દાંત પીસશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુબળા થઇ જશે એમ દુષ્ટોની યોજનાઓ નિષ્ફળ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="113" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.113.1" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">હે યહોવાના સેવકો, સ્તુતિ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાના નામની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.113.2" />યહોવાનું નામ આ સમયથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વકાળ સુધી સ્તુત્ય થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.113.3" />સૂર્યોદયથી તે સૂર્યાસ્ત સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાના નામની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.113.4" />યહોવા સર્વ પ્રજાઓ પર સવોર્પરી અધિકારી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું ગૌરવ આકાશો કરતાં મોટું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.113.5" />આપણા દેવ યહોવા જેવો છે કોણ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ઉચ્ચસ્થાનમાં પોતાનું રહેઠાણ રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.113.6" />આકાશો ને પૃથ્વીથી યહોવા ઘણા ઊંચા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાને નીચા નમાવે છે, તેથી તેને જોવા તેમણે નીચું જોવુ પડે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.113.7" />રાંકને ધૂળમાંથી તે ઉઠાવી લે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભૂખ્યાઓને કચરાનાં ઢગલામાંથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.113.8" />અને બેસાડે છે પોતાના લોકોને અમીર ઉમરાઓ સાથે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાજકુમારોની મધ્યે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.113.9" />તે નિ:સંતાન સ્રી ને સંતાન આપે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સુખી થશે માતા!
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="114" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.114.1" />જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વષોર્ પૂવેર્ મિસરમાંથી નીકળ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી પરભાષા બોલનાર લોકોમાંથી યાકૂબનું કુટુંબ નીકળ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.114.2" />પછી યહૂદિયા દેવનું નવું ઘર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇસ્રાએલ દેશ તેમનું રાજ્ય બન્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.114.3" />તેઓને આવતા જોઇને લાલ સમુદ્ર બે ભાગમાં વહેંચાઇ ગયો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યર્દન નદી પાછી વળી અને દૂર દોડી ગઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.114.4" />પર્વતો ઘેટાંઓની માફક કૂદ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ડુંગરો ગાડરની જેમ કૂદ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.114.5" />અરે લાલ સમુદ્ર! તને શું થઇ ગયું કે તું બે ભાગમાં વહેંચાઇ ગયો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યર્દન નદી, શું થયું તારા પાણીનું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે તમે પાછા હઠી ગયા?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.114.6" />અરે પર્વતો, તમે શા માટે ઘેટાંની જેમ કૂદ્યા?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ડુંગરો તમે કેમ હલવાનોની જેમ કૂદ્યા?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.114.7" />હે પૃથ્વી, પ્રભુની સમક્ષ, યાકૂબના દેવની સમક્ષ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું થરથર કાંપ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.114.8" />તેણે ખડકમાંથી પાણી વહેતું કર્યું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે ચકમકમાંથી જળનાં ઝરણા વહાવ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="115" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.115.1" />હે યહોવા, અમારું નહિ, તમારું નામ થાઓ મહિમાવાન;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી કૃપા અને તમારા વિશ્વાસુપણા માટે સર્વ સ્તુતિ કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.115.2" />પ્રજાઓ શા માટે એમ પૂછે છે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તમારા દેવ ક્યાં છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.115.3" />કારણ અમારા દેવ સ્વર્ગમાઁ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની ઇચ્છા પ્રમાણે કાર્ય કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.115.4" />તેઓના દેવો સોના ચાંદીના જ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ માણસોના હાથથી ઘડાયેલા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.115.5" />તેઓને મોંઢા છે છતાં બોલતાં નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને આંખો છે છતાં જોઇ શકતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.115.6" />તેઓને કાન છે છતાં સાંભળતા નથી; નાક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ, તેઓ સૂંઘી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.115.7" />તેઓને હાથ છે પણ ઉપયોગ કરતાં નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને પગ છે છતાં તે ચાલી શકતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોતાના ગળામાંથી અવાજ કાઢી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.115.8" />જેઓ તેમને બનાવશે, અને તેઓ પર વિશ્વાસ કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ બધાં જલ્દી તેમના જેવા થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.115.9" />હે ઇસ્રાએલ, યહોવામાં તમારો ભરોસાઓ રાખો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તારો તારણહાર છે અને તે તારી ઢાલ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.115.10" />હે હારુનપુત્રો, યહોવામાં તમારી શ્રદ્ધા રાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમારો તારણહાર અને તમારી ઢાલ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.115.11" />હે યહોવાના ભકતો તેમનામાં તમારો વિશ્વાસ રાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમારા મદદગાર અને ઢાલ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.115.12" />યહોવાએ આપણને સંભાર્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આપણને આશીર્વાદ આપશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલપુત્રોને અને હારુનપુત્રોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે આશીર્વાદ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.115.13" />હે યહોવાના ભકતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નાનાઁમોટાં સર્વને તે આશીર્વાદ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.115.14" />યહોવા ખચીત તમારા છોકરાંની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તમારી વૃદ્ધિ કર્યા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.115.15" />હા, આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીના સર્જક;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા પોતે, તમને આશીર્વાદ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.115.16" />આકાશો તે યહોવાનાઁ પોતાના છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ પૃથ્વી તેણે માણસોને આપી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.115.17" />મૃત્યુ પામેલાઓ, કબરમાં ઊતરનારાઓ પૃથ્વી પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાના સ્તોત્ર નથી ગાઇ શકતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.115.18" />પણ અમે આજથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વકાળપર્યંત યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરીશું.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થાઓ!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="116" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.116.1" />યહોવા મારી પ્રાર્થનાઓ સાંભળે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના ઉત્તર આપે છે તેથી તે મને ગમે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.116.2" />તેણે પોતાના કાન મારા તરફ ધર્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે હું તેમની પ્રાર્થના જીવનપર્યંત કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.116.3" />મરણની જાળમાં હું સપડાઇ ગયો હતો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને લાગતું હતું જાણે હું શેઓલમાં હોઉં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને સંકટ ને શોક મળ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.116.4" />ત્યારે મેં યહોવાના નામનો પોકાર કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હે યહોવા મને બચાવો.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.116.5" />યહોવા ન્યાયી અને કૃપાળુ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા દેવ ખરેખર માયાળુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.116.6" />યહોવા અસહાયનું રક્ષણ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું છેક લાચાર બની ગયો હતો, ત્યારે તેણે મને બચાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.116.7" />હે મારા આત્મા, વિશ્રામ કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે યહોવા તમારી સંભાળ રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.116.8" />તમે મારા પ્રાણને મૃત્યુથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી આંખોને આંસુથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પગોને લથડવાથી બચાવ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.116.9" />હું જીવલોકમાં જીવતો રહીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાની સેવા કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.116.10" />“હું ઘણો દુ:ખી છું,” મે જ્યારે એમ કહ્યું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે પણ મેં તે માનવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.116.11" />મારા ગભરાટમાં મેં કહી દીધું હતું કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“સર્વ માણસો જૂઠાઁ છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.116.12" />યહોવાના મારા પર થયેલા સર્વ ઉપકારોનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેને શો બદલો આપું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.116.13" />મારું રક્ષણ કરવા માટે તેમની માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દ્રાક્ષારસનું અર્પણ લઇ જઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું દેવના નામે પોકારીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.116.14" />યહોવા સમક્ષ મેં જે માનતા લીધી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે હું તેના સર્વ લોક સમક્ષ પૂર્ણ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.116.15" />યહોવાની ષ્ટિમાં તેના ભકતનું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૃત્યુ કિંમતી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.116.16" />હે યહોવા, તમે મને મારા બંધનોથી મુકિત આપી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, ખરેખર હું તમારો દાસ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો ગુલામ છું, દીકરો છું તમારી દાસીનો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.116.17" />હું તમારા માટે સ્તુત્યર્પણો ચડાવીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું યહોવાના નામે પોકારીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.116.18" />મેં યહોવાની સમક્ષ લીધેલી પ્રતિજ્ઞાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં સર્વ લોકો સમક્ષ હું પૂર્ણ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.116.19" />હે યરૂશાલેમ! તારી અંદર યહોવાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મંદિરનાં આંગણામાં પ્રતિજ્ઞા લઇશ.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="117" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.117.1" />પૃથ્વીનાં સર્વ લોકો યહોવાને મોટા મનાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધી પ્રજાઓ સર્વ સ્થળે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.117.2" />કારણ કે તેમની અનહદ કૃપા આપણા પર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાની સત્યતા ટકે છે સર્વકાળ!
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યહોવાની સ્તુતિ હો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="118" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.118.1" />યહોવાનો આભાર માનો; કારણકે તે ભલા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ સદાય રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.118.2" />ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રજાજનો, તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો આ શબ્દોથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તેમની કૃપા સદાય રહે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.118.3" />હારુન પુત્રો, આ પ્રાર્થના ગીત ગાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ સદાય રહે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.118.4" />યહોવાના અન્ય ભકતો, તમે પણ કહો કે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ સદાય રહે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.118.5" />મારા સંકટમાં મેં યહોવાને વિનંતી કરી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે મને ઉત્તર આપી ને મને બચાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.118.6" />યહોવા મારા પક્ષમાં છે, મને ડર શાનો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી પરનો માણસ મને શું કરી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.118.7" />યહોવા મને મદદ કરશે, તે મારા પક્ષમાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી મારી સગી આંખે હું મારા શત્રુઓને પરાજીત થતાં જોઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.118.8" />માણસો પર ભરોસો રાખીએ તે કરતાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા પર ભરોસો રાખીએ તે વધુ સારુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.118.9" />સમર્થ રાજાઓના આશ્રયે જવું તે કરતાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવામાં આશ્રય મેળવવો તે વધું સારો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.118.10" />બધી પ્રજાઓએ મને ઘેરી લીધો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું યહોવાનું નામ લઇને તેમને પરાજીત કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.118.11" />હા, મને શત્રુઓએ ઘેર્યો હતો ખરેખર તેમણે મને ઘેર્યો હતો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ યહોવાના નામેં હું તેમને હરાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.118.12" />તેઓએ મને મધમાખીઓની જેમ ઘેર્યો હતો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ સળગતાં કાંટાની જેમ તુરંત જ ઓલવાઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમને યહોવાનું નામ લઇને હરાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.118.13" />ઓ મારા શત્રુઓ, તમે મારો વિનાશ કરવા ઘણી મહેનત કરી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મને યહોવાએ સહાય કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.118.14" />પણ યહોવા મારું સાર્મથ્ય છે અને વિજયગીત છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જ મારું તારણ થયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.118.15" />સદાચારીઓના મંડપમાં, વિજયોત્સવના હર્ષનાદ સંભળાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાનો જમણો હાથ બહાદુરીના કાર્યો કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.118.16" />યહોવાનો જમણો હાથ ઊંચો થયેલો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાનો જમણો હાથ પરાક્રમ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.118.17" />હું મરીશ નહિ પણ હું જીવતો રહીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાએ કરેલા સર્વ કાર્યોને ઉચ્ચારીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.118.18" />યહોવાએ મને ભારે શિક્ષા કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેણે મને મૃત્યુને સ્વાધીન કર્યો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.118.19" />ન્યાયીપણાનું પ્રવેશદ્વાર ઉઘાડો, હું તેમા થઇને જઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાનો આભાર માનીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.118.20" />એ દ્વાર યહોવાની સમક્ષ જવાનું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાનો ભય રાખનાર ન્યાયીઓ તેમાં જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.118.21" />હે યહોવા, તમે મારી પ્રાર્થનાનો જવાબ આપ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારો ઉદ્ધાર કર્યો છે, હું તમારો આભાર માનું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.118.22" />જે પથ્થરને ઘર બાંધનારાઓએ નકાર્યો હતો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જ ખૂણાનો મુખ્ય પથ્થર થયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.118.23" />આ કાર્ય તો યહોવાથી થયું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણી દ્રૃષ્ટિમાં તે આશ્ચર્યકારક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.118.24" />યહોવાએ આપણને આ દિવસ આપ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે તેમાં આનંદોત્સવ કરીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.118.25" />હે યહોવા, અમારી ઉપર દયા રાખ અને અમને તારણ આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, અમારી પર દયા કર અને મહેરબાની કરીને અમને સફળ બનાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.118.26" />યહોવાને નામે જે આવે છે તેને ધન્ય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા મંદિરમાંથી અમે તમને આશીર્વાદ દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.118.27" />યહોવા તે જ દેવ છે અને તે અમારો પ્રકાશ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બલિદાન માટે બાંધેલા ઘેટાને વેદીના શિંગ તરફ લઇ જતાં ઉત્સવના સરઘસમાં તમે બધાં જોડાઇ જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.118.28" />તમે મારા યહોવા, હું તમારો આભાર માનીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા દેવ છો, હું તમને મોટા માનીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.118.29" />યહોવાનો આભાર માનો, તે ઉત્તમ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની કૃપા સર્વકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="119" />
<s level="2" style="s2">આલેફ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.119.1" />જેઓ પવિત્ર જીવન જીવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા યહોવાના નિયમોને અનુસરે છે તેઓ આશીર્વાદિત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.119.2" />જેઓ પૂર્ણ હૃદયથી યહોવાની શોધ કરે છે અને હંમેશા યહોવાના કરારનું પાલન કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સર્વ આશીર્વાદિત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.119.3" />તેઓ કદી ખરાબ કામ કરતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ યહોવાના ન્યાયી માર્ગની કેડીએ ચાલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.119.4" />તમે અમને નિયમો આપ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે અમને તે હુકમોનું કાળજીપૂર્વક પાલન કરવા કહ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.119.5" />મારા કાર્યો તમારા વિધિઓ સાથે સુમેળમાં રહે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ હું ઇચ્છુ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.119.6" />પછી જ્યારે હું તમારી બધી આજ્ઞાઓ અભ્યાસ કરીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ક્યારેય શરમિંદો નહિં થાઉં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.119.7" />તમારા ખરા ન્યાયથી હું માહિતગાર થઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે શુદ્ધ હૃદયથી હું તમારો આભાર માનીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.119.8" />હું તમારા વિધિઓને અનુસરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી કૃપા કરી મને છોડશો નહિ!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">બેથ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.119.9" />જુવાન માણસ કેવી રીતે પોતાનું જીવન શુદ્ધ રાખી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા વચનોને અનુસરીને તે કરી શકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.119.10" />મેઁ મારા ખરા હૃદયથી તને શોધ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી આજ્ઞાઓથી ચૂકીને મને ભટકવા ન દે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.119.11" />મેં તમારા વચન કાળજી પૂર્વક મારા હૃદયમા રાખી મૂક્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી, તમારી વિરુદ્ધ હું ફરી પાપ ન કરું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.119.12" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થાય! કૃપા કરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તમારા વિધિઓ શીખવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.119.13" />મારા હોઠોથી હું તમારા બધાં નિયમો વિષે વાત કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.119.14" />સંપત્તિ કરતાં તમારા નિયમોમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને વધુ આનંદ મળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.119.15" />હું તમારા શાસનોની ચર્ચા કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા જીવન જીવવાના માર્ગને અનુસરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.119.16" />હું તમારા વિધિઓને માનું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમને ભૂલી જઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">ગિમેલ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.119.17" />મને તમારા સેવકને બદલો આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી હુ જીવિત રહું અને તમારા વચનનું પાલન કરું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.119.18" />તમારા નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાંની આશ્ચર્યકારક વાતોનું અવલોકન કરવા માટે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આંખો ઉઘાડો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.119.19" />પૃથ્વી પર હું તો એક યાત્રી છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી આજ્ઞાઓ મારાથી સંતાડ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.119.20" />મારું હૃદય તમારા ન્યાયવચનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે હંમેશા તીવ્ર ઝંખના કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.119.21" />તમે ઉદ્ધત લોકોને જેઓ તમારી આજ્ઞાઓને માનતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને ઠપકો આપો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.119.22" />મહેણાં તથા અપમાનને મારાથી દૂર કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે મેં તારાં નિયમો માન્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.119.23" />સરદારો પણ આસનો પર બેઠાબેઠા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી વિરુદ્ધ બોલતા હતા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તારા સેવકે તમારા વિધિઓનું મનન તો કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.119.24" />હું તમારા નિયમોને માનું છું. અને હા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારા સલાહકારો પણ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાલેથ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.119.25" />હું મૃત્યુ પામવાની તૈયારીમાં છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા વચન આપ્યું હતું પ્રમાણે મને જિવડા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.119.26" />મેં મારા માગોર્ પ્રગટ કર્યા, અને તેઁ મને ઉત્તર આપ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તારા વિધિઓ શીખવ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PSA.119.27" />તમારા શાસનોને સમજવામાં મારી મદદ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી હું તમારા અદૃભૂત કાર્યો વિશે ચર્ચા કરી શકું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PSA.119.28" />વ્યથાને કારણે, હું રૂદન કરું છું, દુ:ખને કારણે મારું હૃદય ભારે થઇ ગયું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે આપેલા વચન પ્રમાણે મને બળવાન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PSA.119.29" />તમે મને પ્રત્યેક ભૂંડાઇથી દૂર રાખો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કૃપા કરીને મને તમારા નિયમોને આધીન થવાનું શીખવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PSA.119.30" />તમને વફાદાર થવાનું મે પસંદ કર્યુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ન્યાયવચનો વિષે વિચારવાનું મે સતત ચાલું રાખ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PSA.119.31" />હું વળગી રહ્યો છું તમારી આજ્ઞાઓને;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે લજ્જિત થવું પડે એવું થવા ન દેશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PSA.119.32" />તમારી આજ્ઞાઓના માર્ગમાં હું જીવન જીવીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તમે મારી સમજશકિત ખીલવો છો અને મારા હૃદયને પ્રફુલ્લિત કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">હે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PSA.119.33" />હે યહોવા, તમારા વિધિઓનો માર્ગ મને શીખવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી હું તેને કાળજીપૂર્વક અનુસરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PSA.119.34" />મને સમજણ આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે હું તમારા નિયમ પાળીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા, મારા અંત:કરણથી તેને માનીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PSA.119.35" />મને તમારા આજ્ઞાઓના માગેર્ દોરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે હું તેમાં આનંદ માણું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="PSA.119.36" />તમારા કરાર પર ધ્યાન આપવા માટે મને મદદ કરો નહિ કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેવી રીતે ધનવાન બનવું તેના પર.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="PSA.119.37" />વ્યર્થતામાંથી તમે મારી દ્રષ્ટિ ફેરવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા માગેર્ જીવન જીવવા માટે મને મદદ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="PSA.119.38" />તમારું જે વચન ભય ઉપજાવનારું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તારા સેવકના લાભમાં દ્રઢ કર.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="PSA.119.39" />જે અપમાનનો મને ડર છે; તે મારાથી દૂર કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તારાં ન્યાયવચનો ઉત્તમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="PSA.119.40" />તમારા નિયમોને આધીન થવાનું હું ઝંખુ છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા ન્યાયીપણાંમાં તમે મારા જીવનને સંભાળી રાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">વાવ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="PSA.119.41" />હે યહોવા, તમારો અવિકારી પ્રેમ અને તમારા વચન પ્રમાણે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું તારણ મારા પર આવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="PSA.119.42" />તે મને અપમાનિત કરવાવાળાને જવાબ આપવા માટે સક્ષમ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા વચનનો ભરોસો કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="PSA.119.43" />ક્યારેય મારા મુખમાંથી સત્યને દૂર ન લઇ જશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા ન્યાયવચનો ઉપર આધાર રાખું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="PSA.119.44" />હું સદાય તમારા નિયમોને આધીન રહીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="45" bcv="PSA.119.45" />તમારા શિક્ષણને આધીન થવામાં મેં ચિત્ત લગાડ્યું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી જીવન જીવવામા હું સ્વતંત્રતા અનુભવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="46" bcv="PSA.119.46" />હું રાજાઓ સાથે તમારા કરાર વિષે વાત કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ (રસ પૂર્વક સાંભળશે અને) મને મૂંઝવણમાં મુકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="47" bcv="PSA.119.47" />તમારા નિયમો મને બહુ પ્રિય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી આજ્ઞાઓમાં હું આનંદ માણું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="48" bcv="PSA.119.48" />હું તમારી આજ્ઞાઓ પાળવા મારા હાથ ઊંચા કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેને ચાહું છું અને હું તેના વિશે મનન કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">ઝાઇન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="49" bcv="PSA.119.49" />હું તમારો સેવક છું, કૃપા કરીને મને આપેલા તમારા વચનને યાદ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વચન મને આશા આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="50" bcv="PSA.119.50" />મને મારા દુ:ખમાઁ આશ્વાસન મળ્યું છેં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા વચને મને જિવાડ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="51" bcv="PSA.119.51" />અભિમાની લોકો મારી મજાક કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તમારા નિયમમાંથી પાછો હઠયો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="52" bcv="PSA.119.52" />હે યહોવા, પુરાતન કાળથી પ્રચલિત તમારા ન્યાયવચનો મેં મારા બાળપણથીજ યાદ રાખ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને હંમેશા સાંત્વન મળ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="53" bcv="PSA.119.53" />જે ભૂંડાઓ તમારા નિયમ અવગણના કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પર મને ક્રોધ ઉપજે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="54" bcv="PSA.119.54" />તમારા વિધિઓ આ મારી જીવનયાત્રામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા માટે આનંદદાયક સ્તોત્ર બન્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="55" bcv="PSA.119.55" />હે યહોવા, મને રાત્રે તમારા નામનું સ્મરણ થાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તમારા નિયમો પાળુ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="56" bcv="PSA.119.56" />આ મારું આચરણ છે; હું તમારા શાસનો પાલન કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">ખેથ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="57" bcv="PSA.119.57" />હે યહોવા, મારો વારસો છો તમે; હું વચનો પાળીશ તમારા, એમ મે કહ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="58" bcv="PSA.119.58" />મેં મારા હૃદયની ઉત્કંઠાથી તમારી કૃપાની માંગણી કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા વચન પ્રમાણે તમે મારા ઉપર દયા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="59" bcv="PSA.119.59" />મેં મારા જીવનના રસ્તાઓ વિષે વિચાર કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી વળ્યો છું તમારા કરાર તરફ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="60" bcv="PSA.119.60" />તમારી આજ્ઞાઓ પાળવા માટે મેં ઉતાવળ કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જરાય મોડું કર્યુ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="61" bcv="PSA.119.61" />મને દુષ્ટોનાં બંધનોએ ઘેરી લીધો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમારા નિયમોને હું ભુલ્યો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="62" bcv="PSA.119.62" />હું મધરાતે ઊઠીને તમારા ન્યાયવચનો બદલ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો આભાર માનીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="63" bcv="PSA.119.63" />જે કોઇ તમારો ભય રાખે છે, તમારામાં વિશ્વાસ કે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા શાસનોનું પાલન કરે છે તે મારા મિત્રો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="64" bcv="PSA.119.64" />હે યહોવા, પૃથ્વી તમારી કૃપાથી ભરેલી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તમારા વિધિઓ શીખવો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">ટેથ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="65" bcv="PSA.119.65" />હે યહોવા, તમે તમારા સેવકને વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાણે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા માટે સારું જ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="66" bcv="PSA.119.66" />મને યોગ્ય ચપળતા શીખવો અને મને જ્ઞાન આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા આજ્ઞાઓ પર વિશ્વાસ કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="67" bcv="PSA.119.67" />મેં દુ:ખ સહ્યું તે પહેલા મેં ઘણી ખોટી બાબતો કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હાલમાં હું તમારા વચન પાળું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="68" bcv="PSA.119.68" />તમે ઉત્તમ છો અને ઉત્તમ કરો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તમારા વિધિઓ શીખવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="69" bcv="PSA.119.69" />ધમંડી લોકો મારા વિશે જૂઠું બોલે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તમારાં નિયમો ખરા હૃદયથી પાળીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="70" bcv="PSA.119.70" />તેઓનું અંત:કરણ સ્થૂળ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તો તારા નિયમમાં પરમાનંદ પામું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="71" bcv="PSA.119.71" />મેં જે સહન કર્યુ તે મારા સારા માટે પૂરવાર થયું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ રીતે હું તમારા વિધિઓ શીખ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="72" bcv="PSA.119.72" />હજારો સોના ચાંદી કરતાં તમારા મુખનો નિયમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે માટે વધુ મૂલ્યવાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">યોદ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="73" bcv="PSA.119.73" />તમે તમારા હાથેથી જ મને ઘડ્યો છે અને બનાવ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી આજ્ઞાઓ શીખવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું પાલન કરવાની સમજ આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="74" bcv="PSA.119.74" />તમારો ભય રાખનારા, મને જોઇને આનંદ પામશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ મેં તમારી અને તમારા વચનોની આશા રાખી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="75" bcv="PSA.119.75" />હે યહોવા, હું જાણું છું કે તમે આપો છો તે વચનો સાચા અને ન્યાયી હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને પીડા આપવાનું તમારા માટે ન્યાયી હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="76" bcv="PSA.119.76" />તમારા વચન પ્રમાણે તમારા સેવકને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી કૃપાથી આશ્વાસન ને પ્રેમ મળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="77" bcv="PSA.119.77" />હું જીવતો રહું તે માટે તમારી દયા મારી પાસે આવવા દો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો નિયમ એ જ મારો આનંદ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="78" bcv="PSA.119.78" />ભલે અભિમાનીઓ લજ્જા પામો, તેઓ મારા વિષે જૂઠું બોલ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખોટી રીતે મારા પર આક્ષેપ કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં હું તો તમારા શાસનોનું મનન કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="79" bcv="PSA.119.79" />ભલે તમારા ભકતો, જેઓ તમારો આદર કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેમને તમારા સાક્ષ્યો વિષે જ્ઞાન છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારી પાસે આવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="80" bcv="PSA.119.80" />તમારા નિયમોથી આધીનતામાં મારું હૃદય નિદોર્ષ શુદ્ધ રહો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી દરેક ઇચ્છાને ચાહવામાં મારી સહાય કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી મારે પોતાના વિષે લજવાવું ન પડે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">કાફ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="81" bcv="PSA.119.81" />મારો જીવ તમારા તારણ માટે વ્યથિત છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તમારા વચનની આશા રાખું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="82" bcv="PSA.119.82" />તમે જે બાબતો માટે વચન આપેલું તેના માટે રાહ જોવાનું મેં ચાલુ રાખ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેને કારણે મારી આંખો નબળી થઇ રહી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને ક્યારે આશ્વાસન આપશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="83" bcv="PSA.119.83" />હું કચરાના ઢગલા પર પડેલી સૂકાયેલા ચામડાની કોથળી જેવો થઇ ગયો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તમારા નિયમોને ભૂલતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="84" bcv="PSA.119.84" />કેટલા દિવસ છે તારા સેવકના?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને સતાવનારાઓનો ન્યાય ક્યારે કરશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="85" bcv="PSA.119.85" />જે ગવિર્ષ્ઠો તમારા નિયમો પ્રમાણે નથી વર્તતા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ ખાડા ખોદ્યા છે મારા માટે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="86" bcv="PSA.119.86" />તેઓ વિનાકારણ મને ત્રાસ આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને મદદ કરો, તમારી સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓ ભરોસાપાત્ર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="87" bcv="PSA.119.87" />તેઓએ લગભગ મને મારી નાખ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં મેં તમારા શાસનોનું પાલન કરવાનું છોડ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="88" bcv="PSA.119.88" />તમારી કૃપા પ્રમાણે તમે મને જીવાડો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે હું તમારા મુખની શિખામણ પાળીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">લામેદ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="89" bcv="PSA.119.89" />હે યહોવા, તમારું વચન આકાશમાં સદાકાળ સ્થિર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="90" bcv="PSA.119.90" />તમારું વિશ્વાસપણું પેઢી દરપેઢી કાયમ રહે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જ ધરતી સ્થાપી છે અને તે નભી રહી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="91" bcv="PSA.119.91" />તમારા ન્યાયી વચનને કારણે દરેક વસ્તુ આજની સુધી અસ્તિત્વ ધરાવે છે; કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વ તમારા સેવકો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="92" bcv="PSA.119.92" />જો મેં આનંદ માણ્યો ન હોત તમારા નિયમમાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો હું મારા દુ:ખમાંજ નાશ પામ્યો હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="93" bcv="PSA.119.93" />હું કદી ભૂલીશ નહિ તમારા શાસનોને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તમે મને તેઓથીજ જિવાડ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="94" bcv="PSA.119.94" />હું તમારો છું; મારું રક્ષણ કરો; કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં સદા તમારા શાસનોને શોધ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="95" bcv="PSA.119.95" />દુષ્ટો મારો નાશ કરવાનો લાગ જોઇ રહ્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં હું શાંત રહીને તમારાં વચનોમાં ધ્યાન રાખીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="96" bcv="PSA.119.96" />મેં જોયું છે કે પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુઓને તેની પોતાની સીમાઓ હોય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તમારી આજ્ઞાની તો સીમા જ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મેમ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="97" bcv="PSA.119.97" />તમારા નિયમો પર હું કેવો પ્રેમ રાખું છું!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું આખો દિવસ તેમના વિષે મનન કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="98" bcv="PSA.119.98" />મારા શત્રુઓના કરતાં તમારી આજ્ઞાઓ મને વધુ બુદ્ધિમાન કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે મારી પાસે સર્વદા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="99" bcv="PSA.119.99" />મારામાં મારા શિક્ષકો કરતાં વધારે શાણપણ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે હું તમારા સાક્ષ્યો વિષે અભ્યાસ અને ચર્ચા કરતો રહું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="100" bcv="PSA.119.100" />વૃદ્ધોના કરતાં હું વિશેષ જાણું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે મેં તમારા નિયમો પાળ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="101" bcv="PSA.119.101" />હું તમારું વચન પાળી શકું તે માટે મેં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પગ સર્વ ભૂંડા માગોર્થી પણ પાછા વાળ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="102" bcv="PSA.119.102" />તમારા ન્યાયી વચનોને મેં ત્યજ્યા નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તમે મને તે શીખવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="103" bcv="PSA.119.103" />મારી રૂચિને તમારાં વચનો કેવા મીઠાઁ લાગે છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા મુખને તે મધથીય વધુ મીઠાઁ લાગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="104" bcv="PSA.119.104" />તમારાં શાસનોથી મને સમજણ મળે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે હું દરેક જૂઠા માર્ગને ધિક્કારું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નુન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="105" bcv="PSA.119.105" />મારા પગોને માટે તમારાં વચન દીવારૂપ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા માર્ગમા પ્રકાશ પાથરી, તે મને ઠોકર ખાતાં બચાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="106" bcv="PSA.119.106" />એવી પ્રતિજ્ઞા મેં કરી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હું તમારા યથાર્થ ન્યાય શાસનો પાળીશ,” અને મેં તે પાળ્યા પણ ખરા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="107" bcv="PSA.119.107" />હે યહોવા, હું દુ:ખમાં કચડાઇ ગયો છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા વચનો પ્રમાણે મને જિવાડ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="108" bcv="PSA.119.108" />હે યહોવા, મારા મુખનાં રાજીખુશીથી આપેલાં અર્પણોનો તમે સ્વીકાર કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારાં ન્યાય વચનો મને શીખવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="109" bcv="PSA.119.109" />મારો પ્રાણ સદા મારી મુઠ્ઠીમાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં હું ભૂલતો નથી તારા નિયમને.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="110" bcv="PSA.119.110" />દુષ્ટ શત્રુઓએ મારે માટે પાશ રાખ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં હું તમારાં શાસનોથી ભાગી ગયો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="111" bcv="PSA.119.111" />હું તમારા સાક્ષ્યોને સદાકાળ અનુસરીશ; કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મારા હૃદયનો આનંદ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="112" bcv="PSA.119.112" />મેં મારા જીવનનાં અંત સુધી સદા તમારા નિયમોનું પાલન કરવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા હૃદયથી જવાબદારી સ્વીકારી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">સામેખ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="113" bcv="PSA.119.113" />બેવડી માનસિકતા ધરાવતા લોકોને હું ધિક્કારું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તમારા નિયમોને ચાહું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="114" bcv="PSA.119.114" />તમે જ મારી ઓથ તથા ઢાલ છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તમારા વચનની આશા રાખું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="115" bcv="PSA.119.115" />દુષ્ટ મન વાળા માણસો મારાથી દૂર રહો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી હું મારા યહોવાની આજ્ઞાઓ પાળું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="116" bcv="PSA.119.116" />તમારા વચન મુજબ મને ટેકો આપો જેથી હું જીવી શકું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આશાઓને નિરાશ ન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="117" bcv="PSA.119.117" />મને ટકાવી રાખો, જેથી હું બચી શકુ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સદાય હું તમારા નીતિ નિયમોનો અભ્યાસ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="118" bcv="PSA.119.118" />હે યહોવા, જેઓ તમારા નિયમોનો ભંગ કરે છે તેનો તમે અસ્વીકાર કરો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તમે તેમનાં છેતરામણા માગોર્ને પ્રગટ કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="119" bcv="PSA.119.119" />તમે પૃથ્વીના સર્વ દુષ્ટોને કચરાની જેમ ફેંકી દો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે હું તમારા નિયમોને પ્રેમ કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="120" bcv="PSA.119.120" />હું તમારા ભયથી કાંપુ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા ન્યાયવચનનો આદર કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">હાયિન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="121" bcv="PSA.119.121" />મેં જે સારું અને સાચું છે તે કર્યુ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા, મને મારા પર જુલમ કરનારના હાથમાં ન સોંપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="122" bcv="PSA.119.122" />તમારા સેવક માટે સારી વસ્તુઓ તૈયાર કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉદ્ધત લોકોને મારા પર જુલમ કરવા ન દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="123" bcv="PSA.119.123" />તમારા તારણની અને પવિત્રવચનની રાહ જોતાં જોતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આંખો નિસ્તેજ થઇ ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="124" bcv="PSA.119.124" />તમારી કૃપા પ્રમાણે તમારા સેવકની સાથે વર્તજો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા વિધિઓ મને શીખવજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="125" bcv="PSA.119.125" />હું તો તમારો સેવક છું, મને શાણપણનું વરદાન આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી હું તમારા સાક્ષ્યોને જાણી શકું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="126" bcv="PSA.119.126" />હે યહોવા, હજુ સમય છે કઇંક પગલા ભરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે દુષ્ટ માણસોએ નિયમોનું ખંડન કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="127" bcv="PSA.119.127" />જ્યારે હું સોના કરતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શુદ્ધ સોના કરતાય વધુ તમારી આજ્ઞાઓ પર પ્રેમ રાખું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="128" bcv="PSA.119.128" />તમારા શાસનો પ્રમાણે હું મારી સવેર્ વર્તણૂંક યથાર્થ રાખું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું દરેક જૂઠા માર્ગને ધિક્કારું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">પે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="129" bcv="PSA.119.129" />તમારા નિયમો અદભૂત છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી હું તેમને આધિન છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="130" bcv="PSA.119.130" />તમારા વચનો એક તિરાડ જેવા છે જે અંધારા ઓરડામાં પ્રકાશ પાથરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેથી એક સામાન્ય માણસ પણ સમજી શકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="131" bcv="PSA.119.131" />તમારાં વચનો માટે મને ઉત્સુકતા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારું મો ઉઘાડીને તલપી રહ્યો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="132" bcv="PSA.119.132" />તમારા પર પ્રેમ કરનારાઓ સાથે તમે જે રીતે વતોર્ છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તમે મારા તરફ જોઇને મારા પર દયા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="133" bcv="PSA.119.133" />હે યહોવા, તમારા વચનપ્રમાણે મને દોરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇપણ દુષ્ટતાને મારા પર શાસન ન કરવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="134" bcv="PSA.119.134" />જુલમી માણસોમાંથી મને બચાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી હું તમારા શાસનોનું પાલન કરી શકું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="135" bcv="PSA.119.135" />તમારા સેવક પર તમારા મુખનો પ્રકાશ પાડો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા બધાં નિયમો મને શીખવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="136" bcv="PSA.119.136" />તેઓ તમારા નિયમો પાળતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી મારી આંખોમાંથી ચોધારા આંસુ વહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">સાદે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="137" bcv="PSA.119.137" />હે યહોવા, તમે ન્યાયી છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ન્યાયવચનો યથાર્થ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="138" bcv="PSA.119.138" />તમે તમારા સાક્ષ્યો અમને આપ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખરેખર અમે તેમનો વિશ્વાસ કરી શકીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="139" bcv="PSA.119.139" />તમારા માટેનો મારો ઉત્સાહ મને ક્ષીણ કરી રહ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ મારા શત્રુઓ તમારા નિયમોને ભૂલી ગયાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="140" bcv="PSA.119.140" />તમારા શબ્દો તદૃન નિર્મળ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેથી આ તમારો સેવક તમારા શબ્દોને ચાહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="141" bcv="PSA.119.141" />જો કે હું યુવાન છું અને લોકો મને માન આપતાં નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા શાસનોને કદી ભૂલી જતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="142" bcv="PSA.119.142" />તમારું ન્યાયીપણું તો અનંતકાળ ટકશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો નિયમ સાચા અને વિશ્વસનીય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="143" bcv="PSA.119.143" />મને ઉપાધિઓ અને આપત્તિઓએ જકડી લીધો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તમારી આજ્ઞામાં મારી પ્રસન્નતા રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="144" bcv="PSA.119.144" />તમારા સાક્ષ્યો સદાકાળ ન્યાયયુકત છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે મને સમજણ આપ, જેથી હું જીવતો રહીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">કોફ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="145" bcv="PSA.119.145" />મેં ખરા હૃદયથી અરજ કરી છે, હે યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને ઉત્તર આપ, હું તમારા નિયમોનું પાલન કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="146" bcv="PSA.119.146" />“મારું રક્ષણ કરો” મેં તમને પ્રાર્થના કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે હું તમારા નિયમોનું પાલન કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="147" bcv="PSA.119.147" />પ્રભાત થતાં પહેલા મેં પ્રાર્થના કરી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મે તમારી વાતની આશા રાખી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="148" bcv="PSA.119.148" />તારા વચનનું મનન કરવા માટે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આંખો રાતના છેલ્લા પહોર અગાઉ ઊઘડી ગઇ હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="149" bcv="PSA.119.149" />તમારી કૃપા પ્રમાણે મારી વાણી સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તમારા ન્યાયવચનો પ્રમાણે મને જિવાડો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="150" bcv="PSA.119.150" />તમારા નિયમનો ભંગ કરનારા અને દુષ્ટ પ્રપંચ ઘડનારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પર હુમલો કરવા આવી રહ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="151" bcv="PSA.119.151" />હે યહોવા, તમે મારી નજદીક છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓ સત્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="152" bcv="PSA.119.152" />લાંબા સમય પૂવેર્ તમારા સાક્ષ્યોમાંથી મેં જાણ્યું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તમે તેઓને સદાને માટે સ્થાપ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">રેશ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="153" bcv="PSA.119.153" />મારા સંકટ સામે જુઓ અને મારી રક્ષા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, હું તમારો નિયમ ભૂલતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="154" bcv="PSA.119.154" />મારી લડતને લડો અને મને બચાવો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તમારા વચન પ્રમાણે જીવવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="155" bcv="PSA.119.155" />દુષ્ટ અન્યાયીઓથી તારણ દૂર રહે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તે તમારા નિયમો શોધતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="156" bcv="PSA.119.156" />હે યહોવા, તારી કરુણા ધણી મહાન છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાં ન્યાયવચનો પ્રમાણે મને જિવાડ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="157" bcv="PSA.119.157" />મને સતાવનારા, મારા શત્રુઓ ઘણા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં હું તારા નિયમોથી પાછો હઠી ગયો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="158" bcv="PSA.119.158" />જ્યારે મેં વિશ્વાસઘાતીઓને જોયા; ત્યારે મેં તેમનો અસ્વીકાર કર્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે, તેઓ તમારા વચનનું પાલન કરતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="159" bcv="PSA.119.159" />હું તમારા શાસનો પર કેટલો બધો પ્રેમ રાખુ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ધ્યાનમાં લે જો હે યહોવા, તમારી કૃપા અનુસાર તમે મને જિવાડો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="160" bcv="PSA.119.160" />તમારા બધાં વચનો અથથી તે ઇતિ સુધી સત્ય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા સર્વ ન્યાયી વચનો અનંતકાળ સુધી ટકવાના છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">શીન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="161" bcv="PSA.119.161" />મને સરદારોએ વિના કારણ સતાવ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મારું હૃદય તમારાં વચનોનો ભય રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="162" bcv="PSA.119.162" />જેમ કોઇકને મોટો ખજાનો મળે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તમારા વચન મને રાજી કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="163" bcv="PSA.119.163" />હું અસત્યને ધિક્કારું છું, હું તેમનો તિરસ્કાર કરું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હું તમારા નિયમને ચાહું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="164" bcv="PSA.119.164" />તમારા યથાર્થ અને ન્યાયી વચનોને કારણે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દિવસમા સાત વખત તમારી સ્તુતિ કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="165" bcv="PSA.119.165" />તમારા નિયમ પર પ્રેમ રાખનારાઓને અત્યંત શાંતિ મળે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને કોઇ પણ ઠોકર ખવડાવી શકે તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="166" bcv="PSA.119.166" />હે યહોવા, તમારા તારણની મેં આશા રાખી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, મે તમારી આજ્ઞાઓ પાળી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="167" bcv="PSA.119.167" />હું તમારા સાક્ષ્યોને અનુસર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેથી હું તેમના પર ઘણો પ્રેમ રાખું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="168" bcv="PSA.119.168" />હું તમારા બધાં શાસનો અને સાક્ષ્યોને અનુસર્યો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, હું જે કરું તે બધુ તમે જાણો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s level="2" style="s2">તાવ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="169" bcv="PSA.119.169" />હે યહોવા, મારી પ્રાર્થનાઓ સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે વચન આપ્યું છે તે પ્રમાણે મને સમજણ આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="170" bcv="PSA.119.170" />મારી પ્રાર્થનાને તમારી સમક્ષ આવવા દો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા વચન પ્રમાણે મને ઉગારો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="171" bcv="PSA.119.171" />મારા હોઠો તમારી સ્તુતિ ઉચ્ચારશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે, તમે મને તમારા વિધિઓ શીખવો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="172" bcv="PSA.119.172" />મને તમારા વચનોનો જવાબ આપવા દો, અને મને મારું ગીત ગાવા દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે, તમારી આજ્ઞાઓ પૂર્ણ ન્યાયી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="173" bcv="PSA.119.173" />મને મદદ કરવા તમારો હાથ તૈયાર થાઓ કારણ કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તમારાં શાસનોને અનુસરવાનું પસંદ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="174" bcv="PSA.119.174" />હે યહોવા, હું તારા તારણ માટે અભિલાષી છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો નિયમ એ જ મારો આનંદ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="175" bcv="PSA.119.175" />મારા આત્માને જિવાડો જેથી હું તમારી સ્તુતિ કરી શકું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ન્યાયવચનો મને મદદરૂપ થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="176" bcv="PSA.119.176" />હું ભૂલા પડેલા ઘેટાઁની જેમ ભટકી ગયો છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે આવો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મને તમારા સેવકને શોધી કાઢો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે હું તમારી આજ્ઞાઓને ભૂલ્યો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="120" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિર સુધી; ચઢીને જવાનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.120.1" />મારા સંકટોમાં મે યહોવાને પોકાર કર્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે મને સાંભળ્યો ને ઉત્તર આપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.120.2" />હે યહોવા, જૂઠા હોઠોથી તથા છેતરામણી જીભથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા આત્માને બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.120.3" />હે કપટી જૂઠા લોકો, તમે શું મેળવશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા જૂઠાણાંથી તમને શો લાભ થશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.120.4" />તને તીક્ષ્ણ બાણોથી વીંધવામા આવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધગધગતા અંગારાથી તને દજાડાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.120.5" />મને અફસોસ છે કે હું મેશેખમાં રહું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કેદારનાં તંબુઓમાં વસું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.120.6" />જે શાંતિ પર દ્વેષ રાખે છે તેની સાથે રહીને હવે તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ધરાઇ ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.120.7" />જ્યારે મેં કહ્યું, “મારે શાંતિ જોઇએ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું શાંતિ ચાહું છું.” ત્યારે તે લોકોને લડાઇ જોઇતી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="121" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિર તરફ ચઢવા માટેનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.121.1" />હું પર્વતો તરફ મારી આંખો ઊંચી કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને સહાય ક્યાંથી મળે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.121.2" />આકાશ અને પૃથ્વી ઉત્પન્ન કરનાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા પાસેથી મને સહાય મળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.121.3" />તે તમને ઠોકર ખાવા દેશે નહિ, કે લપસવા દેશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જે તમારી દેખરેખ રાખે છે તે ઘસઘસાટ ઊંઘી જનાર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.121.4" />જુઓ, ઇસ્રાએલનો જે રક્ષક છે તે ઊંઘતો નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નિદ્રાવશ થતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.121.5" />યહોવા જમણે હાથે તમારી ઉપર પોતાની છાયા પાડશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા તમારા રક્ષક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.121.6" />સૂર્ય દિવસ દરમ્યાન તમને નુકશાન નહિ કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચંદ્ર રાત્રી દરમ્યાન તમને દુ:ખ નહિ પહોચાડે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.121.7" />યહોવા, તારું દરેક આપત્તિઓમાં રક્ષણ કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા તમારા આત્માની સંભાળ રાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.121.8" />તમે જે બધું કરશો તેમા યહોવા તમારી પર નજર રાખશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે હમણાંથી તે સર્વકાળ સુધી તમારી દેખરેખ રાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="122" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિરે ચઢવાનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.122.1" />યરૂશાલેમમાં, યહોવાના મંદિરમાં જવાનું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને કહ્યું તેથી મને ખૂબ આનંદ થયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.122.2" />અને હવે અમે પણ યરૂશાલેમનાં દરવાજાઓમાં ઊભા રહ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.122.3" />ફરી એક વખત યરૂશાલેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક સંગઠિત નગર તરીકે બંધાયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.122.4" />ઇસ્રાએલના સવેર્ કુળો જે યહોવાનાં પોતાના છે તેઓ તેમનો આભાર માનવા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના નામની સ્તુતિ ગાવા ત્યાં જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.122.5" />જુઓ! ત્યાં નગરનાં દરવાજાઓ પાસે દાઉદના રાજવંશના રાજાઓએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવા તેમના રાજ્યાસનો ઊભા કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.122.6" />યરૂશાલેમની શાંતિને માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ તેમને ચાહે છે તેને ત્યાં શાંતિ મળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.122.7" />ઓ યરૂશાલેમ, તારા નગરકોટની અંદર શાંતિ થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા નગરના મહેલોની અંદર કુશળતા થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.122.8" />મારા ભાઇઓ તથા મારા મિત્રો માટે હું પ્રાથીર્ રહ્યો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારામાં શાંતિ થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.122.9" />યહોવા અમારા દેવના મંદિરને માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે શુભ વસ્તુઓ તમારી સાથે થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="123" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિરે ચઢવાનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.123.1" />હે આકાશના રાજ્યાસન પર બિરાજનાર દેવ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તારા ભણી આંખ ઊંચી કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.123.2" />જેમ સેવક પોતાના માલિક તરફ જોયા કરે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ દાસીની આંખો પોતાની શેઠાણીને જોયા કરે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ અમારી આંખો અમારા દેવ યહોવાની દયા થાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી તેના ભણી તાકી રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.123.3" />અમારા પર દયા કરો, હે યહોવા દયા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખરાબ વ્યવહારથી અમે કંટાળી ગયા છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.123.4" />પેલા આળસુ અને ઉદ્ધત લોકો તરફથી અમારા પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૂરતું અપમાન અને દોષારોપણ થયું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="124" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિર પર ચઢવા માટેનું દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.124.1" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો કબૂલ કરતાં કહે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો યહોવા અમારા પક્ષમાં ન હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.124.2" />હા, જ્યારે લોકોએ અમારા પર હુમલો કર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે જો યહોવા અમારા પક્ષમાં ન હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.124.3" />તો દુશ્મનો અમને જીવતા ગળી ગયા હોત;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના કોપથી અમારો નાશ થયો હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.124.4" />ત્યારે પાણીની રેલમાં અમે તણાઇ ગયા હોત;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાણીએ અમને ડૂબાડી દીધા હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.124.5" />તે અભિમાની માણસોએ અમને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાણીમાં ડૂબાડી દીધા હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.124.6" />યહોવાને ધન્ય છે કે જેણે અમને તેઓના દાંતમાં શિકાર તરીકે પકડાવા ન દીધા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે અમારો નાશ થવા દીધો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.124.7" />જેમ પારધીની જાળમાંથી પક્ષી છટકી જાય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ અમારા જીવ બચી ગયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાળ તૂટી ગઇ છે અને અમે બચી ગયા છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.124.8" />આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીના સર્જનહાર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા જ અમારા મદદગાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="125" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિર ચઢવાનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.125.1" />જેઓ યહોવામાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છેં, સિયોન પર્વત જેવો અચળ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને કદી હલાવામાં આવશે નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સદાકાળ ટકી રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.125.2" />જેમ યરૂશાલેમની આસપાસ આવેલા પર્વતો તેઓનું સદાકાળ રક્ષણ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ યહોવા પોતાના લોકોની આસપાસ છે અને સદાકાળ સૌનું રક્ષણ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.125.3" />કારણકે દુષ્ટ લોકો સદાકાળ ભલા માણસોના પ્રદેશ ને તાબામાં રાખી ન શકે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નહિ તો સારા લોકો દુષ્કર્મ કરવાનું શરુ કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.125.4" />હે યહોવા, જેઓ સારાઁ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓના હૃદય યથાર્થ અને પવિત્ર છે તેમની ભલાઇ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.125.5" />દેવ, કુટીલ લોકોને જેઓ અન્ય દુષ્કમોર્ કરવા વાળા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોની સાથે કુટીલ કમોર્ કરે છે તેમને દૂર લઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલમાં શાંતિ પ્રસરે!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="126" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિરે ચઢવા માટેનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.126.1" />જ્યારે યહોવા બંધકોને સિયોનમાં પાછા લઇ આવ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે અમે સ્વપ્ન જોતાં હોઇએ એવું લાગ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.126.2" />અમે અતિ આનંદ અને ઉત્સાહથી ગીતો ગાયા કરતાં હતાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે વિદેશીઓએ કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“યહોવાએ તેઓને માટે અદ્ભૂત કામો કર્યા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.126.3" />યહોવાએ અમારે માટે મોટા કામ કર્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી અમે આનંદ પામીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.126.4" />હે યહોવા, અમારાં બંધકોને પાછા લાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને પાણીથી ભરેલા રણના ઝરણાંની જેમ ધસમસતાં આવવાની રજા આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.126.5" />જેઓ આંસુ પાડતાં પાડતાં વાવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ હર્ષનાદ કરતાં કરતાં લણશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.126.6" />જે કોઇ મૂઠ્ઠીભર બીજ લઇને રડતાં વાવણી કરવા જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ગીતો ગાતો આનંદ ભેર પાકનાં પૂળા ઊંચકીને પાછો આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="127" />
<s level="2" style="s2">સુલેમાનનું મંદિર ચઢવા માટેનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.127.1" />જો યહોવા ઘર ન બાંધે તો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાંધનારાઓનો શ્રમ વ્યર્થ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જો યહોવા નગરનું રક્ષણ ન કરે તો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચોકીદારનો ચોકી પહેરો સમયની બરબાદી છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.127.2" />જીવવા માટે વહેલી સવારથી મોડી રાત સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સખત પરિશ્રમ કરવાનો કોઇ અર્થ નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે તે તેમને ચાહનારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રત્યેકને આરામ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.127.3" />બાળકો યહોવા પાસેથી મળેલી ભેટ છે.<f caller="+"><fr>127:3
</fr><fk>બાળકો … ભેટ છે
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે “વારસામાં મળેલુ” સામાન્યપણે આનો અર્થ એ છે કે દેવે ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રત્યેક પરિવારને આપેલી જમીન. આ જમીન તે ભેટ હતી જે ખરેખર પરિવારથી કદી બહાર નથી ગઇ. કોઇ વ્યકિત જમીન વહેચી શકે, પરંતુ વિશ્રામવર્ષના (જુબીલી) સમયે તે જમીન પરિવારને પાછી આપી દેવામાં આવતી.</ft></f>
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ માતાના દેહમાંથી મળેલું ઇનામ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.127.4" />યુવાવસ્થામાંના પુત્રો તો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બળવાન વીર યોદ્ધાનાં હાથમાંના તીક્ષ્ણ બાણ જેવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.127.5" />જે માણસનો ભાથો તેનાથી ભરેલો છે તેને ધન્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તે નગરનાં દરવાજે શત્રુઓ સામે લડશે
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તે પરાજ્જિત નહિ થાય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તેનાં પુત્રો તેનો બચાવ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="128" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિરે ચઢવાનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.128.1" />જેઓ યહોવાનો ભય રાખે છે અને તેના માર્ગમાં ચાલે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વને ધન્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.128.2" />તેઓ જાત પરિશ્રમથી કમાયેલી વસ્તુઓનો આનંદ માણશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સુખી થશે અને તેઓ આશીર્વાદિત હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.128.3" />તારી પત્ની તારા ઘરના અંત:પુરમાં ફળવત દ્રાક્ષાવેલાના જેવી થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા સંતાનો તારી મેજની આસપાસ જૈતુન વૃક્ષના રોપા જેવા થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.128.4" />જે યહોવાથી ડરે છે તેને એવો આશીર્વાદ મળશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.128.5" />યહોવા તને સિયોનમાંથી આશીર્વાદ આપશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જીવનના સર્વ દિવસો પર્યંત યરૂશાલેમની સારી વસ્તુઓનો આનંદ માનશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.128.6" />તું પોતાના સંતાનોનાં સંતાનો જોશે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલને શાંતિ થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="129" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિર ચઢવા માટેનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.129.1" />ઇસ્રાએલને કહેવા દો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“મારી યુવાવસ્થાથી મારી પાસે ઘણાં દુશ્મનો હતાં.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.129.2" />મારી યુવાવસ્થાથી મારી પાસે ઘણા દુશ્મનો હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ મને હરાવી ન શક્યા!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.129.3" />પીઠ પર લાંબા અને ઊંડા કાપા પડ્યા તેટલો માર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હળથી ખેતરમાં ચાસ પાડ્યા હોય તેમ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.129.4" />પરંતુ યહોવા તો ન્યાયી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ લોકોએ મને બાંધેલા દોરડાં ને (બંધનોને) તેણે કાપ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.129.5" />સિયોનને ધિક્કારનારા બધાં અપમાનિત થાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હારીને ભાગી જાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.129.6" />તેઓ છાપરા ઉપર અંકુરિત થતા ઘાસ જેવા થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે વૃદ્ધિ પામ્યાં પહેલા સુકાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.129.7" />જેથી કાપનાર પોતાનો હાથ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૂળા બાંધનાર પોતાની બાથ ભરી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.129.8" />તેઓની પાસેથી જનારા એવું કહેતા નથી કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“યહોવાનો આશીર્વાદ તમારા પર હો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાના નામે અમે તમને આશિષ આપીએ છીએ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="130" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિરે ચઢવા માટેનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.130.1" />હે યહોવા, સંકટોનાં ઉંડાણમાંથી મેં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને મદદ માટે પોકાર કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.130.2" />હે યહોવા, મારી હાકલ સાંભળ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મદદ માટેની મારી હાકલ પર તમારા કાન ધ્યાન આપે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.130.3" />હે યહોવા, અમારા પ્રભુ; જો તમે ખરેખર અમને અમારા પાપો માટે શિક્ષા કરી હોત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો કોઇનું અસ્તિત્વ રહેત નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.130.4" />પરંતુ તમે લોકોને માફી આપો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તમે આદર પામશો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.130.5" />તેથી હું મોટી આશા સાથે યહોવાની વાટ જોઉ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો આત્મા તેમની રાહ જુએ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમના વચન પર આધાર રાખું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.130.6" />પહેરો ભરનાર સંત્રી પ્રભાતની રાહ જુએ તે કરતાં વિશેષ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું યહોવાની રાહ જોઉં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.130.7" />હે ઇસ્રાએલ, યહોવામાં તમારો વિશ્વાસ મૂકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, તે દયાળુ ને કૃપાળુ છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે આપણને બચાવવા આપણી પાસે આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.130.8" />તેઓના બધાં પાપોને માટે તે પોતે ઇસ્રાએલને માફ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="131" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિરે ચઢવા માટેનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.131.1" />હે યહોવા હું ગવિર્ષ્ઠ નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું કદી અગત્યના માણસ તરીકે વર્તતો નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું મારી જાતને કદીય “મહાન વસ્તુઓ”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાથે સંડોવતો નથી જે કરવું મારા માટે અતિ ભયપ્રદ હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.131.2" />મેં મારી જાતને શાંત કરી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો આત્મા સ્વસ્થ અને શાંત છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો આત્મા માતાના બાહુમાં ધાવણથી તૃપ્ત થયેલ બાળક જેવો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.131.3" />હે ઇસ્રાએલ, યહોવા પર હંમેશા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સદાય ભરોસો રાખ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="132" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિર પરના ચઢાણ માટેનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.132.1" />હે યહોવા, જે સર્વ કષ્ટો દાઉદે સહન કર્યા હતાં તેને યાદ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.132.2" />યાકૂબના સમર્થ દેવ સમક્ષ તેણે પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી હતી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા યહોવા સમક્ષ તેણે શપથ લીધા હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.132.3" />“જ્યાં સુધી હું યહોવાને માટે મકાન ન મેળવું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યાકૂબના સમર્થ દેવ માટે નિવાસસ્થાન તૈયાર ન કરું;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.132.4" />ત્યાં સુધી હું મારા ઘરમાં જઇશ નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી મારા પલંગ પર ઊંઘીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.132.5" />વળી મારી આંખોને ઊંઘ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પોપચાને નિદ્રા આવવા દઇશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.132.6" />દેવ, અમે તેના વિષે એફાથાહમાં સાંભળ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને તે કરારકોશ કિર્યાથ યેરામ ના જંગલના ખેતરોમાં મળ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.132.7" />પણ હવે ચાલો આપણે મંદિરમા, દેવના કાયમી ઘરમાં જઇએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાલો આપણે દેવના પાયાસનની આગળ તેને ભજીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.132.8" />હે યહોવા, ઊઠો અને, તમે તમારા શકિતશાળી કોશની સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા વિશ્રામસ્થાનમાં આવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.132.9" />તમારા યાજકો ન્યાયીપણાથી આશીર્વાદિત થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા ભકતો હર્ષનાદ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.132.10" />તમારા સેવક દાઉદને માટે દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે જે એકને પસંદ કરીને અભિષિકત કર્યો છે તેનો અસ્વીકાર ન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.132.11" />યહોવાએ દાઉદની સાથે સત્ય પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હું તારી ગાદી પર તારા વંશજોને મૂકીશ” તેથી તે તેનું વચન તોડશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.132.12" />જો તારા પુત્રો મારો કરાર, અને જે નિયમો હું તેમને શીખવું તે પાળે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો તેઓના સંતાનો પણ તારી ગાદીએ સદાકાળ બેસશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.132.13" />હે યહોવા, તમે સિયોનને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા નિવાસસ્થાન તરીકે પસંદ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.132.14" />તમે કહ્યું છે, “મારા સદાકાળના વિશ્રામનું આ સ્થળ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું અહીં બિરાજમાન થઇશ.” મેં તેમ કરવા ચાહ્યું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.132.15" />હું આ સિયોનને સમૃદ્ધ બનાવી અને અનાજથી ભરી દઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું સિયોનમાં ગરીબ લોકોને ભરપૂર અનાજથી સંતોષીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.132.16" />હું તેના યાજકોને તારણનો ઝભ્ભો પહેરાવીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પરમ ભકતો આનંદથી ગાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.132.17" />દાઉદની શકિત આ જગાએ, મજબૂત બનશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“મારા અભિષિકત માટે મેં દીવો તૈયાર કર્યો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.132.18" />તેના શત્રુઓને હું શરમથી ઢાંકી દઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે પોતે એક ગૌરવી રાજા બનશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="133" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિરે ચઢવા માટેનું દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.133.1" />ભાઇઓ સહુ સંપીને રહે તે કેવું સરસ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શોભાયમાન છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.133.2" />તેં માથે ચોળેલા, દાઢી સુધી, હા, હારુનની દાઢી સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના વસ્રની કોર સુધી, ઊતરેલા મૂલ્યવાન તેલનાં જેવું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.133.3" />વળી તે હેમોર્ન પર્વત પરના તથા સિયોનના પર્વતો પરના ઝાકળ જેવું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે, યહોવાએ આપણને સિયોનમાં શાશ્વત જીવનનાં આશીર્વાદ આપ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="134" />
<s level="2" style="s2">મંદિર પર ચઢવા માટેનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.134.1" />હે યહોવાના સેવકો, રોજ રાત્રે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં સેવા કરતાં સેવકો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે યહોવાને સ્તુત્ય માનો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.134.2" />પવિત્રસ્થાન ભણી તમારા હાથ ઊંચા કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.134.3" />સિયોનમાંથી યહોવા, જેણે આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીનું સર્જન કર્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને આશીર્વાદ આપો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="135" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.135.1" />યહોવાના નામની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યહોવાના સેવકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.135.2" />યહોવાના મંદિરમાં, આપણા દેવના મંદિરમાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આંગણામાં ઊભા રહેનારા તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.135.3" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો કારણ, તે ઉત્તમ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના નામની સ્તુતિ કરો, કારણકે તે આનંદદાયક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.135.4" />યહોવાએ પોતાને માટે યાકૂબને પસંદ કર્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલને પોતાની ખાસ સંપતિ થવા માટે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.135.5" />હું યહોવાની મહાનતા જાણું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ દેવો કરતાં તે મહાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.135.6" />આકાશમાં પૃથ્વી પર, સમુદ્રોમાં અને ઊંડામાં ઊંડા સમુદ્રોમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાએ જે ઇચ્છયું તે કર્યુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.135.7" />તે પાણીની વરાળને ઊંચે લઇ જઇ તેના વાદળાં બાંધે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર ફેલાવે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે વિજળી મોકલી વરસાદને વરસાવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના ખજાનામાંથી તે વાયુને બહાર કાઢે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.135.8" />મિસરમાં તેણે માણસોના તથા પશુઓના પ્રથમજનિતોનો વિનાશ પણ કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.135.9" />તેણે ફારુન અને તેના અધિકારીઓ વિરુદ્ધ પોતાની નિશાનીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચમત્કારો સમગ્ર મિસરમાં મોકલ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.135.10" />તેમણે શૂરવીર પ્રજાઓનો નાશ કર્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પરાક્રમી રાજાઓનો પણ તેણે નાશ કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.135.11" />અમોરીઓના રાજા સીહોનને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા બાશાનના રાજા ઓગને;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કનાનના સર્વ રાજ્યોને તેણે પરાજય આપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.135.12" />તેમના દેશને તેણે પોતાના લોક ઇસ્રાએલને વારસામાં આપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.135.13" />હે યહોવા, તારું નામ અનંતકાળ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તારું સ્મરણ પેઢી દરપેઢી ટકી રહેનાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.135.14" />યહોવા પોતાના લોકોનો ન્યાય કરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેના સેવકો પ્રતિ દયાળુ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.135.15" />બીજા રાષ્ટોના મૂર્તિદેવો તો સોના ચાંદીના છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ માણસોના હાથે જ બનેલા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.135.16" />તેઓને મોં છે છતાં તે બોલતી નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આંખો હોય છે છતાં તેઓ જોતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.135.17" />કાન હોય છે છતાં તેઓ સાંભળતા નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના મુખમાં શ્વાસ હોતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.135.18" />જેઓ તેને બનાવે છે તેઓ પણ તેના જેવા જ થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓ તેમના પર ભરોસો રાખે છે તેઓ પણ તેના જેવા જ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.135.19" />હે ઇસ્રાએલનું કુળ, યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે હારુનનું કુળ, યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.135.20" />હે લેવીના યાજકો, યહોવાનો ધન્યવાદ માનો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ યહોવાનો ભય રાખો છો અને આદર કરો છો, યહોવાની પ્રસંશા કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.135.21" />યહોવા યરૂશાલેમમાં નિવાસ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમના સર્વ લોકો, યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો. સિયોનમાંથી ધન્ય હોજો.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="136" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.136.1" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો, કારણકે તે ઉત્તમ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.136.2" />સર્વ દેવોના દેવની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.136.3" />પ્રભુઓના પ્રભુ સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.136.4" />દેવની સ્તુતિ કરો જે એકલા જ મહાન ચમત્કારો સજેર્ છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.136.5" />જેણે પોતાના ડહાપણ વડે આકાશો ઉત્પન્ન કર્યા છે; તેની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.136.6" />જેણે પાણી પર ભૂમિને વિસ્તારી છે, તેની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.136.7" />આકાશોમાં જેમણે મહાન જ્યોતિઓ બનાવી છે તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.136.8" />દિવસ પર અમલ ચલાવવા જેમણે સૂર્ય બનાવ્યો છે તેની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.136.9" />રાત પર અમલ ચલાવવાં જેમણે ચંદ્ર અને તારા બનાવ્યાં છે તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.136.10" />મિસરના પ્રથમજનિતોનો જેમણે સંહાર કર્યો; તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.136.11" />વળી તેઓની પાસેથી ઇસ્રાએલને છોડાવનારની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.136.12" />પોતાના બળવાન ભુજ અને લાંબા કરેલા હાથ વડે જે તેઓને છોડવી લાવ્યા; તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.136.13" />તેઓની આગળ માર્ગ કરવા જેમણે લાલ સમુદ્રના બે ભાગ કર્યા તે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.136.14" />સમુદ્રમાં થઇને જે તેઓને સુરક્ષિત સામે પાર લઇ ગયા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો. તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.136.15" />ફારુન તથા તેની ફોજને લાલ સમુદ્રમાં ઉથલાવી નાખનારની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.136.16" />રણમાં થઇને પોતાના લોકોને જેમણે દોર્યા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો. તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.136.17" />જેણે મોટા રાજાઓને હરાવ્યા છે તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.136.18" />જેણે મહાન રાજાઓનો સંહાર કર્યો છે તેની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.136.19" />અમોરીઓના રાજા સીહોનનો જેમણે સંહાર કર્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો. તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.136.20" />બાશાનના રાજા ઓગનો જેમણે સંહાર કર્યો; તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ રકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.136.21" />જેમણે આ રાજાઓની ભૂમિ ઇસ્રાએલને ભેટ તરીકે સદાકાળ માટે આપી, તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.136.22" />જેમણે તે પોતાના સેવક ઇસ્રાએલને વારસામાં આપ્યો તેની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.136.23" />જેમણે અમારી નબળાઇઓમાં અમને સંભાર્યા; તેની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.136.24" />અમારા શત્રુઓથી જેમણે અમારો બચાવ કર્યો, તેની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PSA.136.25" />દરેક સજીવને ખોરાક પૂરો પાડે છે; તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PSA.136.26" />આકાશોના દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તેમનો સાચો પ્રેમ અનંતકાળ ટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="137" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.137.1" />અમે બાબિલની નદીઓને કાંઠે બેઠા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિયોનનું સ્મરણ થયું ત્યારે અમે રડ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.137.2" />એટલે અમે વીણાઓ વગાડવી બંધ કરી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નેતરના વૃક્ષની ડાળીઓ પર ટાંગી દીધી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.137.3" />અમારા બંધકોએ અમને આનંદી ગીતો ગાવા કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓએ અમને યાતના આપી હતી તેઓએ અમને જણાવ્યું કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફકત તેમને ખુશ કરવા સિયોનનાં ગીતોમાંનું કોઇ એક ગીત ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.137.4" />આ વિદેશી ભૂમિ પર આપણે યહોવાના ગીતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેવી રીતે ગાઇ શકીએ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.137.5" />હે યરૂશાલેમ, જો હું તને ભૂલી જાઉં તો એવું થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“મારો જમણો હાથ તંતુવાદ્યની કળા ભૂલી જાય.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.137.6" />જો હું યરૂશાલેમનું સ્મરણ ન કરું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા ઉત્તમ આનંદ કરતાં પણ તેને શ્રેષ્ઠ ન માનું તો
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી જીભ મારા તાળવાને ચોટી જાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું ફરી કદી ય ગાઇ શકું નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.137.7" />હે યહોવા, બાબિલના સૈન્યે યરૂશાલેમને કબજે કર્યુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દિવસે અદોમીઓએ જે કહ્યું
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તમે ભૂલી ન જતાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ કહ્યું હતું, “તેને જમીનદોસ્ત કરી નાખો.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.137.8" />હે બાબિલ તેઁ અમારો નાશ કર્યો છે એ જ રીતે તારો નાશ કરવામાં આવશે જે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માણસ તને યોગ્ય સજા આપે તેને આશીર્વાદ આપ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.137.9" />હા, જે માણસ તારાં બાળકોને ખડક પર અફાળીને મારી નાખશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ધન્ય કહેવાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="138" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદને સમપિર્ત એક ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.138.1" />હે યહોવા, હું મારા ખરા હૃદયથી તમારી આભારસ્તુતિ ગાઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા સ્તુતિગાન દેવોની સમક્ષ ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.138.2" />તમારી વફાદારી અને સાચા પ્રેમ માટે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા પવિત્ર મંદિર તરફ ફરીને ભજન કરીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તમારો આભાર માનીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સ્તુતિ ગાઇશ કારણ કે તમારા શબ્દોએ તમારા નામને બધી વસ્તુઓ કરતાં ઉચ્ચપદે મૂક્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.138.3" />મેં પ્રાર્થના કરી તે જ દિવસે તમે મને ઉત્તર આપ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આત્મબળ આપી મને બળવાન કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.138.4" />હે યહોવા, પૃથ્વીનાં સર્વ રાજાઓએ તમારા મુખનાં વચન સાંભળ્યાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તેઓ તમારી સ્તુતિ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.138.5" />તેઓ યહોવાના માગોર્ર્ વિષે ગીત ગાશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે યહોવાનો મહિમા મહાન છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.138.6" />જો કે યહોવા સવોર્ચ્ચ સ્થાને બિરાજે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે નિર્ધન અને રાંક લોકોની કાળજી લે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ ગવિર્ષ્ઠ માણસોને તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દૂરથી જ ઓળખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.138.7" />ભલે સંકટો મારા પર આવી પડે, તો પણ તમે મને સુરક્ષિત પાર ઉતારજો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા શત્રુઓના ક્રોધની સામે તું તારો હાથ લાંબો કરજે, તમારા પરાક્રમથી તમે મને બચાવજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.138.8" />યહોવા મારા જીવનને માટે તેમની યોજનાઓ સાકાર કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તમારી કૃપા, સદાકાળ વહેતી રહે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તરછોડશો નહિ; કારણ તમે જ મારા ઉત્પન્નકર્તા છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="139" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.139.1" />હે યહોવા, તમે મારા હૃદયની પરીક્ષા કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે મારા વિષે બધું જાણો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.139.2" />મારું બેસવું તથા ઊઠવું તમે જાણો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા વિચારો પણ તમે વેગળેથી સમજો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.139.3" />તમે જાણો છો હું ક્યાં જઇ રહ્યો છું અને હું ક્યારે સુઇ જાઉ છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જે બધું કરું છું તે તમે જાણો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.139.4" />હું બોલું તે અગાઉ તમે જાણો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે હું શું કહેવા ઇચ્છુ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.139.5" />તમે મને આગળને પાછળ ઘેરી લીધો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે તમારા હાથે મને ઝાલી રાખ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.139.6" />આવું જ્ઞાન મને તો અતિ ભવ્ય અને અદૃભૂત છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે અતિ ઉચ્ચ છે, હું તેને કળી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.139.7" />તમારા આત્મા પાસેથી હું ક્યાં જાઉં?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી હાજરી માંથી હું ક્યાઁ નાસી જાઉ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.139.8" />જો હું આકાશમાં જાઉં તો તમે ત્યાં છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો હું શેઓલમાં જાઉં તો પણ તમે ત્યાં જ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.139.9" />જો હું પરોઢિયાની પાંખો પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમુદ્રોને પેલે પાર ઘણે દૂર જાઉં
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.139.10" />તો ત્યાં પણ મને તમારો હાથ દોરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારું સાર્મથ્ય મને સહાય કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.139.11" />જો હું અંધકારમાં સમાઇ જવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો રાત મારી આસપાસ પ્રકાશરૂપ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.139.12" />અંધકાર પણ મને સંતાડી શકતો નથી યહોવાથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી આગળ રાત પણ દિવસની જેમ પ્રકાશે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંધકાર અને પ્રકાશ બંને છે તમારી દ્રષ્ટિમાં સમાન.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.139.13" />મારું અંત:કરણ તમે ઘડ્યુઁ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી માતાના ઉદરમાં મારી રચના તમે કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.139.14" />ભય તથા નવાઇ પમાડે તે રીતે મારી રચના થઇ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે હું તમારી આભાર સ્તુતિ ગાઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સારી રીતે જાણું છું કે તમારાં કાર્યો ખરેખર અદૃભૂત છે!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.139.15" />જ્યારે મારી માતાનાં ગર્ભાશયમાં સંતાઇને<f caller="+"><fr>139:15
</fr><fk>મારી … સંતાઇને
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે માતાના ગર્ભાશયમાં “ધરતીના ઊંડામાં ઊંડા ભાગો” જે જગ્યાનાં વિષે આપણે કાંઇ જાણતા નથી તે કહેવાની આ રીત છે.</ft></f> મારી રચના થતી હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે પણ તમે મારાં હાડકાને બનતા નિહાળ્યાં હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યારે મારું શરીર આકાર લેતું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.139.16" />તમારી આંખોએ મારું બીજાંકુર તે સમયે જોયુ હતુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે મારા શરીરના એકેય અવયવે આકાર લીધો ન હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">પછી તમે મારા શરીરના અંગોને વધતા જોયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેને તમારા પુસ્તકમાં દરરોજ એ જેમ જેમ આકાર લેતા ગયા તેમ નોંધ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમાનાં એકેય ગુમ થયેલ નથી!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.139.17" />હે દેવ, તારા વિચારો મારા માટે કેટલાં કિંમતી છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તમે ઘણું બધું જાણો છો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.139.18" />જો હું તમારા વિચારોને ગણવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરું તો તેઓ રેતીના કણ કરતાંય વધારે થાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યારે હું તેમને ગણવાનું પૂરું કરીશ તો હજી પણ હું તારી સાથે હોઇશ!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.139.19" />હે યહોવા, તમે દુષ્ટોનો ખચીત સંહાર કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોહી તરસ્યા ખૂનીઓ મારાથી દૂર થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.139.20" />તેઓ તમારા નામની નિંદા બહુ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી વિરુદ્ધ મગરુરીથી ઊભા રહે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કેટલા મૂર્ખ છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.139.21" />હે યહોવા, તમારો દ્વેષ કરનારાઓનો શું હું દ્વેષ ન કરું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ તમારી સામે ઊઠે છે; શું હું તેઓનો ધિક્કાર ન કરું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PSA.139.22" />હું તેઓને સંપૂર્ણ રીતે ધિક્કારું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા શત્રુઓને મારા શત્રુઓ ગણું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PSA.139.23" />હે યહોવા, મારી પરીક્ષા કર; અને મારું અંત:કરણ ઓળખ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી કસોટી કર અને મારા વિચારોને પકડ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PSA.139.24" />તમને દુ:ખ થાય તેવી બાબત તમને મારામાં દેખાય તો મને જણાવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સનાતન માગેર્ મને દોરી જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="140" />
<s level="2" style="s2">નિર્દેશક માટે. દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.140.1" />હે યહોવા, દુષ્ટ માણસોથી મને મુકત કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુલમગારોથી તમે મારું સદા રક્ષણ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.140.2" />તેઓ પોતાના અંતરમાં દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓ ઘડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને રોજ રોજ નવા ઝગડા ઊભા કર્યા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.140.3" />તેઓએ પોતાની જીભ સાપની જેવી તીક્ષ્ણ બનાવી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની જીભની નીચે નાગનું વિષ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.140.4" />હે યહોવા, દુષ્ટોના હાથોમાંથી મને બચાવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓએ મને હાની પહોંચાડવાની યોજના કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવા હિંસક માણસોથી તમે મને બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.140.5" />હે ગવિર્ષ્ઠ માણસોએ મને પકડવા છટકું ગોઠવ્યું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આચકો મારીને મને ઊંચે ખેંચીને હવામાં લટકતા છોડવા માટે જાળ પાથરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારા ઉપર જાળ નાખવા જાડીમાં છુપાયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.140.6" />મેં યહોવાને કહ્યું, તમે મારા દેવ છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, દયા માટેની મારી અરજ સાંભળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.140.7" />હે પ્રભુ યહોવા, મારા સમર્થ તારક;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યુદ્ધના દિવસે તમે મારા શિરનું રક્ષણ કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.140.8" />હે યહોવા, આ દુષ્ટો જે ઇચ્છે છે તે તેમની પાસે ન હોય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની યોજનાઓને સફળ થવા દેશો નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નહિ તો તેઓ ઊંચા ઊઠશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.140.9" />તેઓના કાવતરાંની જાળમાં તેઓ જ ફસાય તેવું થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું ભૂંડુ થાય તે માટે તેમણે જે યોજનાઓ કરી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાથી તેઓનો જ નાશ થાય તેવું થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.140.10" />ધગધગતા અંગારા તેમના મસ્તક પર પડો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા તેઓને અગ્નિમાં ફેંકી દેવામાં આવે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા તો ઊંડા ખાડાઓમાં નાખવામાં આવે જ્યાંથી તેઓ કદી બચી શકે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.140.11" />જૂઠું બોલનારાઓને આ દેશમાં રહેવા દેશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દુષ્ટ હિંસક માણસોનો શિકાર અને વિનાશ થવા દો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.140.12" />મને જાણ છે કે, યહોવા નિર્ધન લોકોનો નિષ્પક્ષતાથી ન્યાય કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગરીબોનો હક જાળવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.140.13" />યહોવાનો ભય રાખનારા ન્યાયીઓ ખરેખર તમારા નામનો આભાર માનશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે, યથાર્થ મનુષ્યો તમારી સક્ષમતામાં જીવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="141" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.141.1" />હે યહોવા, જલ્દીથી મને ઉત્તર આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે, મેં પ્રાર્થના કરી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મદદ માટેનો પોકાર સાંભળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.141.2" />મારી પ્રાર્થના તારી સંમુખ ધૂપ જેવી થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા ઊંચા થયેલા હાથો તે વેદી પરના સંધ્યાકાળના દહનાર્પણોની જેમ તમને સ્વીકાર્ય હો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.141.3" />હે યહોવા, મારા મુખને બંધ રાખવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા હોઠોને બીડેલા રાખવા મને સહાય કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.141.4" />મારા હૃદયમાં કંઇ દુષ્ટ વસ્તુ પ્રવેશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી દુષ્કમોર્ કરનારની સાથે તેમના દુષ્ટકાર્યોમાં હું જોડાઉં નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ જે કરવા ચાહે છે તેમાં હું તેમને સાથ ન આપું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.141.5" />જો કોઇ ન્યાયી માણસ મને સુધારે તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમને સારી વસ્તુ કરવા તરીકે સમજીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમનો ઠપકો માથા પર તેલ નાખવા જેવો રહેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું કદાપિ આવા સ્વાસ્થ્ય વર્ધકનો નકાર ન કરું!
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ ખરાબ લોકોનાં દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો વિરુદ્ધ હું પ્રાર્થના કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.141.6" />તેઓના ન્યાયધીશો પર્વતની ટોચ ઉપરથી પાડી નાખવામાં આવે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સાંભળશે અને અનુભવશે કે મારાં શબ્દો સાચા અને મીઠાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.141.7" />જેમ કોઇ જમીન ખેડે અને આજુબાજુ ગંદકી ફેલાવે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ અમારાં હાડકાં કબરના પ્રવેશ આગળ વિખરાયેલાં હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.141.8" />પણ હે યહોવા પ્રભુ, હું મદદ માટે તમારી તરફ જોઉં છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારો વિશ્વાસ કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા આત્માનો નાશ ન થવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.141.9" />તેઓએ મારા માટે ગોઠવેલા ફાંદાથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભૂંડુ કરનારાઓએ ગોઠવેલી જાળમાથી મને બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.141.10" />દુષ્ટો પોતાની જાળમાં ફસાઇ જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે મારી રક્ષા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="142" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદ ગુફામાં હતો તે સમયે લખાયેલી તેની પ્રાર્થના. દાઉદનું માસ્કીલ.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.142.1" />હું મોટા સાદે યહોવાને આજીજી કરું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દયા માટે ઊંચા સ્વરે વિનંતી કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.142.2" />હું તેમની આગળ મારી ફરિયાદો વરસાવું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી મુશ્કેલીઓ વિષે હું તેમને જણાવું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.142.3" />હું બેહોશ થવાનો હોઉં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મને શું થાય છે તે તમે જાણો છો પણ જે રસ્તે હું ચાલું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમા તેઓએ ફંદા ગોઠવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.142.4" />જ્યારે હું આજુબાજુ જોઉં છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું કોઇ મિત્રને જોતો નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે મને મદદ કરી શકે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા મારી સંભાળ રાખી શકે અથવા મારો બચાવ કરી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.142.5" />હે યહોવા, મારી પ્રાર્થનામાં મે તમને પોકાર કર્યો અને કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“યહોવા, મારી સંતાવાની જગા માત્ર તમે જ છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ જીવનમાં મારી પાસે જે બધું છે તે તમે છો.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.142.6" />મારા પોકારો સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમકે હું દુ:ખી છું;
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ મારી પાછળ પડ્યાં છે તેમનાથી મને બચાવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તેઓ મારા કરતાં વધુ બળવાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.142.7" />મને બંદીવાસમાંથી બહાર લાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી હું તમારો આભાર માની શકું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારી સર્વ મદદને માટે દેવનો ભય રાખનારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી સાથે આનંદ કરશે તમે મારા માટે ઉદાર છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="143" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.143.1" />હે યહોવા, મારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આજીજીનો જવાબ આપો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને બતાવો કે તમે ભલા અને ન્યાયી છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.143.2" />હે યહોવા, મારી, તમારા સેવકની, ચકાસણી ન કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમારી આગળ કોઇ નિદોર્ષ મળશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.143.3" />મારા શત્રુઓ મારી પાછળ પડ્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ મને જમીન પર પછાડ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અંધકારમાં પૂરી દીધો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણે હું મરી ગયો હોઉં તેમ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.143.4" />માટે મારો આત્મા ઘણો મૂંઝાઇ ગયો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારું અંત:કરણ સ્તબ્ધ થઇ ગયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.143.5" />હું ભૂતકાળનાં વષોર્ સ્મરું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વખતે તમે મહિમાવંત ચમત્કારો કર્યા હતાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું મનન કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.143.6" />હું મારા હાથ તમારા ભણી પ્રસારું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૂકી ધરતીની જેમ મારો જીવ તમારા માટે તરસે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.143.7" />હે યહોવા, મને જલ્દી જવાબ દો કારણકે હવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું નબળો થતો જાઉં છું;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે મારાથી મોઢું ફેરવશો તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મૃત્યુ પામીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.143.8" />મને પ્રભાતમાં તમારી કૃપા અનુભવવા દો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે, હું તમારા પર ભરોસો રાખું છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">જે માગેર્ મારે ચાલવું જોઇએ તે મને બતાવો, કારણકે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારું જીવન તમારા હાથોમાં મૂકું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.143.9" />મારા શત્રુઓથી તમે મારી રક્ષા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંતાવા માટે હું તમારે શરણે આવ્યો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.143.10" />મને તમારી ઇચ્છા પ્રમાણે વર્તવાનું શીખવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તમે મારા દેવ છો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારો ઉત્તમ આત્મા મને સત્યને માગેર્ દોરી જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.143.11" />હે યહોવા, તમારા નામને માટે મને જીવાડો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ન્યાયીપણાથી મને મુશ્કેલીમાંથી બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.143.12" />મારા પ્રત્યેની કૃપાથી તમે મારા શત્રુઓનો નાશ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા આત્માને સતાવનારાઓનો સંહાર કરો;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે હું તમારો સેવક છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="144" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું સ્તુતિગાન.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.144.1" />યહોવા મારો ખડક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે મારા હાથને અને મારી આંગળીઓને યુદ્ધમાં લડતાં શીખવે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મને યુદ્ધ માટે પ્રશિક્ષણ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.144.2" />તે મારો ગઢ છે; મારો કિલ્લો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું સાર્મથ્ય અને મારી સુરક્ષા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે મારા રક્ષક છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મારા લોકોને
</q>
<q style="q1">મારે તાબે કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા મારો સાચો પ્રેમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.144.3" />હે યહોવા, શા માટે તમે લોકોને મહત્વના ગણો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે માણસોની નોંધ પણ શા માટે લો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.144.4" />લોકોના જીવન તો પવનના સૂસવાટા જેવા હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોના જીવન તો પસાર થઇ રહેલા પડછાયા જેવા હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.144.5" />હે યહોવા, તમારાં આકાશોને નીચે નમાવીને ઊતરી આવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર્વતોને સ્પર્શ કરો; એટલે તેઓ ધુમાડામાં ફેરવાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.144.6" />વીજળી ચમકે અને મારા શત્રુઓ વિખેરાઇ જાય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા “બાણ” ચલાવીને તેઓને વીધી મૂકો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.144.7" />સ્વર્ગમાંથી નીચે ઊતરી આવો અને મને શત્રુઓના સમુદ્રમાંથી ઉગારો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને બહાર ખેચી કાઢો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિદેશીઓથી મને બચાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.144.8" />તેઓ જૂઠું બોલે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ છેતરપિંડી કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.144.9" />હે યહોવા, દશ તારવાળાં વાજીંત્ર સાથે હું તમારી સમક્ષ નવું ગીત ગાઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી સ્તુતિનું ગીત ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.144.10" />તે રાજાઓને તારણ આપે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાના સેવક દાઉદને ઘાતકી તરવારથી બચાવનાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.144.11" />આ શત્રુઓથી; આ જૂઠાઓથી; મારી રક્ષા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ વિદેશીઓ જે છેતરપિંડી કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે લોકોથી તમે મને ઉગારો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.144.12" />અમારા પુત્રો પોતાની યુવાવસ્થામાં વધેલા રોપા જેવા થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારી પુત્રીઓ રાજમહેલના શણગારેલી ખૂણાની થાંભલીઓ જેવી થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.144.13" />અમારી વખારો વિવિધ જાતના બધાં અનાજથી ભરપૂર થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે અમને હંમેશા મળતું રહે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારાં ઘેટાં અમારા વાડાઓમાં હજારોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દશ હજારો બચ્ચાં જણનાર થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.144.14" />અમારા બળદો ખેતરોની પેદાશથી લાદેલા થાઓ;
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારા નગર પર શત્રુઓનું આક્રમણ ન થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વત્ર શાંતિ વિસ્તરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શેરીઓમાં કોઇ અપરાધ ન કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.144.15" />જે પ્રજાનું આ સત્ય વર્ણન છે; તે પ્રજાને ધન્ય હો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે પ્રજાના દેવ યહોવા છે તેઓને ધન્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="145" />
<s level="2" style="s2">દાઉદનું ગીત.
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.145.1" />હે મારા દેવ, મારા રાજા, હું તમારા નામનું ગૌરવ વધારીશ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા નામની સ્તુતિ સદાય અને હંમેશા કરીશ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.145.2" />હું પ્રતિદિન તમારી પ્રશંશા કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સદા હું તમારા નામની સ્તુતિ ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.145.3" />યહોવા મહાન છે તે બહુ જ સ્તુતિપાત્ર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની મહાનતાનો તાગ પામી શકાય તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.145.4" />પેઢી દરપેઢી તમારાં કામની પ્રશંસા થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા પરાક્રમનાં કાર્યો પ્રગટ કરાવાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.145.5" />હું તમારી મહાનતા અને તમારા મહિમા વિષે બોલીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા અદ્ભૂત ચમત્કારો વિષે ચર્ચા કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.145.6" />લોકો તમારાં પરાક્રમી કૃત્યોનું સાર્મથ્ય પ્રગટ કરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી મહાનતા વર્ણવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.145.7" />તેઓ તમારા અનહદ પરોપકારનું સ્મરણ કરીને તમારી કીતિર્ ગજાવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા ન્યાયીપણા વિષે ગીતો ગાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.145.8" />યહોવા દયાળુ અને કૃપાળુ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ક્રોધ કરવામાં ધીમા અને પ્રેમથી ભરપૂર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.145.9" />તેઓ પ્રત્યેક સાથે ભલા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે જે કરે છે, તેમાં તેમની દયાની પ્રતીતિ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.145.10" />હે યહોવા, જે બધાં તમારું સર્જન છે તે બધાં તમારો આભાર માનો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા ભકતો તમારી સ્તુતિ કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.145.11" />તેઓ ભેગા મળીને તમારા રાજ્યના મહિમા વિષે વાત કરશે; અને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારું પરાક્રમ પ્રગટ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.145.12" />જેથી સર્વ લોકો તમારા ચમત્કાર વિષે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તમારા રાજ્યના મહિમા વિષે અને પ્રતાપ વિષે જાણે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.145.13" />કારણકે તમારા રાજ્યનો અંત કદી આવતો નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારું શાસન પેઢી દરપેઢી ચાલું રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.145.14" />ભંગિત થયેલ સૌનો આધાર યહોવા પોતે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બોજા તળે કચડાયેલાઓને તે બળવાન કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.145.15" />સર્વ કોઇ તમને આતુરતાથી જોઇ રહ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની જરૂરિયાત પ્રમાણે તમે અન્ન પૂરું પાડો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.145.16" />પ્રત્યેક સજીવોની ભૂખ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તરસ તમે સતત સંતોષો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.145.17" />યહોવા જે કઇ કરે છે તે સર્વમાં પ્રામાણિક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દયાથી ભરપૂર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.145.18" />જેઓ પ્રામાણિકપણે તેમને મદદ માટે પોકારે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની સાથે યહોવાની આત્મીયતા રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.145.19" />યહોવાનો ભય રાખનારા, અને તેમના પર ભરોસો રાખનારાઓની મનોકામનાઓ પૂર્ણ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સદાય માટેની તેમની વિનંતીઓ સાંભળીને તેઓને છોડાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.145.20" />તેમના પર પ્રેમ રાખનારા સર્વ કોઇનું તે રક્ષણ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દુષ્ટોનો નાશ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PSA.145.21" />હું મારા મુખે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના પવિત્ર નામની સ્તુતિ દરેક જણ સદાકાળ કરતો રહેશે!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="146" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.146.1" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે મારા આત્મા યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કર.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.146.2" />મારા જીવન પર્યંત હું યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા જીવનનાં છેલ્લા શ્વાસ સુધી હું તેમનાં સ્તુતિગીતો ગાઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.146.3" />તમે રાજાઓ કે માણસોનો ભરોસો ન રાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તેમની પાસે તારણ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.146.4" />તેનો પ્રાણ તેમને છોડી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનું શરીર ધૂળમાં પાછું મળી જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની બધી યોજનાઓ નકામી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.146.5" />જે માણસને સહાય કરનાર યાકૂબના દેવ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેની આશા તેના દેવ યહોવામાં છે; તે આશીર્વાદિત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.146.6" />યહોવાએ પૃથ્વી તથા આકાશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમુદ્રો તથા તેમાંના સર્વસ્વનું સર્જન કર્યુ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે પોતાના પ્રત્યેક વચનનુઁ પાલન કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.146.7" />તે કચડાયેલાઓનો ન્યાય જાળવી રાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ભૂખ્યાઓને અનાજ પૂરું પાડે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા કેદીઓને મુકત કરાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.146.8" />યહોવા આંધળાને દેખતાઁ કરે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા ભારે બોજથી દબાયેલાઓનો બોજો હલકો કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે યહોવા ન્યાયી માણસને પ્રેમ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.146.9" />યહોવા નિરાશ્રિતોનું રક્ષણ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અનાથો તથા વિધવાઓની કાળજી લે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દુષ્ટોની યોજનાઓને ઊંધી વાળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.146.10" />યહોવા સદાકાળ રાજ કરશે, હે સિયોન,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા દેવ પેઢી દર પેઢી રાજ કરશે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થાઓ!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="147" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.147.1" />તે ભલા છે માટે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા દેવનાં સ્તુતિગીતો ગાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તે સારું અને ગમતું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.147.2" />યહોવા યરૂશાલેમને બાંધે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો જેઓ બંદીવાન બનાવાયા હતાં તેઓને ભેગા કરશે અને પાછા લાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.147.3" />હૃદયભંગ થયેલાઓને તે સાજાઁ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે તેઓના ઘા રૂઝવે છે અને પાટા બાંધે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.147.4" />તે તારાઓની ગણતરી કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને નામ દઇને બોલાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.147.5" />આપણા પ્રભુ કેવા મહાન છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના સાર્મથ્યનો પાર નથી!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના જ્ઞાનની કોઇ સીમા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.147.6" />યહોવા નમ્રજનોને આધાર આપે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ દુષ્ટોને અપમાનિત કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.147.7" />યહોવાએ કરેલા ઉપકારો માટે તેમનો આભાર માનો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા યહોવાના સિતાર સાથે સ્તોત્રગીત ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.147.8" />તે આકાશને વાદળોથી ઢાંકે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વીને માટે તે વરસાદ તૈયાર કરી રાખે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પહાડો પર ઘાસ ઉગાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.147.9" />પશુઓને તેમજ પોકાર કરતાં કાગડાનાં બચ્ચાંને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે જ ખોરાક આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.147.10" />દેવની ખુશી યુદ્ધના ઘોડાઓની શકિતમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બળવાન સૈનિકોમાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.147.11" />પણ જેઓ તેમનો ભય રાખે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને યહોવાની કૃપા માટે વાટ જુએ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી યહોવા ખુશ રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.147.12" />હે યરૂશાલેમ, તમે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે સિયોન, તમારા દેવની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.147.13" />કારણ, તેમણે તારા સર્વ શત્રુઓ વિરુદ્ધ, તારા દરવાજાઓને સુરક્ષિત કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા કુળના સર્વ સંતાનોને આશીર્વાદિત કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.147.14" />તે તમારા સમગ્ર દેશમાં શાંતિ સ્થાપે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે તારા કોઠારોને અનાજથી ભરપૂર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PSA.147.15" />તે પોતાની આજ્ઞા પૃથ્વી પર મોકલે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું વચન અતિ વેગથી દોડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PSA.147.16" />તે જમીનને ઢાંકવા સફેદ ઊન જેવો બરફ મોકલે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધૂળ જેવી હવામાંથી બરફનાં કરાંની વૃષ્ટિ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PSA.147.17" />તે આકાશમાંથી પથ્થરની જેમ પડતાં કરા મોકલે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેણે મોકલેલી ટાઢ આગળ કોણ ઊભું રહી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PSA.147.18" />તે પોતાનું વચન મોકલીને તેમને ઓગળાવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાના પવનને ફૂંકાવાની આજ્ઞા કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ નદીઓમા પાણી વહેતાં થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PSA.147.19" />દેવે યાકૂબને તેમના વચન આપ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે તેમના વિધિઓ અને નિયમો પણ ઇસ્રાએલને આપ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PSA.147.20" />અન્ય કોઇ પ્રજા સાથે તેમણે આ પ્રમાણે કર્યુ નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અન્ય પ્રજાઓએ તેમની આજ્ઞાઓ જાણી નથી.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="148" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.148.1" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">આકાશમાંથી તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉચ્ચસ્થાનમાંથી તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.148.2" />તમે બધાં દેવદૂતો તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં સર્વ સૈન્યો તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.148.3" />સૂર્ય તથા ચંદ્ર, તમે તેની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ ઝગઝગતાં તારા તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.148.4" />આકાશોનાં આકાશ તમે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશ ઉપરના પાણી તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.148.5" />તમે બધાં જેનું તેમણે સર્જન કર્યુ છે તે યહોવાનાં નામની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તેના હુકમથીજ તમે જન્મ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.148.6" />દેવે આ બધી વસ્તુઓ, સદાકાળ માટે સ્થાપન કરી છે તેમણે જે નિયમ પ્રસ્થાપિત કર્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો અંત કદાપિ આવશે નહિ અને ઉલ્લંધન કરી શકે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.148.7" />હે પૃથ્વી પરના બધાં જ જીવો, તમે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે મહાસાગરનાં ઊંડાણોમાં વસતાં સૌ જીવો તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.148.8" />અગ્નિ તથા કરા, હિમ તથા મેઘ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આંધીના વાયુ, જે એનુ વચન પૂરુ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.148.9" />તમે પર્વતો તથા ડુંગરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફળવૃક્ષો તથા સર્વ દેવદારો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PSA.148.10" />હિંસક પ્રાણીઓ તથા સર્વ પશુઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પેટે ચાલનારાં જીવજંતુ તથા ઊડનારાં પક્ષીઓ;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PSA.148.11" />પૃથ્વીના રાજાઓ, અને સર્વ પ્રજાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તેઓના અધિકારીઓ તેમજ ન્યાયાધીશો;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PSA.148.12" />યુવાનો અને કન્યાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વૃદ્ધો અને બાળકો;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PSA.148.13" />તમે સર્વે યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે ફકત તેમનું એકલાનું જ નામ પ્રતિષ્ઠાપાત્ર છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">આકાશ અને પૃથ્વી પરની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમામ વસ્તુઓ તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PSA.148.14" />તે તેમના લોકોની તાકાત વધારશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના વફાદાર સંતો તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ જે લોકો તેમની ખૂબ નજીક છે તે તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="149" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.149.1" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તેમની સમક્ષ નવું ગીત ગાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંતોની સભામાં તેની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.149.2" />ઇસ્રાએલ, તમારા સર્જનહારનાં અસ્તિત્વનો તમે આનંદ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિયોનના લોકો, તમારા રાજાની નિકટતાનો આનંદ મનાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.149.3" />તેઓ તેના નામની સ્તુતિ નૃત્યસહિત કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ડફ તથા વીણાથી તેનાં સ્તોત્ર ગીત ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.149.4" />કારણકે યહોવા પોતાના લોકોમાં આનંદ માને છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નમ્રજનોનો ઉદ્ધાર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.149.5" />તેમનાં સંતો તેમના ગૌરવથી હરખાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પથારીમાં સૂતા હોય ત્યારે પણ તમે આનંદના ગીતો ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.149.6" />તેઓના કંઠમાંથી યહોવાની ઉત્તમ સ્તુતિ ગવાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના હાથમાં બેધારી તરવાર રહો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PSA.149.7" />તેઓ બીજા રાષ્ટોને સજા કરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને પાઠ ભણાવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PSA.149.8" />તેઓના રાજાઓને અને આગેવાનોને;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોખંડની સાંકળોથી બાંધે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PSA.149.9" />અને તેઓને દેવના ચુકાદો મુજબ તેઓ સજા કરે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા તેમના બધાં સંતોનો આદર છે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="150" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PSA.150.1" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તેમના મંદિરમાં તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના શકિતશાળી આકાશમાં તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PSA.150.2" />તેનાં પરાક્રમી કાર્યો માટે તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની અજોડ મહાનતા માટે તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PSA.150.3" />રણશિંગડા વગાડીને તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિતાર તથા વીણાથી તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PSA.150.4" />ખંજરી તથાનૃત્યસહિત તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સારંગી તથા શરણાઇ સાથે તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PSA.150.5" />તીવ્ર સૂરવાળી ઝાંઝોના મોટા અવાજ સાથે તેમની સ્તુતિ ગાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઝાંઝોના હર્ષનાદ સાથે તેમની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PSA.150.6" />શ્વાસોચ્છ્વાસ લેનારાં સર્વ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તમે સૌ યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
</book>
<book id="PRO"><id id="PRO">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>નીતિવચનો
</h><toc level="1">નીતિવચનો
</toc><toc level="2">નીતિવચનો
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">નીતિવચનો
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">નીતિવચનોનો હેતુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.1.1" />ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા દાઉદના પુત્ર સુલેમાનનાં નીતિવચનો:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="PRO.1.2" />વ્યકિત માટે આ પુસ્તકનો હેતુ છે કે તે જ્ઞાન અને શિક્ષણ મેળવે, જેનાથી તે ઊંડી સમજ આપે તેવા શબ્દો સમજી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="PRO.1.3" />કે તેને વિચાર પૂર્વકની વર્તણૂકની, સારા વિવેકની અને ન્યાયની કેળવણી મળે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="PRO.1.4" />ભોળા માણસો ચતુર બને, યુવાનોને જ્ઞાન તથા વિવેકબુદ્ધિ મળે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="PRO.1.5" />જો ડાહ્યો માણસ સાંભળશે તો તેનું ડહાપણ વધશે. અને સમજુ માણસને દોરવણી મળે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="PRO.1.6" />તેઓ કહેવતો અને ષ્ટાંતો જ્ઞાનીઓના વચનો અને તેમના કોયડાઓ પણ સમજી શકશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.1.7" />યહોવાનો ભય એ જ્ઞાનનો આરંભ છે. પણ મૂખોર્ જ્ઞાન અને શિક્ષણને વ્યર્થ ગણે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સુલેમાન પોતાના બાળકોને ઉપદેશ આપે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.1.8" />મારા દીકરા, તારા પિતાનો ઉપદેશ સાંભળ, અને તારી માતાનું શિક્ષણ નકારીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="PRO.1.9" />કેમ કે તારા મસ્તક પર ફૂલોના મુગટ અને ગળાના હાર રૂપ બની રહેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ચેતવણી અધર્મ લોકોથી બચો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.1.10" />મારા દીકરા, જો દુષ્ટ પાપીઓ તને લલચાવે તો તું એમની વાતો માનતો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="PRO.1.11" />જો તેઓ તને કહે કે “અમારી સાથે ચાલ, કોઇની હત્યા કરવા માટે આપણે સંતાઇ રહીએ; અને જે નિદોર્ષ છે તેને ફસાવવા છુપાઇ રહીએ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="PRO.1.12" />જેમ શેઓલ જીવતા માણસોને ગળી જાય છે તેમ આપણે તેમને ગળી જઇશું.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="PRO.1.13" />વિવિધ પ્રકારનો કિઁમતી માલ આપણા હાથમાં આવશે, આપણે આપણાં ઘર લૂંટથી ભરીશું.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="PRO.1.14" />તું અમારી સાથે જોડાઇ જા. અને અમારો ભાગીદારથા; આપણાં સૌનો ભાગ સિલકમાં સરખો રહેશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.1.15" />મારા દીકરા, એમના માગેર્ ચાલતો નહિ, તેમના માગેર્ તારા પગ મૂકતો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PRO.1.16" />કારણ, તેમના પગ દુષ્ટ પાપ કરવા ઉતાવળા હોય છે અને હત્યા કરવાને દોડી જતા હોય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.1.17" />કારણ કે જ્યારે પક્ષીઓ સાવધ હોય ત્યારે જાળ પાથરવી તે નિરર્થક છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="PRO.1.18" />તેઓ અન્યની હત્યા કરવા સંતાઇ રહે છે, પણ હત્યા એમની જ થાય છે. બીજાનો જીવ લેવા જાય છે. અને પોતાનો જીવ ગુમાવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="PRO.1.19" />પ્રત્યેક ધનના લોભીના માગોર્ આવા જ છે. આવું ધન તેના માલિકોનું જ સત્યાનાશ વાળે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ચતુર સ્ત્રી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.1.20" />જ્ઞાન શેરીઓમાં મોટે અવાજે બોલાવે છે. તે જાહેર સ્થળોએ બૂમો પાડે છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="PRO.1.21" />તે ઘોંઘાટવાળા રસ્તા પર બૂમો પાડે છે અને શહેરને દરવાજે ઊભુ રહીને બૂમો પાડે છે:
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.1.22" />“હે ભોળિયાઓ, તમે ક્યાં સુધી ભોળપણને વળગી રહેશો? ઓ ટિખળી લોકો, તમે ક્યાં સુધી ટિખળ કરવામાં આનંદ મેળવશો? ઓ મૂર્ખાઓ, ક્યાં સુધી તમે જ્ઞાનનો તિરસ્કાર કરશો?
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="PRO.1.23" />જો તમે મારી ચેતવણી સાંભળશો તો હું મારો આત્મા તમારા પર રેડીશ અને મારા વચનો તમને જણાવીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.1.24" />“પરંતુ મેં તમને બોલાવ્યા અને તમે ના પાડી. મેં મારો હાથ લંબાવી ઇશારો કર્યો પણ કોઇએ તેની કાળજી કરી નહિ;
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="PRO.1.25" />તમે મારા સવેર્ ઉપદેશ ફગાવી દીધા છે અને મારી ચેતવણીને પણ ગણકારી નથી.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="PRO.1.26" />તેથી જ્યારે તમારી ઉપર મુશ્કેલીઓ આવશે ત્યારે હું હાસ્ય કરીશ; જ્યારે તમારા પર ભય આવશે ત્યારે હું તમારી મશ્કરી કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="PRO.1.27" />એટલે જ્યારે વંટોળિયાની જેમ તમારી ઉપર ભય ફરી વળશે, વિપત્તિઓ ફૂટી નીકળશે, સંકટ અને વેદના તમારા પર આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.1.28" />“ત્યારે તેઓ મને બોલાવશે તો પણ હું ઉત્તર આપીશ નહિ, તમે મને ખંતથી શોધશો પણ હું તમને મળીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="PRO.1.29" />કારણ, તેઓએ વિદ્યાનો તિરસ્કાર કર્યો છે અને તેમણે યહોવાનો ડર રાખ્યો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="PRO.1.30" />મારી સલાહ માની નહોતી અને તેઓએ મારો સઘળો ઠપકો તુચ્છ ગણ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="PRO.1.31" />તેથી તેઓને તેમના કર્મના ફળ મળશે અને તેમને તેમની પોતાની સલાહો ભારે પડશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="PRO.1.32" />“આમ, મૂખોર્ના અવળા રસ્તા તેમને મૃત્યુના મુખમાં લઇ જાય છે. અને મૂખોર્ની બેદરકારી તેમનો વિનાશ નોઁતરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="PRO.1.33" />પરંતુ જે કોઇ મારું કહ્યુ સાંભળશે તે સુરક્ષિત રહેશે. અને કોઇપણ જાતના નુકશાન થવાના ભય વિના શાંતિ અનુભવશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">જ્ઞાનનાં વરદાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.2.1" />મારા દીકરા, જો તું મારાં વચનોનો અંગીકાર કરશે અને મારી આજ્ઞાઓ અંતરમાં સંઘરી રાખશે,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="PRO.2.2" />ડહાપણની વાત ધ્યાનથી સાંભળીને, સમજણમાં તારું ધ્યાન દોરીશ;
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="PRO.2.3" />અને જો તું વિવેકબુદ્ધિનેમાટે પોકાર કરશે અને સમજણ શકિત માટે ખંત રાખશે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="PRO.2.4" />અને તું જો ચાંદીની જેમ અને છૂપાવેલા ખજાનાની જેમ તેને શોધશે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="PRO.2.5" />તો તને યહોવાના ભયનું ભાન થશે. અને તને દેવનું જ્ઞાન પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.2.6" />કારણ કે યહોવા જ્ઞાનના દાતા છે, તેના મુખમાંથી જ્ઞાન અને સમજણ શકિત પ્રગટે છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="PRO.2.7" />તે નીતિમાન લોકોને વ્યવહારિક ક્ષમતા આપે છે, પ્રામાણિકતાથી રહેતા લોકોની રક્ષા કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="PRO.2.8" />તે ન્યાયના માર્ગની રક્ષા કરે છે અને પોતાના વફાદાર લોકોની કાળજી લે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.2.9" />ત્યારે તને સમજાશે કે દરેક સાચો અને સારો રસ્તો સત્ય ન્યાયી અને પ્રામાણિક હોય છે;
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="PRO.2.10" />તારા હૃદયમાં શાણપણ પ્રવેશશે અને જ્ઞાન તારા આત્માને ખુશીથી ભરી દેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.2.11" />વિવેકબુદ્ધિ તારું ધ્યાન રાખશે અને સમજણ તારું રક્ષણ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="PRO.2.12" />ખરાબ માગેર્થી અને આડું બોલનાર માણસોથી તને ઉગારી લેશે;
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="PRO.2.13" />જેઓ સદાચારના માર્ગ તજીને અંધકારને માગેર્ ચાલે છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="PRO.2.14" />જેઓ દુષ્ટતા આચરવામાં આનંદ માણે છે, અને છળકપટ કરવામાં જ તેમને મજા પડે છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="PRO.2.15" />જેઓના રસ્તા આડા છે, અને જેમના પગલા છેતરામણાં છે તેમનાથી તારું રક્ષણ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.2.16" />વળી સમજ કે તે તને વ્યભિચારી સ્ત્રીઓથી અને તેમની લોભામણી વાણીથી બચાવશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="PRO.2.17" />જે પોતાના પતિને જેની સાથે જુવાનીમાં તેણે લગ્ન કરેલા તેને છોડી દે છે અને દેવ સાથે કરેલો પોતાનો કરાર વિષે ભૂલી જાય છે;
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="PRO.2.18" />તેનું ઘર મૃત્યુની ખાઇમાં ઊતરી જાય છે અને તેનો માર્ગ મૃત્યુલોકમાં જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="PRO.2.19" />તેની પાસે જનારાઓમાંથી કોઇ પાછો ફરતો નથી, તેઓ જીવનનો માર્ગ સંપાદન કરી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.2.20" />તું સજ્જનોના માગેર્ ચાલજે અને ન્યાય અને સત્યના રસ્તા પર ટકી રહેજે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="PRO.2.21" />કારણકે, પ્રામાણિક માણસો જ પૃથ્વી પર જીવતા રહેશે. સંનિષ્ઠ અને નિદોર્ષ માણસો જ એમાં વસશે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="PRO.2.22" />પણ દુષ્ટોનું પૃથ્વી પરથી નિકંદન નીકળી જશે. અને જેઓ કપટ કરનારા છે તેમને સમૂળગા ઉખેડી નાખવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">નીતિમત્તાથી રહેવું તમારું જીવન વધારશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.3.1" />મારા દીકરા! મારો ઉપદેશ ભૂલી જઇશ નહિ. પરંતુ તારા હૃદયમાં મારી આજ્ઞાઓને સંઘરી રાખજે,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="PRO.3.2" />કારણ કે એ તને દીર્ઘ પૂર્ણ જીવન અને શાંતિ આપશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.3.3" />પ્રેમ અને વફાદારી તારો ત્યાગ ન કરે, વિશ્વાસનીયતાને તું તારા ગળે બાંધી રાખજે, અને તારા હૃદયપર લખી રાખજે;
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<v id="4" bcv="PRO.3.4" />આ રીતે તું દેવ તથા માણસોની દ્રષ્ટિમાં કૃપા અને સફળતા પામશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.3.5" />તારા પૂર્ણ હૃદયથી યહોવા ઉપર ભરોસો રાખ. અને તારી પોતાની સમજણ પર આધાર રાખીશ નહિ.
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<v id="6" bcv="PRO.3.6" />તું જ્યાં પણ જાય, તેનો આભારમાન, અને તે તને સાચે માગેર્ દોરશે અને તને સફળ બનાવશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="PRO.3.7" />તું તારી પોતાની જાતને જ્ઞાની ન માનીશ; યહોવાનો ડર રાખજે અને પાપથી દૂર રહેજે.
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<v id="8" bcv="PRO.3.8" />તેથી તારું શરીર તંદુરસ્ત રહેશે અને તારા હાડકાં બળવંત રહેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.3.9" />તારા ધનથી અને તારા પહેલા પાકથી યહોવાનું સન્માન કર.
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<v id="10" bcv="PRO.3.10" />એમ કરવાથી તારા અન્નના ભંડાર હર્યાભર્યા રહેશે અને તારા દ્રાક્ષારસના કુંડો દ્રાક્ષારસથી ઊભરાઇ જશે
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.3.11" />મારા દીકરા, યહોવાની શિક્ષાને નકારીશ નહિ, અથવા તેના ઠપકાથી કંટાળી જઇશ નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="PRO.3.12" />કારણ કે યહોવા જેના ઉપર પ્રેમ રાખે છે તેને ઠપકો દે છે, જેમ બાપ પોતાના દીકરાને, જે તેને ખુબ પ્યારો છે, તેને ઠપકો આપે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.3.13" />જેને જ્ઞાન મળ્યું છે, અને જેણે સમજશકિત મેળવી છે, તેને ધન્ય છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="PRO.3.14" />કારણ કે તેનો નફો ચાંદીથી વધારે છે, અને તેનો લાભ ચોખ્ખા સુવર્ણના લાભ કરતાં શ્રેષ્ઠ છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="PRO.3.15" />તે કીંમતી પથ્થરો કરતાં પણ વધારે મૂલ્યવાન છે. તારી માલિકીની કોઇપણ વસ્તુ એની સાથે સરખાવાય તેમ નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.3.16" />તેના જમણા હાથમાં દીર્ધાયુંષ્ય છે અને તેના ડાબા હાથમાં સમૃદ્ધિ અને સન્માન છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="PRO.3.17" />તેના માગોર્ સુખદાયક અને તેના રસ્તા શાંતિપૂર્ણ છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="PRO.3.18" />જેઓ તેને વીટંળાય છે તેને માટે એ સંજીવનીવેલ છે, અને જેઓ તેને દ્રઢતાથી પકડી રાખે છે તેઓ સુખી થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.3.19" />યહોવાએ પૃથ્વીને જ્ઞાનથી અને આકાશને સમજશકિતથી ભરીને સ્થાપન કર્યા છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="PRO.3.20" />તેના જ્ઞાનને પ્રતાપે પાતાળમાંથી પાણીના ઝરણા ફૂટી નીકળ્યા છે, અને વાદળોમાંથી વરસાદ વરસે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.3.21" />મારા દીકરા, તેઓને તારી નજર આગળથી દૂર થવા દઇશ નહિ, વ્યવહારૂ ક્ષમતા, વિવેકબુદ્ધિ, અને સાર્મથ્યને પકડી રાખજે.
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<v id="22" bcv="PRO.3.22" />તો તેઓ તને જીવન આપશે અને તારા ગળાનો હાર બની રહેશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="PRO.3.23" />પછી તું તારા માગેર્ સુરક્ષિત જઇ શકીશ અને ઠોકર ખાઇને લથડશે નહિ.
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<v id="24" bcv="PRO.3.24" />સૂતી વખતે તને કોઇ ડર રહેશે નહિ. અને તું મીઠી ઊંઘ લઇ શકીશ.
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<v id="25" bcv="PRO.3.25" />ઓચિંતા ભયથી કે દુષ્ટ માણસો પર આવતા સર્વનાશથી તું ગભરાઇશ નહિ.
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<v id="26" bcv="PRO.3.26" />કારણ કે યહોવા તારી જોડે રહેશે અને તારા પગને ફસાઇ જતાં બચાવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.3.27" />જો કોઇને તારી મદદની જરૂર હોય અને તું સમર્થ હોય તો ના પાડીશ નહિ.
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<v id="28" bcv="PRO.3.28" />જો તારી પાસે હોય તો તારા પડોશીને એમ ના કહીશ કે, “જાઓ, ફરીથી આવજો,” આવતીકાલે હું આપીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.3.29" />તારો પડોશી તારી પડોશમાં પોતાને સુરક્ષિત અનુભવે છે, તેની સામે અનિષ્ટ યોજના કરીશ નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.3.30" />જો કોઇ માણસે તમારું નુકશાન કર્યુ ન હોય તો તેની સાથે કારણ વગર વિખવાદ કરીશ નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="PRO.3.31" />દુષ્ટ માણસની ઇર્ષ્યા ન કરશો, અને તેનો એક પણ માર્ગ પસંદ ન કરશો.
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<v id="32" bcv="PRO.3.32" />કારણ કે છેતરપિંડી કરનારા માણસોને યહોવા દુ:ખી કરે છે. વાંકા માણસોને યહોવા ધિક્કારે છે પણ પ્રામાણિક માણસોને તે પોતાના અંગત ગણે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="PRO.3.33" />યહોવાનો શાપ દુષ્ટ માણસોના ઘર ઉપર ઉતરે છે. પણ સાચા માણસોના ઘર ઉપર તેમના આશીર્વાદ ઉતરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="PRO.3.34" />તે ટીખળી માણસોની ટીખળ કરે છે અને જેઓ નમ્ર છે તેના માટે કૃપાળુ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="PRO.3.35" />જ્ઞાનીઓને ગૌરવનો વારસો મળશે પરંતુ મૂખોર્ને અપકીતિર્ જ મળશે.
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</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">જ્ઞાનની ફળશ્રુતિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.4.1" />દીકરાઓ, પિતાનો ઉપદેશ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો, અને સમજણ મેળવવા માટે ધ્યાન આપો.
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<v id="2" bcv="PRO.4.2" />હું તમને ઉત્તમ બોધ આપુ છું. મારા શિક્ષણનો ત્યાગ કરશો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.4.3" />જ્યારે હું મારા પિતાના ઘરનો સભ્ય હતો, જ્યારે હું મારી માતાની દ્રષ્ટિએ એકનો એક યુવાન દીકરો હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="PRO.4.4" />ત્યારે મારા પિતાએ મને શિક્ષણ આપીને કહ્યું હતુ કે, “તારા હૃદયમાં મારા શબ્દો સંઘરી રાખજે, અને મારા આજ્ઞાઓને રાખજે અને તું જીવીશ.
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<v id="5" bcv="PRO.4.5" />જ્ઞાન પ્રાપ્ત કર, બુદ્ધિ સંપાદન કર; મારું કહ્યું યાદ રાખજે, એમાંથી જરાય ચળીશ નહિ.
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<v id="6" bcv="PRO.4.6" />જ્ઞાનનો ત્યાગ ન કરીશ, તે તારું રક્ષણ કરશે, તેના પર પ્રેમ રાખજે, તે તારી સંભાળ રાખશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.4.7" />“જ્ઞાન પ્રાપ્ત કરવાનું પહેલું પગથિયું છે: જ્ઞાન મેળવો! તારા સર્વસ્વને ભોગે પણ જ્ઞાન પ્રાપ્ત કરજે.
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<v id="8" bcv="PRO.4.8" />તું એમનું સન્માન કરીશ તો એ તને ઊંચે ચઢાવશે; તું જો તેને ભેટીશ, તો તે તને પ્રતિષ્ઠિત કરશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="PRO.4.9" />તે તને હારનો શણગાર અને સુશોભિત મુગટ પહેરાવશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.4.10" />હે મારા પુત્ર, મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ અને મારા શબ્દોનો સ્વીકાર કર તો તારું આયુષ્ય વધશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="PRO.4.11" />હું તને જ્ઞાનનો માર્ગ બતાવીશ અને તને પ્રામાણિકતાને માગેર્ દોરીશ.
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<v id="12" bcv="PRO.4.12" />જેથી ચાલતી વખતે તને કોઇ બાધા પડે નહિ અને દોડતી વખતે ઠોકર વાગે નહિ, એનું જીવની જેમ સંભાળ રાખજે.
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<v id="13" bcv="PRO.4.13" />આ શિક્ષાને તું મજબૂતીથી વળગી રહેજે, તેને છોડતો નહિ, તેની કાળજી રાખજે કારણકે તે જ તારું જીવન છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.4.14" />દુષ્ટ માણસોના માગેર્ જઇશ નહિ, ખરાબ માણસોને રસ્તે પગ મૂકીશ નહિ.
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<v id="15" bcv="PRO.4.15" />તે રસ્તાથી દૂર રહેજે, તેની પાસે જઇશ નહિ. તેમાંથી છૂટો પડીને નીકળી જજે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PRO.4.16" />એ દુષ્ટ લોકોને કોઇનું નુકશાન કર્યા વિના ઊંઘ આવતી નથી. અને કોઇને ફસાવ્યા ન હોય તો તેમની ઊંઘ ઊડી જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="PRO.4.17" />કારણ કે તેઓ પાપનો રોટલો ખાય છે અને હિંસાનો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીએ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.4.18" />પણ સદાચારીઓનો માર્ગ પરોઢિયાના પ્રકાશ જેવો છે, જે દિવસ ચઢતાં સુધીમાં વધું ઉજ્જવળ અને ઉજ્જવળ પ્રકાશિત થતો જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="PRO.4.19" />જ્યારે દુષ્ટોનો માર્ગ અંધકારમય છે, જેમાં પોતે શા માટે ઠોકર ખાધી છે તે પણ તેઓ જાણી શકતા નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.4.20" />દીકરા, મારા વચનો ઉપર ધ્યાન આપ, અને મારા ઉપદેશને કાને ધર.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="PRO.4.21" />તારી આંખ આગળથી તેને દૂર થવા દઇશ નહિ, તેને તારા હૈયામાં સંઘરી રાખજે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="PRO.4.22" />જે કોઇ તેને મેળવે તેના માટે તે જીવન છે. અને તેમને પૂર્ણ સ્વાસ્થ્ય આપે છે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="PRO.4.23" />કોઇપણ બીજી વસ્તુ કરતાં સૌથી વધારે તારાં હૃદયની કાળજી રાખજે. કારણ એમાંથી જ જીવનમાં ઝરણાં વહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.4.24" />જૂઠ્ઠું બોલીશ નહિ અને ષ્ટવાણી બોલીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="PRO.4.25" />તારી આંખો સામી નજરે જુએ. અને તારી સીધી નજર સામેના રસ્તા ઉપર રાખજે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="PRO.4.26" />તારા ચરણોના માર્ગની યોજના કરજે. અને તારો સમગ્ર માર્ગ સુરક્ષિત હશે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="PRO.4.27" />જમણે કે ડાબે વળ્યા વિના સીધા માગેર્ ચાલ્યો જજે. દુષ્ટ પાપને માગેર્ પગ મૂકીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">વ્યભિચાર સામે ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.5.1" />મારા દીકરા, મારા ડહાપણને સાંભળજે અને મારા શાણા શિક્ષણ પર ધ્યાન આપજે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="PRO.5.2" />જેથી કરીને તારી વિવેકબુદ્ધિ જળવાઇ રહે, અને તારી વાણીમાં જ્ઞાન આવે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="PRO.5.3" />કારણ કે અજાણી સ્ત્રીના હોઠોમાંથી મધ ટપકે છે. અને તેની વાણી તેલ કરતા સુંવાળી હોય છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="PRO.5.4" />પણ તેનો અંત વિષ જેવો કડવો અને બેધારી તરવાર જેવો તીક્ષ્ણ હોય છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="PRO.5.5" />તેણીના પગ મૃત્યુ સુધી પહોંચે છે અને તેણીનાં પગલાં શેઓલમાં પહોંચે છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="PRO.5.6" />તેણી સાચા રસ્તે જવાની મનાઇ કરે છે અને તેણીને ખબર નથી કે પોતાના માગેર્થી તેણી રખડી પડશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.5.7" />તેથી મારા પુત્રો, મારી વાત સાંભળો, અને હું જે કહું છું તેનાથી દૂર થઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="PRO.5.8" />પરસ્ત્રીથીં દૂર રહેજે અને તેના ઘરના બારણાં પાસે જતો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="PRO.5.9" />રખેને તું તારી સંપતિ ખોઇ બેસે અને તારું જીવન નિર્દય ઘાતકી માણસોના હાથમાં જાય.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="PRO.5.10" />રખેને તારી શકિત પારકાને મળે અને તારી મહેનતના ફળ બીજાના કુટુંબને મળે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="PRO.5.11" />તું અંત સમયે આક્રંદ કરીશ જ્યારે તારું હાડમાંસ અને શ રીરનો વિનાશ થઇ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="PRO.5.12" />અને તું કહીશ કે, “મેં કેમ શિક્ષણને ધિક્કાર્યું અને મારા અંત:કરણના ઠપકાને તુચ્છ ગણ્યો!
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="PRO.5.13" />શા માટે મેં મારા ગુરૂજનોનું કહ્યું માન્યું નહિ, અને મને શિક્ષણ આપનારાઓ પ્રત્યે ધ્યાન નહોતું રાખ્યું!
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="PRO.5.14" />હું તો લોકોની દરેક અનિષ્ટ વસ્તુઓમાં સંકળાયેલો હતો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.5.15" />તારા પોતાના ટાંકામાંથી અને તારા પોતાના કૂવાના ઝરણામાંથી જ પાણી પીજે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PRO.5.16" />તારા પાણીના ઝરાને શરીઓમાં ઉભરાવા દઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="PRO.5.17" />એ પાણી ફકત તારા એકલા માટે જ હો, તારી સાથેના બીજાઓ માટે નહિં.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="PRO.5.18" />ભલે એ તારા ઝરણાઓને ઘણી સંતતિ મેળવવાના આશીર્વાદ મળે. તારી પોતાની યુવાન પત્ની સાથે તું આનંદ માન.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="PRO.5.19" />જે હરણી જેવી સુંદર અને પર્વતીય મૃગલી જેવી જાજરમાન નારી છે તેના સ્તનોથી તું સદા સંતોષ પામ અને તેના પ્રેમમાં જ તું નિરંતર મગ્ન રહે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="PRO.5.20" />મારા પુત્ર, શા માટે તારે પરસ્ત્રી પર મોહિત થવું જોઇએ? શા માટે તારે પરસ્ત્રીના શરીરને આલિંગન આપવું જોઇએ?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.5.21" />કારણ કે, માણસના પ્રત્યેક વર્તન-વ્યવહાર ઉપર યહોવાની નજર હોય છે. અને તે જે કાઇં કરે છે તેના ઉપર તે ધ્યાન રાખે છે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="PRO.5.22" />દુરાચારી તે તેમના પાપોમાં સપડાય છે અને તેમના પાપો તેમને દોરડાની જેમ જકડી રાખે છે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="PRO.5.23" />કારણકે, સંયમના અભાવે તે મરી જશે અને તેની મૂર્ખતા ને કારણે તે છકી જશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">પ્રકીર્ણ વચનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.6.1" />મારા દીકરા, જો તું તારા પડોશીનો જામીન થયો હોય, જો તેં કોઇને બદલે પારકાને માટે કોલ આપ્યો હોય,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="PRO.6.2" />તો તું તારા શબ્દોથી બંધાઇ ચૂક્યો હોય, જો તું વચનોને લીધે સપડાયો હોય,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="PRO.6.3" />તો તારા પડોશીના હાથમાં સપડાયો છે. મારા પુત્ર, તું આટલું કરીને છૂટો થઇ જજે; તું એકદમ જા. તારા પડોશીની આગળ નમી જઇને કાલાવાલા કર.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="PRO.6.4" />સૌથી પહેલા સૂઇશ નહિ. અને તારી પાંપણોને ઢળવા દઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="PRO.6.5" />હરણું જેમ શિકારીના હાથમાંથી ભાગી જાય અથવા પંખી જેમ પારધી પાસેથી છૂટી જાય, તેમ તું તારી જાતને છોડાવી લેજે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આળસુના બનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.6.6" />ઓ આળસુ, કીડી પાસે જા; તે કેમ જીવે છે તે જોઇને હોશિયાર થા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="PRO.6.7" />તેના પર કોઇ મુકાદમ નથી, કોઇ આજ્ઞા કરનાર નથી, કે કોઇ ધણી નથી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="PRO.6.8" />છતાં તે પાક વખતે પોતાનાં અનાજનો સંગ્રહ કરે છે અને કાપણીની મોસમમાં પોતાનો ખોરાક ભરી રાખે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.6.9" />ઓ આળસુ. તું ક્યાં સુધી પડ્યો રહીશ? તું ક્યારે ઊંઘમાંથી ઊઠીશ?
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="PRO.6.10" />તું કહે છે કે “હજી થોડીક નિદ્રા, થોડીક ઊંઘ, ટૂંટિયાં વાળીને થોડોક આરામ લેવા દો.”
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="PRO.6.11" />તો તું જાણજે કે ચોરની જેમ અને હથિયારબંધ ધાડપાડુની જેમ ગરીબી તારા પર ત્રાટકશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દુષ્ટ માણસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.6.12" />નકામો અને દુષ્ટ માણસ ગેરમાગેર્ દોરનારી વાતો કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="PRO.6.13" />તે પોતાની આંખોથી મીંચકારા મારી, પગથી ધૂળમાં નિશાનીઓ કરશે અને આંગળીથી ઇશારો કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="PRO.6.14" />તેના મનમાં કપટ છે, તે વિધ્વંસી અનિષ્ટો ઘડે છે અને હંમેશા તકરારો મોકલે છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="PRO.6.15" />આથી અચાનક તેના પર વિપત્તિના વાદળ ઘેરાય છે. અને તે એકાએક ભાંગીને ભૂક્કા થઇ જાય છે, તે ફરી બેઠો થઇ શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">એ સાત વાતો જેને યહોવા ઘૃણા કરે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.6.16" />યહોવા સખત અણગમતી સાત વસ્તુઓમાંથી છ વસ્તુને ધિક્કારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.6.17" />તુમાખીભરી આંખો, જૂઠાબોલાની જીભ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નિદોર્ષના લોહીથી ખરડાયેલા હાથ,
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.6.18" />દુષ્ટ કાવતરાં રચનાર હૃદય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નુકશાન કરવા દોડી જતા પગ,
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.6.19" />શ્વાસેશ્વાસે જૂઠું બોલનાર જૂઠો સાક્ષી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રનેહી સંબંધીઓમાં કુસંપનું બીજ વાવનાર માણસ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.6.20" />મારા દીકરા, તારા પિતાની આજ્ઞાઓને માનજે. અને તારી માતાની શિખામણો ભૂલીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="PRO.6.21" />એને સદા તારા હૃદયમાં બાંધી રાખજે અને તારા કંઠની આજુબાજુ લટકાવી દેજે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="PRO.6.22" />તું જ્યારે જ્યારે ચાલતો હોઇશ ત્યારે એ તને માર્ગ બતાવશે, તું ઊંઘતો હશે ત્યારે એ તારી ચોકી કરશે. અને તું જાગતો હશે ત્યારે એ તારી સાથે વાતચીત કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.6.23" />આજ્ઞા એ દીપક છે, અને નિયમ પ્રકાશ છે; અને ઠપકો તથા ચેતવણી એ જીવનના માર્ગદર્શક છે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="PRO.6.24" />એ તારું ભૂંડી સ્ત્રીથી રક્ષણ કરશે અને, અપવિત્ર સ્ત્રીની લોભામણી વાણીથી ઉગારી લેશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="PRO.6.25" />તેના રૂપ સૌંદર્યની કામના કરતો નહિ અને તેના આંખનાં પોપચાંથી સપડાઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="PRO.6.26" />કારણ કે વારાંગનાને તો પુરુષે રોટલાનો ટૂકડો આપવો જ પડે છે જ્યારે પરણેલી સ્ત્રીની વાસનાભૂખતો પુરુષના જીવનને લઇને સંતોષાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="PRO.6.27" />જો કોઇ માણસ અંગારા હૈયે ચાંપે તો તેનું પહેરણ સળગ્યા વગર રહે?
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="PRO.6.28" />જો કોઇ માણસ અંગારા પર ચાલે તો શું તેના પગ દાઝયા વગર રહે?
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="PRO.6.29" />એટલે કોઇ તેના પાડોશીની પત્ની પાસે જાય છે, અને તેને સ્પર્શ કરે છે તેને સજા થયા વિના રહેતી નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.6.30" />જો કોઇ માણસ ભૂખ સંતોષવા ચોરી કરે તો લોકો તેના માટે માન નથી ગુમાવી બેસતા.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="PRO.6.31" />પણ જો તે પકડાય છે તો તેણે તેનું સાતગણું આપવું પડે છે. એનો અર્થ એવો થાય કે પોતાના ઘરની સઘળી સંપત્તિ સોંપી દેવી પડે તો પણ.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="PRO.6.32" />જે પરસ્ત્રી સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરે છે તે અક્કલ વગરનો છે, તે પોતાની જાતે પોતાનું જીવન બરબાદ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="PRO.6.33" />તેના નસીબમાં તેને માર તથા અપમાન જ મળશે અને તેનું કલંક કદી ભૂંસાશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="PRO.6.34" />કારણ કે ઇર્ષ્યાથી ધણીનો રોષ ભભૂકી ઊઠશે અને તે વૈર વાળતી વખતે જરાય કાચું રાખશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="PRO.6.35" />તે કોઇ પગાર સ્વીકારશે નહિ અને કોઇપણ પ્રકારની ભેટો તેને શાંત પાડી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">મોહપાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.7.1" />મારા દીકરા, મારા વચનો પાળજે. અને મારી આજ્ઞા યાદ રાખજે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="PRO.7.2" />તારે જીવવું હોય તો મારી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરજે, અને મારા ઉપદેશને તારી આંખની કીકીની જેમ જાળવજે,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="PRO.7.3" />એને તારી આંગળીએ બાંધજે, એને તારા હૃદય પર લખજે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="PRO.7.4" />જ્ઞાનને કહે કે તું મારી બહેન છે, અને બુદ્ધિને “તું મારું કુટુંબ છે.”
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="PRO.7.5" />જેથી એ બંને તને વ્યભિચારી સ્ત્રીથી બચાવશે. પોતાના શબ્દો વડે ઉંપરાણું કરનાર પરસ્ત્રીથી તારું રક્ષણ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.7.6" />કારણ કે એક વખત મેં મારા ઘરની બારી નજીક ઊભા રહીને જાળીમાંથી સામે નજર નાખી;
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="PRO.7.7" />અને ત્યાં મેં ઘણાં અણઘડ યુવાનોને જોયા. તેમાં એક અક્કલહીન યુવાન મારી નજરે પડ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="PRO.7.8" />એક સ્ત્રીના ઘરના ખૂણા પાસેથી તે બજારમાંથી પસાર થતો હતો, તે સીધો તેણીના ઘર તરફ જતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="PRO.7.9" />દિવસ આથમ્યો હતો, સાંજ પડવા આવી હતી અને રાતનું અંધારું ફેલાતું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="PRO.7.10" />અચાનક એ સ્ત્રી તેને મળવા બહાર આવી, તેણે વારાંગના જેવા વસ્ત્રો પહેર્યા હતાં અને એના મનમાં કપટ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="PRO.7.11" />તે ધ્યાનાકર્ષક અને બળવાખોર સ્ત્રી હતી. તેના પગ પોતાના ઘરમાં કદી ટકતા ન હતા;
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="PRO.7.12" />કોઇવાર ગલીઓમાં, ક્યારેક બજારની જગ્યામાં, તો કોઇવાર ચોકમાં શેરીના-ખૂણે લાગ તાકીને ઊભી રહેતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="PRO.7.13" />તે સ્ત્રીએ તેને પકડ્યો અને ચુંબન કર્યુ અને નિર્લજ્જ મોઢે તેને કહ્યું કે,
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="PRO.7.14" />“આજે રાત્રે મારે મારા શાંત્યાર્પણો ખાવા પડશે, આજે મેં પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી છે; આજે મેં મારા વચનો પૂર્ણ કર્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="PRO.7.15" />તેથી હું તને મળવા બહાર આવી છું. હું ક્યારની તને શોધતી હતી, આખરે તું મળ્યો ખરો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PRO.7.16" />મેં મારા પલંગ ઉપર સુંદર ચાદરો પાથરી છે આ ચાદરો મિસરથી આવી છે!
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="PRO.7.17" />મેં મારી શૈયાને બોળ, અગર, અને તજથી સુગંધીદાર બનાવી છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="PRO.7.18" />ચાલ, આપણે પરોઢ થતાં સુધી પેટપૂર પ્રીતિ, આખી રાત મોજમાં મગ્ન થઇ પ્રેમની મજા માણીએ.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="PRO.7.19" />મારો ધણી ઘેર નથી તે લાંબી મુસાફરીએ ગયો છે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="PRO.7.20" />તે પોતાની સાથે રૂપિયાની થેલી લઇ ગયો છે. અને છેક પૂનમ લગી તે પાછો આવનાર નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.7.21" />તે તેને ઘણા મીઠા શબ્દોથી સમજાવે છે અને સુંવાળી વાતોથી વહાલથી તે તેને ખેંચી જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="PRO.7.22" />અચાનક તે જેમ બળદ કસાઇવાડે જાય, અને જેમ ગુનેગારને સજા માટે સાંકળે બાંધીને લઇ જવાય તેમ જલ્દીથી તેની પાછળ જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="PRO.7.23" />આખરે તેનું કાળજુ તીરથી વીંધાય છે; જેમ કોઇ પક્ષી પોતાનો જીવ જશે એમ જાણ્યા વગર જાળમાં ધસી જાય છે, તેમ તે જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.7.24" />માટે, હે પુત્રો, સાંભળો, અને મારા મુખના શબ્દો પર લક્ષ આપો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="PRO.7.25" />તારું હૃદય તેણીના રસ્તે વળે નહિ. તેના રસ્તાઓમાં રખડતો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="PRO.7.26" />કારણ, તેણે ઘણાને ઘાયલ કર્યા છે, તેમને મારી નાખ્યાં છે અને અસંખ્ય માણસોના પ્રાણ લીધા છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="PRO.7.27" />તેનું ઘર મૃત્યુ લોકના માગેર્ છે કે, જે મૃત્યુનાં ઓરડામાં પહોંચાડે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">જ્ઞાનનું સ્તવન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.8.1" />જ્ઞાન બોલાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમજણ મોટેથી બૂમો પાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.8.2" />ડુંગરની ટોચે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રસ્તે ઘાટે, ચોરેચૌટે
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.8.3" />અને શહેરમાં પ્રવેશવાના દરવાજા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આગળ ઊભાં ઊભાં તે મોટે સાદે કહે છે:
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.8.4" />“હે માણસો, હું તમને પોકાર કરીને કહું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પ્રત્યેક માણસને સાદ પાડું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.8.5" />હે અજ્ઞાની લોકો, શાણપણ શીખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હે મૂર્ખાઓ તમે સમજણ હોવાનું શીખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.8.6" />સાંભળો, હું તમને ઉત્તમ વાતો કહેવાનો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે સાચું છે તે જ હું તમને શીખવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.8.7" />હું સાચું જ બોલીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જૂઠાને હું ધિક્કારું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.8.8" />મારા મુખના સઘળા શબ્દો પ્રામાણિક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને જૂઠ્ઠું કે ગેર માગેર્ દોરનારું નહિ બોલું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.8.9" />સમજુ માણસો માટે મારા શબ્દો સ્પષ્ટ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્ઞાનીઓને માટે તે યથાયોગ્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.8.10" />રૂપાને બદલે મારી સલાહ લો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઉત્તમ સોનાને બદલે જ્ઞાન પ્રાપ્ત કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.8.11" />કારણ કે જ્ઞાન રત્નો કરતા વધારે મૂલ્યાવાન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એની તોલે મોંઘામાં મોંઘી વસ્તુ પણ ન આવે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">જ્ઞાન શું કરે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.8.12" />“હું જ્ઞાન છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિવેકબુદ્ધિ મારી સાથે રહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું જ્ઞાન અને ચતુરાઇ ધરાવું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.8.13" />યહોવાનો ભય એટલે પાપને ધિક્કારવું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અભિમાન, ઉદ્ધતાઇ, કુમાર્ગ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વાંકાબોલાપણાને હું ધિક્કારું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.8.14" />મારી પાસે સારી સલાહ અને જ્ઞાન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પાસે ઊંડી સમજ અને શકિત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.8.15" />મારે લીધે જ રાજાઓ રાજ્ય કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રાજકર્તાઓ ન્યાય તોલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.8.16" />મારે લીધે રાજકુમારો શાસન કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઊમદા લોકો સાચો ચુકાદો આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.8.17" />મારા પર પ્રેમ રાખનારાઓ પર હું પ્રેમ રાખું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે ઓ મને ઉત્સુકતાથી શોધે છે તે મને પામે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.8.18" />ધન અને સન્માન મારા હાથમાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પાસે ટકાઉ સંપત્તિ અને સદાચાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.8.19" />મારા ફળ સોના કરતાં ચડિયાતા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી પેદાશ ઊંચી જાતની ચાંદી કરતાં શ્રેષ્ટ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.8.20" />હું સદાચારને માગેર્ ચાલું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો રસ્તો ન્યાયનો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.8.21" />મારા પર પ્રેમ રાખનારને હું સમૃદ્ધિ આપું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના ભંડારો ભરપૂર કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.8.22" />“યહોવાએ સૃષ્ટિક્રમનાં આરંભમાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લાંબા સમય અગાઉ મારું સર્જન કર્યુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.8.23" />લાંબા સમય અગાઉ, પૃથ્વીનું સર્જન થયા પહેલાઁ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું સ્થાપન કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.8.24" />જ્યારે કોઇ સાગરો નહોતા, જ્યારે પાણીથી ભરેલા ઝરણાઓ નહોતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મારો જન્મ થયો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.8.25" />પર્વતોના પાયા નંખાયા તે પહેલાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ડુંગરો થયા તેના પણ પહેલાં મારો જન્મ થયો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.8.26" />હજી યહોવાએ પૃથ્વી ર્સજી નહોતી કે ખેતરો પણ ર્સજ્યા નહોતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અરે! ધૂળની કણી પણ ર્સજી નહોતી ત્યારે મારું અસ્તિત્વ હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.8.27" />જ્યારે તેણે આકાશને એને સ્થાને સ્થાપ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સાગર ઉપર ક્ષિતિજને ગોઠવી હતી ત્યારે મારું અસ્તિત્વ હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.8.28" />જ્યારે તેણે અંતરિક્ષને સ્થિર કર્યુ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઝરણાંને સમુદ્ર નીચે વહાવ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.8.29" />જ્યારે તેણે સાગરની હદ નક્કી કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું ઉલ્લંધન કરવાની તેણે મના ફરમાવી.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જ્યારે તેણે પૃથ્વીના પાયા નાખ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.8.30" />ત્યારે કુશળ કારીગર તરીકે હું તેની સાથે હતી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું દિનપ્રતિદિન તેને આનંદ આપતી હતી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આખો વખત હું તેની સામે નૃત્ય કરતી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PRO.8.31" />તેની વસતિવાળી પૃથ્વી પર મને મજા આવતી હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માણસોની સંગતમાં મને આનંદ આવતો હતોa
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="PRO.8.32" />“માટે હે મારા દીકરાઓ, મારું સાંભળો;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે જેઓ મારા માગેર્ ચાલે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સુખ પામે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="PRO.8.33" />મારો ઉપદેશ સાંભળીને જ્ઞાની થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સુધારણાની ઉપેક્ષા કરશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="PRO.8.34" />તે વ્યકિત આશીર્વાદિત છે, જે મારું સાંભળે છે અને હંમેશા મારા દરવાજે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા મારા પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ મારી રાહ જુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="PRO.8.35" />કારણ કે જે મને પામ્યો છે તે જીવન પામ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાની કૃપા પામ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="PRO.8.36" />પણ જે મારી સામે પાપ કરે છે, તે પોતાને, નુકશાન પહોંચાડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ મને ધિક્કારે છે, તેઓ મૃત્યુ સાથે પ્રેમ કરે છે.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">જ્ઞાન-અજ્ઞાનની ઉજવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.9.1" />જ્ઞાને પોતાનું ઘર બાંધ્યું છે. તેણે પોતાના સાત સ્તંભો કોતરી કાઢયા છે;
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="PRO.9.2" />તેણે માંસ અને દ્રાક્ષારસ તૈયાર કર્યા છે; અને મેજ ગોઠવીને તૈયાર કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="PRO.9.3" />તેણે પોતાની દાસીઓને શહેરમાં ઊંચામાં ઊંચા સ્થાનેથી આ જાહેર કરવા મોકલી છે કે,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="PRO.9.4" />“કોઇ ભોળું હોય, તે અહીં અંદર આવે; અને બુદ્ધિહીન લોકોને તે કહે છે,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="PRO.9.5" />આવો, મારી સાથે ભોજન લો અને મેં રેડેલો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીઓ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="PRO.9.6" />તમારી હઠ છોડી દો તો જીવવા પામશો, બુદ્ધિને માગેર્ ચાલો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.9.7" />જે ઉદ્ધત માણસને ઠપકો આપે છે તે અપમાનિત થાય છે. જે દુષ્ટ માણસને સુધારવા જાય છે તે દુ:ભાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="PRO.9.8" />ઉદ્ધત માણસને ઠપકો ન આપો, નહિ તો તે તારો તિરસ્કાર કરશે, જ્ઞાની માણસને ભૂલ બતાવશો તો તે તમને પ્રેમ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="PRO.9.9" />જો તમે જ્ઞાની વ્યકિતને સલાહ આપશો તો તે વધુ જ્ઞાની બનશે. અને ન્યાયી વ્યકિતને શિક્ષણ આપશો તો તેના જ્ઞાનમાં વૃદ્ધિ થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.9.10" />યહોવાથી ડરવું એ જ્ઞાનની શરૂઆત છે, પરમપવિત્રની ઓળખાણ એ જ બુદ્ધિની શરૂઆત છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="PRO.9.11" />જ્ઞાનને લીધે તારું આયુષ્ય લાંબુ થશે અને તારા જીવનના વષોર્ વધશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="PRO.9.12" />જો તું જ્ઞાની હોય તો એ તારા લાભની વાત છે.જો તું ઉદ્ધત થઇશ, તો તારે તેની કિંમ્મત ચૂકવવી પડશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મૂર્ખ સ્ત્રી કંકાસિપણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.9.13" />મૂર્ખ સ્ત્રી કંકાસિપણ છે; અને સમજણ વગરની છે. અને છેક અજાણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="PRO.9.14" />તે નગરની ઊંચી જગાઓ ઉપર અને પોતાના ઘરને બારણે બેસે છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="PRO.9.15" />ત્યાંથી તેણી પોતાને માગેર્ ઝડપથી પસાર થતા લોકોને બોલાવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PRO.9.16" />“જે કોઇ મૂર્ખ હોય, તે અહીં અંદર આવે;” અને બુદ્ધિહીનને તેણી કહે છે કે,
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="PRO.9.17" />“ચોરીને પીધેલું પાણી મીઠું લાગે છે, અને છુપાવીને ખાધેલો રોટલો સ્વાદિષ્ટ લાગે છે.”
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="PRO.9.18" />પરંતુ એ લોકોને ખબર નથી કે ત્યાં તો મોતની જગ્યા છે. અને તેના મહેમાનો શેઓલ તરફ આગળ વધી રહ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">સુલેમાનના નીતિવચનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.10.1" />જ્ઞાની પુત્ર પોતાના પિતાને હર્ષ ઉપજાવી સુખી કરે છે.
</p>
<p style="p">અને મૂર્ખ પુત્ર પોતાની માતાને ભારરુપ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.10.2" />કુમાગેર્ પ્રાપ્ત કરેલી સંપત્તિથી કશો લાભ નથી. પરંતુ સદાચારી જીવન વ્યકિતને મોતથી ઉગારે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.10.3" />યહોવા સદાચારી માણસને ભૂખ્યો રાખતા નથી, પણ તે દુષ્ટ માણસની ઇચ્છાઓને નકારે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.10.4" />આળસુ હાથ ગરીબી લાવે છે. પણ ઉદ્યમીઓનો હાથ તેને ધનવાન બનાવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.10.5" />લણણી વખતે ડાહ્યો પુત્ર સંગ્રહ કરે છે પણ નિર્લજ્જ પુત્ર કાપણીના સમયે સૂઇ રહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.10.6" />સદાચારીના માથા ઉપર આશીર્વાદ ઊતરે છે; પણ દુરાચારીનું મોઢું હિંસાને છુપાવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.10.7" />સદાચારીનું સ્મરણ આશીર્વાદ છે. પરંતુ દુરાચારીનું નામ તો સડી જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.10.8" />જ્ઞાની હૃદયવાળો આજ્ઞાને અનુસરશે: પણ લવારી કરનારો મૂર્ખ પાયમાલ થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.10.9" />જે વ્યકિત પ્રામાણિકપણે જીવે છે તે સુરક્ષિત છે, પરંતુ કુટિલ રસ્તે ચાલનાર ઉઘાડો પડે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.10.10" />જે વ્યકિત આંખ મિંચકારે છે તે મુશ્કેલીઓ વહોરે છે. અનેપરંતુ લવારી કરનાર નાશ પામશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.10.11" />સદાચારી વ્યકિતની વાણી જીવનનો ઝરો છે, પરંતુ દુષ્ટોનું મોઢું હિંસાને છુપાવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.10.12" />ધિક્કાર ઝગડા ઊભા કરે છે પણ પ્રીતિ બધા ગુનાઓને ઢાંકે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.10.13" />જ્ઞાની માણસની જીભને ટેરવે શાણપણ રહે છે.જ્યારે મૂર્ખને પીઠે ડફણાં પડે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.10.14" />જ્ઞાની લોકો વિદ્યાનો સંગ્રહ કરે છે; પરંતુ મૂર્ખનું મોઢું ઝડપી નાશ નોતરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.10.15" />ધનવાનની સંપતિ કિલ્લેબંધ નગર છે, પરંતુ દરિદ્રતા દરિદ્રોનો નાશ કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.10.16" />સદાચારી માણસની કમાણીં જીવન છે, પણ દુષ્ટમાણસે તેનાપાપો માટે ચૂકવ્યું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.10.17" />જે શિખામણને સ્વીકારે છે, તે જીવનના રસ્તે છે,<f caller="+"><fr>10:17
</fr><fk>જીવનના રસ્તે છે
</fk><ft>સાચા માગેર્ જાય છે, અથવા તો બીજાને સાચા માગેર્ દોરે છે.</ft></f> પણ જેઓ ઠપકાને ગણકારતા નથી તેઓ ભૂલો કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.10.18" />જે દ્વેષ છુપાવે છે તે જૂઠા બોલો છે, પણ કૂથલી કરનાર મૂર્ખ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.10.19" />બહુ બોલાય ત્યાં પાપ થવાનું જ. જીભ પર લગામ રાખનાર તે ડાહ્યો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.10.20" />સદાચારીની જીભ ચોખ્ખી ચાંદી જેવી છે, પરંતુ દુષ્ટનું હૃદય મૂલ્યહીન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.10.21" />ન્યાયી માણસની વાણી ઘણાને પોષે છે, પણ મૂર્ખાઓ બુદ્ધિના અભાવે મોતને ભેટે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.10.22" />યહોવાના આશીર્વાદ ધનવાન બનાવે છે, અને યહોવા તેમાં મુશ્કેલીઓ ઉમેરતો નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.10.23" />દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓ મૂખોર્ને આનંદ આપે છે પરંતુ શાણપણ પ્રાપ્ત કરવું એ સમજુને મન આનંદ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.10.24" />દુરાચારી જેનાથી ડરે છે તે જ તેને માથે આવી પડે છે, જ્યારે સદાચારી જે ઇચ્છે છે તે જ તેને મળે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.10.25" />વાવાઝોડું પસાર થતાં દુરાચારીનું નામ નિશાન રહેતું નથી. પણ સદાચારી માણસ હંમેશાં અડીખમ ઉભો રહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.10.26" />જેમ દાંતને કડવું પીણું અને આંખોને ધુમાડો તેમ આળસુ નોકર, જે માણસ તેને કામે મોકલે છે તેના માટે આફત રૂપ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.10.27" />યહોવાથી ડરીને ચાલનારનું આયુષ્ય વધે છે, પણ દુષ્ટ વ્યકિતનુ આયુષ્ય ઘટે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.10.28" />ન્યાયીની આશાનું પરિણામ આનંદ છે; પણ દુષ્ટ વ્યકિતની આશાઓ ભાંગીને ભૂક્કો થઇ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.10.29" />જેઓ પ્રામાણિકતાથી જીવે છે, તેમના માટે યહોવાનો માર્ગ કિલ્લારૂપ છે; પરંતુ અનિષ્ટ આચરનારા માટે વિનાશરૂપ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.10.30" />ન્યાયીઓને કદી ખસેડવામાં આવશે નહિ, પરંતુ દુષ્ટો ક્યાંય ઠરીઠામ થઇ કાયમ રહેશે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="PRO.10.31" />ન્યાયીઓના મુખે ડહાપણ ઝરે છે, પરંતુ છેતરામણા શબ્દો નાશ પામે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="PRO.10.32" />સંતોષકારક અને ઉચિત શું છે તે ન્યાયીની વાણી જાણે છે. પરંતુ દુષ્ટોની વાણી છેતરામણી હોય છે.
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<c id="11" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.11.1" />ખોટાં ત્રાજવાનો યહોવાને ગુસ્સો છે. પણ સાચાં કાટલાં જોઇ તેને આનંદ થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.11.2" />અહંકાર આવે એટલે અપમાન આવ્યું જ જાણવું; પણ નમ્રતા જ્યાં હોય ત્યાં જ્ઞાન હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.11.3" />પ્રામાણિક માણસની વિશ્વસનીયતા તેને દોરે છે, પણ ધોખેબાજની વક્રતા તેના દુષ્ટ ઇરાદાને છુપાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.11.4" />જ્યારે દેવ કોપાયમાન થાય ત્યારે સંપત્તિ કામ નહિ આવે, પણ પ્રામાણિકતા વ્યકિતને મોતથી ઉગારે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.11.5" />પ્રામાણિક માણસની નીતિમત્તા તેનો માર્ગ સાફ કરે છે, પણ ખરાબ વ્યકિતની દુષ્ટતા જ તેને પાયમાલ કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.11.6" />માણસો પોતાની ભલાઈથી બચી જશે. પરંતુ કપટ કરનારા તેમની પોતાની ઇચ્છાઓની જ જાળમાં ફસાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.11.7" />દુષ્ટ માણસનું મોત આવતાં તેની અભિલાષાનો અંત આવે છે, તેણે પોતાની સંપત્તિમાં રાખેલી આશાનો પણ અંત આવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.11.8" />સદાચારી લોકો સંકટમાંથી ઊગરી જાય છે અને તેને બદલે દુષ્ટો તેમાં ફસાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.11.9" />દુષ્ટ માણસ પોતાની વાણીથી પડોશીઓનો નાશ નોતરે છે. પરંતુ ન્યાયી તેના જ્ઞાનવડે બીજાઓને ઉગારે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.11.10" />ન્યાયી વ્યકિત સફળ થાય છે ત્યારે આખું નગર હરખાય છે; અને દુષ્ટોનો નાશ થાય છે ત્યારે હર્ષના નાદ સંભળાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.11.11" />સદાચારીના આશીર્વાદથી નગરની ઉન્નતિ થાય છે, પણ દુરાચારીની વાણીથી તેનો નાશ થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.11.12" />જે વ્યકિત પોતાના પડોશી માટે ખરાબ બોલે છે તેનામાં અક્કલ હોતી નથી. પણ સમજુ માણસ મૂંગો રહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.11.13" />કૂથલી ખોર વ્યકિત છૂપી વાત બહાર પાડી દે છે, પણ વિશ્વાસુ વ્યકિત રહસ્ય સાચવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.11.14" />જ્યાં આગેવાન અજ્ઞાન હોય, ત્યાં પ્રજા નાશ પામે છે. અનેક સલાહકારોમાં સુરક્ષા રહેલી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.11.15" />અજાણ્યાના જામીન થનારને વેઠવું પડે છે; જે બાયંધરી લેવાનું ટાળે છે તે સુરક્ષિત છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.11.16" />સુશીલ સ્ત્રી આબરૂને સાચવી રાખે છે; અને જુલમી માણસો દ્રવ્ય સાચવી રાખે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.11.17" />દયાળુ માણસ પોતાની જાતનું ભલું કરે છે, પણ ક્રૂર માણસ પોતાના દેહને દુ:ખમાં નાખે છે;
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.11.18" />દુષ્ટ કમોર્ કરનાર પોતાનો જૂઠાણાનો પગાર મેળવે છે પણ જે નીતિમત્તાનું બીજ વાવે છે તે સાચો હોવા બદલ વળતર મેળવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.11.19" />જે નીતિમત્તાને “હા” પાડે છે તે જીવશે; પણ જે ખરાબ વસ્તુઓનો પીછો કરે છે તે પોતાનું જ મોત આમંત્રે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.11.20" />યહોવા માટે કપટી લોકો ઘૃણાસ્પદ છે; પણ જેઓ નીતિમત્તાથી જીવે છે તેઓ તેને આનંદરુપ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.11.21" />ખાતરી રાખજો દુષ્ટને સજા થયા વગર નહિ રહે, પણ સદાચારીઓનાં સંતાનો સજામાથી છટકી જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.11.22" />અક્કલ વગરની સુંદર સ્ત્રીની સુંદરતા ભૂંડના નાકમાં સોનાની નથણી જેવી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.11.23" />ભલા માણસોની ઇચ્છાઓ સારી વસ્તુઓમાં પરિણમે છે, પરંતુ દુષ્ટોની ઇચ્છાઓ ફકત ગુસ્સામાંજ વિરમે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.11.24" />કોઇ છૂટે હાથે આપે તોય વધે છે, કોઇ વધુ પડતી કરકસર કરે તોયે કંગાળ થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.11.25" />જે બીજાને આશીર્વાદ આપે છે તે સમૃદ્ધ થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.11.26" />અનાજ સંઘરી રાખનારને લોકો શાપ દે છે, પણ વેચનાર ઉપર આશીર્વાદ વરસાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.11.27" />જેઓ ભલું શોધે છે તેઓ ઇશ્વરની કૃપા મેળવે છે. ખોટું શોધે છે તેનું ખોટું થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.11.28" />જેઓ પોતાની સંપત્તિ ઉપર વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેઓ વિનાશને આરે જઇને પડે છે, પણ સદાચારી તંદુરસ્ત છોડની જેમ ફૂલેફાલે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.11.29" />જે પોતાના જ કુટુંબને દુ:ખી કરે છે, તે કંઇ નહિ મેળવે. અને મૂર્ખ માણસ જ્ઞાનીનો દાસ બનશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.11.30" />ન્યાયી માણસ જે કરે તે જીવનનાં ઝાડ સમાન છે. પણ શાણો માણસ બીજા આત્માઓને બચાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="PRO.11.31" />નીતિમાંન લોકોને ભલાઇનો બદલો મળતો હોય તો દુષ્ટો અને પાપીને તો બદલો મળે જ મળે.
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<c id="12" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.12.1" />જે વ્યકિતને જ્ઞાન વહાલું છે તેને શિખામણ પણ વહાલી છે, પણ જે વ્યકિત સુધારણાને ધિક્કારે છે તે ઢોર જેવો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.12.2" />ભલા માણસો યહોવાની કૃપા મેળવે છે, પણ જેઓ દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓ ઘડે છે તેઓ સજા પામે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.12.3" />દુષ્ટતા દ્વારા વ્યકિત સુરક્ષિત ઉભી ન રહીં શકે, ન્યાયનાં મૂળ કદી નહિ ઉખડે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.12.4" />સદ્ગુણી સ્ત્રી પતિને મુગુટરૂપ છે, પણ નિર્લજ્જ સ્ત્રી તેનાં હાડકાને સડારૂપ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.12.5" />ભલાના વિચાર ભલા હોય છે, ખોટાના મનસૂબા કપટભર્યા હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.12.6" />દુરાચારી લોકોની વાણી લોહિયાળ હોય છે, પણ પ્રામાણિક લોકોનું મોઢું તેમને બચાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.12.7" />દુષ્ટો એકવાર નાશ પામ્યા એટલે કંઇ બચતું નથી, પણ સદાચારીનું ઘર કાયમ રહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.12.8" />લોકો વ્યકિતની તેની વિવેક બુદ્ધિ પ્રમાણે પ્રસંશા કરે છે, પણ જેનું હૃદય દુષ્ટ છે તે તિરસ્કૃત થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.12.9" />અન્ન વગરના સમ્માન કરતાં મામૂલી વ્યકિત થઇને નોકર થવું એ વધારે સારૂં છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.12.10" />ભલો માણસ પોતાના પશુના જીવની સંભાળ રાખે છે પણ દુષ્ટ માણસ ક્રૂર હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.12.11" />પોતાની જમીન ખેડનારને પુષ્કળ અન્ન મળશે; પણ નકામી વાતોની પાછળ દોડનાર અક્કલ વગરનો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.12.12" />દુષ્ટ લોકો અનિષ્ટ યોજનાઓની ઇચ્છા રાખે છે પણ સદાચારીના મૂળ તો ફળદ્રુપ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.12.13" />દુષ્ટ માણસ પોતાની જ બંધી પાપી વાતોમાં સપડાય છે, ભલો માણસ મુશ્કેલીમાંથી હેમખેમ બહાર આવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.12.14" />માણસ પોતે બોલેલા શબ્દોને કારણે સારાપણાથી ભરાઇ જાય છે, તેને તેના કામનો બદલો મળે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.12.15" />મૂર્ખ સમજે છે કે હું સાચો છું, પણ જે વ્યકિત સલાહ સાંભળે છે તે ડાહી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.12.16" />મૂર્ખ પોતાનો ગુસ્સો તરત પ્રગટ કરી દે છે, પણ ડાહ્યો માણસ અપમાન ગળી જાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.12.17" />એક ભરોસાપાત્ર સાક્ષી સત્ય કહે છે, પણ જૂઠો સાક્ષી છેતરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.12.18" />વગર વિચારવાળી વાણી તરવારની જેમ ઘા કરે છે પણ જ્ઞાની વ્યકિતના શબ્દો ઘા રૂઝાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.12.19" />જે હોઠ સત્ય બોલે છે તેઓ શાશ્વત રહે છે અને જૂઠા બોલી જીભ ક્ષણિક રહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.12.20" />જેઓ ભૂંડી યોજનાઓ કરે છે તેમનાં મન કપટી છે; પણ શાંતિની સલાહ આપનાર સુખ પામે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.12.21" />સજ્જન પર કદી આફત આવતી નથી, પરંતુ દુષ્ટો મુશ્કેલીઓથી ભરેલા હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.12.22" />યહોવા અસત્યને ધિક્કારે છે, પણ સાચા માણસ પર પ્રસન્ન રહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.12.23" />ડાહ્યો પુરુષ જ્ઞાનને છુપાવે છે, પણ મૂર્ખ પોતાની મૂર્ખાઇ છાપરે ચડીને જણાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.12.24" />ઉદ્યમીનો હાથ અધિકાર ભોગવશે; પરંતુ આળસુ માણસ પાસે મજૂરી કરાવવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.12.25" />ચિંતાઓ વ્યકિતને ગમગીન બનાવે છે, પણ પ્રોત્સાહક શબ્દો તેને ખુશ કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.12.26" />ભલો સાચો માણસ પોતાના પડોશીને સાચો માર્ગ બતાવે છે, દુર્જન તેને આડે માગેર્ દોરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.12.27" />આળસુ વ્યકિત પોતે કરેલો શિકાર રાંધતો નથી. પણ ઉદ્યમી માણસ મહામૂલી સંપત્તિ માણે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.12.28" />ન્યાયીપણાનો રસ્તો માં જીવન છે. એને માગેર્ મોત તો છે જ નહિ.
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<c id="13" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.13.1" />જ્ઞાની પુત્ર પોતાના પિતાની સૂચનાઓ સાંભળે છે, ઉદ્ધત પુત્ર ઠપકાને ગણકારતો જ નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.13.2" />સજ્જન પોતાની વાણીનાં હિતકારી સુફળ ભોગવે છે, પરંતુ દગાબાજ કપટી તો હિંસાનો જ ભૂખ્યો હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.13.3" />મોં સંભાળીને બોલનાર પોતાના જીવનું રક્ષણ કરે છે. પરંતુ જીભને છૂટી મૂકનાર વિનાશ નોતરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.13.4" />આળસુ ઇચ્છે છે ઘણું, પણ પામતો કશું નથી; પણ ઉદ્યમી વ્યકિત પૂર્ણ રીતે સંતુષ્ટ હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.13.5" />સદાચારી જૂઠને ધિક્કારે છે, પણ દુર્જન શરમ અને અપમાન લાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.13.6" />સદાચાર ભલા માણસોનું રક્ષણ કરે છે; પણ દુરાચાર પાપીઓને પછાડી નાખે છે,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.13.7" />કેટલાક કશું ન હોવા છતાં ધનવાન હોવાનો દંભ કરે છે, તો કોઇ ભંડાર ભરેલા હોવા છતાં કંગાળ હોવાનો દેખાવ કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.13.8" />ધનવાન વ્યકિત પૈસા આપીને પોતાનો જીવ બચાવે છે, પણ નિર્ધન વ્યકિતને પોતાના જીવ માટે ધમકી સાંભળવી પડતી નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.13.9" />સદાચારીઓનો દીવો ઉજવળતાથી પ્રકાશે છે, પરંતુ દુરાચારીનો દીવો હોલવી નાખવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.13.10" />અભિમાનથી તો કેવળ ઝઘડો જ થાય છે; સલાહ માનવામાં ડહાપણ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.13.11" />સરળતાથી મેળવેલી સંપત્તિ ટકતી નથી. પણ સખત પરિશ્રમથી મેળવેલી સંપત્તિની વૃદ્ધિ થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.13.12" />આકાંક્ષા પૂરી થવામાં વિલંબ થતાં હૈયુ ભારે થઇ જાય છે, ઇચ્છાઓની પરિપૂર્ણતા જ જીવન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.13.13" />શિખામણને નકારનાર આફત નોતરે છે, પણ આજ્ઞાઓનો આદર કરનારને બદલો મળે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.13.14" />જ્ઞાનીઓનો ઉપદેશ જીવનસ્ત્રોત છે, તે વ્યકિતને મૃત્યુના સકંજામાંથી ઉગારી લે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.13.15" />સારી સમજશકિત સન્માન પામે છે, વિશ્વાસઘાતી લોકો, વિનાશને નોતરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.13.16" />પ્રત્યેક ડાહ્યો માણસ સમજદારીથી વતેર્ છે. પણ મૂર્ખ પોતાની મૂર્ખાઇ જાહેર કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.13.17" />એક દુષ્ટ સંદેશાવાહક મુશ્કેલીમાં મૂકાઇ જાય છે; પણ વિશ્વાસુ સંદેશવાહક સાંત્વન લાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.13.18" />શિખામણ ફગાવી દેનારના ભાગ્યમાં ગરીબી અને અપમાન છે, સુધારાઓને સ્વીકારનારને સન્માન મળે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.13.19" />ઇચ્છાની તૃપ્તિ આત્માને મીઠી લાગે છે; પણ દુષ્ટતાથી પાછા વળવું એ મૂખોર્ને માટે આઘાત જનક લાગે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.13.20" />જો તું જ્ઞાની માણસોની સંગત કરશે, તો તું જ્ઞાની થશે. પરંતુ જે મૂર્ખની સોબત કરે છે તેના બૂરા હાલ થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.13.21" />દુર્ભાગ્ય પાપીનો પીછો પકડે છે, પણ ભલા માણસોને સારી વસ્તુઓ બદલા રૂપે મળે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.13.22" />એક ભલો માણસ પોતાનાં છોકરાંના છોકરાને માટે વારસો મૂકી જાય છે; અને પાપીનું ધન પુણ્યશાળી માટે ભરી મૂકવામાં આવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.13.23" />ગરીબના ખેતરમાં ભલે ઘણું અનાજ ઊપજે, પણ તે અન્યાયથી આચકી લેવામાં આવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.13.24" />જે પોતાના બાળકને શિસ્તપાલનની કેળવણી માટે સોટી મારતો નથી તે પોતાના બાળકનો દુશ્મન છે; પરંતુ તેના પર પ્રીતિ કરનાર તેને વેળાસર શિક્ષા કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.13.25" />સજ્જન પેટ ભરીને ખાય છે, પણ દુર્જનનું પેટ ખાલીને ખાલી રહે છે.
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<c id="14" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.14.1" />દરેક ડાહી સ્ત્રી પોતાનું ઘર ઊભું કરે છે, પણ એક મૂર્ખ સ્ત્રી તેણીના પોતાને હાથે તેનો નાશ કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.14.2" />જે પોતાની વિશ્વસનીયતામાં ચાલે છે તે યહોવાનો ડર રાખે છે. પણ જેના માગોર્ વાંકા છે તે તેને ધિક્કારે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.14.3" />મૂર્ખના મોઢામાં અભિમાનનો દંડો છે, પણ જ્ઞાની વ્યકિતની વાણી રક્ષણ કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.14.4" />બળદ ન હોય તો ગભાંણ સાફ જ રહે છે. પરંતુ મબલખ પાક બળદના બળથી જ પાકે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.14.5" />સાચો સાક્ષી જૂઠું બોલે નહિ, પણ જૂઠો સાક્ષી શ્વાસે શ્વાસે જૂઠું બોલે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.14.6" />હાંસી ઉડાવનાર જ્ઞાન શોધે છે પણ પામતો નથી, ડાહી વ્યકિત પાસે જ્ઞાન સહેલાઇથી આવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.14.7" />મૂર્ખ માણસથી આઘા રહેવું, તેની પાસે તને જ્ઞાની શબ્દો સાંભળવા નહિ મળે,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.14.8" />ડાહ્યા માણસનું ડહાપણ, વિચારીને કાળજી પૂર્વક પગ મૂકવામાં છે, પણ મૂર્ખની મૂર્ખાઇ તેને ગેરમાગેર્ દોરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.14.9" />મૂર્ખ પ્રાયશ્ચિતને હસવામાં ઉડાવે છે, પણ ભલા માણસો દેવની કૃપા મેળવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.14.10" />જ્યારે કોઇ વ્યકિતનું હૃદય વ્યથિત હોય છે ત્યારે ફકત તે વ્યકિતજ તેનું દુ:ખ અનુભવે છે. એ જ રીતે, જ્યારે કોઇ વ્યકિત સુખી હોય છે ત્યારે કોઇ અજાણ્યો તેના સુખમાં જોડાઇ શકતો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.14.11" />દુર્જનનું ઘર બરબાદ થઇ જશે, પણ સજ્જન વ્યકિતના તંબૂ સમૃદ્ધ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.14.12" />એક રસ્તો એવો છે જે વ્યકિતને લાગે છે કે તે સારો છે, પણ અંતે તો મોતનો રસ્તો નિવડે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.14.13" />એવું પણ બની શકે કે જ્યારે વ્યકિત હસતી હોય, ત્યારે તેનું હૃદય વ્યથિત હોય અને હર્ષનો અંત શોકમાં આવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.14.14" />દુષ્ટ વ્યકિત તેના કુકમોર્ની સજા ભોગવે છે અને ભલી વ્યકિત પોતાનાં કમોર્નું ફળ માણે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.14.15" />જ્ઞાની માણસ બધું માની લે છે, પણ ચતુર માણસ જોઇ જોઇને પગ મૂકે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.14.16" />જ્ઞાની માણસ ચેતતો રહે છે અને આફતને ટાળે છે, પણ મૂર્ખ હેતુ વિહીન છે અને વધુ પડતો વિશ્વાસ ધરાવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.14.17" />જલ્દી ક્રોધ કરનાર મૂર્ખાઇ કરી બેસે છે, અને દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓ ઘડનાર ધિક્કાર પામે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.14.18" />ભોળા લોકો મૂર્ખાઇનો વારસો પામે છે; પણ ડાહ્યા લોકોને વિદ્યાનો મુગટ પહેરાવવામાં આવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.14.19" />દુર્જનોને સજ્જનો આગળ ઝૂકવું પડે છે, તેમને સદાચારીઓને બારણે નમવું પડે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.14.20" />ગરીબને પોતાના પડોશીઓ પણ ધિક્કારે છે, પરંતુ ધનવાનને ઘણા લોકો ચાહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.14.21" />બીજાને હલકા ગણનાર પાપમાં પડે છે, પણ ગરીબ પર દયા કરનાર સુખ પામે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.14.22" />ભૂંડી યોજનાઓ ઘડનાર ભૂલા પડે છે, સારી યોજનાઓ ઘડનારને કૃપા અને સત્ય મળે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.14.23" />જ્યાં મહેનત ત્યાં બરકત છે; પણ ખાલી વાતો જ થાય ત્યાં દળદર લાવનારી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.14.24" />જ્ઞાનીઓનો મુગટ તેઓની સંપત્તિ છે. મૂર્ખાઇ એ મૂખોર્ માટેનો બદલો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.14.25" />સાચો સાક્ષી જીવ બચાવે છે, પણ કપટી માણસ જૂઠાણા શ્વસે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.14.26" />યહોવાનાં ભયમાં ઢ વિશ્વાસ સમાયેલો છે. તેનાં સંતાનને તે આશ્રય આપે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.14.27" />મોતના ફાંસલામાંથી છૂટી જવાને માટે યહોવાનો ભય જીવન સ્ત્રોત છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.14.28" />ઘણી પ્રજા તે રાજાનું ગૌરવ છે; પણ પ્રજા વગર શાસક નાશ પામે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.14.29" />જેનામાં વધારે ધીરજ છે તે વધારે સમજુ છે, પણ ઝટ ગુસ્સે થનાર મૂર્ખાઇનું પ્રદર્શન કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.14.30" />હૃદયની શાંતિ શરીરનું જીવન છે; પણ ઇર્ષ્યા હાડકાનો સડો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="PRO.14.31" />ગરીબને રંજાડનાર તેના સર્જનહારનું અપમાન કરે છે. પણ ગરીબ ઉપર રહેમ રાખનાર તેને સન્માને છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="PRO.14.32" />જ્યારે મુશ્કેલીઓ આવે છે, દુરાચારીનું પતન થાય છે પરંતુ ન્યાયી વ્યકિત પોતાના મૃત્યુમાં પણ આશા રાખે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="PRO.14.33" />બુદ્ધિમાન હૃદયમાં જ્ઞાન વસે છે, તે મૂર્ખની વચ્ચે પણ જાણીતું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="PRO.14.34" />ન્યાયીપણાથી પ્રજા મહાન બને છે, પણ પાપ તો પ્રજાનું કલંક છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="PRO.14.35" />બુદ્ધિમાન સેવક પર રાજાની કૃપા હોય છે, પણ નિર્લજ્જ સેવકો પર તેનો રોષ ઉતરે છે.
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</p>

<c id="15" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.15.1" />નમ્ર જવાબથી ક્રોધ શમી જાય છે. પણ કઠોર વચનથી રોષ ભભૂકી ઊઠે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.15.2" />જ્ઞાની વ્યકિતની વાણી જ્ઞાન ઊચ્ચારે છે, પરંતુ મૂર્ખની વાણી મૂર્ખાઇથી ઉભરાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.15.3" />યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિ સર્વત્ર હોય છે તે ભલા અને ભૂંડા બધાં પર લક્ષ રાખે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.15.4" />ઘા રૂઝવે એવી વાણી જીવનવૃક્ષ છે, પણ વક્રવાણી આત્માને તોડી નાખે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.15.5" />મૂર્ખ પોતાના પિતાની સૂચનાઓને તુચ્છ ગણે છે; પણ ઠપકાને ગંભીરતાથી લક્ષમાં લેનાર શાણો થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.15.6" />સજ્જનના ઘરમાં ધનનો ભંડાર છે. પણ દુર્જનની કમાણીમાં આફત હોય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.15.7" />જ્ઞાની વ્યકિતની વાણી જ્ઞાન ફેલાવે છે, પણ મૂર્ખનું હૃદય મૂર્ખતા ફેલાવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.15.8" />દુષ્ટના યજ્ઞાર્પણને યહોવા ધિક્કારે છે; પરંતુ પ્રામાણિકની પ્રાર્થનાથી તે પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.15.9" />દુષ્ટ વ્યકિતઓના આચારને યહોવા ધિક્કારે છે; પરંતુ નીતિમત્તાને માગેર્ ચાલનાર ઉપર તે પ્રેમ દાખવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.15.10" />સદૃમાર્ગને તજી જનારને આકરી સજા થશે. અને ઠપકાનો તિરસ્કાર કરનાર મરી જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.15.11" />શેઓલ તથા અબદોન<f caller="+"><fr>15:11
</fr><fk>શેઓલ તથા અબદોન
</fk><ft>એેટલે મૃત્યુની દુનિયા માટેના હિબ્રુ શબ્દો છે.</ft></f> યહોવા સમક્ષ ખુલ્લાં છે. તો માણસોનાં હૃદય કેટલાં વિશેષખુલ્લાં હોવાં જોઇએ!
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.15.12" />તુ માખી રાખનારને કોઇ ઠપકો આપે તે ગમતું નથી. અને તે જ્ઞાની વ્યકિતની પાસે જવા પણ ઇચ્છતો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.15.13" />જો અંતરમાં આનંદ હોય તો ચહેરો પ્રફુલ્લિત રહે છે. પરંતુ હૃદયમાં શોક હોય તો મન ભાંગી જાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.15.14" />જ્ઞાની વ્યકિત જ્ઞાનની ઇચ્છા રાખે છે. પરંતુ મૂર્ખનો આહાર મૂર્ખાઇ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.15.15" />દરરોજ કોઇ વ્યકિત મુશ્કેલીમાં મૂકાય તો તે બહુ ખરાબ છે. પણ સુખી હૃદય એ સતત ચાલતી ઊજવણી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.15.16" />મુશ્કેલીઓ સાથેની વિપુલ સંપતિ કરતાં યહોવા પ્રત્યેના ભયની સાથે થોડું ધન હોવું વધારે ઉત્તમ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.15.17" />સરસ માંસ ધિક્કારથી ખાવાં કરતા સાદા શાકભાજી પ્રેમથી ખાવા વધારે સારા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.15.18" />ગરમ મિજાજનો વ્યકિત કજિયા ઊભા કરે છે. પણ ધીરજવાન વ્યકિત બોલાચાલીને શાંત પાડે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.15.19" />આળસુ વ્યકિતનો માર્ગ કાંટાથી ભરાઇ ગયો છે; પણ સજ્જનનો માર્ગ વિઘ્નોથી મુકત છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.15.20" />ડાહ્યો પુત્ર પિતાને સુખ આપે છે, પણ મૂર્ખ પુત્ર પોતાની માતાને ધિક્કારે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.15.21" />અજ્ઞાનીને મૂર્ખાઇ આનંદરુપ લાગે છે; પણ બુદ્ધિમાન માણસ સીધે રસ્તે ચાલે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.15.22" />સલાહ વગરની યોજના ધૂળમાં મળે છે, પરંતુ અનેક સલાહકાર હોય તો તે સફળ થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.15.23" />પોતાના હાજરજવાબીપણાથી વ્યકિત ખુશ થાય છે; યોગ્ય સમયે બોલાયેલો શબ્દ કેટલો સરસ લાગે છે!
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.15.24" />જ્ઞાની માણસ માટે એક જીવન તરફ જતો રસ્તો છે જે તેને શેઓલ<f caller="+"><fr>15:24
</fr><fk>શેઓલ
</fk><ft>શેઓલએ દુનિયા જયાં લોકો મૃત્યુ પામ્યા પછી જાય છે મૃત્યુલોક.</ft></f> તરફ જતા રસ્તેથી પાછો વાળે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.15.25" />યહોવા અભિમાનીનું ઘર તોડી પાડે છે, પણ વિધવાની હદ તે કાયમ રાખશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.15.26" />દુષ્ટ લોકોની યોજનાઓથી યહોવા ધિક્કારે છે, પરંતુ તેમની દ્રષ્ટિએ દયાળુ શબ્દો પવિત્ર છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.15.27" />જે લોભી છે તે પોતાના કુટુંબને માથે આફત નોતરે છે, પરંતુ જે લાંચને ધિક્કારે છે તે શાંતિથી જીવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.15.28" />સજ્જન જવાબ આપતાં પહેલાં વિચાર કરે છે, પણ દુર્જન પોતાના મોઢે ભૂંડી વાતો વહેતી મૂકે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.15.29" />યહોવા પોતાને દુર્જનથી દૂર રાખે છે, પણ તે સજ્જનની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.15.30" />આંખોની ચમક જોઇ હૃદયને આનંદ થાય છે. અને શુભ સમાચાર હાડકાને તંદુરસ્ત બનાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="PRO.15.31" />જીવનપ્રદ શિખામણ સાંભળનારની ગણતરી જ્ઞાનીઓમાં થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="PRO.15.32" />શિખામણનો ત્યાગ કરનાર પોતે પોતાના જ જીવનને તુચ્છ ગણે છે. પણ સુધરવા માટેની શિક્ષા સાંભળનાર સમજણ મેળવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="PRO.15.33" />યહોવાથી ડરીને ચાલવું એ જ જ્ઞાનની સૂચના છે; સન્માન પામતાં પહેલા નમ્ર બનવું જરૂરી છે.
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<c id="16" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.16.1" />માણસો મનમાં સંકલ્પ કરે છે; પણ છેલ્લો નિર્ણય તો યહોવાના હાથમાં છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.16.2" />વ્યકિતને પોતાનું બધું આચરણ સાચું લાગે છે પરંતુ યહોવા તેના અંતરને પારખે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.16.3" />તમારા કામો યહોવાને સોંપી દે એટલે તમારી યોજનાઓ સફળ થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.16.4" />યહોવાએ પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુને પોતપોતાના હેતુ માટે ર્સજી છે; હા, દુષ્ટોને પણ, સંકટના કાળ માટે ર્સજ્યા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.16.5" />દરેક અભિમાની વ્યકિતને યહોવા ધિક્કારે છે, ખાતરી રાખજો તેને સજા થયા વગર નહિ રહે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.16.6" />દયા તથા સત્યતાથી પાપનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત થાય છે, અને યહોવાનો ડર વ્યકિતને દુષ્ટતાથી દૂર રાખે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.16.7" />જ્યારે કોઇ વ્યકિતના જીવનથી યહોવા ખુશ થાય છે ત્યારે તેના દુશ્મનોને પણ તેની સાથે શાંતિથી રાખે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.16.8" />અન્યાયથી મળેલી ધણી આવક કરતા, ન્યાયથી મળેલી થોડી આવક સારી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.16.9" />વ્યકિતનું મન માર્ગ પસંદ કરે છે, પરંતુ માત્ર યહોવા જ તેના પગલાને નક્કી કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.16.10" />રાજાના મુખમાં પ્રેરણાત્મક નિર્ણયો વસે છે, તે જ્યારે ન્યાય કરે છે ત્યારે ભૂલ કરતો નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.16.11" />અદલ કાંટો તથા ત્રાજવાં યહોવાનાં છે. કોથળી માંહેનાં સર્વ કાટલાં તેનું કામ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.16.12" />અનિષ્ટ વસ્તુઓ કરવી એ રાજા માટે અક્ષમ્ય છે, સારા કામોથી રાજગાદી સ્થાપિત થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.16.13" />સાચી વાણીથી રાજાઓ રીઝે છે, અને સત્યવાદી ઉપર તેઓ પ્રેમ રાખે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.16.14" />રાજાનો રોષ યમદૂતો જેવો છે; પણ શાણી વ્યકિત તેના ગુસ્સાને શાંત પાડે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.16.15" />જ્યારે રાજાનું મુખ પ્રસન્ન હોય છે ત્યારે જીવન સુરક્ષિત હોય છે, એની કૃપા વરસાદના વાદળ જેવી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.16.16" />સોના કરતાં જ્ઞાન મેળવવું એ ઉત્તમ છે! અને ચાંદી કરતા સમજણ મેળવવી વધારે યોગ્ય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.16.17" />પ્રામાણિક માણસનો માર્ગ દુષ્ટતાથી દૂર હોય છે, જોઇવિચારીને ચાલનાર પોતાનો જીવ બચાવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.16.18" />અભિમાનનું પરિણામ નાશ છે, અને પતનની પહેલાં ગવિર્ષ્ઠ સ્વભાવ આવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.16.19" />ગરીબની સાથે નમ્રતા રાખવી તે અભિમાનીની લૂંટના ભાગીદાર થવા કરતાં વધારે સારું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.16.20" />જે યહોવાના વચનને ગણકારે છે તેનું હિત થશે. અને જે કોઇ યહોવા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તેને ધન્ય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.16.21" />જ્ઞાની અંત:કરણવાળો શાણો કહેવાશે; તેની મીઠી વાણી જ્ઞાનનો વધારો કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.16.22" />જેની પાસે સમજ હોય તેને માટે સમજણ જીવનદાતા છે, પણ મૂર્ખ માટે શિક્ષા એ તેમની મૂર્ખાઇ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.16.23" />જ્ઞાની હૃદય વ્યકિતની વાણીને દોરવણી આપે છે અને તે હોઠ ઉપર જ્ઞાનનો વધારો કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.16.24" />માયાળુ શબ્દો મધ જેવા છે, તેઓ આત્માને સ્વાદે મીઠી અને હાડકા માટે તંદુરસ્ત આપે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.16.25" />એક એવો પણ માર્ગ હોય છે જે લાગે સીધો પણ લઇ જાય છે મૃત્યુ તરફ.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.16.26" />મજૂરની ભૂખ તેની પાસે મજૂરી કરાવે છે; તેનું મોઢું માણસને જંપીને બેસવા દેતું નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.16.27" />નકામો માણસ દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓ ઘડે છે. તેની જીભે બળબળતો અજ્ઞિ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.16.28" />દુષ્ટ માણસ કજિયા-કંકાસ કરાવે છે, લોકો વિષે અનિષ્ટ બોલનારી વ્યકિત મિત્રોમાં ફૂટ પડાવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.16.29" />હિંસક માણસ પોતાના પડોશીને છેતરીને ખરાબ માગેર્ દોરી જાય છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="PRO.16.30" />આંખ મટકાવનાર વ્યકિત મુશ્કેલી લાવનારી યોજનાઓ કરે છે, અને હોઠ ભીડનાર વ્યકિત કંઇક અનિષ્ટ કરી રહી હોય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="PRO.16.31" />માથે પળિયાં એે ગૌરવનો તાજ છે; સત્યને માગેર્ ચાલનારને એ મળે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="PRO.16.32" />જે ક્રોધ કરવે ધીમો શકિતશાળી યોદ્ધા કરતાં વધું ઇચ્છનીય છે; અને જે પોતાના મિજાજને કાબૂમાં રાખે છે તે શહેર જીતનાર કરતાં ઉત્તમ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="PRO.16.33" />લોકો દ્વારા ચિઠ્ઠી નાખવામાં આવે છે, પણ નિર્ણય તો તે બધાંયનો યહોવાના હાથમાં છે.
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<c id="17" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.17.1" />જે ઘરમાં કજિયા-કંકાસ હોય અને ત્યાં મિજબાની હોય તો તેના કરતાં શાંતિસહિત સૂકો રોટલો મળે તો તે વધારે સારો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.17.2" />ડાહ્યો નોકર નકામા પુત્ર ઉપર અમલ ચલાવશે અને ભાઇઓ સાથે વારસામાંથી ભાગ લેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.17.3" />ચાંદીની પરીક્ષા કુલડી કરે છે. સોનાની પરીક્ષા ભઠ્ઠી કરે છે. પણ અંત:કરણની પરીક્ષા યહોવા કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.17.4" />જે કોઇ અનિષ્ટ વાત સાંભળે છે તે દુષ્ટ વ્યકિત છે, જે કોઇ કિન્ના ખોરી ભરેલી વાતો સાંભળે છે તે જુઠ્ઠો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.17.5" />જે ગરીબની મશ્કરી કરે છે તે તેના સર્જનહાર દેવની નિંદા કરે છે; જે કોઇ કોઇની વિપત્તિને જોઇને રાજી થાય છે તે શિક્ષા પામ્યા વગર રહેશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.17.6" />છોકરાનાં છોકરાં વૃદ્ધ પુરુષનો મુગટ છે; અને સંતાનોનો મહિમા તેઓના પૂર્વજ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.17.7" />મૂર્ખના મુખમાં ઉમદા વાણી શોભતી નથી, તો પછી મહાપુરુષના મુખમાં જૂઠી વાણી કેવી રીતે શોભે?
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.17.8" />જેને બક્ષિસ મળે છે તેની નજરમાં તે મૂલ્યવાન મણિ જેવી છે; તે જ્યાં જ્યાં જાય છે, ત્યાં ત્યાં તે ઉદય પામે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.17.9" />દોષ જતો કરવાથી મૈત્રી વધે છે. પણ તેને જ વારંવાર સંભારવાથી મૈત્રી તૂટે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.17.10" />મૂર્ખને સો ફટકા કરતાં બુદ્ધિમાનને એક ઠપકાનો ઘા વધારે ઊંડી અસર કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.17.11" />દુર્જન હંમેશા આફતો શોધ્યા કર્યા કરે છે.આથી તેની સામે નિર્દય દૂત મોકલવામાં આવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.17.12" />જેનાં બચ્ચાં છીનવી લીધાં હોય એવી રીંછણ કોઇને મળજો; પણ મૂર્ખાઇ કરતો મૂર્ખ કોઇને ન મળો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.17.13" />જે કોઇ ભલાઇનો બદલો ભૂંડાઇથી વાળે છે, તેના ઘરમાંથી ભૂંડાઇ દૂર થશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.17.14" />ઝગડાની શરૂઆત બંધમાં પડેલી તિરાડ જેવી છે; લડાઇ ફાટી નીકળે તે પહેલાં જ વાતનો નિવેડો લાવી દો.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.17.15" />દોષિતને જે નિદોર્ષ ઠરાવે અને નિદોર્ષને જે સજા કરે તે બન્નેને યહોવા ધિક્કારે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.17.16" />મૂર્ખના હાથમાં પૈસા શા કામના? તેનામાં અક્કલ તો છે નહિ, તે થોડો જ જ્ઞાન ખરીદવાનો છે?
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.17.17" />મિત્ર સર્વ સમયે પ્રીતિ રાખે છે, ખરો ભાઇ મુશ્કેલીઓને વહેંચી લેવાજ જન્મ્યો હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.17.18" />અક્કલ વગરનો માણસ જ પોતાના પડોશીનો જામીન થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.17.19" />પાપ ગમતું હોય છે તેને કજિયો ગમે છે; જે દ્વારમાર્ગ વિશાળ બનાવે છે. તે વિનાશ નોતરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.17.20" />કુટિલ હૃદયના માણસનું કદી ભલું થતું જ નથી, વાંકાબોલો માણસ વિપત્તિમાં પડે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.17.21" />મૂર્ખને પેદા કરનાર દુ:ખી થાય છે, મૂર્ખના બાપને કદી આનંદ થતો નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.17.22" />આનંદી હૈયું એ ઉત્તમ ઔષધ છે, પણ ઘાયલ થયેલું મન હાડકાંને સૂકવી નાખે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.17.23" />દુર્જન છૂપી રીતે લાંચ લે છે અને પછી અન્યાય કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.17.24" />બુદ્ધિમાન વ્યકિતની આંખ જ્ઞાન ઉપર જ મંડાયેલી હોય છે, પણ મૂર્ખની આંખ ચોગરદમ ભટકે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.17.25" />મૂર્ખ પુત્ર પિતાને માટે વ્યથારૂપ અને પોતાની માતાને માટે કડવાશરૂપ લાગે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.17.26" />નિદોર્ષને દંડ કરવો એ સારું નથી, તેવી જ રીતે પ્રામાણિકપણાને તેની વિશ્વસનીયતા માટે દંડ ફટકારવો યોગ્ય નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.17.27" />સાચો જાણકાર કરકસરથી બોલે છે, જે મગજ ઠંડુ રાખે એ ડાહ્યો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.17.28" />બોલે નહિ તે મૂર્ખ પણ ડાહ્યામાં ગણાય, મોઢું સીવેલું રાખે ત્યાં સુધી તે ડાહ્યો ગણાય છે.
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<c id="18" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.18.1" />એકલો માણસ ફકત પોતાની ઇચ્છાઓ વિશે જ વિચારે છે અને બધી સારી સલાહોને ગુસ્સાથી નકારે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.18.2" />મૂર્ખને બુદ્ધિમાં રસ નથી હોતો, તેને ફકત પોતાના મંતવ્યોને જ રજૂ કરવા હોય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.18.3" />જ્યારે દુરાચાર આવે છે ત્યારે ધિક્કાર તેને અનુસરે છે, અને અપકીતિર્ સાથે શરમ પણ આવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.18.4" />શાણી વ્યકિતની વાણી, ઊંડા પાણી, વહેતું ઝરણું અને જ્ઞાનની નદી જેવી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.18.5" />ન્યાયાલયમાં દુર્જનની તરફેણ કરીને નિદોર્ષ વ્યકિતને અન્યાય કરવો એ સારું નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.18.6" />મૂર્ખ બોલે બોલે કજિયા કરાવે છે અને શબ્દે શબ્દે ડફણાં મારે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.18.7" />મૂર્ખની વાણી તેનો વિનાશ નોતરે છે. અને તે પોતાની શબ્દોનીજ જાળમાં સપડાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.18.8" />કૂથલીના શબ્દો સ્વાદિષ્ટ ભોજન જેવા હોય છે, તે તરત ગળે ઉતરી જાય છે અને શરીરના અંતરતમ ભાગમાં પહોચી જાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.18.9" />વળી જે પોતાનાં કામ પ્રત્યે શિથિલ છે તે ઉડાઉનો ભાઇ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.18.10" />યહોવાનું નામ મજબૂત કિલ્લો છે, જ્યાં ભાગી જઇને સજ્જન સુરક્ષિત રહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.18.11" />ધનવાન માને છે કે, મારું ધન મારું કિલ્લેબંદીવાળું નગર છે, ઊંચો કોટ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.18.12" />અભિમાન વિનાશને નોતરે છે, પહેલી નમ્રતા છે પછી સન્માન પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.18.13" />સાંભળ્યા પહેલાઁ જવાબ આપવામાં મૂર્ખાઇ તથા લજ્જા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.18.14" />હિમ્મતવાન માણસ પોતાનું દુ:ખસહન કરી શકશે; પણ ઘાયલ મન કોણ વેઠી શકે?
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.18.15" />બુદ્ધિશાળી વ્યકિત જ્ઞાન પ્રાપ્ત કરવા મથે છે, જ્ઞાની વ્યકિતના કાન જ્ઞાન શોધે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.18.16" />વ્યકિતની ભેટ તેને માટે માર્ગ ખુલ્લો કરે છે, અને મહત્વની વ્યકિતની સમક્ષ લઇ જાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.18.17" />ન્યાયાલયમાં પહેલા બોલે તે સાચો લાગે, પણ બીજો આવીને તેની ઊલટ તપાસ કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.18.18" />સમર્થ વ્યકિત વચ્ચેનો મામલો જામીનથી નીપટાવાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.18.19" />દુભાયેલા ભાઇને મનાવવો ગઢ જીતવા કરતાં કપરું છે; તે કજિયા કિલ્લાની ભૂંગળો જેવા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.18.20" />યકિત જેવું બોલે છે તેવાં ફળ તે ભોગવે છે; પોતાની વાણીનો બદલો તેને ચોક્કસ મળશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.18.21" />જન્મમૃત્યુ જીભના સાર્મથ્યમાં છે; અને જીભ તેને જે પ્રેમ પૂર્વક વાપરે છે, તેઓ તે પ્રમાણે બદલો મેળવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.18.22" />જેને પત્ની મળે તેને સારી ચીજ મળી જાણવી, અને યહોવાની કૃપા પામ્યો જાણવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.18.23" />ગરીબ કાલાવાલા કરે છે; પરંતુ દ્વવ્યવાન ઉદ્ધતાઇથી જવાબ આપે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.18.24" />ઘણા મિત્રો આફત લાવી શકે છે; પરંતુ એક ખાસ પ્રકારનો મિત્ર છે કે જે એક ભાઇ કરતા વધુ નિકટ છે.
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</p>

<c id="19" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.19.1" />જૂઠા બોલો અને મૂર્ખ તવંગર કરતાં સત્યવકતા અને પ્રામાણિકપણે વર્તનાર ગરીબ વ્યકિત સારી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.19.2" />જ્ઞાન વગરની આકાંક્ષા સારી નહિ, ઉતાવળાં પગળાં ભરનાર પાપમાં પડે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.19.3" />વ્યકિત પોતાની મૂર્ખાઇથી પાયમાલ થાય છે અને પછી યહોવાને દોષ દે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.19.4" />સંપત્તિ મિત્રો વધારે છે પણ ગરીબના મિત્રો તેને છોડી જાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.19.5" />જૂઠો સાક્ષી સજા પામ્યા વગર રહેશે નહિ. જે શ્વાસે શ્વાસે જૂઠું બોલે છે તે છટકવા પામતો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.19.6" />ઉદાર માણસની સૌ ખુશામત કરે છે. ઉપહાર આપનારના સૌ કોઇ મિત્ર બને છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.19.7" />જે દરિદ્રીને તેના બધાં સગાં ધિક્કારે છે; તેનાથી તેના મિત્રો વધારે દૂર થઇ જશે. જ્યારે દરિદ્રી તેઓને બોલાવશે તેઓ અદ્રશ્ય થઇ જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.19.8" />જે જ્ઞાન મેળવે છે તે પોતાનું હિત સાધે છે. જે સારાસારનો વિવેક જાળવે છે તે સારી વસ્તુને મેળવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.19.9" />જૂઠો સાક્ષી સજા પામ્યા વગર રહે નહિ, જે શ્વાસે શ્વાસે જૂઠું બોલે છે તે અવશ્ય નાશ પામશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.19.10" />મૂર્ખને મોજશોખ ભોગવવો શોભતા નથી અને ગુલામ રાજકુમારો ઉપર શાશન કરે તે તેનાથી પણ ઓછું શોભે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.19.11" />ક્રોધને કાબૂમાં રાખવો એ ડાહી વ્યકિતનું લક્ષણ છે ક્ષમા આપવી એ તેમના મહિમા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.19.12" />રાજાનો ક્રોધ સિંહની ગર્જના જેવો છે; પણ તેની કૃપા ઘાસ પરનાં ઝાકળ જેવી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.19.13" />મૂર્ખ પુત્ર પોતાના પિતાને વિપત્તિરૂપ છે. કજિયાળી પત્ની જાયુ ટપકતા પાણી જેવી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.19.14" />ઘર અને ધન તો પિતા તરફથી વારસામાં મળે છે, પણ ડાહી પત્ની તો યહોવાનુ ઈનામ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.19.15" />આળસ ભરનિદ્રામાં નાખે છે અને આળસુ વ્યકિતને ભૂખ વેઠવી પડે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.19.16" />જે આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરે છે તે આત્માનું રક્ષણ કરે છે, પણ જે તેના પ્રત્યે બેદરકાર છે તે મૃત્યુ પામે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.19.17" />ગરીબ પર દયા રાખનાર યહોવાને ઉછીનું આપે છે. યહોવા એ સુકૃત્યનો બદલો આપશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.19.18" />સુધારવાની આશા હોય ત્યાં સુધી તમારા બાળકને શિક્ષા કરજો; તેને પોતાની જાતને વિનાશ કરવામાં મદદ કરશો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.19.19" />ઉગ્ર ક્રોધીને સજા ભોગવવી પડશે, જો તું તેને બચાવવા જશે, તો તારે વારંવાર તેમ કરવું પડશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.19.20" />સલાહ સાંભળીને શિખામણ સ્વીકારો; પછી અંતે તમે ડાહ્યા બનશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.19.21" />વ્યકિતના મનમાં અનેક યોજનાઓ હોય છે, પણ ફકત યહોવાની ઇચ્છાઓ જ પ્રચલિત રહેશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.19.22" />વ્યકિતની વફાદારી બીજાને તેની સાથે રહેવા માટે આકષેર્ છે. જૂઠાબોલા અપ્રામાણિક થવાં કરતાં ગરીબ રહેવું વધારે સારું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.19.23" />જે કોઇ યહોવાનો ભય રાખે છે તે જીવન પામે છે, તે ભય વગર સંતોષથી રહેશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.19.24" />આળસુ પોતાનો હાથ થાળીમાં મૂકે છે ખરો, પણ તેને પોતાના મોં સુધી ઉઠાવવાનું મન થતું નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.19.25" />તિરસ્કાર કરનાર વ્યકિતને દંડો ફટકારો જેથી સરળ લોકો પાઠ ભણે, જો તમે ડાહી વ્યકિતને ઠપકો આપશો તો તે જ્ઞાન મેળવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.19.26" />જે પુત્ર પોતાના પિતાને લૂંટે છે અને પોતાની માતાને કાઢી મૂકે છે તે નિર્લ્લજ્જ અને નામોશી ભરેલો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.19.27" />હે મારા પુત્ર, જો તું જ્ઞાનનીવાતો સાંભળવાનું બંધ કરીશ, તો તું જ્ઞાનના શબ્દોને ખોઇશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.19.28" />દુષ્ટ સાક્ષી ન્યાયની મશ્કરી કરે છે. અને દુષ્ટ લોકો અનિષ્ટને ગળી જાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.19.29" />ઊદ્ધત લોકો માટે શિક્ષા અને મૂર્ખાની પીઠને સારું ફટકા તૈયાર કરેલાં છે.
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<c id="20" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.20.1" />દ્રાક્ષારસ હાંસી ઊડાવનાર છે, મધનું પીણું દંગો મચાવે છે; જે કોઇ સુરાપાનને લીધે ખોટેમાગેર્ જાય છે તો તે જ્ઞાની નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.20.2" />રાજાની ધમકી સિંહની ગર્જના જેવી છે; તેનો રોષ વહોરી લેનાર પોતાના જ જીવને જોખમમાં મૂકે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.20.3" />ઝગડાથી દૂર રહેવું સન્માનીય છે, પણ મૂરખ ઝગડો કરવા માટે ઊતાવળો હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.20.4" />આળસુ વ્યકિત ઉચિત સમયે ખેડ કરતો નથી, અને કાપણી વખતે પાક લેવા જાય છે, ત્યારે તેને કશું મળતું નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.20.5" />અક્કલ વ્યકિતના મનમાં ઊંડા પાણી જેવી છે, પણ સમજણો માણસ તેને બહાર કાઢી લાવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.20.6" />ઘણા લોકો દાવો કરે છે કે તેઓ વિશ્વાસુ મિત્રો છે; પણ જેના પર વિશ્વાસ રાખી શકાય એવો માણસ ક્યાં મળે?
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.20.7" />નીતિમત્તાને માગેર્ ચાલનારી વ્યકિત સુંદર જીવન જીવે છે. અને તેની પછી તેના બાળકો આશીર્વાદિત છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.20.8" />ન્યાયાસન પર બેઠેલો રાજા પોતાની આંખથીજ દુષ્ટને ઓળખી કાઢે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.20.9" />કોણ કહી શકે કે, મેઁ મારું અંત:કરણ સાફ છે અને હું પાપથી ચોખ્ખો થયો હું?
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.20.10" />આપવા-લેવાનાં જુદાં કાટલાં અને જુદાં માપ એ બન્નેથી યહોવા કંટાળે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.20.11" />બાળક પણ તેના આચરણથી પરખાય છે કે તેનાં કાર્યો શુદ્ધ અને સાચાં છે કે કેમ?
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.20.12" />સાંભળતો કાન અને દેખતી આંખ બંને યહોવાએ બનાવ્યાં છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.20.13" />ઊંઘ સાથે પ્રીત કરશો તો તમે બધું ખોઇ બેસશો, આંખ ઊઘાડી રાખશો તો ભરપેટ ખાવા પામશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.20.14" />આ તો ખરાબ છે, ખરાબ છે, એવું ખરીદનાર કહે છે; પણ પછીથી પોતાની ખરીદી વિષે બડાશ મારે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.20.15" />ત્યાં સોનું છે અને ત્યાં માણેક છે, પણ જ્ઞાની વાણી તો કિંમતી રત્નો જેવી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.20.16" />અજાણ્યાના જામીન થનારનાં કપડાં લઇ લેવાં અને તે અવેજમાં રાખવાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.20.17" />છેતરપિંડીથી મેળવેલો રોટલો મીઠો તો લાગે છે પણ પછી મોમાં રેતી ને કાંકરા રહી જાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.20.18" />દરેક યોજના સલાહથી પરિપૂર્ણ થયેલી છે માટે શાણી સલાહ પ્રમાણે તમારે યુદ્ધ કરવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.20.19" />જે વ્યકિત ખાનગી વાતોને બહાર પાડે છે તે કૂથલી કરનારો છે. માટે વાતોડિયા સાથે સંબંધ ન રાખવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.20.20" />માતાપિતાને શાપ આપનારનો દીવો ઘોર અંધકારમાં ઓલવાઇ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.20.21" />વારસો જલદીથી મેળવવામાં આવે છે, પણ તેનું પરિણામ આખરે સુખદાઇ હોતું નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.20.22" />હું ભૂંડાઇનો બદલો લઇશ, એવું તારે ન કહેવું જોઇએ; યહોવાની રાહ જોજે, તે તને ઉગારી લેશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.20.23" />જુદાં જુદાં કાટલાંથી યહોવાને ગુસ્સો છે; ખોટો કાંટો સારો નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.20.24" />યહોવા વ્યકિતના પગલાંને દોરે છે, તો પછી વ્યકિત તેનો માર્ગ શી રીતે સમજી શકે?
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.20.25" />વગર વિચારે એમ કહી દેવું કે અમુક વસ્તુ અર્પણ કરેલી છે, અને માનતા માન્યા પછી તેના વિષે તપાસ કરવી એ માણસને ફાંદારૂપ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.20.26" />જ્ઞાની રાજા દુષ્ટોને વિખેરી કાઢે છે, અને તેમને સખત સજા કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.20.27" />વ્યકિતનો અંતરાત્મા યહોવાનો દીવો છે, તે તેના અંતરનો ખૂણે-ખૂણો તપાસે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.20.28" />કૃપા અને સત્ય રાજાનું રક્ષણ કરે છે. તેનું રાજ્યાસન વફાદારી ઉપર ટકેલું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.20.29" />યુવાનોનું ગર્વ તેઓનું બળ છે; અને સફેદવાળ વૃદ્ધોની શોભા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.20.30" />ચાબખા અને ઘા દુષ્ટતાને ભૂંસી નાખે છે. ફટકા અંતરના ઊંડાણ સુધી પહોંચે છે.
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<c id="21" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.21.1" />રાજાનું મન યહોવાના હાથમાં છે; તે તેને પાણીના પ્રવાહની જેમ પોતાની ઇચ્છા પ્રમાણે વાળે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.21.2" />વ્યકિતને લાગે છે કે પોતાના પ્રત્યેક પગલાં સાચા છે, પણ યહોવા તેના હૃદયને ઓળખે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.21.3" />યહોવાને યજ્ઞ કરતાં નેકીનાં કૃત્યો અને ન્યાય વધારે પસંદ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.21.4" />ઘમંડી આખો, ઘમંડી હૃદય મશાલરૂપ જે દુષ્ટોને દોરે છે, તે બધાં પાપ યુકત છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.21.5" />વિચારીને ઉદ્યમ કરનાર બરકત પામે છે. ઉતાવળિ વ્યકિત નિર્ધન બને છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.21.6" />જે છેતરપીંડીથી સંપત્તિ મેળવે છે તે ઊડી જતી વરાળ જેવું અને મૃત્યુને આમંત્રવા જેવું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.21.7" />દુષ્ટ લોકોનો અત્યાચાર તેને ઘસડી જાય છે, કારણકે, તેઓ ન્યાયને માગેર્ ચાલવાનો ઇન્કાર કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.21.8" />અપરાધીનો માર્ગ વાંકોચૂંકો છે પરંતુ પવિત્રના કાર્યો ન્યાયી હોય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.21.9" />કજિયાખોર સ્ત્રીની સાથે ઘરમાં રહેવા કરતાં ધાબાના ખૂણામાં રહેવું વધારે સારું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.21.10" />દુષ્ટ વ્યકિત અનિષ્ટ ઇચ્છે છે. તે પોતાના પડોશીઓ સાથે દયાળુતાથી વર્તતો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.21.11" />જ્યારે ઘમંડી વ્યકિતને શિક્ષા થાય છે, ત્યારે જ સરળ વ્યકિત શાણો બને છે ઉપદેશ મળતા શાણી વ્યકિતના જ્ઞાનમાં વૃદ્ધિ થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.21.12" />ન્યાયી લોકો દુષ્ટના ઘર ઉપર નજર રાખે છે અને તેમના દુષ્ટમાગોર્ના પરિણામો પાસે તેમને મોકલી આપે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.21.13" />જે કોઇ ગરીબની બૂમ સાંભળીને પોતાના કાન બંધ કરે છે તેનો પોકાર પણ કોઇ સાંભળશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.21.14" />છૂપી રીતે આપેલ ઇનામથી ક્રોધ શમી જાય છે, છુપાવેલ લાંચથી ભારે રોષ શમી જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.21.15" />ભલી વ્યકિત ન્યાય કરવામાં પ્રસન્ન થાય છે, પણ દુર્જનતો તે વિનાશરૂપ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.21.16" />સમજણનો માર્ગ છોડીને ચાલનાર મૃતકોના સંગાથે રહી જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.21.17" />જે મોજશોખનો રસિયો છે; તે તેની જરૂરિયાતની વસ્તુઓથી વંચિત રહે છે. અને દ્રાક્ષારસ અને તેલનો રસિયો કયારે પણ ધનવાન નહિ બને.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.21.18" />દુષ્ટ લોકોનો બદલો નીતિમાન લોકો અને પ્રામાણિક માણસોનો બદલો કપટીને ભરવો પડશે
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.21.19" />કજિયાખોર અને ગુસ્સાવાળી પત્ની સાથે રહેવા કરતાં ઉજ્જડ પ્રદેશમાં જઇ રહેવું સારું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.21.20" />જ્ઞાની વ્યકિતના મકાનમાં મૂલ્યવાન ભંડાર તથા તેલ છે; પણ મૂર્ખ તેને સ્વાહા કરી જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.21.21" />નીતિમત્તા અને વફાદારીના માગેર્ ચાલનારને જીવન, નીતિમત્તા અને સન્માન મળે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.21.22" />જ્ઞાની વ્યકિત લડવૈયાથી ભરેલા નગર પર હુમલો કરીને જે કિલ્લાનો તેમને આધાર છે તેની ઉપર આક્રમણ કરી શકે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.21.23" />જે કોઇ મોં અને જીભ ઉપર કાબૂ રાખે છે તે પોતાની જાતને આફતથી દૂર રાખે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.21.24" />અભિમાની અને ઘમંડી વ્યકિત હાંસીપાત્ર છે; તેનાં પ્રત્યેક કાર્યમાં અહંકાર દેખાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.21.25" />આળસુ વ્યકિતની ઇચ્છાઓ જ તેને મારી નાખે છે. કારણ, તેના હાથ કામ કરવાની ના પાડે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.21.26" />દુર્જન આખો દિવસ લોભ જ કર્યા કરે છે. પરંતુ ધમીર્ છૂટે હાથે આપે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.21.27" />દુષ્ટનો યજ્ઞ યહોવા ધિક્કારે છે, પછી જો ખોટા વિચારોથી યજ્ઞ કરે તો પૂછવું જ શું?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.21.28" />જૂઠી સાક્ષી પૂરનારનું નાશ પામશે, પરંતુ જે વ્યકિત ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે તેની જીત થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.21.29" />દુર્જન અનિષ્ટ કરવા માટે કૃત્તનિશ્ચયી હોય છે; પણ સજ્જન વ્યકિત તો પોતાનો માર્ગ સત્ય છે તે જાણે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.21.30" />કોઇ જ્ઞાન, કે કોઇ યુકિતનું યહોવા આગળ કશું જ ચાલતું નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="PRO.21.31" />યુદ્ધના દિવસ માટે ઘોડો તૈયાર કરવામાં આવે છે પરંતુ વિજય તો યહોવાના હાથમાં હોય છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="22" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.22.1" />વિપુલ સંપત્તિ કરતાં સારી પ્રતિષ્ઠા અને સોનારૂપાં કરતાં ઉચ્ચ આદર વધારે ઇચ્છવાજોગ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.22.2" />દરિદ્રી અને દ્રવ્યવાન એક બાબતમાં સરખા છે કારણ કે યહોવાએ બંનેને ર્સજ્યા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.22.3" />ડાહ્યો વ્યકિત આફતને આવતી જોઇને સંતાઇ જાય છે. મૂર્ખ વ્યકિત આગળ વધતી રહે છે અને દંડાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.22.4" />ધન, આબરૂ તથા જીવનએ નમ્રતાનાં અને યહોવાના ભયનાં ફળ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.22.5" />વક્ર વ્યકિતના માર્ગમાં કાંટા અને છટકા હોય છે; પણ જે વ્યકિતને જીવન વહાલું છે તે તેનાથી દૂર રહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.22.6" />બાળકને યથાર્થ માર્ગ વિષે શિક્ષણ આપો તો એ જ્યારે વૃદ્ધ થશે ત્યારે પણ તે માર્ગ તે છોડશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.22.7" />ધનવાન ગરીબ ઉપર દોર ચલાવે છે અને દેણદાર લેણદારનો ગુલામ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.22.8" />જે અન્યાય વાવશે તે વિપત્તિ લણશે અને તેમાં ક્રોધની સોટી તેનો અંત લાવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.22.9" />ઉદાર વ્યકિત પર આશીર્વાદ ઊતરશે; કારણ કે તે પોતાના અન્નમાંથી દરિદ્રીને આપે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.22.10" />ધમંડી વ્યકિતને હાંકી કાઢો એટલે ઝઘડો પણ સમી જશે. તકરાર અને લાંછનનો અંત આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.22.11" />જે વ્યકિતનું હૃદય નિર્મળ છે અને જે મીઠી વાણી બોલે છે, રાજા તેનો મિત્ર થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.22.12" />યહોવાની દ્રષ્ટિ જ્ઞાનની રક્ષા કરે છે ને ધોખાબાજ માણસોની વાણીને ઊંધી પાડે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.22.13" />આળસુ માણસ બહાનુ કાઢે છે-રસ્તામાં તો સિંહ બેઠો છે, બહાર નીકળું તો ફાડી જ ખાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.22.14" />પરસ્ત્રીનું મુખ ઊંડી ખાઇ જેવું છે, જે તેમાં પડે છે તેના ઉપર યહોવાનો કોપ ઉતરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.22.15" />બાળકના હૃદયમાં મૂર્ખાઇ વસે છે પરંતુ શિસ્તનો દંડો તેનામાંથી તેને દૂર હાંકી કાઢશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.22.16" />જે ધનવાન થવા માટે ગરીબને ત્રાસ આપે છે અથવા જે ધનવાનને ઇનામ આપે છે તે પોતે તો ગરીબ જ રહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ત્રીસ બોધવચનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.22.17" />જ્ઞાની માણસોના શબ્દો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ, અને હું તને જે સલાહ આપું છું તેમાં તારું ચિત્ત લગાડ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="PRO.22.18" />જો તું તેને ખુશ ગણતો હોય અને તું તેને તારા હૃદયમાં સંઘરી રાખીશ તો તેઓ સદા તારા હોઠ પર રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="PRO.22.19" />હું તને આજે આ બધું એટલા માટે કહું છું કે યહોવા ઉપર તારો વિશ્વાસ બેસે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="PRO.22.20" />મેં તારા માટે સુબોધ અને જ્ઞાનની ત્રીસ કહેવતો લખી રાખી છે,
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="PRO.22.21" />આના દ્વારા તું સત્ય જ્ઞાન પામીશ અને તેથી તું ભરોસા પાત્ર અહેવાલ લઇને તને જેણે મોકલ્યો છે તેની પાસે જઇ શકે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 1 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.22.22" />ગરીબને લૂંટીશ નહિ, કારણ કે તે ગરીબ છે, તેમજ ગરીબને ન્યાયાલયમાં હેરાન કરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="PRO.22.23" />કારણ કે યહોવા તેમનો પક્ષ લેશે અને તેમનું હરી લેનારના પ્રાણ હરી લેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 2 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.22.24" />ક્રોધી માણસ સાથે મિત્રતા ન કર; અને ગુસ્સો કરનારનો સંગ ન કર.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="PRO.22.25" />રખેને તું તેના જેવું વર્તન કરતાં શીખે અને જીવને જોખમમાં નાખે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 3 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.22.26" />કોઇનો જામીન થતો નહિ કે કોઇના દેવાની જવાબદારી લઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="PRO.22.27" />જો તારી પાસે દેવું ચૂકવવા માટે કઇં પણ નહિ હોય તો તારી તળેથી તે તારી પથારી લઇ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 4 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.22.28" />તારા પિતૃઓએ તોડેલા જૂના સીમાના પથ્થર હઠાવીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 5 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.22.29" />પોતાના કામમાં કુશળ માણસને તું જુએ તો જાણજે કે, તે તો રાજાઓની હાજરીમાં રહેશે, હલકા માણસોની હાજરીમાં નહિ રહે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="23" />
<s level="2" style="s2">– 6 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.23.1" />જ્યારે તું કોઇ અધિકારીની સાથે ખાવા બેસે ત્યારે તું કોની સાથે બેઠો છે તે ધ્યાનમાં રાખજે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="PRO.23.2" />અને જો તારી ભૂખ પ્રબળ હોય તો તારે ગળે છરી મૂક.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="PRO.23.3" />સ્વાદિષ્ટ વાનગીઓ માટે ઝૂરીશ નહિ, કારણ કે તે ખોરાક છેતરામણો હોય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 7 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.23.4" />ધનવાન થવા માટે તન તોડીને વૈતરું ના કરીશ, હોશિયાર થઇને પડતું મૂકજે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="PRO.23.5" />તે (ધન) આંખના પલકારામાં ઊડી જશે. પૈસો પોતાના માટે પાંખો ઉગાડશે. આકાશમાં ઊડતાં ગરૂડની જેમ તે ઉડી જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 8 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.23.6" />કંજૂસને ત્યાં ભાણું ખાઇશ નહિં, કે તેની સ્વાદિષ્ટ વાનગીની તું ઇચ્છા રાખતો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="PRO.23.7" />કારણકે, એ તારા ગળામાં વાળની જેમ ચોંટી જશે. તે તને “ખાઓ, પીઓ” કહેશે તો ખરો, પણ મનથી નહિં કહે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="PRO.23.8" />તેં ખાધેલો કોળિયો પણ તારે ઓકી કાઢવો પડશે, અને તેં કરેલાં વખાણ નકામાં જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 9 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.23.9" />મૂર્ખને શિખામણ આપીશ નહિ, તારી સમજુ સલાહનો પણ તે તિરસ્કાર કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 10 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.23.10" />અસલની હદના પથ્થરો ખસેડીશ નહિં, અને અનાથના ખેતરોમાં પ્રવેશ કરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="PRO.23.11" />કારણ, તેમનું રક્ષણ કરનાર બળવાન છે; તે તારા વિરૂદ્ધ તેમનો પક્ષ લેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 11 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.23.12" />શિસ્તમાં ચિત્ત પરોવ અને જ્ઞાનને તારા કાને ધર.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 12 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.23.13" />બાળકને ઠપકો આપતાં વિચલીત થઇશ નહિ. જો તું તેને ફટકારીશ તો તે કંઇ મરી જશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="PRO.23.14" />તારે તેને ફટકારવું, અને તેને મૃત્યુથી ઉગારવો.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 13 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.23.15" />બેટા, જો તું ડાહ્યો થઇશ તો મારું હૃદય હરખાશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PRO.23.16" />તારા મોઢે જ્ઞાનના સારા શબ્દો સાંભળીને હું રાજી થઇશ.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 14 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.23.17" />તારા મનમાંય પાપીની ઇર્ષ્યા ન કરીશ, પણ હંમેશા યહોવાથી ડરીને ચાલજે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="PRO.23.18" />તો તારું ભવિષ્ય ઉજ્જવળ છે અને તારી આશા વ્યર્થ નહિ જાય.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 15 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.23.19" />મારા દીકરા, મારી વાત સાંભળ અને ડાહ્યો થા, અને તારા ચિત્તને સાચા માગેર્ દોરજે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="PRO.23.20" />દ્રાક્ષારસ પીનારાઓનો અથવા તો જેઓ છૂટથી માંસ ખાય છે તેનો સંગ કરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="PRO.23.21" />કારણકે, દ્રાક્ષારસ પીનારાઓ અને ખાઉધરાઓ કંગાલ દશાને પામે છે. અને ઊંધ તેમને ચીથરાથી ઢાંકી દેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 16 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.23.22" />તારા પોતાના પિતાનું કહ્યું સાંભળ, એ તારા જન્મદાતા છે; અને તારી જનેતાનો વૃદ્ધાવસ્થામાં ધિક્કારીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="PRO.23.23" />સત્યને ખરીદજે પણ વેચીશ નહિ; હા, જ્ઞાન, શિખામણ અને બુદ્ધિ ખરીદ જે પણ તેને વેચીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="PRO.23.24" />નીતિમાન પુત્રના પિતા આનંદથી હરખાય છે, અને જે પુત્ર શાણો છે તે તેના જન્મદાતાને આનંદ આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="PRO.23.25" />તારા માતાપિતા પ્રસન્ન થાય એવું કર. અને તારી જનેતાનું હૈયુ હરખાય એવું કર.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 17 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.23.26" />મારા દીકરા, મને તારું હૃદય આપ અને તારી આંખો મારા માગોર્ને લક્ષમાં રાખ.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="PRO.23.27" />વારાંગના એ ઊંડી ખાઇ છે અને પરસ્ત્રી એ આફતોથી ભરેલો કૂવો છે.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="PRO.23.28" />તે લૂંટારાની જેમ સંતાઇને તાકી રહે છે. અને ઘણા પુરુષોને અવિશ્વાસુ બનાવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 18 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.23.29" />કોને અફસોસ છે? કોણ ગમગીન છે? કોણ ઝઘડે છે? કોણ ફરિયાદ કરે છે? કોણ વગર કારણે ઘવાય છે? કોની આંખો લાલ છે?
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="PRO.23.30" />જેઓ દ્રાક્ષારસ જ પીધા કરે છે અને જેઓ દ્રાસારસના નવાં નવાં મિશ્રણોની શોધમાં હોય છે તેઓને.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="PRO.23.31" />પ્યાલામાં ચળકતા દ્રાક્ષારસ સામે જોઇશ નહિ, કારણકે, એ સહેલાઇથી ગળે ઊતરી જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="PRO.23.32" />અને આખરે તે સર્પની જેમ કરડે છે, અને નાગની જેમ ડસે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="PRO.23.33" />તારી આંખો ચિત્રવિચિત્ર વસ્તુઓ જોશે અને તારે મોઢેથી ઉલટસૂલટ વાણી નીકળશે.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="PRO.23.34" />તને એવું થશે કે, હું સમુદ્રમાં હાલકડોલક થતાં વહાણમાં સૂતો છું.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="PRO.23.35" />તું કહેશે કે, “કોઇએ મને માર્યુ પણ મને વાગ્યું નહિ, કોઇએ મને ઝૂડ્યો પણ મને ખબર પડી નહિ, હું ક્યારે જાગીશ? ચાલો ફરી એકવાર પી નાખીએ.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="24" />
<s level="2" style="s2">– 19 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.24.1" />દુર્જનોની ઇર્ષ્યા કરીશ નહિ કે તેમની સાથે રહેવાની ઇચ્છા સેવીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="PRO.24.2" />કારણ, તેમનાં મન હિંસાના વિચારો કરે છે અને તેમના મોઢેથી ઉપદ્રવની વાણી નીકળે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 20 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.24.3" />જ્ઞાન વડે ઘર બંધાય છે; બુદ્ધિથી તે સ્થિર થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="PRO.24.4" />અને વિદ્યા વડે તેના ઓરડા બધી જ જાતની મૂલ્યવાન અને સુખદાયક વસ્તુઓથી ભરાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 21 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.24.5" />શરીરબળ કરતાં બુદ્ધિબળ સારું, જ્ઞાની વ્યકિત શકિતશાળી વ્યકિત કરતાં વધારે મહાન છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="PRO.24.6" />કુશળ યોજનાથી યુદ્ધ જીતાય છે, અને અનેક સલાહકારોથી વિજય નિશ્ચિત બને છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 22 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.24.7" />ડહાપણ મૂરખના ગજા બહારની વસ્તુ છે, તેથી તે જાહેર સભામાં પોતાનું મોં ખોલી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 23 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.24.8" />જે ભૂંડુ કરવા માટે યુકિતઓ રચે છે, તે લોકોમાં ઉપદ્રવી માણસ તરીકે ઓળખાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="PRO.24.9" />મૂર્ખ પાપ ભરેલી યોજનાઓ ઘડ્યા કરે છે, લોકો જે વ્યકિત બડાઇ હાંકે છે તેને ધિક્કારે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 24 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.24.10" />જો તમે સંકટ આવતાં તમારી હિંમત હારી બેસશો તો તમે નબળા છો.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 25 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.24.11" />જેઓને મોત માટે ઘસડી જવામાં આવતા હોય તેમને છોડાવ, જેઓ લથડતે પગે હત્યા માટે જઇ રહ્યા હોય તેમને ઉગારી લે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="PRO.24.12" />જો તું કહે કે, “અમે તો એ જાણતા નહોતા,” તો જે અંત:કરણોની ચકાસણી કરે છે તે શું જાણતો નહોત? અને જે તારા જીવનનો રક્ષક છે તે શું જાણતો ન હોત? અને તે પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિતને તેમનાં કર્મ પ્રમાણે પાછું નહિ આપશે?
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 26 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.24.13" />મારા દીકરા, મધ ખા; તે ગુણકારી છે, એનો સ્વાદ મીઠો છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="PRO.24.14" />જાણો કે જ્ઞાન તમારા જીવન માટે સારૂં છે; જો તું તેને પ્રાપ્ત કરે તો તારું ભાવિ ઉજ્જવળ છે, તારી આશા વ્યર્થ નહિ જાય.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 27 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.24.15" />હે દુષ્ટ માણસ, સજ્જનનાં ઘર આગળ લાગ જોઇ બેસી રહીશ નહિ, તેના ઘર પર આક્રમણ કરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PRO.24.16" />કારણકે, સજ્જન સાત વાર પડશે તોયે પાછો ઊભો થશે, પણ દુર્જન વિપત્તિ આવતાં ભાંગી પડે છે, પાયમાલ થઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 28 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.24.17" />તારા દુશ્મનની પડતી જોઇને હરખાઇશ નહિ, અને તે પાયમાલ થાય ત્યારે રાજી ન થઇશ;
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="PRO.24.18" />નહિ તો યહોવા એ જોશે અને નારાજ થશે, અને તેના ઉપરથી પોતાનો રોષ પાછો ખેંચી લેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 29 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.24.19" />જેઓ દુષ્કમોર્ કરે છે તેની ઉપર ગુસ્સે થતો નહિ કે દુર્જનની ઇર્ષ્યા કરતો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="PRO.24.20" />કારણકે, દુર્જનને કોઇ ભાવિ નથી, તેનો દીવો હોલવાઇ જશે,
<ve />
</p>
<s level="2" style="s2">– 30 –
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.24.21" />મારા દીકરા, યહોવાથી અને રાજાથી ડરીને ચાલજે, બળવાખોરો સાથે કશો સંબંધ રાખીશ નહિ;
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="PRO.24.22" />કારણ, તેમના પર અચાનક આફત આવી પડશે, અને કોને ખબર છે કે બંને કેવી પાયમાલી મોકલશે?
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અસંખ્ય બોધ વચનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.24.23" />આ જ્ઞાનીઓના વચન છે, ન્યાયમાં પક્ષપાત બતાવવો તે યોગ્ય નથી.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="PRO.24.24" />ગુનેગારને નિદોર્ષ ઠરાવનારને બધા લોકો શાપ દેશે, પ્રજાઓ તેને ઠપકો આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="PRO.24.25" />પણ જેઓ દોષીને ઠપકો આપશે તેમનું ભલું થશે. તેમના પર આશીર્વાદ ઊતરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.24.26" />સાચો જવાબ મૈત્રીભર્યા ચુંબન જેવો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.24.27" />તારું બહારનું કામ કર, જમીન ખેડ, અને તારું ઘર બાંધ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.24.28" />કારણ વગર તારા પડોશી વિરૂદ્ધ સાક્ષી પૂરીશ નહિ, તારે મોઢે તેની વિરૂદ્ધ ખોટું બોલીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.24.29" />એવું ના કહીશ કે, “એણે મારી સાથે વર્તાવ રાખ્યો છે તેવો જ હું એની સાથે રાખીશ, એણે જે કર્યુ છે તેને હું પાછું વાળી દઇશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.24.30" />હું આળસુ વ્યકિતના ખેતરમાંથી જઇને તથા મૂઢ માણસની દ્રાક્ષાવાડી પાસેથી પસાર થતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="PRO.24.31" />ત્યારે મેં જોયું તો બધે ઝાંખરા ઊગી નીકળ્યાં હતાં. જમીન કાંટાથી છવાઇ ગઇ હતી. અને પથ્થરની વાડ તૂટી પડી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="PRO.24.32" />એ જોઇને મેં વિચાર કર્યો, એ ઉપરથી હું શીખ્યો કે,
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="PRO.24.33" />થોડું ઊંઘો, થોડું ઘોરો, હાથ જોડીને થોડો આરામ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="PRO.24.34" />એમ કરવાથી તારી દરિદ્રતા લૂંટારાની જેમ તથા હથિયારધારી યોદ્ધાની જેમ કંગાલાવસ્થા આવી પહોંચશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="25" />
<s style="s">સુલેમાનના નીતિવચનો ગુચ્છ બીજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.25.1" />આ પણ સુલેમાનનાં નીતિવચનો છે. જે યહૂદિયાના રાજા હિઝિક્યાના માણસોએ ઉતારી લીધાં હતાં
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.25.2" />કોઇ બાબત ગુપ્ત રહે તેમાં દેવનો મહિમા છે, પણ કોઇ બાબત શોધી કાઢવી એમાં રાજાનો ગૌરવ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.25.3" />જેમ આકાશની ઊંચાઇ તથા પૃથ્વીની ઊંડાઇની જેમ રાજાનું મન પણ અગાધ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.25.4" />ચાંદીમાંથી નકામો ભાગ કાઢી નાખો એટલે રૂપાનો કારીગર તેમાંથી વાસણ બનાવી શકશે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="PRO.25.5" />તેમ રાજા પાસેથી દુષ્ટોને દૂર કરો એટલે તેનું સિંહાસન ન્યાયવડે સ્થિર થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.25.6" />રાજાની હાજરીમાં પોતાની બડાઇ ન કરવી. મોટા માણસોની જગાએ ઊભા ન રહેવું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="PRO.25.7" />ઉમરાવના દેખતાં તને નીચે ઉતારવામાં આવે તેના કરતાં “આમ આવો” કરીને ઉપર બેસાડે એ વધું સારું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.25.8" />તેં જે જોયું હોય તેને વિશે ન્યાયાલયે દોડી જવામાં ઉતાવળ ન કરીશ, કારણ, જ્યારે તને તારો પડોશી, ખોટો સાબિત કરશે તો તું શું કરીશ?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.25.9" />તારા પડોશી સાથેના વિવાદનું જરૂર તું નિરાકરણ કર, પણ બીજા કોઇની ગુપ્ત વાત ખુલ્લી ન કરતો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="PRO.25.10" />રખેને એ સાંભળી જનાર તારી નિંદા કરે અને તારી કાયમની બદનામી થાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.25.11" />પ્રસંગને અનુસરીને બોલેલો શબ્દ રૂપાની ટોપલીમાંનાં સોનાનાં ફળ જેવો છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="PRO.25.12" />જ્ઞાની વ્યકિતનો ઠપકો કાને ધરનારને માટે સોનાની કડી અને સોનાના ઘરેણાં જેવા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.25.13" />વફાદાર સંદેશાવાહક તેના મોકલનાર માટે ઉનાળામાં બરફ જેવો શીતલ હોય તેના જેવો લાગે છે, તે પોતાના ધણીના આત્માને ફરીથી તાજો કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.25.14" />જે એમ કહે છે કે તે ભેટ આપશે, પણ કોડીય આપતો નથી, તે વરસાદ વગરના વાદળ અને વાયુ જેવો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.25.15" />લાંબી મુદતની સહનશીલતાથી અધિકારીને પણ કદાચ મનાવી શકાય, અને કોમળ જીભ હાંડકાને ભાગે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.25.16" />જો તને મધ મળ્યું હોય, તો જોઇએ તેટલું જ ખા; કારણકે જો તું વધારે પડતું ખાઇશ તો તું વમન કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="PRO.25.17" />તું તારા પડોશીના ઘરમાં કવચિત જ જા; નહિ તો તે તારાથી કંટાળીને તારો ધિક્કાર કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.25.18" />પોતાના પડોશી વિરૂદ્ધ જૂઠી સાક્ષી પૂરનાર માણસ હથોડી, તરવાર તથા તીક્ષ્ણ તીર જેવો છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="PRO.25.19" />સંકટસમયે ધોખાબાજ માણસ પર મૂકેલો વિશ્વાસ સડેલા દાંત અને ઊતરી ગયેલા પગ જેવો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.25.20" />ઊદાસ વ્યકિતની આગળ ગીતો ગાવાં તે ઠંડીમાં અંગ પરથી વસ્ત્ર કાઢી લેવા જેવું છે, અથવા ઘા ઉપર સરકો રેડવા જેવું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.25.21" />જો તારો શત્રુ ભૂખ્યો હોય તો તેને ખાવા માટે રોટલો આપ. અને તરસ્યો હોય તો પીવા માટે પાણી આપ.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="PRO.25.22" />એમ કરવાથી તું તેના માથા ઉપર સળગતો કોલસો મૂકતો હોઇશ. અને યહોવા તને તેનો બદલો આપશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.25.23" />ઉત્તરનો પવન વરસાદ લાવે છે; તેમ જ ચાડીખોર જીભ ક્રોધિત ચહેરો ઉપજાવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.25.24" />કજિયાખોર સ્ત્રીની સાથે ઘરમાં અંદર રહેવાં કરતાં ધાબાના ખૂણામાં વાસ કરવો સારો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.25.25" />દૂર દેશથી આવતા શુભ સમાચાર તરસ્યા ગળા માટે શીતલ પાણી જેવા લાગે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.25.26" />જે સજ્જન માણસ દુષ્ટ માણસની સામે પડે છે તે ડહોળાયેલા ઝરણા કે ઝેર ભરેલા કૂવા જેવો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.25.27" />વધુ પડતું મધ ખાવું સારું નહિ, પોતાની મોટાઇ પોતે ગાવામાં મોટાઇ નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.25.28" />જે વ્યકિત પોતાની જાત પર કાબૂ ધરાવતો નથી તે માણસ કોટ વગરના નગર જેવો છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">મૂર્ખ વિષે બોધ વચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.26.1" />જેમ ઉનાળામાં હિમ, અને કાપણી કરતી વખતે વરસાદ કમોસમનો ગણાય તેમ મૂરખને સન્માન શોભતું નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.26.2" />જેમ ભટકતી ચકલી, અને જેમ ઊડતું અબાબીલ પક્ષી છે. તેમ વિનાકારણે આપેલો શાપ કોઇને માથે ઊતરતો નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.26.3" />ઘોડાને માટે ચાબૂક, અને ગધેડાને માટે લગામ હોય છે, તેમ મૂખોર્ની પીઠને માટે દંડો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.26.4" />મૂર્ખને તેની મૂર્ખાઇ પ્રમાણે જવાબ ન આપવો, રખેને તું પણ તેના જેવો થઇ જાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.26.5" />મૂર્ખને તેની મૂર્ખતા પ્રમાણે જ ઉત્તર આપ. જેથી તે જાણી શકે કે તે પોતાને માને છે તેટલો બુદ્ધિશાળી નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.26.6" />તે વ્યકિત પોતાનો પગ કાપી નાખે છે તે પોતાની જાત સાથે હિંસા કરે છે. તેવીજ રીતે જે કોઇ મૂર્ખ મારફત સંદેશો મોકલાવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.26.7" />મુશ્કેલીઓ માગવા બરાબર છે. મૂર્ખના મોઢામાં શાણી વાત એ લંગડાના પગ જેવું નકામું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.26.8" />જે વ્યકિત મૂર્ખને માન આપે છે, તે વ્યકિત ગોફણનો પથ્થર બાંધેd
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.26.9" />જેમ પીધેલાના હાથમાં કાંટાની ડાળી હોય છે તેવી જ રીતે મૂર્ખના મોઢામાં સારી વાત.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.26.10" />મૂર્ખને કે એક દારૂડિયાને કામે રાખનાર કોઇને પણ વીંધનાર બાણાવાળીની જેમ સૌને નુકસાન કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.26.11" />જેમ કૂતરો ઓકેલું ખાવાને માટે પાછો આવે છે, તેમ મૂર્ખ કરેલી ભૂલ ફરી ફરીને કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.26.12" />પોતે પોતાને જ્ઞાની સમજનાર માણસ કરતાં મૂર્ખ સારો, એને સુધરવાની વધારે આશા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.26.13" />આળસુ બહાના કાઢે છે, “રસ્તામાં સિંહ છે, ગલીઓમાં સિંહ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.26.14" />જેમ બારણું તેનાઁ મિજાગરાઁ પર ફરે છે, તેમ આળસુ પથારીમાં ફર્યા કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.26.15" />આળસુ પોતાનો હાથ થાળીમાં નાખે છે ખરો; પણ તેને પાછો પોતાના મોં સુધી લાવતાં થાક લાગે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.26.16" />હોંશિયારીથી ઉત્તર આપી શકે તેવા સાત માણસો કરતાં આળસુ પોતાની નજરે પોતાને વધારે ડાહ્યો ગણે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.26.17" />જે વ્યકિત, તેનો પોતાનો ન હોય તેવા કજિયામાં દખલ કરે છે, તે કૂતરાના કાન પકડનારના જેવો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.26.18" />જેઓ ખોયણાં, તીર તથા પ્રાણઘાતક વસ્તુઓ ફેંકે છે તે ઘેલો માણસ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.26.19" />તેવી જ વ્યકિત પોતાના પડોશીને છેતરીને, “એ તો હું ગમત કરતો હતો.” એમ કહેનાર છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.26.20" />બળતણ ન હોવાથી અગ્નિ હોલવાઇ જાય છે; અને કુથલી ખોર ન હોય ત્યાં કજિયા સમી જાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.26.21" />જેમ અંગારા કોલસાને, અને અગ્નિ લાકડાઁને સળગાવે છે; તેમ કંકાસખોર માણસ કજિયા સળગાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.26.22" />નિંદા કરનાર વ્યકિતના શબ્દો સ્વાદિષ્ટ કોળિયા જેવા લાગે છે; તે શરીરના અંતરતમ ભાગમા ઊતરી જાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.26.23" />કુટિલ હૃદય અને મીઠી વાણી એ અશુદ્ધ ચાંદીનો ઢોળ ચઢાવેલાં માટીના વાસણ જેવો છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="PRO.26.24" />ધિક્કારવા લાયક માણસ મનમાં દગો રાખે છે. પણ પોતાની વાણીથી તેને છુપાવે છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="PRO.26.25" />જ્યારે તે મીઠી મીઠી વાતો કરે ત્યારે વિશ્વાસ ન કરવો, કારણ, તેના હૃદયમાં ઘણી દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓ હોય છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="PRO.26.26" />વ્યકિત દંભથી તિરસ્કારને છુપાવે છે, પણ તેની દુષ્ટતા જાહેર સભા સામે ઉઘાડી પડી જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.26.27" />જે ખાડો ખોદે તે પડે, ને જો કોઇ વ્યકિત પથ્થર ગબડાવે તો તે પથ્થર ગબડીને તેના પર જ પાછો આવીને પડે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.26.28" />જૂઠી જીભે પોતે જેઓને ઘાયલ કર્યા છે, તેમનો તે દ્વેષ કરે છે; અને ખુશામત કરનાર વ્યકિતને લોકો નકારે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.27.1" />આવતી કાલની બડાશ મારીશ નહિ, કારણ, આવતીકાલે શું થઇ જાય તે તું જાણતો નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.27.2" />તારાં વખાણ બીજાને કરવા દે, તારે મોઢે ન કર; પારકો ભલે કરે, તું ન કર.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.27.3" />પથ્થર વજનદાર હોય છે, અને રેતી ભારે હોય છે; પરંતુ મૂર્ખની ઉશ્કેરણી બંન્ને કરતાઁ ભારે હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.27.4" />ક્રોધ ક્રૂર છે, અને કોપ રેલરૂપ છે, પણ ઇર્ષ્યા આગળ કોણ ટકી શકે?
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.27.5" />છુપાવેલા પ્રેમ કરતાં ઉઘાડો ઠપકો સારો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.27.6" />મિત્રના ઘા પ્રામાણિક હોય છે, દુશ્મનનાં ચુંબન શંકાશીલ હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.27.7" />ધરાયેલાને મધ પણ કડવું લાગે છે, જ્યારે ભૂખ્યાને કડવું પણ મીઠું લાગે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.27.8" />પોતાનું ઘર છોડીને ભટકતી વ્યકિત પોતાનો માળો છોડી દીધેલા પક્ષી જેવી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.27.9" />જેમ સુગંધીથી અને અત્તરથી મન પ્રસન્ન થાય છે, અંત:કરણથી સલાહ આપનાર મિત્રની મીઠાશથી પણ થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.27.10" />તારા પોતાના મિત્રને તથા તારા પિતાના મિત્રને ન તજીશ. વિપત્તિને સમયે તારા ભાઇને ઘેર ન જઇશ. દૂરના ભાઇ કરતાં નજીકનો પડોશી સારો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.27.11" />મારા દીકરા જ્ઞાની થા, અને મારા હૃદયને આનંદથી ભરી દે, જેથી મને મહેણાં મારનારને હું જવાબ આપી શકું.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.27.12" />ચતુર વ્યકિત આફતને આવતી જોઇને તેને ટાળે છે, અવિચારી માણસ આગળ વધતો રહે છે અને તેને લીધે સહન કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.27.13" />અજાણ્યાનો જામીન થનારનાં કપડાં લઇ લેવાં, અને જો તે દુરાચારી સ્ત્રીનો જામીન થાય તો તેને તાબામાં પકડી લેવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.27.14" />જે કોઇ પરોઢિયે ઊઠીને પોતાના મિત્રને મોટે સાદે આશીર્વાદ દે છે, તે તેને શાપ સમાન લાગશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.27.15" />ચોમાસામાં ચૂતું છાપરું તથા કજિયાળી સ્ત્રી બંને બરાબર છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.27.16" />જે તેણીને રોકી શકે તે પવનને રોકી શકે, અને પોતાના જમણા હાથમાં લગાવેલા તેલની સુગંધ પણ પકડી શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.27.17" />લોઢું લોઢાને તેજ બનાવે છે, તેમ એક મિત્ર બીજા મિત્રને તેજ બનાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.27.18" />જે કોઇ અંજીરી સાચવે છે તે અંજીર ખાશે, જે પોતાના ધણીની કાળજી કરે છે તે માન પામે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.27.19" />જેમ માણસોનો ચહેરો પાણીમાં પ્રતિબિંબિત થાય છે, તેવી જ રીતે એક માણસનું હૃદય બીજા માણસના હૃદયમાં પ્રતિબિંબિત થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.27.20" />જેમ શેઓલ અને અબદોન કદી તૃપ્ત થતાં નથી; તે જ રીતે માણસની આંખો કદી તૃપ્ત થતી નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.27.21" />રૂપું ગાળવા સારુ કુલડી અને સોનાને માટે ભઠ્ઠી હોય છે તેમ વ્યકિતની પરીક્ષા બીજા તેની પ્રશંસા કરે તેના પરથી થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.27.22" />ઘંટીમાં અનાજની જેમ દળાય તોયે મૂર્ખની મૂર્ખાઇ ન જાય.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.27.23" />તારાં ઘેટાંબકરાંની પરિસ્થિતીથી બરાબર માહિતગાર રહે. તારા ઢોરઢાંકરની પૂરતી સંભાળ લે.
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<v id="24" bcv="PRO.27.24" />કારણ ધન સદા ટકતું નથી અને રાજમુગટ કાયમ રહેતો નથી.
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<v id="25" bcv="PRO.27.25" />સૂકું ઘાસ વઢાઇ જાય ત્યાં નવું ઘાસ ફૂટે છે, પર્વત પરની વનસ્પતિઓ ભેગી કરી લેવામાં આવે છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="PRO.27.26" />ઘેટાં તને વસ્ત્રો આપે છે, અને બકરાં તારાં ખેતરનું મૂલ્ય છે;
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<v id="27" bcv="PRO.27.27" />વળી બકરીનું દૂધ તને, તારા કુટુંબને અને તારી દાસીઓના ગુજરાન માટે ચાલશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.28.1" />કોઇ પાછળ ન પડ્યું હોય તો પણ દુષ્ટ વ્યકિત ભાગે છે, પણ ભલી વ્યકિત તો સિંહની જેમ હિંમતવાન હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.28.2" />ગુનાથી ભરેલા દેશમાં તેના રાજકર્તાઓ વારંવાર બદલાય છે. પણ બુદ્ધિમાન તથા જ્ઞાની રાજકર્તા હેઠળ તે દીર્ઘકાળ પર્યંત સ્થિરતા અનુભવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.28.3" />અસહાયને રંજાડતી ગરીબ વ્યકિત પાકનો તદૃન નાશ કરનાર વરસાદની હેલી જેવો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.28.4" />જેઓ નિયમથી દૂર વળી જાય છે, તેઓ દુર્જનને વખાણે છે, પણ તે પાળનારા તેમનો વિરોધ કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.28.5" />દુષ્ટ માણસો ન્યાય સમજતા નથી; પણ જેઓ યહોવાને શોધે છે તેઓ આ સઘળી બાબતો સમજે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.28.6" />અવળા માગેર્ ચાલનારા ધનવાન કરતાં પ્રામાણિકપણે ચાલનારો ગરીબ વધારે સારો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.28.7" />જે પુત્ર નિયમને અનુસરે છે તે ડાહ્યો છે. પરંતુ નકામા લોકોની સોબત રાખનાર પુત્ર પિતાના નામને બટ્ટો લગાડે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.28.8" />જે કોઇ વ્યાજખોરી અને વધુ પડતી નફાખોરીથી સંપત્તિની વૃદ્ધિ કરે છે; તે દરિદ્રી પર દયા રાખનારને માટે તેનો સંગ્રહ કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.28.9" />જે વ્યકિત નીતિનિયમ પાળતો નથી તેની પ્રાર્થના બેસ્વાદ હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.28.10" />જે કોઇ પ્રામાણિકને કુમાગેર્ ભટકાવી દે છે, તે તેના પોતાના જ ખાડામાં પડે છે, પણ નિદોર્ષ માણસનું ભલું થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.28.11" />ધનવાન પોતાને ડાહ્યો માને છે પણ શાણો ગરીબ તેના દ્વારા સત્ય જાણે છે,
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.28.12" />જ્યારે ન્યાયી વિજયી થાય છે ત્યારે આનંદોત્સવ થાય છે. પણ દુર્જનોની ચઢતી થાય છે, ત્યારે લોકો સંતાઇ જાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.28.13" />જે માણસ પોતાના અપરાધોને ઢાંકે છે, તેની આબાદી થશે નહિ, પણ જે કોઇ તેમને કબૂલ કરીને તેનો ત્યાગ કરે છે, તેઓ પર દયા કરવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.28.14" />જે હંમેશા સાવધ રહે છે તે સુખી છે, પણ જે નઠોર બની જાય છે તે દુ:ખી થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.28.15" />ગરીબો પર રાજ્ય કરતો દુષ્ટ રાજકર્તા ત્રાડ નાખતા સિંહ જેવો અને ધસી આવતા રીંછ જેવો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.28.16" />સમજણ વગરનો શાસનકર્તા જુલમો વધારે છે, પણ લોભનો જેને તિરસ્કાર છે તે લાંબો સમય રાજ્ય કરશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.28.17" />ખૂન માટે દોષી વ્યકિત કબર તરફ આગળ વધશે, કોઇ તેને મદદ કરશો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.28.18" />જે પ્રામાણિકતાથી ચાલે છે તે સુરક્ષિત છે, જે પોતાના માગેર્થી ફંટાય છે. તેની અચાનક પડતી થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.28.19" />જે માણસ પોતાની જમીન ખેડે છે, તે પેટ ભરીને જમશે, પરંતુ જેઓ નકામી વસ્તુઓની પાછળ દોડે છે તેઓ ખૂબ ગરીબ રહેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.28.20" />વિશ્વાસુ વ્યકિત આશીર્વાદથી ભરપૂર થશે. પરંતુ ઉતાવળે ધનવાન થવા જનારને સજા થયા વગર રહેશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.28.21" />પક્ષપાત કરવો એ યોગ્ય નથી; તેમ જ કોઇ માણસ રોટલાના ટૂકડા માટે ગુનો કરે તે પણ સારુ નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.28.22" />લોભી વ્યકિત પૈસાદાર થવા માટે દોડે છે, પણ તેને ખબર નથી કે પોતાના ઉપર દરિદ્રતા આવી પડશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.28.23" />જે પ્રશંસા કરે છે તેના કરતાં જે વ્યકિત ઠપકો આપે છે તેને વધુ કૃપા મળશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.28.24" />જે પોતાના માતાપિતાને લૂંટે અને પોતાની માને કહે કે, એમાં પાપ નથી, તે નાશ કરનારનો સોબતી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.28.25" />જે વ્યકિત લોભી મનની હોય છે, તે ઝઘડા જગાવે છે, પણ જે યહોવા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તે સફળ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.28.26" />જે માણસ પોતાની જાત પર વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તે મૂર્ખ છે; પણ જે કોઇ ડહાપણથી વતેર્ છે તેનો બચાવ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.28.27" />ગરીબને ધન આપનારને ત્યાં ખૂટવાનું નથી, પણ જે આંખમીંચામણાં કરશે તે ઘણા શાપ પામશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.28.28" />દુર્જનો સત્તા પર આવે ત્યારે લોકો સંતાઇ જાય છે. જ્યારે તેઓની પડતી આવે છે ત્યારે સજ્જનોની વૃદ્ધિ થાય છે.
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</p>

<c id="29" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.29.1" />જે માણસ વારંવાર ઠપકો પામ્યા છતાં પોતાની ગરદન અક્કડ રાખે છે, તે અકસ્માત નાશ પામશે, તેનો કોઇ ઉપાય રહેશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.29.2" />જ્યારે ન્યાયી લોકો સત્તા પર આવે છે ત્યારે લોકો આનંદોત્સવ કરે છે, પણ દુર્જનના હાથમાં સત્તા આવે છે ત્યારે તેઓ નિસાસા નાખે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PRO.29.3" />જે કોઇ જ્ઞાનને પ્રેમ કરે તે પોતાના પિતાને આનંદ આપે છે; પણ જે વારાંગના સાથે સબંધ રાખે છે તે પોતાની સંપત્તિ પણ ગુમાવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PRO.29.4" />નીતિમાન ન્યાયી રાજા દેશને સ્થિરતા અપેર્ છે, પણ લાંચ મેળવવાનું ચાહે છે તે તેનો નાશ કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.29.5" />જે માણસ પોતાના પડોશીના ખોટા વખાણ કરે છે તે તેને ફસાવવા જાળ પાથરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="PRO.29.6" />દુર્જન પોતાના પાપનાં ફાંદામાં ફસાય છે. સજ્જન આનંદ કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.29.7" />સજ્જન ગરીબોના હિતની ચિંતા રાખે છે. દુર્જનને તે સમજવાની પણ પડી નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.29.8" />તિરસ્કાર કરનાર માણસો શહેર ઉશ્કેરે છે, પરંતુ હોશિયાર રોષને સમાવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PRO.29.9" />જો ડાહ્યો માણસ મૂર્ખ સાથે ન્યાયાલયમાં જાય તો તો મૂર્ખ ડાહી વ્યકિત પર ગુસ્સે થશે અને હસશે, અને ત્યાં કાંઇ સૂઝાવ નહિ હોય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.29.10" />લોહી તરસ્યા માણસો પ્રામાણિક માણસો પર વૈર રાખે છે, અને તેઓ ન્યાયી માણસોને મારી નાખવા માટે ઝૂરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.29.11" />મૂર્ખ માણસ પોતનો ક્રોધ બહાર ઠાલવે છે, પણ ડાહી વ્યકિત પોતાની જાતને કાબૂમાં રાખે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.29.12" />કોઇ શાસનકર્તા જૂઠાંણું કાને ધરે છે, તો તેના બધા અમલદારો દુષ્ટ થઇ જાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.29.13" />ગરીબને જેઓ તેમને તકલીફ આપે છે તેમનામાં એક સમાનતા છે. યહોવાએ તેમને જીવન આપ્યુ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.29.14" />જે રાજા વિશ્વાસુપણાથી ગરીબોનો ન્યાય કરે છે, તેનો હોદૃો સદાને માટે સ્થિર રહેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.29.15" />સોટી તથા ઠપકો જ્ઞાન આપે છે; પણ સ્વતંત્ર મૂકેલું બાળક પોતાની માને ફજેત કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.29.16" />દુર્જનો સત્તા ઉપર આવે છે ત્યારે પાપ વધે છે, પણ સજ્જનો તેઓની પડતી થતી જોશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.29.17" />તું તારા દીકરાને શિક્ષા કરીશ તો તે તારા માટે આશીર્વાદરૂપ હશે, તે તારા હૈયાને આનંદ આપશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.29.18" />જ્યાં સંદર્શન નથી, ત્યાં લોકો સ્વેચ્છાચારી બની જાય છે, પણ જે દેવના નિયમને વળગી રહે છે તે સુખી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.29.19" />ગુલામોને એકલા શબ્દથી સુધારી ન શકાય, કારણ, તે સમજશે તો પણ ગણકારશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.29.20" />તમે ઝડપથી બોલતા માણસને જુઓ છો? તેના કરતાં મૂર્ખ માટે વધારે આશા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.29.21" />નાનપણથી લાડમાં ઉછરેલો ગુલામ પછીથી તે તેનો દીકરો થઇ જાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.29.22" />ક્રોધી માણસ ઝઘડા સળગાવે છે, અને ગુસ્સાવાળો વ્યકિત ઘણા ગુના કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.29.23" />અભિમાન વ્યકિતને અપમાનિત કરે છે, પણ નમ્રતાથી વ્યકિત સન્માન મેળવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.29.24" />ચોરનો ભાગીદાર પોતાનો જ દુશ્મન છે; તેને જુબાની આપવા માટે બોલાવાય છે, પણ સાક્ષી નથી પૂરતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.29.25" />વ્યકિતનો ભય એ છટકું છે, પણ જે કોઇ યહોવા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તે સુરક્ષિત છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.29.26" />સૌ કોઇ શાશકની કૃપા શોધે છે, પણ ન્યાય તો યહોવા પાસેથી જ મળી શકે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.29.27" />પણ સજ્જનો દુર્જનોને તિરસ્કારે છે અને દુર્જનો સાચા માગેર્ ચાલનારને ધૂત્કારે છે.
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</p>

<c id="30" />
<s style="s">યાકેહના પુત્ર આગૂરનાઁ બોધ વચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.30.1" />આ, માસાહના યાકેહના પુત્ર આગૂરનાઁ વચનો છે. માનવીનો બોધ: ઇથીએલ અને ઉક્કાલને.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.30.2" />નિશ્ચિતરીતે હું માણસોની વચ્ચે મહામૂર્ખ છું. હું માનવ જેવો નથી. મારામાં માણસ જેવી બુદ્ધિ નથી.
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<v id="3" bcv="PRO.30.3" />હું જ્ઞાન શીખ્યો નથી કે નથી મને પવિત્ર ઇશ્વરનું જ્ઞાન નથી.
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<v id="4" bcv="PRO.30.4" />આકાશમાં કોણ ચડ્યો છે, અને પાછો નીચે ઊતર્યો છે? કોણે હવાને મૂઠ્ઠીમાં બાંધી રાખી છે? કોણે પાણીને પોતાના ઝભ્ભામાં બાંધ્યું છે? પૃથ્વીની સીમાઓ બધી કોણે સ્થાપી છે? જો તું જાણતો હોય, તો તેનું નામ શું છે? અને તેના પુત્રનું નામ શું છે?
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PRO.30.5" />દેવનું પ્રત્યેક વચન પરખેલું છે; જેઓ તેમનામાં આશ્રય શોધે છે તેમના માટે તે ઢાલ છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="PRO.30.6" />તેનાઁ વચનોમાં તું કશો ઉમેરો કરીશ નહિ, નહિ તો તે તને ઠપકો આપશે ને તું જૂઠા તરીકે પૂરવાર થઇશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PRO.30.7" />હે યહોવા, મેં તમારી પાસે બે વરદાન માગ્યાઁ છે; મારા મૃત્યુ પહેલાં મને તેની ના પાડીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="PRO.30.8" />અસત્ય અને વ્યર્થતાને મારાથી દૂર રાખજે, મને દરિદ્રતા કે દ્રવ્ય પણ ન આપ; મને જરૂર જેટલો રોટલો આપજે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="PRO.30.9" />નહિ તો કદાચ હું વધારે સંતુષ્ટ થાવ અને તને નકારુ અને કહું કે, યહોવા કોણ છે? અથવા હું કદાચ ગરીબ થઇને ચોરી કરુ અને પછી મારા દેવના નામને ષ્ટ કરું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.30.10" />નોકરની ખરાબ વાતો જે ખોટી છે તે તેના માલિક આગળ ન કર. રખેને તે તને શાપ દે, ને તેણે જે કર્યું હતું તેને માટે તું દોષપાત્ર ઠરે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.30.11" />એવી પણ એક પેઢી છે કે જે પોતાના પિતાને શાપ આપે છે અને પોતાની માને આશીર્વાદ દેતી નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.30.12" />એવી પણ એક પેઢી છે જે પોતાને પવિત્ર માને છે, પણ તે પોતાની મલિનતામાંથી સ્વચ્છ થતી નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.30.13" />એવી પણ એક પેઢી છે કે જેમના ઘમંડનો પાર નથી અને જેઓ સૌને તુચ્છકારની નજરે જુએ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.30.14" />એવી પણ એક પેઢી છે કે જેમનાં દાંત તરવાર જેવા અને તેમના જડબા છરી જેવા હોય છે; તેઓ પૃથ્વી પરથી કંગાલોને અને લોકોમાંથી જરૂરિયાત મંદોને ભરખી જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.30.15" />જળોને બે દીકરીઓ છે. તેઓ “આપો! આપો!” એમ ચીસો પાડે છે. જે કયારેય તૃપ્ત ન થાય, તેવી ત્રણ વસ્તુઓ છે. પરંતુ ચાર, એવા છે કે જે કદી “બસ” કહેતા નથી:
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PRO.30.16" />એટલે શેઓલ; વાંઝણીનું ઉદર, તરસી જમીન અને અગ્નિ, જે કદી “બસ” કહેતા નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.30.17" />જે આંખ તેના પિતાની મશ્કરી કરે છે, અને તેની માતાની આજ્ઞા માનવાની ના પાડે છે.તેની આંખને ખીણના કાગડા ફોડી નાંખો અને ગીઘડા ખાઇ જાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.30.18" />ત્રણ વસ્તુઓ એવી છે, જે મારા માટે આશ્ચર્યજનક છે, પરંતુ ચાર, એવી છે જે મને સમજાતી નથી;
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="PRO.30.19" />આકાશમાં ઊડતા ગરૂડની ચાલ, ખડક ઉપર ચાલતા સાપની ચાલ, મધદરિયે તરતા વહાણની ચાલ, અને યુવાન સ્ત્રી સાથેના પુરુષના વ્યવહાર.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.30.20" />વ્યભિચારી સ્ત્રીની રીત આવી હોય છે: તેણી ખાય છે અને મોં લૂછી નાખે છે અને કહે છે કે, “મેં કશું ખોટું કર્યુ નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.30.21" />ત્રણ વસ્તુઓથી ધરતી ધ્રુજે છે, પરંતુ ચાર, જે એનાથી સહન થતી નથી;
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="PRO.30.22" />રાજગાદીએ બેઠેલો ગુલામ, અને ખોરાકની વિપુલતા માણતો મૂરખ,
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="PRO.30.23" />પરણવા પામેલી પ્રેમથી વંચિત રહેલી સ્ત્રી, અને પોતાની શેઠાણીની જગાએ આવેલી દાસી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.30.24" />પૃથ્વી પર ચાર વસ્તુ એવી છે, જે નાની છે, પણ અત્યંત હોશિયાર છે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.30.25" />કીડી કંઇ બળવાન પ્રજા નથી, પણ તેઓ ઉનાળામાં પોતાનો ખોરાક ભેગો કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.30.26" />ખડકમાં રહેતા સસલાં પણ નિર્બળ પ્રજા છે, તો પણ તેઓ સર્વ પોતાનાં રહેઠાણ ખડકોમાં બનાવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.30.27" />તીડોનો કોઇ રાજા હોતો નથી. છતાં તેઓ બધાં ટોળાબંધ નીકળે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.30.28" />ઘરોળીને તમે તમારાં હાથમાં પકડી શકો, છતાં તે રાજાઓના મહેલમાં પણ હોય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.30.29" />ત્રણ પ્રાણીઓના પગલાં દમામદાર હોય છે, હા, ચારની ચાલ દમામદાર હોય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.30.30" />એટલે સિંહ જે પશુઓમાં સૌથી બળવાન છે, અને કોઇને લીધે પીછે હઠ કરતો નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="PRO.30.31" />વળી શિકારી કૂતરો;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તથા બકરો;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તેમજ પોતાની પ્રજાને દોરતો રાજા કે જેની સામે થઇ શકાય નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="PRO.30.32" />જો તેઁ ગર્વ કરવાની બેવકૂફી કરી હોય અને કોઇ ભૂંડો વિચાર તેઁ કર્યો હોય, તો તારો હાથ તારો મોં પર મૂક.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="PRO.30.33" />કારણ કે દૂધ વલોવ્યાથી માખણનીકળે, અને નાક રગડવાથી લોહી નીકળે, તેમ ક્રોધને છંછેડવાથી ઝગડો ઊભો થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="31" />
<s style="s">રાજા લમૂએલના બોધ વચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PRO.31.1" />માસાઅ પાસેથી રાજા લમૂએલના નીતિવચનો જે તેને તેની માતાએ શીખવાડયા હતાં:
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PRO.31.2" />ઓ મારા પુત્ર, ઓ મારા ગર્ભના દીકરા, હે મારી પ્રતિજ્ઞાઓના દીકરા, છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="PRO.31.3" />તારી શકિત સ્ત્રીઓ ઉપર ન ખચીર્શ, તેમ તારી સત્તા એ રાજાઓનો નાશ કરનારા ઉપર ન વાપરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="PRO.31.4" />દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવો તે રાજાનું કામ નથી, ઓ લમૂએલ; દ્રાક્ષારસની પાછળ ઝૂરવું એ રાજકર્તાનું કામ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="PRO.31.5" />કારણ કે પીવાને લીધે તેઓ પોતાના નિયમો ભૂલી જાય છે અને કચડાયેલાઓને નિષ્પક્ષન્યાય આપી શકે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="PRO.31.6" />જેઓ મરવાની અણી પર હોય તેને દ્રાક્ષારસ, અને જેઓ દુભાયેલા હોય તેને દ્રાક્ષારસ આપવો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="PRO.31.7" />તેઓ દ્રાક્ષારસ પી શકશે અને પોતાની ગરીબી ભૂલી જશે અને પોતાનાં દુ:ખોને સંભારશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PRO.31.8" />જે પોતા માટે બોલી શકતો નથી તેને માટે તું બોલ અને તું નિરાધારોના હકનો પક્ષ કર.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="PRO.31.9" />અને તેનો સાચો ન્યાય કર, દીનદુ:ખીઓના અને જરૂરતમંદનાં હક્કનું રક્ષણ કર.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સદગુણી પત્ની
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PRO.31.10" />e સદગુણી પત્ની કોને મળે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હીરામાણેક કરતાં પણ એનું મૂલ્ય વધારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PRO.31.11" />તેનો પતિ તેના પર પૂરો વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને સંપતિની કોઇ ખોટ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="PRO.31.12" />તે જીવનભર પોતાના પતિનું ભલું જ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કદી ખોટું કરતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="PRO.31.13" />તે ઊન અને શણ ભેગું કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને ખંતથી પોતાના હાથે કાંતવામાં આનંદ માણે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="PRO.31.14" />તે વેપારીના વહાણ જેવી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દૂરથી પોતાનું અન્ન લઇ આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="PRO.31.15" />ઘરનાં સર્વને માટે ખાવાનું તૈયાર કરવા તે પરોઢ થતાં પહેલાં ઊઠી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની દાસીઓ માટે દિવસભરના કામનું આયોજન કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="PRO.31.16" />તે બહાર જાય છે, ખેતર તપાસે છે અને ખરીદે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના નફામાંથી તે પોતાના હાથો વડે તે દ્રાક્ષની વાડી રોપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="PRO.31.17" />તે ખડતલ અને ભારે ઉદ્યમી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કમર કસીને કામ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="PRO.31.18" />તે પોતાના વેપારના નફાનો ખ્યાલ રાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી રાતભર તેનો દીવો હોલવાતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="PRO.31.19" />તે એક હાથે પૂણી પકડે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને બીજે હાથે રેંટિયો ચલાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="PRO.31.20" />તે ગરીબોને ઉદાર મને આપે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દીનદુ:ખીને છૂટે હાથે મદદ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="PRO.31.21" />તેનાં ઘરના સભ્યો માટે તેને શિયાળાની બીક નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં આખા કુટુંબે ઊનનાં કિરમજી વસ્ત્ર પહેરેલાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="PRO.31.22" />તે પોતાને માટે રજાઇઓ બનાવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં વસ્ત્રો ઝીણા મલમલનાં તથા જાંબુડા રંગના છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="PRO.31.23" />તેનો પતિ નગર દરવાજે આદર પામે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેશનાં મુખ્ય આગેવાનોમાં તેની ઊઠબેસ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="PRO.31.24" />તે વસ્ત્રો અને કમરબંધ વણીને વેપારીઓને વેચેછે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="PRO.31.25" />શકિત અને પ્રતિષ્ઠા તેના વસ્ત્રો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ભવિષ્ય વિષે ચિંતિત નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને વૃદ્ધાવસ્થાનો ડર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="PRO.31.26" />તેના મોઢામાંથી જ્ઞાનની વાતો નીકળે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નમ્ર સૂચનો તેની જીભમાંથી નીકળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="PRO.31.27" />તે પોતાના ઘરમાં બધા કામની દેખરેખ રાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે કદી આળસ કરતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="PRO.31.28" />તેનાં સંતાનો જીવનમાં ઊંચે ઊડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને ધન્યવાદ આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના પતિ તેના વખાણ કરે છે અને પ્રશંસા કરતાં કહે છે કે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="PRO.31.29" />જગતમાં ઘણી સદાચારી સ્ત્રીઓ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તું તે સર્વ કરતાં ઉત્તમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="PRO.31.30" />લાવણ્યામક છે, અને સૌદર્ય ક્ષણિક છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ યહોવાનો ડર રાખનાર સ્ત્રીની પ્રંશસા થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="PRO.31.31" />તેના કામની પ્રસંશા કરો અને ભલે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેને નગર દરવાજે પ્રતિષ્ઠા અપાવે.
<ve />
</q>
</book>
<book id="ECC"><id id="ECC">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>સભાશિક્ષક
</h><toc level="1">સભાશિક્ષક
</toc><toc level="2">સભાશિક્ષક
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">સભાશિક્ષક
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">જ્ઞાનની વ્યર્થતા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.1.1" />યરૂશાલેમના રાજા દાઉદના પુત્ર સભાશિક્ષકનાં વચનો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ECC.1.2" />જે બધું અસ્તિત્વ ધરાવે છે તે બધુંજ નકામું છે સભા શિક્ષક કહે છે કે. સઘળું નિરર્થક છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ECC.1.3" />મનુષ્ય કોઇ પણ શ્રમ દુનિયા પર કરે, પણ તે પછી અંતે તેને શું મળવાનું?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ECC.1.4" />એક પેઢી જાય છે, અને બીજી આવે છે પરંતુ દુનિયા સદા ટકી રહે છે. એનાથી કોઇ ફેર પડતો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ECC.1.5" />સૂર્યોદય થાય છે, અને સૂર્યાસ્ત પણ થાય છે અને ફરી તે ઊગવા માટે સત્વરે ઊગવાની જગાએ જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ECC.1.6" />પવન દક્ષિણ તરફ વાય છે અને ઉત્તર તરફ વળે છે આમ તે મૂળ માર્ગ ઉપર પાછો ફરે છે અને પોતાની ગતિમાં આમથી તેમ ફર્યા કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ECC.1.7" />સર્વ નદીઓ વહેતી જઇને સમુદ્રમાં મળે છે તો પણ સમુદ્ર ભરાઇ જતો નથી; જે જગાએ નદીઓ જાય છે ત્યાંથી તેઓ પાછી આવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ECC.1.8" />બધી જ વસ્તુઓ કંટાળાજનક છે; તેનું પૂરું વર્ણન મનુષ્ય કરી શકે તેમ નથી. ગમે તેટલું જોવાથી આંખો થાકતી નથી અને કાન પૂરેપૂરું સાંભળતા નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કશુંજ નવું નથી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ECC.1.9" />ઇતિહાસનું કેવળ પુનરાવર્તન થાય છે, જે થઇ ગયું છે તે જ થવાનું છે; અને જે કરવામાં આવ્યું છે તે જ કરવામાં આવશે; ખરેખર દુનિયા પર કશું જ નવું નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ECC.1.10" />એવી કોઇ બાબત છે કે જેના વિષે લોકો કહી શકે કે તે નવું છે? ઘણા સમય અગાઉ તે પહેલેથી જ બન્યુ હતું. તે આપણી સામે આવ્યું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ECC.1.11" />ભૂતકાળની પેઢીઓનું સ્મરણ નથી; અને ભવિષ્યમાં આવનારી પેઢીઓ વિષે તેના પછી આવનારી પેઢીને પણ તેનું સ્મરણ નહિ હોય.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શું જ્ઞાનથી આનંદ પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ECC.1.12" />હું સભાશિક્ષક, યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેનાર ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા હતો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ECC.1.13" />વિશ્વમાં જે કાંઇ બને છે તેની શોધ કરવા અને સમજવા મે મારા ડહાપણને રોકી રાખ્યું. દેવે મનુષ્યને કરવા માટે એ કષ્ટમય શ્રમ આપ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="ECC.1.14" />પણ દુનિયા પર લોકો જે કરે છે તે સર્વ બાબતો મેં જોઇ છે. એ સર્વ નિરર્થક તથા હવામાં બાચકાં ભરવાની કોશિષ કરવા જેવું છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ECC.1.15" />જે વાકું છે તેને સીધું કરી શકાતું નથી; અને જે કાંઇ અનુપસ્થિત છે તે લક્ષમાં લઇ શકાતું નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ECC.1.16" />મેં મારી જાતને કહ્યું કે, “જુઓ, યરૂશાલેમમાં મારી અગાઉ થઇ ગયેલા અન્ય રાજાઓ કરતાં વધારે જ્ઞાની છું. મારા મનને જ્ઞાન અને વિદ્યાનો ખૂબ અનુભવ મળ્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ECC.1.17" />પછીં મેં જ્ઞાન તથા ગાંડપણ અને મૂર્ખતા સમજવા માટે સંપૂર્ણ રીતે પ્રયત્નો કર્યાં પણ ત્યારે મને સમજાયું કે આ પણ પવનને પકડવા જેવું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ECC.1.18" />કારણ કે અધિક જ્ઞાનથી આપત્તિમાં અધિક વૃદ્ધિ થાય છે. અને વિદ્યા-ડહાપણ વધે તેમ શોક વધે છે, દુ:ખ પણ વધે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">‘આનંદ પ્રમોદની નિરર્થકતા’
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.2.1" />તેથી મેં મારી જાતને કહ્યું કે, “ચાલ ત્યારે, હવે ભરપૂર આનંદ કર, હવે હું તારી પરીક્ષા કરીશ; માટે મોજશોખ કરી લે; પણ મને સમજાયું કે આ પણ નકામું કામ છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ECC.2.2" />મેં વિનોદ વિષે જણાવ્યું કે, હંમેશા હસતા રહેવું તે પણ મૂર્ખાઇ છે; તેનાથી શું ભલું થાય?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ECC.2.3" />પછી મેં મારા અંત:કરણમાં શોધ કરી કે હું મારા દેહને દ્રાક્ષારસથી તરબોળ કરું, તેમ છતાં મારા અંત:કરણનું ડહાપણ તેવું ને તેવું જ રહે. વળી માણસોએ દુનિયા ઉપર પોતાના સઘળા આયુષ્ય પર્યંત શું કરવું સારું છે, તે મને સમજાય ત્યાં સુધી હું મૂર્ખાઇ ગ્રહણ કરું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શું સખત પરિશ્રમથી આનંદ પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ECC.2.4" />પછી મેં મારે પોતાને માટે મોટાં કામો ઉપાડ્યાં. મે પોતાને માટે મહેલો બંધાવ્યાં અને દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓ રોપાવી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ECC.2.5" />મેં મારા પોતાને માટે બગીચા બનાવડાવ્યા અને સર્વ પ્રકારનાં ફળો આપે તેવી વાડીઓ રોપાવી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ECC.2.6" />મેં મારાં વૃક્ષોને પાણી પીવડાવવાં માટે જળાશયો અને નહેરો બંધાવ્યા જેનાથી વનમાં ઊછરતાં વૃક્ષોને પણ પાણી સિંચાય.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ECC.2.7" />મેં પુરુષ નોકરો અને સ્ત્રી નોકરો ખરીદ્યાઁ. મારા ઘરમાંજ જન્મેલાં ગુલામો પણ મારી પાસે હતા. અગાઉ થઇ ગયેલા રાજાઓ પાસે હોય તેનાથીય ઘણાં વધારે ઢોરઢાંખરાં મારી પાસે હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ECC.2.8" />મેં મારા માટે ઘણું સોનું ચાંદી અને રાજાઓનું તથા પરગણાંનું ખાનગી દ્રવ્ય પણ ભેગું કર્યું; મેં પોતાને માટે ગવૈયા, ગાનારીઓ તથા જેમાં પુરુષો આનંદ માણે છે, તે એટલે અતિ ઘણી ઉપપત્નીઓ, મેળવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ECC.2.9" />આ રીતે હું બળવાન અને શકિતશાળી થયો. અને જેઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં મારી અગાઉ થઇ ગયા હતાં તે સર્વ કરતાં હું વધારે સમૃદ્ધિ પામ્યો; મારા જ્ઞાને મને આ બાબતો કરવા માટે શકિતમાન કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ECC.2.10" />મને જે પસંદ હતું તે મેં પ્રાપ્ત કર્યું. અને કોઇ પણ પ્રકારનાં આનંદથી મેં મારી જાતને રોકી નહિ. સખત પરિશ્રમમાં પણ મેં મારી જાતને રોકી નહિ. સખત પરિશ્રમમાં પણ મેં ઘણો આનંદ મેળવ્યો. આ આનંદ મારા સઘળા પરિશ્રમનો કેવળ બદલો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ECC.2.11" />ત્યારે જે બધાં કામો મેં મારે હાથે કર્યાં હતા તે પર, અને જે મહેનત કરવાનો મેં શ્રમ ઉઠાવ્યો હતો તે પર મેં નજર કરી; તો એ સઘળું વ્યર્થ તથા હવામાં બાચકાં ભરવા જેવું દેખાયું અને દુનિયા ઉપર મને કઇં લાભ દેખાયો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">જ્ઞાન આનો જવાબ હોઇ શકે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ECC.2.12" />હવે મેં જ્ઞાની, ગાંડપણ અને મૂર્ખતાના લક્ષણોનો તુલનાત્મક અભ્યાસ શરું કર્યો. જ્યારે એક રાજાની જગ્યાએ બીજો રાજા આવે છે તો નવા રાજાએ કાંઇ નવું કરવાનું નથી. દરેક વસ્તુ બધી પહેલેથીજ કરી લીધેલી હોય છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ECC.2.13" />પછી મેં જોયું કે જેટલે દરજ્જે અજવાળું અંધકારથી શ્રે છે, તેટલે દરજ્જે જ્ઞાન મૂર્ખાઇ થી શ્રે છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="ECC.2.14" />કારણ કે જ્ઞાની માણસ જોઇ શકે છે જ્યારે મૂર્ખ દ્રષ્ટિહીન છે, તો પણ મેં જોયું કે જ્ઞાની અને મૂર્ખ, બંનેના પરિણામ સરખાજ આવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ECC.2.15" />ત્યારે મેં મારા મનમાં વિચાર્યું કે, જેમ મૂર્ખને થાય છે તેમ મને પણ થશે જ, ત્યારે મને તેનાં કરતાં વધારે બુદ્ધિમાન હોવામા શો લાભ? ત્યારે મેં મારા મનમાં કહ્યું કે, એ પણ નિરર્થક છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ECC.2.16" />મૂર્ખ કરતાં જ્ઞાનીનું સ્મરણ વધારે રહેતું નથી; જ્ઞાની અને મૂર્ખ બંન્ને મૃત્યુ પામશે અને આવનાર દિવસોમાં બન્ને ભૂલાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શું ખરેખર આનંદ સત્યજીવનમાં છે?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ECC.2.17" />તેથી હવે હું જીવનને ધિક્કારું છું. દુનિયા પર થતાં કાર્યો મને કષ્ટદાયક લાગ્યાં, તે સર્વ નિરર્થક તથા હવામાં બાચકાં ભરવાં જેવું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ECC.2.18" />જે પરિશ્રમ મેં દુનિયા પર કર્યો તેના પર મને ધિક્કાર ઉપજ્યો; કારણ કે મારા પછી થનાર વારસ માટે મારે તે મૂકી જવું પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ECC.2.19" />કોઇ કહી શકશે ખરું કે મારો વારસ જ્ઞાની થશે કે મૂર્ખ? છતાં જેના માટે મેં આ દુનિયામાં પરિશ્રમ કર્યો અને મારા જ્ઞાનનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો તેનો ધણી તે બનશે. પરંતુ આ પણ વ્યર્થતા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ECC.2.20" />તેથી મેં દુનિયા પર જે સર્વ કામો માટે પરિશ્રમ કર્યો હતો તે પ્રત્યે હું નિરાશ થઇ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ECC.2.21" />મનુષ્ય પોતાના જીવનમાં ડાહપણ, જ્ઞાન તથા કુશળતાથી પોતાના કામ કરે, પણ એ સર્વ એક દિવસ એવી વ્યકિતના હાથમાં જશે જેણે તેના માટે કઇ કામ કર્યું નથી. કોઇ પણ જાતની કિંમત ચૂકવ્યાં વિના તે વારસ બને છે.આ વ્યર્થતા છે અને સાથે અન્યાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ECC.2.22" />પોતાનું સર્વ કામ સફળતાથી કરવા માટે પોતાની બુદ્ધિનો ઉપયોગ કરીને માણસ દુનિયામાં પરિશ્રમ કરે છે પણ તેમાંથી તેને શું પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે?
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="ECC.2.23" />કારણ કે તેના બધા દિવસો શોકમય તથા તેનો સઘળો પરિશ્રમ દુ:ખરૂપ છે; રાત્રે પણ તેનું મન ચિંતાગ્રસ્ત હોવાથી વિશ્રાંતિ ભોગવતું નથી. એ પણ વ્યર્થતા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ECC.2.24" />તેથી આખરે હું આ નિર્ણય પર આવ્યો છું કે માણસે સંતોષથી ખાવું, પીવું અને પોતાના દૈનિક કામમાં આનંદ માણવો, તેનાં કરતાં વધારે સારું બીજું કશું નથી. પછી મને ખ્યાલ આવ્યો કે આ પ્રમાણે વસ્તુઓ દેવ જ બનાવે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ECC.2.25" />પરંતુ દેવની કૃપા વિના કોણ ખાઇ શકે અથવા સુખ ભોગવી શકે?
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="ECC.2.26" />જે લોકો દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરે છે તેઓને તે બુદ્ધિ જ્ઞાન તથા આનંદ આપે છે; પણ પાપીને તે અતિ ભારે પરિશ્રમ આપે છે તેથી તે સંગ્રહ કરે અને ધનવાન બને, અને જેઓ દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરે છે તેઓને માટે તે ધન મૂકીને જાય, અહીં પણ આપણે વ્યર્થ તથા નિરર્થક હવામાં બાચકાં ભરવા જેવું કરીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુ માટે યોગ્ય સમય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.3.1" />પૃથ્વી ઉપર પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુને માટે યોગ્ય ઋતુ, અને પ્રત્યેક પ્રયોજનો માટે યોગ્ય સમય હોય છે;
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ECC.3.2" />જન્મ લેવાનો સમય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૃત્યુ પામવાનો સમય,
</q>
<q style="q1">છોડ રોપવાનો સમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રોપેલાને ઉખેડી નાંખવાનો સમય;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ECC.3.3" />મારી નાખવાનો સમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જીવાડવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q style="q1">તોડી પાડવાનો સમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બાંધવાનો સમય;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ECC.3.4" />રડવાનો સમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હસવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q style="q1">શોક કરવાનો સમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નૃત્ય કરવાનો સમય;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ECC.3.5" />પત્થરો ફેંકી દેવાનો સમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પત્થરો એકઠાં કરવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q style="q1">આલિંગન કરવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા આલિંગન કરવાથી દૂર રહેવાનો સમય;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ECC.3.6" />શોધવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગુમાવવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q style="q1">રાખવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફેંકી દેવાનો સમય;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ECC.3.7" />ફાડવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સીવવા કરવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q style="q1">શાંત રહેવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બોલવાનો સમય;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ECC.3.8" />પ્રેમ કરવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધિક્કારવાનો સમય;
</q>
<q style="q1">યુદ્ધનો સમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સલાહ શાંતિનો સમય.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવ પોતાની દુનિયાનું નિયંત્રણ કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ECC.3.9" />આટલો બધો સખત પરિશ્રમ કરવાથી માણસને શું ફળ પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે?
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ECC.3.10" />દેવે જે ધંધો મનુષ્યોને તેઓને કાર્યરત રાખવા આપ્યો છે તે મેં જોયો છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ECC.3.11" />યહોવાએ પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુ ને તેના યોગ્ય સમયમાં સુંદર બનાવી છે.જો કે દેવે મનુષ્યનાં હૃદયમાં સનાતનપણું મૂક્યું છે. છતાં શરૂઆતથી અંત સુધીનાં દેવનાં કાર્યો મનુષ્ય સમજી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ECC.3.12" />હું જાણું છું કે, પોતાના જીવન પર્યંત આનંદ કરવું ને ભલું કરવું, તે કરતાં તેના માટે બીજું કંઇ શ્રેષ્ઠ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ECC.3.13" />તેણે ખાવું, પીવું અને પરિશ્રમથી જે સિદ્ધ કર્યુ છે તેનાથી સંતોષ અનુભવવો, કારણ કે આ દેવ તરફથી પ્રાપ્ત થયેલું કૃપાદાન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ECC.3.14" />મને ખબર છે કે દેવ જે કંઈ કરે છે તે ભવિષ્યમાં સદાને માટે રહેશે; તેમાં કશો વધારો કે ઘટાડો કરી શકાય નહિ, આમા દેવનો મુખ્ય હેતુ એ છે કે માણસ દેવનો ડર રાખે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ECC.3.15" />જે હાલમાં છે તે અગાઉ થઈ ગયું છે; અને જે થવાનું છે તે પણ અગાઉ થઈ ગયેલું છે; અને જે વીતી ગયું છે તેને દેવ પાછું શોધી કાઢે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ECC.3.16" />વળી મેં આ દુનિયામાં જોયું કે સદાચારની જગાએ અનિષ્ટ હતું; અને ન્યાયની જગ્યાએ અનિષ્ટ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="ECC.3.17" />મેં મારી જાતને કહ્યું કે, “યહોવા ન્યાયીનો અને દુષ્ટનો ન્યાય કરશે, કારણ કે પ્રત્યેક પ્રવૃતિ માટે અને પ્રત્યેક કાર્ય માટે યોગ્ય સમય હોય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શું મનુષ્યો પશૂવત્ છે?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ECC.3.18" />પછીં મે મારા મનમાં વિચાર્યુ કે, “યહોવા મનુષ્યની કસોટી કરે છે. જેથી તેઓ જાણે કે તેઓ પશુ સમાન છે. અને પશુઓથી વધારે સારા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ECC.3.19" />કારણ કે પશુઓના જે હાલ થાય છે તે જ હાલ મનુષ્યનાં થાય છે. મૃત્યુ બંને માટે છે, સર્વને એક જ પ્રાણ હોય છે તેથી મનુષ્ય જાતને પશુઓ કરતાં વધારે લાભ મળતો નથી. કેવી વ્યર્થતા!
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="ECC.3.20" />એક જ જગાએ સર્વ જાય છે; સર્વ માટીમાંથી આવ્યાં છે, ને અંતે સર્વ માટીમાં જ મળી જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ECC.3.21" />મનુષ્યનો આત્મા ઉપર જાય છે અને પશુ આત્મા નીચે પૃથ્વીમાં જાય છે, તેની ખબર કોને છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ECC.3.22" />તેથી મેં જાણ્યુ કે, માણસ પોતાના કામમાં આનંદ માણે, તેથી વધારે સારું કાંઇ નથી. એ જ તેનો ભાગ છે; ભવિષ્યમાં શું બનવાનું છે તે તેને કોઇ દેખાડી શકે તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">સર્વત્ર ત્રાસ અને દુ:ખ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.4.1" />ત્યારબાદ મેં પાછા ફરીને વિચાર કર્યો, અને દુનિયા પર થતાં ત્રાસ અને દુ:ખ નિહાળ્યાં. ત્રાસ સહન કરનારાઓનાં આંસુ લૂછનાર અને તેમને સાંત્વના આપનાર કોઇ નહોતું; તેઓના પર ત્રાસ કરનારાઓ શકિતશાળી હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ECC.4.2" />તેથી મને લાગ્યું કે જેઓ હજી જીવતાં છે તેઓ કરતાં જેઓ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે તેઓ વધારે સુખી છે;
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ECC.4.3" />વળી તે બંને કરતાંય જેઓ હજી જન્મ્યાં જ નથી અને જેઓની આંખોએ ત્રાસ અને દુનિયા પર થતાં ભૂંડા કૃત્યો જોયા નથી તે વધારે સુખી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શા માટે આટલો સખત પરિશ્રમ?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ECC.4.4" />વળી મેં જોયું કે કાર્ય કરવામાં આવડત અને પરિશ્રમને લીધે માણસ અને તેના પડોશી વચ્ચે ઇર્ષા ઉત્પન્ન થાય છે. એ પણ વ્યર્થ તથા હવામાં બાચકા ભરવાં જેવું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ECC.4.5" />મૂર્ખ કામ કરતા નથી અને પોતાની જાત પર બરબાદી લાવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ECC.4.6" />અતિ પરિશ્રમ કરી અને પવનને પણ પકડવાના પ્રયત્નો કરી પુષ્કળ કમાવું તે કરતાં શાંતિસહિત થોડું કમાવું વધારે સારું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ECC.4.7" />ત્યારબાદ હું પાછો ફર્યો, અને મેં દુનિયા ઉપર વ્યર્થતા જોઇ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ECC.4.8" />જો માણસ એકલું હોય, અને તેને એક પુત્ર કે એક ભાઇ પણ ન હોય; છતાંય તે વધુ ધન પ્રાપ્ત કરવાં ખૂબ પરિશ્રમ કર્યા કરે છે “તેને સંતોષ નથી પણ આ પરિશ્રમ તે કોના માટે કરે છે? શા માટે તે પોતાને આનંદથી દૂર રાખે છે?” આ સર્વ પરિશ્રમ ફકત અક્કલહીન છે! અને તે ખોટનો ધંધો છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">મિત્રો અને પરિવારથી શકિત મળે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ECC.4.9" />એક કરતાં બે ભલા; કારણ કે બંનેએ સાથે મળીને કરેલી મહેનતનું ઘણું વધારે સારું ફળ તેઓને મળે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ECC.4.10" />જો બેમાંથી એક પડે તો બીજો તેને મદદ કરે છે; પરંતુ માણસ એકલો હોય, અને તેની પડતી થાય તો તેને મદદ કરનાર કોઇજ મળે નહિ અને ત્યારે તેની સ્થિતિ દયાજનક થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ECC.4.11" />જો બે જણા સાથે સૂઇ જાય તો તેઓને એક બીજાથી હૂંફ વળે છે. પણ એકલો માણસ હૂંફ કેવી રીતે મેળવી શકે?
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ECC.4.12" />એકલા માણસને હરકોઇ હરાવે, પણ બે જણ મળીને જીતી શકે છે; ત્રેવડી વણેલી દોરી સહેલાઇથી તૂટતી નથી.
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</p>
<s style="s">રાજનીતિ અને પ્રસિદ્ધિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ECC.4.13" />કોઇપણ વૃદ્ધ અને મૂર્ખ રાજા કે જે કોઇની સલાહ સાંભળતો ન હોય, તેનાં કરતાં ગરીબ પણ જ્ઞાની યુવાન સારો હોય છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ECC.4.14" />આ યુવાન જેલમાંથી મુકત થઇને રાજા બની શકે છે. અથવા તે દરિદ્રી પરિવારમાં જન્મ્યો હોય તો પણ રાજા થઇ શકે છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ECC.4.15" />દુનિયા પરનાં સર્વ મનુષ્યોને મેં જોયા તો તેઓ બધા રાજાના વારસ બનેલા આ યુવાનની સાથે હતાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="ECC.4.16" />અસંખ્ય લોકો તેની સન્મુખ ઊભા હતાં, તો પણ તેના પછીની પેઢીનાં લોકો તેનાથી ખુશ નહોતા. તેથી ખરેખર એ પણ વ્યર્થ અને હવામાં બાચકા ભરવા જેવું છે.
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">દેવનો આદર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.5.1" />દેવના મંદિરમાં તમે જાઓ ત્યારે તમારાં પગલાં સંભાળો. ભૂંડુ આચરણ કરે છતાં તે બાબતમાં સભાન ન રહે તેવા મૂર્ખ માણસોના જેવા યજ્ઞાર્પણો લાવવા કરતાં દેવનાં વચનો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવા તે વધારે ઉચિત છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="ECC.5.2" />તારા મુખે અવિચારી વાત કરીશ નહિ, દેવની સન્મુખ કંઇપણ બોલવા માટે તારું અંત:કરણ ઉતાવળું ન થાય; કારણ કે દેવ આકાશમાં છે, અને તું તો પૃથ્વી પર છે; અને તારા શબ્દો તો થોડા જ હોય.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ECC.5.3" />કારણ કે અતિશય શ્રમની ચિંતાથી રાત્રે સ્વપ્નો આવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બહુ બોલવાથી મૂર્ખની મૂર્ખાઇ ઉઘાડી પડી જાય છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ECC.5.4" />જ્યારે તમે દેવ સમક્ષ જે પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી હોય તો તે પૂર્ણ કરવામાં વિલંબ ન કરો. કારણ કે દેવ મૂર્ખાઓ પર રાજી નથી હોતા; તમારી પ્રતિજ્ઞા પૂર્ણ કરો.
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<v id="5" bcv="ECC.5.5" />તમે પ્રતિજ્ઞા લો અને પાળો નહિ તેના કરતાં તમે પ્રતિજ્ઞા ના લો તે વધારે ઉચિત છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ECC.5.6" />તમે તમારી જાત પાસે પાપ કરાવવા દેતા નહિ, દેવના દૂતને તમે એમ કહેતા નહિ કે તમારાથી ભૂલમાં વચન અપાઇ ગયું હતું, કારણ કે એ દેવને હજી વધારે ગુસ્સે કરાવશે. અને કદાચ તમારી સમૃદ્ધિ નષ્ટ કરશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ECC.5.7" />કારણ કે અતિશય સ્વપ્નોમાં રાચવાથી, વ્યર્થ વિચારો કરવાથી અને ઝાઝું બોલવાથી આવું બને છે માટે તું યહોવાનો ડર રાખ.
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રત્યેક અધિકારીની ઉપર એક અધિકારી છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ECC.5.8" />જો તમે ગરીબો પર થતાં અત્યાચાર અને દેશમાં ન્યાયને ઊઁધા વાળતા અતિશય ત્રાસને જુઓ, તો તે વાતથી આશ્ચર્ય પામશો નહિ, કારણ કે પ્રત્યેક અધિકારી તેનાથી ઊંચા અધિકારીના હાથની નીચે છે અને ઊંચો અધિકારી તેના પર દેખરેખ રાખનારની નજર હેઠળ છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ECC.5.9" />પૃથ્વીની ઊપજ તો તે બધાંને મળે છે. અને રાજા પણ તેના ખેતરોનો ગુલામ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ECC.5.10" />પૈસાનો લોભી પોતાની પાસે જે છે તેનાથી તૃપ્ત થશે નહિ; અને સમૃદ્ધિનો પ્રેમી લોભી પોતાની આવકથી કદી સંતોષ પામશે નહિ; આ બધું પણ વ્યર્થ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ECC.5.11" />જેમ તમારી પાસે શ્રીમંતાઇ વધતી જાય છે તેમ તેનો ઉપભોગ કરનારા પણ વધે છે; અને તેથી તેનાં માલિકને તો તે વપરાતી નજરે જોયા સિવાય બીજો શો લાભ થાય?
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ECC.5.12" />શ્રમ કરનાર મનુષ્ય ઓછું ખાય કે વધારે, પણ તે શાંતિથી ઊંઘી જાય છે. ધનવાન ચિંતા કર્યા કરે છે અને તેની સમૃદ્ધિ તેને શાંતિથી ઊંઘવા દેતી નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ECC.5.13" />મેં ત્યારબાદ દુનિયામાં સર્વત્ર એક ગંભીર બાબત જોઇ, એટલે સંપત્તિનો ધણી પોતાની હાનિને માટે જ દ્રવ્ય-સંગ્રહ કરી સંપત્તિ વધારે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ECC.5.14" />પરંતુ ખોટા સાહસને કારણે સંપત્તિ ચાલી જાય છે અને તેના પોતાના પુત્રોના હાથમાં પણ કઇં આવતું નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ECC.5.15" />માતાના ગર્ભાશયમાંથી મનુષ્ય નગ્નસ્થિતિમાં બહાર આવે છે અને જાય છે ત્યારે એ જ સ્થિતિમાં વિદાય લે છે. સખત પરિશ્રમ કરીને જે કાંઇ પ્રાપ્ત કર્યુ છે તેમાંથી તે કઇં પણ સાથે લઇ જતો નથી.
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<v id="16" bcv="ECC.5.16" />આ પણ એક ભારે દુ:ખ છે કે, જેવો તે આવ્યો હતો તે જ સ્થિતિમાં તેને પાછા જવું પડે છે; તે પવનને માટે પરિશ્રમ કરે છે અને અંતે સર્વ ઢસડાઇ જાય છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ECC.5.17" />વળી તેનું સમગ્ર આયુષ્ય અંધકારમાં જાય છે, અને શોક, રોગ અને ક્રોધથી તે હેરાન થાય છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પોતાના જીવનના કમોર્માં મોજમઝા કરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ECC.5.18" />જુઓ, મને મનુષ્યનાં માટે જે બાબત સારી લાગી તે એ છે કે, દેવે તેને આપેલા આયુષ્યના સર્વ દિવસોમાં ખાવું પીવું, અને દુનિયામાં જે સઘળો શ્રમ કરે છે તેમાં મોજમજા માણવી; કારણ કે એ જ તેનો ભાગ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ECC.5.19" />અને જો મનુષ્યને દેવ તરફથી સંપત્તિ પ્રાપ્ત થાય અને તેના ઉપભોગ માટે સારી તંદુરસ્તી પ્રાપ્ત થાય તે વધારે સારું છે. તેથી તેને પોતાના કામમાં આનંદ માણવો અને તેને મળતો ભાગ સ્વીકારવો-ખરેખર આ જ સાચી દેવ તરફથી મળતી ભેટ છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ECC.5.20" />તેનાં જીવનનાં દિવસોનું તેને બહુ સ્મરણ રહેશે નહિ; કારણ કે તેના અંત:કરણનો આનંદ તો તેને દેવે આપેલો ઉત્તર છે.
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</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">અર્થવિહિન જીવનનો અનુભવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.6.1" />મેં આ દુનિયામાં બીજી જાતનું દુ:ખ નિહાળ્યું છે, જે ઘણા લોકોને અસર કરે છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="ECC.6.2" />દેવે કેટલાંક મનુષ્યોને ધન-સંપત્તિ અને સન્માન પુષ્કળ પ્રમાણમાં આપ્યા છે પરંતુ તેઓને તે સર્વનો ઉપભોગ કરવાં તંદુરસ્તી આપી નથી. તેઓના મૃત્યુ પછી બીજાઓ તે બધું ભોગવે છે! આ પણ વ્યર્થતા છે, ભારે દુ:ખ છે!
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ECC.6.3" />જો કોઇ મનુષ્યને 100 સંતાનો હોય અને તે દીર્ઘાયુષ્ય ભોગવે પણ જો તે સુખી ન હોય અને તેના મૃત્યુ પછી તેને કોઇ યાદ ન કરે; તો હું કહું છું કે, એના કરતાં તો તે મરેલો જ જન્મ્યો હોત તો વધારે સારું હતું.
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<v id="4" bcv="ECC.6.4" />આવા બાળકનો જન્મ વ્યર્થ અને અંત અંધકારમય હોય છે; તેને નામ પણ અપાતું નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="ECC.6.5" />વળી તેણે સૂર્યના દર્શન પણ કર્યા નથી, અને તેણે કશું જાણ્યું પણ નથી; છતાં પણ તેની દશા પેલા વૃદ્ધ અને દુ:ખી માણસ કરતાં સારી છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ECC.6.6" />જો તેનું આયુષ્ય હજાર વર્ષ કરતાં બમણું હોય, અને છતાંય તે કઇં સુખ ભોગવે નહિ; તો તેનો અર્થ શો? શું છેવટે બધાં એક જ ઠેકાણે નથી જતાઁ?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ECC.6.7" />ડાહ્યાં અને વિશેષમાં મૂર્ખા, સર્વ કોઇ પોતાના પેટ માટે શ્રમ કરે છે. છતાં પેટનો ખાડો કદી પૂરાતો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ECC.6.8" />વળી મૂર્ખ કરતાં જ્ઞાનીને શું વધારે લાભ મળે છે? છતાં એક ગરીબ માણસ જીવનની મુશ્કેલીઓ સામે કેમ ચાલવું તે કેવી રીતે જાણે?
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<v id="9" bcv="ECC.6.9" />આ ભટકતી ઇચ્છાઓ કરતાં આપણી પાસે જે હોય તેમાં સંતોષ માનવો તે વધારે ઇષ્ટ છે; એ પણ વ્યર્થ તથા હવામાં બાચકા ભરવાં જેવું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ECC.6.10" />જે કાંઇ બની રહ્યું છે તેનું પહેલેથી ભૂતકાળમાં વર્ણન થઇ ગયું એ જાણીતું છે કે લોકો, તેઓ કરતા કોઇ વધારે બળવાન હોય તો જીરવી શકતા નથી.
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<v id="11" bcv="ECC.6.11" />વધારે બોલવાથી બોલેલું અર્થહીન થઇ જાય છે, તો બોલવું જ શા માટે?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ECC.6.12" />કારણ કે મનુષ્ય છાંયડાની જેમ પોતાનું જીવન વ્યર્થ ગુમાવે છે, તેના જીવનનાં સર્વ દિવસોમાં તેને માટે શું ઇષ્ટ છે તે કોણ જાણે છે? કારણ કે કોઇ માણસની પાછળ દુનિયામાં શું થવાનું છે, તે તેને કોણ કહી શકે?
<ve />
</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">સંપત્તિ કરતાં શ્રેષ્ઠ જ્ઞાન છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.7.1" />મૂલ્યવાન અત્તર કરતાં મનુષ્યની સારી શાખ અતિ મૂલ્યવાન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મનુષ્યનાં જન્મદિન કરતાં તેનો મૃત્યુદિન વધારે સારો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ECC.7.2" />ઉત્સવોની ઉજવણીમાં સમય બગાડવો તેનાં કરતાં દફનવિધીમાં પસાર કરવો તે વધુ સારું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિતએ એક દિવસ મરવાનું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમય છે તો તે વિષે વિચારવું વધારે સારું છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ECC.7.3" />દુ:ખ એ હાસ્ય કરતા વધારે સારું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોઢા પરનું દુ:ખ અંત:કરણને શુદ્ધ બનાવે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ECC.7.4" />જ્ઞાની મનુષ્ય પોતાના મૃત્યુ વિષે વધારે વિચારે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૂર્ખ પોતાના વર્તમાનને સારી રીતે માણવામાં મગ્ન રહે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ECC.7.5" />મૂર્ખ મનુષ્ય આપણી પ્રશંસા કરે તેનાં કરતાં જ્ઞાની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માણસ આપણને ઠપકો આપે તે વધારે સારું છે!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ECC.7.6" />કારણ કે જેમ અગ્નિમાં કાંટા ઝડપથી સળગી જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ મૂર્ખનું હાસ્ય લાંબો સમય ટકતું નથી, એ વ્યર્થ પણ છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ECC.7.7" />ખરેખર લાંચથી ડાહ્યો મનુષ્ય મૂર્ખ બને છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેની સમજશકિતનો નાશ કરે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ECC.7.8" />કોઇ બાબતના આરંભ કરતાં તેનો અંત સારો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અભિમાની મનુષ્ય કરતાં મનનો ધૈર્યવાન મનુષ્ય સારો છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ECC.7.9" />ક્રોધ કરવામાં કદી ઉતાવળા ન થવું – તે તો મૂર્ખતાની નિશાની છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્રોધ મૂખોર્ના હૃદયમાં રહે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ECC.7.10" />“ભૂતકાળનાં દિવસો હાલનાં કરતાં વધારે સારા શા માટે હતા,”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ નહિ કહો કારણ કે આ વિશે પૂછવા માટે તમને પ્રેરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ડહાપણ ભરેલું નથી.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ECC.7.11" />બુદ્ધિ વારસા જેવી છે; અને જીવવા માટે તે વધુ ઉત્તમ છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="ECC.7.12" />દ્રવ્ય આશ્રય છે તેમ બુદ્ધિ પણ આશ્રય છે; પરંતુ જ્ઞાનની ઉત્તમતા એ છે કે, તે પોતાના માલિકના જીવનની રક્ષા કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ECC.7.13" />દેવનાં કામનો વિચાર કરો; જે તેણે વાંકુ કર્યુ છે, તેને સીધું કોણ કરી શકશે?
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<v id="14" bcv="ECC.7.14" />ઉન્નતિનાં સમયે આબાદીનો આનંદ માણો. વિપત્તિકાળે વિચાર કરો; દેવ આપણને સુખ-દુ:ખ બંને આપે છે. જેથી દરેકને અનુભૂતિ થાય કે ભવિષ્યમાં શું થશે તે માણસ શોધી શકતો નથી.
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</p>
<s style="s">લોકો ખરેખર સારા નથી થઇ શકતા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ECC.7.15" />આ બધું મેં મારા જીવનનાં વ્યર્થપણામાં જોયું છે. કેટલાક સારા માણસો નેક પણું હોવા છતાં યુવાનવયે જ મૃત્યુ પામે છે, જ્યારે કેટલાંક દુષ્ટ લોકો દુષ્ટતામાં રાચીને પણ લાંબુ આયુષ્ય ભોગવે છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="ECC.7.16" />તેથી તમે વધુ પડતાં નેક ન થાઓ કે વધુ પડતાં ડાહ્યાં ન થાઓ! શા માટે પોતાનો વિનાશ નોતરવો?
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="ECC.7.17" />અતિશય દુષ્ટ ન થાઓ તેમજ મૂર્ખ પણ ન થાઓ! શા માટે અકાળે મોત નોતરવું?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ECC.7.18" />તમારે જે કરવાના જ છે તે સર્વ કાર્યો તમે કરો; એવું ન થવું જોઇએ કે તમે એક કાર્ય કરો અને બીજું પડતું મૂકો અને જો તમે દેવનો ડર રાખો, તો તમે બંને કરવામાં સફળ થશો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ECC.7.19" />દશ અમલદારો નગરમાં હોય તેનાં કરતાં જ્ઞાની માણસને બુદ્ધિ વધારે શકિતશાળી બનાવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="ECC.7.20" />સમગ્ર વિશ્વમાં એક પણ માણસ એવો નથી જે હંમેશા સારું જ કરતો હોય અને કદીય તેણે પાપ ના કર્યુ હોય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ECC.7.21" />કોઇ લોકો જે કહે તે દરેક વાત સાંભળવી નહિ, અથવા તો તમારે તમારા નોકરને તમારી વિષે બૂરું બોલતાં સાંભળવો જોઇએ!
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="ECC.7.22" />કારણ કે તમારું અંત:કરણ જાણે છે કે તમે કેટલીય વાર બીજાની વિરૂદ્ધ બોલો છો!
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ECC.7.23" />મેં હોશિયાર થવા મારાથી શક્ય સર્વ પ્રયત્નો કર્યા છે; મેં જાહેર કર્યુ કે, હું બુદ્ધિમાન થઇશ; પણ તે વાત મારાથી દૂર રહી.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ECC.7.24" />ડહાપણ ઘણે દૂર અને અતિશય ઊંડુ છે, તેને મેળવવું ઘણું મુશ્કેલ છે. તેનો પાર કોણ પામી શકે?
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ECC.7.25" />મેં જ્ઞાનની શોધમાં મારું મન લગાડ્યું અને સર્વ સ્થળોએ તેને શોધ્યું તેમજ તેનાં કારણો તપાસ્યાં.
</p>
<p style="p">જેથી દુષ્ટતા મૂર્ખાઇ છે, અને મૂર્ખામી ગાંડપણ છે તે હું પૂરવાર કરી શકું.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="ECC.7.26" />તેથી મે જાણ્યું કે મૃત્યુ કરતાં પણ એક વસ્તુ વધારે કષ્ટ દાયક છે, તે છે એક સ્ત્રી, જે એક ફાંસલા અને એક જાળ જેવી છે તથા જેના હાથ સાંકળ સમાન છે તે દેવતુલ્ય વ્યકિતને આકર્ષવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે તે તેનાથી નાસી છૂટશે; પરંતુ પાપી તેની જાળમાંથી છટકી શકતાં નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ECC.7.27" />સભાશિક્ષક કહે છે: “સત્ય શોધી કાઢવા માટે બધી વસ્તુઓને સાથે મેળવીને હું આ નિર્ણય પર આવ્યો છું.”
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="ECC.7.28" />હું જે મેળવી શકતો નથી તે હું શોધ્યાજ કરું છું. માણસોમાં, હજારોમાં એક મને મળ્યો છે, પણ સ્ત્રીઓમાં એક પણ એવી મળી નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ECC.7.29" />“અંતે મને ફકત એટલી જ સત્ય હકીકત જાણવા મળી છે કે, દેવે માનવજાતને પ્રામાણિક અને દયાળુ બનાવી છે, પરંતુ તેઓએ ઘણી યુકિતઓ શોધી કાઢી છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">દેવની શ્રેષ્ઠ આધીનતા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.8.1" />બુદ્ધિમાન પુરુષના જેવો કોણ છે? પ્રત્યેક વાતનો અર્થ કોણ જાણે છે? જ્ઞાનથી માણસોનો ચહેરો ચમકે છે અને તેના ચહેરાની કઠોરતા બદલાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ECC.8.2" />રાજાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર કારણ કે તે માટે તેં દેવ સમક્ષ પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ECC.8.3" />ફરજપાલનના માર્ગમાંથી નાસી જવાનો પ્રયત્ન ન કરતો, તને તે ગમતું ન હોય, તો પણ તેમ કરજે, કારણ કે રાજા બધું જ પોતાની ઇચ્છા પ્રમાણે કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ECC.8.4" />કારણ કે રાજાનો હુકમ સવોર્પરી છે, તેના નિર્ણયને કોઇ પ્રશ્ર્ન કરી શકે તેમ નથી?
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<v id="5" bcv="ECC.8.5" />જે કોઇ રાજાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરે છે તેને કોઇ પણ પ્રકારની શિક્ષા થશે નહિ, તેનું કહ્યું ક્યારે કરવું અને કેવી રીતે કરવું તે બુદ્ધિમાન માણસ શોધી કાઢે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ECC.8.6" />જો કે મનુષ્યનાં જીવનમાં ભારે મુશ્કેલીઓ આવે છે; તો પણ દરેક બાબત માટે યોગ્ય સમય અને યોગ્ય રીત હોય છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ECC.8.7" />એટલા માટે ભવિષ્યમાં શું થવાનું છે તેની તેને ખબર નથી. કારણ કે કોઇ પણ તેને કહી શકે તેમ નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ECC.8.8" />તેનો પોતાના આત્માને રોકવાની શકિત કોઇ માણસમાં હોતી નથી; અને મૃત્યુકાળ ઉપર કોઇ પણ ને સત્તા નથી; કોઇ પોતાના માટે બીજા કોઇને તે યુદ્ધમાં મોકલી શકે નહિ. અને જે તે કરે છે તેને દુષ્ટ બચાવી શકતો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ECC.8.9" />આ બધું મે જોયું છે, અને આ દુનિયામાં માણસો એકબીજાને નુકશાન પહોંચાડે છે, દુનિયામાં જે દરેક કામ થાય છે તેમાં મેં મારું અંત:કરણ લગાડ્યું છે, ને ઊંડો વિચાર કર્યો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ECC.8.10" />મેં દુનિયામાં એવું પણ જોયું છે કે દુષ્ટ માણસને દફનાવી પાછા ફરતાં તેનાં મિત્રો તેના ભૂંડા કાર્યોને ભૂલી જાય છે અને જે નગરમાં તેણે પાપ કર્યા હોય ત્યાં જ તેનાં વખાણ કરે છે, એ પણ વ્યર્થતા છે!
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</p>
<s style="s">ન્યાય ઇનામ અને દંડ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ECC.8.11" />દુષ્કમીર્ને દંડ આપવાની આજ્ઞા ત્વરાથી અમલમાં મૂકાતી નથી. અને તેથી લોકોનું હૃદય દુષ્ટકાર્ય કરવામાં નિશ્ચિંત રહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ECC.8.12" />જો દુષ્ટ પાપી મનુષ્ય સેંકડો વખત દુષ્કર્મ કર્યા પછી પણ દીર્ઘાયુષ્ય ભોગવે છે, છતાં હું સારી રીતે જાણું છું કે યહોવાનો ભય રાખનારાઓનું ભલું થશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="ECC.8.13" />સારું જીવન નહિ જીવનારા દુષ્ટ લોકો સાંજના પડછાયાની જેમ તેઓનું જીવન લંબાવી શકતા નથી, કારણ કે તેઓ દેવનો ડર રાખતા નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ECC.8.14" />દુનિયા પર એક એવી વ્યર્થતા છે કે, સારા માણસોને જાણે તેઓ ખરાબ હોય તેમ શિક્ષા પામે છે અને દુષ્ટ જાણે કે તેઓ સારા હોય તેમ સારા ફળ પામે છે. આ પણ વ્યર્થતા છે!
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<v id="15" bcv="ECC.8.15" />તેથી મેં તેઓને વિનોદ કરવાની ભલામણ કરી, કારણ કે ખાવું-પીવું તથા મોજમઝા કરવી તેના કરતાં માણસને માટે દુનિયા પર કોઇ શ્રે નથી; કારણ કે દેવે તેને દુનિયા ઉપર જે આયુષ્ય આપ્યું છે તેનાં બધાં દિવસોની મહેનતનાં ફળોમાંથી તેને એટલું જ મળશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવ બધું કરે છે તે આપણે સમજી નથી સકતા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ECC.8.16" />તેથી હું જાતે બુદ્ધિ સંપાદન કરવામાં, તથા દુનિયામાં થતાં કામો જોવામાં પ્રવૃત રહ્યો, કારણ કે એવા મનુષ્યો પણ હોય છે કે જેઓની આંખોને દિવસે કે રાત્રે ઊંઘ મળતી નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="ECC.8.17" />પરંતુ દેવ જે કાંઇ કરે છે એનો અર્થ તે પામી શકે તેમ નથી. કદાચ કોઇ જ્ઞાની માણસ એમ માને કે એ સર્વ જાણે છે, પણ હકીકતમાં તે કશું જાણતો નથી, તેનો પત્તો મેળવવા માણસ ગમે તેટલી મહેનત કરે તો પણ તેને તે મળશે નહિ; અરે! તે કોઇ બુદ્ધિમાન વ્યકિત હોય, તો પણ તે તેની શોધ કરી શકશે નહિ
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">પ્રત્યેકનો અંત એક સમાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.9.1" />એ બાબતમાં મેં જ્યારે કાળજીપૂર્વક તપાસ કરી તો મને જાણવા મળ્યું કે દરેકના કાર્યનું ફળ સદાચારી અને જ્ઞાની લોકો માટે પણ દેવ પર નિર્ભર છે. પણ કોઇ જાણતું નથી કે તેને પ્રેમ મળશે કે ધિક્કાર અથવા તેની પાસે શું આવશે?
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ECC.9.2" />બધા લોકો સારા કે ખરાબ, પ્રમાણિક કે દુષ્ટ, અર્પણો અર્પનાર કે નહિ અર્પનાર સૌનું ભાવિ એક જ છે, સારો માણસ અને પાપી, જે પ્રતિજ્ઞા લે છે અને જે નથી લેતો સર્વ સમાન છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ECC.9.3" />સર્વ મનુષ્યોની ગતિ એક જ થવાની છે, એ તો જે બધાં કામ દુનિયામાં થાય છે તેઓમાંનો એક અનર્થ છે; વળી માણસોનું અંત:કરણ ભૂંડાઇથી ભરપૂર છે, જ્યાં સુધી તેઓ જીવે છે ત્યાં સુધી તેઓના હૃદયમાં ગાંડપણ હોય છે, અને તે પછી તેઓ મૂએલાંઓમાં ભળી જાય છે. કારણ કે તેઓને કોઇ આશા નથી. તેમને તો સામે ફકત મૃત્યું જ દેખાય છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="ECC.9.4" />જેનો સંબંધ સર્વ જીવતાઓની સાથે છે તેને આશા છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">કારણ કે જીવતો કૂતરો મૂએલા સિંહ કરતાં સારો છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ECC.9.5" />જીવતાં મનુષ્યો એટલું જાણે છે કે એક દિવસ તેઓ મરી જશે. પરંતુ મરેલાંઓ તો કશુંજ જાણતા નથી. તેઓને કોઇ બદલો મળતો નથી. તેઓની સ્મૃતિ પણ નાશ પામી જાય છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ECC.9.6" />તેમનો પ્રેમ, ઇર્ષ્યા, ધિક્કાર, અને જે કાંઇ તેઓના જીવનકાળ દરમ્યાન તેઓમાં હતું તે ભૂતકાળ બની ગયું છે અને હવે દુનિયામાં જે કાંઇ થઇ રહ્યું છે તેમાં તેઓને કોઇ લેવાદેવા નથી.
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</p>
<s style="s">જીવનમાં મોજ કરો જેવી રીતે તમે કરી શકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ECC.9.7" />તેથી તારે રસ્તે ચાલ્યો જા, ખાનપાન કર અને જીવનનો આનંદ માણ, દેવ સમક્ષ તે માન્ય છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="ECC.9.8" />સુંદર શ્વેત વસ્રો સદા ધારણ કર. અને તારા મસ્તકને અત્તરની ખોટ કદી પડવા દઇશ નહિ.
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<v id="9" bcv="ECC.9.9" />દુનિયા પર જે ક્ષણિક જીવન તેણે તને આપ્યું છે, તે તારી પત્ની, જેના પર તું પ્રેમ કરે છે, તેની સાથે આનંદથી વિતાવ, કારણ કે દેવે તને જે પત્ની આપી છે તે તારા દુનિયા પરનાં ભારે પરિશ્રમનો ઉત્તમ બદલો છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="ECC.9.10" />જે કઁઇ કામ તારે હાથ લાગે તે હૃદયપૂર્વક કર; કારણ કે જે તરફ તું જાય છે તે શેઓલમાં કઈં પણ કામ, યોજના, જ્ઞાન અથવા બુદ્ધિ નથી.
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</p>
<s style="s">સૌભાગ્ય? દુર્ભાગ્ય? આપણે શું કરી શકીએ?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ECC.9.11" />ફરી પાછું મેં જાણ્યું કે હંમેશા વેગવાન સ્પર્ધા જીતતા નથી અને યુદ્ધોમાં બળવાનની હંમેશા જીત થતી નથી. અને ડાહ્યાં હંમેશા તેઓની રોટલી માટે કમાતા નથી. અને બુદ્ધિ હંમેશા ધન ઉપજાવતી નથી. તેમજ ચતુર હંમેશા દયા (આશીર્વાદ) દ્રષ્ટિ પામતા નથી. સમય અને આડી અવળી આકસ્મિક ઘટના તો દરેકને બને છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ECC.9.12" />મનુષ્ય પણ પોતાનો સમય જાણતો નથી; કેમ કે જેમ માછલાં ક્રૂર જાળમાં સપડાઇ જાય છે, અને જેમ પક્ષીઓ ફાંદામાં ફસાય છે, તેમ જ ભૂંડો સમય માણસો ઉપર એકાએક આવી પડે છે, અને તેમને ફસાવે છે
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</p>
<s style="s">જ્ઞાનની શકિત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ECC.9.13" />વળી માણસોના વ્યવહારમાં મેં એક બીજી જ્ઞાનની બાબત જોઇ અને મારા ઉપર તેની ઉંડી અસર થઇ.
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<v id="14" bcv="ECC.9.14" />ઓછી વસ્તીવાળું એક નાનું નગર હતું, એક બળવાન રાજા પોતાના સૈન્ય સાથે નગર પર ચડી આવ્યો, અને તેને આજુબાજુ મોટો યુદ્ધની સામગ્રીઓથી ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ECC.9.15" />હવે આ નગરમાં એક ખૂબ ગરીબ પણ બુદ્ધિમાન માણસ રહેતો હતો. તે જાણતો હતો કે નગરને કેવી રીતે બચાવવું, પોતાની બુદ્ધિ અને સલાહથી તેણે નગરને બચાવ્યું પણ થોડા સમય પછી સર્વ તેને ભૂલી ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ECC.9.16" />ત્યારે મેં કહ્યું કે, બળ કરતાં બુદ્ધિ ઉત્તમ છે; તેમ છતાં ગરીબ માણસની બુદ્ધિને તુચ્છ ગણવામાં આવે છે, અને તેનું કહેવું કોઇ સાંભળતું નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ECC.9.17" />પરંતુ શાશકોના મૂખોર્ વચ્ચેના બૂમબરાડાં કરતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બુદ્ધિમાન માણસના થોડાં શાંત બોલ વધારે સારા છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ECC.9.18" />યુદ્ધશસ્રો કરતાં બુદ્ધિ શ્રેષ્ઠ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ એક જ પાપી માણસ ઘણા સારા લોકોનો નાશ કરી શકે છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">બુદ્ધિથી વર્તન-વ્યવહાર કરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.10.1" />જેમ મરેલી માખીઓ મઘમઘતા અત્તરને દૂષિત કરી દે છે; તેવી જ રીતે થોડી મૂર્ખાઇ બુદ્ધિ અને સન્માનને નબળું પાડી દે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ECC.10.2" />બુદ્ધિમાન માણસનું હૃદય તેને સાચી દિશા બાજુએ દોરે છે; પણ મૂર્ખનું એ જ હૃદય તેને ખોટી અને મૂર્ખ બાજુ પર દોરે છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ECC.10.3" />વળી મૂર્ખ પોતાને રસ્તે જાય છે ત્યારે તેની બુદ્ધિ ખૂટી જાય છે; અને તે દરેક ને કહે છે કે હું મૂર્ખ છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ECC.10.4" />જ્યારે તારો શાશક તારા પર ગુસ્સે થાય તો તું ત્યાંથી નાસી ન જતો. કારણ કે તું જે સાંત્વન લાવે છે તેનાથી મોટા પાપો વડે થયેલો ગુસ્સો પણ ઠંડો પડી જાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ECC.10.5" />મેં આ દુનિયામાં એક અનર્થ જોયો છે, અને તે છે કે શકિતશાળી શાશક દ્વારા થયેલી ભૂલ;
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ECC.10.6" />મૂર્ખાને મોટી સત્તાઓ મળે છે જ્યારે ધનવાનોને નીચા સ્થળે લાવવામાં આવે છે!
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ECC.10.7" />મેં ગુલામોને ઘોડે સવાર થયેલા અને રાજકર્તાઓને ગુલામોની જેમ પગે ચાલતા જોયા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દરેક કામ પોતાને માટે ખતરનાક છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ECC.10.8" />જે ખાડો ખોદે છે તે જ તેમાં પડે છે! અને જે વાડમાં છીંડુ પાડે છે તેને સાપ કરડે છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ECC.10.9" />જે પથ્થરની શિલા તેને જે ખસેડે છે તેને જ ઇજા પહોચાડે અને કઠિયારાને લાકડું જ ભયમાં મૂકી દે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ECC.10.10" />બુઠ્ઠી કુહાડી વાપરવામાં ધારદાર કરતા વધારે શકિતની જરૂર પડે છે; તે ડહાપણ તમને તમારું કામ સરળ કરવામાં મદદ કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ECC.10.11" />સાપ જો તેને મંત્રથી વશ કર્યા પહેલા જ કરડી જાય તો મદારી નકામો છે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ECC.10.12" />ડહાપણભર્યા શબ્દો મનને આનંદ આપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મૂર્ખના બોલ તેનો પોતાનો જ નાશ નોતરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ECC.10.13" />તેનાં મૂખના શબ્દોનો આરંભ મૂર્ખાઇ છે; અને તેના બોલવાનું પરિણામ નુકસાનકારક ગાંડપણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="ECC.10.14" />મૂર્ખ માણસ વધારે બોલે છે, પણ ભવિષ્ય વિષે કોઇ જાણતું નથી. પણ કોઇ કહી શકે તેમ નથી કે કાલે શું થવાનું છે?
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ECC.10.15" />કામ મૂર્ખને થકવી નાખે છે જે નગરમાં જવાનો પોતાનો રસ્તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ શોધી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કામનું મુલ્ય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ECC.10.16" />જે દેશનો રાજા બાળક જેવો નાદાન હોય; અને જેના સરદારો સવારમાં ઉજાણીઓ માણે છે તે દેશનો ઉદ્ધાર અશક્ય છે!
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<v id="17" bcv="ECC.10.17" />એ દેશને આશીર્વાદ છે જેનો રાજા ઉમદા ગુણ લક્ષણ વાળો છે અને જેના નેતાઓ વધુ પડતું ખાતા નથી કે પીધેલ હોતા નથી.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ECC.10.18" />આળસથી છાપરું નમી પડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આળસુ હાથ ઘરમાં છિદ્ર વાટે ચૂવા દે છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ECC.10.19" />ઉજાણી મોજમજાને માટે ગોઠવવામાં આવે છે, અને દ્રાક્ષારસ જીવનને ખુશી આપે છે. પૈસાથી બધું જ મળે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નિંદા પૂર્ણ વાતો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ECC.10.20" />રાજાને કે ધનવાનને તારા મનમાં પણ શાપ ન આપીશ; કારણ કે, વાયુચર પક્ષી તે સાંભળીને વાત લઇ જાય છે.
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</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">ઉદારતાનું ઇનામ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.11.1" />તારી રોટલી પાણી પર નાખ, કારણ કે ઘણા દિવસો પછી તે તને પાછી મળશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ECC.11.2" />તારી પાસે જે છે તે ઘણાંઓમાં વહેંચી દે, તને ખબર નથી કદાચ ભવિષ્યમાં એવો ખરાબ સમય આવે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ECC.11.3" />પાણીથી ભરેલાં વાદળાં વરસાદ લાવે છે; ઝાડ દક્ષિણ તરફ તો તે ઉત્તર તરફ તે પડે કે ત્યાં જ પડ્યું રહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ECC.11.4" />જે માણસ પવન પર ધ્યાન રાખ્યા કરે છે તે વાવશે નહિ; અને જે માણસ વાદળ જોતો રહેશે તે કાપણી કરશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ECC.11.5" />તું જાણતો નથી ગર્ભવતી સ્રીનાં ગર્ભમાં જીવ કેવી રીતે પ્રવેશે છે તેમ જ દેહ કેવી રીતે બંધાય છે તથા વાયુની ગતિ શી છે, તેવી જ રીતે તું તે પણ જાણતો નથી કે સર્જનહાર દેવ કઇ રીતે કાર્ય કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ECC.11.6" />સવારમાં બી વાવ, ને સાંજે તારા કામમાંથી વિશ્રાન્તિ લઇશ નહિ; કારણ કે આ સફળ થશે કે, તે સફળ થશે, અથવા તે બંને સરખી રીતે સફળ થશે તે તું જાણતો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ECC.11.7" />સાચે જ અજવાળું રમણીય છે, ને સૂર્યને જોવો એ આંખને રુચિકર છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="ECC.11.8" />જો માણસ લાંબુ આયુષ્ય ભોગવે તો તેણે જીવનનાં સર્વ દિવસોપર્યંત આનંદ કરવો. પરંતુ તેણે અંધકારના દિવસો પણ યાદ રાખવા, કારણ કે તે ઘણા હશે, જે કાંઇ બધું બને છે તે વ્યર્થતા જ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યુવાનીમાં દેવની સેવા કરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ECC.11.9" />હે યુવાન, તારી યુવાવસ્થાનો આનંદ લે; અને તારા હૃદયની ઇચ્છાઓ પૂરી કર, યુવાવસ્થા અદભૂત છે! તારા હૃદયના માગોર્માં તથા તારી આંખોની ષ્ટિ પ્રમાણે તું ચાલ. પણ યાદ રાખ, તું જે કાઇ કરે, દેવ તેનો ન્યાય કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ECC.11.10" />માટે તારા હૃદયમાંથી ગુસ્સો અને નિરાશાને દૂર કર. પણ તું પોતે જ અનિષ્ટથી દૂર રહેજે; કારણ કે યુવાવસ્થા વ્યર્થ છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">યુવાનોને સલાહ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ECC.12.1" />તારી યુવાવસ્થાના દિવસોમાં તું યહોવાનું સ્મરણ કર. તું જીવનનો આનંદ માણી શકે તેવાં ભૂંડા વષોર્ અને દિવસો આવે તે પહેલાં તારી યુવાનીમાં તારા યહોવાને ભૂલી જઇશ નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ECC.12.2" />જ્યારે તારી આંખો ચંદ્ર, સૂરજ અને તારાઓ જોવા ખૂબજ નિર્બળ બનશે, અને જ્યારે વાદળો વરસાદ લઇ પાછા ફરશે ત્યારે તું તેમને યાદ કરી શકશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ECC.12.3" />તે દિવસે જે ઘરનું નિયંત્રણ કરવાવાળાઓ ધ્રુજશે, બળવાન વાંકા વળી જશે, અને દળનારી સ્રીઓ થોડી હોવાથી તેમનો તોટો પડશે, અને બારીઓમાંથી બહાર જોનારની ષ્ટિ ઝાંખી થઇ જશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="ECC.12.4" />અને બજાર તરફના બારણા બંધ કરી દેવામાં આવશે; અને ત્યારે દળવાનો અવાજ ધીમો થશે. અને માણસ પક્ષીના અવાજથી જાગી ઊઠશે, ને સર્વ ગાનારી સ્ત્રીઓ શાંત થઇ જશે;
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ECC.12.5" />જે ઉંચે જાય છે તેને પડવાની બીક લાગશે. જે રસ્તા પર ચાલતો હશે તે ત્યાં જતા ડરશે. બદામનું ઝાડ ફાલશે. તીડ પોતે ધીમે ધીમે સાથે ઘસડાશે. બધી ઇચ્છાઓ મરી પરવારશે અને દરેક જણ પોતાના અનંત અનાદિ ઘેર જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મૃત્યુ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ECC.12.6" />તે દિવસે જીવનરૂપી રૂપેરી દોરી તૂટી જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સોનેરી પ્યાલો ભાંગી જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ગાગર ઝરા આગળ ફૂટી જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કૂવા ઉપર જ ગરગડી ભાંગી જશે;
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ECC.12.7" />અને તારી કાયા જેમ અગાઉ હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવી જ પાછી ધૂળ થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દેવે તને જે આપેલો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આત્મા તેમની પાસે પાછો જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ECC.12.8" />તેથી સભાશિક્ષક કહે છે કે; વ્યર્થતાની વ્યર્થતા, સઘળું વ્યર્થ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સમાપ્તિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ECC.12.9" />વળી સભાશિક્ષક સમજુ હતો; તેથી તેણે જે જાણ્યું તે સર્વને શીખવવા લાગ્યો; તે વિચાર કરીને ઘણા નીતિવચનો શોધી કાઢતો, અને તેમને નિયમસર ગોઠવતો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ECC.12.10" />સભાશિક્ષકે સત્ય વચનો, શોધી કાઢવાનો અને જે સત્ય હતા તે લખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ECC.12.11" />જ્ઞાની માણસનો ઉપદેશ પરોણીની અણીદાર ધાર જેવો છે અને સભાશિક્ષકોનાં ઉપદેશ કે જે માત્ર એક જ પાદરી દ્વારા આપવામાં આવેલાં છે, તે સજ્જડ જડેલા ખીલાની જેમ તેમનાં મનમાં ઠસી રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ECC.12.12" />પણ મારા પુત્ર, મારી શિખામણ માન; ઘણાં પુસ્તકો રચવાનો કંઇ પાર નથી; તેમનો અતિ અભ્યાસ કરવાથી શરીર થાકી જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ECC.12.13" />આ મારી વાતનો ઉપસંહાર છે; દેવનો ભય રાખ અને તેની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કર, પ્રત્યેક માણસની એ સંપૂર્ણ ફરજ છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="ECC.12.14" />કારણ કે આપણે ભલું કે ભૂંડુ જે કરીએ, તે સર્વનો એટલે પ્રત્યેક ગુપ્ત બાબતનો દેવ ન્યાય કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="SNG"><id id="SNG">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>ગીતોનું ગીત
</h><toc level="1">ગીતોનું ગીત
</toc><toc level="2">ગીતોનું ગીત
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">ગીતોનું ગીત
</p>

<c id="1" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="SNG.1.1" />સુલેમાનનું આ સર્વોતમ ગીત. પ્રેમિકા પોતાના પ્રેમીને:
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">પ્રેમિકાને પોતાના પ્રેમી પ્રતિ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="SNG.1.2" />તારા ચુંબનોથી તું મને નવડાવી દે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તારો પ્રેમ દ્રાક્ષારસથી ઉત્તમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="SNG.1.3" />તારા અત્તરની ખુશ્બો કેવી સરસ છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું નામ અત્તર જેવું મહાન છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથીજ બધી કુમારિકાઓ તને પ્રેમ કરે છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="SNG.1.4" />હે મારા પ્રેમી, મને લઇ જા તારી સાથે; ચાલ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાલને આપણે ભાગી જઇએ,
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">રાજા મને તેના રાજમહેલમા લાવ્યો છે.
</q>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમની સ્ત્રીઓ પુરુષને:
</s>
<q style="q1">ઓહ! અહીં આપણે કેવો આનંદ માણીશું અમે તારા માટે ખૂબ ખુશ થઇશું અને તારી પ્રસંશા કરીશું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારો પ્રેમ; દ્રાક્ષારસથી પણ વધારે સારો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધી યુવાન સ્ત્રીઓ તને શુભ આશયથી પ્રેમ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યાના વચન સ્ત્રીઓને:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="SNG.1.5" />હે યરૂશાલેમની દીકરીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું રંગે શ્યામ છતાં સ્વરૂપવાન છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી શ્યામલતા કેદારના તંબુઓના જેવી અથવા સુલેમાનના તંબૂના પડદાઓ સમાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="SNG.1.6" />હું રંગે શ્યામ છું તેથી મારી સામે એકીટશે જોશો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ સૂર્યના તડકાએ મને બાળી નાખી છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા ભાઇઓ પણ કોપાયમાન થયા હતા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દ્રાક્ષાવાડીની રખેવાળી કરવા ત્યાં મને મોકલી આપી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી હું શ્યામ થઇ ગઇ, મેં મારી પોતાની દ્રાક્ષાવાડી સંભાળી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ત્રીના વચનો પુરુષને:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="SNG.1.7" />હે પ્રાણપ્યારા, મને જણાવ તો ખરો કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આજે ઘેટાં-બકરાં ચરાવવા કયાં જઇ રહ્યો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને બપોરે વિસામો ક્યાં આપે છે તે તો કહે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા સાથીદારોના ટોળાની સાથે બુરખાવાળી સ્રીની જેમ હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભટકું તે કરતાં તારી સંગત સારી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">પુરુષના વચનો સ્ત્રીને: સુલેમાન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="SNG.1.8" />હે વિશ્વસુંદરી! જો તને ખબર ના હોય તો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ટોળાને પગલે પગલે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ભરવાડના નેસડા સુધી આવજે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યાં તારાઁ ઘેટાં ને લવારાં ચારજે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="SNG.1.9" />મારી પ્રિયતમા! મેં તને સરખાવી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફારુનના રથોના ઘોડાની સુંદરતા સાથે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="SNG.1.10" />તારા ગાલ પર તારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આભૂષણો સુંદરતાથી લટકે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારી ગરદન હીરા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જડિત હારો થી ચમકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="SNG.1.11" />અમે તારા માટે રૂપું જડેલા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સોનાના આભૂષણો બનાવડાવીશું.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">સ્ત્રીનાં વચન:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="SNG.1.12" />રાજાએ મેજ ગોઠવ્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને તેજાના વડે સરસ સુગંધીત કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="SNG.1.13" />મારો પ્રીતમ મારા સ્તનોની વચ્ચે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કસ્તુરીની થેલી જેવો લાગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="SNG.1.14" />મને મારો પ્રીતમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એન-ગેદીની મેંદીનાઁ પુષ્પગુચ્છ જેવો લાગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">સુલેમાન:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="SNG.1.15" />મારી પ્રિયતમ, તું કેટલી સુંદર લાગે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા ખરેખર ખુબ સુંદર!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આ તારી આંખો પણ કેવી પારેવા જેવી નમણી લાગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">સ્ત્રીનાં વચન:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="SNG.1.16" />હે પ્રીતમ, તું સુંદર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું મનોહર છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">વળી આપણો પલંગ પણ લીલાછમ ઘાસની જેમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="17" bcv="SNG.1.17" />આપણા ઘરના ધાબાના મોભ એરેજ વૃક્ષો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણી છતની વળીઓ દેવદાર વૃક્ષોના બનેલા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="2" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="SNG.2.1" />હું શારોનનું ગુલાબ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખીણોની ગુલછડી છું.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">સુલેમાન:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="SNG.2.2" />હા, કાંટાઓ મધ્યે જેમ ગુલાબ હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ યુવતીઓ વચ્ચે મારી પ્રીતમા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યા:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="SNG.2.3" />સ્ત્રી જેમ ફળોના બાગમા સર્વોતમ સફરજનનું વૃક્ષ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ યુવાનો વચ્ચે મારો પ્રીતમ ઉત્તમ છે;
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યાના વચન સ્ત્રીને:
</s>
<q style="q1">તેના છાંયડામાં મને ખૂબ સુખ મળે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના ફળનો સ્વાદ મીઠો હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="SNG.2.4" />ભોજન કરવાને તે મને ઘેર લઇ આવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પર પ્રીતિરૂપી ધ્વજ તેણે ફરકાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="SNG.2.5" />સુકી દ્રાક્ષોથી મારું પોષણ કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સફરજનથી મને બળવાન બનાવો; કારણ કે હું પ્રેમપીડિત છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="SNG.2.6" />મારા મસ્તક નીચે છે તેનો ડાબો હાથ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આલિંગન કરે છે મને તેનો જમણો હાથ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="SNG.2.7" />હે યરૂશાલેમની યુવતીઓ, તમે મને જંગલમાં વસતી ચપળ મૃગલીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જંગલી હરણીઓના નામે વચન આપો કે યર્થાથ સમય આવે નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી મારા પ્રીતમને જગાડશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યા:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="SNG.2.8" />અરે! આ અવાજ તો મારા પ્રીતમનો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુઓતો ખરા,પર્વતો પર કૂદકા મારતો મારતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખીણોને વટાવતો તે અહીં આવી રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="SNG.2.9" />ચપળ અને યુવાન છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો પ્રીતમ, “મૃગલા જેવો.”
</q>
<q style="q1">જુઓ, હવે તો તે દીવાલની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાછળ ઊભો રહી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બારીઓમાંથી ડોકિયા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="SNG.2.10" />મારા પ્રીતમે મને કહ્યું,
</q>
<q style="q1">“પ્રીતમા, મારી સુંદરી, ઊઠ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બહાર આવ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="SNG.2.11" />શિયાળો સમાપ્ત થયો છે હવે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શિયાળુ વરસાદ પણ પૂરો થઇ ગયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="SNG.2.12" />પુષ્પો જમીન પર ખીલવા લાગ્યાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે વૃક્ષોને કાપકૂપ કરીને વ્યવસ્થિત કરવાનો સમય આવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા દેશમાં કબૂતરોને ગીતગાંતા સાંભળી શકાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="SNG.2.13" />અંજીરના ઝાડ ઉપર લીલાં અંજીર પાકી રહ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દ્રાક્ષવાડીમાં ખીલતી નવી દ્રાક્ષોને
</q>
<q style="q1">સૂંઘો તેઓ પોતાની ખુશબો ફેલાવે છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પ્રિયતમા, મારી સુંદરી, ઊઠીને નીકળી આવ.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">સુલેમાન:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="SNG.2.14" />તું ભેખડ ઉપર નાની ગુફામાં છુપાયેલી “કબૂતરી” જેવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તારું સુંદર વદન બતાવ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારો મધુર અવાજ સાંભળવા દે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમ કે તારું વદન ખૂબસૂરત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યાના વચન સ્ત્રીને:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="SNG.2.15" />પેલાં નાનાં નાનાં શિયાળવાં દ્રાક્ષાવાડીમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નાસભાગ કરી રહ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે મારા માટે પકડો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અત્યારે આપણી દ્રાક્ષાવાડી ફૂલોથી ઝૂમી રહી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="SNG.2.16" />મારો પ્રીતમ મારો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને હું પણ તેની જ છું;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે પોતાના ટોળાં સફેદ કમળોની વચ્ચે ચરાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="17" bcv="SNG.2.17" />દિવસ આથમી જાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પડછાયા ઉતરી જાય તે પહેલા,
</q>
<q style="q1">હે મારા પ્રીતમ, તું પાછો આવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પર્વતો પરના વિહરતા ચપળ હરણાં અને મૃગલા સમાન તું થા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">કન્યા:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="SNG.3.1" />મેં રાત્રે મારા પ્રાણપ્રિયને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પલંગમાં શોધ્યો,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તે મને મળ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="SNG.3.2" />હું શહેરની ગલી ગલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રસ્તા ફરી વળી;
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">છતાંય મારી સઘળી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શોધખોળ નિષ્ફળ નીવડી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="SNG.3.3" />નગરમાં રોન ફરતાં ચોકીદારોનો મને ભેટો થયો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેઓને પૂછયું, “મારા પ્રાણપ્રિયને તમે જોયો?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="SNG.3.4" />થોડા સમય પછી મને મળ્યો મારો પ્રાણપ્રિય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પકડી લીધો મેં તેને,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે લાવી નિવાસસ્થાને;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને ખેંચી ગઇ મુજ જનેતાના ઘરમાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી નહિ છોડ્યાં મેં મારા પ્રીતમને.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યાના વચન સ્ત્રીને:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="SNG.3.5" />હે યરૂશાલેમની યુવતીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને હરણીઓના
</q>
<q style="q1">તથા મૃગલીઓના સમ દઇને વીનવું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે યર્થાથ સમય આવ્યા પહેલાં મારા પ્રીતમને જગાડશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમની યુવાન કન્યાઓ:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="SNG.3.6" />રણ તરફથી આવતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ જે મધુર સુગંધી ધૂપ
</q>
<q style="q1">બાળીને બનાવેલાં ધુમાડાંના સ્તંભ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેવો લાગે છે તે કોણ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="SNG.3.7" />જુઓ, આ તો સુલેમાનની પાલખી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની સાથે છે ઇસ્રાએલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૈન્યના સાઠ યોદ્ધાઓ
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="SNG.3.8" />તેઓ કુશળ તરવારબાજ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અનુભવી અંગરક્ષકો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાત્રીના ભયને કારણે દરેકની કમરે તરવાર લટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="SNG.3.9" />લબાનોનના કાષ્ટમાંથી બનાવ્યો છે રથ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુલેમાન રાજાએ પોતાના ઉપયોગાર્થે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="SNG.3.10" />તેણે તેના સ્તંભ ચાંદીના અને છત સોનાની,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું આસન બનાવ્યું જાંબુડા રંગનું;
</q>
<q style="q1">યરૂશાલેમની દીકરીઓ દ્વારા અંદરથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પ્રેમપૂર્વક શણગારાયેલી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યા:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="SNG.3.11" />“ઓ સિયોનની યુવતીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાઓ અને જુઓ સુલેમાન રાજાને,
</q>
<q style="q1">એના આનંદના દિવસે એટલે તેના લગ્નના દિવસે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની માતાએ તેને પહેરાવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મુગટસહિત નિહાળો તેને.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">સુલેમાન:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="SNG.4.1" />તું કેવી સુંદર અને મનોહર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પ્રિયતમા!
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા બુરખા પાછળ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી કબૂતર જેવી આંખો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા ચહેરા પર લટકતી કેશની લટો જાણે ગિલયાદ પર્વતના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઢાળ પરથી નીચે આવતાં બકરાંના ટોળા જેવા લાગે છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="SNG.4.2" />તારા દાંત તરતની કતરાયેલ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધોયેલ ઘેટીના જેવા સફેદ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રત્યેક ઘેટીને છે બબ્બે બચ્ચાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ નથી અહીં એકલી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="SNG.4.3" />તારા હોઠ લાલ રંગના રેશમના તાંતણા જેવા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને કેવું સુંદર છે તારું મુખ!
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા બુરખાની પાછળ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા ગાલ દાડમના અડધિયા જેવા દેખાય છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="SNG.4.4" />શસ્રગૃહ થવા માટે બાંધેલો દાઉદનો બુરજ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમા હજારો ઢાલો એટલે યોદ્ધાઓની
</q>
<q style="q1">સર્વ ઢાલો લટકાવેલી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના જેવી છે ગરદન તારી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="SNG.4.5" />સફેદ કમળોની વચ્ચે ચારો ચરતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હરણના જોડીયાં બચ્ચાં જેવાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણે બંન્ને સ્તન તારા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="SNG.4.6" />દિવસ આથમે અને ઓળા ઉતરી જાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી હું કસ્તૂરી અને લોબાનની
</q>
<q style="q1">સુગંધ ધરાવતા પર્વતો પર જઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="SNG.4.7" />તું અતિ સુંદર છે મારી પ્રીતમા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા અંગમા કોઇ ખોડ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="SNG.4.8" />હે મારી નવોઢા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લબાનોનથી તું આવ મારી સાથે;
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણે આમાનાહ પર્વતના શિખર પર જઇએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સનીરની ટોચ પરથી નિહાળીશું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે હેમોર્ન પર્વતની ટોચ પરથી નીચે જ્યાં સિંહોના રહેઠાણ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં ચિત્તાઓ શિકારની શોધમાં ફરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="SNG.4.9" />હે મારી પ્રાણપ્રિયા, મારી નવોઢા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં મારું હૃદય હરી લીધું છે. હું તારી આકર્ષક આંખોથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા ગળાના હારના એક મણકાથી સંમોહિત થઇ ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="SNG.4.10" />મારી પ્રાણપ્રિયા, મારી નવોઢા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારો પ્રેમ કેવો મધુર છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">સાચે જ તે દ્રાક્ષારસથીય વધુ મધુર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પ્રેમની સુવાસ કોઇ પણ સુગંધિત દ્રવ્યો કરતાં વધારે મધુર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="SNG.4.11" />મારી નવોઢા, મધપૂડાની જેમ ટપકે છે મીઠાશ તારા હોઠમાંથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી જીભ તળે મધને દૂધ છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારા વસ્રોની ખુશ્બો લબાનોનના દેવદારોના વૃક્ષોની ખૂશ્બો જેવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="SNG.4.12" />મારી પ્રાણપ્રિયા, મારી નવોઢા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું બંધ કરેલી વાડી;
</q>
<q style="q1">બાંધી દીધેલો ઝરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા પૂરી દીધેલાં કૂવા જેવી છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="SNG.4.13" />તું જાણે દાડમડીઓના બગીચા જેવી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમાં મેંહદીના છોડવાઓ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મધુર સુગંધિત મૂળિયાઓ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="14" bcv="SNG.4.14" />કેશર, તજ, મધુર સુગંધી વૃક્ષો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સર્વ પ્રકારના શ્રે તેજાના પણ ખરા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="SNG.4.15" />તું બાગમાંના ફુવારા જેવી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નદીના વહેતાં પાણી જેવી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા લબાનોનના વહેતાં ઝરણાં જેવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યા:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="SNG.4.16" />હે ઉત્તરના વાયુ, તું જાગૃત થા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હે દક્ષિણના વાયુ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તું આવ, મારા બગીચામાં થઇને તું પસાર થા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેની સુવાસ સર્વત્ર ફેલાય,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારો પ્રીતમ પોતાના બગીચામાં આવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના શ્રે ફળો આરોગે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">સુલેમાન:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="SNG.5.1" />હે મારી પ્રાણપ્રિયા, મારી નવોઢા, હું આવ્યો છું મારા બાગમાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં એકઠાં કર્યાં છે મારા બોળને સુગંધી દ્રવ્યો;
</q>
<q style="q1">ને મેં ખાધું છે મધ મારાં મધપૂડામાંથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં પીધો છે મારો દ્રાક્ષારસ મેં મારા દૂધની સાથે;
</q>
<s style="s">સ્ત્રીઓ: સ્ત્રીના શબ્દો તેના પ્રેમીઓને:
</s>
<q style="q1">હે મિત્રો, ખાઓ; હે વ્હાલાઓ, પીઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા પુષ્કળ પીઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યા:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="SNG.5.2" />હું સૂતી હોઉં છું પણ મારું હૃદય જાગૃત હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ મારા પ્રીતમનો સાદ છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">તે ખટખટાવે છે દરવાજો ને કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“મારી પ્રાણપ્રિયા, મારી વ્હાલી<f caller="+"><fr>5:2
</fr><fk>મારી વ્હાલી
</fk><ft>શાબ્દિક રીતે “મારી બહેન.”</ft></f> મારી (ક્ષતિહીન) સંપૂર્ણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી સુંવાળી સ્ત્રી, મારે માટે બારણું ખોલ;
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા વાળ રાત્રીના ઝાકળથી ભરેલા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી મારું માથું ઝાકળથી ભીજાઇ ગયું છે!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="SNG.5.3" />“મે મારું વસ્ત્ર કાઢયું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે હું કેવી રીતે ફરી પહેરું?
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં મારા ચરણ ધોયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમને શા માટે મેલા કરું?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="SNG.5.4" />મારા પ્રીતમે કાણામાંથી તેનો હાથ અંદર નાખ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા મનમાં તેના પર દયા આવી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="SNG.5.5" />હું બારણું ખોલવા કૂદી પડી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સાંકળ ખોલવા ગઇ
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે મારા હાથમાંથી અત્તર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી આંગળીઓમાંથી બોળ ટપકવા લાગ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="SNG.5.6" />મેં મારા પ્રીતમને માટે દ્વાર ઉઘાડ્યું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મારો પ્રીતમ ત્યાંથી ખસી ગયો હતો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે બોલ્યો તે સમયે મારું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મન નાહિમ્મત થઇ ગયું હતું;
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તેને શોધ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મને જડ્યો નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">મે તેને બોલાવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેણે મને કઇં ઉત્તર આપ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="SNG.5.7" />નગરની ચોકી કરતાં ચોકીદારોએ મને જોઇ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે મને મારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘાયલ કરી,
</q>
<q style="q1">નગરની દીવાલ પાસે ફરજ બજાવતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચોકીદારે મારો ઘુમટો ચીરી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="SNG.5.8" />હે યરૂશાલેમની કન્યાઓ; હું તમને સમ દઉ છું કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો તમને મારો પ્રીતમ મળે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો તેને કહેજો કે હું પ્રેમની બિમારીથી પીડિત છું.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમની સ્ત્રીનો જવાબ કન્યાને:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="SNG.5.9" />ઓ સ્ત્રીઓમાં શ્રે સુંદરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને કહે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા પ્રીતમમાં બીજાના કરતાં એવું શું છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું અમને આવી આજ્ઞા કરે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યાનો જવાબ યરૂશાલેમની સ્ત્રીને:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="SNG.5.10" />મારો પ્રીતમ ઉજળો મનોહર બદામી રંગનો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફૂટડો છે, દશહજાર પુરુષોમાં તે શ્રેષ્ઠ છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="SNG.5.11" />તેનું માથું ઉત્તમ પ્રકારના સોના જેવું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની લટો લહેરાતી અને કાગડાના રંગ જેવી કાળી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="SNG.5.12" />તેની આંખો નદી પાસે ઊભેલા શુદ્ધ શ્વેત હોલા જેવી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દૂધમાં ધોયેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા યોગ્ય રીતે બેસાડેલી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="SNG.5.13" />તેના ગાલ સુગંધી દ્રવ્ય તેજાના ઢગલા જેવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા મધુર સુગંધવાળા ફૂલો જેવા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">જેમાંથી કસ્તૂરી ઝરતી હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગુલછડીઓ જેવા તેના હોઠ છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="SNG.5.14" />તેના હાથ સોનાની વીંટીઓ જે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કિંમતી પથ્થરોથી જડવામાં આવી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનું શરીર નીલમ જડિત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સફેદ હાથીદાંત જેવું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="SNG.5.15" />તેના પગ શુદ્ધ સુવર્ણના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાયા પર ઊભા કરેલા આરસપહાણના સ્તંભો જેવા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે લબાનોનના ઊમદા દેવદાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વૃક્ષો જેવો ઊંચો ઊભો રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="SNG.5.16" />તેનું મુખ અતિ મધુર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મનોહર છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યરૂશાલેમની યુવતીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવો છે મારો પ્રીતમ ને મારો મિત્ર.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમની યુવાન કન્યાઓ:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="SNG.6.1" />હે સ્ત્રીઓમાં સર્વોતમ સુંદરી!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારો પ્રીતમ કઇ દિશા તરફ ગયો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">એ તો જણાવ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે તેને તારી સાથે શોધીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યા:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="SNG.6.2" />મારો પ્રીતમ પોતાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાગમાં આનંદ કરવા
</q>
<q style="q1">તથા મધુર સુવાસિત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કમળ વીણવા ગયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="SNG.6.3" />હું મારા પ્રીતમની છું અને મારો પ્રીતમ મારો જ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સફેદ કમળોની વચ્ચે પોતાને આનંદિત કરે છે!
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">સુલેમાન:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="SNG.6.4" />હે મારી પ્રીતમા, તું તિર્સાહ જેવી સુંદર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમ જેવી ખૂબસૂરત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધ્વજાઓ સહિતના સૈન્ય જેવી ભયાવહ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="SNG.6.5" />તારાં નેત્ર મારી તરફથી ફેરવી લે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, તેઓએ મારો પરાજય કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા કેશ, જાણે ગિલયાદ પર્વતના ઢોળાવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરથી ઉતરી આવતાં બકરાંના ટોળા જેવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="SNG.6.6" />ઘોવાઇને બહાર નીકળેલી ઘેટીઓના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ટોળા જેવા તારા દાંત છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓમાંની દરેક બબ્બે બચ્ચાં જણે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓમાંના કોઇએ પોતાના બચ્ચાં ગુમાવ્યાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="SNG.6.7" />તારા ફેલાયેલા વાળ પાછળ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા લમણાં દાડમની ફાડ જેવાઁ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="SNG.6.8" />ત્યાં સાઠ રાણીઓ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને ઉપપત્નીઓ એંસી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અગણિત યુવતીઓ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="SNG.6.9" />પણ મારી વ્હાલી, મારી પ્રીતમા તો એકજ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાની માતાની એકની એક,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને પિતાની વહાલી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમની દીકરીઓ તારી સામે જુએ છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તને ધન્યવાદ આપે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાણીઓ અને ઉપપત્નીઓ તારી પ્રશંસા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">સ્ત્રીઓ દ્વારા તેણીની પ્રશંસા:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="SNG.6.10" />પ્રભાતના જેવી પ્રકાશિત કાંતિવાળી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચંદ્ર જેવી સુંદર,
</q>
<q style="q1">સૂર્ય જેવી ડાઘ વગરની;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધ્વજાઓ સહિતના
</q>
<q style="q1">સૈન્ય જેવી ભયંકર એ કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પૂછે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યા:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="SNG.6.11" />વસંતઋતુ ખીલી છે કે કેમ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દ્રાક્ષાવેલાને કૂંપળો ફૂટી છે કે કેમ;
</q>
<q style="q1">દાડમડીને મોર આવ્યો છે કે કેમ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જોવા માટે હું અખરોટના બગીચામાં થઇને ખીણમાં ગઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="SNG.6.12" />હું કંઇ સમજુ તે પહેલા તો મેં મારી જાતને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા લોકોના રાજકુમારની બાજુના રથમાં બેસેલી જાણી.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમની યુવાન કન્યાઓ:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="SNG.6.13" />હે શૂલ્લામી! પાછી આવ, પાછી આવ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાછી ફર પાછી ફર કે અમે તને નિહાળીએ.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">માહનાઇમના નૃત્યની જેમ શૂલ્લામીને જોવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે શા માટે આટલા ઉત્સુક છો?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">સુલેમાન:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="SNG.7.1" />હે રાજકુંવરી, ચંપલોમાં તારા પગ કેવા સુંદર દેખાય છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પગ કુશળ કારીગરે કંડારેલા ઝવેરાત જેવા છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="SNG.7.2" />તારી નાભિ જાણે સુંદર ગોળાકાર પ્યાલો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમા દ્રાક્ષારસ કદી ખૂટતો નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારું પેટ ખીલેલા ફૂલોથી શણગારેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘઉંની ઢગલીના જેવું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="SNG.7.3" />તારાં બે સ્તન જાણે હરણીના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મનોહર જોડિયા બચ્ચાં જેવા છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="SNG.7.4" />હાથીદાંતના બુરજ જેવી છે તારી ગરદન;
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી આંખો જાણે બાથ-રાબ્બીમના નગર દરવાજા પાસે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવેલા હેશ્બોનના ઝરા!
</q>
<q style="q1">તાંરુ નાક જાણે દમસ્કની ચોકી કરતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લબાનોનનો બુરજ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="SNG.7.5" />તારું મસ્તક કામેર્લ પર્વત સમું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા કેશ ઘનઘોર ઘટાં જેવા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા વળાંકોમાં રાજા પોતે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બંદીવાન બની ગયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="SNG.7.6" />અહા! મારી પ્રીતમા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું કેવી સુંદર છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">તથા વિનોદ કરવા લાયક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આનંદદાયક છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="SNG.7.7" />તાડના વૃક્ષ જેવી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ઊંચી અને સુડોળ છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારા સ્તનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના ફળો જેવાઁ છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="SNG.7.8" />મેં કહ્યું, “હું તાડના વૃક્ષ પર ચઢી જાઉં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના ફળો હું લઉં,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા સ્તન દ્રાક્ષની લૂમો જેવાઁ થાય!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા શ્વાસની સુગંધ સફરજન જેવી થાય!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="SNG.7.9" />તારું મુખ ઉત્તમ દ્રાક્ષારસ જેવું થાય!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દ્રાક્ષારસ સીધો મારા પ્રીતમ પાસે જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના હોઠો તથા દાંત ઉપર સરળતાથી પેટમાં ઊતરી જાય.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કન્યા કહે છે સુલેમાનને:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="SNG.7.10" />હું તેની પ્રીતમા છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે મારા માટે તીવ્ર ઝંખના રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="SNG.7.11" />હે મારા પ્રીતમ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાલ, આપણે ખેતરમાં જઇએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણે ગામડાંમાં ઉતારો કરીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="SNG.7.12" />આપણે વહેલાઁ ઊઠીને દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓમાં જઇએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દ્રાક્ષાવેલાને મોર આવ્યો છે તેનાં ફૂલ ખીલ્યાં છે કે નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને દાડમડીઓને ફૂલ બેઠાં છે કે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આપણે જોઇએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં હું તને મારી પ્રીતિનો અનુભવ કરાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="SNG.7.13" />ત્યાં મદનવેલ તેની સુગંધ પ્રસરાવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી આપણાં આંગણામાં સર્વ પ્રકારના જૂના
</q>
<q style="q1">અને નવા તરેહ તરેહનાં ફળો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પ્રીતમ, મેં તેને કાળજી પૂર્વક તારા માટે સાચવી રાખ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">કન્યા:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="SNG.8.1" />જો તું મારી માએ ધવડાવેલો મારો સગો ભાઇ હોત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો કેવું સારું થાત!
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તો કોઇની ચિંતા કર્યા વિના જાહેરમાં તને ચુંબન કરું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને છતાં આના માટે મને કોઇએ ધિક્કારી ન હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="SNG.8.2" />હું તને મારી માતાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘરમાં લઇ આવત
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તને મારા દાડમમાંથી નીચોવેલો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મસાલેદાર દ્રાક્ષાસવ આપ્યો હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="SNG.8.3" />તેનો ડાબો હાથ મારા મસ્તક નીચે હોત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જમણા હાથથી મને આલિંગન કર્યું હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="SNG.8.4" />ઓ યરૂશાલેમની યુવતીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને વચન આપો કે જ્યાં સુધી યોગ્ય સમય ન આવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી તમે મારા પ્રીતમને જગાડશો નહીં.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમની કન્યાઓ:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="SNG.8.5" />પોતાના પ્રીતમ સાથે રણમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ સ્ત્રી કોણ આવે છે?
</q>
<s style="s">યુવતીના શબ્દો:
</s>
<q style="q1">સફરજનના વૃક્ષ નીચે તારી માતા પ્રસુતિપીડા અનુભવતી હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેણે ત્યાં જન્મ આપ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હતો એ વૃક્ષ નીચે જ મેં તારા પ્રેમને જાગૃત કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="SNG.8.6" />મને તારા હૃદયની મુદ્રા તરીકે અથવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા હાથ પરની વીંટી તરીકે મને સ્થાપન કર.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે પ્રેમ મૃત્યુ સમાન બળવાન છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇર્ષા કબર જેવી ક્રૂર છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અતિ પ્રજવલિત આગની જેમ તે ભડકે બળે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની જવાળા ઘણી પ્રબળ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="SNG.8.7" />ધસમસતાં પાણીનો પ્રવાહ પ્રેમજવાલાને હોલવી શકે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જળપ્રલયના પાણી એને ખેંચી જતાં નથી!
</q>
<q style="q1">જે વ્યકિત પ્રેમને ખરીદવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે તેને લોકો ધિક્કારે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી ભલેને તેણે પોતાની સઘળી સંપતિ આપી દીધી હોય તો પણ.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યુવતીના ભાઇઓ:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="SNG.8.8" />અમારે એક નાની બહેન છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હજી તો એનાં થાન પણ ઉપસ્યાં નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે એની સગાઇની વાત લઇને કોઇ આવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો અમારી બહેન માટે અમે શું કરીએ?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="SNG.8.9" />જો તે દીવાલ હોય તો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે તેને ચાંદીથી શણગારશું
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જો તે પ્રવેશદ્વાર હોય તો અમે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને પાટીયા વડે ઢાંકીને મઢી દઇએ.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યુવતી:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="SNG.8.10" />હું દીવાલ છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા થાન બુરજો જેવાઁ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની દ્રષ્ટિમાં હું તેને સંતોષ શાંતિ લાવી શકું તેવી છું.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">પુરુષ:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="SNG.8.11" />સુલેમાનની બઆલ હામોનમાં એક દ્રાક્ષાવાડી હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે તેણે ખેડૂતોને ભાડે આપી દરેક ખેડૂતને
</q>
<q style="q1">તે પેટે ચાંદીના એક હજાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિક્કા લાવીને આપવાના હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="SNG.8.12" />મારી દ્રાક્ષાવાડી મારી પોતાની છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે સુલેમાન, તું તારા હજાર શેકેલ રાખી લે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભલે દરેક ખેડૂત પાસે બસ્સો શેકેલ રહે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">સુલેમાન:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="SNG.8.13" />હે બગીચાઓમાં વસનારી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા મિત્રો તારો અવાજ સાંભળી રહ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને પણ સાંભળવા દે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યુવતી:
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="SNG.8.14" />હે મારા પ્રીતમ, તું વહેલો આવ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુગંધી દ્રવ્યોના પર્વત પર તું હવે સાબરી જેવો બન અથવા યુવાન હરણ જેવો બન.
<ve />
</q>
</book>
<book id="ISA"><id id="ISA">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>યશાયા
</h><toc level="1">યશાયા
</toc><toc level="2">યશાયા
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યશાયા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.1.1" />આમોસના પુત્ર યશાયાએ યહૂદામાં ઉઝિઝયા, યોથામ, આહાઝ અને હિઝિક્યા રાજાઓના અમલ દરમ્યાન સંદર્શનો જોયાં. તે સંદર્શનોમાંથી તેને સંદેશા મળ્યા. આ સંદેશાઓમાં યહોવાએ યરૂશાલેમ અને યહૂદામાં આવનાર દિવસોમાં શું બનવાનું હતું તે તેને બતાવ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">બંડખોર પ્રજાને યહોવાનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.1.2" />હે આકાશ અને પૃથ્વી! સાંભળો, કારણ, યહોવા બોલે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે બાળકોને મેં ઉછેરીને મોટાં કર્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ મારી વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કર્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.1.3" />બળદ જેમ પોતાના ધણીને ઓળખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગધેડો પોતાના ધણીની ગભાણને ઓળખે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ ઇસ્રાએલને ડહાપણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમજણ નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.1.4" />ઓહ! પાપી પ્રજા, હે અપરાધોથી લદાયેલા લોકો, હે કુકમીર્ઓ, હે વંઠી ગયેલાઁ છોકરાં! તમે યહોવાનો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે. તમે ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર દેવને તિરસ્કાર્યા છે. અને તેમનાથી તમે અજાણ્યાની જેમ વિમુખ થઇ ગયા છો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.1.5" />દેવ કહે છે, “હે મારા લોકો, શું હજુ તમારે વધારે માર ખાવો છે? તે આમ બળવા ઉપર બળવો કર્યા કરો છો? તમારું માથું રોગિષ્ઠ છે અને તમારાં હૃદય અને મન અશુદ્ધ છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.1.6" />પગના તળિયાથી માંડીને તે માથા સુધી કોઇ અંગ સાજુ નથી; ફકત ઘા, ઉઝરડા અને દૂઝતા ઘા છે; નથી તમે તમારા ઘા સાફ કર્યા કે નથી પાટા બાંધ્યા, નથી તેના પર તેલ ચોપડવામાં આવ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.1.7" />“તમારો દેશ ઉજ્જડ થઇ ગયો છે, તમારાં નગરો આગમાં ભસ્મ થઇ ગયાં છે; તમારી નજર આગળ પરદેશીઓ તમને લૂંટે છે, અને તેઓની નજરે જે પડે છે તેનો નાશ કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.1.8" />“સિયોન નગર બધી વસ્તુઓથી વંચિત થઇ ગયું છે જેમકે દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓમાં આશ્રય અથવા કાકડીના ખેતર તે ઘેરાબંધ શહેર જેવું છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ISA.1.9" />જો સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાએ આપણામાંના થોડાકને બાકી રહેવા ન દીધા હોત, તો આપણે સદોમ અને ગમોરાના જેવા નામશેષ થઇ ગયા હોત.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.1.10" />હે યરૂશાલેમના રાજકર્તાઓ અને પ્રજાજનો, તમે સદોમના અને ગમોરાના રાજકર્તાઓ અને પ્રજાજનો જેવા થઇ ગયા છો. તમે યહોવાની વાણી સાંભળો, આપણા દેવના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર પ્રત્યે કાને ધરો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ISA.1.11" />યહોવા કહે છે, તમારા અસંખ્ય યજ્ઞો મારી આગળ તમે કર્યા છે છતાં તે મારે કોઇ કામના નથી. તમારા પુષ્ટ ઘેટાંની મારે જરૂર નથી. તમારાં અર્પણો, ગોધા, હલવાન તથા બકરાનું લોહી મને ભાવતું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ISA.1.12" />તમને મારા માટે અર્પણો લાવવા કોણે કહ્યું હતું? મારા મંદિરના આંગણાને હવે જરાપણ કચડો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.1.13" />“તમારા નકામા ખાદ્યાર્પણો લાવશો નહિ, ધૂપ તો મને તિરસ્કારરૂપ લાગે છે; ચંદ્રદર્શન, સાબ્બાથ દિવસો અને ધર્મમેળો એમાં કેવળ પાપીઓ જ ભેગા થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="ISA.1.14" />તમારાઁ ચદ્રદર્શનને અને તમારા પવોર્ને હું ધિક્કારું છું. હું તે સહન કરી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.1.15" />“પણ જો તમે મારી સામે તમારો હાથ ઉગામશો, ત્યારે હું મારી આંખો ફેરવી લઇશ. હવે વધારે હું તમારી પ્રાર્થનાઓને નહિ સાંભળું, કેમકે તમારો હાથ લોહીથી ખરડાયેલો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.1.16" />“સ્નાન કરીને શુદ્ધ થાઓ. મારી આંખ આગળ દુષ્કૃત્યો કરવાનું બંધ કરો, ભૂંડા કામ કરવાના છોડી દો. અને ભલું કરતાં શીખો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="ISA.1.17" />ન્યાયને માગેર્ ચાલો, જેમના પર ત્રાસ થાય છે તેમને બચાવો, અનાથનું રક્ષણ કરો, વિધવાઓ અને ગરીબોને મદદ કરો, તેમના પ્રત્યે માયાળુ બનો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.1.18" />યહોવા કહે છે, “આવો, આપણે એક સમજૂતી પર આવીએ. તમારાં પાપના ડાઘ ગમે તેટલા ઘેરા હશે, તો પણ હું તેને દૂર કરીશ. અને તમને તાજાં વરસેલાં હિમ જેવા; ને ઊન જેવા શ્વેત બનાવીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.1.19" />“જો તમે રાજીખુશીથી આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે વર્તશો, ને કામ કરશો તો તમે ધરતીનો મબલખ પાક ભોગવવા પામશો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="ISA.1.20" />પણ જો તમે મારી આજ્ઞાઓનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરશો તો તમે તરવારના ભોગ થઇ પડશો.”
</p>
<p style="p">આ યહોવાના મુખનાં વચનો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ દેવ પ્રત્યે વિશ્વાસ યોગ્ય નથી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.1.21" />જે નગર દેવને વફાદાર હતું અને સંપૂર્ણ ન્યાયથી વર્તતુ હતું. તે આજે કેવું ષ્ટ બની ગયું છે! ત્યાં ધર્મનિષ્ઠાનો વાસ હતો, પણ આજે તો ત્યાં ખૂનીઓ વસે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.1.22" />હે યરૂશાલેમ, તું ચાંદીની હતી તે કલાઇની થઇ ગઇ છે; તું શુદ્ધ રહી નથી, તમારા દ્રાક્ષારસમાં પાણી મિશ્રિત કરવામાં આવ્યું છે, અગાઉ તમે શુદ્ધ ચાંદી અને શુદ્ધ દ્રાક્ષારસ જેવા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="ISA.1.23" />તારા રાજકર્તાઓ જ બળવાખોર અને ચોરોના સાથીઓ થઇ ગયા છે. તેઓ લાંચના લાલચુ છે, ને નજરાણાં માટે વલખાઁ મારે છે. તેઓ અનાથનું રક્ષણ કરતાં નથી, અને વિધવાઓની દાદ તેઓ સાંભળતા નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ISA.1.24" />તેથી, સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના સૈન્યોનો દેવ, કહે છે! “તમે મારા શત્રુ બન્યા છો. તમારા ઉપર વૈર વાળીને હું સંતોષ પામીશ.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ISA.1.25" />હું પોતે તમારા પર હાથ ઉગામીશ, તમને અગ્નિની ભઠ્ઠીમાં ગાળીશ અને શુદ્ધ કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="ISA.1.26" />આદિકાળની જેમ હું તારા ન્યાયાધીશોને, અને પૂર્વકાળની જેમ તારા મંત્રીઓને પાછા લાવીશ; ત્યાર પછી તારું નામ ‘ન્યાયનગર, ધર્મપુરી કહેવાશે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ISA.1.27" />જેઓ ન્યાયી અને ભલા છે તેઓ યહોવા તરફ પાછા ફરશે, સિયોનને અને તેના પશ્ચાતાપ કરનારા વતનીઓનો ઉદ્ધાર થશે.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="ISA.1.28" />પણ ગુનેગારો અને પાપીઓનો એક સાથે નાશ કરવામાં આવશે. અને જેઓ યહોવાનો ત્યાગ કરશે તેઓ હતા ન હતા થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ISA.1.29" />તમે એલોન વૃક્ષોની પૂજા કરતા હતા; ને ઉપવનોને ઉપાસના સ્થાન માની બેઠા હતા તેથી તમારે શરમાવું પડશે,
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="ISA.1.30" />તમારી દશા પાણી વગરના બગીચા જેવી અને કરમાએલાં પાંદડાવાળાં વૃક્ષો જેવી થશે.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="ISA.1.31" />તૃણ જેમ તણખાથી બળી જાય તેમ બળવાન માણસો પણ પોતાના દુષ્કૃત્યોથી બળી જશે. અને કોઇ હોલાવવા નહિ આવે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">યહોવાના પ્રકાશમાં ચાલો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.2.1" />એક બીજો સંદેશ જેની ભવિષ્યવાણી આમોસના પુત્ર યશાયાએ યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમ માટે કરી, તે આ પ્રમાણે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.2.2" />છેલ્લા કાળમાં, યહોવાના મંદિરનો પર્વતના શિખરો પર સ્થાપન થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીજા બધા શિખરોથી ઉંચો જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેશવિદેશનાં અસંખ્ય લોકોનો પ્રવાહ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં પગે ચાલતો આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.2.3" />દરેક જણ કહેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“ચાલો, આપણે યહોવાના પર્વત પાસે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાકૂબના દેવના મંદિર પાસે, ચઢી જઇએ;
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી તે આપણને પોતાનો જીવનમાર્ગ બતાવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણે તેના માગેર્ ચાલીએ.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">કારણ, યહોવા નિયમશાસ્ત્ર સિયોનનગરીમાંથી અને યરૂશાલેમમાંથી પોતાનાં વચન આપનાર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની વાણી ત્યાંથી પ્રગટ થનાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.2.4" />તે વિદેશીઓમાં ન્યાય કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે અસંખ્ય પ્રજાઓનો ન્યાય કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે લોકો તરવારને ટીપીને હળનાં ફળાં બનાવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા ભાલાઓનાઁ દાંતરડાં બનાવશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રજાઓ એકબીજા સામે તરવાર નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉગામે કે કદી યુદ્ધની તાલીમ નહિ લે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.2.5" />હે યાકૂબના વંશજો, ચાલો, આપણે યહોવાના પ્રકાશમાં ચાલીએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.2.6" />હે યાકૂબના કુળો, તમે તમારા લોકોને છોડી દીધા છે. તેઓ પૂર્વ દેશોના અને પલિસ્તીના ધંતરમંતર કામણટૂમણ ને વહેમોમાં તથા વિદેશીઓના રસ્તા અને રીતરિવાજોને અનુસરે છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.2.7" />વળી તેમનો દેશ સોનાચાંદીથી ભરપૂર છે. તેમના ભંડારનો કોઇ પાર નથી. તેમનો દેશ ઘોડાઓથી ભરાઇ ગયો છે. તેમના રથોનો કોઇ પાર નથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="ISA.2.8" />તેમનો દેશ મૂર્તિઓથી ભરાઇ ગયો છે, તેઓ પોતાને હાથે ઘડેલી વસ્તુને પૂજે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ISA.2.9" />સૌ કોઇને નીચા પાડવામાં આવશે. સૌને નીચા નમાવવામાં આવશે. તું એમને માફ કરીશ નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.2.10" />પોતાને યહોવાની મહાનતા અને તેમની ભવ્યતાના મહિમાંથી બચવા ખડકોમાં શરણ શોધો, જમીનમાં સંતાઇ જાઓ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.2.11" />તે દિવસે માણસના ગર્વને નીચો નમાવવામાં આવશે. અને પુરુષોનું અભિમાન ઉતારવામાં આવશે અને ફકત યહોવાનો જ મહિમા કરવામાં આવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.2.12" />કારણ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ જે કઇં ગવિર્ષ્ઠ અને અભિમાની છે, જે કઇં ઊંચુ છે તે બધાને નમાવવા માટે એક દિવસ નક્કી કરેલો છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="ISA.2.13" />લબાનોનનાં ઊંચાં દેવદાર અને બાશાનનાં મજબૂત એલોનવૃક્ષોને નીચાં નમાવવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ISA.2.14" />સર્વ ઊંચા ઊંચા પર્વતોને, ડુંગરોને ભોંયભેગા કરવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ISA.2.15" />સર્વ ઊંચા મિનારાને અને બધા જ કિલ્લાના કોટોને ભોંયભેગા કરવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="16" bcv="ISA.2.16" />તાશીર્શનાં ભવ્ય વહાણોને ડૂબાડી દેવામાં આવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.2.17" />તે દિવસે, માણસનો ગર્વ નીચો નમાવવામાં આવશે. અને તેનું અભિમાન ઉતારી નાખવામાં આવશે. અને માત્ર યહોવા એકલાનો જ મહિમા કરવામાં આવશે,
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<v id="18" bcv="ISA.2.18" />અને બીજી મૂર્તિઓ તો બિલકુલ સમાપ્ત થઇ જશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="ISA.2.19" />યહોવા પૃથ્વીને ધ્રુજાવવા આવે ત્યારે લોકો તેના રોષથી અને તેના પ્રતાપના તેજથી બચવા પર્વતોની ગુફાઓમાં અને જમીનની ફાંટોમાં ભરાઇ જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.2.20" />તે દિવસે માણસ પોતે બનાવેલી સોનાચાંદીની મૂર્તિઓને ફેંકી દેશે. તેઓ એ બધી મૂર્તિઓને છછૂંદર અને ચામાચિડિયા માટે ફગાવી દેશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="ISA.2.21" />જ્યારે યહોવા પૃથ્વીને ૂજાવવા માટે આવે ત્યારે તેના રોષથી, અને તેના પ્રતાપના તેજથી બચવા લોકો પર્વતોની ફાંટોમાં અને ખડકોની તિરાડોમાં ભરાઇ જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.2.22" />હવે માણસને ભરોસે રહેશો નહિ, કારણ એની શી વિસાત છે? જેનો શ્વાસ તેના નસકોરાંમાં જ છે.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમમાં ન્યાયશાસન વિષે ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.3.1" />જુઓ, સૈન્યોનો પ્રભુ યહોવા યરૂશાલેમમાંથી તથા યહૂદામાંથી ટેકો તથા રોટલી અને પાણીનો સર્વ આધાર લઇ લેનાર છે;
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.3.2" />તેમના વીરપુરુષો અને તેમના યોદ્ધાઓ, તેમના ન્યાયાધીશો અને તેમના પ્રબોધકો, તથા વડીલો;
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<v id="3" bcv="ISA.3.3" />સેનાનાં સેનાપતિઓ, સરકારના નેતા, સલાહકાર અને કુશળ કારીગરો તેમજ જાદુગરો એ બધાને તે લઇ લેનાર છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.3.4" />“તે છોકરાઓને તેમના અધિકારીઓ ઠરાવશે, અને નાના બાળકો તેમના પર શાસન કરશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ISA.3.5" />પડોશીઓ એકબીજા પર જુલમ કરશે. જુવાનો વૃદ્ધોની સામે વિદ્રોહ કરશે. ઉતરતી કક્ષાના લોકો માણસોની અવગણના કરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.3.6" />એવો સમય આવશે જ્યારે માણસ પોતાના પિતાના ઘરમાં પોતાના ભાઇને પકડીને કહેશે કે, “તારી પાસે તો વસ્ત્ર પણ છે; ચાલ, તું અમારો આગેવાન થા અને આ ખંડેરના ઢગલા ઉપર રાજ્ય કર.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.3.7" />ત્યારે તે બોલી ઊઠશે, “હું તો સુધારનાર થવાનો નથી; વળી મારા ઘરમાં નથી ખાવાનું કે નથી પહેરવાનું; તમે મને લોકોનો આગેવાન ન બનાવશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.3.8" />યરૂશાલેમ ચોક્કસ રીતે નાશ પામશે કારણ કે યહૂદાના લોકો પોતાની વાણીથી અને કરણીથી યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ બોલ્યા છે. અને તેમને માન આપતા નથી; તેઓ તેની પવિત્ર હાજરી છતાં વિદ્રોહી બન્યા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.3.9" />તેઓના ચહેરા જ તેમની વિરુદ્ધ સાક્ષી પૂરે છે; તેઓ સદોમના લોકોની જેમ પોતાના પાપનું પ્રદર્શન કરે છે. તેઓ પાપને છુપાવતાં નથી; તેમનું ભવિષ્ય ભયંકર છે અફસોસ! તેમણે પોતે જ આફત વહોરી લીધી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.3.10" />ન્યાયીને માટે સર્વ સારું થશે. માટે તેને કહે કે, “તારું ભલું થશે. તને તારા સારા સુકૃત્યોનો બદલો મળશે જ!”
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<v id="11" bcv="ISA.3.11" />પણ દુષ્ટ માણસને કહે; “દુષ્કૃત્યોના કરનારા દુ:ખી થશે, તેમનું અકલ્યાણ થશે, તેઓ તેમના હાથે કરેલાં કૃત્યોનું ફળ ભોગવશે.”
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<v id="12" bcv="ISA.3.12" />મારા લોકો પર બાળકો અન્યાય કરે છે અને સ્ત્રીઓ તેમના પર રાજ્ય કરે છે.
</p>
<p style="p">અરે મારા લોકો, તમારા આગેવાનો તમને ખોટે માગેર્ દોરે છે, જેથી તમને ખબર પડતી નથી કે કયે રસ્તે જવું.
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</p>
<s style="s">પોતાના લોકો માટે દેવનો નિર્ણય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.3.13" />યહોવા અદાલત ભરવાને તૈયાર થયા છે;
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<v id="14" bcv="ISA.3.14" />અને પ્રજાઓનો ન્યાય તોળવા ઊભા છે. સૌ પ્રથમ તે વડીલો તથા રાજાઓ પર ગુસ્સો ઠાલવશે. કારણ કે તેઓએ ગરીબો વિરુદ્ધ લાંચ લીધી છે.
</p>
<p style="p">“તેઓએ ગરીબ ખેડૂતોને લૂંટીને પોતાના ભંડારો ભર્યા છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ISA.3.15" />મારા લોકોને કચડી નાખવાનો અને ગરીબોના ચહેરાને ધૂળમાં રગદોડવાનો તમને શો અધિકાર છે?” આ યહોવા મારા માલિક સૈન્યોના દેવનાં વચન છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.3.16" />વળી યહોવા કહે છે, “સિયોનની પુત્રીઓ ઘમંડી થઇ ગઇ છે! તેઓ ઊંચી ડોક કરીને, રમતિયાળ આંખોથી ચારેબાજુ જોતી અને રણકતા ઝાંઝરને ઝમકાવતી લયમાં ચાલે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.3.17" />તેથી મારા માલિક યહોવા સિયોનની પુત્રીઓના માથાને ઊંદરીવાળાઁ કરી નાખશે. તેઓના માથા બોડાં કરી દેશે, અને તેઓના પાપ ઉઘાડાં પાડશે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ISA.3.18" />પછી માલિક તેઓના માથાં, પગ, તથા ગળા ફરતે પહેરવાના સર્વ આભૂષણો લઇ લેશે;
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<v id="19" bcv="ISA.3.19" />ગળામાં તથા હાથ પર પહેરવાનાં ઘરેણાં, બુટ્ટી, પોંચી, દુપટ્ટા;
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<v id="20" bcv="ISA.3.20" />માથા પરના રૂમાલ, બાજુબંધ પગનાં ઝાંઝર, રેશમી કમરપટ્ટા, સુગંધી દ્રવ્યો, માદળિયાં,
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<v id="21" bcv="ISA.3.21" />વીંટીઓ, વાળીઓ,
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<v id="22" bcv="ISA.3.22" />સુંદર વસ્ત્રો, ઝભ્ભાઓ, ટોપીઓ, અને બુરખાઓ, અલંકૃત પર્સ,
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="ISA.3.23" />કિંનારવાળા કપડાં, મલમલના કપડાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ISA.3.24" />પછી સુગંધને બદલે દુર્ગંધ, કમરબંધને બદલે દોરડું, સુંદર અંબોડાને બદલે તાલ, કીંમતી વસ્ત્રને બદલે ચીંથરો, અને સુંદરતાને બદલે કુરુપતા રહેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ISA.3.25" />સિયોનનગરીના પુરુષો તરવારનો ભોગ થઇ પડશે. એના વીર યોદ્ધાઓ રણમાં ખપી જશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="ISA.3.26" />પછી એના દરવાજા પણ આક્રંદ કરશે અને મરશિયા ગાશે; અને એ નગરીની દશા સર્વસ્વ ગુમાવીને ભોંય પર બેઠેલી સ્ત્રીના જેવી થશે.
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</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">લોકોનું શુદ્ધિકરણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.4.1" />તે દિવસે સાત સ્ત્રીઓ એક પુરુષને પકડીને કહેશે કે, “અમે અમારો પોતાનો રોટલો ખાઇશું અને અમારાઁ પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો પહેરીશું. પણ તું અમને તારે નામે ઓળખાવા દે, જેથી અમારું કુવારાંપણાનું મહેણું ટળે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.4.2" />તે દિવસે યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલનાઁ વૃક્ષો અને ખેતરોને સુંદર અને મબલખ પાકથી ભરી દેશે. અને જમીનની પેદાશ ઇસ્રાએલના બચી ગયેલા માણસો માટે અભિમાન અને ગૌરવનો વિષય બની રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ISA.4.3" />સિયોનમાં તથા યરૂશાલેમમાં જેઓ બાકી રહ્યા હશે, જીવવા નિર્માયા હશે તેઓ પવિત્ર કહેવાશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.4.4" />જ્યારે માલિકે, ન્યાયના પાવક અગ્નિ વડે સિયોનની પુત્રીઓના ગંદવાડને ધોઇ નાખ્યો હશે, અને યરૂશાલેમનું રકત ન્યાયના તથા દહનના આત્માથકી તેનામાંથી નિર્મળ કરી નાખ્યું હશે,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ISA.4.5" />યહોવા સિયોનના પર્વતને અને ત્યાં ભેગા થયેલા લોકો ને દિવસ દરમ્યાન વાદળ દ્વારા અને રાત દરમ્યાન જ્યોતિ અને ધુમાડાથી ભરી દેશે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.4.6" />દિવસ દરમ્યાન તાપથી છાયા તરીકે, ને તોફાન તથા વરસાદથી રક્ષણ તથા આશ્રયસ્થાન તરીકે યહોવાનો મહિમા ચંદરવાની જેમ છવાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">દેવની દ્રાક્ષવાટિકા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.5.1" />હવે હું મારા પ્રિયતમ અને જેને હું સ્નેહ કરું છું તેની સમક્ષ તેની દ્રાક્ષવાટિકા વિષે ગીત ગાઉં છું.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">ફળદ્રુપ ટેકરી પર મારા પ્રિયતમની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક દ્રાક્ષની વાડી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.5.2" />તેણે તેને ખેડી અને પથ્થર વીણી કાઢયા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અતિ ઉત્તમ દ્રાક્ષીના વેલા રોપ્યા,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે તેની વચ્ચે ચોકી કરવાની છાપરી બાંધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દ્રાક્ષને પીલવા કુંડ ખોદી કાઢયો. એમાં
</q>
<q style="q1">મીઠી દ્રાક્ષ થશે એવી તેને આશા હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ થઇ ત્યારે તેવી મીઠી દ્રાક્ષ બિલકુલ નહોતી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.5.3" />દેવે કહ્યું કે, “હે યરૂશાલેમ તથા યહૂદાના લોકો તમે આ કિસ્સો સાંભળ્યો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ન્યાય કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.5.4" />આથી વિશેષ હું શું કરી શક્યો હોત?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી દ્રાક્ષવાટિકાએ
</q>
<q style="q1">મને મીઠી દ્રાક્ષને બદલે ખાટી દ્રાક્ષ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે આપી?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.5.5" />“માટે હવે સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીનું હું શું કરીશ તે તમને કહું છું:
</q>
<q style="q1">હું એના વાડાઓ કાઢી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનો નાશ થવા દઇશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું એના વાડાઓ તોડી નાખીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને પગ નીચે કચડાવી દઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.5.6" />અને હું તેને ઉજ્જડ રહેવા દઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ એને કાપશે નહિ અને કોઇ એને ખેડશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમાં કાંટા ઝાંખરા ઊગી નીકળશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું વાદળોને આજ્ઞા કરીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે એમાં કોઇ વરસાદ ન વરસાવો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.5.7" />ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો તે સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાની દ્રાક્ષવાટિકા છે. યહૂદાના માણસો અને છોડવાઓ જેને પ્રેમથી ઉછેર્યા છે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તેણે ન્યાયની આશા રાખી હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ બદલો મળ્યો અન્યાય નો!
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે આશા રાખી હતી સદાચારની પણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે બધું તેણે સાંભળ્યું તે મદદ માટેની બૂમો હતી!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.5.8" />તમે માલમિલકતમાં ખેતરો અને મકાનો ખરીદીને ભેગાં કર્યા જાઓ છો, એટલી હદ સુધી કે દેશમાં તમે એકલા જ રહી જાઓ છો ને બીજા કોઇ માટે જગા જ રહેતી નથી તેમને અફસોસ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ISA.5.9" />પરંતુ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ વચન આપ્યું છે કે, “તમે અણધારી આપત્તિઓ વેઠશો. મારા પોતાના કાનોથી મેં તેમને આમ બોલતા સાંભળ્યાં છે. ધણાં સુંદર ઘરો ઉજ્જડ પડ્યાં રહેશે, કારણ કે તેના માલિકો કાંતો માર્યા જશે અથવા ઘર છોડીને જતાં રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ISA.5.10" />દશ એકરની દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓમાંથી ફકત છ ગેલન દ્રાક્ષરસ<f caller="+"><fr>5:10
</fr><fk>છ ગેલન દ્રાક્ષરસ
</fk><ft>એક બાથ, એક બાથ એટલે લગભગ છ ગેલન.</ft></f> ઊપજશે એક ઓમેર<f caller="+"><fr>5:10
</fr><fk>એક ઓમેર
</fk><ft>એટલે લગભગ 65 ગેલત બી વાવ્યા પછી એક એફાહ-એટલે કે લગભગ 6 ગેલન અનાજ ઉપજશે.</ft></f> બી વાવ્યાં પછી પણ ફકત એક એફાહ અનાજ ઊપજશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.5.11" />જેઓ સવારમાં વહેલા ઊઠીને દ્રાક્ષારસ જ પીયા કરો છો. અને છાકટા થાઓ ત્યાં સુધી સાંજે મોડે સુધી જાગનારાઓ, હવે તમારું આવી બન્યું છે એમ સમજો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ISA.5.12" />તમારી ઉજવણીઓમાં હંમેશા સારંગી અને વીણા, ખંજરી અને વાંસળી, તથા દ્રાક્ષારસના પાન સાથે મોજમજા સંકળાયેલી હોય છે. પણ યહોવા જે કરી રહ્યા છે તેની તેઓને ખબર નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.5.13" />પરિણામે મારા લોકો અજ્ઞાનતાને કારણે દેશનિકાલ થયા છે, અને તેમના પ્રતિષ્ઠિત પુરુષો ભૂખ્યા થયા છે, ને તેમના સામાન્ય લોકો તરસથી મરશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="ISA.5.14" />એથી શેઓલે અત્યંત ક્ષુધાથી પોતાનું મોં પહોળું કર્યુ છે, તેમાં કુલીન લોકો અને સામાન્ય લોકોનાં ખુશીથી કોલાહલ કરતાં ટોળાં હોમાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.5.15" />સૌને નીચા પાડવામાં આવશે, સૌનું ગુમાન ઉતારવામાં આવશે. સૌને નીચા નમાવવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ISA.5.16" />પરંતુ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક ન્યાય કરશે અને આમ કરીને પોતાની મહાનતા પ્રગટ કરશે. પરમ પવિત્ર દેવ ન્યાયી આચરણ કરીને બતાવશે કે તે પવિત્ર છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="ISA.5.17" />હલવાનો જાણે પોતાના બીડમાં ચરતાં હોય તેમ ચરશે, ને ધનાઢયોના પાયમાલ થયેલાં સ્થાનોને પારકાઓ ખાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.5.18" />જેઓ અન્યાયને અને પાપના બંધનને વળગી રહે છે, અને તેને છોડી શકતા નથી, તેઓને અફસોસ!
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ISA.5.19" />તમે કહો છો કે, “દેવે ઉતાવળ કરવી જોઇએ. તેને તેનું કામ ઝડપથી સ્થપાવા દો, જેથી અમે જોઇ શકીએ છીએ! ભલે ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર દેવ જે કરવા માગે છે તે ઝડપથી કરશે, અમે તે જાણીશું!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.5.20" />જે લોકો પાપને પુણ્ય અને પુણ્યને પાપ કહે છે. અંધકારને પ્રકાશમાં અને પ્રકાશને અંધકારમાં ફેરવી નાખે છે, કડવાનું મીઠું અને મીઠાનું કડવું કરી નાખે છે તેઓને અફસોસ!
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ISA.5.21" />જે લોકો પોતાની ષ્ટિમાં બુદ્ધિમાન, ને પોતાની નજરમાં ડાહ્યા છે, તેઓને પણ અફસોસ!
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="ISA.5.22" />તે લોકો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવામાં શૂરા છે અને મધોનું મિશ્રણ કરવામાં બહાદુર છે. તેઓને અફસોસ!
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="ISA.5.23" />તે લોકો લાંચ લઇને ગુનેગારને નિદોર્ષ ઠરાવે છે અને નિદોર્ષને ગુનેગાર ઠરાવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ISA.5.24" />તેથી હવે જેમ વરાળ અને સૂકું ઘાસ અગ્નિમાં બળીને ભસ્મિભૂત થઇ જાય છે, તેમ તમારાં મૂળ સડી જશે અને તમારાં ફૂલ ચીમળાઇને ખરી પડશે.
</p>
<p style="p">કારણ તમે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના ઇસ્રાએલના પરમ પવિત્ર દેવના વચનોનો અનાદર કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ISA.5.25" />માટે યહોવા પોતાના લોકો ઉપર ખૂબ ગુસ્સે થયા છે; અને તેઓને કચડી નાખવા માટે તેમણે પોતાનો હાથ લંબાવ્યો છે. ટેકરીઓ ૂજશે, અને તેના લોકોના મડદાં શેરીઓમાં કચરાની જેમ ફેંકી દેવામાં આવશે. તેમ છતાં તેમનો ક્રોધ શાંત થયો નથી; હજી તેમના લોકો પર તેમનો હાથ ઉગામેલો જ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઇસાએલને સજા કરવા માટે દેવ સૈન્ય લાવશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ISA.5.26" />આથી યહોવા દૂરથી લોકોને નિશાની કરે છે, પૃથ્વીને છેડેથી તેમને સૌને બોલાવવા માટે તે સીટી વગાડે છે અને જુઓ, તેઓ વેગથી સત્વરે આવી રહ્યા છે!
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ISA.5.27" />કોઇને થાક લાગતો નથી, કે કોઇ ઠોકર ખાતો નથી. નથી કોઇ ઝોકાં ખાતો કે નથી કોઇ ઊંઘતો. કોઇ કમરબંધ ઢીલો કરતો નથી કે કોઇ પગરખાંની દોરી છોડતો નથી.
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<v id="28" bcv="ISA.5.28" />તેમનાં બાણ ધારદાર કરેલા છે, અને ધનુષ્યો નમાવીને ખેચેલા છે. તેમના ઘોડાની ખરીઓ વજ્ર જેવી છે, અને તેમના રથના ચક્રો વંટોળિયા જેવા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ISA.5.29" />તેમની ગર્જના સિંહની ગર્જના જેવી છે! તેઓ સિંહની જેમ ઘૂરકાટ કરીને તેમનો ભક્ષ્ય પકડે છે. અને તેને ખૂબ દૂર લઇ જાય છે, અને તેને બચાવવા ત્યાં કોઇ નથી.
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<v id="30" bcv="ISA.5.30" />તેઓ તે દિવસે તેમના શિકાર બનેલા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સામે સાગરના ઘૂઘવાટ જેવી ગર્જના કરશે. અને જો કોઇ ધરતી ઉપર ધારીને જોશે તો તેને અંધકાર અને આફત દેખાશે, પ્રકાશ વાદળાંથી ઘેરાતો દેખાશે.
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</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">યશાયાને સેવાની સોંપણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.6.1" />રાજા ઉઝિઝયા જ્યારે મૃત્યુ પામ્યા તે વષેર્ મેં મારા માલિકને ઊંચા અને ઉન્નત આસન પર બેઠેલા જોયા. તેમના ઝભ્ભાની કિનારોથી મંદિર ભરાઇ ગયું હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.6.2" />સરાફ દેવદૂતો તેમની પાસે ધુમરાતાં હતા તેમને દરેકને છ પાંખો હતી. બે પાંખો વડે તેઓ તેમના ચહેરા ઢાંકતા હતાં, બીજી બે પાંખો વડે તેમણે તેમના પગ ઢાંક્યાં હતાં અને બાકીની બે પાંખોનો તેઓ ઉડવા માટે ઉપયોગ કરતાં હતાં.
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<v id="3" bcv="ISA.6.3" />તેઓ સામસામે એકબીજાને પોકારીને કહેતા, “સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા પવિત્ર છે, પવિત્ર છે, પવિત્ર છે! આખી પૃથ્વીમાં તેમનું ગૌરવ વ્યાપી ગયું છે!”
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<v id="4" bcv="ISA.6.4" />તેમના પોકારોથી બારસાખ પાયા સુધી હચમચી ઊઠી અને મંદિર ધુમાડાથી ભરાઇ ગયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.6.5" />ત્યારે હું પોકારી ઉઠયો, “અરેરે! મને શાપ દેવામાં આવશે! કારણ કે હું મેલા હોઠનો માણસ છું. અને મેલા હોઠના લોકો વચ્ચે વસું છું. છતાં મેં મારી આ આંખો દ્વારા રાજાધિરાજ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાને નિહાળ્યાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.6.6" />પછી એક સરાફ દેવદૂત, વેદીમાંથી બળતો અંગારો લઇને સાણસીમાં પકડીને, મારી પાસે ઊડતો ઊડતો આવ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.6.7" />અને મારા મોંને અંગારો અડાડીને બોલ્યો; “જો, આ તારા હોઠને અડ્યો છે; તારો દોષ દૂર કરાયો છે, અને તારા પાપો દૂર કરવામાં આવ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.6.8" />પછી મેં યહોવાને એવું બોલતા સાંભળ્યાં કે, “હું કોને મોકલું? કોણ મારા સંદેશા લઇ જશે?”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે મેં કહ્યું, “આ હું હાજર છું, મને મોકલો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.6.9" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “જા, ને આ લોકોને કહે કે, ‘સાંભળ્યા કરો, પણ ન સમજો; જોયા કરો, પણ ન જાણો.’
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<v id="10" bcv="ISA.6.10" />એ લોકોની બુદ્ધિ મંદ થઇ ગઇ છે, એમના કાન બહેરા થઇ ગયા છે, અને આંખ આંધળી થઇ ગઇ છે. આથી તેઓ આંખે જોઇ શકતા નથી કે કાને સાંભળી શકતા નથી. તેમજ બુદ્ધિથી સમજી શકતા નથી, એટલે તેઓ મારી પાસે પાછા ફરતા નથી અને સાજા થતા નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.6.11" />પછી મેં પૂછયું, “તે ક્યાં સુધી આમ ચાલ્યા કરશે, હે માલિક?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે કહ્યું, “શહેરો ખંડેર અને વેરાન બની જાય અને ઘરો માનવ વસ્તી વગરનાં બની જાય. અને ધરતી વેરાન અને ઉજ્જડ બની જાય ત્યાં સુધી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.6.12" />હું એ લોકોને દૂર દૂર મોકલી દઉં અને આખો દેશ વિશાળ વેરાનવગડો બની જાય ત્યાં સુધી.
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<v id="13" bcv="ISA.6.13" />તે છતાં જો તેનો દશમો ભાગ પણ બચી જાય, તો તેને ફરીથી બાળી નાખવામાં આવશે. જ્યારે મોટું ઝાડ કાપી નાખવામાં આવે છે ત્યારે ઠૂંઠા બાકી બચે છે. ઇસ્રાએલના બાકી રહેલા લોકો તે ઠૂંઠા જેવા હશે.
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</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">યશાયા દેવનો સંદેશાવાહક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.7.1" />તે સમયે ઉઝિઝયાનો પૌત્ર અને યોથામનો પુત્ર આહાઝ યહૂદામા શાસન કરતો હતો ત્યારે અરામના રાજા રસીને તથા ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા રમાલ્યાના પુત્ર પેકાહ સાથે યરૂશાલેમ ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરી, પણ તેને કબજે ન કરી શક્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.7.2" />જ્યારે યહૂદાના રાજાને એ સમાચાર મળ્યા કે, “અરામીઓએ એફ્રાઇમ લોકો સાથે જોડાણ કર્યું છે.” ત્યારે રાજા અને પ્રજાના હૈયા વનનાં વૃક્ષો પવનથી ધ્રુજે એમ ૂજવા લાગ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.7.3" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાએ યશાયાને કહ્યું, “જા, તારા પુત્ર શઆર-યાશૂબને લઇને ધોબીઘાટને રસ્તે આવતા ઉપલા કુંડના નાળાના છેડે આહાઝને મળવા જાઓ.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.7.4" />“અને તેને કહે કે, ‘મક્કમ રહેજે. ગભરાઇશ નહિ અને હિંમત હારીશ નહિ અરામી રસીન અને રમાલ્યાનો પુત્ર તો ઓલવાઇ જતી મશાલ જેવા છે, તેમના ગુસ્સાથી તમે ડરશો નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="ISA.7.5" />અરામીઓએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાથે અને તેમના રાજા જે રમાલ્યાના પુત્ર છે તેની સાથે હાથ મિલાવીને તારી વિરુદ્ધ કાવત્રું રચ્યું છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ISA.7.6" />તેઓ કહે છે, અમે યહૂદા પર ચઢાઇ કરીશું અને તેને કબજે કરીશું. પછી અમે યરૂશાલેમ પર ચઢાઇ કરીશું અને ટાબએલના પુત્રને તેઓનો રાજા બનાવીશું.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.7.7" />પણ યહોવા મારા દેવ કહે છે, “આ યોજના સફળ થશે નહિ.
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<v id="8" bcv="ISA.7.8" />કારણ કે દમસ્ક, અરામની રાજધાની છે. અને રસીન દમસ્કનો નેતા છે. અને પાંસઠ વર્ષમાં એફ્રાઇમ પણ નાશ પામશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ISA.7.9" />સમરૂન એફ્રાઇમ ની રાજધાની છે. અને પેકાહ સમરૂનનો નેતા છે. શું તમે મારા શબ્દોને માનશો નહિ? હું તમારુ રક્ષણ કરું તેવું તમે ઇચ્છતા હો તો તમે, હું જે કહું તે વાતમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખવાનું જરુંર શીખો.”
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<s style="s">ઈમ્માનુએલ – દેવ આપણી સાથે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.7.10" />થોડા વખતમાં આહાઝ રાજા ઉપર યહોવાએ બીજો સંદેશો મોકલ્યો:
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<v id="11" bcv="ISA.7.11" />“યહોવાને, તારા દેવને એંધાણી બતાવવા કહે; પછી ભલે એ નીચામાં નીચા પાતાળમાંથી કે, ઊંચામાં ઊંચા આકાશમાંથી બતાવે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.7.12" />પરંતુ આહાઝે કહ્યું, “ના, મારે એંધાણીની માંગણી કરી યહોવાની કસોટી કરવી નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.7.13" />ત્યારે યશાયાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “સાંભળ, દાઉદના વંશજ. તું માણસોને વાજ આણીને ધરાયો નથી? તારે મારા દેવને પણ વાજ આણવો છે?”
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<v id="14" bcv="ISA.7.14" />એટલે યહોવા પોતે તમને એંધાણી બતાવશે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">જુઓ, એક કુમારીને ગર્ભ રહ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું નામ “ઇમ્માનુએલ” એટલે કે આપણી સાથે દેવ એવું પડશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.7.15" />તે સારાસારનો વિવેક કરતો થાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધીમાં તો તે દહીં અને મધ ખાતો થઇ ગયો હશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.7.16" />એ બાળક નરસાનો ત્યાગ કરી, સારાને પસંદ કરતા શીખશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પહેલાઁ તું જેનાથી ભયભીત થાય છે તે બે રાજાઓના દેશો ઉજ્જડ થઇ જશે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.7.17" />“એફ્રાઇમ યહૂદાથી જુદો પડ્યો ત્યાર પછી આવ્યા નહોતા એવા દિવસો યહોવા તારા પર, તારી પ્રજા પર તથા તારા બાપના કુટુંબ પર લાવશે. તે આશ્શૂરના રાજાને બોલાવી લાવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.7.18" />“તે દિવસે યહોવા મિસરની નદીની દૂરની શાખાઓમાંથી સીટી મારીને માખીઓને અને આશ્શૂરમાંથી મધમાખીઓને બોલાવશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="ISA.7.19" />તે બધી આવીને, કરાડોની બખોલમાં અને ખડકોની ફાંટોમાં વાસો કરશે, ઝાંખરાં અને બીડો તેમનાથી ઢંકાઇ જશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ISA.7.20" />તે દિવસે યહોવા નદીને સામે કાંઠેથી ભાડે લાવેલા અસ્ત્રા વડે તમારું માથું અને પગોના મૂંડી નાખશે, અને તમારી દાઢી પણ છોલી નાખશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.7.21" />“તે દિવસે પ્રત્યેક માણસ એક વાછરડું અને બે ઘેટાં પાળી શકશે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="ISA.7.22" />અને તે તેઓથી દૂધ મેળવશે જે ફકત દહીં ખાવા જેટલું જ પૂરતું થશે. અને જે બધા પ્રદેશમાં બાકી રહી ગયા હશે તે બધાં દહીં અને મધ ખાશે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="ISA.7.23" />તે દિવસે જે જે જગાએ 1,000 ચાંદીના ટુકડાના મૂલના 1,000 દ્રાક્ષના વેલાઓ હતા ત્યાં ત્યાં કાંટા અને ઝાંખરા ઊગશે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ISA.7.24" />માણસ, ધનુષબાણ લઇને ત્યાં ફકત શિકાર કરવા જશે, કારણ, કાંટા અને ઝાંખરાંથી બધો પ્રદેશ છવાઇ ગયો હશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ISA.7.25" />પહેલાં જે ટેકરાઓ ઉપર કોદાળી વડે ખેતી થતી હતી, ત્યાં કાટાં અને ઝાંખરાની બીકથી કોઇ પગ સુદ્ધાં મૂકશે નહિ, ત્યાં બળદોને છૂટા મૂકવામાં આવશે અને બકરા ચરશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">એંધાણી રૂપ યશાયાનો પુત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.8.1" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “એક મોટું ટીપણું લઇને તેના પર ‘માહેર-શાલાલ-હાશ-બાઝ’<f caller="+"><fr>8:1
</fr><fk>માહેર-શાલાલ-હાશ-બાઝ
</fk><ft>ઇસાઈઆહનાં પુત્રોમાંના એકનું નામ છે જેનો અર્થ થાય છે, “લૂંટારો પોતાનો લૂંટનો માલ લેવા ઝડપથી આવે છે.”</ft></f> એમ બધા વાંચી શકે તે પ્રમાણે મોટા અક્ષરે સાદી ભાષામાં લખ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.8.2" />અને યાજક ઊરિયાને અને બેરેખ્યાના પુત્ર ઝર્ખાયાને તે લખાય તે દરમ્યાન સાક્ષી તરીકે રહેવાનું મેં પૂછયું, કારણ કે તેઓ વિશ્વાસુ માણસો છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ISA.8.3" />પછી મેં પ્રબોધિકા સાથે ગયો, તેને ગર્ભ રહ્યો અને પુત્ર અવતર્યો. પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “તું એનું નામ ‘માહેર-શાલાલ-હાશ-બાઝ’ રાખ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ISA.8.4" />કારણ કે એ ‘બા’ કે ‘બાપા’ બોલતો થાય તે પહેલાં દમસ્કની સંપત્તિ અને સમરૂનની લૂંટ ઉપાડીને આશ્શૂરના રાજા સમક્ષ લઇ જવામાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.8.5" />ફરી વાર યહોવા મારા દેવે મારી સાથે વાત કરી અને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.8.6" />“કારણ કે યરૂશાલેમના લોકો મદદ માટે મારા પર આધાર રાખતા નથી જે શિલોઆહના સ્થિર પાણી જેમ છે. ઉલ્ટાનું, તેઓ રસીન અને રમાલ્યાના પુત્રથી ડરેલા છે.”
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.8.7" />તેથી હું યહોવા યહૂદા પર ફ્રાત નદીના ધસમસતાં અને વેગીલા જળપ્રવાહને લઇને આવીશ, હું આશ્શૂરના રાજા તથા તેના સમગ્ર બળવાન સૈન્ય સાથે આવીશ. જળપ્રવાહ ઉભરાઇ જશે અને સમગ્ર તટ પ્રદેશને સપાટામાં લઇ લેશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.8.8" />તે યહૂદામાં ધસી જશે, અને આગળ વધતા વધતા તે તેના ગળા સુધી પહોંચશે, અને તેના પાણી તમારી સમગ્ર ભૂમિમાં ફરી વળશે અને તેને ભરી દેશે.
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ દેવ આપણી સાથે છે, તારા આખો દેશ ભરપૂર થઇ જશે!
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.8.9" />હે રાષ્ટો! તમે અમારું ભૂંડુ કરવા નીકળ્યા છો. પણ તમે સફળ થઇ શકશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે છિન્નભિન્ન થઇ જશો,
</q>
<q style="q1">હે દૂરના રાષ્ટો, તમે બધા સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારી સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા તમારી જાતને સુસજ્જ કરો હા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નાશ પામો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.8.10" />અમારી સામે આક્રમણ કરવાની યોજનાઓ તૈયાર કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી વ્યૂહરચનાઓ વિકસાવો,
</q>
<q style="q1">સભાઓ બોલાવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નાશ પામો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે યહોવા અમારી સાથે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યશાયાને ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.8.11" />યહોવાએ મને જોરથી પકડીને એ લોકોને માગેર્ જતો રોક્યો, અને મને આ મુજબ કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ISA.8.12" />“કહેવાતા કાવતરાઁની જેનાથી આ લોકો ડરે છે, ચિંતા કરશો નહિ તે લોકો જેનો ડર રાખે છે, તેનાથી ગભરાશો નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.8.13" />તમારે તો માત્ર મને, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાને જ પવિત્ર માનવો. અને મારાથી જ ડરીને ચાલવું.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="ISA.8.14" />તમારે માટે પવિત્રસ્થાન હોવા છતાં એ લોકો માટે હું એવા પથરારૂપ થઇ પડીશ જેની સાથે તેઓ ભટકાય; એની સાથે જ ઇસ્રાએલના, યહૂદાના અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકો અથડાશે અને એના ઉપર જ ઠોકર ખાશે, એ લોકોને માટે હું ફાંસલા અને જાળ જેવો બની રહીશ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ISA.8.15" />તેઓમાંના ઘણા ઠોકર ખાઇને પટકાશે અને છિન્નભિન્ન થઇ જશે. ઘણા જાળમાં સપડાશે અને પકડાશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.8.16" />“આ કરાર હું બંધ કરી દઉં છું. આ શિક્ષણને મહોર મારીને મારા શિષ્યોને સુપ્રત કરું છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.8.17" />યહોવાની સહાય માટે હું આશા રાખીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો કે હાલમાં તે પોતાનું મુખ યાકૂબનાં સંતાનોથી સંતાડે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં પણ મારી આશા ફકત તેમનામાં જ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.8.18" />હું અને મારા સંતાનો, જે મને યહોવાએ આપ્યા છે, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાની એંધાણીઓ છીએ, જેઓ સિયોન પર્વત પર વસે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.8.19" />જ્યારે તેઓ તમને કહે કે, “ભૂવાઓ પાસે, ને ઝીણે સાદે બડબડનાર જંતરમંતર કરનારની પાસે જઇને ખબર કાઢો; ત્યારે મારે જવાબ આપવો કે, લોકોએ પોતાના દેવની પાસે જઇને ખબર કાઢવી નહિ? જીવતાંની ખાતર મરેલાં પાસે ખબર કાઢવા જવું?”
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="ISA.8.20" />આપણે જરૂર આપણા શિક્ષણ અને સાક્ષી સમક્ષ જવું જોઇએ. જે લોકો પેલી બીજી વસ્તુઓ કરે છે, તેઓ પરોઢનો પ્રકાશ નહિ જુએ.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ISA.8.21" />ભૂખથી અને દુ:ખથી પીડાતા લોકો આખા દેશમાં ભટકશે. ભૂખના માર્યા ગુસ્સે થઇને તેઓ પોતાના રાજાને અને દેવને શાપ આપશે, અને ઊંચે આકાશ તરફ જોશે;
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="ISA.8.22" />અને નીચે પૃથ્વી પર નજર કરશે તો, અલબત્ત દરેક જગાએ તેઓને દુ:ખ, અભેદ્ય અંધકાર અને વેદના જ મળશે. તેમને અંધકારમાં ધકેલી દેવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">મસીહા આગમન વિષે ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.9.1" />પરંતુ જે ભૂમિ પર સંકટ આવ્યું હતું, તે પ્રદેશમાં અંધકાર નહિ રહે. પ્રથમ તેણે ઝબુલોન તથા નફતાલીના દેશને તિરસ્કારપાત્ર બનાવી દીધો હતો. પણ છેવટે તેણે યર્દન અને ગાલીલની નદીને પેલે પાર, સમુદ્રના રસ્તે આવેલા રાષ્ટોને પ્રતિષ્ઠા અપાવી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ISA.9.2" />અંધકારમાં ચાલનારા લોકોએ તે મહાન પ્રકાશ જોયો છે; મૃત્યુની છાયાના પ્રદેશમાં વસવાટ કરનારાઓ પર “પ્રકાશનું તેજ” પથરાયું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.9.3" />કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલ ફરીથી મહાન કહેવાશે, યહોવાએ પ્રજાની વૃદ્ધિ કરી છે અને તેણીનો આનંદ વધાર્યો છે. કાપણીમાં થતાં આનંદ પ્રમાણે, તેમ જ લોક લૂંટ વહેંચતા આનંદ માણે છે તે મુજબ તેઓ તારી સંમુખ આનંદ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ISA.9.4" />કારણ કે ભૂતકાળમાં તમે જેમ મિદ્યાનની સેનાને હાર આપી હતી. તેમ એ લોકોને ભારરૂપ ઝૂંસરી તેમના ખભા પર પડતી લાકડી, તેમને હાંકનારનો પરોણો તમે ભાંગી નાખ્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.9.5" />સૈનિકોના ધમ ધમ કરતા જોડા, ને લોહીમાં બોળેલાં વસ્ત્રો, તે બધાયને બળતણની જેમ અગ્નિમાં સળગાવી દેવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.9.6" />કારણ કે આપણે સારુ બાળક અવતર્યુ છે, આપણને એક પુત્રનું વરદાન આપવામાં આવ્યું છે. “તેના ખભા પર રાજ્યાધિકારની નિશાની છે. તે એક અદભુત સલાહકાર, પરાક્રમી દેવ, સનાતન પિતા અને શાંતિનો રાજકુમાર કહેવાશે.”
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.9.7" />તેનું રાજ્ય વિશાળ હશે; ત્યાં સદાને માટે અખંડ શાંતિ પ્રવર્તતી હશે. તે દાઉદના રાજસિંહાસન ઉપર બેસશે. ધર્મ અને ન્યાયના પાયા ઉપર પોતાની રાજ્યસત્તાની પ્રતિષ્ઠા કરીને રાજ્ય કરશે. આજથી તે અનંત કાળ સુધી. સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાનો સાચો પ્રેમ સિદ્ધ થશે.
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<s style="s">દેવ ઇસ્રાએલને સજા કરશે
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.9.8" />પ્રભુએ ઇસ્રાએલ વિરુદ્ધ યાકૂબના વંશજો વિરુદ્ધ પોતાનો ફેંસલો જણાવ્યો છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ISA.9.9" />ઇસ્રાએલના પાટનગર સમરૂનના સૌ વતનીઓને એની જાણ થશે.
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<p style="p">એ લોકો તો પોતાના અભિમાન અને તુમાખીમાં કહે છે કે,
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<v id="10" bcv="ISA.9.10" />“ભલે ઇંટો પડી ગઇ, હવે આપણે ઘડેલા પથ્થરોથી બાંધીશું. ઉંબરના પાટડા તોડી નાખવામાં આવ્યા છે. પણ આપણે એની જગાએ સાગના લાવીશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.9.11" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ તેમના દુશ્મનોને તેમની વિરુદ્ધ ઉશ્કેર્યા છે;
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<v id="12" bcv="ISA.9.12" />પૂર્વમાંથી અરામીઓ અને પશ્રિમમાંથી પલિસ્તીઓ ઇસ્રાએલને એક જ કોળિયામાં મુખ પહોળું કરીને ગળી જશે. આ બધું થવા છતાં યહોવાનો રોષ ઊતર્યો નથી. અને તેમનો હાથ હજી ઉગામેલો જ રહ્યો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.9.13" />આમ છતાં એ લોકો પોતાને ઘા કરનાર સૈન્યોના દેવ પાસે પાછા આવ્યાં નથી કે તેનું શરણું તેમણે સ્વીકાર્યુ નથી.
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<v id="14" bcv="ISA.9.14" />આથી યહોવા એક દિવસે ઇસ્રાએલનું માથું, પૂંછડી, નાડ અને બરૂ કાપી નાખશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ISA.9.15" />વડીલો અને સન્માનનીય પુરુષો તે માથું અને ખોટો ઉપદેશ કરનાર પ્રબોધકો તે પૂંછડી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.9.16" />આ લોકોના આગેવાનોએ તેમને અવળે માગેર્ ચડાવ્યા છે. તેમને ભૂલા પાડ્યા છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ISA.9.17" />આથી પ્રભુ તેમના યુવાનો પ્રત્યે રાજી થશે નહિ. તેમજ અનાથો અને વિધવાઓ પ્રત્યે જરાયે સહાનુભૂતિ દાખવશે નહિ. બધાજ દુરાચારીઓ છે, દેવને શું જોઇએ છે તે જાણવાની કોઇને કાળજી નથી, એકે એક વ્યકિત અનિષ્ઠ વસ્તુઓ બોલે છે.
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<p style="p">આ બધાને લીધે યહોવાનો ગુસ્સો ઓછો નથી થયો અને તેમનો બાહુ હજી પણ ઉગામેલો જ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.9.18" />માણસોની દુષ્ટતા આગની જેમ ભભૂકી ઊઠી છે. અને એ કાંટાઝાંખરાને ભરખી જાય છે. જંગલની ઝાડીને પણ એ બાળી મૂકે છે. અને ધુમાડાના ગોટેગોટા આકાશમાં ચઢે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.9.19" />સમગ્ર ભૂમિ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના રોષથી સળગી ઊઠી છે. અને લોકો એ આગમાં ઇધણરૂપ બન્યા છે. કોઇ પોતાના સગા ભાઇને પણ છોડતો નથી.
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<v id="20" bcv="ISA.9.20" />બધા એકબીજાનું માંસ ખાય છે. જમણી બાજુ બચકું ભરે છે તોયે ભૂખ્યો રહે છે અને ડાબી બાજુ બચકું ભરે તોય સંતોષ પામતો નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="ISA.9.21" />મનાશ્શાના વંશજો અને એફ્રાઇમના વંશજો એક બીજાને બચકાં ભરે છે અને બંને ભેગા થઇને યહૂદાને ખાવા ધાય છે, આને લીધે યહોવાનો રોષ ઓછો થયો નથી અને તેનો હાથ હજી ઉગામેલો જ રહ્યો છે.
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<c id="10" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.10.1" />જેઓ અન્યાયી કાયદા ઘડે છે અને અન્યાયી ચુકાદાઓ લખે છે;
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.10.2" />અને આ રીતે ગરીબોને ન્યાય મળતો અટકાવો છો અને દલિતોના હક છીનવી લો છો. અને વિધવાઓની અને અનાથોની યાતનાઓમાંથી તમે લાભ મેળવો છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.10.3" />તમે ન્યાય ને દિવસે, જ્યારે દૂર દેશથી તમારા પર વિનાશ ઊતરશે ત્યારે તમે શું કરશો? કોની પાસે મદદ માટે દોડશો? તમારી માલમિલ્કત ક્યાં મૂકી જશો?
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<v id="4" bcv="ISA.10.4" />યુદ્ધમાં કપાઇને પડ્યા વગર કે કેદ પકડાઇ નીચી મૂંડીએ ઘસડાયા વિના તમારો છૂટકો જ નથી. તમારા કમોર્ને લીધે યહોવાનો રોષ નહિ ઉતરે. તેનો હાથ હજી ઉગામેલો જ રહેશે.
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<s style="s">આશ્શૂરની શકિત પર દેવનું નિયંત્રણ
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.10.5" />પ્રભુએ કહ્યું, “આશ્શૂર તો મારા ગુસ્સાનો દંડૂકો છે, તેના હાથમાં મારા ગુસ્સાની લાઠી છે!
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<v id="6" bcv="ISA.10.6" />હું તેને અધમીર્ પ્રજા સામે મોકલું છું, મારો રોષ જગાડનાર લોકો સામે જઇ તેમને લૂંટવા, તેમની માલમિલ્કત પડાવી લેવા અને રસ્તા પરના કીચડની જેમ તેમને રોળી નાખવા જણાવું છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.10.7" />“તેનો પોતાનો વિચાર તો જુદો જ છે, તેના મનમાં જુદી જ યોજના છે. વિનાશ કરવાનો જ તેનો વિચાર છે, અનેક પ્રજાઓનો સંહાર કરવાનો તેનો નિર્ધાર છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="ISA.10.8" />તે કહે છે, ‘મારા સેનાપતિઓ બધાં રાજા નથી?
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<v id="9" bcv="ISA.10.9" />કાલ્નો અને કાર્કમીશ, હમાથ અને આર્પાહ, દમસ્ક અને સમરૂન બધાંના મેં એકસરખા હાલ કરી નાખ્યા છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="ISA.10.10" />મારો હાથ જ્યાં યરૂશાલેમ અને સમરૂન કરતાં જેઓની કોતરેલી મૂર્તિઓ હતી એવાં રાજ્યોમાં પહોંચી ગયો છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="ISA.10.11" />તો જે રીતે સમરૂન અને ત્યાંના દેવોના જેવા હાલહવાલ કર્યા છે, તેવા હાલહવાલ શું હું યરૂશાલેમનાં અને ત્યાંની મૂર્તિઓના નહિ કરું?’”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.10.12" />પણ સિયોન પર્વત પર અને યરૂશાલેમમાં પોતાનું કામ પતાવ્યા પછી યહોવા આશ્શૂરના રાજાને તેની ઉદ્ધત બડાશો માટે અને તેના તુમાખીભર્યા અભિમાન માટે સજા કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.10.13" />આશ્શૂરનો રાજા કહે છે, “મારા પોતાના બાહુબળથી અને ડહાપણથી મેં આ કર્યુ છે; હું કેટલો ચતુર છું? રાષ્ટોની સરહદોને મેં હઠાવી દીધી છે. તેમના ભંડારો લૂંટયા છે, અને આખલાની જેમ તેમના રાજાઓને પગ નીચે કચડ્યા છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ISA.10.14" />રેઢા પડેલા માળાનાં ઇંડાની જેમ પ્રજાની સંપત્તિ મારા હાથમાં આવી પડી છે. મેં આખી દુનિયા ઉપાડી લીધી છે; નથી એકે પાંખ ફફડી, કે નથી એકે ચાંચ ઉઘડી કે નથી કોઇએ ચી કર્યુ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.10.15" />શું કુહાડી તેના વાપરનાર આગળ બડાશ હાંકશે? શું કરવત તેના ખેંચનાર આગળ શેખી મારશે? એ તો લાઠી તેના ઘૂમાવનારને ઘૂમાવે અથવા છડી જે લાકડું નથી એવા માણસને ઉપાડે એના જેવી વાત છે!
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<v id="16" bcv="ISA.10.16" />તે માટે સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા તેના બળવાન યોદ્ધાઓમાં ભયંકર બિમારીઓ મોકલશે; તેમનાં દેહમાં અગ્નિ જેવી જવાળા ભડભડતી રહેશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ISA.10.17" />ઇસ્રાએલના દીવારૂપ પવિત્ર દેવ જ અગ્નિની પ્રચંડ જવાળા બની જશે. અને તે એક દિવસમાં પેલા કાંટાઝાંખરાને બાળીને ભસ્મીભૂત કરી નાખશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="ISA.10.18" />તેના વન ઉપવનના વૈભવને, કોઇ માંદા માણસને તેનો રોગ સમાપ્ત કરી નાખે તેમ સંપૂર્ણ રીતે સમાપ્ત કરી નાખશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="ISA.10.19" />તેના વનમાં બાકી રહેલા ઝાડ એટલાં ઓછાં હશે કે એક બાળક પણ તેને ગણી શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.10.20" />તે સમયે ઇસ્રાએલના બચવા પામેલા માણસો પોતાને ઘા કરનાર દેશ ઉપર આધાર રાખવાનું છોડી દઇ સાચેસાચ ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર દેવ પર આધાર રાખતા થશે;
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<v id="21" bcv="ISA.10.21" />બાકી રહેલા યાકૂબના વંશજો મહાબળવાન દેવ પાસે પાછા આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.10.22" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાગરની રેતી જેટલા હશે, તોયે તેમાંથી ફકત થોડા બાકી રહેલા માણસો જ પાછા આવશે, એમનો વિનાશ નિર્માઈ ચૂક્યો છે, અને પ્રતિશોધ તો પૂરની જેમ આવી રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="ISA.10.23" />સૈન્યોના પ્રભુ યહોવાએ, પોતે જાહેર કર્યું હતું તે મુજબ સમગ્ર ભૂમિનો વિનાશ કરવા કૃત નિશ્ચય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ISA.10.24" />તેથી મારા માલિક સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા આ મુજબ કહે છે, “હે સિયોનમાં વસવાટ કરતા મારા લોકો, આશ્શૂરના લોકો મિસરના લોકોની જેમ લાઠીથી તમને મારે અને દંડા ઉગામે તોયે તમે તેમનાથી બીશો નહિ.
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<v id="25" bcv="ISA.10.25" />કારણ કે થોડા જ સમયમાં મારો ક્રોધ તેમનો વિનાશ કરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ISA.10.26" />હું, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, મેં, જેમ ઓરેબના ખડક પાસે મિદ્યાનના લોકોને માર્યા હતા તેમ આશ્શૂરના લોકોને ફટકારીશ. અને હું તેમની સામે દંડ ઉગામીશ જેમ મેં સમુદ્ર પર આવેલા મિસર પર કર્યુ હતું તેમ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ISA.10.27" />તે દિવસે આશ્શૂરનો બોજો તમારા ખભા પરથી ઊતરી જશે અને તેની ઝૂંસરી તમારી ડોક પરથી ફગાવી દેવામાં આવશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ પર આશ્શૂરી સૈન્યનું આક્રમણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ISA.10.28" />તે આયાથ આવી પહોંચ્યો છે, તે મિગ્રોનમાં થઇને ગયો છે; મિખ્માશમાં તે પોતાનો સરસામાન રાખી મૂકે છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="ISA.10.29" />તેઓ ખીણની પાર આવ્યા છે; ગેબામાં તેઓએ ઉતારો કર્યો છે; રામા થથરે છે, શાઉલનું ગિબયાહ નાસાનાસ કરે છે;
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ISA.10.30" />હે બાથ ગાલ્લીમ, હાંક માર; હે લાઇશાહ, કાળજી પૂર્વક સાંભળ, હે અનાથોથ, તેને જવાબ દે.
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<v id="31" bcv="ISA.10.31" />માદમેનાહના લોકો નાસભાગ કરે છે, ગેબીમના લોકો જીવ બચાવવા ભાગે છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="ISA.10.32" />હુમલાખોરો આજે જ નોબમાં મુકામ કરશે. અને સિયોનના પર્વત ભણી, યરૂશાલેમ ભણી તે મુઠ્ઠી ઉગામશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="ISA.10.33" />પરંતુ અમારા માલિક સૈન્યોનો પ્રભુ યહોવા, ફટકા સાથે કોઇ વૃક્ષની ડાળીઓની જેમ તેમને કાપી નાખશે; તે ઊંચા, મજબૂત ઝાડોને કાપી નાખશે અને તેને જમીન પર ફેંકી દેશે;
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<v id="34" bcv="ISA.10.34" />કુહાડીથી કપાતાં જંગલના ઝાડોની જેમ તે તેમને કાપી નાખશે અને લબાનોનનાં ભવ્યમાં ભવ્ય વૃક્ષો પણ ધરાશાયી થઇ જશે.
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</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">શાંતિના રાજ્યનું નિર્માણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.11.1" />દાઉદનો રાજવંશ એક વૃક્ષ સમાન છે. તેને કાપી નાખવામાં આવ્યું છે. પરંતુ યશાઇના ઠૂંઠામાંથી ફણગો ફૂટશે, અને તેના મૂળિયામાંથી એક ડાળી ઉગવાની શરું થશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.11.2" />યહોવાનો આત્મા, સુબુદ્ધિ તથા સમજદારીનો આત્મા, વિવેકબુદ્ધિ તથા પરાક્રમનો આત્મા, જ્ઞાન તથા યહોવાના ભયનો આત્મા તેના પર રહેશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ISA.11.3" />તે યહોવાના ભયમાં હરખાશે; અને પોતાની આંખે જોયા પ્રમાણે તે ન્યાય કરશે નહિ. ને પોતાના કાને સાંભળ્યા પ્રમાણે તે નિર્ણય કરશે નહિ;
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.11.4" />પણ તે ગરીબોનો પ્રામાણિકપણે ન્યાય કરશે અને દેશના દુ:ખીજનોનો સચ્ચાઇથી ન્યાય કરશે. અન્યાયીઓને તેનો નિર્ણય દંડની જેમ પ્રહાર કરશે. તેનો ચુકાદો દુષ્ટોનો સંહાર કરશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ISA.11.5" />તેનાં સર્વ કાર્યોમાં ન્યાય અને નીતિ હશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.11.6" />ત્યારે વરુઓ અને ઘેટાંઓ સાથે વસશે અને ચિત્તો લવારા સાથે સૂશે; વાછરડાં અને સિંહ તથા માતેલાં ઢોર ભેગા ચરશે અને નાનાં બાળકો પણ તેમને ચરાવવા લઇ જશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.11.7" />ગાય અને રીંછ ભેગા મળીને ખાશે અને તેમનાં બચ્ચાં પણ ભેગા સૂશે. સિંહો ઢોરની જેમ ઘાસ ખાશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="ISA.11.8" />નાનાં બાળકો નાગના રાફડા પર રમશે. ઝેરી સાપના દરને સ્પર્શશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.11.9" />યહોવાના આખા પવિત્ર પર્વત ઉપર ન તો કોઇ કોઇનું બુરૂં કરે, ન તો કોઇ કોઇને ઇજા કરે; કારણ, જેમ સાગર જળથી ભરેલો હોય છે, તેમ દેશ યહોવાના જ્ઞાનથી ભર્યો ભર્યો હશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.11.10" />તે દિવસે રાજા, યશાઇનો વંશજ લોકોને એકત્ર કરવા ધ્વજારૂપ બની રહેશે. દેશવિદેશની પ્રજાઓ તેની આસપાસ ભેગી થશે. તે અને તેનું નિવાસસ્થાન મહિમાવંતુ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.11.11" />તે દિવસે મારા પ્રભુ આશ્શૂર, ઉત્તરી મિસર, દક્ષિણ મિસર, ક્રૂશ, એલામ, બાબિલ, હમાથ અને દરિયાપારના પ્રદેશોમાંથી પોતાના લોકોમાંના જેઓ હજી બાકી રહેલા હશે તેમને પાછા લાવવા બીજીવાર પોતાનો હાથ વિસ્તારશે અને પોતાની શકિતનો પરચો બતાવશે;
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<v id="12" bcv="ISA.11.12" />પ્રજાઓની સમક્ષ “ધ્વજા” ફરકાવીને, તે પૃથ્વીના ચારે ખૂણેથી ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદાના વેરવિખેર થઇ ગયેલા લોકોને ભેગા કરશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.11.13" />ન તો ઇસ્રાએલ યહૂદાની ઇર્ષ્યા કરશે કે, ન તો યહૂદા ઇસ્રાએલનું દુશ્મન રહેશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ISA.11.14" />તેઓ બંને ભેગા મળીને ખભેખભા મિલાવી પશ્ચિમમાં પલિસ્તીઓ પર તૂટી પડશે અને પૂર્વના લોકોને લૂંટી લેશે; અદોમ અને મોઆબ તેમની મૂઠીમાં આવશે; અને આમ્મોનના લોકો તેમની આણ સ્વીકારશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.11.15" />યહોવા મિસરના રાતા સમુદ્રમાંથી રસ્તો કરશે; અને ફ્રાત નદી પર પોતાનો હાથ હલાવીને પ્રચંડ પવનને મોકલશે અને તેને સાત પ્રવાહમાં વહેંચી નાખશે જેથી તે સહેલાઇથી ઓળંગી શકાય.
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<v id="16" bcv="ISA.11.16" />યહોવાના લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મિસરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા ત્યારે તેમને માટે હતો તેવો જ માર્ગ એ લોકોના જેઓ આશ્શૂરમાં બાકી રહેલા હશે તેમને માટે પણ નિર્માણ થશે.
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</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">દેવનાં સ્તુતિગાન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.12.1" />તમે તે દિવસે ગાશો:
</q>
<q style="q1">“હે યહોવા હું તમારો આભાર માનું છું! ત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મે મારા પર રોષે ભરાયા હતા,
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે તમારો રોષ સમી ગયો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે મને પ્રેમ આપ્યો છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.12.2" />દેવ મારા ઉદ્ધારક છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હવે મને વિશ્વાસ બેઠો છે અને ડર રહ્યો નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">મારો આશ્રય યહોવા દેવ જ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને મારા રક્ષણહાર એ જ છે; ને એ જ મારા ઉદ્ધારક બન્યા.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.12.3" />અને તમે ઉદ્ધારના ઝરણામાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આનંદભેર પાણી ભરશો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.12.4" />તમે તે દિવસે કહેશો કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“યહોવાની સ્તુતિ ગાવ, અને તેના નામનું આહવાહન કરો;
</q>
<q style="q1">સર્વ પ્રજામાં તેનાં કાર્યોની ઘોષણા કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું નામ સવોર્પરી છે એવું જાહેર કરો.”
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.12.5" />યહોવાની ઝળહળતી સિદ્ધિઓ માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેના સર્વદા ગુણગાન ગાઓ;
</q>
<q style="q1">ને સમગ્ર દુનિયામાં એની જાણ કરો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.12.6" />હે સિયોનનાં વાસીઓ, આનંદના પોકાર કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલના મહાન પરમ પવિત્ર દેવ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા સૌની વચ્ચે વસે છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">બાબિલની પડતી ને વિજયનું દર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.13.1" />આમોસના પુત્ર યશાયાને બાબિલ વિષે યહોવાએ સંદર્શન આપ્યું તે આ રહ્યું:
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.13.2" />“ઉજ્જડ પર્વત પર ધ્વજા ઊંચે ફરકાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને ઊંચે સાદે હાંક મારો,
</q>
<q style="q1">હાથના ઇશારા કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તેઓ ઉમરાવોના દરવાજા પર ત્રાટકે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.13.3" />દેવ કહે છે, “મેં મારા પસંદ કરેલા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યોદ્ધાઓને મારા સૈનિકોને,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા વિશ્વાસુ લડવૈયાઓને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો વિરાટ ગુસ્સો બતાવવાનો મેં હુકમ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.13.4" />“સાંભળો! પર્વતો પર મોટી મેદનીનો કોલાહલ સંભળાય છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભેગા થતાં રાજ્યોનો અને પ્રજાઓનો શોરબકોર સાંભળો!
</q>
<q style="q1">સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યુદ્ધ માટે સૈન્યોને ભેગાં કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.13.5" />યહોવા અને તેના ક્રોધનો અમલ કરનારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યોદ્ધાઓ દૂર દૂરના દેશમાંથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">ક્ષિતિજને પેલે પારથી સમગ્ર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેશનો નાશ કરવા આવી રહ્યા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.13.6" />આક્રંદ કરો, કારણ કે યહોવાનો દિવસ આવી ગયો છે. સર્વ શકિતશાળી તરફથી સર્વનાશ આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.13.7" />બધા લોકોના હાથ ખોટા થઇ જશે. તેમના હૃદય હારી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.13.8" />તેઓ દુ:ખ અને વેદના અનુભવશે, પ્રસવવેદના ભોગવતી સ્ત્રી જેમ તેઓ કષ્ટ પામશે; તેઓ ગભરાઇ જશે અને ડરથી એકબીજા સામે અનિમેષ ષ્ટિથી જોયા કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">બાબિલ વિરુદ્ધ દેવનો ન્યાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.13.9" />જુઓ, યહોવાનો દિવસ આવે છે; તે રોષ અને ભયંકર ક્રોધથી નિર્દય બનીને ધરતીને ઉજ્જડ કરી નાખશે અને તેમાંથી પાપીઓનો સંહાર કરશે;
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ISA.13.10" />આકાશના તારાઓ અને નક્ષત્રો પ્રકાશ આપતાં બંધ થઇ જશે. સૂર્ય ઊગતાંની સાથે ઘોર અંધકાર થઇ જશે અને ચંદ્ર પ્રકાશ આપશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.13.11" />સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “હું જગત ઉપરનાં પાપો માટે આફત ઉતારીશ; તેમના ગુનાઓ માટે દંડ ફટકારીશ. હું ઉદ્ધત વ્યકિતઓનું અભિમાન ઉતારીશ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ISA.13.12" />જુલમગારોની તુમાખીને ધૂળ ચાટતી કરી નાખીશ. ઓફીરના શુદ્ધ સોનાની માફક લોકો પણ દુર્લભ થઇ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ISA.13.13" />હું મારા ભયંકર રોષના દિવસે આકાશોને ધ્રુજાવી મૂકીશ અને પૃથ્વી આકાશમાં પોતાના સ્થાનેથી ખસી જશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.13.14" />બાબિલમાં વસતા વિદેશીઓ જેની પાછળ શિકારીઓ પડ્યાં છે, એવાં હરણાંની જેમ અથવા રેઢાં મૂકેલાં ઘેટાંની જેમ, પોતાને વતન પોતાના લોકોમાં ભાગી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ISA.13.15" />બાબિલમાં રહેતા દરેક જણ જે પકડાઇ ગયાં છે, તેઓને ભાલાથી વીંધી નાખવામાં આવશે અને પકડાયેલો દરેક જણ તરવારનો ભોગ બનશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ISA.13.16" />તેમનાં બાળકોને તેમનાં દેખતાં પછાડીને મારી નાખવામાં આવશે, તેમનાં ઘરો લૂંટી લેવામાં આવશે, અને તેમની સ્ત્રીઓની લાજ લૂંટવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.13.17" />“કારણ કે હું માદીઓને બાબિલની વિરુદ્ધ ઉશ્કેરીશ અને ચાંદીના કે સોનાના મોટા જથ્થા વડે તેઓ રીઝશે નહિ,
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ISA.13.18" />બાબિલના યુવાનો, બાળકો કે વૃદ્ધો પર લશ્કરના સૈનિકો દયા દાખવશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ISA.13.19" />સદોમ અને ગમોરાનો નાશ યહોવાએ આકાશમાંથી આગ મોકલીને કર્યો હતો.
</p>
<p style="p">“તે જ પ્રમાણે રાજ્યોમાં સૌથી ગૌરવવાન, ખાલદીઓના વૈભવ અને ગર્વરૂપ બાબિલ તેમના હાથે ખેદાનમેદાન થઇ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="ISA.13.20" />એમાં ફરી કદી વસતિ થશે નહિ, દીર્ઘકાળપર્યંત એમાં કોઇ વસશે નહિ, કોઇ ભટકતી ટોળી પણ ત્યાં તંબુ તાણશે નહિ, કોઇ ભરવાડ ત્યાં ઘેટાબકરાંને પણ નહિ બેસાડે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ISA.13.21" />પણ ત્યાં જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ વસવાટ કરશે અને તેનાં ઘરો ઘુવડોથી ભરાઇ જશે; ત્યાં શાહમૃગનો વાસ થશે અને રાની બકરાં કૂદાકૂદ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="ISA.13.22" />એનાં આલીશાન મકાનોમાં અને એનાં રંગમહેલોમાં વરુ અને શિયાળવાં ભૂંકતા રહેશે. એના દિવસો ભરાઇ ગયા છે, એનો સમય પૂરો થઇ ગયો છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ પર દેવની કૃપાષ્ટિ થશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.14.1" />કેમ કે યહોવા યાકૂબ પર દયા લાવશે અને ફરીથી તેમનો સ્વીકાર કરશે. અને તેઓને પોતાની ભૂમિ ઇસ્રાએલમાં વસાવશે; વિદેશીઓ તેઓની સાથે જોડાશે. અને તેઓ પોતાને યાકૂબના વંશજો સાથે જોડશે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ISA.14.2" />ઘણી પ્રજાઓ તેમને તેમના પોતાના વતનમાં જવામાં સાથ આપશે, અને યહોવાની આપેલી ભૂમિમાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ લોકોને દાસ અને દાસીઓ તરીકે રાખશે; અને તેમને કેદ પકડનારાઓને તેઓ કેદ પકડશે અને તેમના પર અન્યાય કરનારાઓ પર તેઓ રાજ્ય કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ISA.14.3" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, યહોવા તમને તમારા કલેશથી તથા તમારા સંતાપથી અને તમે વેઠેલી સખત મજૂરીમાંથી તમને મુકિત આપશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">બાબિલના રાજા વિષે એક ગીત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.14.4" />તે દિવસે તમે મહેણાં મારીને બાબિલના રાજાને કહેશો કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">સિતમગાર કેવો શાંતિથી પડ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો ઉગ્ર રોષ કેવો શાંત પડ્યો છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.14.5" />યહોવાએ તારી દુષ્ટ સત્તાને કચડી નાખીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા દુષ્ટ શાસનનો અંત કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.14.6" />તમે તમારા ક્રોધમાં મારા લોકોનું દમન કર્યુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેઓને સતત માર્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે તમારા ક્રોધમાં તેમના પર ડંખીલુ શાસન કર્યુ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે પ્રજાની પર જુલમ ગુજારતાં અટક્યા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.14.7" />સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી હવે નિરાંતે શાંતિ ભોગવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો એકાએક ગીતો ગાઇ ઉઠે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.14.8" />હે બાબિલનાં રાજા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી દશા જોઇને સરુના વૃક્ષો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને લબાનોનના ગંધતરુઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આનંદમાં આવીને કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તું કબરમાં સૂતો ત્યારથી કોઇ કઠિયારો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને કાપવા આવ્યો નથી!”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.14.9" />પાતાળમાં રહેલા શેઓલમાં ખળભળાટ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઉશ્કેરાટ મચી ગયો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે તમે જ્યારે આવો ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારું સ્વાગત કરવા માટે આતુર છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પૃથ્વી પરના બધા રાજાઓના આત્માઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારું અભિવાદન કરવા પોતાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આસન પરથી ઉભા થઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.14.10" />તેઓ બધાં તને જોઇને બોલી ઊઠે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તું પણ અમારા જેવો નબળો નીકળ્યો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારામાંનો એક બની ગયો!”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.14.11" />તારા વૈભવનો તથા તારા ગૌરવ માટે વાગતી વીણાના સંગીતનો અંત આવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું શેઓલમાં<f caller="+"><fr>14:11
</fr><fk>શેઓલ
</fk><ft>શેઓત એ જગ્યા છે જ્યાં હિબ્રુ માન્યતા પ્રમાણે બધા મૃતલોકો ત્યાં જાય છે. સામાન્યા રીતે તે સજાની જગા હોય છે એવું મનાતું નથી.</ft></f> પહોંચી ગયો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી પથારી અળસિયાઁની છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કૃમિ જ તારું ઓઢણ છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.14.12" />હે તેજસ્વી તારા, પ્રભાતના પુત્ર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ઊંચે આકાશમાંથી કેમ પડ્યો છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">બીજી પ્રજાઓનો નાશ કરનાર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને કાપી નાખીને ભોંયભેગો કરવામાં આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.14.13" />તું તારા મનમાં એમ માનતો હતો કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હું આકાશમાં ઉંચે ચઢીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને પ્રચંડ નક્ષત્રો કરતાં પણ ઊંચે મારું સિંહાસન માંડીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશના ઘુમ્મટની ટોચે દેવોની સભાના પર્વત પર બેસીશ;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.14.14" />હું વાદળોથી પણ ઉપર જઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પરાત્પર દેવ સમાન બનીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.14.15" />પણ તું તો અધોલોકમાં આવી પડ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાતાળને તળિયે પહોંચી ગયો છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.14.16" />જ્યારે જે કોઇ તને જોશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તારા તરફ ટીકી રહેશે અને વિચાર કરશે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“શું આ એ માણસ છે, જેણે પૃથ્વીને ધ્રૂજાવી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાજ્યોને ડોલાવ્યાં હતાં જેણે જગતને અરણ્ય સમાન બનાવી દીધું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.14.17" />નગરોને ખેદાનમેદાન કરી નાખ્યાં હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેણે કદી પોતાના કેદીઓને છોડી મૂકીને ઘેર જવા દીધા નહોતા?”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.14.18" />બીજી બધી પ્રજાના રાજાઓ માનપૂર્વક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતપોતાની કબરમાં સૂતેલા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.14.19" />પણ તને તો કબર પણ મળી નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા શબને તિરસ્કારપૂર્વક
</q>
<q style="q1">ફેંકી દેવામાં આવ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું કચડાયેલું શબ,
</q>
<q style="q1">યુદ્ધમાં વીંધાઇ ગયેલા યોદ્ધાઓથી વીંટળાઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક ખાડાના ખડક તળિયે પડ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.14.20" />તારા નામનું કોઇ સ્મારક ઊભું કરવામાં આવશે નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેં તારા લોકોનો તેમજ તારા દેશનો નાશ કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી ગાદી પર તારો પુત્ર આવશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા જેવા કુકમીર્ના વંશજોનું નામોનિશાન
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ ન રહેવું જોઇએ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.14.21" />એમના પૂર્વજોના પાપ માટે તેમની હત્યાઓ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેઓ ફરીથી ઊભા થઇ શકે નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">દેશને જીતી શકે નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વીના નગરોને ફરીથી બાંધે નહિં.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.14.22" />સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “હું બાબિલની સામે થઇશ, હું તેનું નામોનિશાન ભુંસી નાખીશ, એનો વંશવેલો નિર્મૂળ કરી નાખીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.14.23" />“હું તેને શાહુડીનું વતન તથા પાણીનાં ખાબોચિયાં જેવું બનાવી દઇશ; હું વિનાશનો સાવરણો ચલાવીશ અને બધું સાફ કરી નાખીશ.” આ સૈન્યોના દેવયહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવ આશ્શૂરને પણ સજા કરશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ISA.14.24" />સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા સમપૂર્વક કહે છે કે, “મારી યોજના પ્રમાણે જ બધું થશે. મારી ઇચ્છા અનુસાર જ બધું બનશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ISA.14.25" />હું મારા દેશનાં ડુંગરો પર આશ્શૂરને પગ તળે રોળી તેનો ભૂક્કો ઉડાવી દઇશ. ત્યારે તેની ઝૂંસરી મારા લોકો પરથી ઊતરી જશે. તેનો બોજો તેમના ખભા પરથી ઊતરી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="ISA.14.26" />આ યોજના સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી માટે ઘડવામાં આવી છે. બધી પ્રજાઓ સામે આ હાથ ઉગામેલો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ISA.14.27" />સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાની આ યોજના છે, અને એને કોણ સમાપ્ત કરી શકે? તેમણે હાથ ઉગામ્યો છે, એને પાછો કોણ વાળી શકે?
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પલિસ્તીઓને દેવનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ISA.14.28" />જ્યારે રાજા આહાઝનું અવસાન થયું તે વર્ષ દરમ્યાન આ પ્રમાણે દેવી વાણી સંભળાઇ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ISA.14.29" />હે સર્વ પલિસ્તીઓ, તમને મારનારી લાઠી ભાંગી ગઇ છે, તેથી આનંદમાં નાચશો નહિ, કારણ કે એક સાપમાંથી બીજો એક વધારે ભયંકર સાપ જન્મ લે છે, અને તેમાંથી હજી બીજો ઊડતો સાપ પેદા થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="ISA.14.30" />પરંતુ મારા ગરીબ અને દીનદલિત લોકો રોટલો પામશે અને શાંતિથી રહેશે. હે પલિસ્તીઓ! હું દુકાળ મોકલી તમારા લોકોને જડમૂળથી ઉખેડી નાખીશ. કોઇ તેમાંથી ઉગરી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="ISA.14.31" />હે પલિસ્તી દેશનાં નગરો, આક્રંદ કરો,
</p>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે પલિસ્તીઓ, તમે સૌ ભયથી થથરી ઊઠો!
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ ઉત્તરમાંથી તોફાનની જેમ સૈન્ય આવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એમાં કોઇ ભાગેડુ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="ISA.14.32" />બીજા દેશમાંથી આવેલા સંદેશવાહકોને શો જવાબ આપવો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ જ કે, યહોવાએ સિયોનની સ્થાપના કરી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યાં જ તેના ગરીબ અને કચડાયેલા લોકો આશ્રય મેળવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">મોઆબને ઠપકાનું વચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.15.1" />મોઆબ વિષે દેવવાણી.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">આર-મોઆબ અને કીર રાતોરાત ખેદાનમેદાન થઇ ગયાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કીર મોઆબ ઉજ્જડ થયું છે, નષ્ટ થયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.15.2" />દીબોનના લોકો પર્વત પર અને ઉચ્ચસ્થાનકે રડવાને જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોઆબના લોકો નબો અને મેદબા પર મોઆબ આક્રંદ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા જ માણસોએ શોકને લીધે માથું મૂંડાવી નાખ્યું છે, અને દાઢી બોડાવી નાખી છે;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.15.3" />બધા જ શોકની કંથા પહેરીને રસ્તા પર ફરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને છાપરે ચડીને ચોરેચૌટે આક્રંદ અને રોકકળ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોક મૂકીને આંસુ સારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.15.4" />વળી હેશ્બોન અને એલઆલેહના લોકો પોકેપોક રડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો અવાજ યાહાસ સુધી સંભળાય છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી મોઆબના સશસ્ત્ર યોદ્ધાઓ પણ થથરી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તેનું હૃદય ક્ષોભ પામે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.15.5" />મારું હૃદય મોઆબને માટે રૂદન કરે છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાંના લોકો સોઆર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એગ્લાથ-શલીશિયા ભાગી ગયા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ રડતાં રડતાં લૂહીથનો ઘાટ ચઢે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હોરોનાયિમને રસ્તે તેઓ હૈયાફાટ રૂદન કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.15.6" />નિમ્રીમનાં જળાશય અરણ્ય તુલ્ય થાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘાસ સુકાઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તૃણ સમાપ્ત થઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લીલોતરીનું નામોનિશાન નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.15.7" />આથી લોકો પોતાની માલમિલ્કત અને જે કઇં સંઘરેલું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે લઇને વેલવાળી ખીણની સામે પાર ચાલ્યા જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.15.8" />કારણ કે સીમની આસપાસ રૂદનનો અવાજ પહોંચી ગયો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના આક્રંદના પડઘા એગ્લાઇમ અને બએર-એલીમ સુધી સંભળાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.15.9" />દીમોનમાં પાણી લોહી લોહી થઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ છતાં દેવ દીમોનને માથે હજી મોટી આફત ઉતારશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">મોઆબના જે થોડા લોકો બચી ગયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના પર એક સિંહ ત્રાટકશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">કૂશને ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.16.1" />રણમાં આવેલા સેલા નગરમાંથી મોઆબના લોકો ડુંગર પર આવેલા યરૂશાલેમમાં વસતા દેશના અમલદારોને માટે હલવાન મોકલો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.16.2" />પોતાના માળામાંથી હાંકી કઢાયેલા પંખીઓની જેમ મોઆબના લોકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આનોર્ન નદી પાર કરવાના માર્ગે આમતેમ ભટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.16.3" />તેઓ યહૂદાના લોકોને કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“અમને સલાહ આપો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ન્યાય કરો, મધ્યાહને તારી છાયા રાતના જેવી કર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાઢી મૂકેલાઓને સંતાડ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શરણાથીર્ઓનો વિશ્વાસઘાત કરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.16.4" />અમને મોઆબમાંથી હાંકી કાઠવામાં આવ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને તમારે ત્યાં વસવા દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારો નાશ કરનાર હાથમાંથી અમારું રક્ષણ કરો.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">જ્યારે અત્યાચાર બંધ પડ્યો હશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અન્યાયનો અંત આવ્યો હશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેશને પગતળે રોળી નાખનારાઓ જ્યારે દેશમાંથી ચાલ્યા ગયા હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.16.5" />ત્યારે દાઉદનો એક વંશજ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના સિંહાસન પર બેસશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે દયા અને નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક રાજ્ય કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે ન્યાય અને પ્રામાણિકપણે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વર્તવામાં સદા તત્પર રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.16.6" />યહૂદાના લોકો કહે છે, અમે મોઆબના ઘમંડ વિષે સાંભળ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેવો ભારે ઘમંડ! તેના અભિમાન,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના અહંકાર તથા તેની ઉદ્ધતાઇ વિષે અમે સાંભળ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેની બડાશો બધી ખોટી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.16.7" />આથી, મોઆબીઓએ મોઆબ માટે આક્રંદ કરવું જ રહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભારે આફતમાં તેઓ આવી જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કીર-હરેસેથની સૂકી દ્રાક્ષાની બાટીઓને માટે શોક કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.16.8" />કારણ, હેશ્બોનમાં ખેતરો કસ વગરનાં થઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિબ્માહની દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ ખેદાનમેદાન થઇ ગઇ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એક સમય એવો હતો જ્યારે એ દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ બાલ-ગોયિમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યાઝેર સુધી પહોંચતી હતી.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ત્યાંથી ઠેઠ રણ સુધી ફેલાતી હતી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પશ્ચિમમાં એની શાખાઓ સમુદ્રની સામે પાર સુધી પહોંચતી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.16.9" />એટલે હું યાઝેરના લોકોની સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિબ્માહની દ્રાક્ષકુંજો માટે રડીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">હે હેશ્બોન તથા એલઆલેહ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તને મારાં આંસુઓથી સિંચીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તમારો પાક લણનારાઓનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કલશોર સંભળાતો નથી,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.16.10" />તમારી વાડીઓમાંથી આનંદ લોપ પામ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દ્રાક્ષકુંજોમાં ગીતો ગવાતા બંધ થઈ ગયા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">આનંદના પોકાર કોઇ કરતું નથી, કે કોઇ દ્રાક્ષારસ બનાવવા માટે દ્રાક્ષો ગૂંદતું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા લણનારાઓનો કલશોર શમી ગયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.16.11" />આથી મારું હૃદય મોઆબને માટે વીણાની જેમ રણજણી ઊઠે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કીર-હેરેસથને માટે મારો અંતરાત્મા કકળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.16.12" />મોઆબના લોકો પર્વત પરનાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉચ્ચસ્થાનકોએ પ્રાર્થના કરવા જઇને થાકી જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તોયે કશું વળવાનું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.16.13" />યહોવાએ ભૂતકાળમાં મોઆબ વિષે ઉચ્ચારેલાં વચનો આ પ્રમાણે છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="ISA.16.14" />અને હવે યહોવા કહે છે કે, “ત્રણ વર્ષ પૂરાં થતાં જ મોઆબની જાહોજલાલી તુચ્છ થઇ જશે અને તેની વસ્તી વિશાળ હોવા છતાં બહુ જ ઓછા લોકો બાકી રહેશે અને તે પણ તુચ્છ ગણાશે; શેષ બહુ થોડો સમુદાય રહેશે તે પણ વિસાત વગરનો રહેશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ તથા અરામનું પતન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.17.1" />દમસ્કને લગતી દેવવાણી
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જુઓ દમસ્ક નગર નહિ કહેવાય એવું થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ખંડિયેરનો ઢગલો થઈ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.17.2" />અરામના નગરો કાયમને માટે ઉજ્જડ બની જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં ઘેટાં-બકરાંનાં ટોળાં નિરાંતે આવીને બેસશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કોઇ તેમને હાંકી કાઢશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.17.3" />ઇસ્રાએલના કોટકિલ્લા અને દમસ્કની રાજસત્તા જતાં રહેશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી ઇસ્રાએલીઓની જાહોજલાલીની જે દશા થઇ
</q>
<q style="q1">તે જ દશા અરામના બાકી રહેલા લોકોની થશે,”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના આ વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.17.4" />“તે દિવસે ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી યાકૂબની જાહોજલાલી જતી રહેશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગરીબી આવી પડશે અને તેની સમૃદ્ધિ ઓસરી જશે,
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.17.5" />“એ લણીને અનાજ ભેગું કરી લીધેલાં ખાલી ખેતર જેવું, થઇ જશે. તે રફાઇમની ખીણમાંના અનાજના ડૂંડા લણી લીધેલા કોઇ ખેતર જેવું થઈ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.17.6" />“ફકત રડ્યાં ખડ્યાં થોડાં ડૂંડા ત્યાં વેરાયેલા પડ્યાં હશે. જેમ કોઇ જૈતૂનના ઝાડને હલાવ્યા પછી છેક ઉપરની ડાળી પર બે ત્રણ ફળ રહે, અથવા ગાઢા પાંદડાવાળી ડાળીએ ચારપાંચ જૈતૂન રહે, તેવું ઇસ્રાએલનું થશે” એમ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાએ કહ્યું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.17.7" />આખરે તેઓ પોતાના ઉત્પન્નકર્તા દેવનું સ્મરણ કરશે અને ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર યહોવાનો આદરસત્કાર કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.17.8" />તે દિવસે તેઓ મદદ માટે મૂર્તિઓ આગળ વિનંતી કરશે નહિ તથા તેઓ પોતાના જ હાથે બનાવેલી મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરશે નહિ ત્યારે તેમને અશેરા સ્તંભ અને ધૂપ વેદીઓ માટે માન રહેશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ISA.17.9" />તે દિવસે તેમનાં કિલ્લેબંદીવાળાં શહેરો, ઇસ્રાએલીઓ આવતાં હિવ્વીઓ અને અમોરીઓએ તજી દીધેલાં સ્થાનો જેવાં થઇ ગયાં હતાં તેવા થઇ જશે; બધું વેરાન થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.17.10" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, તમે તમારા ઉદ્ધારક દેવને, ખડકની જેમ તમારું રક્ષણ કરનારને ભૂલી જઇને બીજા દેવની પૂજા માટે બગીચા બનાવો છો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ISA.17.11" />પણ તમે રોપો તે જ દિવસે તેને ફણગાં ફૂટે અને વાવો તે જ સવારે તેને ફૂલ બેસે, તોયે શોકના અને અસાધ્ય વેદનાના દિવસ આવે ત્યારે એનો ફાલ અલોપ થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.17.12" />અરે, સમુદ્રની ગર્જના જેવી ગર્જના કરતાંય મોટી માનવમેદનીની ગર્જના સંભળાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી લોકોના ઘોંઘાટ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રચંડ જલરાશિના ઘુઘવાટની જેમ ઘુઘવાટા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.17.13" />લોકો સાગરનાં મોજાંના ઘુઘવાટની જેમ ઘુઘવાટા કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દેવ તેઓને ઠપકો આપશે, ને તેઓ ભાગી જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જાણે પર્વત ઉપર પવનથી ઊડી જતી ધૂળ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણે વંટોળિયા આગળ ઘુમરાતી ધૂળ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.17.14" />જુઓ, સવાર થતા પહેલાં તેઓ નષ્ટ થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જોકે સંધ્યાકાળે તો તેઓ કેર વર્તાવતા હતા!
</q>
<q style="q1">આ છે આપણને લૂંટનારાઓનું ભાગ્ય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારી ધનસંપત્તિનું હરણ કરનારની દશા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">કૂશને વિનાશની ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.18.1" />અરે! કૂશની નદીઓને પેલે પાર, પાંખોના ફફડાટ વાળા દેશનું દુર્ભાગ્ય!
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ISA.18.2" />તે દેશ નીલનદીને માગેર્ પાણી પર સરકટનાં વહાણોમાં એલચીઓ મોકલે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">વેગવાન કાસદો, તમે એ લોકો પાસે જાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે કદાવર અને સુંવાળી ચામડીવાળાં છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેનાથી દૂરનાં અને નજીકના સૌ ડરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે બળવાન અને પરાક્રમી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેના દેશની ભૂમિને અનેક નદીઓ સીંચે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.18.3" />હે જગતના સર્વ રહેવાસીઓ, ને પૃથ્વી પર રહેનારાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે યુદ્ધ માટેની મારી ધ્વજા પર્વત પર
</q>
<q style="q1">ઊંચી કરવામાં આવે ત્યારે ધ્યાન આપજો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે હું રણશિંગડું વગાડું, ત્યારે સાંભળજો,
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.18.4" />કારણ, યહોવાએ મને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું છે, “ગ્રીષ્મના બળબળતા બેઠા તડકાની જેમ, કાપણીની ઋતુંની ગરમીમાં જામતાં ઝાકળની જેમ, હું શાંત બેઠો મારા નિવાસસ્થાનેથી જોયા કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ISA.18.5" />પરંતુ પછી, કાપણીની ઋતું પહેલાં, ફૂલ બેસતાં બંધ થયાં હોય અને ફૂલની પાકી દ્રાક્ષ થવા માંડી હોય, ત્યારે ધારિયાથી ડાંખળીઓને કાપી નાખવામાં આવે છે અને વધી ગયેલી ડાળીઓને કાપીને લઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.18.6" />તેમ એ લોકોને કાપી નાખીને પર્વત પર શિકારી પંખીઓને માટે, જંગલી પશુઓને માટે મૂકી દેવામાં આવશે; અને જંગલી પક્ષી તે પર ઉનાળો કાઢશે. અને જગતનાં સર્વ પશુઓ તે ઉપર શિયાળો કાઢશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.18.7" />તે વેળાએ એક પ્રજા, સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના નામ ઉપર, યહોવા માટે અર્પણો લઇને સિયોન પર્વત પરના મંદિરમાં આવશે, તેઓ ઉંચા અને સુંવાળીં ચામડીવાળા લોકો છે, જેમનાથી, દૂર અથવા નજીક રહેતા દરેક ડરે છે, અને જેની ભૂમિને અનેક નદીઓ સીંચે છે.
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</p>

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">મિસરના વિનાશની ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.19.1" />મિસર વિષે દેવવાણી: જુઓ, યહોવા વેગીલા વાદળ પર સવારી કરીને મિસર આવે છે, અને મિસરની મૂર્તિઓ તેને જોઇને ધ્રૂજવા માંડશે, અને મિસરની હિંમત જતી રહેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.19.2" />દેવ કહે છે, “હું મિસરીઓને મિસરીઓ સામે ઉશ્કેરીશ, અને તેઓ અંદરોઅંદર લડશે, પડોશીની સામે પડોશી, શહેરની સામે શહેર અને રાજ્ય સામે રાજ્ય.
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<v id="3" bcv="ISA.19.3" />મિસર તેને લીધે હિંમત હારી જશે; અને હું તેની યોજના ઊંધી વાળીશ, અને તેઓ મૂર્તિઓને, મૃતાત્માઓને, તાંત્રિકોને અને પ્રેતાત્માઓને પ્રશ્ર્ન પૂછશે.”
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<v id="4" bcv="ISA.19.4" />આ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે, “હું મિસરીઓને જુલમી રાજાના હાથમાં સોંપી દઇશ, જે તેમના પર રાજ્ય કરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.19.5" />નીલના પાણી સૂકાઇ જશે, નદીનાં પાણી ઓછાં થઇને સુકાઇ જશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ISA.19.6" />નદીઓ ગંધ મારશે; મિસરની નહેરો ખાલી થઇને સુકાઇ જશે; નાળાં સુકાઇ જશે. ગંધાઇ ઊઠશે, અને બરુ અને કમળ ચીમળાઇ જશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.19.7" />નીલનદીને કાંઠે આવેલી તમામ લીલોતરી અને તેની આસપાસ જે કઇં વાવ્યું છે તે બધું સૂકાઇ જશે. પવનમાં ઊડી જશે. અને તેનું કોઇ નામો નિશાન નહિ રહે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.19.8" />માછીઓ શોક કરશે, નીલમાં ગલ નાખનારાઓ આક્રંદ કરશે, અને પાણીમાં જાળ નાખનારાઓ નાસીપાસ થશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ISA.19.9" />પીંજેલા શણનું કામ કરનારા તથા સુતરાઉ કાપડના વણનારા નિરાશ થશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="ISA.19.10" />તેણીના (મિસરના) પાયાઓ હચમચી જશે અને બધા કામદારો નિરાશ થઇ જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.19.11" />સોઆનના રાજકર્તાઓ બિલકુલ મૂર્ખ છે, ફારુનના ડાહ્યા ગણાતા મંત્રીઓ પણ અક્કલ વગરની સલાહ આપે છે. તેઓ ફારુન આગળ એવું કેવી રીતે કહી શકે કે, “અમે પ્રાચીન કાળના જ્ઞાની પુરુષોના અને રાજાઓના વંશજ છીએ?”
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<v id="12" bcv="ISA.19.12" />હે હારુન, તારા એ જ્ઞાની પુરુષો ક્યાં છે? હોય તો આગળ આવે અને સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાએ મિસરનું શું કરવા ધાર્યુ છે, તે તને જણાવે અને સમજાવે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.19.13" />સોઆનના રાજકર્તાઓ બેવકૂફ છે, નોફના રાજકર્તાઓ મમાં છે; મિસરના આગેવાનોએ જ દેશને ખોટે રસ્તે ચડાવ્યો છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ISA.19.14" />યહોવાએ તેમની બુદ્ધિને ભમાવી છે, અને જેમ પીધેલો માણસ ઊલટી કરતો લથડિયાં ખાય છે, તેમ તેઓએ મિસરને તેનાં તમામ કામોમાં ખોટે રસ્તે ચડાવ્યો છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ISA.19.15" />કોઇપણ વ્યકિત, મહત્વની કે બિન મહત્વની, તે સમયે મિસરને બચાવી નહિં શકે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.19.16" />તે દિવસે મિસરીઓ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાને પોતાની સામે હાથ ઉગામતો જોઇને, સ્ત્રીની જેમ ભયભીત થઇને થથરવા લાગશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ISA.19.17" />યહૂદાનો દેશ મિસરને બિહામણો લાગશે. સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાએ મિસરના જે હાલ કરવા ધાર્યા છે તેને લીધે યહૂદાનું નામ સાંભળતાં વેંત મિસરીઓ થથરી જશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="ISA.19.18" />તે સમયે મિસરમાં પાંચ નગરો એવાં હશે, જ્યાં કનાની ભાષા બોલાતી હોય અને જ્યાં સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના સોગંદ લેવાના હોય તેમાનું એક “વિનાશનું નગર” કહેવાશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.19.19" />તે દિવસે મિસર દેશમાં યહોવાની એક યજ્ઞવેદી હશે અને મિસરની સરહદે યહોવાના એક સ્તંભ હશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ISA.19.20" />એ મિસર દેશમાં સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાની એંધાણી અને સાક્ષીરૂપ બની રહેશે. તેઓ જ્યારે જુલમગારના અન્યાયથી ત્રાસીને યહોવાને ધા નાખશે ત્યારે તેમને એક તારક તથા રક્ષક મોકલશે તે તેઓને છોડાવશે,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.19.21" />યહોવા મિસરીઓને પોતાનો પરચો બતાવશે અને પછી મિસરીઓ તેને પ્રેમ કરશે; અને યહોવાને બલિદાન તથા અર્પણો આપીને તેની ઉપાસના કરશે; અને યહોવાને વચનો આપીને અને તેને પરિપૂર્ણ કરીને તેને પ્રસન્ન કરશે.
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<v id="22" bcv="ISA.19.22" />યહોવા મિસર પર ઘા કરશે. અને પછી ઘાને રૂઝવશે, મિસરીઓ યહોવા તરફ વળશે અને તે તેમની અરજ સાંભળી તેમના ઘા રૂઝવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.19.23" />તે દિવસે મિસરથી આશ્શૂર સુધી ધોરી માર્ગ હશે અને આશ્શૂરના લોકો મિસર અને મિસરના લોકો આશ્શૂર આવશે અને મિસરના અને આશ્શૂરના લોકો ભેગા ઉપાસના કરશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="ISA.19.24" />તે દિવસે મિસર તથા આશ્શૂરની સાથે ત્રીજો ઇસ્રાએલ ભળશે, તે પૃથ્વી પર આશીર્વાદરૂપ થઇ જશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="ISA.19.25" />સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા તેમને એમ કહીને આશીર્વાદ આપશે કે, “મારી પ્રજા મિસર, મારા હાથનું સર્જન આશ્શૂર અને મારું પોતાનું વતન ઇસ્રાએલ, સુખી રહો!”
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</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">યશાયા પ્રબોધકની એંધાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.20.1" />જે વર્ષમાં આશ્શૂરના રાજા સાગોર્ને મોકલેલા સેનાધિપતિએ આશ્દોહ ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરીને તેણે અને જીતી લીધું.
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.20.2" />તે સમયે જ યહોવાએ આમોસના પુત્ર યશાયાને કહ્યું હતું, “જા તેં પહેરેલા શોકના વસ્રો ઉતારી નાખ અને તારા પગમાંથી જોડા ઉતારી નાખ.” અને તેણે એ પ્રમાણે કર્યુ હતું, અને તે નવસ્ત્રો તથા ઉઘાડે પગે ફરવા લાગ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.20.3" />પછી આશ્દોદ જીતાયું ત્યારે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “મારો સેવક યશાયા ત્રણ વર્ષ પર્યંત મિસર અને કૂશની જે હાલત થવાની છે તેની એંધાણીરૂંપે વસ્ત્ર વિના ફર્યો છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="ISA.20.4" />તે જ રીતે આશ્શૂરનો રાજા મિસરના અને કૂશના કેદીઓને, જુવાનોને, તેમજ વૃદ્ધોને નવસ્રા અને ઉઘાડા પગે, નગ્નાવસ્થામાં હાંકીને લઇ જશે, જેનાથી મિસરને શરમાવું પડશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ISA.20.5" />જેમણે જેમણે કૂશ અને મિસર ઉપર મદાર બાંધી બડાશ હાંકી હશે, તેઓ ભોંઠા પડશે અને લજવાશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.20.6" />અને તે દિવસે આ કાંઠાનો રહેવાસી કહેશે કે, “જુઓ, આપણું આશાસ્પદ, જ્યાં આશ્શૂરના રાજાના હાથમાંથી બચવા માટે આપણે જેની મદદ લેવા દોડી ગયા હતા, તેના આ હાલ થયા! તો આપણે હવે કેવી રીતે બચીશું?”
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</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">બાબિલનાં વિનાશનું પુરોદર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.21.1" />સમુદ્ર નજીકના વેરાન પ્રદેશને લગતી દેવવાણી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">દક્ષિણમાં વાવંટોળિયાના સુસવાટાની જેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રણમાંથી, ભયાનક પ્રદેશમાંથી સૈન્ય આવી રહ્યું છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.21.2" />મેં એક દુ:ખદાયી સંદર્શન જોયું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિશ્વાસઘાતી છેતરતો જ જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિધ્વંસી વિનાશ કર્યે જ જાય છે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">કોઇ કહે છે, “હે એલામ, ચઢાઇ કર!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘેરો ઘાલ; હે માદાય!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું બાબિલને આપેલા દુ:ખભર્યા નિ:સાસાનો અંત લાવીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.21.3" />તે જોઇને વેદનાથી મારા અંગો કળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રસૂતાની પીડા જેવી પીડા મને ઘેરી વળે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું એવો બાવરો થઇ ગયો છું કે કશું સાંભળી શકતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવો ભયભીત થઇ ગયો છું કે કશું જોઇ શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.21.4" />મારા મગજને ચક્કર આવે છે, હું ભયથી ધ્રૂજુ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે સંધ્યાને હું ઝંખતો હતો તે જ મને ભયથી થથરાવી રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.21.5" />ત્યાં જોઉં છું તો ભાણાં પીરસાઇ ગયાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાજમ પથરાઇ ગઇ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“લોકો ખાય છે, પીએ છે,”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં હુકમ છૂટે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">“સરદારો ઊઠો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યુદ્ધ માટે ઢાલોને તૈયાર કરો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.21.6" />પછી યહોવા મારા દેવે મને એમ કહ્યું કે, “જા, ચોકીદાર ગોઠવી દે; અને એને કહે કે જે જુએ તેની ખબર કરે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.21.7" />જો તે બબ્બેની હારમાં ઘોડેસવારોને આવતા જુએ, માણસોને ગધેડા પર અને ઊંટ પર બેસીને આવતા જુએ, તો ખૂબ ધ્યાનથી નજર રાખે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.21.8" />પછી તે ચોકીદારે સિંહની જેમ પોકાર કર્યો,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે યહોવા મારા પ્રભુ, હું આખો દિવસ ચોકીના બુરજ પર ઊભો રહું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખી રાત હું મારી જગાએ ઊભો રહી ચોકી કરુ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.21.9" />જુઓ, આ મનુષ્યોની સવારી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બબ્બે સાથે ચાલનાર ઘોડેસવારો આવે છે.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તેણે ઉત્તરમાં કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“બાબિલ પડ્યું છે, પડ્યું છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના દેવોની બધી મૂર્તિઓને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે ભાંગી નાખીને ભોંયભેંગી કરી છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.21.10" />હે મારા ઝુડાયેલા લોકો, તમને ઝુડવામાં અને ઝાટકવામાં આવ્યા છે, પણ હવે સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ પાસેથી મેં જે સાંભળ્યું છે, મેં તે જ તમને જણાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અદોમ માટે દેવનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.21.11" />દૂમાહને લગતી દેવવાણી.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">મને કોઇક આદોમથી વારંવાર પૂછી રહ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હે ચોકીદાર, આજે રાત્રે શું બની રહ્યું છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે ચોકીદાર, આજે રાત્રે શું બની રહ્યું છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.21.12" />ચોકીદારે કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“સવાર થાય છે, ને રાત પણ,
</q>
<q style="q1">જો તમારે પૂછવું જ હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પૂછો; પાછા આવો.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">અરબસ્તાન માટે દેવનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.21.13" />અરબસ્તાન વિષે દેવવાણી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">હે દેદાનના કાફલાઓ, તમે અરબસ્તાનના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઝાંખરાઓ વચ્ચે રાત પસાર કરશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.21.14" />તેમાંના રહેવાસીઓ, તરસ્યાની પાસે જળ લાવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભાગી આવેલાઓને સામે જઇને રોટલો આપો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.21.15" />કારણ, એ લોકો તરવારથી, તાતી તરવારથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખેંચેલા ધનુષ્યથી અને ભીષણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યુદ્ધથી ભાગીને આવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.21.16" />પછી યહોવાએ મને એમ કહ્યું કે, “એક જ વર્ષ જે ભાડે રાખેલા મજૂરોના કામના વર્ષ પ્રમાણે ગણતરી કરેલ છે, પૂરું થતાં જ કેદારની બધી જાહોજલાલીનો અંત આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="ISA.21.17" />અને કેદારના શૂરવીર ધનુર્ધારીઓમાંના થોડા જ બાકી રહેશે.” આ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાનાં વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ વિષે ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.22.1" />સંદર્શન ખીણને લગતી દેવવાણી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">દરેક માણસો ક્યાં જઇ રહ્યાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોતાના ઘરની ટોચ પર કેમ દોડી ગયાં છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.22.2" />અરે, શોરબકોરથી ભરપૂર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘોંઘાટ કરનાર નગર,
</q>
<q style="q1">મોજીલા નગર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા નિવાસીઓ જેઓ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તરવારથી નથી મરાયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ યુદ્ધમાં પણ માર્યા ગયા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.22.3" />તમારા સર્વ સેનાપતિઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ વધારે દૂર પહોંચે તે પહેલા
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના શત્રુઓએ તેમને ધનુષ્ય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાણ વાપર્યા વગર પકડી પાડ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.22.4" />એટલે હું કહું છું કે, “મને એકલો રહેવા દો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને દુ:ખમાં રડવા દો,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા પોતાના લોકોના વિનાશ માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને દિલાસો આપવાની તસ્દી ન લેશો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.22.5" />કારણ કે, આ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાએ મોકલેલો ભયનો, વિનાશનો અને અંધાધૂંધીનો દિવસ છે. સંદર્શનની ખીણમાં આવેલો કોટ તોડી પાડવામાં આવ્યો છે. અને મદદ માટે ઊઠેલા પોકારના પડઘા પર્વતોમાં ગાજી ઊઠયા છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.22.6" />એલામના લશ્કરે બાણોથી સજ્જ થઇને ઘોડા તથા રથો તૈયાર કર્યા છે. કીરના યોદ્ધાઓએ પોતાની ઢાલો ધારણ કરી છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.22.7" />યહૂદાની સૌથી રળિયામણી ખીણો રથોથી ભરાઇ ગઇ છે અને ઘોડેસવારો યરૂશાલેમના દરવાજા આગળ આવી ઊભા રહ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.22.8" />યહૂદા રક્ષણ વગરનું નિરાધાર થઇ ગયું. અને તે દિવસે તમે શસ્ત્રાગારમાં સંઘરેલા શસ્ત્રો તપાસી જોયાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.22.9" />વળી તમે જોયું કે દાઉદનગરમાં કોટમાં પડેલાં અનેક ભંગાણોની તપાસ કરી. અને તમે નીચલા તળાવનું પાણી એકઠું કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ISA.22.10" />અને ત્યાર પછી તમે યરૂશાલેમનાં ઘરોની ગણતરી કરી, અને કોટનું સમારકામ કરવા માટે ઘરોને પાડી નાખ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ISA.22.11" />અને તમે નીચલો કુંડ પાણીથી ભરી લીધો, અને પ્રાચીન પુલની બે દીવાલો વચ્ચે ટાંકી બનાવી પરંતુ આ બધાંનું લાંબા સમય પહેલાં નિર્માણ કરનાર અને તેનું ધ્યાન રાખનાર દેવનો તમે ન તો વિચાર કર્યો કે ન તેને સંભાર્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.22.12" />વળી તે દિવસે સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાએ તો તમને રડવાનું, છાતી કૂટવાનું, માથું મૂંડાવી શોકની કંથા પહેરવાનું કહેતા હતા,
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ISA.22.13" />પરંતુ તેને બદલે તમે તો આનંદોત્સવ કર્યો,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ઢોર વધેર્યા, ઘેટાં માર્યા, માંસ ખાધું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દ્રાક્ષારસ પીધો અને વિચાર્યુ કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">આજે ખાઇ પી લઇએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, કાલે તો આપણે મરી જવાનું છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.22.14" />સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાએ મને દર્શન આપીને વચન આપી કહ્યું “તેમના જીવનકાળ દરમ્યાન તે તેમની દુષ્ટતા ને માફ નહિ કરે.” આ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના વચનો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શેબ્ના માટે દેવનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.22.15" />સૈન્યોના દેવ મારા યહોવા મને કહ્યું, “શેબ્ના, જે રાજમહેલનો કારભારી છે તેની પાસે જઇને તેને કહે કે,
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ISA.22.16" />અહીં તારે શું કામ છે, તને અહીં શો અધિકાર છે કે તેં તારે માટે પર્વત ઉપર ખડકમાં કબર ખોદાવી છે? હું તને જોરથી ઝાટકી નાખીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.22.17" />“હે શૂરવીર માણસ, યહોવા તને કઠોરતાથી હચમચાવવાનાં જ છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ISA.22.18" />તે તને જરૂર દડાની જેમ લપેટીને વિશાળ પ્રદેશમાં ફેંકી દેશે અને ત્યાં તારું મૃત્યુ થશે. તારાં ભભકાદાર રથો ત્યાં જ રહેશે, તેં તારા ધણીના નામને બદનામ કર્યુ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.22.19" />દેવ કહે છે, “હા, હું તને તારા પદસ્થાન પરથી દૂર હાંકી કાઢીશ, ને તને તારા હોદ્દા પરથી ઉથલાવી નાખીશ.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="ISA.22.20" />અને તે જ દિવસે હું મારા સેવક હિલ્કિયાના પુત્ર એલ્યાકીમને તેડાવી મંગાવીશ,
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ISA.22.21" />અને તેને તારો હોદ્દાનો પોશાક આપીશ, તેને તારો કમરબંધ બાંધીશ, અને તારો અધિકાર તેને સોંપીશ. તે યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓના અને યહૂદાના લોકોના પિતાને સ્થાને ગણાશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.22.22" />“હું દાઉદના મહેલની ચાવી તેને સુપ્રત કરીશ, તેને તે ઉઘાડશે, તેને કોઇ બંધ નહિ કરી શકે, અને તેને તે બંધ કરશે તેને કોઇ ઉઘાડી નહિ શકે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="ISA.22.23" />હું તેને મજબૂત રીતે ખોડેલા ખીલાની જેમ સ્થિરપણે સ્થાપીશ, અને તેના પિતાના કુટુંબને માટે તે ભારે ગૌરવરૂપ બની રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ISA.22.24" />તેઓ તેના બાપના ઘરના સર્વ વૈભવ, કુટુંબ-પરિવાર, પ્યાલાં જેવા નાનાં પાત્રથી તે શિરોઇ જેવા પાત્ર સુધી, તે સર્વ તેના પર લટકાવી રાખશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ISA.22.25" />“સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાનું એવું વચન છે કે,એક દિવસ તેને સ્થાને મજબૂત રીતે ખોડેલો ખીલો ઊખડી જશે. અને તેના ઉપર લટકતો બધો ભાર ભોંયભેગો થશે અને તેના ટૂકડે ટૂકડા થઇ જશે.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="23" />
<s style="s">તૂર વિષે ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.23.1" />તૂરને લગતી દેવવાણી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે તાશીર્શના જહાજો, મોટેથી આક્રંદ કરો! કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તૂર ખેદાનમેદાન થઇ ગયું છે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાયપ્રસથી પાછા ફરતાં તમને આ સમાચાર મળે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.23.2" />હે સાગરકાંઠાના રહેવાસીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે સિદોનના વેપારીઓ, આક્રંદ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા માણસો દરિયો ઓળંગી ગયા, અને સાગરોને ખેડતા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.23.3" />અને શીહોરમાં ઉગાડેલા પાકથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નીલ નદીને કાંઠે ઉગાડેલા અનાજમાંથી લાભ પામ્યા હતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અનેક રાષ્ટો સાથે વેપાર કર્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.23.4" />તમે જરા શરમાઓ, હે સિદોનનગરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હતાશ સાગરકાંઠાનો દુર્ગ થઇને પોકારી ઊઠે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું એવી સ્રી જેવી છું કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેણે ક્યારેય બાળકને જન્મ આપ્યો નથી
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જેણે છોકરાઓ મોટા કર્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નથી કે છોકરીઓને ઉછેરી નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.23.5" />મિસરમાં સમાચાર પહોંચશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓ તૂરની ખબર સાંભળીને શોકમાં ડૂબી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.23.6" />હે સાગરકાંઠાના લોકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આક્રંદ કરતાં તાશીર્શ ચાલ્યા જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.23.7" />તમારી એક વખતની આનંદી નગરીમાં હવે કેવળ વિનાશ જ રહ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો ભૂતકાળનો ઇતિહાસ કેટલો ભવ્ય હતો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા વતનીઓ દૂરના દેશોમાં જઇ વસ્યા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.23.8" />જે તૂર બાદશાહી નગર હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેના વેપારીઓ સરદારો હતા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જેના શાહસોદાગરોની પૃથ્વીમાં સૌથી વધુ શાખ હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તૂરની આવી હાલત કરવાનું કોણે વિચાર્યુ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.23.9" />આ બધી જાહોજલાલીનો ગર્વ ઉતારવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વીના સર્વ માનવંતાઓને અપમાનિત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કરવા સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાએ વિચાર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.23.10" />હે તાશીર્શના જહાજો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તમારા દેશમાં પાછા ફરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ અહીં કોઇ બંદર હવે રહ્યું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.23.11" />યહોવાએ સમુદ્ર વિરુદ્ધ પોતાનો હાથ ઉગામ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પૃથ્વીના સામ્રાજ્યોને ધ્રૂજાવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આ મહાન વેપારી નગર અને તેના સાર્મથ્યનો વિનાશ કરવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે આજ્ઞા આપી છે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.23.12" />યહોવએ કહ્યું છે, “હે સિદોનનગરી તારા સુખનો અંત આવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા લોકો પર અન્યાય કર્યો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ સાયપ્રસ ચાલ્યા જશે તોયે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં પણ તેમને આરામ મળવાનો નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.23.13" />ખાલદીઓની ભૂમિને જુઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ એ રાષ્ટ છે જે હવે અસ્તિત્વ ધરાવતું નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">આશ્શૂરે તેને રણના લોકો માટે વસાવ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તેના બૂરજો ઊભા કર્યા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એક કિલ્લો બાધ્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ એનાં મહેલને ભોંયભેંગા કર્યા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનો વિનાશ કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.23.14" />હે સાગરખેડુ વહાણોના તાશીર્શના ખલાસીઓ, તમે આક્રંદ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમારો કિલ્લો નાશ પામ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.23.15" />તે દિવસે એક રાજાની કારકિદીર્ સુધી, સિત્તેર વર્ષ સુધી, તૂર ભૂલાઇ જશે. સિત્તેર વર્ષ પૂરાં થતાં તેની દશા પેલાં ગીતમાંની વારાંગના જેવી થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.23.16" />“હે ભૂલાઇ ગયેલી વારાંગના,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વીણા લઇને નગરમાં ફરી વળ;
</q>
<q style="q1">મધુરા સ્વરો છેડી ગીત ઉપર ગીત ગા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી લોકો તને ફરી સંભારે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.23.17" />સિત્તેર વર્ષ પૂરાં થયા પછી યહોવા તૂરની મુલાકાત લેશે, ને તૂર ફરીથી પોતાનો ધંધો શરૂ કરશે, પૃથ્વીનાં સર્વ રાજ્યો સાથે તે વેપાર કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ISA.23.18" />પણ તેની કમાણી તથા પગાર યહોવાને અર્પણ કરવામાં આવશે; ખજાનામાં તેનો સંગ્રહ કરાશે નહિ, એની કમાણીમાંથી યહોવાના ભકતો માટે પુષ્કળ ખાવા-પીવાનું અને કપડાલત્તા ખરીદવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">પૃથ્વી સંબંધી દેવનું ન્યાયશાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.24.1" />જુઓ! યહોવા પૃથ્વીનો નાશ કરી નાખશે; તે તેનો વિનાશ કરીને તેને રસકસ વગરની બનાવશે. તે પૃથ્વીના પડને ઉપરતળે કરી નાખે છે અને તેના પર વસતા સર્વજનને વેરવિખેર કરી નાખે છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ISA.24.2" />બધાની દશા સરખી થશે; યાજકો, અને લોકો, સેવકો અને ધણીઓ, દાસીઓ અને શેઠાણીઓ, ખરીદનારાઓ અને વેચનારાઓ, ઉછીનું લેનારા અને આપનારા, લેણદારો અને દેણદારો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ISA.24.3" />સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી બિલકુલ ઉજ્જડ અને વેરાન થઇ જશે, તેને લૂંટી લેવામાં આવશે, કારણ કે આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ISA.24.4" />પૃથ્વી સૂકાઇ જાય છે અને સંકોચાઇ જાય છે, સૂકી ભૂમિ નકામી થઇ જાય છે અને ક્ષીણ થઇ જાય છે. પૃથ્વી અને આકાશ બંને ક્ષીણ થતા જાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.24.5" />પૃથ્વી તેના વસનારાઓથી ષ્ટ થઇ છે, કારણ કે તેમણે નિયમનું ઉલ્લંધન કર્યુ છે, અને કાયદાઓ તોડ્યાં છે. તેઓએ દેવ સાથેના સનાતન કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.24.6" />આથી શાપ પૃથ્વીને ભરખી રહ્યો છે અને એમાં વસનારાઓ પોતાના ગુનાની સજા ભોગવી રહ્યા છે. આથી પૃથ્વીની વસ્તી ઘણી ઘટી ગઇ છે અને માત્ર થોડાં જ માણસો બચવા પામ્યા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.24.7" />દ્રાક્ષના વેલા કરમાઇ ગયા છે, તેથી દ્રાક્ષનો દ્રાક્ષારસ બનતો નથી, જેઓ મોજ માણતા હતા તેઓ નિસાસા નાખે છે. અને રૂદન કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.24.8" />વીણાનું સુમધુર સંગીત અને ખંજરીનો અવાજ સંભળાતો બંધ થઇ ગયો છે. આનંદના દિવસોનો અંત આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ISA.24.9" />હવે લોકો ગીત ગાતાં ગાતાં દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતા નથી, તેમને તે કડવો લાગે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.24.10" />નગરી ઉજ્જડ અને વેરાન થઇ ગઇ છે; બધાં ઘરો બંધ થઇ ગયાં છે, તેથી કોઇ વ્યકિત તેમાં પ્રવેશી શકતું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ISA.24.11" />નગરમાં રસ્તાઓ પર લોકો પોકાર કરે છે, કારણ દ્રાક્ષારસ મળતો નથી. આનંદોત્સવ પર અંધકારની છાયા ઊતરી છે, ધરતી પરથી આનંદને દેશવટો દેવાયો છે;
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ISA.24.12" />સમગ્ર નગર ખંડેર થઇ ગયું છે; તેના દરવાજાઓ તોડી પાડવામાં આવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.24.13" />પૃથ્વી પરના લોકો, જાણે જૈતુન વૃક્ષને ઝૂંડી નાખ્યા હોય તેવા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા દ્રાક્ષ ચૂંટી લીધા પછી દેખાતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દ્રાક્ષવેલા જેવા લાગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.24.14" />પરંતુ બચી ગયેલા તે થોડા લોકો મોટા સાદે આનંદના ગીતો ગાશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ યહોવાના મહાત્મ્યને લીધે પશ્ચિમમાં હર્ષનાદ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.24.15" />તેથી પૂર્વમાં જેઓ છે તેઓ પણ યહોવાના મહિમાની ઘોષણા કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દરિયાકાંઠે રહેનારા લોકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવની સ્તુતિ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.24.16" />પૃથ્વીના બધા છેડેથી આપણે “ન્યાયીનો મહિમા થાઓ”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ સાંભળીશું પણ અફસોસ!
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું તો ક્ષીણ થતો જઉં છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા માટે કોઇ આશા નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">દગાબાજી કરનારા દગાબાજી કરે જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દિવસે દિવસે તેઓની દગાબાજીમાં વધારો થતો જાય છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.24.17" />હે પૃથ્વીવાસીઓ, તમારા માટે ભય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખાડો અને ફાંસલો જ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.24.18" />જે ડર લાગે તેવા સમાચારથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ દૂર ભાગી જાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ખાડામાં પડશે અને જે ખાડામાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બહાર નીકળશે તે ફાંસલામાં સપડાશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આકાશમાંથી મૂસળધાર વરસાદ વરસશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વીના પાયા હચમચી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.24.19" />પૃથ્વીનો સંપૂર્ણ વિનાશ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમાં મોટી મોટી તિરાડો પડશે, અને ભીષણતાથી ધૂજી ઊઠશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.24.20" />પૃથ્વી પીધેલાની જેમ લથડિયાં ખાશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તોફાનમાં ફસાયેલા તંબુની જેમ ઝોલા ખાશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પૃથ્વીના પાપનો ભાર વધી ગયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું એવું પતન થશે કે પછીથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ફરીથી ઊઠી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.24.21" />તે દિવસે યહોવા આકાશમાંના સૈન્યોને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા પૃથ્વી પરના અભિમાની રાજાઓને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા અધિકારીઓને શિક્ષા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.24.22" />તે સર્વને કેદીઓની જેમ એકઠાં કરવામાં આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યાં સુધી તેઓનો
</q>
<q style="q1">ન્યાય કરીને શિક્ષા કરવામાં નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવે ત્યાં સુધી બંદીખાનામાં કેદ કરી રાખવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.24.23" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા યરૂશાલેમમાં સિયોન પર્વત પર રાજા થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકોના આગેવાનો સમક્ષ તેનો મહિમા ઝળહળી ઊઠશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એટલે ચંદ્ર શરમનો માર્યો મોં સંતાડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૂર્ય લજવાઇને ઝાંખો થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="25" />
<s style="s">યહોવાના સ્તુતિગાન કરો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.25.1" />હે યહોવા, તમે મારા દેવ છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા ગુણગાન ગાઇશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમારા નામની સ્તુતિ કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે અદભૂત કાર્યો કર્યા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે લાંબા સમય પહેલાં ઘડેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યોજનાઓ પૂરેપૂરી પાર ઊતારી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.25.2" />તમે સમૃદ્ધ નગરોને ઉજ્જડ કરો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે કિલ્લેબંધ નગરોને ખંડેરોનો ઢગ બનાવી દીધાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે વિદેશીઓના ગઢનો વિનાશ કરી નાખ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તે ફરીથી બાંધશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.25.3" />તેના કારણે સાર્મથ્યવાન લોકો તમારી સમક્ષ ભયથી થથરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્રૂર લોકો તમને આધિન થશે અને તમારા નામનો મહિમા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.25.4" />પણ હે યહોવા, તડકામાં તમે નિર્ધનોનો પડછાયો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મુશ્કેલીઓમાં તમે દુ:ખી લોકોનો આશ્રય છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાવાઝોડા સામે રક્ષણ છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે નિર્દય લોકો સામે તેમને આશ્રય આપો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ શિયાળાના ધોધમાર વરસાદ જેવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.25.5" />તે ક્રૂર લોકો સૂકા પ્રદેશમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાતી લૂ જેવા હતા,
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ તમે ક્રૂર વિદેશીઓનો વિજય ઉન્માદ દબાવી દીધો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેવી રીતે વાદળની છાયા ગરમીને ઓછી કરી નાખે છે તેમ.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">પોતાના સેવકો માટે દેવનો સમારોહ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.25.6" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા સિયોન પર્વત પર બધા લોકો માટે મિષ્ટાનની અને ઉત્તમ પીણાની ઉજાણી તૈયાર કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.25.7" />આ સિયોન પર્વત પર, યહોવા સમગ્ર પ્રજાઓના શોકનાં વાદળોને દૂર કરશે અને તેમની પર ફેલાયેલા દુ:ખના કફનને દૂર કરશે;
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.25.8" />તે સદાને માટે મૃત્યુને મિટાવી દેશે. યહોવા મારા માલિક બધાનાં આંસૂ લૂછી નાખશે, અને સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર પોતાના લોકો તરફથી મળતી અપકીતિર્ દૂર કરશે. આ યહોવાના શબ્દો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.25.9" />તે દિવસે સૌ લોકો એમ કહેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“એ આપણો ઉદ્ધાર કરશે એવી જેને વિષે આપણે આશા સેવતા હતા,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે આપણો દેવ આ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે જેની પ્રતિક્ષા કરતા હતા તે આ યહોવા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેણે આપણો ઉદ્ધાર કર્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે ચાલો, આપણે આનંદોત્સવ કરીએ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.25.10" />યહોવા, તેનો હાથ આ પર્વત પર ટેકવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ જેમ તણખલાને પગ નીચે કચડીને કચરાના ઢગલા પર
</q>
<q style="q1">ફેંકી દેવામાં આવે છે, તેમ ફેંકી દેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મોઆબને પગ નીચે કચડી નાખવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.25.11" />જેમ કોઇ તરનારો તરવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના હાથથી પાણીને પાછું ધકેલે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ દેવ તેઓને પાછા હઠાવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેઓના ઘમંડનો અને સર્વ દુષ્ટ કાર્યોનો અંત લાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.25.12" />યહોવા મોઆબના કિલ્લાઓની ઊંચી ભીતોને તોડી પાડશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભોંયભેગી કરી દેશે, ને ધૂળમાં મેળવી દેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">ભાગ્યપરિવર્તન અને સ્તુતિગાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.26.1" />તે દિવસે યહૂદિયા દેશમાં આ ગીત ગવાશે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">અમારું નગર મજબૂત છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારું રક્ષણ કરવાને માટે યહોવાએ કોટ અને કિલ્લા ચણેલા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.26.2" />દરવાજા ઉઘાડી નાખો જેથી ધર્મને માગેર્
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાલનારી પ્રજા જે વફાદાર રહે છે તે ભલે અંદર આવે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.26.3" />હે યહોવા, જેમનાં ચિત્ત ચલિત થતાં નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને તું પૂરેપૂરી શાંતિમાં રાખે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેઓ તારા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.26.4" />સદા યહોવા પર ભરોસો રાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જ આપણો સનાતન ખડક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.26.5" />તેણે ઊંચી હવેલીઓમાં વસનારાઓને નીચા નમાવ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના ગગનચુંબી નગરને
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે તોડી પાડીને ભોંયભેગુ કરી નાખ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધૂળભેગું કર્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.26.6" />તે પગ તળે કચડાય છે, ને દીનદલિતોના પગ તળે તે રોળાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.26.7" />ન્યાયીના માગેર્ ચાલનારનો રસ્તો સુગમ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે યહોવા એને સરળ બનાવો છો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.26.8" />અમે તમારા નિયમોને માગેર્ ચાલીએ છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી જ પ્રતિક્ષા કરીએ છીએ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારું નામસ્મરણ એ જ અમારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રાણની એકમાત્ર ઝંખના છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.26.9" />આખી રાત હું તમારા માટે ઉત્કંઠિત રહ્યો છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા ખરા હૃદયથી આગ્રહપૂર્વક હું તમને શોધીશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે જ્યારે તમે પૃથ્વીનો ન્યાય કરીને શિક્ષા કરો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે લોકો પોતાની દુષ્ટતાથી પાછા ફરે છે અને યોગ્ય માગેર્ વળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.26.10" />પણ દુષ્ટ લોકો પ્રત્યે કૃપા દર્શાવાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પણ તેઓ નીત્તિમત્તા શીખતા નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">સદાચારી લોકોથી ભરેલી આ ભૂમિમાં પણ તેઓ અધર્મ આચરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા ગૌરવનો સહેજ પણ આદર કરતા નથી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.26.11" />હે યહોવા, તમે તમારો હાથ ઉગામ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પણ તમારા દુશ્મનો તે જોતા નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા લોકો માટેનો તમારો પ્રેમ કેવો ઉગ્ર છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું ભાન થતાં તેઓ લજવાય!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા શત્રુઓ માટે રાખી મૂકેલા અગ્નિથી તેઓને ભસ્મ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.26.12" />હે યહોવા, તમે અમને મહેરબાની કરીને સુખ-શાંતિ આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા ખોટા કાર્યો બદલ તમે અમને અત્યાર પહેલા સજા આપી દીધી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવ પોતાના લોકોને નવું જીવન આપશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.26.13" />હે અમારા દેવ યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા સિવાયના બીજા હાકેમોએ
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારા ઉપર હકૂમત ચલાવી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ અમે તો માત્ર તને જ સ્વીકારીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.26.14" />પહેલાં જેઓએ અમારી ઉપર શાસન કર્યું હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મૃત્યુ પામ્યાં અને ચાલ્યા ગયા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ હવે ફરીથી કદી જ પાછા આવી શકે તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તેઓની વિરુદ્ધ થયા અને તેઓનો નાશ કર્યો અને તેઓનું નામનિશાન પણ રહ્યું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.26.15" />યહોવાની સ્તુતિ થાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તમે અમારી પ્રજાની વૃદ્ધિ કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા દેશના બધા જ સીમાડા વિસ્તાર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.26.16" />હે યહોવા, તેઓના દુ:ખમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તમારી શોધ કરી,
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે તમે તેઓને શિક્ષા કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓએ તમને પ્રાર્થના કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.26.17" />હે યહોવા, કોઇ ગર્ભવતી સ્ત્રીનો પ્રસવકાળ આવ્યો હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે પ્રસુતિની વેદનામાં ચીસો પાડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવી પીડા તમારી સંમુખ અમને થતી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.26.18" />અમે પણ સ્ત્રીની પ્રસવવેદના જેવી વેદનાથી પીડાયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ પરિણામ કાઇં આવ્યું નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારા સર્વ પ્રયત્નો છતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે જગતના લોકોને જીંદગી આપી નહોતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.26.19" />છતાં પણ અમારી પાસે આ ખાતરી છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">“જેઓ દેવના છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ફરીથી સજીવન થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓનાં શરીરો ઊઠશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે ધૂળમાં રહેનારાઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે જાગૃત થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને મોટેથી હર્ષનાદ કરો;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તમારું ઝાકળ પ્રકાશનું ઝાકળ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જેમ વનસ્પતિને સજીવન કરે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ યહોવા મૃત્યુલોકમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૂતેલાઓને સજીવન કરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ન્યાય પુરસ્કાર અને સજા
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.26.20" />આવો, મારા લોકો, તમારા ઘરમાં પ્રવેશ કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બારણાં વાસી દો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા શત્રુઓ વિરુદ્ધ યહોવાનો રોષ ઉતરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી થોડો સમય સંતાઇ રહો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.26.21" />જુઓ, પૃથ્વી પરના સર્વ લોકોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના પાપની સજા કરવા યહોવા આકાશમાંથી આવી રહ્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પૃથ્વી પોતાના ઉપર રેડાયેલું લોહી ઉઘાડું કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાના ઉપર માર્યા ગયેલાઓને ઢાંકી નહિ રાખે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="27" />
<s style="s">યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલની રક્ષા કરશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.27.1" />તે દિવસે યહોવા પોતાની ભયાવહ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સખત મોટી મજબૂત તરવાર વડે વેગવાન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગૂંછળિયા સાપ લિવયાથાનને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે સમુદ્રના અજગરને શિક્ષા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.27.2" />તે દિવસે યહોવા પોતાની સુંદર રળિયામણી દ્રાક્ષવાટીકા વિષે ગાઓ:
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.27.3" />“હું યહોવા મારી દ્રાક્ષાવાડીની ચોકી કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું વારંવાર એને પાણી પાઉં છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">રખેને કોઇ એને ઇજા પહોંચાડે માટે રાતદિવસ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું એની ચોકી કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.27.4" />હું હવે દ્રાક્ષાવાડી પ્રત્યે ક્રોધિત નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ હવે અહીં જો કાંટા અને ઝાંખરા ઊગે તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેનો સામનો કરી તેને બાળીને ભસ્મ કરી નાખીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.27.5" />પરંતુ જો મારી દ્રાક્ષવાડીને મારું સંરક્ષણ જોઇતું હોય તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને મારી સાથે સમાધાન કરવા દો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હા, તેને મારી સાથે સમાધાન કરવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.27.6" />પછી એવો સમય આવશે જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલી યાકૂબના વંશજના લોકો દ્રાક્ષનાવેલાની જેમ પોતાનાં મૂળ નાખશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જમીનમાં તેના દ્રાક્ષ વેલાની જેમ ફૂલશે-ફાલશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીને ફળોથી ભરી દેશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.27.7" />ઇસ્રાએલના શત્રુઓને યહોવાએ જેવો માર માર્યો છે. તેવો એને નથી માર્યો, શત્રુઓની જેવી હત્યા કરી છે તેવી એની નથી કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.27.8" />યહોવાએ પોતાના લોકોને દેશવટે મોકલીને સજા કરી હતી, ઊગમણા પવન જેવી સખત ઝાપટ મારીને તેમને હઠાવી દીધા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.27.9" />પરંતુ જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ બીજા દેવોની વેદીઓના બધા પથ્થરોને ચૂનાની માફક પીસી નાખ્યા અને એક પણ ધૂપની વેદીને અને અશેરાહ દેવીની મૂર્તિઓના એક પણ સ્તંભને પણ રહેવા દીધો નહિ આથી, તેમનાં પાપોનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત થશે અને તેમનાં પાપો દૂર થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.27.10" />તેનાં કોટવાળાં નગરો ઉજ્જડ અને ખાલી પડી રહેશે. તેના ઘરોનો ત્યાગ કરીને વેરાન બનાવી દેવામાં આવશે. તેની શેરીઓમાં ઘાસ ઊગી નીકળશે, ત્યાં વાછરડાં ચરશે, ત્યાં બેસશે, ને ડાળખાં-પાંદડાં ખાશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ISA.27.11" />તેના વૃક્ષોની ડાળીઓ જ્યારે સૂકાશે ત્યારે તેઓને ભાંગી નાખવામાં આવશે; અને સ્ત્રીઓ આવીને તેમને બળતણ તરીકે વાપરશે; કારણ, એ પ્રજા સમજણ વગરની છે.
</p>
<p style="p">અને તેથી એનો સર્જનહાર દેવ, તેના પર દયા નહિ લાવે, તેના પર કૃપા નહિ કરે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.27.12" />તે દિવસે યહોવા ફ્રાંત નદીથી તે મિસરની સરહદ સુધી ખળીમાંના અનાજને ઝૂડવાનું શરૂ કરશે. અને તમને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને એકે એકને ભેગા કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.27.13" />તે દિવસે મોટું રણશિંગડું ફૂંકવામાં આવશે; અને જેઓ આશ્શૂર દેશમાં ખોવાઇ ગયા હતા અથવા તો મિસર જવા માટે ફરજ પડી હતી તેઓને યરૂશાલેમમાં યહોવાના પવિત્ર પર્વત પર તેમની ઉપાસના કરવાને પાછા એકત્ર કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="28" />
<s style="s">ઉત્તરના રાજ્ય સમરૂનને ચેતવણી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.28.1" />અફસોસ છે એફ્રાઇમના ધનવાન લોકો અહંકારી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છાકટા અને પૌષ્ટિક ખોરાકથી હષ્ટપુષ્ટ થયેલાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ તેઓ જંગલી ફૂલ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે પાંદડાના હારની જેમ ક્ષીણ થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.28.2" />કારણ કે યહોવા મારા દેવ તમારી વિરુદ્ધ આશ્શૂરના મહાન સૈન્યને મોકલશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કરાના ભયંકર તોફાનની જેમ તમારા પર,
</q>
<q style="q1">વિનાશ વેરનાર વાવાઝોડાની જેમ, તોફાને ચઢેલાં ઊભરાતાં પાણીના ઘસમસતા પૂરની જેમ ધસી આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેમને ભોંયભેગા કરીને પછાડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.28.3" />ઇસ્રાએલના છાકટા આગેવાનોના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તુમાખીભર્યા મુગટો પગ તળે કચરાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.28.4" />અને તેમના માથાં પરનાં કરમાતાં ફૂલો જેવી તેમની જાહોજલાલી હશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૌષ્ટિક ખોરાકથી હષ્ટપુષ્ટ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ઋતુંનાં પહેલાં પાકેલાં અંજીર જેવી થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે નજરે ચડતાં જ ચૂંટાઇને ખવાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.28.5" />યહોવાના જે લોકો બચી ગયા હશે, તેઓ માટે છેવટે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા પોતે “મહિમાનો મુગટ” અને “સૌદંર્યનો તાજ થશે.”
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.28.6" />તે ન્યાયાસન ઉપર બેસનારાઓમાં ન્યાયની ભાવના પ્રેરશે અને દુશ્મનોથી નગરના દરવાજાઓનું રક્ષણ કરનારાઓને બહાદુર બનાવશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.28.7" />યાજકો અને પ્રબોધકો પણ દ્રાક્ષારસ પીને લથડીયાં ખાય છે; દ્રાક્ષારસથી તેમના ચિત્ત ડહોળાઇ ગયા છે, તેઓ દિવ્ય દર્શનના અર્થઘટનમાં ગોથાં ખાય છે, ચુકાદો આપવામાં ગૂંચવાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.28.8" />તેઓનાં બધાં મેજ ઊલટીથી ભરાઇ ગયાં છે, કોઇ જગા ચોખ્ખી રહેવા પામી નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવ પોતાના લોકોને મદદ કરવા ઇચ્છે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.28.9" /><add>લોકો કહે છે,</add> “યશાયા પોતાના મનમાં શું સમજે છે કે આપણી સાથે આ પ્રમાણે વાત કરે? અમે શું હમણા જ બોલતા શીખ્યા હોય એવા નાનાં બાળકો છીએ?”
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ISA.28.10" /><add>પણ તે આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાશે,</add>
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ત્સવ, લે સ્તવ,<f caller="+"><fr>28:10
</fr><fk>ત્સવ,
</fk><ft>લે સ્તવ, શાબ્દિક રીતે “નિયમ પછી નિયમ, રેખા પછી રેખા પછી, થોડું અહીં, થોડું ત્યાં” આ મૂળાક્ષર શિખવા માટે થઈને બાળકો માટેના ગીતના શબ્દો છે. તેનો અર્થ એ છેકે લોકોએ તેમના વિજેતાઓ સાથે બોલવા માટે નવી ભાષા શીખવી પડશે અથવા તો તેમના વિજેતા બોલશે તે વાણી તેમના માટે અર્થહીન જેવી હશે કારણ કે તેઓ તેને સમજતા નથી.</ft></f> સ્તવ, લે સ્તવ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કવ, લેકવ, કવ, લેકવ,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઝર શામ, ઝર શામ!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.28.11" />એટલે યહોવા આ લોકોની સાથે વાત કરશે, તેમને પાઠ ભણાવવા અન્ય ભાષા બોલનાર વિદેશીઓને મોકલશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.28.12" />તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું હતું કે, “અહીં વિશ્રામ છે. થાક્યા હોય તે વિશ્રામ કરે. અહીં શાંતિ છે,”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ તેમણે કાને ન ધર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ISA.28.13" />તેથી હવે યહોવાના શબ્દો પણ તેમનેઆ પ્રમાણે સંભળાશે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ત્સ, લેત્સવ, સ્ત, લેસ્તવ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કવ, લેકવ, કવ, લેકવ,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઝર શામ, ઝર શામ.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">તેથી તેઓ પોતાના રસ્તે જવાનું રાખે, અને ઠોકર ખાઇને પાછા પડે, તૂટી પડે અને સપડાવીને કબ્જે કરાય.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવના ન્યાયથી કોઇ નથી બચી સકતું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.28.14" />માટે યરૂશાલેમના લોકો પર રાજ્ય કરતાઓ ઘમંડી માણસો, તમે યહોવાના વચન સાંભળો!
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ISA.28.15" />કારણ કે તમે એમ કહો છો કે, અમે મૃત્યુ સાથે કરાર કર્યો છે, અમે શેઓલની સાથે સમજૂતી કરી છે; જ્યારે વિનાશનો ચાબખો વીંજાશે ત્યારે તે અમને સ્પર્શ કરશે નહિ, કારણ કે અમે જૂઠાણાનો આશ્રય લીધો છે, અને અમારી જાતને જુઠ્ઠાણામાં છુપાવી દીધી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.28.16" />તેથી યહોવા મારા દેવ કહે છે કે, “જુઓ, હું સિયોનમાં પાયાનો પથ્થર મૂકું છું, જે નક્કર અને મજબૂત છે. જે માણસ વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તે ગભરાતો નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.28.17" />“હું ન્યાયની દોરી અને ન્યાયીપણાનો ઓળંબો લઇ ચણતર કરીશ, કરાંનું તોફાન તમારા જૂઠાણાના આશ્રયને ઘસડીને લઇ જશે, અને પાણીનું પૂર તમારી સંતાઇ જવાની જગા પર ફરી વળશે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ISA.28.18" />ત્યારે તમારો મૃત્યુ સાથેનો કરાર રદ થશે, અને શેઓલ સાથેની તમારી સમજૂતી ટકશે નહિ, જ્યારે વિનાશનો ચાબખો વિંઝાશે ત્યારે તમે તેનાથી પટકાઇ પડશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.28.19" />“તે જેટલી વાર વિંઝાશે તેટલી વાર તે તમને પકડશે; પ્રતિદિન સવારે, રાતદિવસ તે વિંઝાશે, એના સમાચાર માત્રથી ભય વ્યાપી જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.28.20" />“તમે તૈયાર કરેલી પથારી એટલી ટૂંકી છે કે તેના પર સૂઇ શકાય નહિ; અને ઓઢવાનું એટલું સાંકડું છે કે તમને ઢાંકી શકે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.28.21" />કારણ કે તે પરાસીમના પર્વત પર અને ગિબયોનની ખીણમાં રોષે ભરાઇ ઉભો થઇ જશે, અને અસાધારણ તથા અનોખું કાર્ય કરશે!
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="ISA.28.22" />એટલે હવે તમે હાંસી ઉડાવશો નહિ. નહિ તો તમારી સાંકળો મજબૂત થઇ જશે.
</p>
<p style="p">સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાએ છોડેલી આખા દેશના વિનાશની આજ્ઞા મેં સાંભળી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોવા ન્યાયપૂર્વક સજા કરશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.28.23" />ધ્યાનથી મારી વાણી સાંભળો! ધ્યાન દઇને મારું વચન સાંભળો.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ISA.28.24" />શું ખેડુત ખેતર ખેડ્યા જ કરે અને વાવણી જ ન કરે એવું બને ખરું? તે શું ચાલુ જમીન ખોદ્યા જ કરે છે અને રાંપડી જ ફેરવ્યા કરે છે?
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ISA.28.25" />તેની જમીનની સપાટી સરખી કરીને તે તેમાં સૂવા કે જીરું વાવતો નથી? અને ચાસમાં ઘઉં, ને નક્કી કરેલી જગાએ જવ, ને યોગ્ય ઋતુંમાં શું તે બાજરી વાવતો નથી?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ISA.28.26" />કારણ કે તેને તેના દેવે શિક્ષણ આપીને યોગ્ય જ્ઞાન આપ્યુ હોય છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="ISA.28.27" />કારણ કે સૂવા ધારદાર શસ્રથી મસળાતા નથી કે જીરાના દાણા પર ગાડાનું પૈડું ફેરવાતું નથી. સૂવા લાકડીથી ઝુડાય છે અને જીરું ઝૂડિયાથી ઝૂડાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="ISA.28.28" />ઘઉં સરળતાથી દળાય છે તેથી તે તેને સતત ઝાડ્યા કરતો નથી અને એક વ્યકિત અનાજના દાણા પર ગાડાનું પૈડું ફેરવે છે છતાં પણ તે દાણાને તોડી નાખતો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="ISA.28.29" />એ જ્ઞાન પણ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા પાસેથી મળે છે, જેની સલાહ અદૃભુત છે અને જેનું શાણપણ અજબ છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="29" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ ઉપર ઝઝૂમતા સંકટના વાદળ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.29.1" />“યહોવાની યજ્ઞવેદી સમી હે યરૂશાલેમનગરી, તને અફસોસ! જ્યાં દાઉદે પડાવ નાખ્યો હતો તે નગરીને અફસોસ! વર્ષ પર વર્ષ જવા દો, ઉત્સવોનું ચક્ર ફરવા દો,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ISA.29.2" />ત્યારબાદ દેવ તારા પર આફત ઉતારશે, તારે ત્યાં શોક અને આક્રંદ વ્યાપી જશે. તું યજ્ઞવેદી જેવી લોહી નીગળતી થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.29.3" />“તારી આસપાસ યહોવા છાવણીઓ નાખશે, બુરજો બાંધી તને ઘેરો ઘાલશે અને તારી સામે સૈન્યો ઊભા કરશે,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ISA.29.4" />તું ભોંયભેગી થઇ જશે અને ભૂમિ પર પડી પડી તું બોલશે. તું ધૂળમાં રગદોળાશે; ત્યાં જમીનમાંથી તારો અવાજ આવશે. તને દફનાવી દીધી છે તે ભૂમિમાંથી પ્રેતના જેવો તારો ધીમો અવાજ આવશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.29.5" />પણ ત્યાં તો તારા ઘાતકી શત્રુઓનું સૈન્ય ધૂળની જેમ અને ફોતરાંની જેમ ઊડી જશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ISA.29.6" />હું સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા ગર્જના, મોટા આવાજ, ધરતીકંપ અને વંટોળિયો અને અગ્નિની જવાળાઓ મારફતે તેઓ પર ઊતરી આવીશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.29.7" />અને તું દેવની યજ્ઞવેદી સમી એની સામે લડતી અને તને ભીસમાં લેતી બધી પ્રજાઓનું સૈન્ય એના બધા સરંજામ સાથે સ્વપ્નની જેમ, રાત્રિએ દેખાતા આભાસની જેમ અલોપ થઇ જશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="ISA.29.8" />જેમ કોઇ ભૂખ્યો માણસ સ્વપ્નમાં આરોગે અને જાગે ત્યારે ભૂખ્યો ને ભૂખ્યો હોય છે, અથવા કોઇ તરસ્યો માણસ સ્વપ્નમાં પાણી પીએ, પણ જાગે ત્યારે તરસ્યો ને તરસ્યો હોય છે; તેમ તારા શત્રુઓ તારા પર ભવ્ય વિજય મેળવવાનું સ્વપ્ન જોશે, પણ તેથી તેઓનું કાઇં વળશે નહિ.
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.29.9" />શું તમે વિસ્મિત થઇ અચંબો પામો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમે વિશ્વાસ કરી શકતા નથી?
</q>
<q style="q1">તો પછી આગળ વધો અને આંધળા થઇ જાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે છાકટા થયા છો, પણ દ્રાક્ષારસથી નહિ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે લથડિયાં ખાઓ છો પણ દ્રાક્ષારસને લીધે નહિ!
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<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.29.10" />કારણ કે યહોવાએ તમારા પર પુષ્કળ નિદ્રાનો આત્મા રેડી દીધો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે તમારા પ્રબોધકોની આંખો બંધ કરી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દ્રષ્ટાઓનાં મગજ ઢાંકી દીધાં છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.29.11" />બધાંય દિવ્યદર્શન તમારા માટે મહોર મારી બંધ કરેલા ગ્રંથના શબ્દો જેવા થઇ ગયા છે; કોઇ વાંચી શકે એવા વ્યકિતને આપીને કોઇ કહે કે, આ વાંચ, તો તે કહે છે કે, “હું નથી વાંચી શકતો, કારણ, એને મહોર મારી બંધ કરેલો છે.”
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<v id="12" bcv="ISA.29.12" />અને વાંચી ન શકે એવા માણસને આપીને કહે છે કે, આ વાંચ; તો તે કહે છે કે, “મને વાંચતા નથી આવડતું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.29.13" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે, “આ લોકો મારી પાસે આવવાની માત્ર વાતો જ કરે છે, અને કેવળ શબ્દોથી મને માન આપે છે, પરંતુ તેમનું હૃદય તો મારાથી દૂર જ છે. તેઓની ઉપાસના તો તેઓએ કંઠસ્થ કરેલા માનવીય હુકમો જ છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ISA.29.14" />તેથી એ લોકોને મારે ફરીથી પરચો બતાવવો પડશે, એટલે કે એમના જ્ઞાનીઓનું જ્ઞાન નાશ પામશે અને એમના બુદ્ધિશાળી વ્યકિતઓની બુદ્ધિનો લોપ થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.29.15" />જેઓ યહોવાથી પોતાની યોજનાઓ સંતાડવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે. જેઓ અંધકારમાં કામ કરે છે અને કહે છે કે, “અમને કોણ જોનાર છે! અમને કોણ ઓળખે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.29.16" />તમે કેટલા મૂર્ખ છો! શું માટી અને કુંભાર એક જ સ્તરના ગણાય? ઘડો કુંભારને એમ ન કહી શકે કે, “તે મને નથી બનાવ્યો. શું તું કશું સમજતો નથી.”
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</p>
<s style="s">એક સારો સમય આવી રહ્યો છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.29.17" />થોડા જ વખતમાં લબાનોનના ગાઢ જંગલો ખેતરો જેવા ગણાશે અને ખેતરો ફકત ઝાડીઓ જેવા જ ગણાશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="ISA.29.18" />તે દિવસે બહેરો ગ્રંથ વંચાતો સાંભળશે અને અભેદ્ય અંધકાર દૂર થતાં આંધળાની આંખો જોશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="ISA.29.19" />દીનજનો અને ગરીબો ફરી ઇસ્રાએલના પરમપવિત્ર યહોવા તરફથી મળતાં સુખ અને આનંદ ભોગવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20-21" bcv="ISA.29.20" />કારણ, જુલમીઓનો અંત આવ્યો હશે અને હાંસી ઉડાવનાર હતો ન હતો થઇ ગયો હશે; અને બધા દુષ્કમોર્ કરવાને ટાંપી રહેનારા, જેઓ બીજાને ગુનેગાર ઠરાવવા માટે ખોટી સાક્ષી આપનારા, ન્યાયાધીશોને લાંચ આપવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરનારા, તથા પાયા વગરની દલીલથી નિદોર્ષને ન્યાય મળતો રોકનારા નાશ પામ્યા હશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.29.22" />તે માટે જેણે ઇબ્રાહિમનો ઉદ્ધાર કર્યો, તે યહોવા યાકૂબના વંશજો વિષે કહે છે કે, “તેમણે હવે કદી શરમાવું નહિ પડે, તેમનો ચહેરો કદી ફિક્કો નહિ પડી જાય.
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<v id="23" bcv="ISA.29.23" />કારણ કે મેં જે તેમના માટે કર્યુ છે તેને, તે તથા તેના બાળકો જોશે ત્યારે તેઓ મારા નામનું સન્માન કરશે. તેઓ યાકૂબના પવિત્ર દેવની સ્તુતિ કરશે અને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવનો આદર કરશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="ISA.29.24" />જેઓ આત્મામાં ભૂલા પડ્યા છે તેઓ જ્ઞાન પામશે અને જેઓ બડબડાટ કરે છે તેઓ પણ શિખામણ માથે ચડાવશે.”
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<c id="30" />
<s style="s">મિસર સાથે નિરર્થક કરાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.30.1" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “બંડ કરનારા મારા બાળકોને અફસોસ! તેઓ યોજનાઓ ઘડે છે છતાં તે મારી યોજના નથી; તેઓ સંધિઓ કરે છે પણ તે મારા માન્ય કરેલી નથી. તેઓ પાપ ઉપર પાપ ઉમેરવા સારુ પેયાર્પણ રેડે છે, પણ તેઓ મારા આત્માને અનુસરતા નથી;
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.30.2" />તેઓ મને પૂછયાં વિના મિસરની છાયામાં શરણું લેવા તેના રાજા ફારુનના રક્ષણમાં આશ્રય લેવા મિસર જવા નીકળી પડ્યા છે!
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.30.3" />“પણ ફારુનનો આશ્રય લેવા જતાં તેમની માત્ર ફજેતી જ થશે, અને મિસરની છાયામાં શરણું લેવાથી માનહાની જ થશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="ISA.30.4" />જો કે તેના અમલદારો સોઆનથી લઇને હાનેસ સુધી મુસાફરી કરે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ISA.30.5" />પણ તેઓ કઇ કામના નથી, જેઓ તેમના પર આધાર રાખે છે તેને તેમના તરફથી માત્ર અપમાન અને અપયશ જ મળશે, મદદ નહિ.”
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<s style="s">દેવનો સંદેશ યહૂદાને
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.30.6" />દક્ષિણનાં રણનાં પશુઓને લગતી દેવવાણી:
</p>
<p style="p">એ એલચીઓ હાડમારી અને કષ્ટોભર્યા પ્રદેશમાં થઇને, જ્યાં સિંહો વસે છે, ઝેરી નાગ અને ઊડતા સાપ વસે છે, તેમાં થઇને ગધેડાં અને ઊંટો પર લાદીને મિસરની પ્રજા માટે ભેટસોગાદો લઇ જાય છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.30.7" />પણ તે પ્રજાથી એમને કશો લાભ થાય એમ નથી. કારણ, મિસરની સહાય મિથ્યા છે, તેની કશી વિસાત નથી; અને માટે જ મેં મિસરનું નામ “દૈવત વગરનો દૈત્ય” પાડ્યું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.30.8" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “હવે ચાલુ તું જઇને લોકોના દેખતાં એક તકતી પર લખી નાખ, અને તેને ટીપણાંમા કોતરી નાખ, જેથી ભવિષ્યમાં સદાને માટે એ સાક્ષી તરીકે કામ આવે,
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<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.30.9" />કારણ કે તેઓ બળવાખોર લોકો અને બેવફા બાળકો છે. તેઓ યહોવાના શિક્ષણને સાંભળતા નથી.”
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<v id="10" bcv="ISA.30.10" />તેઓ દષ્ટાઓને કહે છે, “જોશો નહિ.” પ્રબોધકોને કહે છે, “અમને સત્ય સંભળાવશો નહિ, અમને મીઠી મીઠી વાતો અને ભ્રામક દર્શનો વિષે કહેજો.
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<v id="11" bcv="ISA.30.11" />રસ્તો છોડો, અમારા માર્ગમાંથી ખસી જાઓ, ઇસ્રાએલના પરમપવિત્ર દેવની વાત અમારી આગળ ન કરશો.”
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<s style="s">યહૂદાને ફકત દેવથી મદદ મળે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.30.12" />આથી ઇસ્રાએલના પરમ પવિત્ર દેવ પ્રત્યુત્તર આપે છે: “તમે આ ચેતવણીની ઉપેક્ષા કરો છો, અને અન્યાયમાં અને છળકપટમાં માનો છો અને એના પર જ આધાર રાખો છો,
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<v id="13" bcv="ISA.30.13" />એટલે જેમ ભીંતમાં પહોળી ફાટ પડે છે અને તે તૂટી પડે છે અને થોડી ક્ષણોમાં જ કકડભૂસ નીચે પડે છે, તેમ તમારા પર અચાનક વિનાશ આવી પડશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ISA.30.14" />જેમ કોઇ ઘડાને જોરથી ફટકો મારે અને તેના ઝીણા ઝીણા ટુકડા થઇ જાય અને તેમાં એક પણ ટૂકડો એવો ન રહે, જેના વડે ચૂલામાંથી અંગારો અથવા ટાંકામાંથી પાણી લઇ શકાય, એવી તમારી દશા થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.30.15" />કારણ કે પ્રભુ યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલનો પવિત્ર દેવ કહે છે કે, “કેવળ મારી તરફ પાછા ફરીને અને મારી વાટ જોઇને તમે બચાવ પામી શકશો. શાંત રહેવામાં અને ભરોસો રાખવામાં તમારું સાર્મથ્ય રહેલું છે.”
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<p style="p">પરંતુ તમારામાં આમાનું કશું નથી.
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<v id="16" bcv="ISA.30.16" />એટલે તમે કહ્યું, “ના, અમે તો ઘોડા પર બેસીને ભાગી જઇશું.” એટલે હવે તમારે ભાગવું પડશે. તમે કહ્યું, “અમે તો પવનવેગી ઘોડા પર ભાગી જઇશું.” એટલે હવે તમારો પીછો પકડનારાઓ પવનવેગે તમારો પીછો પકડશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ISA.30.17" />તેઓમાંનો એક તમારા એક હજારને ભગાડી મૂકશે! તેઓમાંના પાંચ તમને એવી રીતે વિખેરી નાંખશે કે તમારામાંથી કોઇ બે વ્યકિતઓ ભેગી નહિ રહે. તમે દૂરના પર્વતોની ટોચ પરના એકલા ધ્વજદંડની જેમ મૂઠીભર બાકી રહેશો.
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<s style="s">દેવ પોતાના લોકોની મદદ કરશે
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.30.18" />તેમ છતાં યહોવા તમારા પર કૃપા કરવાની રાહ જોઇ રહ્યો છે, તમારા પર દયા કરવાને તલપી રહ્યો છે; કારણ કે યહોવા તો ન્યાયનો દેવ છે, તેને ભરોસે રહેનાર સર્વ આશીર્વાદિત છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.30.19" />હે યરૂશાલેમમાં સિયોન પર રહેનારી પ્રજા, હવે ફરી તમારે રડવું નહિ પડે. તમારો પોકાર કાને પડતાં યહોવા જરૂર તમારા પર કૃપા કરશે. સાંભળતા જ જવાબ આપશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.30.20" />યહોવા તમને સંકટરૂપી રોટલી અને વિપત્તિરૂપી પાણી આપે છે, તોપણ તમને શિક્ષણ આપવા તે તમારી સાથે રહેશે. તમે તમારી પોતાની આંખોથી તમારા શિક્ષકને જોશો.
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<v id="21" bcv="ISA.30.21" />જ્યારે તમે આડાઅવળા જશો કે તરત જ પાછળથી એવી વાણી તમને સંભળાશે કે, “આ રહ્યો તમારો માર્ગ, તેના પર તમે ચાલો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.30.22" />જ્યારે તમે તમારી ચાંદીથી મઢેલી અને સોનાથી રસેલી મૂર્તિઓને અપવિત્ર માનીને ઉકરડાની જેમ ફેંકી દેશો અને કહેશો, અહીંથી દૂર થા.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.30.23" />તમે જમીનમાં બી વાવશો, તેને માટે યહોવા વરસાદ મોકલશે અને જમીન પુષ્કળ પાક આપશે; તથા તમારાં ઢોરઢાંખરાં માટે ભરપૂર ચારો મળશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="ISA.30.24" />અને તે દિવસે તમારાં ઢોર વિશાળ ચરાઓમાં ચરશે, અને જમીનને ખેડનાર બળદો અને ગધેડાં પણ સારું સારું ખાણ ખાવા પામશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="ISA.30.25" />શત્રુઓની હત્યાને દિવસે, જ્યારે તેમના બુરજો જમીન પર ઢળી પડતા હશે ત્યારે દરેક પર્વત અને દરેક ટેકરી પર પાણીનાં ઝરણાં વહેતાં હશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ISA.30.26" />જે દિવસે યહોવા પોતાના લોકોના ઘા જે તેણે તેના લોકો પર કર્યા હતાં, તેને રૂઝવી દેશે, તે દિવસે ચંદ્રનો પ્રકાશ સૂર્યના પ્રકાશ જેવો અને સૂર્યનો પ્રકાશ સાતગણો, સાત દિવસના પ્રકાશ જેટલો ઉજ્જવળ થઇ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ISA.30.27" />જુઓ, અહીં યહોવા પોતે સાર્મથ્ય અને મહિમા સાથે દૂર દૂરથી આવે છે. તેનો ક્રોધ ભભૂકે છે, અને ધુમાડાના વાદળો પર ઊડે છે. તેના હોઠો કોપથી ભરેલા છે, ને તેની જીભ બળતા અગ્નિ સરખી છે;
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<v id="28" bcv="ISA.30.28" />તેનો શ્વાસ ગળા સુધી આવતી ધસમસતી નદી જેવો છે. તે પ્રજાઓને વિનાશની ચાળણીએ પ્રજાઓને ચાળે; લોકોના જડબામાં તિકારક લગામ મૂકે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ISA.30.29" />પણ તમે તો ઉત્સવની રાત્રે જેમ ગીતો ગવાય છે તેમ ગીતો ગાશો; ઇસ્રાએલના આધારરૂપ યહોવાના મંદિરની યાત્રાએ વાંસળી વગાડતા વગાડતા યાત્રાળુઓ જતા હોય તેમના જેવો આનંદ તમે અંતરમાં અનુભવશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ISA.30.30" />યહોવા પોતાનો પ્રતાપી અવાજ સૌને સંભળાવશે અને પોતાનો પ્રચંડ કોપ સર્વભક્ષી અગ્નિની જવાળારૂપે, મૂશળધાર વરસાદરૂપે, વાવાઝોડારૂપે અને કરારૂપે ઉતારશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="ISA.30.31" />યહોવાના અવાજથી આશ્શૂરના લોકો શિક્ષા પામશે. એક સમયે યહોવાએ તે પ્રજાનો શિક્ષાની લાકડી તરીકે ઉપયોગ કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="32" bcv="ISA.30.32" />જ્યારે યહોવા તેઓને શિક્ષા કરશે ત્યારે યહોવાના લોકો વાજીંત્રોના નાદ સાથે ગાયનોથી આનંદ કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="ISA.30.33" />આશ્શૂરના રાજાને દફનાવવા માટે લાંબા સમયથી ખાડો તૈયાર રાખવામાં આવેલો છે, એને ખોદીને ઊંડો અને પહોળો કરેલો છે, એમાં પુષ્કળ લાકડાં ખડકેલાં છે; અને યહોવાનો શ્વાસ ગંધકના પ્રવાહની જેમ તેને સળગાવે છે.
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<c id="31" />
<s style="s">“યરૂશાલેમની રક્ષા યહોવા કરશે”
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.31.1" />તેઓ સહાયને માટે મિસર ચાલ્યા જાય છે, ને ઘોડાઓ પર આધાર રાખે છે; અને રથો પુષ્કળ હોવાથી તેમના પર ભરોસો રાખે છે, ને સવારો ઘણા સમર્થ હોવાથી તેમના પર આધાર રાખે છે; પણ તેઓ યહોવા પર, ઇસ્રાએલના પરમપવિત્ર દેવ તરફ તેઓ ષ્ટિ કરતા નથી, કે તેની મદદ માંગતા નથી,
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.31.2" />તેમ છતાં યહોવા બધું સમજે છે અને આફત લાવે છે, ને પોતાની ધમકી ફોક થવા દેતા નથી. તે દુષ્ટોનાં સંતાનોને અને તેમને મદદ કરનારાઓને સજા કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.31.3" />મિસરીઓ પણ માણસ છે, તેઓ દેવ નથી; તેમના ઘોડા પણ માંસના બનેલા છે, અમર નથી. જ્યારે યહોવા હાથ ઉગામશે ત્યારે મદદ કરનાર ઠોકર ખાશે અને મદદ લેનાર પડી જશે, અને તેઓ બધા જ એકી સાથે સમાપ્ત થઇ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.31.4" />કેમ કે, યહોવાએ મને એમ કહ્યું છે કે, “જેમ કોઇ સિંહ શિકાર પર ઊભો રહીને ધૂરકે છે, અને ભરવાડોનું ટોળું તેની સામે આવે છે, તોયે તેમની બૂમરાણથી તે ગભરાતો નથી કે નથી તેમના હાકોટાથી ભાગી જતો.”
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<p style="p">તેમ હું સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, સિયોનના પર્વત પર તેને પક્ષે લડવા ઊતરી આવીશ અને મને કોઇ રોકી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="ISA.31.5" />જે રીતે પક્ષી પોતાના બચ્ચાનું રક્ષણ કરવા માળા પર પાંખો પ્રસારે તેમ હું સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા યરૂશાલેમનું રક્ષણ કરીશ અને તેનો મોક્ષ કરીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.31.6" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, તમે જેનો ભારે અપરાધ કર્યો છે તેની પાસે પાછા આવો.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.31.7" />કારણ, તે દિવસ આવી રહ્યો છે જ્યારે તમારાંમાંનો દરેક જણ તમારા પોતાના પાપી હાથે બનાવેલી ચાંદીની અને સોનાની મૂર્તિને ફગાવી દેશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.31.8" />માણસની નહિ એવી તરવારથી આશ્શૂરનું પતન થશે, માણસની નહિ હોય તેવી તરવારથી તેનો સંહાર થશે. તે રણસંગ્રામમાંથી ભાગી જશે, અને તેના જુવાનજોધ યોદ્ધાઓને મજૂરીએ વળગાળવામાં આવશે;
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<v id="9" bcv="ISA.31.9" />તેનો રાજા ભયને લીધે ભાગી જશે અને તેના સરદારો એવા તો બીશે કે ધ્વજને છોડીને નાસી જશે.
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<p style="p">આ યહોવાના વચન છે, જેની ભઠ્ઠીનો અગ્નિ યરૂશાલેમમાં ભડભડ બળે છે.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલની શાંતિ માટે અગમવાણી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.32.1" />જુઓ, એવો સમય આવશે જ્યારે રાજા ન્યાયથી રાજ્ય કરશે અને અમલદારો ન્યાયથી તેનો અમલ ચલાવશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.32.2" />તે લોકો ઇસ્રાએલને તોફાન અને વાવાઝોડા સામે રક્ષણ પૂરું પાડશે. તે તેને રણમાં વહેતી નદી જેવી તાજગી આપશે. ઇસ્રાએલ માટે તે ગરમ અને સૂકા પ્રદેશમાં શીતળ છાંયો આપનાર મહાન ખડક સમાન બનશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ISA.32.3" />પછી, જેઓ જોઇ શકે છે તેમની આંખો બંધ નહિ થાય અને જેઓ સાંભળી શકે છે તેમના કાન શ્રવણ કરશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="ISA.32.4" />ઉતાવળા માણસો જોઇ વિચારીને વર્તન કરશે, અને જે લોકો બોલતાં થોથવાય છે તે સ્પષ્ટ બોલશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ISA.32.5" />ત્યારબાદ મૂર્ખર્ને કોઇ ખાનદાન નહિ કહે, કે ધૂર્તને કોઇ આદરપાત્ર નહિ કહે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.32.6" />કારણ કે મૂર્ખ મૂર્ખની જેમ બોલે છે, અને તે મનમાં દુષ્ટ મનસૂબા ઘડે છે. તે અધર્મ આચરે છે, યહોવા વિષે પણ વિપરીત બોલે છે, ભૂખ્યાને ભૂખ્યું રાખે છે અને તરસ્યાને પાણી પાતો નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.32.7" />અને પેલા ધૂર્તની રીત પણ દુષ્ટ હોય છે; તે દુષ્ટ યુકિત પ્રયુકિતઓ વાપરે છે, તે રંક લોકોને દુ:ભવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે અને તેમને કાયદાના ન્યાયાલયમાં ઠગે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.32.8" />છતાં ઉદાર માણસો ઉદારતા રાખવાનું ચાલુ રાખશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ખરાબ સમય આવી રહ્યો છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.32.9" />એશઆરામમાં જીવન વ્યતિત કરતી સુખવાસી સ્ત્રીઓ, ઊઠો અને મારી વાણી સાંભળો; હે બેદરકાર પુત્રીઓ, મારાં વચનો પર ધ્યાન આપો!
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<v id="10" bcv="ISA.32.10" />હે બેદરકાર સ્ત્રીઓ, અત્યારે તમને કશી ચિંતાફિકર નથી, પણ વરસ પૂરું થતાં જ તમે ધ્રૂજી ઊઠશો, કારણ, દ્રાક્ષની ભેગી કરવાની ઋતું પૂરી થઇ ગઇ હશે અને તમે કઇં ભેગું કર્યું નહિ હોય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.32.11" />હે એશઆરામી સ્ત્રીઓ, કંપી ઊઠો! હે બેદરકાર સ્ત્રીઓ, ધ્રૂજી ઊઠો! તમારા રોજબરોજના વસ્રો દૂર કરો અને શણના કપડાં પહેરીલો.
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<v id="12" bcv="ISA.32.12" />પાકથી ભરપૂર એવા તમારાં ખેતરો અને ફળદાયક દ્રાક્ષવાડીઓ માટે તમારી દિલગીરી વ્યકત કરવા તમે તમારી છાતી કૂટો.
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<v id="13" bcv="ISA.32.13" />તમારી ભૂમિમાં કાંટા અને ઝાંખરા ઊગી નીકળ્યા છે. એક વખતના આનંદભર્યા નગરો અને સુખી ઘરો માટે આક્રંદ કરો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.32.14" />કારણ, મહેલ સૂનો પડ્યો છે અને કોલાહલભર્યું શહેર ઉજ્જડ થઇ ગયું છે; ઘરો અને બુરજો કાયમના ખંડેર થઇ ગયાં છે, જ્યાં ગધેડાઓ આનંદથી હરેફરે છે અને ઘેટાંબકરાં ચરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.32.15" />પરંતુ છેવટે દેવ આપણા પર સ્વર્ગમાંથી ચૈતન્ય વરસાવસે, અને ત્યાર પછી રણ પ્રદેશ ખેતીની જમીન જેવો ફળદ્રુપ બની જશે અને ખેતર ભૂમિ જંગલ જેવી ફળદ્રુપ બની જશે.
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<v id="16" bcv="ISA.32.16" />ત્યારે સમગ્ર મરુભૂમિમાં અને લીલી ધરતીમાં સર્વત્ર ઇનસાફ અને ન્યાય વાસો કરશે,
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<v id="17" bcv="ISA.32.17" />અને ન્યાયીપણાને પરિણામે કાયમી શાંતિ અને સુરક્ષા રહેશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="ISA.32.18" />ત્યારે મારા લોકો શાંતિભર્યા દેશમાં અને સુરક્ષાભર્યા તંબુઓમાં નિશ્ચિંત થઇને રહેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.32.19" />પરંતુ જંગલો નાશ પામશે; નગરનો ધ્વંસ થશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ISA.32.20" />સુખી છો તમે જેઓ દરેક ઝરણાની ધારે બી વાવો છો અને તમારા બળદોને અને ગધેડાને ચરાણમાં છૂટથી ચરવા દો છે.
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</p>

<c id="33" />
<s style="s">યહોવાને મદદ માટે ધા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.33.1" />અફસોસ છે તને! તું અલબત્ત, બીજાને લૂંટે છે, પણ તું લૂંટાયો નથી! તું દગાબાજી કરે છે ખરો, પણ તારી સાથે કોઇએ દગાબાજી કરી નથી! પણ જ્યારે તારી ખરાબીઓ પૂરી થશે, ત્યારે તું ખરેખર લૂંટાશે; જ્યારે તું તારી દગાબાજીનો અંત લાવીશ ત્યારે ખરેખર તારી સાથે દગાબાજી થશે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.33.2" />હે યહોવા, અમારા પર કૃપા કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને તમારી જ આશા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">રોજે રોજ અમારું રક્ષણ કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મુશ્કેલીના સમયે અમારી રક્ષા કરો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.33.3" />તમારી ધમકીની ગર્જના સાંભળીને લોકો નાસી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ઊઠતાં બરાબર જ પ્રજાઓ વેરવિખેર થઇ જાય છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.33.4" />તમારી યુદ્ધની લૂંટ, જાણે તીડ અને તીતીઘોડા ખાઇ રહ્યાં હોય તેમ ભેગી કરવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.33.5" />યહોવા મોટો મનાયો છે; કેમ કે ઉચ્ચસ્થાને રહે છે, તે સિયોનને ન્યાય, ભલાઇ અને સદાચારનું નિવાસસ્થાન બનાવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.33.6" />તે પોતાની પ્રજાને સ્થિરતા આપશે. તારણ, ડહાપણ અને જ્ઞાન આપશે. યહોવાનો ભય સિયોનની પ્રજાનો ખજાનો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.33.7" />પણ જુઓ, હમણા વીરપુરુષો મદદ માટે પોકાર કરી રહ્યા છે, અને શાંતિ કરવા ગયેલા એલચીઓ પોક મૂકીને રડે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="ISA.33.8" />રાજમાગોર્ ઉજ્જડ થઇ ગયા છે, કારણ કે કોઇ વટેમાર્ગુ નથી, કરારોનો ભંગ કરવામાં આવ્યો છે, વચન પ્રતિબદ્ધતાને માન અપાતું નથી. નગરો ધૃણિત થઇ ગયા છે, ત્યાં લોકો વિષે કોઇ વિચારતું નથી.
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<v id="9" bcv="ISA.33.9" />ભૂમિ આક્રંદ કરે છે, ઝૂરી મરે છે; લબાનોન ઉજ્જડ થઇ ગયું છે, શારોનની ફળદ્રુપ ભૂમિ વગડો બની ગઇ છે અને બાશાન અને કામેર્લના જંગલો તેમનાં પાંદડા ખેરવી નાખે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.33.10" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હવે હું ઉપર ઊઠીશ અને સાર્મથ્ય દેખાડીશ.
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<v id="11" bcv="ISA.33.11" />તમે સૂકા ધાસને ઘારણ કરો છો અને તણખલાને જન્મ આપો છો. તમારો શ્વાસ જ તમને અગ્નિની જેમ ભરખી જશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="ISA.33.12" />જેમ કાંટાઓને કાપીને અગ્નિમાં ફેંકવામાં આવે, તેમ તમારા યોદ્ધાઓને પૂરેપૂરા બાળી નાખવામાં આવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.33.13" />“હે દૂર દૂર તેમ જ નજીક વસનારાઓ, મેં શું શું કર્યુ છે તે સાંભળી તમે મારું સાર્મથ્ય જાણી લો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.33.14" />સિયોનમાં પાપીઓ ધ્રૂજે છે, દુષ્ટો થથરે છે, અને પૂછે છે, “આ ભડભડતા અગ્નિમાં આપણામાંથી કોણ રહી શકે? આ સદાય બળતી જવાળામાં આપણામાંથી કોણ બચી શકે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.33.15" />જે માણસ ન્યાયને માગેર્ ચાલે છે અને સાચું બોલે છે, જે શોષણથી મળેલી કમાઇનો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે, જે લાંચને હાથથી ઝાટકી ખંખેરી નાખે છે, જે હિંસાની વાત સાંભળી કાનમાં આંગળી ધાલે છે અને જે પાપ જોઇને આંખ મીંચી દે છે, તે જ વાસો કરશે.
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<v id="16" bcv="ISA.33.16" />આ પ્રકારના સર્વ લોકો ઉચ્ચસ્થાનોમાં રહેશે. પર્વતોના ખડકો તેઓની સુરક્ષાના કિલ્લા બનશે. તેઓને ખોરાક પૂરો પાડવામાં આવશે અને તેઓને પૂરતું પાણી મળી રહેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.33.17" />તમે ફરીવાર રાજાને (દેવને) એક સુવિશાળ દેશ પર પૂરા વૈભવપૂર્વક રાજ્ય કરતો જોવા પામશો.
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<v id="18" bcv="ISA.33.18" />ભૂતકાળના ભયને યાદ કરીને તમે વિચારશો “ક્યાં ગયા એ કર ઉઘરાવનારા પરદેશી? ક્યાં ગયા પેલા વિદેશી જાસૂસો?”
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<v id="19" bcv="ISA.33.19" />કારણ કે તેઓનો નાશ થશે; તમે સમજી શકો નહિ તેવી વિચિત્ર તોતડી બોબડી ભાષાવાળા આ ક્રોધી અને હિંસક લોકો નાશ પામશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવ યરૂશાલેમને બચાવશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.33.20" />આપણા ઉત્સવોની નગરી યરૂશાલેમ તરફ નજર કર! ત્યાં તું સુરક્ષિત નિવાસસ્થાન જોવા પામશે, જે સ્થિર સ્થાવર તંબુ જેવું હશે, જેની ખીંટીઓ કદી ઉખેડવાની નથી, જેની દોરીઓ કદી તૂટવાની નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="ISA.33.21" />ત્યાં સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા આપણને તેની ભવ્યતા સાથે દર્શન દેશે. આપણે વિશાળ નદીઓ અને ઝરણાંઓના પ્રદેશમાં વસીશું. ત્યાં કોઇ શત્રુઓના વહાણો નહિ આવે.
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<v id="22" bcv="ISA.33.22" />કારણ કે યહોવા આપણા ન્યાયાધીશ આપણા શાસક, અને આપણા રાજા છે; તે આપણી સંભાળ રાખશે અને આપણો બચાવ કરશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="ISA.33.23" />શકિતશાળી વહાણોના દોરડાં ઢીલાં થઇ જશે અને તેના કૂવાસ્થંભો ભાંગી જશે, જેથી તે સઢ ફેલાવી શકશે નહિ. તેઓની સંપત્તિ દેવના લોકો દ્વારા વહેંચી લેવામાં આવશે. જેઓ અપંગ છે તેઓ પણ પોતાનો હિસ્સો પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="ISA.33.24" />અને હવે ઇસ્રાએલના કોઇ વતનીને એવું કહેવાનો વારો નહિ આવે કે, “અમે માંદા છીએ.” કારણ કે યહોવા તે લોકોને તેઓની દુષ્ટતાની માફી આપશે.
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</p>

<c id="34" />
<s style="s">શત્રુઓને માથે લટકતી તરવાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.34.1" />ઓ પૃથ્વી પરની સર્વ પ્રજાના લોકો, અહીં આવો અને સાંભળો; સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી અને તેમાં વસતાં સૌ કોઇ, સાંભળો!
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.34.2" />કારણ કે યહોવા સર્વ પ્રજાઓ અને તેમની સેનાઓ પર રોષે ભરાયો છે, અને તેણે તેમનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરવાનો નિર્ધાર કર્યો છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ISA.34.3" />તેમના હત્યા થયેલાંઓનાં શબોને રઝડતાં મૂકી દેવામાં આવશે, અને તે ગંધાઇ ઊઠશે પછી પર્વતો પરથી તેઓનું રકત વહેશે અને ઓગળી જશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="ISA.34.4" />આકાશના બધાં નક્ષત્રો અલોપ થઇ જશે, આકાશ ઓળિયાની જેમ સંકેલાઇ જશે, અને બધાં તારામંડળ દ્રાક્ષનાવેલા પરથી પાંદડા ખરે તેમ ખરી પડશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.34.5" />યહોવાની તરવાર આકાશમાં ઝઝૂમી રહી છે, જુઓ, હવે એ તરવાર યહોવાએ જેમનો નાશ કરવાનો નિર્ધાર કર્યો છે તે અદોમના લોકો પર ઊતરે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ISA.34.6" />યહોવાની તરવાર લોહીથી તરબતર અને ચરબીથી લથબથ જાણે ઘેટાં-બકરાંના બલિના લોહીથી તરબતર અને તેમની ચરબીથી લથબથ થઇ જશે. કારણ, યહોવાએ પાટનગર બોસ્રાહમાં યજ્ઞ માંડ્યો છે અને અદોમમાં ભારે હત્યા શરૂ કરી છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.34.7" />જંગલી ગોધાઓ અને વાછરડાંઓની જેમ મહા બળવાનોનો નાશ થશે. યુવાનો-પ્રૌઢોનો પણ નાશ થશે. તેઓની ભૂમિ લોહીથી તરબોળ થશે અને તેની ધૂળ ચરબીથી ફળદ્રુપ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.34.8" />કારણ કે, તે યહોવાનો વૈર વાળવાનો દિવસ હશે, સિયોનના શત્રુઓ પર બદલો લેવાનું વર્ષ હશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ISA.34.9" />અદોમની નદીઓ સળગતાં કોલસા અને ડામરથી ભરાઇ જશે. અને તેની માટી ગંધકની થઇ જશે; અને તેની ભૂમિ બળતા ડામરમાં ફેરવાઇ જશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="ISA.34.10" />અદોમના આ ન્યાયકાળનો કદી અંત આવશે નહિ. તેનો ધુમાડો સદા ઉપર ચઢયા કરશે. તેની ભૂમિ પેઢી દર પેઢી અરણ્ય જેવી પડી રહેશે; અને કોઇ પણ તેમાં નિવાસ કરશે નહિ.
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<v id="11" bcv="ISA.34.11" />પણ ત્યાં ગીધ અને ઘુવડનો વાસ થશે. યહોવા તેને ખેદાન-મેદાન અને વેરાન બનાવી દેશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="ISA.34.12" />તે જગા “ખાલીપણાની ભૂમિ” કહેવાશે અને તેના રાજા તથા અધિકારીઓ થોડા જ સમયમાં નાશ પામશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.34.13" />તેના રાજમહેલમાં અને એના કિલ્લાઓ ઉપર કાંટા અને ઝાંખરા ઊગી નીકળશે. ત્યાં શિયાળવાની બોડ હશે અને ત્યાં શાહમૃગનો વાસ થશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ISA.34.14" />ત્યાં રાની બિલાડીઓ અને વરુઓ ભેગા થશે અને જંગલી બકરીઓ એકબીજાને પોકારશે; અને ત્યાં નિશાચર પ્રાણી આરામ કરવા આવી ભરાશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ISA.34.15" />ઘુવડો ત્યાં માળો બાંધશે. ઇંડા મૂકશે અને સેવીને બચ્ચાં જન્મતા તેમને પોતાની પાંખોમાં ભેગા કરશે. ત્યાં એક પછી એક સમડીઓ ભેગી થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.34.16" />યહોવાના ગ્રંથમાં શોધીને વાંચો; અને યહોવા જે કરવાના છે તે જુઓ. તેમાંની એકપણ વિગત તે બાકી રાખશે નહિ, તેમાનું એક પણ પ્રાણી પોતાના સાથી વગરનું ખબર પડશે નહિ, કારણ કે યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે બોલ્યા છે અને તેમનો આત્મા તે સર્વને સત્ય પુરવાર કરશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ISA.34.17" />તેમણે દરેકનો ભાગ ચિઠ્ઠી નાખીને નક્કી કરી આપ્યો છે, તેણે પોતાને હાથે દોરી માપીને તેમને ભૂમિનો ભાગ વહેંચી આપ્યો છે, તેઓ સદાસર્વદા એ ભોગવશે અને પેઢી દર પેઢી તેમાં નિવાસ કરશે.
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</p>

<c id="35" />
<s style="s">પાણીના ઝરણાં અને પુણ્યપંથ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.35.1" />તે દિવસોમાં મરુભૂમિ આનંદોલ્લાસથી નાચી ઉઠશે, સૂકી તરસી ધરતી સુંદર ફૂલોથી ખીલી ઉઠશે, આનંદોદ્ગારથી ગાજી ઊઠશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.35.2" />તે ખીલશે અને તેને ફૂલો આવશે અને આનંદથી ભરેલી હશે અને ગુંજતી હશે. તેને લબાનોન પર્વતની સુંદર ભવ્યતા અને કામેર્લ પર્વત તથા શારોનની લીલીછમ ધરતીનો વૈભવ પ્રાપ્ત થશે; કારણ કે તેઓ યહોવાનો મહિમા, આપણા દેવની ભવ્યતા જોશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.35.3" />જેઓ હારેલા છે તેમને હિંમત આપો, જેઓ ડગમગી રહ્યા છે તેઓને સ્થિર કરો, ભયભીત થયેલાઓને કહો કે, હિંમત રાખો!
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<v id="4" bcv="ISA.35.4" />જેઓ ચિંતાતુર છે, “તેઓને કહો દ્રઢ થાઓ, ડરશો નહિ;” જુઓ, તમારા દેવ! તમારો ઉદ્ધાર કરવા અને તમારા શત્રુઓને સજા કરવા આવે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ISA.35.5" />પરંતુ જ્યારે તે આવશે ત્યારે અંધજનોની આંખો ઊઘડી જશે અને બહેરાઓના કાન ખૂલી જશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ISA.35.6" />લૂલાં-લંગડાં હરણાની જેમ તેઓ ઠેકડા મારશે અને મૂંગાની જીભ મોટેથી હર્ષનાદ કરીને ગાવા માંડશે. તે વખતે મરુભુમિમાં વહેળા વહેવા લાગશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.35.7" />લોકો વહેળાને જોશે, ધગધગતી રેતીના સરોવર બની જશે, અને સૂકી ભૂમિના ઝરણાં બની જશે. જ્યાં શિયાળવાનો વાસ છે તે વેરાન ભૂમિમાં ચારેબાજુ લીલોતરી ઊગી નીકળશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.35.8" />તેમાં થઇને એક રાજમાર્ગ જતો હશે અને તે, “પવિત્રતાનો માર્ગ” કહેવાશે. એના પર કોઇ અપવિત્ર માણસ ચાલશે નહિ. કોઇપણ યાત્રી, એક મૂર્ખ પણ ત્યાં તે રસ્તા પર ભૂલો પડી જશે નહિ.
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<v id="9" bcv="ISA.35.9" />ત્યાં કોઇ સિંહ નહિ હોય કે કોઇ જંગલી પ્રાણી ત્યાં ભટકતું નહી હોય. માત્ર ઉદ્ધાર પામેલાઓ જ તેના પર ચાલશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.35.10" />યહોવાએ જે લોકોની ખંડણી ચૂકવી છે; તેઓ અનંતકાળ સુધી આનંદના ગીતો ગાતાં આ માગેર્ થઇને સિયોનમાં પોતાને ઘેર જશે. કારણ કે તેઓનાં સર્વ દુ:ખો અને તેમની પાછળ હષોર્લ્લાસ હશે; દુ:ખ અને શોક જતા રહેશે.
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</p>

<c id="36" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ પર આશ્શૂરની સેનાનું આક્રમણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.36.1" />હિઝિક્યા રાજાની કારકિદીર્ના અમલના ચૌદમા વષેર્ આશ્શૂરના રાજા સાન્હેરીબે યહૂદાનાં બધાં કિલ્લેબંદી નગરો ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરીને તે કબ્જે કરી લીધાં.
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.36.2" />લાખીશથી આશ્શૂરના રાજાએ મુખ્ય સંદેશવાહકને મોટા લશ્કર સાથે રાજા હિઝિક્યા પાસે યરૂશાલેમ મોકલ્યા, અને તેમણે યરૂશાલેમ પહોંચીને ધોબીઘાટને રસ્તે આવતા ઉપલા તળાવના ગરનાળા આગળ પડાવ નાખ્યો, અને રાજાને તેડાવ્યો;
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.36.3" />એટલે ઇસ્રાએલના હિલ્કિયાનો પુત્ર એલ્યાકીમ જે મહેલનો કારભારી હતો, રાજાનો મંત્રી શેબ્ના તથા આસાફનો પુત્ર જે નોંધણીકાર હતો, યોઆહ તે બધાં સાથે મળીને નગરની બહાર તેને મળવા ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.36.4" />મુખ્ય સંદેશવાહકે તેમને કહ્યું, “જાવ હિઝિક્યાને જઇને કહો કે, આશ્શૂરના મહાન રાજાનો આ સંદેશ છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“‘તને આટલો બધો આત્મવિશ્વાસ શાથી છે?
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<v id="5" bcv="ISA.36.5" />તું શું એમ માને છે કે, મુત્સદ્દીગીરી અને લશ્કરી બળ માત્ર ખોખલાં શબ્દો લઇ શકે છે? તું કોના ઉપર આધાર રાખીને મારી સામે બળવો પોકારે છે?
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<v id="6" bcv="ISA.36.6" />મિસર ઉપર? મિસર તો ભાંગેલું બરું છે; જે કોઇ એનો આધાર લે છે તેના હાથ ચિરાઇ જાય છે મિસરનો રાજા તો એવો છે જે કોઇ તેના પર વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તેના એવા હાલ થાય છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.36.7" />“‘તમે કદાચ એમ કહેશો કે, “અમે તો અમારા દેવ યહોવા પર આધાર રાખીએ છીએ.” પણ તમારા એ જ દેવનાં ઉચ્ચસ્થાનોને અને વેદીઓને હિઝિક્યાએ જ હઠાવી દીધાં છે અને યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકોને એમ જણાવ્યું કે, “તમારે એક જ વેદી આગળ ઉપાસના કરવાની છે.”
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.36.8" />“‘જુઓ, મારા ધણી આશ્શૂરના રાજા સાથે કરાર કરી લો, હું તમને બે હજાર ઘોડા આપવા તૈયાર છું, જો તમે એટલા સવારો મેળવી શકતા હો તો.
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<v id="9" bcv="ISA.36.9" />તમે એવું કેમ વિચારો છો કે તમે મારા ધણીના નાનામાં નાના અમલદારને સુદ્ધાં હરાવી શકશો, જ્યારેં તમે રથો અને ઘોડાઓ માટે મિસર પર આધાર રાખો છો?
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.36.10" />“‘શું તમે એમ માનો છો કે હું યહોવાના કહ્યા વિના આ ભૂમિને જીતી લેવા અહીં આવ્યો છું? યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું છે કે, “તું જઇને તેનો નાશ કર!”’”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.36.11" />એલ્યાકીમ, શેબ્ના અને યોઆહે વડા અમલદારને કહ્યું, “મહેરબાની કરીને અમારી સાથે અરામીમાં બોલો. અમે એ ભાષા સમજીએ છીએ. કોટ ઉપરના લોકોના સાંભળતાં અમારી સાથે યહૂદીઓની ભાષામાં ના બોલશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.36.12" />પણ સંદેશવાહકે પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “કેવળ તું અને તારો માલિક જ નહિ પરંતુ યરૂશાલેમમાં વસનારા દરેક વ્યકિત આ સાંભળે તેવું મારા ધણી ઇચ્છે છે, કારણ કે તેઓ પોતાની વિષ્ટા ખાવા માટે અને પોતાનો પેશાબ પીવા માટે નિયત થયેલા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.36.13" />પછી સંદેશવાહકે ટટાર ઊભા રહીને ઊંચા સાદે યહૂદીઓની ભાષામાં કહ્યું,
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi">‘“આશ્શૂરના રાજાધિરાજનો સંદેશો સાંભળો;
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<v id="14" bcv="ISA.36.14" />રાજા કહે છે: હિઝિક્યાથી ભોળવાશો નહિ; એ તમને નહિ બચાવી શકે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ISA.36.15" />યહોવા જરૂર આપણું રક્ષણ કરશે, “આ શહેર કદી આશ્શૂરના રાજાના હાથમાં જવાનું નથી.” એમ કહીને હિઝિક્યા તમને યહોવા પર આધાર રાખવા સમજાવે તો માનશો નહિ.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.36.16" />“‘એની વાત સાંભળશો નહિ, હું આશ્શૂરનો રાજા તો એમ કહું છું કે, “મારી સાથે સંધિ કરો, મારે તાબે થાઓ; તો તમારામાંના એકેએક જણ પોતાની દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીનાં અને અંજીરીના ફળ ખાવા પામશે અને પોતાની ટાંકીનું પાણી પીવા પામશે;
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<v id="17" bcv="ISA.36.17" />અને છેલ્લે, હું તમને તમારા દેશ જેવા જ એક દેશમાં મોકલી આપીશ, જ્યાં પુષ્કળ અનાજ અને દ્રાક્ષારસ છે.”
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.36.18" />“‘પરંતુ સાવધ રહેજો! હિઝિક્યા તો તમને કદાચ એમ કહીને ગેરમાગેર્ દોરે છે કે, “યહોવા આપણું રક્ષણ કરશે.” બીજી પ્રજાના દેવે મારા હાથમાંથી એના દેશને બચાવ્યો છે ખરો?
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<v id="19" bcv="ISA.36.19" />હમાથ અને આર્પાદની મેં કેવી દશા કરી હતી તે શું તમને યાદ નથી? શું તેઓના દેવો તેઓને બચાવી શક્યા? અને સફાર્વાઇમ તથા સમરૂનનું શું થયું? તેઓના દેવો હાલ ક્યાં છે?
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<v id="20" bcv="ISA.36.20" />આ બધા દેશોના દેવોમાંથી કોણે પોતાના દેશને મારા સાર્મથ્યમાંથી છોડાવ્યા છે? યહોવા યરૂશાલેમને મારા હાથમાંથી છોડાવી શકશે એમ તમે માનો છો શું?’”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.36.21" />બધા લોકો મૂંગા રહ્યાં, અને એક પણ શબ્દ ઉચ્ચાર્યો નહિ, કારણ કે હિઝિક્યાએ તેઓને કહ્યું હતું કે “તેઓએ જવાબમાં કશું કહેવું નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.36.22" />પછી મહેલના મુખ્ય કારભારી હિલ્કીયાના પુત્ર એલ્યાકીમ, મંત્રી શેબ્ના અને નોંધણીકાર આસાફના પુત્ર યોઆહે દુ:ખના માર્યા પોતાનાં કપડાં ફાડી નાખ્યાં, અને હિઝિક્યા પાસે જઇને સંદેશવાહકે જે કહ્યું હતું તે કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમને દેવ મુકિત અપાવશે
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.37.1" />જ્યારે હિઝિક્યા રાજાએ તે સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તેણે પોતાનાં કપડાં ફાડી નાખ્યાં, શોક-કંથા ઓઢી લીધી અને પોતે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.37.2" />તે દરમ્યાન તેણે પોતના મહેલના મુખ્ય કારભારી એલ્યાકીમને, મંત્રી શેબ્નાને તેમ જ યાજકોના આગેવાનોને શોકકંથા ઓઢાડીને આમોસના પુત્ર યશાયા પ્રબોધક પાસે મોકલ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.37.3" />તેમણે જઇને કહ્યું, “હિઝિક્યાએ આ પ્રમાણે કહેવડાવ્યું છે: આજે અમારે માટે દુ:ખનો દિવસ છે; નિરાશા અને આપત્તિનો દિવસ છે, બાળક અવતરવાની શકિત વિનાની સ્ત્રી જેવી અમારી દશા છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="ISA.37.4" />આશ્શૂરના રાજાના મુખ્ય સંદેશવાહકે જીવતા દેવની મશ્કરી અને નિંદા કરી છે; યહોવા, તમારા દેવે તે સાંભળી છે, એ શબ્દો માટે યહોવા તેમને જરૂર શિક્ષા કરશે, હે યશાયા, અમે જે બચી ગયા છીએ તેઓ માટે પ્રાર્થના કર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.37.5" />તેથી રાજા હિઝિક્યાના મંત્રીઓ યશાયા પાસે આવ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="ISA.37.6" />પછી તેણે તેમને પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો: “તમારા ધણીને જઇને કહો કે, આ યહોવાના વચન છે: ‘આશ્શૂરના રાજાના નોકરોને મોઢે મારી નિંદાના જે વચનો તેં સાંભળ્યા છે તેનાથી ગભરાઇશ નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.37.7" />હું એને એવી પ્રેરણા કરવાનો છું કે એક અફવા સાંભળી તે પોતાને દેશ પાછો ચાલ્યો જશે, અને ત્યાં હું એનો તરવારથી વધ કરાવીશ.’”
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<s style="s">આશ્શૂરના સૈન્યનું યરૂશાલેમ છોડી જવું
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.37.8" />આશ્શૂરનો સંદેશવાહક પાછો ફર્યો, ત્યારે તેને સમાચાર મળ્યા કે, રાજા, લાખીશ છોડી જઇ લિબ્નાહ સામે લડી રહ્યો છે એટલે તે તેને ત્યાં જઇને મળ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="ISA.37.9" />ત્યાં આશ્શૂરના રાજાને એવા સમાચાર મળ્યા કે “કૂશનો રાજા તિર્હાકાહ તેમની સામે લડવા આવે છે.”
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<p style="p">એટલે તેણે સંદેશ વાહકોને યહૂદીયાના રાજા હિઝિક્યા પાસે મોકલી કહાવ્યું કે,
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<v id="10" bcv="ISA.37.10" />તું જેના પર આધાર રાખીને બેઠો છે તે તારો દેવ તને એમ કહે છે કે:
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“‘યરૂશાલેમ આશ્શૂરના રાજાના તાબામાં જવાનું નથી.’ તો તેથી ભોળવાઇ જતો નહિ.
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<v id="11" bcv="ISA.37.11" />આશ્શૂરના રાજાઓ જ્યાં ગયા છે તેના પરિણામો શું આવ્યા છે તે તું યાદ રાખ. કારણ કે તેઓનો વિરોધ કરનાર દરેકનો તેઓએ પૂરેપૂરો વિનાશ કરી નાખ્યો છે. શું તું માને છે કે તું છટકી જઇશ, જ્યારે તેઓ તેમ ન કરી શક્યા?
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<v id="12" bcv="ISA.37.12" />ગોઝાન, હારાનનાં નગરો અથવા રેસેફ અથવા તલાસ્સારમાં રહેતા એદેનના લોકોને શું તેઓના દેવો બચાવી શક્યા? ના,
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<v id="13" bcv="ISA.37.13" />અને હમાથના રાજા, આર્પાદના રાજા અને સફાર્વાઇમ, હેના તથા ઇવ્વાહ નગરના રાજાઓનું શું થયું તે ભૂલી જશો નહિ.”
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<s style="s">હિઝિક્યાની દેવને પ્રાર્થના
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.37.14" />હિઝિક્યાએ કાસદો પાસેથી કાગળ લઇને વાંચ્યો કે તરત જ તેણે મંદિરમાં જઇને યહોવા સમક્ષ તેને ખુલ્લો મુક્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="ISA.37.15" />પછી હિઝિક્યાએ યહોવાને આ પ્રમાણે પ્રાર્થના કરી:
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<v id="16" bcv="ISA.37.16" />“હે સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા, કરૂબો પર બિરાજમાન, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, તમે જ પૃથ્વીનાં બધા રાજ્યોના એક માત્ર દેવ છો. તમે જ આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીનું સર્જન કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ISA.37.17" />દેવ યહોવા, હવે અમને કાન દઇને સાંભળો. દેવ યહોવા, આંખ ઉઘાડીને જુઓ, સાન્હેરીબે તમારું જીવતા જાગતા દેવનું અપમાન કરવા જે શબ્દો કહેવડાવ્યા છે તે સાંભળો.
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<v id="18" bcv="ISA.37.18" />એ વાત સાચી છે, દેવ યહોવા, કે આશ્શૂરના રાજાઓએ સર્વ દેશોની પ્રજાઓનું નિકંદન કાઢી નાખ્યું છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="ISA.37.19" />તેમના દેવોને અગ્નિમાં પધરાવી દીધાં છે; પણ એ તો દેવો નહોતા, પરંતુ માણસના હાથ વડે બનાવેલી વસ્તુ, ફકત લાકડાં અને પથ્થર હતા, અને તેથી તેમણે તેમનો નાશ કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="20" bcv="ISA.37.20" />પણ હવે, હે અમારા દેવ યહોવા, અમને તેમના હાથમાંથી બચાવ, જેથી પૃથ્વીના સર્વ રાજ્યો જાણી શકે કે તમે જ એક માત્ર દેવ છો.”
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવનો હિઝિક્યાને જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.37.21" />પછી આમોસના પુત્ર યથાયાએ હિઝિક્યા રાજાને આ સંદેશો મોકલાવ્યો: “ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવ કહે છે કે, ‘આશ્શૂરના રાજા સાન્હેરીબની વિરુદ્ધ કરેલી પ્રાર્થનાનો મારો પ્રત્યુત્તર આ મુજબ છે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.37.22" />“હે સાન્હેરીબ,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તને યરૂશાલેમ નગરી તુચ્છકારી કાઢે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી હાંસી ઉડાવે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારી પાછળ ગર્વથી માથું ધુણાવે છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.37.23" />તેં કોને મહેણું માર્યું છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોની નિંદા કરી છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં કોની સામે અવાજ ઉઠાવ્યો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તિરસ્કારભરી ષ્ટિ કરી છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલના પરમપવિત્ર યહોવા તરફ!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="ISA.37.24" />તારા નોકરો મારફતે તેં મારું અપમાન કર્યું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કહ્યું છે કે, “મારા રથમાં બેસીને મેં મહાન પરાક્રમો કર્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું પર્વતોં ચઢયો છું અને તેના શિખરો પર પહોચ્યો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લબાનોનના ઊંચામાં ઊંચા શિખર પર હું ચઢયો છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં ઊંચામાં ઊંચા એરેજવૃક્ષોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા સૌથી ઉત્તમ દેવદારના વૃક્ષોને કાપી નાખ્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તેઓના ઊંચામાં ઊંચા પર્વતોને જીતી લીધા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના ગાઢ જંગલોમાં પહોચ્યો છું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="ISA.37.25" />મેં જીતેલી ભૂમિમાં કૂવા ખોદાવીને પરભોમનાં પાણી પીધાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પગનાં તળિયાથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મિસરની બધી નદીઓને સૂકવી નાખી છે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="ISA.37.26" />‘પણ શું તને ખબર નથી કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં ઘણા સમય અગાઉ આ બધી યોજના બનાવી હતી?
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અત્યારે મેં એને હકીકત બનાવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તારી પાસે કિલ્લેબંદીવાળાં નગરોનો નાશ કરાવી ખંડેરોનો ગંજ ખડકાવ્યો છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="ISA.37.27" />ત્યાંના રહેવાસીઓ શકિતહીન, ભયભીત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હાંફળાફાંફળા બની ગયા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને વગડાના છોડ જેવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કુમળા ઘાસ જેવા,
</q>
<q style="q1">છાપરા ઉપર ઊગી નીકળેલા ને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લૂથી બળી ગયેલા ઘાસ જેવા બની ગયા હતા.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="ISA.37.28" />પરંતુ હું જાણું છું, તું ક્યારે ઉભો થાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્યારે તું બેસી જાય છે, ક્યારે તું બહાર જાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ક્યારે તું અંદર આવે છે, તથા તું જે કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વ હું જાણું છું અને મારી વિરુદ્ધ જે રીતે તું રોષે ભરાયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પણ હું જાણું છું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="ISA.37.29" />કારણ કે મારી વિરુદ્ધના તારા રોષ વિષે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી ઉદ્ધતાઇ વિષે મેં સાંભળ્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને લીધે હું તારા નાકમાં મારી કડી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તારા હોઠોની વચ્ચે મારી લગામ નાખીને જે માગેર્
</q>
<q style="q1">તું આવ્યો છે તે જ માગેર્ તારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના દેશમાં તને પાછો દોરી જઇશ.’”
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</q>
<s style="s">હિઝિક્યાને યહોવાનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ISA.37.30" />પછી યશાયાએ હિઝિક્યાને કહ્યું, “તારા માટે આ એધાણી છે: આ વષેર્ તમે આપમેળે ઊગી નીકળેલા દાણા ખાશો, પછીના વષેર્ પહેલા વર્ષના પાકમાંથી ઉગાડેલા અનાજ ખાશો. પણ ત્રીજા વષેર્ તમે વાવશો અને લણશો, દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીઓ કરશો અને તેના ફળ ખાશો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="ISA.37.31" />“યહૂદાના વંશના રહ્યાસહ્યા માણસો જેના મૂળ ઊંડા ગયાં છે એવા છોડની જેમ ફૂલશે-ફાલશે;
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<v id="32" bcv="ISA.37.32" />કારણ, યરૂશાલેમમાં અને સિયોન પર્વત પર કેટલાક માણસો બચી જવા પામશે. સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના ઉત્કટ પ્રેમને પ્રતાપે આ બધું સિદ્ધ થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="ISA.37.33" />એટલે, આશ્શૂરના રાજાના સંબંધમાં યહોવાની વાણી આ મુજબ છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તે આ શહેરમાં પ્રવેશ નહિ કરે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તે એની સામે બાણ પણ નહિ છોડે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઢાલ લઇને એની સામે નહિ આવે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ એની સામે મોરચો પણ નહિ માંડે,
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="ISA.37.34" />એ જે રસ્તે આવ્યો તે જ રસ્તે પાછો જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ શહેરમાં તે પ્રવેશ નહિ કરે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="ISA.37.35" />મારે પોતાને માટે તેમ જ મારા સેવક દાઉદને માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું આ શહેરનું રક્ષણ કરીશ અને તેને ઉગારી લઇશ.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="ISA.37.36" />તે જ રાત્રે યહોવાના દૂતે આશ્શૂરીઓની છાવણીમાં જઇને 1,85,000 યોદ્ધાઓને મોતને ઘાટ ઉતાર્યા; લોકોએ સવારે ઊઠીને જોયું તો, તેઓની આગળ એ બધા મરેલા પડ્યા હતા.
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<v id="37" bcv="ISA.37.37" />પછી આશ્શૂરનો રાજા સાન્હેરીબ પોતાના દેશ નિનવેહ પાછો ફર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="ISA.37.38" />એક દિવસ તે પોતાના દેવ નિસ્રોખના મંદિરમાં પૂજા કરતો હતો, એવામાં તેના પુત્રો આદ્રામ્મેલેખે અને શારએસેરે તેને તરવારથી મારી નાખી અરારાટ ભાગી ગયા. તેનો પુત્ર એસાર-હાદ્દોન તેના પછી ગાદીએ આવ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="38" />
<s style="s">હિઝિક્યાના આયુષ્યમાં પંદર વર્ષની વૃદ્ધિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.38.1" />એ દિવસો દરમ્યાન રાજા હિઝિક્યા માંદો પડ્યો અને આમોસનો પુત્ર યશાયા પ્રબોધક તેની મુલાકાત લેવાને ગયો અને યહોવા તરફથી તેને સંદેશો આપ્યો: “આ યહોવાના વચન છે: ‘તારા કુટુંબની છેલ્લી વ્યવસ્થા કરવી હોય તો કરી લે, કારણ, તારું મોત આવી રહ્યું છે, તું જીવવાનો નથી.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.38.2" />હિઝિક્યાએ ભીત તરફ મોં કરી યહોવાને આ પ્રમાણે પ્રાર્થના કરી:
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<v id="3" bcv="ISA.38.3" />“હે યહોવા, હું તમારી સાક્ષીએ એકનિષ્ઠાથી અને સચ્ચાઇપૂર્વક જીવન વીતાવુ છું. અને તમારી નજરમાં જે સારું હોય તે જ કરતો રહ્યો છું.” પછી તે કટુતાપૂર્વક ખૂબ રડ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.38.4" />પછી યહોવાએ યશાયાને બીજો એક સંદેશો કહ્યો:
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<v id="5" bcv="ISA.38.5" />“તું પાછો જઇને હિઝિક્યાને કહે કે, આ તારા પિતૃ દાઉદના દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે; ‘મેં તારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી છે અને તારા આંસુ જોયાં છે. હું તારા આયુષ્યમાં પંદર વર્ષ વધારી આપીશ.
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<v id="6" bcv="ISA.38.6" />હું તને અને આ નગરને આશ્શૂરના રાજાના હાથમાંથી ઉગારી લઇશ.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.38.7" />યશાયાએ કહ્યું, “યહોવાએ જે વચન કહ્યાં છે, તે તે પૂરાં કરશે. તેની આ નિશાની છે:
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.38.8" />જુઓ, આહાઝના છાયાયંત્ર પ્રમાણે એ સૂર્યના પડછાયાને દશ આંક પાછો હઠાવશે! અને તરત જ પડછાયો દશ આંક પાછો હઠી ગયો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.38.9" />હિઝિક્યા રાજાએ માંદગીમાંથી સાજા થયા પછી પોતાનો અનુભવ વિષે આ ગીત લખ્યું:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.38.10" />મને થયું હતું: મારા જીવનના મધ્યાહને જ મારે શેઓલને ધ્વારે જવું પડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા આયુષ્યના શેષ વષોર્ કપાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.38.11" />“હવે પછી કદી આ જીવલોકમાં હું યહોવાને જોવા નહિ પામું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ દુનિયામાં વસતા માણસને હું કદી નજરેય નહિ નિહાળીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.38.12" />મારા ડેરાંતંબુ સમેટી લેવામાં આવ્યા છે, જેમ કાપડને શાળ પરથી કાપી નાખવામાં આવે છે તેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો જીવનપટ કાપી નાખવામાં આવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમગ્ર દિવસ દરમ્યાન દેવ મને મારા જીવનના અંતની નજીક અને નજીક લઇ આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.38.13" />આખી રાત મેં કલ્પાંત કર્યુ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણે સિંહોએ ફાડી મારા ટૂકડા કર્યા હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાંજ થાય ન થાય ત્યાં તો દેવ મારા જીવનનો અંત લાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.38.14" />ટિટોડીની જેમ હું ટળવળું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હોલાની જેમ હું આક્રંદ કરું છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી આંખ નભ તરફ જોઇ જોઇ થાકી ગઇ છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા મારા માલિક,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું મુશ્કેલીમાં છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને ઉગારી લેવાનું વચન આપો.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.38.15" />હું શું કહું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા માલિકને શું કહું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે જ આ કર્યુ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા જીવની વેદનાને લીધે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું આખી જીંદગી સુધી હળવે હળવે ચાલીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.38.16" />હે મારા માલિક, એવાં વચનો વડે માણસો જીવન ધારણ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું કેવળ તારે માટે જ જીવીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં મને સાજો કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જીવવા દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.38.17" />મારી બધી વેદના શમી ગઇ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં પ્રીતિથી મારા જીવનને વિનાશની ગર્તામાંથી બચાવ્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં મારા બધાં પાપોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી પીઠ પાછળ નાખી દીધાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.38.18" />જેઓ પહોંચી ગયા છે મૃત્યુલોકમાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નથી કરી શકતાં ગુણગાન તેઓ તારા.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ શેઓલમાં પહોંચી ગયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તારા વચન પર વિશ્વાસ રાખી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.38.19" />હું આજે કરું છું તેમ, જીવંત, હા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફકત જીવંત વ્યકિત તારી સ્તુતિ કરી શકે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વડવાઓ પોતાના સંતાનોને તેં પાળેલા વચન અને વિશ્વાસુપણાની વાત કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.38.20" />“યહોવા મને તમે બચાવી લીધો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી જીવનભર અમે તારા મંદિરમાં, વીણા વગાડતાં વગાડતાં ગીતો ગાઇશું.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.38.21" />યશાયાએ કહ્યું હતું, “અંજીરીમાંથી લેપ બનાવી તેના ગૂમડા પર લગાવો, એટલે તે સાજો થશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.38.22" />વળી હિઝિક્યાએ પૂછયું હતું, “હું યહોવાના મંદિરમાં જઇશ તેની કઇ નિશાની યહોવા આપશે?”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="39" />
<s style="s">બાબિલમાંથી આવેલા કાસદો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.39.1" />આ અરસામાં બાલઅદાનનો પુત્ર મેરોદાખ-બાલઅદાન બાબિલનો રાજા હતો. થોડા સમય પછી તેણે હિઝિક્યા પર પોતાની શુભેચ્છાઓ તથા ઉપહારો મોકલાવ્યાં. હિઝિક્યા મરણતોલ માંદગીમાંથી સાજો થયો છે તેવા સમાચાર તેને મળ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ISA.39.2" />હિઝિક્યા ખૂબ રાજી થયો અને તેમને પોતાનો આખો ભંડાર તેમાંના સોનું ચાંદી, સુગંધી દ્રવ્યો અને મૂલ્યવાન તેલથી ભરેલો ખજાનો બધું જ બતાવ્યું તેના મહેલમાં કે આખા રાજ્યમાં એવું કશું જ બાકી રહ્યું નહોતું જે તેમને ન બતાવ્યું હોય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.39.3" />ત્યારે પ્રબોધક યશાયાએ આવીને હિઝિક્યાને પૂછયું, “તે લોકો શું કહે છે? તેઓ ક્યાંથી આવ્યા છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">હિઝિક્યાએ પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “તેઓ દૂર દૂરના દેશ બાબિલથી આવ્યા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.39.4" />યશાયાએ પૂછયું, “એ લોકોએ તારા મહેલમાં શું શું જોયું?”
</p>
<p style="p">હિઝિક્યાએ કહ્યું, “તે લોકોએ મારા મહેલમાં સર્વસ્વ જોયું છે. મારા ભંડારમાં એવું કશું જ નથી જેં મેં એમને ન બતાવ્યું હોય.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.39.5" />ત્યારે યશાયાએ કહ્યું, “સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાનાં વચન સાંભળ, તે કહે છે:
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.39.6" />‘એવો વખત આવી રહ્યો છે કે જ્યારે તારા મહેલમાંનુ બધું જ, તારા વડવાઓએ આજ સુધી જે કઇ ભેગું કર્યુ છે તે બધું જ, બાબિલમાં લઇ જવાશે, કશું જ બાકી નહિ રહે.’
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.39.7" />અને તારા પોતાના જ પુત્રોને લઇ જઇને બાબિલના રાજાના મહેલમાં નોકરો-ખોજાઓ બનાવવામાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.39.8" />હિઝિક્યાએ કહ્યું, “તમે યહોવાના જે વચનો સંભળાવ્યાં તે સારાં છે.” તેણે વિચાર્યુ કે, “હું જ્યાં સુધી જીવીશ ત્યાં સુધી તો શાંતિ અને સુરક્ષા કાયમ રહેશે ને!”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="40" />
<s style="s">દિલાસાના શબ્દો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.40.1" />તમારા દેવની આ વાણી છે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“દિલાસો, હા, મારા લોકોને દિલાસો આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.40.2" />યરૂશાલેમ, સાથે સૌમ્યતાથી વાત કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને જણાવો કે તેના દુ:ખના દહાડા પૂરા થયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પાપનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત પૂરું થયું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે યહોવાના હાથે તેના બધા દોષોની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બમણી સજા મેળવી છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.40.3" />કોઇનો સાદ સંભળાય છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">“મરુભૂમિમાં યહોવાને માટે રસ્તો તૈયાર કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા દેવને માટે રણમાં સીધો અને સપાટ રાજમાર્ગ બનાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.40.4" />બધી ખીણોને પૂરી દો અને બધા પર્વતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ડુંગરોને સપાટ બનાવી દો.
</q>
<q style="q1">ખરબચડી જમીનને સરખી બનાવી દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખાડા-ટેકરાને સપાટ મેદાન બનાવી દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.40.5" />પછી યહોવાનો મહિમા પ્રગટ થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમગ્ર માનવજાત તે જોવા પામશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના મુખના વચન છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.40.6" />એક અવાજ કહે છે, “સાદ પાડ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પૂછું છું, “શો સાદ પાડું?”
</q>
<q style="q1">જવાબ મળે છે, “સર્વ મનુષ્ય ઘાસ જ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેમનું સર્વ સૌઁદર્ય ખેતરના ફૂલ જેવું છે:
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.40.7" />દેવના શ્વાસથી ઘાસ ચીમળાઇ જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફૂલો કરમાઇ જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નાશવંત માનવી પણ તેના જેવો જ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.40.8" />ઘાસના તણખલાં વચન સૂકાઇ જાય છે, ફૂલો કરમાઇ જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ આપણા દેવનું વચન સદાકાળ સુધી કાયમ રહે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">તારણ: દેવના શુભ સમાચાર
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.40.9" />હે સિયોનને માટે શુભ સમાચાર લાવનારા!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું પર્વતની ટોચે ચઢી જા, મોટા સાદે પોકાર કર!
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યરૂશાલેમ માટે શુભ સમાચાર લાવનારા લોકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારાં અવાજ ઊંચા કરો, ગભરાશો નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">યહૂદીયાના નગરોને કહો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“આ તમારા દેવ છે!”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.40.10" />જુઓ, મારા માલિક યહોવા તેમના પૂરા સાર્મથ્ય સહિત પધારે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાના મજબૂત હાથથી દરેકને પોતાના શરણે આવવા માટે દબાણ કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તેની પ્રજાને વળતર તરીકે પોતાની સાથે લાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આ પ્રજા જે તેના કામનો બદલો છે, તેઓ તેની આગળ ચાલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.40.11" />તે ગોવાળની જેમ પોતાના ટોળાંનું પાલન કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાના હાથમાં હલવાનોને ઊંચકી લેશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિયાએલી ઘેટીઓને હળવે હળવે દોરી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવે દુનિયા બનાવી તે તેનો શાસનકર્તા છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.40.12" />સમુદ્રના જળને ખોબામાં લઇને કોણે માપ્યાં છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આકાશને કોણે પોતાના વેંતથી માપ્યું છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીનું તથા પર્વતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ટેકરીઓનું વજન ત્રાજવાના પલ્લામાં કોણે તોળ્યુ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.40.13" />યહોવાના આત્માનો તાગ કોણે મેળવ્યો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોણે તેમને સલાહ આપી છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.40.14" />કોણ તેમને શીખવી શકે કે સલાહ આપી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તેમને કોઇ વ્યકિત સલાહ આપે તે ઉચિત છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">શું યોગ્ય છે અને શ્રેષ્ઠ શું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જાણવા કોઇના સૂચનની શું તેમને જરૂર છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.40.15" />અરે, એમને મન પ્રજાઓ તો ડોલમાંથી ટપકતાં પાણીના ટીપા સમાન છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્રાજવાને ચોંટેલી રજ બરાબર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ટાપુઓ ધૂળના કણ જેવા હલકા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.40.16" />આખો લબાનોન પર્વત એના યજ્ઞ માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૂરતાં લાકડાં કે હોમવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પુરતાં પશુઓ પૂરાં પાડી શકે એમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.40.17" />તેમની આગળ બધી પ્રજાઓ કશી વિસાતમાં નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને મન એ બધી નહિવત, શૂન્યવત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવ શું છે લોકો કલ્પના પણ નથી કરી શકતા
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.40.18" />તો તમે દેવની તુલના શાની સાથે કરશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેમનું વર્ણન કઇ રીતે કરી શકશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.40.19" />શું મૂર્તિની સાથે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૂર્તિને તો કારીગર ઢાળે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">સોની સોનાના પતરાથી મઢે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રૂપાના હાર ચઢાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.40.20" />નિર્ધન માણસ તેના અર્પણ તરીકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લાકડું પસંદ કરે છે તે સડતું નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">પછી તે કુશળ કારીગર પાસે એવી મૂર્તિ બનાવડાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે પોતાની જગાએથી પડે નહિ કે હાલી પણ શકે નહીં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.40.21" />શું તમે અજ્ઞાત છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે સાંભળ્યું નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને અગાઉથી કહ્યું નહોતું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વીનો પાયો કોણે નાખ્યો એ તમને ખબર નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.40.22" />તે તો સૃષ્ટિના નભોમંડળ પર બિરાજમાન એવા દેવ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એની નજરમાં તો પૃથ્વી પરના લોકો ક્ષુદ્ર કીડી જેવા છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે આકાશને ચંદરવાની જેમ ફેલાવ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાનું નિવાસસ્થાન બનાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.40.23" />તે જગતનો ન્યાય કરે છે, તે પૃથ્વીના અધિપતિઓને વિસાત વિનાના કરી દે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જગતના રાજકર્તાઓને શૂન્યમાં મેળવી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="ISA.40.24" />હજી હમણાંજ માંડ રોપાયા હોય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માંડ વવાયા હોય.
</q>
<q style="q1">માંડ તેમણે ધરતીમાં મૂળ નાખ્યાં હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં તો તેમના પર તેઓ ફૂંક મારે છે અને તેઓ કરમાઇ જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાવાઝોડું આવી તેમને તરણાંની જેમ ઘસડી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="ISA.40.25" />વળી પવિત્ર યહોવા પૂછે છે, “તમે મારી સરખામણી કોની સાથે કરશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી બરોબરી કોણ કરી શકે છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="ISA.40.26" />આકાશ તરફ ષ્ટિ કરો અને વિચારો કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ બધાં ગ્રહ નક્ષત્રોને કોણે ર્સજ્યા છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">જે તેમને લશ્કરની જેમ ગણી ગણીને લઇ આવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ બધાંને નામ દઇને બોલાવે છે તેનું સાર્મથ્ય એટલું પ્રચંડ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની શકિત એટલી પ્રબળ છે કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમાંનું કોઇ પણ હાજર થયા વગર રહેતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="ISA.40.27" />તો પછી હે યાકૂબ તું શા માટે ફરિયાદ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે ઇસ્રાએલ! તું શા માટે કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“મારા માર્ગની યહોવાને ખબર નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ન્યાય માગું છું તેના પર એ ધ્યાન આપતા નથી?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="ISA.40.28" />શું તમે હજુ પણ સમજતાં નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હજુ પણ તમે એ જાણી શક્યા નથી કે
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા તે સનાતન દેવ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આ વિશાળ વિશ્વના સર્જનહાર છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">એ કદી થાકતા નથી કે હારતા નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના જ્ઞાનનો તાગ કોઇ પામી શકે તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="ISA.40.29" />તે થાકેલા તથા નિર્ગત થયેલાંને પુષ્કળ જોર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નિર્બળને બળ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="ISA.40.30" />તરુણો કદાચ થાકીને હારી જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભરયુવાનીમાં આવેલા પણ લથડીને પટકાઇ પડે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="ISA.40.31" />પરંતુ યહોવા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખનારાઓને નવું બળ મળી રહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ગરૂડના જેવી પાંખો ઉપર ઊડે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ દોડે છે પણ થાકતા નથી, તેઓ આગળ ને આગળ ધપતા રહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કદી હારતા નથી કે નથી નિર્ગત થતા.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="41" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલને દેવની સહાય
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.41.1" />યહોવા પૂછે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“સમુદ્રની પેલે પારના દેશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આગળ મૌન જાળવો, સાંભળો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારી સબળ દલીલો રજૂ કરો, સજ્જ થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પાસે આવો અને બોલો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અદાલત તમારા પ્રશ્ર્ન માટે તૈયાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.41.2" />પૂર્વમાંથી આ વ્યકિતને કોણે ઊભી કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેને પગલે પગલે વિજય મળે છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને ઊભો કરનાર બીજો કોઇ નહિ પણ યહોવા પોતે જ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમની તરવારથી તેઓ રજકણની જેમ વેરાઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એનાં ધનુષ્યથી તેઓ તરણાંની જેમ ઊડી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.41.3" />તે તેઓને પીછો પકડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રોકાયા વગર આગળ વધે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના પગ ધરતીને તો અડતા સુદ્ધાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.41.4" />આરંભથી આ બધું કરાવનાર કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અનાદિકાળથી માનવજાતના સર્વ વ્યવહારને માર્ગદર્શન આપીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ સર્વ પરાક્રમી કાર્યો કરનાર કોણ છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">એ હું યહોવા છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પહેલો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને છેલ્લો પણ હું જ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.41.5" />સમુદ્રની પેલે પાર દૂર દેશાવરના લોકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા કાર્યો જોઇને ભયભીત થઇ ગયા,
</q>
<q style="q1">પૃથ્વી એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી ધૂજી ઊઠી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા ભેગા થઇને આવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.41.6" />“દરેક જણે પોતાના પડોશીને મદદ કરી અને પોતાના ભાઇઓને ઉત્તેજન આપ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.41.7" />સુથાર સોનીને ઉત્તેજન આપે છે, હથોડીથી મૂર્તિને લીસી બનાવનાર એરણ પર ઘણ મારનારને ઉત્તેજન આપે છે, તેઓએ કહ્યું, ‘સાંધો મજબૂત થયો છે.’ તે ખીલા સાથે મૂર્તિને એવી જડે છે કે પડી ન જાય.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોવા જ આપણને બચાવી શકે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.41.8" />“પણ ઇસ્રાએલ, તું તો મારો સેવક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાકૂબ, મેં તને પસંદ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું મારા મિત્ર ઇબ્રાહિમના કુળનો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.41.9" />મેં તને ધરતીને છેડેથી ઉપાડી લીધો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દૂર દૂરના ખૂણેથી
</q>
<q style="q1">તને બોલાવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તને મારો સેવક કહ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘મેં તને પસંદ કર્યો છે,’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારો ત્યાગ કર્યો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.41.10" />તું ગભરાઇશ નહિ, કારણ કે હું તારી સાથે જ છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું નાહિંમત થઇશ નહિ, હું તારો દેવ છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તને બળ આપીશ, તને મદદ કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારા વિજયવંત જમણા બાહુ વડે તને ટેકો આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.41.11" />હવે તમારા પર ગુસ્સે થનારાં સર્વ સૈન્યો વિમાસણમાં પડ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિખેરાઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે કોઇ તમારો વિરોધ કરશે તે મૃત્યુ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.41.12" />તમારી સાથે યુદ્ધે ચડનારા સૌ કોઇ નાશ પામશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શૂન્યમાં મળી જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓની શોધ કરશો તો પણ તેઓ તમને જડશે નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇનું નામનિશાન નહિ રહે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.41.13" />હું તારો દેવ યહોવા તારો જમણો હાથ પકડું છું અને કહું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ડરીશ નહિ, હું તારી મદદમાં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.41.14" />હે ઇસ્રાએલ, તું જેમ નબળો થઇ ગયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં તું ગભરાઇશ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે હું તને મદદ કરીશ.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">હું તમારો યહોવા, તમારો તારક છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઇસ્રાએલનો પવિત્ર દેવ છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.41.15" />“જો હું તને દાણાંના ફોતરાં છૂટાં પાડવાનાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તીક્ષ્ણ દાંતાવાળા નવા સાધનમાં ફેરવી નાખીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું પર્વતોને અને ટેકરીઓને રોળીને ભૂકો કરી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.41.16" />તું તેઓને ઊપણશે; વાયુ તેઓ સર્વને ઉડાડી મૂકશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વાવાઝોડું તેઓને વિખેરી નાખશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ તું યહોવાના આનંદથી ભરપૂર થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર દેવનાં પ્રતાપે તું આનંદ અને ગૌરવ અનુભવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.41.17" />“દુ:ખી અને દરિદ્રીઓ પાણી શોધશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મળશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની જીભો તરસથી સુકાઇ જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તેઓ મને પોકાર કરશે અને હું તેમનો પોકાર સાંભળીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ, તેમનો ત્યાગ નહિ કરું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.41.18" />હું તેઓને માટે ઉજ્જડ ડુંગરોમાં નદીઓ વહેવડાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખીણોની વચ્ચે ઝરણાં આપીશ!
</q>
<q style="q1">અરણ્યમાં પાણીના સરોવરો થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સૂકી ધરતીમાં ઝરા વહેવા માંડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.41.19" />હું અરણ્યમાં દેવદાર ઉગાડીશ; બાવળ, મેંદી અને જૈતૂન ઉગાડીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી હું રણ પ્રદેશમાં ભદ્રાક્ષો, સરળ અને સરુના ઝાડ ભેગાં ઉગાડીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.41.20" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિત આ ચમત્કાર જોશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કબૂલ કરશે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર દેવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એને ઉત્પન્નકર્યુ છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવાની ખોટા દેવોને ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.41.21" />યહોવા, યાકૂબના મહાન રાજા કહે છે, “તમારા કિસ્સાની રજૂઆત કરો! તમારો ઉત્તમ બચાવ રજૂ કરો!
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="ISA.41.22" />તમારી મૂર્તિઓ બહાર લઇ આવો અને તેમને કહેવા દો કે ભવિષ્યમાં શું બનવાનું છે, ભૂતકાળના બનાવોનો અર્થ સમજાવો, જેથી અમે તેનો વિચાર કરી શકીએ.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="ISA.41.23" />હા, જો તમે દેવ હો તો આવનાર દિવસોમાં શું બનવાનું છે તે કહો! અથવા કંઇક એવું કરીને અમારા પર પ્રભાવ પાડો જે ઉપયોગી હોય અથવા નુકશાનકારક હોય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ISA.41.24" />“પણ ના, તમારી કશી વિસાત જ નથી! તમે શું ધૂળ કરવાના હતાં! જે તમને પૂજે છે તે પણ તમારા જેવો જ કેવળ ધિક્કારપાત્ર છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ફકત યહોવા જ દેવ છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="ISA.41.25" />“હું એક જણને ઉત્તરમાંથી બોલાવી લાવ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે આવ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૂર્વમાંથી તે મારા નામે બોલાવે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને કોઇ કુંભાર માટીનો ઢગલો ખૂંદતો હોય એમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે રાજકર્તાઓને ખૂંદતો આવશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="ISA.41.26" />“મારા સિવાય તમને કોણે કહ્યું હતું કે આ પ્રમાણે થશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બીજા કોણે અગાઉથી કહ્યું હતું કે આમ થવાનું છે
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી આપણે એમ કહી શકીએ કે તેઓ સાચા હતાં?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇએ તેમ કહ્યું નહોતું!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તો આના વિષે સાંભળ્યું પણ નહોતું!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="ISA.41.27" />મેં યહોવાએ જ સિયોનને શુભસમાચાર મોકલ્યા હતા કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘જુઓ! જુઓ! હું યરૂશાલેમને વધામણી કહેનાર મોકલી આપીશ.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="ISA.41.28" />પણ જ્યારે તમારી મૂર્તિઓ વચ્ચે જોયું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં કોઇ સલાહકાર નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇપણ નહિ જે હું જ્યારે સવાલ પૂછું ત્યારે જવાબ આપી શકે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં પ્રશ્ર્ન કર્યો ત્યારે તેમના એક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ દેવે પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="ISA.41.29" />તેઓ સર્વ સાચે જ વ્યર્થ છે; જુઓ, એ દેવો કેવા નકામા છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમનાં કામોમાં કોઇ ભલીવાર નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની મૂર્તિઓ તો ખાલી હવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="42" />
<s style="s">યહોવાનો સેવક
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.42.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “જુઓ, આ મારો સેવક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેનો મેં હાથ જાલ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">એ મારો પસંદ કરેલો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેના પર હું પ્રસન્ન છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">એનામાં મેં મારા આત્માનો સંચાર કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે જગતના સર્વ લોકોમાં ન્યાયની આણ વર્તાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.42.2" />તે પોતાનો સાદ ઊંચો કરશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શેરીઓમાં ચોરેચૌટે ઝઘડા કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બૂમરાણ મચાવશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.42.3" />તે ઊઝરડાયેલા બરુને ભાંગી નાખે નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે મંદ પડેલી વાટને હોલાવી નાખે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક ન્યાયની આણ વર્તાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.42.4" />તે નબળો નહિ પડે કે હારશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં સુધી સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી ઉપર ન્યાયીપણું સ્થપાશે નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યાં સુધી કિનારાના દેશો તેના કાયદાની પ્રતિક્ષા કરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા સૃષ્ટિનો શાસનકર્તા અને સર્જનહાર છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.42.5" />જે યહોવા દેવે આકાશોને ઉત્પન્ન કરીને ફેલાવ્યા છે, પૃથ્વી તથા તેમાંની વનસ્પતિથી ધરતીને વિસ્તારી છે અને એના ઉપર હરતાંફરતાં સર્વમાં શ્વાસ અને પ્રાણ પૂર્યા છે તે દેવ યહોવાની આ વાણી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.42.6" />“હું યહોવા છું, તારો હાથ હું પકડી રાખીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તારું રક્ષણ કરીશ અને મદદ કરીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે મારા લોકોની સાથે કરેલા મારા કરારને અંગત સમર્થન આપવા મેં તને તેઓ પાસે મોકલ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોને મારી તરફ દોરી લાવનાર પ્રકાશ પણ તું જ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.42.7" />તારે અંધજનોની આંખો ઉઘાડવાની છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અંધકારમાં સબડતાં કેદીઓને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારાગારમાંથી બહાર કાઢવાના છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.42.8" />“હું યહોવા છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ જ મારું નામ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું મારો મહિમા બીજા જૂઠા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવોને નહિ લેવા દઉં,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ મારી સ્તુતિ હું કંડારેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૂર્તિઓને નહિ લેવા દઉં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.42.9" />મેં આપેલી દરેક ભવિષ્યવાણી સત્ય પૂરવાર થઇ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું ફરીથી નવી ઘટનાઓની ભવિષ્યવાણી ભાખું છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે ઘટનાઓ ભવિષ્યમાં બને તે પહેલાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તે તમને જણાવું છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવની સ્તુતિ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.42.10" />યહોવા સમક્ષ નવું ગીત ગાઓ:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી તેના સ્તુતિગાનથી ગાજી ઊઠો!
</q>
<q style="q1">હે સાગરખેડુઓ અને સાગરના સૌ જીવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દરિયા કિનારાના પ્રદેશના રહેવાસીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની સ્તુતિ ગાઓ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.42.11" />અરણ્યના નગરો, હે કેદારવંશી રણવાસીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સેલાના રહેવાસીઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">આનંદથી પોકારી ઊઠો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર્વતો પરથી હર્ષનાદ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.42.12" />પશ્ચિમના દરિયાકાંઠે રહેનારા લોકો, તમે યહોવાનો મહિમા કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૌ તેમના પરાક્રમી સાર્મથ્યનાં ગીત ગાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.42.13" />યહોવા શૂરવીરની જેમ યુદ્ધને ઝનૂને ચડીને ધસી જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ગર્જના કરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">યુદ્ધનાદ જગાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના દુશ્મનોને પોતાનું પરાક્રમ બતાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવ સહનશીલતા રાખે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.42.14" />યહોવા કહે છે, “લાંબા વખત સુધી હું શાંત રહ્યો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મૌન જાળવ્યું છે અને હું ગમ ખાઇ ગયો છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે હું પ્રસવ વેદનાથી પીડાતી સ્રીની જેમ બૂમો પાડી ઊઠીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઊંડા શ્વાસ લઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.42.15" />હું પર્વતો અને ડુંગરોને ભોંયભેગા કરી નાખીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની બધી લીલોતરીને ચિમળાવી દઇશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">હું નદીઓનાં ભાઠાં બનાવી દઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તળાવોને સૂકવી નાખીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.42.16" />પછી હું આંધળાઓને દોરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવા રસ્તે ચલાવીશ જેની તમને ખબર નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમની આગળ હું અંધકારને પ્રકાશમાં ફેરવી નાખીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખરબચડા રસ્તાને સીધા બનાવી દઇશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">આ બધું હું કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કશું બાકી નહિ રાખું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.42.17" />પરંતુ જેઓ મૂર્તિઓમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને દેવ તરીકે માને છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ મોટી નિરાશામાં આવી પડશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને હાંકી કાઢવામાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલે દેવનું ના સાંભળ્યું
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.42.18" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે બહેરા માણસો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાંભળો! હે આંધળા માણસો, જુઓ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.42.19" />મારા સેવક જેવું આંધળું કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા સંદેશવાહક જેવું બહેરું કોણ છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા નક્કી કરેલા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક યહોવાના સેવક જેવું આંધળું કોણ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.42.20" />તે જુએ છે ઘણું પણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કંઇ યાદ રાખતો નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના કાન ખુલ્લા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે કંઇ સાંભળતો નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.42.21" />યહોવાએ પોતાના નિયમ શાસ્ત્રને મહાન અને સાચે જ મહિમાવંત બનાવ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતે ન્યાયી છે તે આખા જગતને દર્શાવવા તેમણે તેનું આયોજન કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.42.22" />તેમ છતાં એ પ્રજા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવી નીકળી કે લૂંટાઇ ગઇ,
</q>
<q style="q1">એનું બધું હરાઇ ગયું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ બધા ફસાઇ ગયા છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને કારાગારમાં પૂરાયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને છોડાવનાર કોઇ નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ લૂંટાઇ ગયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“છતાં પાછું આપો” કહેનાર પણ કોઇ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.42.23" />તમારામાંથી કોઇ મારી વાત ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે એમ છે? કોણે ઇસ્રાએલીઓને લૂંટારાઓને સોંપી દીધા! શું એ યહોવા નહોતા? તેમણે યહોવાનો ગુનો કર્યો હતો, તેઓ તેમના માગેર્ જવા માગતા નહોતા, તેના નિયમોનું પાલન કરવાની ના પાડતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ISA.42.24" />કોણે યાકૂબને લૂંટારાઓને સુપ્રત કર્યો છે, તથા ઇસ્રાએલને લૂંટનારાઓને સ્વાધીન કર્યો છે? જે યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ આપણે પાપ કર્યુ છે તેમણે શું એમ કર્યુ નથી? તે લોકો તેમના માગેર્ ચાલવા રાજી નહોતા. તેથી તેમણે તેમના નિયમશાસ્ત્રને પણ ધ્યાનમાં લીધા નહિ,
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ISA.42.25" />માટે તેમણે એમના ઉપર પોતાનો ક્રોધાગ્નિ વરસાવ્યો અને યુદ્ધની આફત ઉતારી, તેઓ અગ્નિની જવાળાઓથી ઘેરાઇ ગયા હતા છતાં સમજ્યા નહિ, દાઝયા હતા છતાં ચેત્યા નહીઁ અને બળી મર્યા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="43" />
<s style="s">યહોવાનું અભયદાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.43.1" />પણ હવે, હે યાકૂબ તારો સર્જનહાર અને ઇસ્રાએલના ઘડવૈયા યહોવા તને કહે છે, “ડરીશ નહિ, હું તારો ઉદ્ધાર કરીશ, મેં તને તારું નામ દઇને બોલાવ્યો છે અને તું મારો પોતાનો છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ISA.43.2" />જ્યારે તું અગાધ જળમાં થઇને પસાર થતો હશે, ત્યારે હું તારી સાથે રહીશ, તું નદીમાં થઇને જતો હશે, ત્યારે તેના વહેણ તને તાણી નહિ લઇ જાય, અગ્નિમાં થઇને તું ચાલશે તો તું દાઝી નહિ જાય; જવાળાઓ તને બાળશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ISA.43.3" />કારણ કે હું યહોવા તારો દેવ છું, હું ઇસ્રાએલનો પવિત્ર યહોવા છું, હું ઇસ્રાએલનો પવિત્ર યહોવા તારો ઉદ્ધારક છું, તારી મુકિતના બદલામાં મેં મિસર આપ્યો છે, તારે બદલે કૂશ તથા સબા આપ્યાં છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ISA.43.4" />મેં તારે માટે થઇને બીજા બધાં લોકોને વિનિયોગ કર્યો છે, કારણ કે મારી ષ્ટિમાં તું મૂલ્યવાન અને સન્માનપાત્ર છે, મેં તારા પર પ્રીતિ કરી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.43.5" />“તું ડરીશ નહિ, હું તારી સાથે છું. હું તારા લોકોને પૂર્વમાંથી અને પશ્ચિમમાંથી લઇ આવી ઘરભેગા કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.43.6" />હું ઉત્તરને કહીશ, તેમને જવા દે અને દક્ષિણને કહીશ, તેમને રોકતો નહિ. મારા પુત્ર-પુત્રીઓને દૂર દૂરથી ઠેઠ ધરતીને છેડેથી પાછા લાવો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.43.7" />એ બધાં મારે નામે ઓળખાય છે, એમને બધાંને મેં મારો મહિમા ગાવા માટે ર્સજ્યા છે, ઘડ્યા છે, નિર્માણ કર્યા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.43.8" />યહોવા કહે છે, “આ પ્રજા, જે આંખો હોવા છતાં દેખતી નથી, કાનો હોવા છતાં સાંભળતી નથી, તેને સામે લાવો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ISA.43.9" />બધી પ્રજાઓ ભેગી થઇ જાઓ. તેમના દેવોમાંથી આ બધું પહેલેથી કહ્યું હતું, અથવા જે ઘટનાઓ બની ચૂકી છે તેની આગાહી કરી હતી! તેઓ પોતાનો દાવો પૂરવાર કરવા સાક્ષીઓ રજૂ કરે છે, જેઓ એમની વાત સાંભળીને કહે કે, આ સત્ય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.43.10" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તું મારો સાક્ષી છે, તું મારો સેવક છે, હું જેને મેં પસંદ કર્યો છે, જેથી તું જાણી શકે અને મારા પર વિશ્વાસ મૂકી શકે અને સમજી શકે કે ફકત હું જ દેવ છું.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ISA.43.11" />હું, હું જ યહોવા છું; અને મારા સિવાય કોઇ તમારો ઉદ્ધાર કરી શકે તેમ નથી;
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ISA.43.12" />આગાહી કરનાર હું જ છું, ઉદ્ધારક હું જ છું, નહિ કે તમારામાંનો કોઇ વિધમીર્ દેવ, તમે મારા સાક્ષી છો અને હું જ દેવ છું” યહોવા કહે છે,
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<v id="13" bcv="ISA.43.13" />“હું જ દેવ છું, છેક સૃષ્ટિના સર્જન પહેલાના કાળથી હું જ દેવ છું. મારા હાથમાંથી કોઇ છોડાવી શકે તેમ નથી; હું જે કાઇઁ કરું છું તેને કોઇ રોકી શકતું નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.43.14" />યહોવા, તમારો તારક, ઇસ્રાએલનો પવિત્ર દેવ કહે છે: “તમારી માટે હું બાબિલ સામે લશ્કર મોકલીશ, તેના કારાવાસના સળિયાઓને હું ભોય પર ઢાળી દઇશ અને તેમનો વિજયનાદ આક્રંદમાં ફેરવાઇ જશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ISA.43.15" />હું યહોવા છું, તમારો પરમપવિત્ર દેવ છું, ઇસ્રાએલનો સર્જનહાર અને તમારો રાજા છું.”
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<s style="s">યહોવા ફરી પોતાના લોકોને બચાવશે
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.43.16" />ભૂતકાળમાં યહોવાએ સમુદ્રમાં થઇને માર્ગ કર્યો હતો, ધસમસતા જળમાં રસ્તો કર્યો હતો;
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<v id="17" bcv="ISA.43.17" />“તે રથને અને ઘોડાને, અને સમગ્ર યોદ્ધાઓના સૈન્યને બહાર દોરી ગયો. બધાજ ઢળી પડ્યા, પાછા બેઠા થવા પામ્યા નહિ, તેઓ સૌ ઓલવાઇ ગયા, તેઓ વાટની જેમ ઓલવાઇ ગયા.
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<v id="18" bcv="ISA.43.18" />પરંતુ હવે તે સર્વ ભૂતકાળનું સ્મરણ કરવાની જરૂર નથી. પહેલાં મેં જે કર્યુ હતું તેનો વિચાર ન કરો.
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<v id="19" bcv="ISA.43.19" />કારણ કે હું એક નવું કામ કરવાનો છું. જુઓ, મેં તેમની શરૂઆત કરી દીધી છે! શું તમે જોઇ શકતા નથી? મારા લોકો માટે અરણ્યમાં હું માર્ગ તૈયાર કરીશ અને રાનમાં તેઓને માટે નદીઓ ઉત્પન્ન કરીશ!
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<v id="20" bcv="ISA.43.20" />જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ, વરુઓ અને શાહમૃગો સુદ્ધાં મને માન આપશે, કારણ, હું મરુભૂમિમાં પાણી પૂરું પાડીશ. સૂકા રણમાં નદીઓ વહેવડાવીશ, જેથી મારા પસંદ કરેલા લોકો પાણી પીવા પામે.
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<v id="21" bcv="ISA.43.21" />એ લોકોને મેં મારે માટે બનાવ્યા છે, તેથી તેઓ મારી સ્તુતિ જાહેર કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.43.22" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, તમે મને વિનંતી કરતાં નથી, તમે તો મારાથી કંટાળી ગયા છો!
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<v id="23" bcv="ISA.43.23" />તમે મને દહનાર્પણ તરીકે ઘેટાંને અર્પણ કર્યા નથી; તમે યજ્ઞોથી મારો આદર કર્યો નથી. મેં કંઇ બહુ ભારરુંપ યજ્ઞો માગ્યા નહોતા કે તમને મારા માટે ધૂપ પેટાવવા માટે દબાણ કર્યું નહોતું.
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<v id="24" bcv="ISA.43.24" />તમે કઇં મારે માટે ધૂપસળી પાછળ પૈસા ર્ખચ્યા નથી કે મને બલિદાનોની ચરબીથી તૃપ્ત કર્યો, તમે તો કેવળ પાપ અર્પણ કર્યા છે, અને તમારા એ અન્યાયોથી હું થાકી ગયો છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ISA.43.25" />“હા, હું એ જ છું, હું એકલો જ મારા પોતાના નામની માટે તમારાં સર્વ પાપ ભૂંસી નાખું છું અને ફરીથી કદી હું તેનું સ્મરણ કરતો નથી.
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<v id="26" bcv="ISA.43.26" />ઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, આપણે સાથે ન્યાયાલયમાં જઇએ, મારા પરનો તમારો આરોપ રજૂ કરો, તમારી દલીલો રજૂ કરીને તમારી નિદોર્ષતા સાબિત કરો.
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<v id="27" bcv="ISA.43.27" />તમારા આદી પુરુષે મારી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કર્યુ હતું. તમારા પ્રબોધકો અને યાજકોએ મારી સામે બળવો કર્યો હતો,
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<v id="28" bcv="ISA.43.28" />આ કારણે જ મેં તમારા અભિષિકત સરદારોને ષ્ટ કર્યા છે, ને યાકૂબ શાપરૂપ તથા ઇસ્રાએલને નિંદાપાત્ર કર્યા છે, અને તેમને વિનાશને માગેર્ મોકલ્યા છે.”
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<c id="44" />
<s style="s">મૂર્તિપૂજા પર પ્રહાર - દેવ માત્ર એક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.44.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે યાકૂબ, મારા સેવક, ઇસ્રાએલ, મારા પસંદ કરેલા, મને સાંભળ.
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<v id="2" bcv="ISA.44.2" />હું જ તારો સર્જનહાર છું, જ્યારથી તું જનમ્યો હતો ત્યારથી હું તને મદદ કરી રહ્યો છું. હે યાકૂબ, મારા સેવક, મારા પસંદ કરાયેલા યશુરૂન, હું તને આ કહું છું તું ભયભીત થઇશ નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.44.3" />“હું તમારી તરસ છીપાવવા ભૂમિ પર પુષ્કળ પાણી વરસાવીશ. સૂકી ધરતી પર ઝરણાં વહાવીશ. તારી સંતતિ ઉપર હું મારી શકિત ઉતારીશ. તારા વંશજો પર મારા આશીર્વાદ વરસાવીશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="ISA.44.4" />તેઓ વહેતાં ઝરણાંની ધારે પાણીમાં ઊગી નીકળતા ઘાસની જેમ તથા નદી કાંઠે ઊગી નીકળતા નેતરના ઝાડોની જેમ વૃદ્ધિ પામશે,
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.44.5" />“તેથી તેઓ બધા પોતાને યહોવાના સેવક અને યાકૂબના વંશજો તરીકે ઓળખાવવામાં ગૌરવ લેશે. તેઓ કહેશે કે તેઓ યહોવાની માલિકીના છે અને ‘ઇસ્રાએલીઓ’ તરીકે ઓળખાય.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.44.6" />ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા અને તેના ઉદ્ધારક સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે: “હું જ આદિ છું અને હું જ અંત છું; મારા સિવાય કોઇ બીજો દેવ નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="ISA.44.7" />આવનાર ભવિષ્યમાં શું બનશે તે વિષે તમને મારા સિવાય કોણ કહી શકે છે? જો કોઇ કહી શકે તેમ હોય તો તેઓને કહેવા દો અને તેઓનું પરાક્રમ સાબિત કરવા દો. પ્રાચીનકાળથી જે પ્રમાણે મેં કર્યુ છે તેમ તેઓને કરવા દો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.44.8" />“ઓ મારા લોકો, ગભરાશો નહિ, ડરશો નહિ, પ્રાચીનકાળથી મેં એ બધું કહ્યું નથી? મેં જાહેર નથી કર્યુ? તમે મારા સાક્ષી છો. મારા સિવાય અન્ય કોઇ દેવ છે? મારા સિવાય બીજો કોઇ ખડક નથી.”
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<s style="s">ખોટાં દેવો નકામાં છે
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.44.9" />જેઓ મૂર્તિ બનાવે છે તે બધા કેવા તુચ્છ છે? તેઓ જેને મોંધીમૂલી ગણે છે તે મૂર્તિઓ કશા કામની નથી, તેમના સાક્ષીઓ કંઇ દેખતા નથી અને જાણતાં કંઇ નથી કે સાક્ષી આપી શકે. એટલે આખરે એમની ફજેતી થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.44.10" />કોણ દેવની મૂર્તિ બનાવશે જે તેને સહેજ પણ સહાય કરી શકતી નથી?
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<v id="11" bcv="ISA.44.11" />જરા થોભો અને જુઓ આ સર્વ મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરનારા ભેગા થશે અને તેમની ફજેતી થશે. અને મૂર્તિઓને ઘડનારા સર્વ કારીગરો પણ માણસો જ છે. તેમને ભેગા થઇને મારી સામે ઊભા તો રહેવા દો; બધા ધ્રુજી ઊઠશે અને ફજેત થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.44.12" />લુહાર ધાતુને અગ્નિમાં તપાવીને હથોડાથી ટીપી ટીપીને ધાટ આપે છે. પોતાના બળવાન બાહુ વડે ઘડતાં ઘડતાં તે ભૂખ્યો થાય છે અને થાકી જાય છે. ને તરસથી પાણી પીધા વિના નબળો અને નિર્ગત થઇ જાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.44.13" />સુથાર લાકડા પર દોરી છાંટે છે, ચાકથી રૂપરેખા દોરે છે, ફરસીથી કોતરી કાઢે છે, કંપાસથી માપ લે છે, તેને માણસોનો આકાર આપે છે, પછી સુંદર મૂર્તિ બનાવી મંદિરમાં સ્થાપે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.44.14" />માણસ જઇને એરેજવૃક્ષને કાપે છે, અથવા જંગલમાંથી બીજું કોઇ વૃક્ષ પસંદ કરે છે, અથવા દેવદારનો રોપો રોપે છે જે વરસાદ પડતાં મોટો થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.44.15" />પછી તે લાકડાનો કેટલોક ભાગ બળતણ તરીકે પોતાને હૂંફાળા બનાવવા માટે વાપરે છે અને તેના પર રોટલી શેકે છે. બાકી રહેલા લાકડામાંથી તે પોતાને માટે દેવ બનાવે છે-લોકો ભકિત કરી શકે માટે દેવ બનાવે છે! પગે લાગવા માટે તે મૂર્તિઓ ઘડે છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="ISA.44.16" />અડધાં લાકડાને તે ઇંધણ તરીકે વાપરે છે, તેના પર તે માંસ શેકે છે અને તૃપ્ત થાય ત્યાં સુધી ખાય છે, પોતાની જાતને તપાવે છે અને કહે છે, “વાહ! કેવું સરસ તાપણું છે! હવે હૂંફ વળી.”
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<v id="17" bcv="ISA.44.17" />બાકીના ભાગમાંથી તે કોઇ દેવની મૂર્તિ બનાવે છે, તેને પગે લાગીને તેની પૂજા કરે છે, તે તેની પ્રાર્થના કરે છે અને કહે છે, “મારો ઉદ્ધાર કરો, કારણ તમે મારા દેવ છો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.44.18" />એ લોકો કશું જાણતા નથી કે સમજતા નથી. એમની આંખો પર અને ચિત્ત પર અજ્ઞાનના પડ જામ્યા છે એટલે એ લોકો નથી કશું જોઇ શકતા કે, નથી કશું સમજી શકતા.
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<v id="19" bcv="ISA.44.19" />એવો માણસ કદી વિચાર કરતો નથી, “આ તો લાકડાંનો ટુકડો છે! મેં તેને અગ્નિમાં બાળીને તાપણી કરી છે. અને રોટલી તથા માંસ શેકવા તેનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો છે, તો પછી બાકી રહેલું લાકડું તેનો દેવ કેવી રીતે બની શકે? તો શું મારે ફકત આ લાકડાના ટુકડા આગળ નમવું જોઇએ?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.44.20" />પોતાને મૂર્ખ બનાવનાર મનુષ્ય રાખ ખાવાનું ચાલુ રાખે છે; તેના મિત ચિત્તે તેને ભમાવ્યો છે; તેનો ઉદ્ધાર થાય એમ નથી, કારણ, તે એટલું પણ સમજતો નથી કે, “મારા જમણા હાથમાં છે એ તો જૂઠી વસ્તુ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સાચા યહોવા દેવ ઇસ્રાએલના મદદગાર છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.44.21" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે યાકૂબ, આટલી વાતનું ધ્યાન રાખજે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે ઇસ્રાએલ, તું મારો સેવક છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તને ઉત્પન્ન કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તને મદદ કરવાનું ક્યારેય ભૂલી જઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.44.22" />મેં તારા અપરાધોને વાદળની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ હઠાવી દીધા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા પાપોને ધુમ્મસની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ વિખેરી નાખ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું મારી પાસે પાછો આવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ હું તારો ઉપાસક છું.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.44.23" />ઓ આકાશ, હર્ષના પોકાર કરો, કારણ, આ કાર્ય યહોવાનું છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આનંદના લલકાર કરો, ઓ પૃથ્વીના ઊંડાણો!
</q>
<q style="q1">આનંદના ગીત ગાઓ, હે પર્વતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જંગલો અને જંગલના વૃક્ષો!
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, યહોવાએ યાકૂબનો ઉદ્ધાર કરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલ દ્વારા પોતાનો મહિમા પ્રગટ કર્યો છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="ISA.44.24" />તને ઘડનારા, તારા મુકિતદાતા યહોવા એમ કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“સર્વનો સર્જનહાર હું યહોવા છું;
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં એકલાએ આકાશોને વિસ્તાર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં જ્યારે આ પૃથ્વીને પાથરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મારી મદદમાં કોણ હતું?”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ISA.44.25" />હું દંભી પ્રબોધકોને જુઠ્ઠા પાડું છું અને તેઓ જે બનાવો વિષે કહે છે તેના કરતાં જુદા જ બનાવો દઇને હું તેઓને ખોટા પાડું છું. હું જ્ઞાનીઓના વચન પાછા ખેંચાવું છું અને તેમના જ્ઞાનને મૂર્ખાઇ ઠરાવું છું.
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<v id="26" bcv="ISA.44.26" />પણ મારા સેવકોનાં વચનને હું સાચાં ઠરાવું છું. અને મારા સંદેશાવાહકો મારફતે પ્રગટકરેલા ઉદ્દેશો પાર પાડું છું.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યરૂશાલેમને હું કહું છું, “તારે ત્યાં ફરી વસ્તી થશે,”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહૂદાના શહેરોને હું કહું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તમે ફરી બંધાશો, તમારાં ખંડેરો હું ફરી ઉભા કરીશ.”
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="ISA.44.27" />સાગરને હું કહું છું, “તું સુકાઇ જા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી નદીઓને હું સૂકવી નાખીશ.”
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="ISA.44.28" />હું કોરેશને કહું છું, “તું તો મારો મોકલેલો પ્રજાનો પાલક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું મારા બધા મનોરથો પૂર્ણ કરશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તું યરૂશાલેમને ફરી બાંધવાનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મંદિરનો પાયો નાખવાનો આદેશ આપશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="45" />
<s style="s">યહોવા- એક માત્ર સાચા દેવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.45.1" />પોતાના અભિષિકત કોરેશને યહોવા આ મુજબ કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મેં તારો જમણો હાથ પકડ્યો છે; દેશદેશના લોકોને હું તારી આગળ નમાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાજાઓને તેમનો રાજવી ઝભ્ભો ઉતરાવી દઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી આગળ બધાં નગરોના દરવાજા ખૂલી જશે, કોઇ દરવાજો બંધ નહિ રહે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.45.2" />“કોરેશ, હું તારી આગળ જઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર્વતોને સપાટ કરીશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને પિત્તળના દરવાજાઓને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા લોખંડની ભૂંગળોને ભાંગી નાખીશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.45.3" />અને હું તને અંધારા ભોંયરામાં ભંડારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાખેલા ગુપ્ત ખજાના આપીશ:
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તને ખાતરી થશે કે તને નામ દઇને બોલાવનાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું યહોવા છું. ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ છું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.45.4" />મારા સેવક યાકૂબને લીધે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પસંદ કરાયેલ સેવક ઇસ્રાએલ માટે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તને નામ દઇને બોલાવ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું મને ઓળખતો નથી છતાં મેં તને અટક આપી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.45.5" />હું જ યહોવા છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા સિવાય બીજો દેવ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું મને ઓળખતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં હું તને શસ્રોથી સજ્જ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.45.6" />અને પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધી સર્વ પ્રજાઓ જાણશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે બીજો કોઇ દેવ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું યહોવા છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું એકલો જ દેવ છું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.45.7" />હું જ પ્રકાશનો સર્જક છું અને અંધકારનો ઉત્પાદક છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુખદુ:ખ એ મારું સર્જન છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું યહોવા આ બધું કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.45.8" />“હે આકાશો, તમે ઉપરથી વરસો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે વાદળાંઓ, તમે ન્યાયીપણાની વૃષ્ટિ કરો;
</q>
<q style="q1">ધરતી ઊઘડી જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેમાંથી તારણ ઉદ્ભવો;
</q>
<q style="q1">ન્યાયના ફૂલો ખીલી ઊઠો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું યહોવા આ બધું કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવ સૃષ્ટિનું નિયંત્રણ કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.45.9" />“જે માણસ પોતાના સર્જનહારની સામે દલીલ કરે છે તેને અફસોસ! શું માટીના ઠીંકરાં જેવો માણસ પોતાના ઘડનારની સાથે દલીલમાં ઊતરે?
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ISA.45.10" />શું માટી કુંભારને કહી શકે, ‘તું શું બનાવે છે?’ અથવા ‘તારા બનાવેલા કૂંજાને હાથા નથી?’ જે બાપને પૂછે કે, તેઁ કોને જન્મ આપ્યો છે? અને સ્ત્રીને કહે કે, ‘તું કોને જન્મ આપવા કષ્ટાય છે, તેને અફસોસ!’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.45.11" />યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્રતમ સૃષ્ટા કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મારા બાળકો વિષે પ્રશ્ર્ન પૂછવાનો તને શો અધિકાર છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પોતાના હાથે કરેલા કાર્યો વિષે મને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરનાર તમે કોણ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.45.12" />મેં એકલાએ જ આ પૃથ્વીનું સર્જન કર્યુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વી પર માનવનું સર્જન કર્યુ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં મારા પોતાને હાથે જ આકાશને ફેલાવ્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી આજ્ઞાથી જ નક્ષત્રમંડળ ચાલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.45.13" />મેં જ કોરેશને વિજયને માટે ઊભો કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું એની આગળ માગોર્ સીધા અને સપાટ કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">એ મારું નગર પુન:સ્થાપિત કરશે અને બંદીવાન થયેલા મારા લોકોને છોડાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ કરવામાં સારો બદલો મેળવવાની તે ઇચ્છા રાખશે નહિ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.45.14" />યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલને આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“મિસરની સંપતિ અને કૂશના વેપારીઓ
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમજ સબાના કદાવર માણસો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે શરણે આવશે અને તારા દાસ બનશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ આવીને સાંકળે જકડાઇને તારી પાછળ પાછળ ચાલશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તને પ્રણામ કરીને તારી આગળ અરજ કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને કહેશે, ‘દેવ તારી સાથે જ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના સિવાય બીજો કોઇ દેવ નથી.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.45.15" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, હે તારક, તમે સાચે જ રહસ્યમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અકળ રીતે કાર્ય કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.45.16" />મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરનારાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બનાવનારાઓ સર્વ નિરાશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લજ્જિત થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.45.17" />પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલને યહોવાએ ઉગારી લીધું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સદાને માટે ઉગારી લીધું છે, તેનો ફજેતો કદી નહિ થાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને કદી શરમાવું નહિ પડે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.45.18" />યહોવા આકાશનો સર્જનહાર છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે દેવ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે આ પૃથ્વીની રચના કરી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘડી છે અને સ્થિર કરીને સ્થાપી છે
</q>
<q style="q1">એને સૂની રહેવા માટે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ વસવા માટે તેણે બનાવી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા કહે છે, “હું યહોવા છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા સિવાય બીજું કોઇ નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.45.19" />હું કંઇ અંધકારના પ્રદેશના કોઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખૂણામાંથી ગુપ્ત રીતે બોલ્યો નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">હું જાહેરમાં કહું છું:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“મેં ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને એમ નહોતું કહ્યું કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘મને શૂન્યમાં શોધજો.’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું યહોવા સાચું અને ચોખ્ખેચોખ્ખું બોલું છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા સિદ્ધ કરે છે કે તેઓ જ દેવ છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.45.20" />યહોવા કહે છે, “યુદ્ધમાંથી બચી ગયેલી તમે દેશવિદેશની સર્વ પ્રજાઓ એકઠી થઇને આવો. જેઓ લાકડાની મૂર્તિઓને ઉપાડીને ફેરવે છે, તારી શકે એમ નથી એવા દેવની જેઓ પૂજા કરે છે તેઓ મૂરખ છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ISA.45.21" />આગળ આવો અને તમારો દાવો રજૂ કરો; ભેગા મળીને નક્કી કરો.
</p>
<p style="p">“ભૂતકાળમાં કોણે આ ભવિષ્ય ભાખ્યું હતું? કોણે આ પહેલાથી કહ્યું હતું? શું હું એ યહોવા નહોતો? મારા સિવાય બીજો કોઇ દેવ નથી, જે વિજયવંત અને ઉદ્ધાર કરવા માટે સમર્થ હોય.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="ISA.45.22" />ઉદ્ધારને માટે પૃથ્વીની સર્વ પ્રજાઓને મારા તરફ જોવા દો! કારણ કે હું દેવ છું: અને મારા સિવાય બીજો કોઇ નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.45.23" />“મેં મારી જાત પર સમ લીધાં છે, મેં વચન આપ્યું છે, હું તેને તોડીશ નહિ. કારણ કે તે સત્ય છે કે પૃથ્વીની સર્વ પ્રજાઓ મારી સમક્ષ ઘૂંટણિયે પડશે અને મારા નામ પ્રત્યેની વફાદારી પોતાની જીભેજ કબૂલ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ISA.45.24" />મારા વિષે લોકો જાહેર કરશે, યહોવા મારું સાર્મથ્ય અને ન્યાયીપણું છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને જેઓ તેમના પ્રત્યે ક્રોધિત થયેલા છે, તેઓ બધા તેમની પાસે આવશે અને ફજેત થશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ISA.45.25" />ઇસ્રાએલની સર્વ પેઢીઓ યહોવામાં ન્યાયી ઠરશે અને વિજય પામી જયજયકાર કરશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="46" />
<s style="s">બાબિલના જૂઠા દેવો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.46.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “બેલને નમાવી દીધું છે,નબો વિરોધ કરે છે, તેમની મૂર્તિઓ ઢોરો પર લાદવામાં આવી છે, જે મૂર્તિઓને તમે માથે લઇને ફરતા હતા તે અત્યારે થાકેલાં જનાવરો પર ભારરૂપે લદાઇ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.46.2" />“શું આથી ઉત્તમ તેઓ કશું જ કરી શકતા નથી? તેઓ બધા વાંકા વળે છે, તેઓ નમી જાય છે; તેઓ ભારથી પોતાને બચાવી શકતા નથી. વળી તેઓ પોતે બંદીવાન થયા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.46.3" />“હે યાકૂબના વંશજો, ઇસ્રાએલના બાકી રહેલા સર્વ લોકો મારું કહ્યું સાંભળો: મેં તમારું સર્જન કર્યુ છે અને તમારો જન્મ થયો ત્યારથી મેં તમારી સંભાળ રાખી છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ISA.46.4" />તમે વૃદ્ધ થશો ત્યારે પણ હું એ જ રહેવાનો છું. તમારા વાળ ધોળા થતા સુધી હું તમને ઉપાડીશ. મેં તમને ઉત્પન્ન કર્યા છે અને હું તમારી સંભાળ રાખીશ. હું તમને ઊંચકી રાખીશ અને હું તમારો ઉદ્ધારક થઇશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.46.5" />“આ કોની સાથે તમે મારી તુલના કરશો? કોણ મારો બરોબરિયો છે? મારા જેવો બીજો કોણ છે?
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.46.6" />એવા પણ કેટલાક લોકો છે, જેઓ કોથળીમાંથી સોનું ઠાલવે છે અને ચાંદી ત્રાજવે તોળે છે અને સોનીને રોકે છે, તે તેમાંથી મૂર્તિ ઘડે છે અને એ લોકો તેને પગે લાગી તેની પૂજા કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.46.7" />તેઓ તેને પોતાના ખભે ઉપાડીને ફેરવે છે અને તેને સ્થાને તેની સ્થાપના કરે છે. તે ત્યાં જ ઊભી રહે છે, ત્યાંથી તે કદી ખસી શકતી નથી. કોઇ તેને ઘા નાખે તો એ ઉત્તર આપતી નથી, કે નથી તેને સંકટમાંથી ઉગારી શકતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.46.8" />“હે પાપી લોકો, આ યાદ કરો! ફરી વિચાર કરો અને તમારી સ્મૃતિ તાજી કરો!
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ISA.46.9" />ભૂતકાળની જુની વાતોનું સ્મરણ કરો! એક માત્ર હું જ દેવ છું, બીજો કોઇ નથી, એક માત્ર હું જ દેવ છું, મારા સમાન કોઇ નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.46.10" />“ભવિષ્યમાં જે બનવાનું છે તે વિષે તમને કોણ કહી શકે? મારી ઇચ્છા પ્રમાણે જ બધું બનશે કારણ કે મને જેમ ગમે તેમ હું કરું છું.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ISA.46.11" />હું પૂર્વમાંથી એક શકરાબાજને- દૂરદૂરના દેશમાંથી એક માણસને બોલાવું છું, જે મારી યોજના પાર ઉતારશે. આજે હું જે બોલ્યો છું તે બનશે, મારી ઇચ્છાઓને હું પાર પાડીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.46.12" />“હે દુષ્ટ હઠીલા માણસો, મારું કહ્યું ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો!
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ISA.46.13" />તમે માનો છો કે વિજય દૂર છે, પણ હું વિજય નજીક લાવી રહ્યો છું. એ દૂર નથી. હું જે મુકિત લાવનાર છું તેમા હવે વિલંબ થાય એમ નથી. હું સિયોનને મુકત કરીશ, અને મારા ગૌરવ સમા યરૂશાલેમ તથા ઇસ્રાએલને હું પુન:સ્થાપિત કરીશ.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="47" />
<s style="s">બાબિલ વિષે ચુકાદો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.47.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે અપરાજીત બાબિલ નગરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું નીચે ઉતર અને ધૂળમાં બેસ.
</q>
<q style="q1">રાજ્યાસન ઉપરથી ઊતરીને ભોંય પર બેસ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું કુંવારી કન્યા જેવી વણજીતાયેલી નગરી હતી, પણ હવે તું સુંવાળી કે કોમળ રહી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.47.2" />ઘંટી લઇને તારે લોટ દળવો પડશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બુરખો કાઢી નાખી,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઘાઘરો ઊંચો ખોસી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પગ ઉઘાડા કરીને નદીનહેરો ઓળંગવી પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.47.3" />તારું શરીર ઉઘાડું થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું લજવાશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તારા ઉપર વૈર લઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું કોઇને પણ છોડીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.47.4" />“‘ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર દેવ,’ જેમનું નામ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આપણને બંધનાવસ્થામાંથી છોડાવશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.47.5" />“હે બાબિલની પ્રજા, અંધારા ખૂણામાં મૂંગી બેસી રહે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ ‘હવે કોઇ તને રાષ્ટોની મહારાણી કહેનાર નથી.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.47.6" />“કારણ કે બાબિલ, હું મારા ઇસ્રાએલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો ઉપર રોષે ભરાયો હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં તેમનું અપમાન કર્યુ હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેમને તારા હાથમાં સોંપ્યા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ તેઁ તેમના પ્રત્યે દયા ન બતાવી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઁ વૃદ્ધો ઉપર પણ તારી ઝૂંસરીનો ભાર નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.47.7" />તેં કહ્યું, ‘હું સદાસર્વદા સમ્રાજ્ઞી રહીશ.’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં કદી આ બધું ધ્યાનમાં ન લીધું
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એનું પરિણામ શું આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એનો કદી વિચાર ન કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.47.8" />તું, એશઆરામની પ્રેમી, જે સુરક્ષામાં વસે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ પ્રજાઓમાં પરાક્રમી હોવાની મોટાઇ કરનાર,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા પાપ સંબંધી મારો ન્યાયચુકાદો સાંભળ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું કહે છે, ‘મારાથી વધારે મહાન કોઇ નથી!
</q>
<q style="q1">મને કદી વૈધવ્ય આવવાનું નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે હું કદી સંતાનોના નુકશાન સહન કરવાનો નથી.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.47.9" />સારું, હવે આ સાંભળીલે, એ બે આફતો એક દિવસે એક ક્ષણમાં તારે માથે આવી પડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા બધા કામણટૂમણ અને બધા જાદુમંત્રો છતાં સંતાનનો વિયોગ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વૈધવ્ય પૂરેપૂરાં તારે વેઠવા પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.47.10" />તારી દુષ્ટતામાં સુરક્ષિત રહીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં માન્યું હતું, ‘કોઇ જોનાર નથી.’
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી હોશિયારી અને તારી લુચ્ચાઇ તને ગેરરસ્તે દોરી ગઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેં માન્યું કે, ‘હું જ માત્ર છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા સિવાય બીજું કોઇ નથી.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.47.11" />“તેથી અચાનક જ તારા પર એવી આફત આવી પડશે જેને તું નિવારી નહિ શકે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પર એવી વિપત્તિ આવશે જેને તું કોઇ મંત્રતંત્રથી દૂર નહિ કરી શકે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી કલ્પનામાં પણ નહિ હોય એટલી ખરાબ તે હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.47.12" />બાળપણથી જાદુમંત્ર અને કામણટૂમણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું વાપરતી આવી છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને વળગી રહે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કદાચ તે કામ આવી શકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું શત્રુઓને ડરાવી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.47.13" />તને જાતજાતની સલાહો મળશે છતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું કશું ચાલે તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા ભવિષ્યવેત્તાઓ અને જ્યોતિષીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ તારા ભવિષ્યની આગાહી કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલે તને મદદ કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.47.14" />જુઓ, તેઓ અગ્નિમાં બાળી નાખવામાં આવતા સૂકા ઘાસ જેવા નકામા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોતાનો પણ બચાવ કરી શકે તેમ નથી!
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તાપવા લાયક અંગારા કે પાસે બેસવા લાયક સગડી નહિ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તરફથી તને સહેજ પણ સહાય મળશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.47.15" />બાળપણથી તારી સાથે વહેવાર રાખતા જ્યોતિષીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સલાહકારો પોતપોતાના રસ્તે ચાલ્યા જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ તને બચાવવા કે સહાય કરવા રહેશે નહિં.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="48" />
<s style="s">યહોવાના હાથમાં ભાવિ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.48.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે યાકૂબના વંશજો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે સાંભળો, તમે ઇસ્રાએલને નામે ઓળખાઓ છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે યહૂદાના ફરજંદો છો:
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે યહોવાના નામે સમ ખાઓ છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવની ભકિત કરવાનો દાવો કરો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ સાચેસાચ કે સાચી શ્રદ્ધાથી નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.48.2" />“અને છતાં તમે પોતાને પવિત્ર નગરીના નાગરિક કહેવડાવો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેનું નામ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવા ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ પર આધાર રાખો છો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.48.3" />યહોવા કહે છે, “ભૂતકાળના બનાવોની મેં અગાઉથી આગાહી કરી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે પોતાને મોઢે મેં એ જાહેર કર્યુ હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી એકાએક મેં અમલ કર્યો અને એ સાચું પડ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.48.4" />મને ખબર હતી કે તમે હઠીલા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા ડોકના સ્નાયુઓ લોખંડ જેવા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારું કપાળ પિત્તળ જેવું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.48.5" />તેથી મેં તમને લાંબા સમય પહેલાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ બધું કહી રાખ્યું હતું,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી તમે એમ ન કહી શકો કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘આ તો મારી મૂર્તિએ કર્યુ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી કોતરેલી અને ઢાળેલી મૂર્તિઓના હુકમથી એ બન્યું છે.’”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલને સ્વચ્છ કરવા માટે દેવ સજા કરે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.48.6" />“તમે મારા ભવિષ્યકથનો વિષે સાંભળ્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને પરિપૂર્ણ થતાં પણ જોયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં તેની સાથે સહમત થવાની તેં સંમત્તિ દર્શાવી નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે હું તને નવી બાબતો વિષે કહું છું જે મેં અગાઉ કહ્યું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તને એક ગુપ્ત બાબત કહું છું જે તેં પહેલા સાંભળી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.48.7" />એ ઘટનાઓ પહેલાં બની નહોતી, અત્યારે જ મારી ઇચ્છાથી બને છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એને વિષે તમે અત્યાર સુધી કશું સાંભળ્યું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તમે એમ ન કહો કે, ‘અરે! આ તો અમે જાણતા હતા.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.48.8" />હા, હું તને સંપૂર્ણ નવી બાબતો કહેવાનો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે હું સારી રીતે જાણું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તું દગાબાજ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને બાળપણથી જ તું બંડખોર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ષ્ટતાથી ભરેલો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.48.9" />“મારા નામની માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મારા ક્રોધને રોકી રાખ્યો હતો,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી પ્રતિષ્ઠાને માટે મેં સંયમ રાખ્યો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો નાશ નહોતો કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.48.10" />“મેં તને વિશુદ્ધ કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ચાંદી જેવો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તને મુશ્કેલીઓની ભઠ્ઠીમાં તાપ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.48.11" />કેવળ મારા પોતાના માટે, હા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પોતાના માટે, હું કાર્ય કરીશ, જેથી મારું નામ ષ્ટ થાય નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારું ગૌરવ બીજા કોઇને આપીશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.48.12" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે યાકૂબના વંશજો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પસંદ કરેલા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને સાંભળો! હું જ દેવ છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું જ આદી છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું જ અંત છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.48.13" />મેં મારે પોતાને હાથે આ પૃથ્વીનો પાયો નાખ્યો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આ આકાશને પાથર્યું હતું.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું જ્યારે તેમને બોલાવું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓ ઉભા થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.48.14" />“તમે બધા એકઠા થાઓ અને સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી સર્વ મૂર્તિઓમાંથી કોણે તમને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું,
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા કોરેશ ઉપર પ્રેમ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાબિલનાં સામ્રાજ્યનો અંત લાવવા યહોવા તેનો ઉપયોગ કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ખાલદીઓના સૈન્યનો વિનાશ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.48.15" />“મેં મારી જાતે જ આ આગાહી કરી હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કોરેશને હાંક મારીને બોલાવ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેને અહીં લઇ આવ્યો છું અને તેને સફળ બનાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.48.16" />મારી નજીક આવો, અને આ સાંભળો, શરુઆતથી જ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જાહેરમાં જે થવાનું છે તે સ્પષ્ટ શબ્દોમાં કહેતો આવ્યો છું
</q>
<q style="q1">અને આ બધું બન્યું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બધો સમય હું હાજર હતો.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">અને હવે મારા માલિક યહોવાએ મને પોતાના આત્મા સાથે મોકલ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="ISA.48.17" />ઇસ્રાએલના પરમપવિત્ર દેવ યહોવા, તમારા તારક એમ કહે છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું યહોવા તારો દેવ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તારા હિત માટે તને શીખવું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે જે માગેર્ જવું જોઇએ તે માગેર્ હું તને લઇ જાઉં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.48.18" />તેં જો મારી આજ્ઞાઓ કાને ધરી હોત તો કેવું સારું થાત!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી સુખસમૃદ્ધિ સદા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સરિતા સમી વહેતી હોત
</q>
<q style="q1">અને વિજય પામીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું સાગરના તરંગો જેમ ઊછળતો રહ્યો હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.48.19" />તારી સંતતિની સંખ્યા રેતી જેટલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા વંશજો તેના કણ જેટલા થયા હોત
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમનાં નામ મારી નજર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આગળથી ભૂંસાઇ ગયા ન હોત.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.48.20" />છતાં હજી બાબિલમાંથી બહાર ચાલ્યા જાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખાલદીઓ પાસેથી ભાગી જાઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ત્યાંથી પાછા ફરતાં હર્ષનાદ સાથે પોકાર કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધોષણા કરો, અને પૃથ્વીના છેડા સુધી
</q>
<q style="q1">એના સમાચાર મોકલો કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“યહોવાએ પોતાના સેવક યાકૂબના વંશજોનો ઉદ્ધાર કર્યો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.48.21" />તેમણે તેઓને અરણ્યમાંથી દોર્યા ત્યારે તેઓને તરસ વેઠવી પડી નહોતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેણે તેમને માટે ખડકમાંથી પાણી કાઢયું હતું;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે ખડકને તોડી નાખ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાણી ખળખળ કરતું વહેવા લાગ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.48.22" />પરંતુ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“દુષ્ટોને કદી સુખશાંતિ હોતી નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="49" />
<s style="s">યહોવાનું પોતાના લોકોને આશ્વાસન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.49.1" />હે દૂર દેશાવરના લોકો, ધ્યાન દઇને સાંભળો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જન્મ્યો તે પહેલાથી યહોવાએ મને બોલાવ્યો હતો,
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે હું મારી માતાના ગર્ભમાં હતો ત્યારે જ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે મને નામ આપ્યું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.49.2" />તેમણે મારી વાણીને મર્મભેદી તરવાર બનાવી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને પોતાના હાથની છાયામાં છુપાવી દીધો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે મને તીક્ષ્ણ બાણ બનાવી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભાથામાં સંતાડી દીધો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.49.3" />તેમણે મને કહ્યું, “તું, ઇસ્રાએલ, મારો સેવક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું મારો મહિમા વધારનાર છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.49.4" />પરંતુ હું તો એમ વિચારતો હતો કે, “મારી મહેનત પાણીમાં ગઇ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મારી શકિત નકામી,
</q>
<q style="q1">વ્યર્થ વાપરી. તેમ છતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને ખાતરી છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા મને ન્યાય આપશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે મને બદલો આપશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.49.5" />“હું માતાના ગર્ભમાં હતો ત્યારથી યહોવાએ મને પોતાનો સેવક નીમ્યો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી હું યાકૂબના વંશજોને, ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાછા એને ચરણે લાવું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે મારો મહિમા કર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને બળ આપ્યું.” આ યહોવા કહે છે:
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.49.6" />“ઇસ્રાએલને મારા માટે પુન:સ્થાપિત કરવા ઉપરાંત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું વધારે કામ કરીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">પૃથ્વીની સર્વ પ્રજાઓમાં તારણ પહોંચાડવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તને તેઓ માટેનો પ્રકાશ બનાવીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.49.7" />જેને લોકો ધૃણાની નજરે જુએ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેનો તિરસ્કાર સર્વ પ્રજાઓ કરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે અન્યાયી શાસકોનો ગુલામ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને ઇસ્રાએલનો ઉદ્ધારક પવિત્ર દેવ કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તને જોઇને રાજામહારાજાઓ માનપૂર્વક ઊભા થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સરદારો પગે પડશે,”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">એકવચની, અને તને પસંદ કરનારા ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર દેવને પ્રતાપે આ થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મુકિતનો દિવસ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.49.8" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તમારો બચાવ કરવાનો સમય આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે હું તમારા પ્રત્યે ભલાઇ દેખાડીશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમારા સહાય માટેના પોકારો હું સાંભળીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારું રક્ષણ કરીશ અને સર્વ લોકો સાથેના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા કરારના મધ્યસ્થ તમને બનાવીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઉજ્જડ થયેલી જગામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને ફરીથી વસાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.49.9" />હું બંદીવાનોને કહીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘જાઓ તમે મુકત છો!’
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જેઓ અંધકારમાં છે તેઓને કહીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘બહાર પ્રકાશમાં આવો!’
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ પર્વત પર ચરનારા ઘેટાં જેવા થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.49.10" />તેઓને ભૂખ કે તરસ લાગશે નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને લૂ તથા તાપ વેઠવા પડશે નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે યહોવા પોતાની ભલાઇથી તેઓને દોરતા રહેશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને પાણીના ઝરા આગળ લઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.49.11" />હું દરેક પર્વતને સપાટ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રસ્તો બનાવી દઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દરેક માર્ગને પૂરીને સરખો કરીશ,
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.49.12" />“જુઓ, મારા લોકો ઉત્તરના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા પશ્ચિમના તેમજ દક્ષિણના પ્રદેશોમાંથી પાછા ફરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.49.13" />હે આકાશો, હર્ષનાદ કરો; અને હે પૃથ્વી, તું આનંદ કર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે પર્વતો, તમે જયઘોશ કરવા માંડો,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે યહોવાએ પોતાના લોકોને દિલાસો આપ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાની દુ:ખી પ્રજા પર કરુણા દર્શાવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.49.14" />છતાં સિયોનના લોકો કહે છે, “યહોવાએ અમારો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારો નાથ અમને ભૂલી ગયો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.49.15" />પરંતુ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“કોઇ માતા પોતાના બાળકને કઇં રીતે ભૂલી જઇ શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના પેટના સંતાનને હેત કરવાનું કઇ રીતે ભૂલી જઇ શકે?
</q>
<q style="q1">કદાચ માતા ભૂલી જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તને નહિ ભૂલું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.49.16" />જો, મેં તને મારી હથેલી પર કોતરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યરૂશાલેમ નગરના કોટકાંગરાને હું સતત સંભાર્યા કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.49.17" />તને ફરી બાંધનારાઓ થોડા જ સમયમાં આવી પહોંચશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારો નાશ કરનારા સર્વને ભગાડી મૂકશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.49.18" />જરા ઊંચી નજર કરીને ચારે બાજુ જો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા લોકો કેવા ભેગા મળીને તારી પાસે પાછા આવે છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">હું યહોવા, મારા પ્રાણનાં સમ ખાઇને પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરું છું કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તું તેમને આભૂષણની જેમ ધારણ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નવવધૂની જેમ તેમના વડે તારી જાતને શણગારશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.49.19" />“તું ખેદાન-મેદાન થઇ ગઇ હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ખંડેરની ભૂમિ બની ગઇ હતી એ સાચું,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ હવે તારા વતનીઓ માટે તારી સરહદ અત્યંત સાંકડી પડશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તને ખેદાન-મેદાન કરી નાખનારાઓ તો દૂર ચાલ્યા ગયા હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.49.20" />દેશવટાના દિવસોમાં જન્મ ધારણ કરનારાં બાળકો પાછાં આવશે અને તેને કહેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘અમારે વધારે જગાની જરૂર છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમ કે આ જગા તો ખીચોખીચ ભરાઇ ગઇ છે!’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.49.21" />પછી તું મનમાં વિચાર કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તો સંતાન વિહોણી ત્યકતા હતી,
</q>
<q style="q1">આ બધા બાળકો મને થયા શી રીતે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘હું તો એકલીઅટૂલી હતી,
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે એમને ઉછેર્યા કોણે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ આવ્યાં ક્યાંથી?’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.49.22" />યહોવા મારા દેવ કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“જુઓ, હું વિદેશીઓ તરફ મારો હાથ ઊંચો કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકો તરફ મારો ધ્વજ રાખીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓ તારા પુત્રોને પોતાના ખોળામાં ઊંચકીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી પુત્રીઓને ખભા પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બેસાડીને તારી પાસે પાછા લાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.49.23" />રાજાઓ તેમના પાલકપિતા થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની રાણીઓ તેમની ધાવ થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તને સાષ્ટાંગ દંડવત પ્રણામ કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા ચરણની રજ ચાટશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તું જાણશે કે, હું યહોવા છું, જેઓ મારી વાટ જુએ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કદી જ નિરાશ થશે નહિં.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="ISA.49.24" />શકિતશાળી માણસના હાથમાંથી શિકારને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોણ પાછો ઝૂંટવી શકે?
</q>
<q style="q1">અત્યાચારી રાજવી પાસે બંદીવાનોને મુકત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કરાવવાની માગણી કોણ કરી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="ISA.49.25" />પણ યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“જોરાવરના હાથમાંથી લૂંટનો માલ ઝૂંટવી લેવાશે જ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટના હાથમાંથી કેદીને છોડાવાશે જ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી સામે જેઓ લડતા હશે તે બધાની સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું લડીશ અને તારાં બાળકોને હું પોતે બચાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="ISA.49.26" />હું તારા દુશ્મનોને તેમનું પોતાનું માંસ ખવડાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જાણે દ્રાક્ષારસ પીધો હોય એમ તેઓ પોતાનું જ લોહી પીને છાકટા બનશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આખી માનવજાતને ખાતરી થશે કે હું,
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા તારો તારક અને ઉદ્ધારક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યાકૂબનો મહાન પરાક્રમી દેવ છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="50" />
<s style="s">યહોવાનો આજ્ઞાધીન સેવક
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.50.1" />યહોવા પૂછે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“શુ મેં તમને મારા લેણદારોને વેચી દીધા છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને લીધે શું તમે અહીં આવ્યા નથી?
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તમારી માતાને છૂટાછેડા આપીને કાઢી મૂક્યાનું ફારગતીપત્ર ક્યાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ના, તમારા અપરાધોને લીધે જ તમે પોતાને વેંચી દીધા હતા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમારું દેવું ચૂકવવાને માટે જ તમારી માતાને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ કાઢી મૂકવામાં આવીં હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.50.2" />હું તમારો ઉદ્ધાર કરવા આવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે અહીં કેમ કોઇ હતું નહિ?
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં બૂમ પાડી ત્યારે કેમ કોઇએ જવાબ ન આપ્યો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમને એમ લાગ્યું કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારો હાથ તમારો ઉદ્ધાર કરવા સમર્થ નથી!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું મારામાં તમને બચાવવાની શકિત નથી?
</q>
<q style="q1">જુઓ, મારી આજ્ઞાથી સાગર સૂકાઇ જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઝરણા રણ બની જાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમાંની માછલીઓ પાણી વિના ગંધાઇ ઊઠે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તરસે મરી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.50.3" />આકાશ જાણે શોક પાળતું હોય તેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેને અંધકારથી આચ્છાદિત કરુ છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવના સેવક દેવના ભરોસે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.50.4" />યહોવા મારા દેવે મને શું કહેવું તે શીખવીને મોકલ્યો છે, તેથી હું થાકેલાને ઉત્સાહના વેણ કહી શકું. પ્રતિ પ્રભાતે તે મને ઊંઘમાંથી ઊઠાડે છે અને તેમની ઇચ્છાને સમજવાનું સાર્મથ્ય મને આપે છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ISA.50.5" />યહોવા મારા દેવે મારા કાન ઉઘાડ્યા છે, મેં નથી આજ્ઞાભંગ કર્યો કે, નથી પાછા પગલા ભર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.50.6" />મારનાર તરફ મેં પીઠ ધરી છે અને વાળ ખેંચી કાઢનારની આગળ મારા ગાલ ધર્યા છે. અપમાન કરનાર અને થૂંકનારથી મેં મારુ મુખ સંતાડ્યું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.50.7" />પરંતુ યહોવા મારા માલિક મારી સહાયમાં ઊભા છે, તેથી કોઇ અપમાન મને નડતું નથી. મેં મારું મુખ પથ્થર જેવું દ્રઢ અને મજબૂત કર્યું છે; મને ખાતરી છે કે મારી લાજ નહિ જાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.50.8" />મને ન્યાય આપનાર નજીકમાં છે; હવે મારી સામે યુદ્ધ કરવાની હિંમત કોણ કરી શકે? ક્યાં છે મારા દુશ્મનો? તેમને મારી સામે આવવા દો!
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ISA.50.9" />જુઓ, યહોવા મારા દેવ મને સહાય કરશે, પછી મને અપરાધી ઠરાવી શકે એવો કોણ છે? જેમ જીવાત જૂના કપડાંને ખાઇ જાય છે, તેમ મારા સર્વ શત્રુઓનો નાશ થશે!
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.50.10" />તમારામાંથી એવો કોઇ છે જે યહોવાનો ડર રાખતો હોય? તેના સેવકની આજ્ઞા પાળતો હોય? જે અંધારામાં દીવા વગર ચાલતો હોય તોતે યહોવાના નામ પર શ્રદ્ધા રાખે, અને તેનો આધાર લે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.50.11" />“પણ તમે બધા તો અગ્નિ પેટાવો છો અને ઝાડના કૂંઠા બાળો છો. તો જાઓ, અગ્નિની જવાળાની વચ્ચે અને તમે જાતે સળગાવેલાં ઝાડના ઠૂંઠા વચ્ચે ચાલો. યહોવાને હાથે તમારી આ દશા થવાની છે. તમે દુ:ખમાં જ સબડવાનાં છો અને વિપત્તિમાં જ પડ્યા રહેવાના છો.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="51" />
<s style="s">યહોવાના લોકો અને દેવનો ભય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.51.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે ન્યાયની અપેક્ષા રાખનારાઓ, મને પ્રાપ્ત કરવા ઇચ્છનારાઓ. મારુ કહ્યું સાંભળો! જે ખડકમાંથી તમને તોડી નાખવામાં આવ્યા છે તેનો ખ્યાલ કરો, જે ખાણમાંથી તમને ખોદી કાઢવામાં આવ્યા છે, તેનો વિચાર કરો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ISA.51.2" />અને હા, તમારા પૂર્વજો ઇબ્રાહિમ અને સારાનો વિચાર કરો. મેં જ્યારે તેને બોલાવ્યો ત્યારે તેને એકે સંતાન નહોતું. મેં તેને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા અને તે એકના અનેક થયા.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.51.3" />યહોવા સિયોનને-એના ખંડેરમાં વસતા બધા લોકોને સાંત્વના આપવા માગે છે. તે તેની ઉજ્જડ થઇ ગયેલી ભૂમિને એદન જેવા ઉપવનમાં ફેરવી નાખશે. ત્યાં આનંદોત્સવ વ્યાપી જશે અને સ્તુતિનાં ગીતો સંભળાશે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.51.4" />“હે મારા લોકો, મારી વાત ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! હે મારી પ્રજા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી વાત કાને ધરો! કારણકે, હું મારો નિયમ પ્રજાઓને સંભળાવું છું, અને મારો ન્યાયચુકાદો તેમને પ્રકાશ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.51.5" />હું તમને મુકિત આપવા આવી રહ્યો છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો વિજય હાથવેંતમાં છે, હું પ્રજાઓ પર શાસન કરીશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે દરિયા કિનારાના દેશો મારી વાટ જોશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા આગમનની તેઓ આતુરતાપૂર્વક પ્રતિક્ષા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.51.6" />ઊંચે આકાશ તરફ જુઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નીચે પૃથ્વી તરફ નજર કરો!
</q>
<q style="q1">આકાશ ધુમાડાની જેમ અલોપ થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વી વસ્ત્રની જેમ ર્જીણ થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેના લોકો મચ્છરની જેમ મરી જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ મારું તારણ સદાકાળ રહેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા ન્યાયનો ક્યારેય અંત નહિ આવે;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.51.7" />ધર્મને ઓળખનારાઓ, મારા નિયમોને હૈયે રાખનારાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું કહ્યું સાંભળો!
</q>
<q style="q1">લોકોના મહેણાં ટોણાંથી ગભરાશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકનિંદાથી ડરશો નહિ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.51.8" />માટે જેમ જીવાત કપડાંનો નાશ કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કંસારી ઊનને કોતરી કાઢે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ તેઓનો નાશ થશે, પણ મારો ન્યાય સદાકાળ ટકી રહેશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારું તારણ પેઢી દર પેઢી રહેશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવનું સાર્મથ્ય તેના લોકોની રક્ષા કરે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.51.9" />હે યહોવાના બાહુ, જાગૃત થાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઊઠો અને સાર્મથ્યના વસ્ત્રો ધારણ કરો, પ્રાચીન કાળનાં,
</q>
<q style="q1">સમયો પૂવેર્ જેમ જાગ્યા હતા તેમ જાગો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેણે રાહાબને વીંધી નાખી તેના ટુકડા કરી નાખ્યા,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જેણે અજગરને વીંધ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જ તું નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.51.10" />જેણે સાગરને, તેનાં અગાધ જળને સૂકવી નાખ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેણે તારણ પામેલાઓને પાર ઉતારવા માટે સાગરનાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઊંડાણોમાં થઇને માર્ગ કરી આપ્યો, તે જ તું નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.51.11" />હવે એવો સમય આવશે જ્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા દ્વારા ઉગારાયેલા સર્વ લોકો ફરીથી ગાતાં ગાતાં સિયોન પાછા આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ અનંત આનંદ તથા હર્ષથી ભરપૂર થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુ:ખ તથા શોક સર્વ જતાં રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.51.12" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તમને હિંમત આપનાર હું પોતે બેઠો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ર્મત્ય માણસથી, તરણા જેવા માણસથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભયભીત થવાનું શું કારણ છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.51.13" />તમે તમારા સર્જનહાર યહોવાને ભૂલી ગયા છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેણે આ આકાશનો વિસ્તાર કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વીનો પાયો નાખ્યો છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">હજી તમે આખો વખત તમારો નાશ કરવા તૈયાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">થયેલા જુલમગારના રોષથી શા માટે ફફડ્યા કરો છો?
</q>
<q style="q1">એ જુલમગારનો રોષ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને શું કરવાનો હતો?
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.51.14" />જેઓ બંધનમાં છે તેઓ જલદીથી મુકત થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કબરમાં મરવા નહિ પામે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તેમને કદી રોટલાની ખોટ નહિ પડે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.51.15" />“હું તમારો દેવ યહોવા છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સાગરને ખળભળાવીને ગર્જના કરતા મોજાં પેદાં કરું છું.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું નામ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.51.16" />“મેં આકાશને વિસ્તાર્યું છે અને પૃથ્વીનો પાયો નાખ્યો છે અને સિયોનના લોકોને કહ્યું છે કે, તમે મારી પ્રજા છો. મેં તમારા મોઢામાં મારી વાણી મૂકી છે અને મારા બાહુની છાયામાં તમને આશ્રય આપ્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવે ઇસ્રાએલને સજા કરી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.51.17" />હે યરૂશાલેમ જાગૃત થા, જાગૃત થા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં યહોવાને હાથે તેના રોષનો પ્યાલો પીધો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તું એ પ્યાલો પૂરેપૂરો પી ગયો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લથડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.51.18" />તારે પેટે જન્મેલા અને તે ઉછરેલા બધા પુત્રોમાંથી એકે એવો નથી જે તારો હાથ પકડી તને માર્ગ બતાવે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ISA.51.19" />વિનાશ અને પાયમાલી, દુષ્કાળ અને યુદ્ધ આ બે આફતો તારે માથે આવી છે ત્યારે કોણ તને દિલાસો આપે? કોણ તને હિંમત આપે?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.51.20" />કારણ કે તારા પુત્રો મૂછિર્ત થઇને શેરીઓમાં પડ્યા છે. તેઓ જાળમાં ફસાયેલા હરણાંની જેમ લાચાર થયેલા છે. તારા દેવનો પુણ્યપ્રકોપ તેમના પર પૂરેપૂરો ઊતર્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.51.21" />માટે, તું જે ઘવાયેલી છે અને દ્રાક્ષારસ ન પીધાં છતાં લથડિયા ખાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.51.22" />પોતાના લોકોનો પક્ષ લેનાર તારા દેવ યહોવા એમ કહે છે કે, “જો, હું તારા હાથમાંથી મારા રોષનો પ્યાલો, તને લથડિયાં ખવડાવનારનો પ્યાલો લઇ લઉં છું, હવે તારે એ પીવો નહિ પડે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="ISA.51.23" />હું તારા ત્રાસગારોના હાથમાં તે આપીશ, જેઓ તને કહેતાં હતાં કે, જમીન પર મોઢું નીચે કરીને સૂઇ જા કે, જેથી અમે તારા ઉપર થઇને જઇએ; તેં તારી પીઠને સપાટ જમીન જેવી અને તેમને ચાલવાના રસ્તા જેવી બનાવી દીધી હતી.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="52" />
<s style="s">યહોવા પોતાના લોકોને પુન:સ્થાપિત કરશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.52.1" />હે સિયોન, જાગૃત થા, જાગૃત થા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા સાર્મથ્યથી; હે યરૂશાલેમ,
</q>
<q style="q1">પવિત્ર નગર, તારાં સુંદર વસ્ત્રો તું પહેર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે હવે જે લોકોએ દેવ તરફ પૂંઠ ફેરવી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પાપીઓ તારા દરવાજાઓમાં પ્રવેશી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.52.2" />હે યરૂશાલેમ નગરી, ઉભી થા અને તારા પરની ધૂળ ખંખેરી નાખ,
</q>
<q style="q1">હે સિયોનની બંદીવાન પુત્રી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી ડોક પરની ગુલામીની ઝૂંસરી કાઢી નાખ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.52.3" />કારણ કે યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તમે વિના મૂલ્ય વેચાયા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નાણા વિના તમે પાછા લેવાશો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.52.4" />કારણ કે યહોવા જે દેવ છે તેણે કહ્યું, “આરંભમાં તમે વસવાટ કરવા માટે મિસર ગયા હતા, પછી આશ્શૂરના લોકોએ તમારા ઉપર વિના કારણ જુલમ કર્યો.”
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ISA.52.5" />અને હવે યહોવા પૂછે છે, “અત્યારે હું અહીં શું જોઉં છું? તમને વિના મૂલ્યે ગુલામ બનાવવામાં આવ્યા છે, તમારા પર શાસન ચલાવનારાઓ ઊંચા સ્વરે બોલે છે અને દિનપ્રતિદિન મારા નામની સતત નિંદા કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.52.6" />“પણ એવો દિવસ આવે છે; જ્યારે તમને મારા નામના પરચાની ખબર પડશે અને તેઓને ખાતરી થશે કે તમારી સાથે બોલનાર હું જ છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.52.7" />સુખશાંતિના સંદેશ લાવનારના પગલાં પર્વતો પર કેવાં શોભાયમાન લાગે છે! તે તારણના શુભ સમાચાર આપે છે અને વિજયની ઘોષણા કરે છે, “તમારા દેવ શાસન કરે છે, એમ તે સિયોન પાસે જાહેર કરે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.52.8" />નગરના ચોકીદારો ઉંચે સાદે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એકી સાથે હર્ષનાદ કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, તેઓ યહોવાને સિયોનમાં પાછો આવતો નજરો નજર નિહાળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.52.9" />હે યરૂશાલેમનાં ખંડેરો, તમે એકી સાથે પોકાર કરો, હર્ષનાદ કરો!
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, યહોવા પોતાના લોકોને સુખના દહાડા બતાવશે અને યરૂશાલેમને મુકિત અપાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તમારા દેવ શાસન કરે છે” એમ તે સિયોન પાસે જાહેર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.52.10" />સર્વ પ્રજાઓનાં દેખતાં યહોવાએ પોતાનો પવિત્ર ભુજ લંબાવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી પરની દરેક વ્યકિત આપણા દેવનું તારણ જોશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.52.11" />બહાર નીકળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાબિલમાંથી બહાર આવો!
</q>
<q style="q1">કોઇ અશુદ્ધ વસ્તુને અડકશો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે મંદિરની સાધનસામગ્રી ઉપાડનારાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી જાતને શુદ્ધ રાખો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.52.12" />તમારે ઉતાવળા થઇને નાસી જવાનું નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાનો જીવ બચાવવા અધીરા થવાનું નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે યહોવા તમારી આગળ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ તમારું રક્ષણ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવની યાતના સહન કરતો સેવક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.52.13" />“જુઓ, મારો સેવક સમૃદ્ધ થશે; તેને ઊંચેને ઊંચે ચડાવવામાં આવશે, તેની ખૂબ ઉન્નતિ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="ISA.52.14" />પહેલાં તેને જોઇને ઘણા હેબતાઇ ગયા હતા; એનું રૂપ એવું તો વિરૂપ થઇ ગયું હતું કે જાણે માણસ જ ન લાગે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ISA.52.15" />પરંતુ હવે અનેક પ્રજાઓ તેને જોઇને આશ્ચર્યચકિત થઇ જશે. અને રાજાઓ આશ્ચર્ય પામીને સ્તબ્ધ થઇ જશે. કારણ કે અગાઉ કોઇએ કહ્યું ના હોય એવું તેઓ જોશે, અને પહેલાં કદી સાંભળ્યું ન હોય એવું નજરે ભાળશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="53" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.53.1" />આપણે જે સાંભળ્યું તે કોણે માન્યું હોત? એમાં યહોવાનો હાથ હશે એવું કોણે ઓળખ્યું હોત?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.53.2" />તે યહોવાની આગળ છોડની જેમ ઊગી નીકળ્યો. એનામાં નહોતું રૂપ કે નહોતી આંખોને આકર્ષતી સુંદરતા કે નહોતી મનમોહક આકૃતિ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ISA.53.3" />લોકોએ તેની અવગણના કરી અને તેનો નકાર કર્યો. તે દુ:ખી અને વેદના પામેલો માણસ હતો. તે આપણી પાસે આવ્યો ત્યારે આપણે તેની તરફ પીઠ ફેરવી દીધી અને આપણું મુખ અવળું ફેરવી લીધું. તે ધિક્કારાયેલો હતો અને આપણે તેની ચિંતા કરી નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.53.4" />તેમ છતાં તેણે આપણાં વીતકો પોતા પર લઇ લીધાં, આપણી બિમારીઓ પોતે વહોરી લીધી. આપણે તો એમ માન્યું કે તેને સજા થઇ છે, દેવે તેને આઘાત કરીને દુ:ખમાં નાંખ્યો છે;
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ISA.53.5" />પણ તે તો આપણે કરેલા અપરાધો માટે વિંધાયો હતો અને આપણાં પાપો માટે કચડાયો હતો. એણે ભોગવેલી સજાને કારણે આપણે સુખશાંતિ ભોગવીએ છીએ અને તેને પડેલા ચાબખાથી આપણે સાજાસમાં છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.53.6" />આપણે રસ્તો ભૂલી ગયા છીએ, અને ઘેટાંની જેમ રઝળી ગયા છે. પણ યહોવાએ આપણા બધાનો દોષ તેને માથે નાખ્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.53.7" />તેના પર ત્રાસ ગુજારવામાં આવ્યા અને તેને સંકટમાંથી પસાર થવું પડ્યું; તેમ છતાં તેણે એક શબ્દ પણ ઉચ્ચાર્યો નહિ. તેને હલવાનની જેમ વધ કરવા લાવવામાં આવ્યો; અને જેમ ઘેટી પોતાના કાતરનારની આગળ મૂંગી રહે, તેમ તેણે પોતાને દોષિત ઠરાવનારની આગળ પોતાનું મોં ખોલ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.53.8" />તેને જુલમથી પકડવામાં આવ્યો, ને તેનો ન્યાય તોળીને તેને લઇ ગયા, તેનું શું થયું તેનો વિચાર સરખો કોઇએ કર્યો નહિ, જીવતાં માણસોની દુનિયામાંથી તેનો વિચ્છેદ કરવામાં આવ્યો, મારા લોકોના ગુનાઓ માટે તેને ઘાયલ કરી નાખવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ISA.53.9" />દુષ્ટો વચ્ચે તેની કબર બનાવવામાં આવી હતી અને તેનો મકબરો ધનિકો વચ્ચે મૂકવામાં આવ્યો હતો, જો કે તેણે કોઇ હિંસા આચરી નહોતી, કે કોઇ કપટ ઉચ્ચાર્યું નહોતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.53.10" />તેમ છતાં તેને કચરવાની અને વિપત્તિઓમાંથી પસાર કરવાની યહોવાની યોજના હતી. પણ જ્યારે તેના આત્માનું દોષાર્થાર્પણ થશે ત્યારે તે પોતાનાં વંશજોને જોવા પામશે, તે લાંબુ જીવન જીવશે અને યહોવાની યોજના તેના દ્વારા સફળ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ISA.53.11" />તેની બધી વેદનાઓને અંતે તે પ્રકાશ જોવા પામશે અને પરમ તૃપ્તિ અનુભવશે.
</p>
<p style="p">પ્રભુ કહે છે, “આમ મારો નિદોર્ષ સેવક અનેકોને નીતિમાન બનાવશે, અને તેમની સજા પોતાને માથે લઇ લેશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ISA.53.12" />તેથી હું તેને પરાક્રમી તથા મહાન માણસોની જેમ યુદ્ધની લૂંટનો ભાગ વહેંચી આપીશ, કારણ, તેણે પોતાનું જીવન આપી દીધું હતું, અને પોતાની ગણતરી ગુનેગારોમાં થવા દીધી હતી, તેણે અનેકોનાં પાપો પોતાને માથે લઇ લીધાં હતાં અને ગુનેગારોને માટે તેણે પ્રાર્થના કરી હતી.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="54" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રત્યે યહોવાનો પ્રેમ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.54.1" />“હે સંતાનવિહોણી, વાંઝણી સ્ત્રી સમી યરૂશાલેમ નગરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું મુકત કંઠે ગીત ગા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આનંદના પોકાર કર;
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“કારણ, યહોવાના આશીર્વચન છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સોહાગણ સ્ત્રી કરતાં ત્યકતાને વધારે સંતાન અવતરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.54.2" />“તારો તંબુ વિશાળ બનાવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા તંબુના પડદા પહોળા કર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની દોરી ઠેઠ સુધી લંબાવ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ખીલા બરાબર ઠોકી દે;
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.54.3" />કારણ કે તું તારી સરહદો ચારે બાજુએ વિસ્તારીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા વંશજો બીજી પ્રજાઓના તાબા હેઠળના પ્રદેશો કબજો કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વેરાન નગરોને વસતાં કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.54.4" />ગભરાઇશ નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે ફરી શરમાવું નહિ પડે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારે શરમાવાનું હવે કોઇ કારણ નહિ રહે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી યુવાવસ્થાની શરમ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારા વૈધવ્યનાં દુ:ખને હવેથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંભારવામાં આવશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.54.5" />કારણ કે તારા સર્જનહાર જ તારા ‘પતિ’ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા’ તેમનું નામ છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર દેવ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીના યહોવા, તારા ઉદ્ધારક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.54.6" />“તું દુ:ખમાં ડૂબેલી ત્યકતા જેવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા દેવ, યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને પાછી બોલાવીને કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જુવાનીમાં જેનો હાથ પકડ્યો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને શી રીતે તજી શકાય?”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.54.7" />યહોવા કહે છે, “મેં ક્ષણવાર માટે તારો ત્યાગ કર્યો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હવે પુષ્કળ સહાનુભૂતિથી હું તને પાછી લાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.54.8" />ક્રોધના આવેશમાં ક્ષણભર મેં તારાથી મોં ફેરવ્યું હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">qપણ હવે ચિરંતન કરુણાથી પ્રેરાઇને હું તારા પર દયા કરીશ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ તારો ઉદ્ધાર કરનાર યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.54.9" />દેવ કહે છે, “આ તો નૂહના વખતના જેવું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ તે વખતે મેં પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી હતી કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું ફરી કદી પૃથ્વી ઉપર જળપ્રલય નહિ લાવું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ આજે હું તને વચન આપું છું કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ફરી કદી હું તારા પર ગુસ્સો કરીશ નહીં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તને ઠપકો દઇશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.54.10" />યહોવા કહે છે, “ભલે પર્વતો ખસી જાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ડુંગરોનું અસ્તિત્વ નાશ પામે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ મારી ભલાઇ હંમેશા તમારી સાથે રહેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી સાથે કરેલો મારો શાંતિનો કરાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કદી ખંડિત થશે નહિ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">એમ તમારા પર દયા કરનાર યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.54.11" />“હે દુ:ખી, ઝંઝાવાતની થપાટો ખાતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દિલાસા વિહોણી નગરી!
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તને નીલમના પાયા ઉપર ફરીથી ચણી લઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મૂલ્યવાન પથ્થરોમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ઘરની ભીંતો બનાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.54.12" />તારા બુરજો માણેકના બંધાવીશ, તારા દરવાજા લાલ પથ્થરના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારો આખો કોટ રત્નોનો બનાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.54.13" />તારાં બધાં સંતાનો મારા પોતાના શિષ્યો બનશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ સુખશાંતિ અનુભવશે;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.54.14" />પ્રામાણિકતાથી તારી પ્રતિષ્ઠા થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્રાસ તારાથી દૂર રહેશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તને કશાનો ડર રહેશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ત્રાસથી સદંતર મુકત રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.54.15" />જો કોઇ પ્રજા તારી વિરુદ્ધ યુદ્ધ કરવા આવે, તો તને શિક્ષા કરવાના હેતુથી હું તેઓને તારી પાસે મોકલીશ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો તેઓ યુદ્ધ કરશે, તો પણ તેઓનો નાશ કરવામાં આવશે કેમ કે હું તારા પક્ષમાં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.54.16" />“ભઠ્ઠીમાં અંગારાને વીંઝણા નાખનાર અને જુદાંજુદાં કામ માટે હથિયારો ઘડનારા લુહારનો સર્જનહાર હું છું, બધું નાશ કરનારા ‘સંહારકને’ પેદા કરનાર પણ હું જ છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.54.17" />“પરંતુ હવે તારી વિરુદ્ધ વાપરવા માટે બનાવેલ કોઇ પણ હથિયાર કામ આવશે નહિ, અને ન્યાયલયમાં તારી સામેના એકેએક આરોપને હું ખોટા પાડીશ, તને ન્યાય મળશે.
</p>
<p style="p">“મારા સેવકોનો આ વારસો છે, હું તેમને વિજય અપાવીશ,” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="55" />
<s style="s">યહોવાને શોધનારાને આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.55.1" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “અરે, શું કોઇ તરસ્યા છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી પાસે પૈસા ન હોય તો
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ આવો અને પીઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવો, વગર પૈસે અનાજ લઇ જાઓ અને ખાઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દૂધ અને દ્રાક્ષારસ વિના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૂલ્યે લઇ જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.55.2" />જે ખવાય એવું નથી તેની પાછળ શા માટે પૈસા ખચોર્ છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેનાથી તૃપ્તિ થતી નથી તેની પાછળ તમારી મજૂરી શા માટે ખચીર્ નાખો છો?
</q>
<q style="q1">મારું કહ્યું ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઉત્તમ ખોરાક ખાવ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.55.3" />મારી પાસે આવો, હું કહુ છું તે સાંભળો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું સાંભળશો તો જીવન પામશો.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તમારી સાથે કાયમનો કરાર કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં દાઉદને જે ઉપકારો કરવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમારા ઉપર કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.55.4" />મેં તેને લોકોની આગળ મારો સાક્ષી બનાવ્યો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને મેં પ્રજાઓનો નેતા અને શાસક બનાવ્યો હતો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.55.5" />“તેમે પણ અજાણી પ્રજાઓ પર અધિકાર ચલાવશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પ્રજાઓ તમારી પાસે દોડી આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલના પરમ પવિત્ર યહોવાએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારું સન્માન કર્યું છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.55.6" />યહોવા મળે એમ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધીમાં તેને શોધી કાઢો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે નજીક છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધીમાં તેને બોલાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.55.7" />દુષ્ટ માણસો પોતાના દુષ્ટ આચરણોનો ત્યાગ કરે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાપીઓ પોતાના પાપી વિચારો છોડી દે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ યહોવા પાસે પાછા ફરે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેમના પર દયા કરશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણા દેવને ચરણે પાછા વળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પૂરી માફી આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવને લોકો સમજી શકવાના નથી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.55.8" />યહોવા કહે છે, “મારા વિચારો એ તમારા વિચારો નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા રસ્તા એ મારા રસ્તા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.55.9" />કારણ કે જેમ પૃથ્વીથી આકાશ ઊંચું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ મારા માગોર્ તમારા માગોર્થી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા વિચારો તમારા વિચારોથી ઊંચા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.55.10" />“જેમ વરસાદ અને બરફ આકાશમાંથી આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધરતીને જળથી સીંચ્યા વગર પાછા વળતા નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી જ ધરતી ફૂલેફાલે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વાવવા માટે બીજ અને ખાવા માટે અનાજ આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.55.11" />તે જ રીતે મારા વચનો મારા મુખમાંથી નીકળે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હંમેશ ફળ આપે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી ઇચ્છા પ્રમાણે તે કાર્ય પૂરું કર્યા વગર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મેં સોંપેલું કાર્ય સિદ્ધ કર્યા વિના એ પાછો ફરતો નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.55.12" />“તમે બાબિલમાંથી આનંદપૂર્વક નીકળી પડશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સુરક્ષિત રીતે તમને દોરી લઇ જવામાં આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારી આગળ પર્વતો અને ડુંગરો આનંદના પોકારો કરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જંગલના વૃક્ષો તાળીઓ પાડીને તમને આવકારશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.55.13" />એક વખતે જ્યાં કાંટા-ઝાંખરા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં દેવદાર અને મેંદી ઊગી નીકળશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આ પરાક્રમને કારણે યહોવાના નામનો મહિમા અમર થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે શાશ્વત સ્મારકરૂપ પરાક્રમ અને ક્યારેય ન ભૂંસાય તેવી નિશાની થશે.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="56" />
<s style="s">વિદેશીઓનો સમાવેશ અને આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.56.1" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “સર્વની સાથે ન્યાય અને પ્રામાણિકતાથી વતોર્. ન્યાયને અનુસરો, કારણ હું મુકિત આપવાની તૈયારીમાં છું, અને ન્યાયને વિજયી બનાવનારો છું.”
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ISA.56.2" />જે માણસ વિશ્રામવારની પવિત્રતા જાળવી તેનું પાલન કરે અને બધાં દુષ્કમોર્થી દૂર રહે, તે માણસ પરમસુખી છે! જે માણસ ભૂંડું કરવાથી પોતાને પાછો રાખે છે તે આશીર્વાદિત છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.56.3" />યહોવાને શરણે આવેલા વિદેશીએ એમ ન કહેવું કે, “યહોવા મને પોતાના લોકોથી ખરેખર જુદો રાખશે,” અને કોઇ ખોજાએ એમ ન કહેવું કે, “હું તો સુકાઇ ગયેલું ઝાડ છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.56.4" />કારણ યહોવાના વચન છે, “જે ખોજાઓ વિશ્રામવારનું પાલન કરશે અને મારા કરારને દ્રઢતાથી વળગી રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ISA.56.5" />તેના માટે, હું મારા મંદિરમાં, એની ભીંતો વચ્ચે, મારા પુત્રો અને પુત્રીઓંથી પણ ચડિયાતું સ્મારક અને નામ આપીશ. હું તેને એવું અમર નામ આપીશ જે કદી નાશ ન પામે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.56.6" />વળી જે વિદેશીઓ મારે શરણે આવ્યા છે, જેઓ મારી સેવા કરે છે, મારા નામ પર પ્રેમ કરે છે, મારા સેવકો છે, અને જે કોઇ મારા વિશ્રામવારની પવિત્રતા જાળવી તેનું પાલન કરે છે, અને મારા કરારને દ્રઢતાપૂર્વક વળગી રહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.56.7" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “તેમને હું મારા પવિત્ર પર્વત પર લઇ આવી મારા પ્રાર્થનાગૃહમાં આનંદનો અનુભવ કરાવીશ. તેણે યજ્ઞવેદી પર ચઢાવેલાં દહનાર્પણો અને યજ્ઞોનો હું પ્રસન્નતા પૂર્વક સ્વીકાર કરીશ. મારું મંદિર બધા લોકો માટે, પ્રાર્થના કરવા માટેનું સ્થળ બની રહેશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.56.8" />ઇસ્રાએલના વેરવિખેર થયેલાંઓને એકઠા કરનાર પોતે યહોવા દેવના મુખના આ વચનો છે, “જેઓને ભેગા કર્યા છે તેમની ભેગા બીજાઓને પણ હું ભેગા કરતો રહીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.56.9" />આવો, વનવગડાંના પશુઓ, જંગલનાં પશુઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવો અને ખાઓ;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.56.10" />કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલના બધાં ચોકીદારો સર્વ આંધળા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કંઇ જાણતા નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ મૂંગા કૂતરા છે કે જે ભસતા નથી, તેના જેવા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જમીન પર લાંબા થઇને સૂઇ રહેવાનું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આરામ કરવાનું તથા સ્વપ્નો જોવાનું પસંદ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.56.11" />તેઓ બધા ખાઉધરા કૂતરા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે કદી ધરાતા નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ એવા ઘેટાંપાળકો છે કશું સમજતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ફકત પોતાના જ હિતનો વિચાર કરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને શક્ય હોય તેટલું પોતાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે મેળવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.56.12" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિત કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“ચાલો, હું દ્રાક્ષારસ લઇ આવું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણે ધરાઇને પીએ અને ઉજાણી કરીએ;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને આવતીકાલ આજના કરતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ વધારે સરસ થશે!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="57" />
<s style="s">દેવનો ડર અને ઉદ્ધારનું વચન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.57.1" />સારા માણસો મરી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ કોઇ વિચાર કરતું નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">ધમિર્ષ્ઠ માણસો પોતાના સમય અગાઉ મૃત્યુ પામે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે આવું બને છે તે કોઇ સમજતું નથી.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">ભૂંડા દિવસો અને આફતમાંથી ઉગારવા માટે દેવ તેઓને ઉપાડી લે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેઓ સમજતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.57.2" />દેવનો ડર રાખીને સત્યને માગેર્ ચાલનારાઓ મૃત્યુમાં શાંતિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આરામ પામે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.57.3" />“પરંતુ તમે જાદુગરના પુત્રો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વ્યભિચારી અને વારાંગનાના સંતાનો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અહીં પાસે આવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.57.4" />તમે કોની મશ્કરી કરો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે કોની સમક્ષ મોં પહોળું કરી,
</q>
<q style="q1">જીભ કાઢી ચાળા પાડો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમે પાપીઓનાં અને જૂઠાઓના સંતાનો નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.57.5" />તમે એકેએક દેવદાર વૃક્ષ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નીચે વિષયભોગ કરો છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ખાડીમાં અને ખડકોની ફાટોમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાળકોનો ભોગ આપો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.57.6" />ખાડીમાંના સુંવાળા પથ્થરો તમારો વારસો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેને જ લાયક છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે તેમને પેયાપર્ણ અને ખાદ્યાર્પણ ચઢાવો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા કહે છે કે, શું આ બધાને હું નજર અંદાજ કરીશ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.57.7" />તમે ઊંચા ઊંચા પર્વતો પર બલિદાનો અર્પણ કરવા જાઓ છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિજાતિય વ્યવહાર કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.57.8" />તમારા ઘરના મુખ્ય બારણા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બારસાખ પાછળ
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે તમારી મૂર્તિઓ ગોઠવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે મારી પ્રજા, તું તો વારાંગના જેવી છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને છોડીને તારી પહોળી પથારી પર નવસ્ત્રી થઇને સૂતી છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તું મનપસંદ માણસો સાથે સોદા કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી કામવાસના સંતોષે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.57.9" />તેં સુગંધીદાર ધૂપ તથા અત્તર મોલેખ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવને ભેટ તરીકે અર્પણ કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">સંદેશવાહકોને દૂર દૂરના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શેઓલમાં મોકલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.57.10" />લાંબી યાત્રાથી તું થાકી જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તું અટકતી નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં તારી ઇચ્છાઓને બળવત્તર કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી શોધમાં તું આગળ વધતી ગઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.57.11" />તું કોનાથી આટલી બધી ગભરાય છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તું અસત્ય બોલી?
</q>
<q style="q1">તું મને કેવી રીતે ભૂલી ગઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારો સહેજ પણ વિચાર કર્યો નહિ?
</q>
<q style="q1">શું હું લાંબા સમય સુધી શાંત રહ્યો એટલે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું મારો ડર રાખતી નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.57.12" />પરંતુ હવે હું તારાં એ પુણ્ય કૃત્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ‘ન્યાયીપણું’ જાહેર કરીશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">એ બંનેમાંથી એક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તારો બચાવ કરી નહિ શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.57.13" />તું તારા બચાવ માટે ધા નાખીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે આ તારી ભેગી કરેલી મૂર્તિઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી મદદે આવવાનાં નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">પવન તેમને તાણી જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અરે એક ફૂંક પણ તેમને ઉડાડી મૂકશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ જે મારું શરણું સ્વીકારશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ધરતીનો ધણી થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા પવિત્ર પર્વતનો માલિક બનશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા પોતાના ભકતોને મદદ કરશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.57.14" />વળી તે વખતે હું કહીશ: સડક બાંધો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રસ્તાઓ ફરીથી તૈયાર કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા લોકોના રસ્તાઓમાંથી ખડકો અને પથ્થરો દૂર કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા લોકો માટે સરળ માર્ગ તૈયાર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.57.15" />જે અનંતકાળથી ઉચ્ચ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઉન્નત છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવા પવિત્ર દેવ આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું ઉન્નત અને પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં વસું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જેઓ ભાંગી પડ્યા છે અને નમ્ર છે તેમની સાથે
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ હું રહું છું. નમ્ર લોકોમાં હું નવા પ્રાણ પૂરું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભાંગી પડેલાઓને ફરી બેઠા કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.57.16" />કારણ કે હું સદાકાળ તમારી પર ગુસ્સો કરીશ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આખો વખત તમને ઠપકો આપ્યા કરીશ નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, બધામાં પ્રાણ પૂરનાર, હું જ છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો એમ ન હોય તો મારા જ સજેર્લા બધાં લોકો મારી સામે મૂછિર્ત થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.57.17" />તેમનાં લોભ અને પાપને કારણે ગુસ્સે થઇને મેં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને ફટકાર્યાં હતાં
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મેં તેમનાથી મારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાતને છુંપાવી દીધી હતી.
</q>
<q style="q1">છતાં તેમણે હઠપૂર્વક મનમાન્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માગેર્ જવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.57.18" />તેઓ કયા માગેર્ ગયા છે એ મેં જોયું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ છતાં હું તેઓને સાજા કરીને ઘા રૂઝવીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેઓને સાચો માર્ગ દેખાડીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હિંમત અને દિલાસો આપીશ;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.57.19" />હું હોઠોનાં ફળો ઉત્પન્ન કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ દૂર છે તેમજ પાસે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓને શાંતિ થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે હું તે બધાને સાજા કરીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.57.20" />પણ દુષ્ટ માણસો તો તોફાની સાગર જેવા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે કદી શાંત રહેતા નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેના જળ ડહોળાઇને કાદવ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કચરો ઉપર લાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.57.21" />“દુષ્ટોને કદી શાંતિ હોતી નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવું મારા દેવ કહે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="58" />
<s style="s">સાચો ઉપવાસ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.58.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “કોઇ પણ સંકોચ વિના મોટે સાદે પોકાર કર કઇ પણ બાકી ન રાખ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રણશિંગા જેવો તારો સાદ ઊંચો કર.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા લોકો યાકૂબના વંશજોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના પાપ વિષે જણાવી દે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.58.2" />રોજ રોજ તેઓ મારી ઉપાસના કરવા આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કહે છે કે, તેમને મારા માગોર્ જાણવાનું ગમે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જો કે તેઓ ન્યાયનું આચરણ કરનારી પ્રજા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેમણે પોતાના દેવના શાસનનો અંત લાવ્યો નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ મારી પાસે ન્યાયની અને સત્યની માગણી કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ દેવની નજીક રહેવા માગે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.58.3" />લોકો પૂછે છે કે, “યહોવા, તમે જો જોતા જ ન હોય તો પછી અમે ઉપવાસ શા માટે કરીએ? તું જો ધ્યાન જ ન આપતો હોય તો અમે શા માટે અમારી જાતને નમાવીએ?”
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ યહોવા તેમને કહે છે, “તમે ઉપવાસ કરો છો ત્યારે પણ તમે તમારી મરજી મુજબ કરો છો અને તમારા મજૂરો ને ત્રાસ આપો છો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ISA.58.4" />જુઓ, તમે ઉપવાસ કરો છો અને તે જ સમયે તમે લડો-ઝગડો અને એકબીજા સાથે હિંસક મારામારી કરો છો, પછી ઉપવાસ કરવાનો અર્થ શો? આ પ્રકારના ઉપવાસથી તમારો સાદ સ્વગેર્ નહિ પહોંચે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ISA.58.5" />શું હું તમારી પાસેથી આ પ્રકારના ઉપવાસ સ્વીકારું છું? જેમાં આ પ્રમાણે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવું અને હવામાં બરૂની જેમ માથું નમાવવું અને શોકના વસ્ત્રો પહેરીને પોતાના શરીર ઉપર રાખ ચોપડવી? શું તમને લાગે છે કે યહોવા આ પ્રકારના ઉપવાસને સ્વીકારે છે?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.58.6" />“ના, હું એવા પ્રકારના ઉપવાસ સ્વીકારીશ જેમાં તમે ન્યાયથી વતોર્ અને કચડાયેલાને મુકત કરો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.58.7" />તમારે ભૂખ્યા સાથે વહેંચીને ખાવું, ઘર વગરનાને પોતાના ઘરમાં આશરો આપવો, ઉઘાડાને જોતાં તેને વસ્ત્ર પહેરાવવાં. અને માનવબંધુઓને ભીડમાં જોઇને આંખ આડા કાન કરવાં નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.58.8" />જો તમે આ બાબતોનો અમલ કરશો, તો દેવ પોતાનો મહિમાવંત પ્રકાશ તમારા પર પાડશે; અને તમારા ઘા જલદી રૂઝાઇ જશે; તમારો સદાચાર તમને આગળ દોરી જશે અને યહોવાનો મહિમા તમને અનુસરશે. અને તમારી પાછળ યહોવાનો મહિમા પણ આવતો હશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ISA.58.9" />ત્યારબાદ તમે યહોવાને વિનંતી કરશો, તો તે તમને અવશ્ય પ્રત્યુત્તર આપશે, તે ઝડપથી પ્રત્યુત્તર આપતાં કહેશે; “હા હું આ રહ્યો.”
</p>
<p style="p">તમારે કેવળ આટલું કરવાનું છે: નિર્બળ પર ત્રાસ આપવાનું બંધ કરો. કોઇના તરફ આંગળી ચીંધીને ખોટા આક્ષેપો કરવાનું છોડી દો;
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ISA.58.10" />જો ભૂખ્યાઓને તમે તમારો રોટલો આપો અને દીન દુ:ખીજનની આંતરડી ઠારો, તો પ્રકાશ અંધકારમાં પ્રકાશી ઊઠશે અને સંધ્યાકાળ તમારે માટે બપોરની જેમ ઝળાંહળાં થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.58.11" />હું સતત તમને દોરતો રહીશ, અને મરુભૂમિમાં પણ તમને કશાની ખોટ નહિ પડવા દઉં. હું તમારા અંગોમાં બળ પૂરીશ. અને તમે જળ સીંચેલી વાડી જેવા, સદા વહેતાં ઝરા જેવા બની જશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.58.12" />ઘણા સમયથી ખંડેર પડેલા તમારા નગરોને તમારાં સંતાનો ફરીથી બાંધશે, અને “ભીતો અને ધોરી માગોર્ને બાંધનારા લોકો” એવા નામથી તમે ઓળખાશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.58.13" />જો તમે પવિત્ર વિશ્રામવારને પાળશો અને તે દિવસે તમારો પોતાનો ધંધો તથા મોજમજા કરશો નહિ, પણ તમે વિશ્રામવારને આનંદોત્સવનો યહોવાનો પવિત્ર દિવસ જાણીને, તે વિષે આનંદથી બોલશો અને તમારાં કાર્યો બંધ રાખીને યહોવાનો આદર કરશો, તેમ જ તમારી પોતાની ઇચ્છાઓને અને આનંદપ્રમોદને અનુસરસો નહિ અને કૂથલી નહિ કરતાં, તેને માન આપશો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="ISA.58.14" />તો પછી તમે યહોવામાં ઉત્સવ કરશો અને યહોવા તમને ધરતીનાં ઊંચા શિખરો પર સ્થાપિત કરશે, અને તમને તમારા પૂર્વજ યાકૂબનો વારસો ભોગવવા મળે એવું કરશે. આ યહોવાના પોતાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="59" />
<s style="s">પાપ સંબંધી ચેતવણી ને યહોવાની સહાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.59.1" />જુઓ, યહોવાનો હાથ કઇં એવો નિર્બળ નથી કે તે તમારો બચાવ ન કરી શકે અથવા તેનો કાન એવો બહેરો નથી કે સાંભળી ન શકે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ISA.59.2" />પણ તમારા પાપોએ તમારી અને દેવની વચ્ચે આડ ઊભી કરી છે; તમારાં પાપને કારણે તે તેમને દર્શન આપતો નથી કે નથી સાંભળતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ISA.59.3" />તમારા હાથ લોહીથી, ને અપરાધોથી ખરડાયેલા છે; ને તમારી જીભ જૂઠું બોલે છે અને દગાફટકાથી વાત કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ISA.59.4" />અદાલતમાં સાચી ફરિયાદ કરવાં કોઇ જતું નથી. સૌ પોકળ દલીલો પર આશા બાંધે છે, ને સૌ કોઇ જૂઠાણું ચલાવે છે. દુષ્ટ મનસૂબા ઘડે છે અને અધર્મ આચરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ISA.59.5" />તેઓ સાપનાં ઇંડા સેવે છે અને કરોળિયાનાં જાળાં ગૂંથે છે; જે એ ઇંડા ખાય છે તે મોતને ભેટે છે, ને જે ઈંડુ ફૂટે છે તેમાંથી સાપ નીકળે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.59.6" />તેમનાં જાળાં કઇં વસ્ત્ર તરીકે કામ આવવાનાં નથી, કોઇ તેને પહેરી શકવાનું નથી.
</p>
<p style="p">તેમનાં કમોર્ કુકમોર્ છે અને તેમના હાથ હિંસા આચરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.59.7" />દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો કરવા તેમના પગ દોડી જાય છે, ને નિદોર્ષનું લોહી રેડવા તેઓ ઉતાવળા થાય છે, તેઓ હંમેશા કાવાદાવાના જ વિચાર કરતા હોય છે, અને પોતાની પાછળ વિનાશ અને પાયમાલી મુકતા જાય છે,
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.59.8" />તેઓ શાંતિનો માર્ગ જાણતા નથી. તેમના માર્ગમાં કોઇ ન્યાય નથી. તેમના માગોર્ છેતરામણા છે અને એ માગેર્ જનારા કોઇને શાંતિ મળતી નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઇસાએલના પાપોથી મુશ્કેલીઓનું આવવું
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.59.9" />તેથી આપણને ન્યાય મળતો નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણી મુકિત હજી દૂર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે અજવાળાની આશા રાખીએ છીએ,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ જુઓ અંધકારમાં; તેજ ઝંખીએ છીએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અંધકારમાં અટવાઇએ છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.59.10" />આપણે અંધજનની જેમ ભીંતે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હાથ દઇને ફાંફા મારીએ છીએ,
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણે ભરબપોરે જાણે અંધારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાત્રિ હોય એમ ઠોકર ખાઇએ છીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણે આપણે ભટકતાં મૃત લોકો ના હોઇએ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.59.11" />આપણે બધા રીંછની જેમ ઘૂરકીએ છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને હોલાની જેમ કણીએ છીએ.
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણે ન્યાયને ઝંખીએ છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ન્યાય મળતો નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારણની આશા રાખીએ છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે અમારાથી દૂર રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.59.12" />હે યહોવા, અમે તારા અનેક અપરાધો કર્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારાં પાપ અમારી વિરુદ્ધ સાક્ષી પૂરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમને અમારા પાપોનું ભાન છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા પાપ અમે જાણીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.59.13" />તારી સામે અમે બળવો કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારો નકાર કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે તમને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા દેવને અનુસરવાનું છોડી દીધું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે ઘોર ત્રાસ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બળવાની વાતો કરીએ છીએ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે જૂઠાણાંઓ વિચારીએ છીએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને જ ઉચ્ચારીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.59.14" />અમે ન્યાયને પાછો કાઢીએ છીએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધર્મને આઘો રાખીએ છીએ.
</q>
<q style="q1">ન્યાયીપણું નગરનાં ચોકમાં ઠોકર ખાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રામાણિકતાને પ્રવેશવા દેવામાં આવતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.59.15" />હા, સત્યનો સદંતર અભાવ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે સત્યને વળગી રહેવા પ્રયત્ન કરે છે તેના ઉપર આક્રમણ થાય છે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યહોવાએ સર્વ દુષ્ટતા નિહાળી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાપની વિરુદ્ધ કોઇ પગલું લેવામાં આવ્યું નથી તેથી તે નારાજ થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.59.16" />યહોવાએ આ જોયું છે અને તે ન્યાયના અભાવથી અપ્રસન્ન થયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દીનદલિતોની સાથે થવા કોઇ તૈયાર નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">એ જોઇને તે નવાઇ પામ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આથી તે પોતાના જ બાહુબળથી અને ન્યાયીપણાથી વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.59.17" />તે મુકિતનું બખતર ચઢાવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માથે વિજયનો ટોપ ધારણ કરશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">વેરના વાઘા પહેરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઉપર ક્રોધનો ઝભ્ભો ઓઢશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.59.18" />તે દરેકને તેના કર્મ પ્રમાણે બદલો આપશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શત્રુઓ પર રોષ ઉતારશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">દુશ્મનોને દંડ દેશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દૂર દેશાવરના લોકોને પણ સજા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.59.19" />ત્યારબાદ પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધી લોકો યહોવાના નામથી ડરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના પ્રતાપથી થરથર ધ્રુજશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ તે ધસમસતા પૂરની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રચંડ વાયુની જેમ ઘસી આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.59.20" />પણ સિયોનને માટે, પોતાના લોકોમાંથી જેઓ પાપથી પાછા ફર્યા હશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને માટે તો તે ઉદ્ધારકરૂપે આવશે. આ યહોવાના પોતાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.59.21" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “આ મારો તમારી સાથેનો કરાર છે; મેં મારો આત્મા જે તારા પર છે, ને મારાં વચનો જે તારા મુખમાં મૂક્યાં છે તે તારા મુખમાંથી તારા સંતાનના મુખમાંથી, તથા તારા સંતાનના સંતાનનાં મુખમાંથી હમણાંથી તે સર્વકાળપર્યંત અલોપ થનાર નથી.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="60" />
<s style="s">દેવના લોકો માટે ભાવિ મહિમા
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.60.1" />“હે યરૂશાલેમ, પ્રકાશી ઊઠ! તારા પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાનો મહિમા ઉદય પામ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તે ઝળહળી રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.60.2" />જુઓ, પૃથ્વી પર હજી અંધકાર છવાયેલો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકો હજી ઘોર તિમિરમાં છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તારા પર યહોવા ઉદય પામે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનો મહિમા તારા પર પ્રગટે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.60.3" />પ્રજાઓ તમારા પ્રકાશ તરફ આવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના પરાક્રમી રાજાઓ પણ તમારા ચળકતા ઉજાસને નિહાળવા આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.60.4" />તું જરા ઊંચી નજર કરીને ચારે તરફ જો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા ભેગા થઇને તારા તરફ આવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દૂર દૂરથી તારા પુત્રો આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી પુત્રીઓને તેમની આયાઓ તેડીને લાવશે,
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.60.5" />“એ જોઇને તમારી આંખો ખુશીથી ચળકશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારાં હૃદયો પ્રફુલ્લિત થશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">સમુદ્રની સંપત્તિ તમારી પાસે આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દૂર દેશાવરોની સમૃદ્ધિ તમને અપાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.60.6" />ઊંટોના ટોળાથી તમારો દેશ છવાઇ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મિદ્યાન અને એફાહમાંના પ્રદેશમાંથી આવશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">શેબાથી પણ બધાં આવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સોનું અને લોબાન લઇને આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાનાં સ્તોત્ર ગાતાં ગાતાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.60.7" />કેદારના અને નબાયોથનાં બધાં ઘેટાંબકરાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા વિધિવત યજ્ઞ માટે લાવવામાં આવશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને યહોવાની યજ્ઞ વેદી પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને પ્રસન્ન કરવા બલિ તરીકે હોમાશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે એના મહિમાવંતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મંદિરનો મહિમા વધારશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.60.8" />વાદળની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના માળા તરફ જતાં કબૂતરોની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ ઊડતાં આ શું જાય છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.60.9" />હા, એ તો દૂર દેશાવરના વહાણ ભેગાં થઇને આવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તાશીર્શના વહાણો એમાં આગળ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તમારા દેવ યહોવાને નામે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને મહિમાવંત બનાવનાર ઇસ્રાએલના પરમપવિત્ર દેવને નામે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા સંતાનોને સોનાચાંદી સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દૂર દૂરથી પાછાં આવે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.60.10" />યહોવા યરૂશાલેમને કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“વિદેશીઓ આવશે અને તારા નગરોના કોટને ફરી બાંધશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના રાજાઓ તારા ગુલામ બનશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ ક્રોધ ચઢતાં મેં તને પ્રહાર કર્યો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હવે હું મારી કૃપામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પર દયા કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.60.11" />તારા દરવાજા સદાય ખુલ્લા રહેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાતે કે દિવસે કદી બંધ થશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેમાં થઇને વિદેશી રાજાઓ પોતાની સમૃદ્ધિ લઇને આવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.60.12" />પરંતુ જે પ્રજા કે રાજ્ય તારી તાબેદારી સ્વીકારવાની ના પાડશે તેનો નાશ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ખેદાનમેદાન થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.60.13" />લબાનોનનાં ગૌરવરૂપ ચિનાર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સરળ અને સરુનું કિમતી લાકડું મારા પવિત્રસ્થાનની શોભા વધારવા,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી પાદપીઠનો મહિમા કરવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી પાસે લાવવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.60.14" />જેઓએ તારા પર ત્રાસ કર્યો તેઓના પુત્રો તારી પાસે નમતા આવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓએ તને તુચ્છ માન્યું તેઓ સર્વ
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા પગનાં તળિયાં સુધી નમશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તને ‘યહોવાનું નગર’,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘ઇસ્રાએલના પવિત્ર દેવનો મહિમાવંત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર્વત એવા નામથી તેઓ સંબોધશે.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.60.15" />“તું એક નગરી હતી જે ત્યકતા અને તિરસ્કૃત હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ તારામાંથી પસાર થતું નહોતું;
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ હું તને કાયમ માટે માનવંતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આનંદના ધામરૂપ બનાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.60.16" />વિદેશી ભૂમિઓ અને તેના રાજામહારાજાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું પોતાની માતાની જેમ પાલન કરશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તને ખબર પડશે કે હું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા તારો તારક છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું યાકૂબનો મહાબળવાન દેવ, તારો રક્ષક છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.60.17" />“હું તમને કાંસાને બદલે સોનું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોખંડને બદલે ચાંદી
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમજ લાકડાને બદલે કાંસુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પથ્થરને બદલે લોઢું આપીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા પ્રશાસક શાંતિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ન્યાયપૂર્વક શાસન ચલાવે એમ હું કરીશ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.60.18" />તારી ભૂમિમાં હિંસાનું, વિનાશનું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે પાયમાલીનું નામ સાંભળવા નહિ મળે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારી ભીતો ‘તારણ’ કહેવાશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા દરવાજાઓ ‘સ્તુતિ’ કહેવાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.60.19" />“હવે પછી તને દિવસ દરમ્યાન પ્રકાશ માટે સૂર્યની કે રાત્રે પ્રકાશ માટે ચંદ્રની જરૂર નહિ રહે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, હું તારો દેવ યહોવા,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારો શાશ્વત પ્રકાશ બની રહીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારો દેવ તારો મહિમા હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.60.20" />તારો સૂર્ય હવે કદી આથમશે નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તારો ચંદ્ર છુપાશે નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, હું યહોવા તારો શાશ્વત પ્રકાશ બની રહીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા દુ:ખના દિવસોનો અંત આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.60.21" />“વળી તમારા સર્વ લોકો ધામિર્ક થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સદાકાળ પોતાના દેશનું વતન પામશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે હું મારા પોતાના હાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને ત્યાં સ્થાપીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એમ મારો મહિમા થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.60.22" />છેક નાનું કુટુંબ પણ સંખ્યામાં વૃદ્ધિ પામીને કુળસમૂહ બનશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને જે નાનકડું ટોળું છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે વૃદ્ધિ પામીને પરાક્રમી પ્રજા બનશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું યહોવા, સમયની સંપૂર્ણતાએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વ પૂર્ણ કરીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="61" />
<s style="s">મુકિતનું સ્વાગત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.61.1" />યહોવા મારા માલિકે, તેનો આત્મા મારામાં મૂક્યો છે, કારણ, તેણે મારો અભિષેક કર્યો છે. તેણે મને દીનદુ:ખીઓને શુભસમાચાર સંભળાવવા, ભાંગેલા હૈયાના ઘા રૂઝાવવા, કેદીઓને છુટકારાની, ને બંદીવાનોને મુકિતની જાહેરાત કરવા મોકલ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ISA.61.2" />જે લોકો શોક કરે છે તેઓને એમ કહેવા મને મોકલ્યો છે કે, તમારા માટે યહોવાની કૃપાનો દિવસ આવી પહોંચ્યો છે. અને તમારા શત્રુઓ માટે યહોવાના કોપનો દિવસ આવી પહોંચ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ISA.61.3" />તેણે મને સૌ દુ:ખીઓને સાંત્વના આપવા, તેમનો શોક હર્ષમાં ફેરવવા, એમનાં ભારે હૈયાને સ્તુતિનાં ગીતો ગાતાં કરવા મોકલ્યો છે. એ લોકો યહોવાએ પોતાના મહિમા માટે રોપેલાં “ધર્મનાં વૃક્ષો કહેવાશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.61.4" />“પ્રાચીન ખંડેરોનો તેઓ જીણોર્દ્ધાર કરશે, અગાઉ ભોંયભેગા થઇ ગયેલાં મકાનોને ફરી ઊભા કરશે, પેઢીઓથી ઉજ્જડ પડી રહેલાં નગરોને નવેસરથી બાંધશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.61.5" />“હે મારા લોકો, વિદેશીઓ તમારી સેવા કરશે, તેઓ તમારા ઘેટાંબકરાંને ચારશે અને તમારાં ખેતરોમાં મજૂરી કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ISA.61.6" />પરંતુ તમે લોકો ‘યહોવાના યાજકો’ તથા આપણા ‘દેવના સેવકો’ ગણાશો. તમે બીજી પ્રજાઓની સમૃદ્ધિ ભોગવશો અને તેમની સંપત્તિથી શોભશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.61.7" />“તમારે બેવડી શરમ અનુભવવી પડી હતી, અપમાન અને તિરસ્કાર વેઠવાં પડ્યા હતાં; તેથી હવે તમને તમારા પોતાના દેશમાં બમણી સંપત્તિ પ્રાપ્ત થશે, અને તમે શાશ્વત આનંદ ભોગવશો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.61.8" />યહોવા કહે છે, હું યહોવા ન્યાયને ચાહું છું, હું લૂંટ અને અયોગ્ય કાર્યને ધિક્કારું છું. હું દુ:ખ સહન કરતા મારા લોકોને વિશ્વાસુપણે બદલો આપીશ અને તેઓની સાથે સદાકાળનો કરાર કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ISA.61.9" />તેઓના વંશજો સર્વ પ્રજાઓમાં ખ્યાતિ પામશે; અને સર્વ લોકો જાણશે કે, દેવે જેઓને ખૂબ આશીર્વાદિત કર્યા છે તે આ લોકો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવનો સેવક વિનાશમાંથી બચાવ લાવ્યો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.61.10" />“યહોવાના ઉપકારોનું સ્મરણ થતાં મારા હૈયામાં આનંદ શમાતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા દેવને સંભારતાં મારું હૈયું હર્ષથી ઊભરાય છે; કારણ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે મને તારણનાં વસ્ત્રો પહેરાવ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને ન્યાયીપણાંનો ઝભ્ભો પહેરાવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">લગ્નનાં વસ્ત્રોમાં સજ્જ થયેલા વરરાજા જેવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા રત્નાલંકારોથી શણગારાયેલી જાણે વધૂ જેવો હું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.61.11" />જેવી રીતે પૃથ્વી તેની વનસ્પતિઓનું નવ સર્જન કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા એક બગીચો તેમાં રોપેલા બીજાને ઉગાડે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા જગતની પ્રજાઓને પોતાનો ન્યાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મહિમા બતાવશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="62" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ ઉદ્ધાર માટે પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.62.1" />હું સિયોન પર પ્રેમ કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમનો ઉદ્ધાર ન થાય
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યાં સુધી હું મૂંગો નહિ રહું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો વિજય મશાલની જેમ ભભૂકી ન ઊઠે
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યાં સુધી હું દેવને પોકારવાનું બંધ નહિ કરું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું વિશ્રામ લઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.62.2" />સર્વ પ્રજાઓ તારું ન્યાયીપણું જોશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા મહિમાથી તે રાજાઓની આંખો અંજાઇ જશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને યહોવા તને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક નવું નામ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.62.3" />તું યહોવાના હાથમાં ઝળહળતો તાજ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા દેવના હાથમાં રાજમુગટ બની રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.62.4" />પછી તને કોઇ “ત્યકતા” નહિ કહે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી ભૂમિને કોઇ “વેરાન” નહિ કહે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તને સૌ “યહોવાની પ્રિયતમા” કહેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી ભૂમિ “વિવાહિત” કહેવાશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, યહોવા તારા ઉપર પ્રેમ રાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી ભૂમિનો તે માલિક થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.62.5" />હે યરૂશાલેમ, તારો નિર્માતા (શિલ્પી) જેમ એક યુવાન એક યુવતી સાથે લગ્ન કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તારી સાથે લગ્ન કરશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જેમ કોઇ વર કન્યાથી હર્ષ પામે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તારો દેવ તારાથી આનંદ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.62.6" />હે યરૂશાલેમ, મેં તારા કોટ પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પહેરેગીરો ગોઠવ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ રાતે કે દિવસે કદી મૂંગા નહિ રહે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">હે યહોવાને યાદ કરાવનારાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે પોતે જંપશો નહિ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.62.7" />અને જ્યાં સુધી યહોવા યરૂશાલેમની ફરી પ્રતિષ્ઠા કરી તેને પૃથ્વી પર પ્રશંસાનું પાત્ર ન બનાવે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી તેને જંપવા દેશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.62.8" />યહોવા પોતાના સાર્મથ્યથી વચન આપે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હવે કદી હું તારું ધાન્ય શત્રુઓને ખાવા નહિ આપું.
</q>
<q style="q1">અથવા વિદેશીઓને તારી મહેનતથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બનેલો દ્રાક્ષારસ નહિ પીવાં દઉં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.62.9" />પરંતુ ધાન્ય લણનારા જ તે ખાઇને મારી સ્તુતિ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દ્રાક્ષને ભેગી કરનારા જ મારા મંદિરના ચોકમાં તેનો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.62.10" />દરવાજામાંથી જાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકો માટે રસ્તો તૈયાર કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">રાજમાર્ગ બાંધો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને પથ્થરો હઠાવી દો.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રજાઓ પર ઊંચે ધ્વજ ફરકાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.62.11" />જુઓ, પૃથ્વીના છેડા સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા ઘોષણા કરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“યરૂશાલેમના લોકોને જણાવો કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ તમારો મુકિતદાતા આવે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પોતે મુકત કરેલા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોને સાથે લઇને આવે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.62.12" />હું તેમને ઘણા ઉપહારો આપીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ “પવિત્ર પ્રજા” “યહોવાએ મુકત કરેલા લોકો” કહેવાશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને યરૂશાલેમ “ઇપ્સિતા” “અત્યકતા નગરી”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવથી આશીર્વાદિત શોધી કાઢેલી ભૂમિ કહેવાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="63" />
<s style="s">યહોવાનો પ્રજાઓ પર વિજય
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.63.1" />અદોમના નગર બોસ્રાહથી આ કોણ આવે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કિરમજી રંગના શોભાયમાન વસ્ત્રોમાં સજ્જ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">થઇને વીરત્વ ભરી ચાલે આ કોણ આવે છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">એ તો હું યહોવા છું. “તમારું તારણ પ્રગટ કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો ઉદ્ધાર કરવાને શકિતમાન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સમર્થ એવો હું યહોવા છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.63.2" />“કૂંડીમાં દ્રાક્ષ ગુંદનારા વસ્ત્રની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાં વસ્ત્રો લાલ કેમ છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.63.3" />“મેં એકલાએ દ્રાક્ષ ગૂંદી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને મદદ કરવા માટે ત્યાં કોઇ ન હતું.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા ક્રોધમાં મેં મારા શત્રુઓને દ્રાક્ષાની જેમ ગૂંદી નાખ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રોષે ભરાઇને મેં તેમને રોળી નાખ્યા અને તેમના લોહીની પિચકારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારાં વસ્ત્રો ઉપર ઊડી અને મારાં વસ્ત્રો બધાં ખરડાઇ ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.63.4" />કારણ, શત્રુઓને સજા કરી મારા પોતાના લોકોને મુકત કરવાનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં નક્કી કરેલો સમય આવી ચૂક્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.63.5" />મેં આજુબાજુ નજર નાખી પણ કોઇ મારી મદદે આવ્યું નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી સાથે આવનાર કોઇ નથી એ જોઇને હું અચંબામાં પડી ગયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.63.6" />તેમ છતાં મારા બાહુએ મને વિજય અપાવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા ક્રોધમાં મેં વિદેશી પ્રજાઓને કચડી નાખી અને તે સર્વ લથડિયાં ખાઇને જમીન પર પડી ગઇ.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા પોતાના લોકો પર દયાળુ રહ્યાં
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.63.7" />યહોવાના ઉપકારો હું સંભારીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણે માટે એણે જે કાઇં કર્યું છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે માટે હું તેના ગુણગાન ગાઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાની અપાર કરુણા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દયાથી પ્રેરાઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોનું ભારે મોટું કલ્યાણ કર્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.63.8" />તેણે કહ્યું, “ખરેખર તેઓ મારી પ્રજા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા સંતાન છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મને દગો નહિ દે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.63.9" />અને તેણે તેઓને બધાં સંકટોમાંથી ઉગારી લીધા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને બચાવવા માટે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે કોઇ દૂત નહોતો મોકલ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જાતે આવ્યા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે ઊંચકીને ભૂતકાળમાં બધો સમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને ઉપાડ્યા કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.63.10" />આમ છતાં તેઓએ દગો કરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની વિરુદ્ધ બળવો કરી તેમના પવિત્ર આત્માને દુભાવ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">એ પછી તે તેમના દુશ્મન બન્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જાતે તેમની સામે યુદ્ધે ચડ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.63.11" />પછી તેમણે તેમના સેવક મૂસાના જૂના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દિવસો યાદ કર્યા અને કહેવા લાગ્યા,
</q>
<q style="q1">પોતાના લોકોના આગેવાનને સમુદ્રમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાર ઉતારનાર યહોવા ક્યાં છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમનામાં પોતાના આત્માનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંચાર કરનાર એ ક્યાં છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.63.12" />પોતાના સંપૂર્ણ સાર્મથ્યથી મૂસાની સાથે રહેનાર ક્યાં છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">પોતાના લોકોને માટે જળના બે ભાગ કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને સમુદ્રમાંથી દોરી લાવી અમર કીતિર્ પ્રાપ્ત કરનાર ક્યાં છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.63.13" />જેણે અમને જાણે મેદાન પર ઘોડો ચાલતો હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ ઊંડાણમાં એવી રીતે ચલાવ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે અમે ઠોકર ખાધી નહિ, તે ક્યાં છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.63.14" />ખીણમાં ઊતરી જનારાં ઢોરની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ યહોવાના આત્માથી વિશ્રામ પામ્યા;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે મુજબ તે પોતાને માટે મહિમાવંત નામ કરવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે તમારા લોકોને દોર્યા.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.63.15" />હે યહોવા, ઉપર સ્વર્ગમાંથી નીચે ષ્ટિ કર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા ભવ્ય અને પવિત્રસ્થાનમાંથી ષ્ટિપાત કર.
</q>
<q style="q1">ક્યાં છે તારી શકિત?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્યાં છે તારી અમારા પ્રત્યેની હૃદયની ઘેલછા?
</q>
<q style="q1">ક્યાં છે તારો ઊભરાતો પ્રેમ અને તારી દયા?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એને તું અટકવતો લાગે છે!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.63.16" />હજુ પણ સાચે જ તમે અમારા પિતા છો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો ઇબ્રાહિમ અને ઇસ્રાએલ (યાકૂબ)
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારો અસ્વીકાર કરે તોયે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યહોવા, તું અમારો પિતા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રાચીન સમયથી તું “અમારો ઉદ્ધારક” એ નામથી ઓળખાતો આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.63.17" />હે યહોવા, શા માટે તમે અમારાં હૃદયો કઠણ કર્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમને તમારા માગોર્થી વાળ્યાં છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">પાછા આવો, તમારા સેવકોને ખાતર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે કુળો તમારા જ છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.63.18" />થોડા સમય માટે, તમારા પવિત્ર લોકો તમારા પવિત્ર ધામને ધરાવતા હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હવે અમારા શત્રુઓએ તમારા મંદિરને રોળી નાખ્યું છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.63.19" />અમારા પર તું રાજ્ય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ન કરતો હોય તે રીતે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે તારી પ્રજા ન હોઇએ તે રીતે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે ઘણો સમય વિતાવ્યો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="64" />
<s style="s">યહોવા અમારા પ્રજાપતિ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.64.1" />તમે આકાશ ફાડીને નીચે ઉતરી આવો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી પર્વતો તમારી હાજરીમાં કંપી ઊઠે!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.64.2" />તમારા મહિમાનો અગ્નિ જંગલોને બાળી નાખે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મહાસાગરોના પાણીને ઉકાળીને સૂકવી નાખે;
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રજાઓ તમારી સમક્ષ ધ્રૂજી ઊઠે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાર પછી જ તમારા શત્રુઓ તમારી કીતિર્ અને સાર્મથ્યને સમજી શકશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.64.3" />અમારી કલ્પનામાં ન આવે તેવાં પ્રભાવિત ભયંકર કામો જ્યારે કરતાં હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવા એક સમયે તમે જ્યારે નીચે અવતરણ કર્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પર્વતોએ તમને નિહાળ્યા ત્યારે તેઓ ભયથી કંપી ઊઠયા!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.64.4" />કારણ કે પ્રાચીન સમયથી આજ સુધી કોઇપણ વ્યકિતએ બીજા કોઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ વિષે જોયુ કે સાંભળ્યું નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">સિવાય કે આપણા દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેણે તેઓની પ્રતિક્ષા કરનારાઓના હિતમાં કાર્ય કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.64.5" />આનંદથી ભલાં કાર્યો કરનારાઓને તથા દેવના માગેર્ ચાલનારા સૌને તમે આવકારો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ અમે દેવનો ભય રાખનારા નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે સતત પાપ કર્યા કરીએ છીએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારા સમગ્ર જીવન દરમ્યાન પાપી જ રહ્યા છીએ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી અમારા પર તમારો રોષ ભારે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે કઇ રીતે બચી શકીએ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.64.6" />અમે બધા અપવિત્ર થઇ ગયા છીએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારાં ધર્મકાર્યો સુદ્ધાં મેલા વસ્ત્રો જેવા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે બધાં પાંદડાની જેમ ચીમળાઇ ગયા છીએ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અમારાં પાપ પવનની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ અમને તાણી જાય છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.64.7" />કોઇ તમારા નામે વિનંતી કરતા નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">કે કોઇ તમને વળગી રહેવા પ્રયત્ન કરતું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં તારું મુખ અમારાથી ફેરવી લીધું છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અમને અમારાં દુષ્કમોર્ને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવાલે કરી દીધા છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.64.8" />હે યહોવા, હવે તમે અમારા પિતા છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે માટી અને તમે કુંભાર છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે સર્વ તમારા હાથોની કૃતિઓ છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.64.9" />હે યહોવા, વધારે કોપ કરશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારાં પાપ સદા સંભારશો નહિ!
</q>
<q style="q1">જરા અમારા સામું જુઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે બધા તમારી પ્રજા છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.64.10" />તમારાં પવિત્ર નગરો અત્યારે નિર્જન પ્રદેશ જેવા થઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિયોન વેરાન થઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમ ઉજ્જડ અરણ્ય થઇ ગયું છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.64.11" />અમારું પવિત્ર અને ભવ્ય મંદિર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં અમારા પિતૃઓ તમારી સ્તુતિ કરતા હતા,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે બળીને ખાખ થઇ ગયું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે જોઇને અમે આનંદ પામતા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બધું ખંડેર બની ગયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.64.12" />આમ છતાં, હે યહોવા, શું તમે સહાય કરવાની ના કરશો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમારું હૃદય નહિ દ્રવે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું હજુ પણ તમે શાંત રહેશો અને અમને અપાર વેદના આપતા રહેશો?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="65" />
<s style="s">ધર્મદ્રોહીની સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.65.1" />યહોવા કહે છે; “પહેલા કદી મારા વિષે જાણવાની કાળજી કરી નહોતી એવા લોકો હવે મને શોધી રહ્યા છે. પહેલા કદી મને તેઓ શોધતા નહોતા, છતાં હું તેમને મળવા તૈયાર હતો. એ પ્રજા મને નામ દઇને પોકારતી નહોતી છતાં મેં તેમને કહ્યું કે, ‘આ રહ્યો હું. આ રહ્યો હું.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.65.2" />“એ બળવાખોર લોકોને વધાવી લેવા મેં આખો દિવસ હાથ પહોળા કર્યા, પણ તેઓ સ્વછંદી બની ખોટે માગેર્ ચાલે છે,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ISA.65.3" />સતત મારા મોઢા આગળ મને ગુસ્સો ચડે એવું કરે છે. તેઓ ઉપવનોમાં જઇને બીજા દેવોને બલિદાન આપે છે, અને તેમની વેદી પર ધૂપ ચઢાવે છે
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ISA.65.4" />અને રાત્રે તેઓ કબ્રસ્તાનમાં અને ગુફાઓમાં જાય છે; તેઓ ડુક્કરનું માંસ ખાય છે અને તેમના પાત્રો અશુદ્ધ પ્રાણીઓમાંથી બનેલા રસાથી ભરેલા હોય છે,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ISA.65.5" />તેમ છતાં તેઓ એકબીજાને કહે છે, ‘મારી વધારે નજીક ન આવશો, નહિ. તો હું તમને પવિત્ર બનાવી દઇશ!’ તેઓ મને ગૂંગળાવે છે; તેઓ મને સતત ક્રોધિત કરે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલને સજા મળવી જોઇએ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.65.6" />“જુઓ, આ સત્ય મારી આગળ નોધેલું છે: એનો બદલો આપ્યા વગર હું જંપીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ISA.65.7" />હું તેઓના પાપોનો જ નહિ પરંતુ તેઓના પિતૃઓના પાપોનો પણ બદલો તેઓને આપીશ. કારણ કે તેઓએ પણ પર્વતો પર ધૂપ બાળ્યો છે અને ટેકરીઓ પર મારું અપમાન કર્યું છે. હું તેઓના અપરાધોનો પૂરો બદલો વાળી આપીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ISA.65.8" />યહોવા કહે છે, “જેમ ઝૂમખામા નવો દ્રાક્ષારસ મળે છે ત્યારે, તેનો નાશ કરશો માં, કારણ કે તેમાં આશીર્વાદ છે, એમ લોકો કહે છે; તેમ હું મારા સેવકોને માટે કરીશ, જેથી તે સર્વ લોકોનો નાશ ન થાય.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ISA.65.9" />હું યાકૂબના વંશજો અને યહૂદાના લોકોને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ અને તેમને મારા આ પર્વતીય પ્રદેશના વારસો બનાવીશ. મારા પસંદ કરેલા લોકો, મારા સેવકો ત્યાં વાસો કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ISA.65.10" />જેઓએ મારી શોધ કરી છે તેવા મારા લોકોને માટે શારોનના મેદાનોને ફરીથી ઘેટાં-બકરાં અને ઢોર-ઢાંખરથી ભરી દેવામાં આવશે અને આખોરની ખીણ તેઓનું ગોચર બની રહેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.65.11" />“પરંતુ તમે મારો ત્યાગ કરનારા છો, મારા પવિત્ર પર્વત સિયોનને ભૂલી ગયા છો, ભાગ્યદેવતાઓને થાળ ધરાવો છો અને એમને જાતજાતનાં દ્રાક્ષારસની પ્યાલીનું નૈવેદ્ય ચઢાવો છો;
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ISA.65.12" />તેથી તમને તો હું તરવારને ઘાટ ઉતારીશ. તમારા બધાની હત્યા કરવામાં આવશે, કારણ, મેં તમને બોલાવ્યા પણ તમે જવાબ ન આપ્યો; હું બોલ્યો, પણ તમે કાને ન ધર્યું. મારી નજરમાં જે ખોટું હતું તે તમે કર્યું અને મને જે પસંદ નહોતું તે તમે પસંદ કર્યું.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.65.13" />આથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“મારા સેવકો ખાવા પામશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે ભૂખ્યા રહેશો,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા સેવકો પીશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે તરસ્યા રહેશો.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા સેવકો ખુશી થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે ફજેત થશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.65.14" />મારા સેવકો આનંદથી ગીતો ગાશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે ભગ્નહૃદય થઇને રડશો,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અંતરના સંતાપને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લીધે આક્રંદ કરશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.65.15" />મારા અપનાવેલા સેવકો શાપ આપવામાં તમારા નામનો ઉપયોગ કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારા માલિક, યહોવા તમારું મોત નીપજાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું મારા સેવકોને નવું નામ આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.65.16" />છતાં દેશમાં જે કોઇ વ્યકિત બીજા કોઇને આશીર્વાદ આપશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તે વ્યકિતને સત્ય દેવને નામે આશીર્વાદ આપશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જે કોઇ દેશમાં સમ ખાશે તે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિશ્વાસપાત્ર દેવના નામના સમ ખાશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ પહેલાની મુશ્કેલીઓ ભૂલાઇ ગઇ હશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી આંખથી સંતાઇ ગઇ હશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">એક નવો સમય આવી રહ્યો છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.65.17" />યહોવા કહે છે, “જુઓ, હું નવું આકાશ અને નવી પૃથ્વી સર્જુ છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">પહેલાની સૃષ્ટિને કોઇ સંભારશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું કોઇને સ્મરણ પણ નહિ થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.65.18" />પરંતુ હું જે સર્જું છું, તેથી તમે ખુશ થઇને સદા આનંદોત્સવ કરો, કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું એક યરૂશાલેમનું સર્જન કરીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે મારા માટે આનંદ લાવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેના લોકો મારાથી ખુશખુશાલ હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ISA.65.19" />“હું યરૂશાલેમમાં આનંદ પામીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યાં રહેતા લોકોથી ખુશ રહીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યાં ફરીથી રૂદન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા આક્રંદનો અવાજ સંભળાશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ISA.65.20" />ત્યાં નવાં જન્મેલા બાળકો થોડા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દિવસ જીવીને મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ;
</q>
<q style="q1">પૂરું આયુષ્ય ભોગવ્યા વિના કોઇ વૃદ્ધ મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સો વરસ પૂરાં ન જીવવું એ શાપરૂપ મનાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ISA.65.21" />“લોકો જે ઘર બાંધશે તેમાં રહેવા પામશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ રોપશે તેના ફળ ખાવા પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.65.22" />કોઇ ઘર બાંધે ને કોઇ વસે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ વાડી રોપે ને કોઇ
</q>
<q style="q1">ખાય એવું નહિ બને.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વૃક્ષની જેમ મારા લોકો લાંબું જીવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા અપનાવેલા લોકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના પરિશ્રમના ફળ ભોગવવા પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="ISA.65.23" />તેઓની મહેનત વ્યર્થ નહિ જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે ઉછેરેલા બાળકો
</q>
<q style="q1">આફતનો ભોગ નહિ બને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, હું યહોવા, તેમને અને તેમના સંતાનોને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="ISA.65.24" />તેઓ મને પોકારે તે પહેલાં જ હું જવાબ આપીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ બોલે ના બોલે ત્યાં તો મેં સાંભળી લીધું હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="ISA.65.25" />વરૂ તથા ઘેટાનું બચ્ચું સાથે ચરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિંહ બળદની જેમ કડબ ખાશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઝેરી સપોર્ કદી ડંખ મારશે નહિ!
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા આખા પવિત્ર પર્વતમાં તેઓ ઉપદ્રવ કરશે નહિ ને વિનાશ કરશે નહિ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="66" />
<s style="s">યહોવાનો મહિમા અવશ્ય પ્રગટ થશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ISA.66.1" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“આકાશો મારું રાજ્યાસન છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વી મારી પાદપીઠ છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે મારું ઘર ક્યાં બાંધશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું નિવાસસ્થાન ક્યાં ઊભું કરશો?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ISA.66.2" />આ આખું વિશ્વ તો મેં જ બનાવેલું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ બધું તો મારું જ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું એવા લોકોનું સન્માન કરીશ, જેઓ દીનદુ:ખી હોય, કચડાયેલા અને ભાંગી પડેલા હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જે મારી આજ્ઞા માથે ચડાવતો હોય અને જે મારા વચન સમક્ષ ધ્રૂજતો હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ISA.66.3" />પરંતુ જે લોકો પોતાની જાતે પોતાના માર્ગની પસંદગી કરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાનાં પાપોમાં આનંદ માને છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જૂઠા દેવોને ધૂપ અર્પણ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને હું શ્રાપ આપીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવ તેમના અર્પણોને માન્ય રાખશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવા માણસો દેવની વેદી પર બળદનું બલિદાન આપે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે મનુષ્યના બલિદાન સમાન ગણાશે અને તેનો સ્વીકાર થશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જો તેઓ ઘેટાંનું ખાદ્યાર્પણ લાવે તો
</q>
<q style="q1">તે દેવની ષ્ટિમાં કૂતરાં અથવા ડુક્કરના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રકતનું અર્પણ કરવા જેવું ધિક્કારપાત્ર ગણાશે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="ISA.66.4" />હું તેઓ જેનાથી ડરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવી આફતો જ પસંદ કરીને એમને માથે ઉતારીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે મેં હાંક મારી ત્યારે તેઓએ પ્રત્યુત્તર ન આપ્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેઓને સંબોધ્યા
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તેઓએ સાંભળ્યું નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી નજરે જે ખોટું હતું તે તેઓએ કર્યું.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મને ન ગમે તેવું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ પસંદ કર્યું.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ISA.66.5" />યહોવાના વચનથી ધ્રૂજનારા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓ દેવનો ભય રાખે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ આ વચન સાંભળો:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તમારા ભાઇઓ તમારો દ્વેષ કરે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારા નામ પ્રત્યેના વિશ્વાસુપણાને લીધે તમને કાઢી મૂકે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો બહિષ્કાર કરી મહેણાં મારે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">‘અમે જોઇએ તો ખરાં કે યહોવા પોતાનો મહિમા કેવો પ્રગટ કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે કેવા ખુશ થાઓ છો!’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેઓ પોતે જ ફજેત થશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">સજા અને નવી પ્રજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ISA.66.6" />સાંભળો, નગરમાં આ સર્વ કોલાહલ ઊઠે છે, મંદિરમાંથી અવાજ સંભળાય છે! એ પોતાના દુશ્મનો પર વૈર વાળતા યહોવાનો અવાજ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ISA.66.7" />“પ્રસવવેદના થતાં પહેલાં બાળકને જન્મ આપનારી સ્ત્રી જેવી આ મારી પવિત્ર નગરી છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ISA.66.8" />આવું કદી કોઇએ જોયું છે કે સાંભળ્યું છે? શું એક જ દિવસમાં કદી કોઇ દેશ અસ્તિત્વમાં આવે ખરો? સિયોનને પ્રસવ વેદના વેઠવી પડશે નહિ, અને તે પહેલાં એ દેશને જન્મ આપશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ISA.66.9" />યહોવા તમારા દેવ પૂછે છે કે, “પ્રસૂતિકાળ પાસે લાવીને પછી પ્રસવ ન થાય એવું શું હું કરીશ? ના, એમ હું કદી નહિ કરું.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ISA.66.10" />યહોવા કહે છે, “યરૂશાલેમ પર પ્રેમ રાખનારાઓ, તેની સાથે તમે પણ આનંદો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હષોર્લ્લાસ માણો! એને માટે આક્રંદ કરનારાઓ, હવે તેના આનંદમાં આનંદ માનો;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ISA.66.11" />માતાની શાતાદાયક છાતીએ ધાવીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાળક જેમ ધરપત અનુભવે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ તમે એની ભરી ભરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમૃદ્ધિ ભોગવીને તૃપ્તિ પામશો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ISA.66.12" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું એના પર સરિતાની જેમ સુખશાંતિ વહાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઊભરાતા વહેણાની જેમ પ્રજાઓની સમૃદ્ધિ રેલાવીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે ધાવશો; કેડે ઊંચકી લેવાશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખોળામાં તમને ખૂબ લાડ લડાવાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ISA.66.13" />નાનાં બાળકોને જેમ તેની મા દિલાસો આપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પ્રમાણે હું તમને દિલાસો આપીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યરૂશાલેમમાં તમે સૌ દિલાસો પામશો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ISA.66.14" />તમે જ્યારે યરૂશાલેમને જોશો ત્યારે તમારા હૃદયમાં આનંદ થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી તંદુરસ્તી લીલોતરીની જેમ ઉગશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાનો ભલાઇનો હાથ તેમના લોકો પર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનો કોપ તેમના શત્રુઓ પર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સર્વ પ્રજાઓ જોઇ શકશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ISA.66.15" />યહોવા અગ્નિની જેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાવંટોળ જેવા રથો સાથે પ્રખર રોષથી
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ભભૂકતા ક્રોધાગ્નિથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આઘાત કરવાને આવી રહ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ISA.66.16" />યહોવા આગ અને તરવારથી આખી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માનવજાતનો ન્યાય તોળશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘણા યહોવાને હાથે માર્યા જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ISA.66.17" />જેઓ દેહશુદ્ધિ કરી, સરઘસ કાઢી બીજા દેવોનાં ઉપવનમાં પૂજા કરવા પ્રવેશ કરે છે, “જેઓ ભૂંડનું માંસ, ઊંદર અને સાપોલિયાનાં મના કરાયેલા માંસની ઉજાણી કરે છે, તે બધાનો તેમના કૃત્યો અને વિચારો સાથે દુ:ખદ અંત આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ISA.66.18" />“તેઓ શું કરી રહ્યા છે અને તેઓ શું વિચારી રહ્યા છે તે સર્વ હું જોઇ શકું છું. તેથી હું સર્વ પ્રજાઓને યરૂશાલેમમાં એકઠી કરીશ અને ત્યાં તેઓ મારો મહિમા જોશે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ISA.66.19" />હું તેમને એક એંધાણી આપીશ અને તેમનામાંના બચી ગયેલાઓને જુદી જુદી પ્રજાઓમાં મોકલીશ. હું તેમને લીબિયા અને લ્યુડ તેમના કાર્યકુશળ ધર્નુધારીઓ સાથે, અને તાશીર્શ, (પુટ અને બુદમા,) અને તુબાલ અને ગ્રીસ તથા દૂર દૂરના દરિયાપારના દેશોમાં, જ્યાંના લોકોએ મારા ઉપદેશો સાંભળ્યાં નથી કે મારો મહિમા જોયો નથી, અને મારા મોકલેલા એ લોકો ત્યાંની પ્રજાઓમાં મારો મહિમા પ્રગટ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="ISA.66.20" />અને યહોવાને માટે ઉપહાર તરીકે દરેક પ્રજાઓમાંથી તારા સર્વ ભાઇઓને પાછા લાવશે. ત્યાંથી તેઓને મારા પવિત્ર પર્વત યરૂશાલેમમાં ઘોડાઓ પર, રથોમાં, પાલખીઓમાં, ખચ્ચરો પર તથા ઊંટડીઓ પર બેસાડીને કાળ જીપૂર્વક લાવવામાં આવશે, એમ યહોવા કહે છે. કાપણીના સમયમાં જેમ અર્પણોને યહોવાના શુદ્ધ પાત્રોમાં મંદિરમાં લાવવામાં આવે તેમ તેઓ યહોવાની સમક્ષ અર્પણ રૂપ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ISA.66.21" />તેઓમાંના કેટલાકને હું મારા યાજકો અને લેવીઓ બનાવીશ” એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નવું આકાશ અને નવી પૃથ્વી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ISA.66.22" />“હું જે નવું આકાશ અને નવી પૃથ્વી બનાવવાનો છું તે મારી નજર સમક્ષ કાયમ રહેશે, તેમ તમારા વંશજો અને તમારું નામ પણ કાયમ રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="ISA.66.23" />વળી યહોવા કહે છે કે, દર મહિને ચદ્રદર્શનને દિવસે અને દર અઠવાડિયે વિશ્રામવારને દિવસે આખી માનવજાત મારી આગળ ઉપાસના કરવા આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ISA.66.24" />“અને તેઓ બહાર જશે ત્યારે મારી સામે બળવો કરનારાંના મુડદાં તેઓ જોશે; કારણ કે તેઓનો કીડો કદી મરનાર નથી; તેઓનો અગ્નિ ઓલવાશે નહિ; અને તેઓ સમગ્ર માણસજાતને ધિક્કારપાત્ર થઇ પડશે.”
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="JER"><id id="JER">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>યર્મિયા
</h><toc level="1">યર્મિયા
</toc><toc level="2">યર્મિયા
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યર્મિયા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.1.1" />બિન્યામીન પ્રદેશના અનાથોથ ગામના યાજક કુળસમૂહના હિલ્કિયાના પુત્ર યમિર્યા પાસે દેવ તરફથી આવેલા આ યહોવાના વચન છે:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JER.1.2" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા આમોનના પુત્ર યોશિયાના રાજ્યમાં તેરમે વષેર્ તેને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ;
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JER.1.3" />વળી યોશિયાના પુત્ર યહોયાકીમના રાજ્યશાસન દરમ્યાન તેમ જ તે પછી યોશિયાના પુત્ર સિદકિયાના રાજ્યના અગિયારમા વર્ષ સુધી એ સંભળાતી રહી. એ વર્ષના પાંચમા મહિનામાં યરૂશાલેમના લોકોને દેશનિકાલ કરવામાં આવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યમિર્યાને દેવ તરફથી હાકલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.1.4" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.1.5" />“તને ગર્ભમાં ઘડ્યો તે પહેલાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તને પસંદ કર્યો હતો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તું જન્મ્યો તે પહેલાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તને આ કામ માટે પવિત્ર કર્યો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ તો પ્રજાઓના પ્રબોધક થવા માટે મેં તને નીમ્યો હતો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.1.6" />મેં કહ્યું, “હે પ્રભુ યહોવા! હું તેમ કરી શકું તેમ નથી, મને બોલતા તો આવડતું નથી, હું તો હજી નાની વયનો બાળક છું!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JER.1.7" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું બાળક છું, ‘એવું કહીશ નહિ.’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે હું તને જે બધા લોકો પાસે મોકલું ત્યાં તારે જવાનું જ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું જે કઇં તને કહું તે તારે તેમને જરૂર કહેવું પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.1.8" />તે લોકોથી બીશ નહિ, કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તારી જોડે રહી તારું રક્ષણ કરીશ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JER.1.9" />પછી યહોવાએ પોતાનો હાથ લંબાવીને મારા મોંને સ્પર્શ કર્યો અને મને કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જો મેં મારાં વચનો તારા મુખમાં મૂક્યાં છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.1.10" />આજે હું તને પ્રજાઓ અને રાજ્યો પર સત્તા આપું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે તોડી પાડવાનું અને ઉખેડી નાખવાનું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">વિનાશ કરવાનું અને ઉથલાવી નાખવાનું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાંધવાનું અને રોપવાનું છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">બે સંદર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.1.11" />પછી મને યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “યમિર્યા, જો! તું શું જુએ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">મેં જવાબ આપ્યો, “બદામડીના ઝાડની ડાળીને હું જોઇ શકું છુ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.1.12" />પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “તેં જે કઇં જોયું તે બરાબર છે, કારણ, હું તારા પરના મારાં વચનો પૂરાં કરવાની બાબતની ખાતરી કરવા ધ્યાનથી જોઉ છું.”<f caller="+"><fr>1:12
</fr><fk>ધ્યાનથી જોઉ છું
</fk><ft>હિબ્રૂ ભાષામાં આ શબ્દ રમત છે. શેકેલ એટલે બદામડીનું ઝાડ એટલે ધ્યાનથી જોવું.</ft></f>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JER.1.13" />ફરીવાર મને યહોવાનાં વચન સંભળાયા, “તને શું દેખાય છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">મેં કહ્યું, “એક ઊકળતો ચરું દેખાય છે; એ ઉત્તર તરફથી આ તરફ નમેલો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.1.14" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “ઉત્તરમાંથી જ આ દેશનાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૌ વાસીઓ પર આફત ઉતરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.1.15" />હા! જુઓ, હું ઉત્તરમાં બધા રાજ્યોને બોલાવું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના રાજાઓ યરૂશાલેમના દરવાજા સામે
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તેની ફરતેની દીવાલની સામે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ જ યહૂદિયાના બધા નગરોની સામે
</q>
<q style="q1">પોતપોતાનું સિંહાસન માંડશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.1.16" />મારા લોકોના સર્વ દુષ્કૃત્યો બદલ હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને સજા ફરમાવીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, તેમણે મને છોડીને બીજા દેવોની આગળ ધૂપ કર્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતે બનાવેલી મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા પણ કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.1.17" />“તારા માટે તારે ઉભા થવું પડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારો પોષાક પહેર અને બહાર જા,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હું તને જે ફરમાવુ તે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું જઇને તેઓને કહે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓથી ડરીશ નહિ, નહિ તો હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને તેઓની આગળ ભયગ્રસ્ત ઠરાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.1.18" />અને તેના બદલે હું તને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે શહેર જેની બાજુએ કિલ્લો હશે તેવો બનાવીશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તને લોખંડી સ્તંભ જેવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કાંસાની દીવાલ બનાવું છું જેથી તું રાજાઓ, આગેવાનો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાજકો અને યહૂદિયાના બધા લોકો જે તારી વિરુદ્ધ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સામે ઊભો રહી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.1.19" />તેઓ તારી સાથે યુદ્ધ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તને હરાવી શકશે નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, હું તારે પડખે રહી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું રક્ષણ કરીશ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલે કરેલો યહોવાનો નકાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.2.1" />ફરીથી યહોવાએ મારી સાથે વાત કરીને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યુ:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JER.2.2" />“જા, અને યરૂશાલેમ સાંભળે તે રીતે ઘોષણા કર:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘આ યહોવાના વચન છે: મને યાદ છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુવાનીમાં તારી ભકિત કેવી અચળ હતી!
</q>
<q style="q1">નવાં નવાં પરણ્યાં ત્યારે તું મારા પર કેટલો પ્રેમ રાખતી હતી!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું રણમાં ઉજ્જડ પ્રદેશમાં મારી પાછળ પાછળ આવી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.2.3" />એ દિવસોમાં, હે ઇસ્રાએલ, તું મને સમપિર્ત હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણે ફસલની પહેલી ઊપજ.
</q>
<q style="q1">જે કોઇ તને ખાવા ધાતું તેને સજા થતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને માથે આફત ઊતરતી.’”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.2.4" />હે યાકૂબના કુટુંબો, ઇસ્રાએલના કુળસમૂહો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાની વાણીનો સંદેશો સાંભળો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.2.5" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તમારા પિતૃઓને મારામાં શો દોષ દેખાયો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તેઓ મને છોડીને દૂર ચાલ્યા ગયા?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ વિસાત વગરની મૂર્તિઓને ભજવા લાગ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતે વિસાત વગરના થઇ ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.2.6" />તેઓએ પૂછયું નહી કે યહોવા ક્યાં છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે અમને મિસરમાંથી સલામત બહાર લાવ્યા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અમને રેતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખડકોની ભૂમિમાંથી દોરી ગયાં,
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યાં સદાકાળ દુકાળ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અંધકાર હોય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં નથી કોઇ માણસના
</q>
<q style="q1">ક્યારેય પગલાં પડ્યાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે નથી કોઇ ત્યાં ક્યારેય વસ્યું”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.2.7" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “હું જ તેમને ફળદ્રુપ પ્રદેશમાં લઇ આવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેઓ તેની મબલખ ઊપજ ભોગવે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તેમણે તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમાં પ્રવેશ કરતાં
</q>
<q style="q1">વેંત તેને અશુદ્ધ બનાવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં આપેલી ભૂમિને ઘૃણાપાત્ર બનાવી દીધી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.2.8" />“યાજકોએ કદી પૂછયું નથી કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘યહોવા ક્યાં છે?’
</q>
<q style="q1">શાસ્ત્રના જાણકારોએ મને ઓળખ્યો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોના આગેવાનોએ મારી સામે બળવો કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રબોધકોએ બઆલદેવની આરાધના કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નકાંમા દેવોને ભજવામાં સમય બગાડ્યો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.2.9" />“આથી હું, યહોવા, ફરી એકવાર મારા લોકો સામે આરોપ મુકું છું-
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની અને તેમના વંશજો સામે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.2.10" />સાગર પાર કરી પશ્ચિમમાં જાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે પૂર્વમાં તપાસ કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">ધ્યાનથી જુઓ અને વિચાર કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવું કદી બન્યું છે ખરુ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.2.11" />કોઇ પ્રજાએ કદી દેવોને બદલ્યા છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલેને એ પછી નામના હોય?
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ મારા લોકોએ તો પોતાના ગૌરવશાળી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના બદલામાં નકામી મૂર્તિઓને સ્વીકારી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.2.12" />“આ જોઇને આઘાત પામો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઓ સ્વર્ગ આઘાત પામો,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સંપૂર્ણ વિનાશ પામો.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાની વાણી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.2.13" />મારા લોકોએ બે પાપ કર્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે મારો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે જીવનજળનું ઝરણું છે તેના જળનો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જેમાં જળ રહી શકતું નથી એવા ભાંગેલા ટાંકા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ પોતાને માટે બાંધ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.2.14" />“ઇસ્રાએલ શા માટે ગુલામોની પ્રજા બની છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે તેને બંદીવાન બનાવી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દૂર દેશમાં લઇ જવામાં આવી છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.2.15" />તરૂણ સિંહોએ તેની સામે ગર્જના કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ઘુરઘુરાટ કેમ કરે છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">એની ભૂમિ વેરાન કેમ થઇ ગઇ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એનાં શહેરો બળીને ખાક કેમ થઇ ગયા છે, ઉજ્જડ કેમ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.2.16" />અને હજી મેમ્ફિસના અને તાહપન્હેસના મિસરી સૈન્યે તારી ખોપરી તોડી નાખી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું માથું વાઢી નાંખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.2.17" />શુ આ સાચું નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તું જ આ દશા તારી પર લાવ્યો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં આવું તારા યહોવા દેવને છોડી દઇને કયુઁ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જયારે તે તને માર્ગમાં દોરી રહ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="18" bcv="JER.2.18" />અને હવે નીલ નદીનાં પાણી પીવા મિસર જવાનો શો અર્થ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફ્રાંત નદીનાં પાણી પીવા આશ્શૂર જવાનો શો અર્થ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.2.19" />તારા પોતાનાંજ દુષ્કૃત્યોના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરિણામ તું ભોગવશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા પોતાના જ ધર્મથી વિમુખ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">થવાની સજા તું ભોગવી રહ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી જાતે જો અને જાણ કે મારાથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા યહોવા દેવથી મોઢું ફેરવી લેવું
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારો ભય રાખ્યા વગર જીવવું એ કેટલું અનિષ્ટ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નુકશાનકારક છે.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.2.20" />“હા! ઘણા સમય પહેલા તેં તારી ઝૂંસરી ભાંગી નાખી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દોરડાં જેણે તને તેની સાથે બાંધ્યો હતો તે તોડી નાખ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને કહ્યું કે, ‘હું તારો ગુલામ નહિ થાઉં.’
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દરેક ઊંચા પર્વત પર તથા દરેક લીલા વૃક્ષની નીચે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વારાંગનાની જેમ વર્તન કર્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.2.21" />મેં તો તને ઉત્તમ દ્રાક્ષલત્તા માની,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાતવાન રોપો માની રોપી હતી,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તું તો ષ્ટ માણસોની આવી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ પેઢી જેવી કેવી રીતે બની?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.2.22" />સાબુ તથા ખારો મોટા પ્રમાણમાં વપરાય તોપણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમને શુદ્ધ કરી શકશે નહિ,”
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા દેવ કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તારા અપરાધોના ડાઘ સદા મારી આંખો સમક્ષ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.2.23" />તું કેવી રીતે કહી શકે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘મેં મારી જાતને ષ્ટ નથી કરી અને, હું બઆલ દેવની પાછળ નથી દોડી?’
</q>
<q style="q1">પેલા કોતરમાં તું શી રીતે વતીર્ હતી તે યાદ કર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેં જે કર્યું તે કબૂલ કર.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું તો ઋતુમાં આવેલી સાંઢણી જેવો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ગાંડી થઇને ગમે તેમ દોડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.2.24" />તું રાનમાં ઊછરેલી જંગલી ગધેડી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે કામાવેશમાં છીંકારા કરતી રણમાં દોડી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વેતરે આવી હોય ત્યારે કોણ એને રોકી શકે?
</q>
<q style="q1">કોઇ નરે તેની પાછળ કાલાવાલા કરવાની જરૂર નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વેતરે આવતાં એ જાતે આવીને ઊભી રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JER.2.25" />જો જે, તારા પગની ખરી ઘસાઇ ન જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો જે તારે ગળે પાણીનો શોષ ન પડે!
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તું કહે છે, ‘એ નહિ સાંભળું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને અજાણ્યાઓ પ્રત્યે પ્રીતિ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારે તેમની પાછળ જ જવું છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JER.2.26" />“જેમ ચોર પકડાય ને ફજેત થાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તમે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો ફજેત થશો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે બધા જ તમારા રાજાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આગેવાનો, યાજકો અને પ્રબોધકો,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JER.2.27" />તમે લાકડાંની અને પથ્થરની મૂર્તિઓને કહો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘તમે અમારાં માબાપ છો.’
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે મારી તરફ પીઠ ફેરવી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘મને તમારું મોં સુદ્ધાં બતાવતા નથી.’
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ આફત આવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મને હાંક મારો છો,
</q>
<p style="p">‘યહોવા આવો, અમને બચાવો!’
<ve />
</p>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JER.2.28" />તમે પોતે બનાવેલા આ દેવોને શા માટે વિનંતી કરતા નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો તેઓ કરી શકે તો ભલે આવીને તેઓ તમને મુશ્કેલીઓમાંથી ઉગારે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યહૂદિયા, તારે તો જેટલાં નગર છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેટલાં દેવોની મૂર્તિઓ છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JER.2.29" />યહોવા કહે છે, “મારી વિરુદ્ધ તમે શા માટે ફરિયાદ કરો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી સામે તો તમારા માંના બધાએ બળવો કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JER.2.30" />મેં તમારા બાળકોને માર્યા કે તમને સજા થાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે વ્યર્થ ગયું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારામાં કોઇ સુધારો થયો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી જ તરવાર ભૂખ્યા સિંહની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા પ્રબોધકોને ભરખી ગઇ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JER.2.31" />હે મારા લોકો, તમે તે કેવા છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી વાત ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો!
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“શું હું તમારા માટે વેરાન વગડા જેવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે ઘોર અંધકારની ભૂમિરૂપ હતો!
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા લોકો શા માટે કહે છે કે ‘અમે સ્વતંત્ર થયા છીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે અમે તેમની સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ સંબંધ રાખવા માંગતા નથી?’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JER.2.32" />શું કોઇ કન્યા કદી પોતાનાં ઘરેણાં ભૂલે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ નવવધૂ પોતાના કમરપટા ભૂલે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ છતાં હે મારી પ્રજા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગણ્યા ગણાય નહિ એટલા દિવસોથી તું મને ભૂલી ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JER.2.33" />“પ્રેમીઓની પાછળ અભિસારે શી રીતે જવું એ તને બરાબર આવડે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે માટે દુષ્ટ સ્ત્રીઓને પણ તું શીખવી શકે તેમ છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="JER.2.34" />તારા વસ્ત્રોનો પાલવ લોહીથી ખરડાયેલો છે, નિદોર્ષ ગરીબોના લોહીથી!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કંઇ એ લોકોને તારા ઘરમાં ખાતર પાડતાં પકડ્યા નહોતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="JER.2.35" />ને છતાં તું કહે છે, ‘દેવ રોષે ભરાય તેવું કોઇ કૃત્ય મેં કર્યું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને ખાતરી છે તે ગુસ્સે થયા નથી.’
</q>
<q style="q1">તું કહે છે, ‘મેં પાપ નથી કર્યું’,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે હું તને આકરી શિક્ષા કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="JER.2.36" />તું શા માટે આટલી સરળતાથી માર્ગ બદલે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ આશ્શૂરે તમને નીચા પાડયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ મિસર પણ તમને નીચા પાડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="JER.2.37" />તેથી તું પણ મિસરની બહાર તારો હાથ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે માથે મુકીને આવીશ કારણ કે
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તેઓનો અસ્વીકાર કર્યો છે જેના પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી, તેઓ તારું ભલું નહીં કરી શકે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="3" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JER.3.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “એક નિયમ છે, કોઇ માણસ પોતાની પત્નીને છૂટાછેડા આપે અને તેણી તેને છોડીને જાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીજા માણસને પરણે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પછી પહેલો પતિ તેને પાછો લઇ શકે ખરો?
</q>
<q style="q1">ચોક્કસ નહિ – કારણ એ દેશ પૂરેપૂરા ષ્ટ થયો નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા, તેં તો અનેક પ્રેમીઓ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે છતાં પણ તું પાછી આવવા માંગે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.3.2" />જરા ઊંચી નજર કરીને ટેકરીઓ તરફ જો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવી કોઇ જગ્યા છે જ્યાં
</q>
<q style="q1">તું વેશ્યાની માફક ન વતીર્ હોય?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ટાંપી બેઠેલા રણમાંના આરબની જેમ
</q>
<q style="q1">તું રસ્તાની ધારે પ્રેમીઓની રાહ જોતી બેઠી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેં તારા અધમ વ્યભિચારથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટતાથી ભૂમિને ષ્ટ કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.3.3" />આથી જ વરસાદને રોકવામાં આવ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યાં પાછલો વરસાદ
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ વરસ્યો નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હજી પણ તું બેશરમ વારાંગનાની જેમ વતેર્ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.3.4" />હજી થોડા સમય પહેલા જ તું મને કહેતી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘પિતા તમે તો મારા યુવાવસ્થાના મિત્ર છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે હંમેશા મારી સાથે રિસાયેલા રહેશો?’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.3.5" />શુ તમે મારા પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સદાય રોષમાં રહેશો?
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તેં મને આમ કહ્યું હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ છતાં તેં તારાથી થાય એટલાં પાપ કર્યા.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">બે દુષ્ટ બહેનો ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદિયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.3.6" />યોશિયા રાજા હતો ત્યારે યહોવા તરફથી મારી પાસે આ સંદેશો આવ્યો, “પેલી બેવફા ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાએ શું કર્યું છે, તે તેં જોયું? તે એકેએક ટેકરી પર અને એકેએક ઘટાદાર વૃક્ષ નીચે ગઇ અને ત્યાં તે વેશ્યાની જેમ વતીર્.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JER.3.7" />મેં ધાર્યું હતું કે, ‘એક દિવસ તે મારી પાસે આવશે અને મારી થઇને રહેશે,’ પણ તે પાછી આવી નહિ, તેની બેવફા બહેન યહૂદિયાએ ઇસ્રાએલનું બંડ સતત નિહાળ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JER.3.8" />તેણે એ પણ જોયું કે, વ્યભિચાર કરવા માટે મેં બેવફા ઇસ્રાએલને છૂટાછેડા આપી હાંકી કાઢી છે, તેમ છતાં, એની બેવફા બહેન યહૂદિયા ડરી નહિ, તેણે પણ જઇને વેશ્યાના જેવો વર્તાવ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JER.3.9" />અને તેના કારણે તે એટલી નફફટ થઇ ગઇ છે વ્યભિચારમાં કે પથ્થર અને લાકડાના ટુકડાની પૂજા કરી તેણે ભૂમિને અશુદ્ધ કરી છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="JER.3.10" />આ બધું છતા, ઇસ્રાએલની બહેન યહૂદિયા સાચા હૃદયથી મારી પાસે આવી નથી. એ માત્ર આવવાનો ઢોંગ કરે છે.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.3.11" />વળી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું કે, “બેવફા યહૂદિયાની તુલનામાં બેવફા ઇસ્રાએલ તો ઓછી દોષપાત્ર લાગે છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="JER.3.12" />તેથી જા અને ઉત્તર દિશામાં, “આ શબ્દો જાહેર કરીને કહે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘અવિશ્વાસુ ઇસ્રાએલને મારી પાસે પાછા આવવા માટે કહે.’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવું યહોવા કહે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">‘હવે હું તેમની પર મારા ભવા નહિ ચઢાવું કે તારી સામે ક્રોધે ભરાઇને નહિ જોઉ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમકે હું દયાળુ છું’
</q>
<q style="q1">એવું યહોવા કહે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">‘હું હંમેશના માટે ક્રોધે નહી ભરાઉં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.3.13" />ફકત તારો દોષ કબૂલ કર કારણ કે તેં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા યહોવા દેવ સામે બળવો કર્યો છે,
</q>
<p style="p">પ્રત્યેક ઘટાદાર વૃક્ષ નીચે
</p>
<q style="q1">પારકા દેવોની મૂર્તિઓની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં પૂર્ણહૃદયપૂર્વક ઉપાસના કરી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં મારો સાદ સાંભળ્યો નથી.’”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JER.3.14" />“પાછા આવો, ઓ બેવફા બાળકો!” આ હું યહોવા તમને કહું છુ, “હા, હું જ તમારો ધણી છું. હું પ્રત્યેક શહેરમાંથી એક જણને અને દરેક કુટુંબમાંથી હું બે જણને લઇને તેમને સિયોન પર પાછા લાવીશ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JER.3.15" />ત્યાં હું મને મનગમતાં રાજકર્તાઓ તમને આપીશ; ને તેઓ જ્ઞાન તથા બુદ્ધિથી તમારું પાલન કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="JER.3.16" />જો તમારો દેશ ફરી એક વખત લોકોથી ભરપૂર થશે.
</p>
<p style="p">“તો ભૂતકાળમાં યહોવાનો કરારકોશ તમારી પાસે હતો તે સમયના ‘સારા દિવસોની’ તમે ઇચ્છા નહિ કરો. તમે કયારેય એવું નહિં વિચારો કે આ દિવસો ભૂતકાળના દિવસો જેટલા સારાં નથી. કરારકોશ ફરીથી બનાવાશે નહિ;
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="JER.3.17" />તે વખતે યરૂશાલેમ ‘યહોવાનું રાજસિંહાસન’ કહેવાશે. અને ત્યાં સર્વ પ્રજાઓ યહોવાની પાસે આવશે અને તેઓ પોતાની ભૂંડી ઇચ્છાઓને આધીન થવાની હઠ કદી કરશે નહિ,
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="JER.3.18" />તે વખતે યહૂદિયાના લોકો ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સાથે જોડાઇ જશે, અને તે બંને ભેગા મળીને ઉત્તરનાં દેશમાંથી નીકળી જે ભૂમિ મેં તમારા પિતૃઓને પોતાના તરીકે આપી હતી તેમાં પાછા આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JER.3.19" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે ઇસ્રાએલ, ‘મેં વિચાર્યું કે હું તને મારા પુત્ર જેવો ગણું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તને એક રળિયામણી ભૂમિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખી દુનિયામાં સુંદરમાં સુંદર ભૂમિ વારસામાં આપું.’
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં એમ માન્યું હતું કે, તું મને ‘પિતા’ કહીને બોલાવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારાથી કદી વિમુખ નહિ થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.3.20" />પણ તમે મારો વિશ્વાસઘાત કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારાથી દૂર ચાલ્યા ગયા છો.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અસંખ્ય વિદેશી દેવોને તમે સોંપાઇ ગયા છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વ્યભિચારી પત્ની પોતાના પતિનો ત્યાગ કરે તેવા તમે થઇ ગયા છો.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.3.21" />“હું ઊંચા પર્વતો પર રૂંદન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દયા યાચનાનો અવાજ સાંભળું છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા દેવથી દૂર ભટકી ગયેલા ઇસ્રાએલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોનો તે અવાજ છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.3.22" />યહોવા કહે છે, “પાછાં આવો, હે બેવફા બાળકો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી બેવફાઇ દૂર કરીશ.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">અને લોકો જવાબ આપે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હે યહોવા, આ રહ્યા અમે, તમારી પાસે અમે આવીએ છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, તમે જ અમારા યહોવા દેવ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.3.23" />અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે ટેકરીઓ પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પર્વતો પર જૂઠાં દેવોની કોલાહલ પૂર્વક પૂજા કરવી વ્યર્થ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">માત્ર અમારા યહોવા દેવ પાસેથી જ ઇસ્રાએલને મદદ મળી શકે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇસ્રાએલનું તારણ ફકત અમારા યહોવા દેવ તરફથી જ શક્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.3.24" />અમે અમારા બાળપણથી જોયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા વડીલો પાસે જે હતું તે બધું ઘેટાં-બકરાં,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઢોરઢાંખર તથા પુત્ર-પુત્રીઓ. તેઓએ યાજકો પાછળ તથા મૂર્તિઓ પાછળ વેડફી નાખ્યું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘૃણાસ્પદ દેવતા બઆલ એ બધાંને ભરખી ગયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JER.3.25" />અમે લજ્જિત થયા છીએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમે જેને લાયક છીએ તે અપમાન સહન કરવા તૈયાર છીએ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે અમે અને અમારા વડીલોએ બાળપણથી જ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા યહોવા દેવની વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કર્યું છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અમે તેમને આધીન થયા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમે તેના હુકમોને માન્યાં નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="4" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JER.4.1" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હે ઇસ્રાએલ, જો તારે પાછા આવવું હોય તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું મારી પાસે જ પાછો આવ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી ઘૃણાસ્પદ મૂર્તિઓ ફગાવી દે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફરીથી ખોટે માગેર્ જતો નહિ
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.4.2" />અને જો તું સત્યથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ન્યાયથી તથા નીતિથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘યહોવા જીવે છે’ એવા સોગંદ ખાઇશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">તો સર્વ પ્રજાઓ તેનામાં પોતાને આશીર્વાદિત કહેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તેનામાં અભિમાન કરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JER.4.3" />યહૂદિયાના લોકોને અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓને યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તમારાં વણખેડેલા ખેતર ખેડી નાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારાં બીજ કાંટા ઝાંખરા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વચ્ચે વાવશો નહિ;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.4.4" />યહોવાનું શરણું સ્વીકારો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારાં હૃદયનો મેલ ધોઇ નાખો,
</q>
<q style="q1">રખેને તમારા દુષ્કૃત્યોને કારણે મારો રોષ અગ્નિની જેમ ભભૂકી ઊઠે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઠાર્યો ઠરે જ નહિ અને ભડભડતો જ રહે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઉત્તર દિશામાં વિનાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JER.4.5" />“યરૂશાલેમમાં અને સર્વ યહૂદિયામાં પોકારીને કહો કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">આખા દેશમાં ભય દર્શાવતું રણશિંગડું વગાડો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘તમારા જીવ બચાવવાને દોડો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કિલ્લેબંધ નગરોમાં નાસી જાઓ!’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.4.6" />સંકેત ધ્વજ ઊંચો કરો, ‘સિયોનને’ ‘હમણાં જ ભાગી જાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિલંબ કરશો નહિ!’
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે હું યહોવા ઉત્તર તરફથી તમારા પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભયંકર વિનાશ લાવું છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.4.7" />“સિંહ” પોતાની ઝાડીમાંથી ચઢી આવ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તો પ્રજાઓનો વિનાશક છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા દેશને ઉજ્જડ કરવા માટે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે પોતાના રહેઠાણમાંથી બહાર નીકળ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાં નગરો એવાં ઉજ્જડ થશે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓમાં કોઇ રહેવાસી જોવામાં આવશે નહિ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.4.8" />માટે શોકનાં વસ્ત્રો ધારણ કરો, છાતી કૂટો અને વિલાપ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, યહોવાનો ઉગ્ર ક્રોધ હજુ શાંત પડ્યો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.4.9" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તે દિવસે રાજાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સરદારો ભયને લીધે કાંપશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">યાજકોને તથા પ્રબોધકોને ભયને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણે ભારે આઘાત લાગશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JER.4.10" />ત્યારે હું બોલ્યો, “આહા, પ્રભુ યહોવા, તેં અમને અને યરૂશાલેમના સર્વ લોકોને પૂર્ણપણે છેતર્યા છે તેઁ તેઓને કહ્યું, ‘તમે શાંતિ પામશો.’ પણ તમાર માથા પર તો તરવાર લટકી રહી છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.4.11" />“તે સમય આવી રહ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે યરૂશાલેમના લોકોને કહેવામાં આવશે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અરણ્ય તરફથી તેઓના પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાળી નાખે તેવા પવનો આવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તો ઉપણવાના કે સ્વચ્છ કરવાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉપયોગમાં આવે તેવો હશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.4.12" />મારી તરફથી ખૂબ શકિતશાળી પવન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી તરફ દોડયો આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે હું તમારી વિરુદ્ધ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો ચુકાદો જણાવીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.4.13" />જુઓ, તોફાની પવનની જેમ લશ્કર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા પર ચઢી આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના રથો વાવાઝોડાની જેમ ઘસતા આવે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના ઘોડા ગરૂડ કરતાં પણ વેગીલા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઓહ! ખરેખર અમે ખલાસ થઇ ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.4.14" />હે યરૂશાલેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા અંતરમાંથી પાપને ધોઇ નાખે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તો કદાચ તું બચી જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ક્યાં સુધી તારા અંતરમાં પાપી વિચારો સંઘર્યા કરીશ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.4.15" />કારણકે દાનથી અને એફ્રાઇમના પર્વતો પરથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા માટેના ચુકાદાની જાહેરાત થઇ ચૂકી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.4.16" />“અન્ય લોકોને જાણ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમમાં દાંડી પિટાવો.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહૂદિયાના નગરો સામે યુદ્ધનાદો કરતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દૂરના દેશથી દુશ્મનો આવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.4.17" />જંગલી પ્રાણીની આસપાસ ભરવાડો ફરી વળે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પ્રમાણે તેઓ યરૂશાલેમને ઘેરી લે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તેના લોકોએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા વિરુદ્ધ બંડ પોકાર્યું છે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા આ વચનો કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.4.18" />“હે યરૂશાલેમ તારાં પોતાનાં વર્તન અને કાર્યોને કારણે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં મારી વિરુદ્ધ બળવો કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">માટે આ બધું તારા પર વિત્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ તારી સજા છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">કેવી આકરી: તારા હૃદયને એ કેવું વીંધી નાખે છે!”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યમિર્યાનું રૂદન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.4.19" />અરે! ઓહ! માંરુ અંતર કેવું વલોવાય છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી છાતી કેવી ધડકે છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">હું શાંત રહી શકતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ મેં રણશિંગડાનો ધ્વનિ સાંભળ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.4.20" />સંકટ પર સંકટ આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેશ આખો ખેદાન મેદાન થઇ ગયો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા તંબુઓ એકાએક ઢળી પડ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પડદાઓના લીરા ઊડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.4.21" />મારે ક્યાં સુધી રણધ્વજ જોવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રણશિંગડાનો નાદ સાંભળવો?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.4.22" />દેવ કહે છે, “જ્યાં સુધી મારા લોકો મૂર્ખતા ન છોડે ત્યાં સુધી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, મારા લોકો મૂરખ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ મને ઓળખતા નથી; એ લોકો નાદાન બાળકો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમને કશી સમજ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">એ લોકો ભૂંડુ કરવામાં ઘણાં ચાલાક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ સાચું આચરણ કરતાં એમને આવડતું નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">વિનાશ આવી ગયું
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.4.23" />મેં તેઓના દેશ પર ચારે દિશાઓમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં સુધી નજર પહોંચે ત્યાં સુધી ષ્ટિ કરી.
</q>
<q style="q1">સર્વત્ર વિનાશ વેરાયેલો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશો પણ અંધકારમય હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.4.24" />મેં પર્વતો તરફ જોયું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો તે ધ્રૂજતા હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા ડુંગરો ડોલતા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JER.4.25" />મેં ષ્ટિ કરી, તો કોઇ મનુષ્ય દેખાયું નહોતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશનાં પંખીઓ સુદ્ધાં ઊડી ગયા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JER.4.26" />મેં જોયું, તો ખેતરો વેરાન થઇ ગયાં હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધાં નગરો ભોંયભેગા થઇ ગયા હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, યહોવા રોષે ભરાયા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JER.4.27" />કારણ કે યહોવાએ કહ્યું હતું કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“આખા દેશનો વિનાશ થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તેનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ નહિ કરું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JER.4.28" />સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી ચિંતા કરશે અને આકાશ અંધકારમય બની જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, યહોવા બોલી ચૂક્યો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેનો વિચાર તે બદલનાર નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે નિર્ણય કર્યો છે અને તેમાંથી ડગનાર નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JER.4.29" />ઘોડેસવાર અને બાણાવળીનું નામ સાંભળતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ સમગ્ર દેશ નાસભાગ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેટલાક ઝાડીમાં ભરાઇ જાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કેટલાક ડુંગરો પર ચઢી જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એકેએક શહેર સૂનું થઇ જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ ત્યાં રહેતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JER.4.30" />તેં શા માટે તારા સૌથી સુંદર વસ્ત્રો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘરેણાં પહેર્યાં છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">અને શા માટે આંખોમાં કાજળ લગાવીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આંખોને તેજસ્વી કરી છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનાથી તને લાભ થવાનો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પ્રેમીઓ, પ્રજાઓ તારો ધિક્કાર કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારો વિનાશ કરવાનું ઈરછે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JER.4.31" />હું કોઇની પ્રસવવેદનાની ચીસ જેવી ચીસ સાંભળું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રથમ બાળકને જન્મ આપતી વખતે પ્રસૂતિની વેદનાથી કષ્ટાતી સ્ત્રીના સાદ જેવો અવાજ મેં સાંભળ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ તો મારા લોકોનો અવાજ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ હાંફી ગયા છે તેઓ પોતાના હાથને ખેંચી રહ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રડે છે, “અમે ડૂબી ગયા છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારો સંહાર કરી રહ્યા છે, તેની સામે અમે બેભાન થઇ રહ્યા છીએ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">યહૂદિયાના લોકોના પાપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.5.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “યરૂશાલેમની ગલીએ ગલી શોધી કાઢો, તમારી ચારેબાજુ જાતે જોઇ વળો, તેના ચોરા ચૌટા જોઇ વળો. ને જુઓ કે ન્યાયી તથા પ્રામાણિક એવો એક માણસ પણ તમને મળે છે! અને જો તમને એવો એક પણ માણસ મળે, તો હું યરૂશાલેમને માફ કરું.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JER.5.2" />લોકો પ્રતિજ્ઞા લે છે અને મારામાં શ્રદ્ધા રાખે છે એમ કહે છે, પણ એ જૂઠું બોલે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.5.3" />હે યહોવા, તમે વિશ્વાસુપણું ચાહો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેઓને પ્રામાણિક બનાવવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે તેઓને શિક્ષા કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ સુધર્યા નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે તેઓને પાયમાલ કર્યા છતાં પોતાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાપોથી પાછા ફરવા તેઓએ અસંમતિ દર્શાવી.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને પશ્ચાતાપ નહિ કરવાનો તેઓએ નિરધાર કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પાષાણથી પણ વધુ કઠણ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.5.4" />પછી મેં કહ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તેઓ જ ગરીબ લોકો છે, તેઓને કંઇ ભાન નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">હા, તેઓને યહોવાના માગોર્ ખબર નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના દેવના કાયદાથી અજાણ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.5.5" />હું વડીલો પાસે તેમની સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાત કરવા જઇશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તેઓ યહોવા તરફનો માર્ગ જાણે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓ દેવના કાયદા જાણે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તે લોકોએ દેવની ઝૂંસરી ભાંગી નાખી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જોતરો તોડી નાખ્યાં છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.5.6" />આથી જંગલમાંથી સિંહ આવી તેમને ભોંયભેગા કરી દેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વગડામાંથી વરૂ આવી તેઓને ફાડી ખાશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમનાં શહેરો ફરતે ચિત્તો આંટા માર્યા કરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નગરની બહાર જનારા દરેકને તે ફાડી ખાશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તેઓનાં પાપ અતિઘણાં અને મારી વિરુદ્ધ તેઓનું બંડ અતિ ભારે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અસંખ્ય વાર તેઓ દેવથી વિમુખ થયાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.5.7" />દેવે કહ્યું, “હું તેમને કંઇ રીતે માફી આપું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા બાળકોએ મને છોડી દીધો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મૂર્તિઓના નામે વચન આપ્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તેમને તેમના પેટ ભરાય ત્યાં સુધી ખવડાવ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ વ્યભિચારી નીકળ્યાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વેશ્યાઓનાં ઘરોમાં ભટકવા લાગ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.5.8" />તેઓ સારો ખોરાક ખવડાવીને મસ્ત બનાવેલા ઘોડા જેવા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દરેક પોતાની પડોશીની સ્ત્રી તરફ કુષ્ટિ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.5.9" />આ માટે મારે એમને સજા ન કરવી?”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું હું આવી પ્રજાઓ પર મારું વૈર ન વાળું?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.5.10" />“તેમની દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓમાં પ્રવેશ કરો અને તેઓનો વિનાશ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેમનો સંપૂર્ણ વિનાશ ન કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની લીલી ડાળીઓ કાપી નાખો, કારણ કે એ મારી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.5.11" />કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલનાં વંશ અને યહૂદાના વંશ બન્ને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને સંપૂર્ણપણે બેવફા નીવડ્યા છે.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.5.12" />તેઓએ એમ કહીને અસત્ય ઉચ્ચાર્યુ છે,
</p>
<q level="2" style="q2">“‘યહોવા અમને મુશ્કેલીમાં મૂકશે નહિ!
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારા પર સંકટ આવી પડશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે દુકાળ કે યુદ્ધ જોઇશું નહિ!’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.5.13" />જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો વાતોડિયા છે અને હવાભરેલા થેલા જેવા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને કોઇ સંદેશો મળ્યો નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ જે આપત્તિ વિષે કહે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે યહૂદિયા અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પર નહિ આવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેમના પોતાના પર ચોક્કસ આવશે!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.5.14" />એથી સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા તેમના પ્રબોધકોને કહે છે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તમારી આ પ્રકારની વાતોને કારણે હું તમારા શબ્દોને
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ભવિષ્યવાણીને પ્રચંડ અગ્નિમાં ફેરવી નાખીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બળતણના લાકડાની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ લોકોને હું ભસ્મ કરીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.5.15" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તમારી સામે દૂરથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક પ્રજાને લઇ આવું છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">એ પ્રાચીન અને બળવાન પ્રજા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની ભાષા તમે જાણતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.5.16" />તેઓ બધા પ્રચંડ યોદ્ધાઓ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનાં ભાથામાં જીવલેણ બાણ ભર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.5.17" />તેઓ તમારી ફસલ અને તમારો ખોરાક ખાઇ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તમારાં પુત્ર-પુત્રીને ભરખી જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તમારાં ઘેટાં-બકરાંને અને ઢોરઢાંખરને ખાઇ જશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તમારી દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફળઝાડોને ખાઇ જશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમે જેના પર આધાર રાખો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમારા કિલ્લેબંધ નગરોને તેઓ તોડી પાડશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.5.18" />તેમ છતાં એ દિવસોમાં પણ-આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું-
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું તમારો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ નહિ કરું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.5.19" />અને યમિર્યા જ્યારે તમારા લોકો પૂછે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘શા માટે યહોવા આ શિક્ષા અમારા પર લાવ્યા છે?’
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તમે કહેજો,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘તમારા વતનમાં રહીને તમે યહોવાનો નકાર કર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અન્ય દેવોની પાછળ ભટકી ગયા.
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે તમે વિદેશીઓના દેશમાં તેઓની ગુલામગીરી કરશો.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.5.20" />યહોવા કહે છે, “યાકૂબના વંશજોને આની જાણ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહૂદિયાના લોકોમાં આની ઘોષણા કરો:
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.5.21" />ધ્યાન દઇને સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘હે મૂરખ અને અક્કલ વગરના લોકો!
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે છતી આંખે જોતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતે કાને સાંભળતા નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમને મારો ભય નથી?’”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.5.22" />આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“શું તમે મને જોઇને થથરી નહિ જાઓ?
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં સાગરને રેતીની પાળ બાંધી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ પાળ કાયમી છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">સાગર એને ઓળંગી શકે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાગર ગમે તેટલો તોફાને ચડે પણ કઇં કરી શકે નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">એનાં મોજાં ગમે તેટલી ગર્જના કરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ એને ઓળંગી નહિ શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.5.23" />પરંતુ આ લોકો તો હઠીલા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બળવાખોરો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારાથી દૂર ભટકી ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.5.24" />પ્રતિવર્ષ હું તમને પ્રથમ તથા છેલ્લો વરસાદ આપું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વાવણીનો સમય આપું છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">છતાં તમે તમારી જાતને ક્યારેય કહેતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાલો, આપણા યહોવા દેવને માન આપીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JER.5.25" />તમારા પોતાના દુષ્કમોર્થી વરસાદ તમારાથી વિમુખ થઇ ગયો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારાં પોતાના પાપે તમને કુદરતના આશીર્વાદથી વંચિત રાખ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JER.5.26" />મારા લોકોમાં દુષ્ટ માણસો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પારધીઓ જેમ ગુપ્ત રહીને
</q>
<q style="q1">શિકાર કરવાનો લાગ શોધે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તેઓ મનુષ્યને પકડવા માટે ફાંદો માંડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JER.5.27" />જેમ પાંજરું પક્ષીઓથી ભરાયેલું હોય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનાં ઘરો વિશ્વાસઘાતથી ભરેલાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરિણામે તેઓ મહાન અને શ્રીમંત થઇ ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="28" bcv="JER.5.28" />તેઓ હૃષ્ટપુષ્ટ અને તેજસ્વી થયા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓનાં દુષ્ટ કાર્યોની કોઇ સીમા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ અનાથોની બાબતે ન્યાય કરતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને સમૃદ્ધ થવાની કોઇ તક આપતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ નિર્ધનોના હકોનું રક્ષણ કરતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JER.5.29" />આ બધાં માટે મારે તેમને સજા ન કરવી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવી પ્રજાને મારે બદલો ન આપવો?”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JER.5.30" />યહોવા કહે છે, “દેશમાં ભયંકર આઘાતજનક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાતો બની રહી છે:
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JER.5.31" />પ્રબોધકો જૂઠી વાણી ઉચ્ચારે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાજકો મનમાની સત્તા ચલાવે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારા લોકોને એ ગમે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ અંત આવશે ત્યારે તેઓ શું કરશે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ પર આક્રમણનો ભય
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JER.6.1" />“હે બિન્યામીનના લોકો, જીવ બચાવવા ભાગો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમમાંથી નીકળી જાઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તકોઆમાં રણશિંગડું વગાડો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બેથ-હાક્કેરેમ પર ચેતવણીનો દીવો પેટાવો,
</q>
<q style="q1">સર્વને ચેતવણી આપો કે ઉત્તર તરફથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાર્મથ્યવાન લશ્કર મહાવિનાશ કરવા આવી રહ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.6.2" />તુ ખૂબ સુંદર અને અડકવામાં નાજુક છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ સિયોનની દીકરી, હું તારો નાશ કરવાનો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.6.3" />ઘેટાંપાળકો પોતાનાં ટોળા લઇને ત્યાં આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એની ફરતે તંબુઓ નાંખે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">દરેક જણ પોતાને ગમે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જગ્યાએ ચરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.6.4" />તેઓ કહે છે: “તેની સામે યુદ્ધે ચડવા માટે તૈયાર થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાલો, આપણે ભરબપોરે તેના પર હુમલો કરીએ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હાય રે! દિવસ તો ઢળી ગયો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંધ્યાની છાયા લંબાતી જાય છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.6.5" />તો ચાલો, આપણે તેના પર રાતે હુમલો કરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના મહેલોનો નાશ કરીએ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.6.6" />આમ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાએ આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તેણીના વૃક્ષો કાપી નાખો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યરૂશાલેમ પર આક્રમણ કરવા મોરચાઓ ઊભા કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">આ નગર તો દંડને પાત્ર છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે એમાં જુલમ સિવાય બીજું કશું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.6.7" />જેમ ઝરો પાણીથી ઊભરાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ એ દુષ્ટતાથી ઊભરાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">નગરમાં મારઝૂડ અને લૂંટફાટ સિવાય કશું જ સંભળાતું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માંદગી અને ધા સિવાય કશું જોવા મળતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.6.8" />માટે યરૂશાલેમ, આ ચેતવણી પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ધ્યાન આપ.
</q>
<q style="q1">નહિ તો ધૃણાથી હું તારો ત્યાગ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને વસ્તી વગરનું વેરાન બનાવી દઇશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.6.9" />સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તમારા પર એક પછી એક આફત આવી પડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇસ્રાએલમાં જે થોડાં બાકી રહેલા હશે તેઓને શોધીને લઇ જવામાં આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દ્રાક્ષા તોડનાર વેલા પર ચૂંટાયા વગર રહી ગયેલી દ્રાક્ષાઓને એકત્ર કરવા ફરીથી વેલાને તપાસી જુએ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ બચાવી લીધેલા મારા થોડા લોકોને તું જરૂર જોતો હોઇશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.6.10" />મેં જવાબ આપ્યો, “મારે કોને કહેવું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોને ચેતવવા?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોણ સાંભળશે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના કાન તમારા વિષે કંઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાંભળવા માંગતા નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">હા, તેઓ યહોવાના વચનને નિંદાસ્પદ ગણે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને તે ગમતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.6.11" />પણ, યહોવા, હું તારા રોષથી ભર્યોભર્યો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું એને અંદર સમાવી શકતો નથી.”
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તો એને મહોલ્લામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રમતાં નાનાં બાળકો પર અને ટોળે વળતા તરુંણો પર
</q>
<q style="q1">ઠાલવ, પતિ, પત્ની, અને ઘરડાઓ સુદ્ધાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા જ એનો ભોગ બનશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.6.12" />તેઓના શત્રુઓ તેઓનાં ઘરોમાં વાસો કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનાં ખેતરો તથા પત્નીઓ લઇ લેશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે હું આ દેશના લોકોને શિક્ષા કરીશ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.6.13" />“કારણ કે તેઓ બધા સામાન્ય માણસથી માંડીને છેક ઉચ્ચ અધિકારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુધી સર્વ તેમના લોભ દ્વારા ખોટા લાભો મેળવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના પ્રબોધકો અને યાજકો પણ તેવી જ છેતરામણી રીતે વતેર્ છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.6.14" />તેઓ મારા લોકોના ઘાને સામાન્ય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉઝરડા હોય એમ ઉપચાર કરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ કહે છે કે, ‘બરાબર છે, બધું બરાબર છે.’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ લગારે બરાબર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.6.15" />પોતાનાં અધમ કૃત્યોની તેમને લાજ શરમ આવે છે ખરી? લાજશરમ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમને વળી લાજશરમ કેવી?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ભોંઠપણને ધોળીને પી ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી બીજાની જેમ તેમનું પણ પતન થશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું જ્યારે તેમને સજા કરીશ ત્યારે તેઓ ઠોકર ખાઇને ભોંયભેગા થઇ જશે.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.6.16" />હજુ પણ યહોવા તમને સમજાવે છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">“જુઓ, ભૂતકાળના વષોર્માં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે દેવના માગોર્માં ચાલતા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">તો જે ઉત્તમ માર્ગ છે તેની શોધ કરીને તે માગેર્ ચાલો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં તમારા આત્માને શાંતિ મળશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તમે પ્રત્યુત્તર આપો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘ના, અમારે એવા રસ્તા પર ચાલવું નથી!’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.6.17" />તમને ચેતવણી આપવા મેં તમારા પર ચોકીદારો નીમ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘રણશિંગડાનો અવાજ સાંભળજો, વિપત્તિ આવતી હશે, ત્યારે તે તમને ચેતવી દેશે.’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તમે કહ્યું, ‘ના, અમે તે તરફ ધ્યાન આપીશું નહિ.’”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.6.18" />આથી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “હે પ્રજાઓ, તમે સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જાણી લો કે મારા લોકોના શા હાલ થવાના છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.6.19" />હે પૃથ્વીના લોકો, સાંભળો, અને નોંધી રાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તે લોકો પર હું આફત ઉતારનાર છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ એમના કાવાદાવાનું ફળ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે મારા શબ્દો કાને ધર્યા નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે મારા નિયમશાસ્ત્ર નો અસ્વીકાર કર્યો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.6.20" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હવે મારી સમક્ષ શેબાથી દૂરદેશાવરથી મંગાવેલ ધૂપ-લોબાન બાળવાથી કાઇં વળવાનું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી કિંમતી સુગંધીઓ સાચવી રાખો!
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તમારા અર્પણો સ્વીકારી શકતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમાં મને પ્રસન્ન કરતી સુગંધ નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.6.21" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તેથી હું મારા એ લોકોને ઠોકર ખવડાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ ભૂમિ પર પછડાશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">પિતા અને પુત્ર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પડોશી અને મિત્ર બધા જ નાશ પામશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.6.22" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“ઉત્તરમાંથી એક પ્રજા આવી રહી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વીને દૂરને છેડે એક બળવાન પ્રજા યુદ્ધની તૈયારી કરી રહી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.6.23" />તેઓ ક્રૂર અને નિર્દય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શસ્ત્રસજ્જ થઇ ઘોડેસવારી કરતા આવે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓની કૂચનો અવાજ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘૂઘવતા સમુદ્ર જેવો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે સિયોનની દીકરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તારી વિરુદ્ધ લડાઇ કરવા તૈયાર છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.6.24" />લોકો કહે છે, “અમે સમાચાર સાંભળ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા ગાત્રો ગળી ગયા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમને વેદના જાગી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણે પ્રસૂતિની વેદના.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JER.6.25" />બહાર ખેતરોમાં જશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રસ્તાઓ પર મુસાફરી કરશો નહિ
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે સર્વત્ર શત્રુ છે અને સંહાર કરવાને તત્પર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચારે તરફ ભય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JER.6.26" />હે મારા પ્રિય લોકો શોકનાં વસ્ત્રો ધારણ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાખમાં બેસો,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એકના એક પુત્રને માટે હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ ભગ્નહૃદયે ચિંતા કર.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે વિનાશ કરનાર સૈન્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એકાએક આપણા પર ચઢી આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JER.6.27" />“યમિર્યા, મેં તને ધાતુઓનો પારખનાર કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા લોકોની પરીક્ષા કર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનું મૂલ્ય નક્કી કર.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ શું કહે છે તે તું સાંભળ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ શું કરે છે તે તું જો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JER.6.28" />એ બધા અધમ બંડખોરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ દુષ્ટતા ભરેલી વાતો કરનારા નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પિત્તળ જેવા કઠોર અને લોખંડ જેવા ક્રૂર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JER.6.29" />ધમણ ચાલે છે, વેગથી હવા ફૂંકે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શુદ્ધ કરનારો અગ્નિ વધુ પ્રબળ બની અતિશય ગરમી આપતો જાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આવો અગ્નિ પણ તેઓને શુદ્ધ કરી શકતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેઓમાંથી કોઇ જ પ્રકારની શુદ્ધતા બહાર આવી શકે તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તો પછી શુદ્ધિકરણની પ્રક્રિયા શા માટે ચાલુ રાખવી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બધુંજ કચરો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અગ્નિ ગમે તેટલો પ્રબળ બને પણ તેઓ તો પોતાના દુષ્ટ માગોર્માં ચાલુ જ રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JER.6.30" />તેઓ નકારેલી ચાંદી એમ કહેવાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે યહોવાએ તેમનો નકાર કર્યો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">અયોગ્ય ઉપાસના-વ્યર્થ પૂજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.7.1" />પછી યહોવાએ યમિર્યાને કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.7.2" />“યહોવાના મંદિરના પ્રવેશદ્વાર પાસે તું જા અને ત્યાં થઇને મારી ઉપાસના કરવા આવનાર સૌ યહૂદિયા વાસીઓની આગળ જાહેરાત કર;
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.7.3" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાનાં વચન સાંભળો, તે કહે છે; ‘તમારાં આચરણ અને કમોર્ સુધારો, તો હું તમને આ સ્થળે રહેવા દઇશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.7.4" />પરંતુ તે લોકોનો વિશ્વાસ કરતાં નહિ, જેઓ જૂઠું બોલતા એમ કહેતા રહે છે, “યહોવાનું મંદિર, યહોવાનું મંદિર, યહોવાનું મંદિર અહીયાં જ છે.”
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.7.5" />કારણ કે જો તમે સાચે જ તમારો સ્વભાવ સુધારો અને તમારા કમોર્ સુધારો અને તમે સાચે જ એકબીજા સાથે ન્યાયપૂર્ણ વ્યવહાર કરો,
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.7.6" />અને જો તમે વિદેશીઓ, અનાથો અને વિધવાઓનું શોષણ ન કરો, અને જો તમે આ જગ્યાએ નિદોર્ષનું લોહી ન રેડો અને જો તમે બીજા દેવો પાછળ દોડી તમારો પોતાનો જ વિનાશ ન નોતરો;
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.7.7" />તો હું તમને આ દેશમાં વસવા દઇશ. આ ભૂમિ મેં તમારા પિતૃઓને સદાકાળ માટે આપેલી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.7.8" />“‘જરા જો કે તું શું કરી રહ્યો છે? શું તું હજી એ છેતરામણા શબ્દોમાં માને છે જે તને કોઇ રીતે મદદ ન કરી શકે?
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.7.9" />તમે ચોરી કરો છો, ખૂન કરો છો, વ્યભિચાર કરો છો. ખોટા સોગંદ ખાઓ છો. બઆલદેવને ભોગ ચઢાવો છો. અને અજાણ્યા જ બીજા દેવોની પાછળ પડો છો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.7.10" />અને પછી અહીં આવી મારા મંદિરમાં મારી સમક્ષ ઊભા રહીને કહો છો, “અમે સુરક્ષિત છીએ,” આ બધા અધમ કાર્યો કરવાને અમને છૂટ છે!
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.7.11" />તમે શું એમ માનો છો કે આ મારું મંદિર એ ચોરલૂંટારાનો અડ્ડો છે? યાદ રાખજો, મેં જાતે આ બધું જોયું છે.’” આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.7.12" />“મારું સ્થાન એક વખત ‘શીલોહમાં હતું ત્યાં જાઓ, જ્યાં મારું પ્રથમ નિવાસસ્થાન હતું. અને જોઇ આવો કે મારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓની દુષ્ટતાને કારણે મેં તેના શા હાલ કર્યા છે!
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.7.13" />અને હવે, જ્યારે આ સર્વ દુષ્ટતા તમે કરી છે માટે હવે હું તમારી સાથે પણ એવો જ વ્યવહાર કરીશ. મેં વારંવાર કહ્યું છે કે યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે, છતાં તમે મારું સાંભળ્યું નહિ, મેં તમને સાદ કર્યો છતાં તમે પ્રત્યુત્તર ન આપ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.7.14" />તેથી તમે મદદ માટે મંદિર પર ભરોસો રાખો છો, પણ મેં જેમ “શીલોહ”માં કર્યું તેમ મારા નામથી ઓળખાતા આ મંદિરનો અને તમારા પિતૃઓનો પ્રદેશ તથા તમને મેં આપેલા આ સ્થળનો હું નાશ કરીશ.
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.7.15" />તમારા ભાઇઓને એટલે એફ્રાઇમના લોકોને જેમ કર્યું હતું, તેમ હું તમને બંદીવાસમાં મોકલી આપીશ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JER.7.16" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “યમિર્યા, એ લોકો માટે પ્રાર્થના કરીશ નહી, મારી આગળ કોઇ મધ્યસ્થી કરીશ નહિ, કારણ, હું સાંભળનાર નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="JER.7.17" />તું જોતો નથી કે યહૂદિયાના નગરોમાં અને યરૂશાલેમની શેરીઓમાં તેઓ શું કરી રહ્યા છે?
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.7.18" />આકાશની રાણી માટે ભાખરી બનાવવા બાળકો લાકડાં વીણે છે, પુરુષો દેવતા સળગાવે છે અને સ્ત્રીઓ ગૂંદે છે. બીજા દેવોને પણ તેઓ પેયાર્પણ ચઢાવે છે. જાણે મારું અપમાન ન કરતાં હોય?
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<v id="19" bcv="JER.7.19" />શું તેઓ ખરેખર મારું અપમાન કરે છે? ખરું જોતાં તેઓ પોતાનું જ અપમાન કરતાં નથી? પોતે જ શરમજનક નામોશી વહોરી લેતા નથી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JER.7.20" />તેથી આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું, “મારો રોષાગ્નિ અને મારો ક્રોધાગ્નિ આ જગ્યા પર તેમ જ ખેતરો પર ઊતરશે, અને તે હોલાવ્યો પણ હોલવાઇ જશે નહિ.”
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<s style="s">યહોવા યજ્ઞ કરતા પોતાની ઉપાસના વધું ઇચ્છે
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JER.7.21" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના આ વચન છે, “મારા લોકો, ભલે તમે મને ચઢાવેલ યજ્ઞ ભેગુ દહનાર્પણ પણ લઇ લો અને એ બધું માંસ તમે ખાઇ જાઓ.
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<v id="22" bcv="JER.7.22" />કારણ કે તમારા પિતૃઓને હું મિસરમાંથી લઇ આવ્યો હતો, ત્યારે મેં તેમને દહનાર્પણ અને યજ્ઞ વિષે કશુંય નહોતું કહ્યું કે, કોઇ આજ્ઞાય ફરમાવી નહોતી; ફકત મેં તેઓને કહ્યું હતું;
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<v id="23" bcv="JER.7.23" />‘મને આધીન થાઓ અને હું તમારો દેવ થઇશ અને તમે મારા લોકો થશો; હું તમને ફરમાવું છું તેટલું તમે કરો તો તમે સુખી અને સમૃદ્ધ થશો!’
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JER.7.24" />“પરંતુ તેઓએ સાંભળ્યું નહિ, ને ધ્યાન પણ આપ્યું નહિ, પોતાના દુષ્ટ હઠીલા વિચારો પ્રમાણે જ ચાલ્યા. સારા બનવાને બદલે તેઓ વધારે ખરાબ થતા ગયા. આગળ વધવાને બદલે પાછળ હટયા.
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<v id="25" bcv="JER.7.25" />તમારા પૂર્વજો મિસરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા ત્યારથી અત્યાર સુધી, સતત મેં મારા સેવકો પ્રબોધકોને તમારી પાસે મોકલ્યા છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="JER.7.26" />છતાં તમે મારું સાંભળ્યું નથી. ધ્યાન આપ્યું નથી. અને હઠીલા થઇને તમારા પિતૃઓ કરતાં પણ વધારે બંડખોર થઇને ર્વત્યા છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JER.7.27" />“યમિર્યા, તું જ્યારે તેમને આ વાત કરશે ત્યારે તેઓ સાંભળવાના નથી, તું જો તેમને સાદ કરશે તો તેઓ જવાબ આપનાર નથી. માટે યોગ્ય પ્રત્યુત્તરની આશા રાખીશ નહિ.
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<v id="28" bcv="JER.7.28" />માટે તું એમને કહેજે, ‘આ એ પ્રજા છે જે પોતાના દેવ યહોવાનું સાંભળતી નથી કે સુધરતી નથી; સચ્ચાઇ મરી પરવારી છે; એમને મોઢે હવે એનું નામ પણ સાંભળવા મળતું નથી.’
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<s style="s">કતલની ખીણ
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JER.7.29" />“હે યરૂશાલેમ, શરમને કારણે તારું માથું મૂંડાવ, શોક પાળ, અને પર્વતો પર એકાંતમાં ચિંતા કર; કારણ કે યહોવાએ પોતાના રોષને કારણે આ લોકોનો નકાર કર્યો છે અને તેઓનો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="JER.7.30" />આવુ બન્યું કારણકે યહૂદિયાના લોકોએ મારી સામે એવું શરમજનક કૃત્ય કર્યું છે, કે તે મને ગમ્યું નથી, તેમણે મારું નામ ધરાવતા મંદિરમાં ઘૃણાસ્પદ મૂર્તિઓ મૂકી એને તેને અશુદ્ધ કર્યું છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="JER.7.31" />તેમણે પોતાનાં પુત્રપુત્રીઓને હોમવા બેન-હિન્નોમની ખીણમાં તોફેથ નામનો યજ્ઞકુંડ બાંધ્યો છે. મેં એવી આજ્ઞા કરી જ નથી, એવો વિચાર સુદ્ધાં મારા મનમાં કદી આવ્યો નથી.”
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<v id="32" bcv="JER.7.32" />“એવો સમય આવે છે જ્યારે ‘તોફેથ’ અથવા ‘બેન-હિન્નોમની ખીણ’ નું નામ બદલીને ‘કતલની ખીણ’ રાખવામાં આવશે અને તેઓને દફનાવવા જગ્યા બાકી ન રહે ત્યાં સુધી તેમને તોફેથમાં દફનાવવામાં આવશે પછી તેઓના મૃતદેહોને ખીણમાં નાખી દેવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="33" bcv="JER.7.33" />પછી એ લોકોના મૃતદેહોને આકાશના પંખીઓ અને જંગલી પશુઓ ખાશે અને તેમને ડરાવીને હાંકી મૂકનાર કોઇ નહિ હોય,
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<v id="34" bcv="JER.7.34" />ત્યારે હું યહૂદિયાના ગામોમાંથી અને યરૂશાલેમની શેરીઓમાંથી આનંદના અને હર્ષના અવાજો અને વરવધૂના કિલોલ-હષોર્લ્લાસ બંધ કરીશ. જેથી સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ ઉજ્જડ વેરાન વગડો બની જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.8.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “જ્યારે એ સમય આવશે ત્યારે યહૂદિયાના રાજાઓનાં અને તેમના આગેવાનોનાં, યાજકોનાં અને પ્રબોધકોનાં તેમજ યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓના હાડકાં તેમની કબરોમાંથી બહાર કાઢવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.8.2" />અને તેઓનાં હાડકાં સૂર્ય, ચંદ્ર અને આકાશનાં નક્ષત્રો સમક્ષ પાથરવામાં આવશે, જેમના પર તેમને પ્રેમ હતો, જેમની તેઓ પૂજા કરતા હતા, જેમની તેઓ સલાહ લેતા હતા. એ હાડકાં ફરી ભેગાં કરવામાં કે દાટવામાં નહિ આવે, પરંતુ પૃથ્વીના પટ પર ખાતરરૂપ થઇ જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JER.8.3" />“અને આ દુષ્ટ પ્રજામાંથી જેઓ જીવતાં રહેશે, તેઓને હું જ્યાં જ્યાં વિખેરી નાખીશ, ત્યાં ત્યાં તેઓ જીવવા કરતાં મરવું વધારે પસંદ કરશે.” એમ આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાપ અને સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.8.4" />“તું એ લોકોને કહેજે કે આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘કોઇ પડી જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પાછો ઊભો થાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કોઇ રસ્તો ભૂલે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પાછો ભૂલ સમજાતા સાચે રસ્તે પાછો ફરે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.8.5" />તો પછી તમે મારાથી મોં ફેરવીને ગયા છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પાછા કેમ નથી ફરતા?
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે તમારી ભ્રામક મૂર્તિઓને વળગી રહો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાછા આવવાની ના પાડો છો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.8.6" />મેં તમને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ કોઇ સાચું બોલતું નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">કોઇ પોતાની દુષ્ટતા માટે પશ્ચાતાપ કરતું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કહેતું પણ નથી કે, “અરે અમે આ શું કર્યું?”
</q>
<q style="q1">જેમ ઘોડો યુદ્ધના મેદાનમાં વેગથી ધસે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તેઓ પાપનાં રસ્તા પર વેગથી આગળ વધે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.8.7" />આકાશમાં ઊડતો બગલો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ પોતાના સ્થળાંતરનો સમય જાણે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ જ હોલો, અબાબીલ તથા સારસ પણ જાણે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રતિવર્ષ તેઓ સર્વ યહોવાએ તેમના માટે
</q>
<q style="q1">નિર્ધારિત કરેલા સમયે પાછા ફરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ મારા લોકોને યહોવાના નિયમનું ભાન નથી.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.8.8" />“‘તમે એવું શી રીતે કહી શકો કે, “અમે શાણા છીએ, અમારી પાસે યહોવાનુ નિયમશાસ્ત્ર છે.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શાસ્ત્રીઓએ જૂઠી કલમો દ્વારા નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં જૂઠ દાખલ કર્યું છે!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.8.9" />“શાણા માણસો” લજ્જિત થશે, તેઓ ડરી જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના કામો ઉઘાડા પડી જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">નોંધી રાખજો, આ યહોવાના શબ્દો તેમણે નકાર્યા હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની પાસે કેવું શાણપણ હોઇ શકે?
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.8.10" />હું તેમની પર દુકાળ, તરવાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીમારી મોકલી દઇશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેમની પર ત્યાં સુધી હુમલો કરીશ જ્યા સુધી તે મરી નહિ જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓ આ ભૂમિ પર સદાને માટે નહી રહે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે મેં તેમને અને તેમના પિતૃઓને આપી હતી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.8.11" />તેઓ મારા લોકોના ઘા નો સામાન્ય ઉઝરડા હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ ઉપચાર કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ કહે છે કે, “બરાબર છે, બધું બરાબર છે.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ લગારે બરાબર નથી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.8.12" />મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરવાને લીધે, શું તેઓને શરમ લાગે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ના, તેઓને સહેજે શરમ લાગતી નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">વળી શરમ શું છે તે પણ તેઓ જાણતા નથી!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કારણે હું જોઇશ કે આથી બીજાની જેમ તેમનું પણ પતન થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું જ્યારે તેમને સજા કરીશ ત્યારે તેઓ ભોંયભેગા થઇ જશે.’”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.8.13" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “‘હું તેઓનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી દ્રાક્ષાવેલા પર કઇં દ્રાક્ષો થશે નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને અંજીરીને અંજીર લાગશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને પાંદડા ચીમળાશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તેઓને જે કઇં આપ્યું છે તે તેઓની પાસેથી જતું રહેશે.’”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.8.14" />પછી યહોવાના લોકો કહેશે, “‘અહીં આપણે મરણ પામવાની પ્રતિક્ષા શા માટે કરીએ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવો, આપણે કિલ્લેબંધ નગરોમાં જઇએ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ત્યાં મૃત્યુ પામીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે આપણા દેવ યહોવાએ આપણું મૃત્યુ જાહેર કર્યું છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને આપણા સર્વ પાપોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણે દેવે આપણને ઝેરનો પ્યાલો પીવાને આપ્યો છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.8.15" />આપણે શાંતિની અપેક્ષા રાખી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ કઇં શાંતિ થઇ નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણે કુશળ સમયની રાહ જોઇ હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેના બદલે ભય આવી પડ્યો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.8.16" />ઉત્તર દિશાની સરહદ ઉપરથી યુદ્ધના ભણકારા સંભળાઇ રહ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુશ્મનો દાનના કુળસમૂહોના શહેર સુધી આવી પહોંચ્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાંથી તેમના ઘોડાઓના હણહણાટ સંભળાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના હણહણાટથી આખો દેશ ધ્રુજી ઊઠે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ લોકો આખો પ્રદેશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એમનું સર્વસ્વ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શહેરો અને તેના વતનીઓને ભરખી જવા આવે છે.’”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.8.17" />યહોવા કહે છે, “સાવધાન! હવે હું તમારા પર સપોર્
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નાગો મોકલું છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">એવા કે જેને કોઇ મંત્રથી વશ ન કરી શકે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમને કરડશે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.8.18" />દેવ મારું હૃદય થાકી ગયું છે, શોક મને ઘેરી વળે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.8.19" />સાંભળ! દુર સુધી દેશમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા લોકોની ચીસ સંભળાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ કહે છે, “યહોવા હવે સિયોનમાં નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિયોનના રાજાઓનો રાજા એમાં વસતો નથી?”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યહોવાએ પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તમારી કોતરેલી મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા વિદેશી દેવો દ્વારા શા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે મને ક્રોધિત કર્યો છે?”
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.8.20" />લોકો કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“કાપણી પૂરી થઇ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઉનાળો વિતી ગયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ આપણું તારણ ન થયું.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.8.21" />મારા લોકોના ઘા જોઇને મારું હૈયું ઘવાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું શોક કરું છું; અને હું વિશાદથી દિગ્મૂઢ થઇ ગયો છું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.8.22" />શું હવે ગિલયાદમાં દવા નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં કોઇ વૈદ્ય નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પછી મારા લોકોના ઘા રુઝાતા કેમ નથી?
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</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="9" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JER.9.1" />મારું માથું જળાશય હોય તો કેવું સારું!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આંખો આંસુના ઝરણાં હોય તો કેવું સારું! હું સદાકાળ ચિંતા કર્યા કરું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા લોકોની હત્યાઓ માટે હું રાત-દિવસ કલ્પાંત કર્યા કરું!
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.9.2" />અરે, હું તેઓથી દૂર ચાલ્યો જાઉં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને વીસરી જાઉં
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અરણ્યમાં મને રહેવા માટે કોઇ ઝૂંપડી મળી જાય ને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો હું મારા લોકોને છોડીને ત્યાં ચાલ્યો જાઉં!
</q>
<q style="q1">એ બધા બેવફા લોકો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દગાબાજોની ટોળકી છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.9.3" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તેઓ ધનુષ્યની માફક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાની જીભ વાળીને પોતાનાં અસત્યના બાણો ફેંકે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ સત્યની પરવા કરતા નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ વધુ ને વધુ દુષ્ટ બનતા જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારી પણ પરવા કરતા નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.9.4" />“પ્રત્યેક જણ પોતાના મિત્રથી સાવધ રહેજો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભાઇનો પણ વિશ્વાસ ન કરતા,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, એકેએક ભાઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાકૂબ જેવો દગાબાજ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.9.5" />અને એકેએક મિત્ર પોતાના મિત્રની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નિંદાત્મક જૂઠી વાતો ફેલાવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દરેક જણ પોતાના મિત્રને છેતરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ સાચું બોલતું નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમની જીભ જૂઠું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બોલવા ટેવાઇ ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.9.6" />તેઓ ખોટે માગેર્ ચડી ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાછા ફરી શકે એમ નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">અન્યાય પર અન્યાય અને છેતરપિંડી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉપર છેતરપિંડી કર્યા જ જાય છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી પાસે આવવાનો સંપૂર્ણ ઇન્કાર કરે છે.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.9.7" />તેથી સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું તેઓને દુ:ખરૂપી કુલડીમાં ઓગાળીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેઓને શુદ્ધ કરીશ અને ધાતુની જેમ
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેઓની પરીક્ષા કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ સિવાય તેઓને માટે હું બીજું શું કરું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.9.8" />તેમની જીભ જીવલેણ બાણ જેવી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ જૂઠાણું જ ઉચ્ચારે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">બધા મોઢે મીઠું બોલે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મનમાં એકબીજાને ફસાવવાના ઘાટ ઘડે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.9.9" />યહોવા પૂછે છે, “આ બધા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે તેમને શું સજા ન કરવી?
</q>
<q style="q1">આવી પ્રજા પર શું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો આત્મા વૈર નહિ લે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.9.10" />હું તેઓના પર્વતો અને ઘાસચારાના બીડો માટે વિલાપ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રૂદન કરતાં કરતાં તેમની તરફ નજર કરું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ઉજ્જડ થઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમાં કોઇ જીવતું રહ્યું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઢોરનો અવાજ સંભળાતો નથી
</q>
<q style="q1">અને પક્ષીઓ તથા જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ પણ ત્યાં નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ નાસી ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.9.11" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “યરૂશાલેમને હું ખંડેરોનો ઢગલો બનાવી દઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શિયાળોની બોડ બનાવી દઇશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હું યહૂદિયાના શહેરોને નિર્જન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વગડામાં ફેરવી નાખીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.9.12" />મેં પૂછયું, “યહોવા, કોણ એવો શાણો છે જે આ સર્વ સમજી શકે? તે સમજાવનાર યહોવાનો સંદેશાવાહક ક્યાં છે? વળી આ દેશ શા માટે અરણ્ય જેવો થઇ ગયો છે કે તેમાં થઇને મુસાફરી કરવાની કોઇ હિંમત કરતું નથી?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.9.13" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું,
</q>
<q style="q1">“એનું કારણ એ છે કે લોકોએ એમને માટે મેં રજૂ કરેલી નિયમસંહિતાનો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે નથી મારું કહ્યું સાંભળ્યું કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નથી તેનું પાલન કર્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.9.14" />તેના બદલે તેઓએ પોતાને ગમ્યું તે કર્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના પિતૃઓએ શીખવ્યા પ્રમાણે બઆલની મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરી છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.9.15" />આથી હું, ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહું છું કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હવે હું આ લોકોને ખાવા માટે કડવી વેલ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પીવા માટે ઝેર આપવાનો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.9.16" />હું તેમને સમગ્ર વિશ્વમાં વિખેરી નાખીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ દૂરના દેશોમાં વિદેશીઓ જેવા થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં પણ વિનાશકારી તરવાર તેઓનો પીછો કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આમ તેઓનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ થશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.9.17" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“પરિસ્થિતિઓનો વિચાર કરીને દુ:ખનાં ગીતો ગાનારીઓને બોલાવો.
</q>
<q style="q1">દુ:ખનાં ગીતો ગાવામાં જે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પારંગત હોય તેને બોલાવો;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.9.18" />જલદી કરો, તેમને કહો કે
</q>
<q style="q1">‘આપણે માટે જલ્દી દુ:ખનાં ગીતો ગાય,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી આપણી આંખોમાં ચોધાર આંસુ વહે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણી પાંપણો ભીંજાઇ જાય.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.9.19" />“સિયોનમાં વિલાપના સ્વર સંભળાય છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">‘આપણો વિનાશ કેટલો ભયંકર છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે કેવા શરમિંદા થવું પડ્યું?
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણને આપણી ભૂમિ છોડવાની ફરજ પડી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેઓએ આપણા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘરોને તોડી પાડયા છે.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.9.20" />પરંતુ હે વિલાપ કરનારી સ્ત્રીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવનો સંદેશો સાંભળો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે શું કહે છે તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તમારી પુત્રીઓને અને તમારી પડોશણોને મરશિયા ગાતાં શીખવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.9.21" />‘મૃત્યુ આપણી બારીઓમાં થઇને આપણી હવેલીઓમાં અંદર ઊતર્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણા બાળકોને વધેરી નાખ્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ હવે રસ્તા પર રહ્યાં નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તરુણો જાહેર ચોકમાં રહ્યાં નથી.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.9.22" />યહોવા કહે છે: “તેઓને આ પ્રમાણે કહો,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘ખેતરમાં ખાતરની માફક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા કાપણી કરનારની પાછળ કલ્લા પડે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની માફક મૃત શરીરો ખેતરોમાં વિખરાયેલા હશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને દફનાવનાર કોઇ હશે નહિ.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.9.23" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“જ્ઞાનીએ પોતાના જ્ઞાનની કે બળવાને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના બળની કે ધનવાને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના ધનની બડાશ મારી અભિમાન કરવું જોઇએ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.9.24" />પરંતુ તેઓ ફકત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ એક બાબતમાં અભિમાન કરે
</q>
<q style="q1">કે તેઓ મને સાચે જ ઓળખે છે અને સમજે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે હું નિષ્પક્ષ અને ન્યાયી યહોવા છું
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારી પ્રીતિ અવિચળ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે આ જ મને પસંદ છે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JER.9.25" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “એવો સમય આવે છે કે જ્યારે હું સર્વ બે સુન્નતીઓને શિક્ષા કરીશ;
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="JER.9.26" />જ્યારે મિસર, યહૂદિયા, અદોમ, આમ્મોન, અને મોઆબના વતનીઓને તેમજ જેઓ રણમાં ભટકતા ફરે છે અને તે બધાં જેઓ પોતાના વાળના ખૂણાઓ કાપે છે તેમને હું સજા કરનાર છું. કારણ, આ બધી પ્રજાઓની સુન્નત થઇ નથી અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓના હૃદય સુન્નત થયા નથી.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">યહોવા અને દેવ મૂર્તિઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.10.1" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, યહોવા તમને જે સંદેશો આપે છે તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો;
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JER.10.2" />તે કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“બીજી પ્રજાઓને રસ્તે જશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કુંડળી તૈયાર કરે છે તથા ગ્રહોની સ્થિતિને આધારે પોતાનું ભવિષ્ય જુએ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ભવિષ્યકથન કરે તેથી ડરશો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તે સર્વ કેવળ જૂઠાણું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.10.3" />તે પ્રજાઓની મૂર્તિઓ કશા કામની નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તો જંગલમાંથી કાપી આણેલું લાકડું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારીગરે તેને પોતાના ઓજારોથી કોતરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.10.4" />અને પછી સોનારૂપાથી શણગારી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને હથોડા અને ખીલાથી જડી દીધી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી પડી ન જાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.10.5" />ખેતરોમાં ઊભા કરેલા અસહાય ચાડિયાની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના દેવ ત્યાં ઊભા રહે છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">તે બોલી શકતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ચાલી શકતા નથી તેથી ઊંચકીને લઇ જવા પડે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આવા દેવોથી ડરશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કશી ઇજા કરી શકે તેમ નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ જ કશું ભલું કરવાની પણ એમની શકિત નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.10.6" />હે યહોવા, તમારા જેવા બીજા કોઇ દેવ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે કેવા મહાન છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા નામનો પ્રતાપ પણ કેવો મહાન છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.10.7" />હે લોકાધિપતિ, તમારો ભય કોને નહિ લાગે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારાથી તો ડરીને જ ચાલવું જોઇએ.
</q>
<q style="q1">સર્વ પ્રજાઓનાં જ્ઞાનીઓમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધા રાજાઓમાં તમારા જેવું કોઇ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.10.8" />મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરનારા બન્ને અક્કલ વગરના અને મૂર્ખ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મૂર્તિઓ પાસેથી શિખામણ મેળવે છે જે માત્ર લાકડાનાં ટુકડા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.10.9" />તાશીર્શથી ચાંદી અને ઉફાઝમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સોનું લાવીને સોનીઓ એમાંથી વરખ બનાવીને
</q>
<q style="q1">એને શણગારે છે અને જાંબુડિયાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કિરમજી રંગના કિંમતી વસ્ત્રો એમને પહેરાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ બધી મૂર્તિઓ કારીગરોએ બનાવેલી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.10.10" />પરંતુ યહોવા તો સાચેસાચ દેવ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ જીવતાજાગતા દેવ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શાશ્વત અધિપતિ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે જ્યારે રોષે ભરાય છે ત્યારે ધરતી ધ્રુજી ઊઠે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રજાઓ એમના ક્રોધાગ્નિને ખમી શકતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.10.11" />યહોવા કહે છે, અન્ય દેવોની પૂજા કરનારાઓને તમે આ પ્રમાણે કહેજો:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“જેમણે આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીનું સર્જન કર્યું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવા તમારા દેવો આકાશ તળેથી તથા પૃથ્વી પરથી નાશ પામશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.10.12" />પરંતુ આપણા દેવે પોતાના સાર્મથ્યથી પૃથ્વીને ઉત્પન કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના ડાહપણથી પૃથ્વીને સ્થાપી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના કૌશલ્યથી આકાશને વિસ્તાર્યુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.10.13" />તોફાની વાદળોની ગર્જનાઓથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના અવાજનો પડઘો પડે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે ધુમ્મસને પૃથ્વી પરથી ઊંચે ચઢાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી વીજળીને ચમકાવીને વરસાદ વરસાવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના ભંડારમાંથી વાયુઓને મોકલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.10.14" />તેની સરખામણીમાં બધા માણસો મૂર્ખ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અજ્ઞાની થઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દરેક સોની પોતે બનાવેલી મૂર્તિ જોઇને શરમાઇ જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, એ બધી મૂર્તિઓ તો અસત્ય અને પ્રાણ વગરની છે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.10.15" />નકામી છે, હાંસીપાત્ર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ તેમને સજા કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓ નેસ્તનાબૂદ થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.10.16" />પણ યાકૂબનો દેવ એવો નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તો આખી સૃષ્ટિનો સર્જનહાર છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તે પોતાની પ્રજા ગણે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું નામ “સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">વિનાશ આવી ગયો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.10.17" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તમારામાંના જેઓ ઉપર ઘેરો નાખવામાં આવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તમારો સામાન બાંધો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હવે જવાને માટે તૈયાર રહો.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.10.18" />કારણ કે તે એમ કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“આ વખતે હું એકાએક તેમને આ દેશમાંથી બહાર ફેંકી દઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મોટી આપત્તિઓ નીચે એમને કચડી નાખીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક પણ માણસ બચવા પામશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.10.19" />લોકોએ કહ્યું, “અમારા ઘાની વેદના અસહ્યં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ઘા કદી રૂજાય તેમ નથી, અમે વિચાર્યુ કે;
</q>
<q style="q1">આતો ફકત એક બિમારી જ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમે આ સહન કરી શકીશું.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.10.20" />પણ અમારો તંબુ હતો ન હતો થઇ ગયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એનાં દોરડાં તૂટી ગયા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારા પુત્રો અમને છોડીને ચાલ્યા ગયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક પણ રહ્યો નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારો તંબુ ફરી ઊભો કરનાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે એના પડદા બાંધનાર કોઇ નથી!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.10.21" />આનુ કારણ મારા લોકોના ઘેટાંપાળકો ભાન ભૂલી ગયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ યહોવાને અનુસરતા નથી તેથી સફળ થતા નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમના બધા લોકો ઘેટાંઓના ટોળાની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ વેરવિખેર થઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.10.22" />સાંભળો, ઉત્તર તરફથી આવતાં મોટાં સૈન્યોનો ભયંકર અવાજ સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ યહૂદિયાના નગરોને શિયાળવાની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોતરોમાં ફેરવી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.10.23" />હે યહોવા, હું જાણું છું કે માણસનું ભાગ્ય એના હાથની વાત નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાનો જીવનમાર્ગ નક્કી કરી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.10.24" />તેથી હે યહોવા, તમે અમને સાચે માગેર્ વાળો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને પ્રમાણસર શિક્ષા કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">રોષમાં આવીને નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નહિ તો અમે હતા ન હતા થઇ જઇશું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JER.10.25" />તમારો રોષ તમે બીજી પ્રજાઓ પર ઉતારો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે લોકો તમને માનતા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારું નામ લેતાં નથી. કારણ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ યાકૂબના કુટુંબોને ખાઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે તેમનો અંત આણ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના દેશને વેરાન બનાવી દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">યહોવા સાથેના કરારનું સ્મરણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.11.1" />ફરીથી યમિર્યાને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JER.11.2" />“આ કરારના શબ્દો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ અને તે યહૂદિયાના લોકોને અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓને કહી સંભળાવ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JER.11.3" />તેમને કહે, ‘આ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે; જે માણસ આ કરારનું પાલન કરતો નથી તેના પર શાપ ઊતરશે!’
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JER.11.4" />જે દિવસે હું તમારા પિતૃઓને લોખંડ ગાળવાની ભઠ્ઠી સમા મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઇ આવ્યો, ત્યારે મેં તેમની સાથે આ કરાર કર્યો હતો. મેં તેમને કહ્યું હતું: જો તમે મારું કહ્યું સાંભળશો અને મારી એકેએક આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JER.11.5" />“તો તમે મારા લોકો થશો. અને હું તમારો દેવ થઇશ અને હું તમારા પિતૃઓને આપેલું વચન પાળીશ, હું તમને જ્યાં દૂધ અને મધની રેલછેલ હોય તેવી ભૂમિ આપીશ. અને મેં એ પ્રમાણે કર્યું પણ છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી મેં જવાબ આપ્યો, “યહોવા આમીન, હું એમ કહીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.11.6" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “યહૂદિયાનાં નગરોમાં અને યરૂશાલેમની શેરીઓમાં આ સંદેશો જાહેર કરો. તમારા પિતૃઓએ દેવ સાથે કરેલા આ કરારને યાદ કરો. તમારા પિતૃઓએ જે જે કરવાનું વચન દેવને આપ્યું હતું તે બધું તમે કરો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JER.11.7" />આ કરારની શરતો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો અને તેનું પાલન કરો, કારણ, હું જ્યારે તમારા પિતૃઓને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઇ આવ્યો હતો, ત્યારે મેં તેમને સખત ચેતવણી આપી હતી અને આજ સુધી આપતો રહ્યો છું કે, મારું કહ્યું સાંભળો,
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JER.11.8" />પણ તેમણે સાંભળ્યું નહિ, અને દરેક જણ પોતાનું હઠીલું અને દુષ્ટ મન કહે તેમ કરવા લાગ્યા. તેથી મેં તેમની સાથે જે કરાર કર્યો હતો અને જેનું તેમણે પાલન કર્યું નહોતું તેમાં દર્શાવેલી બધી સજાઓ મેં તેમને માથે ઉતારી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JER.11.9" />ફરીથી યહોવાએ મારી સાથે વાત કરી અને કહ્યું, “યહૂદિયાના અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકોએ મારી વિરુદ્ધ કરેલું કાવત્રું મેં શોધી કાઢયું છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="JER.11.10" />તેઓ પાછા પોતાના પિતૃઓના પાપ કરવા લાગ્યા છે અને તેમની જેમ મારું કહ્યું સાંભળવાની ના પાડે છે, તેઓ બીજા દેવોને માને છે અને તેમની પૂજા કરે છે. ઇસ્રાએલે અને યહૂદિયાએ મેં એમના પિતૃઓ સાથે કરેલા કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.11.11" />તેથી યહોવા કહે છે, “હું તેઓ પર વિપત્તિઓ લાવનાર છું અને તેમાંથી તેઓ બચી શકશે નહિ, તેઓ દયાની યાચના કરશે ત્યારે હું તેઓની વિનંતીઓ સાંભળીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="JER.11.12" />એટલે યહૂદિયાના ગામોના અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ જઇને જે મૂર્તિઓને તેઓ ધૂપ બાળે છે તેમને મદદ માટે ઘા નાખશે, પણ આફતને વખતે તે દેવો તેમને કોઇ પણ રસ્તે ઉગારવાના નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JER.11.13" />“હે મારા લોકો, તમારા જેટલાં નગરો છે તેટલા તમારા દેવો છે. અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓએ શહેરમાં જેટલા મહોલ્લા છે તેટલી યજ્ઞવેદીઓ ઘૃણાસ્પદ બઆલદેવ માટે ચણી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JER.11.14" />“તેથી, હે યમિર્યા, એ લોકો માટે પ્રાર્થના કરીશ નહિ. તેમના તરફથી કોઇ વિનંતી કે આજીજી કરીશ નહિ, કારણ કે સંકટના સમયે તે લોકો ઘા નાખશે તે હું સાંભળવાનો નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.11.15" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે મારી પ્રિય પ્રજા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું મારા ઘરમાં બેશરમ વર્તન કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તને અહીં શો અધિકાર છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું શું સમજે છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રતિજ્ઞાઓ અને બલિદાનો તમારા વિનાશને અટકાવી તમને ફરીથી જીવન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા આનંદ આપી શકશે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.11.16" />એક વખતે હું તમને મનોહર ફળથી લચી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જતું જૈતૂનનું વૃક્ષ કહીને બોલાવતો હતો,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ અત્યારે હું મોટા કડાકા સાથે તારાં પાંદડાને સળગાવી મૂકું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ડાળીઓને ભાંગી નાખું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.11.17" />બઆલની આગળ ધૂપ બાળીને તથા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બલિદાનો ચઢાવીને ઇસ્રાએલે તથા યહૂદિયાએ દુષ્ટતા કરી છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેથી સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ પોતે રોપેલા આ વૃક્ષનો વિનાશ કરવાનો હુકમ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યમિર્યા વિરુદ્ધ દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JER.11.18" />યહોવાએ પોતે મને જણાવ્યું છે, જેથી હું સમજી શકું પછી તેણે મને બતાવ્યું કે તેઓ શું કરી રહ્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="JER.11.19" />હું તો કતલખાને દોરી જવાતા ગરીબ ઘેટા જેવો હતો. મને ખબર નહોતી કે તેઓ મારી વિરુદ્ધ કાવતરું રચી રહ્યા હતા અને કહેતા હતા કે, “ઝાડ જોરમાં છે ત્યાં જ આપણે એને કાપી નાખીએ; આપણે તેને જીવતાનાં જગતમાંથી હતો ન હતો કરી નાખીએ, એટલે એનું નામ પણ ભૂલાઇ જાય.”
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="JER.11.20" />ત્યારે મેં પ્રાર્થના કરી, હે સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા! તું સાચો ન્યાય કરનાર છે, તું માણસના મનને અને હૃદયને જાણે છે, મને જોવા દો કે તમે તેમની પર વૈર વાળશો કારણ કે એ તું જ છે જેની પર મે મારો બચાવ કરવા માટે વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JER.11.21" />તેથી યહોવા કહે છે કે તને મારી નાખવાનું ષડયંત્ર કરનાર અનાથોથના માણસોને હું સજા કરીશ, તેઓ કહે છે: “તું યહોવાના નામનો પ્રબોધ ન કરીશ નહી તો અમે તને મારી નાખશું.”
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="JER.11.22" />તેથી યહોવા અનાથોથના લોકો વિષે આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે, “હું તેમને સજા કરીશ, તેમના યુવાનો તરવારથી મરશે અને તેમનાં પુત્રપુત્રી દુકાળમાં મરશે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="JER.11.23" />પરંતુ જ્યારે અનાથોથના લોકોને શિક્ષા કરવાનો સમય આવશે, ત્યારે હું તેમના પર આફત ઉતારીશ અને એક પણ વ્યકિત જીવતો રહેવા નહિ પામે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">યમિર્યાની યહોવાને ફરિયાદ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JER.12.1" />હે યહોવા, હું તમારે વિષે ફરિયાદ કરું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે સત્ય તમારે પક્ષે હોય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ છતાં ન્યાયના એક મુદ્દા વિષે મારે તને પૂછવું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ માણસો કેમ સુખસમૃદ્ધિ પામે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બદમાશો કેમ નિરાંતે જીવે છે?
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.12.2" />તમે તેઓને રોપો છો, તેઓનાં મૂળ ઊંડા જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનો વેપાર વધતો જાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ઘણો નફો કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધનવાન થાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કહે છે, “દેવની કૃપાથી!” સાચા હૃદયથી તેઓ તમારો આભાર માનતા નથી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.12.3" />હે યહોવા, તમે મને જાણો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા પ્રત્યેની મારી ભકિત તમે ક્યાંય જોઇ છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓને ઘેટાંની જેમ કતલખાને ખેંચીને લઇ જા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કતલના દિવસ સુધી તેઓને રાખી મૂક.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.12.4" />અને હે યહોવા, ક્યાં સુધી ભૂમિ શોક કરશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનાં દુષ્ટ કાર્યોને કારણે ક્યાં સુધી ખેતરમાંનું લીલું ઘાસ
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ સૂકાતું રહેશે અને આક્રંદ કરતું રહેશે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વનચર પશુ-પક્ષીઓ પણ ચાલ્યા ગયા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેશ ઉજ્જડ થઇ ગયો છે તેમ છતાં લોકો કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“આપણે શું કરીએ છે તે દેવ જોઇ શકતો નથી!”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવનો યમિર્યાને જવાબ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.12.5" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “જો માણસો સાથે દોડતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું થાકી જાય તો પછી ઘોડાઓ સાથે શી રીતે હોડમાં ઊતરશે?
</q>
<q style="q1">જો તું સલામત પ્રદેશમાં નિશ્ચિંત નથી તો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યર્દનના કાંઠે આવેલાં જંગલમાં તારું શું થશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.12.6" />અને આના કારણે તારા પોતાનાં ભાઇઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા પોતાના કુટુંબે પણ તને દગો દીધો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તને મારી નાખવા માટે તારી પીઠ પાછળ મોટી બૂમો પાડે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ગમે તેટલા મીઠા શબ્દોથી તારી સાથે વાત કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં પણ તેઓનો વિશ્વાસ કરીશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવાએ પોતાના લોકોનો અને યહૂદાનો ત્યાગ કર્યો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.12.7" />પછી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “મારા લોકોનો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા વારસાનો મેં ત્યાગ કર્યો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી અતિપ્રિય પ્રજાને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં શત્રુઓને સ્વાધીન કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.12.8" />મારા લોકો જંગલમાંના સિંહની જેમ મારી સામે થયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી સામે ભયંકર ગર્જનાઓ કરે છે, તેથી હું તેમનો તિરસ્કાર કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.12.9" />મારા પોતાના લોકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાબરચીતરાં બાજ જેવા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">બીજા બધાએ ચારેબાજુએથી તેમના પર હલ્લો કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાલો, જંગલનાં સર્વ પશુઓ એકઠા થાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મિજબાનીમાં જોડાઇ જાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.12.10" />ઘણા ઘેટા પાળકો મારી દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીનો નાશ કર્યો છે અને મારું ખેતર પગ તળે ખૂંદી નાખ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે મારા રળિયામણા ખેતરને વેરાન વગડો બનાવી દીધું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી નજર આગળ તેને ખેદાનમેદાન કરી નાખ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.12.11" />તેઓએ આખી ભૂમિને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વેરાન કરી નાખી છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે ત્યાં રહેતી કોઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ વ્યકિત તેની કાળજી લેતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.12.12" />વગડાના ઉજ્જડ ટેકરાઓ પર થઇને ધાડપાડુઓના ધાડાં ધસી આવ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે મારી તરવાર બધું ભરખી રહી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેશનાં આ છેડાથી પેલા છેડા સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધાના જીવને અશાંતિ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.12.13" />મારા લોકોએ ઘઉં વાવ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કાંટા લણ્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મહેનત તો ઘણી કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ કશું પ્રાપ્ત થયું નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા ઉગ્ર રોષને લીધે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની ફસલ નકામી ગઇ છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના પડોશીયોને યહોવાના વચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JER.12.14" />યહોવા કહે છે, “જે વારસો મેં મારી પ્રજાને, એટલે કે ઇસ્રાએલને આપ્યો છે, તેને જ મારા દુષ્ટ પડોશીઓ આંચકી લેવા માંગે છે,” તેથી યહોવા તેઓ વિષે કહે છે, “જુઓ, હું તેઓની ભુમિમાંથી તેઓને ઉખેડી નાખીશ, અને હું તેમના હાથમાંથી યહૂદિયાને ખૂંચવી લઇશ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JER.12.15" />પરંતુ ત્યારબાદ હું પાછો આવીશ અને તમારા બધા પર દયા દર્શાવીશ તથા તમને તમારા પોતાના દેશમાં તમારા ઘરોમાં પાછા લાવીશ. દરેક માણસને તેના પોતાના વારસામાં પાછો લાવીશ.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="JER.12.16" />જેવી રીતે તેમણે મારી પ્રજાને બઆલના સોગંદ ખાતા શીખવ્યા હતાં. અને જો તેઓ મારા પોતાના નામે સોગંદ ખાતા શીખશે, એમ કહીને, ‘જેવી રીતે યહોવા જીવે છે;’ એજ પ્રમાણે તો પછી, તેઓ ખરેખર મારા પોતાના લોકો વચ્ચે ફરીથી સ્થપાશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="JER.12.17" />પરંતુ જે કોઇ પ્રજા મને આધીન થવાનો ઇન્કાર કરશે, તો હું તેને જડમૂળથી ઉખેડી નાખીશ અને તેનો નાશ કરીશ.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">બંદીવાન થવાનો લોકોનો ડર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.13.1" />યહોવાએ મને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું, “જા, શણનો કમરબંધ ખરીદી લાવ અને તે પહેર. પણ તેને પાણીમાં બોળીશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JER.13.2" />આથી યહોવાના કહ્યા પ્રમાણે મેં કમરબંધ વેચાતો લીધો અને મારી કમરે બાંધ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JER.13.3" />યહોવાનો સંદેશો ફરીથી મારી પાસે આવ્યો. આ વખતે તેમણે કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JER.13.4" />“તેં જે કમરબંધ ખરીદી લાવીને પહેર્યો છે તે લઇને એકદમ ફ્રાત નદીએ જા અને ત્યાં ખડકોની ફાટમાં સંતાડી દે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JER.13.5" />તેથી મેં તેમ કર્યું; યહોવાએ કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાણે મેં તેને ફ્રાત નદીએ જઇને સંતાડી દીધો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="JER.13.6" />ઘણા દિવસો વીત્યા પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “એકદમ ફ્રાત નદીએ જા અને મેં તને કમરબંધ સંતાડવા કહ્યો હતો તે પાછો લઇ આવ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JER.13.7" />આથી હું ફ્રાત નદીએ ગયો અને જે જગ્યાએ કમરબંધ સંતાડ્યો હતો તે શોધી કાઢી અને ઉપાડ્યો તો ખબર પડી કે, તેને ફૂગ લાગી ગઇ હતી અને તૂટી જતો હતો. હવે તે સંપૂર્ણપણે નકામો થઇ ગયો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.13.8" />પછી યહોવાનો સંદેશ મારી પાસે આવ્યો,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JER.13.9" />“આજ છે જે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, જેવી રીતે કમરબંધ ખરાબ થઇ જાય છે અને કશા કામનું નથી રહેતું, હું યહૂદિયા અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકોને નષ્ટ કરી નાખીશ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="JER.13.10" />તે દુષ્ટ લોકોએ મારું કહ્યું સાંભળવાની ના પાડી છે; તેઓ પોતાના હઠીલાં મન કહે તેમ કરે છે, બીજા દેવોને માને છે, તેમની પૂજા કરે છે અને તેમને પગે લાગે છે, આથી તેઓની દશા પણ આ કમરબંધ જેવી થશે; તેઓ કશા કામના નહિ રહે.”
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JER.13.11" />યહોવા કહે છે, “જેમ કમરબંધ માણસની કમરે વળગી રહે, તેમ ઇસ્રાએલના અને યહૂદિયાના બધા લોકોને મેં મારી આસપાસ વીંટાળ્યા હતા, જેથી તેઓ મારા લોકો બની શકે અને મારી કીતિર્ થાય, મારા નામનું ગૌરવ વધે; પણ તેમણે મારું સાંભળ્યું નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદાને ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.13.12" />“યમિર્યા, તું તે લોકોને કહે કે, ‘આ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે; દ્રાક્ષારસની દરેક બરણી દ્રાક્ષારસથી ભરાઇ જવી જોઇએ’ અને તેઓ જવાબ આપશે, ‘અલબત્ત અમે ઘણી સારી રીતે જાણીએ છીએ કે દરેક બરણી દ્રાક્ષારસથી ભરાઇ જવી જોઇએ.’
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JER.13.13" />પણ તું તેઓને કહે; ‘તમે મારા માટે ગેરસમજ કરો છો. મારું કહેવું આ છે, કે દેશના બધાં રહેવાસીઓને એટલે કે, દાઉદના રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠેલા રાજાને, યાજકોને, પ્રબોધકોને અને સર્વ સામાન્ય લોકોને હું છાકટાપણાથી ભરી દઇશ.’”
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="JER.13.14" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હું તેમને-વડીલોને તેમજ જુવાનોને, એકબીજાની સાથે અથડાવીશ. હું તેઓ પર દયા કે કરૂણા દર્શાવીશ નહિ, પણ હું તેમનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરીશ.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.13.15" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાંભળો, ધ્યાન આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગર્વ છોડી દો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.13.16" />અંધારું થાય તે પહેલાં અને સંધ્યાં સમયે પર્વત પરના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રવાસીની જેમ તમે ગબડી પડો તે પહેલાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારાં દેવ યહોવાને સન્માન આપો,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે અને તમે જે પ્રકાશની આશા રાખો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને ધૂંધળા પડછાયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગાઢ અંધકારમાં ફેરવી નાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.13.17" />શું હજુ પણ તમે સાંભળવા ના પાડો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પછી તમારા અભિમાનને લીધે ભગ્ન થયેલું
</q>
<q style="q1">મારું અંત:કરણ એકાંતમાં શોક કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી આંખોમાંથી આંસુઓની ધારાઓ વહેશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે યહોવાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોને બંધનાવસ્થામાં લઇ જવામાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.13.18" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “રાજાને અને રાજરાણીને કહે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નીચે બેસો, કારણ, તમારા મહિમાવંત મુગટો તમારા શિર પરથી ઉતારી લેવામાં આવ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે તે તમારા નથી રહ્યા.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.13.19" />દક્ષિણનાં શહેરો ઘેરાઇ ગયાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ તે ઘેરાને વીંધીને ત્યાં પહોંચી શકે એમ નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">આખા યહૂદિયાના લોકોને દેશવટો દેવામાં આવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ કહેતાં કોઇ બાકી રહ્યું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.13.20" />હે યરૂશાલેમ, આંખો ઊંચી કરીને જો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉત્તરમાંથી પેલા દુશ્મનો આવી રહ્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે લોકોને મેં તને સોંપ્યા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેને માટે તું ગૌરવ લેતી હતી, તે ક્યાં છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.13.21" />તારા પડોશી દેશોને જેને તેઁ શીખવાડ્યું હતું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેમને તેં મિત્રો ગણ્યા હતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને તારા પર રાજકર્તાઓ તરીકે હું બેસાડીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તને કેવું લાગશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્ત્રીને પ્રસૂતિની વેદના થાય તેવી વેદના અને કષ્ટ તું અનુભવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.13.22" />ત્યારે તને થશે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“મારે માથે આ બધું શા માટે ગુજર્યું?”
</q>
<q style="q1">તારાં ભયંકર પાપને કારણે તને નવસ્ત્રી કરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પર બળાત્કાર કરવામાં આવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારો નાશ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.13.23" />હબસી કદી પોતાની ચામડી બદલી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા ચિત્તો પોતાના ટપકાં દૂર કરી શકે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તે જો શક્ય હોય તો જ ખોટું કરવાને ટેવાયેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું સત્કર્મ કરી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.13.24" />“અરણ્યના સૂસવાટાભર્યા પવનથી ભૂસું ઊડી જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તમને હું વિખેરી નાખીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JER.13.25" />તારા ભાગ્યમાં એ જ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ જ મેં તારે માટે નીમ્યું છે,”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">“કારણ તું મને ભૂલી ગઇ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઁ ખોટા દેવોમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JER.13.26" />હું તારા વસ્ત્રો તારા મોઢા સુધી પર લઇ જઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારાં પાપ ઉઘાડા કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JER.13.27" />તારા વ્યભિચાર, તારી કામવેગના હિસોટા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા જારકમોર્, ડુંગરો પરનાં અને ખેતરોમાંના
</q>
<q style="q1">તારાં એ અધમ કૃત્યો મેં જોયાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યરૂશાલેમ, તારું આવી જ બન્યું છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે શુદ્ધ થવું જ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">ક્યાં સુધી આમને આમ ચલાવ્યા કરીશ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી મૂર્તિઓની પૂજાથી હું વાકેફ છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">મહાદુકાળ અને જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.14.1" />યહોવા શા માટે વરસાદને રોકી રાખતા હતાં તે સમજાવતો આ વચન, યહોવા તરફથી યમિર્યા પાસે આવ્યું:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.14.2" />“યહૂદિયા શોકમાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં નગરો મરવા પડ્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનાં માણસો દુ:ખના માર્યા ભૂમિ પર ઢળી પડ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમમાંથી મદદ માટે પોકાર ઊઠે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.14.3" />ધનવાનો પોતાના ચાકરોને પાણી લાવવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે ટાંકા પાસે મોકલે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેમાં પાણી હોતું નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ખાલી ઘડા લઇને પાછા ફરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાકરો સંતાપથી અને હતાશ થઇનેં દુ:ખને કારણે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાનાં માથાં ઢાંકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.14.4" />વરસાદ વિના ધરતી સુકાઇ ગઇ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમાં તિરાડો પડી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ખેડૂતો હેબતાઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોતાનાં ચેહરા છુપાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.14.5" />ઘાસની અછતને કારણે હરણી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ પોતાનાં તાજાં જન્મેલા બચ્ચાંનો ત્યાગ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.14.6" />જંગલી ગધેડાં ઉજ્જડ ટેકરા પર ઊભાં ઊભાં શિયાળવાની જેમ હવાને માટે હાંફે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની આંખે જાંખ વળે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અંધારા આવે છે. કારણ કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને ખાવા માટે ઘાસ નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.14.7" />લોકો કહે છે, “અમારા પાપો અમારી વિરુદ્ધ સાક્ષી પૂરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ છતાં, હે યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા નામ ખાતર કઇંક કર;
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે અનેકવાર તારો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે તારી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કર્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.14.8" />હે યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલની એક માત્ર આશા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંકટ સમયના તારણહાર,
</q>
<q style="q1">તું અમારા દેશમાં પારકા જેવો કેમ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક રાત માટે મુકામ કરતા વટેમાર્ગુ જેવો કેમ થઇ ગયો છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.14.9" />તમે પણ શું મૂંઝવણમાં છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારો બચાવ કરવા શું તમે નિ:સહાય છો?
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યહોવા, તમે અહીં અમારી મધ્યે છો અને અમે તમારું નામ ધારણ કરીએ છીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે તમારા લોક છીએ. હે યહોવા, હવે અમારો ત્યાગ કરશો નહિ!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JER.14.10" />યહોવા આ લોકો વિષે કહે છે, “એ લોકોને ભટકવામાં એટલો આનંદ આવે છે કે, તેઓ પોતાના પગને કાબૂમાં રાખી શકતાં નથી; આથી હું એમના પર પ્રસન્ન નથી. હું હમણા તેમના અપરાધો, ને તેમનાં પાપોની સજા કરનાર છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.14.11" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “મને આ લોકોને મદદ કરવાનું કહેવા માટે થઇને મારી પ્રાર્થના કરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="JER.14.12" />એ લોકો ઉપવાસ કરશે તોયે, હું એમની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળનાર નથી. તેઓ મને દહનાર્પણ અને ખાદ્યાર્પણ ચઢાવે તોયે, હું પ્રસન્ન થનાર નથી. હું તેમનો યુદ્ધ દુકાળ, અને રોગચાળાથી અંત લાવીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JER.14.13" />પણ મેં કહ્યું, “અરે મારા પ્રભુ યહોવા, અહીયાં પ્રબોધકો તો તેમને એમ કહે છે કે, ‘તમારે યુદ્ધ જોવું નહિ પડે કે દુકાળ વેઠવો નહિ પડે. આ દેશમાં સદા શાંતિ અને સલામતી રહેશે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JER.14.14" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “પ્રબોધકો મારે નામે જૂઠાણું ચલાવે છે. મેં એમને મોકલ્યા નથી, મેં એમને કોઇ આજ્ઞા આપી નથી. તે પ્રબોધકો તમને ખોટાં સંદર્શનો, નકામી આગાહીઓ અને પોતાનાં ભ્રામક દિવ્યસ્વપ્નો સંભળાવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JER.14.15" />તેથી યહોવા કહે છે, મેં મોકલ્યા નહોતાં છતાં જે જૂઠાં પ્રબોધકો મારા નામે ભવિષ્ય ભાખે છે અને કહે છે કે, ‘આ દેશમાં યુદ્ધ થાય કે દુકાળ પડે એમ નથી.’ તેમના સંબંધમાં મારાં વચન આ પ્રમાણે છે: એ પ્રબોધકો તરવાર અને દુકાળનો ભોગ બનશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="JER.14.16" />જે લોકોને પ્રબોધકો ભવિષ્યવાણી સંભળાવે છે, તેમની પત્નીઓ, પુત્રો અને પુત્રીઓ સહિત તરવાર અને દુકાળના ભોગ બની તેઓ યરૂશાલેમના રસ્તાઓ પર ફેંકાઇ જશે. કોઇ તેમને દફનાવનાર પણ નહિ હોય. હું તેમને દુષ્ટતાના ફળ ચખાડીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JER.14.17" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તારે લોકોની આગળ આ પ્રમાણે કહેવું;
</q>
<q style="q1">‘મારી આંખોમાંથી દિનરાત અવિરત અશ્રુધારા વહ્યા કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, મારી પ્રજા દારૂણ આઘાતથી ઘવાઇને ઢળી પડી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.14.18" />જો હું ખેતરોમાં જાઉં છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો યુદ્ધમાં તરવારથી માર્યા ગયેલાઓનાં મૃતદેહો ત્યાં પડ્યા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">જો હું શહેરમાં જાઉં છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો ત્યાં લોકોને દુકાળથી પીડાતાં જોઉં છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રબોધકો અને યાજકો સુદ્ધાં આમ તેમ ભટક્યા કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું કરવું તે તેમને સૂઝતું નથી!’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.14.19" />લોકો કહે છે, “હે યહોવા, શું તમે યહૂદિયાને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંપૂર્ણ પણે તજી દીધું છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">શું તમે યરૂશાલેમને ધિક્કારો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું શિક્ષા પછી પણ ત્યાં શાંતિ નહિ સ્થપાય?
</q>
<q style="q1">તે અમને સાજાપણું આપશે તથા અમારા ઘા પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાટા બાંધશે એવું અમે માનતા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ શાંતિ સ્થપાઇ નહિ અને સર્વત્ર ફકત સંકટ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્રાસ જ જોવા મળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.14.20" />હે યહોવા, અમે અમારી દુષ્ટતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારા પૂર્વજોના અપરાધ કબૂલ કરીએ છીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે પોતે પણ તારી વિરુદ્ધ પાપો આચર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.14.21" />તારા નામની ખાતર અમારો ત્યાગ ના કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા ગૌરવ પ્રતાપી સિંહાસન યરૂશાલેમને બેઆબરૂ ના કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારી સાથેના તારા કરારનું સ્મરણ કર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો ભંગ કરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.14.22" />બીજી પ્રજાઓમાંના જૂઠા દેવોમાંથી કયો વિદેશી દેવ વરસાદ લાવી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા આકાશ પોતાની જાતે ઝાપટાં વરસાવી શકે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યહોવા, અમારા દેવ, માત્ર તમે જ તેમ કરી શકો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી મદદ માટે અમે તમારી જ આશા રાખીશું.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">યમિર્યાની સતામણી-પ્રજા સર્વનાશને આરે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.15.1" />“મૂસા તથા શમૂએલ પણ જો મારી સમક્ષ ઊભા રહે, તોયે હું લોકો પર દયા કરવાનો નથી. તેઓને મારી નજર સમક્ષથી દૂર લઇ જા!
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JER.15.2" />અને તેઓ તને જો એમ કહે; ‘પણ અમે ક્યાં જઇએ?’ ત્યારે તેઓને કહેજે: આ યહોવાના વચન છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘જેઓ રોગથી મૃત્યુ પામવાના છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે ત્યાં જવું,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ યુદ્ધમાં મૃત્યુ પામવાના છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે ત્યાં જવું,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ દુકાળથી મૃત્યુ પામવાના છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે દુકાળ તરફ જવું,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જેઓ બંદીવાસમાં જવા નિર્માયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે બંદીવાસમાં જવું.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.15.3" />મેં એ લોકોને માટે ચાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રકારના અંત નિર્માણ કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તરવાર તેમનો સંહાર કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કૂતરાં તેમને ફાડી ખાશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">આકાશના પંખીઓ એમને ખાઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બાકી રહ્યા તેમને જંગલી જાનવરો ખાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.15.4" />હિઝિક્યાના પુત્ર, યહૂદિયાના રાજા મનાશ્શાએ યરૂશાલેમમાં કરેલાં દુષ્ટ કાર્યોને લીધે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને આકરી શિક્ષા કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમને કરવામાં આવેલી શિક્ષાને લીધે પૃથ્વીના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ લોકો ભયભીત થશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.15.5" />યહોવા કહે છે, “કોણ તારી દયા ખાશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યરૂશાલેમ? કોણ તારે માટે શોક કરશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી ખબર અંતર પૂછવાની તસ્દી પણ કોણ લેશે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.15.6" />તમે મારો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા તરફ પીઠ કરી છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી તમારી વિરુદ્ધ મારો હાથ ઉઠાવીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારો વિનાશ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દર વખતે પશ્ચાત્તાપ કરતાં હું થાકી ગયો છું.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.15.7" />“પ્રદેશના દરવાજા આગળ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેઓને સૂપડાથી ઝાટક્યાં છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં મારા લોકોને નિ:સંતાન તથા નષ્ટ કર્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેઓએ પોતાના સર્વ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ માગોર્ તજીને મારા તરફ પાછા ફર્યા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.15.8" />અસંખ્ય સ્ત્રીઓને મેં વિધવા બનાવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેમના જુવાનોને ભરયુવાનીમાં મારી નાખ્યા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમની માતાઓને વિલાપ કરાવ્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેમને એકાએક દુ:ખ અને ભયના ભોગ બનાવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.15.9" />સાત સાત પુત્રોની માતા મૂર્છા ખાઇને પડી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શ્વાસ લેવા માટે હવાતિયાં મારે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે દિવસે તેને અંધારાં દેખાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની શરમ અને નામોશીનો પાર નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારામાંથી જેઓ હજુ પણ જીવતાં હશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનો હું તમારા શત્રુઓ દ્વારા સંહાર કરાવીશ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યમિર્યાએ ફરી દેવને ફરિયાદ કરી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.15.10" />પછી યમિર્યાએ કહ્યું, “હે મારી મા, તેં આ દુ:ખીયારાને શા માટે જન્મ આપ્યો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે દેશમાં બધા સાથે ઝગડો
</q>
<q style="q1">તથા તકરાર કરવાં પડે છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં નથી કોઇની પાસે ઊછીનું લીધું કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">નથી કોઇને ઉછીનું આપ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ છતાં બધાં મને શાપ શા માટે આપે છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.15.11" />હે યહોવા, સાચે જ મેં તારી હૃદયપૂર્વક સેવા કરી નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા દુશ્મનો જ્યારે આફતમાં આવી પડ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુ:ખમાં આવી પડ્યા ત્યારે તેમના તરફથી તને મેં પ્રાર્થના નથી કરી?”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવે યમિર્યાને જવાબ આપ્યો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.15.12" />“શું કોઇ માણસ સળીયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે ઉત્તરના દેશનાં લોખંડ
</q>
<q style="q1">તથા કાંસુ ભેળવીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બનાવેલા સળીયા ભાંગી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.15.13" />હું તમારી મિલકતોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખજાનાઓને લૂંટાવી દઇશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">લોકોએ આના માટે કશું ભરવું નહી પડે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આનુ કારણ એ છે કે આખા દેશમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે બધાયે મારી વિરુદ્ધ આચરેલા પાપ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.15.14" />હું તમને અજાણ્યા દેશમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા દુશ્મનોના ગુલામ બનાવી દઇશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ મારો ક્રોધ તમારી પર ભભૂકી ઊઠયો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારો ક્રોધ જેને ઓલવી ન શકાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવો ભડભડતા અગ્નિ જેવો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.15.15" />યમિર્યાએ કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, તમે બધું જાણો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને યાદ કરો ને મદદ કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">મને સતાવનારા પર વૈર લો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તમે તેમની સાથે ધીરજ રાખો છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તેઓ મને દૂર લઇ ન જાય. જરા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુઓ તો ખરા,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારે ખાતર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું કેટકેટલાં અપમાન સહન કરું છું!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.15.16" />તમારા વચનો મને ટકાવી રાખ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા ભૂખ્યા આત્માનું તે ભોજન છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે મારા દુ:ખી હૃદયને આનંદિત અને હષિર્ત કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા, તમારું નામ ધારણ કરીને હું કેટલો ગર્વ અનુભવું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.15.17" />મેં કદી નિરર્થક મોજમજા કરનારાઓના સંગમાં આનંદ માણ્યો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને બનાવ્યો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એમના પ્રત્યે મારામાં પુણ્યપ્રકોપ જગાડ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી હું અળગો રહ્યો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.15.18" />મારાં દુ:ખોનો કોઇ પાર નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો ઘા અસાધ્ય કેમ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">રુઝાતો કેમ નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી મદદ ચોમાસામાં વહેતાં ઝરણાં જેવી અચોક્કસ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ વાર પૂર આવે અને પછી હાડકાં જેવું એકદમ સૂકું હોય.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.15.19" />યહોવાએ પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “જો તું મારી પાસે પાછો આવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો હું તને મારી સેવામાં પાછો રાખીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું જે કહે તે નિરર્થક નહોતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યથાયોગ્ય હોય તો હું તને મારાવતી બોલનારો બનાવીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">લોકો વળીને તારી પાસે આવવા જોઇએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તારે તેમની પાસે જવાનું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.15.20" />હું તને એ લોકો સામે પિત્તળની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભીંત જેવો બનાવી દઇશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તારી સામે લડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તને હરાવી નહિ શકે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, તારું રક્ષણ કરવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તને બચાવવા
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તારી સાથે જ છું.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવા વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.15.21" />“હા, આ દુષ્ટ માણસોના હાથમાંથી હું તને જરૂર બચાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જુલમગારોના પંજામાંથી મુકત કરાવીશ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">સર્વનાશ વિષેનું ભાવિકથન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.16.1" />બીજા એક પ્રસંગે મને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ;
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JER.16.2" />“તારે આ જગ્યાએ લગ્ન કરવા નહિ, કે છોકરાં વાળા ન થવું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JER.16.3" />કારણ, આ જગ્યાએ જન્મેલા બાળકો વિષે અને તેમને જન્મ આપનાર માતાપિતા વિષે હું કહું છું કે,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JER.16.4" />“તેઓ ભયંકર રોગોને લીધે મૃત્યુ પામશે, કોઇ તેઓને માટે ચિંતા કરશે નહિ કે તેઓને દફનાવશે નહિ, પરંતુ તેઓના મૃતદેહો ખુલ્લા મેદાનમાં પડ્યા રહેશે અને ભોંય પર સડી જઇ ખાતરરૂપ થશે. તેઓ યુદ્ધ કે દુકાળમાં મૃત્યુ પામશે અને તેઓના મૃતદેહોને પંખીઓ અને પશુઓ ફાડી ખાશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JER.16.5" />“જે ઘર શોકમાં હોય ત્યાં જઇશ નહિ. તેમના શોકમાં ભાગ લેવા કે, તેમને આશ્વાસન આપવા જઇશ નહિ.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.16.6" />“કારણ કે આ લોકો પાસેથી મેં મારી શાંતિ પાછી ખેંચી લીધી છે, મેં મારો પ્રેમ અને મારી દયા પાછા ખેંચી લીધા છે. આ દેશમાં ઊંચ કે નીચ જે કોઇ મરશે, તેને નહિ કોઇ દફનાવે કે તેનો નહિ કોઇ શોક કરે: તેમને માટે નહિ કોઇ પોતાના શરીર પર ઘા કરે કે નહિ કોઇ માથું મુંડાવે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JER.16.7" />કોઇ તેને સાંત્વન આપવા શોક કરનારની સાથે ખાશે નહિ કે પીશે નહિ, પછી ભલે ને તેનાં માબાપ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા હોય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.16.8" />“જે ઘરમાં ખાવાપીવાની ઉજાણી ચાલતી હોય ત્યાં જઇને ખાવાપીવા બેસી જઇશ નહિં.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.16.9" />કારણ, મેં ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ કહ્યું છે કે, ‘હું અહીં આ દેશનાં સર્વ હાસ્યનો, આનંદના ગીતોનો, લગ્ન ઉત્સવોનો તથા વર-કન્યાનાં ગીતોનો અંત લાવીશ.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JER.16.10" />“જ્યારે તું આ લોકોને આ બધું કહેશે ત્યારે એ લોકો તને પૂછશે કે, ‘યહોવાએ આ બધી ઘોર આફતો આપણે માથે નાખવાનું શાથી નક્કી કર્યું છે? આપણો શો અપરાધ છે? આપણે આપણા દેવ યહોવાનો શો ગુનો કર્યો છે?’
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.16.11" />ત્યારે તારે જવાબ આપવો; ‘કારણ, તમારા પિતૃઓએ મારો ત્યાગ કર્યો હતો,’ આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું. ‘અને બીજા દેવોને માની તેમની પૂજા કરી હતી; તેમણે મારો ત્યાગ કર્યો હતો અને મારા નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પાલન કર્યુ નહોતું.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.16.12" />અને તમે તમારાં પિતૃઓનાં કરતાં પણ વધારે દુષ્ટતા આચરો છો! તમારા હૃદયની ઇચ્છાઓ સંતોષાય ત્યાં સુધી તમે દુષ્ટતાની પાછળ જાઓ છો અને મને આધીન થવાનો ઇન્કાર કરો છો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.16.13" />આથી હું તમને આ દેશમાંથી ઉખાડી; તમને અને તમારાં પિતૃઓને અજાણ્યા દેશમાં ફગાવી દેનાર છું. ત્યાં તમે રાતદિવસ વિદેશી દેવોને ભજ્યા કરજો. કારણ, હું તમારા પર દયા રાખવાનો નથી.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JER.16.14" />યહોવા કહે છે, “જુઓ, હવે એ સમય આવે છે જ્યારે લોકો સોગંદ લેતી વખતે ક્યારેય નહિ કહે કે જેવી રીતે ચોક્કસ પણે યહોવા જીવે છે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઇ આવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.16.15" />પણ તેઓ કહેશે જેમ ચોક્કસ પણે યહોવા જીવીત છે તેમ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ઉત્તરના પ્રદેશમાંથી અને પોતે તેઓને જ્યાં હાંકી કાઢયા હતા તે બધા દેશોમાંથી પાછા લાવનાર યહોવાના સમ! કારણકે, મેં તેમના પૂર્વજોને ભૂમિ આપી હતી તેમાં જ હું તેમને પાછા લાવીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JER.16.16" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હવે હું અનેક માછીમારોને મોકલીશ અને તેઓ તે લોકોને જાળમાં પકડી પાડશે. ત્યાર પછી હું અનેક શિકારીઓને મોકલીશ અને તેઓ તેમને એકેએક પર્વત પરથી અને એકેએક ગુફામાંથી શોધી કાઢીને તેમનો શિકાર કરશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JER.16.17" />કારણ કે હું આખો વખત તેમનું અને તેમના પાપોનું નિરીક્ષણ કરું છું. તેથી મારાથી કશું છુપું રહેતુ નથી.
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.16.18" />હું તેમની પાસે તેમનાં પાપોનો અને દુષ્ટતાનો બમણો બદલો લઇશ, કારણ, તેમણે મારા દેશની ભૂમિને મુડદાં જેવી ઘૃણાસ્પદ મૂર્તિઓથી ભરી દઇને અભડાવી છે.”
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.16.19" />હે યહોવા, સંકટના સમયમાં મને બચાવનાર,
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<q level="2" style="q2">મારું સાર્મથ્ય તથા મારો ગઢ,
</q>
<q style="q1">સમગ્ર જગતમાંથી પ્રજાઓ તમારી પાસે આવશે અને કહેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“અમારા વડીલો મૂર્ખ હતા,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તેઓએ જૂઠા દેવોની
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<q level="2" style="q2">તથા નિરર્થક મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરી હતી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.16.20" />માણસ કદી પોતાના દેવને બનાવી શકતો હશે?
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<q level="2" style="q2">માણસના બનાવેલા હોય તે દેવ હોઇ જ ન શકે.”
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.16.21" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તેઓ આવી કબૂલાત કરતા આવશે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તો હું મારું સાર્મથ્ય અને પરાક્રમ તેઓને દેખાડીશ
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<q style="q1">અને હું એકલો જ દેવ છું ને મારું નામ જ ‘યહોવા છે’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવું તેઓને સમજાવીશ.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">હૃદય પર લખેલ પાપ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JER.17.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “યહૂદિયાનું પાપ લોઢાના ઢાંકણાથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા હીરાકણીથી લખેલું છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તેઓના હૃદયની પાટી પર કોતરેલું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી વેદીઓનાં શિંગો પર કોતરેલું છે;
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<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.17.2" />કારણ કે તેઓના પુત્રો ઊંચા
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<q level="2" style="q2">પર્વતો પરનાં લીલાં ઝાડની પાસે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓની વેદીઓ તથા જુઠ્ઠા દેવો
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની અશેરાદેવીનું સ્મરણ કરે છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.17.3" />અરે, ખેતરમાંના મારા પર્વત,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તમારાં સર્વ પાપોની કિંમત રૂપે
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<q style="q1">હું તમારી સર્વ સંપત્તિ
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<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા શત્રુઓને આપી દઇશ.
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<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.17.4" />મે તમને માલિકી માટે વારસો આપ્યો હતો તે તમે ગુમાવી દેશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેશમાં તમારા દુશ્મનોના ગુલામો તરીકે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેના વિષે તમે કશું જાણતા નથી એ દેશમાં
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<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને મોકલી આપીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે મારા ક્રોધના અગ્નિને સળગાવ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે સદાકાળ સળગતો રહેશે.”
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<s style="s">લોકોમાં શ્રદ્ધા અને દેવમાં શ્રદ્ધા
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<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.17.5" />આ યહોવાના વચન છે,
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<q style="q1">“એને શાપિત જાણજો જે મારાથી
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<q level="2" style="q2">વિમુખ થઇને માણસ પર વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે માટીના માનવીને પોતાનો આધાર માને છે!
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<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.17.6" />તે રાનમાંની સૂકી ઝાડીના જેવો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ઉજ્જડ મરું ભૂમિમાં જ્યાં કોઇ વસી શકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવી ખારી જમીનમાં ઊભો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે જોઇ નહિ શકે કે ક્યારે સારી વસ્તુઓ આવશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.17.7" />પરંતુ જે મારા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને પોતાનો આધાર માને છે તેના પર મારા આશીર્વાદ વરસશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.17.8" />તે ઝરણાની ધારે રોપેલા ઝાડ જેવો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેના મૂળિયા પાણી તરફ ફેલાયેલાં છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તાપ પડે તોય એને કશું ડરવા જેવું નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એનાં પાંદડા લીલાછમ રહે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દુકાળના વર્ષમાં તેને કશી ચિંતા નથી,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તે ફળ આપતું જ રહે છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.17.9" />“માણસના મન જેવું કઇં કપટી નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે એવું તો કુટિલ છે કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને સાચે જ કોઇ જાણી શકતું નથી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.17.10" />માત્ર યહોવા તે જાણે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા સર્વ હૃદયોની તપાસ કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેના અભ્યંતરની પરીક્ષા કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી પ્રત્યેકના આચરણ પ્રમાણે એટલે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે કેવું જીવન વીતાવ્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના આધારે તેને તે યોગ્ય બદલો આપે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.17.11" />અન્યાયને માગેર્ ધન એકઠું કરનાર માણસ તો કોયલ જેણે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતે જન્મ આપ્યો નથી તેવા ઇડાને સેવી રહી છે તેના જેવો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અડધી ઉંમર થતાં એ ધન એને છોડી જશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખરે તે મૂરખ ઠરશે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.17.12" />પરંતુ આપણું મંદિર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણો આશ્રય તો અનાદિ કાળથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉચ્ચસ્થાને મૂકેલું મહિમાવંત સિંહાસન છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.17.13" />હે યહોવા, તું ઇસ્રાએલની આશા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ તારો ત્યાગ કરશે તે બધા ફજેત થશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ધૂળમાં લખેલા નામની જેમ તે ભૂંસાઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેમણે તમારો, જીવનના પાણીના ઝરાનો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે.
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</q>
<s style="s">યમિર્યાની ત્રીજી ફરિયાદ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.17.14" />હે યહોવા, તમે જો મને સાજો કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો હું સાચે જ સાજો થઇ જઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને ઉગારો અને મારું ખરેખરું તારણ કરો કારણ કે તમે જ તે છો જેની હું સ્તુતિ કરું છું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.17.15" />લોકો મારી મશ્કરી કરીને મને પૂછયા કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“યહોવાના વચનો ક્યાં ગયા?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જોઇએ તો ખરા કેવાં સાચાં પડે છે!”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.17.16" />યહોવા, મેં તમને એમનું ભૂંડું કરવાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આગ્રહ કર્યો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં આ આફતની આંધીનો દિવસ માગ્યો નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">એ તમે જાણો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે મોઢેથી શું નીકળ્યું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હતું એની તને ખબર છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.17.17" />મને ભયભીત ન કરશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તો સંકટ સમયના મારા આશ્રય છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.17.18" />મારા જુલમગારો પર તમે મૂંઝવણો
</q>
<q style="q1">તથા મુશ્કેલીઓ લાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ મને શાંતિ આપો,
</q>
<q style="q1">હા, તેઓ પર તમે બમણો વિનાશ લાવો.
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</q>
<s style="s">સાબ્બાથ દિવસને પવિત્ર ગણવો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JER.17.19" />યહોવાએ મને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું, “જા, જે દરવાજે થઇને યહૂદિયાના રાજાઓ આવજા કરે છે તે ‘જનતાના દરવાજા’ આગળ અને યરૂશાલેમના બધા દરવાજા આગળ ઊભો રહે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JER.17.20" />“અને કહે: ‘આ દરવાજામાંથી પસાર થનાર હે યહૂદિયાના રાજાઓ, યહૂદિયાના બધા લોકો અને યરૂશાલેમના વાસીઓ! તમે યહોવાની વાણી સાંભળો.
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<v id="21" bcv="JER.17.21" />આ યહોવાના હુકમો છે: ધ્યાન રાખજો કે વિશ્રામવારને દિવસે કોઇ બોજો ઉપાડશો નહિ કે યરૂશાલેમના દરવાજામાં થઇને અંદર લાવશો નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="JER.17.22" />વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે ઘરમાંથી બોજો ઉપાડી બહાર જશો નહિ અને કોઇ કામ કરશો નહિ! તમારા પિતૃઓને મેં આજ્ઞા આપી હતી તેમ વિશ્રામવારના દિવસને પવિત્ર માનો.
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<v id="23" bcv="JER.17.23" />તમારા પૂર્વજોએ મારા હુકમોં માન્યાં નહિ, તેઓએ તે ધ્યાન પર પણ લીધાં નહિ, અને હઠે ચડીને ન તો સાંભળ્યું કે ન તો શિખામણ લીધી.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JER.17.24" />યહોવા કહે છે, “‘હવે જો તમે મને આધીન થશો અને વિશ્રામવારને દિવસે કોઇ કામ નહિ કરો તેને અલગ કરાયેલો-વિશિષ્ટ અને પવિત્ર દિવસ માની તેની પવિત્રતા જાળવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JER.17.25" />“‘તો રાજાઓ જે દાઉદના સિંહાસન પર બેઠા છે તેઓ આ શહેરના દરવાજામાંથી, રથો અને ઘોડાઓ પર સવાર લશ્કરના સરદારો સાથે, અને યહૂદિયાના લોકો અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ સાથે આવજા કરશે અને આ નગર યરૂશાલેમ સદાકાળ હર્યુભર્યુ વસેલું રહેશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="JER.17.26" />યહૂદિયાના નગરોમાંથી, યરૂશાલેમની આસપાસના ગામોમાંથી, બિન્યામીનના, નીચાણના તેમજ પહાડી પ્રદેશમાંથી અને દક્ષિણમાંથી લોકો દહનાર્પણ, બલિઓ, ખાદ્યાર્પણ અને ધૂપ તથા ઉપકારાર્થાર્પણ લઇને મંદિરે આવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JER.17.27" />“‘પરંતુ જો તમે મારું સાંભળશો નહિ અને વિશ્રામવાર દિવસને પવિત્ર માનવાની ના પાડશો, તથા અન્ય દિવસોની જેમ વિશ્રામવારને દિવસે પણ તમે યરૂશાલેમના દરવાજાઓમાંથી વેપારની ચીજ-વસ્તુઓ લાવશો, તો હું આ દરવાજાઓને આગ ચાંપીશ. તે અગ્નિ રાજમહેલ સુધી ફેલાશે અને તેનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ થશે અને અગ્નિની ભભૂકતી જવાળાઓને કોઇ હોલવી શકશે નહિ.’”
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</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">કુંભાર અને માટી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.18.1" />યહોવાનું જે વચન યમિર્યાની પાસે આવ્યું તે એ છે કે,
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.18.2" />“તું એકદમ કુંભારને ઘેર જા અને ત્યાં હું તને મારે જે કહેવાનું છે તે કહીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JER.18.3" />પછી હું કુંભારને ઘેર ગયો. અને જોયું તો તે ચાક પર કામ કરતો હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.18.4" />પરંતુ તે જે વાસણ ઘડતો હતો તે તેની ઇચ્છા મુજબ તૈયાર થયું નહિ, તેથી તેણે તેને તોડીને ફરીથી માટીનો પિંડ પોતાને સારું લાગ્યું તેવા ઘાટનું બનાવ્યું અને બીજીવાર વાસણ બનાવવાની શરૂઆત કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JER.18.5" />પછી યહોવાની વાણી મને સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.18.6" />“હે ઇસ્રાએલ, આ કુંભારે જેમ માટીના પિંડનું જે કર્યું તેવું શું હું તમારી સાથે ન કરી શકું? જેમ માટીનો પિંડ કુંભારના હાથમાં છે તેમ તમે મારા હાથમાં છો.
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.18.7" />કોઇ વાર હું કોઇ પ્રજાને કે રાજયને ઉખેડી નાખવાની, તોડી પાડવાની કે ખેદાનમેદાન કરી નાખવાની ધમકી આપું,
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.18.8" />અને તે પ્રજા જો દુષ્ટ માગેર્થી પાછી વળે તો તેના પર આફત ઉતારવાનો મેં કરેલો વિચાર માંડી વાળું;
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.18.9" />અથવા કોઇવાર હું કોઇ પ્રજાને કે રાજ્યને મજબૂત અને સ્થિર કરવાનું વિચારું.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.18.10" />પણ પછી તે પ્રજા પોતાના વિચારો બદલી નાખે અને દુષ્ટતા તરફ ફરે તથા મને આધીન થવાની ના કહે તો હું પણ મારા વિચારો ફેરવીશ અને મેં કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાણે હું તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.18.11" />“હવે જા અને યહૂદિયાના લોકોને અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓને કહે કે, ‘આ યહોવાના વચન છે: સાંભળો, હું તમારે માટે આફતની તૈયારી કરી રહ્યો છું. હું તમારી વિરુદ્ધ યોજના ઘડી રહ્યો છું. માટે હવે તમારામાંનો એકેએક માણસ દુષ્ટ માગેર્થી પાછો વળે, પોતાનાં આચરણ અને કમોર્ સુધારે.’
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.18.12" />પણ તેઓ કહે છે કે, ‘તારો સમય વેડફીશ નહિ. યહોવા કહે છે તે પ્રમાણે આચરણ કરવાનો અમારો કોઇ જ વિચાર નથી. અમે અમારી ઇચ્છા પ્રમાણે જ સર્વ પ્રકારના બંધનોથી મુકત અને સંપૂર્ણ હઠીલાઇથી તથા દુષ્ટતામાં જીવવાનું ચાલુ રાખીશું!’”
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JER.18.13" />તેથી યહોવા કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“બધી પ્રજાઓમાં જઇને પૂછો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘કોઇએ કદી આવું સાંભળ્યું છે?’
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી પ્રજા ઇસ્રાએલે ભયંકર કૃત્ય કર્યું છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.18.14" />લબાનોન પર્વતોની ટોચ પરનો બરફ કદી જ ઓગળી જતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હેમોર્ન પર્વતના ખડકોમાંથી વહેતાં ઠંડા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાણીના ઝરાઓ કદી સુકાઇ જતા નથી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.18.15" />પણ મારા લોકો મને ભૂલી ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ નિરર્થક તુચ્છ મૂર્તિને ધૂપ ચઢાવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ તેમના પૂર્વજોના સારા માગોર્નો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પગદંડી વગરના ગંદા રસ્તાઓ પર ચાલ્યા છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.18.16" />તેમણે પોતાના દેશના એવા ભયંકર હાલ કર્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે લોકો સદા તેનો તિરસ્કાર કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જતા આવતા સૌ કોઇ એની દશા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જોઇને આભા બની માથું ધુણાવશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.18.17" />મારા લોકોને હું પૂર્વના વાયરાની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુશ્મનો આગળ વેરવિખેર કરી નાખીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમની આફતને વખતે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમના તરફ પીઠ ફેરવીશ, જોઇશ સુદ્ધાં નહિ.”
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</q>
<s style="s">યમિર્યાની ચોથી ફરિયાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JER.18.18" />પછી લોકોએ કહ્યું, “આવો આપણે યમિર્યાને દૂર કરીએ, આપણી પાસે આપણા પોતાના યાજકો આપણને શીખવવા માટે, શાણા પુરુષો આપણને સલાહ આપવા માટે, તથા પ્રબોધકો આપણે શું કરવું તે આપણને કહેવા માટે છે. આપણને યમિર્યાની સલાહની જરાય જરૂર નથી. આપણે તેને ચૂપ કરી દઇએ. જેથી તે આપણી વિરુદ્ધ કાઇં પણ વધારે બોલી શકે નહિ અને આપણને ફરીથી હેરાન કરે નહિ.”
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.18.19" />યમિર્યાએ પ્રાર્થના કરી, “હે યહોવા, મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા દુશ્મનો મારી વિરુદ્ધ જે કહે છે તે સાંભળ!
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<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.18.20" />ભલાઇનો બદલો બૂરાઇથી કરાય તેમ છતાં,
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<q level="2" style="q2">એ લોકો મારે માટે ખાડો ખોદી રહ્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારો રોષ તેમના પરથી ઊતરે એટલા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે તારી સમક્ષ ઊભા રહીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં એમની વકીલાત કરી હતી તે યાદ કર.
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<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.18.21" />તો હવે તું એમના બાળકોને દુકાળને હવાલે કર.
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને તરવારની ધારે મરવા દે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમની સ્ત્રીઓને પુત્રવિહોણી અને પતિવિહોણી થવા દે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પુરુષોને રોગથી અને જવાનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લડાઇમાં તરવારથી માર્યા જાય.
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<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.18.22" />અચાનક લશ્કરી ટૂકડીઓ તેઓ પર આવી ચઢે
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનાં ઘરોમાંથી ચીસો સાંભળશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે તું તારું લશ્કર લઇને તેમની પર ચઢી આવે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે મને ખાડામાં પાડી નાખવા માટે તેઓએ ખાડો ખોદ્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારા રસ્તામાં તેઓએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છૂપાં છટકાં ગોઠવી રાખ્યા છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.18.23" />પણ, હે યહોવા, મારો જીવ લેવા માટેનાં એમના તમામ ખૂની કાવત્રાઓ તમે જાણો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેઓને માફ કરશો નહિ, એમનાં પાપકમોર્ ભૂલશો નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તમારી સમક્ષ ઠોકર ખાઇને પછડાઇ પડો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો રોષ ભભૂકી ઊઠયો હોય ત્યારે જ એમને સજા કરજો.”
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<b style="b" />

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">તૂટેલ બરણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.19.1" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાએ યમિર્યાને કહ્યું, “જા, અને એક માટીની બરણી ખરીદી લાવ, ત્યાર પછી લોકોના કેટલાક આગેવાનોને અને કેટલાક યાજકોને તારી સાથે લઇ લે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.19.2" />નગરનાં પૂર્વ દરવાજાએથી તેઓને બેન-હિન્નોમની ખીણમાં લઇ જા, અને હું તને જે વચનો આપું તે તું ત્યાં તેઓને કહી સંભળાવ.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.19.3" />તું એમ કહેજે, ‘સાંભળો, હે યહૂદિયાના રાજાઓ અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ! ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના આ વચનો છે; હું આ જગ્યા પર એવી વિપત્તિ ઉતારનાર છું કે જે કોઇ સાંભળશે તેનાં કાનમાં ગુંજ્યા કરશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.19.4" />રણ કે ઇસ્રાએલે મારો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે અને તેમણે વિદેશી દેવોને દહનાર્પણો ધરાવીને આ સ્થાનને ષ્ટ કર્યુ છે. એ વિદેશી દેવો જેના વિષે તેમણે તેમના પૂર્વજોએ તથા યહૂદિયાના રાજાએ પણ ક્યારેય સાંભળ્યું નથી. તેમણે આ સ્થાનને નિદોર્ષોના લોહીથી ભરી દીધું છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.19.5" />તેમણે બઆલ દેવને માટે યજ્ઞવેદીઓ ઊભી કરી છે. જ્યાં તેઓ પોતાનાં બાળકોની આહુતિ આપે છે. મેં કદી એવી આજ્ઞા કરી જ નથી. એવો કોઇ વિચાર પણ મારા મનમાં કદી આવ્યો જ નથી!’”
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.19.6" />યહોવા કહે છે, “‘એવો દિવસ આવશે જ્યારે આ ખીણ “તોફેથ” અથવા “બેન-હિન્નોમ” થી ઓળખાશે નહિ પરંતુ તેઓ તેને કતલની ખીણ કહેશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.19.7" />આ જગ્યાએ હું યહૂદિયા અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકોની બધી યોજનાઓના માટીની બરણીની જેમ ભૂક્કેભૂક્કા ઉડાવી દઇશ! હું તેમનો તેમના દુશ્મનોને હાથે તરવારથી નાશ કરાવીશ, તેમના મૃતદેહ હું પંખીઓને અને જંગલી પશુઓને ખાવા સોંપી દઇશ.
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.19.8" />હું યરૂશાલેમને સંપૂર્ણ તારાજ કરી નાખીશ. ત્યાંથી પસાર થનાર દરેક જોશે કે મેં તેને કેટલું ભારે નુકશાન પહોંચાડ્યું છે! અને તે આ જોઇને આશ્ચર્ય પામશે, કે મે તેનો કેવો નાશ કર્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.19.9" />તેઓના શત્રુઓ, જેઓ તેઓનો જીવ શોધે છે તેઓ ઘેરો ઘાલીને તે બધાને સંકડામણમાં લાવશે, તે વખતે તેઓ પોતાના પુત્રોનું તથા પોતાની પુત્રીઓનું માંસ ખાય એવું હું કરીશ. તેઓ બધા એકબીજાનું માંસ ખાશે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JER.19.10" />“અને હવે, યમિર્યા, તારી સાથે લાવેલી બરણીને તું આ માણસોના દેખતા તોડી નાખ.
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.19.11" />તેઓને કહે, ‘યહોવા સૈન્યોનો દેવ તરફથી તમને આ સંદેશો છે; તેવી જ રીતે હું યરૂશાલેમ શહેરને તોડી નાખીશ જેમ કુંભાર એક વાસણને તોડી નાખે છે જેથી તેનું સમારકામ ક્યારેય ન થાય. તોફેથમાં ઘણા બધા લોકોને દફનાવવામાં આવશે કારણ કે તેઓને દફનાવવા માટે બીજી કોઇ જગ્યા નથી.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.19.12" />આ ખીણમાં જેવું હશે તેવું જ યરૂશાલેમમાં પણ હશે, કારણ કે હું યરૂશાલેમને પણ મૃતદેહોથી ભરી દઇશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.19.13" />યરૂશાલેમનાં મકાનો, યહૂદિયાના રાજાઓનાં મકાનો અને જે જે ઘરનાં છાપરાં પર લોકોએ આકાશનાં નક્ષત્રોને બલિદાન ચઢાવ્યાં છે અને બીજા દેવોને પેયાર્પણો આપ્યા છે તે બધા મકાનો “તોફેથ” જેવાં નષ્ટ બની જશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JER.19.14" />યહોવાએ દેવી વાણી ભાખવા યમિર્યાને તોફેથ મોકલ્યો હતો, ત્યાંથી પાછા ફર્યા બાદ તે યહોવાના મંદિરના ચોકમાં ઊભો રહ્યો અને બધા લોકોને ઉદ્દેશીને બોલ્યો,
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.19.15" />“સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ કહે છે; ‘મેં વચન આપ્યું છે તે મુજબ આ નગર તેમજ તેની આસપાસના નગરો પર સર્વ વિપત્તિઓ હું લાવીશ, કારણ કે તમે લોકો હઠીલા છો અને મારું કહ્યું માનતા નથી.’”
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<c id="20" />
<s style="s">યમિર્યા અને પાશહૂર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.20.1" />ઈમ્મેરનો પુત્ર યાજક પાશહૂર યહોવાના મંદિરના રક્ષકોનો ઉપરી હતો. તેણે યમિર્યાને આવી ભવિષ્યવાણી ભાખતો સાંભળ્યો,
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.20.2" />તેથી તેણે યમિર્યાની ધરપકડ કરી અને તેને કોરડાથી ફટકાર્યો, પછી તેણે તેને મંદિરના બિન્યામીન દરવાજા આગળ સાંકળોથી બાધ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.20.3" />બીજા દિવસે સવારે પાશહૂરે યમિર્યાને હેડમાંથી છૂટો કર્યો ત્યારે યમિર્યાએ તેને કહ્યું, “યહોવા તને પાશહૂર નહિ કહે, ‘પણ માગોર-મિસ્સાબીબ (સર્વત્ર ત્રાસ) કહેશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.20.4" />કારણ કે યહોવા તારા પર તથા તારા સર્વ મિત્રો પર ભય મોકલશે અને તેઓના શત્રુઓની તરવારોથી તેઓને તું મૃત્યુ પામતાં જોશે. આખો યહૂદિયા હું બાબિલના રાજાને સોંપી દઇશ. તે તેમને કેદ કરીને બાબિલ લઇ જશે અને ત્યાં તરવારથી મારી નાખશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.20.5" />આ શહેરની સર્વ સંપત્તિ, એના બધા ભંડારો અને કિમતી વસ્તુઓ, યહૂદિયાના રાજાનો બધો ખજાનો હું તેમના શત્રુઓને સોંપી દઇશ, શત્રુઓ લૂંટમાર કરીને એનો કબજો લેશે અને બાબિલ લઇ જવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.20.6" />તું, પાશહૂર, અને તારું કુટુંબ કેદ પકડાશો, તમને બાબિલ લઇ જવામાં આવશે, અને ત્યાં તમારું મોત થશે અને ત્યાં તમે દટાશો. તું અને તારા બધા મિત્રો, જેમને તેં ખોટી ભવિષ્યવાણી સંભળાવેલી છે.’”
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<s style="s">યમિર્યાની પાંચમી ફરિયાદ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.20.7" />પછી મેં કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા, તમે મને યુકિતપૂર્વક છેતર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા સંદેશાઓ આપવા માટે તમે મને દબાણ કર્યુ.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે મારા કરતાં તમે અતિ બળવાન છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હવે હું બધા દિવસો હાંસીપાત્ર થયો છું અને સર્વ લોકો મારી મશ્કરી કરે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.20.8" />કેમ કે જ્યારે જ્યારે હું બોલું છું ત્યારે ત્યારે ઘાટાં પાડીને એક જ વાત કહેવાની છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘હિંસા અને વિનાશ!’ હે યહોવા,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી વાણી સંભળાવવાને કારણે આખો દિવસ મારે હાંસી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નામોશી સહન કરવી પડે છે.”
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.20.9" />હું જો એમ કહું કે, “હવે હું યહોવાને સંભારીશ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એને નામે બોલું જ નહિ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">તો તારી એ વાણી મારા અંગે અંગમાં ભંડારાયેલી આગની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા અંતરમાં ભડભડી ઊઠે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હું તેને કાબૂમાં રાખવા મથું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ નથી રાખી શકતો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.20.10" />ચારે બાજુથી હું તેઓની ધમકીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉચ્ચારાતી સાંભળું છું
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મને ડર લાગે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કહે છે, “આપણે ફરિયાદ કરીશું.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ મારા મિત્રો હતા તેઓ સાવધાનીથી મને નિહાળે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ક્યારે ભયંકર ભૂલ કરી બેસું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતે જ ફસાઇ જશે અને ત્યારે આપણે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના પર આપણું વૈર વાળીશું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે.”
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.20.11" />પરંતુ મહાન યોદ્ધાની જેમ યહોવા મારી પડખે ઊભા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પરાક્રમી તથા ભયાવહ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા જુલમગારો ઠોકર ખાશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ નહિ ફાવે, તેઓ નિષ્ફળ જતાં ભારે ફજેત થશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ બધી રીતે અપમાનિત થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સદાને માટે તેઓ પર કલંક લાગશે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.20.12" />હે સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે સતનું પારખું કરો છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા મનનો અને હૃદયનો તાગ લો છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું ઇચ્છું છું કે હું તમને એમના પર બદલો વાળતા જોવા પામું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે મેં મારો દાવો ફકત તમને સોંપ્યો છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.20.13" />યહોવાના ગીત ગાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમનાં ગુણગાન કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ, તેણે દુષ્ટોના હાથમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દરિદ્રીઓનું જીવન ઉગારી લીધુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યમિર્યાની છઠ્ઠી ફરિયાદ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.20.14" />તેમ છતાં મારા જન્મનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દિવસ શાપિત થાઓ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.20.15" />તને પુત્ર થયો છે એવી વધામણી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પિતાને આપનાર માણસ શાપિત થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.20.16" />તે માણસના હાલ એ પુરાતન નગરોના જેવા થાવ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેનો યહોવાએ દયા રાખ્યા વગર નાશ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ભલે તેને આખો દિવસ રણનાદ સંભળાય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સવારમાં આર્તનાદ અને બપોરે યુદ્ધનાદ સંભળાય,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.20.17" />કારણ કે, તેણે મને ગર્ભમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ મારી ન નાખ્યો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તો મારી માતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ મારી કબર બની હોત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું ઉદર સદા માટે મોટું રહ્યું હોત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.20.18" />હું કષ્ટો અને દુ:ખ સહન કરવા માટે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શરમાળ જીવન જીવવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું કામ ગર્ભમાંથી બહાર આવ્યો?
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</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમની હારની ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.21.1" />પછી જ્યારે સિદકિયા રાજાએ માલ્કિયાના પુત્ર પાશહૂરને તથા માઅસેયા યાજકના પુત્ર સફાન્યાને યમિર્યાની પાસે મોકલીને કહેવડાવ્યું કે,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JER.21.2" />“બાબિલનો રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર અમારી સામે યુદ્ધે ચઢયો છે માટે તમે અમારા તરફથી યહોવાને અરજ કરો, કદાચ તે અમારે ખાતર કોઇ ચમત્કાર કરે, જેથી નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને પાછા જવું પડે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JER.21.3" />ત્યારે યમિર્યાને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ, અને તેમણે તે લોકોને કહ્યું, “સિદકિયાને જઇને કહેજો કે,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JER.21.4" />ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે; ‘કોટની બહાર ઘેરો ઘાલીને પડેલા બાબિલના રાજા અને તેની સૈના સામે તમારા જે યોદ્ધાઓ લડી રહ્યા છે, તેમણે પાછા હઠી શહેરની મધ્યમાં આવવું પડશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JER.21.5" />“‘કારણ, હું જાતે ભારે રોષ અને ક્રોધપૂર્વક પૂરા બળ અને પરાક્રમથી તમારી સામે ઝઝુમીશ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="JER.21.6" />આ નગરમાં હું ભયંકર મરકી મોકલીશ અને માણસો તથા પશુઓ મૃત્યુ પામશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JER.21.7" />અંતે હું રાજા સિદકિયાને તથા નગરમાં બચી ગયેલાઓને બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારના હાથમાં સોંપી દઇશ. અને તે તેમની કત્લેઆમ ચલાવશે અને તેમના પર જરાપણ દયા કે કરૂણા દર્શાવશે નહિ.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.21.8" />“તે તારે કહેવું પડશે તેવું યહોવા કહે છે: ‘હું તમને જીવનના માર્ગ અને મૃત્યુના માર્ગ વચ્ચે પસંદગી કરવાની તક આપું છું.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JER.21.9" />જે કોઇ આ શહેરમાં રહેશે તે યુદ્ધથી, દુકાળથી કે રોગથી મૃત્યુ પામશે, પણ જે કોઇ તમને ઘેરો ઘાલીને પડેલી બાબિલની સૈનાને શરણે જશે તે બચવા પામશે, કઇં નહિ તો યે તે જીવતો તો રહેશે જ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="JER.21.10" />કારણ કે આ નગરનું ભલું નહિ પણ વિનાશ કરવાનો મેં નિરધાર કર્યો છે, તેને બાબિલના રાજાના હાથમાં સોપી દેવામાં આવશે અને બાળીને રાખ કરી દેવામાં આવશે.’” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.21.11" />“વળી યહૂદિયાના રાજા દાઉદના વંશજને યહોવા કહે છે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.21.12" />હે દાઉદના ઘર, હંમેશા ન્યાય કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે માણસ જુલ્મીઓના હાથે લૂંટાઇ ગયો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને તેના હાથમાંથી છોડાવ,
</q>
<q style="q1">નહિ તો તારાં દુષ્ટકૃત્યોને કારણે
</q>
<q style="q1">મારો રોષ ભભૂકી ઊઠશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારો ગુસ્સો જે અગ્નિ જેવો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે હોલવ્યા વગર ભડભડયા કરશે.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.21.13" />“અરે, હે યરૂશાલેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તારી વિરુદ્ધ થઇ ગયો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખીણ પર ઝઝૂમતા ખડકની ધારે બેઠેલું
</q>
<q style="q1">તું એમ કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘કોણ મારા પર હુમલો કરી શકે એમ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોણ મારા ગઢમાં પ્રવેશી શકે એમ છે’”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.21.14" />“પરંતુ તારા પાપી કૃત્યોની ઘટતી સજા હું તને કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ યહોવા કહે છે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જંગલમાં અગ્નિ સળગાવીશ અને તે પોતાના માર્ગમાં આવનાર
</q>
<q style="q1">સર્વને મહેલ સહિત બાળીને ભસ્મિભૂત કરી નાખશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">દેવનું દુષ્ટ રાજાઓ વિષે ન્યાયાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.22.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મને યહૂદિયાના રાજાના મહેલમાં જઇને આ પ્રમાણે સીધી વાત કરવા કહ્યું:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JER.22.2" />“‘દાઉદના રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠેલા હે યહૂદિયાના રાજા, તું અને તારા અમલદારો તથા યરૂશાલેમના બધાં વતનીઓ હું જે કહું છું તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JER.22.3" />હું, યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે તમને કહું છું; ન્યાયથી અને સદાચારથી વતોર્, જે વ્યકિત તેના જુલ્મીના હાથે લૂંટાઇ ગઇ છે તેને બચાવો; પરદેશીઓ, અનાથો અને વિધવાઓ પ્રત્યે હિંસા આચરો નહિ, આ સ્થાને નિદોર્ષનું લોહી રેડશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JER.22.4" />જે હું તને કહું છું જો તું સાચે જ કરે તો, હું ખાતરી કરીશ કે તે રાજાઓ જે દાઉદના રાજ્યાસન પર બેસે છે. તેઓ આ દ્વાર તરફથી જશે. તેઓ રથોમાં અને ઘોડા પર સવારી કરશે અને તેઓના ચાકરો અને તેઓના લોકો પણ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JER.22.5" />પણ જો તમે મારી ચેતવણી તરફ ધ્યાન નહિ આપો, ને મારું કહ્યું નહી કરો તો હું મારા પોતાના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે, આ મહેલ ખંડેર બની જશે. આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.22.6" />યહૂદિયાના રાજમહેલ વિષે યહોવાએ કહ્યું છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તું મારે મન ગિલયાદ જેવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લબાનોન પર્વતના શિખર જેવો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ છતાં હું સમ ખાઉ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને વેરાન અને વસ્તીહિન સ્થળ જેવું બનાવી દઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.22.7" />હું તારો વિનાશ કરવા માટે માણસો નક્કી કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ દરેક જણ હાથમાં કુહાડો લઇને
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા ગંધતરૂના સુંદરમાં સુંદર વૃક્ષોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાપી નાખશે અને અગ્નિમાં હોમી દેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.22.8" />“તારાજ થયેલા આ નગરની પાસેથી પસાર થતાં, ઘણી પ્રજાઓના લોકો એકબીજાને કહેશે, ‘યહોવાએ શા માટે આ નગરનાં આવા હાલ કર્યા? શા માટે તેમણે આવા મહાન નગરનો વિનાશ કર્યો?’
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JER.22.9" />ત્યારે પ્રત્યુત્તર મળશે, ‘કારણ કે એ લોકોએ પોતાના દેવ યહોવા સાથેના કરારને ફગાવી દઇ બીજા દેવોની પૂજા કરી.’”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">રાજા યહોઆહાઝ વિરુદ્ધ ન્યાય
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.22.10" />યહૂદિયાના લોકો, જે મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને માટે ચિંતા કરશો નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ તેનો શોક પણ ન કરશો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જે ચાલ્યો ગયો છે તેને માટે હૈયાફાટ રૂદન કરજો,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ તે કદી પાછો આવવાનો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કદી ફરી જન્મભૂમિના દર્શન કરવાનો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.22.11" />તેના પિતા યોશિયા રાજાની જગ્યાએ ગાદીએ આવનાર શાલ્લૂમને બંદીવાસમાં લઈ જવામાં આવ્યો છે. તેના વિષે યહોવા કહે છે:
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="JER.22.12" />“તેને જ્યાં કેદ પકડીને લઇ જવામાં આવ્યો છે તે દેશમાં જ તે મૃત્યુ પામશે અને આ ભૂમિને કદી જોવા પામશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">રાજા યહોયાકીમ વિરુદ્ધ ન્યાય
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.22.13" />“યહોયાકીમ રાજા તારી પર શરમ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેં પ્રામાણિકતાથી અને અન્યાયથી લોકો પર દબાણ મુક્યું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કે તારી માટે તેઓ સખત કામ કરે અને જેની ઉપરની તરફ ઓરડા હોય તેવો મહેલ બનાવે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં જ તારા સાથી માણસોને તેમને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો પગાર આપ્યા વગર કામ કરવા માટે દબાણ કર્યુ હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.22.14" />“તે કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘હું મારા માટે જેમાં વિશાળ ઉપરી ઓરડાઓ હોય તેવો એક ભવ્ય મહેલ બંધાવીશ,’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી તેમાં બારીઓ મૂકાવીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">સુગંધીદાર એરેજકાષ્ટથી તેને મઢાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા મનમોહક કિરમજી રંગથી તેને રંગાવીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.22.15" />“પરંતુ ભવ્ય મહેલ બનાવ્યા તેથી કાઇં મહાન રાજા થઇ શકાતું નથી!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પિતા યોશિયાએ શા માટે ઘણાં વષોર્ સુધી રાજ કર્યું?
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તે ન્યાયી હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ વ્યવહારમાં પ્રામાણિક હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી દેવે તેને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.22.16" />ગરીબો તથા જરૂરતમંદોને ન્યાય તથા સહાય પૂરી પાડવામાં તેણે કાળજી રાખી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તે બધી વાતે સુખી હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">આમ કરવાથી માણસ દેવની નજીક રહી શકે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.22.17" />“પણ તને તો સ્વાર્થ સિવાય બીજું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કશું જોવાને આંખો જ નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">નથી તને નિદોર્ષનું લોહી રેડવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘાતકી અત્યાચારો કરવા સિવાય બીજા કશા વિચાર આવતા.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.22.18" />તે માટે યહૂદિયાના રાજા યોશિયાના પુત્ર યહોયાકીમ વિષે યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તે મૃત્યુ પામશે ત્યારે તેનું કુટુંબ તેને માટે શોક કરશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઓ મારા ભાઇ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા ઓ મારી બહેન!
</q>
<q style="q1">એવું બોલીને રડશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની પ્રજા પણ તેના મૃત્યુની નોંધ લેશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘મારા માલિક! મારા રાજા!’
</q>
<q style="q1">એમ કહીને કોઇ રડશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.22.19" />એક ગધેડાંના જેવી તેની અંતિમ યાત્રા થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને ઘસડીને યરૂશાલેમના દરવાજા બહાર નાખી આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.22.20" />“હે યરૂશાલેમની પ્રજા, લબાનોનના પહાડ પર જઇને હાંક માર!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાશાનમાં જઇને પોકાર કર!
</q>
<q style="q1">અબારીમ પર્વત પરથી હાંક માર!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, તારા બધા મિત્રો પાયમાલ થઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.22.21" />“જ્યારે તુ સમૃદ્ધ થતો હતો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મેં તારી સાથે વાત કરી હતી, પણ તેં કહ્યું,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું નહિ સાંભળુ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી યુવાનીથી માંડીને તું આ રીતે વર્તતી આવી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં કદી મારું કહ્યું કર્યું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.22.22" />તારા સર્વ આગેવાનો પવન દ્વારા ઘસડાઇ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા સર્વ મિત્રોને ગુલામો
</q>
<q style="q1">તરીકે દેશવટે લઇ જવામાં આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખરે તારી દુષ્ટતાને કારણે
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી બદનામી થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તું શરમ અનુભવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.22.23" />“લબાનોનના એરેજવૃક્ષો મધ્યે ભવ્ય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહેલમાં સુખચેનથી રહેવું ઘણું સારું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ પ્રસૂતાની વેદનાની જેમ તારા પર આફત આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તારી દશા, કેવી દયાજનક હશે!”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">રાજા કોન્યાહ વિરુદ્ધ ન્યાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JER.22.24" />જેમ સાચે જ હું જીવું છું, એવું યહોવા કહે છે, “જો યહૂદિયાના રાજા, યહોયાકીન રાજા યહોયાકીમના પુત્ર, જો તું મારા જમણા હાથ પરની વીંટી હોત, તો મેં તેને મારા હાથમાંથી દૂર કર્યો હોત.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="JER.22.25" />તું જેનાથી ડરે છે અને જે તારો જીવ લેવા તાકે છે તે બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર અને તેના સૈન્યના હાથમાં સોંપી દઇશ.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="JER.22.26" />હું તને તથા તારી માતાને આ દેશમાંથી બહાર ફેંકી દઇશ. અને તમે પરદેશી ભૂમિમાં મૃત્યુ પામશો.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="JER.22.27" />અને તમે જ્યાં પાછાં જવા માટે ઝૂરતાં હશો તે ભૂમિમાં કદી જવા પામશો નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JER.22.28" />મેં કહ્યું, આ માણસ કોન્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે ફૂટેલા અને ફેંકી દીધેલા ઘડા જેવો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને તથા તેનાં બાળકોને દૂરના અજાણ્યા પ્રદેશમાં ફેંકી દેવામાં આવ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એક એવી ભૂમિમા નાંખી દેવામાં આવ્યા છે જેને તેઓ જાણતા પણ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JER.22.29" />હે ભૂમિ, ભૂમિ, ભૂમિ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું યહોવાના વચન સાંભળ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JER.22.30" />યહોવા કહે છે: “‘લખી રાખોકે આ માણસને સંતાન નહી થાય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જીવનમાં એ કદી સફળ નહિ થાય.
</q>
<q style="q1">એ કોઇ વંશજ નહિ મૂકી જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે દાઉદના રાજ્યાસન પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બેસે અથવા ફરીથી યહૂદીઓ પર રાજ કરે.’”
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</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="23" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.23.1" />“ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા તેમની પ્રજાના રખેવાળો વિષે આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે, જે ધેટાંપાળકો મારા બીડના ઘેટાંનો નાશ કરે છે, તથા તેઓને વિખેરી નાખે છે. તેઓને હાય હાય!” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JER.23.2" />તેની પ્રજાનું ધ્યાન રાખવાની જેમની ફરજ હતી તે ઘેટાંપાળકો માટે યહોવા આમ કહે છે, “એ તમે છો જેણે મારા ટોળાને વિખેરીને ભગાડી મૂક્યાં છે, તમે ક્યારેય તેમની પર ધ્યાન નથી આપ્યું, હવે હું તમે કરેલા દુષ્કૃત્યો માટે તમને સજા કરીશ” એવું યહોવા કહે છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.23.3" />“પરંતુ મારા લોકોમાંના બચેલાઓને હું જાતે જે દેશોમાં મેં તેમને હાંકી કાઢયા છે ત્યાંથી પાછા એકત્ર કરીને, તેમના વાડામાં પાછા લાવીશ. ત્યાં તેઓનો વંશવેલો ફૂલશે-ફાલશે અને વૃદ્ધિ પામશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.23.4" />હું એવા પાળકોની નિમણૂંક કરીશ જેઓ તેમની સંભાળ રાખે. એટલે પછી તેમને બીવાનું કે ડરવાનું રહેશે નહિ. તેમની સતત ગણતરી કરવામાં આવશે જેથી કોઇ ભૂલું પણ નહિ પડે.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રામાણિક “અંકુર”
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.23.5" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“એવો સમય આવી રહ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે હું દાઉદના વંશમાં એક ન્યાયી ‘અંકુર’ ઉગાવીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને રાજા તરીકે પસંદ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ડહાપણપૂર્વક રાજ્ય શાસન કરશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દેશમાં ન્યાય અને નીતિમત્તાની આણ વર્તાવશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.23.6" />તેની કારકિદીર્ દરમ્યાન યહૂદિયાનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇસ્રાએલનો ઉદ્ધાર થશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓ સુરક્ષિત રહેશે લોકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને યહોવા અમારું ન્યાયીપણું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ નામે બોલાવશે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JER.23.7" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હવે એવો સમય આવશે, જ્યારે લોકો સમ ખાતી વખતે એમ નહિ કહે કે, ‘હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવનાર યહોવાના નામે સોગંદ લઉં છું!’
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.23.8" />પણ એમ કહેશે કે, ‘ઇસ્રાએલના વંશજોને ઉત્તરના પ્રદેશમાંથી અને પોતે તેમને જ્યાં હાંકી કાઢયા હતા તે બધા દેશોમાંથી ફરી પાછા લાવનાર જીવતા યહોવાના સમ!’ તેઓ તેમની પોતાની ભૂમિમાં વસશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો વિરુદ્ધ ન્યાય
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.23.9" />અતિ કપટી જૂઠા પ્રબોધકોથી મારું હૃદય વ્યથિત થયું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું ભયથી જાગી જાઉં છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દ્રાક્ષારસ પીધેલાં માણસની જેમ લથડીયાં ખાઉં છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તેઓ માટે ભયંકર શિક્ષા રાહ જુએ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની વિરુદ્ધ યહોવાએ ન્યાયાસનનાં પવિત્ર વચનો ઉચ્ચાર્યાં છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.23.10" />કારણ કે દેશ વ્યભિચારીઓથી ભરાઇ ગયો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ શાપને કારણે દેશ ઘેરી વ્યથામાં છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દુકાળ પડ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો ખોટા માગેર્ છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓ પોતાની સત્તાનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યોગ્ય ઉપયોગ કરતા નથી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.23.11" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“પ્રબોધકો અને યાજકો બંને ષ્ટ થઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તેમને મારા મંદિરમાં પણ દુષ્ટતા આચરતા જોયા છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.23.12" />તેને લીધે તેઓના રસ્તાઓ અંધકારમય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા લપસણા થઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અંધકારમય જોખમી માર્ગ પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનો પીછો પકડવામાં આવશે અને તેઓ પછડાશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે હું તેમના પર વિપત્તિ લાવવાનો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તેઓનો સમય આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓને તેમનાં સર્વ પાપોની સજા કરવામાં આવશે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.23.13" />“મેં સમરૂનના પ્રબોધકોમાં ઘૃણાજનક વસ્તુઓ જોઇ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ બઆલ દેવને નામે પ્રબોધ કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ખોટે માગેર્ દોર્યા છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.23.14" />પરંતુ યરૂશાલેમના પ્રબોધકોમાં તો મેં આનાથી પણ ભયંકર કૃત્યો જોયાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ વ્યભિચાર કરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અન્યોને છેતરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટ માણસોને સાથસહકાર આપે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી દુષ્ટતામાંથી કોઇ પાછું વળતું નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે મન તેઓ બધા સદોમ અને ગમોરાના લોકો જેવા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ સંપૂર્ણ રીતે ષ્ટ થઇ ગયા છે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.23.15" />તેથી સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું તેઓને કડવી વેલ ખવડાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઝેર પાઇશ કારણ કે તેઓને લીધે
</q>
<q style="q1">આ દેશ દુષ્ટતાથી ભરાઇ ગયો છે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.23.16" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“મારા લોકોને મારી આ ચેતવણી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે આ જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો તમને પ્રબોધ કરે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમને જૂઠી આશાઓ આપે ત્યારે તમે સાંભળશો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ધડમાથા વગરની વાતો કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મારાં મુખનાં વચનો નથી કહેતાં.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.23.17" />જેઓ મારી વાણીનો તિરસ્કાર કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને કહેવાય છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘તમારી સાથે બધું સારું થશે,’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ પોતાની ઇરછા મુજબ વતેર્ છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમને કહે છે, કોઇ પણ આફતથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારે ગભરાવાની જરૂર નથી,
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.23.18" />હા, જ્યાં યહોવાએ પોતાનો સંદેશો જાહેર કર્યો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં આ બધા પ્રબોધકોમાંથી કોણ ત્યાં ઊભું હતું અને તેને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ્યો હતો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ પણ પ્રબોધકે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવાની કાળજી રાખી છે ખરી?
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.23.19" />આ યહોવાના ક્રોધનો વંટોળ ચડ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ ધૂમરી લેતો લેતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટોને માથે અફળાશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.23.20" />તેઓની વિરુદ્ધ જે શિક્ષા યહોવાએ ઉચ્ચારી છે તેનો સંપૂર્ણ અમલ થશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી તેમનો ક્રોધ શાંત થશે નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">પાછળથી જ્યારે યરૂશાલેમનું પતન થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મેં જે કહ્યું છે તે તમે સમજી શકશો.”
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.23.21" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “આ પ્રબોધકોને મેં મોકલ્યા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં તેઓ દોડાદોડ કરે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં આ લોકોને કઇં કહ્યું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં તેઓ મારે નામે બોલે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.23.22" />તેઓ જો મારી મંત્રણામાં ઉપસ્થિત રહ્યા હોત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો મારા લોકોને મારી વાણી સંભળાવી હોત
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમને ખોટે માગેર્થી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખોટાં કાર્યોથી પાછા વાળ્યા હોત.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.23.23" />“શું હું એ દેવ છું કે જે દૂરના સ્થળે રહે છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">અથવા શું હું એ દેવ છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે પોતાના લોકોની નજીક રહે છે?
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.23.24" />શું કોઇ મારાથી પોતાને સંતાડી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું હું આકાશ તથા પૃથ્વીમાં સર્વત્ર હાજર નથી?”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JER.23.25" />તેઓ કહે છે, “ગઇ રાત્રે યહોવા તરફથી મને એક સ્વપ્નદર્શન થયું. તે સાંભળો, ‘અને પછી તેઓ મારા નામે જૂઠી વાતો કરે છે.’
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<v id="26" bcv="JER.23.26" />આવું કયાં સુધી ચાલશે? જો તેઓ ‘પ્રબોધકો’ છે તો તેઓ જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો છે અને તેઓ જે કહે છે તે સર્વ ઉપજાવી કાઢેલું છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="JER.23.27" />તેઓ એકબીજાને સ્વપ્નોની વાત કહીને મારું નામ ભૂલાવી દેવાની કોશિશ કરે છે. બરાબર એવી જ રીતે-જેમ તેમના પિતૃઓ મારું નામ ભૂલીને બઆલદેવનું નામ લેતા થયા હતા.
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<v id="28" bcv="JER.23.28" />આ જૂઠાં પ્રબોધકોને પોતાનાં સ્વપ્નો કહેવા દો અને મારા સંદેશાવાહકોને પણ વિશ્વાસપૂર્વક મારું પ્રત્યેક વચન કહેવા દો. ઘઉંની તુલનામાં તેનાં ફોતરાની શી કિંમત?
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<v id="29" bcv="JER.23.29" />મારુ વચન આગ જેવુ નથી? ખડકના ચૂરેચૂરા કરનાર હથોડા જેવુ નથી?
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JER.23.30" />“એટલે મારો વિરોધ એકબીજાના શબ્દો ચોરી લઇ એને મારે નામે ખપાવનાર પ્રબોધકો સામે છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="JER.23.31" />જે પ્રબોધકો પોતાની વાણીને મારી વાણી તરીકે ખપાવે છે. તેમની સામે મારો વિરોધ છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="JER.23.32" />જુઓ હું તે બધા પ્રબોધકોની વિરુદ્ધમાં છું જેમના સ્વપ્નો કેવળ નિર્લજ્જ જૂઠાણાં છે અને જેઓ મારા લોકોને જૂઠાણાં દ્વારા અને મોટી મોટી વાતો દ્વારા પાપમાં દોરી જાય છે. મેં તેઓને મોકલ્યા નથી. અને મારા લોકને માટે તેઓની પાસે કોઇ સંદેશો નથી, જેઓ તેમના માટે કઇક છે.” એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
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<s style="s">યહોવાથી દુ:ખના સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JER.23.33" />પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે લોકોમાંથી કોઇ એક યાજક અથવા કોઇ પ્રબોધક તેમનામાંથી કોઇ તને પૂછે કે, ‘યહોવાએ કયા સંદેશા દ્વારા તારી પર બોજો<f caller="+"><fr>23:33
</fr><fk>બોજો
</fk><ft> હિબ્રૂ બાષામાં “બોજો” આ હિબ્રૂ શબ્દ રમત છે. “બોજો” એટેલે ભાર અને “બોજો” સંદેશ તરીકે વપરાય છે.</ft></f> નાખ્યો છે?’ તો તારે જવાબ દેવો કે, ‘તમે જ યહોવા પર બોજારુંપ છો અને તે તમને ફગાવી દેશે.’” એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JER.23.34" />“જો કોઇ પ્રબોધક કે યાજક કે કોઇ બીજો ‘યહોવાની વાણી ભારરૂપ છે.’ એમ કહેશે તો હું તેને અને તેનાં કુટુંબને ભારે પડીશ.
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<v id="35" bcv="JER.23.35" />તમે અંદરોઅંદર એકબીજાને પૂછી શકો છો, ‘યહોવાનો સંદેશો શો છે? યહોવા શું કહે છે?’ એવો જ પ્રયોગ કરવો.
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<v id="36" bcv="JER.23.36" />આજ પછી, તમારે ક્યારે પણ ‘યહોવાનો બોજો’ એમ બોલવું નહીં, જે કોઇ તેનો ઉપયોગ કરશે તે ખરેખર મુશ્કેલીમાં મુકાઇ જશે કારણ કે તેઓ, મેં જે કહ્યું છે તેનો અવળો અર્થ કરે છે અને લોકોને, એમ કહી છેતરે છે કે આ એ છે જે જીવતા જાગતા દેવ, આપણા યહોવા દેવ જે દરેક વસ્તુ પર શાસન કરે છે. કહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="JER.23.37" />“તમે આદરપૂર્વક પ્રબોધકને પૂછી શકો, ‘યહોવાનો સંદેશ શો છે? તેણે તમને શું કહ્યું છે?’
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<v id="38" bcv="JER.23.38" />મેં તમને આ શબ્દો નહિ વાપરવા માટે ચેતવણી આપી છે છતાં જો તમે યમિર્યાને પૂછો છો, ‘યહોવા તરફથી આજે શું બોજ છે?
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<v id="39" bcv="JER.23.39" />પછી જે તમે મને ભારરૂપ છો, તે ભાર હું ફેંકી દઇશ. તમને તથા આ નગરને જે મેં તમને અને તમારા પિતૃઓને આપ્યું હતું. મારી નજરથી બહાર કરી દઇશ.
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<v id="40" bcv="JER.23.40" />અને હું તમારાથી કદી ભૂલાય નહિ એવી નામોશી અને નિરંતર નિંદા તથા સતત અપમાન હું તમારા પર આણીશ.’”
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<c id="24" />
<s style="s">અંજીર સંબંધી યમિર્યાનું દર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.24.1" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા યહોયાકીમના પુત્ર કોન્યાહને બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે દેશ નિકાલ કર્યો અને તેને યહૂદિયાના સરદારો તથા સુથારી અને લુહારી કામનાં નિપૂણ કારીગરોને બાબિલમાં બંદીવાસમાં મોકલી દીધા, પછી યહોવાના મંદિરની સામે બહાર મૂકેલી અંજીરની બે ટોપલીઓ યહોવાએ મને દેખાડી.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.24.2" />યરૂશાલેમમાં મંદિરની સામે અંજીરની ભરેલી બે ટોપલીઓ મેં જોઇ, એક ટોપલીમાં તાજાં અને હમણાંજ પાકેલા અંજીર હતા. પરંતુ બીજી ટોપલીમાં બગડી ગયેલા અને ખાવાને લાયક નહિ એવાં અંજીર હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JER.24.3" />પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “યમિર્યા તું શું જુએ છે?”
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<p style="p">મેં ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અંજીર, તેમાનાં કેટલાક બહુ સારા છે અને કેટલાંક ખૂબજ બગડી ગયા છે, તે એટલાં ખરાબ છે કે ખવાય પણ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.24.4" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું,
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.24.5" />આ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે. “યહૂદિયામાંથી જે લોકો દેશવટે ગયા છે. જેમને મેં અહીંથી બાબિલમાં દેશવટે મોકલી આપ્યા છે તેમને હું આ સારાં અંજીર જેવા સારા માનું છું.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.24.6" />તેઓ સાથે સારો વ્યવહાર કરવામાં આવે તેવું હું કરીશ અને તેઓને ફરીથી આ દેશમાં પાછા લાવીશ. તેઓને સહાય કરીશ અને તેઓને હાની થશે નહિ, હું તેઓને રોપીશ અને તેઓને ઉખેડી નાખીશ નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.24.7" />હું તેમને બુદ્ધિ આપીશ, જેથી તેઓ મને ઓળખે કે હું યહોવા છું. પછી તેઓ મારા લોકો થશે અને હું તેમનો દેવ થઇશ; કારણ, તેઓ પૂરા દિલથી મારી પાસે પાછા આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.24.8" />“પણ યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયા તો ખાઇ ન શકાય તેવા સડેલા અંજીર જેવો હશે. સિદકિયા, અને તેના ઉચ્ચ અમલદારો અને યરૂશાલેમમાંના બાકીના લોકોને, જેઓ આ દેશમાં જ રહ્યાં હોય કે યહૂદિયાના તે બધાં લોકો જેઓ મિસરમાં રહેતા હોય, એ બધા ખવાય પણ નહિ એવા ખરાબ અંજીર જેવા હશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.24.9" />હું તે લોકોને સજા કરીશ તેમને થયેલી સજા જોઇને પૃથ્વીના બધા લોકો થથરી જશે, લોકો યહૂદિયાના લોકોની ઠેકડી ઉડાવશે, લોકો તેમના વિષે મજાક મશ્કરી કરશે અને મેં તેમને જ્યાં જ્યાં વિખેરી નાખ્યાં છે ત્યાં લોકો તેમને શાપ આપશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.24.10" />હું તેમના પર તરવાર, ભૂખમરો અને રોગચાળો મોકલીશ. તેઓ જ્યાં સુધી નષ્ટ ન થઇ જાય ત્યાં સુધી હું તેમના પર ત્રાટકીશ પછી તેઓનું અસ્તિત્વ ભૂમિ પરથી મટી જશે જે મેં તેમને અને તેમના પિતૃઓને આપી હતી.”
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<c id="25" />
<s style="s">બંદીવાસ માટે યમિર્યાનો પ્રબોધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.25.1" />યોશિયાનો પુત્ર રાજા યહોયાકીમ યહૂદિયા પર રાજ્ય કરતો હતો. તેના ચોથા વષેર્ યહૂદિયાના સર્વ લોકો માટે યહોવા તરફથી યમિર્યા પાસે આ સંદેશો આવ્યો. બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે તે વષેર્ રાજ કરવાનું શરું કર્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.25.2" />અને યમિર્યા પ્રબોધકે યહૂદિયાના બધા લોકોને તથા યરૂશાલેમના બધા વતનીઓને કહ્યું,
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JER.25.3" />છેલ્લા ત્રેવીસ વર્ષથી, યહૂદિયાના રાજા આમ્મોનના પુત્ર યોશિયાના શાસનનાં 13 માં વર્ષથી તે આજ પર્યંત યહોવા પોતાના સંદેશાઓ મને મોકલતો રહ્યો છે. મેં વિશ્વાસુપણે તે તમારી આગળ પ્રગટ કર્યા છે, છતાં તમે તે પર ધ્યાન આપ્યું નથી.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.25.4" />વળી વષોર્ના વષોર્ સુધી યહોવાએ તમારી પાસે પોતાના પ્રબોધકો મોકલ્યા હતા; છતાં પણ તમે તેઓનું સાંભળ્યું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JER.25.5" />તેમનો સંદેશો એ હતો કે, “તમે બધા તમારા દુષ્ટ વ્યવહાર અને દુષ્ટ કૃત્યોમાંથી પાછા ફરો, તો તમે જે ભૂમિ યહોવાએ લાંબા સમય પહેલાં તમને અને તમારા પિતૃઓને સદાને માટે આપી હતી તેમાં રહી શકશો.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.25.6" />તમે લોકો મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા અને સેવા કરશો નહિ. તમારા પોતાના માટે બનાવેલી વસ્તુઓથી મને ક્રોધિત કરશો નહી. તો હું તમને હાનિ પહોંચાડીશ નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JER.25.7" />“પરંતુ તમે મારું સાંભળ્યું નહિ, તમે તમારે માગેર્ આગળ વધ્યા અને તમારી મૂર્તિઓ વડે મને ક્રોધિત કર્યો છે. તેથી તમારા પર આવી પડેલી સર્વ વિપત્તિને માટે તમે પોતે જ જવાબદાર છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.25.8" />અને હવે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “તમે મારું કહ્યું માન્યું નથી.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.25.9" />તેથી હું ઉત્તરના બધા કુળસમૂહોને અને બાબિલના મારા સેવક નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને તેડાવી મંગાવીશ તેમને હું આ દેશ સામે, એના વતનીઓ સામે અને આસપાસની બધી પ્રજાઓ સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા લઇ આવીશ. હું તેમનું નિકંદન કાઢી નાખીશ અને તેમની એવી હાલત કરીશ જે જોઇને લોકો હેબતાઇ જશે. તેમની હાંસી ઉડાવશે અને હંમેશને માટે તેમની નામોશી થશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.25.10" />હું તમારી ખુશી અને લગ્નના ઉલ્લાસને છિનવી લઇશ અને તમારા નોકરી ધંધા પડી ભાંગશે અને હું તમારા ઘરોમાં પ્રકાશતા દીવાઓને હોલવી નાખીશ.
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.25.11" />આ સમગ્ર દેશ ખેદાન-મેદાન અને વેરાન થઇ જશે. અને એ લોકો સિત્તેર વર્ષ બાબિલના રાજાની ગુલામીમાં ગાળશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.25.12" />“અને જેટલા જલ્દી 70 વર્ષ પૂરાં થાય કે તરત જ હું બાબિલના રાજા તથા તેના લોકોને તેનાં પાપોને લીધે શિક્ષા કરીશ; તેમની ભૂમિને હું હંમેશને માટે ઉજ્જડ કરીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.25.13" />મેં જે જે કહેલું છે, આ ગ્રંથમાં લખેલું છે, અને યમિર્યાએ એ લોકોની વિરુદ્ધ જે જે આગાહી કરી છે, તે બધું હું એ દેશ પર ગુજારીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.25.14" />તેઓ પોતે બળવાન પ્રજાઓ અને મહાન રાજાઓના ગુલામ બનશે અને હું તેમને તેમના હાથનાં કર્યા કૃત્યોનો બદલો આપીશ.”
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<s style="s">વિશ્વના રાષ્ટો સાથે ન્યાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JER.25.15" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાએ મને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું, “મારા ક્રોધથી છલોછલ ભરેલો દ્રાક્ષારસનો આ પ્યાલો મારા હાથમાંથી લે. જે સર્વ પ્રજાઓની પાસે હું તને મોકલું તે સર્વને તેમાંથી પીવડાવજે.
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<v id="16" bcv="JER.25.16" />તેઓ બધા એ પીધા પછી લથડીયાં ખાશે. અને તેમની વચ્ચે મેં મોકલેલા યુદ્ધથી ભાન ભૂલી જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JER.25.17" />આથી મેં યહોવાના હાથમાંથી તે પ્યાલો લીધો. અને યહોવાએ મને જે જે પ્રજાઓમાં મોકલ્યો તેમને મેં પાયો.
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.25.18" />હું યરૂશાલેમ તથા યહૂદિયાના નગરોમાં ગયો અને તે પ્યાલામાંથી તેઓના રાજાઓએ તથા સરદારોએ પીધું. પરિણામે તે દિવસથી આજ સુધી તેઓ ઉજ્જડ, ધિક્કાર પામેલા તથા શાપરૂપ થયેલા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JER.25.19" />મિસરના રાજા ફારુનને, તેના અમલદારોને તેના દરબારીઓને અને બીજા બધા લોકોને મેં આ પીણું પાયું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JER.25.20" />તેમ જ મિસરમાં વસતા બધા વિદેશીઓને, ઉસના બધા રાજાઓને, પલિસ્તીઓનાં શહેરો આશ્કલોન, ગાઝા અને એક્રોનના રાજાઓને અને આશ્દોદના બચી ગયેલા વતનીઓને,
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JER.25.21" />અદોમ, મોઆબ અને આમ્મોનના લોકોને,
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JER.25.22" />તૂરના અને સિદોનના બધા રાજાઓને ભૂમધ્ય કાંઠાના બધા રાજાઓને,
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<v id="23" bcv="JER.25.23" />દદાન, તેમા અને બૂઝના શહેરોને, અને એ બધાં જેઓએ તેમના વાળ પોતાના માથાની બાજુ પરથી કાપ્યાં હતાં,
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<v id="24" bcv="JER.25.24" />અરબસ્તાનના રણમાં વસતી જાતિઓમાં વસતા બધા રાજાઓને,
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<v id="25" bcv="JER.25.25" />ઝિમ્રીના, એલામના તથા માદીઓના સર્વ રાજાઓ;
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<v id="26" bcv="JER.25.26" />એક પછી એક નજીકના અને દૂરના, ઉત્તરના બધા રાજાઓને અને પૃથ્વીના પડ પરના બધાં રાજ્યોને સૌથી છેલ્લો બાબિલનો રાજા પણ એ પીશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JER.25.27" />“પછી તું તેઓને કહેજે કે, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ કહે છે કે, ‘પીધા જ કરો મદમસ્ત થઇને ઊલટી કરો અને એવા પડી જાઓ કે ફરીથી ઊઠી ન શકો. કારણ કે હું તમારા પર ભયાવહ યુદ્ધો મોકલી રહ્યો છું.’
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JER.25.28" />“જો તેઓ તારા હાથમાંથી પ્યાલો લઇને પીવાની ના પાડે તો તારે તેમને કહેવું. ‘આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞા છે; તમારે એ પીવો જ પડશે! આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="JER.25.29" />તારે આવું કરવું જ પડશે કારણ કે આ શહેર મારા નામથી ઓળખાય છે. હું તેની પર આફત લાવવાનો જ છું. અને એવી અપેક્ષા રાખતો નહિ કે તને સજા નહી મળે. કારણ કે હું આ સૃષ્ટિના બધા લોકો પર યુદ્ધ મોકલાવીશ.’” આ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JER.25.30" />“તારે તેઓની વિરુદ્ધ પ્રબોધ કરવો જ પડશે. તેઓને કહે કે,
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<q style="q1">‘યહોવા તેના પોતાના લોકોની વિરુદ્ધ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા પૃથ્વી પર વસનારા સર્વની
</q>
<q style="q1">વિરુદ્ધ પોતાના પવિત્ર મંદિરમાંથી ગર્જના કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રસ બનાવવા માટે દ્રાક્ષ છુંદનારા લોકોની જેમ તે ઘાંટા પાડશે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JER.25.31" />એમનો હોકારો પૃથ્વીના છેડા સુધી પહોંચશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા બધી પ્રજાઓ સામે આરોપ મૂકે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે બધા માણસોનો ન્યાય કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દુષ્ટોનો તરવારથી સંહાર કરશે.’”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JER.25.32" />સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા જાહેર કરે છે,
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<q style="q1">“જુઓ, આફત એક દેશમાંથી બીજા દેશમાં,
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<q level="2" style="q2">એક પ્રજામાંથી બીજી પ્રજામાં ફેલાઇ રહી છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પૃથ્વીના દૂર દૂરને છેડેથી
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<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રચંડ વાવાઝોડું ફૂંકાય છે.”
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JER.25.33" />તે દિવસે યહોવાએ જેમને મારી નાખ્યા હશે, તેમના મૃતદેહો પૃથ્વીના એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી પડ્યા રહી ખાતરરૂપ થઇ જશે; કોઇ તેમને માટે શોક નહિ કરે કે કોઇ તેમને ઉપાડીને દાટશે નહિ.
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="JER.25.34" />હે દુષ્ટ આગેવાનો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રડો, પોક મૂકીને રડો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે લોકોના ઘેટાં પાળકો!
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારી કતલનો સમય આવી પહોંચ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તુટેલા માટલાના ટુકડાની જેમ તમે ચારેબાજુ વિખેરાઇ જશો.
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<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="JER.25.35" />તમને હવે સંતાવાની જગ્યા મળશે નહિ,
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<q level="2" style="q2">નાસી જવાને રસ્તો પણ નહિ મળે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે લોકોના ગોવાળને ઉગારવાનો કોઇ આરો નથી.
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<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="JER.25.36" />સાંભળો, આગેવાનો આક્રંદ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘેટાંપાળકો પોક મૂકીને રૂદન કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે યહોવા તેમના દેશનો નાશ કરી રહ્યાં છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="JER.25.37" />તેમના ભયંકર રોષને કારણે
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના શાંત નિવાસો ખંડેર થઇ રહ્યા છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="JER.25.38" />શિકારની શોધમાં ગુફામાંથી બહાર જતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિંહની જેમ યહોવા બહાર આવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાના ભયંકર ક્રોધને લીધે સૈન્યો વારંવાર ચઢી આવ્યાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરિણામે તેમની ભૂમિ વેરાન વગડો થઇ ગઇ છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">મંદિર પર યમિર્યાનો બોધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.26.1" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા યોશિયાના પુત્ર યહોયાકીમના રાજ્યની શરૂઆતમાં યહોવાએ યમિર્યાને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.26.2" />“આ યહોવાના વચન છે: મંદિરના પ્રાંગણમાં ઊભા રહીને, યહૂદિયાના ગામોમાંથી જે લોકો મંદિરમાં ઉપાસના કરવા આવે છે, તે બધાને મેં તને જે કહેવા કહ્યું છે તે એક પણ શબ્દ ભૂલ્યા વગર કહેજે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.26.3" />કારણ કે કદાચ તેઓ તે સાંભળે અને પોતાના દુષ્ટ માગોર્થી પાછા ફરે અને તેઓનાં દુષ્ટ કાર્યોને લીધે જે સર્વ શિક્ષા હું તેઓ પર રેડી દેવાને તૈયાર છું. તે હું તેઓ પર ન મોકલું.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.26.4" />વળી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, ‘તું એમને કહેજે, આ યહોવાના વચન છે. જો તમે મારું કહ્યું નહિ કરો, અને તમારા માટે ઠરાવેલ નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પાલન નહિ કરો,
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.26.5" />તથા મેં વારંવાર મોકલેલા મારા જે સેવકો, પ્રબોધકોને તમે કદી સાંભળ્યા નથી. તેમનાં વચનો નહિ સાંભળો.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.26.6" />તો આ મંદિરના હું શીલોહ જેવા હાલ કરીશ અને દુનિયાની પ્રત્યેક પ્રજામાં યરૂશાલેમને હું શાપરૂપ કહીશ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JER.26.7" />યાજકો, પ્રબોધકો અને સર્વ લોકોએ યમિર્યાને યહોવાના મંદિરમાં આ બધા વચનો કહેતા સાંભળ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.26.8" />યહોવાએ તેને જે પ્રમાણે હુકમ કર્યો હતો તે મુજબ કહેવાનું યમિર્યાએ જ્યારે પૂરૂં કર્યુ કે તરતજ યાજકોએ, પ્રબોધકોએ અને બધા લોકોએ, તેને પકડ્યો અને કહ્યું, “તું હમણા જે બોલ્યો છે તેના કારણે તું મૃત્યુ પામીશ.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.26.9" />તેં શા માટે યહોવાના નામે એવી ભવિષ્યવાણી ઉચ્ચારી કે, આ મંદિરની હાલત શીલોહ જેવી થશે અને આ શહેર વેરાન અને વસ્તી વગરનું થઇ જશે?” બધા લોકો યહોવાના મંદિરમાં યમિર્યાને ઘેરી વળ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JER.26.10" />આ સાંભળીને યહૂદિયાના ઉચ્ચ અધિકારીઓ રાજમહેલમાંથી મંદિરમાં પહોંચી ગયા અને યહોવાના મંદિરના નવા પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ ગોઠવાઇ ગયા.
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.26.11" />પછી યાજકોએ અને પ્રબોધકોએ, અધિકારીઓ અને લોકોને સંબોધીને કહ્યું, “આ માણસને મૃત્યુદંડની સજા થવી જોઇએ, કારણ, તેણે આ નગરની વિરુદ્ધ ભવિષ્યવાણી ઉચ્ચારી છે તે તમે બધાએ તમારા પોતાના કાને સાંભળી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.26.12" />ત્યારે યમિર્યાએ પોતાના બચાવમાં કહ્યું, “આ નગર તથા મંદિરની વિરુદ્ધ ભવિષ્યવાણી ઉચ્ચારવા માટે યહોવાએ મને મોકલ્યો છે. મેં જે કહ્યું છે તેનો પ્રત્યેક શબ્દ તેમણે મને આપ્યો છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.26.13" />માટે હવે તમારાં આચરણ અને કમોર્ સુધારો અને તમારા દેવ યહોવાનું કહ્યું સાંભળો, તો કદાચ તે તમારા પર જે આફત ઉતારવાની પોતે ધમકી આપી હતી તે ઉતારવાનું માંડી વાળે.
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.26.14" />જ્યાં સુધી આ બાબત મને લાગુ પડે છે, હું તો તમારા હાથમાં છુ. તમને જે યોગ્ય અને તાકિર્ક લાગે તે મને કરો.
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.26.15" />પણ એટલું ખાતરીથી માનજો કે જો તમે મને મારી નાખશો, તો તમે આ શહેર અને એના બધા વતનીઓ એક નિદોર્ષ માણસના પ્રાણ લીધાના અપરાધી ઠરશો. કારણ યહોવાએ મને ખરેખર આ બધું તમને કહી સંભળાવવા મોકલ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JER.26.16" />ત્યારે અધિકારીઓએ અને લોકોએ યાજકોને અને પ્રબોધકોને કહ્યું, “આ માણસ મૃત્યુદંડને પાત્ર નથી. એણે આપણા દેવ યહોવાને નામે આપણને સંભળાવ્યું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JER.26.17" />પછી દેશના કેટલાક વડીલો અને જ્ઞાની માણસો ઊભા થયા અને આજુબાજુ ઊભા રહેલા સર્વ લોકોને સંબોધીને કહ્યું,
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.26.18" />“યહૂદિયાના રાજા હિઝિક્યાના વખતમાં મોરાશ્તી મીખાહ દેવી વાણી ભાખતો હતો અને તેણે યહૂદિયાના બધા લોકોને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું હતું.
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<q style="q1">‘સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે,
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<q style="q1">સિયોન ખેતરની જેમ ખેડાઇ જશે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમ ખંડેરનો ઢગલો થઇ જશે,
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<q style="q1">અને હાલમાં જે જગ્યાએ મંદિર આવેલું છે
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<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં જંગલ ઊગી નીકળશે!’ Micah 3:12
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JER.26.19" />“શું યહૂદિયાના રાજા હિઝિક્યા અને યહૂદિયાના બધાં લોકોએ આ માટે મીખાહને મારી નાખ્યો હતો? તેને બદલે, હિઝિક્યાએ યહોવાનો ડર રાખીને તેની પાસે માફી નહોતી માગી? આને કારણે યહોવાએ તેમના પર જે આફત ઉતારવાની ધમકી આપી હતી તે ઉતારવાનું માંડી વાળ્યું. આ રીતે તો આપણે જ આપણા પર મોટી આફત નોતરીશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JER.26.20" />વળી શમાયાનો પુત્ર ઊરિયા કિર્યાથ-યઆરીમનો વતની હતો અને યહોવાનો બીજો સાચો પ્રબોધક હતો. યમિર્યાના સમયમાં તે પણ આ નગર તથા દેશની વિરુદ્ધ ભવિષ્યવચન કહેતો હતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="JER.26.21" />રાજા યહોયાકીમે પોતાના બધા અમલદારો અને અંગરક્ષકો સહિત તેણે જે કહ્યું તે સાંભળ્યું હતું. અને તેને મારી નાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો હતો જ્યારે ઊરિયાને એની ખબર પડી ત્યારે ભયભીત થઇ મિસર ભાગી ગયો.
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<v id="22" bcv="JER.26.22" />ત્યારે યહોયાકીમ રાજાએ ઊરિયાને બંદીવાન કરવા માટે આખ્બોરના પુત્ર એલ્નાથાનને અને તેની સાથે કેટલાંક માણસોને મિસરમાં મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="23" bcv="JER.26.23" />તેઓ તેને બંદીવાન બનાવીને યહોયાકીમ રાજાની હજૂરમાં લઇ આવ્યા, ત્યારે રાજાએ તેનો તરવારથી વધ કરાવ્યો, અને તેના મૃતદેહને હલકા લોકોના કબ્રસ્તાનમાં દાટયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JER.26.24" />પરંતુ શાફાનના પુત્ર અને રાજવી મંત્રી અહીકામે યમિર્યાનો પક્ષ લીધો અને ન્યાયસભાને સમજાવ્યું કે યાજકો, પ્રબોધકો, લોકોના હાથમાં યમિર્યાને સોંપવો નહિ, કે તેઓ તેને મારી નાખે.
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<s style="s">યહોવાએ નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને શાસનકર્તા બનાવ્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.27.1" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા યોશિયાના પુત્ર સિદકિયાની કારકિદીર્ના આરંભમાં યમિર્યાની પાસે આ વચન યહોવાની પાસેથી આવ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.27.2" />“યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, તું તારે માટે ઝૂંસરી જોડતર બનાવ અને તે તારી ડોક પર મૂક, જેમ ખેતર ખેડતા બળદની ડોક પર હોય છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.27.3" />ત્યારબાદ અદોમ, મોઆબ, આમ્મોન, તૂર અને સિદોનના રાજાઓને યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાના દરબારમાં આવેલા તેના એલચીઓ મારફતે સંદેશા મોકલ:
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.27.4" />તેઓને કહે કે, ‘તમે જઇને તમારા માલિકોને કહો કે, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલના દેવે આ સંદેશો તમને મોકલાવ્યો છે,
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.27.5" />મેં પોતે જ મહાન સાર્મથ્ય અને શકિતથી પૃથ્વીને અને એના પર વસતાં માણસો અને પશુઓને ર્સજ્યા છે, અને હું ચાહું તેને તે આપી દઇ શકું છું.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.27.6" />તેથી હવે તમારા સર્વ દેશો મેં બાબિલના રાજા, મારા સેવક, નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને સોંપ્યા છે. વળી જંગલી પશુઓ પણ તેની સેવા કરે તેવું મેં ઠરાવ્યું છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.27.7" />બધી પ્રજાઓ તેના અને તેના પુત્રના અને પૌત્રના તાબામાં રહેશે, અને અંતે જ્યારે તેના દેશનો વારો આવશે ત્યારે બળવાન પ્રજાઓ અને મહાન રાજાઓ તેને તાબે કરશે; તેને આધીન થાઓ અને તેની સેવા કરો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.27.8" />“‘બળવાન પ્રજા અને રાજ્ય, બાબિલની ઝૂંસરી નીચે તમારી ગરદન મૂકો! જે કોઇ પ્રજા તેના ગુલામ બનવા ના પાડશે તેને હું શિક્ષા કરીશ. તે પ્રજા પર હું યુદ્ધ, દુકાળ અને મરકી મોકલીશ જેથી અંતે તે બાબિલના હાથમાં સોંપાઇ જાય.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.27.9" />માટે તમારા પ્રબોધકો, જોશીઓ, ભૂવાઓ અને જાદુટોણા કરનારાઓ જેઓ તમને કહે કે, તમે બાબિલના રાજાની સેવા કરશો નહિ, તો તેની તરફ ધ્યાન ના આપશો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.27.10" />કેમકે તેઓએ તમને જૂંઠુ કહ્યું છે, જો તમે તેમની સલાહ માનશો અને બાબિલના રાજાના શરણે નહિ જાવ તો તમને તમારી ભૂમિમાથી હાંકી કાઢવામાં આવશે. હા, હું તમારો પીછો પકડીશ. અને તમે નાશ પામશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.27.11" />“‘પણ જો કોઇ પ્રજા બાબિલના રાજાની ઝૂંસરી આગળ ગરદન ઝુકાવી દેશે, તો હું તેને પોતાની ભૂમિમાં સુખથી રહેવા દઇશ. તેઓ ત્યાં ખેતી કરશે અને વસસે.’” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.27.12" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાને આ બધી બાબતો મે કહી, મેં કહ્યું, “તમે બાબિલના રાજાને શરણે જાવ, જેથી તમે જીવતા રહેશો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.27.13" />તારે તથા તારી પ્રજાએ યુદ્ધ, દુકાળ અને રોગચાળાથી શા માટે મરવું જોઇએ? જે કોઇ પ્રજા બાબિલના રાજાની તાબેદારી ન સ્વીકારે તેની યહોવાએ આ દશા કરવાની ધમકી આપેલી છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JER.27.14" />“તેણે કહ્યું છે, ‘પ્રબોધકોની વાત ના સાંભળશો, જેઓએ તમને કહ્યું છે કે, તમારે બાબિલના રાજાની સેવા ન કરવી, કારણ કે તેઓ જૂઠા છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.27.15" />મેં તેમને મોકલ્યા નહોતા. તેઓ મારા નામે તમને જૂઠાણા કહે છે. જો તમે તેઓનું સાંભળ્યા કરશો તો હું તમને આ દેશમાંથી હાંકી કાઢીશ, અને તમે આ ખોટું ભવિષ્ય ભાખનારા પ્રબોધકો સાથે નાશ પામશો.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JER.27.16" />ત્યારબાદ મેં યાજકોને અને બધા લોકોને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું, “આ યહોવાના વચન છે: જે પ્રબોધકો તમને એમ કહે છે કે, ‘જુઓ, યહોવાના મંદિરની સાધનસામગ્રી થોડા જ વખતમાં બાબિલમાંથી પાછી લાવવામાં આવશે તેમની વાત સાંભળશો નહિ.’ તેઓ તમને જૂઠું કહે છે;
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<v id="17" bcv="JER.27.17" />તે લોકોનું કહેવું તમે સાંભળશો નહિ. બાબિલના રાજાની શરણાગતિ સ્વીકારો જેથી તમે જીવતા રહેશો, શા માટે આખું શહેર નાશ પામે?
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.27.18" />જો તેઓ સાચા યહોવાના પ્રબોધકો હોય, જો તેઓ મારી વાણી ઉચ્ચારતા હોય, તો તેમણે અત્યારે મારી સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાની એવી પ્રાર્થના કરવી કે, મંદિરમાં અને યહૂદિયાના રાજમહેલમાં અને યરૂશાલેમમાં બાકી રહેલી સાધનસામગ્રી બાબિલ ચાલી ન જાય.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JER.27.19" />“બાબિલનો રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર યહૂદિયાના રાજા યહોયાકીમના પુત્ર યકોન્યાને તથા યહૂદિયાના તેમ જ યરૂશાલેમના સર્વ કુલીન લોકોને યરૂશાલેમમાંથી બાબિલમાં બંદીવાસમાં લઇ ગયો.
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<v id="20" bcv="JER.27.20" />ત્યારે મંદિરની સામેનો સ્તંભ, મંદિરના આંગણામાંનો પિત્તળનો મોટો હોજ, ધાતુના પાયા અને ક્રિયાકાંડ માટેના પાત્રો તે લઇ ગયો નહોતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="JER.27.21" />જે પાત્રો યહોવાના મંદિરમાં, યહૂદિયાના રાજાના મહેલમાં તથા યરૂશાલેમમાં હજુ રહેલા છે, તેના વિષે હું, ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, આમ કહું છું;
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<v id="22" bcv="JER.27.22" />તે સર્વ ખજાનો બાબિલ લઇ જવામાં આવશે અને હું જ્યાં સુધી તેઓ પર ધ્યાન નહિ આપું ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ ત્યાં જ રહેશે. ત્યાર પછી હું તે સર્વ ખજાનાને ફરીથી યરૂશાલેમ લાવીશ.”
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<c id="28" />
<s style="s">જુઠો પ્રબોધક હનાન્યા
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.28.1" />તે જ વષેર્ યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાના શાસનની શરૂઆતમાં ચોથા વર્ષનાં પાંચમા મહિનામાં ગિબયોનના વતની આઝઝુરના પુત્ર પ્રબોધક હનાન્યાએ યહોવાના મંદિરમાં, યાજકો અને બધા લોકોની હાજરીમાં કહ્યું,
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.28.2" />“સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ કહે છે; ‘બાબિલના રાજાની ઝૂંસરીં મેં તારા પરથી હઠાવી લીધી છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.28.3" />બે વર્ષની અંદર હું બાબિલનો રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર યહોવાના મંદિરની જે સાધન-સામગ્રી બાબિલ લઇ ગયો હતો તે બધી અહીં પાછી લાવીશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.28.4" />તેમ જ હું યહૂદિયાના રાજા યહોયાકીમના પુત્ર યકોન્યાને તેમ જ બાબિલમાં દેશવટે ગયેલા યહૂદિયાના બધા લોકોને પાછા લાવીશ, કારણ, હું બાબિલના રાજાની સત્તા તોડી નાખીશ.’” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JER.28.5" />ત્યારબાદ પ્રબોધક યમિર્યાએ મંદિરમાં યાજકો અને બધા લોકો સમક્ષ પ્રબોધક હનાન્યાને જવાબ આપ્યો:
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.28.6" />“આમીન! યહોવા એ પ્રમાણે કરો. તમે જે વચનો ઉચ્ચાર્યા છે તેને તો તમે સાચાં પાડો અને મંદિરની બધી સાધન-સામગ્રી અને દેશવટે ગયેલા બધા લોકોને તે બાબિલથી ફરી અહીં લઇ આવો.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JER.28.7" />“તેમ છતાં મારે તને અને આ સૌ લોકોને જે કહેવાનું છે તે સાંભળો.
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.28.8" />તારા અને મારા પહેલાં થઇ ગયેલા પ્રાચીન પ્રબોધકોએ અનેક દેશો વિરુદ્ધ પ્રબોધ કર્યો હતો. અને હંમેશા યુદ્ધ, દુકાળ તથા મરકી વિષે ચેતવણી આપી હતી.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.28.9" />જ્યારે પણ કોઇ પ્રબોધક સુખશાંતિની આગાહી કરે છે અને તેનાં શબ્દો સાચાં પડે છે, ત્યારે ખાતરી થાય છે કે યહોવાએ તેને મોકલ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JER.28.10" />પછી પ્રબોધક હનાન્યાએ યમિર્યાની ડોક પર મૂકેલી ઝૂંસરી લઇ લીધી અને તેને ભાંગી નાખી.
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.28.11" />તેણે બધા લોકો સમક્ષ કહ્યું, “આ યહોવાના વચન છે; ‘આ જ રીતે આજથી બે વર્ષ પછી હું બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારની ઝૂંસરી બધી પ્રજાઓની ડોક પરથી ઉઠાવી લઈને ભાંગી નાખીશ.’”
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<p style="p">એ પછી યમિર્યા મંદિરમાંથી ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.28.12" />ત્યારબાદ તરત જ યહોવાનો આ સંદેશો યમિર્યા પાસે આવ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.28.13" />“તું હનાન્યા પાસે જઇને તેને કહે કે, ‘યહોવા કહે છે, તેં લાકડાની ઝૂંસરી ભાંગી નાખી છે, પરંતુ હું એની જગ્યાએ લોઢાની ઝૂંસરીઓ મુકીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.28.14" />હા મેં આ બધી પ્રજાઓની ડોક પર લોઢાની ઝૂંસરી મૂકી છે અને તેઓ બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારના તાબામાં છે. તેઓ તેની આજ્ઞા માનશે. આ હુકમને કોઇ બદલી શકશે નહિ, એમ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, જંગલી પશુઓ પણ નબૂખાદનેસ્સારનું દાસત્વ સ્વીકારશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JER.28.15" />ત્યારબાદ યમિર્યાએ પ્રબોધકને કહ્યું, “સાંભળ હનાન્યા, યહોવાએ તને મોકલ્યો નથી, અને તારે કારણે આ લોકો જૂઠાણામાં માને છે,
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<v id="16" bcv="JER.28.16" />તેથી આ એ છે, જે યહોવા કહે છે, ‘હું પૃથ્વીના નકશા પરથી તારું નામોનિશાન મીટાવી દઇશ. આ વર્ષના અંત પહેલા તું મૃત્યુ પામીશ. કારણ કે તે જ લોકો પાસે દેવની આજ્ઞાનો અનાદર કરાવ્યો છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JER.28.17" />અને સાચે બન્યું પણ એમ જ. પ્રબોધક હનાન્યા તે જ વષેર્ સાતમા મહિનામાં મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<c id="29" />
<s style="s">બાબિલમાં નિર્વાસિતો પર યમિર્યાનો પત્ર
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.29.1" />યકોન્યા રાજા, રાજમાતા, રાજ્યના અધિકારીઓ, કુળોના આગેવાનો અને કુશળ કારીગરોને બાબિલમાં બંદીવાન તરીકે નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર લઇ ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.29.2" />ત્યારે બંદીવાસમાં ગયેલાઓમાંના બાકી રહેલા વડીલો, ત્યાંના યાજકો, પ્રબોધકો તથા જે લોકોને નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર યરૂશાલેમમાંથી બાબિલમાં લઇ ગયો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.29.3" />તે બધાની પાસે યમિર્યા પ્રબોધકે, શાફાનનો પુત્ર એલઆસાહ તથા જેને યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાએ બાબિલમાં, બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારની પાસે મોકલ્યો હતો, તે હિલ્કિયાનો પુત્ર ગમાર્યા, તે બંનેની સાથે જે પત્ર મોકલ્યો, તેમાં આ પ્રમાણે લખેલું છે:
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="4" bcv="JER.29.4" />યરૂશાલેમમાંથી બાબિલના બંદીવાસમાં તેમણે મોકલેલા સર્વ પર સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ તરફથી આ સંદેશો છે:
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.29.5" />“તમે ઘર બાંધો અને ઠરીઠામ થઇને રહો, દ્રાક્ષાનીવાડીઓ રોપો અને તેનાં ફળો ખાઓ, કારણ કે તમે ત્યાં ઘણાં વષોર્ સુધી રહેવાના છો.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.29.6" />તમે પરણો અને પ્રજા પેદા કરો. પછી તમારાં છોકરાં-છોકરીઓને પરણાવો. જેથી તેઓ પણ પ્રજા પેદા કરે. તમારે તમારી સંખ્યા વધારવાની છે, ઘટવા દેવાની નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.29.7" />તે શહેરની શાંતિ અને સમૃદ્ધિ માટે કાર્ય કરો. જ્યાં મેં તમારો દેશનિકાલ કર્યો છે. તેના માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો. કારણ કે જ્યારે તે સમૃદ્ધ થશે ત્યારે તમે પણ આબાદ થશો.”
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.29.8" />હું ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, તમને કહું છું કે, “તમારામાંના પ્રબોધકોથી કે જોશીઓથી છેતરાશો નહિ, તેઓનાં સ્વપ્નો પર ધ્યાન આપશો નહિ,
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.29.9" />કારણ, એ લોકો મારે નામે જૂઠું ભવિષ્ય ભાખે છે. મેં તેમને મોકલ્યા નથી,” એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="10" bcv="JER.29.10" />સત્ય તો આ છે: “તમે 70 વર્ષ બાબિલમાં રહેશો, પરંતુ ત્યાર પછી હું યહોવા આવીશ અને મેં આપેલા વચન પ્રમાણે સર્વ સારી બાબતો હું તમારે માટે કરીશ અને તમને ફરીથી યરૂશાલેમમાં પાછા લાવીશ.
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.29.11" />તમારા માટે મારી જે યોજનાઓ છે તે હું જાણું છું,” એમ યહોવા કહે છે. “તે યોજનાઓ છે તમારા સારા માટે, નહિ કે તમારું ભૂંડું થાય તે માટે. તે તો તમને ઊજળું ભાવિ અને આશા આપવા માટે છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.29.12" />તે સમય દરમિયાન તમે મારી પાસે આવીને પ્રાર્થના કરશો તો હું તમારું સાંભળીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.29.13" />તમે મારી શોધ કરશો તો મને પામશો, કારણ, તમારી શોધ પ્રામાણિક હૃદયની હશે.”
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.29.14" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હા, હું તમને જરૂર મળીશ અને તમારી ગુલામીનો અંત લાવીશ અને તમારી સમૃદ્ધિ તમને પાછી આપીશ, અને જે જે પ્રજાઓમાં અને દેશોમાં મેં તમને વેરવિખેર કરી નાખ્યા હશે, ત્યાંથી હું તમને પાછા એકઠા કરીશ; જ્યાંથી મેં તમને દેશવટે મોકલ્યા હતાં ત્યાંથી હું તમને પાછા લાવીશ.” આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="15" bcv="JER.29.15" />“પણ જે જૂઠાં પ્રબોધકો તમારી મધ્યે છે, તેઓનો તમે સ્વીકાર કરો છો અને કહો છો કે યહોવાએ તેમને મોકલ્યા છે.”
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<v id="16" bcv="JER.29.16" />દાઉદની ગાદી પર બેસનાર રાજાને વિષે અને આ શહેરમાં વસતાં સૌ લોકો વિષે, તમારા જે દેશબંધુઓ તમારી સાથે દેશવટે નહોતા આવ્યા તેમને વિષે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ આ પ્રમાણે કહેલું છે:
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<v id="17" bcv="JER.29.17" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “એ લોકોને હું યુદ્ધ, દુકાળ અને રોગચાળાનો ભોગ બનાવીશ; હું એમને ખાઇ ન શકાય એવાં સડેલાં અંજીર જેવા બનાવી દઇશ.
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.29.18" />હું, યુદ્ધ, દુકાળ અને મરકીથી તેઓનો પીછો કરીશ અને તેઓની એવી દશા કરીશ કે, સમગ્ર દુનિયાના લોકો તે જોઇને ધ્રૂજી ઊઠશે. અને મેં તેમને જે જે પ્રજાઓમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખ્યા છે તે પ્રજાઓમાં એ લોકોની નામોશી અને હાંસી થશે અને તેમનું નામ શાપરૂપ લેખાશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="JER.29.19" />આ બધું એટલા માટે બન્યું છે કે મારા પ્રબોધકો મારફતે મેં વારંવાર તેઓની સાથે વાત કરી પણ તેઓએ મારું સાંભળવાની ના પાડી દીધી.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="JER.29.20" />“અને તમે બધાં યહૂદિયાના બંધકો-જેને મેં યરૂશાલેમથી બાબિલ મોકલ્યાં હતાં, દેવના વચનો સાંભળો તેથી બાબિલમાં બંદીવાન થયેલા તમે સર્વ યહૂદીઓ, યહોવાના વચનો સાંભળો.”
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="21" bcv="JER.29.21" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ, કહે છે: “કોલાયાનો પુત્ર આહાબ, અને માઅસેયાનો પુત્ર સિદકિયા જેણે તમને મારા નામે ખોટી રીતે પ્રબોધ્યા હતાં તેમના માટે આમ કહે છે. જુઓ, તેઓનો જાહેરમાં શિરચ્છેદ થાય માટે હું તેઓને નબૂખાદનેસ્સારના હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરું છું.
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<v id="22" bcv="JER.29.22" />યહૂદિયાથી બાબિલ દેશવટે ગયેલા બધા માણસો કોઇ શાપ આપવા માગતા હશે ત્યારે એમ કહીને આપશે કે, ‘યહોવા તારા હાલ સિદકિયા અને આહાબ જેવા કરો, જેમને બાબિલના રાજાએ જીવતા બાળી મૂક્યા હતા.’
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<v id="23" bcv="JER.29.23" />કારણ કે આ માણસોએ મારા લોકો મધ્યે ભયંકર કૃત્યો કર્યા છે. તેઓએ પોતાના પડોશીઓની પત્નીઓ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો છે, અને મારા નામે જૂંઠાણું પ્રગટ કર્યું જે મેં તેમને કહેવા માટે હુકમ કર્યો નહોતો. હું જાણું છું કેમ કે તેઓનાં સર્વ કૃત્યો મેં જોયાં છે.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<s style="s">શમાયાને દેવનો સંદેશ
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JER.29.24" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ નેહેલામીના શમાયા વિષે યમિર્યાને એક સંદેશો આપ્યો.
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<v id="25" bcv="JER.29.25" />“જ્યારે તમે પોતે જ યરૂશાલેમના બધાં લોકોને આ પત્ર તમારા પોતાના નામે મોકલ્યા, અને માઅસેયાના પુત્ર સફાન્યા અને બધા યાજકોને કહ્યું,
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<v id="26" bcv="JER.29.26" />‘યહોવાએ તમને યાજક તરીકે યાજક યહોયાદાને સ્થાને નીમ્યા છે, અને મંદિરના અધિકારી તરીકે જે કોઇ ગાંડો માણસ પોતાને પ્રબોધક તરીકે ખપાવતો હોય તેને સજા કરવાના માંચડામાં મૂકવાની ફરજ આવી છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="JER.29.27" />તો પછી અનાથોથના યમિર્યા જે તમારી આગળ પોતાને પ્રબોધક તરીકે ખપાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે, તેને ઠપકો કેમ નથી આપતા?
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<v id="28" bcv="JER.29.28" />કારણ કે બાબિલમાં અહીં તેણે અમારા પર લખ્યું છે કે, અમારો બંદીવાસ લાંબા સમય સુધી ચાલશે. એણે અમને ઘર બનાવી અહીં રહેવાનું કહ્યું અને વાડીઓ રોપીને તેના ફળોનો આનંદ માણવા કહ્યુ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JER.29.29" />યાજક સફાન્યા તે પત્ર લઇને યમિર્યા પાસે આવ્યો અને તેને તે વાંચી સંભળાવ્યો.
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<v id="30" bcv="JER.29.30" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ યમિર્યાને આ વાણી સંભળાવી:
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<v id="31" bcv="JER.29.31" />“બધા લોકોને જેમનો દેશ નિકાલ કર્યો છે એમને આ સંદેશો મોકલજે: નેહેલામીના શમાયા વિષે યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે: ‘શમાયાએ મારા મોકલ્યા વગર તમને વાણી સંભળાવી છે અને તમે બધાં તેના જૂઠાણાને માનવા લાગ્યા છો.
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<v id="32" bcv="JER.29.32" />માટે હું તેને તથા તેના પરિવારને શિક્ષા કરીશ, મારા લોકો માટે જે સારી બાબતો મેં રાખી મૂકી છે, તે તેના વંશજો જોવા પામશે નહિ, કારણ કે તેણે તમને યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કરવાનું શીખવ્યું છે.’” આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
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<s style="s">શિક્ષા પછી પુન:સ્થાપનનું વચન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.30.1" />યહોવા પાસેથી યમિર્યાને બીજો સંદેશો મળ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.30.2" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના આ વચન છે. “મેં તને જે જે કહ્યું છે તે બધું એક પોથીમાં નોંધી લે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.30.3" />કારણ કે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ, તે દિવસ આવી રહ્યો છે કે, જ્યારે હું મારા લોકોના ઇસ્રાએલના અને યહૂદિયાના લોકોની સમૃદ્ધિને ફરીથી સ્થાપીશ, તેઓના પિતૃઓને જે ભૂમિ આપી હતી, એમાં હું તેઓને પાછા લાવીશ. તેઓ તેનો કબ્જો મેળવશે અને ફરીથી ત્યાં વસવાનું શરૂ કરશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.30.4" />ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદિયાના લોકોને યહોવા કહે છે:
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JER.30.5" />આ યહોવાના વચન છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મેં ભયની એક ચીસ સાંભળી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નહિ કે શાંતિની.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.30.6" />“તમારી જાતને પૂછો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિચાર કરો કે કોઇ પુરુષ બાળકને જન્મ આપી શકે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તો પછી હું કેમ દરેક માણસને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રસૂતિએ આવેલી સ્ત્રીની જેમ કમરે હાથ દેતો જોઉં છું?
</q>
<q style="q1">બધાના ચહેરા કેમ બદલાઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધોળા પૂણી જેવા થઇ ગયા છે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.30.7" />“અરેરે! એ ભયંકર દિવસ આવી રહ્યો છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના જેવો દિવસ કદી ઊગ્યો નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">યાકૂબના વંશજો માટે દુ:ખના દહાડા આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ સાજાસમા પાર ઊતરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.30.8" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “તે દિવસે હું તેમની ડોક ઉપરની ઝૂંસરી ભાંગી નાખીશ, અને તેમના બંધન તોડી નાખીશ. વિદેશીઓ ફરી કદી એમને ગુલામ નહિ બનાવે,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JER.30.9" />તેઓ પોતાના દેવ યહોવાની અને દાઉદની જેના એક વંશજને હું તેમનો રાજા બનાવનાર છું. તેની સેવા કરશે. એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.30.10" />“અને તમે, યાકૂબના વંશજો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા સેવકો ગભરાશો નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">રે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, તમારે ભય રાખવાની જરૂર નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને અને તમારા વંશજોને તમે જ્યાં બંદી છો
</q>
<q style="q1">તે દૂરના દેશમાંથી છોડાવી લાવીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે પાછા સુખશાંતિપૂર્વક રહેવા પામશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ તમને ડરાવશે નહિ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.30.11" />કારણ કે હું તમારી સાથે છું અને હું તમારો બચાવ કરીશ,”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ યહોવા જણાવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">“તમને જે પ્રજાઓમાં મેં વિખેરી નાખ્યા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે લોકોનો પણ જો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સંપૂર્ણ રીતે વિનાશ કરું
</q>
<q style="q1">તોપણ હું તમારો વિનાશ કરીશ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમને તેવી જ રીતે અનુશાશિત કરીશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમે સાચે જ સજાથી ભાગી નહિ શકો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.30.12" />યહોવા પોતાની પ્રજાને કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હે મારી પ્રજા, તારો ઘા રૂઝાય એવો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારો ઘા જીવલેણ છે;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.30.13" />તમારુ અહીંયા કોઇ નથી જે તમારા બાબતે ન્યાય કરી શકે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ઘા ની કોઇ દવા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તમે સ્વસ્થ નહિ થઇ શકો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.30.14" />તારા બધા પ્રેમીઓ તને ભૂલી ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે તેઓ તારી સંભાળ રાખતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે મેં તને કોઇ શત્રુની જેમ ઘાયલ કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હા, નિર્દય માણસની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તને ઇજા પહોંચાડી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તારાં પાપ ઘણા વધી ગયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે તારો ઘણો મોટો અપરાધ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.30.15" />તારા ઘા વિષે રોક્કળ કરવાથી શું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ઘા રૂજાય એવો નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા અપરાધો ખૂબ જ નિંદાત્મક છે જેને લીધે તારા દુ:ખનો અંત આવશે નહિ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પાપો ઘણા મોટા છે માટે તને વધુ શિક્ષા કરવાની મને ફરજ પડી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.30.16" />પણ હવે એ દિવસ આવી રહ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દિવસે તને કોળિયો કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જનારાઓ જ કોળિયો થઇ જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા બધા શત્રુઓને કેદ કરવામાં આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પર જુલમ ગુજારનારાઓ જ જુલમનો ભોગ બનશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તને લૂંટનારાઓ જ લૂંટાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.30.17" />હાં હું તને તારી તંદુરસ્તી પાછી આપીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા ઘાને રૂજાવીશ, કારણ કે તારા શત્રુઓ કહેતા કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘સિયોન તો ખંડેર બની ગયું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇને તેની પડી નથી.’”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.30.18" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“જ્યારે યાકૂબના વંશજોને બંદીવાસમાંથી મુકત કરાશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની ભૂમિ તેમને પાછી અપાશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રત્યેક કુટુંબ પર કરૂણા દર્શાવાશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">યરૂશાલેમને પોતાના ખંઢેર પર ફરી બાંધવામાં આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કિલ્લાને તેના યોગ્ય સ્થાને ઊભો કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.30.19" />બધા નગરો આનંદ તથા આભારસ્તુતિના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અવાજોથી ગૂંજી ઊઠશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું મારા લોકોની વૃદ્ધિ કરીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને મહાન તથા મહિમાવંત પ્રજા બનાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.30.20" />તેમનો સમાજ પાછો પહેલાના જેવો થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મારી નજર સમક્ષ વ્યવસ્થિત થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એમના બધા અન્યાયીઓને હું સજા કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.30.21" />તેઓને ફરીથી પોતાનો રાજા મળશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે પરદેશી નહિ હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેને મારી પાસે બોલાવીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે મારી પાસે આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે વગર આમંત્રણે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પાસે આવવાની કોની હિંમત છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.30.22" />તમે મારા લોક થશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તમારો દેવ થઇશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.30.23" />“જુઓ યહોવાનો ક્રોધ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુષ્ટોના માથાને અથડાઇને,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઝંજાવાતથી ઘુમરાતા વંટોળની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માફક ગર્જના કરતો ધસી રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.30.24" />યહોવાની યોજના પ્રમાણે ભયંકર વિનાશ પ્રવર્તશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી તેમનો ક્રોધ શાંત થાય તેમ નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું જે તમને કહી રહ્યો છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ભવિષ્યમાં તમને સમજાશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="31" />
<s style="s">નવું ઇસ્રાએલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.31.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “એવો સમય આવી રહ્યો છે જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ કુળસમૂહો મને દેવ માનશે અને મારી પ્રજા થશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.31.2" />અને યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલે રાહત શોધી ત્યારે જે લોકો તરવારથી બચી ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને અરણ્યમાં કૃપા મળી.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.31.3" />ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા વિસામાની શોધમાં ફરતી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મેં તેને દૂરથી દર્શન દીધાં હતાં.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">હે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા, “હું અનંત પ્રેમથી તને ચાહું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે મારી કૃપા તારા પર વરસાવ્યા કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.31.4" />હું તને ફરીથી પર ઉઠાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું પાછી ઊભી થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ફરીથી તું કુમારિકાની જેમ ઝાંઝરથી શણગારાઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આનંદથી નાચવા લાગીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.31.5" />તું ફરીથી સમરૂનના ડુંગરા પર દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીઓ રોપશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને રોપનારાઓ એનાં ફળ ખાવા પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.31.6" />એવો દિવસ જરૂર આવી રહ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે એફ્રાઇમના પર્વતો પરથી પહેરેગીરો પોકાર કરશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘ચાલો આપણે સિયોનની યાત્રાએ જઇએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા દેવ યહોવાને દર્શને જઇએ.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.31.7" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“યાકૂબને માટે આનંદપૂર્વક ગાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહાન કોમ માટે જયજયકાર કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી મુકતકંઠે સ્તુતિગાન કરીને કહો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘દેવ યહોવા તારા લોકોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલના અવશેષને બચાવ.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.31.8" />હું તેઓને ઉત્તરમાંથી લાવીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને પૃથ્વીના છેડાઓથી તેઓને એકત્ર કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેઓનાં અંધજનોને અને લંગડાઓને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગર્ભવતી તથા નાનાં બાળકોવાળી
</q>
<q style="q1">સ્ત્રીઓને રઝળતા નહિ મૂકું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ એક મોટા સમુદાયની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ અહીં પાછા ફરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.31.9" />હું તેમને પાછા લાવીશ ત્યારે તેઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રડતાં રડતાં અરજ કરતાં કરતાં આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેમને ઠોકર ન વાગે એવા સપાટ રસ્તે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">થઇને વહેતાં ઝરણાં આગળ લઇ જઇશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે હું ઇસ્રાએલનો પિતા છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એફ્રાઇમ મારો જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.31.10" />“હે વિશ્વની પ્રજાઓ, તમે યહોવાના વચન સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દૂર દૂરના દ્વીપોને તે જાણ કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">‘જેણે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને વેરવિખેર કરી નાખ્યા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતે જ તેમને એકત્ર કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની ઘેટાંપાળકની જેમ સંભાળ લેશે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.31.11" />કારણ કે યહોવાએ યાકૂબને બચાવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેનાં કરતાં બળવાનના હાથમાંથી તેને છોડાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.31.12" />તેઓ આનંદના પોકાર કરતા સિયોનના પર્વત પર આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાએ આપેલા ધાન્ય,
</q>
<q style="q1">દ્રાક્ષારસ, તેલ અને ઢોરઢાંખરરૂપી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમૃદ્ધિથી ખુશખુશાલ થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમનું જીવન સિંચેલી વાડી જેવું થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનાં સર્વ દુ:ખો દૂર થઇ ગયા હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.31.13" />ત્યારે કુમારિકાઓ આનંદ સાથે નાચી ઊઠશે અને યુવાનો તથા વૃદ્ધો હરખાશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે હું તેઓના શોકને હર્ષમાં ફેરવી નાખીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેઓને ખાતરી આપીશ અને તેઓને હષિર્ત કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેઓનાં બંદીવાસનાં સર્વ દુ:ખો દૂર થઇ ગયા હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.31.14" />હું યાજકોને પુષ્કળ ખોરાક આપીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી પ્રજા મેં આપેલી ઉત્તમ વસ્તુઓથી ભરાઇ જશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.31.15" />યહોવાએ ફરીથી મારી સાથે વાત કરીને કહ્યું,
</q>
<q style="q1">“રામાહમાં ભારે રૂદનનો અવાજ સંભળાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાહેલ પોતાનાં સંતાનો માટે ઝૂરે કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને સાંત્વન આપી શકાય તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેનાં સંતાનો મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.31.16" />પરંતુ યહોવા કહે છે: “રૂદન બંધ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આંસુ લૂછી નાખો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારાં કષ્ટો વ્યર્થ નહિ જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા બાળકો દુશ્મનના દેશમાંથી પાછા આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.31.17" />તારા ભવિષ્ય માટે આશા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાં સંતાનો પોતાના શહેરમાં પાછાં આવશે,”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.31.18" />“મેં સ્પષ્ટ રીતે એફ્રાઇમના નિસાસા સાંભળ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘તમે મને સખત સજા કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જેમ વાછરડાને ઝૂંસરી માટે પલોટવો પડે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ મને પણ સજાની જરૂર હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તમારી તરફ પાછો વાળો અને પુન:સ્થાપિત કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે ફકત તમે જ મારા યહોવા દેવ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.31.19" />મને જ્યારે સમજાયુ કે મેં શું કર્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મેં મારી જાંઘપર થબડાકો મારી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું લજ્જિત અને અપમાનિત થયો છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે, જ્યારે હું જુવાન હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મેં બંદનામીવાળા કામો કર્યા હતા.’”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.31.20" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હે ઇસ્રાએલ, તું ખરેખર મારો લાડકો દીકરો છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું મને વહાલો છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તને ગમે તેટલી વાર ધમકાવું તોય પાછો તને યાદ કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારું હૃદય તને ઝંખે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું ચોક્કસ તારા પર અનુકંપા બતાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.31.21" />“જ્યારે તું બંદીવાસમાં જાય ત્યારે રસ્તામાં ઇસ્રાએલનો માર્ગ સૂચવતાં નિશાન કર.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માર્ગદર્શક સ્તંભો બનાવ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું જે રસ્તે ગઇ હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બરાબર ધ્યાનમાં રાખ.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે હે ઇસ્રાએલની કુમારી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ફરીથી તારાં નગરોમાં અહીં પાછી ફરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.31.22" />હે જક્કી ભટકી ગયેલી દીકરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ક્યાં સુધી અવઢવમાં રહીશ?
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“કેમકે યહોવાએ પૃથ્વી પર એક નવી વાત પેદા કરી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ સ્ત્રી પુરુષનું રક્ષણ કરે તેવી તે અદ્વિતીય વાત છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JER.31.23" />આ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે: “હું યહૂદિયાં અને તેના નગરોનું ભાગ્ય ફેરવી નાખીશ અને તેથી તેઓ ફરીથી આ વચનો ઉચ્ચારશે કે, ‘નીતિવંતોનું રહેઠાણ એવો પવિત્રપર્વત, યહોવા તમને આશીર્વાદિત કરો!’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JER.31.24" />“અને યહૂદિયા તથા તેના બધા ગામોમાં ખેડૂતો અને ભરવાડો ભેગા રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="JER.31.25" />હાં, હું થાકેલા જીવને વિશ્રામ આપીશ અને જેઓ નબળા થઇ ગયા છે તેમને મજબૂત બનાવીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JER.31.26" />ત્યારબાદ યમિર્યા જાગ્યો, તેણે કહ્યું, “આ ઊંઘ મને મીઠી લાગી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JER.31.27" />યહોવા કહે છે, “એ દિવસો આવી રહ્યા છે કે જ્યારે હુ ઇસ્રાએલને અને યહૂદિયાને માણસોને તથા તેના પશુધનને પુષ્કળ વધારીશ.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="JER.31.28" />ભૂતકાળમાં જેમ હું તેમને ઉખેડી નાખવા, તોડી પાડવા, ઉથલાવી પાડવા, નાશ કરવા, અને હાનિ કરવા માટે નજર રાખતો હતો તેમ હવે તેમના પર કાળજી રાખીને તેઓને સંસ્થાપિત કરીશ.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JER.31.29" />“તે દિવસે પછી કોઇ એમ નહિ કહે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘પિતૃઓના પાપની કિમત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનાં બાળકો ચૂકવે છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="30" bcv="JER.31.30" />કારણ કે દરેક માણસ પોતાના પાપને લીધે મરશે. જે ખાટી દ્રાક્ષ ખાશે તેના દાંત ખટાઇ જશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નવો કરાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JER.31.31" />યહોવા કહે છે, “એ દિવસો આવી રહ્યા છે કે જ્યારે હું ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદિયા સાથે નવો કરાર કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="JER.31.32" />મેં જ્યારે એમના પિતૃઓને હાથ પકડીને મિસરમાંથી બહાર કાઢયા હતા ત્યારે તેમની સાથે જે કરાર કર્યો હતો તેવો આ કરાર નહિ હોય. હું તેમનો વિશ્વાસુ માલિક હોવા છતાં પણ તેમણે મારા કરારનું ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JER.31.33" />“પરંતુ હવે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો સાથે જે કરાર કરીશ તે આવો હશે: હું મારા નિયમો તેમના અંતરમાં ઠસાવીશ અને તેમનાં હૃદય પર લખીશ. હું તેમનો દેવ થઇશ. અને તેઓ મારી પ્રજા થશે.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="JER.31.34" />તે સમયે યહોવાને ઓળખવા માટે એકબીજાને શીખવવાની જરૂર રહેશે નહિ, કારણ કે ત્યારે નાનાથી મોટા સુધી સૌ કોઇ મને ઓળખશે. હું તેમના દુષ્કૃત્યો માફ કરીશ અને તેમના પાપને ફરી સંભારીશ નહિ.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલને કદી નહી છોડે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="JER.31.35" />“જેણે દિવસે પ્રકાશ આપવા માટે સૂર્ય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રાત્રે પ્રકાશ આપવા માટે ચંદ્ર અને તારાઓ આપ્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે સાગરને એવો ખળભળાવે છે કે તેનાં તરંગો ગર્જના કરી ઊઠે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેનું નામ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા છે.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તે કહે છે:
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="JER.31.36" />“જો મેં કુદરતમાં સ્થાપેલી વ્યવસ્થા લોપ પામે તો જ ઇસ્રાએલનો વંશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મારી પ્રજા તરીકે લોપ પામી શકે છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="JER.31.37" />“જો ઉપરનું આકાશ માપી શકાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નીચેની ધરતીના તળીયાનો તાગ માપી શકાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો જ હું ઇસ્રાએલની સમગ્ર પ્રજાનો તેમણે જે કઇં કર્યું છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે માટે તિરસ્કાર કરી શકું.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</q>
<s style="s">નવું યરૂશાલેમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="JER.31.38" />યહોવા કહે છે, “સમય આવી રહ્યો છે કે જ્યારે યરૂશાલેમ મારા નગર તરીકે હનામએલના બુરજથી તે ખૂણાના દરવાજા સુધી ફરી બાંધવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="39" bcv="JER.31.39" />તે સરહદ પસાર કરીને આગળ જશે. તે ઠેઠ ગોરેબની ટેકરી સુધી જશે અને ત્યાથી દક્ષિણ તરફ વળીને ગોઆહ જશે.
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<v id="40" bcv="JER.31.40" />કિદ્રોનથી ઠેઠ ઘોડાના દરવાજા સુધી, સમગ્ર ખીણ અને દરેકે દરેક ખેતરને આ શહેરમાં સામેલ કરવામાં આવશે. જે યહોવા માટે પવિત્ર છે. અને આને ફરીથી કયારેય ઉખેડવામાં કે નાશ કરવામાં નહિ આવે.”
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</p>

<c id="32" />
<s style="s">જમીન ખરીદવા પાછળનો સંકેત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.32.1" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાના અમલના દશમાં વર્ષમાં, નબૂખાદનેસ્સારના અઢારમાં વર્ષમાં યમિર્યાને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.32.2" />તે વખતે બાબિલના રાજાની સૈના યરૂશાલેમને ઘેરો ઘાલીને પડી હતી અને પ્રબોધક યમિર્યા યહૂદિયાના રાજમહેલના રક્ષકઘરના ચોકમાં કેદમાં પડેલો હતો;
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.32.3" />સિદકિયા રાજાએ યમિર્યાને કેદ કર્યો હતો, કારણ કે તેણે ભવિષ્યવચન કહેવાનું સતત ચાલું રાખ્યું હતું કે, “‘બાબિલનો રાજા નગરને જીતી લેશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.32.4" />અને રાજા સિદકિયા બચવા નહિ પામે, તેને ચોક્કસપણે બાબિલના રાજાના હાથમાં સોંપી દેવામાં આવશે, તે તેને રૂબરૂ મળશે અને તેની સાથે વાત કરશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.32.5" />તે સિદકિયાને બાબિલ લઇ જશે અને હું તેને સંભારું નહિ ત્યાં સુધી તેણે ત્યાં રહેવું પડશે. તમે બાબિલવાસીઓ સામે લડશો તો યે વિજય નહિ પામો!’” આ તો યહોવાનું વચન છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.32.6" />પછી યહોવાનો આ સંદેશો યમિર્યા પાસે આવ્યો:
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.32.7" />“તારા કાકા શાલ્લૂમનો પુત્ર હનામએલ તારી પાસે આવીને તને કહેશે કે, ‘અનાથોથનું મારું ખેતર તું ખરીદી લે, કારણ નજીકના સગા તરીકે તારો એ હક્ક છે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.32.8" />“અને યહોવાના કહ્યા પ્રમાણે મારો પિતરાઇ ભાઇ હનામએલ રક્ષકઘરમાં ચોકમાં મારી પાસે આવ્યો અને બોલ્યો, ‘બિન્યામીનના કુળસમુહના દેશમાંના અનાથોથમાં મારું જે ખેતર છે તે તું વેચાતું લે; કારણ કે વારસાનો તથા મૂલ્ય આપીને છોડાવવાનો હક્ક તારો છે.’”
</p>
<p style="p">તે તારે પોતાને માટે વેચાતું લે, ત્યારે મેં જાણ્યું કે આ તો યહોવાનું વચન છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.32.9" />તેથી 17 શેકેલ ચાંદી ચૂકવીને મેં હનામએલ પાસેથી તે ખેતર વેચાતું લીધું.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.32.10" />મેં વેચાણખત કરી તેના પર સહીસિક્કા અને સાક્ષી કરાવી અને કાંટા પર કિંમત ચૂકવી દીધી.
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.32.11" />ત્યાર પછી મેઁ મહોર મારેલું બંધ ખરીદખત લીધું જે નિયમો અને શરતો ધરાવતું હતું અને તેની એક ઉઘાડી પ્રત પણ લીધી.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.32.12" />અને જાહેરમાં મારા પિતરાઇ ભાઇ હનામએલ, વેચાણખત પર સહી કરનારા સાક્ષીઓની અને રક્ષકઘરના ચોકમાં તે વખતે હાજર હતા તે બધા યહૂદીઓની સાક્ષીમાં નેરિયાના પુત્ર માઅસેયાના પૌત્ર બારૂખના હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JER.32.13" />તેમનાં દેખતા જ મેં બારૂખને આ પ્રમાણે સૂચના આપી:
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.32.14" />“આ બન્ને દસ્તાવેજ, મહોર મારેલું બંધ ખરીદખત અને તેની ઉઘાડી પ્રત લઇ લે અને તેને લાંબા વખત સુધી સાચવવા માટે એક માટીના ઘડામાં મૂકજે.
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.32.15" />કારણ કે ઇસ્રાએલના સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ કહ્યું છે કે, ‘લોકો આ દેશમાં ફરીથી ઘરો, ખેતરો અને દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીઓ ખરીદશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JER.32.16" />દસ્તાવેજી નકલ બારૂખને આપ્યા પછી મેં પ્રાર્થના કરી:
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<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="17" bcv="JER.32.17" />“હે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, તમેં તમારી પ્રચંડ શકિતથી આકાશ અને પૃથ્વી ર્સજ્યા છે. તમારે માટે કશું અશકય નથી.
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.32.18" />હજારો પ્રત્યે તું કરૂણા બતાવે છે, પણ પૂર્વજોનાં પાપની સજા તેમનાં સંતાનોને કરે છે. તું મહાન અને બળવાન છે. તારું નામ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="JER.32.19" />તારી યોજના મહાન છે, તારાં કાર્યો પ્રચંડ છે, તારી આંખો માણસોનું બધું જ હલનચલન જુએ છે, અને તું દરેકને તેનાં કાર્યોને અનુરૂપ બદલો આપે છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="JER.32.20" />તેં મિસરમાં ચમત્કારો અને અદભૂત કાર્યો કરી નામના મેળવી હતી અને ઇસ્રાએલમાં અને બીજી પ્રજાઓમાં આજ સુધી તું એમ કરતો રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="JER.32.21" />મહાન ચમત્કારો અને મહાપરાક્રમ દર્શાવીને તથા શત્રુને ભયભીત કરીને તમે ઇસ્રાએલને મિસરની બહાર લઇ આવ્યા હતા.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="22" bcv="JER.32.22" />“ત્યારબાદ તેમના પિતૃઓને વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાણે તેં આ ભૂમિ જ્યાં દૂધ અને મધની રેલછેલ છે તેમને આપી હતી.
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<v id="23" bcv="JER.32.23" />તેમણે આવીને એનો કબજો લીધો. પણ તેમણે તારું કહ્યું ન કર્યું કે, ન તારા નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પાલન કર્યુ. તેમણે તારી બધી સૂચનાઓની અવગણના કરી અને તેથી તે આ બધી આફત તેમની પર ઉતારી.
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="24" bcv="JER.32.24" />“શત્રુએ નગરનાં સામે મજબૂત મોરચાઓ બાંધ્યા છે. બાબિલનું સૈન્ય તરવાર વડે તથા નગરમાં પ્રવર્તતા દુકાળ અને મરકીને કારણે નગરને જીતી લેશે. તમે કહ્યું હતું અને તમે નક્કી કર્યું હતું તે જ પ્રમાણે બની રહ્યું છે, તમે તમારી જાતે જોઇ શકો છો.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="25" bcv="JER.32.25" />“અને છતાં, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા મારા પ્રભુ, તેં મને આજ્ઞા કરી કે, સાક્ષીઓના દેખતાં પૈસા ચૂકવીને ખેતર ખરીદી લે; જો કે શહેર તો અત્યારે બાબિલ વાસીઓના હાથમાં જઇ રહ્યું છે.”
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JER.32.26" />પછી યમિર્યાને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ;
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<v id="27" bcv="JER.32.27" />“હું, યહોવા, માનવ માત્રનો દેવ છું, શું મારા માટે કાઇં અશક્ય હોઇ શકે ખરું?”
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<v id="28" bcv="JER.32.28" />તેથી આ યહોવા કહે છે, “જુઓ, હું આ નગર નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને સોપી રહ્યો છું.
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<v id="29" bcv="JER.32.29" />જે ખાલદીઓ લડી રહ્યાં છે, તેઓ આવીને તેને આગ લગાડી દેશે. તે તેમના ઘરની સાથે સળગાવી દેશે, જેના છાપરા પર બઆલ દેવના બલિદાન અર્પણો અને બીજા દેવોને ધરેલા પેયાર્પણો હતા. આ બાબતે મને ખૂબ ક્રોધિત કરી દીધો.
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<v id="30" bcv="JER.32.30" />હા ઇસ્રાએલના અને યહૂદિયાના લોકોએ તેમના ઇતિહાસના પ્રારંભથી જ મારી નજરમાં અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવાં કાર્યો કર્યા છે, અને પોતાના એ કાર્યોથી મારો રોષ વહોરી લીધો છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="JER.32.31" />આ નગર બાંધવામાં આવ્યું ત્યારથી આજદિન સુધી તેઓએ હું ક્રોધિત થાઉં તેવા જ કાર્યો કર્યા છે. તેથી તેઓને દૂર કરવાનો મેં નિરધાર કર્યો છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="JER.32.32" />ઇસ્રાએલના અને યહૂદિયાના બધા લોકોએ તથા તેમના રાજાઓ યાજકો અને પ્રબોધકોએ અને યહૂદિયાના માણસો અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકોએ દુષ્કૃત્યો કર્યા છે, અને તેને કારણે હું એને મારી નજર આગળથી દૂર કરવા માંગુ છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JER.32.33" />“તેમણે મારા તરફ મોઢું નહિ, પીઠ ફેરવી છે, અને જો કે હું તેમને સતત ઉપદેશ આપતો રહ્યો છું, છતાંય તેઓ સાંભળતા નથી કે શીખતા નથી.
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<v id="34" bcv="JER.32.34" />તેઓએ મારા પોતાના મંદિરમાં તેઓની ધિક્કારપાત્ર મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરીને તેને પણ અપવિત્ર કર્યું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="JER.32.35" />“તેમણે હિન્નોમની ખીણમાં બઆલ દેવ માટે ઉચ્ચસ્થાનકો બાંધ્યા છે. ત્યાં તેઓએ મોલેખની સામે પોતાનાં સંતાનોને અગ્નિમાં હોમીને બલિદાન આપ્યાં છે. મેં એવી સૂચના તેઓને કદી આપી જ નથી. તેઓ આવા ધૃણાજનક કાર્ય કરશે અને યહૂદિયાના લોકોને પાપમાં નાખશે. એવો વિચાર મારા મનમાં આવ્યો જ નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="JER.32.36" />“તેથી હવે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા આ નગર વિષે કહે છે કે ‘તેને તરવાર, દુકાળ અને મરકી દ્વારા બાબિલના રાજાના હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરવામાં આવશે.’
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<v id="37" bcv="JER.32.37" />‘મારા પુણ્યપ્રકોપ અને ભયંકર રોષને લીધે એ લોકોને મેં જે જે દેશોમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખેલા છે, ત્યાંથી એમને પાછા એકત્ર કરીશ, આ જગ્યાએ પાછા લાવીશ અને શાંતિ અને સલામતીપૂર્વક અહીં વસાવીશ.
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<v id="38" bcv="JER.32.38" />તેઓ મારા લોકો થશે અને હું તેઓનો દેવ થઇશ.
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<v id="39" bcv="JER.32.39" />હું તેમને બધાંને સમાન અભિગમ અને જીવનનો માર્ગ આપીશ જેથી તેઓને હર સમય મારો ભય રહેશે. આ તેઓના પોતાના ભલા માટે જ અને ત્યાર પછી તેઓના સંતાનોના ભલા માટે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="JER.32.40" />“‘હું તેઓની સાથે એક કાયમી કરાર કરીશ, હું સદાય તેમની ભલાઇ કરતા અટકીશ નહિ, અને તેમના હૃદયમાં મારે વિષે એવું દૈવત્વ ઉત્પન કરીશ કે, તેઓ કદી મારાથી વિમુખ ન થઇ જાય.
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<v id="41" bcv="JER.32.41" />એમનું કલ્યાણ કરવામાં મને આનંદ આવશે અને હું તેમને પૂર્ણ હૃદયથી આ ભૂમિ પર ફરીથી સુસ્થાપિત કરીશ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="JER.32.42" />હા, આ યહોવા કહે છે, “જેમ તેઓ પર આ બધા દુ:ખ અને સમસ્યાઓ હું લાવ્યો હતો, તે જ રીતે હું તેઓને આપેલાં વચન મુજબ તેઓનું સર્વ રીતે ભલું કરીશ.
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<v id="43" bcv="JER.32.43" />તમે જે ભૂમિને વિષે એમ કહો છો કે, ‘એ તો વેરાન થઇ જાણો, એમાં નહિ માણસ વસે કે નહિ એમાં પશુ વસે.’ એ તો બાબિલવાસીઓના હાથમાં જ પડી જાણો. તેમાં લોકો ફરી ખેતર ખરીદશે.
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<v id="44" bcv="JER.32.44" />બિન્યામીન કુળસમૂહના પ્રદેશમાં, યરૂશાલેમની આસપાસ, યહૂદિયાના ગામોમાં, પહાડી દેશોમાં, શફેલાહની તળેટીમાં અને નેગેબમાં લોકો ખેતરો ખરીદશે, કિંમત ચૂકવશે, અને સહીસીક્કા કરીને કરારો બનાવશે, કારણ કે હું તેમનું ભાગ્ય ફેરવી તેઓને સુખ-સમૃદ્ધિ આપીશ.”
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<s style="s">શાંતિ અને સમૃદ્ધિ માટે દેવનું વચન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.33.1" />યમિર્યા હજી કેદી તરીકે રક્ષકઘરના ચોકમાં હતો ત્યાં જ તેને બીજી વાર યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.33.2" />આ પ્રમાણે યહોવા કહે છે જે જગતનો ઉત્પન કરનાર છે, જે યહોવાએ તેને સ્થાપિત થાય તે માટે બનાવ્યું છે, યહોવા તેનુ નામ છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.33.3" />“તું મને હાંક માર અને હું તને જવાબ આપીશ. આ સ્થળે જે બનવાનું છે તે વિષે કેટલાક ગાઢ રહસ્યો હું તને જણાવીશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.33.4" />આથી જ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા આ નગરના ઘરો અને યહૂદિયાના રાજાઓના ઘરો માટે કહે છે, જેને બાબિલના હુમલાઓથી રક્ષણ મેળવવા માટે તોડી નંખાયાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JER.33.5" />“તેઓ બાબિલની વિરુદ્ધ લડાઇ કરશે, પણ પછી તેઓ એ લોકોના મૃત દેહથી પોતાના ઘરોને ભરી દેશે. જેઓને મે ગુસ્સાથી મારી નાખ્યા છે. આવું બનશે કારણકે, તેમણે આચરેલા દુષ્કૃત્યોને લીધે મેં આ નગર છોડી દીધું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.33.6" />“છતાં એવો સમય આવશે ત્યારે હું તેના ઘા રૂઝાવીશ અને આરોગ્ય બક્ષીસ. હું તેના વતનીઓને સાજા કરી પૂર્ણ શાંતિને સલામતીનો અનુભવ કરાવીશ.
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.33.7" />હું યહૂદિયા અને ઇસ્રાએલને ફરીથી બાંધીશ અને તેઓનું ભાગ્ય ફેરવીને તેમને ઉજ્જવળ ભવિષ્ય આપીશ.
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.33.8" />તેમણે મારી વિરુદ્ધ જે બધાં પાપો અને દુષ્કૃત્યો કર્યા છે તે હું ધોઇ નાખીશ, તથા તેઓને ક્ષમા આપીશ.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.33.9" />પછી આ યરૂશાલેમ માટે પૃથ્વી પરની બધી પ્રજાઓ સમક્ષ આનંદનું, સ્તુતિનું અને ગૌરવનું કારણ થઇ પડશે. હું એને જે બધી સંપત્તિ બક્ષવાનો છું તેની વાત જ્યારે એ પ્રજાઓ જાણશે, ત્યારે મેં એને બક્ષેલી સંપત્તિ અને સુખશાંતિથી ભયભીત થઇને કંપી ઉઠશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JER.33.10" />યહોવા કહે છે તે આ પ્રમાણે છે: “આ દેશમાં, જે, તું કહે છે કે નાશ પામ્યું છે, માણસો અને પ્રાણીઓ વગરના યહૂદિયાના શહેરોમાંથી અને યરૂશાલેમની શેરીઓમાંથી જે હવે નિર્જન છે, ત્યાં ફરી એક વખત અવાજો સંભળાશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.33.11" />વરવધૂના કિલ્લોલ કરતાં અવાજો અને યહોવા માટેના આભારઅર્પણોના આનંદિત ગીતો ફરી સંભળાશે. તે લોકો કહેશે, ‘સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાનો સૌ માનો આભાર, એ છે ભલાઇનો ભંડાર, એની કરૂણા અપરંપાર’ લોકો આ પ્રમાણે કહેશે. કારણ કે હું ફરીથી યહૂદિયા માટે સારી વસ્તુઓ કરીશ.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.33.12" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “આ જગ્યામાં એનાં માનવ કે પશુની વસ્તી વગરનાં ખંડેર ગામોં ફરીથી ઘેટાંબકરાંને આરામ કરાવતા ભરવાડોનું આશ્રયસ્થાન થશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.33.13" />પહાડી દેશમાં, શફેલાહના ગામોમાં અને નેગેબ અને બિન્યામીન પ્રદેશમાં, યહૂદિયાના ગામોમાં અને યરૂશાલેમની નજીકના સ્થળોએ ફરીવાર ઘેટાં ગણતા ઘેટાંપાળકોના હાથ નીચેથી ઘેટાં પસાર થશે.”
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<s style="s">સારી શાખા
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JER.33.14" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “એવો દિવસ આવશે કે ઇસ્રાએલ તથા યહૂદિયાના હકમાં સર્વ સારું કરવાનું મેં આપેલું વચન હું પૂર્ણ કરીશ.
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.33.15" />તે સમયે હું દાઉદના કુળનો એક સાચો જ વંશજ પેદા કરીશ. જે નીતિ અને ન્યાયીપણાથી રાજ કરશે.
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<v id="16" bcv="JER.33.16" />તે સમયે યહૂદિયા તથા યરૂશાલેમના લોકો સમૃદ્ધ થશે અને તેઓ સુરક્ષામાં જીવશે. ‘યહોવા આપણું ન્યાયીપણું’ એ તેઓનું નામ હશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JER.33.17" />કારણ કે યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે, “ઇસ્રાએલની ગાદીએ બેસવા માટે દાઉદના કુટુંબમાં કદી વારસની ખોટ નહિ પડે,
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.33.18" />અને ત્યાં અર્પણ એવા બલિદાન, પ્રાણીઓના બલિદાન વગેરે માટે હવે લેવી વંશી યાજકનો અભાવ નહિ હોય.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JER.33.19" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાનો આ સંદેશો યમિર્યા પાસે આવ્યો:
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<v id="20" bcv="JER.33.20" />મેં દિવસ તથા રાત સાથે મારો કરાર કર્યો છે: “દિવસ અને રાત પોતાના નિર્ધારિત સમયે જ આવે છે. આ કરારનો કદી ભંગ થઇ શકતો નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="JER.33.21" />એ જ પ્રમાણે મેં મારા સેવક દાઉદ સાથે કરાર કર્યો છે કે, રાજ્યશાસન પર હંમેશા તેનો વંશજ રાજ કરશે. વળી લેવી કુળના યાજકો સાથે મેં કરાર કર્યો છે કે, તેઓ હંમેશા મારી સેવા કરશે અને આ કરારોનો પણ ભંગ થઇ શકે નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="JER.33.22" />આકાશમાંના અસંખ્ય તારાઓની જેમ અથવા સમુદ્રની અગણિત રેતીની જેમ હું મારા સેવક દાઉદના અને મારી સેવા કરનાર લેવીવંશી યાજકના કુળસમૂહોની વૃદ્ધિ કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JER.33.23" />યહોવાએ યમિર્યા સાથે ફરીથી વાત કરી અને કહ્યું,
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<v id="24" bcv="JER.33.24" />“લોકો શું કહે છે તે તેં સાંભળ્યું છે? ‘યહોવાએ યહૂદિયા તથા ઇસ્રાએલને પસંદ કર્યાર્ અને પછી ફરી તેઓનો ત્યાગ કર્યો! તેઓ હાંસી કરે છે અને કહે છે કે, દેવની પ્રજા તરીકે ઇસ્રાએલની ગણના કરી શકાય તેમ નથી.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JER.33.25" />પરંતુ યહોવાનો ઉત્તર આ છે: “દિવસ તથા રાત અને પૃથ્વી તથા આકાશના પરિમણનો સમય નિર્ધારિત કરેલો છે;
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<v id="26" bcv="JER.33.26" />એટલી ખાતરી છે કે યાકૂબના વંશજો અને મારા સેવક દાઉદ સાથેનો કરાર એ પણ એટલો જ ચોક્કસ છે. હું જરુર ઇબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક અને યાકૂબના વંશજો પર રાજ કરવા માટે દાઉદના કોઇ વંશજને પસંદ કરીશ. હું તેઓ પર દયા દર્શાવીશ અને તેઓના ભાગ્યને બદલી નાખીશ.”
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<c id="34" />
<s style="s">યહૂદાના રાજા સિદકિયાને ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.34.1" />બાબિલનો રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર જે દેશો પર રાજ્ય કરતો હતો તે સર્વ સૈન્યો સાથે ચઢી આવ્યો અને યરૂશાલેમ તથા યહૂદિયાના નગરો સાથે યુદ્ધ કર્યું. તે સમયે યમિર્યા પાસે યહોવાનો આ સંદેશો આવ્યો:
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JER.34.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના આ વચનો છે: જા અને યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાને કહે કે, આ મારાં વચન છે: ‘હું આ યરૂશાલેમ શહેર બાબિલના રાજાના હાથમાં સોંપી દેનાર છું અને તે તેને બાળી મૂકશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.34.3" />તું જાતે ભાગી શકશે નહિ. પણ તને બંદી બનાવી લઇ જવાશે અને બાબિલના રાજાને સુપ્રત કરી દેવામાં આવશે. તારે તેને મોઢામોઢ મળવાનું થશે અને તે તારી સાથે વાત કરશે. તે તને બાબિલમાં બંધક તરીકે લઇ જશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.34.4" />તેમ છતાં, હે યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયા, હું યહોવા કહું છું કે, તું યુદ્ધમાં મૃત્યુ પામીશ નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.34.5" />પરંતુ તું તારા લોકો મધ્યે શાંતિથી મૃત્યુ પામશે. જેમ તેમણે તારા પિતૃઓ માટે કર્યું હતું તેમ તારી યાદમાં તારા લોકો ધૂપસળી બાળશે, અને તેઓ તને દિલાસો આપશે અને ગાશે કે, “અરેરે, ઓ રાજા!”’” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.34.6" />તેથી પ્રબોધક યમિર્યાએ આ બધું શબ્દે શબ્દ યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાને કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.34.7" />તે સમયે બાબિલનું સૈન્ય યહૂદિયાના બાકી રહેલા કિલ્લેબંદીવાળા નગરો યરૂશાલેમ, લાખીશ અને અઝેકાહની આસપાસ ઘેરો ઘાલતું હતું.
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<s style="s">લોકોએ એક કરાર તોડ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.34.8" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાએ યરૂશાલેમના સર્વ ગુલામોને મુકત કરવાને લગતા કરાર કર્યા પછી યમિર્યાને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.34.9" />કારણ કે રાજા સિદકિયાએ ફરમાન બહાર પાડ્યું હતું કે, દરેક જણે પોતાનાં સ્ત્રી કે પુરુષ હિબ્રૂ ગુલામને છોડી દેવાના હતાં. અને કોઇએ પછી કોઇ જાતભાઇને ગુલામ રાખવાનો નહોતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.34.10" />કરાર કરનાર બધા જ અમલદારો અને લોકો પોતાનાં સ્ત્રીપુરુષ ગુલામોને મુકત કરવા તથા તેમને હવે ગુલામ તરીકે ન રાખવા કબૂલ થયાં હતાં અને તેમણે એનું પાલન કરી તેમને છોડી મૂક્યાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.34.11" />પાછળથી તેઓનાં મન બદલાઇ ગયાં અને તેઓએ ફરીથી પોતાના ચાકરોને ગુલામ બનાવ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.34.12" />એ વખતે યરૂશાલેમમાં યમિર્યાને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ;
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.34.13" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવાના આ વચન છે: “હું તમારા પિતૃઓને ગુલામીના દેશ મિસરની બહાર લઇ આવ્યો ત્યારે મેં તેમની સાથે કરાર કર્યો હતો કે,
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.34.14" />‘તમે જે જાતભાઇને ગુલામ તરીકે ખરીદેલો હોય અને જેણે છ વર્ષ તમારી ગુલામી કરી હોય, તેને તમારે સાતમે વષેર્ છોડી મૂકવો.’ પરંતુ તમારા પિતૃઓેએ મારું કહ્યું સાંભળ્યું નહિ અને તેના પર ધ્યાન પણ આપ્યું નહિ.
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.34.15" />મેં તમને ફરમાવ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાણે મારી ષ્ટિમાં જે યોગ્ય છે તે તમે તાજેતરમાં કર્યું છે અને તમારા ગુલામોને મુકત કર્યા છે. અને જે મંદિર મારા નામથી ઓળખાય છે તેમા તમે મારી આગળ કરાર કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="JER.34.16" />પરંતુ હવે તમે ફરી ગયા, તમે ના પાડીને મારા નામનું અપમાન કર્યું, અને તમે છોડી મૂકેલાં સ્ત્રીપુરુષ ગુલામને તમે પાછા લાવ્યાં અને ફરી ગુલામ બનાવ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JER.34.17" />“‘તમે મારું સાંભળ્યું નથી અને ગુલામોને મુકત કર્યા નથી. તેથી હું તમને યુદ્ધ, દુકાળ અને મરકી, તરવાર, રોગચાળો દ્વારા મૃત્યુને હવાલે કરીશ. બીજા શહેરના લોકો જ્યારે તારી સાથે શું થયું છે એ સાંભળશે ત્યારે ભયભીત થઇ જશે. યહોવા આમ કહે છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.34.18" />જેમણે મારા કરારનું ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યુ છે તેમને હું વાછરડા જેવા બનાવીશ, જેને તેઓએ બે ટુકાડામાં કાપ્યાં હતાં અને કરાર બનાવતી વખતે તેની વચ્ચેથી પસાર થયા હતાં.
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<v id="19" bcv="JER.34.19" />તે લોકોને એટલે યહૂદિયાના તથા યરૂશાલેમના સરદારોને, ત્યાંના અધિકારીઓને, યાજકોને, તથા વાછરડાના બે ભાગો વચ્ચે થઇને ગયેલી દેશની સર્વ પ્રજાને.
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<v id="20" bcv="JER.34.20" />હું તેમનો જીવ લેવા ટાંપી રહેલા તેમના શત્રુઓના હાથમાં તેમને સોંપી દઇશ. અને તેમનાં શબ આકાશનાં પંખી અને જમીનનાં પશુઓ ખાશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="JER.34.21" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાને તથા તેના સરદારોને પણ હું તેઓના શત્રુઓના હાથમાં, એટલે એ જેઓ તેઓનો સંહાર કરવા માંગે છે તેઓના હાથમાં, ને બાબિલના રાજાનું જે સૈન્ય તમારી પાસેથી પાછું ગયું છે તેના હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરીશ.
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<v id="22" bcv="JER.34.22" />હું હુકમ કરીશ, અને બાબિલના સૈન્યોને પાછા બોલાવીશ, તેઓ આ નગર પર હુમલો કરશે, એને જીતી લઇને બાળી મૂકશે. એ રીતે હું યહૂદિયાના નગરોને વસ્તીહીન ઉજ્જડ જગ્યા બનાવીશ.’” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</p>

<c id="35" />
<s style="s">નિષ્ઠાવાન રેખાબીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.35.1" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા યોશિયાના પુત્ર યહોયાકીમના રાજ્યકાળ દરમ્યાન યહોવાનો આ સંદેશો યમિર્યા પાસે આવ્યો:
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.35.2" />“રેખાબીઓ પાસે જઇને તેમને વાત કર, તેમને મંદિરના એક ઓરડામાં લઇ આવ અને તેઓને પીવા માટે દ્રાક્ષારસ આપ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JER.35.3" />આથી હું હબાસીન્યાના પુત્ર યમિર્યાના પુત્ર યાઅઝાન્યાને તથા તેના સર્વ ભાઇઓ અને પુત્રોને એટલે કે રેખાબીના સર્વ કુટુંબોના પ્રતિનિધિઓને મળવા ગયો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.35.4" />મંદિરમાં તેઓને ગદાલ્યાના પુત્ર હનાન પ્રબોધકના પુત્રોને આપવામાં આવેલા ઓરડામાં લઇ આવ્યો. આ ઓરડો મહેલના અધિકારીના ઓરડા પાસે તથા મંદિરના દરવાન શાલ્લૂમના પુત્ર માઅસેયાના ઓરડાની બરોબર પર હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.35.5" />પછી મેં તેઓની આગળ પ્યાલા તથા દ્રાક્ષારસ ભરેલા જગ મૂક્યા અને તેઓને તે પીવા માટે આમંત્રણ આપ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.35.6" />પરંતુ તેઓએ કહ્યું, “ના, અમે દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતા નથી. કારણ કે અમારા પિતૃઓ રેખાબના પુત્ર યોનાદાબે અમને આજ્ઞા કરી છે કે, ‘તમે તેમ જ તમારા પુત્રો કોઇ કાળે દ્રાક્ષારસ પીશો નહિ;
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.35.7" />વળી તેમણે અમને એમ પણ કહ્યું કે, અમારે કદી ઘર બાંધવા નહિ, કે અનાજ ઉગાડવું નહિ, તેમજ દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓ રોપવી નહિ, તમારે એવી કોઇ મિલકત રાખવી નહિ એને બદલે તમારે જીવનભર તંબુઓમાં જ રહેવું; તે પછી તમે આ ભૂમિમાં જ્યાં તમે વિદેશીઓ તરીકે રહો છો, લાંબા સમય સુધી જીવશો.’
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.35.8" />અમે આ સર્વ અમારા પિતૃઓ રેખાબના પુત્ર યોનાદાબે કહ્યા પ્રમાણે કર્યુ છે. ત્યારથી અમે, અમારી પત્નીઓએ, અમારા પુત્રો કે પુત્રીઓ અને અમે પોતે કદી દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતા નથી.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.35.9" />અમે ઘરો બાંધ્યા નથી કે નથી રાખ્યા પોતાનાં ખેતરો કે નથી કરી અમે અનાજની વાવણી.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.35.10" />અમે તંબુઓમાં રહીએ છીએ અને અમારા પિતા યોનાદાબે અમને જે સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓ ફરમાવી હતી તે અમે સંપૂર્ણપણે પાળી છે,
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.35.11" />પણ જ્યારે બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે આ દેશ પર ચઢાઇ કરી ત્યારે અમે નક્કી કર્યું કે, ‘બાબિલવાસીઓના અને અરામના સૈન્યથી બચવા માટે અમારે યરૂશાલેમ ભાગી જવું.’ અને આમ અમે યરૂશાલેમમાં વસીએ છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.35.12" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાનું વચન યમિર્યાની પાસે આ પ્રમાણે આવ્યું:
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.35.13" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા કહે છે કે: “યહૂદિયા અને યરૂશાલેમમાં જઇને કહે કે, શું તમે મારાં વચનો સાંભળીને શિખામણ નહિ લો?” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.35.14" />“રેખાબીઓ દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતા નથી, કારણ કે તેઓના પિતા યોનાદાબે તેઓને તેમ કરવાની મનાઇ કરી છે. પણ હું તમારી સાથે વારંવાર બોલ્યો છું છતાં તમે મારું સાંભળતા નથી કે આધીન પણ થતાં નથી.
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.35.15" />મેં એક પછી એક પ્રબોધકોને તમારી પાસે મોકલીને કહેવડાવ્યું કે, તમારા દુષ્ટ માગોર્થી પાછા ફરો તથા અન્ય દેવોની પૂજા કરવાનું બંધ કરો. તો જે દેશ મેં તમને તથા તમારા પિતૃઓને આપ્યો છે તેમાં તમે વસશો; પણ તમે કાન ધર્યા નહિ, ને મારું સાંભળ્યું નહિ.
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<v id="16" bcv="JER.35.16" />રેખાબના પુત્ર યોનાદાબના પુત્રોએ પોતાના પિતૃઓએ જે આજ્ઞા તેઓને આપી, તે માની લીધી છે, પરંતુ આ લોકોએ મારું સાંભળ્યું નથીં.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JER.35.17" />અને તેથી હું કહું છું: “મેં જે જે આફતોની ધમકી આપી છે તે બધી હું યહૂદિયા અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ પર ઉતારીશ. કારણ, મેં તેમને કહ્યું ત્યારે તેમણે સાંભળ્યું નહિ, અને મેં તેમને હાંકલ કરી ત્યારે તેમણે મને જવાબ ન આપ્યો.” આ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JER.35.18" />પછી યમિર્યાએ રેખાબીઓના કુળને કહ્યું, “સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ, કહે છે કે, ‘તમે તમારા પિતૃઓ યોનાદાબની આજ્ઞા માની છે, તથા તેની સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કર્યું છે, અને તમને જે કરવા કહ્યું તે પ્રમાણે જ તમે બધું કર્યું છે;’
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<v id="19" bcv="JER.35.19" />માટે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ કહે છે કે, ‘રેખાબના પુત્ર યોનાદાબના વંશમાં મારી સેવા કરનારની ખોટ તને કદી પડશે નહિ.’”
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<s style="s">રાજા યહોયાકીમે યમિર્યાના ઓળિયાને બાળ્યું
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.36.1" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા યોશિયાના પુત્ર યહોયાકીમના ચોથા વર્ષમાં યહોવાનું આ વચન યમિર્યાની પાસે આવ્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.36.2" />“યોશિયાના શાસનમાં જ્યારે હું તારી સાથે પહેલી વાર બોલ્યો હતો ત્યારથી માંડીને આજસુધી મેં તને ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદિયા તેમજ બીજી પ્રજાઓ વિષે જે જે કઇં કહ્યું હતું તે બધું એક ઓળિયું લઇને તેના પર લખી નાંખ.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.36.3" />કદાચ હું યહૂદિયાના લોકો પર જે આફતો ઉતારવાનું વિચારું છું તે તેઓ જાણવા પામે અને ખોટે રસ્તે જવાનું છોડી દે, તો હું તેમનાં દુષ્કૃત્યો અને પાપ માફ કરું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.36.4" />તેથી યમિર્યાએ નેરિયાના પુત્ર બારૂખને બોલાવ્યો અને યમિર્યાએ લખાવ્યું તે પ્રમાણે બારૂખે બધા ભવિષ્યવચનો લખ્યાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.36.5" />ત્યારબાદ યમિર્યાએ બારૂખને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું, “મને યહોવાના મંદિરમાં જવાનો નિષેધ છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.36.6" />માટે, તું ચોક્કસ જા અને મે તને જે યહોવાના વચનો લખાવ્યા છે તેને તું, એ બધા લોકોની સામે જે ઉપવાસના દિવસે મંદિરમાં આવ્યાં છે. તેની સામે વાંચ, ઉપરાંત તારે યહૂદિયાના સર્વ લોકો જેઓ પોતાના ગામમાંથી આવ્યા છે તેમની સામે પણ જરૂર વાંચવું.
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.36.7" />કદાચ તે લોકો યહોવાને આજીજી કરે અને ખોટે માગેર્થી પાછા વળે; કારણ, યહોવાએ એ લોકોને ભારે રોષ ને ક્રોધપૂર્વક ધમકી આપેલી છે.”
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.36.8" />યમિર્યાએ કહ્યું હતું તે મુજબ નેરિયાના પુત્ર બારૂખે કર્યું અને મંદિરમાં લોકોની આગળ સર્વ સંદેશાઓ વાંચી સંભળાવ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="9-10" bcv="JER.36.9" />યોશિયાના પુત્ર યહોયાકીમ રાજાના અમલ દરમિયાન પાંચમા વષેર્ નવમા મહિનામાં યરૂશાલેમના બધા લોકોએ તેમજ યહૂદિયાનાં ગામોમાંથી ત્યાં આવેલા બધા માણસોએ યહોવા સમક્ષ ઉપવાસ પાળ્યો. એ વખતે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં બધા લોકોના સાંભળતા બારૂખે યમિર્યાના વચનો વાંચી સંભળાવ્યાં. શાફાન ચિટનીસના પુત્ર ગમાર્યાના ઓરડામાંથી તેણે આ વચનો વાંચી સંભળાવ્યાં, એ ઓરડો મંદિરના નવા દરવાજાના ઓટલા આગળ ઉપલા ચોકમાં આવેલો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.36.11" />શાફાનના પુત્ર ગમાર્યાના પુત્ર મીખાયાએ યહોવા તરફથી આવેલા આ સંદેશાઓ સાંભળ્યાં.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.36.12" />ત્યારે તે નીચે ઊતરીને મહેલનાં વહીવટી સભાખંડમાં ગયો. અલીશામા મંત્રી ત્યાં હાજર હતો. અને તેની સાથે શમાયાનો પુત્ર દલાયા, આખ્બોરનો પુત્ર એલ્નાથાન શાફાનનો પુત્ર ગમાર્યા, હનાન્યાનો પુત્ર સિદકિયા તથા બીજા બધા અમલદારો પણ ત્યાં હાજર હતાં.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.36.13" />બારૂખ લોકોની સમક્ષ વાંચતો હતો તે સંદેશાઓ વિષે મીખાયાએ તેઓને કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JER.36.14" />પછી અમલદારોએ કૂશીના પુત્ર, શેલેમ્યાના પુત્ર, નથાન્યાના પુત્ર યેહૂદીને મોકલી બારૂખને કહેવડાવ્યું કે, “જે ઓળિયામાંથી તે લોકોને વાંચી સંભળાવ્યું છે, તે ઓળિયું લઇને અહીં આવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JER.36.15" />તેથી બારૂખ ઓળિયું લઇને તેમની પાસે આવ્યો. તેમણે કહ્યું, “મહેરબાની કરીને બેસ અને એ ઓળિયું અમને વાંચી સંભળાવ.”
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<p style="p">આથી બારૂખે તેમને તે વાંચી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JER.36.16" />બારૂખે તેમની સામે જે વાંચન કર્યુ, તે જેવું તેઓએ સાંભળ્યું કે, તેઓ એકબીજાની સામે ભયથી જોવા લાગ્યા અને બારૂખને કહ્યું, “તેં જે બધું વાંચ્યું છે તેના વિષે આપણે જરૂર રાજાને જણાવવું જોઇએ.”
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<v id="17" bcv="JER.36.17" />પરંતુ પહેલા તું અમને જણાવ કે, આ સંદેશાઓ તારી પાસે કેવી રીતે આવ્યા: “શું યમિર્યાએ પોતે આ સંદેશાઓ તને લખાવ્યા હતા?”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JER.36.18" />તેથી બારૂખે ખુલાસો કર્યો, “યમિર્યાએ મને શબ્દે શબ્દ લખાવ્યો અને મેં તે ઓળિયામાં શાહીથી લખી લીધો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JER.36.19" />પછી અધિકારીઓએ બારૂખને કહ્યું, “તું અને યમિર્યા ક્યાંક છુપાઇ જાઓ. તમે ક્યાં છો તે વિષે કોઇને પણ જાણ કરશો નહિ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JER.36.20" />ત્યારબાદ અધિકારીઓએ મંત્રી અલીશામાની ઓરડીમાં તે ઓળિયાને સંતાડી દીધું અને તેઓ રાજાને તેની વાત કરવા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JER.36.21" />રાજાએ યેહૂદીને ઓળિયું લઇ આવવા મોકલ્યો, યેહૂદી તે ઓળિયું મંત્રી અલીશામાની ઓરડીમાંથી લઇ આવ્યો અને રાજાને તે વાંચીને સંભળાવ્યું. તે વખતે બધા અમલદારો રાજાની આજુબાજુ ઊભેલા હતા.
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<v id="22" bcv="JER.36.22" />તે સમયે રાજા તેના મહેલના શિયાળું ખંડમાં બેઠા હતા. નવમો મહિનો ચાલતો હતો. તેની આગળ સગડીમાં લાકડા બળતાં હતાં.
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<v id="23" bcv="JER.36.23" />યેહૂદી ત્રણચાર ફકરા વાંચી રહે એટલે રાજા લહિયાની છરીથી તેટલો ભાગ કાપી લઇ બળતા લાકડામાં નાખી દેતો. આમને આમ આખું ઓળિયું સગડીમાં હોમાઇ ગયું.
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<v id="24" bcv="JER.36.24" />આ બધું જ સાંભળ્યા પછી પણ રાજાએ કે તેના અમલદારોએ ન તો ગભરાટ વ્યકત કર્યો કે ન તો પશ્ચાતાપમાં કપડાં ફાડ્યાં;
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JER.36.25" />જો કે એલ્નાથાન, દલાયા અને ગમાર્યાએ રાજાને ટઓળિયું ન બાળવા કહ્યું હતું, પણ તેના પર ધ્યાન આપ્યું નહોતું.
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<v id="26" bcv="JER.36.26" />પછી રાજાએ બારૂખ તથા યમિર્યાને પકડવા માટે યરાહમએલને, આઝીએલના પુત્ર સરાયાને તથા આબ્દએલના પુત્ર શેલેમ્યાને મોકલ્યા. પરંતુ યહોવાએ તેઓને સંતાડી રાખ્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JER.36.27" />રાજાએ ઓળિયાને બાળી નાખ્યું, પછી યહોવાએ યમિર્યાને કહ્યું:
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JER.36.28" />“બીજું ઓળિયું લઇને તેના પર યહૂદિયાના રાજા યહોયાકીમે બાળી મૂકેલા પહેલાના ઓળિયામાં જે લખ્યું હતું તે બધું લખી કાઢ.
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<v id="29" bcv="JER.36.29" />અને યહૂદિયાના રાજા યહોયાકીમને કહે કે, ‘આ યહોવાના વચન છે: “તે પોતે આ ઓળિયું બાળીને યમિર્યાને એમ કહીને ઠપકો આપ્યો છે કે, તું આવું તો કેવી રીતે કહી શકે કે, બાબિલનો રાજા આ દેશમાં ચોક્કસપણે આવી જે અહીંના માણસોનો અને પશુઓનો સંહાર કરી નાખશે?”
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<v id="30" bcv="JER.36.30" />આથી હું યહોવા તને કહું છું કે તારા પછી દાઉદની ગાદીએ બેસનાર કોઇ વંશજ તારો રહેશે નહિ, અને તારું શબ દિવસના બળબળતા તાપમાં અને રાત્રીની કડકડતી ઠંડીમાં બહાર ફેકી દેવામા આવશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="JER.36.31" />હું તને, તારા વંશજોને તથા તારા અમલદારોને તેમનાં દુષ્કૃત્યો માટે સજા કરીશ, અને તમારા પર, યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ પર અને યહૂદિયાના લોકો પર મેં જે જે અનિષ્ટ લાવવાની ધમકી આપી હતી તે તમારી પર અવશ્ય ત્રાટકશે, મેં તેઓને ધમકી આપી હતી પણ તેમણે સાંભળ્યું નહિ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JER.36.32" />ત્યારબાદ યમિર્યાએ બીજું ઓળિયું લીધું અને નેરિયાના પુત્ર બારૂખ લહિયાને લખવા આપ્યું. પછી પહેલાં લખાયું હતું તે સર્વ તેણે બારૂખને ફરીથી લખાવ્યું, પરંતુ આ વખતે યહોવાએ તેમાં ઘણાં વચનો ઉમેર્યા.
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<c id="37" />
<s style="s">યમિર્યાને કારાવાસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.37.1" />બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે યહૂદિયાના નવા રાજા તરીકે યહોયાકીમ રાજાના પુત્ર કોન્યાની નિમણૂંક કરી નહિ, પણ તેને બદલે તેણે યોશિયાના પુત્ર સિદકિયાની પસંદગી કરી.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.37.2" />યહોવાએ યમિર્યા દ્વારા જે વચનો કહેવડાવ્યા હતાં તે રાજા સિદકિયાએ તથા તેના અધિકારીઓએ તથા દેશમાં બાકી રહેલા લોકોએ સાંભળ્યાં નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JER.37.3" />તેમ છતાં સિદકિયાએ શેલેમ્યાના પુત્ર યહૂકાલને તથા માઅસેયાના પુત્ર યાજક સફાન્યાને યમિર્યા પાસે મોકલીને કહેવડાવ્યું કે, “તું અમારે માટે યહોવા આપણા દેવ પાસે પ્રાર્થના કર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.37.4" />એ વખતે યમિર્યાને લોકોમાં જવા આવવાની છૂટ હતી, હજી તેને કેદમાં નાખવામાં આવ્યો નહોતો;
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.37.5" />દરમ્યાન ફારુનના લશ્કરે મિસરમાંથી કૂચ કરી, અને યરૂશાલેમને ઘેરો ઘાલીને પડેલા બાબિલવાસીઓએ, એની જાણ થતા જ ઘેરો ઉઠાવી લીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.37.6" />પછી યહોવાનું વચન યમિર્યા પ્રબોધકની પાસે આ પ્રમાણે આવ્યું:
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.37.7" />“ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે કે, ‘યહૂદિયાના જે રાજાએ તમને મારી પાસે પૂછવા મોકલ્યા, તેને કહો કે, જુઓ, તમને સહાય કરવાને ફારુનનું જે સૈન્ય મોકલ્યું છે, તે પોતાના મિસર દેશમાં પાછું જશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.37.8" />અને બાબિલવાસીઓ ફરી હુમલો કરશે. ઓ આ યરૂશાલેમ શહેર ને કબજે કરી એને બાળી મૂકશે.’
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.37.9" />આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું. ‘તમે પોતાની જાતને છેતરશો નહિ, એમ ન માનશો કે બાબિલવાસીઓ તમારા દેશમાંથી કાયમ માટે પાછા જશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.37.10" />જો તમે બાબિલના સમગ્ર સૈન્યનો નાશ કરો અને તેઓમાંના મુઠ્ઠીભર માણસો બચી જાય અને ઘાયલ થઇને પોતાના તંબુઓમાં રહે તોપણ તેઓ ઊઠશે અને તમને પરાજીત કરશે, અને આ નગરને બાળી નાખશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.37.11" />અને ત્યારે, ફારુનનું સૈન્ય ત્યાં પહોચવાના કારણે બાબિલના સૈન્યે યરૂશાલેમને છોડી દીધુ.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.37.12" />યમિર્યા યરૂશાલેમ છોડીને પોતાના કુટુંબીઓની મિલકતમાંથી પોતાના ભાગ લેવા બિન્યામીનના પ્રદેશમાં જવા ઊપડ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.37.13" />પરંતુ બિન્યામીનના દરવાજામાંથી યમિર્યા પસાર થતો હતો, ત્યારે હનાન્યાના પુત્ર શેલેમ્યાના પુત્ર ઇરિયા સંત્રીએ તેની ધરપકડ કરી અને કહ્યું કે, “તે બાબિલના પક્ષમાં જતો રહે છે અને તે રાજદ્રોહી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JER.37.14" />યમિર્યાએ કહ્યું, “ખોટી વાત છે, બાબિલવાસીઓ સાથે ભળી જવા માટે હું નથી જતો. આમ કરવાનો મારો કોઇ ઇરાદો નથી.” પરંતુ ઇરિયાએ તેનું કહ્યું માન્યું નહિ અને તેને પકડીને અમલદાર આગળ રજૂ કર્યો, અમલદારો યમિર્યા પર ક્રોધે ભરાયા.
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.37.15" />તેમણે તેને ચાબુક મરાવી તેને મંત્રી યહોનાથાનના ઘરમાં કેદ પૂરી દીધો.
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<v id="16" bcv="JER.37.16" />તેમણે તેના ઘરને કેદખાનામાં ફેરવી નાખ્યું હતું. તેમણે યમિર્યાને એક ધાતુના ટાંકામાં પૂરી દીધો અને લાંબા સમય સુધી તે ત્યાં જ રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JER.37.17" />સમય જતાં સિદકિયા રાજાએ ગુપ્ત રીતે મહેલમાં તેડી મંગાવ્યો. રાજાએ તેને પૂછયું કે, “આજના દિવસોમાં શું યહોવા તરફથી તને કોઇ સંદેશો મળ્યો છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">યમિર્યાએ કહ્યું, “હા, સંદેશો મળ્યો છે. બાબિલના રાજાથી તું હાર પામશે.”
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.37.18" />ત્યારબાદ યમિર્યાએ રાજા સિદકિયાને પૂછયું, “મેં તમારું કે તમારા અમલદારોનું કે આ લોકોનું શું બગાડ્યું છે કે તમે મને કેદ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="JER.37.19" />જે પ્રબોધકોએ તમને કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘બાબિલનો રાજા તમારા પર કે તમારા દેશ પર હુમલો નહિ કરે, તેઓ ક્યાં ગયા?’
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<v id="20" bcv="JER.37.20" />તેથી, મારા ધણી મારા રાજા, મહેરબાની કરીને મને સાંભળો, મારી નમ્ર વિનંતિ ધ્યાનમાં લો. મને પાછો મંત્રી યહોનાથાનને ઘેર ન મોકલશો, નહિ તો હું ત્યાં મરી જઇશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JER.37.21" />જ્યારે રાજા સિદકિયાએ આજ્ઞા કરી કે, યમિર્યાને કેદમાં ન મોકલવામાં આવે, પરંતુ તેને રાજમહેલની જેલમાં રાખવામાં આવે અને નગરમાં રોટલી ખલાસ થઇ જાય ત્યાં સુધી તેને રોજ તાજી બનાવેલી રોટલી આપવામાં આવે. આમ થવાથી યમિર્યા રાજમહેલની જેલમાં રહ્યો.
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<c id="38" />
<s style="s">યમિર્યાનો પાણીના ટાંકામાંથી બચાવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.38.1" />પરંતુ જ્યારે માત્તાનનો પુત્ર શફાટયા, પાશહૂરનો પુત્ર ગદાલ્યા, શેલેમ્યાનો પુત્ર યુકાલ અને માલ્ખિયાનો પુત્ર પાશહૂરે યમિર્યા લોકોને જે કહેતો હતો તે સાંભળ્યું:
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.38.2" />“આ યહોવાના વચન છે: ‘જે કોઇ આ નગરમાં રહેશે તે યુદ્ધ, દુકાળ કે રોગચાળાથી મૃત્યુ પામશે, પણ જે કોઇ બાબિલવાસીઓને શરણે જવા બહાર ચાલ્યો જશે તે બચવા પામશે, કઇઁં નહિ તો તે જીવતો તો રહેશે જ.’
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.38.3" />‘અને આ નગર બાબિલના રાજાના લશ્કરના હાથમાં જશે, અને તેઓ તેનો કબજો લેશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.38.4" />ત્યારબાદ પેલા અમલદારોએ રાજાને કહ્યું, “આ માણસને મારી નાખવો જોઇએ. આવી વાતો કરીને એ આપણા યોદ્ધાઓને અને નગરમાં બાકી રહેલા લોકોને નાહિંમત બનાવી દે છે. એ આ લોકોનું હિત કરવા નથી માગતો પણ વિનાશ કરવા માંગે છે. તે દેશદ્રોહી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JER.38.5" />રાજા સિદકિયાએ કહ્યું, “સારું તમને યોગ્ય લાગે તેમ કરો. હું તમને રોકી શકતો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.38.6" />આથી એ લોકોએ યમિર્યાને લઇ જઇને રક્ષકઘરના પ્રાંગણમાં આવેલા રાજકુમાર માલ્ખિયાના ધાતુંના ટાંકામાં તેને ઉતાર્યો. તેઓએ તેને દોરડા વડે નીચે ઉતાર્યો. ધાતુના ટાંકામાં પાણી નહોતું, પણ ફકત કાદવ હતો અને યમિર્યા એ કાદવમાં ખૂંપી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JER.38.7" />કૂશનો એબેદ-મેલેખ એ રાજમહેલમાં એક ખોજો હતો. તેણે સાંભળ્યું કે તેઓએ યમિર્યાને ધાતુના ટાંકામાં નાખવામાં આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.38.8" />રાજા બિન્યામીન દરવાજા આગળ બેઠો હતો એવામાં એબેદ-મેલેખે આવીને તેને કહ્યું,
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.38.9" />“મારા ધણી, મારા રાજા, આ લોકોએ પ્રબોધક યમિર્યા સાથે જે બધું કર્યુ છે તે ઘણું અનિષ્ટ થયું છે; એ લોકોએ તેને પાણીનાં ટાંકામાં નાખ્યો છે અને નગરમાં ખોરાક તો છે નહિ એટલે તે કદાચ ભૂખે મરી જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JER.38.10" />આ સાંભળીને રાજાએ એબેદ-મેલેખેને આજ્ઞા કરી કે તું અહીંથી ત્રીસ માણસને તારી સાથે લઇને પ્રબોધક યમિર્યા મૃત્યુ પામે તે પહેલાં તેને બહાર ખેંચી કાઢ.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.38.11" />એબેદ-મેલેખે પોતાની સાથે ત્રીણ માણસો લઇને મહેલના ભંડારમાં ગયો. અને પોતાની સાથે કેટલાંક ફાટેલાં ચીથરાં લઇને દોરડા વડે ટાંકાંમાં યમિર્યાને પહોંચાડ્યા અને કહ્યું,
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.38.12" />“દોરડાથી તને હાનિ પહોંચે નહિ માટે આ જૂના ફાટેલાં કપડાને તારી બગલમાં મૂક.”
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.38.13" />યમિર્યાએ તે પ્રમાણે કર્યું. અને તેને દોરડા વડે ધાતુના ટાંકામાંથી બહાર ખેંચી કાઢયો અને પહેલા જ્યાં હતો ત્યાં રક્ષકઘરમાં મોકલી અપાયો.
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<s style="s">સિદકિયાએ યમિર્યાને પ્રશ્ર્ન પૂછયો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JER.38.14" />પછી રાજા સિદકિયાએ પ્રબોધક યમિર્યાને યહોવાના મંદિરમાં ત્રીજા દરવાજે તેડાવી મંગાવ્યો અને તેને કહ્યું, “મારે તને એક વાત પૂછવી છે; મારાથી કશું છુપાવીશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JER.38.15" />યમિર્યાએ સિદકિયાને કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય હકીકત જણાવીશ તો તું મને મારી નાખશે અને જો હું સલાહ આપુ તો પણ તું મારું સાંભળવાનો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JER.38.16" />ત્યારે રાજા સિદકિયાએ ખાનગીમાં યમિર્યાને એવું વચન આપ્યું કે, “આપણને જીવન બક્ષનાર સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે, હું તને મારી નાખવા ઇચ્છતા લોકોના હાથમાં સોંપી દઇશ નહિ કે તને મારી નાખવા દઇશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JER.38.17" />એટલે યમિર્યાએ સિદકિયાને કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાનાં આ વચન છે: ‘જો તમે બહાર જઇને બાબિલના રાજાના શરણે જશો, તો તમે તથા તમારું કુટુંબ જીવતાં રહેશો અને આ નગરને અગ્નિથી બાળી નાખવામાં આવશે નહિં.
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.38.18" />પરંતુ જો તમે બહાર જઇ તેને શરણે નહિ જાઓ, તો તેઓનું સૈન્ય આ નગરને આગ લગાડશે અને તમે તેઓનાં હાથમાંથી બચવા નહિ પામો.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JER.38.19" />એટલે રાજા સિદકિયાએ યમિર્યાને કહ્યું, “મને યહૂદિયાના લોકોથી ડર લાગે છે, જેમણે બાબિલના સૈન્યની શરણાગતિ સ્વીકારી છે, મને તેમની બીક લાગે છે. કદાચ મને તેમનાં હાથમાં સોંપી દેવામાં આવે, તેઓ મારી સાથે કેવી રીતે વર્તશે તેની કોને ખબર?”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JER.38.20" />યમિર્યાએ પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “તને તેમના હાથમાં સોંપવામાં નહિ આવે. જો તું કેવળ યહોવાને આધીન થશે તો તારું જીવન બચી જશે અને બધા સારા વાનાં થશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="JER.38.21" />પરંતુ જો તમે બહાર જઇને તાબે થવાની ના પાડશો, તો યહોવાએ મને આવું દિવ્યદર્શન આપ્યું છે:
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<v id="22" bcv="JER.38.22" />યહૂદિયાના મહેલમાં રહેતી સર્વ સ્ત્રીઓને બહાર લાવવામાં આવશે. અને તેઓને બાબિલના સૈન્યના અધિકારીઓને વહેંચી દેવામાં આવશે; તેઓ જતાં જતાં ગાય છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તમારાં પરમમિત્રોએ તમને ખોટે રસ્તે દોર્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે તમારી પાસે પોતાનું ધાર્યું કરાવ્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા પગ કાદવમાં ફસાઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તમને છોડીને ભાગી ગયા છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JER.38.23" />“તમારી બધી સ્ત્રીઓને અને તમારા બધાં બાળકોને બાબિલવાસીઓ સમક્ષ લઇ જવામાં આવશે, અને તમે પોતે પણ બચવા નહિ પામો; તમે પણ બાબિલના રાજાના કેદી બનશો અને આ નગરને બાળીને ભસ્મિભૂત કરી દેવામાં આવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JER.38.24" />એટલે સિદકિયાએ યમિર્યાને કહ્યું, “આ વચનોની કોઇને ખબર ન પડે, નહિ તો તારું આવી જ બન્યું જાણજે.
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<v id="25" bcv="JER.38.25" />જો અમલદારોને ખબર પડે કે, હું તારી સાથે વાત કરતો હતો તો આપણે શું ચર્ચા કરી છે તે જાણવા માટે તેઓ તને મારી નાખવાની ધમકી પણ આપે.
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<v id="26" bcv="JER.38.26" />છતાં તું કેવળ એટલું જ કહેજે કે, યહોનાથાનના ઘરમાં આવેલી કેદમાં મને પાછો મોકલે નહિ, હું ત્યાં મરી જઇશ, તેવી વિનંતી મેં રાજાને કરી હતી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JER.38.27" />બધા અમલદારોએ યમિર્યા પાસે આવીને તેને પૂછયું, અને તેણે રાજાએ તેને કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાણે જ બરાબર તેમને કહ્યું. તેઓ છાનામાના ચાલ્યા ગયા, કારણ તેમણે વાતચીત સાંભળી નહોતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JER.38.28" />યરૂશાલેમને જીતી લેવામાં આવ્યું ત્યાં સુધી યમિર્યા રક્ષકઘરના ચોકમાં જ રહ્યો.
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<c id="39" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમનું પતન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.39.1" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાના અમલના નવમાં વર્ષના દશમાં મહિનામાં નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે પોતાની આખી સૈના સાથે યરૂશાલેમ પર ચઢાઇ કરીને તેને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.39.2" />સિદકિયાના શાસનના અગિયારમા વર્ષના ચોથા મહિનાના નવમા દિવસે તેઓએ નગરની બધી દીવાલોને તોડી નાખીને ભંગાણ પાડ્યું.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.39.3" />બાબિલના સૈન્યના સર્વ અધિકારીઓ નગરમાં આવ્યાં અને વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કરીને નગરનાં વચલા દરવાજામાં બેઠાં, સામ્ગારનબૂ, સાર્સખીમ, રાબ-સારીસ અને રાજાનો મુખ્ય મદદનીશ નેર્ગલ-શારએસેર તથા અન્ય ત્યાં હાજર હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.39.4" />સિદકિયા રાજાને તથા તેના સૈન્યને તેની ખબર પડી કે નગર જીતી લેવાયું છે, ત્યારે તેઓ રાજાના બગીચાના રસ્તા પરથી ભાગી ગયા. તેઓએ બે દીવાલો વચ્ચેના દરવાજામાંથી નગર છોડ્યું અને યરદન નદી તરફ આગળ વધ્યાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.39.5" />પરંતુ બાબિલવાસીઓના લશ્કરે તેમનો પીછો કર્યો અને યરીખોના મેદાનમાં સિદકિયાને પકડી પાડ્યો. તેઓ તેને કેદ પકડી હમાથના પ્રદેશમાં રિબ્લાહ ખાતે બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર સમક્ષ લઇ ગયા અને તેના પર કામ ચલાવવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.39.6" />પછી બાબિલના રાજાએ સિદકિયાની નજર સામે તેના પુત્રોનો વધ કર્યો તથા બાબિલના રાજાએ યહૂદિયાના સર્વ રાજવી અધિકારીઓને પણ મારી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.39.7" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે સિદકિયાની આંખો ફોડી નાખી, તેને સાંકળે બાંધી બાબિલ મોકલી આપ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.39.8" />બાબિલવાસીઓએ રાજમહેલને અને લોકોના ઘરોને બાળી મૂક્યા અને યરૂશાલેમની દીવાલ તોડી નાખી.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.39.9" />બાકી રહેલા લોકોને અને જેઓ બાબિલના લોકોને શરણે જતા રહ્યાં હતાં તેમને રક્ષકોના નાયક નબૂઝારઅદાને બાબિલમાં દેશવટો દીધો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.39.10" />તેણે વસ્તીમાંના ગરીબ લોકોને યહૂદિયામાં રહેવા દીધા, જેમની પાસે કશું જ નહોતું, તેમને દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીઓ અને ખેતરો આપ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.39.11" />હવે નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજાએ નબૂઝારઅદાનને હુકમ કર્યો કે તે યમિર્યાને શોધી કાઢે.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.39.12" />તેણે કહ્યું, “તેને સહેજ પણ ઇજા થવી જોઇએ નહિ, તેની સંભાળ રાખજે, અને તેને જે જોઇએ તે બધું પૂરું પાડજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JER.39.13" />તેથી નબૂઝારઅદાનને મુખ્ય દરબારી નબૂશાઝબાનને વડા અધિકારી નેર્ગાલ-શારએસેરને અને બાબિલના રાજાના બધા મુખ્ય અમલદારોને મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.39.14" />યમિર્યાને કેદખાનામાંથી કાઢી લાવવા માટે તેઓએ સૈનિકોને મોકલ્યા, યમિર્યાને ચોકીમાંથી બહાર કાઢયો, તે તેને ઘેર લઇ જવા સારું શાફાનના પુત્ર અહીકામના પુત્ર ગદાલ્યાને સ્વાધીન કર્યો; આમ તે પોતાના લોકો સાથે જ રહ્યો.
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<s style="s">અબેદ મેલેખને યહોવાનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JER.39.15" />યમિર્યા કેદખાનામાં જ હતો અને બાબિલનું સૈન્ય યરૂશાલેમ પર ચઢી આવ્યું તે પહેલાં યહોવાનો આ સંદેશો તેની પાસે આવ્યો હતો:
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<v id="16" bcv="JER.39.16" />“તુ જઇને કૂશના એબેદ-મેલેખને કહે કે, ‘આ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે: મેં કહ્યા પ્રમાણે આ શહેર પર આફત ઉતારનાર છું, હું એનું ભલું કરનાર નથી. જે વખતે આ બનશે ત્યારે તું એ જોવા હાજર હોઇશ:
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<v id="17" bcv="JER.39.17" />પણ તે દિવસે હું તને ઉગારી લઇશ, તું જેમનાથી ડરે છે તે માણસોના હાથમાં તને નહિ સોંપી દઉં.
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.39.18" />કારણ કે હું તને ચોક્કસ બચાવી લઇશ, તું મરણ નહિ પામે. હું તારું જીવન બચાવીશ કારણ કે, તેં મારા પર વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો હતો,’” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<c id="40" />
<s style="s">વારસામાં પ્રાપ્ત ભૂમિમાં યમિર્યાનો નિવાસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.40.1" />રક્ષકોની ટુકડીના નાયક નબૂઝારઅદાને યમિર્યાને રામામાંથી મોકલી દીધો, તે પછી તેને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ, યરૂશાલેમ અને યહૂદિયાના બીજા જે લોકોને કેદી તરીકે બાબિલ દેશવટે લઇ જતા હતા તેમની ભેગો યમિર્યાને પણ ત્યાં લઇ જવાયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.40.2" />સરદારે યમિર્યાને બોલાવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “યહોવા તમારા દેવ તેમણે આપેલા વચન પ્રમાણે આ વિપત્તિ દેશ પર લાવ્યા છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.40.3" />અને હવે તેણે એ આફત ઉતારી છે; તેણે જે કરવાની ધમકી આપી હતી તે કરી છે, કારણ, તમે યહોવા સામે પાપ કર્યું છે અને તેનું કહ્યું કર્યું નથી.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.40.4" />જો હવે હું તારા બંધનો છોડી નાખીશ અને તને મુકત કરીશ. તારે જો મારી સાથે બાબિલ આવવું હોય તો આવ, હું તારી સંભાળ રાખીશ. પરંતુ જો તારે મારી સાથે બાબિલ ન આવવું હોય તો તેનો ય વાંધો નથી, જો, તારી સમક્ષ પસંદગી કરવા માટે આખો દેશ પડેલો છે. તારે જ્યાં જવું હોય ત્યાં તું જઇ શકે છે.”
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.40.5" />પરંતુ યમિર્યા જવાબ આપે તે પહેલાં જ નબૂઝારઅદાને કહ્યું, “તું જો અહીં વસવાનો નિર્ણય કરે તો પછી યહૂદિયા પાછો જા, કારણ કે બાબિલના રાજાએ ત્યાં ના લોકો પર ગદાલ્યાને હાકેમ તરીકે નીમેલો છે, અને તેની હકૂમત હેઠળના લોકો સાથે તું રહે. પરંતુ તેનો નિર્ણય તારે કરવાનો છે; તું ઇચ્છે ત્યાં જઇ શકે છે.”
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<p style="p">ત્યારબાદ નબૂઝારઅદાને થોડો ખોરાક અને નાણાં યમિર્યાને આપ્યાં અને તેને વિદાય કર્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.40.6" />પછી યમિર્યા ગદાલ્યા પાસે પાછો આવ્યો અને યહૂદિયા પ્રાંતમાં રહેલા લોકો સાથે આવીને રહ્યો.
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<s style="s">ગદાલ્યાનું ટુંકુ શાસન
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JER.40.7" />હવે જ્યારે વગડામાંના સૈનિકોના નેતાઓને અને તેના માણસોએ સાંભળ્યું કે, જેમને બંદીવાન તરીકે લઇ જવામાં આવ્યા નથી એવા દેશમાં બાકી રહેલા ગરીબ લોકો પર બાબિલના રાજાએ ગદાલ્યાને હાકેમ તરીકે નીમ્યો છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.40.8" />તેઓ મિસ્પાહ ખાતે ગદાલ્યા પાસે આવ્યા, ત્યારે નથાન્યાનો પુત્ર ઇશ્માએલ, કારેઆહના પુત્રો યોહાનાન અને યોનાથાન તાન્હુમેથના પુત્ર સરાયા, નટોફાથીને એફાયના પુત્રો માઅખાથીનો પુત્ર યઝાન્યા તથા તેઓની ટૂકડીઓ મિસ્પાહમાં ગદાલ્યાની પાસે આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JER.40.9" />ગદાલ્યાએ તેમને અને તેમના માણસોને વચન આપ્યું કે, “બાબિલવાસીઓને તાબે થતાં ડરશો નહિ. આ દેશમાં ઠરીઠામ થઇને રહો અને બાબિલના રાજાની સેવા કરો. સૌ સારાવાના થશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.40.10" />જ્યાં સુધી મારો સવાલ છે, હું મિસ્પાહમાં વસીશ. અને જ્યારે જ્યારે બાબિલવાસીઓ આવશે ત્યારે હું તમને તેમની સામે રજુ કરીશ. પણ તમે દ્રાક્ષારસ, ફળ અને તેલ ભેગા કરી શકો છો અને તમે જે ગામો કબજે કર્યા છે તેમાં વસી શકો છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.40.11" />તે ઉપરાંત મોઆબ, આમ્મોન તથા અદોમમાં અને તેની પાસેના પ્રદેશોમાં વસતા યહૂદિયાના લોકોએ સાંભળ્યું કે હજુ પણ થોડા લોકો વસવાટ કરે છે, યહૂદિયામાં ગદાલ્યાને તે બધાં લોકોનો નેતા તરીકે નીમવામાં આવ્યો જેમને તે બાબિલ લઇ ગયો નથી.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.40.12" />ત્યાર પછી તેઓ બધાં જુદા જુદા સ્થળોએથી ગદાલ્યા પાસે આવ્યા. તેમણે પુષ્કળ ફળ અને દ્રાક્ષારસ ભેગાં કર્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JER.40.13" />પછી કારેઆહનો પુત્ર યોહાનાન તથા જે સૈન્યોના સરદારો સીમમાં હતાં, તેઓ બધા મિસ્પાહમાં ગદાલ્યા પાસે આવ્યા અને
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.40.14" />તેઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “શું તમને ખબર છે કે આમ્મોનીઓના રાજા બાઅલીસે નથાન્યાના પુત્ર ઇશ્માએલને તમારું ખૂન કરવા માટે મોકલ્યો છે?” પરંતુ અહીકામના પુત્ર ગદાલ્યાએ તેમની વાત પર વિશ્વાસ મૂકયો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JER.40.15" />કારેઆહના પુત્ર યોહાનાને મિસ્પાહમાં ગદાલ્યાને ખાનગીમાં કહ્યું, “નથાન્યાના પુત્ર ઇશ્માએલને મારી નાખવા માટે મને જવા દે, ને તે વાતની કોઇને ખબર પડશે નહિ; તે શા માટે તને મારી નાખે? જે યહૂદિયાઓ પાછા ફર્યા છે તેઓનું શું થશે? શેષ યહૂદિયાના લોક તારી પાસે ભેગા થયા છે તે શા માટે વિખેરાઇ જાય અને નાશ પામે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JER.40.16" />પરંતુ અહીકામના પુત્ર ગદાલ્યાએ યોહાનાનને કહ્યું, “તું આ પ્રમાણે ના કરીશ, હું તને આમ કરવા માટે મનાઇ ફરમાવું છું, કારણ કે ઇશ્માએલ વિષે તું જૂઠું બોલે છે.”
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<c id="41" />
<s style="s">શાસનકર્તા ગદાલ્યાનું ખૂન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.41.1" />અલીશામાનો પુત્ર નથાન્યાનો પુત્ર ઇશ્માએલ રાજવી કુટુંબનો સભ્ય અને રાજાના મુખ્ય અધિકારીઓમાંનો એક હતો. તે દશ માણસો સાથે મિસ્પાહ ખાતે અહીકામના પુત્ર ગદાલ્યાને મળવા આવ્યો. ગદાલ્યાએ તેઓને ભોજન માટે આમંત્રણ આપ્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.41.2" />જ્યારે તેઓ ભોજન લઇ રહ્યા હતાં ત્યારે ઇશ્માએલ તથા તેની સાથેના દશ માણસો એકદમ ઊઠયા અને પોતાની તરવાર ખેંચીને ગદાલ્યાને મારી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.41.3" />ઇશ્માએલે ત્યાં મિસ્પાહમાં ગદાલ્યા સાથે હાજર રહેલા યહૂદિયાના બધાં માણસોને અને ખાલ્દીઓના યોદ્ધાઓને પણ મારી નાખ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.41.4" />બીજા દિવસે, આ વાતની કોઇને ખબર પડે તે પહેલાં,
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.41.5" />શખેમ, શીલોહ તથા સમરૂનમાંથી એંસી માણસો યહોવાની ભકિત કરવા માટે મંદિરમાં આવ્યા. તેઓએ પોતાની દાઢી મૂંડાવેલી હતી તથા પોતાનાં કપડા ફાડ્યાં હતાં, અને પોતાના શરીરો પર ઘા કર્યા હતા. તેઓ અર્પણો તથા ધૂપ લઇને આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.41.6" />નથાન્યાનો પુત્ર ઇશ્માએલ રડતો રડતો તેમને મળવા મિસ્પાહથી નીકળ્યો, જ્યારે તેઓને મળ્યો ત્યારે કહ્યું, “અરે, આવો, અહીકામના પુત્ર ગદાલ્યાને મળવા ચાલો, અને શું થયું છે તે જુઓ!”
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.41.7" />તેઓ બધા શહેરની મધ્યમાં પહોંચ્યા પછી ઇશ્માએલ તથા તેના માણસોએ દશ માણસો સિવાય સર્વને મારી નાખ્યા અને તેઓના મૃતદેહોને ટાંકામાં ફેંકી દીધા.
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.41.8" />પરંતુ તેઓમાંના દશ માણસોએ ઇશ્માએલને કહ્યું, “અમને મારી ન નાખશો. અમારી પાસે ઘઉં, જવ, તેલ અને મધ ખેતરોમાં સંતાડેલા છે.” આથી તેણે તેમને જીવતા રહેવા દીધા અને તેમના સાથીઓ ભેગા મારી ન નાખ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.41.9" />ઇશ્માએલે મૃતદેહોને જે ટાંકામાં નાખી દીધા તે ઘણું મોટું હતું. આસા રાજાએ ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા બાઅશાથી રક્ષણ મેળવવા મિસ્પાહના નગરને કિલ્લેબંધ કર્યું ત્યારે તે બંધાવ્યું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JER.41.10" />ત્યારબાદ ઇશ્માએલ રાજકુમારીઓને તથા બાકી રહેલા લોકોને બંધકો તરીકે લઇ ગયો. જેઓને રક્ષક ટૂકડીના સરદાર નબૂઝારઅદાને અહીકામના પુત્ર ગદાલ્યાના તાબામાં સોપ્યાં હતાં. એ સર્વને લઇને તે આમ્મોન તરફ આગળ વધ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.41.11" />પરંતુ નથાન્યાનો પુત્ર ઇશ્માએલે જે સર્વ ભૂંડા કાર્યો કર્યા હતાં, તે વિષે કારેઆહના પુત્ર યોહાનાન અને સૈન્યના સર્વ અધિકારીઓ, જે તેની સાથે હતા તેઓએ સાંભળ્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.41.12" />તેઓ પોતાના સર્વ માણસોને લઇને ઇશ્માએલની પાછળ તેની સાથે યુદ્ધ કરવા માટે ગયા. તેઓએ ગિબયોન પાસેના મોટા જળસમૂહ પાસે તેને પકડી પાડ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.41.13" />ઇશ્માએલે જેમને મિસ્પાહ ખાતે કેદ પકડ્યા હતા તે બધા માણસો યોહાનાન અને તેની સાથેના સૈનાનાયકોને જોઇને પ્રસન્ન થયા.
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.41.14" />ઇશ્માએલ જે બધા લોકોને મિસ્પાહ પાસે બંધક બનાવીને લઇ ગયો હતો તેઓ પાછા ફરીને યોહાનાનની સાથે ગયા.
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.41.15" />પરંતુ ઇસ્માએલ આઠ માણસો સાથે છટકી ગયો અને આમ્મોનના પ્રદેશમાં ભાગી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JER.41.16" />ગદાલ્યાને મારી નાખ્યાં પછી ઇશ્માએલ જે પુરુષો, સ્ત્રીઓ, બાળકો અને અધિકારીઓને, ગિબયોનથી લઇ આવ્યો હતો તે સર્વ બાકી રહેલા લોકોને પછી યોહાનાન અને તેના સૈન્યના અધિકારીઓ પોતાની સાથે લઇ ગયા.
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<s style="s">મિસરમાં બચી નીકળવું
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JER.41.17" />તેઓ ત્યાંથી બાબિલવાસીઓથી બચવા મિસર જવા નીકળ્યાં અને માર્ગમાં તેમણે બેથલેહેમ પાસે કિમ્હામ આગળ મુકામ કર્યો.
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.41.18" />તેઓને ડર લાગતો હતો કે હવે તે સમાચાર બાબિલ પહોંચશે ત્યારે તેઓ શું કરશે. કારણ કે બાબિલના રાજાએ ગદાલ્યાને પસંદ કરીને નીમ્યો હતો અને ઇશ્માએલે ગદાલ્યાને મારી નાખ્યો.
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<c id="42" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.42.1" />પછી કારેઆહનો પુત્ર યોહાનાન અને હોશાયાનો પુત્ર યઝાન્યા પણ બધા સૈનાનાયકો; નાના મોટા બધા લોકો સાથે પ્રબોધક યમિર્યા પાસે ગયા અને કહેવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.42.2" />“કૃપા કરીને અમારી અરજ સાંભળો, અમારા તરફથી અને બાકી રહેલા આ લોકો તરફથી તમારા દેવ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરો.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.42.3" />તમે જુઓ છો કે અમે કેટલા બધા હતા અને કેટલા ઓછા થઇ ગયા છીએ. તમે એવી પ્રાર્થના કરો જેથી અમારા દેવ યહોવા અમારે ક્યાં જવું અને શું કરવું તે કહે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.42.4" />પ્રબોધક યમિર્યાએ કહ્યું, “ઠીક, મેં તમારી અરજ સાંભળી છે. હું તમારી ઇચ્છા મુજબ તમારા દેવ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરીશ અને તે જે જવાબ આપશે તે તમને જણાવીશ. કશું છુપાવીશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JER.42.5" />ત્યારે તેમણે યમિર્યાને કહ્યું, “જો તમારી મારફતે યહોવાએ આપેલી બધી સૂચનાઓનું અમે પાલન ન કરીએ તો ભલે યહોવા અમારી વિરુદ્ધ મજબૂત અને વિશ્વાસુ સાક્ષી બની રહે.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.42.6" />અમને પસંદ પડે, ન પડે પણ અમે અમારા દેવ યહોવાનું કહ્યું કરીશું, જેની પ્રાર્થના કરવા અમે તમને મોકલીએ છીએ. અમે જો અમારા દેવ યહોવાનું કહ્યું કરીશું તો સૌ સારા વાનાં થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JER.42.7" />દશ દિવસ વીતી ગયા પછી યમિર્યાને યહોવાએ પોતાનો જવાબ આપ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.42.8" />તે સાંભળી તેણે યહોવાને તથા તેની સાથેના બધા સૈનાનાયકોને તેમજ નાનામોટા બધા લોકોને તેડાવી મંગાવ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.42.9" />અને કહ્યું, “તમે મને ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા પાસે તમારી અરજ રજૂ કરવા મોકલ્યો હતો. તે કહે છે;
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.42.10" />‘જો તમે ફરી આ દેશમાં જ નિવાસ કરશો તો હું તમને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ, તોડી પાડીશ નહિ, તમારા મૂળીયાં રોપીશ, ઉખેડી નાખીશ નહિ, કારણ તમારા પર મેં આફત ઉતારી તેનો મને પસ્તાવો થાય છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.42.11" />બાબિલના રાજાથી હવે તમે જરાય ડરશો નહિ, કારણ કે તમારો બચાવ કરવા તથા તેના હાથમાંથી તમને મુકત કરવા હું તમારી સાથે જ છું.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.42.12" />હું તમારા પર દયા લાવીને તેના હૃદયમાં તમારે માટે દયા જગાડીશ, અને તે તમને તમારાં વતનમાં પાછા જવા દેશે.’ આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.42.13" />‘પરંતુ જો તમે યહૂદિયામાં બાકી રહેલા લોકો, એમ કહેવાનુ ચાલુ રાખશો, કે ના, અમે આ શહેરમાં નહિ રહીએ, તો તમે તમારા દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંધન કરશો.’
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.42.14" />અને એમ કહેશો કે, ‘અમે આ દેશમાં રહેવા માગતા નથી. અમારે તો મિસર જવું છે, જ્યાં અમારે યુદ્ધ જોવું ન પડે કે રણશિંગડાનો નાદ સાંભળવો ન પડે, તેમ ખાવા માટે અનાજની પણ ખોટ ન પડે. અમારે તો ત્યાં રહેવું છે.’
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<v id="15" bcv="JER.42.15" />તો યહોવાના વચન ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો. ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સર્વસમર્થર્ યહોવાના આ વચન છે, ‘જો મિસર જવાનો અને ત્યાં ભાગી જવાનો તમારો નિર્ણય હોય;
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<v id="16" bcv="JER.42.16" />તો તમે જે યુદ્ધથી ડરો છો તે મિસરમાં પણ તમારો પીછો નહિ છોડે, જે દુકાળથી તમે ડરો છો તે મિસરમાં પણ તમારો પીછો પકડશે, અને ત્યાં તમે મરી જશો.
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<v id="17" bcv="JER.42.17" />તમારામાંથી જે લોકો મિસરમાં જઇને ત્યાં વસવાનો આગ્રહ રાખે છે તે પ્રત્યેક માટે આ વિપત્તિઓ રાહ જોઇ રહી છે. હા, તમે તરવાર, દુકાળ અને મરકીથી મૃત્યુ પામશો. ત્યાં હું તમારા પર જે સર્વ વિપત્તિઓ લાવીશ તેમાંથી કોઇ પણ બચવા પામશે નહિ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JER.42.18" />“કારણ કે આ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે: ‘જેમ મારો ક્રોધ અને રોષ યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ પર વરસ્યો હતો તેમ તે તમારા પર વરસશે જો તમે મિસર જશો તો. તમને જોઇને તે લોકો ભયભીત અને સ્તબ્ધ બની જશે; લોકો તમારી હાંસી ઉડાવશે અને તમારું નામ શાપરૂપ બની જશે. તમે ફરી કદી આ જગ્યા જોવા નહિ પામો.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JER.42.19" />યમિર્યાએ વધુમાં કહ્યું, “યહૂદિયામાં બાકી રહેલા લોકો, તમને યહોવા કહે છે, ‘તમે મિસર જશો નહિ.’ આ બરાબર સમજી લેજો. મેં આજે તમને ચેતવણી આપી દીધી છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="JER.42.20" />જો તમે જશો તો તમારો જીવ ગુમાવશો, કારણ કે તમે તમારી જાતે જ મને તમારા માટે વિનંતિ કરવા મોકલ્યો હતો અને મને કહ્યું હતું, ‘તમારા યહોવા દેવ તને જે કહે તે તું અમને કહેજે અને અમે તેને આધીન થઇશું.’
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<v id="21" bcv="JER.42.21" />યહોવાએ મને જે કહ્યું તે સર્વ મેં આજે તમને જણાવ્યું છે. પરંતુ અગાઉ ઘણી વખત કર્યું હતું તેમ હમણાં પણ તમે આધીન થવાના નથી,
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<v id="22" bcv="JER.42.22" />અને તેથી તમે ખચીત સમજી લોે કે, તમે જ્યાં જવાનો આગ્રહ રાખો છો, તે મિસરમાં તમે યુદ્ધથી, દુકાળથી અને રોગચાળાથી મૃત્યુ પામશો.”
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<c id="43" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.43.1" />અને પછી જેવો યમિર્યાએ યહોવા તેમના દેવ તરફથી આવેલો સંદેશો લોકોને કહેવાનું પુરું કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JER.43.2" />હોશાયાના પુત્ર અઝાર્યાએ અને કારેઆહના પુત્ર યોહાનાને તથા બીજા અભિમાની માણસોએ યમિર્યાને કહ્યું, “‘તું જૂઠું બોલે છે! અમે મિસરમાં જઇએ તેવું અમારા દેવ યહોવાએ તને કહ્યું નથી!’
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.43.3" />નેરિયાના પુત્ર બારૂખે અમારી વિરુદ્ધ કાવતરું કર્યું છે અને આ પ્રમાણે અમને કહેવા તને જણાવ્યું છે, જેથી અમે અહીં વસવાટ કરીએ અને બાબિલનું સૈન્ય આવે ત્યારે તે અમને મારી નાખે અથવા ગુલામો તરીકે અમને બાબિલ લઇ જાય.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.43.4" />તેથી યોહાનાને, સૈનાનાયકોએ અને સર્વ લોકોએ યહોવાનું કહ્યું કરવાની અને યહૂદિયામાં રહેવાની ના પાડી.
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.43.5" />આથી યોહાનાન અને સૈનાનાયકોએ યહૂદિયાના બાકી રહેલા લોકોને,
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.43.6" />એ બધી સ્ત્રીઓ, પુરુષો અને બાળકો અને રાજકુમારીઓ જેને રક્ષકોના નાયક નબૂઝારઅદાને ગદાલ્યાને સોંપ્યાં હતાં, અને પ્રબોધક યમિર્યા, નેરિયાના પુત્ર બારૂખને પણ.
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<v id="7" bcv="JER.43.7" />તેઓ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંધન કરીને મિસર ગયા અને ત્યાં તાહપાન્હેસ પહોંચ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.43.8" />તાહપાન્હેસમાં યહોવાએ ફરીથી યમિર્યા સાથે વાત કરી, અને કહ્યું:
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.43.9" />“તું મોટા પથ્થરો લે, પછી યહૂદિયાના માણસોને ભેગા કર અને તેઓના દેખતા અહીં તાહપાન્હેસમાં ફારુનના મહેલના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળના ફરસબંધીવાળા માર્ગમાં એ મોટા પથ્થરને દાટી દે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.43.10" />પછી યહૂદિયાના માણસોને આ પ્રમાણે કહે, ‘સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ કહે છે, બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને હું ચોક્કસ અહીં મિસરમાં લાવીશ. કારણ કે તે મારો સેવક છે. આ જે પથ્થરો મેં જડેલાં છે તેના પર હું તેનું સિંહાસન સ્થાપન કરીશ. તેના પર તે પોતાનો રાજવી મંડપ ઊભો કરશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="JER.43.11" />તે આવીને મિસર પર હુમલો કરશે; જેઓ રોગચાળાથી મરવા નિર્માયેલા છે તેઓ રોગચાળાથી મૃત્યુ પામશે, જેઓ કેદ પકડાવા નિર્માયા છે તેઓ કેદ થશે અને જેઓ યુદ્ધમાં મરવા સજાર્યા છે તેઓ યુદ્ધમાં મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.43.12" />તે મિસરના દેવોનાં મંદિરોને અગ્નિથી બાળીને ભસ્મ કરશે, તે લોકોને બંદીવાન બનાવી લઇ જશે. જેમ કોઇ ભરવાડ પોતાની ચાદરમાંની જૂ વીણીને સાફ કરી નાખે છે તેમ તે મિસરને વીણીને સાફ કરી નાખશે અને વિજયી બનીને પાછો જશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.43.13" />તે મિસરમાંના બેથ-શેમેશના પૂજાસ્તંભો તોડી પાડશે; અને મિસરના દેવોના મંદિરો બાળી મૂકશે.’”
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<c id="44" />
<s style="s">યહૂદા અને મિસરના લોકોને યહોવાનો સંદેશ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.44.1" />મિસરના ઉત્તર ભાગમાં મિગ્દોલ, તાહપાન્હેસ, નોફ અને પાથોસના પ્રદેશમાં વસતા યહૂદિયાવાસીઓ વિષે યહોવાનો સંદેશો યમિર્યા પાસે આવ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.44.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના આ વચન છે: યરૂશાલેમ અને યહૂદિયાના બધા નગરો પર મેં જે આફત ઉતારી છે તે તમે જોઇ છે. આજે પણ એ નગરો ખંડેર હાલતમાં અને વસ્તી વગરના છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.44.3" />જે ‘દેવો’ ને તેઓએ કે તમે તમારા પિતૃઓમાંથી પણ કોઇએ જાણ્યા નથી, તે દેવોની તેઓએ પૂજા કરી; તેથી હું તેઓ પર અતિ કોપાયમાન થયો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.44.4" />મેં સતત મારા સેવકો, પ્રબોધકો, મોકલીને તેમને ચેતવ્યા હતા કે, ‘આ અધમ કૃત્ય કરશો નહિ; હું તિરસ્કાર કરું છુ.’
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.44.5" />પરંતુ તમારા વડવાઓએ સાંભળ્યું નહિ, અને પોતાના દુષ્ટ માગોર્થી પાછા ફર્યા નહિ; તેઓએ તો આ ‘દેવો’ આગળ પોતાના બલિદાનો ચઢાવવાનું ચાલું જ રાખ્યું.
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<v id="6" bcv="JER.44.6" />આથી મારો કોપ યહૂદિયાના નગરોમાં અને યરૂશાલેમના મહોલ્લાઓમાં અગ્નિની જેમ પ્રગટી ઊઠયો અને તે શહેરો ખંડેર અને વેરાન થઇ ગયાં, આજે પણ તેમની એ જ દશા છે, ઉજ્જડ પડેલાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JER.44.7" />અને હવે હું ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહું છું: “આવી સમસ્યાઓ તમે તમારે માથે શા માટે નોતરો છો? તમે શા માટે યહૂદિયાના સ્ત્રીઓ, પુરુષો, બાળકો અને ધાવણાં બાળકોનો વિનાશ થવા દો છો? તમે શા માટે તમારીં પાછળ કોઇને બાકી રહેવા દેતા નથી?
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<v id="8" bcv="JER.44.8" />તમે મૂર્તિઓ બનાવી છે અને અહીં મિસરમાં તેઓની પૂજા કરીને તેઓની આગળ બલિ ચઢાવી ધૂપ બાળ્યો છે. તેમ કરીને તમે મને વધુ કોપાયમાન કર્યો છે અને તમારો સંપૂર્ણ વિનાશ કરવા તથા તમને પૃથ્વીના સર્વ દેશોમાં શાપરૂપ તથા નિંદારૂપ કરવા તમે મને ફરજ પાડી છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="JER.44.9" />તમારા પિતૃઓના પાપ, યહૂદિયાના રાજાઓ તથા રાણીઓનાં પાપ, અને તમારા પોતાના દ્વારા તથા તમારી પત્નીઓ દ્વારા યહૂદિયા તથા યરૂશાલેમની શેરીઓમાં આચરવામાં આવેલા પાપ શું તમે ભૂલી ગયા?
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<v id="10" bcv="JER.44.10" />આજપર્યંત તમે તે માટે પશ્ચાતાપ કર્યો નથી, કે મેં તમારી અને તમારા પિતૃઓની આગળ રજૂ કરેલા નિયમો અને કાયદાઓનું પાલન કર્યું નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JER.44.11" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે: “જુઓ, હું તમારી પર ભયાનક મુસીબતો મોકલવા માટે અને યહૂદિયાના લોકોનો જડમૂળથી નાશ કરવા માટે કૃત નિશ્ચયી છું.
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<v id="12" bcv="JER.44.12" />યહૂદિયાના બાકી રહેલા લોકો જેમણે મિસર જઇને વસવાનો નિર્ધાર કર્યો છે, તેમને હું હતા ન હતા કરી નાખીશ. તેઓ બધા જ મિસર દેશમાં નાશ પામશે; કોઇ યુદ્ધમાં મરશે તો કોઇ દુકાળમાં મરશે. નાનામોટા સૌ યુદ્ધમાં કે દુકાળમાં મરી પરવારશે. તેમની દશા જોઇને લોકો ભયભીત અને સ્તબ્ધ બની જશે. સૌ તેમની હાંસી અને નાલેશી કરશે, અને તેમનું નામ શાપરૂપ લેખાશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JER.44.13" />યરૂશાલેમની જેમ જ મિસરમાં વસનારાઓને પણ હું યુદ્ધ, દુકાળ અને રોગચાળાથી સજા કરીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="JER.44.14" />તેથી યહૂદિયાના બાકી રહેલા જે ફરી યહૂદિયા જઇને વસવાની આશાએ મિસરમાં જઇને વસ્યા છે તેમાંથી કોઇ પણ જીવતો રહેવાનો નથી કે પાછો યહૂદિયા જવા પામવાનો નથી, કારણ, થોડા ભાગી છૂટેલા સિવાય કોઇ મારા કોપમાંથી બચી શકવાના નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JER.44.15" />આ સાંભળીને જેઓ જાણતા હતા કે તેમની પત્નીઓ બીજા દેવોને બલી ચઢાવે છે તે બધાએ અને ત્યાં ઊભેલી બધી સ્ત્રીઓ જેઓ મોટા સમૂહમાં હતી તેમને તેમ જ મિસરમાં પાથોસમાં વસતાં બધા માણસોને યમિર્યાએ કહ્યું,
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<v id="16" bcv="JER.44.16" />“તું અમારા માટે દેવનો સંદેશ લાવે છે, પણ અમે એ સાંભળવાનાં નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="JER.44.17" />અમે જે જે કરવાની પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી છે તે જ અમે ચોક્કસ કરીશું. અમે અને અમારા વડીલો, અમારા રાજાઓ અને અમારા આગેવાનો જેમ યહૂદિયાના ગામોમાં અને યરૂશાલેમમાં થાય છે, તેમ આકાશની સમ્રાજ્ઞીને બલિદાન, અર્પણો અને પેયાર્પણો ચઢાવતા રહીશું. તે વખતે અમને જોઇએ તેટલું ખાવા મળતું હતું, અમે ઘણા સુખી અને સમૃદ્ધ હતા.
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<v id="18" bcv="JER.44.18" />પરંતુ જ્યારથી અમે આકાશની સામ્રાજ્ઞીને આહુતિ આપવાનું અને પેયાર્પણો ચઢાવવાનું બંધ કર્યું, ત્યારથી અમે ભારે મુશ્કેલીઓ ભોગવીએ છીએ, યુદ્ધનો કે દુકાળનો અમે ભોગ થઇ પડ્યા છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JER.44.19" />સ્ત્રીઓ બોલી ઊઠી, “શું તું એવું ધારે છે કે અમારા પતિઓની સંમતિ વગર, તેઓની મદદ વિના ‘આકાશની સામ્રાજ્ઞી’ ની પૂજા કરતા હતાં અને તેને પેયાર્પણ ચઢાવતા હતાં તેમ જ તેની મુદ્રાવાળી રોટલીઓ તૈયાર કરી તેને અર્પણ કરતા હતાં? ના, એવું નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JER.44.20" />પછી યમિર્યાએ એવો ઉત્તર આપનારા સૌ કોઇને, સ્ત્રીઓને અને પુરુષોને કહ્યું,
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<v id="21" bcv="JER.44.21" />“તમે તથા તમારા વડીલો તથા તમારા રાજાઓ અને સરદારો તેમજ દેશના બધા લોકો યહૂદિયાના નગરોમાં અને યરૂશાલેમના મહોલ્લાઓમાં મૂર્તિઓ આગળ ધૂપ બાળતા હતાં, તને લાગે છે કે તેને તે યાદ નથી? ચોક્કસ, તે આ બધું તેના મનમાં રાખે છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="JER.44.22" />તમે જે દુષ્કમોર્ કરતા હતા તે યહોવા વધુ વખત સહન કરી શક્યા નહિ; તેથી તેમણે તમારો દેશ જેમ આજે છે તેમ ઉજ્જડ, વેરાન, શ્રાપરૂપ અને નિર્જન કરી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="JER.44.23" />તમારા પર આ આફત આવી છે અને આજે પણ કાયમ છે તેનું કારણ, તમે એ અપીર્ને યહોવાનો અપરાધ કર્યો, તેનું કહ્યું કર્યુ નહિ કે તેના નિયમો, કાયદાઓ અને આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન પણ ન કર્યું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JER.44.24" />પછી યમિર્યાએ તે સ્ત્રીઓને તથા સર્વ લોકોને કહ્યું, “મિસરમાં વસતા યહૂદિયાના નાગરિકો તમે સર્વ યહોવાનું વચન ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો!
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<v id="25" bcv="JER.44.25" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ કહે છે, ‘જ્યા સુધી આ બાબત તને અને તારી પત્નીને લાગુ પડે છે, તેં એ જ કર્યુ છે જે તે કહ્યું હતું, “તે કહ્યું હતું, અમે સ્વર્ગની રાણીને બલિદાન, અર્પણો અને પેયાર્પણો ચઢાવીને અમારી પ્રતિજ્ઞા ચોક્કસ પાળીશું તેથી કોઇ પણ ભોગે તમે તમારી પ્રતિજ્ઞાઓ પૂરી કરો.”’
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<v id="26" bcv="JER.44.26" />પણ મિસરમાં વસતા બધાં યહૂદીઓ, તમે મારા વચન ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો; હું મારા મોટા નામનાં સમ ખાઇને કહું છું. ‘આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું, કે આખા મિસરમાં હવે કોઇ પણ યહૂદી મારું નામ લઇ શકશે નહિ. કોઇ પણ યહૂદી “યહોવાના સમ કહીને સમ લઇ શકશે નહિ.”
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<v id="27" bcv="JER.44.27" />સાવધાન, હું તમારા પર મારી નજર રાખીશ પણ તમારા ભલા માટે નહિ! તમારા પર આફત આવે તેવું હું કરીશ, અને તમે બધાં યુદ્ધ અને દુકાળથી સમાપ્ત થઇ જશો. કોઇ પણ બચવા નહિ પામે.
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<v id="28" bcv="JER.44.28" />તેમ છતાં મિસરમાં વસતાં થોડા યહૂદીઓ મોતમાંથી ઊગરી જશે અને તેઓ યહૂદિયા પાછાં જશે. ત્યારે બચવા પામેલા લોકોને ખબર પડશે કે કોના વચન સાચાં છે, મારાં કે તેમના.
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<v id="29" bcv="JER.44.29" />હું તને આ પ્રમાણે નિશાની આપીશ કે, તેથી હું તને મિસરમાં શિક્ષા કરીશ, કે જેથી તને ખબર પડે કે હું તારી પર ખરેખર ભયાનક વિપત્તિ લાવીશ.’
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<v id="30" bcv="JER.44.30" />યહોવા કહે છે: ‘જુઓ, જેમ મેં યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાને બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધો, તેમ હું મિસરના રાજા ફારુન હોફ્રાને તેના દુશ્મનના હાથમાં, તેનો જીવ લેવાની શકિત લોકોના હાથમાં સોંપીશ.’”
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<s style="s">બારૂખને યહોવાનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.45.1" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા યોશિયાના પુત્ર યહોયાકીમના અમલમાં ચોથા વર્ષ દરમ્યાન નેરિયાના પુત્ર બારૂખે પ્રબોધક યમિર્યાએ લખાવ્યા પ્રમાણે આ શબ્દો એક પોથીમાંથી લખી લીધા.
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<v id="2" bcv="JER.45.2" />ત્યારબાદ યમિર્યાએ તેને કહ્યું, “બારૂખ, તારી બાબતમાં ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે:
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<v id="3" bcv="JER.45.3" />તેં કહ્યું, ‘મને હાય હાય! મારા જીવનમાં મુશ્કેલીઓની ખોટ છે શું? અને હવે યહોવાએ તેમાં વધારો કર્યો છે! હું નિસાસા નાખીને થાકી ગયો છું. હું આરામ અનુભવતો નથી.’”
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<v id="4" bcv="JER.45.4" />યહોવા કહે છે, “બારૂખને આ પ્રમાણે કહે: ‘આ દેશને મેં બાંધ્યો છે, હવે હું તેનો નાશ કરીશ. જે મેં સ્થાપન કર્યું છે તેને હું દૂર કરીશ.
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<v id="5" bcv="JER.45.5" />તું શું પોતાને માટે મહાન બાબતો શોધે છે? તેવું કરીશ નહિ, જો કે આ સર્વ લોકો પર હું ભારે વિપત્તિ લાવીશ. પણ તું જ્યાં જશે ત્યાં હું તારું રક્ષણ કરીશ, એ જ તારો બદલો છે.’”
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<c id="46" />
<s style="s">રાષ્ટ્રો વિષે યહોવાનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.46.1" />જુદા જુદા રાષ્ટ્રો વિષે યમિર્યાને આ સંદેશા આપવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
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<s style="s">મિસર વિષે સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JER.46.2" />મિસર વિષે મિસરના રાજા ફારુનની સૈનાને બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે ફ્રાંત નદીને કાંઠે આવેલા કાર્કમીશ ખાતે યહૂદિયાના રાજા યહોયાકીમના અમલના ચોથા વર્ષ દરમ્યાન હરાવી હતી તે પ્રસંગે મિસરની વિરુદ્ધ આ સંદેશો આપવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.46.3" />“હે મિસરના લોકો, તમે તમારાં શસ્ત્રો સજીને યુદ્ધ કરવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે આગળ વધો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.46.4" />ઘોડાઓ પર જીન બાંધો અને તેના પર સવાર થઇ જાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ટોપ પહેરીને સજ્જ થાઓ!
</q>
<q style="q1">ભાલાઓની ધાર તીણી કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બખતર ધારણ કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.46.5" />પરંતુ હું આ શું જોઉં છું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ભયભીત થઇ ભાગે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના શૂરવીરોને મારી હઠાવવામાં આવ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પાછું જોયા વગર ઊભી પૂંછડીએ ભાગે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચારેકોર ભય વ્યાપી ગયો છે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.46.6" />“ખૂબ અતિ ઝડપથી દોડનાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે અતિ શૂરવીર સૈનિકો પણ બચી શકે નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઉત્તર તરફ યુફ્રેતીસ નદી પાસે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ઘવાઇને પડ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.46.7" />નીલ નદીના પૂરની જેમ સમગ્ર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેશમાં ફેલાઇ જતું આ શૂરવીર સૈન્ય કોણ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.46.8" />મિસર નીલ નદીની જેમ ઉભરાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ નદીઓ તેમના કાંઠા પર પૂરથી ફરી વળે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે કહે છે, ‘હું ઉપર ચઢીશ અને આખી પૃથ્વીને ઢાકી દઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું શહેરોને અને તેના વતનીઓને તાણી જઇશ.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.46.9" />તો હે મિસરના ઘોડેસવારો, રથસવારો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓ, આવો!
</q>
<q style="q1">ક્રૂશના અને પુરના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લૂદોના ઢાલ ધારણ કરેલા ધનુર્ધારીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે સર્વ આવો!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.46.10" />“કારણ કે આજે અમારા પ્રભુ યહોવાનો દિવસ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આજે તેનો વૈર લેવાનો,
</q>
<q style="q1">પોતાના દુશ્મનો ઉપર વૈર લેવાનો દિવસ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આજે તેની તરવાર ધરાઇ ધરાઇને તેમને ખાઇ જશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તૃપ્ત થતા સુધી તેમનું લોહી પીશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા પ્રભુ યહોવાએ ઉત્તરમાં ફાંત નદીને કિનારે યજ્ઞ માંડ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.46.11" />“હે મિસરની કુમારિકાઓ, ગિલયાદ જાઓ અને થોડી ઔષધી લો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ઘણી ઔષધી લીધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે સ્વસ્થ નહિ થાઓે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.46.12" />સર્વ પ્રજાઓમાં તારી અપકીતિર્ સાંભળી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નિરાશા અને પરાજયનો તારો વિલાપ સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર સંભળાય છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા ‘શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓ’ અંદર અંદર અથડાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બંને સાથે ભોંય પર પછડાય છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JER.46.13" />યહોવાએ યમિર્યા પ્રબોધકને નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર માટે આમ કહ્યું, બાબિલના રાજા મિસરની ભૂમિ પર હુમલો કર.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.46.14" />“મિસરમાં જાહેર કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મિગ્દોલમાં અને નોફમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમજ તાહપાન્હેસમાં ઢંઢેરો પિટાવો, જણાવો કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘હોશિયાર! તૈયાર!
</q>
<p style="p">તમારી આસપાસ તરવાર
</p>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિનાશ ર્સજી રહી છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.46.15" />શા માટે તારા બહાદુર યોદ્ધા ભાગી ગયા?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સામનો ન કરી શક્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે યહોવાએ તેમને તેમના શત્રુઓની સામે ચત્તાપાટ કરી દીધા હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.46.16" />તેણે તેઓને લથડતા કરી દીધા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આથી શુ વધારે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ એક બીજા પર પડીને કહેવા લાગ્યા કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘ચાલો, ઘરે જઇએ, કારણ કે તરવાર આપણને મારી નાખશે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.46.17" />મિસરના ફારુનનું નામ આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘શકિતહીન, જે ડંફાસ તો બહુ મારે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ અણીને વખતે કરતો કશું નથી.’”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.46.18" />હું રાજાનો રાજા સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“મારા જીવના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું;
</q>
<q style="q1">પર્વતોમાં જેવો તાબોર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાગર સમીપે જેવો કામેર્લ તેવું બનશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.46.19" />હે મિસરના પ્રજાજનો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો સામાન બાંધો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને બંદીવાસ જવાને તૈયાર થાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે મેમ્ફિસ નગરનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે વસતિવિહીન તથા ઉજ્જડ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.46.20" />“મિસર તો રૂડીરૂપાળી વાછરડી હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ઉત્તરમાંથી એક અશ્વમાખ આવીને તેને ડંખ મારશે અને તેને દોડાવશે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.46.21" />તેના ભાડૂતી યોદ્ધાઓ પણ પાળેલા વાછરડા જેવા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ પણ બધા નાસી છૂટયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ ટકી ન રહ્યો, કારણ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમની સજાનો દિવસ આવી પહોંચ્યો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના સર્વનાશનો ઘડો ભરાઇ ચૂક્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.46.22" />સાંભળો, નાસી જતા સર્પ જેવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મિસર અવાજ કરે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે એના દુશ્મન જોરશોરથી ધસતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની સામે આવે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ વૃક્ષો તોડી પાડનારા લોકોની જેમ કુહાડા લઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પર આવે છે.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="23" bcv="JER.46.23" />“જાણે કઠીયારા ઝાડ કાપતા ના હોય!
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ તેઓ તેના ગાઢા જંગલો કાપી નાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેઓ તીડોની જેમ અસંખ્ય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ગણ્યાં ગણાય એમ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.46.24" />મિસરના લોકોએ તેમની આબરૂ ગુમાવી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉત્તરના લોકોએ તેમને તેમના ગુલામ બનાવ્યા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JER.46.25" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલનો દેવ, કહે છે, “હવે હું નોશહેરના દેવ આમોનને, મિસરને, તેના દેવોને અને રાજાઓને તથા ફારુનને અને તેના પર વિશ્વાસ રાખનારાઓને સજા કરનાર છું.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="JER.46.26" />હું તેમને તેમનો જીવ લેવા તાકી રહેલા બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને સુપ્રત કરી દઇશ. અને પછી મિસરમાં પાછી પહેલાંની માફક વસ્તી થશે.” આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઉત્તરીય ઇસ્રાએલ માટે સંદેશ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JER.46.27" />“હે મારા સેવક યાકૂબના વંશજો, હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારે ડરવાની જરૂર નથી. કારણ કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તમને અને તમારા વંશજોને તમે જ્યાં બંદી છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દૂરના દેશમાંથી છોડાવી લાવીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમે પાછા સુખશાંતિપૂર્વક રહેવા પામશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ તમને ડરાવશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JER.46.28" />યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હે યાકૂબ, મારા સેવક, ગભરાઇશ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, હું તમારી પડખે છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">જુદી જુદી પ્રજાઓની વચ્ચેં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તમને દેશવટો દીધો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બધાનો હું અંત લાવનાર છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ હું તમને મારીશ નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું ચોક્કસ તમને શિક્ષા કર્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિના છોડવાનો નથી.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="47" />
<s style="s">પલિસ્તીઓ માટે યહોવાનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.47.1" />જ્યારે ફારૂન અને મિસરનું સૈન્ય ગાઝા પર ચઢી આવ્યું તે પહેલા, યહોવાએ પ્રબોધક યમિર્યા દ્વારા પલિસ્તીઓ માટે આ સંદેશો મોકલ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.47.2" />આ યહોવાના વચન છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“ઉત્તરમાંથી પૂર આવી રહ્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પલિસ્તીઓના સમગ્ર દેશ પર તે ફરી વળશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તેઓનાં નગરો તથા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમાનાં સર્વસ્વનો નાશ કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">શૂરવીર પુરુષો ભયથી બૂમો પાડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સર્વ પ્રજાજનો પોક મૂકીને રડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.47.3" />ઘોડાઓના દાબડાનો અવાજ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રથના પૈડાની ઘરઘરાટી તીર્વ વેગથી દોડતાં રથોને
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણે પિતાઓ એટલાં નિ:સહાય હશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તેઓ પોતાના સંતાનો તરફ પાછા ફરીને જોયા વગર નાસી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.47.4" />કારણ કે, એ દિવસ આવી પહોંચ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે બધા જ પલિસ્તીઓનો સંહાર થવાનો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે તૂર અને સિદોનની સાથે થનારા કોઇ રહેશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા બધા પલિસ્તીઓનો-કાફતોરના ટાપુમાંથી આવી વસેલા સૌનો સંહાર કરનાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.47.5" />ગાઝા અને આશ્કલોનના નગરો ધૂળભેંગા કરવામાં આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખંડેર બની જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અનાકીમના વંશજો તમે કેવી રીતે પસ્તાવો અને રૂદન કરશો!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.47.6" />“હે યહોવાની તરવાર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ક્યારે શાંત થઇશ?
</q>
<q style="q1">ફરી તું મ્યાનમાં પાછી જા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આરામ કર અને શાંત રહે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.47.7" />પણ યહોવાએ એને આજ્ઞા કરી હોય પછી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ આરામ શી રીતે કરે?
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે આશ્કલોન તથા સમુદ્રને કાંઠે વસનારાઓનો વિનાશ કરવાની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે તેને આજ્ઞા કરીને મેં દરિયાકાંઠાને સાફ કરવાનું સોંપ્યું છે.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="48" />
<s style="s">મોઆબના લોકોનું ભાવિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.48.1" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા મોઆબ વિષે આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“નબોનું આવી બન્યું!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ભોંય ભેંગુ થઇ ગયું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કિર્યાથાઇમને લાંછન લાગ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જીતાઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનો કિલ્લો તોડી પાડવામાં આવ્યો છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે મોઆબનું ગૌરવ નથી રહ્યું!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.48.2" />મોઆબનું ગૌરવ હવે રહ્યું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હેશ્બોનમાં મોઆબના શત્રુઓએ એના પતનની યોજના ઘડી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કહે છે ‘ચાલો, આપણે એને રાષ્ટ તરીકે ભૂંસી નાખીએ.’
</q>
<q style="q1">માદમેન નગરને પણ ચૂપ કરવામાં આવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શત્રુઓની તરવાર તારો પીછો કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.48.3" />સાંભળો, હોરોનાયિમમાંથી પોકાર સંભળાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘હિંસા, વિનાશ.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.48.4" />મોઆબ નષ્ટ થઇ ગયું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સોઆર સુધી તેનાં બાળકોનું આક્રંદ સંભળાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.48.5" />કારણ કે તેઓ રડતાં રડતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લૂહીથના ઢોળાવો પર ચઢે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓ દુ:ખથી વિલાપ કરતાં કરતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હોરોનાયિમના ઢોળાવો ઉતરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.48.6" />નાસો, તમારો જીવ લઇને નાસો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વગડાનાં જંગલી ગધેડા જેવા થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.48.7" />“હા, તમે પોતાની સંપત્તિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આવડત પર નિર્ભર રહ્યાં છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે પણ નાશ પામશો, તમારા મૂંગા દેવ કમોશ દેશવટે જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના યાજકો અને અમલદારો તેની સાથે જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.48.8" />દરેક નગર પર વિનાશ ઊતરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક પણ શહેર બચવા પામશે નહિ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.48.9" />“મોઆબ માટે મીઠું અલગ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાખો કારણકે તે ચોક્કસ પડશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના નગરો વસ્તી વિનાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉજ્જડ ખંડેર થઇ જવાના છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.48.10" />જે યહોવાનું કામ પૂરા દિલથી કરતા નથી તે શાપિત થાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે માણસ તરવારથી રકતપાત કરતા નથી તેને ધિક્કાર હો!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.48.11" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “પ્રાચીનકાળથી મોઆબ પર આક્રમણો થયા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેને હેરાન કરવામાં આવ્યું નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનો દેશનિકાલ કરવામાં આવ્યો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોઆબ એવા દ્રાક્ષારસ જેવો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">કે જેને એક પાત્રમાંથી બીજા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાત્રમાં રેડવામાં આવ્યો નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનો સ્વાદ જેવો ને તેવો રહ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેની સુગંધ બદલાઇ નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.48.12" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“આ લોકો મોઆબ શહેરને ખાલી કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નાખશે જેમ લોકો દ્રાક્ષારસની બરણી ખાલી કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેમ લોકો માટીના ઘડાના ટૂકડે ટૂકડા કરી નાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તેના નગરોનો નાશ કરવામાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JER.48.13" />ત્યારે મોઆબનો કમોશદેવ વિષેનો મ ભાંગી જશે, જેમ ઇસ્રાએલનો બેથેલના દેવ વિષે મ ભાંગી ગયો હતો જેના પર તેણે વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.48.14" />“હે મોઆબના લોકો, આ રાજાઓના રાજા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવા સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">‘તમારી હિંમ્મત કઇ રીતે થઇ આવુ કહેવાની.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે અમે બહાદુર છીએ, કેળવાયેલા યોદ્ધાઓ છીએ?’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.48.15" />મોઆબ અને તેના નગરોનો નાશ થયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના ચુનંદા જુવાનો રહેંસાઇ ગયા છે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.48.16" />“હવે મોઆબનો વિનાશ હાથવેંતમાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એનું પતન વાયુવેગે આવી રહ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.48.17" />હે મોઆબના મિત્રો, તેના માટે વિલાપ તથા રૂદન કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુઓ, બળવાનો અને સ્વરૂપવાનો કેવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધૂળધાણી થઇ ગયા છે!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.48.18" />“હે દીબોનના લોકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા સન્માનજનક સ્થાન ઉપરથી નીચે ઊતરો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ભોંય પર ધૂળમાં બેસો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે મોઆબનો વિનાશ કરનાર આવી પહોંચ્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેણે તમારા કિલ્લાઓનો નાશ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.48.19" />“હે અરોએરના લોકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રસ્તે ઊભા રહીને ચોકી કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ભાગી જતા લોકોને પૂછો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું થયું છે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.48.20" />“તેઓ તને જવાબ આપશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોઆબ ખંડેર થઇ ગયું છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">રૂદન અને શોક કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આનોર્નના કિનારાઓ પરથી જાહેર કરો કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોઆબ ખેદાન મેદાન થઇ ગયું છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.48.21" />મોઆબના ઉચ્ચ મેદાન પરના નગરો તે હોલોન,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાહસાહ, મેફાઆથને સજા કરવામાં આવશે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.48.22" />દીબોન, નબો, બેથ દિબ્લાથાઇમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="23" bcv="JER.48.23" />ક્રિયા-થાઇમ, બેથ-ગામૂલ, બેથ-મેઓન,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.48.24" />કરીઓથ, બોસ્રાહ, અને મોઆબના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ નગરો જે નજીકમાં છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તથા જે દૂર આવેલા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ બધાને સજા થઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JER.48.25" />મોઆબનું બળ તોડી નાખવામાં આવ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની સત્તા ભાંગી નાખવામાં આવી છે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JER.48.26" />“મોઆબને છાકટો પીધેલો બનાવી દો! એણે યહોવાનો વિરોધ કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ એની ઊલટીમાં આળોટશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકોની હાંસીનું પાત્ર થશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">સર્વ કોઇ તેનો તિરસ્કાર કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JER.48.27" />“શું તેં ઇસ્રાએલની હાંસી કરી નહોતી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તેં તેઓને ચોરોની ટોળી માની નહોતી?
</q>
<q style="q1">હા, જ્યારે પણ તે તેમના વિષે વાત કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેં તુચ્છકારથી તારુંડોકુ હલાવ્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JER.48.28" />હે મોઆબના લોકો, તમારા નગરોમાંથી ભાગી જાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઊંડી સાંકડી ખીણોમાં
</q>
<q style="q1">પોતાના માળા બાંધીને રહેતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કબૂતરોની માફક તમે ગુફાઓમાં રહો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JER.48.29" />“મોઆબ અતિ ગવિર્ષ્ઠ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે તેના અભિમાન,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઉદ્ધતાઇ અને તુમાખી વિષે સાંભળ્યું છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JER.48.30" />યહોવા કહે છે, “મને પોતાને એની ઉદ્ધતાઇની ખબર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની ડંફાસો બધી ખોટી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનાં કાર્યો બધા પોકળ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JER.48.31" />અને તેથી હું મોઆબને માટે ચિંતા કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમગ્ર મોઆબ માટે હું પોકે પોકે રડું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કીરહેરેસના માણસો માટે હું શોક કરું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JER.48.32" />દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓથી ભરપૂર સિબ્માહના લોકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું યાઝેરના કરતાં પણ તમારા માટે વધુ વિલાપ કરું છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે વિનાશે તમારી ફેલાયેલી ડાળીઓને કાપી નાખી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી દ્રાક્ષાઓ તથા ઉનાળાનાં ફળોની ફસલને લઇ લીધી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે તમને ઉજ્જડ કરી મૂક્યા છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JER.48.33" />મોઆબની રસાળ ભૂમિમાંથી ખુશી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આનંદ અદ્રશ્ય થઇ ગયાં છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">દ્રાક્ષારસના કોલુમાંથી દ્રાક્ષારસ વહેતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દ્રાક્ષ ગૂંદતા ગૂંદતાં હવે કોઇ આનંદના પોકારો કરતું નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JER.48.34" />“તેના બદલે બધી જગ્યાએથી; હેશ્બોનથી એલઆલેહ સુધી; સોઆરથી હોરોનાયિમ સુધી, અને ત્યાંથી એગ્લાથ શલી-શીયા સુધી ભય અને વેદનાના પોકારો સંભળાય છે. નિમ્રીમનાં પાણી પણ સુકાઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="JER.48.35" />યહોવા કહે છે: મોઆબ જૂઠા દેવોની પૂજા કરતું હતું અને મૂર્તિઓ આગળ ધૂપ બાળતું હતું. તે સર્વ મેં બંધ કરાવી દીધું છે.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="JER.48.36" />“આથી મારું હૃદય મોઆબ અને કીર-હેરેસ માટે મારા હૃદયમાં શોક છે. કારણ કે તેઓની સર્વ સંપત્તિ નાશ પામી છે.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="JER.48.37" />હા, હરેક માણસનું માથું મૂડાયું છે અને બધા માણસની દાઢી બોડવામાં આવી છે. તેઓના હાથ કાપાઓથી ભરેલા છે. અને તેઓ સૌએ શણના વસ્રો પહેર્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="JER.48.38" />મોઆબને ઘેરઘેર અને ચોરેચૌટે પસ્તાવા સિવાય કશું નથી, કારણ, મેં મોઆબને જૂની અને નકામી બાટલીની જેમ તેના ચૂરેચૂરા કર્યા છે.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JER.48.39" />“મોઆબ ભાંગી ગયું! રડો! મોઆબ શરમજનક રીતે પીછેહઠ કરે છે! મોઆબના બધા પડોશીઓ એની હાંસી ઉડાવે છે!” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="JER.48.40" />કારણ કે આ યહોવા કહે છે, “જો, તેના શત્રુઓ એક ગરૂડની જેમ મોઆબ પર ચકરાવો લે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની પર આક્રમણ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="JER.48.41" />તેનાં નગરોનો નાશ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના મજબૂત કિલ્લાઓને કબજે કરવામાં આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રસૂતિની વેદનાથી પીડાતી સ્ત્રીઓની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓ ભયથી ધ્રૂજશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="JER.48.42" />પછી મોઆબનું નામોનિશાન મિટાઇ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની પ્રજા નાશ પામશે, કારણ કે, તેમણે મારો યહોવાનો વિરોધ કર્યો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="JER.48.43" />યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“અરે મોઆબ, તારા માર્ગમાં ભય, ફાંદો અને ખાડા તારી રાહ જોઇ રહ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="JER.48.44" />જે કોઇ માણસ ભયનો માર્યો ભાગી જશે તે ખાડામાં પડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ખાડામાંથી ઊભો થઇને બહાર આવશે તે પકડાઇ જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મોઆબને સજા કરવાનો સમય આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેણે આ બધાંનો સામનો કરવો પડશે.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="45" bcv="JER.48.45" />“નાસી ગયેલા અસહાય નિર્વાસિતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હેશ્બોનની છાયા તળે વિસામો લે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ હેશ્બોનમાંથી આગ ભભૂકી નીકળે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સીહોનના રાજમહેલમાંથી જવાળાઓ લપકારા મારે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એ તોફાનીઓની ભૂમિને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોઆબના સીમાડા અને પર્વતોને ભરખી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="46" bcv="JER.48.46" />હે મોઆબ, આ તે તમારી કેવી દશા!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે મોઆબના લોકો!
</q>
<q style="q1">હે કમોશદેવના ભકતો, તમારું આવી બન્યું! કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારાં પુત્રો અને પુત્રીઓને કેદ પકડીને દેશવટે લઇ જવામાં આવ્યા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="JER.48.47" />પરંતુ યહોવા કહે છે, “ભવિષ્યમાં હું મોઆબનું ભાગ્ય પલટી નાખીશ, હું મોઆબને સંસ્થાપિત કરીશ.”
</p>
<p style="p">અહીં મોઆબ અંગેનો ચુકાદો પૂરો થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="49" />
<s style="s">આમ્મોનના લોકોનું ભાવિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.49.1" />આમ્મોનના લોકો વિષે યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ઇસ્રાએલનું રક્ષણ કરનાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ વારસ નથી?
</q>
<q style="q1">શું તેને કોઇ પુત્રો નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પછી મિલ્કોમદેવના પૂજકોને ગાદનો
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રદેશ શા માટે કબજે કરવા દે અને ત્યાં વસવા દે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.49.2" />“તેથી એવો સમય આવી રહ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે આમ્મોનના પાટનગર રાબ્બાહમાં
</q>
<q style="q1">યુદ્ધનો રણનાદ ગાજી રહેશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ વેરાન ખંડેરોનો ઢગ બની જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">એની શેરીઓ બળીને ભસ્મ થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇસ્રાએલ પોતાની ભૂમિ કબજે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કરનારાઓની ભૂમિ કબજે કરશે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.49.3" />“હે હેશ્બોન, વિલાપ કર.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આમ્મોનમાંનું આયનગર નાશ પામ્યું છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">રાબ્બાહની સ્ત્રીઓ રૂદન કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શોકના વસ્ત્રો પહેરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">વાડામાં સંતાઇને રડો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રશ્ચાતાપ કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તમારા દેવ મિલ્કોમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના યાજકો અને અમલદારોનો દેશનિકાલ કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.49.4" />તમારી ખીણોનું તમને અભિમાન છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ ટૂંક સમયમાં જ તે નાશ પામશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે આમ્મોનના બંડખોર લોકો તમારા ભંડાર પર આધાર રાખી કહો છો કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોણ અમારા પર હુમલો કરી શકે એમ છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.49.5" />પરંતુ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હું દરેક બાજુએથી તારા પર વિપત્તિઓ લાવીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તને આખી દુનિયામાં ચારેબાજુ દેશ નિકાલ માટે હાંકી કાઢવામાં આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા શરણાથીર્ઓની સંભાળ રાખનારું કોઇ નહિ હોય.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JER.49.6" />“પરંતુ પાછળથી હું આમ્મોનીઓનું ભાગ્ય ફેરવી નાખીશ.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અદોમના લોકોનું ભાવિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JER.49.7" />અદોમના લોકો વિષે યહોવા કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તેમાનમાં કશી અક્કલ જ રહી નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના સમજુ પુરુષો શમજણ ખોઇ બેઠા છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.49.8" />તેમની અક્કલ બહેર મારી ગઇ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દદાનના રહેવાસીઓ, પાસુ ફરીને દોડો.
</q>
<q style="q1">સંતાઇ જાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, એસાવના વંશજોની સજાનો સમય આવ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તેમના પર વિનાશ ઉતારનાર છું,
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.49.9" />“જ્યારે દ્રાક્ષ ઉતારનાર આવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓ થોડી દ્રાક્ષ વેલ પર રહેવા દે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">રાતે ચોર આવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો તે જોઇએ એટલું જ લઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.49.10" />પરંતુ હું એસાવના વતનને સંપૂર્ણ ખાલી કરી નાખીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંતાવાની કોઇ જગ્યા રહેશે નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના બાળકો, તેના ભાઇઓ, તેના પડોશીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ નાશ પામશે અને જાતે જ તેઓ બધા સમાપ્ત થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.49.11" />એમ કહેનાર કોઇ નહિ હોય કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાં અનાથ બાળકોને અહીં મૂકી જા,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેમને સંભાળીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી વિધવાઓ મારે વિશ્વાસે રહી શકે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.49.12" />યહોવા કહે છે, “જેણે સજાનો પ્યાલો પીવો ન જોઇએ તેને પણ તે પીવો પડ્યો તો, શું તને સજા થયા વગર રહેશે? તારે સજા ચોક્કસ ભોગવવી જ પડશે, તારે એ પ્યાલો ચોક્કસ પીવો જ પડશે,”
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JER.49.13" />કારણ, હું મારા જીવના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે “બોસ્રાહની દશા જોઇને લોકો હબકાઇ જશે, તેની હાંસી ઉડાવશે; તે વેરાન થઇ જશે અને લોકોમાં તેનું નામ શાપરૂપ લેખાશે. એના બધાં ગામો કાયમ માટે ખંડેર થઇ જશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.49.14" />મેં યહોવા પાસેથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ સંદેશો સાંભળ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તેમણે બધાં રાજ્યોમાં સંદેશાવાહક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોકલીને કહેવડાવ્યું છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અદોમની વિરુદ્ધ સર્વ એકત્રીત થાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનો નાશ કરો.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.49.15" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “જો, હું તને રાષ્ટો વચ્ચે તુચ્છ બનાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માનવજાત દ્વારા તિરસ્કૃત બનાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.49.16" />તું ઊંચા શિખરો પર કરાડોની ધારે વસે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી, તારી માથાભારે તુમાખીએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા અંતરના અભિમાને તને ખોટે રસ્તે દોરવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ ગરૂડની સાથે તું શિખરો પર વસવાટ કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તોપણ હું તને ત્યાંથી નીચો પાડીશ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.49.17" />“તેથી અદોમ માનને પાત્ર બનશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં જઇને જતા આવતા સૌ કોઇ એની દશા જોઇને હબકાઇ જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યારે લોકો જોશે કે તેને કેવું ઘાયલ કરવામાં આવ્યું છે તો તેઓ સિસકારા બોલાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.49.18" />સદોમ અને ગમોરાનો તથા તેમની આસપાસના ગામોનો નાશ થયો હતો તેવું જ અદોમનું પણ થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી ત્યાં કોઇ રહેશે નહિ, ત્યાં કોઇ માણસ ફરી ઘર નહિ કરે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JER.49.19" />“જુઓ, પેલો સિંહ કેવો યર્દનની ઝાડીમાંથી સદાય લીલાછમ ચરાણમાં ચઢી આવે છે! એ જ રીતે હું પણ અચાનક એ લોકોની પાછળ પડી એમને હાંકી કાઢીશ અને મને ગમતા રાજકર્તાને ત્યાં ગોઠવી દઇશ. કારણ, મારા સમાન બીજું કોણ છે? કોણ મારી બરોબરી કરી શકે એમ છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.49.20" />માટે, અદોમ અને તેના લોકો વિષે મારી યોજના શી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સાંભળી લો; અને જેઓ તેમાનમાં રહે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમની વિરુદ્ધ મેં ઘડેલી યોજના વિષે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નાનામાં નાના ઘેટાંને પણ ઘસડી જવાશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમાન નસીબે તેમના ઘેટાંના વાડાને પણ ભયત્રસ્ત કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.49.21" />અદોમના પતનના અવાજથી પૃથ્વી થથરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના આક્રંદના અવાજના પડઘા રાતા સમુદ્ર સુધી ગાજશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.49.22" />સમડી જેવી રીતે ઝડપ મારી તૂટી પડે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ દુશ્મન બોસ્રાહ પર તૂટી પડશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે દિવસે અદોમના યોદ્ધાઓ પ્રસૂતિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વેદનાથી પીડાતી સ્ત્રીની જેમ ગભરાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દમસ્કના લોકોનું ભાવિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JER.49.23" />દમસ્ક વિષે યહોવાની વાણી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હમાથ અને આર્પાદ નગરો ભયથી મૂંજાઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે માઠા સમાચાર સાંભળ્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ચિંતાથી તેઓ સાગરની જેમ ખળભળી ઊઠયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને નિરાંત વળતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.49.24" />દમસ્ક લાચાર બની ગયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના સર્વ લોકો પાછા ફરીને નાસે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રસૂતિની વેદનાથી પીડાતી સ્ત્રીની જેમ ભય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પીડા તથા દુ:ખોએ તેના પર પક્કડ જમાવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JER.49.25" />“આ ‘આનંદનું નગર’ જે એક સમયે ખૂબ ગૌરવવતું હતું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કેવું ત્યાગી દેવામાં આવ્યું છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JER.49.26" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તે દિવસે તેના જુવાન માણસો નગર ચોકમાં મૃત્યુ પામશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એના બધા યોદ્ધાઓ હારી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JER.49.27" />અને હું દમસ્કની દીવાલો પર આગ લગાડીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે બેનહદાદના મહેલોને બાળીને ભસ્મ કરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">કેદાર અને હાસોરના લોકોનું ભાવિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JER.49.28" />બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદરેસ્સારે જીતી લીધેલાં કેદાર અને હાસોરના વિષે યહોવાની આ ભવિષ્યવાણી છે; તેઓનો નાશ કરવા માટે બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદરેસ્સારને યહોવા મોકલી આપશે અને કહેશે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ચાલો, કેદારના કુળસમૂહો પર હલ્લો કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૂર્વના એ લોકોનો સંહાર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JER.49.29" />તેઓનાં ઘેટાંબકરાં, તંબુઓ તથા ઘરનો સર્વ સામાન કબજે કરવામાં આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનાં ઊંટોને લઇ જવામાં આવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચારેબાજુ ભયની ચીસો પડશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણે ચારેબાજુથી ઘેરાઇ ગયા છીએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણું પતન થયું છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JER.49.30" />યહોવા કહે છે: “ભાગો ભાગો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારો જીવ બચાવવા નાસી જાઓ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હાસોરના વતનીઓ, અરણ્યમાં દૂર દૂર સંતાઇ જાઓ!
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદરેસ્સારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી વિરુદ્ધ તમારો નાશ કરવા માટે કાવત્રું રચ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JER.49.31" />“યહોવાએ નબૂખાદરેસ્સાર રાજાને કહ્યું, ‘ઊઠો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ પ્રજા જે નિશ્ચિંત છે અને વિચારે છે કે તેના પર કોઇ હુમલો નહિ કરે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના નગરોને દરવાજા કે સળિયા નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ બધાં પોતાનામાં જ વસે છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JER.49.32" />તેઓનાં ઊંટો અને તેઓનાં અસંખ્ય ઘેટાં લૂંટી લો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું એ મૂંડેલા થોભિયાવાળાઓને ચારેકોર વિખેરી નાખીશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દરેક બાજુએથી તેઓના પર આફત ઉતારીશ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JER.49.33" />“હાસોર શિયાળવાંની બોડ બની જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કાયમ માટે તે વેરાન પ્રદેશ બની જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ ત્યાં વસશે નહિ કે કોઇ ત્યાં ઘર નહિ બનાવે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">એલામના લોકોનું ભાવિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JER.49.34" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાના અમલની શરૂઆતમાં પ્રબોધક યમિર્યાને એલામ વિષે યહોવાની વાણી દ્વારા સંદેશો આવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="JER.49.35" />“આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એલામનું બળ એનું ધનુષ્ય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું એ ધનુષ્ય જ ભાંગી નાખનાર છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="JER.49.36" />અને એલામના લોકોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ચારે દિશામાં વિખેરી નાખીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ દેશનિકાલ થઇ વિશ્વના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ દેશોમાં ફેલાઇ જશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="JER.49.37" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “એલામનો નાશ કરવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તાકતા એના દુશ્મનોથી
</q>
<q style="q1">એને હું ભયભીત બનાવી દઈશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ભયંકર રોષે ભરાઇ તેમના પર આફત ઉતારીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ જડમૂળથી ઊખડી જાય ત્યાં સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમના પર યુદ્ધ મોકલ્યા કરીશ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="JER.49.38" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “હું એલામમાં મારું સિંહાસન સ્થાપીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યાંના રાજાનો અને અમલદારોનો સંહાર કરી નાખીશ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="JER.49.39" />“પણ ભવિષ્યમાં હું એલામનું ભાગ્ય ફેરવી નાખીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તે લોકોને પાછા લાવીશ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="50" />
<s style="s">બાબિલના લોકોનું ભાવિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.50.1" />યહોવાએ યમિર્યા પ્રબોધક મારફતે બાબિલ અને ખાલદીઓ વિરુદ્ધ આ સંદેશો મોકલાવ્યો,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.50.2" />“સર્વ પ્રજાઓને આ સંદેશો કહો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઢંઢેરો પિટાવો, બધી પ્રજાઓને જાહેર કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">છુપાવશો નહિ, ખબર આપો કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘બાબિલ જીતાયું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">બઆલ દેવની બેઆબરું થઇ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેરોદાખ દેવના ફુરચા ઉડાવી દેવામાં આવ્યાં છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">બાબિલની મૂર્તિઓને શરમજનક કરવામાં આવી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પૂતળાંને ભાંગી નાખવામાં આવ્યાં છે.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.50.3" />કારણ કે, ઉત્તરમાંથી એક પ્રજા તેના પર ચઢી આવે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ એ દેશને વેરાન બનાવી દેશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યાં કોઇ રહેશે નહિ, જ્યાંથી માણસો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પશુઓ ભાગી જશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.50.4" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તે દિવસોમાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સમયે, તેઓ સાથે મળીને આવશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ રડતાં રડતાં આવશે અને તેમના દેવ યહોવાની શોધ કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને ફકત તેઓ જ અને બીજું કોઇ નહિ જોઇએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.50.5" />તેઓ સિયોનના માર્ગ પૂછશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની તરફ આગળ વધશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ કહેશે, ‘આવો, કદી ભૂલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ન જવાય તેવો સનાતન કરાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કરીને આપણે યહોવા સાથેના સંબંધમાં જોડાઇએ.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.50.6" />“મારા લોકો ખોવાયેલાં ઘેટાં જેવાં હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના ઘેટાં પાળકોએ તેમને ભૂલા પડવા દીધા,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને પર્વતો પર ગમે તેમ ભટકવા દીધા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોતાના માર્ગ ભૂલી ગયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વાડામાં કઇ રીતે પાછા આવવું તે તેઓને યાદ રહ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.50.7" />જે કોઇએ તેમને જોયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને મળ્યા તે સર્વ તેઓને ખાઇ ગયા,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને કહ્યું, તેઓ પર આક્રમણ કરવા અમે મુકત છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેમણે યહોવા
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના ખરેખરા પોષક (ચરાણ) વિરુદ્ધ જેમનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના પૂર્વજોએ વિશ્વાસ કર્યો હતો પાપ આચર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.50.8" />“ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો બાબિલમાંથી ભાગી જાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ટોળાને દોરતા બકરાની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ આગળ થાઓ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.50.9" />કારણ કે, હું બળવાન પ્રજાઓના જૂથને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાબિલ વિરુદ્ધ ઉશ્કેરવાનો છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ઉત્તરમાંથી આવી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એની સામે મોરચો માંડશે અને એને કબજે કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના બાણાવળીઓ કસાયેલા શિકારીની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ કદી ખાલી હાથે પાછા નહિ ફરે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.50.10" />બાબિલ લૂંટી લેવામાં આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એને લૂંટનારા ધરાઇ જાય ત્યાં સુધી લૂંટ ચલાવશે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.50.11" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે બાબિલવાસીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારી પોતાની ભૂમિને લૂંટી છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે ભલે આનંદ માણો અને મોજ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગોચરમાં ઠેકડા મારતા વાછરડાની જેમ દોડો અને ઘોડાની જેમ હણહણો;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.50.12" />તેમ છતાં તમારી માતૃભૂમિ બાબિલને બેઆબરૂ કરવામાં આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા જન્મદાતાઓની નામોશી કરવામાં આવશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">બીજી બધી સમૂહની પ્રજાઓમાં બાબિલનું સ્થાન સૌથી છેલ્લું રહેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી ભૂમિ વેરાન સૂકું રણ બની જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.50.13" />મારા ક્રોધને કારણે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે નિર્જન બની જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વેરાન વગડો બની જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">બાબિલ થઇને જતા સૌ કોઇ તેની હાલત જોઇને ભયભીત થઇ જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના સર્વનાશને કારણે તેઓ સિસકારા બોલાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.50.14" />“બાબિલની આસપાસ રહેનારી પ્રજાઓ બાબિલ સામે યુદ્ધ માટે ગોઠવાઇ જાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને ઘેરી લો, ઓ બાણાવળીઓ!
</q>
<q style="q1">તીર વરસાવો, અચકાશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, તેણે મારી વિરુદ્ધ અપરાધ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.50.15" />તેની ચારે બાજુએથી રણનાદ જગાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુઓ, તે શરણાગતિ સ્વીકારે છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો કોટ પડી ગયો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાએ બદલો લીધો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે કર્યું હતું તેવું જ તેને કરો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.50.16" />બાબિલમાં કોઇને વાવવા કે લણવા દેશો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોહીતરસી તરવારથી ભાગીને
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યાંના બધા વિદેશીઓ પોતાના વતનમાં પાછા જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.50.17" />“ઇસ્રાએલની પ્રજા તો એવાં ઘેટાં જેવી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે જેની પાછળ સિંહ પડ્યો હોય,
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રથમતો આશ્શૂરનો રાજા તેઓને ખાઇ ગયો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદરેસ્સારે તેઓનાં હાડકા ચાવ્યાં.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.50.18" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“મેં જે રીતે આશ્શૂરના રાજાને સજા કરી હતી તે રીતે બાબિલના રાજાને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના દેશને પણ સજા કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.50.19" />“‘હું ઇસ્રાએલને પાછો એના ચરાણમાં લઇ આવીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કામેર્લ પર્વત અને બાશાન પર ચઢશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની ભૂખ એફ્રાઇમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગિલ્યાદના ડુંગરો પર સંતોષાશે.’”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.50.20" />“જ્યારે એ સમય આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલમાં અધર્મ શોધ્યો નહિ જડે,
</q>
<q style="q1">યહૂદિયામાં કોઇ પાપ શોધ્યું નહિ જડે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે, જેમને હું જીવતા
</q>
<q style="q1">રહેવા દઇશ તેમને માફ કરીશ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.50.21" />યહોવા કહે છે, “મેરાથાઇમના અને પેકોદના વતનીઓ પીછો પકડો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ચઢાઇ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બંડખોર દેશ બાબિલનો હું ન્યાય કરવાનો છું;
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તમને આજ્ઞા કરી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પ્રમાણે તેઓનો સંહાર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.50.22" />“દેશમાં રણનાદ ગાજે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભયંકર વિનાશ થઇ રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.50.23" />બાબિલને હથોડા સમાન બનીને જગતના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેશોના ભૂક્કા બોલાવી દીધા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે તે હથોડો ભાંગી ગયો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાબિલની તારાજી જોઇને લોકો આંચકો અનૂભવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.50.24" />હે બાબિલ! મેં તારા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાળ બિછાવી હતી
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તું તેમાં સપડાઇ ગયો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેં યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ યુદ્ધ કર્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JER.50.25" />યહોવાએ પોતાનો શસ્ત્રભંડાર ખોલ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના શત્રુઓ પર પોતાનો ક્રોધાગ્નિ પ્રગટાવવા માટે શસ્ત્રો બહાર કાઢયા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">બાબિલ પર જે આફત આવી પડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે યહોવા દેવ સૈન્યોનો દેવ તરફથી હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JER.50.26" />“હા, દૂરના દેશોમાંથી સૌ કોઇ તેના પર ચઢી આવો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના અનાજના ભંડારો ખોલી નાખો,
</q>
<q style="q1">લૂંટના માલનો અનાજની જેમ ઢગલો કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એનો નાશ કરો;
</q>
<q style="q1">કશું જ બચવા ન દેશો તેના બધા રહસ્યનો નાશ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ બાકી ન રહે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JER.50.27" />તેના સર્વ ઢોરઢાંખરને પણ મારી નાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની હત્યા થવા માટે નીચે ઊતરી જવા દો!
</q>
<q style="q1">એમના દિવસો ભરાઇ ચૂક્યા છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની સજાનો દિવસ આવી પહોંચ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JER.50.28" />ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો, બાબિલમાંથી જેઓ ભાગી છૂટયા હતા તે શરણાથીર્ઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે બાબિલના લોકો પર બદલો લીધો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">એવું જાહેર કરવા માટે સિયોન આવ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓએ તેના મંદિરનો નાશ કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પર દેવે વૈર વાળ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JER.50.29" />“બાબિલની સામે બાણાવળીઓનો જમાવ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધનુષ્યબાણ ચલાવનારા સૌ કોઇ
</q>
<q style="q1">નગરને ચારે તરફથી ઘેરી લો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી કોઇ ભાગી જવા પામે નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના કૃત્યોનો તેને બદલો આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એણે બીજાની જે દશા કરી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે એની કરો. કારણ કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">એ મારા પ્રત્યે ઇસ્રાએલના પરમપવિત્ર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા પ્રત્યે તોછડાઇથી વત્ર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JER.50.30" />તેથી યુવાન માણસો ચોકમાં માર્યા જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના તે જ દિવસે, તેના સર્વ યોદ્ધાઓ માર્યા જશે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JER.50.31" />આપણા પ્રભુ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હે અભિમાની લોકો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી વિરુદ્ધ છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે તમને શિક્ષા કરવાનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમય આવી ગયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JER.50.32" />હે અભિમાની પ્રજા, તું ઠોકર ખાઇને પડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ તને મદદ નહિ કરે!
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તારા ગામોમાં આગ લગાડીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે આસપાસનું બધું બાળીને ભસ્મ કરી નાખશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JER.50.33" />આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“ઇસ્રાએલના અને યહૂદિયાના લોકો પર સિતમ ગુજારાઇ રહ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને કેદ પકડનારાઓ તેમને છટકવા દેતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="JER.50.34" />પરંતુ તેઓનો ઉદ્ધારક મહાન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું નામ ‘યહોવા સર્વસમર્થ’ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે અસરકારક રીતે તેઓના મુકદમાની વકીલાત કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇસ્રાએલમાં અને જગતમાં શાંતિ લાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ બાબિલમાં અંધાધૂંધી પેદા કરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="JER.50.35" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“બાબિલવાસીઓને માથે, બાબિલના વતનીઓને માથે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના આગેવાનો અને સમજણા પુરુષોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માથે તરવાર ઝઝૂમે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="JER.50.36" />તેના જૂઠા યાજકોને માથે પણ તરવાર ઝઝૂમે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની અક્કલ બહેર મારી જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના યોદ્ધાઓને માથે પણ તરવાર ઝઝૂમે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના હાથ હેઠા પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="JER.50.37" />તેના ઘોડાઓ તથા રથો યુદ્ધમાં નાશ પામશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બીજા મિત્ર દેશોમાંથી આવેલા
</q>
<q style="q1">યોદ્ધાઓ સ્ત્રીઓ જેવા નિર્બળ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની સર્વ સંપત્તિ લૂંટાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="JER.50.38" />તેનાં જળાશયો સુકાઇ જશે, શા માટે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે સમગ્ર દેશ મૂર્તિઓથી ભરપૂર છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને લોકો તે મૂર્તિઓ પ્રત્યેના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રેમમાં પાગલ થઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="JER.50.39" />આથી ત્યાં બાબિલ નગરમાં વગડાના જાનવરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જંગલી વરુઓ વાસો કરશે, શાહમૃગો ત્યાં વસશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં ફરી કદી માણસો વસશે નહિ અને યુગોના યુગો સુધી તે આમ જ રહેશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="JER.50.40" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “જેમ સદોમ તથા ગમોરા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની આસપાસના નગરોનો નાશ કર્યો
</q>
<q style="q1">તેવી જ રીતે હું બાબિલનો નાશ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સમયથી તે નગરોમાં કોઇ વસવાટ કરતું નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">એવી જ રીતે ફરીથી કોઇ બાબિલમાં વસશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="JER.50.41" />“જુઓ, ઉત્તરમાંથી એક પ્રજા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક બળવાન પ્રજા આવી રહી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વીને દૂરને છેડે મોટા મોટા રાજાઓ યુદ્ધની તૈયારી કરી રહ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="JER.50.42" />લોકોએ ધનુષ્ય અને તરવાર ધારણ કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ક્રૂર અને ઘાતકી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘોડે ચઢીને સાગરની જેમ ગર્જના કરતા આવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એકેએક માણસ, હે બાબિલ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી સામે યુદ્ધ માટે સજ્જ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="JER.50.43" />જ્યારે બાબિલના રાજાએ આ સમાચાર સાંભળ્યાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેના હાથ લાચાર થઇને હેઠા પડ્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રસૂતિની વેદનાથી પીડાતી સ્ત્રીની જેમ એકાએક આવી પડેલા ભયને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણે તે તીવ્ર વેદનાથી પીડાવા લાગ્યો.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="JER.50.44" />યહોવા કહે છે, “જેવી રીતે ચારો ચરતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘેટાં પર સિંહ તરાપ મારે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે જ પ્રમાણે હું બાબિલની પર ત્રાટકીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને જે કોઇ ગમશે તેને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમની પર નીમીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા સમાન કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કોણ મને પડકારી શકે છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">ક્યો ઘેટાપાળક મારી વિરુદ્ધ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઊભો રહી શકે છે?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="45" bcv="JER.50.45" />માટે હવે બાબિલ વિષે મારા મનમાં શી યોજના છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સાંભળી લો;
</q>
<q style="q1">“અને ખાલ્દીઓ માટે મેં ઘડેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યોજનાઓ વિષે નાનામાં નાના ઘેટાંને
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ ઘસડી લઇ જશે અને તેમના નસીબે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના ઘેટાંના વાડાને ભયગ્રસ્ત કરાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="46" bcv="JER.50.46" />બાબિલના પતનથી સમગ્ર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી થથરી ઉઠશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેનો આર્તનાદ બધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રજાઓમાં વિશ્વભરમાં સંભળાશે.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="51" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JER.51.1" />યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“જુઓ, હું બાબિલની વિરુદ્ધ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા ખાલદીઓના સમગ્ર દેશની વિરુદ્ધ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું વિનાશક વાયુ લાવીશ અને તે તેઓનો નાશ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JER.51.2" />હું વિદેશીઓને બાબિલમાં મોકલીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેને ઊપણશે અને દૂર સુધી ઉડાડી મૂકશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">વિપત્તિના દિવસે તેઓ ચારે તરફથી તેના પર ચઢી આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેશને ચારેબાજુથી ઘેરી લઇ ઉજ્જડ કરી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JER.51.3" />ભલે તેમના ધર્નુધારી માણસો પોતાના હથિયાર વાપરવા માટે તૈયાર ન હોય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના સૈનિકોને બખતર પહેરવા દેશો નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓના સૈનિકો પર દયા ન બતાવશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના સૈન્યનો નાશ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JER.51.4" />ખાલદીઓના દેશમાં તેઓની હત્યા થઇને પડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની શેરીઓમાં તેઓના મૃતદેહો પડ્યા રહેશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JER.51.5" />કારણ કે, ઇસ્રાએલને તેમના સૈન્યોનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ યહોવા નીચું નહિ પાડે.
</q>
<q style="q1">બાબિલની ભૂમિ ઇસ્રાએલના સૈન્યોનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા દેવની વિરુદ્ધ અપરાધોથી ભરેલી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JER.51.6" />બાબિલમાંથી ભાગી જાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૌ પોત પોતાના જીવ બચાવવા નાસી જાઓ!
</q>
<q style="q1">બાબિલના પાપે તમે મરશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે બદલો લેવાનો આ યહોવાનો સમય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેને ઘટતી સજા કરી રહ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JER.51.7" />બાબિલ તો યહોવાના હાથમાં સોનાના પ્યાલા સમું હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે સમગ્ર સૃષ્ટિને તેનો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવડાવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રજાઓએ તે પીધો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ ઘેલા થયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JER.51.8" />પરંતુ હવે બાબિલનું અચાનક પતન થયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ભાંગ્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને માટે ચિંતા કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના ઘા માટે ઔષધી લઇ આવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કદાચ તે સાજું થાય પણ ખરું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JER.51.9" />બાબિલના ઘા રૂઝવવા અમારાથી શક્ય તેટલો પ્રયત્ન અમે કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તે સ્વસ્થ ન થયું. એને છોડી દઇને,
</q>
<q style="q1">ચાલો આપણે સહુ પોતપોતાના દેશમાં પાછા ફરીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તે અમાપ સજાને પાત્ર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JER.51.10" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું કે આપણે ન્યાયી છીએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચાલો, આપણા યહોવાએ જે સર્વ કર્યું છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે આપણે યરૂશાલેમમાં જઇને કહી સંભળાવીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JER.51.11" />તમારાં બાણને ધારદાર બનાવો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ભાથાં ભરી લો!
</q>
<q style="q1">ઢાલ ઊંચી કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે બાબિલ પર ચઢાઇ કરી તેનો વિનાશ કરવા યહોવાએ માદીઓના રાજાઓને કહ્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અનિષ્ટ આચરણ કરનાર મંદિરને અપવિત્ર કરનાર લોકો પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ રીતે યહોવા વૈર વાળી રહ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JER.51.12" />બાબિલની દીવાલો પર આક્રમણ કરવા માટે સંકેત આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંરક્ષણ મજબૂત કરો અને ચોકિયાતોને શહેરની આસપાસ ગોઠવો.
</q>
<q style="q1">ઓચિંતો છાપો મારવા માટે છુપાઇને પડ્યા રહો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે યહોવાએ જે કહ્યું છે તે સર્વ તે સંપૂર્ણ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JER.51.13" />તમે બાબિલની નદીઓને કાંઠે વસવાટ કરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની વિપુલ સમૃદ્ધિને માણો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારો અંત આવ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી જીવનદોરી કપાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JER.51.14" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ પોતાના નામના સમ ખાઇને પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું તીડોના ટોળાંની જેમ ગણ્યા ગણાય નહિ તેટલા માણસોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી સામે લાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તારો પરાજય કરી વિજયનાદ કરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JER.51.15" />યહોવાએ પોતાની શકિત અને બુદ્ધિથી પૃથ્વીનું સર્જન કર્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના જ્ઞાનથી તેને સ્થિર કરીને સ્થાપી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના કૌશલથી આકાશને ફેલાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JER.51.16" />જ્યારે તે બોલે છે, ત્યારે આકાશમાં ગર્જના થાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુનિયાના દૂર દૂરના ખૂણેથી તે વાદળોને ઉપર ચઢાવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે વરસાદ લાવે છે અને સાથે વીજળી ચમકાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પવનને મોકલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JER.51.17" />તેમની સરખામણીમાં સર્વ માણસો મૂર્ખ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને કશી ખબર નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">દરેક પોતે બનાવેલી મૂર્તિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જોઇને લજ્જિત થાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તે બધી મૂર્તિઓ તો ખોટી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રાણ વગરની છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JER.51.18" />મૂર્તિઓ વ્યર્થ છે, હાંસીપાત્ર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ખોટી છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવ તેમને સજા કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તે સર્વનો નાશ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JER.51.19" />પરંતુ યાકૂબનો દેવ એવો નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તો સમગ્ર સૃષ્ટિનો સર્જક છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને તે પોતાની પ્રજા ગણે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું નામ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JER.51.20" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે બાબિલ નગરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું મારી ફરશી તથા યુદ્ધશસ્ત્રો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા વડે હું સર્વ પ્રજાઓનું ખંડન કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા વડે હું રાજ્યોનો નાશ કરીશ;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JER.51.21" />તારા વડે હું સૈન્યોને, ઘોડા તથા તેના સવારોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને રથ તથા રથસવારોને કચડી નાખીશ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JER.51.22" />અને હા, સામાન્ય લોકોને પણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે વૃદ્ધોને તથા જુવાનોને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છોકરાઓને તથા કન્યાઓને,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JER.51.23" />ઘેટાંપાળકોને તથા ઘેટાબકરાનાં ટોળાંને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખેડૂતોને તથા બળદોને, કપ્તાનોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા અધિકારીઓને હું કચડી નાખીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JER.51.24" />બાબિલે તથા ખાલદીઆના બધાં લોકોને,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે સિયોનમાં આચરેલા કુકમોર્ને લીધે હું સજા કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે હું તમારી નજર સામે જ કરીશ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JER.51.25" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હે બળવાન પર્વત બાબિલ, પૃથ્વીનો નાશ કરનાર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તારી વિરુદ્ધ મારો હાથ ઉગામીશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારી ઊંચાઇઓ પરથી તને નીચે ગબડાવીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અગ્નિથી ભસ્મ થયેલા પર્વત જેવો કરી તને છોડી દઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JER.51.26" />તારો કોઇ પણ પથ્થર બાંધકામ માટે કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાયાના પથ્થર તરીકે પણ નહિ વપરાય.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું સદાને માટે ખંડેર રહેશે.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JER.51.27" />“પૃથ્વી પર ઝંડો ફરકાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધી પ્રજાઓમાં રણશિંગડા ફૂંકાવો,
</q>
<q style="q1">બાબિલ સામે જેહાદ જગાવવાને પ્રજાને આહવાન આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અરારાટ, મિન્ની અને આશ્કેનાઝના રાજ્યોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની સામે લડવા બોલાવો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની સામે હુમલો લઇ જવાને સેનાપતિ નીમો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તીડોના ટોળાંની જેમ ઘોડેસવારોને ભેગા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JER.51.28" />તેની વિરુદ્ધ માદીઓના રાજાઓ વિરુદ્ધ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના અધિકારીઓ અને અમલદારો સાથે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે સર્વ દેશોના લોકો જે તે તેના રાજ્યનો ભાગ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની વિરુદ્ધ લડાઇને માટે તૈયારી કર.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JER.51.29" />પૃથ્વી ધણધણી અને ધ્રુજી ઊઠે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે યહોવા બાબિલને નિર્જન
</q>
<q style="q1">વગડાઉ સ્થળ બનાવવાની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની યોજના પાર પાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JER.51.30" />બાબિલના અતિ પરાક્રમી યોદ્ધાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે યુદ્ધ કરતા નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ કિલ્લાઓમાં ભરાઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ હિંમત હારી ગયા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સ્ત્રીઓ જેવા થઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આક્રમણ કરનારાઓએ તેઓનાં ઘરો બાળી નાખ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નગરના દરવાજાઓ તોડી નાખ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JER.51.31" />આખું શહેર કબ્જે થઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવું કહેવાને ચારેબાજુથી સંદેશાવાહકો
</q>
<q style="q1">એક પાછળ એક રાજા પાસે દોડી આવ્યા છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JER.51.32" />નદી પાર કરવાના દરેક રસ્તાઓ કબ્જે કરાયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બરૂની ઝાડીઓને આગ લગાડવામાં આવી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સૈનિકો ગભરાઇ ગયા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="JER.51.33" />ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના આ વચન છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">“બાબિલની સ્થિતી તો ઘઉ ઝૂડવાની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખળી જેવી છે જ્યાં ઘઉં ઝૂડવાના છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">થોડી વાર પછી ત્યાં લણણીની ઉપજને ધોકાવાનું શરું થશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="JER.51.34" />યરૂશાલેમ કહે છે, “બાબિલનો રાજા નબૂખાદરેસ્સાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને ખાઇ ગયો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મને ચૂસી લીધો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે મને ખાલી પ્યાલાની જેમ
</q>
<q style="q1">એક બાજુએ ફગાવી દીધું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મને એક અજગરની જેમ આખે આખું ગળી ગયો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારી સંપત્તિથી તેણે પોતાનું પેટ ભર્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારા પોતાના શહેરમાંથી અમને હાંકી કાઢયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="JER.51.35" />યરૂશાલેમના લોકો બોલી ઊઠશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારી પર કરેલા દુષ્કૃત્યો બદલ બાબિલને સજા મળો!”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“અમારું જે લોહી વહેવડાવવામાં આવ્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની પૂરી કિંમત તેને ચૂકવવા દો!”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="JER.51.36" />આથી યહોવા પોતાના લોકોને કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું જાતે તમારો પક્ષ લઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારું વૈર વાળીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું બાબિલની નદીને સૂકવી નાખીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના ઝરણાંને વહેતા બંધ કરી દઇશ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="JER.51.37" /> અને બાબિલને ખંડેરનો ઢગલો બાનવી દઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં શિયાળવાં આવીને વસશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">લોકો તેની હાંસી અને નાલેશી કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કોઇ ત્યાં વાસો કરશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="JER.51.38" />“બાબિલવાસીઓ બધા ભેગા થઇને સિંહની જેમ ગર્જના કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિંહના બચ્ચાંની જેમ ઘૂરઘૂરાટ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="JER.51.39" />જ્યારે તેઓ પોતાના દ્રાક્ષારસથી મસ્ત બનશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે હું તેઓને માટે અલગ પ્રકારની ઉજાણી તૈયાર કરીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ બેભાન થઇને ભોંય પર પછડાય ત્યાં સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પીયા જ કરે, એવું હું કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ સદાને માટે ઊંઘી જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફરીથી કદી જાગશે નહિ,”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="JER.51.40" />“હું તેઓને કતલ માટે લઇ જવાતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘેટાંઓની જેમ લઇ જઇશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="JER.51.41" />બાબિલ વિષે યહોવા કહે છે; “જે નગરની પ્રસંશા સમગ્ર દુનિયા કરતી હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે નગરનું પતન થયું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">બાબિલની આવી બિહામણી સ્થિતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જોઇ દુનિયાની પ્રજાઓ આઘાત અનુભવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="JER.51.42" />બાબિલ પર સમુદ્ર ફરી વળ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના મોજાઓએ તેને ઢાંકી દીધું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="JER.51.43" />તેના નગરો ખંડેર સ્થિતીમાં પડ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમગ્ર દેશ સૂકા અરણ્ય સમાન થઇ ગયો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યાં કોઇ રહેતું નથી અને તેમાં થઇને યાત્રીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ પસાર થતા નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="JER.51.44" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હું બાબિલમાં બઆલ દેવને સજા કરીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે જે ગળી ગયો છે તે તેના મુખમાંથી પાછું કાઢીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રજાઓ તેની પાસે આવશે નહિ અને તેની પૂજા કરશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બાબિલની ફરતે આવેલી દીવાલો પડી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="45" bcv="JER.51.45" />ઓ મારી પ્રજા, બાબિલમાંથી નાસી જાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાના ભયંકર રોષમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જીવ બચાવવા સૌ ભાગી જાઓ!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="46" bcv="JER.51.46" />“હિંમત હારશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેશમાં ફેલાતી અફવાઓથી ગભરાઇ જશો નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">એક વરસે એક અફવા ફેલાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીજે વરસે બીજી-
</q>
<q style="q1">દેશમાં બધે આંતરિક યુદ્ધો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જુલમ ચાલી રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="47" bcv="JER.51.47" />તેથી, જુઓ એવા દિવસો આવી રહ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે બાબિલની મૂર્તિઓને હું સજા કરનાર છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">આખો દેશ લજ્જિત થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના બધા માણસો કપાઇને પડ્યા હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="48" bcv="JER.51.48" />ઉત્તરમાંથી લોકો આવીને તેનો નાશ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યારે આકાશ અને પૃથ્વી તેમજ
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમાંનું સર્વ કઇં બાબિલના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પતનથી હર્ષના પોકારો કરશે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="49" bcv="JER.51.49" />“બાબિલને કારણે સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીમાં માણસો કપાઇને પડ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હવે ઇસ્રાએલમાં હત્યા થયેલાઓને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે બાબિલને પડ્યા વગર છૂટકો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="50" bcv="JER.51.50" />તમે જેઓ તેની તરવારનો ભોગ બનતા બચી ગયા છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ભાગી જાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રોકાશો નહિ!
</q>
<q style="q1">દૂર દેશમાં યહોવાને સંભારજો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યરૂશાલેમને ભૂલશો નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="51" bcv="JER.51.51" />લોકો કહે છે, “તે અત્યાચારોની વાતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાંભળીને આપણે સૌ લજવાઇ મરીએ છીએ,
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણે લજ્જિત થયા છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે, વિદેશીઓ યહોવાના મંદિરના પવિત્રસ્થાનોમાં પેસી ગયા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="52" bcv="JER.51.52" />તેથી યહોવા કહે છે, “જુઓ, એવો સમય આવી રહ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે હું બાબિલની મૂર્તિઓને સજા કરીશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સમગ્ર દેશમાં ઘવાયેલાઓનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આર્તનાદ સંભળાતો હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="53" bcv="JER.51.53" />જો કે બાબિલ આકાશે પહોંચે તોપણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પોતાના ઉંચા કોટોની કિલ્લેબંધી કરે
</q>
<q style="q1">તોપણ હું તેને હતું ન હતું કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નાખવા માણસો મોકલીશ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="54" bcv="JER.51.54" />“સાંભળો, બાબિલમાંથી આવતા રૂદનસ્વર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યાં ખાલદીઓ શાસન કરે છે ત્યાંથી આવતા ભયંકર વિનાશના અવાજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="55" bcv="JER.51.55" />યહોવા બાબિલનો વિનાશ કરી રહ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના કોલાહલને શમાવી રહ્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">શત્રુઓનું સૈન્ય મહાસાગરના તરંગોની જેમ ગર્જના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘૂઘવાટા કરતું ધસી રહ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="56" bcv="JER.51.56" />હા, સંહાર કરનારાઓ બાબિલ પર તૂટી પડ્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના યોદ્ધાઓ કેદ પકડાયા છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમનાં ધનુષ્ય તોડી પડાયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા તે યહોવા છે જે દુષ્કૃત્યો માટે સજા કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પૂરો બદલો લેશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="57" bcv="JER.51.57" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હું તેના સરદારોને,
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્ઞાની માણસોને, રાજકર્તાઓને, કપ્તાનીઓને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓને ચકચૂર કરીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ અનંત નિંદ્રામાં પોઢી જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફરી કદી જાગશે જ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="58" bcv="JER.51.58" />“બાબિલની મજબૂત દીવાલો ભોંયભેગી થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના ઊંચા દરવાજાને આગ ચાંપવામાં આવશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે બાંધવા માટે ઘણાં લોકોએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાની જાતને ધસી નાખી હતી
</q>
<q style="q1">તે બધું ભસ્મ થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોએ કરેલી બધી મહેનત ધૂળમાં મળી જશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">બાબિલ માટે યમિર્યાનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="59" bcv="JER.51.59" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા સિદકિયાના શાસનના ચોથા વર્ષમાં જ્યારે તેની સાથે યહૂદિયાનો રાજા માહસેયાના પુત્ર નેરિયાનો પુત્ર સરાયા બાબિલ ગયો, ત્યારે જે સૂચનાઓ યમિર્યા પ્રબોધકે સરાયાને આપી તે આ: સરાયા તો લશ્કરનો અફસર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="60" bcv="JER.51.60" />યમિર્યાએ એક પોથીમાં બાબિલ પર આવનારી આફતનું પૂરું વર્ણન અહીં જે બધું નોંધવામાં આવેલું છે તે લખી કાઢયું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="61" bcv="JER.51.61" />તેણે સરાયાને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે તું બાબિલ પહોંચે ત્યારે આમાંના શબ્દે શબ્દ અચૂક વાંચી સંભળાવજે અને પછી કહેજે કે,
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<v id="62" bcv="JER.51.62" />‘હે યહોવા, તે જાતે જાહેર કર્યું છે કે, આ જગ્યાનો નાશ કરવામાં આવશે, અહીં ફરી કોઇ વાસો કરશે નહિ. માણસ કે પશુ કોઇ નહિ; તે સદાકાળ ઉજ્જડ રહેશે.’
<ve />
<v id="63" bcv="JER.51.63" />જ્યારે તું આ પોથી વાંચી રહે ત્યારે તેને પથ્થરો બાંધીને ફ્રાંત નદીની વચ્ચોવચ્ચ એમ કહીને નાખી દેજે કે,
<ve />
<v id="64" bcv="JER.51.64" />‘આવા જ હાલ બાબિલના થશે, યહોવા બાબિલ પર એવી આફત ઉતારનાર છે જેથી તે ડૂબી જાય અને ફરી કદી પર આવે નહિ.’”
</p>
<p style="p">અહીં યમિર્યાના વચન પૂરા થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="52" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમનું પતન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JER.52.1" />સિદકિયા ગાદીએ આવ્યો ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર 21 વર્ષની હતી, તેણે યરૂશાલેમમાં અગિયાર વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યું. તેની માતાનું નામ હમૂટાલ હતું અને તે લિબ્નાહના યમિર્યાની પુત્રી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JER.52.2" />સિદકિયાએ યહોયાકીમની જેમ જ યહોવાની ષ્ટિએ અયોગ્ય ગણાય એવું આચરણ કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JER.52.3" />હકીકત એ છે કે, યરૂશાલેમે અને યહૂદિયાએ યહોવાનો એટલો બધો રોષ વહોરી લીધો કે આખરે તેણે તેમને પોતાના સાન્નિધ્યમાંથી હાંકી કાઢયાં, અને સિદકિયાએ બાબિલ સામે છળકપટ કર્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JER.52.4" />સિદકિયાના રાજ્યકાળમાં નવમે વષેર્ દશમાં મહિનાના દશમાં દિવસે બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદરેસ્સારે પોતાની આખી સૈના સહિત આવીને યરૂશાલેમ પર હુમલો કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JER.52.5" />તેણે એ શહેરને કબજે કર્યુ અને તેની ફરતે ઘેરો બાંધવા માટેની દીવાલો બાંધી, રાજા સિદકિયાના શાસનમાં અગિયારમા વર્ષ સુધી આમ ચાલ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="JER.52.6" />ચોથા મહિનાના નવમે દિવસે નગરમાં અન્નની ભારે તંગી વર્તાતી હતી અને લોકોને ખાવાનું મળતું નહોતું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JER.52.7" />પછી નગરની દીવાલમાં એક બાકોરું પાડવામાં આવ્યું, અને રાતોરાત રાજા પોતાના આખા સૈન્ય સાથે રાજાના બગીચા પાસે આવેલા બે દીવાલો વચ્ચેના દરવાજેથી ભાગી ગયો, આમ બન્યું તે દરમ્યાન ખાલદીઓએ નગરને ઘેરી લીધું હતું તેમ છતાં તેઓ યર્દનની ખીણ તરફ આગળ વધ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JER.52.8" />પરંતુ ખાલદીઓની સૈનાએ તેનો પીછો પકડ્યો અને યરીખોના મેદાનમાં તેને પકડી પાડ્યો, અને તેની આખી સૈના તેને છોડીને વેરવિખેર થઇ ગઇ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JER.52.9" />બાબિલનો રાજા હમાથ રાજ્યના રિબ્લાહ નગરમાં હતો. તેઓ સિદકિયાને ત્યાં લઇ ગયા અને રાજા આગળ રજૂ કર્યો, અને તેણે તેના પર કામ ચલાવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="JER.52.10" />બાબિલના રાજાએ રિબ્લાહ ખાતે સિદકિયાની નજર આગળ તેના પુત્રોને મારી નાખ્યા અને યહૂદિયાના બધા અમલદારોને પણ મારી નાખ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JER.52.11" />ત્યારબાદ રાજા સિદકિયાની આંખો ફોડી નાખવામાં આવી અને તેને સાંકળોથી બાંધીને બાબિલ લઇ જવામાં આવ્યો અને તેને આજીવન કેદ કરવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JER.52.12" />બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદરેસ્સારના શાસનના ઓગણીસમા વર્ષના પાંચમા મહિનાના દશમાં દિવસે રક્ષક ટુકડીનો સરદાર નબૂઝારઅદાને યરૂશાલેમમાં પ્રવેશ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JER.52.13" />તેણે યહોવાના મંદિરને, રાજાના મહેલને અને શહેરના દરેક મોટા મકાનોને આગ ચાંપીં.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="JER.52.14" />તેના લશ્કરે યરૂશાલેમની ફરતેની દીવાલોને તોડી પાડી.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JER.52.15" />તેણે શહેરની બાકી રહેલી વસ્તીને, જેઓ બાબિલના રાજાના પક્ષમાં ચાલ્યા ગયા હતા તેમને અને રહ્યાસહ્યા કારીગરોને દેશવટો દીધો,
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="JER.52.16" />પરંતુ ફકત વસ્તીના ગરીબમાં ગરીબ વર્ગને છોડ્યો. તેઓએ તેમને મજૂરી કરવા માટે ખેતરો અને દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીઓ આપી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JER.52.17" />ખાલદીઓ મંદિરમાંના પ્રવેશદ્વાર પાસે ઊભા કરેલા કાંસાના બે મોટા સ્તંભોને, કાંસાના હોજને અને પૈડાવાળી ઘોડીઓને ઉપાડીને બાબિલ લઇ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="JER.52.18" />વળી મંદિરમાં વપરાતા કૂડાં, પાવડીઓ, બુજારાં, ડોયાં, વાટકાં અને બધા જ વાસણો અને સાધનો પણ લઇ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="JER.52.19" />રાજાના અંગ રક્ષકોનો નાયક સોના ચાંદીની બધી વસ્તુઓ લઇ ગયો જેવી કે: કટોરાઓ, ધૂપદાનીઓ, કૂંડાઓ, ઘડાઓ, દીવીઓ, તપેલાઓ, વાટકાઓ વગેરે જે બધું પેયાર્પણો ચઢાવવા માટે વપરાતું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="JER.52.20" />આ બધી વસ્તુઓ જે સુલેમાને બનાવડાવી હતી (બે સ્તંભો “સમુદ્ર” નામે ઓળખાતો કાંસાનો હોજ, તેની નીચેના વીસ બળદો અને પૈડાંવાળી ઘોડી) તે બધી વજનમાં ખૂબ ભારે હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JER.52.21" />એક સ્તંભ 18 હાથ ઊંચો અને 12 હાથના પરિઘવાળો હતો; તે પોલો હતો અને તેની જાડાઇ ચાર આંગળ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="JER.52.22" />દરેક સ્તંભની ટોચે પાંચ હાથનો (શિખર તરીકે ઓળખાતો) પિત્તળનો કળશ હતો. તેની બાર હાથની પહોળાઇની ચારે બાજુ તે પિત્તળના દાડમ વડે શણગારાયેલો હતો તે અંદરથી પોલો હતો અને એક હાથ જાડો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="JER.52.23" />દરેક સ્તંભ પર સો દાડમ હતા, પણ તેમાંથી છન્નું જ નજરે જોઇ શકાતા હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JER.52.24" />રક્ષકટુકડીના સરદાર નબૂઝારઅદાને મુખ્ય યાજક સરાયાને, તેના મદદનીશ સફાન્યાને અને મંદિરના ત્રણ મુખ્ય રક્ષકોને પોતાની સાથે લઇ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="JER.52.25" />તદુપરાંત તે લશ્કરના વડા અમલદારને, રાજાના સાત સલાહકારોને બંધક બનાવીને લઇ ગયો, તે ઉપરાંત તે લહિયો જે સૈન્યમાં લોકોની ભરતી કરવા માટેનો મુખ્ય અધિકારી હતો તેને અને નગરના બીજા સાઠ મોભાદાર માણસોને પોતાની સાથે લઇ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="JER.52.26" />અને એ બધાને તે હમાથના પ્રદેશમાં આવેલા રિબ્લાહ ખાતે બાબિલના રાજા આગળ લઇ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="JER.52.27" />અને હામાથના દેશ રિબ્લાહમાં બાબિલના રાજાએ તેમને ફટકા મરાવીને મારી નંખાવ્યાં.
</p>
<p style="p">આમ યહૂદિયાને પોતાના દેશમાંથી દેશવટે લઇ જવામાં આવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="JER.52.28" />નબૂખાદરેસ્સારના રાજ્યકાળના 7 વષેર્ બાબિલના બંદીવાસમાં લઇ જવાયેલાઓની સંખ્યા 3,023 હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="JER.52.29" />અને અઢારમાં વર્ષમાં 832 યરૂશાલેમવાસીઓને તે દેશવટે લઇ ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="JER.52.30" />ફરીથી 5 વર્ષ બાદ 23 વષેર્ અંગરક્ષકોનો નાયક નબૂઝારઅદાન 745 યહૂદીઓને દેશવટે લઇ ગયો હતો.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">આમ કુલ 4,600 માણસોને બંદીવાસમાં લઇ જવાયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોયાકીનને મુકત કરવામાં આવ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JER.52.31" />બાબિલમાં યહૂદિયાના રાજા યહોયાકીનના દેશવટાના સાડત્રીસમા વર્ષના બારમાં મહિનાના પચીસમે દિવસે બાબિલના રાજા એવીલ-મેરોદાખે પોતે ગાદીએ આવ્યો તે જ વરસે યહૂદિયાના રાજા યહોયાકીમને માફી આપી અને તેને કારાવાસમાંથી મુકત કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="JER.52.32" />તેણે તેના પ્રત્યે માયાળુ વર્તાવ રાખ્યો અને તેને બાબિલમાં પોતાની સાથેના બીજા રાજાઓ કરતાં ઊંચે આસને બેસાડ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="JER.52.33" />આથી યહોયાકીમએ કારાવાસનાં કપડાં ઉતારી નાખી, એમણે આપેલાં નવાં વસ્ત્રો પહેર્યા, અને શેષજીવન રાજાના આશ્રિત તરીકે ગાળ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="JER.52.34" />અને તે જીવ્યો ત્યાં સુધી રાજાએ તેના નિભાવ માટે કાયમી ભથ્થું બાંધી આપ્યું. જે તેને મૃત્યુ સુધી નિયમિત રીતે તેને આપવામાં આવ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="LAM"><id id="LAM">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>યર્મિયાનો વિલાપ
</h><toc level="1">યર્મિયાનો વિલાપ
</toc><toc level="2">યર્મિયાનો વિલાપ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યર્મિયાનો વિલાપ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">પોતાના વિનાશ પર યરૂશાલેમનો વિલાપ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="LAM.1.1" />એ શહેર કેવું એકલવાયું પડી રહ્યું છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે એક વાર લોકોથી ધમધમતું હતું,
</q>
<q style="q1">દેશવિદેશમાં મહાન ગણાતું હતુ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે શા માટે વિધવા જેવું થઇ ગયુ?
</q>
<q style="q1">જે શહેરોની મહારાણી જેવું હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બીજી પ્રજાઓનું ગુલામ કેમ થઇ ગયુ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="LAM.1.2" />તે રાત્રે પોક મૂકી રડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેના ગાલે અશ્રુધારા વહે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">આશ્વાસન આપનાર કોઇ રહ્યું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણીના મિત્રોએ તેને છેતરી છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેણી જેઓને ચાહે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેના શત્રુ થયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="LAM.1.3" />તેઓ વિદેશી પ્રજાઓ વચ્ચે સ્થિર થયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની પાસે વિશ્રામનું સ્થળ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહૂદાની પ્રજા દેશવટે ગઇ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને સખત પરિશ્રમ કરવા માટે મજબૂર કરાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓએ તેમનો પીછો કર્યો હતો તેમણે તેઓને પકડી લીધા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ભાગી શક્યા નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="LAM.1.4" />સિયોનના માગોર્ આક્રંદ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં કોઇ ઉત્સવોમાં આવતું નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના દરવાજા ઉજ્જડ થઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેના યાજકો આર્તનાદ કરે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની કુમારિકાઓ અતિ ઉદાસ થઇ ગઇ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે શહેર તેની કડવાશ અનુભવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="LAM.1.5" />તે શહેરના શત્રુઓ તેના રાજકર્તા થઇ ગયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે શત્રુઓ સમૃદ્ધ થયા,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમનાં અસંખ્ય પાપોના લીધે યહોવાએ તેમને શિક્ષા કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને ખૂબ દુ:ખ ઉઠાવવા પડ્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ તે શહેરના લોકોને પકડીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને તેમના બંદી બનાવનારની સામે કૂચ કરાવડાવીને બંદીવાસ કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="LAM.1.6" />સિયોનના બધા મહત્વના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોએ તેને છોડી દીધી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">સરદારો ચારા વગરનાં હરણો જેવા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને જેઓ પકડે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમનાથી દૂર ભાગી જવાની શકિત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વગરના થઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="LAM.1.7" />પોતાના દુ:ખ સંતાપનાં દિવસોમાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમ અતીતની સમૃદ્ધિ સંભારે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના લોકો શત્રુના હાથમાં પડ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ તેની સાથે જનાર નથી તેથી શત્રુઓ તેની પાયમાલી જોઇ ઉપહાસ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="LAM.1.8" />યરૂશાલેમે ઘોર અપરાધ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી જ તે અશુદ્ધ સ્ત્રીની જેમ થઇ પડ્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ તેને માન આપતા હતા તેઓ તેને તુચ્છ ગણે છ,ે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે, તેઓએ તેની નગ્નતા જોઇ લીધી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે પોતે મોં સંતાડીને નિસાસા નાખ્યા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="LAM.1.9" />તેણીની અશુદ્ધતા તેના ઝભ્ભાની કિનારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુધી ફેલાઇ ગઇ હતી,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ તેને પહેલા માન આપતાં હતા, અત્યારે તેને નાપસંદ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેઓએ તેની નગ્નતાને જોઇ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે પોતે જ નિસાસા નાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાનું મોઢું ફેરવી લે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="LAM.1.10" />બધી કિંમતી વસ્તુઓ પર શત્રુએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાનો હાથ મૂક્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને તેણે પોતાના મંદિરમાં વિધમીર્ પ્રજાને પ્રવેશ કરતી જોઇ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં યહોવાએ તે વિદેશીઓને પ્રવેશવાની મનાઇ કરી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="LAM.1.11" />તેના બધા લોકો આર્તનાદ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ રોટલાની ભીખ માંગે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ઝવેરાત આપી અન્ન ખરીદે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને ભૂખ શમાવી, નગરી પોકારે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હે યહોવા, નજર કરો અને જુઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મુજ અધમનો કેવો તિરસ્કાર થાય છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="LAM.1.12" />ઓ, જનાર સૌ લોકો, જરા નજર કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇને ય મારા જેવું દુ:ખ પડ્યું છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">જે યહોવાએ મને ક્રોધમાં આવીને દીધું છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="LAM.1.13" />ઉપરથી તેણે મારા હાડકામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અગ્નિ મોકલ્યા અને તે તેઓને નિર્ગત કરે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે મારા પગ માટે જાળ પાથરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કેવી મને ભોંયે પછાડી છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે મને એકલી અટૂલી છોડી દીધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું આખો વખત રિબાતી રહી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="LAM.1.14" />“તેણે મારા પાપોનું પોટલું મારી ડોકે બાંધ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી શકિત તેના ભારથી ખૂટી પડી છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મને મારા શત્રુઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દેવામાં આવી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેની સામે જ્યાં હું ઉભી રહી શકતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="LAM.1.15" />યહોવાએ મારા શ્રેષ્ઠ યોદ્ધાઓને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તુચ્છકાર્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારાં તરૂણ યોદ્ધાઓને કચડી નાખવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ટૂકડીઓ તૈયાર કરી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને યહોવાએ યહુદાની કુંવારી દીકરીને ખૂંદી નાખી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખરાબર એવી જ રીતે જેમ દ્રાક્ષારસ બનાવવા માટે કોઇ દ્રાક્ષને ખૂદે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="LAM.1.16" />“તેથી હું રડું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેથી મારી આંખો આંસુઓથી ભીંજાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા જીવનમાં જીવ લાવનાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આશ્વાસન આપનાર કોઇ નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા સંતાનોનો નાશ થયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે શત્રુઓએ તેમને હરાવ્યાં છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="LAM.1.17" />મેં મદદ માટે, હાથ લાંબા કર્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મને દિલાસો આપનાર કોઇ નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવાએ મારી આસપાસના શત્રુઓને મારી પર હુમલો કરવા કહ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ મને અસ્પૃશ્ય ગણે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="LAM.1.18" />યરૂશાલેમે કહ્યું, “યહોવા સારા છે, જ્યારે તે મને શિક્ષા કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે મેં તેની વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કયુંર્ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મહેરબાની કરીને મને સાંભળો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા દુ:ખને જુઓ.
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી જુવાની અને કૌમાર્ય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેદીઓની જેમ બંદીવાસમાં પસાર થયું છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="LAM.1.19" />મે મારા મિત્રોને હાંક મારી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓએ મારો વિશ્વાસઘાત કર્યો,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા યાજકો અને વડીલો શહેરમાં ભૂખને સંતોષવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભિક્ષા માગતાં મરણ પામ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="LAM.1.20" />“હે યહોવા, હું ભારે દુ:ખમાં છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો મારું હૃદય મારી ઉપર ચઢી બેઠું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને પેટ અમળાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે, હું ખૂબ વિદ્રોહી હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">રસ્તા પર તરવાર મારાં સંતાનોનો સંહાર કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને મોત ઘરમાંય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="LAM.1.21" />“જ્યારે હું નિસાસા નાખતો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેઓએ સાંભળ્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મને દિલાસો આપનાર કોઇ નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા બધા દુશ્મનોએ મારા દુ:ખ વિષે સાંભળ્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ખુશ છે કે આ બધું તેં પોતે કર્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં જે દિવસ માટે વચન આપ્યું છે તે આવવા દે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને પણ મારા જેવા થવા દે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="LAM.1.22" />“તું તેમના બધાં દુષ્કૃત્યોને ધ્યાનમાં લે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેવી રીતે મારા ગુનાની મને સજા થઇ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેવી જ રીતે તેઓને પણ તું સજા કર.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેવું કર કેમકે હું સતત નિસાસા નાખું છું
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારું હૃદય નબળું થઇ ગયું છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ પર યહોવાનો પ્રકોપ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="LAM.2.1" />યહોવાએ ક્રોધે ભરાઇને સિયોન પર અંધકાર ફેલાવ્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે આકાશમાંથી દુનિયા પર ઇસ્ત્રાએલના આકર્ષક ગૌરવને ટપકાવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તે ક્રોધે ભરાયો હતો ત્યારે તેના પાયાસનને પણ ભૂલી ગયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="LAM.2.2" />નિષ્ઠુરતાથી યહોવાએ યહૂદાની ભૂમિનાં બધાં નગરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જમીનદોસ્ત કરી દીધાં છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે તેના બધા કિલ્લાઓ ક્રોધે ભરાઇને તોડી પાડ્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના શાશકોને અપમાન જનક રીતે નીચા પાડ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="LAM.2.3" />તેણે ઇસ્રાએલની શકિત ભયંકર ક્રોધમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવીને હણી નાખી છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે તેઓને પોતાના શત્રુઓની વિરૂદ્ધ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લડવા માટે મદદ કરી નહોતી.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેણે આજુબાજુનું બધુંયે ભડભડતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અગ્નિની જેમ બાળી નાખ્યુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="LAM.2.4" />અમને તેના દુશ્મનો સમજી તેણે અમારી વિરુદ્ધ ધનુષ્ય તાણ્યુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે અમારી પર ત્રાટકવા પોતે જ તૈયાર થયો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને સિયોનની બધી સોહામણી વ્યકિતઓનો તેણે સંહાર કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે તેનો ક્રોધ અગ્નિની જેમ વરસાવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="LAM.2.5" />યહોવા શત્રુના જેવા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે ઇસ્રાએલનો નાશ કર્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">હા, તેણે તેના મહેલો અને કિલ્લાઓનો નાશ કર્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણીને તેણે શોક કરવાનું નિમિત્ત આપ્યુ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="LAM.2.6" />જ્યાં લોકો મંદિરમાં પૂજા કરતા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં તેઓનો નાશ થયો,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેમ જમીન પર ઘાસનો નાશ થાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">બધાં વિશ્રામવારો-ઉત્સવો ભૂલાઈ ગયા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના ગુસ્સાથી યાજકો અને રાજા ઘૃણિત થયાં હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="LAM.2.7" />યહોવાએ પોતાની વેદીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નકારી અને તેણે પોતાના પવિત્ર સ્થાન ને જતું કર્યું છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે દુશ્મનના હાથે તેણીના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહેલની દીવાલોનો નાશ કરાવ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">પહેલા અમે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં ઉત્સવના પોકારો કરતા હતા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે ત્યાં દુશ્મનો કોલાહલ મચાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="LAM.2.8" />તેણે સિયોનનગરીની દીવાલો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તોડી પાડવાનો નિશ્ચય કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે તેનુ માપ લીધું હતુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને તોડી પાડતાં થોભ્યો નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે કિલ્લાની અંદરની અને બહારની દીવાલોને તોડી પાડી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક સાથે તે બધી નાશ થઇને પડી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="LAM.2.9" />તેના દરવાજા ખંડેરોની જેમ દટાયેલા પડ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની કડીઓ જે બંધ કરવામાં આવતી હતી તે ભાંગી પડી છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રબોધકોને પણ યહોવા તરફથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દર્શન મળતું ન હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="LAM.2.10" />જુઓ, સિયોન નગરનાં આગેવાનો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભૂમિ પર મૂંગે મોઢે બેઠા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે માથા પર ધૂળ નાખી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ શોકનાં વસ્ત્ર પહેર્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અરે! સિયોનની કુમારિકાઓનાં માથાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુ:ખથી ભોંય સુધી નીચા નમી પડ્યાં છે!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="LAM.2.11" />રડી રડી આંખોનું તેજ ઘટી ગયું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને મારા આંતરડા કકળી ઊઠયા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારું હૃદય, લોકોના નાશને જોઇને ઓગળી રહ્યું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નગરનાં બાળકો રાજમાર્ગ પર મૂછિર્ત થઇ પડ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="LAM.2.12" />તેઓ પોતાની માતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાસે રોટલી અને દ્રાક્ષારસની માંગણી કરે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે તેઓ ઘવાયેલાઓની જેમ બેભાન થઇને શહેરની ગલીઓમાં પડ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા જ્યારે તેઓ પોતાની માતાની છાતી પર મૃત્યુ પામે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="LAM.2.13" />તને શું કહું? હે યરૂશાલેમનગરી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે કુંવારી સિયોનપુત્રી તને કોની ઉપમા આપું?
</q>
<q style="q1">તને કોની સાથે સરખાવી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી સાગર જેવી વિશાળ વેદનાનો ઉપાય કોણ કરશે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="LAM.2.14" />તમારા પ્રબોધકોએ કહ્યું કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને સંદર્શન થયું હતું પણ તેઓ જુઠું બોલી રહ્યા છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તને છેતરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તને તારા અપરાધો વિષે ન કહીને
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે તને સુધરવાની તક જ નહોતી આપી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="LAM.2.15" />હે યરૂશાલેમ નગરી, તને જોઇને જતાં લોકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તાળી પાડીને તારી હાંસી ઊડાવે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">માથું ઘુણાવી ફિટકાર વરસાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“શું આ એ જ સુંદરતાની મૂર્તિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જગતની આનંદનગરી છે!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="LAM.2.16" />તારા શત્રુઓ મોં ઉઘાડી તારી હાંસી ઉડાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દાંત કચકચાવી ને ફિટકાર વરસાવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણે જ એને પાયમાલ કરી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણે આ જ દિવસની રાહ જોતા હતા,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેની અમને પ્રતિક્ષા હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમને તે પ્રાપ્ત થયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="LAM.2.17" />યહોવાએ જે વિચાર્યુ તે કર્યું અને તે સાચું પડ્યું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો ભય, જેમ તેણે પ્રાચીનકાળમાં ચેતવણી આપી હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તેણે નિર્દયપણે ભયંકર વિનાશ કર્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમને નીચા પડતા જોઇ શત્રુઓને ખુશ કરવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સારું આ તક આપી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે તમારા શત્રુઓને ઘમંડી બનાવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="LAM.2.18" />હે સિયોનનગરી, તું સાદ ઊંચો કર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને યહોવાને તારો આર્તનાદ સંભળાવ!
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી આંખે રાત દિવસ આંસુ વહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિસામો ન દે અને આંખને સુકાવા ન દે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="LAM.2.19" />તું રાત્રીના પ્રથમ પહોરે ઊઠી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોટેથી પ્રાર્થના કર;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને યહોવા સમક્ષ પાણીની જેમ હૃદય ઠાલવ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભૂખથી ચકલે ચકલે મૂર્ચ્છા પામતાં તારાં બાળકનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જીવ બચાવવા યહોવા આગળ-તારો હાથ તેની ભણી ઊંચા કર.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="LAM.2.20" />આજુબાજુ જુઓ હે યહોવા!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો તું કોને દુ:ખી કરી રહ્યો છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">શું માતાઓ તેમના જ પોતાના બાળકોને ખાય?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તારા યાજકો અને પ્રબોધકોને તારા જ પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં મારી નાંખવામાં આવે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="LAM.2.21" />વૃદ્ધો અને બાળકો રસ્તાની ધૂળમાં રઝળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી કન્યાઓ અને યુવાનો તરવારનો ભોગ બન્યા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા રોષને દિવસે તેં તેમનો સંહાર કર્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે નિર્દયપણે, તેઓને રહેંસી નાખ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="LAM.2.22" />જાણે કે ઉત્સવનો દિવસ હોય તેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં ચારે બાજુથી મારા ભયંકર દુશ્મનોને બોલાવ્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા રોષને દિવસે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ છટકવા ન પામ્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે લાડથી ઉછરેલાં સહુને વધેરી નાખ્યાં છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શત્રુઓએ કોઇનેય જીવતો રાખ્યો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">યમિર્યાનો યહોવામાં વિશ્વાસ અને પશ્ચાતાપ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="LAM.3.1" />હું એક એવો માણસ છું જેણે યહોવાના રોષના
</q>
<q style="q1">દંડાનો માર અનુભવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="LAM.3.2" />હું એ માણસ જેવો છું જેને અંધારા રસ્તા પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દીવા વગર ચાલવા માટે ફરજ પડાઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="LAM.3.3" />ફકત મારી વિરૂદ્ધ જ તે ફરી ફરીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખો વખત પોતાનો હાથ ધૂમાવ્યા કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="LAM.3.4" />તેણે મારી ચરબી અને ચામડીને નુકશાન પહોંચાડ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે મારા હાડકાં ભાંગી નાખ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="LAM.3.5" />દુ:ખ અને સંતાપની કોટડીમાં પૂરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે મને કેવો રૂંધી નાખ્યો છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="LAM.3.6" />મરી ગયેલા માણસની જેમ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે મને કયારનોય અંધકારમાં પૂરી રાખ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="LAM.3.7" />હું ક્યાંય છટકી ન જઇ શકું; તેથી તેણે મારી આસપાસ કોટ ચણી લીધો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેણે ભારે સાંકળોથી મને પકડી લીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="LAM.3.8" />જ્યારે હું પોકાર કરીને સહાય માંગુ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મારી તે પ્રાર્થના પાછી વાળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="LAM.3.9" />તેણે ઘડેલા પથ્થરોથી મારા માગોર્ને બંધ કર્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેણે તેને વાંકાચૂંકા ભૂલભૂલા મણીભર્યા કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="LAM.3.10" />તે રીંછની જેમ મારી વાટ જોતો પડ્યો રહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિંહની જેમ મને પકડવા સંતાઇ રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="LAM.3.11" />મેં લીધેલા માર્ગથી તેણે મને બહાર ખેંચી કાઢયો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે મારા ટૂકડે-ટૂકડા કરીને મને ત્યાં પડ્યો રહેવા દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="LAM.3.12" />તેણે ધનુષ્ય પર બાણ ચઢાવ્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને મારી સામે તાક્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="LAM.3.13" />તેણે પોતાના જ ભાથાનાં બાણોથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા મર્મસ્થાનો, ભેદી નાખ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="LAM.3.14" />હું મારા લોકો સમક્ષ હાંસીપાત્ર થયો છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ આખો દિવસ મને ચીડવતા ગીતો ગાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="LAM.3.15" />તેણે મારા જીવનને કડવાશથી ભરી દીધુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે મને કટુઝેરથી ભરી દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="LAM.3.16" />વળી તેણે મારા દાંત કાંકરાથી ભાંગી નાખ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે મને રાખમાં રગદોળી દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="LAM.3.17" />મારા હૃદયની શાંતિ હરાઇ ગઇ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુંદર જીવન હોવું એ શુ છે તે હું ભૂલી ગયો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="LAM.3.18" />હું કહું છુ કે, મારી શકિત ખૂટી ગઇ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવા તરફની મારી આશા નષ્ટ થઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="LAM.3.19" />યાદ કર કે, હું તો માત્ર ગરીબ શરણાથીર્ છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું દિવસે દિવસે કડવા અનુભવમાંથી પસાર થાઉં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="LAM.3.20" />નિરંતર મારું ચિત્ત તેનો જ વિચાર કર્યા કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું નાહિમ્મત થઇ જાઉં છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="LAM.3.21" />એ હું મનમાં લાવું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેથી જ હું આશા રાખું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="LAM.3.22" />યહોવાની કરૂણા, ખૂટી પરવારી નથી તેમ જ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની દયાનો પણ અંત આવ્યો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="LAM.3.23" />દરરોજ સવારે તારી કૃપાઓ નવેસરથી મને મળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માણસ તારી પર હંમેશા નિર્ભર રહી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="LAM.3.24" />મેં કહ્યું, “મારી પાસે જે કંઇ છે તે યહોવા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી હું તેનામાં મારી આશા મૂકું છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="LAM.3.25" />જે તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે અને જેઓ તેની વાટ જોવાનું ચાલુ રાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના માટે યહોવા સારો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="LAM.3.26" />ચૂપ રહેવું અને યહોવા તમને બચાવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની રાહ જોવી તે સારું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="LAM.3.27" />હજુ યુવાન હોય તે દરમ્યાન તે વ્યકિત દુ:ખની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઝૂંસરી ઉપાડે એમાંજ એનું કલ્યાણ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="LAM.3.28" />જ્યારે યહોવા તેના પર ઝૂંસરી મૂકે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તેણે એકલા શાંત બેસવું જોઇએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="LAM.3.29" />ભલે તે તેનો ચહેરો ધૂળમાં ઘાલે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં હજી પણ કદાચ આશા હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="LAM.3.30" />જે તેને મારે છે તેના ભણી પોતાનો ગાલ ધરે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધા અપમાન વેઠી લો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="LAM.3.31" />યહોવા આપણને કદી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ નકારશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="LAM.3.32" />કારણ, તે સજા કરે છે અને દુ:ખ દે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં તે કરૂણાસાગર હોઇ દયા રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="LAM.3.33" />તે રાજીખુશીથી કોઇને પણ દુ:ખ દેતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને દુ:ખ આપીને તે ખુશ થતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="LAM.3.34" />જ્યારે પણ પૃથ્વી પરના કેદીને સિતમગાર દ્વારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કચડી નાંખવામાં આવે છે ત્યારે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="LAM.3.35" />જ્યારે પણ કોઇનો હક્ક પડાવી લેવામાં આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“પરમ ઉચ્ચની હાજરીમાં ત્યારે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="LAM.3.36" />જ્યારે પણ ન્યાય થતો નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાને તે મંજૂર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="37" bcv="LAM.3.37" />યહોવાની આજ્ઞા વિના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોનું ધાર્યું થાય છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="LAM.3.38" />પરાત્પર દેવની આજ્ઞાથી જ સુખ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુ:ખ બન્ને ઉત્પન્ન થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="39" bcv="LAM.3.39" />પાપની સજા સામે કોઇ માણસે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શા માટે ફરિયાદ કરવી જોઇએ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="LAM.3.40" />આપણી રીતભાત તપાસીએ અને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કસોટી કરીએ અને આપણે યહોવા તરફ પાછા ફરીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="LAM.3.41" />આપણે બે હાથ જોડીને સાચા હૃદયથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્વર્ગમાં વસતા દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="42" bcv="LAM.3.42" />અમે બળવો કરીને અપરાધ કર્યો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે અમને માફ કર્યા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="LAM.3.43" />રોષે ભરાઇને તમે અમારો પીછો કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નિર્દયી રીતે અમારો વધ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="LAM.3.44" />તમે રોષના વાદળ પાછળ છુપાઇ ગયા છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી અમારી પ્રાર્થના તમને ભેદીને પહોંચી શકે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="45" bcv="LAM.3.45" />તમે અમને પ્રજાઓની વચમાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કચરા અને ઉકરડા જેવા બનાવી મૂક્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="46" bcv="LAM.3.46" />અમારી વિરુદ્ધ મુખ ઉઘાડીને અમારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ શત્રુઓએ અમારી હાંસી કરી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="47" bcv="LAM.3.47" />અમે ભયભીત થયા છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાણે અમે ખાડામાં પડી ગયા હોઇએ એવું લાગે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે એકલા છીએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભાંગી પડ્યા છીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="48" bcv="LAM.3.48" />મારા લોકોનો વિનાશ જોઇને મારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આંખોમાંથી આંસુની નદીઓ વહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="49" bcv="LAM.3.49" />યહોવા આકાશમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દ્રષ્ટિ કરીને જુએ ત્યાં સુધી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="50" bcv="LAM.3.50" />નિરંતર મારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આંખમાંથી આંસુઓ વહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="51" bcv="LAM.3.51" />મારી નગરીની સર્વ કુમારીકાઓની દશા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જોઇને મારી આંખો સૂજી ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="52" bcv="LAM.3.52" />તેઓ કારણ વિના મારા શત્રુ થયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે પંખીની જેમ મારો શિકાર કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="53" bcv="LAM.3.53" />તેઓએ મને જીવતો ખાડામાં નાખ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે મારા પર પથ્થર ઢાંક્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="54" bcv="LAM.3.54" />મારા માથા પર પાણી ફરી વળ્યાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું બોલી ઉઠયો કે “હું મરી ગયો છુું.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="55" bcv="LAM.3.55" />હે યહોવા, કારાગૃહના નીચલા ભોંયરામાંથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તમારા નામનો પોકાર કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="56" bcv="LAM.3.56" />હું મદદ માટે ઘા નાખું છું અને મારી અરજ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાંભળીને તમે તમારો કાન બંધ ન કરશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="57" bcv="LAM.3.57" />તમે ચોક્કસ મારી હાંક સાંભળીને આવ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કહ્યું પણ ખરુ કે, “ડરીશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="58" bcv="LAM.3.58" />હે યહોવા! તમે અમારો બચાવ કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારું જીવન બચાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="59" bcv="LAM.3.59" />હે યહોવા, તમે મને થયેલા અન્યાય જોયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારો ન્યાય કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="60" bcv="LAM.3.60" />મારા પ્રત્યેની તેમની વેરવૃત્તિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી વિરુદ્ધના સર્વ કાવાદાવા તમે જોયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="61" bcv="LAM.3.61" />હે યહોવા, તેઓએ કરેલી મારી નિંદા તથા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ મારી વિરૂદ્ધ કરેલા સર્વ કાવતરા તેં સાંભળ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="62" bcv="LAM.3.62" />મારા વિરોધીઓ આખો દિવસ બખાળા કાઢે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેમના કાવાદાવા જાણો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="63" bcv="LAM.3.63" />પછી ભલે તેઓ બેઠા હોય કે ઉભા હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તો તેમની ઠઠ્ઠા મશ્કરીનું ધ્યેય બની ગયો છુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="64" bcv="LAM.3.64" />હે યહોવા, તમે તેમના હાથની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કરણી પ્રમાણે તેઓને, બદલો આપજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="65" bcv="LAM.3.65" />તમે તેઓની બુદ્ધિ જડ બનાવી દેજો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના પર શાપ વરસાવજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="66" bcv="LAM.3.66" />ક્રોધે ભરાઇને પીછો પકડીને તમે તેમનો નાશ કરજો અને હે યહોવા!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તેમનો પૃથ્વી પરથી સંહાર કરજો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">દેવનો રોષ અને યરૂશાલેમનો વિનાશ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="LAM.4.1" />સોનું કેવું ઝાંખું પડ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને કુંદન બદલાઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પવિત્રસ્થાનના પથ્થરો શેરીઓને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખૂણે વિખેરાઇને આમતેમ પડ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="LAM.4.2" />સિયોનના અમૂલ્ય પુત્રો જે કુંદન જેવા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ શા માટે માટીના ઘડાના મૂલમા લેખાય છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="LAM.4.3" />શિયાળ પણ પોતાનાં બચ્ચાને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">થાને વળગાડીને ધવડાવે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ મારી પ્રજા વગડાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શાહમૃગ જેવી લાગણી શૂન્ય થઇ ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="LAM.4.4" />તરસને કારણે બાળકોની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જીભ તાળવે ચોંટી રહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને બાળકો ખોરાકને માટે ભીખ માંગી રહ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેમ છતાં કોઇ તેમને કશું પણ આપતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="LAM.4.5" />પાંચ પકવાન ખાનારા રસ્તે રઝળીને મરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રેશમી વસ્ત્રોમાં ઊછરેલાં ઉકરડે આળોટે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="LAM.4.6" />મારા લોકોએ સદોમ કરતા વધારે પાપ કર્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સદોમમાં તો એક જ ક્ષણમાં બધું જ નાશ પામ્યું છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">છતાં પણ કોઇ માણસે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને હાથ લગાડયો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="LAM.4.7" />તેના ચુનંદા વીરો હીમ કરતાં ય સ્વચ્છ હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દૂધ કરતાં ય ધોળા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમનાં શરીર પરવાળાં કરતાં ય લાલ હતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની નસો નીલમણી જેવી નીલ હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="LAM.4.8" />પણ હાલ તેઓ રસ્તામાં પડયાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઓળખાતા નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના મોંઢાકાજળથી પણ કાળા પડી ગયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની ચામડી હાડકા પર ચીમળાઇ ગઇ છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સુકાઇને લાકડા જેવી થઇ ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="LAM.4.9" />ભૂખથી મરનાર કરતાં તરવારથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મરનાર વધારે નસીબદાર હતા;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના જીવનો અન્નજળ વિના વહી ગયાં છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે ત્યાં લણવા માટે ધાન નહોતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="LAM.4.10" />મારી પ્રજા પર એવી આફત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઊતરી આવી કે કોમળ હૃદયની સ્ત્રીઓએ પોતાના
</q>
<q style="q1">પેટનાં છોકરાંને પોતાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હાથે રાંધીને ખાવા પડ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="LAM.4.11" />યહોવાએ પૂરેપૂરો પોતાનો ક્રોધ બતાવ્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે તેને આગની જેમ વરસાવ્યો હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">સિયોન નગરીમાં એવી આગ ચાંપી હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે તેના પાયાને સુદ્ધાં ભરખી ગઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="LAM.4.12" />દુનિયાના કોઇ રાજા કે લોકોએ ધાર્યું નહોતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે યરૂશાલેમના શત્રુઓ તેમના દરવાજેથી પસાર થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="LAM.4.13" />પણ બન્યું એમ, પ્રબોધકોના પાપે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યાજકોના અન્યાયને કારણે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે નગરમાં ન્યાયીઓનું લોહી વહાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="LAM.4.14" />તેઓ શેરીએ શેરીએ આંધળાઓની જેમ ભટકયાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ લોહીથી એવા તો લથબથ હતા
</q>
<q style="q1">કે કોઇ તેઓના વસ્ત્રોને અડકી શકતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="LAM.4.15" />તેઓને જ્યારે જોયા ત્યારે લોકો બૂમો પાડી ઉઠયા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે અશુદ્ધ લોકો, અમને અડકશો નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના કારણે તેઓ શહેરને છોડીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આમતેમ ભટકવા લાગ્યાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">રાષ્ટો વચ્ચે પણ એમ કહેવામાં આવ્યું હતું કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તેઓ અમારી વચ્ચે હવે જરાપણ વધારે રહે નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="LAM.4.16" />યહોવાએ જાતે જ તેમને વેરવિખેર કરી નાખ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી તેમણે તેમના ભણી જોયું જ નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમણે યાજકો પ્રત્યે આદર ન દાખવ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે વડીલો પર જરાયે દયા ન રાખી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="LAM.4.17" />મદદની આશામાં સમય જોઇ જોઇ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારી આંખો પણ થાકી ગઇ.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રજા રક્ષકની આશાએ રાહ જોઇ રહી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ અમને બચાવવા કોઇ ન આવ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="LAM.4.18" />દુશ્મનો અમારી પાછળ પડ્યા હતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમે રસ્તે ચાલી નહોતા શકતાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમારો અંત નજીક આવ્યો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારા દિવસો પૂરા થયા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="LAM.4.19" />આકાશના ગરૂડ કરતાંય ઝડપથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ અમારો પીછો કર્યો;
</q>
<q style="q1">પર્વતો પર પણ તેમણે અમારો પીછો કર્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને રાનમાં પણ અમારી પર તરાપ મારવા સંતાઇ ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="LAM.4.20" />યહોવાથી અભિષિકત થયેલો જે અમારા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નાકમાંના શ્વાસ જેટલો મહત્વપૂર્ણ હતો
</q>
<q style="q1">તે અમારા શત્રુઓના બંદીવાસમાં બંદી થઇ પડ્યો હતો, અમે કહેતા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“અમે તેની છત્રછાયામાં અમારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શત્રુઓની વચ્ચે સુરક્ષિત છીએ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="LAM.4.21" />અદોમના લોકો આનંદ માણો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારામાંના જે ઉસ પ્રદેશમાં રહે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ બતાવવું જોઇએ કે યરૂશાલેમના લોકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જોડે જે થઇ રહ્યું છે તેનાથી ખુશ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ દુ:ખનો પ્યાલો તમારી પર પણ આવશે ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ભાન ભૂલી જશો અને પોતાને નગ્ન કરી દેશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="LAM.4.22" />હે સિયોન, તારાં પાપની સજા પૂરી થઇ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે તને યહોવા દેશવટે નહિ રાખે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે અદોમ, યહોવા તને તારા અપરાધની સજા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કરશે અને તારા પાપ ઉઘાડા કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">યહોવાની ઉપાસના
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="LAM.5.1" />હે યહોવા, અમારા પર શું શું વીત્યું છે તેનું સ્મરણ કર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને અપમાન પર નજર કર.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="LAM.5.2" />દેશ વિદેશીઓના હાથમાં ગયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારા ઘરબાર પારકાઓના કબજામાં ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="LAM.5.3" />અમે અનાથ અને નબાપા થઇ ગયા છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને અમારી માતાઓ વિધવા થઇ ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="LAM.5.4" />પીવાના પાણીના પૈસા આપવા પડે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લાકડાં પણ વેચાતાં લેવા પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="LAM.5.5" />અમારી ડોક પર ઝૂંસરી મૂકી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને પશુની જેમ હાંકવામાં આવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે હવે અનહદ થાકી ગાય છીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને વિશ્રામ મળતો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="LAM.5.6" />અમારે પેટ ભરીને રોટલો મેળવવા માટે મિસર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આશ્શૂર સામે હાથ જોડવા પડ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="LAM.5.7" />પાપ કરનારા અમારા પિતૃઓ રહ્યા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારે તેમના પાપની સજા ભોગવવી પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="LAM.5.8" />શાસન કરે છે ગુલામો અમારા પર.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના હાથમાંથી અમને છોડાવનાર કોઇ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="LAM.5.9" />જીવને જોખમે અમારે રોટલો મેળવવો પડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વગડામાં તરવારનું જોખમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="LAM.5.10" />દુકાળની ભડભડતી અગનજાળથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારી ચામડી ભઠ્ઠી જેવી તપી ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="LAM.5.11" />અમારી સ્ત્રીઓનો સિયોનમાં બળાત્કાર થાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કુમારીકાઓનો યહૂદાના નગરોમાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="LAM.5.12" />અમારા આગેવાનોને તેમના હાથ વડે લટકાવી દેવામાં આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વડીલોને કોઇ માન આપતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="LAM.5.13" />જુવાનો પાસે ચક્કી પીસાવવામાં આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને છોકરાઓ લાકડાના ભારથી લથડી પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="LAM.5.14" />વડીલો હવે ચોરે બેસતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુવાનિયાઓએ ગાવાનું છોડી દીધું છે
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="LAM.5.15" />અમારા અંતરનો આનંદ મરી પરવાર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમારાં નૃત્યો આક્રંદમાં પરિણમ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="LAM.5.16" />અમારે માથેથી મુગટ પડી ગયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુર્ભાગ્ય અમારૂ! કારણકે અમે પાપ કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="LAM.5.17" />આને કારણે અમારા હૃદય બીમાર થઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આને લીધે અમારી આંખોએ અંધારા આવી ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="LAM.5.18" />કારણકે સિયોનનો પર્વત ઉજ્જડ થઇ ગયો છે એ જગ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં શિયાળવાં શિકારની શોધમાં ભટકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="LAM.5.19" />પણ, યહોવા, તમારું રાજ સર્વકાળ સુધી રહે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પેઢી-દરપેઢી રાજ્યાસન ચાલુ રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="LAM.5.20" />તું શા કારણે અમને ભૂલી જાય છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં શા માટે આટલા બધા દિવસ સુધી અમારો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="LAM.5.21" />અમને પાછા લઇ લે, હે યહોવા!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે અમે ફરીથી તારા થઇ જઇશું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને નવું જીવન આપ જેવું તેં ઘણા વર્ષ પહેલા કર્યું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="LAM.5.22" />પણ તેં અમને સંપૂર્ણ નકાર્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું અમારા પર બહુ કોપાપમાન થયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
</book>
<book id="EZK"><id id="EZK">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>હઝકિયેલ
</h><toc level="1">હઝકિયેલ
</toc><toc level="2">હઝકિયેલ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">હઝકિયેલ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">ભૂમિકા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.1.1" />આ બાબત ત્રીસમા વર્ષના ચોથા મહિનાની પાંચમીએ બની જ્યારે હું ઇસ્રાએલી બંદીવાનોની સાથે બાબિલમાં આવેલી કબાર નદીની પાસે રહેતો હતો. તે વખતે મે જોયું કે આકાશ ઊઘડી ગયું, ને મને દેવનાં દર્શન થયાં.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZK.1.2" />આ દર્શન દરમ્યાન પાંચમા વર્ષમાં ચોથા મહીનાના પાંચમા દિવસે યહોયાકીન રાજાને બંદીખાનામાં નાખવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EZK.1.3" />ત્યારે યહોવાનું વચન બૂઝીના પુત્ર હઝકિયેલ યાજક પાસે આવ્યું; અને ત્યાં યહોવાનો હાથ તેના પર આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોવાનો રથ અને તેમનું સિંહાસન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.1.4" />તે દરમ્યાન મે જોયું, કે ઉત્તરમાંથી એક આંધીરૂપી તોફાન મારી તરફ આવતું હતું. એ તો ખૂબજ વિશાળ વાદળું હતું, જેમાં અગ્નિ ચમકતો હતો, અને જેની આસપાસ પ્રકાશ હતો, ચળકતી ધાતુ જેવી કોઇક વસ્તું અગ્નિમાં હતી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EZK.1.5" />અને વાદળની મધ્યમાં ચાર જીવંત પ્રાણીઓ જેવું દેખાયું. તેમનો દેખાવ માણસ જેવો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EZK.1.6" />પણ દરેકને ચાર મુખ અને ચાર પાંખો હતી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EZK.1.7" />તેમના પગ માણસના જેવા સીધા હતા પણ તેમના પગના પંજા વાછરડા અને તે પિત્તળ સમાન ચળકતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EZK.1.8" />દરેકને ચાર મોઢાં અને ચાર પાંખો ઉપરાંત પાંખોની નીચે ચારે બાજુએ માણસના જેવા ચાર હાથ હતા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EZK.1.9" />તેઓની પાંખો એકબીજાની પાંખોને અડકતી હતી. ચાલતી વખતે તેમને આમ કે તેમ ફરવું પડતું નહોતું. દરેક પ્રાણી સીધું આગળ વધતું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.1.10" />પ્રત્યેક પ્રાણીને આગળના ભાગમાં માણસનું મુખ, જમણી બાજુ સિંહનું મુખ, ડાબી બાજુ બળદનું મુખ અને પાછળની તરફ ગરૂડનુ મુખ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EZK.1.11" />દરેક પ્રાણીની બે પાંખો પ્રસારેલી હતી અને તે પાસેના પ્રાણીની પાંખને સ્પર્શતી હતી અને બાકીની બે પાંખો શરીરને ઢાંકતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EZK.1.12" />દરેક પ્રાણી સીધી દિશામાં ચાલતું હતું, જ્યાં પવન જતો હતો. ચાલતાં ચાલતાં તેઓ આડા અવળાં વળતાં નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.1.13" />આ પ્રાણીઓનો દેખાવ ચળકતા કોલસા જેવો તથા તેજસ્વી મશાલ જેવો હતો. અને પ્રાણીઓ વચ્ચે અગ્નિનું હલનચલન ઉપર નીચે થતું હતું. તે અતિશય તેજસ્વી અગ્નિ હતો અને તેમાંથી વીજળીના ચમકારા થતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EZK.1.14" />અને તે પ્રાણીઓ વીજળીના ચમકારાની જેમ આગળ વધતાં હતાં તથા પાછળ જતાં હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.1.15" />આ સર્વ હું નિહાળી રહ્યો હતો ત્યારે મેં દરેક પ્રાણીની પાસે એક એમ ચાર પૈડાં જમીનને અડેલા જોયાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.1.16" />પૈડાઓ પીરોજની જેમ ચળકતાં હતાં અને બધાં એક સરખા હતા; અને એક પૈડાની અંદર બીજુ પૈડું હોય તેવું દેખાતું હતું.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.1.17" />આથી તેઓ વાળ્યા વગર ચારે દિશામાં જઇ શકતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.1.18" />ચારેય પૈડાની ધારો ઊંચી અને ભયાનક હતી અને તેને સર્વત્ર આંખો હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EZK.1.19" />જ્યારે પ્રાણીઓ ચાલતા ત્યારે પૈડાં પણ તેમની સાથે ચાલતાં, જ્યારે પ્રાણીઓ જમીન પરથી ઊંચે જતાં ત્યારે પૈડાં પણ જમીન પરથી ઊંચે જતાં.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.1.20" />પ્રાણીઓ મન ફાવે ત્યાં જતાં, અને પૈડાં પ્રાણીઓની સાથે સાથે જતાં. કારણ, પૈડાઓ ઉપર પ્રાણીઓનું નિયંત્રણ હતું.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.1.21" />જ્યારે પ્રાણીઓ ચાલતાં ત્યારે પૈડા ચાલતાં, પ્રાણીઓ ઉભા રહેતાં ત્યારે પૈડાં ઊભા રહેતા અને પ્રાણીઓ જમીન પરથી ઊંચે જતાં ત્યારે પૈડાં પણ ઊંચે જતા હતાં કારણ, પૈડાઓ ઉપર પ્રાણીઓનું નિયંત્રણ હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EZK.1.22" />પ્રાણીઓના માથાં ઉપર ઊંચે, આકાશના ઘૂમટ જેવો અદૃભુત સ્ફટિકના જેવો જાણે ચમકતો ઘૂમટ તાણેલો હતો.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.1.23" />એ ઘૂમટની નીચે પ્રાણીઓએ નજીકના પ્રાણીની પાંખને સ્પશેર્ એ રીતે બબ્બે પાંખ પ્રસારેલી હતી અને બીજી બે પાંખોથી દરેકનું શરીર ઢંકાયેલું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZK.1.24" />તેઓ ઉડતાં ત્યારે તેઓની પાંખોનો અવાજ ધસમસતા પાણીના અવાજ જેવો મોટો સૈન્યના કોલાહલ જેવો, સર્વસમર્થના સાદ જેવો સંભળાતો હતો. અને જ્યારે તેઓ ઉભા રહેતાં ત્યારે તેઓ પોતાની પાંખો નીચે નમાવી મૂકતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EZK.1.25" />અને જ્યારે તેઓ થોભ્યા, ત્યારે તેઓના માથા પર ઘૂમટ માંથી અવાજ આવ્યો અને તેઓએ તેમની પાંખોને નીચેની તરફ નમાવી દીધી.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.1.26" />જાણે ચાંદી, પિત્તળ, લોખંડ, સીસુ અને જસતને ઓગાળીને અગ્નિમાં એકઠા કર્યા હોય તેમ તેઓનાઁ માથાઁ પર પ્રસારેલા ઘૂમટની ઉપર જાણે નીલમનું બનાવેલું હોય તેવું રાજ્યાસન જેવું દેખાયું. આ રાજ્યાસન પર એક મનુષ્ય જેવો આકાર દેખાયો.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.1.27" />તેની કમરનો ઉપરનો સમગ્ર ભાગ ચળકતી ધાતુ જેવો દેખાતો હતો, અને કમરની નીચેનો સમગ્ર ભાગ અગ્નિની જેમ પ્રકાશતો હતો. તેની ચારે બાજુએ ઝળહળાટ વ્યાપેલો હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="EZK.1.28" />એ ઝળહળાટમાં ચોમાસામાં થતા મેઘધનુષની જેવા બધા રંગો દેખાતા હતાં. આ રીતે યહોવાના મહિમાનું સ્વરૂપ મારી સમક્ષ પ્રગટ થયું. તે જોઇને મેં સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કર્યા અને મને સંબોધતી કોઇની વાણી મારા સાંભળવામાં આવી.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">હઝકિયેલને યહોવાનો આદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.2.1" />તેમણે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ઊભો થા, મારે તારી સાથે વાત કરવી છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EZK.2.2" />તેમણે મારી સાથે વાત કરી અને દેવનો આત્મા મારી અંદર પ્રવેશ્યો અને હું પગ પર ઊભો થયો; અને મેં તેમની વાણી સાંભળી.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.2.3" />તેમણે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, હું તને ઇસ્રાએલ પાસે, હા, મારી વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કરનાર પ્રજા પાસે મોકલું છું, તેઓ તથા તેઓના પિતૃઓ આજ દિવસ સુધી મારી વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કરતા આવ્યા છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.2.4" />તેઓ ઉદ્ધત અને હઠીલા છે, તેમની વચ્ચે હું તને મોકલું છું, તું તેમને મારી વાણી સંભળાવજે.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.2.5" />ભલે પછી તેઓ તને સાંભળે કે ન સાંભળે. એ તો બંડખોરોની પ્રજા છે; તોપણ તેમને એટલી તો ખબર પડશે કે તેમની વચ્ચે કોઇ પ્રબોધક આવ્યો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.2.6" />“પણ, હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું તેમનાથી ડરીશ નહિ કે તેમના વચનોથી ગભરાઇશ નહિ; ભલે તારી ચારે બાજુ ઝાંખરાં અને કાંટાઓ હોય અને તારે વીંછીઓની આસપાસ વસવું પડે, તેમ છતાં તું તેમનાથી ડરીશ નહિ, અને નાસીપાસ થઇશ નહિ, કારણ કે તેઓ તો બંડખોરો પ્રજા છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.2.7" />અને તારે તેઓને તે કહેવું જે મેં તને કહૃયુ, પછી ભલે તે લોકો સાંભળે કે ન સાંભળે કારણ કે તેઓ તો બળવાખોર પ્રજા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.2.8" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, હું જે કહું છું તે સાંભળ, એ બંડખોરોની જેમ તું બંડખોર થઇશ નહિ, તારુ મુખ ઉઘાડ અને હું તને આપું છું તે તું ખાઇ જા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.2.9" />અને મેં જોયું તો ઓળિયું પકડેલો એક હાથ મારા તરફ લંબાયેલો હતો;
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.2.10" />તેમણે મારી આગળ ઓળિયું ખુલ્લું કર્યું. તેમાં બન્ને તરફ લખાયેલું હતું; તેમાં અંતિમ ક્રિયાના ગીતો, શોકગીતો તથા વિલાપ ગીતો લખેલા હતાં.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.3.1" />દેવે કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તારી સામે છે તે ખાઇ, જા, આ ઓળિયું ખાઇ જા, અને પછી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ આગળ જઇને કહી સંભળાવ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EZK.3.2" />તેથી મેં મારું મુખ ઉઘાડ્યું અને તેમણે મને ઓળિયું ખાવા માટે આપ્યું.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.3.3" />પછી તેમણે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, હું તને આપું છું તે ઓળિયું ખાઇ જા અને તારું પેટ ભર.”
</p>
<p style="p">મેં તે ખાધું અને મને તે મધ જેવું મીઠું લાગ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.3.4" />પછી તેમણે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પાસે જઇને હું તને કહું તે તેઓને કહે.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.3.5" />હું તને દૂરના દેશમાં રહેતી અને તું ન સમજી શકે તેવી અજાણી ભાષા બોલતી વિદેશી પ્રજા પાસે નથી મોકલતો, પણ ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા પાસે મોકલું છું.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.3.6" />હું તને કોઇ અજાણી કે અઘરી ભાષા બોલનાર પ્રજા પાસે નથી મોકલતો. જો હું તને તેઓની પાસે મોકલું તો તેઓ જરૂર તારો સંદેશો સાંભળે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.3.7" />પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તારી વાત નહિ સાંભળે, કારણ, તેઓ મારી વાત સાંભળવા પણ તૈયાર નથી. તેઓ બધા એવા કઠોર અને હઠીલા છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.3.8" />તેથી હું પણ તને એમના જેટલો જ કઠોર અને હઠીલો બનાવીશ.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.3.9" />હું તને કાળમીઠ પથ્થર જેવો, અરે! વજ્ર જેવો કઠણ બનાવીશ. માટે તું એ બંડખોરોથી બીશ નહિ, ગભરાઇશ નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.3.10" />પછી દેવે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, હું તને જે કહું તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ અને બરાબર યાદ રાખી લે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.3.11" />પછી બંદીવાસમાં ગયેલા તારા લોકો પાસે જઇને તેઓને કહે: ‘યહોવા મારા માલિક આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે!’ તેઓ સાંભળે કે ન સાંભળે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.3.12" />પછી આત્માએ મને ઉપર ઊંચકી લીધો અને મેં મારી પાછળ પ્રચંડ અવાજ સાંભળ્યો: “યહોવાના ગૌરવને ધન્ય હો.”
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.3.13" />મેં હવામાં પ્રાણીઓની પાંખો એકબીજા સાથે અથડાવાનો મોટો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો, અને, તેમની પાછળ પૈડાંઓના ગડગડાટ પણ સંભળાતા હતા.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.3.14" />પછી આત્મા મને ઉપાડી ગયો અને હું દુ:ખી થઇને ક્રોધ અનુભવતો સાથે ગયો. પરંતુ યહોવાનો હાથ પ્રબળ રીતે મારા પર હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.3.15" />હું તેલ- આબીબ<f caller="+"><fr>3:15
</fr><fk>તેલ-આબીબ
</fk><ft>આ વર્તમાન સમયનું ઇસ્રાએલમાં આવેલું તેલ આબીબ નથી, પણ બાબિલમાં આવેલી “સ્પ્રીંગ હીલ” નામની જગ્યા છે.</ft></f> કબારનદીને કાંઠે વસતા દેશવટો ભોગવનારાઓ પાસે પહોંચી ગયો અને સાત દિવસ સુધી તેમની વચ્ચે સ્તબ્ધ બની બેસી રહ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.3.16" />સાત દિવસો પૂરા થયા પછી મને આ પ્રમાણે યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.3.17" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, મેં તને ઇસ્રાએલ પર ચોકીદાર તરીકે નીમ્યો છે; જ્યારે હું મારા લોકો માટે ચેતવણી મોકલું ત્યારે તે તરત જ તેઓને જણાવજે.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.3.18" />હું કોઇ દુષ્ટ માણસને મોતની સજા કરું અને તું જો તેને ચેતવે નહિ કે, ‘તું તારો દુષ્ટ વ્યવહાર છોડી દે નહિ તો મરી જઇશ;’ તે તો તેના પાપે મરશે પણ તેના મૃત્યુ માટે હું તને જવાબદાર લેખીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EZK.3.19" />“પણ જો તું તે દુષ્ટ માણસને ચેતવે અને તે પોતાનો દુષ્ટ વ્યવહાર ન છોડે તો, તે પોતાના પાપે મરશે, પણ તારો જીવ બચી જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.3.20" />“વળી, જો કોઇ નીતિવાન માણસ ચલિત થઇને ભૂંડું કાર્ય કરે અને તેના પરિણામ વિષે તું તેમને ચેતવણી આપે નહિ તો યહોવા તેનો નાશ કરશે. તેણે અગાઉ કરેલા સારા કાર્યો તેને સહાયરૂપ થશે નહિ, તે પોતાનાં પાપમાં મૃત્યુ પામશે. પરંતુ તેના મૃત્યુ માટે હું તને જવાબદાર ગણીશ અને તને શિક્ષા કરીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.3.21" />“પણ જો તું કોઇ સારા માણસને પાપ ન કરવાને ચેતવે અને તે પાપ ન કરે તો તે તારી ચેતવણીને લીધે જીવતો રહેશે, એટલું જ નહિ, તારો જીવ પણ બચી જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EZK.3.22" />ત્યારે યહોવાનો હાથ મારી પર એ જગ્યાએ આવ્યો અને તેણે મને કહ્યું, “ઊઠ, બહાર ખીણમાં જા, ત્યાં હું તારી સાથે વાત કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EZK.3.23" />તેથી હું ઊઠીને મેદાનમાં ગયો અને ત્યાં મને કબાર નદી પર થયા હતાં તેવા યહોવાના ગૌરવનાં દર્શન થયાં, મેં સાષ્ટાંગ પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.3.24" />પછી દેવનો આત્મા મારી પાસે આવ્યો અને મને ઉભો કર્યો અને તેણે મને કહ્યું, “ઘરે જઇને પોતાને તારા ઘરની અંદર બંધ કરી દે.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.3.25" />હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તને દોરડાં વડે બાંધવામાં આવશે, જેથી તું લોકોમાં જઇ ન શકે.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.3.26" />અને હું તારી જીભને તારા તાળવે ચોંટાડી દઇશ. જેથી તું મૂંગો બની જશે અને તેઓને ઠપકો આપી શકશે નહિ; તેઓ તો બળવાખોરોની જમાત છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.3.27" />પરંતુ મારે તને કઇંક કહેવું હશે ત્યારે હું તને ફરી બોલતો કરીશ, અને તું તેમને કહેજે કે, ‘યહોવા આપણા પ્રભુ આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે.’ જેને સાંભળવું હોય તે સાંભળે, ન સાંભળવું હોય તે ન સાંભળે, એ તો બળવાખોરોની જમાત છે.”
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<c id="4" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમના ઘેરાનો સંકેત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.4.1" />દેવે કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, એક મોટી ઇંટ લઇ તારી સામે મૂક, અને તેના પર યરૂશાલેમનો નકશો દોર.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.4.2" />પછી તેને ઘેરો ઘાલ, તેના ફરતે ખાઇ બનાવ, હુમલો કરવા માટે માટીના ગઢ ઊભા કર. છાવણી ઊભી કર અને ચારે બાજુ કોટનો નાશ કરવાના યંત્રો ગોઠવ.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.4.3" />વળી એક લોખંડની તાવડી લઇ, તારી અને નગરની વચ્ચે લોખંડની ભીત તરીકે આડી મૂક, શહેરની તરફ મોઢું કર, શહેરને ઘેરો ઘાલેલો છે અને ઘેરો ઘાલનાર તું છે. ઇસ્રાએલીઓને માટે આ એક સંકેત છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.4.4" />“પછી તારા ડાબા પડખે સૂઇ જા, અને તારે ઇસ્રાએલનાં લોકોના અપરાધની ઘોષણા કરવી પડશે, તું જેટલા દિવસ ડાબે પડખે સૂઇ રહેશે તેટલા દિવસ ઇસ્રાએલના પાપોના અપરાધની ઘોષણા કરવી જોઇશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.4.5" />મેં તેઓના પાપોના વરસોની સંખ્યા નક્કી કરી છે જેવી રીતે તારા માટે દિવસોની સંખ્યા નક્કી કરી છે. તેથી ત્રણસોને નેવું દિવસ સુધી તું ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજાના અપરાધની ઘોષણા કરશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.4.6" />“આ પ્રમાણે કર્યા પછી તારે તારા જમણા પડખે સૂઇ જવું અને યહૂદિયાના લોકોના પાપોની ઘોષણા કરવી. દરેક વરસને માટે એક દિવસ એમ 40 દિવસ તારે માટે મેં ઠરાવ્યા છે. તેટલા દિવસો સુધી યહૂદાના પાપો અને અપરાધની ઘોષણા કરજે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.4.7" />“ત્યાર બાદ તારે યરૂશાલેમના ઘેરા તરફ એકીટશે જોઇ રહેવું. અને એ શહેરના વિનાશનું ભવિષ્ય ભાખવું.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.4.8" />હું તને દોરડાં વડે બાંધી દઇશ, જેથી ઘેરો પૂરો થતાં સુધી તું એક પડખેથી બીજે પડખે ફરી નહિ શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.4.9" />“ત્યારપછી તારે, ઘઉં, જવ, વટાણા, ચોળા, મઠ અને બાજરીનો લોટ લઇ એક જ વાસણમાં નાખી તેમાંથી રોટલા બનાવવા. જ્યારે તું ત્રણસોને નેવું દિવસ સુધી સૂઇ રહીશ ત્યારે તારે ફકત એ જ ખાવાનું છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.4.10" />તારે દરેક વખતે ભોજન તોળીને ખાવું પડશે. તને દરરોજ એક કપ લોટની રોટલી બનાવીને. દિવસ દરમ્યાન નક્કી કરેલા ચોક્કસ સમયે તું ખાઇ શકીશ.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.4.11" />તારે જળપાન પણ માપીને જ કરવું, આખા દિવસના બે પ્યાલા.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.4.12" />તારે બધાની હાજરીમાં માણસનો સુકાયેલો મળ સળગાવવો અને તેના ઉપર જવના રોટલાં શેકવા.”
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.4.13" />યહોવા જાહેર કરે છે કે “ઇસ્રાએલીઓને હું જે દેશોમાં બંદીવાન તરીકે લઇ જઇશ ત્યાં તેઓ આ રીતે અશુદ્ધ થયેલો ખોરાક ખાશે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.4.14" />પણ મેં કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા મારા માલિક, મેં મારી જાતને કદી અભડાવી નથી. મેં બાળપણથી આજ સુધી કદી કુદરતી રીતે મૃત્યુ પામેલું કે કોઇ જંગલી પશુએ મારી નાંખેલું પ્રાણી ખાધું નથી, મેં કદી નિયમશાસ્ત્ર દ્વારા નિષિદ્ધ ખોરાક મોંમા મૂક્યો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.4.15" />ત્યારે તેમણે મને કહ્યું, “હું તને માનવમળને બદલે છાણાં ઉપર રોટલા શેકવાની છૂટ આપું છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.4.16" />એટલે તેમણે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, હું યરૂશાલેમનો અનાજનો ભંડાર ખાલી કરી નાખનાર છું, ત્યાંના લોકો ચિંતામાંને ચિંતામાં તોળી તોળીને ખાશે અને ભયના માર્યા માપી માપીને પાણી પીશે. બધા જ ભયભીત થઇ જશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.4.17" />હું ખોરાક અને પાણીની અછત ઊભી કરીશ, પછી તેઓ હતાશ થઇ જશે અને પોતાના પાપોને કારણે તેઓ કરમાઇ જશે અને વેડફાઈ જશે.
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<c id="5" />
<s style="s">હઝકિયેલે કરાવેલું મુંડન ‘જાહેર નમૂના’
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.5.1" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, હજામના અસ્ત્રા જેવી ધારદાર તરવાર લઇ તારુ માથું અને દાઢી મૂંડી નાખ. પછી ત્રાજવા લઇને તેં ઉતારેલા વાળના ત્રણ સરખા ભાગ કર.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.5.2" />તેં દોરેલા યરૂશાલેમના નકશાના મધ્યભાગમાં ત્રીજા ભાગના વાળ મૂક, ઘેરો પૂરો થયા પછી તેને ત્યાં બાળી નાખ. બીજા એક તૃતીયાંશ ભાગને તારા નકશા પરના યરૂશાલેમ નગરની આસપાસ તરવારથી કાપી નાખ, વાળના છેલ્લા ત્રીજા ભાગને પવનમાં ઉડાવી દે. કારણ કે હું મારા લોકોનો તરવારથી પીછો પકડીશ.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.5.3" />એ વાળમાંથી થોડા લઇને તારા ઝભ્ભાની ચાળમાં વીંટી દેજે.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.5.4" />તેમાંથી થોડા વાળ લઇને દેવતામાં નાખી બાળી મૂકજે. એમાંથી અગ્નિ પ્રગટી સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજામાં વ્યાપી જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.5.5" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “યરૂશાલેમને જુઓ, તેને મેં પૃથ્વીની મધ્યમાં ગોઠવી છે અને બીજા દેશો એની આજુબાજુ આવેલા છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.5.6" />પરંતુ એ તેની આજુબાજુની પ્રજાઓ કરતાં પણ વધારે દુષ્ટ નીકળી અને તેણે મારા કાયદાઓ અને નિયમો સામે તેમનાં કરતાં વધુ બળવો કર્યો છે. તેણે મારા કાયદાઓનો અનાદર કર્યો છે અને મારા નિયમોનું ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.5.7" />આથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે, “તમારી બાજુના પડોશીઓ કરતાં તમે વધારે દુષ્ટ છો; તમે મારા કાયદા પ્રમાણે ચાલ્યા નથી; મારા નિયમોનું પાલન કર્યું નથી; તમે તમારી આજુબાજુની બીજી પ્રજાઓના નિયમોનું પણ પાલન નથી કર્યું.”
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.5.8" />તેથી, યહોવા મારા માલિક, કહે છે કે, “હું પોતે તમારી વિરુદ્ધ છું: હું બધાની હાજરીમાં તમારી પર ન્યાયશાસનનો અમલ કરીશ.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.5.9" />તમારા બધા ધૃણાજનક આચારોને કારણે હું તમને એવી સજા કરીશ જેવી મેં કદી કરી નથી, ને ભવિષ્યમાં કદી કરવાનો નથી.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.5.10" />પરિણામે તમારા લોકોમાં પિતા પોતાના પુત્રને ખાશે, ને પુત્ર પોતાના પિતાને ખાશે; હું તમને સજા કરીશ અને તમારા જે વતનીઓ બચવા પામ્યા હશે તેમને હું ચારે દિશાઓમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.5.11" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે કે, “હું મારા સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે, તે તારી તિરસ્કૃત વસ્તુઓથી (મૂર્તિઓથી) અને ધૃણાજનક વર્તનથી મારા પવિત્રસ્થાનને અશુદ્ધ કર્યું છે તેથી હું પણ તમને વેતરી નાખીશ. હું તમારા પર કરૂણા નહિ રાખું કે દયા બતાવીશ નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.5.12" />તમારી વસ્તીનો ત્રીજો ભાગ રોગચાળાથી અને ભૂખમરાથી માર્યો જશે અને ત્રીજો ભાગ શહેરની ફરતે યુદ્ધમાં તરવારથી કપાઇ જશે અને ત્રીજા ભાગને હું ચારે દિશામાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખીશ અને ઉઘાડી તરવારથી તેમનો પીછો કરીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.5.13" />એ રીતે મારો ક્રોધ શમી જશે. હું તેમના પર મારો રોષ વરસાવીશ, ત્યારે જ મને શાંતિ વળશે. મારો ક્રોધ હું તેમના પર પૂરેપૂરો ઉતારીશ ત્યારે એમને ખબર પડશે કે, હું યહોવા પુણ્યપ્રકોપથી આ બોલ્યો હતો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.5.14" />દેવ કહે છે, “હું તમને ખંડિયેરનો ઢગલો બનાવી દઇશ અને આસપાસની પ્રજાઓ અને જતાઆવતા લોકો તમારી હાંસી ઉડાવશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.5.15" />હું જ્યારે તને રોષે ભરાઇને સજા કરીશ ત્યારે આજુબાજુની પ્રજાઓ ભયથી થરથર કાંપશે અને તું એમને માટે હાંસીપાત્ર બની જઇશ અને તેમના માટે ચેતવણી રૂપ તથા અચંબારૂપ થઇ જઇશ; હું યહોવા આમ બોલ્યો છું.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.5.16" />હું મારા દુકાળરૂપી જીવલેણ બાણો છોડીશ; તે તમારો જીવ લઇ લેશે, હું મારા જીવલેણ બાણો છોડ્યા કરીશ અને તમારા અનાજના ભંડારો ખાલી કરીને તમારી વચ્ચે ભૂખમરો વધારીશ.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.5.17" />હું તમારી સામે દુકાળને અને જંગલી પશુઓને મોકલીશ, તેથી તમારા પર મોત અને ખૂનરેજી ફરી વળશે; તમે મારી તરવારનો ભોગ બનશો, આ હું યહોવા બોલ્યો છું.”
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</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">મૂર્તિપૂજા વિરુદ્ધ યહોવાનો પ્રબોધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.6.1" />યહોવાની વાણી મને ફરીથી સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.6.2" />“તેણે કહ્યું હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો તરફ તારું મુખ ફેરવ અને તેમને મારા વચનો સંભળાવ:
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.6.3" />‘હે ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો, યહોવા મારા માલિકનો સંદેશો સાંભળો, યહોવા મારા માલિક પર્વતોને અને ડુંગરોને અને ખીણોને કહે છે; હું યહોવા તમારા પર યુદ્ધ લાવીશ અને તમારા ઉચ્ચસ્થાનોનો વિનાશ કરીશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.6.4" />તમારી વેદીઓ તોડી પાડવામાં આવશે અને તમારી ધૂપવેદીઓ ભાંગી નાખવામાં આવશે. અને હું તમારા મૃતદેહોને તમારી અપવિત્ર મૂર્તિઓ આગળ નીચે પાડી દઇશ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.6.5" />હું ઇસ્રાએલનાં લોકોના મૃતદેહો તેમની અશુદ્ધ મૂર્તિઓ સમક્ષ નાખીશ અને તેમના હાડકાંને તેમની વેદીઓની આસપાસ વિખેરી નાખીશ.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.6.6" />ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ નગરોને ખંડિયેર બનાવી દેવામાં આવશે અને તમારા મૂર્તિપૂજાના થાનકોને ભોંયભેંગા કરવામાં આવશે; તમામ વેદીઓ અને મૂર્તિઓ ભાંગી નાખવામાં આવશે અને ધુપદાનીઓને તોડી નાખવામાં આવશે; તમારી એકેએક વસ્તુનું નામોનિશાન મિટાવી દેવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.6.7" />તમારી ચારેબાજુ હત્યા થશે, ત્યારે જેઓ બચી જશે તેઓ જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.6.8" />દેવે કહ્યું, “પરંતુ હું તમારામાંના કેટલાકને જીવતા રહેવા દઇશ, તેઓ હત્યામાંથી બચી જશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.6.9" />અને પછી તેઓ વિદેશી પ્રજાઓમાં વેરવિખેર થઇ દેશવટો ભોગવશે. ત્યાં તેઓ મને યાદ કરશે અને તેમને સમજાશે કે તેમના હૃદયો દગાબાજ નીવડી મૂર્તિઓ ઉપર મોહી પડ્યા હતાં તેથી તેમને શરમાવવા માટે મેં તેમને સજા કરી હતી. આમ, પોતે કરેલાં ધૃણાજનક કૃત્યો બદલ તેમને પોતાના પર તિરસ્કાર થશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.6.10" />અને તે રીતે તેઓને ખાતરી થશે કે હું એકલો જ યહોવા છું; અને હું તેઓને કહેતો હતો કે આ સર્વ વિપત્તિઓ તમારા પર લાવીશ. તે મેં અમસ્તુ કહ્યું ન હતું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.6.11" />યહોવા મારા માલિકે કહ્યું, “ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ તિરસ્કૃત દુષ્કૃત્યો કર્યા છે માટે હાથ અફાળીને, પગ પછાડીને ઘૃણાથી બડબડાટ કરો, એ લોકો યુદ્ધથી, ભૂખમરાથી અને રોગચાળાથી મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.6.12" />જેઓ બંદીવાસમાં છે તેઓ માર્યા જશે, જેઓ ઇસ્રાએલ દેશમાં છે તેઓ યુદ્ધમાં માર્યા જશે અને બાકીના જેઓ ઘેરાબંધીની અંદર છે તેઓ દુકાળમાં માર્યા જશે. અને તેથી આમ હું તેમના પર મારો ગુસ્સો ઉતારીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.6.13" />મૂર્તિઓની ફરતે વેદીઓની આસપાસ એકેએક પર્વતની ટોચ પર, એકેએક ઘટાદાર ઝાડ નીચે, એકેએક વૃક્ષ નીચે, ટૂંકમાં જ્યાં જ્યાં તેઓ મૂર્તિને બલિ ચઢાવે છે ત્યાં ત્યાં તેમના કપાઇને પડેલા મડદાં રઝળશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.6.14" />ત્યારે હું તેમને શિક્ષા કરીશ અને તેમના સમગ્ર પ્રદેશને વેરાન વગડો બનાવી દઇશ. રણમાં આવેલા રિબ્બાથી માંડીને દરેક પ્રદેશ જ્યાં તેઓ રહ્યાં હતાં તેનો વિનાશ થશે. ત્યારે તેમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ પર દેવનો રોષ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.7.1" />યહોવાએ મને એક વધુ સંદેશો આપ્યો;
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.7.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ઇસ્રાએલને કહે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તમારા દેશમાં જ્યાં જશો ત્યાં પૂર્વ-પશ્ચિમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉત્તર-દક્ષિણ ચારે ખૂણાઓનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંત આવ્યો છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.7.3" />આખો દેશ પુરો થવા બેઠો છે, હવે તારો અંત આવી પહોંચ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારો રોષ તારા પર ઊતરનાર છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તારાં દુષ્કમોર્નો હિસાબ માગીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારાં ધૃણાજનક કમોર્ની ઘટતી સજા કરીશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.7.4" />હું તારા પર કોઇ દયા બતાવીશ નહિ કે અનુકંપા રાખીશ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા દુષ્કમોર્ની હું તને સજા કરનાર છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તારા બધાં ધૃણાજનક કૃત્યો માટે હું તારો ન્યાય કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તને ખબર પડે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.7.5" />યહોવા મારા માલિકના આ વચન છે: “એક પછી એક આફત આવી રહી છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.7.6" />અંત આવી રહ્યો છે. તમારો અંત આવી રહ્યો છે, અત્યારે જ આવી રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.7.7" />ઇસ્રાએલના રહેવાસીઓ માટે ભયસૂચક ધ્વની કરવામાં આવી છે, તમારો સજા માટેનો સમય આવી પહોંચ્યો છે. વિપત્તિનો દિવસ નજીક આવી રહ્યો છે. આ દિવસ આનંદના ઉત્સવોનો નહિ પણ ખેદ કરવાનો દિવસ હશે!
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.7.8" />હમણાં જ હું મારો રોષ તમારા ઉપર ઉતારું છું, મારો કોપ ઠાલવું છું. હું તમારા દુષ્કમોર્નો હિસાબ માગનાર છું અને તમારા ધૃણાજનક કૃત્યોની ઘટતી સજા કરનાર છું.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.7.9" />હું તમારી દયા રાખનાર નથી કે તમારી કરૂણા કરનાર નથી, હું તમને તમારા દુષ્કૃત્યો માટે સજા કરીશ. તમારા ધૃણાજનક કૃત્યો માટે થઇને હું તમારો ન્યાય કરીશ, જેથી તમને ખબર પડે કે હું યહોવા સજા કરું છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.7.10" />“ઇસ્રાએલ માટે વિનાશનો દિવસ આવે છે, ભયની ઘંટડી વાગી ચૂકી છે, ન્યાયનો દંડ મ્હોરી ચૂક્યો છે અને ઉદ્ધતાઇ સમૃદ્ધ થઇ છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.7.11" />હિંસા ક્યારનીયે વધી ગઇ છે અને તેણે દુષ્ટતાનો ટેકો લઇ લીધો છે. એ તેમનામાંથી કે તેમના સંગ્રાહકોમાંથી કે તેમના વિષ્વાસઘાતીઓમાંથી કે તેમના બળવાખોરોમાંથી નથી આવતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.7.12" />“સમય આવી રહ્યો છે, દિવસ ઉગવાની તૈયારીમાં છે. ખરીદનારે હરખાઇ જવાનું નથી, કે વેચનારે પસ્તાવાનું નથી, કારણ, મારો રોષ બધા પર એકસરખો ઊતરનાર છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.7.13" />રણશિંગાના વર્ષમાં જ્યારે પાછા આવવાનો સમય થશે ત્યારે પોતે જીવતો હશે તોપણ વેચનાર પોતાના સ્થળે પાછો નહિ આવે. કારણ કે, આ સંદર્શન તો આખા સમુદાય વિષે છે. તેઓ પાછા ફરવાના નથી.<f caller="+"><fr>7:13
</fr><fk>તેઓ પાછા ફરવાના નથી
</fk><ft>અથવા તે (નિર્ણય શકિતનું દર્શન) પાછું નહિ ફરે: અથવા તે (દેવ) પોતાનો ગુસ્સો મંદ નહિપાડે.</ft></f> કોઇ માનવીનું જીવન તેણે કરેલા અનિષ્ટોને કારણે બચશે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.7.14" />“ઇસ્રાએલના સૈન્યને એકત્ર કરવા એ લોકો રણશિંગડું વગાડે છે. લડાઇ માટે બધી તૈયારીઓ કરે છે પણ કોઇ યુદ્ધમાં જતું નથી, કારણ મારો રોષ સૌ ઉપર એકસરખો ઊતરનાર છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.7.15" />કિલ્લાની બહાર તરવાર છે અને અંદર રોગચાળો અને ભૂખમરો છે. જેઓ લડાઇનાં મેદાનમાં છે તેઓ તરવારનો ભોગ બનશે. અને જેઓ નગરમાં છે તેમને રોગચાળો અને ભૂખમરો ગળી જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.7.16" />“અને જો કે તેમનામાંથી અમૂક લોકો ભાગી જઇને પર્વતો તરફ દોડી જશે, તેઓ ખીણમાંના પારેવાં જેવા હશે જે દરેક પોતાના પાપને કારણે નિસાસો નાખી રહ્યાં છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.7.17" />દરેકના હાથ અશકત થઇ જશે અને પગ પાણીની જેમ ઢીંલા થઇ જશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.7.18" />તેઓ શોકના વસ્ત્રો ધારણ કરશે અને માથાથી તે પગ સુધી ધ્રૂજ્યા કરશે. બધાના ચહેરા પર શરમ અને માથે મૂંડન હશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.7.19" />તમારા નાણાં, તમારું સોનું અને ચાંદી વિષ્ટાની જેમ રસ્તા ઉપર ફેંકી દો. કારણ યહોવાના કોપને દિવસે તે તમારો બચાવ કરશે નહિ, તે તમારી ભૂખ સંતોષસે નહિ, કે તેનાથી કોઇનું પેટ ભરાશે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.7.20" />“અને તેઓ તેના કરારના શહેરમાં આનંદ પામશે, પણ તેઓએ તેમાં અણગમતી મૂર્તિઓ બનાવી છે, તેથી મે તેને તેમનાં માટે અશુદ્ધ વસ્તુ જેવી બનાવી છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.7.21" />હું એ પરદેશી લૂંટારાના હાથમાં દુનિયાના ઉતાર જેવા માણસોના હાથમાં લૂંટ તરીકે સોંપી દેવા ઇચ્છું છું. તેઓ એને ષ્ટ કરશે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.7.22" />તેઓ મારા મંદિરને ષ્ટ કરશે ત્યારે હું તે તરફથી મારું મુખ અવળું ફેરવી લઇશ અને તેઓને અટકાવીશ નહિ, લૂંટારુઓ એમાં પ્રવેશ કરશે અને તેને ષ્ટ કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EZK.7.23" />“મારા લોકોને માટે સાંકળો તૈયાર કરો. કારણ કે સમગ્ર દેશ લોહીથી ખરડાયેલો છે. ગામેગામ હિંસા ફાટી નીકળી છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.7.24" />હું દુષ્ટમાં દુષ્ટ પ્રજાઓને અહીં લઇ આવીશ અને તેમને આ લોકોનાં ઘર પડાવી લેવા દઇશ. હું બળવાનોનો ઘમંડ ઉતારીશ અને તેમનાં મંદિરો ષ્ટ કરાવીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EZK.7.25" />“જ્યારે ભયનો સમય નજીક આવે ત્યારે, તેઓ નિરાશ થઇ જશે અને લોકો શાંતિ ઝંખશે પણ કદી શાંતિ પામશે નહિ.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.7.26" />આફત એક પછી એક આવી પડશે, એક પછી એક અફવા ફેલાશે, તેઓ પ્રબોધકોને ભાવી જાણવા ફોગટ પૂછ-પૂછ કરશે. યાજકો પણ કશું માર્ગદર્શન નહિ આપી શકે, તેમ વડીલો કશી સલાહ નહિ આપી શકે.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.7.27" />રાજાઓ શોક કરશે, અમલદારો પાયમાલીથી ઘેરાઇ જશે, ને લોકો ભયથી કાંપી ઊઠશે. તમારા આચરણ પ્રમાણે હું તમને સજા કરીશ; તથા તેઓના કાર્યો મુજબ હું તેમને ન્યાય કરીશ. ત્યારે તેઓ જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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<s style="s">યહૂદાના લોકોની પાપલીલા
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.8.1" />છઠ્ઠા વર્ષના છઠ્ઠા મહિનાના પાંચમા દિવસે યહૂદાના આગેવાનો સાથે હું મારે ઘેર બેઠો હતો એવામાં અચાનક મારા માલિક યહોવાની શકિતનો મારામાં સંચાર થયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.8.2" />મેં જોયું તો માણસ જેવું કઇંક દેખાયું; તેની કમરની નીચેનો ભાગ અગ્નિ જેવો હતો અને કમરની ઉપરનો ભાગ ચળકતી ધાતુ જેવો ઉજ્જવળ હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.8.3" />તેણે હાથ જેવું લંબાવીને મારા વાળ પકડ્યા પછી દેવના આત્માએ મને આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીની વચ્ચે ઉપાડી લીધો અને દેવના સંદર્શનમાં તે મને યરૂશાલેમના મંદિરના ઉત્તર તરફના અંદરના દરવાજા પાસે લઇ ગયો, જ્યાં તિરસ્કૃત મૂર્તિ હતી, જે જોઇને યહોવા રોષે ભરાય છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.8.4" />અને જે પ્રમાણે મેં ખીણમાં સંદર્શન જોયું હતું બરાબર તે જ પ્રમાણે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવનો મહિમા ત્યાં હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.8.5" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ઉત્તર તરફ જો.” મેં જોયું તો વેદીના દરવાજાની ઉત્તર તરફના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ દેવના અપમાનરૂપ એક મૂર્તિ હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.8.6" />પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, એ લોકો શું કરે છે તે તમે જોયું? અહીં ઇસ્રાએલીઓ જે અધમ કૃત્યો કરે છે તેને લીધે હું મારા મંદિરમાંથી દૂરને દૂર થતો જાઉં છું. પણ તમે આનાથી પણ વધુ અધમ કૃત્યો જોવા પામશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.8.7" />આમ કહીને પછી તે મને મંદિરના ચોકના બારણા આગળ લાવ્યા. ત્યાં મેં ભીતમાં એક કાણું જોયું.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.8.8" />તેમણે મને કહ્યું “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, અહીં ભીંતમાં ખોદ, મેં ખોધ્યુ તો બારણું નીકળ્યું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.8.9" />તેમણે મને કહ્યું, “અંદર જા, અને અહીં એ લોકો જે અધમ કૃત્યો કરે છે તે જો.”
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.8.10" />તેથી મેં અંદર જઇને જોયું તો ચારે બાજુની ભીંતો ઉપર પેટે ચાલનારા પ્રાણીઓની નિષિદ્ધ પશુઓની અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓની બીજી બધી મૂર્તિઓ કોતરેલી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.8.11" />શાફાનનો પુત્ર યાઅઝાન્યા તથા ઇસ્રાએલના 70 વડીલો ત્યાં ઊભા હતા. દેરકની પાસે ધૂપદાનીઓ હતી, તેથી તેઓનાં માથા પર ધૂપના ગોટેગોટા ઉડતા હતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.8.12" />પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તેં જોયું કે ઇસ્રાએલીઓના આગેવાનો અહીં અંઘારામાં પોતપોતાની મૂર્તિના ગોખલા આગળ શું કરે છે? એ લોકો એમ માને છે કે, ‘યહોવા અમને જોતા નથી, તે તો દેશને છોડીને ચાલ્યા ગયા છે.’”
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.8.13" />પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “તું આના કરતા વધુ અધમ કૃત્યો કરતાં એમને જોશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.8.14" />ત્યાર પછી તે મને યહોવાના મંદિરના ઉત્તરના દરવાજે લઇ આવ્યા અને ત્યાં મેં સ્ત્રીઓને ખોટા દેવ તામ્મૂઝના મૃત્યુ માટે દુ:ખી થતા જોઇ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.8.15" />તેમણે મને પૂછયું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, આ જોયું? આથી પણ વધારે અધમ કૃત્યો તું જોવા પામીશ.”
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.8.16" />પછી તે મને યહોવાના મંદિરના અંદરના ચોકમાં લઇ આવ્યા. તો ત્યાં મંદિરના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ, મંદિર અને વેદીની વચ્ચે આશરે પચીસ માણસો પવિત્રસ્થાન તરફ પીઠ કરીને અને પૂર્વાભિમુખ થઇને ઊગતા સૂરજની પૂજા કરવા માટે નીચે નમતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.8.17" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, શું તેં આ જોયું? યહૂદાના લોકો આવા ભયંકર પાપ કરે છે તો શું તેઓ એવું વિચારી રહ્યા છે કે તેઓ જે કરી રહ્યાં છે તે ક્ષુલ્લક વસ્તુ છે? તેઓએ સમગ્ર દેશને અપવિત્ર મૂર્તિપૂજા તરફ વાળ્યો છે. તેઓએ સર્વત્ર હિંસા ફેલાવી છે. તેઓ નાકે ડાળી રાખીને મારું અપમાન કરે છે અને મને વધુને વધુ કોપાયમાન કરે છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.8.18" />તેથી હું તેઓ પર મારો રોષ જરૂર ઉતારીશ. હું તેમના ઉપર દયા કરીશ નહિ કે હું તેમના પર સહાનુભૂતિ બતાવીશ નહિ, તેઓ દયા માટે મોટા સાદે પોકાર કરશે છતાં હું તેમને સાંભળીશ નહિ.”
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">મૂર્તિપૂજકોને સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.9.1" />ત્યાર પછી તેણે મોટા અવાજે કહ્યું, “હે શહેરને સજા કરનારાઓ, તમારાં શસ્ત્રો લઇને આ બાજુ આવો.”
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.9.2" />અને અચાનક મંદિરની ઉત્તરે આવેલા ઉપરના દરવાજામાંથી છ માણસો આવ્યાં. દરેકના હાથમાં સંહારક હથિયાર હતું. તેમની સાથે સુતરાઉ રેસાના વસ્ત્ર પહેરેલો એક માણસ હતો. તેની કમર પર લહિયાનો શાહીનો ખડિયો અને કલમ લટકાવેલા હતાં. તે બધા મંદિરમાં પિત્તળની વેદી આગળ આવીને ઊભા રહ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.9.3" />ત્યાર બાદ ઇસ્રાએલના દેવનો મહિમા કરૂબો ઉપરથી ઊઠયો જ્યાં તે પહેલા હતો અને મંદિરના પ્રવેશદ્વાર પાસે ગયો, યહોવાએ કમરે લહિયાના સાધનો લટકાવેલા સુતરાઉ રેસાના વસ્ત્રો પહેરેલા માણસને બોલાવીને કહ્યું,
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.9.4" />“યરૂશાલેમમા ચારેબાજુ સર્વત્ર ફર અને જે માણસો તેઓની આસપાસ નગરમાં ચાલતાં ધિક્કારપાત્ર કૃત્યોને લીધે રડતા અને શોક કરતા હોય તેઓના કપાળ પર નિશાની કર.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.9.5" />ત્યાર બાદ મેં યહોવાને બીજા માણસોને એમ કહેતાં સાંભળ્યાં કે, “નગરમાં તમે એની પાછળ પાછળ જાઓ અને હત્યા કરવાનું શરૂ કરો, કોઇ પણ પ્રકારની કરૂણા કરશો નહિ, ને તેમના માટે દયા રાખશો નહિ.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.9.6" />વૃદ્ધો, યુવાનો, સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકો સર્વનો સંહાર કરો; પણ જેઓના કપાળ પર નિશાની હોય તેવા કોઇને અડશો નહિ, મારા મંદિરથી જ શરૂઆત કરો.” તેથી તેમણે મંદિર આગળ ઊભેલા આગેવાનોથી જ શરૂઆત કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.9.7" />પછી દેવે તેઓને કહ્યું, “મંદિરને ષ્ટ કરો. હત્યા થયેલાઓનાં મૃતદેહોથી મંદિરનો ચોક ભરી દો.” અને હમણાં જ જાઓ, એટલે તેમણે શહેરમાં જઇને લોકોની હત્યા કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.9.8" />જ્યારે એ લોકો હત્યા કરતા હતા ત્યારે હું એકલો પડ્યો હતો. મેં સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કરીને કહ્યું, “હે મારા માલિક યહોવા યરૂશાલેમ પર જ્યારે તમે તમારો રોષ ઠાલવો છો ત્યારે તમે ઇસ્રાએલમાં બાકી બચેલાઓને સંહાર કરવાના છો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.9.9" />તેથી દેવે જવાબ આપ્યો: “ઇસ્રાએલના તથા યહૂદાના લોકોના અપરાધ અતિશય મોટા છે. સમગ્ર દેશ રકતપાત અને અધમતાથી ખદબદે છે. તેઓ માને છે કે ‘યહોવા દેશ છોડીને ચાલ્યા ગયા છે. અને તેઓ અમને જોતા નથી!’
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.9.10" />તેથી હું તેઓ પર સહાનુભૂતિ બતાવીશ નહિ કે દયા કરીશ નહિ. તેમણે જે કાંઇ કર્યું છે તેમના માટે હું તેઓને સજા કરીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.9.11" />એટલામાં કમરે લેખનનાં સાધનવાળો સુતરાઉ વસ્રો પહેરેલા માણસે આવીને જણાવ્યું કે, “તમારા હુકમ પ્રમાણે મેં કર્યું છે.”
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</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">યહોવાનો મંદિરત્યાગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.10.1" />ત્યાર બાદ મેં કરૂબ દેવદૂતોના માથા ઉપર જોયું તો નીલમણિના ઘૂમટ જેવું કંઇક દેખાયું.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.10.2" />પછી દેવે સુતરાઉ રેસાના વસ્ત્ર પહેરેલા માણસને કહ્યું, “કરૂબ દેવદૂતોની નીચેનાં પૈડાઓ વચ્ચે જા અને બળતા કોલસામાંથી મુઠ્ઠી ભરી યરૂશાલેમ શહેર પર નાખ.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને મેં જોયું કે એ અંદર પ્રવેશ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.10.3" />તે માણસ અંદર ગયો ત્યારે કરૂબ દેવદૂતો મંદિરની દક્ષિણ બાજુએ ઊભા હતા. ત્યારે અંદરનો ચોક વાદળથી ભરાઇ ગયો.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.10.4" />પછી યહોવાનો મહિમા કરૂબો ઉપરથી ઊડીને મંદિરના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળ ગયો. એટલે મંદિર વાદળથી ભરાઇ ગયું અને આખો ચોક યહોવાના ગૌરવનાં તેજથી ઝળાંહળાં થઇ ગયો.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.10.5" />કરૂબોની પાંખોનો અવાજ સર્વસમર્થ દેવના મુખમાંથી નીકળેલા શબ્દ જેવો અવાજ હતો, અને બહારના આંગણમાં તે સ્પષ્ટ સંભળાતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.10.6" />યહોવાએ શણના વસ્ત્ર પહેરેલા માણસને કહ્યું, કરૂબો મધ્યે જઇને ફરતાં પૈડામાંથી સળગતા કોલસા લે, એટલે માણસ અંદર જઇને એક પૈડા પાસે ઊભો રહ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.10.7" />અને કરૂબોમાંના એકે હાથ લંબાવી તેમની વચ્ચેના અંગારામાંથી થોડા લઇ શણના વસ્ત્ર પહેરેલા માણસને આપ્યા. તે લઇને તે બહાર ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.10.8" />કરૂબોની પાંખો નીચે માણસના હાથ જેવું કઇ દેખાતું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.10.9" />મેં જોયું તો પ્રત્યેક કરૂબ પાસે એક એમ ચાર પૈડા હતાં અને તે પૈડા સોનેરી પોખરાજ રત્નની જેમ ઝળહળતાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EZK.10.10" />બધાં પૈડાની રચના એક સરખી દેખાતી હતી; અને એક પૈડાની અંદર બીજું પૈડું ગોઠવ્યું હોય તેમ લાગતું હતું.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.10.11" />કરૂબો આગળ વધતા ત્યારે તેઓનાં મુખ તે ચારે દિશામાં, આમતેમ ફેરવ્યાં વિના તેઓ જઇ શકતા હતાં. પૈડાંને વળાંક લેવાની જરૂર પડતી નહોતી, તેઓ બધા એકી સાથે ફર્યા વગર ગમે તે દિશામાં સીધા આગળ વધી શકતા હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EZK.10.12" />તેઓના આખા શરીર પર, પીઠ પર, હાથ પર, પાંખો પર અને પૈડાઓ પર સર્વત્ર પુષ્કળ પ્રમાણમાં આંખો હતી.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.10.13" />અને મેં તેમને ચાલણચક્ર એમ પૈડાઓ માટે કહેતા સાંભળ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.10.14" />દરેક કરૂબને ચાર મોઢાં હતાં, પહેલું મોઢું કરૂબનું હતું, બીજું માણસનું હતું, ત્રીજું સિંહનું હતું અને ચોથું ગરૂડનું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EZK.10.15" />કરૂબો ઊડીને ઊંચે ચઢયા.
</p>
<p style="p">કબાર નદી પાસે મેં જોયાં હતાં તે જ પ્રાણીઓ આ હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EZK.10.16" />કરૂબો જમીન ઉપરથી ઊંચે જતાં ત્યારે પૈડાં પણ તેઓની સાથે જતાં. તેઓ ઊંચે જવા પાંખો પ્રસારતા ત્યારે પૈડાઓ તેમની પાસે જ રહેતા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EZK.10.17" />જ્યારે તેઓ ઊડવા માટે પાંખો ફેલાવતા ત્યારે પણ પૈડાં તેમની સાથેને સાથે જ રહેતાં. તેઓ અટકતા ત્યારે પૈડાં પણ અટકી જતાં અને જ્યારે તેઓ ઊડતાં ત્યારે પૈડાં તેમની સાથે જ રહેતાં, કારણ, પૈડાં ઉપર તેમનું નિયંત્રણ હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.10.18" />પછી યહોવાનું ગૌરવ મંદિરના પ્રવેશદ્વારથી ખસીને કરૂબો પર આવી ઊભું.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.10.19" />કરૂબો પાંખો પ્રસારીને જમીનથી અધ્ધર થઇ ગયા અને પૈડાંને પણ તેમની સાથે- સાથે અધ્દર થતાં મેં જોયાં. મંદિરના પૂર્વ દરવાજા આગળ તેઓ થોભ્યા. તેમના ઉપર યહોવાનું ગૌરવ છવાયેલું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.10.20" />કબાર નદીના કાંઠે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવના સિંહાસન નીચે જે પ્રાણીઓ મેં જોયાં હતાં તે આ જ હતાં, મને ખાતરી થઇ હતી કે તેઓ કરૂબો હતા.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.10.21" />પ્રત્યેકને ચાર મોઢાં, ચાર પાંખો અને દરેક પાંખ નીચે માણસના હાથ જેવું કઇંક હતું.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.10.22" />તેમનાં મોઢાં કબાર નદીને કાંઠે મેં દર્શનમાં જોયેલાં મોઢાં જેવાં જ હતાં. દરેક કરૂબ સીધો આગળ વધતો હતો.
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<c id="11" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ પર ઉતરનાર આફત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.11.1" />મને પવિત્ર આત્મા ઉપાડીને મંદિરના પૂર્વ દરવાજે લઇ ગયો. આ દરવાજે મેં નગરના 25 માણસો જોયાં; મેં તેઓની વચ્ચેં લોકોના સરદાર આઝઝુરના પુત્ર યાઅઝાન્યાને તથા બનાયાના પુત્ર પલાટયાને જોયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EZK.11.2" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, આ તો તે લોકો છે, જેઓ દુષ્ટ કર્મો કરવાની યોજના ઘડનાર છે અને આખા નગરમાં દુષ્ટ સલાહ આપનાર માણસો પણ એ જ છે;
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.11.3" />તેઓ એમ વિચારે છે કે, ‘આપણે થોડીવારમાં યરૂશાલેમને ફરીથી બાંધીશું, આપણું નગર લોખંડની કઢાઇ સમાન છે, આપણે એમાંનું માંસ છીએ અને તે આપણને સર્વ નુકશાનમાંથી બચાવશે.’
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.11.4" />માટે, હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું એમને મારી ચેતવણી સંભળાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.11.5" />ત્યાર બાદ યહોવાનો આત્મા મારામાં આવ્યો અને યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “તું તેઓને કહે: આ યહોવાના વચન છે; હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, તમે શું કહો છો અને તમે શી યોજનાઓ ઘડો છો તે હું જાણું છું.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.11.6" />તમે ઘણા લોકોને મારી નાખ્યા છે અને તમારી શેરીઓ મૃતદેહોથી ભરી દીધી છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.11.7" />તેથી હું યહોવા તમારો માલિક, તમને કહું છું કે, ‘આ નગર કઢાઇ છે એ ખરું, પણ એમાનું માંસ તમે નથી; માંસ તો તમે આ શહેરમાં જે મડદાં નાખ્યાં છે તે છે; તમને તો હું એની બહાર ફેંકી દેનાર છું.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.11.8" />સર્વસમર્થ યહોવા કહે છે, તમે તરવારથી ડરો છો અને હું તમને તરવારને જ સોંપનાર છું.’
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.11.9" />“અને હું તમને યરૂશાલેમમાંથી દૂર લઇ જઇને વિદેશીઓને સોંપી દઇશ. અને આ રીતે હું મારો ન્યાય કરીશ અને તમને સજા કરીશ.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.11.10" />તમે તમારા પોતાના દેશની હદમાં જ તરવારનો ભોગ બનશો. હું તમને સજા કરીશ, ત્યારે તમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.11.11" />આ શહેર કઢાઇ બની તમારું રક્ષણ નહિ કરે, હું આ ઇસ્રાએલની હદમાં જ તમને સજા કરનાર છું.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.11.12" />તમે મારી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કર્યું નથી પણ તમારી આસપાસ વસતી અન્ય પ્રજાઓનું અનુકરણ કર્યું છે, એટલે તમે જાણશો કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.11.13" />હું આ ચેતવણી આપતો હતો તે દરમ્યાન ત્યાં જ બનાયાનો પુત્ર પલાટયા ઢળી પડીને મરી ગયો, હું ઊંધે મોઢે ભોંય પર પડ્યો અને મેં બૂમ પાડી, “હે યહોવા મારા માલિક, તારે બાકી રહેલા બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો સંપૂર્ણ વિનાશ કરવો છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.11.14" />ફરીથી યહોવાએ મને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું,
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.11.15" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, યરૂશાલેમમાં અત્યારે જે લોકો રહે છે તે લોકો તારા વિષે અને દેશવટો ભોગવતા તારા બધા ઇસ્રાએલી જાતભાઇઓ વિષે એમ કહે છે કે, ‘એ લોકોને તો યહોવાથી દૂર કાઢવામાં આવ્યા છે; દેશ તો અમને સોંપી દેવામાં આવ્યો છે; એ અમારી મિલકત છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.11.16" />“તેથી યહોવા અમારા માલિક કહે છે: ‘જો કે મેં તેઓને વિશ્વના વિવિધ દેશોમાં વિખેરી નાખ્યા છે છતાં પણ તેઓ જે દેશમાં છે ત્યાં હું તેઓને માટે એક નાના પવિત્રસ્થાનરૂપ થઇશ.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.11.17" />તેઓ જે દેશોમાં વિખેરાઇ ગયા છે ત્યાંથી હું તેઓને એકઠા કરીશ અને તેઓને ફરીથી ઇસ્રાએલનું વતન આપીશ.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.11.18" />જ્યારે તેઓ અહીં પાછા આવે ત્યારે તેમણે અહીંથી બધી ધૃણાજનક મૂર્તિઓને અને આચારોને હઠાવી દેવાના છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.11.19" />હું તેમનું હૃદય પરિવર્તન કરી નાખીશ અને તેમનામાં નવો આત્મા પૂરીશ, હું તેમનામાંથી પથ્થર જેવું હૃદય લઇને, તેમને માંસનું હૃદય આપીશ. પછી તેઓ મારા નિયમોનું પાલન કરશે અને મેં જણાવેલ માગેર્ ચાલશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.11.20" />જ્યારે તેઓ મારા નિયમોનું પાલન કરશે અને મારા બતાવેલા માર્ગ પર ચાલશે. તેઓ મારી પ્રજા થશે અને હું તેમનો દેવ થઇશ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.11.21" />“પરંતુ જેઓ ધૃણાજનક અપવિત્ર મૂર્તિઓની પૂજાને વળગી રહેશે, હું તેમને તેમના બધાં કૃત્યો માટે જવાબદાર ઠરાવીશ.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.11.22" />પછી કરૂબો ઊંચે ઊડવા લાગ્યા અને પૈડાં પણ તેમની સાથે સાથે પર ગયાં. ઇસ્રાએલના દેવનો મહિમા તેઓની પર આચ્છાદીત હતો.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.11.23" />પછી યહોવાનો મહિમા શહેર પરથી ખસીને પૂર્વ ભાગ તરફ આવેલા પર્વત પર ગયો.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.11.24" />ત્યાર બાદ સંદર્શનમાં દેવના આત્માએ મને ફરીથી ઉપાડીને બાબિલમાં દેશવટો ભોગવનારાઓ વચ્ચે લાવી મૂક્યો અને ત્યાં સંદર્શન લોપ થયું,
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.11.25" />અને યહોવાએ મને જે બતાવ્યું હતું તે સર્વ મેં બંદીવાનોને કહી સંભળાવ્યું.
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<c id="12" />
<s style="s">સાંકેતિક રજૂઆત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.12.1" />ફરીથી મને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.12.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું બંડખોરોની જમાતની વચ્ચે વસે છે. એ લોકો છતી આંખે દેખતા નથી, છતે કાને સાંભળતા નથી. એ તો બંડખોરોની જમાત છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.12.3" />તેથી હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું દેશવટે જવાનો હોય એમ સરસમાન બાંધી લે અને ધોળે દિવસે સૌના દેખતાં ચાલી નીકળ; તેમના દેખતાં તું બીજે જવા નીકળી પડ. તે બળવાખોરો કદાચ તને જુએ પણ ખરા.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.12.4" />“તારી મુસાફરીનો સામાન બાંધીને તેઓ જુએ તેમ દિવસ દરમ્યાન તારા ઘરમાંથી બહાર કાઢી લાવ. પછી જેમ કેદીઓને દૂરના દેશોમાં લઇ જવામાં આવે છે તે પ્રમાણે સાંજે તેઓની હાજરીમાં ઘરમાંથી બહાર નીકળી પડ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.12.5" />તેઓનાં દેખતાં નગરની ભીતમાં બાકોરું પાડી તેમાંથી તારો સામાન ઊંચકીને લઇ જા.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.12.6" />તેઓનાં દેખતાં તું તારો સામાન ખભે ચઢાવ અને અંધારામાં ચાલી નીકળજે. તારું મોઢું ઢાંકી દેજે અને આજુબાજુ જોઇશ નહિ. આ બધું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ચેતવણીરૂપ થઇ પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.12.7" />યહોવાએ મને જે કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાણે મેં બરાબર કર્યું. મેં દેશવટે જવા માટે બાંધીને તૈયાર કરેલો સામાન દિવસે બહાર કાઢયો. સાંજે મારા હાથે જ મેં ભીંતમાં બાકોરું પાડ્યું અને લોકોના દેખતાં જ રાત્રે મારો સામાન મારા ખભે મુકીને ચાલી નીકળ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.12.8" />બીજા દિવસે સવારે યહોવાનું વચન મારી પાસે આવ્યું કે,
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.12.9" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, આ બંડખોર ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ પૂછયું છે કે, આ સર્વનો અર્થ શો છે?
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.12.10" />તું તેમને કહે કે, આ યહોવાના વચન છે: આ દેવવાણી યરૂશાલેમના રાજકર્તા માટે અને ત્યાં વસતા બધા ઇસ્રાએલીઓ માટે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.12.11" />તું તેઓને સમજાવ; ‘હું હઝકિયેલ તમારે માટે નિશાનીરૂપ છું. મેં જે કર્યું છે તે કરવાનો તમારો વારો આવશે, તમારે દેશવટે નીકળવું પડશે અને કેદ ભોગવવી પડશે.’
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.12.12" />તમારા રાજા પણ આ જ પ્રમાણે તેનાથી ઊંચકી શકાય તેટલો સામાન ઊંચકીને નીકળશે અને ભીંતના બાકોરામાંથી તે બહાર જશે. તે પોતાનું મોઢું ઢાંકી દેશે જેથી તે જોઇ શકે નહિ.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.12.13" />હું તેને મારી જાળમાં ફસાવીને ખાલદીઓનાં દેશ બાબિલમાં લઇ જઇશ. પરંતુ તે જોઇ શકશે નહિ અને ત્યાં જ મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.12.14" />હું તેના બધા દરબારીઓને, અંગરક્ષકોને અને સમગ્ર સેનાને ચારે દિશામાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખીશ અને હું ઉઘાડી તરવારે તેમનો પીછો પકડીશ.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.12.15" />હું તેઓને જ્યારે વિવિધ પ્રજાઓમાં વિખેરી નાખીશ ત્યારે તેઓ જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.12.16" />“હું તેઓમાંના થોડાને યુદ્ધ, ભૂખમરો, અને રોગચાળામાંથી ઉગારી લઇશ, જેથી તેઓ જે પ્રજાઓમાં જઇને વસ્યા હશે ત્યાં કબૂલ કરે કે તેમનાં કૃત્યો કેટલાં અધમ હતાં, અને ત્યારે તેમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.12.17" />પછી મને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.12.18" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તારે જમતી વખતે ધ્રુજવું અને જળપાન કરતી વખતે ભય અને ચિંતાથી થરથરવું.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.12.19" />બધા લોકોને કહેજે કે, ઇસ્રાએલમાં હજી પણ વસતાં યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓ માટે યહોવા મારા માલિકના આ વચન છે; તેઓ ડરતા ડરતા ખાશે અને ચિંતાતુર થઇને પાણી પીશે. તેમના દેશમાં વસતી દરેકે દરેક વ્યકિત હિંસક છે. તેથી તેને વેરાન બનાવી દેવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.12.20" />તમારા નગરો તારાજ થઇ જશે અને તમારાં ખેતરો વેરાન થઇ જશે. ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.12.21" />ફરીથી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું,
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.12.22" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ઇસ્રાએલમાં લોકો આ કહેવતને વારંવાર ટાંકે છે તે શું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘વખત વહી જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એકે ભવિષ્યવાણી સાચી પડતી નથી.’
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EZK.12.23" />“તું એમને કહે: આ યહોવાના વચન છે. હું એ કહેવત જૂઠી પાડીશ, ઇસ્રાએલમાં એ હવે કદી ઉચ્ચારાશે નહિ, તેના બદલે તેઓ કહેશે;
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘સમય આવ્યો છે અને એકેએક
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<q level="2" style="q2">ભવિષ્યવાણી સાચી પડવાની જ છે!’
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZK.12.24" />“હવે પછી ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજામાં વ્યર્થ સંદર્શન થશે નહિ. અને લોકોને ખુશ રાખવા જૂઠી પ્રબોધવાણી પ્રગટ નહિ થાય.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.12.25" />કારણ કે હું, યહોવા, મારે જે કહેવું હશે તે કહીશ અને જે કહીશ તે સાચું પડશે. એમાં વિલંબ નહિ થાય. હે બંડખોર ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, હું આ તમારા જીવનકાળ દરમ્યાન જ કરીશ.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચનો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EZK.12.26" />પછી યહોવાનું વચન મારી પાસે આવ્યું અને તેણે કહ્યું:
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.12.27" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ઇસ્રાએલીઓ એમ માને છે કે તને જે દર્શન થાય છે તે તો દૂરના ભવિષ્યનું છે, અને તું જે ભાખે છે તે કઇં આજે ફળવાનું નથી.
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<v id="28" bcv="EZK.12.28" />તેથી એ લોકોને કહે કે, ‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: હવે મારા વચનો પૂરાં કરવામાં વિલંબ નહિ થાય. દરેક વચન જે હું બોલ્યો છું તે ફળીભૂત થશે.’” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<s style="s">જૂઠા પ્રબોધકોનો ન્યાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.13.1" />ફરીથી મને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.13.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રબોધકોને મારી ચેતવણી સંભળાવ; પ્રબોધકો જેઓ પોતાને મન ફાવે તેમ કહે છે તેમને યહોવા જે કહે છે તે સાંભળવા માટે તું કહે,
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.13.3" />‘યહોવા મારા માલિકના આ વચન સાંભળો: એ દુષ્ટ પ્રબોધકોનો અંત આવી ગયો છે! તેઓ પોતાના દુષ્ટ આત્મા વડે જ પ્રેરણા મેળવે છે, તેઓ કોઇ સંદર્શન જોતા નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.13.4" />“‘હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, તમારા પ્રબોધકો ખંડિયેરમાં વસતાં શિયાળવા જેવા છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.13.5" />તેમણે કદી ઇસ્રાએલ ફરતેના કોટમાં પડેલાં ગાબડાં પૂરવા જવાની હિંમત કરી નથી કે જેથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ યહોવાને દિવસે યુદ્ધમાં ટક્કર ઝીલી શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.13.6" />“‘તેઓ જે જુએ છે તે આભાસ છે અને તેઓ જૂઠાણાં ઘડી કાઢી ઉચ્ચારે છે. તેઓ એમ કહે છે કે, અમે યહોવાની વાણી ઉચ્ચારીએ છીએ, અને પોતે ઉચ્ચારેલી વાણી સાચી પડે તેવી અપેક્ષા રાખે છે. પરંતુ મેં તેમને મોકલ્યા નથી;
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.13.7" />“‘બીજી બાજુ હું તો કહું છું કે, તમે જે જુઓ છો તે તો આભાસ છે, અને તમે જૂઠાણા ઘડી કાઢો છો. તમે એમ કહો છો કે એ મારાં વચન છે, પણ મેં તેમને કશું કહ્યું નથી.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.13.8" />યહોવા મારા માલિક તેમને કહે છે, “તમે ખોટી વાણી ઉચ્ચારો છો અને જૂઠાં દર્શનની વાત કરો છો, તેથી હું તમારી વિરુદ્ધ થઇ ગયો છું.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.13.9" />ખોટાં સંદર્શનની વાત કરનાર અને જૂઠી વાણી ઉચ્ચારનાર પ્રબોધકોને હું સજા કરનાર છું. મારા લોકોની સભામાં તેમને સ્થાન નહિ મળે તેમના નામ ઇસ્રાએલીઓના ઇતિહાસમાં નોંધવામાં નહિ આવે. તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલની ધરતી પર ફરીથી પગ મૂકી શકશે નહિ. અને ત્યારે તેમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.13.10" />“આ જૂઠા પ્રબોધકોએ મારા લોકોને એમ કહીને છેતર્યા છે કે, ‘ત્યાં શાંતિ હશે.’ જ્યારે ત્યાં કોઇ શાંતિ નથી હોતી, તેથી મારા લોકો ફકત નબળી વાડ બાંધે છે, અને આ પ્રબોધકો તેને મજબૂત દેખાડવા માટે થઇને તેને ચૂનો ધોળીને ઢાંકી દે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.13.11" />તું એ ચૂનો ધોળનારાઓને કહી દે; એ ભીત તો પડી જશે. યહોવા મૂશળધાર વરસાદ મોકલશે; કરા વરસશે અને તોફાની વાવાઝોડું તેને તોડી પાડશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.13.12" />કોટની ભીત તૂટી પડશે અને લોકો પૂછશે, ‘તમે ધોળેલો ચૂનો ક્યાં છે!’”
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.13.13" />એટલે યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “હા હું તે ભીતને તોડી પાડવા રોષે ભરાઇને વાવાઝોડું મોકલીશ, મૂશળધાર વરસાદ અને કરા મોકલીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.13.14" />તમે દિવાલ પર ચૂનો ધોળ્યો છે તેને હું તોડી પાડીશ, ભોયભેગા કરી નાખીશ, તેના પાયા ખુલ્લા પડી જશે. અને એ પડશે ત્યારે તમે એની નીચે કચઢાઇને મરી જશો. ત્યારે તમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.13.15" />એ ભીંત પર અને તે લોકો પર મારો રોષ ઠાલવ્યા પછી હું તમને કહીશ: ‘ભીતો ગઇ અને તેને ચૂનો ધોળનારા પ્રબોધકો પણ ગયા.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.13.16" />“કારણ કે તેઓ જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો છે. શાંતિ નહિ હોવા છતાં યરૂશાલેમમાં શાંતિ થશે એવો દાવો કરે છે.” આમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.13.17" />“અને હવે, હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તારા લોકની જે પુત્રીઓ પોતાને પ્રબોધિકાઓ માને છે અને પોતાને યહોવા તરફથી વાણી સંભળાઇ છે, એમ કહીને ઢોંગ કરે છે તેઓની વિરુદ્ધ પ્રબોધ કર.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.13.18" />તેઓને કહે કે ‘યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: જે સ્ત્રીઓ કોણી પર કે કાંડા પર તાવીજ બાંધે છે, અને નાનામોટા લોકોને ફસાવવા માટે જુદી જુદી લંબાઇના બુરખા પહેરે છે, તેઓને અફસોસ! શું તમે મારા લોકોનો જીવનો શિકાર કરશો, અને તમારા પોતાના જીવ બચાવી રાખશો?
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.13.19" />મુઠ્ઠીભર જવના દાણા માટે અને રોટલીના ટુકડા માટે તમે મારા નામ પર નિંદા લાવ્યા છો. જેઓએ મૃત્યુ પામવાને યોગ્ય કશું જ કર્યું નથી તેઓને તમે મારી નાખ્યા છે. જેઓ જીવવાને યોગ્ય નથી તેઓને તમે બચાવી લીધા છે. મારા લોકો આગળ તમે જૂઠું બોલો છો.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.13.20" />તેથી યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે: તમે તમારા દોરાધાગાથી મારા લોકોને પક્ષીઓની માફક સપડાવ્યા છે. હું તમારા દોરાધાગાની વિરુદ્ધ છું. હું એ દોરાધાગા તમારા હાથ પરથી તોડી નાખીશ અને તમે જેઓને વશમાં રાખવા માંગો છો તેમને હું છોડી મૂકીશ.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.13.21" />તમારા બુરખાઓને હું ફાડી નાખીશ. અને મારા લોકોને તમારામાંથી બચાવી લઇશ. હવે પછી તેઓ તમારી જાળમાં ફસાશે નહિ, અને ત્યારે તમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EZK.13.22" />“‘હું નીતિમાન લોકો ઉપર દુ:ખ લાવ્યો નહોતો તે છતાં તમે તમારા જૂઠાણાંમાંથી તેમને નિરાશ કર્યા છે. અને તમારા જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો દુષ્ટ લોકોને એટલું પ્રોત્સાહન આપે છે કે તેઓ પોતાનાં ભૂંડાં જીવનથી પાછા ફરતા નથી અને પોતાનાં જીવન બચાવતા નથી.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.13.23" />પરંતુ હવે પછી સમજીલ્યો કે તમારાં ખોટાં દર્શનનો અને તમારી જૂઠી ભવિષ્યવાણીનો અંત આવ્યો છે. હું મારા લોકોને તમારા હાથમાંથી ઉગારી લેનાર છું અને ત્યારે તમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.’”
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<c id="14" />
<s style="s">મૂર્તિપૂજાનો વિરોધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.14.1" />ઇસ્રાએલના કેટલાક આગેવાનો મારે ત્યાં આવીને બેઠા હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.14.2" />એ સમયે મારી પાસે યહોવાનું વચન આવ્યું કે,
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.14.3" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, આ માણસોએ પોતાનાં હૃદયમાં મૂર્તિઓની સ્થાપના કરી છે, અને જાણી જોઇને પોતાના પતનનો માર્ગ ખુલ્લો કર્યો છે. એવા માણસોના પ્રશ્ર્નનો હું શું જવાબ આપીશ?
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.14.4" />તેઓને કહે કે, ‘યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: ઇસ્રાએલમાં જેઓ અપવિત્ર મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરે છે અને પછી મારી મદદને માટે વિનંતી કરવા પ્રબોધક પાસે આવે છે, હું તેમને કહીશ કે તમારી અપવિત્ર મૂર્તિ પાસે મદદ માંગવા જાવ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.14.5" />તેમનાં મનમાં એમ ઠસાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરું છું કે, તેઓ તેમની અશુદ્ધ મૂર્તિઓને લીધે મારા માટે અજાણ્યા જેવા બની ગયાં છે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.14.6" />“તેથી તું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહે કે, ‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: પાછા ફરો, તમારી મૂર્તિઓનો ત્યાગ કરો અને તમારા અધર્મ આચારો છોડી દો.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.14.7" />જો કોઇ ઇસ્રાએલી કે તેમના ભેગો વસતો કોઇ વિદેશી મારો ત્યાગ કરીને પોતાના હૃદયમાં મૂર્તિઓને સ્થાન આપશે અને પોતાના પતનના કારણરૂપ એ મૂર્તિઓનું ધ્યાન ધરશે અને કોઇ પ્રબોધક પાસે આવીને મારી ઇચ્છા જાણવા પ્રશ્ર્ન કરશે તો હું, યહોવા, પોતે તેનો જવાબ આપીશ.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.14.8" />હું એ માણસની વિરુદ્ધ થઇ જઇશ: હું તેની એવી દશા કરીશ કે જેથી લોકોને દાખલો બેસે, અને કહેવતરૂપ બને. મારા લોકો વચ્ચેથી હું તેને કાપી નાખીશ. અને તમે જાણશો કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.14.9" />અને જો કોઇ પ્રબોધક છેતરાઇને સંદેશો આપશે કે મેં યહોવાએ તે પ્રબોધકને છેતર્યો છે તો હું તેની સામે મારો હાથ ઉગામીશ, અને મારા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો મધ્યેથી હું તેનો નાશ કરીશ.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.14.10" />આ જૂઠા પ્રબોધક અને દુષ્ટ ઢોંગી માણસ બંને સરખા જ દોષિત છે. તેઓને પોતાના પાપોને લીધે શિક્ષા થશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.14.11" />એટલે પછી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ કદી મારો ત્યાગ નહિ કરે અને, પોતાની મૂર્તિઓ દ્વારા પોતાને અપવિત્ર નહિ કરે. તેઓ મારી પ્રજા થઇને રહેશે અને હું તેમનો દેવ થઇશ.’” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.14.12" />મને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.14.13" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, જો કોઇ દેશ મારી સાથે વિશ્વાસધાત કરીને પાપમાં પડશે તો હું તેને અન્ન આપવાનું બંધ કરી દઇશ. હું ત્યાં દુકાળ મોકલીશ, ત્યાંના માણસોનો અને પશુઓનો નાશ કરીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.14.14" />જો ત્યાં નૂહ, દાનિયેલ, અને અયૂબ એ ત્રણ જણ રહેતા હોય તો તેઓ પોતાના નીતિવંત આચરણથી કેવળ પોતાના પ્રાણ જ બચાવી શકે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.14.15" />“જો હું હિંસક જંગલી પશુઓને મોકલું કે આ દેશને વેરાન તથા ઉજ્જડ કરી મૂકે, અને કોઇ માણસ ત્યાંથી પસાર ન થાય.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.14.16" />અને જો આ ત્રણ માણસો ત્યાં હોત તો તેઓ પોતાના પુત્ર-પુત્રીઓને બચાવી શક્યા ન હોત. તે ત્રણ માણસો માત્ર પોતાના જીવ બચાવી શક્યા હોત. અને આખો દેશ વેરાન અને ઉજ્જડ થઇ જાત.” એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.14.17" />“અથવા, જો હું એ દેશમાં યુદ્ધ મોકલું અને કહું કે, જા, એ દેશમાં બધે ફરી વળ અને માણસોનો અને પશુઓનો સંહાર કર,
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.14.18" />તો એ ત્રણ માણસો ત્યાં રહેતાં હોય તોયે, હું યહોવા મારા માલિક, મારા જીવના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે, તેઓ પોતાના બાળકોને સુદ્ધાં બચાવી નહિ શકે; તેઓ ફકત પોતાના જ પ્રાણ બચાવી શકશે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EZK.14.19" />“અથવા જો હું તે દેશમાં રોગચાળો મોકલું અને રોષમાં અને રોષમાં માણસોનો અને પશુઓનો સંહાર કરું.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.14.20" />જો નૂહ, દાનિયેલ અને અયૂબ એ ત્રણ માણસો ત્યાં રહેતાં હોય, તોયે હું, સર્વસમર્થ યહોવા, મારા પ્રાણના સોગંધ ખાઇને કહું છું કે, તેઓ પોતાનાં બાળકોને સુદ્ધાં બચાવી નહિ શકે; પોતાના નીતિવંત આચરણથી તેઓ ફકત પોતાના પ્રાણ બચાવી શકશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.14.21" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “એ કેટલું વધારે ભયંકર હશે, જ્યારે હું મારી ચારે ચાર આકરામાં આકરી શિક્ષાઓ યરૂશાલેમના માણસોનો અને પશુઓનો સંહાર કરવા માટે મોકલીશ- યુદ્ધ, દુકાળ, રોગચાળો, અને જંગલી પશુઓ.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.14.22" />છતાં તેઓમાંથી થોડા છટકી જવા પામશે અને તે પુત્ર પુત્રીઓને બંધકો તરીકે બાબિલમાં લઇ જવાશે અને તેઓ તમારી સાથે જોડાશે. ત્યારે તમે તેઓની ખરાબ વર્તણૂંક તમારી પોતાની આંખે નિહાળશો. ત્યારે તમે મારો યરૂશાલેમનો વિધ્વંસ તથા જે પ્રત્યેક શિક્ષા મેં ત્યાં મોકલી તે વિષે સમજશો.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.14.23" />કારણ કે તેઓ કેવા દુષ્ટ છે તે જોઇને તમને ખાતરી થશે અને તમને સમજાશે કે મેં જે કઇં કર્યું છે તે વગર કારણે કર્યું નથી.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<c id="15" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ-દ્રાક્ષાવેલાનું રૂપક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.15.1" />ત્યાર બાદ મને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.15.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, દ્રાક્ષાવેલાનું લાકડું જંગલમાંની ઝાડની ડાળીના લાકડાં કરતાં કઇ રીતે સારું ગણાય?
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.15.3" />એના લાકડામાંથી શું કશું બને છે? માણસ એમાંથી એક ખીંટી પણ બનાવી શકે છે, જેના પર કશું લટકાવી શકાય?
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.15.4" />એને બળતણ તરીકે અગ્નિમાં નાખવામાં આવે છે ત્યારે તેના બંને છેડા સળગવા લાગે છે અને વચ્ચેનો ભાગ ખાખ થઇ જાય છે. પછી એ શા કામમાં આવે?
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.15.5" />બળતણ તરીકે વપરાયા અગાઉ પણ તે બિનઉપયોગી હતું, હવે અગ્નિએ તેને બાળીને ભસ્મ કર્યું છે, ત્યારે તેમાંથી શું ઉપયોગી ચીજ બની શકે?
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.15.6" />આથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે; જેમ મેં દ્રાક્ષાવેલને લાકડા કરતાં વધારે બિનઉપયોગી બનાવ્યું છે, અગ્નિમાં ઇંધણ તરીકે વપરાતા કોઇ પણ લાકડાં કરતા પણ બિન ઉપયોગી, તે પ્રમાણે હું યરૂશાલેમના લોકોનું પણ કરીશ.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.15.7" />હું તેઓની વિરુદ્ધ થઇ જઇશ, તેઓ એક આગમાંથી બચી જશે તોપણ તેઓ બીજી વારની આગમાં બળી મરશે. ત્યારે તેમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.15.8" />એ લોકો મને વિશ્વાસઘાતી નીવળ્યા છે, તેઓ
<add>મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરે છે</add> માટે હું તેઓના દેશને ઉજ્જડ કરી નાખીશ.” એમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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<c id="16" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના તિરસ્કારને પાત્ર કૃત્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.16.1" />ફરીવાર મને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.16.2" />તેમણે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું યરૂશાલેમને તેનાં તિરસ્કારને પાત્ર કૃત્યો વિષે કહીં સંભળાવ.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.16.3" />તેને કહે કે, ‘યહોવા મારા માલિક આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે:’ તારી ઉત્પત્તિ તથા તારો જન્મ કનાનીઓના દેશમાં થયેલાં છે; તારા પિતા અમોરી હતા અને માતા હિત્તી હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.16.4" />તું જે દિવસે જન્મી તે દિવસે તારી નાળ કાપનાર કે તને નવડાવનાર કે તને મીઠું ચોળનાર કે તને કપડામાં લપેટનાર કોઇ નહોતું.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.16.5" />કોઇને તારામાં સ્હેજ પણ રસ ન હતો; તારા પર દયા કરે અને તારી કાળજી લે તેવું કોઇ નહોતું. જે દિવસે તારો જન્મ થયો તે દિવસે તને ખેતરોમાં નાખી દેવામાં આવી હતી. તું તિરસ્કૃત અને તજાયેલી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.16.6" />“‘એવામાં હું ત્યાંથી નીકળ્યો અને મેં તને તારા લોહીમાં તરફડતી જોઇ. તું લોહીમાં ખરડાયેલી હતી ત્યારે મેં તને જીવાડવાનું વિચાર્યું.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.16.7" />મેં તને ખેતરમાં ઊગેલા છોડની જેમ ઉછેરી અને તું મોટી થતી થતી યુવાનીમાં પ્રવેશી. તારાં સ્તન ભરાવદાર થયાં અને તારા વાળ પણ વધ્યા; તેમ છતાં તું નગ્નાવસ્થામાં હતી.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.16.8" />ફરી તારી પાસેથી હું નીકળ્યો ત્યારે મેં તને જોઇ તો તું લગ્ન માટે પુખ્ત ઉંમરની બની ચૂકી હતી. મેં મારો ઝભ્ભો તારા પર પસારીને તારી નગ્નતા ઢાંકી. મેં તને ગંભીર વચન આપ્યું અને તારી સાથે કરાર કર્યો અને તું મારી થઇ.’” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.16.9" />“‘ત્યાર પછી મેં તને પાણીથી નવડાવી અને તારું લોહી ધોઇ નાખ્યું અને મેં તારા શરીર પર જૈતતેલ ચોપડ્યું.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.16.10" />વળી મેં તને ભરતકામ કરેલાં વસ્ત્રો તથા ઉત્તમ ચામડાની મોજડી પહેરાવ્યાં. મેં તારે માથે શણનો રૂમાલ બાંધ્યો અને તને રેશમી વસ્ત્રો પહેરાવ્યાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.16.11" />મેં તને કિંમતી આભૂષણો, બંગડીઓ અને સુંદર નેકલેસ પહેરાવ્યાં.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.16.12" />નાકમાં નથ અને કાને કુંડળ પહેરાવ્યાં અને માથે રૂપાળો મુગટ મૂક્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.16.13" />સોનાચાંદીના તારા અલંકારો હતાં. શણ, રેશમ અને જરીયાનનાં તારાં વસ્ત્રો હતાં. ઉત્તમોત્તમ લોટ, મધ અને જૈતતેલ તારો ખોરાક હતો. તેથી પહેલા કરતાં પણ તું વધારે સુંદર લાગતી હતી. તું રાણી જેવી રૂપાળી લાગતી હતી અને તું સાચે જ રાણી હતી!
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.16.14" />તારાં રૂપની સુંદરતાને કારણે તારી ખ્યાતી સર્વ પ્રજાઓમાં પ્રસરી ગઇ હતી. તું સંપૂર્ણ સ્ત્રી લાગતી હતી, કારણ કે મેં તને સર્વ ભેટો આપી હતી.’” એમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.16.15" />દેવ કહે છે, “પણ તેં તારા રૂપનો અને તારી કીતિર્નો લાભ લઇને વારાંગનાની જેમ વતીંર્ને જતા આવતા દરેકને તેં પોતાની જાત સોંપી દીધી.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.16.16" />તેં તારાં વસ્ત્રોથી ટેકરી ઉપરનાં થાનકોને સજાવ્યાં અને ત્યાં વારાંગનાનો ધંધો શરૂ કર્યો.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.16.17" />તેં મારા આપેલાં સોનાચાંદીના અલંકારો લઇ તેમાંથી પુરુષમૂર્તિઓ બનાવડાવી અને તેની સાથે તે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.16.18" />તેં મારાં આપેલાં જરીયાન વસ્ત્રો લઇને મૂર્તિઓને પહેરાવ્યાં અને મારું તેલ અને મારો ધૂપ તેમને ચઢાવ્યાં.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.16.19" />મેં તને જે ઉત્તમ લોટ, મધ અને તેલ ખાવા આપ્યાં હતાં તે તેમને પ્રસન્ન કરવા ચઢાવી દીધાં.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.16.20" />દેવ કહે છે, “વળી મારાથી તને જે પુત્ર-પુત્રીઓ થયાં હતાં તેઓને તેં તારાં દેવોની આગળ બલિદાન તરીકે આપ્યાં. તું વારાંગના હતી એટલું જ શું તારે માટે પૂરતું નહોતું,
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.16.21" />કે તેં મારાં બાળકોનો વધ કરીને તેઓની મૂર્તિની આગળ બલિદાન કર્યા?
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.16.22" />તારા વ્યભિચાર અને પાપના આ બધાં વષોર્માં તે કદી વિચાર કર્યો નહિ કે તારા બાળપણમાં તું નગ્ન હતી અને લોહીમાં તરફડતી હતી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EZK.16.23" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે, “તેથી તારા બધા ખરાબ કૃત્યોના લીધે તારી પર આફત આવશે, ચૂકાદો આવી ગયો છે,
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.16.24" />તેં દરેક શેરીને ખૂણેખૂણે પૂજા સ્થાનો અને ધામિર્ક વારાંગનાખંડ બનાવ્યા છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.16.25" />અને ત્યાં તેં તારાં રૂપને ષ્ટ કર્યું. જતા આવતા સૌને તારી કાયા સમપિર્ત કરીને વારાંગનાવૃત્તિ ચાલુને ચાલુ રાખી.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.16.26" />તેં તારા કામાશકત પડોશી મિસરીઓ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરી તારી વારાંગનાવૃત્તિથી મારો રોષ વહોરી લીધો.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.16.27" />અને હવે મેં તારી સામે મારો હાથ ઉગામ્યો છે. મેં તારી ખોરાકી-પોશાકી ઘટાડી નાખી છે અને તારા શત્રુઓના હાથમાં તને સોંપી દેવામાં આવી છે. અરે પલિસ્તીઓની પુત્રીઓ તારી નિર્લજ વર્તણૂંકથી તું શરમાઇ ગઇ છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="EZK.16.28" />આટલાથી પણ તને સંતોષ ન થતાં તેં આશ્શૂરના લોકોની સાથે પણ વ્યભિચાર કર્યો. તેમની સાથે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો છતાંય તું ધરાઇ નહિ.
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<v id="29" bcv="EZK.16.29" />વળી તેં કનાન દેશથી માંડીને ખાલદી દેશ સુધી તારો વ્યભિચાર વધારી દીધો તેમ છતાંય તું તૃપ્ત થઇ નહિ.
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<v id="30" bcv="EZK.16.30" />તેથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે કે, તારું હૃદય કેટલું દુષ્ટ છે કે તું આવાં કામ કર્યા કરે છે. તું સ્વચ્છંદી વ્યભિચારી સ્ત્રી છે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EZK.16.31" />દેવ કહે છે, “તેં તારી મૂર્તિઓની વેદીઓ તથા વારાંગનાગૃહ દરેક શેરીએ બંધાવ્યા છે. તું વારાંગના કરતાંય ભૂંડી છે. તું બીજી વારાંગનાઓની જેમ પૈસા પણ લેતી નથી.
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<v id="32" bcv="EZK.16.32" />તું તો કુલટા જેવી છે, જે પોતાના પતિને છોડીને પરપુરુષ સાથે સંબંધ બાંધે છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="EZK.16.33" />વારાંગના તો પૈસા લે છે, પણ તું તો તારા બધા પ્રેમીઓને ભેટ આપે છે, તું તો તેમને બધેથી તારી સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરવા લલચાવી લાવવા લાંચ આપે છે.
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<v id="34" bcv="EZK.16.34" />તું બીજી વારાંગનાઓ કરતાં જુદી જ છે. કોઇ તને પૈસા આપતું નથી પણ તું સામેથી તેઓને પૈસા આપે છે. તું સાચે જ જુદા પ્રકારની છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="EZK.16.35" />તેથી હવે હે વારાંગના, યહોવાના વચન સાંભળ.
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<v id="36" bcv="EZK.16.36" />આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: “તેં વસ્ત્રો ઉતારી નાખી તારા દેહને નગ્ન કરી તારા પ્રેમીઓ અને તારી એ ધૃણાજનક મૂર્તિઓ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો છે, તેં તારા બાળકોનો વધ કરીને એ મૂર્તિઓને ભોગ ધરાવ્યો છે,
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<v id="37" bcv="EZK.16.37" />આથી હું તારો ઉપભોગ કરનાર બધા પ્રેમીઓને-જેઓને તું ચાહતી હતી અને જેઓને તું ધિક્કારતી હતી તે સૌને ભેગા કરીશ. હું તને તેઓની આગળ નગ્ન કરીશ, જેથી તેઓ તારી સર્વ નિર્લજ્જતા જુએ.
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<v id="38" bcv="EZK.16.38" />ખૂની અને વ્યભિચારી સ્ત્રીને જે પ્રમાણે શિક્ષા થાય છે તેવી શિક્ષા હું તને કરીશ. કેમકે હું ક્રોધિત અને દ્વેષિત છું.
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<v id="39" bcv="EZK.16.39" />તને અને તારા પ્રેમીઓને હું બીજા અનેક દેશોને સુપ્રત કરીશ કે જે તારો નાશ કરે. તેઓ તારાં વારાંગનાગૃહો અને મૂર્તિઓની વેદીઓને તોડી નાખશે અને તેઓ તારાં વસ્ત્ર તારા શરીર પરથી ઉતારી લેશે. તારાં સુંદર ઘરેણાં લઇ લેશે અને તને શરમજનક નગ્ન અવસ્થામાં છોડીને ચાલ્યા જશે.
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<v id="40" bcv="EZK.16.40" />તેઓ તારી સામે ટોળું લઇ આવશે અને તને ઇંટાળી કરશે અને તરવારથી તારા ટુકડેટુકડા કરી નાખશે.
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<v id="41" bcv="EZK.16.41" />તેઓ તારાં મકાનો બાળી મૂકશે અને સ્ત્રીઓના ટોળાના દેખતાં તને સજા કરશે. આમ, હું તારી વારાંગનાવૃત્તિનો અંત આણીશ અને તારું પ્રેમીઓને ભેટ આપવાનું બંધ થઇ જશે.
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<v id="42" bcv="EZK.16.42" />ત્યારે મારો રોષ શમી જશે અને તારા ઉપરથી દાઝ ઊતરશે. પછી હું શાંત પડીશ અને તારા પર રોષે ભરાઇશ નહિ.
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<v id="43" bcv="EZK.16.43" />તું તારું બાળપણ ભુલી ગઇ છે અને તારાં કૃત્યોથી તેં મારો રોષ વહોરી લીધો છે તેથી હું તને તારા કૃત્યો માટે સજા કરીશ. શું આ સાચું નથી? કે તું બીજી બધી અધમ વસ્તુઓ ઉપરાંત નિર્લજ વ્યભિચારમાં સંડોવાયેલી હતી?” આ મારા માલિક યહોવાના વચનો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="EZK.16.44" />“‘જેવી મા તેવી દીકરી.’ તે કહેવત સર્વ લોકો તારા માટે વાપરશે.
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<v id="45" bcv="EZK.16.45" />સાચે જ તું તારી માની દીકરી છે. જેણે તેના પતિને અને તેના સંતાનોને ધિક્કાર્યા હતાં. તું તારી બહેનોની સાચી બહેન છે, જેઓએ પોતાનાં પતિને અને સંતાનોને ધિક્કાર્યા હતાં. તમે બધી જ હિત્તી મા અને અમોરી પિતાની પુત્રીઓ છો.
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<v id="46" bcv="EZK.16.46" />સમરૂન તારી મોટી બહેન છે, જે પોતાની પુત્રીઓ સાથે તારી ઉંત્તરે વસે છે. સદોમ તારી નાની બહેન છે, જે પોતાની પુત્રીઓ સાથે તારી દક્ષિણે વસે છે.
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<v id="47" bcv="EZK.16.47" />તેમને પગલે ચાલી તેમનાં જેવા અધમ કૃત્યો કરી તું તૃપ્ત થઇ નથી; થોડી જ વારમાં તું તેમના કરતાં પણ વધારે ખરાબ રીતે વર્તવા લાગી.
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<v id="48" bcv="EZK.16.48" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે કે, સદોમ અને તેની પુત્રીઓએ કદી જ તારી પુત્રીઓના જેટલી દુષ્ટતા કરી નહોતી એ ખાતરીપૂર્વકની વાત છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="EZK.16.49" />“તારી બહેન સદોમના પાપ આ પ્રમાણે હતાં; અભિમાન, આળસ અને અન્નની પુષ્કળતા. તેથી તેઓ અભિમાની થઇ ગઇ હતી. વળી તેઓ ગરીબોને કે દુ:ખીઓને કદી મદદ કરતી નહોતી.
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<v id="50" bcv="EZK.16.50" />તેઓ અભિમાની થઇ ગઇ હતી અને હું જેને ધિક્કારું છું એવા કૃત્યો કરતી હતી; આથી મેં તેમને ધરતી પરથી ભૂંસી નાખી છે, એ તેં જોયું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="EZK.16.51" />દેવ કહે છે, “સમરૂને તો તારા કરતાં અડધાં પાપ પણ કર્યા નહોતાં. તેં તારી બહેનો કરતાં એટલા બધાં વધુ અધમ પાપ કર્યા છે કે તારી સરખામણીમાં તો તેઓ સારી લાગે છે.
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<v id="52" bcv="EZK.16.52" />હવે તારે તારાં કૃત્યો માટે શરમાવુ જોઇએ. તારાં પાપ તારી બહેનોના પાપ કરતાં એટલા તો વધારે છે કે તેઓ તારી તુલનામાં નિદોર્ષ લાગે છે. તું તારી બહેનોને પણ નિદોર્ષ કહેવડાવે એવી છે એટલે જરૂર તારે લજ્જિત થઇને ફજેતી વહોરીને ચાલવું પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="EZK.16.53" />દેવ કહે છે, “પરંતુ એક દિવસ આવશે જ્યારે હું સદોમ અને તેની પુત્રીઓની તથા સમરૂન અને તેની પુત્રીઓની આબાદી પાછી આપીશ. વળી એ સાથે, હે યહૂદા, તારી આબાદી પણ હું તને પાછી આપીશ.
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<v id="54" bcv="EZK.16.54" />તેં જે કર્યુ છે તેને કારણે તારે લજ્જિત થઇને નામોશીપૂર્વક ચાલવું પડશે. અને એ જોઇને તારી બહેનોને સાંત્વન મળશે.
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<v id="55" bcv="EZK.16.55" />હા, જરૂર તારી બહેનો સદોમ અને સમરૂન તથા તેઓના સર્વ લોકો પહેલાં હતાં તેવા જ ફરીથી સમૃદ્ધ થશે અને યહૂદા પણ તે દિવસોમાં સમૃદ્ધિ પામશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="56" bcv="EZK.16.56" />“તારા ઘમંડના દિવસોમાં જ્યારે તારી દુષ્ટતા ઉઘાડી પડી નહોતી ત્યારે તું તારી બહેન સદોમની હાંસી નહોતી ઉડાવતી?
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<v id="57" bcv="EZK.16.57" />આજે હવે અરામ અને પલિસ્તી લોકો તારી હાંસી ઉડાવે છે અને તારી આસપાસના બધા જ લોકો તને ધિક્કારે છે.
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<v id="58" bcv="EZK.16.58" />હવે તારે તારા બીભત્સ અને અધમ કૃત્યોનાં પરિણામો ભોગવવાં જ રહ્યાં.” આ મારા માલિક યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="59" bcv="EZK.16.59" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે, “તારા આચરણ પ્રમાણે જ હું તારી સાથે વર્તાવ કરીશ, કારણ કે તું તારી પ્રતિજ્ઞાઓ ભુલી ગઇ છે, અને તે કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="60" bcv="EZK.16.60" />છતાં હું એ કરાર નહિ ભૂલું; તું જ્યારે જુવાન હતી, ને મેં તારી સાથે જે કરાર કર્યો હતો તેને હું અનુસરીશ. બીજી તરફ હું, તારી સાથે કાયમી કરાર કરીશ.
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<v id="61" bcv="EZK.16.61" />અને ત્યારે તને તારાં કુકમોર્ યાદ આવશે અને તું લજ્જિત થઇશ. જ્યારે તું તારી મોટી અને નાની બહેનોને પાછી લઇ લઇશ, કારણ હું તારી બહેનોને તારી પુત્રીઓ તરીકે પાછી આપનાર છું, જો કે એ તારી સાથેના મારા કરારનો ભાગ નથી.
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<v id="62" bcv="EZK.16.62" />તેથી હું તારી સાથે મારો કરાર ફરીથી સ્થાપન કરીશ અને ત્યારે તું જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="63" bcv="EZK.16.63" />જ્યારે હું તને તારાં બધાં કૃત્યોની માફી આપીશ ત્યારે તને તે બધાં યાદ આવશે અને તું શરમની મારી બોલી પણ નહિ શકે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<s style="s">ગરૂડનું ષ્ટાંત-દ્રાક્ષના વેલાનું રૂપક
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.17.1" />યહોવા તરફથી વાણી મને આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.17.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો આગળ એક ઉખાણું રજૂ કર અને તેમને આ બોધકથા કહે:
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.17.3" />તેઓને જણાવ કે હું યહોવા, તેઓને આ કહું છું;
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘રંગબેરંગી પીંછાથી ઢંકાયેલું વિશાળ કદની પાંખોવાળું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લાંબા નહોરોવાળું એક મોટું ગરૂડ ઊડતું ઊડતું લબાનોનના પર્વત પર આવ્યું
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેની ઉપરથી એરેજવૃક્ષની ટોચની ડાળી લઇ ગયું.
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<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.17.4" />અને વૃક્ષની તે ડાળીને ટોચે રહેલી નવી ડાળો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે તોડી નાખી કનાન દેશ લઇ જઇ વેપારીઓના નગરમાં રોપી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.17.5" />ત્યાર પછી તેણે એક બીજ તે જમીન પરથી લીધું અને નદીકાંઠાની ફળદ્રુપ ભૂમિમાં વાવ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં પાણીનો તોટો નહોતો. અને તેણે તે બીજને પાણી પાયું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.17.6" />વેલો વધવા લાગ્યો અને તે વધીને ઊંચો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ન થયો પણ બધી દિશામાં ફેલાઇ ગયો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની શાખાઓ ઉગી ત્યાં નવા ફણગાં ફૂટયાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનાં મૂળ ઊંડા ગયાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">આખો વેલો ડાળીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કૂંપળોમાં ફેલાઇ ગયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.17.7" />એવામાં બીજો એક મોટો ગરૂડ આવ્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની પાંખો વિશાળ હતી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને પુષ્કળ પીછાં હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પેલા દ્રાક્ષના વેલાએ પોતાનાં મૂળીયાં તેના તરફ વાળ્યાં,
</q>
<q style="q1">ડાળીઓ તેના તરફ ફેલાવી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવી આશાએ કે તે એને જ્યાં ઊગેલો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બગીચા કરતા વધારે પાણી પાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.17.8" />જો કે આ દ્રાક્ષાવેલો પુષ્કળ પાણીવાળો અને ફળદ્રુપ જમીનમાં રોપેલો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી પુષ્કળ પાંદડાં અને ફળો તેને લાગે તેમ હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે ઊંચી પ્રકારનો દ્રાક્ષાવેલો બની શકે તેમ હતું.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.17.9" />“તું એમને કહે કે, આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ વેલો ફૂલશેફાલશે ખરો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પેલો ગરૂડ એને મૂળમાંથી ઉખેડી
</q>
<q style="q1">નાખી દ્રાક્ષો ઝૂડી નહિ લે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ સુકાઇ નહિ જાય? એના બધાં લીલાં
</q>
<q style="q1">ડાળપાંદડાં ચીમળાઇ નહિ જાય?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એને મૂળમાંથી ઉખેડી નાખવા માટે વધુ
</q>
<q style="q1">જોરની કે બળવાન પ્રજાની જરૂર નહિ પડે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.17.10" />એને રોપ્યો છે એ ખરું, પણ એ ફૂલશેફાલશે ખરો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે પૂર્વના પવનો વાશે ત્યારે એ સુકાઇ નહિ જાય?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે બગીચામાં એ ઊગ્યો છે ત્યાં ને ત્યાં એ ચીમળાઇ નહિ જાય?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.17.11" />ત્યાર બાદ યહોવાની વાણી મને સંભળાઇ:
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EZK.17.12" />“તું તે બંડખોરોની જમાતને પૂછ; તમને આનો અર્થ સમજાય છે? તું એમને સમજાવ કે બાબિલનો રાજા યરૂશાલેમ આવીને રાજાને અને આગેવાનોને પોતાના નગર બાબિલમાં ઉપાડી ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EZK.17.13" />તેણે રાજાના કુટુંબના એક માણસ સાથે કરાર કર્યો અને તે પાળવાનું તેની પાસે વચન લીધું.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EZK.17.14" />એ દેશ પોતાનો તાબેદાર થઇને રહે, બળવો ન કરે, અને સંધિનું પાલન કરે એ માટે એ દેશના મુખ્ય માણસોને બાન તરીકે પકડી ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EZK.17.15" />પણ યહૂદાના રાજાએ તેની સામે બળવો કર્યો અને ઘોડાઓ અને મોટી સેના મેળવવા માટે દૂતોને મિસર મોકલ્યા, એ ફાવશે ખરા? સંધિનો ભંગ કરીને તે સજા વગર છટકી શકશે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.17.16" />ના! યહોવા કહે છે કે, “હું ખાતરી પૂર્વક કહું છું કે ઇસ્રાએલનો રાજા મૃત્યુ પામશે. જે રાજાએ તેને અધિકાર આપ્યો અને જેના કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો તે રાજાના દેશમાં એટલે બાબિલમાં સિદકિયા મૃત્યુ પામશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EZK.17.17" />જ્યારે બાબિલનો રાજા યરૂશાલેમની આસપાસ ઘેરો નાખશે અને ઘણાં લોકોની હત્યા કરવા માટે લશ્કરને ઊભું કરશે ત્યારે મિસરનો રાજા ફારુન અને તેનું વિશાળ સૈન્ય ઇસ્રાએલને સહાયરૂપ બની શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EZK.17.18" />તેણે પોતાની પ્રતિજ્ઞાનો અને કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે, જો કે તેણે આ બધું કર્યું છે એટલે તે છટકી શકશે નહિ.”
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EZK.17.19" />આથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “હું મારા જીવનના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે, એણે મારે નામે લીધેલી પ્રતિજ્ઞાનો અને સંધિનો ભંગ કર્યો છે, તેનો બદલો લીધાં વગર હું નહિ છોડું.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EZK.17.20" />હું તેના પર મારી જાળ નાખીને તેને પકડી લઇશ અને હું તેને બાબિલમાં લઇ જઇશ અને મારી સાથે વિશ્વાસઘાત કરવા બદલ, હું તેને ન્યાયાલયમાં ઢસડી જઇશ.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EZK.17.21" />એનાં ચુનંદા યોદ્ધાઓ યુદ્ધમાં મરી જશે અને બાકી રહેલાઓ ચારે દિશામાં વેરવિખેર થઇ જશે. ત્યારે તમને ખબર પડશે કે આ હું યહોવા બોલ્યો છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EZK.17.22" />યહોવા મારા માલિક આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હવે હું પણ એરેજ વૃક્ષની ટોચ પરની કુમળી ડાળી લઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને ઇસ્રાએલમાં ઊંચામાં ઊંચા પર્વતના શિખર પર રોપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="EZK.17.23" />ઇસ્રાએલના ઊંચામાં ઊંચા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર્વતની ટોચે રોપીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">એને ડાળીઓ ફૂટશે, ફળ બેસશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ ભવ્ય એરેજવૃક્ષ બનશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમામ પ્રકારના પંખીઓ એની વિશાળ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શાખાઓની છાયામાં વાસો કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="EZK.17.24" />“વનનાં બધા વૃક્ષોને ખબર પડશે કે હું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા, ઊંચા વૃક્ષોને નીચાં કરું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નીચા વૃક્ષોને ઊંચા કરું છું;
</q>
<q style="q1">લીલાં વૃક્ષને હું સૂકવી નાખું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સૂકા વૃક્ષને હું ફરી લીલા બનાવું છું,
</q>
<q style="q1">આ મેં યહોવાએ કહ્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તેમ કરીશ.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">જે પાપ કરે તે ભોગવે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.18.1" />મને ફરી યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZK.18.2" />“ઇસ્રાએલમાં લોકો શા માટે આ કહેવતનો ઉપયોગ વારંવાર કરે છે?
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મા-બાપે ખાટી દ્રાક્ષ ખાધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દાંત છોકરાઓના ખટાઇ ગયા.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.18.3" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “હું મારા નામના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે, હવેથી ઇસ્રાએલ દેશમાં આ કહેવતનો ઉપયોગ થશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EZK.18.4" />એકેએક જીવ મારો છે. પિતા અને પુત્ર બંને મારે માટે સરખા છે. જે માણસે પાપ કર્યું હશે તે જ મૃત્યુ પામશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.18.5" />“કોઇ સારો માણસ હોય, તે ન્યાય અને ધર્મ પ્રમાણે વર્તતો હોય.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EZK.18.6" />ઇસ્રાએલીઓની મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરતો ન હોય કે તેમનાં થાનકોમાં જઇને પ્રસાદ લેતો ન હોય, પડોશી સ્ત્રીને ષ્ટ કરતો ન હોય કે રજસ્વલા સાથે વ્યભિચાર ન કરતો હોય,
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EZK.18.7" />વળી તે કોઇના પર જુલમ ગુજારતો ન હોય, ચોરી કરતો ન હોય; દેણદારે ગીરો મૂકેલી વસ્તુ પાછી આપતો હોય; ભૂખ્યાંને અન્ન અને વસ્ત્રહીનને વસ્ત્ર આપતો હોય,
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EZK.18.8" />વ્યાજખોરી કરતો ન હોય, દુરાચારથી દૂર રહેતો હોય, માણસ- માણસ વચ્ચે પક્ષપાત કરતો ન હોય,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EZK.18.9" />મારી સૂચનાઓને જે અનુસરે છે અને મારા કાયદાઓનું નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક પાલન કરે છે એવો માણસ ખરેખર સદાચારી છે, અને તે જરૂર જીવશે.” આ સર્વસમર્થ યહોવાના વચનો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.18.10" />“પરંતુ જો તેનો પુત્ર લૂંટારો અથવા ખૂની હોય અને આમાંનું કોઇ પણ પાપ કરે,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EZK.18.11" />અને પિતાએ કદી કર્યું ન હોય એવું બધું કરતો હોય; પર્વતો પર જઇને જૂઠી મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરતો હોય, તથા પડોશીની પત્ની સાથે વ્યભિચારમાં ડૂબેલો હોય,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EZK.18.12" />ગરીબો અને નિરાધારો પર ત્રાસ કરતો હોય, લૂંટ કરતો હોય, પોતાના દેણદારોની ગીરો મૂકેલી વસ્તુ પાછી ન આપતો હોય, મૂર્તિઓ પર ષ્ટિ રાખી તેઓની પૂજા કરતો હોય,
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EZK.18.13" />પોતાનાં નાણાં વ્યાજે આપતો હોય અને આકરું વ્યાજ લેતો હોય, તો શું તે જીવશે? ના, તે નહિ જીવે. તે તેનાં બધાં દુષ્કૃત્યોને લીધે માર્યો જશે. પોતાના પાપનું ફળ પોતે જ ભોગવવું પડશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.18.14" />“પરંતુ જો આ માણસનો પુત્ર હોય અને તે પોતાના પિતાની દુષ્ટતા અને પાપો જોતો હોય પણ તે પ્રમાણે કરતો ન હોય.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EZK.18.15" />પર્વતો પર મૂર્તિઓની આગળ ઉજાણીમાં જોડાતો ન હોય કે ઇસ્રાએલ પ્રજાની મૂર્તિઓ તરફ ષ્ટિ કરતો ન હોય અને પડોશીની સ્ત્રી સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરે નહિ,
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EZK.18.16" />કોઇના પર ત્રાસ કરે નહિ, ન્યાયપૂર્વક વર્તતો હોય, ગીરવે મૂકેલી વસ્તુઓ તેના દેણદારોને પાછી આપતો હોય અને તેમને લૂંટતો ન હોય, પણ ભૂખ્યાઓને અન્ન અને જરૂરીયાતવાળાને વસ્ત્રો આપતો હોય.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EZK.18.17" />દુરાચારથી દૂર રહે છે, વ્યાજખોરી કરતો નથી, મારી આજ્ઞાઓ અનુસાર ચાલે છે અને મારા નિયમો પાળે છે; તો એને એના પિતાના પાપો માટે મરવું નહિ પડે; એ જરૂર જીવશે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EZK.18.18" />પરંતુ એના પિતાએ અન્યાય ગુજાર્યો હતો, ચોરી કરી હતી અને પોતાના લોકોનું ભૂંડું કર્યું હતું. એટલે તેને તો પોતાનાં પાપને કારણે મરવું જ પડશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EZK.18.19" />“છતાં તમે પૂછો છો ‘શા માટે પિતાનાં પાપોની શિક્ષામાં પુત્ર ભાગીદાર નથી?’ પુત્રે જે યોગ્ય છે તે કર્યું છે અને ખૂબ કાળજીપૂર્વક મારા નિયમોનું પાલન કર્યું છે, તેથી તે જરૂર જીવતો રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EZK.18.20" />જે માણસ પાપ કરશે તે મરણ પામશે. પુત્રને તેના પિતાનાં પાપોની શિક્ષા થશે નહિ, કે પિતાને પોતાના પુત્રના પાપોની શિક્ષા થશે નહિ. ન્યાયી માણસને પોતાની ભલાઇનો અને દુષ્ટ માણસને પોતાની દુષ્ટતાનો બદલો મળશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.18.21" />“પરંતુ જો કોઇ દુર્જન પાપનો માર્ગ છોડી દે અને મારા બધા નિયમોનું પાલન કરે અને ન્યાય અને નીતિમત્તાને માગેર્ ચાલે તો તે જરૂર જીવશે, તે મરશે નહિ;
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EZK.18.22" />તેણે કરેલા કોઇ પાપો સંભારવામાં આવશે નહિ, એ એનાં પુણ્યકમોર્ને કારણે જીવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EZK.18.23" />“કોઇ દુષ્ટ માણસના મૃત્યુથી મને કઇં થોડો આનંદ આવે? મને તો ઉલટું એ જ ગમે કે તે દુષ્ટતાનો માર્ગ છોડી દે અને જીવે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZK.18.24" />“તેમ છતાં જો કોઇ ન્યાયી માણસ પાપી જીવન તરફ પાછો ફરે અને બીજા પાપીઓની જેમ વતેર્ તો શું તે જીવતો રહેશે? ના સાચે જ તે જીવશે નહિ. તેણે કરેલા ભૂતકાળના સર્વ ભલાઇના કાર્યો સંભારવામાં આવશે નહિ. અને તે પોતાના પાપોને કારણે મૃત્યુ પામશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EZK.18.25" />દેવ કહે છે, “છતાં તમે કહો છો કે, ‘યહોવા અન્યાય કરે છે.’ હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ સાંભળો; અન્યાય હું કરું છું કે તમે કરો છો?
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EZK.18.26" />જો કોઇ સારો માણસ પોતાની નીતિમત્તાને છોડીને પાપ કરે છે અને મૃત્યુ પામે છે તો તેણે પોતે કરેલાં પાપને કારણે જ તે મૃત્યુ પામે છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EZK.18.27" />અને જો કોઇ માણસ પોતાની ભૂંડાઇથી પાછો ફરે અને મારા નિયમો પાળે તથા પ્રામાણિકપણે વતેર્ તો તે પોતાનો જીવ બચાવશે.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="EZK.18.28" />તેણે વિચાર કરીને પોતાનાં પાપોથી પાછા ફરવાનો અને સારું જીવન જીવવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો છે; તેથી તે જરૂર જીવશે, તે મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EZK.18.29" />છતાં તમે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ કહો છો કે, “યહોવા અન્યાય કરે છે,”
</p>
<p style="p">દેવ કહે છે, “હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, અન્યાય તમે કરો છો, હું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="EZK.18.30" />એટલે, ઓ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, હું યહોવા મારા માલિક, તમને કહું છું કે, હું, તમારો દરેકનો તેના વર્તન ઉપરથી ન્યાય કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="EZK.18.31" />હૃદય પરિવર્તન કરો, પાપનો માર્ગ છોડી દો, નહિ તો પાપ તમારો વિનાશ કરશે. તમારા બધાં પાપોને ફગાવી દો, નવું હૃદય અને નવો આત્મા પ્રાપ્ત કરો. હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, તમે શાને માટે મરવા માંગો છો?
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="EZK.18.32" />કોઇનુંય મૃત્યુ થાય તે જોઇને મને આનંદ થતો નથી, માટે હૃદય પરિવર્તન કરો અને જીવો.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ માટે આક્રંદ ગીત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.19.1" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “તું ઇસ્રાએલના આગેવાનો માટે મરશિયા ગા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="EZK.19.2" />“‘તારી મા કેવી સ્ત્રી હતી!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તો હતી સિંહણ,
</q>
<q style="q1">સિંહોના ટોળામાં રહીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના સંતાન ઉછેરતી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.19.3" />તે સ્ત્રીએ એમાનાં એક સિંહના બચ્ચાંને<f caller="+"><fr>19:3
</fr><fk>એક સિંહનું બચ્ચું
</fk><ft>રાજા યેહોનાઝના સંદભેર્.</ft></f> ઉછેર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે શકિતશાળી સિંહ બની ગયો,
</q>
<q style="q1">પછી તે શિકાર કરતાં શીખ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકોનો ભક્ષ કરવા લાગ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.19.4" />“‘બીજી પ્રજાઓએ એ સાંભળ્યું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને ખાડામાં ફસાવ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તેને બેડીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પહેરાવી મિસર લઇ ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.19.5" />“‘જ્યારે સિંહણે જોયું કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની આશાઓ ધૂળમાં મળી ગઇ છે
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તેણે બીજા બચ્ચાંને<f caller="+"><fr>19:5
</fr><fk>બીજું બચ્ચું
</fk><ft>એટલે કે રાજા યેહોયાઆકીન.</ft></f> બધાં જંગલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રાણીઓના રાજા થવા માટે તાલીમ આપીને ઉછેરીને મોટો કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.19.6" />તે પણ મોટા સિંહોનો વનરાજ થયો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શિકાર કરતાં શીખ્યો અને માણસોનો ભક્ષ કરવા લાગ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.19.7" />તેણે કિલ્લાઓ તોડી પાડ્યા, નગરોને ખંડિયેર બનાવી દીધાં;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની ગર્જનાથી દેશના લોકો ભયભીત થઇ ગયા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.19.8" />આજુબાજુના પ્રાંતના લોકોએ તેના પર હુમલો કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે જાળ નાંખીને તેને ખાડામાં પકડી લીધો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.19.9" />તેઓ તેને સાંકળે બાંધી પાંજરામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૂરીને બાબિલના રાજા પાસે લઇ ગયા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં તેને જેલમાં પૂરવામાં આવ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની ગર્જના સંભળાતી બંધ થઇ જાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.19.10" />“‘તારી માતા પાણીના ઝરા પાસે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રોપેલા દ્રાક્ષના વેલા જેવી હતી.
</q>
<q style="q1">પાણીની ખોટ નહોતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે તેને ખૂબ પાંદડાં અને ફળ આવ્યાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.19.11" />તેની ડાળીઓ એવી મજબૂત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હતી કે તેના રાજદંડ બને.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વેલ વધતી વધતી આજુબાજુની
</q>
<q style="q1">જાડીથી ઉપર નીકળી ગઇ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની ઘટા અને ઊંચાઇ સૌની નજરે ચડતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.19.12" />પરંતુ તે દ્રાક્ષાવેલો કોપને લીધે ઉખેડી નાખીને ભોંયભેગો કરવામાં આવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની ડાળીઓ ભાંગી નાખવામાં આવી.
</q>
<q style="q1">પૂર્વ તરફથી ફૂંકાતા પવનોને કારણે તે સુકાઇ ગઇ અને તેનાં ફળો તૂટી પડ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુકાઇ ગયેલી ડાળીઓ અગ્નિમાં ભસ્મીભૂત થઇ ગઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.19.13" />“‘હવે તેને સૂકા વેરાન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નકામા રણમાં રોપવામાં આવી છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.19.14" />તેના થડમાંથી અગ્નિ પ્રગટીને તેની ડાળીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફળોને ભરખી ગયો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે એની ડાળીઓ ફરીથી કદી મજબૂત નહિ થાય,
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમાંથી રાજદંડ પણ નહિ બને.’
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">આ શોકનું ગીત ભલે વારંવાર ગવાય. આ દુ:ખદ ગીત છે, જે વારંવાર ગવાતું આવ્યું છે.”
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</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલની બંડખોર કથા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.20.1" />સાતમા વર્ષના પાંચમા મહિનાના દશમાં દિવસે ઇસ્રાએલના કેટલાક આગેવાનો પોતાના સવાલો યહોવાને પૂછવા માટે મારી સમક્ષ આવીને બેઠા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EZK.20.2" />તે સમયે મને આ પ્રમાણે યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.20.3" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું ઇસ્રાએલના આગેવાનોને આ પ્રમાણે કહે: ‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: તમે મારા મનની વાત જાણવા આવ્યા છો? હું મારા જીવના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે, હું તમને મારા મનની વાત નહિ કહું. આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.’
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.20.4" />હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર! શું તું તેઓનો ન્યાય કરશે? તો તેઓને દોષિત ઠરાવ અને તેઓના પિતૃઓનાં ધિક્કારપાત્ર કૃત્યો વિષે તેઓને જણાવ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.20.5" />હું તને જણાવું છું તે તેઓને કહી સંભળાવ; ‘ઇસ્રાએલની મેં પસંદગી કરી ત્યારે મેં તેઓને વચન આપ્યું હતું તેમને દર્શન દીધાં હતાં, ત્યારે મેં પ્રતિજ્ઞાપૂર્વક તેમને જણાવ્યું હતું કે, હું તમારો દેવ યહોવા છું.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.20.6" />હું તમને મિસરની બહાર લઇ જઇ તમારે માટે પસંદ કરેલા દેશમાં લઇ જઇશ, જે વિશ્વના દેશોમાં સૌથી રળિયામણો છે અને જ્યાં દૂધ અને મધની રેલછેલ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.20.7" />“‘પરંતુ તમે જેના ઉપર મોહી પડ્યા છો તે ત્રાસજનક મૂર્તિઓને તમારામાંના એકેએક જણે ફેંકી દેવી પડશે. મિસરની મૂર્તિઓથી તમારે તમારી જાતને અશુદ્ધ કરવાની નથી, કારણ, “હું યહોવા જ તમારો દેવ છું.”
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.20.8" />પરંતુ તેઓ મારી સામે થયા, મારું કહ્યું સાંભળવાની તેમણે ના પાડી અને તેમનામાંના એકે જણે ન તો ધૃણાજનક મૂર્તિઓ ફેંકી દીધી કે ન તો મિસરની મૂર્તિઓનો ત્યાગ કર્યો. એટલે મિસરમાં જ તેમના પર મારો પૂરો રોષ ઉતારવાનો મેં વિચાર કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.20.9" />પણ મેં તેમ કર્યું નહિ, કારણ, જો મેં તેમ કર્યું હોત તો તે લોકો જેમની વચ્ચે વસતા હતા તેમની નજરમાં મારું નામ હલકું પડત, કારણ કે તેમના દેખતાં જ મેં જાહેર કર્યું હતું કે, હું એ લોકને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઇ જનાર છું.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.20.10" />આથી મેં તેમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર કાઢીને રણમાં લાવીને મૂક્યા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EZK.20.11" />મેં તેમને મારા નિયમો આપ્યા અને મારી આજ્ઞાઓ સમજાવી. જેનું પાલન કરવાથી માણસ જીવન પામે છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EZK.20.12" />તેઓ મારી પોતાની જ પ્રજા છે એની એંધાણીરૂપે મેં તેમને ખાસ આરામના દિવસો આપ્યા, તેથી તેઓ જાણે કે, હું યહોવા એ જ એક છું કે જે તેમને પવિત્ર બનાવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.20.13" />“‘પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ રણમાં પણ મારી વિરુદ્ધ થયા. તેઓ મારા નિયમની વિરુદ્ધ ગયાં અને મારી સૂચનાઓનો અસ્વીકાર કર્યો, જેનું પાલન કરવાથી માણસ જીવન પામે છે. તેમણે ખાસ વિશ્રામવારોનો બહુ ખરાબ રીતે ભંગ કર્યો છે. આથી, તેમના પર મારો રોષ વરસાવીને રણમાં જ તેમનો સંહાર કરવાનો મેં નિર્ણય કર્યો,
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.20.14" />પણ મેં તેમ કર્યું નહિ, કારણ, જો મેં તેમ કર્યું હોત તો જે પ્રજાઓના દેખતાં હું તેને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઇ આવ્યો હતો તેમની નજરમાં મારું નામ હલકું પડત.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EZK.20.15" />આથી મેં રણમાં પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી કે, મેં તેમને જે ભૂમિ આપવાનું નક્કી કર્યું હતું જ્યાં દૂધ અને મધની રેલછેલ છે અને જે સૌથી રળિયામણી છે- ત્યાં હું તેમને નહિ લઇ જાઉં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.20.16" />“‘કારણ, તેમણે મારા કાનૂનોનો તિરસ્કાર કર્યો છે, મારા નિયમોનો ભંગ કર્યો છે અને બહુ ખરાબ રીતે મારા વિશ્રામવારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે, અને તેમના મન મૂર્તિઓ પર મોહી પડ્યાં છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.20.17" />તેમ છતાં મને તેમના પર દયા આવી. મેં તેમનો સંહાર ન કર્યો, રણમાં જ તેમને બધાને પૂરા ન કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EZK.20.18" />મેં તેમનાં સંતાનોને કહ્યું, “તમારા પૂર્વજોના નિયમોને અનુસરશો નહિ, તેમના હુકમોને અનુસરશો નહિ કે તેમની મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરીને તમારી જાતને અશુદ્ધ કરશો નહિ.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.20.19" />હું યહોવા તમારો દેવ છું. તમારે મારી આજ્ઞાઓ પાળવાની છે, મારા નિયમોને અનુસરવાનું છે અને તે પ્રમાણે ચાલવાનું છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.20.20" />વિશ્રામવારને તમારે પવિત્ર ગણીને પાળવો, જેથી તે આપણી વચ્ચેના કરારની નિશાની બની રહે અને તમને ખબર પડે કે હું યહોવા દેવ છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.20.21" />“‘પરંતુ તેઓનાં સંતાનોએ પણ મારી વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કર્યું. તેઓ મારા નિયમો પ્રમાણે ચાલ્યા નહિ અને મારા કાનૂનો અનુસરવાની કાળજી રાખી નહિ. મારા કાયદાઓનું પાલન કરવાથી માણસ જીવન પામે છે. વળી તેઓએ મારા વિશ્રામવારને અપવિત્ર કર્યા. તેથી મેં રણમાં તેમના પર મારો રોષ વરસાવવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.20.22" />પણ હું શાંત રહ્યો. જો મેં એમ ન કર્યું હોત તો જે પ્રજાઓના દેખતા હું તેમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યો હતો તેમની નજરમાં મારું નામ હલકું પડત.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.20.23" />આથી મેં રણમાં બીજી પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી કે, હું તેમને બીજી પ્રજાઓમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખીશ અને વિદેશી ભૂમિઓમાં છોડી મૂકીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZK.20.24" />“‘કારણ, તેમણે મારા કાનૂનોનું ઉલ્લંધન કયુંર્ છે, મારા હુકમોનો ભંગ કર્યો છે, બહુ ખરાબ રીતે મારા વિશ્રામવારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે અને તેમના પૂર્વજોની મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરી છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.20.25" />એટલું જ નહિ, મેં તેમને ખરાબ નિયમો પાળવા દીધા, અને એવી આજ્ઞાઓ ઉઠાવવા દીધી જેનાથી જીવન પ્રાપ્ત ન થાય.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.20.26" />મેં તેમને પોતાનાં પહેલાં સંતાનોનો મૂર્તિઓને ભોગ ચઢાવી એ બલિથી જ અશુદ્ધ થવા દીધા. આમાં મારો હેતુ તેમને સજા કરીને ખબર પાડવાનો હતો કે હું યહોવા, છું.’
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.20.27" />માટે, હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહે; ‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: તમારા પૂર્વજોએ એક બીજી રીતે પણ મારું અપમાન કર્યું છે. તેઓ મારા પ્રત્યે વિશ્વાસઘાતી નીવળ્યાં છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="EZK.20.28" />મેં તેઓને જે દેશ આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું તે દેશમાં હું તેઓને લાવ્યો. ત્યાં તેઓએ ઊંચા પર્વતો અને ઘટાદાર વૃક્ષો જોયાં. અને તે દરેકની આગળ બલિદાનો, સુવાસિત ધૂપ અને પેયાર્પણો અર્પણ કરી તેઓએ મને ક્રોદિત કર્યો છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="EZK.20.29" />મેં તેઓને કહ્યું, તમે જ્યાં જાઓ છો તે ઉચ્ચસ્થાન શું છે? અને ત્યારથી તે “ઉચ્ચસ્થાન” ડુંગર પરના થાનકો કહેવાય છે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EZK.20.30" />“હવે તું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહે કે, ‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: તમે તમારા વડવાઓની જેમ વતીર્ ને ષ્ટ થાઓ છો, તેમની ધૃણાસ્પદ મૂર્તિઓ પાછળ પડો છો,
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<v id="31" bcv="EZK.20.31" />તેમની આગળ ભેટ ધરાવો છો અને તમારાં બાળકોને અગ્નિમાં હોમો છો, અને છતાં તમે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મારા મનની વાત જાણવા આવો છો? હું મારા જીવના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું, આ હું યહોવા તમારો માલિક બોલું છું, કે હું તમને મારા મનની વાત જણાવનાર નથી.
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<v id="32" bcv="EZK.20.32" />બીજી પ્રજાઓની જેમ, વિદેશીઓની જેમ આપણે પણ લાકડાંના અને પથ્થરના દેવોની પૂજા કરીશું. તમારા મનમાં એવી જે ઇચ્છાઓ તમે ઘરાવો છો તે હું સાચી પડવા દેનાર નથી.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="EZK.20.33" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે કે, “હું પ્રતિજ્ઞાપૂર્વક કહું છું કે મારા ક્રોધમાં અને મારા પરાક્રમમાં તથા સમર્થ ભુજ વડે તમારા પર શાસન ચલાવીશ.
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<v id="34" bcv="EZK.20.34" />તમે જે પ્રજાઓમાં વિખેરાઇ ગયા છો ત્યાંથી હું તમને મારા ક્રોધથી અને મારા પરાક્રમથી મારા સમર્થ ભુજ વડે બહાર લાવી એકત્ર કરીશ.
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<v id="35" bcv="EZK.20.35" />હું તમને પ્રજાઓની રણભૂમિમાં દોરી જઇશ અને ત્યાં મોઢામોઢ તમારી સામે વાદ ચલાવીશ.
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<v id="36" bcv="EZK.20.36" />જેમ મેં મિસરના રણમાં તમારા પૂર્વજોની સામે વાદ ચલાવ્યું હતું તેમ અત્યારે તમારી સામે ઉભો રહીને ચલાવીશ.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="EZK.20.37" />“હું તને મારા દંડ નીચેથી પસાર કરીશ અને મારા કરારની શરતોને આધિન રાખીશ.
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<v id="38" bcv="EZK.20.38" />મારી વિરુદ્ધ બંડ કરનાર અને પાપમાં જીવનાર સર્વને હું તમારામાંથી દૂર કરીશ જ્યાં તેઓ બંદીવાન છે તે દેશોમાંથી હું તેઓને બહાર લાવીશ, પણ તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલમાં પ્રવેશ કરશે નહિ. ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="EZK.20.39" />હવે, હે ઇસ્રાએલના કુળ, યહોવા, મારા માલિક તારા માટે કહે છે: “જો તમે મને સાંભળવા માંગતા નથી અને તમે તમારી મલિન મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરવા ચાહો છો, તો તમે તેમ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખો. પણ તમે તમારી મલિન મૂર્તિઓની ભેટ આપીને, મારા પવિત્ર નામને હવે જરા પણ અભડાવશો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="EZK.20.40" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે કે, “મારા પવિત્ર પર્વત યરૂશાલેમમાં સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો મારી ભકિત કરશે. ત્યાં હું તમારો સ્વીકાર કરીશ અને તમારાં ઉપહાર અને તમારા ઉત્તમ અર્પણો મારી પાસે લાવવા હું તમને એકઠા કરીશ.
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<v id="41" bcv="EZK.20.41" />તમે જે દેશોમાં વિખેરાઇ ગયા હતા ત્યાંથી હું તમને એકઠા કરીશ ત્યારે હું તમને સુવાસિત ધૂપની જેમ સ્વીકારીશ અને સર્વ પ્રજાઓના દેખતાં હું તમારી મધ્યે પવિત્ર મનાઇશ.
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<v id="42" bcv="EZK.20.42" />તમારા પિતૃઓને જે દેશ આપવાનું મેં પ્રતિજ્ઞાપૂર્વક વચન આપ્યું હતું તે દેશોમાં હું તમને લાવીશ. ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="43" bcv="EZK.20.43" />પછી, તમે યાદ કરશો કે, પહેલાં તમે દુષ્કૃત્યો કરીને કેવા અશુદ્ધ થયા હતા અને તમે આચરેલા પાપોને કારણે તમને તમારા પોતાના પર ધૃણા પેદા થશે.
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<v id="44" bcv="EZK.20.44" />જ્યારે તમારા દુષ્ટ માગોર્ અને તમારા અધમ આચરણને કારણે મારે તમારી સાથે જે રીતે વર્તવું જોઇએ તેમ ન કરતાં મેં મારા નામને ગૌરવ અપાવે તેની વર્તણૂક તમારી સાથે કરી છે એમ તમે જાણશો ત્યારે તમને ખાતરી થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="EZK.20.45" />પછી મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="46" bcv="EZK.20.46" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું દક્ષિણ તરફ જો અને નેગેબના જંગલો તરફ જોઇને ભવિષ્ય ભાખ.
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<v id="47" bcv="EZK.20.47" />દક્ષિણના જંગલમાં જઇને મારી ચેતવણી ઉચ્ચાર, તેમને કહે કે; ‘યહોવાની વાણી સાંભળ; આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે; હું તને આગ લગાડું છું, એ તારા એકેએક લીલાં તેમજ સૂકાં વૃક્ષને સ્વાહા કરી જશે. એને કોઇ હોલવી નહિ શકે. એ દક્ષિણથી ઉત્તર સુધી ફેલાઇ જશે અને એકેએક માણસનો ચહેરો એનાથી દાઝી જશે.
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<v id="48" bcv="EZK.20.48" />અને બધા માણસોને ખાતરી થશે કે એ આગ પેટાવનાર હું યહોવા છું અને એને હોલવી શકાય એમ નથી.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="EZK.20.49" />પછી મેં કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા મારા માલિક, તેઓએ મને કહ્યું, ‘તું તો અમને ફકત કોયડાઓ જ કહે છે.’”
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<c id="21" />
<s style="s">યહૂદા પર બાબિલનું આક્રમણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.21.1" />મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.21.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, યરૂશાલેમ તરફ જો અને ઇસ્રાએલ વિરુદ્ધ અને મારા મંદિરની વિરુદ્ધ પ્રબોધ કર.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.21.3" />અને કહે: યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે: ‘હું તારી વિરુદ્ધ છું. હું મારી તરવાર મ્યાનમાંથી ખેંચીશ અને તમારામાંથી સદાચારી માણસોની તેમજ દુષ્ટોની હત્યા કરીશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.21.4" />મારે તમારામાંના ભલાભુંડા સૌ કોઇનો સંહાર કરવો છે માટે હું દક્ષિણથી ઉત્તર સુધીના બધા સામે મારી તરવાર મ્યાનમાંથી બહાર કાઢનાર છું.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.21.5" />ત્યારે બધા માણસોને ખાતરી થશે કે મેં યહોવાએ મ્યાનમાંથી તરવાર ખેંચી છે અને એ કદી પાછી મ્યાનમાં જવાની નથી.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.21.6" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ભગ્ન હૃદયથી, તીવ્ર શોકથી અને અતિશય દુ:ખમાં તું મોટેથી રૂદન કર, લોકો આગળ તું પસ્તાવો કર.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.21.7" />તેઓ તને પૂછે કે, ‘તું શા માટે આક્રંદ કરે છે,’ ત્યારે તેઓને કહે: ‘દેવે આપેલા સમાચારને લીધે જ્યારે એમ થશે ત્યારે હિંમતવાન માણસ પણ ભાંગી પડશે અને તેની તાકાત ચાલી જશે. દરેક વ્યકિત નિર્ગત થશે. મજબૂત ઘૂંટણો પણ થરથરશે અને પાણીના જેવા થઇ જશે.’ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે તમારા પર શિક્ષા આવી રહી છે. મારા ન્યાય ચુકાદાઓ પરિપૂર્ણ થશે.”
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<s style="s">તરવાર તૈયાર છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.21.8" />યહોવાની વાણી મને આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.21.9" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, મારી ચેતવણી સંભળાવ, તું લોકોને એમ કહે કે, ‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘તરવાર! હા, તેને ધારદાર
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચમકતી બનાવવામાં આવી છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.21.10" />સંહાર કરવા માટે તેને ધારદાર બનાવેલી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વીજળીની જેમ ચમકારા મારે તેવી તેને બનાવી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અજેય રહેનાર યહૂદાના રાજદંડમાં શું આપણે આનંદ મનાવીશું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ એ બાબિલની તરવાર એવા પ્રત્યેક રાજદંડને તુચ્છકારે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.21.11" />તરવાર ચકચકતી બનાવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો ઉપયોગ કરવા માટે સંહારકના
</q>
<q style="q1">હાથમાં સોંપવા માટે તેને ધારદાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચકચકતી બનાવી છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.21.12" />“‘હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું અતિશય દુ:ખને કારણે મોટેથી પોક મૂક અને રૂદન કર, કારણ કે તે તરવાર મારા લોકોની અને તેઓના સર્વ આગેવાનોની હત્યા કરશે. સર્વ મરણ પામશે માટે તારી છાતી કૂટ.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.21.13" />હું તેઓની કસોટી કરીશ. જેને તરવાર તિરસ્કારે છે તે યહૂદાના રાજદંડનો અંત આવશે તો શું?’” એમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.21.14" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, મારી ચેતવણી સંભળાવ, તું બે હાથે જોરથી તાળી પાડ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ એ તરવાર છે જે એક શરીર પરથી બીજા શરીર પર જાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એ તરવાર સંહાર કરનારી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ પ્રાણ હરનારી તરવાર છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એ સર્વત્ર ભય ફેલાવનારી તરવાર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એને જોઇને લોકો હિંમત હારી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.21.15" />બધા હૃદયમાં આતંક લાવવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘણા લોકોને લથડાવીને નીચે પાડવા માટે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તેઓની નગરીને દરવાજે-દરવાજે તરવાર લટકતી રાખી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે વીજળીની જેમ ઝળકે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સંહાર કરવાને સજ્જ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.21.16" />હે તરવાર, તું તારી ડાબી બાજુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી જમણી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાજુ સંહાર કર.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે બાજુ તું ફરે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે બાજુ સંહાર કર.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.21.17" />“હું પણ તાળી પાડીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા ક્રોધને શાંત પાડીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું યહોવા આ બોલ્યો છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમના માર્ગને પસંદ કરવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.21.18" />પછી મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EZK.21.19" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, બાબિલનો રાજા પોતાની તરવાર સાથે જ્યાં થઇને આવી શકે એવા બે રસ્તા દોર બંને રસ્તા એક જ દેશમાંથી નીકળવા જોઇએ. જ્યાં રસ્તા ફંટાતા હોય ત્યાં નિશાન મૂક.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EZK.21.20" />એક એંધાણી રાજાને આમ્મોનીઓના નગર નો માર્ગ બતાવે, અને બીજી એંધાણી યહૂદાનો, ઠેઠ યરૂશાલેમ સુધીનો માર્ગ બતાવે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EZK.21.21" />બાબિલનો રાજા જ્યાં રસ્તો ફંટાય છે ત્યાં નિશાન આગળ ઊભો છે. કયે રસ્તે જવું તે જાણવા માટે તે બાણ હલાવે છે, મૂર્તિઓને પ્રશ્ર્ન કરે છે અને વધેરેલા પ્રાણીનું કાળજું તપાસે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EZK.21.22" />“તેના જમણા હાથમાં આવેલું બાણ યરૂશાલેમનું છે. ત્યાં તે કિલ્લો તોડવાના યંત્રો ગોઠવશે અને હત્યા કરવા હુકમ આપશે. દરવાજા તોડવાના યંત્રો ગોઠવાશે અને માટીના ગઢ ઊભા કરાશે, અને ખાઇઓ ખોદશે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EZK.21.23" />યરૂશાલેમના લોકોએ સંધિઓ કરી છે એટલે તેઓ આ બધું નહિ માને; પણ એ તો તેમના પાપોની ખબર લેશે; તેઓ દુશ્મનના હાથમાં પડવાના જ છે, પછી તેઓને બંદીવાન તરીકે લઇ જવાશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZK.21.24" />તેથી હું યહોવા મારા માલિક, કહું છું કે, “હે યરૂશાલેમ નગરી, તારાં પાપોની ખબર લેવાઇ રહી છે. સૌ કોઇ જાણે છે કે તું કેવી દોષિત છે. તારા એકેએક કાર્યમાં તારાં પાપ પ્રગટ થાય છે. તારાં પાપોની ખબર લેવાઇ રહી છે અને તું તારા દુશ્મનોના હાથમાં પડવાની જ છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="EZK.21.25" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના દુષ્ટ અને અધમ રાજા, તારા દિવસો પણ ભરાઇ ચૂક્યા છે, તારી શિક્ષાનો અંતિમ દિવસ આવી પહોંચ્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EZK.21.26" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “તારી પાઘડી અને મુગટ ઉતાર. હવે પહેલાના જેવી સ્થિતિ રહેવાની નથી. જે નીચે છે તે ઊંચે જશે અને જે ઊંચે છે તેને નીચે પાડવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EZK.21.27" />હું નગરીને ખંડિયેરબનાવી દઇશ. ખંડિયેર! પણ આ નગરીને સજા કરવા માટે જે માણસ નક્કી થયો છે તે આવે નહિ ત્યાં સુધી આ બનવાનું નથી. હું તે સર્વ તેને આપીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આમ્મોન વિરુદ્ધ ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EZK.21.28" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું આમ્મોનીઓ વિરુદ્ધ પ્રબોધ કર. કારણ કે તેઓએ મારા લોકોની તેમની વિકટ પરિસ્થિતીમાં હાંસી ઉડાવી છે. તેઓને આ પ્રમાણે કહે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘તમારી વિરુદ્ધ પણ ધારદાર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચમકતી તરવાર ખુલ્લી કરવામાં આવી છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે વીજળીની જેમ ચમકારા મારે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="EZK.21.29" />“‘તમારાં દર્શન જૂઠાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભવિષ્યવાણી ખોટી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે દુષ્ટ છો, અધમ છો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા દિવસો ભરાઇ ચૂક્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમારી શિક્ષાનો
</q>
<q style="q1">અંતિમ દિવસ આવી પહોંચ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તરવાર તમારી ડોક પર પડનાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">બાબિલ વિરુદ્ધ ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EZK.21.30" />“‘તારી તરવારને તેના મ્યાનની અંદર પાછી મૂકી દે! તમારા દેશમાં, જ્યાં તમારો જન્મ થયો હતો ત્યાં જ હું તમારો સંહાર કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="EZK.21.31" />હું મારો કોપ તમારા પર રેડી દઇશ અને જ્યાં સુધી મોટી આગના ભભૂકે ત્યાં સુધી હું મારો કોપરૂપી અગ્નિ તમારા પર મોકલીશ. સંહાર કરવામાં કુશળ અને સ્વભાવે ક્રુર માણસોના હાથમાં હું તમને સોંપી દઇશ.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="EZK.21.32" />તમે અગ્નિમાં ઇંધણની જેમ હોમાઇ જશો. તમારા પોતાના દેશમાં તમારું લોહી રેડાશે. તમારું કોઇ નામોનિશાન નહિ રહે. હું યહોવા આ બોલ્યો છું.’”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમના પાપો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.22.1" />યહોવાની વાણી મને આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZK.22.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું તેણીનો ન્યાય તોળવા તૈયાર છે? તો તું યરૂશાલેમ પર તે ‘ખૂનીઓની નગરી’ છે તેવો આરોપ મૂક, પછી તેણે આચરેલા બધા ભયંકર કૃત્યો વિષે તેને જણાવ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EZK.22.3" />તે નગરને જણાવ કે, ‘યહોવા મારા માલિક તમને કહે છે: પોતાની મધ્યે ઘણાં લોકોનાં ખૂન કર્યા છે અને મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરીને પોતાને ષ્ટ કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.22.4" />“‘એ કારણને લીધે તારા નાશનો સમય પાકી ચૂક્યો છે. એ ખૂનની જવાબદારી તારી છે અને તેં જ બનાવેલી મૂર્તિઓથી તું ષ્ટ થયેલી છે, તેથી તારી ઘડી ભરાઇ ચૂકી છે. તારું આવી બન્યું છે! આથી જ મેં તેને બધી પ્રજાઓની હાંસીનો અને બધા દેશોના ઉપહાસનો વિષય બનાવી છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EZK.22.5" />દૂરના અને નજીકના દેશો તારી હાંસી ઉડાવશે, તું ઘણી બદનામ થયેલી છે. તું હિંસાથી ભરેલી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.22.6" />“‘તારા કિલ્લાની અંદર રહેનાર ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રત્યેક આગેવાને પોતાના હાથનો ઉપયોગ લોહી વહેવડાવવામાં કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="EZK.22.7" />તારામાં કોઇ માતાપિતાને માન આપતું નથી. વિદેશીઓને સુરક્ષા માટે નાણાં ચૂકવવા ફરજ પાડે છે. અને અનાથો તથા વિધવાઓ ઉપર ત્રાસ ગુજારે છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EZK.22.8" />હું જે કઇં પવિત્ર માનું છું તેને તું ધિક્કારે છે. અને મારા ખાસ વિશ્રામવારોનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EZK.22.9" />તારે ત્યાં લોકો ખોટી અફવાઓ ફેલાવે છે અને ખૂનો કરાવે છે, પર્વત પરના થાનકોએ જઇને બલિદાનો અર્પણ કરે છે.
</p>
<p style="p">“‘તારે ત્યાં લોકો જાતિય પાપો આચરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EZK.22.10" />ધણા પુરુષો પોતાના પિતાની પત્નીઓ સાથે વ્યભિચારમાં ડૂબેલા હોય છે. અને તેમાંના ધણા તો સ્ત્રીઓ પર ઋતુકાળ દરમ્યાન બળાત્કાર કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EZK.22.11" />કેટલાંક પુરુષો બીજા પુરુષોની પત્નીઓ સાથે ભયાનક કુકમોર્ કરે છે, તો કોઇ પોતાની પુત્રવધૂને ષ્ટ કરે છે; કોઇ તેની પોતાની બહેન પર એટલે કે પોતાના બાપની પુત્રી પર બળાત્કાર કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EZK.22.12" />તારે ત્યાં લોકો પૈસા લઇને ખૂન કરે છે, પોતાના ઇસ્રાએલી ભાઇઓને ધીરેલા નાણા ઉપર વ્યાજ લે છે અને નફા માટે તેમની પાસે વધારે ભાવ પડાવે છે, મને તો તું ભૂલી જ ગઇ છે.’ આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.22.13" />“‘તમે અપ્રામાણિક નફો મેળવ્યો છે અને તમારી મધ્યે લોહી વહેવડાવ્યું છે. તેથી હું રોષમાં હાથ પછાડીશ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EZK.22.14" />હું તારી ખબર લઇશ ત્યારે તારી હિંમત ટકી રહેશે ખરી? તારું બળ કાયમ રહેશે ખરું? કારણ કે હું યહોવા બોલ્યો છું અને મેં જે કંઇ કહ્યું છે તે સર્વ હું કરી બતાવીશ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EZK.22.15" />હું તમને બીજી પ્રજાઓમાં અને વિદેશોમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખીશ અને તમે જે મલિનતામાં ખૂપેલા છો તેને હું સંપૂર્ણપણે દૂર કરીશ.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.22.16" />બીજી સર્વ પ્રજાઓ આગળ તમે અપમાનિત થશો અને ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે હું યહોવા છું.’”
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ કામવગરના કચરાની જેમ છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.22.17" />મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.22.18" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ઇસ્રાએલીઓ મારે માટે કચરા જેવા નકામા છે. તેઓ ચાંદીને શોધ્યા પછી ભઠ્ઠીમાં રહેલા તાંબા, કલાઇ, લોઢા અને સીસા જેવા છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.22.19" />આથી હું યહોવા માલિક કહું છું કે, ‘તમે બધા એ કચરા જેવા નકામા છો એટલે હું તમને યરૂશાલેમમાં ભેગા કરીશ.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.22.20" />જેમ ચાંદી, પિત્તળ, લોખંડ, સીસા અને જસતને શુદ્ધ કરવા માટે ભઠ્ઠીમાં અગ્નિ વડે ગળાય છે, તેવી જ રીતે હું તમને મારા રોષમાં ભેગા કરીને તમને ભઠ્ઠીમાં ઓગળવા માટે મૂકી દઇશ.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.22.21" />તેવી જ રીતે હું મારા ક્રોધ અને રોષમાં તમને ભેગા કરીને ઓગાળીશ. તમે મારા રોષની ભડભડતી ભઠ્ઠીમાં ઓગળી જશો.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.22.22" />જેમ ચાંદી ભઠ્ઠીના અગ્નિથી ઓગળી જાય તેમ તમે મારા રોષના અગ્નિથી ઓગળી જશો. ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે મેં યહોવાએ મારો કોપ તમારા પર રેડ્યો છે.’”
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<s style="s">હઝકિયેલ યરૂશાલેમ વિષે બોલે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EZK.22.23" />ફરીથી યહોવાની વાણી મને આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.22.24" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું એ ભૂમિને કહે: તુ એક અશુદ્ધ ભૂમિ છે જે ભૂમિ પર કોપના દિવસે વરસાદ વરસતો નથી.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.22.25" />શિકાર ફાડી ખાનાર ગર્જના કરતા સિંહની જેમ તારા ‘પ્રબોધકો’ એ તારી વિરુદ્ધ જાળ પાથરી છે. તેઓ ઘણાં જીવોને હડપ કરી ગયા છે. તેઓ બળજબરીથી ખજાનો અને સંપત્તિ પડાવી લે છે. તેઓ આ દેશમાં વિધવાઓનો વધારો કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EZK.22.26" />“તારા યાજકોએ ખરેખર મારા નિયમશાસ્ત્ર ભંગ કર્યો છે અને જે અપિર્ત વસ્તુઓ છે તેને ષ્ટ કર્યું છે. તેઓએ પવિત્રતાને અપવિત્રતાથી દુર કરી છે. તેઓ શુદ્ધ અને અશુદ્ધ વચ્ચેનો ભેદ શીખવતા નથી. તેઓ મારા ખાસ વિશ્રામવારનું અપમાન કરે છે તેથી હું તેઓની વચ્ચે અપવિત્ર બન્યો છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EZK.22.27" />“નગરીના અમલદારો શિકારની ચીરફાડ કરતાં વરુઓ જેવા છે; તેઓ ખૂનરેજી કરે છે, લોકોને મારી નાખીને તેમની મિલકત લૂંટીને અપ્રામાણિક લાભ મેળવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EZK.22.28" />“તેમના પ્રબોધકો દરેક વસ્તુઓ ઉપર વ્યર્થ ચૂનો ઘોળે છે. તેઓ પોકળ દર્શનો જુએ છે અને અસત્ય બોલે છે – તેઓ કહે છે, ‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે,’ પછી ભલે, મેં તેમને કંઇ કહ્યું ન હોય.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EZK.22.29" />“સામાન્ય લોકો પણ જુલમમાં ડુબેલા હોય છે, તેઓ ગરીબો અને જરૂરતમંદોને લૂંટે છે અને વિદેશીઓને ન્યાયથી વંચિત રાખીને તેમની સાથે દુર્વ્યવહાર કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EZK.22.30" />“મેં તેમનામાં એવો માણસ શોધવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો જે દિવાલ બાંધી શકે, જે દિવાલમાં પડેલાં ગાબડા પાસે ઊભો રહી મારાથી દેશનું રક્ષણ કરે – જે તેનો નાશ કરવા માટે તૈયાર હોય, પણ હું એવા કોઇને પણ શોધી ન શક્યો.
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<v id="31" bcv="EZK.22.31" />આથી હું તમારા પર મારો ક્રોધ રેડી દઇશ. હું મારા ક્રોધરૂપી અગ્નિથી તમને બાળીને ભસ્મ કરીશ. તમે કરેલા સર્વ કુકમોર્ને માટે હું તમને જવાબદાર ઠરાવીશ.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<c id="23" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.23.1" />મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.23.2" />તેમણે કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, બે બહેનો હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.23.3" />તેઓ યુવાન હતી ત્યારે મિસરમાં રહેતી હતી જે વારાંગના બની ગઇ હતી, ત્યાં જ તેમને ચુંબન, આલિંગન અને સ્તનોના મર્દનનો અનુભવ થઇ ચૂક્યો હતો અને તેમનું કૌમાર્ય હરાઇ ચૂક્યું હતું.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.23.4" />મોટીનું નામ ઓહલાહ હતું અને નાનીનું નામ ઓહલીબાહ હતું. તેઓ બંને મારી થઇ અને મારાથી તેમને સંતતિ થઇ. ઓહલાહ એટલે સમરૂન અને ઓહલીબાહ એટલે યરૂશાલેમ.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.23.5" />“ઓહલાહ મારી થઇ હતી, છતાં તેણે વારાંગનાવૃત્તિ ચાલુ રાખી. તે આશ્શૂરના યોદ્ધાઓ ઉપર મોહી પડી હતી.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.23.6" />એ બધા જુવાન હતા, રૂપાળા હતા અને જાંબલી રંગના પોશાકમાં શોભતા હતા. કોઇ લશ્કરી અમલદાર હતા. કોઇ અધિકારીઓ હતા, કોઇ ઘોડેસવાર હતા.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.23.7" />તેથી તેણે પસંદ કરેલા આશ્શૂરી પુરુષો સાથે વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કર્યું. તેણીએ તેઓની મલિન મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરીને પોતાની જાતને અશુદ્ધ કરી.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.23.8" />મિસરમાં તેણે વારાંગનાવૃત્તિ શરૂ કરી હતી, ત્યાં તે નાની હતી ત્યારથી જ માણસો તેની સાથે સૂતા અને તેને ચુંબન, આલિંગન કરી તેની સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરતાં અને એ જ તેણે ચાલુ રાખ્યું.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.23.9" />તેથી મેં તેણીને આશ્શૂરીના માણસના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધી જેઓ માટે તેણી તલસતી હતી.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.23.10" />તેઓએ તેના કપડાં ઉતારી લીધા. તેને મારી નાખી અને તેના સંતાનોને પોતાના ગુલામો તરીકે લઇ ગયા. તે એક પાપી સ્ત્રી તરીકે સમગ્ર દેશની સ્ત્રીઓમાં કુખ્યાત બની. કારણ કે તેના આચરણ પ્રમાણે તેને યોગ્ય શિક્ષા થઇ હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.23.11" />“તેની બહેન ઓહલીબાહે આ બધું જોયું હતું તેમ છતાં તે વધુ કામાસકત નીકળી અને વારાંગનાવૃત્તિમાં તેની બહેન કરતાં પણ ષ્ટ થઇ.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.23.12" />તે આશ્શૂરના ઉમરાવો અને સેનાપતિઓ ભભકાદાર પોશાક પહેરેલા સૈનિકો અને ઘોડેસવારો ઉપર મોહી પડી. એ બધા રૂપાળા જુવાનો હતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.23.13" />મેં જોયું કે તે તેની મોટી બહેનના પગલે જ ચાલતી હતી અને તેના જેવા જ અધમ કૃત્યો તે આચરતી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.23.14" />“તેણે વધુને વધુ વ્યભિચાર કર્યો કારણ કે તેણે ભીત ઉપર સિંદૂરથી ચિતરેલા બાબિલના અમલદારોના ચિત્રો જોયાં.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.23.15" />તેમણે કમરે કમરબંધ અને માથે સુંદર સાફા બાંધેલા હતા. એ બધા જ અધિકારીઓ તરીકે ઉત્તમ લાગતાં હતાં. તેઓ બાબિલના ગૌરવ અને ખાલદીયોના વતની જેવા સુંદર લાગતા હતા.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.23.16" />જ્યારે તેણે આ ચિત્રો જોયાં ત્યારે તે આ ચિત્રોમાંના પુરુષો માટે ઝંખવા લાગી અને તેઓ પોતાની પાસે આવે માટે તેમને બોલાવવા માટે બાબિલ સંદેશાવાહકો મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.23.17" />બાબિલવાસીઓ આવ્યા અને તે સ્ત્રીને લઇને પથારીમાં સુઇ ગયા જેમકે તે વારાંગના હોય અને તેમ તેને ષ્ટ કરી અને તેણી ખીજવાઇને તેમનાથી દૂર નાસી ગઇ.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.23.18" />“આમ તે ઉઘાડેછોગ વ્યભિચાર કરતી હતી તેથી છેલ્લે હું તેની બહેનથી કંટાળી ગયો હતો તેટલો જ તેનાથી કંટાળી ગયો.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.23.19" />તે વારાંગનાવૃત્તિમાં આગળને આગળ વધતી ગઇ, અને પોતે જુવાન હતી ત્યારે મિસરમાં જેમ વારાંગનાવૃત્તિ કરતી હતી તેમ કરવા લાગી.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.23.20" />તેણી પોતાના મિસરના પ્રેમીઓને ઝંખતી હતી જેમની પુરુષ ઇદ્રિયો ગધેડાની ઇદ્રિયો જેવી હતી અને જેઓ ઘોડાઓની જેમ વીર્યસ્ત્રાવ કરતાં હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.23.21" />“તારી જુવાનીમાં મિસરમાં તું વ્યભિચારમાં ડૂબેલી રહેતી હતી અને દેહસુખ માણ્યા કરતી હતી, એ બધું તારે પાછું માણવું હતું.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.23.22" />આથી, ઓહલીબાહ, હું યહોવા માલિક, કહું છું કે, ‘તારા જે પ્રેમીઓથી તું કંટાળી ગઇ છે તેમને જ હું તારી સામે ઉશ્કેરીશ અને ચારેબાજુથી તને ઘેરી વળવા તેમને ભેગા કરીશ.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.23.23" />હું બધા બાબિલવાસીઓને અને ખાલદીવાસીઓને તથા પકોદ, શોઆને અને કોઆના માણસોને, તેમ જ બધા આશ્શૂરવાસીઓને, બધા રૂપાળા જુવાનોને, રાજ્યપાલોને અને ઉમરાવોને, રથના સારથીઓને અને ઘોડેસવારોને ભેગા કરીશ.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.23.24" />તેઓ તારી વિરુદ્ધ રથો, ગાડાં અને વિશાળ સૈન્ય સાથે શિરસ્ત્રાણ ઢાલ અને ભાલા સાથે તારી ઉપર આક્રમણ કરવા ચઢી આવશે, તેઓ શસ્ત્રસજ્જ માણસો વડે તને ચારેબાજુથી ઘેરી લેશે. હું તેઓ સમક્ષ મારી બાબત રજૂ કરીશ અને તેઓને યોગ્ય લાગે તેવો વર્તાવ તેઓ તારી સાથે કરશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.23.25" />હું તારા પર રોષે ભરાયો છું. તેથી તેઓ તારા પર રોષ ઉતારશે. તેઓ તારા નાક કાન કાપી નાખશે, તેઓ તારા પુત્ર-પુત્રીને તારી પાસેથી લઇ લેશે. અને બાકીનું બધું અગ્નિમાં ભક્ષ્મ થઇ જશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.23.26" />તેઓ તારા સુંદર પોશાક અને આભૂષણો તારી પાસેથી છીનવી લેશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.23.27" />હું તારા સપનાઓનો અને મિસરમાં શરૂ કરેલાં વ્યભિચારનો અંત લાવીશ. એટલે તું હવેથી તેઓને ક્યારેય તારી આંખોથી લલચાવી નહિ શકે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EZK.23.28" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “જે લોકોને તું ધિક્કારે છે અને જેમનાથી તું કંટાળી ગઇ છે તેમના હાથમાં હું તને સુપ્રત કરીશ.
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<v id="29" bcv="EZK.23.29" />અને તેઓ તને ધિક્કારે છે એટલે તેઓ તારા પરિશ્રમની કમાણી ઝૂંટવી લેશે અને તને બિલકુલ ઉઘાડી અને નગ્ન કરી મૂકશે. આમ, તું વારાંગના તરીકે ઉઘાડી પડી જઇશ.
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<v id="30" bcv="EZK.23.30" />તેં બીજી પ્રજાઓના દેવોની પૂજા કરી અને તેઓની મૂર્તિઓથી તે પોતાને અપવિત્ર કરી છે માટે આ સર્વ વિપત્તિઓ તારા પર લાવવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="EZK.23.31" />તું તારી બહેનને પગલે ચાલી છે એટલે હું તને તેનો જ પ્યાલો આપીશ.”
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<v id="32" bcv="EZK.23.32" />યહોવા મારા માલિકના આ વચન છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તારે તારી બહેનનો પ્યાલો પીવો પડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ પ્યાલો ઉંચો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ઊંડો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ ઉપહાર અને મશ્કરીથી છલોછલ ભરેલો છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="EZK.23.33" />એ તારાજી અને વિનાશનો પ્યાલો તને છાકટી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુ:ખી બનાવી દેશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="EZK.23.34" />તું તારી બહેન સમરૂનનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્યાલો આખો ગટગટાવી જશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને પછી તેને ભાંગી નાખી તેના કટકા વડે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા સ્તન કાપી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="EZK.23.35" />“આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે, ‘તું મને ભૂલી ગઇ હતી અને મારી તરફ તેં તારી પીઠ ફેરવી. તેથી તારાં સર્વ પાપ, લંપટતા અને વ્યભિચારની શિક્ષા તારે સહન કરવી પડશે.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઓહલાહ અને ઓહલીબાહ વિરુદ્ધ ન્યાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="EZK.23.36" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું ઓહલાહ અને ઓહલીબાહનો ન્યાય તોળવાને તૈયાર છે? તો તેમણે જે શરમજનક કૃત્યો કર્યા છે તેનો તેમના ઉપર આરોપ મૂક.
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<v id="37" bcv="EZK.23.37" />તેમણે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો છે, ખૂન કર્યા છે; તેમણે મૂર્તિઓ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો છે અને મારાથી તેમને થયેલા બાળકોનો તેમની આગળ ભોગ આપ્યો છે.
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<v id="38" bcv="EZK.23.38" />વળી તેઓએ મારી વિરુદ્ધ આ કર્યું છે; એ જ દિવસે તેઓએ મારા મંદિરને મારા ખાસ વિશ્રામવારની સાથે અશુદ્ધ કર્યુ.
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<v id="39" bcv="EZK.23.39" />કારણ કે પોતાનાં બાળકોનો મૂર્તિઓને ભોગ ચઢાવ્યા પછી તે જ દિવસે તેઓ મારા મંદિરમાં પ્રવેશ્યા અને તેને અશુદ્ધ કર્યું છે. આ તેમણે મારા પોતાના જ મંદિરમાં કર્યું છે!
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="EZK.23.40" />“વળી એમણે સંદેશાવાહકો મોકલીને દૂર દૂરથી માણસોને બોલાવ્યા. જ્યારે તેઓ આવ્યા ત્યારે તમે તેઓનું સ્વાગત કર્યું. તમે સ્નાન કર્યું, આંખોમાં કાજળ આંજયું અને વસ્ત્રાભૂષણ ધારણ કર્યા.
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<v id="41" bcv="EZK.23.41" />પછી તે દબદબાભર્યા પલંગ ઉપર બેઠી અને સામે બાજઠ મૂક્યો. બાજઠ ઉપર તેમણે મેં આપેલો ધૂપ અને મેં આપેલું તેલ મૂક્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="EZK.23.42" />“તમારા ઓરડામાંથી મોટી ઉજાણીના અવાજો સંભળાતા હતા. અને તમે રણમાંથી વંઠેલ સ્ત્રીઓ લાવ્યાં હતાં અને તમે તેમના હાથોમાં બંગડીઓ પહેરાવી હતી અને તેઓના માથે સુંદર મુગટો મૂક્યા હતા.
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<v id="43" bcv="EZK.23.43" />પછી મને વિચાર આવ્યો, ‘આ લોકો વારાંગનાવૃત્તિ કરી કરીને વૃધ્ધ થઇ ગયેલી સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરી રહ્યા છે.’
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<v id="44" bcv="EZK.23.44" />માણસો વારાંગના પાસે જાય તેમ તેઓ તેમની પાસે જવા લાગ્યા, અને તેમણે એ વંઠેલ સ્ત્રીઓ ઓહલાહ અને ઓહલીબાહ પાસે જવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="EZK.23.45" />“પણ સદાચારી માણસો તો તેમને વ્યભિચાર અને ખૂનના પાપોને કારણે સજા કરશે, કારણ, એ લોકોએ વ્યભિચારનું પાપ આચર્યુ છે અને એમના હાથ લોહીથી ખરડાયેલા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="EZK.23.46" />આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: “એમના ઉપર ત્રાસ ગુજારવા માટે અને એમને લૂંટી લેવા માટે લશ્કરની ટુકડી લઇ આવો.
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<v id="47" bcv="EZK.23.47" />તે લશ્કરની ટુકડી તેમને ઇંટાળી કરશે અને તરવારોથી તેમનો અને તેમનાં પુત્રો તથા પુત્રીઓનો સંહાર કરશે. અને તેમના ઘરોને બાળી મૂકશે.
<ve />
<v id="48" bcv="EZK.23.48" />આમ, સમગ્ર દેશમાંથી હું કામાચારનો અંત લાવીશ અને તમને બે બહેનોને જોઇને બધી સ્ત્રીઓ ચેતશે અને તમારી જેમ વ્યભિચાર નહિ કરે. કારણ કે વ્યભિચારનું અનુકરણ ન કરવાની શિખામણ તેમને મળશે.
<ve />
<v id="49" bcv="EZK.23.49" />તમારા વ્યભિચારના અને મૂર્તિપૂજાના પાપ માટે તમને સજા થશે, અને ત્યારે તમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા અને માલિક છું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">કઢાઇ અને માંસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.24.1" />યહોયાકીન રાજાને બંદીવાન થયાને નવમા વર્ષના દશમા માસના દશમા દિવસે મને યહોવાની આ પ્રમાણે વાણી સંભળાઇ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZK.24.2" />તેમણે કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, આજની તારીખ નોંધી રાખ, કારણ, ‘આજે બાબિલના રાજાએ યરૂશાલેમને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો છે.’
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EZK.24.3" />એ બંડખોર ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાને તું આ દ્રષ્ટાંત કહી સંભળાવ. તેને કહે કે, ‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘કઢાઇને અગ્નિએ ચઢાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચૂલે ચઢાવો તેમાં પાણી રેડો,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.24.4" />એમાં માંસના કટકા નાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પસંદ કરેલા સારામાં સારા ખભા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને પગનાં માંસના ટુકડા નાખો.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.24.5" />ઉત્તમમાં ઉત્તમ ઘેટું લો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઉત્તમમાં ઉત્તમ હાડકાં પણ નાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નીચે લાકડાં ગોઠવો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ખૂબ ઉકાળો, હાડકાં પણ બફાઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાય ત્યાં સુધી બફાવા દો.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.24.6" />“‘યહોવા મારા માલિક આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">એ ખૂનીઓની નગરી, તારી પર આફત આવશે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું કટાઇ ગયેલી કઢાઇ જેવી છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેનો કાટ કદી ઊખડે એમ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું દુષ્ટતાથી ભરેલી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી એક પછી એક ટુકડા લઇ લેવામાં આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ કોઇ તે ખાવાના નથી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.24.7" />તેણે ખૂબ હિંમતપૂર્વક ખૂન કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધાં જોઇ શકે છે કે મારી નંખાયેલનું રકત ખડકો પર એમનું એમ જ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જે બધા જોઇ શકે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો એ લોહી જમીન પર રેડાયું હોત તો રેતી તેને ઢાંકી દેત;
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.24.8" />ખડક પર એ રકત ખુલ્લું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તે મારી આગળ તેની વિરુદ્ધ હાંક મારે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી મારો કોપ સળગે અને હું બદલો લઉં.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.24.9" />“‘તેથી યહોવા મારા માલિક આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે:
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<q style="q1">હે યરૂશાલેમ, ખૂનીઓની નગરી, તારી પર આફત આવશે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પણ લાકડાનો મોટો ઢગલો કરીશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.24.10" />પુષ્કળ લાકડા લાવો, આગ પેટાવો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માંસ ઓગળી જાય ત્યાં સુધી તેને ઉકાળો.
</q>
<q style="q1">મસાલાઓને તેમાં ઉમેરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હાડકાં બળી જાય ત્યાં સુધી તેને ઉકાળો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.24.11" />પછી ખાલી કઢાઇને અંગારા ઉપર મૂકી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો બગાડ અને કચરો બળી જાય ત્યાં સુધી તેને તપાવો.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.24.12" />“‘પણ કાટ એટલો બધો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે જવાળાઓથી પણ નહિ જાય.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.24.13" />“‘હે યરૂશાલેમ, તારા વ્યભિચારની અશુદ્ધિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દૂર કરવા મેં પ્રયત્ન કર્યો હતો પણ તું ચોખ્ખી ન થઇ.
</q>
<q style="q1">એટલે તારા પર હું મારો પૂરો રોષ ઉતારી નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રહું ત્યાં સુધી તું ફરી ચોખ્ખી થનાર નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.24.14" />“‘આ મેં યહોવાએ કહ્યું છે અને તે, એ પ્રમાણે બનશે જ. હું એ પ્રમાણે જ કરીશ. જરા પણ પીછેહઠ કરીશ નહિ. દયા નહિ ખાઉં, ને હું મારો નિર્ણય પણ બદલીશ નહિ. તને તારી વર્તણૂંક માટે અને તારા દુષ્કૃત્યો માટે સજા થશે જ. આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">હઝકિયેલની પત્નીનું અવસાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.24.15" />ફરીથી મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.24.16" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, હું એક ઝપાટે તારી પ્રિયતમાને દૂર કરવાનો છું. પણ તારે રડવાનું નથી, કે શોક કરવાનો નથી કે આંસુ સારવાના નથી.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EZK.24.17" />તારા ડૂસકાં સંભળાવા જોઇએ નહિ, તારા ઉત્તમ સાફા અને ઉત્તમ પગરખા તું પહેરજે, તારા હોઠને તું ઢાકતો નહિ કે તું શોકની રોટલી ખાતો નહિ કે શોકના રીતરિવાજો પાળતો નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.24.18" />સવારમાં તો હું લોકોને પ્રબોધ કરતો હતો અને તે જ સાંજે મારી પત્ની મૃત્યુ પામી. બીજે દિવસે મને કહેવામાં આવ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાણે મેં કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EZK.24.19" />મને લોકોએ પૂછયું, “તમે આમ શા માટે કરો છો? આ બધાનો શું અર્થ છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.24.20" />ત્યારે મેં તેમને કહ્યું, “મને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EZK.24.21" />તમને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે કે, ‘જે પવિત્રસ્થાન માટે તમે ગર્વ લો છો, અને જેને માટે તમારું અંતર તલસે છે તેનો હું પોતે જ ધ્વંસક છું. તમારાં જે પુત્રપુત્રીઓને તમે પાછળ છોડી આવ્યા છો તેઓ તરવારનો ભોગ બનશે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EZK.24.22" />ત્યારે તમારે મેં કહ્યું છે તે પ્રમાણે કરવાનું છે. તમારા હોઠને ઢાંકશો નહિ કે શોકની રોટલી ખાશો નહિ કે શોકના રીતરિવાજો પાળશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EZK.24.23" />તમારે માથે ઉત્તમ સાફો અને ઉત્તમ પગરખા પહેરી લો, રડશો નહિ કે પશ્ચાતાપ કરશો નહિ, તમારાં પાપે તમે એકબીજા સામે રોદણાં રડતાં રિબાઇ રિબાઇને મરશો.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.24.24" />યહોવા કહે છે, હઝકિયેલ તમારે માટે દ્રષ્ટાંત રૂપ છે. મેં જેમ કહ્યું છે તેમ જ તમારે કરવાનું છે અને આ બનશે ત્યારે તમને ખબર પડશે કે એ યહોવા મારા માલિક છે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EZK.24.25" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, જે દિવસે હું યરૂશાલેમમાંથી તેઓનાં હૃદયનો આનંદ તેઓનો મહિમા અને તેઓની પત્નીઓ અને તેઓના પુત્ર-પુત્રીઓ લઇ લઇશ.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.24.26" />જે દિવસે હું આ કરીશ, તે જ દિવસે એ વિનાશમાંથી ઊગરી ગયેલું કોઇ આવીને તને એ સમાચાર આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="EZK.24.27" />તે જ દિવસે તને તારી વાચા પાછી મળશે અને તું એની સાથે વાત કરીશ. આમ તું તેમને દ્રષ્ટાંતરૂપ થઇ પડીશ અને તેઓને ખાતરી થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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</p>

<c id="25" />
<s style="s">આમ્મોનની વિરુદ્ધ અગમવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.25.1" />મને ફરીથી યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.25.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, આમ્મોનીઓ તરફ મોં કરી તેમની વિરુદ્ધ મારી ચેતવણી ઉચ્ચાર.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.25.3" />તેઓને કહે: ‘યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચનો સાંભળો: જ્યારે મારું મંદિર અશુદ્ધ બનાવાયું હતું ત્યારે તમે મશ્કરી કરી; જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલ દેશની તારાજી થતી હતી ત્યારે તમે તેની હાંસી ઉડાવી અને જ્યારે યહૂદાના લોકોને બંદીવાસમાં લઇ જવાતા હતા ત્યારે તમે આનંદ મનાવ્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.25.4" />તેથી હું તમને પૂર્વની પ્રજાઓના હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરુ છું. તેઓ તમારી વચ્ચે છાવણી નાખશે અને વસવાટ કરશે. તેઓ તમારા ફળ ખાઇ જશે અને તમારું દુધ પી જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.25.5" />“‘હું રાબ્બાહ નગરને ઊંટોને ચરવાની જગ્યા બનાવીશ અને આમ્મોનીઓનો દેશ ઘેટાંબકરાંને ચરવાની જગ્યા થશે, ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.25.6" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે કે: તમારા હૃદયમાં મારા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો માટે તિરસ્કાર છે, તેથી ઇસ્રાએલની અવદશા જોઇને તમે તાળીઓ પાડીને નાચ્યા અને ખુશ થયા હતા.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.25.7" />તેથી હું તમારી સામે મારો હાથ ઉગામીશ અને ઘણી પ્રજાઓના હાથમાં તમને સોંપી દઇશ અને તમારો નાશ કરીશ. હું તમને તમારા દેશમાંથી બહાર કાઢી મૂકીશ. હું દૂરના રાષ્ટોમાં તમારો નાશ કરીશ ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે હું યહોવા છું.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">મોઆબ અને સેઇર વિરુદ્ધ ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.25.8" />આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: “મોઆબે એમ કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘યહૂદા તો બીજી પ્રજાઓ જેવું જ છે;’
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.25.9" />તેથી હું એની સરહદોનું રક્ષણ કરતાં શહેરોને બેથ-યશીમોથ બઆલ-મેઓન અને કિર્યાથાઇમ સહિત એનાં સુંદરમાં સુંદર શહેરોને હુમલાનો ભોગ બનાવીશ.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.25.10" />હું આમ્મોનની સાથે મોઆબને પણ પૂર્વની પ્રજાઓને સોંપી દઇશ, જેથી આમ્મોનના લોકોનું પ્રજા તરીકેનું અસ્તિત્વ જ ભૂંસાઇ જશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.25.11" />એ રીતે હું મોઆબને સજા કરીશ ત્યારે તેમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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</p>
<s style="s">અદોમ વિરુદ્ધ ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.25.12" />સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા કહે છે: “યહૂદાના લોકો પર વૈર વાળીને અદોમીઓએ મોટું પાપ કર્યું છે.”
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EZK.25.13" />તેથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે; “હું અદોમ વિરુદ્ધ મારો હાથ લંબાવીશ અને તેના લોકોનો, જાનવરોનો અને ઢોરઢાંખરાનો હું સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરીશ. તેમાનથી માંડીને દેદાન સુધીનું સર્વ તરવારથી નાશ પામશે. અને દેશ વેરાન થશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.25.14" />મારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ દ્વારા હું અદોમ પર વૈર વાળીશ અને તેઓ અદોમ સાથે મારા રોષ અને ક્રોધને છાજે એવો વર્તાવ કરશે. એ લોકોને ખબર પડી જશે કે મેં વૈર વાળ્યું છે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પલિસ્તીઓ વિરુદ્ધ ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.25.15" />વળી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “પલિસ્તીઓએ ધૃણાપૂર્વક પોતાના દુશ્મનો પર વૈર વાળ્યું છે, અને લાંબા સમયથી તેઓનો તિરસ્કાર કર્યા પછી તેમનો સંહાર કર્યો છે.”
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.25.16" />તેથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “હું પલિસ્તીઓ વિરુદ્ધ મારો હાથ લંબાવીશ અને પલિસ્તીઓનો નાશ કરીશ અને દરિયાકિનારાના બાકીના લોકોને સાફ કરી નાખીશ.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.25.17" />હું મારા ઉગ્ર રોષમાંને રોષમાં તેમના પર ભયંકર વૈર વાળીશ અને તેમને ભારે સજા કરીશ. ત્યારે તેમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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</p>

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">તૂરનો નાશ-દેવવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.26.1" />અગિયારમા વર્ષમાં મહિનાના પ્રથમ દિવસે મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.26.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તૂરના લોકોએ આનંદમાં આવીને યરૂશાલેમ વિષે કહ્યું છે કે, ‘આહા! પ્રજાઓના વેપારવાણિજ્યનું ધ્વાર તૂટી ગયું! એના દરવાજા આપણે માટે ખુલ્લા થઇ ગયા! એના વિનાશથી આપણે સમૃદ્ધ થઇશું!’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.26.3" />તેથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “હે તૂર, હું તારી વિરુદ્ધ છું, હું અનેક પ્રજાઓને સમુદ્રના ઉછળતાં મોજાની જેમ તારા પર હુમલો કરવા લઇ આવીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.26.4" />“તેઓ તૂરના કિલ્લાઓનો નાશ કરશે અને કમાનોને તોડી પાડશે. હું તારી બધી રેતીને ભૂંસી નાખીશ અને ફકત ખુલ્લા ખડક રહેવા દઇશ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.26.5" />તેનો ટાપુ વસવાટ કરવા લાયક રહેશે નહિ, પણ ત્યાં માછીઓ પોતાની જાળો પાથરશે.” કારણ કે યહોવા મારા માલિક તે બોલ્યા છે. “પ્રજાઓ તૂરને લૂંટી લેશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.26.6" />અને મુખ્ય ભૂમિ ઉપરના તારાં પરાંઓ તરવારનો ભોગ બનશે; ત્યારે તેઓ જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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</p>
<s style="s">નબૂખાદરેસ્સાર તૂર પર આક્રમણ કરશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.26.7" />યહોવા મારા માલિક આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે: “તૂરની વિરુદ્ધ હું બાબિલના રાજા, રાજાઓના રાજા નબૂખાદરેસ્સારને ઉત્તરમાંથી મોટું સૈન્ય, રથો તથા ઘોડેસવારો સાથે લાવીશ.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.26.8" />પહેલાં તે મુખ્ય ભૂમિ પરની વસાહતોમાં રહેતા લોકોનો નાશ કરશે. પછી તે નગરના કોટને ઘેરો ઘાલશે. તારા કોટ સામે મોરચા બાંધશે અને તેની ઢાલો તારી વિરુદ્ધ ઊંચી કરશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.26.9" />તે તારા કોટ ઉપર યંત્રોથી મારો ચલાવશે અને તારા બુરજો ઓજારોથી તોડી પાડશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.26.10" />તેના હજારો ઘોડાઓએ ઉડાડેલી ધૂળની રજથી તું છવાઇ જશે. ભંગાણ પડેલા શહેરમાં લોકો પ્રવેશ કરે તેમ તે તારા બારણામાં થઇને દાખલ થશે. ત્યારે ઘોડાઓ, રથો અને ગાડાંના અવાજથી તારો કિલ્લો ધ્રુજી ઊઠશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.26.11" />તેના ઘોડેસવારો નગરની પ્રત્યેક શેરીઓ કબજે કરી લેશે. તે તારા લોકોની હત્યા કરશે અને તારા પ્રખ્યાત અને મોટા સ્તંભો ભોંયભેગા થઇ જશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.26.12" />તારી સંપત્તિ પડાવી લેવામાં આવશે, તારો માલ લૂંટી લેવામાં આવશે, તારો કોટ ભોંયભેગો થઇ જશે અને તારી વૈભવશાળી હવેલીઓ તોડી પાડવામાં આવશે. તારા પથ્થરો કાટમાળ અને છારું દરિયામાં પધરાવી દેવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.26.13" />હું તારાં ગીતો થંભાવી દઇશ અને તારી વીણાના સ્વરો ફરી કદી નહિ સંભળાય.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.26.14" />હું ફકત તારા ટાપુને વેરાન ખડક બનાવી દઇશ, તેના પર માછીઓ પોતાની જાળો પાથરશે. તેને ફરીથી કદી બાંધવામાં આવશે નહિ. કારણ કે હું યહોવા તે બોલ્યો છું.” એમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">અન્ય રાષ્ટો તૂર વિષે રડશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.26.15" />યહોવા મારા માલિક તૂરને કહે છે: “તારા પતનથી, તારા લોકોની હત્યા થવાથી અને ઘવાયેલાઓના આર્તનાદથી સમુદ્ર તટના દેશોના લોકો ભયથી ધ્રુજી ઊઠશે.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.26.16" />તૂરની જે દશા થઇ છે તે જોઇને સમુદ્ર તટ પર વસતી પ્રજાઓના રાજાઓ તેઓની રાજગાદી પરથી નીચે ઊતરશે અને તેઓના ઝભ્ભાઓ અને સુંદર પોશાકો બાજુ પર મૂકીને ભયભીત થઇને જમીન પર બેસશે. તારી દુર્દશા જોઇને તેઓને ધ્રુજારી ચડી જશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.26.17" />તેઓ તારે માટે આ મરશિયા ગાશે;
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘ઓ વિખ્યાત નગરી!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ તે તારો કેવો વિનાશ
</q>
<q style="q1">તું સમુદ્રમાંથી સાફ થઇ ગઇ!
</q>
<q style="q1">તું અને તારા વતનીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમુદ્ર પર ગવિર્ષ્ઠ હતાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને આખા સાગરકાંઠાના વતનીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાથી ડરતા રહેતા હતા.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.26.18" />તારા પતન વખતે આજે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાંઠાપ્રદેશ ધ્રુજી ઊઠયો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સમુદ્રના બધાં દ્વીપો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા સર્વનાશથી કાંપી ઊઠયા છે.’”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EZK.26.19" />યહોવા મારા માલિક આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે, “જ્યારે હું તૂરને વેરાન અને નિર્જન બનાવી દઇશ અને સમુદ્રના તોફાની પાણી નીચે ડૂબાડી દઇશ.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.26.20" />ત્યારે હું તને ભૂતકાળના ઘણાં લોકો જ્યાં છે ત્યાં નરકના ખાડામાં ધકેલી દઇશ, ત્યાં નીચેની ધરતીમાં, પ્રાચીન ખંડિયેરોમાં, નરકના ખાડામાં ગયેલા લોકો સાથે તારે રહેવું પડશે. ફરીથી તને આ જીવલોકમાં આવીને વસવા દેવામાં આવશે નહિ.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.26.21" />હું તારો અંત લાવી દઇશ અને તારુ અસ્તિત્વ રહેશે નહિ. લોકો તારી શોધ કરશે, પણ તું કદી મળશે નહિ.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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</p>

<c id="27" />
<s style="s">તૂર સમુદ્ર પર વ્યાપાર માટેનું મહાન સ્થળ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.27.1" />મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.27.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું તૂર વિષે આ મરશિયો ગા.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.27.3" />‘તું એ સમુદ્રકાંઠે વિસ્તરેલા તે નગરને, વિશ્વના વ્યાપારકેન્દ્રને કહે કે, યહોવા મારા માલિક આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘હે તૂર, તું કહેતી હતી કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સુંદર મુગટ છું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.27.4" />હે તૂર, તું કહેતી હતી, મારા સૌદર્યમાં કોઇ ઊણપ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી સરહદ ઠેઠ મધદરિયા સુધી વિસ્તરેલી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા બાંધનારાઓએ તારામાં કોઇ ઉણપ રાખી નથી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.27.5" />તારા પાટિયાં તેમણે સનીર પર્વતના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સરૂના લાકડાનાં બનાવ્યા હતાં,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારા સ્તંભો બનાવવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લબાનોનના એરેજકાષ્ટનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો હતો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.27.6" />તેઓએ તારાં હલેસાં બાશાનના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એલોનકાષ્ટનાં બનાવ્યાં હતાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારું તૂતક સાયપ્રસના દક્ષિણ કાંઠેથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લાવેલા સરળવૃક્ષના લાકડાનું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હાથીદાંતજડિત બનાવવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.27.7" />તારા સઢ મિસરના ભરતભરેલા કાપડમાંથી બનાવ્યા હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે તારા માટે વાવટાનું કામ કરતા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી છત અલીશાહ ટાપુઓના નીલ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જાંબુડિયા કાપડમાંથી બનાવી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.27.8" />તારાં હલેસાં મારનારા સિદોન અને આર્વાદના રહેવાસીઓ હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પોતાના કુશળ માણસો તારા ખલાસીઓ હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.27.9" />ગેબાલથી આવેલા કુશળ કારીગરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું સમારકામ કરતાં હતાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેશપરદેશથી સાગરના બધાં વહાણોના ખલાસીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે ત્યાં વેપાર કરવા માટે આવતા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.27.10" />“‘તારા સૈન્યમાં પારસ, લૂદ અને પૂટના માણસો સૈનિકો તરીકે સેવાઓ આપતા હતા. તેઓ તારી ભીતો ઉપર ઢાલો અને ટોપો લટકાવતા હતા અને તારી શોભા વધારતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EZK.27.11" />આર્વાદ અને સિસિલના સૈનિકો તારા કિલ્લાનું રક્ષણ કરતા હતા. ગામ્માદના માણસો તારા બુરજોમાં ફરજ બજાવતા હતા. તેઓની ઢાલો તારી દિવાલોની ઉપર લટકાવેલી હતી, જે તારા ગૌરવમાં વધારો કરતી હતી,
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.27.12" />“‘તારી પાસે સર્વ પ્રકારની પુષ્કળ સમૃદ્ધિ હોવાથી તારી સાથે તાશીર્શ વેપાર કરતું હતું. અને તારા બજારમાં તારા માલના બદલામાં ચાંદી, લોખંડ, કલાઇ અને સીસું લવાતું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EZK.27.13" />ગ્રીસ, તુબાલ અને મેશેખથી વેપારીઓ ગુલામો અને પિત્તળના વાસણો લાવતા હતા અને બદલામાં તારો માલ લઇ જતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EZK.27.14" />બેથતોગાર્માહના લોકો તારા માલના બદલામાં તને ભારવાહક ઘોડા, લડાયક ઘોડા અને ખચ્ચર આપતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="EZK.27.15" />દેદાનવાસીઓ તારી સાથે વેપાર કરતા હતા. ધણા સમુદ્ર તટ પરના પ્રદેશમાં લોકો તારા માલના બદલામાં તને હાથીદાંત અને અબનૂસ આપતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EZK.27.16" />અરામ તેના વેપારીઓ મોકલીને તારી ઉત્પન્ન કરેલી વસ્તુઓ ખરીદતું હતું. તેઓ નીલમણિ, મૂલ્યવાન જાંબુડિયાં રંગના વસ્ત્રો, ભરતકામ કરેલી વસ્તુઓ, બારીક મલમલ, પરવાળાં તથા કિંમતી પત્થરો આપતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.27.17" />“‘યહૂદા અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો તારો માલ ખરીદી બદલામાં તને ઘઉં, જૈતુન, મધ, લાખ, તેલ તથા સુગંધીત દ્રવ્યો આપતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EZK.27.18" />તારે ત્યાં એટલી બધી વસ્તુઓ બનતી હતી અને તારે ત્યાં એટલો બધો માલ હતો કે દમસ્કના લોકો તારી સાથે વ્યાપાર કરતાં અને બદલામાં તને હેલ્બોનનો દ્રાક્ષારસ અને સહારનું ઊન આપતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EZK.27.19" />દેદાનના લોકો અને ઉઝાલના યુવાનો તને ઘડતરનું લોઢું અને તેજાના અને શેરડી આપી તારો માલ ખરીદતા.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EZK.27.20" />દેદાનના લોકો તારા માલના બદલામાં તને ઘોડાના જીન માટે ધાબળા આપતા.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EZK.27.21" />અરબસ્તાનના લોકો અને કેદારના આગેવાનો તારા માલની કિંમત ઘેટાબકરાંમાં ચૂકવતાં.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EZK.27.22" />શેબા અને રાઅમાહના વેપારીઓ ઉત્તમ જાતના તેજાના, રત્નો અને સોનું આપીને તારો માલ ખરીદતા.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EZK.27.23" />હારાન, કાન્નેહ અને એદેન, શેબાના શહેરો અને આશ્શૂર તથા ખિલ્માદના લોકો સાથે તારો વેપાર ચાલતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EZK.27.24" />તેઓ તને જાતજાતનો કિંમતી માલ, મોંઘું જાંબુડિયા રંગનું કાપડ અને કિનખાબ, ભભકાભર્યા રંગોના ગાલીચા અને ગૂંથેલા મજબૂત દોરડાં વેચતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="EZK.27.25" />“‘મોટાં મોટાં વહાણોમાં તારો માલ દેશવિદેશ જતો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ભરસમુદ્રમાં સમૃદ્ધ હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="EZK.27.26" />પરંતુ હવે તારા કુશળ ખલાસીઓ તને ભરસમુદ્રમાં લઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારું સમર્થ વહાણ પૂર્વના તોફાની પવનોમાં સપડાયું છે અને મધદરિયે તારા ભુક્કેભુક્કા ઉડાવી દીધા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="EZK.27.27" />તેં બધું જ ગુમાવ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી બધી દોલત,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારો બધો જ માલ અને સરસામાન,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા બધા ખલાસીઓ અને સારંગો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા મરામત કરનારાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વેપારીઓ અને બીજા બધા જ યોદ્ધાઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">બધા જ માણસો-ટૂંકમાં બધું જ ડૂબતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી સાથે સમુદ્રમાં ડૂબી ગયું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="EZK.27.28" />“‘તારા નાવિકોની ચીસોથી દરિયા કિનારો કંપી ઊઠયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="EZK.27.29" />તે સાંભળીને બધા હલેસા મારનારાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા નાવિકો, અને સારંગો પોતપોતાના વહાણ ઉપરથી ઊતરીને કિનારે જઇ ઊભા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="EZK.27.30" />તેઓ તારું દુ:ખ જોઇને વિલાપ કરશે અને દુ:ખમય રુદન કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને માથા પર ધૂળ નાખી રાખમાં આળોટશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="EZK.27.31" />તેઓ ભારે શોકમાં પોતાનાં માથાં મૂંડાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ શણના વસ્ત્રો પહેરશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને પોતાના હૃદયમાં ભારે દુ:ખ સાથે તારા માટે વિલાપ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="EZK.27.32" />“‘તેઓ શોકમાં તારા માટે વિલાપગીત ગાશે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘તૂર જેવું કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ તૂરનગરી અત્યારે સાગરમાં શાંત પોઢી ગઇ છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="EZK.27.33" />જ્યારે તારો માલ સમુદ્રમાંથી ઠલવાતો ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું દરેક પ્રકારની પ્રજાઓને સંતોષતી હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા માલ દ્વારા મેળવાતા પુષ્કળ દ્રવ્યથી રાજાઓના ભંડાર ભરાતાં હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="34" bcv="EZK.27.34" />હવે મહાસાગરે તારા ભુક્કા ઉડાવી દીધા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું સમુદ્રને તળિયે ડૂબી ગઇ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારો બધો માલ અને તારા બધા માણસો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી ભેગા સમુદ્રને તળિયે પહોંચી ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="EZK.27.35" />સમુદ્રકાંઠે રહેનારા સર્વ તારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દશા જોઇને સ્તબ્ધ થઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓના રાજાઓ ભયભીત થઇ ગયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના ચહેરાઓ પર ગભરાટ છવાયેલો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="36" bcv="EZK.27.36" />દુનિયાભરના વેપારીઓ ડરીને ચીસો પાડી ઊઠયા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તારો અંત ભયંકર આવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સદાને માટે હવે તારો નાશ થયો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે તો તું ફરિ કદી હયાતીમાં આવશે નહિ!’”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="28" />
<s style="s">તૂર પોતાને દેવ માને છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.28.1" />મને યહોવાનું વચન આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાયું;
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZK.28.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું તૂરના રાજવીને કહે કે, ‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘તું અભિમાનથી ફુલાઇ ગયો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવ હોવાનો દાવો કરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તું કહે છે, “દેવની જેમ હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમુદ્રોની મધ્યે આસન પર બેસું છું.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તું દેવના જેવો જ્ઞાની હોવાનો દાવો ભલે કરે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તું નાશવંત મનુષ્ય છે, દેવ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.28.3" />છતાં તું દેવ હોવાનો દંભ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું એમ માને છે
</q>
<q style="q1">કે તું દાનિયેલ કરતા પણ ડાહ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાથી કશું અજાણ્યું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.28.4" />તારા ડહાપણ અને તારા કૌશલથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે સોનાચાંદીના ભંડાર ભર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.28.5" />તું વેપારમાં ઘણો કાબેલ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તું ઘણો ધનવાન થયો છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે કારણે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું અભિમાની થયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.28.6" />“‘તેથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">તું દેવોના જેવો જ્ઞાની હોવાનો દાવો કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.28.7" />તેથી હું તારા પર હુમલો કરવા માટે ઘાતકીમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘાતકી પરદેશીઓને લઇ આવીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેં તારી કુશળતાથી અને દાનાઇથી જે સંપત્તિ પ્રાપ્ત કરી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બધાનો નાશ કરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તારી કીતિર્ને ઝાંખી પાડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.28.8" />તેઓ તારા પ્રાણ લેશે અને તને નરકના ખાડામાં ધકેલી દેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સાગરને તળિયે પહોંચાડી દેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.28.9" />તેઓ તારો પ્રાણ લેવા આવશે ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તું એમ જ કહેતો રહીશ કે, “હું દેવ છું?”
</q>
<q style="q1">તું દેવ નથી, તું તો કેવળ માણસ જ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પણ વધ કરનારાઓના હાથમાં પડેલો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.28.10" />તું બેસુન્નત વિદેશીની જેમ વિદેશીઓના હાથે મૃત્યુ પામશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી મેં આમ કહ્યું છે.’”
</q>
<q style="q1">એમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.28.11" />મને ફરીથી યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EZK.28.12" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું તૂરના રાજાને માટે શોકગીત ગા. અને તેને કહે કે, ‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘એક વખત તું સંપૂર્ણતાની પરાકાષ્ટાએ પહોંચ્યો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું જ્ઞાનનો અને સૌદર્યનો ભંડાર હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.28.13" />દેવના ઉદ્યાન એદનમાં તારો વાસ હતો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને બધી જાતના રત્નો તું ધારણ કરતો હતો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હીરા, માણેક, પોખરાજ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નીલમ, અકીક, બદામી ઇન્દ્રનીલ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પન્ના અને તારાં આભૂષણો સોનાનાં હતાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા જન્મ સમયે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે માટે બનાવવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.28.14" />તારું રક્ષણ કરવા એક અભિષિકત રક્ષક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દૂત તરીકે નીમ્યો હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું દેવના પવિત્ર પર્વત પર જઇ શકતો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અગ્નિના ચળકતાં પથ્થરો પર ચાલતો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.28.15" />તું જન્મ્યો ત્યારે તારું આચરણ નિષ્કલંક હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ પાછળથી તારી દુષ્ટતા પ્રગટ થવા માંડી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.28.16" />તારો વધતો જતો વ્યાપાર તને હિંસામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાપમાં ખેંચી ગયો.
</q>
<q style="q1">આથી મેં તને દેવના પવિત્ર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર્વત પરથી હાંકી મૂક્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">જે દેવ દૂત તારું રક્ષણ કરતો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે તને ઝળહળતાં રત્નોમાંથી તગેડી મૂકયો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.28.17" />તારા સૌદર્યને કારણે તું ફુલાઇ ગયો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારી કીતિર્ને કારણે તારી બુદ્ધિ બહેર મારી ગઇ હતી.
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તને ભોંય ઉપર પટક્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીજા રાજાઓ માટે તને ચેતવણીરૂપ બનાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.28.18" />તારા વેપારમાં તેં એટલાં બધાં પાપો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ષ્ટતા આચર્યા કે તારા મંદિરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ષ્ટ થઇ ગયા.
</q>
<q style="q1">આથી, હે તૂર, મેં તને આગ ચાંપી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તને બાળીને ભોંયભેગો કરી દીધો.
</q>
<q style="q1">આજે તને જોનારા સૌ કોઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને ભસ્મીભૂત થયેલો જુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="EZK.28.19" />“‘જે પ્રજાઓ તને ઓળખતી હતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બધી તારી દશા જોઇને સ્તબ્ધ થઇ ગઇ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારું પરિણામ ભયંકર આવ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સદાને માટે તારો નાશ થયો છે.’”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">સિદોન વિરુદ્ધ સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.28.20" />ફરીથી મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EZK.28.21" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું સિદોન તરફ મુખ કરીને તેની વિરુદ્ધ પ્રબોધ કર.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="EZK.28.22" />તેણીને કહે, ‘યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘હે સિદોન, હું તારી વિરુદ્ધ છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તારા સ્થાનમાં મારો
</q>
<q style="q1">મહિમા પ્રગટ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારામાં વસતા લોકોને સજા કરી હું
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી પવિત્રતા પ્રગટ કરીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે લોકો જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="EZK.28.23" />હું તારા પર મરકી મોકલીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી શેરીઓમાં લોહી વહેશે. કારણ,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓની હત્યા થઇ છે તેઓ ત્યાં પડ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી તને ખાતરી થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.’”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">રાષ્ટ ઇસ્રાએલની મશ્કરી કરવાનું બંધ કરશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZK.28.24" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “‘ઇસ્રાએલનો તિરસ્કાર કરનારી આજુબાજુની પ્રજાઓ હવે કદી તેને ભોંકાતા કાંટા કે ઝાંખરાની જેમ હેરાન નહિ કરે. અને ત્યારે તેઓને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા તમારો માલિક છું.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EZK.28.25" />આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: “ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મેં જે પ્રજાઓમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખી છે, તે બધામાંથી હું તેમને પાછા લાવી એકત્ર કરીશ અને ત્યારે બધી પ્રજાઓને ખબર પડશે કે હું પવિત્ર છું. ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, મેં મારા સેવક યાકૂબને આપેલી તેમની પોતાની ભૂમિમાં વસશે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EZK.28.26" />તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલમાં શાંતિપૂર્વક રહેશે, ઘરો બાંધશે અને દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ રોપશે. તેમની સાથે દુર્વ્યવહાર કરનારી આજુબાજુની પ્રજાઓને હું સજા કરીશ અને તેઓ શાંતિથી રહેશે. ત્યારે તેઓને ખબર પડશે કે હું તેમનો દેવ યહોવા છું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="29" />
<s style="s">મિસરને શિક્ષા થશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.29.1" />યહોયાકીન રાજાને બંદીવાન થયાને દશમા વર્ષના દશમા મહિનાના બારમા દિવસે મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZK.29.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, મિસરના રાજા ફારુન તરફ મોં કરીને તેની અને તેના આખા દેશના સર્વ લોકો વિરુદ્ધ પ્રબોધ કર.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EZK.29.3" />તેને સંબોધીને કહે કે ‘યહોવા મારા માલિક આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘હે મિસરના રાજા ફારુન,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે નાઇલ નદીના જળમાં આળોટતા મગર, હું તારી સામે પડ્યો છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું એવો દાવો કરે છે કે “નાઇલ નદી તારી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં પોતે એનું સર્જન કર્યું છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.29.4" />“‘હું તારા જડબામાં આંકડી પરોવીશ અને તારી નાઇલની માછલીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાં ભિંગડાને ચોંટી રહે એમ કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એ બધી માછલીઓ સાથે હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને નદીમાંથી બહાર ખેંચી કાઢીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.29.5" />હું તને અને તારી નાઇલની બધી માછલીઓને રણમાં ફગાવી દઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ખુલ્લી જમીન ઉપર પડ્યો રહીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">કોઇ તને દફનાવશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તને પશુપંખીઓનો આહાર બનાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.29.6" />ત્યારે મિસરના બધા લોકોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘તેં ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આપેલો ટેકો બરુની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લાકડીના ટેકા સમાન હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.29.7" />જ્યારે જ્યારે તેમણે એ લાકડી પકડી ત્યારે ત્યારે તે તેમના હાથમાં ભાંગી ગઇ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના ખભાને તેણે ચીરી નાખ્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">ને તેમણે જ્યારે એનો ટેકો લીધો ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તૂટી ગઇ અને તેમનાં અંગો ધ્રૂજતા રહ્યાં.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.29.8" />તેથી યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">“હે મિસર, હું તારી વિરુદ્ધ સૈન્યને મોકલીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા લોકોની અને ઢોરઢાંખરની હત્યા કરાવીશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.29.9" />મિસર વેરાન અને ઉજ્જડ થઇ જશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યારે લોકોને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">દેવ કહે છે, “કારણ કે તેં કીધુ હતું કે નાઇલ નદી તારી છે અને તેં જ તેને બનાવી છે,
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.29.10" />‘તેથી હું તારી અને તારી નાઇલ નદીની વિરુદ્ધ છું,’ હું સમગ્ર મિસરને ઉત્તરમાં મિગ્દોલથી માંડીને ઠેઠ કૂશની સરહદ પાસે આવેલા આસ્વાન સુધી વેરાન અને ઉજ્જડ બનાવી દઇશ.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.29.11" />ચાળીસ વર્ષ સુધી આ દેશમાં માણસ કે પશુ કોઇ ફરશે નહિ. તેમાં કોઇ વસવાટ કરશે નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.29.12" />હું મિસરને ઉજ્જડ બનાવીશ તથા તેની આજુબાજુના દેશોને પણ ઉજ્જડ બનાવીશ. તેના નગરો ચાલીસ વર્ષ સુધી ખંડિયેર જેવા રહેશે, હું મિસરવાસીઓને બીજા દેશોમાં અને પ્રજાઓમાં વિખેરી નાખીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.29.13" />આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: “ચાળીસ વર્ષને અંતે મિસરીઓ જે પ્રજાઓમાં વેરવિખેર થઇ ગયેલા હશે તેઓમાંથી તેમને પાછા ભેગા કરીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.29.14" />હું મિસરની જાહોજલાલી પુન:સ્થાપિત કરીશ અને હું તેઓને મિસરની દક્ષિણના પાથોર્સમાં જ્યાં તેઓનો જન્મ થયો હતો ત્યાં પાછા લાવીશ. પણ તેઓ મહત્વના નહિ તેવા નાના રાજ્ય તરીકે રહેશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.29.15" />બધા રાજ્યોમાં તે નાનામાં નાનું રાજ્ય હશે. અને તે કદી બીજી પ્રજાઓ પર સત્તા નહિ ચલાવી શકે, હું તેમને એવા તો પામર બનાવી દઇશ કે તેઓ બીજી પ્રજાઓને તાબે નહિ કરી શકે.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.29.16" />ઇસ્રાએલ હવે કદી મિસરની સહાય પર આધાર રાખશે નહિ, કારણ કે જેટલી વાર તે મિસરની મદદ મેળવવાનો પ્રયાસ કરશે તેટલી વાર તેને યાદ આવશે કે તેની મદદ મેળવવા માટે ઇસ્રાએલે પાપ કર્યું હતું. ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલ જાણશે કે હું એકલો જ, યહોવા મારા માલિક છું.”
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</p>
<s style="s">મિસરને બાબિલ લેશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.29.17" />સત્તાવીસમાં વર્ષના પહેલા મહિનાના પહેલા દિવસે મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.29.18" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદરેસ્સારે તૂર ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો, તેના સૈનિકોએ એટલી સખત મહેનત કરી કે તેમના વાળ ખરી પડ્યા અને તેમના ખભા છોલાઇ ગયા તેમ છતાં તેને કે તેના સૈન્યને પોતાની મહેનતનું કશું વળતર ન મળ્યું.”
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.29.19" />તેથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે કે, “હું મિસરની ભૂમિ બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદરેસ્સારને આપીશ અને તે એની સર્વ સંપત્તિ તેના શ્રમના બદલા તરીકે લઇ જશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.29.20" />તૂર સામે એણે કરેલી મહેનતના બદલામાં હું તેને મિસરની ભૂમિ આપી દઉં છું, કારણ, તેની સેના મારે માટે કામ કરતી હતી.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિક બોલ્યા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.29.21" />“અને એવો દિવસ આવશે કે હું જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલને તેનું અગાઉનું બળ ફરીથી આપીશ. જેથી એ લોકોની આગળ તું બોલી શકે, અને ત્યારે લોકો તારા શબ્દો પ્રત્યે આદર રાખશે અને મિસર જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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</p>

<c id="30" />
<s style="s">બાબિલનું સૈન્ય મિસર પર આક્રમણ કરશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.30.1" />મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.30.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, મારી ચેતવણી ઉચ્ચાર અને કહે કે, ‘યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘આ બધી વસ્તુઓનો નખ્ખોદ જાજો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“કેવો ભયંકર દિવસ આવી રહ્યો છે!”
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.30.3" />તે દિવસ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એટલે યહોવાનો દિવસ આવી પહોંચ્યો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">વાદળોથી ઘેરાયેલો દિવસ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રજાઓને માથે આફત ઉતારવાનો દિવસ!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.30.4" />એ દિવસે મિસરમાં
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને કોનો સંહાર થશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની સંપત્તિ લૂંટાઇ જશે
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેશ આખો ખેદાનમેદાન થઇ જશે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.30.5" />“‘દેશમાં ભારે દુ:ખ થશે તેની સાથે જ કૂશના, પૂટના અને લૂદના તેમજ અરબસ્તાનના અને બાબિલના લોકો તેમ જ મિસર સાથે સંધિથી જોડાયેલા બીજા લોકો પણ યુદ્ધમાં માર્યા જશે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.30.6" />“‘યહોવા મારા માલિકના આ વચન છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">મિસરના સર્વ મિત્ર રાજ્યોનું પતન થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના સાર્મથ્યના અભિમાનનો અંત આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ઉત્તરમાં મિગ્દોલથી તે દક્ષિણમાં આસ્વાન સુધીના સર્વ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તરવારથી નાશ પામશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ યહોવા મારા માલિક જાહેર કરે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.30.7" />તે તથા તેની સાથેના આસપાસના દેશો ઉજ્જડ થશે અને તેના નગરો તથા તેની આજુબાજુના નગરો ખંડિયેર થઇ જશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.30.8" />હું મિસરને આગ ચાંપીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના બધા ટેકેદારોનો નાશ કરી નાખીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તેમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.30.9" />“‘જ્યારે એ દિવસ આવશે અને મિસરનો નાશ થયો હશે ત્યારે હું વહાણોમાં ખેપિયાઓ મોકલીને નિશ્ચિંત જીવે વસતા કૂશના વતનીઓને ચેતવીશ અને તેઓ ભયભીત થઇ જશે. એ દિવસ આવી રહ્યો છે!’”
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.30.10" />યહોવા મારા માલિકના આ વચન છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદરેસ્સારને હાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મિસરની પ્રજાનો અંત આણીશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.30.11" />તે અને તેની ઘાતકી સેના આવીને દેશને ખેદાન-મેદાન કરી નાખશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ મિસર સામે તરવાર ચલાવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આખો દેશ મૂડદાંથી છવાઇ જશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.30.12" />હું નાઇલ નદીને સૂકવી નાખીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મિસરને બદમાશોને સોંપી દઇશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું પરદેશીઓને હાથે આખા દેશને વેરાન બનાવી દઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ હું યહોવા બોલ્યો છું.”
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</q>
<s style="s">મિસરની મૂર્તિઓનો નાશ કરવામાં આવશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.30.13" />યહોવા મારા માલિકના આ વચન છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું મેમ્ફિસની મૂર્તિઓનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૂતળાંઓનો નાશ કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">મિસરમાં કોઇ રાજકર્તા નહિ રહે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખા દેશમાં ભય વ્યાપી જશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.30.14" />હું પાથોર્સને વેરાન બનાવી દઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સોઆનને આગ ચાંપીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નોનોને સજા કરીશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.30.15" />હું મિસરના સૌથી મજબૂત કિલ્લાઓ પર મારો રોષ ઠાલવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નોફની જાહોજલાલી અને પાપનો નાશ કરીશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.30.16" />હું મિસરને આગ ચાંપીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પાપનું નગર ભયથી થરથરી ઊઠશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">નોફની દિવાલમાં ગાબડાં પડશે અને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેમ્ફિઓના દુશ્મનો તેમને રાતદિવસ હેરાન કરશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.30.17" />આવેનના તથા પી-બેસેથના યુવાનો તરવારથી માર્યા જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બાકીના લોકોને ગુલામ તરીકે લઇ જવામાં આવશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.30.18" />જે દિવસે હું મિસરની સત્તાને તોડી પાડીશ અને જે બળ ઉપર એ અભિમાન કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો અંત આણીશ ત્યારે તાહપન્હેસમાં અંધકાર છવાઇ જશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને આખા મિસર પર વાદળ ઘેરાશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યાંનાં બધા નગરોના વતનીઓ કેદ પકડાશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="EZK.30.19" />હું જ્યારે મિસરનું આવું કરીશ ત્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે લોકોને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">મિસર કાયમ માટે દુર્બળ થશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.30.20" />યહોયાકીન રાજાને બંદીવાન થયાના અગિયારમાં વર્ષના પહેલા મહિનાના સાતમા દિવસે મને યહોવા તરફથી આ સંદેશો મળ્યો:
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="EZK.30.21" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, મેં મિસરના રાજા ફારુનનો હાથ ભાંગી નાખ્યો છે. કોઇએ એને પાટો બાંધ્યો નથી કે એને ઝોળીમાં નથી મૂક્યો, જેથી તે તરવાર પકડવા જેટલી શકિત ફરીથી મેળવે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EZK.30.22" />તેથી યહોવા મારા માલિક, કહે છે, કે “હું મિસરના રાજા ફારુનની વિરુદ્ધ છું. હું એનો સાજો અને પહેલાં મેં ભાંગેલો એમ બંને હાથ ભાંગી નાખનાર છું. અને તેના હાથમાંથી તરવાર પડી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EZK.30.23" />હું મિસરીઓને બીજી પ્રજાઓમાં અને વિદેશીઓમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખીશ.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EZK.30.24" />ત્યાર બાદ હું બાબિલના રાજાના હાથ મજબૂત કરીશ અને તેમાં મારી તરવાર પકડાવીશ. પણ મિસરના રાજાના હાથ હું ભાંગી નાખીશ અને તે પોતાના દુશ્મનો સામે વધ થયેલા માણસની જેમ ચીસો પાડતો રહેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EZK.30.25" />“હું જરૂર બાબિલના રાજાના હાથ બળવાન બનાવીશ, પણ ફારુનના હાથ નબળાં પડી જશે, હું બાબિલના રાજાના હાથમાં મારી તરવાર આપીશ અને તે મિસર તરફ તેને લંબાવશે ત્યારે સૌને ખાતરી થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="EZK.30.26" />હું મિસરવાસીઓને બીજી પ્રજાઓમાં અને અન્ય દેશોમાં વિખેરી નાખીશ, અને ત્યારે તેઓ જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="31" />
<s style="s">આશ્શૂર એક કેદાર વૃક્ષની જેમ છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.31.1" />યહોયાકીન રાજાને બંદીવાન થયાને અગિયારમે વષેર્ ત્રીજા માસની મધ્યમાં યહોવાનો સંદેશો મારી પાસે આવ્યો:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZK.31.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, મિસરના રાજા ફારુનને તથા તેના સર્વ લોકોને તું કહે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘તારા જેવો મહાન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વૈભવી બીજો કોણ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.31.3" />તું બાબિલના સુંદર ઘટાદાર શાખાઓવાળા કેદારવૃક્ષ સમો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારો છાંયો ખૂબ વિશાળ છે અને તું એટલો ઉંચો છે કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું વાદળાને અડકે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.31.4" />વરસાદના પાણીથી તેને પોષણ મળ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાતાળપાણી પીને એ ઊંચું વધ્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના રોપાઓની આસપાસ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નદીઓ વહેતી હતી;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેના વહેણાંથી વનમાંના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ વૃક્ષોને પાણી મળતું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.31.5" />પુષ્કળ પાણીને લીધે જંગલના બીજા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ વૃક્ષો કરતાં તે ઊંચું થયું
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેની ડાળીઓ ભરાવદાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પુષ્કળ થઇ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.31.6" />દરેક જાતના પંખીઓએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમાં માળા બાંધ્યા,
</q>
<q style="q1">એની છાયામાં બધાં જંગલી પશુઓએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બચ્ચાંને જન્મ આપ્યાં
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અસંખ્ય પ્રજાઓએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એની છાયામાં વિશ્રામ કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.31.7" />એ વૃક્ષ સુંદર અને મજબૂત હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની ડાળીઓ વિસ્તરેલી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેનાં મૂળ પાણી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુધી ઊંડા પહોંચેલા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.31.8" />દેવના ઉદ્યાનનું કોઇ પણ દેવદાર વૃક્ષ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની બરાબરી કરી શકતું નહોતું, કોઇ પણ સરુના
</q>
<q style="q1">કે ચિનારના વૃક્ષને એના જેવી શાખા નહોતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેદાનના કોઇ પણ વૃક્ષોને
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની સુંદરતા સાથે સરખાવી ન શકાય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના ઉદ્યાનનું કોઇ પણ વૃક્ષ તેની બરોબરી ન કરી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.31.9" />મેં યહોવાએ, તેને ઘટાદાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિશાળ ડાળીઓ આપીને જે શોભા આપી હતી
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી એદેનવાડીના બીજાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વૃક્ષો તેની ઇર્ષા કરતા.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.31.10" />તેથી હવે હું, યહોવા મારા માલિક, આ પ્રમાણે કહું છું: “એ વૃક્ષ વધતું વધતું વાદળને અડે એટલું ઊંચું થયું, પણ એ જેમ જેમ ઊંચું થતું ગયું તેમ તેમ એનો ગર્વ વધતો ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="EZK.31.11" />તેથી મેં તેને પ્રજાઓમાં જે પરાક્રમી રાજા છે તેના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધું છે. તે તેની દુષ્ટતાની તેને યોગ્ય શિક્ષા કરશે. મેં પોતે તેને ફેંકી દીધું છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EZK.31.12" />પ્રજાઓમાં અતિશય ક્રૂર એવા પરદેશીઓ તેને કાપીને ભોંયભેંગા કરી દેશે. તેની ડાળીઓ પર્વતો પર, ખીણોમાં અને નદીઓમાં વિખેરાઇ જશે. તેની છાયા તળે આશ્રય લેનારી પ્રજાઓ તેને ત્યાં જ છોડીને ચાલી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EZK.31.13" />પક્ષીઓ તેના તૂટી ગયેલા થડ પર બેસશે અને વન્ય પશુઓ તેની ડાળીઓ પર સૂઇ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.31.14" />“તેથી કરીને હવે પછી કોઇ પણ વૃક્ષ, તેને ભરપુર પાણી મળ્યું હશે તોયે, એટલું ઊંચું નહિ વધે કે વાદળને અડી શકે. બધાં જ વૃક્ષો ર્મત્ય માનવીની જેમ મરવાને સજાર્યા છે. અને જેઓ ઊંડી ખીણમાં નીચે જાય છે અને જેઓ બીજી દુનિયામાં વસે છે તેમને જઇ મળશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.31.15" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “જ્યારે તેનું પતન થયું, અને જ્યારે તે નીચે મૃત્યુની જગ્યાએ (શેઓલ) ઊતરી ગયું ત્યારે મેં સમુદ્રો પાસે તેને માટે શોક પળાવ્યો અને તેઓના પ્રવાહોને રોક્યા. તેથી લબાનોનના સર્વ વૃક્ષો મૂચ્છિર્ત થઇ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EZK.31.16" />તેના પડવાના અવાજથી પ્રજાઓ ભયભીત થઇને થથરી ગઇ, કારણ કે કબરમાં જનારાઓ સાથે મેં તેને પણ કબરમાં ધકેલી દીધું, એદનવાડીના બીજાં ગવિર્ષ્ઠ વૃક્ષો અને લબાનોનના પસંદગી પામેલા શ્રેષ્ઠ વૃક્ષો તેને પોતાની વચ્ચે કબરમાં જોઇને દિલાસો પામ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EZK.31.17" />તેની છાયામાં વસતી બધી પ્રજાઓ પણ, પહેલા જેઓ કપાઇ ગયા હતા તેમની વચ્ચે શેઓલમાં પહોંચી જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.31.18" />“એ વૃક્ષ એટલે મિસરનો રાજા અને તેની વિશાળ સેના. એદનમાંના વૃક્ષો પણ એટલાં ઊંચા કે ભવ્ય નહોતાં. પણ અત્યારે હવે એદનમાંના વૃક્ષોની જેમ એ કબરમાં પહોંચી જશે.
</p>
<p style="p">“અને યુદ્ધમાં ખપી ગયેલા દુષ્ટો સાથે પોઢી જશે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="32" />
<s style="s">ફારુન: એક સિંહ અથવા દૈત્ય?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.32.1" />યહોયાકીન રાજાને બંદીવાન થવાને બારમે વરસે બારમા મહનિના પહેલા દિવસે મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZK.32.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, મિસરના રાજા ફારુન માટે વિલાપ ગીત ગા અને તેને કહે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘તું પોતાને પ્રજાઓનો સિંહ માને છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તું છે પાણીમાંના મગર જેવો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું નદીનું પાણી ચારેબાજુ ઉડાડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા પગથી પાણી અશુદ્ધ કરી નાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નદીના પાણી દૂષિત કરે છે.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.32.3" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તને મારી જાળમાં પકડી લેવા માટે હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘણી પ્રજાઓનું સૈન્ય મોકલીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તને ખેંચી લાવશે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.32.4" />હું તને ખુલ્લી જમીન પર પછાડીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભલે પશુપંખીઓ તારી પર આવે,
</q>
<q style="q1">બધાં પ્રાણીઓને તેઓ ધરાઇ જાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી તારું માંસ ખાવા દઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.32.5" />હું ટેકરીઓને તારા માંસના ટુકડાઓથી ઢાંકી દઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખીણોને તારા હાડકાથી ભરી દઇશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.32.6" />તારા લોહીથી હું ધરતીને તર કરી દઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા લોહીથી પર્વતો છંટાઇ જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નદીનાળા ઊભરાઇ જશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.32.7" />જ્યારે હું તને હોલવી દઇશ ત્યારે હું આકાશને ઢાંકી દઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારાઓને અંધકારમય કરી નાખીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું સૂર્યને વાદળોથી ઢાંકી દઇશ અને ચંદ્ર પોતાનો પ્રકાશ આપશે નહિ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.32.8" />હું આકાશના બધા નક્ષત્રોને અંધકારમાં ડુબાડી દઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા આખા દેશમાં અંધકાર ફેલાવી દઇશ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.32.9" />“અને હું ઘણા દેશોને ક્રોધિત કરીશ; જ્યારે હું તારા ટુકડાઓને એવા ભૂમિ પ્રદેશોમાં નાંખી દઇશ, જેના વિષે તું હજી જાણતો નથી.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.32.10" />તારા હાલ જોઇને તેઓ આઘાત પામશે. તેમના રાજાઓ પોતાની સામે મારી તરવારને ઘૂમતી જોઇ ભયભીત થઇ જશે. તારા પતનના દિવસે તેઓ બધા પોતાનો જીવ જવાના ભયથી થથરી જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.32.11" />કારણ કે યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે; “બાબિલના રાજાની તરવાર તારો પીછો પકડશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.32.12" />હું બાબિલના રાજાના અતિ હિંસક વિશાળ સૈન્ય દ્વારા તારો વિનાશ કરીશ, અને તેઓ મિસરની મિલકતને લૂંટી લેશે. અને આખી સેનાનો નાશ કરી નાખશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.32.13" />તારી નદીઓ પાસે ચરનાર તારાં સર્વ ઘેટાંબકરાં અને ઢોરઢાંખરનો હું નાશ કરીશ. કોઇ માણસ કે પશુ જીવતા નહિ હોય કે જે તે પાણીને ડહોળે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EZK.32.14" />હું તારા બધાં જળાશયોને ઠરીને સ્વચ્છ થવા દઇશ અને તારી નદીઓને જૈતૂનના તેલની જેમ શાંતપણે વહેતી કરીશ.” યહોવા મારા માલિકે આ કહ્યું.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.32.15" />“જ્યારે હું મિસરને ઉજ્જડ અને વેરાન બનાવી દઇશ અને ત્યાંની આખી વસ્તીનો સંહાર કરીશ ત્યારે તેમને ખબર પડશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.32.16" />“મિસરના દુ:ખોને લીધે તેઓ વિલાપ ગીતો ગાશે. મિસર અને તેની પ્રજા માટે રાષ્ટોની દીકરીઓ મરશિયા ગાશે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">મિસરનું નાશ પામવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.32.17" />ત્યાર બાદ બારમા વર્ષમાં મહિનાના પંદરમાં દિવસે મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.32.18" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, મિસરની સમગ્ર સેના માટે શોક કર. શેઓલમાં નીચે ઉતરતાં બીજા મજબૂત લોકોની સાથે તું તેઓને નરકમાં મોકલી આપ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EZK.32.19" />તેને કહે, “હે મિસર, તું સૌદર્યમાં કોનાથી શ્રેષ્ઠ છે? નીચે ઉતરી જા, અને બેસુન્નતોની કબરમાં જઇને પોઢી જા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.32.20" />“મિસરને તરવારને સુપ્રત કરવામાં આવશે. તે અને તેની સમગ્ર સેના યુદ્ધમાં મરી ગયેલાઓ વચ્ચે પહોંચી જશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.32.21" />“જ્યારે તે પોતાના સર્વ મિત્રો સાથે કબરમાં જશે ત્યારે પરાક્રમી યોદ્ધાઓ ત્યાં તેઓનું સ્વાગત કરશે. જે પ્રજાઓનો તેણે ધિક્કાર કર્યો હતો તેઓની સાથે તે રહેશે. એ બધા તરવારથી માર્યા ગયેલાઓ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EZK.32.22" />“આશ્શૂર પોતાના લોકોની સાથે ત્યાં છે. તેની આસપાસ તેના સર્વ લોકોની કબરો આવેલી છે. તે સર્વ તરવારથી માર્યા ગયા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="EZK.32.23" />તેઓની કબરો નીચે નરકમાં છે અને તેઓના સૈન્યની કબરો ત્યાં ચારે તરફ છે. લોકોને ત્રાસ પમાડનાર પોતે જ શત્રુઓના હાથે મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZK.32.24" />“એલામના મહાન રાજાઓ પણ ત્યાં પોતાના લોકોની સાથે મૃત્યુ પામેલા છે. તેઓ જીવતા હતા ત્યારે પ્રજાઓ માટે ત્રાસદાયક હતા. પરંતુ હવે તેઓ નરકમાં સબડે છે કબરમાં ઊતરી જનાર સામાન્ય માણસોની જેમ તેઓ લજ્જિત થયા છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.32.25" />એલામ યુદ્ધમાં માર્યા ગયેલાઓની વચમાં પોઢી ગયું છે, અને તેની આસપાસ તેના યોદ્ધાઓની કબરો આવેલી છે. એ બધા વિશ્વાસઘાતી લોકો યુદ્ધમાં માર્યા ગયા હતા. જ્યારે તેઓ જીવતા હતા ત્યારે બધાને ભયથી થથરાવી મૂકતા હતા. પણ અત્યારે તો તેઓ પોતાની લજ્જાની સાથે નરકમાં જઇને પડ્યાં છે, અને યુદ્ધમાં માર્યા ગયેલાઓની દશા ભોગવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="EZK.32.26" />“મેશેખ અને તુબાલના રાજાઓ પણ ત્યાં છે અને તેઓની આસપાસ તેઓનાં સૈન્યોની કબરો છે. તેઓ બધા દુષ્ટો છે. એ વખતે બધા લોકોને તેઓ કંપાવતા હતા, પણ હવે તેઓ મરેલા પડ્યા છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.32.27" />પરંતુ પ્રાચીનકાળમાં રાજાઓને શસ્ત્રોથી સજ્જ કરીને, તેમની ઢાલ તેમના શરીર પર મૂકીને તથા તેમની તરવાર તેમના માથાં નીચે મૂકીને મહાન આદર સાથે તેઓને દફનાવવામાં આવતાં હતાં. પરંતુ તું આદર સાથે મૃત્યુ પામીશ નહિ, પરંતુ તારા પાપ તારા હાડકાં પર રહેશે, કારણ જ્યારે તું જીવતો હતો ત્યારે તેં લોકોને ખુબજ હેરાન કર્યા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EZK.32.28" />“પરંતુ, તને પણ બેસુન્નતોની સાથે મૃત્યુલોકમાં નીચે લઇ જવાશે અને તારી કબર જેઓ યુદ્ધમાં માર્યા ગયા છે તેમની સાથે હશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EZK.32.29" />“પોતાના રાજાઓ અને સેનાપતિઓ સહિત ત્યાં અદોમ પણ છે. એ બધા બળવાન યોદ્ધાઓ હતા. પરંતુ અત્યારે એ દુષ્ટો યુદ્ધમાં માર્યા ગયેલાઓ ભેગા પોઢયા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EZK.32.30" />“ઉત્તરના સર્વ સરદારો ત્યાં છે, સર્વ સિદોનીઓની હત્યા થઇ છે. એક વખત તેઓ લોકોને કંપાવતા હતા, પણ અત્યારે તેઓ લજ્જિત થઇને મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે. બીજા હત્યા થયેલા દુષ્ટોની સાથે તેઓ અપમાનિત થઇને દુષ્ટોની સ્થિતિમાં જ પૃથ્વીના ઊંડાણમાં પડ્યા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EZK.32.31" />“મિસરનો રાજા ફારુન એમને બધાને જોઇને યુદ્ધમાં માર્યા ગયેલા પોતાના સંખ્યાબંધ માણસોનાં મૃત્યુનો શોક ભૂલી જશે અને આશ્વાસન પામશે. એમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="EZK.32.32" />“પ્રજાઓમાં ત્રાસ ફેલાવવા માટે મેં તેનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો હતો, છતાં તરવારથી હત્યા થયેલા સર્વ વિશ્વાસઘાતીઓ સાથે ફારુન અને તેના સૈન્યને પણ તરવારથી હણી કાઢવામાં આવશે.” એમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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</p>

<c id="33" />
<s style="s">લોકો માટે યહોવાનો ચોકીદાર હઝકિયેલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.33.1" />પછી મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.33.2" />“હે મનુષ્ય પુત્ર, તું તારા દેશબંધુઓને જઇને આ જણાવ; ‘જ્યારે હું, યહોવા, કોઇ દેશ સામે લશ્કર મોકલું છું, ત્યારે ત્યાંના લોકો પોતામાંના એકજણને પસંદ કરીને સંત્રી તરીકે નીમે છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EZK.33.3" />જ્યારે તે લશ્કરને દેશ પર ચઢી આવતું જુએ છે ત્યારે તે લોકોને ચેતવવા રણશિંગુ ફૂંકે છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.33.4" />રણશિંગાનો અવાજ સાંભળવાં છતાં જો કોઇ ચેતે નહિ અને લશ્કર આવીને તેને મારી નાખે તો તેની જવાબદારી તેની પોતાની છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.33.5" />કારણ કે તેણે રણશિંગાનો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો પણ તે ચેત્યો નહિ; જો ચેત્યો હોત તો બચી ગયો હોત.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.33.6" />“‘પણ લશ્કરને આવતું જોઇને જો સંત્રી રણશિંગુ ન ફૂંકે અને લોકોને ન ચેતવે અને લશ્કર આવીને કોઇને મારી નાખે, તો તે પોતાને પાપે મર્યો હોવા છતાં હું એને માટે સંત્રીને જવાબદાર ઠેરવીશ.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.33.7" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, મેં તને ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો સંત્રી નીમ્યો છે, જ્યારે જ્યારે તું મારી વાણી સાંભળે, ત્યારે ત્યારે મારા તરફથી તું તેમને ચેતવણી આપજે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EZK.33.8" />જો હું કોઇ દુષ્ટ વ્યકિતને તેની દુષ્ટતા ખાતર મોતની સજા કરું અને તું તે માણસને ખોટો રસ્તો છોડી દેવાની ચેતવણી ન આપે, તો તે મરશે તો તેના પોતાના પાપે, પણ એના મોત માટે હું તને જ જવાબદાર લેખીશ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EZK.33.9" />પરંતુ જો તે ખોટો રસ્તો છોડી દેવાની તેને ચેતવણી આપી હોય છતાં તેણે તે નહિ છોડ્યો હોય; તો તે પોતાના પાપે મરશે પણ તું બચી જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવ લોકોનો નાશ કરતા ન હતા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.33.10" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને કહે કે તમે આ પ્રમાણે કહો છો: ‘અમારાં પાપોનો બોજ અમારા માથા પર વધી ગયો છે. અપરાધોને લીધે અમે ક્ષીણ થતા જઇએ છીએ, અમે શી રીતે જીવીશું?’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.33.11" />“તું એમને કહે કે, ‘હું યહોવા, મારા જીવના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે, દુષ્ટ માણસ મરી જાય એમાં મને આનંદ નથી આવતો. હું ઇચ્છું છું કે દુષ્ટ માણસ પોતાના ભૂંડા માગોર્થી પાછો ફરે અને જીવતો રહે, પાછા ફરો તમારા દુષ્ટ માગોર્થી પાછા ફરો, હે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો, તમે શા માટે મૃત્યુ પસંદ કરો છો?’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.33.12" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તારા દેશબંધુઓને કહે કે, ‘કોઇ પુણ્યશાળી માણસ પાપ કરે તો તેનું પુણ્ય તેને બચાવી નહિ શકે. જો કોઇ દુષ્ટ માણસ તેનો દુષ્ટ રસ્તો છોડી દે તો તેનાં કરેલા પાપો તેને પડવા નહિ દે, અને કોઇ પુણ્યશાળી માણસ પાપ કરવાનું શરૂ કરે તો તે જીવતો નહિ રહે.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.33.13" />“હું કોઇ પુણ્યશાળી માણસને કહું કે, તું જીવશે, અને તે મારું પુણ્ય મને બચાવશે એમ માનીને પાપ કરે, તો તેનું કોઇ પુણ્ય સંભારવામાં નહિ આવે, પણ તેણે પાપ કર્યું એટલે તે મરવાનો જ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.33.14" />“હું દુષ્ટ માણસને કહું કે તું મૃત્યુ પામશે, પણ જો તે પોતાના પાપોથી પાછો ફરે અને જે યોગ્ય તથા ભલું છે તે કરે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.33.15" />જો એ ગીરો રાખેલી વસ્તુ પાછી આપે, ચોરેલી વસ્તુ પાછી સોંપી દે અને કશું ખોટું ન કરતાં સાચા જીવનના નિયમો પાળે તો તે જરૂર જીવશે, મરશે નહિ,
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EZK.33.16" />એણે કરેલું કોઇ પણ પાપ સંભારવામાં નહિ આવે; કારણ કે તેણે નીતિમત્તા અને ન્યાયનો માર્ગ અનુસર્યો છે એટલે એ ચોક્કસ જીવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.33.17" />“તેમ છતાં તારા દેશબંધુઓ કહે છે કે, ‘યહોવાનો વ્યવહાર ન્યાયી નથી.’
</p>
<p style="p">“પણ હકીકત એ છે કે તેઓનો પોતાનો વ્યવહાર ન્યાયી નથી.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EZK.33.18" />હું ફરીથી કહું છું કે જો ન્યાયી માણસ પોતાના ન્યાયી કૃત્યો મૂકી દઇને ભૂંડાઇઓ તરફ વળશે તો તે મૃત્યુ પામશે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="EZK.33.19" />પણ જો કોઇ પાપી માણસ પાપનો રસ્તો છોડીને નીતિમત્તા અને ન્યાયના માગેર્ ચાલે ત્યારે તેણે કરેલા સત્કમોર્ને કારણે તે જીવશે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="EZK.33.20" />છતાં તમે ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો કહો છો એ યહોવાનો વ્યવહાર ન્યાયી નથી, પરંતુ હું તમારામાંના દરેકનો ન્યાય તમારાં કામ પ્રમાણે કરીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ લઇ લેવાયું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.33.21" />અમારા દેશવટાના બારમાં વરસમાં દશમાં મહિનાના પાચમા દિવસે યરૂશાલેમથી નાસી છૂટેલો એક માણસ મારી પાસે આવ્યો અને મને કહ્યું, “નગરનું પતન થયું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EZK.33.22" />તે આવ્યો તે પહેલાની સાંજે મને યહોવાની શકિતનો અનુભવ થયો હતો અને સવારમાં તે મારી પાસે આવ્યો તે પહેલાં યહોવાએ મારું મોં ખોલી નાખ્યું હતું. મને વાચા પ્રાપ્ત થઇ ચૂકી હતી અને પછી હું મૂંગો નહોતો.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.33.23" />પછી યહોવાનું વચન મારી પાસે આવ્યું:
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.33.24" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, યહૂદાના બચી ગયેલા લોકો ખંડિયેર થયેલા નગરોમાં રહે છે. તેઓ એમ કહે છે, ‘ઇબ્રાહિમ એક જ માણસ હતો છતાં તેણે સમગ્ર દેશનો કબ્જો મેળવ્યો! અમે તો ઘણા છીએ, એટલે એ દેશ અમારો જ છે.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EZK.33.25" />“માટે તું તેઓને કહે, યહોવા મારા માલિક આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે: ‘તમે લોહીવાળું માંસ ખાઓ છો, મૂર્તિપૂજા કરો છો અને ખૂન કરો છો. છતાં શું તમે એમ માનો છો કે હું તમને દેશ પાછો આપીશ?
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.33.26" />તમે તરવાર પર આધાર રાખો છો, ધૃણાસ્પદ રિવાજો પાળો છો, એકબીજાની સ્ત્રીઓ જોડે વ્યભિચાર કરો છો, છતાં તમે દેશનો કબજો તમારી પાસે રહે એમ ઇચ્છો છો!’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="EZK.33.27" />“‘તેઓને કહે; “યહોવા મારા માલિક આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે, હું મારા જીવના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે, જેઓ ખંડિયેર નગરોમાં રહે છે, તેઓ સર્વ તરવારથી ચોક્કસ માર્યા જશે. જેઓ ખેતરોમાં રહે છે તેઓ જંગલી પ્રાણીઓનું ભોજન બનશે, જેઓ ગઢોમાં તથા ગુફાઓમાં રહે છે તેઓ રોગથી મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="28" bcv="EZK.33.28" />હું આ દેશને ઉજ્જડ કરીશ અને તેના અભિમાની સાર્મથ્યનો અંત આવશે. પર્વત પર વસાવેલા ઇસ્રાએલના નગરોને હું ઉજ્જડ કરીશ, જેથી કોઇ ત્યાંથી પસાર થશે નહિ.
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<v id="29" bcv="EZK.33.29" />તેમણે આચરેલા ધૃણાસ્પદ આચારોને કારણે હું દેશને વેરાન અને ઉજ્જડ બનાવી દઇશ ત્યારે તે લોકોને ખાતરી થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EZK.33.30" />“‘હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તારા દેશબંધુઓ કોટની રાંગે અને ઘરના બારણા પાછળ તારે વિષે વાતો કરે છે; “ચાલો, યહોવાનો શો સંદેશો છે તે સાંભળીએ તો ખરા!”
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<v id="31" bcv="EZK.33.31" />એટલે મારા લોકો ગંભીર હોવાનો ઢોંગ કરીને તારી આગળ બેસીને તારું સાંભળે છે. પણ હું તેઓને કહું છું, તેનું પાલન કરવાની ઇચ્છા તેમની નથી. યહોવાને પ્રેમ કરવા વિષે તેઓ મધુર વાતો કરે છે પણ હૃદયોમાં તેઓને દ્રવ્ય પર વધુ સ્નેહ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="EZK.33.32" />“‘તેઓ તારી સામે એવી રીતે જુએ છે, જાણે તું કોઇ સુંદર અવાજવાળો ગાયક હોય અથવા જાણે તું કોઇ કુશળ રીતે વાજિંત્ર વગાડનારો હોય. તારા સંદેશાઓ તેમના માટે મનોરંજન જેવા હોય છે. કારણ કે તેઓ તારા વચનો સાંભળે છે, પણ તેમનો અમલ તેઓ કરતા નથી, ને તેના તરફ ધ્યાન પણ આપતા નથી!
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<v id="33" bcv="EZK.33.33" />પરંતુ જ્યારે તમારાં વચનો સાચા પડશે અને ચોક્કસ તેમ થશે જ, ત્યારે તેઓ જાણશે કે તેઓની વચ્ચે એક પ્રબોધક આવ્યો હતો.’”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="34" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના સાચા ઘેટાંપાળક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.34.1" />પછી મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="EZK.34.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું ઇસ્રાએલના રાજકર્તાઓને મારા તરફથી સાવધાન કરીને તેમને કહેજે કે, આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: ‘હે ઇસ્રાએલના ઘેટાંપાળકો, તમારું આવી બન્યું! તમારે ઘેટાંનું પાલનપોષણ કરવું ન જોઇએ? તમે તો પોતાનું જ લાલનપાલન કરીને સ્વાર્થ સાધો છો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="EZK.34.3" />તમે દૂધ પી જાઓ છો, ઊનના કપડાં પહેરો છો અને તાજામાજાં ઘેટાંને મારીને ખાઓ છો, પણ તમે ઘેટાંને ખવડાવતા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EZK.34.4" />તમે પાતળાની કાળજી રાખી નથી, માંદાની સાચવણી કરી નથી, ઘવાયેલાને પાટાપિંડી કરી નથી, જેઓ ભટકી ગયા છે તેઓની તમે શોધ કરી નથી અને તેઓને પાછા લાવ્યા નથી, પરંતુ તેમના ઉપર બળજબરી અને સખતાઇથી શાસન ચલાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.34.5" />“‘તેથી પાળક વિના તેઓ વિખેરાઇ ગયા અને જંગલી પ્રાણીઓનો શિકાર બન્યા છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.34.6" />મારા ઘેટાં ડુંગરે ડુંગરે અને પર્વતે પર્વતે રખડતાં ફરે છે. ઘેટાંબકરાંના ટોળાં આખા દેશમાં વેરવિખેર થઇ ગયા છે. કોઇને તેમની પડી નથી કે કોઇ તેમને શોધવા જતું નથી.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.34.7" />માટે હે પાળકો, યહોવાનું વચન સાંભળો:
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.34.8" />“મારાં ઘેટાં જંગલી પ્રાણીઓનો શિકાર બન્યા છે, તેમનો કોળિયો બન્યા છે, કારણ, તેમનો કોઇ પાળક નથી. મારા પાળકોને ઘેટાંની કશી પડી નથી. ઘેટાંને ખવડાવવાને બદલે તેઓ પોતાનું પેટ ભરવાની જ કાળજી રાખે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.34.9" />તેથી ઓ પાળકો, તમે યહોવાનું વચન સાંભળો, હું યહોવા જીવના સમ ખાઇને કહું છું કે,
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.34.10" />“હું તમારી વિરુદ્ધ છું, હું મારા ઘેટાં માટે તમને જવાબદાર ઠરાવીશ. પાળક તરીકે હું તમને દૂર કરીશ. જેથી પાળકો પોતાનું પોષણ કરી શકે નહિ, હું મારા ઘેટાંઓને તમારા મુખમાંથી છોડાવી લઇશ અને મારા ઘેટાં તમારો ખોરાક બનશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.34.11" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “હું પોતે જ મારા ઘેટાંને શોધી કાઢીશ અને તેઓની સંભાળ રાખીશ.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.34.12" />પોતાનાં ઘેટાં આજુબાજુ વેરવિખેર થઇ ગયા હોય ત્યારે ભરવાડ જેમ તેમને શોધવા જાય છે તેમ હું મારા ઘેટાંને શોધવા જઇશ અને તેમને સુરક્ષિત પાછા લાવીશ. જ્યારે તેઓ ગભરાઇ ગયા હોય અને અંધારા વાદળીયા દિવસે ખોવાઇ ગયા હોય.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.34.13" />જ્યાં તેઓ વિખેરાઇ ગયા છે તે દેશમાંથી અને પ્રજાઓમાંથી હું તેઓને પાછા લાવીશ અને તેઓને પોતાના દેશ ઇસ્રાએલમાં ઘરે પાછા લાવીશ. ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો પર નદીના કાંઠે તથા ફળદ્રુપ જગ્યાઓમાં હું તેઓનું પોષણ કરીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.34.14" />હું તેઓને ચારાની સારી જગ્યાઓમાં લઇ જઇશ. ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતોની ઊંચાઇઓ તેઓ માટે ચરવાની જગ્યા થશે. ત્યાં લીલા બીડમાં શાંતિથી તેઓ સૂઇ જશે. હું તેઓને ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતોના રસાળ બીડોમાં લાવીશ.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.34.15" />હું જાતે મારા ટોળાને ચારીશ અને આરામ કરાવીશ.” આ હું યહોવા માલિક કહું છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.34.16" />“ખોવાયેલાની હું શોધ કરીશ, આડે રસ્તે ચઢી ગયેલાને હું રસ્તે લાવીશ, ઘવાયેલાને હું પાટાપિંડી કરીશ, પાતળાંને બળ આપીશ; પણ તંદુરસ્ત અને મજબૂત હશે તેમનો હું નાશ કરીશ, અને સારી રીતે તેઓને ચરાવીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.34.17" />અને તમને મારા ટોળાને વિષે હું યહોવા માલિક એમ કહું છું કે, “હું ઘેટાં ઘેટાં, વચ્ચે ન્યાય કરીશ.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.34.18" />હે ઘેટાંઓ અને બકરાઓ, ઉત્તમ ચારો આરોગી તમે ધરાયા નથી કે બાકીના ચારાને તમે પગ વડે કચડી નાખો છો? અથવા સ્વચ્છ પાણી પીને તમે ધરાયા નથી કે બાકીનું પાણી પગ વડે ડહોળી નાખો છો?
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.34.19" />મારા બાકીના ટોળાએ તમારું કચડેલું ખાવું પડે છે અને તમારું ડહોળેલું પાણી પીવું પડે છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.34.20" />તેથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “હું આ જાડા અને પાતળાં ઘેટાં વચ્ચે ન્યાય કરીશ.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.34.21" />તમે જોડાથી અને ખભેથી હડસેલા મારીને મારા માંદા અને ભૂખ્યાને ઘણે દૂર સુધી વિખેરી નાખ્યા છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.34.22" />તેથી હું પોતે મારા ટોળાને બચાવીશ. પછી કોઇ તેઓને સતાવી શકશે નહિ કે તેઓનો નાશ કરશે નહિ. તેઓ તંદુરસ્ત છે કે પાતળા છે તે હું જોઇશ અને પછી તેઓનો ન્યાય કરીશ.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.34.23" />ત્યાર બાદ હું યહોવા, એમની સંભાળ લેવા માટે મારા સેવક દાઉદ જેવો એક ભરવાડ નીમીશ. તે તેમને ચારશે અને તેમનો ભરવાડ બનશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.34.24" />હું, યહોવા, તેમનો દેવ થઇશ અને મારો સેવક દાઉદ મારા લોકોમાં રાજકર્તા સમાન થશે. હું યહોવા એમ બોલ્યો છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EZK.34.25" />“હું તેઓની સાથે શાંતિનો કરાર કરીશ અને દેશમાંથી જંગલી પશુઓને હાંકી કાઢીશ એટલે બધા ખુલ્લા ગૌચરમાં શાંતિને સુરક્ષામાં વાસો કરશે અને જંગલમાં સૂશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.34.26" />મારી ટેકરીની આસપાસ હું મારા લોકોને ત્યાં વસાવીશ અને તેઓનાં ઘરોને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ. અને હું ઋતુ પ્રમાણે વરસાદ વરસાવીશ અને વરસાદ આશીર્વાદ લાવશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.34.27" />તેઓના ફળના વૃક્ષો ફળ આપશે અને ખેતરોમાં મબલખ પાક થશે. સર્વ લોકો સુરક્ષિત રહેશે. જ્યારે હું તેઓની ગુલામીની સાંકળો તોડી નાખીશ અને તેઓના ભોગે લાભ મેળવનારાઓથી હું તેઓને છોડાવીશ ત્યારે તેઓ જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="28" bcv="EZK.34.28" />હવે પછી ફરી કદી ન તો વિદેશી પ્રજાઓ તેમને સતાવશે કે ન તો જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ તેમને ખાઇ જશે. તેઓ શાંત ચિત્તે કોઇનાપણ ભય વગર રહેશે.
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<v id="29" bcv="EZK.34.29" />હું તેમની ભૂમિને એવી ફળદ્રુપ બનાવીશ કે તેની કીતિર્ ચોમેર થશે. ફરી કદી દુકાળ પડશે નહિ. કે કોઇ વિદેશી પ્રજા તેમને ટોણા મારી લજ્જિત કરશે નહિ.
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<v id="30" bcv="EZK.34.30" />તેમને ખાતરી થશે કે, હું, યહોવા તેમનો દેવ તેમની જોડે છું અને તેઓ મારી ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા છે.” આ હું યહોવા દેવ બોલું છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="EZK.34.31" />“તમે મારા ઘેટાં છો, જેમનો હું ચારનાર ભરવાડ છું; હું તમારો દેવ છું.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<c id="35" />
<s style="s">અદોમ વિરુદ્ધ ભવિષ્યવાણી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.35.1" />ફરીથી આ પ્રમાણે મને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.35.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, સેઇરના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ તરફ તારું મુખ રાખ અને લોકોની વિરુદ્ધ પ્રબોધ કરીને તેમને ચેતવણી આપ કે,
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.35.3" />‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે:
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘હે સેઇરના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ હું તારી સામે પડ્યો છું,
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<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારો હાથ તારી વિરુદ્ધ ઉગામીશ અને તને સંપૂર્ણ તારાજ અને વેરાન કરી દઇશ.
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<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.35.4" />તારા નગરોને ખંડિયેર બનાવી દઇશ
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને તું તદૃન વેરાન થઇ જઇશ;
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<q style="q1">ત્યારે તને જાણ થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.35.5" />“‘ઇસ્રાએલ સાથે તમે સતત દુશ્મનાવટ રાખી છે. અને વિનાશના સમયે, તેમની છેલ્લી સજાને સમયે તમે ઇસ્ત્રાએલીઓને તરવારથી હણવા માટે સુપ્રત કરી દીધાં.’”
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.35.6" />તેથી યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “હું ખાતરીપૂર્વક કહું છું કે તારામાં રકતપાત થશે અને તું બચશે નહિ, તું હત્યાકાંડમાં બહુ આનંદ માણે છે તેથી લોહી તારી પર આવશે અને તને હંફાવી દેશે, હવે તારો વારો આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.35.7" />હું સેઇરના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશને વેરાન બનાવી દઇશ અને લોકોને હું ત્યાથી પસાર થતાં પણ અટકાવીશ.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.35.8" />હું તારા ડુંગરો, ખીણો અને નદીનાળાં યુદ્ધમાં માર્યા ગયેલાઓના શબોથી ભરી દઇશ.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.35.9" />હું તને સદાને માટે વેરાન બનાવી દઇશ અને તારા નગરોમાં ફરી વસ્તી થશે નહિ, બાંધકામ થશે નહિ ત્યારે તને જાણ થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.35.10" />તમે કહ્યું છે, “ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદા બંને મારા છે, અમે તેનો કબજો મેળવીશું.”
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<p style="p">પણ હું યહોવા ત્યાં તેઓની સાથે છું.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.35.11" />સર્વસત્તાધિશ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે કે, “હું ખાતરીપૂર્વક કહું છું કે, તમે તમારા ક્રોધાવેશમાં જે કર્યું છે તેનો હું બદલો લઇશ. તમે ઇર્ષા અને અદેખાઇમાં જે કર્યું છે તેના માટે હું તમને સજા કરીશ અને હું તમને જે કઇં કરીશ તે દ્વારા ઇસ્રાએલમાં મારું નામ મોટું મનાવીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.35.12" />“અને ત્યારે તમને જાણ થશે કે મેં તમારા અપમાનજનક શબ્દો સાંભળ્યાં હતાં કે, ‘ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો વેરાન છે અને તેમના પર વિજય મેળવવાની આ આપણા માટે તક છે.’
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.35.13" />તમે બડાશ હાંકી છે કે તમે મારા કરતા મહાન છો, તમે મારી વિરુદ્ધ કઠોર શબ્દો બોલ્યા છો પરંતુ મેં તમને સાંભળ્યાં છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.35.14" />યહોવા મારા માલિકના આ વચન છે: “જ્યારે ઇસ્ત્રાએલનો વિનાશ થયો ત્યારે તું ખૂબ ખુશ હતો તેને કારણે હું તારી સાથે પણ એવું જ કરીશ.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.35.15" />જેમ તેં ઇસ્રાએલને ઉજ્જડ થતું જોઇને આનંદ માણ્યો હતો, તેમ હવે હું તને પણ ઉજ્જડ બનાવીશ! સેઇરના પર્વતીય પ્રદેશ અને અદોમનો સમગ્ર દેશ વેરાન થઇ જશે. અને હું સર્વ લોકોનો નાશ કરીશ! ત્યારે તેઓ જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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<c id="36" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ દેશનું ફરી નિર્માણ થશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.36.1" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતોને મારા વચન સંભળાવ, તેમને કહે; હે ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો યહોવાની વાણી સાંભળો,
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.36.2" />આ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે; ‘દુશ્મન તમારે વિષે વાત કરે છે અને કહ્યું, આહા! હવે આ પ્રાચીન ઉચ્ચસ્થાનો<f caller="+"><fr>36:2
</fr><fk>ઉચ્ચસ્થાનો
</fk><ft>પર્વતના શિખર ઉપર અસત્ય દેવોને પૂજવા માટેની બલિદાનની વેદીઓ.</ft></f> અમારા તાબામાં આવ્યા છે!’
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.36.3" />“એમને તું એમ કહે કે, આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે, ‘હે ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો, બીજી પ્રજાઓએ તમારો કબજો લીધો, અને તમને વેરાન બનાવી દીધા અને તમને બધી બાજુએથી તમને કચડી નાખ્યા એટલે તમે તો કુથલીનો વિષય બની ગયા છો અને લોકો તમારા વિષે ખરાબ વાતો કરે છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.36.4" />માટે, હે ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો, મારાં વચનો સાંભળો, યહોવા મારા માલિકે, પર્વતોને અને કોતરોને અને ખીણોને, તથા આસપાસની બીજી પ્રજાઓની લૂંટ અને હાંસીનો ભોગ બનેલા વેરાન ખંડિયેરોને અને ઉજ્જડ શહેરોને જે કહ્યું છે તે સાંભળો;
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.36.5" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે, “મારો કોપ અન્ય પ્રજાઓની અને મુખ્યત્વે અદોમની વિરુદ્ધ સળગી ઊઠયો છે: કારણ કે તેઓએ હર્ષાવેશમાં આવીને તિરસ્કારપૂર્વક ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રદેશોનો કબજો લઇને તેને લૂંટી લીધો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.36.6" />“તેથી તું પ્રબોધ કર અને ઇસ્રાએલના ડુંગરોને અને પર્વતોને, ખીણોને અને કોતરોને કહે કે ‘યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: તમે આજુબાજુની પ્રજાઓના મહેણાં સહન કર્યા છે. તેથી હું કોપાયમાન થયો છું.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.36.7" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે, “તેથી મેં પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી છે કે તમારી આસપાસની પ્રજાઓએ પોતે મહેણાંટોણાં વેઠવા પડશે;
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.36.8" />“પરંતુ, હે ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો, તમારાં વૃક્ષોને શાખાઓ ફૂટશે અને ટૂંક સમયમાં પાછા ફરનાર મારા લોકો માટે ફળો બેસશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.36.9" />કારણ કે જુઓ, હું તમારા પક્ષમાં છું, હું તમારી તરફ ફરીશ, ને તમારામાં ખેડાણ તથા વાવેતર થશે;
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.36.10" />હું તમારા પર પુષ્કળ માણસોને વસાવીશ, ઇસ્રાએલના આખા વંશને હું વસાવીશ; શહેરોમાં ફરી વસ્તી થશે અને ખંડિયેરો ફરી બંધાશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.36.11" />માત્ર લોકોની વસતી જ નહિ, પણ તમારા ઢોરઢાંખર પણ અતિ ઘણાં વધારીશ. હે ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો ફરીથી તમે ઘરોથી ઢંકાઇ જશો. મેં અગાઉ તમારે માટે જે કર્યું છે તેથી વિશેષ હું તમારે માટે કરીશ. ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.36.12" />હું મારી પ્રજાને ફરીથી તમારા પર ચલાવીશ અને તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો પર વાસો કરશે અને કબજો જમાવશે. અને હવે પછી કદી તમે તેમના સંતાનોને હરી લેશો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.36.13" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “બીજી પ્રજાઓ તારી હાંસી કરતા કહેતી હતી કે, ઇસ્રાએલ એવો દેશ છે જે પોતાના માણસોને ભરખી જાય છે અને પ્રજાને નિ:સંતાન બનાવે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.36.14" />તો હવે પછી તું કદી માણસોને ભરખીશ નહિ અને તારા લોકોનાં સંતાનોને હરી લઇશ નહિ,” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.36.15" />“હવે પછી તારે કદી બીજા લોકોના મહેણાં સાંભળવાનો કે વિદેશીઓની નિંદા સહેવાનો વખત નહિ આવે. તું તારી પ્રજાને ફરીથી કદીયે ઠોકર ખવડાવશે નહિ.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<s style="s">યહોવા પોતાના સારા નામની રક્ષા કરશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.36.16" />ફરીથી યહોવાની વાણી મને આ પ્રમાણે સંભાળાઇ:
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.36.17" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પોતાની ભૂમિમાં વસતાં હતાં ત્યારે તેમણે તેને પોતાના વર્તાવ અને દુષ્કૃત્યોથી અશુદ્ધ કરી હતી. મારી સામે તેઓ રજસ્વલા સ્ત્રીની જેમ ચાલતાં હતાં. મારે મન તેમનો વર્તાવ ગંદો અને ધૃણાજનક હતો.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.36.18" />તેમણે આ ભૂમિને ખૂનથી અને મૂર્તિપૂજાથી પ્રદુષિત કરી હતી. તેથી મારો રોષ તેઓ પર સળગી ઊઠયો હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.36.19" />મેં તેમને બીજી પ્રજાઓમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખ્યા અને વિદેશોમાં રઝળતા કરી દીધા. તેમના કૃત્યો અને વર્તાવ જેને લાયક હતા તે જ સજા મેં તેમને કરી.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.36.20" />પણ જ્યારે તેઓ જે જે પ્રજાઓમાં ગયા તેમની વચ્ચે તેમણે મારા પવિત્ર નામને બટ્ટો લગાડ્યો. લોકો તેમને વિષે એવું કહેવા લાગ્યા કે, ‘આ યહોવાના લોકો છે, અને એમને યહોવાના દેશમાંથી નીકળવું પડ્યું છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.36.21" />“હું મારા પવિત્ર નામની ચિંતા કરું છું, કારણ કે મારા લોકોએ સમસ્ત જગતમાં મારા નામને તેઓ જ્યાં જયાં ગયા છે ત્યાં ત્યાં બટ્ટો લગાડ્યો છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.36.22" />એટલે તું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહે કે, આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: ‘હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, હું આ જે કહું છું તે તમારે માટે નથી કરતો પણ મારા પવિત્ર નામને માટે કરું છું, અને તમે જે વિદેશોમાં ગયા હતા તેમની વચ્ચે બદનામી કરી છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.36.23" />તમારે લીધે કલંકિત થયેલા મારા નામની પવિત્રતા હું એ પ્રજાઓમાં સિધ્દ કરી બતાવીશ, અને જ્યારે હું તેમની આગળ તમારી મારફતે મારી પવિત્રતા સિધ્દ કરીશ ત્યારે લોકોને ખાતરી થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZK.36.24" />દેવ કહે છે, “હું તમને બધાને પરદેશોમાંથી બહાર કાઢી એકત્ર કરીને તમારી પોતાની ભૂમિમાં પાછા લાવીશ.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.36.25" />હું તમારા પર શુદ્ધ જળનો છંટકાવ કરીને તમને મૂર્તિપૂજાના પાપથી અને તમારી બધી અશુદ્ધિઓથી મુકત કરીશ.”
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.36.26" />દેવ કહે છે, “હું તમને નવું હૃદય આપીશ, અને તમારામાં હું નવો આત્મા મૂકીશ. હું તમારું પથ્થર સમાન પાપી હૃદય દૂર કરીશ અને તમને નવું પ્રેમાળ હૃદય આપીશ.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.36.27" />હું તમારામાં મારા પોતાના આત્માનો સંચાર કરીશ, તમે મારા નિયમો પ્રમાણે ચાલો, ને નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક મારી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરોતો એમ કરીશ.
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<v id="28" bcv="EZK.36.28" />તમારા પૂર્વજોને આપેલા ઇસ્રાએલના દેશમાં તમે વસશો. તમે મારી પ્રજા થશો અને હું તમારો દેવ થઇશ.”
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<v id="29" bcv="EZK.36.29" />દેવ કહે છે, “હું તમને બધી અશુદ્ધિઓથી બચાવીશ. હું અનાજને આજ્ઞા કરીશ અને તેની વૃદ્ધિ કરીશ, તમારે ત્યાં દુકાળ કદી પડવા દઇશ નહિ,
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<v id="30" bcv="EZK.36.30" />હું વૃક્ષોના ફળ અને ખેતીની પેદાશમાં મબલખ વધારો કરીશ તેથી લોકોમાં તમારે કદી દુકાળનું મહેણું સાંભળવાનું રહેશે નહિ.
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<v id="31" bcv="EZK.36.31" />ત્યારે તમે તમારાં ભૂતકાળના પાપ યાદ કરશો અને તમારા દુષ્કમોર્ને લીધે દુ:ખી થશો અને પોતાની જાતનો તિરસ્કાર કરશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="EZK.36.32" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે, “પણ હંમેશા યાદ રાખો; આ હું તમારે માટે કરતો નથી એની ખાતરી રાખજો, હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, આને તમે તમારા દુષ્કમોર્થી થતી અપકીતિર્ ને બેઆબરૂ સમજો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="EZK.36.33" />યહોવા મારા માલિકનું આ વચન છે: “જ્યારે હું તમને તમારા પાપોથી શુદ્ધ કરીશ ત્યારે હું તમને ફરીથી ઇસ્રાએલમાં તમારા ઘરે પાછા લાવીશ અને ઉજ્જડ થયેલા નગરોને ફરીથી બાંધીશ.
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<v id="34" bcv="EZK.36.34" />તમારા બંદીવાસ દરમ્યાન જે ભૂમિ વરસો સુધી વેરાન પડી હતી અને તેની પાસેથી પસાર થનારા સર્વ તમારા દેશને ખંડિયેર જોઇને નવાઇ પામતા હતા તે ભૂમિ ફરીથી ખેડાતી થશે.
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<v id="35" bcv="EZK.36.35" />જ્યારે હું તમને પાછા ‘લાવીશ ત્યારે તેઓ કહેશે, દેવથી તજાયેલી આ ભૂમિ હવે એદનવાડી સમાન થઇ ગઇ છે! ખંડિયેર જેવા નગરોની આસપાસ કોટ બાંધવામાં આવ્યા છે અને તેમાં ઘણા લોકો વસે છે!’”
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="EZK.36.36" />દેવ કહે છે, “ત્યારે આજુબાજુની બચી ગયેલી પ્રજાઓ જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું અને મેં ખંડિયેર નગરોને ફરી બાંધ્યા છે અને ખેતરોમાં પાક ઉગાડ્યો છે. હું યહોવા તે કહું છું અને હું આ પ્રમાણે કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="EZK.36.37" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “ઇસ્રાએલીઓની વિનંતી હું સાંભળીશ. હજી હું તેઓ માટે એટલું કરવા તૈયાર છું કે હું એમની ઘેટાંની જેમ વંશવૃદ્ધિ કરીશ.
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<v id="38" bcv="EZK.36.38" />યરૂશાલેમમાં પવિત્ર ઉજવણીને દિવસે બલિદાનના ઘેટાંનાં ટોળા ઊભરાય છે, તેવી જ રીતે આ નાશ થઇ ગયેલા નગરોમાં માણસોના ટોળા ઊભરાશે; અને ત્યારે લોકોને ખાતરી થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.”
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<s style="s">સૂકાં હાડકાંઓનું સંદર્શન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.37.1" />યહોવાનો હાથ મારા પર આવ્યો અને યહોવાનો આત્મા મને લઇ ગયો અને મને એક મેદાનમાં મૂક્યો, જે મેદાન સૂકાં હાડકાથી ભરેલું હતું,
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.37.2" />તેમણે મને તે હાડકા વચ્ચે આમતેમ ફેરવ્યો, જોઉં છું તો આખું મેદાન હાડકાંથી છવાયેલું હતું. હાડકાંનો કોઇ પાર નહોતો અને તે બધા તદૃન સુકાઇ ગયેલા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.37.3" />યહોવા મારા માલિકે મને પ્રશ્ર્ન કર્યો; “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, શું આ હાડકાં ફરીથી જીવતા માણસો બની શકે?”
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<p style="p">મેં જવાબ આપ્યો, “યહોવા, તમે એકલા જ આ પ્રશ્ર્નનો ઉત્તર જાણો છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.37.4" />તેણે મને કહ્યું, “તું મારા તરફથી એ હાડકાંઓને પ્રબોધ કર. ‘હે સૂકાં હાડકાંઓ, યહોવાનો સંદેશો સાંભળો,
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.37.5" />યહોવા મારા માલિક તમને આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે, હું તમારામાં શ્વાસ ફૂંકીશ અને તમે ફરી જીવતાં થશો.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.37.6" />હું તમારા પર સ્નાયુઓ બાંધીશ, માંસ પૂરીશ, અને તમને ચામડીથી આવરી લઇ તમારામાં શ્વાસ પૂરીશ એટલે તમે જીવતાં થશો અને તમને ખાતરી થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.37.7" />તેથી યહોવા મારા માલિકે મને કહ્યું હતું તેમ મેં વચનો ઉચ્ચાર્યાં; હું બોલતો હતો ત્યારે જ ગડગડાટ સંભળાયો અને હાડકાં એકબીજા સાથે જોડાવા લાગ્યાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.37.8" />હું જોતો હતો તેવામાં હાડકાની આસપાસ સ્નાયુઓ અને માંસ આવી ગયાં. અને તેઓને ચામડી વડે ઢાંકી દેવામાં આવ્યાં. પણ તેઓ હજુ શ્વાસ લેતા નહોતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.37.9" />પછી મારા માલિક યહોવાએ મને કહ્યુ, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું પવનને પ્રબોધ કર, તું તેને કહે કે યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે, ‘હે પવન, ચારે દિશામાંથી આવ અને આ શરીરોમાં ફૂંક માર જેથી તેઓ સજીવન થાય.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.37.10" />તેથી તેના કહેવા પ્રમાણે મેં પ્રબોધવાનું શરૂ કર્યું તેમનામાં શ્વાસનો સંચાર થયો અને તેઓ સજીવન થઇને ઉભા થઇ ગયા. જાણે બહુ મોટું સૈન્ય!
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.37.11" />ત્યાર બાદ યહોવા મારા માલિકે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, આ હાડકાં એ બધા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો છે, તેઓ કહે છે, ‘અમારા હાડકાં સૂકાઇ ગયાં છે, આશા ઊડી ગઇ છે, અમે કપાઇ ગયેલા છીએ.’
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.37.12" />તેથી પ્રબોધ કરીને તેઓને કહે કે, યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: ‘હું તમારા બંદીવાસની કબરો ખોલી નાખીશ અને તમને ફરીથી ઊભા કરીશ અને ઇસ્રાએલ દેશમાં પાછા લાવીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.37.13" />તમારી કબરો ખોલીને હું તમને બહાર કાઢીશ ત્યારે તમને ખાતરી થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.37.14" />પછી હું મારો આત્મા તમારામાં મૂકીશ અને તમે જીવશો અને તમે તમારા પોતાના દેશમાં ઘરે પાછા ફરશો. ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે મેં યહોવાએ જે તમને વચન આપ્યું હતું તે હું કરી બતાવું છું.’” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<s style="s">યહૂદા અને ઇસ્રાએલ ફરી એક થશે
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.37.15" />પછી યહોવાએ મને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું,
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.37.16" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, એક લાકડી લઇને તેના પર લખ; ‘યહૂદાનું રાજ્ય’. પછી બીજી લાકડી લઇને તેના પર લખ: ‘યૂસફ (એફ્રાઇમ)નું રાજ્ય’.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.37.17" />હવે બંનેને જોડીને એક લાકડી બનાવી દે એટલે તારા હાથમાં એક જ લાકડી રહેશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.37.18" />“તારા દેશબંધુઓ જો તને કહે કે, આથી તમે શું સૂચવવા માંગો છો,
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.37.19" />ત્યારે તારે તેઓને કહેવું કે, ‘આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: હવે હું યૂસફ (એફ્રાઇમ) લાકડી લઇને હું એને યહૂદાની લાકડી સાથે જોડી દઉં છું. આ રીતે હું બે લાકડીમાંથી એક લાકડી બનાવી દઇશ અને એટલે મારા હાથમાં એક જ લાકડી થઇ જશે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.37.20" />“બંને લાકડીઓ તારા હાથમાં એવી રીતે પકડી રાખજે કે લોકો તેને જોઇ શકે. અને પછી તું તેમને કહેજે કે આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.37.21" />‘ઇસ્રાએલીઓ બીજી પ્રજાઓમાં ચાલ્યા ગયા છે તેમને હું ત્યાંથી લઇ આવીશ, ઠેકઠેકાણેથી એકત્ર કરીને તેમને પોતાની ભૂમિમાં પાછા વસાવીશ.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.37.22" />હું મારી પોતાની ભૂમિમાં, ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વત પર તેમને એક જ પ્રજા બનાવીશ અને તે બધાનો એક જ રાજા હશે. તેઓ ફરી કદી બે પ્રજાઓ નહિ રહે કે બે રાજ્યોમાં વહેંચાઇ નહિ જાય.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.37.23" />તેઓ મલિન મૂર્તિઓ દ્વારા તથા અપરાધ આચરીને પોતાને અપવિત્ર કરવાનું બંધ કરશે. કારણ કે હું તેઓને સર્વ અશુદ્ધતામાંથી બચાવી લઇશ. ત્યારે તેઓ સાચે જ મારા લોકો થશે અને હું તેઓનો દેવ થઇશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZK.37.24" />“‘મારા સેવક દાઉદ જેવો એક રાજા તેમના પર રાજ્ય કરશે. તે જ બધાનો એક માત્ર પાળક હશે. તેઓ મારા નિયમો અનુસાર ચાલશે અને મારી આજ્ઞાઓને માથે ચઢાવી તેનું પાલન કરશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.37.25" />વળી મારા સેવક યાકૂબને મેં જે ભૂમિ આપી હતી અને જેમાં તમારા પિતૃઓ રહેતા હતા તેમાં જ તેઓ રહેશે, તેઓ અને તેમના બાળકો અને તેમના પણ બાળકો ત્યા કાયમ માટે રહેશે. અને મારા સેવક દાઉદ જેવો રાજા કાયમ તેમના પર શાસન ચલાવશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.37.26" />હું તેઓની સાથે શાંતિનો કરાર અનંતકાળને માટે કરીશ, હું તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ. હું તેમને ફરી સ્થાપીશ અને તેમની વંશવૃદ્ધિ કરીશ. અને તેમની વચ્ચે મારા મંદિરની કાયમ માટે સ્થાપના કરીશ.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.37.27" />હું મારું નિવાસસ્થાન તેઓની વચ્ચે રાખીશ. અને તેઓનો હું દેવ થઇશ અને તેઓ મારી પ્રજા થશે.
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<v id="28" bcv="EZK.37.28" />જ્યારે મારું મંદિર તેઓ મધ્યે સદાને માટે રહેશે ત્યારે બીજી પ્રજાઓ સમજી જશે કે હું, યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલને મારી પોતાની પ્રજા ગણું છું.’”
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</p>

<c id="38" />
<s style="s">ગોગની વિરુદ્ધ દેવવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.38.1" />મને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.38.2" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, માગોગ દેશમાંના જરોશ, મેશેખ અને તુબાલના મુખ્ય રાજકર્તા ગોગ તરફ તારું મુખ રાખ્ અને તેની વિરુદ્ધ પ્રબોધ કર.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.38.3" />તેને કહે કે, આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે, ‘હે મેશેખ અને તુબાલના મુખ્ય રાજકર્તા ગોગ, હું તારી સામે પડ્યો છું.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.38.4" />હું તારા જડબામાં આંકડી નાખીને તને પાછો ફેરવીશ; તારા, ભભકાદાર વસ્ત્રો સજેલા ઘોડાને, શસ્ત્રસજ્જ ઘોડેસવારોને અને નાનીમોટી ઢાલોથી સજ્જ અને તરવાર ચલાવતી તારી સમગ્ર સેનાને ઘસડી જઇશ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.38.5" />એ સેનામાં ઇરાનના, કૂશના અને પૂટના માણસો છે અને તે બધા ઢાલ અને ટોપથી સજ્જ છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.38.6" />તારી સાથે ગોમેર દેશની આખી સેના છે, છેક ઉત્તરના બેથ-તોગાર્માહની સમગ્ર સેના છે અને બીજી અનેક પ્રજાઓના માણસો પણ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.38.7" />“‘હે ગોગ, તું તૈયાર રહેજે, તું તેઓનો સરદાર છે, સમગ્ર સેનાને તૈયાર રાખજે.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.38.8" />લાંબા સમય પછી એવો વખત આવશે જ્યારે તને હાંકલ કરવામાં આવશે, ઘણાં વષોર્ પછી તું એવા દેશ પર ચઢાઇ કરીશ, જ્યાંના મોતમાંથી ઊગરી ગયેલા વતનીઓને જુદી જુદી પ્રજાઓમાંથી ફરી એકઠાં કરવામાં આવ્યાં હશે. લાંબા સમયથી વેરાન પડેલા ઇસ્રાએલના ડુંગરો ઉપર તું ચઢાઇ કરીશ, જ્યાં લોકોને અનેક પ્રજાઓમાંથી ફરી એકઠા કરવામાં આવ્યાં હશે, લાંબા સમયથી વેરાન પડેલા ઇસ્રાએલના ડુંગરો ઉપર તું ચઢાઇ કરીશ. જ્યાં અનેક પ્રજાઓમાંથી આવેલા લોકો શાંતિને સુરક્ષિત રીતે રહેતાં હશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.38.9" />તું, તારી વિશાળ સેના તથા તારી સાથે લડનારી બીજી પ્રજાઓના લોકો વાવાઝોડાની જેમ આવી પહોંચી દેશમાં વાદળની જેમ છવાઇ જશો.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.38.10" />યહોવા મારા માલિક ગોગને કહે છે; “એ સમયે તારા મનમાં ભૂંડા વિચારો આવશે અને તું દુષ્ટ યોજના વિચારી કાઢશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.38.11" />તને થશે, ‘હું આ અરક્ષિત દેશ પર ચઢાઇ કરું અને એના દિવાલો કે દરવાજા કે લોખંડના સળીયા વગરના નગરોમાં અને ગામોમાં શાંતિ અને સલામતીમાં વસતા લોકો પર હુમલો કરું.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.38.12" />એકવાર ખંડિયેર થઇ ગયેલા એ નગરોમાં ઘણાં દેશોમાંથી પાછા ફરેલા બધાં ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો વસે છે. હવે તેઓ પાસે પુષ્કળ ઢોરઢાંખર અને વિપુલ સંપત્તિ છે. હવે તેઓ બીજી બધી જાતિઓના કેન્દ્ર સ્થાને છે. હું તેઓ પર હુમલો કરીશ અને ઢોરઢાંખર તથા મિલકત લૂંટી લઇશ અને ખૂબ લૂંટ ભેગી કરીને લઇ જઇશ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.38.13" />“શેબા અને દેદાનના લોકો તથા તાશીર્શના વેપારીઓ અને આગેવાનો તને પૂછશે, ‘તું લૂંટ ચલાવવા આવ્યો છે? શું તેં સોનું, ચાંદી ઉપાડી જવા માટે અને ઢોરઢાંખર અને માલસામાન ઉઠાવી જવા અને ભારે સંપત્તિ લૂંટી જવા માટે સેના ભેગી કરી છે?’”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.38.14" />તેથી દેવ કહે છે, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું ગોગને મારી વાણી સંભળાવ, અને કહે કે, આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: ‘જે વખતે મારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ શાંતિ અને સુરક્ષિત રીતે રહેતા હશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.38.15" />તું ઉત્તરના છેડામાં આવેલા તારા સ્થાનેથી અનેક પ્રજાઓમાંથી એકઠા કરેલા વિશાળ અને પરાક્રમી ઘોડેસવાર સૈન્યને લઇને આક્રમણ કરવા આવશે.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.38.16" />તું મારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ઉપર ચઢી આવશે અને આખા દેશ ઉપર વાદળની જેમ છવાઇ જશે. હવે પછી હું તને મારા દેશ ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરવા માટે મોકલીશ, જેથી હે ગોગ, તારી મારફતે મેં બતાવેલો મારી પવિત્રતાનો પરચો જોઇને બધી પ્રજાઓ જાણે કે હું કોણ છું.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.38.17" />“ભૂતકાળમાં મારા સેવકો ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રબોધકો મારફતે મેં જ્યારે એવી વાણી ઉચ્ચારાવી હતી કે, હું કોઇ પાસે ઇસ્રાએલ ઉપર હુમલો કરાવીશ, ત્યારે મારા મનમાં તું જ હતો.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.38.18" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “તે દિવસે, જ્યારે ગોગ ઇસ્રાએલ પર ચઢાઇ કરશે, ત્યારે મારો રોષ ભભૂકી ઊઠશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.38.19" />મારા પુણ્યપ્રકોપમાં અને મારા ક્રોધાજ્ઞિમાં હું પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરું છું કે, તે દિવસે ઇસ્રાએલમાં ભયંકર ધરતીકંપ થશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.38.20" />મને જોઇને દરિયાની માછલીઓ, આકાશના પંખીઓ, જંગલના પ્રાણીઓ અને પેટે ચાલનારા જીવો તેમજ પૃથ્વી પરનાં બધાં માણસો ધ્રૂજી ઊઠશે. પર્વતો તૂટી પડશે, અને ખડકો ધસી પડશે અને ભીંતો ભોંયભેગી થઇ જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.38.21" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે, “હું ગોગને બધી જાતની આફતોથી ખડભડાવી મૂકીશ. આ હું યહોવા તમારો માલિક બોલું છું. તેના માણસો અંદરો અંદર તરવાર ચલાવશે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.38.22" />હું તેની સાથે, તેના સૈન્ય સાથે અને તેની સાથેના બધા લોકો ઉપર રોગચાળા અને મૃત્યુથી, મૂશળધાર વરસાદથી, કરાંના તોફાનોથી અને તેમની ઉપર ગંધક બાળીને, ન્યાય કરીશ.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.38.23" />આ રીતે હું તમામ પ્રજાઓને બતાવીશ કે હું કેવો મોટો અને પવિત્ર છું અને ત્યારે તેમને જાણ થશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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</p>

<c id="39" />
<s style="s">ગોગ અને તેના સૈન્યનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.39.1" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું ગોગની વિરુદ્ધ પ્રબોધ કર અને કહે: યહોવા મારા માલિક તને આ કહે છે, ‘હેરોશ, મેશેખ તથા તુબાલના રાજકર્તા ગોગ, હું તારી વિરુદ્ધ છું.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.39.2" />હું તને ધૂમાવીને આગળ ધકેલી દઇશ. તને ઠેઠ ઉત્તરમાંથી દોરીને ઇસ્રાએલના ડુંગરો પર ચઢાઇ કરવાને લવાશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.39.3" />હું તારા ડાબા હાથમાંનું ધનુષ્ય તોડી પાડીશ અને તારા જમણાં હાથમાંથી તીર છીનવી લઇશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.39.4" />તું અને તારી સમગ્ર સેના તથા તારી સાથેની બધી પ્રજાઓ ઇસ્રાએલના ડુંગરો પર મૃત્યુ પામશો અને શિકારી પંખીઓ અને જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ તમને ખાઇ જશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.39.5" />તમે ખુલ્લી જમીન પર પડ્યાં રહેશો.’” આ યહોવા મારા માલિક બોલે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.39.6" />દેવ કહે છે, “હું માગોગ પર અને દરિયાકિનારે સુરક્ષિત વસતા તારા સર્વ મિત્ર રાજ્યોના લોકો પર અગ્નિ વરસાવીશ અને તેઓ જાણશે કે હું યહોવા છું.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.39.7" />હું જોઇશ કે મારા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોમાં મારું નામ પવિત્રને જાણીતું થાય, અને એને હું હવે કદી અપમાનિત થવા દઇશ નહિ; અને ત્યારે તમામ પ્રજાઓને જાણ થશે કે હું યહોવા, ઇસ્રાએલનો પરમપવિત્ર દેવ છું.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.39.8" />આ બધું બનવાનું જ છે, જરૂર આ પ્રમાણે થશે જ આ યહોવા મારા માલિક બોલે છે, જે ન્યાયનો દિવસ આવશે એમ મેં કહ્યું હતું તે આવવાનો જ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.39.9" />“ઇસ્રાએલના નગરોના વતનીઓ બહાર નીકળશે અને પોતાનાં હથિયારોના નાનીમોટી ઢાલ, ધનુષ્ય, બાણ અને ભાલાં બાળીને સળગાવી દેશે અને તે સાત વરસ સુધી ચાલશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.39.10" />સાત વર્ષ સુધી તેઓને બળતણ માટે બીજું કશું વાપરવું પડશે નહિ, માણસોને લાકડાં વીણવા વગડામાં જવું પડશે નહિ કે લાકડા કાપવા જંગલમાં નહિ જાય, પણ હથિયારથી જ તાપણાં સળગતા રાખશે. તેમને લૂંટનારાઓને તેઓ લૂટશે અને તેમનું પડાવી લેનારનું તેઓ પડાવી લેશે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.39.11" />દેવ કહે છે, “એ દિવસે હું ગોગ માટે ઇસ્રાએલની ભૂમિમાં મૃતસરોવરની પૂવેર્ આવેલી મુસાફરોની ખીણ કબ્રસ્તાન તરીકે આપીશ. તે મુસાફરોનો રસ્તો રોકશે કારણ કે ત્યાં ગોગ અને તેના સમગ્ર સૈન્યને દફનાવાશે અને એ ખીણ ‘ગોગના સૈન્યની’ ખીણ કહેવાશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.39.12" />એ તમામને દફનાવતા અને દેશને સાફ કરતાં ઇસ્રાએલીઓને સાત મહિના લાગશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.39.13" />પ્રત્યેક ઇસ્રાએલી તેમાં મદદ કરશે. કારણ કે તે દિવસ ઇસ્રાએલ માટે મહિમાવંત વિજયનો દિવસ હશે જ્યારે હું મારો મહિમા પ્રગટ કરીશ.” એવું યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.39.14" />દેવ કહે છે, “સાત મહિના પછી દેશમાં ફરતા રહી જમીન પર બાકી રહી ગયેલાં શબો શોધી કાઢી અને તેઓને દફનાવીને દેશને સાફ કરવા માટે માણસો પસંદ કરવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.39.15" />તે સમયે જો કોઇ વ્યકિત મનુષ્યનું હાડકું જુએ તો તેણે હાડકા પાસે ચિહન મૂકવું. પછી કબર ખોદનારાઓ આવીને તેને ગોગના સૈન્યની ખીણમાં દાટી દે.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.39.16" />ત્યાં જે નગર છે તે ‘હામોનાહ’ કહેવાશે અને આમ દેશ પાછો સ્વચ્છ થઇ જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.39.17" />આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે, ‘હવે પક્ષીઓને અને જંગલી પ્રાણીઓને બોલાવ અને તેઓને કહે: મહાબલિદાનરૂપ ઉજાણી માટે એકઠાં થાઓ, પાસેના તથા દૂરના સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો પર આવો, આવો, માંસ ખાઓ અને લોહી પીઓ!
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.39.18" />યોદ્ધાઓનું માંસ ખાઓ અને પૃથ્વીના રાજકર્તાઓનું લોહી પીઓ. એ બધા તમારા ઘેટાંબકરાં છે અને બાશાનના માતેલા બળદો છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.39.19" />તૃપ્ત થાઓ ત્યાં સુધી તમે ચરબી ખાઓ અને જ્યાં સુધી નશો ના ચઢે ત્યાં સુધી તમે લોહી પીઓ. આ બલિદાનયુકત ઉજાણી મેં તમારા માટે જ તૈયાર કરી છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.39.20" />મારા ભોજનસમારંભની મેજ પર તમે ઉજાણી માણો, ઘોડાઓ, ઘોડેસવારો અને શૂરવીર યોદ્ધાઓની ઉજાણી માણો.’” એમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.39.21" />દેવ કહે છે, “આ રીતે હું બીજી પ્રજાઓ મધ્યે મારો મહિમા પ્રગટ કરીશ. ગોગને થયેલી શિક્ષા સર્વ લોકો જોશે અને તેઓ જાણશે કે મેં તે કર્યું છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.39.22" />તે દિવસથી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ જાણવા પામશે કે હું તેમનો દેવ યહોવા છું.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.39.23" />બધી પ્રજાઓ જાણશે કે ઇસ્રાએલીઓએ પાપ કર્યા હતા, તેઓ મને વિશ્વાસઘાતી નીવડ્યા હતા. માટે તેમને દેશવટે જવું પડ્યું હતું. એથી મેં તેમનાથી વિમુખ થઇને તેમને તેમના શત્રુઓના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધા હતા, અને તેઓ બધા જ તરવારનો ભોગ બન્યા હતા.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.39.24" />તેમનાં ષ્ટાચાર અને પાપોને ઘટે એ રીતે જ મેં તેમની સાથે વ્યવહાર રાખ્યો અને હું તેમનાથી વિમુખ થઇ ગયો હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EZK.39.25" />“પણ હવે, હું યાકૂબના વંશજો ઇસ્રાએલીઓ પર દયા કરી તેમનો ભાગ્યપલટો કરીશ. બંદીવાસનો અંત લાવીશ, અને તેઓની આબાદી પાછી આપીશ; કારણ કે હું મારા પવિત્ર નામની પ્રતિષ્ઠા વિષે જાગૃત છું.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.39.26" />તેઓ પાછા પોતાના વતનમાં શાંતિને સલામતીમાં રહેતા થશે. અને તેઓ કોઇનાથી ડરશે નહિ, ત્યારે મારા પ્રત્યે વિશ્વાસઘાતી થવાની સજા અને શરમ પૂરા થશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.39.27" />હું તેઓને પોતાના શત્રુઓના દેશમાંથી ઘેર પાછા લાવીશ. હું તેમ કરીશ ત્યારે મારો મહિમા સર્વ પ્રજાઓ સમક્ષ દ્રશ્યમાન બનશે. તેમના મારફતે હું બીજી પ્રજાઓ સમક્ષ પવિત્ર મનાઇશ.
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<v id="28" bcv="EZK.39.28" />અને ત્યારે મારા લોકો જાણશે કે હું તેમનો દેવ યહોવા છું, કારણ, મેં તેમને બીજી પ્રજાઓમાં દેશવટે મોકલ્યા હતા. અને હું જ તેમને પોતાના વતનમાં પાછા ભેગા કરનાર છું. એકને પણ બહાર રહેવા દેનાર નથી.
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<v id="29" bcv="EZK.39.29" />અને ઇસ્ત્રાએલી કુળ પર મારો પ્રાણ રેડ્યા પછી ફરી કદી હું તેમનાથી વિમુખ નહિ થાઉં?” આમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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<c id="40" />
<s style="s">નવા મંદિરનું સર્જન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.40.1" />અમારા દેશવટાના પચ્ચીસમે વષેર્ એટલે કે શહેરનો નાશ થયા પછી ચૌદમે વષેર્, વર્ષની શરુઆતમાં, મહિનાના દશમાં દિવસે યહોવાનો હાથ મારી પર આવ્યો અને તે મને ત્યાં લઇ ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EZK.40.2" />સંદર્શનમાં યહોવા મને ઇસ્રાએલ દેશમાં લઇ ગયા અને ઊંચા પર્વત પર મને બેસાડ્યો, ત્યાંથી દક્ષિણે મેં એક નગરમાં હોય તેવા મકાનો જોયા.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.40.3" />તે મને તેમની નજીક લઇ ગયા અને મેં પિત્તળની જેમ ચળકતાં એક માણસને જોયો. તેણે માપવા માટેની દોરી અને માપદંડ હાથમાં પકડેલા હતાં, અને તે દરવાજા આગળ ઊભો હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.40.4" />તેણે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ધારીને જો, અને ધ્યાન દઇને સાંભળ, હું તને જે કઇં બતાવું તેના પર બરાબર ધ્યાન આપ, કારણ, તને એટલા માટે જ અહીં લાવવામાં આવ્યો છે. તું જે જુએ તે બધું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને જણાવજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.40.5" />એક મંદિરના વિસ્તારની ચારે તરફ દીવાલ હતી. એનો માપદંડ માણસના હાથમાં “લાંબો હાથ”<f caller="+"><fr>40:5
</fr><fk>“લાંબો હાથ”
</fk><ft>આ આંકણી “લાંબા હાથ” પર આધારિત હતી જે યાજકો દ્વારા પવિત્ર બાંદકામમાં વપરાતી હતી. રાબીનીકમાં આને “મૂસાનો હાથ” કહેવાય છે. આ હાથ 20-5/8 અથવા (54:26 ઠ.ત્ર્) અથવા પાંચ વેંત ટૂંકા કયૂબીટની સરખામણીમાં જે ચાર વેંત પહોળાઇ જેટલું હોય છે.</ft></f> વાપરતાં, 6 હાથ લાંબો હતો. અને તેણે દિવાલની પહોળાઇ માપી તે એક દંડ હતી અને દિવાલની ઊંચાઇ એક દંડ હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.40.6" />ત્યાર બાદ તે પૂર્વ તરફના દરવાજે ગયો અને તેના પગથિયાં ચઢીને તેણે બારસાખનું માપ લીધું તો તે એક દંડ પહોળી.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.40.7" />રક્ષકોની ઓરડી એક દંડ લાંબી અને એક દંડ પહોળી હતી. રક્ષક ઓરડીઓની વચ્ચે પાંચ હાથનું અંતર હતું અને મંદિર તરફ જતી અંદરની પરસાળ એક દંડ લાંબી હતી.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.40.8" />તેણે દરવાજાની મંદિર તરફની પરસાળ માપી. અને તે એક દંડ લાંબી હતી.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.40.9" />તે 8 હાથ લાંબી હતી અને તેના થાંભલા 2 હાથ જાડા હતા, આ ઓસરી મંદિર તરફ જતી હતી.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.40.10" />પરસાળની બન્ને બાજુ સરખા માપની ત્રણ ત્રણ ઓરડીઓ હતી અને તેમની વચ્ચેની ભીંતો પણ બધી સરખી જાડાઇની હતી.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.40.11" />તે પછી એણે દરવાજાના પ્રવેશ ભાગની લંબાઇ પહોળાઇ માપી, તેની પહોળાઇ 10 હાથ તથા લંબાઇ 13 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.40.12" />દરેક રક્ષક ઓરડીઓ આગળ એક હાથ ઊંચી અને એક હાથ પહોળી પાળી હતી. એ ઓરડીઓ દરેક 6 હાથ લાંબી અને છ ઇંચ પહોળી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.40.13" />એ પછી તેણે એક ઓરડીની પાછલી ભીંતથી સામેની ઓરડીની પાછલી ભીત સુધીનું અંતર માપ્યું તો એક દરવાજાથી સામેના દરવાજા સુધી 25 હાથ હતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.40.14" />ને પછી, તેણે બહારના થાંભલેથી માંડીને દરવાજા પાસેના બીજા થાંભલા સુધી માપ લીધું અને તે 60 હાથ હતું.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.40.15" />પરસાળની કુલ લંબાઇ પ્રવેશદ્વારથી ઓસરીના અંદરના છેડા સુધી, 50 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.40.16" />પરસાળની બંને તરફથી તથા રક્ષક ઓરડીની પરસાળ તરફની બારીઓ સાંકડી થતી જતી હતી. પ્રવેશભાગ તરફની પરસાળ તથા ઓસરીની ભીંતોમાં પણ આ જ પ્રમાણે બારીઓ હતી. અને એ ઓસરી તરફની ભીંતો પર ખજૂરીઓ કોતરેલી હતી.
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</p>
<s style="s">બહારનું મેદાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EZK.40.17" />ત્યાર બાદ તે માણસ મને દરવાજામાં થઇને મંદિરની ફરતે આવેલાં બહારના ચોકમાં લઇ ગયો. તેની બહારની ભીંતને અડીને ત્રીસ ઓરડીઓ બાંધેલી હતી અને તેની સામેની જગ્યા ફરસબંધીવાળી હતી.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.40.18" />એ ફરસબંધી આખા ચોકની ફરતે કરેલી હતી. અંદરના ચોક કરતાં આ બહારનો ચોક થોડો નીચો હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.40.19" />થોડે ઊંચે એક દરવાજો હતો, તેમાંથી અંદરના ઓરડામાં જવાતું હતું. પેલા માણસે બે દરવાજા વચ્ચેનું અંતર માપ્યું તો તે 100 હાથ હતું. ઉત્તર અને પૂર્વ દિશાનું માપ સરખું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.40.20" />ત્યાર બાદ તે માણસે બહારના ચોકમાં જવાનો ઉત્તર તરફનો દરવાજો માપ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.40.21" />આ દરવાજામાં પણ દરેક બાજુએ ત્રણ રક્ષક ઓરડીઓ હતી, આ દરવાજાની રક્ષક ઓરડીઓના, તેમની વચ્ચેની ભીંતના અને પરસાળના માપ પૂર્વ તરફના દરવાજાના માપ પ્રમાણે જ હતાં, દરવાજાની લંબાઇ 50 હાથ હતી, બંને તરફની રક્ષક ઓરડીઓની છત વચ્ચેની પહોળાઇ 25 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.40.22" />આ દરવાજામાં ત્રણ બારીઓ, ઓસરી અને ખજૂરીવૃક્ષની કોતરણીના પૂર્વના દરવાજાની જેમ હતાં. સાત પગથિયાં ચઢીને આ દરવાજામાં પહોંચાતું હતું.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.40.23" />પૂર્વના દરવાજાની જેમ જ ઉત્તરના દરવાજા સામે અંદરના ચોકમાં જવાનો એક દરવાજો હતો. આ બે દરવાજાઓ વચ્ચેનું અંતર 100 હાથ હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="EZK.40.24" />પછી તે માણસ મને દક્ષિણના દરવાજે લઇ ગયો, તેણે તેના માપ લીધાં અને તે પણ ઉપર પ્રમાણે પૂર્વના અને ઉત્તરના દરવાજાઓના માપ જેટલા જ હતાં.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.40.25" />બીજા દરવાજાઓની માફક આ દરવાજાની ઓરડીઓને પણ બારીઓ હતી. એ દરવાજો એકંદરે 50 હાથ લાંબો અને 25 હાથ પહોળો હતો.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.40.26" />સાત પગથિયાં ચઢીને એ દરવાજે પહોંચાતું હતું, અને એનો મોટો ખંડ પણ ચોકની સામે જ આવેલો હતો. ઓસરીમાં પડતી ભીંતો પર ખજૂરીનાં વૃક્ષો કોતરેલાં હતાં.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.40.27" />અહીં પણ અંદરના ચોકમાં જવા માટે એક દરવાજો હતો. પેલા માણસે આ બીજા દરવાજા સુધીનું અંતર માપ્યું તો તે 100 હાથ થયું.
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<s style="s">અંદરનું મેદાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EZK.40.28" />ત્યાર બાદ તે માણસ મને દક્ષિણના દરવાજામાં થઇને અંદરના ચોકમાં લઇ ગયો. તેણે તે દરવાજો માપ્યો તો તે બીજા દરવાજા જેટલો જ થયો. તેની રક્ષક ઓરડીઓ, થાંભલા, પરસાળ અને ઓસરીના માપ બીજા દરવાજાઓ જેટલાં જ હતાં.
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<v id="29" bcv="EZK.40.29" />આ દરવાજાની રક્ષક ઓરડીઓને તથા દરવાજાની પરસાળમાં પણ બારીઓ હતી. બીજા દરવાજાની જેમ આ દરવાજાની પણ લંબાઇ 50 હાથ અને પહોળાઇ 25 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="30" bcv="EZK.40.30" />ચોગરદમ પરસાળ હતી. દરેક 25 હાથ લાંબી અને 5 હાથ પહોળી.
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<v id="31" bcv="EZK.40.31" />માત્ર એક તફાવત હતો કે તેના પ્રવેશદ્વાર સુધી પહોંચવા સાતને બદલે આઠ પગથિયાં હતાં, તેના થાંભલાં પર પણ બીજા થાંભલાની જેમ જ ખજૂરીવૃક્ષની કોતરણી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="EZK.40.32" />પછી તે મને અંદરના ચોકમાં પૂર્વ તરફ લાવ્યો; તેણે તે દરવાજો માપ્યો; તે ઉપરના માપ પ્રમાણે થયો.
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<v id="33" bcv="EZK.40.33" />તેની રક્ષક ઓરડીઓ, મોટો ખંડ અને એની ભીંતો તથા બીજા દરવાજાના માપ જેટલાં જ હતાં. આ દરવાજાની ઓરડીઓને પણ બારીઓ હતી. એ દરવાજાની કુલ લંબાઇ 50 હાથ અને પહોળાઇ 25 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="34" bcv="EZK.40.34" />મોટો ખંડ બહારના ચોકની સામે આવેલો હતો. રસ્તાની બંને બાજુની ભીતો ઉપર ખજૂરીના વૃક્ષો કોતરેલા હતા. આઠ પગથિયાં ચઢીને એ દરવાજે પહોંચાતું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="EZK.40.35" />પછી તે માણસ મને અંદરના ચોકમાં જવા માટેના ઉત્તર તરફના દરવાજે લઇ ગયો. તેણે તેના માપ લીધાં, તેના માપ પણ બીજા દરવાજાઓ પ્રમાણે જ હતાં.
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<v id="36" bcv="EZK.40.36" />તેની રક્ષકઓરડીઓ, થાંભલાં, પરસાળ, અને ઓસરી તથા બારીના માપ બીજા દરવાજાઓ પ્રમાણે જ હતાં. આ દરવાજાની પણ લંબાઇ 50 હાથ અને પહોળાઇ 25 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="37" bcv="EZK.40.37" />તેની પરસાળ બહારના ચોકની સામે હતી અને તેની બંને તરફની ભીંતો ઉપર ખજૂરીવૃક્ષની કોતરણી હતી. દરવાજે પહોંચવા માટે આઠ પગથિયાં હતાં.
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<s style="s">દહનાર્પણ ધોવાની ઓરડી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="EZK.40.38" />બહારના ચોકમાં અંદરના દરવાજાને અડીને એક નાની ઓરડી હતી જેમાં થઇને ઓસરીમાં જવાતું હતું. અહીં દહનાર્પણ માટેના પશુઓને ધોવામાં આવતા હતાં,
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<v id="39" bcv="EZK.40.39" />મોટાં ખંડમાં ચાર મેજ હતાં-દરેક બાજુએ બબ્બે એની ઉપર દહનાર્પણમાં કે પ્રાયશ્ચિતમાં અથવા દોષપ્રક્ષાલનના બલિના પશુઓને વધેરવામાં આવતાં.
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<v id="40" bcv="EZK.40.40" />ખંડની બહાર પણ ચાર મેજ હતાં-ઉત્તરના દરવાજાની બંને બાજુએ બબ્બે.
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<v id="41" bcv="EZK.40.41" />આમ ખંડની અંદર ચાર મેજ હતાં અને બહાર ચાર મેજ હતાં. એટલે કુલ આઠ મેજ હતાં. જેના ઉપર પશુઓને વધેરવામાં આવતાં.
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<v id="42" bcv="EZK.40.42" />ત્યાં બીજી ચાર પથ્થરની મેજ હતી. તે પર વધ કરવા માટેના છરા હતા. દરેક મેજ દોઢ હાથ લાંબી, દોઢ હાથ પહોળી અને એક હાથ ઊંચી હતી.
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<v id="43" bcv="EZK.40.43" />પરસાળની ભીંતે એક વેંત લાંબી આંકડીઓ લગાડેલી હતી અને મેજ ઉપર અર્પણ માટેનું માંસ હતું.
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</p>
<s style="s">યાજકોની ઓરડીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="EZK.40.44" />પછી પેલો માણસ મને અંદરના ચોકમાં લઇ ગયો. ત્યાં ઉત્તરના દરવાજાને અડીને એક ખાસ ઓરડો હતો. જેનું મોઢું દક્ષિણ તરફ હતું. એવો જ એક ઓરડો દક્ષિણના દરવાજે અડીને હતો. અને તેનું મોઢું ઉત્તર તરફ હતું.
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<v id="45" bcv="EZK.40.45" />પેલા માણસે મને કહ્યું, “દક્ષિણના દરવાજા પાસેની ઓરડી મંદિરમાં સેવા કરનાર યાજકો માટે છે.
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<v id="46" bcv="EZK.40.46" />અને દક્ષિણના દરવાજાની ઓરડી વેદીની સંભાળ રાખનાર યાજકો માટે છે, તેઓ સાદોકના વંશજો છે. લેવીઓમાંથી માત્ર તેઓ જ યહોવાની સેવા કરવા પાસે જઇ શકે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="EZK.40.47" />પછી પેલા માણસે આગળના
<add>અંદરના</add> ચોકને માપ્યો. તો તે 100 હાથ લાંબો અને 100 હાથ પહોળો હતો. વેદી મંદિરની સામે ચોકમાં હતી.
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</p>
<s style="s">મંદિરનો પ્રવેશ- કક્ષ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="EZK.40.48" />ત્યાર પછી તે મને મંદિરના પ્રવેશદ્વારની પરસાળમાં લઇ ગયો. તેણે એ પરસાળ માપી તો તે 5 હાથ લાંબી અને 5 હાથ પહોળી હતી. દરેક બાજુના દરવાજા 3 હાથ પહોળા હતાં.
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<v id="49" bcv="EZK.40.49" />પરસાળની લંબાઇ 20 હાથ અને પહોળાઇ 11 હાથ હતી. ત્યાં દશ પગથિયાં ચઢીને જવાતું હતું. એના પ્રવેશદ્વારની બંને બાજુએ એક એક થાંભલો હતો.
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</p>

<c id="41" />
<s style="s">પરમપવિત્ર મંદિર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.41.1" />પછી તે મને પવિત્રસ્થાને લઇ આવ્યો અને તેના પ્રવેશદ્વારની બારસાખનું માપ લીધું તો તે દરેક બાજુએ 6 હાથ ઊંડી હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.41.2" />અને પહોળાઇ 10 હાથ હતી. પ્રવેશદ્વારની બંને બાજુએ ભીતો પાંચ પાંચ હાથ જાડી હતી. પવિત્રસ્થાનની જ્યારે તેણે લંબાઈ માપી તો તે 40 હાથ હતી અને પહોળાઈ 20 હાથ હતી.
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</p>
<s style="s">મંદિરનું પરમપવિત્રસ્થાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.41.3" />પછી તે પવિત્રસ્થાનની પાછળના અંદરના ભાગમાં એટલે પરમપવિત્ર મંદિરમાં ગયો. તેણે પ્રવેશ આગળના સ્તંભો માપ્યા. તે દરેક 2 હાથ પહોળા હતા. તેનો પ્રવેશ 6 હાથ પહોળો હતો અને તેની બંને તરફની ભીંતો 7 હાથ પહોળી હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.41.4" />પછી તેણે પરમપવિત્ર સ્થાનનો ઓરડો માપ્યો તો તે 2 હાથ પહોળો અને 20 હાથ લાંબો હતો. પછી તેણે મને કહ્યું, “આ પરમ પવિત્ર સ્થાન છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">મંદિરની ચારેબાજુના બીજા ઓરડા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.41.5" />ત્યાર પછી તેણે મંદિરની બહારની ભીતની જાડાઇ માપી તો તે 6 હાથ પહોળી હતી. અને સમગ્ર મંદિરમાં નાની ઓરડીઓ 4 હાથ પહોળી હતી. અને તેની બાજુની ઓરડી બાર ઇંચ પહોળી હતી (મંદિરની આજુબાજુ).
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.41.6" />એ ઓરડીઓ એક ઉપર એક આવેલી હતી. ત્રણ માળ મળીને કુલ 30 હતી. મંદિરની ભીંતની જાડાઇ દરેક માળે ઓછી થતી જતી હતી એટલે દરેક માળે એ ભીતમાં ખાંચો રહેતો હતો. તેથી ઓરડીઓ મંદિરની ભીંતમાં કાણાં પાડ્યા વગર એ ખાંચાને ટેકે રહી શકતી હતી.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.41.7" />આ ઓરડીઓને લીધે મંદિરની બહારની બાજુએથી ભીંતો તળિયાથી તે મથાળા સુધી સરખી જાડાઇની લાગતી હતી. મંદિરની ફરતે બાંધેલી ઓરડીઓની બહારની બાજુએ દાદરો હતો. તેથી નીચેના માળથી વચલા અને ઉપલા માળે જઇ શકાતું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.41.8" />મેં જોયું કે મંદિર ઊંચા ઓટલા પર બાંધેલું હતું. ઓરડીઓનો પાયો ઓટલા સાથે સમતલ હતો. ઓટલાની ઊંચાઇ 6 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.41.9" />આ ઓરડીઓની બહારની ભીંત 5 હાથ જાડી હતી.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.41.10" />આ ઓરડીઓની અને યાજકોની ઓરડીઓ વચ્ચે મંદિરની ચારેબાજુ 20 હાથનું અંતર હતું. તે ફાજલ જગ્યા કહેવાતી હતી.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.41.11" />ઓરડીઓમાં પ્રવેશવા માટે ફાજલ જગ્યામાંથી એક ઉત્તર તરફ અને બીજો દક્ષિણ તરફ એમ બે પ્રવેશ હતા. ફાજલ જગ્યા સાથે જોડાતા આ બંને પ્રવેશની પહોળાઇ પાંચ પાંચ હાથ હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.41.12" />મંદિર પાછળની ખુલ્લી જગ્યાની પશ્ચિમ બાજુએ એક મકાન હતું. તે 70 હાથ પહોળું અને 90 હાથ લાંબું હતું. તેની ચારે બાજુની ભીતો 5 હાથ જાડી હતી.
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<v id="13" bcv="EZK.41.13" />તે માણસે મંદિરની બહારની બાજુનું માપ લીધું તો તે 100 હાથ લાંબું હતું. અને ખુલ્લી જગ્યા, મકાન અને તેની ભીતો કુલ મળીને 100 હાથ થતા હતા. મંદિરની પછી તથા ચોકમાં થઇને પશ્ચિમ છેડાના મકાન સુધીનું અંતર 100 હાથ હતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.41.14" />મંદિરના આગલા ભાગની લંબાઇ બંને બાજુની ખુલ્લી જગ્યા સહિત 100 હાથ હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.41.15" />તેણે પવિત્રસ્થાન પશ્ચિમે આવેલું મકાનનું અને તેની બંને બાજુની ભીતોનું માપ લીધું તો તે 100 હાથ હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.41.16" />મંદિરનો પ્રવેશખંડ, મંડપ અને ગર્ભગૃહને બધે જ ભોંયતળિયાથી તે બારીઓ સુધી લાકડાની તકતીઓ જડેલી હતી. એ બારીઓ ઢાંકી દઇ શકાય એમ હતું.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.41.17" />મંડપની ભીતો ઉપર બારણાના મથાળા સુધી ખજૂરીના વૃક્ષો અને કરૂબો કોતરેલા હતાં:
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.41.18" />પહેલાં એક ખજૂરીનું વૃક્ષ અને પછી એક કરૂબ એ ક્રમમાં આખા મંડપની ફરતે કોતરેલું હતું. દરેક કરૂબને બે મોઢાં હતાં.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.41.19" />માણસનું મોઢું એક બાજુના ખજૂરીવૃક્ષ તરફ હતું અને સિંહનું મોઢું બીજી બાજુના ખજૂરીવૃક્ષ તરફ હતું. આખી ભીત ઉપર આ પ્રમાણે કોતરેલું હતું.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.41.20" />ભોંયતળિયાથી તે બારણાના મથાળા સુધી કરૂબો તથા ખજૂરીઓની કોતરણી કરેલી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.41.21" />પવિત્રસ્થાનના બારણાં આગળની બારસાખો ચોરસ હતી. અને તે જ પ્રમાણે પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનના બારણાની બારસાખો પણ ચોરસ હતી.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.41.22" />પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનમાં લાકડાની વેદી હતી, તે 3 હાથ ઊંચી અને 2 હાથ પહોળી હતી, તેના ખૂણા, પાયા, તથા બાજુઓ લાકડાના બનેલા હતા. તેણે મને કહ્યું કે, “આ યહોવાની સંમુખ રહેનારી મેજ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EZK.41.23" />મંદિરને તથા પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનને બે બારણાં હતાં.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.41.24" />પ્રત્યેક બારણાને બે કમાડ હતાં, બે ફરતાં કમાડ હતાં; એક બારણાને બે કમાડ, ને બીજા બારણાને પણ બે.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.41.25" />ભીંતની જેમ મંદિરના બારણાં પર પણ ખજૂરીવૃક્ષ અને કરૂબોની કોતરણી હતી. ઓસરીના બારણા બહાર લાકડાનું એક છાપરૂં હતું.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.41.26" />એ ઓસરીની બંને બાજુએ ભીંતોમાં બારીઓ હતી અને બંને તરફ ખજૂરીવૃક્ષની કોતરણી હતી. મંદિરની બાજુની ઓરડીઓ પર પણ જાડા ભારોટિયા હતાં.
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</p>

<c id="42" />
<s style="s">યાજકોનાં ઓરડા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.42.1" />પછી પેલો માણસ મને બહારના ચોકમાં લઇ ગયો અને ત્યાંથી તે મને ઉત્તરી દરવાજેથી લઇ ગયો અને ઉત્તરી બાજુના મકાન તરફની બહારના પ્રાંગણની સામેના ઓરડાઓમાં લઇ આવ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.42.2" />ઉત્તરી દરવાજા પાસેના મકાનની પહોળાઇ 50 હાથ અને લંબાઇ 100 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.42.3" />આ ઇમારતની એક બાજુ, મંદિરની ફરતે 20 હાથની ખુલ્લી જગ્યા તરફ પડતી હતી અને બીજી બાજુ બહારના પ્રાંગણની ફરસબંધી તરફ પડતી હતી, એને ત્રણ માળ હતાં અને દરેક માળ નીચેના માળ કરતાં થોડો અંદર લીધેલો હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.42.4" />આ ઇમારતની ઉત્તર બાજુએ 10 હાથ પહોળી અને 100 હાથ લાંબી પરસાળ હતી. મકાનના બારણાં ઉત્તરની બાજુએ પરસાળ તરફ હતાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.42.5" />ઉપલાં માળની ઓરડીઓ વચલા માળની અને ભોંયતળિયાની ઓરડીઓ કરતાં સાંકડી હતી, કારણ, ઓસરીને લીધે જગ્યા કપાઇ જતી હતી.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.42.6" />આ ઓસરીઓને ચોકમાંના બીજા મકાનોની જેમ થાંભલાનો ટેકો ન હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.42.7" />એ ઓરડીઓની સમાંતર બહારના ચોક તરફ 50 હાથ એક ભીત હતી.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.42.8" />બહારના ચોક તરફ આવેલ ઓરડીની હારની લંબાઇ 50 હાથ હતી, અને મંદિર તરફ આવેલ ઓરડીઓની હારની લંબાઇ 100 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.42.9" />બહારના ચોકમાંથી આ ઓરડીઓમાં પ્રવેશતા એમની નીચે થઇને પૂર્વ બાજુએ પ્રવેશવાનું હતું.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.42.10" />મંદિરની પૂર્વ તરફ આવેલી ઇમારતની દક્ષિણ બાજુએ પણ ઉત્તરના જેવી જ એક બીજી ઇમારત હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.42.11" />એની ઓરડીઓ આગળ ઉત્તર બાજુની ઇમારત માફક જ એક પરસાળ હતી. એનું માપ, એની રચના અને એનાં બારણાં ઉત્તર બાજુની ઇમારત જેવા જ હતાં.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.42.12" />એ ઇમારતની દક્ષિણ બાજુએ પૂર્વને છેડે જ્યાંથી ભીંત શરૂ થતી હતી ત્યાં બહારના ચોકમાં જવાનું બારણું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.42.13" />પેલા માણસે મને કહ્યું, “આ બંને ઇમારતો પવિત્ર છે, એમાં યહોવાની સેવા કરનાર યાજકો પરમપવિત્ર અર્પણો ખાય છે એટલે કે યાજકો એમાં ખાદ્યાર્પણો, પાપાર્થાર્પણો અને દોષાર્થાર્પણો મૂકે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.42.14" />મંદિરમાં એકવાર પ્રવેશ્યા પછી યાજકોએ બહારના ચોકમાં જવું હોય તો તેમના વસ્ત્રો ઉતારી આ ઓરડીઓમાં મૂકવાના, કારણ કે તે વસ્ત્રો પવિત્ર છે લોકો પ્રવેશી શકે એ જગ્યાએ તેઓ જાય ત્યારે તેઓએ બીજા વસ્ત્રો પહેરવાં.”
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<s style="s">મંદિરનાં બહારનો ભાગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.42.15" />જ્યારે તેણે મંદિરની અંદરના ભાગનું માપ લેવાનું પૂરૂ કર્યું ત્યારે તે મને પૂર્વના દરવાજામાંથી બહાર લઇ ગયો અને પછી ચારે બાજુનું માપ લેવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.42.16" />તેણે માપદંડ લીધો અને પૂર્વ બાજુ માપી; તે 500 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.42.17" />તેણે માપદંડથી ઉત્તર બાજુ માપી; તે 500 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.42.18" />તેણે માપદંડથી દક્ષિણ બાજુ માપી; તે 500 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.42.19" />તેણે માપદંડથી પશ્ચિમ બાજુ માપી; તે 500 હાથ હતી.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.42.20" />આમ તેણે ચારેબાજુનો વિસ્તાર માપ્યો. એ ભીતથી ઘેરાયેલો ભાગ ચોરસ હતો અને તેની દરેક બાજુ 500 હાથ લાંબી હતી. ભીંત મંદિરના પવિત્ર વિસ્તારને બાકીના વિસ્તારથી જુદી પાડતી હતી.
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<c id="43" />
<s style="s">યહોવાનો મંદિરમાં પુન:પ્રવેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.43.1" />પછી પેલો માણસ મને પૂર્વ તરફના દરવાજે લાવ્યો,
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.43.2" />એકાએક ઇસ્રાએલના દેવનો મહિમા પૂર્વ તરફથી દેખાયો, તેમના આગમનનો અવાજ ધસમસતા પાણીના ઘુઘવાટ જેવો હતો અને ભૂમિ દેવના મહિમાથી પ્રકાશતી હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.43.3" />જે સંદર્શન પ્રથમ મને કબાર નદીને કિનારે થયું હતું અને ફરીથી તે યરૂશાલેમ નગરનો નાશ કરવાને આવ્યા ત્યારે થયું હતું તેના જેવું જ આ સંદર્શન પણ હતું. હું ભૂમિ પર તેમની આગળ ઊંધો પડ્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.43.4" />યહોવાનો મહિમા પૂર્વના દરવાજેથી મંદિરમાં આવ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EZK.43.5" />પછી આત્માએ મને ઉચકયો અને અંદરના ચોકમાં લઇ ગયો, અને જ્યાં મેં જોયું તો મંદિર યહોવાના ગૌરવથી ભરાઇ ગયું હતું.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.43.6" />મેં સાંભળ્યુ કે મારી સાથે કોઇ મંદિરની અંદરથી વાત કરી રહ્યું હતું. જ્યારે તે માણસ મારી બાજુમાં ઊભો હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.43.7" />તેમણે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, આ મારું સિંહાસન અને પાદપીઠ છે. અહીં હું ઇસ્રાએલીઓ વચ્ચે અનંતકાળ સુધી રહીશ. ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો કે તેમના રાજાઓ હવે પછી કદી બીજા દેવોની પૂજા કરીને કે તેમના રાજાઓના મૃતદેહો દ્વારા મારા પવિત્ર નામને બટ્ટો લગાડશે નહિ.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.43.8" />તેઓએ મારા મંદિરની ભીંતની નજીક જ મૂર્તિના મંદિરો બાંધ્યા અને મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરી. તેઓએ આ પ્રકારની દુષ્ટતાથી મારા પવિત્ર નામને કલંકિત કર્યું. તેથી મેં તેઓને મારા ક્રોધમાં ભસ્મ કરી નાખ્યાં.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.43.9" />હવે એ લોકોએ બીજા દેવોની પૂજા કરવાનું છોડી દેવું જોઇએ અને તેમના રાજાઓનાં મૃતદેહોને મારાથી દૂર હટાવી દેવા જોઇએ. જો તેઓ એ પ્રમાણે કરશે તો હું તેમની વચ્ચે સદાકાળ વસીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.43.10" />“હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું ઇસ્રાએલીઓને આ મંદિર બતાવ જેથી તેઓ એના નકશાનો અભ્યાસ કરે, અને પોતાનાં પાપી કૃત્યો માટે શરમાય,
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.43.11" />જો તેઓ પોતાનાં કૃત્યો માટે શરમાતા હોય તો તું તેમને મંદિરનો નકશો સમજાવજે; એની યોજના, એના દાખલ થવાના અને બહાર નીકળવાના માગોર્, એનો ઘાટ, એમાં બધું કેવી રીતે ગોઠવેલું છે તે, અને એનાં બધાં નિયમો અને ધારાધોરણો, આ બધું તું તેમને માટે લખી લે, જેથી તેઓ જોઇ શકે કે બધું કેવી રીતે ગોઠવેલું છે અને બધા નિયમોનું પાલન કરી શકે.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.43.12" />આ મંદિરનો નિયમ છે: પર્વતના શિખર ઉપર જ્યાં મંદિર બાંધવામાં આવ્યું છે ત્યાં મંદિરની આસપાસનો સમગ્ર વિસ્તાર પરમપવિત્ર છે. મંદિરનો આ નિયમ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">વેદી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.43.13" />“પહેલાં વપરાયેલા માપને ધોરણે તો વેદીનું માપ આ પ્રમાણે છે: વેદીના પાયાની ચારેબાજુ એક હાથ ઊંડી અને એક હાથ પહોળી ખાળ હતી. એની બહારની બાજુએ એક વેંત પહોળી કોર હતી.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.43.14" />વેદીનો સૌથી નીચેનો ભાગ 2 હાથ ઊંચો હતો. એ પછીનો ભાગ એના કરતાં 1 હાથ અંદર લીધેલો હતો અને તે 4 હાથ ઊંચો હતો એ પછીનો ભાગ પણ 2 હાથ અંદર લીધેલો હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.43.15" />વેદીનું મથાળું જેના ઉપર પ્રાણીઓનો બલિ હોમવામાં આવતા હતા તે 4 હાથ ઊંચું હતું. એના ચાર ટોચકાં બાકીના ભાગ કરતાં ઊંચા હતાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.43.16" />વેદીના મથાળાની લંબાઇ 12 હાથ અને પહોળાઇ 12 હાથ એટલે સમચોરસ હતી.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.43.17" />વચલો ભાગ પણ સમચોરસ હતો. તેની દરેક બાજુ 14 હાથની હતી. તેને દોઢ હાથ પહોળી, ફરતી ધાર હતી તેની ખાળ ચોતરફ એક હાથ પહોળી હતી. વેદીના પગથિયાં પૂર્વ બાજુએ આવેલાં હતાં.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.43.18" />યહોવા મારા માલિકે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, ‘હું તને કહું તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ, વેદી જ્યારે બંધાઇ રહે ત્યારે એના ઉપર બલિ હોમીને અને બલિના પશુઓનું લોહી છાંટીને તારે એને સમપિર્ત કરવી.’”
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.43.19" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે, “લેવી કુળના સાદોક કુટુંબના યાજકો મારી હજૂરમાં સેવા માટે પાસે આવે છે. પ્રાયશ્ચિત બલિ તરીકે ચઢાવવા તેમને એક વાછરડો આપવો.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.43.20" />તારે એનું થોડું લોહી લઇને વેદીના મથાળાના ચારે શિંગડાને અને વેદીના વચલા ભાગના ચારે ખૂણાને અને ફરતી કોરને લગાડવું. આ રીતે તારે વેદીની શુદ્ધિ કરવી અને તેને બલિદાન મેળવવા તૈયાર કરવી.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.43.21" />ત્યાર પછી પાપાર્થાર્પણનો બળદ લઇને અને તેને મંદિરની બહારને માટે નક્કી કરેલી જગ્યાએ સળગાવી દેવો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EZK.43.22" />“બીજે દિવસે તમારે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો બકરો પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે ધરાવવો અને તેના વડે વાછરડાથી શુદ્ધ કરી હતી તેમ વેદીને શુદ્ધ કરવી.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.43.23" />વેદીને પૂરેપૂરી શુદ્ધ કરી રહ્યા પછી તમારે એક ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો વાછરડો અને ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો મેંઢો લઇને અર્પણ કરવા.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.43.24" />તેઓને યહોવા સમક્ષ રજૂ કરવા અને યાજકોએ તેમના પર મીઠું ભભરાવવું અને તેમને યહોવાના દહનાર્પણ તરીકે અર્પણ કરવા.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.43.25" />સાત દિવસ સુધી દરરોજ તમારે ખોડખાંપણ વિનાનો એક જુવાન બકરો પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે બલિદાન કરવો વળી ખોડખાંપણ વિનાનું એક વાછરડું અને એક ઘેટો અર્પણ કરવા.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.43.26" />સાત દિવસ સુધી બલિદાનો માટે વેદી તૈયાર કરવી અને તેને શુદ્ધ કરી સેવા કરાવવા સમપિર્ત કરવી.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.43.27" />સાત દિવસ પછી આઠમા દિવસથી દરરોજ યાજકો વેદી પર લોકોના દહનાર્પણો અને આભારસ્તુતિનાં અર્પણો બલિદાન કરે અને હું તેમનો સ્વીકાર કરીશ.” એમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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<c id="44" />
<s style="s">બહારનો દરવાજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.44.1" />તે માણસ મને પાછો મંદિરની પૂર્વ બાજુએ આવેલા બહારના દરવાજા આગળ લઇ આવ્યો. એ દરવાજો બંધ હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.44.2" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “આ દરવાજો બંધ રાખવામાં આવશે. એને કદી ઉઘાડવો નહિ. કોઇ માણસે એમાં થઇને દાખલ ન થવું, કારણ, ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ યહોવા એમાં થઇને દાખલ થયેલા છે, એને બંધ જ રાખવો.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.44.3" />રાજકુમાર અને કેવળ રાજકુમાર જ ત્યાં બેસીને યહોવા સમક્ષ ભોજન લઇ શકે, તેણે ઓસરીને માગેર્ જ અંદર આવવું અને બહાર જવું.”
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<s style="s">મંદિરની પવિત્રતા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.44.4" />પછી તે માણસ ઉત્તરના દરવાજેથી મંદિરની સામે આવ્યો. મેં જોયું તો યહોવાના ગૌરવથી મંદિર ભરાઇ ગયું હતું. હું ભૂમિ પર ઊંધો પડ્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.44.5" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, તું જે કઇં જુએ, ને સાંભળે છે ત્યાં ધ્યાન કેન્દ્રીત કર હું તને યહોવાના મંદિરના નિયમો અને ધારાધોરણો કહું છું. મંદિરના પ્રવેશદ્વાર અને પવિત્રસ્થાનના બધા બહાર નીકળવાના સ્થાન પર ખાસ ધ્યાન આપ.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.44.6" />અને આ બંડખોર ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને કહે કે ‘યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: હે ઇસ્રાએલ, તમે ઘણા ધિક્કારપાત્ર કૃત્યો કર્યા છે:
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.44.7" />મને રોટલી ભેદ અને રકત અર્પણ કરતી વખતે તમે વિદેશીઓને, જેઓ હૃદયમાં અને શરીરમાં બેસુન્નત છે, એવા લોકોને મારા પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં લઇ આવ્યા છો. આમ કરીને તમે મંદિરને અશુદ્ધ કર્યું છે અને મારા કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે અને તમારા બીજા સર્વ પાપોની સાથે આ પાપનો વધારો કર્યો છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.44.8" />મારા મંદિરમાં જાતે ઉપાસના કરવાને બદલે તમે એ માણસોને એ કામ સોંપી દીધું છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.44.9" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “હૃદય અને શરીરમાં બેસુન્નત એવા કોઇ પણ વિદેશીઓને અને ઇસ્રાએલીઓ ભેગો વસવાટ કરતા વિદેશીઓ સુદ્ધાંને મારાં મંદિરમાં પ્રવેશ કરવાનો નથી.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.44.10" />જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ દેવથી દૂર જઇને મૂર્તિઓ પાછળ ભટકી ગયા ત્યારે લેવીઓએ પણ મારો ત્યાગ કર્યો. તેઓને તેમની બેવફાઇ માટે શિક્ષા થવી જ જોઇએ.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.44.11" />તો પણ તેઓ દરવાજાઓની ચોકી કરી શકે અને મંદિરના પરચુરણ કામો કરે. તેઓ દહનાર્પણ માટે લાવવા પ્રાણીઓનો વધ કરી શકે અને લોકોની સહાય કરવા હાજરી આપી શકે.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.44.12" />પણ તેઓએ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો તરફથી મૂર્તિની પૂજા કરી હતી અને એમ કરીને લોકોને પાપમાં નાખ્યાં હતાં તેથી હું, યહોવા મારા માલિક, પ્રતિજ્ઞાપૂર્વક કહું છું કે, ‘તેમણે તેમનાં પાપોની સજા ભોગવવી પડશે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.44.13" />“તેઓ યાજકો તરીકે મારી સમક્ષ આવીને મારી સેવા નહિ કરી શકે, તેઓ મારી પવિત્ર વસ્તુઓની પાસે કે ગર્ભગૃહમાં નહિ આવી શકે. તેમણે કરેલાં ધૃણાપાત્ર કૃત્યોની આ સજા છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.44.14" />તેઓ મંદિરની કાળજી રાખનારા, પરચુરણ કામો કરનારા અને લોકોને મદદ કરનારા થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.44.15" />“લેવી વંશના સાદોકના કુળના યાજકોએ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ જ્યારે મારાથી વિમુખ થઇ ગયા હતા ત્યારે પણ મંદિરમાં મારી સેવા કરવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું હતું એટલે તેઓ જ મારી સેવા કરવા માટે મારી પાસે આવી શકશે. તેઓ ચરબી અને લોહી ધરાવવા માટે મારી સમક્ષ ઊભા રહી શકશે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિક બોલે છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.44.16" />“તેઓ મંદિરમાં દાખલ થઇ, મારી વેદી પાસે આવી, મારી સમક્ષ ઊભા રહી શકશે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિક બોલે છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.44.17" />“તેઓ જ્યારે મંદિરના અંદરના ચોકમાં પ્રવેશે ત્યારે માત્ર શણનાં વસ્ત્રો જ ધારણ કરે. મંદિરના અંદરના ચોકમાં અથવા મંદિરમાં સેવા કરતી વખતે ઊનના વસ્ત્રો પહેરે નહિ.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.44.18" />તેઓએ માથે શણની પાઘડી પહેરવી અને શણની ઇજાર પહેરવાં. જે વસ્ત્રો પહેરવાથી પરસેવો થાય તેવાં વસ્ત્રો તેમણે પહેરવાં નહિ.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.44.19" />રી ઉપાસના પૂરી કરીને તેઓ બહારના ચોકમાં લોકો પાસે જાય ત્યારે તેમણે ઉપાસના કરતી વખતે પહેરેલાં વસ્ત્રો ઊતારીને તેમને માટે ઠરાવેલી ઓરડીમાં મૂકી દેવા અને બીજા વસ્ત્રો પહેરવાં, જેથી એમનાં પવિત્ર વસ્ત્રો દ્વારા લોકોમાં પવિત્રતા ફેલાય નહિ
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.44.20" />“તેમણે માથે મુંડન પણ ન કરાવવું તેમ વાળ લાંબા વધવા પણ ન દેવા. તેમણે ટૂંકા વાળ રાખવા.
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<v id="21" bcv="EZK.44.21" />મંદિરના અંદરના ચોકમાં પ્રવેશતા પહેલાં કોઇ પણ યાજકે દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવો નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.44.22" />તે છૂટાછેડા લીધેલી સ્ત્રી કે વિધવા સાથે લગ્ન કરી શકે નહિ. કેવળ ઇસ્રાએલી કુમારિકા સાથે અથવા યાજકની વિધવા સાથે લગ્ન કરી શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EZK.44.23" />“યાજકોએ મારા લોકોને પવિત્ર અને અપવિત્ર વચ્ચેનો ભેદ સમજાવવો અને તેમણે શુદ્ધ શું અને અશુદ્ધ શું છે તે સમજાવવું.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.44.24" />જ્યારે કોઇ ઝઘડો ઊભો થાય ત્યારે તેમણે મારા કાયદા અનુસાર ન્યાય ચૂકવવો. તેમણે મારાં ધારાધોરણો મુજબ બધા તહેવારો ઉજવવા અને વિશ્રામવારની પવિત્રતા જાળવી પાળવો, અને તે માટે કાળજી રાખવી.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.44.25" />યાજકો પોતાના પિતા, માતા, બાળક, ભાઇ અથવા કુંવારી બહેનના અપવાદ સિવાય બીજી કોઇ પણ વ્યકિતના મૃતદેહ પાસે જાય નહિ અને પોતાને અશુદ્ધ કરે નહિ.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.44.26" />શુદ્ધિ પછી તેમણે સાત દિવસ જવા દેવા. પછી જ તે મંદિરમાં પોતાની સેવા ફરીથી બજાવી શકે.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.44.27" />અને ત્યાર પછી અંદરના ચોકમાં જઇ પાપાર્થાર્પણ ચઢાવવો, જેથી તેઓ ફરી મંદિરમાં ઉપાસના કરી શકે.” આ યહોવા મારા માલિક બોલે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EZK.44.28" />“તેઓને ભાગે ઇસ્રાએલમાં કોઇ વારસાગત મિલકત આવેલી નથી. હું જ તેમની મિલકત છું, વારસો છું અને તે તેઓને માટે પૂરતું છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="EZK.44.29" />ખાદ્યાર્પણ, પાપાર્થાર્પણ અને દોષાર્થાર્પણ બલિ એ જ તેમનો ખોરાક છે, અને ઇસ્રાએલમાં મને અર્પણ કરેલું સર્વ કઇં તેમને મળશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="EZK.44.30" />પહેલી ઊપજનો ઉત્તમ ભાગ અને મને ધરાવેલી તમામ વસ્તુઓ યાજકને મળે. અને જ્યારે તમે નવા અનાજની રોટલી બનાવો ત્યારે તમારે પહેલી રોટલી યાજકને અર્પવી, જેથી તમારા ઘર પર આશીર્વાદ ઊતરે.
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<v id="31" bcv="EZK.44.31" />યાજકોએ કદી પણ કુદરતી રીતે મૃત્યુ પામેલા અથવા હિંસક પ્રાણીનો શિકાર બની મૃત્યુ પામેલા કોઇ પણ પશુ કે પંખીનું માંસ ખાવું નહિં.
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</p>

<c id="45" />
<s style="s">પવિત્ર કામ માટે ભૂમિનાં ભાગલા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.45.1" />“જ્યારે તમે ચિઠ્ઠી નાખીને વંશો વચ્ચે જમીનની વહેંચણી કરો ત્યારે 25,000 હાથ લાંબી અને 25,000 હાથ પહોળી જમીન યહોવા માટે જુદી કાઢવી. એ બધી જ જમીન પવિત્ર ગણાશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.45.2" />આ જમીનમાંથી 500 હાથ લાંબો અને 500 હાથ પહોળો જમીનનો ટુકડો મંદિર માટે જુદો કરવો અને તેની આજુબાજુ 50 હાથ જમીનનો પટ્ટો ખાલી રાખવો.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.45.3" />બધી જમીનમાંથી તમારે 25,000 હાથ લાંબો અને 10,000 હાથ પહોળો ટુકડો અલગ કાઢવો. એમાં મંદિર આવશે. એ પરમ પવિત્ર હશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.45.4" />“આ સમગ્ર વિસ્તાર દેશનો પવિત્ર ભાગ ગણાશે. અને યહોવાની સંમુખ રહીને પવિત્ર સ્થાનમાં જેઓ સેવા કરે છે તે યાજકોના ઘરો અને મારું પવિત્રસ્થાન બાંધવા ઉપયોગમાં લેવાશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.45.5" />બાકીની જમીનનો ભાગ મંદિરના પરચૂરણ કામો કરતા લેવીઓ માટે રાખવો. એની માલિકી તેમની ગણાશે. એમાં તેમને વસવા માટે જગ્યાઓ હશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.45.6" />“પવિત્ર ભૂમિની પાસે અડીને 25,000 હાથ લાંબો અને 5,000 હાથ પહોળો જમીનનો ટુકડો સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો માટે ખુલ્લો રહેશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.45.7" />રાજકુમાર માટે પણ જમીન અલગ રાખવામાં આવશે. રાજકુમારની મિલકત પવિત્ર વિસ્તારની બન્ને બાજુએ હશે. અને નગરની મિલકત પૂર્વતરફ અને પશ્ચિમ તરફ હશે. દરેક બાજુની લંબાઇ બીજાં કુળોને આપવામાં આવેલી જમીન જેટલી જ હશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.45.8" />ઇસ્રાએલની જમીનમાં આ ભાગ રાજકુમારની મિલકત ગણાશે, જેથી તેઓ લોકોને ત્રાસ ન આપે અને દેશનો બાકીનો ભાગ ઇસ્રાએલના વંશજો પાસે રહેવા દે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.45.9" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “હે ઇસ્રાએલના સરદારો, મારા લોકોને તેઓના પોતાના દેશમાં લૂંટવાનું અને છેતરવાનું તથા તેઓને દેશમાંથી હાંકી કાઢવાનું બંધ કરો. પણ હંમેશા, નીતિમત્તાને માર્ગે અને ન્યાયના માગેર્ ચાલો અને પ્રામાણિક બનો,” એમ યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EZK.45.10" />“તમારે સાચાં માપ અને વજન વાપરવાં, તમારો ભરવાનો એફાહ સાચો હોવો જોઇએ, તમારો બાથ સાચો હોવો જોઇએ.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.45.11" />પ્રવાહી અને અપ્રવાહી વસ્તુઓના માપ માટે હોમેર તે તમારું અધિકૃત કરેલું એકમ રહેશે. અપ્રવાહી વસ્તુઓ માટે નાનું એકમ એફાહ રહેશે અને પ્રવાહી વસ્તુઓ માટે બાથ રહેશે; બંને એફાહ અને બાથ, હોમેરના દશમાં ભાગ જેટલું છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.45.12" />તમારો વજન કરવાનો વીસ શેકેલ ગેરાહનો હોવો જોઇએ અને માનેહ 60 શેકેલનો હોવો જોઇએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.45.13" />“આ ખાસ ભેટ તમારે રાજકર્તાને આપવાની રહેશે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">એક હોમેર ઘઉંમાંથી એફાહનો છઠ્ઠોભાગ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ને એક હોમેર જવમાંથી એફાહનો છઠ્ઠો ભાગ.
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="EZK.45.14" />અને તમારા જૈતતેલનો એક ટકા ભાગ,
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</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.45.15" />ઇસ્રાએલના સારી રીતે પાણી પાયેલા મેદાનોમાં ચારેલા ધેટામાંથી 200 ઘેટાંએ તમારે એક ઘેટું વિશેષ અર્પણ તરીકે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">“ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે, દહનાર્પણ તરીકે અને શાંત્યર્પણ તરીકે આપવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.45.16" />“ઇસ્રાએલના બધા લોકોએ આ પ્રમાણેની ખાસ ભેટ રાજકુમાર આગળ લઇ જવી.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.45.17" />અને રાજકુમાર ઇસ્રાએલની સમગ્ર પ્રજા તરફથી મારા ધણીને ચંદ્રદર્શનોએ, સાબ્બાથોએ અને બાકીના બધા ખાસ તહેવારોએ દહનાર્પણો, ખાદ્યાર્પણો અને પેયાર્પણો પૂરા પાડશે. ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોનાં પાપના પ્રાયશ્ચિત માટે પાપાર્થાર્પણો, ખાદ્યાર્પણો, દહનાર્પણો અને શાંત્યર્પણો પૂરા પાડશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.45.18" />આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: “પહેલાં મહિનાના પહેલા દિવસે તમારે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો એક વાછરડો ધરાવી મંદિરની શુદ્ધિ કરવી.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.45.19" />યાજકે વધ કરેલા પાપાર્થાર્પણનું લોહી લઇ તે મંદિરના ઉબરે, યજ્ઞવેદીને ચાર ખૂણે અને અંદરની ઓસરીના બારણાની બારસાખે લગાડવું.
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.45.20" />જો કોઇ પણ વ્યકિતએ ભૂલથી કે અજ્ઞાનતાથી પાપ કર્યું હોય તો તે માટે તે મહિનાના સાતમા દિવસે પણ આ પ્રમાણે કરવું. મંદિર માટે આ રીતે તમારે પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવું.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાસ્ખાપર્વની ઉજવણી સમયે ભેટ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.45.21" />“પહેલા મહિનાના ચૌદમા દિવસે તમારે પાસ્ખાનો તહેવાર ઊજવવાની શરૂઆત કરવી. સાત દિવસ સુધી સૌએ બેખમીર રોટલી જ ખાવી.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.45.22" />ઉત્સવને પહેલે દિવસે સરદારોએ પોતાનાં અને ઇસ્ત્રાએલની પ્રજાના પાપને માટે એક બળદને પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે ધરાવવો.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.45.23" />ઉત્સવના દિવસે તેણે ખોડખાંપણ વગરના સાત બળદો અને ખોંડખાંપણ વગરના સાત મેંઢાને દહનાપર્ણ તરીકે યહોવાને બલિ ચઢાવવા. અને તેણે પાપાર્થાર્પણ તરીકે દરરોજ એક બકરો હોમવો.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.45.24" />હોમેલા દરેક બળદ અને ઘેટાં દીઠ સત્તર કિલો ખાદ્યાર્પણ અને ત્રણ લિટર જૈતૂનનું તેલ પણ ચઢાવવાં.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.45.25" />સાતમા મહિનાના પંદરમાં દિવસે શરૂ થતાં
<add>માંડવાપર્વ</add> માટે પણ તેણે સાતે સાત દિવસ આવો જ બલિ, પાપાર્થાર્પણ, દહનાર્પણ, ખાદ્યાર્પણ અને જૈતૂનના તેલના અર્પણ ચઢાવવા.”
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</p>

<c id="46" />
<s style="s">શાસક અને ઉત્સવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.46.1" />આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે: “અંદરના ચોકનો પૂર્વનો દરવાજો કામ કરવાના છ દિવસોએ બંધ રહેશે, પરંતુ વિશ્રામવારને દિવસે અને ચંદ્રદર્શને દિવસે તે ઉઘાડો રાખવો.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.46.2" />રાજકુમારે બહારના પ્રાંગણમાંથી ઓસરીમાં થઇ અંદરના દરવાજાના થાંભલા આગળ ઊભા રહેવું. અને યાજકે તેના દહનાર્પણો હોમી દેવા અને શાંત્યર્પણો ચઢાવવા ત્યાં દરવાજા આગળના પ્રવેશદ્રારે તેણે જરૂર નીચા નમીને પ્રણામ કરી, તેણે પાછા બહાર ચાલ્યા જવું. દરવાજો સાંજ સુધી બંધ ન કરવો.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.46.3" />દરેક સાબ્બાથ અને ચંદ્રદર્શન દિવસે બધા લોકોએ પણ દરવાજા આગળ નીચા નમીને યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EZK.46.4" />“સાબ્બાથને દિવસે રાજકુમારે દહનાર્પણ તરીકે યહોવા સમક્ષ ખોડખાંપણ વગરના છ ઘેટા તથા ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો એક મેંઢો લાવવો.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.46.5" />દરેક ઘેટાં સાથે સત્તર કિલો ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા દરેક મેંઢા સાથે જે કઇં ચઢાવવું હોય તે લાવવું, ઉપરાંત આવા દરેક ખાદ્યાર્પણ દીઠ ત્રણ લિટર તેલ લાવવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EZK.46.6" />“ચંદ્રદર્શન દિવસે તેણે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો એક વાછરડો, ખોડખાંપણ વગરના છ ઘેટા અને એક મેંઢો ધરાવવા.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.46.7" />પ્રત્યેક વાછરડા અને મેંઢા દીઠ સત્તર કિલો ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા દરેક ઘેંટા દીઠ યથાયોગ્ય અર્પણ ચઢાવવું ઉપરાંત આવા દરેક ખાદ્યાર્પણ દીઠ ત્રણ લિટર તેલ પણ ચઢાવવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.46.8" />“સરદાર અંદર આવે ત્યારે તેણે દરવાજાની ઓસરીમાં થઇને દાખલ થવું અને એ જ રસ્તે બહાર નીકળવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EZK.46.9" />“પરંતુ ઉત્સવને દિવસે જ્યારે લોકો યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરવા આવે ત્યારે જેઓ ઉત્તરને દરવાજેથી દાખલ થાય તેઓ ભજન પછી દક્ષિણને દરવાજેથી બહાર જાય, અને જેઓ દક્ષિણને દરવાજેથી દાખલ થાય તેઓ ઉત્તરના દરવાજેથી, તેઓ જે રસ્તે આવ્યા હોય તે રસ્તે પાછા ન જાય, તેઓએ સામેના દરવાજેથી જવું.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.46.10" />રાજકુમારે પણ તેમની સાથે તેમની જેમ જ અંદર આવવું અને તેમની જેમ જ બહાર જવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.46.11" />“ઉજાણીઓમાં તથા મુકરર પર્વોમાં દરેક બળદ કે મેંઢા દીઠ ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે સત્તર કિલો અનાજ અને દરેક ઘેટા દીઠ યથાશકિત અર્પણ ચઢાવવું, એ ઉપરાંત આવા દરેક ખાદ્યાર્પણ સાથે ત્રણ લીટર તેલ અર્પણ કરવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="EZK.46.12" />“રાજકુમાર ઐચ્છિકાર્પણ તરીકે કે દહનાર્પણ કે શાંત્યર્પણ ચઢાવવા ઇચ્છતો હોય ત્યારે તેને માટે અંદરના ઓસરીનો પૂર્વનો દરવાજો ખોલવો, તેણે એ બલિદાન અર્પણ કરવું અને તેના બહાર ગયા પછી દરવાજો પાછો બંધ કરી દેવો.
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<s style="s">દરરોજની ભેટ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.46.13" />“દરરોજ યહોવાને દહનાર્પણ તરીકે ખોડખાંપણ વગરનો એક વર્ષની ઉંમરનો ઘેટો ચઢાવવો, પ્રતિદિન સવારે આ અર્પણ કરવું.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.46.14" />એની સાથે દરરોજ સવારે ત્રણ કિલો જેટલો લોટ અને તેને મોહવા માટે એક લિટર જેટલું તેલ ચઢાવવું. આ ખાદ્યાર્પણ યહોવાને ચઢાવવું એ કાયમનો નિયમ છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EZK.46.15" />દરરોજ સવારે યહોવાને ખાદ્યાર્પણ તરીકે એક ઘેંટુ અને ખાદ્યાર્પણ તથા તેલ ચઢાવવાં.”
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<s style="s">પોતાના સંતાનને શાસક દ્વારા ભૂમિ આપવાના નિયમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="EZK.46.16" />આ યહોવા મારા માલિકના વચન છે, “જો કોઇ રાજકુમાર પોતાના પુત્રને કઇં ઉપહાર આપે, તો તેના પુત્રની માલિકી ગણાય કારણ કે તે મિલકત કુટુંબની વારસાગત મિલકતનો ભાગ હશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.46.17" />પણ જો રાજકુમાર એવો ઉપહાર પોતાના કોઇ સેવકને આપે તો તેની માલિકી તે સેવક પાસે ઋણમુકિતના વર્ષ સુધી રહે. અને ત્યાર બાદ તે પાછી રાજા પાસે જાય. એ તેના પુત્રોની મિલકત ગણાય અને તેની માલિકી તેઓની ગણાય.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.46.18" />રાજકુમારે લોકોની કોઇ મિલકત લઇ લેવી નહિ, તેણે પોતાને મળેલી જમીનમાંથી પોતાના પુત્રોને જમીન આપવી જેથી મારા લોકોમાંથી કોઇને પોતાની મિલકત ખોવાનો વખત આવે નહિ.”
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<s style="s">વિશેષ રસોઇ ઘર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EZK.46.19" />ત્યાર બાદ તે માણસ મને અંદરના ચોકમાં ઉત્તર તરફ યાજકો માટે જુદી રાખેલી ઓરડીઓ આગળ લઇ ગયો. તેણે મને ઓરડીઓની પશ્ચિમ બાજુએ એક જગ્યા બતાવીને કહ્યું,
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<v id="20" bcv="EZK.46.20" />“આ જગ્યાએ યાજકો દોષાર્થાર્પણ અને પાપાર્થાર્પણ માંસ રાંધશે અને ખાદ્યાર્પણની રોટલી શેકશે અને તેને તેઓ બહારના પ્રાંગણમાં બહાર લઇ આવશે તોપણ તે લોકોમાં પવિત્રતા ફેલાવશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.46.21" />ત્યાર બાદ તે માણસ મને બહારના ચોકમાં લઇ જઇને તેને ચારે ખૂણે લઇ ગયો. એ દરેક ખૂણામાં એકએક ચોક હતો.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.46.22" />એ દરેક ચોક માપમાં સરખા હતાં; 40 હાથ લાંબા અને 30 હાથ પહોળા,
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.46.23" />એ દરેકની આસપાસ ભીંત હતી અને ભીંતને અડીને રાંધવાના ચૂલાઓ હતા.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.46.24" />તે માણસે મને કહ્યું, “આ તો રસોડા છે, જ્યાં મંદિરના સેવકોએ લોકોના બલિદાનો રાંધવાના હતાં.”
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<c id="47" />
<s style="s">મંદિરથી વહેતું પાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.47.1" />પછી તે માણસ મને મંદિરના ધ્વાર પાસે પાછો લાવ્યો, મેં જોયું તો મંદિરના ઉંબરા તળેથી નીકળીને પાણી પૂર્વ તરફ વહેતું હતું, કારણ, મંદિર પૂર્વાભિમુખ હતું. એ પાણી યજ્ઞવેદીની અને મંદિરની દક્ષિણ બાજુએ થઇને જતું હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.47.2" />પછી તે માણસ મને ઉત્તરને દરવાજેથી બહાર લઇ આવ્યો અને ફેરવીને પૂર્વ દરવાજે લઇ ગયો. ત્યાં જમણી બાજુએથી થોડું થોડું પાણી નીકળતું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EZK.47.3" />હાથમાં માપદંડ લઇને તે પૂર્વ તરફ ગયો અને 1,000 હાથ ભર્યા પછી તેણે મને પાણીમાં ચલાવ્યો. પાણી ઘૂંટીસમાં હતાં.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.47.4" />એ પછી તેણે બીજા 1,000 હાથ અંતર માપ્યું અને ફરી મને પાણીમાં ચલાવ્યો, અહીં પાણી ઘૂંટણસમાં હતાં. ફરીથી તેણે એક 1,000 હાથ અંતર માપ્યું, અને મને પાણીમાં ચલાવ્યો, અહીં પાણી કમરસમાં હતાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.47.5" />બીજા 1,000 હાથ અંતર માપ્યું. હવે તે પાણી નદીમાં ફેરવાઇ ગયા હતાં, પાણી એટલાં ઊંડા હતાં કે તેમાં તરી શકાય. કોઇ ચાલીને સામે કિનારે જઇ શકે નહિ.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.47.6" />તેણે મને કહ્યું “હે મનુષ્યના પુત્ર, આ બધું ધ્યાનમાં રાખજે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EZK.47.7" />ત્યાર બાદ તે મને પાછો નદીને કાંઠે લઇ ગયો અને મેં જોયું તો બંને કાંઠે પુષ્કળ વૃક્ષો ઊભાં હતાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="EZK.47.8" />તેણે મને કહ્યું, “આ પાણી પૂર્વમાં વહેતું યર્દનકાંઠા સુધી જાય છે અને આખરે એ મૃતસરોવરને જઇને મળે છે. એ જ્યારે મૃતસરોવરને જઇને મળે છે ત્યારે તેના પાણીને મીઠું બનાવી દે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.47.9" />જ્યાં જ્યાં એ પાણી વહેશે ત્યાં ત્યાં બધી જાતના પ્રાણીઓ અને માછલાંઓ ઉભરાવા માંડશે. એ પાણીનો ઝરો મૃતસરોવરના પાણીને મીઠું બનાવી દેશે. અને એ જ્યાં જ્યાં થઇને વહેશે ત્યાં જીવન ફેલાવશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.47.10" />મૃતસમુદ્રના કાંઠે માછીમારો ઊભા રહેશે અને એન-ગેદીથી છેક એન-એગ્લાઇમ સુધી સર્વ જગ્યાએ માછલાં પકડશે. તેનો કિનારો માછલી પકડવાની જાળો પાથરવાનું સ્થળ બની રહેશે અને ત્યાં મોટા સમુદ્રમાં છે તેમ વિવિધ પ્રકારની માછલીઓ હશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EZK.47.11" />પરંતુ કાંઠે આવેલા કાદવકીચડના તથા તળાવોના પાણી મીઠાં નહિ થાય, પણ મીઠું બનાવવાના કામમાં આવશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.47.12" />એ નદીના બંને કાંઠાઓ ઉપર બધાં ફળઝાડો ઊગી નીકળશે, તેમના પાંદડાં કરમાશે નહિ અને તેમને ફળ આવતાં કદી અટકશે નહિ. દર મહિને તેમને નવા ફળ આવશે, કારણ, તેમને મળતું પાણી મંદિરમાંથી આવે છે, તેમના ફળ ખાવા માટે છે અને પાંદડાં દવા માટે છે.”
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<s style="s">કુળસમૂહો માટે ભૂમિના ભાગલા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.47.13" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે: “ઇસ્રાએલના બાર કુળ સમૂહોને જમીન વહેંચવા માટે આ સૂચનો છે: યૂસફના કુળને તેના પુત્રોની જાતિઓ એફ્રાઇમ અને મનાશ્શા માટે બે ભાગ મળશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.47.14" />સર્વ કુળોને સરખો ભાગ મળશે, કારણ કે તમારા પિતૃઓને આ દેશ આપવાની મેં પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી હતી અને તેમને તેનો વારસો મળશે. તેની હદ આ પ્રમાણે છે:
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.47.15" />“ઉત્તરની સરહદ ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્રથી હેથ્લોન અને સદાદમાંથી પસુર થઇને,
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.47.16" />હામાથ અનદ દમસ્ક અને હમાથની સરહદ વચ્ચે આવેલાં શેહરો બેરોથાહ અને સિબ્રાઇમ થઇને હૌરાનની સરહદે આવેલા હાસેર-હાનીકોન સુધી જાય છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.47.17" />આમ, ઉત્તરની સરહદ ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્રથી એનોન શહેર સુધી જાય છે અને તેની ઉત્તરે દમસ્કની સરહદ અને હમાથ આવેલા છે. આ ઉત્તરની સરહદ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EZK.47.18" />“પૂર્વની સરહદ, દમસ્ક અને હૌરાનના પ્રદેશમાંથી પસાર થઇને દક્ષિણમાં જાય છે, અને યર્દન નદીની પૂવેર્ આવેલાં ઇસ્રાએલના અને ગિલયાદના પ્રદેશ વચ્ચે જાય છે. આ પૂર્વ સરહદ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EZK.47.19" />“દક્ષિણની સરહદ તામારથી મરીબોથ-કાદેશના જળસમૂહ આગળ થઇને મિસરની ખાડી પાસે થઇને મિસરની સરહદે આવેલા ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્ર સુધી જાય છે. આ દક્ષિણ સરહદ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.47.20" />“પશ્ચિમ સરહદે ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્ર આવેલો છે અને હમાથના ઘાટ સામેના બિંદુ સુધી એ જ સરહદની ગરજ સારે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.47.21" />“ઇસ્રાએલના કુળો મધ્યે આ સરહદોનો વિસ્તાર તમારે વહેંચી આપવો.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.47.22" />તમારા પોતાના માટે અને તમારી મધ્યે પોતાના કુટુંબો સાથે વસતા પરદેશીઓ માટે આ દેશને વતન તરીકે વહેંચી આપવો. આ દેશમાં જન્મેલા વિદેશી માતાપિતાના બાળકો પણ દેશના વતની કહેવાશે. તમારા બાળકોની જેમજ તેઓને એક સરખા અધિકારો મળશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="EZK.47.23" />વિદેશીઓ જે જાતિ વંશની ભેગા વસતા હોય તેની સાથે તેમને પણ ભાગ મળવો જોઇએ.” આ મારા માલિક યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</p>

<c id="48" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના કુળસમૂહો માટે ભૂમિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EZK.48.1" />“હવે કુળોનાં નામ અને તેઓને મળનાર પ્રદેશની વિગતો નીચે પ્રમાણે છે. ઉત્તરની સરહદે દાન કુળ; ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્રની ઇશાનથી હમાથના કાંઠા સુધી, હસાર-એનાન, અને દક્ષિણે આવેલા દમસ્ક અને ઉત્તરે આવેલા હમાથની વચ્ચે સુધી તે પ્રદેશની પૂર્વ અને પશ્ચિમ તરફની આ સરહદો છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="EZK.48.2" />આશેરનો વિસ્તાર દાનની દક્ષિણે છે અને તેની પૂર્વની અને પશ્ચિમની સરહદો પણ તેના જેવી જ છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="EZK.48.3" />આશેરની સરહદની લગોલગ પૂર્વ બાજુથી તે છેક પશ્ચિમ બાજુ સુધીનો એક ભાગ નફતાલીનો.
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<v id="4" bcv="EZK.48.4" />પછી મનાશ્શા કુળનો પ્રદેશ નફતાલીની દક્ષિણે છે અને તેની પૂર્વની અને પશ્ચિમની સરહદો તેના જેવી જ છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="EZK.48.5" />મનાશ્શાની સરહદને અડીને પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધીનો એક ભાગ એફ્રાઇમનો પ્રદેશ છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EZK.48.6" />એફ્રાઇમની સરહદને અડીને પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધીનો એક ભાગ રૂબેનનો પ્રદેશ છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="EZK.48.7" />રૂબેનની સરહદને અડીને પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધીનો એક ભાગ યહૂદાનો પ્રદેશ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ભૂમિનો વિશેષ ભાગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EZK.48.8" />“એ પછીનો પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધીનો ભાગ તે પવિત્ર ભૂમિ છે. એ 25,000 હાથ પહોળી અને વંશજોને આપેલા ભાગ જેટલી જ પૂર્વ પશ્ચિમ લાંબી હશે. એની મધ્યમાં મંદિર આવશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EZK.48.9" />આમાંથી યહોવાને સમર્પણ કરેલો વિસ્તાર 25,000 હાથ લાંબો અને 10,000 હાથ પહોળો હશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="EZK.48.10" />આ પવિત્ર ભૂમિમાંથી યાજકોને એક ભાગ મળશે. ઉત્તરદક્ષિણ 25,000 હાથ અને પૂર્વપશ્ચિમ 10,000 હાથ, એ ભાગના મધ્યસ્થાને યહોવાનું મંદિર આવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EZK.48.11" />“આ પવિત્રભૂમિ સાદોકના વંશના યાજકો માટે રહેશે. ઇસ્રાએલીઓ આડે માગેર્ ગયા હતા ત્યારે બીજા લેવીઓની જેમ તેઓ આડે માગેર્ ગયા નહોતા પણ તેમણે વફાદારીપૂર્વક મારી સેવા બજાવી હતી.
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<v id="12" bcv="EZK.48.12" />આથી બીજા લેવીઓને જે ભાગ મળે તેને અડીને જ એમને ખાસ ભાગ મળવો જોઇએ; અને તે સૌથી પવિત્ર ગણાશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="EZK.48.13" />“યાજકોના પ્રદેશની સરહદને અડીને લેવીઓનો પ્રદેશ છે, તે 25,000 હાથ લાંબો અને 10,000 હાથ પહોળો છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="EZK.48.14" />આ ખાસ પ્રકારની ભૂમિનો કોઇ પણ ભાગ વેચવામા આવશે નહિ, તેમજ વેપાર કરવામાં અથવા વિદેશીઓ દ્વારા તેનો ઉપયોગ કરવામાં આવશે નહિ. કારણ કે આ શ્રેષ્ઠ ભૂમિ યહોવાની છે અને તે પવિત્ર છે.
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<s style="s">શહેર સંપતિ માટે ભાગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EZK.48.15" />“બાકી રહેલો 5,000 હાથ પહોળો અને 25,000 હાથ લાંબો ટુકડો પવિત્ર નથી, પણ લોકોના સામાન્ય ઉપયોગ માટે છે. લોકો ત્યાં રહે અને જમીનનો ઉપયોગ કરે. એની મધ્યમાં શહેર આવી શકે.
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<v id="16" bcv="EZK.48.16" />શહેર ચોરસ હોય અને તેની ચારે બાજુ 4,500 હાથની જમીન હોય.
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<v id="17" bcv="EZK.48.17" />નગરની ઉતરથી પશ્ચિમ તરફ 250 હાથ પહોળી ખુલ્લી જમીન રહેશે; તે ઘાસચારાની જમીન બનશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="EZK.48.18" />પવિત્રભૂમિની પાસેના ભાગમાં શહેર બાંધ્યા પછી બાકી રહેલી જમીન 10,000 હાથ પૂર્વમાં અને 10,000 હાથ પશ્ચિમમાં તે શહેરમાં કામ કરતાં લોકો દ્વારા ખેતીવાડી માટે ઉપયોગ કરવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="EZK.48.19" />શહેરમાં કામ કરતો કોઇ પણ માણસ, પછી તે ગમે તે વંશનો હોય, એ જમીન ખેડી શકે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EZK.48.20" />“આ સમગ્ર વિસ્તાર, પવિત્ર ભૂમિ અને શહેરને પણ સમાવતો સમગ્ર વિસ્તાર, ચોરસ હશે અને તેની દરેક બાજુ 25,000 હાથની જમીન હશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EZK.48.21" />“આ મોટા વિસ્તારમાંથી પવિત્ર ભૂમિનો પ્રદેશ અને નગર માટેનો પ્રદેશ છોડીને જે ભૂમિ બાકી રહે તે સરદારનો વિસ્તાર ગણાશે. પૂર્વમાં પવિત્ર ભૂમિની 25,000 હાથ લાંબી સરહદથી પૂર્વ દિશાએ આવેલી સરહદ સુધીનો પ્રદેશ અને એ જ પ્રમાણે પશ્ચિમે 25,000 હાથ લંબાઇની સરહદથી પશ્ચિમ સરહદ સુધીનો પ્રદેશ આ બંને પ્રદેશો લંબાઇમાં કુળોના પ્રદેશ પ્રમાણે છે અને સરદારની માલિકીના ગણાશે. આ બંને પ્રદેશોની મધ્યમાં પવિત્ર મંદિર અને પવિત્ર ભૂમિ આવશે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EZK.48.22" />રાજાની માલિકીના આ પ્રદેશોની મધ્યમાં ત્યાં લેવીઓનો વિસ્તાર અને નગરનો વિસ્તાર આવશે. રાજકુમારની માલિકીનો આ વિસ્તાર યહૂદા અને બિન્યામીનના પ્રદેશની વચ્ચે હશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EZK.48.23" />“બાકીનાં કુળોને આપવામાં આવેલો જમીનનો ભાગ આ પ્રમાણે છે: ઇસ્રાએલ દેશની પૂર્વ સરહદથી પશ્ચિમ સરહદ સુધીનો એક ભાગ બિન્યામીનનો.
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<v id="24" bcv="EZK.48.24" />બિન્યામીનના વિસ્તારની દક્ષિણે આવેલો એક ભાગ શિમયોનનો. બંનેની પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમની સરહદ એક જ હશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="EZK.48.25" />તેની પાસે ઇસ્સાખારનો વિસ્તાર, પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધી શિમયોનની સરહદની દક્ષિણે હશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="EZK.48.26" />ઝબુલોનનો જે પ્રદેશ છે તે પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધી ઇસ્સાખારની સરહદની દક્ષિણે હશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="EZK.48.27" />ગાદનો પ્રદેશ પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધી ઝબુલોનની દક્ષિણે હશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EZK.48.28" />“ગાદના પ્રાંતની દક્ષિણ સરહદ તામારથી મરીબાથ કાદેશનાં રણદ્વીપ સુધી અને પછી વાયવ્ય દિશામાં મિસરની સરહદથી ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્ર સુધી જાય છે.”
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<v id="29" bcv="EZK.48.29" />યહોવા મારા માલિકે કહ્યું, “આ રીતે તમારે ઇસ્રાએલના વંશજોને જમીન વહેંચવી જોઇએ અને આ એમના હિસ્સા ગણાશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">શહેરના દરવાજાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="EZK.48.30" />“નગરના દરવાજા આ પ્રમાણે છે:
</p>
<p style="p">“ઉત્તરની સરહદ 4,500 હાથ લાંબી છે.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="EZK.48.31" />નગરના દરવાજાના નામ ઇસ્રાએલનાં કુળોનાં નામો પ્રમાણે રાખવા; ઉત્તરે ત્રણ દરવાજા એક રૂબેનનો દરવાજો, એક યહૂદાનો દરવાજો, અને એક લેવીનો દરવાજો;
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="EZK.48.32" />“પૂર્વ બાજુની દિવાલનું માપ 4,500 હાથ હશે. તેના ત્રણ દરવાજાઓ: યૂસફનો દરવાજો, બિન્યામીનનો દરવાજો અને દાનનો દરવાજો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="EZK.48.33" />“દક્ષિણ બાજુની દિવાલની લંબાઇ 4,500 હાથ છે. તેના ત્રણ દરવાજા શિમયોનનો દરવાજો, ઇસ્સાખારનો દરવાજો અને ઝબુલોનનો દરવાજો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="EZK.48.34" />“પશ્ચિમ બાજુની દિવાલની લંબાઇ 4,500 હાથ છે અને તેના ત્રણ દરવાજા ગાદનો દરવાજો, આશેરનો દરવાજો, અને નફતાલીનો દરવાજો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="EZK.48.35" />“ચારે તરફ દિવાલની લંબાઇ 18,000 હાથ છે, અને તે સમયથી શહેરને ‘યહોવા શામ્માહ’ નામ પડશે જેનો અર્થ છે, ‘યહોવા ત્યાં છે.’”
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</p>
</book>
<book id="DAN"><id id="DAN">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>દાનિયેલ
</h><toc level="1">દાનિયેલ
</toc><toc level="2">દાનિયેલ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">દાનિયેલ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">રાજાનો સલાહકાર દાનિયેલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.1.1" />યહૂદા રાજાના યહોયાકીમના રાજ્યમાં બાબિલના રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે ત્રીજા વર્ષમાં યરૂશાલેમ ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરી તેની ફરતે ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="DAN.1.2" />અને યહોવાએ યહૂદાના રાજા યહોયાકીમને તથા મંદિરના થોડા વાસણો નબૂખાદનેસ્સારના હાથમાં સોંપી દીધાં. નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર બંધકોને શિનઆર પ્રાંતમાં લઇ ગયો; અને તે વાસણો પોતાના દેવના મંદિરનાં ભંડારમાં મૂકી દીધા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="DAN.1.3" />પછી મુખ્ય ખોજા આસ્પનાઝને તેણે આજ્ઞા કરી કે, બંદી તરીકે પકડી લાવેલા ઇસ્રાએલી યુવાનોમાંથી રાજવંશી અને અમીર કુટુંબોના કેટલાક યુવાનોને પસંદ કર.
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<v id="4" bcv="DAN.1.4" />જે યુવાનોમાં કોઇ પણ પ્રકારની ખોડખાંપણ ન હોય, પણ ઘણા રૂપાળા, સર્વ બાબતમાં જ્ઞાનસંપન્ન, વિદ્યાપારંગત, વિજ્ઞાનનાં જાણકાર હોય, વળી રાજમહેલમાં રહેવાને લાયક હોય, એવા ઇસ્રાએલી યુવાનોને પસંદ કરીને તું તેઓને ખાલદીઓની ભાષા તથા લખાણ વિષે શીખવ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DAN.1.5" />રાજા, પોતે જે ભોજન લેતો હતો અને જે દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતો હતો તે જ તેમને પણ દરરોજ આપવામાં આવે એમ ઠરાવ્યું. તેમને ત્રણ વરસ સુધી શિક્ષણ આપવાનું હતું અને ત્રણ વર્ષને અંતે તેમને રાજા સમક્ષ રજૂ કરવાના હતાં.
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<v id="6" bcv="DAN.1.6" />એ પસંદ કરાયેલા યુવાનોમાં યહૂદાના કુળસમૂહનાં દાનિયેલ, હનાન્યા, મીશાએલ અને અઝાર્યા હતા.
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<v id="7" bcv="DAN.1.7" />પરંતુ રાજાના મુખ્ય ખોજાએ તેમનાં નામ અનુક્રમે દાનિયેલને બેલ્ટશાસ્સાર, હનાન્યાને શાદ્રાખ, મીશાએલને મેશાખ અને અઝાર્યાને અબેદ-નગો પાડ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DAN.1.8" />દાનિયેલે પોતાના મનમાં નક્કી કર્યું કે, રાજાનું ભોજન કે, તેનો દ્રાક્ષારસ લઇને મારે મારી જાતને ષ્ટ કરવી નહિ. આથી તેણે આસ્પનાઝને વિનંતી કરી: મને ષ્ટ થવાની ફરજ ન પાડશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DAN.1.9" />હવે જ્યારે દેવે કૃપા કરી છે અને આસ્પનાઝના હૃદયમાં દાનિયેલ પ્રત્યે માન હતું તેથી તેણે દાનિયેલ પ્રત્યે સહાનુભૂતિ દર્શાવી. અને તેને કહ્યું,
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<v id="10" bcv="DAN.1.10" />“મને રાજાની બીક લાગે છે. તેમણે તમારે શું ખાવું ને પીવું તે ન ક્કી કરી આપ્યું છે અને જો તેઓ જોશે કે, તમારી ઉંમરના બીજા છોકરાઓ કરતાં તમે શરીરે નબળા છો, તો તમે રાજા સમક્ષ મારું માથું ભયમાં મૂકી દેશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DAN.1.11" />ત્યારે દાનિયેલે, હનાન્યા, મીશાએલ અને અઝાર્યાની દેખરેખ માટે આસ્પનાઝે નીમેલા કારભારીને કહ્યું,
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<v id="12" bcv="DAN.1.12" />“તમે દશ દિવસ માટે આ પ્રમાણે અખતરો કરી જુઓ; અમને ફકત શાકાહારી ખોરાક અને પીવા માટે માત્ર પાણી આપો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="DAN.1.13" />પછી જે યુવાનોને રાજાએ ઠરાવી આપેલો ખોરાક આપો તેમની સાથે અમારી સરખામણી કરો અને જે પ્રમાણે તમે જુઓ તે મુજબ અમારી સાથે વતોર્.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DAN.1.14" />આખરે ચોકીદારે તેમની અરજ સાંભળી અને દશ દિવસ તેમની કસોટી કરી.
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<v id="15" bcv="DAN.1.15" />દશ દિવસને અંતે જે યુવાનો રાજાએ ઠરાવી આપેલો ખોરાક લેતા હતા તે બધાં કરતાં તેઓ વધારે તંદુરસ્ત અને હૃષ્ટપૃષ્ટ થવા માંડ્યાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="DAN.1.16" />તેથી ચોકીદારે તેઓને સ્વાદિષ્ટ ખોરાક અને દ્રાક્ષારસને બદલે ફકત શાકભાજી અને પાણી આપવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="DAN.1.17" />આ ચારે છોકરાઓને દેવે સાહિત્યનું અને બધી કળાઓનું જ્ઞાન આપ્યું અને તેણે દાનિયલનેએ સંદર્શનો અને સ્વપ્નોને સમજવાની શકિત આપી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DAN.1.18" />રાજાએ જણાવેલા હુકમ પ્રમાણે ત્રણ વરસનું શિક્ષણ પુરું થયું એટલે આસ્પાનાઝ બધા યુવાનોને પરીક્ષા માટે રાજાની પાસે લઇ ગયો.
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<v id="19" bcv="DAN.1.19" />રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે તેઓની સાથે વાતચીત કરી; તો સર્વમાં દાનિયેલ, હનાન્યા, મીશાએલ તથા અઝાર્યાના જેવા બીજા કોઇ ન મળ્યા. તેથી રાજા વધારે પ્રભાવિત થયો અને તેઓને રાજાના સલાહકાર મંડળમાં સામેલ કર્યા.
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<v id="20" bcv="DAN.1.20" />જ્ઞાન અને કળાની બાબતમાં રાજાએ તેમને જે કઇં પૂછયું તે બધામાં તેઓનાં રાજ્યના બધા મંત્રવિદો અને જાદુગરો કરતાં દસગણા વધુ ચડિયાતા માલૂમ પડ્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="DAN.1.21" />રાજા કોરેશના અમલના પહેલાં વર્ષ સુધી દાનિયેલ રાજદરબારમાં કાયમ રહ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજાનું સ્વપ્ન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.2.1" />રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને પોતાના રાજ્યકાળના બીજા વર્ષ દરમ્યાન એક ભયાનક સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું; તે ભયથી ધ્રુજી ગયો, તેની ઊંઘ હરામ થઇ ગઇ.
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<v id="2" bcv="DAN.2.2" />તેથી રાજાએ પોતાના સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ સમજાવવા માટે તાત્કાલિક પોતાના બધા જાદુગરો, મંત્રવિદ્યા જાણનારાઓ, અને ભવિષ્યવેત્તાઓને બોલાવવા હુકમ કર્યો. તેઓ રાજા આગળ આવીને ઊભા રહ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="DAN.2.3" />એટલે રાજાએ તેમને કહ્યું, “મને એક સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું છે અને મારો જીવ એનો અર્થ જાણવા આતુર છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DAN.2.4" />એ લોકોએ અરામી ભાષામાં કહ્યું, “રાજા સદા માટે રહો. રાજા ઘણું જીવો, આપ આ સેવકોને આપનું સ્વપ્ન જણાવો એટલે અમે તેનો અર્થ તમને જણાવી શકીએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DAN.2.5" />રાજાએ ખાલદીઓને કહ્યું, “સ્વપ્ન મારા સ્મરણમાંથી જતું રહ્યું છે, મને તે યાદ રહ્યું નથી, તમે મને એ સ્વપ્ન તથા તેનો અર્થ નહિ કહો તો તમારા શરીરના ટુકડે ટુકડા કરવામાં આવશે. અને તમારાં ઘર તોડીને ઇંટો અને કાટમાળનાં ઢગલાઓમાં ફેરવી નાખવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="DAN.2.6" />પરંતુ જો તમે મને સ્વપ્ન અને તેનો અર્થ જણાવશો, તો હું તમને ભેટો ઇનામો અને માનપાનથી આમંત્રીશ. માટે તમે મને સ્વપ્ન અને તેનો અર્થ જણાવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DAN.2.7" />ત્યારે તેમણે બીજી વાર કહ્યું, “આપ અમને સ્વપ્ન જણાવો અને અમે આપને તેનો અર્થ જણાવીશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DAN.2.8" />રાજાએ કહ્યું, “હું સ્પષ્ટ જોઇ શકું છું કે, તમે વખત મેળવવા ઇચ્છો છો, કારણ, તમે જાણો છો કે, મારો નિર્ણય પાકો છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="DAN.2.9" />પણ જો તમે મને સ્વપ્ન નહિ જણાવશો તો તમને બધાને એક જ સજા થશે. તમે અંદરોઅંદર નક્કી કર્યું છે કે, મારી આગળ તરકટ કરવું, એવી આશાએ કે, જતે દહાડે પરિસ્થિતિ પલટાઇ જાય. આથી તમે મને સ્વપ્ન કહો એટલે હું સમજીશ કે, તમે એનો પણ અર્થ કહી શકશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DAN.2.10" />ભવિષ્યવેત્તાઓએ રાજાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “આ પૃથ્વી ઉપર એવો કોઇ નથી, જે આપ જાણવા માંગો છો તે કહી શકે. કોઇ રાજાએ, મહારાજાએ, આજ સુધી કોઇ જાદુગર, કે, મંત્રવિદને આવો સવાલ પૂછયો નથી.
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<v id="11" bcv="DAN.2.11" />આપ અમારી પાસે જે જાણવા માંગો છો તે એવું મુશ્કેલ છે કે, દેવો સિવાય કોઇપણ કહી ન શકે. અને દેવો માણસોની વચ્ચે રહેતા નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="DAN.2.12" />આ સાંભળીને રાજા ઘણો ગુસ્સે થઇ ગયો. તેનો રોષ ભભૂકી ઉઠયો અને તેણે બાબિલના બધા સલાહકારોનો વધ કરવાની આજ્ઞા કરી.
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<v id="13" bcv="DAN.2.13" />આથી એવો હુકમ બહાર પાડવામાં આવ્યો કે, બધાં રાજકીય સલાહકારોની હત્યા કરવાની છે. અને તે મુજબ દાનિયેલને અને તેના સાથીઓને હત્યા કરવા માટે લઇ આવવા માણસો મોકલવામાં આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DAN.2.14" />રાજાના અંગરક્ષકોનો વડો આર્યોખ બાબિલના વિદ્વાનોની હત્યા કરવા જતો હતો, ત્યારે દાનિયેલે ડહાપણ અને વિવેક વાપરીને તેની પાસે જઇને કહ્યું,
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<v id="15" bcv="DAN.2.15" />“સાહેબ, રાજાસાહેબે આવી કઠોર આજ્ઞા શા માટે કરી છે?”
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<p style="p">ત્યારે આર્યોખે તેને બધી વાત જણાવી.
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<v id="16" bcv="DAN.2.16" />તેથી દાનિયેલે રાજાની હાજરીમાં જઇને અરજ કરી કે, આપ મને થોડો સમય આપો, તો હું તમને સ્વપ્ન અને તેનો અર્થ જણાવીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="DAN.2.17" />પછી દાનિયેલે ઘરે જઇને તેના સાથીદારો હનાન્યા, મીશાએલ, અને અઝાર્યાને સર્વ વાત સમજાવી.
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<v id="18" bcv="DAN.2.18" />અને તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, આપણે સ્વર્ગાધિપતિ દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરીએ, જેથી તે દયા લાવીને આપણને આ રહસ્યનો ભેદ જણાવે, અને આપણે બાબિલના રાજકીય સલાહકારો ભેગા મરવું પડે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DAN.2.19" />ત્યારબાદ રાત્રીના સમયે સંદર્શનમાં દેવે દાનિયેલને રાજાનું સ્વપ્ન તથા તેના રહસ્યનો ભેદ જણાવ્યો અને તેણે સ્વર્ગાધિપતિ દેવની આ પ્રમાણે પ્રશંશા કરી.
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<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="DAN.2.20" />“આવનારા યુગો સુધી દેવની સ્તુતિ થાઓ!
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<q level="2" style="q2">એ જ જ્ઞાન અને શકિતનો ભંડાર છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="DAN.2.21" />કાળનો અને ઋતુચક્રનો એ જ નિયામક છે.
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<q level="2" style="q2">એ જ રાજાઓને પદષ્ટ કરે છે
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગાદીએ બેસાડે છે.
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<q style="q1">જ્ઞાનીને જ્ઞાન
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિદ્વાનને વિદ્યા આપનાર છે.”
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<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="DAN.2.22" />તે માણસના ઊંડા રહસ્યોને ખુલ્લા કરે છે.
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<q level="2" style="q2">તે જાણે છે કે, અંધારામાં શું છે.
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<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રકાશ તેની સાથે રહે છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="DAN.2.23" />હે મારા પિતૃઓના દેવ,
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<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારો આભાર માનું છું અને તમારી સ્તુતિ કરું છું, કારણ,
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<q style="q1">તમે જ મને જ્ઞાન અને શકિત આપી છે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મને રાજાનું સ્વપ્ન અને તેનો અર્થ જણાવ્યો છે.
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<s style="s">દાનિયેલ સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ કહે છે
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="DAN.2.24" />પછી બાબિલના બુદ્ધિમાન માણસોને મારી નાખવાનો હુકમ જેને મળ્યો હતો, તે આર્યોખ પાસે દાનિયેલ ગયો અને કહ્યું, “તેઓને મારી નાખીશ નહિ, મને રાજા પાસે લઇ જા અને હું તેમને સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ કહી સંભળાવીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="DAN.2.25" />આર્યોખ તે જ સમયે દાનિયેલને રાજા સમક્ષ લઇ ગયો અને બોલ્યો, “મને યહૂદાના બંદીઓમાંથી એક માણસ મળી આવ્યો છે, જે આપને આપના સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ બતાવી શકશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="DAN.2.26" />આથી રાજાએ દાનિયેલને કહ્યું, “મેં સ્વપ્નમાં શું જોયું હતું અને તેનો અર્થ શો, એ તું મને કહી શકશે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="DAN.2.27" />દાનિયેલે રાજાને પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “આપ નામદાર જે રહસ્ય જાણવા માંગો છો, તે આપને કોઇ વિદ્વાન, મંત્રવિદ, જાદુગર, કે, ભવિષ્યવેત્તા કહી શકે તેમ નથી.
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<v id="28" bcv="DAN.2.28" />પરંતુ આકાશમાં એક દેવ છે, જે રહસ્યો ખુલ્લા કરે છે અને તેણે આપ નામદાર નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને ભવિષ્યમાં શું થવાનું છે તે દર્શાવ્યું છે. આપે આપની ઊંઘમાં જે સ્વપ્ન જોયું હતું, જે સંદર્શન તમે નિહાળ્યું હતું તે આ છે:
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<v id="29" bcv="DAN.2.29" />આપને ભવિષ્યના વિચારો આવ્યા હતા: અને તે જે રહસ્યો જણાવે છે, તેણે ભવિષ્યમાં શું થવાનું છે, તે આપને જણાવ્યું હતું.
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<v id="30" bcv="DAN.2.30" />દેવે મારી મારફતે રહસ્ય પ્રગટ કરાવ્યું, તેનું કારણ એ નથી કે, હું બીજા માણસો કરતાં વધારે જ્ઞાની છું, પણ એટલા માટે જણાવવામાં આવ્યું છે કે, જેથી આપ નામદારને એની જાણ થાય અને આપ આપને આવેલા વિચારો સમજી શકો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="DAN.2.31" />“આપ નામદારને જે સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું; તેમાં આપે એક મોટી મૂર્તિ જોઇ હતી. એ પ્રચંડ અને ઝગારા મારતી મૂર્તિ આપની સમક્ષ ઉભી હતી અને તેનો દેખાવ ભયંકર હતો.
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<v id="32" bcv="DAN.2.32" />તે મૂર્તિનું માથું શુદ્ધ સોનાનું બનેલું હતું; તેની છાતી અને હાથ ચાંદીના હતાં. તેના પેટ અને જાંધો કાંસાના હતાં.
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<v id="33" bcv="DAN.2.33" />તેના પગ લોખંડના હતાં. તેના પગની પાટલીઓનો કેટલોક ભાગ લોખંડનો અને કેટલોક ભાગ માટીનો હતો.
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<v id="34" bcv="DAN.2.34" />આપ એ મૂર્તિ ઉપર મીટ માંડી રહ્યાં હતાં ત્યાં કોઇના અડ્યા વગર જ પર્વતમાંથી એક પથ્થર છૂટો પડ્યો અને મૂર્તિની લોખંડ અને માટીની બનેલી પાનીઓ ઉપર પછડાયો અને પાનીઓનાં તેણે ચૂરેચૂરો કરી નાખ્યા,
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<v id="35" bcv="DAN.2.35" />એ પછી લોખંડ, માટી, કાંસા, ચાંદી અને સોનું બધાંના ટુકડેટુકડા થઇ ગયા અને ઉનાળામાં અનાજ ઝૂડવાના ખળામાંના ભૂસાની જેમ પવન તેમને એવો તો ઉડાડીને લઇ ગયો કે, ક્યાંય તેમનું નામોનિશાન ન રહ્યું. પણ જે પથ્થર મૂર્તિ સાથે પછડાયો હતો તે વધીને મોટો પર્વત બની ગયો અને તેનાથી આખી પૃથ્વી ભરાઇ ગઇ.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="DAN.2.36" />“આ હતું તમારું સ્વપ્ન; હવે અમે તમને તેનો અર્થ જણાવીશું:
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<v id="37" bcv="DAN.2.37" />હે નામદાર, આપને સ્વર્ગાધિપતિ દેવે રાજ્ય, સત્તાં, ગૌરવ અને ખ્યાતિ આપ્યાં છે.
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<v id="38" bcv="DAN.2.38" />અને તેમણે આપના હાથમાં આ પૃથ્વી ઉપર વસતાં બધાં માણસો, પશુઓ અને પંખીઓને સોંપ્યા છે, અને આપને એ સૌના રાજા બનાવ્યા છે. એ સોનાનું માથું આપ છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="DAN.2.39" />“આપના રાજ્યકાળનો અંત આવશે. ત્યારે બીજી મહાસત્તા તમારું સ્થાન લેવા આવશે. તે આપના કરતાં ઊતરતી કક્ષાની હશે. તે સામ્રાજ્યના પતન પછી એક ત્રીજું કાંસાનું સામ્રાજ્ય ઉદય પામશે, જે આખી પૃથ્વી ઉપર રાજ્ય ચલાવશે.
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<v id="40" bcv="DAN.2.40" />ત્યાર પછી, ચોથો રાજા લોખંડ જેવો મજબૂત હશે. તે ભાંગીને ભૂકો કરનાર, કચડી નાખનાર અને વિજય મેળવનાર હશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="DAN.2.41" />“તમે જોયું હતું કે, પગ અને અંગુઠાનો થોડો ભાગ લોખંડનો અને થોડો ભાગ માટીનો હતો. એનો અર્થ એ કે, એ રાજ્યના ભાગલા પડી ગયા હશે. આપે માટી સાથે લોખંડ ભળેલું જોયું હતું એમાં અમુક અંશે લોખંડનું બળ હશે.
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<v id="42" bcv="DAN.2.42" />આ અંગુઠા થોડાં લોખંડના અને થોડા માટીના હતાં, તેથી લોખંડ જેવા મજબૂત હશે અને માટી જેવા નબળાં હશે.
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<v id="43" bcv="DAN.2.43" />વળી આપે જોયું હતું કે, માટી સાથે લોખંડ ભળેલું હતું તેમ તેઓ એકબીજા સાથે લગ્નસંબંધ બાંધી મજબૂત બનવા પ્રયત્ન કરશે, પરંતુ લોખંડ અને માટી એકબીજા સાથે મળી શકતાં નથી, તેમ તેઓ પણ ભેગાં રહી શકશે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="DAN.2.44" />“એ રાજાઓના શાસન દરમ્યાન સ્વર્ગના રાજા દેવ કદી નાશ ન પામે તેવું રાજ્ય સ્થાપશે. જે રાજ્ય બીજી કોઇ પ્રજાના હાથમાં કદી જશે નહિ; તે બધા રાજ્યોનો ભાંગીને ભૂકો કરી નાખશે, પણ પોતે હંમેશને માટે અવિનાશી રહેશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="DAN.2.45" />“તમે જોયું હતું કે, કોઇનો હાથ અડ્યા વગર જ પર્વતમાંથી પથ્થર કપાઇ ને બહાર પડતો હતો અને તેણે લોખંડ, કાંસુ, માટી, ચાંદી અને સોનાના ટુકડે ટુકડા કરી નાખ્યા હતા, તેનો આ અર્થ છે. આમ મહાન દેવે ભવિષ્યમાં શું થવાનું છે તે તમને જણાવ્યું છે. આ જ તમારું સ્વપ્ન છે અને આ જ તેનો સાચો અર્થ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="DAN.2.46" />એ પછી રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે દાનિયેલને સાષ્ટાંગ દંડવત પ્રણામ કર્યા અને તેને અર્પણ અને સુગંધીઓનો ધૂપ ચઢાવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી.
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<v id="47" bcv="DAN.2.47" />રાજાએ કહ્યું, “હે દાનિયેલ, સાચે જ તારા દેવ સર્વ દેવોનાં દેવ છે, તે રાજાઓ ઉપર રાજ કરે છે અને રહસ્યોને ખુલ્લા કરનાર, જણાવનાર છે. તેમણે જ તારી સામે આ રહસ્ય પ્રગટ કર્યું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="DAN.2.48" />પછી રાજાએ દાનિયેલને ઊંચો હોદ્દો આપ્યો, કિમતી ભેટો આપી અને સમગ્ર બાબિલના પ્રાંતના વહીવટકર્તા તરીકે નીમ્યો. તેમજ સર્વ જ્ઞાની માણસોના ઉપરી તરીકે નિમણુંક કરી.
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<v id="49" bcv="DAN.2.49" />દાનિયેલે રાજાને વિનંતી કરી એટલે તેણે શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગોને બાબિલના પ્રાંતના રાજકારભારીઓ નીમ્યા; પણ દાનિયેલ પોતે રાજાના દરબારમાં ન્યાયાધીશ તરીકે સેવા આપતો હતો.
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<s style="s">અ ગ્નની ભઠ્ઠીમાં ચાર વ્યકિત- સુવર્ણમૂર્તિની પૂજા
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.3.1" />રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે સોનાનું એક પૂતળું ઘડાવીને બાબિલના પ્રાંતમાં આવેલા દૂરાના મેદાનમાં તેની સ્થાપના કરાવી. એ સાઠ હાથ ઊંચો અને છ હાથ પહોળુ હતુ.
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<v id="2" bcv="DAN.3.2" />ત્યારબાદ તેણે સર્વ સરદારોને, રાજયપાલોને, કપ્તાનોને, ન્યાયાધીશોને, ખજાનચીઓને, સલાહકારોને, ભંડારીઓને અને અન્ય અધિકારીઓને આ પૂતળાની સ્થાપન વિધિમાં હાજર રહેવા માટે સંદેશા મોકલ્યાઁ.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="DAN.3.3" />તેઓ બધા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજાએ જે પ્રતિમાની સ્થાપના કરી હતી તેની પ્રાણપ્રતિષ્ઠા કરવા માટે ભેગા થયા. અને તેઓ પ્રતિમા સમક્ષ ઊભા રહ્યા.
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<v id="4" bcv="DAN.3.4" />ચોકીદારે મોટે અવાજે કહ્યું, “હે સર્વ દેશના જાતિના અને ભાષાઓના લોકો, આ હુકમ રાજાનો છે
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<v id="5" bcv="DAN.3.5" />કે, જેવો તમે રણશિંગુ, શરણાઇ, વીણા, સિતાર, સારંગી વગેરે સર્વ પ્રકારના વાજિંત્રોનો અવાજ સાંભળો કે, તમારે નીચે નમીને પૂજા કરવી.
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<v id="6" bcv="DAN.3.6" />જે કોઇ નીચે નમીને પૂજા નહિ કરે તેને તરત જ બળબળતા અગ્નિની ભઠ્ઠીમાં નાખવામાં આવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DAN.3.7" />આથી રણશિંગુ, શરણાઇ, વીણા, સિતાર, સારંગી વગેરે વાજિંત્રોનો નાદ સાંભળતા જ જુદી જુદી પ્રજાઓના અને જુદી જુદી ભાષા બોલનારા બધા લોકોએ રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે સ્થાપન કરેલી સોનાના પૂતળાની સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કરીને પૂજા કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DAN.3.8" />તે વખતે કેટલાક અધિકારીઓએ રાજાની પાસે આવીને યહૂદીઓ ઉપર આરોપ મૂક્યું.
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<v id="9" bcv="DAN.3.9" />તેઓએ રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને કહ્યું, “હે રાજા, સદા જીવતા રહો.
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<v id="10" bcv="DAN.3.10" />નામદાર, આપે એવી આજ્ઞા કરી છે કે, જો કોઇ માણસ રણશિંગુ, શરણાઇ, વીણા, સિતાર, સારંગી, વગેરે વાજિંત્રોનો નાદ સાંભળે, તેણે સોનાની પ્રતિમાને સાષ્ટાંગ નમસ્કાર કરી પૂજા કરવી,
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<v id="11" bcv="DAN.3.11" />અને તમારા કહ્યાં મુજબ જે કોઇ માણસ સોનાના પૂતળાની નીચે નમીને પૂજા ન કરે, તો તેને બળબળતા અગ્નિની ભઠ્ઠીમાં નાખવો.
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<v id="12" bcv="DAN.3.12" />આપે શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગો નામના યહૂદીઓને બાબિલ પ્રાંતનો વહીવટ સોંપ્યો છે. નામદાર, એ માણસોએ આપની સુચનાઓનો ભંગ કર્યો છે. તેઓ તમારા દેવની સેવા કરતા નથી કે, તમે બનાવેલા સોનાના પૂતળાની નીચે વળીને પૂજા કરતા નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DAN.3.13" />ત્યારે રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર ખૂબ રોષે ભરાયો અને તેણે શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગોને પોતાની આગળ લાવવાનો હુકમ કર્યો. તેમને રાજા સમક્ષ હાજર કરવામાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="DAN.3.14" />નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે તેમને કહ્યું, “હે શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગો, એ વાત સાચી છે કે, તમે મારા દેવોની પૂજા કરતાં નથી કે, મેં સ્થાપન કરેલી સોનાની પ્રતિમાની પૂજા કરતા નથી?
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<v id="15" bcv="DAN.3.15" />પરંતુ હું એક વધુ તક તમને આપીશ. જ્યારે વાજિંત્રોમાં રણશિંગુ, શરણાઇ, વીણા, સિતાર, સારંગી વગેરે વાગે ત્યારે સાષ્ટાંગ દંડવત પ્રણામ કરીને તમે પૂજા કરવા તૈયાર થશો તો સારી વાત છે. પણ જો તમે પૂજા નહિ કરો તો તમને તત્કાળ બળબળતા અગ્નિની ભઠ્ઠીમાં નાખવામાં આવશે. મારા હાથમાંથી કયા દેવ તમને બચાવશે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DAN.3.16" />શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગોએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હે નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજા, અમારું શું થશે એની અમે ચિંતા કરતા નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="DAN.3.17" />જે દેવની અમે સેવા કરીએ છીએ તે અમને બળતા અગ્નિની ભઠ્ઠીમાંથી અને આપના હાથમાંથી ઉગારવાને શકિતમાન છે. તે અમને બચાવવા માટે શકિતમાન છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="DAN.3.18" />અને જો નહિ ઉગારે તો પણ, આપ નામદાર જાણી લેજો કે, અમે નથી તો આપના દેવોની સેવા કરવાના કે, નથી આપે સ્થાપિત કરેલી સોનાની મૂર્તિની પૂજા કરવાના.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DAN.3.19" />આ સાંભળીને રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગો ઉપર ક્રોધે ભરાયો અને તેનો ચહેરો લાલચોળ થઇ ગયો. તેણે હુકમ કર્યો, “ભઠ્ઠીને હંમેશા ગરમ કરવામાં આવે તે કરતાં સાતગણી વધારે ગરમ કરો.”
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<v id="20" bcv="DAN.3.20" />અને તેણે પોતાના લશ્કરના કેટલાક બળવાનમાં બળવાન માણસોને શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગોને બાંધીને બળબળતા અગ્નિની ભઠ્ઠીમાં નાખવાનો હુકમ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="DAN.3.21" />તેથી તેઓએ પહેરણ, પાઘડી અને બીજા વસ્ત્રો સાથે તેઓને દોરડાં વડે સખત બાંધ્યાં અને અગ્નિની ભઠ્ઠીમાં નાખી દીધા.
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<v id="22" bcv="DAN.3.22" />રાજાએ ગુસ્સામાં ભઠ્ઠીને ખૂબજ તપાવવાનો હુકમ કર્યો હતો. અગ્નિની જવાળાઓ ભઠ્ઠીની બહાર નીકળતી હતી. તેથી તેઓને ભઠ્ઠીમાં નાખનાર સૈનિકો પોતે ભસ્મ થઇ ગયા.
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<v id="23" bcv="DAN.3.23" />પછી શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગો બંધાયેલી હાલતમાં જ ભભૂકતી જવાળામાં પડ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="DAN.3.24" />નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજા આ જોઇ આશ્ચર્ય પામીને એકદમ ઊભો થઇ ગયો અને પોતાના દરબારીઓને પૂછયું, “શું તમે ત્રણ જણને બાંધીને અગ્નિની ભઠ્ઠીમાં નાખ્યાં નહોતાં?”
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<p style="p">દરબારીઓએ કહ્યું “હા, એમજ કર્યુ હતું, નામદાર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="DAN.3.25" />નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે બૂમ પાડી. “અરે જુઓ, પણ હું તો ચાર માણસોને છૂટા થઇને આગમાં સાજાસમા ફરતાં જોઉં છું, અને પેલો ચોથો માણસ દેવપુત્ર જેવો દેખાય છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="DAN.3.26" />પછી નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે સળગતી ભઠ્ઠીની પાસે જઇને પેલા માણસોને કહ્યું, “શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગો, સૌથી મહાન પરાત્પર દેવના સેવકો, બહાર આવો, અહીં આવો!”
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<p style="p">આ સાંભળીને તેઓ તરત જ અગ્નિમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા.
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<v id="27" bcv="DAN.3.27" />અને પ્રશાસકો, સૂબાઓ, નાયબ સૂબાઓ અને રાજાના દરબારીઓ તેમની આસપાસ ભેગા થઇ ગયા. અને તેમણે જોયું કે, તેમના શરીર ઉપર અગ્નિની કોઇ અસર થઇ નહોતી. તેમના માથાના વાળ પણ બળ્યા નહોતા, તેમના વસ્ત્રોને અગ્નિ અડ્યો જ નહોતો અને તેમના શરીરમાંથી બળ્યાની ગંધ પણ આવતી નહોતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="DAN.3.28" />ત્યારબાદ નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે કહ્યું, “શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગોના દેવનો જય હો! તેણે પોતાના દૂતને મોકલીને પોતાના ભકતોને ઉગારી લીધા છે, જેમણે એને ભરોસે રાજાની આજ્ઞાનો ભંગ કર્યો હતો અને પોતાના દેવ સિવાય બીજા કોઇપણ દેવની સેવા કે, પૂજા કરવાને બદલે મરવાનું પસંદ કર્યું હતું. પરંતુ દેવે તેઓનો ઉદ્ધાર કર્યો છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="DAN.3.29" />તેથી હું એવી આજ્ઞા કરું છું, કે, કોઇપણ પ્રજાનો કે, કોઇપણ ભાષા બોલનારો કોઇપણ માણસ મારા કાયદા નિયમનું ઉલ્લંધન કરનારને અને શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગોના દેવની નિંદા કરનારના ટુકડે ટુકડા કરી દેવામાં આવશે. અને તેનું ઘર તોડીને ઢગલો કરી નાખવામાં આવશે, કારણ, માણસોને આ રીતે ઉગારી શકે એવો બીજો કોઇ દેવ નથી.”
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<v id="30" bcv="DAN.3.30" />ત્યારબાદ રાજાએ શાદ્રાખ, મેશાખ અને અબેદનગોને વધારે ઊંચું સ્થાન આપ્યું, તેથી તેઓ બાબિલ પ્રાંતમાં પુષ્કળ સમૃદ્ધ થયાં.
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<s style="s">નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજાનું બીજું સ્વપ્ન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.4.1" />રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે આ આજ્ઞા દુનિયાના દરેક દેશમાં, દરેક જાતિના અને ભાષાના લોકોને મોકલી:
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="2" bcv="DAN.4.2" />સદા સૌ સુખ શાંતિમાં રહો. પરાત્પર દેવે મને જે ચિહ્નો અને આશ્ચર્યકારક કૃત્યોનો અનુભવ કરાવ્યો છે, તેના વિષે તમે બધા જાણો એવી મારી ઇચ્છા છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="DAN.4.3" />તે તો માનવામાં ન આવે તેવું હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના પરાક્રમો અતિ મહાન છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમનું રાજ્ય શાશ્વતકાળ ટકે એવું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો અધિકાર પેઢી દર પેઢી ટકી રહે છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="4" bcv="DAN.4.4" />હું નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર મારા મહેલમાં સુખ શાંતિમાં રહેતો હતો. અને વૈભવ માણતો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="DAN.4.5" />એક રાત્રે હું મારા પલંગમાં સૂતો હતો, એવામાં મને ભયંકર સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું. ત્યારે મારા મગજમાં પસાર થતાં આકારો અને સંદર્શનોએ મને ગભરાવી દીધો.
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<v id="6" bcv="DAN.4.6" />તેથી મેં હુકમ કર્યો કે, બાબિલના બધા હોશિયાર પુરુષોને મારી સમક્ષ હાજર કરવા, જેથી તેઓ મને મારા સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ સમજાવે.
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<v id="7" bcv="DAN.4.7" />તેથી બધા જાદુગરો, મંત્રવિદો ઇલમીઓ અને જ્યોતિષીઓ મારી સમક્ષ આવ્યા અને મેં તેમને મારું સ્વપ્ન કહી સંભળાવ્યું, પણ તેઓ મને તેનો અર્થ જણાવી શક્યા નહિ.
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<v id="8" bcv="DAN.4.8" />આખરે દાનિયેલ મારી આગળ આવ્યો, મારા દેવના નામ પરથી તેનું નામ મેં બેલ્ટશાસ્સાર રાખ્યું હતું. એ માણસોમાં પવિત્ર દેવોનો આત્મા છે. મેં તેને મારા સ્વપ્નની વાત કરી.
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<v id="9" bcv="DAN.4.9" />મેં કહ્યું, “હે બેલ્ટશાસ્સાર, તું જાદુગરોમાં અગ્રગણ્ય છે, કારણ, હું જાણું છું કે, તારામાં પવિત્ર દેવોની શકિતનો વાસ છે, કોઇ પણ રહસ્ય એવું નથી જેને તું ઉકેલી ન શકે. મારા સ્વપ્નનો અર્થ શો છે તે તું મને કહે.
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<v id="10" bcv="DAN.4.10" />હું ઊંઘતો હતો ત્યારે મને સંદર્શન થયું, પૃથ્વીની મધ્યમાં એક વૃક્ષ મેં જોયું, તેની ઊંચાઇ ઘણી વધારે હતી.
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<v id="11" bcv="DAN.4.11" />તે વૃક્ષ વધતું જ ગયું અને મજબૂત બન્યું અને તેની ટોચ આકાશે પહોંચી અને પૃથ્વીને છેડેથી પણ તે નજરે પડતું હતું.
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<v id="12" bcv="DAN.4.12" />તેના પાંદડાં સુંદર હતાં, ફળથી તે લચી પડ્યું હતું, તેને એટલાં ફળ લાગ્યાં હતાં કે, બધાં ધરાઇને ખાઇ શકે, વગડાનાં પશુઓ તેની છાયા નીચે આશ્રય પામતા અને આકાશના પંખીઓ તેની ડાળીઓમાં વાસો કરતા અને બધા જીવો તેના ઉપર વસતા.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="13" bcv="DAN.4.13" />“હું આ સંદર્શન જોતો હતો, ત્યારે મેં દેવના પવિત્ર દૂતોમાંના એકને સ્વર્ગમાંથી નીચે ઊતરતો જોયો.
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<v id="14" bcv="DAN.4.14" />તેણે મોટે સાદે મને કહ્યું, ‘આ વૃક્ષને કાપી નાખો; તેની ડાળીઓને પણ કાપી નાખો; તેના પાંદડાં ખંખેરી નાખો અને તેના ફળ વિખેરી નાખો. તેની છાયામાંથી પ્રાણીઓને અને તેની ડાળીઓ ઉપરથી પક્ષીઓને નસાડી મૂકો.
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<v id="15" bcv="DAN.4.15" />પણ એના થડ અને તેના મૂળને જમીનમાં રહેવા દો. અને તેના શરીરને લોઢાની સાંકળોથી બાંધી દો, અને તેને તે ખેતરના ઘાસ ઉપર જ રહેવા દો.
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<v id="16" bcv="DAN.4.16" />એનું મન માણસનું મટીને પશુનું થઇ જાઓ અને આમ સાત વર્ષ વીતી જવા દો!’
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="17" bcv="DAN.4.17" />“જાગ્રત ચોકીદાર સમા પવિત્ર દૂતોએ આ સજા કરેલી છે, તેમણે આ ચુકાદો આપેલો છે, જેથી સર્વ જીવો સમજે કે, માનવ-રાજ્યમાં પરાત્પર દેવ સવોર્પરી છે, તે જેને રાજ્ય આપવું હોય તેને આપે છે; અને તેના ઉપર નાનામાં નાના માણસને સ્થાપે છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="18" bcv="DAN.4.18" />“મેં, રાજા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે, આ સ્વપ્ન જોયું હતું અને હે બેલ્ટશાસ્સાર, હવે તું મને તેનો અર્થ જણાવ, કારણકે બીજું કોઇ જ મને એનો અર્થ સમજાવી શકે એમ નથી. મારા રાજયના ડાહ્યાં માણસો નિષ્ફળ ગયા છે. તારામાં પવિત્ર દેવનો આત્મા વસે છે, તેથી તું સમજાવી શકે એમ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DAN.4.19" />પછી દાનિયેલ ઉફેર્ બેલ્ટશાસ્સાર ક્ષણભર સ્તબ્ધ થઇ ગયો. તેના મનમાં જે વિચારો આવ્યા તેનાથી તે ભયભીત બની ગયો. પણ રાજાએ તેને કહ્યું, “બેલ્ટશાસ્સાર, સ્વપ્નથી કે, તેના અર્થથી તું ગભરાઇશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p">બેલ્ટશાસ્સારે કહ્યું, “મારા ધણી, એ સ્વપ્ન અને એનો અર્થ આપના વેરીને લાગુ પડો.
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<v id="20" bcv="DAN.4.20" />પૃથ્વીના છેડાથી જોઇ શકાય તેવું તે વૃક્ષ ઊંચું હતું અને તેની ટોચ આકાશ સુધી પહોંચતી હતી.
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<v id="21" bcv="DAN.4.21" />જેને સુંદર તાજાં લીલાં પાંદડાં હતાં, વળી જે ફળોથી લચી પડ્યું હતું. જેમાંથી બધાનો નિભાવ થતો હતો. જેની છાયામાં વગડાના પશુઓ આશ્રય પામતા હતા અને જેની ડાળીઓમાં પંખીઓનો વાસ હતો.
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<v id="22" bcv="DAN.4.22" />હે રાજા, એ તો આપ પોતે જ છો. આપ મહાન અને બળવાન છો. તમારી મહાનતા વધીને છેક આકાશ સુધી પહોંચી છે. તમારું સામ્રાજ્ય પૃથ્વીના છેડા સુધી પહોંચ્યું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="DAN.4.23" />“અને આપ નામદારે જાગ્રત ચોકીદાર સમા એક પવિત્ર દૂતને આકાશમાંથી ઊતરતો જોયો હતો જે કહેતો હતો કે, ‘આ વૃક્ષને કાપી નાખો, એનો નાશ કરો, પણ એનાં ઠૂંઠાને લોઢાના ને કાંસાના બંધથી બાંધીને એને જમીનમાં મૂળ સાથે ખેતરના ઘાસ વચ્ચે રહેવા દો. એને આકાશમાંથી પડતી ઝાકળથી ભીંજાવા દો. અને એને પશુઓ સાથે રહેવા દો આમને આમ સાત વર્ષ વીતી જવા દો.’
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="DAN.4.24" />“હે નામદાર, પરાત્પર દેવે કહ્યું છે અને તે આપને માથે આવ્યું છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="DAN.4.25" />એટલે આપને માણસોમાંથી હાંકી કાઢવામાં આવશે, અને વગડાના પશુઓ ભેગા આપે રહેવું પડશે, અને આપે બળદની જેમ ઘાસ ખાવું પડશે અને આપે આકાશમાંથી વરસતી ઝાકળથી ભીંજાવું પડશે. સાત વરસ સુધી આપ આ પ્રમાણે જીવશો. આખરે તમે જાણશો કે, પરાત્પર દેવ મનુષ્યોના સર્વ રાજ્યો ઉપર અધિકાર ચલાવે છે અને રાજ્ય જેને સોંપવું હોય તેને સોંપે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="DAN.4.26" />“વૃક્ષના ઠૂંઠાને અને મૂળને જમીનમાં રહેવા દેવાનું જણાવવામાં આવ્યું હતું. આ દર્શાવે છે કે, સ્વર્ગના દેવ અધિકાર ચલાવે છે. તે તમે કબૂલ કરશો ત્યારે તમને તમારું રાજ્ય પાછું મળશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="DAN.4.27" />માટે આપ મહેરબાની કરીને મારી સલાહ માનો: પુણ્યકાર્યો કરી અને ગરીબો ઉપર દયા કરી, આપે કરેલા પાપોમાંથી મુકત થાઓ અને એમ કરીને આપ સુખ શાંતિભર્યું દીર્ધાયુષ્ય ભોગવો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="DAN.4.28" />આ બધું જ નબૂખાદનેસ્સારના જીવનમાં બન્યું.
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<v id="29" bcv="DAN.4.29" />આ સ્વપ્નને બાર મહિના વીતી ગયા પછી એક દિવસ તે બાબિલના વૈભવી મહેલમાં અગાસીમાં ફરતો હતો.
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<v id="30" bcv="DAN.4.30" />ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, “આ મહાનગર બાબિલ તો જુઓ! મારું ગૌરવ તથા મહિમા વધારવા માટે મારી પોતાની શકિત વડે એ પાટનગર બાંધ્યું છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="DAN.4.31" />હજી તો આ શબ્દો તે બોલતો હતો, ત્યાં તો તેણે આકાશવાણી સાંભળી, “હે નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજા, તારા માટે આ સંદેશો છે: તું હવેથી આ રાજ્યનો રાજા રહ્યો નથી.
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<v id="32" bcv="DAN.4.32" />અને તને માણસોમાંથી હાંકી મૂકવામાં આવશે. અને તારે વગડાના પશુઓ ભેગા રહેવું પડશે અને તારે બળદની જેમ ઘાસ ખાવું પડશે. આમને આમ સાત વર્ષ વીતી જશે. આખરે તને સમજાશે કે, સૌથી ઉંચો દેવ તે છે જે લોકોના રાજ્યો ઉપર શાસન કરે છે અને જેને પસંદ કરે, તેને જે આપવું હોય તે તેને આપે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="DAN.4.33" />તે જ સમયે આ ભવિષ્યવાણી પૂરી થઇ. નબૂખાદનેસ્સારને તેના મહેલમાંથી હાંકી કાઢવામાં આવ્યો અને બળદની જેમ તે ઘાસ ખાવા લાગ્યો. તેનું શરીર ઝાકળથી પલળી ગયું. તેના વાળ ગરૂડના પીછા જેવા લાંબા વધી ગયા અને તેના નખ પક્ષીઓના પંજા જેવા થઇ ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="DAN.4.34" />મુદૃત પૂરી થતાં સાત વર્ષને અંતે મેં નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે ઊંચે આકાશ તરફ નજર કરી. એટલે મારી સમજશકિત મારામાં પાછી આવી; અને મેં પરાત્પર દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી. અને તેમનું ભજન કર્યું. જે શાશ્વત છે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તેનું અધિપત્ય અનંત છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું રાજ્ય યુગોના યુગો સુધી ચાલે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="DAN.4.35" />પૃથ્વી પરના સર્વ માણસો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની સામે કોઇ વિસાતમાં નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમને જે ઠીક લાગે તેમ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેજ તે સ્વર્ગમાં તેમજ અહીં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી પરના નિવાસીઓમાં કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના હાથને કોઇ રોકી શકતું નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને કોઇ પ્રશ્ર્ન કરી શકતું નથી કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે આ શું કર્યું?
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="36" bcv="DAN.4.36" />જ્યારે મારી બુદ્ધિ ઠેકાણે આવી, અને મારું ગૌરવ, મારો પ્રતાપ અને મારો વૈભવ મને પાછા મળ્યાં. મારા સલાહકારો અને અધિકારીઓ મને શોધતા આવ્યા અને મને મારા રાજ્યના વડા તરીકે પુન:સ્થાપિત કરવામાં આવ્યો. અને મારા ગૌરવમાં અગાઉ કરતાં ઘણી વૃદ્ધિ થઇ.
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<v id="37" bcv="DAN.4.37" />હવે હું, નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર, સ્વર્ગાધિપતિની સ્તુતિ કરું છું, પ્રશંશા કરું છું, મહિમા ગાઉં છું અને ગુણગાન કરું છું, કારણ, તેના બધાં કાર્યો સાચાં છે, તેનો વ્યવહાર ન્યાયી છે, અને જેઓ ઘમંડી છે તેઓને તે નીચા પાડે છે.
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">દાનિયેલ અને બેલ્શાસ્સાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.5.1" />રાજા બેલ્શાસ્સારે પોતાના એક હજાર ઉમરાવોને મોટી ઉજાણી આપી અને એ હજાર ઉમરાવોની સમક્ષ તે છૂટથી દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="DAN.5.2" />દ્રાક્ષારસ પીતાં પીતાં બેલ્શાસ્સારને યાદ આવ્યું કે, ઘણા સમય પહેલાં તેના પિતા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર યરૂશાલેમના મંદિરમાંથી સોના ચાંદીના પાત્રો લૂંટી લાવ્યા હતા. તેણે એ પાત્રોને ઉજાણીમાં લઇ આવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી, જેથી તે અને તેના ઉમરાવો તથા તેની પત્નીઓ અને ઉપપત્નિઓ તે પાત્રોથી દ્રાક્ષારસ પી શકે.
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<v id="3" bcv="DAN.5.3" />યરૂશાલેમના મંદિરમાંથી લાવવામાં આવેલાં સોનાના પાત્રો હાજર કરવામાં આવ્યાં અને રાજાએ તથા તેના ઉમરાવોએ તે પાત્રોમાં દ્રાક્ષારસ પીધો.
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<v id="4" bcv="DAN.5.4" />દ્રાક્ષારસ પીને તેઓ સોનાચાંદી, કાંસાની અને લોઢાની તથા લાકડામાંથી બનાવેલ મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DAN.5.5" />તે સમયે અચાનક કોઇ માણસના હાથની આંગળીઓ દીવીની સામે આવેલી રાજમહેલની ભીંત ઉપર કાંઇ લખતી દેખાઇ, અને રાજા હાથને લખતો જોઇ રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DAN.5.6" />તે ભયથી તેનો ચહેરો ફિક્કો પડી ગયો અને તેનાં ગાત્રો શિથિલ થઇ ગયાં, અને તેના ઢીંચણ એકબીજા સાથે અથડાવા લાગ્યાં.
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<v id="7" bcv="DAN.5.7" />રાજાએ મોટેથી બૂમ પાડીને કહ્યું, “મંત્રવિદો, અને જાદુગરોને બોલાવી લાવો.” રાજાએ બાબિલના બુદ્ધિમાન પુરુષોને કહ્યું, “જે કોઇ આ લખાણ વાંચી શકશે અને એનો અર્થ મને કહી શકશે, તેને હું જાંબુડિયા રંગનો ઝભ્ભો અને ગળામાં સોનાનો હાર પહેરાવીશ અને તે રાજ્યમાં ત્રીજું સ્થાન પામશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DAN.5.8" />પછી રાજાના સર્વ બુદ્ધિમાનો ત્યાં હાજર થઇ ગયાં, પણ તેઓમાંનો એક પણ બુદ્ધિમાન પુરુષ તે લખાણ વાંચી શક્યો નહિ. તથા સમજી શક્યો નહિ તેથી રાજાને તેઓ કશું સમજાવી ન શક્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="DAN.5.9" />તેથી રાજા બેલ્શાસ્સાર ખૂબ ભયભીત થઇ ગયો અને તેનો ચહેરો ફિક્કો પડી ગયો. તેના અધિકારીઓ પણ બહુ ગભરાઇ ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DAN.5.10" />જ્યારે રાજમાતાએ જે થઇ રહ્યું હતું તે સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તે તરત જ ઉજાણીના ખંડમાં દોડી આવી; તેણે બેલ્શાસ્સારને કહ્યું, “હે રાજા તમે ઘણું જીવો! તમે ગભરાઇ જશો નહિ. તમારે ફિક્કા પડી જવાની જરૂર નથી.
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<v id="11" bcv="DAN.5.11" />તમારા રાજ્યમાં એક માણસ એવો છે, જેનામાં પવિત્ર દેવનો આત્મા વસે છે. તમારા પિતાના સમયમાં એ માણસ દિવ્યજ્ઞાન, બુદ્ધિમતા, અને હોશિયારી માટે જાણીતો હતો અને તમારા પિતા નબૂખાદનેસ્સારે એને જાદુગરો, મંત્રવિદોનો અધ્યક્ષ બનાવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="DAN.5.12" />તે માણસનું નામ દાનિયેલ છે પરંતુ રાજાએ તેનું નામ બેલ્ટશાસ્સાર પાડ્યું હતું. તેનું મન દૈવી જ્ઞાન અને સમજશકિતથી ભરેલું છે. તે સ્વપ્નનું અર્થઘટન કરી શકે છે. સમસ્યાઓને ઉકેલી શકે છે. અને કઠીન કોયડાઓને હલ કરી શકે છે. તે આ લખાણનો અર્થ શો છે તે તમને સમજાવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DAN.5.13" />તેથી તાત્કાલીક દાનિયેલને રાજા પાસે લાવવામાં આવ્યો. રાજાએ તેને પૂછયું, “મારા પિતા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજા ઇસ્રાએલમાંથી યહૂદી બંદીવાનોને લાવ્યા હતાં, તેઓમાંનો દાનિયેલ તે તું છે?
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<v id="14" bcv="DAN.5.14" />મેં એમ સાંભળ્યું છે કે, તારામાં પવિત્ર દૈવી આત્મા છે, અને તું દિવ્યજ્ઞાન, બુદ્ધિમતા, અને હોશિયારી ધરાવે છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="DAN.5.15" />દીવાલ પરનું લખાણ વાંચી તેનો અર્થ મને સમજાવવા માટે મારી પાસે બુદ્ધિમાન માણસોને અને મંત્રવિદોને લાવવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં પરંતુ તેઓ તેનો અર્થ સમજાવી શક્યા ન હતા.
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<v id="16" bcv="DAN.5.16" />પરંતુ મેં તારા વિષે સાંભળ્યું છે કે, તું દરેક પ્રકારના રહસ્યોને ઉકેલે છે, જો તું મને તે શબ્દનો અર્થ કહેશે તો, હું તને જાંબલી રંગનો ઝભ્ભો પહેરાવીશ અને તારા ગળામાં સોનાની સાંકળી પહેરાવીશ અને રાજ્યમાં તને ત્રીજો અધિકારી બનાવીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="DAN.5.17" />ત્યારે દાનિયલે રાજાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “આપનું ઇનામ ભલે આપની પાસે જ રહેતું અને આપનાં ઇનામો આપ ભલે બીજા કોઇને આપો. તેમ છતાં હું આપને આ લખાણ વાંચી સંભળાવીશ અને એનો અર્થ આપને કહી બતાવીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DAN.5.18" />“હે રાજા, પરાત્પર દેવે તમારા પિતા નબૂખાદનેસ્સાર રાજાને રાજ્યો, સત્તા, મહિમા, માન અને ગૌરવ આપ્યા હતાં.
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<v id="19" bcv="DAN.5.19" />દેવે તેને એવો મોટો બનાવ્યો હતો કે, બધી પ્રજાઓ અને બધી ભાષાઓ બોલનારા લોકો તેનાથી ભય પામી થરથર ધ્રુજતા હતા. તે ઇચ્છે તેને મારી નાખતો, અને ઇચ્છે તેને જીવાડતો હતો, ઇચ્છે તેને ઊંચે ચઢાવતો હતો, અને ઇચ્છે તેને પાડતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DAN.5.20" />“પણ જ્યારે અભિમાનને લીધે તેમનાં હૃદય અને મન કઠણ થયાં, ત્યારે તેમને રાજ્યાસન પરથી દૂર કરવામાં આવ્યાં અને તેમનો મહિમા લઇ લેવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="DAN.5.21" />તેને માણસોમાંથી હાંકી કાઢવામાં આવ્યો, તેનું મન પશુ સમાન થઇ ગયું. તે બળદની જેમ ઘાસ ખાતો હતો, તેને જંગલી ગધેડા ભેગું રહેવું પડ્યું અને ખુલ્લા આકાશ નીચે સૂવાને લીધે ઝાકળથી પલળવું પડ્યું. આખરે તેને સમજાયું કે, પરાત્પર દેવ માનવોના રાજ્યમાં સવોર્પરી છે, અને ઇચ્છે તેને રાજ્ય સોંપે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="DAN.5.22" />“હે બેલ્શાસ્સાર તમે તેમના જ પુત્ર છો અને તમે આ બધું જાણ્યાં છતાં, આપે નમ્રતા ધારણ કરી નથી.
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<v id="23" bcv="DAN.5.23" />ઊલ્ટું તમે સ્વર્ગાધિપતિ યહોવાની સામે માથું ઊંચક્યું છે. તેમના મંદિરનાઁ આ પાત્રો અહીં લાવીને તમે, તમારા અધિકારીઓને, આપની પત્નીઓ અને ઉપપત્નીઓને તે પાત્રોમાં દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવડાવ્યો છે. વળી તમે સોના, ચાંદી, લોખંડ, લાકડા અને પથ્થરની મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરી છે, જે કંઇપણ જોઇ કે, સાંભળી શકતી નથી. જેણે તમારામાં જીવનનો શ્વાસ મૂક્યો છે અને જેના હાથમાં તમારું ભવિષ્ય છે, તે દેવને તમે માન આપ્યું નથી.
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<v id="24" bcv="DAN.5.24" />તેથી તેણે આ હાથને મોકલીને આ લખાણ લખાવ્યું છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="DAN.5.25" />તે લખાણ આ છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pc" style="pc"><sc>મેને, મેને, તકેલ, ઉફાસીર્ન.</sc>
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="DAN.5.26" />“એનો અર્થ છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><tl>મેને</tl>:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એનો અર્થ એ છે કે, દેવે આપના રાજ્યના દિવસો ગણ્યા છે અને તેનો અંત આણ્યો છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="DAN.5.27" /><tl>તકેલ:</tl>
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અર્થાત્ વજન કરેલું, જોખેલું, તમને દેવના ત્રાજવામાં તોળવામાં આવ્યા છે, અને તમે ઓછા માલૂમ પડ્યા છો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="DAN.5.28" /><tl>પેરસ:</tl>
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અર્થાત્ ભાગલા પાડેલું; તમારા સામ્રાજ્યના ભાગલા પાડવામાં આવ્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મિદિયા અને પશિર્યાના લોકોને વહેંચી આપવામાં આવ્યા છે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="DAN.5.29" />ત્યારપછી બેલ્શાસ્સારની આજ્ઞા અનુસાર દાનિયેલને જાંબલી ઝભ્ભો પહેરાવવામાં આવ્યો, તેના ગળામાં સોનાની સાંકળી પહેરાવવામાં આવી અને તેને રાજ્યમાં ત્રીજો અધિકારી જાહેર કરવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="30" bcv="DAN.5.30" />તે જ રાત્રે બાબિલના રાજા બેલ્શાસ્સારનો વધ થયો.
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<v id="31" bcv="DAN.5.31" />માદીના દાર્યાવેશે રાજ્યની રાજસત્તા સંભાળી. તેની ઉંમર આશરે બાસઠ વર્ષની હતી.
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</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">દાનિયેલ સિંહોની ગુફામાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.6.1" />દાર્યાવેશને આખા રાજ્યમાં 120 સૂબાઓ નીમવાની ઇચ્છા થઇ.
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<v id="2" bcv="DAN.6.2" />એ બધા ઉપર તેણે ત્રણ અધિક્ષકો નીમ્યા, જેમાંનો એક દાનિયેલ હતો; જેથી પેલા અધિક્ષકો તેમને જવાબદાર રહે, ને રાજાને કઇં નુકશાન થાય નહિ.
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<v id="3" bcv="DAN.6.3" />પોતાનામાં રહેલી ઉત્તમ શકિતને કારણે દાનિયેલ બીજા અધિક્ષકો અને સૂબાઓ કરતાં વધારે નામાંકિત થયો અને રાજાએ તેને આખા રાજ્યોનો ઉપરી બનાવવાનો વિચાર કર્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="DAN.6.4" />આને કારણે એ અધિક્ષકો અને સૂબાઓ દાનિયેલના રાજ્યવહીવટમાં ખોટ શોધવા લાગ્યા, પરંતુ તેમને કોઇ ખોટ કે, દોષ જડ્યા નહિ, કારણ દાનિયેલ પોતાની ફરજ વફાદારીપૂર્વક બજાવતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DAN.6.5" />“જ્યારે તેઓને ભૂલ કે, ખોડખાંપણ જડી નહિ, ત્યારે તેઓને પ્રતિતી થઇ કે, તેઓ તેની કામગીરી બાબત કોઇ દોષ શોધી નહિ શકે, અને તેથી તેમણે તેના નિયમ બાબતે કોઇ દોષ શોધીને, તેની સામે તેનો ઉપયોગ કરવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DAN.6.6" />ત્યારબાદ એ અધિક્ષકો અને સૂબાઓએ ભેગા મળીને રાજા પાસે જઇને કહ્યું, “મહારાજ દાર્યાવેશ, અમર રહો!
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<v id="7" bcv="DAN.6.7" />અમે આપના રાજ્યના બધા અધિક્ષકો, સૂબાઓ, સરસૂબાઓ, નાયબસૂબાઓ અને દરબારીઓ ચર્ચા-વિચારણા પછી એવા નિર્ણય ઉપર આવ્યા છીએ કે, આપે એવી આજ્ઞા કરતો વટહુકમ બહાર પાડવો જોઇએ કે, જે કોઇ આવતા ત્રીસ દિવસ દરમ્યાન આપના સિવાય બીજા કોઇ પણ દેવ કે, માણસની આગળ અરજ કરશે, તેને સિંહોની ગુફામાં નાખવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="DAN.6.8" />નામદાર, આપ એવો હુકમ બહાર પાડી તેના ઉપર સહીસિક્કા કરો, જેથી તેમાં ફેરફાર ન થઇ શકે. કારણ મિદિયા અને પશિર્યાના લોકોના કાયદાઓમાં ફેરફાર થઇ શકતો નથી કે, તેને રદ કરી શકાતો નથી.”
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<v id="9" bcv="DAN.6.9" />આથી રાજા દાર્યાવેશે હુકમ ઉપર સહી કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DAN.6.10" />હુકમ ઉપર સહી થઇ છે એવી જાણ થતાં દાનિયેલ ઘેર આવ્યો. એના ઉપલા માળના ઓરડાની બારીઓ યરૂશાલેમની દિશામાં પડતી હતી. તેણે હંમેશની માફક રોજ ત્રણ વાર ઘૂંટણિયે પડીને દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી અને પ્રાર્થના કરવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DAN.6.11" />ત્યારે પેલા માણસો એક સાથે દાનિયેલના ઘર તરફ ઘસી ગયા અને ત્યાં તેને પોતાના દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરતાં અને તેમની સહાય માટે યાચના કરતો જોયો.
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<v id="12" bcv="DAN.6.12" />તેથી તેમણે રાજા પાસે જઇને તેને પેલા હુકમની યાદ આપીને કહ્યું, “હે મહારાજ, આપે એવા હુકમ ઉપર સહી નહોતી કરી કે, જે કોઇ 30 દિવસ દરમ્યાન આપના સિવાય બીજા કોઇપણ દેવ કે, માણસને અરજ કરશે તેને સિંહોની ગુફામાં નાખવામાં આવશે?”
</p>
<p style="p">રાજાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હા, એ તો માદીઓ અને ઇરાનીઓનો કાયદો છે, જે કદી બદલાતો નથી અથવા રતબાતલ થતો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DAN.6.13" />ત્યારે તેમણે રાજાને કહ્યું, “યહૂદાના કેદીઓમાંનો એક દાનિયેલ આપની અને આપે સહી કરેલા હુકમની અવજ્ઞા કરે છે. તે રોજ ત્રણ વખત પોતાના દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DAN.6.14" />આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે રાજાને આવા કાયદા ઉપર સહી કરવા બદલ ખૂબ દુ:ખ થયું. તેણે દાનિયેલને બચાવવાનો કોઇ રસ્તો શોધવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો અને સૂર્યાસ્ત સુધી એ પ્રયત્ન ચાલુ રાખ્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="DAN.6.15" />સાંજે ફરીથી લોકો રાજા પાસે આવ્યા અને પૂછયું, “નામદાર, આપે જાણવું જોઇએ કે, મિદિયા અને પશિર્યાના કાયદા મુજબ રાજાએ કરેલો કોઇ હુકમ કે, કોઇ આજ્ઞા બદલી ન શકાય.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DAN.6.16" />છેવટે રાજાએ દાનિયેલની ધરપકડ માટે આદેશ આપ્યો અને તેને સિંહોની ગુફામાં નાખવા લઇ જવામાં આવ્યો. તેણે દાનિયેલને કહ્યું, “જે દેવની તું સતત સેવા ઉપાસના કરે છે તે તને બચાવો.”
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<v id="17" bcv="DAN.6.17" />પછી એક મોટો પથ્થર લાવીને ગુફાના મોઢા ઉપર મૂકવામાં આવ્યો અને રાજાએ તેના ઉપર પોતાની તથા પોતાના દરબારીઓની મુદ્રા વડે સીક્કો માર્યો, જેથી કોઇ દાનિયેલને બચાવી ન શકે.
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<v id="18" bcv="DAN.6.18" />પછી રાજા પોતાના મહેલમાં પાછો ગયો. આખી રાત તેણે કશું ખાધું નહિ; તેમ વાજિંત્રો પણ તેની આગળ આણવામાં આવ્યાં નહિ; અને તેને ઊંઘ ન આવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DAN.6.19" />બીજા દિવસે વહેલી પરોઢે રાજા ઉતાવળો સિંહોની ગુફા આગળ ગયો.
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<v id="20" bcv="DAN.6.20" />ગુફા આગળ તે પહોંચ્યો ત્યારે વેદનાભર્યા અવાજે તેણે દાનિયેલને હાંક મારીને કહ્યું, “હે દાનિયેલ, હે જીવંત દેવના સેવક! જેની તું સતત સેવા કરે છે, તે તારો દેવ તને સિંહોથી બચાવી શક્યો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="DAN.6.21" />એટલે દાનિયેલે રાજાને જવાબ આપ્યો, “હે રાજા, તમે અમર રહો.
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<v id="22" bcv="DAN.6.22" />મારા દેવે પોતાના દૂતને મોકલ્યો અને તેણે સિંહોના મોં બંધ કરી દીધા એટલે તેઓ મને કશી ઇજા નથી કરી શક્યા. કારણ, દેવની નજરમાં હું નિદોર્ષ ઠર્યો છું. અને હે મહારાજ, આપનો પણ મેં કોઇ ગુનો કર્યો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="DAN.6.23" />રાજાને ઘણો આનંદ થયો; તેણે હુકમ કર્યો કે, દાનિયેલને ગુફામાંથી બહાર કાઢવામાં આવે. તેના શરીર ઉપર એક ઊઝરડો પણ જોવા મળ્યો નહિ. કારણકે તેને પોતાના દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="DAN.6.24" />પછી રાજાના હુકમથી દાનિયેલ ઉપર આક્ષેપ કરનારાઓને; તેમના બાળકોને અને સ્ત્રીઓને પકડી લાવીને સિંહોની ગુફામાં નાખવામાં આવ્યા, અને તેઓ ગુફાને તળીયે પહોંચે તે પહેલાં જ સિંહો તેમના ઉપર તૂટી પડ્યા અને તેમના હાડકાં સુદ્ધાં ચૂરેચૂરા કરી નાખ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="DAN.6.25" />ત્યારપછી રાજા દાર્યાવેશે આખી પૃથ્વીના, જુદીજુદી પ્રજાના તથા જુદી જુદી ભાષા બોલનારા લોકોને પત્ર લખ્યો કે,
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<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="26" bcv="DAN.6.26" />સાદર પ્રણામ સાથે લખવાનું કે, આથી હું એવો હુકમ કરું છું કે, મારા આખા સામ્રાજ્યમાં સર્વ લોકોએ દાનિયેલના દેવનો ભય રાખવો અને તેને માન આપવું.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">કારણકે તે જીવંત દેવ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અધિકારી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમનું રાજ્ય અવિનાશી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની સત્તાનો અંત આવતો નથી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="DAN.6.27" />તે બચાવે છે અને છોડાવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશમાં અને પૃથ્વી પર ચમત્કારિક નિશાનીઓ અને ચમત્કારો કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે એક જ છે જેણે દાનિયેલને સિંહોના પંજામાંથી ઉગાર્યો છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="DAN.6.28" />આમ, દાર્યાવેશના રાજ્યકાળ દરમ્યાન અને ઇરાની કોરેશના રાજ્યકાળ દરમ્યાન દાનિયેલે આબાદાની ભોગવી.
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</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">દાનિયેલને થયેલ સંદર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.7.1" />બાબિલના રાજા બેલ્શાસ્સારના રાજ્યશાસનના પ્રથમ વર્ષ દરમ્યાન દાનિયેલ સૂતો હતો ત્યારે, એક રાત્રે તેને સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું અને તેણે મનચક્ષુથી અનેક સંદર્શનો જોયાં. પછી તેણે તે સ્વપ્ન લખી નાખ્યું. તેણે જે જોયું તે આ પ્રમાણે છે:
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<v id="2" bcv="DAN.7.2" />“રાત્રે મને થયેલાં સંદર્શનમાં મેં જોયું તો, સ્વર્ગના ચાર પવનો મોટા સમુદ્રને (ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્રને) હલાવી રહ્યાં હતાં.
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<v id="3" bcv="DAN.7.3" />ત્યારબાદ એકબીજાથી જુદાં ચાર મોટાં મોટાં પ્રાણીઓ સમુદ્રમાંથી બહાર નીકળ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DAN.7.4" />“પહેલું પ્રાણી સિંહ જેવું હતું, પણ તેને ગરૂડ જેવી પાંખો હતી, અને હું જોતો હતો કે, તેની પાંખો ખેંચી લેવામાં આવી જેથી તે ઊડી શકે નહિ. તેને બે પગ ઉપર માણસની જેમ જમીન પર ઊભું રાખવામાં આવ્યું. અને તેને મનુષ્યનું હૃદય આપવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DAN.7.5" />“બીજું પ્રાણી રીંછ જેવું દેખાતું હતું. તે પંજો ઉપાડીને ત્રાટકવાની તૈયારી સાથે ઊભુ હતું. તેના દાંતોની વચ્ચે પણ ત્રણ પાંસળીઓ હતી. તેને કહેવામાં આવ્યું, ‘ઊભો થા! ઘણાં માંસનો ભક્ષ કર!’
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DAN.7.6" />“આ વિચિત્ર પ્રાણીઓમાંનું ત્રીજું ચિત્તા જેવું પ્રાણી નજરે પડ્યું. તેની પીઠ પર પંખીના જેવી ચાર પાંખો હતી, તેને ચાર માથાઁ હતાં અને તેને શાસનની સત્તા સોંપવામાં આવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DAN.7.7" />“પછી રાત્રે મેં મારા સંદર્શનમાં એક ચોથું પ્રાણી જોયું. તેનું વર્ણન થઇ ન શકે તેવું ભયાનક અને મજબૂત તે હતું. તે તેના શિકારને લોખંડના મોટા દાંત વડે ચીરીને ખાતું હતું. અને બીજાઓને પોતાના પગ નીચે કચડી નાખતું હતું. બીજા બધા પ્રાણીઓ કરતાં તે ઘણું જ વધારે ક્રુર અને ઘાતકી હતું અને તેને દશ શિંગડાં હતાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DAN.7.8" />“હું તેના શિંગડાં જોતો હતો તેવામાં, મેં એક નાના શિંગડાને એ શિંગડા વચ્ચે ફૂટી નીકળતું જોયું અને તેને માટે જગ્યા કરવાને પહેલાના ત્રણને મૂળમાંથી ઉખાડી નાખવામાં આવ્યાં એ શિંગડામાં માણસની આંખો જેવી આંખો હતી અને મોટી મોટી બડાઇ હાંકતું મુખ હતું.
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</p>
<s style="s">ચોથા પ્રાણીને ન્યાય
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="DAN.7.9" />“હું જોઇ રહ્યો હતો ત્યારે, ત્યાં સિંહાસનો ગોઠવાઇ ગયાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એક ખૂબ વૃદ્ધ માણસ તેના પર બેઠો હતો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના વસ્ત્રો હિમ જેવા સફેદ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વાળ શુદ્ધ શ્વેત ઊન જેવા હતાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનું સિંહાસન અગ્નિની જવાળાઓ જેવું હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના પૈડાં સળગતાં અગ્નિના હતાં.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="DAN.7.10" />તેની આગળથી ધગધગતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અગ્નિનો ધોધ નીકળીને વહેતો હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">હજારો તેની સેવા કરતા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કરોડો તેની સેવામાં ઉભા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">ન્યાયસભા ભરાઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પુસ્તકો ખોલવામાં આવ્યાઁ.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DAN.7.11" />“પેલું શિંગડું બડાઇની વાતો કરતું હતું. હું જોઇ રહ્યો હતો, એટલામાં એ પ્રાણીને મારી નાખવામા આવ્યું. તેના શરીરનો નાશ કરી સળગતા અગ્નિમાઁ નાખી દેવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="DAN.7.12" />બીજા પ્રાણીઓ પાસેથી શાસનની સત્તા લઇ લેવામાં આવી, પણ એમને અમુક સમય સુધી જીવતા રહેવા દેવામાં આવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DAN.7.13" />“હજી રાતના હું સંદર્શનમાં જોતો હતો. મનુષ્યપુત્ર જેવા એક પુરુષને આકાશના વાદળો સાથે ત્યાં આવતા મેં જોયા. તે વયોવૃદ્ધ પુરુષની નજીક ગયા અને તેમની સમક્ષ હાજર થયાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DAN.7.14" />“તેને શાસનની સત્તા, ગૌરવ અને રાજ્યાધિકાર સોંપવામાં આવ્યાં, જેથી બધી ભાષાના અને દેશોના લોકો તેનું આધિપત્ય સ્વીકારે. તેની શાસનની સત્તા શાશ્વત છે, તે કદી લોપ ન પામે; તેમ તેનો રાજ્યાધિકાર એવો છે જે કદી નાશ ન પામે.
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<s style="s">ચોથા પ્રાણીના સ્વપ્નનું ફળ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DAN.7.15" />“હું દાનિયેલ, મેં જે જોયું તેનાથી મૂંઝવણમાં પડી ગયો અને ખૂબ વ્યાકુળ બની ગયો, તેનાથી હું ભયભીત થઇ ગયો.
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<v id="16" bcv="DAN.7.16" />એટલે મેં ત્યાં જેઓ ઊભા રહ્યાં હતા, તેઓમાંના એકની પાસે જઇને તેને પૂછયું કે, ‘આ બધાનો અર્થ શું?’
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<v id="17" bcv="DAN.7.17" />તેણે મને એ બધી બાબતોનો અર્થ સમજાવતા કહ્યું: ‘આ ચાર વિશાળકાય પ્રાણીઓ ચાર રાજાઓ છે. તેઓ પૃથ્વી પર રાજ કરશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="DAN.7.18" />પણ તેઓ અંતે પરાત્પર દેવના સંતો સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર રાજ્ય મેળવશે અને સદા સર્વકાળ સુધી રાજ કરશે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DAN.7.19" />“ત્યારપછી મેં ચોથા પ્રાણીનું રહસ્ય જાણવાની ઇચ્છા પ્રગટ કરી, જે બીજા બધા કરતાં જુદું હતું, જેને લોઢાના દાંત અને કાંસાના નહોર હતા, તેના હાથમાં જે આવે તેને તે ચીરી નાખતું અને ખાઇ જતું અને બાકી રહે તેને પગ તળે કચડી નાખતું હતું.
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<v id="20" bcv="DAN.7.20" />વળી મેં તેના માથા ઉપરના દશ શિંગડાં વિષે તેમજ જે બીજું શિંગડું ઊગી નીકળ્યું હતું, જેના આવવાથી ત્રણ શિંગડા પડી ગયા, જે શિંગડાને આંખો અને બડાશ મારતું મોઢું હતું અને જે બીજા શિંગડા કરતાં મોટું દેખાતું હતું, તેને વિષે પણ જાણવાની ઇચ્છા દર્શાવી.
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<v id="21" bcv="DAN.7.21" />હજી હું જોતો હતો, ત્યાં તો એ શિંગડું દેવના લોકોની વિરૂદ્ધ યુદ્ધ કરવા લાગ્યું. અને તેઓના ઉપર તેનો વિજય થતો જતો હતો.
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<v id="22" bcv="DAN.7.22" />અંતે પેલા ખૂબ વૃદ્ધ વ્યકિત આવ્યા અને પરાત્પર દેવના લોકોની તરફેણમાં ચુકાદો આપ્યો, અને સમય આવ્યો અને સંતોને રાજ્ય પ્રાપ્ત થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="DAN.7.23" />“મને આ પ્રમાણે કહેવામાં આવ્યું, એ ચોથું પ્રાણી પૃથ્વી ઉપર ઉત્પન થનારું ચોથું રાજ્ય છે. એ બીજાં બધાં રાજ્યો કરતાં જુદું હશે. અને આખી પૃથ્વીને કોળીયો કરી જશે, તેને પગ તળે કચડશે અને છૂંદી નાખશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="DAN.7.24" />તેનાં દશ શિંગડાં દશ રાજાઓ છે, જે તેના રાજ્યમાંથી ઉત્પન્ન થશે. પછી પેલા દશ કરતાં વધારે ઘાતકી એવો એક રાજા ઊભો થશે અને તેઓમાંના ત્રણને પોતાને તાબે કરશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="DAN.7.25" />પછી તે પરાત્પર દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ બોલશે, અને પરાત્પરના પવિત્રોને હેરાન કરશે, અને ધામિર્ક ઉત્સવો દિવસોને અને નિયમોમાં ફેરફાર કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરશે. સંતોને એક વર્ષ માટે, બે વર્ષ માટે અને અડધા વર્ષ માટે તેના હાથમાં સોંપી દેવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="DAN.7.26" />“પરંતુ પછી ખૂબ વૃદ્ધ માણસ આવશે અને ન્યાય સભા મળશે અને આ અધમ રાજાની સર્વ સત્તાઓ તેની પાસેથી છીનવી લેવામાં આવશે. અને અંતે તેનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ થશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="DAN.7.27" />આકાશ નીચેના બધાં રાજ્યોનો રાજ્યાધિકાર, શાસનની સત્તા, અને વૈભવ, પરાત્પરના પવિત્રોની પ્રજાને સોંપવામાં આવશે અને તેમનો રાજ્યાધિકાર કાયમી રાજ્યાધિકાર હશે અને બધાં જ રાજ્યો તેમનું આધિપત્ય સ્વીકારશે અને તેમની આજ્ઞામાં રહેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="DAN.7.28" />“અહીં એ સંદર્શનના વર્ણનનો અંત આવે છે. હું, દાનિયેલ, આ બધા વિચારોથી ખૂબ ફિક્કો અને ભયભીત થઇ ગયો. પણ મેં જે જોયું હતું, તે મેં કોઇને પણ કહ્યું નહિ, હૃદયમાં જ સંઘરી રાખ્યું.”
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<s style="s">દાનિયેલને થયેલુ બીજું સંદર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.8.1" />રાજા બેલ્શાસ્સારના રાજ્યકાળના ત્રીજા વષેર્ મને દાનિયેલને અગાઉ જે સંદર્શન થયું હતું, તેના જેવું બીજું સંદર્શન થયું.
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<v id="2" bcv="DAN.8.2" />સંદર્શનમાં મે જોયું તો, હું એલામ પ્રાંતમાં આવેલા શુશાન ગઢમાં હતો. હું ઉલાય નદીને કાંઠે ઊભો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="DAN.8.3" />મેં જોયું તો ઉલાય નદીને કિનારે એક મેંઢો ઊભેલો હતો. તેને બે શિંગડાં હતાં. એક શિંગડું મોટું હતું. અને મોટું શિંગડુ થોડીવાર પછી બીજા કરતા ઊંચુ થયું.
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<v id="4" bcv="DAN.8.4" />મેં એ મેંઢાને પશ્ચિમમાં, ઉત્તરમાં અને દક્ષિણમાં શિંગડા મારતો જોયો. તેની આગળ કોઇ પ્રાણી ટકી શકે એમ નહોતું, અને એના પંજામાંથી કોઇ છોડાવી શકે એમ નહોતું. તે મરજીમાં આવે તેમ કરતો હતો અને અભિમાની બની ગયો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DAN.8.5" />આનો અર્થ શો હશે તે હું વિચારતો હતો, એવામાં અચાનક પશ્ચિમમાંથી એક બકરો અતિશય વેગથી પૃથ્વી પર આક્રમણ કરતો ઘસી આવ્યો. તેના પગ જમીનને અડકતા પણ નહોતા એ બકરાની આંખો વચ્ચે એક ભારે મોટું શિંગડું હતું.
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<v id="6" bcv="DAN.8.6" />પહેલા જે શિંગડાવાળા મેંઢાને મેં નદીકાંઠે ઊભેલો જોયો હતો, તેની પાસે આવીને, તે તેના ઉપર પૂરા જોસથી ઘસી ગયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="DAN.8.7" />મેં તેને મેંઢાની પાસે આવતો જોયો. તે મેંઢા પર ક્રોધે ભરાયો હતો. તેણે પૂરા બળથી મેંઢા ઉપર હુમલો કર્યો અને તેના બંને શિંગડાં ભાંગી નાખ્યાં. મેંઢો બિલકુલ લાચાર બની ગયો. બકરાએ તેને નીચે પછાડી દીધો અને તેને પગ તળે કચડી નાખ્યો, કેમકે તેને બકરાથી બચાવનાર કોઇ જ ન હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DAN.8.8" />પછી એ બકરો ખૂબ જ અભિમાની બની ગયો, પણ તેનું બળ વધ્યું ત્યાં તેનું મોટું શિંગડું ભાંગી ગયું અને તેને ઠેકાણે ચાર દિશમાં ચાર મોટા શિંગડા ફૂટી નીકળ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DAN.8.9" />અને તે બધાંમાંથી એક નાનું શિગડું આવ્યું અને દક્ષિણ તરફ, પૂર્વ તરફ અને રળિયામણા દેશ તરફ તે ખૂબ વધી ગયું.
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<v id="10" bcv="DAN.8.10" />વધતું વધતું તે નક્ષત્રમંડળ સુધી પહોંચી ગયું. કેટલાક નક્ષત્રોને અને તારાઓને તેણે પૃથ્વી પર પટક્યાં અને પગ તળે કચડ્યાં.
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<v id="11" bcv="DAN.8.11" />તેણે પોતાને આકાશના સૈન્યના સરદાર જેટલો મહાન કર્યો અને તેની પાસેથી દરરોજનું અર્પણ લઇ લીધું અને તેના મંદિરને અપવિત્ર કર્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="DAN.8.12" />બળવાને કારણે દૈંનિક અર્પણોની સાથે સૈન્ય પણ આપી દેવામાં આવ્યું; પરિણામે સત્યને જમીન પર ફેકી દેવામાં આવ્યું અને પોતાની મરજી મુજબ ર્વત્યું, ને નઠારૂ-ભૂંડાઇ વિજયી બની અને આબાદ થઇ.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DAN.8.13" />પછી મેં એક પવિત્ર દેવદૂતને બોલતો સાંભળ્યો, બીજા પવિત્રે જે પહેલો બોલતો હતો તેને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે રોજીંદા અર્પણો શરૂ થશે, બળવો મંદિરની શરણાગતિ અને સૈન્યને કચડી નાખવાનું એ દ્રશ્યમાન થવાને કેટલો સમય લાગશે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DAN.8.14" />પહેલાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “2,300 સવારસાંજ સુધી, ત્યાર પછી મંદિરને પોતાના હક્કનું સ્થાન પાછું મળશે.”
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<s style="s">દાનિયેલને સંદર્શન સમજાવવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DAN.8.15" />હું દાનિયેલ આ સંદર્શન જોતો હતો અને તેનો અર્થ સમજવા પ્રયત્ન કરતો હતો ત્યારે એકાએક જોઉં છું તો એક પુરુષ જેવી આકૃતિ મારી સામે ઊભી હતી.
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<v id="16" bcv="DAN.8.16" />મેં ઉલાય નદીને પેલે પારથી આ મનુષ્યનો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો, તેણે કહ્યું, “ગાબ્રિયેલ, દાનિયેલને આ સંદર્શનનો અર્થ સમજાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="DAN.8.17" />પછી ગાબ્રિયેલ મારી તરફ આવવા લાગ્યો, તે પાસે આવ્યો; ત્યારે હું એટલો ડરી ગયો કે, હું ઊભો રહી શક્યો નહિ અને ઊંધે મોઢે જમીન પર પડી ગયો. પરંતુ તેણે મને કહ્યું, “હે મનુષ્યપુત્ર, સમજી લે કે, આ સંદર્શન અંત કાળનું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DAN.8.18" />એ જ્યારે બોલતો હતો ત્યારે હું જમીન પર મૂછિર્ત થઇને પડ્યો હતો, પણ તેણે મને પકડીને હું જ્યાં પડ્યો હતો ત્યાં ઊભો કર્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="DAN.8.19" />અને કહ્યું, “જો, હું તને જણાવું છું કે, દેવના ક્રોધને અંતે શું થવાનું છે; કારણ આ સંદર્શન અંતકાળ વિષે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DAN.8.20" />“તેઁ જોયેલાં બે શિંગડાવાળો મેંઢો, માદી અને ઇરાનના રાજાઓ છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="DAN.8.21" />અને પેલો બકરો જે લાંબા જાડા બરછટ વાળ વાળો છે, તે ગ્રીસનું રાષ્ટ છે, અને તેની આંખો વચ્ચેનું મોટું શિંગડું ગ્રીસનો પહેલો રાજા છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="DAN.8.22" />તેં જોયું કે, એ શિંગડું ભાંગી ગયું અને તેની જગ્યાએ ચાર શિંગડાં ફૂટી નીકળ્યાં તેનો અર્થ એ છે કે, તેના વંશમાંથી ચાર રાજ્યો ઉદય પામશે, પણ તેમનામાં એના જેવું બળ નહિ હોય.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="DAN.8.23" />“તેઓના રાજ્યના અંતકાળે તેઓ નૈતિક રીતે અધ:પતન પામ્યા હશે ત્યારે મુત્સદ્દગીરીમાં કુશળ અને બાહોશ રાજા ઊભો થશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="DAN.8.24" />તે મહા બળવાન હશે અને ભારે વિનાશ નોતરશે. તે જે પણ કરશે, તેમાં તે સફળ થશે. તેની સામે થનારા શકિતશાળી સૈન્યોનો પણ તે નાશ કરશે અને દેવના લોકોને હિંસા દ્વારા નાશ કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="DAN.8.25" />“તે પોતાની કુશળતાને લીધે છેતરામણા કાર્યો દ્વારા વિજયી નીવડશે. તે પોતાના મનમાં બહું મહાન બની જશે અને ઘણા લોકોનો ચેતવણી વગર નાશ કરશે. તે પોતાને એટલો મહાન સમજશે કે, તે સરદારોના સરદારને પણ યુદ્ધમાં ઘસડી જશે. પણ આમ કરવામાં તે પોતાનો જ સર્વનાશ નોતરશે. પરંતુ કોઇનાય હાથ વગર તેનો નાશ થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="DAN.8.26" />“સવાર અને સાંજના અર્પણોનું સંદર્શન જે વર્ણવ્યું છે તે સાચું છે; પરંતુ તું એ સંદર્શનને ગુપ્ત રાખજે, કારણકે તે સાચું પડે તે પહેલાં ઘણાં દિવસો પસાર થઇ જશે. અને તેની પહેલા જે થશે તે સાચું હશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="DAN.8.27" />પછી હું દાનિયેલ, આ સાંભળીને મૂછિર્ત થઇ ગયો અને ઘણા દિવસો બીમાર રહ્યો. ત્યારબાદ હું સાજો થયો અને રાજા પ્રત્યેની મારી ફરજો બજાવવા લાગ્યો; પરંતુ એ સંદર્શનથી હું અચંબો પામ્યો, અને હું તે સંદર્શન સમજી શકતો ન હતો.
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<c id="9" />
<s style="s">પ્રજા માટે દાનિયેલની પ્રાર્થના
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.9.1" />અહાશ્વેરોશનો પુત્ર માદીનો દાર્યાવેશ જે બાબિલ રાજ્યનો રાજા હતો, તેના પહેલા વર્ષમાં આ બનાવ બન્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="DAN.9.2" />તેની કારકિદીર્ના પ્રથમ વર્ષમાં; હું દાનિયેલ, યહોવાની વાણી યમિર્યા પ્રબોધકની પાસે આવી હતી, તે પ્રમાણે યરૂશાલેમ 70 વર્ષ સુધી ખંઢેર રહેશે. તે ઉપરથી તે 70 વર્ષનો વિચાર પવિત્રશાસ્ત્ર પરથી સમજ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="DAN.9.3" />પછી હું ગંભીરતાથી દેવ તરફ પ્રાર્થના સાથે જાણવા માટે વળ્યો, અને ઉપવાસ કરીને, ટાટ પહેરીને અને રાખના ઢગલા પર બેસીને, મેં સાચા હૃદયથી દેવ મારા માલિકની પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="4" bcv="DAN.9.4" />મેં દેવ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરીને આપણા પાપોની કબૂલાત કરતા કહ્યું,
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<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">“હે યહોવા, હે મહાન અને ભયાવહ દેવ, તું તારા કરારને વળગી રહે છે, અને તારા ઉપર જેઓ પ્રેમ રાખે છે અને તારી આજ્ઞાઓનું જેઓ પાલન કરે છે તેમના ઉપર તું સદા કરૂણા રાખે છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="5" bcv="DAN.9.5" />“પરંતુ યહોવા અમે પાપ કર્યા છે, દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો કર્યા છે, તમારી સામે બળવો કર્યો છે, તમારી આજ્ઞાઓ અને તમારા હુકમોની ઉપેક્ષા કરી છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="DAN.9.6" />અમારા રાજાઓને, આગેવાનોને તથા અમારા વડવાઓને અને દેશના બધા લોકોને તારા નામે ઉપદેશ આપનાર તારા સેવકો પ્રબોધકોની વાત અમે કાને ધરી નથી.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="7" bcv="DAN.9.7" />“હે યહોવા, તમે તો વિશ્વાસી છો, પણ આજે શરમાવાનું તો અમારે છે-યહૂદાના માણસોને, યરૂશાલેમના બાકીના લોકોને અને દૂરના તથા નજીકના સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને અમે તમારા પ્રત્યે વિશ્વાસઘાતી નીવડ્યા તેથી અનેક દેશોમાં તમે અમને વિખેરી નાખ્યાં.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="8" bcv="DAN.9.8" />“હે યહોવા, આ સર્વ દેશોમાં અમારે શરમાવાનું છે, અમારા રાજાઓને, આગેવાનોને અને અમારા વડવાઓને. કારણ, અમે બધાએ તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ પાપ કર્યા છે, અમે તમારા અપરાધી બન્યા છીએ.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="9" bcv="DAN.9.9" />“અમારા યહોવા દેવ, તમે તો દયાળુ છો અને ક્ષમા કરો છો, પણ અમે તમારી સામે બળવો પોકાર્યો છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="DAN.9.10" />હે યહોવા, અમારા દેવ, અમે તમારી વાણી માની નથી. તમારા સેવક પ્રબોધકો દ્વારા તમે અમને આપેલા સર્વ નિયમોનો અમે ભંગ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="DAN.9.11" />હા, સર્વ ઇસ્રાએલે તમારી વાણી પ્રત્યે ધ્યાન આપ્યું નથી. તેથી દેવના સેવક મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યા પ્રમાણે ભયાનક શાપ અમારા પર રેડી દેવામાં આવ્યો છે, કેમકે અમે તેની વિરૂદ્ધ પાપ કર્યુ છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="12" bcv="DAN.9.12" />“તમે અમને અને અમારા રાજ્યકર્તાઓને ચેતવણી આપ્યા પ્રમાણે જ કર્યું છે, અને યરૂશાલેમ પર અતિ ભારે આપત્તિ આવવા દીધી છે, પૃથ્વી પર બીજા કોઇ નગરમાં કદી એવી આપત્તિ આવી નથી.
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<v id="13" bcv="DAN.9.13" />મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં લખેલી બધી આફતો અમારા ઉપર ઊતરી છે, તેમ છતાં તમને, અમારા દેવ યહોવાને રીઝવવા અમે પ્રયત્ન કર્યો નથી; અમે પાપકૃત્યો છોડ્યાં નથી કે, અમે તમારા સત્યને માગેર્ ચાલ્યાં નથી.
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<v id="14" bcv="DAN.9.14" />હે અમારા દેવ યહોવા, તમે અમારા પર આફત ઉતારવાને રાહ જોઇને બેઠા હતા અને તમે તે ઉતારી પણ ખરી. તમે જે કઇં કર્યું છે તે બધું ન્યાયપૂર્વક કર્યું છે. કારણ, અમે તમારી આજ્ઞાનો અનાદર કર્યો છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="15" bcv="DAN.9.15" />“હે યહોવા, અમારા દેવ, તમે તમારા લોકોને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવીને તમારું સાર્મથ્ય પ્રગટ કર્યું છે. તમારા નામનો મહિમા કર્યો છે. યહોવા ફરીથી એવું થવા દો! જો કે, અમે પુષ્કળ પાપ કર્યા છે અને અમે અધમતાથી ભરેલા છીએ.
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<v id="16" bcv="DAN.9.16" />હે યહોવા, તમે અનેક વખત અમને ઉગાર્યા છે; તમારા ન્યાયને માટે તે રીતે હવે તમે યરૂશાલેમ ઉપરથી તમારો રોષ ઉતારી નાખો. એ તો તમારી નગરી છે, તમારો પવિત્ર પર્વત છે. અમારા પાપોને કારણે અને અમારા પિતૃઓના અપરાધોને કારણે યરૂશાલેમ અને તમારી પ્રજા આસપાસના લોકોમાં હાંસીપાત્ર બની ગયાઁ છે.
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<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="17" bcv="DAN.9.17" />“માટે હવે હે અમારા યહોવા, તમારા સેવકની આજીજી સાંભળો, તેમની વિનવણી ઉપર ધ્યાન આપો અને તમારા પોતાને માટે વિલંબ ન કરો. હે યહોવા, તમારા ખંઢેર બનેલા મંદિર ઉપર તમારી કૃપાદ્રષ્ટિ કરો.
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<v id="18" bcv="DAN.9.18" />હે મારા દેવ, મારી અરજ તમારા કાને ધરો, ને સાંભળો અને આંખ ઉઘાડીને અમારી તારાજી ઉપર નજર કરો. અને તમારા નામે ઓળખાતી નગરી તરફ જુઓ, કારણ, અમે અમારા પુણ્યને બળે નહિ પણ તમારી અપાર કરુણાને બળે તમને વિનવણી કરીએ છીએ.
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<v id="19" bcv="DAN.9.19" />હે યહોવા, સાંભળો, હે યહોવા, ક્ષમા કરો, હે યહોવા, મારું સાંભળો અને કઇંક કરો. તમારા પોતાને માટે હે મારા દેવ, કારણકે તમારા લોકો અને તમારું નગર તમારા નામે ઓળખાય છે.”
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<s style="s">70 સપ્તાહો વિષે સંદર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DAN.9.20" />હું આ પ્રમાણે પ્રાર્થના કરતો હતો, મારા અને મારા લોકો ઇસ્રાએલીઓના પાપની કબૂલાતો કરતો હતો અને મારા દેવ યહોવા સમક્ષ પવિત્ર પર્વત વતી વિનવણી કરતો હતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="DAN.9.21" />તે જ સમયે ગાબ્રિયેલ જેને મેં અગાઉના સંદર્શનમાં જોયો હતો, તે સાંજના અર્પણના સમયે ઝડપથી મારી તરફ ઊડી આવ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="DAN.9.22" />તેણે મને કહ્યું, “દાનિયેલ, દેવના ભવિષ્યવચનો સમજવામાં તને મદદ કરવા હું અહીં આવ્યો છું.
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<v id="23" bcv="DAN.9.23" />તેઁ પ્રાર્થના કરવાનું શરૂ કર્યું એ જ ક્ષણે યહોવાએ તેનો ઉત્તર આપ્યો અને તે ઉત્તર તને કહેવા માટે હું અહીં આવ્યો છું. કારણકે દેવ તને પુષ્કળ ચાહે છે. હવે તું સાંભળ, અને તેઁ જોયેલા સંદર્શનનો અર્થ સમજવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર!
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="DAN.9.24" />“તમારા લોકો માટે અને તમારી નગરી માટે સિત્તેર અઠવાડિયાં નક્કી થયાં છે, જેમાં દુષ્કૃત્યો બંધ કરવાના છે, પાપનો અંત લાવવાનો છે, અપરાધોની સજા ભોગવવાની છે. અને સૌથી પવિત્રને સમપિર્ત થવાનું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="DAN.9.25" />“માટે હવે તું સાંભળ! યરૂશાલેમ ફરી બાંધવાની આજ્ઞા અપાઇ એ સમયથી નિયુકત કરેલો રાજકુમાર આવે ત્યાં સુધીનો સમય સાત અઠવાડિયાઁનો હશે. છતાં યરૂશાલેમની શેરીઓ તથા ભીતો બાસઠ અઠવાડિયાઁમાં ફરીથી બંધાશે. આ આપત્તિનો સમય હશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="DAN.9.26" />બાસઠ અઠવાડિયાઁ પછી એ અભિષિકતનો વધ કરવામાં આવશે અને કોઇ તેનો પક્ષ નહિ લે. એક સેનાપતિ સૈના સાથે આવીને નગરીનો અને મંદિરનો નાશ કરશે; એનો અંત અચાનક રેલની જેમ આવશે અને અંતીમ સુધી નિર્માયેલાં યુદ્ધ અને વિનાશ ચાલ્યા કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="DAN.9.27" />“એ સેનાપતિ અન્ય લોકો સાથે સાત દિવસનું કબૂલાતનામું બનાવશે, તે બલિદાન તથા અર્પણ બંધ કરાવશે; અને તે સમય દરમ્યાન વિનાશ નોતરશે, અને ધૃણાસ્પદ વસ્તુઓ કરશે. ત્યાં સુધી, જ્યારે અંતમાં યહોવાનો ચુકાદો તેની પર લાગુ કરવામાં આવશે.”
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<c id="10" />
<s style="s">સંદેશાવાહક દાનિયેલને થયેલ સંદર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.10.1" />ઇરાનના રાજા કોરેશના રાજ્યકાળના ત્રીજા વર્ષ દરમ્યાન દાનિયલ ઉફેર્ બેલ્ટશાસ્સારને બીજું સંદર્શન થયું. તેનો સંદેશો સત્ય હતો અને તે એક મહાન સૈન્ય બાબત હતો. તેણે સંદર્શનમાંનો સંદેશો સમજી લીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="DAN.10.2" />તે વખતે, “હું દાનિયેલ ત્રણ અઠવાડિયાઁનો શોક પાળતો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="DAN.10.3" />તે પૂરાં ત્રણ અઠવાડિયાઁ સુધી મેં કોઇ સ્વાદિષ્ટ ભોજન ખાધું નહોતું, માંસ કે, દ્રાક્ષારસ મારા મોંમાં સુદ્ધાં મૂક્યા નહોતા, તેમજ શરીરે કોઇ તેલ કે, મલાઇ લગાવી નહોતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DAN.10.4" />“પહેલા મહિનાના ચોવીસમા દિવસે, હું મહાનદી એટલે કે, તીગ્રિસ નદીને કિનારે ઊભો હતો,
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<v id="5" bcv="DAN.10.5" />એવામાં મારી નજર ઊંચે ગઇ તો, મારી આગળ એક વ્યકિતને જોયો. જેણે શણનો ઝભ્ભો પહેર્યો હતો, અને કમરે ચોખ્ખા સોનાનો પટ્ટો હતો.
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<v id="6" bcv="DAN.10.6" />તેનું શરીર પોખરાજના જેવું અને તેનો ચહેરો વીજળીના જેવો હતો. તેની આંખો બળતી મશાલ જેવી હતી. અને તેના હાથ અને પગ પિત્તળની જેમ ચળકતા હતાં, અને તેનો અવાજ માનવ મેદનીના અવાજ જેવો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DAN.10.7" />“હું દાનિયેલ એકલો આ મહાન સંદર્શન જોઇ શકતો હતો. મારી સાથેના માણસો તે જોઇ શકતા નહોતા, તેમ છતાં તેઓ ભયભીત થઇને નાસી ગયા અને સંતાઇ ગયાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="DAN.10.8" />હું ત્યાં એકલો સંદર્શન જોતો ઊભો રહ્યો. મેં આ અદ્ભૂત સંદર્શન જોયું ત્યારે મારી શકિત જતી રહી અને હું ભયને કારણે નબળો અને ફિક્કો પડી ગયો.
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<v id="9" bcv="DAN.10.9" />ત્યારબાદ મેં તેમના બોલવાનો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો, અને તે સાંભળતાઁ જ હું મૂર્છા ખાઇને ઊંધે મોઢે ભોંય ઉપર પડ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DAN.10.10" />“પછી અચાનક એક હાથે મને સ્પર્શ કર્યો. હું હજી પણ ુજતો હતો. અને ઘૂંટણ તથા હથેળી ઉપર બેઠો હતો.
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<v id="11" bcv="DAN.10.11" />તેણે મને કહ્યું, ‘હે દાનિયેલ, હે અતિ વહાલા માણસ, હું તને કહું તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ, ટટ્ટાર ઊભો રહે. કારણ, હવે મને તારી પાસે મોકલવામાં આવ્યો છે.’ તેણે મને આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું, એટલે હું ધ્રૂજતો ધ્રુજતો ઊભો થયો.
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<v id="12" bcv="DAN.10.12" />પછી તેણે મને કહ્યું, ‘ડરીશ નહિ, દાનિયેલ, કારણ, જે દિવસથી તેં સમજવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો અને તારા દેવ આગળ દીન થયો તે દિવસથી તારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળવામાં આવી છે અને તેના જવાબ રૂપે હું આવ્યો છું.
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<v id="13" bcv="DAN.10.13" />ઇરાનના રાજ્યના રાજકુમારે એકવીસ દિવસ સુધી મારો રસ્તો રોકી રાખ્યો. પછી મુખ્ય દેવદૂતોમાંનો એક મિખાયેલ, મારી મદદે આવ્યો. કારણકે ઇરાન પશિર્યાના રાજાએ મને રોકી રાખ્યો હતો.
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<v id="14" bcv="DAN.10.14" />હું તને તારા લોકો પર ભવિષ્યમાં શું વીતવાનું છે તે સમજાવવા આવ્યો છું; કારણ, આ સંદર્શન ભવિષ્યને લગતું છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="DAN.10.15" />“તે સમય દરમ્યાન હું માથું નમાવીને જમીન તરફ જોઇ રહ્યો હતો, અને મૂંગો જ ઊભો હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="DAN.10.16" />પછી અચાનક કોઇક જે માણસ જેવો લાગતો હતો, તેણે મારા હોઠને સ્પર્શ કર્યો એટલે મેં બોલવા માટે મોઢું ખોલ્યું અને જે મારી સામે ઊભો હતો તેને ઉદ્દેશીને કહ્યું, ‘હે મારા માલિક, આ સંદર્શનને કારણે મને ખૂબ વેદના થાય છે. મારામાં કશી શકિત રહી નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="DAN.10.17" />હું તો માલિક આગળ ઊભા રહેલા ગુલામ જેવો છું. મારા જેવો માણસ તમારી સાથે કેવી રીતે વાત કરી શકે? કારણકે મારી શકિત ચાલી ગઇ છે અને હું મુશ્કેલીથી શ્વાસ લઇ શકું છું.’
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DAN.10.18" />“પછી તેણે મને ફરીથી સ્પર્શ કર્યો અને મને બળ આપ્યું.
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<v id="19" bcv="DAN.10.19" />અને કહ્યું, ‘હે અત્યંત વહાલા માણસ, ડરીશ નહિ, શાંત થા. હિંમત રાખ. બળવાન બન.’
</p>
<p style="p">“એના શબ્દો સાંભળીને મારામાં બળ આવ્યું અને હું બોલ્યો, ‘આપ બોલો, આપે મને બળ આપ્યું છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DAN.10.20" />“તેણે કહ્યું, ‘તને ખબર છે હું શા માટે તારી પાસે આવ્યો છું? પહેલા મારે ઇરાનના રક્ષકદૂત સાથે યુદ્ધ કરવાનું છે. હું જઇશ ત્યારે, તરત ગ્રીસનો રક્ષકદૂત નજરે પડશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="DAN.10.21" /><bk>સત્યના ગ્રંથમાં</bk> શું લખેલું છે એ હું તને કહીશ. તે શાશકો સામે મદદ કરવા માટે હજી સુધી કોઇ નથી સિવાય કે, તમારો દેવદૂત મિખાયેલ.
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<c id="11" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.11.1" />“‘માદી દાર્યાવેશના શાસનકાળના પ્રથમ વષેર્ તેને મદદ કરવા અને તેને શકિતશાળી બનાવવા માટે મને મોકલવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="DAN.11.2" />“‘અને હવે હું તને જે કહેવાનો છું તે સત્ય છે. બીજા ત્રણ રાજાઓ ઇરાન પર રાજ કરશે. પછી જે ચોથો રાજા થશે, તે બીજા રાજાઓ કરતાં ઘણો વધારે ધનવાન થશે. રાજકીય ફાયદા માટે પોતાના ધનનો ઉપયોગ કરીને તે ગ્રીસ સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા બધાને ઉશ્કેરશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="DAN.11.3" />ત્યારપછી ગ્રીસમાં એક શકિતશાળી રાજા ઊભો થશે. તે વિશાળ રાજ્ય ઉપર સત્તા ભોગવશે અને પોતાની ઇચ્છામાં આવે તેમ કરશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="DAN.11.4" />પણ તેનો સૂર્ય મધ્યાહને તપતો હશે ત્યાં જ તેનું રાજ્ય છિન્નભિન્ન થઇ જશે અને ચારે દિશામાં વહેંચાઇ જશે. પણ તે એના વંશજોને નહિ મળે, તે એના વંશજો કરતા બીજાના જ હાથમાં જઇ પડશે, પણ તેઓ એના જેવી સત્તા ભોગવવા નહિ પામે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DAN.11.5" />“‘દક્ષિણનો રાજા બળવાન થશે; પણ તેના સરદારોમાંનો એક તેના કરતાં બળવાન થશે, ને સત્તા ભોગવશે. તેની સત્તા મહાન થશે. અને તેનું રાજ્ય પણ મોટું હશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="DAN.11.6" />“‘થોડાં વષોર્ પછી અરામ અને મિસરના રાજાની વચ્ચે કરાર થશે. મિસરના રાજાની પુત્રીના લગ્ન શાંતિના પ્રતીક તરીકે અરામના રાજા સાથે કરવામાં આવશે. પણ આ કરાર લાંબો સમય ટકશે નહિ અને તે, તેનું સંતાન તેમજ સાથે ગયેલા તેના સર્વ ચાકરોને શત્રુના હાથમાં સોંપી દેવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DAN.11.7" />“‘પરંતુ તેના કુટુંબીજનોમાંથી જ એક જણ મિસરનો રાજા બનશે. તે અરામના રાજાની વિરૂદ્ધ એક સૈન્ય ઊભું કરશે અને તેની સામે જશે, ને તેને હરાવશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="DAN.11.8" />વળી, તે મિસર પાછો ફરશે ત્યારે તેઓની ધાતુની મૂર્તિઓ અને મૂર્તિઓને અપેર્લાં સોનાના તથા ચાંદીના અસંખ્ય પાત્રો પોતાની સાથે લઇ જશે. અને થોડાં વર્ષ સુધી તે ઉત્તરના રાજા ઉપર હુમલો કરવાનું બંધ રાખશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="DAN.11.9" />ત્યારબાદ ત્તરનો રાજા દક્ષિણના રાજ્ય ઉપર ચઢી આવશે, પણ તેને પોતાના દેશમાં પાછા જવું પડશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="DAN.11.10" />“‘તેના પુત્રો યુદ્ધની તૈયારી કરશે અને મોટી સેના ભેગી કરશે. તેઓમાંનો એક તો ઘસમસતા પૂરની જેમ ઘસી જઇને દુશ્મનના ગઢ સુધી પહોંચી જશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="DAN.11.11" />પછી મિસરનો રાજા ભારે ક્રોધમાં અરામના મોટા સૈન્યની સામે યુદ્ધ કરશે અને તેઓને હરાવશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="DAN.11.12" />આ મહાન વિજયને કારણે અભિમાનમાં આવી જઇને તે પોતાના હજારો દુશ્મનોને મારી નાખશે, પણ તેનો વિજય થોડા સમયનો હશે. આખરે તેમનો પરાજય થશે;
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<v id="13" bcv="DAN.11.13" />કારણ, ઉત્તરનો અરામનો રાજા ફરી પહેલા કરતા પણ મોટી સેના ઊભી કરશે અને થોડાં વષોર્ બાદ તે મોટું સૈન્ય અને પુષ્કળ સામગ્રી લઇને ચઢી આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="DAN.11.14" />“‘તે દિવસોમાં ઘણા, દક્ષિણના રાજાની વિરૂદ્ધ બળવો કરશે અને તારા લોકોમાંના કેટલાક તોફાની માણસો પણ એમને સાંપડેલા કોઇ સંદર્શનને સાચું પાડવા માટે બળવો પોકારશે, પણ નિષ્ફળ જશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="DAN.11.15" />ત્યારબાદ ઉત્તરનો અરામનો રાજા અને તેની સાથે કરારથી જોડાયેલ રાજ્યો આવશે, અને મિસરના કિલ્લાવાળા નગરને ઘેરો ઘાલશે અને કબજો મેળવશે. દક્ષિણનું સૈન્ય અથવા તેના ચુનંદા લડવૈયાઓ પણ ટકી શકશે નહિ, કારણ, તેમનામાં એટલું બળ જ નહિ હોય.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="DAN.11.16" />“‘પણ એની સામે ચઢી આવેલો અરામનો રાજા કોઇ પણ જાતના અવરોધ વગર આગળ વધશે, કોઇ તેને રોકી શકશે નહિ; અને તે ઇસ્રાએલની મહિમાવાન ભૂમિમાં દાખલ થશે અને તેનો કબજો મેળવશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="DAN.11.17" />પછી સમગ્ર મિસરને સર કરવા માટે તે યોજનાઓ ઘડશે અને તેની સાથે સંધિ કરશે, તે તેના રાજ્યનો નાશ કરવા માટે તેને એક કુંવરી પરણાવશે, પણ એ યોજના કામ નહિ આવે અને તેથી એને કશો લાભ નહિ થાય.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="DAN.11.18" />“‘તે પછી તે સમુદ્ર તટના નગરો ઉપર હુમલો કરશે અને ઘણા પ્રદેશો કબજે કરશે. પણ એક સેનાપતિ તેના અત્યાચારનો અંત લાવશે, જો કે, તે એવું કરશે કે, અત્યાચારના બદલામાં અત્યાચાર ન કરી શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="DAN.11.19" />“‘એ પછી તે પોતાના દેશના ગઢ તરફ જવા પાછો ફરશે, પણ ઠોકર ખાઇને પડશે અને ફરી કદી નજરે નહિ પડે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="DAN.11.20" />“‘તેના પછી એક બીજો એવો રાજા ઊભો થશે, જે રાજવી સંપત્તિ વધારવા માટે એક માણસને જબરદસ્તીથી કર ઉઘરાવવા મોકલશે. પણ થોડાં વષોર્માં તેનો પણ અંત આવશે, પણ ક્રોધ કે, યુદ્ધના કારણને લીધે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="DAN.11.21" />“‘તેના પછી એની જગ્યા પર એક તિરસ્કારપાત્ર પુરુષ આવશે. જેને રાજ્યસત્તા પામવાનો અધિકાર નહિ હોય, તે અચાનક આવશે અને તરત શાસન મેળવશે.
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<v id="22" bcv="DAN.11.22" />પૂરના પાણીની જેમ, તે તેની આગળ આવતાં સૈન્યોને પાછા તાણી જશે, અને તેમનો સંહાર કરશે, કરારના લોકોનો નેતા પણ નાશ પામશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="DAN.11.23" />તે સંધિ કર્યા પછી છળકપટ કરશે અને તે થોડા માણસોની મદદથી બળવાન બની જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="DAN.11.24" />“‘તે શાંતિના સમયમાં તે પ્રદેશના સમૃદ્ધ ભાગમાં ચેતવણી આપ્યા વગર ચઢાઇ કરશે અને તેના પિતૃઓએ કદી કર્યું નહોતું એવું તે કરશે; તે ધનવાનોનું ધન અને સંપતિ લઇ જશે અને તેના પોતાના સાથીઓમાં વહેંચી દેશે. તે કિલ્લેબંદીવાળા નગરો ઉપર ચઢાઇ કરવાની યોજના કરશે પણ તે થોડા સમય માટે જ.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="DAN.11.25" />“‘પછી તે પોતાની બધી શકિત અને હિંમત ભેગી કરીને મિસરના રાજાની સામે એક મોટું સૈન્ય ઊભું કરશે. પણ મિસરનો રાજા પણ એક મોટું અને બળવાન સૈન્ય ઊભું કરશે. પણ તે ટકી નહિ શકે, કારણકે તેની વિરૂદ્ધ કરેલાં કાવતરાં સફળ થશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="DAN.11.26" />જે તેની સાથે પોતાના મેજ ઉપર જમશે તે તેનો નાશ કરશે, તેનું સૈન્ય વિખેરાઇ જશે અને તેના ઘણા સૈનિકો રણભૂમિમાં સાફ થઇ જશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="DAN.11.27" />એ બે રાજાઓ એક જ મેજ પર જમવા બેસશે. પણ તેઓ મનમાં એકબીજાને થાપ આપવાની ઇચ્છા સેવતા ભેગા જમવા બેસશે અને એકબીજા આગળ જૂઠું બોલશે, પણ તેમની ઇચ્છા પૂર્ણ થશે નહિ, કારણ, તેમના અંતનો સમય નક્કી થઇ ગયો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="DAN.11.28" />“‘પછી તે પુષ્કળ દ્રવ્ય લઇને પોતાને દેશ પાછો જશે; પણ અંત:કરણમાં પવિત્ર કરાર પ્રત્યે દ્વેષ હશે, તે મરજીમાં આવે તેમ વર્તશે અને પોતાને દેશ પાછો ચાલ્યો જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="DAN.11.29" />“‘પછી તે ફરીથી અગાઉથી નક્કી કરેલા સમયે ચેતવણી આપ્યા પ્રમાણે પોતાના સૈન્યોને દક્ષિણ તરફ લઇ જશે, પણ આ વખતે પહેલાના બે પ્રસંગો કરતાં કાઇંક જૂદું જ બનશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="DAN.11.30" />કારણકે પશ્ચિમમાંથી આવતાં રોમન યુદ્ધના વહાણો તેની વિરૂદ્ધ આવશે; તેથી તે ગભરાઇને પાછો જશે, ને પવિત્ર કરાર વિરૂદ્ધ તેને ક્રોધ ચઢશે, અને રોષે ભરાઇ પવિત્ર કરાર ઉપર દાઝ ઉતારશે. પાછા ફર્યા પછી તે પવિત્ર કરારને છોડીને જનાર પ્રત્યે દયા રાખશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="DAN.11.31" />તેના લશ્કરના માણસો યરૂશાલેમમાં આવીને મંદિરને અને તેના ગઢને ષ્ટ કરશે. અને નિત્યનું દહનાર્પણ બંધ કરાવશે અને ત્યાં વેરાનકારક મૂર્તિની સ્થાપના કરાવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="DAN.11.32" />“‘વળી જેમણે પવિત્રકરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે તેને ધર્મષ્ટ કરશે; પરંતુ દેવને ઓળખનારા લોકો તો મક્કમ રહીને પગલાં ભરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="DAN.11.33" />“‘લોકોમાં જે જ્ઞાની હશે તેઓ ઘણા લોકોને સમજાવશે, જો કે, થોડા દિવસ સુધી તો તેમણે આગ, તરવાર, કેદ અને લૂંટફાટનો ભોગ થવું પડશે.
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<v id="34" bcv="DAN.11.34" />હવે જ્યારે તેઓને શિક્ષા થશે, ત્યારે તેઓને થોડીઘણી સહાય કરવામાં આવશે; પણ ઘણાઓ આજીજી દ્વારા તેઓની સાથે જોડાશે.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="DAN.11.35" />કેટલાક ડાહ્યાં લોકો અંતનો સમય આવે ત્યાં સુધી લોકોને પવિત્ર કરવા, અને ઊજળા બનાવવા ખપી જશે, કારણ, તે સમય આવવાને હજી વાર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આત્મપ્રશંસક રાજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="DAN.11.36" />“‘તે રાજા પોતાને મન ફાવે તે રીતે વર્તશે અને સર્વ દેવો કરતાં પણ પોતાને મોટો માનશે, અને દેવાધિદેવને વિષે પણ આભા થઇ જઇએ એવા નિંદાવચનો બોલશે. તેની સજાનો સમય આવે ત્યાં સુધી તો તે સુખસમૃદ્ધિ ભોગવશે. પણ જે નિર્માયું છે તે સાચું પડશે જ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="DAN.11.37" />“‘તે પોતાના પિતૃઓના દેવ અને સર્વ દેવોની તે અવગણના કરશે. કારણ, તે કહેશે કે, તેઓ સર્વના કરતાઁ તે પોતે મહાન છે.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="DAN.11.38" />તે દેવોને બદલે તે કિલ્લાના દેવની પૂજા કરશે, જેને તેના પિતૃઓ કદી જાણતા નહોતા, તે કિલ્લાના દેવનું તે ભજન કરશે અને તેને સોનું, ચાંદી તેમજ કિમતી ભેટસોગાદો અર્પણ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="DAN.11.39" />“‘આ વિદેશી દેવની મદદ વડે તે મજબૂત કિલ્લાઓ ઉપર હુમલો કરી તેમને જીતી લેશે. તેને આધીન થનારાઓને તે મોટું માન આપશે. તેઓને મોટી સત્તાઓ આપશે અને પૈસાના બદલે જમીન વહેંચી આપશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="DAN.11.40" />“‘પછી તેના અંતના સમયે દક્ષિણનો મિસરનો રાજા ફરીથી તેની ઉપર હુમલો કરશે. અને ઉત્તરનો અરામનો રાજા રથો, ઘોડેસવારો અને અનેક વહાણો લઇને તેના ઉપર પ્રચંડ વંટોળની જેમ ઘસી આવશે અને તેના પ્રદેશમાં દાખલ થઇ, પૂરના પાણીની જેમ બધે ફરી વળી પાર નીકળી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="DAN.11.41" />તે રસ્તામાં રળિયામણા દેશમાં પણ પ્રવેશ કરશે; હજારો માણસો માર્યા જશે, પણ અદોમ, મોઆબ, અને આમ્મોનનો મુખ્ય ભાગ તેના કબજામાંથી બચી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="DAN.11.42" />તે વારાફરતી એક પછી એક દેશ તરફ પોતાનો હાથ લંબાવશે અને મિસર પણ બચવા નહિ પામે.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="DAN.11.43" />મિસરના સોનાચાંદીના ભંડારો અને બધી કિંમતી વસ્તુઓ તેના કબજામાં આવશે અને લિબિયાના તથા કૂશના લોકો તેના ચાકરો બની તેની પાછળ પાછળ ચાલશે.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="DAN.11.44" />પરંતુ પૂર્વ અને ઉત્તર તરફથી આવતા સમાચારોથી તે ભયભીત થઇ જશે અને ઘણા બધાનો નાશ કરવા, તેમનું નિકંદન કાઢી નાખવા ભારે રોષમાં ઘસી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="DAN.11.45" />તે યરૂશાલેમ અને સમુદ્રની વચ્ચે પોતાના બાદશાહી તંબૂઓ નાખશે. પરંતુ તે ત્યાં હશે તેવામાં જ તેનો સમય એકાએક પૂરો થશે અને તેને મદદ કરનાર કોઇ જ નહિ હોય.’”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">અંત સમયની ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="DAN.12.1" />“‘તે સમયે તારા દેશબંધુઓની રક્ષા કરનાર મહાન દેવદૂત મિખાયેલ ઊભો થશે. પ્રજાઓ ઉત્પન્ન થઇ ત્યારથી અત્યાર સુધીમાં કદી ન આવ્યો હોય એવો ભારે સંકટનો સમય યહૂદીઓ માટે આવશે, તેમ છતાં જેનું નામ
<add>જીવનનાઁ</add> પુસ્તકમાં લખાયેલું છે એવા તારા લોકમાંના દરેક જણનો બચાવ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="DAN.12.2" />જેઓ ધરતીની ધૂળમાં પોઢી ગયા છે તેઓમાંના ઘણા બેઠા થશે, કેટલાકને શાશ્વત જીવન મળશે અને કેટલાકને અનંતકાળ સુધી શરમ અને તિરસ્કારના ભોગ બનવું પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="DAN.12.3" />જેઓ દેવના લોકો છે તેઓ અંતરિક્ષના અજવાળાની જેમ પ્રકાશશે અને જેમણે ઘણાને ન્યાયીપણા તરફ વાળ્યા છે તેઓ તારાઓની જેમ સદાકાળ ચમકશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="DAN.12.4" />“‘પણ હે દાનિયેલ, તું આ વચનોને ગુપ્ત રાખજે, અને અંતકાળ આવે ત્યાં સુધી આ પુસ્તકને મહોર મારી રાખજે, આ સમય દરમ્યાન ઘણાં લોકો જ્યાં-ત્યાં દોડશે અને જાણકારીમાં વધારો થશે.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="DAN.12.5" />“ત્યારબાદ મેં દાનિયેલે જોયું તો, બીજા બે માણસોને ઊભેલાં જોયાં, એક જણને નદીને આ કિનારે અને બીજાને સામે કિનારે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="DAN.12.6" />હવે શણના વસ્ત્ર પહેરેલો માણસ નદી ઉપર ઊભો હતો. પેલા બેમાંથી એક જણે તેને પૂછયું, ‘આ ભયંકર ઘટનાઓનો અંત આવતાં કેટલો સમય લાગશે?’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="DAN.12.7" />“ત્યારે શણના વસ્ત્ર પહેરી ઉપરવાસ ઊભેલા માણસે પોતાનો જમણો અને ડાબો હાથ આકાશ તરફ ઊંચો કરીને દેવના સમ ખાઇને કહ્યું, ‘કાળ, કાળો ને અડધા કાળ સુધીની તે મુદત છે. જ્યારે પવિત્રપ્રજાની સતામણીનો અંત આવશે, ત્યારે આ બધી ઘટનાઓનો અંત આવશે.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="DAN.12.8" />“તેણે કહ્યું તે મેં સાંભળ્યું ખરું પણ મને સમજાયું નહિ એટલે મેં પૂછયું, ‘હે યહોવા, આ સર્વ બાબતોનું શું પરિણામ આવશે?’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="DAN.12.9" />“તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, ‘દાનિયેલ, હવે તું અહીંથી ચાલ્યો જા, કારણ, આ વચનો અંતકાળ સુધી ગુપ્ત અને સીલ કરેલાં રહેવાના છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="DAN.12.10" />ઘણા લોકો પવિત્ર, ડાઘ વિનાના અને ફરીથી શુદ્ધ થશે, પણ દુષ્ટો તેઓની દુષ્ટતામાં જ ચાલુ રાખશે. અને તેઓમાંનો કોઇ સમજશે નહિ. ફકત જેઓ જ્ઞાની છે તેઓ જ સમજવા પામશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="DAN.12.11" />“‘પ્રતિદિન અપાતાં અર્પણો બંધ કરવામાં આવશે અને વેરાન કરનાર ધિક્કારપાત્ર વસ્તુ સ્થાપન કરવામાં આવશે, તે સમયથી તે 1,290 દિવસો હશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="DAN.12.12" />અને જે માણસ 1,335 દિવસ સુધી ટકી રહે અને રાહ જુએ તેને પરમસુખી જાણવો! ને ધન્ય છે તેઓને.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="DAN.12.13" />“‘પરંતુ અંત સમય આવે ત્યાં સુધી તું તારે રસ્તે પડ. તું ચિરનિંદ્રામાં પોઢી જશે અને જાગ્યા પછી મુદતને અંતે તું તારો ભાગ મેળવીશ.’”
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="HOS"><id id="HOS">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>હોશિયા
</h><toc level="1">હોશિયા
</toc><toc level="2">હોશિયા
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">હોશિયા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">હોશિયા દ્વારા યહોવા દેવનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.1.1" />યહૂદાના રાજાઓ ઉઝિઝયા, યોથામ, આહાઝ તથા હિઝિક્યા અને ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા યોઆશના પુત્ર યરોબઆમના અમલ દરમ્યાન બસેરીના પુત્ર હોશિયાને સંભળાયેલી યહોવાની વાણી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="HOS.1.2" />યહોવાનો હોશિયાને આ પહેલો સંદેશો હતો. તેણે કહ્યું “જા અને તે વારાંગનાને પરણ; જેને તેની વારાંગનાવૃતિથી સંતાન થયા તેને પોતાનાં કરી લે; કેમ કે, દેશ યહોવાનો ત્યાગ કરીને વારાંગના જેવું વર્તન કર્યું છે, તેઓ યહોવામાં અશ્રદ્ધાળુ થયા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યિઝએલનો જન્મ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="HOS.1.3" />તેથી હોશિયાએ ત્યાં જઇને દિબ્લાઇમની પુત્રી ગોમેર સાથે વિવાહ કર્યા અને ગોમેરને તેનાથી ગર્ભ રહ્યો અને એક પુત્ર અવતર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HOS.1.4" />યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું, “તેનું નામ ‘યિઝએલ’ પાડ, કારણકે થોડા જ સમયમાં હું યેહૂના કુટુંબના માણસો પર બદલો લઇશ અને તેના વંશજોને યિઝએલ ખીણમાં તેણે જે રકતપાત કર્યો હતો તેના માટે સજા કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="HOS.1.5" />હું ઇસ્રાએલ રાજ્યનો અંત લાવીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લો-રૂહામાહાનો જન્મ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="HOS.1.6" />ગોમેરને ફરીથી ગર્ભ રહ્યો, ને આ વખતે પુત્રી અવતરી, યહોવાએ તેને કહ્યું, “તું તેણીનું નામ લો-રૂહામાહ પાડ; કારણકે હવે પછી હું કદી ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પર તેમના પાપોને ક્ષમા કરીને દયા દેખાડવાનો નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="HOS.1.7" />પરંતુ હું યહૂદાના લોકો પર કૃપા કરીશ અને તેમનું રક્ષણ કરીશ. ધનુષ, તરવાર, યુદ્ધ, કે, ઘોડેસવારોથી તેમનો ઉધ્ધાર કરીશ નહિ પરંતુ તેમના દેવ યહોવા તરીકે હું જાતે તેમનો ઉદ્ધાર કરીશ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">લો-આમ્મીનો જન્મ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="HOS.1.8" />લો-રૂહામાહને ધાવણ છોડાવ્યા પછી ગોમેરને ફરી ગર્ભ રહ્યો અને તેને એક પુત્ર અવતર્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="HOS.1.9" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તેનું નામ લો-આમ્મી પાડ; કારણ કે તમે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો મારા લોકો નથી, ને હું તમારો દેવ નથી.”
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<s style="s">યહોવા દેવના વચન: ઇસ્રાએલીઓ અસંખ્ય થશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="HOS.1.10" />“છતાંય ઇસ્રાએલ પુત્રોની સંખ્યા સમુદ્રની રેતી જેટલી થશે, જે ન તો માપી શકાય કે, ન તો ગણી શકાય. તેમને એમ કહેવામાં આવ્યું હતું કે, ‘તમે દેવની પ્રજા નથી,’ તેને બદલે ‘તમે જીવતા જાગતા દેવના દીકરાઓ છો.’ એમ તેમને કહેવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="HOS.1.11" />“ત્યારબાદ યહૂદાના લોકો અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો ફરી ભેગા થશે અને તેઓ પોતાના માટે એક આગેવાન નીમીને જમીન મેળવી લેવા આગળ વધશે. કારણકે યિઝએલનો દિવસ એક મહાન દિવસ હશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.2.1" />“હે યિઝએલ! તારા ભાઇ બહેનનું પુન:નામકરણ કર. ભાઇનું નામ આમ્મી અને બહેનનું નામ રૂહામાહ રાખ, કારણકે હવે દેવ તેના પર દયા રાખશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="HOS.2.2" />“તમારી માને આજીજી કરો, તેને સમજાવો: કારણકે તે મારી પત્ની નથી, ને હું તેનો ધણી નથી; તેને સમજાવો કે, તે તેનો વારાંગના તરીકેનો વ્યભિચાર બંધ કરે.
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<v id="3" bcv="HOS.2.3" />જો તે તેમ કરતાં નહિ અટકે તો હું તેને તેના જન્મ સમયે હતી તેવી નગ્ન કરી દઇશ અને તેને વેરાન સ્થળે મોકલી આપીશ. હું તેને મરુભૂમિ સમી સૂકીભઠ બનાવી દઇશ અને તેને પાણી વિના તરસે મરવા દઇશ.
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<v id="4" bcv="HOS.2.4" />જ્યાં સુધી તેના સંતાનોનો સબંધ છે, મને તેમનાં પર સહાનુભૂતિ નથી; કારણકે તેઓ મારા સંતાનો નથી. તેઓ એક વારાંગનાના સંતાનો છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="HOS.2.5" />તેણીને તેનો ગર્ભધારણ પોતાના શરમજનક કાર્યોથી થયો છે અને તેણીએ કહ્યું, ‘હું મારા પ્રેમીઓની પાસે જઇશ, કારણ, તેઓ મને મજાનું ખાવાનું, પીવાનું, કપડાં, તેલ અને અત્તર આપે છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="HOS.2.6" />“એથી જો, હું એના માર્ગમાં કાંટાની વાડ ઊભી કરીશ અને તેની આડે ભીત ચણીશ, જેથી તેણી જે કઇ કરવા માંગે છે, તે નહિ કરી શકે.
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<v id="7" bcv="HOS.2.7" />તે પોતાના પ્રેમીઓની પાછળ જશે, પણ તે તેઓને પકડી શકશે નહિ; તે તેઓને શોધશે છતાં તેઓ તેને મળશે નહિ; ત્યારે તે કહેશે કે, હું મારા પતિને ઘેર પાછી ફરીશ, કારણકે અત્યારે મારી જે સ્થિતિ છે તેના કરતાં તેની સાથે મારી સ્થિતિ વધારે સારી હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="HOS.2.8" />“એ સમજતી નહોતી કે, એને અનાજ, દ્રાક્ષારસ અને તેલ આપનાર હું હતો, અને એણે બઆલ દેવ પાછળ ખચીર્ નાખ્યું તે મબલખ સોનું-ચાંદી આપનાર પણ હું હતો. તેથી હવે હું અનાજ કે, દ્રાક્ષ પાકવા દઇશ નહિ, અને એનું ઉઘાડું શરીર ઢાંકવા મેં જે પહેરવા-ઓઢવાનું આપ્યું હતું, તે પણ પાછું લઇ લઇશ.
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<v id="9-10" bcv="HOS.2.9" />તેથી તેના પ્રેમીઓ આગળ તેની શરમ ઉઘાડી પાડીશ. મારા હાથમાંથી તેને કોઇ બચાવી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="11" bcv="HOS.2.11" />હું તેનાઁ તમામ આનંદોત્સવ, તેના ચંદ્રદર્શનના દિવસો, તેના સાબ્બાથો તથા તેનાં મુકરર પવોર્, તે સર્વનો હું અંત આણીશ.
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<v id="12" bcv="HOS.2.12" />જે દ્રાક્ષની વાડીઓ અને અંજીરના વૃક્ષો વિષે તે એમ કહે છે કે, ‘એ તો મારા પ્રેમીઓએ મને આપેલી ભેટ છે.’ હું તેને ઉજ્જડ બનાવી દઇશ, અને હું તેઓને જંગલમાં ફેરવી નાખીશ અને જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ તેને ખાઇ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="HOS.2.13" />“મને ભૂલીને તે બઆલની મૂર્તિ આગળ ધૂપ બાળતી હતી. અને આભૂષણોનો શણગાર કરીને પ્રેમીઓની પાછળ ફરતી હતી. તે માટે હું તેને સજા કરીશ.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="HOS.2.14" />“તેથી હવે, હું તેણીને વેરાન પ્રદેશ તરફ મોહિત કરીશ અને તેની સાથે માયાળુપણે વાત કરીશ.
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<v id="15" bcv="HOS.2.15" />તેની દ્રાક્ષવાડીઓ હું તેને પાછી આપીશ, તથા આશાના દ્વાર તરીકે આખોરની ખીણ પણ આપીશ; યુવાનીમાં મેં તેને મિસરના બંદીવાસમાંથી મુકત કરી ત્યારે તે આનંદના ગીતો ગાતી હતી તેમ ફરીથી તે મને ઉત્તર આપશે.”
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<v id="16" bcv="HOS.2.16" />યહોવા કહે છે.
</p>
<p style="p">“તે દિવસે તે મને ‘મારા માલિક’ કહેવાને બદલે ‘મારા પતિ’ એમ કહીને સંબોધન કરશે ને પછીથી બઆલ કહીને નહિ બોલાવે.
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<v id="17" bcv="HOS.2.17" />હે ઇસ્રાએલ, હું તને તારી મૂર્તિઓ ભૂલાવી દઇશ, તેઓનાં નામ પણ તું ઉચ્ચારશે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="HOS.2.18" />“તે દિવસે હું તમારી અને હિંસક પ્રાણીઓ, પક્ષીઓ તથા સપોર્ની વચ્ચે કરાર કરીશ કે, તમારે હવે એકબીજાથી ગભરાવું નહિ, હું સર્વ શસ્રોનો નાશ કરીશ, સર્વ લડાઇઓનો અંત આવશે, ત્યારે તમે શાંતિ અને સુરક્ષા અનુભવશો અને નિર્ભય રીતે સૂઇ શકશો.
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<v id="19" bcv="HOS.2.19" />વળી હું યહોવા તને મારી સાથે પવિત્રતા, ન્યાયીપણું, પ્રેમ તથા દયાની સાંકળથી સદાકાળને માટે બાંધીશ, હા, લગ્નબંધનથી બાંધીશ.
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<v id="20" bcv="HOS.2.20" />વિશ્વાસુપણા તથા પ્રેમથી હું તારી સાથે સગાઇ કરીશ. અને તું તારા યહોવાને ઓળખશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="HOS.2.21" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, તે દિવસે હું જવાબ આપીશ,
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું આકાશોને જવાબ આપીશ,
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<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેઓ પૃથ્વીને જવાબ આપશે;
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<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="HOS.2.22" />પછી પૃથ્વી અનાજને, દ્રાક્ષારસને અને જૈતતેલને જવાબ આપશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ યિઝએલને જબાબ આપશે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="HOS.2.23" />હું તેણીને જમીનમાં મારા માટે રોપીશ.
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<q level="2" style="q2">મેં જેઓને ‘મારા અપ્રિય’ કહ્યાં હતાં તેમને મારો પ્રેમ બતાવીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તે લોકો જે ‘મારા લોક નથી’ તરીકે ઓળખાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને ‘તમે મારા લોકો’ છો તેમ કહીશ, અને તેઓ કહેશે, ‘તમે અમારા દેવ છો.’”
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</q>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">હોશિયા ગોમેરને દહેજ આપીને છોડાવી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.3.1" />પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, તારી પત્નીને પ્રેમી હોવા છતાં અને તેણી વારાંગના હોવા છતાં તેણીની પાસે જા અને તેણીને પ્રેમ કરવાનુ ચાલુ રાખ. ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો બીજા દેવો તરફ વળીને સુકા મેવાની વાનગીના અર્પણનો આનંદ લે છે, છતાં યહોવા તેમને પ્રેમ કરે છે એવી રીતે તું એને પ્રેમ કર.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="HOS.3.2" />તેથી મેં પંદર તોલા ચાંદી અને સાત મણ જવ આપીને તેને ખરીદી,
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<v id="3" bcv="HOS.3.3" />અને મેં તેને કહ્યું, “લાંબા સમય સુધી તું મારી સાથે રહેજે; તું વ્યભિચાર કરીશ નહિ, ને બીજા કોઇ પુરુષની સ્ત્રી થઇશ નહિ; હું પણ તારી સાથે એ જ રીતે વતીર્શ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="HOS.3.4" />એ જ રીતે ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા, લાંબા સમય સુધી રાજા કે, આગેવાન વગર, યજ્ઞ વગર, મૂર્તિ કે, શુકન જાણવાની પૂતળી વગર રહેશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="HOS.3.5" />ત્યારબાદ તેઓ પોતાના યહોવા દેવની પાસે, પોતાના રાજા દાઉદની શોધ કરશે; અને આમ પાછળના દિવસોમાં ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજા યહોવા દેવનો ભય રાખીને, ધ્રૂજતા ધ્રૂજતા યહોવા પાસે આવશે, અને તેમના આશીર્વાદો પામશે, ને તેમની ઉદારતાનો આશ્રય લેશે.
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<c id="4" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ પર યહોવાનો કોપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.4.1" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, યહોવાને આ દેશના વતનીઓ સામે ફરીયાદ છે, એની વાણી સાંભળો, તમારા દેશમાં વિશ્વાસુપણું, માયામમતા અને દેવના જ્ઞાનનો અભાવ છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="HOS.4.2" />જ્યાં જુઓ ત્યાં લોકો ખોટા સમ ખાય છે, જૂઠું બોલે છે, ખૂન કરે છે, લૂંટ ચલાવે છે, તે વ્યભિચાર કરે છે. તેઓ કોઇ મર્યાદા પાળતા નથી અને ખૂન પર ખૂન કરતા જાય છે. સર્વત્ર હિંસા છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="HOS.4.3" />આથી દેશ શોકમાં ગરક થઇ ગયો છે. અને તમારી ભૂમિમાં ઊપજ થતી નથી. જે જીવંત છે તે બિમાર પડે છે અને મૃત્યુ પામે છે; જંગલના બધા પ્રાણીઓ, આકાશમાંના બધા પંખીઓ અને સમુદ્રમાંના માછલાં સુદ્ધાં મરતા જાય છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="HOS.4.4" />તો પણ કોઇએ દલીલ ન કરવી અથવા બીજા માણસ પર આરોપ ન કરવો. હે યાજકો, મારી દલીલ તમારી સામે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="HOS.4.5" />દિવસે અને રાત્રે તમે ઠોકરો ખાઓ છો, યાજકો પણ તમારા ભેગા પ્રબોધકો પણ ઠોકર ખાય છે. હું તમારી માતૃભૂમિ ઇસ્રાએલનો નાશ કરીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="HOS.4.6" />મારા લોકો જ્ઞાનને અભાવે નાશ પામતા જાય છે. તમે જ્ઞાનને ફગાવી દીધું છે તેથી હું પણ તમને મારા યાજક પદેથી ફગાવી દઇશ. તમે મારો નિયમ ભૂલી ગયા છો એટલે હું પણ તમારા વંશજોને ભૂલી જઇશ.
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<v id="7" bcv="HOS.4.7" />મારા લોકોની સંખ્યા જેમ જેમ વધતી જાય છે, તેઓ મારી વિરૂદ્ધ તેમના પાપો વધારતા જાય છે. હું તેમની શોભાને શરમમાં બદલી નાખીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="HOS.4.8" />યાજકો મારા લોકોના પાપાર્થાર્પણો પર નિર્વાહ કરે છે. તેથી તેઓ ઇચ્છે છે કે, તેઓ વધારે અને વધારે પાપો કરે.
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<v id="9" bcv="HOS.4.9" />તેથી, જેવું લોકો સાથે બનશે તેવું; યાજકો સાથે બનશે. હું તેમને તેમના ખરાબ કૃત્યો માટે સજા આપીશ.
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<v id="10" bcv="HOS.4.10" />તેઓ ખાશે પણ ધરાશે નહિ, તેઓ વ્યભિચાર કરશે, પણ તેમનો વસ્તાર વધશે નહિ; કારણકે તેઓએ યહોવાની કાળજી કરવાનું મૂકી દીધું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="HOS.4.11" />યહોવા કહે છે, “વ્યભિચાર, દ્રાક્ષારસ ને નવો દ્રાક્ષારસ મારા લોકોની બુદ્ધિ હરી લે છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="HOS.4.12" />વ્યભિચારના ભૂતે તેમને ગેરમાગેર્ દોરવ્યા છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="HOS.4.13" />તેઓ પર્વતોના શિખરો ઉપર મૂર્તિઓ સન્મુખ બલિદાન કરે છે; ડુંગરો ઉપર જઇને ઓકવૃક્ષો, પીપળાવૃક્ષો તથા એલાહવૃક્ષો તળે, ધૂપ બાળે છે; એને લીધે તમારી પુત્રીઓ વ્યભિચાર કરે છે, ને તમારી પુત્રવધૂઓ અનૈતિક કર્મ કરે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="HOS.4.14" />જ્યારે તમારી પુત્રીઓ જાતીય પાપો કરશે, અને તમારી પુત્રવધૂઓ અનૈતિક કર્મ કરશે ત્યારે હું તેઓને શિક્ષા કરીશ નહિ કારણ, પુરુષો પોતે જ વારાંગનાઓ સાથે નિષિદ્ધ વ્યવહાર રાખે છે અને વારાંગનાઓની સંગતમાં મંદિરમાં યજ્ઞો ચઢાવે છે. આ રીતે જે લોકોને સમજણ નથી તેઓ પોતાનો વિનાશ કરી રહ્યાં છે.
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના શરમ જનક પાપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="HOS.4.15" />હે ઇસ્રાએલ, તું એક વારાંગના વતેર્ તેમ યહૂદાને એ જ પાપ ન કરવા દેતી. ગિલ્ગાલ કે, બેથ-આવેન ન જતા અને યહોવાના નામે સમ ન લેશો. અને ત્યાં યહોવાના સમ ખાશો નહિ.
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<v id="16" bcv="HOS.4.16" />કારણકે ઇસ્રાએલે અડિયલ વાછરડીની જેમ હઠીલાઇ કરી છે, પછી લીલા બીડમાં હલવાનની જેમ યહોવા તેઓને ચારશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="HOS.4.17" />એફ્રાઇમે મૂર્તિઓ સાથે સંબંધ જોડ્યો છે. તેથી તેનાથી દૂર રહેજે.
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<v id="18" bcv="HOS.4.18" />ઇસ્રાએલના પુરુષો દાક્ષારસ પીને વારાંગનાની જેમ વતેર્ છે. એફ્રાઇમના શાસનકર્તાઓને લાંચ પ્રિય છે અને માગે છે. તેઓ લોકો પર શરમ લાવશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="HOS.4.19" />પ્રચંડ પવન તેઓને દૂર તાણી જશે; મૂર્તિઓને તેઓના યજ્ઞો, તેમને શરમમાં લાવશે.
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<c id="5" />
<s style="s">આગેવાનોએ ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદાથી પાપ કરાવ્યા
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.5.1" />હે યાજકો, તમે આ સાંભળો! હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, ધ્યાન આપો! હે રાજકુટુંબના સર્વ માણસો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો!
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<p style="p">તમને દોષિત ઠરાવવામાં આવ્યાં છે. કારણકે મિસ્પાહમાં તમે ફાંદારૂપ બન્યા હતાં, તાબોર પર્વત ઉપર જાળની જેમ પથરાયા હતાં.
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<v id="2" bcv="HOS.5.2" />બંડખોરોએ તેઓને ફસાવવા માટે શિટ્ટિમમાં ઊંડા ખાડાઓ ખોદ્યા છે, પરંતુ હું તમને સૌને શિક્ષા કરીશ.
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<v id="3" bcv="HOS.5.3" />હું જાણું છું એફ્રાઇમ શું કરી રહ્યું છે. ઇસ્રાએલના કૃત્યો મારાથી છુપા નથી. હા, હું જાણું છું કે, એફ્રાઇમ વારાંગનાની જેમ ર્વત્યુ. ઇસ્રાએલ અપવિત્ર બન્યું.
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<v id="4" bcv="HOS.5.4" />તેઓના દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો તેમને દેવ તરફ પાછા ફરતાં દૂર રાખે છે. કારણકે તેઓના હૃદયમાં વ્યભિચારી આત્મા દ્વારા પકડાયેલા છે, અને તેઓ યહોવાને નથી જાણતા.
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<v id="5" bcv="HOS.5.5" />ઇસ્રાએલનો ગર્વ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ સાક્ષી છે. ઇસ્રાએલ અને એફ્રાઇમ પોતાના પાપમાં ઠોકર ખાશે અને યહૂદા તેની સાથે પડશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="HOS.5.6" />અંતે તેઓ દેવની શોધ કરવા પોતાના ઘેટાં, બકરાં અને ઢોરઢાંખર સાથે આવશે અને તેઓનું બલિદાન દેવને અર્પશે. પરંતુ ત્યારે ઘણું જ મોડું થઇ ગયું હશે. તેઓ યહોવાને શોધી શકશે નહિ. દેવ તેઓથી વિમુખ થશે અને તેઓને એકલા મૂકી દેવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="HOS.5.7" />તેઓએ યહોવાને દગો દીધો હતો. કારણકે તેઓએ બીજા કોઇના સંતાનોને જન્મ આપ્યો છે. તેથી તે ચંદ્રદર્શનનો દિવસ તેમનો અને તેમની ભૂમિનો નાશ કરશે.a
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<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના વિનાશની ભવિષ્યવાણી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="HOS.5.8" />ચેતવણીનો ઘંટ વગાડો!
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<q level="2" style="q2">ગિબયાહમાં તથા રામામાં
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<q style="q1">અને બેથ-આવેન સુધી રણશિંગડું વગાડી ચેતવણી આપો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બિન્યામીનનો પ્રદેશ ધ્રુજી ઊઠો!
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<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="HOS.5.9" />હે ઇસ્રાએલ! સજાનો દિવસ આવી રહ્યો છે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલ તારાજ થઇ જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો માટે હું જે જાહેર કરું છું
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<q level="2" style="q2">તે અચૂક થવાનું જ છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="HOS.5.10" />યહોવા કહે છે, “યહૂદાના આગેવાનો દુષ્ટ લોકોની જેમ ર્વત્યા;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમણે પાડોશીઓની જમીનની સરહદના પથ્થરો ખસેડ્યાં.
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના ઉપર હું મારો ક્રોધ પાણીના ધોધની જેમ વહેવડાવીશ.
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<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="HOS.5.11" />એફ્રાઇમને સજા થશે અને કચરી નાખવામાં આવશે કારણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે મૂર્તિઓના યાજકોના આદેશ પાળ્યાં છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="HOS.5.12" />આથી હું ઇસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદાને ઊધઇ
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને કીડાની જેમ કોરી ખાઇશ.
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<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="HOS.5.13" />જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલને પોતાના રોગની ખબર પડી અને યહૂદાએ પોતાનો ઘા જોયો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલે આશ્શૂર જઇ સમ્રાટને તેડાવ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તે તેમને સાજો કરી શકે એમ નથી કે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના ઘા રૂજાવી શકે એમ નથી.
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<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="HOS.5.14" />કારણ સિંહની જેમ હું એફ્રાઇમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહૂદાના લોકો પર આક્રમણ કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું મારી જાતે તેમને ટુકડાઓમાં ભાંગી નાખીશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દૂર ફેંકી દઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેઓને જ્યારે લઇ જઇશ ત્યારે તેઓની રક્ષા કોઇ કરી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="HOS.5.15" />તેઓ પોતાનો અપરાધ કબૂલ કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારું મુખ શોધશે પણ હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારે સ્થાને જરૂર પાછો ચાલ્યો જઇશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">દુ:ખમાં આવી પડશે ત્યારે તેઓ મને શોધવા નીકળશે.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">યહોવા તરફ પાછા ફરવાનું પ્રતિફળ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.6.1" />લોકો કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“આવો આપણે પાછા યહોવા પાસે જઇએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે આપણને ચીરી નાખ્યા છે, અને તે જ આપણને પાછા સાજા કરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે આપણને ઘા કર્યા છે, અને તે જ આપણને પાટાપીંડી કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="HOS.6.2" />બે દિવસ પછી તે આપણને બચાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્રીજે દિવસે તે આપણને આપણા પગ પર ઉભા કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી આપણે તેની હાજરીમાં જીવીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="HOS.6.3" />ચાલો આપણે જ્ઞાન પ્રાપ્ત કરીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાનું જ્ઞાન પ્રાપ્ત કરવાને
</q>
<q style="q1">ખંતથી મહેનત કરીએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આપણને ઉગતા સૂરજની જેમ ચોક્કસ પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">વસંતઋતુંમાં પૃથ્વીને લીલીછમ કરનાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છેલ્લા વરસાદની જેમ, તે આવશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">લોકો શ્રદ્ધાળું નથી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="HOS.6.4" />“હે એફ્રાઇમ અને યહૂદા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારી સાથે કેવો વ્યવહાર કરું?
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારો પ્રેમ પરોઢના વાદળ જેવો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઝડપથી ઊડી જનાર ઝાકળ જેવો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="HOS.6.5" />એ માટે મેં તેઓને પ્રબોધકોની મારફતે હત્યા કરી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મારા મુખનાઁ વચનોથી તેઓનો સંહાર કર્યો છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">દિવસ પછી રાત ચોક્કસ આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ અચાનક ચેતવણી આપ્યા વીના
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા ન્યાયચુકાદા પ્રગટતા અજવાળા રૂપ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ઉપર ચોક્કસ આવી પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="HOS.6.6" />કારણકે તારાં યજ્ઞાર્પણ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તારો પ્રેમ હું ચાહું છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા દહનાર્પણો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તું મારા કાર્યો ઓળખે તેવું હું ઇચ્છું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="HOS.6.7" />પણ તેઓએ આદમની જેમ મારા કરારનું ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પ્રેમનો અનાદર કર્યો છે:
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="HOS.6.8" />ગિલયાદ બૂરા લોકોનું નગર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના રસ્તાઓમાં લોહીથી ખરડાયેલા પગોના નિશાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="HOS.6.9" />જેમ ધાડપાડુઓ રાહદારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર હુમલો કરવા છુપાયેલા હોય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ યાજકોનું ટોળું શખેમના રસ્તા પર લોકોનું ખુન કરવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શરમજનક અપરાધો કરવા છુપાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="HOS.6.10" />ઇસ્રાએલમાં મેં રૂવાટાં ઉભા થાય એવી એક બાબત જોઇ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એફ્રાઇમમાં વ્યભિચાર જોવા મળ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો બીજા દેવોની પૂજા કરીને ષ્ટ થયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="HOS.6.11" />યહૂદા, તારા માટે કાપણીનો સમય પણ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ તે સમયે બનશે, જ્યારે હું મારા લોકોને બંધનાવસ્થાથી પાછા લાવીશ.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="7" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.7.1" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું જ્યારે ઇસ્રાએલનાં ઘા ને મટાડવા ઇચ્છતો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે સમરૂનનાં દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો પ્રગટ થયા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને એફ્રાઇમના પાપો ખુલ્લા થયા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તેઓ દગો કરે છે, ઘરોમાં ઘૂસી જાય છે અને શેરીઓમાં લૂટ ચલાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="HOS.7.2" />લોકો કદી એવો વિચાર કરતા જ નથી કે, હું તેઓનું નિરીક્ષણ કરું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના પાપમય કાર્યોએ તેઓને ચારે તરફથી ઘેરી લીધા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તે સર્વ નિહાળું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="HOS.7.3" />તેઓની દુષ્ટતામાં રાજા આનંદ અનુભવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના જૂઠાણામાં સરદારો રીઝે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="HOS.7.4" />તેઓ બધા જ વ્યભિચારીઓ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સળગતી ભઠ્ઠી જેવા છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અથવા એ ભઠિયારા જેવા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે લોટને મસળે ત્યારથી
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને ખમીર ચઢે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી આગને સંકોરતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="HOS.7.5" />આપણા રાજાના ઉત્સવનાં દિવસે રાજકુમારો મદિરાપાનથી ચકચૂર થઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી હાંસી ઉડાવનારાઓ સાથે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાજા મદ્યપાન કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="HOS.7.6" />કારણ ગુપ્ત યોજનાઓ બનાવતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના હૃદય ભઠ્ઠીની જેમ ઉત્તેજનાથી તપતા હોય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આખી રાત તેમનો આવેશ બળતો રહે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સવારના તે આગનાં ભડકાઓમાં બદલાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="HOS.7.7" />તેઓ બધા ભઠ્ઠીની જેમ ગરમ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને પોતાના ન્યાયાધીશોને સ્વાહા કરી જાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓના બધા રાજાઓ માર્યા ગયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને છતાં કોઇ મદદ માટે મારી પ્રાર્થના કરતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ પોતાના વિનાશથી અજાણ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="HOS.7.8" />“ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો વિધમીર્ પ્રજાઓ સાથે ભળે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ તો ફેરવ્યા વગરની અધકચરી શેકાયેલી ભાખરી જેવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="HOS.7.9" />વિદેશીઓના દેવોની સેવા કરવાથી તેઓનું સાર્મથ્ય હણાઇ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં તેની ખબર એમને પડતી નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના માથાના વાળ સફેદ થયા છે, પણ તે જાણતો નથી કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ કેટલા નબળા અને ઘરડા થઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="HOS.7.10" />ઇસ્રાએલનું ગર્વ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ સાક્ષી પૂરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ છતાં એ લોકો પોતાના
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવ યહોવાને શરણે આવતા નથી કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નથી તેમને શોધવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="HOS.7.11" />ઇસ્રાએલ મૂર્ખ કબૂતર જેવું બની ગયું, નિદોર્ષ અને બુદ્ધિહીન,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇવાર તે મિસરની મદદ માગે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇવાર તે અશ્શૂર તરફ મદદ માટે ફરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="HOS.7.12" />એ લોકો જ્યાં જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમના પર મારી જાળ પાથરીશ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને પકડાયેલા પંખીઓની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને નીચે જમીન પર ખેચી લાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેમને પ્રબોધકોએ જે શબ્દો કહ્યાં હતા તે પ્રમાણે સજા કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="HOS.7.13" />વિપત્તિ તેઓને! કારણકે તેઓએ મને છોડી દીધો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓનો નાશ થશે! કેમકે તેઓએ મારી વિરૂદ્ધ બંડ પોકાર્યુ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેઓને બચાવી લેવા ઇચ્છતો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ મારા વિષે જૂઠ્ઠુ બોલ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="HOS.7.14" />તેઓ સાચા હૃદયથી મને પોકારતા નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પથારીમાં પડ્યા પડ્યા ખેતીના પાક માટે રોદણાં રડે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને પોતાના શરીર ઉપર પ્રહાર કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ છતાં તેઓ મારી વિરૂદ્ધ બંડ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="HOS.7.15" />તેમને સજા કરનાર અને બળવાન બનાવનાર હું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ મને ઇજા કરવા યોજના કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="HOS.7.16" />તેઓ પાછા આવે છે, પણ મહાન દેવ ભણી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્વર્ગ ભણી જોવાને બદલે નિર્માલ્ય દેવો ભણી પાછા વળે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ નિશાન ચૂકી જનાર ધનુષ જેવા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના સરદારો પોતાની તોછડી અવિવેકી જીભને કારણે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ શત્રુઓની તરવારનો ભોગ થઇ પડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મિસરના સર્વ લોકો તેઓની હાંસી ઉડાવશે.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">મૂર્તિપૂજાથી ઇસ્રાએલનો વિનાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.8.1" />યહોવા કહે છે: “રણશિંગડું મોઢે માંડો! શત્રુઓ આવી રહ્યા છે, તેઓ ગરૂડની જેમ યહોવાના લોકો ઉપર ઘસી આવે છે, કારણકે તેઓએ મારા કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે, અને મારા નિયમો વિરૂદ્ધ બંડ કર્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HOS.8.2" />હવે ઇસ્રાએલ મને આજીજી કરે છે અને કહે છે, ‘હે ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, અમે તને જાણીએ છીએ.’
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HOS.8.3" />પણ જે સારું છે તેનો ઇસ્રાએલે ત્યાગ કર્યો છે; તેણે તિરસ્કારથી પોતાની તક ખોઇ છે માટે હવે તેના શત્રુઓ તેની પાછળ પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HOS.8.4" />તેણે રાજાઓ અને નેતાઓની નિમણૂંક કરી છે, પણ તેમાં મારી સલાહ લીધી નથી, તેઓના પોતાના વિનાશ માટે સોનારૂપાની મૂર્તિઓ બનાવી છે. મારી મદદ તેઓને મળી શકે તેમ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="HOS.8.5" />હે સમરૂન! યહોવાએ તારા વાછરડાને અસ્વીકાર કર્યુ છે. દેવ ઇસ્રાએલીઓને કહે છે કે, હું તમારા ઉપર બહું કોપાયમાન છું. ક્યાં સુધી તમે પાપો કરતા રહેશો.<f caller="+"><fr>8:5
</fr><fk>ક્યાં … રહેશો
</fk><ft>મૂળ પ્રમાણે: ક્યાં સુધી તમે મૂતિર્પૂજાના પાપોમાંથી શુધ્ધ થવા અશકત રહેશો.</ft></f>
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="HOS.8.6" />હા, હે ઇસ્રાએલ, તારા કારીગરોએ મૂર્તિઓ બનાવી, પણ તેઓ દેવ નથી. તેના કારણે સમરૂનના વાછરડાના ટુકડે ટુકડા થઇ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="HOS.8.7" />તે લોકોએ પવન વાવ્યો છે, તેથી વંટોળિયો જ લણશે, પાકને કણસલા જ ન બેઠા હોય તો દાણા ન જ મળે, જો તેમાં થોડા ઘણા હશે તો તેને વિદેશીઓ હડપ કરી જશે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="HOS.8.8" />“ઇસ્રાએલ હડપ થઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિદેશીઓમાં આજે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની કિંમત ફૂટેલાં વાસણ જેવી છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="HOS.8.9" />તે એકલા રખડતાં જંગલી ગધેડા જેવો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મદદ માટે તે આશ્શૂર પાસે દોડી ગયો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ભેટસોગાદ અને પૈસા આપીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બીજી પ્રજાઓનો સાથ મેળવે છે;
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="HOS.8.10" />જો કે ઇસ્રાએલ રાષ્ટો વચ્ચે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણીના ‘પ્રેમીઓ’ પાસે ગઇ હતી,
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે હું તેમને સાથે ભેગા કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પ્રચંડ રાજાના ત્રાસ હેઠળ પીડા ભોગવવાનુ શરુ કરશે.
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</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલનું દેવને ભૂલવું અને મૂર્તિઓને પૂજવું
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="HOS.8.11" />“કારણ એફ્રાઇમે અનેક વેદીઓ બાંધી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પાપ કરવાની વેદીઓ બની ગઇ હતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ તો પાપની વેદીઓ છે!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="HOS.8.12" />હું તેમને માટે નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં દશહજાર વિધિઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપું તો પણ તે કહેશે, તે મારા માટે નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વિધિઓ તો દૂરની બીજી પ્રજાઓ માટે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="HOS.8.13" />એ લોકો બલિ ચઢાવી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો પ્રસાદ ખાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ હું એથી પ્રસન્ન થતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે હું એમના ગુના સંભારીને
</q>
<q style="q1">એમને સજા કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમને પાછા મિસર જવું પડશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="HOS.8.14" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો પોતાના સર્જનહારને ભૂલી ગયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એમણે મંદિરો ચણાવ્યઁ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહૂદાના લોકોએ અનેક કિલ્લેબંદી નગરો બંધાવ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હું એમનાં નગરો ઉપર અગ્નિ વરસાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે એમના કિલ્લાઓને ભસ્મીભૂત કરી નાખશે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">દેશ નિકાલનું દુ:ખ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.9.1" />હે ઇસ્રાએલ, બીજા રાષ્ટોનાં લોકોની જેમ આનંદ ન કર. આનદ ન કરીશ, કારણકે તમે તમારા દેવ યહોવાને વિશ્વાસુ નથી રહ્યાં. જમીનનાં એક છેડાથી બીજા છેડા સુધી તમે પોતે વારાંગનાની જેમ બઆલ દેવને વેચાયા છો. તમે સમજતા હતા કે, બઆલની સેવા કરવાથી તમને અનાજનો સારો પાક મળશે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HOS.9.2" />પણ થોડા સમયમાં જ અનાજ, ને તેલના સાંસા પડશે, ને દ્રાક્ષાનો પાક નિષ્ફળ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="HOS.9.3" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો યહોવાની ભૂમિમાં રહી શકશે નહિ. તેમણે પાછા મિસર જવું પડશે. આશ્શૂરમાં તેમણે નિષિદ્ધ અન્ન ખાવું પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HOS.9.4" />ત્યાં તેઓ યહોવાને દ્રાક્ષાસવ નહિ અપીર્ શકે. તેઓ તેમના બલિદાનો દેવને રાજી નહિ કરે. તેમના બલિદાનો શોક કરનારાઓના આહાર જેવું હશે. તે ખાશે તેઓ અપવિત્ર બની જશે. તેમનું અન્ન કેવળ ભૂખ શમાવવા પૂરતું જ કામમાં આવશે; અને તે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં ધરાવી નહિ શકાય.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="HOS.9.5" />તમે મુકરર પર્વના દિવસોમાં એટલે યહોવાના ઉત્સવોના દિવસોમાં શું કરશો?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="HOS.9.6" />આ પ્રશ્ર્ન હું પુછું છું; કેમકે મોટા વિનાશના કારણે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો દેશ છોડી જશે. તેઓને મિસરમાં ભેગા કરવામા આવશે અને તેમના વંશજોને મેમ્ફિસમાં દફનાવામાં આવશે. તેમના કિંમતી ખજાનાઓ પર કાંટાળા છોડ ઉગશે અને તેમના મંડપો પર કાંટા ઉગશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સાચા પ્રબોધકોને ઇસ્રાએલનો દ્વેષ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HOS.9.7" />“શિક્ષાના દિવસો આવ્યા છે, બદલો લેવાના દિવસો આવ્યા છે; ઇસ્રાએલ તે જાણશે;” પ્રબોધકો ઘેલા છે. “જે માણસમાં
<add>દેવનો</add> આત્મા છે તે માનસિક રીતે અસ્થિર છે. તેવી તેઓ મશ્કરી કરે છે. સમગ્ર દેશ પાપના ભારથી દબાયેલો છે. દેવને પ્રેમ કરનારા લોકો પ્રત્યે તેઓ ધિક્કાર જ પ્રદશિર્ત કરે છે.”
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="HOS.9.8" />પ્રબોધક તો દેવે નીમેલો ઇસ્રાએલનો રખેવાળ છે, તેમ છતાં હું જ્યાં જ્યાં જાઉં છું, ત્યાં ત્યાં તેના માર્ગમાં તમે જાળ પાથરો છો. દેવના મંદિરમાં પણ તમે તેમના પ્રત્યે તમારી ઘૃણા દેખાડો છો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="HOS.9.9" />ઘણા સમય પહેલાં ગિબયાહમાં જે પુરુષો હતા, તેઓ ખરાબ રીતે વર્તતા અને ષ્ટતામાં ઊંડા ઉતરી ગયા હતા. યહોવા તેમના અપરાધો સંભારશે અને તેમના પાપોની સજા કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મૂર્તિ પૂજાને કારણે ઇસ્રાએલનો વિનાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="HOS.9.10" />યહોવા કહે છે, “જેમ રણમાં કોઇને દ્રાક્ષ મળે છે તે જ રીતે મને ઇસ્રાએલ મળ્યું હતું. તમારા પૂર્વજો મને ઋતુનાં પહેલા પાકેલા અંજીર જેવા લાગ્યા હતા. પણ જ્યારે તેઓ બઆલ-પેઓર પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે તેઓ બઆલની પૂજા કરવા લાગ્યા અને તેઓ તે ભયંકર વસ્તુઓ (જૂઠા દેવો) જેવા થઇ ગયા, જેને તેઓ પ્રેમ અને પૂજા કરતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓનો વંશ નહિ વધે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="HOS.9.11" />“ઇસ્રાએલની કીતિર્ પંખીની જેમ ઊડી જશે; તેમના સંતાનો જન્મ સમયે જ મૃત્યુ પામશે અથવા કોઇને ગર્ભ રહેશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="HOS.9.12" />તેઓ કદાચ બાળકો ઉછેરશે, તો પણ હું તેમને હળી લઇશ. એકનેય હું જીવતું રહેવા દઇશ નહિ. હું તમારી વિમુખ થઇશ અને તમને એકલા તરછોડી દઇશ. તે દિવસ ઘણો દુ:ખદ હશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="HOS.9.13" />જ્યારે મેં પહેલીવાર જોયું ત્યારે એફ્રાઇમ એક ફળદ્રુપ ધરતી પર રોપેલા તાડના વૃક્ષ જેવું લાગતું હતું, પણ હવે એફ્રાઇમ તેના સંતાનોને યુદ્ધમાં મરવા માટે મોકલવા બહાર લાવશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="HOS.9.14" />હે યહોવા, તેમની મદદ કરો. પણ તમે તેમને શું આપશો? બાળ ગુમાવે એવું ઉદર અને દૂધ વગરના સ્તન તેમને આપો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="HOS.9.15" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ગિલ્ગાલમાં તેઓના બધા ખરાબ કાર્યો જાણીતા થયા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં હું તેમને ધિક્કારવા લાગ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના દુષ્કૃત્યોને કારણે હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમને મારા ઘરમાંથી હાંકી કાઢીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે પછી હું તેમના પર પ્રેમ નહિ રાખું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના બધા શાષકો મારી વિરૂદ્ધ થઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="HOS.9.16" />ઇસ્રાએલને સડો લાગ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના મૂળીયાં સુકાઇ ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એને ફળ નહિ આવે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમને સંતાન થાય તો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તેમના વહાલાં સંતાનોનો સંહાર કરીશ.”
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="HOS.9.17" />મારા દેવ ઇસ્રાએલના માણસોને ફગાવી દેશે, કારણ કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે તેમની વાત કાને ધરી નથી, અને તેઓ તેમને આધીન પણ થયાં નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી તેઓ વિદેશી પ્રજાઓ વચ્ચે ભટકનારા ઘર વિનાના યહૂદીઓ થશે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના વૈભવે ઇસ્રાએલથી મૂર્તિપૂજા કરાવી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.10.1" />ઇસ્રાએલ સુવિકસિત અને ફળોથી ભરપૂર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવો દ્રાક્ષાવેલાની જેમ ખૂબ સમૃદ્ધ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું જ્યારે તેને વધારે અને વધારે સંપતિ આપું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ બીજા દેવો માટે વધારેને વધારે વેદીઓ બાંધે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે મેઁ તેમને પુષ્કળ પાક આપ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તેમનાં સારામાં સારા પથ્થરોમાંથી વધારે ભજનસ્તંભો જૂઠા દેવોને માન આપવાં બનાવ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="HOS.10.2" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ દેવને છેતરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હવે તેમને પોતાના અપરાધની સજા ભોગવવી પડશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા પોતે જ તેઓની વેદીઓ તોડી નાખશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના ભજનસ્તંભોનો નાશ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓના ખોટા નિર્ણયો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="HOS.10.3" />હવે તેમણે કહેવું પડશે; અમારે કોઇ રાજા નથી, કારણ, અમે યહોવાથી બીતા નથી; અને રાજા પણ અમારે માટે શું કરવાનો હતો?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="HOS.10.4" />તેઓ વચનો આપે છે, પણ તેને પાળવાનો વિચાર કરતાં નથી. કરાર કરતી વખતે જૂઠા સમ ખાય છે, તેઓ જ્યારે ન્યાયને અમલમા મુકવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે. તેઓના ચુકાદાઓ ખેડેલાં ખેતરમાં ઊગી નીકળતાં ઝેરી છોડ જેવા હોય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="HOS.10.5" />સમરૂનના લોકો બેથ-આવેનમાં આવેલી તેમની વાછરડાની મૂર્તિ સાથે ખૂબ સંકળાયેલ છે; યાજકો અને લોકો તેના માટે શોક કરે છે. કારણ તેઓએ તેનું તેજ માણ્યું, પણ હવે તેને તેમનાથી દૂર કારાવાસમાં લેવાયું છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="HOS.10.6" />જ્યારે એ વાછરડાને ત્યાંના મહાન રાજાને વસુલી તરીકે આપવા માટે તેઓની સાથે ગાડામાં આશ્શૂર લઇ જવામાં આવશે. અને તેઓને સાથે ચાકરોની જેમ લઇ જવામાં આવશે. ઇસ્રાએલની અપકીતિર્ થશે અને તેણે પોતે લીધેલા માર્ગ માટે શરમાવું પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="HOS.10.7" />સમરૂનનો રાજા સમુદ્રના મોજાઓ ઉપર તરતાં લાકડાના પાટિયાની જેમ તણાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="HOS.10.8" />જ્યાં ઇસ્રાએલે પાપ કર્યું છે, તે બેથેલમાં આવેલી આવેનની મૂર્તિની વેદીનો નાશ થશે. તેમની વેદીઓ ઉપર કાંટા ને ઝાંખરાઁ ઊગી નીકળશે. અને પછી લોકો પર્વતોને અને ડુંગરોને કહેશે કે, “અમારા ઉપર પડો અને અમને ઢાંકી દો.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલે પોતાના પાપનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="HOS.10.9" />યહોવા કહે છે, “ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ ગિબયાહના લોકોની જેમ પાપ કર્યુ, અને તેઓએ પાપ કરવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું. શું ગિબિયાહમાં દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો કરનારાઓ પર યુદ્ધ અચાનક નહોતું આવી પડ્યું?
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="HOS.10.10" />તમારામાં આધીનતા નથી, તેથી હું તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ જઇશ; તમારા અસંખ્ય પાપો બદલ તમને શિક્ષા કરવા હું વિદેશી સૈન્યોને તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ ભેગા કરીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="HOS.10.11" />“એફ્રાઇમ એક શિક્ષા પામેલી જુવાન ગાય જેવી છે જેને દાણા છૂટા પાડવા ગમે છે. મેં તેને અગાઉ કદી ઝૂંસરી નીચે મૂકી નથી. મેં તેની કોમળ ડોકને મુકત રાખી હતી. પરંતુ હવે હું એફ્રાઇમ પર ઝૂંસરી મૂકીશ. તેને હળમાં બાંધવામાં આવશે. યહૂદા જમીન ખેંડશે અને યાકૂબ કઠણ જમીન તોડશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="HOS.10.12" />મેં કહ્યું, “પોતાને સારુ સત્કમોર્ વાવો અને સાચા પ્રેમના ફળ લણો, તમારા હૃદયની કઠણ જગ્યાઓને ખેડો. યહોવાને શોધવાનો સમય થઇ ગયો છે જ્યાં સુધી યહોવા આવે અને તમારા પર ભલમનસાઇ વરસાવે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="HOS.10.13" />“પણ તમે દુષ્કૃત્યો વાવ્યાં છે અને તેના માઠાં ફળ લણ્યાં છે, તમારે તમારા અસત્યનાઁ ફળ ભોગવવા પડ્યાં છે. સૈન્યના સાર્મથ્યને લીધે અને મહાન સૈન્યોને લીધે દેશ સુરક્ષીત છે એવા જૂઠાણા પર ભરોસો રાખવાનો પૂરો બદલો તમને મળી ચૂક્યો છે!
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="HOS.10.14" />તારા લોકો વિરૂદ્ધ યુદ્ધ થશે અને દુશ્મનો તારા કિલ્લેબંધ નગરોનો નાશ કરશે. જેમ શાલ્માને યુદ્ધમાં બેથ-આર્બેલનો વિનાશ કર્યો હતો અને માતાઓને અને તેમના બાળકોને જમીન પર પછાડીને મારી નાખ્યા હતાં તેમ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="HOS.10.15" />હે બેથેલ, તારી સાથે પણ તેમ જ થશે. કારણ કે, તેઁ ઘણું ખરાબ કર્યુ છે. જ્યારે તે દિવસ આવશે ત્યારે ઇસ્રાએલના રાજાનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ થઇ જશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ યહોવાને ભૂલી ગયું
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.11.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “ઇસ્રાએલ બાળક હતો ત્યારે હું તેના પર પ્રેમ રાખતો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મારા પુત્રને મિસરમાંથી બોલાવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="HOS.11.2" />પરંતુ જેમ જેમ મેં તેને બોલાવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વધારે પ્રેમ આપ્યો તેમ તેમ તેણે વધારે બંડ કરીને,
</q>
<q style="q1">બઆલને બલિદાનો આપ્યાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મૂર્તિઓની સન્મુખ વધારે ધૂપ કરતો રહ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="HOS.11.3" />“જો કે, મેં જ તેને બાળપણમાં શિક્ષા આપી ચાલતાં શીખવ્યું હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં જ તેને મારી બાથમાં લીધો હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તે જાણતો ન હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને સાજોસમો રાખનાર હું હતો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="HOS.11.4" />મેં તેઓને પ્રેમની લગામથી બાંધ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને દોર્યા મે તેઓને ઊંચા કર્યા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓને બાળકની જેમ તેડ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું પોતે વાકો વળ્યો અને તેમને જમાડ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="HOS.11.5" />“મારા લોકો મિસર તરફ પાછા ફરશે નહિ. આશ્શૂર તેમના પર રાજ કરશે. આવું બનશે કારણ કે, તેઓએ મારી તરફ ફરવાનો નકાર કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="HOS.11.6" />તેના શહેરો પર તરવાર લટકશે. તે તેઓના બધા પુરુષોનો તેમની દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓ માટે નાશ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HOS.11.7" />“મારા લોકોનું વલણ મારાથી વિમુખ થવાનું છે, એમને મારા તરફ ઊંચે આવવા માટે કહેવામાં આવે છે, પણ તેઓ માન આપતા નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલનો વિનાશ નથી ઇચ્છતાં
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="HOS.11.8" />“હે ઇસ્રાએલ, હું તારો ત્યાગ શી રીતે કરું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તને શી રીતે શત્રુઓના હાથમાં જવા દઉં?
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તારા હાલ અદમા જેવા શી રીતે થવા દઉં?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા સબોઇમની સાથે વત્ર્યો તેમ તારી સાથે શી રીતે વર્તું?
</q>
<q style="q1">મારું મન પાછું પડે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને દયાથી ઓગળી જાય છે;
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="HOS.11.9" />હું મારા ક્રોધના આવેશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મુજબ વતીર્શ નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું ફરી તારો નાશ કરીશ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે હું દેવ છું, માણસ નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તારી વચ્ચે વસતો પરમપવિત્ર દેવ છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું આવીને તારો નાશ નહિ કરું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="HOS.11.10" />મારા લોકો અનુસરસે યહોવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિંહની જેમ ગર્જના કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હાં તે ગર્જશે અને તેના બાળકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પશ્ચિમમાંથી ધ્રુજતા આવશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="HOS.11.11" />તેઓ મિસરમાંથી પંખીઓનાં ટોળાની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ વેગથી આવી પહોંચશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કબૂતરની જેમ તેઓ આશ્શૂરમાંથી આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તેઓને ફરીથી તેઓનાં ઘરમાં વસાવીશ.”
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<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાએ આ વચન આપ્યું છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="HOS.11.12" />“એફ્રાઇમે મને જૂઠાણાથી ઘેરી લીધો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોએ મને તેમની છેતરપિંડીવાળા કૃત્યોથી ઘેરી લીધો.
</q>
<q style="q1">ગમે તેમ, યહૂદા હજી પણ દેવન પ્રત્યે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના વિશ્વાસુ પવિત્ર દેવ પ્રત્યે, અસ્થિર છે.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલની વિરૂદ્ધ છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.12.1" />યહોવા કહે છે, “ઇસ્રાએલ વાયુને પકડવાનો કોઇ પ્રયત્ન કરતું હોય તેમ વતેર્ છે. તેઓ તેમના જૂઠાણા વધારે છે અને વધારેને વધારે ચોરે છે. તેઓ આશ્શૂરીઓ સાથે કરારો કરે છે, પણ એ જ સમયે મિસરને ખંડણી તરીકે જેતૂનનું તેલ મોકલે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="HOS.12.2" />“યહોવાની યહૂદા વિરૂદ્ધ દલીલ છે. તેઓ યાકૂબને તેના કૃત્યોની સજા આપશે. યાકૂબને તેના ખરાબ કૃત્યોની યોગ્ય સજા થશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="HOS.12.3" />એમનો પૂર્વજ યાકૂબ ગર્ભમાં હતો ત્યાં જ તેણે પોતાના ભાઇને દગો દીધો હતો અને મોટો થતાં તેણે દેવ સાથે બાથ ભીડી હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="HOS.12.4" />હા, તે દેવદૂત સાથે લડ્યો અને જીત્યો હતો. તેના તરફથી આશીર્વાદ મેળવવાને તેણે રૂદન કર્યું અને વિનંતીઓ કરી. બેથેલમાં તેણે દેવની મોઢેમોઢ મુલાકાત કરી. દેવે તેની સાથે વાત કરી.
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<v id="5" bcv="HOS.12.5" />હા, યહોવા, સૈન્યોનો દેવ છે. યહોવા એ તેનું સ્મારક નામ છે જેનાથી તેમને બોલાવવામાં આવે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="HOS.12.6" />તે માટે તમે દેવ ભણી પાછા ફરો. પ્રેમ અને ન્યાયને વળગી રહો. દેવ તમને મદદ કરશે તેવી આશા સાથે રાહ જોતા રહો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HOS.12.7" />યહોવા કહે છે, “ઇસ્રાએલીઓ તો ખોટાં ત્રાજવાં રાખનાર વેપારીઓ જેવા છે, છેતરપિંડી તેઓને ગમે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="HOS.12.8" />તેઓ કહે છે, ‘ખરેખર, અમે તો ધનવાન છીએ, અમે સંપત્તિ મેળવી છે, અને એનો એકેય પૈસો અનીતિ કે, પાપનો નથી.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="HOS.12.9" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યો ત્યારથી હું તમારો દેવ યહોવા છું. હું તમને મુકરર પર્વના દિવસોની જેમજ મંડપોમાં રહેતાં કરીશ.
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<v id="10" bcv="HOS.12.10" />મેં તમને ચેતવણી આપવા માટે મારા પ્રબોધકો તમારી પાસે મોકલ્યા. મેં જ તેઓને અનેક સંદર્શનો આપ્યાં અને તેમને તમારી પાસે દ્રષ્ટાંતો સાથે મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="11" bcv="HOS.12.11" />ગિલયાદમાં મૂર્તિપૂજા થઇ રહી છે, તો જરૂર તે પાપોનો નાશ થશે. ગિલ્ગાલમાં બળદોનો બલિ અપાય છે. તેઓની વેદીઓ ખેડેલા ખેતરની બાજુના પથ્થરોના ઢગલા જેવી થશે. ખેતરના ચારાની જેમ વેદીઓની હારમાળાઓ તમારી મૂર્તિઓને બલિદાન અર્પવા વપરાય છે. ગિલયાદ પણ મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરનારા મૂર્ખાઓથી ભરેલું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="HOS.12.12" />“યાકૂબ અરામમાં ભાગી ગયો, અને ઇસ્રાએલે પત્ની મેળવવા ત્યાં કામ કર્યું, તેણે તેણીને ઘેટાં ચરાવીને મેળવી.
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<v id="13" bcv="HOS.12.13" />પછી યહોવાએ એક પ્રબોધક દ્વારા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોનો મિસરમાંથી છુટકારો કર્યો. તેઓને એક પ્રબોધક મારફતે રક્ષણ આપ્યું.
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<v id="14" bcv="HOS.12.14" />પરંતુ ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ યહોવાને ભારે ક્રોધિત કર્યા છે. યહોવા તેમના પાપો માટે તેમને જ જવાબદાર ઠેરવશે અને તેમણે જે અપરાધો કર્યા છે, તેનો દોષ તેમના માથે નાખશે અને તેને પ્રભુ યહોવા મૃત્યુદંડ કરશે.”
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</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલે પોતાનો વિનાશ નોતર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.13.1" />“એફ્રાઇમના વંશનો બોલ પડતાં બીજા વંશના લોકો ધ્રુજી ઊઠતાં. ઇસ્રાએલમાં એ વંશનું એવું માન હતું પરંતુ બઆલની પૂજા કરવાને કારણે એ લોકો અપરાધી ઠર્યા અને માર્યા ગયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="HOS.13.2" />અને હવે તેઓ પાપ ઉપર પાપ કર્યા જ જાય છે અને પોતાને માટે પોતાની કલ્પના પ્રમાણેની ચાંદીની ઢાળેલી મૂર્તિઓ બનાવડાવે છે. એ બધી તો કારીગરે બનાવેલી છે, છતાં તેઓ કહે છે કે, ‘આને બલિ ચઢાવો.’ માણસો વાછરડાઓને ચુંબન કરે છે!
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<v id="3" bcv="HOS.13.3" />આથી તેઓ પરોઢના ધુમ્મસની જેમ, અથવા જોતજોતમાં ઊડી જતી ઝાકળની જેમ, અથવા ખળામાંથી પવન તણાઇ જતાં ભૂસાની જેમ કે, ધુમાડિયામાંથી નીકળતા ધુમાડાની જેમ હતા ન હતા થઇ જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="HOS.13.4" />યહોવા કહે છે: “તમે મિસરમાં હતાં ત્યારથી હું, યહોવા તમારો દેવ છું. મારા સિવાય તમારો કોઇ અન્ય દેવ નથી. અને મારા વિના તમારો કોઇ તારણહાર નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="HOS.13.5" />ગરમ અને સૂકા અરણ્યમાં મેં તમારી કાળજી રાખી હતી.
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<v id="6" bcv="HOS.13.6" />પરંતુ તમે પેટ ભરીને ખાધુંપીધું અને ધરાયા એટલે તમને અભિમાન થઇ ગયું અને તમે મને ભુલી ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HOS.13.7" />“એટલે હવે હું તમારા માટે સિંહ જેવો થઇશ, દીપડાની જેમ હું તમારા રસ્તાની બાજુમાં ટાંપીને બેસીશ.
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<v id="8" bcv="HOS.13.8" />જેનાં બચ્ચાં ઝૂટવી લેવાયા હોય એવી રીંછણની જેમ હું તમને ચીરી નાખીશ; અને સિંહની જેમ હું તમારો ભક્ષ કરીશ.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવના ક્રોધથી ઇસ્રાએલનો વિનાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="HOS.13.9" />“હે ઇસ્રાએલવાસીઓ, જો હું તમારો વિનાશ કરીશ, તો તમને મદદ કરનાર કોણ છે?
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<v id="10" bcv="HOS.13.10" />તમારું રક્ષણ કરનાર તમારો રાજા ક્યાં છે? તમારું રક્ષણ કરનારા તમારા બધા રાજકર્તાઓ ક્યાં છે? તમે જ તેમની પાસે મારી માગણી કરી હતી કે, ‘અમને એક રાજા આપો, રાજકર્તાઓ આપો.’
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<v id="11" bcv="HOS.13.11" />મેં મારા ક્રોધમાં તમને રાજા આપ્યો હતો. અને હવે રોષે ભરાઇને મેં તેને લઇ લીધો છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="HOS.13.12" />“ઇસ્રાએલના પાપો ચોપડે નોંધવામાં આવેલા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યોગ્ય સમયે શિક્ષા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ભરી રાખેલા છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="HOS.13.13" />એના પ્રસવ માટે વેદના-પીડા શરૂ થઇ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ એ મૂર્ખ બાળક છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે સમય થયો હોવા છતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ ઉદરમાંથી બહાર આવતું નથી.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="HOS.13.14" />“હું મૂલ્ય ચૂકવીને તેને શેઓલમાંથી છોડાવી લઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું એમને મૃત્યુમાંથી છોડાવીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની કસોટી કરવા માટે હે શેઓલ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી વિનાશક શકિત છૂટી મૂક.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અરે મૃત્યુ તારી મહામારી મોકલ! કારણકે મારી આંખમાં દયા રહી નથી.
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<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="HOS.13.15" />તેના સર્વ ભાઇઓમાં તે સૌથી વધુ નિષ્ઠાવાન ગણાતો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ પૂર્વનો પવન-અરણ્યમાંથી આવતો યહોવાનો પવન
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના ઉપર પ્રચંડ રીતે આવશે અને પછી ઝરા સુકાઇ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના કુંવાઓ સૂકાઇ જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનો મુલ્યવાન ખજાનો પવનમાં ઘસડાઇ જશે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="HOS.13.16" />સમરૂને દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ બંડ કર્યું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે તેણે તેના અપરાધના ફળ ભોગવવા પડશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના ઉપર આક્રમણ કરનાર સૈન્ય તેના લોકોનો સંહાર કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના બાળકોને ભોંયે પછાડીને મારી નાખવામાં આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની ગર્ભવતી સ્ત્રીઓનાં પેટ ચીરી નાખવામાં આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ લોકો તરવારનો ભોગ બનશે.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">યહોવા તરફ પ્રયાણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HOS.14.1" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, તમારા યહોવા દેવ પાસે પાછા આવો, તમારા દુષ્કૃત્યોને લીધે તમે ઠોકર ખાઇને પછડાયા છો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HOS.14.2" />તમારી વિનંતી રજૂ કરો. યહોવા પાસે આવો અને કહો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે યહોવા, અમારાં પાપો દૂર કરીને અમારામાંનું સારું હોય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો સ્વીકાર કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે તમને સ્તુતિઓ અપીર્શું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="HOS.14.3" />“આશ્શૂર અમને બચાવી શકશે નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે અમે કદી યુદ્ધના ઘોડાને ભરોસે રહીશું નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હવે અમે કદી હાથે ઘડેલી મૂર્તિને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘અમારો દેવ કહીશું નહિ’ તમે જ અનાથના નાથ છો.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલને ક્ષમાં કરશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="HOS.14.4" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું મારા લોકોના વિશ્વાસઘાતનો રસ્તો કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઉદારતાથી અને છૂટથી તેમના પર પ્રેમ રાખીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે હું તેમના પર રોષે નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="HOS.14.5" />હું ઇસ્રાએલને માટે ઝાકળ જેવો થઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કમળની જેમ ખીલશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લબાનોનનાં વૃક્ષોની જેમ તેના મૂળ હજુ ઊંડા જશે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="HOS.14.6" />તેને નવા ફણગાં ફૂટશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની ડાળીઓ ફેલાઇ જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનો દેખાવ એક સુંદર જૈંતવૃક્ષ જેવો હશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લબાનોનના ગંધતરુઁઓ જેવી તેની સુવાસ હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="HOS.14.7" />ફરી તેઓ મારા છાયડામાં વાસો કરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ બગીચાની જેમ ફૂલશે ફાલશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">દ્રાક્ષાવાડીની જેમ વધશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની સુગંધ લબાનોનના દ્રાક્ષારસ જેવી થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલને મૂર્તિઓ વિષે યહોવાની ચેતવણી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="HOS.14.8" />“હે ઇસ્રાએલ, તારે મૂર્તિઓ સાથે કઇં કરવાનું નહિ રહે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું એ છું જે તમારી પ્રાર્થનાઓનો ઉત્તર આપુ છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હું તમારી સંભાળ રાખુ છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી સારસંભાળ રાખું છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું સદા લીલાછમ રહેતા વૃક્ષ જેવો છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી પાસેથી જ તમને ફળ મળે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">અંતિમ ચેતવણી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="HOS.14.9" />સમજુ ડાહ્યો હોય તે આ બાબતોને સમજે, બુદ્ધિશાળી વ્યકિત તે સાંભળે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેનામાં સમજણ હોય તે,
</q>
<q style="q1">એનો અર્થ હૈયામાં રાખે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે યહોવાના રસ્તાઓ સત્ય અને ન્યાયી છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સારો માણસ તેના ઉપર ચાલે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ પાપી માણસો ઠોકર ખાઇને પછડાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
</book>
<book id="JOL"><id id="JOL">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>યોએલ
</h><toc level="1">યોએલ
</toc><toc level="2">યોએલ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યોએલ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">તીડો પાકને ખાઇ જશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOL.1.1" />પથુએલના પુત્ર યોએલને સંભળાયેલી યહોવાની વાણી:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOL.1.2" />સાંભળો, હે ઇસ્રાએલના વડીલો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેશના સર્વ વતનીઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે પણ ધ્યાન આપો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા કે તમારા પૂર્વજોના સમયમાં કદી આવું બન્યું છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOL.1.3" />તમે તમારાઁ સંતાનોને એની વાત કરજો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તેમનાં સંતાનોને વાત કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ પછીની પેઢીને કહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOL.1.4" />તીડો તમારો બઘો પાક ખાઈ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે કાતરનારા તીડોએ છોડયું
</q>
<q style="q1">તે ગણગણતા તીડો ખાશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે ગણગણતા તીડોએ છોડયું
</q>
<q style="q1">તે કૂદતા તીડો ખાશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છેલ્લે આંકરાંતિયા તીડ બચેલું બઘું ખાઈ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">તીડોનું આગમન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOL.1.5" />હે છાકટાઓ, તમે જાગો અને આક્રંદ કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ દ્રાક્ષારસ પીનારાઓ, જોરથી રડો!
</q>
<q style="q1">મીઠો દ્રાક્ષરસ તમારી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાસેથી લઈ લેવાયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOL.1.6" />કારણ, એક દેશે પૃથ્વીને ઢાંકી દીધી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ અગણિત છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એમનાં દાંત સિંહના દાંત જેવા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની દાઢો સિંહણની દાઢો જેવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOL.1.7" />તેઓએ મારી દ્રાક્ષની લતાઓનો નાશ કર્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અંજીર વૃક્ષો પર ફકત પાતળી ડાળીઓ છોડી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ તેની છાલ સંપૂર્ણત: ઉતારી લીધી છે અને તેને બાજુમાં ફેંકી દીઘું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ડાળીઓ સફેદ દેખાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">લોકોનો આક્રંદ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOL.1.8" />કોઇ કુંવારી કન્યા પોતાના જુવાન પતિના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અવસાનથી શોકના વસ્ત્રો પહેરીને આક્રંદ કરે તેમ તમે આક્રંદ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOL.1.9" />યહોવાના મંદિરમાં ખાદ્યાર્પણો અને પેયાર્પણો આવતાં નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાજકો જે યહોવા આગળ સેવક છે તેઓ શોક કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOL.1.10" />ખેતરો લૂંટાઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભૂમિ આક્રંદ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમ કે અનાજ લૂંટાઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">નવી દ્રાક્ષ સુકાઇ ગઇ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેલ સુકાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOL.1.11" />હે ધરતીના ખેડનારાઓ! પોક મૂકો, આક્રંદ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે દ્રાક્ષનીવાડીના માળીઓ!
</q>
<q style="q1">ઘઉં માટે અને જવ માટે પોક મૂકો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે ખેતરોના પાકનો નાશ થયો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOL.1.12" />દ્રાક્ષની વેલીઓ સુકાઇ રહી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંજીર સુકાઈ રહ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">દાડમ, તાડ, સફરજન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખેતરમા બધાં વૃક્ષો સૂકાઇ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોમાંથી આનંદ જતો રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOL.1.13" />હે યાજકો! શોકના વસ્ત્રો ધારણ કરીને શોક કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે વેદીના સેવકો, આક્રંદ કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે મારા દેવના સેવકો, શોકના વસ્ત્રોમાં આખી રાત ગાળો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા દેવના ઘરમાં કોઇ ખાદ્યાર્પણ કે પેયાર્પણ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">તીડોથી ભયંકર વિનાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JOL.1.14" />પવિત્ર ઉપવાસની જાહેરાત કરો. પવિત્રસભા બોલાવો, તમારા દેવ યહોવાના મંદિરમાં આગેવાનોને અને દેશવાસીઓને ભેગા કરો, અને યહોવા આગળ રૂદન કરો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JOL.1.15" />અરર! કેવો ભયંકર દિવસ. યહોવાનો વિશેષ દિવસ નજીક છે! સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા તરફથી વિનાશ રૂપે આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="JOL.1.16" />આપણી નજર સામે જ આપણું અન્ન અદ્રશ્ય થઇ ગયું. આપણા દેવના મંદિરમાંથી સર્વ આનંદ અને ઉત્સાહ ઊડી ગયા છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="JOL.1.17" />સૂકી જમીન નીચે ધાન્ય સડી જાય છે. વખારો નષ્ટ થઇ છે. કોઠારો ઓછા થયા છે. ખેતરોમાં અનાજ સુકાઈ ગયું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JOL.1.18" />ઢોર ભાંભરી રહ્યાં છે! અને બળદો મુંજાયા છે; કારણકે તેઓ માટે ઘાસચારો રહ્યો નથી. ઘેટાંનાં ટોળાંઓ પણ કષ્ટ સહન કરી રહ્યાં છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="JOL.1.19" />હે યહોવા, હું તમને બોલાવું છું, કારણકે અગ્નિએ મરૂભૂમિના ઘાસચારાને ભસ્મ કર્યો છે અને પ્રજવલિત જવાળાઓએ ખેતરના બધા વૃક્ષો બાળી નાખ્યાં છે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="JOL.1.20" />હા, વનચર પશુઓ પણ પાણી માટે તમને પોકારે છે; કારણકે પાણીની ઘારાઓ સુકાઇ ગઇ છે, ને અગ્નિએ વનનો ઘાસચારો ભસ્મ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">દેવ પોતાનો આત્મા રેડશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="JOL.2.1" />સિયોનમાં રણશિંગડું વગાડો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા પવિત્ર પર્વત પર ભય સૂચવતો ચેતવણીનો સૂર સંભળાવો.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેશના સર્વ લોકો, થરથરી ઊઠો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે યહોવાનો ન્યાયનો દિવસ આવી રહ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે છેક નજીક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JOL.2.2" />અંધકાર અને વિષાદનો તે દિવસ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાદળો અને અંધકારનો દિવસ.
</q>
<q style="q1">પર્વતો પર પથરાતા ઘાટા પડછાયા જેવું બળવાન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિશાળ સૈન્ય જેવું દેખાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એવું પહેલાં કદી બન્યું નથી કે, ભવિષ્યમાં કદી જોવા નહિ મળે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોટી તથા બળવાન પ્રજા આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JOL.2.3" />અગ્નિ તેમની સમક્ષ ભભૂકે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની પાછળ જવાળાઓ લપકારા મારે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમની સમક્ષની ભૂમિ આદમના બગીચા જેવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેઓની પાછળ તે ઉજ્જડ અરણ્ય જેવી છે. હા, કશું જ રહેતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JOL.2.4" />તેમનો દેખાવ ઘોડાઓના જેવો છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જાણે ઘોડેસવાર હોય તેમ તેઓ દોડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JOL.2.5" />તેઓ શિખરો પર ગડગડાટ કરતાં,
</q>
<q style="q1">રથોની જેમ આગળ ઘસી રહ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘાસ બળતી જવાળાઓના લપકારાની જેમ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને યુદ્ધભૂમિમાં શકિતશાળી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૈનાની જેમ આગળ વધે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JOL.2.6" />તેમને જોતાં પ્રજાઓ ધ્રુજી ઊઠે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભયને કારણે સૌના ચહેરા ઉપરથી લોહી ઊડી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JOL.2.7" />આ “યોદ્ધાઓ” પાયદળની જેમ દોડે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રશિક્ષણ પામેલા સૈનિકોની જેમ ભીંતો ઉપર ચઢી જાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ બધા એક હરોળમાં ખસે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની હરોળથી હટતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JOL.2.8" />તેઓ એકબીજાને ધક્કો નથી મારતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હરોળમાં રહે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે તેઓ શસ્ત્રો સમક્ષ પડે ત્યારે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ક્રમ તોડતાં નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOL.2.9" />તેઓ શહેરમાં ઉમટયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ દીવાલોની એક તરફથી બીજી તરફ દોડે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ મકાનોની અંદર ચઢી જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બારીઓમાંથી ચોરની જેમ પ્રવેશે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOL.2.10" />ધરતી તેમની આગળ ધ્રુજે છે અને આકાશ થરથરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૂર્ય અને ચંદ્ર કાળા પડી જાય છે અને તારાઓ તેજસ્વીતા ગુમાવે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOL.2.11" />યહોવા તેના સૈન્યદળોને આજ્ઞાઓ આપે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનું સૈન્ય મોટું છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમની આજ્ઞા પાળનારાઓ શકિતશાળી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાનો ન્યાયનો દિવસ ભયંકર
</q>
<q style="q1">અને બિહામણો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એની સામે કોણ ટકી શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા લોકોને પરિવતિર્ત થવાનું કહે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOL.2.12" />તોપણ, યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હજી સમય છે સાચા હૃદયથી
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે મારી પાસે પાછા ફરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉપવાસ કરી, રૂદન કરો, ને આક્રંદ કરો.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOL.2.13" />તમારાં વસ્ત્રો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હૃદયો ચીરી નાખો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા યહોવા દેવ પાસે પાછા ફરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દયાળુ અને કૃપાળુ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે ગુસ્સે થવામાં ધીમો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની પાસે અનેરો પ્રેમ છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે ન્યાયના ચુકાદાને લગતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો વિચાર બદલે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOL.2.14" />કોણ જાણે છે? કદાચ તે તેના વિચાર બદલે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સજાથી ફરી તમને આશીર્વાદ આપે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે તમારા દેવ યહોવાને ખાદ્યાર્પણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પેયાર્પણ રહેવા દે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOL.2.15" />સિયોનમાં રણશિંગડું વગાડો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પવિત્ર ઉપવાસ જાહેર કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધામિર્ક સભા માટે લોકોને ભેગા કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOL.2.16" />લોકોને ભેગા કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમુદાયને પાવન કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">વડીલો, બાળકો અને ધાવણાં બાળકોને ભેગા કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વર અને કન્યાએ તેમનો લગ્ન મંડપ છોડી આવવું જાઈએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOL.2.17" />યાજકો, જે યહોવાના સેવકો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે ઓસરી અને વેદી વચ્ચે રડવું અને કહેવું કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હે યહોવા, તારા લોકો પર દયા કર.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિદેશીઓને તેમને હરાવવા ન દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા લોકોને વિદેશીઓ સમક્ષ લજ્જિત થવા ન દો,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ દરેકને કહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘તેઓનો દેવ કયાં છે?’”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા તમને તમારી ભૂમિ પાછી અપાવશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOL.2.18" />ત્યારે યહોવાને પોતાના દેશને માટે લાગણી થઇ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેને પોતાના લોકો પર દયા આવી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOL.2.19" />યહોવાએ પોતાના લોકોને જવાબ આપ્યો,
</q>
<q style="q1">“જુઓ, હું તમને સંતોષ થાય તેટલા પૂરતાં અનાજ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દ્રાક્ષારસ, અને તેલ મોકલીશ. હવે હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને વિદેશીઓ સમક્ષ હજી વધારે લજ્જિત થવા નહીં દઉ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOL.2.20" />પણ હું આ સૈન્યોને ઉત્તરમાંથી ખસેડી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને દૂર દેશમાં મોકલી દઇશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેઓને ઉજ્જડ તથા વેરાન દેશમાં પાછા મોકલી દઇશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓમાંના અડધાને મૃત સરોવરમાં
</q>
<q style="q1">અને બાકીનાને ભૂમધ્ય સમુદ્રમાં ધકેલીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી તેઓ દુર્ગંધીત થશે અને તેમની ગંધ ઉચે ચઢશે કારણકે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે શકિતશાળી કાર્યો કર્યાં છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ભૂમિને ફરીથી નવી બનાવાશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOL.2.21" />હે ભૂમિ, ગભરાઇશ નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે ખુશ થા અને આનંદ કર.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે યહોવાએ મહાન કાર્યો કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="JOL.2.22" />હે વનચર પશુઓ, તમે ડરશો નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે ગૌચરની જગ્યાઓ ફરીથી હરિયાળી થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">વૃક્ષો પોતાના ફળ ઉપજાવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંજીરવૃક્ષો અને દ્રાક્ષાવેલાઓ ફરીથી ફળવંતા થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="JOL.2.23" />હે સિયોનના લોકો, ખુશ થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા યહોવા દેવના નામે આનંદ કરો;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે તે તમારી સાથેના સંબંધના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રસ્થાપનના ચિહનરૂપે શરદઋતુનાં વરસાદો મોકલી રહ્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તમારા માટે વરસાદ વરસાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફરીથી, તે વસંત અને શરદઋતુમાં વરસાદ વરસાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="JOL.2.24" />ફરી ખળીઓ ઘઉંથી ભરાઇ જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કુંડો જૈતતેલ અને દ્રાક્ષારસથી ઊભરાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="JOL.2.25" />“મેં મારું મહાન વિનાશક તીડોનું લશ્કર તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ મોકલ્યું હતું-સામૂહિક તીડો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફુદકતાં તીડો, વિનાશક તીડો, અને કાપતાં તીડો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના દ્વારા નષ્ટ થયેલો પાક હું તમને પાછો આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="JOL.2.26" />તમે ચોક્કસ ઘરાઇને ખાશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવા દેવના નામની સ્તુતિ કરશો;
</q>
<q style="q1">જે તમારી સાથે અદ્ભૂત રીતે ર્વત્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારા લોકો ફરી કદી લજ્જિત નહિ થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="JOL.2.27" />પછી તમને ખબર પડશે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું ઇસ્રાએલમાં છું, ને હું તમારો દેવ યહોવા છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને બીજું કોઇ નથી;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારા લોકો કદી લજ્જિત થશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">બધાં લોકોને પોતાનો આત્મા આપવાની દેવની પ્રતિજ્ઞા
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="JOL.2.28" />“ત્યાર પછી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારો આત્મા બધા લોકો પર રેડીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા પુત્રો અને પુત્રીઓ પ્રબોધ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ઘરડાંઓ સ્વપ્નો જોશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યુવાનોને સંદર્શનો થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="JOL.2.29" />વધુમાં, તે સમયે હું મારો આત્મા તમારા દાસો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દાસીઓ ઉપર રેડીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="JOL.2.30" />વળી હું પૃથ્વી પર અને આકાશમાં આશ્ચર્યજનક નિશાનીઓ મૂકીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોહી અને અગ્નિ તથા ધુમાડાના સ્તંભો
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="31" bcv="JOL.2.31" />યહોવાનો મહાન અને ભયંકર દિવસ આવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પહેલાઁ સૂર્ય અંધકારરૂપ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચંદ્ર લોહીરૂપ થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="JOL.2.32" />તે સમયે એમ થશે કે, જે કોઇ યહોવાને બોલાવશે તે ભાગી જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, યહોવાએ કહ્યું હતું કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમમાં અને સિયોન પર્વત પર દીર્ધજીવીઓ થશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને યરૂશાલેમમાં બાકી રહેલાઓમાંથી જેને યહોવા બોલાવે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ઉગરી જશે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">યહોવાનો દિવસ પાસે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JOL.3.1" />“જુઓ! તે દિવસોમાં એટલે તે સમયે, જ્યારે હું યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમનાં ભાગ્ય ફેરવીશ,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JOL.3.2" />હું બધા લોકોને ભેગા કરીશ અને તેમને યહોશાફાટની ખીણમાં નીચે લઇ આવીશ; અને તેમને મારા લોકોને, ઈસ્રાએલીઓ મારા ઉત્તરાધિકારીઓને ઇજા કરવા માટે સજા કરીશ. જેઓને તેઓએ વિવિધ દેશોમાં વેરવિખેર કરી, મારી ભૂમિને વિભાજીત કરી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JOL.3.3" />તેઓએ ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખી મારા લોકોને સેવકો તરીકે વહેંચીં લીધા છે. તેઓએ નાના છોકરાઓને વેશ્યાઓ મેળવવા વેંચી નાખ્યાં છે, અને દ્રાક્ષારસ અને મદ્યપાનનાં બદલામાં છોકરીઓ બદલી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JOL.3.4" />“હે તૂર અને સિદોન તથા પલેશેથના બધા પ્રાંતો, તમારે ને મારે શું લેવા દેવા? શું તમે પાછું વાળવા પ્રયત્ન કરો છો? સાવધાન રહો, તમે જો બદલો લેવા માંગશો, તો ઝડપથી હું તમારી તરફ ફરીશ અને ગણતરીઓ તમારા પર વાળીશ!
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JOL.3.5" />તમે મારાં સોનાચાંદી લઇ લીધાં છે, તથા મારું સર્વ કિંમતી દ્રવ્ય તમારા મંદિરોમાં તમે ઉપાડી ગયા છો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JOL.3.6" />“વળી તમે યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકોને ગ્રીકોને વેચી દીધા છે, તેઓ તેમને પોતાના વતનમાં દૂર દેશમાં લઇ ગયા છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JOL.3.7" />પરંતુ હવે હું તમે તેમને જ્યાં વેચ્યાં છે ત્યાંથી જગાડીશ અને તમે જે કર્યું છે તે સમાન જ હું તમારી સાથે કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JOL.3.8" />હું તમારા પુત્ર અને પુત્રીઓને યહૂદાના વંશજોને વેંચીંશ અને તેઓ તેમને દૂરના દેશ શેબાના લોકોને વેંચી દેશે.” કેમકે આ યહોવાનું વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યુદ્ધની તૈયારી કરો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JOL.3.9" />તમે પ્રજાઓમાં બધી બાજુ જાહેર કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યુદ્ધની તૈયારી કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">શ્રેષ્ઠ યોદ્ધાઓની ભરતી કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યુદ્ધના સર્વ પુરુષો તૈયાર થાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યુદ્ધ તરફ કૂચ કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="JOL.3.10" />તમારા હળની કોશોને ઓગાળીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમાંથી તરવારો બનાવો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમારાં દાંતરડાઁઓને ટીપીને ભાલા બનાવો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુર્બળ માણસોને કહેવા દો કે તે બળવાન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="JOL.3.11" />હે આજુબાજુની સર્વ પ્રજાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જલદી આવો, ને એકત્ર થાઓ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહોવા, તમારા યોદ્ધાઓને ત્યાં ઉતારી લાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="JOL.3.12" />રાષ્ટોને જાગવા દો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોશાફાટની કોતરમાં આવવા દો.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું નજીકના દેશોનો ન્યાય આપવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે ત્યાં બેસવાનો છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="JOL.3.13" />હવે તમે દાતરડાઁ ચલાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મોલ પાકી ગયો છે. આવો,
</q>
<q style="q1">દ્રાક્ષાચક્કી દ્રાક્ષથી ભરેલી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કૂંડા રસથી ઊભરાય
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યાં સુધી દ્રાક્ષાઓને ગૂંધ્યા કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તેમની દુષ્ટતા વધી ગઇ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="JOL.3.14" />ન્યાયચુકાદાની ખીણમાં મોટો જનસમુદાય રાહ જોઇ રહ્યો છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે ન્યાયચુકાદાની ખીણમાં યહોવાનો દિવસ પાસે થઈ રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JOL.3.15" />સૂર્ય અને ચંદ્ર કાળા પડી જાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારાઓનો પ્રકાશ ઝાંખો પડ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="JOL.3.16" />યહોવા દેવ સિયોનમાંથી ગર્જના કરે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને યરૂશાલેમમાંથી ત્રાડ નાખે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી પૃથ્વી અને આકાશ જે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ યહોવા તેનાં લોકો માટે સુરક્ષિત સ્થળ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ઇસ્રાએલ માટે કિલ્લો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="JOL.3.17" />ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હું મારા પવિત્ર પર્વત સિયોન ઉપર બેસનારો તમારો દેવ યહોવા છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">પછી યરૂશાલેમ પવિત્ર નગરી બનશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વિદેશીઓ તેના પર આક્રમણ કરશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહૂદાને ફરીથી નવી બનાવાશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="JOL.3.18" />“તે દિવસે પર્વતોમાંથી મીઠો દ્રાક્ષારસ ટપકશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ડુંગરોમાંથી દૂધ વહેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહૂદાની સુકાઇ ગયેલી ધારાઓ પાણીથી ભરપૂર થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">શિટ્ટીમની ખીણને પાણી પહોંચાડવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાના મંદિરમાંથી ઝરો નીકળશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="JOL.3.19" />મિસર ઉજ્જડ થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એદોમ ઉજ્જડ મરૂભૂમિ બનશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે આ લોકોએ યહૂદાના લોકોને ઉત્પાત કર્યોં હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમનું નિદોર્ષ લોહી વહેવડાવ્યું હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="JOL.3.20" />પણ યહૂદા સદા નિર્વાસીત થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યરૂશાલેમ પેઢી દર પેઢી વસ્તી વધારો પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="JOL.3.21" />કારણ હું તેમના લોહીને દંડીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તેને વગર દંડયે છોડીશ નહિ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે યહોવા સિયોનમાં રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
</book>
<book id="AMO"><id id="AMO">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>આમોસ
</h><toc level="1">આમોસ
</toc><toc level="2">આમોસ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">આમોસ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">ભૂમિકા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="AMO.1.1" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા ઉઝિઝયા અને ઇસ્રાએલના યોઆશના પુત્ર રાજા યરોબઆમના સમયમાં, આમોસ તકોઆ જાતિના ભરવાડોમાંનો એક હતો આ ઇસ્રાએલ વિષેના સંદેશાઓ છે જે તેને ધરતીકંપ થયાના બે વર્ષ પહેલા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અરામને સજા
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="AMO.1.2" />તેણે કહ્યું,
</q>
<q style="q1">“યહોવા સિયોનમાંથી ગર્જના કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમ મોટેથી કહેશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">ભરવાડો આક્રંદ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કામેર્લની ટોચ સૂકાઇ જશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="AMO.1.3" />યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે: “દમસ્કના લોકોએ વારંવાર પાપ કર્યા છે, અને હું તે ભૂલીશ નહિ. હું તેઓને શિક્ષા કર્યા વગર રહીશ નહિ. જેમ અનાજ ધોકાવાની લોખંડની ગાડીથી ધોકાવાય છે, તેમ ગિલયાદમાં મારા લોકોને તેઓએ માર્યા છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="AMO.1.4" />પરંતુ હું હઝાએલના મહેલને આગ ચાંપીશ, ને તે બેન-હદાદના મહેલોને ભસ્મીભૂત કરી દેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="AMO.1.5" />“વળી હું દમસ્કના દરવાજાઓ તોડી નાખીશ, અને આવેનની ખીણમાંના લોકોનો નાશ કરીશ. બેથ-એદેનના નેતાઓને શિક્ષા કરીશ. અરામના લોકો દેશ નિકાલ થયેલની જેમ કીર પાછા ફરશે.” આ યહોવાના શબ્દો છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પલિસ્તીઓને સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="AMO.1.6" />યહોવા કહે છે: “ગાઝાના લોકોએ વારંવાર પાપ કર્યા છે. તેઓએ ધીમે ધીમે ઘસડીને આખા સમાજને અદોમના લોકોને ગુલામ તરીકે સોપી દીધેલ છે. આ માટે હું તેઓને જરૂર શિક્ષા કરીશ,
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<v id="7" bcv="AMO.1.7" />હું ગાઝાની દીવાલોને આગ લગાડીશ અને આગ નગરના સર્વ કિલ્લેબંધી કરેલા ઘરોને નષ્ટ કરી નાંખશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="AMO.1.8" />હું આશ્દોદના બધા લોકોને મારી નાખીશ. એક્રોન અને આશ્કલોનના રાજાનો પણ નાશ કરીશ. બાકી રહેલા પલિસ્તીઓ નાશ પામશે, તેમ દેવ યહોવા કહે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">તૂરના લોકોને સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="AMO.1.9" />યહોવા કહે છે: “તૂરના લોકોએ વારંવાર પાપ કર્યા છે. અને હું તે ભૂલીશ નહિ, હું તેને શિક્ષા કર્યા વિના છોડીશ નહિ, તેઓએ ઇસ્રાએલ સાથેની મિત્રતાના કરારનો ભંગ કર્યો છે. અને ઇસ્રાએલ પર હુમલો કરીને સમગ્ર પ્રજાને દેશનિકાલ થયેલાની જેમ અદોમ લઇ આવ્યા.
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<v id="10" bcv="AMO.1.10" />તેને માટે હું તેઓને જરૂર શિક્ષા કરીશ, હું તૂરની દીવાલોને આગ લગાડીશ અને આગ શહેરના સર્વ કિલ્લેબંધી કરેલા ઘરોને નષ્ટ કરી નાખશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અદોમને સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="AMO.1.11" />યહોવા કહે છે: “અદોમના લોકોએ વારંવાર પાપ કર્યા છે અને હું તેમને ભૂલી જઇશ નહિ. હું તેને શિક્ષા કર્યા વિના છોડીશ નહિ. તેણે દયાને નેવે મૂકીને હાથમાં તરવાર લઇને પોતાના જાતભાઇઓ યાકૂબના વંશજોનો પીછો કર્યો હતો. તેનો ક્રોધ સદા ભભૂકતો જ રહ્યો. તેનો રોષ કદી શમ્યો જ નહિ,
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<v id="12" bcv="AMO.1.12" />તે માટે હું જરૂર તેને સજા કરીશ. હું ‘તેમાનને’ આગ લગાડીશ અને આગ ‘બોસ્રાહના’ કિલ્લાને નષ્ટ કરી નાખશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આમ્મોનને સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="AMO.1.13" />યહોવા કહે છે: “આમ્મોનના લોકોએ વારંવાર પાપ કર્યા છે, તેમણે પોતાની સરહદ વિસ્તારવા માટે ગિલયાદમાં ગર્ભવતી સ્ત્રીઓનાં પેટ પણ ચીરી નાખ્યાં છે; આથી હું તેમને જરૂર સજા કરીશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="AMO.1.14" />હું રાબ્બાહની દીવાલોને આગ લગાડીશ અને આગ નગરના સર્વ કિલ્લેબંધી મહેલો, ઘરોને નષ્ટ કરી નાખશે. ચારેતરફ યુદ્ધનાદ થશે, અને જાણે પ્રચંડ વાવાઝોડાનો પ્રકોપ થઇ રહ્યો હોય એમ લાગશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="AMO.1.15" />તેઓના રાજાઓ અને તેઓના અમલદારો સાથે દેશવટો લેશે.” આ યહોવાના શબ્દો છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">મોઆબને સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="AMO.2.1" />યહોવા કહે છે: “મોઆબના લોકોએ વારંવાર પાપ કર્યા છે અને હું તેમને ભૂલી જઇશ નહિ. તેમણે અદોમના રાજાના હાડકાં બાળીને ચૂરો કરી નાખ્યાં હતાં; આથી હું તેમને જરૂર સજા કરીશ.
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<v id="2" bcv="AMO.2.2" />હું મોઆબને આગ લગાડીશ અને આગ કરીયોથના કિલ્લેબંધી મહેલો મકાનોને નષ્ટ કરી દેશે. યુદ્ધના આક્રંદ અને રણશિંગડાંના અવાજો મધ્યે મોઆબ નાશ પામશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="AMO.2.3" />હું તેના રાજકર્તાને ત્યાંજ મારી નાખીશ અને તેની સાથે તેના સર્વ અમલદારોને મારી નાખીશ.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદિયાને સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="AMO.2.4" />યહોવા કહે છે: “યહૂદિયાએ વારંવાર પાપ કર્યુ છે હું તેઓને શિક્ષા કર્યા વગર રહીશ નહિ. એ લોકોએ મારા નિયમોનો અનાદર કર્યો છે, અને મારી આજ્ઞાઓ માની નથી. તેમના પિતૃઓ જે ખોટા દેવોને અનુસરતા હતા તેમણે તેમને ખોટે માગેર્ દોર્યા છે; આથી હું તેમને જરૂર સજા કરીશ.
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<v id="5" bcv="AMO.2.5" />હું યહૂદિયા પર આગ લગાડીશ અને આગ યરૂશાલેમના કિલ્લેબંધી મહેલો મકાનોને નષ્ટ કરશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલને સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="AMO.2.6" />યહોવા કહે છે: “ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ વારંવાર પાપ કર્યા છે અને હું તે ભૂલીશ નહિ. હું તેને શિક્ષા કર્યા વિના છોડીશ નહિ. તેઓએ ન્યાયી લોકોને ચાંદીના બદલામાં વેચ્યા છે અને ગરીબોને બૂટની જોડીના બદલામાં વેચ્યા છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="AMO.2.7" />તેઓએ ગરીબોને ધૂળમાં પગતળે કચડ્યા છે. અને નમ્ર લોકોને સાચા માર્ગમાંથી દૂર ધકેલી દેવામાં આવ્યાં છે. પિતા અને પુત્ર એક જ સ્ત્રી પાસે ગયા છે અને મારું પવિત્ર નામ બગાડ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="AMO.2.8" />તેઓ વેદીની બાજુમાં ધીરેલા નાણાંની સુરક્ષા તરીકે લીધેલાં કપડાં પર સૂઇ જાય છે. અને તેઓના દેવના મંદિરમાં આવતા લોકો પાસેથી દંડ તરીકે લીધેલા નાણાંનો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીએ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="AMO.2.9" />“તમે જ્યારે કેનાનમાં દાખલ થયા ત્યારે અમોરીઓ ત્યાં હતા, તેઓ દેવદારના વૃક્ષ જેવા ઊંચા અને ઓક વૃક્ષ જેવા ખડતલ હતા. પણ તમારા માટે મેં તેઓને સમાપ્ત કર્યા હતા, હા, મે તેઓની શાખાઓ અને તેઓના મૂળિયાઓનો નાશ કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="AMO.2.10" />“વળી હું તમને મિસરમાંથી સાથે બહાર લઇ આવ્યો, અને મેં તમને વન્યપ્રદેશ થકી ચાળીસ વર્ષ સુધી માર્ગદર્શન આપ્યું જેથી તમે અમોરીઓના રાષ્ટને તાબામાં લઇ શકો.
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<v id="11" bcv="AMO.2.11" />મેં તમારા પુત્રોમાંથી અનેકને પ્રબોધકો અને નાઝીરીઓ બનાવ્યા. હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, શું એ સાચું નથી?” આ હું યહોવા કહું છું.
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<v id="12" bcv="AMO.2.12" />“પણ તમે નાઝીરીઓને દ્રાક્ષારસ પાયો; અને પ્રબોધકોને આજ્ઞા કરી કે, પ્રબોધ કરશો નહિ.
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<v id="13" bcv="AMO.2.13" />જુઓ, જેમ ગાડું ભારને લીધે દબાઇ જાય છે, તેમ હું તમને તમારી જગ્યાએ જમીન પર દબાવી દઇશ.
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<v id="14" bcv="AMO.2.14" />અને ઝડપી દોડનારની દોડ નકામી જશે. બળવાનની તાકાત લુપ્ત થઇ જશે. અને જાણીતા નામાંકિત યોદ્ધાઓ પણ પોતાનો જીવ બચાવી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="15" bcv="AMO.2.15" />ધનુર્ધારીઓ તેઓની જમીન કબ્જામાં રાખી શકશે નહિ અને જેઓ ઝડપથી દોડી શકે છે તેઓ પોતાને બચાવવા ભાગી શકશે નહિ અને ઘોડેસવારો તેઓનો પોતાનો જીવ બચાવી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="16" bcv="AMO.2.16" />યોદ્ધાઓમાનો સૌથી બહાદુર પણ તે દિવસે શસ્ત્રો મૂકી નાસી જશે.” એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલને ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="AMO.3.1" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, તમને આખી પ્રજાને યહોવા મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઇ આવ્યા હતા. હવે તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ યહોવાએ જે વચનો કહ્યાં છે તે સાંભળો:
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<v id="2" bcv="AMO.3.2" />“પૃથ્વી પરના સર્વ લોકોમાંથી ફકત તમને જ મેં પસંદ કર્યા છે. આ માટે હું તમારા સર્વ ગુનાઓ માટે તમને શિક્ષા કરીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલને સજા આપવાનું કારણ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="AMO.3.3" />શું બે જણા મળવાને સંમત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">થયા વગર સાથે જઇ શકે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="AMO.3.4" />શું શિકાર હાથમાં આવ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વગર સિંહ જંગલમાં ગર્જના કરશે?
</q>
<q style="q1">જો સિંહના બચ્ચાએ કાંઇ પકડ્યું ન હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પોતાના બિલમાંથી રાડો પાડે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="AMO.3.5" />જાળનો ઊપયોગ કર્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વગર કોઇપણ પક્ષીને કેવી રીતે પકડી શકે?
</q>
<q style="q1">સિવાય કે કોઇ પકડાય ફાંસલાની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કમાન બંધ થાય?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="AMO.3.6" />રણશિંગડું નગરમાં વગાડવામાં આવે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો લોકો ડર્યા વિના રહે?
</q>
<q style="q1">શું યહોવાની મરજી વિના યહોવાના હાથ વિના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નગર પર આફત આવે ખરી?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="AMO.3.7" />પરંતુ પોતાના સેવક પ્રબોધકોને પોતાના મનસૂબાની જાણ કર્યા વિના સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કશું જ કરતો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="AMO.3.8" />સિંહે ગર્જના કરી છે, કોણ ભયથી નહિ ધ્રુજે? મારા યહોવા દેવે તેની ઈચ્છા પ્રગટ કરી છે. કોણ તેનું ભવિષ્ય ભાખી જાહેરાત કર્યા વગર રહી શકે?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="AMO.3.9" />આશ્દોદની અને મિસરના મહેલોમાં રહેતાં લોકોને જાહેર કરી જણાવો કે, “સમરૂનની આસપાસના પર્વત ઉપર તમે ભેગા થાઓ. ત્યાં મચેલી અંધાધૂંધી અને ઇસ્રાએલના સર્વ ગુનાઓનો શરમજનક તમાશો નિહાળો.”
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="AMO.3.10" />યહોવા કહે છે: “ન્યાયથી વર્તવું એટલે શું, એ તમારા લોકો ભૂલી ગયા છે. તેઓ બધા તો બસ, હિંસા અને શોષણથી ચોરી અને લૂંટથી પોતાના ઘર ભરે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="AMO.3.11" />તેથી પ્રભુ યહોવા કહે છે, “દુશ્મન આવે છે, તે દેશ પર આક્રમણ કરશે અને તમારા કિલ્લાઓ તોડી પાડશે અને તમારા મહેલોને લૂંટી લેશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="AMO.3.12" />યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જેમ કોઇ ભરવાડ સિંહના મોમાંથી માત્ર બે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પગ કે કાનનો એકાદ ટુકડો બચાવી લે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ સમરૂનના પલંગોમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા રેશમી ગદેલાના બિછાના
</q>
<q style="q1">પર બેસનાર ઇસ્રાએલીઓમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બહુજ થોડા બચવા પામશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="AMO.3.13" />આ વચનો સાંભળો અને યાકૂબના વંશજો સામે સાક્ષી રાખો. સૈન્યોનો દેવ મારા યહોવા દેવ આમ કહે છે, “યાકૂબના વંશની વિરૂદ્ધ સાક્ષી પૂરો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="AMO.3.14" />હું ઇસ્રાએલને તેના પાપો માટે શિક્ષા કરીશ તે દિવસે હું બેથેલની વેદીઓને ધિક્કારીશ, વેદી પરના શિંગડા કાપી નાખવામાં આવશે. અને તેઓ જમીન પર પડી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="AMO.3.15" />હું શિયાળાના મહેલો તથા ઉનાળાના મહેલો, બન્નેનો નાશ કરીશ; અને હાથીદાંતના મહેલો નાશ પામશે ને ઘણા નિવાસસ્થાનોનો નાશ કરીશ.” એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">દેવ તરફ ફરવાનો ઇસ્રાએલનો ઇન્કાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="AMO.4.1" />હે સમરૂન પર્વત પર રહેતી બાશાનની તંદુરસ્ત ગાયો, તમે કે જે ગરીબોને હેરાન કરો છો અને દુર્બળોને સતાવો છો, તમે કે જે તમારા પતિને કહો છો, “ચાલો આપણે પીએ.” તમે આ વચનો સાંભળો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="AMO.4.2" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ મારા માલિક યહોવાએ તેની પવિત્રતાને નામે પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી છે કે, તમારા પર આપત્તિના દિવસો આવી પડશે કે જ્યારે પશુની જેમ તમારા નાકમાં વાળી સાથે તમને લઇ જવામાં આવશે. તમારામાંના બાકી રહેલાઓને માછલી પકડવાના ગલ વડે ઘસડી જવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="AMO.4.3" />દીવાલના બાકોરામાંથી તમને સીધા તમારા નગરમાંથી લઇ જવામાં આવશે અને તમને હામોર્નમાં ફેંકવામાં આવશે.
</p>
<p style="p">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="AMO.4.4" />“બેથેલ અને ગિલ્ગાલ જઇ; બલિદાન અપીર્ તમારા પાપ વધારતાં જાઓ. રોજ સવારે તમારા બલિદાન અર્પણ કરો. અને અઠવાડિયામાં બે વાર તમારાં દશાંશ-ઊપજનો દશમો ભાગ ધરાવો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="AMO.4.5" />ખમીરવાળી રોટલી આભાર અર્પણ તરીકે અર્પણ કરો અને તમારી મરજી મુજબના અર્પણો ક્યારે લાવશો તેની જાહેરાત કરો. કારણકે હે ઇસ્રાએલીઓ, આમ કરવું તમને ગમે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="AMO.4.6" />“આ કારણથી મે તમને મારા તરફથી તમારા નગરમાં ભૂખ્યા પેટે રાખ્યા. અને તમારી વસાહતોમાં દુકાળ ઉત્પન્ન કર્યો. તેમ છતાં તમે મારી પાસે આવ્યા નહિ.” આ યહોવાના વચનો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="AMO.4.7" />“કાપણીને ત્રણ મહિનાનો સમય હતો, ત્યારથી મેં તમારે ત્યાં વરસાદ વરસાવતો અટકાવી દીધો. એક ગામમાં વરસાદ વરસતો અને બીજામાં ન વરસાવતો. એક ખેતરમાં વરસતો અને બીજામાં ન વરસતા તે સુકાઇ જતું.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="AMO.4.8" />તેથી બે – ત્રણ ગામના લોકો લથડિયાં ખાતા પાણી માટે બીજા એક ગામમાં જતા. પણ પાણી પામતા નહિ. તેમ છતાં તમે પાછા મારે શરણે ન આવ્યા.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="AMO.4.9" />“મેં તમારા આનાજના ખેતરો સૂકવી નાખ્યા, તમારા બાગો અને દ્રાક્ષના બગીચાઓ તડકાથી શામળાં પાડી દીધા, તીડ તમારાં અંજીરના વૃક્ષો અને જૈતૂનના ફૂલ ઝાડના બગીચા ખાઇ ગયા, છતાઁ તમે મારી તરફ પાછા ફર્યા નહિ.” આ યહોવાના વચનો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="AMO.4.10" />“મેં મિસરમાં મરકીનો રોગચાળો ફેલાવ્યો હતો. તમારા જુવાન યોદ્ધાઓનો તરવારથી મેં સંહાર કર્યો. તમારા ઘોડાઓનું હું હરણ કરી ગયો, તમારી છાવણીઓને મેં મૃતદેહોથી ગંધાતી કરી મૂકી, છતાં તમે પાછા મારે શરણે ન આવ્યાં.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="AMO.4.11" />“મેં જેમ સદોમ અને ગમોરામાં કર્યુ હતું, તેમ તમારા પર ત્રાસદાયક આફતો મોકલાવી, તમે આગમાંથી કાઢેલા લાકડાના ઢીમચા જેવા થઇ ગયા; છતાં તમે મારી પાસે પાછા આવ્યા નહિ.” આ યહોવાના વચનો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="AMO.4.12" />“એ માટે, હે ઇસ્રાએલ, હું તને એ જ હાલતમાં મુકીશ, હું તારા એવા જ હાલ કરીશ. માટે તમે મને, તમારા દેવને મળવા તૈયાર થાઓ.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="AMO.4.13" />હાં તું તારી જાતને તૈયાર કર, જેને તું મળવાનો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પર્વતોને બનાવનાર, વાયુનો સર્જનહાર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ જ છે જે મનુષ્ય શું વિચારે છે તે પ્રગટ કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે એ જ છે જે પ્રભાતને અંધકારમાં ફેરવી નાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુનિયાની ઉંચાઇ પર ચાલે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું નામ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા છે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">પશ્ચાતાપની હાકલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="AMO.5.1" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના વંશજો તમારા માટે હું દુ:ખનાં ગીતો ગાઉં છું તે સાંભળો,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="AMO.5.2" />ઇસ્રાએલની વિશુદ્ધતા ભાંગી પડી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ફરીથી ઊભી થઇ શકશે નહિ;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે તેની પોતાની જ જમીનનો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેને ઊભા થવા માટે મદદ કરે તેવું કોઇ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="AMO.5.3" />યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે નગરમાંથી હજારો યોદ્ધાઓ કૂચ કરી બહાર નીકળતા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં માત્ર સો જ રહ્યાં હશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જ્યાંથી સો કૂચ કરીને નીકળ્યા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં પાછા ફરેલા માત્ર દસ જ હશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલને પોતાની પાસે આવવા પ્રોત્સાહિત કરે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="AMO.5.4" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને યહોવા કહે છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">“મને શોધો, તો તમે જીવશો;
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="5" bcv="AMO.5.5" />પણ બેથેલની શોધ ન કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને ગિલ્ગાલમાં ન જશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને બેર-શેબા ન જાઓ;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે ગિલ્ગાલના લોકોને બંદીવાસમાં લઇ જવામાં આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બેથેલ અતિશય દુ:ખમાં આવી પડશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="AMO.5.6" />યહોવાને શોધો, તો તમે જીવશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ નહિ કરો તો તે અગ્નિની જેમ યૂસુફના ઘરની આરપાર, પ્રસરી જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ભસ્મ કરી નાખશે અને બેથેલ પાસે તેને ઓલવવા માટે કોઇ નહિ હોય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="AMO.5.7" />હે દુષ્ટ લોકો, તમે ગરીબ અને પગતળે કચડાયેલા માટે ‘ન્યાય’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક કડવી ગોળી બનાવી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">સચ્ચાઇ એ તમારા માટે એક નિરર્થક શબ્દ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="8" bcv="AMO.5.8" />જે કૃત્તિકા સપ્તષિર્ અને મૃગશિરનો રચનાર છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે ગાઢ અંધકારને પ્રભાતમાં ફેરવી નાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દિવસને અંધારી રાતમાં ફેરવી નાખે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે સાગરના જળને બોલાવીને વરસાદ તરીકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી પર વરસાવે છે, તેનું નામ યહોવા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓ દ્વારા કરાયેલાં દુષ્ટ કાર્યો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="AMO.5.9" />અત્યંત શકિતશાળી વેગથી અને પૂર્ણ શકિતથી તે વિનાશકારક આક્રમણ સજેર્ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કિલ્લા તોડી પાડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="AMO.5.10" />જે પ્રબોધકો ન્યાયાલયમાં અન્યાયનો સામનો કરે છે તે પ્રામાણિક ન્યાયાધીશોને અને જે પ્રબોધકો સત્ય બોલે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો તમે તિરસ્કાર કરો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="AMO.5.11" />તમે ગરીબોને પગ તળે કચડો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમની પાસેથી અનાજ પડાવી લો છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેથી તમે ઘડેલા પથ્થરનાઁ જે ઘર બાંધ્યાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમાં તમે રહેવા નહિ પામો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે રમણીય દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓ રોપી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેનો દ્રાક્ષારસ તમે પીવા નહિ પામો;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="AMO.5.12" />કારણકે તમારાં પાપો ઘણા છે અને ખૂબ ત્રાસદાયક છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જાણું છું કે જે ન્યાયના માર્ગને અનુસરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને હેરાન કરો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તમે લાંચ લો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગરીબને ન્યાયાલયમાં ન્યાયથી વંચિત રાખો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="AMO.5.13" />આથી, એ કારણે શાણા લોકો તમારી શિક્ષાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભયંકર દિવસે યહોવા સમક્ષ ચૂપ રહેશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કેમ કે આ સમય ભૂંડો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="14" bcv="AMO.5.14" />જીવવું હોય તો ભલાઇને શોધો, બૂરાઇને નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી તમે કહો છો તેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા તમારી જોડે રહે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="AMO.5.15" />બૂરાઇને ધિક્કારો, ને ભલાઇ ઉપર પ્રેમ રાખો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ન્યાયાલયમાં ન્યાયની પ્રતિષ્ઠા કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તો કદાચ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા બાકી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રહેલા લોકો ઉપર દયા કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઘણોજ દુ:ખી સમય આવી રહ્યો છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="AMO.5.16" />આથી સૈન્યોનો યહોવા મારા માલિક કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“શેરીને ખૂણે ખૂણે શોક થશે, શેરીએ શેરીએ હાય! હાય! ના પોકારો સંભળાશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો ધંધાદારી રાજિયા ગાનારાઓ સાથે ખેડૂતોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ આક્રંદ કરવા બોલાવશે;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="AMO.5.17" />દ્રાક્ષની બધી વાડીઓમાં શોક થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે હું આ સર્વ જગ્યાઓથી પસાર થઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધી વસ્તુનો નાશ કરીશ.”
</q>
<q style="q1">એમ યહોવ્ કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="AMO.5.18" />“તમે કહેશો, યહોવાનો દિવસ પાસે હોત તો કેવું સારું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ સર્વ શત્રુઓથી અમારો બચાવ કરે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ તમને તે દિવસનો સ્પષ્ટ ખ્યાલ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દિવસ પ્રકાશ અને સમૃદ્ધિ નહિ પરંતુ અંધકાર અને ન્યાય શાસન લાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="AMO.5.19" />તે તો જેમ કોઇ માણસ સિંહથી ભાગી જાય;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેને રીંછ ભેટે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અથવા ઘરમાં જઇને ભીંતનો ટેકો લે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેને સાપ કરડે તેવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="AMO.5.20" />યહોવાનો દિવસ સાચે જ અંધકારભર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રકાશભર્યો નથી; એનો અંધકાર એવો ગાઢ છે કે જેમાં પ્રકાશનું એકે કિરણ નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલીઓની ઉપાસનાનો અસ્વીકાર કરે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="AMO.5.21" />યહોવા કહે છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું ધિક્કારુ છું, હા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા ઉત્સવોને ધિક્કારું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તમારી ધામિર્ક સભાઓ ગમતી નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="AMO.5.22" />હા, જો કે તમે તમારાં દહનાર્પણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખાદ્યાર્પણ લાવશો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તોયે હું તેનો સ્વીકાર કરીશ નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા હૃષ્ટપુષ્ટ શાંત્યર્પણોની સામે પણ જોઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="AMO.5.23" />તમારા ગીતો મારાથી દૂર કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા કાનમાં તે ઘોંઘાટ સમાન છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારું વાદ્યસંગીત તમને ગમે તેટલું કર્ણપ્રિય લાગે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું તે સાંભળીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="AMO.5.24" />પણ ભલે સચ્ચાઇને સદા વહેતા ઝરણાંની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ન્યાય ને પાણીથી ભરપૂર નદીની જેમ વહેવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="AMO.5.25" />હે ઇસ્રાએલના વંશજો, જ્યારે તમે ચાળીસ વર્ષ સુધી વન પ્રદેશમાં હતાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમે મને યજ્ઞબલિ અર્પણ કર્યા હતાં?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને બલિદાનો અર્પણ કર્યાં હતાં?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="AMO.5.26" />તમે હંમેશા તમારા રાજા સિક્કૂથને અને તારારૂપી દેવ કીયૂનની મૂર્તિઓને માથે ચઢાવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ મૂર્તિઓને તમે જ બનાવેલી હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="AMO.5.27" />તેથી હું તમને દમસ્કની હદ પાર દૂર દેશવાટે મોકલી દઇશ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ વચનો તેના છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેનું નામ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા છે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલની વિલાસી પ્રજાની પાયમાલી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="AMO.6.1" />સિયોનમાં એશઆરામમાં અને આનંદમાં રહેનારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા સમરૂનના પર્વતોમાં નિર્ભયપણે રહેનારા “મુખ્ય” રાષ્ટના
</q>
<q style="q1">નામાંકિત માણસો જેઓ પાસે “ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો” આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેવી ત્રાસજનક તમારી દશા થશે! દુર્ભાગ્ય તમારું!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="AMO.6.2" />કાલ્નેહ નગર જઇને જુઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાંથી મહાન હમાથનગર જાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ત્યાંથી પલિસ્તીઓના ગાથ શહેરમાં જાઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">એ રાજ્યો કરતાં તમારી દશા શું સારી છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા તેમનો વિસ્તાર તમારા કરતાં શું વિશાળ છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="AMO.6.3" />જે આફતનો દિવસ તમે પાછો ઠેલવા ધારો છો, પણ હિંસાનું રાજ્ય નજીક લાવો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા કાર્યોથી ન્યાયકાળના દિવસોને પાસે લાવો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="AMO.6.4" />તમે એશઆરામથી હાથીદાંતના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પલંગો પર સૂઓ છો વળી
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે ટોળામાંથી કુમળા હલવાનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પસંદ કરેલા વાછરડાનું ભોજન ખાઓ છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="AMO.6.5" />તમે અર્થ વગરના ગીતો કામચલાઉ તંતુવાદ્ય વીણાના સૂર સાથે ગાઓ છો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે પોતા માટે દાઉદની માફક નવાં નવાં વાજિંત્રો બનાવો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="AMO.6.6" />તમે પ્યાલા ભરીને દ્રાક્ષારસ પીઓ છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના શરીરે મોંઘામાં મોંઘા અત્તર લગાવો છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ દેશ ઉપર ઝઝૂમતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાયમાલીની તમને પડી નથી!
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="AMO.6.7" />તેથી સૌ પ્રથમ તમને ગુલામો તરીકે લઇ જવામાં આવશે. અને તમારા એશઆરામનો અંત આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="AMO.6.8" />મારા પ્રભુ યહોવાએ પોતાના નામે ચેતવણી આપે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું ઇસ્રાએલના અભિમાનને અને જૂઠા મહિમાને ધિક્કારું છૂં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના મહેલોનો મને તિરસ્કાર છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">એટલે એમના શહેરને અને તેમાં જે કઇં છે તે બધાને હું દુશ્મનોના હાથમાં સોંપી દઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ યહોવા સૈન્યોનો દેવના વચન છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">થોડાજ ઇસ્રાએલીઓ જીવીત રહ્યાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="AMO.6.9" />જો કોઇ ઘરમાં દશ વ્યકિતઓ પાછળ રહી ગઇ હશે તો તેઓ મરી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="AMO.6.10" />મૃત માણસના સગામાંથી જે માત્ર એક માણસ જીવતો છે, તે દફનવિધિ માટે શબ બહાર લઇ જવા ઘરમાં પ્રવેશ કરશે. ત્યારે અંદર છુપાઇ રહેલી વ્યકિતને તે પૂછશે, “શું અહિંયા કોઇ બીજું હજી છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">અને તે જવાબ આપશે, “ના.”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારે તે કહેશે, “ચૂપ રહે, આપણે યહોવાનું નામ ઉચ્ચારવા લાયક નથી. રખેને તે સાંભળી જાય.”
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="AMO.6.11" />કેમકે, જુઓ, યહોવા આદેશ આપી રહ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મોટા ઘરોને ભાંગીને ભૂક્કો કરી નાંખશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નાના ઘરના નાના ટૂકડાં કરી નાખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="AMO.6.12" />શું ઘોડો ખડક માર્ગ પર દોડી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું બળદ ખડકો પર ખેડી શકે?
</q>
<q style="q1">એવું પૂછવું તે પણ મૂર્ખતા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે તો તેના કરતા પણ વધારે મૂર્ખ હતા?
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે ન્યાયને વિકૃત કરીને ઝેર જેવો બનાવ્યો છે અને દુષ્ટ વાતવરણ પેદા કર્યુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રામાણિકતાના ફળોને કડવા બનાવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="AMO.6.13" />તમે કે જે શુન્યવત જગ્યા પર આનંદ પામો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે જ કહો છો, “શું આપણે આપણી પોતાની જ તાકાતથી શિંગો ધારણ કર્યાં નથી?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="AMO.6.14" />હા, સંભાળ રાખજો, “હે ઇસ્રાએલ, હું તારી વિરુદ્ધ એક પ્રજાને ઊભી કરું છું; તેની સૈના ઉત્તરમાં હમાથના ઘાટથી દક્ષિણમાં આરાબાહની ખીણ સુધી સંપૂર્ણ પ્રદેશનો વિનાશ કરશે.” સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા આમ કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">દર્શનમાં તીડો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="AMO.7.1" />યહોવા દેવે મને આ દ્રશ્ય બતાવ્યું: પ્રથમ લણણી પછી પહેલો પાક રાજાને કર તરીકે અપાતો, જ્યારે બીજો પાક ફૂટી નીકળતો. યહોવાએ તીડનું<f caller="+"><fr>7:1
</fr><fk>તીડો તીડ
</fk><ft>જેવું જીવડું કે જે મોટા પાકનો બહુ જલ્દીથી નાશ કરી શકે.</ft></f> સર્જન કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="AMO.7.2" />તે તીડો ખેતર પરનું ઘાસ ખાઇ ગયા ત્યારે મે કહ્યું, “હે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા અમને માફ કરો. આ પછી ઇસ્રાએલીઓ કેવી રીતે જીવતા રહી શકે? કેમકે તેઓ નાના છે તે માટે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="AMO.7.3" />તેથી યહોવાને આ વિષે પશ્ચાત્તાપ થયો; તેમણે મને કહ્યું, “હું તે થવા દઇશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દર્શનમાં અગ્નિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="AMO.7.4" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ મને આ બીજું દ્રશ્ય બતાવ્યું: સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા અગ્નિપરીક્ષા કરવા બોલાવતાં હતાં. તેણે મોટા સાગરને સૂકવી નાખ્યો અને જમીનને ભસ્મિભૂત કરી દીધી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="AMO.7.5" />ત્યાં મેં કહ્યું, “હે યહોવા દેવ, કૃપા કરીને તેમ થવા દેશો નહિ. તમે જો તેઓની વિરૂદ્ધ થાઓ તો તેઓ પાસે બીજી કઇ આશા છે? ઇસ્રાએલ ઘણું નાનું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="AMO.7.6" />યહોવાને એ વિષે પશ્ચાતાપ થયો, યહોવા દેવ કહે છે, “એ પણ થશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દર્શનમાં ઓળંબો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="AMO.7.7" />પછી યહોવાએ મને દ્રશ્ય બતાવ્યું. પોતે હાથમાં ઓળંબો પકડીને ભીંત પાસે ઊભા છે. દીવાલની સપાટી માપવા માટે ઓળંબો વપરાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="AMO.7.8" />યહોવાએ મને પુછયું, “આમોસ, તને શું દેખાય છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">મેં કહ્યું, “એક ઓળંબો.”
</p>
<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “હું મારા લોકોની આ ઓળંબાથી પરીક્ષા લઇશ, હું તેઓના ખોટા કાર્યોની સજા આપ્યા વગર જવા દઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="AMO.7.9" />ઇસહાકનાઁ વંશજોના થાનકો ખેદાનમેદાન થઇ જશે. ઇસ્રાએલનાઁ પવિત્રસ્થાનો ખંડેર થઇ જશે. યરોબઆમના વંશને હું તરવારને ઘાટ ઉતારીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અમાસ્યાએ આમોસને ભવિષ્યકથન કરવા બદલ રોકવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="AMO.7.10" />પછી બેથેલના યાજક અમાસ્યાએ આમોસના વચનો સાંભળ્યાં ત્યારે તેણે યરોબઆમ રાજા પર ઝડપથી સંદેશો મોકલ્યો: “આપણા દેશમાં આમોશ રાજદ્રોહી છે, અને તમારા મરણ માટે કાવતરું ઘડે છે. આ બાબત અસહ્ય છે. તેના લીધે કદાચ દેશમાં બળવો ફાટી નીકળશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="AMO.7.11" />તે કહે છે કે, ‘યરોબઆમ યુદ્ધમાં માર્યો જશે, અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોએ નિશ્ચિત તેઓનો દેશ છોડવો પડશે અને દેશવટો લઇ જવું પડશે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="AMO.7.12" />વળિ અમાસ્યાએ આમોસને કહ્યું, “ઓ થઇ પડેલા દ્રષ્ટા, ભાગ! યહૂદિયાના દેશમાં ચાલ્યો જા! અને ત્યાં તારો પ્રબોધ કર. અને રોટલો ખા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="AMO.7.13" />પણ હવે પછી તારા દર્શનોથી અહીં બેથેલમાં પ્રબોધ કરીશ નહિ. કારણકે એ તો રાજાનું પવિત્રસ્થાન છે, ને એ રાજમંદિર છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="AMO.7.14" />પછી આમોસે અમાસ્યાને પ્રત્યુત્તરમાં કહ્યું, “હું સાચે જ પ્રબોધક નથી. હું પ્રબોધકના કુટુંબમાંથી પણ આવતો નથી, હું તો માત્ર ભરવાડ અને જે અંજીરના વૃક્ષની સંભાળ રાખે છે તે છું.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="AMO.7.15" />હું ઘેટાઁનાં ટોળાં સાચવતો હતો ત્યારે યહોવાએ મને બોલાવ્યો અને કહ્યું, ‘જા અને મારા ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને પ્રબોધ કર.’
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="AMO.7.16" />એટલે હવે તું યહોવાના વચન સાંભળ: ‘તું મને એમ કહે છે કે, તું ઇસ્રાએલ વિરૂદ્ધ પ્રબોધ કરીશ નહિ અને ઇસહાકના વંશજો વિરૂદ્ધ બોલીશ નહિ.’
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="AMO.7.17" />પરંતુ યહોવાનો સંદેશો આ છે, ‘અમાસ્યા, તારી પત્ની શહેરની વારાંગના બનશે, અને તારા સંતાનોની હત્યા થશે. તારી ભૂમિ દોરીથી માપીને બીજાઓને વહેંચાશે, તું પોતે અપવિત્ર ભૂમિમાં મૃત્યુ પામશે, ને ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને કેદ પકડી તેમના દેશમાંથી તેમને દેશવટો દેવામાં આવશે.’”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">ફળની ટોપલીનું દર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="AMO.8.1" />પછી સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ મને દર્શનમાં પાકેલાં ફળોથી ભરેલો એક ટોપલી બતાવી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="AMO.8.2" />તેમણે મને પૂછયું, “આમોસ, તું શું જુએ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">મેં કહ્યું, “પાકા ફળોની ટોપલી.”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “આ ફળો મારા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને રજૂ કરે છે. તેઓને શિક્ષા કરવાનો સમય પાકી ચૂક્યો છે, હું ફરી કદી તેમને માફ નહિ કરું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="AMO.8.3" />મંદિરમાં ગીતો ગાવાને બદલે તેઓ રડશે અને આંસુ સારશે. સર્વત્ર શબો પડ્યાં હશે તેથી શાંત રહો! હું યહોવા બોલ્યો છું,”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના વેપારી ફકત કમાવામાં પડ્યાં
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="AMO.8.4" />વેપારીઓ તમે સાંભળો, તમે ગરીબોને લૂંટો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લાચારને કચડી રાખો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="AMO.8.5" />તમે સાબ્બાથદિન તથા ધામિર્ક ઉત્સવોના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દિવસો પૂરા થવાની રાહ જુઓ છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી બહાર જઇને તમે અનાજ વેચી શકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારાં ખોટાં ત્રાજવાં
</q>
<q style="q1">અને વજનીયાનો ઉપયોગ કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છેતરપિંડી કરી શકો;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="AMO.8.6" />એક જોડી પગરખા માટે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગરીબો અને દરિદ્રોને
</q>
<q style="q1">પૈસાથી ખરીદો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાપણી વખતે જમીન
</q>
<q style="q1">પર વેરાયેલા ઘઉંને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ વેચો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="AMO.8.7" />યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલના ગૌરવના સમ ખાધા છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“નિશ્ચે હું કદી એ લોકોનાં કુકમોર્ ભૂલીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="AMO.8.8" />એ પાપોને લીધે ધરતી ધ્રુજી ઊઠશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એના ઉપર રહેનારા સૌ શોકમાં ડૂબી જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">આખી પૃથ્વી ઉપર આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ખળભળી જશે અને પછી
</q>
<q style="q1">નાઇલ નદીની જેમ મંદ પડી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="AMO.8.9" />“તે દિવસે હું ખરે બપોરે સૂર્યાસ્ત કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ધોળે દિવસે પૃથ્વી પર હું અંધકાર પાથરી દઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="AMO.8.10" />તમારા ઉત્સવોને હું શોકમાં ફેરવી નાખીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારાં ગીતોને આક્રંદમાં ફેરવી દઇશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારો એકનો એક પુત્ર મૃત્યુ પામ્યો હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ તમે ટાટ પહેરશો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને શોકની નિશાની તરીકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માથાના વાળ મુંડાવશો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે દિવસનો અંત અતિશય દુ:ખદ હશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવની દુનિયાને ભયંકર ભૂખમરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="AMO.8.11" />આ યહોવાના વચન છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જુઓ, એવો સમય આવી રહ્યો છે કે જ્યારે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દેશમાં દુકાળ મોકલીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">લોકોને ભૂખ લાગશે પણ રોટલાની ભૂખ નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તરસ લાગશે પણ પાણીની નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાનું વચન સાંભળવાની ભૂખ અને તરસ લાગશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="AMO.8.12" />ત્યારે લોકો સમુદ્રથી સમુદ્ર સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઉત્તરથી પૂર્વ સુધી યહોવાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વચનોની શોધમાં ભટકશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેની શોધમાં તેઓ અહીં તહીં દોડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે તેઓને મળશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="AMO.8.13" />તે દિવસે રૂપવતી અક્ષતા કન્યાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યુવાન માણસો તરસને કારણે બેભાન થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="AMO.8.14" />જેઓ સમરૂનના દેવોના નામે પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘તેઓ હે દાન, તારા દેવના નામે વચન આપું છું’,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ કહીને પ્રતિજ્ઞા લે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ બધા ઢળી પડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફરી કદી પાછા ઊઠશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">દર્શનમાં યહોવા વેદી સમક્ષ ઊભા રહ્યાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="AMO.9.1" />મેં યહોવાને વેદી પાસે ઊભેલા જોયા, તેઓ બોલ્યા,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“બુરજોની ટોચ પર એવો મારો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચલાવો કે મંદિર હલી ઊઠે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેના થાંભલાઓ તૂટી પડે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સાથે તેની છત નીચે
</q>
<q style="q1">બેઠેલા લોકો પર તૂટી પડે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનામાંથી જે બાકી રહ્યા હશે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમને હું તરવારથી પૂરા કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ તેમાંથી છટકી જવા પામશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="AMO.9.2" />તેઓ ઊંડે ખોદતાં ખોદતાં પાતાળમાં ઊતરી જાય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પણ હું તેમને પકડીને બહાર લઇ આવીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ જો આકાશમાં ચઢી જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પણ હું તેમને ત્યાંથી નીચે ખેંચી લાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="AMO.9.3" />તેઓ જો કામેર્લની ટોચના ખડકોમાં સંતાઇ જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તોપણ હું તેમને ત્યાંથી શોધી કાઢી પકડી પાડીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">જો તેઓ મારાથી સંતાઇને દરિયાને તળીયે પણ હશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો ત્યાં રહેતાં સર્પને જે ત્યાં રહે છે તેઓને કરડવા માટે આદેશ આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="AMO.9.4" />અને જો તેઓ પોતાના દુશ્મનોના હાથે બંદીવાન થઇ દેશપાર થશે તોપણ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તરવારને આજ્ઞા કરીશ કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેમનો સંહાર કરે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેમના પર નજર રાખીશ કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તેઓનું ભલું નહિ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ભૂંડુ જ થાય.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેશના લોકોને સજા નષ્ટ કરશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="AMO.9.5" />યહોવા સૈન્યોનો દેવ અને સૈન્યોનો પ્રભુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સ્પર્શ થતાં જ પૃથ્વી ઓગળી જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમાં વસનારા સર્વ શોક કરે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે પૃથ્વી ઊપર આવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી નાઇલ નદીની જેમ મંદ પડી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="AMO.9.6" />એ યહોવા છે કે તેનું ઘર આકાશમાં બાંધે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના ઘુમ્મટનો પાયો પૃથ્વી ઉપર નાખે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે સમુદ્રના પાણીને બોલાવીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વીના પડ ઉપર રેડી દે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું નામ યહોવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવાએ ઇસ્રાએલને સમાપ્ત કરવાની પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="AMO.9.7" />આ યહોવાના વચન છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો, શું તમે મારે મન ‘કૂશના’ લોકો જેવા નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું જેમ તમને ઇસ્રાએલીઓને મિસરમાંથી લાવ્યો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ પલિસ્તીઓને કાફતોરથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અરામીઓને કીરમાંથી લાવ્યો નહોતો?”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="AMO.9.8" />જુઓ, યહોવા મારા માલિકની દ્રષ્ટિ પાપી ઇસ્રાએલની
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રજા ઉપર છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું તેને ધરતીના પડ ઉપરથી ભૂંસી નાખીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ છતાં હું યાકૂબના વંશનો સંપૂર્ણ સંહાર નહિ કરું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="AMO.9.9" />હું આજ્ઞા કરીશ કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેવી રીતે અનાજને ચારણીમાં ચાળવામાં આવે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ છતાં તેમાંનો નાનામાં નાનો દાણો
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ નીચે પડશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે રીતે બીજા રાષ્ટો દ્વારા ઇસ્રાએલ પરતંત્ર થઇ જાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="AMO.9.10" />“પણ મારા લોકોમાંના બધા પાપીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ એમ કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘અમને કોઇ આફત સ્પશીર્ શકે એમ નથી કે અમારી સામે આવી શકે એમ નથી.’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તરવારથી નાશ પામશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવે રાજ્યને ફરી સ્થાપીત કરવાની પ્રતીજ્ઞા કરી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="AMO.9.11" />“તે દિવસે હું દાઉદના ખખડી ગયેલા ઝૂંપડા જેવા રાજ્યને ફરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બેઠું કરીશ અને તેમાં પડેલી ફાટો સાંધી દઇશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના ખંડેરો સમાં કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પહેલાં જેવું હતું તેવું નગર નવેસરથી બાંધીશ;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="AMO.9.12" />હું તેમ કરીશ જેથી ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો અદોમના બાકી રહેલા પ્રાંતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીજા બધા દેશો જે પહેલાં મારા હતા
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને શાસનમાં લઇ શકે.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ સર્વનો કરનાર હું યહોવા બોલું છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="AMO.9.13" />જુઓ યહોવા કહે છે, “એવા દિવસો આવી રહ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ખેડૂતો બીજી તરફ ધાન્યની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાવણી કરવાનું શરુ કરે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તે સમયે પણ ધાન્યની પહેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લણણીનું કામ પૂરું નહિ થયું હોય.
</q>
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલના પર્વતો ઉપર દ્રાક્ષના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બગીચામાંથી મીઠો દ્રાક્ષનો રસ ટપકશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="AMO.9.14" />હું મારા ઇસ્રાએલી લોકોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બંદીવાસમાંથી પાછા લાવીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તારાજ થયેલાં નગરોને ફરીથી બાંધશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમાં વસશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ દ્રાક્ષવાડીઓ રોપશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીશે
</q>
<q style="q1">તથા બગીચા તૈયાર કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના ફળ ખાશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="AMO.9.15" />પછી તમારા દેવ યહોવા કહે છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું તેમને તેમની પોતાની ભૂમિમાં પાછા સ્થાપીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને મેં જે ભૂમિ આપી છે તેમાંથી કોઇપણ તેઓને ખસેડી શકશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
</book>
<book id="OBA"><id id="OBA">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>ઓબાદ્યા
</h><toc level="1">ઓબાદ્યા
</toc><toc level="2">ઓબાદ્યા
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">ઓબાદ્યા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">અદોમ સજા પામશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="OBA.1.1" />આ ઓબાદ્યાનું સંદર્શન છે. પ્રભુ યહોવા અદોમ વિષે આમ કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">યહોવા દેવ તરફથી અમને સંદેશો મળ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે એલચી મોકલ્યો છે અને રાષ્ટો માટે આ સંદેશો આપ્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ઉભા થાઓ, “ચાલો આપણે અદોમની સામે યુદ્ધે ચઠીએ.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા અદોમને કહે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="OBA.1.2" />“હું તને રાષ્ટો વચ્ચે સૌથી નાનું બનાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું અતિશય ઘૃણિત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="OBA.1.3" />ઓ ઊંચા પહાડો પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખડકોની બખોલમાં વસનાર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા અંતરના અભિમાને તને ભરમાવ્યો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું તારા મનમાં એમ વિચારે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘મને કોણ ભોંય પર પછાડી શકે એમ છે?’”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">અદોમને નીચું પાડવામાં આવશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="OBA.1.4" />“ગરૂડની જેમ તું ઘણે ઊંચે ચઢીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારાઓ મધ્યે તારો માળો બાંધીશ તો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાંથીય હું તને નીચે પાડીશ એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="OBA.1.5" />જો ચોરો તારી પાસે આવ્યા હોત તો ઘણું સારું થાત.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધાડપાડુઓ રાતે આવ્યા હોત તો વધારે સારું થાત.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ ફકત તેઓને સંતોષ થાય ત્યાં જ સુધી લીધું હોત.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો દ્રાક્ષ વહેરવા વાળાઓ તારી પાસે આવ્યાં હોત.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓએ તારા માટે વેરણ છોડી રાખ્યું હોત,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તારો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="OBA.1.6" />એસાવનો દેશ કેવો લૂંટાઇ ગયો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા છૂપા ભંડારોય રહેવા ન પામ્યા!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="OBA.1.7" />તારી સાથે મૈત્રી કરાર કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તને સરહદ બહાર કાઢી મુકશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તને છેતરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા બધા મિત્રો તને હરાવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ તારો રોટલો તારી નીચે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જાળની જેમ રાખે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">‘તને તેની સમજ નહિ હોય.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="OBA.1.8" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તે દિવસે આખા અદોમમાં એક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ શાણો માણસ હશે નહિ કારણકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું એસાવ પર્વત પરના સર્વ શાણા માણસોનું શાણપણ હરી લઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="OBA.1.9" />હે તેમાન, તારા શૂરવીર પુરુષો ભયભીત થઇ જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એસાવના પર્વત પરના પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિતનો નાશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સંહાર કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="OBA.1.10" />હે અદોમ, તારા ભાઇ યાકૂબ પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">થયેલી બળજબરીને કારણે શરમથી ઢંકાઇ જઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારો સદાને માટે નાશ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="OBA.1.11" />જે દિવસે દુશ્મન પરદેશીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમનાં દરવાજાઓમાં પ્રવેશ્યા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેની સંપત્તિ કબજે કરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખી તેના ભાગ કર્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું જોતો ઉભો રહ્યો અને તેઓમાંનો એક બન્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="OBA.1.12" />પણ જ્યારે તારા સગાને દૂર દેશમાં લઇ જવાયો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તારે ખુશ થવું જોઇતું ન હતું,
</q>
<q style="q1">યહૂદાના નાશના દિવસે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે આનંદ માણવો જોઇતો ન હતો,
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે તેઓ પિડીત હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓની હાંસી ઉડાવવી જોઇતી ન હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="OBA.1.13" />તારે મારા લોકોની આપત્તિને દિવસે એમના શહેરનાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દરવાજામાં દાખલ થવું જોઇતું નહોતું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમની મુશ્કેલીના સમયે તારે તેમની વિપત્તિ વિષે ખુશ થવું જોઇતું ન હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની મુશ્કેલીના સમયે તારે તેમની સંપત્તિ લુંટવી જોઇતી ન હતી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="OBA.1.14" />તારે તારા ભાગી જતા ભાઇઓની હત્યા કરવા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રસ્તાના ફાંટા આગળ ઊભા રહેવું જોઇતું નહોતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મુશ્કેલીનાં સમયમાં તારે બચેલા લોકોને બંદીવાન કરી લેવા જોઇતા ન હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="OBA.1.15" />યહોવા ટૂંક સમયમાં જ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ રાષ્ટો પર વેર લેશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે જેવું ઇસ્રાએલ સાથે કર્યું તેવું જ તમારી સાથે થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા કૃત્યો તમારા જ માથાં પર પાછા અફળાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="OBA.1.16" />જેમ તેઁ મારા પવિત્ર પર્વત પર પીધું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી બધાં રાષ્ટો પણ સતત પીશે અને ગળશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યાં સુધી તેમનું અસ્તિત્વ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમાપ્ત થાય ત્યાં સુધી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="OBA.1.17" />પરંતુ સિયોનના પર્વત પર જેઓ બચી રહેલા હશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પવિત્ર થશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">યાકૂબના વંશજો પોતાનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વારસો પાછો મેળવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="OBA.1.18" />યાકૂબનું કુટુંબ અગ્નિ જેવું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યૂસફનું કુટુંબ જવાળા જેવું બનશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ એસાવના વંશજોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૂકા ખેતરની જેમ સળગાવી અનેનષ્ટ કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કોઇ પણ અદોમથી પલાયન થશે નહિ.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે યહોવાએ તેમ કહ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="OBA.1.19" />દક્ષિણ યહૂદાના લોકો એસાવના પર્વતનો કબજો લેશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પશ્ચિમની તળેટીના લોકો પલિસ્તીયોનો કબજો લેશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ એફ્રાઇમના અને સમરૂનના પ્રદેશનો પણ કબજો લેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બિન્યામીનના લોકો ગિલયાદનો કબજો લેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="OBA.1.20" />ઇસ્રાએલનું સૈન્ય જે દેશવટે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કનાનથી સારફત સુધીના લોકો વચ્ચે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને યરૂશાલેમના તે લોકો જેઓ સફારાદમાં દેશવટે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ દક્ષિણના પ્રદેશોનો કબજો લેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="OBA.1.21" />ઉધ્ધારકો સિયોન પર્વત પર જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એસાવના પર્વતનો ન્યાય કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવા પોતે રાજા બનશે.
<ve />
</q>
</book>
<book id="JON"><id id="JON">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>યૂના
</h><toc level="1">યૂના
</toc><toc level="2">યૂના
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યૂના
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">યૂનાનો દેવની આજ્ઞાનો અનાદર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JON.1.1" />અમિત્તાયના પુત્ર યૂનાને યહોવાનો એવો સંદેશો મળ્યો કે,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JON.1.2" />“ઉભો થા, નિનવેહના મોટા નગરમાં જા અને તેમને ચેતવ: તમારી દુષ્ટ બાબતો મારી પાસે આવી છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JON.1.3" />પરંતુ યૂના યહોવાની હજૂરમાંથી તાશીર્શ ભાગી જવાને ઊઠયો અને યાફા ચાલ્યો ગયો, ત્યાં તેને તાશીર્શ જતું વહાણ મળી ગયું. આથી તે ભાડું ચૂકવીને યહોવાથી દૂર તેઓની સાથે તાશીર્શ જવા માટે વહાણમાં ચઢી ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ભયંકર તોફાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JON.1.4" />પરંતુ યહોવાએ સમુદ્રમાં ભારે પવન મોકલ્યો અને શકિતશાળી વાવાઝોડું થયું અને વહાણ તૂટવાના આરે હતું.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JON.1.5" />ત્યારે ખલાસીઓ બહું ગભરાઇ ગયા અને પોતપોતાના દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરવા લાગ્યા. તેઓએ વહાણને હલકું કરવા તેમાંનો માલસામાન દરિયામાં ફેકી દીધો.
</p>
<p style="p">પણ યૂના વહાણમાં ચાલ્યો ગયો હતો અને નીચે સૂતો પડ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="JON.1.6" />વહાણના કપ્તાને કહ્યું, “શા માટે તું સુતો છે? ઉભો થા! તારા દેવને પ્રાર્થના કર! કદાચ તે આપણા પર દયા દર્શાવે અને આપણે મરીએ નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આ તોફાન કેમ આવ્યું?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JON.1.7" />તેથી ખલાસીઓએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું, “ચાલો, આપણે ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખીને જોઇએ કે કોને લીધે આપણા પર આ વિધ્ન આવ્યું છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">આથી તેમણે ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખી અને યૂનાની પસંદગી થઇ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JON.1.8" />એટલે તેઓએે “યૂના”ને પૂછયું, “શાના લીધે અમારા પર આ મુસીબત ઉતરી છે? તારો વ્યવસાય શું છે? તું ક્યાંથી આવે છે? તારો દેશ કયો છે? અને તું કઇ જ્ઞાતિનો માણસ છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JON.1.9" />તેથી યૂનાએ કહ્યું, “હું મિસરી છું, અને હું સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાનો ભકત છું, જેણે ધરતી અને સમુદ્ર બંનેનું સર્જન કર્યું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JON.1.10" />આથી તે માણસો વધારે ડરી ગયા, તેઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “તેઁ આ શું કર્યું? કારણકે તેના કહેવાથી તેમણે જાણ્યું કે તે યહોવાની હજૂરમાંથી ભાગી જાય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JON.1.11" />સમુદ્ર વધારે ને વધારે વિષમ થયો, એટલે તેઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “અમે તને શું કરીએ તો સમુદ્ર શાંત થાય?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JON.1.12" />યૂનાએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “મને ઊંચડીને દરિયામાં તેને શાંત કરવા માટે નાખી દો. કારણ મને ખબર છે કે મારે કારણે તમે આ શકિતશાળી વાવાઝોડામાં સપડાયા છો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JON.1.13" />પરંતુ કિનારે પહોંચી જવાને માટે બહુ જ હલેસા મારવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યા, પણ તેઓ સફળ થયા નહિ, કારણ દરિયો વધારે ને વધારે વિષમ થતો જતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યૂનાને સજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JON.1.14" />તેથી તેઓએ યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી, “હે યહોવા, અમે તને કાલાવાલા કરીએ છીએ, આ માણસનો જીવ લેવા માટે અમે મરી જઇએ એવું ના કરતાં, અમારા માથે નિદોર્ષની હત્યા નાખતો નહિ. કારણ, હે યહોવા, જેમ તમને ઠીક લાગ્યું તેમ તમે કર્યું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JON.1.15" />પછી તેઓએ યૂનાને પકડી લીધો અને સમુદ્રમાં ફેંકી દીધો અને સમુદ્ર શાંત થયો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="JON.1.16" />આથી ખલાસીઓ યહોવાથી ખૂબ ડરી ગયા, અને તેઓએ યહોવાને બલિ અપ્યો,ર્ અને તેને વિશિષ્ટ વચનો આપ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JON.1.17" />યૂનાને ગળી જવા માટે યહોવાએ એક મોટી માછલી નિમિર્ત્ત કરી હતી; અને ત્રણ દિવસ અને ત્રણ રાત યૂના માછલીના પેટમાં રહ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">યૂનાની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JON.2.1" />તે વખતે યૂનાએ માછલીના પેટમાંથી યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="JON.2.2" />તેણે કહ્યું, “મારી વિપત્તિમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં યહોવાને બોલાવ્યા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે મને પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો;
</q>
<q style="q1">મૃત્યુની ઊંડી ખીણમાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મદદ માટે રૂદન કર્યુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે મને સાંભળ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="JON.2.3" />“કારણકે તમે મને સમુદ્રના ઊંડાણમાં ફેંક્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાણીના મોજાઓએ મને બધી બાજુથી ઢાંકી દીધો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="JON.2.4" />ત્યારે મને થયું, ‘મને તમારી નજર આગળથી ફેંકી દેવામાં આવ્યો છે;’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પણ હું ફરીથી તમારા પવિત્રમંદિર તરફ જોઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="JON.2.5" />“પાણીની ભીંસથી હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મરવા જેવો થઇ ગયો હતો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહાસાગર મને ચોમેરથી ઘેરી વળ્યો હતો,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા માથા ફરતે દરિયાઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વેલા વીંટાઇ ગયા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="JON.2.6" />હું નીચે પર્વતોના મૂળ તરફ ગયો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વીએ સદા માટે મને બંધી કર્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તોપણ હે મારા દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા તેઁ મને ઉંડી
</q>
<q style="q1">કબરમાંથી બહાર કાઢયો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="JON.2.7" />“જ્યારે મારું જીવન તાજગી ગુમાવી રહ્યું હતું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં યહોવાને યાદ કર્યાં;
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી પ્રાર્થના તારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પવિત્ર મંદિરમાં તારા કાને પહોંચી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="JON.2.8" />“લોકો કે જેઓ દેવની નકામી મુતિઓર્ પૂજે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ તે જ એકને ત્યાગી દે છે જે વફાદારીથી તેમની દરકાર કરત.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="JON.2.9" />પણ હું બલિઓ અપીર્શ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમને ધન્યવાદ આપીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું મારા વચનો જાળવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારણ યહોવાથી છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JON.2.10" />યહોવાએ માછલીને આજ્ઞા કરી, ને તેણે યૂનાને કોરી જમીન પર ઓકી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">દેવનું આમંત્રણ અને યૂનાનુ આજ્ઞા પાલન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JON.3.1" />પછી યહોવાએ યૂના સાથે બીજી વાર વાત કરી,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JON.3.2" />“ઊભો થા, મહાનગર નિનવેહ જા, હું તને કહું તે બોધ તેમને આપ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JON.3.3" />આથી યૂના ઉભો થયો અને યહોવાએ કહ્યું હતું તેમ નિનવેહ ગયો. નિનવેહ બહુ મોટુઁ શહેર હતું. શહેરમાંથી પસાર થતાં ત્રણ દિવસ લાગ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JON.3.4" />પ્રથમ દિવસે યૂના શહેરમાં ગયો અને જાહેર કર્યું, “ચાળીસ દિવસ પછી નિનવેહનો નાશ થશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JON.3.5" />નિનવેહના લોકોએ દેવના વચન પર વિશ્વાસ કર્યો; અને તેઓએ ઉપવાસ કરવાનો અને વિશિષ્ટ શોક વસ્ત્રો ધારણ કરવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો. નાનાથી મોટા બધાંએ આમ કર્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JON.3.6" />નિનવેહનો રાજા સમાચાર સાંભળી તેની ગાદી પરથી નીચે આવ્યો અને તેનો ઝભ્ભો ઉતારી શણના શોક વસ્ત્રો ઘારણ કર્યા અને રાખમાં બેઠો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JON.3.7" />રાજાએ એક વિશેષ સંદેશો બહાર પાડ્યો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">રાજા અને તેના અધિકારીઓના પ્રભુત્વથી આ નિયમ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi">માણસ કે ચોપગા પશુ, કે પશુપક્ષીના સમૂહને કંઇ ખાવા ન દો. તેમને ચરવા કે પાણી પીવાની પરવાનગી ન આપો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JON.3.8" />માણસો અને પ્રાણીઓએ શણના વસ્રો પહેરવા જ અને દેવ તરફ જોરથી વિલાપ કરવો જ. દરેકે તેના દુષ્ટ રસ્તાઓ બદલવા અને તેમનાં ખરાબ કૃત્યો બંધ કરવા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JON.3.9" />કોને ખબર દેવ, કદાચ વિચાર બદલે અને તેના રોષથી ફરી જાય, જે તેથી આપણો નાશ ન થાય.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JON.3.10" />દેવે તેમનાઁ કૃત્યો જોયાઁ. તેણે જોયું કે તેઓએ તેમનાઁ દુષ્ટ રસ્તાઓ છોડી દીધાં હતાં. તેથી તેણે તેઓ પર દયા વરસાવી. તેણે વિચાર બદલ્યો અને સજાની યોજના પડતી મૂકી. તેણે તેની યોજના પાર કરી નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">યૂનાનો ક્રોધ ને દેવની કરૂણા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JON.4.1" />પરંતુ યૂનાને આ પસંદ પડ્યું નહિ અને તે ગુસ્સે થયો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JON.4.2" />તેણે યહોવાને પ્રાર્થના કરી, “હે યહોવા, તમે આમ જ કરશો એમ હું જાણતો હતો! એટલા માટે હું પહેલાં તાશીર્શ ભાગી ગયો. મને ખબર હતી કે, તમે તો કૃપાળુ અને દયાળુ દેવ છો! તમે ઝડપથી ગુસ્સે થતા નથી અને તમે બહુ કૃપા ધરાવો છો. તે તમે ચૂકાદાને લગતાં તમારા વિચારો બદલો છો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JON.4.3" />માટે હવે, હે યહોવા, તમે મારા પ્રાણ હરી લો, હું જીવવા કરતા મરવાનું વધારે પસંદ કરું છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JON.4.4" />પછી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તું આમ ગુસ્સે થાય છે તે શું યોગ્ય છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JON.4.5" />ત્યારબાદ યૂના નગર બહાર ગયો અને પૂર્વ દિશા તરફ બેઠો. ત્યાં તેણે પોતાને માટે આશ્રયસ્થાન બાંધ્યું. પછી તે તેની છાયામાં બેસી નગરનું શું થાય છે તે નિહાળવાને રાહ જોતો બેસી રહ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કીણયોનનો છોડ અને કીડાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JON.4.6" />દેવ યહોવાએ કીણયોનનો એક વેલો યૂના ઉપર ઉત્પન્ન કર્યો, કે જેથી તે તેના માથા ઉપર છાયા કરીને તેની ગમગીની દૂર કરે. એ કીણયોનના વેલાને લીધે યૂના બહુ જ ખુશ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JON.4.7" />પંરતુ બીજે દિવસે સવારે દેવની યોજના મૂજબ, એક કીડો છોડ ખાઇ ગયો અને તે સુકાઇ ગયું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JON.4.8" />પછી જ્યારે સૂર્ય આકાશમાં ઉંચે ઉગ્યો, દેવે ગરમ પૂવિર્ય પવનને યૂના ઉપર મોકલ્યો. તેથી યૂનાનાં માથા પરની સૂર્યની ગરમીએ યૂનાને નબળો બનાવ્યો અને તેણે મૃત્યુ માંગ્યું. તેણે કહ્યું, “હું જીવવા કરતાં મરવાનું પસંદ કરું છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JON.4.9" />પરંતુ દેવે યૂનાને કહ્યું, “વેલો નાશ પામ્યો તેથી તું આમ ગુસ્સે થાય તે યોગ્ય છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">યૂનાએ કહ્યું, “હા તે યોગ્ય છે. હું ગુસ્સે થઇ રહ્યો છું અને મરવા ચાહું છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JON.4.10" />પછી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તેઁ કદીય છોડનું પાલન કે દેખભાલ ન કરી. તે રાતો રાત ઊગ્યું અને તે રાતોરાત મરી પણ ગયું. પણ હવે તું છોડ વિષે દુ:ખી છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JON.4.11" />તો પછી શા માટે મારે નિનવેહના મહાન શહેર માટે દિલગીર ન થવું જેમાં 1,20,000 લોકો છે જેઓને ખરાખોટાની ખબર નથી અને જ્યાં ઘણા પશુઓ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="MIC"><id id="MIC">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>મિખાહ
</h><toc level="1">મિખાહ
</toc><toc level="2">મિખાહ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">મિખાહ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">મીખાહને મળેલ દેવનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MIC.1.1" />યહૂદિયા રાજાઓ યોથામ, આહાઝ અને હિઝિક્યાના શાસન દરમ્યાન સમરૂન અને યરૂશાલેમને વિષે મોરાશ્તીની મીખાહને યહોવા તરફથી સંદેશો મળ્યો તે,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="MIC.1.2" />હે વિશ્વની સર્વ પ્રજાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ધ્યાન આપો અને સાંભળો.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવ યહોવા પોતાના પવિત્રમંદિરમાંથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી વિરુદ્ધ સાક્ષી આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="MIC.1.3" />જુઓ, યહોવા આવે છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાનું સ્વર્ગનું રાજ્યાસન છોડીને પૃથ્વી પર આવે છે
</q>
<p style="p">અને પર્વતોના શિખરો ઉપર ચાલે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="MIC.1.4" />તેમના પગ તળે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર્વતો અગ્નિ આગળ મીણની જેમ ઓગળે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ઢોળાવ વાળી જગ્યા ઉપરથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વહી જતાં પાણીના ધોધની જેમ ખીણો ફાટી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">સમરૂન પાપનું કારણ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="MIC.1.5" />આ બધાનું કારણ છે કે યાકૂબના અપરાધો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઇસ્રાએલના કુળના અપરાધો
</q>
<q style="q1">યાકૂબનો અપરાધ છે સમરૂન!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહૂદિયાનું ઉચ્ચસ્થાન છે યરૂશાલેમ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="MIC.1.6" />તેથી સમરૂન નગર પથ્થરોના ઢગલા જેવું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખેડેલા ખેતર જેવું ખુલ્લું થશે જ્યાં દ્રાક્ષાવેલાની રોપણી થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના પથ્થરોને હું ખીણોમાં ગબડાવી દઇશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના પાયા ને ઉઘાડા કરી દઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="MIC.1.7" />તેની મૂર્તિઓના ટુકડે ટુકડા થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૂર્તિપૂજા દ્વારા મેળવેલી તેની બધી કમાણી આગમાં ભસ્મ થઇ જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેના બધાં જૂઠા દેવોની પ્રતિમાઓના હું ચૂરેચૂરા કરી નાખીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તેણીએ એ બધું મારા પ્રત્યેની
</q>
<q style="q1">અવિશ્વાસની કમાણી રૂપે મેળવ્યું છે<f caller="+"><fr>1:7
</fr><fk>મારા પ્રત્યેની … રૂપે મેળવ્યું છે
</fk><ft>શાબ્દિક રીતે “તેની કમાણી વારાંગનાની કમાણી હતી.”</ft></f>
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે અવિશ્વાસુપણાની કમાણી તરીકે જ પાછું જશે.<f caller="+"><fr>1:7
</fr><fk>અને તે … પાછું જશે
</fk><ft>શાબ્દિક રીતે “તે વારાંગનાની કમાણી તરીકે પાછું જશે.”</ft></f>
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">મીખાહનું મહાન દુ:ખ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="MIC.1.8" />એટલે મીખાહ બોલ્યો, એને લીધે હું પોક મૂકીને વિલાપ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉઘાડા પગે નિર્વસ્ર થઇને ફરીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">શિયાળવાની જેમ રડીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને શાહમૃગની જેમ કળ કળીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="MIC.1.9" />કારણ કે તેનો પ્રહાર, આ ઘાને રૂઝવી શક્યો નથી જે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે યહૂદિયા સુધી આવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારા લોકો જેઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં રહે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના દરવાજા સુધી આવી પહોંચ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="MIC.1.10" />ગાથમાં તે કહેશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિલાપ કરશો નહિ;
</q>
<q style="q1">બેથલે-આફ્રાહ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું ધૂળમાં આળોટ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="MIC.1.11" />હે શાફીરના રહેવાસીઓ, નિર્વસ્ર થઇને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને નામોશી વહોરીને દેશવટાને રસ્તે પડો.
</q>
<q style="q1">સાઅનાનના રહેવાસીઓ પોતાના ઘરની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બહાર નીકળવાની હિંમત કરી શકતા નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">બેથ-એસેલ વિલાપ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમારી પાસેથી પોતાનો આધાર મેળવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="MIC.1.12" />મારોથના લોકો કંઇ સારાની રાહ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જોવામાં નબળા બની ગયા, કારણકે,
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા તરફથી આફત યરૂશાલેમના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દરવાજા સુધી આવી પહોંચી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="MIC.1.13" />હે લાખીશના લોકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રથને ઘોડા જોડો;
</q>
<q style="q1">સિયોનની પુત્રી માટે તે પાપની શરુઆત હતી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારામાં ઇસ્રાએલના અપરાધ મળ્યા હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="MIC.1.14" />અને તેથી મોરેશેથ-ગાથને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વિદાય આપવી પડશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આખ્ઝીબનાઁ કુળો, ઇસ્રાએલના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાજાઓ માટે છેતરામણાં હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="MIC.1.15" />હે મારેશાહના રહેવાસીઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તમારા માટે એક વિજેતા લાવીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલનું ગૌરવ અદુલ્લામની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગુફામાં આશ્રય લેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="MIC.1.16" />તારાઁ પ્રિય સંતાનોને લીધે તારા માથાના વાળ કપાવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તારું પોતાનું માથું મુંડાવ;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ગીધના જેવા બોડા થઇ જાઓ, કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને તમારાથી દૂર લઇ જવામાં આવનાર છે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">લોકોની દુષ્ટ યોજનાઓ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="MIC.2.1" />જેઓ પોતાની પથારીમાં જાગૃત રહીને પાપી યોજનાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દુષ્ટતા આચરવાની યોજનાઓ કરે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓને ધિક્કાર છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પછી પ્રભાતના પ્રકાશમાં તેઓ તેનો અમલ કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="MIC.2.2" />તેઓ ખેતરો મેળવવાની ઇચ્છા રાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તેને ઘેરી વળે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ઘર મેળવવાની ઇચ્છા રાખે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તેને પડાવી લે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ વ્યકિતને તેની સંપતિ માટે છેતરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ વારસદારને તેના વારસા માટે ઠગે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">લોકોને સજા કરવાની યહોવાની યોજના
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="MIC.2.3" />તેથી યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“જુઓ, હું આ કુળ ઉપર આફત નાખવાનો વિચાર કરું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમાંથી તમે તમારી જાતને નહિ બચાવી શકો,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને તમે હવે હોશીયારીથી ચાલી શકશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તે ભયાનક સમય હશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="MIC.2.4" />તે દિવસે તેઓ તમને મહેણાં ટોણાં મારશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારે માટે દુ:ખના ગીતો ગાઇને કહેશે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘આપણે તો સંપૂર્ણ રીતે પાયમાલ થઇ ગયા છીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે અમારી જમીન બદલી નાખે છે અને જે મારી છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે લઇ લે છે અને તે અમારા ખેતરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને દગો આપનારા વચ્ચે વહેંચી આપે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="MIC.2.5" />જ્યારે યહોવા લોકોની જમીનના ભાગ પાડશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તમને તે નહિ મળે.’”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">મીખાહને ઉપદેશ માટે ના પાડવી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="MIC.2.6" />લોકો મને કહે છે, “તમારે પ્રબોધ કરવો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે આવી વસ્તુઓ પ્રબોધવા માટે નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણી ઉપર અવકૃપા નહિ આવે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="MIC.2.7" />હે યાકૂબના કૂળસમુહો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું આવું કહેવાશે?
</q>
<q style="q1">કે યહોવાનો આત્મા સંકોચાયો છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ શું તેનાઁ કાર્યો છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ નીતિમત્તાથી ચાલે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના માટે મારા શબ્દો સારા નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="MIC.2.8" />પણ છેવટે થોડી મુદતથી મારા લોકો શત્રુની જેમ વતીર્ રહ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે પસાર થતાં શાંત લોકોના કપડાં ઉતારી નાખો છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ એમ વિચારે છે કે તેઓ યુદ્ધમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાછા ફરતાં લોકોની જેમ સુરક્ષિત છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="MIC.2.9" />મારા લોકોની સ્ત્રીઓને તમે તેઓનાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આરામદાયક મકાનોમાંથી કાઢી મૂકો છો;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમનાં બાળકો પાસેથી મારું ગૌરવ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે સદાને માટે હળી લો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="MIC.2.10" />ઊઠો, ચાલ્યા જાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે આ તમારું વિશ્રામસ્થાન નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">અશુદ્ધિ ભયંકર વિનાશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાથે સંહાર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="MIC.2.11" />જો કોઇ અપ્રામાણિકતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અસત્યની પ્રકૃતિવાળી વ્યકિત એમ કહેતી આવે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હું તમને પુષ્કળ દ્રાસારસ અને મધ વિષે ઉપદેશ આપીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો તે આ લોકોનો જ પ્રબોધક હશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા પોતાના લોકોને ભેગા કરશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="MIC.2.12" />હું ચોક્કસપણે તમને બધાને, યાકૂબના લોકોને ભેગાં કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું કાળજીપૂર્વક ઇસ્રાએલના બચેલાઓને ભેગાં કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેમને વાડાના ઘેટાંની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા ગૌચરના ઘેટાંના ટોળાંની જેમ ભેગાં કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">ચારેબાજુથી બધા લોકોના આવાજથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં ઘોંઘાટ મચી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="MIC.2.13" />પછી એક “ઘસી પડનાર” તેમની આગળ આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ દરવાજો તોડીને તેમાંથી પસાર થશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">રાજા તેમની પહેલાં પસાર થઇ ગયો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવા તેમનો આગેવાન છે!
<ve />
</q>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના પ્રશાસકો દુષ્ટતાના અપરાધી
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="MIC.3.1" />મેં કહ્યું, “હે યાકૂબના નેતાઓ, અને ઇસ્રાએલ દેશના શાસકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે આ શું તમારા માટે ન્યાયને જાણવાની જગ્યા નથી?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="MIC.3.2" />પણ તમે ન્યાયને ધિક્કારો છો, ને અન્યાય પર પ્રેમ રાખો છો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે મારા લોકોના શરીર પરથી ચામડી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના હાડકાં ઉપરથી માંસ ઊતારી લો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="MIC.3.3" />તમે મારા લોકોનું માંસ ખાઓ છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના શરીર ઉપરથી ચામડી ઉઝરડી નાખો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના હાડકાં ભાંગીને ચૂરાં કરી નાંખો છો અને તેને માંસની જેમ રાંધવા માટે તમે તેને કઢાઇમાં પાથરી દો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="MIC.3.4" />અને પછી સંકટના સમયે મદદ માટે તમે યહોવાને વિનંતી કરો છો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તે તમને જવાબ નહિ આપે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે અનિષ્ટ કામો કર્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તે તમારાથી મોઢું ફેરવી લેશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MIC.3.5" />હે જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો, તમે યહોવાના લોકોને ખોટા માગેર્ લઇ જાઓ છો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તમને ખોરાક આપે તેઓને તમે શાંતિ થાઓ એમ કહો છો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જેઓ નથી આપતા તેઓને તમે ધમકાવો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા માટે દેવનો આ સંદેશો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="MIC.3.6" />“તમારા ઉપર રાત્રીના ઓળાં ઊતરશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને કોઇ સંદર્શન નહિ થાય,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા ઉપર અંધારા ઊતરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે કોઇ ભવિષ્ય ભાખી શકશો નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારો સૂર્ય આથમી જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારો દિવસ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અંધારમય થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="MIC.3.7" />દ્રષ્ટાઓ લજ્જિત થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભવિષ્યવેત્તાઓ ગૂંચવાઇ જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ બધા પોતાના હોઠ ઢાંકી દેશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે દેવ તરફથી કઇં પણ ઉત્તર મળતો નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">મીખાહ દેવનો નિખાલસ પ્રબોધક
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="MIC.3.8" />પરંતુ જ્યારે મારા માટે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાકૂબને તેના અપરાધ વિષે અને ઇસ્રાએલને
</q>
<q style="q1">તેના પાપો વિષે જણાવવા માટે યહોવાના આત્માએ મને સાર્મથ્ય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ન્યાય અને શકિતથી ભરી દીધો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના આગેવાનો જવાબદાર
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="MIC.3.9" />હે યાકૂબના વંશના નેતાઓ અને ઇસ્રાએલના કૂળના શાસકો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ ન્યાયને ધિક્કારો છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સર્વ નીતિમત્તાને ઉલટાવો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="MIC.3.10" />તમે સિયોનને હિંસાથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યરૂશાલેમને અન્યાય દ્વારા બાંધ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="MIC.3.11" />તેના આગેવાન નેતાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લાંચ લઇને ન્યાય કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ને તેના યાજકો પગાર લઇને બોધ કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના પ્રબોધકો
</q>
<q style="q1">પૈસા લઇને ભવિષ્ય ભાખે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એમ છતાં પણ તેઓ
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા પર આધાર રાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કહે છે, “શું યહોવા આપણી પાસે નથી?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણા પર કોઇ આફત આવશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="MIC.3.12" />આથી, તમારે કારણે સિયોનને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખેતરની જેમ ખેડી નાખવામાં આવશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને યરૂશાલેમ કાટમાળનો ઢગલો થઇ જશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ટેકરી ઉપરનું મંદિર ઝાડી ઝાંખરાથી ઢંકાઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">શાંતિના શાસનનું આગમન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="MIC.4.1" />હવે પાછલા દિવસોમાં યહોવાના મંદિરનો પર્વત બીજા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા પર્વતો કરતાં ઊંચો કરવામાં આવશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે બીજાં બધાં શિખરો પર થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બીજા ડુંગરો કરતાં ઊચો કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="MIC.4.2" />ઘણાં જુદા જુદા દેશના લોકો ત્યાં ચાલ્યાં આવશે અને કહેશે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“ચાલો આપણે યહોવાના પર્વત ઉપર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યાકૂબના વંશના દેવનામંદિરે જઇએ;
</q>
<q style="q1">જે આપણને તેના પોતાના જીવનમાર્ગ વિષે શીખવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પછી આપણે તેના માગેર્ ચાલીશું.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">કારણકે નિયમશાસ્ત્ર સિયોનમાંથી બહાર પડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાનાં વચન યરૂશાલેમ તરફથી પ્રગટ થનાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="MIC.4.3" />તે ઘણા લોકોને ન્યાય કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દૂરના બળવાન લોકો માટે નિર્ણયો કરશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે લોકો પોતાની તરવારો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ટીપીને હળની કોશો બનાવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ભાલાઓનાં દાંતરડા બનાવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રજાઓ એકબીજા સામે તરવાર ઉગામશે નહિ કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફરીથી કદી યુદ્ધનું પ્રશિક્ષણ લેશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="MIC.4.4" />પણ પ્રત્યેક મનુષ્ય પોતપોતાના દ્રાક્ષાવેલા નીચે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા પોતપોતાની અંજીરી નીચે બેસશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમને કોઇનો ભય રહેશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના મુખના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="MIC.4.5" />પ્રત્યેક પ્રજાઓ પોતપોતાના દેવના નામ પર શ્રદ્ધા રાખીને ચાલે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમે પણ સર્વકાળ હંમેશા, અમારા સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા દેવના નામ પર શ્રદ્ધા રાખીને ચાલીશું.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">આ રાજ્યને પાછું લાવવું છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="MIC.4.6" />યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તે દિવસે જેમને મેં હાંકી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કાઢીને દુ:ખી કર્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેઓ અપંગ થઇ ગયા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મારા લોકોને હું એકત્ર કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="MIC.4.7" />“હું અપંગોને અતિજીવી બનાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દૂર હાંકી કઢાયેલાઓમાંથી
</q>
<q style="q1">એક શકિતશાળી રાષ્ટ બનાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવા સદાકાળને માટે
</q>
<q style="q1">સિયોનના પર્વત ઉપરથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના ઉપર સર્વકાળ સુધી રાજ્ય કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="MIC.4.8" />અને તમે, ટોળાંના બૂરજો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સિયોનની પુત્રીના શિખર,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે તમારી શકિત પાછી મેળવશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અગાઉનું રાજ્ય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમની પુત્રી પાસે પાછું ફરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલીઓને ખરેખર શા માટે બાબિલ પાસે જવું જોઇએ?
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="MIC.4.9" />હવે તું શા માટે મોટેથી બૂમો પાડે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે ત્યાં રાજા નથી?
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા સલાહકારો નાશ પામ્યા છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું આમ પ્રસુતાની જેમ પીડાય છે, હે યરૂશાલેમ?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="MIC.4.10" />હે સિયોનની પુત્રી, પ્રસૂતિથી પીડાતી સ્ત્રીની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તરફડજે અને ચીસો પાડજે;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે હવે તું યરૂશાલેમમાંથી દૂર થઇ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને સીમમાં રહેશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને બાબિલમાં પણ જશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં તને છોડાવવામાં આવશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યાં યહોવા તને તારા શત્રુઓના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હાથમાંથી છોડાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા બીજી પ્રજાને સમાપ્ત કરશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="MIC.4.11" />હવે ઘણી પ્રજાઓ તારી સામે ભેગી થઇ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કહે છે કે, “ભલે તેણી ષ્ટ થાય જેથી આપણી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આંખો સિયોનને જોઇ શકે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="MIC.4.12" />પરંતુ તેઓ યહોવાના વિચારોને જાણતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ યહોવાની યોજના સમજતા નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે તેમને અનાજની જેમ ભેગા કર્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમને ઝૂડવા માટેની જમીન પર લાવીને મૂક્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ શત્રુઓને હરાવી જીત મેળવશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="MIC.4.13" />“હે સિયોનની પુત્રી, ઊઠ, અને ખૂંદવા માંડ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું તારા શિંગડાં લોખંડના અને ખરીઓ કાંસાની બનાવીશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તું તેના વડે ઘણી પ્રજાઓને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કચડી નાખીને ચૂરેચૂરા કરી નાખીશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમની પાસેથી લૂંટમાં મળેલી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંપત્તિ સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીના યહોવાને સમર્પણ કરીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="5" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="MIC.5.1" />હે યરૂશાલેમ, તારી સૈના ભેગી કર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુશ્મનોએ આપણને ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ ઇસ્રાએલના ન્યાયાધીશને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ગાલ પર સોટી વડે મારશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">બેથલેહેમનું ગૌરવ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="MIC.5.2" />હે બેથલેહેમ એફ્રાથાહ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું યહૂદિયાનું સૌથી
</q>
<q style="q1">નાનકડું ગામડું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મને લાગે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“ઇસ્રાએલનો શાસક તારામાંથી આવશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેના વંશના મૂળ ખૂબ પ્રાચીન કાળમાં છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="MIC.5.3" />તેથી યહોવા પોતાના લોકોનો ત્યાગ કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ગર્ભવતીને પુત્ર અવતરશે ત્યાં સુધી જ.
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારબાદ તો એ પુત્રના જાતભાઇઓમાંથી બચવા પામેલાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેશવટેથી પાછા આવી બીજા ઇસ્રાએલીઓની સાથે ભેગા થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="MIC.5.4" />તે યહોવાના સાર્મથ્યસહિત તથા પોતાના દેવ યહોવાના નામના પ્રતાપસહિત ઊભો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રહીને પોતાના લોકોનું પાલન કરશે. અને તેઓ સુરક્ષામાં રહેશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે વખતે તો આખી દુનિયામાં તેમનો પ્રભાવ પડતો હશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે જ શાંતિ ફેલાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="5" bcv="MIC.5.5" />હવે ત્યાં શાંતિ હશે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">આશ્શૂરી સૈન્ય આપણા વતન વિરુદ્ધ ચઢી આવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે આપણી જમીન ઉપર કૂચ કરશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યારે આપણી કાળજી લેવા માટે તે સાત પાળકોની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આપણને દોરવણી આપવા માટે આઠ સરદારોની નિમણૂંક કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="MIC.5.6" />તેઓ આશ્શૂરની ભૂમિ પર તરવારથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને નિમ્રોદની ભૂમિ ઉપર ઉઘાડી તરવારોથી શાસન કરશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે આપણને આશ્શૂરથી બચાવશે જે આપણી ભૂમિ પર પ્રવેશ્યા છે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જેણે આપણી સરહદોને કચડી નાખી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="MIC.5.7" />ઘણી પ્રજાઓમાંથી યાકૂબના બચવા પામેલા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વંશજો ઘાસ ઉપર વરસતાં ઝાપટાં જેવા બની જશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જે માણસ ઉપર આધાર રાખતા નથી, કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના માટે રોકાતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="MIC.5.8" />યાકૂબના બચી ગયેલાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘણી પ્રજાઓમાં વનનાં
</q>
<q style="q1">પશુઓમાં સિંહના જેવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા ઘેટાંનાઁ ટોળામાં
</q>
<q style="q1">સિંહના બચ્ચા જેવા થશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે જે તેઓમાં થઇને જાય તો
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમને કચરી નાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેમને ફાડીને ટુકડા કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને છોડાવનાર કોઇ હોતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="MIC.5.9" />તારા શત્રુઓ પર તારો હાથ ઉગામાશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા બધા હરીફો નાશ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">લોકો દેવના વિશ્વાસે રહેશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="MIC.5.10" />વળી યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તે દિવસે હું તમારી વચ્ચેથી તમારા ઘોડાઓનો વધ કરી નાખીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા રથોનો નાશ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="MIC.5.11" />હું તમારા દેશનાઁ નગરોનો નાશ કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તમારા સર્વ કિલ્લાઓ તોડી પાડીશ;
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="MIC.5.12" />વળી હું બધા જાદુગરોનો નાશ કરીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધા ભવિષ્યવેત્તાઓને હાંકી કાઢીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="MIC.5.13" />હું તમારી સર્વ મૂર્તિઓ અને સ્તુતિસ્તંભો જેની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે ઉપાસના કરો છો તેનો નાશ કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા હાથોએ જે બનાવ્યું છે તેની તમે ફરીથી ભકિત કરશો નહિ,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="MIC.5.14" />તમારા દેશમાંથી હું અશેરાદેવીની પ્રતિમાઓને ઉખેડી નાખીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી મૂર્તિઓનો નાશ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="MIC.5.15" />અને મારી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન ન કરનાર પ્રજાઓ ઉપર હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રોષે ભરાઇને વૈર વાળીશ.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">યહોવા દેવની ફરિયાદ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="MIC.6.1" />હવે યહોવા શું કહે છે તે તમે સાંભળો:
</q>
<q style="q1">“ઊઠ, ઊભો થા, અને ડુંગરો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પર્વતોને ફરિયાદ સાંભળવા માટે બોલાવ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="MIC.6.2" />હે પર્વતો તથા પૃથ્વીના અચલ પાયાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે યહોવાની ફરિયાદ સાંભળો,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે તેમની ફરિયાદ પોતાના ઇસ્રાએલી લોકો વિરુદ્ધ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેઓની સામે કાયદેસરના પગલાં ભરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="MIC.6.3" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હે મારી પ્રજા, મેં તમને શું કર્યુ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને કઇ રીતે દુ;ખ આપ્યું છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એનો મને જવાબ આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="MIC.6.4" />હું તમને મિસરમાંથી બહાર લઇ આવ્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં તમને ગુલામીમાંથી મુકત કર્યા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમને દોરવણી આપવા માટે મેં મૂસાને,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હારુનને અને મરિયમને મોકલ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="MIC.6.5" />હે મારા લોકો, યાદ રાખજો કે મોઆબના રાજા બાલાકે કેવી રીતે અનિષ્ટ યોજના કરી હતી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બયોરના પુત્ર બલામે તેનો કેવી રીતે ઉત્તર આપ્યો હતો?
</q>
<q style="q1">યાદ રાખજો કે શિટ્ટીમથી ગિલ્ગાલને શું બન્યું હતું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તમે યહોવાના ન્યાયી કાર્યોને સમજી શકશો.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવ આપણી પાસે શું માગે છે?
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="MIC.6.6" />હું જ્યારે પરાત્પર દેવની ઉપાસના કરવા આવું ત્યારે સાથે શું લેતો આવું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એક વર્ષના વાછરડાઓનાં અર્પણ સાથે શું અમે યહોવાની સમક્ષ નમન કરીએ?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ના, એમ નહિ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="MIC.6.7" />જો તમે હજારો ઘેટાં અને 10,000 કરતાં વધારે જૈતતેલની નદીઓનું તેમને અર્પણ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો શું તે રાજી થશે?
</q>
<q style="q1">શું તેનાથી તેને સંતોષ થશે?
</q>
<q style="q1">શું હું મારા પ્રથમ જન્મેલા બાળકનું મારા આત્માના પાપ માટે બલિદાન કરું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા અપરાધો માટે મારું પોતાનું શરીર ફળ ભોગવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="MIC.6.8" />ઓ માનવી, શું સારું છે તે તેણે તમને જણાવ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી પાસેથી યહોવાને તો એટલું જ જોઇએ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ફકત તમે ન્યાય આચરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દયાભાવને ચાહો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા દેવ સાથે નમ્રતાથી ચાલો.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો શું કરી રહ્યાં હતા?
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="MIC.6.9" />યરૂશાલેમના સર્વ રહેવાસીઓને યહોવા બોલાવે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">“જેઓ ખરેખર શાણા છે તે તમારા નામથી બીશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સજાના દંડ ઉપર અને તેની નિમણૂંક કરનાર ઉપર ધ્યાન આપો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="MIC.6.10" />શું દુષ્ટોના ઘરોમાં પાપનો પૈસો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તિરસ્કારપાત્ર ખોટાં માપ પડેલાં છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="MIC.6.11" />ખોટા ત્રાજવાં અને ઠગારા કાટલાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાપરનાર માણસને હું કેવી રીતે ઓળખું?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="MIC.6.12" />તમારા ધનવાનો ક્રૂર હોય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા રહેવાસીઓ જૂઠું બોલે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને છેતરનારી જીભ તેમના મોઢાંમાં જ રહેતી હોય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="MIC.6.13" />આથી મેં તમને સજા કરવાનું શરું કર્યુ છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તમને તમારા પાપોને લીધે ગમગીન બનાવી દઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="MIC.6.14" />તમે ખાશો પણ સંતોષ નહિ પામો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભૂખ્યા જ રહેશો, તમે બચવાના ઘણા પ્રયત્નો કરશો,
</q>
<q style="q1">પણ સફળ નહિ થાઓ. તમે જે કંઇ બચાવશો તે હું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓએ તમને હરાવ્યા છે તેમને સોંપી દઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="MIC.6.15" />તમે વાવશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તમે ધાનની કાપણી કરી શકશો નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે જૈતફળોને પીલીને તેલ કાઢશો છતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા અંગ ઉપર
</q>
<q style="q1">પૂરતું તેલ ચોપડવા પામશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે દ્રાક્ષા ખીલવશો પણ તેમાંથી દ્રાક્ષારસ પી શકશો નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="MIC.6.16" />તમે રાજા ઓમરી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના વંશજ આહાબના કુરિવાજો પાળ્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે તેમને પગલે ચાલ્યાં છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી હું તમને ખેદાનમેદાન કરી નાખીશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા લોકો હાંસી પાત્ર બની જશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સૌ કોઇ તમારું અપમાન કરશે.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">લોકોના પાપ વિષે મીખાહની વ્યાકુળતા
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="MIC.7.1" />હું કેટલો ઉદાસ છું!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે હું એવો વ્યકિત થઇ ગયો છું જેને ઉનાળુ કાપણી પછી
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દ્રાક્ષ ભેગી કરવાની ઋતુ પછી ખાવા માટે દ્રાક્ષ મળતી નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અથવા તો જેના માટે તીવ્ર ઇચ્છા રાખી હતી તે પહેલું ફળ મળતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="MIC.7.2" />ભૂમિ પરથી બધાંજ ધામિર્ક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માણસો નાશ પામ્યા છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને મનુષ્યોમાં કોઇ પ્રામાણિક રહ્યો નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇનું ખૂન કરવાનો લાગ શોધી રહ્યાં છે,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="MIC.7.3" />તેમના હાથ દુષ્કૃત્યો કરવામાં પાવરધા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમલદારો લાંચ માંગે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">આદરણીય લોકો પણ નિષ્ઠુરતાથી પોતાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સ્વાર્થનીજ વાતો કરે છે અને પોતાનું ધાર્યું કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="MIC.7.4" />તેઓમાં જે શ્રેષ્ઠ છે તેઓ કાંટા ઝાંખરા જેવા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૌથી વધારે પ્રામાણિક ગણાય છે તેઓ ઝાંખરામાંથી બનાવેલી વાડ જેવા છે,
</q>
<s style="s">ચોકીદારોનો દિવસ આવી રહ્યો છે
</s>
<q style="q1">પણ હવે તમારો ચોકીદારોનો દિવસ સત્વરે આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી શિક્ષાનો સમય લગભગ આવી ગયો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">ગૂંચવણ, વિનાશ અને ગભરાટનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે અનુભવ કરશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="MIC.7.5" />પડોશીનો વિશ્વાસ કરશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મિત્ર ઉપર આધાર રાખશો નહિ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારી પ્રાણથી પ્યારી પત્ની આગળ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ મોઢાંનું દ્વાર સંભાળી રાખજો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="MIC.7.6" />કારણકે એક પુત્ર પોતાના પિતાનો આદર કરતો નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પુત્રી માની સામે થાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને વહું પોતાની સાસુની સામી થાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માણસના કુટુંબીઓ જ તેના વૈરી બની ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા બચાવનાર છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="MIC.7.7" />પણ હું તો યહોવા તરફ જોઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારા તારણ કરનાર દેવની વાટ જોઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા દેવ મને સાંભળશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="MIC.7.8" />હે મારા દુશ્મન, મારી દુર્દશામાં હર્ષ ન કર;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો હું પડી જાઉં, તો પણ હું પાછો ઊઠીશ;
</q>
<q style="q1">જો હું અંધકારમાં બેસું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પણ યહોવા મને અજવાળારૂપ થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવા ક્ષમાં કરે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="MIC.7.9" />હું યહોવાનો કોપ સહન કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે મેં તેમની વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કર્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ મારી તરફદારી કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને ન્યાય કરશે ત્યાં સુધી.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવ મને અંધકારમાંથી પ્રકાશમાં લાવશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તેમનું ન્યાયીપણું જોઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="MIC.7.10" />મારા દુશ્મનો આ જોશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓ મને એમ કહેતાં હતાં કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તારા દેવ યહોવા કયાં છે?”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ શરમિંદા બની જશે, મારી આંખો આ જોશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણી રસ્તાના કાદવની જેમ પગ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તળે કચડાયેલી જગ્યા બની રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહૂદીઓ પાછા ફરશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="MIC.7.11" />જે દિવસે તારા કોટ બંધાશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દિવસે તારી સરહદ બહુ દૂર થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="MIC.7.12" />તે દિવસે લોકો-આશ્શૂરથી મિસર સુધીના,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મિસરથી તે ફ્રાત નદી સુધીના,
</q>
<q style="q1">સમુદ્રથી સમુદ્ર સુધીના,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પર્વતથી પર્વત સુધીના,
</q>
<q style="q1">લોકો બધે ઠેકાણેથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે ત્યાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="MIC.7.13" />પણ પૃથ્વી એનાં લોકોને કારણે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમણે કરેલાં કમોર્ના ફળરૂપે વેરાન બની જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="MIC.7.14" />હે યહોવા, આવો અને તમારા લોકો ઉપર અધિકાર ચલાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા વારસાનાં ટોળાને દોરવણી આપો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓને કામેર્લના જંગલમાં એકલા રહેવા દો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલે અગાઉના દિવસોની જેમ બાશાન
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ગિલયાદમાં તેઓ આનંદ પ્રમોદ કરે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલ પોતાના શત્રુઓને હરાવશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="MIC.7.15" />જેવી રીતે મિસરની ભૂમિમાંથી છૂટયા હતાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દરમ્યાન કર્યુ હતું તેવીજ રીતે અદૃભૂત કામો હું બતાવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="MIC.7.16" />અન્ય પ્રજાઓ આ જોશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાની સર્વ શકિત હોવા છતાં લજ્જિત થશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ પોતાના હાથ પોતાના મોં પર મૂકશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના કાન બહેરા થઇ જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="MIC.7.17" />તેઓ સાપની પેઠે ધૂળ ચાટશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જમીન ઉપર પેટેથી ઘસડાતા
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રાણીઓની જેમ તેઓ પોતાના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કિલ્લાઓમાંથી બહાર આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ આપણા દેવ યહોવાને કારણે ભયથી
</q>
<q style="q1">થરથર કાંપશે અને તારાથી ડરીને ચાલશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવાની સ્તુતિ કરો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="MIC.7.18" />તમારા જેવા દેવ બીજા કોણ છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણકે તમે તો પાપ માફ કરો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારા વારસાના બચેલા ભાગના અપરાધને દરગુજર કરો છો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે પોતાનો ક્રોધ કાયમ રાખતા નથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમે કરુણામાં જ રાચો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="MIC.7.19" />તમે ફરી એક વખત અમારા ઉપર કૃપા કરશો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારા અપરાધોને પગ તળે કચડી નાખશો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અમારા બધા પાપોને દરિયામાં પધરાવી દેશો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="MIC.7.20" />તમે યાકૂબને વિશ્વાસપાત્ર હશો અને ઇબ્રાહિમને કૃપાપાત્ર હશો જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે પ્રાચીન કાળથી અમારા પૂર્વજોને વચન આપ્યુ હતું.
<ve />
</q>
</book>
<book id="NAM"><id id="NAM">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>નાહૂમ
</h><toc level="1">નાહૂમ
</toc><toc level="2">નાહૂમ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">નાહૂમ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="NAM.1.1" />આ પુસ્તક એલ્કોશીમાં રહેતા નાહૂમને નિનવેહ પર આવી રહેલા વિનાશ વિષે દેવે આપેલું સંદર્શન છે:
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નિનવેહ પર યહોવાનો પ્રકોપ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="NAM.1.2" />યહોવા ઇર્ષાળું દેવ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ક્રોધે ભરાઇને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બદલો લેનાર દેવ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે પોતાના શત્રુઓ પર વૈર વાળે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાના શત્રુઓ પર કોપાયમાન રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="NAM.1.3" />યહોવા ગુસ્સે થવામાં ધીમા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની પાસે મહાન શકિત છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તે ચોક્કસપણે ગુનેગારોને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દંડ્યા વગર જવા દેતા નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રચંડ ઝંજાવાત અને વાવાઝોડામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">થઇને યહોવાનો માર્ગ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વાદળો તેના પગની રજ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="NAM.1.4" />તે સાગરને ધમકાવે છે અને મહાસાગરો સૂકવી દે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે નદીઓ સૂકાવીને રેતીમાં ફેરવી દે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">બાશાન અને કામેર્લના લીલાંછમ પ્રાંતો સૂકાઇ જાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લબાનોનનાં ફૂલો કરમાઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="NAM.1.5" />તેમને કારણે પર્વતો ધ્રુજે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને ડુંગરો ઓગળી જાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમની સામે પૃથ્વી ધ્રુજે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દુનિયા અને તેમાં વસતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા જીવો હાલી ઊઠે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="NAM.1.6" />યહોવાના રોષ આગળ કોણ ટકી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના ક્રોધનો તાપ કોણ સહી શકે?
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનો ક્રોધ અગ્નિની જેમ વરસે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે ખડકોના ચૂરેચૂરા કરી નાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="NAM.1.7" />યહોવા ભલા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મુશ્કેલીના સમયમાં તે આપણને આશ્રય આપે છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને શરણે આવનારનું તે ધ્યાન રાખે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="NAM.1.8" />પરંતુ તે પોતાના શત્રુઓનો પ્રચંડ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઘસમસતા જળપ્રલયથી સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓને અંધારામાં ધકેલી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="NAM.1.9" />હે નિનવેહ, યહોવા વિરૂદ્ધ તમે શું ષડયંત્ર રચો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમારો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરી નાખશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું બીજીવાર મુશ્કેલી ઊભી નહિ કરી શકે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="NAM.1.10" />કાંટા વચ્ચે અટવાયેલાની જેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓ પીધેલા છે તેની જેમ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સંપૂર્ણ રીતે કરમાયેલા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લણી લીધેલા ખેતરની જેમ હશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તોપણ તેઓને તે ભરખી જશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="NAM.1.11" />યહોવાની વિરૂદ્ધ દુષ્ટ યોજના કરનાર તમારામાંથી એક બહાર આવે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દુષ્ટ સલાહકાર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="NAM.1.12" />યહોવા પોતાના લોકોને કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તમારા શત્રુઓ ગમે તેવા બળવાન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને અસંખ્ય હશે તેમ છતાં તેનો નાશ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનું નામોનિશાન નહિ રહે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મેં તમને શિક્ષા કરી છે છતાઁ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું હવે તમને સજા નહિ કરું!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="NAM.1.13" />અને હવે હું તમારી સાંકળી તોડી નાખીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આશ્શૂરના રાજાની ગુલામીના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બોજમાંથી તમને મુકત કરીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="NAM.1.14" />યહોવાએ તમારા માટે આ હુકમ આપ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“તારા કુળની હારમાળા ખલાસ થઇ જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારા મંદિરોની મૂર્તિઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રતિમાઓનો હું નાશ કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તને દફનાવી દઇશ! કારણકે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તિરસ્કૃત થયો છે!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="NAM.1.15" />જુઓ, પર્વત પર સંદેશાંવાહકોના પગલાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે શાંતિના સારા સમાચાર લાવી રહ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યહૂદિયાના લોકો,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારા ઉત્સવો ઊજવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા વચનો પૂરા કરો,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ હવે કદી દુષ્ટ લોકો તમારા પર આક્રમણ કરશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમનો સમૂળગો નાશ કરવામાં આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">નિનવેહનું નિશ્ચિત પતન
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="NAM.2.1" />ઓ નિનવેહ!
</q>
<q style="q1">તને વિખેરી નાખવા એક શત્રુ આવ્યો છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કિલ્લાની રક્ષા કર.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રસ્તા પર ચોકી કર,
</q>
<q style="q1">યુદ્ધ માટે તૈયાર થઇ જા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી બધી શકિતને ભેગી કર.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="NAM.2.2" />લૂંટારાઓએ તેઓને લૂંટી લીધા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના દ્રાક્ષના વેલાનો નાશ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ યહોવા યાકૂબનું માન ઇસ્રાએલના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સન્માનની જેમ પુન:સ્થાપિત કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="NAM.2.3" />તેના યોદ્ધાઓની ઢાલોનો રંગ લાલ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અતિ શકિતશાળી માણસો લાલ રંગના પોષાકમાં છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ચમકારા મારતા તેના રથો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યુદ્ધ માટે તૈયાર થઇ રહ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમના વૃક્ષો હલાવાઇ રહ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="NAM.2.4" />રથો ગલીઓમાં ગાંડાતૂર બનીને ઘૂમી રહ્યાં છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ચોકમાં ઉપર નીચે ઉતાવળે ઘસી રહ્યાં છે
</q>
<q style="q1">સળગતી મશાલની જેમ દોડે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને વીજળીની જેમ જ્યાં ત્યાં ત્રાટકવાના હોય તેવા દેખાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="NAM.2.5" />ચુનંદા યોદ્ધાઓને તેડાવવામાં આવ્યા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ઠોકર ખાતા દોડતા આવે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ કોટ તરફ આગળ વધી રહ્યાં છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હુમલો કરવાના શસ્ત્રો ગોઠવી દે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="NAM.2.6" />નદી તરફના દરવાજાઓ ખૂલી ગયા છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહેલ તૂટી ગયો છે!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="NAM.2.7" />નિનવેહની રાણીને નિર્વસ્ત્રી કરી બંદીવાન બનાવી લઇ જવામાં આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દાસીઓ છાતી કૂટે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને કબૂતરની જેમ શોક કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="NAM.2.8" />નિનવેહના લોકો પાળ તૂટેલા તળાવમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પાણી વહી જાય તેમ ભાગે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">“થોભો, થોભો” ના પોકાર સંભળાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ કોઇ પાછું ફરતું નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="NAM.2.9" />તમે ચાંદી લૂંટો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સોનુ લૂંટો!
</q>
<q style="q1">કિમતી ઝવેરાત ખજાનાનો કોઇ પાર નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અઢળક ધનસંપત્તિ લઇ જવામાં આવી રહી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="NAM.2.10" />નિનવેહ નગર ઉજ્જડ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખાલી થઇ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હૃદયના ધબકારા ધીમા પડી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પગ ધ્રુજે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">દરેક જણના શરીર યાતના ભોગવે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દરેકના મોં ધોળાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૂણી જેવા થઇ જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="NAM.2.11" />ક્યાં છે એ શહેર, જે સિંહની ગુફા જેવું હતું?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યાં સિંહના બચ્ચાં પોષાતાં હતાં,
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યાં સિંહ-સિંહણ અને સિંહના બચ્ચાં નિરાંતે ફરતાં હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને વ્યાકુળ કરે તેવું ત્યાં કાંઇજ ન હતું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="NAM.2.12" />જેમ સિંહ તેના બચ્ચાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માટે પૂરતો શિકાર કરે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેવી રીતે તેણે બોડ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગુફા શિકારથી ભરી દીધા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="NAM.2.13" />પરંતુ હવે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“હું તારી વિરૂદ્ધ છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તારા રથ બાળીને ભસ્મ કરી નાખીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તરવાર તારા બચ્ચાઓનો સંહાર કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું પૃથ્વી પરથી તમને શિકાર કરવા
</q>
<q style="q1">માટે મળતા પશુઓ લઇ લઇશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સંદેશાંવાહકનો સાદ ફરી કદી સંભળાશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">નિનવેહ માટે માઠાં સમાચાર
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="NAM.3.1" />આ લોહી તરસી નગરી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નિનવેહને અફસોસ!
</q>
<q style="q1">દગાફટકાથી અને લૂંટથી તું ભરેલી છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છતાં હજી શિકાર કરવાનું બંધ કર્યુ નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="NAM.3.2" />સાંભળ! રસ્તાઓ પર થઇને જતા રથોનો ગડગડાટ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પૈડાનો અવાજ,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઘોડાની ખરીઓનો અવાજ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચાબૂકોનો અવાજ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="NAM.3.3" />ધસતા ઘોડેસવારો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ચમકતી તરવારો, ઝળહળતા ભાલાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અસંખ્ય માણસો હણાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મૃતદેહોના ઢગલા સર્વત્ર છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માણસો મૃતદેહો પર થઇને જાય છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૃતદેહોનો કોઇ પાર નથી!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="NAM.3.4" />આ સર્વનું કારણ એ છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નિનવેહ એક વેશ્યા જેવી બની ગઇ છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જાદુક્રિયામાં પ્રવીણ નિનવેહનગરે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાની સુંદરતાથી વેશ્યાગીરીથી પ્રજાઓને લોભાવી
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓને જાળમાં ફસાવી દીધા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નિનવેહે તેના જાદુથી પરિવારોને આકષિર્ત કર્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="NAM.3.5" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“હે નિનવેહ, હું તારી વિરૂદ્ધ છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રજાઓ અને રાજ્યો આગળ
</q>
<q style="q1">તને ઉઘાડી પાડી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને બેઆબરૂ કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="NAM.3.6" />હું તારા પર કંટાળાદાયક ગંદકી નાખીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારો અનાદર કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તને હાસ્યજનક રીતે પ્રદશીર્ત કરીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="NAM.3.7" />જેઓ તેને જોશે તે કહેશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘નિનવેહ ધૂળધાણી થઇ ગયું.’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કોઇ એને માટે વિલાપ નહિ કરે,
</q>
<q style="q1">એને આશ્વાસન આપનાર શોધ્યો જડે એમ નથી.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="NAM.3.8" />શું તું તેના-આમોનનગર કરતાં પણ ચડિયાતી છે, જે નીલ નદીને કાંઠે વસેલું હતું. જેની ચારેકોર પાણી હતું, નદી જેનો ગઢ હતો અને પાણી જેનો કોટ હતો?
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="NAM.3.9" />તેને પક્ષે કૂશ અને મિસરની સૈનાનું અમાપ બળ હતું. અને પૂટ તથા લૂબીઓને બોલાવીને તે સહાય પ્રાપ્ત કરી શકતું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="NAM.3.10" />તેમ છતાં તે બંદીવાન થયું, તેણે દેશવટો ભોગવવો પડ્યો. શેરીના નાકે તેના બાળકોને માર મારીને મારી નાખવામા આવ્યાં, તેના માનવંતા માણસો ચિઠ્ઠી નાખી વહેંચાયા. અને સાંકળમાં જકડાયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="NAM.3.11" />નિનવેહ પણ પીધેલાની માફક લથડીયાં ખાશે અને ભયભીત બની શત્રુઓથી સંતાઇ જશે. અને તું પણ શત્રુને લીધે આશ્રયસ્થળ શોધશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="NAM.3.12" />તારા બધા કિલ્લાઓ તો અંજીરી પરના પાકાં અંજીર જેવા છે. જરા હલાવતા તે ખાનારાના મોમાં આવી પડે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="NAM.3.13" />તારા સૈનિકો સ્ત્રીઓની જેમ નિર્બળ અને લાચાર બની જશે. તારા દેશના દરવાજાઓ શત્રુ માટે પૂરા ઉઘાડી નાખવામાં આવશે, અને તે દરવાજાઓ અગ્નિથી ભસ્મીભૂત કરી દેવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="NAM.3.14" />તેથી હુમલા માટે પાણીનો સંગ્રહ કર, તારા કિલ્લાઓ મજબૂત બનાવ, માટીમાં ઊતરીને ખાંડણી બનાવ અને ઇંટના બીબાં હાથમાં લે!
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="NAM.3.15" />અગ્નિ તને ભરખી જશે, તરવાર તારી હત્યા કરશે. તે તને તીડની જેમ સ્વાહા કરી જશે.
</p>
<p style="p">તીડની જેમ વધારે થશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="NAM.3.16" />તેં આકાશના તારા કરતાં તારા વેપારીઓની સંખ્યા વધારી, પરંતુ તેઓ પણ તીડ તેની પાંખો ઊતર્યા પછી જેમ ઊડી જાય છે તેમ ઊડી ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="NAM.3.17" />તારા સરદારો તીડ જેવા છે અને શાસન અધિકારીઓ તીડના ટોળા જેવા છે, તેઓ ઠંડીના દિવસોમાં વાડો પર આરામ કરે છે. સૂરજ ઊગતાં જ તેઓ ઊડી જાય છે. ક્યાં ગયા તેની કોઇને ખબર પડતી નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="NAM.3.18" />હે આશ્શૂરના રાજા, તારા પાળકો ઊંઘે છે; તારા આગેવાનો આરામ કરે છે; તારા લોકો પર્વતો પર વિખેરાઇ ગયા છે, તેઓને એકત્ર કરવા હવે કોઇ પાળક નથી.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="NAM.3.19" />તારી વેદનાને બિલકુલ રાહત નથી; તારો ઘા પ્રાણઘાતક છે; જે કોઇ તારી પડતીના સમાચાર સાંભળે છે, તે તાળીઓ પાડે છે; કારણકે એવો કોઇ છે જેના પ્રત્યે તેં સખત દુષ્ટતા આચરી ના હોય?
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="HAB"><id id="HAB">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>હબાક્કુક
</h><toc level="1">હબાક્કુક
</toc><toc level="2">હબાક્કુક
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">હબાક્કુક
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">હબાક્કુકની દેવ સમક્ષ ફરિયાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HAB.1.1" />દેવે હબાક્કુક પ્રબોધકને સંદર્શન દ્વારા આપેલો સંદેશો:
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="HAB.1.2" />હે યહોવા, ક્યાં સુધી હું તમને બોલાવ્યા કરું અને તમે સાંભળો જ નહિ, “હિંસા” આ હિંસા માટે હું પોકાર કરું છું, તો પણ તમે મને બચાવતા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HAB.1.3" />તું શા માટે મને આવા અન્યાયનો સાક્ષી બનાવે છે, અને શા માટે આવાં દુષ્કૃત્યો સહી લે છે? મારી આંખ સામે જ વિનાશ અને હિંસા ઝઘડા અને ટંટા થઇ રહ્યાં છે;
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HAB.1.4" />અને કાયદાનો અમલ થતો નથી, તેથી કદી અદલ ન્યાય મળતો નથી; સદાચારી લોકોને દુષ્ટ લોકોએ ઘેરી લીધા છે; તેથી કુટિલ ન્યાય થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">હબાક્કુકને દેવનો જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="HAB.1.5" />યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તમે જરા વિદેશીઓ તરફ નજર કરો અને જુઓ, તો તમે વિસ્મય પામશો, કારણકે તમારા જમાનામાં જ હું એવું કઇંક કરી રહ્યો છું, જે તમને કહ્યું હોય પણ તમે માનો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="HAB.1.6" />જગતમાં હું એક નવું કાર્ય સ્થાપી રહ્યો છું, એટલે કે ખાલદીઓ જે-ક્રૂર અને હિંસક પ્રજા છે, તેઓ તેમની માલિકીના ન હોય તેવા સ્થળો કબજે કરવા પૃથ્વીના છેડા સુધી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="HAB.1.7" />તેઓ જ્યાં જ્યાં જાય ત્યાં ત્યાં ભય અને આતંક ફેલાવે છે; તેઓનો ગર્વ અને ન્યાય તેઓની અંદરથી જ આવે છે, તેમના ઘોડાઓ ચિત્તા કરતા વધુ વેગવાન છે અને સાંજના વરૂઓ કરતાં વધારે સજાગ છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="HAB.1.8" />તેમના ઘોડેસવારો ઝડપથી દૂરથી આવે છે, તેઓ શિકાર પર તૂટી પડતા ગરૂડના જેવા છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="HAB.1.9" />એમની સમગ્ર સૈના હિંસા માટે આવે છે. તેમના ચહેરા આતુરતાથી આગળ ધપવાની રાહ જુએ છે; અને તેઓ રેતીના કણ જેટલા અસંખ્ય બંદીવાનો એકઠા કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="HAB.1.10" />“અને તેઓ રાજાઓની મશ્કરી કરે છે, ને સરદારો તો તેની નજરમાં હાસ્યરૂપ છે. તેથી તેઓના કિલ્લાઓની તે હાંસી ઉડાવે છે. કિલ્લાઓના કોટ આગળ ધૂળના ઢગલા કરી બહુ આસાનીથી તેઓને જીતી લે છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="HAB.1.11" />ત્યારબાદ તેઓ વાયુવેગે આગળ વધી અને પસાર થઇ જાય છે; શકિત તે પાપીઓના દેવ છે. તેઓ ગુનેગાર છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">હબાક્કુકની દેવ સમક્ષ બીજી ફરિયાદ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="HAB.1.12" />હે મારા દેવ યહોવા, મારા પરમ પવિત્ર દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું અનાદિ અને અમર છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે માર્યા જવાના નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે શિક્ષાને માટે તેનું નિર્માણ કર્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હે મારા યહોવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે શિખામણને માટે તેને સ્થાપ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="HAB.1.13" />તમારી આંખો એટલી પવિત્ર છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે તમે દુષ્ટતા જોઇ શકતા નથી,
</q>
<q style="q1">અન્યાય જોવા તમે ઊભા રહી શકતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પછી શા માટે તમે એ અપ્રામાણિક લોકોને જોઇ રહ્યાં છો.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને દુષ્ટ માણસ પોતાના કરતાં સારા માણસને ગળી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તમે શા માટે મૂંગા રહો છો?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="HAB.1.14" />તમે માણસોને દરિયાના માછલાં જેવા શા માટે બનાવો છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ ધણી વગરના સમુદ્રના પ્રાણી જેવા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="HAB.1.15" />તે લોકોને તે ગલથી ઊંચકી લે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પોતાની જાળમાં પકડીને તેઓને મોટી જાળમાં ભેગાં કરે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી તેઓ ખુશી ને આનંદીત થાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="HAB.1.16" />તે માટે તે પોતાની જાળમાં બલિદાન આપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને પોતાની મોટી જાળની આગળ ધૂપ બાળે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણકે તેમના વડે તેઓનો હિસ્સો મોટો થાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તેમને પૂરતો ખોરાક મળે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="HAB.1.17" />તેથી શું તેઓ સદા માટે તેઓની જાળ ખાલી કરશે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તેઓ લોકોનો સતત સંહાર કરવાનું બંધ નહિ કરે?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="2" />
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="HAB.2.1" />“હવે હું મારી ચોકી પર ઊભો રહીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને બુરજ પર ઊભો રહીને જોયાઁ કરીશ કે તે મારી સાથે શું બોલે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ને તે મને ઠપકો આપે ત્યારે તે શું જવાબ આપશે?”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">હબાક્કુકને દેવનો જવાબ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="HAB.2.2" />ત્યારે યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “હું તને જે કંઇ કહું તે તકતી ઉપર ચોખ્ખા અક્ષરે એવી રીતે લખી નાખ, જેથી કોઇ પણ તે સહેલાઇથી વાંચી શકે;
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HAB.2.3" />આજે હું જે બધી યોજનાઓ તને કહું છું તે નક્કી કરેલા સમય માટે છે. આ સંદર્શન અંત માટે કહે છે, તે ખોટું પડશે નહિ. જો તે વધારે સમય લે છે એમ લાગે તો રાહ જોજે, કારણ કે આ બાબતો અચૂક બનશે જ. મોડું નહિ થાય.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HAB.2.4" />ગવિર્ષ્ઠ માણસ તરફ જુઓ, તેનો આત્મા તેનામાં પ્રામાણિક નથી; પરંતુ સાચો ન્યાયી માણસ તેની વફાદારીને કારણે જીવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="HAB.2.5" />“મદ્યપાન છેતરામણું છે; તેવી જ રીતે તેમના અભિમાનને કારણે બાબીલીઓ ઘરે રહેતા નથી. તેઓના લોભમાં ઘણા દેશો અને લોકોને જીત્યાં છે. પરંતુ મૃત્યુ અને નર્કની માફક તેઓ કદી તૃપ્ત થતાં નથી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="HAB.2.6" />એવો સમય આવી રહ્યો છે, જ્યારે તેઓનાં સર્વ બંદીવાનો તેની મશ્કરી કરશે; ‘તેઓ તેની મજાક કરશે અને તેના પર હસશે! ધિક્કાર છે તેને જેણે જે પોતાની વસ્તુ નથી તે લૂંટી છે. ભારે દેવું ભેગું કરવાથી તમે કેટલો વખત ધનવાન રહી શકશો?’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HAB.2.7" />“શું એકાએક એવા માણસો ઊભા નહિ થાય કે જેઓ તમને કરડી ખાશે, શું એવા નહિ જાગે કે જેઓ તને હેરાન કરશે, ને તું લાચાર ધ્રુજતો ઊભો રહીશ અને તમારા લેણદારો અચાનક તમારું સર્વસ્વ લૂંટી લેશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="HAB.2.8" />તમે ઘણા દેશોના લોકોને લૂંટયા છે, તેથી તે બાકી રહેલા લોકો તને લૂંટશે; માણસોના રકતપાતને, અને દેશમાં હિંસાને લીધે, નગર તથા તેના સર્વ રહેવાસીઓને લૂંટી લેવાશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="HAB.2.9" />“એવા માણસોનું ભાવિ સારું નથી, જેઓ લૂંટના દ્રવ્યથી પોતાનું ઘર ભરે છે અને ખૂબ ઊંચે બાંધેલા માળાની જેમ એમને સંકટોથી સુરક્ષિત રાખવા મથે છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="HAB.2.10" />આ બધી યોજનાઓને લીધે તેઁ તારા કુટુંબને કાળી ટીલી લગાડી છે. અનેક લોકોની હત્યા કરીને તેઁ તારી જાત સાથે પાપ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="HAB.2.11" />કારણકે દીવાલનો એકેક પથ્થર સુદ્ધાં તેની વિરૂદ્ધ પોકારી ઊઠશે અને લક્કડકામનો એકેએક ટુકડો સુદ્ધાં તેનો પડઘો પાડશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="HAB.2.12" />“ધિક્કાર છે તેને રકતપાત કરીને શહેર બાંધે છે, ને અન્યાયથી નગર વસાવે છે!
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="HAB.2.13" />શું આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ કર્યુ છે? લોકોએ પોતાની જાતે જે બધો પરિશ્રમ કર્યો છે, તે બળી ગયો છે, પ્રજાએ કારણ વગર સખત પરિશ્રમ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="HAB.2.14" />કારણકે જેમ સમુદ્ર પાણીથી છલોછલ ભરેલો છે તેમ યહોવાના ગૌરવના જ્ઞાનથી છલોછલ ભરાઇ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="HAB.2.15" />તમે તમારા પાડોશીને દારૂડીયો બનાવ્યો તમે તમારો કોપ તેના પર વરસાવ્યો જેથી તમે તેને નગ્ન જોઇ શકો, તમને શ્રાપ મળે!
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="HAB.2.16" />“તમે કીતિર્ને બદલે શરમથી ભરપૂર હશો, તું પીશે અને તારી જાતને ખુલ્લી કરશે; યહોવાના જમણા હાથનો પ્યાલો તારા તરફ વળશે, ને તને અપકિતીર્ મળશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="HAB.2.17" />“કારણ કે લબાનોન પર કરેલા ગુનાઓ તને ઢાંકી દેશે. અને ત્યાંના પ્રાણીઓ પર લાદેલો ત્રાસ તેને ભયભીત બનાવી દેશે, કારણ કે તેણે લોકોને મારી નાખ્યા છે અને દેશમાં હિંસા લાવી છે, તેણે નગર અને તેમાં રહેનારાઓ સાથે ખરાબ વર્તાવ કર્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મૂર્તિઓ વિષે સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="HAB.2.18" />માણસે બનાવેલી મૂર્તિઓનો શો ઉપયોગ છે? એ તો માત્ર ધાતુમાંથી બનાવેલી પુતળીઓ છે, જે કેવળ જૂઠુ ભાખે છે. માણસ જે એક મૂર્તિ બનાવે છે તેમાં શા માટે વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે? તે એવા દેવ બનાવે છે જે બોલી પણ શકતાં નથી.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="HAB.2.19" />જે મનુષ્ય લાકડાની મૂર્તિને ઊઠાડવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે. જે માણસ પથ્થરને ખસેડવાની કોશિષ કરે છે તે જોખમમાં છે! શું મૂર્તિ કાંઇ શીખવી શકે છે? તેઓ સોનાથી અને ચાંદીમાં જડાયેલી છે, પણ તેની અંદર શ્વાસ બિલકુલ નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="HAB.2.20" />પરંતુ યહોવા તેમના પવિત્ર મંદિરમાં છે; સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી તેમની સમક્ષ મૌન થઇ જાઓ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">હબાક્કુકની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HAB.3.1" />પ્રબોધક હબાક્કુકે આ પ્રાર્થના યહોવાને કરી, રાગ શિગ્યોનોથ.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="HAB.3.2" />હે યહોવા, તમારા વિષે હવે મેં સાંભળ્યું છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મને ચિંતા થાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ભૂતકાળમાં જેમ તમે કર્યું હતું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમ અમારી જરૂરિયાતના આ સમયમાં ફરી વાર અમારી સહાય કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">આ જરૂરિયાતના સમયમાં તમારી જાતને બતાવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા ક્રોધમાં દયાળુ થવાનું ભૂલતા નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="HAB.3.3" />દેવ તેમાનથી આવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પવિત્ર દેવ પારાનના પર્વત પરથી આવે છે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તેનો પ્રકાશ આકાશમાં પથરાય છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની કિતીર્ પૃથ્વી પર ફેલાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="HAB.3.4" />સૂર્ય જેવું છે તેનું અનુપમ તેજ, કિરણો પ્રગટે છે તેના હાથમાંથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં જ છુપાયેલું છે તેનુ સાર્મથ્ય.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="HAB.3.5" />મરકી જાય છે તેની આગળ આગળ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને રોગચાળો જાય છે તેને પગલે-પગલે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="HAB.3.6" />તે ઊભા થાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વીને હલાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની નજરથી લોકોને
</q>
<q style="q1">વિખેરી નાખે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રાચીન પર્વતોના ટૂકડે ટૂકડા થઇ જાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રાચીન ટેકરીઓ નમી જાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ હંમેશા આવાજ હતા.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="HAB.3.7" />મેં કૂશાનના તંબુઓને વિપત્તિમાં જોયા છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મિદ્યાનમાં તંબુઓને હલતા જોયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="HAB.3.8" />હે યહોવા, તમે નદીઓ પર ગુસ્સે થયા છો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તમે ઝરણાઓ પર રોષે ભરાયા છો?
</q>
<q style="q1">શું તમારો ક્રોધ સમુદ્ર પર છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેને કારણે તમે ઘોડાઓને, વિજ્યી રથો પર સવારી કરી રહ્યાં છો?
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="HAB.3.9" />જ્યારે તમે તમારું મેઘધનુષ્ય બહાર કાઢો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમે લોકોને આપેલા વચનની નિશાની હતી,
</q>
<q style="q1">પૃથ્વીએ નદીઓને વહેંચી નાખી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="10" bcv="HAB.3.10" />થરથર ધ્રુજે છે તને જોઇને પર્વતો,
</q>
<q style="q1">મૂશળધાર વરસે છે વરસાદ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સાગર કરે છે ઘોર ગર્જના,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને હેલે ચડે છે તેના મોજા કેવા!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="HAB.3.11" />રા વેગીલા બાણોના ઝબકારથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા ચકચકતા ભાલાના ચળકાટથી;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સૂર્ય અને ચંદ્ર પોતપોતાના સ્થાનમાં થંભી ગયા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="HAB.3.12" />તમે ગુસ્સામાં પૃથ્વી પર પગ પછાડો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ક્રોધમાં, પ્રજાઓને પગતળે કચડી નાખો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="HAB.3.13" />તમે તમારા લોકોના ઉધ્ધારને માટે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વળી તમારા અભિષિકતના
</q>
<q style="q1">ઉધ્ધારને માટે પણ બહાર ગયા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમે દરેક દુષ્ટ કુળના નેતાઓને કાપી નાખો છો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જમીનથી ગળા સુધી તેમને ખુલ્લા પાડો છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="HAB.3.14" />તમે લડવૈયાઓના માથા તેમના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના જ ભાલાઓથી વીંધી નાખો છો.
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યારે તેઓ વાવાઝોડાની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમને મારી નાખવા આવ્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">સંતાઇ ગયેલા ગરીબોને ભસ્મસાત કરનારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકોની જેમ તેઓ આનંદ માને છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="HAB.3.15" />તમે જ્યારે તમારા ઘોડા પર સવાર થઇને સાગરમાંથી પાછા ફરો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે પાણી ખળભળી જાય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="HAB.3.16" />એ સાંભળીને તો હું ધ્રુજી ઊઠું છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારા હોઠ અને મારા પગતળેથી ધરતી ખસી જાય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">મારાઁ હાડકાં સડી જાય છે, મારું આખું શરીર ધ્રુજે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હું ધીરજપૂર્વક આફતના દિવસની રાહ જોઉં છું જ્યારે
</q>
<q style="q1">તે લોકોનું લશ્કર અમારી સામે ચઢી આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યહોવાથી હંમેશા આનંદમાં રહો
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="HAB.3.17" />ભલેને અંજીરીને ફૂલના બેસે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને દ્રાક્ષની લતાઓને દ્રાક્ષા ન આવે;
</q>
<q style="q1">જૈતૂનનો પાક નિષ્ફળ જાય,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને ખેતરોમાં ધાન ન પાકે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કોડમા ઢોરઢાંખર ના રહે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને નાશ પામે વાડામાં ને તબેલામા, ઘેટાંબકરાં,
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="HAB.3.18" />છતા હું યહોવાથી આનંદિત રહીશ, અને દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે મારું તારણ છે, તેનાથી હું આનંદિત થઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="HAB.3.19" />યહોવા મારા પ્રભુ મારું બળ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મને હરણના જેવા પગ આપશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે મને સુરક્ષાથી પર્વતો ઉપર લઇ જશે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">મુખ્ય ગાયક માટે. તારવાળાં વાજિંત્ર સાથે ગાવું.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="ZEP"><id id="ZEP">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>સફાન્યા
</h><toc level="1">સફાન્યા
</toc><toc level="2">સફાન્યા
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">સફાન્યા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEP.1.1" />યહૂદાના રાજાની, એટલે આમોનના પુત્ર યોશિયાની કારકિદીર્ દરમ્યાન, હિઝિક્યાના પુત્ર અમાર્યાના પુત્ર ગદાલ્યાના પુત્ર કૂશીના પુત્ર સફાન્યાને સંભળાયેલી યહોવાની વાણી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવાનો યહોવાનો દિવસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ZEP.1.2" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “હું આ પૃથ્વીની સપાટી પરથી એકેએક વસ્તુનો સંપૂર્ણ વિનાશ કરવા માંગું છું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ZEP.1.3" />હું મનુષ્યની સાથે પશુઓનો પણ સંહાર કરીશ. આકાશના પક્ષીઓ અને સમુદ્રના માછલાં પણ નાશ પામશે. અને દુષ્ટ વસ્તુઓ જે તેમને લથડાવે છે તે પણ નાશ પામશે. અને હું માણસને ધરતીની સપાટી પરથી દૂર કરીશ,” એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ZEP.1.4" />“હું યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમના બધા વતનીઓ સામે મારો હાથ ઉગામીશ, અને હું આ જગ્યાએથી બઆલનું નામોનિશાન મિટાવી દઇશ, હું ઇસ્રાએલના યાજકો સાથે પણ ક્રમારીમના યાજકોના નામનો અંત લાવીશ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ZEP.1.5" />તેઓ ઘરની અગાશી પર જઇને આકાશના સૈન્યની ભકિત કરે છે, અને તેઓ યહોવાને અનુસરે છે પણ સાથે સાથે માલ્કામનું પણ ભજન કરે છે! ને તેમના નામે સમ ખાય છે. તેમનો પણ હું સંહાર કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ZEP.1.6" />જે લોકો મારાથી વિમુખ થઇ ગયા છે, તેમનો હું નાશ કરીશ. જેઓ મને શોધવાની કે મારી સલાહ લેવાની કોશિશ કરતાં નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ZEP.1.7" />યહોવા મારા પ્રભુની સંમુખ શાંત રહેજો; કારણ કે યહોવાનો દિવસ આવી પહોંચ્યો છે. યહોવાએ યજ્ઞની તૈયારી કરી છે અને અતિથિઓને પવિત્ર કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ZEP.1.8" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હું મારા યજ્ઞને દિવસે રાજ્યના અમલદારોને, રાજવંશીઓને, તેમજ વિદેશી રીવાજો પાળનારાઓને શિક્ષા કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ZEP.1.9" />જેઓ ઉંબરો ઓળંગી અને પોતાના દેવોના મંદિરો ભરવા માટે જુલમ અને છેતરપિંડી કરે છે તે સર્વને હું શિક્ષા કરીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ZEP.1.10" />“તે દિવસે મચ્છી દરવાજેથી પોકાર ઊઠશે, નવા બંધાયેલા ભાગમાંથી પોક મુકાશે અને ડુંગરોમાંથી ભારે મોટા અવાજ સંભળાશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ZEP.1.11" />હે શહેરના નીચાણવાળા ભાગના રહેવાસીઓ, વિલાપ કરો, કારણ કે હવે કોઇ વેપારીઓ રહ્યાં નથી, જેઓ પાસે ચાંદી છે તે સર્વનો નાશ થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ZEP.1.12" />“જેઓ પોતાના વ્યવસાયમાં અધર્મના માર્ગથી સ્થિર થયા હોય, અને ‘યહોવા અમારું કશું ખરાબ નહિ કરે કે ભલું નહિ કરે’ એવું માનનારાઓને તે વખતે હું દીવો લઇને યરૂશાલેમના વિસ્તારોમાંથી શોધી કાઢીશ અને શિક્ષા કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ZEP.1.13" />તેઓની સંપત્તિ તેઓના દ્વારા લૂંટાઇ જશે, દુશ્મનો તેઓનાં ઘરોનો નાશ કરશે. પોતે બાંધેલા ઘરોમાં તેઓ રહેવા પામશે નહિ, અને પોતે રોપેલી દ્રાક્ષાવાડીઓનો દ્રાક્ષારસ તેઓ પીવા પામશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ZEP.1.14" />હવે યહોવાનો મહાન દિવસ નજીક છે, તે નજીક છે, ને બહુ ઝડપથી આવે છે, યહોવાના દિવસનો સાદ સંભળાય છે, તે વખતે બળવાન માણસ પોક મૂકીને રડે છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ZEP.1.15" />તે દિવસ કોપનો દિવસ, દુ:ખ તથા સંકટનો દિવસ, વિનાશનો તથા ઉદાસીનતાનો દિવસ છે. અંધકાર તથા અકળામણનો દિવસ છે. વાદળોથી ઘેરાયેલો અંધકારથી ભરેલો દિવસ છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ZEP.1.16" />કોટવાળાં નગરો વિરૂદ્ધ તથા ઊંચા બુરજો વિરૂદ્ધ રણશિંગડાનો તથા ભયસૂચક નાદનો દિવસ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ZEP.1.17" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હું માણસોને એવી મુશ્કેલ પરિસ્થિતિમાં મૂકી દઇશ કે તેઓ આંધળા માણસની જેમ ચાલશે, તેમનું લોહી જમીન પર વહેશે અને તેઓના શરીર લાદની જેમ રઝળશે. કેમ કે તેઓએ યહોવાની વિરુદ્ધ પાપ કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="ZEP.1.18" />યહોવાના કોપને દિવસે તેમનું સોનું ચાંદી તેમને ઉગારી શકશે નહિ, પણ સમગ્ર ભૂમિ યહોવાના પ્રચંડ ક્રોધાજ્ઞિમાં ભસ્મીભૂત થઇ જશે. કારણકે ભૂમિ ઉપર વસનારા સૌ કોઇનો તે અવશ્ય અંત લાવનાર છે.”
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<c id="2" />
<s style="s">યહોવા તરફ વળવા માટે હાકલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEP.2.1" />ઓ શરમ વગરના લોકો! તમે સાથે મળી ભેગા થાઓ.
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<v id="2" bcv="ZEP.2.2" />ચુકાદાનો સમય આવે અને ઊડી જતાં ફોતરાની જેમ દિવસ પસાર થઇ જાય તે પહેલા તમને યહોવાનો રોષ સખત રીતે ઇજા પહોંચાડે તે પહેલા, યહોવાના રોષનો દિવસ તમને પકડી પાડે તે પહેલાં તમે એકત્ર જાઓ!
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<v id="3" bcv="ZEP.2.3" />દેશના સર્વ નમ્ર લોકો યહોવાને શોધવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે, તમારામાંથી જેઓ તેની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે કરે છે, જે સાચું હોય તે કરો, નમ્રતા પ્રાપ્ત કરવા મથો: તો કદાચ યહોવાના રોષને દિવસે તમને આશ્રય મળશે.
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<s style="s">યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલના પડોશીઓને સજા કરશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ZEP.2.4" />કારણ કે ગાઝાને તજી દેવામાં આવશે, ને આશ્કલોન વેરાન થઇ જશે. આશ્દોદના લોકોને ખરે બપોરે હાંકી કાઢવામાં આવશે, અને એક્રોનનો ઉચ્છેદ કરવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ZEP.2.5" />સમુદ્રકાંઠે રહેનારા પલિસ્તીઓને અફસોસ! હે પલિસ્તીઓના દેશ કનાન, યહોવાનું વચન તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ છે; હું તમારો એવી રીતે નાશ કરીશ કે તમારામાંની એક પણ વ્યકિત તમારા દેશમાં રહેશે નહિ.
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<v id="6" bcv="ZEP.2.6" />દરિયાકાંઠો ઢોર ચરાવવાનું ચરાણ બની જશે. ફકત ભરવાડના ઝૂંપડા અને ઘેટાઁબકરાઁ રાખવાની છાપરી જ રહેશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ZEP.2.7" />કાંઠાનો પ્રદેશ યહૂદાના રહ્યાંસહ્યાં લોકોના હાથમાં જશે. તે લોકો ત્યાં ઘેટાઁબકરાઁ ચરાવશે અને સાંજે આશ્કલોનના ઘરોમાં સૂઇ જશે, કારણ, તેમના દેવ યહોવા ફરીથી તેમનું ભાગ્ય ફેરવી નાખનાર છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ZEP.2.8" />યહોવા કહે છે, “મોઆબે કરેલી નિંદા અને આમ્મોનીઓએ મારી પ્રજાના કરેલા અપમાન મેં સાંભળ્યાં છે. તથા તેની ભૂમિ તેઓએ પચાવી પાડવાની કોશિષ કરી છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ZEP.2.9" />તેથી ઇસ્રાએલના દેવ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે કે, મારા જીવના સમ, હવે મોઆબ અને આમ્મોનના હાલ સદોમ અને ગમોરાના જેવા થશે; એ સદાને માટે મીઠાની ખાણ અને ઝાંખરાવાળો ઉજ્જડ પ્રદેશ બની જશે, મારા અતિજીવીઓ તે ભૂમિનો કબજો લેશે અને તેમાથી લૂંટનો માલ લેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ZEP.2.10" />તેઓના અભિમાનનો બદલો તેઓને મળશે, કારણકે તેઓએ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના લોકોનું અપમાન કર્યુ હતું અને તેઓ સામે ઉદ્ધતાઇ કરી હતી.
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<v id="11" bcv="ZEP.2.11" />યહોવા તેમના માટે ડરામણા બની જશે. તે પૃથ્વીના બધા દેવોને હતા ન હતા કરી નાખશે, અને પછી જ દૂરના દરિયાકાંઠાના પ્રદેશના લોકો પોતપોતાના દેશમાં તેમની આરાધના કરશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="ZEP.2.12" />એજ રીતે કૂશીઓ પણ તેમની તરવારથી માર્યા જશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="ZEP.2.13" />તે ઉત્તરમાં પોતાનો બાહુ લંબાવી આશ્શૂરનો નાશ કરશે. નિનવેહને ઉજ્જડ અને રણ જેવું સૂકુંભઠ્ઠ બનાવી દેશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ZEP.2.14" />અને દરેક જાતનાં જંગલી પ્રાણીઓના ટોળાં ત્યાં વાસો કરશે. તેના થાંભલા પર વિસામો કરશે, તેમના અવાજો બારીમાંથી આવશે, વિનાશ દરવાજે આવી ગયો છે. દેવદારના થાંભલાઓ ઊઘાડા પડી ગયાં છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ZEP.2.15" />સમૃદ્ધ ગણાતું અને સુરક્ષિત નગર પોતાના માટે ગર્વથી કહેતું હતું, “મારા જેવું મહાનગર બીજું એક પણ નથી.” હવે તે નગરની સામે જુઓ, તે કેવું વેરાન થઇ ગયું છે! વળી તે પશુઓના રહેવાનું સ્થાન થઇ ગયું છે! તેની પાસે થઇને જનાર દરેક માણસ મશ્કરી કરશે, અને પોતાની મુઠ્ઠી હલાવશે.
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<c id="3" />
<s style="s">અપરાધ અને ઉદ્ધાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEP.3.1" />ઉદૃંડ, બંડખોર તથા ષ્ટ થયેલી જુલમી નગરીને અફસોસ!
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<v id="2" bcv="ZEP.3.2" />તેણે ન તો યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનો સાદ સાંભળ્યો કે ના કોઇ શિસ્ત શીખ્યા. તેમને યહોવા ઉપર જરાય વિશ્વાસ ન હતો. તેઓ દેવની સમીપ આવ્યા નહિ.
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<v id="3" bcv="ZEP.3.3" />તેમાં વસતા અમલદારો જાણે ગર્જના કરતા સિંહ જેવા છે; તેના ન્યાયાધીશો ભૂખ્યાં વરુઓ જેવા છે, જે સાંજનું સવાર સુધી રહેવા દેશે નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="ZEP.3.4" />તેના પ્રબોધકો ઘમંડી માણસો છે; તેના યાજકો પવિત્ર સ્થાનને દુષિત કરે છે. અને દેવના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું નિકંદન કાઢે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ZEP.3.5" />પણ તેમાં વસતા યહોવા ન્યાયી છે, તે અધમ કાર્ય કરતા નથી. તે નિયમિત રીતે દરરોજ સવારમાં ચુકાદો આપે છે. તથા તે પ્રભાતમાં ચૂકતા નથી છતાં અનીતિમાન લોકોને શરમ આવતી નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ZEP.3.6" />દેવ કહે છે, “મેં પ્રજાઓનો નાશ કર્યો છે. તેઓની દૂરની ઊંચી મજબૂત ઇમારતોનો નાશ કર્યો છે. તેઓની શેરીઓ અને નગરોને વસ્તી વગરના કરી દીધાં છે. ત્યાં કોઇ જરા પણ જતું કે રહેતું નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="ZEP.3.7" />મને થયું કે મારા લોકો હવે મારાથી શિસ્તપાલન કરતા શીખશે. તો તેઓના ઘરનો નાશ થશે નહિ. મેં તેઓ માટે નક્કી કરેલ સજા થશે નહિ.” પણ તેઓ તો વધુ અધમ કામ કરવા વહેલા ઉઠે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ZEP.3.8" />યહોવા કહે છે, “મારી પ્રતિક્ષા કરો, હું પ્રજાઓ પર આરોપ મૂકવા ઊભો થાઉં તે દિવસની રાહ જુઓ, કારણ કે પ્રજાઓને અને રાજ્યોને એકઠાં કરીને તેમના પર મારો બધો ગુસ્સો અને સંતાપ વરસાવવાનો મેં નિર્ધાર કર્યો છે. મારા માત્ર ક્રોધને લીધે પૃથ્વી ખાખ થઇ જશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ZEP.3.9" />ત્યારબાદ હું બધા લોકોને પવિત્ર હોઠ આપીશ, જેથી તેઓ મારું નામ લઇ શકે અને ખભેખભા મિલાવીને મારી સેવા કરે.
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<v id="10" bcv="ZEP.3.10" />વેરવિખેર થઇ ગયેલા મારા ભકતો ઠેઠ કૂશની નદીઓની સામે પારથી પણ મારે માટે અર્પણ લઇ આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ZEP.3.11" />“હે યરૂશાલેમ, તે દિવસે તમે મારી સામે બળવો પોકારીને જે જે દુષ્કૃત્યો કર્યાં છે, તેને માટે તમારે શરમાવું નહિ પડે. કારણ કે તે વખતે હું તમારા અભિમાની અને ઉદ્ધત નાગરિકોને હાંકી કાઢીશ; પછી તારા લોકો મારા પવિત્રપર્વત પર ઉદ્ધતાઇભર્યુ વર્તન કરી સકશે નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="ZEP.3.12" />પરંતુ હું તમારામાં એવા જ લોકોને રહેવા દઇશ જે નમ્ર અને દીન હોય; અને તેઓ મારા નામ પર વિશ્વાસ રાખશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="ZEP.3.13" />ઇસ્રાએલના બાકી રહેલા લોકો તે પછી દુષ્ટ કામ કરશે નહિ, અસત્ય બોલશે નહિ, અને અપ્રામાણિકતાથી કાર્ય કરશે નહિ. તેઓ સદા શાંતિ અને આરામદાયક રીતે રહેશે અને તેમને કોઇનોય ભય રહેશે નહિ.”
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<s style="s">આનંદના સમાચાર
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ZEP.3.14" />ઓ સિયોનની પુત્રી હર્ષનાદ કર!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઓ ઇસ્રાએલ આનંદના પોકાર કર!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યરૂશાલેમના લોકો, ઉલ્લાસમાં આવીને આનંદોત્સવ કરો!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ZEP.3.15" />યહોવાએ ન્યાય અનુસાર તમને કરેલી શિક્ષાનો અંત કર્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમણે તમારા શત્રુને હાંકી કાઢયા છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલના રાજા, એટલે યહોવા, તમારામાં છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હવે પછી તમને કોઇ પણ પ્રકારની આપત્તિનો ડર લાગશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ZEP.3.16" />હવે એવો સમય આવી રહ્યો છે જ્યારે યરૂશાલેમના લોકોને આ સંદેશો મળશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“ઓ સિયોન, ડરીશ નહિ, તારા હાથ ઢીલા થવા દઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ZEP.3.17" />યહોવા તમારા દેવ શૂરવીર માણસની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારું રક્ષણ કરવા તમારી વચ્ચે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તમારા પર કૃપાળું થઇ ખુશ થાય છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તારા પર ફરી પોતાનો પ્રેમ પ્રગટ કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એક ઉત્સવના દિવસની જેમ
</q>
<q style="q1">તે ખૂબ આનંદથી પોકાર કરે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="18" bcv="ZEP.3.18" />મેં નિશ્ચિત કરેલા ધામિર્ક ઉત્સવ પર
</q>
<q style="q1">શોક કરનારાઓને એકત્ર કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમને આપેલાં અપમાન પાછા લઇ લઇશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ZEP.3.19" />તે સમયે જેઓએ તમારા ઉપર જુલમ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સાથે હું સખતાઇથી વતીર્શ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું નબળાં અને લાચાર લોકોનું રક્ષણ કરીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું જેઓને હાંકી કાઢવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં તેઓને પાછા લાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેઓની મશ્કરીઓ અને તિરસ્કાર થયો હતો તેઓને હું આખી દુનિયામાં યશ અને કીતિર્ મેળવી આપીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ZEP.3.20" />એ સમયે હું તમને પાછા લાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારી નજર સમક્ષ;
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારું ભાગ્ય ફેરવીને તમને પૃથ્વી પરના સર્વ લોકો કરતાં અલગ એવું અતિ ઉત્તમ નામ આપીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓ તમારી પ્રસંશા કરશે.”
</q>
<q style="q1">આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</q>
</book>
<book id="HAG"><id id="HAG">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>હાગ્ગાય
</h><toc level="1">હાગ્ગાય
</toc><toc level="2">હાગ્ગાય
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">હાગ્ગાય
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">મંદિરના જીણોર્દ્ધાર માટે આહ્વાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HAG.1.1" />દાર્યાવેશ રાજાના બીજા વર્ષના છઠ્ઠા મહિનાની પહેલી તારીખે પ્રબોધક હાગ્ગાય મારફત યહોવાનો સંદેશો આવ્યો. આ સંદેશો યહૂદાના સૂબા શઆલ્તીએલના પુત્ર, ઝરુબ્બાબેલની, તથા પ્રમુખ યાજક યહોસાદાકના પુત્ર યહોશુઆ માટે હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HAG.1.2" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા હાગ્ગાયને કહે છે કે, “આ પ્રજા કહે છે કે, મારું મંદિર ફરી બાંધવાનો સમય હજી આવ્યો નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="HAG.1.3" />ત્યારે પ્રબોધક હાગ્ગાય મારફતે યહોવાએ લોકોને કહેવડાવ્યું કે,
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HAG.1.4" />“આ મંદિર હજી જર્જરીત અવસ્થામાં ઉજ્જડ પડી રહેલું છે, તે દરમ્યાન તમારે તમારા છતવાળાઁ રૂડાંરૂપાળાં મકાનોમાં રહેવાનો આ વખત છે શું?
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="HAG.1.5" />‘તમારી શી દશા છે તેનો વિચાર કરો. આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="HAG.1.6" />તમે ઘણું વાવ્યું છે, પણ ઘેર તો થોડું જ લાવ્યા છો; તમે ખાઓ છો, પણ ધરાઇને નહિ, તમે પીઓ છો ખરા’ પણ પીવાથી તૃપ્ત થતા નથી; તમે વસ્ત્રો પહેરો છો, પણ કોઇમાં ગરમી આવતી નથી; અને જે માણસ કમાણી કરે છે તે માણસ પોતાની કમાણીને કાણી કોથળીમાં નાખે છે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HAG.1.7" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે કે, “તમે જે રીતે ર્વત્યા છો અને તેનું જે પરિણામ આવ્યું છે, તેનો વિચાર કરો!
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="HAG.1.8" />અને પર્વતો પર જાઓ, લાકડાં લઇ આવો. અને મારા મંદિરને ફરી બાંધો. તેનાથી મને આનંદ થશે ત્યાં મારું સન્માન થશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="HAG.1.9" />આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “તમે ઘણાની આશા રાખતા હતા, પણ જુઓ તો ખરા, મળ્યું થોડું; અને જ્યારે તમે ઘેર લઇ આવ્યા ત્યારે મેં તેને ફૂંક મારીને ઉડાવી દીધું. શાથી? કારણ, મારું મંદિર ખંઢેર હાલતમાં પડ્યું છે ત્યારે તમે સૌ પોતપોતાના ઘરની ચિંતામાં પડ્યા છો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="HAG.1.10" />તેથી જ હું આકાશમાંથી આવતી ઝાકળને રોકી રાખું છું અને તમને બહુ જ ઓછો પાક આપું છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="HAG.1.11" />“હકીકતમાં હું સપાટ પ્રદેશમાં અને પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં દુકાળ લાવ્યો છું. અનાજ, દ્રાક્ષો, તેલવૃક્ષો અને અન્ય પાક સુકાઇ જાય તેવો દુકાળ, તમે અને તમારાં પશુઓ નબળા પડી જશો અને તમારા તમામ પાકને તેની અસર થશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નવા મંદિરનું કાર્ય આરંભ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="HAG.1.12" />ત્યારે ઝરુબ્બાબેલ અને યાજક યહોશુઆએ બાકીના લોકો સાથે મળીને તેમના દેવ યહોવાના તથા હાગ્ગાયનાં વચનો પર ધ્યાન આપ્યું. તેઓએ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યુ અને તેમનો ભય રાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="HAG.1.13" />પછી યહોવા દેવે તેમના સંદેશાવાહક હાગ્ગાય દ્વારા ફરીથી સંદેશો મોકલીને કહ્યું કે, “હું તમારી સાથે છું, હું તમને આશીર્વાદ આપીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="HAG.1.14" />ત્યારે યહોવા દેવે યહૂદાના સૂબા શઆલ્તીએલના પુત્ર ઝરુબ્બાબેલનું તથા પ્રમુખ યાજક યહોસાદાકના પુત્ર યહોશુઆનું મન, તથા બાકી રહેલા સર્વ લોકોનું મન જાગૃત કર્યું;
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="HAG.1.15" />પછી દાર્યાવેશ રાજાના બીજા વર્ષના છઠ્ઠા માસની ચોવીસમી તારીખે તેઓએ આવીને પોતાના સૈન્યોનો દેવ, યહોવાના મંદિરનું કામ શરૂ કરી દીધું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">નવા મંદિરમાં દેવનો ભાવી વૈભવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HAG.2.1" />એ જ વરસના સાતમા મહિનાની એકવીસમી તારીખે પ્રબોધક હાગ્ગાયને યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HAG.2.2" />“યહૂદિયાના સૂબા શઆલ્તીએલના પુત્ર ઝરુબ્બાબેલને તથા પ્રમુખ યાજક યહોસાદાકના પુત્ર યહોશુઆને તથા બાકી રહેલા લોકોને હવે કહે કે,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HAG.2.3" />‘આ મંદિરનો અગાઉનો વૈભવ જોનારાઓમાંનો કોઇ તમારામાં જીવતો રહ્યો છે? અને હાલ તમે તેને કેવી હાલતમાં જુઓ છો? શું તે તમારી નજરમાં શૂન્યવત્ત નથી?
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HAG.2.4" />તોપણ હવે, યહોવા કહે છે, “હે ઝરુબ્બાબેલ, હિંમત હારીશ નહિ,” હે યહોસાદાકના પુત્ર યહોશુઆ, પ્રમુખ યાજક, “બળવાન થા; યહોવા કહે છે, હે દેશના સર્વ લોકો, તમે બળવાન થઇને કામે લાગો; કારણકે હું તમારી સાથે છું,” સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા આમ કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="HAG.2.5" />“‘તમે જ્યારે મિસરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા, ત્યારે મેં તમને વચન આપ્યા પ્રમાણે મારો આત્મા તમારામાં હતો; તેથી ડરશો નહિ,’
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="HAG.2.6" />કારણ કે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, ‘હું થોડી જ વારમાં ફરીથી આકાશ, પૃથ્વી, સમુદ્ર અને સૂકી ધરતીને હચમચાવી મૂકીશ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="HAG.2.7" />હું આ બધા રાષ્ટોને હચમચાવી મૂકીશ, અને તેમની ધનસંપતિ અહીં આવશે અને આ મંદિરને હું ખજાનાથી ભરી દઇશ.’
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="HAG.2.8" />એમ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, ‘તેઓની ચાંદી અને સોનું મારું છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="HAG.2.9" />તેથી આ મંદિરની પ્રતિષ્ઠા હવે પહેલાના કરતાં ઘણી વધારે હશે. અને આ મંદિરને હું સુખ અને શાંતિ આપીશ.’ આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કાર્ય આરંભ થઇ ગયું છે વરદાન પ્રાપ્ત થશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="HAG.2.10" />દાર્યાવેશના રાજ્યકાળમાં બીજા વર્ષના નવમાં મહિનાની ચોવીસમી તારીખે યહોવાનું વચન હાગ્ગાય પ્રબોધક મારફતે આવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="HAG.2.11" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, હવે તું યાજકોને આ પ્રશ્ર્નનો નિર્ણય કરવાનું કહે કે,
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="HAG.2.12" />“જો તમારામાંનો કોઇ તેના કપડાંની ઘડીમાં અપિર્ત માંસ લઇ જતો હોય, અને તેનો સ્પર્શ રોટલી, ભાજી, તેલ કે કોઇ પણ અન્ન, દ્રાક્ષાને કે માંસને થાય, તો શું તે પણ પવિત્ર થઇ જાય?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="HAG.2.13" />યાજકોએ કહ્યું: “ના.”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારે હાગ્ગાયે કહ્યું, “જો કોઇ માણસ શબને અડવાથી અભડાયો હોય અને તે આ વસ્તુઓને અડે તો એ અભડાઇ જાય ખરી?”
</p>
<p style="p">યાજકે જવાબ આપ્યો, “જરુર અભડાય.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="HAG.2.14" />પછી હાગ્ગાયે સ્પષ્ટતા કરી, “યહોવા કહે છે કે ‘તમારું વલણ સ્વાથીર્ છે; તમારું હૃદય ભૂંડું છે અને તેથી એ લોકો જે કઇં ધરાવે છે તે પણ અશુદ્ધ છે. માત્ર તમારાં અર્પણો જ નહિ પણ મારી સેવાના નામે તમે જે કઇં કરો છો તે બધું જ અશુદ્ધ છે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="HAG.2.15" />યહોવા કહે છે, “‘હવે કૃપા કરીને આજથી માંડીને ભૂતકાળ પહેલાના વખતનો વિચાર કરો, યહોવાનું મંદિર બાંધવા માટે કોઇ પથ્થર મૂકવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="HAG.2.16" />અગાઉ તમે જ્યાં વીસ માપ અનાજની આશા રાખતા હતા, ત્યાંથી તમને માત્ર દશ જ મળતાં, દ્રાક્ષાકુંડ પાસે તમે પચાસ માપની આશા રાખતા ત્યાંથી તમને માત્ર વીસ જ મળતાં.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="HAG.2.17" />તમે જે જે કઇં વાવતા તે બધાનો હું લૂથી, ગેરુંથી કે કરાથી નાશ કરતો, તેમ છતાં તમે પાછા મારે શરણે ન આવ્યાં.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="HAG.2.18" />“‘પણ સાંભળો, આજ પછીથી, નવમાં મહિનાની ચોવીસમી તારીખે, મંદિરનો પાયો નાખવામાં આવ્યો છે, તે દિવસ પછીથી શું થનાર છે તેનો વિચાર કરો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="HAG.2.19" />શું હજી સુધી ત્યાં કોઠારમાં બી કે અનાજ છે? દ્રાક્ષની વેલો, અંજીરીઓ, દાડમડીઓ અને જૈતૂનના વૃક્ષો હજી ફળ્યાં નથી, પણ આજથી હું તમને આશીર્વાદ આપું છું.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="HAG.2.20" />એ જ મહિનાની ચોવીસમી તારીખે, ફરી વાર હાગ્ગાયને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ;
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="HAG.2.21" />યહૂદાના રાજ્યપાલ ઝરુબ્બાબેલને કહે કે, “હું આકાશોને તથા પૃથ્વીને હચમચાવી નાખીશ.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="HAG.2.22" />હું રાજ્યોના સિંહાસનો તેના સ્થાનેથી હટાવી દેવાનો છું. હું પ્રજાઓના રાજ્યોની શકિતનો નાશ કરનાર છું. અને તેમના રથોને અને તેઓમાં બેસનારાઓને ઉથલાવી નાંખનાર છું. તેમના ઘોડાઓ જશે, અને સવારો પડી જશે અને તેઓ એકબીજા સાથે તરવારથી લડશે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="HAG.2.23" />પરંતુ આ બનશે ત્યારે, ઓ મારા સેવક ઝરુબ્બાબેલ, હું તને મારો અંગત મુદ્રા મહોર બનાવીશ. કારણકે મેં તને પસંદ કર્યો છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">એમ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="ZEC"><id id="ZEC">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>ઝખાર્યા
</h><toc level="1">ઝખાર્યા
</toc><toc level="2">ઝખાર્યા
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">ઝખાર્યા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">યહોવા પોતાના લોકોને પાછા લાવવા ઇચ્છે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.1.1" />દાર્યાવેશના અમલના બીજા વર્ષના આઠમા મહિનામાં પ્રબોધક ઇદૃોના પુત્ર બેરેખ્યાના પુત્ર ઝખાર્યા દ્વારા યહોવાનો સંદેશો મળ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ZEC.1.2" />તું એ લોકોને કહે કે, યહોવા તમારા પિતૃઓ પર રોષે ભરાયો હતો;
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ZEC.1.3" />તેથી તું તેઓને કહે કે, સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવા કહે છે કે, જો તમે પાછા મારે શરણે આવો તો હું તમારી પાસે આવીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ZEC.1.4" />તમે તમારા વડીલો જેવા ન થશો, જેઓને પહેલાના પ્રબોધકોએ સાદ પાડીને કહ્યું હતું કે, “સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા તમને તમારાં ખોટા માગોર્થી અને દુષ્કૃત્યોથી પાછા વાળવા માગે છે. પણ તેમણે ન તો મારું સાંભળ્યું કે ન તો મારા કહેવા પર ધ્યાન આપ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ZEC.1.5" />“તમારા એ પિતૃઓ આજે ક્યાં છે? અને એ પ્રબોધકો કઇં અમર થોડા જ છે?
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ZEC.1.6" />પરંતુ મેં મારા સેવકો પ્રબોધકો મારફતે આપેલી આજ્ઞાઓ અને ચેતવણીઓની અવગણના કરવાથી તમારા પિતૃઓએ અચાનક તેની સજા ભોગવવી પડી. આથી તેઓ નરમ પડ્યા અને કહ્યું, ‘સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ આપણને શિક્ષા કરી આપણા વર્તાવ અને કૃત્યોને કારણે આપણી સાથે જે રીતે વર્તવા ધાર્યું હતું તે રીતે તે ર્વત્યા છે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ચાર ઘોડાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ZEC.1.7" />દાર્યાવેશના બીજા વર્ષના અગિયારમા મહિનાની, એટલે શબાટ મહિનાની, ચોવીસમી તારીખે ઇદ્દોના પુત્ર બેરેખ્યાના પુત્ર ઝખાર્યા પ્રબોધકની પાસે યહોવાએ બીજો સંદેશો આપ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ZEC.1.8" />તે એ કે મને રાત્રે સંદર્શન થયું, એક માણસ રાતા ઘોડા પર સવાર થયેલો હતો. તે એક ખીણમાં મેંદીના છોડ વચ્ચે ઊભો હતો, અને તેની પાછળ બીજા રાતા; કાબરચીતરા અને સફેદ ઘોડાઓ હતા, હું બોલી ઊઠયો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ZEC.1.9" />“આ શું છે, મારા યહોવા?”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે તે દેવદૂતે મને કહ્યું, “એ શું છે એ હું તને જણાવીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ZEC.1.10" />ત્યારબાદ મેંદી વચ્ચે ઊભેલા માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “એમને તો યહોવાએ પૃથ્વી પર ફરીને શું ચાલે છે તે જોવા મોકલેલા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ZEC.1.11" />અને તેણે મેંદીના છોડ વચ્ચે ઊભેલા યહોવાના દેવદૂતને કહ્યું, “અમે આખી પૃથ્વીની ચારેતરફ ફરી આવ્યાં છીએ અને સાચે જ આખી દુનિયા શાંતિમાં છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ZEC.1.12" />ત્યારે યહોવાનો દેવદૂત બોલ્યો, “હે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, સિત્તેર વર્ષથી તમે યરૂશાલેમ અને યહૂદિયાના શહેરો ઉપર રોષે ભરાયેલા છો. ક્યાં સુધી તમે એમના પર દયા નહિ કરો?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ZEC.1.13" />ત્યારે મારી સાથે વાત કરનાર દૂતને યહોવાએ મમતા અને આશ્વાસનભર્યા શબ્દોમાં જવાબ આપ્યો,
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ZEC.1.14" />અને તે દેવદૂતે મને કહ્યું: તું જાહેર કર કે, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા એમ કહે છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મને યરૂશાલેમ અને સિયોન ઉપર એકનિષ્ઠ પ્રેમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="15" bcv="ZEC.1.15" />જે બીજી પ્રજાઓ સુરક્ષિત પડેલી છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓના પર હું ખૂબ રોષે ભરાયો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મેં મારા લોકો પર થોડો ક્રોધ કર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એનો લાભ ઉઠાવી તે પ્રજાઓએ ખૂબજ અત્યાચારો કર્યા.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ZEC.1.16" />તેથી યહોવા કહે છે કે, “હું ફરીથી યરૂશાલેમ પર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દયા દર્શાવીશ અને મારું મંદિર ત્યાં જરૂર બંધાશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યરૂશાલેમમાં ત્યાં ફરી બાંધકામ શરૂ થશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ZEC.1.17" />ફરીથી પોકારીને સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા જાહેર કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">“મારા નગરો ફરીથી પ્રગતિ કરશે અને ચોતરફ વૃદ્ધિ પામશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હજી પણ યહોવા સિયોનને દિલાસો આપશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને હજી પણ તે યરૂશાલેમને પસંદ કરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ચાર શિંગડાં અને ચાર કામદાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ZEC.1.18" />પછી મેં મારી આંખો ઊંચી કરીને જોયું, તો, મને પ્રાણીઓના ચાર શિંગડાં દેખાયાં!
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ZEC.1.19" />એટલે મારી સાથે વાત કરી રહેલા દેવદૂતને મેં પૂછયું, “આ શું છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે મને જવાબ આપ્યો, “એ તો યહૂદિયા, ઇસ્રાએલ અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકોને વેરવિખેર કરી નાંખનાર શિંગડાં છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ZEC.1.20" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાએ મને ચાર લુહારો બતાવ્યાં;
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ZEC.1.21" />મેં પૂછયું, “આ લોકો શું કરવા આવ્યા છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “આ શિંગડાઓએ યહૂદિયાને એવી રીતે વેરવિખેર કરી નાખ્યું હતું કે કોઇ માણસ પોતાનું માથું ન ઊંચકી શકે; અને આ લોકો યહૂદિયાની ભૂમિને અને પોતાનું માથું ઊંચુ કરનાર પ્રજાઓને ત્રાસ આપવા અને નાશ કરવા આવ્યા છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમની માપણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.2.1" />મેં ઊંચે નજર કરીને જોયું, તો હાથમાં માપવાની દોરી લઇને એક માણસ ઊભો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ZEC.2.2" />મેં તેને પૂછયું, “તું ક્યાં જાય છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારે તેણે મને કહ્યું, “યરૂશાલેમને માપવા; તેની પહોળાઇ કેટલી છે અને તેની લંબાઇ કેટલી છે, તે જાણવા સાંરુ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ZEC.2.3" />પછી મારી સાથે જે દેવદૂત વાતો કરતો હતો તેણે મને છોડી દીધો અને બીજો દેવદૂત તેને મળવા ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ZEC.2.4" />બીજા દૂતે કહ્યું, “દોડતો જઇને પેલા જુવાનને કહે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘યરૂશાલેમમાં માણસો અને ઢોરોની એટલી વસ્તી હશે કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની ફરતે કોટ નહિ બાંધી શકાય.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="ZEC.2.5" />કારણ, યહોવા કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">‘હું પોતે જ તેની ફરતે અગ્નિનો કોટ બનીને રહીશ અને હું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહિમાપૂર્વક તેમાં વાસ કરીશ.’”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવ પોતાના લોકોને ઘેર બોલાવે છે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="ZEC.2.6" />યહોવા કહે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">“જાઓ, ઉત્તરના પ્રદેશમાંથી નાસી છૂટો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશના ચાર વાયુની દિશાઓમાં મેં તમને ફેલાવી દીધા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ZEC.2.7" />બાબિલમાં વસનારા સિયોનના લોકો નાસી જાઓ.”
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ZEC.2.8" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ મને સન્માન લાવવા માટે મોકલ્યો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમને લૂંટનારી પ્રજાઓ પાસે મોકલ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, જે તમને અડે છે તે તેની આંખની કીકીને અડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ZEC.2.9" />જુઓ, યહોવા કહે છે, “હું તેઓ પર મારો હાથ ફરકાવીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ તેમના સેવકોને હાથે લૂંટાશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે સૈન્યોનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ યહોવાએ મને મોકલ્યો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ZEC.2.10" />યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“સિયોનના વતનીઓ, ગીતો ગાઓ અને આનંદ કરો, કારણ, જુઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું આવું છું અને તમારી વચ્ચે વસનાર છું.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ZEC.2.11" />તે દિવસે ઘણી પ્રજાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહોવાની સાથે સંબંધ બાંધશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓ એની પ્રજા થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવા તેમની વચ્ચે વસશે,”
</q>
<q style="q1">અને ત્યારે તમને જાણ થશે કે યહોવાએ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને તમારી પાસે મોકલ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ZEC.2.12" />અને ત્યારે પવિત્ર ભૂમિમાં યહૂદિયા યહોવાનો વિશિષ્ટ ભાગ બનશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવા ફરીથી યરૂશાલેમને પસંદ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ZEC.2.13" />યહોવા સમક્ષ સર્વ શાંત થઇ જાઓ, કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પોતાના પવિત્ર ધામમાંથી આવી રહ્યાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">પ્રમુખ યાજકના અભિષેકનું દર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.3.1" />ત્યારબાદ દેવદૂતે મને પ્રમુખ યાજક યહોશુઆને યહોવાના દેવદૂત પાસે ઊભેલો બતાવ્યો, અને તેની જમણી બાજુએ તેના ઉપર આરોપ મૂકવા માટે શેતાન ઊભો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ZEC.3.2" />યહોવાના દેવદૂતે શેતાનને કહ્યું, “યહોવા તને ઠપકો આપો, ઓ શેતાન! યરૂશાલેમને પસંદ કરનાર યહોવા તને ઠપકો આપો! આ માણસ અગ્નિમાંથી ઉપાડી લીધેલા ખોયણાઁ જેવો નથી?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ZEC.3.3" />યહોશુઆ ગંદા વસ્ત્રો પહેરીને દેવદૂત પાસે ઊભો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ZEC.3.4" />દેવદૂતે પોતાની આગળ ઊભેલા માણસોને કહ્યું, “એના અંગ પરથી ગંદા વસ્ત્રો ઉતારી નાખો.” અને તેણે યહોશુઆને કહ્યું, “જો, મેં તારા અપરાધો હરી લીધા છે અને હું તને ઊજળાં વસ્ત્રો પહેરાવીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ZEC.3.5" />પછી દેવદૂતે તહેનાતમાં ઊભેલાઓને કહ્યું, “તેને માથે સુંદર સ્વચ્છ પાઘડી મૂકો.” તેથી તેમણે તેને ઊજળાં વસ્ત્રો પહેરાવ્યાં અને તેને માથે સુંદર પાઘડી મૂકી, ને આ વખતે યહોવાનો દેવદૂત પાસે ઊભો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ZEC.3.6" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાના દૂતે યહોશુઆને જણાવ્યું કે,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ZEC.3.7" />આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">“જો તું મારા માર્ગ પર ચાલશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી આજ્ઞા માથે ચડાવશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તો તું મારા મંદિરનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તેના ચોકનો મુખ્ય વહીવટદાર થશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જેઓ મારી આગળ ઊભા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની જેમ તું મારી પાસે છૂટથી આવી શકશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ZEC.3.8" />હે પ્રમુખ યાજક યહોશુઆ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું અને તારી મદદમાં રહેનાર યાજકો, હવે સાંભળો, કારણ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે શું બનવાનું છે તે માટેના ઉદાહરણો છો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જુઓ, હું શાખા નામે ઓળખાતા મારા સેવકને લઇ આવીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ZEC.3.9" />હું યહોશુઆ સામે એક ખાસ પથ્થર મૂકું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જુઓ, યહોશુઆ સામે મૂકેલા સાત
</q>
<q style="q1">આંખ વાળા પથ્થર પર હું આ લખાણ કોતરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ દેશના પાપને હું એક જ દિવસમાં સમાપ્ત કરીશ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ZEC.3.10" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“તે દિવસે તમારામાંનો એકેએક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જણ પોતાની દ્રાક્ષની વાડી
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અંજીરના ઝાડ નીચે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના પડોશી સાથે સુખશાંતિમાં રહેશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">દીપવૃક્ષનું સંદર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.4.1" />પછી મારી સાથે જે વાત કરતો હતો તે દેવદૂતે મને જગાડ્યો, કારણ, હું ઊંઘતો હોઉં તેવી સ્થિતિમાં હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ZEC.4.2" />પછી તેણે પૂછયું, “હવે તું શું જુએ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">મેં જવાબ આપ્યો, “હું એક સોનાનો દીપવૃક્ષ જોઉં છું. તેની ટોચ પર એક કૂંડું છે અને સાત દીવા છે. અને સાત નળીઓ દ્વારા દીવીઓ સુધી તેલ પહોંચાડીને તેમને સળગતા રાખવામાં આવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ZEC.4.3" />દીપવૃક્ષ પાસે બે જૈતૂનના વૃક્ષો છે, એક કૂંડાની જમણી બાજુએ અને એક ડાબી બાજુએ.”
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ZEC.4.4" />મારી સાથે વાત કરનાર દેવદૂતને મેં પૂછયું, “હે મારા યહોવા, તેનો અર્થ શું થાય છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ZEC.4.5" />ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, “એ શું છે તે તું સાચે જ નથી જાણતો?”
</p>
<p style="p">મેં જવાબ આપ્યો, “ના, હું નથી જાણતો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ZEC.4.6" />પછી તેણે મને કહ્યું, “યહોવાનો આ સંદેશ ઝરુબ્બાબેલ માટે છે, ‘બળથી કે શકિતથી નહિ પણ મારા તરફથી મળતા આત્માને કારણે તું વિજયવંત થશે.’
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ZEC.4.7" />યહોવા કહે છે, ઓ ઊંચા પર્વત, તારી શકિત શું છે? ઝરુબ્બાબેલ આગળ તું સપાટ મેદાન જેવો થઇ જશે, અને તે ‘કેવું સુંદર, કેવું સુંદર.’ ના પોકારો વચ્ચે મંદિરનું બાંધકામ પૂરું કરશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ZEC.4.8" />વળી યહોવા તરફથી મને બીજો સંદેશો મળ્યો;
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ZEC.4.9" />“ઝરુબ્બાબેલને હાથે આ મંદિરનો પાયો નંખાયો છે અને તેને હાથે જ તે પૂર્ણ થશે. ત્યારે લોકોને ખાતરી થશે કે મેં સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ તને તેમની પાસે મોકલ્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ZEC.4.10" />આરંભમાં થોડું થોડું કામ થતું જોઇને જેઓ એનો તિરસ્કાર કરતા હતા તેઓ ઝરુબ્બાબેલને હાથે તેની પૂર્ણાહુતિ થતી જોઇને ખૂબ હરખાશે, આ સાત દીવા પ્રતીકરૂપે દર્શાવે છે કે, યહોવાની આંખો સમગ્ર પૃથ્વી પર સર્વત્ર સઘળું નિહાળે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ZEC.4.11" />પછી મેં તેને પૂછયું, “દીપવૃક્ષની જમણી બાજુએ અને તેની ડાબી બાજુએ જે બે જૈતવૃક્ષો છે, તે શું છે?”
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<v id="12" bcv="ZEC.4.12" />વળી ફરી મેં તેને પૂછયું, “સોનાની બે નળીઓ વડે સોનાના કટોરામાં તેલ લઇ જતી જૈતૂન વૃક્ષની આ બે ડાળીઓ શું છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ZEC.4.13" />તેણે મને પૂછયું, “એ શું છે તે શું તું નથી જાણતો?”
</p>
<p style="p">મેં કહ્યું, “ના, મારા મુરબ્બી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ZEC.4.14" />પછી તેણે મને કહ્યું, “તેઓ તો દેવે અભિષેક કરેલા બે માણસો છે. તેઓ સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીના દેવ યહોવાની સેવા કરે છે.”
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">ઊડતું ઓળિયું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.5.1" />ફરી મેં ઊંચે જોયું તો હવામાં ઊડતું એક ઓળિયું મારી નજરે પડ્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="ZEC.5.2" />દેવના દૂતે મને પૂછયું, “તને શું દેખાય છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">મેં કહ્યું, “એક ઊડતું ઓળિયું, એ વીસ હાથ લાંબું અને દશ હાથ પહોળું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ZEC.5.3" />ત્યારે તેણે મને કહ્યું, “આ ઓળિયું સમગ્ર દેશ પર આવનાર દેવના શાપના શબ્દોનું પ્રતિક છે. એમાં લખ્યા મુજબ ચોરી કરનાર અને ખોટા સમ ખાનાર એકેએક જણને હવે હાંકી કાઢવામાં આવશે.”
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<v id="4" bcv="ZEC.5.4" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના આ વચન છે, “હું આ શાપ દરેક ચોરના ઘરમાં અને જેણે મારા નામે ખોટું વચન આપ્યું છે તે દરેકના ઉપર મોકલું છું. મારો શાપ તેના ઘર પર રહેશે અને તેનો સંપૂર્ણપણે નાશ કરશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">સ્ત્રી અને ટોપલો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ZEC.5.5" />પછી મારી સાથે વાત કરનાર દૂતે આગળ આવીને મને કહ્યું, “હવે તારી આંખો ઊંચી કરીને આ જે બહાર આવે છે તે શું છે, તે જો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ZEC.5.6" />મેં પૂછયું, “એ શું છે?” એટલે તેણે કહ્યું, “વસ્તુ જે બહાર આવે છે તે ટોપલી છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને તેણે કહ્યું, “આ દેશના લોકોના પાપોને માપવાનો ટોપલો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ZEC.5.7" />અને અચાનક ટોપલાં પરનું ભારે ઢાંકણ ઊંચું થયું તો ટોપલાની અંદર બેઠેલી એક સ્ત્રીને મેં જોઇ!
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<v id="8" bcv="ZEC.5.8" />અને પેલાં દેવદૂતે કહ્યું, “તે સ્ત્રી દુષ્ટતાનું પ્રતીક છે.” પછી તેણે તે સ્ત્રીને પાછી ટોપલામાં મૂકી દીધી અને સીસાનું ભારે ઢાંકણ બંદ કરી દીધું.
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<v id="9" bcv="ZEC.5.9" />પછી મેં ઉપર નજર કરી અને બે સ્ત્રીઓને આગળ આવતી જોઇ તેમને બગલાના જેવી પાંખો હતી. તેઓની પાંખોથી તેઓ હવામાં ઊડી. જમીન અને આકાશની વચ્ચે તેઓએ મોટો ટોપલો ઉંચકયો હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="ZEC.5.10" />પછી મેં મારી સાથે વાત કરનાર દેવદૂતને પૂછયું, “એ લોકો ટોપલો ક્યાં લઇ જાય છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ZEC.5.11" />તેણે જવાબ આપ્યો, “તેઓ તેને બેબિલોન લઇ જશે અને તેની આરાધના કરવાને મંદિર બાંધશે, અને જ્યારે તે તૈયાર થશે ત્યારે એ લોકો ટોપલાને એને સ્થાને ગોઠવી દેશે.”
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</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">ચાર રથોનું દર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.6.1" />પછી મેં ફરીથી નજર ઊંચે કરીને જોયું, તો ચાર રથોને બે પર્વતો વચ્ચેથી બહાર આવતા જોયા. એ પર્વતો કાંસાના હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="ZEC.6.2" />પહેલા રથના ઘોડા રાતા હતા, બીજાના કાળા હતા,
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<v id="3" bcv="ZEC.6.3" />ત્રીજાના સફેદ હતા અને ચોથાના ટપકાં ટપકાંવાળા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="ZEC.6.4" />પછી મેં મારી સાથે વાત કરનાર દેવદૂતને પૂછયું, “અને આ શું છે મુરબ્બી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ZEC.6.5" />તે દેવદૂતે મને જવાબ આપ્યો, “આ ચાર રથો સમગ્ર પૃથ્વીના યહોવા સમક્ષ ઊભા રહે છે. આ ચારે સ્વર્ગના દિવ્ય વાયુઓ છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ZEC.6.6" />કાળા ઘોડાથી ખેંચેલો રથ ઉત્તર તરફ જશે, સફેદ ઘોડાથી ખેંચેલો રથ તેમની પાછળ જશે. અને ટપકાંવાળા ઘોડાથી ખેંચેલો રથ દક્ષિણમાં જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ZEC.6.7" />પૃથ્વી પર સર્વત્ર ફરવા માટે લાલ ઘોડા અધીરા થઇ રહ્યાં હતા, તેથી યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “જાઓ, પૃથ્વીમાં સર્વત્ર ફરો.” આથી તેઓ એકદમ ત્યાં જવાને નીકળ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ZEC.6.8" />અને યહોવાએ મને બોલાવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “જેઓ ઉત્તરમાં ગયા છે તેઓએ ત્યાં મારા ન્યાય ચુકાદાનો અમલ કર્યો છે, અને મારા ગુસ્સાને શાંત પાડ્યો છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">યાજક યહોશુઆને મુગટ મળે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ZEC.6.9" />મેં યહોવાનો સંદેશો સાંભળ્યો જે નીચે પ્રમાણે છે;
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<v id="10" bcv="ZEC.6.10" />“બાબિલથી હેલ્દાય, ટોબિયા અને યદાયામાં યહૂદી બંદીવાનોએ આણેલી ભેટસોગાદો લઇ તે જ દિવસે તું સફાન્યાના પુત્ર યોશિયાને ઘેર જા.
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<v id="11" bcv="ZEC.6.11" />અને તેણે આપેલાં ચાંદી અને સોનું લઇ એક મુગટ ઘડાવી તે મુખ્યયાજક યહોસાદાકના પુત્ર યહોશુઆના માથે મૂકજે.
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<v id="12" bcv="ZEC.6.12" />અને તેને કહેજે કે, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના આ વચન છે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘આ રહ્યો એ માણસ જેનું નામ ‘શાખા’ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ જ્યાં છે ત્યાં ફૂલશેફાલશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને યહોવાનું મંદિર ફરી બંધાવશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ZEC.6.13" />એ જ યહોવાનું મંદિર ફરી બંધાવશે, કીતિર્ પામશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના રાજ્યાસન પર બેસશે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને રાજવી અધિકારથી અમલ ચલાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના રાજસિંહાસનની બાજુમાં તેને મદદગાર તરીકે
</q>
<q style="q1">અને શાંતિથી સાથે કામ કરવા યાજક ઊભા રહેશે.’
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="14" bcv="ZEC.6.14" />પછી એ મુગટ હેલ્દાય, ટોબિયા, યદાયા અને સફાન્યાના પુત્ર હેનની યાદગીરી તરીકે યહોવાના મંદિરમાં રહેશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ZEC.6.15" />દૂરદૂરથી માણસો આવીને યહોવાનું મંદિર બાંધવામાં મદદ કરશે, અને ત્યારે તમને ખાતરી થશે કે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાએ મને તમારી પાસે મોકલ્યો છે. જો તમે તમારા દેવ યહોવાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરશો તો આ બધું સાચું પડશે.
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</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">યહોવાની દયા અને કરૂણા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.7.1" />રાજા દાર્યાવેશના અમલના ચોથા વર્ષના એટલે કે કિસ્લેવ મહિનાની ચોથી તારીખે ઝખાર્યાને યહોવાની વાણી સંભળાઇ.
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<v id="2" bcv="ZEC.7.2" />હવે બેથેલ નગરના યહૂદી લોકોએ રાજાના મુખ્ય વહીવટી અધિકારી શારએસેર અને રેગમ-મેલેખની આગેવાની હેઠળ એક પ્રતિનિધિમંડળ યરૂશાલેમમાં મોકલ્યું કે તેઓ યહોવાની કૃપા માટે વિનંતી કરે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ZEC.7.3" />અને તેમના મંદિરના યાજકોને અને પ્રબોધકોને એવું પુછવા માટે મોકલ્યા હતા કે, “અમે ઘણા વર્ષથી કરતા આવ્યા છીએ તે પ્રમાણે પાંચમાં મહિને મંદિરના થયેલા વિનાશ માટે શોક પાળવો અને ઉપવાસ કરવો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ZEC.7.4" />ત્યારે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાનું વચન મારી પાસે આવ્યું;
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<v id="5" bcv="ZEC.7.5" />“જ્યારે તમે બેથેલ પાછા ફરશો ત્યારે તમારા સર્વ લોકોને અને તમારા યાજકોને કહો, બંદીવાસનાં સિત્તેર વર્ષ દરમ્યાન તમે ઓગષ્ટ અને ઓકટોબર મહિનામાં ઉપવાસ કરતા હતા. અને શોક પાળતા હતા ત્યારે શું તમે તમારા પાપોનો ત્યાગ કરીને મારી તરફ પાછા ફરવામાં પ્રામાણિક હતા? ના, તમે તેમ કર્યું નહોતું.
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<v id="6" bcv="ZEC.7.6" />અને જ્યારે તમે ખાઓ છો અને પીઓ છો ત્યારે તમે તમારે પોતાને માટે જ ખાતાપીતા નથી?
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<v id="7" bcv="ZEC.7.7" />જ્યારે યરૂશાલેમ અને તેની આસપાસના નગરો વસેલાં અને શાંતિમાં હતા અને દક્ષિણમાં નીચાણના પ્રદેશ વસ્તીવાળા હતા. ત્યારે પહેલાના પ્રબોધકો મારફતે યહોવાએ આ જ ઘોષણા નહોતી કરી?”
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ZEC.7.8" />યહોવાની વાણી ઝખાર્યાને આ મુજબ સંભળાઇ:
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ZEC.7.9" />“સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">‘સાચો ન્યાય આપો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એકબીજા પ્રત્યે દયા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને કરૂણા દર્શાવો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ZEC.7.10" />તેઓને જણાવો કે વિધવાઓ, અનાથો, વિદેશીઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ગરીબ લોકો પર જુલમ કરવાનું બંધ કરે.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તમારામાંનો કોઇ મનમાં પણ પોતાના ભાઇનું ખોટૂ ન વિચારે.’”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ZEC.7.11" />તમારા પિતૃઓએ તેમને સાંભળવાનો ઇન્કાર કર્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ હઠીલા થઇને દૂર ગયા
</q>
<q style="q1">અને મારું વચન ન સાંભળવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓએ તેઓની આંગળીઓ પોતાના કાનમાં ખોસી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ZEC.7.12" />સૈન્યોનો દેવે પવિત્ર આત્મા દ્વારા અગાઉના
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રબોધકોને પ્રેરણા કરી કે તેઓ દેવનાં વચનો
</q>
<q style="q1">અને નિયમશાસ્ત્ર લોકોની આગળ પ્રગટ કરે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તે લોકોએ પોતાના હૃદય વજ્ર જેવા કઠોર બનાવી દીધાં,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી પહેલાના પ્રબોધકો મારફતે નિયમો અને સંદેશા સાંભળવા ન પડે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી એમના પર સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાનો ભયંકર કોપ ઉતર્યો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ZEC.7.13" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">“મેં તેઓને જ્યારે બોલાવ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેમણે નહોતું સાંભળ્યું;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમ તેઓએ જ્યારે મને બોલાવ્યો
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<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે મેં પણ ન સાંભળ્યું.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ZEC.7.14" />અને મેં તેમને વંટોળિયાની જેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અજ્ઞાત પ્રજાઓમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખ્યાં.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેમના પાપે તેઓ જે ભૂમિ છોડીને ગયા હતા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ઉજ્જડ થઇ ગઇ, ત્યાં કોઇની અવરજવર ન રહી.
</q>
<q style="q1">એ રમણીય પ્રદેશ વેરાન થઇ ગયો.”
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</q>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ આશીર્વાદિત થશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.8.1" />ફરીથી સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાની વાણી આ પ્રમાણે સંભળાઇ:
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<v id="2" bcv="ZEC.8.2" />“મને યરૂશાલેમ પ્રત્યે એકનિષ્ઠ પ્રેમ છે, અને તેથી હું ખૂબ રોષે ભરાયો છું.
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<v id="3" bcv="ZEC.8.3" />હવે યહોવા આ પ્રમાણે કહે છે; હું સિયોનમાં પાછો આવ્યો છું. અને હું યરૂશાલેમમાં રહીશ અને યરૂશાલેમ ‘સત્યનું નગર કહેવાશે’ અને સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાનો ‘પવિત્રપર્વત’ કહેવાશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ZEC.8.4" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “યરૂશાલેમમાં ફરીથી તેની શેરીઓમાં વૃદ્ધ પુરૂષો અને સ્ત્રીઓ ચાલશે તેઓને ચાલવા માટે લાકડીની જરૂર પડશે, કારણ કે તેઓ લાંબો સમય જીવશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ZEC.8.5" />રમતાં છોકરાઓ અને છોકરીઓથી નગરની શેરીઓ ભરાઇ જશે.”
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<v id="6" bcv="ZEC.8.6" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે; “જો પ્રજાના બચેલા લોકોને એમ લાગે કે આ આ અદૃભૂત છે, તો મને પણ એમ લાગે છે કે તે અદ્ભૂત છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ZEC.8.7" />જુઓ, સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “હું મારા લોકોને પૂર્વના તથા પશ્ચિમના દેશમાંથી બચાવી લાવીશ;
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<v id="8" bcv="ZEC.8.8" />યરૂશાલેમમાં શાંતિથી રહેવા માટે હું તેઓને ફરી પાછા ઘરે લાવીશ. તેઓ મારી પ્રજા થશે અને હું તેઓનો સત્યથી તથા ન્યાયી દેવ થઇશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ZEC.8.9" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “હિંમત રાખો! મારા મંદિરનો પાયો નંખાયો અને બાંધકામ શરૂ થયું ત્યારે હાજર હતા તે પ્રબોધકોને મુખેથી તમે જે વચનો સાંભળ્યાં હતા તે આજે પણ પાળો છો.
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<v id="10" bcv="ZEC.8.10" />તે સમય પહેલાં કોઇ માણસને કે પશુને મજૂરીએ રાખી શકાતું નહોતું. અને શત્રુની બીકે કોઇ સહીસલામત રીતે હરીફરી શકતું નહોતું. મેં માણસોને એકબીજાના દુશ્મન બનાવી દીધા હતા.
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<v id="11" bcv="ZEC.8.11" />પણ હવે હું એ લોકોમાંના બચવા પામેલા માણસો સાથે પહેલાની જેમ નહિ વર્તું.” એવુ યહોવા કહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ZEC.8.12" />“હવે હું તમારી મધ્યે શાંતિ અને સમૃદ્ધિ લાવીશ. તમારાં ખેતરોમાં વધારે અનાજ પાકશે, દ્રાક્ષાવેલાઓ દ્રાક્ષાથી લચી પડશે. ઘણાં વરસાદને લીધે જમીન વધારે ફળદ્રુપ થશે. આ સર્વ આશીર્વાદો બાકી રહેલા લોકોને આપવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="ZEC.8.13" />હે યહૂદિયા અને ઇસ્રાએલના વંશજો અત્યાર સુધી વિદેશી પ્રજાઓ શાપ દેવા માટે તમારા નામનો ઉપયોગ કરતી હતી, પણ હવે હું તમને ઉગારી લઇશ, અને તમારા નામ આશીર્વાદ આપવામાં વપરાશે. ડરશો નહિ. હિંમત રાખો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ZEC.8.14" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “તમારા પિતૃઓએ મને ગુસ્સે કર્યો એ માટે તેઓ પર મેં દયા દર્શાવી નહિ, તેથી મેં તેઓને નુકસાન પહોંચાડવાની યોજના ઘડી હતી.
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<v id="15" bcv="ZEC.8.15" />પણ હવે અત્યારે યરૂશાલેમનું અને યહૂદિયાના વંશજોનું ફરી ભલું કરવાનું ધાર્યુ છે; માટે ડરશો નહિ,
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<v id="16" bcv="ZEC.8.16" />તમારે આટલું કરવાનું છે; એકબીજા સાથે સાચું બોલો, અને અદાલતમાં ખરો ન્યાય કરો અને શાંતિ જાળવો.
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<v id="17" bcv="ZEC.8.17" />બીજાઓને નુકસાન કરવાની યોજનાઓ કરશો નહિ; અને કદી કોઇ જૂઠા સમ ખાવા નહિ; કારણ હું આ સર્વ કૃત્યોને ધિક્કારું છું,” એવું યહોવા કહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ZEC.8.18" />મને સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાની વાણી આ મુજબ સંભળાઇ;
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<v id="19" bcv="ZEC.8.19" />“ચોથા, પાંચમા, સાતમા અને દશમા મહિનામાં તમે શોક પાળો છો પણ તમે યહૂદિયાના વંશજોએ સત્ય અને શાંતિ પર પ્રેમ રાખવો જોઇએ; તો આ બધા સુખ અને આનંદોના પવોર્ બની જશે.”
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ZEC.8.20" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા એમ કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">“અન્ય લોકો અને મહાનગરોના વતનીઓ પણ યરૂશાલેમ આવશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ZEC.8.21" />એક નગરના લોકો જઇને બીજા નગરના લોકોને કહેશે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘ચાલો આપણે જઇને યહોવાને પ્રાથીર્એ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાનું શરણું સ્વીકારીએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે તો આ ચાલ્યા!’”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ZEC.8.22" />હા, ઘણી પ્રજાઓ અને બળવાન રાષ્ટો સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાની શોધ કરવા યરૂશાલેમમાં આવશે અને તેમની કૃપા અને મદદ માટે વિનંતી કરશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="ZEC.8.23" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા એમ કહે છે, “તે સમયે જુદા જુદા રાષ્ટોના દશ માણસો એક જ યહૂદીનો ઝભ્ભો પકડશે અને કહેશે, અમને તમારી સાથે આવવા દો, કારણ, ‘અમે સાંભળ્યું છે કે દેવ તમારી સાથે છે!’”
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">ઇસ્રાએલના પડોશીઓનું પતન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.9.1" />યહોવાએ વચનરૂપી દેવવાણી હાદ્રાખ દેશ તથા દમસ્કની વિરુદ્ધ આપી છે. ઇસ્રાએલના કુળસમૂહ જ એક માત્ર દેવને જાણનાર નથી. દરેક જણ મદદ માટે તેની તરફ જાય છે.<f caller="+"><fr>9:1
</fr><fk>યહોવા … જાય છે
</fk><ft>હિબ્રૂમાં આ પદ સમજવાનું મુશ્કેલ છે.</ft></f>
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<v id="2" bcv="ZEC.9.2" />અને એની સરહદે આવેલું હમાથ પણ એનું જ છે. તૂર અને સિદોન પણ ગમે તેટલાં ચતુર હોય તોય એનાં જ છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ZEC.9.3" />તૂરે પોતાને માટે કિલ્લો બાંધ્યો છે, તેણે સોનાચાંદીને ધૂળની જેમ અને શેરી પરની માટીની જેમ ખૂબજ ભેગા કર્યા છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="ZEC.9.4" />પણ યહોવા તેનો કબજો લેશે, તેની બધી સંપત્તિ દરિયામાં ડુબાડી દેશે અને એ શહેર સુદ્ધાંને આગ ભરખી જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ZEC.9.5" />આશ્કલોન તે જોઇને થથરી જશે, ગાઝા પણ ભયથી ફફડશે, અને એક્રોનની આશાઓ ખોટી પડશે. ગાઝામાં રાજા નહિ રહે અને આશ્કલોન નિર્જન થઇ જશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ZEC.9.6" />આશ્દોદમાં વર્ણસંકર પ્રજા વસશે, યહોવા કહે છે, “હું પલિસ્તીઓનો ગર્વ ઉતારીશ.
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<v id="7" bcv="ZEC.9.7" />હું તેમને લોહીવાળું માંસ કે બીજા નિષિદ્ધ પદાથોર્ ખાતાં બંધ કરીશ. એ લોકોમાંથી જેઓ બચવા પામશે તેઓ મારી પ્રજા બની જશે અને યહૂદિયાની એક કોમ જેવા થઇ જશે. અને એક્રોનના લોકો યબૂસીઓની જેમ મારા લોકોમાં ભળી જશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="ZEC.9.8" />ઇસ્રાએલમાં હુમલાખોરોને આવતા રોકવા માટે મારા મંદિરની ચારે બાજુ હું રક્ષણ કરીશ અને હું તેઓને દૂર રાખીશ; હું નજીકથી તેઓની હિલચાલ પર નજર રાખીશ. ફરીથી કોઇ વિદેશી જુલમગાર મારા લોકોની ભૂમિ ઉપર આક્રમણ કરશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ભવિષ્યનો રાજા
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="ZEC.9.9" />સિયોનના લોકો, આનંદોત્સવ મનાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હે યરૂશાલેમના લોકો, હર્ષનાદ કરો! કારણ, જુઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">તમારો રાજા તમારી પાસે આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વિજયવંત થઇને આવે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ નમ્રપણે, ગધેડા પર સવારી કરીને, ખોલકાને-ગધેડીના બચ્ચાને વાહન બનાવીને આવે છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ZEC.9.10" />તે એફ્રાઇમ અને યરૂશાલેમમાં યુદ્ધના રથોને,
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<q level="2" style="q2">અશ્વોને અને શસ્ત્રોનો નાશ કરશે.
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">સમગ્ર પ્રજાઓમાં તે શાંતિ સ્થાપશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેનું રાજ્ય સાગરથી સાગર સુધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફ્રાતનદીથી પૃથ્વીના છેડા સુધી વિસ્તરશે.
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<s style="s">યહોવા પોતાના લોકોની રક્ષા કરશે
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ZEC.9.11" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તમારી સાથે લોહીથી કરેલા કરાર મુજબ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દેશવટો ભોગવતા તમારા ભાઇઓને કારાવાસની ગર્તામાંથી મુકત કરું છું.
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<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ZEC.9.12" />તમે સઘળા બંદીવાનો, સુરક્ષિત જગ્યાએ આવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હજુ પણ આશા છે, હું આજે તમને કહું છું કે,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તમને તમે ભોગવેલાં કષ્ટો કરતા
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<q level="2" style="q2">બેવડા આશીર્વાદ આપીશ.
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<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ZEC.9.13" />ગ્રીસના લશ્કર સામે લડવા માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહૂદિયા મારું ધનુષ થશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">ઇસ્રાએલ મારું તીર થશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સિયોન પુત્રો મારી વીંઝાતી તરવાર થશે.”
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<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ZEC.9.14" />યહોવા તેઓને દેખાશે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના તીર વીજળીની જેમ પ્રહાર કરશે;
</q>
<q style="q1">યહોવા મારા પ્રભુ, રણશિંગું વગાડશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દક્ષિણમાં વંટોળિયાની જેમ યહોવા તેમના શત્રુઓની સામે જશે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ZEC.9.15" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા તેમની ઢાલ થશે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ દુશ્મનોને પથ્થરથી નાશ કરી નાખશે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ લોહી દ્રાક્ષારસની જેમ પીશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓ વેદીના ખૂણાઓ પરના પ્યાલાઓમાંથી જેવી રીતે રેડાય છે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તેવી રીતે લોહી રેલાવશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ZEC.9.16" />તે સમયે તેમનો દેવ યહોવા કોઇ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભરવાડ ઘેટાંને બચાવી લે તેમ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પોતાના લોકોને તે ઉગારી લેશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓ રાજમુગુટમાં જડેલાં રત્નોની
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમ પોતાના સમગ્ર પ્રદેશમાં ઝગમગશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ZEC.9.17" />શી તેમની સંપત્તિ! શું તેમનું સૌભાગ્ય!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મબલખ અનાજ અને દ્રાક્ષારસ ઉપર
</q>
<q style="q1">ત્યાંના યુવક-યુવતીઓ અલમસ્ત રહીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સુખસમૃદ્ધિ અને આનંદ પામશે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">યહોવાની પ્રતિક્ષા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.10.1" />વસંતઋતુમાં વરસાદ માટે યહોવાને પોકારો. તે યહોવા છે જે વાદળો અને વરસાદને મોકલે છે અને દરેક માણસના ખેતરમાં લીલોતરી ઉગાડે છે;
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ZEC.10.2" />જ્યારે મૂર્તિઓ અર્થ વગરનું બોલે છે. અને જોષીઓ જૂઠા જોષ જુએ છે, સ્વપ્ન જોનારાઓ ખોટાં સ્વપ્નો વર્ણવે છે અને અવાસ્તવિક ભરોસો આપે છે, આથી લોકો બકરાઁની જેમ રખડે છે, તેઓ દુ:ખી છે કારણ, હુમલા સામે તેઓનું રક્ષણ કરનાર કોઇ પાળક નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ZEC.10.3" />યહોવા કહે છે, “મારો રોષ રાજકર્તાઓ વિરુદ્ધ સળગી ઊઠયો છે; તેઓએ મારી પ્રજાઓની સાથે જે રીતે વર્તણૂંક કરી છે તેને કારણે હું તેઓને સજા કરીશ.” હું સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા, મારા આશ્રિતો યહૂદિયાઓની સંભાળ લઇશ, અને તેઓને હું યુદ્ધના અશ્વો જેવા બનાવીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ZEC.10.4" />“તેઓમાંથી જ ખૂણાનો મુખ્ય પથ્થર, તમામ આશાઓનો આધાર જેના પર છે તે ખીલો, યુદ્ધને જીતનાર ધનુષ્ય, અને દરેક રાજ્યકર્તા પ્રગટ થશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ZEC.10.5" />દેવની સહાયથી તેઓ બળવાન યોદ્ધાઓ થશે અને દુશ્મનોને રસ્તાના કાદવમાં કચડી નાખશે. યહોવા તેમની સાથે છે. તેઓ શત્રુઓના સૈનિકોને હરાવી દેશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ZEC.10.6" />હું યહૂદિયાના લોકોને બળવાન બનાવીશ અને ઇસ્રાએલના લોકોને પણ ઉગારી લઇશ. મને તેમના પર દયા આવે છે, માટે હું તેમને પાછા લાવીશ અને કોણ જાણે કેમ મેં તેમનો ત્યાગ જ ન કર્યો હોય એવી તેમની સ્થિતિ હશે, કારણ, હું યહોવા, તેમનો દેવ છું અને તેમની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળીશ.
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<v id="7" bcv="ZEC.10.7" />ઇસ્રાએલના લોકો બળવાન યોદ્ધા જેવા બની જશે અને તેમનાં હૃદય દ્રાક્ષારસ પીધો હોય એમ આનંદમાં આવી જશે. તેમના વંશજો તે જોઇને ખુશ થશે અને મારી કૃપા યાદ કરીને તેમનાં હૃદય હરખાશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ZEC.10.8" />“હું તેમને સીટી વગાડીને સંકેત કરીશ અને તેઓને સાથે ભેગા થવા માટે બોલાવીશ. અને તેઓની સંખ્યાં વધીને પહેલાનાં જેટલી થશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ZEC.10.9" />મેં તેમને જુદી જુદી પ્રજાઓમાં વેરવિખેર કરી નાખ્યાં છે છતાં દૂરદૂરના દેશોમાં તેઓ મને સંભારશે. અને તેઓ પોતાનાં બાળકો સાથે જીવતાં પાછા આવશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="ZEC.10.10" />હું મિસરમાંથી અને આશ્શૂરમાંથી તેમને પાછા લાવી ઘરભેગાં કરીશ; હું તેમને ગિલયાદ તથા લબાનોનની ભૂમિમાં લાવીશ; અને ત્યાં પણ તેઓ એટલા બધા હશે કે ત્યાં પૂરતી જગ્યા નહિ હોય.
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<v id="11" bcv="ZEC.10.11" />તેઓ આફતના દરિયામાંથી સલામત પાર ઉતરશે. કારણ, મોજાઓને રોકી રાખવામાં આવશે. નાઇલ નદી સૂકાઇ જશે, આશ્શૂરનો ગર્વ ઉતારવામાં આવશે અને મારા લોક પરના મિસરના શાસનનો અંત આવશે.”
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<v id="12" bcv="ZEC.10.12" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હું મારા લોકને મારા સાર્મથ્યથી બળવાન કરીશ, અને તેઓ મારે નામે આગળ વધશે.” આ યહોવાના વચન છે.
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</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">જુલ્મી લોકોનો વિનાશ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.11.1" />હે લબાનોન તારા દરવાજા ઉઘાડી નાખ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી આગ ત્યાં દેવદારોને સ્વાહા કરી જાય!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="ZEC.11.2" />હે સરૂના વૃક્ષ, વિલાપ કરો, કારણ, દેવદારવૃક્ષ પડી ગયું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મજબૂત વૃક્ષો ઊંચકીને લઇ જવામાં આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">બાશાનનાઁ ઓકવૃક્ષો વિલાપ કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ, ગાઢ જંગલ ખાલી થઇ ગયું છે!
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<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="ZEC.11.3" />ઇસ્રાએલના ઘેટાંપાળકોની પોકનો અવાજ સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ તેમનો વૈભવ નષ્ટ થયો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">સિંહના બચ્ચાંની ગર્જનાનો અવાજ સાંભળો કારણ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યર્દનની ખીણમાંથી જંગલ જેવી ગીચ જાડી નષ્ટ થઇ છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ZEC.11.4" />પછી યહોવા મારા દેવે મને કહ્યું, “જા, અને કસાઇને ત્યાં વધ કરવા માટે લઇ જવા ખવડાવીને પુષ્ટ કરેલા ઘેટાંનો તું હવે પાળક બન.
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<v id="5" bcv="ZEC.11.5" />તેઓના નેતાઓ ઘેટાંને ખરીદનારા વેપારી જેવા છે, તેમના વધ કરે છે અને છતાં તેમને દોષિત હોવાની લાગણી થતી નથી, અને તેને વેચનારા કહે છે કે, ‘યહોવાનો આભાર હું ધનવાન બન્યો,’ તેમના પોતાના ભરવાડો પણ તેમના પર દયા બતાવતા નથી.”
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<v id="6" bcv="ZEC.11.6" />યહોવા કહે છે, “હું પણ તેઓને દયા દાખવીશ નહિ, હું તેઓને તેઓના પોતાના દુષ્ટ આગેવાનોના ફંદામાં પડવા દઇશ, અને મરવા દઇશ. તેઓ તેમની જમીનને અરણ્યમાં ફેરવી નાખશે અને હું તે જમીનનું તેઓથી રક્ષણ કરીશ નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ZEC.11.7" />ઘેટાંના વેપારીઓએ મને મજૂરીએ રાખ્યો. વધ થનારા ઘેટાઁઓના ટોળાને હું ચરાવવા લાગ્યો. મેં બે લાકડી લીધી. એકનું નામ મેં “કૃપા” પાડ્યું અને બીજીનું નામ “એકતા” પાડ્યું, અને ઘેટાંઓના ટોળાને ચરાવવાનું શરૂ કર્યું.
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<v id="8" bcv="ZEC.11.8" />એક મહિનામાં તો મેં ત્રણ ભરવાડોને રજા આપી, કારણ, મારી ધીરજ ખૂટી ગઇ હતી અને તેઓ પણ મને ધિક્કારતા હતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="ZEC.11.9" />તેથી મેં તેઓને કહ્યું, “હવેથી હું તમારો પાળક રહીશ નહિ, જે મરવાના છે તે ભલે મરતાં, જે નાશ પામવાના છે તે ભલે નાશ પામતાં, જે બાકી રહે તે ભલે એકબીજાને ખાઇ જતાં.”
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<v id="10" bcv="ZEC.11.10" />પછી મેં મારી “કૃપા” નામની લાકડી લઇને તેના બે ટુકડા કર્યા. અને બધી પ્રજાઓ સાથે જે કરાર કર્યો હતો તે તોડી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="ZEC.11.11" />આમ, તે દિવસે તે કરારને રદ કરવામાં આવ્યો અને ઘેટાંના જે વેપારીઓ મારા પર નજર રાખી રહ્યાં હતા તેઓ સમજી ગયા કે એ યહોવાનો સંદેશો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ZEC.11.12" />પછી મેં તેઓના આગેવાનોને કહ્યું, “જો તમને યોગ્ય લાગતું હોય તો તમે મને મારી મજૂરી આપો. નહિ તો રહેવા દો.” અને તેમણે મને મજૂરી લેખે ચાંદીની ત્રીસ મહોર આપી.
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<v id="13" bcv="ZEC.11.13" />પછી મને યહોવાએ કહ્યું, “તેથી આ રીતે તેઓએ તારું મોટું મૂલ્ય આંક્યું છે. તે નાણાંની મોટી રકમ તું મંદિરના ખજાનામાં નાખી દે.” તેથી મેં તે ત્રીસ સિક્કા લઇને યહોવાના મંદિરનાં ખજાનામાં નાખી દીધાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="ZEC.11.14" />પછી મેં મારી બીજી લાકડી “એકતા” ને ભાંગી નાખી, એમ સૂચવવા કે યહૂદિયા અને ઇસ્રાએલ વચ્ચે એકતા તૂટી ગઇ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ZEC.11.15" />પછી યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “તું ફરીથી પાળકની જવાબદારી લઇ લે, આ વખતે મારે નકામા અને દુષ્ટ પાળક તરીકે ભાગ ભજવવાનો હતો.”
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<v id="16" bcv="ZEC.11.16" />યહોવાએ મને કહ્યું, “આ વખતે હું આ ઢોરના ટોળાઓને એવો પાળક આપીશ કે જે ખોવાયેલાઓને શોધશે નહિ, ઘેટાંઓની સંભાળ રાખશે નહિ, માંદા થયેલાઓને સાજા કરશે નહિ, કે પુષ્ટોને ખાવાનું આપશે નહિ, પરંતુ ચરબી યુકતોને તે પૂરેપૂરા ખાઇ જશે.”
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ZEC.11.17" />એ ઘેટાંને છોડી જનાર
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નકામા પાળકને ચિંતા!
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવની તરવાર તેની જમણી આંખ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના હાથ પર ઘા કરો!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો હાથ સૂકાઇ જાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેની જમણી આંખ આંધળી થઇ જાઓ.
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</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">શત્રુઓનો વિનાશ-યરૂશાલેમનો ઉદ્ધાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.12.1" />ઇસ્રાએલને લગતી દેવ વાણી, આકાશને ફેલાવનાર અને પૃથ્વીને સ્થિર કરનાર તથા માણસની અંદર જીવ પૂરનાર યહોવાના આ વચન છે:
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<v id="2" bcv="ZEC.12.2" />“હું યરૂશાલેમને પડોશી પ્રજાઓ માટે કેફી પ્યાલા જેવો બનાવીશ કે જે નગર પર હુમલો કરશે, તેઓ પણ યહૂદિયા પર હુમલો કરશે. તેઓ યહૂદિયાને પણ ઘેરો ઘાલશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ZEC.12.3" />તે દિવસે હું યરૂશાલેમને બધી પ્રજાઓ માટે ભારે શિલારૂપ બનાવી દઇશ. જે કોઇ તેને ઉપાડવા જશે તે ભયંકર રીતે ઘવાશે. પૃથ્વી ઉપરની બધી પ્રજાઓ ભેગી થઇને તેનો સામનો કરશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="ZEC.12.4" />તે દિવસ તેની સામે થનાર સૈન્યોને હું મૂંઝવી નાખીશ અને તેઓને મૂર્ખા બનાવીશ. કેમ કે હું યહૂદિયાના લોકો પર મારી નજર રાખીશ. પણ તેના દુશ્મનોને આંધળા કરી નાખીશ.
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<v id="5" bcv="ZEC.12.5" />અને યહૂદિયાના કુળના સરદારો લોકોને પ્રોત્સાહન આપશે તેઓ કહેશે, ‘સૈન્યોનો યહોવા તમારા દેવ છે જેણે આપણને પ્રબળ કર્યા છે.’
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<v id="6" bcv="ZEC.12.6" />તે દિવસે હું યહૂદિયાના આગેવાનોને વનમાં આગ લગાડનાર ચિંગારી સમાન અને ઘાસની ગંજીને આગ ચાંપનાર મશાલ સમાન બનાવીશ. તે જમણી અને ડાબી બાજુના પડોશી દેશોને બાળી નાખશે પણ યરૂશાલેમ અડગ રહેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ZEC.12.7" />યહોવા, પહેલાં યહૂદિયાના ગામોને વિજયી બનાવશે, તે બતાવવા કે દાઉદનું કુળ અને યરૂશાલેમ યહૂદિયાના બીજા લોકો કરતા ચડિયાતા નથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="ZEC.12.8" />તે દિવસે હું યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓનું રક્ષણ કરીશ, જેથી તેઓમાંનો નબળામાં નબળો માણસ પણ દાઉદ જેવો બળવાન બની જશે. અને દાઉદના કુટુંબો દેવની જેમ, યહોવાના દૂતની જેમ તેમની આગળ હશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ZEC.12.9" />“તે દિવસે હું યરૂશાલેમની સામે ચઢી આવનાર બધી પ્રજાઓનો નાશ કરનાર છું.
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<v id="10" bcv="ZEC.12.10" />પછી હું દાઉદના અને યરૂશાલેમના વતનીઓમાં તે દિવસે કરૂણા અને પ્રાર્થનાની ભાવના જગાડીશ, અને તેઓએ જેમને રહેંસી નાખ્યા છે તેના માટે શોક કરશે જેવી રીતે જેઓ પોતાના એક જ સંતાન માટે શોક કરે છે, જેવી રીતે જેઓ પોતાના પહેલા બાળક માટે રડે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="ZEC.12.11" />અને મગિદોનની ખીણમાં હદાદરિમ્મોનના વિચારના જેવા ભારે વિચાર તે દિવસે યરૂશાલેમમાં થશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="ZEC.12.12" />દેશનાં સર્વ કુળો એકબીજાથી જુદા પડી જશે અને શોક કરશે. દાઉદના વંશજોના પુરુષો અલગ શોક પાળશે, અને તેમની પત્નીઓ અલગ શોક પાળશે; નાથાનના વંશજોના પુરુષો અલગ શોક પાળશે અને તેમની પત્નીઓ અલગ શોક પાળશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="ZEC.12.13" />લેવીના કુટુંબના પુરુષો અલગ શોક પાળશે અને તેમની પત્નીઓ અલગ શોક પાળશે; શિમઇના કુટુંબના પુરુષો અલગ શોક પાળશે; અને તેમની પત્નીઓ અલગ શોક પાળશે;
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<v id="14" bcv="ZEC.12.14" />અને બાકીના બધા કુટુંબોના પુરુષો અલગ શોક પાળશે અને તેમની પત્નીઓ અલગ શોક પાળશે.”
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</p>

<c id="13" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.13.1" />તે સમય દરમ્યાન ઇસ્રાએલ અને યરૂશાલેમ માટે એક ઝરણું વહેવડાવામાં આવશે કે જે તેઓના પાપો અને અશુદ્ધતા ધોઇ નાખશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">કોઇ પણ જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો નહિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ZEC.13.2" />“અને તે દિવસે હું દેશમાંથી મૂર્તિઓનું નામોનિશાન સંપૂર્ણપણે મિટાવી દઇશ. મૂર્તિઓને કોઇ યાદ નહિ કરે. પ્રત્યેક જૂઠા પ્રબોધક અને અશુદ્ધ આત્માને દૂર કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ZEC.13.3" />એ પછી જો કોઇ પ્રબોધકની જેમ વર્તશે તો તેને જન્મ આપનારા તેના માબાપ તેને કહેશે કે, તને જીવવાનો અધિકાર નથી, કારણ, ‘તું યહોવાને નામે જૂઠું બોલે છે.’ અને પ્રબોધક તરીકે વર્તવા માટે તેને જન્મ આપનારા તેના માબાપ જ તેને વીંધી નાખશે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ZEC.13.4" />તે દિવસે કોઇ પ્રબોધકને સંદર્શન થશે તો તે શરમાશે, અને લોકોને ઠગવા માટે પ્રબોધકનો પોશાક નહિ પહેરે,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ZEC.13.5" />અને તે કહેશે, ‘ના હું પ્રબોધક નથી, હું ખેડુત છું. મારી જુવાનીના સમયથી જ હું જમીન ઉપર ગુજારો કરતો આવ્યો છું.’
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ZEC.13.6" />અને તેને જો કોઇ એમ પૂછશે કે, ‘તારી છાતી પર આ ઘા શાના છે?’ તો તે કહેશે કે, ‘એ ઘા તો મને મારા મિત્રોના ઘરમાં પડ્યા હતા.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ZEC.13.7" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “હે તરવાર, મારા પાળક સામે, જે માણસ મારો સાથી છે તેની સામે ઘા કરવા તૈયાર થા. પાળક ઉપર ઘા કર. જેથી ઘેટાંઓ વેરવિખેર થઇ જાય. હું નાનાઓ ઉપર મારો હાથ ઉગામીશ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ZEC.13.8" />અને સમગ્ર ઇસ્રાએલ દેશની વસ્તીના બે તૃતીયાંશ લોકો સંહાર પામીને માર્યા જશે. પરંતુ એક તૃતીયાંશ બચી જશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ZEC.13.9" />અને, જો, એ ત્રીજા ભાગને હું પુષ્કળ મુસીબતોરૂપી અગ્નિમાં નાખી ચાંદીને શુદ્ધ કરે છે તેમ શુદ્ધ કરીશ, અને જેમ સોનાને ચકચકીત કરે છે. તેમ મારું નામ લઇને પોકાર કરશે, ને હું તેમને જવાબ આપીશ, હું કહીશ, ‘તમે મારા લોકો છો,’ અને તેઓ કહેશે કે, ‘યહોવા અમારા દેવ છે.’”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">નિર્ણયનો દિવસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ZEC.14.1" />જુઓ, યહોવાનો એક દિવસ આવશે, જ્યારે યરૂશાલેમમાંથી લીધેલી લૂંટ તમારા દેખતાં વહેંચી લેવાશે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ZEC.14.2" />કારણકે યહોવા બધી પ્રજાઓને યરૂશાલેમ સામે યુદ્ધે ચઢવા ભેગી કરશે, નગર કબજે કરવામાં આવશે. ઘરો લૂંટી લેવામાં આવશે અને સ્ત્રીઓને ષ્ટ કરવામાં આવશે; અડધું નગર દેશવટે જશે, પરંતુ બાકીના લોકો નગરમાં જ રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ZEC.14.3" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવા પોતે લડાઇને માટે સુસજ્જ થઇને તે દેશોની વિરુદ્ધ લડવા માટે જશે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ZEC.14.4" />તે દિવસે યહોવા યરૂશાલેમની પૂર્વમાં આવેલા જૈતૂનના પર્વત ઉપર ઊભા રહેશે, પછી એ જૈતૂન પર્વત પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધી બે ભાગમાં વહેચાંઇ જશે, અને વચ્ચે એક મોટી ખીણ થઇ જશે, અડધો પર્વત ઉત્તર તરફ હઠી જશે અને બાકીનો અડધો દક્ષિણ તરફ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ZEC.14.5" />તમે પર્વતોની વચ્ચેની ખીણમાં થઇને નાસી જશો. તમારા વડવાઓ યહૂદિયાના રાજા ઉઝિઝયાના અમલ દરમ્યાન ધરતીકંપ વખતે ભાગી ગયેલા જેવા તમે લાગશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ZEC.14.6" />ત્યારબાદ તમારા દેવ યહોવા પોતાની સાથે સર્વ પવિત્ર લોકોને લઇને આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ZEC.14.7" />તે દિવસે એ ખૂબ મહત્વનો દિવસ હશે, દિવસ પણ નહિ અને રાત પણ નહિ, ફકત યહોવા જ જાણે છે કે તે કેવી રીતે બનશે, સાંજે પણ અજવાળું હશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ZEC.14.8" />તે દિવસે યરૂશાલેમમાંથી ઝરણું વહેવા માંડશે; અડધું પૂર્વ સમુદ્રમાં જશે અને અડધું પશ્ચિમ સમુદ્રમાં જશે. એ ઉનાળામાં તેમ જ શિયાળામાં પણ સતત વહેતું જ રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ZEC.14.9" />પછી યહોવા આખી પૃથ્વી ઉપર રાજ્ય કરશે. તે વખતે યહોવા જ એક દેવ હશે અને તે એક જ નામે ઓળખાશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ZEC.14.10" />યરૂશાલેમની આસપાસનો સમગ્ર પ્રદેશ ઉત્તરમાં ગેબાના મેદાનથી તે દક્ષિણમાં રિમ્મોન સુધી સપાટ મેદાન થઇ જશે, પણ યરૂશાલેમ બિન્યામીનના દરવાજાથી ખૂણાના દરવાજા સુધી જ્યાં પહેલાં એક દરવાજો હતો, અને હનાનએલના બુરજથી તે રાજાના દ્રાક્ષ ગૂંદવાના કૂંડાઓ સુધી, પોતાની જગ્યાએ ઊંચું જ રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ZEC.14.11" />લોકો ત્યાં રહેવા માટે જશે. એના ઉપર પછી કદી શાપ ઉતરશે નહિ. યારૂશલેમ સહીસલામત રહેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ZEC.14.12" />યરૂશાલેમ સામે યુદ્ધે ચઢનાર બધી પ્રજાઓમાં યહોવા આવો એક રોગ ફેલાવશે; તેઓ ઊભા હશે ત્યાં જ તેમનું માંસ સડી જશે, તેમની આંખો તેમના ગોખલામાં સડી જશે, અને તેમની જીભ તેમના મોઢામાં જ સડી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ZEC.14.13" />તે વખતે યહોવા તેમને એવા તો ભયભીત તથા બેબાકળા બનાવી દેશે કે દરેક જણ પોતાની પાસેનાનો હાથ પકડી તેને મારવા લાગશે. તેઓ એકબીજા સાથે લડશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ZEC.14.14" />ત્યારે યહૂદિયા યરૂશાલેમની સામે થશે, આમ બનશે, જ્યારે બધી પ્રજાઓની સંપત્તિ, સોનું, ચાંદી અને કપડાં એકઠા કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ZEC.14.15" />આ મરકીનો રોગ દુશ્મનોની છાવણીના ઘોડા, ખચ્ચરો, ઊંટો, ગધેડાં અને બીજા બધા જ પ્રાણીઓને લાગુ પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ZEC.14.16" />ત્યારબાદ યરૂશાલેમ સામે યુદ્ધે ચઢેલી પ્રજાઓમાંથી બચવા પામેલા માણસો વષોર્વર્ષ યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરવા અને માંડવાપર્વ ઊજવવા યરૂશાલેમ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="ZEC.14.17" />અને પૃથ્વી પરની કોઇ પણ પ્રજા સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાની ઉપાસના કરવા ત્યાં જશે, નહિ તો તેના દેશમાં વરસાદ નહી વરસે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ZEC.14.18" />પરંતુ જો મિસરના લોકો યરૂશાલેમ જવા અને પ્રાર્થનામાં ભાગ લેવા ના પાડશે તો તેઓને મોત ભોગવવું પડશે. માંડવા પર્વની ઉજવણીમાં ભાગ ન લેવા માટે લોકો દુ:ખી થશે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ZEC.14.19" />મિસર અને બીજા સર્વ દેશો જેઓ માંડવાપર્વ ઊજવવા યરૂશાલેમ જવા ના પાડે છે, તેઓ સર્વને આ શિક્ષા કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ZEC.14.20" />તે દિવસે ઘોડાઓ પરની ઘંટડીઓ ઉપર લખેલું હશે,
<sc>યહોવાને સમપિર્ત</sc> અને યહોવાના મંદિરમાં સામાન્ય વાસણો વેદી આગળનાં વાસણો જેવા પવિત્ર હશે;
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ZEC.14.21" />અને યહૂદિયા અને યરૂશાલેમનું એકેએક વાસણ
<sc>સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાને માટે પવિત્ર થશે</sc>.
</p>
<p style="p">ભકિત કરવા આવનાર સૌ કોઇ બલિદાનને બાફવા માટે તેનો વિના મૂલ્યે ઉપયોગ કરી શકશે; અને તે વખતે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના મંદિરમાં કોઇ વેપારી નહિ હોય.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="MAL"><id id="MAL">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 2003-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>માલાખી
</h><toc level="1">માલાખી
</toc><toc level="2">માલાખી
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">માલાખી
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAL.1.1" />માલાખી પ્રબોધક દ્વારા ઇસ્રાએલી પ્રજાજોગ યહોવાએ મોકલેલાં વચન.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવ ઇસ્રાએલને પ્રેમ કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MAL.1.2" />યહોવા કહે છે કે, “મેં તમને પ્રેમ કર્યો છે,”
</p>
<p style="p">તેમ છતાં તમે પૂછો છો કે, “તમે અમને પ્રેમ કરો છો તે પ્રગટ થાય છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ત્યારે યહોવા જવાબ આપે છે, “એસાવ અને યાકૂબ ભાઇઓ હતા, પણ મેં યાકૂબ પર મારો પ્રેમ દર્શાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAL.1.3" />પણ એસાવનો મેં તિરસ્કાર કર્યો છે. મેં એસાવના પહાડી પ્રદેશને ઉજ્જડ બનાવી દીધો છે, અને તેના વતનને જંગલના પશુઓનો વાસ બનાવી દીધું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MAL.1.4" />જો અદોમના વારસદારો કહે, “અમે અમારા વિનાશ થઇ ગયેલાં સ્થાનોને ફરીથી બાંધીશું,”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “તમારી ઇચ્છા હોય તો તમે કરો, પણ હું ફરીથી તેનો નાશ કરીશ,” કારણકે તેઓની ભૂમિને “દુષ્ટતાનો દેશ” એવું નામ અપાયેલું છે અને ત્યાંના લોકોને યહોવા જેઓના પર હંમેશા કોપાયમાન રહે છે તેવા લોકો કહેવામાં આવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAL.1.5" />તમે તમારી નજરે તે જોવા પામશો, ને તમે પોતે જ કહેશો કે, “ઇસ્રાએલની સીમાને પાર પણ યહોવાનો પ્રતાપ પહોંચે છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લોકો દેવને સન્માન નથી આપતાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MAL.1.6" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા યાજકોને પૂછે છે, “પુત્ર પોતાના પિતાને માન આપે છે અને ગુલામ તેના ધણીથી ડરતો રહે છે. હે યાજકો, હું તમારો પિતા અને દેવ છું, છતાં તમે મને માન નથી આપતા, પણ મારા નામને ધિક્કારો છો.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને પછી પૂછો છો, “અમે તમારા નામને ધિક્કારીએ કેવી રીતે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAL.1.7" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તમે મારી વેદી પર અપવિત્ર અર્પણો અપોર્ છો અને પછી પૂછો છો, ‘અમે તમને શી રીતે ષ્ટ કર્યા?’
</p>
<p style="p">“કારણકે તમે એમ માની લીધું હતું કે, યહોવાની વેદીનું સન્માન થવું ન જોઇએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAL.1.8" />“આંધળા જાનવરની બલિ ચઢાવવામાં આવે તે ખોટું છે. જો કોઇ, લંગડા કે ખોડખાંપણવાળા કે રોગિષ્ટ જાનવરની બલિ ચઢાવવામાં આવે તો તે ખોટું છે. તમે જો એવી ભેટ કોઇ રાજકર્તાને માટે લાવો તો શું તે સ્વીકાર કરશે? શું તે તમારા પર પ્રસન્ન થશે?” આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MAL.1.9" />“તમે યાજકો યહોવાને રીઝવવાનો પ્રયત્ન તો કરી જુઓ! તમે કહો છો, યહોવા, અમારા પર દયા કરો; કૃપા કરો. પણ તમે આવાં જ અર્પણો લાવો પછી શા માટે તે તમારા પ્રત્યે ભલાઇ બતાવે?” આ સૈન્યોના દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAL.1.10" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “આવા ષ્ટ અર્પણો અર્પવા કરતાં તો મંદિરના બારણાં બંધ કરી દેવા અને અગ્નિ ન પ્રગટાવવો તે વધારે સારું હું તમારા પર જરાપણ પ્રસન્ન નથી. હું તમારા અર્પણો સ્વીકારીશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAL.1.11" />“મારું નામ પૂર્વથી પશ્ચિમ સુધી મહાન મનાય છે, અને સર્વ સ્થળે મારે નામે ધૂપ તથા પવિત્ર અર્પણ ચઢાવવામાં આવે છે. કારણકે સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે કે, સર્વ પ્રજાઓમાં મારા નામનો મહિમા છે.” આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MAL.1.12" />“પરંતુ યહોવાની યજ્ઞવેદી અપવિત્ર છે, અને તેનું ફળ, એટલે તેનું અન્ન તિરસ્કારપાત્ર છે એવું કહીને તમે તેનું અપમાન કરો છો. વળી બલિદાનો માટે બીમાર પ્રાણીઓને લાવવા તમે લોકોને ઉત્તેજન આપો છો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MAL.1.13" />અને પછી કહો છો, આ કેવું કંટાળાજનક છે! તમે અપંગ, લૂલાં કે રોગી પશુઓ બલિ તરીકે ચઢાવો તો હું તેનો સ્વીકાર કરું ખરો?” એમ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MAL.1.14" />“જેની પોતાની પાસે તંદુરસ્ત ઘેટો હોવા છતાં ખોડવાળું પ્રાણી માનતામાં બલિદાનમાં ચઢાવે છે તે ઠગને ધિક્કાર હો! હું રાજાધિરાજ છું, અને મારા નામથી તમામ પ્રજાઓ ડરે છે.” આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">યાજકો માટે નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAL.2.1" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “હે યાજકો, હવે આ આજ્ઞા તમારા માટે છે તે સાંભળો:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAL.2.2" />જો તમે તમારા માગોર્ નહિ બદલો અને મારા નામને મહિમા નહિ આપો તો હું તમને ભયંકર શિક્ષા મોકલીશ. હું તમને આશીર્વાદોને બદલે શાપ આપીશ. મેં તમને શાપ આપી જ દીધો છે, કારણકે મારી વાત તમે ધ્યાન પર લેતા નથી.” આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAL.2.3" />“હું તમારા વંશજોને સજા કરીશ, તમારા મોઢા પર તમારાં યજ્ઞના પશુઓનું છાણ નાખીશ, અને તેઓની સાથે તમને પણ બાળી નાખવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MAL.2.4" />ત્યારે તમને ખબર પડશે કે મેં આ ચેતવણી તમને આપી છે, જેથી લેવીવંશી યાજકો સાથેનો મારો કરાર રદ ન થાય.” આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAL.2.5" /><add>યહોવા કહે છે,</add> “તેની સાથેનો મારો કરાર જીવન તથા શાંતિ આપવાનો હતો. અને તે મેં આપ્યાં. તેમણે મારા પ્રત્યે આદરભાવ રાખવાનો હતો અને પહેલાં તેઓ મારા નામનો ડર રાખીને ચાલતા હતા પણ ખરા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MAL.2.6" />તેમનો ઉપદેશ સાચો હતો. અધર્મનો શબ્દ તેમના મુખમાંથી કદી નીકળ્યો ન હતો; તેઓ શાંતિ અને સત્યને માગેર્ મારી સાથે ચાલતા હતા અને ઘણાને પાપમાંથી પાછા વાળતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MAL.2.7" />એટલે માણસો તેમની પાસે ઉપદેશની અપેક્ષા રાખે છે. કારણકે તેમના હોંઠ ઉપર હર સમયે જ્ઞાન હોવું જોઇએ અને તેઓ તો સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના સંદેશાવાહક છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAL.2.8" />“પણ તમે માર્ગમાંથી ભટકી ગયા છો; તમે ઘણા લોકોને માર્ગદર્શન આપીને ઠોકર ખવડાવીને પાપમાં નાખ્યાં છે. તમે લેવીના કરારનું અપમાન કર્યું છે.” એવું સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAL.2.9" />“મેં તમને લોકોની નજરમાં તિરસ્કારપાત્ર અને ઘૃણાપાત્ર બનાવી દીધા છે. કારણકે તમે મારા ઉપદેશને વળગી રહેતા નથી, અને જ્યારે તમે ન્યાય કરો છો ત્યારે પક્ષપાત કરો છો.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદિયા દેવથી ખરું ના ઉતર્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAL.2.10" />શું આપણા સર્વના પિતા એક જ નથી? શું એક જ દેવે આપણું સર્જન કર્યું નથી? તો પછી આપણા પિતૃઓના કરારનો ભંગ કરીને આપણે આ રીતે શા માટે એકબીજાનો વિશ્વાસઘાત કરીએ છીએ?
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MAL.2.11" />યહૂદાએ વિશ્વાસઘાત કર્યો છે, અને ઇસ્રાએલમાં તથા યરૂશાલેમમાં ધિક્કારપાત્ર કૃત્ય કરવામાં આવ્યું છે; કારણકે યહોવાના પવિત્રસ્થાનને યહૂદાએ ષ્ટ કર્યું છે, અને તેણે એક વિદેશી દેવીની પૂજા કરવાનું શરૂ કર્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAL.2.12" />જે કોઇ એ પ્રમાણે કરે તે બધાનો યહોવા ઇસ્રાએલના સમાજમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરો. પછી ભલે તેઓ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાને માટે અર્પણો લાવતા હોય.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MAL.2.13" />યહોવા તમારાં અર્પણો પ્રત્યે ધ્યાન આપતા નથી અને તમને તેમના તરફથી આશીર્વાદો મળતા નથી. તેથી તમે તમારાં આંસુઓથી યહોવાની વેદીને ભીંજવો છો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAL.2.14" />તમે પૂછો છો, “શા માટે?” કારણ, જેને તમે જુવાનીમાં દેવની સાક્ષીએ પત્ની તરીકે સ્વીકારી હતી તેને તમે બેવફા નીવડ્યા છો, જો કે કરાર મુજબ તે તમારી જીવનસંગીની અને ધર્મપત્ની હતી.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MAL.2.15" />શું દેવે તેને અને તમને એક દેહ અને એકાત્મા બનાવ્યાં નહોતાં? અને ધર્મસંતતિ સિવાય બીજા શાની તે અપેક્ષા રાખે છે? તમારા મન પર સંયમ રાખો અને તમારી જુવાનીની પત્નીને બેવફા ન બનો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAL.2.16" />કારણકે ઇસ્રાએલના યહોવા દેવ કહે છે કે, “છૂટાછેડાને અને ક્રૂર માણસોને તે ધિક્કારે છે. માટે તમારા દેહની લાગણીઓ પર સંયમ રાખો; તમારી પત્નીઓને તમે છૂટાછેડા ન આપો.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ન્યાયનો વિશેષ સમય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAL.2.17" />તમે તમારા શબ્દોથી યહોવાને કંટાળો ઉપજાવ્યો છે, તો પણ તમે પૂછો છો કે, શી રીતે અમે તમને કંટાળો ઉપજાવ્યો છે? તમે કહો છો, “દુષ્કર્મ કરનાર દરેક માણસ યહોવાની નજરમાં સારો છે, અને તેમનાથી તે પ્રસન્ન થાય છે; અથવા એમ પૂછીને કે, દેવનો ન્યાય ક્યાં છે?”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAL.3.1" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “જુઓ, હું મારા પહેલા માર્ગને સાફ કરવા મારા દૂતને મોકલનાર છું. અને તમે જેની શોધમાં છો, તે યહોવા અચાનક પોતાના મંદિરમાં પ્રવેશ કરશે, તમે જેને જોવાને તલસી રહ્યા છો તે કરારનો દૂત આવી રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MAL.3.2" />“પણ તે પ્રગટ થશે ત્યારે તેની સામે કોણ ટકી શકશે? તેના આગમનને કોણ સહન કરી શકશે? કેમ કે તે કિંમતી ધાતુને શુદ્ધ કરનાર અગ્નિ સમાન છે. તે ધોબીના સાબુ સમાન છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAL.3.3" />તે રૂપું ગાળનાર તથા શુદ્ધ કરનારની જેમ બિરાજશે. ને તે લેવીના પુત્રોને પવિત્ર કરીને અને ચોખ્ખાં સોનારૂપા જેવા કરીને સાચી રીતે અર્પણો કરાવડાવશે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MAL.3.4" />ફરી એક વાર યહોવા યહૂદા અને યરૂશાલેમના લોકો દ્વારા ચઢાવેલાં અર્પણો ઘણા સમય પહેલાની જેમ આનંદથી સ્વીકારશે.”
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="MAL.3.5" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “ત્યાર પછી હું ન્યાય કરવા તમારી પાસે આવીશ, અને જાદુગરો તેમજ વ્યભિચારીઓને તથા જૂઠા સોગંદ ખાનારાઓની વિરુદ્ધ, મજૂર પર તેની મજૂરીના સંબંધમાં, વિધવા તથા અનાથો પર જુલમ કરનારની વિરુદ્ધ, અને વિદેશીઓના હક્ક પચાવી પાડનાર તથા મારો ડર નહિ રાખનારની વિરુદ્ધ હું સાક્ષી પૂરવા તત્પર રહીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવના લોકો દેવને લૂટે!
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MAL.3.6" />“હું યહોવા, ફરી જતો નથી, અને તેથી હે યાકૂબના વંશજો, તમારો સર્વનાશ થયો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MAL.3.7" />તમારા પિતૃઓના સમયથી મારા નિયમોની ઉપેક્ષા કરી છે. મારી પાસે પાછા આવો, હું તમારી પાસે પાછો આવીશ.
</p>
<p style="p">“પણ તમે કહેશો, ‘અમે તમારી પાસે પાછા કેવી રીતે આવીએ?’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAL.3.8" />“હું પુછું છું, શું માણસ દેવને લૂંટી શકે? છતાં તમે મને લૂંટો છો.
</p>
<p style="p">“પણ તમે કહો છો, ‘અમે શી રીતે તમને લૂંટીએ છીએ?’
</p>
<p style="p">“તમારા પાકનો એક દશાંશમો ભાગ મને નહિ આપીને, તમે મને લૂંટયો છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAL.3.9" />તમે શાપ પામીને શાપિત થયા છો; કારણકે તમે, સમગ્ર પ્રજા, મને લૂંટો છો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAL.3.10" />“ઊપજનો પૂરો દશમો ભાગ લાવો, તો મારો ભંડાર ભરેલો રહે. એ પછી તમે મારી કસોટી કરી જુઓ કે, હું તમારા માટે સ્વર્ગના દ્વાર ઉઘાડીને તમારા પર મબલખ આશીર્વાદ વરસાવું છું કે નહિ?
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MAL.3.11" />હું તીડોને મનાઇ કરીશ, જેથી તેઓ તમારાં ખેતરના પાકને ખાઇ ન જાય અને તમારા દ્રાક્ષના વેલા ફળ્યા વગર ન રહે.” આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MAL.3.12" />“ત્યારે બધી પ્રજાઓ કહેશે તમે સુખી છો, કારણ, તમારો દેશ ઇચ્છનીય હશે.” આ સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવાના વચન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહોવાનો ન્યાયનો મહાન દિવસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAL.3.13" />યહોવા કહે છે, “તમે મને હંમેશા કઠોર વચનો કહ્યાં છે,” છતાં તમે પૂછો છો કે, “અમે તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ શું કહ્યું છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAL.3.14" />સાંભળો, તમે એમ કહ્યું છે કે, “દેવની સેવા કરવી વૃથા છે, તેની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરવાથી અને સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા સમક્ષ આપણા પાપો માટે પસ્તાવો કરવાથી શો લાભ?
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MAL.3.15" />હવે અમને લાગે છે કે ઉદ્ધત લોકો જ સુખી છે, બૂરાં કામ કરનાર લહેર કરે છે. એટલું જ નહિ, તેઓ દેવને કસોટીએ ચડાવે છે અને છતાં તેમને કશું થતું નથી!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAL.3.16" />ત્યારબાદ યહોવાથી ડરીને ચાલનારાઓ અંદરો અંદર વાતો કરવા લાગ્યા અને યહોવાએ સાંભળ્યું. તેની હાજરીમાં જ, તેનાથી ડરીને ચાલનારા અને તેનું ધ્યાન ધરનારાઓની નોંધ એક ચોપડામાં કરવામાં આવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAL.3.17" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “હું તેઓને મારા ખાસ લોકો તરીકે ગણીશ. હું તેઓ સાથે દયાળું રહીશ. જેમ પિતા પોતાની સેવા કરનાર પુત્ર પ્રત્યે દયા રાખે, તેમ હું તેમના પ્રત્યે દયા રાખીશ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="MAL.3.18" />ત્યારે તમે ફરસાં અને સજ્જન અને દુર્જન વચ્ચેનો તથા યહોવાની સેવા કરનાર અને સેવા ન કરનાર વચ્ચેનો ભેદ સમજાશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAL.4.1" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “જુઓ, તે દિવસ આવી રહ્યો છે જ્યારે બધા અભિમાની અને દુષ્ટ લોકો તરણાંની જેમ સળગી જશે. તે દિવસે સૂકાં ઝાડની જેમ બળીને ખાખ થઇ જશે. તેમનું નામોનિશાન નહિ રહે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MAL.4.2" />“પરંતુ તમે જેઓ મારા નામથી ડરીને ચાલો છો તેઓના માટે મુકિતનો સૂર્ય ઉદય પામશે અને તેનાં કિરણો તમારા બધા ઘા રૂજાવશે અને તમે કોઠારમાંથી છૂટેલાં વાંછરડાની જેમ નાચતાકૂદતા ને ગેલ કરતા હશો. તમે દુષ્ટોને કચડી નાખશો.”
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAL.4.3" />સૈન્યોનો દેવ યહોવા કહે છે, “તમે તે દિવસે અધમ લોકોને તમારા પગ તળે છૂંદશો. હું આ પ્રમાણે કરીશ. તે દિવસે તેઓ તમારાં પગનાં તળિયાં નીચે રાખની જેમ રગદોળાશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MAL.4.4" />“મેં મારા સેવક મૂસાને હોરેબમાં સમસ્ત ઇસ્રાએલ માટે જે નિયમો અને આજ્ઞાઓ ફરમાવ્યાં હતાં તે મૂસાના નિયમને યાદ રાખો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAL.4.5" />“જુઓ! યહોવાનો મહાન અને ભયંકર ચુકાદાનો દિવસ આવે તે પહેલાં, હું તમારી પાસે એલિયા પ્રબોધકને મોકલી દઇશ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MAL.4.6" />તેના ઉપદેશો પુત્રો અને પિતાઓને એક મનનાં અને એક હૃદયના થવા માટે સમજાવશે અને ભેગા કરશે. જો આમ નહિ થાય તો તેઓ જાણશે કે હું આવીને પૃથ્વીને અભિશાપ આપીશ અને તેનો સંપૂર્ણ વિનાશ કરીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="MAT"><id id="MAT">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>માથ્થી
</h><toc level="1">માથ્થીની લખેલી સુવાર્તા
</toc><toc level="2">માથ્થી
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">માથ્થીની
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">લખેલી સુવાર્તા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">ઈસુની વંશાવળી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 3:23-38)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.1.1" />આ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો કૌટુંબિક ઈતિહાસ છે. તે દાઉદના પરિવારમાંથી આવ્યો. અને દાઉદ ઈબ્રાહિમના પરિવારમાંથી આવ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="2" bcv="MAT.1.2" />ઈબ્રાહિમ ઈસહાકનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઈસહાક યાકૂબનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યાકૂબ યહૂદા અને તેના ભાઈઓનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.1.3" />યહૂદા પેરેસ અને ઝેરાહનો પિતા હતો. (તેઓની મા તામાર હતી.)
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">પેરેસ હેસ્રોનનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હેસ્રોન આરામનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.1.4" />આરામ અમિનાદાબનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અમિનાદાબ નાહશોનનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નાહશોન સલ્મોનનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.1.5" />સલ્મોન બોઆઝનો પિતા હતો. (બોઆઝની માતા રાહાબ હતી.)
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બોઆઝ ઓબેદનો પિતા હતો. (ઓબેદની માતા રૂથ હતી.)
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઓબેદ યશાઈનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="MAT.1.6" />યશાઈ દાઉદ રાજાનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">દાઉદ સુલેમાનનો પિતા હતો. (સુલેમાનની મા પહેલા ઊરિયાની પત્ની હતી.)
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.1.7" />સુલેમાન રહાબામનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">રહાબામ અબિયાનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અબિયા આસાનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.1.8" />આસા યહોશાફાટનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યહોશાફાટ યોરામનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોરામ ઉઝિયાનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.1.9" />ઉઝિયા યોથામનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોથામ આહાઝનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આહાઝ હિઝકિયાનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.1.10" />હિઝકિયા મનાશ્શાનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મનાશ્શા આમોનનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આમોન યોશિયાનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.1.11" />યખોન્યા અને તેના ભાઈઓના પિતા યોશિયા હતો. (યહૂદી લોકોને ગુલામ બનાવવા માટે બાબિલ મોકલવામાં આવ્યાં તે સમય દરમ્યાન તેનો જન્મ થયો.)
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="12" bcv="MAT.1.12" />બાબિલમાં તેઓને લઈ ગયા પછી:
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યખોન્યા શલથિયેલનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શલથિયેલ ઝરુંબ્બાબેલનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.1.13" />ઝરુંબ્બાબેલ અબિહૂદનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અબિહૂદ એલ્યાકીમનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">એલ્યાકીમ અઝોરનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.1.14" />અઝોર સાદોકનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સાદોક આખીમનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આખીમ અલિહૂદનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.1.15" />અલિહૂદ એલ્યાઝરનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">એલ્યાઝર મથ્થાનનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મથ્થાન યાકૂબનો પિતા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.1.16" />યાકૂબ યૂસફનો પિતા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યૂસફ મરિયમનો પતિ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને મરિયમ ઈસુની મા હતી. ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત<f caller="+"><fr>1:16
</fr><fk>ખ્રિસ્ત
</fk><ft>“અભિષિક્ત થએલ” (મસીહ) અથવા દેવનો પસંદ કરેલ.</ft></f> તરીકે ઓળખાવા લાગ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.1.17" />આમ ઈબ્રાહિમથી દાઉદ સુધીની ચૌદ પેઢી થઈ. દાઉદથી યહૂદી લોકોને બાબિલમાં લઈ ગયા ત્યાં સુધીની પણ યૌદ પેઢી થઈ. અને એ લોકોને બાબિલમાં લઈ ગયા તે સમયથી ખ્રિસ્તના જન્મ સુધીની યૌદ પેઢી થઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો જન્મ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 2:1-7)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.1.18" />ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની મા મરિયમ હતી. ઈસુના જન્મ વિષેની હકીકત આ પ્રમાણે છે. તેની મા મરિયમની સગાઈ યૂસફ સાથે થઈ હતી. લગ્ન પહેલા મરિયમને ખબર પડી કે તે પવિત્ર આત્માથી ગર્ભવતી થઈ છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MAT.1.19" />મરિયમનો પતિ યૂસફ, ખૂબજ ભલો માણસ હતો, તે જાહેરમાં મરિયમને લજ્જિત કરવા ઈચ્છતો ન હતો તેથી તેણે છૂટાછેડા આપવાનું ગુપ્ત રીતે નક્કી કર્યુ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.1.20" />જયારે તે આ બાબતનો વિચાર કરતો હતો ત્યારે તેને પ્રભુનો દૂત દેખાયો. દૂતે કહયું કે, “યૂસફ દાઉદના દીકરા<f caller="+"><fr>1:20
</fr><fk>દાઉદના દીકરા
</fk><ft>દાઉદના કૂળનો વ્યક્તિ, ઈસ્રાએલનો ખ્રિસ્ત પહેલા 1,000 વર્ષ પહેલાનો રાજા.</ft></f> તું મરિયમને તારી પત્ની તરીકે સ્વીકીરવામાં જરા પણ અચકાઈશ નહિ કારણ કે તેને જે ગર્ભ રહેલો છે તે પવિત્ર આત્માથી<f caller="+"><fr>1:20
</fr><fk>પવિત્ર આત્મા
</fk><ft>દેવનો આત્મા કહેવાય છે, ખ્રિસ્તનો આત્મા અને સંબોધક વિગેરે નામથી પણ ઓળખાય છે. દેવ અને ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે જોડાએલ, તે જગતમાં લોકો મધ્યે દેવનું કાર્ય કરે છે.</ft></f> છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="MAT.1.21" />તે દીકરાને જન્મ આપશે અને તું તેનું નામ ઈસુ<f caller="+"><fr>1:21
</fr><fk>ઈસુ
</fk><ft>ઈસુ નામનો અર્થ “તારણ.”</ft></f> પાડશે. તેને એવું નામ આપજે કારણ કે તે પોતાના લોકોને તેમના પાપોમાંથી મુક્ત કરશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.1.22" />આ બધુ તેને થશે કારણ કે પ્રબોધકો દ્વારા પ્રભુએ કહેલું ભવિષ્ય કથન પરિપૂર્ણ થાય.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="MAT.1.23" />“જુઓ, કુંવારી ગર્ભવતી થશે, તેને એક દીકરો જન્મશે અને તેનું નામ ઈમ્માનુએલ પાડવામાં આવશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>1:23
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ યશા. 7:14</xt></x> (ઈમ્માનુએલ એટલે “દેવ આપણી સાથે છે.”)
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.1.24" />જયારે યૂસફ જાગ્યો, ત્યારે પ્રભુના દૂતના આદેશને અનુસર્યો અને મરિયમને તેની પત્ની તરીકે સ્વીકારી ઘરે તેડી લાવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MAT.1.25" />પરંતુ મરિયમે દીકરાને જન્મ આપ્યો ત્યાં સુધી યૂસફે તેને જાણી નહિ. તેણે તેનું નામ ઈસુ પાડ્યું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">જ્ઞાની માણસો ઈસુની મુલાકાતે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.2.1" />ઈસુનો જન્મ યહૂદિયાના બેથલેહેમ નગરમાં થયો હતો. હેરોદ<f caller="+"><fr>2:1
</fr><fk>હેરોદ
</fk><ft>હેરોદ (મોટો) પહેલો ઈ. પૂર્વ 40 થી ઈ. પૂર્વ 4 નો યહૂદિયાનો રાજા.</ft></f> રાજાના સમયમાં તેનો જન્મ થયો હતો. ઈસુનો જન્મ થયા પછી પૂર્વના પ્રદેશમાંથી જ્ઞાની માણસો યરૂશાલેમ આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.2.2" />જ્ઞાની માણસોએ લોકોને પૂછયું કે, “નવજાત શિશુ જે યહૂદિઓનો રાજા છે તે ક્યાં છે? અમે જે તારો જોયો છે તે બતાવે છે કે તેનો જન્મ થઈ ચૂકયો છે. અમે તેનો તારો પૂર્વમાં ઊગતો જોયો અને અમે તેનું ભજન કરવા આવ્યા છીએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.2.3" />યહૂદિઓના આ નવા રાજા વિષે હેરોદ રાજાએ સાંભળ્યું. આથી તે રાજા ખૂબજ બેચેન થયો અને યરૂશાલેમના બધા લોકો પણ ખૂબજ ચિંતાતુર થઈ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MAT.2.4" />હેરોદ યહૂદિઓના બધાજ પ્રમુખ યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓની એક સભા બોલાવી, તેઓને પૂછયું કે ખ્રિસ્તનો જન્મ ક્યાં થવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="MAT.2.5" />તેઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો કે. “ખ્રિસ્તનો જન્મ યહૂદિયાના બેથલેહેમ નગરમાં થવો જોઈએ. પ્રબોધકે ધર્મશાસ્ત્રોમાં આ વિષે લખ્યું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="MAT.2.6" />‘ઓ યદૂદિયા દેશના બેથલેહેમ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યહૂદિયાના નગરોથી કોઈપણ રીતે તું ઉત્તરતી કક્ષાનું નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારામાંથી એક રાજા પેદા થશે તે રાજા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારી ઈસ્રાએલની પ્રજાને દોરવણી આપશે.’”
<rq>મીખાહ 5:2</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.2.7" />પછી હેરોદે પૂર્વમાંથી જ્ઞાની માણસોની એક ગુપ્ત સભા બોલાવી. હેરોદ જ્ઞાની માણસો પાસેથી તારો દેખાવાનો ચૉક્કસ સમય જાણી લીધો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="MAT.2.8" />પછી હેરોદે જ્ઞાની માણસોને બેથલેહેમ મોકલ્યા. તેણે જ્ઞાની માણસોને કહયુ કે, “જાઓ અને ખૂબજ કાળજીપૂર્વક નવા જન્મેલા બાળકને શોધી કાઢો. જ્યારે તમને તે બાળકનો પત્તો મળે તો મને આવીને જાણ કરો. જેથી હું પણ તેનું ભજન કરવા જઈ શકું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.2.9" />જ્ઞાની માણસોએ રાજાને સાંભળ્યો અને પછી ચાલી નીકળ્યા. તેમણે પૂર્વ દિશામાં જે તારો જોયો હતો. તે જ તારો તેમણે કરી જોયો અને તેઓ તેને અનુસર્યા. તારો તેમની આગળ ચાલ્યો અને આ બાળક જ્યાં હતું, તે જગ્યાએ તારો થંભ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MAT.2.10" />જ્ઞાની માણસો તારાને જોઈને ખૂબજ ખુશ થયા. તેઓના આનંદનો પાર ના રહ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.2.11" />જ્ઞાની માણસો જ્યાં બાળક હતું, તે ઘરે આવી પહોચ્યાં. તેઓએ બાળક અને તેની મા મરિયમને જોઈ. તેઓએ નમન કર્યુ. અને તે બાળકનું ભજન કર્યુ. તે માણસોએ ખજાનાની પટીઓ ઉઘાડી અને બાળકને ભેટ આપવા માટે જે સોનું, લોબાન અને બોળ હતાં તે તેને અર્પણ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.2.12" />પણ દેવે તેમને હેરોદ પાસે પાછા નહિ જવા સ્વપ્નમાં ચેતવણી આપી. આમ, જ્ઞાની માણસો તેમના પોતાના દેશમાં બીજા રસ્તે પાછા ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુને લઈને માતા પિતાનું મિસર જવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.2.13" />જ્ઞાની માણસોના ગયા પછી, યૂસફને સ્વપ્નમાં પ્રભુનો દૂત દેખાયો. દૂતે કહ્યું કે, “ઊભો થા! બાળક અને તેની માને લઈને મિસરમા નાસી જા. હેરોદ બાળકની તપાસ શરૂ કરશે. તે તેને મારી નાખવા માગે છે. હું જ્યાં સુધી કહું કે બધું સલામત નથી, ત્યાં સુધી મિસરમાં જ રહેજે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.2.14" />તેથી યૂસફ ઊઠયો અને બાળક અને તેની માને પોતાની સાથે લઈને મિસર જવા ચાલી નીકળ્યો. તેઓ રાત્રીના સમયે ચાલી નીકળ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MAT.2.15" />હેરોદ મરણ પામ્યો ત્યાં સુધી યૂસફ મિસરમાં રોકાયો. પ્રભુએ પ્રબોધક દ્વારા જણાવ્યું હતું તે સાચું પડે માટે આમ બન્યું, “મેં મારા પુત્રને મિસરમાંથી બહાર બોલાવી લીઘો.”<x caller="+"><xo>2:15
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ હોશિ 11:1</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">હેરોદે બેથલેહેમમાં કરેલી બધા જ બાળકોની હત્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.2.16" />જયારે હેરોદે જોયું કે જ્ઞાની માણસોએ તેને મૂર્ખ બનાવ્યો છે ત્યારે તે ખૂબજ ગુસ્સે થયો. તેથી તેણે હૂકમ કર્યો કે બેથલેહેમ અને તેની આસપાસના વિસ્તારમાં બધા જ છોકરાઓને મારી નાખો. હેરોદે જ્ઞાની માણસો પાસેથી બાળકના જન્મનો સમય જાણી લીધો. કે જે (હાલના સમયથી) બે વર્ષ પહેલાનો સમય હતો તેથી તેણે બે વર્ષની ઉંમરના કે તેથી નાના દરેક બાળકને મારી નાખાવનો હુકમ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="MAT.2.17" />પ્રભુએ પ્રબોધક યર્મિયા દ્વારા જે ભવિષ્યવાણી જણાવીહતી તે પરિપૂર્ણ થઈ:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.2.18" />“રામામાં એક અવાજ સંભળાયો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કારમા રૂદનનો અને અત્યંત શોકયુક્ત હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">રાહેલ તેના બાળકો માટે રૂદન કરી રહી છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે દિલાસો મેળવવાનો નકાર કરે છે, કારણ કે તેના બાળકો મરણ પામ્યા છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="JER.31.15">યર્મિયા 31:15</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">યૂસફ અને મરિયમનું મિસરમાંથી પુનરાગમન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MAT.2.19" />હેરોદના મરણ પછી, પ્રભુનો દૂત સ્વપ્નમાં યૂસફ પાસે આવ્યો. જ્યારે યૂસફ મિસરમાં હતો ત્યારે આમ થયું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="MAT.2.20" />દૂતે કહ્યું કે, “ઊભો થા! બાળક અને તેની માને લઈને ઈસ્રાએલ ચાલ્યો જા. જે લોકો બાળકને મારી નાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતા હતા તે મરણ પામ્યા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.2.21" />તેથી યૂસફ બાળક અને તેની માને લઈને ઈસ્રાએલ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="MAT.2.22" />પછી યૂસફે સાભળ્યું કે હેરોદના મરણ પછી તેનો પુત્ર આખિલાઉસ રાજા થયો છે ત્યારે યૂસફને ત્યાં જતાં ડર લાગ્યો ત્યારે સ્વપ્નમાં ચેતવણી મળી તેથી તે યહૂદિયાને બદલે ગાલીલ પ્રાંતમાં ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="MAT.2.23" />યૂસફ નાસરેથ ગામમાં ગયો. આમ એટલા માટે થયું, જેથી પ્રબોધકોનું કહેલુ પૂણ થાય. દેવે કહ્યું કે ખ્રિસ્ત નાઝારી<f caller="+"><fr>2:23
</fr><fk>નાઝારી
</fk><ft>નાઝરેથનો વતની, નાઝરેથનો અર્થ “જડ” થાય. યશા. 11:1</ft></f> કહેવાશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">બાપ્તિસ્મા કરનાર યોહાનનું કાર્ય
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 1:1-8; લૂક 3:1-9, 15-17; યોહાન 1:19-28)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.3.1" />સમયે યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત આવ્યો અને તેણે યહૂદિયાના ઉજજડ પ્રદેશમાં ઉપદેશ આપવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.3.2" />યોહાને કહ્યું કે, “પસ્તાવો કરો, કારણ આકાશનું રાજ્ય ટૂંક સમયમાં આવી રહ્યું છે.”
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAT.3.3" />યશાયા પ્રબોધકે જેના વિષે વાત કરી છે તે આ યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્મા કરનાર છે. યશાયા પ્રબોધકે કહ્યું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“એક વ્યક્તિ ઉજજડ પ્રદેશમાં પોકાર કરે છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">‘પ્રભુ માટે માર્ગ તૈયાર કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના માટેનો માર્ગ સીધો કરો.’”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.40.3">યશાયા 40:3</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.3.4" />યોહાનનાં વસ્રો ઊંટના વાળમાંથી બનાવેલાં હતાં. તેની કમરે ચામડાનો પટ્ટો. યોહાન તીડ અને જંગલી મઘ ખાતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="MAT.3.5" />યોહાનનો ઉપદેશ સાંભળવા લોકો યરૂશાલેમમથી, યર્દન નદીની આસપાસના સમગ્ર વિસ્તારમાંથી તથા યહૂદિયાના તમામ પ્રદેશોમાંથી આવતા હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MAT.3.6" />લોકોએ પોતાના પાપની કબૂલાત કરી અને યોહાને તેઓને યર્દન નદીમાં બાપ્તિસ્મા આપ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.3.7" />ફરોશીઓ<f caller="+"><fr>3:7
</fr><fk>ફરોશીઓ
</fk><ft>એક યહૂદિ ધાર્મિક સમૂહ જે બીજા યહૂદિ નિયમો અને રીત-રીવાજોનું મકકમતાથી પાલન કરવાનો દાવો કરે છે.</ft></f> અને સદૂકીઓ<f caller="+"><fr>3:7
</fr><fk>સદૂકીઓ
</fk><ft>એક મુખ્ય યહૂદિ ધાર્મિક સમૂહ જે જૂના કરારનાં પહેલા પાંચ પુસ્તકોનો જ સ્વીકાર કરે છે. તેઓ માને છે કે લોકો મૃત્યુમાંથી પાછા સજીવન થતા નથી.</ft></f> તે સ્થળે તેના દ્વારા બાપ્તિસ્મા પામવા માટે આવતા હતાં. યોહાને તેમને જોયા ત્યારે તેમને કહ્યું કે: “તમે બધા સર્પો છો! પ્રભુનો કોપ આવી રહ્યો છે તેમાંથી બચવા તમને કોણે ચેતવણી આપી છે?
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="MAT.3.8" />તમે તમારા આચરણથી બતાવી આપો કે તમે ખરેખર પસ્તાવો કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAT.3.9" />તમે એમ ન માનતા કે ‘ઈબ્રાહિમ અમારો પિતા છે’ તેથી અમે ઉગરી જઈશું. દેવ આ પથ્થરોમાંથી પણ ઈબ્રાહિમ માટે સંતાનો પેદા કરી શકે છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MAT.3.10" />અત્યારે પણ કુહાડી વૃક્ષોના મૂળ પાસે તૈયાર જ પડી છે. દરેક વૃક્ષ<f caller="+"><fr>3:10
</fr><fk>વૃક્ષ
</fk><ft>જે લોકો ઈસુનો સ્વીકાર કરતા નથી તે લોકો, તેઓ કાપી નંખાનારા વૃક્ષો જેવા છે.</ft></f> જે સારા ફળ આપતું નથી તેને કાપી નાંખશે, અને અગ્નિમાં ફેંકી દેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.3.11" />“તમે તમારા હૃદય અને જીવન બદલ્યાં છે એમ દર્શાવવા માટે હું તમને પાણીથી બાપ્તિસ્મા આપું છું. પણ હવે મારા પછી જે માણસ આવી રહ્યો છે, તે મારા કરતાં પણ મહાન છે જેનાં પગરખાં ઉપાડવા જેટલી પણ હું યોગ્યતા ધરાવતો નથી. તે તમને પવિત્ર આત્માથી અને અજ્ઞિથી બાપ્તિસ્મા આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.3.12" />તેના હાથમાં સૂપડું છે જેના વડે અનાજને છોતરામાંથી જુદૂં પાડશે<f caller="+"><fr>3:12
</fr><fk>અનાજને … જુદું પાડશે
</fk><ft>યોહાન સમજાવે છે કે ઈસુ સારા લોકોને દુષ્ટ લોકોથી જુદા પાડશે.</ft></f> અને સાફ કરેલ સારા અનાજના દાણાને પોતાના કોઠારમાં ભરશે અને છોતરાંને એવા અગ્નિમાં બાળી નાખશે જે કદીયે હોલવાશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું યોહાન દ્વારા બાપ્તિસ્મા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 1:9-11; લૂક 3:21-22)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.3.13" />તે સમયે ઈસુ ગાલીલથી યર્દન નદીએ આવ્યો. ઈસુ યોહાન પાસે આવ્યો અને યોહાન દ્વારા બાપ્તિસ્મા<f caller="+"><fr>3:13
</fr><fk>બાપ્તિસ્મા
</fk><ft>આ ગ્રીક શબ્દ છે. તેનો અર્થ પાણીમાં ડૂબકી મરાવી તરત બહાર નીકળવું, ઝબોળવું, અથવા દટાવું નેવો થાય છ</ft></f> લેવાની પોતાની ઈચ્છા પ્રગટ કરી.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MAT.3.14" />પરંતુ યોહાન તેને રોકવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતો હતો. યોહાને કહ્યું કે, “તારા થકી બાપ્તિસ્મા પામવાની જરૂરીયાત વાળો તો હું છું! તું મારી પાસે મારા થકી બાપ્તિસ્મા પામવા શા માટે આવ્યો છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.3.15" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અત્યારે આમ જ થવા દે. દેવને જેની જરૂર છે તે બધું જ કરવું એ આપણા માટે સારું છે.” જેથી યોહાન ઈસુને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપવા કબૂલ થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.3.16" />બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા પછી ઈસુ સીધે સીધો જ પાણીમાંથી બહાર આવ્યો. પછી તે વખતે આકાશ ઊઘડાયું અને તેણે દેવના આત્માને કબૂતરની જેમ નીચે આવતો અને પોતાની ઉપર ઊતરતો જોયો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="MAT.3.17" />અને આકાશવાણી થઈ, “આ મારો પુત્ર છે અને હું તેને ચાહું છું. અને તેનાથી હું ખૂબજ પ્રસન્ન છું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">ઈસુનું પરીક્ષણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 1:12-13; લૂક 4:1-13)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.4.1" />પછી શેતાન દ્વારા ઈસુનું પરીક્ષણ થાય તે માટે આત્મા તેને ઉજજડ પ્રદેશમાં લઈ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.4.2" />ઈસુએ ચાળીસ દિવસ અને રાત કાંઈ જ ખાધુ નહિ. આ પછી તે ખૂબ જ ભૂખ્યો થયો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAT.4.3" />ઈસુ પાસે લલચાવનાર શેતાન આવ્યો અને કહ્યુ કે, “જો તું દેવનો દીકરો હોય, તો આ પથ્થરોને કહે કે, તેઓ રોટલી થઈ જાય.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.4.4" />ઈસુએ તેને ઉત્તરમાં કહ્યું કે, “ધર્મશાસ્ત્રમા<f caller="+"><fr>4:4
</fr><fk>ધર્મશાસ્ત્ર
</fk><ft>પવિત્ર લખાણ – જૂનો કરાર.</ft></f> લખ્યું છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘માણસ ફક્ત રોટલીથી નહિ પરંતુ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવના મુખમાંથી આવતા પ્રત્યેક વચનથી જીવન પામે છે.’”
<rq><ref tgt="DEU.8.3">પુનર્નિયમ 8:3</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.4.5" />પછી શેતાન ઈસુને પવિત્ર શહેર યરૂશાલેમમાં લઈ ગયો અને ઈસુને મંદિરના સૌથી ઊચા સ્થળે બેસાડે છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MAT.4.6" />પછી શેતાને કહ્યું કે, “જો તું દેવનો દીકરો હોય તો કૂદકો માર. શા માટે? કારણ કે શાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યું છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘દે પોતાના દૂતોને આજ્ઞા કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેમના હાથમાં તને ઝીલી લેશે,
</q>
<q style="q1">જેથી તારા પગ ખડક પર અથડાશે નહિ.’”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.91.11">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 91:11-12</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.4.7" />ઈસુએ તેને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “એના વિષે પણ શાસ્ત્રમા કહ્યું છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘પ્રભુ તારા દેવની પરીક્ષણ તું ન કર.’”
<rq>પુનનિયમ 6:16</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.4.8" />પછી શેતાન ઈસુને ખૂબ ઊંચા પર્વત ઉપર લઈ ગયો અને અને ત્યાં તેને વિશ્વના બધાંજ રાજ્યો અને તેમાં આવેલ બધીજ ભવ્યતાનું દર્શન કરાવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAT.4.9" />તેણે કહ્યુ, “જો તું પગે પડીને મારું ભજન કરીશ, તો હું આ બધી જ વસ્તુઓ તને આપીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.4.10" />ઈસુએ શેતાનને કહ્યુ, “શેતાન! ચાલ્યો જા, ધર્મશાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યું છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘પ્રભુનું તારા દેવનું જ ભજન કર.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ફક્ત તેની જ સેવા કર!’”
<rq><ref tgt="DEU.6.13">પુનર્નિયમ 6:13</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.4.11" />પછી શેતાન ઈસુને છોડી ચાલ્યો ગયો, ત્યાર પછી કેટલાએક દૂતો આવી તેને મદદ કરવા લાગ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ગાલીલમાં ઈસુનાં સેવા કાર્યો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 1:14-15; લૂક 4:14-15)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MAT.4.12" />ઈસુએ સાંભળ્યું કે યોહાનને જેલમાં પૂર્યો છે. તેથી તે ગાલીલ પાછો ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MAT.4.13" />તે નાઝરેથ ન રોકાતાં ઝબુલોન અને નફતાલીની નજીકના પ્રદેશમાં ગાલીલ સરોવર પાસે કફર-નહૂમમાં જઈને રહ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MAT.4.14" />યશાયા પ્રબોધકે<f caller="+"><fr>4:14
</fr><fk>પ્રબોધક
</fk><ft>દેવને માટે બોલનાર વ્યક્તિ. કેટલીક વખત ભવિષ્યમાં શું થનાર છે તે બાબતો પણ પ્રબોધક કહેતો.</ft></f> જે કહ્યું હતું તે સાચું પુરવાર કરવા માટે ઈસુએ આમ કર્યુ:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.4.15" />“ઝબુલોનના પ્રદેશમાં, અને નફતાલીન પ્રદેશમાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમુદ્ર તરફના રસ્તે ગાલીલમાં,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">યર્દન નદી પાસેના, જ્યાં વિદેશીઓ રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.4.16" />જેઓ અંધકારમાં જીવતા હતાં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓએ ઝળહળતો પ્રકાશ જોયો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે પ્રકાશ જે લોકો કબર જેવી અંધકારમય ધરતી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પર જીવે છે તેમના માટે આવ્યો છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.9.1">યશાયા 9:1-2</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.4.17" />ત્યારથી ઈસુએ ઉપદેશ આપવો શરૂ કર્યો, તેણે કહ્યું કે, “પસ્તાવો કરો, કારણ આકાશનું રાજ્ય આવી રહ્યું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ દ્વારા કેટલાક પ્રેરિતોની પસંદગી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 1:16-20; લૂક 5:1-11)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.4.18" />ઈસુ ગાલીલ સરોવર પાસેથી પસાર થતો હતો ત્યારે તેણે બે ભાઈઓ સિમોન (જે પિતર કહેવાતો) અને તેનો ભાઈ આન્દ્રિયાને જોયા. તેઓ જાળથી માછલા પકડતા હતાં. તેઓ માછીમાર હતા.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MAT.4.19" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “ચાલો મારી પાછળ આવો. હું તમને જુદી જાતના માછીમાર બનાવીશ. તમારે માછલીઓ નહિ પણ લોકોને ભેગા કરવાનું કાર્ય કરવાનું છે.”
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="MAT.4.20" />તે બંને ભાઈઓ તેમની જાળો પડતી મૂકીને ઈસુની પાછળ ગયાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.4.21" />ઈસુએ ગાલીલ સરોવર પાસે યાત્રા ચાલુ રાખી. તેણે ઝબદીના બે પુત્રો યાકૂબ અને યોહાનને જોયા. તેઓ તેમના પિતા ઝબદીની સાથે હોડીમાં બેસી માછલાં પકડવાની જાળો તૈયાર કરતાં હતા ત્યારે તેણે બીજા બે ભાઈઓને કહ્યું કે, મારી સાથે ચાલો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="MAT.4.22" />બંને ભાઈઓ હોડી અને તેમના પિતાને પડતા મૂકી ઈસુની પાછળ ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ બોધ કરે છે અને લોકોને સાજા કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 6:17-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.4.23" />ઈસુ ગાલીલનો બધોજ પ્રદેશ ફર્યો અને લોકોને સભાસ્થાનોમાં<f caller="+"><fr>4:23
</fr><fk>સભાસ્થાનોમાં
</fk><ft>યહૂદિઓનું પ્રાર્થના માટે એકઠા મળવાનું સ્થળ જયાં જાહેર સભાઓ અને પવિત્રશાસ્ત્રના અભ્યાસ માટે પણ મળતા.</ft></f> ઉપદેશ આપ્યો અને આકાશના રાજ્ય વિષેની સુવાર્તાનો બોધ આપ્યો. તેણે લોકોનાં બધાંજ રોગો અને બીમારીઓ દૂર કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="MAT.4.24" />ઈસુ વિષેના આ સમાચાર આખા સિરિયામાં ફેલાઈ ગયા, આથી જેઓ પીડાતા હતા અને ભૂતવળગેલાઓને, તથા જેઓ વાઈ અને લકવાથી પીડાતા હતા તેઓને તેની પાસે લાવવામાં આવ્યાં; અને ઈસુએ તે બધાને સાજા કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MAT.4.25" />આથી ગાલીલથી તથા દશનગરથી<f caller="+"><fr>4:25
</fr><fk>દશનગર
</fk><ft>ગ્રીકમાં “દેકાપોલીસ.” ગાલીલ સમુદ્રની પૂર્વમાં આ પ્રદેશ આવેલો છે. એક સમયે ત્યાં દસ મુખ્ય નગરો હતાં.</ft></f> તથા યરૂશાલેમથી તથા યહૂદિયાથી અને યર્દન નદી પારનો મોટો લોકસમુદાય તેની પાછળ ગયો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ લોકોને શિક્ષણ આપે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 6:20-23)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.5.1" />ઈસુએ ત્યાં ઘણા લોકોને જોયા. તેથી તે ટેકરીના ઊચા ભાગ ઉપર જઈ બેસી ગયો, ત્યાં તેની પાસે તેના શિષ્યો આવ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.5.2" />ઈસુએ લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપતા આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.5.3" />“જેઓ જાણે છે કે તેઓને આધ્યાત્મિક બાબતોની જરૂરિયાતો છે તેઓને ધન્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે આકાશનું રાજ્ય તેમના માટે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.5.4" />જેઓ શોક કરી રહ્યા છે તેઓને ધન્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેઓને દેવ દિલાસો આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.5.5" />જેઓ નમ્ર છે તેઓને પણ ધન્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમ કે તેઓ પૃથ્વીનું વતન<f caller="+"><fr>5:5
</fr><fk>પૃથ્વીનું વતન
</fk><ft>ગી. શા. 37:11.</ft></f> પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="MAT.5.6" />બીજી કોઈપણ બાબત કરતાં જે યોગ્ય છે તે કરવાની જેઓની વધુ ઈચ્છા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને ધન્ય છે. કેમ કે તેઓની ઈચ્છા દેવ પૂર્ણ કરશે અને તેમને સંતોષ આપશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.5.7" />જેઓ દયાળુ છે તેઓને ધન્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમ કે તેઓના પ્રત્યે દયા દર્શાવવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.5.8" />જેઓના વિચારો શુદ્ધ છે તેઓને પણ ધન્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેઓને દેવના દર્શન થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.5.9" />જેઓ શાંતિ માટે કાર્ય કરે છે તેઓને પણ ધન્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેઓ દેવના દીકરાં કહેવાશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.5.10" />સત્કર્મો કરવાને લીધે જેઓના ઉપર જુલ્મ ગુજારવામાં આવેલો છે તેઓને ધન્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કેમ કે આકાશનું રાજ્ય તેઓનું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.5.11" />“તમે મારા શિષ્યો છો માટે લોકો તમારા વિષે ખરાબ બોલે, તમારી ઉપર જુલ્મ ગુજારે કે તમારા વિરૂદ્દ જુઠ્ઠાણું લાવે તો પણ તમને ધન્ય છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.5.12" />ખૂબજ પ્રસન્ન રહો અને આનંદમાં રહો કારણ આકાશમાં તમને ખૂબજ મોટો બદલો મળશે. યાદ રાખજો કે તમારી અગાઉના પ્રબોધકો ઉપર જુલ્મ ગુજારાયો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તમે મીઠા સમાન છો અને પ્રકાશ સમાન છો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 9:50; લૂક 14:34-35)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.5.13" />“તમે જગતનું મીઠું છો. પરંતુ મીઠું જો એનો સ્વાદ ત્યજી દેશે તો પછી તે ફરીથી ખારાશવાળું નહિ જ થઈ શકે. જો મીઠું તેનો સ્વાદ ગુમાવી દેશે તો તે નકામું છે એમ સમજીને તેને ફેંકી દેવાશે અને લોકો તેને પગ તળે છુંદી નાખશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.5.14" />“તમે સ્વયં પ્રકાશ છો, જે આખા જગતને પ્રકાશિત કરે છે. પર્વત ઉપર બાંધેલ નગરને છુપાવી શકાતું નથી, તેને દરેક જણ જોઈ શકે છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="MAT.5.15" />અને લોકો દીવો સળગાવીને પછી તેને વાટકા નીચે મૂકતા નથી, પણ તેઓ તેને દીવી પર મૂકે છે પછી તે દીવો ઘરમાં જે બધા લોકો રહે છે તેમને પ્રકાશ આપે છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="MAT.5.16" />તે રીતે તમારે પણ બીજા લોકોને પ્રકાશ આપવો જોઈએ. જેથી તેઓ તમારી રૂડી કરણીઓ જોઈને લોકો તમારા આકાશમાં બાપની સ્તુતિ કરે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ અને જૂનું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.5.17" />“એવું ના માનશો કે હું મૂસાના નિમયશાસ્ત્રનો કે પ્રબોધકોના ઉપદેશોનો નાશ કરવા આવ્યો છું. હું તેના ઉપદેશોનો નાશ કરવા માટે નહિ પરંતુ તેનો પૂરો અર્થ સમજાવવા આવ્યો છું.
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<v id="18" bcv="MAT.5.18" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે જ્યાં સુધી આકાશ તથા પૃથ્વી જતાં રહે ત્યાં સુધી કશું જ અદ્રશ્ય થઈ શકશે નહિ, આવું બનશે નહિ (વિનાશ સજાર્શે નહિ) ત્યાં સુધી નિમયશાસ્ત્રમાંથી એક કાનો અથવા એક માત્રા જતો રહેશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MAT.5.19" />“મનુષ્યે નિયમની દરેક આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરવું જોઈએ પછી ભલે તે આજ્ઞાની કોઈ અગત્યતા ન જણાય. મનુષ્ય જો આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરવાની ના પાડશે અને બીજાઓને તેમ કરવા શીખવશે તો આકાશના રાજ્યમાં તે મનુષ્ય બીન મહત્વનો ગણાશે. જેઓ નિયમ અને નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પાલન કરશે તેમજ બીજા લોકોને તેનું પાલન કરવા જણાવશે, તેઓ આકાશના રાજ્યમાં મહાન હશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="MAT.5.20" />હું તમને જણાવું છું કે તમારે શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને ફરોશીઓ કરતાં દેવને જેની જરૂર છે તે માટે કઈક વધુ સારું કરનારા થવું જોઈએ નહિ તો તમે આકાશના રાજ્યમાં દાખલ પણ થઈ શકશો નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ ક્રોધ વિષે શિક્ષણ આપે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.5.21" />“તમે સાંભળ્યુ હશે કે ઘણાં વર્ષો પહેલાં આપણા લોકોને એવું કહેવામાં આવ્યું છે કે ‘કોઈપણ મનુષ્યની હત્યા ન કરે,<x caller="+"><xo>5:21
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 20:13; પુન. 5:17</xt></x> જે મનુષ્યની હત્યા કરે છે તેનો ન્યાય થશે અને તે અપરાધી ઠરવાના જોખમમાં પડશે.’
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<v id="22" bcv="MAT.5.22" />પણ હું તમને કહું છું કે, બીજા ઉપર ક્રોધીત ના થાવ, દરેક તમારો ભાઈ છે. જો તમે બીજા કોઈ ઉપર ક્રોધ કરશો તો તમારો ન્યાય ન્યાયસભામાં થશે. બીજી કોઈ વ્યક્તિ સાથે બીજા માટે ખરાબ બોલશે તો તમારો યહૂદીના દરબારમાં ન્યાય થશે. જો તમે બીજાને મૂર્ખ કહેશો તો તમારે નરકની આગના ભયમાં મૂકાવું પડશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.5.23" />“તમે અર્પણવેદી ઉપર દેવને અર્પણ આપો ત્યારે બીજા લોકોનો વિચાર કરો, અને જો તને યાદ આવે કે તારા ભાઈને તારી વિરૂદ્ધ કોઈ ફરિયાદ છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="MAT.5.24" />તો તારું અર્પણ વેદી આગળ રહેવા દે, અને પહેલા જઈને તેની સાથે સમાધાન કરી લે. અને પછી આવીને તારું અર્પણ ચઢાવ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MAT.5.25" />“તારો દુશ્મન તને ન્યાયસભામાં લઈ જાય તો ત્વરીત તેની સાથે મિત્રતા કર, આ તારે ન્યાયસભામાં જતાં પહેલા કરવું અને જો તું તેનો મિત્ર નહિ થઈ શકે તો તે તને ન્યાયસભામાં ઘસડી જશે. અને ન્યાયાધીશ કદાચ તને અધિકારીને સુપ્રત કરશે અને તને જેલમાં નાખવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="MAT.5.26" />હું તને સત્ય કહું છું. જ્યાં સુધી તમે તમારું દેવું પૂરે પૂરું ચૂકવશો નહિ ત્યાં સુધી તમે જેલમાંથી છૂટી શકશો નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ વ્યભિચારના પાપ વિષે શિક્ષણ આપે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MAT.5.27" />“તમે સાંભળ્યું છે કે એમ કહેવામાં આવ્યું હતું: ‘વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરવું નહિ.’<x caller="+"><xo>5:27
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 20:14; પુન. 5:18</xt></x>
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<v id="28" bcv="MAT.5.28" />પરંતુ હું તમને જણાવું છું કે જો તમે કોઈ સ્ત્રીને પામવાની ઈચ્છાથી તેના તરફ નજર કરો તો તમે તમારા મનથી તેની સાથે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="MAT.5.29" />જો તમારી જમણી આંખ તમને પાપ કરવા પ્રેરે તો તેને કાઢીને ફેંકી દો. તમારું આખું શરીર નરકમાં ધકેલાય તેના કરતાં તમારા શરીરનો એક ભાગ ગુમાવવો તે વધુ હિતાવહ છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="MAT.5.30" />જો તમારો જમણો હાથ તમને પાપ કરવા પ્રેરે તો તેને કાપીને ફેંકી દો. આખુ શરીર નરકમાં ધકેલાય તેના કરતાં તમારા શરીરનો એક ભાગ ગુમાવવો તે તમારા માટે વધુ હિતાવહ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ છૂટા છેડા વિષે શિક્ષણ આપે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 19:9; માર્ક 10:11-12; લૂક 16:18)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MAT.5.31" />“એમ પણ કહેવામાં આવ્યું હતું, ‘જે માણસ તેની પત્નીને છૂટા છેડા આપે તેણે તેને છૂટા છેડાનું લેખિત નિવેદન આપવું જોઈએ.’
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<v id="32" bcv="MAT.5.32" />પરંતુ હું તમને કહું છું કે જે માણસ તેની પત્નીને છૂટા છેડા આપે છે તે તેને વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરવા પ્રેરે છે. પુરુંષને માટે તેની પત્નીને છૂટા છેડા આપવા માટેનું એક માત્ર કારણ એ છે કે તેને બીજા કોઈ પુરુંષ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કર્યો હોય. અને એવી છૂટા છેડા વાળી સ્ત્રીને પરણનાર કોઈપણ માણસ વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરે છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ સમ વિષે શિક્ષણ આપે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MAT.5.33" />“તમે સાંભળ્યું કે આપણા પૂર્વજોને એ પણ કહેવામાં આવ્યું હતું કે, ‘તમે પ્રભુના નામે લીધેલા સમનો ભંગ કરશો નહિ.<f caller="+"><fr>5:33 check લે. 19:12; ગણ. 30:2; પુન. 23:21</fr></f> પ્રભુને જે વચન આપ્યું છે તે હમેશા અવશ્ય પાળો.’
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<v id="34" bcv="MAT.5.34" />પણ હું તમને કહું છું કે, કદી સમ ન ખાઓ, કદી આકાશના નામે સમ ના ખાઓ કારણ કે આકાશ તો દેવનું રાજ્યાસન છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="MAT.5.35" />પૃથ્વીના નામે કદી સમ ખાઓ નહિ કારણ કે પૃથ્વી દેવનું પાયાસન છે. અને યરૂશાલેમના નામે પણ સમ ન ખાઓ કારણ એ મહાન રાજાનું શહેર છે.
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<v id="36" bcv="MAT.5.36" />તમારા માથાના પણ સમ ન ખાઓ. તમે માથાના એક પણ વાળને સફેદ કે કાળો કરી શકશો નહિ.
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<v id="37" bcv="MAT.5.37" />ફક્ત ‘હા’ કે ‘ના’ કહો એટલું પૂરતું છે. તમે તેમાં જે કંઈ ઉમેરશો તો તે ભૂંડાથી આવેલું છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ વેર વિષે શિક્ષણ આપે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 6:29-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="MAT.5.38" />“તમે સાંભળ્યું કે એમ કહેવાયુ હતુ, ‘આંખ ને બદલે આંખ અને દાંત ને બદલે દાંત.’<x caller="+"><xo>5:28
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 21:24; લે. 24:20</xt></x>
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<v id="39" bcv="MAT.5.39" />પરંતુ હું તમને કહું છું કે દુષ્ટ વ્યક્તિનો પ્રતિકાર ન કરો. જો તમને કોઈ જમણા ગાલ પર તમાચો મારે, તો તમારે બીજો ગાલ દરવો.
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<v id="40" bcv="MAT.5.40" />જો તમારું ખમીસ લઈ લેવા માટેનો દાવો કરીને તમને કોઈ ન્યાયસભામાં લઈ જવા ઈચ્છે તો તમારો કોટ પણ તેને આપી દો.
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<v id="41" bcv="MAT.5.41" />જો કોઈ સૈનિક તમને તેની સાથે એક માઈલ ચાલવા બળજબરી કરે તો તમે તેની સાથે બે માઈલ ચાલો.
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<v id="42" bcv="MAT.5.42" />જો કોઈ તમારી પાસે કંઈક માગે તો તેને અવશ્ય આપો, તમારી પાસે કોઈ ઉછીનું માંગવા આવ તો ના પાડશો નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">બધાને પ્રેમ કરો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 6:27-28; 32-36)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="MAT.5.43" />“તમે સાંભળ્યું કે એમ કહેવાયું હતું કે, ‘તું તારા પડોશીને પ્રેમ કર અને દુશ્મનને ધિક્કાર.’<x caller="+"><xo>5:43
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ લે. 19:18</xt></x>
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<v id="44" bcv="MAT.5.44" />પણ હું તમને કહું છું કે તમારા દુશ્મનોને પ્રેમ કરો અને જેઓ તમારા ઉપર જુલ્મ કરે છે તેમના માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો.
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<v id="45" bcv="MAT.5.45" />જો તમે આ પ્રમાણે કરશો તો તમે આકાશમાં રહેલા તમારા પિતાના સાચા દીકરા ગણાશો અને તમારા પિતા, સૂર્યનો પ્રકાશ ભલા અને ભૂંડા લોકો માટે મોકલે છે. વરસાદ પણ ભલૂં કરનાર અને ભૂંડુ કરનાર માટે મોકલે છે.
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<v id="46" bcv="MAT.5.46" />જે તમને પ્રેમ કરે છે તેમને તમે પ્રેમ કરશો તો તમને કોઈક બદલો મળશે. દાણીએ પણ આમ જ કરે છે.
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<v id="47" bcv="MAT.5.47" />જો તમે તમારા મિત્રો પ્રત્યે સારા હશો તો તમે બીજા કરતા સારા નહિ ગણાવ, જે લોકો દેવ વિનાના છે તે પણ તેમના મિત્રો માટે સારા છે.
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<v id="48" bcv="MAT.5.48" />એટલે આકાશમાં રહેલા તમારા પિતા જેટલા પરિપૂર્ણ છે તેટલા તમારે પણ પરિપૂર્ણ થવુ જોઈએ.
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</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ દાન વિષે શિક્ષણ આપે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.6.1" />“સાવધાન રહો! તમે કોઈપણ સત્તકાર્યો કરો તો તે લોકોની સમક્ષ કરશો નહિ. લોકો તમને સારા કાર્યો કરતાં જુએ તે રીતે ના કરો. એમ કરશો તો આકાશના પિતા તરફથી તમને કોઈ જ બદલો મળશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MAT.6.2" />“જ્યારે તમે ગરીબોને આપો તો તેની જાહેરાત કરશો નહિ. દંભી લોકો દાન આપતાં પહેલાં તેનાં બણગાં ફૂંકે છે અને લોકો તેમને આપતા જુએ એ રીતે જાહેરમાં ધર્મસ્થાનો અને શેરીઓમાં આપે છે. કારણ બીજા લોકો તેમને માન આપે તેવું તેઓ ઈચ્છે છે. હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું તેમને જે બદલો મળ્યો છે તે એટલો જ છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="MAT.6.3" />જેથી જ્યારે તમે ગરીબોને આપો તો ખાનગીમાં આપો, તમે શું કરો છો તેની કોઈને જાણ પણ થવા દેશો નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="MAT.6.4" />તમારું દાન ગુપ્ત હોવું જોઈએ. તમે જે કાંઈ ગુપ્ત રીતે કરો છો તે તમારો પિતા કે જે ગુપ્ત રીતે જે કાંઈ થાય છે તે જોઈ શકે છે. તે તમને બદલો આપશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ પ્રાર્થના વિષે શિક્ષણ આપે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 11:2-4)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.6.5" />“જ્યારે તમે પ્રાર્થના કરો, ત્યારે દંભી લોકોની જેમ ના કરો. દંભી લોકો સભાસ્થાનોએ શેરીઓના ખૂણા પાસે ઉભા રહી મોટા અવાજથી પ્રાર્થના કરે છે. જેથી લોકો તેમને જોઈ શકે. હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે તેમને તેનો પૂરો બદલો મળી ગયો છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="MAT.6.6" />જ્યારે તમે પ્રાર્થના કરો ત્યારે તમારા ઓરડામાં જાઓ અને તમારા ઓરડાના બારણાં બંધ કરો. પછી તમારા પિતાને પ્રાર્થના કરો. તમારો પિતા ગુપ્ત રીતે કરવામાં આવેલાં કામ જોઈ શકે છે. અને તે તેનો તમને બદલો આપે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.6.7" />“અને જ્યારે તમે પ્રાર્થના કરો, ત્યારે અધર્મીઓની જેમ પ્રાર્થના ના કરો, તેઓ માને છે કે દેવની પાસે ઘણી વાતો કરવાથી દેવ ચોક્કસ કાંઈક તો સાંભળશે જ.
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<v id="8" bcv="MAT.6.8" />તમે એવા લોકો જેવા ન બનો, તમે તેની પાસે માંગણી કરો તે પહેલા તમરા પિતા જાણે છે કે તમારે શાની જરૂર છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="MAT.6.9" />તેથી જ્યારે તમે પ્રાર્થના કરો ત્યારે તમારે આ પ્રમાણે પ્રાર્થના કરવી જોઈએ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘ઓ આકાશમાંના અમારા પિતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અમે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ કે તારું નામ હંમેશા પવિત્ર રહેવું જોઈએ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.6.10" />તારું રાજ્ય આવે અને તું ઈચ્છે છે તેવી બાબતો જે રીતે આકાશમાં બને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">છે તે રીતે પૃથ્વી ઉપર બને તે માટે અમે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.6.11" />અમને અમારી રોજની જરૂરિયાત પ્રમાણે અન્ન આપ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="MAT.6.12" />જે રીતે અમે અમારું ખરાબ કરનારને માફી આપી છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે રીતે તું પણ અમે કરેલા પાપોની માફી આપ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.6.13" />અને અમને લાલચમાં પડવા દઈશ નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ શેતાનથી અમને બચાવ.<f caller="+"><fr>6:13
</fr><ft> કેટલીક ગ્રીક નકલોમાં આ ભાગ જોડેલો છે: “કેમ કે રોજય તથા પરાકમ તથા મહિમા સર્વકાળ સુધી તારાં છે. આમીન.”</ft></f>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.6.14" />હા, જો તું બીજાઓનાં દુષ્કર્મો માફ કરશે, તો આકાશનો પિતા તારાં પણ દુષ્કર્મો માફ કરશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="MAT.6.15" />પરંતુ જો તું તારું ખરાબ કરનારને માફ નહિ કરે તો આકાશનો પિતા તને પણ માફ નહિ કરે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ ઉપવાસ વિષે શિક્ષણ આપે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.6.16" />“જ્યારે તમે ઊપવાસ કરો, ત્યારે તમારી જાતને ઉદાસ દેખાડશો નહિ, દંભીઓ એમ કરે છે. તેઓ તેમના ચહેરા વિચિત્ર બનાવી દે છે જેથી લોકોને બતાવી શકે કે તેઓ ઉપવાસ કરી હ્યા છે. હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે તે દંભી લોકોને તેનો બદલો પૂરેપૂરો મળી ગયો છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="MAT.6.17" />જ્યારે તું ઉપવાસ કરે ત્યારે, તારા માથા પર તેલ ચોપડ અને તારું મોં ધોઈ નાખ.
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<v id="18" bcv="MAT.6.18" />ત્યારે લોકોને ના જણાવો કે તમે ઉપવાસ કર્યા છે, તમારા પિતા જેને તમે જોઈ શક્તા નથી તે બધુંજ જુએ છે. તમે ગુપ્ત રીતે જે કંઈ કરો છો તે તમારા આકાશમાંના પિતા જુએ છે. અને તે તમને તેનો બદલો જરૂરથી આપશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ધન કરતાં દેવનું વધુ મહત્વ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 12:33-34; 11:34-36; 16:13)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MAT.6.19" />“તમારા માટે અહી પૃથ્વી ખજાનાનો સંગ્રહ ન કરો કારણ કે પૃથ્વી પર કીડા તથા કાટ ખજાનાનો નાશ કરે છે. ચોર ખાતર પાડીને ચોરી જાય છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="MAT.6.20" />આકાશમાં ખજાનાઓને સંગ્રહ કરો, આકાશમાં તમારા ખજાનાઓને નાશ ઉધઈ કે કાટ કરી શકશે નહિ કે તેને ચોર ચોરી જશે નહિ.
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<v id="21" bcv="MAT.6.21" />જ્યાં તમારું ધન હશે ત્યાં જ તમારું ચિત્ત રહેશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.6.22" />“આંખ તો શરીરનો દીવો છે. જો તારી આંખો સારી હશે, તો તારું આખુ શરીર પ્રકાશથી પૂર્ણ રહેશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="MAT.6.23" />પણ જો તારી આંખો ભૂુંડી હશે તો તારું આખું શરીર અંધકારમય રહેશે. અને જો તારી પાસેનો એક માત્ર પ્રકાશ હકીકતમાં અંધકાર જ હોય તો અંધકાર કટલો અંધકારમય હશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.6.24" />“કોઈપણ વ્યક્તિ એક સાથે બે ઘણીની સેવા કરી શકે નહિ. તે એકને પ્રેમ કરે તો બીજાને તિરસ્કાર કરે અથવા એક ઘણીને સમર્પિત બનશે અને બીજાને અનુસરવાની ના પાડશે. તમે એક સાથે ધન અને દેવની સેવા કરી શકો નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રથમ દેવનું રાજ્ય
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 12:22-34)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MAT.6.25" />“તેથી હું તમને કહું છું કે, તમારે જીવવા માટે જરૂરી ખાવાપીવાની ચિંતા કરશો નહિ અને શરીરને ઢાંકવા કપડાંની ચિંતા ના કરો. કારણ ખોરાક કરતાં જીવન બધારે અગત્યનું છે અને કપડાં કરતાં શરીર વધારે અગત્યનું છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="MAT.6.26" />તમે પક્ષીઓને જુઓ, તેઓ બી વાવતાં નથી, ને કાપતાં નથી ને કોઠારોમાં ભરતાં નથી. અને છતાય તમારો પિતા તે પંખીઓનું ભરણપોષણ કરે છે તમે તો પક્ષીઓ કરતાં ઘણા જ મૂલ્યવાન છો.
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<v id="27" bcv="MAT.6.27" />એના વિષે ચિંતા કરવાથી તમારાં આયુષ્યમાં એકાદ પળનો પણ વધારો નહિ કરી શકો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.6.28" />“અને તમે તમારાં વસ્ત્રો વિષે શા માટે ચિંતા કરો છો? ખેતરનાં ફૂલોને નિહાળો, તેઓ કેવાં ખીલે છે, તેઓ તેના માટે મહેનત કરતાં નથી કે પોતાને માટે વસ્ત્રો પણ બનાવતાં નથી.
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<v id="29" bcv="MAT.6.29" />અને છતાં પણ હું તમને કહું છું કે સુલેમાને તેની પૂર્ણ ભવ્યતામાં પણ ફૂલોમાંના એકાદ ફૂલ જેવો સુંદર પોષાક ધારણ કર્યો ન હતો.
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<v id="30" bcv="MAT.6.30" />જે ઘાસ આજે છે તે આવતીકાલે કરમાઈ જશે, તો તેને અગ્નિમાં બાળી દેવામાં આવશે એવા ઘાસની કાળજી દેવ રાખે છે તો હે માનવી, એ દેવ તારી કાળજી નહિ રાખે? તેના ઉપર આટલો ઓછો વિશ્વાસ રાખશો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MAT.6.31" />“તેથી તમે ચિંતા રાખશો નહિ અને કહેશો નહિ, ‘અમે શું ખાઈશું?’ ‘અમે શું પીશું?’ અથવા ‘અમે શું પહેરીશું?’
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<v id="32" bcv="MAT.6.32" />જે લોકો દેવને ઓળખતા નતી તેઓ આ બધી વસ્તુઓની પાછળ પડે છે. તમે આની ચિંતા ના કરો કારણ કે આકાશમાં રહેલાં તમારા પિતાને ખબર છે કે તમારે આ બધાની જરૂર છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="MAT.6.33" />પણ પહેલા તમે દેવના રાજ્યને તથા તેના ન્યાયીપણાને શોધો, તો તે પણ તમને આ બધી જ વસ્તુઓ આપશે.
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<v id="34" bcv="MAT.6.34" />તે માટે આવતીકાલની ચિંતા ન કરો. આજની સમસ્યાઓ આજને માટે પૂરતી છે. આવતીકાલનું દુ:ખ આવતીકાલનું છે.
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</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ બીજાને દોષિત ન ઠરાવવા વિષે શિક્ષણ આપે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 6:37-38; 41-42)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.7.1" />“બીજાઓને દોષિત ન ઠરાવો, અને દેવ તમને દોષિત ઠરાવશે નહિ.
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<v id="2" bcv="MAT.7.2" />તમે જે રીતે બીજાનો ન્યાય કરશો, તે જ રીતે તમારો પણ ન્યાય થશે તમે બીજાઓનો ન્યાય કરવા જે માપનો ઉપયોગ કરો છો, તે જ માપનો ઉપયોગ તમારા ચુકાદા માટે થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.7.3" />“જો તારી આંખમાં ભારોટિયો હોય તે તું જોઈ નથી શકતો તો તારા ભાઈની આંખમાંનું તણખલું શા માટે જુએ છે?
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<v id="4" bcv="MAT.7.4" />તું તારા ભાઈને કેવી રીતે કહી શકે, ‘તારી આંખમાં જે તણખલું છે તે મને કાઢવા દે?’ જ્યારે તારી આંખમાં મોટો ભારોટિયો હોય!
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<v id="5" bcv="MAT.7.5" />ઓ ઢોંગી તું પહેલાં તારી આંખમાંનો મોટો ભારોટિયો દૂર કર, પછી તું સારી રીતે જોઈ શકીશ. અને તારા ભાઈની આંખમાંથી તણખલું કાઢી શકીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MAT.7.6" />“જે પવિત્ર છે તે કૂતરાઓની આગળ ના નાંખો અને ભૂંડોની આગળ મોતી ન વેરો. કદાચ તેઓને પગ નીચે કચડી નાંખે અને તમારા તરફ પાછા ફરી તમને ફાડી નાખે.
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</p>
<s style="s">જે જોઈએ છે તેના માટે દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 11:9-13)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.7.7" />“દેવ પાસે માંગવાનું ચાલું રાખો, અને દેવ તમને આપશે, શોધવાનું ચાલું રાખો, અને તમને જડશે. ખખડાવવાનું ચાલું રાખો અને દરવાજો તમારા માટે ઉઘડી જશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="MAT.7.8" />કારણ કે જે માંગે છે તેને એ જરૂરથી મળે છે, જે શોધતા રહે છે તેમને જરૂરથી પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે. અને જે ખટખટાવે છે, તેમને માટે દરવાજા અવશ્ય ઉઘડી જાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.7.9" />“તમારામાંના કોઈ એકને દોકરો છે? જો તારો દીકરો તારી પાસે રોટલી માંગે તો શું તું તેને પથ્થર આપીશ? ના!
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<v id="10" bcv="MAT.7.10" />જો તારો દીકરો તારી પાસે માછલી માંગે તો તું તેને સર્પ આપશે? ના!
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<v id="11" bcv="MAT.7.11" />તમે ભૂડા છતાં તમે પોતાના બાળકોને સારો ખોરાક આપી જાણો છો તો તમારા આકાશમાંના પિતાની પાસે માંગશો તો તમને જરૂર સારી વસ્તુઓ આપશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">અગત્યનો નિયમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MAT.7.12" />“તમે બીજા પાસે જેવા વ્યવહારની અપેક્ષા રાખતા હોય એવો જ વ્યવહાર તમે તેઓની સાથે રાખો. મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર અને પ્રબોધકોની વાતોનો સારાંશ એ જ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">આકાશ અને નરકનો માર્ગ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 13:24)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.7.13" />“સાંકડા કરવાજામાંથી દાખલ થાઓ, કારણ કે જે દરવાજો પહોળો છે અને જે રસ્તો સરળ છે, તે વિનાશ તરફ દોરે છે. ઘણા લોકો તે રસ્તેથી જાય છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="MAT.7.14" />જે દરવાજો સાંકડો છે, અને જે રસ્તો નાનો છે, તે સાચા જીવન તરફ દોરે છે. ફક્ત થોડા જ લોકોને તે જડે છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">મનુષ્યોનાં કૃત્યોને ઓળખો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 6:43-44; 13:25-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.7.15" />“જૂઠા પ્રબોધકોથી સાવધાન રહો. તેઓ તમારી પાસે ઘેટાંના વેશમાં આવે છે. પણ તેઓ વરુંઓ જેવા ભયંકર હોય છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="MAT.7.16" />તમે આવા લોકોને તેઓ જે વસ્તુઓ કરે છે તેનાથી ઓળખી શકશો. જેમ કાંટાળી ઝાડી પરથી દ્રાક્ષ અને કાંટાળી ઊંટકટારી પરથી અંજીર મળી શક્તા નથી. તેમ ખરાબ લોકો પાસેથી સારી વસ્તુની અપેક્ષા રાખી શકો નહિ.
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<v id="17" bcv="MAT.7.17" />તે જ પ્રમાણે પ્રત્યેક સારું વૃક્ષ સારાં ફળ આપે છે ને ખરાબ વૃક્ષ નઠારાં ફળ આપે છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="MAT.7.18" />તે જ પ્રમાણે સારું ઝાડ નઠારા ફળ આપી શક્તું નથી, અને ખરાબજાડ સારા ફળ આપી શક્તું નથી.
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<v id="19" bcv="MAT.7.19" />જે વૃક્ષ સારાં ફળ આપી શક્તાં નથી તેને કાપીને અગ્નિમાં નાંખી દેવામાં આવે છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="MAT.7.20" />તેથી તમે આવા લોકોને તેઓ કેવાં ફળો આપે છે તેના પરથી ઓળખી શકશો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.7.21" />“જે મને પ્રભુ, પ્રભુ કહે છે, તે દરેક વ્યક્તિ આકાશના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશ કરશે એમ તો નહિ, પણ જેઓ મારા આકાશમાંના પિતાની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે કરે છે તેઓ જ આકાશમાં પ્રવેશી શકશે.
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<v id="22" bcv="MAT.7.22" />એ અંતિમ દિવસે ઘણા લોકો મને કહેશે, પ્રભુ અમે તારા માટે નથી બોલ્યા? તો શું અમે તારા નામે પ્રબોધ કર્યો નથી? અને તારા નામે ભૂતોને<f caller="+"><fr>7:22
</fr><fk>ભૂતો
</fk><ft>શેતાનના દુષ્ટ આત્માઓ.</ft></f> કાઢયાં નથી? અને તારા નામે બીજા ઘણા પરાકમો કર્યા નથી?
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<v id="23" bcv="MAT.7.23" />પછી હું તેઓને કહીશ, ‘તમે અહીથી ચાલ્યા જાઓ, તમે ભૂંડા છો, મેં તમને કદી પણ ઓળખ્યા નથી.’
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">એક ડાહ્યો અને એક મૂર્ખ માણસ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 6:47-49)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.7.24" />“જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારા વચનોને સાંભળે છે અને તે પ્રમાણે આચરણ કરે છે તે ખડક પર મકાન બાંધનાર ડાહ્યા માણસ જેવો છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MAT.7.25" />ધોધમાર વરસાદ પડ્યો, પૂર આવ્યું અને તે ઘર પર વાવાઝોડું ફુંકાયું છતાં પણ તે ઘર તૂટી પડ્યું નહિ કારણ કે તેનો પાયો ખડક ઉપર બાંધેલો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MAT.7.26" />“પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ મારા આ વચનોને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે પરંતુ તે પ્રમાણે વર્તતો નથી તે રેતી પર ઘર બાંધનાર મૂર્ખ માણસ જેવો છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="MAT.7.27" />ધોધમાર વરસાદ આવ્યો, પૂર આવ્યું અને વાવાઝોડાના સપાટા લાગ્યા ત્યારે તે મકાન મોટા અવાજ સાથે જમીનદોસ્ત થઈ ગયું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.7.28" />ઈસુએ જ્યારે આ વચનો કહેવાનું પુરું કર્યુ, ત્યારે તેના ઉપદેશથી લોકો અચરત પામ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="MAT.7.29" />કારણ કે ઈસુ અધિકાર સાથે ઉપદેશ આપતો હતો, નહિ કે તેમના શાસ્ત્રીઓની જેમ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ માંદા માણસને સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 1:40-45; લૂક 5:12-16)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.8.1" />ઈસુ પર્વત પરથી નીચે ઉતર્યો. લોકોનો મોટો સમુદાય તેની પાછળ પાછળ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.8.2" />પછી એક કોઢથી પીડાતો માણસ તેની પાસે આવ્યો, પગે પડ્યો અને કહ્યુ, “હે પ્રભુ, તું ઈચ્છે તો મને સાજો કરવાની શક્તિ તારી પાસે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.8.3" />ઈસુએ તે માણસને સ્પર્શ કર્યો અને કહ્યું કે, “હું તને સાજો કરવા ઈચ્છું છું, સાજો થઈ જા!” અને તરત જ તે માણસ કોઢથી સાજો થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MAT.8.4" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું કે, “જે કાંઈ બન્યું છે તે વાત કોઈને પણ કરતો નહિ. અહીંથી સીધો જ યાજક પાસે જા અને ત્યાં તારી જાતને બતાવ. મૂસાના આદેશ પ્રમાણે અર્પણ ચઢાવ જેથી લોકો જાણી શકે કે તું સાજો થયો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ અધિકારીના નોકરને સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 7:1-10; યોહાન 4:43-54)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.8.5" />ઈસુ કફર-નહૂમ આવ્યો, ઈસુ શહેરમાં પ્રવેશ્યો કે તરત જ એક લશ્કરી અધિકારી, તેની પાસે આવ્યો અને મદદ માટે વિનંતી કરી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MAT.8.6" />લશ્કરી અધિકારીએ કહ્યું કે, “હે પ્રભુ, મારો નોકર ખૂબજ બિમાર છે, તે પથારીવશ છે અને પક્ષઘાતી છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.8.7" />ઈસુએ લશ્કરી અધિકારીને કહ્યું કે, “હું જઈશ અને તેને સાજો કરીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.8.8" />લશ્કરી અધિકારીએ કહ્યું કે, “હે પ્રભુ, તું મારા ઘરે આવે એવો હું યોગ્ય માણસ નથી. જો તું કેવળ શબ્દ કહે તો મારો નોકર સાજો થઈ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAT.8.9" />હું મારા અધિકારીઓને આધીન છું. મારા હાથ નીચેના સૈનિકો મારી સત્તાને આધીન છે. એકને હું કહું છું કે ‘જા’ તો તે જાય છે. બીજાને કહું છું કે, ‘આવ’, તો તે આવે છે અને મારા નોકરને કહું છું કે, ‘આ કર’ તે તે તરત જ મારી આજ્ઞા પાળે છે. હું જાણુ છું કે આ કરવાની સત્તા તારી પાસે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.8.10" />ઈસુ આ સાંભળી ખૂબજ નવાઈ પામ્યો અને તેની સાથે આવતા લોકોને કહ્યું કે, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, મેં ઈસ્રાએલમાં પણ કદી કોઈ વ્યક્તિમાં આવો વિશ્વાસ જોયો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MAT.8.11" />હું તમને કહું છું કે પૂર્વ અને પશ્ચિમમાંથી ઘણા લોકો આવશે અને આકાશના રાજ્યમાં ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઈસહાક અને યાકૂબની સાથે બેસશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.8.12" />અને જેમના માટે આકાશી રાજ્ય તૈયાર કરવામાં આવેલું છે, તેમને બહારના અંધકારમાં ફેંકી દેવાશે. તેઓ ત્યાં રૂદન કરશે પીડાથી દાંત કચકચાવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.8.13" />પછી ઈસુએ લશ્કરી અધિકારીને કહ્યું કે, “ઘરે જા અને તારો નોકર તેં જે રીતે વિશ્વાસ કર્યો છે તે રીતે તે સાજો થઈ જશે.” અને બરાબર તે જ સમયે તેનો નોકર સાજો થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુએ ઘણા લોકોને સાજા કર્યા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 1:29-34; લૂક 4:38-41)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.8.14" />જ્યારે ઈસુ પિતરને ઘેર ગયો ત્યારે તેણે તેની સાસુને તાવથી પીડાતી દીઠી.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MAT.8.15" />ઈસુએ તેના હાથને સ્પર્શ કર્યો અને તેનો તાવ ઉતરી ગયો. તે ઉઠીને ઈસુની સેવા કરવા લાગી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.8.16" />સાંજ પડી ત્યારે તેઓ ઘણા અશુદ્ધ આત્મા વળગેલા લોકોને ઈસુની પાસે લાવ્યા, ઈસુએ અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને બહાર કાઢ્યા. તેમ જ બધા જ માંદાઓને પણ સાજા કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="MAT.8.17" />ઈસુએ આ કર્યુ જેથી યશાયાએ કહેલ ભવિષ્યવાણી પૂર્ણ થાય:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તેણે આપણા રોગો લઈ લીધા અને તેણે આપણા મંદવાડ પોતાનામાં સ્વીકાર્યા.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.53.4">યશાયા 53:4</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">ઈસુને અનુસરવાની ઈચ્છા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 9:57-62)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.8.18" />ઈસુએ જોયું કે તેની ચારે બાજુ લોકોની ભીડ જામી છે, તેથી તેણે પોતાના શિષ્યોને સરોવરના સામા કિનારે જવા કહ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MAT.8.19" />પછી એક શાસ્ત્રી તેની પાસે આવ્યો અને કહ્યું કે, “ઉપદેશક, તું જ્યાં જઈશ ત્યાં હું તારી પાછળ આવીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.8.20" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યુ કે, “શિયાળોને રહેવા માટે દરો હોય છે, પંખીઓને રહેવા માટે માળા હોય છે, પણ માણસના દીકરાને<f caller="+"><fr>8:20
</fr><fk>માણસનો દીકરો
</fk><ft>ઈસુ પોતાના માટે આ નામ વાપરતો. દાનિ. 7:13-14 માં આ નામ મસિહા માટે છે જેને દેવે પોતાના લોકોને તારવાને પસંદ કર્યો છે.</ft></f> માથું ટેકવાની પણ જગા નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.8.21" />ઈસુના શિષ્યોમાંના બીજા એકે આવી તેને કહ્યું કે, “હે પ્રભુ પહેલા મને જવા દે અને મારા પિતાને દફનાવવા દે. પછી હું તને અનુસરીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.8.22" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “મારી પાછળ આવ. ને મુએલાએને પોતાના મૂએલાઓને દાટવા દે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ તોફાનને શાંત પાડે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 4:35-41; લૂક 8:22-25)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.8.23" />ઈસુ એક હોડીમાં જઈને બેઠો, તેના શિષ્યો પણ તેની સાથે ગયા
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="MAT.8.24" />એ હોડીએ કિનારો છોડયો કે તરત જ દરિયામાં મોટું તોફાન શરૂ થયું ને ઉછળતાં મોજાથી હોડી ઢંકાઈ જવા લાગી. પરંતુ ઈસુ તો ઊઘતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MAT.8.25" />શિષ્યો ઈસુની પાસે ગયા અને તેને જગાડ્યો અને કહ્યું કે, “હે પ્રભુ, અમને બચાવ! અમે ડૂબી જઈશું!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MAT.8.26" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “તમે શા માટે ભયભીત થાઓ છો? તમને પૂરતો વિશ્વાસ નથી?” પછી ઈસુ ઉભો થયો અને પવન અને મોંજાને ધમકાવ્યા, પછી સમુદ્ર સંપૂર્ણ શાંત થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MAT.8.27" />આથી લોકો આશ્ચર્યચકિત થઈ ગયા અને બોલ્યા, “અરે આ માણસ કેવા પ્રકારનો છે? જેની આજ્ઞાને પવન અને સમુદ્ર પણ માને છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ બે માણસોમાંથી ભૂતોને કાઢે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 5:1-20; લૂક 8:26-39)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.8.28" />સમુદ્રને સામે કિનારે ગદરાનીના<f caller="+"><fr>8:28
</fr><fk>ગદરાની
</fk><ft>ગાલીલના સરોવરના અગ્નિ ખૂણાનો પ્રદેશ.</ft></f> દેશમાં ઈસુ આવ્યો ત્યાં તેને અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓ વળગેલા બે માણસો મળ્યા. તેઓ કબરોની વચમાં રહેતા હતાં તે એટલા બધા બિહામણા હતા કે ત્યાં થઈને કોઈ જઈ શક્તું ન હતું.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="MAT.8.29" />તેઓ બૂમ પાડવા લાગ્યા, “ઓ દેવના દીકરા, તું અમારી પાસે શું અપેક્ષા રાખે છે? નિશ્ર્ચિત સમય પહેલા અમને શિક્ષા કરવા આવ્યો છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MAT.8.30" />ત્યાંથી થોડેક દૂર ભૂંડનું ટોળું ચરતું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="MAT.8.31" />અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓએ વિનંતી કરી કે, “જો તું અમને કાઢી જ મૂકવાનો હોય તો, તું અમને એ ભૂંડોના ટોળામાં જવા દે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MAT.8.32" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “જાઓ” અને અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓ ભૂંડોનાં ટોળામાં પેઠા. ભૂંડનું આખું ટોળું ટેકરીની ધાર પરથી સમુદ્રમાં ધસી ગયું અને પાણીમાં ડૂબી મર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="MAT.8.33" />ભૂંડો ચરાવનારા ત્યાંથી શહેરમાં નાઠા અને બધીજ બાબતો જેવી કે અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓ વળગેલા માણસે સાથે જે બન્યું હતું તે જણાવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="MAT.8.34" />આખું નગર ઈસુને મળવા બહાર આવ્યું અને જ્યારે લોકોએ તેને જોયો ત્યારે વિનંતી કરી કે, અમારા સીમોમાંથી તું ચાલ્યો જા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ પક્ષઘાતીને સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 2:1-12; લૂક 5:17-26)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.9.1" />ઈસુ હોડીમાં બેઠો અને સરોવરને પેલે પાર ગયો અને પોતાના શહેરમાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.9.2" />કેટલાએક લોકો પથારીવશ પક્ષઘાતી માણસને ઈસુ પાસે લાવ્યા. ઈસુએ જોયું કે તેઓને વિશ્વાસ છે તેથી ઈસુએ તે પક્ષઘાતી માણસને કહ્યું, “હે યુવાન માણસ, હિમ્મત રાખ. સુખી થા. તારાં બધાંજ પાપ માફ કરવામાં આવે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.9.3" />કેટલાએક શાસ્ત્રીઓએ આ સાંભળ્યું અને અંદરો અંદર વાતો કરવા લાગ્યા કે, “આ માણસ પોતે જ દેવ હોય તેમ બોલે છે. આ રીતે તે દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ બોલે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.9.4" />ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે તેઓ શું વિચારે છે તેથી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે તમારા મનમાં આવા ભૂંડા વિચારો શા માટે કરો છો?
<ve />
<v id="5-6" bcv="MAT.9.5" />માણસના દીકરાને પૃથ્વી પર પાપ માફ કરવાનો અધિકાર છે. પણ આ તમારી આગળ કેવી રીતે સાબિત કરી શકું? તમે એમ ધારતા હશો કે, ‘તારાં પાપ માફ થયાં છે.’ એમ કહેવું સહેલું છે, પણ ખરેખર એમ થયું તે કોઈ જોઈ શક્તું નથી. પણ જો હું એ માણસને એમ કહું, ‘ઊઠ, તારી પથારી લઈને ચાલતો થા,’ તો શું? તો તમે જોઈ શકશો કે ખરેખર મને અધિકાર છે.” તેથી ઈસુએ પક્ષઘાતી માણસને કહ્યું, “ઊભો થા, તારી પથારી ઉપાડ અને તારે ઘેર જા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.9.7" />અને તે માણસ ઉભો થયો અને ઘેર ચાલ્યો ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="MAT.9.8" />લોકોએ આ જોયું અને તેઓ આશ્ચર્યચકિત થઈ ગયા અને લોકોએ દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી કારણ કે દેવે આવો અધિકાર માણસોને આપ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુએ માથ્થીની પસંદગી કરી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 2:13-17; લૂક 5:27-32)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.9.9" />ઈસુ તે રસ્તે થઈને જતો હતો ત્યારે, તેણે કર ઉઘરાવવાની ઓફિસમાં માથ્થી નામના માણસને જોયો. ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “મારી પાછળ ચાલ.” અને માથ્થી ઊભો થયો અને ઈસુને અનુસર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.9.10" />ઈસુએ માથ્થીના ઘરે તેના શિષ્યો સાથે ભોજન લીધું. ત્યારે ત્યાં કર ઉઘરાવનારા અને પાપીઓ પણ જમતા હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MAT.9.11" />ફરોશીઓએ ઈસુને આવા માણસો સાથે ખાતાં જોયો તેથી તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું કે, “તમારો ઉપદેશક કર ઉઘરાવનારા તથા પાપીઓ સાથે શા માટે ભોજન લે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MAT.9.12" />ઈસુએ આ સાંભળીને કહ્યું, “જેઓ તંદુરસ્ત છે તેમને વૈદની જરૂર નથી. જેઓ બિમાર છે તેમને વૈદની જરૂર છે.”
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<v id="13" bcv="MAT.9.13" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે શાસ્ત્રનો અર્થ સમજો; ‘હું પશુઓના બલિદાન નથી ઈચ્છતો, હું દયા ઈચ્છું છું,’ હું સારા લોકોને આમંત્રણ આપવા નથી આવ્યો પણ પાપીઓને તેડવા આવ્યો છું.”<x caller="+"><xo>9:13
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ હોશિ 6:6</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ બીજા યહૂદિધર્મ-નેતાઓથી જુદા છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 2:18-22; લૂક 5:33-39)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.9.14" />પછી યોહાનના શિષ્યો ઈસુની પાસે આવ્યા. તેઓએ ઈસુને પૂછયું કે, “અમે અને ફરોશીઓ વારંવાર ઉપવાસ કરીએ છીએ તો તારા શિષ્યો શા માટે ઉપવાસ કરતા નથી?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.9.15" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જ્યાં સુધી તેમની સાથે વરરાજા હોય ત્યાં સુધી વરરાજાના મિત્રો પાસે ઉદાસીનતાની અપેક્ષા રાખી શકાય? અલબત્ત નહિ જ, પરંતુ જ્યારે તેઓની પાસેથી વરરાજા લઈ લેવાશે ત્યારે સમય આવશે પછી તેઓ ઉપવાસ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.9.16" />“જો કોઈ જૂનાં કપડાં પર કોરા કપડાંનું થીંગડું મારે તો એ થીંગડાંથી કપડાંમાં કાણું વધારે મોટુ બનશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="MAT.9.17" />લોકો તાજો દ્રાક્ષારસ ભરવા માટે જૂની મશકોનો ઉપયોગ નથી કરતાં તેમ કરવાથી જૂની મશકો ફાટી જશે, ત્યાર પછી દ્રાક્ષારસ વહીજશે અને બંને દ્રાક્ષારસ અને દ્રાક્ષારસની મશકો નાશ પામશે. તેથી લોકો હંમેશા નવો દ્રાક્ષારસ ભરવા માટે નવી જ મશકોનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે. આમ કરવાથી દ્રાક્ષારસ અને મશકો બંને સારી રીતે સાચવી શકાય છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ મૃત દીકરીને જીવન આપે છે અને બિમાર સ્ત્રીને સાજી કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 5:21-43; લૂક 8:40-56)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.9.18" />ઈસુ જ્યારે આ વાતો કહતો હતો, ત્યારે સભાસ્થાનનો એક અધિકારી આવ્યો અને તેને પગે પડ્યો અને કહ્યું કે, “મારી દીકરી હમણાં જ મરણ પામી છે. તું આવીને માત્ર તારા હાથથી તેને સ્પર્શ કર તો તે સજીવન થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MAT.9.19" />તેથી ઈસુ ઊભો થયો અને તેને ઘેર ગયો. તેના શિષ્યો તેની પાછળ ગયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.9.20" />એક સ્ત્રી હતી, જે છેલ્લા બાર વર્ષથી લોહીવાના રોગથી પીડાતી હતી તેણે પાછળથી આવીને ઈસુના ઝભ્ભાની નીચલી કોરને સ્પર્શ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="MAT.9.21" />સ્ત્રી વિચારતી હતી કે, “જો હું માત્ર તેના ઝભ્ભાને સ્પર્શ કરીશ તો હું સાજી થઈ જઈશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.9.22" />ઈસુ તેની તરફ વળ્યો અને તે સ્ત્રીને જોઈ કહ્યું, “દીકરી હિંમ્મત રાખ, તારા વિશ્વાસે તને સાજી કરી છે.” તે જ પળે તે સ્ત્રી સાજી થઈ ગઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.9.23" />ઈસુ અધિકારીની સાથે તેના ઘેર આવી પહોચ્યો અને ઘરમાં ગયો ત્યારે તેણે વાંસળી વગાડનારાઓને અને ઘણા લોકોનેદન કરતા જોયા.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="MAT.9.24" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “આઘા ખસો, કારણ કે છોકરી મરણ નથી પામી. તે ઊંધે છે.” આ સાંભળી લોકો તેના તરફ હસવા લાગ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MAT.9.25" />લોકોનું ટોળું ઘરની બહાર ગયું. ઈસુ છોકરીના ઓરડામાં ગયો. ઈસુએ છોકરીનો હાથ પકડ્યો અને તે છોકરી ઉભી થઈ.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="MAT.9.26" />આ સમાચાર આજુબાજુના સમગ્ર વિસ્તારમાં પ્રસરી ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુએ વધુ લોકોને સાજા કર્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MAT.9.27" />જ્યારે ઈસુ ત્યાંથી જતો હતો ત્યારે બે આંધળા માણસો તેની પાછળ પાછળ ગયા. તેઓ જોરથી બૂમ પાડવા લાગ્યા. “ઓ દાઉદના દીકરા, અમારા પર દયા કર.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.9.28" />ઈસુ અંદર ઘરમાં ગયો, ત્યાં તેઓ પણ તેની પાછળ ગયા. ઈસુએ તેમને પૂછયું, “હું તમને ફરીથી દેખતા કરી શકું એવો વિશ્વાસ છે?” આંધળા માણસોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો કે, “હા પ્રભુ, અમે વિશ્વાસ કરીએ છીએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MAT.9.29" />પછી તેઓની આંખોને સ્પર્શ કરી ઈસુ બોલ્યો, “તમે વિશ્વાસ રાખો છો તો તે પ્રમાણે થાઓ.”
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="MAT.9.30" />અને તરત જ તેઓ દેખતા થયા. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “તમે આ વિષે કોઈને વાત ન કરતા.”
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<v id="31" bcv="MAT.9.31" />પરંતુ આંધળા માણસો ત્યાંથી ચાલ્યા ગયા અને ઈસુની આ કીર્તિ તેઓએ આખા વિસ્તારમાં ફેલાવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MAT.9.32" />આગળ જતાં લોકો ઈસુની પાસે બીજા એક માણસને લઈને આવ્યા, આ માણસને અશુદ્ધ આત્મા વળગેલો હતો. તે મૂંગો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="MAT.9.33" />ઈસુએ અશુદ્ધ આત્માને હાંકી કાઢ્યો કે તરત જ તે મૂંગો માણસ બોલતો થયો, લોકો આશ્ચર્યચકિત થઈ ગયા અને બોલ્યા: “અગાઉ ઈસ્રાએલમાં આવું કદાપિ જોવામાં આવ્યું નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MAT.9.34" />પરંતુ ફરોશીઓએ કહ્યું, “તે (ઈસુ) અશુદ્ધ આત્માના સરદાર (શેતાન) થી જ અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને કાઢે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ લોકો પર ખેદીત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MAT.9.35" />ઈસુએ તે વિસ્તારના તમામ શહેરો અને ગામડાઓમાં જઈને યહૂદિ સભાસ્થાનોમાં દેવના રાજ્ય વિષેની સુવાર્તા આપી. અને જે લોકો બધાજ પ્રકારના રોગો અને માંદગીથી પીડાતા હતા તેમને સાજા કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="MAT.9.36" />ઈસુએ ઘણા લોકોને જોયા અને તેઓ પર તેને કરૂણા ઉપજી કારણ કે તેઓ થાકેલા અને અસહાય હતા. તેઓ પાળક વિનાના ઘેટાં જેવા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="MAT.9.37" />ઈસુએ પોતાના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું કે, “માણસોરૂપી પાક (બચાવ) પુષ્કળ છે. પણ મજૂરો ઓછા છે.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="MAT.9.38" />તેથી પાકના (લોકો) ધણીને પ્રાર્થના કરો કે કાપણી કરવા વધારે મજૂરો મોકલી આપે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">ઈસુએ પ્રેરિતોને ઉપદેશ માટે મોકલ્યા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 3:13-19; 6:7-13; લૂક 6:12-16; 9:1-6)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.10.1" />ઈસુએ તેના બાર શિષ્યોને બોલાવ્યા. ઈસુએ તેઓને અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને કાઢવાની તથા દરેક જાતની માંદગી અને બીમારીમાંથી સાજા કરવાની શક્તિ આપી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.10.2" />બાર પ્રેરિતોનાં નામ આ પ્રમાણે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">પ્રથમ સિમોન જે પિતર કહેવાય છે
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તેનો ભાઈ આંન્દ્રિયા,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઝબદીનો દીકરો યાકૂબ
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તથા તેનો ભાઈ યોહાન.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.10.3" />ફિલિપ
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને બર્થોલ્મી;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">થોમા
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તથા કર ઉઘરાવનાર માથ્થી;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અલ્ફીનો દીકરો યાકૂબ
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને થદી;
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.10.4" />સિમોન કનાની<f caller="+"><fr>10:4
</fr><fk>કનાની
</fk><ft>યહૂદિ રાજકીય જૂથનું નામ જેનો તે સભ્ય હતો.</ft></f>
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તથા યહૂદા ઈશ્કરિયોત, જે તેને દુશ્મનના હાથમાં સોપી દેનારો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.10.5" />આ બાર જણને બહાર મોકલતી વખતે ઈસુએ તેમને આજ્ઞા કરી કે “જ્યાં બિન-યહૂદીઓ વસે છે ત્યાં જશો નહિ અને કોઈપણ સમરૂનીઓના નગરમાં જશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MAT.10.6" />પણ ઈસ્રાએલના લોકો પાસે જાઓ. તે યહૂદીઓ ખોવાયેલા ઘેંટા જેવાં છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MAT.10.7" />જેવા તમે જાઓ કે તરત જ તેઓને ઉપદેશ આપો કે, ‘આકાશનું રાજ્ય ટૂંક સમયમાં આવી રહ્યું છે.’
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="MAT.10.8" />માંદા લોકોને સાજા કરો. મરેલાને જીવતા કરો. રક્તપિત્તના રોગીઓને સાજા કરો અને અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને કાઢો. હું તમને આ સાર્મથ્ય વિના મૂલ્યે આપું છું. માટે તમે પણ દરેકને વિના મૂલ્યે આપો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAT.10.9" />તમારી સાથે સોનું, રૂપું કે તાંબુ કે કોઈપણ પ્રકારનું નાંણુ રાખશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MAT.10.10" />મુસાફરી દરમ્યાન તમારી સાથે ફક્ત તમે જે કપડા પહેર્યા છે તે તથા જે પગરખા પહેર્યા છે તે જ રાખશો. ચાલવા માટે લાકડી પણ લેશો નહિ. વધારાનાં કપડાં કે પગરખાં પણ ના રાખશો કારણ કે કામ કરનાર ને તેની જરૂરિયાતની વસ્તુઓ આપવામાં આવશે જ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.10.11" />“જ્યારે તમે જે નગરમાં કે ગામમાં પ્રવેશો, ત્યારે કોઈ લાયક વ્યક્તિની શોધ કરો અને બીજા સ્થળે જવાનું થાય ત્યાં સુધી તેને ઘેર જ રહો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.10.12" />જે ઘરમાં તમને આવકાર મળે તેમને કહો, ‘શાંતિ તમારી સાથે રહો.’
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MAT.10.13" />જો ઘરના લોકો લાયક હશે તો તમારા આશીર્વાદ એમની સાથે રહેશે. પણ જો તેઓ લાયક નહિ હોય તો તમે આપેલી શાંતિની આશિષ તમારી પાસે પાછી આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MAT.10.14" />અને જો કોઈ શહેર અથવા ઘર તમારો સત્કાર ના કરે, તો ત્યાંથી તરત જ નીકળી જાઓ અને ત્યાંની ધૂળ તમારા પગે લાગી હોય તો તે ખંખેરી નાખો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MAT.10.15" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે, ન્યાયના દિવસે સદોમ અને ગમોરા નગરોની હાલત તે નગરના કરતાં સારી હશે. તથા તેમના તરફ વધારે ઉદારતા બતાવાશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ મુસીબતો વિષે ચેતવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 13:9-13; લૂક 21:12-17)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.10.16" />“સાંભળો! હું તમને એવી જગ્યાએ મોકલી રહ્યો છું કે જ્યાં વરુંઓની વચ્ચે તમે ઘેટાં જેવા લાગશો. આથી તમે સાપ જેવા ચપળ અને કબૂતર જેવા સાલસ બનો અને ખોટું કરશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="MAT.10.17" />લોકોથી ચેતના રહેજો, કારણ એ લોકો તમારી ધરપકડ કરશે. તમને ન્યાય માટે લઈ જશે અને સભાસ્થાનોમાં લઈ જઈ તમારા પર કોરડા ફટકારાશે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="MAT.10.18" />તમને હાકેમો તથા રાજાઓ સમક્ષ હાજર કરવામાં આવશે. આ બધું મારા લીધે તમને કરવામાં આવશે. તમે ત્યારે મારા વિષે એ બધાને કહેજો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MAT.10.19" />જ્યારે તમને પકડવામાં આવે તો તમારે શું કહેવું અને કેવી રીતે કહેવું તેની ચિંતા કરશો નહિ. યોગ્ય ઉત્તર આપવાના શબ્દો તમને તે વખતે જ આપવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="MAT.10.20" />તે સમયે તમે નહિ, પરંતુ તમારા પિતાનો આત્મા તમારા દ્વારા બોલશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.10.21" />“ભાઈઓ, ભાઈઓની વિરૂદ્ધ થશે અને તેમને મારી નાખશે. પિતા તેમના બાળકોની વિરૂદ્ધ થશે બાળકો તેમના માતા પિતા વિરૂદ્ધ થશે અને તેઓને મારી નાખવા માટે સોંપી દેશે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="MAT.10.22" />જો તમે મારા શિષ્યો છો, તો લોકો તમારી પજવણી કરશે, પરંતુ જે અંત સુધી ટકશે તેમનો જ ઉદ્ધાર થશે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="MAT.10.23" />જ્યારે તમારી એક નગરમાં પજવણી કરવામાં આવે તો તમે બીજા નગરમાં જતાં રહેજો. તમને સાચું જ કહું છું કે, માણસનો દીકરો આવે તે પહેલા તમે ઈસ્રાએલના તમામ નગરોમાં ફરી વળશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.10.24" />“ચેલો તેના ગુરુંથી મોટો નથી કે દાસ એના શેઠ કરતાં ચડિયાતો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MAT.10.25" />ચેલાઓ પોતાના ગુરૂ જેવા બનવામાં અને દાસે તેના શેઠ જેવા બનવામાં સંતોષ માનવો જોઈએ. જો ઘરના ધણીને જ બાલઝબૂલ (શેતાન) કહેવામાં આવે તો પછી ઘરના બીજા સભ્યોને કેવા નામથી સંબોધશે!
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પ્રભુથી ડરો, લોકોથી નહિ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 12:2-7)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MAT.10.26" />“આથી લોકોથી ન ડરો કારણ કે જે કંઈક છુપાવેલું છે તે જાહેર કરવામાં આવશે. જે કંઈ ગુપ્ત છે તે પ્રગટ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="MAT.10.27" />હું તમને અંધકારમાં જે કહું છું તે તમે અજવાળામાં જાહેર કરો, અને મેં જે તમને કાનમાં કહ્યું, તે બધું તમે બધાજ લોકોને જાહેરમાં કહો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.10.28" />“જેઓ તમારા દેહનો નાશ કરી શકે છે પરંતુ તમારા આત્માને મારી શક્તા નથી, તેવા લોકોથી બિલકુલ ન ડરો. ફક્ત પ્રભુથી જ ડરો. કારણ કે તે તમારા આત્માને અને શરીરને નરકમાં ધકેલી શકે છે.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="MAT.10.29" />એક પૈસામાં બે નાનાં પક્ષીઓ વેચાય છે પરંતુ તમારા બાપની ઈચ્છા વગર કોઈ એક પણ પક્ષી ધરતી પર નહિ પડી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="MAT.10.30" />દેવને તો ખબર છે કે તમારા માથા ઉપર વાળ કેટલા છે.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="MAT.10.31" />તેથી ડરો નહિ. તમારું મૂલ્ય તો એવાં નાનાં પક્ષીઓ કરતાં અધિક છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લોકોને તમારા વિશ્વાસ વિષે કહો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 12:8-9)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MAT.10.32" />“જે કોઈ બીજા લોકોની સામે મારામાં વિશ્વાસની કબૂલાત કરશે તો, હું પણ આકાશમાંના બાપની આગળ એ મારો છે તેમ જાહેર કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="MAT.10.33" />પરંતુ જ્યારે કોઈ માણસ બીજા લોકોની સામે મારામાં તેના વિશ્વાસને કબૂલ ન કરે, તો તેનો હું નકાર કરીશ. અને હું આકાશમાંના બાપની સમક્ષ તે મારો છે એવું જાહેર કરીશ નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ વિષે લોકોનો અસ્વીકાર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 12:51-53; 14:26-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MAT.10.34" />“એમ ન માનતા કે હું પૃથ્વી પર શાંતિ લાવવા આવ્યો છું, શાંતિ તો નહિ, પણ હું તલવાર લઈને આવ્યો છું.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="35-36" bcv="MAT.10.35" />‘હું પુત્રને તેના પિતાની વિરૂદ્ધ,
</q>
<q style="q1">પુત્રીને તેની મા વિરૂદ્ધ,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને વહુને તેની સાસુ વિરૂદ્ધ કરવા આવ્યો છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">મનુષ્યના શત્રું તો તેમના ઘરના લોકો જ બનશે.’
<rq>મીખાહ 7:6</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="MAT.10.37" />“જે કોઈ મારા કરતાં વધારે તેના માતાપિતાને પ્રેમ કરે છે અને જે કોઈ મારા કરતાં તેમના દીકરા કે દીકરીને પ્રેમ કરે છે તે મારો શિષ્ય થવાને લાયક નથી.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="MAT.10.38" />જે માણસ તેને આપવામાં આવેલ વધસ્તંભનો સ્વીકાર કરતો નથી તો તે મારો શિષ્ય થવા માટે યોગ્ય નથી.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="MAT.10.39" />જે માણસ મારા કરતાં તેના જીવનને વધારે પ્રેમ કરે છે તે સાચું જીવન ગુમાવી દેશે. પણ જે મારા માટે જીવન અર્પણ કરી શકશે તેજ સાચું જીવન પ્રાપ્ત કરી શકશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">જે વ્યક્તિ આપણી વિરુંદ્ધ નથી તે આપણા પક્ષનો છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 9:41)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="MAT.10.40" />“જે માણસ તમને સ્વીકારે છે, તે મને સ્વીકારે છે, અને જે વ્યક્તિ મને સ્વીકારે છે તે જેણે મને મોકલ્યો તેને સ્વીકારે છે.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="MAT.10.41" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પ્રબોધકને સ્વીકારે છે કારણ કે તે એક પ્રબોધક છે પછી તે પ્રબોધક જે મેળવે છે તે બદલો તે વ્યક્તિ પ્રાપ્ત કરશે. જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ સાચા માણસને સ્વીકારે છે, તે એક સારો માણસ છે પછી કે સાચો માણસ પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે તે બદલો તે વ્યક્તિને મળશે.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="MAT.10.42" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ શિષ્યના નામે નાનામાંના એકને પણ ઠંડા પાણીનો પ્યાલો પીવા આપે તો તેનું ફળ મળ્યાં વગર રહેશે જ નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ અને યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 7:18-35)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.11.1" />ઈસુ તેના બાર શિષ્યોને સૂચનાઓ આપ્યા પછી ત્યાંથી નીકળ્યો અને ત્યાંથી ગાલીલ નામના નગરમાં ઉપદેશ અને બોધ આપવા ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MAT.11.2" />યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત જેલમાં હતો. ઈસુ જે કંઈ કરતો હતો તે વિષે તેણે સાંભળ્યું એટલે યોહાને તેના શિષ્યોમાંના કેટલાએકને ઈસુ પાસે મોકલ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAT.11.3" />યોહાનના શિષ્યોએ આવીને ઈસુને પૂછયુ કે, “યોહાને જે માણસ વિષે કહ્યું તે આવી રહ્યો છે તે તું છે કે અમારે બીજા માણસની રાહ જોવાની છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.11.4" />ઈસુએ તેમને કહ્યું કે, “તમે યોહન પાસે પાછા જાવ અને અહીં જે કાંઈ જોયું અને સાંભળ્યું, તે વિષે યોહાનને જાણ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="MAT.11.5" />આંધળા ફરી દેખતાં થયા છે; પાંગળા ચાલતા થયા છે; રક્તપિત્તિયા સાજા થઈ ગયા છે; બહેરા સાંભળતા થયા છે; અને મરણ પામેલા જીવનમાં ફરી બેઠા થયા છે. આ સુવાર્તા ગરીબ લોકોને જણાવવામાં આવી છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="MAT.11.6" />જે વ્યક્તિ મારો સ્વીકાર કરવા શક્તિમાન છે તેને ધન્ય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.11.7" />યોહાનના શિષ્યો પાછા ફરવા તૈયાર થયા, ઈસુએ લોકોને શું જોવા ઈચ્છો છો તે પૂછયું અને કહ્યું, “તમે ઉજજડ પ્રદેશમાં યોહાન પાસે ગયા ત્યારે શું જોવા ગયા હતા? શું પવનથી હાલતા બરુંને જોવા ગયા હતા? ના!
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="MAT.11.8" />તો તમે ત્યાં શું જોવા ગયા હતાં? શું જેણે ખૂબ સારા વસ્ત્રો પહેર્યા હતા તેવા માનવીને? ના! આવા સુંદર કપડા પહેરે છે તે તો રાજાના રાજમહેલમાં રહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAT.11.9" />તો પછી તમે શું જોવા ગયા હતાં? શું દેવના પ્રબોધકને જોવા ગયા હતાં? હા, હું તમને કહું છું, યોહાન તો પ્રબોધક કરતાં ઘણો અધિક છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MAT.11.10" />યોહાન વિષે લખ્યું છે તે આ છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! હું મારા દૂતને તારી આગળ મોકલું છું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તમારા માટે માર્ગ તૈયાર કરશે.’
<rq><ref tgt="MAL.3.1">માલાખી 3:1</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.11.11" />“હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે આજદિન સુધીમાં પૃથ્વી પર જન્મયા છે તેમાં યોહાન જેવો કોઈ ઉત્પન્ન થયો નથી, પણ આકાશના રાજ્યમાં સૌથી નાનો છે તે યોહાન કરતાં પણ મોટો છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.11.12" />યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્તના સમયથી આજદિન સુધી આકાશનું રાજ્ય આઘાત ઝીલતું રહ્યું છે, અને હિંસક સાધનોથી તેને છીનવી લેવાના પ્રયત્નો થયા છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MAT.11.13" />બધાજ પ્રબોધકોએ અને નિયમશાસ્ત્રે યોહાન આવ્યો ત્યાં સુધી જે કાંઈ બનવાનું છે તે સંદેશ આપ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MAT.11.14" />અને જો તમે નિયમશાસ્ત્ર અને પ્રબોધકોએ જે કહ્યું છે તે સ્વીકારતા હો તો પછી તમારે તેનો સ્વીકાર કરવો હોય તો તે અગાઉ જણાવ્યા પ્રમાણે આવનાર એલિયા તે એ જ છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MAT.11.15" />તમે લોકો મને સાંભળી શકો છો, તો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો!
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.11.16" />“આજની પેઢીના વિષે શું કહું? તેઓ કોના જેવા છે? તેઓ તો બજારમાં બેઠેલા બાળકોના જેવા છે કે જે એકબીજાને હાંક પાડે છે, હા, તેઓ તેવા જ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.11.17" />‘અમે તમારા માટે સંગીત વગાડ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તમે નૃત્ય કયું નહિ;
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે તમારા માટે દર્દ ભર્યા ગીતો ગાયાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તમે રડ્યા નહિ.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.11.18" />યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત બીજાની જેમ ખાતો પીતો નથી આવ્યો તેથી લોકો કહે છે કે, ‘તેની અંદર ભૂત છે.’
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MAT.11.19" />માણસનો દીકરો જે આવ્યો છે તે બીજાઓની જેમ ખાય છે. પીએ છે, ‘એના તરફ તો જુઓ! તે કેટલું બધું ખાય છે અને કેટલું બધું પીવે છે, ઉપરાંત કર ઉઘરાવનાર અને પાપીઓનો મિત્ર છે.’ પરંતુ તેનું શાણપણ પોતાના કાર્યોના પરિણામથી ન્યાયી પુરવાર થાય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અવિશ્વાસીઓને ઈસુની ચેતવણી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 10:13-15)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.11.20" />ઈસુએ જ્યાં જ્યાં તેનાં મોટા ભાગનાં પરાક્રમી કાર્યો કર્યા હતાં, તે નગરોની ટીકા કરી કારણ કે લોકો પોતાના જીવનમાં પરિવર્તન લાવ્યા નહિ. અને પાપકર્મો કરવાનું છોડ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="MAT.11.21" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “ઓ ખોરાઝીન<f caller="+"><fr>11:21
</fr><fk>ખોરાઝીન
</fk><ft>બેથસૈદા, કફર-નહૂમ ગાલીલ સરોવર પાસેના નગરો જયાં ઈસુ લોકોને બોધ કરતો હતો.</ft></f> તને હાય! હાય! ઓ બેથસૈદા તને હાય! હાય! જો આ પરાક્રમો મેં દુષ્ટ એવા તૂર અને સિદોન<f caller="+"><fr>11:21
</fr><fk>તૂર અને સિદોન
</fk><ft>લેબેનોનમાંના નગરો જ્યાં ખૂબ ખરાબ લોકો રહેતા હતા.</ft></f> ના નગરોમાં કર્યા હોત તો ત્યાંના લોકોએ પસ્તાવો કર્યો હોત અને તેમના પર ટાટ તથા રાખ<f caller="+"><fr>11:21
</fr><fk>ટાટ તથા રાખ
</fk><ft>તે દિવસોમાં શોક વ્યક્ત કરવા ટાટના મોટા વસ્ત્રો પહેરતા અને શરીર પર રાખ લગાવતા.</ft></f> નાખીને બતાવ્યું હોત કે તેઓ તેમના પાપોને માટે દુ:ખી હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="MAT.11.22" />પણ હું તમને કહું છું કે ન્યાયના દિવસે તૂર અને સિદોનને આકાશ જેટલી ઊંચી પદવીએ પહોંચાડાશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.11.23" />“ઓ કફર-નહૂમ, શું તું એમ માને છે કે તને ઉચ્ચ પદ માટે આકાશમાં લઈ જવામાં આવશે?ના! તને તો હાદેસના ખાડામા નાખવામા આવશે તારામાં જે ચમત્કારો થયા તે જો સદોમમાં થયા હોત તો તે નગર આજ સુધી ટકી રહ્યું હોત.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="MAT.11.24" />હું કહું કે, ન્યાયના દિવસે સદોમની હાલત તારાં કરતા સારી હશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ તેના લોકોને વિસામો આપે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 10:21-22)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MAT.11.25" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “ઓ બાપ, આકાશ તથા પૃથ્વીના પ્રભુ, હું તારી સ્તુતિ કરું છું. તારો આભારી છું કારણ તેં જ્ઞાનીઓથી આ સત્યોને ગુપ્ત રાખીને જે લોકો નાના બાળકો જેવા છે તેમની આગળ પ્રગટ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="MAT.11.26" />હા, ઓ બાપ, આ તેં એટલા માટે કર્યુ કે તારે એ પ્રમાણે કરવું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MAT.11.27" />“મારા બાપે મને બધું જ આપ્યું છે. બાપ સિવાય દીકરાને કોઈ ઓળખતું નથી અને બાપને દીકરા સિવાય કોઈ ઓળખી શકતું નથી. અને એવા લોકો જે બાપને ઓળખે છે તે એવા લોકો છે જેને દીકરો તેની પાસે બાપને પ્રગટ કરવા પસંદ કરે છે, તેઓ જ બાપને ઓળખે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.11.28" />“તમારામાંના જે થાકી ગયા છે અને ભારે બોજ વહન કરી રહ્યા છે તેઓ મારી પાસે આવો. અને હું તમને વિસામો આપીશ.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="MAT.11.29" />તમે મારો બોજ ઉઠાવો અને મારી પાસેથી શીખો. કારણ હું દીન અને નમ્ર છું તેથી તમારા જીવમાં વિસામો પામશો.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="MAT.11.30" />મારું જે કાર્ય તમને સ્વીકારવા કહું છું તે સહેલું છે અને તમારા પર જે બોજ મૂકુ છું તે ઊંચકવામાં હલકો છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">કેટલાક યહૂદીઓ ઈસુની ટીકા કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 2:23-28; લૂક 6:1-5)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.12.1" />તે સમયે, ઈસુ વિશ્રામવારે પોતાના શિષ્યો સાથે અનાજના ખેતરોમાંથી જતો હતો. તેના શિષ્યો ભૂખ્યા થયા હતા. તેથી તેઓ અનાજના કણસલાં તોડી ખાવા લાગ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.12.2" />ફરોશીઓએ આ જોયું અને તેમણે ઈસુને કહ્યું: “જો! તારા શિષ્યો શાસ્ત્રના નિયમનો ભંગ કરે છે. અને અનાજના કણસલાં તોડે છે જે વિશ્રામવારે કરવાની મનાઈ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.12.3" />ઈસુએ તેમને કહ્યું, “શું તમે વાંચ્યું છે કે જ્યારે દાઉદ અને તેના સાથીદારો ભૂખ્યા થયા હતા ત્યારે દાઉદે શું કર્યુ હતું?
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MAT.12.4" />દાઉદ દેવના ઘરમાં ગયો હતો અને દેવને અર્પેલી રોટલી ખાવાની છૂટ ફક્ત યાજકોને હોય છે તે તેણે ખાધી હતી. આ નિયમશાસ્ત્રનો ભંગ ન હતો?
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<v id="5" bcv="MAT.12.5" />શું મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં તમે કદીયે વાચ્યું નથી? વિશ્રામવારે ફરજ પાલન કરનારા યાજકો નિયમનો ભંગ કરે અને છતાં પણ તેમને દોષિત ગણાવતા નથી?
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<v id="6" bcv="MAT.12.6" />હું તમને કહું છું, અહીં એવું કોઈક છે કે જે મંદિર કરતાં પણ મોટો છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="MAT.12.7" />શાસ્ત્રો કહે છે, ‘મારે પ્રાણીના યજ્ઞો નથી જોઈતા; પણ હું લોકોમાં દયા ચાહું છું’ તમે જો શાસ્ત્રોના આ શબ્દોના સાચા અર્થો સમજતા હોત તો જેઓ નિર્દોષ છે, તેઓને દોષિત ન ઠરાવત.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.12.8" />“આ માણસનો દીકરો વિશ્રામવારનો પણ પ્રભુ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ માણસના અપંગ હાથને સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 3:1-6; લૂક 6:6-11)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.12.9" />ઈસુ ત્યાંથી નીકળીને તેઓના સભાસ્થાનમાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MAT.12.10" />ત્યાં સભાસ્થાનમાં એક વ્યક્તિ હતી જેનો હાથ અપંગ હતો. તેથી લોકોએ ઈસુને પૂછયું, “શું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર અનુસાર વિશ્રામવારે કોઈને સાજો કરવો એ શું યોગ્ય ગણાય?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.12.11" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “ધારો કે તમારી પાસે એક ઘેટું હોય અને વિશ્રામવારે તે ખાડામાં પડી ગયું હોય તો શું તમે તેને પકડી ખાડામાંથી બહાર નહિ કાઢો?
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<v id="12" bcv="MAT.12.12" />ઘેટાં કરતાં મનુષ્ય વધારે મૂલ્યવાન છે, માટે વિશ્રામવારે ભલાઈનાં કામ કરવાની નિયમશાસ્ત્ર અનુસાર મંજૂરી હોય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.12.13" />પછી ઈસુએ પેલા માણસને કહ્યું, “તારો હાથ મને જોવા દે.” તે માણસે પોતાને હાથ ઈસુ પાસે ધર્યો કે તરત જ તેનો હાથ બીજા હાથ જેવો થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MAT.12.14" />ફરોશીઓ ત્યાંથી ચાલ્યા ગયા અને ઈસુને મારી નાખવાની યોજના બનાવી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ દેવનો પસંદ કરેલ સેવક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.12.15" />ફરોશીઓ શું કરવાના છે, તેની ઈસુને જાણ થઈ. તેથી ઈસુ તે જગ્યા છોડી ચાલ્યો ગયો. ઘણા લોકો તેની પાછળ ગયા. ઈસુએ બધા જ બિમાર લોકોને સાજા કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="MAT.12.16" />ઈસુએ લોકોને ચેતવણી આપી કે તે કોણ હતો, તે બીજા લોકોને કહેવું નહિ.
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<v id="17" bcv="MAT.12.17" />આમ બન્યુ, જેથી યશાયા પ્રબોધકના શબ્દો સાચા પુરવાર થયા,
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.12.18" />“જુઓ, આ મારો સેવક છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેને મેં પસંદ કર્યો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેને પ્રેમ કરું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એનાથી હું સંતુષ્ટ છું;
</q>
<q style="q1">હું મારો આત્મા તેનામાં મૂકીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે બધા દેશોના લોકોનો ન્યાય કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="MAT.12.19" />તે વાદવિવાદ કરશે નહિ કે બૂમો પાડશે નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો તેને શેરીઓમાં ઊંચા અવાજે બોલતો સાંભળશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.12.20" />કારણ કે ન્યાયનો વિજય ન થાય ત્યાં સુધી બરું જેવા કમજોરને તે કચડી નાખશે નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કે મંદ મંદ સળગતી જ્યોતને તે હોલવી નાખશે નહિં.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા જ દેશોને ન્યાયનો વિજય થશે ત્યાં સુધી પોતાનું કાર્ય ચાલુ રાખશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.12.21" />બધા જ રાષ્ટ્રોના લોકો તેનામાં આશા રાખશે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.42.1">યશાયા 42:1-4</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવ તરફથી પ્રાપ્ત થયેલ ઈસુનું સાર્મથ્ય
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 3:20-30; લૂક 11:14-23; 12:10)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.12.22" />પછી કેટલાએક માણસો એક માણસને ઈસુ પાસે લાવ્યા. તે અંધ હતો અને બોલી પણ શકતો ન હતો, કારણ તેનામાં ભૂત હતું. ઈસુએ તેને સાજો કર્યો. તે માણસ બોલતો થયો અને દેખતો પણ થયો.
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<v id="23" bcv="MAT.12.23" />બધા જ લોકો આશ્ર્ચર્યમુગ્ધ થઈ ગયા અને કહેવા લાગ્યા કે, “તે (ઈસુ) દાઉદનો દીકરો હોય તેમ બની શકે! જેને દેવે આપણી પાસે મોકલવાનું વચન આપ્યું છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.12.24" />જ્યારે ફરોશીઓએ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે કહેવા લાગ્યા, “ઈસુ ભૂતોના રાજા બઆલઝબૂલની મદદથી ભૂતોને હાંકી કાઢે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MAT.12.25" />ઈસુને જ્યારે તેમના વિચારોની જાણ થઈ, ત્યારે ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “દરેક રાજ્ય અંદરો અંદર લડે તો તેનો નાશ થાય છે. દરેક શહેરમાં જ્યારે ભાગલા પડે તો તે લાંબો સમય ટકી શકતું નથી. તેમ દરેક કુટુંબમાં પણ ભાગલા પડે તો તે કુટુંબ ઊભું રહી શકે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="MAT.12.26" />તે રીતે જો શેતાન શેતાનને હાંકી કાઢે તો તેના પોતાનાથી જ છૂટો પડે તો પછી તેનું રાજ્ય કેવી રીતે ટકાવી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="MAT.12.27" />તમે કહો છો કે ભૂતોને કાઢી મૂકવા હૂં બાલઝબૂલનો ઉપયોગ કરું છું, જો એ સાચુ હોય તો તમારા લોકો ભૂતોને હાંકી કાઢવા કઈ શક્તિનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે? આથી તમારા લોકો જાતે જ સાબિત કરે છે કે, તમે ખોટા છો.
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<v id="28" bcv="MAT.12.28" />પણ હું તો ભૂતોને કાઢવા દેવના આત્માના સાર્મથ્યનો ઉપયોગ કરું છું. જે બતાવે છે કે હવે દેવનું રાજ્ય તમારી નજીક આવી રહ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="MAT.12.29" />જો કોઈએ બળવાનના ઘરમાં પ્રવેશ કરવો હોય અને તેની વસ્તુઓ ચોરી લેવી હોય તો, પહેલા તો બળવાન માણસને તમારે બાંધી દેવો જોઈએ, પછી જ તે માણસના ઘરમાં કોઈપણ વ્યક્તિ તેની વસ્તુઓની ચોરી કરી શકે છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="MAT.12.30" />જો જે વ્યક્તિ મારી સાથે નથી તો તે મારી વિરૂદ્ધમાં છે. જે મારી સાથે કામ કરી શકતો નથી, તે મારી વિરૂદ્ધમાં કામ કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MAT.12.31" />“તેથી હું કહું છું, લોકોએ કરેલું દરેક પાપ અને પ્રત્યેક દુર્ભાષણ આ બધુજ માફ થઈ શકે છે. પણ જે કોઈ માણસ પવિત્ર આત્માની વિરૂદ્ધ જે દુર્ભાષણ કરે છે તે માણસને માફ નહિ કરાશે.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="MAT.12.32" />કોઈ માણસના દીકરાની વિરૂદ્ધ બોલે તો તેને માફ થઈ શકે, પરંતુ કોઈ પવિત્ર આત્માની વિરૂદ્ધ બોલે તો તે વ્યક્તિને માફ કરી શકાય નહિ. આ યુગમાં પણ નહિ, ને આવનાર યુગમાં પણ નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કાર્યથી માણસની ઓળખાણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 6:43-45)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MAT.12.33" />“જો તમારે સારું ફળ જોઈતું હોય તો સારું વૃક્ષ રોપવું જોઈએ, તમારું વૃક્ષ સારું નહિ હોય તો તેને ખરાબ ફળ મળશે. વૃક્ષની ઓળખાણ તેના ફળથી જાણી શકાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="MAT.12.34" />ઓ સર્પોના વંશ, તમે જ ખરાબ હો તો સારી વાત કેવી રીતે કરી શકો? તમારા હૃદયમાં જે કાંઈ ભર્યુ છે તે જ મુખ બોલે છે.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="MAT.12.35" />સારા માણસના હૃદયમાં સારી વસ્તુ સંધરેલી હોય તો તે સારું જ ખોલે છે. પણ જો દુષ્ટના હૃદયમાં ખરાબ વાત સંઘરેલી હોય તો તેને હોઠે ખરાબ વાત જ બોલાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="MAT.12.36" />પણ હું તમને કહું છું કે ન્યાયકાળે દરેક વ્યક્તિએ તેણે બોલેલા પ્રત્યેક અવિચારી શબ્દ માટે ઉત્તર આપવો પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="MAT.12.37" />તમે બોલેલા શબ્દોના આધારે જ તમારો ન્યાય કરવામાં આવશે, તમારી કહેલી કેટલીક વાતો તમને નિર્દોષ ઠરાવશે. અને તમારી કહેલી કેટલીક વાતો તમને દોષિત કરાવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુની પાસે યહૂદિઓએ નિશાની માંગી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 8:11-12; લૂક 11:29-32)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="MAT.12.38" />એક દિવસે કેટલાક ફરોશીઓ અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ ઈસુની પાસે આવ્યા. તેમણે કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, અમને નિશાનીરૂપે કંઈ ચમત્કાર કરી બતાવ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="MAT.12.39" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “દેવળ દુષ્ટ અને અવિશ્વાસી લોકો જ નિશાની તરીકે ચમત્કારની માંગણી કરે છે. પરંતુ યૂના પ્રબોધકની નિશાની સિવાય બીજી કોઈ નિશાની અપાશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="MAT.12.40" />જેમ યૂના ત્રણ દિવસ અને ત્રણ રાત મોટી માછલીના પેટમાં રહ્યો તેમ માણસનો દોકરો પૃથ્વીના પેટમાં ત્રણ દિવસ અને ત્રણ રાત રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="MAT.12.41" />ન્યાયકાળે નિનવેહના લોકો આજની પેઢીના તમારા લોકો સાથે ઊભા રહેશે, અને તમને દોષિત ઠરાવશે. કેમ કે જ્યારે યૂનાએ તેઓને ઉપદેશ આપ્યો, ત્યારે તેઓએ પસ્તાવો કર્યો અને પોતાના ખરાબ માર્ગ છોડી દઈ દેવની તરફ વળ્યા. પણ જુઓ યૂના કરતાં અહીં એક મોટો છે તો પણ તમે તેના પર વિશ્વાસ કરવાનો ઈન્કાર કરો છો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="MAT.12.42" />“ન્યાયના દિવસે શેબાની રાણી આજની પેઢીના તમારા લોકો સાથે ઊભી રહેશે કારણ કે ઘણે દૂરથી સુલેમાનનું જ્ઞાન સાંભળવા આવી હતી. અહીં સુલેમાન કરતાં પણ એક મોટો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લોકોમાં શેતાન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 11:24-26)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="MAT.12.43" />“અશુદ્ધ આત્મા માણસમાંથી નીકળ્યા પછી ઉજજડ સ્થળોએ વિસામો શોધતો ફરે છે પણ એને એવું કોઈજ સ્થળ વિસામા માટે મળતું નથી.
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<v id="44" bcv="MAT.12.44" />તેથી તે કહે છે, ‘જેના ઘેરથી (વ્યક્તિ) હું નીકળ્યો છું તેના જ ઘરે (વ્યક્તિ) હું પાછો જઈશ.’ તેથી તે પાછો આવે છે અને જુએ છે તો પેલા માણસનું ઘર ખાલી સ્વચ્છ અને સુઘડ બનાવેલું છે.
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<v id="45" bcv="MAT.12.45" />પછી તે અશુદ્ધ આત્મા જાય છે અને પોતાના કરતાં વધુ ભૂંડા એવા સાત અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને લાવે છે. અને એ બધાજ પેલા માણસમાં પ્રવેશીને રહે છે. આ અગાઉ કરતાં તેની દશા વધારે કફોડી બને છે. આ દુષ્ટ પેઢીના લોકો જે આજે છે તેમની હાલત પણ એવી જ થશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના શિષ્યો જ તેનું કુટુંબ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 3:31-35; લૂક 8:19-21)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="MAT.12.46" />ઈસુ જ્યારે લોકોને વાત કરી રહયો હતો ત્યારે તેની સાથે વાત કરવાની ઈચ્છાથી તેની મા અને ભાઈઓ ઘરની બહાર ઊભા રહ્યા હતા.
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<v id="47" bcv="MAT.12.47" />એક માણસે ઈસુને આવીને કહ્યું, “તારી મા અને ભાઈઓ તારી સાથે વાત કરવાની ઈચ્છાથી તારી રાહ જોઈને બહાર ઊભા રહ્યાં છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="MAT.12.48" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “કોણ મારી મા અને કોણ મારા ભાઈઓ?”
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<v id="49" bcv="MAT.12.49" />પછી ઈસુએ પોતાના શિષ્યો તરફ આંગળી ચીંધી ને કહ્યું, “જુઓ! આ લોકો જ મારી મા અને મારા ભાઈઓ છે.
<ve />
<v id="50" bcv="MAT.12.50" />મારા આકાશમાંના બાપની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે જે વર્તે છે તે જ મારા ભાઈ, બહેન, અને મા છે.”
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</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ બીજ વાવનારનું દૃષ્ટાંત કહે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 4:1-9; લૂક 8:4-8)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.13.1" />તે જ દિવસે ઈસુ ઘરમાંથી નીકળીને સરોવરના કિનારે જઈને બેઠો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.13.2" />ઘણા લોકો તેની આસપાસ ભેગા થયા. તેથી તે હોડીમાં પ્રવેશ્યો અને બેઠો. લોકો કિનારે ઊભા રહ્યાં.
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<v id="3" bcv="MAT.13.3" />ઈસુએ દૃષ્ટાંતો દ્વારા ઉપદેશ આપવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ. તેણે કહ્યું,
</p>
<p style="p">“એક ખેડૂત ખેતરમાં વાવવા માટે બહાર ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MAT.13.4" />જ્યારે ખેડૂત વાવણી કરતો હતો ત્યારે કેટલાંએક બી રસ્તાની બાજુએ પડયાં. પક્ષીઓ આવ્યાં અને તે ખાઈ ગયાં.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="MAT.13.5" />કેટલાંએક બી પથ્થરવાળી જમીન પર પડ્યાં. ત્યાં પૂરતી માટી નહોતી. અને માટીનું ઊંડાણ નહોતું. તેથી બી વહેલા ઊગી નીકળ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MAT.13.6" />પણ સૂર્યના તાપથી બધા જ કુમળા છોડ ચીમળાઈ ગયા અને સુકાઈ ગયા. કારણ તેમનાં મૂળ ઊડાં ન હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MAT.13.7" />કેટલાએક બી કાંટા ઝાંખરામાં પડ્યાં. ઝાંખરા ઉગ્યાં પણ સારા બી ના છોડને ઉગતા જ દબાવી દીધા.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="MAT.13.8" />કેટલાંક સારી જમીનમાં પડ્યાં અને તેમાંથી છોડ ઊગ્યા, અને અનાજ ઉત્પન્ન કર્યુ. કેટલાંક છોડે સોગણાં, કેટલાંક સાઠગણાં અને કેટલાંકે ત્રીસગણાં ફળ ઉત્પન્ન કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAT.13.9" />તમે લોકો જે મને સાંભળી રહ્યાં છો, તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો!”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના ઉપદેશમાં દૃષ્ટાંતનો ઉપયોગ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 4:10-12; લૂક 8:9-10)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.13.10" />પછી ઈસુના શિષ્યોએ તેને આવીને પૂછયું, “તું લોકોને દૃષ્ટાંતો દ્વારા શા માટે શીખવે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.13.11" />ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “આકાશના રાજ્ય અને તેના મર્મો વિષે તમને સમજવાનો અધિકાર આપવામાં આવ્યો છે પરંતુ તે બીજા લોકોને આપવામાં આવ્યો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.13.12" />જેની પાસે સમજ છે, તેને આપવામાં આવશે અને તેની પાસે તેની જરૂરિયાત કરતાં પણ પુષ્કળ થશે, પણ જેની પાસે સમજ નથી, તેની પાસે જે થોડી ઘણી છે તે પણ ગુમાવી બેસશે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MAT.13.13" />આથી હું દૃષ્ટાંત દ્વારા તેમને કહું છું કે તમે નજર કરશો અને તમને દેખાશે. લોકો જુએ છે પણ હકીકતમાં તેઓ જુએ છે છતાં તેઓ જોતા નથી. તેઓ સાંભળે છે, પણ હકીકતમાં તેઓ સાંભળતા નથી અને સમજતા પણ નથી.
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<v id="14" bcv="MAT.13.14" />તેથી યશાયા પ્રબોધકે ભવિષ્યવાણી કરી છે તે સાચી પડી છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તમે લોકો સાંભળશો અને સાંભળતા જ રહેશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ કદી સમજશો નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે જોઈ શકશો છતાં પણ કદી પણ જોઈ શકશો નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે શું જુઓ છો તે સમજી શકશો નહિ તેમના કિસ્સામાં આ સાચું સાબિત થયું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.13.15" />કેમ કે આ લોકોનું હૃદય લાગણી વિહિન થઈ ગયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને કાન છે, પણ ભાગ્યે જ સાંભળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ પોતાની આંખો બંધ કરી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ સત્ય જોવું નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નહિ તો તેઓ પોતાની આંખોથી જુએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પોતાના કાનથી સાંભળે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પોતાના હૃદયથી સમજી પાછા ફરે તો હું
</q>
<q style="q1">તેઓને સાજા કરું.’
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.6.9">યશાયા 6:9-10</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.13.16" />પણ તમે આશીર્વાદ પામેલા છો, કારણ કે તમારી આંખો જોઈ શકે છે અને તમારા કાન સાંભળી શકે છે. ને સમજી શકે છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="MAT.13.17" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે ઘણા પ્રબોધકો અને સારા માણસો તમે જે જુઓ છો તે જોવા ઈચ્છતા હતા પરંતુ તેઓ જોઈ શકયા નહિ. અને ઘણા પ્રબોધકો અને સારા માણસો તમે જે સાંભળો છો તે સાંભળવા ઈચ્છતા હતા પરંતુ તે સાંભળી શકયા નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ બી નો અર્થ સમજાવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 4:13-20; લૂક 8:11-15)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.13.18" />“બી વાવનાર ખેડૂતનાં દૃષ્ટાંતનો અર્થ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો:
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MAT.13.19" />“જે બીજ રસ્તા ઉપર પડ્યા છે તેનો અર્થ શો? એનો અર્થ એ કે જે રાજ્ય વિષેની સંદેશ સાંભળે છે પણ તે સમજી શકતો નથી, ત્યારે શેતાન આવીને તેના મનમાં જે વાવેલું છે તે છીનવીને લઈ જાય છે. રસ્તાની કોરે જે વાવેલું તે એ જ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.13.20" />“અને ખડકાળ પ્રદેશમાં બી પડે છે, તેનો અર્થ શો? એ બી એવા માણસ જેવું છે કે જે ઉપદેશ સાંભળે છે અને તરત જ આનંદથી સ્વીકારી લે છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="MAT.13.21" />તો પણ તેના પોતામાં જડ નહિ હોવાથી તે થોડીવાર ટકે છે અને જ્યારે વચનને લીધે વિપત્તિ અથવા સતાવણી આવે છે ત્યારે તે તરત ઠોકર ખાય છે તે માણસનાં હૃદય સુધી તે ઉપદેશની અસર થાય અને જયારે તેને સ્વીકારેલા સંદેશને લીધે સતાવણી થાય છે ેત્યારે ઝડપથી સિધ્ધાંતો ત્યજી દે છે અને પાછો પડે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.13.22" />“અને જે બી કાંટા અને ઝાંખરામાં પડ્યાં છે તે એવી વ્યક્તિ જેવા છે કે જે ઉપદેશ સાંભળે છે પણ જ્યારે દુન્યવી ચિંતાઓ અને સંપત્તિના પ્રલોભનો આવે છે ત્યારે સંદેશને ગુંગળાવી નાખે છે. અને તેને ઊગતા અટકાવે છે. અને તે કોઈ ફળ ધારણ કરી શકતા નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.13.23" />“સારી જમીન ઉપર પડેલા બી નો અર્થ એ છે કે જે વ્યક્તિ આ ઉપદેશ સાંભળે છે અને સમજે છે તે તેનાં ફળ પામે છે અને કોઈવાર તે જીવનમાં સો ગણાં, કોઈવાર સાઠ ગણાં અને કોઈવાર ત્રીસ ગણાં ફળ ધારણ કરે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઘઉ અને નકામા છોડ વિષે વાર્તા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.13.24" />ઈસુએ બીજું એક દૃષ્ટાંત કહ્યું, “આકાશનું રાજ્ય એ વ્યક્તિ જેવું છે, જેણે પોતાના ખેતરમાં સારા બીજની વાવણી કરી હતી.
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<v id="25" bcv="MAT.13.25" />એક રાત્રે, બધાં જ માણસો ઊંઘતા હતા. ત્યારે તેનો વૈરી આવ્યો અને ઘઉંમાં નકામા બી વાવી ગયો.
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<v id="26" bcv="MAT.13.26" />પણ જ્યારે છોડ ઊગ્યા અને દાણા દેખાયા ત્યારે નકામા છોડ પણ દેખાયા.
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<v id="27" bcv="MAT.13.27" />ખેડૂતનો છોકરો આવ્યો અને તેને કહ્યું, ‘શું તમે ખેતરમાં સારા બી વાવ્યા ન હતાં? તો પછી ખરાબ છોડ ક્યાંથી આવ્યા?’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.13.28" />“તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, ‘વૈરીઓએ આ વાવ્યું છે,’
</p>
<p style="p">“નોકરે પૂછયું, ‘તમે રજા આપો તો નકામા છોડ કાઢી નાખીએ.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MAT.13.29" />“તેણે કહ્યુ, ‘ના, તેમ કરવા જશો તો નકામા છોડ સાથે ઘઉંના છોડ પણ ઉખાડી નાખશો.
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<v id="30" bcv="MAT.13.30" />પાક લણતાં સુધી ઘઉં અને નકામા દાણા ભલે સાથે ઊગે પાક લણણીના સમયે લણનારાઓને હું કહીશ પહેલા નકામા છોડને ભેગા કરો. તેમને બાળી નાખવાના હેતુથી તેમના ભારા બાંધો. અને પછી ધઉં મારા કોઠારમાં ભેગા કરો.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ બીજી દૃષ્ટાંત કથાઓ સાથે શિક્ષણ આપે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 4:30-34; લૂક 13:18-21)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MAT.13.31" />પછી ઈસુએ લોકોને બીજુ દૃષ્ટાંત કહ્યું, “આકાશનું રાજ્ય રાઈના બી જેવું છે જેને માણસે લઈને તેના ખેતરમાં વાવ્યું.
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<v id="32" bcv="MAT.13.32" />બધા જ બી કરતાં તે સૌથી નાનું છે. પણ તે જ્યારે ઉગે છે ત્યારે બગીચાનાં બધાજ છોડ કરતાં બધારે મોટું બને છે અને તે વૃક્ષ બને છે. અને પક્ષીઓ ત્યાં આવીને ડાળીઓમાં માળા બાંધે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MAT.13.33" />પછી તેણે બીજુ દૃષ્ટાંત કહ્યું, “આકાશનું રાજ્ય ખમીર જેવું છે, એક સ્ત્રીએ ત્રણ ગણાં લોટમાં ખમીર ભેળવ્યું જ્યાં સુધી બધાજ લોટને આથો આવી ખમીર તૈયાર ન થયું ત્યાં સુધી તે રહેવા દીઘું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MAT.13.34" />ઈસુએ લોકોને દૃષ્ટાંત કથાઓ દ્વારા ઉપદેશ આપ્યો. તેણે દૃષ્ટાંત કથાઓનો ઉપયોગ કર્યા સિવાય કદીયે ઉપદેશ આપ્યો નથી.
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<v id="35" bcv="MAT.13.35" />આમ એટલા માટે બન્યું, પ્રબોધકે જે કહ્યું હતું તે સાચું પડે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું દૃષ્ટાંતો દ્વારા જ વાત કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વીની ઉત્પત્તિથી અત્યાર સુધી ગુપ્ત રખાયેલા રહસ્યોને હું સમજાવીશ.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.78.2">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 78:2</ref></rq>
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</q>
<s style="s">ધઉં અને કડવા દાણાના દૃષ્ટાંતનો ખુલાસો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="MAT.13.36" />પછી ઈસુ લોકસમુદાયને છોડી ઘરમાં ગયો, તેના શિષ્યોએ આવીને તેને વિનંતી કરી, “અમને ખેતરના નકામા છોડવાનું દૃષ્ટાંત સમજાવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="MAT.13.37" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જેણે સારા બી નું વાવેતર કર્યુ છે તે માણસનો દીકરો છે.
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<v id="38" bcv="MAT.13.38" />આ ખેતર પણ જગત છે જ્યાં સારા બી રાજ્યના સંતાન છે અને ખરાબ બી શેતાનનાં સંતાન છે.
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<v id="39" bcv="MAT.13.39" />જે વૈરીએ ખરાબ બી વાવ્યા તે શેતાન છે, કાપણી એ જગતનો અંત છે, અને પાક લણનારા એ દૂતો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="MAT.13.40" />“આ દૃષ્ટાંતમાં જેમ નકામા છોડને જુદા કાઢી બાળી દેવામાં આવે છે તે જ પ્રમાણે જગતના અંતકાળે થશે.
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<v id="41" bcv="MAT.13.41" />માણસનો દીકરો પોતાના દૂતોને મોકલશે એ દૂતો એવા લોકો જેઓ બીજાને પાપ કરવા પ્રેરે છે અને જેઓ અનિષ્ટ કરે છે તેમને બહાર કાઢશે અને તેમને તેના રાજ્યની બહાર લઈ જશે.
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<v id="42" bcv="MAT.13.42" />તે દૂતો આવા માણસોને અગ્નિની ભઠ્ઠીમાં ફેંકી દેશે. જ્યાં લોકો વેદનાને લીધે રડશે અને દાંત પીસશે.
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<v id="43" bcv="MAT.13.43" />ત્યારે સારા લોકો જ તેના બાપના રાજ્યમાં સૂરજની જેમ ચમકશે. જે સાંભળી શકતા હોય તે મારી વાત ધ્યાનથી સાંભળી લો!
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</p>
<s style="s">ધન ભંડાર અને મોતીની વાર્તા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="MAT.13.44" />“આકાશનું રાજ્ય ખેતરમાં સંતાડેલા ખજાના જેવું છે એક દિવસ જ્યારે માણસને તે ખજાનો મળ્યો ત્યારે ખૂબ ખુશ થયો અને તે જ ખેતરમા ધનનો ખજાનો સંતાડી દીઘો. અને તે ખેતર ખરીદવા પોતાની પાસે જે કઈ હતું, તે બધુંજ વેચી દીધું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="MAT.13.45" />“વળી, આકાશનું રાજ્ય સુંદર સાચા મોતીની શોધ કરવા નીકળેલા એક વેપારી જેવું છે.
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<v id="46" bcv="MAT.13.46" />એક દિવસે તે વેપારીએ આ વિશિષ્ટ મૂલ્યવાન મોતી જોયું ત્યારે તે ગયો અને તેની પાસે જે કઈ હતુ તે બધુ વેચી દીધું અને તે ખરીદી લીધું.
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</p>
<s style="s">માછલીની જાળની વાર્તા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="MAT.13.47" />“અને આકાશનું રાજ્ય એક જાળ જેવું છે, જેને સરોવરમાં નાખીને બધીજ જાતની માછલીઓ પકડી હતી.
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<v id="48" bcv="MAT.13.48" />જ્યારે જાળ પૂરી માછલીઓથી ભરાઈ ગઈ ત્યારે તેણે જાળને પાણીમાંથી બહાર કાઢી સારી માછલીઓ ટોપલીઓમાં ભરી દીઘી. અને ખરાબ માછલીઓને ફેંકી દીઘી.
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<v id="49" bcv="MAT.13.49" />સૃષ્ટિના અંત સમયે પણ આવું જ થશે. દૂતો આવીને દુષ્ટ માણસોને સારા માણસોથી જુદા પાડશે.
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<v id="50" bcv="MAT.13.50" />દૂતો દુષ્ટ માણસોને ધગધગતા અગ્નિમાં ફેંકી દેશે જ્યાં એ લોકો કલ્પાંત કરશે અને દુ:ખથી તેમના દાંત પીસશે અને દુ:ખી થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="MAT.13.51" />પછી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને પૂછયું, “હવે તમે આ બધી બાબતો સમજો છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">શિષ્યોએ કહ્યું, “હા, અમે સમજીએ છીએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="MAT.13.52" />પછી ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “જે શાસ્ત્રીઓ આકાશના રાજ્ય વિષે જાણે છે એ એક એવા ઘર ઘણી છે કે જે તેના કોઠારમાંથી નવી અને જુની વસ્તુઓ બહાર કાઢી નાખે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ વતનમાં પાછો ફર્યો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 6:1-6; લૂક 4:16-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="MAT.13.53" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ દૃષ્ટાંતો દ્વારા પોતાનો ઉપદેશ પૂરો કર્યા પછી ત્યાંથી ચાલી નીકળ્યો.
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<v id="54" bcv="MAT.13.54" />ઈસુ જ્યાં ઉછરીને મોટો થયો હતો ત્યાં ગયો અને લોકોને તેમના સભાસ્થાનમાં ઉપદેશ આપવા લાગ્યો. અને લોકો આશ્ર્ચર્યમુગ્ધ થયા અને કહ્યું, “આ માણસને આવું ડહાપણ અને ચમત્કાર કરવાનું પરાક્રમ કયાંથી પ્રાપ્ત થયું?”
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<v id="55" bcv="MAT.13.55" />આ તો એક સુથારનો દીકરો છે. તેની મા મરિયમ તરીકે ઓળખાય છે. તેના ભાઈઓને યાકૂબ, યૂસફ, સિમોન અને યહૂદા તરીકે આપણે ઓળખીએ છીએ.
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<v id="56" bcv="MAT.13.56" />તેની બહેનો પણ અહીં જ રહે છે, તો આ માણસમાં આટલું બધું ડહાપણ અને આ બધું કરવાનું સાર્મથ્ય કયાંથી આવ્યાં?
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<v id="57" bcv="MAT.13.57" />એથી એ લોકોએ તેનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો નહિ.
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે ઈસુએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “પ્રબોધકને પોતાના ગામ કે પોતાના ઘર સિવાય બધે જ સન્માન મળે છે.”
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<v id="58" bcv="MAT.13.58" />તે લોકો ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ કરતાં ન હતા, તેથી તેણે ત્યાં ઘણાં પરાક્રમી કાર્યો બતાવ્યા નહિ.
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</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">હેરોદે ઈસુના વિષે સાંભળ્યું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 6:14-29; લૂક 9:7-9)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.14.1" />આ સમયે ગાલીલના રાજ્યકર્તા હેરોદ, ઈસુ વિષે સાંભળ્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="MAT.14.2" />ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના ચાકરોને કહ્યું, “આ માણસ (ઈસુ) તો યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત છે. તે મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠયો છે. તેથી જ આ પરાક્રમી કામો કરવા તે સાર્મથ્યવાન છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">યોહાનની હત્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.14.3" />હેરોદે આ પહેલા યોહાનને કેદ કર્યો હતો અને તેને સાંકળો વડે બાંધી જેલમાં પૂરી દીધો હતો. હેરોદના ભાઈ ફિલિપની પત્ની હરોદિયાને લીધે યોહાનની ધરપકડ થઈ હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="MAT.14.4" />હેરોદે યોહાનની ધરપકડ એટલા માટે કરી હતી કે તે તેને વારંવાર કહેતો કે, “હેરોદિયાની સાથે રહેવું તારા માટે ઉચિત નથી.”
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<v id="5" bcv="MAT.14.5" />તેથી હેરોદ તેને મારી નાંખવા માંગતો હતો પરંતુ તે લોકોથી ડરતો હતો. કારણ લોકો યોહાનને પ્રબોધક માનતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MAT.14.6" />પણ હેરોદના જન્મ દિવસે હેરોદિયાની દીકરીએ હેરોદ અને તેના મહેમાનોની સમક્ષ નૃત્ય કર્યુ. તેથી તે ખૂબ ખુશ થયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="MAT.14.7" />હેરોદે તેને વચન આપ્યું કે તારે જે જોઈએ તે માંગ હું તને આપીશ.
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<v id="8" bcv="MAT.14.8" />શું માંગવું તે હેરોદિયાએ તેની દીકરીને કહ્યું, તેથી તેણે હેરોદને કહ્યુ, “આ થાળીમાં યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્તનું માથું મને આપ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.14.9" />રાજા હેરોદ ખૂબજ દિલગીર થયો પણ તેના મહેમાનોની સમક્ષ તેણે તે દીકરીને વચન આપ્યું હતું, તેથી તેની માંગ પૂરી કરવા હુકમ કર્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="MAT.14.10" />તેથી તેણે જેલમાં માણસોને યોહાનનો શિરચ્છેદ કરવા મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="11" bcv="MAT.14.11" />યોહાનનું માથું થાળીમાં મૂકીને છીકરીને આપ્યું. છોકરી તે માથું તેની મા પાસે લઈ ગઈ.
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<v id="12" bcv="MAT.14.12" />પછી યોહાનના શિષ્યો આવ્યા અને તેનું ધડ લીધુ અને દફનાવી દીધું. પછી તેઓએ જઈને ઈસુને આ બધી બાબત જણાવી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ 5,000થી વધુને જમાણે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 6:30-44; લૂક 9:10-17; યોહાન 6:1-14)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.14.13" />ઈસુએ જ્યારે યોહાન વિષે જાણ્યું ત્યારે તે હોડીમાં એકલો એકાંત સ્થળે ચાલ્યો ગયો. લોકોએ જ્યારે જાણ્યું કે ઈસુ ચાલ્યો ગયો છે, તો લોકસમુદાય પોતાના ગામ છોડી તેની પાછળ પાછળ ચાલતો ગયો.
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<v id="14" bcv="MAT.14.14" />ઈસુ જ્યારે હોડીમાંથી બહાર આવ્યો ત્યારે તેણે લોકોની ભીડ જોઈ, તેમના પર દયા વર્ષાવી, માંદા લોકોને સાજા કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.14.15" />બપોર પછી તેના શિષ્યો તેની પાસે આવ્યા અને કહ્યુ, “આ સુમસાન જગ્યા છે. હવે ખૂબ મોડું થઈ ગયું છે તો લોકોને મોકલો કે જેથી તેઓ ગામડાઓમાં જાય અને તેમના માટે થોડું ખાવાનું ખરીદે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.14.16" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમારે દૂર જવાની જરૂર નથી. તમે તેઓને ખાવા માટે ખોરાક આપો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.14.17" />શિષ્યોએ કહ્યુ, “પણ આપણી પાસે ફક્ત પાંચ રોટલી અને બે માછલી છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.14.18" />ઈસુએ કહ્યુ, “રોટલી અને માછલી મારી પાસે લાવો,”
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<v id="19" bcv="MAT.14.19" />પછી તેણે લોકોને ઘાસ પર બેસી જવા કહ્યું. ઈસુએ પાંચ રોટલી અને બે માછલી લીધી અને તેણે આકાશ તરફ જોયું, ખોરાક માટે દેવનો આભાર માન્યો, તેણે રોટલીના ટૂકડા કર્યા અને તેના શિષ્યોને તે આપ્યા. અને તેઓએ તે લોકોને આપ્યા.
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<v id="20" bcv="MAT.14.20" />બધા જ લોકોએ ખાધુ અને ખૂબજ સંતુષ્ટ થયા. ખોરાકના બાકીના બચેલા ટૂકડાઓ શિષ્યોએ બાર ટોપલીઓમાં ભર્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="MAT.14.21" />જેઓએ ત્યાં ખાધું તેમા સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકોને ગણતરીમાં લીધા સિવાય 5,000 પુરુંષો હતા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ સરોવરના પાણી પર ચાલ્યા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 6:45-52; યોહાન 6:16-21)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.14.22" />પછી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને હોડીમાં જવાનું કહ્યુ અને કહ્યું, “તમે સરોવરની પેલે પાર જાઓ, હું થોડી વારમાં આવુ છું.” ઈસુ ત્યાં રોકાયો અને લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે ઘેર જાઓ.”
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<v id="23" bcv="MAT.14.23" />ઈસુએ લોકોને વિદાય આપી અને ટેકરી પર એકલો પ્રાર્થના કરવા ગયો ત્યારે ખૂબજ મોડું થઈ ગયું હતું અને ઈસુ એકલો જ ત્યાં હતો.
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<v id="24" bcv="MAT.14.24" />આ વખતે હોડી કિનારાથી ખૂબજ દૂર હતી અને મોજાઓથી ડામાડોળ થઈ રહી હતી કારણ કે તેની સાથે સખત પવન ફૂંકાતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MAT.14.25" />સવારના ત્રણ અને છ બાગ્યાની વચ્ચે ઈસુ સરોવરના પાણી પર ચાલતો ચાલતો તેમની પાસે આવ્યો.
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<v id="26" bcv="MAT.14.26" />ઈસુને પાણી પર ચાલતો આવતો જોઈને શિષ્યો ભયભીત થયા અને બૂમો પાડવા લાગ્યા કે, “આ ભૂત છે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MAT.14.27" />ઈસુ તરત જ બોલ્યો: “ચિંતા ન કરો! એ તો હું જ છું! ડરો નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.14.28" />ત્યારે પિતરે તેને કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, જો એ તું જ છે, તો તું મને પાણી પર ચાલીને તારી પાસે આવવા કહે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MAT.14.29" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “પિતર, તું આવ.”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી પિતર હોડીમાંથી ઉતરી પાણી પર ચાલતો ઈસુ તરફ જવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="30" bcv="MAT.14.30" />પણ જ્યારે પિતર પાણી પર ચાલતો હતો ત્યારે તેણે સખત પવન ફૂંકાતો જોયો અને તે ડરી ગયો. તે ડૂબવા લાગ્યો અને બૂમ પાડી ઊઠ્યો, “હે પ્રભુ, મને બચાવ!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MAT.14.31" />તરત જ ઈસુએ તેનો હાથ પકડ્યો અને કહ્યું, “તારો વિશ્વાસ ઘણો ઓછો છે. અને તેં શા માટે શંકા કરી?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MAT.14.32" />ઈસુ અને પિતર હોડીમાં ચઢયા પછી પવન શાંત થઈ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="MAT.14.33" />તેના જે શિષ્યો હોડીમાં હતા તેઓએ તેને નમન કર્યુ અને કહ્યું, “તું ખરેખર દેવનો દીકરો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુએ માંદા માણસોને સાજા કર્યા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 6:53-56)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MAT.14.34" />સરોવર પાર કરી, તેઓ ગન્નેસરેતને કિનારે ઉતર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="MAT.14.35" />લોકોએ જાણ્યું કે ઈસુ આવ્યો છે, તે તેના આગમનના સમાચાર તેઓએ આખા પ્રદેશમાં પ્રસરાવ્યા, અને બધાજ માંદા લોકોને ઈસુ પાસે લાવવા એકબીજાને કહ્યું અને લોકો ઈસુ પાસે બધાજ માંદા માણસોને લાવ્યા.
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<v id="36" bcv="MAT.14.36" />અને માંદા લોકો ઈસુને આજીજી કરવા લાગ્યા કે ફક્ત તારા ઝભ્ભાની કિનારને અડકવા દે. જેટલા લોકોએ તેના ઝભ્ભાને સ્પર્શ કર્યો તે બધાજ સાજા થઈ ગયા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">દેવની આજ્ઞા અને મનુષ્યએ બનાવેલ નિયમો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 7:1-23)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.15.1" />પછી કેટલાક ફરોશીઓ અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ યરૂશાલેમથી ઈસુની પાસે આવ્યા અને તેઓએ પૂછયું.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.15.2" />“તારા શિષ્યો આપણા પૂર્વજોએ નક્કી કરેલા રીતરિવાજોનું પાલન કેમ નથી કરતાં? તેઓ ખાતા પહેલા તેમના હાથ કેમ ધોતા નથી!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.15.3" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમારા રીતરિવાજોનું પાલન કરવા માટે તમે દેવની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરવાની શા માટે ના પાડો છો?
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MAT.15.4" />દેવે તો કહ્યું હતું કે, ‘તું તારા પિતા તથા તારી માનું સન્માન કર.’<x caller="+"><xo>15:4
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 20:12; પૂન. 5:16</xt></x> અને દેવે એમ પણ કહ્યું હતું કે ‘જે પોતાના પિતા તથા માનું અપમાન કરે છે તેને અવશ્ય મારી નાખવો જોઈએ.’<x caller="+"><xo>15:4 ઉલ્લેખઃ
</xo><xt>નિ. 21:17</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="MAT.15.5" />પણ તમે એમ કહો છો કે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તેના પિતા કે માને એમ કહી શકે; ‘તમને મદદ કરવા માટે ઉપયોગમાં લઈ શકાય એવું જે કાંઈ મારી પાસે છે, તે દેવને અર્પણ કરવામાં આવ્યું છે. તેથી તમારી મદદ નહિ કરી શકું.’
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MAT.15.6" />આમ તમે પોતાના બાપનું કે માતાનું સન્માન નહિ કરવાનું શીખવો છો. એમ તમે તમારા સંપ્રદાયથી દેવની આજ્ઞા રદ કરી છે. આ રીતે તમે બતાવો છો કે પૂર્વજોએ બનાવેલા રીતરિવાજોનું પાલન કરવું વધારે મહત્વનું છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MAT.15.7" />તમે દંભી છો! તમારા વિષે યશાયાએ જે ભવિષ્યવાણી કરી છે, તે સાચી છે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.15.8" />‘આ લોકો પોતાના હોઠોથી મને માન આપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેઓનાં હૃદય મારાથી ઘણાં દૂર છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.15.9" />તેઓની મારા તરફની ભક્તિ નકામી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ દેવની આજ્ઞાઓને બદલે માણસોએ બનાવેલા નિયમોનો ઉપદેશ આપે છે.’”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.29.13">યશાયા 29:13</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.15.10" />પછી ઈસુએ લોકોને પાસે બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “હું જે કહું છું તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો અને સમજવા પ્રયત્ન કરો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MAT.15.11" />મનુષ્ય જે ખોરાક ખાય છે, તેથી તે અપવિત્ર થઈ જતો નથી, પરંતુ તેના મુખમાંથી જે કોઈ શબ્દો નીકળે છે તેનાથી તે અશુદ્ધ બને છે તેનાથી તે અપવિત્ર થાય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MAT.15.12" />ત્યારે શિષ્યોએ આવીને ઈસુને કહ્યું કે, “શું તમને ખબર છે કે તમારી આ વાતથી ફરોશીઓ ગુસ્સે થયા છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.15.13" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મારા આકાશમાંના બાપે રોપ્યાં નહિ હોય એવા દરેક છોડને મૂળમાંથી ઉખાડી નાંખવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MAT.15.14" />માટે ફરોશીઓની વાત જવા દો. જો એક આંધળો માણસ બીજા આંધળા માણસનો દોરશે તો બંન્ને જણ ખાડામાં પડશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.15.15" />પિતરે ઈસુને વિનંતી કરી કહ્યું, “અગાઉ લોકોને આપેલ દૃષ્ટાંતનો અર્થ સમજાવો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.15.16" />ઈસુએ કહ્યુ, “હજુ પણ તમને સમજવામાં મુશ્કેલી છે?
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="MAT.15.17" />શું તમે નથી જાણતાં કે જે ખોરાક તમારા મોંમાં જાય છે તે પેટમાં જાય છે. પછી શરીરમાંથી બહાર નીકળી જાય છે અને તે ગટરમાં જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="MAT.15.18" />પરંતુ જે શબ્દો વ્યક્તિના મોંમાંથી નીકળે છે તે જે રીતે વ્યક્તિ વિચારે છે તેનું પરિણામ છે. આ શબ્દો માણસને અસ્વચ્છ બનાવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MAT.15.19" />કેમ કે ખરાબ વિચાર, હત્યા, વ્યભિચાર, દુરાચાર, જૂઠ, ચોરી, નિંદા જેવા દરેક ખરાબ વિચાર માણસના હૃદયમાંથી નીકળે છે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="MAT.15.20" />માણસને આજ વસ્તુ અપવિત્ર બનાવે છે. હાથ ધોયા વિના ખાવાથી કંઈ અશુદ્ધ થવાતું નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ બીન યહૂદિ સ્ત્રીને મદદ કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 7:24-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.15.21" />પછી એ વિસ્તારમાંથી ઈસુ દૂર તૂર અને સિદોનના પ્રદેશમાં ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="MAT.15.22" />ત્યાં રહેતી એક કનાની સ્ત્રીઓ ઈસુ પાસે આવીને જોરથી બૂમ પાડીને વિનંતી કરી, “ઓ પ્રભુ, દાઉદના દીકરા, મારા પર દયા કર, મારી દીકરીને ભૂત વળગેલું છે અને તે કાયમ રિબાયા કરે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.15.23" />પણ ઈસુએ તેને કશો જ ઉત્તર આપ્યો નહિ, શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને વિનંતી કરતાં કહ્યું, “તેને દૂર મોકલી દો. તે આપણી પાછળ આવે છે અને બૂમો પાડે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.15.24" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “દેવે મને ઈસ્રાએલના (યહૂદિઓ) ઘરનાં ખોવાયેલાં ઘેટાં પાસે મોકલ્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MAT.15.25" />પછી તે સ્ત્રી ફરીથી ઈસુ પાસે આવી અને તેને પગે પડી કહેવા લાગી, “પ્રભુ, મને મદદ કર!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MAT.15.26" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “છોકરાઓની રોટલી લઈન કૂતરાંઓને આપવી એ બરાબર નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MAT.15.27" />સ્ત્રીએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા પ્રભુ, એ તો ખરું છે પરંતુ કૂતરાંઓ પોતાના માલિકના મેજ નીચે પડેલા રોટલીના નાના ટુકડાઓ ખાય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.15.28" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “બાઈ, તારો વિશ્વાસ ઘણો છે! તારી ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે તને થાઓ.” તેની દીકરી તે જ ઘડીએ સાજી થઈ ગઈ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુએ ઘણા લોકોને સાજા કર્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MAT.15.29" />પછી ઈસુએ તે સ્થળ છોડી દીઘું. અને ગાલીલના સરોવરના કિનારે ગયો. પછી તે એક ટેકરી પર ચઢયો અને ત્યાં બેઠો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MAT.15.30" />લોકોનાં ટોળેટોળાં ત્યાં આવ્યાં લંગડા, આંધળા, ટુડાંઓને, મૂંગા અને બીજા ઘણા માંદા લોકોને ઈસુના પગ આગળ લાવીને તેમને મૂક્યાં અને તેણે તે બધાને સાજા કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="MAT.15.31" />લોકો આશ્ર્ચર્ય પામ્યા. કારણ કે તેઓએ મૂંગાઓને બોલતાં જોયાં, અપંગ સાજા થયાં, લંગડા ચાલતા થયાં અને આંધળા દેખતાં થયા છે! આથી લોકોએ ઈસ્રાએલના દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુએ 4,000 કરતાં વધુ લોકોને જમાડયા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 8:1-10)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MAT.15.32" />પછી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને પાસે બોલાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “આ લોકો પર મને દયા આવે છે કારણ કે તેઓ ત્રણ દિવસથી સતત મારી સાથે છે. હવે એમની પાસે કંઈજ ખાવાનું નથી. હું તેમને ભૂખ્યા જવા દેવા માંગતો નથી, કદાચ રસ્તામાં તેઓ જતાં જતાં ભૂખથી બેભાન થઈ જાય.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MAT.15.33" />પછી શિષ્યોએ કહ્યું, “આટલા બધા લોકોને જમાડવા આપણે પૂરતી રોટલી ક્યાંથી મેળવીશું અને આપણે કોઈપણ ગામથી ઘણા દૂર છીએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MAT.15.34" />ઈસુએ પૂછયું, “તમારી પાસે કેટલી રોટલી છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">શિષ્યોએ કહ્યું, “અમારી પાસે સાત રોટલીઓ અને થોડીક નાની માછલીઓ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MAT.15.35" />ઈસુએ લોકોને જમીન પર બેસી જવા કહ્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="MAT.15.36" />ઈસુએ રોટલી અને માછલી લઈન દેવનો આભાર માન્યો અને તેણે રોટલીના ટૂકડા કરી શિષ્યોને આપ્યા અને શિષ્યોએ તે ટૂકડા લોકોને આપ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="MAT.15.37" />દરેકે ઘરાઈને ખાધું. પછી વધેલા ટૂકડા ભેગા કર્યા અને તેની સાત ટોપલી ભરાઈ.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="MAT.15.38" />ત્યાં જેઓએ ખાધું તેમાં સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકો ઉપરાંત 4,000 પુરુંષો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="MAT.15.39" />પછી ઈસુએ લોકોને વિદાય કર્યા અને તેઓ હોડીમાં બેસી મગદાન પ્રદેશમાં ગયા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">યહૂદિ આગેવાનો દ્વારા ઈસુની કસોટી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 8:11-13; લૂક 12:54-56)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.16.1" />ફરોશીઓ અને સદૂકીઓ ઈસુની કસોટી કરવા આવ્યા. તેઓએ તેને પૂછયું, જો તને દેવે મોકલ્યો છે તો અમને કોઈ પરાક્રમ કરી બતાવ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MAT.16.2" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “સૂર્યાસ્ત સમયે તમે જાણો છો કે હવામાન કેવું થવાનું છે અને આકાશ રતૂમડું છે તો તમે કહેશો કે હવામાન સારું હશે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAT.16.3" />અને સુર્યોદય સમયે આકાશ લાલ અને ઘેરાયેલું હોય તો તમે કહેશો કે આજે હવામાન તોફાની હશે. તમે આકાશના ચિન્હો સમાજી શકો છો ખરા,પણ વતૅમાન સમયના ચિન્હો તમે પારખી શકતા નથી. આજની દુષ્ટ અને વ્યભિચારી પ્રજા પરાક્રમોની એંધાણી માગે છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MAT.16.4" />આજની દુષ્ટ અને અવિશ્વાસી પેઢી એંધાણીની રાહ જુએ છે પણ તેઓને યૂનાના ચિન્હ<f caller="+"><fr>16:4
</fr><fk>યૂનાના ચિન્હ
</fk><ft>યૂના ત્રણ દિવસ મોટી માછલીના પેટમાં રહ્યો તેવી જ રીતે ઈસુ કબરમાં ત્રણ દિવસ રહ્યો. વાંચો જૂના કરારમાં યૂનાનું પુસ્તક.</ft></f> સિવાય બીજુ કોઈ ચિન્હ અપાશે નહિ.” પછી ઈસુ તે જગ્યા છોડીને ચાલ્યો ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ યહૂદિ આગેવાનોથી સાવધ રહેવા જણાવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 8:14-21)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.16.5" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો સરોવર પાર કરી ગયા. પણ રોટલી લાવવાનું શિષ્યો ભૂલી ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MAT.16.6" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “ફરોશીઓ અને સદૂકીઓના ખમીરથી સાવધ રહો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.16.7" />શિષ્યોને લાગ્યું કે, “તેઓ રોટલી લાવવાનું ભૂલી ગયા છે તેથી ઈસુ આવું કહે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.16.8" />ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને વિચાર જાણીને તેઓને કહ્યું, “ઓ અલ્પવિશ્વાસી લોકો, તમે શા માટે કોઈ રોટલી નહિ હોવાની ચર્ચા કરો છો?
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAT.16.9" />શું તમે હજી પણ સમજતા નથી? તમને યાદ છે કે ફક્ત પાંચ રોટલીથી મેં 5,000 માણસોને જમાડ્યા હતા અને તેમના જમ્યા પછી કેટલી બધી રોટલી વધી હતી?
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MAT.16.10" />અને યાદ કરો કે, સાત જ રોટલીઓથી 4,000 માણસોને જમાડ્યા હતા. અને તેમના જમ્યા પછી પણ તમે કેટલી બધી ટોપલીઓમાં રોટલી ભરી હતી?
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MAT.16.11" />હું ખોરાક સંબંધી કહું છું એવો વિચાર જ તમને કેમ આવ્યો? તમે કેમ સમજતા નથી? પણ ફરોશીઓ અને સદૂકીઓના ખમીરથી તમે સાવધાન રહો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MAT.16.12" />આખરે શિષ્યો સમજ્યા કે ઈસુ તેમને રોટલીના ખમીરથી સાવધ રહેવાનું કહેતો ન હતો, પરંતુ ઈસુ તેમને ફરોશીઓ અને સદૂકીઓના ઉપદેશથી સાવધ રહેવાનું કહેતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પિતર કહ્યુ, ઈસુ તે ખ્રિસ્ત છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 8:27-30; લૂક 9:18-21)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.16.13" />જ્યારે ઈસુ કૈસરિયા ફિલિપ્પી પ્રદેશમાં આવ્યો તો તેણે તેના શિષ્યોને પૂછયું કે, “માણસનો દીકરો કોણ છે એ વિષે લોકો શું કહે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.16.14" />શિષ્યોએ કહ્યું, “કેટલાક લોકો કહે છે કે તું યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત છે. બીજા લોકો કહે છે કે, તું એલિયા<f caller="+"><fr>16:14
</fr><fk>એલિયા
</fk><ft>ઈ. પૂ. 850 માં દેવ વિષે બોલનાર પ્રબોધક.</ft></f> છે. થોડા લોકો કહે છે તું યર્મિયા<f caller="+"><fr>16:14
</fr><fk>યર્મિયા
</fk><ft>ઈ. પૂ. 600 માં દેવ વિષે બોલનાર પ્રબોધક.</ft></f> અથવા બીજા પ્રબોધકમાંનો એક છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.16.15" />પછી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને પૂછયું, “તમે શું કહો છો, હું કોણ છું?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.16.16" />સિમોન પિતરે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તું પોતે મસીહ, જીવતા દેવનો દીકરો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.16.17" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો; “યૂના પુત્ર સિમોન તને ધન્ય છે કેમ કે માંસે તથા લોહીએ નહિ, પણ મારા આકાશમાં બાપે તને એ જણાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="MAT.16.18" />હું તને કહું છું કે તું પિતર છે, આ ખડક પર હું મારી મંડળી બાંધીશ, અને તે મંડળીની સામે હાદેસની સત્તાનું<f caller="+"><fr>16:18
</fr><fk>હાદેસની સત્તા
</fk><ft>શાબ્દિક અર્થ “મરણનું દ્વાર.”</ft></f> જોર ચાલશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MAT.16.19" />હું તને આકાશના રાજ્યની ચાવીઓ આપીશ. તું જેને પૃથ્વી પર બંધનકર્તા ગણશે તે જ આકાશમાં બંધનકર્તા રહેશે. અને પૃથ્વી પર તું જે બંધનકર્તા નથી તેમ જાહેર કરીશ તે આકાશમાં બંધનકર્તા થશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.16.20" />પછી તે ખ્રિસ્ત છે તેવું કોઈને પણ નહિ જણાવવા ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને ચેતવણી આપી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના મરણની આગાહી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 8:31-9:1; લૂક 9:22-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.16.21" />પછી ઈસુ તે સમયથી તેના શિષ્યોને કહેવા લાગ્યો કે, તેણે યરૂશાલેમ જવું પડશે. ત્યાં વડીલો તથા મુખ્ય યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ દ્વારા ઘણી બાબતો સહન કરવી પડશે. તેણે તેઓને સમજાવ્યું કે તેને મારી નાખવામાં આવશે અને ત્રણ દિવસ પછી તે ફરીથી મરણમાંથી સજીવન થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.16.22" />પિતર ઈસુને એક બાજુ લઈ ગયો અને કહેવા લાગ્યો, “તને દેવ બધી બાબતોથી બચાવે, પ્રભુ! તારી સાથે આવું બનશે નહિ!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.16.23" />ઈસુ પિતર તરફ ફર્યો અને કહ્યું, “અરે શેતાન, તું મારાથી દૂર ચાલ્યો જા; તું દેવની રીતે નહિ પણ માણસની રીતે વિચારે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.16.24" />પછી ઈસુએ પોતાના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારી પાછળ આવવા માંગે છે તો તેણે પોતાની જાતને ભૂલી જઈ તેણે પોતાની વધસ્તંભ ઊઠાવીને મારી પાછળ ચાલવું પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MAT.16.25" />જે માણસ પોતાનું જીવન બચાવવા ઈચ્છે, તે પોતાનું જીવન ગુમાવશે, પણ મારે લીધે જે પોતાનું જીવન ગુમાવશે, તે તેનું જીવન બચાવશે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="MAT.16.26" />જો કોઈ એક માણસ આખું જગત મેળવે, પણ જો તેનું જીવન ગુમાવે તો તે શા કામનું? અથવા માણસ પોતાના જીવનને બદલે શું આપશે?
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="MAT.16.27" />માણસનો દીકરો પોતાના બાપના મહિમાએ પોતાના દૂતો સુદ્ધાં આવશે, તો તે સમયે તે પ્રમાણે તેનો બદલો આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="MAT.16.28" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, અહીં ઊભેલામાંથી કેટલાક લોકો માણસના દીકરાને તેના રાજ્ય સાથે આવતો જુએ ત્યાં સુધી જીવતા રહેશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">મૂસા અને એલિયાને ઈસુએ સાથે જોયા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 9:2-13; લૂક 9:28-36)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.17.1" />છ દિવસ પછી, ઈસુ પિતરને તથા યાકૂબને તથા તેના ભાઈ યોહાનને સાથે લઈને એક ઊંચા પર્વત પર એકાંતમાં ચાલ્યો ગયો. ત્યાં તેઓ એકલા જ રહ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.17.2" />અને શિષ્યો આગળ તેનું રૂપાંતર થયું. તેનો ચહેરો સૂર્ય જેવો પ્રકાશિત થયો અને તેનાં વસ્ત્રો પ્રકાશ જેવાં તેજસ્વી થયાં.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAT.17.3" />એકાએક મૂસા અને એલિયા ત્યાં દેખાયા અને ઈસુની સાથે વાત કરવા લાગ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.17.4" />પિતરે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, આપણે અહીં રહેવું સારું છે, જો તારી ઈચ્છા હોય તો, હું ત્રણ માંડવા અહીં ઊભા કરી દઉં, એક તારા માટે, એક મૂસા માટે, એક એલિયા માટે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.17.5" />જ્યારે પિતર વાત કરતો હતો, ત્યારે એક ચમકતા વાદળે તેઓના પર આવી તેમને ઢાંકી દીધા અને વાદળમાંથી વાણી થઈ, “આ (ઈસુ) મારો વહાલો દીકરો છે, જેનાથી હું ખૂબજ પ્રસન્ન છું, તમે બધા તેને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MAT.17.6" />તે શિષ્યોએ આ વાણી સાંભળી અને તેઓ ખૂબ ભયભીત થયા. જેથી તેઓ જમીન પર પડ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MAT.17.7" />ઈસુએ પાસે આવીને તેમને સ્પર્શ કર્યો અને કહ્યું, “ઊઠો, બીશો નહિ.”
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="MAT.17.8" />તેઓએ ઊચે નજર કરી તો ત્યાં એકલા ઈસુ સિવાય બીજા કોઈને જોયા નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.17.9" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો પર્વત પરથી નીચે ઉતરતા હતા, ત્યારે તેણે શિષ્યોને આજ્ઞા કરી, “તમે જે કાંઈ પર્વત પર જોયું તે વિષે કોઈપણ વ્યક્તિને વાત કરતાં નહિ, જ્યાં સુધી માણસનો દીકરો મરણમાંથી ઊઠે નહિ ત્યાં સુધી રાહ જુઓ. તેના પછી તમે જે કાંઈ દર્શન કર્યા છે તે વિષે વાત કરી શકશો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.17.10" />શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને પૂછયું કે, “શાસ્ત્રીઓ એવું શા માટે કહે છે કે, ખ્રિસ્ત પહેલાં એલિયાએ આવવું જોઈએ?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.17.11" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, તેઓ સાચુ કહે છે, “એલિયા આવી રહ્યો છે અને તે દરેક વસ્તુને વ્યવસ્થિત કરી દેશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.17.12" />પણ હું તમને કહું છુ કે એલિયા આવી ચુક્યો છે. તેઓએ તેને ઓળખ્યો નહિ પણ જેમ તેઓએ ચાહ્યું તેમ તેઓએ તેને કર્યુ તેમજ માણસના દીકરાને પણ દુ:ખ સહન કરવું જ પડશે.”
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MAT.17.13" />શિષ્યો સમજ્યા કે ઈસુ યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત વિષે વાત કરતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ બિમાર છોકરાને સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 9:14-29; લૂક 9:37-43)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.17.14" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો લોકો પાસે પાછા ગયા. એક માણસ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યો અને તેને ઘુંટણીએ પડી પ્રણામ કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MAT.17.15" />માણસે કહ્યું, “હે પ્રભુ, મારા દીકરા પર દયા રાખ કારણ કે તેને વાઈનો રોગ છે અને તે ખૂબ પીડાય છે.ઘણીવાર તે અજ્ઞિમાં પડે છે તો ઘણીવાર તે પાણીમા પડે છ.ે
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="MAT.17.16" />મારા દીકરાને તારા શિષ્યો પાસે લાવ્યો પરંતુ તેઓ તેને સાજો કરી શક્યા નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.17.17" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તમે એવા લોકો છો જેમને વિશ્વાસ નથી અને તમે ભટકેલ છો, ક્યાં સુધી તમારી સાથે મારે રહેવું જોઈએ? ક્યાં સુધી હું તમારું સહીશ? એ છોકરાને મારી પાસે લાવો.”
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="MAT.17.18" />પછી ઈસુએ તે ભૂતને તેના શરીરમાંથી બહાર નીકળી જવાનો આદેશ આપ્યો અને તરત જ તે ભૂત ચાલ્યું ગયું. અને તે જ ઘડીએ તે છોકરો સાજો થઈ ગયો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MAT.17.19" />પછી ઈસુ પાસે શિષ્યો એકલા જ આવ્યા, તેમણે કહ્યું, “અમે એ છોકરાના શરીરમાંથી ભૂતને કાઢવાના બધા જ પ્રયત્ન કર્યા પણ અમે તે કરી શક્યા નહિ. શા માટે અમે તેને બહાર હાંકી કાઢી ન શક્યા?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.17.20" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તમે ન કરી શક્યા કારણ કે, તમારો વિશ્વાસ અલ્પ છે. હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે જો તમારો વિશ્વાસ રાઈના દાણા જેટલો પણ હશે તો પછી તમે પર્વતને પણ કહી શકશો કે, ‘તું અહીથી ખસીને પેલી જગ્યાએ જા અને તે જશે, તમારા માટે કશું જ અશક્ય હશે નહિ.’
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="MAT.17.21" />ફક્ત પ્રાર્થના અને ઉપવાસથી જ એ પ્રકારનો આત્મા (ભૂત) ચાલ્યો જાય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ તેના મરણ વિષે કહે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 9:30-32; લૂક 9:43-45)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.17.22" />જ્યારે ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો ગાલીલમાં ભેગા મળ્યા ત્યારે ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “માણસનો દીકરો માણસોના હાથમાં સુપ્રત કરાશે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="MAT.17.23" />એ માણસો માણસના દીકરાને મારી નાખશે, પરંતુ ત્રીજા દિવસે તે મરણમાંથી ઊભો થશે.” તે સાંભળી શિષ્યો ખૂબજ દુ:ખી થયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ કર ભરવા વિષે શીખવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.17.24" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો કફર-નહૂમ ગયા. જે કર ઉઘરાવતા હતા તે લોકો પિતર પાસે આવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “શું તમારા ઉપદેશક બે ડ્રાકમાં<f caller="+"><fr>17:24
</fr><fk>બે-ડ્રાકમા
</fk><ft>દરેક વર્ષે પ્રત્યેક યહૂદિએ મંદિરમાં ભરવા માટેનાં કરનું માપ.</ft></f> જેટલો પણ મંદિરનો કર આપતા નથી?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MAT.17.25" />પિતરે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા, ઈસુ તે આપે છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી આ વિષે ઈસુને વાત કરવા પિતર ઘરમાં ગયો. પરંતુ તે કાંઈ કહે તે પહેલા ઈસુએ તેને પૂછયું, “પિતર તને શું લાગે છે? રાજાઓ તેમના પોતાના લોકો પર કર નાખે છે કે પછી પરદેશીઓ પર કર નાખે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MAT.17.26" />પિતરે કહ્યું, “પરદેશીઓ પર.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તો પછી પોતાના દીકરાઓને કર ભરવાનો ના હોય.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="MAT.17.27" />પણ આપણે કર ઉઘરાવનારાઓને ગુસ્સે કરવા નથી. તું સરોવરના કાંઠે જા અને એક માછલી પકડ, પહેલી માછલી પકડી તેનું મોં ખોલજે, તેના મોઢામાંથી તને ચાર ડ્રાકમા મળશે એ સિક્કો લઈને કર ઉઘરાવનાર પાસે જજે અને તારો અને મારો કર તેમને આપી દેજે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ કહે છે મહાન કોણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માક 9:33-37; લૂક 9:46-48)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.18.1" />તે વખતે શિષ્યો ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા અને પૂછયુ, “આકાશના રાજ્યમાં મોટું કોણ છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MAT.18.2" />ઈસુએ એક નાના બાળકને તેની પાસે આવવા કહ્યું અને તેમની વચ્ચે તેને ઊભો રહેવા કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAT.18.3" />પછી શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે જ્યાં સુધી તમે લોકો બદલાશો નહિ અને બાળક જેવા નહિ બનો ત્યાં સુધી તમે આકાશના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશ નહિ કરી શકો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MAT.18.4" />તેથી જે કોઈ, પોતાને આ બાળકના જેવું નમ્ર બનાવશે તે આકાશના રાજ્યમાં સૌથી મહાન વ્યક્તિ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.18.5" />“જે કોઈ મારા નામે આવા બાળકનો સ્વીકાર કરે છે તે મારો સ્વીકાર કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પ્રલોભનો વિષે ચેતવણી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 9:42-48; લૂક 17:1-2)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MAT.18.6" />“પરંતુ જે કોઈ મારા પર વિશ્વાસ કરનાર એક પણ નાનામાં નાની વ્યક્તિને ઠોકર ખવડાવે તે કરતાં એવા માણસના ગળે ઘંટીનું પડ બાંધી અને તેને ઊંડા દરિયામાં ડુબાડી દેવામાં આવે તે વધારે સારું છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MAT.18.7" />જગતને અફસોસ છે, કારણ કે જે વસ્તુઓને કારણે લોકો પાપ કરે છે આવી વસ્તુઓ તો બનવાની. પણ તે વ્યક્તિને અફસોસ છે કે જે ઠોકર લાવવા માટે જવાબદાર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.18.8" />“એટલે જો તારો હાથ કે પગ તને પાપ કરવા પ્રેરે તો તેને કાપીને ફેંકી દે. કારણ કે બંને હાથ અથવા બંને પગ સહિત અનંત અગ્નિમાં નંખાય તે કરતા અપંગ થઈને અનંતજીવન મેળવવું તે સારું છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAT.18.9" />જો તારી આંખ પાપ કરવા પ્રેરે તો તેને કાઢીને ફેંકી દે કારણકે બંને આંખો સહિત તને નરકની આગમાં ફેંકી દેવામાં આવે તેના કરતાં એક આંખે અનંતજીવનમાં પ્રવેશ કરવો તે ઉત્તમ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ ખોવાયેલ ઘેટાંની વાર્તા કહે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 15:3-7)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.18.10" />“સાવધાન રહો, આ નાના બાળકોમાંથી એકનો પણ અનાદર ન થાય, કારણ કે તેઓના દૂતો આકાશમાં હંમેશા મારા બાપની આગળ હોય છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MAT.18.11" />માણસનો દીકરો ખોવાયેલા લોકોને તારવા આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MAT.18.12" />“જો માણસ પાસે 100 ઘેટાં હોય, પણ તેમાંથી એકાદ ઘેટું ખોવાઈ ગયું, તો તે માણસ બાકીના 99 ઘેટાંને ટેકરી પર છોડી એકને શોધવા નીકળશે, બરાબરને?
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MAT.18.13" />અને એ માણસને જો ખોવાયેલું ઘેટું મળી જાય, તો તે એટલો બધો ખુશ થાય કારણ કે તેને 99 ઘેટાં કરતાં એક ખોવાયેલું ઘેટું મળ્યું તેનો વધુ આનંદ છે, હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MAT.18.14" />તમારા આકાશમાંના બાપને આ નાનાઓમાંથી એકને પણ ગુમાવવું ગમશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">જ્યારે કોઈ માણસ ખરાબ કરે તો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 17:3)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.18.15" />“જો તારો ભાઈ અથવા બહેન તારું કાંઈ ખરાબ કરે તો તેની પાસે જા અને તેને સમજાવ. જો તારું સાંભળીને ભૂલ કબૂલ કરે તો જાણજે કે તેં તારા ભાઈને જીતી લીધો છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="MAT.18.16" />પણ જો એ માણસ તને સાંભળવાની સાફ ના પાડે તો તું ફરીથી એકાદ બે વધુ વ્યક્તિને તારી સાથે લે. તું જે કંઈ કહે તે આ બે કે ત્રણ સાક્ષીઓથી સાબિત કરી શકાય.
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<v id="17" bcv="MAT.18.17" />આમ છતાં એ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવાની ના પાડે તો પછી મંડળીને આ વાતની જાણ કર. અને મંડળીનો ચુકાદો પણ માન્ય ન રાખે તો પછી તેને એક એવો માન કે જે દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ કરતો નથી અને તે કર ઉધરાવનારા જેવો જ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.18.18" />“હું તને સત્ય કહું છું, જ્યારે પૃથ્વી પર તમે જે કાંઈ બાંધશો, તે આકાશમાં બંધાશે અને પૃથ્વી પર જે કાંઈ બંધન મુક્ત જાહેર કરશો તે આકાશમાં બંધનકર્તા નહિ હોય.
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<v id="19" bcv="MAT.18.19" />હું તમને એ પણ કહું છું કે, તમારામાંના બે કંઈ પણ વાત સંબંધી એક ચિત્તના થઈ દેવની પ્રાર્થના કરીને જે કંઈ માગશે તે મારા આકાશમાંનો બાપ તમને અવશ્ય આપશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="MAT.18.20" />કારણ કે મારા નામ પર બે અથવા ત્રણ શિષ્યો જ્યાં ભેગા થઈને મળશે તો હું પણ ત્યાં તેમની મધ્યે હોઈશ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">માફી વિષેની વાર્તા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.18.21" />પછી પિતર ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યો અને તેને પૂછયું, “પ્રભુ મારો ભાઈ, મારી વિરૂદ્ધ અપરાધ કર્યા જ કરે તો મારે તેને કેટલી વાર માફી આપવી? શું સાત વાર?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.18.22" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તમને કહું છું, સાત વાર નહિ પણ સાત વાર કરતાં પણ વધારે અને તારી વિરૂદ્ધ અપરાધ ચાલુ રાખે તો સિત્યોતેર વખત તારે તેને માફી આપવી જોઈએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.18.23" />“આકાશના રાજ્યની તુલના એવા રાજા સાથે કરવામાં આવે છે જે પોતાના સેવકોની સાથે હિસાબ ચુક્તે કરે છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="MAT.18.24" />જ્યારે રાજાએ હિસાબ લેવાનો શરૂ કર્યો, ત્યારે તેની સમક્ષ એક એવી વ્યક્તિ આવી કે જેની પાસે ચાંદીના કેટલાક પાઉન્ડ લેવાના નીકળતા હતા.
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<v id="25" bcv="MAT.18.25" />દેવું ચુકવવા માટે તેની પાસે કશું જ સાધન ન હતું, એટલે રાજાએ હુકમ કર્યો કે તેને તથા તેની પત્નીને તથા તેના બાળકોને તથા તેની માલિકીનું જે કઈ હતું તે બધુ વેચી દેવું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MAT.18.26" />“પછી એ સેવકે એને પગે પડીને આજીજી કરી કે, ‘મારા માટે ધીરજ રાખો, હું આપનું બધુજ દેવું ચૂકવી દઈશ.’
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<v id="27" bcv="MAT.18.27" />રાજા એના નોકર માટે દિલગીર થયો અને તેનું દેવું માફ કરી દીધું અને તેને છોડી મૂક્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.18.28" />“પછી, તે સેવક છૂટો થયો પાછળથી તેને તેના સાથી સેવકોમાંના એકને દીઠો. તેની પાસે, તેનું નજીવું લેણું હતું તેણે જઈને તેનું ગળુ પકડ્યું અને કહ્યું, ‘તારી પાસે મારું જે કંઈ લેણું છે તે ચૂકવી દે!’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MAT.18.29" />“પેલો માણસ તેને પગે પડ્યો અને પોતાને થોડો સમય આપવા કરગરવા લાગ્યો અને કહ્યું, ‘મારા માટે ધીરજ રાખો મારી પાસે નીકળતું તારું બધુજ લેણું હું તને ચૂકવી દઈશ.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MAT.18.30" />“પણ પહેલો નોકર સંમત ન થયો, તેણે તેના સાથી સેવકની ધરપકડ કરવા માટે ગોઠવણ કરી. અને પૂરેપુરું દેવું ચૂકવી આપે નહિ ત્યાં સુધી તેને જેલમાં પૂરાવ્યો.
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<v id="31" bcv="MAT.18.31" />બીજા નોકરોએ જે કાંઈ બન્યું તે જોયું અને ખૂબ દિલગીર થયા પછી તેઓ તેમના ધણી પાસે ગયા અને સઘળી હકીકત જણાવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MAT.18.32" />“પછી ધણીએ જેનું દેવું માફ કર્યુ હતું તે નોકરને બોલાવ્યો અને કહ્યું, ‘અરે દુષ્ટ નોકર, તારી આજીજી સાંભળી મેં તારું જે બધું દેવું હતું તે માફ કર્યુ.
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<v id="33" bcv="MAT.18.33" />જેમ મેં તારા પ્રત્યે જે દયા બતાવી એવી દયા તારા સાથી નોકર પ્રત્યે તારે દર્શાવવી જોઈતી હતી.’
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<v id="34" bcv="MAT.18.34" />તેનો ધણી ખૂબજ ગુસ્સે થયો અને જ્યાં સુધી તે પૂરેપૂરૂ દેવું ભરપાઈ ન કરે ત્યાં સુધી તેને સખત કેદની સજા ફરમાવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MAT.18.35" />“એ જ પ્રમાણે તમે તમારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોને તમારા હૃદયથી માફ કરી દો. નહિ તો જે રીતે રાજા ર્વત્યો તે રીતે મારા આકાશમાંનો બાપ તમને માફ નહિં કરે.”
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</p>

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">છૂટાછેડા વિષે ઈસુનું શિક્ષણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 19:1-12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.19.1" />આ વાતોનો ઉપદેશ આપી રહ્યા પછી ઈસુ ગાલીલથી નીકળીને યર્દન નદીની બીજી બાજુ, યહૂદિયાના વિસ્તારમાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="MAT.19.2" />ધણા લોકો ઈસુની પાછળ ગયા, ઈસુએ તેમાંના માંદા લોકોને ત્યાં સાજા કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.19.3" />કેટલાક ફરીશીઓ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા. તેને વાતમાં ફસાવવા પૂછયું, “પુરુંષ ગમે તે કારણે પોતાની પત્નીને છૂટાછેડા આપે એ શું યોગ્ય છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.19.4" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જરુંર તમે શાસ્ત્રમાં આ વાચ્યું હશે કે જ્યારે દેવે પૃથ્વી બનાવી ત્યારે ‘દેવે નરનારી ઉત્પન કર્યા.’<x caller="+"><xo>19:4
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત. 1:17; 5:2</xt></x>
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<v id="5" bcv="MAT.19.5" />અને કહ્યું કે, ‘આના કારણે મનુષ્ય તેના પિતા અને માતાને છોડી દેશે અને તેની પત્ની સાથે જોડાશે, અને તે બે એક દેહ થશે.’<x caller="+"><xo>19:5
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત. 2:24</xt></x>
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<v id="6" bcv="MAT.19.6" />એટલે એ પુરુંષ અને સ્ત્રી અલગ નહિ એક દેહ છે, જેને દેવે લાંબા સમય માટે જોડ્યા છે, કોઈપણ વ્યક્તિએ તેઓને જુદા પાડવા જોઈએ નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.19.7" />ફરોશીઓએ પૂછયું, “તો પછી મૂસાએ એવી આજ્ઞા કેમ કરી છે કે મનુષ્ય પોતાની પત્નીને છૂટાછેડાનું પ્રમાણપત્ર લખી આપી છૂટાછેડા આપી શકે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.19.8" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મૂસાએ તમને તમારી પત્નીઓને છૂટાછેડા આપવાની છૂટ આપી છે કારણ તમે દેવનો ઉપદેશ સ્વીકારવા તૈયાર ન હતા. હકીકતમાં શરુંઆતમાં છૂટાછેડાની છૂટ આપી જ નહોતી.
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<v id="9" bcv="MAT.19.9" />હું તમને કહું છું, કે વ્યભિચારના કારણ વિના જે કોઈ પોતાની સ્ત્રીને મૂકી દઈને બીજીને પરણે, તે વ્યભિચાર કરે છે. અને તે મૂકી દીધેલી જોડે જે લગ્ન કરે તે પણ વ્યભિચાર કરે છે. પુરુંષ છૂટાછેડા આપી ફરી લગ્ન ત્યારે જ કરી શકે, જો તેની પ્રથમ પત્ની બીજા કોઈ પુરુંષ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.19.10" />શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “જો આવા જ કારણસર પુરુંષ છૂટાછેડા આપે તો તેના કરતાં લગ્ન કરવાં જોઈએ નહિ એ સારું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.19.11" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “લગ્ન અંગેનું આ સત્ય બધાજ સ્વીકારશે નહિ. આ સત્ય સ્વીકારવા દેવે કેટલાક માણસોને ઠરાવ્યા છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="MAT.19.12" />કેટલાક માણસો લગન નથી કરતાં તેનાં અહીં જુદાં કારણો છે, કેટલાક જન્મથી જ ખોજા હોય છે. કેટલાકને તો બીજા લોકો દ્વારા અશક્તિમાન બાનાવાયા છે. છેવટે કેટલાક એવા પણ છે જેઓ આકાશનાં રાજ્યને લીધે લગ્ન નહિ કરવાનું સ્વીકારે છે. આ ઉપદેશ જે પાળી શકે તે પાળે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ બાળકોને આવકારે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 10:13-16; લૂક 18:15-17)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.19.13" />પછી લોકો તેમનાં બાળકોને ઈસુ પાસે લાવ્યાં જેથી ઈસુ તેમનાં માથે હાથ મૂકી આશીર્વાદ દે અને તેમના માટે પ્રાર્થના કરે. પરંતુ તેના શિષ્યોએ તેમને ધમકાવ્યાં.
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<v id="14" bcv="MAT.19.14" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “નાના બાળકોને મારી પાસે આવવા દો, તેમને રોકશો નહિ, કારણ કે આકાશનું રાજ્ય જે નાના બાળકો જેવા છે એમના માટે છે.”
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<v id="15" bcv="MAT.19.15" />બાળકો પર હાથ મૂક્યા પછી ઈસુએ તે જગ્યા છોડી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ધનવાન માણસે ઈસુને અનુસરવા ના પાડી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 10:17-31; લૂક 18:18-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.19.16" />એક માણસ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યો અને પૂછયું, “હે ઉપદેશક, અનંતજીવન પામવા માટે મારે શું કરવું જોઈએ?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.19.17" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “શું સારું છે એવું મને શા માટે પૂછે છે? ફક્ત દેવ સારો છે. પરંતુ જો તારે અનંતજીવન જોઈતું હોય તો દેવની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.19.18" />માણસે પૂછયું, “કઈ આજ્ઞાઓ?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “‘તારે કોઈનુ ખૂન કરવું નહિં, તારે વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરવું નહિં, તારે કોઈની વસ્તુની ચોરી કરવી નહિં, તારે કોઈનામાં જૂઠી સાક્ષી આપવી નહિ.
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<v id="19" bcv="MAT.19.19" />તારે તારા માતા પિતાને માન આપવું,’<x caller="+"><xo>19:19
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 20:12-16; પુન. 5:16-20</xt></x> અને ‘પોતાના પર જેટલો પ્રેમ કરે છે તેટલો જ પ્રેમ બીજા લોકોને પણ કર.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.19.20" />યુવાને ઈસુને કહ્યું, “મેં આ બધી જ વાતોનું પાલન કર્યુ છે, હવે મારે શું કરવાનું બાકી છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.19.21" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જો તારે પૂર્ણ થવું હોય તો, પછી જા, તારી પાસે તારું પોતાનું જે કંઈ છે તે વેચી દે, પૈસા ગરીબોને આપી દે, તું જો આ વધુ કરીશ તો આકાશમાં તારો કિંમતી ખજાનો ભેગો થશે, પછી ચાલ, મારી સાથે આવ!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.19.22" />આ સાંભળીને તે યુવાન માણસ ઘણો દુ:ખી થયો હતો. કારણ કે તે ઘણો પૈસાદાર હતો. તે પૈસા તેની પાસે જ રાખવા ઈચ્છતો હતો તેથી તે ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.19.23" />પછી ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, કે ધનવાનના માટે આકાશના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશ કરવો કઠિન છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="MAT.19.24" />હા, તેથી તો હું વારંવાર કહું છુ કે પૈસાદાર લોકોને આકાશના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશ કરવો એના કરતાં સોયના નાકામાંથી ઊંટને પસાર થવું સહેલું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MAT.19.25" />જ્યારે શિષ્યોએ આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તેમને આશ્ચર્ય થયું અને પૂછયું, “તો પછી કોને બચાવી શકશે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MAT.19.26" />ઈસુએ તેમને જોઈને કહ્યું, “લોકોને માટે આ અશક્ય છે. ફક્ત દેવને માટે બધું જ શક્ય છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MAT.19.27" />પિતરે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “અમે બધુજ છોડીને તારી પાછળ આવ્યા છીએ, તો અમને શું મળશે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.19.28" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે જ્યારે નવા યુગમાં માણસનો દીકરો તેના મહિમાના રાજ્યાસન પર બિરાજશે તે વખતે તમે પણ બાર રાજ્યાસન પર બેસશો. અને મારી પાછળ આવનારા ઈસ્રાએલના બારે કુળનો ન્યાય કરશો.
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<v id="29" bcv="MAT.19.29" />મારા નામને માટે જેઓએ ઘરો, ભાઈઓ, માતા પિતા, બાળકો, જમીનજાગીરનો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે તેઓ તેના કરતાં ઘણાંજ યોગ્ય છે. તેઓ સોગણું મેળવશે અને અનંતજીવનનો વારસો પામશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="MAT.19.30" />પરંતુ ઘણા એવા છે જેઓનું હમણા જીવનમાં ઊંચું સ્થાન છે પણ ભવિષ્યમાં તે નીચલી કક્ષાએ ઉતરશે અને હમણા જે નીચલી કક્ષાએ છે તે ભવિષ્યમાં ઊંચું સ્થાન પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
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</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ ખેત મજૂરોનું દૃષ્ટાંત આપે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.20.1" />“આકાશનું રાજ્ય એક જમીનદાર જેવું છે. આ માણસ તેના ખેતરમાં દ્રાક્ષ ઉગાડે છે. એક મળસકે તે માણસ પોતાના ખેતરમાં કામ કરવા માટે મજૂરો લેવા ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="MAT.20.2" />અને તેણે તેઓની સાથે રોજનો એક દીનાર નક્કી કરીને ખેતરમાં મજૂરોને મોકલ્યા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.20.3" />“નવ વાગ્યાની આસપાસ તે જમીનદાર બજારમાં ગયો ત્યારે કેટલાક માણસો કશુંય કામ કર્યા વિના ત્યાં ઊભા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="MAT.20.4" />તેથી તે માણસે કહ્યું, તમે મારા ખેતરમાં જઈને કામ કરશો તો હું તમને યોગ્ય વળતર આપીશ.”
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<v id="5" bcv="MAT.20.5" />તેથી લોકો ખેતરમાં કામ કરવા ગયા.
</p>
<p style="p">“ફરી બાર વાગે અને બીજી વાર ત્રણ વાગે બજારમાં ગયો ત્યારે પણ લોકોને ખેતરમાં કામ કરવા માટે લઈ આવ્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="MAT.20.6" />પછી સાંજે પાંચે વાગે તે બજારમાં ફરીથી ગયો ત્યારે પણ કેટલાક માણસો ત્યાં ઊભા હતા, તેઓને જમીનદારે પૂછયું, ‘તમે આખો દિવસ કોઈપણ કામ વિના અહીં કેમ ઊભા રહ્યા છો?’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.20.7" />“તે લોકોએ કહ્યું, ‘અમને કોઈએ કામ આપ્યું નથી.’
</p>
<p style="p">“તે માણસે તેઓને કહ્યું, ‘તમે મારા ખેતરમાં જાવ અને કામે લાગો,’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.20.8" />“સાંજ પડી એટલે, દ્રાક્ષની વાડીના ધણીએ તેના મુખ્ય કારભારીને બોલાવીને કહ્યું કે, ‘મજૂરોને બોલાવીને તેમની મજૂરી ચૂકવી દો. પહેલાથી છેલ્લા જે મજૂરો આવ્યા તેમને મજૂરી આપવાનું શરૂ કરો અને પહેલા મજૂરીએ આવ્યા હતાં તેમને આપતા સુધી ચાલુ રાખો.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.20.9" />“જે મજૂરો પાંચ વાગે આવ્યા હતા તેમાંના દરેકને એક દીનારનો સિક્કો મળ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="MAT.20.10" />પછી જે સૌથી પહેલા સવારમા કામ પર આવ્યા હતા તે તેમનું મહેનતાણું લેવા આવ્યા. તેઓએ વિચાર્યુ તેઓ વધારે મહેનાતાણું મેળવશે પણ તે દરેકને એક જ દીનારનો સિક્કો મળ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="MAT.20.11" />જ્યારે તેમને એક દીનારનો સિક્કો મળ્યો ત્યાર પછી દ્રાક્ષની વાડીના માલિકને તેમણે ફરિયાદ કરી.
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<v id="12" bcv="MAT.20.12" />‘જે લોકો છેલ્લાં આવ્યા હતા અને એક કલાક જ કામ કર્યુ તેમને તેં અમારા જેટલી જ મજૂરી આપી. જ્યારે અમે તો આખો દિવસ સૂર્યની ગરમીમાં કામ કર્યુ છે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.20.13" />“પણ ખેતરના માલિકે તેઓમાંના એક જણાને કહ્યું, ‘મિત્ર, મેં તારી સાથે કોઈ જ અન્યાય કર્યો નથી. શું તમે કબૂલ થયા ન હતા કે હું તમને એક દીનાર આપીશ?
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<v id="14" bcv="MAT.20.14" />તેથી આ તારી મજૂરી લે અને ચાલતો થા, માટે જે છેલ્લો માણસ મજૂરી કરવા આવ્યો છે તેને આટલી જ મજૂરી આપવાની મારી ઈચ્છા છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="MAT.20.15" />મારે મારા પૈસાનું જે કરવું હોય તે કરું. તમને અદેખાઈ આવે છે કારણ કે એ લોકો સાથે હું સારો છું.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.20.16" />“એ પ્રમાણે જેઓ છેલ્લા છે તેને હવે ભવિષ્યમાં પ્રથમ સ્થાન મળશે. અને જેનું પ્રથમ સ્થાન હશે તેને ભવિષ્યમાં છેલ્લું સ્થાન મળશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના તેના મરણ વિષેનો સંકેત
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 10:32-34; લૂક 18:31-34)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.20.17" />ઈસુ જ્યારે પોતાના બાર શિષ્યો સાથે યરૂશાલેમ જઈ રહ્યો હતો. ત્યારે તેણે એ બધાને એકાંતમાં એક બાજુએ બોલાવીને કહ્યું,
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<v id="18" bcv="MAT.20.18" />“જુઓ, આપણે યરૂશાલેમ જઈ રહ્યા છીએ. માણસનો દીકરો મુખ્ય યાજક અને શાસ્ત્રીઓને સોંપવામાં આવશે, અને તેને મોતની સજા ફટકારવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="MAT.20.19" />પછી તે લોકો માણસના દીકરાને બીનયહૂદિઓને સોંપી દેશે જેઓ તેની ક્રૂર મશ્કરી કરશે. તેના પર કોરડા વીંઝશે અને તેને વધસ્તંભ પર જડાવી દેશે, પરંતુ ત્રીજા દિવસે તે સજીવન થશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">માતાની ખાસ માંગણી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 10:35-45)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.20.20" />પછી ઝબદીની પત્ની પોતાના દીકરાઓને સાથે રાખીને ઈસુની પાસે આવી. તેણે પગે પડીને ઈસુની પાસે માંગણી કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.20.21" />ઈસુએ પૂછયું, “તારે શું જોઈએ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેણે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મને વચન આપ કે તારા રાજ્યમાં મારા બે દીકરાઓમાંથી એક દીકરો તારી જમણી બાજુ અને બીજો દીકરો તારી ડાબી બાજુએ બેસે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.20.22" />ઈસુએ બે દીકરાઓને કહ્યું, “તમે શું માંગી રહ્યા છો તે તમે જાણતા નથી. જે પ્યાલો મારે પીવાનો છે તે તમારાથી પીવાશે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓએ કહ્યું, “હા, અમે પી શકીશું!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.20.23" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “અલબત્ત હું જે કંઈ પીઉ તે તમે પી શકશો તો ખરા. પણ મારી જમણી કે ડાબી બાજુ કોને સ્થાન આપવું, તે મારા હાથની વાત નથી. એ સ્થાનો મારા પિતાએ નક્કી કરેલ વ્યક્તિઓ માટે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.20.24" />જ્યારે આ માંગણી વિષે બાકીના દશ શિષ્યોએ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તેઓ આ બે ભાઈઓ પર બહું ગુસ્સે થયા.
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<v id="25" bcv="MAT.20.25" />પછી ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને પોતાની પાસે બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “તમે જાણો છો કે યહૂદી રાજ્ય કર્તાઓ પોતાની પ્રજા પર સત્તાનો પૂર્ણ અમલ કરે છે અને તેમના મોટા માણસો તેમના અધિકારનું લોકોને ભાન કરાવવા ચાહે છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="MAT.20.26" />પણ તમારી સાથે આ રીતે થવું ન જોઈએ. તમારામાં જે આગેવાન થવા ઈચ્છે તે તમારો સેવક હોવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="27" bcv="MAT.20.27" />અને જે સૌથી મોટો થવા ઈચ્છે છે, તેણે એક ગુલામ તરીકે તમારી સેવા કરવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="28" bcv="MAT.20.28" />તમારે માણસના દીકરા જેવા થવું જોઈએ, માણસનો દીકરો સેવા કરાવવા નહિ પણ સેવા કરવા અને ઘણા લોકોને માટે મુક્તિ મૂલ્ય તરીકે પોતાનું જીવન સમર્પણ કરવા આવ્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુએ બે આંધળા માણસોને દેખતા કર્યા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 10:46-52; લૂક 18:35-43)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MAT.20.29" />જ્યારે ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો યરીખોથી નીકળીને જતા હતા ત્યારે ઘણા લોકો ઈસુને અનુસરતા હતા.
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<v id="30" bcv="MAT.20.30" />રસ્તાની બાજુએ બે અંધજનો બેઠા હતા. એ રસ્તે થઈને ઈસુ પસાર થાય છે એવું સાંભળીને તેઓ જોરશોરથી બૂમો પાડવા લાગ્યા, “હે પ્રભુ, દાઉદના દીકરા અમારા પર દયા કર!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MAT.20.31" />લોકોએ તેઓને ધમકાવીને શાંત રહેવા કહ્યું છતાં તેઓ તો વધારે જોરથી બૂમો પાડતા હતા, “હે પ્રભુ, દાઉદના દીકરા, અમારા પર દયા કર!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MAT.20.32" />તે સાંભળીને ઈસુ ઊભો રહ્યો અને તેઓને બોલાવીને પૂછયું, “તમે મારી પાસે તમારા માટે શું કરાવવા ઈચ્છો છો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MAT.20.33" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, અમારે દેખતા થવું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MAT.20.34" />ઈસુને તેમના પર દયા આવી અને તેઓની આંખોને સ્પર્શ કર્યો. અને તરત જ તેઓ જોઈ શક્યા. અને તેઓ ઈસુની પાછળ ચાલ્યા.
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</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">ઈસુનો રાજાની માફક યરૂશાલેમમાં પ્રવેશ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 11:1-11; લૂક 19:28-38; યોહાન 12:12-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.21.1" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો યરૂશાલેમની નજીક જૈતૂન પહાડ પર બેથફગે ગામ સુધી આવ્યા. ત્યારે ઈસુએ બે શિષ્યોને મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="MAT.21.2" />ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “જે ગામ તમે સામે જુઓ છો ત્યાં જાઓ. તમે ત્યાં પ્રવેશ કરશો, એટલે એક ગધેડાને અને તેના બચ્ચાંને બાંધેલા જોશો, તેને છોડીને અહીં લઈ આવો.
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<v id="3" bcv="MAT.21.3" />જો કોઈ તમને કઈ પૂછે તો એટલું જ કહેજો કે, ‘પ્રભુને તેની જરુંર છે. પછી એ તેને તરત જ મોકલી આપશે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.21.4" />પ્રબોધક દ્વારા જે કહેવાયું હતું તે પૂર્ણ થાય તે માટે આમ થયું:
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.21.5" />“સિયોનની દીકરી, ‘જો તારો રાજા તારી પાસે આવે છે. તે નમ્ર છે તથા એક ગધેડા પર, એક કામ કરનાર પ્રાણીથી જન્મેલા નાના ખોલકા પર સવાર થઈન આવે છે.’” ઝખાર્યા 9:9
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MAT.21.6" />શિષ્યો ગયા અને ઈસુએ કહ્યું તે પ્રમાણે કર્યુ.
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<v id="7" bcv="MAT.21.7" />શિષ્યો ગધેડી અને નાના ખોલકાને ઈસુ પાસે લાવ્યા. તેઓએ તેમના લૂગડાં ખોલકા પર મૂક્યા, ઈસુ તે પર બેઠો.
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<v id="8" bcv="MAT.21.8" />લોકોમાંથી ઘણાએ પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ઈસુના માર્ગમાં બિછાવ્યાં. જ્યારે ઘણા લોકોએ વૃક્ષોની ડાળીઓ કાપીને તેના માર્ગમાં બીછાવી.
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<v id="9" bcv="MAT.21.9" />કેટલાક લોકો ઈસુની આગળ ચાલી રહ્યા હતા, કેટલાક ઈસુની પાછળ ચાલતા હતા. તેઓ પોકારતા હતા,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દાઉદના દીકરાને હોસાન્ના!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘પ્રભુના નામે જે આવે છે તેને ધન્ય છે. પરમ ઊચામાં હોસાન્ના.’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.118.26">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 118:26</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">આકાશમાં દેવનો મહિમા થાઓ!”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.21.10" />પછી ઈસુ યરૂશાલેમમાં દાખલ થયો. શહેરના બધા જ લોકો મૂંઝાઈ ગયા. તેઓએ પૂછયું, “આ માણસ કોણ છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.21.11" />તે ટોળામાંથી ઘણાએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “આ તો ગાલીલના નાસરેથમાંનો પ્રબોધક ઈસુ છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનો મંદિરમાં પ્રવેશ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 11:15-19; લૂક 19:45-48; યોહાન 2:13-22)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MAT.21.12" />ઈસુ મંદિરમાં ગયો અને જેઓ વેચાણ કરવાનો અને ખરીદવાનો ધંધો મંદિરમાં કરતા હતા તે બધાને હાંકી કાઢયા અને શરાફોના ગલ્લા અને કબૂતર વેચનારાઓના આસનો તેણે ઊંધા વાળ્યા.
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<v id="13" bcv="MAT.21.13" />તેણે ત્યાં હાજર હતા તે બધાજ લોકોને જણાવ્યું કે, “શાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યું છે કે ‘મારું ઘર પ્રાર્થનાના ઘર તરીકે ઓળખાશે.’<x caller="+"><xo>21:13
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ યશા. 56:7</xt></x> પરંતુ તમે તો તેને ‘લૂટારાની ગુફા’<x caller="+"><xo>21:13
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ યર્મિ. 7:11</xt></x> બનાવી દીઘી છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.21.14" />પછી કેટલાક અંધજનો અને અપંગો ઈસુની પાસે આવ્યાં. ઈસુએ તેઓને સાજા કર્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="MAT.21.15" />મુખ્ય યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓએ ઈસુએ કરેલા પરાક્રમો જોયા અને “દાઉદના દીકરાને હોસાન્ના,” એવા બાળકોના પોકાર સાંભળ્યા. ત્યારે તેઓ ગુસ્સે થયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.21.16" />મુખ્ય યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓએ ઈસુને પૂછયું, “આ બાળકો જે કહે છે, તે શું તમે સાંભળો છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા, શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે, ‘તેં ઘાવણા બાળકોના મુખે તારી સ્તુતિ કરાવી છે તે યોગ્ય સ્તુતિ છે.’<x caller="+"><xo>21:16
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ગી. શા. 8:3 (ગ્રીક અનુવાદ)</xt></x> શું શાસ્ત્રમાં તમે વાંચ્યું નથી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.21.17" />પછી ત્યાંથી ઈસુ તે સ્થળ છોડીને યરૂશાલેમ નગરની બહાર આવ્યો અને બેથનિયા ચાલ્યો ગયો. અને ત્યાં રાત રોકાયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ વિશ્વાસનું સાર્મથ્ય બતાવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 11:12-14; 20-24)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.21.18" />બીજે દિવસે વહેલી સવારે, ઈસુ શહેરમાં પાછો ફરતો હતો ત્યારે તે ખૂબજ ભૂખ્યો થયો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MAT.21.19" />ઈસુએ રસ્તાની બાજુએ એક અંજીરનું ઝાડ જોયું અને અંજીર ખાવાની આશાએ તે વૃક્ષ પાસે ગયો, પણ ઝાડ ઉપર એક પણ અંજીર નહોતું. તેના પર કેવળ પાંદડા જ હતાં તેથી તેણે વૃક્ષને કહ્યું, “ભવિષ્યમાં તારા પર કદી ફળ લાગશે નહિ!” અને અંજીરનું ઝાડ તરત જ સૂકાઈ ગયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.21.20" />શિષ્યોએ જ્યારે આ જોયું ત્યારે અચંબા સાથે ઈસુને પૂછયું, “આ અંજીરનું ઝાડ એકદમ કેમ સૂકાઈ ગયું?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.21.21" />ઈસુએ તેમને ઉત્તર આપતા કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, તમને વિશ્વાસ હોય અને મનમાં શંકા ન કરો તો તમે આના કરતાં પણ વિશેષ કરી શકશો. અરે તમે આ પર્વતને કહી શકશો, ‘અહીંથી ઊંચકાઈને સમુદ્રમાં પડ.’ તો તે પ્રમાણે થશે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="MAT.21.22" />જો તમને વિશ્વાસ હોય તો પ્રાર્થનામાં તમે જે કઈ માગશે તે તમને મળશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના અધિકાર પર યહૂદિનેતાઓની શંકા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 11:27-33; લૂક 20:1-8)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.21.23" />ઈસુ મંદિરમાં દાખલ થયો અને જ્યારે બોધ આપતો હતો ત્યારે પ્રમુખ યાજકો અને લોકોના વડીલોએ તેની પાસે જઈને પૂછયું, “કયા અધિકારથી તું આ બાબતો કરે છે? તને આવો અધિકાર કોણે આપ્યો?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.21.24" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તમને પણ એક પ્રશ્ન પૂછું છું, એનો ઉત્તર તમે મને આપશો, તો હું તમને કહીશ કે કયા અધિકારથી હું એ કામો કરું છું.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MAT.21.25" />મને કહો: જ્યારે યોહાને લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપ્યું ત્યારે તે કોના તરફથી મળ્યું હતું, દેવથી કે માણસથી?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓ અંદર એકબીજા સાથે ચર્ચા કરવા લાગ્યા કે, “જો આપણે કહીશું, ‘યોહાનનું બાપ્તિસ્મા દેવ તરફથી હતું,’ તો ઈસુ આપણને પૂછશે, ‘તો તમે યોહાનમાં વિશ્વાસ કેમ નથી કરતા?’
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="MAT.21.26" />જો એમ કહીશું કે તે મનુષ્યથી હતું, તો એ લોકો આપણા પર ગુસ્સે થશે, આપણે લોકોથી ડરીએ છીએ એટલે આપણને કહેશે તમે યોહાનમાં શા માટે વિશ્વાસ કરતા નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MAT.21.27" />તેઓએ ઈસુને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમે નથી જાણતા કે યોહાનને અધિકાર ક્યાંથી મળ્યો.”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તો હું તમને કાંઈ જ નહિ કહું કે હું કયા અધિકારથી આ કરું છું!”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ બે દીકરાઓની વાર્તા કહે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.21.28" />“સારું, બતાવો, હું કહું છું તે બાબતમાં તમે શું માનો છો? એક વ્યક્તિને બે દીકરા હતા, પહેલા દીકરાની પાસે જઈને તેણે કહ્યું, ‘આજે તું મારી દ્રાક્ષની વાડીમાં કામ કરવા જા.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MAT.21.29" />“પણ દીકરાએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, ‘હું નહિ જાઉં.’ પછી એનું મન બદલાયું અને નક્કી કર્યુ કે તેણે જવું જોઈએ, અને તે ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MAT.21.30" />“પછી તે પિતા બીજા છોકરા પાસે ગયો અને તેને કહ્યું, ‘દીકરા, મારી દ્રાક્ષની વાડીમાં જા અને ત્યાં ખેતરમાં કામ કર.’ દીકરાએ કહ્યું, ‘હા સાહેબ, હું જઈશ અને કામ કરીશ.’ પણ તે ગયો નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MAT.21.31" />ઈસુએ પૂછયું, “કયા દીકરાએ પિતાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યુ?”
</p>
<p style="p">યહૂદિ નેતાએ કહ્યું, “પહેલા દીકરાએ.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ તેમને કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે તમે એમ માનો છો કે કર ઉઘરાવનાર અને વેશ્યાઓ ખરાબ લોકો છે, પરંતુ તેઓ તમારા કરતા આકાશના રાજ્યમાં તમે યત્ન કરશો તેના કરતાં પહેલા પ્રવેશ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="MAT.21.32" />યોહાન તમને સાચો માર્ગ બતાવવા આવ્યો પણ તમે યોહાનમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો નહિ. પણ કર ઉઘરાવનાર અને વેશ્યાઓ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે એમ તમે જુઓ છો છતાં પણ તમે હજી પણ પસ્તાવો કરતાં નથી કે નથી તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ કરતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવે તેના દીકરાને મોકલ્યો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 12:1-12; લૂક 20:9-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MAT.21.33" />“આ વાર્તા ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો: એક માણસ હતો તેનું પોતાનું ખેતર હતું તેમા તેણે દ્રાક્ષ વાવી અને તેની ચારે બાજુ એક દિવાલ ચણી હતી. દ્રાક્ષનો રસ કાઢવા કુંડ બનાવ્યો, એક બૂરજ બાંધ્યા પછી કેટલાક ખેડૂતોને તે વાડી ઈજારે આપીને તે પ્રવાસમાં ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="MAT.21.34" />દ્રાક્ષ ચૂંટવાનો સમય થયો એટલે તેના નોકરોને ખેડૂતો પાસેથી પોતાની દ્રાક્ષનો ભાગ લેવા મોકલ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MAT.21.35" />“પણ ખેડૂતોએ આ નોકરોને પકડ્યા અને તેમાના એકને ખૂબ માર્યો. અને બીજા નોકરને મારી નાખ્યો. અને ત્રીજા નોકરને પણ પત્થર વડે મારી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="MAT.21.36" />તેથી તે માણસે બીજા નોકરોને ખેડૂત પાસે મોકલ્યો. તે માણસે પહેલા કરતાં વધુ નોકરોને મોકલ્યા તેમની સાથે પણ ખેડૂતોએ તેવું જ વર્તન કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="MAT.21.37" />એટલે માણસે પોતાના દીકરાને ખેડૂતો પાસે મોકલ્યો. તે માણસે કહ્યું, ‘ખેડૂતો મારા દીકરાને માન આપશે.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="MAT.21.38" />“પણ જ્યારે ખેડૂતોએ ઘણીના દીકરાને જોયો ત્યારે તેઓ અંદર અંદર તેમનામાં વાતો કરવા લાગ્યા કે, ‘આજ તે ઘણીનો દીકરો છે, વારસ છે આ ખેતર તેનું છે માટે જો આપણે તેને પણ મારી નાખીએ તો આ ખેતર આપણું થઈ જશે!’
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="MAT.21.39" />તેથી ખેડૂતોએ છોકરાને પકડ્યો અને ખેતરની બહાર ફેંકી દીઘો અને તેને મારી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="MAT.21.40" />“આ ખેતરનો ઘણી આવશે ત્યારે એ ખેડૂતોને શું કરશે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="MAT.21.41" />યહૂદિઓના ધર્મગુરુંઓ અને આગેવાનોએ કહ્યું, “તે ચોક્કસ આ દુષ્ટ માણસોને મારી નાંખશે. અને બીજા ખેડૂતો જે તેમનો પાક થશે ત્યારે ભાગ આપશે તેવા ખેડૂતોને તે ખેતર ભાગે ખેડવા આપશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="MAT.21.42" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “શું તમે શાસ્ત્રમાં નથી વાંચ્યું?
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘બાંધનારાઓએ નકામો ગણીને પડતો મૂકેલો પથ્થર જ ખૂણાનો મુખ્ય પથ્થર બન્યો, એ પ્રભુથી બન્યું,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને આપણી નજરમાં આશ્વર્યકારક છે.’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.118.22">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 118:22-23</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="MAT.21.43" />“એટલે જ હું તમને કહું છું કે દેવનું રાજ્ય તમારી પાસેથી લઈ લેવામાં આવશે. અને એવા લોકોને આપવામાં આવશે કે જેઓ દેવની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે રાજ્યોમાં ફળ આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="MAT.21.44" />જે મનુષ્ય આ પથ્થર પર પટકાશે તેના ટુકડેટુકડા થઈ જશે. અને એ પથ્થર જે વ્યક્તિ પર પડશે તેનો ભૂકો થઈ જશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="MAT.21.45" />મુખ્ય યાજકો અને ફરોશીઓએ ઈસુ પાસેથી આ દૃષ્ટાંત સાંભળ્યું અને તેઓને લાગ્યું કે ઈસુ તેમના સબંધમાં જ કહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="MAT.21.46" />તેઓ ઈસુને પકડવાનો રસ્તો શોધતા હતા. પણ તેઓ લોકોથી ખૂબ ડરતા હતા, કારણ લોકો ઈસુને પ્રબોધક તરીકે માનતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">ભોજન માટે નિમંત્રણ આપેલ લોકો વિષે વાર્તા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 14:15-24)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.22.1" />ઈસુએ લોકોને સમજાવવા માટે બીજી દૃષ્ટાંત વાર્તાઓ કહીં:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.22.2" />“આકાશનું રાજ્ય એક રાજા જેવું છે કે જેણે પોતાના દીકરાના લગ્ન પ્રસંગે ભોજન સમારંભ ગોઠવ્યો હોય.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAT.22.3" />રાજાએ કેટલાક માણસોને ભોજન માટે નિમંત્રણ આપ્યું. ભોજન તૈયાર થયું એટલે રાજાએ જમવા માટે લોકોને બોલાવવા તેના નોકરોને મોકલ્યા પણ લોકોએ રાજાના સમારંભમાં આવવાની ના પાડી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.22.4" />“પછી રાજાએ બીજા વધારે નોકરો મોકલ્યા, રાજાએ નોકરોને કહ્યું, ‘જે લોકોને નિમંત્રણ આપ્યું છે તેમને કહો કે ભોજન તૈયાર છે. મેં મારા સારામાં સારા બળદ અને વાછરડાંને મારીને ભોજન તૈયાર કર્યુ છે. બધુ જ તૈયાર છે માટે લગ્ન નિમિત્તેના ભોજનસમારંભમાં આવો.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.22.5" />“નોકરો ગયા અને લોકોને ભોજન માટે આવવાનું કહ્યું, પણ લોકોએ નોકરોને સાંભળવાની ના પાડી દીઘી, તેઓ પોતાના બીજા કામે ચાલ્યા ગયા. એક પોતાના ખેતરમાં કામ કરવા ચાલ્યો ગયો. જ્યારે બીજો પોતાના ધંધા પર ચાલ્યો ગચો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MAT.22.6" />થોડા બીજાઓએ નોકરોને પકડ્યા, તેમને માર્યા અને મારી નાંખ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MAT.22.7" />રાજા ખૂબ ગુસ્સે થયો અને રાજાએ તેનું લશ્કર મોકલ્યું. તેઓએ પેલા લોકોને મારી નાખ્યા. અને તેમના શહેરને બાળી નાખ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.22.8" />“પછી, રાજાએ તેના નોકરોને કહ્યું, ‘લગ્નો ભોજનસમારંભ તૈયાર છે, મેં જે લોકોને નિમંત્રણ આપ્યું છે તેઓ ભોજનસમારંભમાં આવવા માટે યોગ્ય ન હતા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAT.22.9" />તેથી હવે તમે શેરીઓના ખૂણેખૂણામાં જાઓ અને જે લોકોને જુઓ તે દરેકને લગ્ના ભોજનસમાંરભમાં આવવાનું કહો.’
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MAT.22.10" />તેથી નોકરો શેરીઓમાં ગયા. તેઓને જે લોકો મળ્યા તે દરેક સારા નરસા માણસોને લગ્નના ભોજન સમારંભમાં બોલાવી લાવ્યા. આખો ભોજનખંડ માણસોથી ભરાઈ ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.22.11" />“પણ જ્યારે રાજા મહેમાનોને જોવા અંદર આવ્યો ત્યારે એક માણસ તેણે જોયો કે જેણે લગ્નને લાયક કપડા પહેર્યા નહોતાં.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.22.12" />રાજાએ તેને પૂછયું, ‘હે મિત્ર, લગ્ને લાયક વસ્ત્ર પહેર્યા વગર તું કેવી રીતે અહીંયાં આવ્યો?’ પણ પેલા માણસે કાંઈ ઉત્તર આપ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MAT.22.13" />એટલે રાજાએ તેના નોકરોને કહ્યું, ‘આ માણસના હાથ અને પગ બાંધી દો અને તેને અંધારામાં ફેંકી દો જ્યાં લોકો રડશે અને દાંત પીસશે.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.22.14" />“કેમકે આમંત્રિતો ઘણા છે પણ પસંદ કરાયેલા થોડા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુને પકડવાની કેટલાંક યહૂદિ આગેવાનોની ચાલ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 12:13-17; લૂક 20:20-26)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.22.15" />પછી ફરોશીઓ ઈસુ જ્યાં ઉપદેશ આપતો હતો તે જગ્યા છોડી ચાલ્યા ગયા અને એક સભા બોલાવીને ઈસુને પ્રશ્નો દ્વારા ફસાવવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="MAT.22.16" />તેથી ફરીશીઓએ કેટલાક માણસોને અને હેરોદીઓને ઈસુની પાસે મોકલ્યા. તેમણે ઈસુને પૂછયું, “ઉપદેશક, અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે, તું પ્રમાણિક છે અને કોઈની શેહશરમમાં આવ્યા વિના તું દેવના માર્ગ વિષે સાચું શિક્ષણ આપે છે. તારી પાસે બધાજ લોકો સરખા છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="MAT.22.17" />તો તું અમને કહે કે, કૈસરને કર આપવો તે શું ઉચિત છે? હા કે ના?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.22.18" />ઈસુ એમનો ખરાબ વિચાર સમજી ગયા અને કહ્યું, “ઢોંગીઓ! તમે મને શા માટે ફસાવવા માંગો છો?
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<v id="19" bcv="MAT.22.19" />તમે જે સિક્કા દ્વારા કર ચૂકવો છો તે લાવીને મને બતાવો.” તેઓએ એક દીનાર લાવીને ઈસુને બતાવ્યો.
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<v id="20" bcv="MAT.22.20" />પછી ઈસુએ તેમને પૂછયું, “આ સિક્કા પર કોનું ચિત્ર છે? અને તેના ઉપર કોનું નામ લખેલું છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.22.21" />પછી લોકોએ કહ્યું, “આના ઉપર કૈસરનું નામ છે અને તેનું જ ચિત્ર છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">એટલે ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યુ, “જે કૈસરનાં છે તે કૈસરને આપી દો અને જે દેવનું છે તે દેવને આપી દો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.22.22" />ઈસુની વાત સાંભળી બધા અચરત પામ્યા, અને ઈસુને છોડી ત્યાંથી ચાલ્યા ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુને પકડવાની કેટલાંક સદૂકીઓની ચાલ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 12:18-27; લૂક 20:27-40)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.22.23" />એ જ દિવસે થોડાક સદૂકીઓ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા (લોકો મરણમાંથી ઊભા થશે તે સદૂકીઓ માનતા નહોતા) અને સદૂકીઓએ ઈસુને પૂછયું.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="MAT.22.24" />“ઉપદેશક, મૂસાએ કહ્યું છે કે, જો કોઈ માણસ નિ:સંતાન મરણ પામે તો તેના ભાઈએ તેની પત્ની સાથે પરણવું જોઈએ. જેથી તેઓ બાળકો મેળવી પોતાના ભાઈ માટે વંશ ઉપજાવે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MAT.22.25" />એક કુટુંબમાં સાત ભાઈઓ હતા. તેમાંના મોટા ભાઈએ લગ્ન કર્યુ અને નિ:સંતાન મરણ પામ્યો, તેથી પોતાની સ્ત્રીને બીજા ભાઈ પાસે તેડી ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="MAT.22.26" />આ બીજો ભાઈ પણ નિ:સંતાન મરણ પામ્યો. પછી પેલી સ્ત્રી ત્રીજા ભાઈની સાથે પરણી એમ સાતે ભાઈઓના સંબંધમાં આવું બન્યું.
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<v id="27" bcv="MAT.22.27" />સૌથી છેલ્લે તે સ્ત્રી પણ મરણ પામી.
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<v id="28" bcv="MAT.22.28" />આ સાતે માણસો તે સ્ત્રીને પરણ્યા, તો પછી હવે મૂએલાઓનાં પુનરુંત્થાનમાં, પેલા સાતમાંથી તે કોની પત્ની થશે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MAT.22.29" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “ધર્મલેખો અને દેવનાં પરાક્રમ વિષેના તમારા અજ્ઞાનને કારણે એ તમે સમજી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="MAT.22.30" />તેઓ જ્યારે મરણમાંથી પુનરુંત્થાન પામશે, ત્યારે તે બધા આકાશમાંના દૂતો જેવા હશે અને લગ્રની વાત જ નહિ હોય.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="MAT.22.31" />શું પુનરુંત્થાનના સંબંધમાં દેવે તમને જે કહ્યું છે તે તમે વાંચ્યું છે?
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<v id="32" bcv="MAT.22.32" />દેવે કહ્યું, ‘હું ઈબ્રાહિમનો તથા ઈસહાકનો તથા યાકૂબનો દેવ છું.’<x caller="+"><xo>22:32
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 3:6</xt></x> પણ તે મૂએલાઓનો દેવ નથી. પરંતુ જીવતા લોકોનો દેવ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MAT.22.33" />ઈસુનો ઉત્તર સાંભળીને તે લોકો તેના ઉપદેશથી અચરત પામ્યા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સહુથી મોટી આજ્ઞા કઈ છે?
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 12:28-34; લૂક 10:25-28)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MAT.22.34" />ફરોશીઓએ જાણ્યું કે ઈસુએ પોતાના ઉત્તરથી સદૂકીઓને બોલતા બંધ કરી દીઘા તેથી તેઓ એકત્ર થયા.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="MAT.22.35" />એક ફરોશી જે શાસ્ત્રી હતો. તેણે ઈસુને ફસાવવા એક પ્રશ્ર્ન પૂછયો.
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<v id="36" bcv="MAT.22.36" />“ઓ ઉપદેશક, નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં સહુથી મોટી આજ્ઞા કઈ છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="MAT.22.37" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “‘પ્રભુ તારા દેવ પર, તું તારા પૂરા હૃદયથી, ને તારા પૂરા જીવથી અને તારા પૂરા મનથી પ્રીતી કર.’<x caller="+"><xo>22:37
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 6:5</xt></x>
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<v id="38" bcv="MAT.22.38" />આ પહેલી અને સૌથી મોટી આજ્ઞા છે.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="MAT.22.39" />બીજી મોટી આજ્ઞા પણ એવી જ છે. ‘તું જેવો પ્રેમ તારા પર કરે છે તેવો જ પ્રેમ તારા પડોશી પર કર.’<x caller="+"><xo>22:39
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ લે. 19:18</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="MAT.22.40" />આખા નિયમશાસ્ત્ર અને પ્રબોધકોના લખાણોનો પાયો આ બે આજ્ઞાઓમાં સમાયેલો છે. આ બે આજ્ઞાઓને પાળશો તો તમે બીજી સર્વ આજ્ઞાઓ પાળશો.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનો ફરોશીઓને પ્રશ્ર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 12:35-37; લૂક 20:41-44)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="MAT.22.41" />જ્યારે બધા ફરોશીઓ ભેગા થયા હતા ત્યારે, ઈસુએ તેઓને પ્રશ્ન પૂછયો.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="MAT.22.42" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “મસીહ વિષે તમે શું માનો છો? તે કોનો દીકરો છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તે દાઉદનો દીકરો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="MAT.22.43" />ઈસુએ તેઓને ફરીથી પ્રશ્ન કર્યો, “તો પછી પવિત્ર આત્માની પ્રેરણાથી દાઉદ તેને ‘પ્રભુ’ કેમ કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="44" bcv="MAT.22.44" />‘પ્રભુએ (દેવે) મારા પ્રભુને (ખ્રિસ્ત) કહ્યું કે:
</q>
<q style="q1">જ્યાં સુધી તારા શત્રુંઓ તારા નિયંત્રણ હેઠળ છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી તું મારી જમણી બાજુ બેસ.’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.110.1">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 110:1</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="45" bcv="MAT.22.45" />દાઉદે તેને ખ્રિસ્ત પ્રભુ કહ્યો તો એ તેનો દીકરો કેવી રીતે હોઈ શકે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="MAT.22.46" />ઉત્તરમાં કોઈ કશું જ બોલી શક્યા નહિ. તે સમય પછી તેઓએ બીજા પ્રશ્નો પૂછવાની કોઈએ હિંમત કરી નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="23" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ ધાર્મિક નેતાઓની ટીકા કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 12:38-40; લૂક 11:37-52; 20:45-47)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.23.1" />ઈસુએ પછી લોકોને અને તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું. ઈસુએ કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.23.2" />“યહૂદિ શાસ્ત્રીઓને તથા ફરોશીઓને મૂસાનો ઉપદેશ તમને સમજાવવાનો અધિકાર છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAT.23.3" />તેથી એ લોકો જે કહે તે પ્રમાણે વર્તજો અને તેમની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરજો. પરંતુ તે લોકો જે કરે છે તે પ્રમાણે તમે ન કરતા. હું એટલા માટે કહું છું કે, તેઓ જે ઉપદેશ આપે છે તે પ્રમાણે તેઓ પોતે વર્તતા નથી.
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<v id="4" bcv="MAT.23.4" />તેઓ એવા કડક નિયમો બનાવે છે કે લોકોને પાળવા મુશ્કેલ પડે છે. તે બીજા લોકોને નિયમોનું પાલન કરવા અનુરોધ કરે છે પરંતુ તે લોકો તેમાંનો એક પણ નિયમ પાળવા પ્રયત્ન કરતા નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.23.5" />“તેઓ સારા કામ એટલા માટે કરે છે કે લોકો તેઓને જુએ. તેઓ પવિત્ર દેખાવા માટે શાસ્ત્ર વચનોના શબ્દો સાથેની પેટીઓ લઈ લે છે અને સ્મરણપત્રોને પહોળા બનાવે છે અને પોતાના ઝભ્ભાની ઝૂલને લાંબી કરે છે જેથી લોકો તેમને ધર્માત્મા સમજે, જુએ.
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<v id="6" bcv="MAT.23.6" />આવા ફરોશીઓ અને શાસ્ત્રીઓને જમણવારોમાં મહત્વપૂર્ણ સ્થાન પ્રાપ્ત કરવાનું ગમે છે અને સભાસ્થાનોમાં મુખ્ય સ્થાને બેસવાનુ ગમે છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="MAT.23.7" />બજારમાં લોકો તેમને માન આપે તે તેમને ગમે છે અને લોકો તેમને ‘ગુરું’ કહીને બોલાવે તેવુ તે ઈચ્છે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.23.8" />“પરંતુ તમે ‘ગુરું’ ન કહેવાઓ કારણ તમારો ગુરું તો એક જ છે અને તમે બધા તો ભાઈ બહેન છો.
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<v id="9" bcv="MAT.23.9" />તમારામાંથી કોઈને પણ આ પૃથ્વી પર ‘પિતા’ ન કહો કારણ તમારો પિતા તો એક જ છે અને તે આકાશમાં છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="MAT.23.10" />તમે ‘સ્વામી’ પણ ન કહેવાઓ, કારણ તમારો સ્વામી તો ફક્ત એક જ છે અને તે માત્ર ખ્રિસ્ત, જે તમારા સ્વામી છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="MAT.23.11" />તમારામાં મહત્વપૂર્ણ વ્યક્તિ એ હશે કે જે તમારો સેવક બનશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="MAT.23.12" />જે પોતાની જાતને બીજા કરતા ઊંચો કરશે તેઓને નીચા કરવામાં આવશે. અને જેઓ પોતાને નીચો કરશે તેઓને ઊંચા કરવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.23.13" />“હે શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને ફરોશીઓ, તમને અફસોસ છે, તમે ઢોંગી છો, કારણ તમે આકાશના રાજ્યના દરવાજા લોકો માટે બંધ કરો છો. તમે પોતે આકાશના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશ કરતા નથી, અને જેઓ આકાશના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરે છે તેમને જવા દેતા નથી.
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<v id="14" bcv="MAT.23.14" />અરે, ઓ શાસ્ત્રીઓ તથા ફરોશીઓ; ઢોંગીઓ, તમને અફસોસ છે! કારણ કે તમે વિધવાઓની મિલકત હડપ કરી જાઓ છો અને ઢોંગ કરીને લાંબી પ્રાર્થનાઓ કરો છો તે માટે તમને સખત સજા થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.23.15" />“ઓ શાસ્ત્રીઓ તથા ફરોશીઓ, ઢોંગીઓ, તમને અફસોસ છે! તમારા માર્ગોને એક વ્યક્તિ અનુસરે માટે તમે સમુદ્ર તથા પૃથ્વી ફરી વળો છો; જ્યારે તમને તે વ્યક્તિ મળે છે ત્યારે તમે તેને પોતા કરતાં બમણો નરકનો દીકરો બનાવો છો!
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.23.16" />“ઓ અંધ આગેવાનો તમારી કેવી દુર્દશા થશે? તમારો નિયમ છે કે ‘જો કોઈ પ્રભુ મંદિરના નામે સમ લે તો કાંઈ વાંધો નહિં, અને એ ના પાળે તો પણ ચાલે પણ મંદિરના સોનાના નામે સમ લે તો પછી તેણે તેના સમ પાળવા જોઈએ.’
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<v id="17" bcv="MAT.23.17" />અરે ઓ અંધ મૂર્ખાઓ! વધારે મોટુ કયું, સોનું કે મંદિર? મંદિર મોટું છે કારણ એ મંદિરને લીધે સોનું પવિત્ર બન્યું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.23.18" />“તમે એ પણ કહો છો, ‘કોઈ વેદીના સમ ખાય તો તે અગત્યનું નથી પરંતુ જો વેદી પર ચઢાવેલ વસ્તુના સમ ખાય તો તેણે તે સમ પાળવા જ જોઈએ.’
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<v id="19" bcv="MAT.23.19" />અરે અંધજનો, કોણ મોટું, વેદી પર ચઢાવેલી વસ્તુ કે વેદી? જે અર્પણને પવિત્ર બનાવે છે?
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<v id="20" bcv="MAT.23.20" />તેથી જે કોઈ વેદીના સમ લે છે તે તેના તથા તેના પર મૂકેલ દરેક વસ્તુના સમ લે છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="MAT.23.21" />જે મંદિરના સમ લે છે તે તેની સાથે મંદિરમાં રહે છે તેના પણ સમ લે છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="MAT.23.22" />અને જે આકાશના સમ લે છે તે દેવના રાજ્યાસનની સાથે એ રાજ્યાસન પર બેસનારના પણ સમ લે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.23.23" />“ઓ શાસ્ત્રીઓ તથા ફરોશીઓ, ઢોંગીઓ, તમને અફસોસ છે! તમે તમારી પાસે જે કાંઈ ફુદીનાનો, સૂવાનો, તથા જીરાનો દશમો ભાગ છે તે દેવને આપો છો. પરંતુ તમે વધારે નિયમશાસ્ત્રની મોટી વાતોનું પાલન કરતા નથી. તમે ન્યાયીકરણ, દયા અને વિશ્વાસની અવગણના કરો છો. તમારે આ બીજી બાબતોની ઉપેક્ષા કર્યા વિના તમારે આ બધાનું પાલન કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="24" bcv="MAT.23.24" />તમે લોકોને માર્ગદર્શન આપો છો, પણ તમે પોતે જ આંધળા છો! તમે તમારા પીણામાંથી માખી દૂર કરો છો પણ ઊંટને ગળી જાઓ છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MAT.23.25" />“અરે ઢોંગી, યહૂદિ શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને ફરોશીઓ તમને અફસોસ છે! તમે તમારી વાટકીઓ, થાળીઓ બહારથી સાફ કરી રાખો છો, પરંતુ તમે તમારા પોતાના સંતોષ માટે લોકોને છેતરીને તેની અંદર જુલ્મ તથા અન્યાય ભરો છો.
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<v id="26" bcv="MAT.23.26" />ઓ આંધળા ફરોશી, પહેલા તું તારા થાળી વાટકા અંદરથી સાફ કર તો તેની સાથે સાથે વાસણ બહારથી પણ સ્વચ્છ થઈ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MAT.23.27" />“અરે ઢોંગી, યહૂદિ શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને ફરોશીઓ તમને અફસોસ છે! કે તમે સફેદ ધોળેલી કબર જેવા છો. કારણ કે તે બહારથી સુંદર દેખાય છે પણ અંદરથી મરણ પામેલા લોકોનાં હાડકાઓ અને બધીજ જાતનો ગંદવાડ ભરેલો છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="MAT.23.28" />એવું જ તમારા માટે છે. લોકો તમને બહારથી જુએ છે તો તમે ન્યાયી જેવા દેખાવ છો. પણ અંદરથી તો તમે ઢોંગથી ભરેલા દુષ્ટ છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MAT.23.29" />“અરે ઢોંગી, યહૂદિ શાસ્ત્રી અને ફરોશીઓ, તમને અફસોસ છે! કે તમે પ્રબોધકો માટે કબરો બનાવો છો અને ન્યાયી લોકોની કબરો શણગારો છો.
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<v id="30" bcv="MAT.23.30" />અને કહો છો, ‘જો પૂર્વજોના સમયમાં અમે હોત તો આ પ્રબોધકોને મારી નાખવા જરાપણ મદદ ન કરી હોત.’
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<v id="31" bcv="MAT.23.31" />એટલે તમે એ સ્વીકારો છો કે જે લોકોએ પ્રબોધકોને મારી નાખ્યા છે તેમના જ તમે સંતાનો છો.
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<v id="32" bcv="MAT.23.32" />તેઓના પગલે ચાલીને અને તમારા બાપદાદાઓનાં પાપ પૂરા કરશો!
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MAT.23.33" />“ઓ સર્પો! સર્પોના વંશ! તમે નરકના દંડમાંથી કેવી રીતે બચી શકશો!
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<v id="34" bcv="MAT.23.34" />આથી હું તમારી પાસે પ્રબોધકને તથા જ્ઞાનીઓ તથા શાસ્ત્રીઓને મોકલું છું. તેઓમાંના કેટલાકને તમે વધસ્તંભે જડશો અને કેટલાકને મારી નાખશો. કેટલાકને તમે તમારા સભાસ્થાનોમાં કોરડા મારશો અને ગામેગામ તેઓની પાછળ પડશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MAT.23.35" />“તેથી તમે પૃથ્વી પર સારી વ્યક્તિઓને મારી નાખવા માટે ગુનેગાર ઠરશો, ન્યાયી હાબેલને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો. તેનાથી માંડી બેરખ્યાના દીકરા ઝખાર્યાને મંદિરની તથા હોમવેદીની વચ્ચે મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો. તેથી હાબેલ અને ઝખાર્યાના સમયમાં જે બધા સારા લોકો રહેતા હતા તેના મરણ માટે તમે ગુનેગાર છો.
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<v id="36" bcv="MAT.23.36" />હું તમને સાચે જ કહું છું. આ બધી વસ્તુઓ માટે આ પેઢીના લોકોને ભોગવવું જ પડશે.
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<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમના લોકો પર ઈસુનો ખેદ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 13:34-35)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="MAT.23.37" />“ઓ યરૂશાલેમ, યરૂશાલેમ! પ્રબોધકોને મારી નાખનાર અને દેવના પ્રેરિતોને પથ્થરોથી મારી નાખનાર, હું ઘણીવાર તમારાં બાળકોને ભેગા કરવા ઈચ્છતો હતો, જેમ મરઘી પોતાના બચ્ચોઓને પાંખો તળે એકઠાં કરે છે, પણ તમે એવું ઈચ્છયું નહિ.
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<v id="38" bcv="MAT.23.38" />હવે તારું મંદિર પૂરેપૂરું ઉજજડ થઈ જશે.
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<v id="39" bcv="MAT.23.39" />હું તને કહું છું, ‘પ્રભુને નામે જે આવે છે તે આશીર્વાદિત છે’<x caller="+"><xo>23:39
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ગી. શા. 118:26.</xt></x> એવું તમે નહિ કહો ત્યાં સુધી તમે મને ફરી કદી જોશો નહિ.”
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</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">મંદિરના નાશની આગાહી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 13:1-31; લૂક 21:5-33)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.24.1" />ઈસુએ મંદિર છોડયું અને ચાલતો હતો, ત્યારે શિષ્યો તેની પાસે આવ્યા. તેઓ તેને મંદિર બતાવવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="MAT.24.2" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે આ બધું જુઓ છો? હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, આ બધું તોડી પાડવામાં આવશે.એક પથ્થર પર બીજો પથ્થર રહેવા દેવામા આવશે નહિ. અને એક એક પથ્થરને જમીનદોસ્ત કરવામાં આવશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.24.3" />પછી ઈસુ જૈતૂન પર્વત પર બેઠો હતો ત્યારે શિષ્યો તેની સાથે એકાંત માટે આવ્યા અને પૂછયું એ બધું ક્યારે બનશે? અને “અમને કહે કે તારા આગમનની અને જગતના અંતની નિશાનીઓ શું હશે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MAT.24.4" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “સાવધાન રહો! તમને કોઈ ગેરમાર્ગે ન દોરે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="MAT.24.5" />ઘણા લોકો આવશે અને મારા નામનો ઉપયોગ કરશે અને કહેશે, ‘હું જ ખ્રિસ્ત છું.’ અને તેઓ ઘણા લોકોને છેતરશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="MAT.24.6" />પણ તમે લડાઈઓ વિષે અને લડાઈઓની અફવાઓ વિષે સાંભળશો ત્યારે તમે ગભરાશો નહિ. એ બધું જ અંત પહેલા બનવાનું છે અને ભબિષ્યનો અંત હજી બાકી છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MAT.24.7" />રાષ્ટ્ર બીજા રાષ્ટ્રોની સામે અને રાજ્યો બીજા રાજ્યોની વિરૂદ્ધ ઊઠશે. અને એક સમય એવો આવશે કે લોકોને ખાવા માટે ખોરાક પણ નહિ હોય અને જુદા જુદા વિસ્તારોમાં ધરતીકંપ થશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="MAT.24.8" />પણ એ બધાં તો દુ:ખોનો આરંભ જ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.24.9" />“આ સમયે તમને શિક્ષા માટે સુપ્રત કરવામાં આવશે અને તમને મારી નાંખશે કારણ કે તમે મારા શિષ્યો છો. બધા જ રાષ્ટ્રો તમારો તિરસ્કાર કરશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="MAT.24.10" />આ સમયે ઘણા લોકોનો વિશ્વાસ ડગી જશે. એકબીજાની સામે થઈ જશે અને એકબીજાનો તિરસ્કાર કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MAT.24.11" />અનેક જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો નીકળી પડશે અને તેઓ ઘણાને આડે માર્ગે દોરી જશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.24.12" />અનિષ્ટ સર્વત્ર પ્રસરશે. પરિણામે ઘણાનો પ્રેમ ઠંડો પડી જશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="MAT.24.13" />પરંતુ જે કોઈ અંત સુધી ટકશે તે જ તારણ પામશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="MAT.24.14" />દેવના રાજ્યની સુવાર્તા આખા વિશ્વમાં બધી જ જાતિના લોકોને સંભળાવવામાં આવશે. ત્યારે અંત આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.24.15" />“જેના વિષે દાનિયેલ પ્રબોધકે કહેલું છે કે, ‘એ ભયાનક વિનાશકારી વસ્તુને’ તમે પવિત્ર જગ્યામાં (મંદિર) ઊભેલી જુઓ.” (વાંચક તેનો અર્થ સમજી લે)
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<v id="16" bcv="MAT.24.16" />“ત્યારે જેઓ યહૂદિયામાં રહે છે તેઓને પહાડો તરફ ભાગી જવું પડશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="MAT.24.17" />જેઓ ઘરના છાપરાં પર હોય તેઓએ ઘરમાં સરસામાન લેવા જવું નહિ.
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<v id="18" bcv="MAT.24.18" />જેઓ ખેતરોમાં હોય તેમણે પોતાના કપડાં લેવા પાછા ઘરે જવું નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MAT.24.19" />“એ દિવસોમાં જે ગર્ભવતી સ્ત્રીઓ હશે, અને જેને ધાવણાં બાળકો હશે તેમને માટે દુ:ખદાયક દિવસ હશે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="MAT.24.20" />પ્રાર્થના કરો કે તમારે શિયાળાનાં દિવસોમાં કે વિશ્રામવારે ભાગવું ના પડે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="MAT.24.21" />એ દિવસોમાં એવી મોટી આપત્તિ આવશે કે સૃષ્ટિ રચી ત્યારથી અત્યાર સુધી કદી આવી નથી. અને ભવિષ્યમાં એવી આપત્તિ આવશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.24.22" />“આ ભયંકર આપત્તિના દિવસો લોકોને ખાતર ઓછા કરવામાં આવશે. જો તેમ ન થયું હોત તો કોઈ માણસ બચી શકત નહિ. પરંતુ દેવના પસંદ કરાયેલા માણસો માટે જ આ દિવસો ઘટાડવામાં આવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.24.23" />“ત્યારે તમને જો કોઈ કહે કે જુઓ, અહીં ‘ખ્રિસ્ત’ છે અથવા તે અહીં છે તો તેનો વિશ્વાસ કરશો નહિ.
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<v id="24" bcv="MAT.24.24" />કેમ કે જૂઠા ખ્રિસ્ત તથા જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો ઊભા થશે. અને એવા અદભૂત ચમત્કારો તથા અદભૂત કૃત્યો કરી બતાવશે કે જો બની શકે તો દેવના પસંદ કરેલા લોકોને પણ તેઓ ભુલાવશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="MAT.24.25" />જુઓ, આ વાત તમને અગાઉથી બાતાવું છું માટે સાવધ રહેજો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MAT.24.26" />“તેથી કોઈ તમને કહે; ‘ખ્રિસ્ત પેલી ઉજજડ ભૂમીમાં છે!’ પણ તે ઉજજડ પ્રદેશમાં ખ્રિસ્તને જોવા જશો નહિ. કોઈ કહે, ‘ખ્રિસ્ત અમુક ઘરમાં છે તો તે તમે માનશો નહિ.
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<v id="27" bcv="MAT.24.27" />જ્યારે માણસનો દીકરો આવશે ત્યારે આકાશમાં પૂર્વથી પશ્ર્ચિમે ઝબકારા જેવું થશે જે દરેક માણસ જોઈ શકશે. તે પ્રમાણે માણસનો દીકરો પ્રગટ થશે.
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<v id="28" bcv="MAT.24.28" />જ્યાં મડદાં હશે, ત્યાં ગીધો ભેગાં થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MAT.24.29" />“એ દિવસોમાં જ્યારે વિપત્તિ દૂર થશે કે તરત જ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘સૂરજ અંધકારરૂપ થઈ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચંદ્ર તેનું અજવાળું આપશે નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારાઓ આકાશમાંથી ખરી પડશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આકાશમાં બધુંજ ઘ્રુંજી ઊઠશે.’
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.13.10">યશાયા 13:10</ref>; <ref tgt="ISA.34.4">34:4-5</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MAT.24.30" />“એ સમયે, માણસના દીકરાના આવવાના સંકેત આકાશમાં જોવા મળશે, તે વખતે પૃથ્વી પરના બધાજ લોકો વિલાપ કરશે અને માણસના દીકરાને પરાક્રમ અને મોટા મહિમાસહિત આકાશના વાદળોમાં આવતો જોશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="MAT.24.31" />માણસનો દીકરો પોતાના દૂતોને પૃથ્વીની ચારે બાજુ મોકલવા મોટા અવાજથી રણશિંગડું ફૂંકશે. દૂતો પૃથ્વીના દરેક ભાગમાંથી પસંદ કરેલા માણસોને ભેગા કરશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MAT.24.32" />“અંજીર પરથી બોધપાઠ લો, જ્યારે તેની ડાળી કુમળી હોય છે અને પાંદડાં ફૂટવા લાગે છે ત્યારે તમે સમજી શકો છો કે ઉનાળો પાસે આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="MAT.24.33" />તે જ પ્રમાણે, જ્યારે તમે આ બધા જ બનાવો બનતા જુઓ, ત્યારે જાણી લેવું કે એ સમય નજીક આવી રહ્યો છે અને આવવાની તૈયારી છે.
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<v id="34" bcv="MAT.24.34" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે આ પેઢીનાં લોકોના જીવતાં જ આ બધી જ ઘટના બનશે.
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<v id="35" bcv="MAT.24.35" />આખી દુનિયા, પૃથ્વી અને આકાશનો નાશ થશે, પણ મેં તમને જે શબ્દો કહ્યાં છે તેનો કદી વિનાશ નહિ થાય!
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</p>
<s style="s">સમય તો ફક્ત દેવ જાણે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 13:32-37; લૂક 17:26-30; 34-36)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="MAT.24.36" />“પણ એ દિવસ અને કલાક વિષે કોઈ જાણતું નથી. આકાશના દૂતો કે દીકરો કોઈ જાણતું નથી. ફક્ત તે બાપ જ જાણે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="MAT.24.37" />“નૂહના સમયમાં બન્યું એવું જ માણસના દીકરાના આગમન સમયે બનશે.
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<v id="38" bcv="MAT.24.38" />જળપ્રલય થયો તે પહેલા લોકો ખાતાપીતા અને પરણાવતા, આ બધુજ નૂહ વહાણ પર ન ચઢયો ત્યાં સુધી બનતું રહ્યું.
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<v id="39" bcv="MAT.24.39" />જળપ્રલય થયો અને બધાને તાણીને લઈ ગયો, ત્યાં સુધી ખબર ન પડી, માણસના દીકરાને આવવાનું થશે, ત્યારે આવું જ બનશે.
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<v id="40" bcv="MAT.24.40" />એ સમયે ખેતરમાં કામ કરતાં બે માણસોમાંથી એકને ઉઠાવી લેવાશે અને બીજો ત્યાં જ છોડી દેવાશે.
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<v id="41" bcv="MAT.24.41" />આ સમયે ઘંટી ચલાવતી બે સ્ત્રીઓમાંથી એક સ્ત્રીને ત્યાંથી ઊઠાવી લેવામાં આવશે અને બીજીને ત્યાંજ પાછળ રહેવા દેવામાં આવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="MAT.24.42" />“એટલે તમે લોકો સાવધ રહો, કારણ કે તમારો પ્રભુ ક્યારે આવે છે તે તમે જાણતા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="MAT.24.43" />યાદ રાખો કે, જો ઘરના ધણીએ જાણ્યું હોત કે ચોર ક્યા સમયે આવશે તો તે ઘણી સજાગ રહેત અને ચોરને ઘરમાં પ્રવેશ કરવા ન દેત.
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<v id="44" bcv="MAT.24.44" />એટલે તમારે પણ તૈયાર રહેવું જોઈએ કારણ માણસનો દીકરો ગમે તે સમયે આવશે, જ્યારે તમને ખબર પણ નહિ પડે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તૈયાર રહો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 12:41-48)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="MAT.24.45" />“ધણી પોતાના ઘરના સર્વને નિયત સમયે ખાવાનું આપવા જેને પોતાના ઘરના સેવકો પર અધિકારી નીમે છે એવો શાણો અને વિશ્વાસુ સેવક કોણ છે?
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<v id="46" bcv="MAT.24.46" />ધણી જ્યારે આવે ત્યારે જે સેવક આ કામ કરતો દેખાશે તે માણસ સુખી થશે.
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<v id="47" bcv="MAT.24.47" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. એવા વફાદાર માણસને ધણી પોતાની તમામ મિલ્કતનો કારભારી બનાવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="MAT.24.48" />“પણ જો નોકર દુષ્ટ હશે અને વિચારશે કે મારા ધણી તરત જ પાછા નથી આવવાના.
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<v id="49" bcv="MAT.24.49" />પછી તે પોતાના સાથીદાર સેવકોને મારપીટ કરશે. અને તે સેવક બીજા લોકો સાથે તેની જેમ ખાવા પીવા લાગશે.
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<v id="50" bcv="MAT.24.50" />પણ તે ચાકરનો ધણી એવો ઓચિંતો આવી પહોંચશે કે તેને તે દિવસની કદી આશા નહિં હોય અને તે સમય વિષે તે જાણતો નહિ હોય.
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<v id="51" bcv="MAT.24.51" />એનો સ્વામી એને ખરાબ રીતે સજા કરશે અને ઢોંગીઓ વચ્ચે તેનું સ્થાન નિશ્ર્ચિત કરશે. જ્યાં લોકો રૂદન કરતાં હશે. દુ:ખની પીડાથી દાંત પીસતાં થશે.
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</p>

<c id="25" />
<s style="s">દશ કુમારિકાઓની વાર્તા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.25.1" />“એ દિવસે આકાશનું રાજ્ય દશ કુમારિકાઓ પોતાના વરને મળવા મશાલ લઈને નીકળી હોય તેના જેવું હશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="MAT.25.2" />એમાંથી પાંચ મૂર્ખ હતી. અને પાંચ વિચારશીલ હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="MAT.25.3" />મૂર્ખ કુમારિકાઓ જ્યારે પોતાની મશાલો લઈને આવી ત્યારે તેમની સાથે વધારાનું તેલ લીધું નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="MAT.25.4" />વિચારશીલ કુમારિકાઓ પાસે તેમની મશાલો સાથે બરણીમાં વધારાનું તેલ હતું.
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<v id="5" bcv="MAT.25.5" />વરને આવતાં ઘણી વાર લાગી એટલામાં બધીજ કુમારિકાઓ થાકી ગઈ અને ઊંઘવા લાગી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MAT.25.6" />“મધ્યરાત્રીએ કોઈકે જાહેરાત કરી કે, ‘વરરાજા આવી રહ્યો છે! તો ચાલો આપણે તેને મળવા જઈએ!’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MAT.25.7" />“પછી બધી જ કુમારિકાઓ જાગી ગઈ ને પોતાની મશાલો તૈયાર કરી.
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<v id="8" bcv="MAT.25.8" />પણ મૂર્ખ કુમારિકાઓએ વિચારશીલ કુમારિકાઓને કહ્યું: ‘અમને તમારું થોડું તેલ આપો. અમારી મશાલો હોલવાઈ જાય છે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MAT.25.9" />“સમજુ કુમારિકાઓએ કહ્યું, ‘ના! કદાચ અમારી પાસે જે તેલ છે તે તમને તથા અમને પુરું નહિ પડે માટે તમે તેલ વેચનારા પાસે જાઓ અને પોતપોતાના માટે થોડું ખરીદી લાવો.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.25.10" />“તેથી તે કુમારિકાઓ તેલ ખરીદવા ગઈ. એટલામાં વરરાજા આવી પહોંચ્યો. જે કુમારિકાઓ તૈયાર હતી, તેઓ તેની જોડે લગ્નનાં જમણમાં પહોંચી ગઈ અને પછી બારણાં બંધ કરવામાં આવ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.25.11" />“પછી પેલી બીજી કુમારિકાઓ આવી અને બહાર ઊભી રહીને કહેવા લાગી, ‘સ્વામી, હે સ્વામી, બારણાં ઉઘાડો અને અમને અંદર આવવા દો.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MAT.25.12" />“પણ વરરાજાએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, ‘હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, હું તમને જાણતો નથી.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.25.13" />“તેથી હંમેશા તૈયાર રહો, તમને ખબર નથી, માણસનો દીકરો ક્યા દિવસે અને ક્યા સમયે આવશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ત્રણ નોકરોની વાર્તા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 19:11-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.25.14" />“આકાશનું રાજ્ય એવી વ્યક્તિ જેવું છે કે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ બીજા દેશના પ્રવાસે જતી વખતે તેના નોકરોને બોલાવીને કહે છે કે આ મારી સંપત્તિ, હું જાઉ તે દરમ્યાન તમે સાચવજો.
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<v id="15" bcv="MAT.25.15" />તેણે એકને ચાંદીના સિક્કા ભરેલી પાંચ થેલીઓ આપી, બીજાને બે અને ત્રીજા ને એક, તેણે દરેકને તેમની શક્તિ અનુસાર આપી; પ્રવાસ કરવા ચાલી નીકળ્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="MAT.25.16" />જેને ચાંદીના સિક્કાની પાંચ થેલીઓ આપી હતી તે ત્યાંથી ચાલી નીકળ્યો અને એણે તરત જ તે પૈસાનું બીજે રોકાણ કર્યુ. અને બીજી પાંચ થેલી કમાયો.
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<v id="17" bcv="MAT.25.17" />જેને બે થેલીઓ મળી હતી તેણે પણ બીજે રોકાણ કયું અને બે થેલી કમાઈ લીધી.
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<v id="18" bcv="MAT.25.18" />પણ જે નોકરને એક જ થેલી આપી હતી તે ગયો અને જમીનમાં ખાડો ખોદી પોતાના ધણીના પૈસાની થેલી જમીનમાં દાટી દીઘી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MAT.25.19" />“ઘણા સમય પછી તે ધણી પાછો આવ્યો અને નોકરોને પૂછયું કે તેઓએ તેના પૈસાનું શું કર્યુ.
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<v id="20" bcv="MAT.25.20" />જેને પાંચ થેલી આપવામાં આવી તેણે બીજી વધારાની પાંચ થેલી લાવી તેના ધણીને આપી અને કહ્યું, ‘તેં મારા પર વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો તેથી તે પાંચ થેલીઓનો બીજી પાંચ થેલીઓ કમાવવા મેં ઉપયોગ કર્યો.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.25.21" />“ધણીએ કહ્યું, ‘તું ખૂબ સારો વિશ્વાસ રાખવા લાયક નોકર છે. તેં થોડા પૈસાનો સારો ઉપયોગ કર્યો છે, તેથી હું તને આના કરતાં પણ વધારે વસ્તુ સાચવવા આપીશ. આવ, અને મારા સુખનો ભાગીદાર બન.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.25.22" />“પછી જેને બે થેલીઓ આપવામાં આવી હતી, તે ધણી પાસે આવ્યો અને નોકરે કહ્યું, ‘ધણી તેં મને બે થેલી ભરેલા પૈસા આપ્યા હતા, મેં આ બંને થેલીના પૈસાનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો છે અને હું બીજી બે થેલીઓ વધારે કમાયો છું.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.25.23" />“ધણીએ કહ્યું, ‘તેં બરાબર કર્યુ છે. તું ખૂબજ સારો નોકર છે અને તું વિશ્વાસ રાખવા લાયક છે. તેં થોડા પૈસાનો ખૂબ સારો ઉપયોગ કર્યો એટલે હું તને આનાં કરતા પણ વધારે અધિકાર આપીશ, આવ અને મારી સાથે સુખમાં ભાગીદાર થા.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.25.24" />“પછી જેને એક થેલી આપવામાં આવી હતી, તે નોકર ધણી પાસે આવ્યો અને ધણીને કહ્યું, “હું જાણું છું કે તું ખૂબજ કડક માણસ છે. તેણે કહ્યું, ‘જ્યાં તેં નથી વાવ્યું ત્યાંથી પાક લણનાર, અને જ્યાં તેં નથી વેર્યુ, ત્યાંથી એકઠું કરનાર છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="MAT.25.25" />તેથી મને ખૂબજ બીક લાગી અને તારી પૈસાની થેલી લઈને હું ગયો અને જમીનમાં સંતાડી દીધી. તેં મને જે ચાંદીના સિક્કાની થેલી આપી હતી, તે પાછી લે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MAT.25.26" />“ધણીએ કહ્યું, ‘તું દુષ્ટ અને આળસુ નોકર છે! તું કહે છે, જ્યાં મેં નથી વાવ્યું ત્યાંથી હું પાક લણું છું અને જ્યાં નથી વેર્યુ ત્યાંથી એકઠું કરું છું.
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<v id="27" bcv="MAT.25.27" />તો મારું ધન તેં બેન્કમાં કેમ ન મૂકયું? જો બેન્કમાં પૈસા મૂક્યાં હોત તો મને વ્યાજ સાથે પાછા મળત.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MAT.25.28" />“તેથી ઘણીએ બીજા નોકરોને કહ્યું આની પાસેથી પૈસાની એક થેલી લઈ લો અને જેની પાસે દશ થેલી છે તેને આપી દો.
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<v id="29" bcv="MAT.25.29" />દરેક વ્યક્તિની પોતાની પાસે જે છે તેનો તે યોગ્ય ઉપયોગ કરશે તો તેને વધુ આપવામાં આવશે. અને જેને તેની જરુંરિયાત છે તેનાથી પણ અધિક પ્રાપ્ત કરશે અને જેની પાસે છે, તેનો યોગ્ય ઉપયોગ નહિ કરે તો તેની પાસેથી બધું જ છીનવી લેવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="MAT.25.30" />તેથી ધણીએ કહ્યું, ‘આ નકામા નોકરને બહારના અંધકારમાં ફેંકી દો જ્યાં લોકોરૂદન કરે છે અને દાંત પીસે છે.’
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</p>
<s style="s">માણસનો દીકરો બધા લોકોનો ન્યાય કરશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MAT.25.31" />“માણસનો દીકરો ફરીથી આવશે. તે ભવ્ય મહિમા સાથે તેના બધાજ દૂતો સાથે આવશે અને તે રાજા તરીકે મહિમાના રાજ્યાસન પર બીરાજશે.
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<v id="32" bcv="MAT.25.32" />વિશ્વના બધાજ લોકો માણસના દીકરાની આગળ ભેગા થશે. માણસનો દીકરો પછી બધાજ લોકોને બે ભાગમાં વહેંચી નાખશે. જેમ ઘેટાંપાળક ઘેંટા બકરાંને જુદા પાડે છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="MAT.25.33" />માણસનો દીકરો ઘેટાંને (સારા લોકો) પોતાની જમણી બાજુ મૂકશે અને બકરાંને (ખરાબ લોકો) ડાબી બાજુ રાખશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MAT.25.34" />“પછી તે રાજા, જમણી બાજુ બેસનારા સારા માણસોને કહેશે, ‘આવો, મારા બાપના આશીર્વાદિતો આવો, અને જે રાજ્ય જગતનો પાયો નાખતા પહેલા તમારા માટે અગાઉથી જ તૈયાર કરવામાં આવ્યુ છે તે પ્રાપ્ત કરો.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="MAT.25.35" />તમને આ રાજ્ય મળ્યું છે કારણ હું ભૂખ્યો હતો ત્યારે તમે મને ખાવાનું આપ્યું હતું, તરસ્યો હતો ત્યારે તમે મને કાંઈક પીવા આપ્યું હતું. અને જ્યારે હું એકલો ભટકતો હતો ત્યારે તમે મને ઘેર બોલાવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="MAT.25.36" />હું વસ્ત્ર વગરનો હતો ત્યારે તમે મને કાંઈક પહેરવાં આપ્યું હતું. હું માંદો હતો ત્યારે તમે મારી ચાકરી કરી હતી, હું કારાવાસમાં હતો, ત્યારે તમે મને મળવા આવ્યા હતા.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="MAT.25.37" />“પછી સારા માણસો ઉત્તર આપશે, ‘પ્રભુ, અમે ક્યારે તને ભૂખ્યો જોયો અને ભોજન આપ્યું? અમે ક્યારે તને તરસ્યો જોયો અને તને કાંઈક પીવા આપ્યું?
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="MAT.25.38" />અમે તને ક્યારે એકલો જોયો અને ઘરથી દૂર ફરતા જોયો? અને અમે તને અમારે ઘેર ક્યારે બોલાવ્યો? અમે તને વસ્ત્ર વગર ક્યારે જોયો અને તને કોઈક વસ્ત્ર પહેરવા આપ્યું?
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="MAT.25.39" />અમે તને ક્યારે માંદો જોયો? અમે તને ક્યારે કારાવાસમાં જોયો અને તારી મુલાકાત લીધી?’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="MAT.25.40" />“પછી રાજા ઉત્તર આપશે, ‘હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. તમે મારા લોકોમાંના એકના માટે અહીં જે બધું કર્યુ તે બધું તમે મારા માટે જ કર્યુ.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="MAT.25.41" />“પછી રાજા તેની ડાબી બાજુ બેઠેલા માણસોને કહેશે. ‘મારી પાસેથી જે અગ્નિ સદાને માટે સળગે છે ત્યાં ચાલ્યા જાઓ. તમે શ્રાપિત છો, શેતાન તથા તેના દૂતો માટે જે સર્વકાલિક અગ્નિ તૈયાર કરેલો છે તેમાં પડો અને,
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="MAT.25.42" />આજ તમારી સજા છે. કારણ હું ભૂખ્યો હતો ત્યારે તમે મને કશું જ ખાવાનું આપ્યું નહોતું અને જ્યારે હું તરસ્યો હતો ત્યારે તમે મને કાંઈ પીવા આપ્યું નહોતું.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="MAT.25.43" />હું જ્યારે ઘરતી દૂર હતો અને ફરતો હતો, ત્યારે તમે મને ઘરમાં બોલાવ્યો નહોતો. વસ્ત્ર વગર નગ્ન હતો, પરંતુ તમે મને વસ્ત્ર પહેરવા આપ્યા નહોતા. હું બિમાર હતો અને કારાવાસ ભોગવતો હતો ત્યારે તમે મારી સેવા કરી નહોતી.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="MAT.25.44" />“પછી લોકો પણ ઉત્તરમાં પૂછશે, ‘હે પ્રભુ, અમે તને ભૂખ્યો, તરસ્યો, એકલો, વસ્ત્ર વગર, બિમાર અથવા બંદી ક્યારે જોયો? અને અમે તને મદદ ના કરી?’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="MAT.25.45" />“પછી રાજા ઉત્તરમાં કહેશે, ‘હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, કે તમે અહીં મારા લોકોમાંના કોઈને પણ ના પાડી તે મને ના પાડી બરાબર છે.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="MAT.25.46" />“પછી તે દુષ્ટ માણસો ત્યાંથી ચાલ્યા જશે અને તેઓને સદાને માટે સજા થશે. અને પછી સારા લોકો અનંતજીવનમાં જતા રહેશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">યદૂદિ આગેવાનોની ઈસુને મારી નાખવાની યોજના
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 14:1-2; લૂક 22:1-2; યોહાન 11:45-53)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.26.1" />ઈસુએ આ બધી બાબતો કહેવાનું પૂરું કર્યા પછી તેણે તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MAT.26.2" />“તમે જાણો છો કે બે દિવસ બાદ પાસ્ખાપર્વ છે. તે દિવસે માણસના દીકરાને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખવા માટે દુશ્મનોને સુપ્રત કરવામાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.26.3" />પ્રમુખ યાજકનું નામ કાયાફા હતું, પછી મુખ્ય યાજકો અને લોકોના વડીલો પ્રમુખ યાજકની કચેરીમાં ભેગા મળ્યા.
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<v id="4" bcv="MAT.26.4" />તે સભામાં તેઓએ ઈસુની ધરપકડ કરવાનો રસ્તો શોધવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. તેઓએ કપટનો ઉપયોગ કરીને, ઈસુને પકડવાની અને મારી નાખવાની યોજના કરી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="MAT.26.5" />સભામાંના માણસોએ કહ્યું, “આપણે પાસ્ખાપર્વ દરમ્યાન ઈસુને પકડી શકીએ નહિ, આપણા લોકો ગુસ્સે થાય અને ગરબડનું કારણ ઊભું થાય તેમ ઈચ્છતા નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">એક સ્ત્રી કંઈક વિશિષ્ટ કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 14:3-9; યોહાન 12:1-8)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MAT.26.6" />ઈસુ બેથનિયામાં હતો. તે સિમોન નામના કોઢિના ઘરમાં હતો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MAT.26.7" />જ્યારે ઈસુ ત્યાં હતો, એક સ્ત્રી તેની પાસે આવી. તેની પાસે આરસપાનની ખૂબ કિંમતી અત્તરથી ભરેલી શીશી હતી. તે સ્ત્રીએ ઈસુ જ્યારે જમતો હતો ત્યારે તેના માથા પર અત્તર રેડ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.26.8" />શિષ્યોએ આ જોયું અને તેઓ તે સ્ત્રી પર ગુસ્સે થયા. તે શિષ્યોએ પૂછયું, “આ અત્તરનો બગાડ શા માટે?
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<v id="9" bcv="MAT.26.9" />કારણ કે આ અત્તર ઘણા મૂલ્યે વેચી શકાત અને પૈસા ગરીબ લોકોને આપી શકાત.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MAT.26.10" />પણ શું બન્યું છે તે ઈસુએ જાણ્યું. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “આ સ્ત્રીને તમે શા માટે સતાવો છો? તેણીએ મારા માટે સારું કામ કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="MAT.26.11" />ગરીબ લોકો તમારી સાથે હમેશા હશે પણ હું સદા તમારી સાથે નહિ હોઉં.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.26.12" />આ સ્ત્રીએ મારા શરીર પર અત્તર રેડ્યું. તેણીએ મારા મરણ પછી મારી દફ્નકિયાની તૈયારી માટે કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="MAT.26.13" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, આખી દુનિયાના લોકોને તે સુવાર્તા જણાવાશે. અને દરેક જગ્યાએ જ્યાં તે સુવાર્તા કહેવામાં આવશે ત્યાં આ સ્ત્રીએ જે કર્યુ છે તે પણ જણાવાશે અને લોકો તેણીને યાદ કરશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદા ઈસુનો દુશ્મન બને છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 14:10-11; લૂક 22:3-6)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.26.14" />પછી બાર શિષ્યોમાંનો એક મુખ્ય યાજકો પાસે કહેવા ગયો. આ ઈશ્કરિયોત નામનો યહૂદા તે શિષ્ય હતો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MAT.26.15" />યહૂદાએ કહ્યું, “હું તમને ઈસુ સુપ્રત કરીશ. તમે મને આ કરવા માટે શું આપશો?” યહૂદાને યાજકે 30 ચાંદીના સિક્કાઓ આપ્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="MAT.26.16" />તે સમય પછી યહૂદાએ ઈસુને યાજકોને સોંપવા માટેના ઉત્તમ સમયની રાહ જોવા માંડી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું પાસ્ખાપર્વનું ભોજન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 14:21-22; લૂક 22:7-14; 21-23; યોહાન 13:21-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.26.17" />બેખમીર રોટલીના પ્રથમ દિવસે શિષ્યો ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા. તે શિષ્યોએ કહ્યું, “અમે તારા માટે પાસ્ખા પર્વના ભોજન માટે બધી તૈયારી કરીશું. અમે ભોજનની તૈયારી ક્યાં કરીએ? તારી શી ઈચ્છા છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MAT.26.18" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “શહેરમાં જાવ, હું જે માણસને જાણું છું, એવા માણસ પાસે જાવ. ઉપદેશક કહે છે તે તેને કહો, ‘પસંદ કરાયેલો નિયત સમય નજીક છે. હું તારા ઘેર મારા શિષ્યો સાથે પાસ્ખાપર્વનું ભોજન કરીશ.’”
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<v id="19" bcv="MAT.26.19" />શિષ્યોએ આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યુ અને ઈસુએ તેઓને જે કરવા માટે કહ્યું તે કર્યુ. તેઓએ પાસ્ખાપર્વનું ભોજન તૈયાર કર્યુ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.26.20" />સાંજે ઈસુ મેજ પાસે તેના બાર શિષ્યો સાથે બેઠો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="MAT.26.21" />તેઓ બધા જમતા હતા. પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. તમારા બારમાંનો એક જે અહીં છે તે મને જલ્દીથી દુશ્મનોને સુપ્રત કરશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.26.22" />શિષ્યો આ સાંભળીને ઘણા દિલગીર થયા. દરેક શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ ખરેખર હું તે એક નથી!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.26.23" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જે એક જણે મારી સાથે તેનો હાથ વાટકામાં ઘાલ્યો છે તે જ વ્યક્તિ મારી વિરૂદ્ધ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="MAT.26.24" />પણ તે વ્યક્તિને અફસોસ છે જેની મારફતે માણસના દીકરાને મારી નાખવા સુપ્રત કરાયો છે. શાસ્ત્રનું લખાણ કહે છે કે આ બનશે. પરંતુ જે માણસના દીકરાને મારી નાખવા માટે સોંપે છે, તે વ્યક્તિનું ઘણું ખરાબ થશે. જો તે માણસ જન્મ્યો ના હોત તો તેને માટે સારું હોત.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MAT.26.25" />પછી યહૂદાએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, ચોક્કસ હું તારી વિરૂદ્ધ જઈશ નહિ.” (યહૂદા તે એક છે જે ઈસુને તેના દુશ્મનોને સોંપશે.)
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા તું તે જ છું.”
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રભુનું ભોજન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 14:22-26; લૂક 22:15-20; 1 કરિંથીઓને 11:23-25)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MAT.26.26" />જ્યારે તેઓ જમતા હતા ત્યારે, ઈસુએ થોડી રોટલી લીધી અને રોટલી માટે દેવનો આભાર માની તેના ભાગ પાડ્યા અને તેના શિષ્યોને રોટલી આપી, ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “આ રોટલી લો અને તે ખાઓ. આ રોટલી મારું શરીર છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MAT.26.27" />પછી ઈસુએ એક દ્રાક્ષારસનો પ્યાલો લીઘો. તે માટે દેવનો આભાર માન્યો. અને તે તેના શિષ્યોને આપ્યો. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમારામાંના દરેક જણ આ પીઓ.
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<v id="28" bcv="MAT.26.28" />આ દ્રાક્ષારસ મારું લોહી છે. નવા કરારનું એ મારું લોહી (મરણ) છે જે પાપીઓને માફીના અર્થે ઘણાઓને માટે વહેવડાવામાં આવ્યું છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="MAT.26.29" />હું તમને આ કહું છું કે: જયાં સુધી આપણે મારા પિતાના રાજ્યમાં ભેગા મળીશું નહિ ત્યાં સુધી હું ફરીથી આ દ્રાક્ષારસ પીશ નહિ. તે દ્રાક્ષારસ નવો હશે. ત્યારે હું તમારી સાથે ફરીથી પીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MAT.26.30" />બધા શિષ્યોએ ગીત ગાયું. પછી તેઓ જૈતુનના પહાડ પર ગયા.
</p>
<s style="s">પિતરના નકારની આગાહી
</s>
<p style="p">(માર્ક 14:27-31; લૂક 22:31-34; યોહાન 13:36-38)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MAT.26.31" />ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “આજે રાત્રે તમે મારા કારણે તમારો વિશ્વાસ ગુમાવશો. શાસ્ત્રલેખમાં લખેલું છે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘હું ઘેટાંઓના પાળકને મારીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘેટાંઓ દૂર ભાગી જશે.’
<rq><ref tgt="ZEC.13.7">ઝખાર્યા 13:7</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="32" bcv="MAT.26.32" />પણ મારા મરણ પછી, હું મરણમાંથી સજીવન થઈશ. પછી હું ગાલીલમાં જઈશ. તમારા ત્યાં જતાં પહેલા હું ત્યાં હોઈશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MAT.26.33" />પિતરે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તારા કારણે બીજાઓ કદાચ વિશ્વાસ ગુમાવે પણ હું મારો વિશ્વાસ કદી ગુમાવીશ નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MAT.26.34" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તને સત્ય કહું છું, આજે રાત્રે તું કહીશ તું મને ઓળખતો નથી. મરઘાના બોલતા પહેલા તું આ ત્રણ વાર કહીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MAT.26.35" />પરંતુ પિતરે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જો કે મારે તારી સાથે મરવું પડે તો પણ હું તારો નકાર નહિ કરું!” અને બીજા શિષ્યોએ પણ એમ જ કહ્યું.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ એકલો પ્રાર્થના કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 14:32-42; લૂક 22:39-46)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="MAT.26.36" />પછી ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યો સાથે ગેથશેમા નામની જગ્યાએ ગયો. ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે હું ત્યાં જાઉં અને પ્રાર્થના કરું ત્યાં સુધી તમે અહી બેસો.”
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<v id="37" bcv="MAT.26.37" />ઈસુએ પિતર અને ઝબદીના બંને દીકરાઓને તેની સાથે લીઘા. પછી તે શોકાતુર અને દુ:ખી થયો.
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<v id="38" bcv="MAT.26.38" />ત્યારે તે તેઓને કહે છે, “મારું હૃદય દુ:ખથી ભાંગી પડે છે. મારી સાથે અહીં જાગતા રહો અને રાહ જુઓ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="MAT.26.39" />પછી ઈસુ તેઓથી થોડે દૂર ચાલ્યો ગયો. અને ઈસુએ ઊંધે મોઢે પડીને એવી પ્રાર્થના કરી કે, “ઓ મારા બાપ, જો શક્ય હોય તો મને આ દુ:ખનો પ્યાલો આપીશ નહિ, પરંતુ તારી ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે કર, મારી ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે નહિ.”
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<v id="40" bcv="MAT.26.40" />પછી ઈસુ પાછો તેના શિષ્યો પાસે ગયો. ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને ઊંઘતા દીઠા. ઈસુએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો મારી સાથે એક કલાક માટે પણ જાગતા રહી શકતા નથી?
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<v id="41" bcv="MAT.26.41" />જાગતા રહો, અને પ્રાર્થના કરો કે તમે પરીક્ષણમાં ન આવો. તમારો આત્મા જે સાચું છે તે કરવા ઇચ્છે છે. પણ તમારું શરીર અબળ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="MAT.26.42" />પછી ઈસુ બીજી વાર દૂર ગયો અને પ્રાર્થના કરી, “મારા બાપ, મારી પાસેથી જો દર્દ ભરી સ્થિતિ દૂર ન કરી શકાય અને જો મારે તે કરવું જોઈએ તો પછી હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે તું ઈચ્છે છે તે પ્રમાણે થાય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="MAT.26.43" />પછી ઈસુ શિષ્યો પાસે ગયો. ઈસુએ ફરીથી તેમને ઊંઘતા દીઠા. તેઓની આંખો ખૂબ થાકેલી હતી.
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<v id="44" bcv="MAT.26.44" />તેથી ઈસુ તેઓ પાસેથી ખસી ગયો અને તેમનાથી દૂર ગયો અને પહેલાની માફક તે જ શબ્દોમાં ત્રીજી વખત પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="MAT.26.45" />પછી ઈસુ શિષ્યો પાસે પાછો ગયો અને કહ્યું, “હજુ પણ તમે ઊંઘો છો અને આરામ કરો છો? માણસના દીકરાને પાપી લોકોને સુપ્રત કરવાનો સમય આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="46" bcv="MAT.26.46" />ઊભા થાઓ! આપણે જવું જોઈએ. અહીં તે માણસ આવે છે જે મને મારા દુશ્મનોને સુપ્રત કરશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ પકડાય છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 14:43-50; લૂક 22:47-53; યોહાન 18:3-12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="MAT.26.47" />ઈસુ હજી બોલતો હતો ત્યારે યહૂદા ત્યાં આવ્યો. યહૂદા બાર શિષ્યોમાંનો એક હતો. આ લોકો મુખ્ય યાજકો તથા લોકોના વડીલોમાંથી મોકલવામાં આવ્યા હતા. યહૂદાની સાથેના આ લોકો પાસે તલવારો અને લાકડીઓ હતી. યહૂદાએ લોકોને આ માણસ ઈસુ લાકડીઓ હતી.
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<v id="48" bcv="MAT.26.48" />યહૂદાએ લોકોને આ માણસ ઈસુ છે તે બતાવવા કઈક યોજના કરી હતી. યહૂદાએ કહ્યું, “હું જે માણસને ચૂમીશ તે જ ઈસુ છે; તેને પકડી લેજો.”
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<v id="49" bcv="MAT.26.49" />તેથી યહૂદા ઈસુ પાસે ગયો અને કહ્યું, “રાબ્બી સલામ!” યહૂદા ઈસુને ચુમ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="MAT.26.50" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “મિત્ર, તું જે કરવા આવ્યો છું તે કર.”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી તે માણસો આવ્યા અને ઈસુ પર હાથ નાખીને તેને પકડી લીધો.
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<v id="51" bcv="MAT.26.51" />ઈસુની સાથેના શિષ્યોમાંના એકે લાંબો હાથ કરીને પોતાની તલવાર કાઢી. આ શિષ્યે મુખ્ય યાજકના નોકર પર હુમલો કર્યો અને કાન કાપી નાખ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="MAT.26.52" />ઈસુએ તે માણસને કહ્યું, “તારી તલવાર પાછી તેની જગ્યાએ મૂકી દે. જે લોકો તલવારનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે તેઓ તલવાર વડે મારી નંખાશે.
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<v id="53" bcv="MAT.26.53" />તમે ખરેખર જાણો છો કે મારા બાપ પાસે માંગણી કરું તો તે દૂતોની બાર ફોજ કરતાં વધારે આપી શકે.
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<v id="54" bcv="MAT.26.54" />પરંતુ ધર્મલેખોમાં કહ્યું છે તેથી એવું જ થવું જોઈએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="55" bcv="MAT.26.55" />પછી ઈસુએ બધા લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે તલવારો અને લાકડીઓ લઈને હું અપરાધી હોઉં તે રીતે મને પકડવા આવ્યો છો? હું હંમેશા મંદિરમાં બેસીને બોધ આપતો હતો. તમે ત્યાં મને પકડ્યો નહિ.
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<v id="56" bcv="MAT.26.56" />પરંતુ આ બધી ઘટનાઓ બની, તેથી પ્રબોધકોના લેખ પૂર્ણ થયા.” પછી ઈસુના બધા શિષ્યો તેને છોડીને દૂર નાસી ગયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદિ આગેવાનો સમક્ષ ઈસુ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 14:53-65; લૂક 22:54-55; 63-71; યોહાન 18:13-14; 19-24)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="MAT.26.57" />ઈસુને જે માણસોએ પકડયો હતો તેઓ તેને પ્રમુખ યાજક કાયાફા પાસે દોરી ગયા. શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને વડીલ યહૂદિ નેતાઓ ત્યાં ભેગા થયા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="58" bcv="MAT.26.58" />પિતર ઈસુ પાછળ ગયો, પણ તે ઈસુની નજીક આવ્યો નહિ. પિતર પ્રમુખ યાજકના ઘરની ઓસરી સુધી ઈસુની પાછળ આવ્યો. તે અંદર ગયો અને ચોકીદારો સાથે બેઠો. પિતર જોવા ઈચ્છતો હતો કે અંતમાં ઈસુનું શું થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="59" bcv="MAT.26.59" />મુખ્ય યાજકો અને સમગ્ર ન્યાયી સભાએ ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ કંઈ શોધવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો, જેથી તેઓ તેને મારી નાખી શકે. તેઓએ લોકોને જૂઠી સાક્ષી કહેવડાવવા માટે પ્રયત્ન કર્યો કે ઈસુએ ખોટું કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="60" bcv="MAT.26.60" />ઘણા લોકો આવ્યા અને ઈસુ વિષે ખોટી વાતો કહી. પરંતુ સભાને ઈસુને મારી નાખવા માટે સાચું કારણ મળ્યું નહિ, પછી બે માણસો આવ્યા અને કહ્યું,
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<v id="61" bcv="MAT.26.61" />“આ માણસે કહ્યું છે કે, ‘હું દેવના મંદિરનો નાશ કરી શકું છું અને ફરીથી ત્રણ દિવસમાં બાંધી શકું છું.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="62" bcv="MAT.26.62" />પછીથી પ્રમુખ યાજક ઊભો થયો, અને તેણે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “આ લોકોએ તારી વિરૂદ્ધ કહ્યું છે. તારી વિરૂદ્ધમાં મુકાયેલા આક્ષેપો વિષે તારે કંઈક કહેવું છે? શું આ લોકો સાચું કહે છે?”
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<v id="63" bcv="MAT.26.63" />પણ ઈસુએ કંઈજ કહ્યું નહિં.
</p>
<p style="p">ફરીથી પ્રમુખ યાજકે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “હવે હું તને સોગંદ દઉં છું હું તને જીવતા દેવના અધિકારથી અમને સાચું કહેવા હુકમ કરું છું. અમને કહે, શું તું દેવનો દીકરો ખ્રિસ્ત છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="64" bcv="MAT.26.64" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હા, હું છું. ભવિષ્યમાં તમે માણસના દીકરાને દેવની જમણી બાજુએ બેઠેલો જોશો અને તમે માણસના દીકરાને આકાશના વાદળા પર આવતો જોશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="65" bcv="MAT.26.65" />જ્યારે પ્રમુખ યાજકે આ સાંભળ્યું, ત્યારે તે ઘણો ગુસ્સે થયો. તેણે તેનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડી નાંખ્યાં. અને કહ્યું, “હવે વધુ સાબિતીની જરૂર નથી, તમે બધાએ હમણા જ દેવ વિરૂદ્ધ બોલતાં સાંભળ્યો.
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<v id="66" bcv="MAT.26.66" />તમે શું વિચારો છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">યહૂદીઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તે અપરાધી છે, અને તે મરણજોગ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="67" bcv="MAT.26.67" />પછી ત્યાં લોકો ઈસુના ચહેરા પર થૂંક્યા અને તેઓએ તેને મૂક્કીઓ મારી. બીજા લોકોએ ઈસુને થબડાકો મારી.
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<v id="68" bcv="MAT.26.68" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “ઓ ખ્રિસ્ત! અમને કહે તને કોણે માર્યુ!”
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</p>
<s style="s">પિતરનું ઈસુને હું ઓળખું છું કહેતાં ડરવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 14:66-72; લૂક 22:56-62; યોહાન 18:15-18, 25-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="69" bcv="MAT.26.69" />તે સમયે, પિતર પરસાળમાં બેઠો હતો. એક સેવિકા પિતર પાસે આવી. તેણે કહ્યું, “તું પણ ગાલીલના ઈસુની જોડે હતો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="70" bcv="MAT.26.70" />પણ પિતરે કહ્યું કે, તે ઈસુ સાથે કદી હતો નહિ. તેણે ત્યાં બધા લોકોને આ કહ્યું. પિતરે કહ્યું, “તમે કોના વિષે વાત કરો છો તે હું જાણતો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="71" bcv="MAT.26.71" />પછી પિતરે પરસાળ છોડી, દરવાજા આગળ બીજી એક સેવિકાએ તેને જોયો. તેણે ત્યાં લોકોને કહ્યું, “આ માણસ ઈસુ નાઝારી સાથે હતો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="72" bcv="MAT.26.72" />ફરીથી, પિતરે દેવના સમ ખાઈન કહ્યું કે તે ઈસુ સાથે કદી ન હતો. પિતરે કહ્યું, “દેવના સોગંદ પૂર્વક કહું છું કે હું આ માણસ ઈસુને ઓળખતો નથી!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="73" bcv="MAT.26.73" />થોડીવાર પછી ત્યાં ઊભેલા કેટલાક લોકો પિતર પાસે ગયા અને કહ્યું, “અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે ઈસુને અનુસરનારા તે લોકોમાંનો તું એક છે કારણ કે તું જે રીતે વાત કરે છે તે જ બતાવે છે. તેના આધારે અમે આ કહીએ છીએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="74" bcv="MAT.26.74" />પછી પિતરે શાપ આપવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ. તેણે દ્ઢતાથી કહ્યું, “હું દેવના સમ ખાઉં છું કે હું આ માણસને ઓળખતો નથી.” પિતરના આમ કહ્યા પછી મરઘો બોલ્યો.
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<v id="75" bcv="MAT.26.75" />પછી ઈસુએ તેને જે કહ્યું હતું, તે પિતરને યાદ આવ્યુ, “મરઘો બોલતા પહેલા તું ત્રણ વાર કહીશ કે તું મને ઓળખતો નથી.” પછી પિતર બહાર ગયો અને ધ્રુંસકે ધ્રુંસકે રડયો.
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</p>

<c id="27" />
<s style="s">ઈસુને પિલાત હાકેમ પાસે સુપ્રત કરવા લઈ જાય છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 15:1; લૂક 23:1-2; યોહાન 18:28-32)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.27.1" />બીજા દિવસની વહેલી સવારે, બધા મુખ્ય યાજકો અને લોકોના વડીલો ભેગા થયા અને ઈસુને મારી નાખવાની યોજના કરી.
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<v id="2" bcv="MAT.27.2" />તેઓએ ઈસુને સાંકળોએ બાંધ્યો. પછી તેને લઈ જઈને પિલાત હાકેમને સુપ્રત કર્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદાનું પોતાની જાતે મરણ પામવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(પ્રેરિતોનાં કૃત્યો 1:18-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MAT.27.3" />યહૂદાએ જોયું કે તેઓએ ઈસુને મારી નાખવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ છે. યહૂદા ઈસુને તેના દુશ્મનોને સોંપનારાઓમાંનો એક હતો. જ્યારે યહૂદાઓ શું બન્યું તે જોયું ત્યારે તેણે જે કંઈ કર્યુ હતું તે માટે ઘણો દિલગીર થયો. તેથી તે મુખ્ય યાજકો તથા વડીલ આગેવાનો પાસે 30 ચાંદીના સિક્કા પાછા લાવ્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="MAT.27.4" />યહૂદાએ કહ્યું, “મેં પાપ કર્યુ છે, મે એક નિર્દોષ માણસને મારી નાખવા આપ્યો છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">યહૂદી આગેવાનોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમને કોઈ ચિંતા નથી! તે પ્રશ્ન તારો છે. અમારો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.27.5" />તેથી યહૂદાએ પૈસા મંદિરમાં ફેંક્યા. પછી યહૂદાએ તે સ્થળ છોડ્યું અને પોતે જાતે લટકીને ફાંસો ખાધો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MAT.27.6" />મુખ્ય યાજકોએ મંદિરમાંથી ચાંદીના સિક્કા ઊંચકી લીઘા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “અમારો કાયદો આ પૈસાને મંદિરના ભંડારમાં રાખવાની પરવાનગી આપતો નથી, કારણ કે આ પૈસા માણસના મરણ માટે આપવામાં આવ્યા છે.”
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<v id="7" bcv="MAT.27.7" />તેથી તેઓએ એક ખેતર જે કુંભારના ખેતરના નામે ઓળખાય છે તે આ પૈસાથી ખરીદવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ. જે લોકો યરૂશાલેમની મુલાકાતે આવતાં મરણ પામતાં તેઓને માટે દફનાવવાની જગ્યા તરીકે તે ખેતર ઉપયોગમાં લેવાશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="MAT.27.8" />તેના કારણે હજુ પણ તે લોહીના ખેતર તરીકે ઓળખાય છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="MAT.27.9" />તેથી પ્રબોધક યર્મિયાએ જે કહ્યું તે આ રીતે વચન પૂરું થયું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">“તેઓએ 30 ચાંદીના સિક્કા લીધા. તેના જીવન માટે યહૂદિ લોકોએ આ કિંમત ઠરાવેલી હતી.
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<v id="10" bcv="MAT.27.10" />તેઓએ તે 30 ચાંદીના સિક્કાઓનો કુંભારનું ખેતર ખરીદવા માટે ઉપયોગ કર્યો. પ્રભુએ તેનો મને હુકમ કર્યો હતો.”<f caller="+"><fr>27:10
</fr><fk>“તેઓએ … કર્યો હતો”
</fk><ft><ref tgt="ZEC.11.12">ઝખાર્યા 11:12-13</ref>; યર્મિ 32:6-9</ft></f>
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</p>
<s style="s">હાકેમ પિલાત ઈસુને પ્રશ્ન કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 15:2-5; લૂક 23:3-5; યોહાન 18:33-38)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.27.11" />ઈસુ હાકેમ પિલાત સમક્ષ ઊભો રહ્યો. પિલાતે તેને પ્રશ્ર્નો પૂછયાં, તેણે કહ્યું, “શું તું યહૂદિઓનો રાજા છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા, હું છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MAT.27.12" />જ્યારે મુખ્ય યાજક અને વડીલ યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ ઈસુ પર આરોપો મૂક્યા. તેણે કંઈ જ કહ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MAT.27.13" />તેથી પિલાતે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “તું આ લોકોને તારી આ બધી બાબતો માટે આરોપ મૂકતા સાંભળે છે, તું શા માટે ઉત્તર આપતો નથી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MAT.27.14" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ પિલાતને ઉત્તરમાં કંઈ જ કહ્યું નહિ. આથી પિલાત ઘણો જ આશ્ચર્યચકિત થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પિલાત ઈસુને મુક્ત કરવાના પ્રયત્નમાં નિષ્ફળ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 15:6-15; લૂક 23:13-25; યોહાન 18:39-19:16)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MAT.27.15" />પ્રતિ વર્ષ પાસ્ખાપર્વના સમયે હાકેમ કેદમાંથી એક વ્યક્તિને મુક્ત કરતો. હંમેશા લોકો જે વ્યક્તિને ઈચ્છે તેને મુક્ત કરવામાં આવતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="MAT.27.16" />તે સમયે ત્યાં કેદમાં એક માણસ હતો જે ઘણો કુખ્યાત હતો. તેનું નામ બરબ્બાસ હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MAT.27.17" />બધા લોકો પિલાતને ઘરે ભેગા થયા. પિલાતે લોકોને કહ્યું, “હું તમારા માટે એક માણસને મુક્ત કરીશ. તમે ક્યા માણસને મારી પાસે મુક્ત કરાવવા ઈચ્છો છો? બરબ્બાસ કે, ઈસુ જે ખ્રિસ્ત કહેવાય છે તેને?”
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<v id="18" bcv="MAT.27.18" />પિલાતે જાણ્યું કે લોકોએ ઈસુને અદેખાઈને કારણે તેને સોંપ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MAT.27.19" />પિલાત જ્યારે ન્યાયાસન પર બેઠો હતો ત્યારે તેણે આ બાબતો કહીં. જ્યારે તે ત્યાં બેઠો હતો ત્યારે તેની પત્નીએ તેને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો. સંદેશામાં કહ્યું, “તે માણસ સાથે કંઈ જ કરીશ નહિ, તે માણસ નિર્દોષ છે. આજે મને તેના વિષે સ્વપ્ન આવ્યું હતું, અને તેનાથી મને ઘણું દુ:ખ થયું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MAT.27.20" />પરંતુ મુખ્ય યાજકો અને વડીલ યહૂદી નેતાઓએ લોકોને સમજાવ્યા કે બરબ્બાસને મુક્ત કરવો અને ઈસુને મારી નાખવા વિનંતી કરો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MAT.27.21" />પિલાતે કહ્યું, “મારી પાસે બરબ્બાસ અને ઈસુ છે. મારી પાસેથી આ બેમાંથી તમારા માટે કોને મુક્ત કરાવવા ઈચ્છો છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">લોકોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “બરબ્બાસને!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MAT.27.22" />પિલાતે પૂછયું, “તો જે એક ખ્રિસ્ત કહેવાય છે, મારે તેની સાથે શું કરવું જોઈએ?”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ બધા લોકોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તેને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખો!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MAT.27.23" />પિલાતે પૂછયું, “તમે શા માટે મારી પાસે તેને મારી નંખાવવા ઈચ્છો છો? તેણે શું ખોટું કહ્યું છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ બધા લોકોએ મોટે સાદે બૂમો પાડવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું, “તેને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખો!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MAT.27.24" />પિલાતે જોયું કે લોકોને વિચાર બદલવા માટે તે કંઈ કરી શકે તેમ નથી અને તેણે જોયું કે લોકો બેચેન થઈ રહ્યા હતા. તેથી પિલાતે થોડું પાણી લઈને હાથ ધોયા. જેથી તે બધા લોકો જોઈ શકે. પછી પિલાતે કહ્યું, “હું આ માણસના મરણ માટે દોષિત નથી. તમે જ તેમાંના એક છો જે તે કરી રહ્યાં છો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MAT.27.25" />બધા લોકોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમે તેના મરણ માટે જવાબદાર છીએ. અમે અમારી જાત માટે, તથા અમારા બાળકો માટે તેના મરણ માટેની કોઈપણ શિક્ષાનો સ્વીકાર કરીએ છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MAT.27.26" />પિલાતે તેમના માટે બરબ્બાસને મુક્ત કર્યો. પિલાતે કેટલાક સૈનિકને ઈસુને ચાબુક વડે મારવા કહ્યું. પછી પિલાતે ઈસુને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખવા માટે સૈનિકોને સુપ્રત કર્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">પિલાતના સૈનિકો ઈસુની ઠઠ્ઠા મશ્કરી કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 15:16-20; યોહાન 19:2-3)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MAT.27.27" />પછી પિલાતના સૈનિકો ઈસુને હાકેમના મહેલમાં લાવ્યા. બધા સૈનિકો ઈસુને આજુબાજુ ઘેરી વળ્યા.
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<v id="28" bcv="MAT.27.28" />સૈનિકોએ ઈસુનાં વસ્ત્રો ઉતારી નાખ્યાં અને લાલ ઝભ્ભો તેને પહેરાવ્યો.
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<v id="29" bcv="MAT.27.29" />પછી સૈનિકો મુગટ બનાવવા માટે કાંટાળી ડાળીઓનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો. તેઓએ આ કાંટાનો મુગટ ઈસુનાં માથા પર મૂક્યો, અને તેના જમણાં હાથમાં તેઓએ એક લાકડી મૂકી. પછી તે સૈનિકો ઈસુ આગળ નમ્યા અને તેની મશ્કરી કરવા લાગ્યા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “ઓ યહૂદિઓના રાજા, સલામ!”
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<v id="30" bcv="MAT.27.30" />સૈનિકો ઈસુ પર થૂંક્યા. પછી તેઓએ તેની લાકડી લીધી અને તેને માથામાં ઘણી વાર મારી.
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<v id="31" bcv="MAT.27.31" />તેઓએ ઈસુની મશ્કરી કરી રહ્યા પછી, સૈનિકોએ ઝભ્ભો ઉતારી લીધો અને ફરીથી તેને તેનાં પોતાનાં કપડાં પહેરાવ્યા. પછી તેઓ ઈસુને વધસ્તંભ જડવા માટે દૂર લઈ ગયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">વધસ્તંભ પર ઈસુનું મરણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 15:21-32; લૂક 23:26-39; યોહાન 19:17-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MAT.27.32" />સૈનિકો ઈસુ સાથે શહેરની બહાર જતા હતા. તે સૈનિકોએ બીજા માણસને ઈસુનો વધસ્તંભ લઈ જવા દબાણ કર્યુ. આ માણસનું નામ કુરેનીનો સિમોન હતું.
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<v id="33" bcv="MAT.27.33" />તેઓ ગુલગુથા નામના સ્થળે આવ્યા. (ગુલગુથાનો અર્થ ખોપરીની જગ્યા).
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<v id="34" bcv="MAT.27.34" />ગુલગુથામાં, સૈનિકોએ ઈસુને દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવા માટે આપ્યો. તે દ્રાક્ષારસમાં સરકો ભેળવેલો હતો. ઈસુએ દ્રાક્ષારસ ચાખ્યો પરંતુ તે પીવાની ના પાડી.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MAT.27.35" />સૈનિકોએ ઈસુને વધસ્તંભે જડ્યો. પછી તેઓએ તેનાં લૂગડાં કોને મળે તે માટે સિક્કા ઉછાળ્યા.
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<v id="36" bcv="MAT.27.36" />સૈનિકો ત્યાં બેઠા અને ઈસુની ચોકી કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="37" bcv="MAT.27.37" />સૈનિકોએ તેના વિરૂદ્ધનું તહોમતનામું ઈસુના માથા પર મૂક્યું, તેમાં લખેલું હતુ: “<sc>આ ઈસુ છે, જે યહૂદિઓનો રાજા છે</sc>.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="MAT.27.38" />બે લૂટારાઓને ઈસુની બાજુમાં વધસ્તંભ પર જડ્યા હતા. એક લૂટારાને ઈસુની જમણી બાજુએ અને બીજાને ડાબી બાજુએ રાખ્યો હતો.
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<v id="39" bcv="MAT.27.39" />ઈસુની બાજુમાંથી પસાર થતા લોકો તેની મશ્કરી કરતાં હતા. લોકોએ તેમના માથાં હલાવ્યા.
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<v id="40" bcv="MAT.27.40" />અને કહ્યું, “તેં કહ્યું હતું કે મંદિરનો નાશ કરીને તેને ત્રણ દિવસમાં બાંધી શકે છે. તેથી તારી જાતને બચાવ! જો તું ખરેખર દેવનો દીકરો હોય તો વધસ્તંભ પરથી નીચે ઉતર!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="MAT.27.41" />મુખ્ય યાજકો, શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને વડીલો યહૂદિ આગેવાનો પણ ત્યાં હતા. આ માણસો પણ બીજા લોકોની જેમ ઈસુની મશ્કરી કરતાં હતા.
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<v id="42" bcv="MAT.27.42" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તેણે બીજા લોકોને બચાવ્યા, પણ તે તેની જાતને બચાવી શક્તો નથી. લોકો કહે છે તે ઈસ્રાએલનો રાજા છે. (યહૂદિઓનો) જો તે રાજા હોય તો તેને હવે વધસ્તંભ પરથી નીચે આવવું જોઈએ. પછી અમે તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂકીશું.
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<v id="43" bcv="MAT.27.43" />તેણે દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો છે. દેવ તેને ખરેખર ઈચ્છતો હોય તો દેવને તેનો છૂટકારો કરવા દો. તેણે તેની જાતે કહ્યું છે કે, ‘હું દેવનો દીકરો છું.’”
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<v id="44" bcv="MAT.27.44" />અને તે જ રીતે, લૂંટરાઓ જે ઈસુની નજીક વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નંખાવા લટકાવવામાં આવ્યાં હતા તેમણે પણ ઈસુની મશ્કરી કરી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ મરણ પામે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 15:33-41; લૂક 23:44-49; યોહાન 19:28-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="MAT.27.45" />મધ્યાહને આખા દેશમાં અંધકાર છવાઈ ગયો. આ અંધકાર ત્રણ કલાક ચાલુ રહ્યો.
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<v id="46" bcv="MAT.27.46" />લગભગ ત્રણ વાગે ઈસુએ મોટા અવાજ સાથે બૂમ પાડી કે
<tl>“એલી, એલી, લમા શબક્થની?”</tl> આનો અર્થ છે, “મારા દેવ, મારા દેવ, તેં મને શા માટે એકલો છોડી દીધો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="MAT.27.47" />ત્યાં ઊભા રહેલા કેટલાક લોકોએ આ સાંભળ્યું. લોકોએ કહ્યું, “તે એલિયાને બોલાવે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="MAT.27.48" />લોકોમાંના એકે ઝડપથી દોડીને એક વાદળી લીધી અને તેણે વાદળીને સરકાથી ભરી અને તે વાદળીને લાકડી સાથે બાંધી. પછી તેણે તે લાકડીનો ઉપયોગ કરીને ઈસુને વાદળી ચૂસવા માટે આપી.
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<v id="49" bcv="MAT.27.49" />પણ બીજા લોકોએ કહ્યું, “તેની (ઈસુ) ચિંતા કરશો નહિ. અમને જોવા દો કે એલિયા એને છોડાવવા આવે છે કે કેમ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="MAT.27.50" />ફરીથી ઈસુએ મોટા સાદે, બૂમ પાડી. પછી તે મરણ પામ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="MAT.27.51" />જ્યારે ઈસુ મરણ પામ્યો, ત્યારે મંદિરનો પડદો ઉપરથી નીચે બે ભાગમાં ફાટી ગયો. પડદો ટોચ પરથી શરૂ થઈ અને તે નીચે સુધી ફાટી ગયો અને ધરતી પણ કાંપી અને ખડકો ફાટી ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="52" bcv="MAT.27.52" />બધી કબરો ઉઘડી અને દેવના સંતોમાંના ઘણા જે મરણ પામ્યા હતા, તે ઊભા થયા.
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="MAT.27.53" />ઈસુના મરણમાંથી ઊઠયા બાદ પેલા લોકો પવિત્ર શહેરમાં ગયા અને ઘણા લોકોએ તેને જોયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="MAT.27.54" />લશ્કરના અમલદારો અને તેના માણસો જે ઈસુની ચોકી કરતા હતા તેમણે ધરતીકંપ અને આ બધું થયેલું જોયું. તે ઘણા ગભરાઈ ગયા હતા અને કહ્યું, “ખરેખર તે દેવનો દીકરો હતો!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="55" bcv="MAT.27.55" />ઘણી સ્ત્રીઓ વધસ્તંભથી દૂર ઊભી રહીને જોતી હતી. આ સ્ત્રીઓ ઈસુ સાથે ગાલીલમાંથી આવી હતી. અને તેની સેવા કરતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="56" bcv="MAT.27.56" />તેઓમાં મગ્દલાની મરિયમ, યાકૂબ તથા યોસેની મા મરિયમ, તથા ઝબદીના પુત્રોની મા હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પ્રભુ ઈસુનું દફન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 15:42-47; લૂક 23:50-56; યોહાન 19:38-42)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="MAT.27.57" />તે સાંજે યૂસફ નામનો એક ધનવાન યરૂશાલેમમાં આવ્યો. અરિમથાઈના શહેરમાંથી યૂસફ ઈસુનો એક શિષ્ય હતો.
<ve />
<v id="58" bcv="MAT.27.58" />યૂસફ પિલાત પાસે ગયો અને ઈસુનો દેહ તેને આપવા કહ્યું. પિલાતે ઈસુનો દેહ યૂસફને આપવા માટે સૈનિકોને હુકમ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="59" bcv="MAT.27.59" />યૂસફે દેહ લીધા પછી શણના સફેદ વસ્ત્રોમાં વીટાંળ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="60" bcv="MAT.27.60" />યૂસફે ઈસુના દેહને એક નવી કબરમાં મૂક્યો. યૂસફે એક ખડકની દિવાલમાં તે કબર ખોદી હતી. પછી તેણે એક મોટા પથ્થરને ગબડાવી પ્રવેશદ્વારને ઢાંકી દીધું. આ પ્રમાણે કર્યા પછી યૂસફ ચાલ્યો ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="61" bcv="MAT.27.61" />મગ્દલાની મરિયમ અને મરિયમ નામની બીજી સ્ત્રી કબરની નજીક બેઠી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુની કબરની ચોકી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="62" bcv="MAT.27.62" />તે દિવસ સિદ્ધિકરણ દિવસ કહેવાતો હતો. બીજે દિવસે મુખ્ય યાજકો અને ફરોશીઓ પિલાત પાસે ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="63" bcv="MAT.27.63" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “સાહેબ, અમે યાદ કરીએ છીએ કે, જ્યારે તે ઠગ જીવતો હતો ત્યારે તે કહેતો હતો કે ‘ત્રણ દહાડા પછી હું મરણમાંથી સજીવન થઈશ.’
<ve />
<v id="64" bcv="MAT.27.64" />તેથી ત્રણ દહાડા સુધી કબરની ચોકી કરવાનો હુકમ કર. તેના શિષ્યો આવે અને કદાચ લાશને ચોરી જાય. પછી તેઓ લોકોને કહેશે કે તે મરણમાંથી સજીવન થયો છે. આ ભૂલ તેઓએ પહેલા તેના વિષે જે કહ્યું હતું તેનાં કરતાં વધારે ખરાબ હશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="65" bcv="MAT.27.65" />પિલાતે કહ્યું, “થોડાક સૈનિકો લઈ જાવ અને જાઓ અને તમે જે ઉત્તમ રીત જાણતા હોય તે રીતે કબરની ચોકી કરો.”
<ve />
<v id="66" bcv="MAT.27.66" />તેથી તેઓ બધા કબર પાસે ગયા અને તેને ચોકીદારોથી સુરક્ષિત કરી. તેઓએ કબરના મુખ પર મોટો પથ્થર મૂકી સીલ માર્યું અને ત્યાં રક્ષણ માટે ચોકીદારો મૂક્યા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="28" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ મરણમાંથી સજીવન થયાના સમાચાર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 16:1-8; લૂક 24:1-12; યોહાન 20:1-10)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MAT.28.1" />વિશ્રામવાર<f caller="+"><fr>28:1
</fr><fk>વિશ્રામવાર
</fk><ft>યહૂદિ સપ્તાહનો સાતમો દિવસ, યહૂદિઓ માટે આ ખાસ ધાર્મિક દિવસ છે.</ft></f> પૂર્ણ થયા પછી અઠવાડિયાના પ્રથમ દિવસની વહેલી સવારે મગ્દલાની મરિયમ તથા બીજી મરિયમ કબર તરફ નજર કરવા આવી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MAT.28.2" />તે સમયે ત્યાં ભયંકર ધરતીકંપ થયો અને પ્રભુનો એક દૂત આકાશમાંથી ઉતર્યો અને કબરના પ્રવેશદ્વાર આગળથી પથ્થર ગબડાવી તેના ઉપર બેઠો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MAT.28.3" />તેનો ચહેરો વીજળી જેવો ચમકતો હતો. અને તેનાં કપડાં બરફ જેવાં ઉજળાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MAT.28.4" />જે સિપાઈઓ કબરનો પહેરો ભરી રહ્યાં હતા તે ભયના માર્યા કાંપવા લાગ્યા અને જાણે મરણ પામ્યા હોય તેવા થઈ ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MAT.28.5" />પછી દૂતે પેલી સ્ત્રીઓને કહ્યું, “ગભરાશો નહિ, હું જાણું છું કે વધસ્તંભે જડાયેલા ઈસુની તમે શોધમાં નીકળ્યા છો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MAT.28.6" />પણ ઈસુ અહીં નથી, તેણે કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાણે તે ઊઠયો છે, આવો, તેનું શરીર જ્યાં પડ્યું હતું તે જગ્યા જુઓ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MAT.28.7" />અને હવે જલદી જાવ અને તેના શિષ્યોને કહો: ‘ઈસુ મરણમાંથી ઊઠયો છે. અને તે ગાલીલ જશે. ત્યાં તેને મળો. મારે જે કહેવાનું હતું તે આ છે. તમારા પહેલાં એ ત્યાં હશે. તમે તેને ત્યાં ગાલીલમાં જોશો.’” પછી દૂતે કહ્યું: “મેં તમને કહ્યું તે યાદ રાખો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MAT.28.8" />સ્ત્રીઓ તરત જ કબર પાસેથી પાછી વળી. તેઓનાં હૃદય ભય અને આનંદની લાગણી અનુભવતાં હતાં. તેના શિષ્યોને જે કાંઈ બન્યું તેનો સંદેશો આપવા દોડી ગઈ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="MAT.28.9" />તેઓ દોડતી જતી હતી, એવામાં તેઓએ ઈસુને ઉભેલો જોયો. ઈસુએ તેઓને કુશળતા પાઠવી. તેઓએ ઈસુના પગ પકડી તેનું ભજન કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MAT.28.10" />પછી ઈસુએ તેમને કહ્યું, “ગભરાશો નહિ, જાઓ અને મારા ભાઈઓને (શિષ્યો) ગાલીલ જવા કહો. તેઓ મને ત્યાં જોશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદિ આગેવાનોને ઘટનાની જાણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MAT.28.11" />સ્ત્રીઓ શિષ્યોને માહિતી આપવા જતી હતી ત્યારે કબરની ચોકી કરનારા સૈનિકોએ શહેરમાં મુખ્ય યાજકો પાસે જઈને જે કાંઈ બન્યું હતું તે બધું જે તેમને કહ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MAT.28.12" />યહૂદિ આગેવાનો તથા વડીલોએ એકઠા મળી એક યોજના બનાવી.અને સૈનિકોને મોટી લાંચ આપી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MAT.28.13" />તેઓએ સૈનિકોને કહ્યું, “લોકોને જઈને કહો કે અમે ઊંઘતા હતા ત્યારે ઈસુના શિષ્યો રાત્રે આવી ઈસુના શબને ચોરીને જતા રહ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MAT.28.14" />તમારી આ વાત હાકેમ જાણશે તો અમે તેને સમજાવીશું, અને તમને કશુંજ નહિ થવા દઈએ.”
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MAT.28.15" />સૈનિકોએ પૈસા લઈ લીધા અને તેઓને સમજાવ્યા પ્રમાણે વાત વહેતી મૂકી. આ વાત યહૂદિઓમાં ફેલાઈ ગઈ અને આજે પણ એ વાત યહૂદિઓમાં ચાલતી આવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુની પોતાના શિષ્યો સાથે વાતચીત
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 16:14-18; લૂક 24:36-49; યોહાન 20:19-23; પ્રેરિતોનાં કૃત્યો 1:6-8)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MAT.28.16" />પછી અગિયાર શિષ્યો ગાલીલ પહોંચ્યા અને ઈસુએ કહ્યું હતું ત્યાં પહાડ પર પહોંચી ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="MAT.28.17" />તેઓએ જ્યારે ઈસુને જોયો ત્યારે તેનું ભજન કર્યુ. પણ તે ખરેખર ઈસુ હતો કે કેમ? તે બાબતની કેટલાકને શંકા થઈ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="MAT.28.18" />ઈસુ તેમની પાસે આવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “આકાશ અને પૃથ્વી પર સર્વ અધિકાર મને આપવામાં આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MAT.28.19" />તેથી તમે બધાજ દેશોમાં જાઓ અને સર્વ લોકોને મારા શિષ્યો બનાવો, બાપ તથા દીકરા તથા પવિત્ર આત્માના નામે તેઓને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="MAT.28.20" />મેં તમને જે જે આજ્ઞા આપી છે તે પ્રમાણે તેઓને તે આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરવાનું શીખવતા જાઓ અને જુઓ, જગતના અંતકાળ પર્યત સદાય હું તમારી સાથે છું.”
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="MRK"><id id="MRK">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>માર્ક
</h><toc level="1">માર્કની લખેલી સુવાર્તા
</toc><toc level="2">માર્ક
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">માર્કની
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">લખેલી સુવાર્તા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">ઈસુનુ આગમન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 3:1-12 લૂક 3:1-9, 15-17; યોહાન 1:19-28)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.1.1" />દેવના દીકરા, ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત વિષેની સુવાર્તાનો આરંભ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MRK.1.2" />યશાયા પ્રબોધકે જે કહ્યુ છે તે થશે. યશાયાએ લખ્યું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! હું (દેવ) મારા દૂતને તારી આગળ મોકલીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તારા માટે માર્ગ તૈયાર કરશે.”
<rq><ref tgt="MAL.3.1">માલાખી 3:1</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="MRK.1.3" />“ત્યાં એક વ્યક્તિ છે જે રેતીના રણમાં પોકાર કરે છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">‘પ્રભુ માટે માર્ગ તૈયાર કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના રસ્તા સીધા કરો.’”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.40.3">યશાયા 40:3</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MRK.1.4" />તેથી યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત આવ્યો અને રણપ્રદેશમાં લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપતો હતો. તેણે લોકોને કહ્યું કે જો તેઓ તેમના જીવનમાં પરિવર્તન ઈચ્છતા હોય તો તે બતાવવા માટે બાપ્તિસ્મા પામે પછી તેમના પાપો માફ કરવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="MRK.1.5" />યહૂદિયા દેશના અને યરૂશાલેમના બધા લોકો યોહાન પાસે આવવા નીકળ્યા. આ લોકોએ કરેલાં પાપોની કબૂલાત કર્યા પછી યર્દન નદીમાં તેઓ યોહાન દ્ધારા બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MRK.1.6" />ઊંટના વાળમાંથી બનાવેલાં વસ્ત્રો યોહાન પહેરતો હતો. યોહાન તેની કમરે એક ચામડાનો પટટો બાંધતો હતો. તે તીડો તથા જંગલી મધ ખાતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MRK.1.7" />યોહાન લોકોને જે ઉપદેશ આપતો હતો તે આ છે: “મારા કરતાં જે વધારે મહાન છે તે મારી પાછળ આવે છે. હું તો તેના ઘૂંટણે પડવા તથા તેના જોડાની દોરી છોડવા માટે પણ યોગ્ય નથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="MRK.1.8" />મેં તમારું પાણીથી બાપ્તિસ્મા કર્યુ. પણ જે વ્યક્તિ આવે છે તે તમારું પવિત્ર આત્માથી બાપ્તિસ્મા કરશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું બાપ્તિસ્મા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 3:13-17 લૂક 3:21-22)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MRK.1.9" />તે વખતે ઈસુ ગાલીલના નાસરેથથી જ્યાં યોહાન હતો તે જગ્યાએ આવ્યો. યોહાને યર્દન નદીમાં ઈસુને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપ્યુ.
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<v id="10" bcv="MRK.1.10" />જ્યારે ઈસુ પાણીમાંથી બહાર આવતો હતો ત્યારે તેણે આકાશ ઊઘડેલું જોયું. પવિત્ર આત્મા ઈસુ પર કબૂતરની જેમ આવ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="MRK.1.11" />આકાશમાંથી એક અવાજ આવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “તું મારો વ્હાલો દીકરો અને હું તને ચાહુ છું. હું તારા પર ઘણો પ્રસન્ન થયો છું.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું પરીક્ષણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 4:1-11; લૂક 4: 1-13)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MRK.1.12" />પછીથી આત્માએ ઈસુને રણમાં મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="MRK.1.13" />ઈસુ રણમાં 40 દિવસો રહ્યો હતો. તે ત્યાં જંગલી પશુઓ સાથે હતો. જ્યારે ઈસુ રણમાં હતો શેતાનથી તેનું પરીક્ષણ થયું હતું. અને દૂતોએ આવીને ઈસુની સેવા કરી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ કેટલાક શિષ્યોની પસંદગી કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 4:12-17; લૂક 4:14-15)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MRK.1.14" />આ પછી, યોહાનને બંદીખાનામાં મૂકવામાં આવ્યો હતો. ઈસુ ગાલીલમાં ગયો અને દેવ તરફથી સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરી.
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<v id="15" bcv="MRK.1.15" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હવે નિશ્ચિત સમય આવી પહોંચ્યો છે. દેવનું રાજ્ય નજીક છે. પસ્તાવો કરો અને દેવની સુવાર્તામાં વિશ્વાસ કરો!”
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રથમ શિષ્યોને આમંત્રણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 4:18-22; લૂક 5:1-11)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MRK.1.16" />ઈસુ ગાલીલના સરોવરની બાજુમાં ચાલતો હતો ત્યારે ઈસુએ સિમોનના ભાઈ આંદ્રિયાને જોયો. આ બંને માણસો માછીમારો હતા, અને તેઓ માછલા પકડવા સરોવરમાં જાળ નાખતા હતાં.
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<v id="17" bcv="MRK.1.17" />ઈસુએ તેમને કહ્યું, “મારી પાછળ આવો, ને હું તમને એક જુદા પ્રકારના માછીમારો બનાવીશ. તમે લોકોને ભેગા કરવાનું કામ કરશો, માછલીઓ નહિ.”
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<v id="18" bcv="MRK.1.18" />તેથી સિમોન અને આંદ્રિયાએ તેઓની જાળો છોડી દીધી અને ઈસુની પાછળ ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MRK.1.19" />ઈસુએ ગાલીલ સરોવરની બાજુમાં ચાલવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું. તેણે ત્યાં બે વધારે ભાઈઓ, ઝબદીનો દીકરો યાકૂબ અને યોહાનને જોયા. તેઓ હોડીમાં તેમની માછલાં પકડવાની જાળો તૈયાર કરતાં હતા.
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<v id="20" bcv="MRK.1.20" />તેમનો પિતા ઝબદી અને તે માણસો જે તેમના માટે કામ કરતાં હતા, તેઓ તે ભાઈઓ સાથે હોડીમાં હતા. જ્યારે ઈસુએ તે ભાઈઓને જોયા, તેણે તેઓને આવવા કહ્યું. તેઓએ તેમના પિતાને છોડ્યા અને ઈસુની પાછળ ગયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું અશુદ્ધ આત્માવાળા માણસને સાજા કરવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 4:31-37)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MRK.1.21" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો કફર-નહૂમમાં ગયા. વિશ્રામવારે ઈસુ સભાસ્થાનમાં ગયો અને લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="MRK.1.22" />ત્યાં જે લોકો હતા તેઓ ઈસુના ઉપદેશથી નવાઇ પામ્યા. ઈસુએ તેમના શાસ્ત્રીઓની જેમ શીખવ્યું નહિ. પરંતુ ઈસુએ જે વ્યક્તિ પાસે અધિકાર હોય તેવી રીતે શીખવ્યું.
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<v id="23" bcv="MRK.1.23" />જ્યારે ઈસુ સભાસ્થાનમાં હતો, ત્યારે એક અશુદ્ધ આત્મા વળગેલા માણસે બૂમ પાડી,
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<v id="24" bcv="MRK.1.24" />“નાઝરેથના ઈસુ! તારે અમારી સાથે શું છે? શું તું અમારો નાશ કરવા આવ્યો છે? હું જાણું છું તું કોણ છે-દેવનો એક પવિત્ર!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MRK.1.25" />ઈસુએ તેને ધમકાવતાં કહ્યું, “શાંત રહે! તે માણસમાંથી બહાર નીકળ!”
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<v id="26" bcv="MRK.1.26" />તે અશુદ્ધ આત્માએ તે માણસને ધ્રુંજાવી નાખ્યો. પછી તે આત્માએ મોટી બૂમ પાડી અને તે માણસમાંથી બહાર નીકળી ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MRK.1.27" />લોકો નવાઇ પામ્યા હતા. તેઓએ એકબીજાને પૂછયું, “અહીં શું થઈ રહ્યું છે? આ માણસ કઈક નવું શીખવે છે. અને તે અધિકારથી શીખવે છે. તે અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને પણ હુકમ કરે છે અને તેઓ તેનું માને છે.”
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<v id="28" bcv="MRK.1.28" />તેથી ઈસુના સમાચાર ઝડપથી ગાલીલના પ્રદેશમાં સર્વત્ર પ્રસરી ગયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ ઘણા લોકોને સાજા કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 8:14-17; લૂક 4:38-41)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MRK.1.29" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યોએ સભાસ્થાન છોડ્યું. તેઓ યાકૂબ અને યોહાન સાથે સિમોન અને આંદ્રિયાના ઘરમાં ગયા.
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<v id="30" bcv="MRK.1.30" />સિમોનની સાસુ બિમાર હતી. તે પથારીમા હતી અને તેને તાવ હતો. ત્યાંના લોકોએ ઈસુને તેના વિષે કહ્યું.
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<v id="31" bcv="MRK.1.31" />તેથી ઈસુ તેની પથારી પાસે ગયો. ઈસુએ તેનો હાથ પકડ્યો અને તેને ઉભા થવામાં મદદ કરી. તેનો તાવ ઉતરી ગયો અને તે સાજી થઈ ગઈ. પછીથી તેણે તેઓની સેવા કરવી શરું કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MRK.1.32" />તે રાત્રે સૂર્યાસ્ત થયા પછી લોકો ઘણા માંદા લોકોને ઈસુ પાસે લાવ્યા તથા જેઓને ભૂતો વળગેલા હતા તેવા લોકોને પણ લાવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="33" bcv="MRK.1.33" />શહેરના બધાજ લોકો તે ઘરનાં બારણા આગળ ભેગા થયા.
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<v id="34" bcv="MRK.1.34" />ઈસુએ ઘણા લોકો જેઓ જુદા જુદા રોગથી પીડાતા હતા તે બધાને સાજા કર્યા. ઈસુએ ઘણાં ભૂતોને કાઢ્યાં. પણ ઈસુએ ભૂતોને બોલવા દીધાં નહિ, કારણ કે ભૂતો જાણતા હતા કે તે કોણ હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુની સુવાર્તા આપવાની તૈયારી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 4:42-44)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MRK.1.35" />બીજી સવારે, ઈસુ ઘણો વહેલો ઉઠ્યો. જ્યારે અંધારું હતું ત્યારે ઈસુએ ઘર છોડ્યું. તે એકાંત જગ્યાએ એકલો પ્રાર્થના કરવા ગયો.
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<v id="36" bcv="MRK.1.36" />પાછળથી, સિમોન અને તેના મિત્રો ઈસુની શોધમાં નીકળ્યા.
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<v id="37" bcv="MRK.1.37" />તેઓએ ઈસુને શોધ્યો અને કહ્યું, “બધા જ લોકો તારી રાહ જોઈ રહ્યા છે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="MRK.1.38" />ઈસુએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “આપણે બીજી કોઈ જગ્યાએ જવું જોઈએ. આપણે અહીંના આજુબાજુના બીજાં ગામોમાં જઇએ, હું તે સ્થળોએ પણ ઉપદેશ આપી શકુ તે માટે આવ્યો છું.”
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<v id="39" bcv="MRK.1.39" />તેથી ઈસુએ ગાલીલમાં સર્વત્ર મુસાફરી કરી. સભાસ્થાનોમાં તેણે ઉપદેશ કર્યો, અને તેણે દુષ્ટાત્માઓને લોકોને છોડીને જવા ફરજ પાડી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું માંદા માણસને સાજા કરવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 8:1-4; લૂક 5:12-16)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="MRK.1.40" />એક માણસ કે જેને કોઢ હતો તે ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યો. તે માણસે ઘૂંટણ ટેકવીને ઈસુને વિનંતી કરી. “તું ઈચ્છે તો તું મને સાજો કરવા સમર્થ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="MRK.1.41" />ઈસુને આ માણસ માટે દયા આવી. તેથી ઈસુએ તે માણસને સ્પર્શ કર્યો અને કહ્યું, “હું તને સાજો કરવા ઈચ્છું છું, સાજો થઈ જા!”
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<v id="42" bcv="MRK.1.42" />પછી માંદગી તે માણસને છોડી ગઈ અને તે સાજો થઈ ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="MRK.1.43" />ઈસુએ તે માણસને જવાનું કહ્યું. પણ ઈસુએ તેને કડક ચેતવણી આપી. ઈસુએ કહ્યું,
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<v id="44" bcv="MRK.1.44" />“મેં તારા માટે જે કાંઇ કર્યું તે વિષે તું કોઈ વ્યક્તિને કહીશ નહિ. પણ જા અને યાજકને જઇને બતાવ. અને દેવને ભેટ અર્પણ કર. કારણ કે તું સાજો થઈ ગયો છે. મૂસાએ જે ફરમાન કર્યુ છે તેની ભેટ અર્પણ કર. આથી લોકોને સાક્ષી મળશે કે તું સાજો થઈ ગયો છે”
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<v id="45" bcv="MRK.1.45" />તે માણસ ત્યાંથી વિદાય થયો અને બધા લોકોને તેણે જોયા તે સર્વને કહ્યું કે ઈસુએ તેને સાજો કર્યો છે. તેથી ઈસુ વિષેના સમાચાર પ્રસરી ગયા. અને તેથી ઈસુ ફરી શહેરમાં ઉઘાડી રીતે જઇ ન શક્યો. ઈસુ એવી જગ્યાઓએ રહ્યો જ્યાં લોકો રહેતાં ન હતા. પરંતુ બધા શહેરોના લોકો ઈસુ જે જગ્યાએ હતો ત્યાં આવ્યા.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">ઈસુનું પક્ષઘાતી માણસને સાજા કરવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 9:1-8; લૂક 5:17-26)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.2.1" />થોડા દિવસો પછી, ઈસુ ફરી પાછો કફર-નહૂમમાં આવ્યો. તે સમાચાર પ્રસરી ગયા કે ઈસુ ઘેર પાછો ફર્યો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="MRK.2.2" />ઘણા લોકો ઈસુનો ઉપદેશ સાંભળવા ભેગા થયા હતા. ઘર ભરેલું હતું. ત્યાં દરવાજા બહાર પણ ઊભા રહેવાની જગ્યા ન હતી. ઈસુ આ લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપતો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="MRK.2.3" />કેટલાક લોકો એક પક્ષઘાતી માણસને ઊંચકીને લાવતા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="MRK.2.4" />પણ તેઓ તે માણસને ઈસુ પાસે લાવી શક્યા નહિ કારણ કે ઘર લોકોથી ભરેલું હતુ. તેથી તે માણસો ઈસુ જ્યાં હતો તે છાપરાં પર ગયા અને છાપરામાં બકોરું પાડ્યું પછી તેઓએ પક્ષઘાતી માણસ જે ખાટલામાં પડેલો હતો તે ખાટલો નીચે ઉતાર્યો.
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<v id="5" bcv="MRK.2.5" />ઈસુએ જોયું કે આ માણસોને ખૂબ વિશ્વાસ છે, તેથી તે પક્ષઘાતી માણસને કહ્યું, “જુવાન માણસ, તારા પાપો માફ થયાં છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MRK.2.6" />કેટલાક શાસ્ત્રીઓ ત્યાં બેઠેલા હતા. ઈસુએ જે કર્યુ તે તેઓએ જોયું, અને તેઓએ તેઓની જાતને કહ્યું,
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<v id="7" bcv="MRK.2.7" />“આ માણસ આમ કેમ કહે છે? તે જે કહે છે તે દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ છે. ફક્ત દેવ જ પાપોને માફ કરા શકે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MRK.2.8" />ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે આ શાસ્ત્રીઓ તેના વિષે આવી બાબતો વિચારતા હતા. તેથી ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “તમારા મગજમાં આવા વિચારો કેમ આવે છે? આ પક્ષઘાતી માણસને શું કહેવું સરળ છે, તારા પાપ માફ થયા છે, કે તેને કહેવું, ઊભો થા, તારી પથારી લઈને ચાલ?
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<v id="9-10" bcv="MRK.2.9" />પણ હું તમને સાબિત કરાવી આપીશ કે માણસના પુત્રને પૃથ્વી પર પાપો માફ કરવાનો અધિકાર છે.” તેથી ઈસુએ પક્ષઘાતી માણસને કહ્યું.
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<v id="11" bcv="MRK.2.11" />હું તને કહું છું, “ઊભો થા, તારી પથારી ઊચકીને તારે ઘેર ચાલ્યો જા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MRK.2.12" />તે પક્ષઘાતી માણસ ઊભો થયો. તેણે તેની પથારી લીધી અને ઓરડામાંથી બહાર ચાલ્યો ગયો. બધા લોકો તેને જોઈ શક્યા. લોકો નવાઇ પામ્યા અને દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આજ સુધી જોયેલી સૌથી આશ્ચર્યકારક બાબત આ છે.”
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<s style="s">લેવીને ઈસુનું તેડું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 9:9-13; લૂક 5:27-32)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MRK.2.13" />ઈસુ ફરીથી સરોવર પાસે ગયો. ઘણા માણસો ત્યાં તેને અનુસર્યા. તેથી ઈસુએ તેમને ઉપદેશ આપ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="MRK.2.14" />ઈસુ સરોવરની બાજુમાંથી પસાર થતો હતો, ત્યાં અલ્ફીના દીકરા લેવીને જોયો. લેવી જકાતનાકા પર બેઠો હતો. ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “મારી પાછળ આવ,” પછી લેવી ઉભો થયો અને ઈસુની પાછળ ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MRK.2.15" />તે દિવસે મોડેથી ઈસુએ લેવીને ઘેર ભોજન કર્યુ. ત્યાં ઘણા જકાતદારો હતા. અને બીજા ખરાબ લોકો ત્યાં ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો સાથે ભોજન કરતા હતા. ત્યાં આ લોકોમાંના ઘણા હતા જેઓ ઈસુને અનુસર્યા હતા.
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<v id="16" bcv="MRK.2.16" />શાસ્ત્રીઓએ (તેઓ ફરોશીઓ હતા) ઈસુને જકાતદારો અને બીજા ખરાબ લોકો સાથે ભોજન કરતાં જોયો. તેઓએ ઈસુના શિષ્યોને પૂછયું, “શા માટે તે (ઈસુ) જકાતદારો અને પાપીઓ સાથે ખાય છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MRK.2.17" />ઈસુએ આ સાંભળ્યું અને તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “તંદુરસ્ત માણસોને વૈદની જરૂર પડતી નથી. પણ માંદા માણસોને વૈદની જરુંર પડે છે. હું સજ્જન લોકોને નિમંત્રણ આપવા આવ્યો નથી, હું પાપીઓને નિમંત્રણ આપવા આવ્યો છું.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનો અન્ય ધાર્મિક આગેવાનો તરફનો અણગમો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 9:14-17; લૂક 5:33-39)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MRK.2.18" />યોહાનના શિષ્યો અને ફરોશીઓ ઉપવાસ કરતા હતા. કેટલાક લોકોએ ઈસુ પાસે આવીને કહ્યું, “યોહાનના શિષ્યો ઉપવાસ કરે છે. અને ફરોશીઓના શિષ્યો પણ ઉપવાસ કરે છે. પણ તારા શિષ્યો ઉપવાસ કરતા નથી. શા માટે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MRK.2.19" />ઈસુએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “જ્યારે લગ્ન સમારંભ હોય છે ત્યારે વરરાજાના મિત્રો ઉદાસ હોતા નથી. તે તેઓની સાથે હોય છે. ત્યારે તેઓ ઉપવાસ કરતા નથી.
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<v id="20" bcv="MRK.2.20" />પણ જ્યારે સમય આવશે ત્યારે વરરાજાને તેમની પાસેથી લઈ લેવામાં આવશે. જ્યારે વરરાજા તેઓને છોડીને જાય છે ત્યારે તેઓ ઉદાસ હોય છે. પછી તેઓ ઉપવાસ કરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MRK.2.21" />“જ્યારે વ્યક્તિ જૂનાં વસ્ત્રના કાણા પર થીંગડું મારે છે ત્યારે તે કોરા કપડાનો ઉપયોગ કરતો નથી. જો તે તેમ કરે તો થીંગડું જૂનાને સાંધવાને બદલે ખેંચી કાઢશે. અને તે કાણું વધારે ફાટે છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="MRK.2.22" />અને લોકો કદાપિ નવો દ્રાક્ષારસ જુના દ્રાક્ષારસની મશકમાં રેડતાં નથી. શા માટે? કારણ કે નવો દ્રાક્ષારસ, જૂના દ્રાક્ષારસની મશકને ફાડી નાખશે અને દ્રાક્ષારસ દ્રાક્ષારસની મશકો નાશ પામશે. લોકો હંમેશા નવો દ્રાક્ષારસ નવા દ્રાક્ષારસની મશકમાં ભરે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">કેટલાક યહૂદિઓ ઈસુની ટીકા કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 12:1-8; લૂક 6:1-5)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MRK.2.23" />વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે, ઈસુ કેટલાક આનાજના ખેતરોમાંથી પસાર થતો હતો. ઈસુના શિષ્યો તેની સાથે ચાલતાં હતા. શિષ્યો કેટલાંક કણસલાં તોડી ખાવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="24" bcv="MRK.2.24" />ફરોશીઓએ આ જોયું અને ઈસુને કહ્યું, “તારા શિષ્યો તેમ શા માટે કરે છે? વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે તેમ કરવું તે યહૂદીઓના નિયમની વિરૂદ્ધ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MRK.2.25" />ઈસુએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “જ્યારે દાઉદ અને તેની સાથેના લોકો ભૂખ્યા હતા અને તેઓને ભોજનની જરુંર હતી ત્યારે તેઓએ શું કર્યુ હતું તે તમે વાંચ્યું છે?
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="MRK.2.26" />તે સમય દરમ્યાન મુખ્ય યાજક અબ્યાથાર હતો. દાઉદ દેવના ઘરમાં ગયો અને દેવને અર્પણ કરેલી રોટલી ખાધી. અને મૂસાનો નિયમ કહ છે, ફક્ત યાજકો જ તે રોટલી ખાઇ શકે. દાઉદે તેની સાથેના પેલા લોકોને પણ રોટલીનો થોડો ભાગ આપ્યો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MRK.2.27" />પછી ઈસુએ ફરોશીઓને કહ્યું, “વિશ્રામવાર લોકોને મદદ કરવા બનાવાયો છે. વિશ્રામવારના શાસન માટે લોકોને બનાવવામાં આવ્યા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="MRK.2.28" />તેથી માણસનો પુત્ર એ દરેક દિવસનો, વિશ્રામવારનો પણ પ્રભુ છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ માણસના સુકાયેલા હાથને સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 12:9-14; લૂક 6: 6-11)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.3.1" />બીજા એક સમયે ઈસુ સભાસ્થાનમાં ગયો. ત્યાં સભાસ્થાનમાં એક સુકાયેલા હાથવાળો માણસ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MRK.3.2" />કેટલાક યહૂદિઓ ઈસુને કઈક ખોટું કરતાં જોવા ઈચ્છતા હતા, જેથી તેઓ તેના પર તહોમત મૂકી શકે. તેથી તે લોકો તેમની નજીકથી ચોકી કરતા હતા. ઈસુ વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે તે માણસને સાજો કરે છે કે નહિ તે તેઓ જોતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MRK.3.3" />ઈસુએ તે સુકાયેલા હાથવાળા માણસને કહ્યું, “અહીં ઊભો થા જેથી બધા લોકો તને જોઈ શકે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MRK.3.4" />પછી ઈસુએ લોકોને પૂછયું, “વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે કઈ વસ્તુ કરવી ઉચિત છે; સારું કરવું કે ખરાબ કરવું? જીવ બચાવવો કે નાશ કરવો, શું ઉચિત છે?” લોકોએ ઈસુને જવાબ આપવા કશું કહ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MRK.3.5" />ઈસુએ લોકો તરફ જોયું. તે ગુસ્સામાં હતો પણ તેને ઘણું દુ:ખ થયું. કારણ કે તેઓ કઠણ હૃદયના હતા. ઈસુએ તે માણસને કહ્યું, “મને તારો હાથ જોવા દે.” તે માણસે તેનો હાથ ઈસુ આગળ લંબાવ્યો. અને તે સાજો થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MRK.3.6" />પછી ફરોશીઓ વિદાય થયા અને ઈસુને શી રીતે મારી નાખવો તે વિષે હેરોદીઓ સાથે યોજનાઓ કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઘણા લોકોનું ઈસુની પાછળ જવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MRK.3.7" />ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યોની સાથે સરોવર તરફ ગયો. ગાલીલમાંથી ઘણા લોકો તેની પાછળ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="MRK.3.8" />યહૂદિયામાંથી, યરૂશાલેમમાંથી, યર્દનને પેલે પારથી તથા તૂર તથા સિદોનની આસપાસના ઘણા લોકો તેણે જે જે કાર્યો કર્યા તે સાંભળીને તેની પાસે આવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MRK.3.9" />ઈસુએ ઘણા લોકોને જોયા. તેથી તેણે તેના શિષ્યોને નાની હોડી લાવીને તેને માટે તૈયાર રાખવાં કહ્યું. ઈસુને હોડી જોઈતી હતી જેથી લોકોની ભીડના કારણે તે દબાઇ જાય નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MRK.3.10" />ઈસુએ ઘણા લોકોને સાજાં કર્યા. તેથી બધા જ માંદા લોકો તેનો સ્પર્શ કરવા તેના તરફ ધકેલાતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MRK.3.11" />કેટલાક લોકોમાં શેતાન તરફથી અશુદ્ધ આત્મા હતો. જ્યારે અશુદ્ધ આત્માએ ઈસુને જોયો ત્યારે તેઓ તેને પગે પડીને બૂમો પાડવા લાગ્યા. “તું દેવનો દીકરો છે!”
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MRK.3.12" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ તે આત્માઓને કડકાઇથી આજ્ઞા કરી કે તે કોણ હતો તે લોકોને કહેવું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુની તેના બાર પ્રેરિતોની પસંદગી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 10:1-4; લૂક 6:12-16)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MRK.3.13" />પછી ઈસુ ટેકરી પર ગયો. ઈસુએ કેટલાક માણસોને તેની પાસે આવવા કહ્યું. ઈસુને જે માણસો જોઈતા હતા તે આ હતા. આ માણસો ઈસુ પાસે ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MRK.3.14" />ઈસુએ બાર માણસો પસંદ કર્યા અને તેઓને પ્રેરિતો કહ્યાં. ઈસુની ઈચ્છા આ બાર માણસો તેની સાથે રહે એવી હતી. અને તેની ઈચ્છા તેઓ બધાને જુદી જુદી જગ્યાએ ઉપદેશ માટે મોકલવાની હતી.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MRK.3.15" />અને ઈસુની ઈચ્છા હતી કે આ માણસો લોકોમાંથી ભૂતોને બહાર કાઢવાનો અધિકાર પામે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="MRK.3.16" />ઈસુએ પસંદ કરેલા બાર માણસોના નામ આ છે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">સિમોન (ઈસુએ તેનું નામ પિતર આપ્યું).
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="17" bcv="MRK.3.17" />ઝબદીનો દીકરો યાકૂબ અને યોહાન (ઈસુએ તેઓને બને-રગેસ એટલે “ગર્જનાના પુત્રો” નામ આપ્યા);
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="18" bcv="MRK.3.18" />આંદ્રિયા,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ફિલિપ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બર્થોલ્મી,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">માથ્થી,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">થોમા,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અલ્ફીનો દીકરો યાકૂબ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">થદી તથા સિમોન કનાની તથા
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="19" bcv="MRK.3.19" />યહૂદા ઈશ્કરિયોત કે જેણે ઈસુને દગો દીધો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કેટલાકનો ઈસુમાં શેતાન હોવાનો આક્ષેપ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 12:22-32; લૂક 11:14-23; 12:10)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MRK.3.20" />પછી ઈસુ ઘેર ગયો. પણ ફરીથી ત્યાં ઘણા લોકો ભેગા થયા. ત્યાં એટલા બધા લોકો હતા કે ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો ખાઈ શક્યા નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="MRK.3.21" />ઈસુના કુટુંબે આ બધી બાબતો વિષે સાંભળ્યું. તેઓ તેને પકડવા ગયા. કારણ કે લોકોએ કહ્યું કે, ઈસુ ઘેલો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MRK.3.22" />યરૂશાલેમના શાસ્ત્રીઓએ કહ્યું, “તેનામાં (ઈસુ) બઆલઝબૂલ (શેતાન) વસે છે ને ભૂતોના સરદારની મદદથી તે ભૂતોને કાઢે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MRK.3.23" />તેથી ઈસુએ લોકોને બોલાવ્યા. અને લોકોને શીખવવા વાર્તાઓનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “શેતાન તેના પોતાના અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને લોકોમાંથી બહાર કાઢવા દબાણ કરશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="MRK.3.24" />જે રાજ્ય તેની પોતાની વિરૂદ્ધ લડે છે તે ચાલુ રહી શકતું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MRK.3.25" />અને જે પરિવારમાં ભાગલા પડે છે તે સફળ થઈ શકતું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="MRK.3.26" />અને જો શેતાન તેની જાતની વિરૂદ્ધ હોય અને તેના પોતાના લોકો વિરૂદ્ધ લડે તો તે નભી શકતો નથી. તે શેતાનનો અંત હશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MRK.3.27" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિની ઈચ્છા બળવાન માણસના ઘરમાં પ્રવેશવાની અને તેના ઘરમાંથી તેની વસ્તુઓની ચોરી કરવાની હોય તો તે વ્યક્તિએ પહેલાં બળવાન માણસને બાંધવો જોઈએ, પછીથી તે વ્યક્તિ ઘરમાંથી વસ્તુઓ ચોરી શકશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MRK.3.28" />“હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે લોકોના પાપો માફ થઈ શકે છે. અને લોકો દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ જે બધી ખરાબ વાતો કહે તે પણ માફ થઈ શકે છે.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="MRK.3.29" />પણ જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પવિત્ર આત્માની વિરૂદ્ધ ખરાબ વાતો કહ છે તે કદાપિ માફ થઈ શકશે નહિ. તે હંમેશા તે પાપ માટે દોષિત રહેશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MRK.3.30" />ઈસુએ આ કહ્યું કારણ કે શાસ્ત્રીઓ કહેતા હતા કે ઈસુને આત્મા વળગેલા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના શિષ્યો એજ તેનો સાચો પરિવાર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 12:46-50; લૂક 8:19-21)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MRK.3.31" />પછી ઈસુની મા અને તેના ભાઈઓ આવ્યાં. તેઓએ બહાર ઉભાં રહીને ઈસુને બહાર આવવાનું કહેવા માટે એક માણસને મોકલ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="MRK.3.32" />ઈસુની આજુબાજુ ઘણા બધા લોકો બેઠા હતા. તેઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “તારી મા અને તારા ભાઈઓ બહાર તારા માટે રાહ જુએ છે”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MRK.3.33" />ઈસુએ પૂછયું “મારી મા કોણ છે? મારા ભાઈઓ કોણ છે?”
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="MRK.3.34" />પછી ઈસુએ તેની આજુબાજુ બેઠેલા લોકો તરફ જોયું. તેણે કહ્યું, “આ લોકો મારી મા અને ભાઈઓ છે!
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="MRK.3.35" />મારા સાચા ભાઈ અને બહેન અને મા એ લોકો છે જે દેવની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે કરે છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">બી વાવનાર એક ખેડૂત વિષેની વાર્તા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 13:1-9; લૂક 8:4-8)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.4.1" />બીજી એક વખત ઈસુએ સરોવરની બાજુમાં ઉપદેશ શરૂ કર્યો. ઘણા બધા લોકો ઈસુની આજુબાજુ ભેગા થયા. તેથી તે હોડીમાં ચઢ્યો અને ત્યાં બેઠો. બધા જ લોકો પાણીની બાાજુમાં સમુદ્રને કાંઠે રહ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MRK.4.2" />ઈસુએ હોડીમાંથી જ લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપ્યો. ઈસુએ તેઓને શીખવવા માટે ઘણી વાર્તાઓનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો. તેણે કહ્યું:
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MRK.4.3" />“ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! એક ખેડૂત તેના બી વાવવા માટે બહાર નીકળ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MRK.4.4" />જ્યારે ખેડૂત વાવતો હતો, કેટલાંક બી રસ્તાની બાજુએ પડ્યા. પક્ષીઓ આવ્યાં અને પેલાં બધા બી ખાઈ ગયાં.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="MRK.4.5" />કેટલાંક બી ખડકાળ જમીન પર પડ્યાં. જ્યાં પૂરતી માટી ન હતી. ત્યાં બી ઘણા ઝડપથી ઊગ્યાં કારણ કે જમીન બહુ ઊંડી ન હતી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MRK.4.6" />પણ સુર્ય ઊગ્યો ત્યારે તે છોડ કરમાઇ ગયો હતો. તે અંતે સુકાઇ ગયો. કારણ કે તેને ઊંડા મૂળિયાં ન હતા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MRK.4.7" />બીજા કેટલાંક બી કાંટાળા જાળાંમા પડ્યાં. કાંટાના જાળાંએ સારા છોડને ઉગતાં અટકાવ્યા. તેથી તે છોડોએ ફળ ન આપ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="MRK.4.8" />કેટલાંક બીજા બી સારી જમાન પર પડ્યાં. સારી જમીનમાં તે બી ઊગવા માંડ્યાં. તે ઊગ્યા અને ફળ આપ્યાં. કેટલાક છોડે ત્રીસગણાં, કેટલાક છોડોએ સાઠગણાં અને કેટલાક છોડોએ સોગણાં ફળ આપ્યાં.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MRK.4.9" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો જે મને સાંભળો છો, ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો!”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ કહે છે તે શા માટે વાર્તાઓનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 13:10-17; લૂક 8:9-10)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MRK.4.10" />જ્યારે ઈસુ એકાંતમાં હતો ત્યારે બાર પ્રેરિતો અને ઈસુના બીજા શિષ્યોએ તેને વાર્તાઓ વિષે પૂછયું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MRK.4.11" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે ફક્ત દેવના રાજ્ય વિષેનું સાચું રહસ્ય સમજી શકો. પણ બીજા લોકોનું હું બધી વસ્તુઓ વાર્તાઓનો ઉપયોગ કરી કહું છું.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MRK.4.12" />હું આ કરું છું તેથી,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તેઓ જોશે અને જોયા કરશે પરંતુ કદાપિ જોઈ શકશે નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ સાંભળશે અને સાંભળ્યાં કરશે, પણ કદાપિ સમજશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો તેઓએ જોયું હોય અને સમજ્યા હોય તો, તેઓ પસ્તાવો કરે, ને તેઓને (પાપની) માફી મળે.’”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.6.9">યશાયા 6:9-10</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">બી વાવનારની વાર્તા ઈસુ સમજાવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 13:18-23; લૂક 8:11-15)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MRK.4.13" />પછી ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “તમે આ વાર્તા સમજ્યા? જો તમે ના સમજ્યા હોય તો પછી તમે બીજી કઈ વાર્તા સમજી શકશો?
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MRK.4.14" />ખેડૂત એ એક વ્યક્તિ છે જે લોકોમાં દેવના વચનને વાવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MRK.4.15" />કેટલીક વાર તે વચન રસ્તા પર પડે છે. આ કેટલાક લોકો જેવું છે. તે લોકો દેવનું વચન સાંભળે છે. પરંતુ શેતાન આવે છે અને વચન લઈ જાય છે જે તેઓનામાં વવાયેલું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MRK.4.16" />“બીજા લોકો પથ્થરવાળી જમીનમાં વાવેલાં બીજ જેવા છે. તેઓ વચન સાંભળે છે અને તેનો આનંદથી તરત જ સ્વીકાર કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="MRK.4.17" />પણ આ લોકો વચનને તેમના જીવનમાં ઊંડા ઉતરવા દેતા નથી. તેઓ આ વચનને ફક્ત થોડી વાર માટે રાખે છે. જ્યારે મુશ્કેલી અથવા સતાવણી વચનને કારણે આવે છે ત્યારે તેઓ તરત ઠોકર ખાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MRK.4.18" />“બીજા કેટલાંક લોકો કાંટાળા જાળામાં વાવેલાં બીજ જેવા છે. આ લોકો વચન સાંભળે છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MRK.4.19" />પણ પછી તેમના જીવનમાં આવી બાબતો આવે છે. જેવી કે આ જીવનની ચિંતાઓ, ખૂબ પૈસાનો ખોટો મોહ, અને બીજી બધીજ જાતની વસ્તુઓની કામના. આ વસ્તુઓ વચનના વિકાસને અટકાવે છે. તેથી તે વચન તે લોકોના જીવનમાં ફળદાયી થતું નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MRK.4.20" />“બીજા લોકો સારી જમાનમાં વાવેલાં બીજ જેવા છે. તેઓ ઉપદેશ સાંભળે છે, સ્વીકારે છે અને ફળ આપે છે. કેટલીક વાર ત્રીસગણાં, કેટલીક વાર સાઠગણાં અને કેટલીક વાર સોગણાં ફળ આપે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તમારી પાસે જે હોય તેનો ઉપયોગ કરવો જોઈએ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 8:16-18)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MRK.4.21" />પછી ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “શું માપ તળે અથવા ખાટલા તળે મૂકવા સારું કોઈ દીવો રાખે છે? શું દીવી પર મૂકવા નહિ?
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="MRK.4.22" />જે બધું સંતાડેલું છે તે સ્પષ્ટ થશે. દરેક ગુપ્ત વસ્તુ પ્રગટ કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="MRK.4.23" />તમે લોકો જે મને સાંભળો છો, ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો!
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="MRK.4.24" />તમે જે સાંભળો તે વિષે કાળજીપૂર્વક વિચારો. તમે જે માપથી આપશો તે માપથી દેવ તમને આપશે. પણ દેવ તમને, તમે જેટલું આપશો તેનાથી વધુ આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MRK.4.25" />જે વ્યક્તિ પાસે કાંઇક છે તે વધારે પ્રાપ્ત કરશે. પણ જે કઈ થોડું છે તે પણ ગુમાવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુની બીજની વાર્તાનો ઉપયોગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MRK.4.26" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “દેવનું રાજ્ય એક માણસ જમીનમાં બીજ વાવે છે તેના જેવું છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="MRK.4.27" />બીજ ઊગવાની શરૂઆત કરે છે. તે રાત અને દિવસ ઊગે છે. તે મહત્વનું નથી કે માણસ ઊંઘે છે કે જાગે છે, છતા પણ બીજ તો ઊગે છે; પણ તે શી રીતે ઊગયું તે જાણતો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="MRK.4.28" />કોઈ પણ જાતની મદદ વિના ભોંય અનાજ ઉગાડે છે. પ્રથમ છોડ ઊગે છે. પછી કણસલું અને ત્યાર બાદ કણસલામાં બધા દાણા ભરાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="MRK.4.29" />જ્યારે દાણા તૈયાર થાય છે, ત્યારે માણસ તેને કાપે છે. આ સમય કાપણીનો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવનું રાજ્ય રાઈના દાણા જેવું છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 13:31-32, 34-35; લૂક 13:18-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MRK.4.30" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “દેવનું રાજ્ય શાના જેવું છે એ તમને બતાવવા હું શાનો ઉપયોગ કરી શકું? તે સમજાવવા માટે હું વાર્તાનો ઉપયોગ કરી શકું?
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="MRK.4.31" />દેવનું રાજ્ય એક રાઈના બી જેવું છે જે તમે જમીનમાં વાવો છે. તે સર્વ બી કરતાં નાનામાં નાનું બી છે.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="MRK.4.32" />પણ જ્યારે તમે આ બી વાવો છો, તે ઊગે છે અને તમારા બાગના બધા જ છોડવાઓમાં સૌથી મોટો છોડ બને છે. તેને ખૂબ મોટી ડાળીઓ હોય છે. ત્યાં આકાશનાં પક્ષીઓ આવી શકે છે અને માળાઓ બનાવી શકે છે અને સૂર્યથી રક્ષણ મેળવી શકે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MRK.4.33" />ઈસુએ તેમને શીખવવા માટે આવી ઘણી વાર્તાઓનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો, જેથી તેઓ દરેક બાબત સમજી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="MRK.4.34" />ઈસુ હંમેશા લોકોને શીખવવા માટે વાર્તાઓનો ઉપયોગ કરતો. પણ જ્યારે ઈસુ અને તેના શ્ષ્યો એકલા ભેગા થતા ત્યારે ઈસુ તેઓને દરેક વાતોનો ખુલાસો કરતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું તોફાનને અટકાવવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 8:23-27; લૂક 8:22-25)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MRK.4.35" />તે દિવસે સાંજે ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “ચાલો, આપણે સરોવરને પેલે પાર જઇએ.”
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="MRK.4.36" />ઈસુ અને શિષ્યોએ લોકોને ત્યાં છોડ્યા. ઈસુ જેમાં બેઠો હતો તે જ હોડીમાં તેઓ ગયા. ત્યાં તેની સાથે બીજી હોડીઓ પણ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="MRK.4.37" />સરોવરમાં પવનનું મોટું તોફાન થયું. મોજાઓ ઉપરની બાજુઓ પર અને હોડીની અંદર આવવા લાગ્યાં. હોડી લગભગ પાણીથી ભરાઇ ગઈ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="MRK.4.38" />ઈસુ હોડીના પાછલા ભાગમા ઓસીકા પર તેનું માથું ટેકવીને ઊંઘતો હતો. શિષ્યો તેની પાસે ગયા અને તેને જગાડીને કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, તને અમારી ચિંતા નથી? આપણે ડૂબી જઈશું!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="MRK.4.39" />ઈસુ ઊભો થયો અને પવનને અને મોંજાઓને અટકી જવા આજ્ઞા કરી, ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “છાનો રહે, શાંત થા!” પછી પવન અટકી ગયો અને સરોવર શાંત થઈ ગયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="MRK.4.40" />ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “તમે શા માટે ડરો છો? શું તમને હજુયે વિશ્વાસ નથી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="MRK.4.41" />શિષ્યો ઘણા ડરી ગયા હતા અને એકબીજાને પૂછતા હતા કે, “આ માણસ કેવા પ્રકારનો છે કે પવન તથા સમુદ્ર પણ તેનું માને છે?”
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ ભૂત વળગેલા માણસને મુક્ત કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 8:28-34; લૂક 8:26-39)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.5.1" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો સરોવર પાર કરીને ગેરસાની લોકો રહેતા હતા તે પ્રદેશમાં ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="MRK.5.2" />જ્યારે ઈસુ હોડીમાંથી નીચે ઉતર્યો ત્યારે જ્યાં મરેલા માણસોને દાટવામાં આવે છે તે ગુફાઓમાંથી એક માણસ તેમની પાસે આવ્યો. આ માણસને ભૂત વળગેલ હતું.
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<v id="3" bcv="MRK.5.3" />તે માણસ કબરસ્તાનની ગુફાઓમાં રહેતો હતો. કોઈ માણસ તેને બાંધી શકતો ન હતો. સાંકળો પણ આ માણસને બાંધી શકતી ન હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="MRK.5.4" />ઘણી વાર લોકોએ તે માણસના હાથ પગ બાંધવા સાંકળનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો. પણ તે માણસ તેના હાથપગથી સાંકળો તોડી નાખતો. કોઈ માણસ તેને કાબુમાં રાખવા પૂરતો સમર્થન હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="MRK.5.5" />રાત દિવસ તે માણસ કબરસ્તાનની ગુફાઓની આસપાસ અને ટેકરીઓ પર ચાલતો હતો. તે માણસ ચીસો પાડતો અને પથ્થરોથી પોતાને ઘાયલ કરતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MRK.5.6" />જ્યારે ઈસુ ઘણે દૂર હતો ત્યારે તે માણસે તેને જોયો. તે માણસ ઈસુ પાસે દોડી ગયો અને તેની આગળ ઘૂંટણીએ પડ્યો.
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<v id="7-8" bcv="MRK.5.7" />ઈસુએ તે માણસને કહ્યું, “ઓ અશુદ્ધ આત્મા, તે માણસમાંથી બહાર નીકળ.” તેથી તે માણસે મોટા અવાજે ઘાંટો પાડ્યો, “ઈસુ, પરાત્પર દેવના દીકરા, તું મારી પાસે શું ઈચ્છે છે? હું તને દેવના સોગંદ દઉં છું કે, તું મને શિક્ષા નહિ કરે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MRK.5.9" />પછી ઈસુએ તે માણસને પૂછયું, “તારું નામ શું છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે માણસે જવાબ આપ્યો, “મારું નામ સેના છે. કેમ કે મારામાં ઘણા આત્માઓ છે.”
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<v id="10" bcv="MRK.5.10" />તે માણસમાં રહેલા આત્માઓએ ઈસુને વારંવાર વિનંતિ કરી કે તેઓને તે પ્રદેશમાંથી બહાર ન કાઢે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MRK.5.11" />ત્યાં નજીકમાં એક ભૂંડોનું મોટું ટોળું ટેકરીઓની બાજુમાં ચરતું હતું.
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<v id="12" bcv="MRK.5.12" />અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓએ ઈસુને વિનંતી કરી, “અમને ભૂંડોમાં મોકલ, અમને તેઓમાં મોકલ.”
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<v id="13" bcv="MRK.5.13" />તેથી ઈસુએ તેઓને રજા આપી. અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓએ માણસને છોડયો અને તેઓ ભૂંડોમાં ગયા. પછી તે ભૂંડોનું ટોળું ટેકરીઓની કરાડો પરથી ધસી ગયું અને સરોવરમાં પડી ગયું. બધાંજ ભૂંડો ડૂબી ગયાં. તે ટોળામાં લગભગ 2,000 ભૂંડો હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MRK.5.14" />જે માણસો ભૂંડોની સંભાળ રાખવાનું કામ કરતા હતા તે નાસી ગયા. તે માણસો ગામમાં ગયા અને ખેતરોમાં દોડી ગયા. તેઓએ બધાં લોકોને જે બન્યું હતું તે કહ્યું તેથી જે બન્યું હતું તે જોવા માટે તેઓ આવ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="MRK.5.15" />લોકો ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા. તેઓએ ઘણા અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓની સેના વળગેલો માણસ જોયો. તે માણસ બેઠો હતો અને વસ્ત્રો પહેરેલો હતો. તેનું મગજ ફરીથી સ્વસ્થ હતું. લોકો ભયભીત થયા હતા.
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<v id="16" bcv="MRK.5.16" />કેટલાક લોકો ત્યાં હતા અને ઈસુએ જે કર્યું તે જોયું હતું. તે લોકોએ બીજા લોકોને પેલો માણસ જેનામાં દુષ્ટાત્મા હતો તેનું શું થયું તે કહ્યું અને તેઓએ ભૂંડો વિષે પણ કહ્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="MRK.5.17" />પછી તે લોકો ઈસુને તેમનો પ્રદેશ છોડી જવા વિનંતી કરવા લાગ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MRK.5.18" />ઈસુ હોડીમાં બેસવા જતો હતો. અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓથી મુક્ત થયેલા માણસે ઈસુ સાથે જવા વિનંતી કરી.
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<v id="19" bcv="MRK.5.19" />પણ ઈસુએ તે માણસને સાથે આવવાની ના પાડી. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તારે ઘેર તારા સગાંઓ પાસે જા, પ્રભુએ તારા માટે જે બધું કર્યું તે વિષે તેઓને કહે. તેમને જણાવ કે પ્રભુ તારા માટે દયાળુ હતો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MRK.5.20" />તેથી તે માણસે વિદાય લીધી અને તેના માટે ઈસુએ જે મહાન કાર્યો કર્યા તે વિષે દશનગરમાં લોકોને કહ્યું. બધા લોકો નવાઈ પામ્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું મૃત છોકરીને સજીવન કરવું અને બિમાર સ્ત્રીને સાજી કરવી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 9:18-26; લૂક 8:40-56)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MRK.5.21" />ઈસુ હોડીમાં બેસી સરોવર ઓળંગીને તેની બીજી બાજુએ ગયો. સરોવરની બાજુમાં તેની આજુબાજુ ઘણા લોકો ભેગા થયા હતા.
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<v id="22" bcv="MRK.5.22" />સભાસ્થાનના આગેવાનોમાંનો એક ત્યાં આવ્યો. તેનું નામ યાઈર હતું. યાઈરે ઈસુને જોયો અને તેની આગળ પગે પડ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="MRK.5.23" />યાઈરે ઈસુને ઘણી આજીજી કરીને કહ્યું, “મારી નાની દિકરી મરણ પથારી પર છે. કૃપા કરીને તારો હાથ તેના પર મૂક. પછી તે સાજી થઈ જશે અને જીવશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MRK.5.24" />તેથી ઈસુ યાઈર સાથે ગયો. ઘણા લોકો ઈસુની પાછળ ગયા. તેઓ તેની આજુબાજુ ઘણા નજીક હોવાથી ધક્કા-ધક્કી થતી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MRK.5.25" />લોકો મધ્યે એક સ્ત્રી હતી. આ સ્ત્રીને છેલ્લા બાર વર્ષોથી લોહીવા હતો.
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<v id="26" bcv="MRK.5.26" />તે સ્ત્રીએ ઘણું સહન કર્યુ હતું. ઘણા વૈદોએ તેનો ઇલાજ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો હતો. તેની પાસેના બધા પૈસા ખર્ચાઇ ગયા પરંતુ તેનામાં સુધારો થતો ન હતો. તેની બિમારી વધતી જતી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MRK.5.27" />તે સ્ત્રીએ ઈસુ વિષે સાંભળ્યું. તેથી તે ટોળામાંથી ઈસુની પાછળ લોકો સાથે ગઈ. અને તેના ઝભ્ભાને અડકી.
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<v id="28" bcv="MRK.5.28" />તે સ્ત્રીએ વિચાર્યુ, “જો હું તેના કપડાંને પણ સ્પર્શ કરીશ તો તે મને સાજી કરવા પૂરતું છે.”
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<v id="29" bcv="MRK.5.29" />જ્યારે તે સ્ત્રી તેના ઝભ્ભાને અડકી, ત્યારે તરત તેનો લોહીવા અટકી ગયો. તે સ્ત્રીને લાગ્યું કે તેનું શરીર દર્દમાંથી સાજું થઈ ગયું છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="MRK.5.30" />ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે તેનામાંથી સાર્મથ્ય બહાર નીકળ્યું. તેથી તે ટોળા તરફ ફર્યો અને પૂછયું, “મારા લૂગડાને કોણે સ્પર્શ કર્યો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MRK.5.31" />શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “તું જુએ છે કે ઘણા લોકો તારી પર પડાપડી કરે છે અને તું પૂછે છે કે, ‘મને કોણે સ્પર્શ કર્યો?’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MRK.5.32" />પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિએ ઈસુને સ્પર્શ કર્યો તેને જોવાનું ઈસુએ ચાલું રાખ્યું.
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<v id="33" bcv="MRK.5.33" />તે સ્ત્રીએ જાણ્યું કે તે સાજી થઈ ગઈ હતી. તેથી તે આવી અને ઈસુના પગે પડી. તે સ્ત્રી ભયથી ધ્રુંજતી હતી. તેણે ઈસુને આખી વાત કહી.
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<v id="34" bcv="MRK.5.34" />ઈસુએ તે સ્ત્રીને કહ્યું, “તને સાજી કરવામાં આવી છે કારણ કે તને વિશ્વાસ છે. શાંતિથી જા. હવે તારે વધારે સહન કરવાનું નહિ રહે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MRK.5.35" />ઈસુ હજુ બોલતો હતો તેટલામાં કેટલાક માણસો યાઈર જે સભાસ્થાનનો આગેવાન છે તેના ઘરમાંથી આવ્યો. તે માણસોએ કહ્યું, “તારી દીકરી મૃત્યુ પામી છે. તેથી હવે ઉપદેશકને તસ્દી આપવાની જરુંર નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="MRK.5.36" />માણસો શું કહે છે તેની ચિંતા પણ ઈસુએ કરી નહિ. ઈસુએ સભાસ્થાનના આગેવાનને કહ્યું, “ગભરાઈશ નહિ; માત્ર વિશ્વાસ રાખ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="MRK.5.37" />ઈસુએ ફક્ત પિતર, યાકૂબ અને યાકૂબના ભાઈ યોહાનને પોતાની સાથે આવવા દીધા.
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<v id="38" bcv="MRK.5.38" />ઈસુ અને આ શિષ્યો યાઈર જે સભાસ્થાનનો આગેવાન હતો તેને ઘેર ગયા. ઈસુએ ઘણા લોકોને મોટે સાદે રડતા જોયા. ત્યાં ઘણી મુંઝવણ હતી.
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<v id="39" bcv="MRK.5.39" />ઈસુએ ઘરમાં પ્રવેશીને લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો શા માટે રડો છો અને આટલો બધો ઘોંઘાટ કરો છે? આ બાળક મરી ગયું નથી. તે તો ફક્ત ઊંઘે છે.”
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<v id="40" bcv="MRK.5.40" />પણ બધા લોકો ઈસુ તરફ હસ્યા. ઈસુએ લોકોને ઘરની બહાર જવા કહ્યું. પછી ઈસુ બાળક જે ઓરડામાં હતું ત્યાં ગયો. તે બાળકના માતાપિતા અને તેના ત્રણ શિષ્યોને તેની સાથે ઓરડામાં લાવ્યા.
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<v id="41" bcv="MRK.5.41" />પછી ઈસુએ છોકરીનો હાથ પકડ્યો અને તેને કહ્યું, “<tl>ટલિથા કૂમ</tl>!” (આનો અર્થ, “નાની છોકરી, હું તને ઊભી થવા કહું છું.”)
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<v id="42" bcv="MRK.5.42" />તે છોકરી ઊભી થઈ અને ચાલવા લાગી. (તે છોકરી બાર વરસની હતી.) પિતા, માતા અને શિષ્યો ખૂબ અચરજ પામ્યા હતા.
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<v id="43" bcv="MRK.5.43" />ઈસુએ પિતા અને માતાને કડક હુકમ કર્યો કે લોકોને આ વિષે કહેવું નહિ. પછી ઈસુએ તે છોકરીને થોડું ખાવાનું આપવા તેઓને કહ્યું.
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</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">ઈસુનું તેના વતનમાં ગમન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 13:53-58; લૂક 4:16-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.6.1" />ઈસુ ત્યાંથી વિદાય લઈને પાછો તેના વતનમાં આવ્યો. તેના શિષ્યો તેની સાથે ગયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="MRK.6.2" />વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે ઈસુએ સભાસ્થાનમાં ઉપદેશ આપ્યો. ઘણા લોકો તેનો ઉપદેશ સાંભળીને નવાઇ પામ્યા. આ લોકોએ કહ્યું, “આ માણસે આ ઉપદેશ ક્યાંથી મેળવ્યો? તેને આ ડાહપણ કેવી રીતે મળ્યું? તે તેને કોણે આપ્યું? અને આવા પરાક્રમો કરવાની તાકાત તેણે ક્યાંથી મેળવી?
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<v id="3" bcv="MRK.6.3" />તે તો ફક્ત એક સુથાર છે. અને તેની મા મરિયમ છે. તે યાકૂબ, યોસે, યહૂદા અને સિમોનનો ભાઈ છે અને તેની બહેનો અહીં આપણી સાથે છે.” તે લોકોએ ઈસુનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MRK.6.4" />ઈસુએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “બીજા લોકો પ્રબોધકને સન્માન આપે છે પણ તેના પોતાના ગામમાં, તેના પોતાના લોકો સાથે અને પોતાના ઘરમાં પ્રબોધકને સન્માન મળતું નથી.”
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<v id="5" bcv="MRK.6.5" />ઈસુએ તે ગામમાં વધારે પરાક્રમી કામ કર્યા નહિ. તેણે જે પરાક્રમો કર્યા તે તો માત્ર કેટલાક બીમાર લોકો પર તેનો હાથ મૂકી સાજાં કર્યા હતાં.
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<v id="6" bcv="MRK.6.6" />ઈસુને ઘણું આશ્ચર્ય થયું હતું કારણ કે પેલા લોકોને વિશ્વાસ ન હતો. પછી ઈસુએ તે પ્રદેશના બીજા ગામોમાં જઇને ઉપદેશ આપ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">બાર પ્રેષિતોનું સેવકાર્ય
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 10:1-15; લૂક 9: 1-6)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MRK.6.7" />ઈસુએ બાર શિષ્યોને સાથે બોલાવ્યા. ઈસુએ તેઓને બબ્બે જણને બહાર મોકલ્યા. ઈસુએ તેઓને અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓ પર અધિકાર આપ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="MRK.6.8" />ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું તે આ છે: “તમારી યાત્રાઓ માટે કાંઇ લેવું નહિ. ચાલવા માટે ફક્ત એક લાકડી સાથે લો, રોટલી નહિ, થેલી નહિ, અને તમારા ખિસ્સામાં પૈસા નહિ.
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<v id="9" bcv="MRK.6.9" />જોડા પહેરો અને ફક્ત પહેરેલાં વસ્ત્રો જ રાખો.
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<v id="10" bcv="MRK.6.10" />જ્યારે તમે ઘરમાં પ્રવેશો ત્યારે જ્યાં સુધી તે જગ્યા છોડો ત્યાં સુધી તે ઘરમાં જ રહો.
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<v id="11" bcv="MRK.6.11" />જો કોઈ ગામ તમને સ્વીકારવા ના પાડે અથવા તમને સાંભળવા ના પાડે તો તે ગામ છોડી જાઓ. તમારા પગને લાગેલી ધૂળ ખંખેરી નાખો. આ તેઓને માટે એક ચેતવણી હશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MRK.6.12" />તે શિષ્યો ત્યાંથી વિદાય થયા અને બીજી જગ્યાએ ગયા. તેઓએ લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપ્યો અને તેઓને પસ્તાવો કરવા કહ્યું.
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<v id="13" bcv="MRK.6.13" />તે શિષ્યોએ ઘણાં ભૂતોને લોકોમાંથી કાઢ્યાં અને તેમણે ઘણાં માંદા લોકોને ઓલિવ તેલ ચોળી સાજાં કર્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">હેરોદ માને છે ઈસુ એ જ બાપ્તિસ્મા કરનાર યોહાન છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 14:1-12; લૂક 9:7-9)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MRK.6.14" />હેરોદ રાજાએ ઈસુ વિષે સાંભળ્યું, કારણ કે હવે ઈસુ પ્રખ્યાત થઈ ગયો હતો. કેટલાક લોકોએ કહ્યું, “તે (ઈસુ) બાપ્તિસ્મા કરનાર યોહાન જ છે. તે મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠ્યો છે. તેથી તે આવાં પરાક્રમો કરી શકે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MRK.6.15" />બીજા લોકોએ કહ્યું, “ઈસુ એક પ્રબોધક જેવો છે. લાંબા સમય પહેલા થઈ ગયેલા પ્રબોધકો જેવો તે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MRK.6.16" />હેરોદે ઈસુના વિષે આ વાતો સાંભળી. તેણે કહ્યું, “મેં યોહાનને તેનું માથું કાપી નાંખી મારી નાંખ્યો. હવે તે યોહાન મૃત્યુમાંથી સજીવન થયો છે!”
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<s style="s">યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્તનું મૃત્યુ કેવી રીતે થયું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MRK.6.17" />હેરોદે પોતે તેના સૈનિકોને યોહાનને પકડવાનો હુકમ કર્યો હતો. તેથી યોહાન બંદીખાનામાં કેદ થયો હતો. હેરોદે તેની પત્નીને ખુશ કરવા આમ કર્યુ હતું. હેરોદિયા હેરોદના ભાઈ ફિલિપની પત્ની હતી. પરંતુ પાછળથી હેરોદ હેરોદિયાને પરણયો.
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<v id="18" bcv="MRK.6.18" />યોહાને હેરોદને કહ્યું કે તેના માટે તેના ભાઈની પત્ની સાથે પરણવું તે ઉચિત નથી.
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<v id="19" bcv="MRK.6.19" />તેથી હેરોદિયાએ યોહાનને ધિક્કાર્યો. તે તેને મારી નાખવા ઈચ્છતી હતી. પરંતુ હેરોદને યોહાનને મારી નાખવાનું સમજાવવા માટે હેરોદિયા અશક્તિમાન હતી.
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<v id="20" bcv="MRK.6.20" />હેરોદ યોહાનની હત્યા કરતાં ડરતો હતો. હેરોદે જાણ્યું કે બધા લોકો ધારતા હતા કે યોહાન એક સારો અને પવિત્ર માણસ છે. તેથી હેરોદે યોહાનનું રક્ષણ કર્યુ. હેરોદને યોહાનનો ઉપદેશ સાંભળવાનો આનંદ થયો. પણ યોહાનનો ઉપયોગ હેરોદને હંમેશા ચિંતા કરાવતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MRK.6.21" />પછી યોહાનના મૃત્યુના કારણ માટે હેરોદિયાને યોગ્ય સમય મળ્યો. તે હેરોદની વરસગાંઠને દિવસે બન્યું. હેરોદ સૌથી મહત્વના સરકારી અધિકારીઓ, તેના લશ્કરી સેનાપતિઓ અને ગાલીલના ઘણા અગત્યના લોકોને મિજબાની આપી.
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<v id="22" bcv="MRK.6.22" />હેરોદિયાની પુત્રી મિજબાનીમાં આવી અને નાચી. જ્યારે તે નાચી ત્યારે હેરોદ અને તેની સાથે જમતા લોકો ઘણા પ્રસન્ન થયા.
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી હેરોદે તે છોકરીને કહ્યું, “તારે જે જોઈએ તે તું માંગી શકે છે અને હું તને તે આપીશ.”
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<v id="23" bcv="MRK.6.23" />હેરોદે તેણીને વચન આપ્યું, “તું ગમે તે માગીશ હું તને આપીશ. હું મારું અડધું રાજ્ય પણ તને આપીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MRK.6.24" />તે છોકરી તેની મા પાસે ગઈ અને કહ્યું, “મારે રાજા હેરોદની પાસે શું માંગવું જોઈએ?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેની માએ કહ્યું, “યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્તનું માથું માંગ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MRK.6.25" />તે છોકરી ઝડપથી રાજા પાસે ગઈ. તે છોકરીએ રાજાને કહ્યું, “કૃપા કરીને મને યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્તનું માથું આપ. હમણાં થાળીમાં તે મારી પાસે લાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MRK.6.26" />રાજા હેરોદ ઘણો દિલગીર થયો. પણ તેણે છોકરીને જે ઈચ્છે તે આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું. અને ત્યાં હેરોદની સાથે જમતાં લોકોએ તેનું વચન સાંભળ્યું હતું. તેથી હેરોદ તેણી જે માગે તેનો અસ્વીકાર કરવા ઈચ્છતો ન હતો.
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<v id="27" bcv="MRK.6.27" />તેથી રાજાએ યોહાનનું માંથુ કાપીને લાવવા માટે સૈનિકને મોકલ્યો. તેથી સૈનિકે કારાવાસમાં જઈને યોહાનનું માથું કાપી નાખ્યું.
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<v id="28" bcv="MRK.6.28" />પછી તે સૈનિક યોહાનનું માથું થાળીમા પાછું લાવ્યો. તેણે તે માથું છોકરીને આપ્યું. પછી તે છોકરીએ તે માથું તેની માને આપ્યું.
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<v id="29" bcv="MRK.6.29" />યોહાનના શિષ્યોએ જે બન્યું તેના વિષે સાંભળ્યું. તેથી તેઓ આવ્યા અને યોહાનનું ધડ મેળવ્યું. તેઓએ તેને કબરમાં મૂક્યું.
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<s style="s">ઈસુનું 5,000 થી વધારે માણસને જમાડવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 14:13-21; લૂક 9:10-17; યોહાન 6:1-14)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MRK.6.30" />જે પ્રેરિતોને ઈસુએ ઉપદેશ માટે મોકલ્યા હતા, તે ઈસુ પાસે પાછા આવ્યા. તેઓ ઈસુની આજુબાજુ ભેગા થયા અને તેઓએ જે બધી વસ્તુ કરી અને શીખવ્યું તે વિષે તેને કહ્યું.
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<v id="31" bcv="MRK.6.31" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો ઘણી ભીડવાળી જગ્યાએ હતાં. અને ત્યાં ઘણા બધા લોકો હતા. ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યોને ખાવાનો સમય પણ ન હતો. ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “મારી સાથે આવો આપણે એકાંત માટે શાંત જગ્યોએ જઈશું. ત્યાં આપણે થોડો આરામ કરીશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MRK.6.32" />તેથી ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો એકલા દૂર ચાલ્યા ગયા. તેઓ હોડીમાં જ્યાં કોઈ લોકો ન હતા એવા નિર્જન સ્થળે ગયા.
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<v id="33" bcv="MRK.6.33" />પરંતુ ઘણા લોકોએ તેને જતા દીઠો. લોકોએ તેને ઓળખ્યો કે તે ઈસુ હતો તેથી જ્યાં ઈસુ જતો હતો તે સ્થળે બધાં ગામોમાંથી લોકો પગપાળા દોડી ગયા. ઈસુના આવતા પહેલાં લોકો ત્યાં હતા.
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<v id="34" bcv="MRK.6.34" />જ્યારે ઈસુ ત્યાં આવ્યો, તેણે ઘણા માણસોને વાટ જોતાં જોયા. ઈસુને તેમના માટે દુ:ખ થયું, કારણ કે તેઓ સંભાળ રાખનાર ભરવાડ વિનાના ઘેંટા જેવા હતા. ઈસુએ લોકોને ઘણી વસ્તુઓ શીખવી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MRK.6.35" />હવે દિવસનો નમતો પહોર હતો. તેથી ઈસુના શિષ્યો તેની પાસે આવ્યા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આ જગ્યાએ કોઈ લોકો રહેતા નથી અને અત્યારે ઘણું મોડુ થયું છે,
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<v id="36" bcv="MRK.6.36" />તેથી લોકોને દૂર મોકલો. તેઓ અહીંના આસપાસના ગામોમાં અને ખેતરોમાં જઇને ખાવાનું ખરીદે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="MRK.6.37" />પણ ઈસુએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “તમે તેઓને થોડું ખાવાનું આપો.”
</p>
<p style="p">તે શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “આપણે આ બધા લોકોને ખવડાવવા માટે પૂરતી રોટલીઓ ખરીદી શકીએ તેમ નથી! આપણે બધાને તેટલી રોટલીઓ ખરીદવા માટે એક મહીના સુધી કામ કરીને પૂરતું કમાવું પડે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="MRK.6.38" />ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “તમારી પાસે કેટલી રોટલીઓ છે? જાઓ અને જુઓ.”
</p>
<p style="p">શિષ્યોએ તેઓની રોટલીઓ ગણી. તેઓએ ઈસુ પાસે આવીને કહ્યું, “આપણી પાસે પાંચ રોટલી અને બે માછલીઓ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="MRK.6.39" />પછી ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “બધા લોકોને લીલા ઘાસ પર જૂદા જૂદા જૂથોમાં બેસવા કહો.”
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<v id="40" bcv="MRK.6.40" />તેથી બધા લોકો સમૂહમાં બેઠા, કેટલાક જૂથોમાં એકસો માણસો હતા તો કેટલાક જૂથોમાં પચાસ માણસો હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="MRK.6.41" />ઈસુએ પાંચ રોટલી અને બે માછલીઓ લીધી. તેણે ઊંચે આકાશમાં જોયું અને રોટલી માટે દેવનો આભાર માન્યો. પછી ઈસુએ તે રોટલીના ટુકડા કર્યા અને તે તેના શિષ્યોને આપ્યા. ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને તે રોટલી લોકોને આપવા કહ્યું. પછી ઈસુએ બે માછલીના ભાગ કર્યા અને લોકોને માછલી આપી.
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="MRK.6.42" />આમ લોકોએ ખાધું અને તૃપ્ત થયા.
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<v id="43" bcv="MRK.6.43" />લોકોએ ખાવાનું પૂરું કર્યા બાદ શિષ્યોએ છાંડેલા રોટલીના ટુકડાઓથી અને માછલીઓથી બાર ટોપલીઓ ભરી.
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<v id="44" bcv="MRK.6.44" />ત્યાં લગભગ 5,000 પુરુંષોએ ભોજન કર્યુ.
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<s style="s">ઈસુ પાણી પર ચાલે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 14:22-23; યોહાન 6:15-21)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="MRK.6.45" />પછી ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને હોડીમાં બેસવા માટે કહ્યું. ઈસુએ તેમને બેથસૈદાની પેલે પાર સરોવરની બીજી બાજુએ જવા માટે કહ્યું. ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે તે પાછળથી આવશે, ઈસુએ લોકોને તેમના ઘર તરફ જવાનું કહ્યું.
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<v id="46" bcv="MRK.6.46" />લોકોને શુભ વિદાય કહ્યાં પછી ઈસુ ટેકરી પર પ્રાર્થના કરવા ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="MRK.6.47" />તે રાત્રે, હોડી હજુ પણ સરોવરની મધ્યમાં હતી. ઈસુ ભૂમિ પર એકલો હતો.
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<v id="48" bcv="MRK.6.48" />ઈસુએ સરોવરમાં હોડીને દૂર દૂર જોઈ. તેણે શિષ્યોને હોડીના હલેસા મારવામાં સખત મહેનત કરતાં જોયા. પવન તેમની વિરૂદ્ધ ફૂંકાતો હતો. સવારે ત્રણ થી છ કલાકના સમયે, ઈસુએ પાણી પર ચાલવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું, અને તે તેમની બાજુમાંથી પસાર થતો હતો. ને જાણે તેઓથી આગળ જવાનું તેણે કર્યુ.
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<v id="49" bcv="MRK.6.49" />પરંતુ શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને પાણી પર ચાલતો જોયો. તેઓએ ધાર્યુ કે, એ તો આભાસ છે. શિષ્યો ભયથી બૂમો પાડવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="50" bcv="MRK.6.50" />બધા શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને જોયો અને તેઓ ઘણા ભયભીત થયા. પરંતુ ઈસુએ શિષ્યાને કહ્યું, “હિમ્મત રાખો. તે હું જ છું, ગભરાશો નહિ,”
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<v id="51" bcv="MRK.6.51" />પછી ઈસુ શિષ્યો સાથે હોડીમાં પ્રવેશ્યો અને પવન શાંત થઈ ગયો. તે શિષ્યો તો સંપૂર્ણ આશ્ચર્ય પામ્યા.
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<v id="52" bcv="MRK.6.52" />તેઓએ ઈસુને પાંચ રોટલીમાંથી વધારે રોટલી બનાવતા જોયો હતો.પણ તેઓ સમજી શક્યા ન હતા. તેનો અર્થ શું છે. તેઓ તે સમજવા માટે શક્તિમાન ન હતા.
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<s style="s">ઈસુએ માંદા માણસોને સાજા કર્યા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 14:34-36)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="MRK.6.53" />ઈસુના શિષ્યોએ સરોવરને ઓળંગ્યું. તેઓ ગન્નેસરેતના દરિયા કિનારે આવ્યા. તેઓએ ત્યાં હોડી લાંગરી.
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<v id="54" bcv="MRK.6.54" />જ્યારે તેઓ હોડીની બહાર હતા. ત્યારે લોકોએ ઈસુને જોયો. તેઓએ જાણ્યું કે તે કોણ હતો.
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<v id="55" bcv="MRK.6.55" />આખા પ્રદેશમાં દોડી જઇને લોકોને જણાવ્યું કે ઈસુ ત્યાં છે. લોકો માંદા માણસોને ખાટલામાં લાવ્યા.
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<v id="56" bcv="MRK.6.56" />ઈસુ તે પ્રદેશના આસપાસનાં ગામો, શહેરો અને ખેતરોમાં ગયો અને દરેક જગ્યાએ ઈસુ ગયો. ત્યાં તે લોકો બિમાર લોકોને બજારના સ્થળોએ લાવ્યા. તેઓ ઈસુને તેનાં ઝભ્ભાની કીનારને પણ સ્પર્શ કરવા દેવા માટે વિનંતી કરી. અને બધા લોકોએ જેમણે સ્પર્શ કર્યો તે સર્વ સાજાં થઈ ગયા.
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<s style="s">દેવના નિયમો અને લોકોએ બનાવેલા કાયદાઓ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 15:1-20)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.7.1" />કેટલાએક ફરોશીઓ અને કેટલાએક શાસ્ત્રીઓ યરૂશાલેમમાંથી આવ્યા. તેઓ ઈસુની આજુબાજુ ભેગા થયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="MRK.7.2" />ફરોશીઓ અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ ઈસુના કેટલાએક શિષ્યોને ગંદા હાથો વડે ખાતાં જોયા. (“ચોખ્ખા નહિ” નો અર્થ: ફરોશીઓ લોકોને આગ્રહ કરતા કે જે અમુક રીતે તેમના હાથ થોવા જોઈએ તે રીતે ધોયા ન હતા.)
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<v id="3" bcv="MRK.7.3" />ફરોશીઓ અને બધા યહૂદીઓ તેમની વિશિષ્ટ રીતે હાથ ધોયા વિના કદાપિ ખાતા નથી. તેઓ તેમની અગાઉ થઈ ગયેલા મહાન લોકોએ આપેલા ઉપદેશને અનુસરવા આ કરતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="MRK.7.4" />અને જ્યારે યહૂદીઓ બજારમાંથી કઈક ખરીદે છે. ત્યારે તેઓ તેને ખાસ રીતે ધુએ નહિ ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ કદી ખાતા નથી. તેઓ તેમની અગાઉ જે રહેતા હતા તે લોકોના બીજા નિયમોને પણ અનુસર્યા. તેઓ પ્યાલાઓ, ઘડાઓ અને ગાગરો ધોવા જેવા નિયમોને પણ અનુસરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MRK.7.5" />ફરોશીઓ અને શાસ્ત્રીઓએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “તારા શિષ્યો અમારા મહાન લોકો જે અમારી અગાઉ જીવી ગયા તેઓએ અમને આપેલા નિયમોને અનુસરતા નથી. તારા શિષ્યો જે હાથો ચોખ્ખા નથી તેના વડે તેમનું ખાવાનું ખાય છે. તેઓ આમ શા માટે કરે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MRK.7.6" />ઈસુએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “તમે બધા દંભી છો. યશાયા તમારા વિષે સાચું જ કહે છે. યશાયાએ લખ્યું છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘આ લોકો કહે છે તેઓ મને માન આપે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ ખરેખર મને તેમના જીવનનો મહત્વનો ભાગ બનાવતા નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="MRK.7.7" />તેઓ મારી ભક્તિ વ્યર્થ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે વસ્તુઓનો તેઓ ઉપદેશ કરે છે તે તો લોકોએ બનાવેલા ફક્ત સાદા નિયમો છ.’
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.29.13">યશાયા 29:13</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="8" bcv="MRK.7.8" />તમે દેવની આજ્ઞાને અનુસરવાનું બંધ કર્યુ છે. હવે તમે માણસોના ઉપદેશો અનુસરો છો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MRK.7.9" />પછી ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “તમે ધારો છો કે તમે ચાલાક છો! તમે દેવની આજ્ઞા અવગણો છો જેથી તમે તમારા પોતાના ઉપદેશકને અનુસરી શકો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MRK.7.10" />મૂસાએ કહ્યું, ‘તમારે તમારા માતાપિતાને માન આપવું જોઈએ.’ પછી મૂસાએ કહ્યું, ‘જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તેના પિતા કે માની નિંદા કરે તેને મારી નાખવો જોઈએ.’
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MRK.7.11" />પણ તમે ઉપદેશ આપો છો કે વ્યક્તિ તેના પિતા અને માને કહી શકે, ‘મારી પાસે થોડુંક છે. હું તમને મદદ કરવા માટે તેનો ઉપયોગ કરી શકુ. પણ હું તમને મદદ કરવા માટે તેનો ઉપયોગ નહિ કરું. હું તે દેવને અર્પણ કરીશ.’
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="MRK.7.12" />તમે વ્યક્તિને તેના મા કે પિતા માટે એથી વધારે કાંઇ કરવાની મંજૂરી આપતા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MRK.7.13" />તેથી તમે ઉપદેશ આપો છો કે દેવે જે કહ્યું છે તે મહત્વનું નથી. તમે ધારો છો કે તમે લોકોને જે ઉપદેશ આપો છો તે નિયમોને અનુસરવું તે વધારે મહત્વનું છે અને તમે તેના જેવું ઘણું કરો છો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MRK.7.14" />ઈસુએ ફરીથી લોકોને તેમની પાસે બોલાવ્યા. તેણે કહ્યું, “પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિએ મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવો જોઈએ અને હું જે કહું છું તે સમજવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MRK.7.15" />એવી કોઈ વસ્તુ નથી જે વ્યક્તિ તેના શરીરમાં મૂકે છે જે તેને અપવિત્ર બનાવે છે. તેનામાંથી જે વસ્તુઓ બહાર આવે છે તેના વડે જ વ્યક્તિ અપવિત્ર બને છે.”
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="MRK.7.16" />તમે લોકો મારા શબ્દો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો. તમને લોકોને જો કાન હોય તો, સાંભળો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MRK.7.17" />પછી ઈસુ તે લોકોને છોડીને ઘરમાં ગયો. શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને આ વાર્તા વિષે પૂછયું.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="MRK.7.18" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમને સમજવામાં હજુ મુશ્કેલી છે? તમે ખાતરીપૂર્વક જાણો છો કે બહારથી વ્યક્તિમાં એવું કશું પ્રવેશતું નથી જે તેને વટાળી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MRK.7.19" />ખોરાક વ્યક્તિના મગજમાં જતો નથી. ખોરાક તો પેટમાં જાય છે. પછી તે ખોરાક શરીરની બહાર નીકળી જાય છે.” (જ્યારે ઈસુએ આ કહ્યું, તેનો અર્થ એ છે કે એવો કોઈ ખોરાક નથી જે લોકોને ખાવા માટે ખોટો છે.)
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MRK.7.20" />અને ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જે વસ્તુઓ વ્યક્તિઓમાંથી આવે છે તે જ તે વ્યક્તિને વટાળે છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="MRK.7.21" />આ બધી ખરાબ વસ્તુઓ વ્યક્તિના મનની અંદર શરૂ થાય છે. મનમાં ખોટા વિચારો, અનૈતિક પાપો, ચોરી, ખૂન,
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="MRK.7.22" />વ્યભિચાર, સ્વાર્થ, લોકોનું ખરાબ કરવું, વ્યર્થ જીવન, પાપનાં કામો કરવા, અદેખાઇ, લોકોની નિંદા કરવી, મિથ્યા દંભ કરવો અને મૂર્ખાઈભર્યું જીવન.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="MRK.7.23" />આ બધી દુષ્ટ વસ્તુઓ વ્યક્તિની અંદરથી આવે છે. આ વસ્તુઓ વ્યક્તિને વટાળે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુની બિનયહૂદિ સ્ત્રીને સહાય
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 15:21-28)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MRK.7.24" />ઈસુ તે જગ્યા છોડીને તૂરની આજુબાજુના પ્રદેશમાં ગયો. ઈસુ ત્યાં એક ઘરમાં ગયો. તે ત્યાં હતો એમ તે પ્રદેશના લોકો જાણે એમ ઈસુ ઈચ્છતો નહોતો. પણ ઈસુ ગુપ્ત રહી શક્યો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MRK.7.25" />એક સ્ત્રીએ સાંભળ્યું કે ઈસુ ત્યાં હતો. તેની નાની દીકરીની અંદર શેતાનનો અશુદ્ધ આત્મા હતો. તેથી તે સ્ત્રી ઈસુ પાસે આવીને તેના ચરણોમાં નમી પડી.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="MRK.7.26" />તે સ્ત્રી યહૂદિ ન હતી. તે ગ્રીક હતી અને સિરિયા પ્રદેશના ફિનીકિયામાં જન્મી હતી. તે સ્ત્રીએ ઈસુને તેની દીકરીમાંથી ભૂત કાઢવાને વિનંતી કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MRK.7.27" />ઈસુએ તે સ્ત્રીને કહ્યું, “છોકરાંની રોટલી લઈને કૂતરાંઓને આપવી તે યોગ્ય નથી. પ્રથમ છોકરાંને તેઓ ઈચ્છે તેટલું બધું ખાવા દો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MRK.7.28" />તે સ્ત્રીએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “તે સાચું છે, પ્રભુ. પરંતુ છોકરા જે ખોરાકના નાના કકડાં મેજ નીચે પડે છે તે ખાતા નથી. તે કૂતરાંઓ ખાઇ જાય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MRK.7.29" />પછી ઈસુએ સ્ત્રીને કહ્યું, “તે એક ઘણો સારો જવાબ છે, તું જઈ શકે છે. તે ભૂત તારી દીકરીમાંથી નીકળી ગયું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MRK.7.30" />તે સ્ત્રી ઘેર ગઈ અને તેની દીકરીને પથારીમાં પડેલી જોઈ. ભૂત નીકળી ગયુ હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ બહેરા માણસને સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MRK.7.31" />પછી ઈસુએ તૂરની આજુબાજુનો પ્રદેશ છોડ્યો અને સિદોન થઈને ગાલીલ સરોવર તરફ ગયો. ઈસુ દસ ગામોના પ્રદેશમાં થઈને ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="MRK.7.32" />જ્યારે તે ત્યાં હતો ત્યારે કેટલાક લોકો એક માણસને તેના પાસે લાવ્યા. આ માણસ બહેરો હતો અને બોબડો હતો. લોકોએ ઈસુને તેના હાથ તે માણસ પર મૂકીને તેને સાજો કરવા વિનંતી કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MRK.7.33" />ઈસુ તે માણસને લોકો પાસેથી દૂર તેની સાથે એકાંતમાં દોરી ગયા. પછી ઈસુએ તે માણસના કાનની અંદર તેની આંગળી મૂકી અને થૂંકીને તે માણસની જીભને સ્પર્શ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="MRK.7.34" />ઈસુએ આકાશમાં ઊંચે જોયું અને નિસાસો નાખ્યો. ઈસુએ તે માણસને કહ્યું,
<tl>“એફફથા!”</tl> (આનો અર્થ, “ઊઘડી જા.”)
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="MRK.7.35" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ આ કર્યુ, ત્યારે તે માણસ સાંભળવા શક્તિમાન બન્યો. તે માણસ તેની જીભનો ઉપયોગ કરવા સમર્થ બન્યો અને સ્પષ્ટ બોલવા લાગ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="MRK.7.36" />ઈસુએ લોકોને આજ્ઞા કરી કે જે કઈ બન્યું છે તે વિષે કોઈ વ્યક્તિને કહેવું નહિ. ઈસુએ હંમેશા લોકોને આજ્ઞા કરતા કહ્યું કે તેના વિષે બીજા લોકોને કહેવું નહિ. પણ જેમ જેમ તેણે તેના વિષે ન કહેવાની વધુ ને વધુ આજ્ઞા કરી તેમ લોકો તેના વિષે વધારે ને વધારે કહેવા લાગ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="MRK.7.37" />લોકો ખરેખર નવાઇ પામ્યા. લોકોએ કહ્યું, “ઈસુ દરેક વસ્તુ સારી રીતે કરે છે. ઈસુ બહેરાં માણસોને સાંભળતાં કરે છે. અને જે લોકો વાત કરી શકતા નથી, તેઓને વાત કરવા શક્તિમાન કરે છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ 4,000 થી વધારે લોકોને જમાડે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 15:32-39)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.8.1" />બીજી વખતે ઈસુ સાથે ત્યાં ઘણા લોકો હતા. લોકો પાસે ખાવાનું ન હતું. તેથી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને તેની પાસે બોલાવ્યા. ઈસુએ કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MRK.8.2" />“મને આ લોકોની દયા આવે છે. તેઓ મારી સાથે ત્રણ દિવસથી હતા. અને હવે તેઓની પાસે કઈ ખાવાનું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MRK.8.3" />મારે તેઓને ઘેર ભૂખ્યા મોકલવા જોઈએ નહિ. જો તેઓ જમ્યા વિના જશે તો ઘરે જતાં તેઓ રસ્તામાં બેહોશ થઈ જશે. આ લોકોમાંના કેટલાક તો ખૂબ દૂરથી અહીં આવ્યા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MRK.8.4" />ઈસુના શિષ્યોએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “પરંતુ આપણે કોઈ પણ ગામથી ઘણા દૂર છીએ. આ બધા લોકોને ખવડાવવા માટે પૂરતી રોટલી આપણે ક્યાંથી મેળવી શકીએ?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MRK.8.5" />પછી ઈસુએ તેઓને પૂછયું, “તમારી પાસે કેટલી રોટલીઓ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">શિષ્યોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમારી પાસે સાત રોટલીઓ છે”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MRK.8.6" />ઈસુએ લોકોને જમીન પર બેસવા કહ્યું, પછી ઈસુએ સાત રોટલીઓ લીધી અને દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી. ઈસુએ રોટલીના ભાગ કર્યા અને તેના શિષ્યોને તે ટુકડાઓ આપ્યા. ઈસુએ તે શિષ્યોને લોકોને રોટલી આપવા કહ્યું. શિષ્યોએ તેનું માન્યુ.
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<v id="7" bcv="MRK.8.7" />તે શિષ્યો પાસે થોડી માછલીઓ હતી. ઈસુએ માછલી માટે સ્તુતિ કરી અને લોકોને માછલી આપવા શિષ્યોને કહ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MRK.8.8" />બધા લોકોએ ખાધુ અને તૃપ્ત થયા. પછી શિષ્યોએ નહિ ખાધેલા ખોરાકના ટુકડાઓથી સાત ટોપલીઓ ભરી.
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<v id="9" bcv="MRK.8.9" />ત્યાં લગભગ 4,000 પુરુંષોએ ખાધુ. તેઓના ખાધા પછી ઈસુએ તેઓને ઘેર જવા માટે કહ્યું.
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<v id="10" bcv="MRK.8.10" />ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યો સાથે હોડીમાં દલ્મનૂથાની હદમાં ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુની કસોટી કરવાનો ફરોશીઓનો પ્રયત્ન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 16:1-4; લૂક 11:16, 29)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MRK.8.11" />ફરોશીઓ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા અને તેને પ્રશ્રો પૂછયા. તેઓ ઈસુની પરીક્ષા કરવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. તેથી તેઓએ ઈસુને આકાશમાંથી નિશાની માગીને તે દેવ તરફથી આવ્યો હતો તે બતાવવા કહ્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="MRK.8.12" />ઈસુએ નિસાસો નાખ્યો. તેણે કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો શા માટે સાબિતી નિશાની તરીકે માગો છો? હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. તેના જેવી કોઈ નિશાની તમને આપવામાં આવશે નહિ.”
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<v id="13" bcv="MRK.8.13" />પછી ઈસુ ફરોશીઓને છોડીને હોડીમાં બેસીને પેલે પાર ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુની યહૂદિ આગેવાનો વિરૂદ્ધ ચેતવણી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 16:5-12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MRK.8.14" />તે શિષ્યો પાસે હોડીમાં તેઓની પાસે ફક્ત રોટલીનો એક ટુકડો હતો. તેઓ વધારે રોટલી લાવવાનું ભૂલી ગયા.
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<v id="15" bcv="MRK.8.15" />ઈસુએ તેમને ચેતવણી આપી, “સાવધાન રહો! ફરોશીઓના ખમીર અને હેરોદના ખમીરથી સાવધ રહો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MRK.8.16" />શિષ્યોએ આના અર્થની ચર્ચા કરી. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તેણે આ કહ્યું કારણ કે આપણી પાસે રોટલી નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MRK.8.17" />ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે તે શિષ્યો આના વિષે વાતો કરતા હતા. તેથી ઈસુએ તેઓને પૂછયું, “શા માટે તમે રોટલી નહિ હોવા વિષે વાત કરો છો? તમે હજુ પણ જોઈ શકતા નથી કે સમજી શકતા નથી? શું તમે સમજવા શક્તિમાન નથી?
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<v id="18" bcv="MRK.8.18" />શું તમારી પાસે જે આંખો છે તે આ જોઈ શકતી નથી? શું તમારી પાસે જે કાન છે તે સાંભળી શક્તા નથી? યાદ કરો મેં અગાઉ શું કર્યું હતુ. જ્યારે આપણી પાસે પૂરતી રોટલી ન હતી.
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<v id="19" bcv="MRK.8.19" />મેં પાંચ રોટલીમાંથી 5,000 લોકોને જમાડ્યા હતા. યાદ કરો કે તમે નહિ ખવાયેલા ખોરાકના ટુકડાઓ વડે કેટલી ટોપલીઓ ભરી હતી?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે શિષ્યોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમે બાર ટોપલીઓ ભરી હતી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MRK.8.20" />“અને યાદ કરો કે મેં સાત રોટલીમાંથી 4,000 લોકોને જમાડ્યા હતા. યાદ કરો તમે નહિ ખવાયેલા ખોરાકના ટુકડાઓથી તમે કેટલી ટોપલીઓ ભરી હતી?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે શિષ્યોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમે સાત ટોપલીઓ ભરી હતી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MRK.8.21" />પછી ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “મેં જે કર્યુ તે બધું તમે યાદ કરો છો, પણ હજુ તમે સમજી શકતા નથી?”
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<s style="s">ઈસુનું બેથસૈદામાં આંધળા માણસને સાજા કરવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MRK.8.22" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો બેથસૈદામાં આવ્યા. કેટલાએક લોકો એક આંધળા માણસને ઈસુ પાસે લાવ્યા. તેઓએ તે માણસને સ્પર્શ કરવા ઈસુને વિનંતી કરી.
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<v id="23" bcv="MRK.8.23" />તેથી ઈસુએ તે આંધળા માણસનો હાથ પકડ્યો અને તેને ગામની બહાર દોરી ગયા. પછી ઈસુ તે માણસની આંખો પર થૂંક્યો. ઈસુએ તેના હાથ આંધળા માણસ પર મૂક્યા અને તેને કહ્યું, “હવે તું જોઈ શકે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MRK.8.24" />આંધળા માણસે ઊંચુ જોયું અને કહ્યું, “હા, હું લોકોને જોઈ શકું છું. તેઓ આજુબાજુ ચાલતા વૃક્ષો જેવા દેખાય છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MRK.8.25" />ફરીથી ઈસુએ તેનો હાથ આંધળા માણસની આંખો પર મૂક્યો. પછી તે માણસે તેની આંખો પહોળી કરીને ખોલી. તેની આંખો સાજી થઈ ગઈ, અને તે દરેક વસ્તુ સ્પષ્ટતાપૂર્વક જોઈ શકતો હતો.
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<v id="26" bcv="MRK.8.26" />ઈસુએ તેને ઘેર જવા કહ્યું. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “ગામમાં જઈશ નહિ.”
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<s style="s">પિતર કહે છે ઈસુ એ જ ખ્રિસ્ત છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 16:13-20; લૂક 9:18-21)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MRK.8.27" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો કૈસરિયા ફિલિપ્પીનાં ગામડાઓમાં ગયા. જ્યારે તેઓ મુસાફરી કરતા હતા, ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને પૂછયું, “હું કોણ છું, એ વિષે લોકો શું કહે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MRK.8.28" />શિષ્યોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “કેટલાક લોકો તને યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત કહે છે. બીજા કેટલાક લોકો તને એલિયા કહે છે. અને બીજા કેટલાક લોકો કહે છે કે તું પ્રબોધકોમાંનો એક છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MRK.8.29" />પછી ઈસુએ પૂછયું, “હું કોણ છું એ વિષે તમે શું કહો છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">પિતરે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તુ તો ખ્રિસ્ત છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MRK.8.30" />ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કડકાઇથી કહ્યું: “હું કોણ છું તે કોઈને કહેવું નહિ.”
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<s style="s">ઈસુના મરણની આગાહી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 16:21-28; લૂક 9:22-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MRK.8.31" />પછી ઈસુએ તેમને ઉપદેશ આપવાનું શરું કર્યુ. કે માણસના પુત્રે ઘણું બધું સહન કરવું જોઈએ. ઈસુએ બોધ આપ્યો કે માણસનો પુત્ર, વડીલ યહૂદિ આગેવાનો મુખ્ય યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ દ્ધારા નાપસંદ થશે. ઈસુએ બોધ આપ્યો કે માણસના પુત્રને મારી નંખાશે અને પછી મૃત્યુમાંથી ત્રણ દિવસો પછી તે ઊભો થશે.
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<v id="32" bcv="MRK.8.32" />ઈસુએ તેઓને દરેક જે બનવાનું હતું તે કહ્યું. તેણે કશુંય ગુપ્ત રાખ્યું નહિ. પિતર ઈસુને બાજુમાં લઈ ગયો અને વાતો કહેવા માટે તેને ઠપકો આપવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="33" bcv="MRK.8.33" />પણ ઈસુ પાછો ફર્યો અને તેના શિષ્યો તરફ જોયું. પછી તેણે પિતરને ઠપકો આપ્યો. ઈસુએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “શેતાન! મારી પાસેથી દૂર જા, તું દેવની વાતોની પરવા કરતો નથી. તું ફક્ત લોકો જેને મહત્વ આપે છે તેની જ કાળજી રાખે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MRK.8.34" />પછી ઈસુએ લોકોને તેની પાસે બોલાવ્યા. તેના શિષ્યો પણ ત્યાં હતા. પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મને અનુસરવા ઈચ્છે તો તેણે જે વસ્તુઓ તે ઈચ્છે છે તેની ‘ના’ કહેવી જોઈએ. તે વ્યક્તિએ વધસ્તંભ (પીડા) સ્વીકારવો જોઈએ જે તેને આપવામાં આવેલ છે, અને તેણે મને અનુસરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="35" bcv="MRK.8.35" />જે વ્યક્તિ તેનું જીવન બચાવવા ઈચ્છે છે તે ગુમાવશે. અને પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે મારા માટે અને સુવાર્તા માટે તેનું જીવન આપે છે, તે હંમેશને માટે તેનું જીવન બચાવશે.
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<v id="36" bcv="MRK.8.36" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આખું જગત જીતે છે પણ તેનું જીવન ગુમાવે છે તો તેને કઈ રીતે લાભદાયી છે?
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<v id="37" bcv="MRK.8.37" />વ્યક્તિ ફરીથી તેનો જીવ ખરીદવા કદાપિ કશું પૂરતું આપી શકતો નથી.
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<v id="38" bcv="MRK.8.38" />જે લોકો હમણા જીવે છે; તેઓ પાપી અને દુષ્ટ સમયમાં જીવે છે. જે કોઈ મારે લીધે તથા મારી વાતોને લીધે શરમાશે તેને લીધે હું જ્યારે મારા પિતાના મહિમામાં પવિત્ર દૂતો સાથે આવીશ, ત્યારે તે વ્યક્તિથી શરમાઈશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.9.1" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કે, તમારામાંના કેટલાએક લોકો અહીં ઊભા છે તેઓ તેમના મૃત્યુ પહેલા દેવના રાજ્યને આવતું જોશે. દેવનું રાજ્ય પરાક્રમ સાથે આવશે.”
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<s style="s">ઈસુ મૂસા અને એલિયા સાથે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 17:1-13; લૂક 9:28-36)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MRK.9.2" />છ દિવસો પછી ઈસુ પિતર, યાકૂબ તથા યોહાનને લઈને એક ઊંચા પર્વત પર ગયો. તેઓ બધા ત્યાં એકલા હતા. જ્યારે શિષ્યોની નજર સમક્ષ તેનું રૂપાંતર થયું, ત્યારે
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<v id="3" bcv="MRK.9.3" />ઈસુનાં કપડાં સફેદ ચમકતાં થયાં. કપડા બીજી વ્યક્તિ બનાવી શકે તેના કરતાં વધારે ઉજળાં હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="MRK.9.4" />પછી ત્યાં બે માણસો આવ્યા અને ઈસુ સાથે વાતો કરવા લાગ્યા. તે માણસો મૂસા અને એલિયા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MRK.9.5" />પિતરે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, તે સારું છે કે આપણે અહીં છીએ. અહીં આપણે ત્રણ માંડવા બાંધીએ. એક તારા માટે, એક મૂસા માટે અને એક એલિયા માટે.”
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<v id="6" bcv="MRK.9.6" />પિતરે શું કહેવું તે જાણતો ન હતો. કારણ કે તે અને બીજા બે શિષ્યો બહુ બીધા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MRK.9.7" />પછી એક વાદળ આવ્યું અને તેઓ પર છાયા કરી. વાદળમાંથી એક અવાજ આવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “આ મારો પુત્ર છે અને હું તેને ચાહું છું. તેને તાબે થાઓ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MRK.9.8" />પછી પિતર, યાકૂબ, અને યોહાને જોયું, પણ તેઆએે ફક્ત ત્યાં ઈસુને તેઓની સાથે એકલો જોયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MRK.9.9" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો પર્વત પરથી નીચે પાછા ઉતરતા હતા ત્યારે ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને આજ્ઞા કરી, “તમે પર્વત પર જે વસ્તુઓ જોઈ છે તે વિષે કોઈ વ્યક્તિને કહેશો નહિ. માણસનો પુત્ર મૂએલામાંથી સજીવન ન થાય ત્યાં સુધી રાહ જુઓ. પછી તમે જે જોયું છે તે લોકોને કહી શકો છો.”
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<v id="10" bcv="MRK.9.10" />તેથી શિષ્યોએ ઈસુની આજ્ઞા માની, અને તેઓએ જે જોયું હતું તે વિષે કશું કહ્યું નહિ. પણ તેઓએ મૂએલામાંથી સજીવન થવા વિષે ઈસુ શું સમજે છે તેની ચર્ચા કરી.
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<v id="11" bcv="MRK.9.11" />શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને પૂછયું, “પ્રથમ એલિયાએ આવવું જોઈએ એવું શાસ્ત્રીઓ શા માટે કહે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MRK.9.12" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “એલિયાએ પ્રથમ આવવું જોઈએ એ કહેવા માટે તેઓ સાચા છે. એલિયા બધી વસ્તુઓ જે રીતે હોવી જોઈએ તેવી બનાવે છે. પણ શાસ્ત્ર એવું શા માટે કહે છે કે માણસનો પુત્ર ઘણું સહન કરશે અને લોકો તેનો અસ્વીકાર કરશે?
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<v id="13" bcv="MRK.9.13" />હું કહું છું કે એલિયા ખરેખર આવ્યો છે; અને તેના વિષે શાસ્ત્રમાં કહ્લું છે તે પ્રમાણે લોકોએ જેમ ચાહ્યું તેમ તેને કર્યુ.”
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<s style="s">ઈસુનું બિમાર છોકરાને સાજા કરવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 17:14-20; લૂક 9:37-43)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MRK.9.14" />પછી ઈસુ, પિતર, યાકૂબ અને યોહાન બીજા શિષ્યો પાસે ગયા. તેઓએ ઘણા લોકોને તેઓની આજુબાજુ જોયા. શાસ્ત્રીઓ શિષ્યો સાથે દલીલો કરતા હતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="MRK.9.15" />જ્યારે લોકોએ ઈસુને જોયો, તેઓ વધારે અચરજ પામ્યા. તેઓ તેને આવકારવા તેની પાસે દોડી ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MRK.9.16" />ઈસુએ પૂછયું, “તમે શાસ્ત્રીઓ સાથે શાના વિષે દલીલો કરો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MRK.9.17" />ટોળામાંથી એક માણસે જવાબ આપ્યો, “ઉપદેશક, હું મારા પુત્રને તારી પાસે લાવ્યો છું. મારા પુત્રમાં શેતાનનો આત્મા તેની અંદર છે. આ અશુદ્ધ આત્મા મારા પુત્રને વાતો કરતા અટકાવે છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="MRK.9.18" />અશુદ્ધ આત્મા મારા પુત્ર પર હુમલો કરે છે અને તેને જમીન પર ફેંકે છે. મારો પુત્ર તેના મુખમાંથી ફીણ કાઢે છે. તેના દાંત કચકચાવે છે. અને તે તવાતો જાય છે. મેં તારા શિષ્યોને અશુદ્ધ આત્માને બહાર કાઢવા માટે કહ્યું, પણ તેઓ કાઢી શક્યા નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MRK.9.19" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો વિશ્વાસ કરતા નથી! ક્યાં સુધી હું તમારી સાથે રહીશ? ક્યાં સુધી હું તમારું સહન કરીશ? છોકરાને મારી પાસે લાવો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MRK.9.20" />તેથી શિષ્યો તે છોકરાને ઈસુ પાસે લાવ્યા. જ્યારે દુષ્ટ આત્માએ ઈસુને જોયો, તે અશુદ્ધ આત્માએ છોકરા પર હુમલો કર્યો. તે છોકરો નીચે પડ્યો અને જમીન પર આળોટતો હતો. તેના મુખમાંથી ફીણ નીકળતું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MRK.9.21" />ઈસુએ છોકરાના પિતાને કહ્યું, “કેટલા લાંબા સમયથી આ છોકરાને આવું થાય છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">પિતાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “તે ઘણો નાનો હતો ત્યારથી.
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<v id="22" bcv="MRK.9.22" />તે અશુદ્ધ આત્માએ તેને ઘણી વખત મારી નાખવા માટે અગ્નિમાં તથા પાણીમાં નાખ્યો હતો. જો તું તેને માટે કશું કરી શકે તો કૃપા કરીને અમારા પર દયા કરી અને અમને મદદ કર.”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MRK.9.23" />ઈસુએ પિતાને કહ્યું, “તેં કહ્યું કે, ‘શક્ય હોય તો મદદ કર.’ જે વ્યક્તિ વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેના માટે બધી વસ્તુઓ શક્ય છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MRK.9.24" />પિતા ઘણો ઉત્તેજિત થયો. તેણે કહ્યું, “હું જરુંર વિશ્વાસ કરું છું. મને વધારે વિશ્વાસી બનાવામાં મદદ કર!”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MRK.9.25" />ઈસુએ જોયું કે બધા જે લોકો ત્યા શું બની રહ્યું છે તે જોવા માટે દોડતા હતા તેથી ઈસુએ અશુદ્ધ આત્માને કહ્યું, “ઓ અશુદ્ધ આત્મા, તું આ છોકરાને બહેરો બનાવે છે અને તેને વાત કરતાં અટકાવે છે-હું તને આ છોકરામાંથી બહાર આવવાને અને કદાપિ તેનામાં નહિ પ્રવેશવા હુકમ કરું છું!”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MRK.9.26" />તે અશુદ્ધ આત્માએ ચીસ પાડી. તે આત્માએ તે છોકરાને ફરીથી જમીન પર પાડ્યો. અને પછી તે અશુદ્ધ આત્મા બહાર નીકળી ગયો. તે છોકરો મરી ગયો હતો એવું દેખાયું. ઘણાં લોકોએ કહ્યું, “તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો છે!”
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<v id="27" bcv="MRK.9.27" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ તે છોકરાનો હાથ પકડ્યો અને તેને ઊભો થવામાં મદદ કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MRK.9.28" />ઈસુ ઘરમાં ગયો. ત્યાં તેની સાથે તેના શિષ્યો એકલા હતા. તેઓએ તેને પૂછયું “અમે શા માટે અશુદ્ધ આત્માને બહાર કાઢી શક્યા નહિ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MRK.9.29" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “આ પ્રકારના આત્માને ફક્ત પ્રાર્થનાના ઉપયોગ દ્ધારા જ બહાર કાઢી શકાય છે.”
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<s style="s">ઈસુનું તેના મૃત્યુ વિષે કહેવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 17:22-23; લૂક 9:43-45)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MRK.9.30" />પછી ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યોએ તે જગ્યા છોડી. તેઓ ગાલીલમાં થઈને ગયા. ઈસુ ક્યાં હતો તે લોકો જાણે એમ ઈચ્છતો ન હતો.
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<v id="31" bcv="MRK.9.31" />ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યોને એકલાને ઉપદેશ આપવા ઈચ્છતો હતો. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “માણસનો દિકરો લોકોને સોંપવામાં આવશે. તેઓ તેને મારી નાખશે. મારી નાખ્યા પછી, ત્રણ દિવસ પછી તે મૃત્યુમાંથી સજીવન થશે.”
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<v id="32" bcv="MRK.9.32" />પરંતુ ઈસુ જે કહેવા માગતો હતો તે શિષ્યો સમજ્યા નહિ, અને તેઓ તેણે શું અર્થ કર્યો છે એ પૂછતાં ડરતા હતા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ કહે છે કે સૌથી મહાન કોણ છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 18:1-5; લૂક 9:46-48)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MRK.9.33" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો કફર-નહૂમ ગયા. તેઓ એક ઘરમાં ગયા. પછી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું. “મેં આજે રસ્તા પર તમને દલીલો કરતાં સાંભળ્યા. તમે શાના વિષે દલીલો કરતા હતા?”
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<v id="34" bcv="MRK.9.34" />પરંતુ શિષ્યો શાંત રહ્યાં. કારણ કે રસ્તામાં તેઓ અંદર અંદર સૌથી મોટો કોણ હતો તે અંગેનો વિવાદ કરતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MRK.9.35" />ઈસુ નીચે બેઠો અને બાર પ્રેરિતોને તેની પાસે બોલાવ્યા. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિની ઈચ્છા સૌથી વધારે મહત્વના વ્યક્તિ બનવાની હોય તો પછી તેણે બીજા દરેક લોકોને તેના કરતા વધારે મહત્વના ગણવા જોઈએ. તે વ્યક્તિએ બીજા બધા લોકોની સેવા કરવી જોઈએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="MRK.9.36" />પછી ઈસુએ એક નાનું બાળક લીધું. ઈસુએ બાળકને શિષ્યો આગળ ઊભું રાખ્યું. ઈસુએ તે બાળકને તેના ખોળામાં લીધું અને કહ્યું,
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<v id="37" bcv="MRK.9.37" />“જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારા નામે આ નાના બાળકોને સ્વીકાર કરશે તો તે વ્યક્તિ મને પણ સ્વીકારે છે. અને જો વ્યક્તિ મને સ્વીકારે છે તો પછી તે વ્યક્તિ મને મોકલનારને (દેવને) પણ સ્વીકારે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">જે વ્યક્તિ આપણી વિરૂદ્ધ નથી તે આપણા પક્ષનો છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 9:49-50)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="MRK.9.38" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, અમે તારા નામનો ઉપયોગ કરીને એક વ્યક્તિને ભૂતને બહાર કાઢતાં દીઠો. તે આપણા જૂથનો ન હતો. તેથી અમે તેને તે બંધ કરવા કહ્યું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="MRK.9.39" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તેને રોકશો નહિ, જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પરાક્રમ કરવા મારા નામનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે તે મારા વિષે ખરાબ કહેશે નહિ.
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<v id="40" bcv="MRK.9.40" />જે વ્યક્તિ આપણી વિરૂદ્ધ નથી તે આપણા પક્ષનો છે.
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<v id="41" bcv="MRK.9.41" />હું તને સત્ય કહું છું, જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તને પીવાનું પાણી આપીને મદદ કરે છે કારણ કે તું ખ્રિસ્તનો શિષ્ય છે, તો તે વ્યક્તિ ખરેખર તેનો બદલો પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રલોભનો વિષે ચેતવણી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 18:6-9; લૂક 17:1-2)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="MRK.9.42" />“જો આ નાના બાળકોમાંનો એક મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરે અને બીજી એક વ્યક્તિ તે બાળકને પાપ કરવા કારણરૂપ બને, તો તે વ્યક્તિ માટે તે ઘણું ખરાબ હશે. તે વ્યક્તિ તેના ગળે ઘંટીનું પડ બાંધીને દરિયામાં જાતે ડૂબી જાય તે વધારે સારું છે.
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<v id="43" bcv="MRK.9.43" />જો તારો હાથ તને પાપ કરાવે તો તે કાપી નાખ. તારા માટે તારા શરીરનો ભાગ ગુમાવવો એ વધારે સારું છે, પરંતુ જીવન તો સદા માટે રહેશે. બે હાથો સાથે નરકમાં જવું તેના કરતાં તે વધારે સારું છે. તે જગ્યામાં કદાપિ અગ્નિ હોલવાતો નથી.
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<v id="44" bcv="MRK.9.44" /><f caller="+"><fr>9:44
</fr><ft>માર્કની કેટલીક ગ્રીક નકલોમાં કલમ 44 જોડવામાં આવી છે, જે કલમ 48 ને મળતી આવે છે.</ft></f>
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<v id="45" bcv="MRK.9.45" />જો તારો પગ તને પાપ કરાવે, તો તેને કાપી નાખ. તારા માટે તારા શરીરનો ભાગ ગુમાવવો તે વધારે સારું છે. પણ જીવન તો સદાય રહે. બે પગો સાથે નરકમાં ફેંકવામાં આવે તેના કરતાં તે વધારે સારું છે.
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<v id="46" bcv="MRK.9.46" /><f caller="+"><fr>9:46
</fr><ft>માર્કની કેટલીક ગ્રીક નકલોમાં કલમ 46 જોડવામાં આવી છે, જે કલમ 48 ને મળતી આવે છે.</ft></f>
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<v id="47" bcv="MRK.9.47" />જો તારી આંખ તને પાપ કરાવે તો તેને બહાર કાઢી નાખ, તારી પાસે ફક્ત એક આંખ હોવી વધારે સારું છે. પણ જીવન તો સદાય રહે. બે આંખો સાથે નરકમાં ફેકવામાં આવે તેના કરતાં તે એક આંખ સાથે દેવના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશ કરવો તે વધારે સારું છે.
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<v id="48" bcv="MRK.9.48" />નરકમાં લોકોને જે જંતુઓ ખાય તે કદાપિ મરતા નથી. નરકમાં અગ્નિ કદાપિ હોલવાતો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="MRK.9.49" />“પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ અગ્નિ વડે શિક્ષા પામશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="MRK.9.50" />“મીઠું એ સારું છે. પરંતુ મીઠું તેનો ખારો સ્વાદ ગુમાવે પછી તમે તેને ફરીથી ખારું બનાવી શકતા નથી. તેથી ભલાઇથી પૂર્ણ બનો અને એકબીજા સાથે શાંતિ રાખો.”
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</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">ઈસુનો છુટાછેડાનો ઉપદેશ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 19:1-12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.10.1" />પછી ઈસુએ તે જગ્યા છોડી. તે યર્દન નદીને પેલે પાર યહૂદિયા પ્રદેશમાં ગયો. ફરીથી ઘણા લોકો તેની પાસે આવ્યા. ઈસુ હંમેશા કરતો હતો, તેવી રીતે લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MRK.10.2" />કેટલાક ફરોશીઓ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા. તેઓએ ઈસુ કઈક ખોટુ કહે તે માટે પ્રયત્નો કર્યા. તેઓએ ઈસુને પૂછયું, “પોતાની પત્નીને છૂટાછેડા આપવા તે માણસ માટે યોગ્ય છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MRK.10.3" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મૂસાએ તમને શું કરવા હુકમ કર્યો હતો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MRK.10.4" />તે ફરોશીઓએ કહ્યું, “મૂસાએ છૂટાછેડાનું પ્રમાણપત્ર લખ્યા પછી તેની પત્નીથી છૂટાછેડા લેવાની માણસને પરવાનગી આપી છે”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MRK.10.5" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “મૂસાએ તે આજ્ઞા તમારા માટે લખી છે કારણ કે તમે દેવના ઉપદેશને સ્વીકારવાની ના પાડી.
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<v id="6" bcv="MRK.10.6" />પરંતુ જ્યારે દેવે દુનિયા બનાવી, ‘તેણે તેઓમાં નર અને નારીનું સર્જન કર્યું.’
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<v id="7" bcv="MRK.10.7" />‘તેથી માણસ તેના માતાપિતાને છોડીને તેની પત્ની સાથે જોડાશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="MRK.10.8" />અને બે જણ એક બનશે.’ તેથી તેઓ બે નથી પણ એક છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="MRK.10.9" />દેવે તે બેને સાથે જોડ્યા છે. તેથી કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ તેઓને છૂટા નહિ પાડવા જોઈએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MRK.10.10" />પાછળથી તે શિષ્યો અને ઈસુ ઘરમાં હતા. તે શિષ્યોએ ફરીથી ઈસુને છૂટાછેડાના પ્રશ્ર વિષે પૂછયું.
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<v id="11" bcv="MRK.10.11" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ જે તેની પત્નીને છૂટાછેડા આપે છે અને બીજી સ્ત્રીને પરણે છે. તે તેની પત્ની વિરૂદ્ધ પાપમાં દોષિત છે. તે વ્યભિચારના પાપ માટે ગુનેગાર છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="MRK.10.12" />અને જે સ્ત્રી પોતાના પતિને છૂટાછેડા આપે છે અને બીજા પુરુંષને પરણે છે ત્યારે તે પણ વ્યભિચાર માટે દોષિત છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનો બાળકોનો સ્વીકાર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 19:13-15; લૂક 18:15-17)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MRK.10.13" />લોકો તેમનાં નાનાં બાળકોને ઈસુ પાસે લાવ્યાં. તેથી તેઓને સ્પર્શી શકે. પરંતુ શિષ્યોએ લોકોને તેમના બાળકોને ઈસુ પાસે લાવતા અટકાવ્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="MRK.10.14" />ઈસુએ શું બન્યું તે જોયું. તેના શિષ્યોએ બાળકોને નહિ આવવા માટેનું કહેવું તેને ગમ્યું નહિ. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “નાનાં બાળકોને મારી પાસે આવવા દો, તેઓને રોકશો નહિ. કારણ કે દેવનું રાજ્ય એ લોકોનું છે જેઓ આ નાનાં બાળકો જેવાં છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="MRK.10.15" />હું તમને સાચું કહું છું, તમારે દેવના રાજ્યનો સ્વીકાર, એક નાનું બાળક વસ્તુઓ સ્વીકારે છે તેવી રીતે કરવો જોઈએ. નહિ તો તમે કદાપિ તેમાં પ્રવેશ કરશો જ નહિ.”
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<v id="16" bcv="MRK.10.16" />પછી ઈસુએ બાળકોને તેના બાથમાં લીધા. ઈસુએ તેઓના પર હાથ મૂકી તેઓને આશીર્વાદ દીધો.
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</p>
<s style="s">એક ધનવાનની ઈસુને અનુસરવાની ના
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 19:16-30; લૂક 18:18-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MRK.10.17" />ઈસુએ વિદાય થવાની શરુંઆત કરી. પરંતુ એક માણસ દોડતો આવ્યો અને ઈસુની આગળ તેના ઘૂંટણે પડ્યો, તે માણસે પૂછયું, “ઉત્તમ ઉપદેશક, અનંતજીવન મેળવવા મારે શું કરવું જોઈએ?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MRK.10.18" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તું મને ઉત્તમ શા માટે કહે છે? કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ઉત્તમ નથી. ફક્ત દેવ જ ઉત્તમ છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="MRK.10.19" />પણ હું તારા પ્રશ્નનો ઉત્તર આપીશ. તું આજ્ઞાઓ જાણે છે: ‘તારે કોઈનું ખૂન કરવું જોઈએ નહિ, તારે વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરવું જોઈએ નહિ, તારે ચોરી કરવી જોઈએ નહિ, તારે તારા માબાપને માન આપવું જોઈએ …’<x caller="+"><xo>10:19
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 20:12-16; પુન. 5:16-20.</xt></x>”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MRK.10.20" />તે માણસે કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, હું બાળક હતો ત્યારથી આ બધી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરું છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MRK.10.21" />ઈસુએ તે માણસ સામે જોયું. ઈસુને તેના પર હેત આવ્યું. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તું એક વાત સબંધી અધૂરો છે. જા અને તારી પાસે જે બધું છે તે વેચી નાખ. પૈસા ગરીબ લોકોને આપ. તને આકાશમાં તેનો બદલો મળશે. પછી આવ અને મને અનુસર.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MRK.10.22" />ઈસુને આમ કહેતા સાંભળીને તે માણસનો ચહેરો ફીક્કો પડી ગયો. અને તે વિદાય થયો. તે માણસ દુ:ખી હતો કારણ કે તે ઘણો પૈસાદાર હતો અને તેના પૈસા રાખવા ઈચ્છતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MRK.10.23" />પછી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યો તરફ જોયું અને તેઓને કહ્યું, “ધનવાન વ્યક્તિઓ માટે દેવના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશવું ઘણું મુશ્કેલ હશે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MRK.10.24" />ઈસુએ જે કહ્યું તેથી શિષ્યો આશ્ચર્યચકિત થયા. પણ ઈસુએ ફરીથી કહ્યું, “મારાં બાળકો, દેવના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશવું તે ઘણું કઠિન છે!
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<v id="25" bcv="MRK.10.25" />અને પૈસાદાર માણસો માટે દેવના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશવું તે ઘણું મુશ્કેલ બનશે. સોયના નાકામાંથી પસાર થવું ઊંટના માટે સહેલું બનશે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MRK.10.26" />તે શિષ્યો વધારે નવાઇ પામ્યા હતા અને એકબીજાને કહ્યું, “તો કોણ તારણ પામી શકે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MRK.10.27" />ઈસુએ શિષ્યો તરફ જોયું અને કહ્યું, “આ કઈક એવું છે જે લોકો તેમની જાતે કરી શકે નહિ, તે દેવ પાસેથી આવવું જોઈએ. દેવ બધી વસ્તુઓ કરી શકે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MRK.10.28" />પિતરે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “અમે તને અનુસરવા બધુંજ છોડી દીધું!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MRK.10.29" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જેણે તેનું ઘર, ભાઈઓ, બહેનો, મા, પિતા, બાળકો અથવા ખેતરોને મારી સુવાર્તા માટે છોડ્યા છે,
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="MRK.10.30" />તેઓએ જેટલું છોડ્યું છે તેના કરતાં સોગણું વધારે મેળવશે. અહીં આ દુનિયામાં તે વ્યક્તિ વધારે ઘરો, ભાઈઓ, બહેનો, મા, પિતા, બાળકો અથવા ખેતરો મેળવશે અને તે વસ્તુઓ સાથે તે વ્યક્તિની સતાવણી થશે. પણ આવનાર દુનિયામાં તેને બદલો મળશે. તે બદલો અનંતજીવન છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="MRK.10.31" />ઘણા લોકો જેની પાસે હાલમાં ઊંચામાં ઊંચી જગ્યા છે, તેમની પાસે ભવિષ્યમાં નીચામાં નીચી જગ્યા હશે. અને જે લોકો પાસે હાલમાં નીચામાં નીચી જગ્યા છે તેઓ ભવિષ્યમાં ઊંચામાં ઊંચી જગ્યા મેળવશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ ફરીથી તેના મૃત્યુ વિષે કહે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 20:17-19; લૂક 18:31-34)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MRK.10.32" />ઈસુ અને તેની સાથેના લોકો યરૂશાલેમ જતા હતા. ઈસુ લોકોને દોરતો હતો. ઈસુના શિષ્યો આશ્ચર્યચકિત થઈ ગયા. પણ પેલા લોકો જે તેની પાછળ આવતા હતા તેઓ બીતાં હતા. ઈસુએ ફરીથી બાર પ્રેરિતોને ભેગા કર્યા. અને તેઓની સાથે એકલા વાત કરી. ઈસુએ યરૂશાલેમમાં શું થશે તે તેઓને કહ્યું.
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<v id="33" bcv="MRK.10.33" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “આપણે યરૂશાલેમ તરફ જઈએ છીએ. માણસના દિકરાને મુખ્ય યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓના હાથમાં સોંપવામાં આવશે. યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ કહેશે કે માણસના દિકરાએ મરવું જોઈએ. તેઓ બિનયહૂદિ લોકોને માણસનો દિકરા સોંપશે.
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<v id="34" bcv="MRK.10.34" />તે લોકો તેની મશ્કરી કરશે અને તેના પર થૂંકશે, તેઓ તેને ચાબૂકથી મારશે અને તેને મારી નાખશે. પરંતુ તેના મૃત્યુ પછી ત્રીજા દિવસે તે પાછો ઊઠશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">યાકૂબ અને યોહાનની માગણી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 20:20-28)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MRK.10.35" />પછી ઝબદીનો દીકરો યાકૂબ તથા યોહાન ઈસુની પાસે આવે છે. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, અમે તને અમારા માટે કશુંક કરવાનું કહેવાની ઈચ્છા રાખીએ છીએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="MRK.10.36" />ઈસુએ પૂછયું, “તમે મારી પાસે શું કરાવવા ઈચ્છો છો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="MRK.10.37" />પુત્રોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તું તારા મહિમામાં અમારામાંના એકને તારી જમણી બાજુ બેસવા દે અને એકને તારી ડાબી બાજુ બેસવા દે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="MRK.10.38" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે જે માગો છો તે તમે સમજી શકતા નથી. મારે જે પીડા સહન કરવાની છે તેવી તમે સ્વીકારી શકશો? અને જે બાપ્તિસ્મા હું લઉં છું તે બાપ્તિસ્મા તમે લઈ શકશો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="MRK.10.39" />પુત્રોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા અમે કરી શકીશું.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ પુત્રોને કહ્યું, “હું જે સહન કરીશ તે રીતે તમારે સહન કરવું પડશે. હું જે રીતે બાપ્તિસ્મા પામીશ તેવી જ રીતે તમારું બાપ્તિસ્મા થશે.
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<v id="40" bcv="MRK.10.40" />પણ મારી જમણી કે ડાબી બાજુમાં બેસવાનો અધિકાર આપનાર વ્યક્તિ હું નથી. ત્યાં કેટલાએક લોકો છે તેઓને પેલી જગ્યાઓ મળશે. પેલી જગ્યાઓ તેમના માટે તૈયાર કરવામાં આવી છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="MRK.10.41" />બીજા દસ શિષ્યોએ આ સાંભળ્યું. તેઓ યાકૂબ અને યોહાન પર ગુસ્સે થયા.
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<v id="42" bcv="MRK.10.42" />ઈસુએ બધા શિષ્યોને સાથે બોલાવ્યા. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “બિનયહૂદિ લોકો પાસે માણસો છે તેઓ શાસકો કહેવાય છે. તું જાણે છે કે પેલા શાસકો લોકો પર તેમનું ધણીપણું બતાવવા ઈચ્છે છે અને તેમના આગેવાનો લોકો પર તેઓની બધી સત્તાનો ઉપયોગ કરવા ઈચ્છે છે.
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<v id="43" bcv="MRK.10.43" />પણ તમારી સાથે તે રીતે ન થવું જોઈએ. તમારામાંથી કોઈ મહાન થવા ઈચ્છતું હોય તો પછી તેણે સેવકની જેમ તમારી સેવા કરવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="44" bcv="MRK.10.44" />જો તમારામાંથી કોઈ એક સૌથી વધારે મહત્વનો થવા ઈચ્છે તો પછી તેણે તમારા બધાની એક દાસની જેમ સેવા કરવી.
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<v id="45" bcv="MRK.10.45" />તે જ રીતે, માણસનો પુત્ર બીજા લોકો પાસે તેની સેવા કરાવવા આવ્યો નથી. પરંતુ માણસનો પુત્ર બીજા લોકોની સેવા કરવા માટે આવ્યો છે. માણસનો પુત્ર ઘણા લોકોને બચાવવા તેનું જીવન સમર્પિત કરવા આવ્યો છે”
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</p>
<s style="s">એક આંધળા માણસને ઈસુનું સાજા કરવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 20:29-34; લૂક 18:35-43)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="MRK.10.46" />પછી તેઓ યરેખોના ગામમાં આવ્યા. ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યો અને બીજા ઘણા લોકો સાથે તે ગામની વિદાય લેતા હતા. બર્તિમાય નામનો એક આંધળો માણસ (તિમાયનો પુત્ર) રસ્તાની બાજુમાં બેઠો હતો. આ માણસ હંમેશા પૈસાની ભીખ માંગતો હતો.
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<v id="47" bcv="MRK.10.47" />આંધળા માણસે સાંભળ્યું કે નાઝરેથનો ઈસુ બાજુમાંથી પસાર હતો. તે આંધળા માણસે બૂમ પાડી, “ઈસુ, દાઉદના દીકરા, કૃપા કરીને મને મદદ કર!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="MRK.10.48" />ઘણા લોકોએ આંધળા માણસની ટીકા કરી. તેઓએ તેને નહિ બોલવા કહ્યું. પરંતુ આંધળો માણસ વધારે ને વધારે બૂમો પાડવા લાગ્યો. “દાઉદના દીકરા, કૃપા કરીને મને મદદ કર!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="MRK.10.49" />ઈસુ ઊભો રહ્યો અને કહ્યું, “તે માણસને અહીં આવવા કહો.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી તેઓએ આંધળા માણસને બોલાવ્યો. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “હિમ્મત રાખ! ઊભો થા! ઈસુ તને બોલાવે છે.”
<ve />
<v id="50" bcv="MRK.10.50" />આંધળો માણસ ઝડપથી ઊભો થયો. તેણે તેનો ડગલો ત્યાં મૂક્યો અને ઈસુ તરફ ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="MRK.10.51" />ઈસુએ માણસને પૂછયું, “મારી પાસે તું શું કરવાની ઈચ્છા રાખે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">આંધળો માણસ બોલ્યો, “ઉપદેશક, મારી ઈચ્છા ફરી દેખતા થવાની છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="MRK.10.52" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જા, તું તારા વિશ્વાસને કારણે સાજો થઈ ગયો છે.” પછી તે માણસ ફરીથી દેખતો થયો. તે રસ્તામાં ઈસુને અનુસર્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">ઈસુનો રાજાની જેમ યરૂશાલેમમાં પ્રવેશ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:1-11; લૂક 19:28-40; યોહાન 12:12-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.11.1" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો યરૂશાલેમની નજીક આવતા હતા. તેઓ જૈતુનના પહાડ આગળ બેથફગે તથા બેથનિયાના શહેરો પાસે આવ્યા. ત્યાં ઈસુએ તેના બે શિષ્યોને આગળ મોકલ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MRK.11.2" />ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “તમે જે ગામ જુઓ છો તે ગામમાં જાઓ. જ્યારે તમે પ્રવેશ કરશો ત્યારે, તમે એક ગધેડાના વછેરાને ત્યાં બાંધેલો જોશો. આ વછેરા પર કોઈએ કદી સવારી કરી નથી, તે વછેરાને છોડીને તેને અહીં મારી પાસે લાવ.
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<v id="3" bcv="MRK.11.3" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તને પૂછે કે તું તે વછેરાને શા માટે લઈ જાય છે, તો તે વ્યક્તિને કહેજે, ‘માલિકને આ વછેરાની જરૂર છે. તે જલ્દીથી તેને પાછો મોકલશે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MRK.11.4" />તે શિષ્યો ગામમાં ગયા. તેઓએ એક ઘરના દરવાજા નજીક શેરીમાં એક વછેરાને બાંધેલો જોયો. તે શિષ્યોએ તે વછેરાને છોડ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="MRK.11.5" />કેટલાક લોકો ત્યાં ઊભા હતા અને તેઓએ આ જોયું, તે લોકોએ પૂછયું, “તમે શું કરો છો? તમે તે વછેરાને શા માટે છોડો છો?”
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<v id="6" bcv="MRK.11.6" />ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને જે જવાબ આપવા કહેલું તે રીતે શિષ્યોએ જવાબ આપ્યો. લોકોએ શિષ્યોને વછેરું લેવા દીધું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MRK.11.7" />શિષ્યો ઈસુ પાસે વછેરો લાવ્યા. શિષ્યોએ તેમના લૂગડાં વછેરા પર મૂક્યાં. અને ઈસુ તેના પર બેઠો.
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<v id="8" bcv="MRK.11.8" />ઘણા લોકોએ તેમનાં ડગલા ઈસુ માટે રસ્તા પર પાથર્યા. બીજા લોકોએ ખેતરમાંથી ડાળીઓ કાપી અને રસ્તા પર ડાળીઓ પાથરી.
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<v id="9" bcv="MRK.11.9" />કેટલાક લોકો ઈસુની આગળ આગળ ચાલતા હતા. બીજા લોકો તેની પાછળ ચાલતા હતા. બધા લોકોએ બૂમ પાડી,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘તેની સ્તુતિ કરો!’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘આવકાર! પ્રભુના નામે જે એક આવે છે તે દેવનો આશીર્વાદિત છે!’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.118.25">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 118:25,</ref> 26</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="MRK.11.10" />“આપણા પિતા દાઉદના રાજ્યને દેવના આશીર્વાદ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે રાજ્ય આવે છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">પરમ ઊંચામાં દેવની સ્તુતિ કરો!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="MRK.11.11" />ઈસુ યરૂશાલેમમાં દાખલ થયો અને મંદિરમાં ગયો. ઈસુએ મંદિરમાં દરેક વસ્તુઓ તરક જોયું. પણ સાંજ પડી ગઈ હતી, તેથી ઈસુ બાર પ્રેરિતો સાથે બેથનિયા ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">નિષ્ફળ અંજીરી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:18-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MRK.11.12" />બીજે દિવસે, જેવું તેઓએ બેથનિયા છોડ્યું, ઈસુ ભૂખ્યો થયો હતો.
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<v id="13" bcv="MRK.11.13" />ઈસુએ દૂર એક અંજીરીનું ઝાડ જેને પાંદડા આવ્યાં હતાં તે જોયું. તેથી ઈસુ તે ઝાડ પાસે ગયો કે કદાચ તેને તે પરથી કઈ મળે, પણ ઈસુએ તે ઝાડ પર કોઈ અંજીર જોયા નહિ. ત્યાં ફક્ત પાંદડાઓ હતાં. કેમ કે અંજીરોની ઋતુ ન હતી.
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<v id="14" bcv="MRK.11.14" />તેથી ઈસુએ તે ઝાડને કહ્યું, “લોકો તારા પરથી ફરી કદી ફળ ખાશે નહિ.” ઈસુના શિષ્યોએ તેને આ કહેતા સાંભળ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું મંદિરમાં જવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:12-17; લૂક 19:45-48; યોહાન 2:13-22)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MRK.11.15" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો યરૂશાલેમમાં ગયા. તે મંદિરમાં ગયો. ઈસુએ ત્યાં જે લોકો વસ્તુઓ વેચતા હતા અને ખરીદતા હતા તેઓને બહાર કાઢવાની શરૂઆત કરી. ઈસુએ નાણાવટીઓની મેજો તથા કબૂતર વેચનારાઓની પાટલીઓ ઊંઘી વાળી.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="MRK.11.16" />ઈસુએ મંદિરમાંથી કોઈ પણ માણસને વસ્તુઓ લઈ જવાની પરવાનગી આપવાની ના પાડી.
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<v id="17" bcv="MRK.11.17" />પછી ઈસુએ લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપ્યો. તેણે કહ્યું, “શાસ્ત્રોમાં તે લખેલું છે. ‘મારું ઘર બધા લોકો માટેનું પ્રાર્થનાનુ ઘર કહેવાશે.’ પરંતુ તમે દેવના ઘરને ‘ચોરોને છુપાવા માટેની જગ્યામાં ફેરવો છો.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MRK.11.18" />મુખ્ય યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓએ આ બાબતો સાંભળી. તેઓ ઈસુને મારી નાખવાનો રસ્તો શોધવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરવા લાગ્યા. તેઓ ઈસુથી ડરતા હતા. કારણ કે બધા લોકો તેના ઉપદેશથી અચરજ પામતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="MRK.11.19" />તે રાત્રે, ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યોએ તે શહેર છોડ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ વિશ્વાસનું સામથ્યૅ બતાવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:20-22)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MRK.11.20" />બીજી સવારે ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યો સાથે ચાલતો હતો. તેઓએ અંજીરીનું ઝાડ જોયું. ઈસુ આગલા દિવસે જે વિષે બોલ્યો હતો. એ અંજીરનું વૃક્ષ તેના મૂળ સાથે સૂકાઇ ગયેલું જોયું.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="MRK.11.21" />પિતરે વૃક્ષનું સ્મરણ કરીને ઈસુને કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, જો! ગઈકાલે, તે કહ્યું કે અંજીરનું વૃક્ષ મૂળમાંથી સૂકાઇ જશે. હવે તેં સૂકું અને મરેલું છે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MRK.11.22" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="MRK.11.23" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. તમે આ પર્વતને કહી શકો છો, ‘જા, દરિયામાં પડ.’ અને જો તમને તમારા મનમાં શંકા ના હોય અને વિશ્વાસ હોય કે તમે જે કહેશો તે બનશે તો દેવ તે તમારા માટે કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="MRK.11.24" />તેથી હું તમને કહું છું કે પ્રાર્થનામાં જે સર્વ તમે માગો છો, તે અમે પામ્યા છીએ, એવો વિશ્વાસ રાખે, તો તે તમને મળશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MRK.11.25" />જ્યારે તમે પ્રાર્થના કરો છો, અને તમે યાદ કરો છો કે તમે બીજા કોઈ એક વ્યક્તિ સાથે કઈક કારણસર ગુસ્સે થયા છો. તો તે વ્યક્તિને માફ કરો.”
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<v id="26" bcv="MRK.11.26" /><f caller="+"><fr>11:26
</fr><ft>કેટલીક પ્રાચીન ગ્રીક નકલોમાં કલમ 26 જોડી છે: “પણ જો તમે બીજાઓને માફ નહિ કરો, તો તમારો પિતા જે આકાશમાં છે તે પણ તમારા અપરાધ તમને માફ કરશે નહિ.”</ft></f>
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદિ આગેવાનોની ઈસુના અધિકારની શંકા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:23-27; લૂક 20:1-8)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MRK.11.27" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો ફરીથી યરૂશાલેમ ગયા. ઈસુ મંદિરમાં ચાલતો હતો. મુખ્ય યાજકો, શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને વડીલ યહૂદિ આગેવાનો ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="MRK.11.28" />તેઓએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “અમને કહે! તને આવા કામો કરવાની કઈ સત્તા છે? તને આ સત્તા કોણે આપી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MRK.11.29" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તમને એક પ્રશ્ન પૂછીશ. તમે મારા પ્રશ્નનો જવાબ આપો. પછી હું તમને કોની સત્તાથી આ કામો કરું છું તે કહીશ.
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<v id="30" bcv="MRK.11.30" />મને કહો: જ્યારે યોહાન લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપતો હતો, ત્યારે તે (સત્તા) દેવ પાસેથી આવી કે માણસો પાસેથી? મને ઉત્તર આપો!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MRK.11.31" />આ યહૂદિ નેતાઓએ ઈસુના પ્રશ્ન વિષે વાતો કરી. તેઓએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું, “જો આપણે ઉત્તર આપીએ. યોહાનનું બાપ્તિસ્મા દેવ પાસેથી, તો પછી ઈસુ કહેશે, ‘તો પછી યોહાનમાં શા માટે વિશ્વાસ કરતા નહોતા?’
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<v id="32" bcv="MRK.11.32" />પણ જો આપણે કહીએ, ‘યોહાનનું બાપ્તિસ્મા માણસ પાસેનું હતું.’ તો લોકો આપણા પર ગુસ્સે થશે.” (આ આગેવાનો લોકોથી બીતા હતા. બધાજ લોકોને વિશ્વાસ હતો કે યોહાન એક પ્રબોધક હતો.)
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MRK.11.33" />તેથી આગેવાનોએ ઈસુને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમે ઉત્તર જાણતા નથી.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તો પછી હું તમને કહીશ નહિ કે આ કામો હું કઈ સત્તાથી કરું છું.”
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<c id="12" />
<s style="s">દેવ તેના પુત્રને મોકલે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:33-46; લૂક 20:9-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.12.1" />ઈસુ લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપવા માટે વાર્તાઓનો ઉપયોગ કરતો. “એક માણસે એક ખેતરમાં દ્રાક્ષાવાડી રોપી અને તે માણસે ખેતરની આજુબાજુ દિવાલ બનાવી. અને એક ખાડો ખોદી દ્રાક્ષાકુંડ બનાવ્યો. પછી તે માણસે બુરજ બાંધ્યો. તે માણસે કેટલાક ખેડૂતોને ખેતર ઇજારે આપ્યું. પછી તે માણસ પ્રવાસ માટે વિદાય થયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MRK.12.2" />“થોડા વખત પછી, દ્રાક્ષ ચૂંટવાનો સમય આવ્યો. તેથી તે માણસે તેનો દ્રાક્ષનો ભાગ લેવા માટે એક નોકરને ખેડૂત પાસે મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="MRK.12.3" />પરંતુ તે ખેડૂતોએ નોકરને ખાલી હાથે કાઢી મૂક્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="MRK.12.4" />પછી તે માણસે બીજા એક નોકરને ખેડૂતો પાસે મોકલ્યો. તે ખેડૂતોએ તેનું માંથુ ફોડી નાખ્યું. તેઓએ તેને માટે કોઈ માન બતાવ્યું નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="MRK.12.5" />તેથી તે માણસે બીજા એક નોકરને મોકલ્યો. તે ખેડૂતોએ આ નોકરને મારી નાખ્યો. તે માણસે ઘણા બીજા નોકરોને ખેડૂત પાસે મોકલ્યો. તે ખેડૂતોએ કેટલાક ખેડૂતોને માર્યા અને બીજાઓને મારી નાખ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MRK.12.6" />“તે માણસ પાસે ખેડૂતોની પાસે મોકલવા એક વ્યક્તિ જ રહી. આ વ્યક્તિ તે માણસનો પુત્ર હતો. તે માણસ તેના દીકરાને ચાહતો હતો. પરંતુ તે માણસે પુત્રને ખેડૂતો પાસે મોકલવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો. પુત્ર એ છેલ્લી વ્યક્તિ હતી જેને તે મોકલી શકે તે માણસે કહ્યું, ‘તે ખેડૂતો મારા પુત્રને માન આપશે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="MRK.12.7" />“પણ ખેડૂતોએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું, ‘આ ધણીનો પુત્ર છે. જો આપણે તેને મારી નાખીશું. તો પછી તેનું ખેતર આપણું થશે.’
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<v id="8" bcv="MRK.12.8" />તેથી તે ખેડૂતોએ તે પુત્રને મારી નાખ્યો. અને તેને ખેતરની બહાર ફેંકી દીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MRK.12.9" />“તેથી જે ખેતરનો ધણી હતો તે શું કરશે? તે ખેતરમાં જશે અને પેલા ખેડૂતોને મારી નાખશે. પછીતે બીજા ખેડૂતોને તે ખેતર આપશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="MRK.12.10" />ખરેખર તમે આ શાસ્ત્ર વાંચ્યો છે:
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘જે પથ્થરનો બાંધકામ કરનારાઓએ અસ્વીકાર કર્યો. તે ખૂણાના માથાળાનો (પથ્થર) થયો.
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<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="MRK.12.11" />પ્રભુ આ બધુ કર્યુ છે, અને તે આપણા માટે અદભુત છે.’”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.118.22">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 118:22-23</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MRK.12.12" />આ યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ આ વાર્તા સાંભળી જે ઈસુએ કહી. તેઓએ જાણ્યું કે આ વાર્તા તેઓના વિષે હતી. તેથી તેઓ ઈસુને પકડવાની યુક્તિ શોધવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. પરંતુ તેઓ લોકોથી બીતા હતા. તેથી તે યહૂદિ આગેવાનો ઈસુને છોડીને ચાલ્યા ગયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદિ આગેવાનોનો ઈસુને ફસાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 22:15-22; લૂક 20:20-26)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MRK.12.13" />પાછળથી, યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ કેટલાક ફરોશીઓને અને હેરોદીઓના નામે જાણીતા સમુહમાંથી કેટલાક માણસોએ ઈસુ પાસે મોકલ્યા. તેઓ ઈસુને કઈક ખોટું કહેતા પકડવા ઈચ્છતા હતા.
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<v id="14" bcv="MRK.12.14" />ફરોશીઓ અને હેરોદીઓ ઈસુ પાસે ગયા અને કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે તું એક પ્રમાણિક માણસ છે. તું તારા વિષે બીજા લોકો જે વિચારે છે તેની જરા પણ દરકાર કરીશ નહિ. બધા માણસો તારી પાસે સરખા છે. અને તું દેવના માર્ગ વિષે સાચો ઉપદેશ આપે છે. તો અમને કહે: કૈસરને કર આપવો ઉચિત છે? હા કે ના? આપણે કર આપવો જોઈએ કે આપણે કર ન આપવો જોઈએ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MRK.12.15" />પણ ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે આ માણસો ખરેખર તેને પરીક્ષણનો પ્રયત્ન કરતા હતા. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે શા માટે મને કઈક ખોટું કહેતા પકડવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરો છો? મને એક ચાંદીનો સિક્કો લાવી આપો. મને તે જોવા દો.”
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<v id="16" bcv="MRK.12.16" />તેઓએ ઈસુને એક સિક્કો આપ્યો અને ઈસુએ પૂછયું, “સિક્કા પર કોનું ચિત્ર છે? અને તેના પર કોનું નામ લખેલું છે?” તેઓએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “તે કૈસરનું ચિત્ર છે અને કૈસરનું નામ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MRK.12.17" />પછી ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “કૈસરની જે વસ્તુઓ છે તે કૈસરને આપો. અને દેવની જે વસ્તુઓ છે તે દેવને આપો.” ઈસુએ જે કહ્યું તેથી તે માણસો નવાઇ પામ્યા.
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<s style="s">કેટલાક સદૂકીઓનો ઈસુને ફસાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 22:23-33; લૂક 20:27-40)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="MRK.12.18" />પછી કેટલાક સદૂકીઓ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા. (સદૂકીઓ માને છે કે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મૂએલામાંથી ઊઠી શકે નહિ.) સદૂકીઓએ ઈસુને એક પ્રશ્ન પૂછયો.
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<v id="19" bcv="MRK.12.19" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, મૂસાએ લખ્યું છે કે જો કોઈ પરિણિત માણસ મૃત્યુ પામે અને તેને બાળકો ન હોય, તો પછી તેના ભાઈએ તે સ્ત્રીને પરણવું જોઈએ. પછી તેઓને તેના મૃત ભાઈ માટે બાળકો થશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="MRK.12.20" />ત્યાં સાત ભાઈઓ હતા. પહેલો ભાઈ પરણ્યો પણ મરી ગયો. તેને બાળકો ન હતા.
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<v id="21" bcv="MRK.12.21" />તેથી બીજો ભાઈ તે સ્ત્રીને પરણ્યો. પણ તે પણ મૃત્ય પામ્યો અને તેને બાળકો ન હતા. એ જ બાબત ત્રીજા ભાઈ સાથે બની.
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<v id="22" bcv="MRK.12.22" />બધા સાત ભાઈઓ તે સ્ત્રીને પરણ્યા અને મૃત્યુ પામ્યા. ભાઈઓમાંના કોઈનાથી તે સ્ત્રીને બાળકો ન થયા અને છેલ્લે તે સ્ત્રી પણ મરી ગઈ.
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<v id="23" bcv="MRK.12.23" />પણ બધા સાત ભાઈઓ તેને પરણ્યા હતા તેથી મૃત્યુ પછી જ્યારે પુનરુંત્થાનનો સમય થશે ત્યારે, આ સ્ત્રી કોની પત્ની થશે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MRK.12.24" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તમે આ ભૂલ શા માટે કરી? શાસ્ત્ર શું કહે છે તે તમે નથી જાણતા કારણ કે તમે દેવના સાર્મથ્ય વિષે નથી જાણતા.
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<v id="25" bcv="MRK.12.25" />જ્યારે લોકો મૂએલામાંથી ઊઠશે ત્યારે ત્યાં એકબીજા સાથે લગ્ન કરશે નહિ. તેઓ આકાશમાંના દૂતો જેવા હશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="MRK.12.26" />ખરેખર મૃત્યુ પામેલા લોકો પાછા ઊઠે છે તે વિષે દેવે શું કહ્યું છે તે તમે વાચ્યું છે. જ્યાં મૂસાએ પુસ્તકમાં સળગતી ઝાડી વિષે લખ્યું છે. તે કહે છે કે દેવે મૂસાને આ કહ્યું છે, ‘હું ઇબ્રાહિમનો, ઇસહાકનો અને યાકૂબનો દેવ છું.’
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<v id="27" bcv="MRK.12.27" />જો દેવે કહ્યું તે તેઓનો દેવ છે, તો પછી તે માણસો ખરેખર મરેલા નથી. તે ફક્ત જીવતા લોકોનો દેવ છે, તમે સદૂકીઓ ખોટા છો!”
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<s style="s">કંઈ આજ્ઞા સૌથી મહત્વની?
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 22:34-40; લૂક 10:25-28)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MRK.12.28" />શાસ્ત્રીઓમાંનો એક ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યો. તેણે ઈસુને સદૂકીઓ અને ફરોશીઓ સાથે દલીલો કરતા સાંભળ્યો. તેણે જોયું કે ઈસુએ તેમના પ્રશ્નોના સારા ઉત્તર આપ્યા. તેથી તેણે ઈસુને પૂછયું, “કંઈ આજ્ઞઓ સૌથી મહત્વની છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MRK.12.29" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “સૌથી વધારે મહત્વની આજ્ઞાઆ છે: ‘ઈસ્ત્રાએલના લોકો, ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! પ્રભુ આપણો દેવ છે તે ફક્ત પ્રભુ છે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="MRK.12.30" />તારે પ્રભુ તારા દેવને પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ. તારે તેને તારા પૂરા હ્રદયથી, ને તારા પૂરા જીવથી, ને તારા પૂરા મનથી, ને તારા પૂરા સામર્થ્યથી પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ.’
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="MRK.12.31" />બીજી સૌથી મહત્વની આજ્ઞા આ છે: ‘તું તારી જાતને પ્રેમ કરે છે તે જ રીતે તારે તારા પડોશી પર પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ.’ આ બે આજ્ઞાઓ સૌથી અગત્યની છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MRK.12.32" />તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો. “તે એક સારો ઉત્તર હતો. ઉપદેશક, જ્યારે તેં આ બાબતો કહી તું સાચો હતો. દેવ જ ફક્ત પ્રભુ છે, અને બીજો કોઈ દેવ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="MRK.12.33" />અને વ્યક્તિએ દેવને પૂરા હૃદયથી, પૂરા મનથી, પૂરા સામર્થ્યથી પ્રીતિ કરવી જોઈએ. અને વ્યક્તિ તેની જાતને પ્રેમ કરે છે તે જ રીતે પડોશીને પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ. આ આજ્ઞાઓ, દેવને અર્પિત બઘા જ પ્રાણીઆ અને બલિદાનોથી વધારે મહત્વની છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MRK.12.34" />ઈસુએ જોયું કે માણસે તેને ડહાપણથી ઉત્તર આપ્યો. તેથી ઈસુએ માણસને કહ્યું, “તું દેવના રાજ્યની નજીક છે.” અને તે પછી કોઈએ ઈસુને વધારે પ્રશ્નો પૂછવાની હિમ્મત ન કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મસીહ-દાવિદનો પણ પ્રભુ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 22:41-46; લૂક 20:41-44)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MRK.12.35" />ઈસુ મંદિરમાં ઉપદેશ આપતો હતો. ઈસુએ પૂછયું, “શા માટે શાસ્ત્રીઓ કહે છે કે ખ્રિસ્ત એ દાઉદનો દીકરો છે?
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="MRK.12.36" />પવિત્ર આત્માની મદદથી, દાઉદ તેની જાતે કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘પ્રભુએ (દેવ) મારા પ્રભુને (ખ્રિસ્તને) કહ્યું:
</q>
<q style="q1">મારી પાસે જમણી બાજુએ બેસ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તારા દુશ્મનોને તારા અંકુશમાં મૂકીશ.’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.110.1">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 110:1</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="37" bcv="MRK.12.37" />દાઉદ તેની જાતે ખ્રિસ્તને ‘પ્રભુ’ કહે છે. તેથી ખ્રિસ્ત કેવી રીતે દાઉદનો દીકરો હોઇ શકે?” ઘણા લોકોએ ઈસુને સાંભળ્યો અને તેઓ ઘણા ખુશ થયા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ધાર્મિકતાના ઢોંગ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 23:1-36; લૂક 20:45-47)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="MRK.12.38" />ઈસુએ ઉપદેશ આપવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “શાસ્ત્રીઓથી સાવધાન રહો. તેઓને કપડાં પહેરીને આજુબાજુ ફરવાનું જે મહત્વનું દેખાય, તે ગમે છે. અને લોકો બજારના સ્થળોએ તેમને માન આપે તે તેઓને ગમે છે.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="MRK.12.39" />તેઓને સભાસ્થાનોમાં સૌથી મહત્વની બેઠકો પ્રાપ્ત થાય, તે ગમે છે. અને મિજબાનીઓમાં પણ તેઓને સૌથી મહત્વની બેઠકો મળે તે ગમે છે.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="MRK.12.40" />તેઓ વિધવાઓનાં સાધન અને તેમના ઘરો પડાવી લે છે. પછી તેઓ તેમની જાતે સારા દેખાવાનો પ્રયત્નો લાંબી પ્રાર્થનાઓ કરીને કરે છે. દેવ તેઓને ઘણી બધી શિક્ષા કરશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">વિધવા આપવાનો અર્થ બતાવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 21:1-4)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="MRK.12.41" />ઈસુ મંદિરમાં દાનપેટી નજીક બેઠો, જ્યાં લોકો તેઓની ભેટો મૂકતા. લોકો પેટીમાં પૈસા આપતા.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="MRK.12.42" />પછી એક ગરીબ વિધવા આવી અને તેણે બે ઘણા નાના તાંબાના સિક્કા આપ્યા. આ સિક્કાઓની કિંમત એક દમડી પણ ન હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="MRK.12.43" />ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને બોલાવ્યા. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું તમને સાચું કહું છું. આ ગરીબ વિધવાએ ફક્ત બે નાના સિક્કા આપ્યા. પણ તેણે ખરેખર બધા ધનવાન માણસો કરતા વધારે આપ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="MRK.12.44" />આ લોકો પાસે પુષ્કળ છે. તેઓએ તો ફક્ત તેમને જેની જરુંર નથી તે જ આપ્યું. પણ તેણે તો તેના જીવન જીવવા માટે જરુંર હતું તે બધુજ નાણું આપ્યું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">મંદિરનું વિનાશાત્મક ભાવિ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 24:1-44; લૂક 21:5-33)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.13.1" />ઈસુ મંદિરમાંથી વિદાય લેતો હતો તેના શિષ્યોમાંના એકે કહ્યું, “જો, ઉપદેશક! આ મંદિરમાં ઘણા આકર્ષક મકાનો અને ઘણા મોટા પથ્થરો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MRK.13.2" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે આ મોટાં બાંધકામો જુઓ છો? આ બધાં બાંધકામોનો વિનાશ થશે. દરેક પથ્થર જમીન પર ફેંકવામાં આવશે. એક પણ પથ્થર ત્યાં રહેવા દેવામાં આવશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MRK.13.3" />પાછળથી, ઈસુ જૈતૂનના પહાડ પર એક જગ્યાએ બેઠો હતો. તે પિતર, યાકૂબ, યોહાન તથા આંન્દ્રિયા સાથે એકલો હતો. તેઓ બધા મંદિરને જોઈ શક્યા. પેલા શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને પૂછયું.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="MRK.13.4" />“અમને કહે, આ ક્યારે બનશે? અને આ સમય બનવા માટેનો છે તે બાબતે અમને કઈ નિશાની બતાવશે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MRK.13.5" />ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “સાવધાન રહો! કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તમને મૂર્ખ ન બનાવે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="MRK.13.6" />ઘણા લોકો આવશે અને મારા નામનો ઉપયોગ કરશે. તેઓ કહેશે, ‘હું એ છું’ અને તેઓ ઘણા લોકોને છેતરશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MRK.13.7" />તમે યુદ્ધો વિષે સાંભળશો અને યુદ્ધોની અફવાઓ વિષે સાંભળશો. પણ ગભરાશો નહિ. આ વસ્તુઓ તેનો અંત થતા પહેલા થશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="MRK.13.8" />રાજ્યો બીજા રાજ્યો સામે લડશે. એવો સમય આવશે જ્યારે લોકોને માટે ખાવાનું પણ નહિ હોય. અને ત્યાં જુદા જુદા સ્થળોએ ધરતીકંપ થશે. મહા દુ:ખનો આ તો આરંભ છે. બાળક જન્મતા પહેલા થતી પીડાઓ જેવી આ વસ્તુઓ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MRK.13.9" />“પોતા વિષે સાવધાન રહેવું જોઈએ. લોકો તમને પકડશે અને તમને ન્યાય માટે લઈ જશે. તેઓ તમને તેમના સભાસ્થાનમાં મારશે. તમને રાજ્યપાલ અને રાજાઓ સામે ઊભા રાખવામાં આવશે. તમે તેઓને મારા વિષે કહેશો. આ તમારા જીવનમાં બનશે કારણ કે તમે મને અનુસરો છો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MRK.13.10" />આ વસ્તુઓ બને તે પહેલા બધા લોકોને સુવાર્તા પહોંચવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MRK.13.11" />તમને પકડવામાં આવશે અને ન્યાય થશે. પરંતુ તમારે શું કહેવું જોઈએ તેની ચિંતા અગાઉથી ના કરશો. તે સમયે દેવ તમને જે આપે તે કહેશો. તે વખતે ખરેખર તમે બોલશો નહિ પણ તે પવિત્ર આત્મા બોલનાર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MRK.13.12" />“ભાઈઓ પોતાના ભાઈઓની વિરૂદ્ધ થશે અને તેઓને મારી નાખવા સોંપશે. પિતા પોતાના બાળકોની વિરૂદ્ધ થશે અને તેઓને મારી નાખવા સોંપશે. બાળકો તેમના માતાપિતાની વિરૂદ્ધ થશે અને તેમના માબાપને મારી નંખાવવાના રસ્તા શોધશે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="MRK.13.13" />બધા લોકો તમને ધિક્કારશે. કારણ કે તમે મને અનુસરો છો. પણ જે વ્યક્તિ અંત સુધી ટકશે તેનું તારણ થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MRK.13.14" />“જેનાં કારણે વિનાશ થશે એવી ભયંકર વસ્તુ તમે જોશો. જ્યાં તેને ન હોવું જોઈએ, તે જગ્યાએ તે ઊભી રહેલી હશે.” (જે આ વાંચે છે તેમણે સમજવું.) “તે સમયે, યહૂદિયામાંથી લોકોએ પહાડો તરફ નાસી જવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MRK.13.15" />કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ માટે રોકાયા વિના સમય બગાડ્યા વિના લોકોએ ભાગી જવું જોઈએ. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તેના ઘરના છાપરા ઉપર હોય તો તેણે તેના ઘરમાંથી કઈ પણ લેવા સારું નીચે જવું જોઈએ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="MRK.13.16" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ખેતરમાં હોય તો તેણે તેનો ડગલો લેવા પાછા જવું ન જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MRK.13.17" />“તે સમયે સ્ત્રીઓ જે ગર્ભવતી છે અથવા જેને ધાવણાં બાળકો છે, તેઓ માટે ઘણું ખરાબ હશે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="MRK.13.18" />અને (તમારું નાસવુ) શિયાળામાં ન થાય તે માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો.
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<v id="19" bcv="MRK.13.19" />શા માટે? કારણ કે તે દિવસો દરમ્યાન ઘણી મુશ્કેલીઓ હશે. શરૂઆતમાં દેવે જ્યારે આ જગત બનાવ્યું ત્યારે જે કંઈ બન્યું હતું તેના કરતા વધારે મુશ્કેલીઓ ઊભી થશે અને આવી મુશ્કેલીઓ ફરીથી ક્યરેય બનશે નહિ.
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<v id="20" bcv="MRK.13.20" />તે ભયંકર સમયને ટૂંકો કરવાનો નિર્ણય દેવે કર્યો છે. જો તે સમયને ટૂંકો કરવામાં ન આવ્યો હોત તો પછી કોઈ વ્યક્તિ જીવતી રહી શકી ના હોત. પણ દેવે તેણે પસંદ કરેલા તેના ખાસ લોકોને માટે તે સમય ટૂંકો કર્યો છો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MRK.13.21" />“તે સમયે કેટલીક વ્યક્તિઓ તમને કહેશે, ‘જુઓ, અહીં ખ્રિસ્ત છે!’ અથવા બીજી એક વ્યક્તિ કહેશે, ‘તે ત્યાં છે!’ પણ તેમનું માનશો નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="MRK.13.22" />જૂઠા ખ્રિસ્તો અને જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો આવશે અને મહાન કામો અને અદભૂત ચમત્કારો કરશે. તેઓ આ કામો દેવે પસંદ કરેલા લોકો આગળ કરશે, જો શક્ય હશે તો તેઓ આ કામો કરીને તેના લોકોને છેતરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="MRK.13.23" />તેથી સાવધાન રહો, હવે મેં તમને આ બધું બનતા પહેલા તે વિષે ચેતવણી આપી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="MRK.13.24" />“તે દિવસો દરમ્યાન આ વિપત્તિઓ પછી,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘સૂર્ય અંધકારરૂપ થઈ જશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચંદ્ર તેનો પ્રકાશ આપશે નહિ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="MRK.13.25" />આકાશના તારાઓ ખરવા લાગશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આકાશના પરાક્રમો હલાવાશે.’
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.13.10">યશાયા 13:10</ref>; <ref tgt="ISA.34.4">34:4</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MRK.13.26" />“પછી લોકો માણસના પુત્રને ઘણાં પરાક્રમ તથા મહિમા સહિત વાદળામાં આવતો જોશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="MRK.13.27" />માણસનો પુત્ર પૃથ્વીની ચારેબાજુ તેના દૂતોને મોકલશે. દૂતો પૃથ્વી પરના દરેક ભાગોમાંથી તેના પસંદ કરેવા લોકોને ભેગા કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="MRK.13.28" />“અંજીરીનું વૃક્ષ આપણને એક બોધપાઠ શીખવે છે. જ્યારે અંજીરીના વૃક્ષની ડાળીઓ લીલી અને નરમ બને છે અને નવા પાંદડાં ઊગવાની શરુંઆત થાય છે ત્યારે તમે જાણો છો કે ઉનાળો નજીક છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="MRK.13.29" />આ વસ્તુઓ સાથે એવું જ છે જે મેં તમને કહ્યું તે બનશે જ. જ્યારે તમે આ બધું બનતું જોશો, ત્યારે તમે જાણશો કે તે સમય<f caller="+"><fr>13:29
</fr><fk>સમય
</fk><ft>યજારે કંઈક મહત્વનું સમયમાં બનવાનું છે તેના વિષે ઈસુ કહે છે. જૂઓ <ref tgt="LUK.21.31">લૂક. 21:31,</ref> જ્યાં ઈસુએ કહ્યું છે કે દેવનું રાજ્ય આવવાનો આ સમય છે.</ft></f> નજીક છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="MRK.13.30" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું. જ્યારે આ સમયના લોકો જીવતા હશે ત્યારે જ આ બધી વસ્તુઓ બનશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="MRK.13.31" />આખી પૃથ્વી અને આકાશનો વિનાશ થશે. પણ જે વાતો મેં કહી છે તે કદાપિ નાશ પામશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MRK.13.32" />“કોઈ વ્યક્તિ જાણતી નથી કે કયા દિવસે કયા સમયે તે થશે. તે પુત્ર અને આકાશના દૂતો પણ તે જાણતા નથી. ફક્ત પિતા જ જાણે છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="MRK.13.33" />સાવધાન રહો! હંમેશા તૈયાર રહો! તમને ખબર નથી તે સમય ક્યારે આવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="MRK.13.34" />“એક માણસ તેનું ઘર છોડીને પ્રવાસમાં જાય છે તેના જેવું આ છે. તે માણસ તેના ઘરની સંભાળ લેવાનું તેના સેવકોને સોંપે છે. તે દરેક સેવકને દરવાજાની ચોકી કરવાનું કામ સોંપે છે. તે માણસ આ સેવકને હંમેશા તૈયાર રહેવાનું કહે છે. હમણા હું તમને કહું છું તે એ જ છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="MRK.13.35" />તેથી તમારે હંમેશા તૈયાર રહેવું જોઈએ, તમે જાણતા નથી, ઘરનો ધણી સાંજે, મધરાતે કે વહેલી સવારે કે જ્યારે સૂર્ય ઊગે છે ત્યારે કદાચ આવે.
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<v id="36" bcv="MRK.13.36" />રખેને તે ધણી એકાએક પાછો ઝડપથી પણ આવે. જો તમે હંમેશા તૈયાર રહો તો પછી તે તમને ઊંઘતા જોશે નહિ.
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<v id="37" bcv="MRK.13.37" />હું તમને આ કહું છું, અને હું આ પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને કહું છું: ‘તૈયાર રહો!’”
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<c id="14" />
<s style="s">ઈસુને મારી નાખવાનું યહૂદિ આગેવાનોનું કાવતરું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:1-5; લૂક 22:1-2; યોહાન 11:45-53)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.14.1" />પાસ્ખા અને બેખમીર રોટલીના પર્વના<f caller="+"><fr>14:1
</fr><fk>બેખમીર રોટલીના પર્વ
</fk><ft>મહત્વનું યહૂદિ પવિત્ર અઠવાડિયું જૂના કરારનાં સમયમાં પાસ્ખા પદ્ધી શરૂ થતો દિવસ, પણ આ સમય દરમ્યાન બે પર્વો એક બન્યા છે.</ft></f> ફક્ત બે દિવસ પહેલાનો વખત હતો, મુખ્ય યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ ઈસુને પકડવા માટે કઈક જૂઠાણાંનો ઉપયોગ કરવાનો રસ્તો શોધવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતાં હતા. પછી તેઓ તેને મારી શકે.
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<v id="2" bcv="MRK.14.2" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “પણ અમે પર્વ દરમ્યાન ઈસુને પકડી શકીએ નહિ. અમે ઈચ્છતા નથી કે લોકો ગુસ્સે થાય અને હુલ્લડનું કારણ બને.”
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</p>
<s style="s">એક સ્ત્રીનું કંઈક વિશિષ્ટ કાર્ય
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:6-13; યોહાન 12:1-8)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MRK.14.3" />ઈસુ બેથનિયામાં હતો. તે સિમોન કોઢિયાના ઘરમાં ખાતો હતો. જ્યારે ઈસુ ત્યાં હતો, ત્યારે એક સ્ત્રી તેની પાસે આવી. તે સ્ત્રી પાસે કીમતી અત્તરથી ભરેલી આરસપાનની શીશી હતી. આ અત્તર શુદ્ધ જટામાંસીમાંથી બનાવેલું હતું. તે સ્ત્રીએ તે શીશી ભાંગી નાખી અને ઈસુના માથા પર તે અત્તર રેડ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MRK.14.4" />ત્યા કેટલાએક શિષ્યોએ આ જોયું. તેઓ નારાજ થયા અને એકબીજાને ફરિયાદ કરવા લાગ્યા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તે અત્તરનો બગાડ શા માટે કરવો જોઈએ?
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<v id="5" bcv="MRK.14.5" />તે અત્તરનું મૂલ્ય આખા વર્ષની કમાણી જેટલું છે. તે વેચી શકાતું હોત અને પૈસા ગરીબ લોકોને આપી શક્યા હોત.” અને તેઓએ તે સ્ત્રીની કડક ટીકા કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MRK.14.6" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તે સ્ત્રીની ચિંતા ના કરો. તમે શા માટે તેને સતાવો છો? તેણે મારા માટે ઘણું સારું કામ કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="MRK.14.7" />તમારી સાથે સદાય ગરીબ લોકો હશે, તમે ઈચ્છો તે સમયે તેમને મદદ કરી શકો છે. પણ હું હંમેશા તમારી સાથે નથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="MRK.14.8" />આ સ્ત્રીએ ફક્ત તે કામ કર્યુ. જે મારે માટે તેનાથી થઈ શકે, તેણે અત્તર મારા શરીર પર રેડ્યું. મારા મરતાં પહેલા મારા દફન માટે અગાઉથી તેણે આ કર્યુ.
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<v id="9" bcv="MRK.14.9" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. સુવાર્તા આખી દુનિયામાં લોકોને જણાવવામાં આવશે. અને દરેક જગ્યાએ જ્યાં સુવાર્તા જણાવશે, ત્યાં આ સ્ત્રીએ જે કર્યુ તેની વાત પણ કહેવાશે. તેણે જે કર્યું છે તેની વાતો થશે અને લોકો તેને યાદ કરશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના દુશ્મનોને મદદ કરવા યહૂદા સંમત
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:14-16; લૂક 22:3-6)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="MRK.14.10" />પછી બાર પ્રેરિતોમાંનો એક મુખ્ય યાજકોને કહેવા માટે ગયો. આ યહૂદા ઈશ્કરિયોત નામનો શિષ્ય હતો, તે તેઓને ઈસુને સોંપવા ઈચ્છતો હતો.
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<v id="11" bcv="MRK.14.11" />મુખ્ય યાજકો આ વિષે જાણી ઘણા પ્રસન્ન હતા. તેઓએ યહૂદાને આ કરવા માટે પૈસા આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું. તેથી યહૂદા ઈસુને સોંપવાની ઉત્તમ સમયની રાહ જોતો હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાસ્ખાપર્વ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:17-25; લૂક 22:7-14, 21-23; યોહાન 13:21-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MRK.14.12" />હવે તે બેખમીર રોટલીના પર્વનો પ્રથમ દિવસ હતો. આ સમયે યહૂદિઓ હંમેશા પાસ્ખાપર્વમાં ઘેટાંઓના બલિદાન કરતા. ઈસુના શિષ્યો તેની પાસે આવ્યા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “અમે જઈશું અને પાસ્ખા ભોજન જમવા તારે માટે દરેક વસ્તુઓ તૈયાર કરીશું. ભોજન માટે ક્યાં જઈએ એ વિષે તારી ઈચ્છા શી છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MRK.14.13" />ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોમાંથી બે જણાને મોકલ્યા. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “શહેરમાં જાઓ, તમે એક માણસને પાણીની ગાગર લઈને જતા જોશો. તે માણસ તમારી પાસે આવશે. તે માણસની પાછળ જાઓ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="MRK.14.14" />તે માણસ એક ઘરમાં જશે. તે વ્યક્તિ જે ઘરનો ધણી છે તેને કહો, ‘ઉપદેશક પૂછે છે કે તમે અમને તે ઓરડો બતાવો કે જ્યાં તે અને તેના શિષ્યો પાસ્ખા ભોજન ખાઈ શકે.’
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="MRK.14.15" />માલિક તમને મોટી ઉપલી મેડી બતાવશે. આ મેડી તમારા માટે તૈયાર છે. આપણાં માટે ત્યાં ભોજન તૈયાર કરો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MRK.14.16" />તેથી શિષ્યો વિદાય થયા ને તે શહેરમાં ગયા. ઈસુએ કહેલી દરેક બાબત એ પ્રમાણે બની. તેથી શિષ્યોએ પાસ્ખા ભોજન તૈયાર કર્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="MRK.14.17" />સાંજે, ઈસુ બાર પ્રેરિતો સાથે તે ઘરમાં ગયો.
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<v id="18" bcv="MRK.14.18" />જ્યારે તેઓ બધા ખાતા હતા ત્યારે ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. તમારા બારમાંનો એક મારી વિરૂદ્ધ થશે, તમારામાંનો એક હમણા મારી સાથે ખાય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MRK.14.19" />શિષ્યો આ સાંભળીને ઘણા દિલગીર થયા. દરેક શિષ્યે ઈસુને ખાતરી આપી, “ખરેખર તારી વિરૂદ્ધ થનાર તે હું નથી!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="MRK.14.20" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તે માણસ જે મારી વિરૂદ્ધ છે તે તમારા બારમાંનો એક છે. જે રોટલી મારી સાથે એક જ વાટકામાં બોળે છે તે જ તે છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="MRK.14.21" />માણસનો પુત્ર જશે અને મૃત્યુ પામશે. તે લખાણો કહે છે, આ બનશે પરંતુ જે માણસના પુત્રને મારી નાખવા માટે સોંપવાનો છે તે વ્યક્તિ માટે તે ઘણું ખરાબ હશે. તે વ્યક્તિ કદાપિ જન્મ્યો ન હોત તો તેને માટે વધારે સારું થાત.”
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રભુ ભોજન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:26-30; લૂક 22:15-20; 1 કરિંથીઓને 11:23-25)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="MRK.14.22" />જ્યારે તેઓ ખાતાં હતા, ત્યારે ઈસુએ રોટલી લીધી. ઈસુએ રોટલી માટે દેવનો આભાર માન્યો અને રોટલીના ભાગ પાડ્યા. તેણે રોટલી તેના શિષ્યોને આપી. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “આ રોટલી લો અને તે ખાઓ. આ રોટલી મારું શરીર છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="MRK.14.23" />પછી ઈસુએ દ્રાક્ષારસનો પ્યાલો લીધો અને તેણે તે માટે દેવનો આભાર માન્યો અને તે શિષ્યોને આપ્યો. બધાજ શિષ્યોએ તે પ્યાલામાંથી પીધું.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="MRK.14.24" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “આ દ્રાક્ષારસ મારું લોહી છે. મારું લોહી (મરણ) દેવ તરફથી તેના લોકો સાથે નવા કરારનો આરંભ કરે છે. આ લોહી ઘણા લોકો માટે વહેવડાવવામાં આવ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="MRK.14.25" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, હવે પછી હું આ દ્રાક્ષારસ પીનાર નથી. જ્યારે હું દેવના રાજ્યમાં તે પીશ ત્યારે તે દ્રાક્ષારસ નવો હશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="MRK.14.26" />બધા શિષ્યોએ ગીત ગાયું પછી તેઓ જૈતુનના પર્વત તરફ ગયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના બધા શિષ્યોનું તેને છોડી જવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:31-35; લૂક 22:31-34; યોહાન 13:36-38)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="MRK.14.27" />પછી ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “તમે બધા તમારો વિશ્વાસ ગુમાવશો. શાસ્ત્રમાં તે લખાયેલું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘હું પાળકને મારી નાખીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ઘેટાંઓ નાસી જશે.’
<rq><ref tgt="ZEC.13.7">ઝખાર્યા 13:7</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="28" bcv="MRK.14.28" />પરંતુ મારા મૃત્યુ પછી, મૃત્યુમાંથી સજીવન થઈને હું ગાલીલમાં જઇશ. હું ત્યાં તમારા જતાં પહેલા હોઈશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MRK.14.29" />પિતરે કહ્યું, “બીજા બધા શિષ્યો તેમનો વિશ્વાસ કદાચ ગુમાવે પણ હું મારો વિશ્વાસ કદી ગુમાવીશ નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="MRK.14.30" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તને સત્ય કહું છું. આજે રાત્રે તું કહીશ કે તું મને ઓળખતો નથી. મરઘો બે વાર બોલે તે પહેલા તું આ ત્રણ વાર એવું કહીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MRK.14.31" />પણ પિતરે દ્રઢતાપૂર્વક ખાતરી આપી, “હું કદીય કહીશ નહિ કે હું તને ઓળખતો નથી અને જરૂર હશે તો હું તારી સાથે મૃત્યુ પણ પામીશ!” અને બીજા બધા શિષ્યોએ પણ એમ જ કહ્યું.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ એકલો પ્રાર્થના કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:36-46; લૂક 22:39-46)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="MRK.14.32" />ઈસુએ અને તેના શિષ્યો ગેથશેમાને નામે એક સ્થળે ગયા. ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે હું પ્રાર્થના કરું ત્યારે અહીં બેસો.”
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<v id="33" bcv="MRK.14.33" />ઈસુએ પિતર, યાકૂબ અને યોહાનને તેની સાથે આવવા કહ્યું પછી ઈસુની વધારે મુશ્કેલીઓની શરુંઆત થઈ અને તે ઘણો ઉદાસ થયો.
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<v id="34" bcv="MRK.14.34" />ઈસુએ પિતર, યાકૂબ અને યોહાનને કહ્યું, “મારો આત્મા દુ:ખથી ભરેલો છે. મારું હ્રદય દુ:ખથી ભાંગી પડે છે. અહીં રાહ જુઓ અને જાગતા રહો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MRK.14.35" />ઈસુ તેઓથી થોડો આગળ ગયો. પછી ઈસુ ભોંય પર પડ્યો અને પ્રાર્થના કરી. ઈસુએ પ્રાર્થના કરી કે, જો શક્ય હોય તો, આ પીડાની ઘડી મારાથી દૂર થાઓ.
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<v id="36" bcv="MRK.14.36" />ઈસુએ પ્રાર્થના કરી, “<tl>અબ્બા</tl> પિતા! તારાથી બધું થઈ શકે છે. આ પીડાનો પ્યાલો મારાથી દૂર કર પણ તારી ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે કર. હું ઈચ્છું તે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="MRK.14.37" />પછી ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યો પાસે ગયો. તેણે તેઓને ઊંઘતા જોયા. તેણે પિતરને કહ્યું, “સિમોન, તું શા માટે ઊંઘે છે? તું મારી સાથે એક કલાક જાગતો ના રહી શકે?
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<v id="38" bcv="MRK.14.38" />જાગતા રહો અને પ્રાર્થના કરો કે તમને લલચાવવામાં ન આવે. જે સાચું છે તે કરવા તમારો આત્મા ઈચ્છે છે. પણ તમારું શરીર નબળું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="MRK.14.39" />ફરીથી ઈસુ ચાલ્યો ગયો અને એ જ શબ્દોમાં પ્રાર્થના કરી.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="MRK.14.40" />પછી ઈસુ શિષ્યો પાસે પાછો ગયો. ફરીથી ઈસુએ તેઓને ઊંઘતા જોયા. તેઓની આંખો ખૂબ થાકેલી હતી. શિષ્યોને ખબર નહોતી કે તેઓએ ઈસુને શું કહેવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="MRK.14.41" />ત્રીજી વખતની પ્રાર્થના કર્યા પછી ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યો પાસે પાછો ગયો. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “તમે હજુ પણ ઊંઘો છો અને આરામ કરો છો? તે પૂરતું છે! માણસના પુત્રને પાપી લોકોને આપવા માટેનો સમય આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="MRK.14.42" />ઊભા થાઓ! આપણે જવું જોઈએ. અહીં તે માણસ આવે છે જેમને પેલા લોકોને સોંપવાનો છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ પકડાય છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:47-56; લૂક 22:47-53; યોહાન 18:3-12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="MRK.14.43" />જ્યારે ઈસુ હજુ બોલતો હતો તે જ પળે યહૂદા ત્યાં આવ્યો. યહૂદા એ બાર પ્રેરિતોમાંનો એક હતો. યહૂદા સાથે ઘણા લોકો હતા. આ લોકો મુખ્ય યાજકો, શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને વડીલ યહૂદી આગેવાનોમાંથી મોકલવામાં આવ્યા હતા. યહૂદા સાથેના આ લોકો પાસે તલવારો અને સોટા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="MRK.14.44" />લોકોને કયો માણસ ઈસુ હતો તે બતાવવા કઈક કરવા માટેની યોજના યહૂદાએ કરી હતી. યહૂદાએ કહ્યું, “જે માણસને હું ચૂમીશ તે ઈસુ છે. તેને પકડો અને જ્યારે તમે તેને દૂર દોરી જાઓ ત્યારે તેની ચોકી કરો.”
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="MRK.14.45" />તેથી યહૂદા ઈસુ પાસે ગયો અને કહ્યું, “રાબ્બી!” પછી યહૂદા ઈસુને ચૂમ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="MRK.14.46" />પછી તે માણસોએ ઈસુને ઘેર્યો અને તેને પકડ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="MRK.14.47" />ઈસુની નજીક ઊભેલા શિષ્યોમાંના એકે તેની તલવાર તાણી અને ખેંચીને બહાર કાઢી. આ શિષ્યે મુખ્ય યાજકના નોકરને માર્યો અને તલવારથી તેનો કાન કાપી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="MRK.14.48" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું એક ગુનેગાર હોઉં એમ તમે મને પકડવા તલવારો અને સોટા લઈને આવ્યા છો શું?
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<v id="49" bcv="MRK.14.49" />પ્રતિદિન હું મંદિરમાં ઉપદેશ આપતી વખતે તમારી સાથે હતો. તમે મને ત્યાં પકડી શક્યા નહિં પરંતુ આ બધી વસ્તુઓ બની જે શાસ્ત્રમાં કહ્યા પ્રમાણે જ છે.”
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<v id="50" bcv="MRK.14.50" />પછી ઈસુના બધા શિષ્યો તેને મૂકીને દૂર નાસી ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="MRK.14.51" />ત્યાં ઈસુની પાછળ એક જુવાન માણસ આવતો હતો. તેણે ફક્ત શણનું વસ્ત્ર ઓઢેલું હતું. લોકોએ પણ આ માણસને પકડ્યો.
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<v id="52" bcv="MRK.14.52" />તેણે ઓઢેલું શણનું વસ્ત્ર છૂટું થઈ ગયું અને તે ઉઘાડા શરીરે નાસી ગયો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદિ આગેવાનો સમક્ષ ઈસુ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:57-68; લૂક 22:54-55, 63-71; યોહાન 18:13-14, 19-24)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="MRK.14.53" />તે લોકો જેમણે ઈસુને પકડ્યો હતો તેઓ તેને પ્રમુખ યાજકને ઘેર લઈ ગયા. બધા આગળ પડતાં યાજકો, વડીલ યહૂદી આગેવાનો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ ત્યાં ભેગા થયા હતા.
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<v id="54" bcv="MRK.14.54" />પિતર ઈસુની પાછળ ગયો. પણ તે ઈસુની નજીક આવ્યો નહિ. પિતર ઈસુની પાછળ પ્રમુખ યાજકના ઘેર ચોકમાં આવ્યો. પિતર ત્યાં ચોકીદારો સાથે બેઠો હતો. તે અંગારાથી તાપતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="55" bcv="MRK.14.55" />મુખ્ય યાજકો અને યહૂદિયોની ન્યાયની સભાએ ઈસુને મારી નાખી શકાય તે માટે કાંઇક ખોટી સાક્ષી ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ શોધવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. પરંતુ તે શોધી શક્યા નહિ.
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<v id="56" bcv="MRK.14.56" />ઘણા લોકો આવ્યા અને ઈસુ માટે ખોટી સાક્ષી આપી પણ તે બધાએ જુદી જુદી વાતો કહી. તેઓ એકબીજા સાથે સંમત ન હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="MRK.14.57" />પછી કેટલાએક લોકો ઊભા થયા અને ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ કંઈક ખોટું પ્રમાણપત્ર આપ્યું. તેઓએ કહ્યું,
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<v id="58" bcv="MRK.14.58" />“અમે આ માણસને (ઈસુ) એમ કહેતા સાંભળ્યો છે, ‘હું આ મંદિરનો વિનાશ કરીશ જેને માણસોએ બનાવ્યું છે. અને હું ત્રણ દિવસમાં બીજું એક મંદિર બાંધીશ જે માણસોએ બનાવેલું નહિ હોય.’”
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<v id="59" bcv="MRK.14.59" />પણ આ લોકો જે બાબતો કહેતા હતા તે એકબીજા સાથે મળતી આવતી ન હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="60" bcv="MRK.14.60" />પછી પ્રમુખ યાજક બધા લોકોની આગળ ઊભો થયો અને ઈસુને કહ્યું, “આ લોકો તારી વિરૂદ્ધ જે બાબત કહે છે, તારી ઉપરના આ તહોમતો વિષે તારી પાસે કઈક કહેવાનું છે? શું આ લોકો સાચું કહે છે?”
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<v id="61" bcv="MRK.14.61" />પણ ઈસુ કાંઇ બોલ્યો નહિ, તેણે કોઈ ઉત્તર આપ્યો નહિ.
</p>
<p style="p">તે પ્રમુખ યાજકે ઈસુને બીજો એક પ્રશ્ન પૂછયો: “શું તું સ્તુતિમાન દેવનો પુત્ર ખ્રિસ્ત છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="62" bcv="MRK.14.62" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા, હું દેવનો પુત્ર છું અને ભવિષ્યમાં તમે માણસના પુત્રને તેના (દેવ) પરાક્રમની જમણી બાજુએ બેઠેલો જોશો. અને તમે માણસના પુત્રને આકાશનાં વાદળો પર આવતો જોશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="63" bcv="MRK.14.63" />જ્યારે પ્રમુખ યાજકે આ સાંભળ્યું, ત્યારે તે ઘણો ગુસ્સે થયો. તેણે તેનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડી નાખ્યા અને કહ્યું, “અમારે કોઈ વધારાના સાક્ષીઓની જરૂર નથી.
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<v id="64" bcv="MRK.14.64" />તમે બધાએ તેને દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ આ બાબત કહતાં સાંભળ્યો છે. તમે શું વિચારો છો?” બધા લોકોએ કહ્યું કે ઈસુ ગુનેગાર છે.
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓએ કહ્યું કે તે ગુનેગાર છે અને તેને મારી નાખવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="65" bcv="MRK.14.65" />ત્યાં કેટલાએક લોકો ઈસુ પર થૂંક્યા. તેઓએ ઈસુની આંખો ઢાંકી દીધી અને તેના પર તેમની મુંઠીઓનો પ્રહાર કર્યો તેઓએ કહ્યું, “અમને કહી બતાવ કે તું એક પ્રબોધક છે!” પછીથી ચોકીદારો ઈસુને દૂર દોરી ગયા અને તેને માર્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">તે ઈસુને જાણે છે તેવું કહેવામાં પિતરનો ડર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:69-75: લૂક 22:56-62; યોહાન 18:15-18, 25-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="66" bcv="MRK.14.66" />તે સમયે પિતર હજુ પણ ચોકમાં હતો. પ્રમુખ યાજકની એક દાસી પિતર પાસે આવી.
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<v id="67" bcv="MRK.14.67" />તે દાસીએ પિતરને અગ્નિથી તાપતા જોયો. તે પિતરને નજીકથી જોવા લાગી. પછીથી તે દાસીએ કહ્યું, “તું નાઝરેથના માણસ ઈસુ સાથે હતો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="68" bcv="MRK.14.68" />પરંતુ પિતરે કહ્યું કે તે કદી ઈસુ સાથે ન હતો. તેણે કહ્યું, “તું શાના વિષે વાતો કરે છે તે હું જાણતો કે સમજતો નથી.” પછી પિતર વિદાય થયો અને ચોકના પ્રવેશદ્ધાર તરફ ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="69" bcv="MRK.14.69" />દાસીએ પિતરને ત્યાં જોયો. ફરીથી તે દાસીએ લોકોને જેઓ ત્યાં ઊભા હતા તેઓને કહ્યું, “આ માણસ પેલા લોકોમાંનો એક છે જે ઈસુની પાછળ ગયો છે.”
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<v id="70" bcv="MRK.14.70" />ફરીથી પિતરે કહ્યું, તે સાચું નથી.
</p>
<p style="p">થોડાક સમય પછી કેટલાક લોકો પિતરની નજીક ઊભા હતા, તે લોકોએ કહ્યું, “તું તે લોકોમાંનો એક છે જે ઈસુને અનુસર્યો છે. તું ગાલીલથી ઈસુની જેમ જ આવ્યો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="71" bcv="MRK.14.71" />પછી પિતરે શાપ આપવાની શરૂઆત કરી. તેણે દ્રઢતાથી કહ્યું, “હું દેવના સોગન ખાઇને કહું છું કે આ માણસને હું ઓળખતો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="72" bcv="MRK.14.72" />પિતરના આમ કહ્યાં પછી મરઘો બીજી વાર બોલ્યો, પછી ઈસુએ તેને જે કહ્યું હતું તે પિતરે યાદ કર્યું. “મરઘો બે વાર બોલ્યા અગાઉ તું ત્રણ વખત કહીશ કે તું મને ઓળખતો નથી.” પછી પિતર ઘણો દિલગીર થયો અને તે પર મન લગાડીને રડ્યો.
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<c id="15" />
<s style="s">હાકેમ પિલાત ઈસુને પ્રશ્રો પૂછે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:1-2, 11-14; લૂક 23:1-5; યોહાન 18:28-38)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.15.1" />વહેલી સવારમાં મુખ્ય યાજકો, વડીલ યહૂદી આગેવાનો, શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને યહૂદિઓની આખી ન્યાયસભાએ ઈસુનું શું કરવું તે અંગે નિર્ણય કર્યો. તેઓએ ઈસુને પિલાતને સોંપ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="MRK.15.2" />પિલાતે ઈસુને પૂછયું, “શું તું યહૂદિઓનો રાજા છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા, તે સાચું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="MRK.15.3" />મુખ્ય યાજકોએ ઈસુ પર ઘણાં તહોમત મૂક્યાં.
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<v id="4" bcv="MRK.15.4" />તેથી પિલાતે ઈસુને બીજો એક પ્રશ્ન પૂછયો. પિલાતે કહ્યું, “તું જોઈ શકે છે કે આ લોકોએ કેટલાં બધાં તારા પર તહોમત મૂક્યાં છે. તું ઉત્તર કેમ આપતો નથી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="MRK.15.5" />પણ ઈસુએ હજી પણ ઉત્તર આપ્યો નહિ. પિલાતને ઘણું આશ્ચર્ય થયું હતું.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુને મુક્તિ આપવામાં પિલાતનો નિષ્ફળ પ્રયત્ન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:15-31; લૂક 23:13-25; યોહાન 18:39-19:16)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MRK.15.6" />પ્રતિવર્ષ પાસ્ખાપર્વના સમયે હાકેમ એક વ્યક્તિને કારાવાસમાંથી મુક્ત કરી શકતો હતો. લોકો જેને મુક્તિ આપવા ઈચ્છતા હોય તે વ્યક્તિને તે મુક્ત કરી શકે.
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<v id="7" bcv="MRK.15.7" />તે વખતે જેલમાં બરબ્બાસ નામનો માણસ હતો. તે કારાવાસમાં હુલ્લડખોરો સાથે હતો. આ હુલ્લડખોરો હુલ્લડ દરમ્યાન ખૂન માટે ગુનેગાર હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MRK.15.8" />લોકો પિલાત પાસે આવ્યા. અને તેને હંમેશા તે જેમ કરતો હતો તે પ્રમાણે એક કેદીને મુક્ત કરવા કહ્યું.
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<v id="9" bcv="MRK.15.9" />પિલાતે લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે યહૂદિઓના રાજાને મારી પાસે મુક્ત કરાવવા ઈચ્છો છો?”
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<v id="10" bcv="MRK.15.10" />પિલાતે જાણ્યું કે મુખ્ય યાજકોએ તેને ઈસુને સોંપ્યો હતો કારણ કે તેઓને ઈસુની ઇર્ષા હતી.
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<v id="11" bcv="MRK.15.11" />પરંતુ મુખ્ય યાજકોએ લોકોને ઉશ્કેર્યા કે તેઓ પિલાતને બરબ્બાસને મુક્ત કરવાનું કહે, ઈસુને નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MRK.15.12" />પિલાતે લોકોને ફરીથી પૂછયું, “તેથી મારે આ માણસ જેને તમે યહૂદિઓનો રાજા કહો છો તેની સાથે શું કરવું?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MRK.15.13" />તે લોકોએ ફરીથી બૂમો પાડી, “તેને વધસ્તંભ પર ચઢાવો અને મારી નાખો!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MRK.15.14" />પિલાતે પૂછયું, “શા માટે? તેણે શું કર્યુ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ લોકોએ મોટેથી બૂમો પાડી, “વધસ્તંભ પર તેને મારી નાખો!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MRK.15.15" />પિલાત લોકોને ખુશ કરવા ઈચ્છતો હતો. તેથી પિલાતે તેમના માટે બરબ્બાસને મુક્ત કર્યો અને પિલાતે સૈનિકોને ઈસુને ચાબખાથી મારવા કહ્યું, પછી પિલાતે ઈસુને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખવા માટે સૈનિકોને હવાલે કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="MRK.15.16" />પિલાતના સૈનિકો ઈસુને હાકેમના મહેલમાં લાવ્યા (પ્રૈતોર્યુમ કહેવાતા). તેઓએ બીજા બધા સૈનિકોને સાથે બોલાવ્યા.
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<v id="17" bcv="MRK.15.17" />તે સૈનિકોએ ઈસુને જાંબલી રંગનો ઝભ્ભો પહેરાવ્યો. પછી તેઓએ કાંટાનો મુગટ ગૂંથીને તેના માથા પર મૂક્યો.
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<v id="18" bcv="MRK.15.18" />પછી તેઓએ ઈસુને બોલાવ્યો. અને કહ્યું, “હે યહૂદીઓના રાજા સલામ!” એમ કહીને તેઓ તેને પ્રણામ કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="19" bcv="MRK.15.19" />સૈનિકોએ ઈસુને તેના માથા પર લાકડી વડે ઘણી વખત માર્યો. તેઓ પણ તેના પર થૂંક્યા. પછી તેઓ ઈસુને ઘૂંટણે પડ્યા. અને નીચે પડીને નમસ્કાર કરીને તેના ઠઠ્ઠા કર્યા.
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<v id="20" bcv="MRK.15.20" />તેઓએ ઈસુનાં ઠઠ્ઠા કરી રહ્યાં પછી તે સૈનિકોએ જાંબલી રંગનો ઝભ્ભો ઉતારીને તેને તેનાં કપડાં ફરીથી પહેરાવ્યા. પછી તેઓ ઈસુને મહેલમાંથી બહાર કાઢીને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખવા માટે લઈ ગયા.
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<s style="s">ઈસુનું વધસ્તંભ પર મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:32-24; લૂક 23:26-39; યોહાન 19:17-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="MRK.15.21" />ત્યાં કુરેનીનો એક માણસ શહેરમાં ચાલતો આવતો હતો. તે માણસ સિમોન આલેકસાંદર અને રૂફસનો બાપ હતો. સિમોન ખેતરોમાંથી શહેરમાં ચાલતો હતો. તે સૈનિકોએ ઈસુ માટેનો વધસ્તંભ બળાત્કારે સિમોન પાસે ઉંચકાવ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="MRK.15.22" />તેઓ ગુલગુથા નામની જગાએ ઈસુને દોરી ગયા. (ગુલગુથાનો અર્થ “ખોપરીની જગ્યા.”)
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<v id="23" bcv="MRK.15.23" />ગુલગુથામાં સૈનિકોએ ઈસુને દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવા આપ્યો. આ દ્રાક્ષારસ બોળ સાથે ભેળવેલો હતો. પરંતુ ઈસુએ તે પીવાની ના પાડી.
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<v id="24" bcv="MRK.15.24" />સૈનિકોએ ઈસુને વધસ્તંભે ખીલે જડ્યો. પછી સૈનિકોએ ઈસુના કપડાં તેમની જાતે અંદરો અંદર વહેંચી લીધા. પહેરેલા કયા કપડાંનો કયો ભાગ કયા સૈનિકે લેવો તે નક્કી કરવા માટે તેઓ પાસા વડે જુગાર રમ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="MRK.15.25" />જ્યારે ઈસુને તેઓએ વધસ્તંભ પર જડ્યો તે વખતે સવારના નવ વાગ્યા હતા.
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<v id="26" bcv="MRK.15.26" />ત્યાં એક લેખિત નોંધ હતી જેના પર તહોમતનામુ લખેલું હતું: “<sc>યહૂદિઓનો રાજા</sc>.”
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<v id="27" bcv="MRK.15.27" />તેઓએ બે લૂંટારાઓને ઈસુની બાજુમાં વધસ્તંભો પર જડયા હતા. તેઓએ એક લૂંટારાને ઈસુની જમણી બાજુ મૂક્યો હતો અને તેઓએ બીજા લૂંટારાને ઈસુની ડાબી બાજુએ મૂક્યો હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="MRK.15.28" />તે ગુનેગારોમાં ગણાયો એવું શાસ્ત્ર વચનમાં છે તે પૂર્ણ થયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="MRK.15.29" />બાજુમાં ચાલતા લોકોએ ઈસુની નિંદા કરી. તેઓએ તેમના માથાં હલાવ્યાં અને કહ્યું, “તેં કહ્યું, તું મંદિરનો વિનાશ કરી શકે છે અને તેને ફરીથી ત્રણ દિવસમાં બાંધી શકે છે,
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<v id="30" bcv="MRK.15.30" />તો તારી જાતને બચાવ! તું વધસ્તંભ પરથી નીચે ઉતરી આવ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="MRK.15.31" />મુખ્ય યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ પણ ત્યાં હતા. તેઓએ પણ બીજા લોકોની જેમ જ કર્યુ. અને ઈસુની ઠઠ્ઠા મશ્કરી કરી અને કહ્યું, “તેણે બીજા લોકોને બચાવ્યા પણ તે તેની જાતને બચાવી શકતો નથી.
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<v id="32" bcv="MRK.15.32" />જો તે ખરેખર ખ્રિસ્ત ઇસ્ત્રાએલનો રાજા (યહૂદિઓ) હોય તો પછી તેણે હમણાં વધસ્તંભ પરથી નીચે આવીને તેની જાતને બચાવવી જોઈએ. આપણે આ જોઈશું અને પછી અમે તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂકીશું,” તે લૂંટારાઓ કે જેઓને ઈસુની બાજુમાં વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખવાના હતા, તેઓએ પણ તેની નિંદા કરી.
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<s style="s">ઈસુ મરણ પામે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:45-56; લૂક 23:44-49; યોહાન 19:28-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="MRK.15.33" />બપોરે આખા દેશમાં અંધકાર છવાઇ ગયો. આ અંધકાર ત્રણ વાગ્યા સુધી ચાલુ રહ્યો.
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<v id="34" bcv="MRK.15.34" />ત્રણ વાગે ઈસુએ મોટા સાદે પોકાર કર્યો,
<tl>“એલાઇ, એલાઇ, લમા શબક્થની.”</tl> આનો અર્થ છે, “મારા દેવ, મારા દેવ, તેં મને શા માટે એકલો મૂકી દીધો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="MRK.15.35" />ત્યાં ઊભા રહેલા કેટલાક લોકોએ આ સાંભળ્યું. તે લોકોએ કહ્યું, “ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! તે એલિયાને બોલાવે છે”
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="MRK.15.36" />એક માણસ ત્યાં દોડ્યો અને વાદળી લીધી. તે માણસે વાદળીને સરકાથી ભરી અને વાદળીને લાકડીએ બાંધી. પછી ઈસુને તેમાંથી પાણી પીવા તે વાદળી આપવા તેણે લાકડીનો ઉપયોગ કર્યા. તે માણસે કહ્યું, “હવે આપણે રાહ જોઈએ અને જોઈએ કે એલિયા તેને વધસ્તંભથી નીચે ઉતારવા આવે છે કે કેમ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="MRK.15.37" />પછી ઈસુએ મોટે સાદેથી બૂમ પાડીને પ્રાણ છોડ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="MRK.15.38" />જ્યારે ઈસુ મરણ પામ્યો, તે જ વખતે મંદિરનો પડદો બે ભાગમાં ફાટી ગયો હતો. તે ઉપરથી શરું થયો અને છેક નીચે સુધી ફાટી ગયો.
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<v id="39" bcv="MRK.15.39" />લશ્કરનો અમલદાર જે ત્યાં વધસ્તંભ આગળ ઉભો હતો તેણે ઈસુનું મરણ થતાં શું બન્યું તે જોયું. તે અમલદારે કહ્યું, “આ માણસ ખરેખર દેવનો પુત્ર હતો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="MRK.15.40" />કેટલીક સ્ત્રીઓ વધસ્તંભથી દૂર ઊભી રહીને જોતી હતી. આ સ્ત્રીઓમાં મરિયમ માગ્દલાની, ઈસુકો નાનો ભાઈ યાકૂબ તથા યોસેની મા મરિયમ અને શલોમી હતી. (યાકૂબ તેનો સૌથી નાનો પુત્ર હતો.)
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<v id="41" bcv="MRK.15.41" />ગાલીલમાં ઈસુની પાછળ આવનારી અને તેની સંભાળ રાખનારી આ સ્ત્રીઓ હતી. બીજી ઘણી સ્ત્રીઓ ત્યાં હતી. આ સ્ત્રીઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં ઈસુની સાથે આવી હતી.
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<s style="s">ઈસુનું દફન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:57-61; લૂક 23:50-56; યોહાન 19:38-42)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="MRK.15.42" />આ દિવસ સિદ્ધિકરણનો કહેવાય છે. (આનો અર્થ વિશ્રામવારના આગળનો દિવસ.) ત્યાં અંધારું થઈ રહ્યું હતું.
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<v id="43" bcv="MRK.15.43" />યૂસફ નામનો અરિમથાઇનો માણસ પિલાત પાસે જઇને ઈસુનો મૃતદેહ લેવા જવા માટે પૂરતો બહાદૂર હતો. યૂસફ યહૂદિઓની સભાનો સન્માનનીય સભ્ય હતો. દેવના રાજ્યનું આગમન ઈચ્છનારા લોકોમાંનો તે એક હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="MRK.15.44" />પિલાતને સાંભળીને આશ્ચર્ય થયું કે ઈસુ હંમેશ માટે મરણ પામ્યો હતો. પિલાતે લશ્કરી અમલદારને બોલાવ્યો, જે ઈસુની ચોકી કરતો હતો. પિલાતે અમલદારને પૂછયું; શું ઈસુ મરણ પામ્યો છે?
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<v id="45" bcv="MRK.15.45" />તે અમલદારે પિલાતને કહ્યું કે ઈસુ મરણ પામ્યો છે તેથી પિલાતે યૂસફને કહ્યું, “તે શબ મેળવી શકશે”
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="MRK.15.46" />યૂસફે કેટલુંક શણનું કાપડ ખરીધ્યું. તેણે વધસ્તંભ પરથી મૃતદેહ ઉતાર્યો. અને તે મૃતદેહને શણના કાપડમાં વીંટાળ્યું. પછી યૂસફે શબને કબરમાં મૂક્યું. જે ખડકની દિવાલમાં ખોદી હતી. પછી યૂસફે તે કબરના પ્રવેશદ્ધારને એક મોટો પથ્થર ગબડાવી બંધ કરી દીધું.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="MRK.15.47" />મરિયમ મગ્દલાની અને યોસેની માએ ઈસુને જે જગ્યાએ મૂક્યો હતો તે જગ્યા જોઈ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">ઈસુના મૃત્યુમાંથી સજીવન થયાના સમાચાર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 28:1-8; લૂક 24:1-12; યોહાન 20:1-10)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="MRK.16.1" />વિશ્રામવારના વીતી ગયા પછીના બીજા દિવસે, મરિયમ મગ્દલાની, શલોમી, તથા યાકૂબની મા મરિયમે કટલાક સુગંધીદાર દ્રવ્યો તેને ચોળવા સારું વેચાતાં લીધા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="MRK.16.2" />તે અઠવાડિયાના પ્રથમ દિવસે, વહેલી સવારમાં તે સ્ત્રીઓ કબર તરફ જતી હતી. સૂર્યોદય પહેલા તે ઘણા વહેલા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="MRK.16.3" />તે સ્ત્રીઓએ અકબીજાને કહ્યું, “ત્યાં એક મોટો પથ્થર હતો જે કબરના પ્રવેશદ્ધારને ઢાંકતો હતો. આપણા માટે તે પથ્થર કોણ ખસેડશે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="MRK.16.4" />પછી તે સ્ત્રીઓએ નજર કરી અને જોયું તો પથ્થર ખસેડેલો હતો. તે પથ્થર ઘણો મોટો હતો. પરંતુ તે પ્રવેશદ્ધાર પાસેથી દૂર ખસેડાઇ ગયો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="MRK.16.5" />સ્ત્રીઓ કબરમાં ગઈ. તેઓએ ત્યાં એક યુવાન માણસને સફેદ ઝભ્ભો પહેરેલો જોયો. તે માણસ કબરની જમણી બાજુએ બેઠેલો હતો. તે સ્ત્રીઓ ડરતી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="MRK.16.6" />પરંતુ તે માણસે કહ્યું, “ડરશો નહિ, તમે નાઝરેથના ઈસુને શોધો છો. જેને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો હતો. તે મૂએલામાંથી ઊઠ્યો છે! તે અહીં નથી; જુઓ, અહીં તે જગ્યા છે, તેઓએ તેને મૂક્યો હતો જ્યારે તે મરણ પામ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="MRK.16.7" />હવે જાઓ, અને તેના શિષ્યોને કહો અને પિતરને પણ કહો કે તે (ઈસુ) તમને ત્યાં મળશે. શિષ્યોને કહો, ‘ઈસુ ગાલીલમાં જાય છે. તે તમારા પહેલા ત્યાં હશે. અગાઉ તેણે કહ્યાં પ્રમાણે તમે તેને ત્યાં જોશો.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="MRK.16.8" />તે સ્ત્રીઓ ઘણી ડરી ગઈ હતી અને મુંઝાઇ ગઈ હતી. તેઓ કબર છોડીને દૂર દોડી ગઈ. તે સ્ત્રીઓએ જે કઈ બન્યું હતું તે વિષે કોઈને પણ કઈજ કહ્યું નહિ કારણ કે તેઓ ગભરાતી હતી.
</p>
<p sfm="pc" style="pc"><sc>(કેટલીક જૂની ગ્રીક નકલોમાં માર્કનું પુસ્તક અહીં પૂરૂ થાય છે.)</sc>
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કેટલાક શિષ્યો ઈસુને જુએ છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 28:9-10; યોહાન 20:11-18; લૂક 24:13-35)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="MRK.16.9" />ઈસુ અઠવાડિયાના પ્રથમ દિવસે મૂએલામાંથી ઊઠ્યો. ઈસુએ પોતાની જાતે પ્રથમ મરિયમ મગ્દાલાને દર્શન આપ્યા. એક વખત ભૂતકાળમાં ઈસુએ મરિયમમાંથી સાત અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને બહાર કાઢ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="MRK.16.10" />મરિયમે ઈસુને જોયા પછી તેના શિષ્યોને જઇને તેણે કહ્યું, તેના શિષ્યો ઘણા દુ:ખી હતા. અને રૂદન કરતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="MRK.16.11" />પણ મરિયમે તેઓને કહ્યું કે ઈસુ જીવતો છે. મરિયમે કહ્યું કે તેણે ઈસુને જોયો છે. પણ શિષ્યો તેનું માનતા નહોતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="MRK.16.12" />પાછળથી ઈસુએ પોતાના દર્શન આપ્યા. જ્યારે શિષ્યો પોતાના ખેતરમાં ચાલતા જતા હતા ત્યારે થોડા સમય પછી ઈસુએ પોતાની જાતે તે લોકોને દર્શન આપ્યા. પરંતુ ઈસુ મરણ પામતા પહેલા જેવો દેખાતો નહોતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="MRK.16.13" />આ શિષ્યો બીજા શિષ્યો પાસે પાછા ગયા અને જે બન્યું હતુ તે તેમને કહ્યું. ફરીથી શિષ્યોએ એમાનું કોઈનું પણ માન્યું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ પ્રેરિતો સાથે વાત કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 28:16-20; લૂક 24:36-49; યોહાન 20:19-23 પ્રેરિતોનાં કૃત્યો 1:6-8)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="MRK.16.14" />પાછળથી ઈસુએ પોતાની જાતે અગિયાર શિષ્યો જ્યારે તેઓ ખાતા હતા, ત્યારે દર્શન દીધા. ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને ઠપકો આપ્યો, કારણ કે તેઓને ઓછો વિશ્વાસ હતો. તેઓ કઠણ હૃદયના હતા. અને જે લોકોએ ઈસુને મૂએલામાંથી સજીવન થયેલો જોયો તેઓનું માનવા તેઓ તૈયાર નહોતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="MRK.16.15" />ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “દુનિયામાં દરેક જગ્યાએ જાઓ, પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને સુવાર્તા કહો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="MRK.16.16" />જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ વિશ્વાસ કરે અને બાપ્તિસ્મા લે તે તારણ પામશે. પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ વિશ્વાસ ધરાવતી નથી તે ગુનેગાર ગણાશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="MRK.16.17" />અને જે લોકો વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેઓ સાબિતી તરીકે આવા પ્રકારના ચમત્કારો કરવા સમર્થ થશે. તેઓ લોકોમાંથી અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને બહાર કાઢવા મારા નામનો ઉપયોગ કરશે. તેઓ કદી શીખ્યા નથી તેવી ભાષાઓમાં બોલશે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="MRK.16.18" />ઈજા પામ્યા વગર તેઓ સર્પોને તેમના હાથમાં પકડશે. ઇજા વગર વિષપાન કરશે. તેઓ બિમાર લોકો પર હાથ મૂકશે અને બિમાર લોકો સાજા થશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સ્વર્ગારોહણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(લૂક 24:50-53; પ્રેરિતોનાં કૃત્યો 1:9-11)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="MRK.16.19" />પ્રભુ ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને આ વાતો કહ્યા પછી, તેને આકાશમાં લઈ લેવાયો. ત્યાં ઈસુ દેવની જમણી બાજુએ બેઠો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="MRK.16.20" />તેના શિષ્યો જગતમાં દરેક જગ્યાએ ગયા અને લોકોને સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરી. અને પ્રભુએ તેઓને મદદ કરી. પ્રભુએ સિદ્ધ કર્યુ કે તેણે લોકોને આપેલ સુવાર્તા સાચી હતી. તેણે શિષ્યોને ચમત્કારો કરવાનું સામર્થ્ય આપીને આ સાબિત કર્યુ.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="LUK"><id id="LUK">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>લૂક
</h><toc level="1">લૂકની લખેલી સુવાર્તા
</toc><toc level="2">લૂક
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">લૂકની
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">લખેલી સુવાર્તા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">ઈસુના જીવન વિષે લૂક લખે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.1.1" />ઘણા લોકોએ આપણી વચ્ચે જે ઘટનાઓ બની હતી તેનું વર્ણન કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.1.2" />જેઓએ પોતાની જાતે આરંભથી તે ઘટનાઓ નીહાળી છે અને જેઓ પ્રભુનો સંદેશ તે લોકોને આપતા હતા. તે લોકોએ આપણને જે રીતે કહ્યું હતું તે જ પ્રમાણે તેઓએ તે બાબતો લખી છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LUK.1.3" />નેકનામદાર થિયોફિલ, શરુંઆતથી જ મેં મારી જાતે આનો ચોકસાઇપૂર્વક અભ્યાસ કર્યો અને તેથી મેં તમારા માટે પુસ્તકમાં યોગ્ય ક્રમમાં વૃતાંત લખવા વિચાર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LUK.1.4" />હું આ બધી બાબતો તારા માટે લખું છું જેથી તને ખાતરી થશે કે તને જે કંઈ શીખવવામાં આવ્યું છે તે સાચું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઝખાર્યા અને એલિસાબેત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LUK.1.5" />યહૂદિયાના રાજા હેરોદના સમયમાં ત્યાં અબિયાના વગૅ<f caller="+"><fr>1:5
</fr><fk>અબિયાના વગૅ
</fk><ft>યહૂદિ યાજકો 24 જૂથોમાં વિભાજીત થયા હતા. જુઓ 1 કાળ. 24.</ft></f> માનો ઝખાર્યા નામનો યાજક હતો. તેની પત્નિનું નામ એલિયાબેત હતું. જે હારુંનના પરિવારની હતી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LUK.1.6" />ઝખાર્યા અને એલિસાબેત બંન્ને દેવની આગળ ન્યાયી હતા અને તેઓ પ્રભુની આજ્ઞાઓ અને જરુંરિયાતો પ્રમાણે બધુ કરતા હતા. તેઓ નિર્દોષ હતા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LUK.1.7" />પરંતુ ઝખાર્યા અને એલિસાબેત નિ:સંતાન હતા. કારણ કે એલિસાબેત મા બનવા માટે શક્તિમાન ન હતી; અને તેઓ બંન્ને ઘણાં વૃદ્ધ હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LUK.1.8" />તેના વર્ગના વતી દેવ સમક્ષ યાજક ઝખાર્યા સેવા કરતો હતો. આ વખતે તેના વર્ગને સેવા કરવા માટેનો વારો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LUK.1.9" />યાજકોના રિવાજ પ્રમાણે મંદિરમાં પ્રવેશવા માટે અને દેવ સમક્ષ વેદી પર ધૂપ સળગાવવા માટે તેની પસંદગી થઈ. તેથી ઝખાર્યા ધૂપ સળગાવવા માટે પ્રભુના મંદિરમાં દાખલ થયો.
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<v id="10" bcv="LUK.1.10" />તે સમયે મંદિર બહાર પ્રાર્થના માટે ઘણા લોકો ભેગા થયા હતા. જ્યારે ધૂપ સળગાવવામાં આવતો હતો ત્યારે તેઓ પ્રાર્થના કરતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LUK.1.11" />તે વખતે પ્રભુનો એક દૂત ઝખાર્યાની આગળ ધૂપવેદીની જમણી બાજુએ ઊભેલો દેખાયો.
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<v id="12" bcv="LUK.1.12" />જ્યારે ઝખાર્યાએ દૂતને જોયો ત્યારે તે ચોંકી ઊઠ્યો અને ગભરાયો.
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<v id="13" bcv="LUK.1.13" />પરંતુ તે દૂતે તેને કહ્યું, “ઝખાર્યા, ગભરાઇશ નહિ. દેવે તારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી છે. તારી પત્નિ, એલિસાબેત, પુત્રને જન્મ આપશે. જેનું નામ તું યોહાન પાડશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="LUK.1.14" />આના કારણે તને પુષ્કળ આનંદ થશે. તેના જન્મના કારણે ઘણા લોકો પણ આનંદ પામશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="LUK.1.15" />યોહાન પ્રભુ માટે એક મહાન માણસ થશે. તે કદી દાક્ષારસ પીશે નહિ કે બીજુ કોઈ કેફી પીણું લેશે નહિ. જન્મથી જ તે પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર હશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.1.16" />“યોહાન યહૂદિઓને પાછા ફેરવશે પછી તેમના પ્રભુ તેમના દેવ તરફ ફેરવશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="LUK.1.17" />યોહાન તેની જાતે પ્રથમ દેવ આગળ ચાલશે. તે એલિયાની જેમ સામથ્યૅવાન બનશે. એલિયા પાસે હતો તેવો આત્મા તેની પાસે હશે. તે પિતા અને બાળકો વચ્ચે શાંતિ લાવશે. ઘણા લોકો પ્રભુની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરતા નથી. યોહાન તેઓને સાચા વિચારના માર્ગે વાળશે અને પ્રભુના આગમન માટે તૈયાર કરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.1.18" />ઝખાર્યાએ દૂતને પૂછયું, “હું એક ઘરડો છું, અને મારી પત્નિ પણ વૃદ્ધ છે. હું કેવી રીતે માની શકું કે તું જે કહે છે તે સાચું છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LUK.1.19" />દૂતે તેને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું ગાબ્રિયેલ છું. હું દેવની સમક્ષ ઊભો રહું છું. દેવે મને આ શુભ સંદેશો આપવા માટે તારી પાસે મોકલ્યો છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="LUK.1.20" />તેથી ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ! જ્યાં સુધી આ બનાવ ના બને ત્યાં સુધી તું મૂંગો રહેશે. તું તારી બોલવાની શક્તિ ગુમાવીશ. શા માટે? કારણ કે મેં તને જે કહ્યું તેમાં તેં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો નથી. પરંતુ આ શબ્દો ચોક્કસ સમયે સાચા ઠરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.1.21" />બહાર લોકો હજુ પણ ઝખાર્યાની રાહ જોતા હતા. તેઓ નવાઇ પામ્યા હતા કે શા માટે મંદિરમાં તે આટલા લાંબા સમય સુધી રહ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="LUK.1.22" />જ્યારે ઝખાર્યા બહાર આવ્યો. તે તેની સાથે બોલી શક્યો નહિ. તેથી લોકોએ વિચાર્યુ કે ઝખાર્યાને મંદિરની અંદર કોઈ દર્શન થયું છે, ઝખાર્યા તે કઈ બોલી શક્યો નહિ, ઝખાર્યા લોકોને ફક્ત ઇશારા કરતો હતો.
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<v id="23" bcv="LUK.1.23" />જ્યારે તેનો સેવા કરવાનો સમય પૂરો થયો. ત્યારે ઝખાર્યા ઘેર પાછો ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LUK.1.24" />થોડા સમય બાદ ઝખાર્યાની પત્નિ એલિસાબેતને ગર્ભ રહ્યો. પાંચ મહીના સુધી તે ઘરની બહાર નીકળી નહિ. એલિસાબેતે કહ્યું:
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<v id="25" bcv="LUK.1.25" />“જુઓ, પ્રભુએ મારા માટે શું કર્યુ છે! અગાઉ લોકો મને મહેણાં મારતા હતા. પણ હવે નિઃસંતાનનું અપમાન દૂર થયું છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">કુંવારી મરિયમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26-27" bcv="LUK.1.26" />એલિસાબેતની સગર્ભાવસ્થાના છઠા મહિના દરમ્યાન, દેવે એક દૂતને નાસરેથ નામે ગાલીલ શહેરમાં મોકલ્યો. જેનું નામ ગાબ્રિયેલ હતું. તે દૂતને મરિયમ નામની કુંવારી કન્યા પાસે મોકલ્યો હતો. તેની સગાઇ યૂસફ નામના માણસ સાથે થઈ હતી. જે દાઉદના વંશમાથી હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="LUK.1.28" />દૂત તેની આગળ દેખાયો અને કહ્યું: “અભિનંદન! પ્રભુ તારી સાથે છે અને તને આશીર્વાદ આપવા ઈચ્છે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LUK.1.29" />પરંતુ મરિયમ દૂતની વાત સાંભળ્યા પછી ગભરાઇ ગઇ. તે નવાઇ પામી હતી. “આ અભિનંદનનો અર્થ શો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="LUK.1.30" />દૂતે કહ્યું, “ગભરાઇશ નહિ, મરિયમ, દેવ તારા પર અત્યંત પ્રસન્ન થયો છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="LUK.1.31" />ધ્યાનથી કાળજીપૂર્વક સાંભળ! તને ગર્ભ રહેશે અને તું દીકરાને જન્મ આપશે. તેનું નામ તું ઈસુ પાડશે.
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<v id="32" bcv="LUK.1.32" />તે બાળક એક મોટો માણસ થશે અને લોકો તેને પરાત્પરનો દીકરો કહેશે. દેવ પ્રભુ તેને તેના પિતા દાઉદનું રાજ્યાસન આપશે.
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<v id="33" bcv="LUK.1.33" />ઈસુ હંમેશા યાકૂબના લોકો પર શાસન કરશે. ઈસુના રાજ્યનો અંત કદી આવશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.1.34" />મરિયમે દૂતને પૂછયું, “તે કેવી રીતે બનશે? હું તો હજી એક કુંવારી કન્યા છું!”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="LUK.1.35" />દૂતે મરિયમને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “પવિત્ર આત્મા તારી પાસે આવશે અને પરાત્પરનું પરાક્રમ તારા પર આચ્છાદન કરશે. જે બાળકનો જન્મ થશે તે પવિત્ર થશે. તે દેવનો દીકરો કહેવાશે.
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<v id="36" bcv="LUK.1.36" />જો એલિસાબેત જે તારી સબંધી છે તે પણ સગર્ભા છે અને તેની વૃધ્ધાવસ્થામાં તે એક દીકરાને જન્મ આપશે. દરેક વ્યક્તિ તેને વાંઝણી માનતા હતા. પણ તે છ માસથી સગર્ભા છે!
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<v id="37" bcv="LUK.1.37" />દેવ માટે કશું જ અશક્ય નથી!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="LUK.1.38" />મરિયમે કહ્યું, “હું તો ફક્ત પ્રભુની દાસી છું. તેથી તેં મારા માટે જે કહ્યું છે તે થવા દે!” પછી તે દૂત તેની પાસેથી ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<s style="s">મરિયમની ઝખાર્યા અને એલિસાબેત સાથે મુલાકાત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LUK.1.39" />પછી મરિયમ ઉઠીને ઉતાવળથી ઈસ્ત્રાએલના પહાડી પ્રદેશના શહેરમાં પહોંચી ગઇ.
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<v id="40" bcv="LUK.1.40" />ઝખાર્યાના ઘરમાં પ્રવેશીને તેણે એલિસાબેતને શુભેચ્છા પાઠવી.
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<v id="41" bcv="LUK.1.41" />મરિયમની શુભેચ્છા સાંભળીને એલિસાબેતના પેટમાં બાળક કૂદયું. પછી એલિસાબેત પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર થઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="LUK.1.42" />પછી તેણે મોટા અવાજે કહ્યું, “બીજી સ્ત્રીઓની સરખામણીમાં તું દેવથી વધારે આશીર્વાદિત છે. અને જે બાળક તારી કૂંખમાંથી જન્મ લેશે તેને પણ ધન્ય છે.
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<v id="43" bcv="LUK.1.43" />તું મારા પ્રભુની મા છે, અને તું મારી પાસે આવી છે! આવું સારું મારી સાથે કેવી રીતે બન્યું?
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<v id="44" bcv="LUK.1.44" />જ્યારે મેં તારો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો, મારા પેટમાંનું બાળક આનંદથી કૂદ્યું.
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<v id="45" bcv="LUK.1.45" />તને ધન્ય છે કારણ કે પ્રભુએ જે તને કહ્યું છે તે ચોક્કસ થશે જ એવું તું દઢ વિશ્વાસથી માને છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">મરિયમ દેવની સ્તુતિ કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="LUK.1.46" />પછી મરિયમે કહ્યું,
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="47" bcv="LUK.1.47" />“મારો આત્મા પ્રભુની સ્તુતિ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મારું હ્રદય આનંદ કરે છે કારણ કે દેવ મારો તારનાર છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="48" bcv="LUK.1.48" />દેવે તેની સામાન્ય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દીન સેવિકા પર કૃપાદષ્ટિ કરી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે પછી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા લોકો કહેશે કે હું આશીર્વાદીત છું,
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="49" bcv="LUK.1.49" />કારણ કે સર્વસમર્થ દેવે મારા માટે મહાન કાર્યો કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનું નામ પવિત્ર છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="50" bcv="LUK.1.50" />જે લોકો તેની સ્તુતિ કરે છે તેના ઉપર દેવ હંમેશા તેની દયા દર્શાવે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="51" bcv="LUK.1.51" />દેવે તેના હાથોનું સામથ્યૅ બતાવ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે અહંકારીઓને તેઓના મનની યોજનાઓ સાથે વેર વિખેર કરી નાખ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="52" bcv="LUK.1.52" />દેવે રાજ્યકર્તાઓને રાજ્યશાસન પરથી ઉતારી પાડ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેણે દીન માણસોને ઊંચા કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="53" bcv="LUK.1.53" />પ્રભુએ ભૂખ્યાં લોકોને સારા વાનાંથી તૃપ્ત કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેણે જે લોકો ધનવાન અને સ્વાર્થી છે તેઓને ખાલી હાથે પાછા કાઢ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="54" bcv="LUK.1.54" />દેવ ઈસ્ત્રાએલના બચાવ માટે આવ્યો છે. દેવે તેની સેવા માટે ઈસ્ત્રાએલના લોકોને પસંદ કર્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે તેમને મદદ કરી છે અને એમના પર દયા બતાવી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="55" bcv="LUK.1.55" />દેવે આપણા પૂર્વજ ઈબ્રાહિમ અને તેનાં સંતાનોને આપેલું વચન હંમેશા પાળ્યું છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="56" bcv="LUK.1.56" />લગભગ ત્રણ માસ એલિસાબેત સાથે રહ્યા પછી મરિયમ ઘેર પાછી ફરી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યોહાનનો જન્મ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="LUK.1.57" />યોગ્ય સમયે એલિસાબેતે પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="58" bcv="LUK.1.58" />તેણીના પડોશીઓ તથા સગાસબંધીઓએ જ્યારે સાંભળ્યું કે પ્રભુએ તેણી પર ખૂબ દયા દર્શાવી છે ત્યારે તેઓ તેની સાથે ખૂબ પ્રસન્ન થયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="59" bcv="LUK.1.59" />જ્યારે તે બાળક આઠ દિવસનો થયો ત્યારે તેઓ તેની સુન્નત કરવા આવ્યા. તેના પિતાનું નામ ઝખાર્યા હોવાથી તેઓની ઈચ્છા તેનું નામ ઝખાર્યા રાખવાની હતી.
<ve />
<v id="60" bcv="LUK.1.60" />પણ તેની માતાએ કહ્યું, “ના! તેનું નામ યોહાન રાખવામાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="61" bcv="LUK.1.61" />લોકોએ એલિસાબેતને કહ્યું, “પણ તમારા કુટુંબમાં કોઈનું નામ યોહાન નથી.”
<ve />
<v id="62" bcv="LUK.1.62" />પછીથી તેઓએ પિતાને ઇશારો કરીને પૂછયું, “તને કયું નામ ગમશે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="63" bcv="LUK.1.63" />ઝખાર્યાએ લખવા માટે કંઈક માંગ્યુ. પછી તેણે લખ્યું, “તેનું નામ યોહાન છે.” દરેક જણને આશ્ચયૅ થયું.
<ve />
<v id="64" bcv="LUK.1.64" />પછી ઝખાર્યા બોલવા લાગ્યો. તે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરવા લાગ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="65" bcv="LUK.1.65" />અને તેના બધા પડોશીઓ ગભરાઇ ગયા. યહૂદિયાના આખા પહાડી પ્રદેશમાં લોકો આ બાબતો વિષે વાતો કરતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="66" bcv="LUK.1.66" />આ બધા લોકો જ્યારે તેઓએ આ બાબતો વિષે સાંભળ્યું. ત્યારે અચરત પામ્યા હતા. તેઓએ વિચાર્યુ, “આ બાળક કેવો થશે?” તેઓએ આ પ્રમાણે કહ્યું કારણ કે બાળક સાથે પ્રભુનું સામથ્યૅ હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઝખાર્યાનું દેવને સ્તુતિગાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="67" bcv="LUK.1.67" />પછી યોહાનનો પિતા, ઝખાર્યા પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર હતો. તેણે લોકોને પ્રબોધ કર્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="68" bcv="LUK.1.68" />“ઇઝરાએલના દેવ પ્રભુની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેમના લોકો પાસે તેઓનો ઉદ્ધાર કરવા આવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="69" bcv="LUK.1.69" />દેવના સેવક દાઉદના કુળમાંથી સમર્થ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઉદ્ધારક આપણા માટે આપ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="70" bcv="LUK.1.70" />તેના પવિત્ર પ્રબોધકો દ્ધારા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લાંબા સમય પહેલા આપેલું વચન દેવે પાળ્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="71" bcv="LUK.1.71" />દેવ આપણને આપણા દુશ્મનો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા આપણને ધિક્કારનાર સર્વની સત્તામાંથી બચાવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="72" bcv="LUK.1.72" />દેવે કહ્યું છે કે, તે આપણા પૂર્વજો પ્રત્યે દયા દર્શાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આ રીતે તેણો તેનું પવિત્ર વચન યાદ કર્યુ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="73" bcv="LUK.1.73" />દેવે આપણા પિતા ઈબ્રાહિમને વચન આપ્યું છે કે તે આપણને આપણા
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="74" bcv="LUK.1.74" />દુશ્મનોની સત્તામાંથી બચાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી આપણે નિર્ભયપણે તેની સેવા કરી શકીએ.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="75" bcv="LUK.1.75" />જ્યાં સુધી અમે જીવીએ ત્યાં સુધી દેવ સમક્ષ ન્યાયી અને પવિત્ર થઈશું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="76" bcv="LUK.1.76" />“અને, ઓ! નાના છોકરા! હવે તું પરાત્પર દેવનો પ્રબોધક કહેવાશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું પ્રભુની આગળ ચાલશે, તેને માટે માર્ગ તૈયાર કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="77" bcv="LUK.1.77" />તું લોકોને કહીશ કે તેઓને પાપોની માફી મળશે. અને તેઓને બચાવી લેવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="78" bcv="LUK.1.78" />“આપણા દેવની દયા વડે આકાશમાંથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નૂતન દિવસનું પ્રભાત આપણા પર પ્રગટશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="79" bcv="LUK.1.79" />જે લોકો અંધકાર અને મૃત્યુના ભય નીચે જીવી રહ્યા છે તે લોકોને દેવ મદદ કરશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે આપણા પગને શાંતિના માર્ગમાં દોરી જશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="80" bcv="LUK.1.80" />આમ તે નાનો છોકરો મોટો થતો ગયો અને આત્મામાં વધારે સામથ્યૅવાન થતો ગયો. ઇઝરાએલના યહૂદિઓ સમક્ષ જાહેર થવાનો સમય આવતા સુધી તે બીજા લોકોથી દૂર રહ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">ઈસુનો જન્મ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 1:18-25)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.2.1" />આ સમય દરમ્યાન કૈસર ઓગસ્તસે હુકમનામું બહાર પાડ્યું કે જે દેશો રોમન શાસન હેઠળ છે તે સમગ્ર રાજ્યની વસતી ગણતરી કરવામાં આવે. એ હુકમનામા અનુસાર બધાજ લોકોએ પોતપોતાના નામ રજિસ્ટરમાં નોધાવવાનાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.2.2" />આ વસ્તી ગણતરી પ્રથમ વાર જ થતી હતી. તે વખતે સિરિયા પ્રાંતનો હાકેમ કુરીનિયસ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LUK.2.3" />તેથી બધાજ લોકો પોતપોતાના શહેરમાં નામની નોંધણી કરાવવા માટે ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LUK.2.4" />અને યૂસફ પણ ગાલીલના નાસરેથ શહેરમાંથી યહૂદિયા મધ્યે દાઉદનું શહેર જે બેથલેહેમ કહેવાય છે તેમાં,
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LUK.2.5" />પોતાનું તથા પોતાની ગર્ભવતી વેવિશાળી પત્નિ મરિયમનું નામ નોંધાવવા ગયો કેમ કે દાઉદના વંશ તથા કુળમાંનો તે હતો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LUK.2.6" />તેઓ ત્યાં હતાં એટલામાં તેના દહાડા પૂરા થયા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LUK.2.7" />ત્યાં મરિયમે તેના પ્રથમ દિકરાને જન્મ આપવાનો સમય હતો તેણે પ્રથમ દીકરાને જન્મ આપ્યો. તે વખતે ધર્મશાળામાં કોઈ ઓરડો ખાલી ન હોવાથી તેણે ગભાણમાં જ બાળકને કપડાંમાં લપેટીને સુવાડ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના જન્મની ભરવાડોને જાણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LUK.2.8" />તે વખતે રાત્રે કેટલાક ભરવાડો ખેતરમાં તેમનાં ઘેટાંઓની રખેવાળી કરતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LUK.2.9" />પ્રભુનો દૂત ભરવાડોની સમક્ષ આવીને ઊભો રહ્યો તેમની આજુબાજુ પ્રકાશ ચમકવા લાગ્યો. તેથી ભરવાડો ગભરાઇ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LUK.2.10" />પ્રભુના દૂતે તેઓને કહ્યું, “ગભરાશો નહિ, કેમ કે હું તમને મોટા આનંદથી સુવાર્તા આપવા આવ્યો છું. જેથી આખા દેશના તમામ લોકોમાં આનંદ ઉભરાશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LUK.2.11" />આજે દાઉદના શહેરમાં તમારો તારનાર જન્મ્યો છે તે જ ખ્રિસ્ત પ્રભુ છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LUK.2.12" />તમે તેને ઓળખી શકો તે માટેની આ નિશાની છે. તમે એક બાળકને કપડાંમાં લપેટેલો અને ગભાણમાં સૂતેલો જોશો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.2.13" />પછી તો આકાશમાંથી દૂતોનો મોટો સમૂહ પેલા પ્રભુના દૂત સાથે જોડાયો. અને બધાજ દૂતો દેવની સ્તુતિ કરવા લાગ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="LUK.2.14" />“પરમ ઊંચામાં દેવને મહિમા થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વી પર દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરે છે તેવા લોકોને શાંતિ પ્રાપ્ત થાઓ.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LUK.2.15" />પ્રભુના દૂતો ભરવાડોને છોડીને આકાશમાં પાછા ચાલ્યા ગયા. ભરવાડો એકબીજા સાથે વાતો કરવા લાગ્યા, “આપણે બેથલેહેમ જઇને અહીં જે કંઈ ઘટના બની છે તથા પ્રભુએ આપણને દર્શાવી છે તે જોવી જોઈએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.2.16" />ભરવાડો તો ઝડપથી ત્યાં પહોંચી ગયા અને મરિયમ તથા યૂસફને પણ શોધી કાઢ્યા. બાળક પણ ગભાણમાં સૂતેલુ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LUK.2.17" />ભરવાડોએ બાળકને જોયું અને પછી પ્રભુના દૂતે બાળક વિષે તેઓને શું કહ્યું હતું તે તેઓએ જણાવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LUK.2.18" />ભરવાડોએ તેઓને જે કહ્યું તે સાંભળીને દરેક જણ નવાઇ પામ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LUK.2.19" />પરંતુ મરિયમે આ બધી વાતો મનમાં રાખી અને વારંવાર તેના વિષે વિચાર કરતી.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LUK.2.20" />ભરવાડો પણ જે કંઈ જોયું અને સાંભળ્યું હતું, તે બધુ તેઓને દૂતે કહી હતી તે જ થઈ હતી. તે બધા પ્રભુનો મહિમા તથા સ્તુતિ કરતાં કરતાં ઘેર પાછા ફર્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.2.21" />જ્યારે બાળક આઠ દિવસનું થયું ત્યારે તેની સુન્નત કરાવવામાં આવી અને તેનું નામ ઈસુ રાખવામાં આવ્યું. પ્રભુના દૂતે માતાના ગર્ભમાં બાળક આવતા પહેલાં જ આ નામ આપ્યું હતું
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મંદિરમાં ઈસુનું અર્પણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.2.22" />મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર પ્રમાણે શુદ્ધિકરણનો સમય આવતા યૂસફ અને મરિયમ બાળકને પ્રભુ સમક્ષ રજૂ કરવા માટે યરૂશાલેમ લઈ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="LUK.2.23" />પ્રભુના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં જે લખ્યું છે તે પ્રમાણે, “પરિવારમાં જ્યારે પ્રથમ દીકરો જન્મ લે છે તેને પ્રભુને સારું પવિત્ર ગણવો જોઈએ.”<f caller="+"><fr>2:23
</fr><fk>“પરિવારમા … ગણવો જોઇએ.”
</fk><ft>(check see should be added) નિ. 13:2, 12.</ft></f>
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LUK.2.24" />વળી પ્રભુના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર પ્રમાણે લોકોએ બલિદાન પણ આપવાનું હોય છે. તે મુજબ હોલાંની એક જોડ અથવા કબૂતરનાં બે બચ્ચાનું બલિદાન આપવાનું હોય છે. તેથી યૂસફ અને મરિયમ આ વિધિ કરવા યરૂશાલેમ ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શિમયોન ઈસુને જુએ છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.2.25" />યરૂશાલેમમાં શિમયોન નામનો માણસ રહેતો હતો. તે ઘણો ઉત્તમ ધાર્મિક નિષ્ઠાવાળો માણસ હતો.
</p>
<p style="p">તે ઈસ્ત્રાએલના લોકોના સુખ માટે પ્રભુના આગમનની વાટ જોતો હતો. પવિત્ર આત્મા તેની સાથે હતો.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="LUK.2.26" />પવિત્ર આત્માએ શિમયોનને કહ્યું હતું કે જ્યાં સુધી તે પ્રભુ ખ્રિસ્તનાં દર્શન નહિ કરે ત્યાં સુધી તેનું મૃત્યુ થશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="LUK.2.27" />પવિત્ર આત્માના માર્ગદર્શનથી તે મંદિરમાં ગયો. યહૂદિઓના નિયમશાસ્ત્રની વિધિ કરવા માટે મરિયમે અને યૂસફ બાળ ઈસુને લઈને મંદિરમાં આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LUK.2.28" />શિમયોને બાળકને હાથમાં લીધું અને દેવનો આભાર માન્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="29" bcv="LUK.2.29" />“પ્રભુ, હવે તેં આપેલા વચન પ્રમાણે આ તારા સેવકને શાંતિથી મૃત્યુનું શરણ લેવા દે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="30" bcv="LUK.2.30" />કારણ કે મેં મારી પોતાની આંખો વડે તારા તારણનાં દર્શન કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.2.31" />તમે બધાજ લોકો માટે તેને તૈયાર કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="32" bcv="LUK.2.32" />તે જગતના લોકો માટે જ્યોતિ છે જે બીન યહૂદિઓને તમારો માર્ગ બતાવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે ઈસ્ત્રાએલના લોકોનો મહિમા વધારશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.2.33" />શિમયોને ઈસુ વિષે જે કંઈ કહ્યું તે સાંભળીને તેના માતાપિતા નવાઇ પામ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="LUK.2.34" />પછી શિમયોને તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યો. અને ઈસુની મા મરિયમને કહ્યું, “ઈસ્ત્રાએલના ઘણા લોકોની ચડતી પડતી આ બાળકને કારણે થશે. તે દેવની તરફથી એંધાણીરુંપ બનશે. જેને કેટલાક લોકો સ્વીકારવા ના પાડશે.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="LUK.2.35" />લોકોના હ્રદયમાં રહેલા ગુપ્ત વિચારો જાહેર થશે. જે કંઈ ઘટનાઓ બનશે તેમાથી તારું હ્રદય દુ:ખી થશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">હાન્ના ઈસુને જુએ છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LUK.2.36" />મંદિરમાં હાન્ના નામની એક પ્રબોધિકા રહેતી હતી. જે આશેરના કુળની ફનુએલની પુત્રી હતી. હાન્ના ઘણી વૃદ્ધ હતી. લગ્નજીવનના સાત વર્ષ પછી તેના પતિનું અવસાન થતાં તે એકલી રહેતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="LUK.2.37" />હવે તો તે 84 વર્ષની થઈ હતી અને તે વિધવા હતી. છતાં તેણે ક્યારેય મંદિર છોડ્યું ન હતું. તે મંદિરમા જ રહેતી અને રાતદિવસ ઉપવાસ અને પ્રાર્થના દ્ધારા પ્રભુની સ્તુતિ કરતી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="LUK.2.38" />તેણે ત્યાં જ તે ક્ષણે આવીને પ્રભુનો આભાર માન્યો અને જે લોકો યરૂશાલેમના ઉદ્ધારની વાટ જોતા હતા તે બધાએ આ બાળક વિષે કહ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યૂસફ અને મરિયમનું ઘર તરફ પ્રયાણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LUK.2.39" />પ્રભુની આજ્ઞાનુસાર બધી જ વિધિઓ પૂર્ણ કરીને યૂસફ અને મરિયમ ગાલીલના નાસરેથમાં પોતાને ગામ પાછા ફર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="LUK.2.40" />દેવની કૃપા તે નાના બાળક સાથે હતી. તેથી તે જેમ જેમ મોટો થતો ગયો તેમ તેમ વધારે પરાક્રમી અને બુદ્ધિશાળી થતો ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="LUK.2.41" />પ્રતિવર્ષ પાસ્ખાપર્વ વખતે ઈસુના માતાપિતા યરૂશાલેમ જતાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="LUK.2.42" />જ્યારે ઈસુ બાર વર્ષનો થયો ત્યારે તેઓ પર્વમાં હંમેશા જે પ્રમાણે જતા હતા તે જ પ્રમાણે ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="LUK.2.43" />જ્યારે પર્વની ઉજવણી પૂરી થઈ ત્યારે તેઓ ધેર પાછા ફર્યા. પરંતુ બાળ ઈસુ તો યરૂશાલેમમાં જ રહી ગયો. તેના માતાપિતા તેના વિષે કંઈ જ જાણતા નહોતા.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="LUK.2.44" />તેમણે વિચાર્યુ કે ઈસુ તે સમુહમાં હશે. એક દિવસની મુસાફરી કર્યા પછી તેની શોધમાં તેઓ નીકળ્યા. તેઓએ તેમના પરિવારમાં તથા નજીકના મિત્રમંડળમાં શોધ કરી. તે માટે યૂસફ અને મરિયમ આખો દિવસ ફર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="LUK.2.45" />પરંતુ યૂસફ અને મરિયમને ક્યાંય ઈસુ જડ્યો નહિ. તેથી ફરી પાછા તેની શોધમાં યરૂશાલેમ ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="LUK.2.46" />ત્રણ દિવસ પછી ઈસુ તેઓને જડ્યો. ઈસુ મંદિરમાં ધર્મગુરુંઓ સાથે બેસીને પ્રશ્રોની ચર્ચા કરી રહ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="LUK.2.47" />જે દરેક વ્યક્તિએ તેને સાંભળ્યો. તેના ચતુરાઇભર્યા ઉત્તરો અને સમજશક્તિ જોઈને આશ્ચર્ય પામ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="48" bcv="LUK.2.48" />ઈસુના માતાપિતાએ જ્યારે તેને જોયો ત્યારે તેઓ પણ નવાઇ પામ્યા. તેની માએ તેને પૂછયું, “દીકરા, અમારી સાથે આવું તેં કેમ કર્યુ? તારા પિતા અને હું તારા માટે બહુ ચિંતા કરતા હતા. અને તારી શોધ પણ કરી રહ્યા હતા.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="LUK.2.49" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “તમે મારી શોધ શાં માટે કરતા હતા? તમને ખબર હોવી જોઈએ કે, હું મારા પિતાનું કામ જ્યાં છે ત્યાં જ હોઇશ!”
<ve />
<v id="50" bcv="LUK.2.50" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ જે કહ્યું તેનો અર્થ તેઓ સમજી શક્યા નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="LUK.2.51" />ત્યારબાદ ઈસુ તેઓની સાથે નાસરેથ પાછો ફર્યો અને હંમેશા માતાપિતા જે કંઈ કહે તે બધાનું પાલન કરતો. તેની માતા હજુ પણ તે બધી બાબતો અંગે મનમાં વિચારતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="52" bcv="LUK.2.52" />ઈસુએ વધુને વધુ અભ્યાસ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું. તે કદમાં ઊંચો થયો અને લોકો ઈસુને ચાહતા અને ઈસુ દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરતો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">યોહાનનો ઉપદેશ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 3:1-12; માર્ક 1:1-8; યોહાન 1:19-28)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.3.1" />પોંતિયુસ પિલાત તિબેરિયસ કૈસરના રાજ્યશાસનના 15માં વર્ષ યહૂદિયાનો અધિપતિ હતો.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">ગાલીલ પર હેરોદ;
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ત્રાખોનિતિયા અને યટૂરિયા પર હેરોદનો ભાઈ ફિલિપ,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">લુસાનિયાસ, અબિલેનીનો રાજા હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="2" bcv="LUK.3.2" />અન્નાસ અને કાયાફા પ્રમુખ યાજકો હતા. તે સમય દરમ્યાન ઝખાર્યાના દીકરા યોહાનને દેવે આજ્ઞા કરી. યોહાન તો અરણ્યમાં રહેતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LUK.3.3" />તેથી યોહાને યર્દન નદીની આજુબાજુના પ્રદેશમાં યાત્રા કરીને લોકોને પસ્તાવો કરવા માટે, પાપોની માફીની ખાતરી મેળવવા તથા બાપ્તિસ્મા પામીને જીવન ગુજારવાનો ઉપદેશ આપ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LUK.3.4" />યશાયા પ્રબોધકના પુસ્તકમાં લખેલા વચનો મુજબ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“અરણ્યમાં કોઈ વ્યક્તિનો પોકાર સંભળાય છે:
</q>
<q style="q1">‘પ્રભુને માટે માર્ગ તૈયાર કરો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો માર્ગ સીધો બનાવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="LUK.3.5" />પ્રત્યેક ખીણો પૂરી દેવાશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધાજ પર્વતો અને ટેકરીઓ સપાટ બનાવાશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">રસ્તાના વળાંક સીધા કરવામાં આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ખાડા ટેકરાવાળા રસ્તાઓ સરખા કરવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="LUK.3.6" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ દેવનું તારણ જોશે!’”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.40.3">યશાયા 40:3-5</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LUK.3.7" />ત્યારે ઘણા લોકો તેનાથી બાપ્તિસ્મા પામવા સારું આવ્યા. યોહાને તેઓને કહ્યું: “તમે ઝેરીલા સાપો જેવા છો, દેવનો કોપ અને જેણે તમને તેમાંથી બચવા માટે ચેતવણી આપી છે તેમાંથી ઉગારવા માટે તમને કોણે સાવધાન કર્યા?
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LUK.3.8" />તમે એવાં કામ કરો કે જે દર્શાવે કે તમે તમારું હ્રદય પરિવર્તન કર્યું છે. તમારી જાતને તમે કહેવાનું શરું ના કરશો. ‘ઈબ્રાહિમ અમારો પિતા છે.’ કારણ કે હું તમને કહું છું કે દેવ આ પથ્થરોમાંથી પણ ઈબ્રાહિમ માટે સંતાન ઉત્પન્ન કરી શકે છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LUK.3.9" />વૃક્ષો કાપવા માટે હવે કુહાડી તૈયાર છે. દરેક વૃક્ષ જે સારાં ફળ ન આપતાં હોય તે બધાને કાપી નાખીને અજ્ઞિમાં નાખી દેવામાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LUK.3.10" />લોકોના ટોળાએ યોહાનને પૂછયું, “અમારે શું કરવું જોઈએ?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LUK.3.11" />યોહાને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જો તમારી પાસે બે અંગરખા હોય તો જેની પાસે એક પણ નથી તેને આપો. અને જેની પાસે ખોરાક હોય તો તે પણ વહેંચવો જોઈએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LUK.3.12" />જકાતનાકાના કર ઉઘરાવનારા અમલદારો પણ બાપ્તિસ્મા પામવા તેની પાસે આવ્યા. તેઓએ યોહાનને પૂછયું, “ઉપદેશક, અમારે શું કરવું?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.3.13" />યોહાને તેમને કહ્યું, “તમને જેટલી જકાત લેવાનો હુકમ કર્યો હોય તેનાથી વધારે જકાત લોકો પાસેથી ઉઘરાવો નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LUK.3.14" />સૈનિકોએ યોહાનને પૂછયું, “અમારું શું? અમારે શું કરવું જોઈએ?”
</p>
<p style="p">યોહાને તેઓને કહ્યું, “બળજબરીથી કોઈની પાસેથી પૈસા લેશો નહિ. કોઈને માટે જુઠું બોલશો નહિ. તમને જે કંઈ પગારમાં મળે છે તેમાં સંતોષ રાખો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LUK.3.15" />બધાજ લોકો ખ્રિસ્તના આગમનની પ્રતિક્ષા કરી રહ્યા હતા અને યોહાન અંગે નવાઇ પામી વિચારતા હતા કે, “કદાચ યોહાન એ તો ખ્રિસ્ત નહિ હોય.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.3.16" />યોહાને બધા લોકોને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મેં તો તમારું ફક્ત પાણીથી બાપ્તિસ્મા કર્યુ પણ હું જે કરું છું, તેનાથી વધારે શક્તિશાળી વ્યક્તિનું આગમન થઈ રહ્યું છે. હું તો તેના પગના જોડાની દોરી ખોલવા માટે પણ યોગ્ય નથી. તે પવિત્ર આત્માથી અને અજ્ઞિથી તમારું બાપ્તિસ્મા કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LUK.3.17" />તેનું સૂંપડું તેના હાથમાં છે. તે ખળીમાંથી દાણા જુદા પાડવા તેયાર છે. તે દાણા ભેગા કરશે અને તેની વખારમાં મૂકશે. અને તે ભૂસાંને આગમાં બાળશે, જે કદી હોલવાશે નહિ.”
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LUK.3.18" />યોહાને લોકોને સુવાર્તા આપવાનુ ચાલુ રાખ્યું અને લોકોને મદદરૂપ થવા બીજી ઘણી બાબતો કહી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યોહાનની કાર્યસમાપ્તિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LUK.3.19" />યોહાને રાજા હેરોદની તેના ભાઈની પત્નિ સાથેના તેના સંબંધ માટે ટીકા કરી. તથા તેના બીજા ખરાબ કાર્યો માટે યોહાને તેની ટીકા કરી.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LUK.3.20" />તેથી હેરોદે યોહાનને કેદ કરવાનું બીજું એક ખરાબ કામ કર્યુ. આમ હેરોદના દુષ્કર્મોમાં એકનો વધારો થયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યોહાન દ્ધારા ઈસુને બાપ્તિસ્મા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 3:13-17; માર્ક 1:9-11)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.3.21" />યોહાનને જેલમાં કેદ કરવામાં આવ્યો તે પહેલા, બધાજ લોકો તેના દ્ધારા બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા હતા. પછી ઈસુ પણ બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યો. જ્યારે ઈસુ પ્રાર્થના કરતો હતો ત્યારે, આકાશ ઊઘડ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="LUK.3.22" />પવિત્ર આત્મા કબૂતર રૂપે તેના પર ઊતર્યો. ત્યાર બાદ આકાશમાંથી આકાશવાણી થઈ, “તું મારો વહાલો દીકરો છે અને હું તને ચાહું છું. હું તારા પર ખૂબ પ્રસન્ન થયો છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યૂસફની વંશાવળી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 1:1-17)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LUK.3.23" />ઈસુએ જ્યારે સેવાની શરૂઆત કરી ત્યારે તેની ઉંમર લગભગ 30 વર્ષની હતી. લોકોના ધાર્યા પ્રમાણે ઈસુ યૂસફનો દીકરો હતો.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">એલીનો દીકરો યૂસફ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="24" bcv="LUK.3.24" />એલી મથ્થાતનો દીકરો હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મથ્થાત લેવીનો દીકરો હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મલ્ખીનો દીકરો લેવી હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યન્નાયનો દીકરો મલ્ખી હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યૂસફનો દીકરો યન્નાય હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.3.25" />મત્તિથ્યાનો દીકરો યૂસફ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આમોસનો દીકરો મત્તિથ્યા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નહૂમનો દીકરો આમોસ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હેસ્લીનો દીકરો નહૂમ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નગ્ગયનો દીકરો હેસ્લી હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="26" bcv="LUK.3.26" />માહથનો દીકરો નગ્ગય હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મત્તિથ્યાનો દીકરો માહથ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શિમઇનો દીકરો મત્તિથ્યા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોસેખનો દીકરો શિમઇ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોદાનો દીકરો યોસેખ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="27" bcv="LUK.3.27" />યોહાનાનનો દીકરો યોદા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">રેસાનો દીકરો યોદા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઝરુંબ્બાબેલનો દીકરો રેસા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શઆલ્તીએલનો દીકરો ઝરુંબ્બાબેલ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નેરીનો દીકરો શઆલ્તીએલ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.3.28" />મલ્ખીનો દીકરો નેરી હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અદીનો દીકરો મલ્ખી હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">કોસામનો દીકરો અદી હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અલ્માદામનો દાકરો કોસામ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">એરનો દીકરો અલ્માદાસ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="LUK.3.29" />યેશુનો દીકરો એર હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">એલીએઝેરનો દીકરો યેશુ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોરીમનો દીકરો એલીએઝેર હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મથ્થાતનો દીકરો યોરીમ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">લેવીનો દીકરો મથ્થાત હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="30" bcv="LUK.3.30" />સીમેઓનનો દીકરો લેવી હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યહૂદાનો દીકરો સીમેઓન હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યૂસફનો દીકરો યહૂદા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યોનામનો દીકરો યૂસફ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">એલ્યાકીમનો દીકરો એલ્યાકીમ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.3.31" />મલેયાનો દીકરો યોનામ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મિન્નાનો દીકરો મલેયા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મત્તાથાનો દીકરો મિન્ના હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નાથાનનો દીકરો મત્તાથા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">દાઉદનો દીકરો નાથાન હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="32" bcv="LUK.3.32" />યશાઇનો દીકરો દાઉદ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઓબેદનો દીકરો યશાઇ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">બોઆઝનો દીકરો ઓબેદ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">સલ્મોનનો દીકરો બોઆઝ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નાહશોનનો દીકરો સલ્મોન હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.3.33" />અમિનાદાબનો દીકરો નાહશોન હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અર્નીનો દીકરો અમિનાદાબ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હેસ્ત્રોનનો દીકરો અર્ની હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">પેરેસનો દીકરો હેસ્ત્રોન હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યહૂદાનો દીકરો પેરેસ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.3.34" />યાકૂબનો દીકરો યહૂદા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઇસહાકનો દીકરો યાકૂબ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઈબ્રાહિમનો દીકરો ઇસહાક હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તેરાહનો દીકરો ઈબ્રાહિમ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નાહોરનો દીકરો તેરાહ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="35" bcv="LUK.3.35" />સરૂગનો દીકરો નાહોર હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">રયૂનો દીકરો સરૂગ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">પેલેગનો દીકરો રયૂ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">એબરનો દીકરો પેલેગ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શેલાનો દીકરો એબર હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="36" bcv="LUK.3.36" />કાઇનાનનો દીકરો શેલા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અર્પક્ષદનો દીકરો કાઇનનાન હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શેમનો દીકરો અર્પક્ષદ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નૂહનો દીકરો શેમ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">લામેખનો દીકરો નૂહ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="37" bcv="LUK.3.37" />મથૂશેલાનો દીકરો લાખેમ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">હનોખનો દીકરો મથૂશેલા હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યારેદનો દિકરો હનોખ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મહાલલેલનો દીકરો યારેદ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">કાઇનાનનો દીકરો મહાલલેલ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="38" bcv="LUK.3.38" />અનોશનો દીકરો કાઇનાન હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">શેથનો દીકરો અનોશ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આદમનો દીકરો શેથ હતો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આદમ, જે દેવનો દીકરો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">ઈસુનું શેતાન દ્ધારા પરીક્ષણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 4:1-11; માર્ક 1:12-13)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.4.1" />પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર થઈને ઈસુ યર્દન નદીથી પાછો ફર્યો. પવિત્ર આત્મા તેને અરણ્યમાં દોરી ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.4.2" />ત્યાં શેતાને 40 દિવસ સુધી તેનું પરીક્ષણ કર્યુ. તે સમય દરમ્યાન ઈસુએ કંઈ પણ ખાધું નહિ. દિવસો પૂરા થયા પછી ઈસુને ખૂબ ભૂખ લાગી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LUK.4.3" />શેતાને ઈસુને કહ્યું, “જો તું દેવનો દીકરો હોય તો આ પથ્થરને રોટલી બની જવા કહે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LUK.4.4" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “ધર્મશાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યું છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘માણસને જીવવા માટે ફક્ત રોટલીની જરૂર નથી.’”
<rq><ref tgt="DEU.8.3">પુનર્નિયમ 8:3</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LUK.4.5" />પછી ઈસુને શેતાન એક ઊંચી જગ્યા પર લઈ ગયો અને એક જ પળમાં તેને જગતનાં બધાજ રાજ્યોનું દર્શન કરાવ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LUK.4.6" />શેતાને ઈસુને કહ્યું, “હું તને આ બધા રાજ્યોનો અધિકાર અને મહિમા આપીશ. આ સર્વસ્વ મારું છે. તેથી હું જેને આપવા ઈચ્છું તેને આપી શકું છું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LUK.4.7" />જો તું ફક્ત મારું જ ભજન કરીશ તો એ સર્વસ્વ તારું થઈ જશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LUK.4.8" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “શાસ્ત્રોમાં લખ્યું છે તે પ્રમાણે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તારે તારા દેવ પ્રભુનું ભજન કરવું જોઈએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારે એકલા તેની જ સેવા કરવી!’”
<rq><ref tgt="DEU.6.13">પુનર્નિયમ 6:13</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LUK.4.9" />પછી શેતાન ઈસુને યરૂશાલેમ લઈ ગયો. અને મંદિરની ઊંચી ટોચ પર લઈ ગયો અને તેણે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “જો તું દેવનો દીકરો હોય, તો અહીંથી હેઠળ પડ!
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LUK.4.10" />શાસ્ત્રોમાં લખ્યા મુજબ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘દેવ તારું રક્ષણ કરવા માટે એના દૂતોને આજ્ઞા કરશે’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.91.11">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 91:11</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="11" bcv="LUK.4.11" />અને એમ પણ લખ્યું છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તેઓ તને પોતાના હાથોમાં એવી રીતે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ઊંચકી લેશે કે જેથી તારો પગ ખડક પર અથડાશે નહિ.’”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.91.12">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 91:12</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LUK.4.12" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો: “એ ઉપરાંત શાસ્ત્રમાં એવું પણ કહેલું છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તારે પ્રભુ તારા દેવનું પરીક્ષણ કરવું જોઈએ નહિ.’”
<rq><ref tgt="DEU.6.16">પુનર્નિયમ 6:16</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.4.13" />શેતાને અનેક પ્રલોભનોથી દરેક રીતે ઈસુનું પરીક્ષણ કર્યા પછી યોગ્ય સમય આવે ત્યાં સુધી ઈસુને એકલો મૂકીને ત્યાંથી વિદાય લીધી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનો લોકોને ઉપદેશ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 4:12-17; માર્ક 1:12-13)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LUK.4.14" />પછી પવિત્ર આત્માના પરાક્રમે ઈસુ ગાલીલ પાછો ફર્યો. ગાલીલની આજુબાજુના પ્રદેશમાં ઈસુની વાતો પ્રસરતી ગઇ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LUK.4.15" />તેણે સભાસ્થાનોમાં ઉપદેશ આપવાનો આરંભ કર્યો. બધાજ લોકો ઈસુની પ્રશંસા કરવા લાગ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નાસરેથમાં ઈસુનો અસ્વીકાર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 13:53-58; માર્ક 6:1-6)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.4.16" />ઈસુ ઉછરીને જ્યાં મોટો થયો હતો તે નાસરેથ શહેરમાં આવ્યો. પોતાની રીત પ્રમાણે તે વિશ્રામવારે સભાસ્થાનમાં ગયો અને વાંચવા ઊભો થયો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LUK.4.17" />તેને યશાયા પ્રબોધકનું પુસ્તક વાંચવા માટે આપવામાં આવ્યું. તેણે પુસ્તક ઉઘાડ્યું અને આ ભાગ તેને મળ્યો જ્યાં આ લખ્યું હતું:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.4.18" />“પ્રભુનો આત્મા મારામાં સમાયેલો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રભુએ જે લોકો પાસે કશું નથી એવા લોકોને સુવાર્તા આપવા,
</q>
<q style="q1">કેદીઓને તેમની મુક્તિ જાહેર કરવા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આંધળાઓને દષ્ટિ આપવા જેથી તેઓ ફરીથી જોઈ શકે
</q>
<q style="q1">તથા કચડાયેલા લોકોને મુક્ત કરવા મારો અભિષેક કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="19" bcv="LUK.4.19" />તથા તેની દયા બતાવવાનો પ્રભુનો સમય જાહેર કરવા મને મોકલ્યો છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.61.1">યશાયા 61:1-2</ref>; <ref tgt="ISA.58.6">58:6</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LUK.4.20" />ત્યારબાદ પુસ્તક બંધ કરી, સેવકને પાછુ સોંપીને ઈસુ બેસી ગયો. સભાસ્થાનમાં બધાની નજર ઈસુ તરફ ઠરી રહી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="LUK.4.21" />ઈસુએ તેમની સમક્ષ બોલવાનો આરંભ કર્યો, તેણે કહ્યું, “તમારા સાંભળવામાં આવ્યું છે, તે પ્રમાણે આ ધર્મલેખ આજે સત્ય થયો છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.4.22" />આ સાંભળીને બધાજ લોકો ઈસુની પ્રશંસા કરવા લાગ્યા, ઈસુની કૃપાથી ભરપૂર એવા શબ્દો સાંભળીને તેઓ અજાયબી પામ્યા. તે લોકોએ પૂછયું, “તે આવું કેવી રીતે બોલી શકે? એ તો માત્ર યૂસફનો દીકરો છે, કેમ ખરુંને?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LUK.4.23" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “હું જાણું છું કે તમે મને આ જુની વાત જરુંરથી કહેશો: ‘વૈદ તું પોતે તારી સારવાર કર.’ તમે કહેશો કે ‘અમે સાંભળ્યું છે કે જે ચમત્કારો કફર-નહૂમમાં કર્યા છે તે તારા પોતાના વતનમાં શા માટે બતાવતો નથી!’”
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LUK.4.24" />પછી અસુએ કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું કોઈ પણ પ્રબોધક પોતાના જ શહેરમાં સ્વીકારતો નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25-26" bcv="LUK.4.25" />“હું જે કહું છું તે સાચું છે. એલિયાના સાડા ત્રણ વર્ષના સમયમાં ઈસ્ત્રાએલમાં બિલકુલ વરસાદ પડ્યો ન હતો. સમગ્ર દેશમાં દુકાળ હતો. ખાવાને અનાજ ક્યાંય મળતું ન હતું. ઈસ્ત્રાએલમાં તે સમયે ઘણી વિધવાઓને સહાયની આવશ્યકતા હતી. પરંતુ એલિયાને એ બધામાંથી કોઈની પણ પાસે મોકલવામાં આવ્યો નહોતો. પરંતુ સિદોનના સારફતની એક વિદેશી વિધવાને સહાય કરવા માટે તેને મોકલવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LUK.4.27" />“અને પ્રબોધક એલિયાના સમયમાં ઈસ્ત્રાએલમાં ઘણા કોઢના રોગીઓ હતા છતાં તેણે ફક્ત આરામી નામાનની સારવાર કરીને તેને સાજો કર્યો હતો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.4.28" />આ વાત સાંભળીને સભાસ્થાનમાંના શ્રોતાજનો ગુસ્સે થઈ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="LUK.4.29" />તે બધા ઊભા થઈ ગયા અને ઈસુને ગામની બહાર હાંકી કાઢ્યો. તેઓનું શહેર પહાડ ઉપર બાંધ્યું હતું, તેની ટોચ પર તેને લઈ ગયા, જેથી તેને ઘક્કો મારીને નીચે ખીણમાં હડસેલીને ગબડાવી શકાય.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LUK.4.30" />છતાં ઈસુ તો ટોળાની વચમાં થઈને નીકળ્યો અને ચાલ્યો ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ભૂત વળગેલા માણસને ઈસુ સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 1:21-28)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.4.31" />ત્યારબાદ ઈસુ ગાલીલના એક કફર-નહૂમ શહેરમાં ગયો. અને વિશ્રામવારે લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="LUK.4.32" />તેઓ ઈસુના ઉપદેશથી આશ્ચર્યચકિત થઈ ગયા કેમ કે તેનું બોલવું અધિકારયુક્ત હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.4.33" />ત્યા સભાસ્થાનમાં એક માણસ હતો. તેને અશુધ્ધ આત્મા વળગેલો હતો. તેણે મોટા અવાજે બૂમો પાડી.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="LUK.4.34" />“ઓ ઈસુ નાઝારી! તારે અમારી પાસેથી શું જોઈએ છે? શું તું અમારો સર્વનાશ કરવા અહીં આવ્યો છે? હું જાણું છું તું કોણ છે? તું દેવનો પવિત્ર છે.”
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="LUK.4.35" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ તેને ચેતવણી આપી અને કહ્યું, “છાનો રહે! આ માણસમાંથી બહાર નીકળ.” પરંતુ અશુદ્ધ આત્માએ તે માણસને લોકોની હાજરીમાં જ તેને નીચે ફેંકી દીધો. તેને કોઈ પણ જાતની ઇજા કર્યા વિના તે તેનામાંથી બહાર નીકળી ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LUK.4.36" />આશ્ચર્યચકિત પામેલા લોકો એકબીજાને કહેવા લાગ્યા: “આનો અર્થ શું? આ માણસના શબ્દોમાં આ તે કેવો અધિકાર! અને તાકાત છે? કે અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓ પણ તેને આધીન થઈને બહાર નીકળી જાય છે.”
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="LUK.4.37" />બધાજ આજુબાજુના પ્રદેશમાં ઈસુ વિષેના સમાચાર વાયુવેગે પ્રસરી ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પિતરની સાસુને ઈસુ સાજી કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 8:14-17; માર્ક 1:29-34)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="LUK.4.38" />પછી તે દિવસે ઈસુ સભાસ્થાનમાંથી સીધો સિમોનના ઘરે ગયો. ત્યાં સિમોનની સાસુ બિમાર હતી. તેને સખત તાવ હતો. તેથી તેઓએ તેને મદદરુંપ થવા ઈસુને વિનંતી કરી.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="LUK.4.39" />ઈસુ તેની તદ્દન નજીક ઊભો રહ્યો, તાવને ધમકાવ્યો અને તેને છોડી જવા આજ્ઞા કરી. તેનો તાવ ઊતરી ગયો. પછી તે તરત જ ઊઠી અને ઊભી થઈને તેની સેવા કરવા લાગી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ ઘણા લોકોને સાજા કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="LUK.4.40" />સંધ્યાકાળે ઘણા લોકો તેઓના માંદા મિત્રોને લઈને ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા. તે બધા વિવિધ પ્રકારના રોગીઓ હતા. ઈસુએ દરેક માંદા માણસના માથે હાથ મૂક્યો અને તે સર્વને સાજા કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="LUK.4.41" />ઈસુની આજ્ઞાથી ઘણા લોકોમાંથી ભૂતો નીકાળ્યાં. તેઓ ઘાંટો પાડીને કહેતાં હતા કે, “તું દેવનો દીકરો છે.” પરંતુ ઈસુએ તે બધાને ખૂબ ધમકાવ્યા અને તેમને બોલવા દીધા નહિ. તેઓને ખબર હતી કે ઈસુ એ ખ્રિસ્ત છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અન્ય શહેરોમાં ઈસુનું પ્રયાણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 1:35-39)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="LUK.4.42" />બીજે દિવસે વહેલી સવારે ઈસુ અરણ્યમાં એકાંત માટે ચાલ્યો ગયો. લોકો તેને શોધતાં શોધતાં ત્યાં પણ આવી પહોંચ્યા. અને તેઓએ તેને છોડીને નહિ જવા ઘણું દબાણ કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="LUK.4.43" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “દેવના રાજ્યની સુવાર્તા મારે અન્ય શહેરોમાં પણ પહોંચાડવી જોઈએ. અને તે માટે જ મને મોકલવામા આવ્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="LUK.4.44" />આમ ઈસુ યહૂદિયાના સભાસ્થાનોમાં ઉપદેશ પ્રગટ કરતો ફર્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">પિતર, યાકૂબ, યોહાન ઈસુને અનુસરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 4:18-22; માર્ક 1:16-20)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.5.1" />ગન્નેસરેત ગાલીલ સરોવરને કાંઠે ઈસુ ઊભો હતો તે દેવના વચનનો ઉપદેશ કરતો હતો. તેઓ તેનો ઉપદેશ સાંભળતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.5.2" />ત્યારે તેણે સરોવરને કિનારે બે હોડી લાંગરેલી જોઈ. માછીમારો તેઓની જાળ પાણીમાં ધોઇ રહ્યાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LUK.5.3" />તેમાની એક હોડી સિમોનની હતી. ઈસુ તે હોડીમાં બેસવા ચઢી ગયો. ઈસુએ તેને કાંઠાથી થોડે દૂર હોડી હંકારવાનું કહ્યું. તેણે તેમાં બેસીને લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LUK.5.4" />ઈસુએ ઉપદેશ આપી રહ્યાં પછી સિમોનને કહ્યું, “હોડીને દૂર ઊંડા પાણીમાં લઈ જાઓ. અને માછલાં પકડવા જાળો નાખો. તમને કેટલાંક માછલાંઓ મળશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LUK.5.5" />સિમોને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “સ્વામી, અમે આખી રાત ખૂબ મહેનત કરી છે, પરંતુ અમને કશું જ પ્રાપ્ત થયું નથી. પરંતુ તું કહે છે તે કારણથી હું જાળો નાખીશ.”
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LUK.5.6" />માછીમારોએ પાણીમાં જાળો નાખી અને જાળોમાં એટલી બધી માછલીઓ ભરાઇ કે તેના ભારથી જાળો તૂટવા માંડી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LUK.5.7" />તેથી તેઓએ બીજી હોડીમાં બેઠેલા એમના મિત્રોને ઇશારો કર્યો. તેઓ આવ્યા અને બંને હોડીઓમાં એટલી બધી માછલીઓ ભરી કે હોડીઓ ડૂબવા માંડી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8-9" bcv="LUK.5.8" />જ્યારે સિમોન પિતરે આ જોયું ત્યારે તે ઈસુના ચરણોમાં માથું નમાવીને બોલ્યો, “પ્રભુ! હું તો એક પાપી માણસ છું. તું મારાથી દૂર રહે.” તેણે આ એટલા માટે કહ્યું કારણ કે આટલી બધી માછલીઓ પકડાઇ તેથી તે અને તેના સાથીદારો ભારે આશ્ચર્ય પામ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LUK.5.10" />ઝબદીનો દીકરો યાકૂબ અને યોહાન તથા પિતરના ભાગીદારો જે સિમોનના મિત્રો હતા તેઓને પણ આ જોઈને ભારે આશ્ચર્ય થયું હતું.
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી ઈસુએ સિમોનને કહ્યું, “ગભરાઇશ નહિ, હવે પછી તું માછલીઓ નહિ, પરતું માણસોને ભેગા કરીશ!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LUK.5.11" />પછી તે લોકો તેઓની હોડીઓ કિનારે લાવ્યા અને સર્વસ્વનો ત્યાગ કરીને ઈસુને અનુસર્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ માદાં માણસને સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 8:1-4; માર્ક 1:40-45)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LUK.5.12" />પછી એક વખત ઈસુ એક શહેરમાં હતો, ત્યારે આખા શરીરે રક્તપિત્તના રોગથી પીડાતો એક માણસ ત્યાં હતો. ઈસુને જોઈને તે માણસે સાષ્ટાંગ દંડવત પ્રણામ કર્યા અને કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ! મને સાજો કર, તું ચાહે તો મને સાજો કરી શકવા સમર્થ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.5.13" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું તને સાજો કરવા ઈચ્છું છું, તું સાજો થઈ જા!” ઈસુનો સ્પર્શ થતાં જ દર્દીનો રક્તપિત્તનો રોગ મટી ગયો. તે રોગ મુક્ત થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LUK.5.14" />ઈસુએ આ વાત કોઈને પણ ન કહેવાની આજ્ઞા કરીને કહ્યું, “તું યાજક પાસે જા અને તારી જાત તેને બતાવ અને મૂસાના આદેશ પ્રમાણે દેવને ભેટ અર્પણ કર. જેથી લોકોને ખબર પડશે કે તું સારો થઈ ગયો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LUK.5.15" />પરંતુ ઈસુના આ સમાચાર તો વધુ ને વધુ પ્રસરવા લાગ્યા. ઘણા લોકોના ટોળેટોળા ઈસુને સાંભળવા તથા પોતાના રોગમાંથી મુક્ત થવા આવવા લાગ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LUK.5.16" />તેથી ઈસુ વારંવાર એકાંત સ્થળોએ જતો જેથી એકાંતે પ્રાર્થના કરી શકતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પક્ષઘાતી માણસને ઈસુ સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 9:1-8; માર્ક 2:1-12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LUK.5.17" />એક વખત ઈસુ ઉપદેશ આપતો હતો ત્યારે કેટલાક ફરોશીઓ અને નિયમોપદેશકો ત્યાં આવીને બેઠા. તે બધા ગાલીલ, યહૂદિયા અને યરૂશાલેમના હતા. ઈસુ પાસે રોગીઓને સાજા કરવા પ્રભુનું પરાક્રમ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LUK.5.18" />કેટલાએક માણસો એક પક્ષઘાતી માણસને ખાટલામાં ઊંચકીને લાવ્યાં હતા. તે માણસોએ ઈસુની આગળ તેને લાવવા અને નીચે મૂકવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LUK.5.19" />પણ ત્યાં લોકોની ભીડ એટલી બધી હતી કે તેઓ તેની પાસે જવાનો માર્ગ કરી શક્યા નહિ. આખરે તેઓ છાપરા પર ચઢી ગયા અને છત પરનું છાપરું ખસેડીને પથારી સાથે જ પક્ષઘાતીને ઈસુની આગળ વચ્ચે ઉતાર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LUK.5.20" />તેઓનો વિશ્વાસ જોઈને ઈસુએ પક્ષઘાતી રોગીને કહ્યું, “મિત્ર, તારા પાપો માફ કરવામાં આવ્યા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.5.21" />ફરોશીઓ અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ પણ અંદરો અંદર વિચાર કરવા લાગ્યા અને કહેવા લાગ્યા, “આ માણસ કોણ છે? આ તે દેવનું અપમાન કહેવાય! પાપમાંથી માફી આપવાનું કામ દેવના સિવાય બીજું કોણ કરી શકે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.5.22" />પરંતુ ઈસુને ખબર પડી ગઇ કે તેઓ શું વિચારતા હતા, તેણે કહ્યું, “તમારા મનમાં આવા વિચારો કેમ આવે છે?”
<ve />
<v id="23-24" bcv="LUK.5.23" />તારા પાપો માફ થયા છે એમ કહેવું અથવા ચાલ ઊભો થા અને તારી પથારી લઈને ચાલતો થા. એ બેમાં કયું સરળ છે, તેનો વિચાર કરો. પરંતુ તમને ખાતરી થાય તે માટે હું સાબિત કરી બતાવીશ કે પૃથ્વી પર માણસના દીકરાને પાપમાંથી માફી આપવાનો અધિકાર છે. તેથી ઈસુએ પક્ષઘાતી માણસને કહ્યું, “હું તને આજ્ઞા કરું છું ઊઠ! અને તારી પથારી ઊચકીને ઘેર ચાલ્યો જા!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.5.25" />પછી તરત જ તે માણસ બધા લોકોની હાજરીમાં ઊભા થયો. તે જે પથારીમાં સૂતો હતો તે ઉપાડીને દેવની સ્તુતિ કરતો કરતો પોતાને ઘેર ચાલ્યો ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="LUK.5.26" />બધાજ લોકો અચરત પામી ગયા. તેઓ સ્તુતિ કરવા લાગ્યા. લોકો વિશ્વાસથી નવાઇ પામી દેવના સામથ્યૅ માટે તેઓ ખૂબ માનથી બોલ્યા, “આજે આપણે આજાયબ જેવી વાતો જોઈ છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લેવી ઈસુને અનુસરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 9:9-1; માર્ક 2:13-17)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LUK.5.27" />આ પ્રસંગ પછી ઈસુ બહાર જતો હતો ત્યારે તેણે લેવી નામના જકાતદારને જકાતનાકામાં બેઠેલો જોયો. તેથી ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “આવ અને મને અનુસર!”
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LUK.5.28" />આ સાંભળીને તરત જ લેવી સર્વસ્વ છોડીને ઈસુને અનુસરવા લાગ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LUK.5.29" />અને પછી લેવીએ પોતાના ઘરે ઈસુના માનમાં ભોજનસમારંભનુંઆયોજનકર્યુ. ત્યાં ભોજનસમારંભમાં ઘણા જકાતદારો અને બીજા કેટલાએક લોકો પણ હાજર હતા.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LUK.5.30" />તે વખતે ફરોશીઓ અને શાસ્ત્રીઆએે તેના શિષ્યોને ફરીયાદ કરી, “તમે શા માટે જકાતદારો અને પાપીઓની સાથે ભોજન કરો છો અને પીઓ છો?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.5.31" />ઈસુએ તેઓને પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “તંદુરસ્ત માણસોને વૈદની જરૂર પડતી નથી. ફક્ત રોગીઓને જ વૈદની જરૂર પડે છે.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="LUK.5.32" />હું પ્રામાણિક માણસનો નહિ પરંતુ પાપીઓને તેઓના જીવન અને હ્રદય પરિવર્તન કરવા બોલાવવા આવ્યો છું!”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઉપવાસ વિષેના પ્રશ્રનો ઈસુ ઉત્તર આપે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 9:14-17; માર્ક 2:18-22)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.5.33" />તેઓએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્તના શિષ્યો વારંવાર ઉપવાસ અને પ્રાર્થના કરે છે, ફરોશીઓના શિષ્યો પણ એમ જ કરે છે. પરંતુ તારા શિષ્યો તો હંમેશા ખાય છે અને પીએ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.5.34" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “જો વરરાજા તેઓની સાથે હોય તો શું વરરાજાની જાનમાં આવેલા જાનૈયાઓ ઉપવાસી રહે તેવું શક્ય છે?
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="LUK.5.35" />પરંતુ એવો સમય આવશે. જ્યારે વરરાજાને તેઓની પાસેથી લઈ લેવામાં આવશે અને તેના મિત્રોને ઉપવાસ કરવો પડશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LUK.5.36" />ઈસુએ લોકોને આ દષ્ટાંત પણ કહ્યું, “કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ પોતાના નવા કોટમાંથી કાપડનો ટૂકડો કાઢીને જૂના કોટને થીંગડુ મારતો નથી. કારણ કે તે જાણે છે કે આમ કરવાથી નવા કોટને નુકશાન થશે અને નવા કોટનું થીંગડુ જૂના કોટના કાપડને મળતું નહિ આવે.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="LUK.5.37" />કોઈ પણ માણસ નવો દ્ધાક્ષારસ જૂના દ્ધાક્ષારસની મશકોમાં ભરતો નથી. કારણ કે નવો દ્ધાક્ષારસ જૂની મશકને ફાડી નાખશે અને તેથી દ્ધાક્ષારસ ઢોળાઇ જશે. દ્ધાક્ષારસની મશકોનો નાશ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="LUK.5.38" />લોકો હંમેશા નવો દ્ધાક્ષારસ નવી મશકોમાં જ ભરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="LUK.5.39" />જે કોઈ જૂના દ્ધાક્ષારસનું પાન કરે છે તેઓ કદાપિ નવો દ્ધાક્ષારસ માગતા નથી. તે કહે છે, ‘જૂનો દ્ધાક્ષારસ જ સારો છે.’”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ વિશ્રામવારનો પ્રભુ છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 12:1-8; માર્ક 2:23-28)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.6.1" />એક વખત વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે ઈસુ અનાજના ખેતરોમાંથી પસાર થતો હતો. ત્યારે તેના શિષ્યો અનાજના કણસલાં તોડીને હાથમાં મસળીને ખાતા હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.6.2" />કેટલાએક ફરોશીઓએ પૂછયું, “વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે મૂસાના નિયમાનુસાર જે કાર્ય કરવું મંજૂર કરેલ નથી તે શા માટે કરો છો?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LUK.6.3" />ઈસુએ પ્રત્યુત્તર આપ્યો, “દાઉદે શું કર્યું જ્યારે તે અને તેની સાથેનાં માણસો ભૂખ્યા હતા. તે શું તમે વાંચ્યું નથી?
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LUK.6.4" />દાઉદ દેવના મંદિરમાં ગયો અને દેવને અર્પિત થયેલી રોટલી મૂસાના નિયમ પ્રમાણે યાજકો સિવાય બીજો કોઈ ખાઇ શકે નહિ તે રોટલી તેણે ખાધી હતી અને તેમાંથી રોટલીનો થોડો થોડો ટૂકડો તેની સાથેના લોકોને આપ્યો હતો.”
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LUK.6.5" />પછી ઈસુએ ફરોશીઓને કહ્યું કે, “માણસનો દીકરો વિશ્રામવારનો પણ પ્રભુ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે ઈસુ માંદા માણસને સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 12:9-14; માર્ક 3:1-6)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LUK.6.6" />બીજા એક વિશ્રામવારે ઈસુ જ્યારે સભાસ્થાનમાં બોધ આપતો હતો ત્યારે જેનો જમણો હાથ સુકાઈ ગયો હતો તેવો માણસ ત્યાં હતો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LUK.6.7" />વિશ્રામવાર હોવાથી ઈસુ તેને સાજો કરે છે કે નહિ, તે જોવા માટે શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને ફરોશીઓ આતુર હતા. તેઓ ધ્યાનથી જોઈ રહ્યાં હતા જેથી તેઓને ઈસુને દોષિત ઠરાવવા માટે કારણ મળે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LUK.6.8" />પણ સુ તે લોકોના વિચારો જાણતો હતો. તેથી તેણે જેનો હાથ સુકાઈ ગયેલો હતો તે માણસને બોલાવીને કહ્યું, “ઊઠ અને વચમાં જઇને ઊભો રહે.” તેથી તે ઊઠ્યો અને વચમાં જઇને ઊભો રહ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LUK.6.9" />ત્યારે ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “હું તમને પૂછું છું કે વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે કોઈનું, ભલું કરવું યોગ્ય છે કે માઠું કરવું, કોઈની જીવન બચાવવું કે તેનો નાશ કરવો, એ બેમાંથી શું યોગ્ય છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LUK.6.10" />ઈસુએ ત્યારબાદ ચારેબાજુ લોકો પર નજર ફેરવીને તે માણસને કહ્યું કે, “તારો હાથ લંબાવ,” તેણે ઈસુની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યુ અને તેનો હાથ ફરીથી સાજો થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LUK.6.11" />પરંતુ આ જોઈને શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને ફરોશીઓ ગુસ્સે થયા. તેઓ એકબીજાને કહેવા લાગ્યા કે, “હવે ઈસુનું આપણે શું કરીએ?”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના બાર પ્રેરિતોની પસંદગી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 10:1-4; માર્ક 3:13-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LUK.6.12" />તે દિવસો દરમ્યાન ઈસુ પ્રાર્થના કરવા માટે પહાડ પર ગયો. અને તેણે આખી રાત દેવની પ્રાર્થનામાં વિતાવી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LUK.6.13" />અને પછી જ્યારે પ્રભાત થયું ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના શિષ્યોને બોલાવીને ચેઓનામાંથી બારની પસંદગી કરી અને તેઓને “પ્રેરિતો” નામ આપ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="LUK.6.14" />એટલે સિમોન (ઈસુએ તેનું નામ પિતર પાડ્યું)
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને તેના ભાઈ આંન્દ્ધિયાને,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યાકૂબ
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તથા યોહાનને,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ફિલિપને
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તથા બર્થોલ્મીને,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="LUK.6.15" />માથ્થીને
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તથા થોમાને,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યાકૂબને (અલ્ફીના દીકરો)
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">તથા સિમોન,
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">જેને ઝેલોટીસ કહેતા હતા. તેને,
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.6.16" />યહૂદા (યાકૂબનો દીકરો)
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">આ યહૂદા ઇશ્કરિયોત હતો જેણે ઈસુને તેના દુશ્મનોને સોંપ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<s style="s">ઈસુનો ઉપદેશ અને લોકોને સાજાપણું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 4:23-25; 5:1-12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LUK.6.17" />ઈસુ અને પ્રેરિતો પહાડ પરથી નીચે ઉતર્યાને ઈસુ સપાટ મેદાનમાં આવીને ઊભો રહ્યો. ત્યાં મોટા સમૂહમાં તેના શિષ્યો હતા. અને સમગ્ર યહૂદિયામાંના તથા યરૂશાલેમના અને તૂર તથા સિદોનના સમુદ્ધકિનારાના ઘણા લોકો મોટા સમૂહમાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LUK.6.18" />જેઓ ભેગા થયા હતા તે તેનો ઉપદેશ સાંભળવા તથા તેઓના રોગોમાંથી સાજા થવા માટે આવ્યા હતા. તે લોકો અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓથી પીડાતા હતા. ઈસુએ તે બધા લોકોને સાજા કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LUK.6.19" />બધાજ લોકો ઈસુને સ્પર્શ કરવા કોશિશ કરતાં હતા, કારણ કે તેનામાંથી જે પરાક્રમ નીકળી રહ્યુ હતુ તેનાથી દરેક સાજા થયા હતા!
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LUK.6.20" />ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યો તરફ જોતાં જોતાં બોલ્યો,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તમે લોકો જે ગરીબ છો, તે સૌને ધન્ય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે દેવનું રાજ્ય તમારુંછે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.6.21" />તમે જે હમણાં ભૂખ્યા છો, તેઓને પણ ધન્ય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમે પણ તૃપ્ત થવાના છો.
</q>
<q style="q1">આજે તમે રડો છો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને પણ ધન્ય છે, કારણ કે તમે હસશો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.6.22" />“માણસના દીકરાને કારણે લોકો તમને તેમના જૂથમાંથી હાંકી કાઢશે, તમારા નામની નિંદા કરશે, તમારી બદનામી કરશે ત્યારે પણ તમને ધન્ય છે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="LUK.6.23" />એવું બને તે દિવસે તમે આનંદમગ્ર બનીને નાચી ઊઠજો, કારણ કે આકાશમાં તમને મોટો બદલો પ્રાપ્ત થશે. કારણ કે તેઓના બાપદાદાઓએ પણ આ પ્રબોધકો સાથે આ જ રીતે વ્યવહાર કર્યા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="LUK.6.24" />“પણ હે ધનવાનો, તમને અફસોસ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમારી સુખસંપત્તિ આ જીવન માટે જ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.6.25" />અને એ લોકો અત્યારે જે સંતુષ્ટો છે તેમને પણ અફસોસ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમારો ભૂખે મરવાનો સમય આવનાર છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને હાલમાં હસનારાઓ, તમને અફસોસ છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમે શોક કરવાના છો અને રડવાના છો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LUK.6.26" />“જ્યારે બધાજ લોકો તમારું સારું કહેશે ત્યારે તમને અફસોસ છે કારણ કે તેઓના બાપદાદાઓ પણ હંમેશા જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો માટે આવી જ પ્રસંશા કરતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તમારા વૈરીઓ પર પ્રેમ કરો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 5:38-48; 7:12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LUK.6.27" />“હું જે લોકો મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે તે સૌ સાંભળનારાઓને કહું છું, તમારા વૈરીઓને પ્રેમ કરો. જેઓ તમારો તિરસ્કાર કરે તેઓનું પણ ભલું કરો.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LUK.6.28" />જેઓ તમારું ખરાબ ઈચ્છે તેઓનું પણ તમે સારું ઈચ્છો. જેઓ તમારું અપમાન કરે છે તેઓના ભલા માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="LUK.6.29" />જો કોઈ તમારા એક ગાલ પર તમાચો મારે તો તમે તેની આગળ બીજો ગાલ ધરો.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LUK.6.30" />દરેક વ્યક્તિને તે જે માગે તે આપો. જ્યારે તમારી પાસેથી કોઈ તમારો કોટ લઈ જાય તો તમારું ખમીસ પણ લઈ જવા દો. તેની પાસેથી તે પાછું માગશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="LUK.6.31" />જેમ તમે ઈચ્છા રાખો છો કે બીજાઓ તમારા માટે કરે તેમજ તમે પણ તેઓના માટે તેવું કરો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LUK.6.32" />“જો તમે, તમને જે ચાહે છે તે લોકોને જ ચાહો તો તેમાં તમારી મહેરબાની શાની? કારણ કે પાપીઓ પણ તેમના પર પ્રેમ કરનારાઓને ચાહે છે!
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.6.33" />“જે લોકો તમારુંભલું કરે છે, ફક્ત તે લોકોનું જ તમે ભલુ કરો તો તેમ કરવા માટે તમને વધારે પ્રસંશા મળે ખરી? ના! પાપીઓ પણ એમ જ કરે છે!
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="LUK.6.34" />હંમેશા જેઓની પાસેથી તમે પાછું લેવાની આશા રાખો, તેઓને જ તમે ઊછીનું આપો, તો તેમાં તમારી મહેરબાની શાની? ના! પાપીઓ પણ પાછું લેવા માટે પાપીઓને ઊછીનું આપે છે!
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="LUK.6.35" />“તેથી તમારા વૈરીઓને પણ પ્રીતિ કરો. તેઓનું ભલું કરો. અને કંઈ પણ પાછું મેળવવાની આશા વિના તમે ઉછીનું આપો. જો તમે આમ કરશો તો તમને તેનો બદલો મળશે. અને તમે પરાત્પરના દીકરાઓ થશો. હા કારણ કે દેવ, અનુપકારીઓ તથા દુષ્ટ લોકો પર પણ માયાળું છે.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="LUK.6.36" />તેથી જેમ તમારો બાપ પ્રેમ અને દયા આપે છે તેમ તમે પણ પ્રેમ અને દયા દર્શાવો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તમારી જાત તરફ જુઓ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 7:1-5)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LUK.6.37" />“બીજા લોકોનો ન્યાય તમે ના કરો. એટલે તમારો ન્યાય પણ થશે નહિ. બીજા લોકોનો તિરસ્કાર ના કરો. એટલે કોઈ તમારો તિરસ્કાર કરશે નહિ. બીજા લોકોને માફ કરો તેથી તમને માફી મળશે.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="LUK.6.38" />બીજા લોકોને આપો એટલે તમને મળશે. તમે તમારા હાથમાં પકડો તેના કરતાં પણ વધુ મેળવા શકશો. તમને એટલું બધું આપવામાં આવશે જેથી તમારો ખોળો પણ ઊભરાઇ જશે. કારણ કે તમે જે રીતે બીજા લોકોને આપો છો તે જ રીતે દેવ તમને આપશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LUK.6.39" />ઈસુએ તેમને આ દષ્ટાંત કહ્યું, “શું એક આંધળો બીજા આંધળાને દોરી શકે? ના! તેઓ બંને ખાડામાં પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="LUK.6.40" />વિધાર્થી પોતાના શિક્ષક કરતા મોટો નથી. પરંતુ જ્યારે વિધાર્થી સંપૂર્ણ રીતે વિદ્ધાન બનશે ત્યારે તે તેના શિક્ષક જેવો બનશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="LUK.6.41" />“શા માટે તમે તમારા ભાઈની આંખમાં પડેલા નાના ધૂળના રજકણનું ધ્યાન રાખો છો, પણ તમે તમારી આંખમાં પડેલા મોટા ભારોટિયાને તમે નથી જોતા?
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="LUK.6.42" />તમે તમારા ભાઈને કહો છો, ‘ભાઈ, તારી આંખમાંથી મને નાની ધૂળની રજકણ કાઢી નાખવા દે.’ તમે આવું શા માટે કહો છો? તમે તમારી પોતાની, આંખમાંનો મોટો ભારોટિયો પણ જોઈ શકતા નથી. તમે એક ઢોંગી છો. પહેલા તમે તમારી પોતાની આંખમાંથી મોટા ભારોટિયાને બહાર કાઢો. પછી તમે તમારા ભાઈની આંખમાંથી ધૂળ કાઢવાનું સ્પષ્ટ જોઈ શકશો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">બે પ્રકારના ફળ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 7:17-20; 12:34-35)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="LUK.6.43" />“એક સારું વૃક્ષ ખરાબ ફળ આપતું નથી, તેમ એક ખરાબ વૃક્ષ સારું ફળ આપતું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="LUK.6.44" />પ્રત્યેક વૃક્ષ જે પોતે જે ફળ આપે છે તેનાથી ઓળખાય છે. લોકો કાંટાના ઝાડ પરથી અંજીર ભેગા કરતા નથી. અને ઊંટકટા પરથી દ્ધાક્ષ મેળવતા નથી!
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="LUK.6.45" />સારા માણસના હ્રદયમાં સારી વસ્તુઓ સાચવેલી હોય છે તેથી તેના હ્રદયમાંથી સારી વસ્તુઓ બહાર આવે છે. પરંતુ દુષ્ટ માણસના હ્રદયમાં ખરાબ વસ્તુઓ સાચવેલી હોય છે. તેથી તે ખરાબ વસ્તુઓ બહાર કાઢે છે. કારણ કે વ્યક્તિ તેના હ્રદયમાં જે કાંઇ ભરેલું હોય છે તે જ બોલે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">બે પ્રકારના લોકો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 7:24-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="LUK.6.46" />“તમે મને પ્રભુ, પ્રભુ, શા માટે કહો છો, અને હું જે કહું છું તે શા માટે કરતા નથી?
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="LUK.6.47" />પ્રત્યેક માણસ જે મારી પાસે આવે છે અને મારા શબ્દો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે અને તેનું પાલન કરે છે તે કોના જેવો છે, એ હું તમને બતાવીશ:
<ve />
<v id="48" bcv="LUK.6.48" />તે એક મકાન બાંધનાર માણસ જેવો છે. જે ઊડું ખોદે છે અને મજબૂત ખડક પર મકાન બાંધે છે જ્યારે રેલ આવે છે ત્યારે પાણી મકાનને તાણી જવા પ્રયત્ન કરે છે. પરંતુ રેલ ઘરને હલાવી શકતી નથી, કારણ કે મકાન સારી રીતે (મજબૂત) બાંધેલું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="LUK.6.49" />“પરંતુ જે માણસ સારા શબ્દો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે પરંતુ તેનું પાલન કરતો નથી તે મજબૂત ખડક પર મકાન નહિ બાંધનાર માણસ જેવો છે. જ્યારે રેલ આવે છે ત્યારે મકાન તરત જ નીચે પડી જાય છે. અને મકાન સંપૂર્ણ નાશ પામે છે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">ઈસુનું નોકરને સાજા કરવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 8:5-13; યોહાન 4:43-54)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.7.1" />ઈસુએ લોકોને આ બધી બાબતો કહેવાનું પૂર્ણ કર્યુ. પછી ઈસુ કફર-નહૂમ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.7.2" />ત્યાં કફરનહૂમમાં એક લશ્કરનો અમલદાર હતો. તે અમલદારને એક નોકર હતો જે ઘણો માંદો હતો. તે મરવાની અણી પર હતો, તે અમલદાર નોકરને ઘણો ચાહતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LUK.7.3" />જ્યારે અમલદારે ઈસુ વિષે સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તેણે યહૂદિઓના વડીલોને તેની પાસે મોકલ્યો. તે અમલદારની ઈચ્છા હતી કે માણસો ઈસુને આવીને નોકરને બચાવવાનું કહે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LUK.7.4" />તે માણસો ઈસુ પાસે ગયા. તેઓએ ઈસુને અમલદારને મદદ કરવા વિનંતી કરી. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આ અમલદાર તમારી મદદ માટે યોગ્ય છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LUK.7.5" />તે આપણા લોકોને ચાહે છે અને આપણા માટે તેણે સભાસ્થાન બંધાવ્યું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LUK.7.6" />તેથી ઈસુ તે માણસો સાથે ગયો. જ્યારે ઈસુ અમલદારના ઘર નજીક આવતો હતો ત્યારે અમલદારે કેટલાએક મિત્રોને કહેવા માટે મોકલ્યા કે, “પ્રભુ મારા ઘરમાં આવવાની તકલીફ લઈશ નહિ. હું તને મારા ઘરમાં લાવવા માટે પૂરતી યોગ્યતા ધરાવતો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LUK.7.7" />તેથી હું મારી જાતને તારી પાસે આવવા યોગ્ય ગણી શકતો નથી. તારે તો માત્ર આજ્ઞા કરવાની જ જરૂર છે અને મારો નોકર સાજો થઈ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LUK.7.8" />હું તારી સત્તા જાણું છું. હું બીજા માણસોની સત્તાનો તાબેદાર છું. અને મારા તાબામાં સૈનિકો છે. હું એક સૈનિકને કહું છું કે જા, એટલે તે જાય છે અને બીજા સૈનિકને કહું છું, કે આવ, અને તે આવે છે; અને મારા નોકરને હું કહું છું કે આ કર અને નોકર તે કરે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LUK.7.9" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ આ સાંભળ્યું; તે આશ્ચર્યચકિત થયો. જે લોકો તેની પાછળ આવતા હતા તેઓના તરફ ઈસુ પાછો ફર્યો. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું તમને કહું છું આટલો બધો વિશ્વાસ તો મેં ઇઝરાએલમાં પણ નથી જોયો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LUK.7.10" />જે લોકોને ઈસુ પાસે મોકલવામાં આવ્યા હતા. તેઓ ઘેર પાછા ફર્યા ત્યારે તેઓએ નોકરને સાજો થયેલો જોયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું માણસને સજીવન કરવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LUK.7.11" />બીજે દિવસે ઈસુ નાઇન નામના શહેરમાં ગયો. તેના શિષ્યો અને લોકોનો મોટો સમૂહ તેની સાથે યાત્રા કરતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LUK.7.12" />જ્યારે ઈસુ શહેરની ભાગોળે આવ્યો, તેણે એક મૂએલા માણસને બહાર લઈ જતાં જોયો, એક માતા કે જે વિધવા હતી તેનો એકનો એક દિકરો મૃત્યુ પામ્યો હતો. જ્યારે તેના પુત્રના મૃતદેહને લઈ જવાતો હતો ત્યારે માતાની સાથે શહેરના ઘણા લોકો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LUK.7.13" />જ્યારે પ્રભુએ (ઈસુ) તેને જોઈ, ત્યારે તેના હ્રદયમાં તેને માટે કરૂણા ઉપજી. ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “રડીશ નહિ,”
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LUK.7.14" />ઈસુ ઠાઠડીની પાસે ગયો અને તેને સ્પર્શ કર્યો. ખાંધિયા ઊભા રહ્યાં. ઈસુએ મૃત્યુ પામેલા પુત્રને કહ્યું, “હે જુવાન, હું તને કહું છું કે ઊઠ.”
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LUK.7.15" />પછી તે મૃત્યુ પામેલો માણસ બેઠો થયો અને વાતો કરવા લાગ્યો. ઈસુએ તેને તેની માને સોંપ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.7.16" />બધાજ લોકો ભયભીત થયા. તેઓ દેવની સ્તુતી કરતા હતા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આપણી પાસે એક મોટો પ્રબોધક આવ્યો છે!” અને તેઓએ કહ્યું, “દેવ તેના લોકોની સંભાળ રાખે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LUK.7.17" />ઈસુ વિષેના આ સમાચાર આખા યહૂદિયામાં અને આસપાસના બધાજ પ્રદેશમાં પ્રસરી ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યોહાનનો પ્રશ્ર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 11:2-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.7.18" />યોહાનના શિષ્યોએ આ બધી વાતો યોહાનને કહી. યોહાને પોતાના શિષ્યોમાંથી બે શિષ્યોને પોતાની પાસે બોલાવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LUK.7.19" />યોહાને તેઓને પ્રભુ (ઈસુ) ની પાસે મોકલીને પૂછાવ્યું કે, “જે આવનાર છે તે શું તું જ છે કે અમે બીજી વ્યક્તિની રાહ જોઈએ?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LUK.7.20" />તેથી તે માણસો ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “બાપ્તિસ્મા કરનાર યોહાને તારી પાસે અમને પૂછવા મોકલ્યા છે કે જે આવનાર છે તે શું તું જ છે કે પછી અમે બીજી આવનાર વ્યક્તિની રાહ જોઈએ?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.7.21" />તે સમય દરમ્યાન, ઈસુએ ઘણા લોકોને માંદગીમાંથી, રોગોમાંથી અને ભૂંડા આત્માઓથી પીડાતાઓને સાજા કર્યા. ઈસુએ ઘણા આંધળાઓને સાજા કર્યા જેથી તેઓ ફરીથી દેખતા થઈ શકે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="LUK.7.22" />પછી ઈસુએ યોહાનના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “જાઓ અને તમે અહીં જે જોયું છે અને સાંભળ્યું છે તે યોહાનને કહી સંભળાવો. આંધળા લોકો સાજા થયા છે અને જોઈ શકે છે. લૂલાં સાજા થયા છે અને ચાલી શકે છે. રક્તપિત્તિઓને સાજા કરવામાં આવે છે, બહેરાઓને સાજા કર્યા છે અને તેઓ સાંભળી શકે છે. મૃત લોકોને સજીવન કરવામાં આવ્યા છે. અને ગરીબ લોકોને દેવના રાજ્યની સુવાર્તા પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="LUK.7.23" />અને જે કોઈ મારા સંબંધી ઠોકર નહિ ખાશે તેને ધન્ય છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LUK.7.24" />યોહાનના સંદેશાવાહકો ગયા પછી ઈસુએ યોહાન વિષે લોકોને કહેવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ: “રેતીના રણમાં તમે શું જોવા ગયા હતા? શું પવનથી હાલતા બરુંને?
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LUK.7.25" />તમે બહાર શું જોવા ગયા હતા? શું સુંદર વસ્ત્ર પરિધાન કરેલા માણસને? ના, તો શું જેઓ ભપકાદાર વસ્ત્રો પહરે છે અને ભોગવિલાસ કરે છે કે જેઓ મહેલોમાં રહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="LUK.7.26" />ખરેખર, તમે શું જોવા માટે બહાર ગયા હતા? શું પ્રબોધકને? હા, અને હું તમને કહું છું, યોહાન એ પ્રબોધક કરતાં વધારે છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="LUK.7.27" />યોહાન વિષે આમ લખેલું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘સાંભળ! હું મારા દૂતને તારી આગળ મોકલું છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે તારી આગળ તારો માર્ગ સિદ્ધ કરશે.’
<rq><ref tgt="MAL.3.1">માલાખી 3:1</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.7.28" />હું તમને કહું છું, આજ પર્યંત જે કોઈ જન્મ્યા છે તે સૌના કરતાં યોહાન વધારે મોટો છે. તો પણ દેવના રાજ્યમાં જે માત્ર નાનો છે, તે તેના કરતાં મોટો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LUK.7.29" />(જ્યારે લોકોએ આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તે બધાએ કબૂલ કર્યુ કે, દેવનો ઉપદેશ સારો હતો. જકાતદારો પણ સંમત થયા. આ બધા લોકો યોહાનથી બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LUK.7.30" />પરંતુ ફરોશીઓ તથા શાશ્ત્રીઓએ તેમના માટેની દેવની યાજનાનો સ્વીકાર કરવાની ના પાડી. અને તેઓએ યોહાન દ્ધારા બાપ્તિસ્મા પામવા ના પાડી.)
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.7.31" />“આ સમયના લોકો માટે હું શું કહું? હું તેઓને શાની ઉપમા આપું? તેઓ કોના જેવા છે?
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="LUK.7.32" />આ પેઢીના લોકો તો બજારમાં કોઈ જગ્યાએ બેઠેલા બાળકો જેવા છે. એક બાળકોનું ટોળું બીજા બાળકોને બોલાવે છે અને કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘અમે તમારે માટે સંગીત વગાડ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે નાચ્યા નહિ;
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે કરૂણ ગીત ગાયું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે દિલગીર થયા નહિ.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.7.33" />યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત આવ્યો અને બીજા લોકોની જેમ રોટલી ખાધી નહિ કે દ્ધાક્ષારસ પીધો નહિ, અને તમે કહો છો કે, ‘તેનામાં ભૂત છે.’
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="LUK.7.34" />માણસનો દીકરો બીજા લોકોની જેમ ખાતો અને પીતો આવ્યો છે. અને તમે કહો છો કે ‘એના તરફ જુઓ! તે વધારે પડતું ખાય છે અને ખૂબ વધારે દ્ધાક્ષારસ પીએ છે! તે જકાતદારોનો તથા ખરાબ માણસોનો મિત્ર છે!’
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="LUK.7.35" />પરતું જ્ઞાની પોતાના સર્વ કાર્યોથી યથાર્થ મનાય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સિમોન ફરોશી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LUK.7.36" />ફરોશીઓમાંના કોઈ એકે ઈસુને પોતાની સાથે જમવા માટે કહ્યું. ઈસુ ફરોશીના ઘરમાં ગયો અને મેજ પાસે બેઠો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LUK.7.37" />તે સમયે તે શહેરમાં એક પાપી સ્ત્રી હતી; તેણે જાણ્યું કે ઈસુ ફરોશીના ઘેર જમવા બેઠો છે. તેથી તે અત્તરની આરસપાનની એક ડબ્બી લાવી.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="LUK.7.38" />તે ઈસુના પગ પાસે ઊભી રહી, અને રડવા લાગી. પછી તેના આંસુઓથી તેના પગ ધોવાનું શરૂ કર્યું. તે પોતાના ચોટલાથી ઈસુના પગ લૂછવા લાગી. તેણે તેના પગને ઘણીવાર ચૂમ્યા અને પછી અત્તરથી ચોળ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LUK.7.39" />ઈસુને પોતાને ઘેર આવવા જે ફરોશીએ કહ્યું હતું, તેણે આ જોયું. તે તેની જાતે વિચાર કરવા લાગ્યો. “જો આ માણસ પ્રબોધક હોત તો એ જાણતો હોત કે જે સ્ત્રીતેને સ્પર્શે છે તે પાપી છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="LUK.7.40" />ઈસુએ ફરોશીને કહ્યું, “સિમોન, મારે તને કંઈક કહેવું છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">સિમોને કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક તું શું કહેવા માગે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="LUK.7.41" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “બે માણસો હતા, બંને એક જ લેણદારના દેવાદાર હતા, એક માણસને લેણદારનું 500 ચાંદીના સિક્કાનું દેવું હતું. બીજાને લેણદારનું 50 ચાંદીના સિક્કાનું દેવું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="LUK.7.42" />માણસો પાસે પૈસા ન હતા, તેથી તેઓનું દેવું ચૂકવી શક્યા નહિ. પરંતુ લેણદારે તે માણસોને કહ્યું, ‘તેઓએ તેને કશું આપવાનું નથી. તે બે માણસોમાંથી કયો માણસ લેણદારને વધુ પ્રેમ કરશે?’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="LUK.7.43" />સિમોને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મને લાગે છે કે જે માણસને તેનું સૌથી વધારે દેવું હતું તે.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ સિમોનને કહ્યું, “તું સાચો છે.”
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="LUK.7.44" />પછી ઈસુ તે સ્ત્રીતરફ વળ્યો અને સિમોનને કહ્યું, “આ સ્ત્રીને તું જુએ છે? જ્યારે હું તારા ઘરમાં આવ્યો ત્યારે તેં મને મારા પગ ધોવા માટે પાણી આપ્યું નહી. પણ તેણે મારા પગ તેના આંસુથી ધોયા અને તેના ચોટલાથી લૂંછયા છે.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="LUK.7.45" />તેં મને ચુંબન કર્યુ નથી, પણ હું જ્યારથી અંદર આવ્યો ત્યારથી તે જરા પણ રોકાયા વગર મારા પગને ચુંબન કર્યા કરે છે!
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="LUK.7.46" />તેં મારા માથામાં તેલ ચોળ્યું નથી, પણ તેણે મારા પગ પર અત્તર ચોળ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="LUK.7.47" />તેથી હું તને કહું છું કે, તેના ગણા પાપો હોવા છતાં માફ થયા છે. આ સ્પષ્ટ છે, કારણ કે તેણે ઘણો પ્રેમ દર્શાવ્યો છે. પરંતુ જેને ઓછું માફ કરવામાં આવે છે તે પ્રેમ પણ થોડોક દર્શાવે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="LUK.7.48" />પછી ઈસુએ તે સ્ત્રીને કહ્યું, “તારા પાપ માફ કરવામાં આવ્યા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="LUK.7.49" />જમવાના મેજ પાસે બેઠેલા લોકો તેઓની જાતે વિચાર કરવા લાગ્યા કે, “આ માણસ કોણ છે કે જે પાપને પણ માફ કરે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="LUK.7.50" />ઈસુએ તે સ્ત્રીને કહ્યું, “તારા વિશ્વાસે તને બચાવી છે, શાંતિથી જા.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ સાથેનો લોકસમુહ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.8.1" />બીજા દિવસે, ઈસુએ કેટલાક શહેરો અને નાનાં ગામોની મુસાફરી કરી. ઈસુ ઉપદેશ આપતો અને દેવના રાજ્યની સુવાર્તા પણ આપતો. તેની સાથે બાર શિષ્યો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.8.2" />તેની સાથે કેટલીએક સ્ત્રીઓ પણ હતી. ઈસુએ તે સ્ત્રીઓને ભૂંડા આત્માઓના બંધનમાંથી મુક્ત કરીને તેઓને માંદગીમાંથી સાજી કરી હતી. તે સ્ત્રીઓમાંની એકનું નામ મરિયમ હતું, તે મગ્દલા ગામની હતી. જેનામાંથી સાત ભૂત નીકળ્યાં હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LUK.8.3" />આ સ્ત્રીઓની સાથે ખૂઝાની પત્ની યોહાન્ના (હેરોદનો કારભારી) અને સુસાન્ના તથા બીજી ઘણી સ્ત્રીઓ હતી. તે સ્ત્રીઓ તેમના પોતાના પૈસાનો ઉપયોગ ઈસુ અને તેના પ્રેરિતોને મદદ માટે કરતી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું બી વાવનારનું દ્ધષ્ટાંત
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 13:1-17; માર્ક 4:1-12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LUK.8.4" />ઘણા લોકો ભેગા થવા આવ્યા. દરેક શહેરમાંથી લોકો ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા. ઈસુએ તે લોકોને આ દ્ધષ્ટાંત કહ્યું:
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LUK.8.5" />“એક ખેડૂત તેનાં બી વાવવા ગયો. તે વાવતો હતો ત્યારે કેટલાંએક બી રસ્તાની ધારે પડ્યા. લોકો તે બી પર ચાલ્યા અને પક્ષીઓ આ બધા બી ખાઈ ગયાં.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LUK.8.6" />કેટલાંએક બી ખડક પર પડ્યાં આ બી ઊગવાની શરૂઆત થઈ, પણ પછી કરમાઇ ગયાં કારણ કે બી ને પાણી મળ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LUK.8.7" />કેટલાંએક બી કાંટાવાળી ઝાડી પર પડ્યાં. આ બી ઊગ્યાં પણ પછી કાંટાઓએ તેને ઊગતાં જ દાબી દીધાં.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LUK.8.8" />અને કેટલાંએક બી સારી જમીન પર પડ્યાં. આ બી ઊગ્યાં અને તેમાંથી 100 ગણા દાણા પાક્યાં.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ દ્ધંષ્ટાત પૂરું કર્યા પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો જે મને સાંભળો છો તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LUK.8.9" />ઈસુના શિષ્યોએ તેને પૂછયું, “આ વાર્તાનો અર્થ શું છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LUK.8.10" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “દેવના રાજ્યનું રહસ્ય સમજવા માટે તમારી પસંદગી થયેલ છે. પણ બીજા લોકોને કહેવા માટે હું દ્ધષ્ટાંતોનો ઉપયોગ કરું છું. આમ કહું છું તેથી:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તેઓ નજર કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ જોશે નહિ;
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેઓ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેઓ સમજશે નહિ.’
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.6.9">યશાયા 6:9</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ બી ના દ્ધષ્ટાંતનો અર્થ સમજાવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 13:18-23; માર્ક 4:13-20)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LUK.8.11" />“દ્ધષ્ટાંતનો અર્થ આ છે: “બી એ તો દેવના વચન છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LUK.8.12" />રસ્તાની ધારે પડેલું બી એટલે શું? તે એવા લોકો છે જે ઉપદેશ સાંભળે છે પણ પછી શેતાન આવે છે અને તેઓના હ્રદયમાંથી ઉપદેશ લઈ જાય છે. તેથી એ લોકો ઉપદેશમાં માનતા નથી અને બચી શકતા નથી.
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<v id="13" bcv="LUK.8.13" />પેલા ખડક પર પડેલા બી નો અર્થ શું? તે એવા લોકો જેવા છે જે દેવનો ઉપદેશ સાંભળે છે અને આનંદપૂર્વક સ્વીકાર કરે છે પણ આવા લોકોનાં મૂળિયાં ઊંડા હોતાં નથી તેઓ થોડા સમય માટે સ્વીકારે છે પણ જ્યારે પરીક્ષણનો સમય આવે છે, તો વિશ્વાસ ગુમાવે છે અને દેવથી દૂર જતા રહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LUK.8.14" />“કાંટાવાળી ઝાડીમાં પડેલા બી નો અર્થ શું? તે બી એવા લોકો જેવા છે જે દેવના વચન સાંભળે છે પણ આ જીવનની ચિંતાઓ, સંપત્તિ અને મોજમઝામાં તેઓનો વિકાસ અટકી જાય છે. અને તેથી તેઓને સારાં ફળ કદાપિ આવતાં નથી.
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<v id="15" bcv="LUK.8.15" />અને જે સારી જમીન પર પડ્યાં હોય છે તે બી નું શું? તે બી એવા લોકો જેવા છે જે દેવના વચનો પ્રામાણિક શુદ્ધ હ્રદયથી સાંભળે છે. તેઓ દેવના વચનને અનુસરે છે અને ધીરજથી સારા ફળ પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે.
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<s style="s">તમારી સમજશક્તિનો ઉપયોગ
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<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 4:21-25)
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.8.16" />“કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ દીવો સળગાવીને તેને વાસણ તળે ઢાંકતો નથી. અથવા ખાટલા નીચે છુપાવતો નથી. તે માણસ દીવો દીવી પર મૂકે છે તેથી જે લોકો અંદર આવે તેઓને જોવા માટે પૂરતો પ્રકાશ મળશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="LUK.8.17" />દરેક વસ્તુ જે છુપાયેલી છે તે સ્પષ્ટ થશે. દરેક ગુપ્ત વસ્તુ જાહેર થઈ જશે.
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<v id="18" bcv="LUK.8.18" />તેથી તમે કેવી રીતે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો છો તે માટે સાવધાન બનો. જે વ્યક્તિ પાસે થોડીક સમજશક્તિ હશે તે વધારે પ્રાપ્ત કરશે. પણ જે વ્યક્તિ પાસે સમજશક્તિ નહિ હોય, તેની પાસેથી તેના ધારવા મુજબ જે થોડી સમજશક્તિ હશે તે પણ તે ગુમાવશે.”
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<s style="s">ઈસુના શિષ્યો એ જ તેનું સાચું કુટુબ
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<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 12:46-50; માર્ક 3:31-35)
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LUK.8.19" />ઈસુની મા અને તેના ભાઈઓ તેની મુલાકાતે આવ્યા ત્યાં બીજા લોકોની એટલી બધી ભીડ હતી કે તેની મા તથા ભાઈઓ તેની નજીક જઇ શક્યા નહિ.
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<v id="20" bcv="LUK.8.20" />કોઈકે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “તારી મા તથા તારા ભાઈઓ બહાર ઊભા છે. તેઓ તને મળવા ઈચ્છે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.8.21" />ઈસુએ તેઓને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “આ લોકો જે દેવની વાત ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે અને તેનું પાલન કરે છે તેઓ મારી મા તથા મારા ભાઈઓ છે!”
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<s style="s">ઈસુની સત્તાનું શિષ્યોને દર્શન
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<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 8:23-27; માર્ક 4:35-41)
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.8.22" />એક દિવસ ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો એક હોડીમાં ચઢ્યા. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “મારી સાથે સરોવરને પેલે પાર આવો.” અને તેથી તેઓએ હોડી હંકારવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ.
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<v id="23" bcv="LUK.8.23" />જ્યારે તેઓ હાંકારતા હતા ત્યારે ઈસુ ઊંઘી ગયા. સરોવર પર વાવાઝોડું ફૂંકાયું. જેથી હોડીમાં પાણી ભરાવા લાગ્યું. તેઓ જોખમમાં હતા.
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<v id="24" bcv="LUK.8.24" />તેના શિષ્યો ઈસુ પાસે ગયા અને તેને જગાડ્યો. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “સ્વામી! સ્વામી! આપણે ડૂબી જઈશું!”
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<p style="p">ઈસુ ઊભો થયો. તેણે પવનને અને પાણીનાં મોજાંને હૂકમ કર્યો. પવન અટક્યો અને સરોવર શાંત થઈ ગયું.
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<v id="25" bcv="LUK.8.25" />ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “તમારો વિશ્વાસ ક્યાં છે?”
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<p style="p">શિષ્યો ડરીને અચરજ પામ્યા. તેઓએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું, “આ કેવા પ્રકારનો માણસ છે? તે પવન અને પાણીને પણ હૂકમ કરે છે અને તેઓ તેનું માને છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LUK.8.26" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો ગાલીલથી સરોવરને પેલે પાર હોડી હંકારી ગયા. તેઓ ગેરસાનીઓના લોકોના પ્રદેશમાં આવી પહોંચ્યા.
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<v id="27" bcv="LUK.8.27" />જ્યારે ઈસુ હોડીમાંથી બહાર નીકળ્યો ત્યારે તે શહેરમાનો એક માણસ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યો. આ માણસમાં ભૂતો હતાં. તે ઘણા લાંબા સમયથી કપડાં પહેરતો ન હતો. તે ઘરમાં નહિ પણ જ્યાં લોકોના મૃતદેહો દાટવામાં આવતા તે ગુફાઓમાં તે રહેતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="28-29" bcv="LUK.8.28" />અશુદ્ધ આત્મા તેને વારંવાર વળગતો. તેને કાબુમાં રાખવા માટે તેના હાથ અને પગ સાંકળથી બાંધવામાં આવતા. તે માણસ હંમેશા સાંકળો તોડી નાંખતો. અને તેના અંદર રહેલા ભૂતો નિર્જન જગ્યાએ બહાર જવા તેને દબાણ કરતા. પછી ઈસુએ તે અશુદ્ધ આત્માને આ માણસમાંથી બહાર આવવા હુકમ કર્યો તે માણસ ઈસુની આગળ નીચે પડ્યો અને મોટા સાદેથી બૂમો પાડવા લાગ્યો, “ઓ ઈસુ, પરાત્પર દેવના દીકરા, તું મારી પાસેથી શું ઈચ્છે છે? મહેરબાની કરીને મને શિક્ષા કરીશ નહિ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="LUK.8.30" />ઈસુએ તેને પૂછયું, “તારું નામ શું છે?”
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<p style="p">તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “સેના.” (તેણે કહ્યું તેનું નામ સેના હતું કારણ કે ઘણા ભૂતો તેનામાં પેઠાં હતા.)
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<v id="31" bcv="LUK.8.31" />ભૂતોએ ઈસુને વિનંતી કરી કે અમને અનંતકાળના અંધકારમાં મોકલીશ નહિ.
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<v id="32" bcv="LUK.8.32" />ત્યાં એક ટેકરીની બાજુમાં ઘણાં ભૂંડોનું ટોળું ચરતું હતું. ભૂતોએ ઈસુને વિનંતી કરી કે, અમને ભૂંડોમાં પ્રવેશવાની રજા આપો. તેથી ઈસુએ ભૂતોને તેમ કરવાની રજા આપી.
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<v id="33" bcv="LUK.8.33" />પછી ભૂતો માણસમાંથી નીકળીને ભૂંડોમાં પેઠા. પછી ભૂંડોનું ટોળું પહાડની ધાર પરથી સરોવરમાં ધસી પડ્યું. બધાજ ભૂંડો ડૂબીને મરી ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.8.34" />ભૂંડો ચરાવનાર જે થયું હતું તે જોઈને તે પણ ભાગી ગયો. તે માણસોએ એ વાત શહેરમાં અને ગામડાંઓમાં જાહેર કરી.
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<v id="35" bcv="LUK.8.35" />શું બન્યું છે તે જોવા લોકો બહાર આવ્યા. લોકો ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા ત્યાંરે તે માણસને ઈસુના પગ આગળ બેઠેલો જોયો. તે માણસે કપડાં પહેરેલાં હતા. માનસિક રીતે તે ફરીથી સ્વસ્થ હતો. અને અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓ જતા રહ્યાં હતા. તે લોકો ડરી ગયા.
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<v id="36" bcv="LUK.8.36" />તે લોકો કે જેમણે આ બાબત બનતાં જોઈ હતી તેમણે ઈસુએ આ માણસ કે જનામાં ભૂતો હતાં તેને કેવી રીતે સાજો કર્યો તે બીજા લોકોને કહ્યું.
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<v id="37" bcv="LUK.8.37" />ગેરસાનીઓના બધાજ લોકોએ ઈસુને દૂર ચાલ્યા જવા કહ્યું. તેઓ બધા ડરી ગયા હતા.
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<p style="p">તેથી ઈસુ પાછો હોડીમાં બેઠો અને ગાલીલ પાછો ફર્યો.
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<v id="38" bcv="LUK.8.38" />જે માણસ કે જેનામાંથી ભૂતો નીકળ્યાં હતા તેણે ઈસુ સાથે જવા વિનંતી કરી. પણ ઈસુએ તે માણસને વિદાય કર્યો. અને કહ્યું,
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<v id="39" bcv="LUK.8.39" />“તારે ઘરે પાછો જા અને દેવે તારે માટે શું કર્યુ છે તે લોકોને કહે.”
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<p style="p">તેથી તે માણસ ગયો અને આખા શહેરમાં કહ્યું કે ઈસુએ તેને માટે શું કર્યુ છે.
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<s style="s">ઈસુ મૃત છોકરીને જીવનદાન આપે છે અને માંદી સ્ત્રીને સાજી કરે છે
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<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 9:18-26; માર્ક 5:21-43)
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="LUK.8.40" />ઈસુ જ્યારે ગાલીલ પાછો ફર્યો ત્યારે લોકોએ તેનું સ્વાગત કર્યુ. દરેક વ્યક્તિ તેની રાહ જોતી હતી.
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<v id="41" bcv="LUK.8.41" />ઈસુ પાસે યાઈર નામનો એક માણસ આવ્યો. યાઇર સભાસ્થાનનો અધિકારી હતો. તે ઈસુના ચરણે પડ્યો અને ઈસુને વિનંતી કરી કે મારે ઘેર પધારો.
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<v id="42" bcv="LUK.8.42" />યાઇરને માત્ર એક દીકરી હતી. તે બાર વર્ષની હતી, જે મરણ પથારીએ હતી.
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<p style="p">જ્યારે ઈસુ યાઇરને ઘરે જતો હતો તે દરમ્યાન તેની આજુબાજુ લોકોનું ટોળું તેના પર ઘસારો કરતું હતું.
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<v id="43" bcv="LUK.8.43" />ત્યાં એક સ્ત્રીહતી જેને બાર વર્ષથી લોહીવા હતો. પોતાની પાસે જે કઈ હતું તે બધું જ ખર્ય્યુ. પણ કોઈ વૈદ તેને સાજી કરી શક્યો ન હતો.
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<v id="44" bcv="LUK.8.44" />તે ઈસુની પાછળથી આવી અને તેનાં લૂગડાંની કોરને અડકી. તે જ ક્ષણે તેનો લોહીવા બંધ થઈ ગયો.
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<v id="45" bcv="LUK.8.45" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “મને કોણ અડક્યું?”
</p>
<p style="p">બધા લોકોએ કહ્યું, તેઓએ ઈસુને સ્પર્શ કર્યો નથી. પિતરે કહ્યું, “સ્વામી, તારી આજુબાજુ જે લોકો છે તેઓ તારા પર ધસી રહ્યાં હતાં.”
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="LUK.8.46" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “મને કોઈએ સ્પર્શ કર્યો છે. કેમકે મને ખબર પડી છે કે પરાક્રમ મારામાંથી બહાર નીકળ્યું છે.”
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<v id="47" bcv="LUK.8.47" />જ્યારે સ્ત્રીએ જોયું કે તે છુપી રહી શકે તેમ નથી ત્યારે ધ્રુંજતી ધ્રુંજતી આગળ આવી અને બધાજ લોકોની સમક્ષ ઈસુના પગ આગળ પડીને બોલી કે શા માટે તે ઈસુને સ્પર્શી હતી. પછી તેણે કહ્યું કે જ્યારે તેણે ઈસુનો સ્પર્શ કર્યો ત્યારે તરત જ તે સાજી થઈ ગઇ હતી.
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<v id="48" bcv="LUK.8.48" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “દીકરી, તને તારા વિશ્વાસે સાજી કરી છે. શાંતિથી જા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="LUK.8.49" />હજી ઈસુ બોલતો હતો ત્યાં તો સભાસ્થાનના અધિકારી (યાઇર) ને ઘરેથી એક માણસ આવ્યો. અને કહ્યું કે, “તારી પુત્રીનું અવસાન થયું છે. હવે ઉપદેશકને તકલીફ આપીશ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="LUK.8.50" />ઈસુએ આ સાંભળ્યું, તેણે યાઇરને કહ્યું, “જરાય ગભરાઇશ નહિ. માત્ર વિશ્વાસ રાખ એટલે તારી પુત્રી સાજી થઈ જશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="LUK.8.51" />ઈસુ ઘરે આવ્યો. ઈસુએ ફક્ત પિતર, યાકૂબ, યોહાન તથા છોકરીના માબાપને જ તેની સાથે અંદર આવવા દીધા. ઈસુએ બીજા કોઈ પણ માણસને અંદર આવવા દીધા નહિ.
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<v id="52" bcv="LUK.8.52" />બધાજ લોકો રડતાં હતા અને વિલાપ કરતાં હતાં કારણ કે તે છોકરી મૃત્યુ પામી હતી. પણ ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “રડશો નહિ, તેનું મૃત્યુ થયું નથી, પણ તે ઊંઘે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="LUK.8.53" />લોકો ઈસુ તરફ હસ્યા, કારણ કે તેઓ જાણતા હતા કે છોકરી મરી ગઇ છે.
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<v id="54" bcv="LUK.8.54" />પણ ઈસુએ તેનો હાથ પકડીને તેને બોલાવી, “નાની છોકરી ઊભી થા!”
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<v id="55" bcv="LUK.8.55" />તેનો આત્મા તેનામાં પાછો આવ્યો ને તરત ઊભી થઈ. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તેને કઈક ખાવાનું આપો.”
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<v id="56" bcv="LUK.8.56" />તે છોકરીનાં માબાપ આશ્ચર્યચકિત થઈ ગયા. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, જે કંઈ બન્યું છે તે વિષે કોઈને કહેતાં નહિ.
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ બાર પ્રેરિતોને મોકલે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 10:5-15; માર્ક 6:7-13)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.9.1" />ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને બોલાવીને તેઓને બધા ભૂતો પર, તથા રોગો ટાળવાને પરાક્રમ તથા અધિકાર આપ્યાં.
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<v id="2" bcv="LUK.9.2" />તેણે તેઓને દેવના રાજ્ય વિષે કહેવા તથા માંદાઓને સાજા કરવા મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="LUK.9.3" />તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે તમે મુસાફરી કરો ત્યારે તમારી સાથે લાકડી લેશો નહિ, ઝોળી, ખોરાક કે પૈસા પણ લઈ જશો નહિ. પ્રવાસમાં ફક્ત તમે પહેરો છો તે જ કપડાં લેજો.
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<v id="4" bcv="LUK.9.4" />જ્યારે તમે ઘરમાં જાઓ ત્યારે તે જગ્યા છોડતા સુધી ત્યાં જ રહો.
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<v id="5" bcv="LUK.9.5" />જો શહેરના લોકો તમારું સ્વાગત ન કરે તો શહેરની બહાર જઈને તમારા પગ પર લાગેલી ધૂળ ખંખેરી નાખજો. આ તમને ચેતવણીરૂપ બનશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LUK.9.6" />તેથી તે શિષ્યો બહાર નીકળ્યા. તેઓ બધા ગામડાઓમાંથી પસાર થયા. તેઓ સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરતાં અને સર્વત્ર લોકોને સાજા કરતાં ગયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">હેરોદની ઈસુ વિષેની મૂંઝવણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 14:1-12; માર્ક 6:14-29)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LUK.9.7" />જે કંઈ બનતું હતું તે બધી બાબતો વિષે શાસનકર્તા હેરોદે સાંભળ્યું. તે મૂંઝવણમાં પડ્યો કારણ કે કેટલાએક લોકોએ કહ્યું, “યોહાન મૂએલામાંથી ઊઠ્યો છે.”
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<v id="8" bcv="LUK.9.8" />બીજા લોકોએ કહ્યું, “એલિયા આપણી પાસે આવ્યો છે.” અને બીજા કેટલાએક લોકોએ કહ્યું, “પ્રાચીન પ્રબોધકોમાંનો એક મૂએલાંમાંથી ઊભો થયો છે.”
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<v id="9" bcv="LUK.9.9" />હેરોદે કહ્યું, “મેં યોહાનનું મસ્તક કાપી નંખાવ્યું, પણ જેના સંબધી હું આ વાતો સાંભળું છું તે કોણ છે?” હેરોદે ઈસુને મળવાના પ્રયત્ન ચાલુ કર્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ 5,000થી વધુ લોકોને ખવડાવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 14:13-21; માર્ક 6:30-44; યોહાન 6:1-14)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LUK.9.10" />જ્યારે પ્રેરિતો પાછા આવ્યા. તેઓએ તેમના પ્રવાસમાં જે જે કર્યુ હતું તે ઈસુને કહ્યું અને ઈસુ તેઓને બેથસૈદા નામના શહેરમાં લઈ ગયો. જ્યા ઈસુ અને તેના પ્રેરિતો એકાંતમાં સાથે રહી શકે.
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<v id="11" bcv="LUK.9.11" />પણ લોકોને ખબર પડી કે ઈસુ ક્યાં ગયો છે. તેઓ તેની પાછળ ગયા. ઈસુએ તેઓને આવકાર્યા અને દેવના રાજ્ય સંબંધી વાત કરી. તેણે જે માંદા લોકો હતા તેઓને સાજા કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LUK.9.12" />નમતા બપોરે, તે બાર પ્રેરિતો ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “આ જગ્યાએ કોઈ રહેતા નથી. લોકોને વિદાય કરો. જેથી તેઓ તેમના માટે ખેતરમાં અને આજુબાજુના ગામોમાં જઇને ખાવાની અને રહેવાની સૂવાની જગ્યાની વ્યવસ્થા કરે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.9.13" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ પ્રેરિતોને કહ્યું, “તમે તેઓને કંઈક ખાવાનું આપો.”
</p>
<p style="p">પ્રેરિતોએ કહ્યું, “આપણી પાસે ફક્ત પાંચ રોટલી અને બે માછલીઓ જ છે. આ બધા લોકો માટે ખાવાનું ખરીદી લાવીએ એમ તું ઈચ્છે છે?”
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<v id="14" bcv="LUK.9.14" />(ત્યાં લગભગ 5,000 માણસો હતાં.)
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “લોકોને કહો પચાસ પચાસના સમૂહમાં બેસે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LUK.9.15" />તેઓએ તેમ કર્યુ, અને બધાજ લોકો નીચે બેસી ગયા.
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<v id="16" bcv="LUK.9.16" />પછી ઈસુએ પાંચ રોટલી અને બે માછલીઓ લીધી. ઈસુએ ઊચે આકાશમાં જોયું અને ખોરાક માટે આશીર્વાદ માંગ્યો. પછી ઈસુએ ખોરાકના ભાગ પાડ્યા અને તે શિષ્યોને આપ્યા. ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને લોકોને ભોજન પીરસવાનું કહ્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="LUK.9.17" />બધાજ લોકોએ ખાધું અને તૃપ્ત થયા. છતાં ત્યાં ઘણું ખાવાનું રહ્યું હતું. અને છાંડેલા ખોરાકના ટૂકડાઓથી બાર ટોપલીઓ ભરી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ જ ખ્રિસ્ત છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 16:13-19; માર્ક 8:27-29)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.9.18" />એક વખત ઈસુ એકાંતમાં પ્રાર્થના કરતો હતો. તેના શિષ્યો ભેગા થઈને ત્યાં આવ્યા. ઈસુએ તેઓને પૂછયું, “હું કોણ છું તે વિષે લોકો શું કહે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LUK.9.19" />શિષ્યોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “કેટલાએક લોકો કહે છે કે તું યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત છે. બીજા કેટલાએક કહે છે તું એલિયા છે અને કેટલાએક લોકો કહે છે; તું પ્રાચિન પ્રબોધકોમાંનો એક છે અને ફરી સજીવન થઈને આવ્યો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LUK.9.20" />પછી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “અને હું કોણ છું એ વિષે તમે શું કહો છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">પિતરે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તું દેવનો ખ્રિસ્ત છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.9.21" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કોઈને પણ નહિ કહેવા માટે ચેતવણી આપી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના મરણની આગાહી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 16:21-28; માર્ક 8:30-9:1)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.9.22" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “માણસના દીકરાએ સહન કરવું પડશે. મોટા યહૂદિ વડીલો, મુખ્ય યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ તેનો અસ્વીકાર કરશે. માણસના દીકરાને મારી નાખવામાં આવશે. પણ ત્રણ દિવસ પછી તે મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊભો થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LUK.9.23" />ઈસુએ તે બધાને કહેવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું, “જો કોઈ મારી પાછળ આવવા ઈચ્છતું હોય, તો તેણે પોતાની ઈચ્છાઓ અને વસ્તુઓને ‘ના’ કહેવી અને દરરોજ પોતાનો વધસ્તંભ ઊંચકીને મારી પાછળ ચાલવું.
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<v id="24" bcv="LUK.9.24" />જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતાનો જીવ બચાવવા ઈચ્છશે તે પોતાનું જીવન ગુમાવશે. પણ જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારે ખાતર પોતાનો જીવ ગુમાવશે, તો તેને તે બચાવશે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LUK.9.25" />કારણ કે જો કોઈ માણસ આખું જગત પ્રાપ્ત કરે પણ પોતાનો પ્રાણ ગુમાવે અથવા તેનો પોતાનો નાશ થાય તો તેને શો લાભ?
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<v id="26" bcv="LUK.9.26" />જો કોઈ મારા કારણે તથા મારા ઉપદેશને લીધે લજવાશે ત્યારે માણસનો દીકરો તે વ્યક્તિથી લજવાશે. જ્યારે તે તેના મહિમા સાથે અને બાપના મહિમા સાથે અને પવિત્ર દૂતોના મહિમા સાથે આવશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="LUK.9.27" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, અહીં ઊભા રહેલાઓમાંથી તમે કેટલાએક લોકો મૃત્યુ પામતા પહેલા દેવના રાજ્યનું દર્શન કરશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મૂસા, એલિયા, અને ઈસુ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 17:1-8; માર્ક 9:2-8)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.9.28" />ઈસુ, એ વાતો કહ્યા પછી લગભગ આઠ દિવસો પછી પિતર, યોહાન તથા યાકૂબને લઈને પહાડ પર પ્રાર્થના કરવા માટે ગયો.
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<v id="29" bcv="LUK.9.29" />ઈસુ જ્યારે પ્રાર્થના કરતો હતો ત્યારે તેનો ચહેરો બદલાયો. તેનાં વસ્ત્રો સફેદ ચમકતાં થયાં.
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<v id="30" bcv="LUK.9.30" />તે પછી બે માણસો ઈસુ સાથે વાતો કરતાં હતા. તે માણસો મૂસા તથા એલિયા હતા.
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<v id="31" bcv="LUK.9.31" />મૂસા અને એલિયા પણ તેજસ્વી અને ચમકતા દેખાતા હતા. તેઓ ઈસુ સાથે તેના મૃત્યુ સંબંધી વાત કરતા હતા. જે યરૂશાલેમમાં થવાનું હતું.
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<v id="32" bcv="LUK.9.32" />પિતર અને બીજા ઘસઘસાટ ઊંઘતા હતા. પણ તેઓ જાગી ઊઠ્યા અને ઈસુનો મહિમા જોયો. તેઓએ ઈસુ સાથે ઊભેલા બે માણસોને પણ જોયા.
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<v id="33" bcv="LUK.9.33" />જ્યારે મૂસા અને એલિયા જ્યારે વિદાય થતા હતા ત્યારે પિતરે કહ્યું, “સ્વામી, આપણે અહીં છીએ તે સારું છે અમે અહીં ત્રણ તંબૂ બનાવીશું. એક તારા માટે, એક મૂસા માટે અને એક એલિયા માટે” (પિતર જે કંઈ કહેતો હતો તે સમજતો નહતો.)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.9.34" />જ્યારે પિતર આ બોલતો હતો ત્યારે તેઓની આજુબાજુ એક વાદળ આવ્યું. પિતર, યાકૂબ અને યોહાન ગભરાઇ ગયા. જ્યારે વાદળોએ તેઓને ઢાંકી દીધા.
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<v id="35" bcv="LUK.9.35" />વાદળામાંથી એક અવાજ આવ્યો. તે અવાજે કહ્યું, “આ મારો દીકરો છે. મારો પસંદ કરેલો. તેની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LUK.9.36" />જ્યારે તે અવાજ પૂરો થયો ત્યારે માત્ર ઈસુ જ ત્યાં હતો પિતર, યાકૂબ, યોહાને કંઈ કહ્યું નહિ. તે વખતે તેઓએ જે જોયું હતું તેમાનું કશુંય કોઈને કહ્યું નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">જેનામાં અશુદ્ધ આત્મા હતો તે છોકરાને ઈસુ સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 17:14-18; માર્ક 9:14-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LUK.9.37" />બીજે દિવસે ઈસુ, પિતર, યાકૂબ અને યોહાન પહાડ પરથી નીચે ઉતર્યા. લોકોનો મોટો સમુદાય ઈસુને મળ્યો.
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<v id="38" bcv="LUK.9.38" />લોકોના સમુદાયમાંથી એક માણસે ઘાંટો પાડીને ઈસુને કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, મહેરબાની કરીને આવ અને મારા દીકરા તરફ જો. તે મારો એકનો એક દીકરો છે.
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<v id="39" bcv="LUK.9.39" />એક અશુદ્ધ આત્મા મારા પુત્રને વળગે છે, અને પછી તે બૂમો પાડે છે. તે તેની જાત પરનો કાબૂ ગુમાવે છે અને તેના મોંઢામાંથી ફીણ નીકળે છે. અશુદ્ધ આત્મા તેને ઇજા કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખે છે અને માંડ માંડ તેને છોડે છે.
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<v id="40" bcv="LUK.9.40" />મેં તમારા શિષ્યોને મારા પુત્રમાંથી દુષ્ટ આત્માઓને હાંકી કાઢવા વિનંતી કરી, પણ તેઓ તેને કાઢી શક્યા નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="LUK.9.41" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તમે લોકો જે હમણાં જીવો છો પણ તમારામાં વિશ્વાસ નથી. તમારા જીવનો બધા ખોટાં છે. હું ક્યાં સુધી તમારી સાથે હોઇશ અને તમારી સાથે ક્યાં સુધી તમારું સહન કરું?” ઈસુએ તે માણસને કહ્યું, “તારા પુત્રને અહીં લાવ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="LUK.9.42" />જ્યારે તે છોકરો આવતો હતો ત્યારે અશુદ્ધ આત્માએ તેને જમીન પર પછાડ્યો. છોકરાએ તેની જાત પરનો કાબૂ ગુમાવ્યો. પણ ઈસુએ અશુદ્ધ આત્માને ખૂબ ધમકાવ્યો. પછી તે છોકરો સાજો થઈ ગયો. અને ઈસુએ તે છોકરાને તેના બાપને પાછો આપ્યો.
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<v id="43" bcv="LUK.9.43" />બધા લોકો દેવના આ મહાન પરાક્રમથી આશ્ચર્યચકિત થયા.
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ તેના મૃત્યુ વિષેની વાત કહે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 17:22-23; માર્ક 9:30-32)
</p>
<p style="p">હજુ પણ લોકો ઈસુએ જે જે બધુ કર્યું તેનાથી વિસ્મિત થતા હતા. ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું,
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<v id="44" bcv="LUK.9.44" />“હું હમણાં તમને જે બાબતો કહીશ તેને ભૂલશો નહિ. માણસનો દીકરો કેટલાએક માણસોના બંધનોમાં મૂકાશે.”
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<v id="45" bcv="LUK.9.45" />પણ શિષ્યો ઈસુના કહેવાનો અર્થ સમજી શક્યા નહિ. તેનો અર્થ તેનાથી ગુપ્ત રખાયો જેથી તેઓ તે સમજી શક્યા નહિ. પણ શિષ્યો ઈસુએ જે કહ્યું હતું તે વિષે પૂછતાં ડરતા હતા.
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</p>
<s style="s">સૌથી વધારે મહત્વની વ્યક્તિ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 18:1-5; માર્ક 9:33-37)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="LUK.9.46" />ઈસુના શિષ્યોમાં વાદવિવાદ શરું થયો કે તેમનામાંનો કોણ સૌથી વધારે મહત્વનો છે.
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<v id="47" bcv="LUK.9.47" />ઈસુએ તેઓ શું વિચારતા હતા તે જાણ્યું. તેથી ઈસુએ એક નાનું બાળક લઈને પોતાની બાજુમાં ઊભૂં રાખ્યું.
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<v id="48" bcv="LUK.9.48" />પછી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “જે કોઈ મારે નામે આ નાનાં બાળકનો અંગીકાર કરે છે તે વ્યક્તિ મારો અંગીકાર કરે છે અને જ્યારે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારો અંગીકાર કરે છે, ત્યારે તે મારા મોકલનારનો પણ અંગીકાર કરે છે. તમારામાંનો એ વ્યક્તિ સૌથી મહત્વનો વ્યક્તિ છે જે નમ્ર છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">જે કોઈ તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ નથી તે તમારા પક્ષનો છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 9:38-40)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="LUK.9.49" />યોહાને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “સ્વામી, અમે એક વ્યક્તિને તારા નામનો ઉપયોગ કરીને ભૂતોને લોકોમાંથી બહાર કાઢતા જોયો. અમે તેને બંધ કરવા કહ્યું, કારણ કે તે આપણા સમુદાયનો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="LUK.9.50" />ઈસુએ યોહાનને કહ્યું, “તેને અટકાવશો નહિ. જે કોઈ તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ નથી. તે તમારા પક્ષનો જ છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">સમરૂની શહેર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="LUK.9.51" />ઈસુને આ દુનિયા છોડીને આકાશમાં પાછા જવાનો સમય નજીક આવતો હતો ત્યારે તેણે યરૂશાલેમ જવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો.
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<v id="52" bcv="LUK.9.52" />ઈસુએ પોતાની આગળ કેટલાએક માણસોને મોકલ્યા. તે માણસો ઈસુ માટે સંપૂર્ણ તૈયારી કરવા સમરૂનીઓના એક શહેરમાં ગયા.
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<v id="53" bcv="LUK.9.53" />પણ ત્યાના લોકોએ તેને આવકાર્યો નહિ કારણ કે તે યરૂશાલેમ જતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="54" bcv="LUK.9.54" />યાકૂબ અને યોહાન, જે ઈસુના શિષ્યો હતા તેમણે આ જોયું. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, શું તું ઈચ્છે છે કે, અમે આજ્ઞા કરીએ કે આકાશમાંથી આગ વરસે અને એ લોકોનો નાશ કરે?”<f caller="+"><fr>9:54
</fr><ft>કેટલીક ગ્રીક નકલોમાં ઉમેર્યુ છે: “… જેમ એલિયાએ કર્યુ.”</ft></f>
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="55" bcv="LUK.9.55" />પણ ઈસુએ પાછા ફરીને તેઓને ઠપકો આપ્યો.<f caller="+"><fr>9:55
</fr><ft>કેટલીક ગ્રીક નકલોમાં ઉમેર્યુ છે: “અને ઈસુએ કહ્યું, ‘તમે જાણતા નથી કે કેવા પ્રકારનો આત્મા તમારી પાસે છે. 56 માણસનો દીકરો નાશ કરવા નહિ પણ તેઓને તારવા આવ્યો છે.’”</ft></f>
<ve />
<v id="56" bcv="LUK.9.56" />પછી ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો બીજા એક શહેરમાં ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુને અનુસરવુ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 8:19-22)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="LUK.9.57" />તેઓ રસ્તા પરથી પસાર થતા હતા ત્યારે કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “તું જે જગ્યાએ જશે ત્યાં હું તારી પાછળ આવીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="58" bcv="LUK.9.58" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “લોંકડાંને રહેવા માટે દર હોય છે. પક્ષીઓને રહેવા માટે માળા હોય છે પણ માણસના દીકરાને માથું મૂકવાની જગ્યા નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="59" bcv="LUK.9.59" />ઈસુએ બીજા એક માણસને કહ્યું, “મારી પાછળ આવ!”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ તે માણસે કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, મને જવા દે અને પહેલા હું મારા પિતાને દાટું.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="60" bcv="LUK.9.60" />પણ ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “જે લોકો મરેલા છે તેઓને પોતાના મૃત્યુ પામેલાઓને દાટવા દે. તું જઇને દેવના રાજ્યની વાત પ્રગટ કર.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="61" bcv="LUK.9.61" />બીજા એક માણસે કહ્યું, “પ્રભૂ, હું તારી પાછળ આવીશ પણ પહેલા મને મારા પરિવારમાં જઇને સલામ કરી આવવાની રજા આપ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="62" bcv="LUK.9.62" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ખેતર ખેડવાનું શરૂ કરે અને પાછળ જુએ તો તે દેવના રાજ્યને માટે યોગ્ય નથી.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ 72 માણસોને મોકલે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.10.1" />આ પછી, પ્રભુએ બીજા વધારે 72<f caller="+"><fr>10:1
</fr><fk>72
</fk><ft>કેટલીક લૂકની ગ્રીક નકલોમાં 70 ઉલ્લેખ કર્યા છે.</ft></f> માણસો પસંદ કર્યા અને જે દરેક શહેર અને જગ્યાએ જવાનું તેણે આયોજન કર્યુ હતું, ત્યાં બબ્બેના સમૂહમાં પોતાના પહેલાં મોકલ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.10.2" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “પાક ઘણો સારો છે, પણ પાકના કામમાં મજૂરો બહુ થોડા છે, પાકના (લોકો) ધણીને પ્રાર્થના કરો કે તેના પાકને ભેગો કરવામાં મદદ માટે વધારે મજૂરોને મોકલે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LUK.10.3" />“તમે હમણા જઇ શકો છે. પણ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! હું તમને મોકલું છું અને તમે વરુંઓમાં ઘેટાંનાં બચ્ચાં જેવા હશો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LUK.10.4" />પૈસા, ઝોળી કે જોડાં કંઈ પણ તમારી સાથે લઈ જશો નહિ. રસ્તામાં કોઈની સાથે વાત કરવા રોકાશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LUK.10.5" />કોઈ પણ ઘરમાં પ્રવેશ કરતા પહેલા કહો કે, ‘આ ઘરનાંને શાંતિ થાઓ.’
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LUK.10.6" />જો શાંતિનો દીકરો ત્યાં રહેતો હોય તો તમારા આશીર્વાદની શાંતિ તેમની સાથે રહેશે. પણ જો, માણસ શાંતિ નહિ રાખતો હોય તો પછી તમારા આશીર્વાદની શાંતિ તમારી પાસે પાછી આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LUK.10.7" />શાંત ઘરમાં જ રહો. લોકો તમને ત્યાં જે કંઈ આપે તે ખાઓ અને પીઓ. કારણ કે મજૂર તેના વેતનને પાત્ર છે. તેથી એક ઘેરથી બીજા ઘેર જશો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LUK.10.8" />“જો તમે કોઈ શહેરમાં પ્રવેશો અને લોકો તમને આવકારે તો તેઓ તમને જે ખાવાનું આપે તે ખાઓ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LUK.10.9" />ત્યાં રહેતા માંદા લોકોને સાજા કરો, પછી તેઓને કહો, ‘દેવનું રાજ્ય જલદીથી તમારી પાસે આવે છે!’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LUK.10.10" />“પણ જો તમે કોઈ શહેરમાં જાઓ અને લોકો તમને આવકારે નહિ તો પછી તે શહેરની શેરીઓમાં જાઓ. અને કહો;
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LUK.10.11" />‘તમારા શહેરની જે ધૂળ અમારા પગ પર છે તે પણ અને તમારી સામે ખંખેરી નાખીએ છીએ. પણ એટલું યાદ રાખજો કે દેવનું રાજ્ય જલદી આવે છે.’
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LUK.10.12" />હું કહું છું કે ન્યાયના દિવસે તે શહેરના લોકોની હાલત સદોમના લોકો કરતાં વધારે ખરાબ થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુની અવિશ્વાસુ લોકોને ચેતવણી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 11:20-24)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.10.13" />“ઓ ખોરાઝીન, તે તારે માટે ખરાબ છે, ઓ બેથસૈદા, તે તારા માટે ખરાબ છે. મેં તમારામાં ઘણા ચમત્કારો કર્યા છે. તે જો તૂર તથા સિદાનમાં થયા હોય તો, તે શહેરના લોકોએ તેઓનાં જીવનમાં પરિવર્તન કર્યુ હોત અને ઘણા વખત રહેલાં પાપો કરવાનું બંધ કર્યુ હોત. તેઓએ તાટના વસ્ત્રો પહેર્યા હોત અને તેમની જાતે રાખ ચોળીને તેઓએ તેઓનાં પાપો માટે પશ્ચાતાપ દર્શાવ્યો હોત.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LUK.10.14" />પરંતુ ન્યાયના દિવસે તૂર અને સિદોન કરતાં તમારા માટે વધારે ખરાબ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LUK.10.15" />અને ઓ કફર-નહૂમ, શું તને આકાશ સુધી ઊંચુ કરાશે? ના! તને તો નરકમાં ફેંકી દેવામાં આવશે!
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.10.16" />“જ્યારે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તમને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે, તે વ્યક્તિ ખરેખર મને પણ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે અને જ્યારે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તમને સ્વીકારવાની ના પીડે, ત્યારે તે મને પણ સ્વીકારવાની ના પાડે છે. અને જે મને સ્વીકારવાની ના પાડે છે, તે જેણે મને અહીં મોકલ્યો છે તેને સ્વીકારવાની ના પાડે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શેતાનની પડતી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LUK.10.17" />જ્યારે 72 માણસો તેઓનો પ્રવાસ કરીને પાછા ફર્યા ત્યારે તેઓ ઘણા પ્રસન્ન હતા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, જ્યારે અમે તારા નામનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો ત્યારે ભૂતો પણ અમને તાબે થયા.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.10.18" />ઈસુએ તે માણસોને કહ્યું, “મેં શેતાનને આકાશમાંથી વીજળીની પેઠે પડતો જોયો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LUK.10.19" />ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! મેં તમને સર્પો અને વીંછીઓ પર ચાલવાનો અધિકાર આપ્યો છે. મેં તમને શત્રુંની બધી જ તાકાત કરતાં વધારે તાકાત આપી છે. તમને કશાથી ઇજા થનાર નથી.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LUK.10.20" />પણ આનંદ કરો. આત્માઓ તમને તાબે થયા તેથી આનંદી થશો નહિ. એટલે નહિં કે તમારી પાસે સામથ્યૅ છે, તેને બદલે તમારા નામ આકાશમાં લખેલાં છે તેથી આનંદ પામો.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ બાપને પ્રાર્થના કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 11:25-27; 13:16-17)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.10.21" />પછી પવિત્ર આત્માથી ઈસુને વધારે આનંદનો અનુભવ થયો. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હે બાપ આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીના ધણી, હું તારો આભાર માનુ છું. હું તારી સ્તુતી કરું છું કારણ કે તેં ડાહ્યા અને બુદ્ધીશાળી લોકોથી આ વાતો ગુપ્ત રાખી છે. પણ તેં એ વાતો એવા લોકો કે જે નાનાં બાળકો જેવા છે તેમને તેં પ્રગટ કરી છે. હા બાપ, તેં આ કર્યુ છે કારણ કે તું ખરેખર જે કરવા ઈચ્છતો હતો તે આ જ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.10.22" />“મારા બાપે મને બધી વસ્તુઓ આપી છે. દીકરો કોણ છે એ માણસ જાણતો નથી. ફક્ત બાપ જ જાણે છે અને દીકરો જાણે છે કે બાપ કોણ છે. ફક્ત તે લોકો જ જાણશે કે બાપ કોણ છે. તે એ લોકો છે જેને દીકરો તેમને પ્રગટ કરવા પસંદ કરે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LUK.10.23" />ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યો સાથે પાછો ફર્યો. તેઓ ત્યાં ઈસુની સાથે એકલા જ હતાં. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે હમણા જે જુઓ છો તે જોવા તમને ધન્ય છે!
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LUK.10.24" />હું તમને કહું છું કે તમે હમણા જે જુઓ છો તે જોવા માટે પ્રબોધકો અને રાજા ઈચ્છતા હતા. પણ તેઓ આ વસ્તુઓ જોઈ શક્યા નથી. અને ઘણા પ્રબોધકો અને રાજાઓ તમે જે હમણા સાંભળો છો તે સાંભળવા ઈચ્છતા હતા, પણ તેઓ આ બાબતો સાંભળી શક્યા નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ભલા સમરૂનીનું ઉદાહરણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.10.25" />પછી એક કાયદાનો પંડિત ઊભો થયો. તે ઈસુનું પરીક્ષણ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરતો હતો. તેણે કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, અનંતજીવનની પ્રાપ્તિ માટે મારે શું કરવું જોઈએ?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LUK.10.26" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં શું લખ્યું છે? તેમાં તું શું વાંચે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LUK.10.27" />તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “‘તારે પ્રભુ તારા દેવ પર પૂર્ણ હ્રદયથી તથા તારા પૂરા જીવથી તથા તારા પૂર્ણ સામથ્યૅથી તથા તારા પૂર્ણ મનથી પ્રીતિ કરવી જોઈએ.’<x caller="+"><xo>10:27
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 6:5.</xt></x> તથા, ‘તમે તમારી જાતને જેવો પ્રેમ કરો છો તેવો જ તમારા પડોશી પર પ્રેમ રાખવો.’”<x caller="+"><xo>10:27
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ લે. 19:18.</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.10.28" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “તારો ઉત્તર ખરો છે. એ જ કરો તેથી તને અનંત જીવન મળશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LUK.10.29" />પણ તે માણસ તેની જાતને ન્યાયી ઠરાવવા, પ્રશ્રો પૂછતો હતો. તેથી તેણે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “પણ આ બીજા લોકો કોણ છે જેમને મારે પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="LUK.10.30" />આ પ્રશ્રનો ઉત્તર આપતા ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “એક માણસ યરૂશાલેમથી યરેખોના રસ્તેથી જતો હતો. કેટલાએક લૂંટારાઓએ તેને ઘેર્યો. તેઓએ તેનાં વસ્ત્રો ઉતારી લીધાં અને માર્યો. પછી તે લૂંટારાઓ તે માણસને જમીન પર પડેલો છોડીને ચાલ્યા ગયા. તે લગભગ મરી ગયો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.10.31" />“એવું બન્યું કે એક યહૂદિ યાજક તે રસ્તા પરથી પસાર થતો હતો. જ્યારે યાજકે તે માણસને જોયો તે તેને મદદ કરવા રોકાયો નહિ, તે દૂર ચાલ્યો ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="LUK.10.32" />પછી, લેવી<f caller="+"><ft>લેવી લેવીના કૂળનો માણસ જે મંદિરમાં યહૂદિ યાજકોનો મદદકર્તા હતો.</ft></f> નજીક આવ્યો. લેવીએ ઇજાગ્રસ્ત માણસને જોયો. પણ તેને જોઈને તે પણ બીજી બાજુ ચાલ્યો ગયો. તે પણ તેને મદદ કરવા રોકાયા વગર જ ચાલ્યો ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.10.33" />“પછી એક સમરૂની તે રસ્તેથી પસાર થતો હતો. તે તે જગ્યાએ આવ્યો જ્યાં પેલો ઇજાગ્રસ્ત માણસ પડ્યો હતો. સમરૂનીએ તે માણસને જોયો. તે ઇજાગ્રસ્ત માણસને જોઈ તેને કરૂણા ઉપજી.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="LUK.10.34" />તે સમરૂની તેની પાસે ગયો અને તેને ઘા પર ઓલિવનું તેલ અને દ્ધાક્ષારસ રેડ્યો. પછી તેણે તે માણસના ઘા પર પાટો બાંધ્યો. સમરૂની પાસે એક ગધેડા હતો. તેણે તે ઇજાગ્રસ્ત માણસને તેના ગધેડા પર બેસાડ્યો અને તેને ધર્મશાળામાં લઈ ગયો. ધર્મશાળામાં સમરૂનીએ તેની માવજત કરી.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="LUK.10.35" />બીજે દિવસે, સમરૂની બે ચાંદીના સિક્કા લાવ્યો અને ધર્મશાળામાં જે માણસ કામ કરતો હતો તેને આપ્યા. સમરૂનીએ કહ્યું, ‘આ ઇજા પામેલા માણસની માવજત કરજે. જો તેના માટે તું વધારે ખર્ચ કરીશ તો હું જ્યારે ફરી પાછો આવીશ ત્યારે તે આપીશ.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LUK.10.36" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હવે લૂંટારાઓથી ઇજા પામેલા પેલા માણસ પર આ ત્રણ માણસોમાંથી (યાજક, લેવી, સમરૂની) ક્યા માણસે પ્રેમ દર્શાવ્યો. તું શું વિચારે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LUK.10.37" />કાયદાના પંડિતે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તે એક કે જેણે તને મદદ કરી,”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “તો પછી તું જા અને જઇને બીજા લોકો માટે એ પ્રમાણે કર.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મરિયમ અને માર્થા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="LUK.10.38" />જ્યારે ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો યાત્રા કરતા હતા. ત્યારે ઈસુ એક શહેરમાં ગયો. માર્થા નામની એક સ્ત્રીએ ઈસુને પોતાને ઘેર રાખ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="LUK.10.39" />માર્થાને મરિયમ નામની બહેન હતી. મરિયમ ઈસુના પગ પાસે બેઠી હતી અને તેને ઉપદેશ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળતી હતી. પણ તેની બહેન માર્થા ઘરકામમાં વ્યસ્ત હતી.
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<v id="40" bcv="LUK.10.40" />માર્થા ઘણા કામોમાં વ્યસ્ત હતી ઘણું કામ કરવાનું હતું, માર્થા અંદર ગઇ અને કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, મારી બહેને મને કામ કરવાને એકલી મૂકી છે, તેની શું તને ચિંતા નથી? મને મદદ કરવા માટે તેને કહે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="LUK.10.41" />પણ પ્રભુએ તેને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “માર્થા, માર્થા, તું ઘણી બધી બાબતોમાં ચિંતા કરે છે અને ગભરાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="LUK.10.42" />ફક્ત એક જ વાત મહત્વની છે, મરિયમે યોગ્ય પસંદગી કરી છે; અને તે તેની પાસેથી કદાપિ લઈ લેવામાં આવશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ પ્રાર્થના કરતાં શીખવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 6:9-15)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.11.1" />એક વખત ઈસુ એક જગ્યાએ પ્રાર્થના કરતો હતો. જ્યારે ઈસુએ પ્રાર્થના કરવાની પૂરી કરી ત્યારે તેના શિષ્યોમાંના એકે તેને કહ્યું, “યોહાને તેના શિષ્યોને પ્રાર્થના કરતા શીખવ્યું. પ્રભુ તમે પણ અમને પ્રાર્થના કરતા શીખવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="LUK.11.2" />ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે તમે પ્રાર્થના કરો ત્યારે આ રીતે પ્રાર્થના કરો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘ઓ બાપ, અમે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ કે તારું નામ સદા પવિત્ર મનાઓ.
</q>
<q style="q1">અમે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ કે તારું રાજ્ય આવો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="LUK.11.3" />દરેક દિવસે અમને જરુંરી ખોરાક આપ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="LUK.11.4" />અમે કરેલાં પાપ તું માફ કર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે અમે અમારા પ્રત્યેક અપરાધીઓને માફ કરીએ છીએ.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને અમને પરીક્ષણમાં ના લાવો પણ ભૂંડાઇથી અમારો છૂટકો કર.’”
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">માગવાનું ચાલુ રાખો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 7:7-11)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5-6" bcv="LUK.11.5" />પછી ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “ધારો કે તમારામાંનો કોઈ એક મોડી રાત્રે તમારા મિત્રને ઘરે જાય અને કહે, ‘મારો એક મિત્ર મારી મુલાકાતે શહેરમાં આવ્યો છે. પરંતુ મારી પાસે તેને ખવડાવવા કંઈ નથી. કૃપા કરીને મને ત્રણ રોટલી આપ,’
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LUK.11.7" />તમારો મિત્ર ઘરમાંથી જ ઉત્તર આપે છે, ‘ચાલ્યો જા, મને તકલીફ ન આપ! હમણા બારણું બંધ છે. હું અને મારા બાળકો પથારીમાં છીએ. હું હમણા ઊઠીને તને રોટલી આપી શકું તેમ નથી.’
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LUK.11.8" />હું તમને કહું છું કે તમે એના મિત્ર હોવા છતાં કદાચ તે ન ઊઠે, પણ તમારા સતત આગ્રહને કારણે તે અવશ્ય ઊઠશે અને તમને જરૂરી બધું જ આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LUK.11.9" />તેથી હું તમને કહું છું. માગવાનું ચાલુ રાખો, અને દેવ તમને આપશે. શોધવાનું ચાલુ રાખો અને તમે તે મેળવશો. બારણું ખખડાવવાનું ચાલું રાખો, અને બારણું તમારા માટે ઉઘડશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LUK.11.10" />હા, જો એક વ્યક્તિ માંગવાનું ચાલુ રાખે છે તો તે વ્યક્તિ મેળવશે. જો વ્યક્તિ શોધવાનું ચાલુ રાખે છે તો તેને મળે છે. જો વ્યક્તિ ખખડાવવાનું ચાલુ રાખે છે, તો તે વ્યક્તિ માટે બારણું ઉઘડશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LUK.11.11" />તમારામાંથી કોઈને દીકરો છે? જો તમારો દીકરો તમારી પાસે એક માછલી માગશે તો તમે શું કરશો? શું કોઈ પિતા તેના પુત્રને સર્પ આપશે? ના! તમે તેને એક માછલી જ આપશો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LUK.11.12" />અથવા, જો તમારો દીકરો એક ઇંડુ માંગશે તો શું તમે તેને એક વીંછી આપશો? ના!
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LUK.11.13" />તમે બીજા લોકો જેવા જ છો, તમે ભૂંડા છો છતાં તમે જાણો છો કે તમારા બાળકોને સારી ભેટો કેવી રીતે આપવી. તેથી તમારા આકાશમાંના બાપ જાણે છે. જે લોકો તેની પાસે માગે છે તેમને તે પવિત્ર આત્મા આપશે. તે કેટલું વિશેષ ખાતરીપૂર્વક છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું સાર્મથ્ય દેવ તરફથી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 12:22-30; માર્ક 3:20-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LUK.11.14" />એક વખતે ઈસુ માણસમાંથી ભૂતને બહાર કાઢતો હતો. તે માણસ વાત કરી શકતો ન હતો. જ્યારે દુષ્ટ આત્મા બહાર આવ્યો ત્યારે તે માણસ બોલી શક્યો. લોકો અચરત પામ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LUK.11.15" />કેટલાએક લોકોએ કહ્યું, “લોકોમાંથી ભૂતોને બહાર કાઢવા ઈસુ બાલઝબૂલની તાકાતનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે. બાલઝબૂલ ભૂતોનો સરદાર હતો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.11.16" />બીજા લોકો ઈસુનું પરીક્ષણ કરવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. તેઓએ ઈસુની પાસેથી આકાશમાંથી નિશાની માગી.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LUK.11.17" />તેઓ શું વિચારતા હતા તે જાણીને ઈસુએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “જે કોઈ રાજ્યમાં ફૂટ પડે છે તેને નાશ થાય છે અને પરિવારના સભ્યો એકબીજા સાથે ઝઘડે તો તેથી તેમા ભાગલા પડે છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LUK.11.18" />તેથી જો શેતાન પોતાની સામે થયેલો હોય તો તેનું રાજ્ય કેવી રીતે ટકી શકે? તમે કહો છો કે ભૂતોને બહાર કાઢવામાં હું બાલઝબૂલની શક્તિનો ઉપયોગ કરું છું.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LUK.11.19" />પણ જો હું બાલઝબૂલની શક્તિથી ભૂતોને બહાર કાઢતો હોઉં તો કમારા લોકો કઈ શક્તિનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે જ્યારે તેઓ ભૂતોને બહાર કાઢે છે? તેથી તમારા પોતાના લોકો જ સાબિત કરે છે કે તમે ખોટા છો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LUK.11.20" />પણ હું તો ભૂતોને કાઢવા માટે સાર્મથ્યનો ઉપયોગ કરું છું, આ બતાવે છે કે દેવનું રાજ્ય તમારી પાસે આવ્યું છે!
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.11.21" />“જ્યારે બળવાન માણસ ઘણા હથિયારોથી પોતાનું ઘર સાચવે છે ત્યારે તેના ઘરમાં વસ્તુઓ સલામત રહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="LUK.11.22" />પણ ધારો કે બીજો મજબૂત માણસ આવે છે અને તેને હરાવે છે, તે જેના પર પ્રથમ માણસે તેના ઘરને સલામત રાખવા વિશ્વાસ કર્યો હતો તે હથિયારો તે મજબૂત માણસ લઈ જશે. પછી વધારે મજબૂત માણસ બીજા માણસોની માલમિલ્કત બાબતે તેની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LUK.11.23" />“જે વ્યક્તિ મારા પક્ષનો નથી તે મારી વિરૂદ્ધ છે. જે માણસ મારી સાથે કામ કરી શકતો નથી તે મારી વિરૂદ્ધ કામ કરે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ખાલી માણસ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 12: 43-45)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LUK.11.24" />“જ્યારે માણસમાંથી અશુદ્ધ આત્મા બહાર આવે છે, પછી નિર્જળ પ્રદેશોમાં આરામ માટેની જગાની શોધમાં તે ભટકતો ફરે છે. પણ તે આત્માને આરામ માટેની જગ્યા મળતી નથી. તેથી આત્મા કહે છે, ‘જે ઘરમાંથી હું નીકળ્યો તે જ ઘરમાં હું પાછો જઇશ.’
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<v id="25" bcv="LUK.11.25" />જ્યારે આત્મા પેલા માણસ પાસે પાછો આવે છે, ત્યારે તેનું અગાઉનું ઘર સ્વચ્છ અને સુશોભિત જુએ છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="LUK.11.26" />પછી તે અશુદ્ધ આત્મા બહાર જાય છે અને તેના કરતાં વધારે દુષ્ટ સાત અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને લઈને આવે છે. પછી બધાજ અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓ તે માણસમાં પ્રવેશીને ત્યાં જ રહે છે અને પેલા માણસની હાલત પહેલાં કરતાં વધારે ભૂંડી બને છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સાચા સુખી લોકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LUK.11.27" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ વાતો કહી, ત્યારે એક સ્ત્રીએ ટોળામાંથી ઈસુને મોટા અવાજે કહ્યું, “તારી માતાને ધન્ય છે, કારણ કે તેણે તને જન્મ આપ્યો અને તને ધવડાવ્યો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.11.28" />પણ ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જે લોકો દેવની વાત સાંભળે છે અને પાળે છે; તેઓ સાચા સુખી લોકો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અમને સાબિતી આપો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 12:38-42: માર્ક 8:12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LUK.11.29" />લોકોનો સમૂહ મોટો ને મોટો થતો ગયો. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “આજે જે લોકો જીવે છે તેઓ દુષ્ટ છે, તેઓ દેવની પાસેથી એંધાણી રુંપે કોઈ ચમત્કાર માંગે છે, પણ તેઓને એંધાણીરુંપે કોઈ ચમત્કાર આપવામાં આવશે નહિ. યૂનાને જે ચમત્કાર થયો તે જ ફક્ત એંધાણી હશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="LUK.11.30" />નિનવેહમાં રહેતા લોકોને માટે યૂના જ નિશાની હતો. માણસના દીકરા સાથે પણ એમ જ છે. આ સમયના લોકો માટે માણસનો દીકરો જ નિશાની થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.11.31" />“ન્યાયના દિવસે દક્ષિણની રાણી<f caller="+"><fr>11:31
</fr><fk>દક્ષિણની રાણી
</fk><ft>દક્ષિણની રાણી. તે સુલેમાન પાસે 1,000 માઈલની મૂસાફરી કરીને દેવનું જ્ઞાન (ડાહપણ) શીખવા માટે આવી. વાંચો 1 રાજા 10:1-13.</ft></f> આ પેઢીના માણસો સાથે ઊભી રહેશે. તે બતાવશે કે તેઓ ખોટા છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે દૂર દૂરથી તે સુલેમાનનું જ્ઞાન ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવા આવી. અને હું તમને કહું છું કે હું સુલામાન કરતા મોટો છું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LUK.11.32" />“ન્યાયના દિવસે નિનવેહની આ પેઢીના માણસો લોકો સાથે ઊભા રહેશે અને તેઓ બતાવશે કે તમે દોષિત છો. શા માટે? કારણ કે જ્યારે યૂના પેલા લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપતો હતો ત્યારે તેઓએ પસ્તાવો કર્યો. હું તમને કહું છું કે, હું યૂના કરતાં વધારે મોટો છું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">જગત માટે પ્રકાશ બનો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 5:15; 6:22-23)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.11.33" />“કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ દીવો લઈને તેને વાસણ નીચે સંતાડી મૂકશે નહિ. તેને બદલે તે દીવી પર મૂકે છે તેથી ઘરમાં પ્રવેશનારા તે જોઈ શકે.
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<v id="34" bcv="LUK.11.34" />તારી આંખ તારા શરીર માટે દીવો છે. જો તારી આંખો સારી હશે તો તારું આખું શરીર પ્રકાશથી ભરેલું હશે. પણ જો તારી આંખો ખરાબ હશે તો તારું આખુ શરીર અંધકારથી ભરેલું હશે.
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<v id="35" bcv="LUK.11.35" />માટે સાવધાન રહે, તારામાં રહેલા પ્રકાશને અંધકાર થવા દઇશ નહિ.
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<v id="36" bcv="LUK.11.36" />જો તારું આખું શરીર પ્રકાશથી ભરેલું હશે અને તેનો કોઈ ભાગ અંધકારરૂપ નહિ હોય તો તે બધું તેજસ્વી થશે. જેમ દીવો તને પ્રકાશ આપે છે તેમ.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ ફરોશીઓની ટીકા કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 23:1-36; માર્ક 12:38-40; લૂક 20:45-47)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LUK.11.37" />ઈસુએ બોલવાનું પૂરું કર્યા પછી ફરોશીએ ઈસુને પાતાની સાથે જમવા બોલાવ્યો તેથી ઈસુ આવ્યો અને મેજ પાસે બેઠો.
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<v id="38" bcv="LUK.11.38" />પણ ફરોશીને તે જોઈને આશ્ચર્ય થયું જ્યારે ઈસુએ જમતાં પહેલા તેના હાથ ધોયા નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="LUK.11.39" />પ્રભુએ (ઈસુ) તેને કહ્યું, “તમે ફરોશીઓ તો થાળી અને વાટકો બહારથી સાફ કરો છો, પરંતુ તમારા અંતરમાં તો બીજા લોકોને છેતરીને ભેગી કરેલી વસ્તુઓ અને દુષ્ટતા છે.
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<v id="40" bcv="LUK.11.40" />તમે મૂર્ખ છો! જેણે (દેવ) બહારનું બનાવ્યું તેણે અંદરનું પણ નથી બનાવ્યું શુ?
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<v id="41" bcv="LUK.11.41" />તેથી તમારી થાળીમાં અને વાટકામાં જે છે તે લોકોને જરૂર છે તેમને આપો, પછી તમે સંપૂર્ણ શુદ્ધ થશો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="LUK.11.42" />“પણ તમે ફરોશીઓને અફસોસ છે. તમે દેવને તમારી પોતાની બધી વસ્તુઓનો દશમો ભાગ આપો છો, તમે તમારા બાગમાં થતી ફુદીનાનો, સિતાબનો તથી બીજા નાના છોડનો દશાંશ જ આપો છો. પણ તમે બીજા લોકો તરફ ન્યાયી થવાનું અને દેવને પ્રેમ કરવાનું ભૂલી જાઓ છો. તમારે આ પ્રમાણે કરવું જોઈએ, અને પેલી બીજી બાબતો જેવી કે દશમો ભાગ આપવાનું પણ ચાલુ રાખવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="LUK.11.43" />“ફરોશીઓ તમારે માટે અફસોસની વાત છે કારણ કે તમે સભાસ્થાનોમાં માનવંત સ્થાનોને ચાહો છો, અને રસ્તે જતાં લોકો તમને સલામ કરીને માન આપે એવું તમે ચાહો છો.
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<v id="44" bcv="LUK.11.44" />તમને અફસોસ છે! કેમ કે તમે તો છુપાયેલી કબરો જેવા છો, લોકો અજાણતા તેના પરથી ચાલે છે એવા તમે છો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="LUK.11.45" />પંડિતોમાંના એકે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “ઉપદેશક, જ્યારે તમે ફરોશીઓ માટે આમ કહો છો, તેથી તમે અમારા સમૂહની પણ ટીકા કરો છો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="LUK.11.46" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તમને અફસોસ છે! તમે પંડિતો છો! કારણ કે તમે એવા કડક કાયદાઓ બનાવો છો, જેનું પાલન કરવાનું પણ લોકોને માટે ઘણું કઠિન છે. તમે બીજા લોકોને તે કાયદાનું પાલન કરવા દબાણ કરો છો, પણ તમે તમારી જાતે તે કાયદાઓને અનુસરવાનો જરાય પ્રયત્ન કરતા નથી.
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<v id="47" bcv="LUK.11.47" />તમને અફસોસ છે કેમ કે તમે તમારા પૂર્વજોએ મારી નાંખેલા પ્રબોધકો માટે કબરો બાંધો છો.
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<v id="48" bcv="LUK.11.48" />અને હવે તમે બધા લોકોને બતાવો છો, તમે તમારા બાપ દાદાઓએ જે કર્યુ તેની સાથે સંમત છો. તેઓએ પ્રબોધકોને મારી નાંખ્યા છે, અને તમે પ્રબોધકો માટે કબર બાંધો છો!
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<v id="49" bcv="LUK.11.49" />તેથી દેવના જ્ઞાને પણ કહ્યું છે, ‘હું તેઓની પાસે પ્રબોધકો તથા પ્રેરિતોને મોકલીશ. મારા પ્રબોધકો અને પ્રેરિતોમાંના કેટલાએકને દુષ્ટ માણસો દ્ધારા મારી નાખવામાં આવશે. બીજાઓને સતાવવામાં આવશે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="LUK.11.50" />“તેથી દુનિયાના આરંભથી જે બધા પ્રબોધકોને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યા છે તે માટે તમે લોકો જે હમણાં જીવો છો તેમને શિક્ષા થશે.
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<v id="51" bcv="LUK.11.51" />હાબેલની હત્યા માટે તમને શિક્ષા થશે. જે રીતે ઝખાર્યા જે વેદી અને મંદિરની વચ્ચે માર્યો ગયો હતો. હા, હું તમને કહું છું તમે લોકો જે હાલમાં જીવો છો તેઓને તે બધા માટે શિક્ષા થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="LUK.11.52" />“ઓ પંડિતો, તમને અફસોસ છે! કેમ કે તમે દેવ વિષે શીખવાની ચાવી સંતાડી દીધી છે. તમે તમારી જાતે શીખતા નથી અને બીજાઓને પણ તે શીખવામાંથી અટકાવ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="LUK.11.53" />જ્યારે ઈસુ ત્યાંથી જતો હતો ત્યારે શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને ફરોશીઓએ તેને વધારે કષ્ટ આપવા લાગ્યા. તેઓ ઘણી બાબતો વિષે પ્રશ્રોના ઉત્તર આપવા માટે પ્રયત્ન કરીને ઈસુને ઉશ્કેરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="54" bcv="LUK.11.54" />ઈસુને કંઈ ખોટું બોલતાં પકડી શકાય તે માટે તક શોધવાનો તેઓ પ્રયત્ન કરતા હતા.
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</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">ફરોશીઓ જેવા ના બનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.12.1" />ઘણા હજારો લોકો ભેગા થયા. ત્યાં એટલા બધા લોકો હતા કે તેઓ એકબીજા પર પડાપડી કરતા હતા. ઈસુ લોકોને બોલ્યો તે પહેલા તેના શિષ્યોને તેણે કહ્યું, “ફરોશીઓના ખમીરથી સાવધ રહો. હું સમજું છું કે તેઓ ઢોંગી છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="LUK.12.2" />જે કંઈ છુપાવી રાખેલું છે તે બતાવશે. જે કંઈ ગુપ્ત છે તે પ્રગટ કરાશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="LUK.12.3" />તમે જે કંઈ અંધારામાં કહો છો તે અજવાળામાં કહેવાશે, અને ગુપ્ત ઓરડામાં તમે જે કંઈ કાનમાં કહ્યું હશે તે ઘરના ધાબા પરથી પોકારાશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ફક્ત ઈસુથી ડરો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 10:28-31)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LUK.12.4" />પછી ઈસુએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “હું તમને કહું છું, મારા મિત્રો, લોકોથી ડરો નહિ, લોકો શરીરને મારી શકે છે, પણ તે પછી તેઓ તમને ઇજા કરતાં વધારે કઈ કરી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="LUK.12.5" />હું તમને એકથી ડરવાનું બતાવીશ. તમારે તેનાથી ડરવું જોઈએ જેનામાં તમને મારી નાખવાનો અને પછી તમને નરકમાં નાખવાનો અધિકાર છો. હા, તે એક છે જેનાથી તાર ડરવું જોઈએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LUK.12.6" />“જ્યારે પક્ષીઓ વેચાય છે, પાંચ નાના પક્ષીઓની કિંમત માત્ર બે પૈસા છે. પણ દેવ તેમાંના કોઈને ભૂલી શકતો નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="LUK.12.7" />હા, દેવને એ પણ ખબર છે કે તમારા માથાંના વાળ કેટલા છે. ડરશો નહિ. તમે ઘણા પક્ષીઓ કરતાં વધારે મૂલ્યવાન છો.
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<s style="s">ઈસુથી શરમાશો નહિ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 10:32-33; 12:32; 10:19-20)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LUK.12.8" />“હું તમને કહું છું, જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ બીજા લોકો આગળ ઊભો રહે અને કહે કે તેને મારામાં વિશ્વાસ છે. પછી હું કહીશ કે તે વ્યક્તિ માકી છે. હું આ દેવના દૂતોની આગળ કહીશ.
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<v id="9" bcv="LUK.12.9" />પણ જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ લોકો આગળ ઊભો રહીને જાહેર કરે કે તેને મારામાં વિશ્વાસ નથી પછી હું કહીશ કે તે વ્યક્તિ મારી નથી. હું આ દેવના દૂતોની આગળ કહીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LUK.12.10" />“કોઈ વ્યક્તિ માણસના દીકરાની વિરૂદ્ધ કંઈક કહે છે, તો તેને માફી આપી શકાય છે. પણ કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પવિત્ર આત્માની વિરૂદ્ધ કંઈ વાત કહેશે તો તેને માફ કરી શકાશે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LUK.12.11" />“જ્યારે લોકો તમને સભાસ્થાનોમાં અધિપતિઓ અને અધિકારીઓની આગળ લઈ જાય ત્યારે શું કહેવું તેની ચિંતા ન કરો અને તમારો બચાવ કેવી રીતે કરવો તેની પણ ચિંતા ન કરો.
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<v id="12" bcv="LUK.12.12" />તે વખતે પવિત્ર આત્મા તમારે શું કહેવું જોઈએ તે શીખવશે.”
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<s style="s">ઈસુની સ્વાર્થપણા સામે ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.12.13" />ટોળામાંના એક માણસે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “ગુરુંજી, હમણા જ અમારા પિતાનું મૃત્યુ થયું છે. મારા ભાઈને કહે કે અમારા પિતાની માલિકીની વસ્તુઓનો ભાગ મને આપે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LUK.12.14" />પણ ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “કોણે કહ્યું કે હું તમારો ન્યાયાધીશ થઈશ કે તમારા પિતાની વસ્તુઓ તમારા બંને વચ્ચે વહેંચવાનો નિર્ણય કરીશ?”
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<v id="15" bcv="LUK.12.15" />પછી ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “સાવધાન રહો અને બધાજ પ્રકારના સ્વાર્થીપણા સામે જાગ્રત રહો. વ્યક્તિ તેની માલિકીની ઘણી વસ્તુઓમાંથી જીવન પ્રાપ્ત કરી શકતો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.12.16" />પછી ઈસુએ આ વાર્તાનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો: “એક ધનવાન માણસ હતો જેની પાસે કેટલીક જમીન હતી. તેની જમીનમાં ઘણી સારી ઉપજ થઈ.
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<v id="17" bcv="LUK.12.17" />તે ધનવાન માણસે તેની જાતે મનમાં વિચાર કર્યો, ‘મારે શું કરવું? મારી પાસે ઉપજ ભરી મૂકવાની જગ્યા નથી.’
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.12.18" />“પછી પૈસાદાર માણસે કહ્યું, ‘હું જાણું છું કે હું શું કરીશ.’ હું મારી વખારોને પાડી નાંખીને વધારે મોટી વખારો બાંધીશ! હું ત્યાં મારા બધાજ ઘઉં અને સારી વસ્તુઓ એક સાથે નવી વખારમાં મૂકીશ.
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<v id="19" bcv="LUK.12.19" />પછી હું મારી જાતને કહીશ, ‘મારી પાસે ઘણી સારી વસ્તુઓનો સંગ્રહ છે, મેં ઘણાં વરસ માટે પૂરતું બચાવ્યું છે આરામ લે, ખા, પી અને જીવનમાં આનંદ કર!’
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LUK.12.20" />“પરંતુ દેવે તે માણસને કહ્યું, ‘અરે! મૂર્ખ માણસ આજે રાત્રે તારું મૃત્યુ થશે. તેથી તેં તારી જાત માટે તૈયાર કરેલી વસ્તુઓનું શું? હવે તે વસ્તુઓ કોની થશે?’
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.12.21" />“જે વ્યક્તિ તેની જાત માટે જ ફક્ત વસ્તુઓ બચાવે છે તેનું આમ જ થશે. દેવ સમક્ષ તે વ્યક્તિ ધનવાન નથી.”
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<s style="s">દેવના રાજ્યને પ્રથમ સ્થાન આપવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 6:25-34; 19:21)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.12.22" />ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “તેથી હું તમને કહું છું કે, તમારે જીવવા માટે જે ખોરાક જોઈએ તેની ચિંતા કરશો નહિ, તમારા શરીર માટે જરૂરી કપડાંની તમે ચિંતા કરશો નહિ.
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<v id="23" bcv="LUK.12.23" />જીવન ખોરાક કરતા વધારે મહત્વનું છે અને શરીર કપડાં કરતા વધારે મહત્વનું છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="LUK.12.24" />પક્ષીઓ તરફ જુઓ, તેઓ વાવતા નથી કે લણતાં નથી. પક્ષીઓ વખારમાં કે ઘરમાં અનાજ બચાવતા નથી. પરંતુ દેવ તેમની સંભાળ રાખે છે. અને તમે તો પક્ષીઓ કરતાં ઘણા મૂલ્યવાન છો.
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<v id="25" bcv="LUK.12.25" />તમારામાંથી કોઈ પણ તેના અંગે ચિંતાઓ કરીને તમારા જીવનમાં થોડા સમયનો પણ વધારો કરી શકતો નથી.
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<v id="26" bcv="LUK.12.26" />જો તમે નાની બાબત પણ કરી શકતા નથી તો પછી બીજી બાબતોની ચિંતા શા માટે કરો છો?
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LUK.12.27" />“જંગલી ફૂલોને જુઓ, તેઓ કેવી રીતે ઊગે છે. તેઓ તેમની જાત માટે નથી કપડાં બનાવતા કે નથી કંઈ કામ કરતાં. પણ હું તમને કહું છું કે મહાન ધનવાન રાજા સુલેમાન પણ સુંદર રીતે શણગારાએલાં ફૂલોમાંના એક જેવો પણ પહેરેલો ન હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="LUK.12.28" />એ પ્રમાણે દેવ ખેતરના ઘાસને સુંદર વસ્ત્રો પહેરાવે છે તેમ ઘાસ આજે જીવે છે. પણ આવતીકાલે તેને બાળી નાખવા આગમાં નંખાય છે. તેથી તું જાણ કે દેવ તને વધારે સારું પહેરાવશે. તેથી આવો અલ્પવિશ્વાસ ન રાખો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LUK.12.29" />“તેથી હંમેશા તમે શું ખાશો અને શું પીશો તેના વિષે વિચાર ન કરો. તેના વિષે ચિંતા ન કરો.
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<v id="30" bcv="LUK.12.30" />જગતના બધા લોકો તે વસ્તુઓ મેળવવા પ્રયત્ન કરે છે. તમારો પિતા જાણે છે કે તમારે તે વસ્તુઓની જરૂર છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="LUK.12.31" />જે વસ્તુઓ તમને જોઈએ છે તે દેવનું રાજ્ય છે. પછી આ બધી જરૂરી વસ્તુઓ તમને આપવામાં આવશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પૈસામાં વિશ્વાસ ન રાખો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LUK.12.32" />“ઓ નાની ટોળી, તમે ડરશો નહિ, તમારા પિતા તમને રાજ્ય આપવા ઈચ્છે છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="LUK.12.33" />તમારી પાસે જે વસ્તુઓ છે તે વેચી દો અને જેઓને જરૂર છે તેઓને તે પૈસા આપી દો. આ જગતની સંપત્તિ સદા રહેતી નથી. તેથી જે સંપત્તિ સતત રહે તે મેળવો. તમારી જાત માટે આકાશમાં ખજાનો પ્રાપ્ત કરો. તે ખજાનો સદા રહેશે. આકાશમાંના ખજાનાને ચોરો ચોરી શકતા નથી, અને કીડા તેનો નાશ કરી શકતા નથી.
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<v id="34" bcv="LUK.12.34" />જ્યાં તમારો ખજાનો હશે ત્યાં જ તમારુંચિત્ત રહેશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">હંમેશા તૈયાર રહો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 24:42-44)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="LUK.12.35" />“તૈયાર થાઓ, પૂર્ણ પોષાક પહેરો, તમારા દીવા સળગતા રાખો.
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<v id="36" bcv="LUK.12.36" />લગ્ન સમારંભમાંથી ઘેર પાછા આવતા ધણીની રાહ જોતાં સેવકો જેવા થાઓ. ધણી આવે છે અને ટકોરા મારે છે. દાસો ધણી માંટે બારણું ઉઘાડે છે.
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<v id="37" bcv="LUK.12.37" />એ દાસોને ધન્ય છે કારણ કે જ્યારે તેઓનો ધણી ઘરે આવે છે અને તે જુએ છે કે તેના દાસો તૈયાર છે અને તેની વાટ જુએ છે. હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, ધણી તેની જાતે કામ માટે કપડાં પહેરશે અને દાસોને મેજ પાસે બેસવા કહેશે. પછી ધણી તેમની સેવા કરશે.
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<v id="38" bcv="LUK.12.38" />પેલા દાસોને મધરાત પછી મોડેથી તેઓના ધણીની આવવાની રાહ જોવી પડે. તેઓનો ધણી જ્યારે આવે છે, ત્યારે તેઓને રાહ જોતા જોઈને તે આનંદ પામે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LUK.12.39" />“આ યાદ રાખો, ઘરનો ધણી જો જાણતો હોત કે ક્યા સમયે ચોર આવશે તો પછી ધણી ચોરને તેના ઘરમાં ઘૂસવા દેત નહિ.
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<v id="40" bcv="LUK.12.40" />તેથી તમે પણ તૈયાર રહો! માણસનો દિકરો તમે ધાર્યુ નહિ હોય તેવા સમયે આવશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">વિશ્વાસપાત્ર સેવક કોણ?
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 24:45-51)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="LUK.12.41" />પિતરે કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, તેં આ વાર્તા અમારા માટે કહી કે બધા લોકો માટે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="LUK.12.42" />પ્રભુએ કહ્યું, “શાણો અને વિશ્વાસપાત્ર સેવક કોણ છે? ધણી એક દાસ પર વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે જે બીજા દાસોને સમયસર તેમનું ખાવાનું આપશે. એ દાસ કોણ છે જેના પર ધણી તે કામ કરવાનો વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે?
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<v id="43" bcv="LUK.12.43" />જ્યારે ધણી આવે છે અને પોતે દાસને સોંપેલું કામ કરતાં જુએ છે, ત્યારે તે દાસ ઘણો સુખી થશે.
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<v id="44" bcv="LUK.12.44" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, ધણી તે દાસને પોતાની સર્વ માલમિલકતની સંભાળ રાખવા પસંદ કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="LUK.12.45" />“પણ જો દાસ દુષ્ટ હોય અને વિચારે કે તેનો ધણી જલદીથી પાછો આવશે નહિ, તો પછી શું બને? પેલો દાસ બીજા દાસો અને દાસીઓને મારવાનું શરૂ કરશે. તે ખાશે, પીશે અને છાકટો બનશે.
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<v id="46" bcv="LUK.12.46" />પછી પેલા દાસનો ધણી આવશે ત્યારે પેલો દાસ તૈયાર હશે નહિ. દાસે ધારણા નહિ કરી હોય કે ધણી આવશે તેવા સમયે તે આવશે પછી ધણી પેલા દાસને શિક્ષા કરશે. ધણી તેને બીજા લોકો જે તેની આજ્ઞા પાળતા નથી તેમની સાથે દૂર કાઢી મૂકશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="LUK.12.47" />“પેલા દાસે જાણ્યું, તેનો ધણી તેની પાસે શું કરાવવા માંગતો હતો પણ તે દાસે તેની જાતને તૈયાર કરી નહિ અથવા તેના ધણીની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે જે કરવાનું હતું તે માટે પ્રયત્ન પણ કર્યો નહિ, તેથી તે દાસને ઘણી બધી શિક્ષા થશે!
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<v id="48" bcv="LUK.12.48" />પણ તે દાસોનું શું કે જેઓ તેમના ધણી શું ઈચ્છે છે તે જાણતા નથી? તે દાસ શિક્ષા થાય તેવાં જ કામ કરે છે. પણ જે દાસો તેમને શું કરવાનું છે તે જાણે છે તેના કરતા તેને ઓછી શિક્ષા થશે. જે વ્યક્તિને વધારે આપવામાં આવ્યું હશે તે વધારે હોવા માટે પણ જવાબદાર થશે. જે વ્યક્તિ પાસેથી વધારે અપેક્ષા રાખવામાં આવશે ત્યારે તેની પાસેથી વધારે માંગણી કરવામાં આવશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ વિષે લોકોનો અસ્વીકાર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 10:34-36)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="LUK.12.49" />ઈસુએ બોલવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું, “હું પૃથ્વી પર આગ વરસાવવા આવ્યો છું. જો આગ પ્રસરી જ ગઇ હોય તો હું બીજું શું ઈચ્છું!
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<v id="50" bcv="LUK.12.50" />મારે જુદા જ પ્રકારના બાપ્તિસ્મા સાથે બાપ્તિસ્મા પામવું જોઈએ અને તે પૂરું થતાં સુધી હું ઘણી ચિંતામાં છું.
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<v id="51" bcv="LUK.12.51" />શું તમે એમ માનો છો કે હું દુનિયાને શાંતિ આપવા આવ્યો છું? ના હું તો દુનિયાના ભાગલા પાડવા આવ્યો છું!
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<v id="52" bcv="LUK.12.52" />કેમ કે હવે એ પરિવારના પાંચ માણસોમાં ભાગલા પડશે. એટલે કે ત્રણ બેની સામે, અને બે ત્રણની સામે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="53" bcv="LUK.12.53" />પિતા અને પુત્રમાં ભાગલા પડશે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દીકરો તેના પિતાની વિરૂદ્ધ થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પિતા તેના પુત્રની વિરૂદ્ધ થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">મા અને પુત્રીમાં ભાગલા પડશે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પુત્રી તેની માની વિરોધી થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મા તેની પુત્રીની વિરોધી
</q>
<q style="q1">થશે સાસુ અને વહુમાં ભાગલા પડશે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">વહુ તેની સાસુની વિરોધી થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાસુ તેની વહુની વિરોધી થશે.”
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</q>
<s style="s">સમયને પારખો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 16:2-3)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="LUK.12.54" />પછી ઈસુએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે તમે પશ્ચિમમાં મોટાં વાદળા ઘેરાતાં જુઓ છો ત્યારે તમે કહો છો કે, ‘વર્ષાનું ઝાપટું આવશે;’ અને વરસાદ પડશે. અને ખરેખર વરસાદ પડે છે.
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<v id="55" bcv="LUK.12.55" />જ્યારે તમને લાગે છે કે દક્ષિણમાંથી પવન ફૂંકાય છે ત્યારે તમે કહો છો કે, ‘તે દિવસે ખૂબ ગરમી પડશે,’ અને તમે સાચા છો.
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<v id="56" bcv="LUK.12.56" />ઓ ઢોંગીઓ! તમે હવામાન સમજી શકો છો તો હમણાં જે બની રહ્યું છે તે તમે શા માટે સમજતા નથી?
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</p>
<s style="s">તમારી સમસ્યા ઉકેલો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 5:25-26)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="LUK.12.57" />“શું સાચું છે તેનો તમે તમારી જાતે કેમ નિર્ણય કરતા નથી?
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<v id="58" bcv="LUK.12.58" />જ્યારે તારા વિરોધી સાથે ફરિયાદ નોંધાવવા માટે ન્યાયાલયમાં જતો હોય તો રસ્તામાં જ તેની સાથે સમાધાન કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર. જો તું તેનો ઉકેલ નહિ લાવે તો તે તને ન્યાયાધીશ આગળ ઘસડી જશે. રખે ન્યાયાધીશ તને અધિકારીને સોંપે. અને તે તને બંદીખાનામાં નાખે.
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<v id="59" bcv="LUK.12.59" />હું તને કહું છું તું પ્રત્યેક દમડી જે તારે ચુકવવાની છે તે નહિ આપે ત્યાં સુધી તું ત્યાંથી બહાર નીકળશે નહિ.”
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</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">પસ્તાવો કરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.13.1" />તે સમયે ત્યાં ઈસુ સાથે ક્ટલાએક લોકો હતા. તે લોકોએ ગાલીલમાં કેટલાએક લોકો સાથે જે કંઈ બન્યું તે વિષે ઈસુને કહ્યું. જ્યારે તેઓ સ્તુતિ કરતા હતા ત્યારે પિલાતે એ લોકોને મારી નાખ્યા. પિલાતે દેવને જે યજ્ઞો થતાં પશુઓનાં લોહીમાં તેઓનું લોહી ભેળવી દીધું.
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<v id="2" bcv="LUK.13.2" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તેઓ પર વિપત્તિઓ આવી પડી કારણ કે તેઓ ગાલીલના બીજા બધા લોકો કરતાં વધારે પાપી હતા તેથી તે લોકોએ સહન કર્યુ એમ તમે ધારો છો શું?
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<v id="3" bcv="LUK.13.3" />ના, તેઓ નહોતા! પણ જો તમે બધા પસ્તાવો નહિ કરો તો તમે પણ પેલા લોકોની જેમ નાશ પામશો!
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<v id="4" bcv="LUK.13.4" />પણ પેલા 18 લોકોનું શું? જ્યારે શિલોઆહનો બૂરજ તેમના પર તૂટી પડવાથી જેઓ માર્યા ગયા? શું તમે એમ માનો છો કે એ લોકો યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેતા બીજા બધા લોકો કરતાં વધારે પાપી હતા?
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<v id="5" bcv="LUK.13.5" />તેઓ નહોતા! પણ હું તમને કહું છું, જો તમે પસ્તાવો નહિ કરો તો તેમની જેમ તમે બધા પણ નાશ પામશો.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નિરુંપયોગી વૃક્ષ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LUK.13.6" />ઈસુએ આ વાર્તા કહી: “એક માણસ પાસે એક અંજીરનું ઝાડ હતું. તેણે તે ઝાડ તેની વાડીમાં રોપ્યું. તે માણસ પેલા અંજીરના વૃક્ષ પર કેટલાંક ફળની શોધમાં ત્યાં આવ્યો. પણ એકે જડ્યું નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="LUK.13.7" />ત માણસનો એક માળી હતો. જે તેની વાડીની સંભાળ રાખતો હતો. તેથી તે માણસે તેના માળીને કહ્યું, ‘હું આ અંજીરના વૃક્ષ પર ફળ માટે છેલ્લા ત્રણ વર્ષથી રાહ જોઉં છું પણ કદીએ મને એકે મળ્યું નથી. તેને કાપી નાખો! તે શા માટે નકામી જમીન રોકે છે?’
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<v id="8" bcv="LUK.13.8" />પણ માળીએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, ‘સાહેબ વૃક્ષને ફળ આવવા માટે એક વર્ષ વધારે રહેવા દો. મને તેની આજુબાજુ ખોદવા દો અને છોડને ખાતર નાખવા દો.
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<v id="9" bcv="LUK.13.9" />બીજે વર્ષે વૃક્ષ કદાચ ફળ આપે, અને જો તેમ છતાં વૃક્ષ ફળ નહિ આપે તો તું તેને કાપી નાંખજે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું વિશ્રામવારે એક સ્ત્રીને સાજા કરવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LUK.13.10" />ઈસુ એક સભાસ્થાનમાં વિશ્રામવારે ઉપદેશ આપતો હતો.
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<v id="11" bcv="LUK.13.11" />સભાસ્થાનમાં એક સ્ત્રી હતી, જેનામાં મંદવાડનો આત્મા હતો. આ મંદવાડના આત્માએ તેને 18 વરસથી કુબડી બનાવી હતી. તેની પીઠ હંમેશા વાંકી રહેતી. તે સીધી ઊભી થઈ શકતી નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="LUK.13.12" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ તેને જોઈ, તેને બોલાવી; બાઇ, તારો મંદવાડ તારી પાસેથી દૂર જતો રહ્યો છે!
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<v id="13" bcv="LUK.13.13" />ઈસુએ તેના પર હાથ મૂક્યા પછી તે સીધી ઊભી થઈ શકી. તેણે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LUK.13.14" />સભાસ્થાનના આગેવાનો ગુસ્સે થયા કારણ કે વિશ્રામવારે ઈસુએ તેને સાજી કરી. આગેવાને લોકોને કહ્યું, “કામ કરવાના દિવસ 6 છે. તેથી તે દિવસોમાં કોઈ પણ દિવસે આવીને સાજા થાઓ. વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે સાજા થવા આવવું નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LUK.13.15" />પ્રભુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તમે લોકો ઢોંગી છો! તમારામાંનો દરેક તેના બળદ તથા ગધેડાને તેના તબેલામાંથી છોડે છે અને દરરોજ પાણી પીવડાવવા માટે લઈ જાય છે-વિશ્રામવારે પણ!
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<v id="16" bcv="LUK.13.16" />આ સ્ત્રી જેને મેં સાજી કરી છે તે આપણી યહૂદિ બહેન છે. પરંતુ શેતાને તેને 18 વરસથી બાંધી રાખી હતી. ખરેખર, વિશ્રામવારે તેને મંદવાડમાંથી મુક્ત કરવી તે ખોટું નથી!”
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<v id="17" bcv="LUK.13.17" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ આમ કહ્યું ત્યારે જે બધા માણસો તેની ટીકા કરતાં હતા તેઓ શરમાયા અને ઈસુ જે અદભૂત કામો કરતોં હતો તેથી બધાં જ ખુશ થયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવનું રાજ્ય શાના જેવું?
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 13:31-33; માર્ક 4:30-32)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.13.18" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “દેવનું રાજ્ય શાના જેવું છે? હું તેને શાની સાથે સરખાવું?
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<v id="19" bcv="LUK.13.19" />દેવનું રાજ્ય રાઇના બી જેવું છે. જેને એક માણસે આ બી લઈને પોતાની વાડીમાં વાવ્યું. તે બી ઊગ્યું અને મોટું ઝાડ થયું. પક્ષીઓએ તેની ડાળીઓ પર માળાઓ બાંધ્યા.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LUK.13.20" />ઈસુએ ફરી કહ્યું, “હું દેવના રાજ્યને શાની સાથે સરખાવું?
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<v id="21" bcv="LUK.13.21" />તે ખમીર જેવું છે જેને સ્ત્રી રોટલી બનાવવા માટે લોટના મોટા વાસણમાં ભેળવે છે. ખમીર બધા લોટને ફુલાવે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">સાંકડો દરવાજો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 7:13-14; 21:23)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.13.22" />ઈસુ દરેક શહેર અને ગામડામાં બોધ કરતો હતો. તેણે યરૂશાલેમ તરફથી યાત્રા ચાલુ રાખી.
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<v id="23" bcv="LUK.13.23" />કોઈકે ઈસુને પૂછયું, “પ્રભુ! કેટલા લોકોનું તારણ થશે? ફક્ત થોડાક?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ કહ્યું,
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<v id="24" bcv="LUK.13.24" />“સાંકડો દરવાજો જે આકાશના માર્ગને ઉઘાડે છે તેમાં પ્રવેશવા સખત પ્રયત્ન કરો. ઘણા માણસો તેમાં પ્રવેશવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરશે, પણ તેઓ પ્રવેશ પામી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="25" bcv="LUK.13.25" />જો માણસો તેના મકાનના બારણાને તાળું મારે તો પછી તમે બહાર ઊભા રહી શકો અને બારણાંને ટકોરા મારો, છતાં તે ઉઘાડશે નહિ. તમે કહેશો કે, ‘પ્રભુ, અમારે માટે બારણું ઉઘાડો!’ પણ તે માણસ ઉત્તર આપશે, ‘હું તમને ઓળખતો નથી! તમે ક્યાંથી આવ્યા છો?’
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<v id="26" bcv="LUK.13.26" />પછી તમે કહેશો, ‘અમે તારી સાથે ખાધું અને પીધું. તમે અમને અમારા શહેરની શેરીઓમાં ઉપદેશ આપ્યો.’
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<v id="27" bcv="LUK.13.27" />પછી તે તમને કહેશે, ‘હું તમને ઓળખતો નથી! તમે ક્યાંથી આવ્યા છો? મારી પાસેથી ચાલ્યા જાઓ! તમે બધાજ લોકો ખોટું કરો છો!’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.13.28" />“તમે લોકો ઈબ્રાહિમ, ઇસહાક, યાકૂબ અને બધા પ્રબોધકોને દેવના રાજ્યમાં જોશો અને પોતાને બહાર કાઢી મૂકેલા જોશો, ત્યારે તમે ભયથી રડશો અને દાંત પીસશો.
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<v id="29" bcv="LUK.13.29" />પૂર્વ, પશ્ચિમ, ઉત્તર અને દક્ષિણમાંથી લોકો આવશે. તેઓ દેવના રાજ્યમાં મેજ પાસે બેસશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="LUK.13.30" />જે લોકો હમણા જીવનમાં નીચામાં નીચી જગ્યાએ છે તે લોકો દેવના રાજ્યમાં ઊંચામાં ઊચી જગ્યાએ હશે. અને જે લોકો હમણા ઊચામાં ઊચી જગ્યાઓ છે તેઓ હવે દેવના રાજ્યમાં નીચામાં નીચી જગ્યાએ હશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમમાં ઈસુના મૃત્યુની આગાહી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 23:27-39)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.13.31" />તે સમયે કેટલાએક ફરોશીઓ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “અહીંથી દૂર ચાલ્યો જા, અને છુપાઇ જા. હેરોદ તને મારી નાખવા ચાહે છે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LUK.13.32" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “જાઓ, જઇને તે શિયાળવા<f caller="+"><ft>શિયાળવા ઈસુના મતે હેરોદ શિયાળ જેવો પ્રપંચી અને ચતૂર હતો.</ft></f> ને કહો આજે અને આવતીકાલે હું લોકોમાંથી અશુદ્ધ આત્મા બહાર કાઢું છું અને સાજા કરવાનું મારું કામ પૂરું કરી રહ્યો છું. પછી બીજે દિવસે કામ પૂરું થઈ જશે.
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<v id="33" bcv="LUK.13.33" />તે પછી મારે જવું જોઈએ, કારણ કે બધા પ્રબોધકોએ યરૂશાલેમમાં મરવું પડે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.13.34" />“ઓ યરૂશાલેમ! યરૂશાલેમ! તું પ્રબોધકોને મારી નાખે છે. દેવે તારી પાસે મોકલેલા લોકોને નેં પથ્થરે માર્યા. ઘણી વાર મેં તારાં લોકોને મદદ કરવાની ઈચ્છા કરી. જેમ મરઘી પોતાનાં બચ્ચાઓને પાંખો તળે ભેગાં કરે છે તેમ કેટલી વાર તારાં લોકોને ભેગા કરવાની ઇચ્ચા કરી, પણ તમે મને કરવા દીધું નહિ.
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<v id="35" bcv="LUK.13.35" />હવે તમારું ઘર સંપૂર્ણ ઉજ્જડ મૂકવામાં આવશે. હું તમને કહું છું કે, પ્રભુનાં નામે જે આવે છે તેને ધન્ય છે, એમ તમે નહિ કહો ત્યાં સુધી તમે મને ફરી જોઈ શકશો નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">વિશ્રામવારે સાજાં કરવું યોગ્ય છે?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.14.1" />ઈસુ ફરોશીઓના અધિકારીઓમાંના એકને ઘરે વિશ્રામવારે તેમની સાથે ખાવા માટે ગયો. ત્યાં લોકો ઈસુને ખૂબ નજીકથી તાકી રહ્યાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.14.2" />જલંદરનો રોગવાળા માણસને ઈસુની આગળ ઊભો રાખ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LUK.14.3" />ઈસુએ શાસ્ત્રીઓને અને ફરોશીઓને કહ્યું, “વિશ્રામવારે સાજાં કરવું સારું છે કે ખરાબ?”
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LUK.14.4" />પણ તેઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો નહિ. તેથી ઈસુએ તે માણસને લક્ષમાં લીધો અને તેને સાજો કર્યો. પછી ઈસુએ તે માણસને મોકલી દીધો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="LUK.14.5" />ઈસુએ ફરોશીઓ અને શાસ્ત્રીઓને કહ્યું, “જો તમારો દીકરો અથવા કામ કરનાર પ્રાણી વિશ્રામવારે કૂવામાં પડે તો તમે તરત જ તેને બહાર કાઢશો.”
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LUK.14.6" />ઈસુએ જે કહ્યું તેની સામે ફરોશીઓ અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ કંઈ જ કહી શક્યા નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તમારી જાતને મહત્વ ન આપો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LUK.14.7" />પછી ઈસુનું ધ્યાન કેટલાએક મહેમાનો ઉત્તમ જગ્યાએ બેસવાની પસંદગી કરતા હતા તે તરફ ગયું, તેથી ઈસુએ તેઓને આ વાર્તા કહી;
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="LUK.14.8" />“જ્યારે કોઈ માણસ તમને લગ્નમાં નિમંત્રણ આપે તો સૌથી મહત્વની બેઠક પર ના બેસો. તે માણસે કદાચ તમારા કરતાં વધારે મહત્વના માણસને નિમંત્રણ આપ્યું હોય.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LUK.14.9" />અને જો તમે સૌથી મહત્વની બેઠક પર બેઠા હોય અને પછી જે માણસે તમને નિમંત્રણ આપ્યું હોય તે તમારી પાસે આવે અને કહે, ‘આ માણસને તારી બેઠક આપ.’ પછી તમે છેલ્લી જગ્યાએ જવાની શરૂઆત કરશો. અને તમે ખૂબ શરમિંદા બનશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LUK.14.10" />“તેથી માણસ જ્યારે તમને નિમંત્રણ આપે તો જે ઓછી મહત્વની હોય એ બેઠક પર બેસવા માટે જાઓ. પછા જે માણસે તમને નિમંત્રણ આપ્યું છે તે તમારી પાસે આવશે અને કહેશે, ‘મિત્ર, આ તરફ વધારે મહત્વની બેઠક પર આવ.’ પછી બીજા બધા મહેમાનો પણ તમને માન આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LUK.14.11" />પ્રત્યેક માણસ જે પોતાને અગત્યનો બનાવે છે. તેને નીચો કરવામાં આવશે. પણ જે માણસ પોતાને નીચો બનાવે છે તે મહત્વનો બને છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તમને બદલો મળશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LUK.14.12" />પછી ઈસુએ જે ફરોશીઓને નિમંત્રણ આપ્યું હતું તેને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે તું દિવસનું કે રાતનું ખાણું માટે નિમંત્રણ આપે ત્યારે તારા મિત્રો, ભાઈઓ, સબંધીઓ તથા પૈસાદાર પડોશીઓને જ ના આપ. કેમ કે બીજી કોઈ વાર તેઓ તને જમવા માટે નિમંત્રણ આપશે. ત્યારે તને તારો બદલો વાળી આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LUK.14.13" />તેને બદલે જ્યારે તું મિજબાની આપે ત્યારે કૂબડા લોકોને, અપંગોને અને આંધળાઓને નિમંત્રણ આપ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LUK.14.14" />તેથી તું ધન્ય થશે, કારણ કે આ લોકો તને કશું પાછું આપી શકે તેમ નથી. તેઓની પાસે કંઈ નથી. પણ જ્યારે સારા લોકો મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊભા થશે ત્યારે તને બદલો આપવામાં આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મોટા ભોજન સમારંભ વિષે વાર્તા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 22:1-10)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LUK.14.15" />ઈસુ સાથે મેજ પર જમવા બેઠેલાઓમાંથી કોઈ એક માણસે આ વાત સાંભળી. તે માણસે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “દેવના રાજ્યમાં જે ભોજન કરશે તેને ધન્ય છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.14.16" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “એક માણસે રાતનું મોટું ખાણું કર્યું. તે માણસે ઘણા લોકોને નિમંત્રણ આપ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LUK.14.17" />જ્યારે જમવાનો સમય થયો ત્યારે તે માણસે તેના દાસને મહેમાનોને કહેવા મોકલ્યાં ‘કૃપા કરીને ચાલો! હવે બધું જ તૈયાર છે!’
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LUK.14.18" />પરંતુ બધાજ મહેમાનોએ કહ્યું તેઓ આવી શકે નહિ. દરેક માણસે બહાનું કાઢયું. પહેલા માણસે કહ્યું, ‘મેં હમણાં જ ખેતર ખરીદ્યું છે, તેથી મારે ત્યાં જઇને જોવું જોઈએ. કૃપા કરી મને માફ કર.’
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="LUK.14.19" />બીજા એક માણસે કહ્યું: ‘મેં હમણાં જ પાંચ જોડ બળદ ખરીદ્યા છે, તેઓને પારખવા હું હમણાં જાઉં છું. મને માફ કર.’
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LUK.14.20" />ત્રીજા એક માણસે કહ્યું: ‘હમણા જ મારા લગ્ન થયા છે, હું આવી શકું તેમ નથી.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.14.21" />“તેથી દાસ પાછો ફર્યો. તેણે તેના ઘરધણીને જે કંઈ બન્યું તે કહ્યું. પછી ઘરધણી ગુસ્સે થયો અને બોલ્યો, ‘જલ્દી જા! શહેરની શેરીઓ અને ગલીઓમાં જા, અપંગ, આંધળા અને લંગડા માણસોને અહીં તેડી લાવ.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.14.22" />“તે પછી દાસે તેને કહ્યું કે; ‘સાહેબ તેં મને જેમ કરવાનું કહ્યું તેમ મેં કર્યુ છતાં પણ હજુ ઘણા લોકો માટે જગ્યાઓ છે.’
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="LUK.14.23" />ધણીએ દાસને કહ્યું કે; ‘રાજમાર્ગો અને ગામડાના રસ્તાઓ પર જા, ત્યાં જઇને લોકોને આગ્રહ કરીને આવવાનું કહે, હું ઈચ્છું છું કે મારું ઘર ભરાઇ જાય.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LUK.14.24" />હું તને કહું છું કે મેં જે લોકોને પ્રથમ નિમંત્ર્યા હતા તેમાંથી કોઈ પણ ક્યારેય મારી સાથે જમશે નહિ!’”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તારે પ્રથમ આયોજન કરવું જોઈએ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 10:37-38)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.14.25" />ઈસુ સાથે ઘણા લોકો જતા હતા. ઈસુએ લોકોને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="LUK.14.26" />“જો કોઈ માણસ મારી પાસે આવે છે, પણ તેના પિતાને, માતાને, પત્નીને, બાળકોને, ભાઈઓને અથવા બહેનોને મારા કરતા વધારે પ્રેમ કરે છે, તો તે માણસ મારો શિષ્ય થઈ શકતો નથી. માણસ તેની જાતને જેટલો પ્રેમ કરે છે તેનાથી વધારે મને પ્રેમ કરતો હોવા જોઈએ!
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="LUK.14.27" />જ્યારે તે મારી પાછળ આવે છે ત્યારે તેને આપવામાં આવેલ વધસ્તંભ ઊંચકશે નહિ તો તે મારો શિષ્ય થઈ શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.14.28" />“જો તમે બુરજ બાંધવા ઈચ્છા રાખો તો, પહેલા બેસીને તેની કિંમત કેટલી થશે તે નક્કિ કરવી જોઈએ. મારી પાસે તે કામ પૂરું કરવા પૂરતા પૈસા છે કે કેમ તે જોવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="LUK.14.29" />જો તમે તેમ નહિ કરો તો, તમે કામ તો શરું કરી શકશો, પણ તમે તે પૂરું કરી શકશો નહિ. અને જો તમે તે પૂરું નહિ કરી શકો, તો બધા લોકો જે જોતા હતા તેઓ તમારી મશ્કરી કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LUK.14.30" />તેઓ કહેશે; ‘આ માણસે બાંધવાનું તો શરૂ કર્યુ, પણ પૂરું કરી શક્યો નહિ!’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.14.31" />“જો કોઈ રાજા બીજા રાજાની સામે લડાઇ કરવા જવાનો હશે તો પહેલા બેસીને આયોજન કરશે. જો રાજા પાસે ફક્ત 10,000 માણસો હશે તો તે એમ જોવાની યોજના કરશે કે તે બીજા રાજા પાસે 20,000 માણસો છે તેને હરાવી શકે તેમ છે કે કેમ?
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="LUK.14.32" />જો તે બીજા રાજાને હરાવી શકે નહિ, અને હજી તે રાજા ખૂબ દૂર હશે તો પછી તે કેટલાક માણસોને બીજા રાજાને કહેવા મોકલશે અને સમાધાન શાંતિ માટે પૂછશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.14.33" />“તે જ રીતે તમારે બધાએ પહેલા યોજના કરવી જોઈએ, તમારે સર્વ વસ્તુઓનો ત્યાગ કરવો જોઈએ અને પછી મારી પાછળ આવો. જો તમે તેમ ના કરી શકો તો તમે મારા શિષ્ય થઈ શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તમારો પ્રભાવ ના છોડો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 5:13; માર્ક 9:50)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.14.34" />“મીઠું એ સારું છે પણ જો મીઠું તેનો ખારો સ્વાદ ગુમાવે તો પછી તેની કશી કિમંત રહેતી નથી. તમે તેને ફરી ખારું બનાવી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="LUK.14.35" />તમે તેનો જમીનને માટે અથવા ખાતરને માટે પણ ઉપયોગ કરી શકતા નથી. લોકો તેને બહાર ફેંકી દે છે.
</p>
<p style="p">“જે લોકો મને સાંભળે છે તેમણે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવું જોઈએ!”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">આકાશમાં આનંદ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 18:12-14)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.15.1" />ઘણા કર ઉઘરાવનારાઓ અને પાપી લોકો ઈસુને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવા આવ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="LUK.15.2" />પછી ફરોશીઓ તથા શાસ્ત્રીઓએ ફરિયાદ કરવાની શરુંઆત કરી. “જુઓ! આ માણસ (ઈસુ) પાપીઓને આવકારે છે અને તેઓની સાથે ખાય છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LUK.15.3" />પછી ઈસુએ તેઓને આ વાર્તા કહી:
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LUK.15.4" />“ધારોકે તમારામાંના કોઈ એક પાસે 100 ઘેટાં છે, પણ તેઓમાનું એક ખોવાઇ જાય છે. પછી તે બીજા 99 ઘેટાં એકલાં મૂકીને ખોવાયેલા ઘેટાંને શોધવા નીકળશે. તે માણસ જ્યાં સુધી તે ખોવાયેલું ઘેટું પાછું નહિ મળે ત્યાં સુધી તેની શોધ ચાલુ રાખશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="LUK.15.5" />અને જ્યારે તે ઘેટાંને શોધી કાઢે છે ત્યારે તે ખૂબ ખુશ થાય છે. તે માણસ તે ઘેટાંને તેના ખભે બેસાડી તેને ઘેર લઈ જાય છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="LUK.15.6" />તે તેના મિત્રો અને પાડોશીઓ પાસે જાય છે અને તેઓને કહે છે; ‘મારી સાથે આનંદ કરો, કારણ કે મને મારું ખોવાયેલું ઘેટું જડ્યું છે.’
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<v id="7" bcv="LUK.15.7" />એ જ પ્રમાણે, હું તમને કહું છું, જ્યારે એક પાપી પસ્તાવો કરે છે ત્યારે આકાશમાં વધારે આનંદ થાય છે. જે 99 સારા લોકો જેમને પસ્તાવો કરવાની જરૂર નથી તેઓનાં કરતાં જો એક પાપી પસ્તાવો કરે છે તો તેથી વધારે આનંદ થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LUK.15.8" />“ધારોકે એક સ્ત્રી પાસે દસ ચાંદીના સિક્કા છે, પણ તે તેઓમાંનો એક ખોવાઇ જાય છે. તે સ્ત્રી દીવો લઈને ઘર સાફ કરશે. જ્યાં સુધી તે સિક્કો નહિ મળે ત્યાં સુધી તે કાળજીપૂર્વક તેની શોધ કરશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="LUK.15.9" />અને જ્યારે તેને ખોવાયેલો સિક્કો જડે છે, ત્યારે તે તેના મિત્રો અને પડોશીઓને બોલાવશે અને તેઓને કહેશે, ‘મારી સાથે આનંદ કરો કારણ કે મને મારો ખોવાએલો સિક્કો જડી ગયો છે.’
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<v id="10" bcv="LUK.15.10" />તે જ પ્રમાણે, જ્યારે એક પાપી પસ્તાવો કરે છે ત્યારે દેવના દૂતો આનંદ કરે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ગૃહત્યાગ કરનારો દીકરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LUK.15.11" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “એક માણસને બે દીકરા હતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="LUK.15.12" />નાના દીકરાએ તેના પિતાને કહ્યું કે, ‘પિતા, મને સંપતિનો મારો ભાગ આપ!’ તેથી પિતાએ તેના બંને દીકરાઓને મિલકત વહેંચી આપી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.15.13" />“પછી તે નાનો દીકરો તેની પાસે જે બધું હતું તે ભેગું કરીને ચાલ્યો ગયો. તે દૂર દૂર બીજા એક દેશમાં ચાલ્યો ગયો. ત્યાં તે દીકરાએ તેના પૈસા મૂર્ખની જેમ વેડફી નાખ્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="LUK.15.14" />તેણે તેની પાસે જે બધું હતું તે ખર્ચી નાખ્યું. તે પછી તરત જ, જમીન વેરાન થઈ ગઇ અને વરસાદ પડ્યો નહિ. તે દેશમાં કોઈ પણ જગ્યાએ પૂરતું ખાવાનું ન હતું. તે દીકરો ભૂખ્યો હતો અને તેને પૈસાની જરુંર હતી.
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<v id="15" bcv="LUK.15.15" />તેથી તે કામ શોધવા ગયો અને તે દેશમાં તે લોકોમાંના એક માણસને ત્યાં તેને કામ મળ્યું. તે માણસે તે દીકરાને ખેતરમાં ભૂંડો ચરાવવા મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="LUK.15.16" />તે છોકરો એટલો બધો ભૂખ્યો હતો કે જે ખોરાક ભૂંડો ખાતા હતા તે ખાવાની તેને ઈચ્છા થઈ. પરંતુ કોઈ પણ માણસે તેને કંઈ પણ આપ્યું નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LUK.15.17" />“તે છોકરાએ અનુભવ્યું કે તે ઘણો મૂર્ખ હતો. તેણે વિચાર્યુ, ‘મારા પિતાને ઘરે બધા નોકરો પાસે પુષ્કળ ખાવાનું છે, પણ હું અહીં ભૂખે મરું છું કારણ કે મારી પાસે કશુંય ખાવાનું નથી.
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<v id="18" bcv="LUK.15.18" />હું અહીંથી ઊઠીને મારા પિતા પાસે જઇશ. હું તેને કહીશ: પિતા, મેં દેવ સામે અને તારી સામે પાપ કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="LUK.15.19" />હું તારો દીકરો કહેવડાવવાને યોગ્ય નથી. પરંતુ મને તારા નોકરોમાંનો એકના જેવો ગણ.’
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<v id="20" bcv="LUK.15.20" />પછી તે છોકરો દેશ છોડીને તેના પિતા પાસે ગયો.
</p>
<s style="s">પુત્રનું પાછા ફરવું
</s>
<p style="p">“જ્યારે તે દીકરો તો ઘણો દૂર હતો એટલામાં, તેના પિતાએ તેને આવતા જોયો. તેના દીકરા માટે પિતા દુ:ખી થયો. તેથી તે તેના તરફ દોડ્યો તે તેને ભેટ્યો અને પુત્રને ચૂમીઓ કરી.
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<v id="21" bcv="LUK.15.21" />પુત્રએ કહ્યું, ‘પિતા, મેં આકાશ સામે અને તારી સામે પાપ કર્યુ છે. હું તારો દીકરો કહેવાવાને જેટલો સારો નથી.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.15.22" />“પણ પિતાએ નોકરોને કહ્યું, ‘જલદી કરો! સારામાં સારાં કપડાં લાવો અને તેને પહેરાવો. અને તેની આંગળીએ વીંટી પહેરાઓ અને પગમાં જોડા પહેરાવો.
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<v id="23" bcv="LUK.15.23" />એક માતેલું વાછરડું લાવો. આપણે તેને કાપીશું અને આપણી પાસે પુષ્કળ ખોરાક થશે. પછી આપણે મિજબાની કરીશું.
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<v id="24" bcv="LUK.15.24" />મારો દીકરો મરી ગયો હતો, પણ હવે તે ફરીથી જીવતો થયો છે! તે ખોવાઇ ગયો હતો, પણ હમણા તે જડ્યો છે!’ તેથી તેઓએ મોટી મિજબાની કરી.
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</p>
<s style="s">મોટા દીકરાનું આગમન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.15.25" />“મોટો દીકરો ખેતરમાં હતો. તે ત્યાંથી આવતાં ઘર નજીક આવી પહોંચ્યો. તેણે સંગીત અને નૃત્યનો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો.
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<v id="26" bcv="LUK.15.26" />તેથી મોટા દીકરાએ નોકરમાંથી એકને બોલાવીને પૂછયું; ‘આ બધું શું છે?’
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<v id="27" bcv="LUK.15.27" />નોકરે કહ્યું, ‘તારો ભાઈ પાછો આવ્યો છે. તારા પિતાએ મોટું વાછરડું જમવા માટે કાપ્યું છે. તારા પિતા ખુશ છે કારણ કે તારો ભાઈ સહીસલામત ઘરે પાછો આવ્યો છે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.15.28" />“મોટો દીકરો ગુસ્સામાં હતો અને મિજબાનીમાં જવા રાજી નહોતો. તેથી તેનો પિતા બહાર આવ્યો અને તેને અંદર આવવા કહ્યું.
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<v id="29" bcv="LUK.15.29" />પુત્રએ તેના પિતાને કહ્યું, ‘મેં ઘણા વર્ષો સુધી એક ગુલામની જેમ તારી સેવા કરી છે! મેં હંમેશા તારી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યુ છે. પણ તેં કદાપિ મારા માટે એક વાછરડું પણ કાપ્યું નથી. તેં કદાપિ મને કે મારા મિત્રોને મિજબાની આપી નથી.
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<v id="30" bcv="LUK.15.30" />પણ તારા બીજા દીકરાએ કસબણો પાછળ તારા બધા પૈસા વેડફી દીધા અને તે ઘરે આવે છે ત્યારે તું તેને માટે એક રુંષ્ટપુષ્ટ વાછરડું કપાવે છે?’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.15.31" />“પણ પિતાએ તેને કહ્યું ‘દીકરા, તું હંમેશા મારી સાથે છે, મારી પાસે જે બધું છે તે તારું જ છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="LUK.15.32" />આપણે ખુશ થવું જોઈએ અને મિજબાની કરવી જોઈએ, કારણ કે તારો ભાઈ મરી ગયો હતો પણ હવે તે પાછો જીવતો થયો છે. તે ખોવાઇ ગયો હતો, પણ હવે તે પાછો જડ્યો છે.’”
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</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">સાચુ ધન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.16.1" />ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “એક ધનવાન માણસ હતો. આ ધનવાન માણસે તેના વ્યાપારની દેખરેખ રાખવા માટે એક કારભારી રાખ્યો હતો. પાછળથી તે ધનવાન માણસને ખાનગીમાં જણાવવામાં આવ્યું હતું કે તેનો કારભારી તેને છેતરે છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="LUK.16.2" />તેથી તેણે તેને અંદર બોલાવ્યો. અને તેને કહ્યું, ‘મેં તારા વિષે ખરાબ વાતો સાંભળી છે. તેં મારા પૈસાનું શું કર્યુ છે તેનો હિસાબ મને આપ. હવે તું મારો કારભારી રહી શકીશ નહિ!’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LUK.16.3" />“તે કારભારીએ તેની જાતે વિચાર્યુ, ‘હું શું કરું? મારો ધણી મારી પાસેથી કારભાર લઈ લે છે. હું ખોદકામ કરી શકું તેટલો શક્તિશાળી નથી. ભીખ માંગવામાં મને શરમ આવે છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="LUK.16.4" />હું જાણું છું કે હું શું કરીશ! હું એવું કંઈ કરીશ કે જેથી હું જ્યારે મારી નોકરી ગુમાવું ત્યારે બીજા લોકો મને તેઓના ઘરે આવકારે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LUK.16.5" />“તેથી કારભારીએ દરેક દેણદારને જેઓને માથે ધણીનું દેવું હતુ તેઓને બોલાવ્યા. તેણે પહેલા માણસને કહ્યું, ‘તારે મારા માલિકનું કેટલું દેવું છે?’
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<v id="6" bcv="LUK.16.6" />તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો; ‘મારે તેમનું 8,000 પૌંડ ઓલિવ તેલનું દેવું છે.’ કારભારીએ તેને કહ્યું, ‘આ રહ્યું તારું બીલ, જલ્દી બેસી જા, અને બીલની રકમ ઓછી કર, 4,000 પૌંડ લખ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LUK.16.7" />“પછી કારભારીએ બીજા માણસને કહ્યું, ‘તારે મારા ધણીનું દેવું કેટલું છે?’ તે માણસ બોલ્યો; ‘મારે તેનું 60,000 પૌંડ ઘઉનું દેવું છે.’ પછી કારભારીએ તેને કહ્યું, ‘આ રહ્યું, તારું બીલ તું તેને ઓછું કરી શકે છે. 50,000 પૌંડ લખ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LUK.16.8" />“પાછળથી ધણીએ તે અપ્રામાણિક કારભારીને કહ્યું કે તેણે ચતુરાઇથી કામ કર્યુ છે, હા, દુન્યવી માણસો તે સમયના અજવાળાના લોકો કરતાં તેઓના ધંધામાં વધારે ચતુર હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LUK.16.9" />“હું તમને કહું છું, આ દુનિયામાં અહીં તમારી પાસે જે કંઈ છે તેનો ઉપયોગ કરી દેવ સાથે મિત્રો કરી લો, પછી જ્યારે તે થઈ રહે ત્યારે તે ઘરમાં તેને કાયમ આવકાર મળશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="LUK.16.10" />જે માણસ નાની વસ્તુઓમાં વિશ્વાસુ માલૂમ પડે છે તે મોટી બાબતોમાં પણ વિશ્વાસુ રહેવાનો, પણ જે વ્યક્તિ નાની વસ્તુઓમાં અપ્રામાણિક છે તે મોટી વસ્તુઓમાં પણ અપ્રામાણિક રહેવાની.
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<v id="11" bcv="LUK.16.11" />જો તમે જગતનાં ધન સંબંધી અવિશ્વાસુ હશો તો ખરા ધન (સ્વર્ગીય) માટે તમારો વિશ્વાસ કેવી રીતે રાખી શકાય
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<v id="12" bcv="LUK.16.12" />અને જો તમે બીજાની માલિકીની સંપત્તિ સંબંધી વિશ્વાસુ ન રહો તો તમને તમારુંજે છે તે કેવી રીતે સોંપી શકાય
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.16.13" />“કોઈ પણ ચાકર એક સાથે એક જ સમયે બે ધણીઓની સેવા કરી શકે નહિ. તે ચાકર એક ધણીનો તિરસ્કાર કરશે અને બીજા ધણીને પ્રેમ કરશે અથવા તે એક ધણીને વફાદાર રહેશે અને બીજાની પરવા કરશે નહિ. તમે એક સાથે દેવ અને ધન બંનેની સેવા કરી શકો નહિ.”
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<s style="s">દેવનો અપરિવર્તનશીલ કાયદો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 11:12-13)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LUK.16.14" />ફરોશીઓ આ બધી વાતો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળતા હતા. ફરોશીઓએ ઈસુની ટીકા કરી કારણ કે તેઓ પૈસાને ચાહતા હતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="LUK.16.15" />ઈસુએ ફરોશીઓને કહ્યું, “તમારી જાતને તમે લોકો સામે સારી દેખાડો છો. પણ દેવ જાણે છે કે ખરેખર તમારા હ્રદયમાં શું છે જે કંઈ લોકોની દષ્ટિએ મહત્વનું છે તે દેવની આગળ તો ધિક્કારને પાત્ર છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="LUK.16.16" />“લોકોએ મૂસાના નિયમો અને પ્રબોધકોના ઉપદેશો પ્રમાણે જીવવું જોઈએ. એવું દેવે ઈચ્છયું. પણ યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્ત આવ્યો તે સમયથી દેવના રાજ્યની સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરવામાં આવી રહી છે. ઘણા લોકો દેવના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશવા ખૂબ પ્રયત્નો કરી રહ્યાં છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="LUK.16.17" />આકાશ અને પૃથ્વી માટે જતાં રહેવું વધારે સરળ છે પરંતુ શાસ્ત્રની એક પણ માત્રા બદલી શકાશે નહિ”
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<s style="s">છૂટાછેડા અને પુર્નલગ્ન
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.16.18" />“જો કોઈ માણસ પોતાની પત્નીને છૂટાછેડા આપીને બીજી કોઈ સ્ત્રીને પરણે છે, તે વ્યભિચારના પાપ માટે દોષિત છે. અને કોઈ માણસ છૂટાછેડા લીધેલી સ્ત્રીને પરણે છે તે પણ વ્યભિચાર માટે દોષિત છે.”
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<s style="s">ધનવાન માણસ અને લાજરસ
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LUK.16.19" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “એક ધનવાન માણસ હતો જે હંમેશા સૌથી સુંદર વસ્ત્રો પહેરતો. તે એટલો ધનવાન હતો કે રોજ ખૂબ વૈભવવિલાસ અને મિજબાનીઓ રાખવા સમર્થ હતો.
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<v id="20" bcv="LUK.16.20" />ત્યાં લાજરસ નામનો ખૂબ ગરીબ માણસ પણ હતો. લાજરસના આખા શરીર પર ફોલ્લા હતા. લાજરસ વારંવાર તે ધનવાન માણસના દરવાજા આગળ પડ્યો રહેતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="LUK.16.21" />ધનવાન માણસના મેજ પરથી ખાતાં ખાતાં નીચે પડેલા ટુકડાઓ ખાઇને પોતાની ભૂખ સંતોષતો. કૂતરા પણ આવતા અને તેના ફોલ્લા ચાટતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.16.22" />“પછીથી લાજરસ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. દૂતોએ લાજરસને લઈને ઈબ્રાહિમની ગોદમાં મૂક્યો. તે ધનવાન માણસ પણ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. અને તેને દાટવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="LUK.16.23" />તેને હાદેસમાં મોકલવામાં આવ્યો અને ત્યાં ઘણી પીડા ભોગવવી પડી. તે ધનવાન માણસે દૂરથી ઈબ્રાહિમને લાજરસ સાથે જોયો.
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<v id="24" bcv="LUK.16.24" />તેણે બૂમ પાડી, ‘ઈબ્રાહિમ બાપ, મારા પર દયા કર. લાજરસને મોકલ કે તે પોતાની આંગળીનું ટેરવું પાણીમાં બોળીને મારી જીભને ઠંડી કરે; કારણ કે હું આગમાં પીડા ભોગવી રહ્યો છું.’
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.16.25" />“પણ ઈબ્રાહિમે કહ્યું, ‘દીકરા, યાદ કર જ્યારે તું જીવતો હતો ત્યારે તારી પાસે જીવનમાં બધી જ સારી વસ્તુઓ હતી. પણ લાજરસના જીવનમાં તો બધું જ ખરાબ હતું. હવે લાજરસ અહીં દિલાસો પામે છે, અને તું પીડા ભોગવે છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="LUK.16.26" />તદુપરાંત અમારી અને તારી વચ્ચે એક મોટી ખાઈ છે. કોઈ માણસ તેને ઓળંગીને તને મદદ કરવા આવી શકશે નહિ. અને કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ત્યાંથી અહી અમારી બાજુ આવી શકશે નહિ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LUK.16.27" />“ધનવાન માણસે કહ્યું, ‘પછી કૃપા કરીને પિતા ઈબ્રાહિમ, લાજરસને મારા પિતાને ઘરે પૃથ્વી પર મોકલ.
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<v id="28" bcv="LUK.16.28" />મારે પાંત ભાઈઓ છે. લાજરસ મારા ભાઈઓને ચેતવણી આપી શકે, જેથી તેઓને આ વેદનાની ભૂમિ પર આવવું ના પડે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LUK.16.29" />“પણ ઈબ્રાહિમે કહ્યું, ‘તેઓની પાસે મૂસાનો નિયમ અને પ્રબોધકોના લખાણો વાંચવા માટે છે. તેમને તેમાંથી શીખવા દે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="LUK.16.30" />“પરંતુ ધનવાન માણસે કહ્યું, ના ઈબ્રાહિમ બાપ! જો કોઈ મરણ પામેલામાંથી તેઓની પાસે આવે, તો તેઓ વિશ્વાસ કરશે અને પસ્તાવો કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.16.31" />“પણ ઈબ્રાહિમે તેને કહ્યું, ‘ના! જો તારા ભાઈઓ મૂસા તથા પ્રબોધકોનું ધ્યાનથી સાંભળતા ના હોય તો પછી તેઓ મૂએલામાંથી કોઈ તેઓની પાસે આવે તો પણ તેઓનું સાંભળશે નહિ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.17.1" />ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “લોકો પાપ કરે એવી ઘટનાઓ તો બનવાની જ. પણ જે માણસો દ્ધારા એ ઘટનાઓ બને છે તેને અફસોસ છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="LUK.17.2" />જો કોઈ નિર્બળ માણસોમાંના કોઈ એકને પાપમાં નાખે તો તે માણસ માટે અફસોસ છે. તે કરતાં તેની કોટે ઘંટીનું પડ બાંધીને તેને સાગરમાં ડૂબાડવામાં આવે તે તેને માટે વધારે સારું છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="LUK.17.3" />તેથી સાવધાન રહો!
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<p style="p">“જો તારો ભાઈ પાપ કરે તો તેને કહે કે તે ખોટો છે. પણ તે જો દુ:ખ વ્યક્ત કરે અને પાપ કરવાનું બંધ કરે તો તેને માફ કર.
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<v id="4" bcv="LUK.17.4" />જો તારો ભાઈ દિવસમાં સાત વાર કંઈ ખોટું કરે, અને દરેક વખતે તારી પાસે પાછો આવે અને કહે કે, હું દિલગીર છું. તો તું તેને માફ કર.”
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<s style="s">તમારો વિશ્વાસ કેટલો મોટો છે?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LUK.17.5" />પ્રેરિતોએ પ્રભુને કહ્યું, “અમારો વિશ્વાસ વધાર!”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LUK.17.6" />પ્રભુએ કહ્યું, “જો તમને રાઇના દાણા જેટલો વિશ્વાસ હોય તો તને આ ગુલ્લર ઝાડને કહેતા કે, ‘તું ઊખડીને સમુદ્ધમાં રોપાઇ જા!’ અને તે ઝાડ તમારું માનત.
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<s style="s">સારા સેવક બનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LUK.17.7" />“ધારો કે તમારામાંના કોઈ એક પાસે નોકર છે કે જે ખાતરમાં કામ કરે છે. નોકર ખેતરમાં જમીન ખેડતો અથવા ઘેટાંની સંભાળ રાખતો હોય છે. જ્યારે તે કામ પરથી આવે છે, ત્યારે તમે તેને શું કહેશો? તમે તેને કહેશો કે, ‘અંદર આવ અને જમવા માટે બેસી જા’?
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<v id="8" bcv="LUK.17.8" />ના! તમે તમારા નોકરને કહેશો, મારા માટે કંઈક ખાવાનું તૈયાર કર. પછી કપડાં પહેર અને મારી સેવા કર. જ્યારે હું ખાવા પીવાનું પુરું કરું પછી તું ખાજે.
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<v id="9" bcv="LUK.17.9" />નોકર તેનું રોજીંદુ કામ કરવા માટે કોઈ વિશિષ્ટ મહેરબાની પ્રાપ્ત કરતો નથી. તેના માલીકે તેને જે કરવાનું કહેલું તે જ ફક્ત તે કરે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="LUK.17.10" />તમારી સાથે એવું જ છે. જ્યારે તમને જે કરવાનું કહેવામાં આવ્યું છે તે જ બધું તમે કર્યુ છે ત્યારે તમારે કહેવું જોઈએ, ‘અમે ફક્ત અમારે જે કામ કરવાનું હતું તે જ કર્યું છે, અમે ખાસ મહેરબાનીને લાયક નથી.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">આભારી બનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LUK.17.11" />ઈસુ યરૂશાલેમમાં મુસાફરી કરતો હતો. તે ગાલીલમાં થઈને સમરૂન ગયો.
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<v id="12" bcv="LUK.17.12" />તે એક નાના ગામમાં તેને દશ માણસો મળ્યા હતા. આ માણસો ઈસુની નજીક આવ્યા નહિ, કારણ કે તે બધા રક્તપિત્તિયા હતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="LUK.17.13" />પણ તે માણસોએ ઘાંટો પાડીને કહ્યું, “ઈસુ! સ્વામી! કૃપા કરી અમને મદદ કર!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LUK.17.14" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ માણસોને જોયા, તેણે કહ્યું કે, “જાઓ તમે તમારાં શરીરને યાજકોને દેખાડો.”
</p>
<p style="p">જ્યારે દશ માણસો યાજકો પાસે જતા હતા ત્યારે, તેઓ સાજા થયા.
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<v id="15" bcv="LUK.17.15" />જ્યારે તેઓના એક માણસે જોયું કે તે સાજો થયો હતો, તે ઈસુ પાસે પાછો ગયો. તેણે મોટા અવાજે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી.
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<v id="16" bcv="LUK.17.16" />તે ઈસુના પગમાં પડ્યો. તે માણસે ઈસુનો આભાર માન્યો. (તે માણસ સમરૂની હતો યહૂદિ નહિ.)
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<v id="17" bcv="LUK.17.17" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “દશ માણસો સાજા થયા હતા; બીજા નવ ક્યાં છે?
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<v id="18" bcv="LUK.17.18" />દેવનો આભાર માનવા આવનાર આ વિદેશી સમરૂની માણસ જ પાછો આવ્યો?”
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<v id="19" bcv="LUK.17.19" />પછી ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “ઊભો થા, તું જઇ શકે છે. તું સાજો થઈ ગયો છે કારણ કે તને વિશ્વાસ છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવનું રાજ્ય તમારામાં છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 24:23-28; 37-41)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LUK.17.20" />કેટલાએક ફરોશીઓએ ઈસુને પૂછયું, “દેવનું રાજ્ય ક્યારે આવશે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “દેવનું રાજ્ય આવે છે પણ તમે તમારી આખો વડે જોઈ શકો તે રીતે નહિ.
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<v id="21" bcv="LUK.17.21" />લોકો કહેશે નહિ, ‘જુઓ, અહી દેવનું રાજ્ય છે!’ અથવા ‘ત્યાં તે છે!’ ના, દેવનું રાજ્ય તો તમારામાં છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.17.22" />પછી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “એવો સમય આવશે કે જ્યારે માણસના દીકરાના દિવસોમાંના એકને તમે જોવા ઈચ્છશો પણ તમે જોઈ શકશો નહિ.
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<v id="23" bcv="LUK.17.23" />લોકો તમને કહેશે, ‘જુઓ ત્યાં તે છે!’ જુઓ, અહીં તે છે! તમે જ્યાં છો ત્યાં જ રહો; દૂર જશો ના અને શોધશો ના.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ જ્યારે ફરીથી આવશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LUK.17.24" />“જ્યારે માણસનો દીકરો ફરીથી આવશે ત્યારે તમે તે જાણી શકશો. જે દિવસે તે આવશે ત્યારે તે આકાશમાં વીજળીના ઝબકારાની જેમ પ્રકાશસે.
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<v id="25" bcv="LUK.17.25" />પણ તે પહેલા માણસના દીકરાને ઘણું સહન કરવું પડશે અને આ પેઢીના લોકો દ્ધારા તેનું મરણ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LUK.17.26" />“જેમ નૂહના દિવસોમાં થયું તેમ માણસના દીકરાના દિવસોમાં પણ થશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="LUK.17.27" />નૂહના સમય દરમ્યાન જ્યારે તે દિવસે નૂહ વહાણમાં પ્રવેશ્યો તે દિવસ સુધી લોકો ખાતા પીતા પરણતા અને પરણાવતા હતા. પછી રેલ આવી અને બધા લોકોનો નાશ થયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.17.28" />“લોતના સમય દરમ્યાન પણ એમ જ થયું, જ્યારે દેવે સદોમનો નાશ કર્યો ત્યાં સુધી પેલા લોકો ખાતા, પીતા, ખરીદતા, વેચતા, રોપતા, અને તેઓના માટે મકાનો બાંધતા હતાં.
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<v id="29" bcv="LUK.17.29" />જ્યારે લોતે શહેર છોડ્યું ત્યારે તે દિવસે પણ લોકો આ બધું કરતા હતા. પછી આકાશમાંથી અજ્ઞિવર્ષા થઈ અને ગંધકનો વરસાદ થયો અને બધાનો નાશ થયો.
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<v id="30" bcv="LUK.17.30" />જે દિવસે માણસનો દીકરો ફરીથી આવશે ત્યારે પણ એમ જ બનશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.17.31" />“તે દિવસે જો માણસ ધાબા પર હોય તો તેની પાસે અંદર જઇને સામાન લેવાનો પણ સમય નહિ હોય. જો માણસ ખેતરમાં હોય તો તે પાછો ઘરે જઇ શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="32" bcv="LUK.17.32" />યાદ કરો, લોતની પત્નીનું શું થયું?
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.17.33" />“જે માણસ પોતાનો જીવ બચાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરશે, તે જીવ ગુમાવશે અને જે કોઈ માણસ તેનો જીવ આપશે, તે બચાવી શકશે.
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<v id="34" bcv="LUK.17.34" />જ્યારે હું ફરીથી આવીશ તે સમયે બે જણ એક જ પથારીમાં ઊઘતા હશે. તો એક જણને લઈ લેવાશે. અને બીજા માણસને પડતો મૂકાશે.
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<v id="35" bcv="LUK.17.35" />જ્યાં બે સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે અનાજ દળતી હશે તો એક સ્ત્રીને લઈ લેવાશે અને બીજી સ્ત્રીને પડતી મૂકાશે.”
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<v id="36" bcv="LUK.17.36" /><f caller="+"><fr>17:36
</fr><ft>કેટલીક લૂકની ગ્રીક નકલોમાં 36મી કલમ ઉમેરી છે: “બે માણસો એક ખેતરમાં હશે. એક માણસ ઉચકી લેવાશે, અને બીજો માણસ પડતો મૂકાશે.”</ft></f>
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LUK.17.37" />શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને પૂછયું, “પ્રભુ! આ ક્યાં થશે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જ્યાં મડદું હોય, ત્યાં ગીધો પણ એકઠાં થશે.”
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</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">દેવ તેના લોકોને ઉત્તર આપશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.18.1" />પછી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને શીખવ્યું કે તેઓએ હંમેશા પ્રાર્થના કરવી જોઈએ અને કદાપિ આશા ગુમાવવી જોઈએ નહિ. ઈસુએ તેઓને શીખવવા એક વાર્તાનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો:
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<v id="2" bcv="LUK.18.2" />“એક શહેરમાં એક ન્યાયાધીશ હતો. તે દેવની પરવા કરતો નહિ. ન્યાયાધીશ પણ લોકો તેના વિષે શું વિચારે છે તેની ચીંતા કરતો નહિ.
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<v id="3" bcv="LUK.18.3" />તે જ ગામમાં એક સ્ત્રી હતી, તેના પતિનું અવસાન થએલ હતું. તે સ્ત્રી ઘણીવાર આ ન્યાયાધીશ પાસે આવતી અને કહેતી કે, ‘એક માણસ મારું ખરાબ કરી રહ્યો છે, મને મારા હક્કો અપાવ.’
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<v id="4" bcv="LUK.18.4" />પરંતુ ન્યાયાધીશ તે સ્ત્રીને મદદ કરવા ઈચ્છતો ન હતો. લાંબા સમય પછી ન્યાયાધીશે તેની જાતે વિચાર્યુ, ‘હું દેવથી ડરતો નથી અને લોકો શું વિચારે છે તેની પણ પરવા કરતો નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="LUK.18.5" />પણ આ સ્ત્રી મને તકલીફ આપે છે. જો હું તેને જે જોઈએ છે તે આપીશ તો તે મારો પીછો છોડશે. પણ જો હું તેને જે જોઈએ છે તે નહિ આપુ તો હું માંદો પડીશ ત્યાં સુધી તે મને તકલીફ કરશે!’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LUK.18.6" />પ્રભુએ કહ્યું કે, “ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ, અન્યાયી ન્યાયાધીશે જે કહ્યું તેનો પણ અર્થ છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="LUK.18.7" />દેવના લોકો તેને રાત દિવસ બૂમો પાડે છે. દેવ હંમેશા તેના લોકોને જે સાચું છે તે હંમેશા આપશે. દેવ તેના લોકોને ઉત્તર આપવામાં ઢીલ કરશે નહિ.
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<v id="8" bcv="LUK.18.8" />હું તમને કહું છું, દેવ જલ્દીથી તેના લોકોની મદદ કરશે! તે તમને બહુ જ જલ્દીથી આપશે! પણ જ્યારે માણસનો દીકરો ફરીથી આવશે, ત્યારે તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ હોય એવા લોકો તેને પૃથ્વી પર જડશે?”
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવ સાથે સારા બનવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LUK.18.9" />ત્યાં કેટલાએક લોકો હતા તેઓ વિચારતા કે તેઓ ઘણા સારા છે. આ લોકો એવી રીતે વર્તતા કે જાણે તેઓ બીજા લોકો કરતાં વધારે સારા છે. ઈસુએ આ વાર્તાનો ઉપયોગ તેઓને શીખવવા માટે કર્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="LUK.18.10" />“એક વખત બે જણા મંદિરમાં પ્રાર્થના કરવા માટે ગયા. એક ફરોશી હતો તે અને બીજો કર ઉઘરાવનાર હતો.
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<v id="11" bcv="LUK.18.11" />ફરોથી કર ઉઘરાવનારથી દૂર ઊભો રહ્યો. જ્યારે ફરોશીએ તેની પ્રાર્થનામાં કહ્યું કે, ‘ઓ દેવ, હું બીજા લોકો જેટલો ખરાબ નથી, તે માટે તારો આભાર માનું છું. હું ચોરી કરનાર, છેતરનારા કે વ્યભિચાર કરનારા માણસો જેવો નથી. હું કર ઉઘરાવનાર અધિકારી કરતાં વધારે સારો છું તે માટે તારો આભારમાનું છું.
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<v id="12" bcv="LUK.18.12" />હું સારો છું, હું અઠવાડિયામાં બે વાર ઉપવાસ કરું છું, અને મારી બધી કમાણીનો દશમો ભાગ આપુ છું!’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.18.13" />“જકાત ઉઘરાવનાર પણ એકલો ઊભો રહ્યો. પણ જ્યારે એણે પ્રાર્થના કરી, ત્યારે તેણે ઊચે આકાશ તરફ જોયું પણ નહિ. દાણીએ છાતી કૂટીને કહ્યું કે, ‘ઓ દેવ, મારા પર દયા કર, હું એક પાપી છું!’
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<v id="14" bcv="LUK.18.14" />હું તમને કહું છું, જ્યારે આ માણસ તેની પ્રાર્થના પૂરી કરીને ઘરે ગયો, તે દેવ પાસે ન્યાયી હતો. પણ તે ફરોશી જે પોતાને બીજા કરતા વધારે સારો સમજતો હતો તે દેવ પાસે ન્યાયી ઠર્યો નહોતો. પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ પોતાની જાતને મહત્વની બનાવે છે તેને નીચી કરવામાં આવશે. પણ જે વ્યકિત પોતાની જાતને નીચી કરે છે તે માનવંતી બનાવાશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવના રાજ્યમાં કોણ પ્રવેશ કરશે?
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 19:13-15; માર્ક 10:13-16)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LUK.18.15" />કેટલાએક લોકો તેમનાં નાનાં બાળકોને ઈસુ પાસે લાવ્યા જેથી ઈસુ તેઓનેં સ્પર્શ કરી શકે. પણ જ્યારે શિષ્યોએ આ જોયું ત્યારે તેઓએ લોકોને આમ નહિ કરવા કહ્યું.
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<v id="16" bcv="LUK.18.16" />પણ ઈસુએ તે નાના બાળકોને તેની પાસે બોલાવ્યા અને તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “નાનાં બાળકોને મારી પાસે આવવા દો. તેઓને અટકાવશો નહિ, કારણ કે દેવનું રાજ્ય જે આ નાનાં બાળકો જેવા છે તેઓના માટે છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="LUK.18.17" />હું તમને સાચું કહું છું, કે, જે કોઈ દેવનું રાજ્ય બાળકની જેમ નહિ સ્વીકારે, તે તેમાં નહિ જ પેસશે!”
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</p>
<s style="s">એક ધનવાનનો ઈસુને પ્રશ્ર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 19:16-30; માર્ક 10:17-31)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.18.18" />એક યહૂદિ અધિકારીએ ઈસુને પૂછયું કે, “ઉત્તમ ઉપદેશક, મારે અનંત જીવન પ્રાપ્ત કરવા શું કરવું જાઇએ?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LUK.18.19" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું કે, “તું મને શા માટે ઉત્તમ કહે છે? ફક્ત દેવ જ ઉત્તમ છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="LUK.18.20" />છતાં હું તારા પ્રશ્રનો ઉત્તર આપીશ. તું દેવની આજ્ઞાઓ જાણે છે: ‘તારે વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરવું જોઈએ નહિ, તારે કોઈનું ખૂન કરવું જોઈએ નહિ, તારે કશું ચોરવું જોઈએ નહિ, તારે બીજા લોકોને ખાટી સાક્ષી આપવી જોઈએ નહિ. તારે તારા માતા પિતાને માન આપવું જોઈએ …’
<x caller="+"><xo>18:20 ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 20:12-16; પુન. 5:16-20.</xo></x>”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.18.21" />પણ તેણે કહ્યું કે, “હું નાનો બાળક હતો ત્યારથી આ બધી આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરતો આવ્યો છું!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.18.22" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ આ સાંભળ્યું. ત્યારે તેણે તે અધિકારીને કહ્યું કે, “હજુ તારે એક વસ્તુ વધારે કરવાની જરૂર છે તારી પાસે જે કંઈ બધું છે તે વેચી દે અને પૈસા ગરીબ લોકોને આપી દે. આકાશમાં તને તેનો બદલો મળશે. પછી આવ અને મને અનુસર!”
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<v id="23" bcv="LUK.18.23" />પણ જ્યારે તે માણસે આ સાંભળ્યું, ત્યારે તે ઘણો દિલગીર થયો. તે માણસ ઘણો ધનવાન હતો અને તેની પાસે પૈસા રાખવા ઈચ્છતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LUK.18.24" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ જોયું કે તે માણસ દિલગીર થયો છે ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, “ધનવાન માણસ માટે દેવના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશવું મુશ્કેલ છે!
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<v id="25" bcv="LUK.18.25" />ઊંટને સોયના નાકામાંથી પસાર થવું સહેલું છે પણ ધનવાનોને દેવના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશવું મુશ્કેલ છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">કોણ તારણ પામશે?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LUK.18.26" />જ્યારે લોકોએ આ સાંભળ્યું, તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તો પછી કોનું તારણ થશે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LUK.18.27" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “માણસો માટે જે કરવું અશક્ય છે તે બાબત દેવ કરી શકે છે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.18.28" />પિતરે કહ્યું કે, “જુઓ, અમે અમારી પાસે જે બધું હતું તેનો ત્યાગ કરીને તારી પાછળ આયા છીએ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LUK.18.29" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, દેવના રાજ્ય માટે દરેક વ્યક્તિ જે પોતાના ઘરનો, પત્નીનો, ભાઈઓનો, માતાપિતા અને બાળકોનો ત્યાગ કરશે, તે
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<v id="30" bcv="LUK.18.30" />તેણે જે ત્યાગ કર્યો છે તે ઉપરાંત ઘણું વધારે પ્રાપ્ત કરશે. તે માણસ આ જીવનમાં અનેકગણું મેળવશે. અને તે માણસ મૃત્યુ પામે, પછી તે દેવ સાથે સદાને માટે રહેશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠશે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 20:17-19; માર્ક 10:32-34)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.18.31" />પછી ઈસુએ બાર પ્રેરિતો સાથે એકલા વાત કરી. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! આપણે યરૂશાલેમ જઇએ છીએ. દેવે પ્રબોધકોને જે કંઈ માણસના દીકરા વિષે લખવાનું કહ્યું હતું તે બનશે!
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<v id="32" bcv="LUK.18.32" />તેના લોકો તેના વિરોધી બનશે. અને તેને બીનયહૂદિ લોકોને સ્વાધીન કરશે. લોકો તેની મશ્કરી કરશે, તેને અપમાનિત કરશે અને તેની પર થૂંકશે.
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<v id="33" bcv="LUK.18.33" />તેઓ તેને કોરડા મારશે અને પછી મારી નાખશે. પણ તેના મૃત્યુ પછી ત્રીજા દિવસે તે સજીવન થઈને ઊઠશે.”
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<v id="34" bcv="LUK.18.34" />શિષ્યોએ આ સમજવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો, પણ તેઓ તમજી શક્યા નહિ, તેનો અર્થ તેઓનાથી ગુપ્ત રહ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ આંધળા માણસને સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 20:29-34; માર્ક 10:46-52)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="LUK.18.35" />ઈસુ યરેખોના શહેર નજીક આવ્યો. ત્યાં રસ્તાની બાજુએ એક આંધળો માણસ બેઠો હતો. આંધળો માણસ પૈસા માટે લોકો પાસે ભીખ માંગતો હતો.
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<v id="36" bcv="LUK.18.36" />જ્યારે આ માણસે રસ્તા પરથી પસાર થતાં લોકોનો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો, તેણે પૂછયું, “શું થઈ રહ્યું છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LUK.18.37" />લોકોએ તેને કહ્યું કે, “નાસરેથનો ઈસુ અહીંથી પસાર થઈ રહ્યો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="LUK.18.38" />આંધળો માણસ ઉત્સાહમાં આવી ગયો અને બોલ્યો કે, “ઈસુ, દાઉદના દીકરા! કૃપા કરીને મને મદદ કર!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LUK.18.39" />જે લોકો આગળ હતા અને સમૂહને દોરતા હતા તેઓએ આંધળા માણસની ટીકા કરી. તેઓએ તેને શાંતિ જાળવવા કહ્યું, પણ ઔંધળો માણસ વધારે જોરથી બૂમો પાડવા લાગ્યો, “દાઉદના દીકરા! મને મદદ કર!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="LUK.18.40" />ઈસુ ત્યાં થોભી ગયો અને બોલ્યો, “પેલા આંધળા માણસને મારી પાસે લાવ!” જ્યારે આંધળો માણસ નજીક આવ્યો, ઈસુએ તેને પૂછયું કે,
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<v id="41" bcv="LUK.18.41" />“તારી ઈચ્છા મારી પાસે શું કરાવવાની છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">આંધળા માણસે કહ્યું કે, “પ્રભુ, મારે ફરીથી દેખતા થવું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="LUK.18.42" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું કે, “જો! તું સાજો થઈ ગયો છે કારણ કે તને વિશ્વાસ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="LUK.18.43" />પછી તે માણસ જોઈ શક્યો. તે માણસ ઈસુની પાછળ દેવનો મહિમા પ્રગટ કરતો કરતો ગયો. બધા લોકો જેઓએ આ જોયું તેઓએ આ જે કંઈ બન્યું છે તે માટે દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરી.
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</p>

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">જાખ્ખી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.19.1" />ઈસુ યરેખોના શહેરમાં થઈને જતા હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="LUK.19.2" />યરેખોમાં જાખ્ખી નામનો માણસ રહેતો હતો. તે ઘણો શ્રીમંત અને કર ઉઘરાવનાર મુખ્ય માણસ હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="LUK.19.3" />તેણે પણ ઈસુને જોવાની ઈચ્છા હતી. ત્યાં બીજા ઘણા લોકો હતા તેઓની ઈચ્છા પણ ઈસુને જોવાની હતી. જાખ્ખી એટલો ઠીંગણો હતો કે લોકોની ભીડમાં જોઈ શકતો નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="LUK.19.4" />તેથી ઈસુ જે જગ્યાએ આવવાનો હતો તે જાણીને તે ત્યાં દોડી ગયો. પછી જાખ્ખી એક ગુલ્લરના ઝાડ પર ચડ્યો જેથી તે ઈસુને જોઈ શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LUK.19.5" />જ્યારે ઈસુ તે જગ્યાએ આવ્યો ને ઊચે જોયું તો ત્યાં ઝાડ પર જાખ્ખીને જોયો. ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું કે, “જાખ્ખી, જલદી નીચે આવ! હું આજે તારે ઘેર રહેવાનો છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LUK.19.6" />પછી જાખ્ખી જલ્દી નીચે આવ્યો. ઈસુને તેને ઘેર આવકારીને તે ખુશ થયો.
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<v id="7" bcv="LUK.19.7" />બધા લોકોએ આ જોયું. તેઓએ ફરિયાદ કરવાની શરુંઆત કરી. “જુઓ, ઈસુ કેવા માણસ સાથે રહે છે. જાખ્ખી એક પાપી છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LUK.19.8" />જાખ્ખીએ પ્રભુને કહ્યું, “હું સારું કરવા ઈચ્છું છું. હું મારી સંપત્તિનો અડધો ભાગ ગરીબોને આપીશ. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિને છેતરી હશે તો હું તેને ચારગણું વધારે પાછું આપીશ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LUK.19.9" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “આ એક સજ્જન માણસ છે. સાચે જ તે ઈબ્રાહિમના પરિવારનો છે. તેથી આજે જાખ્ખીનું તેનાં પાપોમાંથી તારણ થયું છે!
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<v id="10" bcv="LUK.19.10" />માણસનો દીકરો ખોવાયેલા માણસોને શોધવા અને તેઓને તારવા આવ્યો છે.”
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<s style="s">દેવ જે આપે તેનો ઉપયોગ કરો
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 25:14-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="LUK.19.11" />ઈસુ યરૂશાલેમ પાસે ફરી મુસાફરી કરીને આવ્યો. કેટલાએકે વિચાર્યુ કે દેવનું રાજ્ય જલ્દી પ્રગટ થશે.
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<v id="12" bcv="LUK.19.12" />ઈસુએ લોકોનો આ વિચાર જાણ્યો. તેથી તેણે તેઓને આ વાર્તા કહેવાની ચાલુ રાખી. “એક કુલીન માણસ પોતાના માટે રાજ્ય મેળવીને રાજા બનવા માટે પાછો આવવા દૂર દેશમાં ગયો. પછી તે માણસે પોતાને ઘરે પાછા ફરીને તેના લોકો પર શાસન કરવા માટે યોજના કરી.
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<v id="13" bcv="LUK.19.13" />પછી તેણે પોતાના ચાકરોમાંથી દસ જણને બોલાવ્યા. તેણે દરેક ચાકરને પૈસાની થેલી આપી. તે માણસે કહ્યું કે, ‘હું પાછો આવું ત્યાં સુધી આ પૈસા વડે વ્યાપાર કરો.’
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<v id="14" bcv="LUK.19.14" />પણ રાજ્યના લોકો તે માણસને ધિક્કારતા હતા. તેથી લોકોએ એક સમૂહને તે માણસની પાછળ બીજા દેશમાં મોકલ્યા. બીજા દેશમાં આ સમૂહે કહ્યું કે, ‘અમે આ માણસ અમારો રાજા થાય એમ ઈચ્છતા નથી!’
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="LUK.19.15" />“પરંતુ તે માણસ રાજા થયો. જ્યારે તે ઘેર પાછો ફર્યો, તેણે કહ્યું, ‘જે ચાકરો પાસે મારા પૈસા હતા તેઓને બોલાવો. હું જાણવા માગું છું કે તે પૈસા વડે તેઓ કેટલું વધારે કમાયા.’
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<v id="16" bcv="LUK.19.16" />પહેલા ચાકરે આવીને કહ્યું, ‘સાહેબ, તેં મને આપેલી એક થેલી વડે હું દશ થેલી પૈસા<f caller="+"><ft>પૈસાની થેલી ગ્રીક શાબ્દિક અર્થ “મીના” તે દિવસોમાં એક મીના બરાબર ત્રણ મહિનાનું વેતન થતું.</ft></f> કમાયો!’
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<v id="17" bcv="LUK.19.17" />રાજાએ ચાકરને કહ્યું, ‘સરસ! તું મારો ચાકર છે. હું જોઈ શકું છું કે હું નાની વસ્તુઓ માટે તારો વિશ્વાસ કરી શકું. તેથી મારા શહેરોમાંથી દશ શહેરો પર તારો અધિકાર રહેશે!’
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.19.18" />“બીજો ચાકર આવ્યો અને કહ્યું કે; ‘સાહેબ, તારી પૈસાની એક થેલીમાંથી હું પાંચ થેલી કમાયો.’
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<v id="19" bcv="LUK.19.19" />રાજાએ આ ચાકરને કહ્યું, ‘તું પાંચ શહેરોનો અધિકારી થઈ શકીશ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LUK.19.20" />“પછી બીજો એક ચાકર અંદર આવ્યો અને રાજાને કહ્યું કે, ‘સાહેબ, આ રહી તારી પૈસાની થેલી. મેં તેને કપડાંના ટુકડામાં લપેટીને છુપાવી રાખી હતી.
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<v id="21" bcv="LUK.19.21" />મને તારી બીક લાગતી હતી કારણ કે તું શક્તિશાળી છે. હું જાણું છું કે તું બહું કડક છે. તું જે તારું નથી તે પણ માગી લે છે; અને જ્યાં તેં વાવ્યું નથી તેની ફસલ લણી લે તેવો છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.19.22" />“પછી રાજાએ તે ચાકરને કહ્યું કે, ‘તું ખરાબ ચાકર છે, હું તારા જ શબ્દો તારા તિરસ્કાર માટે વાપરીશ. તેં કહ્યું કે, હું એક કડક માણસ છું. તેં કહ્યું કે હું જે કમાયો નથી તે પૈસા પણ લઈ લઉં છું. અને ફસલ જે મેં ઉગાડી નથી તે હું ભેગી કરું છું.
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<v id="23" bcv="LUK.19.23" />જો તે સાચું હોય તો, તેં મારા પૈસા સાહુકારને ત્યાં (બેંકમાં) મૂક્યા હોત. પછી હું જ્યારે પાછો આવું ત્યારે, મારા પૈસાનું થોડું વ્યાજ મળ્યું હોત.’
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<v id="24" bcv="LUK.19.24" />પછી જે માણસો ત્યાં ઊભા હતા તેઓને રાજાએ કહ્યું કે, ‘આ ચાકર પાસેથી પૈસાની થેલી લઈ લો અને જે ચાકર પૈસાની દશ થેલી કમાયો છે તેને તે આપો.’
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.19.25" />“તે માણસોએ રાજાને કહ્યું કે, ‘પણ સાહેબ, તે ચાકર પાસે પૈસાની થેલી તો અત્યારે જ છે!’
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LUK.19.26" />“રાજાએ કહ્યું કે, ‘જે માણસ એની પાસે જે કંઈ છે તેનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે તે વધારે મેળવે છે. પણ જે વ્યક્તિ એની પાસે જે કંઈ છે તેનો ઉપયોગ કરતો નથી. તેની પાસેથી બધું જ લઈ લેવામાં આવે છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="LUK.19.27" />હવે મારા દુશ્મનો ક્યાં છે? ક્યાં છે એ લોકો જે હું તેઓનો રાજા થાઉં તેમ તેઓ ઈચ્છતા નહોતા? મારા દુશ્મનોને અહી લાવો અને તેઓને મારી નાખો. હું તેઓને મરતા જોઈશ!’”
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<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમમાં ઈસુનો પ્રવેશ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:1-11; માર્ક 11:1-11; યોહાન 12:12-19)
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.19.28" />આ બાબતો કહ્યા પછી ઈસુએ યરૂશાલેમ તરફની મુસાફરી ચાલું રાખી.
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<v id="29" bcv="LUK.19.29" />ઈસુ બેથફગે તથા બેથાનીયા શહેર પાસે જૈતૂન નામના પહાડ નજીક આવ્યો. ઈસુએ તેના બે શિષ્યોને મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="30" bcv="LUK.19.30" />તેણે કહ્યું કે, “તમે ત્યાં જે શહેર જુઓ છો ત્યાં જાઓ, જ્યારે તમે શહેરમાં પ્રવેશસો તો તમે એક (ગધેડાનું) વછેરું ત્યાં બાધેલું જોશો. આ વછેરા પર કોઈએ કદાપિ સવારી કરી નથી. વછેરાને છોડીને મારી પાસે લઈ આવો.
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<v id="31" bcv="LUK.19.31" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તમને પૂછે કે તમે વછેરાને શા માટે લઈ જાઓ છો. તમારે કહેવું, ‘પ્રભુને આ વછેરાની જરૂર છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LUK.19.32" />બે શિષ્યો શહેરમાં ગયા. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું હતું તે પ્રમાણે જ તેઓને વછેરું મળ્યું.
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<v id="33" bcv="LUK.19.33" />શિષ્યોએ વછેરાને છોડ્યું. પણ વછેરાના માલિકો બહાર આવ્યા. તેઓએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું કે, “તમે અમારા વછેરાને શા માટે છોડો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.19.34" />શિષ્યોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો કે, “પ્રભુને તેની જરુંર છે.”
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<v id="35" bcv="LUK.19.35" />તેથી ઈસુની પાસે તે શિષ્યો વછેરાને લાવ્યા. શિષ્યોએ વછેરાની પીઠ પર તેઓનાં લૂગડાં મૂક્યા. પછી તેઓએ ઈસુને વછેરા પર બેસાડ્યો.
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<v id="36" bcv="LUK.19.36" />ઈસુએ યરૂશાલેમના રસ્તે વછેરા પર સવારી કરી. શિષ્યો ઈસુની આગળ પોતાના લૂગડાં રસ્તા પર પાથરતાં હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LUK.19.37" />ઈસુ યરૂશાલેમની નજીક આવતો હતો. તે લગભગ જૈતૂનના પહાડની તળેટી નજીક આવ્યો હતો. શિષ્યોનો આખો સમૂહ ખુશ હતો. તેઓ ખૂબ ઉત્સાહમાં હતા. તેઓએ દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી. તેઓએ બધાજ પરાક્રમો જોયા હતા તે માટે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી.
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<v id="38" bcv="LUK.19.38" />તેઓએ કહ્યું કે,
</p>
<q style="q1">“‘પધારો! પ્રભુના નામે જે રાજા આવે છે તેને ધન્ય છે!’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.118.26">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 118:26</ref></rq>
</q>
<q style="q1">આકાશમાં શાંતિ તથા પરમ ઊંચામાં મહિમા થાઓ!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LUK.19.39" />કેટલાએક ફરોશીઓ જે ટોળામાં હતાં તેઓએ ઈસુને કહ્યું કે, “ઉપદેશક, તારા શિષ્યોને કહે કે આવી વાતો ના ઉચ્ચારે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="LUK.19.40" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો કે, “હું તમને કહું છું, આ બાબતો કહેવાવી જોઈએ. જો મારા શિષ્યો આ નહિં કહે તો આ પથ્થરો તેઓને બૂમો પાડીને કહેશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમ માટે ઈસુનું રૂદન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="LUK.19.41" />ઈસુ યરૂશાલેમ પાસે આવ્યો. તેણે શહેર જોયું અને તે માટે રૂદન કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="LUK.19.42" />ઈસુએ યરૂશાલેમને કહ્યું કે, “હું ઈચ્છું છું કે તેં આજે શાંતિ શાના વડે લાવી શકાય તે જાણ્યું હોત. પણ તેં તે જાણ્યું નથી કારણ કે તે તમારાથી ગુપ્ત રખાયેલ છે.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="LUK.19.43" />હવે એવો સમય આવી રહ્યો છે જ્યારે તારા દુશ્મનો તારી આજુબાજુ દીવાલ બાંધશે અને તને દુશ્મનો ચારે બાજુથી ઘેરી લેશે. તેઓ તને સપડાવશે અને પકડશે.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="LUK.19.44" />તેઓ તારા મકાનના એક પથ્થર પર બીજો પથ્થર પણ રહેવા દેશે નહિ. જ્યારે દેવ તારો ઉદ્ધાર કરવા આવ્યો ત્યારે તે સમયને તેં ઓળખ્યો નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું મંદિરમાં આગમન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:12-17; માર્ક 11:15-19; યોહાન 2:13-22)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="LUK.19.45" />ઈસુ મંદિરમાં પ્રવેશ્યો અને વસ્તુઓ વેચનારાઓની વસ્તુઓ બહાર ફેંકવા માડી.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="LUK.19.46" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “શાસ્ત્રોમાં લખ્યું છે કે, ‘મારું ઘર પ્રાર્થનાનું ઘર થશે.’<x caller="+"><xo>19:46
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ યશા. 56:7.</xt></x> પરંતુ તમે તેને ‘ચોરોને છુપાવા માટેનો અડ્ડો બનાવી દીધું છે.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="LUK.19.47" />ઈસુ રોજ મંદિરમાં ઉપદેશ આપતો હતો. પણ મુખ્ય યાજકો, શાસ્ત્રીઓ તથા લોકોના મુખીઓ તેને મારી નાખવા ઈચ્છતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="48" bcv="LUK.19.48" />પણ બધાજ લોકો ઈસુને નજીકથી એકાગ્રતાથી સાંભળતા હતા. ઈસુ જે કહેતો તેમાં તેઓને ખુબ રસ હતો. તેથી મુખ્ય યાજકો, શાસ્ત્રીઓ તથા લોકોના મુખીઓને તેને કેવી રીતે મારી નાખવા શું કરવું તે સૂઝતુ ન હતું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">યહૂદિ આગેવાનો ઈસુને પ્રશ્ર પૂછે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:23-27; માર્ક 11:27-33)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.20.1" />એક દિવસ ઈસુ મંદિરમાં હતો. તે લોકોને બોધ આપતો હતો. ઈસુ દેવના રાજ્ય વિષેની સુવાર્તા લોકોને કહેતો હતો. ત્યારે મુખ્ય યાજકો, શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને વૃદ્ધ યહૂદિ આગેવાનો પણ ઈસુ સાથે વાત કરવા આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.20.2" />તેઓએ કહ્યું કે, “અમને કહે! કયા અધિકારથી તું આ વસ્તુઓ કરે છે? આ અધિકાર તને કોણે આપ્યો?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LUK.20.3" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો કે, “હું પણ તમને એક પ્રશ્ર પૂછીશ; મને કહો;
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LUK.20.4" />જ્યારે યોહાને લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપ્યું ત્યારે તે આકાશમાંથી આવ્યું હતુ કે માણસોમાંથી?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LUK.20.5" />યાજકો, શાસ્ત્રીઓ, યહૂદિ આગેવાનો બધા આ અંગે વાતો કરવા લાગ્યા. તેઓ એકબીજાને કહેવા લાગ્યા. “જો આપણે ઉત્તર આપીશું કે, ‘યોહાનનું બાપ્તિસ્મા દેવથી થયુ હતુ તો એ કહેશે, તો તમે શા માટે યોહાનને માનતા નથી?’
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="LUK.20.6" />પણ જો આપણે કહીએ કે, યોહાનનું બાપ્તિસ્મા માણસથી થયું હતુ તો પછી બધા લોકો આપણને પથ્થરોથી મારી નાખશે. કારણ કે તેઓ માને છે કે યોહાન એક પ્રબોધક હતો.”
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="LUK.20.7" />તેથી તેઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો કે, “અમે ઉત્તર જાણતા નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LUK.20.8" />તેથી ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “તો હું તમને કહેતો નથી કે કયા અધિકારથી હું આ કામો કરું છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવ તેના પુત્રને મોકલે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:33-46; માર્ક 12:1-12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LUK.20.9" />પછી ઈસુએ લોકોને આ વાર્તા કહી, “એક માણસે વાડીમાં દ્ધાક્ષા રોપી. કેટલાએક ખેડૂતોને જમીન ઇજારે આપી પછી તે લાબાં સમય સુધી બહાર ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LUK.20.10" />થોડા સમય પછી દ્ધાક્ષની ફસલનો સમય આવ્યો. તેથી તે માણસે પેલા ખેડૂતો પાસે એક ચાકરને મોકલ્યો, જેથી તેઓ તેને તેના ભાગની દ્ધાક્ષ આપે. પણ તે ખેડૂતોએ ચાકરને માર્યો અને કંઈ પણ આપ્યા વિના કાઢી મૂક્યો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LUK.20.11" />તેથી તે માણસે બીજા એક ચાકરને મોકલ્યો. ખેડૂતોએ આ ચાકરને પણ માર્યો. તેઓએ તેનું સહેજ પણ માન રાખ્યું નહિ. તે ખેડૂતોએ તે ચાકરને કાંઇ આપ્યા વિના કાઢી મૂક્યો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="LUK.20.12" />તેથી માણસે ત્રીજા સેવકને ખેડૂતો પાસે મોકલ્યો, ખેડૂતોએ આ ચાકરને ખરાબ રીતે ઇજા પહોંચાડી અને તેને બહાર ફેંકી દીધો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.20.13" />“ખેતરના માલિકે કહ્યું કે, ‘હવે હું શું કરું? હું મારા પુત્રને મોકલીશ. હું મારા પુત્રને ઘણો ચાહું છું. કદાચ ખેડૂતો મારા પુત્રને માન આપે!’
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LUK.20.14" />જ્યારે ખેડૂતોએ પુત્રને જોયો ત્યારે તેઓએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું કે, ‘આ માલિકનો દીકરો છે. આ ખેતરો તેના થશે.’ જો આપણે તેને મારી નાખીશું ત્યાર પછી તેના ખેતરો આપણા થશે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LUK.20.15" />તેથી ખેડૂતોએ પુત્રને ખેતરમાંથી બહાર કાઢી મૂક્યો અને મારી નાખ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">“આ ખેતરનો ધણી તેઓને શું કરશે?
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LUK.20.16" />તે આવીને પેલા ખેડૂતોને મારી નાખશે! પછી કે બીજા કેટલાએક ખેડૂતોને ખેતર આપશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">લોકોએ આ વાર્તા સાંભળી. તેઓએ કહ્યું કે, “ના! આવું કદી ન થાઓ!”
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LUK.20.17" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ તેઓની તરફ નજર કરી અને કહ્યું કે, “તો પછી આ લખાણનો શો અર્થ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘જે પથ્થરનો બાંધનારાઓએ નકાર કર્યો. તે જ ખૂણાનું મથાળું થયો?’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.118.22">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 118:22</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.20.18" />જે વ્યક્તિ તે પથ્થર પર પડશે તેના ટુકડા થઈ જશે અને જો તે પથ્થર તમારા પર પડશે તો તે તમને કચડી નાખશે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LUK.20.19" />શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને મુખ્ય યાજકો આ વાર્તા જે ઈસુએ કહી તે સાંભળી. તેઓએ જાણ્યું કે આ વાર્તા તેઓના વિષે હતી. તેથી તેઓ તે વખતે ઈસુને પકડવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. પરંતુ લોકો કંઈ કરશે તો તેવો તેઓને ડર હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદિ આગેવાનોની ઈસુ સામેની યુક્તિ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 22:15-22 માર્ક 12:13-17)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LUK.20.20" />તેથી શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને યાજકોએ ઈસુને પકડવાના યોગ્ય સમયની રાહ જોવા લાગ્યા. તેઓએ કેટલાએક માણસોને ઈસુ પાસે મોકલ્યા. તેઓએ આ માણસોને તેઓ સારા હોય તે રીતે વર્તવા કહ્યું. ઈસુ જે કંઈ કહે તેમાં કંઈક ખોટું શોધવા તેઓ ઈચ્છતા હતા, જો તેઓ કંઈ ખોટું શોધી કાઢે તો પછી તેઓ ઈસુને શાસનકર્તાને સોંપી શકે જેની પાસે સત્તા અને અધિકાર હતા.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="LUK.20.21" />તેથી તે માણસોએ ઈસુને પૂછયું કે, “ઉપદેશક, અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે તું જે કહે છે અને શીખવે છે તે દેવના માર્ગ માટે સાચું છે, કોણ સાંભળે છે તેનું કોઈ મહત્વ નથી, તું એ જ બધા લોકોને શીખવે છે. તું હંમેશા સત્યથી દેવનો માર્ગ શીખવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="LUK.20.22" />અમને કહે કે, અમારે કૈસરને કર આપવો ઉચિત છે? હા કે ના?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LUK.20.23" />પણ ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે આ માણસો તેની સાથે કપટ કરી રહ્યા છે. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે,
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LUK.20.24" />“મને એક દીનાર સિક્કો બતાવો, સિક્કા પર કોનું નામ છે? અને તેના પર કોની છાપ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓએ કહ્યું કે, “કૈસરની.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.20.25" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “તો કૈસરની જે વસ્તુઓ હોય તે કૈસરને અને દેવની જે વસ્તુઓ છે તે દેવને આપો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LUK.20.26" />તે માણસો તેના શણપણભર્યા ઉત્તરથી આશ્ચર્ય પામ્યા. તેઓ કંઈ બોલી શક્યા નહિ. તે માણસો લોકો આગળ ઈસુને ફસાવવામાં ફાવ્યા નહિ. ઈસુએ કશું કહ્યું નહિ જેથી તેઓ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ ઉપયોગ કરી શકે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">કેટલાએક સદૂકિઓની ઈસુ સામેની યુક્તિ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 22:23-33; માર્ક 12:18-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LUK.20.27" />કેટલાએક સદૂકીઓ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા. (સદૂકીઓ માને છે કે મૃત્યુ પછી પુનરુંત્થાન નથી.) તેઓએ ઈસુને પૂછયું કે;
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LUK.20.28" />“ઉપદેશક, મૂસાએ આપણા માટે લખ્યું છે કે જો પરણીત માણસ મૃત્યુ પામે અને તેની પત્નીને બાળક ના હોય તો પછી તેના ભાઈએ તે સ્ત્રીને પરણવું જોઈએ. પછી તેઓને તેના મૃત્યુ પામેલા ભાઈ માટે બાળકો થશે.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="LUK.20.29" />ત્યાં સાત ભાઈઓ હતા. પહેલો ભાઈ એક સ્ત્રીને પરણ્યો, પણ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. તેને બાળકો ન હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LUK.20.30" />પછી બીજો ભાઈ તે સ્ત્રીને પરણ્યો અને તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="LUK.20.31" />અને ત્રીજો ભાઈ તે સ્ત્રીને પરણ્યો અને તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. આ જ ઘટના બધાજ સાતે ભાઈઓ સાથે બની. તેઓ બધા મૃત્યુ પામ્યા. અને તેઓને બાળકો ન હતા.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="LUK.20.32" />છેલ્લે મૃત્યુ પામનાર સ્ત્રી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="LUK.20.33" />પરંતુ બધા સાતે ભાઈઓ તેણીને પરણ્યા. તેથી જ્યારે મૃત્યુ પછી પુનરુંત્થનનો સમય આવશે, ત્યારે આ સ્ત્રી કોની પત્ની થશે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.20.34" />ઈસુએ સદૂકીઓને કહ્યું કે, “પૃથ્વી પર લોકો પરણે છે.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="LUK.20.35" />જે લોકો મૃત્યુ પછી પુનરુંત્થાન થવા માટે યોગ્ય રીતે ન્યાયી ઠરશે અને આ જીવન પછી ફરી જીવશે. તે નવા જીવનમાં તેઓ પરણશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="LUK.20.36" />તે જીવન દરમ્યાન લોકો દેવદૂત જેવાં હોય છે અને તેઓનું કદી મૃત્યુ થતું નથી. તેઓ દેવના બાળકો છે કારણ કે તેઓ મૃત્યુમાંથી સજીવન થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="LUK.20.37" />મૂસાએ સ્પષ્ટ બતાવ્યું છે કે લોકો મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠે છે. જ્યારે મૂસા બળતા ઝાડવામાં દેવ દર્શનના પ્રસંગનું વર્ણન કરે છે. ત્યારે તે પ્રભુને ‘ઈબ્રાહિમનો દેવ, ઈસહાકનો દેવ અને યાકૂબનો દેવ કહે છે.’<f caller="+"><fr>20:37
</fr><fk>‘ઈબ્રાહિમનો … કહે છે.’ નિ. 3:6.</fk></f>
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="LUK.20.38" />જો દેવ કહે કે તે તેઓના દેવ છે તો પછી આ માણસો ખરેખર મૃત્યુ પામેલા નથી. તે ફક્ત જીવતા લોકોનો જ દેવ છે. બધાં જ લોકો દેવના છે તે જીવતા છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LUK.20.39" />કેટલાએક શાસ્ત્રીઓએ કહ્યું કે, “ઉપદેશક, તારો ઉત્તર ઘણો સારો છે.”
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="LUK.20.40" />તે પછી વધારે પ્રશ્રો ઈસુને પૂછવાની કોઈએ હિંમત કરી નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શું ખ્રિસ્ત દાઉદનો દીકરો છે?
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 22:41-46; માર્ક 12:35-37)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="LUK.20.41" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “ખ્રિસ્ત દાઉદનો દીકરો છે એમ લોકો શા માટે કહે છે?
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="LUK.20.42" />ગીતશાસ્ત્રમાં દાઉદ પોતે કહે છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘પ્રભુએ (દેવ) મારા પ્રભુને (ખ્રિસ્ત) કહ્યું કે:
</q>
<q style="q1">તું મારી જમણી બાજુએ બેસ,
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="43" bcv="LUK.20.43" />અને હું તારા શત્રુંઓને તારા કબજામાં મૂકીશ.’
<rq>ગીતસાસ્ત્ર 110:1</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="44" bcv="LUK.20.44" />જો દાઉદ ખ્રિસ્તને તેના ‘પ્રભુ’ કહે તો પછી ખ્રિસ્ત દાઉદનો દીકરો કેવી રીતે થઈ શકે?”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">શાસ્ત્રીઓથી સાવધાન રહેવાની ચેતવણી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 23:1-36; માર્ક 12:38-40; લૂક 11:37-54)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="LUK.20.45" />બધા લોકો ઈસુને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળતા હતા. ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="LUK.20.46" />“શાસ્ત્રીઓથી સાવધાન રહો. તેઓને કપડાં પહેરીને આજુબાજુ ફરીને માનવંતા દેખાડવાનું ગમે છે. બજારનાં સ્થળોએ તેઓને લોકો માન આપે તેમ તેઓ ઈચ્છે છે. તેઓ સભાસ્થાનોમાં, મુખ્ય મહત્વની બેઠકો મેળવવા ચાહે છે. તેઓ જમણવારમાં પણ મહત્વની બેઠકો ચાહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="LUK.20.47" />પણ તેઓ વિધવાઓના ઘર પડાવી લે છે. તેઓ લાંબી પ્રાર્થનાઓ કરીને તેઓની જાતે સારા દેખાવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે. દેવ આ લોકોને વિશેષ શિક્ષા કરશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">સાચું દાન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 12:41-44)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.21.1" />ઈસુએ કેટલાએક ધનવાન લોકોને મંદિરમાં પૈસાની પેટીમાં દેવની ભેટો મૂકતાં જોયો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.21.2" />પછી ઈસુએ એક ગરીબ વિધવાને જોઈ, તેણે બે નાના તાંબાના સિક્કા પેટીમાં મૂક્યા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LUK.21.3" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “હું તમને સાચું કહું છું, આ ગરીબ વિધવાએ ફક્ત બે નાના સિક્કા આપ્યા છે. પણ ખરેખર તો તેણે પેલા બધાજ પૈસાદાર લોકો કરતાં વધારે આપ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="LUK.21.4" />ધનવાન લોકો પાસે પુષ્કળ છે, તેઓએ તો ફક્ત તેમની પાસે જે વધારાનું છે તેમાંથી જ આપ્યું છે. આ સ્ત્રી ઘણી ગરીબ છે. પણ તેણે તેની પાસે હતું તે બધું જ આપ્યું છે. અને તે પૈસા તેના જીવનમાં સહાય માટે જરૂરી હતા.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મંદિરનો વિનાશ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 24:1-14; માર્ક 13:1-13)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LUK.21.5" />કેટલાએક લોકો મંદિર વિષે વાતો કરતા હતા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આ એક સુંદર મંદિર ઉત્તમ પથ્થરોથી બાંધેલું છે. દેવને દાનમાં અપાયેલ ઘણી સુંદર ભેટો તો જુઓ!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LUK.21.6" />પણ ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “સમય આવશે ત્યારે તમે જે બધું અહી જુઓ છો તેનો નાશ થશે. આ મકાનનો પ્રત્યેક પથ્થર જમીન પર પાડી નાખવામાં આવશે, એક પણ પથ્થર બીજા પથ્થર પર રહેવા દેવામાં આવશે નહિ!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LUK.21.7" />કેટલાએક શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને કહ્યું કે, “ઉપદેશક, આ વસ્તુઓ ક્યારે બનશે? આપણને કેવી રીતે ખબર પડશે કે તે થવાનો સમય આવ્યો છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LUK.21.8" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “સાવધાન રહો! કોઈ તમને મુર્ખ ન બનાવે. ઘણા લોકો મારા નામે આવશે, તેઓ કહેશે, ‘હું ખ્રિસ્ત છું’ અને ‘ખરો સમય આવ્યો છે!’ પણ તમે તેઓને અનુસરશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="LUK.21.9" />જ્યારે તમે યુદ્ધો તથા હુલ્લડોની અફવાઓ સાંભળો ત્યારે બીશો નહિ. આ બાબતો પ્રથમ બનશે પણ તેનો અંત પાછળથી આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="LUK.21.10" />પછી ઈસુએ તેમને કહ્યું, “એક રાષ્ટ્ર બીજા રાષ્ટ્ર સાથે લડશે. એક રાજ્ય બીજા રાજ્યની સામે લડશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="LUK.21.11" />ત્યાં મોટા ધરતીકંપ, મંદવાડ અને દુ:ખલાયક બાબતો ઘણી જગ્યાએ થશે. બીજી કેટલીક જગ્યાએ તો લોકોને ખાવા માટે ભોજન પણ નહિ હોય, ભયંકર બનાવો બનશે. આકાશમાંથી આશ્ચર્યજનક વસ્તુઓ લોકોને ચેતવણી આપવા આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="LUK.21.12" />“પરંતુ આ બધી વસ્તુઓ બનતા પહેલાં, લોકો તમને પકડશે અને તમારું અહિત કરશે. લોકો તેમની સભાસ્થાનોમાં તમારો ન્યાય કરશે. અને તમને કેદ કરશે, તમને જબરજસ્તી રાજાઓ અને શાસનકર્તાઓ સમક્ષ ઊભા રાખવામાં આવશે. તમે મને અનુસરો છો તેથી લોકો તમારી સામે આ બધું કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="LUK.21.13" />પણ આ તમને મારા વિષે કહેવાની તક આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="LUK.21.14" />બચાવ માટે તમારે શું કહેવું તેની પણ જરાય ચિંતા કરશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="LUK.21.15" />તમારો કોઈ પણ દુશ્મન ઉત્તર ન આપી શકે તેવુ કહેવા માટે બુદ્ધિ હું તમને આપીશ.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="LUK.21.16" />માતાપિતા, ભાઈઓ, સંબંધીઓ અને મિત્રો પણ તારી વિરૂદ્ધ થશે. તેઓ તમારામાંના કેટલાકને મારી નાખશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="LUK.21.17" />બધા માણસો તમને ધિક્કારશે કારણ કે તમે મને અનુસરો છો.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LUK.21.18" />પણ આમાંની કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ તમને ખરેખર નુકશાન કરી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="19" bcv="LUK.21.19" />જો તમે તમારા વિશ્વાસમાં મક્કમ રહેશો તો આ બધામાંથી તમારી જાતને બચાવી લેશો.
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</p>
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમનો વિનાશ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 24:15-21; માર્ક 13:14-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LUK.21.20" />“તમે યરૂશાલેમની ચારે બાજુએ લશ્કર જોશો. પછી તમે જાણશો કે યરૂશાલેમનો વિનાશ થવાનો સમય આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="LUK.21.21" />તે વખતે યહૂદિયામાં જે લોકો છે તે પહાડોમાં નાશી જાય. જેઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં હોય તેઓએ જલ્દી છોડી જવું. જો તમે યરૂશાલેમ નજીકના પ્રદેશમાં હો તો શહેરની અંદર જશો નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="LUK.21.22" />પ્રબોધકોએ જ્યારે દેવ તેના લોકોને શિક્ષા કરશે તે આ સમયની બાબતમાં ઘણું બધું લખ્યું છે. તે આ સમય છે. જ્યારે આ બધું પરિપૂર્ણ થાય.
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<v id="23" bcv="LUK.21.23" />તે વખતે જેઓ ગર્ભવતી હશે અથવા જેને નાનાં દુધ પીતા બાશકો છે તે તેમના માટે દુ:દાયક છે! શા માટે? કારણ કે આ ભૂમિ પર વધારે વિપત્તિનો સમય આવશે. દેવ આ લોકો પર ગુસ્સે થશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="LUK.21.24" />કેટલાએક લોકો સૈનિકો દ્ધારા મૃત્યુ પામશે. બીજા લોકોને કેદી તરીકે રાખશે અને બધાજ દેશોમાં લઈ જવાશે. ફક્ત યરૂશાલેમ તેઓનો સમય પૂરો નહિ થાય ત્યાં સુધી બિન યબૂદિઓથી પગ તળે ખૂંદી નંખાશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ડરશો નહિ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 14:29-31; માર્ક 13:24-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.21.25" />“સૂર્ય, ચંદ્ર અને તારાઓ સાથે આશ્ચર્યજનક ઘટનાઓ બનશે. પૃથ્વી પરના લોકો ફસાયાની લાગણી અનુભવશે. સમુદ્ધોમાં ગર્જના તોફાન સજાર્શે. અને લોકો તેનું કારણ સમજી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="26" bcv="LUK.21.26" />લોકો પૃથ્વી પર શું થશે તેની અતિશય ચિંતાઓથી ભયભીત થઈ જશે. પૃથ્વી પર જે કંઈ થશે તેનાથી આકાશમાં જે બધું છે તે પણ બદલાઇ જશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="LUK.21.27" />પછી લોકો માણસના દીકરાને પરાક્રમ સાથે અને મહા મહિમાસહિત વાદળાંમાં આવતો જોશે.
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<v id="28" bcv="LUK.21.28" />જ્યારે આ ઘટનાઓ બનવા લાગે ત્યારે ઊચે નજર કરો અને ખુશ થાઓ! ચિંતા ના કરો. કારણ કે તમે જાણો છો કે તમારો ઉદ્ધાર થવાનો સમય પાસે આવ્યો છે!”
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</p>
<s style="s">મારી વાતો જતી રહેવાની નથી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 24:32-35; માર્ક 13:28-31)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="LUK.21.29" />પછી ઈસુએ આ વાર્તા કહી કે, “બધા વૃક્ષો તરફ જુઓ. અંજીરનું વૃક્ષ એક સરસ ઉદાહરણ છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="LUK.21.30" />જ્યારે તે ફૂટવા માંડે છે ત્યારે તમે જાણો છો કે ઉનાળો નજીક છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="LUK.21.31" />તે જ રીતે આ બધી બાબતો વિષે મેં તમને કહ્યું છે. જ્યારે તમે આ બધી બાબતો બનતી જોશો, ત્યારે તમે જાણી શકશો કે દેવનું રાજ્ય ઘણું જલદી આવી રહ્યું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LUK.21.32" />“હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. આ બધી વસ્તુઓ બનશે ત્યારે આ સમયના લોકો ત્યાં સુધી જીવતા હશે!
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<v id="33" bcv="LUK.21.33" />આખી પૃથ્વી અને આકાશ નાશ પામશે, પણ મેં જે શબ્દો કહ્યા છે તેનો નાશ કદાપિ થશે નહિ!
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રત્યેક ક્ષણે તૈયાર રહો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.21.34" />“સાવધાન રહો! તમારો સમય ખાવા પીવામાં બગાડો નહિ અથવા દુન્યવી વસ્તુઓની ચિંતા ના કરો. જો તમે એમ કરશો તો તમે સાચો વિચાર કરી શકશો નહિ. અને પછી જો એકાએક અંત આવી પહોંચશે ત્યારે તમે તૈયાર નહિ હોય.
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<v id="35" bcv="LUK.21.35" />પૃથ્વી પરના તમામ લોકો માટે તે આશ્ચર્યજનક રીતે આવશે.
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<v id="36" bcv="LUK.21.36" />તેથી હર વખત તૈયાર રહો. અને પ્રાર્થના કરો કે આ બધું જે થવાનું છે તેમાંથી તમારી જાતને સુરક્ષિત રીતે પસાર થવા તથા માણસના દીકરા સમક્ષ ઊભા રહેવાને તમે પ્રબળ થાઓ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LUK.21.37" />દિવસ દરમ્યાન, ઈસુ લોકોને મંદિરમાં બોધ આપતો, રાત્રે તે શહેરની બહાર જતોં અને આખી રાત જૈતૂનના પહાડ પર રહેતો.
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<v id="38" bcv="LUK.21.38" />સવારે બધા લોકો વહેલા ઊઠતા અને ઈસુને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવા મંદિરમાં જતા.
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</p>

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">યહૂદિ આગેવાનોની ઈસુને મારી નાખવાની ઈચ્છા
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:1-5, 14-16; માર્ક 14:1-2, 10-11; યોહાન 11:45-53)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.22.1" />હવે બેખમીર રોટલીનું પર્વ જે પાસ્ખા કહેવાય છે તેનો લગભગ સમય હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="LUK.22.2" />મુખ્ય યાજકો અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ ઈસુને મારી નાખવાનો રસ્તો શોધવાના પ્રયત્નો કરતા હતા. પણ તેઓ લોકોથી ડરતા હતા.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદાની ઈસુ વિરૂદ્ધ યોજના
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:14-16; માર્ક 14:10-11)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LUK.22.3" />ઈસુના બાર પ્રેરિતોમાં એકનું નામ યહૂદા ઈશ્કરિયોત હતું. શેતાન યહૂદામાં પેઠો. અને તેને ખરાબ કૃત્યો કરવા પ્રેર્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="LUK.22.4" />યહૂદા મુખ્ય યાજકો અને કેટલાએક સરદારો જે મંદિરના રક્ષકો હતા તેઓને મળ્યો અને તેઓની સાથે વાતો કરી. યહૂદિએ તેઓને ઈસુને કેવી રીતે સોંપવો તે સંબંધી મસલત કરી.
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<v id="5" bcv="LUK.22.5" />યાજકો આ બાબતથી વધારે ખુશ હતા. જો તે ઈસુ તેઓને સોંપે તો તેઓએ યહૂદાને પૈસા આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું.
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<v id="6" bcv="LUK.22.6" />યહૂદાએ સંમતી આપી. પછી યહૂદા તેઓને ઈસુ સોંપવાના ઉત્તમ યમયની રાહ જોવા લાગ્યો. અને લોકો તેની આજુબાજુ હાજર ના હોય તેવા પ્રસંગે તેને તેઓના હાથમાં સોંપવાની તક જોવા લાગ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પાસ્ખા ભોજનની તૈયારી
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:17-25; માર્ક 14:12-21; યોહાન 13:21-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="LUK.22.7" />બેખમીર રોટલીનો દિવસ આવ્યો. આ તે દિવસ હતો જ્યારે યહૂદિઓ પાસ્ખાના યજ્ઞમાં ઘેટાઓનું બલિદાન આપતા હતા.
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<v id="8" bcv="LUK.22.8" />ઈસુએ પિતર અને યોહાનને કહ્યું કે, “જાઓ, આપણે ખાવા માટે પાસ્ખા ભોજન તૈયાર કરો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LUK.22.9" />પિતર અને યોહાને ઈસુને કહ્યું કે, “તું આ ભોજનની તૈયારી અમારી પાસે ક્યાં કરાવવા ઈચ્છે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું,
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<v id="10" bcv="LUK.22.10" />“સાંભળો! તમે શહેરમાં અંદર જશો, ત્યાર બાદ તમે એક માણસને પાણીની ગાગર લઈ જતા જોશો. તેની પાછળ જજો. તે એક મકાનમાં જશે. તમે તેની સાથે જાઓ.
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<v id="11" bcv="LUK.22.11" />તે ઘરના માલિકને કહો, ‘ઉપદેશક પૂછે છે કે તું કૃપા કરીને અમને તે ખંડ બતાવ જ્યાં હું અને મારા શિષ્યો પાસ્ખા ભોજન લઈશું.’
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<v id="12" bcv="LUK.22.12" />પછી તે માણસ જે મકાનનો માલિક છે તે તેમને મેડી પર એક મોટો ખંડ બતાવશે. આ ખંડ તમારા માટે તૈયાર હશે ત્યાં પાસ્ખા ભોજન તૈયાર કરો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.22.13" />તેથી પિતર અને યોહાન ગયા. ઈસુએ કહ્યા પ્રમાણે જ બધું બન્યું. તેથી તેઓએ પાસ્ખા ભોજન તૈયાર કર્યુ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પ્રભુનું ભોજન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:26-30; માર્ક 14:22-26; 1 કરિંથીઓને 11:23-25)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="LUK.22.14" />પાસ્ખા ભોજન કરવાનો તેઓનો સમય આવ્યો. ઈસુ અને તેના પ્રેરિતો મેજ પાસે બેઠા હતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="LUK.22.15" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “હું મૃત્યુ પામું તે પહેલા મારી તમારી સાથે પાસ્ખા ખાવાની ઘણી ઈચ્છા હતી.
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<v id="16" bcv="LUK.22.16" />હું તમને કહું છું દેવના રાજ્યમાં પાસ્ખા ભોજનનો સાચો અર્થ અપાય નહિ ત્યાં સુધી હું ફરીથી કદાપિ પાસ્ખા ભોજન ખાવાનો નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="LUK.22.17" />પછી ઈસુએ એક પ્યાલો દ્ધાક્ષારસ લીધો. તેણે તે માટે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી. પછી તેણે કહ્યું, “આ પ્યાલો લો અને અહી દરેક જણને તે આપો.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="LUK.22.18" />હું તમને કહું છું દેવનું રાજ્ય આવે ત્યાં સુધી હું ફરીથી દ્ધાક્ષારસ પીનાર નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LUK.22.19" />પછી ઈસુએ કેટલીએક રોટલી લીધી. તેણે રોટલી માટે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી અને તેના ટૂકડા કર્યાં. તેણે તે ટૂકડા શિષ્યોને આપ્યા. પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “આ રોટલી મારું શરીર છે કે જે હું તમારા માટે આપું છું. મારી યાદગીરીમાં આ કરો.”
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="LUK.22.20" />આજ પ્રમાણે સાંજના ભોજન પછી ઈસુએ એક દ્ધાક્ષારસનો પ્યાલો લીધો અને કહ્યું કે, “આ દ્ધાક્ષારસ દેવનો તેના લોકો માટેનો નવો કરાર છે. આ નવા કરાર મારા લોહીથી શરું થાય છે. જે હું તમારા માટે આપું છું.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ કોણ?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="LUK.22.21" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “તમારામાંનો એક મારી વિરૂદ્ધ થશે. તેનો હાથ મેજ પર મારા હાથની બાજુમાં છે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="LUK.22.22" />માણસનો દીકરો દેવની યોજના પ્રમાણે કરશે. જે માણસના દીકરાને મારી નાંખવા માટે આપશે, તે બાબત તે માણસને માટે ખરાબ છે. તેને અફસોસ છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LUK.22.23" />પછી શિષ્યોએ એકબીજાને પૂછયું કે, “આપણામાંનો કોણ ઈસુ માટે આવું કરનાર હશે?”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">સેવક જેવા બનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="LUK.22.24" />પાછળથી પ્રેરિતો વિષે અંદરો અંદર દલીલો કરવા લાગ્યા કે તેઓના બધામાં મુખ્ય કોણ.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LUK.22.25" />પછી ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “દુનિયાના રાજાઓ તેમની પ્રજા પર શાસન કરે છે. જે માણસોનો બીજા લોકો પર અધિકાર હોય છે તેઓ તે લોકોના મહાન પરાપકારી હોવાનું ‘લોકો પાસે કહેવડાવે છે.’
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="LUK.22.26" />પણ તમારે તેમના જેવું થવું ના જોઈએ. સૌથી મુખ્ય વ્યક્તિએ સૌથી નાની વ્યક્તિ જેવા થવું જોઈએ, આગેવાનોએ સેવકો જેવા થવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="LUK.22.27" />કોણ વધારે અગત્યનું છે, જે વ્યક્તિ મેજ પાસે બેસે છે તે કે જે વ્યક્તિ તેની સેવા કરે છે તે? ખરેખર જે વ્યક્તિ મેજ પાસે બેસે છે તે વધારે અગત્યની છે, પણ હું તો તમારી વચ્ચે એક સેવક જેવો છું!
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.22.28" />“તમે લોકો મારા પરીક્ષણ સમયમાં મારી સોથે રહ્યા છો.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="LUK.22.29" />મારા બાપે મને એક રાજ્ય આપ્યું છે. હું પણ તમને મારી સાથે શાસનનો અધિકાર આપું છું.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LUK.22.30" />મારા રાજ્યમાં તમે મારી સાથે ખાશો અને પીશો. તમે ઈસ્ત્રાએલના બાર કુળોનો ન્યાય કરવા રાજ્યાસનો પર બિરાજશો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તમારો વિશ્વાસ ગુમાવો નહિ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:31-35; માર્ક 14:27-31; યોહાન 13:36-38)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="LUK.22.31" />“ઓ સિમોન, સિમોન જો શેતાને એક ખેડૂત જેમ ઘઉં ચાળે છે તેમ તને કબજે લેવા માગ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="LUK.22.32" />મેં પ્રાર્થના કરી છે કે તું તારો વિશ્વાસ ગુમાવે નહિ! જ્યારે તમે મારી પાસે પાછા આવો ત્યારેં તમારા ભાઈઓને વધારે મજબૂત થવામાં મદદ કરજો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.22.33" />પણ પિતરે ઈસુને કહ્યું કે, “પ્રભુ, હું તારી સાથે જેલમાં આવવા તૈયાર છું, હું તારી સાથે મરવા માટે પણ તૈયાર છું!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.22.34" />પણ ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “પિતર, હું તને કહું છું કે આજે મરઘો બોલે તે પહેલા તું મને ઓળખતો નથી, એમ (કહીને) તું ત્રણ વાર મારો નકાર કરશે!”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મુશ્કેલીઓ માટે તૈયાર થાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="LUK.22.35" />પછી ઈસુએ પ્રેરિતોને કહ્યું કે: “મેં તમને લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપવા મોકલ્યા. મેં પૈસા વગર, થેલી કે જોડા વગર મોકલ્યા, તમારે કશાની જરુંર પડી?”
</p>
<p style="p">પ્રેરિતોએ કહ્યું, “ના.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LUK.22.36" />તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “પણ હવે જો તમારી પાસે થેલી અને પૈસા હોય તો તમારી પાસે રાખો. જો તમારી પાસે તલવાર ના હોય તો તમારા કપડાં વેચીને એક ખરીદી રાખો.
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<v id="37" bcv="LUK.22.37" />પવિત્ર લેખ કહે છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘લોકોએ કહ્યું કે તે એક ગુનેગાર હતો.’
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.53.12">યશાયા 53:12</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">એ જે લખેલું છે તે મારામાં હજી પૂરું થવું જોઈએ, અને તે હવે બની રહ્યું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="LUK.22.38" />તે શિષ્યોએ કહ્યું કે, “પ્રભુ, જો, અહીં બે તલવાર છે!”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “બે પૂરતી હશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું પ્રેરિતોને પ્રાર્થના કરવા કહેવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:36-46; માર્ક 14:32-42)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39-40" bcv="LUK.22.39" />ઈસુએ શહેર છોડ્યું અને જૈતૂન પહાડ પરની જગ્યાએ પહોંચ્યો. તેના શિષ્યો તેની સાથે ગયા. (ઈસુ ત્યાં વારંવાર જતો.) ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું કે, “પ્રાર્થના કરો કે તમે પરીક્ષણમાં ન પડો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="LUK.22.41" />પછી ઈસુ તેઓનાથી લગભગ 50 ડગલા દૂર ગયો અને ઘૂંટણે પડ્યો અને પ્રાર્થના કરી.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="LUK.22.42" />“હે, બાપ જો તારી ઈચ્છા હોય તો, આ યાતનાનો પ્યાલો મારાથી દૂર કર: તોપણ તારી ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે નહિં પણ તારી ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે થાઓ.”
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="LUK.22.43" />પછી એક દૂત દેખાયો, તે દૂત આકાશમાંથી ઈસુની મદદ માટે આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="LUK.22.44" />ઈસુ ખૂબ પીડાતો હતો. પ્રાર્થનામાં તેણે ખૂબ આગ્રહ કર્યો, તેના મોઢા પરથી પડતો પરસેવો લોહીનાં ટીપાં જેવો ધરતી પર પડતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="LUK.22.45" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ પ્રાર્થના પૂરી કરી તેના શિષ્યો પાસે ગયો ત્યારે તેઓ ઘસઘસાટ ઊંઘતા હતા. (તેઓ તેમના દુ:ખોથી વધારે થાક્યા હતા)
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="LUK.22.46" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “તમે શા માટે ઊંઘો છો? ઊભા થાઓ અને પરીક્ષણો સામે મજબૂત બનવા પ્રાર્થના કરો.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું પકડાઈ જવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:47-56; માર્ક 14:43-50; યોહાન 18:3-11)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="LUK.22.47" />જ્યારે ઈસુ બોલતો હતો ત્યારે એક લોકોનું ટોળું આવ્યું. બાર પ્રેરિતોમાંનો એક સમૂહને દોરતો હતો. તે યહૂદા હતો. યહૂદા ઈસુની નજીક આવ્યો જેથી તે ઈસુને ચૂંબન કરી શકે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="LUK.22.48" />પણ ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું કે, “યહૂદા, શું તું ચુંબનનો ઉપયોગ કરીને માણસના દીકરાને દુશ્મનોને સોંપવા ઈચ્છે છે?”
<ve />
<v id="49" bcv="LUK.22.49" />ઈસુના શિષ્યો પણ ત્યાં ઊભા હતા. જે થતું હતું તે તેઓએ જોયું. શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને કહ્યું કે, “પ્રભુ, અમારે તલવારોનો ઉપયોગ કરવો જોઈએ?”
<ve />
<v id="50" bcv="LUK.22.50" />એટલામાં તો શિષ્યોમાંના એકે તેનો ઉપયોગ કર્યોં. તેણે મુખ્ય યાજકના ચાકરનો જમણો કાન કાપી નાખ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="LUK.22.51" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “અહીં જ બંધ કર!” પછી ઈસુએ ચાકરના કાનને સ્પર્શ કરીને તેને સાજો કર્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="LUK.22.52" />ઈસુને પકડવા જે સમૂહ આવ્યો હતો તેઓ મુખ્ય યાજકો, વડીલો અને યહૂદિ સરદારો હતા. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “તમે તલવારો અને લાકડીઓ સાથે અહીં બહાર શા માટે આવ્યા છો? શું તમે વિચારો છો કે હું એક ગુનેગાર છું?
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="LUK.22.53" />હું દરરોજ મંદિરમાં તમારી સાથે હતો. ત્યાં મને પકડવાનો પ્રયત્ન તમે શા માટે ન કર્યો? પણ આ તમારો સમય છે, એવો સમય જ્યારે અંધકારનું સાર્મથ્ય હોય છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુને ઓળખું છું તેવું કહેવાનો પિતરનો ભય
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:57-58, 69-75; માર્ક 14:53-54, 66-72; યોહાન 18:12-18, 25-27)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="LUK.22.54" />તેઓ ઈસુને પકડીને દૂર લઈ ગયા. તેઓ ઈસુને મુખ્ય યાજકના ઘરમાં લાવ્યા. પિતર તેની પાછળ ગયો. પણ તે ઈસુની નજીક આવી શક્યો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="55" bcv="LUK.22.55" />સૈનિકો ચોકની વચમાં અજ્ઞિ સળગાવીને સાથે બેઠા હતા. પિતર તેઓની સાથે બેઠો.
<ve />
<v id="56" bcv="LUK.22.56" />એક સેવિકાએ પિતરને ત્યાં બેઠેલો જોયો. અજ્ઞિના પ્રકાશને કારણે તે જોઈ શકી. તે છોકરીએ નજીકથી પિતરના ચેહરાને જોયો, પછી તેણે કહ્યું કે, “આ માણસ પણ તેની (ઈસુની) સાથે હતો!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="LUK.22.57" />પણ પિતરે કહ્યું કે આ સાચું નથી. તેણે કહ્યું, “બાઇ, હું તેને જાણતો નથી.”
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<v id="58" bcv="LUK.22.58" />થોડા સમય પછી, બીજી એક વ્યક્તિએ પિતરને જોયો અને કહ્યું કે, “તું પણ તેમાંનો એક છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ પિતરે કહ્યું, “ભાઈ, હું તેના શિષ્યોમાંનો એક નથી!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="59" bcv="LUK.22.59" />લગભગ એક કલાક પછી બીજા એક માણસે કહ્યું કે, “તે સાચું છે! આ માણસ તેની સાથે હતો. તે ગાલીલનો છે!” તે માણસે કહ્યું કે આ બાબતની તેને ખાતરી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="60" bcv="LUK.22.60" />પણ પિતરે કહ્યું કે, “ભાઈ, તું શું વાત કરે છે, તે હું જાણતો નથી!”
</p>
<p style="p">જ્યારે તે બોલતો હતો કે તરત જ મરઘો બોલ્યો.
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<v id="61" bcv="LUK.22.61" />પછી પ્રભુ ફર્યો અને પિતરની આંખોમાં જોયું અને પ્રભુએ જે તેને કહ્યું હતું તે પિતરને યાદ આવ્યું. “સવારે મરઘો બોલ્યા અગાઉ, તું ત્રણ વાર કહીશ કે તું મને ઓળખતો નથી.”
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<v id="62" bcv="LUK.22.62" />પછી પિતર બહાર ગયો અને ખૂબ રડ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ તરફ લોકોનું હસવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:67-68; માર્ક 14:65)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="63-64" bcv="LUK.22.63" />કેટલાએક માણસો ઈસુની ચોકી કરતા હતા. તેઓ ઈસુની આ પ્રમાણે મશ્કરી કરતા હતા: તેઓએ તેની આંખે પાટા બંધ્યા હતા તેથી તે તેઓને જોઈ શકે નહિ. પછીથી તેઓએ તેને માર્યો અને કહ્યું કે, “જો તું પ્રબોધક હોય, તો અમને કહે તને કોણે માર્યો?”
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<v id="65" bcv="LUK.22.65" />તે માણસોએ ઈસુની નિંદા કરીને તેની વિરૂદ્ધ બીજું ઘણું કહ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદિ આગેવાનો સમક્ષ ઈસુ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:59-66; માર્ક 14:55-64; યોહાન 18:19-24)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="66" bcv="LUK.22.66" />બીજા સવારે, લોકોના વડીલોની સભા, મુખ્ય યાજકો તથા શાસ્ત્રીઓ સાથે ભેગી થઈ. તેઓએ ઈસુને તેઓના ઊંચામાં ઊચી ન્યાયસભામાં લઈ ગયા.
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<v id="67" bcv="LUK.22.67" />તેઓએ કહ્યું કે, “જો તું ખ્રિસ્ત હોય, તો અમને કહે!”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “જો હું તમને કહું કે હું ખ્રિસ્ત છું તો તમે મારું માનવાના નથી,
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<v id="68" bcv="LUK.22.68" />અને જો હું તમને પૂછીશ તો તમે ઉત્તર આપવાના નથી.
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<v id="69" bcv="LUK.22.69" />પણ હવે પછી માણસનો દીકરો દેવના રાજયાસનની જમણી બાજુએ બેસશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="70" bcv="LUK.22.70" />તેઓ બધાએ કહ્યું કે, “તો શું તું દેવનો દીકરો છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “હા, તમે સાચા છો જ્યારે તમે જ કહો છો કે હું તે છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="71" bcv="LUK.22.71" />તેઓએ કહ્યું કે, “હવે આપણને બીજા સાક્ષીઓની શી જરુંર છે? આપણે આપણી જાતે તેને આ કહેતો સાંભળ્યો છે!”
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</p>

<c id="23" />
<s style="s">હાકેમ પિલાત ઈસુને પ્રશ્રો પૂછે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:1-2, 11-14; માર્ક 15:1-5; યોહાન 18:28-38)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.23.1" />પછી આખો સમૂહ ઊભો થયો અને પિલાત પાસે ઈસુને લઈ ગયો. તેઓ ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ તહોમત મૂકવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="LUK.23.2" />તેઓએ પિલાતને કહ્યું કે, “અમારા લોકોના વિચારોને બદલવાના પ્રયત્ન કરતા આ માણસને અમે પકડ્યો છે. કૈસરને કરવેરા આપવાનો તેણે વિરોધ કર્યો. તે એક ખ્રિસ્ત રાજા હોવાનો દાવો કરે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="LUK.23.3" />પિલાતે ઈસુને પૂછયું કે, “શું તું યહૂદિઓનો રાજા છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા, તે સાચું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="LUK.23.4" />પિલાતે મુખ્ય યાજકો તથા લોકોને કહ્યું કે, “મને આ માણસમાં કંઈ ખોટું દેખાતું નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="LUK.23.5" />તેઓએ ફરીફરીને કહ્યું કે, “પણ તે લોકોને ઉશ્કેરે છે! તે યહૂદિયાની આજુબાજુ બોધ આપે છે. તેણે ગાલીલમાં શરૂ કર્યો અને હવે તે અહીં છે!”
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</p>
<s style="s">પિલાત ઈસુને હેરોદ પાસે મોકલે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="LUK.23.6" />પિલાતે આ સાંભળ્યું અને પૂછયું કે, શું ઈસુ ગાલીલનો હતો?
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<v id="7" bcv="LUK.23.7" />પિલાતે જાણ્યું કે ઈસુ હેરોદના તાબામાં છે. તે વખતે હેરોદ યરૂશાલેમમાં હતો. તેથી પિલાતે ઈસુને તેની પાસે મોકલ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="LUK.23.8" />જ્યારે હેરોદે ઈસુને જોયો ત્યારે તે ઘણો ખુશ થયો. હેરોદે ઈસુ વિષે ઘણી બાબતો સાંભળી હતી. તેથી લાંબા સમયથી તે ઈસુને મળવા ઈચ્છતો હતો. હેરોદ કોઈ ચમત્કાર જોવા માંગતો હતો. તેથી તેણે આશા રાખી કે ઈસુ કંઈ ચમત્કાર કરશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="LUK.23.9" />હેરોદે ઈસુને ઘણા પ્રશ્રો પૂછયા, પણ ઈસુએ કંઈ કહ્યું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="LUK.23.10" />મુખ્ય યાજકો તથા શાસ્ત્રીઓ ત્યાં ઊભા હતા. તેઓએ ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ તહોમત મૂકવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું.
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<v id="11" bcv="LUK.23.11" />પછી હેરોદ અને તેના સૈનિકો ઈસુને હસતા હતા. તેઓએ ઈસુને રાજાઓના જેવાં કપડાં પહેરાવી તેની મશ્કરી ઉડાવી. પછી હેરોદે ઈસુને પાછો પિલાત પાસે મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="12" bcv="LUK.23.12" />ભૂતકાળમાં પિલાત અને હેરોદ હંમેશા દુશ્મનો હતા પણ તે દિવસે હેરોદ અને પિલાત મિત્રો બન્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુએ મરવું જોઈએ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:15-26; માર્ક 15:6-15; યોહાન 18:39-19:16)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.23.13" />પિલાતે મુખ્ય યાજકો, યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓ અને બધા લોકોને ભેગા કર્યા અને સાથે બોલાવ્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="LUK.23.14" />પિલાતે તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “આ માણસને તમે મારી પાસે લાવ્યા છો. તમે કહ્યું કે તે લોકોનું પરિવર્તન કરે છે. પણ મેં તમારી સમક્ષ તેની પરીક્ષા કરી, મને તેણે કંઈ ખોટું કર્યુ હોય એવું દેખાયું નહિ.
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<v id="15" bcv="LUK.23.15" />હેરોદને પણ કંઈ ખોટું જણાયું નથી. તેઓ આક્ષેપ મૂકે છે તેમાનું તેણે કશું જ કર્યુ નથી. પણ તેનામાં કંઈ ખોટું દેખાયું નથી. હેરોદે ઈસુને આપણી પાસે પાછો મોકલ્યો છે તેથી તેને મારી નાખવો જોઈએ નહિ.
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<v id="16" bcv="LUK.23.16" />તેથી હું તેને થોડી શિક્ષા કર્યા પછી, તેને જવા માટે મુક્ત કરીશ.”
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<v id="17" bcv="LUK.23.17" />હવે દર વર્ષે પાસ્ખાપર્વને દિવસે લોકોને માટે પિલાતે એક કેદીને છોડી દેવો પડતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="LUK.23.18" />પણ બધા લોકોએ બૂમો પાડી, “તેને મારી નાખો! બરબ્બાસને મુક્ત કરો!”
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<v id="19" bcv="LUK.23.19" />(બરબ્બાસ શહેરમાં હુલ્લડ શરું કરવા બદલ બંદીખાનામાં હતો. તેણે કેટલાક માણસોની હત્યા પણ કરી હતી.)
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="LUK.23.20" />પિલાત ઈસુને મુક્ત કરવા ઈચ્છતો હતો. તેથી પિલાતે તેને ફરીથી કહ્યું કે તે ઈસુને છોડી મૂકશે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="LUK.23.21" />પણ તેઓએ વારંવાર બૂમો પાડી, “તેને મારી નાખો!” “વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખો!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="LUK.23.22" />ત્રીજી વખત પિલાતે લોકોને કહ્યું કે, “શા માટે? તેણે શું ખોટું કર્યુ છે? તે દોષિત નથી. તેને મારી નાખવાનું કોઈ કારણ મને દેખાતું નથી. તેથી હું તેને થોડીક સજા કરીને પછી છોડી દઇશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="LUK.23.23" />લોકોએ બૂમો પાડવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું. તેઓએ માંગણી કરી કે ઈસુને વધસ્તંભે જડાવીને મારી નાખો. તેમની બૂમો એટલી મોટી થઈ કે
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="LUK.23.24" />પિલાતે તેઓના માંગ્યા પ્રમાણે તેઓને આપવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="LUK.23.25" />લોકો બરબ્બાસને મુક્ત કરાવવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. બરબ્બાસ હુલ્લડ શરું કરાવવા બદલ તથા લોકોની હત્યા માટે બંદીખાનામાં હતો. પિલાતે બરબ્બાસને છોડી મૂક્યો. અને પિલાતે ઈસુને મારી નાખવા માટે લોકોને સોંપ્યો. લોકોને તો આ જ જોઈતું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું વધસ્તંભે મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:32-44; માર્ક 15:21-32; યોહાન 19:17-19)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="LUK.23.26" />ઈસુને મારી નાખવા સૈનિકો દૂર લઈ જતા હતા. તે જ સમયે સીમમાંથી એક માણસ શહેરમાં આવતો હતો. તેનું નામ સિમોન હતું. સિમોન, કુરેની શહેરનો હતો. સૈનિકોએ સિમોનને ઈસુનો વધસ્તંભ તેની ખાંધે ચઢાવીને ઈસુની પાછળ ચાલવા ફરજ પાડી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="LUK.23.27" />ઘણા બધા લોકો ઈસુની પાછળ ચાલ્યા. તેમાંની ઘણી સ્ત્રીઓ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="LUK.23.28" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ તેમના તરફ ફરીને કહ્યું કે, “યરૂશાલેમની સ્ત્રીઓ, મારા માટે રડશો નહિ. તમારી જાત માટે અને તમારા બાળકો માટે રડો!
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="LUK.23.29" />સમય એવો આવે છે કે જ્યારે લોકો કહેશે કે, ‘એ સ્ત્રીઓને ધન્ય છે જેઓને બાળકો થઈ શકતા નથી. તે સ્ત્રીઓને ધન્ય છે કે જેઓએ બાળકોને જન્મ આપ્યો નથી. અને જેઓએ બાળકોને ધવડાવ્યું નથી.’
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="LUK.23.30" />પછી લોકો પહાડોને કહેશે કે, ‘અમારા પર પડો!’ લોકો ટેકરીઓને કહેશે કે, ‘અમને ઢાંકી નાખો!’
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="LUK.23.31" />જો હમણા જ્યારે જીવન સારૂં છે ત્યારે લોકો આ રીતે વર્તશે. પણ જ્યારે ખરાબ સમય આવશે ત્યાંરે શું થશે? કેમ કે જો તેઓ લીલા ઝાડને આમ કરે છે તો સૂકાને શું નહિ કરશે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="LUK.23.32" />ત્યાં બીજા બે ગુનેગારો પણ હતા તેઓને મારી નાખવા માટે તેઓ ઈસુની સાથે દોરી જતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="LUK.23.33" />ઈસુ અને તે બે ગુનેગારોને “ખોપરી” નામની જગ્યાએ લઈ ગયા. ત્યાં સૈનિકોએ ઈસુને ખીલા ઠોકીને વધસ્તંભે જડ્યો. તેઓએ એક ગુનેગારને ઈસુની જમણી બાજુએ વધસ્તંભે જડ્યો. તેઓએ બીજા ગુનેગારને ઈસુની ડાબી બાજુએ વધસ્તંભે જડ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="LUK.23.34" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “હે બાપ, આ લોકોને માફ કર. જેઓ મારી હત્યા કરી રહ્યા છે. તેઓ શું કરી રહ્યા છે તે તેઓ જાણતા નથી.”
</p>
<p style="p">સૈનિકોએ પાસા ફેંકીને જુગાર રમ્યો અને નક્કી કર્યુ કે ઈસુના લૂગડાં કોણ લેશે.
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<v id="35" bcv="LUK.23.35" />લોકો ત્યાં ઊભા રહીને ઈસુને જોતા હતા. યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓ ઈસુની મશ્કરી કરતાં હતા. તેઓએ કહ્યું કે, “જો તે દેવનો એક પસંદ કરાયેલ ખ્રિસ્ત હોય તો તેને તેનો બચાવ તેની જાતે કરવા દો. તેણે બીજા લોકોને બચાવ્યા છે. શું તેણે નથી બચાવ્યા?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LUK.23.36" />સૈનિકોએ પણ ઈસુની ઠઠ્ઠા મશ્કરી કરી. તેઓ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા અને તેને થોડો સરકો આપ્યો.
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<v id="37" bcv="LUK.23.37" />સૈનિકોએ કહ્યું કે, “જો તું યહૂદિઓનો રાજા હોય તો તું તારી જાતને બચાવ!”
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<v id="38" bcv="LUK.23.38" />(વધસ્તંભની ટોચ પર આ શબ્દો લખેલા હતા:
<sc>“આ યહૂદિઓનો રાજા છે.”</sc> )
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="LUK.23.39" />ગુનેગારોમાંનો એક જેને ત્યા ફાંસીએ લટકાવ્યો હતો તેણે ઈસુનું અપમાન કરીને બૂમો પાડવાનું શરું કર્યુ, “શું તું ખ્રિસ્ત નથી? તો તારી જાતને બચાવ! અને અમને પણ બચાવ!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="LUK.23.40" />પરંતુ બીજા ગુનેગારે તેને અટકાવ્યો. તેણે કહ્યું કે, “તારે દેવથી ડરવું જોઈએ! આપણે બધાજલ્દીથી મરી જઇશું!
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<v id="41" bcv="LUK.23.41" />તારા અને મારા માટે મૃત્યુ ન્યાયી રીતે આવી રહ્યું છે કારણ કે આપણને જે કંઈ મળ્યું છે તે આપણા કુકર્મો માટે યોગ્ય છે. આ માણસે તો કશું જ ખોટું કર્યુ નથી.”
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<v id="42" bcv="LUK.23.42" />પછી આ ગુનેગારે ઈસુને કહ્યું કે, “ઈસુ, જ્યારે તું રાજા તરીકે શાસન શરું કરે ત્યારે મને સંભારજે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="LUK.23.43" />પછી ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું કે, “ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ, હું જે કહું છું તે સાચું છે. આજે તું મારી સાથે પારાદૈસમાં<f caller="+"><ft>પારાદૈસ સારા માણસો મરણ પામ્યા પછી જાય છે તે જગ્યા.</ft></f> હોઇશ!”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ મૃત્યુ પામે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:45-56; માર્ક 15:33-41; યોહાન 19:28-30)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="LUK.23.44" />તે લગભગ બપોર હતી, પરંતુ સમગ્ર વિસ્તારમાં બપોરના ત્રણ વાગ્યા સુધી અંધકાર છવાયો હતો.
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<v id="45" bcv="LUK.23.45" />ત્યાં સૂરજ ન હતો. મંદિરમાંનો પડદો બે ભાગમાં ફાટી ગયો.
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<v id="46" bcv="LUK.23.46" />ઈસુએ જોરથી ઊચા અવાજે પોકાર કર્યો કે, “ઓ બાપ, હું મારો આત્મા તારા હાથમાં સોંપું છું.” ઈસુએ એમ કહ્યું, પછી તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="LUK.23.47" />લશ્કરના અધિકારીએ ત્યાં જે કંઈ થયું તે જોયું. તેણે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરીને કહ્યું કે, “હું જાણું છું આ માણસ ખરેખર ન્યાયી હતો!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="LUK.23.48" />ઘણા લોકો આ જોવા માટે શહેરની બહાર આવ્યા. જ્યારે લોકોએ તે જોયું, તેઓ
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<v id="49" bcv="LUK.23.49" />ઈસુના નજીકના મિત્રો ત્યાં હતા. ત્યાં કેટલીએક સ્ત્રીઓ ગાલીલમાંથી ઈસુની પાછળ આવી હતા તે પણ ત્યાં હતી. તેઓ વધસ્તંભથી ઘણે દૂર ઊભા રહીને આ જોતી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અરિમથાઇનો યૂસફ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:57-61; માર્ક 15:42-47; યોહાન 19:38-42)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="50-51" bcv="LUK.23.50" />યહૂદિઓના શહેર અરિમથાઇનો એક માણસ ત્યાં હતો. તેનું નામ યૂસફ હતું. તે એક સારો, અને ધર્મિક માણસ હતો. તે દેવના રાજ્યની આવવાની રાહ જોતો હતો. તે યહૂદિઓની ન્યાયસભાનો સભ્ય હતો. જ્યારે બીજા યહૂદિઓના આગેવાનોએ ઈસુને મારી નાખવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યા ત્યારે તે સંમત થયો નહોતો.
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<v id="52" bcv="LUK.23.52" />યૂસફે પિલાત પાસે જઇને ઈસુનો દેહ માંગ્યો. પિલાતે યૂસફને શબ લેવાની હા પાડી.
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="LUK.23.53" />તેથી યૂસફે વધસ્તંભ પરથી દેહ નીચે લાવીને લૂગડાંમાં વીંટાળ્યું. પછી તેણે ઈસુનું દેહ ખડકમાં ખોદેલી કબરમાં મૂક્યું. આ અગાઉ આ કબર કદી ઉપયોગમાં લેવાઇ ન હતી.
<ve />
<v id="54" bcv="LUK.23.54" />તે દિવસ સિદ્ધિકરણનો હતો. જ્યારે સૂર્યાસ્ત થયો ત્યારે, વિશ્રામવાર શરૂ થયો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="55" bcv="LUK.23.55" />જે સ્ત્રીઓ ગાલીલથી ઈસુની સાથે આવી હતી તે યૂસફ પાસે ગઇ. તેઓએ કબર જોઈ. તેઓએ જ્યાં ઈસુનો દેહ મૂકવામાં આવ્યો હતો તે પણ જોયું.
<ve />
<v id="56" bcv="LUK.23.56" />પછી તે સ્ત્રીઓ ઈસુના દેહ પર મસાલા તથા સુગંધિત દ્ધવ્યો મૂકવા માટેની તૈયારી કરવા પાછી આવી.
</p>
<p style="p">વિશ્રામવારે તેઓએ વિશ્રામ લીધો. મૂસાના નિયમ પ્રમાણે બધાજ લોકોએ આ કર્યુ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">ઈસુના પુનરુંત્થાનના સમાચાર
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 28:1-10; માર્ક 16:1-8; યોહાન 20:1-10)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="LUK.24.1" />વહેલી સવારે, અઠવાડિયાના પહેલા દિવસે, સ્ત્રીઓ કબર પાસે જ્યાં ઈસુનો દેહ મૂક્યો હતો ત્યાં આવી. તેઓ તેને માટે બનાવેલા સુગંધી દ્ધવ્યો લાવી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="LUK.24.2" />એક ભારે પથ્થર કબરના દ્ધારને બંધ કરવા મૂકવામાં આવ્યો હતો. પણ સ્ત્રીઓએ જેયું કે પથ્થર ગબડાવી દેવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="LUK.24.3" />તેઓ અંદર ગઇ, પણ તેઓએ પ્રભુ ઈસુનો દેહ જોયો નહિ.
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<v id="4" bcv="LUK.24.4" />સ્ત્રીઓ આ સમજી શકી નહિ જ્યારે તેઓ આ વિષે અચરજ પામતાં હતાં ત્યારે ચળકતાં લૂગડામાં બે માણસો (દૂતો) તેઓની બાજુમાં આવીને ઊભા.
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<v id="5" bcv="LUK.24.5" />તે સ્ત્રીઓ ઘણી ગભરાઇ ગઇ; તેઓએ તેમના મસ્તક નીચાં નમાવ્યા. તે બે માણસોએ સ્ત્રીઓને કહ્યું કે, “જે જીવંત વ્યક્તિ છે તેને તમે અહી શા માટે શોધો છો? આ જગ્યા તો મરેલા લોકો માટે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="LUK.24.6" />ઈસુ અહી નથી. તે મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠ્યો છે! તમને યાદ છે જ્યારે તે ગાલીલમાં હતો ત્યારે શું કહ્યું હતું?
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<v id="7" bcv="LUK.24.7" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું હતું કે માણસનો દીકરો દુષ્ટ માણસોને સોંપાય, વધસ્તંભ પર જડાય અને મારી નંખાય તથા ત્રીજા દિવસે પાછો ઊઠે એ અવશ્યનું છે.”
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<v id="8" bcv="LUK.24.8" />પછી સ્ત્રીઓને ઈસુએ જે કહ્યું હતું તે યાદ આવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="LUK.24.9" />સ્ત્રીઓ કબર આગળથી પાછી આવી અને અગિયાર શિષ્યો તથા બીજા શિષ્યો પાસે ગઇ. સ્ત્રીઓએ કબરમાં જે કંઈ શયું હતું તે બધું તેઓને કહ્યું.
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<v id="10" bcv="LUK.24.10" />આ સ્ત્રીઓમાં મગ્દલાની મરિયમ, યોહાન્ના યાકૂબની મા મરિયમ તથા કેટલીએક બીજી સ્ત્રીઓ હતી. આ સ્ત્રીઓએ પ્રેરિતોને જે કંઈ બન્યું હતું તે બધું કહ્યું.
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<v id="11" bcv="LUK.24.11" />પરંતુ સ્ત્રીઓએ જે કહ્યું તે પ્રેરિતોએ માન્યું નહિ. એ વાતો મૂર્ખાઇ ભરેલી લાગી.
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<v id="12" bcv="LUK.24.12" />પણ પિતર ઊભો થયો. જો આ સાચું હોય તો તે જોવા માટે કબરે એકલો દોડ્યો. તેણે અંદર જોયું. પણ તેણે ઈસુને જેમાં વીંટાળ્યો હતો તે લૂગડાં જ માત્ર જોયાં. ત્યાં ફક્ત લૂગડાં જ પડેલા હતાં. ઈસુ નહતો. પિતરે જે થયું હતું તે સંબધી આશ્ચર્ય પામીને એકાંત માટે દૂર ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<s style="s">ઈસુ એમ્મોસના માર્ગે
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<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 16:12-13)
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="LUK.24.13" />તે જ દિવસે શિષ્યોમાંથી બે એમ્મોસ નામના શહેરમાં જતા હતા. તે યરૂશાલેમથી લગભગ સાત માઇલ દૂર હતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="LUK.24.14" />તેઓ બધા સાથે જે કંઈ બનાવો બન્યા હતા તે અંગે વાતો કરતા હતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="LUK.24.15" />જ્યારે તેઓ આ બાબતમાં ભેગા થઈ વાતો કરતા હતા અને ચર્ચા કરતા હતા ત્યારે ઈસુ પોતે તેઓની નજીક આવીને તેઓની સાથે ચાલ્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="LUK.24.16" />(પણ પેલા બે માણસોને ઈસુને ઓળખવાની દષ્ટિ નહોતી.)
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<v id="17" bcv="LUK.24.17" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “તમે ચાલતાં ચાલતાં એકબીજાની સાથે શાની ચર્ચા કરો છો?”
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<p style="p">તે બે માણસો ઊભા રહ્યા. તેઓના ચહેરા ઘણા ઉદાસ દેખાતા હતા.
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<v id="18" bcv="LUK.24.18" />કલિયોપાસ નામના એકે ઉત્તર આપ્યો કે, “યરૂશાલેમમાં ફક્ત તું જ એકલો એવો માણસ હશે જે છેલ્લા થોડા દિવસો પહેલાં ત્યાં શું થયું છે તે તું જાણતો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="LUK.24.19" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “કયા બનાવો?”
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<p style="p">પેલા માણસોએ તેને કહ્યું કે, “તે ઈસુ વિષે જે નાસરેથનો છે. દેવ અને બધા લોકો માટે તે એક મહાન પ્રબોધક હતો. તેણે કહ્યા પ્રમાણે પરાક્રમમાં મહાન ચમત્કારો કર્યા.
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<v id="20" bcv="LUK.24.20" />પણ અમારા અધિકારીઓ અને મુખ્ય યાજકોએ મરણદંડ માટે તેને દૂર મોકલી દીધો. તેઓએ ઈસુને વધસ્તંભે ખીલાઓ વડે જડ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="LUK.24.21" />અમને આશા હતી કે તે એક ઈસ્ત્રાએલનો ઉદ્ધાર કરનાર થશે. પણ પછી આ બધું બન્યું. અને હવે બીજું કંઈક.
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<p style="p">“આ બનાવો બન્યાને આજે ત્રીજો દિવસ છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="LUK.24.22" />પણ આજે અમારામાંની કેટલીએક સ્ત્રીઓએ અમને આશ્ચર્યજનક વાત કરી. આ વહેલી સવારે સ્ત્રીઓ કબર પાસે ગઇ જ્યાં ઈસુના દેહને મૂકવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="23" bcv="LUK.24.23" />પણ તેઓએ ત્યાં તેનું શરીર દીઠું નહિ. તેઓએ આવીને અમને કહ્યું કે તેઓએ બે દૂતના પણ દર્શન કર્યા. દૂતોએ કહ્યું કે, ‘ઈસુ જીવંત છે!’
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<v id="24" bcv="LUK.24.24" />તેથી અમારા કેટલાએક જૂથ પણ કબર પાસે ગયા. ત્યાં સ્ત્રીઓએ કહ્યું તેવું જ હતું-કબર ખાલી હતી. અમે જોયું, પણ અમે ઈસુને જોયો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="LUK.24.25" />પછી ઈસુએ તે બે માણસોને કહ્યું કે, “તમે મૂર્ખ છો, અને ધીમા છો જે બધી વસ્તુઓ તમને પ્રબોધકોએ કહી છે તે સમજવા માટે વિશ્વાસ હોવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="26" bcv="LUK.24.26" />પ્રબોધકોએ કહ્યું હતું કે ખ્રિસ્તે તેના મહિમામાં પ્રવેશતા પહેલા આ બધું સહેવું પડશે.”
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<v id="27" bcv="LUK.24.27" />પછી ઈસુએ બધું સમજાવવાની શરુંઆત કરી. જે તેના સંબંધી ધર્મલેખોમાં લખાયેલું હતું. ઈસુએ મૂસાના પુસ્તકોથી શરુંઆત કરી અને પછી પ્રબોધકોએ તેના વિષે શું કહ્યું હતું તેની વાત કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="LUK.24.28" />તેઓ એમ્મોસના શહેરની નજીક આવ્યા અને ઈસુએ ત્યાં રોકાઇ જવાની કોઈ યોજના ના હોય તેમ આગળ જવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું.
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<v id="29" bcv="LUK.24.29" />પણ તેઓ તેને રાકવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. તેઓએ તેને આગ્રહ કર્યો, “અમારી સાથે રહે.” મોડું થયું છે લગભગ રાત્રી થઈ ગઇ છે. તેથી તે તેઓની સાથે રહેવા અંદર ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="LUK.24.30" />ઈસુ તેઓની સાથે નીચે જમવા બેઠો અને થોડી રોટલી લીધી અને તેણે ભોજન માટે સ્તુતિ કરી અને તેના ભાગ પાડ્યા. પછી તે તેઓને આપ્યા.
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<v id="31" bcv="LUK.24.31" />તે વખતે, તેઓને ઈસુને ઓળખવાની દષ્ટિ મળી. પણ જ્યારે તેઓએ જોયું કે તે કોણ હતો ત્યારે તે અદ્ધશ્ય થઈ ગયો.
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<v id="32" bcv="LUK.24.32" />બંને માણસોએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું કે, “જ્યારે ઈસુ રસ્તા પર આપણી સાથે વાત કરતો હતો ત્યારે આપણા હ્રદયમાં આગ સળગતી હતી. જ્યારે તે ધર્મલેખોના અર્થ સમજાવતો તે ઉત્સાહદાયક હતું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="LUK.24.33" />પછી તે બંને માણસો ઊભા થયા અને યરૂશાલેમ પાછા ફર્યા. યરૂશાલેમમાં તેઓએ ઈસુના શિષ્યોને ભેગા થયેલા જોયા. અગિયાર પ્રેરિતો અને પેલા લોકો જે તેઓની સાથે હતા.
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<v id="34" bcv="LUK.24.34" />તેઓએ કહ્યું કે, “પ્રભુ, ખરેખર મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠ્યો છે! તેણે પોતે સિમોનને દર્શન આપ્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="LUK.24.35" />પછી તે બે માણસોએ રસ્તા પર જે કંઈ બન્યું હતું તે બધું કહ્યું. જ્યારે ઈસુએ રોટલીના ટુકડા કર્યા ત્યારે તેઓએ ઈસુને કેવી રીતે ઓળખ્યો તે વિષે પણ વાત કરી.
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<s style="s">શિષ્યોને ઈસુના દર્શન
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<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 28:16-20; માર્ક 16:14-18; યોહાન 20:19-23; પ્રેરિતોનાં કૃત્યો 1:6-8)
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="LUK.24.36" />જ્યારે તે બે માણસો આ વાત કહેતા હતા, ઈસુ પોતે શિષ્યોના સમૂહમાં ઊભો રહ્યો. ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “તમને શાંતિ થાઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="LUK.24.37" />શિષ્યો આશ્ચર્ય પામ્યા. તેઓ ગભરાઇ ગયા. તેઓએ વિચાર્યું કે તેઓ ભૂત જોઈ રહ્યા હતા.
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<v id="38" bcv="LUK.24.38" />પણ ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “તમે કેમ ગભરાઓ છો? તમે જે જુઓ છો તેમાં શંકા શા માટે કરો છો?
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<v id="39" bcv="LUK.24.39" />મારા હાથો અને પગો તરફ જુઓ. તે ખરેખર હું જ છું! મને સ્પર્શ કરો. તમે જોઈ શકશો કે મારી પાસે જીવંત શરીર છે; ભૂતને આના જેવું શરીર હોતું નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="LUK.24.40" />ઈસુએ તેઓને આમ કહ્યા પછી તેણે તેઓને તેના હાથોના અને પગોના ઘા બતાવ્યાં.
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<v id="41" bcv="LUK.24.41" />શિષ્યો આનંદથી આશ્ચર્યમાં પડી ગયા હતા. ઈસુ જીવતો હતો તે જોઈને તેઓ ખૂબ ખૂબ પ્રસન્ન થયા. હજુ તેઓએ જે જોયું તે માનવા તેઓ તૈયાર નહોતા. ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “અહી તમારી પાસે કંઈ ખાવાનું છે?”
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<v id="42" bcv="LUK.24.42" />તેઓએ તેને એક રાંધેલી માછલીનો ટુકડો આપ્યો.
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<v id="43" bcv="LUK.24.43" />જ્યારે શિષ્યો જોતા હતા ત્યારે ઈસુએ માછલી લીધી અને તે ખાધી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="LUK.24.44" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “યાદ કરો જ્યારે હું તમારી સાથે હતો ત્યારે મેં એ વાતો તમને કહી હતી કે મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં તથા પ્રબોધકોનાં પુસ્તકોમાં તથા ગીતશાસ્ત્રમાં મારા સંબંધી જે લખેલું છે તે બધું થવું જોઈએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="LUK.24.45" />ઈસુએ ધર્મલેખો શિષ્યોને સમજાવ્યા. ઈસુએ તેના વિષે લખેલી વાતો સમજાવવામાં તેમને મદદ કરી.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="LUK.24.46" />પછી ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “તે લખેલું છે કે ખ્રિસ્તને મારી નાખવામાં આવશે અને ત્રીજા દિવસે તે મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠશે.
<ve />
<v id="47-48" bcv="LUK.24.47" />તમે આ બધું થતા જોયું-તમે સાક્ષી છો. તમારે લોકોને જઇને કહેવું જોઈએ કે તેઓના પાપો માફ થઈ શકશે. તેઓને કહો કે તેઓએ પસ્તાવો કરવો જોઈએ અને તેઓનાં પાપો માટે દિલગીર થવું જોઈએ. જો તેઓ આમ કરશે, તો દેવ તેઓને માફ કરશે. તમારે યરૂશાલેમથી શરુંઆત કરવી જોઈએ અને મારા નામે આ બાબતનો ઉપદેશ આપવો જોઈએ. આ સુવાર્તા દુનિયાના બધા લોકોને કહેવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="49" bcv="LUK.24.49" />ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! મારા બાપે તમને જે વચન આપેલ છે તે હું તમને મોકલીશ. પણ જ્યાં સુધી તમે આકાશથી પરાક્રમે વેષ્ટિત થાઓ ત્યાં સુધી તમારે યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેવું જોઈએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું સ્વર્ગારોહણ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 16:19-20; પ્રેરિતોનાં કૃત્યો 1:9-11)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="LUK.24.50" />ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યોને યરૂશાલેમની બહાર લગભગ બેથનિયા લઈ ગયો. ઈસુએ તેના હાથ ઊંચા કર્યા અને તેના શિષ્યોને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="51" bcv="LUK.24.51" />જ્યારે ઈસુ તેઓને આશીર્વાદ આપતો હતો ત્યારે તેઓથી તે છૂટો પડ્યો અને આકાશમાં લઈ જવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="52" bcv="LUK.24.52" />શિષ્યોએ તેનું ભજન કર્યુ. તેઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં પાછા ફર્યા. તેઓ ખૂબ પૂર્ણ આનંદિત હતા.
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="LUK.24.53" />તેઓ બધો જ સમય દેવની સ્તુતિ કરતાં, મંદિરમાં રહ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="JHN"><id id="JHN">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>યોહાન
</h><toc level="1">યોહાનની લખેલી સુવાર્તા
</toc><toc level="2">યોહાન
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યોહાનની
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">લખેલી સુવાર્તા
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્ત જગતમાં આવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.1.1" />જગતનો આરંભ થયા પહેલાંથી, તે શબ્દ ત્યાં હતો. તે શબ્દ દેવની સાથે હતો. તે શબ્દ દેવ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JHN.1.2" />તે શરુંઆતમાં ત્યાં દેવની સાથે હતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JHN.1.3" />તેના થી જ બધી વસ્તુઓ ઉત્પન્ન થઈ. તેના વિના કશું જ ઉત્પન્ન થયું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JHN.1.4" />તેનામાં જીવન હતું. તે જીવન લોકો માટે પ્રકાશ હતો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JHN.1.5" />તે અજવાળું અંધકારમાં પ્રકાશે છે. અંધકારે પ્રકાશને જાણ્યો નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.1.6" />ત્યાં એક યોહાન નામનો માણસ આવ્યો, તેને દેવે મોકલ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JHN.1.7" />યોહાન લોકોને પ્રકાશ વિષે કહેવા આવ્યો. યોહાન દ્વારા લોકો પ્રકાશ વિષે સાંભળી અને માની શકે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JHN.1.8" />યોહાન પોતે પ્રકાશ નહોતો. પણ યોહાન લોકોને પ્રકાશ વિષે કહેવા આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JHN.1.9" />સાચો પ્રકાશ જગતમાં આવતો હતો. આજ ખરો પ્રકાશ છે જે બધા લોકોને પ્રકાશ આપે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JHN.1.10" />તે શબ્દ જગતમાં હતો જ. તેના દ્વારા જ જગતનું નિર્માણ થયું છે. પણ જગતે તેને ઓળખ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JHN.1.11" />જે જગતમાં આવ્યો તે તેનું પોતાનું જ હતું. પણ તેના પોતાના લોકોએ જ તેનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="JHN.1.12" />કેટલાક લોકોએ તેનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો. તેઓએ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો. જે લોકોએ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો હતો તેઓને તેણે કંઈક આપ્યું. તેણે તેઓને દેવનાં બાળકો થવાનો અધિકાર આપ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="JHN.1.13" />જેવી રીતે નાનાં બાળકો જન્મ છે તેવી રીતે આ બાળકો જન્મ્યા ન હતા. તેઓ માતાપિતાની ઈચ્છાથી કે યોજનાથી જન્મ્યા ન હતા. આ બાળકો દેવથી જન્મ્યા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JHN.1.14" />તે શબ્દ એક મનુષ્ય થયો અને આપણામાં વસ્યો. આપણે તેનો મહિમા જોયો. જે ફક્ત પિતાના દીકરાનો જ મહિમા છે. તે શબ્દ કૃપા તથા સત્યતાથી ભરપૂર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="JHN.1.15" />યોહાને લોકોને તેના વિષે કહ્યું, યોહાને કહ્યું, “હું જેના વિષે કહેતો હતો તે એ જ છે. મેં કહ્યું, ‘જે મારી પાછળ આવે છે તે મારા કરતાં પણ મોટો છે. તે મારી પહેલાનો હતો.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.1.16" />તે શબ્દ (ખ્રિસ્ત) કૃપા અને સત્યથી ભરપૂર હતો, તેની પાસેથી આપણે બધા વધારે ને વધારે કૃપા પામ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="JHN.1.17" />મૂસા મારફતે નિયમશાસ્ત્ર આપવામાં આવ્યું. પરંતુ કૃપા અને સત્યતા ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત મારફતે આવ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="JHN.1.18" />કોઈ પણ માણસે આજપર્યંત દેવને જોયો નથી, પરંતુ એકાકીજનિત દીકરો (ઈસુ) જ દેવ છે. તે પિતા (દેવની) ની ઘણી નજીક છે. દેવ કોના જેવો છે, તે દીકરાએ આપણને બતાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યોહાનનું લોકોને ઈસુ વિષે કહેવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 3:1-12; માર્ક 1:1-8; લૂક 3:1-9, 15-17)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JHN.1.19" />યરૂશાલેમના યહૂદિઓએ કેટલાક યાજકોને તથા લેવીઓને યોહાન પાસે મોકલ્યા. યહૂદિઓએ તેઓને યોહાનને પૂછવા માટે મોકલ્યા, “તું કોણ છે?”
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="JHN.1.20" />યોહાન સ્પષ્ટ બોલ્યો. યોહાને ઉત્તર આપવાની ના પાડી નહિ, યોહાને સ્પષ્ટતાપૂર્વક કહ્યું, “હું ખ્રિસ્ત નથી.” યોહાને લોકોને આ વાત કહી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JHN.1.21" />યહૂદિઓએ યોહાનને પૂછયું, “તો પછી તું કોણ છે? તું એલિયા છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">યોહાને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “ના હું એલિયા નથી.”
</p>
<p style="p">યહૂદિઓએ પૂછયું, “તુ પ્રબોધક છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">યોહાને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “ના હું પ્રબોધક નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JHN.1.22" />પછી તે યહૂદિઓએ કહ્યું, “તું કોણ છે? અમને તારા વિષે કહે. જેથી અમને જેણે મોકલ્યા છે તેને અમે ઉત્તર આપી શકીએ, તું તારા માટે શું કહે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JHN.1.23" />યોહાને તેઓને યશાયા પ્રબોધકના શબ્દો કહ્યા,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું રાનમાં બૂમો પાડતી વ્યક્તિની વાણી છું;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘પ્રભુ માટે સીધો રસ્તો તૈયાર કરો.’”
<rq>યશાય 40:3</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JHN.1.24" />આ યહૂદિઓને ફરોશીઓમાંથી મોકલવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="JHN.1.25" />આ માણસોએ યોહાનને કહ્યું, “તું કહે છે કે તું ખ્રિસ્ત નથી. તું કહે છે તું એલિયા કે પ્રબોધક પણ નથી. પછી તું શા માટે લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JHN.1.26" />યોહાને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું લોકોનું પાણીથી બાપ્તિસ્મા કરું છું. પણ અહીં તમારી સાથે એક વ્યક્તિ છે જેને તમે જાણતા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="JHN.1.27" />તે વ્યક્તિ જે મારી પાછળ આવે છે, હું તેના જોડાની દોરી છોડવા જેટલો પણ યોગ્ય નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JHN.1.28" />યર્દન નદીને પેલે પાર આ બધી વસ્તુઓ બેથનિયામાં બની. આ જગ્યાએ યોહાન લોકોનું બાપ્તિસ્મા કરતો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ દેવનું હલવાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JHN.1.29" />બીજે દિવસે યોહાને ઈસુને તેના તરફ આવતો જોયો. યોહાને કહ્યું, “જુઓ દેવનું હલવાન, જે જગતના પાપોને દૂર કરે છે!
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<v id="30" bcv="JHN.1.30" />આ તે જ છે જેના વિષે મેં કહ્યું હતું, ‘એક મનુષ્ય મારી પાછળ આવશે. પણ તે મારા કરતાં મોટો છે, કારણ કે તે મારા પહેલાથી જીવે છે. તે સદાકાળ જીવંત છે.’
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<v id="31" bcv="JHN.1.31" />જો કે મને ખબર ન હતી કે તે કોણ હતો. પણ હું લોકોને પાણીથી બાપ્તિસ્મા આપવા આવ્યો છું કે જેથી ઈસ્રાએલ (યહૂદિઓ) જાણી શકે કે ઈસુ તે જ ખ્રિસ્ત છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="32-34" bcv="JHN.1.32" />પછી યોહાને કહ્યું, “હું પણ જાણતો નહોતો કે ખ્રિસ્ત કોણ હતો. પરંતુ દેવે મને લોકોનું પાણીથી બાપ્તિસ્મા કરવા મોકલ્યો અને દેવે મને કહ્યું, ‘તું જે માણસ પર આત્માને નીચે ઉતરતો અને રહેતો જોશે, તે માણસ પવિત્ર આત્માથી બાપ્તિસ્મા કરશે.’ યોહાને કહ્યું, મેં આમ થતાં જોયું છે. મેં આત્માને આકાશમાંથી નીચે આવતો જોયો. આત્મા કબૂતર જેવો દેખાયો અને તેના (ઈસુ) પર તે બેઠો. તેથી હું લોકોને કહું છું, ‘તે આ છે. તે (ઈસુ) દેવનો દીકરો છે.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનો પ્રથમ શિષ્ય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="JHN.1.35" />ફરીથી બીજે દિવસે યોહાન ત્યાં હતો. યોહાનના બે શિષ્યો તેની સાથે હતા.
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<v id="36" bcv="JHN.1.36" />યોહાને ઈસુને બાજુમાંથી પસાર થતાં જોયો. યોહાને કહ્યું, “જુઓ, દેવનું હલવાન!”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="JHN.1.37" />તે બે શિષ્યોએ યોહાનને આમ કહેતા સાંભળ્યો, તેથી તેઓ ઈસુને અનુસર્યા.
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<v id="38" bcv="JHN.1.38" />ઈસુ પાછો ફર્યો અને તે બે માણસોને તેની પાછળ આવતા જોયા. ઈસુએ પૂછયું, “તમારે શું જોઈએ છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે બે માણસોએ પૂછયું, “રાબ્બી, તું ક્યાં રહે છે?” (“રબ્બી” નો અર્થ “શિક્ષક”)
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JHN.1.39" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મારી સાથે આવો અને જુઓ.” તેથી તે બે માણસો ઈસુ સાથે ગયા. તેઓએ ઈસુ જ્યાં રહેતો હતો તે જગ્યા જોઈ. તેઓ ત્યાં ઈસુ સાથે તે દિવસે રહ્યા. તે લગભગ બપોરના ચારનો સમય હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="JHN.1.40" />તે બે માણસો યોહાન પાસેથી ઈસુ વિષે સાંભળ્યા પછી તેઓ ઈસુની પાછળ ગયા. આ બે માણસોમાંના એકનું નામ આંન્દ્રિયા હતું. આંન્દ્રિયા સિમોન પિતરનો<f caller="+"><fr>1:40
</fr><fk>પિતર
</fk><ft>ગ્રીક નામ “પિતર,” અરામિક નામ “કેફા,” અર્થાત પથ્થર.</ft></f> ભાઈ હતો.
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<v id="41" bcv="JHN.1.41" />આંન્દ્રિયાઓ સૌ પ્રથમ તેના ભાઈ સિમોનને શોધ્યો. આંન્દ્રિયાએ સિમોનને કહ્યું, “અમે મસીહને શોધી કાઢયો છે.” (“મસીહ” નો અર્થ “ખ્રિસ્ત” છે.)
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="JHN.1.42" />પછી આંન્દ્રિયા સિમોનને ઈસુ પાસે લાવ્યો, ઈસુએ સિમોન તરફ જોયું અને કહ્યું, “તું યોહાનનો દીકરો સિમોન છે. તું કેફા કહેવાશે.” (“કેફા” નો અર્થ “પથ્થર” થાય છે.)
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<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="JHN.1.43" />બીજે દિવસે ઈસુએ ગાલીલ જવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ. ઈસુ ફિલિપને મળ્યો અને તેને કહ્યું, “મને અનુસર.”
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<v id="44" bcv="JHN.1.44" />ફિલિપ બેથસૈદાનો એટલે આંન્દ્રિયા તથા પિતરના શહેરનો હતો.
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<v id="45" bcv="JHN.1.45" />ફિલિપ નથાનિયેલને મળ્યો અને કહ્યું, “યાદ કરો કે નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં મૂસાએ શું કહ્યું છે. મૂસાએ જે માણસ આવવાનો હતો તેના વિષે લખ્યું. પ્રબોધકોએ પણ તેના વિષે લખ્યું અમે તેને મળ્યા છીએ. તેનું નામ ઈસુ છે, તે યૂસફનો દીકરો છે. તે નાસરેથમાંનો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="JHN.1.46" />પણ નથાનિયેલે ફિલિપને કહ્યું, “શું નાસરેથમાંથી કંઈક સારું નીકળી શકે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ફિલિપે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “આવો અને જુઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="JHN.1.47" />ઈસુએ નથાનિયેલને તેના તરફ આવતા જોયો. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “આ માણસ જે મારી પાસે આવે છે તે ખરેખર દેવના લોકોમાંનો એક છે તેનામાં કંઈ દુષ્ટતા નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="JHN.1.48" />નથાનિયેલે પૂછયું, “તું મને કેવી રીતે ઓળખે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જ્યારે તું અંજીરના વૃક્ષ નીચે હતો, ત્યારે મેં તને જોયો. ફિલિપે તને મારા વિષે કહ્યું તે પહેલાં તું ત્યાં હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="JHN.1.49" />પછી નથાનિયેલે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “રાબ્બી, તું દેવનો દીકરો છે. તું ઈસ્રાએલનો રાજા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="JHN.1.50" />ઈસુએ નથાનિયેલને કહ્યું, “મેં તને કહ્યું કે મેં તને અંજીરના વૃક્ષ નીચે જોયો. તેથી તે મારામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો. પણ તું તેના કરતાં પણ વધારે મહાન વાતો જોશે.”
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<v id="51" bcv="JHN.1.51" />ઈસુએ વધારામાં કહ્યું, “હું તને સત્ય કહું છું. તમે બધા આકાશને ઊઘડેલું જોશો, તમે દેવના દૂતોને માણસના દીકરા ઊપર ચઢતા ઉતરતા જોશો.”
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<c id="2" />
<s style="s">કાના ગામમાં લગ્ન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.2.1" />બે દિવસ પછી ગાલીલના કાના ગામમાં એક લગ્ન હતુ, ઈસુની મા ત્યાં હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.2.2" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યોને પણ લગ્નમાં નિમંત્રણ આપ્યુ હતું.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.2.3" />લગ્નમાં પૂરતા પ્રમાણમાં દ્રાક્ષારસ ન હતો. બધોજ દ્રાક્ષારસ પૂરો થઈ ગયા પછી ઈસુની માએ તેને કહ્યું, “તેઓ પાસે હવે વધારે દ્રાક્ષારસ નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JHN.2.4" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “વહાલી બાઈ, મારે શું કરવું તે તારે મને કહેવું જોઈએ નહિ. મારો સમય હજુ આવ્યો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JHN.2.5" />ઈસુની માએ સેવકોને કહ્યું, “ઈસુ તમને જે કરવાનું કહે તે કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.2.6" />તે જગ્યાએ છ મોટા પથ્થરનાં પાણીનાં કુંડાં હતાં. તે યહૂદિઓની શુદ્ધ કરવાની રીત પ્રમાણે આના જેવા પાણીનાં કુંડાંનો ઉપયોગ કરતા. પ્રત્યેક પાણીનાં કુંડાંમાં લગભગ 20 થી 30 ગેલન પાણી સમાતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JHN.2.7" />ઈસુએ નોકરોને કહ્યું, “આ પાણીના કુંડાંઓને પાણીથી ભરો.” તેથી નોકરોએ કુંડાંઓને છલોછલ ભર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JHN.2.8" />પછી ઈસુએ નોકરોને કહ્યું, “હવે થોડું પાણી બહાર કાઢો. જમણના કારભારી પાસે લઈ જાઓ.”
</p>
<p style="p">તેથી નોકરો કારભારીની પાસે પાણી લાવ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="JHN.2.9" />પછી લગ્નના જમણના કારભારીએ તે ચાખ્યો. પરંતુ તે પાણી દ્રાક્ષારસ થઈ ગયો હતો. તે માણસને ખબર નહોતી કે દ્રાક્ષારસ ક્યાંથી આવ્યો. પરંતુ જે નોકરો પાણી લાવ્યા તેઓએ જાણ્યું કે તે ક્યાંથી આવ્યો. લગ્નના કારભારીએ વરરાજાને બોલાવ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JHN.2.10" />તેણે વરરાજાને કહ્યું, “લોકો હંમેશા ઉત્તમ દ્રાક્ષારસ પ્રથમ મૂકે છે ત્યાર બાદ મહેમાનોના સારી પેઠે પીધા પછી સસ્તો દ્રાક્ષારસ આપે છે. પણ તમે તો અત્યાર સુધી ઉત્તમ દ્રાક્ષારસ સાચવી રાખ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JHN.2.11" />ઈસુએ કરેલો આ પ્રથમ ચમત્કાર હતો. ઈસુએ આ ચમત્કાર ગાલીલના કાના ગામમાં કર્યો. તેથી ઈસુએ તેનો મહિમા દેખાડયો. અને તેના શિષ્યોએ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.2.12" />પછી ઈસુ કફર-નહૂમના નગરમાં ગયો. ઈસુની મા, ભાઈઓ અને તેના શિષ્યો તેની સાથે ગયા. તેઓ બધા કફર-નહૂમમાં થોડા દિવસ રહ્યા.
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<s style="s">મંદિરમાં ઈસુ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:12-13; માર્ક 11:15-17; લૂક 19:45-46)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JHN.2.13" />તે લગભગ યહૂદિઓના પાસ્ખાપર્વનો સમય હતો, તેથી ઈસુ યરૂશાલેમમાં ગયો.
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<v id="14" bcv="JHN.2.14" />ઈસુ યરૂશાલેમના મંદિરમાં ગયો. ઈસુએ મંદિરમાં ઢોર, ઘેટાં અને કબૂતરો વેચનારાઓને જોયા. તેણે તેઓના મેજ પર નાણાવટીઓને બેઠેલા જોયા.
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<v id="15" bcv="JHN.2.15" />ઈસુએ કેટલાક દોરડાંના ટુકડાઓ વડે કોરડો બનાવ્યો. પછી ઈસુએ આ બધા માણસોને, ઘેટાંઓને, અને ઢોરોને મંદિર છોડી જવા દબાણ કર્યુ. ઈસુએ બાજઠો ઊધાં પાડ્યા અને લોકોનાં વિનિમયનાં નાણાં વેરી નાખ્યાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="JHN.2.16" />પછી ઈસુએ માણસોને જેઓ કબૂતરો વેચતાં હતા તેઓને કહ્યું, “આ વસ્તુઓ અહીંથી બહાર લઈ જાઓ. મારા પિતાના ઘરને ખરીદવા અને વેચવા માંટેનું ઘર ન કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JHN.2.17" />આ બન્યું ત્યારે ઈસુના શિષ્યોએ શાસ્ત્રલેખમાં લખાયેલા લખાણનું સ્મરણ કર્યુ:
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<q style="q1">“તારા ઘરની મારી આસ્થા મારો નાશ કરે છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.69.9">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 69:9</ref></rq>
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JHN.2.18" />યહૂદિઓએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “તને આ બધું કરવાનો અધિકાર છે તે સાબિત કરવા માટે અમને અદભૂત ચમત્કારોની એંધાણી બતાવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JHN.2.19" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “આ મંદિરનો નાશ કરો અને હું ફરીથી ત્રણ દિવસમાં ઊભું કરીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JHN.2.20" />યહૂદિઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “લોકોએ આ મંદિર બાંધવા 46 વર્ષ કામ કર્યુ. શું તું ખરેખર માને છે કે તું ત્રણ દિવસમાં ફરીથી તે બાંધી શકીશ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JHN.2.21" />ઈસુ મંદિરનો અર્થ તેનું પોતાનું શરીર કરતો હતો.
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<v id="22" bcv="JHN.2.22" />ઈસુના મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠ્યા પછી તેના શિષ્યોને સ્મરણ થયું કે ઈસુએ આ કહ્યું હતું. તેથી તેના શિષ્યોએ તેના વિષેના લેખમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો. અને તેઓએ ઈસુ જે બોલ્યો હતો તે વચનમાં પણ વિશ્વાસ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JHN.2.23" />પાસ્ખાપર્વ માટે ઈસુ યરૂશાલેમમાં હતો. ઘણા લોકો ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખતા, કારણ કે તેઓએ તેણે કરેલા ચમત્કારો જોયાં.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.2.24" />પણ ઈસુએ તેમનો વિશ્વાસ કર્યો નહિ. શા માટે? કારણ કે તેઓ બધા લોકો જે વિચારતા હતા તે ઈસુ જાણતો હતો.
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<v id="25" bcv="JHN.2.25" />ઈસુને માણસ વિષે લોકો કહે તેવી કોઈ જરૂર ન હતી. માણસના મનમાં શું છે તે ઈસુ જાણ્યુ.
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<s style="s">ઈસુ અને નિકોદેમસ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.3.1" />ત્યાં નિકોદેમસ નામનો માણસ હતો નિકોદેમસ ફરોશીઓમાંનો એક હતો. તે એક અગત્યનો યહૂદિ અધિકારી હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.3.2" />એક રાત્રે નિકોદેમસ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યો. નિકોદેમસે કહ્યું, “રાબ્બી, અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે તું દેવનો મોકલેલો ઉપદેશક છે. તું જે ચમત્કારો કરે છે તે દેવની મદદ વગર બીજું કોઈ કરી શકે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JHN.3.3" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તને સત્ય કહું છું. માણસે નવો જન્મ પામવો જોઈએ. જો તે વ્યક્તિ નવો જન્મ પામ્યો ન હોય તો પછી તે વ્યક્તિ દેવના રાજ્યમાં જઈ શકતો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JHN.3.4" />નિકોદેમસે કહ્યું, “પણ જો માણસ ખરેખર વૃદ્ધ હોય તો તે કેવી રીતે ફરીથી જન્મી શકે? વ્યક્તિ માના ઉદરમાં ફરીથી કેવી રીતે પ્રેવશી શકે! તેથી માણસ બીજી વખત જન્મ ધારણ કરી શકે નહિ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JHN.3.5" />પણ ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તને સત્ય કહું છું. તે વ્યક્તિ પાણીથી અને આત્માથી જન્મેલો હોવો જોઈએ. જો વ્યક્તિ પાણી અને આત્માથી જન્મ્યો ન હોય તો પછી તે દેવના રાજ્યમાં પ્રવેશી શકતો નથી.
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<v id="6" bcv="JHN.3.6" />વ્યક્તિનો દેહ તેના માતાપિતાના દેહમાંથી જન્મે છે પરંતુ વ્યક્તિનું આત્મિક જીવન આત્મામાંથી જન્મે છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="JHN.3.7" />મેં તને કહ્યું કે, તારે નવો જન્મ ધારણ કરવો જોઈએ તેથી આશ્ચર્ય પામતો ના.
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<v id="8" bcv="JHN.3.8" />પવન જ્યાં જવા ઈચ્છે ત્યાં વાય છે. તું ફૂંકાતા પવનને સાંભળે છે, પણ તું જાણતો નથી કે પવન ક્યાંથી આવે છે અને પવન ક્યાં જાય છે. આત્મામાંથી જન્મેલું છે, તે પ્રત્યેક સાથે પણ તેવું જ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JHN.3.9" />નિકોદેમસે પૂછયું, “આ બધું કેવી રીતે શક્ય બને છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JHN.3.10" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તું ઈસ્રાએલનો એક અગત્યનો ઉપદેશક છે. પણ હજુ આ વાતો તું કેમ સમજી શકતો નથી?
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<v id="11" bcv="JHN.3.11" />હું તને સત્ય કહું છું. અમે જે જાણીએ છીએ તે કહીએ છીએ. અમે જે જોયું છે તે અમે કહીએ છીએ. પણ તમે લોકો અમે તમને જે કહીએ છીએ તે સ્વીકારતા નથી.
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<v id="12" bcv="JHN.3.12" />મેં તને પૃથ્વી પરની અહીંની વાતો વિષે કહ્યું છે. પણ તું મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરતો નથી. તેથી ખરેખર જો હું તને આકાશની વાતો વિષે કહીશ તો પણ તું મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરીશ નહિ!
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.3.13" />ફક્ત એક જે ઊચે આકાશમાં ગયો તથા તે જે આકાશમાંથી નીચે આવ્યો તે જ માણસનો દીકરો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JHN.3.14" />“મુસાએ રેતીના રણમાં સર્પને ઊચો કર્યો. માણસના દીકરા સાથે પણ એમ જ છે. માણસના દીકરાને પણ ઊચો કરવાની જરૂર છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="JHN.3.15" />પછી પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે માણસના દીકરામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તે અનંતજીવન પામવા માટે શક્તિમાન થશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.3.16" />હા, દેવે જગત પર એટલી બધી પ્રીતિ કરી કે તેણે તેનો એકનો એક દીકરો આપ્યો. દેવે તેનો દીકરો આપ્યો તેથી તેનામાં દરેક વ્યક્તિ જે વિશ્વાસ કરે તેનો નાશ ન થાય, પણ તે અનંતજીવન પામે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JHN.3.17" />દેવે તેના દીકરાને દુનિયામાં મોકલ્યો. દેવે તેના દીકરાને જગતનો ન્યાય કરવા મોકલ્યો નથી. દેવે તેના દીકરાને એટલા માટે મોકલ્યો કે તેના દીકરા દ્વારા જગતને બચાવી શકાય.
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<v id="18" bcv="JHN.3.18" />જે વ્યક્તિ દેવના દીકરામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે, તેનો ન્યાય (અપરાધી) થતો નથી; પણ જે વ્યક્તિ વિશ્વાસ કરતો નથી તેનો ન્યાય થઈ ગયેલ છે, શા માટે? કારણ કે તે વ્યક્તિને દેવના એકના એક દીકરામાં વિશ્વાસ નથી.
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<v id="19" bcv="JHN.3.19" />આ સત્ય હકીકતના આધારે લોકોને ન્યાય થાય છે. જગતમાં અજવાળું આવ્યું છે, પણ લોકોને અજવાળું જોઈતું નથી. તેઓ અંધકાર (પાપ) ઈચ્છે છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે તેઓનાં કૃત્યો ભુંડાં હતાં.
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<v id="20" bcv="JHN.3.20" />દરેક વ્યક્તિ જે ભુંડું કરે છે તે અજવાળાને ધિક્કારે છે. તે વ્યક્તિ અજવાળામાં આવશે નહિ. શા માટે? કારણ કે પછી તે અજવાળું તેણે કરેલાં બધાં જ ભુંડા કામો બતાવશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="JHN.3.21" />પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ સત્યના માર્ગને અનુસરે છે તે અજવાળામાં આવે છે. પછી તે અજવાળું બતાવશે કે તે વ્યક્તિએ જે કર્યુ હતું તે દેવ દ્વારા કર્યુ હતું.
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<s style="s">ઈસુ અને યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્મ
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JHN.3.22" />આ પછી, ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો યહૂદાના પ્રદેશમાં આવ્યા. ત્યાં ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો રહ્યા અને લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપતા હતા.
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<v id="23" bcv="JHN.3.23" />યોહાન પણ એનોનમાં લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા કરતો હતો. એનોન શાલીમની નજીક હતું. યોહાન ત્યાં બાપ્તિસ્મા કરતો હતો કારણ કે ત્યાં ખૂબ પાણી હતું. લોકો ત્યાં બાપ્તિસ્મા પામવા જતા હતા.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.3.24" />(યોહાનના બંદીખાનામાં કેદ થયા પહેલા આ બન્યું હતું.)
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.3.25" />યોહાનના શિષ્યોમાંથી કેટલાએકનો બીજા એક યહૂદિ સાથે વાદવિવાદ થયો. તેઓ ધાર્મિક શુદ્ધિકરણ માટે દલીલો કરતા હતા.
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<v id="26" bcv="JHN.3.26" />તેથી તે શિષ્યો યોહાન પાસે આવ્યા. તેઓએ કહ્યુ, “રાબ્બી, જે માણસ યર્દન નદીની બીજી બાજુએ તારી સાથે હતો તેનું સ્મરણ કર. તેં લોકોને જે માણસ વિષે કહ્યું તે એ છે. તે માણસ લોકોનું બાપ્તિસ્મા કરે છે અને ઘણા લોકો તેની પાસે જાય છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JHN.3.27" />યોહાને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “માણસ માત્ર એટલું જ મેળવી શકે છે જેટલું દેવ તેને આપે છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="JHN.3.28" />તમે તમારી જાતે મને કહેતા સાંભળ્યો છે, ‘હું ખ્રિસ્ત નથી. હું તો ફક્ત તે એક છું જેને તેનો માર્ગ તૈયાર કરવા માટે દેવે મોકલ્યો છે.’
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<v id="29" bcv="JHN.3.29" />કન્યા ફક્ત વરરાજા માટે જ હોય છે. તે મિત્ર જે વરરાજાને મદદ કરે છે, રાહ જુએ છે અને વરરાજાના આગમન માટે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે. આ મિત્ર વરરાજાની વાણી સાંભળે છે, ત્યારે ઘણો પ્રસન્ન થાય છે. એવી જ પ્રસન્નતા મારી પાસે છે અને મારી પ્રસન્નતાનો સમય હવે અહીં છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="JHN.3.30" />તે વધતો જાય પણ હું ઘટતો જાઉં એ અવશ્યનું છે.
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<s style="s">તે એક જે આકાશમાંથી આવે છે
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JHN.3.31" />“તે એક જે ઉપરથી આવે છે તે બીજા બધા લોકો કરતા વધારે મહાન છે. જે વ્યક્તિ પૃથ્વીનો છે તે પૃથ્વીનો જ છે. તે વ્યક્તિ પૃથ્વી પર જે છે તેના વિષે વાત કરે છે. પણ તે એક (ઈસુ) જે આકાશમાંથી આવે છે તે બીજા બધા લોકો કરતા વધારે મહાન છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="JHN.3.32" />તે તેણે જે જોયું છે અને સાંભળ્યું છે તે જ કહે છે. પરંતુ લોકો તે જે કહે છે તે સ્વીકારતા નથી.
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<v id="33" bcv="JHN.3.33" />જે વ્યક્તિ તેની (ઈસુની) સાક્ષીનો સ્વીકાર કરે છે તેણે સાબિતી આપી છે કે દેવ સત્ય છે.
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<v id="34" bcv="JHN.3.34" />દેવે તેને (ઈસુ) મોકલ્યો છે. અને તે દેવ જે કહે છે તે જ કહે છે. દેવે તેને અમાપ આત્મા આપ્યો છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="JHN.3.35" />પિતા દીકરા પર પ્રીતિ કરે છે. પિતાઓ દીકરાને બધી વસ્તુઓ પર અધિકાર આપેલ છે.
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<v id="36" bcv="JHN.3.36" />જે વ્યક્તિને દીકરામાં વિશ્વાસ છે તેને અનંતજીવન છે. પણ જે વ્યક્તિ દીકરાની આજ્ઞા પાળતો નથી તેને કદાપિ તે જીવન મળશે નહિ. દેવનો કોપ તે વ્યક્તિ પર રહે છે.”
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<s style="s">સમરૂનમાં એક સ્ત્રી સાથે ઈસુની વાત
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.4.1" />ફરોશીઓએ સાંભળ્યું કે ઈસુ યોહાન કરતાં વધારે લોકોને તેના શિષ્યો બનાવીને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપે છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.4.2" />(પણ ખરેખર ઈસુ પોતે લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપતો નહોતો. તેના શિષ્યો લોકોને તેના માટે બાપ્તિસ્મા આપતા હતા.) ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે ફરોશીઓએ તેના વિષે સાંભળ્યું છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.4.3" />તેથી ઈસુ યહૂદિયા છોડીને ફરી પાછો ગાલીલમાં ગયો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JHN.4.4" />ગાલીલના રસ્તામાં ઈસુને સમરૂનના વિસ્તારમાં થઈન જવું પડ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JHN.4.5" />ઈસુ સમરૂનમાં સૂખાર નામના શહેરમાં આવ્યો. આ શહેર એક ખેતર નજીક હતું, જે યાકૂબે તેના દીકરા યૂસફને આપ્યું હતું.
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<v id="6" bcv="JHN.4.6" />ત્યાં યાકૂબનો કૂવો હતો. ઈસુ તેની લાંબી યાત્રાથી થાક્યો હતો. તેથી ઈસુ કૂવાની બાજુમાં બેઠો. તે વેળા લગભગ બપોર હતી.
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<v id="7" bcv="JHN.4.7" />એક સમરૂની સ્ત્રી પાણી મેળવવા માટે તે કૂવાની નજીક આવી. ઈસુએ તેણીને કહ્યું, “કૃપા કરીને મને પીવા માટે થોડું પાણી આપ.”
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<v id="8" bcv="JHN.4.8" />(ઈસુના શિષ્યો ખાવાનું ખરીદવા માટે ગામમાં ગયા હતા ત્યારે આ બન્યું.)
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JHN.4.9" />તે સમરૂની સ્ત્રીએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મને નવાઈ લાગે છે કે તું મારી પાસે પીવાનું પાણી માગે છે! તું એક યહૂદિ છે અને હું એક સમરૂની સ્ત્રી છું!” (યહૂદિઓ સમરૂનીઓ જોડે સંબંધ રાખતા નથી.)
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JHN.4.10" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “દેવ જે દાન આપે છે તે વિષે તું જાણતી નથી અને તારી પાસે પાણી માંગનાર હું કોણ છું તે પણ તું જાણતી નથી. જો તું આ દાન જાણતી હોત તો તું માગત અને મેં તને જીવતું પાણી આપ્યું હોત.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JHN.4.11" />તે સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, તું તે જીવતું પાણી ક્યાંથી મેળવીશ? તે કૂવો ઘણો ઊંડો છે. અને તારી પાસે પાણી કાઢવાનું કંઈ નથી.
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<v id="12" bcv="JHN.4.12" />તું અમારા પિતા (પૂર્વજ) યાકૂબ કરતાં મોટો છે? યાકૂબે અમને આ કૂવો આપ્યો. તેણે પોતે તેમાંથી પાણી પીધું. તેના દીકરાઓ અને તેનાં બધાં પશુઓએ આ કૂવામાંથી પાણી પીઘું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JHN.4.13" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે આ પાણી પીએ છે તે ફરીથી તરસ્યો થશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="JHN.4.14" />પણ જે વ્યક્તિ, હું આપું તે પાણી પીએ છે તે ફરીથી કદાપિ તરસ્યો થતો નથી. પણ જે પાણી હું તેને આપીશ, તે પાણી તે વ્યક્તિમાં વહેતા પાણીનો ઝરો થશે. તે પાણી તે વ્યક્તિમાં અનંતજીવન સુધી ઝર્યા કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JHN.4.15" />તે સ્ત્રીએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, મને એ પાણી આપ. પછી હું કદાપિ ફરીથી તરસી થઈશ નહિ. અને મારે વધારે પાણી મેળવવા પાછા અહીં આવવું પડે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.4.16" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “જા તારા પતિને બોલાવી લાવ અને પછી પાછી અહીં આવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JHN.4.17" />સ્ત્રીએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “પણ મારે પતિ નથી.”
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<p style="p">ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “તેં બરાબર કહ્યું છે કે તારે પતિ નથી.
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<v id="18" bcv="JHN.4.18" />ખરેખર તારે પાંચ પતિઓ હતા. પણ તું હમણાં જે માણસ સાથે રહે છે તે તારો પતિ નથી. તેં મને સાચું કહ્યું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JHN.4.19" />તે સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, હું જોઈ શકું છું કે તું એક પ્રબોધક છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="JHN.4.20" />અમારા પિતૃઓ આ પહાડ પર ભજન કરતા હતા. પણ તમે યહૂદિઓ કહો છો કે યરૂશાલેમ એ તે જ જગ્યા છે જ્યાં લોકોએ ભજન કરવું જોઈએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JHN.4.21" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “બાઈ, મારું માન! હવે એવો સમય આવે છે જ્યારે તમે આ પહાડ પર અથવા યરૂશાલેમમાં પિતા (દેવ) નું ભજન નહિ કરશો.
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<v id="22" bcv="JHN.4.22" />તમે સમરૂનીઓ, તમે જે જાણતા નથી તેને ભજો છો. અમે યહૂદિઓ જેને જાણીએ છીએ તેને ભજીએ છીએ, યહૂદિઓમાંથી ઉદ્ધાર આવે છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="JHN.4.23" />હવે તે સમય આવે છે જ્યારે સાચા ભજનારાઓ આત્માથી તથા સત્યતાથી પિતાને ભજશે. હવે તે સમય અહીં છે. અને આ પ્રકારના લોકો તેના ભજનારા થાય તેમ પિતા ઈચ્છે છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.4.24" />દેવ આત્મા છે. તેથી જે લોકો દેવને ભજે છે તેઓએ આત્માથી તથા સત્યતાથી તેનું ભજન કરવું જોઈએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.4.25" />તે સ્ત્રીએ કહ્યું, “હું જાણું છું કે મસીહ આવે છે.” (મસીહ જે ખ્રિસ્ત કહેવાય છે તે) “જ્યારે મસીહ આવશે ત્યારે તે આપણને બધું સમજાવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JHN.4.26" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જે વ્યક્તિ હમણાં તારી સાથે વાત કરે છે. હું તે મસીહ છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JHN.4.27" />તે સમયે ઈસુના શિષ્યો ગામમાંથી પાછા આવ્યા. તેઓ અજાયબી પામ્યા હતા કારણ કે તેઓએ ઈસુને તે સ્ત્રી સાથે વાત કરતો જોયો. પણ તેઓમાંના કોઈએ પૂછયું નહિ, “તારે શું જોઈએ છે?” અથવા “તું શા માટે તેની સાથે વાત કરે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JHN.4.28" />પછી તે સ્ત્રી તેની પાણીની ગાગર ત્યાં મૂકીને ગામમાં પાછી ફરી. તેણે ગામમાં જઈને લોકોને કહ્યું,
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<v id="29" bcv="JHN.4.29" />“એક માણસે મેં જે કંઈ કર્યુ હતું તે બધું મને કહ્યું, આવો, તેને જુઓ, તે જ ખ્રિસ્ત હોવો જોઈએ.”
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<v id="30" bcv="JHN.4.30" />તેથી તે લોકોએ તે ગામ છોડ્યું અને ઈસુને જોવા ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JHN.4.31" />જ્યારે તે સ્ત્રી ગામમાં હતી. ઈસુના શિષ્યો તેને વિનંતી કરતા હતા, “રાબ્બી જમ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JHN.4.32" />પણ ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મારી પાસે ખાવા ખોરાક છે પણ તમે તેના વિષે જાણતા નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JHN.4.33" />તેથી શિષ્યોએ પોતાની જાતને પૂછયું, “શું કોઈ ઈસુ માટે કંઈ ખાવાનું લાવ્યા હશે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JHN.4.34" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે, તેની ઈચ્છા પૂરી કરવી, અને તેનું કામ પૂર્ણ કરવું, એ મારું અન્ન છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="JHN.4.35" />જ્યારે વાવો છો ત્યારે તમે વારંવાર હંમેશા કહો છો, ‘અનાજના દાણા ભેગા કરતાં પહેલા ચાર મહિના રાહ જોવાની છે.’ પણ હું તમને કહું છું, તમારી આંખો ખોલો, લોકો તરફ જુઓ, તેઓ હવે પાક માટે તૈયાર ખેતરો જેવાં છે.
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<v id="36" bcv="JHN.4.36" />છતાં પણ, હમણા તે વ્યક્તિ પાકની કાપણી કરે છે તેને ચુકવણી પણ કરવામાં આવેલ છે. તે અનંતજીવન માટે પાકને ભેગો કરે છે. તેથી જે વ્યક્તિ વાવે છે તે કાપણી કરનાર વ્યક્તિ સાથે સુખી થઈ શકે છે.
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<v id="37" bcv="JHN.4.37" />તે સાચું છે જે આપણે કહીએ છીએ, ‘એક વ્યક્તિ વાવે છે, પણ બીજી એક વ્યક્તિ પાકની કાપણી કરે છે.’
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<v id="38" bcv="JHN.4.38" />મેં તમને પાકની કાપણી કરવા મોકલ્યા છે. જેને માટે તમે કામ કર્યુ નથી. બીજા લોકોએ કામ કર્યુ અને તમે તેઓનાં કામમાંથી ફળ મેળવો છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JHN.4.39" />તે ગામના ઘણા સમરૂની લોકોએ ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો. તે સ્ત્રીએ ઈસુ વિષે તેઓને જે કહ્યું તેને કારણે તેઓએ વિશ્વાસ કર્યો. તેણીએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “તેણે (ઈસુએ) જે બધું મેં કર્યું, તે મને કહ્યું,”
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<v id="40" bcv="JHN.4.40" />તે સમરૂનીઓ ઈસુ પાસે ગયા. તેઓએ ઈસુને તેઓની સાથે રહેવા વિનંતી કરી. તેથી ઈસુ ત્યાં બે દિવસ રહ્યો.
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<v id="41" bcv="JHN.4.41" />ઈસુએ જે વાતો કહીં, તેને કારણે ઘણા વધારે લોકોએ વિશ્વાસ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="JHN.4.42" />તે લોકોએ તે સ્ત્રીને કહ્યું, “તેં અમને જે કહ્યું તેને કારણે પ્રથમ અમે ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો. પણ હવે અમે વિશ્વાસ કર્યો કારણ કે અમે અમારી જાતે તેને સાંભળ્યો. હવે અમે જાણ્યું કે તે નિશ્ચય એ જ છે જે જગતનો ઉદ્ધારક છે.”
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<s style="s">ઈસુનું અમીરના દીકરાને સાજા કરવું
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 8:5-13; લૂક 7:1-10)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="JHN.4.43" />બે દિવસો પછી ઈસુ તે સ્થળ છોડીને ગાલીલમાં ગયો.
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<v id="44" bcv="JHN.4.44" />(ઈસુએ અગાઉ કહ્યું હતું કે પ્રબોધકનું તેના પોતાના ગામમાં માન નથી હોતું.)
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<v id="45" bcv="JHN.4.45" />જ્યારે ઈસુ ગાલીલમાં આવી પહોંચ્યો. ત્યાંના લોકોએ તેનું સ્વાગત કર્યુ. આ લોકોએ યરૂશાલેમમાં પાસ્ખા પર્વ વખતે ઈસુએ જે બધું કર્યુ તે જોયું હતું. આ લોકો પણ તે પર્વમાં ગયા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="JHN.4.46" />ઈસુ ફરીથી ગાલીલમાં કાના ગામની મુલાકાતે ગયો. કાના એ છે જ્યાં ઈસુએ પાણીમાંથી દ્રાક્ષારસ બનાવ્યો હતો. રાજાના અધિકારીઓમાંનો એક મહત્વનો અધિકારી કફરનહૂમ શહેરમાં રહેતો હતો. આ માણસનો દીકરો માંદો હતો.
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<v id="47" bcv="JHN.4.47" />તે માણસે સાંભળ્યું કે ઈસુ યહૂદિયાથી હવે ગાલીલ આવ્યો હતો. તેથી તે માણસ કાનામાં ઈસુ પાસે ગયો. તેણે ઈસુને કફર-નહૂમ આવીને તેના દીકરાને સાજો કરવા વિનંતી કરી. તેનો દીકરો મરવાની અણી પર હતો.
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<v id="48" bcv="JHN.4.48" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો ચમત્કારો અને અદભૂત કાર્યો જોયા વગર વિશ્વાસ કરવાના નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="JHN.4.49" />રાજાના અધિકારીએ કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, મારો નાનો દીકરો મરી જાય, તે પહેલા મારે ઘેર આવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="JHN.4.50" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જા તારો દીકરો જીવશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">તે માણસે ઈસુએ જે તેને કહ્યું તેમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો અને ઘરે ગયો.
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<v id="51" bcv="JHN.4.51" />ઘરે જતાં રસ્તામાં તે માણસના સેવકો આવ્યા અને તેને મળ્યા. તેઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “તારો દીકરો સાજો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="JHN.4.52" />તે માણસે પૂછયું, “કયા સમયે મારો દીકરો સાજો થયો?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે નોકરોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જ્યારે તેનો તાવ જતો રહ્યો ત્યારે ગઈકાલે લગભગ બપોરે એક વાગ્યો હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="JHN.4.53" />પિતાએ જાણ્યું કે ઈસુએ કહ્યું હતું કે, “તારો દીકરો જીવશે.” તે સમય પણ બપોરને એક વાગ્યાનો હતો. તેથી તે માણસે અને તેના ઘરના બધા લોકોએ ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="JHN.4.54" />યહૂદિયાથી ગાલીલ આવ્યા પછી ઈસુએ કરેલો તે બીજો ચમત્કા હતો.
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<s style="s">ઈસુનું પૂલ પાસે માણસને સાજા કરવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.5.1" />પાછળથી યહૂદિઓના પર્વોમાંના એક પર્વ માટે ઈસુ યરૂશાલેમ કયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.5.2" />યરૂશાલેમમાં ત્યાં પાંચ પરસાળથી ઢંકાયેલો કુંડ છે. યહૂદિ ભાષામાં તેને બેથઝાથા કહે છે. આ કુંડ ઘેટાંઓના દરવાજા પાસે છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.5.3" />ઘણા માંદા લોકો કુંડ નજીક પરસાળોમાં પડેલા હતા. કેટલાક લોકો આંધળા હતા, કેટલાક લંગડા હતા, કેટલાક લકવાગ્રસ્ત હતા.<f caller="+"><fr>5:3
</fr><ft>કેટલીક ગ્રીક નકલોમાં ઉમેર્યુ છે કે “અને તેઓ પાણી હાલવાની વાટ જોતા હતા.”</ft></f>
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<v id="4" bcv="JHN.5.4" /><f caller="+"><fr>5:4
</fr><ft>કેટલીક પૂરાણી ગ્રીક નકલોમાં કલમ 4 ઉમેરેલ છે: “કેમ કે કોઈ કોઈ વેળા પ્રભુનો દૂત તે કૂંડમાં ઊતરતો અને પાણીને હલાવતો હતો. દૂતે આ કર્યા પછી, જે કોઈ પહેલો તેમાં ઊતરતો, તેને જે કંઈ રોગ લાગેલો હોય તેથી તે નીરોગી થતો.”</ft></f>
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<v id="5" bcv="JHN.5.5" />એક માણસ ત્યાં પડેલો હતો જે 38 વરસથી માંદો હતો.
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<v id="6" bcv="JHN.5.6" />ઈસુએ ત્યાં તે માણસને પડેલો જોયો. ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે તે માણસ ઘણા લાંબા સમયથી માંદો હતો. તેથી ઈસુએ તે માણસને પૂછયું, “શું તું સાજો થવા ઈચ્છે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JHN.5.7" />તે માંદા માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “પ્રભુ, જ્યારે તે પાણી હાલે ત્યારે તે પાણીમાં ઊતરવા માટે મને મદદ કરનાર મારી પાસે કોઈ નથી. પાણીમાં સૌથી પહેલાં ઊતરવા માટે પ્રયત્ન કરું છું. પરંતુ જ્યારે હું પ્રયત્ન કરું છું, ત્યારે બીજો માણસ હંમેશા મારી અગાઉ ઊતરી પડે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JHN.5.8" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “ઊભો થા! તારી પથારી ઉપાડ અને ચાલ.”
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<v id="9" bcv="JHN.5.9" />પછી તરત જ તે માણસ સાજો થઈ ગયો. તે માણસે તેની પથારી ઉપાડીને ચાલવાનું શરું કર્યુ.
</p>
<p style="p">જે દિવસે આ બધું બન્યું તે વિશ્રામવારનો દિવસ હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JHN.5.10" />તેથી તે યહૂદિઓએ તે માણસને જે સાજો થઈ ગયો હતો તેને કહ્યું, “આજે વિશ્રામવાર છે, વિશ્રામવારને દિવસે તારા માટે પથારી ઊચકવી તે નિયમની વિરૂદ્ધ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JHN.5.11" />પણ તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તે માણસ (ઈસુ) જેણે મને સાજો કર્યો, તેણે મને કહ્યું, ‘તારી પથારી ઊચકીને ચાલ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.5.12" />યહૂદિઓએ તે માણસને પૂછયું, “તારી પથારી ઊચકીને ચાલ એમ જેણે તને કહ્યું તે માણસ કોણ છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JHN.5.13" />પરંતુ તે માણસ કોણ છે, એ પેલો સાજો થયેલો માણસ જાણતો નહોતો; ત્યાં તે જગ્યાએ ઘણા લોકો હતા અને ઈસુ ત્યાંથી ખસી ગયો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JHN.5.14" />પાછળથી ઈસુ મંદિરમાં તે માણસને મળ્યો. ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “જો, તું હવે સાજો થયો છે હવેથી પાપ ન કર. કદાચ તારું કંઈક વધારે ખરાબ થાય!”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JHN.5.15" />પછી તે માણસ ત્યાંથી ખસી જઈને પેલા યહૂદિઓ પાસે પાછો ગયો. તે માણસે તેઓને કહ્યું કે, “તે ઈસુ હતો જેણે તેને સાજો કર્યો હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.5.16" />ઈસુ આ કાર્યો વિશ્રામવારે કરતો હતો. માટે યહૂદિઓએ ઈસુનું ખરાબ કરવાનું શરું કર્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="JHN.5.17" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું, “મારા પિતાએ કદી કામ કરવાનું બંધ કર્યુ નથી અને તેથી હું પણ કામ કરું છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JHN.5.18" />તેથી યહૂદિઓએ તેને મારી નાખવાનો વધારે પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. તે યહૂદિઓએ કહ્યું, “પહેલા ઈસુ વિશ્રામવારના કાયદાનો ભંગ કરતો હતો પછી તે એવો દાવો કરે છે કે દેવ તેનો પિતા છે, આ રીતે તે પોતાની જાતને દેવ સાથે સમાન બનાવે છે!”
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<s style="s">ઈસુ પાસે દેવની સત્તા છે
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JHN.5.19" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. દીકરો તેની જાતે કંઈ કરી શકે નહિ. દીકરો બાપને જે કંઈ કરતા જુએ છે, તે જ માત્ર કરે છે. પિતા જે કરે છે તે જ કામ દીકરો કરે છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="JHN.5.20" />પિતા દીકરા પર પ્રેમ કરે છે, અને પિતા પોતે જે કઈ કરે છે તે બધું જ દીકરાને દેખાડે છે; આ માણસ સાજો થયો હતો, પરંતુ પિતા દીકરાને આના કરતાં વધારે મોટાં કામ કરવાનાં દેખાડશે. પછી તમે બધા નવાઈ પામશો.
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<v id="21" bcv="JHN.5.21" />પિતા મૂએલાઓને ઊઠાડે છે અને તેઓને સજીવન કરે છે. તે જ રીતે દીકરો પણ તેની ઈચ્છા હોય તો મૂએલાઓને સજીવન કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JHN.5.22" />“કેમ કે પિતા કોઈનો ન્યાય ચૂકવતો નથી. પરંતુ પિતાએ ન્યાય કરવાની સર્વ સત્તા દીકરાને આપી છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="JHN.5.23" />દેવે આમ કર્યુ છે કારણ કે બધા લોકો જેમ પિતાને માન આપતા તેમ દીકરાને પણ માન આપે. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ દીકરાને માન આપતો નથી તો પછી તે વ્યક્તિ પિતાને પણ માન આપતો નથી. જેણે દીકરાને મોકલ્યો છે તે પિતા એક જ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JHN.5.24" />“હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ હું જે કહું છું તે સાંભળે છે અને જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે, તેમાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેને અનંતજીવન મળે છે. તે વ્યક્તિ અપરાધી નહિ ઠરે. તેણે મૃત્યુંમાંથી નીકળીને જીવનમાં પ્રવેશ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="JHN.5.25" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, હવે મહત્વનો સમય આવે છે, તે સમય અહીં આવી ચુક્યો છે. જે લોકો પાપમાં મૃત્યું પામ્યા છે, તેઓ દેવના દીકરાની વાણી સાંભળશે, અને તે લોકો એ જે કહે છે તેનો સ્વીકાર કરશે તેઓને અનંતજીવન પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="JHN.5.26" />કારણ કે પિતા (દેવ) ના પોતાનામાંથી જીવન આવે છે. તેથી પિતાએ દીકરા (ઈસુ) ને પણ જીવન આપવાનો અધિકાર આપ્યો છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="JHN.5.27" />અને પિતાએ દીકરાને બધા લોકોનો ન્યાય ચુકવવાનો અધિકાર પણ આપ્યો છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે તે દીકરો માણસનો દીકરો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JHN.5.28" />“આથી તમે આશ્ચર્ય પામશો નહિ. એ સમય આવે છે જ્યારે જે લોકો મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે અને તેઓની કબરોમાં છે તેઓ તેની વાણી સાંભળશે.
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<v id="29" bcv="JHN.5.29" />જે લોકોએ જીવનમાં સારા કામો કર્યા છે તેઓ સજીવન થશે અને અનંતજીવન મેળવશે. પરંતુ જે લોકોએ ભૂંડા કામ કર્યા છે તેઓને ન્યાયની સામે ઊભા કરવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JHN.5.30" />“હું એકલો કંઈ કરી શક્તો નથી. જે પ્રમાણે મને કહેવામાં આવ્યું છે તે જ રીતે હું ફક્ત ન્યાય કરું છું. તેથી મારો ન્યાય અદલ છે. શા માટે? કેમ કે હું મારી જાતને ખુશ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરતો નથી. પરંતુ જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે, તેને (દેવને) હું ખુશ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરું છું.
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<s style="s">ઈસુ યહૂદિઓ સાથે વાતો કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખે છે
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JHN.5.31" />“જો હું મારા વિષે લોકોને કહું, તો પછી લોકો મારા વિષે હું જે કઈ કહું છું તે સ્વીકારશે નહિ.
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<v id="32" bcv="JHN.5.32" />પરંતુ ત્યાં બીજી એક વ્યક્તિ છે જે લોકોને મારા વિષે કહે છે અને હું જાણું છું કે તે મારા વિષે જે કઈ કહે છે તે સાચું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JHN.5.33" />“તમે યોહાન પાસે માણસો મોકલ્યા છે અને તેણે તમને સત્ય વિષે કહ્યું છે.
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<v id="34" bcv="JHN.5.34" />મારા વિષે લોકોને કહેવા માટે મારે માણસની જરૂર નથી. પણ હું તમને આ બાબતો કહું છું તેથી તમારો ઉદ્ધાર થઈ શકે છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="JHN.5.35" />યોહાન એક દીવા જેવો હતો જે સળગતો અને પ્રકાશ આપતો અને તમે ઘડીભર તેના અજવાળામાં આનંદ પામતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="JHN.5.36" />“પણ મારી પાસે મોટી સાબિતી છે જે યોહાનના કરતાં મોટી છે. જે કામો હું કરું છું તે મારી સાબિતી છે. આ તે કામો છે જે મારા પિતાએ મને કરવા માટે આપ્યાં હતાં. આ કામો બતાવે છે કે મને પિતાએ મોકલ્યો હતો.
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<v id="37" bcv="JHN.5.37" />અને જે પિતાએ મને મોકલ્યો તેણે તેની જાતે મારા વિષે સાબિતી આપેલ છે. પરંતુ તમે કદી તેની વાણી સાંભળી નથી. તે કોના જેવો દેખાય છે તે તમે કદી જોયું નથી.
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<v id="38" bcv="JHN.5.38" />પિતાની વાત તમારામાં રહેલી નથી. શા માટે? કારણ કે પિતાએ જેને મોકલ્યો છે તેમાં તમને વિશ્વાસ નથી.
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<v id="39" bcv="JHN.5.39" />શાસ્ત્રોને તમે કાળજીપૂર્વક તપાસી જુઓ. તમે ઘારો છો કે તે શાસ્ત્રો તમને અનંતજીવન આપે છે. પેલા એ જ શાસ્ત્રો મારા વિષે પણ કહે છે!
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<v id="40" bcv="JHN.5.40" />પરંતુ તમે તે જીવન પામવા માટે મારી પાસે આવવાનું ઈચ્છતા નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="JHN.5.41" />“મારે માણસો પાસેથી પ્રસંશા જોઈતી નથી.
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<v id="42" bcv="JHN.5.42" />પણ હું તમને જાણું છું-હું જાણું છું કે દેવ પરની પ્રીતિ તમારામાં નથી.
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<v id="43" bcv="JHN.5.43" />હું મારા પિતા પાસેથી આવ્યો છું. હું તેના માટે બોલું છું. પણ જો બીજી કોઈ એક વ્યક્તિ ફક્ત પોતાના માટે જ બોલતો આવે છે ત્યારે તમે તેને સ્વીકારશો.
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<v id="44" bcv="JHN.5.44" />એકબીજાની પ્રસંશા થાય તે ગમે છે. પણ દેવ પાસેથી પ્રસંશા મેળવવા તમે કદી પ્રયત્ન કરતા નથી. તેથી તમે કેવી રીતે વિશ્વાસ કરશો?
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<v id="45" bcv="JHN.5.45" />એમ ના માનશો કે હું પિતા આગળ ઊભો રહીને કહીશ કે તમે ખોટા છો. મૂસા એ વ્યક્તિ છે જે કહે છે કે તમે ખોટા છો. અને મૂસા એ તે જ છે જે તમને બચાવશે એવી તમે આશા રાખી હતી.
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<v id="46" bcv="JHN.5.46" />જો તમે ખરેખર મૂસામાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો હતો તો, તમે મારા પર વિશ્વાસ કર્યો હોત. શા માટે? કારણકે મૂસાએ મારા વિષે લખ્યું છે.
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<v id="47" bcv="JHN.5.47" />પરંતુ તમે મૂસાએ જે લખ્યું છે તેનો વિશ્વાસ કરતા નથી. તેથી હું જે વાતો કહું છું તેના પર તમે વિશ્વાસ કરી શકશો નહિ.”
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<c id="6" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ 5,000થી વધારે લોકોને જમાડે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 14:13-21; માર્ક 6:30-44; લૂક 9:10-17)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.6.1" />એ પછી ઈસુ ગાલીલના સમુદ્રને પાર ગયો (તિબેરિયાસ સરોવર).
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.6.2" />ઘણા લોકો ઈસુને અનુસર્યા. તેઓ તેની પાછળ ગયા કારણ કે ઈસુએ જે રીતે ચમત્કારો કરીને માંદાઓને સાજા કર્યા તે તેઓએ જોયું.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.6.3" />ઈસુ ટેકરીની તરફ ગયો. ત્યાં તે પોતાના શિષ્યો સાથે બેઠો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JHN.6.4" />હવે લગભગ યહૂદિઓના પાસ્ખાપર્વનો સમય નજીક હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JHN.6.5" />ઈસુએ ઊંચે જોયું તો ઘણા લોકો તેના તરફ આવતા હતા. ઈસુએ ફિલિપને કહ્યું, “આ બધા લોકોને ખાવા માટે પૂરતી રોટલી આપણે ક્યાંથી ખરીદીએ?”
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<v id="6" bcv="JHN.6.6" />(ઈસુએ ફિલિપને પારખવા સારું આ પ્રશ્ન કર્યો, કારણ કે તે શું કરવાનો હતો તે જાણતો હતો).
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JHN.6.7" />ફિલિપે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અહીના દરેક વ્યક્તિને એક રોટલીનો નાનો ટુકડો મળે તે માટે પૂરતી રોટલીઓ ખરીદવા માટે આપણે બધાએ એક માસ કામ કરવાની જરૂર છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JHN.6.8" />બીજો એક શિષ્ય આન્દ્રિયા ત્યાં હતો. આન્દ્રિયા સિમોન પિતરનો ભાઈ હતો. આન્દ્રિયાએ કહ્યું,
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<v id="9" bcv="JHN.6.9" />“અહીં એક છોકરો છે જેની પાસે જવની પાંચ રોટલીઓ અને બે માછલી છે. પરંતુ તે આટલા બધા લોકો માટે પૂરતી નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JHN.6.10" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “લોકોને બેસી જવા માટે કહો.” આ ઘણી ઘાસવાળી જગ્યા હતી. ત્યાં લગભગ 5,000 માણસો બેઠા હતા.
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<v id="11" bcv="JHN.6.11" />પછી ઈસુએ રોટલીના ટુકડાઓ લીધા. ઈસુએ રોટલી માટે દેવનો આભાર માન્યો અને ત્યાં નીચે બેઠેલા લોકોને તે આપ્યા. તેણે માછલીનું પણ તેમ જ કર્યુ. ઈસુએ તેઓને જેટલું જોઈતું હતું તેટલું લોકોને આપ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.6.12" />બધા લોકો પાસે પૂરતું ખાવાનું હતું. જ્યારે તેઓએ ખાવાનું પૂરું કર્યુ, ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “જે છાંડેલાં માછલી અને રોટલીના ટુકડાઓ છે તે ભેગા કરો. કઈ પણ બગડવા દેશો નહિ.”
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.6.13" />તેથી શિષ્યોએ છાંડેલા ટુકડા ભેગા કર્યા. તે લોકોએ ફક્ત પાંચ જવની રોટલીમાંના ટુકડાથી જમવાનું શરું કર્યુ હતુ. પરંતુ ખોરાકના છાંડેલા ટુકડાઓમાંથી શિષ્યોએ બાર મોટી ટોપલીએ ભરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JHN.6.14" />લોકોએ ઈસુએ કરેલો આ ચમત્કાર જોયો. લોકોએ કહ્યું, “ખરેખર તે પ્રબોધક હોવો જોઈએ. જે જગતમાં આવનાર છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JHN.6.15" />ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે લોકો તેને રાજા બનાવવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. લોકોએ ઈસુને પકડવા માટે આવવાની અને તેને તેઓને રાજા બનાવવાની યોજના કરી. તેથી ઈસુ તેઓને છોડીને પહાડ પર ફરીથી એકલો ગયો.
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<s style="s">ઈસુ પાણી પર ચાલે છે
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<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 14:22-27; માર્ક 6:45-52)
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.6.16" />તે સાંજે ઈસુના શિષ્યો સરોવર (ગાલીલ સરોવર) તરફ નીચે ગયા.
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<v id="17" bcv="JHN.6.17" />હવે અંધારું થયું હતું અને હજુ ઈસુ તેઓની પાસે પાછો આવ્યો ન હતો. શિષ્યો હોડીમાં બેઠા અને કફરનહૂમ તરફ બીજી બાજુ જવાનું શરું કર્યુ.
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<v id="18" bcv="JHN.6.18" />પવન ઘણો સખત ફૂંકાતો હતો. સાગર પરનાં મોજાં મોટાં થતાં જતાં હતાં.
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<v id="19" bcv="JHN.6.19" />તેઓએ ત્રણથી ચાર માઈલ હોડી હંકારી પછી તેઓએ ઈસુને જોયો. તે પાણી પર ચાલતો ચાલતો હોડી તરફ આવતો હતો. શિષ્યો બીતા હતા.
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<v id="20" bcv="JHN.6.20" />પણ ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “ગભરાશો નહિ. તે હું જ છું.”
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<v id="21" bcv="JHN.6.21" />ઈસુએ આમ કહ્યા પછી, શિષ્યો ઈસુને હોડીમાં લઈને ખુશ થયા. પછી તે હોડી તેઓ જે જગ્યાએ જવા ઈચ્છતા હતા ત્યાં આવી પહોંચી.
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<s style="s">લોકો ઈસુને શોધે છે
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JHN.6.22" />બીજો દિવસ આવ્યો, કેટલાક લોકો સમુદ્રની બીજી બાજુએ રહ્યા. આ લોકોએ જાણ્યું કે ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યો સાથે હોડીમાં ગયો નહિ. લોકોએ જાણ્યું કે ઈસુના શિષ્યો હોડીમાં એકલા હતા અને તેઓએ જાણ્યું કે ત્યાં એક જ હોડી હતી.
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<v id="23" bcv="JHN.6.23" />પણ પછી તિબેરિયાસથી કેટલીક હોડીઓ આવી. આગલા દિવસે લોકોએ જ્યાં ભોજન કર્યુ હતું તે સ્થળની નજીક હોડીઓ આવી. પ્રભુ (ઈસુ) નો આભાર માન્યા પછી તેઓએ રોટલી ખાધી હતી તે આ જ જગ્યા હતી.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.6.24" />લોકોએ જોયું કે ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો હવે ત્યાં ન હતા. તેથી લોકો હોડીઓમાં બેસી ગયા અને કફર-નહૂમ ગયા. તેઓની ઈચ્છા ઈસુને શોધવાની હતી.
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<s style="s">ઈસુ, જીવનની રોટલી
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.6.25" />લોકોએ ઈસુને સમુદ્રની બીજી બાજુએ જોયો. તેઓએ ઈસુને પૂછયું, “રાબ્બી, તું ક્યારે અહીં આવ્યો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JHN.6.26" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તમે શા માટે મને શોધો છો? તમે મને શોધી રહ્યા છો કારણ કે તમે મારી શક્તિના અદભૂત કાર્યો જોયા છે. જે મારી સત્તાની સાબિતી છે. ના! હું તમને સાચું કહું છું. તમે મને શોધતા હતા. કારણ કે તમે રોટલી ખાઈને તૃપ્ત થયા હતા.
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<v id="27" bcv="JHN.6.27" />ભૌતિક ભોજન નાશવંત છે. તેથી તે પ્રકારનું ભોજન મેળવવા માટે કામ ન કરો. પરંતુ જે તમને અનંતજીવન આપે છે અને હમેશા સારું છે તે ભોજન મેળવવા કામ કરો. માણસનો દીકરો તમને તે ભોજન આપશે. દેવ પિતાએ બતાવ્યું છે કે તે માણસના દીકરા સાથે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JHN.6.28" />લોકોએ ઈસુને પૂછયું, “દેવ આપણી પાસે કેવાં કામો કરાવવા માટે ઈચ્છે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JHN.6.29" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “દેવ જે કામ ઈચ્છે છે તે આ છે: દેવે જેને મોકલ્યો છે તેનામાં તમે વિશ્વાસ કરો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JHN.6.30" />તેથી તે લોકોએ પૂછયું, “તું દેવે મોકલેલો છે તે સાબિત કરવા તું કેવા ચમત્કારો કરીશ? જ્યારે અમે તને ચમત્કાર કરતાં જોઈશું પછી વિશ્વાસ કરીશું. તું શું કરીશ?
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<v id="31" bcv="JHN.6.31" />અમારા (પૂર્વજો) એ રણમાં આપેલ માન્ના ખાધું. આ શાસ્ત્રમાં લખેલું છે. ‘દેવે તેઓને આકાશમાંથી રોટલી ખાવા માટે આપી.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JHN.6.32" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, મૂસાએ તમારા લોકોને આકાશમાંથી રોટલી આપી ન હતી. પરંતુ મારા પિતા તમને આકાશમાંથી સાચી રોટલી આપે છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="JHN.6.33" />દેવની રોટલી શું છે? આકાશમાંથી જે રોટલી નીચે આવે છે તે દેવની છે, અને તે જગતને જીવન આપે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JHN.6.34" />તે લોકોએ કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, આ રોટલી અમને સદા આપો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="JHN.6.35" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જે જીવન આપે છે તે રોટલી હું છું. જે વ્યક્તિ મારી પાસે આવે છે તે કદાપિ ભૂખે મરશે નહિ. જે વ્યક્તિ મારામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તેને કદાપિ તરસ લાગશે નહિ.
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<v id="36" bcv="JHN.6.36" />મે તમને અગાઉ કહ્યું છે કે તમે મને જોયો છે અને છતાં તમે વિશ્વાસ કરતા નથી.
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<v id="37" bcv="JHN.6.37" />મને લોકો આપે છે અને તે લોકોમાંના બધા જ મારી પાસે આવશે. મારી પાસે જે દરેક વ્યક્તિ આવશે તેનો હું હમેશા સ્વીકાર કરીશ.
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<v id="38" bcv="JHN.6.38" />દેવ મારી પાસે જે કરાવવા ઈચ્છે છે તે કરવા માટે હું આકાશમાંથી નીચે આવ્યો છું. હું મારી ઈચ્છાથી કઈ કરવા માટે આવ્યો નથી.
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<v id="39" bcv="JHN.6.39" />દેવે મને જે કઈ આપ્યું છે તેમાંથી કશું ગુમાવીશ નહિ. પણ છેલ્લા દિવસે તે લોકોને હું પાછા ઉઠાડીશ. જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે અને મારી પાસે જે કઈ કરાવવાની ઈચ્છા છે તે આ છે.
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<v id="40" bcv="JHN.6.40" />વ્યક્તિ જે દીકરાને જુએ છે, અને તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂકે છે. તેને અનંતજીવન મળે છે. હું તે વ્યક્તિને છેલ્લા દિવસે ઉઠાડીશ. એ મારા પિતાની ઈચ્છા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="JHN.6.41" />યહૂદિઓએ ઈસુ વિષે ફરિયાદો શરું કરી. કારણ કે ઈસુએ કહ્યું હતું કે, “હું આકાશમાંથી નીચે ઉતરેલી રોટલી છું.”
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<v id="42" bcv="JHN.6.42" />યહૂદિઓએ કહ્યું, “આ ઈસુ છે. અમે તેના માતાપિતાને ઓળખીએ છે. ઈસુ, યૂસફનો દીકરો છે. તે કેવી રીતે કહી શકે કે, ‘હું આકાશમાંથી નીચે આવ્યો છું’?”
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<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="JHN.6.43" />પણ ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે માંહોમાંહે ફરિયાદો કરવાનું બંધ કરો.
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<v id="44" bcv="JHN.6.44" />તે પિતા એ જ મને મોકલ્યો છે. અને તે જ પિતા લોકોને મારી પાસે લાવે છે. હું તે લોકોને છેલ્લા દિવસે પાછા ઊઠાડીશ. જો પિતા વ્યક્તિને મારી પાસે લાવતા નથી, તો પછી તે વ્યક્તિ મારી પાસે આવી શક્તી નથી.
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<v id="45" bcv="JHN.6.45" />પ્રબોધકોનાં પુસ્તકોમાં આ લખેલું છે. ‘દેવ બધા લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપશે.’ લોકો પિતાને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે અને તેની પાસેથી શીખે છે. તે લોકો મારી પાસે આવે છે.
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<v id="46" bcv="JHN.6.46" />હું સમજતો નથી કે કોઈએ પિતાને જોયો હોય. ફક્ત જે દેવ પાસેથી આવ્યો છે તેણે જ પિતાને જોયો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="JHN.6.47" />“હું તમને સાચું કહું છું, જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તો તેને અનંતજીવન છે.
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<v id="48" bcv="JHN.6.48" />હું રોટલી છું જે જીવન આપે છે.
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<v id="49" bcv="JHN.6.49" />તમારા પૂર્વજો માન્ના (અન્ન) ખાધું છે, જે દેવે તેઓને રણમાં આપ્યું હતું. પણ બધા લોકોની જેમ તેઓ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા.
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<v id="50" bcv="JHN.6.50" />હું એ રોટલી છું જે આકાશમાંથી ઉતરે છે. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આ રોટલી ખાય છે તે કદાપિ મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ.
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<v id="51" bcv="JHN.6.51" />હું જીવતી રોટલી છું જે આકાશમાંથી ઉતરી છે, જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આ રોટલી ખાય તો તે અનંતજીવન પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે. આ રોટલી મારું શરીર છે. હું મારું શરીર આપીશ જેથી જગતમાંના લોકો જીવન પ્રાપ્ત કરી શકે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="JHN.6.52" />પછી યહૂદિઓ અંદરો અંદર દલીલો કરવા લાગ્યા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આ માણસ આપણને તેનું શરીર ખાવા માટે કેવી રીતે આપી શકે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="JHN.6.53" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, તમારે માણસના દીકરાનું શરીર ખાવું જોઈએ અને તેનું લોહી પીવું જોઈએ. જો તમે આ નહિ કરો, તો પછી તમારામાં સાચું જીવન હશે નહિ.
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<v id="54" bcv="JHN.6.54" />જે વ્યક્તિ મારું માંસ ખાય છે અને મારું લોહી પીએ છે તેને અનંતજીવન છે. છેલ્લે દિવસે હું તે વ્યક્તિને ફરીથી ઊઠાડીશ.
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<v id="55" bcv="JHN.6.55" />મારું શરીર સાચું ભોજન છે. મારું લોહી ખરેખર પીવાનું છે.
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<v id="56" bcv="JHN.6.56" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારું માંસ ખાય છે અને મારું લોહી પીએ છે તે પછી તે વ્યક્તિ મારામાં રહે છે અને હું તે વ્યક્તિમાં રહું છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="JHN.6.57" />“પિતાએ મને મોકલ્યો છે. તે પિતા જીવે છે, અને હું જીવું છું તે કારણે જ જે વ્યક્તિ મને ખાય છે તે પણ મારા કારણે જ જીવશે.
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<v id="58" bcv="JHN.6.58" />આપણા પૂર્વજોએ રણમાં જે રોટલી ખાધી તેના જેવી રોટલી હું નથી. તેઓએ તે રોટલી ખાધી, પણ બધા લોકોની જેમ તેઓ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા. હું એ રોટલી છું જે આકાશમાંથી ઉતરી આવી છે. જે વ્યક્તિ આ રોટલી ખાય છે તે અનંતજીવન જીવશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="59" bcv="JHN.6.59" />આ બધી બાબતો કફર-નહૂમના શહેરના સભાસ્થાનમાં બોધ આપતો હતો ત્યારે કહી.
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<s style="s">ઘણા શિષ્યોએ ઈસુને છોડી દીધા
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<p style="p"><v id="60" bcv="JHN.6.60" />ઈસુના શિષ્યોએ આ સાંભળ્યું, શિષ્યોમાંના ઘણાએ કહ્યું, “આ ઉપદેશ સ્વીકારવો ઘણો કઠિન છે. આ ઉપદેશ કોણ સ્વીકારી શકે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="61" bcv="JHN.6.61" />ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે તેના શિષ્યો આ વિષે ફરિયાદ કરે છે. તેથી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “શૂં આ ઉપદેશ તમને ઠોકર ખવડાવે છે?
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<v id="62" bcv="JHN.6.62" />તો પછી માણસનો દીકરો જ્યાંથી આવ્યો તે જગ્યાએ પાછો ફરતો જોઈને તમને પણ ઠોકર લાગશે?
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<v id="63" bcv="JHN.6.63" />તે એ માંસ નથી જે વ્યક્તિને જીવન આપે છે. જે જીવાડે છે તે આત્મા છે; માંસથી કઈ લાભ થતો નથી. જે વાતો મેં તમને કહી છે, તે આત્મા તથા જીવન છે.
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<v id="64" bcv="JHN.6.64" />તમારામાંના કેટલાક વિશ્વાસ કરતા નથી.” (ઈસુ જે વિશ્વાસ કરતા નથી તે લોકોને જાણે છે. ઈસુએ આરંભથી જ આ વાતો જાણી અને કયો માણસ તેનો દ્રોહ કરવાનો છે તે પણ ઈસુએ જાણ્યું.)
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<v id="65" bcv="JHN.6.65" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “આ કારણે જ મેં કહ્યું, ‘જો પિતા કોઈ વ્યક્તિને મારી પાસે આવવા નહિ દે તો પછી તે વ્યક્તિ મારી પાસે આવી શકશે નહિ.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="66" bcv="JHN.6.66" />આ બાબતો ઈસુએ કહ્યા પછી, ઈસુના ઘણા શિષ્યો તેને છોડી ગયા. તેઓએ ઈસુની પાછળ જવાનું બંધ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="67" bcv="JHN.6.67" />ઈસુએ બાર પ્રેરિતોને પૂછયું, “તમે પણ મને છોડીને જવા ઈચ્છો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="68" bcv="JHN.6.68" />સિમોન પિતરે ઈસુને ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “પ્રભુ, અમે ક્યાં જઈશુ? તારી પાસે જે વાતો છે તે અનંતજીવન આપશે.
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<v id="69" bcv="JHN.6.69" />અમને તારામાં વિશ્વાસ છે. અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે દેવનો પવિત્ર એક તું જ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="70" bcv="JHN.6.70" />પછી ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મેં તમારામાંથી તે બધા બાર પસંદ કર્યા છે છતાં પણ તમારામાંનો એક શેતાન છે.”
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<v id="71" bcv="JHN.6.71" />ઈસુ સિમોનના દીકરા યહૂદા ઈશ્કરિયોત વિષે વાત કરતોં હતો. યહૂદા બાર પ્રેરિતોમાંનો એક હતો. પરંતુ પાછળથી યહૂદા ઈસુને સુપ્રત કરનાર હતો.
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<s style="s">ઈસુ અને તેના ભાઈઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.7.1" />આ પછી, ઈસુએ ગાલીલના પ્રદેશની આજુબાજુ મુસાફરી કરી. ઈસુ યહૂદિયામાં મુસાફરી કરવા ઈચ્છતો નહોતો, કારણ કે ત્યાંના યહૂદિઓ તેને મારી નાખવા ઈચ્છતા હતાં.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.7.2" />તે યહૂદિઓના માંડવાપર્વનો સમય પાસે હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.7.3" />તેથી ઈસુના ભાઈઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “તારે અહીંથી નીકળી જવું જોઈએ અને યહૂદિયાના ઉત્સવમાં જવું જોઈએ. પછી ત્યાં તારા શિષ્યો તું જે ચમત્કારો કરે છે તે જોઈ શકશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JHN.7.4" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ, લોકો તેને ઓળખે તેમ ઈચ્છતી હોય તો પછી તે વ્યક્તિએ તે જે કામ કરે તે છુપાવવા જોઈએ નહિ. તારી જાતને જગત સમક્ષ જાહેર કર. તું જે ચમત્કારો કરે તે તેઓને જોવા દે.”
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<v id="5" bcv="JHN.7.5" />(ઈસુના ભાઈઓએ પણ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો નહિ.)
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.7.6" />ઈસુએ તેના ભાઈઓને કહ્યું, “મારા માટેનો યોગ્ય સમય હજુ આવ્યો નથી. પરંતુ તમારા જવા માટે કોઈ પણ સમય યોગ્ય છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="JHN.7.7" />જગત તમને ધિક્કારી શકશે નહિ. પરંતુ જગત મને ધિક્કારે છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે હું જગતમાં લોકોને કહું છું કે તેઓ ભૂંડા કામો કરે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="JHN.7.8" />તેથી તમે પર્વમાં જાઓ. હવે હું પર્વમાં જઈશ નહિ. મારા માટેનો યોગ્ય સમય હજુ આવ્યો નથી.”
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<v id="9" bcv="JHN.7.9" />ઈસુ આમ કહ્યા પછી ગાલીલમાં રહ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JHN.7.10" />તેથી ઈસુના ભાઈઓ પર્વમાં જવા વિદાય થયા. તેઓના વિદાય થયા પછી ઈસુ પણ ગયો. પરંતુ લોકો તેને ન જુએ તે રીતે ગયો.
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<v id="11" bcv="JHN.7.11" />યહૂદિઓ પર્વમાં ઈસુને શોધતા હતા. યહૂદિઓએ કહ્યું, “તે માણસ ક્યાં છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.7.12" />ત્યાં લોકોનો મોટો સમૂહ હતો. આ લોકોમાંના ઘણા એકબીજા સાથે અંદરોઅંદર ઈસુ વિષે ગુપ્ત રીતે વાતો કરતા હતા. કેટલાક લોકોએ કહ્યું, “તે એક સારો માણસ છે,” પણ બીજા લોકોએ કહ્યું, “ના, તે લોકોને મૂર્ખ બનાવે છે.”
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.7.13" />પરંતુ લોકોમાંથી કોઈની પણ જાહેરમાં ઈસુ વિષે બોલવાની હિંમત ન હતી. લોકો યહૂદિ આગેવાનોથી ડરતા હતા.
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<s style="s">ઈસુનો યરૂશાલેમમાં બોધ
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JHN.7.14" />પર્વ લગભગ અડધુ પૂરું થયુ હતુ. પછી ઈસુ મંદિરમાં ગયો અને બોધ શરું કર્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="JHN.7.15" />યહૂદિઓ આશ્ચર્ય પામ્યા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આ માણસે શાળામાં કદી અભ્યાસ કર્યો નથી. આટલી બધી વિધા તે કેવી રીતે શીખ્યો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.7.16" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું જે બોધ આપું છું તે મારો પોતાનો નથી પણ જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે તેનો (દેવ) છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JHN.7.17" />જો કોઈ માણસ દેવ જે ઈચ્છે છે તે કરવા ઈચ્છે તો પછી તે વ્યક્તિ જાણશે કે મારો બોધ દેવ પાસેથી આવે છે. અથવા
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<v id="18" bcv="JHN.7.18" />કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તેના વિચારનો બોધ આપે છે તેના પોતાના માટે માન મેળવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે. પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ તેને મોકલનાર માટે માન મેળવવા પ્રયત્ન કરે છે તે વ્યક્તિ સાચું કહે છે. તેનામાં કશું ખોટું હોતું નથી.
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<v id="19" bcv="JHN.7.19" />તમને નિયમશાસ્ત્ર આપ્યુ. ખરું ને? પરંતુ તમારામાંના કોઈએ તેનું પાલન કર્યુ નથી. તમે શા માટે મને મારી નાખવા પ્રયત્ન કરો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JHN.7.20" />લોકોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તારામાં અશુદ્ધ આત્મા પ્રવેશેલો છે અને તને ગાંડો બનાવ્યો છે! અમે તને મારી નાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતા નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JHN.7.21" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “મેં એક ચમત્કાર કર્યો અને તમે બધા અચરજ પામ્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="JHN.7.22" />મૂસાએ તમને સુન્નતનો નિયમ આપ્યો છે. (પરંતુ ખરેખર મૂસાએ તમને સુન્નતનો નિયમ આપ્યો નથી. મૂસાના પહેલા જે લોકો જીવી ગયા તેઓની પાસેથી સુન્નતનો નિયમ આવ્યો છે.) તેથી કેટલીક વાર વિશ્રામવારે શિશુની સુન્નત કરવામાં આવે છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="JHN.7.23" />આ બતાવે છે કે વ્યક્તિ વિશ્રામવારે મૂસાના નિયમનું પાલન કરવા સુન્નત કરાવી શકે છે. તેથી વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે માણસના આખા શરીરને સાજા કરવા માટે મારા પર શા માટે ગુસ્સે થયા છો?
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.7.24" />વસ્તુઓ જે રીતે દેખાય છે તેના આધારે ન્યાય કરવાનું બંધ કરો. ન્યાયી બનો અને જે સાચું છે તેનો યથાર્થ ન્યાય કરો.”
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<s style="s">લોકો નવાઈ પામે છે કે ઈસુ જ ખ્રિસ્ત છે
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.7.25" />પછી કેટલાક લોકો જે યરૂશાલેમમાં રહે છે તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આ તે માણસ છે જેને તેઓ મારી નાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="JHN.7.26" />પરંતુ તે જ્યાં બધા જોઈ શકે અને તેને સાંભળી શકે ત્યાં બોધ આપે છે. અને કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ તેને બોધ આપતા અટકાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતા નથી. અધિકારીઓએ શું ખરેખર નિર્ણય કર્યો હશે કે તે ખરેખર ખ્રિસ્ત જ છે?
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<v id="27" bcv="JHN.7.27" />પણ અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે આ માણસનું ઘર ક્યાં છે. પણ ખરેખર ખ્રિસ્ત જ્યારે આવશે ત્યારે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ જાણશે નહિ કે તે ક્યાંથી આવે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JHN.7.28" />ઈસુ હજી મંદિરમાં શીખવતો હતો. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હા, તમે મને જાણો છો અને હું ક્યાંનો છું એ પણ તમે જાણો છો. પણ હું મારી પોતાની સત્તાથી આવ્યો નથી. જેણે મોકલ્યો છે તે (દેવ) સત્ય છે. તમે તેને ઓળખતા નથી.
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<v id="29" bcv="JHN.7.29" />પણ હું તેને ઓળખું છું અને હું તેની પાસેથી આવ્યો છું. તેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JHN.7.30" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ આ કહ્યું, લોકોએ તેની ધરપકડ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. પણ કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ ઈસુ પર હાથ નાખ્યો નહિ. હજુ ઈસુને મારી નાખવા માટેનો યોગ્ય સમય ન હતો.
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<v id="31" bcv="JHN.7.31" />પરંતુ લોકોમાંના ઘણા ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખતા હતા. લોકોએ કહ્યું, “અમે ખ્રિસ્તની આવવાની રાહ જોઈએ છીએ. જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્ત આવશે, ત્યારે તે શું આ માણસ (ઈસુ) કરતા વધારે ચમત્કારો કરશે? ના! આથી આ માણસ જ ખ્રિસ્ત હોવો જોઈએ.”
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<s style="s">યહૂદિઓ ઈસુને પકડવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JHN.7.32" />ઈસુ વિષે લોકો જે ગણગણાટ કરતા હતા તે ફરોશીઓએ સાંભળ્યું. તેથી મુખ્ય યાજકો અને ફરોશીઓએ કેટલાક મંદિરના ભાલદારોને ઈસુની ધરપકડ કરવા મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="33" bcv="JHN.7.33" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હજુ થોડો સમય હું તમારી સાથે રહીશ. પછી હું જેણે (દેવ) મને મોકલ્યો છે તેની પાસે પાછો જઈશ.
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<v id="34" bcv="JHN.7.34" />તમે મારી શોધ કરશો, પણ તમે મને શોધી શકશો નહિ. અને જ્યાં હું છું ત્યાં તમે આવી શકશો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="JHN.7.35" />યહૂદિઓએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું, “આ માણસ ક્યાં જશે કે આપણે શોધી શકીશું નહિ. જ્યાં આપણા લોકો રહે છે તે ગ્રીક શહેરમાં તે જશે? શું તે ગ્રીક લોકોને ત્યાં બોધ આપશે?
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<v id="36" bcv="JHN.7.36" />માણસ (ઈસુ) કહે છે, ‘તમે મને શોધશો પણ તમે મને શોધી શકશો નહિ.’ અને તે એમ પણ કહે છે, ‘હું જ્યાં છું ત્યાં તમે આવી શકશો નહિ’ તેનો અર્થ શો?”
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<s style="s">ઈસુ પવિત્ર આત્મા વિષે કહે છે
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="JHN.7.37" />પર્વનો છેલ્લો દિવસ આવ્યો. તે ઘણો જ અગત્યનો દિવસ હતો. તે દિવસે ઈસુ ઊભો થયો અને મોટા સાદે કહ્યું, “જો કોઈ માણસ તરસ્યો હોય તો તે મારી પાસે આવે અને પીએ.
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<v id="38" bcv="JHN.7.38" />જો કોઈ માણસ મારામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂકે છે તો તેના હૃદયમાંથી જીવતા પાણીની નદીઓ વહેશે. શાસ્ત્ર જે કહે છે તે એ જ છે.”
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<v id="39" bcv="JHN.7.39" />ઈસુ પવિત્ર આત્મા વિષે કહેતો હતો. પવિત્ર આત્મા હજુ લોકોને આપવામાં આવ્યો ન હતો કારણ કે હજુ ઈસુ મૃત્યુ પામીને મહિમાવાન થયો ન હતો. પણ પાછળથી પેલા લોકો જે ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખશે તેઓ આત્માને પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
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<s style="s">ઈસુની લોકો વિષે દલીલ
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="JHN.7.40" />લોકોએ ઈસુએ જે બધી બાબતો કહી તે સાંભળી. કેટલાક લોકોએ કહ્યું, “આ માણસ ખરેખર પ્રબોધક જ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="JHN.7.41" />બીજા કેટલાક લોકોએ કહ્યું, “તે જ ખ્રિસ્ત છે.”
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<p style="p">બીજા લોકોએ કહ્યું, “ખ્રિસ્ત ગાલીલમાંથી આવશે નહિ.
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<v id="42" bcv="JHN.7.42" />શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે, ખ્રિસ્ત દાઉદના વંશમાંથી આવનાર છે, અને શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે ખ્રિસ્ત બેથલેહેમમાંથી આવનાર છે, જે શહેરમાં દાઉદ હતો.”
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<v id="43" bcv="JHN.7.43" />તેથી લોકો ઈસુ વિષે એકબીજા સાથે સંમત થયા નહિ.
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<v id="44" bcv="JHN.7.44" />કેટલાક લોકો ઈસુની ધરપકડ કરવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. પણ આમ કરવાનો કોઈએ પ્રયત્ન કર્યો નહિ.
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<s style="s">યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓએ વિશ્વાસ કરવાની ના પાડી
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<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="JHN.7.45" />મંદિરના ભાલદારો મુખ્ય યાજકો અને ફરોશીઓ પાસે પાછા ગયા. યાજકો અને ફરોશીઓએ પૂછયું, “તમે ઈસુને શા માટે લાવ્યા નથી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="46" bcv="JHN.7.46" />મંદિરના ભાલદારોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તે જે બાબતો કહે છે તે કોઈ પણ માણસના શબ્દો કરતા મહાન છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="JHN.7.47" />ફરોશીઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “ઈસુએ તમને પણ મૂર્ખ બનાવ્યા શું!
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<v id="48" bcv="JHN.7.48" />અધિકારીઓમાંથી કોઈએ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો? ના! શું આપણા ફરોશીઓમાંથી કોઈને તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ હતો? ના!
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<v id="49" bcv="JHN.7.49" />પણ પેલા લોકો બહાર છે તેઓ નિયમશાસ્ત્ર વિષે જાણતા નથી. તેઓ દેવના શાપિત છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="JHN.7.50" />નિકોદેમસ ત્યાં તે સમૂહમાં હતો. નિકોદેમસ તેઓમાંનો એક જે અગાઉ ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યો હતો. નિકોદેમસે કહ્યું,
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<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="JHN.7.51" />“માણસને પહેલા સાંભળ્યા વિના શું આપણું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર આપણને તેનો ન્યાય કરવા દે છે? જ્યાં સુધી તેણે શું કર્યું છે તે આપણે જાણીએ નહિ ત્યાં સુધી આપણે તેનો ન્યાય કરી શકતા નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="JHN.7.52" />યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “શું તું પણ ગાલીલનો છે? શાસ્ત્રોનો અભ્યાસ કર, તું વાંચી શકીશ કે કોઈ પ્રબોધક ગાલીલમાંથી આવનાર નથી.”
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<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">(યોહાનની કેટલીક પ્રાચીન નકલોમાં 7:53-8:11 કલમો ઉમેરેલ નથી)
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<s style="s">વ્યભિચારમાં પકડાયેલી સ્ત્રી
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<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="JHN.7.53" />બધા યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓ તેને છોડીને ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.8.1" />ઈસુ જૈતૂનના પહાડ પર ગયો
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.8.2" />વહેલી સવારમાં ઈસુ મંદિરમાં પાછો આવ્યો. બધા લોકો ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યા. ઈસુએ ત્યાં બેસીને લોકોને બોધ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JHN.8.3" />શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને ફરોશીઓ એક સ્ત્રીને ત્યાં લાવ્યા. તે સ્ત્રી વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરતાં પકાડાઈ હતી. આ યહૂદિઓએ તે સ્ત્રીને લોકો સમક્ષ ઊભા રહેવા માટે દબાણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="4" bcv="JHN.8.4" />તેઓએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “ગુરુંજી, આ સ્ત્રી એક માણસ સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરતાં પકડાઈ છે જે તેનો પતિ નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="JHN.8.5" />નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં મૂસાએ આપણને આજ્ઞા કરી છે કે આવું કામ કરનાર પ્રત્યેક સ્ત્રીઓને આપણે પથ્થરોથી મારી નાખવી. અમારે શું કરવું, તે વિષે તું શું કહે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.8.6" />યહૂદિઓ ઈસુનું પરીક્ષણ કરવા આ પ્રશ્નનો ઉપયોગ કરતાં હતા, તેઓ ઈસુને કંઈક ખોટું કહેતા પકડવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. પછી તેઓ તેની વિરુંદ્ધ આરોપ મૂકી શકે. પણ ઈસુએ નીચા વળીને તેની આંગળી વડે જમીન પર લખવાનું શુરું કર્યું.
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<v id="7" bcv="JHN.8.7" />યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓએ ઈસુને તેઓના પ્રશ્ન પૂછવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું. તેથી ઈસુ ઊભો થયો અને કહ્યું, “શું અહીં કોઈ એવી વ્યક્તિ છે જેણે કદી પાપ ના કર્યું હોય? જે વ્યક્તિએ પાપ કર્યું ના હોય તે આ સ્ત્રી પર પહેલો પથ્થર મારે.”
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<v id="8" bcv="JHN.8.8" />પછી ઈસુ ફરીથી નીચો વળ્યો અને જમીન પર લખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JHN.8.9" />જે લોકોએ ઈસુને સાંભળ્યો તેઓ એક પછી એક વિદાય થયા. વૃદ્ધ માણસો પ્રથમ છોડી ગયા, અને પછી બીજા ગયા. ઈસુને ત્યાં તે સ્ત્રી સાથે એકલા છોડી ગયા. હજુ તે ત્યાં ઊભી રહી છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JHN.8.10" />ઈસુ ફરીથી ઊભો થયો ને તેને પૂછયું, “બાઈ, તે બધા લોકો ગયા છે. તેમાંથી કોઈએ તને દોષિત ઠરાવી નથી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JHN.8.11" />તે સ્ત્રીએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “પ્રભુ, તેમાંના કોઈએ મને દોષિત ઠરાવી નથી.”
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<p style="p">પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તેથી હું પણ તને દોષિત ઠરાવતો નથી. તું હવે જઈ શકે છે, પણ ફરીથી પાપ કરીશ નહિ.”
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<s style="s">ઈસુ જગતનો પ્રકાશ છે
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.8.12" />પાછળથી ઈસુએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “હું જગતનો પ્રકાશ છું. જે વ્યક્તિ મને અનુસરે છે તે કદી અંધકારમાં રહેશે નહિ. તે વ્યક્તિને પ્રકાશ મળશે જે જીવન આપે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JHN.8.13" />પરંતુ ફરોશીઓએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે તું તારી જાત વિષે કહે છે ત્યારે તું જ ફક્ત એક એકલો એવો છે જે આ વાતો સાચી છે એમ કહે છે. તેથી અમે આ વાતો જે તું કહે છે તે અમે સ્વીકારી શકીએ તેમ નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JHN.8.14" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા, હું મારી જાત વિષે આ વાતો કહું છું. પરંતુ હું જે વાતો કહું છું, તે લોકો માની શકશે. શા માટે? કારણ કે હું ક્યાંથી આવ્યો તે હું જાણુ છું, અને હું ક્યાં જાઉં છું તે પણ હું જાણું છું, હું તમારા લોકો જેવો નથી. હું ક્યાંથી આવ્યો છું. અને ક્યાં જાઉં છું તે જાણતા નથી.
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<v id="15" bcv="JHN.8.15" />તમે કોઈ માણસનો ન્યાય કરો તે રીતે મારો ન્યાય કરો છો. હું કોઈ માણસનો ન્યાય કરતો નથી.
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<v id="16" bcv="JHN.8.16" />પણ જો હું ન્યાય કરું તો, મારો ન્યાય સાચો હશે. શા માટે? કારણ કે જ્યારે હું ન્યાય કરું ત્યારે હું એકલો હોતો નથી. મને મોકલનાર પિતા મારી સાથે હોય છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JHN.8.17" />તમારું પોતાનું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે જ્યારે બે સાક્ષીઓ એક જ વાત કહે તો પછી તમારે તેઓ જે કહે તે સ્વીકારવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="18" bcv="JHN.8.18" />હું સાક્ષીઓમાંનો એક છું કે હું મારી જાત વિષે બોલું છું, અને મને જેણે મોકલ્યો છે તે પિતા મારા બીજા સાક્ષી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JHN.8.19" />લોકોએ પૂછયું, “તારો પિતા ક્યાં છે?”
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<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તમે મને કે મારા પિતાને જાણતા નથી. પણ જો તમે મને જાણ્યો હોત તો પછી તમે મારા પિતાને પણ જાણતા હોત.”
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<v id="20" bcv="JHN.8.20" />જ્યારે ઈસુ મંદિરમાં ઉપદેશ આપતો હતો, ત્યારે તેણે આ બાબતો કહી. જ્યાં બધા લોકો પૈસા આપવા આવતા હતા. તે જગ્યાની નજીક તે હતો. પરંતુ કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ તેને પકડ્યો નહિ. ઈસુ માટેનો યોગ્ય સમય હજુ આવ્યો ન હતો.
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<s style="s">યહૂદિઓ ઈસુ વિષે સમજતા નથી
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JHN.8.21" />ફરીથી ઈસુએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “હું તમને છોડીશ. તમે મારી શોધ કરશો, પણ તમે તમારા પાપ સાથે મૃત્યુ પામશો. હું જ્યાં જાઉં છું, ત્યાં તમે આવી શકશો નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JHN.8.22" />તેથી યહૂદિઓએ તેમની જાતે પૂછયુ, “તમે ધારો છો કે ઈસુ આત્મહત્યા કરશે? તો પછી આ બાબત હોવી જોઈએ. કારણ કે તેણે કહ્યું, ‘હું જ્યાં જાઉં છું ત્યાં તમે આવી શકશો નહિ’?”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JHN.8.23" />પણ ઈસુએ પેલા યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું, “તમે નીચેની દુનિયાના છો, હું ઉપરની દુનિયાનો છું. તમે આ દુનિયાના છો, હું આ દુનિયાનો નથી.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.8.24" />તેથી મેં તમને કહ્યું છે કે તમે તમારા પાપોમાં મૃત્યુ પામશો. હા, હું (તે) છું એવો તમે વિશ્વાસ નહિ કરો તો તમે તમારાં પાપોમાં મૃત્યુ પામશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.8.25" />યહૂદિઓએ પૂછયું, “તો પછી તું કોણ છે?”
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<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મેં તમને શરુંઆતથી જે કહ્યું છે તે હું છું.
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<v id="26" bcv="JHN.8.26" />મારી પાસે તમારા વિષે કહેવાની ઘણી બાબતો છે. હું તમારો ન્યાય કરી શકું છું તો પણ જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે અને મેં તેની પાસેથી જે વાતો સાંભળી છે તે જ ફક્ત હું લોકોને કહું છું અને તે સત્ય કહું છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JHN.8.27" />ઈસુ કોના વિષે વાત કરતો હતો તે લોકો સમજતા ન હતા. ઈસુ તેઓને પિતા (દેવ) વિષે વાત કરતો હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="JHN.8.28" />તેથી ઈસુએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે માણસના દીકરાને ઊચો કરશો (મારી નાખશો) પછી તમે હું તે જ છું તે તમે જાણી શકશો અને હું મારી પોતાની જાતે કઈ કરતો નથી પણ જેમ પિતાએ જે મને શીખવ્યું છે, તેમ હું એ વાતો તમને કહું છું.
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<v id="29" bcv="JHN.8.29" />જેણે (દેવે) મને મોકલ્યો છે તે મારી સાથે છે. તેને જે ગમે છે તે હું હમેશા કરું છું. તેથી તેણે મને એકલો છોડ્યો નથી.”
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<v id="30" bcv="JHN.8.30" />જ્યારે ઈસુ આ વાતો કહેતો હતો ત્યારે, ઘણા લોકોએ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો હતો. ઈસુ પાપમાંથી છુટકારા વિષે વાત કરે છે.
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<s style="s">પાપ વિષે ચેતવણી
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JHN.8.31" />તેથી જે યહૂદિઓએ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો હતો તેઓને ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જો તમે મારા બોધને માનવાનું ચાલુ રાખશો તો પછી તમે મારા સાચા શિષ્યો છો.
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<v id="32" bcv="JHN.8.32" />પછી જ તમને સત્ય સમજાશે અને સત્ય તમને મુક્ત કરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JHN.8.33" />યહૂદિઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમે ઈબ્રાહિમના લોકો છીએ. અમે કદી ગુલામ રહ્યા નથી. તેથી શા માટે તું કહે છે કે એમ મુક્ત થઈશું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JHN.8.34" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તમને સાચું કહું છું પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે પાપ કરે છે તે ગુલામ છે. પાપ તેનો માલિક છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="JHN.8.35" />ગુલામ કુટુંબ સાથે હંમેશા રહેતો નથી. પરંતુ તે દીકરો હંમેશા કુટુંબનો રહી શકે.
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<v id="36" bcv="JHN.8.36" />તેથી જો દીકરો તમને મુક્ત કરે તો પછી તમે ખરેખર મુક્ત થશો.
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<v id="37" bcv="JHN.8.37" />હું જાણું છું તમે ઈબ્રાહિમના લોકો છો. પરંતુ તમે મને મારી નાખવા ઈચ્છો છો. શા માટે? કારણ કે તમે મારા બોધનો સ્વીકાર કરવા ઈચ્છતા નથી.
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<v id="38" bcv="JHN.8.38" />મારા પિતાએ જે મને બતાવ્યું છે તે જ કામો હું તમને કહું છું. પરંતુ તમે તમારા પિતાએ તમને જે કહ્યું છે તે કરો છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JHN.8.39" />યહૂદિઓએ કહ્યું, “અમારો પિતા ઈબ્રાહિમ છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જો તમે ખરેખર ઈબ્રાહિમના બાળકો હતા તો પછી તમે જે કામો ઈબ્રાહિમે કર્યા તે જ કરશો.
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<v id="40" bcv="JHN.8.40" />હું એ માણસ છું કે જેણે દેવ પાસેથી સાંભળ્યું તે સત્ય તમને કહ્યું છે. પરંતુ તમે મને મારી નાખવા પ્રયત્ન કરો છો. ઈબ્રાહિમે તેના જેવું કંઈ જ કર્યું નથી.
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<v id="41" bcv="JHN.8.41" />તેથી તમારા પિતાએ જે કંઈ કર્યુ તે તમે કરો છો.”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ યહૂદિઓએ કહ્યું, “અમે એના જેવા બાળકો નથી કે જે તેઓએ કદી જાણ્યું ન હોય કે તેમનો પિતા કોણ છે. દેવ અમારો પિતા છે. અમારો તે માત્ર એક જ પિતા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="JHN.8.42" />ઈસુએ પેલા યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું, “જો દેવ ખરેખર તમારા પિતા હોત, તો તમે મારા પર પ્રેમ રાખત; હું દેવમાંથી નીકળીને આવ્યો છું. અને હવે હું અહીં છું. હું મારી પોતાની સત્તાથી આવ્યો નથી. દેવે મને મોકલ્યો છે.
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<v id="43" bcv="JHN.8.43" />હું તમને આ બાબતો જે કહું છું તે તમે સમજી શકશો નહિ. શા માટે? કારણ કે તમે મારા બોધને સ્વીકારી શકતા નથી.
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<v id="44" bcv="JHN.8.44" />તમારો પિતા શેતાન છે, અને તમે તેના દીકરા છો. તે જે ઈચ્છે છે તે કરવા તમે ઈચ્છો છો. શેતાન શરુંઆતથી જ ખૂની હતો. શેતાન હંમેશા સત્યથી વિરૂદ્ધ છે અને તેથી તેનામાં સત્ય નથી. જૂઠું બોલવું તે તેનો સ્વભાવ છે. હા, તે જુઠો છે. અને તે જૂઠાનો બાપ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="JHN.8.45" />“હું સત્ય કહું છું, તેથી તમે મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરતા નથી.
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<v id="46" bcv="JHN.8.46" />તમારામાંથી કોણ સાબિત કરી શકે છે કે હું પાપનો ગુનેગાર છું. જો હું સત્ય કહું છું, તો પછી તમે શા માટે મારું માનતા નથી?
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<v id="47" bcv="JHN.8.47" />જે વ્યક્તિ દેવનો છે તે દેવ જે કહે છે તે સ્વીકારે છે. પણ તમે દેવ જે કહે છે તે સ્વીકારતા નથી. કારણ કે તમે દેવના નથી.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ પોતાના વિષે અને ઈબ્રાહિમ વિષે વાત કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="JHN.8.48" />યહૂદિઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમે કહીએ છીએ કે તું સમરૂની છે, અમે કહીએ છીએ કે તારામાં શેતાન પ્રવેશ્યો છે. અને તને ગાંડો બનાવ્યો છે! અમે આ બાબત કહીએ છીએ ત્યારે શું અમે સાચા નથી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="JHN.8.49" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મારામાં કોઈ શેતાન પ્રવેશ્યો નથી. હું મારા પિતાને આદર આપું છું. પણ તમે કોઈ મારો આદર કરતા નથી.
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<v id="50" bcv="JHN.8.50" />હું મારી જાત માટે આદર મેળવવા પ્રયત્ન કરતો નથી. મને આદર અપાવવાની ઈચ્છા કરનાર ત્યાં એક જ છે. તે ન્યાય કરનાર છે.
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<v id="51" bcv="JHN.8.51" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. જો કોઈ મારું વચન પાળે છે, તો પછી તે કદી મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="52" bcv="JHN.8.52" />યહૂદિઓએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “હવે અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે તારામાં શેતાન પ્રવેશ્યો છે! ઈબ્રાહિમ અને પ્રબોધકો પણ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા. પણ તું કહે છે કે, ‘જે વ્યક્તિ મારાં વચનોને પાળશે તે કદી મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ.’
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<v id="53" bcv="JHN.8.53" />શું તું ધારે છે કે તું અમારા પિતા ઈબ્રાહિમ કરતાં વધારે મહાન છે? ઈબ્રાહિમ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને પ્રબોધકો પણ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા. તું કોણ હોવાનો દાવો કરે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="JHN.8.54" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જો હું મારી જાતને માન આપું તો પછી તે આદરની કોઈ કિંમત નથી. જે એક મારો આદર કરે છે તે મારો પિતા છે. અને તમે દાવો કરો છો કે તે તમારો દેવ છે.
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<v id="55" bcv="JHN.8.55" />પણ ખરેખર તમે તેને ઓળખતા નથી. હું તેને ઓળખું છું. જો હું કહું કે હું તેને જાણતો નથી, તો પછી હું તમારા જેવો જૂઠો ઠરું. પણ હું તેને ઓળખું છું અને તે જે કહે છે તેનું હું પાલન કરું છું.
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<v id="56" bcv="JHN.8.56" />તમારો પિતા ઈબ્રાહિમ ઘણો ખુશ હતો, કારણ કે જ્યારે હું આવ્યો તે દિવસ તેણે જોયો અને તે સુખી થયો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="JHN.8.57" />યહૂદિઓએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “શું તેં ઈબ્રાહિમને જોયો છે? હજુ તો તું 50 વરસનો પણ થયો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="58" bcv="JHN.8.58" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, ઈબ્રાહિમનો જન્મ થયા પહેલાનો હું છું.”
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<v id="59" bcv="JHN.8.59" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ આ કહ્યું, ત્યારે લોકોએ તેના તરફ ફેંકવા માટે પથ્થર ઉપાડ્યા. પરંતુ ઈસુ છુપાઈને મંદિરમાંથી બહાર નીકળી ગયો.
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</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">જન્મથી આંધળા માણસને ઈસુ સાજો કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.9.1" />ઈસુ જ્યારે ચાલતો હતો ત્યારે, તેણે એક આંધળા માણસને જોયો. આ માણસ જન્મથી આંધળો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.9.2" />ઈસુના શિષ્યોએ પૂછયું, “રાબ્બી, આ માણસ જન્મથી જ આંધળો છે. પરંતુ કોના પાપથી તે આંધળો જનમ્યો? તેના પોતાના પાપે, કે તેના માબાપના પાપે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JHN.9.3" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તે આ માણસનાં પાપ કે તેનાં માતાપિતાનાં પાપોથી આંધળો થયો નથી. આ માણસ આંધળો જન્મ્યો છે જેથી કરીને જ્યારે હું તેને સાજો કરું ત્યારે દેવનું સાર્મથ્ય લોકોને પ્રગટ કરાવી શકાય.
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<v id="4" bcv="JHN.9.4" />જ્યારે હજુ પણ દિવસનો સમય છે, ત્યારે જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે તેનાં કામ કરવાં જોઈએ. જ્યારે રાત હોય છે ત્યારે રાત્રે કોઈ માણસ કામ કરી શકતો નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="JHN.9.5" />જ્યારે હું જગતમાં છું, હું જગતનો પ્રકાશ છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.9.6" />ઈસુએ આમ કહ્યાં પછી, ઈસુ ધૂળ પર થૂંકયો તે સાથે થોડો કાદવ બનાવ્યો. ઈસુએ તે માણસની આંખો પર કાદવ મૂક્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="JHN.9.7" />ઈસુએ તે માણસને કહ્યું, “જા અને શિલોઆહના કુંડમાં ધોઈ નાખ.” (શિલોઆહ અર્થાત “મોકલેલા.”) તેથી તે માણસ કુંડ તરફ ગયો. તે આંખો ધોઈને પાછો આવ્યો. હવે તે જોઈ શકતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JHN.9.8" />કેટલાક માણસોએ આ માણસને પહેલા ભીખ માગતો જોયો હતો. આ લોકોએ અને તે માણસના પડોશીઓએ કહ્યું, “જુઓ! આ એ જ માણસ છે જે હંમેશા બેસીને ભીખ માગતો હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JHN.9.9" />કેટલાક લોકોએ કહ્યું, “હા! તે એ જ માણસ છે,”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ બીજા લોકોએ કહ્યું, “ના, તે એ જ માણસ નથી. તે ફક્ત તેના જેવો દેખાય છે.” તેથી તે માણસે પોતે કહ્યું કે, “હું એ જ માણસ છું જે પહેલાં આંધળો હતો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JHN.9.10" />લોકોએ પૂછયું, “શું બન્યું? તેં તારી દષ્ટિ કેવી રીતે મેળવી?”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JHN.9.11" />તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તે માણસ જેને લોકો ઈસુ કહે છે તેણે થોડો કાદવ બનાવ્યો. તેણે તે કાદવ મારી આંખો પર મૂક્યો. પછી મને શિલોઆહ કુંડમાં ધોવા જવા કહ્યું, તેથી હું શિલોઆહ કુંડમાં જઈને ધોયા પછી દેખતો થયો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.9.12" />લોકોએ તે માણસને પૂછયું, “આ માણસ (ઈસુ) ક્યાં છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું જાણતો નથી.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુએ સાજા કરેલા માણસને યહૂદિઓ પ્રશ્ન પૂછે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JHN.9.13" />પછી લોકો તે માણસને ફરોશીઓ પાસે લાવ્યા જે આંધળો હતો.
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<v id="14" bcv="JHN.9.14" />ઈસુએ કાદવ બનાવીને તે માણસની આંખો સાજી કરી. જે દિવસે ઈસુએ આ કર્યું તે વિશ્રામવાર હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="JHN.9.15" />તેથી હવે ફરોશીઓએ તે માણસને પૂછયું, “તેં તારી દષ્ટિ કેવી રીતે મેળવી?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તેણે મારી આંખો પર કાદવ મૂક્યો. મેં આંખો ધોઈ, અને હવે હું જોઈ શકું છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.9.16" />કેટલાક ફરોશીઓએ કહ્યું, “આ માણસ (ઈસુ) વિશ્રામવારના નિયમનું પાલન કરતો નથી. તેથી તે દેવ પાસેથી આવ્યો નથી.”
</p>
<p style="p">બીજાઓએ કહ્યું, “પરંતુ એક માણસ કે જે પાપી છે તે આવા ચમત્કારો કરી શકે નહિ.” આ લોકો એકબીજા સાથે સંમત થઈ શક્યા નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JHN.9.17" />યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓએ તે માણસને ફરીથી પૂછયું, “આ માણસે (ઈસુ) તને સાજો કર્યો, અને તું જોઈ શકે છે. તું એના વિષે શું કહે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તે એક પ્રબોધક છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JHN.9.18" />યહૂદિઓ હજુ પણ માનવા તૈયાર નથી કે ખરેખર તે આ માણસ સાથે આ બન્યું છે. તે તેઓ માનવા તૈયાર નહોતા કે આ માણસ આંધળો હતો અને હવે તે સાજો થયો છે. પણ પાછળથી તેઓએ તે માણસના માતા-પિતાને તેડાવ્યા.
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<v id="19" bcv="JHN.9.19" />તે યહૂદિઓએ તેના માતા-પિતાને પૂછયું, “શું આ તમારો દીકરો છે? તમે કહો કે તે આંધળો જનમ્યો હતો. તો હવે એ શી રીતે દેખતો થયો છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JHN.9.20" />માતાપિતાએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે આ માણસ અમારો દીકરો છે અને અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે તે આંધળો જનમ્યો હતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="JHN.9.21" />પણ અમે જાણતા નથી કે હવે તે શી રીતે જોઈ શકે છે. અમે જાણતાં નથી તેની આંખો કોણે સાજી કરી. તેને પૂછો, એ પુખ્ત ઉમરનો છે અને તે તેની જાત માટે બોલશે.”
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<v id="22" bcv="JHN.9.22" />તેના મા બાપે આ કહ્યું, કારણ કે તેઓ યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓથી ડરતા હતા. માટે તેઓએ એમ કહ્યું, કારણ કે યહૂદિઓએ અગાઉથી એવો ઠરાવ કર્યો હતો કે ઈસુ એ જ ખ્રિસ્ત એવું જો કોઈ કબૂલ કરે, તો તેને સભાસ્થાનમાંથી કાઢી મૂકવો.
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<v id="23" bcv="JHN.9.23" />તેના કારણે તેના મા બાપે કહ્યું હતું કે તે પુખ્ત ઉંમરનો છે. તેને પોતાને પૂછો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JHN.9.24" />તેથી યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓએ જે આંધળો હતો તે માણસને બોલાવ્યો, તેઓએ તે માણસને ફરીથી અંદર આવવા કહ્યું, યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓએ કહ્યું, “તારે સત્ય કહીને દેવનો મહિમા કરવો જોઈએ. અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે આ માણસ (ઈસુ) એક પાપી છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.9.25" />તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જો તે પાપી હોય તો હું જાણતો નથી. હું એક વાત જાણું છું કે, હું આંધળો હતો અને હવે હું જોઈ શકું છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JHN.9.26" />યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓએ પૂછયું, “તેણે (ઈસુએ) તને શું કહ્યું? તેણે તારી આંખો કેવી રીતે સાજી કરી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JHN.9.27" />માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મેં હમણાં જ તમને તે કહ્યું હતું. પણ તમે મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ્યો નથી. તમે શા માટે તે ફરીથી સાંભળવા ઈચ્છો છો? શું તમે પણ તેના શિષ્યો થવા ઈચ્છો છો?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JHN.9.28" />યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓ ગુસ્સે થયા અને તે માણસની નિંદા કરીને પછી તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તું તે માણસ (ઈસુ) નો શિષ્ય છે. અમે મૂસાના શિષ્યો છીએ.
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<v id="29" bcv="JHN.9.29" />અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે દેવ મૂસા સાથે બોલ્યો, પરંતુ અમે એ પણ જાણતા નથી કે એ માણસ (ઈસુ) કયાંથી આવે છે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JHN.9.30" />તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “આ એક ઘણી અજાયબ વસ્તુ છે. તમે જાણતા નથી કે ઈસુ ક્યાંથી આવે છે. છતાં તેણે મારી આંખો સાજી કરી છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="JHN.9.31" />આપણે બધા જાણીએ છીએ કે દેવ પાપીઓને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળતો નથી. પરંતુ દેવ તે વ્યક્તિને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળશે જે તેની ભક્તિ કરતો હોય અને તેની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે કરતો હોય.
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<v id="32" bcv="JHN.9.32" />જ્યારથી દુનિયાનો આરંભ થયો ત્યાર પછીનો આ એક પ્રથમ પ્રસંગ છે કે કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ જન્મથી આંધળા માણસને સાજો કર્યો હોય.
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<v id="33" bcv="JHN.9.33" />આ માણસ (ઈસુ) દેવથી હોવા જોઈએ, જો તે દેવથી ના હોત તો તે આવું કશું કરી શકત નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JHN.9.34" />યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તું તો ભરપૂર પાપોમાં જનમ્યો છે! શું તું અમને ઉપદેશ આપવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે?” અને યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓએ તે માણસને કાઢી મૂક્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">આત્મિક અંધાપો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="JHN.9.35" />ઈસુએ સાંભળ્યું કે યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓએ તે માણસને કાઢી મૂક્યો છે. ઈસુએ તે માણસને શોધ્યો અને કહ્યું, “શું તું માણસના દીકરામાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="JHN.9.36" />તે માણસે પૂછયું, “સાહેબ, માણસનો દીકરો કોણ છે? મને કહે, તેથી હું તેના પર વિશ્વાસ મૂકી શકું!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="JHN.9.37" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “તેં તેને હમણા જ જોયો છે અને જે તારી સાથે વાત કરે છે તે માણસનો દીકરો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="JHN.9.38" />તે માણસે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા પ્રભુ! મને વિશ્વાસ છે,” પછી તે માણસે નમન કરીને ઈસુનું ભજન કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JHN.9.39" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું આ જગતમાં આવ્યો છું, જેથી કરીને જગતનો ન્યાય થઈ શકે. હું આવ્યો છું જેથી આંધળા લોકો જોઈ શકે અને હું આવ્યો છું, જેથી કરીને લોકો ધારે છે કે તેઓ જોઈ શકે છે તેઓ આંધળા થાય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="JHN.9.40" />કેટલાક ફરોશીઓ ઈસુની નજીક હતા. તેઓએ ઈસુને આ કહેતા સાંભળ્યો. તેઓએ પૂછયું, “શું? તું એમ કહે છે કે અમે પણ આંધળા છીએ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="JHN.9.41" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “જો તમે ખરેખર આંધળા હોત તો તમને પાપનો દોષ ન લાગત, પણ તમે કહો છો કે તમે જુઓ છો તેથી તમે દોષિત છો.”
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</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">ઘેટાંપાળક અને તેનાં ઘેટાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.10.1" />ઈસુ કહે છે, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું જ્યારે માણસ ઘેટાંના વાડામાં પ્રવેશે છે, ત્યારે તેણે દરવાજાનો ઉપયોગ કરવો જોઈએ. પછી જો તે બીજા કોઈ રસ્તેથી પ્રવેશ કરે છે, તો તે એક લૂંટારો છે. તે ઘેટાં ચોરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.10.2" />પણ જે માણસ ઘેટાંની સંભાળ રાખે છે તે દરવાજામાંથી પ્રવેશે છે. તે ઘેટાંપાળક છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.10.3" />જે માણસ દરવાજાની ચોકી કરે છે તે ઘેટાપાળક માટે દરવાજો ઉઘાડે છે. અને ઘેટાં ઘેટાંપાળકનો અવાજ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે. ઘેટાંપાળક તેનાં પોતાનાં ઘેટાંને તેમનાં નામનો ઉપયોગ કરીને બોલાવે છે. અને તેઓને બહાર દોરી જાય છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JHN.10.4" />તે ઘેટાંપાળક તેનાં બધાં ઘેટાંને બહાર કાઢે છે પછી તે તેઓની આગળ ચાલે છે અને તેમને દોરે છે. ઘેટાં તેની પાછળ જાય છે. કારણ કે તેઓ તેના અવાજને જાણે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="JHN.10.5" />પરંતુ અજાણ્યાં વ્યક્તિની પાછળ ઘેટાં કદી જતાં નથી. તેઓ તે વ્યક્તિની પાસેથી નાસી જશે, કારણ કે તેઓ અજાણ્યા માણસનો અવાજ ઓળખતા નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.10.6" />ઈસુએ લોકોને આ વાત કહી, પરંતુ લોકો તેનો અર્થ સમજી શક્યા નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ એક ઉત્તમ ઘેટાંપાળક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JHN.10.7" />તેથી ઈસુએ ફરીથી કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, હું ઘેટાં માટેનું બારણું છું.
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<v id="8" bcv="JHN.10.8" />મારા આવતા પહેલા જે લોકો આવ્યા તે બધા ચોરો અને લૂંટારાઓ હતા. ઘેટાંઓએ તેઓને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ્યા નહિ.
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<v id="9" bcv="JHN.10.9" />હું બારણું છું. જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારા દ્વારા પ્રવેશ કરે છે તેનું રક્ષણ થશે. તે વ્યક્તિ અંદર આવશે અને બહાર જશે. તે માણસ તેની જરુંરિયાતો જ મેળવી શકશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JHN.10.10" />ચોર ફક્ત ચોરી કરવા, મારી નાખવા અને નાશ કરવા આવે છે. પણ હું આવ્યો છું જેથી તેઓને જીવન મળે, અને તે પુષ્કળ મળે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JHN.10.11" />“હું ઉત્તમ ઘેટાંપાળક છું. ઉત્તમ ઘેટાંપાળક પોતાનાં ઘેટાંઓ માટે તેનું જીવન આપે છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="JHN.10.12" />જે ચાકરને ઘેટાં રાખવા પૈસા ચુકવાય છે તે ઘેટાંપાળકથી જુદો છે. પગારદાર ચાકર એ ઘેટાંનો ધણી નથી. તેથી ચાકર જ્યારે વરુંને આવતું જુએ છે ત્યારે તે ઘેટાંને એકલા મૂકીને નાસી જાય છે. પછી તે વરું ઘેટાં પર હુમલો કરીને તેઓને વિખેરી નાખે છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.10.13" />તે માણસ નાસી જાય છે કારણ કે તે એક માત્ર પગારદાર ચાકર છે. ખરેખર તે ઘેટાંની ચિંતા કરતો નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="14-15" bcv="JHN.10.14" />“હું એક ઉત્તમ ઘેટાંપાળક છું. હું મારા ઘેટાંને જાણું છું અને મારા ઘેટાં મને ઓળખે છે, જેમ પિતા મને ઓળખે છે તેમ હું મારા ઘેટાંને ઓળખું છું. હું મારું જીવન આ ઘેટાં માટે આપું છું.
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<v id="16" bcv="JHN.10.16" />મારી પાસે બીજા ઘેટાં પણ છે, તેઓ અહીં આ ટોળામાં નથી. મારે તેઓને પણ દોરવાની જરૂર છે. તેઓ મારા અવાજને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળશે. ભવિષ્યમાં ત્યાં એક જ ટોળું અને એક જ ઘેટાંપાળક હશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JHN.10.17" />પિતા મને પ્રેમ કરે છે કારણ કે હું મારું જીવન આપું છું. હું મારું જીવન આપું છું તેથી હું તે પાછું મેળવું છું.
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<v id="18" bcv="JHN.10.18" />કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારી પાસેથી મારું જીવન લઈ શક્તું નથી. પણ હું મારું પોતાનું જીવન મુક્ત રીતે આપું છું. મને મારું જીવન આપવાનો અધિકાર છે. અને મને તે પાછું મેળવવાનો પણ અધિકાર છે. મને મારા પિતાએ આ કહ્યું છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JHN.10.19" />ફરીથી યહૂદિઓ એકબીજા સાથે સંમત થયા નહિ કારણ કે ઈસુએ આ બાબતો કહીં.
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<v id="20" bcv="JHN.10.20" />આ યહૂદિઓમાંના ઘણાએ કહ્યું, “એક શેતાન તેનામાં પ્રવેશ્યો છે અને તેને ગાંડો બનાવ્યો છે, તેનું શા માટે સાંભળો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JHN.10.21" />પણ બીજા યહૂદિઓએ કહ્યું, “એક માણસ જે શેતાન ઘેલો છે તે આના જેવી વાતો કહી શકે નહિ. શેતાન આંધળા લોકોની આંખો સાજી કરી શકે? ના!”
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<s style="s">યહૂદિઓ ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધમાં
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JHN.10.22" />તે શિયાળાનો સમય હતો. યરૂશાલેમમાં પ્રતિષ્ઠા પર્વ<f caller="+"><fr>10:22
</fr><fk>પ્રતિષ્ઠા પર્વ
</fk><ft>ડિસેમ્બરનું વિશેષ અઠવાડિયું જેને યહૂદિઓ ઉજવે છે.</ft></f> નો સમય આવ્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="JHN.10.23" />મંદિરમાં ઈસુ સુલેમાનની પરસાળમાં ચાલતો હતો.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.10.24" />યહૂદિઓ ઈસુની આસપાસ ભેગા થયા. તેઓએ કહ્યુ, “ક્યાં સુધી તું તારા વિષે અમને સંદેહમાં રાખીશ? જો તું ખ્રિસ્ત હોય તો પછી અમને સ્પષ્ટ કહે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.10.25" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મેં તો તમને બધું જ કહ્યું છે, પણ તમે વિશ્વાસ કરતા નથી. હું મારા પિતાના નામે કામો કરું છું. હું કોણ છું તે મારા કામો બતાવશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="JHN.10.26" />પણ તમે વિશ્વાસ કરતા નથી. શા માટે? કારણ કે તમે મારાં ઘેટાં (લોકો) નથી.
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<v id="27" bcv="JHN.10.27" />મારાં ઘેટાં મારી વાણી સાભળે છે. હું તેઓને ઓળખું છું. અને તેઓ મને અનુસરે છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="JHN.10.28" />હું મારાં ઘેટાંઓને અનંતજીવન આપું છું. તેઓ કદાપિ મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ. અને કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ તેઓને મારાં હાથમાંથી છીનવી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="29" bcv="JHN.10.29" />મારાં પિતાએ મને મારું ઘેટું આપ્યું. તે દરેક જણ કરતા મહાન છે. કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ મારાં પિતાના હાથમાંથી મારાં ઘેટાંને ચોરી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="30" bcv="JHN.10.30" />હું અને મારાં પિતા એક જ છીએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JHN.10.31" />ફરીથી યહૂદિઓએ ઈસુને મારી નાખવા પથ્થરો હાથમાં લીધા.
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<v id="32" bcv="JHN.10.32" />પરંતુ ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “મેં પિતા તરફથી ઘણાં સારા કામો કર્યા છે. તમે તે બધા કામો જોયા છે. તે સારા કામોમાંના કયા કામને કારણે તમે મને મારી નાખો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JHN.10.33" />યહૂદિઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તેં કરેલાં કોઈ સારાં કામને લીધે અમે તને મારી નાખતા નથી. પણ તું જે વાતો કહે છે તે દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ છે. તું ફક્ત એક માણસ છે, પરંતુ તું કહે છે કે તું દેવ સમાન છે. તે જ કારણથી અમે તને પથ્થરો વડે મારી નાખવા પ્રયત્ન કરીએ છીએ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JHN.10.34" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તે તમારા કાયદામાં લખેલું છે, ‘હું (દેવ) કહું છું કે તમે દેવો છો.’<x caller="+"><xo>10:34
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ગી. શા. 82:6</xt></x>
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<v id="35" bcv="JHN.10.35" />આ શાસ્ત્રલેખમાં પેલા લોકોને દેવો કહ્યા છે Њ તે લોકો કે જેમને દેવનો સંદેશ પ્રાપ્ત થયો છે. આ શાસ્ત્રલેખ હંમેશા સાચો છે.
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<v id="36" bcv="JHN.10.36" />તો પછી તમે શા માટે કહો છો કે હું જે કહું છું દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ છે. કારણ કે મેં કહ્યું, ‘હું દેવનો દીકરો છું.’ હું એ જ છું જેને દેવે પસંદ કર્યો છે અને જગતમાં મોકલ્યો છે.
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<v id="37" bcv="JHN.10.37" />જો મારા પિતા જે કરે છે તે હું ન કરું તો, પછી હું જે કહું તે ના માનશો.
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<v id="38" bcv="JHN.10.38" />પણ જો હું મારા પિતા જે કરે છે તે જ કરું તો, પછી તમારે હું જે કઈ કરું તેમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખવો જોઈએ. તમે મારામાં વિશ્વાસ ન કરો, પરંતુ હું જે કંઈ કરું છું તેમાં તમે વિશ્વાસ કરો. પછી તમે જાણશો અને સમજશો કે પિતા મારામાં છે અને હું પિતામાં છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JHN.10.39" />ઈસુને પકડવાનો પ્રયત્ન યહૂદિઓએ ફરીથી કર્યો. પરંતુ ઈસુ તેઓની પાસેથી નીકળી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="JHN.10.40" />પછી ઈસુ યર્દન નદીને પેલે પાર ગયો. જ્યાં પહેલા યોહાન બાપ્તિસ્મા કરતો હતો. તે સ્થળે ઈસુ ગયો. ઈસુ ત્યાં રહ્યો.
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<v id="41" bcv="JHN.10.41" />અને ઘણા લોકો તેની પાસે આવ્યા. તે લોકોએ કહ્યું, “યોહાને કદી ચમત્કારો કર્યા નથી. પરંતુ યોહાને આ માણસ વિષે જે બધું કહ્યું હતું તે સાચું છે.”
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<v id="42" bcv="JHN.10.42" />અને ત્યાં ઘણા લોકોએ ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો.
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<c id="11" />
<s style="s">લાજરસનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.11.1" />ત્યાં લાજરસ નામનો એક માણસ હતો જે માંદો હતો. તે બેથનિયાના ગામમાં રહેતો હતો. આ તે ગામ હતું જ્યાં મરિયમ તથા તેની બહેન માર્થા રહેતાં હતાં.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.11.2" />(મરિયમ એ જ સ્ત્રી છે જેણે પ્રભુ (ઈસુ) પર અત્તર છાંટયું હતું અને તેના પગ પોતાના વાળ વડે લૂછયા હતા,) મરિયમનો ભાઈ લાજરસ હતો, જે માણસ હવે માંદો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.11.3" />તેથી મરિયમ અને માર્થાએ ઈસુને કહેવા માટે એક વ્યક્તિને મોકલી, “પ્રભુ, તારો પ્રિય મિત્ર લાજરસ માંદો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JHN.11.4" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ આ સાંભળ્યું, તેણે કહ્યું, “આ માંદગીનો અંત મૃત્યુ થશે નહિ. પરંતુ આ માંદગી દેવના મહિમા માટે છે. દેવના દીકરાનો મહિમા લાવવા માટે આમ થયું છે.”
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<v id="5" bcv="JHN.11.5" />(ઈસુએ માર્થા, તેની બહેન અને લાજરસ પર પ્રેમ રાખ્યો હતો.)
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<v id="6" bcv="JHN.11.6" />યારે ઈસુએ સાંભળ્યું કે લાજરસ માંદો છે ત્યારે પોતે જ્યાં હતો તે જ જગ્યાએ તે બે દિવસ વધારે રહ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="JHN.11.7" />પછી ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “આપણે પાછા યહૂદિયા ફરીથી જવું જોઈએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JHN.11.8" />શિષ્યોએ કહ્યું, “પણ રાબ્બી, યહૂદિયામાં યહૂદિઓ તને પથ્થરો વડે મારી નાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતા હતા. તે ફક્ત થોડા સમય અગાઉ થયું હતું. હવે તું ત્યાં પાછો જવા ઈચ્છે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JHN.11.9" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “ત્યાં દિવસના બાર કલાક પ્રકાશના હોય છે. ખરું ને? જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ દિવસ દરમ્યાન ચાલે તો પછી તે ઠોકર ખાઈને પડતો નથી. શા માટે? કારણ કે તે આ જગતના પ્રકાશ વડે જોઈ શકે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JHN.11.10" />પણ જ્યારે વ્યક્તિ રાત્રી દરમ્યાન ચાલે છે, તે ઠોકર ખાય છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે તેને જોવા માટે મદદ કરનાર પ્રકાશ હોતો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JHN.11.11" />ઈસુએ આ વાતો કર્યા પછી તેણે કહ્યું, “આપણો મિત્ર લાજરસ હવે ઊંઘે છે. પણ હું તેને જગાડવા જઈશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.11.12" />શિષ્યોએ કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, પણ જો તે ઊંઘતો હશે તો તે સાજો થશે.”
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.11.13" />ઈસુએ તો તેના મરણ વિષે કહ્યુ હતુ: પણ ઈસુના શિષ્યોને એવું લાગ્યું કે તેણે ઊઘમાં વિસામો લેવા વિષે કહ્યુ હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JHN.11.14" />તેથી ત્યાર બાદ ઈસુએ સ્પષ્ટ કહ્યું, “લાજરસ મૃત્યુ પામેલ છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="JHN.11.15" />અને મને આનંદ છે કે હું ત્યાં ન હતો. હું તમારી ખાતર પ્રસન્ન છું. કારણ કે હવે તમે મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરશો. હવે આપણે તેની પાસે જઈશું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.11.16" />પછી થોમાએ (જે દિદુમસ કહેવાય છે) બીજા શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “આપણે પણ જઈશું. આપણે યહૂદિયામાં ઈસુ સાથે મૃત્યુ પામીશું.”
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</p>
<s style="s">બેથનિયામાં ઈસુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JHN.11.17" />ઈસુ બેથનિયામાં આવ્યો. ઈસુએ જોયું કે લાજરસ ખરેખર મૃત્યુ પામેલો છે અને ચાર દિવસથી કબરમાં છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="JHN.11.18" />બેથનિયા યરૂશાલેમથી બે માઈલ દૂર હતું.
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<v id="19" bcv="JHN.11.19" />ઘણા યહૂદિઓ માર્થા અને મરિયમ પાસે આવ્યા. યહૂદિઓ માર્થા અને મરિયમને તેમના ભાઈ લાજરસ સંબંધી દિલાસો આપવા આવ્યા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JHN.11.20" />માર્થાએ સાંભળ્યું કે ઈસુ આવે છે. તે ઈસુને મળવા સામે ગઈ. પરંતુ મરિયમ ઘરે રહી.
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<v id="21" bcv="JHN.11.21" />માર્થાએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, જો તું અહીં હોત તો મારો ભાઈ મરત નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="JHN.11.22" />પરંતુ હું જાણું છું કે હજુ પણ તું દેવ પાસે જે કંઈ માગશે તે દેવ તને આપશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JHN.11.23" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તારો ભાઈ ઊઠશે અને તે ફરીથી જીવતો થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JHN.11.24" />માર્થાએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “છેલ્લે દિવસે લોકો પુનરુંત્થાન (મરણમાંથી ઉઠશે) પામશે ત્યારે તે ફરીથી પાછો ઊઠશે. એ હું જાણું છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.11.25" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “હું પુનરુંત્થાન છું. હું જીવન છું. જે વ્યક્તિ મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેના મૃત્યુ પછી ફરીથી જીવન પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="JHN.11.26" />અને જે વ્યક્તિ જીવે છે અને વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તે ખરેખર કદી મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ. માર્થા, શું તું એવો વિશ્વાસ કરે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JHN.11.27" />માર્થાએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા, પ્રભુ. મને વિશ્વાસ છે કે તું ખ્રિસ્ત છે, દેવનો દીકરો છે. તું જે જગતમાં આવનાર તે જ છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ રડે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JHN.11.28" />માર્થાએ આ બાબત કહી પછી તેની બહેન મરિયમ પાસે પાછી ગઈ. માર્થાએ એકલી મરિયમ સાથે વાત કરી. માર્થાએ કહ્યું, “ગુરુંજી (ઈસુ) અહીં છે. તે તને બોલાવે છે.”
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<v id="29" bcv="JHN.11.29" />જ્યારે મરિયમે આ સાંભળ્યુ, તે ઊભી થઈ અને ઝડપથી ઈસુ પાસે ગઈ.
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<v id="30" bcv="JHN.11.30" />ઈસુ હજુ ગામમાં આવ્યો ન હતો. તે હજુ માર્થા તેને જ્યાં મળી તે જગ્યાએ હતો.
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<v id="31" bcv="JHN.11.31" />યહૂદિઓ મરિયમ સાથે ઘરમાં હતા. તેઓ તેને દિલાસો આપતા હતા. તેઓએ જોયું કે મરિયમ ઉતાવળથી ઊભી થઈને બહાર ગઈ. તેઓએ ધાર્યું કે તે લાજરસની કબર તરફ જાય છે. તેઓએ વિચાર્યુ કે તે ત્યાં વિલાપ કરવા જાય છે. તેથી તેઓ તેને અનુસર્યા.
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<v id="32" bcv="JHN.11.32" />મરિયમ ઈસુ જે જગ્યાએ હતો ત્યાં ગઈ. જ્યારે તેણે ઈસુને જોયો. તે તેના પગે પડી. મરિયમે કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, જો તું અહીં હોત તો મારો ભાઈ મરત નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JHN.11.33" />ઈસુએ જોયું કે મરિયમ રડતી હતી. ઈસુએ તે પણ જોયું કે યહૂદિઓ તેની સાથે આવ્યા હતા. તેઓ પણ રડતા હતા. ઈસુનું હૃદય ઘણું દુઃખી થયું અને તે ઘણો વ્યાકુળ હતો.
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<v id="34" bcv="JHN.11.34" />ઈસુએ પૂછયું, “તમે તેને (લાજરસ) ક્યાં મૂક્યો છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓ કહે છે, “પ્રભુ આવીને જો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="JHN.11.35" />ઈસુ રડ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="JHN.11.36" />અને યહૂદિઓએ કહ્યું, “જુઓ! ઈસુ લાજરસ પર પ્રેમ રાખતો હતો!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="JHN.11.37" />પણ કેટલાક યહૂદિઓએ કહ્યું, “ઈસુએ આંધળા માણસની આંખો સાજી કરી છે. ઈસુમાં શું લાજરસ ન મરે એવું પણ કરવાની શક્તિ ન હતી?”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ લાજરસને ફરીથી સજીવન કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="JHN.11.38" />ફરીથી ઈસુને તેના હૃદયમાં ઘણું દુઃખ થયું.
</p>
<p style="p">જ્યાં લાજરસ હતો તે કબર પાસે ઈસુ આવ્યો. તે કબર એક ગુફા હતી. તેના પ્રવેશદ્વારને મોટા પથ્થર વડે ઢાંકેલું હતું.
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<v id="39" bcv="JHN.11.39" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “આ પથ્થરને દૂર કરો.”
</p>
<p style="p">માર્થાએ કહ્યું, “પણ પ્રભુ, લાજરસને મરી ગયાને હજુ ચાર દિવસ થયા છે. ત્યાં દુર્ગંધ હશે.” માર્થા મૃત્યુ પામનાર માણસ (લાજરસ)ની બહેન હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="JHN.11.40" />પછી ઈસુએ માર્થાને કહ્યું, “યાદ કર મેં તને શું કહ્યું હતું?” મેં કહ્યું, “જો તું વિશ્વાસ કરશે તો પછી તું દેવનો મહિમા જોઈ શકશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="41" bcv="JHN.11.41" />તેથી તેઓએ પ્રવેશદ્વાર પરથી પથ્થર હઠાવ્યો. પછી ઈસુએ ઊંચે જોયું અને કહ્યું, “પિતા, હું તારો આભાર માનું છું. કારણ કે તેં મને સાંભળ્યો.
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<v id="42" bcv="JHN.11.42" />હું જાણું છું કે તુ મને હંમેશા સાંભળે છે. પરંતુ મેં આ કહ્યું કારણ કે અહીં મારી આજુબાજુ લોકો છે. હું ઈચ્છું છું કે તેઓ વિશ્વાસ કરે કે તેં મને મોકલ્યો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="43" bcv="JHN.11.43" />ઈસુએ આમ કહ્યા પછી મોટા સાદે પોકાર કર્યો, “લાજરસ બહાર આવ!”
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<v id="44" bcv="JHN.11.44" />તે મૃત્યુ પામેલ માણસ (લાજરસ) બહાર આવ્યો. તેના હાથ અને પગ લૂગડાંના ટૂકડાઓથી વીંટળાયેલા હતા. તેનો ચહેરો રૂમાલથી ઢાંકેલો હતો.
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “તેના પરથી લૂગડાંના ટૂકડા લઈ લો અને તેને જવા દો.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુને મારી નાખવાની યહૂદિ આગેવાનોની યોજના
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:1-5; માર્ક 14:1-2; લૂક 22:1-2)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="45" bcv="JHN.11.45" />ત્યાં ઘણા યહૂદિઓ મરિયમની મુલાકાતે આવ્યા હતા. આ યહૂદિઓએ ઈસુએ જે કર્યુ તે જોયું અને આ યહૂદિઓમાંના ઘણાએ ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો.
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<v id="46" bcv="JHN.11.46" />પરંતુ કેટલાક યહૂદિઓ ફરોશીઓ પાસે ગયા. તેઓએ ઈસુએ જે કર્યુ તે ફરોશીઓને કહ્યું.
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<v id="47" bcv="JHN.11.47" />પછી મુખ્ય યાજકો અને ફરોશીઓએ યહૂદિઓની સભા બોલાવી. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આપણે શું કરવું જોઈએ? આ માણસ (ઈસુ) ઘણા ચમત્કારો કરે છે.
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<v id="48" bcv="JHN.11.48" />જો આપણે તેને આ ચમત્કારો કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખવા દઈશું, તો બધા લોકો તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ કરશે. પછી રોમનો આવશે અને આપણા મંદિર અને રાષ્ટ્રને લઈ લેશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="JHN.11.49" />ત્યાં કાયાફા નામનો એક માણસ હતો. તે વરસે તે પ્રમુખ યાજક હતો. કાયાફાએ કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો કશું જાણતા નથી!
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<v id="50" bcv="JHN.11.50" />લોકોના માટે એક માણસનું મરવું તે આખા રાષ્ટ્રનો વિનાશ થાય વે કરતાં વધારે સારું છે. પરંતુ તમને આનો ખ્યાલ આવતો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="JHN.11.51" />કાયાફાએ આ વિષે તેની જાતે આનો વિચાર કર્યો નહિ. તે વરસનો તે મુખ્ય યાજક હતો. તેથી તેણે ખરેખર ભવિષ્ય કહ્યું હતું કે ઈસુ યહૂદિઓના રાષ્ટ્ર માટે મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="52" bcv="JHN.11.52" />હા, ઈસુ યહૂદિ રાષ્ટ્રના લોકો માટે મરશે. પરંતુ ઈસુ દેવનાં બીજા બાળકો જે આખા જગતમાં વિખરાયેલા છે તેમનાં માટે પણ મૃત્યુ પામશે. તે બધાઓને ભેગા કરવા અને તે લોકોને એક બનાવવા માટે તે મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="53" bcv="JHN.11.53" />તે દિવસે યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ ઈસુને મારી નાખવાની યોજના કરવાનું શરું કર્યુ.
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<v id="54" bcv="JHN.11.54" />તેથી ઈસુએ યહૂદિઓમાં આજુબાજુ જાહેરમાં ફરવાનું બંધ કર્યુ. ઈસુએ યરૂશાલેમ છોડ્યું અને રણની નજીકની જગ્યાએ ગયો. ઈસુ એફ્રાઈમ નામના શહેરમાં ગયો. ઈસુ ત્યાં તેના શિષ્યો સાથે રહ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="55" bcv="JHN.11.55" />યહૂદિઓના પાસ્ખાપર્વનો લગભગ તે સમય હતો. તે દેશમાંથી ઘણા લોકો પાસ્ખાપર્વ પહેલા યરૂશાલેમ ગયા. તેઓ પાસ્ખાપર્વ પહેલા પોતાને શુદ્ધ કરવા માટે ખાસ વસ્તુઓ કરવા ગયા હતા.
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<v id="56" bcv="JHN.11.56" />લોકો ઈસુની શોધ કરી રહ્યા હતા. તેઓ મંદિરમાં ઊભા રહીને એકબીજાને પૂછતા હતા, “શું તે (ઈસુ) ઉત્સવમાં આવે છે? તમે શું ધારો છો?”
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<v id="57" bcv="JHN.11.57" />પરંતુ મુખ્ય યાજકો અને ફરોશીઓએ ઈસુ વિષે ખાસ હુકમ આપ્યો હતો. તેઓએ કહ્યું, કે જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ઈસુ ક્યાં છે તે જાણે તો તે માણસે તેઓને જણાવવું જોઈએ. પછી મુખ્ય યાજકો અને ફરોશીઓ ઈસુને પકડી શકે.
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</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">બેથનિયામાં ઈસુ તેના મિત્રો સાથે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:6-13; માર્ક 14:3-9)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.12.1" />પાસ્ખાપર્વના છ દિવસો અગાઉ, ઈસુ બેથનિયા ગયો. લાજરસ જ્યાં રહેતો હતો તે ગામ બેથનિયા હતું. (લાજરસ એ માણસ હતો જેને ઈસુએ મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠાડ્યો હતો.)
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.12.2" />તેઓએ ઈસુ માટે બેથનિયામાં ભોજન રાખ્યું હતું. માર્થાએ ભોજન પીરસ્યું. તે લોકોમાં લાજરસ હતો જે ઈસુ સાથે જમતો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.12.3" />તે સમયે મરિયમે ઘણું કિંમતી જટામાંસીનું એક શેર અત્તર આણ્યું. મરિયમે તે અત્તર ઈસુના પગ પર લગાડ્યું. પછી તેણે તેના પગ તેના વાળ વડે લૂછયા. અને અત્તરની મીઠી સુગંધથી આખું ઘર ભરાઈ ગયું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JHN.12.4" />યહૂદા ઈશ્કરિયોત ત્યાં હતો. યહૂદા ઈસુના શિષ્યોમાંનો એક હતો. (તે એક કે જે પાછળથી ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ થનાર હતો.) મરિયમે જે કર્યુ તે યહૂદાને ગમ્યું નહિ. તેથી તેણે કહ્યું,
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<v id="5" bcv="JHN.12.5" />“તે અત્તરની કિંમત ચાંદીના 300 સિક્કા હતી. તે વેચી શકાયું હોત અને પૈસા ગરીબ લોકોને આપી શક્યા હોત.”
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<v id="6" bcv="JHN.12.6" />પણ યહૂદા ખરેખર ગરીબ લોકો વિષે ચિંતા કરતો ન હતો. યહૂદાએ આ કહ્યું કારણ કે તે એક ચોર હતો. યહૂદા જે શિષ્યોના સમૂહ માટે પૈસાની પેટી રાખતો હતો અને તે વારંવાર પેટીમાંથી પૈસા ચોરતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JHN.12.7" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તેને રોકશો નહિ. આજના દિવસ માટે તેણીના માટે આ અત્તર બચાવવું યોગ્ય હતું. આ દિવસ મારા માટે દફનની તૈયારીનો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="JHN.12.8" />ગરીબ લોકો હંમેશા તમારી સાથે હશે પણ હું હમેશા તમારી સાથે નથી.”
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</p>
<s style="s">લાજરસ વિરૂદ્ધ યોજન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JHN.12.9" />યહૂદિઓમાંના ઘણાએ સાંભળ્યું કે ઈસુ બેથનિયામાં હતો. તેથી તેઓ ઈસુને જોવા ત્યાં ગયા. તેઓ ત્યાં લાજરસને જોવા પણ ગયા. ઈસુએ મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊભા કરેલામાંનો એક લાજરસ હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JHN.12.10" />તેથી તે મુખ્ય યાજકોએ લાજરસને મારી નાખવા માટે પણ યોજના કરી.
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<v id="11" bcv="JHN.12.11" />લાજરસને કારણે ઘણા યહૂદિઓ તેમના આગેવાનોને છોડતા હતા અને ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ કરતા હતા. તે જ કારણે યહૂદિ આગેવાનો પણ મારી નાખવા ઈચ્છતા હતા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનો યરૂશાલેમમાં પ્રવેશ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 21:1-11; માર્ક 11:1-11; લૂક 19:28-40)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.12.12" />બીજે દિવસે યરૂશાલેમમાં લોકોએ સાંભળ્યું કે ઈસુ ત્યાં આવતો હતો. ત્યાં ઘણા લોકો હતા જે પાસ્ખાપર્વમાં આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.12.13" />તે લોકોએ ખજૂરીના વૃક્ષોની ડાળીઓ લીધી અને ઈસુને મળવા બહાર ગયા. લોકોએ પોકાર કર્યા,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘હોસાન્ના!’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘જે પ્રભુના નામે આવે છે, તેને ધન્ય છે!’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.118.25">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 118:25-26</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">ઈઝરાએલનો રાજા આવે છે તેને ધન્ય છે!”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JHN.12.14" />ઈસુને એક ગધેડાનો વછેરો મળ્યો અને તેના પર તે બેઠો. શાસ્ત્રલેખ કહે છે તેવું આ હતુ:
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="JHN.12.15" />“સિયોન<f caller="+"><fr>12:15
</fr><fk>સિયોન
</fk><ft>અક્ષરશ: “સિયોનની દીકરી,” અર્થાત યરૂશાલેમ.</ft></f> ની દીકરી, બી મા!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જો! તારો રાજા આવે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે ગધેડાના વછેરા પર બેસીને આવે છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ZEC.9.9">ઝખાર્યા 9:9</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.12.16" />ઈસુના શિષ્યો તે સમયે જે બનતું હતું તે સમજી શક્યા નહિ. પરંતુ ઈસુ મહિમાવાન થયો, તેઓ સમજ્યા કે આ બાબતો તેના વિષે લખેલી હતી. પછી તે શિષ્યોને યાદ આવ્યું કે લોકોએ તે બધું તેને માટે કર્યુ હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JHN.12.17" />ત્યાં ઈસુ સાથે ઘણા લોકો હતા જ્યારે તેણે લાજરસને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠાડ્યો અને તેને કબરમાંથી બહાર આવવા કહ્યું. હવે પેલા લોકોએ ઈસુએ જે કર્યુ તેના વિષે બીજા લોકોને કહ્યું.
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<v id="18" bcv="JHN.12.18" />ઘણા લોકો ઈસુને મળવા બહાર ગયા, કારણ કે તેઓએ સાંભળ્યું કે ઈસુએ આ ચમત્કાર કર્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="JHN.12.19" />તેથી તે ફરોશીઓએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું, “જુઓ! નોંઘ કરો તમે કશામાં સફળતા પ્રાપ્ત કરી નથી. આખું જગત તેને અનુસરે છે!”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ જીવન અને મૃત્યુ વિષે વાત કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JHN.12.20" />ત્યાં કેટલાક ગ્રીક લોકો પણ હતા. પાસ્ખાપર્વમાં જે લોકો યરૂશાલેમથી આવેલા હતા તે ભજન કરવા ગયા.
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<v id="21" bcv="JHN.12.21" />આ ગ્રીક લોકો ફિલિપ પાસે ગયા. (ફિલિપ ગાલીલના બેથસૈદાનો હતો.) ગ્રીક લોકોએ કહ્યું, “સાહેબ, અમારી ઈચ્છા ઈસુને મળવાની છે.”
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<v id="22" bcv="JHN.12.22" />ફિલિપે આવીને આન્દ્રિયાને કહ્યું. પછી આન્દ્રિયા અને ફિલિપ ગયા અને ઈસુને કહ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JHN.12.23" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “માણસના દીકરાને મહિમાવાન થવાનો સમય આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.12.24" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું એક ઘઉંનો દાણો જમીન પર પડે છે અને મરી જાય છે. પછી તે ઊગે છે અને ઘણા બીજ બનાવે છે. પણ જો તે કદી મરી નહિ જાય, તો પછી તે ફક્ત એક સાદો દાણો જ રહેશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="JHN.12.25" />જે વ્યક્તિ તેના પોતાના જીવ પર પ્રીતિ કરે છે તે જીવન ગુમાવે છે. પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ આ દુનિયામાં પોતાના જીવને ધિક્કારે છે તે જીવન ને ટકાવે છે. તેને અનંતજીવન પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="JHN.12.26" />જે વ્યક્તિ મારી સેવા કરે છે તેણે મને અનુસરવું જોઈએ. પછી મારો સેવક હું જ્યાં જ્યાં હોઈશ ત્યાં તે પણ મારી સાથે હશે. મારા પિતા જે લોકો મારી સેવા કરે છે તેઓને સન્માન આપશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ તેના મૃત્યુ વિષે વાત કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JHN.12.27" />“હવે હું ઘણો વ્યાકુળ થયો છું. મારે શું કહેવું જોઈએ? મારે એમ કહેવું, ‘પિતા, મને આ વિપત્તિના સમયમાંથી બચાવ?’ ના! હું આ વખતે આના માટે જ આવ્યો છું તેથી મારે દુ:ખ સહેવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="JHN.12.28" />પિતા, તારા નામનો મહિમા થાઓ!”
</p>
<p style="p">પછીથી એક વાણી આકાશમાંથી આવી, “મેં તેના નામનો મહિમા કર્યો છે. હું ફરીથી તે કરીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JHN.12.29" />ત્યાં ઊભેલા લોકોએ તે વાણી સાંભળી. પેલા લોકોએ કહ્યું, તે ગર્જના હતી.
</p>
<p style="p">પણ બીજા લોકોએ કહ્યું, “એક દૂતે ઈસુ સાથે વાત કરી!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JHN.12.30" />ઈસુએ લોકોને કહ્યું, “તે વાણી તમારા માટે હતી મારા માટે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="JHN.12.31" />હવે જગતનો ન્યાય કરવાનો સમય છે. હવે આ જગતનો શાસક (શેતાન) બહાર ફેંકાઇ જશે.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="JHN.12.32" />મને પૃથ્વી પરથી ઊંચો કરવામાં આવશે અને જ્યારે આ બનશે ત્યારે હું બધા લોકોને મારી તરફ ખેંચીશ.”
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="JHN.12.33" />ઈસુએ પોતાનું મૃત્યુ કેવી રીતે થશે તે દર્શાવવા આ કહ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JHN.12.34" />લોકોએ કહ્યું, “પરંતુ આપણો નિયમ કહે છે કે ખ્રિસ્ત સદાકાળ જીવશે. તેથી તું શા માટે કહે છે કે, ‘માણસના દીકરાને ઊંચો કરાવવો જોઈએ?’ આ માણસનો દીકરો કોણ છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="JHN.12.35" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “ફક્ત થોડા વધુ સમય માટે તમારી સાથે પ્રકાશ રહેશે. જ્યાં સુધી તમારી સાથે પ્રકાશ છે ત્યાં સુધી પ્રકાશમાં ચાલો, તો પછી અંધકાર (પાપ) તમને પકડશે નહિ. જે વ્યક્તિ અંધકારમાં ચાલે છે તે જાણતી નથી કે તે ક્યાં જાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="JHN.12.36" />તેથી જ્યાં સુધી તમારી પાસે પ્રકાશ હોય ત્યાં સુધી તમારો વિશ્વાસ પ્રકાશ પર રાખો. પછી તમે પ્રકાશના દીકરા બનશો.” જ્યારે ઈસુએ આ વાતો કહેવાનું પૂર્ણ કર્યુ ત્યારે તે વિદાય થયો. ઈસુ એવી જગ્યાએ ગયો જ્યાં લોકો તેને શોધી શકે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદિઓએ ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ કરવાની ના પાડી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="JHN.12.37" />ઈસુએ ઘણા ચમત્કારો કર્યા. લોકોએ આ બાબતો જોઈ. પણ તેઓએ હજુ પણ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="JHN.12.38" />તે સંપૂર્ણ રીતે સમજાવવા યશાયા પ્રબોધકે કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“પ્રભુ, અમે તેઓને જે કહ્યું છે તેને કોણે માન્યું છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રભુની સત્તા કોણે જોઈ છે?”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.53.1">યશાયા 53:1</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="39" bcv="JHN.12.39" />આના કારણે જ લોકો વિશ્વાસ કરી શક્યા નહિ. કારણ કે યશાયાએ વળી કહ્યું હતુ કે,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="40" bcv="JHN.12.40" />“દેવે લોકોને આંધળા બનાવ્યા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવે તેમનાં મન જડ કર્યા દેવે
</q>
<q style="q1">આ કર્યુ તેથી કરીને તેઓ પોતાની આંખોથી આ જોઈ શકે નહિ
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તેમના મનથી સમજે નહિ. રખેને હું તેઓને સાજા કરું.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.6.10">યશાયા 6:10</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="41" bcv="JHN.12.41" />યશાયાએ આ કહ્યું કારણ કે તેણે તેનો (ઈસુનો) મહિમા જોયો. તેથી યશાયા તેના (ઈસુ) વિષે બોલ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="JHN.12.42" />પરંતુ ઘણા લોકોએ ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો. ઘ્ૅંણા યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ પણ ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો. પરંતુ તેઓ ફરોશીઓથી બીતા હતા. તેથી તેઓ જાહેરમાં કહી શકતા નહોતા કે તેઓએ વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો છે. તેઓને ભય હતો કે તેઓ તેમને કદાય સભાસ્થાનમાંથી કાઢી મૂકે.
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<v id="43" bcv="JHN.12.43" />આ માણસો દેવ તરફથી થતી પ્રસંશા કરતાં માણસો તરફથી થતી પ્રસંશાને વધારે ચાહતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનો બોધ લોકોનો ન્યાય કરશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="JHN.12.44" />પછી ઈસુએ મોટા સાદે કહ્યું, “જે વ્યક્તિ મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેણે ખરેખર જેણે (દેવે) મને મોકલ્યો છે તેનામાં પણ વિશ્વાસ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="JHN.12.45" />જે વ્યક્તિ મને જુએ છે તે ખરેખર જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે તેને જુએ છે.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="JHN.12.46" />હું પ્રકાશ છું અને હું આ જગતમાં આવ્યો છું. હું આવ્યો છું જેથી કરીને પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તે અંધકારમાં રહે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="47" bcv="JHN.12.47" />“હું જગતમાં લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવા આવ્યો નથી. હું જગતના લોકોને બચાવવા માટે આવ્યો છું. તેથી જે લોકો મારી વાતોને સાંભળે છે પણ પાલન કરતા નથી તેનો ન્યાય જે કરે છે તે હું નથી.
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<v id="48" bcv="JHN.12.48" />જે વ્યક્તિ મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરવાની ના પાડે છે જે કહું છું તેનો સ્વીકાર કરતાં નથી તેનો ન્યાય કરનાર એક છે. જે વાત મેં કહી છે તે જ છેલ્લે દિવસે તે વ્યક્તિનો ન્યાય કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="49" bcv="JHN.12.49" />શા માટે? કારણ કે આ વાતો મારી પોતાની નથી. પિતાએ જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે તેણે શું કહેવું અને શું શીખવવું તે મને કહ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="50" bcv="JHN.12.50" />પિતા જે આજ્ઞા કરે છે તેમાંથી અનંતજીવન આવે છે તે હું જાણું છું, તેથી હું જે કઈ કહું છું તે પિતાએ મને કહ્યું છે તે જ હું કહું છું.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">પ્રભુ ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યોના પગ ધૂએ છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.13.1" />યહૂદિઓના પાસ્ખાપર્વનો લગભગ સમય હતો. ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે આ જગત છોડવાનો તેના માટેનો સમય હતો. હવે તે સમય ઈસુ માટે પિતા પાસે પાછા જવાનો હતો. ઈસુએ હંમેશા જગતમાં જે તેના હતા તે લોકોને પ્રેમ કરતો હતો. તેનો પ્રેમ સંપૂર્ણ શ્રેષ્ઠ હતો. હવે ઈસુનો તેનો પ્રેમ તેઓને બતાવવાનો સમય હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JHN.13.2" />ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો સાંજના ભોજનમાં સાથે હતા. શેતાને અગાઉથી યહૂદા ઈશ્કરિયોતને ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ થવા સમજાવ્યો હતો. (યહૂદા સિમોનનો દીકરો હતો.)
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JHN.13.3" />પિતાએ ઈસુને બધી વસ્તુઓ પરની સત્તા સોંપી હતી. ઈસુએ આ જાણ્યું. ઈસુએ તે પણ જાણ્યું કે તે દેવ પાસેથી આવ્યો છે. અને એમ પણ જાણ્યું કે હવે તે દેવ પાસે પાછો જતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JHN.13.4" />યારે તેઓ જમતા હતા, ઈસુએ ઊભા થઈને પોતાનો ઝભ્ભો ઉતારી નાખ્યો. ઈસુએ રુંમાલ લીધો અને તેને પોતાની કમરે બાંધ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JHN.13.5" />પછી ઈસુએ વાસણમાં પાણી રેડ્યું. તેણે શિષ્યોના પગ ધોવાની શરુંઆત કરી. તેણે રુંમાલ વડે તેમના પગ લૂછયા. જે રુંમાલ તેની કમરે વીંટાળેલો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.13.6" />ઈસુ સિમોન પિતર પાસે આવ્યો. પરંતુ પિતરે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, તારે મારા પગ ધોવા જોઈએ નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JHN.13.7" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હમણા હું શું કરું છું તે તું જાણતો નથી. પરંતુ પાછળથી તું સમજી શકીશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JHN.13.8" />પિતરે કહ્યું, “ના! હું કદાપિ મારા પગ ધોવા દઈશ નહિ.”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જો હું તારા પગ નહિ ધોઉ, તો પછી તું મારા લોકોમાંનો એક થશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JHN.13.9" />સિમોન પિતરે કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, મારા પગ ધોયા પછી તું મારા હાથ અને મારું માથું પણ ધો!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JHN.13.10" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “વ્યક્તિના સ્નાન કર્યા પછી તેનું આખું શરીર ચોખ્ખું થાય છે. તેને ફક્ત તેના પગ ધોવાની જ જરુંર છે. અને તમે માણસો ચોખ્ખા છો, પરંતુ તમારામાંના બધા નહિ.”
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JHN.13.11" />ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે, કોણ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ થશે. તે જ કારણે ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમારામાંથી દરેક ચોખ્ખા નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.13.12" />ઈસુએ તેમના પગ ધોવાનું પૂરું કર્યુ. પછી તેણે પોતાનાં કપડાં પહેર્યા અને ફરીથી મેજ પર બેઠો. ઈસુએ પૂછયું, “તમે સમજો છો મેં તમારા માટે શું કર્યું?
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.13.13" />તમે મને ગુરું તથા પ્રભુ કહો છો. એ ખરું છે, કારણ કે હું એ જ છું.
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<v id="14" bcv="JHN.13.14" />હું જ તમારો ‘ગુરું’ અને ‘પ્રભુ’ છું. પણ મેં તમારા પગ સેવકની જેમ ધોયા. તેથી તમારે પણ એકબીજાના પગ ધોવા જોઈએ.
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<v id="15" bcv="JHN.13.15" />મેં તમારા માટે એક નમૂના તરીકે આ કર્યુ. તેથી મેં તમારા માટે જે કર્યુ તેવું તમારે એકબીજા માટે કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="16" bcv="JHN.13.16" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. એક સેવક તેના ધણી કરતાં મોટો નથી. અને જે વ્યક્તિને કંઈક કરવા મોકલાયેલો છે તે પોતાના મોકલનાર કરતાં મોટો નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="JHN.13.17" />જો તમે આ વાતો જાણો અને તેઓને પાળો તો તમે સુખી થશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JHN.13.18" />“હું તમારા બધા વિષે બોલતો નથી. જેઓને મેં પસંદ કર્યા છે તેઓને હું જાણું છું. પરંતુ શાસ્ત્રલેખમાં જે કહ્યું છે તે થવું જોઈએ. ‘જે માણસ મારા ભોજનમાં ભાગીદાર બન્યો છે તે મારી વિરૂદ્ધ થયો છે.’
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<v id="19" bcv="JHN.13.19" />હું તમને તે બનતા પહેલા આ કહું છું. જેથી જ્યારે એ બને, ત્યારે તમે વિશ્વાસ કરો કે હું તે છું.
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<v id="20" bcv="JHN.13.20" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. જે કોઈને હું મોકલું છું તેનો સ્વીકાર જે કરે છે તે મારો સ્વીકાર કરે છે અને જે મારો સ્વીકાર કરે છે તે મારા મોકલનારનો પણ સ્વીકાર કરે છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ કહે છે કોણ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ થશે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:20-25; માર્ક 14:17-21; લૂક 22:21-23)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JHN.13.21" />ઈસુએ આ વાતો કહ્યા પછી તેણે ભારે વ્યાકુળતા અનુભવી. ઈસુએ જાહેરમાં કહ્યું, “હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. તમારામાંનો એક મારી વિરૂદ્ધ થશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JHN.13.22" />ઈસુના બધા શિષ્યો એકબીજા સામે જોવા લાગ્યા. ઈસુ જેના વિષે વાત કરતો હતો, તે વ્યક્તિ કોણ હતી તે તેઓ સમજી શક્યા નહિ.
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<v id="23" bcv="JHN.13.23" />શિષ્યોમાંનો એક ઈસુની બાજુમાં છાતીને અઢેલીને બેઠો હતો. ઈસુ જેને પ્રેમ કરતો હતો તે આ શિષ્ય હતો.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.13.24" />સિમોન પિતરે આ શિષ્યને ઈશારો કરીને ઈસુને પૂછયું કે જેના વિષે વાત કરતો હતો તે વ્યક્તિ કોણ હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.13.25" />તે શિષ્ય ઈસુની છાતીને અઢેલીને બેઠો હતો અને પૂછયું, “પ્રભુ, તે કોણ છે જે તારી વિરૂદ્ધ થશે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JHN.13.26" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું આ રોટલી થાળીમાં બોળીશ. હું જે માણસને તે આપીશ તે માણસ મારી વિરૂદ્ધ થશે.” તેથી ઈસુએ રોટલીનો ટુકડો લીધો. તેણે તે બોળ્યો ને યહૂદા ઈશ્કરિયોત જે સિમોનનો દીકરો છે તેને આપ્યો.
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<v id="27" bcv="JHN.13.27" />જ્યારે યહૂદાએ ટુકડો લીધો, શેતાન તેનામાં પ્રવેશ્યો. ઈસુએ યહૂદાને કહ્યું, “તું જે બાબત કરે, તે જલ્દીથી કર!”
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<v id="28" bcv="JHN.13.28" />મેજ પાસેનો કોઈપણ માણસ સમજયો નહિ કે શા માટે ઈસુએ યહૂદાને આમ કહ્યું.
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<v id="29" bcv="JHN.13.29" />યહૂદા સમૂહ માટે પૈસાની પેટી રાખનાર માણસ હતો. તેથી કેટલાક શિષ્યોએ વિચાર્યુ કે યહૂદા જઈને કેટલીક જરુંરી વસ્તુઓ પર્વ માટે ખરીદે એવું ઈસુ સમજતો હતો. અથવા તેઓએ વિચાર્યુ કે ઈસુ ઈચ્છતો હતો કે યહૂદા ગરીબ લોકોને જઈને કઈક આપે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JHN.13.30" />ઈસુએ આપેલી રોટલી યહૂદાએ સ્વીકારી પછી યહૂદા બહાર ગયો. તે રાત હતી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ તેના મૃત્યુ વિષે વાત કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JHN.13.31" />જ્યારે યહૂદા બહાર ગયો, ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હવે માણસના દીકરાએ તેનો મહિમા પ્રાપ્ત કર્યો છે અને માણસના દીકરા દ્વારા દેવ મહિમા પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
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<v id="32" bcv="JHN.13.32" />જો દેવ તેના મારફત મહિમા પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે પછી દેવ પોતાના મારફત માણસના દીકરાને મહિમા આપશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JHN.13.33" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “મારા બાળકો, હવે હું ફક્ત થોડા સમય માટે તમારી સાથે હોઈશ. તમે મને શોધશો અને મેં જે યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું તે હવે હું તમને કહ્યું છું. જ્યાં હું જઈ રહ્યો છું ત્યાં તમે આવી શકશો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JHN.13.34" />“હું તમને નવી આજ્ઞા આપું છું કે એકબીજાને પ્રેમ કરો. જે રીતે મેં તમને પ્રેમ કર્યો છે તેમ તમે એકબીજા પર પ્રેમ રાખો.
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<v id="35" bcv="JHN.13.35" />જો તમે એકબીજા પર પ્રેમ રાખશો તો બધા લોકો જાણશે કે તમે મારા શિષ્યો છો.”
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ કહે છે કે પિતર તેનો નકાર કરશે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:31-35; માર્ક 14:27-31; લૂક 22:31-34)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="JHN.13.36" />સિમોન પિતરે ઈસુને પૂછયું, “પ્રભુ, તું ક્યાં જાય છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું જ્યાં જાઉં છું ત્યાં હવે તું મારી પાછળ આવી શકીશ નહિ, પણ તું પાછળથી અનુસરીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="JHN.13.37" />પિતરે પૂછયું, “પ્રભુ, હવે હું શા માટે તારી પાછળ આવી શકું નહિ? હું તારા માટે મરવા પણ તૈયાર છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="JHN.13.38" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “શું તું ખરેખર મારા માટે તારોં જીવ આપીશ? હું તને સાચું કહું છું. મરઘો બોલે તે પહેલા તું ત્રણ વાર કહીશ કે તું મને ઓળખતો નથી.”
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</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યોને દિલાસો આપે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.14.1" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમારા હૃદયોને વ્યાકુળ થવા ન દો. દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખો અને મારામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખો.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.14.2" />મારા પિતાના ઘરમાં ત્યાં ઘણાં ઓરડાઓ છે. જો તે સાચું ના હોત તો હું તમને આ કહેત નહિ. હું તમારા માટે જગ્યાની તૈયારી કરવા જાઉં છું.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.14.3" />ત્યાં જઈને તમારા માટે જગ્યાની તૈયારી કર્યા બાદ, હું પાછો આવીશ. પછી હું તમને મારી સાથે લઈ જઈશ. તેથી કરીને હું જ્યાં હોઈશ ત્યાં તમે પણ હશો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JHN.14.4" />હું જ્યાં જાઉ છું તે જગ્યાનો માર્ગ તમે જાણો છો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JHN.14.5" />થોમાએ કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, તું ક્યાં જાય છે તે અમે જાણતાં નથી. તેથી અમે તે માર્ગ કેવી રીતે જાણી શકીએ?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.14.6" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું માર્ગ છું. હું સત્ય છું અને જીવન છું. પિતા પાસે જવાનો માર્ગ ફક્ત મારા દ્વારા છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="JHN.14.7" />જો તમે મને ખરેખર ઓળખતા હોત, તો પછી તમે મારા પિતાને પણ જાણશો. હવેથી તમે એને જાણશો. તમે તેને જોયો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JHN.14.8" />ફિલિપે ઈસુને કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ, અમને પિતા બતાવ. અમારે જે બધું જોઈએ છે તે એ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JHN.14.9" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “ફિલિપ, ઘણા લાંબા સમય સુધી હું તારી સાથે છું. તેથી તારે મને ઓળખવો જોઈએ. જે વ્યક્તિએ મને જોયો છે તેણે મારા પિતાને પણ જોયો છે. તેથી તું શા માટે કહે છે, અમને પિતા બતાવ?
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<v id="10" bcv="JHN.14.10" />શું તમે ખરેખર માનો છો કે હું પિતામાં છું અને પિતા મારામાં છે? તમને મેં જે બધી વાતો કહી છે તે મારામાંથી આવી નથી. પિતા મારામાં રહે છે તે તેનું પોતાનું કામ કરે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="JHN.14.11" />મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરો જ્યારે હું કહું કે હું પિતામાં છું અને પિતા મારામાં છે. અથવા કામોને લીધે જ મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.14.12" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું, જે વ્યક્તિ મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તે મેં જે કામો કર્યા છે તેવાં જ કરશે. હા! તે મેં કર્યા છે તેનાં કરતાં વધારે મહાન કામો પણ કરશે. શા માટે? કારણ કે હું પિતા પાસે જાઉં છું.
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.14.13" />અને જો તમે મારા નામે જે કંઈ માગશો તો હું તમારા માટે તે કરીશ. પછી દીકરા દ્વારા પિતા મહિમાવાન દર્શાવાશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="JHN.14.14" />જો તમે મારા નામે કંઈ મારી પાસે માગશો તો હું તે કરીશ.
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</p>
<s style="s">પવિત્ર આત્માનું વચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JHN.14.15" />“જો તમે મારા પર પ્રેમ કરો છો, તો પછી હું તમને જે આજ્ઞાઓ કરું તેનું પાલન કરશો.
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<v id="16" bcv="JHN.14.16" />હું પિતાને પૂછીશ, અને તે મને બીજો સંબોધક<f caller="+"><fr>14:16
</fr><fk>સંબોધક
</fk><ft>અથવા “દિલાસો દેનાર,” પવિત્ર આત્મા.</ft></f> આપશે. તે તમને આ સંબોધક હંમેશા તમારી સાથે રહેવા માટે આપશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JHN.14.17" />તે સંબોધક સત્યનો આત્મા<f caller="+"><fr>14:17
</fr><fk>સત્યનો આત્મા
</fk><ft>પવિત્ર આત્મા. દેવનું સત્ય સમજાવવા ઈસુના શિષ્યોને સહાય કરવાનું કાર્ય કરે છે. જુઓ યોહા. 16:13</ft></f> છે. જગત તેનો સ્વીકાર કરી શકતું નથી. શા માટે? કારણ કે જગત તેને જોતું નથી કે તેને ઓળખતું નથી. પણ તમે તેને ઓળખો છો. તે તમારી સાથે રહે છે અને તે તમારામાં રહેશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JHN.14.18" />“હું માતા પિતા વિનાના બાળકોની જેમ તમને બધાને એકલા છોડીશ નહિ. હું તમારી પાસે પાછો આવીશ.
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<v id="19" bcv="JHN.14.19" />ખૂબ જ ટૂંકા સમયમાં જગતના લોકો મને વધારે વખત જોઈ શકશે નહિ. પણ તમે મને જોઈ શકશો. તમે જીવશો કારણ કે હું જીવું છું.
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<v id="20" bcv="JHN.14.20" />તે દિવસે તમે જાણશો કે હું પિતામાં છું. તમે જાણશો કે તમે મારામાં છો અને હું તમારામાં છું.
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<v id="21" bcv="JHN.14.21" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારી આજ્ઞાને જાણે છે અને તે આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરે છે. પછી તે માણસ ખરેખર મને પ્રેમ કરે છે અને મારા પિતા તે વ્યક્તિને પ્રેમ કરે છે જે મને પ્રેમ કરે છે અને હું તે માણસને પ્રેમ કરીશ. હું મારી જાતે તેને બતાવીશ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JHN.14.22" />પછી યહૂદાએ (યહૂદા ઈશ્કરિયોત નહિ) કહ્યું, “પણ પ્રભુ, તું શા માટે અમારી આગળ પ્રગટ થવાની યોજના કરે છે, પણ જગત આગળ નહિ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JHN.14.23" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મને પ્રેમ કરે છે, તો તે મારા વચનનું પાલન કરશે. મારા પિતા તે વ્યક્તિને પ્રેમ કરશે. મારા પિતા અને હું તે વ્યક્તિ પાસે આવીશું અને તેની સાથે રહીશું.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.14.24" />પણ જે વ્યક્તિ મને પ્રેમ કરતો નથી. તે મારા વચનનું પાલન કરતો નથી, આ વચન જે તમે સાંભળો છો તે ખરેખર મારું નથી. તે જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે તે મારા પિતાનું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.14.25" />“મેં તમને આ બધા વચનો કહ્યા જ્યારે હું તમારી સાથે છું.
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<v id="26" bcv="JHN.14.26" />પરંતુ સંબોધક તમને બધું જ શીખવશે. મેં જે બધી બાબતો તમને કહીં છે તેનું સ્મરણ સંબોધક કરાવશે. આ સંબોધક પવિત્ર આત્મા છે જેને પિતા મારા નામે મોકલશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JHN.14.27" />“હું તમને શાંતિ આપીને જાઉં છું. હું તમને આપું છું તે મારી પોતાની શાંતિ છે. જગત આપે છે તેના કરતાં જુદી રીતે હું તમને શાંતિ આપીશ. તેથી તમારા હૃદયોને વ્યાકુળ થવા દેશો નહિ. ડરશો નહિ.
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<v id="28" bcv="JHN.14.28" />તમે મને સાંભળ્યો, જો તમને કહ્યું છે કે, ‘હું વિદાય થાઉં છું, પણ હું તમારી પાસે પાછો આવીશ.’ જો તમે મને પ્રેમ કરશો તો તમે સુખી થશો. હું પાછો પિતા પાસે જાઉં છું. શા માટે? કારણ કે હું છું તેના કરતાં પિતા વધારે મહાન છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="JHN.14.29" />મેં હમણાં તમને આમ કહ્યું તે બનતા પહેલા કહ્યું છે. પછી જ્યારે તે બનશે, ત્યારે તમે વિશ્વાસ કરશો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JHN.14.30" />“હું તમારી સાથે વધારે લાંબો સમય વાત કરીશ નહિ. જગતનો શાસક (શેતાન) આવે છે. તેને મારા પર અધિકાર નથી.
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<v id="31" bcv="JHN.14.31" />પરંતુ જગતે જાણવું જોઈએ કે હું પિતાને પ્રેમ કરું છું. તેથી પિતાએ મને જે કરવા કહ્યું છે તે બરાબર કરું છું.
</p>
<p style="p">“આવો. આપણે આ જગ્યા છોડીશું.”
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</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ એક દ્રાક્ષાવેલો છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.15.1" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું ખરો દ્રાક્ષાવેલો છું; મારો પિતા માળી છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.15.2" />તે ફળ નહિ ઉગાડતી મારી પ્રત્યેક ડાળીઓ કાપી નાખે છે. અને જે ફળ ઉગાડે છે તેવી ડાળીઓને વધારે ફળ આવે તે માટે શુદ્ધ કરે છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.15.3" />મેં તમને જે વચનો કહ્યાં છે તેનાથી તમે હવે શુદ્ધ થઈ ગયા છો.
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<v id="4" bcv="JHN.15.4" />તમે મારામાં છો અને હું તમારામાં રહીશ. કોઈ ડાળી એકલી ફળ આપી શકે નહિ. તે દ્રાક્ષાવેલામાં હોવી જોઈએ. તમારું મારી સાથે તેવું જ છે. તમે એકલા ફળ આપી શકો નહિ. તમારે મારામાં રહેવું જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JHN.15.5" />“હું દ્રાક્ષવેલો છું અને તમે ડાળીઓ છો. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારામાં સતત રહે છે. તો હું તે વ્યક્તિમાં રહું છું પછી તે વ્યક્તિ વધારે ફળ આપે છે. પણ મારા વિના તે વ્યક્તિ કઈ જ કરી શક્તી નથી.
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<v id="6" bcv="JHN.15.6" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારામાં રહેતી નથી તો પછી તે ડાળી ફેંકી દેવા જેવી છે. તે ડાળી નાશ પામે છે. લોકો સુકાઈ ગયેલી ડાળીઓ ઉપાડી લે છે અને તેને અગ્નિમાં નાખીને બાળી નાખે છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="JHN.15.7" />મારામાં રહો, અને મારાં વચનમાં રહો. જો તમે તેને અનુસરવાનું ચાલુ રાખશો તો તમે તમારી જરૂરી કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ માગી શકશો. અને તે તમને આપવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="JHN.15.8" />તમારે વધારે ફળ આપવાં જોઈએ અને બતાવવું જોઈએ કે તમે મારા શિષ્યો છો. આનાથી મારા પિતાને મહિમા પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JHN.15.9" />“જે રીતે પિતાએ મને પ્રેમ કર્યો તેમ હું તમને પ્રેમ કરું છું. હવે મારા પ્રેમમાં રહો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JHN.15.10" />મેં મારા પિતાની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કર્યું છે અને હું તેના પ્રેમમાં રહ્યો છું તે જ રીતે જો તમે મારી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરો છો તો તમે મારા પ્રેમમાં રહેશો.
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<v id="11" bcv="JHN.15.11" />મેં તમને આ વચનો કહ્યાં છે જેથી મને જે આનંદ મળે છે તે જ આનંદ તમને મળે. હું ઈચ્છું છું કે તમારો આનંદ સંપૂર્ણ થાય.
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<v id="12" bcv="JHN.15.12" />મારી તમને આ આજ્ઞા છે કે મેં તમને પ્રેમ કર્યો છે તેવો પ્રેમ તમે એકબીજાને કરો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.15.13" />પોતાના મિત્રને માટે જીવ આપીને જ વ્યક્તિ સૌથી શ્રેષ્ઠ પ્રેમ બતાવી શકે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="JHN.15.14" />હું તમને જે કહું તે જો તમે કરો તો તમે મારા મિત્રો છો.
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<v id="15" bcv="JHN.15.15" />હવેથી હું તમને સેવકો કહીશ નહિ કારણ કે સેવક કદી જાણતો નથી કે તેનો માલિક શું કરે છે પણ હવે હું તમને મિત્રો કહું છું કારણ કે મેં મારા પિતા પાસે સાંભળેલું બધું જ તમને કહ્યું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.15.16" />“તમે મને પસંદ કર્યો નથી; મેં તમને પસંદ કર્યા છે. અને મેં તમને ત્યાં જઈને ફળ આપવાનું કામ સોંપ્યું છે. હું ઈચ્છું છું કે આ ફળ તમારા જીવનમાં ચાલુ રહે. પછી તમે મારા નામે જે કંઈ માગશો તે પિતા તમને આપશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JHN.15.17" />આ મારી આજ્ઞા છે: તમે એકબીજાને પ્રેમ કરો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યોને ચેતવણી આપે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JHN.15.18" />“જો જગત તમને ધિક્કારે છે તો, યાદ કરજો કે જગતે મને પ્રથમ ધિક્કાર્યો છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="JHN.15.19" />જો તમે જગતના હોત તો જગત તમારા પર પોતાના લોકોની જેમ પ્રેમ રાખત, પણ મે તમને જગતની બહારથી પસંદ કર્યા છે. તેથી તમે જગતના નથી. તેથી જગત તમને ધિક્કારે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JHN.15.20" />“મેં તમને કહેલો પાઠ યાદ કરો: સેવક તેના માલિકથી મોટો નથી. જો લોકોએ મારું ખોટું કર્યુ હશે તો પછી તેઓ તમારું પણ ખોટું કરશે. અને જો લોકો મારા વચનનું પાલન કરશે તો પછી તેઓ તમારી આજ્ઞાનું પણ પાલન કરશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="JHN.15.21" />લોકો મારા કારણે આ બધું તમારી સાથે કરશે. તેઓ જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે તેને ઓળખતા નથી.
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<v id="22" bcv="JHN.15.22" />જો મેં જગતના લોકોને આવીને કહ્યું ના હોત, તો પછી તેઓ પાપના દોષિત થાત નહિ. પણ હવે મેં તેમને કહ્યું છે. તેથી તેઓનાં પાપ માટે હવે તેઓની પાસે બહાનું નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JHN.15.23" />“જે વ્યક્તિ મને ધિક્કારે છે તે મારા પિતાને પણ ધિક્કારે છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.15.24" />તે લોકો વચ્ચે જે કામો મેં કર્યા છે તે કામો આજપર્યંત કોઈએ કર્યા નથી. જો મેં તે કામો ના કર્યા હોત તો તેઓ પાપના ગુનેગાર ના થયા હોત. પરંતુ તેઓએ આ કામો જોયા છે જે મે કર્યા છે અને છતાં તેઓ મને અને મારા પિતાને ધિક્કારે છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="JHN.15.25" />પણ આ બન્યું તેથી તેઓના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં જે લખ્યું છે તે સાચું પુરવાર થશે; ‘તેઓએ મારો વિનાકારણે દ્વેષ રાખ્યો છે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JHN.15.26" />“હું પિતા પાસેથી તમારા માટે સંબોધક મોકલીશ. તે સંબોધક સત્યનો આત્મા છે જે પિતા પાસેથી આવે છે. જ્યારે તે આવે છે, ત્યારે તે મારા વિષે કહેશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="JHN.15.27" />અને તમે પણ લોકોને મારા વિષે કહેશો, કારણ કે તમે શરુંઆતથી જ મારી સાથે રહ્યા છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.16.1" />“હું તમને આ વચનો કહું છું તેથી તે લોકો તમારા વિશ્વાસનો નાશ કરવા શક્તિમાન થશે નહિ.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.16.2" />લોકો તમને તેમના સભાસ્થાનોમાંથી હાંકી કાઢશે. હા, એવો સમય આવે છે જ્યારે લોકો વિચારશે કે તમને મારી નાખવા તે દેવની સેવા છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.16.3" />લોકો આ કામ કરશે કારણ કે તેઓએ પિતાને ઓળખ્યો નથી. અને તેઓએ મને પણ ઓળખ્યો નથી.
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<v id="4" bcv="JHN.16.4" />મેં તમને હવે આ વચનો કહ્યાં છે. તેથી જ્યારે આ વસ્તુઓ થવાનો સમય આવે ત્યારે મેં તમને આપેલી ચેતવણી તમે યાદ કરશો.
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<s style="s">પવિત્ર આત્માનું કાર્ય
</s>
<p style="p">“મેં તમને શરુંઆતમાં આ વચનો કહ્યાં ન હતા કારણ કે ત્યારે હું તમારી સાથે હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="JHN.16.5" />હવે હું જેણે મને મોકલ્યો છે તેની પાસે પાછો જાઉ છું, પણ તમારામાંથી કોઈએ મને પૂછયું નહિ, ‘તું ક્યાં જાય છે?’
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<v id="6" bcv="JHN.16.6" />તમારાં હૃદયો વ્યાકુળતાથી ભરાયેલાં છે. કારણ કે મેં તમને આ વચનો કહ્યાં છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="JHN.16.7" />પણ હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. મારું દૂર જવું એ તમારા માટે સારું છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે હું જ્યારે દૂર જઈશ હું તમારા માટે સંબોધક મોકલીશ. પણ જો હું દૂર નહિ જાઉં તો પછી સંબોધક આવશે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JHN.16.8" />“જ્યારે સંબોધક આવશે ત્યારે લોકોને આ બાબતો જેવી કે પાપ વિષે, ન્યાયીપણા વિષે અને ન્યાય ચુકવવા વિષે જગતને ખાતરી કરાવશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="JHN.16.9" />સંબોધક ખાતરી કરશે કે લોકો પાપી છે, કારણ કે તેઓને મારામાં વિશ્વાસ નથી.
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<v id="10" bcv="JHN.16.10" />તે તેઓને મારા ન્યાયીપણા વિષે ખાતરી કરાવશે, કારણકે હવે હું પિતા પાસે જાઉં છું. પછી તમે મને જોશો નહિ.
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<v id="11" bcv="JHN.16.11" />અને સંબોધક જગતને ન્યાય વિષે ખાતરી કરાવશે. કારણ કે ખરેખર આ જગતનો શાસક (શેતાન) નો ન્યાય ચુકવવામાં આવ્યો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.16.12" />“હજી મારે તમને ઘણી વાતો કહેવાની છે. પણ હવે તમારા માટે તે બધું સ્વીકારવું વધારે પડતું છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.16.13" />પણ જ્યારે સત્યનો આત્મા આવશે ત્યારે તે તમને સર્વ સત્યમાં દોરી જશે. સત્યનો આત્મા તેના પોતાના વચનો બોલશે નહિ. તે ફક્ત જે સાંભળે છે તે જ બોલશે. તે જે થનાર છે તેના વિષે કહેશે.
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<v id="14" bcv="JHN.16.14" />સત્યનો આત્મા મને મહિમાવાન કરશે. કેવી રીતે? તે મારી પાસેથી વાતો મેળવશે અને તમને તે વાતો કહેશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="JHN.16.15" />પિતા પાસે જે બધું છે તે મારું છે. તેથી હું કહું છું કે આત્મા મારી પાસેથી મેળવશે અને તમને તે કહેશે.
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<s style="s">ઉદાસીનતા પ્રસન્નતામાં પરિવર્તન પામશે
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.16.16" />“ટૂંક સમય પછી તમે મને જોઈ શકશો નહિ. પરંતુ ફરીથી ટૂંક સમય બાદ તમે મને જોઈ શકશો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JHN.16.17" />કેટલાક શિષ્યોએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે તે કહે છે ત્યારે ઈસુ શું સમજે છે, ‘ટૂંક સમય પછી તમે મને જોઈ શકશો નહિ, અને પછી ટૂંક સમય પછી તમે મને ફરીથી જોશો?’ અને તે શું સમજે છે જ્યારે તે કહે છે, ‘કારણ કે હું પિતા પાસે જાઉ છું?’”
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<v id="18" bcv="JHN.16.18" />શિષ્યોએ પૂછયું, “થોડા સમયનો તે શું અર્થ સમજે છે? તે શું કહે છે તે અમે સમજી શકતા નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JHN.16.19" />ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે શિષ્યો તેને આ વિષે પૂછવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. તેથી ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે હું કહું છું તમે એકબીજાને પૂછો છો હું શું સમજું છું? થોડા સમય પછી તમે મને જોશો નહિ અને પછી બીજા થોડા સમય પછી તમે મને ફરીથી જોશો?”
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<v id="20" bcv="JHN.16.20" />હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. તમે રડશો અને ઉદાસ થશો, પણ જગતને આનંદ થશે. તમે ઉદાસ થશો પરંતુ તમારી ઉદાસીનતા આનંદમાં ફેરવાઈ જશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JHN.16.21" />“જ્યારે કોઈ સ્ત્રી બાળકને જન્મ આપે છે ત્યારે, તેને પીડા થાય છે કારણ કે તેનો સમય આવ્યો છે. પણ જ્યારે તેના બાળકનો જન્મ થાય છે, તે પીડા ભૂલી જાય છે. તે ભૂલી જાય છે કારણ કે બાળકનો જન્મ આ જગતમાં થયો હોવાથી તે ઘણી પ્રસન્ન હોય છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="JHN.16.22" />તમારી સાથે પણ એવું જ છે. તમે હમણા ઉદાસ છો. પણ હું તમને ફરીથી જોઈશ અને તમે પ્રસન્ન થશો અને કોઈ તમારો આનંદ છીનવી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="23" bcv="JHN.16.23" />તે દિવસે તમે મને કઈ પૂછશો નહિ. હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું. મારા નામે તમે જે કઈ મારા પિતા પાસેથી માગશો તે તમને આપશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.16.24" />તમે કદી પણ મારા નામે કશું માગ્યું નથી. માગો અને તમને પ્રાપ્ત થશે. અને તમારો આનંદ સંપૂર્ણ થશે.
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<s style="s">જગત પર વિજય
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.16.25" />“મેં તમને આ વચનો અર્થને છુપાવતા શબ્દોનો ઉપયોગ કરીને કહી છે. પરંતુ એવો સમય આવશે હું તમને વચનો કહેવા માટે તેના જેવા શબ્દોનો ઉપયોગ કરીશ નહિ. હું તમારી સાથે પિતા વિષે સાદા શબ્દોમાં વાતો કરીશ.
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<v id="26" bcv="JHN.16.26" />તે દિવસે તમે મારા નામે પિતા પાસે જે કંઈ માગશો. હું કહું છું કે મારે તમારા માટે પિતાની પાસે કંઈ માગવાની જરૂર પડશે નહિ.
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<v id="27" bcv="JHN.16.27" />ના! પિતા પોતે તમને પ્રેમ કરે છે. તે તમને પ્રેમ કરે છે કારણ કે તમે મને પ્રેમ કર્યો છે. અને તે તમને પ્રેમ કરે છે કારણ કે તમે વિશ્વાસ કર્યો છે કે હું દેવ પાસેથી આવ્યો છું.
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<v id="28" bcv="JHN.16.28" />હું પિતા પાસેથી જગતમાં આવ્યો છું. હવે હું જગત છોડીને પિતા પાસે પાછો જાઉ છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JHN.16.29" />પછી ઈસુના શિષ્યોએ કહ્યું, “હવે તું અમને સ્પષ્ટ કહે છે. તું સમજવામાં કઠિન પડે એવા શબ્દપ્રયોગ કરતો નથી.
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<v id="30" bcv="JHN.16.30" />હવે અમે જોઈ શકીએ છીએ કે તું બધું જાણે છે. તું વ્યક્તિને તે પૂછે તે પહેલા તેનો ઉત્તર આપે છે. તેથી અમને વિશ્વાસ થાય છે કે તું દેવ પાસેથી આવ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JHN.16.31" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તેથી શું હવે તમે વિશ્વાસ કરો છો?
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<v id="32" bcv="JHN.16.32" />ધ્યાનપૂર્વક મને સાંભળો. સમય આવે છે જ્યારે તમે વેરવિખેર થઈ જશો. તે સમય હવે અહીં છે. તમે મને છોડી જશો. હું એકલો પડીશ. પણ ખરેખર હું એકલો નહિ હોઉ, કારણ કે પિતા મારી સાથે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JHN.16.33" />“મેં તમને આ વચનો કહ્યાં છે જેથી કરીને તમને મારામાં શાંતિ મળે. આ દુનિયામાં તમને મુશ્કેલીઓ પડશે. પરંતુ હિંમતવાન બનો! મેં જગતને પરાજય આપ્યો છે!”
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<c id="17" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યો માટે પ્રાર્થના કરે છે
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.17.1" />ઈસુએ આ વાતો કહી રહ્યાં પછી તેણે આકાશ તરફ જોયું. ઈસુએ પ્રાર્થના કરી, “પિતા, સમય આવ્યો છે. તારા દીકરાને મહિમાવાન કર. જેથી દીકરો તને મહિમાવાન કરે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.17.2" />તેં દીકરાને સર્વ લોકો પર અધિકાર આપ્યો છે. જેથી દીકરો તે બધા લોકોને અનંતજીવન બક્ષે. જે તેં તેને આપ્યું છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.17.3" />અને આ અનંતજીવન છે કે માણસો તને ઓળખી શકે, ફક્ત ખરા દેવ, અને તે માણસો ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તને ઓળખી શકે. જેને તેં મોકલ્યો છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JHN.17.4" />તેં મને જે કરવાનું સોંપ્યું છે તે કામ મે પૂરું કર્યુ છે. મેં તેને પૃથ્વી પર મહિમાવાન કર્યો છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="JHN.17.5" />અને હવે, હે પિતા, તારી સાથે મને મહિમાવાન કર. જગતની શરુંઆત થતાં પહેલાં તારી સાથે મારો જે મહિમા હતો તે મને આપ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.17.6" />“તેં મને જગતમાંથી કેટલાક માણસો આપ્યા. મેં તેઓને તું કોના જેવો છે તે બતાવ્યું છે. તે માણસો તારા હતા. અને તેં મને તેઓ આપ્યા છે. તેઓએ તારા ઉપદેશનું પાલન કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="JHN.17.7" />હવે તેઓ જાણે છે કે તેં મને આપેલી દરેક વસ્તુ તારી પાસેથી આવે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="JHN.17.8" />તેં મને જે વચનો આપ્યા છે તે મેં તેઓને આપ્યા. તેઓએ તે વચનોને સ્વીકાર્યા. તેઓ જાણે છે કે હું તારી પાસેથી આવ્યો છું અને તેઓને વિશ્વાસ છે કે તેં મને મોકલ્યો છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="JHN.17.9" />હમણા હું તેઓને માટે પ્રાર્થના કરું છું. હું જગતના લોકો માટે પ્રાર્થના કરતો નથી. પણ તેં મને જે લોકો આપ્યાં છે તેઓને માટે હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું, કારણ કે તેઓ તારાં છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JHN.17.10" />મારી પાસે જે બધા છે તે તારાં છે, અને તારી પાસે જે બધા છે તે મારાં છે, અને આ માણસો મારો મહિમા લાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JHN.17.11" />“હવે હું તારી પાસે આવું છું. હવે હું આ જગતમાં રહીશ નહિ. પણ આ માણસો હજુ પણ આ દુનિયામાં છે. પવિત્ર પિતા તેઓને સલામત રાખે છે. તારા નામના અધિકારથી સલામત રાખે છે (જે નામ તેં મને આપેલું છે.), તેથી તેઓ એક થશે, જેમ તું અને હું એક છીએ.
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<v id="12" bcv="JHN.17.12" />જ્યારે હું તેઓની સાથે હતો, મેં તેઓને સલામત રાખ્યાં. મેં તારા નામની સત્તાથી તેઓને સલામત રાખ્યાં-જે નામ તેં મને આપ્યું છે. મેં તેઓનું રક્ષણ કર્યુ છે. અને તેઓમાંનો માત્ર એક ખોવાયો હતો. જે માણસ પસંદ કરાયેલ ન હતો. તે ખોવાયો હતો. શાસ્ત્રલેખમાં જે કહ્યું છે તે બની શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JHN.17.13" />“હું હમણા તારી પાસે આવું છું. પણ હું આ વસ્તુઓ માટે પ્રાર્થના કરું છું ત્યારે પણ હું હજુ જગતમાં છું. હું આ વસ્તુઓ કહું છું તેથી આ માણસો મારો આનંદ પ્રાપ્ત કરી શકે. હું ઈચ્છું છું કે મારો બધો આનંદ તેઓની પાસે હોય.
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<v id="14" bcv="JHN.17.14" />તેઓને તારો ઉપદેશ આપ્યો છે અને જગતે તેઓને તિરસ્કાર કર્યો છે, કારણ કે તેઓ આ દુનિયાના નથી. જેમ હું આ દુનિયાનો નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JHN.17.15" />“હું તને તેઓને આ દુનિયામાંથી બહાર લઈ જવાનું કહેતો નથી. પણ હું તને દુષ્ટ પાપમાંથી (શેતાનથી) તેઓને સલામત રાખવાનું કહું છું.
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<v id="16" bcv="JHN.17.16" />તેઓ આ જગતના નથી, તે જ રીતે હું આ જગતનો નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="JHN.17.17" />તારા સત્ય દ્વારા તારી સેવા માટે તૈયાર કર. તારું વચન સત્ય છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="JHN.17.18" />મેં તેઓને જગતમાં મોકલ્યા છે. જે રીતે તેં મને જગતમાં મોકલ્યો છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="JHN.17.19" />હું મારી જાતને સેવા માટે તૈયાર કરું છું. હું તેઓના માટે આ કરું છું. જેથી કરીને તેઓ ખરેખર તારી સેવા માટે તૈયાર થઈ શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JHN.17.20" />“હું આ માણસો માટે પ્રાર્થના કરું છું. હું પણ તે બધા લોકો માટે પ્રાર્થના કરું છું. આ બધા લોકોના વચનના કારણે તેઓ મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="JHN.17.21" />પિતા, હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે જે બધા લોકો મારામાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેઓ એક બને. તું મારામાં છે અને હું તારામાં છું. હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે આ બધા લોકો પણ આપણમાં એક થાય. તેથી જગત વિશ્વાસ કરશે કે તેં મને મોકલ્યો છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="JHN.17.22" />મેં આ લોકોને તેં મને જે મહિમા આપ્યો હતો તે મેં આપ્યો જેથી આપણે જેમ એક છીએ તે પ્રમાણે તેઓ પણ એક થાય.
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<v id="23" bcv="JHN.17.23" />હું તેઓમાં હોઈશ અને તું મારામાં હોઈશ. તેથી તેઓ સંપૂર્ણ રીતે એક થશે. પછી જગત જાણશે કે તેં મને મોકલ્યો છે અને જગત જાણશે કે તેં આ લોકોને પ્રેમ કર્યો હતો. જેમ તેં મને પ્રેમ કર્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JHN.17.24" />“પિતા, હું ઈચ્છું છું કે હું જે દરેક જગ્યાએ છું ત્યાં તેં મને જેઓને આપ્યાં છે તેઓ મારી સાથે રહે. હું ઈચ્છું છું કે તેઓ મારો મહિમા જુએ. આ મહિમા તેં મને આપેલો છે. કારણ કે જગતની ઉત્પત્તિ થતાં પહેલા તેં મને પ્રેમ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="JHN.17.25" />પિતા, તું એક જે ન્યાયી છે. જગત તને જાણતું નથી. પણ હું તને જાણું છું. અને આ લોકો જાણે છે કે તેં મને મોકલ્યો છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="JHN.17.26" />મેં તેઓને બતાવ્યું છે કે તું કોના જેવો છે. અને ફરીથી હું તેઓને બતાવીશ તું કોના જેવો છે. પછી તેઓને એજ પ્રેમ મળશે જેવો તને મારા માટે છે. અને હું તેઓનામાં રહીશ.”
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<c id="18" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ પકડાય છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:47-56; માર્ક 14:43-50; લૂક 22:47-53)
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.18.1" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ પ્રાર્થના પૂરી કરી, તે તેના શિષ્યો સાથે વિદાય થયો. તેઓ કિદ્રોન ખીણને પેલે પાર ગયા. બીજી બાજુએ ત્યાં એક ઓલીવના વૃક્ષોની વાડી હતી. ઈસુ અને તેના શિષ્યો ત્યાં ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JHN.18.2" />યહૂદાએ જાણ્યું આ જગ્યા ક્યાં હતી, કારણ કે ઈસુ તેના શિષ્યો સાથે વારંવાર ત્યાં મળતા હતો. યહૂદા જે ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ થયો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.18.3" />તેથી યહૂદા સૈનિકોના સમૂહને બાગ તરફ દોરી ગયો. યહૂદા મુખ્ય યાજકો તથા ફરોશીઓ પાસેથી સિપાઈઓને લઈને આવ્યો. તેઓ મશાલો, ફાનસો અને શસ્ત્રો લઈને આવ્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JHN.18.4" />ઈસુ બધું જ જાણતો હતો કે તેનું શું થવાનું હતું. ઈસુ બહાર ગયો અને પૂછયું, “તમે કોને શોધો છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JHN.18.5" />તે માણસોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “નાઝરેથના ઈસુને.”
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<p style="p">ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું ઈસુ છું.” (યહૂદા, જે એક ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ થયો તે તેઓની સાથે ત્યાં ઊભો હતો.)
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<v id="6" bcv="JHN.18.6" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “હું ઈસુ છું.” ત્યારે માણસો પાછા પડ્યા અને જમીન પર પડ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JHN.18.7" />ઈસુએ તેઓને ફરીથી પૂછયું, “તમે કોની શોધ કરો છો?”
</p>
<p style="p">તે માણસોએ કહ્યું, “નાઝરેથના ઈસુની.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JHN.18.8" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “મેં તમને કહ્યું કે, હું ઈસુ છું, તેથી જો તમે મારી શોધ કરતાં હોય તો પછી આ બીજા માણસોને મુક્ત રીતે જવા દો.”
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JHN.18.9" />આ બન્યું તેથી ઈસુએ અગાઉ કહ્યું હતું તે સાચું સાબિત થશે. “તેં મને આપેલા માણસોમાંથી મેં કોઈને ગુમાવ્યો નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JHN.18.10" />સિમોન પિતર પાસે એક તલવાર હતી. તેણે તલવાર ખેંચીને પ્રમુખ યાજકના સેવકને મારીને તેનો જમણો કાન કાપી નાખ્યો. (સેવકનું નામ માલ્ખસ હતુ.)
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JHN.18.11" />ઈસુએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “તારી તલવાર પાછી મ્યાનમાં મૂક! મારે પીડાનો પ્યાલો પીવાનું સ્વીકારવું જોઈએ જે મને પિતાએ આપ્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુને અન્નાસની આગળ લાવવામાં આવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:57-58; માર્ક 14:53-54; લૂક 22:54)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.18.12" />પછી સૈનિકો તેમના સેનાપતિઓ સાથે અને યહૂદિ ચોકીદારોએ ઈસુને પકડ્યો. તેઓએ ઈસુને બાંધ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.18.13" />અને તેને પ્રથમ અન્નાસ પાસે લાવ્યા. અન્નાસ કાયાફાનો સસરો હતો. તે વર્ષે કાયાફા પ્રમુખ યાજક હતો.
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<v id="14" bcv="JHN.18.14" />કાયાફા જે એક હતો જેણે યહૂદિઓને સલાહ આપી. જો કોઈ એક માણસ બધા લોકો માટે મૃત્યુ પામે તો તે વધારે સારું હશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પિતર ઈસુની જાણકારી વિષે જૂઠું બોલે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:69-70; માર્ક 14:66-68; લૂક 22:55-57)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JHN.18.15" />સિમોન પિતર અને બીજો એક ઈસુનો શિષ્ય ઈસુને અનુસર્યા. આ શિષ્ય પ્રમુખ યાજકને જાણતો હતો. તેથી તે ઈસુની સાથે પ્રમુખ યાજકના મકાનના વરંડામાં ગયો.
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<v id="16" bcv="JHN.18.16" />પરંતુ પિતરે બહાર દરવાજાની બાજુમાં રાહ જોઈ. તે શિષ્યે જેણે જાણ્યું કે પ્રમુખ યાજક બહારની બાજુ પાછો આવ્યો. તેણે તે છોકરીને કહ્યું કે લોકો માટે દરવાજા ઉઘાડ. પછી તે પિતરને અંદર લાવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JHN.18.17" />દરવાજા પાસેની ચોકીદાર છોકરીએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “શું તું પણ તે માણસના (ઈસુ) શિષ્યોમાંનો એક છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">પિતરે કહ્યું, “ના, હું નથી!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JHN.18.18" />તે સમયે ઠંડી હતી, તેથી તો સેવકો અને ચોકીદારોએ અગ્નિ સળગાવ્યો હતો. તેઓ તેની આજુબાજુ ઊભા હતા અને પોતાની જાતે તાપતા હતા. પિતર આ માણસોની સાથે ઊભો હતો.
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રમુખ યાજક ઈસુને પ્રશ્નો પૂછે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:59-66; માર્ક 14:55-64; લૂક 22:66-71)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JHN.18.19" />પ્રમુખ યાજકે ઈસુને તેના શિષ્યો વિષે પ્રશ્નો પૂછયા. તેણે ઈસુને તેણે આપેલા બોધ વિષે પ્રશ્નો પૂછયા.
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<v id="20" bcv="JHN.18.20" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હું હમેશા બધા જ લોકોને જાહેરમાં કહું છું. મેં હમેશા સભાસ્થાનોમાં અને મંદિરોમાં બોધ આપ્યો છે. બધા જ યહૂદિઓ ત્યાં ભેગા થતા હતા. મેં કદી ગુપ્ત રીતે કશું જ કહ્યું નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="JHN.18.21" />તો પછી તું મને શા માટે પ્રશ્ન કરે છે? જે લોકોએ મારો બોધ સાંભળ્યો છે તેઓને પૂછ. મેં શું કહ્યું તે તેઓ જાણે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JHN.18.22" />જ્યારે ઈસુએ આ કહ્યું, ત્યાં ઊભેલા ચોકીદારોમાંના એકે તેને માર્યો. ચોકીદારે કહ્યું, “તારે પ્રમુખ યાજક સાથે આ રીતે વાત ના કરવી જોઈએ!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JHN.18.23" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જો હું કંઈક ખોટું કહું તો, પછી અહીં દરેક જણને સાબિત કરાવો કે શું ખોટું હતું. પણ જો મેં કહેલી વાતો સાચી હોય તો પછી તું મને શા માટે મારે છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JHN.18.24" />તેથી અન્નાસે ઈસુને પ્રમુખ યાજક કાયાફા પાસે મોકલ્યો. હજુ ઈસુ બંધાએલો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પિતર ફરી જૂઠું બોલે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 26:71-75; માર્ક 14:69-72; લૂક 22:58-62)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.18.25" />સિમોન પિતર પોતાની જાતને ગરમ રાખવા માટે અગ્નિ પાસે ઊભો હતો, બીજા માણસોએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “શું તું તે માણસના (ઈસુ) શિષ્યોમાંનો એક છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ પિતરે નકાર કરીને કહ્યું, “ના, હું નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JHN.18.26" />પ્રમુખ યાજકના સેવકોમાંનો એક ત્યાં હતો. આ સેવક તે માણસનો સંબંધી હતો જેનો પિતરે કાન કાપી નાખ્યો હતો. તે સેવકે કહ્યું કે, “મેં તને તેની (ઈસુ) સાથે બાગમાં જોયો નથી?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="JHN.18.27" />પરંતુ ફરીથી પિતરે કહ્યું, “ના, હું તેની સાથે ન હતો!” અને તે જ સમયે મરઘો બોલ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુને પિલાતની આગળ લાવવામાં આવે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:1-2, 11-31; માર્ક 15:1-20; લૂક 23:1-25)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JHN.18.28" />પછી યહૂદિઓ ઈસુને કાયાફાના મકાનમાંથી રોમન હાકેમના દરબારમાં લઈ જાય છે. તે વહેલી સવારનો સમય હતો. યહૂદિઓ દરબારની અંદર જઈ શક્યા નહિ. તેઓ તેમની જાતને અશુદ્ધ<f caller="+"><fr>18:28
</fr><fk>અશુદ્ધ
</fk><ft>યહૂદિઓ એવું માનતા હતા કે બીનયહૂદિઓના ઘરે જવાથી તેઓની પવિત્રતા અશુદ્ધ થઈ જતી હતી. જૂઓ યોહા. 11:55.</ft></f> બનાવવા ઈચ્છતા નહોતા. કારણ કે તેઓ પાસ્ખાપર્વનું ભોજન ખાવા ઈચ્છતા હતા.
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<v id="29" bcv="JHN.18.29" />તેથી પિલાત બહારની બાજુએ યહૂદિઓ તરફ ગયો. તેણે પૂછયું, “તું શું કહે છે, આ માણસે શું ખોટું કર્યુ છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JHN.18.30" />યહૂદિઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તે ખરાબ માણસ છે. તેથી અમે તેને તારી પાસે લાવ્યા છીએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JHN.18.31" />પિલાતે યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું, “ઓ યહૂદિઓ, તમે પોતે એને લઈ જાઓ, અને તમારા નિયમશાસ્ત્ર પ્રમાણે એનો ન્યાય કરો.”
</p>
<p style="p">યહૂદિઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “પણ અમારું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર અમને કોઈ વ્યક્તિને તેને મૃત્યુદંડની શિક્ષા કરવાની પરવાનગી આપતું નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="JHN.18.32" />(આમ બન્યું તેથી પોતે કેવી રીતે મૃત્યુ પામવાનો હતો તે વિષે ઈસુએ કહેલા વચન સાચા ઠરે.)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="JHN.18.33" />પછી પિલાત પાછો મહેલની અંદરની બાજુએ ગયો. પિલાતે ઈસુને પોતાની પાસે બોલાવ્યો. તેણે ઈસુને પૂછયું, “શું તું યહૂદિઓનો રાજા છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JHN.18.34" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “શું તે તારો પોતાનો સવાલ છે, અથવા બીજા લોકોએ તને મારા વિષે કહ્યું છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="JHN.18.35" />પિલાતે કહ્યું, “હું યહૂદિ નથી! તે તારા પોતાના લોકો અને મુખ્ય યાજકો તને લાવ્યા છે. તેં શું ખોટું કર્યુ છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="JHN.18.36" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “મારું રાજ્ય આ જગતનું નથી. જો તે આ જગતનું હોત, તો પછી મારા સેવકો લડાઈ કરત તેથી મને યહૂદિઓને સોંપવામાં આવી શકાયો ના હોત. પણ મારું રાજ્ય બીજા કોઈ સ્થળનું છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="JHN.18.37" />પિલાતે કહ્યું, “તેથી તું રાજા છે!”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તું કહે છે કે હું રાજા છું તે સાચું છે. મારો જન્મ આ માટે હતો કે લોકોને સત્ય વિષે કહેવું. તેના કારણે હું જગતમાં આવ્યો છું. અને પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે સત્યનો છે તે મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="JHN.18.38" />પિલાતે કહ્યું, “સત્ય શું છે?” જ્યારે પિલાતે આ કહ્યું, તે ફરીથી યહૂદિઓ સાથે બહાર ગયો. પિલાતે યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું, “આ માણસમાં તેની સામેનો કોઈ આક્ષેપ મૂકવા જેવું મને કંઈ લાગતું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="JHN.18.39" />પણ પાસ્ખાપર્વના સમયે તમારા માટે એક બંદીવાનને મારે મુક્ત કરવો જોઈએ એવો તમારા રિવાજોમાં એક રિવાજ છે. શું તમે ઈચ્છો છો કે હું આ ‘યહૂદિઓના રાજાને મુક્ત કરું?’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="JHN.18.40" />યહૂદિઓએ પાછળથી બૂમ પાડી, “ના, એને તો નહિ જ! બરબ્બાસને મુક્ત કરીને જવા દો?” (બરબ્બાસ એ તો લૂંટારો હતો.)
<ve />
</p>

<c id="19" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.19.1" />પછી પિલાતે આજ્ઞા કરી કે ઈસુને દૂર લઈ જઈને કોરડા ફટકારો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JHN.19.2" />સૈનિકોએ કેટલીક કાંટાળી ડાળીઓનો મુગટ બનાવવામાં ઉપયોગ કર્યો. તેઓએ આ કાંટાનો મુગટ ઈસુના માથે મૂક્યો. પછી તે સૈનિકોએ જાંબુડા રંગનો ઝભ્ભો ઈસુને પહેરાવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="JHN.19.3" />સૈનિકો ઈસુ પાસે ઘણીવાર આવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “હે યહૂદિઓના રાજા, સલામ!” તેઓએ ઈસુને ચહેરા પર માર્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JHN.19.4" />ફરીથી પિલાત બહાર આવ્યો અને યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું, “જુઓ! હું ઈસુને બહાર તમારી પાસે મોકલું છું. હું ઈચ્છું છું કે તમે જાણો કે મને તેની સામે ગુનો દાખલ કરવા કઈ મળ્યું નથી.”
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JHN.19.5" />પછી ઈસુ બહાર આવ્યો. તેણે કાંટાનો મુગટ અને જાંબલી ઝભ્ભો પહેર્યો હતો. પિલાતે યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું, “અહીં તે માણસ છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.19.6" />જ્યારે મુખ્ય યાજકો અને યહૂદિ ચોકીદારોએ ઈસુને જોયો તેઓએ બૂમ પાડી, “વધસ્તંભ પર તેને જડો! વધસ્તંભ પર તેને જડો!”
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ પિલાતે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “તમે તેને લઈ જાઓ અને તેને તમારી જાતે વધસ્તંભે જડો. મને એનામાં તેની સામે આક્ષેપ મૂકવા કોઈ ગુનો જડ્યો નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JHN.19.7" />યહૂદિઓએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમારું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર છે તે કહે છે તેણે મૃત્યુદંડ ભોગવવો જોઈએ, કારણ કે તેણે કહ્યું કે તે દેવનો દીકરો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JHN.19.8" />જ્યારે પિલાતે આ સાંભાળ્યું, તે વધારે ગભરાયો.
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<v id="9" bcv="JHN.19.9" />પિલાત દરબારની અંદરની બાજુએ પાછો ગયો. તેણે ઈસુને પૂછયું, “તું ક્યાંનો છે?” પણ ઈસુએ તેને કોઈ ઉત્તર આપ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="JHN.19.10" />પિલાતે કહ્યું, “તું મને કહેવાની ના પાડે છે? યાદ રાખ, તને મુક્ત કરવાની સત્તા મારી પાસે છે. તને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખવાની સત્તા પણ મને છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JHN.19.11" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મારા પરની જે સત્તા છે તે ફક્ત તને દેવે જ આપેલી છે તેથી જે માણસે મને તને સોંપ્યો છે તે વધારે મોટા પાપને માટે દોષિત છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JHN.19.12" />આ પછી, પિલાતે ઈસુને છોડી દેવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. પરંતુ યહૂદિઓએ બૂમો પાડી. “જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતે રાજા હોવાનો દાવો કરે છે તે કૈસરનો વિરોધી છે તેથી જો તું આ માણસને છોડી દેશે તો એનો અર્થ એ કે તું કૈસરનો મિત્ર નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JHN.19.13" />યહૂદિઓએ જે કહ્યું તે પિલાતે સાંભળ્યું. તેથી તે ઈસુને બહાર ફરસબંદી નામની જગ્યાએ લાવ્યો. (યહૂદિ ભાષામાં “ગબ્બથા” કહે છે.) પિલાત ત્યાં ન્યાયાસન પર બેઠો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="JHN.19.14" />હવે તે પાસ્ખાપર્વની તૈયારીનો દિવસ<f caller="+"><fr>19:14
</fr><fk>તૈયારીનો દિવસ
</fk><ft>શુક્રવાર, સાબ્બાથ દિવસ પહેલાનો દિવસ.</ft></f> હતો અને લગભગ બપોરનો સમય હતો. પિલાતે યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું, “તમારો રાજા અહીં છે!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JHN.19.15" />યહૂદિઓએ બૂમ પાડી, “તેને દૂર લઈ જાઓ! તેને દૂર લઈ જાઓ! તેને વધસ્તંભ પર જડો!”
</p>
<p style="p">પિલાતે યહૂદિઓને પૂછયું, “શું તમે ઈચ્છો છો કે હું તમારા રાજાને વધસ્તંભે જડાવું?”
</p>
<p style="p">મુખ્ય યાજકોએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “અમારો રાજા ફક્ત કૈસર છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.19.16" />તેથી પિલાતે ઈસુને તેને વધસ્તંભ પર જડીને મારી નાખવા સોંપ્યો.
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું વધસ્તંભ પર મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:32-44; માર્ક 15:21-32; લૂક 23:26-39)
</p>
<p style="p">સૈનિકોએ ઈસુને પકડયો.
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<v id="17" bcv="JHN.19.17" />ઈસુ તેનો પોતાનો વધસ્તંભ ઊચકીને “તે ખોપરીની જગ્યાના નામે ઓળખાતા સ્થળે ગયો.” (યહૂદિ ભાષામાં તે જગ્યાને “ગુલગુથા” કહેવાય છે.)
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="JHN.19.18" />ગુલગુથામાં તેઓએ ઈસુને વધસ્તંભ પર જડ્યો. તેઓએ બીજા બે મૅંણસોને વધસ્તંભ પર મૂક્યા. તેઓએ ઈસુને વચમાં રાખીને તેની આજુબાજુ બે માણસોને મૂક્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JHN.19.19" />પિલાતે એક નિશાની લખી અને વધસ્તંભ પર મૂકી. તે નિશાની પર લખેલું હતું.
<sc>“નાઝરેથનો ઈસુ, યહૂદિઓનો રાજા.”</sc>
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<v id="20" bcv="JHN.19.20" />તે નિશાની યહૂદિ, લેટિન, ગ્રીક ભાષામાં લખેલી હતી. યહૂદિઓમાંના ઘણાએ નિશાની વાંચી, કારણ કે આ જગ્યા જ્યાં તેઓએ ઈસુને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખ્યો તે શહેરની નજીક હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JHN.19.21" />મુખ્ય યહૂદિ યાજકોએ પિલાતને કહ્યું, “યહૂદિઓનો રાજા” એમ લખો નહિ પણ લખો, “આ માણસો કહ્યું, ‘હું યહૂદિઓનો રાજા છું.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JHN.19.22" />પિલાતે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “મેં જે લખ્યું છે તે હું બદલીશ નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JHN.19.23" />સૈનિકોએ ઈસુને વધસ્તંભ પર જડ્યા પછી તેઓએ તેના લૂગડાં ઉતાર્યા. તેઓએ તેના લૂગડાંના ચાર ભાગો પાડ્યા. દરેક સૈનિકે એક ભાગ લીધો. તેઓએ તેનો લાંબો ડગલો પણ લીધો. તે ઉપરથી નીચે સુધી ગૂંથેલો આખો એક લૂગડાંનો ટુકડો હતો.
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<v id="24" bcv="JHN.19.24" />તેથી સૈનિકોએ એકબીજાને કહ્યું, “આપણે તેના ભાગ પાડવા માટે આને ચીરવો જોઈએ નહિ પણ એ કોને મળે એ જાણવા માટે ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખવી.” તે શાસ્ત્રમાં લખેલું છે એ સાચું થાય, તેથી આમ બન્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તેઓએ મારા લૂગડાં તેઓની વચ્ચે વહેંચ્ચા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓએ મારા લૂગડાં માટે ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખી.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.22.18">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 22:18</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">તેથી સૈનિકોએ આ કર્યુ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.19.25" />ઈસુની મા તેના વધસ્તંભ નજીક ઊભી હતી. તેની માની બહેન કલોપાની પત્ની તથા મગ્દલાની મરિયમ પણ ત્યાં હતી.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="JHN.19.26" />ઈસુએ તેની માને જોઈ તથા તે જેના પર પ્રેમ રાખતો હતો તે શિષ્યને પણ ત્યાં ઊભેલો જોયો. તેણે તેની માને કહ્યું, “વહાલી બાઈ, તારો દીકરો અહીં છે.”
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="JHN.19.27" />પછી ઈસુએ શિષ્યને કહ્યું, “અહીં તારી મા છે.” તેથી આમ કહ્યાં પછી, આ શિષ્ય ઈસુની માને તેના ઘરે રહેવા લઈ ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ મૃત્યુ પામે છે
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:45-56; માર્ક 15:33-41; લૂક 23:44-49)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JHN.19.28" />પાછળથી, ઈસુએ જાણ્યું કે હવે બધુંજ પૂરું થઈ ગયું છે તેથી શાસ્ત્રવચન પ્રમાણે પૂર્ણ કરવા તેણે કહ્યું, “હું તરસ્યો છું.”<f caller="+"><fr>19:28
</fr><fk>(Check Should be See) ગી. શા. 22:15; 69:21</fk></f>
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="JHN.19.29" />ત્યાં સરકાથી ભરેલું વાસણ હતું તેથી સૈનિકોએ તેમાં વાદળી બોળી અને તેઓએ ઝૂફાના છોડની એક ડાળી પર વાદળી મૂકી. પછી તેઓએ તે ઈસુના મોંમાં મૂકી.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="JHN.19.30" />ઈસુએ તે સરકો ચાખ્યો. પછી તેણે કહ્યું, “સંપૂર્ણ થયું.” ઈસુએ તેનું માથું નમાવ્યું અને મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="JHN.19.31" />આ દિવસ તૈયારીનો દિવસ હતો. બીજો દિવસ ખાસ સાબ્બાથ દિવસ હતો. યહૂદિઓ ઈચ્છતા નહોતા કે સાબ્બાથના દિવસે વધસ્તંભ પર મુડદાં રહે. તેથી તેઓએ પિલાતને વિનંતી કરી કે તેઓના પગ ભાંગવામાં આવે જેથી તેઓ જલદી મરણ પામે અને તેઓના મુડદાં વધસ્તંભ પરથી ઉતારી શકાય.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="JHN.19.32" />તેથી તે સૈનિકો આવ્યા અને ઈસુની બાજુમાં વધસ્તંભ પરના પહેલા માણસના પગ ભાંગી નાખ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="JHN.19.33" />પરંતુ જ્યારે તે સૈનિક ઈસુની નજીક આવ્યા. તેઓએ જોયું કે તે ખરેખર મૃત્યુ પામી ચૂક્યો હતો તેથી તેઓએ તેના પગ ભાંગ્યા નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="JHN.19.34" />પણ સૈનિકોમાંના એકે ઈસુની કૂખમાં તેનો ભાલો ભોંકી દીધો. તેથી લોહી અને પાણી બહાર નીકળ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="JHN.19.35" />(જે વ્યક્તિએ આ બનતા જોયું તેણે તે વિષે કહ્યું. તેથી તમે પણ વિશ્વાસ કરી શકો તે જે વાતો કહે છે તે સાચી છે. તે જાણે છે કે તે સાચું કહે છે.)
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="JHN.19.36" />આ બાબતો બની તેથી કરીને શાસ્ત્રવચન પૂર્ણ થયું છે. “તેનું એક પણ હાડકું ભાંગવામાં આવશે નહિ.”
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="JHN.19.37" />બીજા શાસ્ત્રવચનમાં કહ્યું છે, “જેને તેઓએ વીધ્યો તેને તેઓ જોશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>19:37
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઝખ. 12:10</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુનું દફન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 27:57-61; માર્ક 15:42-47; લૂક 23:50-56)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="JHN.19.38" />પાછળથી, અરિમથાઈનો યૂસફ નામનો માણસ પિલાતને ઈસુના દેહને લઈ જવા માટે પૂછયું. (યૂસફ ઈસુનો ગુપ્ત શિષ્ય હતો. પરંતુ તેણે ગુપ્ત રાખ્યું, કારણ કે તે યહૂદિઓથી બીતો હતો.) પિલાતે કહ્યું કે યૂસફ ઈસુના દેહને લઈ જઈ શકે તેમ છે. તેથી યૂસફ આવ્યો અને ઈસુના દેહને લઈ ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="JHN.19.39" />નિકોદેમસ યૂસફ સાથે ગયો. નિકોદેમસ તે માણસ હતો જે અગાઉ રાત્રે ઈસુ પાસે આવ્યો હતો અને તેની સાથે વાતો કરી હતી. નિકોદેમસ આશરે 100 શેર સુગંધી દ્રવ્ય લાવ્યો. આ એક બોર તથા અગરનું મિશ્રણ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="JHN.19.40" />આ બે માણસોએ ઈસુના દેહને લીધો. તેઓએ તેને સુગધીદાર દ્રવ્યો સાથે શણના લૂગડાંના ટુકડાઓમાં લપેટ્યું હતું. (આ રીતે યહૂદિઓ લોકોને દફનાવે છે.)
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="JHN.19.41" />જ્યાં ઈસુને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો હતો, ત્યાં એક બાગ હતો. તે બાગમાં ત્યાં એક નવી કબર હતી. ત્યાં પહેલા કોઈ વ્યક્તિને દફનાવવામાં આવી ન હતી.
<ve />
<v id="42" bcv="JHN.19.42" />તે માણસોએ ઈસુને તે કબરમાં મૂક્યો. કારણ કે તે નજીક હતી, અને યહૂદિઓ તેઓના સાબ્બાથ દિવસના આરંભની તૈયારી કરતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">કેટલાક શિષ્યોએ ઈસુની કબર ખાલી જોઈ
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 28:1-10; માર્ક 16:1-8; લૂક 24:1-12)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.20.1" />અઠવાડિયાના પ્રથમ દિવસે વહેલી સવારે મરિયમ મગ્દલાની કબર પાસે ગઈ જ્યાં ઈસુનું શબ હતું ત્યાં હજુ અંધારું હતું. મરિયમે જોયું કે જે મોટો પથ્થર પ્રવેશદ્વાર પર ઢાંકેલો હતો તે દૂર ખસેડવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="JHN.20.2" />તેથી મરિયમ સિમોન પિતર તથા બીજા શિષ્ય પાસે દોડી ગઈ. (જે એક કે જેને ઈસુ ચાહતો હતો.) મરિયમે કહ્યું, “તેઓ કબરમાંથી પ્રભુને લઈ ગયા છે. અમને ખબર નથી તેઓએ તેને ક્યાં મૂક્યો છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JHN.20.3" />તેથી પિતર અને બીજો શિષ્ય બહાર ગયો અને કબર તરફ જવાનું શરું કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JHN.20.4" />તેઓ બંને દોડતા હતા, પરંતુ બીજો શિષ્ય પિતર કરતાં વધારે ઝડપથી દોડતો હતો તેથી બીજો શિષ્ય કબર પાસે પહેલો પહોંચ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="JHN.20.5" />તે શિષ્યએ નીચા નમીને અંદર જોયું. તેણે ત્યાં શણનાં લૂગડાંના ટૂકડાઓ ત્યાં પડેલા જોયા. પણ તે અંદર ગયો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.20.6" />પછી તેની પાછળ સિમોન પિતર પણ આવ્યો. પિતર કબરમાં ગયો. તેણે પણ શણનાં લૂગડાંના ટૂકડાઓ ત્યાં જોયા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="JHN.20.7" />તેણે ઈસુના માથાની આજુબાજુ વીંટાળેલું લૂગડું પણ જોયું. તે લૂગડાંની ગળી વાળેલી હતી અને શણના ટુકડાઓથી જુદી જગ્યાએ તે મૂકેલું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="JHN.20.8" />પછી બીજો શિષ્ય અંદર ગયો. આ તે શિષ્ય હતો જે કબર પાસે પહેલો પહોંચ્યો હતો. જ્યારે તેણે શું બન્યું હતું તે જોયું ત્યારે તેણે વિશ્વાસ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="JHN.20.9" />(આ શિષ્યો હજુ પણ શાસ્ત્રલેખ સમજતા નહોતા કે ઈસુએ મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠવું જોઈએ.)
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મરિયમ માગ્દાલેણને ઈસુનું દર્શન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માર્ક 16:9-11)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JHN.20.10" />પછી શિષ્યો ઘેર પાછા ફર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="JHN.20.11" />પણ મરિયમ કબરની બહારની બાજુ ઊભી રહીને રડતી હતી. જ્યારે તે રડતી હતી, તેણે નીચા નમીને કબરની અંદરની બાજુ નજર કરી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="JHN.20.12" />મરિયમે બે દૂતોને સફેદ વસ્ત્રોમાં જોયા. તેઓ જ્યાં ઈસુનો દેહ હતો ત્યાં બેઠા હતા. એક દૂત જ્યાં ઈસુનું માથું હતું ત્યાં બેઠો હતો, અને બીજો દૂત જ્યાં ઈસુના પગ હતા ત્યાં બેઠો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JHN.20.13" />દૂતોએ મરિયમને પૂછયું, “બાઈ, તું શા માટે રડે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">મરિયમે કહ્યું, “કેટલાક લોકો મારા પ્રભુના શરીરને લઈ ગયા. મને ખબર નથી કે તેઓએ તેને ક્યાં મૂક્યો છે.”
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="JHN.20.14" />જ્યારે મરિયમે આ કહ્યું, તેણે પછવાડે ફરીને જોયું તો ત્યાં ઈસુને ઊભેલો દીઠો. પણ તે જાણતી ન્હોતી કે તે ઈસુ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JHN.20.15" />ઈસુએ તેને પૂછયું, “બાઈ, તું શા માટે રડે છે? તું કોને શોધે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">મરિયમે ધાર્યુ કે આ માણસ બગીચાની કાળજી રાખનાર હતો. તેથી મરિયમે તેને કહ્યું, “સાહેબ, જો તેં તેને અહીંથી ઉઠાવી લીધો હોય, તો તેં તેને ક્યાં મૂક્યો છે તે મને કહે. હું જઈશ અને તેને લઈ જઈશ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.20.16" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “મરિયમ.”
</p>
<p style="p">મરિયમ ઈસુ તરફ ફરી અને તેને હિબ્રું ભાષામાં કહ્યું,
<tl>“રાબ્બોની”</tl> (આનો અર્થ “ગુરુંજી.”)
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JHN.20.17" />ઈસુએ તેને કહ્યું, “મને પકડીશ નહિ. હજુ સુધી હું પિતા પાસે ગયો નથી. પરંતુ મારા ભાઈઓ (શિષ્યો) પાસે જા અને તેઓને આ વાત કહે. ‘હું મારા અને તમારા પિતા પાસે પાછો જાઉ છું. હું મારા અને તમારા દેવ પાસે પાછો જાઉ છું.’”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JHN.20.18" />મરિયમ મગ્દલાની શિષ્યો પાસે ગઈ અને તેઓને કહ્યું, “મેં પ્રભુને જોયો!” અને તેણે તેઓને ઈસુએ જે કહ્યું હતું તે બધું કહ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તેના શિષ્યોને ઈસુના દર્શન
</s>
<p sfm="r" style="r">(માથ્થી 28:16-20; માર્ક 16:14-18; લૂક 24:36-49)
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JHN.20.19" />અઠવાડિયાના પહેલા દિવસે તે સાંજે બધા શિષ્યો ભેગા થયા હતા. બારણાંઓને તાળા હતાં, કારણ કે, તેઓ યહૂદિઓથી ડરતાં હતા. પછી ઈસુ તેઓની વચ્ચે આવ્યો અને ઊભો રહ્યો ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમને શાંતિ થાઓ!”
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="JHN.20.20" />આમ કહ્યાં પછી ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને તેના હાથ અને તેની કૂખ બતાવી. જ્યારે તેઓએ પ્રભુને જોયો ત્યારે ખૂબ ખુશ થયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="JHN.20.21" />પછી ઈસુએ ફરીથી કહ્યું, “તમને શાંતિ થાઓ!” પિતાએ મને મોકલ્યો છે. તે જ રીતે હવે, હું તમને મોકલું છું.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="JHN.20.22" />આમ કહ્યાં પછી તેણે શિષ્યો પર શ્વાસ નાખ્યો. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “પવિત્ર આત્મા પામો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="JHN.20.23" />જો તમે લોકોના પાપોને માફ કરશો, તો પછી તેઓનાં પાપોની માફી મળશે. જો તમે લોકોનાં પાપોને માફ નહિ કરો તો, પછી તેઓનાં પાપ માફ થશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">થોમાને ઈસુના દર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JHN.20.24" />થોમા (દીદુમસ કહેવાતો) જ્યારે ઈસુ આવ્યો ત્યારે બીજાઓની સાથે તે નહોતો. થોમા તે બારમાંનો એક હતો.
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<v id="25" bcv="JHN.20.25" />બીજા શિષ્યોએ થોમાને કહ્યું, “અમે પ્રભુને જોયો છે.” થોમાએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “જ્યા સુધી હું તેના હાથમાં ખીલાંના ઘા ના જોઉં ત્યાં સુધી હું વિશ્વાસ કરીશ નહિ. તેના હાથોના ઘા જોયા વિના તથા મારી આંગળી ખીલાઓના ઘામાં મૂક્યા વિના તથા તેની કૂખમાં મારો હાથ મૂક્યા વિના હું વિશ્વાસ કરીશ નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JHN.20.26" />એક અઠવાડિયા પછી ફરીથી શિષ્યો ઘરમાં હતા. થોમા તેઓની સાથે હતો. બારણાંઓને તાળાં હતાં. પરંતુ ઈસુ આવ્યો અને તેઓની વચ્ચે આવીને ઊભો. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમને શાંતિ થાઓ!”
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<v id="27" bcv="JHN.20.27" />પછી ઈસુએ થોમાને કહ્યું, “તારી આંગળી અહીં મૂક. મારા હાથો તરફ જો. તારો હાથ અહીં મારી કૂખમાં મૂક. શંકા કરવાનું બંધ કરી વિશ્વાસ કરવાનું શરું કર.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="JHN.20.28" />થોમાએ ઈસુને કહ્યું, “મારા પ્રભુ અને મારા દેવ!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="JHN.20.29" />ઈસુએ થોમાને કહ્યું, “તેં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો કારણ કે તેં મને જોયો. જે લોકો મને જોયા વિના વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેઓને ધન્ય છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">યોહાને આ પુસ્તક શા માટે લખ્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="JHN.20.30" />ઈસુએ બીજા ઘણા ચમત્કારો કર્યા જે તેના શિષ્યોએ જોયા. આ ચમત્કારો આ પુસ્તકમાં લખેલા નથી.
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<v id="31" bcv="JHN.20.31" />છતાં આ વાતો લખી છે તેથી તમે વિશ્વાસ કરો કે ઈસુ જ ખ્રિસ્ત છે, દેવનો દીકરો છે. પછી, વિશ્વાસ કરવાથી, તેના નામ દ્વારા તમે જીવન પ્રાપ્ત કરી શકશો.
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</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">ઈસુના સાત શિષ્યોને દર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JHN.21.1" />પાછળથી, તેના શિષ્યોને ઈસુએ પોતાની જાતે દર્શન દીધા. આ તિબેરિયાસ (ગાલીલ) સરોવરની બાજુમાં હતું. તે આ રીતે બન્યું.
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<v id="2" bcv="JHN.21.2" />શિષ્યોમાંના કેટલાક ભેગા થયા હતા. તેઓમાં સિમોન પિતર, થોમા (જે દીદુમસ કહેવાતો હતો તે) ગાલીલના કાનાનો નથાનિયેલ, ઝબદીના બે દીકરાઓ, અને બીજા બે શિષ્યો હતા.
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<v id="3" bcv="JHN.21.3" />સિમોન પિતરે કહ્યું, “હું માછલા પકડવા બહાર જાઉં છું.”
</p>
<p style="p">બીજા શિષ્યોએ કહ્યું, “અમે તારી સાથે આવીશું.” પછી બધા જ શિષ્યો બહાર ગયા અને હોડીમાં બેઠા. તેઓએ તે રાત્રે માછલા પકડવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો પણ કંઈ હાથ આવ્યું નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JHN.21.4" />બીજી વહેલી પરોઢે ઈસુ સમુદ્રકાંઠે ઊભો હતો. પરંતુ શિષ્યોએ તેને ઓળખ્યો નહિ કે તે ઈસુ હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="JHN.21.5" />પછી ઈસુએ શિષ્યોને કહ્યું, “મિત્રો તમે કોઈ માછલી પકડી છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">શિષ્યોએ કહ્યું, “ના.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="JHN.21.6" />ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમારી હોડીની જમણી બાજુએ પાણીમાં તમારી જાળ નાખો. તમે ત્યાં થોડી માછલીઓ પકડી શકશો.” તેથી શિષ્યોએ આમ કર્યુ. તેઓએ એટલા બધા માછલાં પકડ્યાં કે તેઓ જાળને હોડીમાં પાછી ખેંચી શક્યા નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JHN.21.7" />ઈસુ જેને પ્રેમ કરતો હતો તે શિષ્યોમાંના એક શિષ્યએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “તે માણસ પ્રભુ છે!” પિતરે તેને આમ કહેતો સાંભળ્યો, “તે માણસ પ્રભુ છે,” પિતરે તેનો ડગલો પહેર્યો. (કામ કરવા તેણે પોતાનાં કપડાં કાઢી નાખ્યાં હતાં.) પછી તે પાણીમાં કૂદી પડયો.
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<v id="8" bcv="JHN.21.8" />બીજા શિષ્યો હોડીમાં કિનારે ગયા. તેઓએ માછલા ભરેલી જાળ ખેંચી. તેઓ કિનારાથી 100 વારથી વધારે દૂર ન હતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="JHN.21.9" />જ્યારે શિષ્યો હોડીમાંથી નીચે ઉતરી કિનારા પર આવ્યા. તેઓએ ગરમ કોલસાનો અગ્નિ જોયો. ત્યાં આગ પર એક માછલી અને ત્યાં બાજુમાં રોટલી પણ હતી.
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<v id="10" bcv="JHN.21.10" />પછી ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમે માછલીઓ પકડી છે તેમાંથી થોડી લાવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JHN.21.11" />સિમોન પિતર હોડીમાં ગયો અને જાળને સમુદ્રકિનારે ખેંચી. તે મોટી માછલીઓથી ભરેલી હતી. ત્યાં 153 માછલીઓ હતી. માછલીઓ ઘણી ભારે હતી, પણ જાળ ફાટી નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="JHN.21.12" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “આવો અને ખાઓ.” શિષ્યોમાંથી કોઈ પણ તેને પૂછી શક્યો નહિ, “તું કોણ છે?” તેઓએ જાણ્યું તે પ્રભુ હતો.
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<v id="13" bcv="JHN.21.13" />ઈસુ ભોજન તરફ ગયો. તેણે રોટલી લીધી અને તે તેઓને આપી. ઈસુએ પણ માછલી લીધી અને તે તેઓને આપી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JHN.21.14" />મૃત્યુ પામેલાઓમાંથી ઊઠયા પછી ઈસુએ પોતાના શિષ્યોને આમ ત્રીજી વાર દર્શન દીધા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ પિતર સાથે વાત કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="JHN.21.15" />જ્યારે તેઓએ ભોજન પૂરું કર્યુ, ઈસુએ સિમોન પિતરને કહ્યું, “સિમોન, યોહાનના દીકરા, શું તું મને આ બીજા પુરુંષો કરતાં વધારે હેત કરે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">પિતરે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા, પ્રભુ, તું જાણે છે કે હું તને હેત કરું છું.”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી ઈસુએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “મારા હલવાનો<f caller="+"><fr>21:15
</fr><fk>હલવાનો
</fk><ft>યોહાન 10માં દર્શાવ્યાં પ્રમાણે ઈસુ આ શબ્દોનો અર્થ તેનાં લોકો કરે છે.</ft></f> ની સંભાળ રાખ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JHN.21.16" />ફરીથી ઈસુએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “સિમોન, યોહાનના દીકરા, શું તું મને પ્રેમ કરે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">પિતરે ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “હા, પ્રભુ, તું જાણે છે કે હું તને પ્રેમ કરું છું.”
</p>
<p style="p">પછી ઈસુએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “મારા ઘેટાંઓની સંભાળ રાખ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JHN.21.17" />ઈસુએ ત્રીજી વાર કહ્યું, “સિમોન, યોહાનના દીકરા, શું તું મને પ્રેમ કરે છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">પિતર ઉદાસ હતો કારણ કે ઈસુએ તેને ત્રણ વખત પૂછયું, “શું તું મને પ્રેમ કરે છે?” પિતરે કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ તું બધું જાણે છે. તું જાણે છે કે હું તને પ્રેમ કરું છું!”
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “મારા ઘેંટાંની સંભાળ રાખ.
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<v id="18" bcv="JHN.21.18" />હું તને સત્ય કહું છું. જ્યારે તું યુવાન હતો. તું તારો પોતાનો પટ્ટો બાંધી અને તારી જ્યાં જવાની ઈચ્છા હતી ત્યાં ગયો. પણ જ્યારે તું વૃદ્ધ થશે ત્યારે તું તારા હાથ લાંબા કરીશ અને બીજો કોઈ પુરુંષ તને બાંધશે. તે વ્યક્તિ તારી ઈચ્છા જ્યાં નહિ જવાની હશે ત્યાં દોરી જશે.”
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<v id="19" bcv="JHN.21.19" />(ઈસુએ દેવનો મહિમા પ્રગટ કરવા, તે દર્શાવવા એમ કહ્યું.) પછી ઈસુએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “મારી પાછળ આવ!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JHN.21.20" />પિતર પાછો વળ્યો અને ઈસુ જે શિષ્યને પ્રેમ કરતો હતો, તેને પાછળ ચાલતો જોયો. (આ તે શિષ્ય હતો જેણે વાળુના સમયે તેની છાતી પર અઢેલીને પૂછયું હતું, “પ્રભુ તારી વિરૂદ્ધ કોણ થશે?”)
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<v id="21" bcv="JHN.21.21" />જ્યારે પિતરે આ શિષ્યને તેની પાછળ જોયો. તેણે ઈસુને પૂછયું, “પ્રભુ, તેના વિષે શું છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JHN.21.22" />ઈસુએ ઉત્તર આપ્યો, “ધારો કે હું પાછો આવું ત્યાં સુધી તે જીવતો રહે એવી મારી ઈચ્છા હોય, તેનું તારા માટે કોઈ મહત્વ હોવું જોઈએ નહિ. તું મારી પાછળ આવ!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="JHN.21.23" />તેથી એ વાત ભાઈઓમાં અંદર અંદર પ્રસરી. તેઓ કહેતા હતા કે આ શિષ્ય જેને ઈસુ પ્રેમ કરતો હતો તે મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ. પણ ઈસુએ કહ્યું ન હતું કે તે મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ. તેણે ફક્ત કહ્યું, “ધારો કે મેં નક્કી કર્યુ હોય કે હું પાછો આવું ત્યાં સુધી તે જીવે એમાં તારે શું?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JHN.21.24" />તે શિષ્ય જે આ બાબત કહે છે, તે જેણે હમણાં આ બાબત લખી છે. અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે તે જે કહે છે તે સાચું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JHN.21.25" />ત્યાં બીજી ઘણી બાબતો છે જે ઈસુએ કરી છે. જો તે બાબતોના પ્રત્યેક કામો લખવામાં આવે તો હું ધારું છું કે એટલા બધાં પુસ્તકો થાય કે તેનો સમાવેશ આ જગતમાં થાય નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="ACT"><id id="ACT">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>પ્રેરિતોનાં કૃત્યો
</h><toc level="1">પ્રેરિતોનાં કૃત્યો
</toc><toc level="2">પ્રેરિતોનાં કૃત્યો
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">પ્રેરિતોનાં કૃત્યો
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">લૂક બીજુ પુસ્તક લખે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.1.1" />વહાલા થિયોફિલ,
</p>
<p style="p">મેં પ્રથમ પુસ્તક ઈસુએ જે કંઈ કર્યુ અને શીખવ્યું તે દરેક બાબતો વિષે લખ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ACT.1.2" />મેં ઈસુના જીવનના આરંભથી તેને જે દિવસથી આકાશમાં લઈ લેવામાં આવ્યો ત્યાં સુધીના સમગ્ર જીવન વિષે લખ્યું છે. આ બનતાં પહેલાં, ઈસુએ પોતે પસંદ કરેલા પ્રેરિતો સાથે વાત કરી. પવિત્ર આત્માની સહાયથી ઈસુએ પ્રેરિતોને તેઓએ શું કરવું જોઈએ તે કહ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ACT.1.3" />આ ઈસુના મૃત્યુ પછીની વાત હતી. પણ તેણે પ્રેરિતોને બતાવ્યું કે તે જીવંત છે. ઈસુએ ઘણાં સાર્મથ્યશાળી પરાક્રમો કરીને આ સાબિત કર્યુ. પ્રેરિતોને ઈસુના મૃત્યુમાંથી સજીવન થયા બાદ 40 દિવસ દરમ્યાન ઘણીવાર તેના દર્શન થયાં. ઈસુએ પ્રેરિતોને દેવના રાજ્ય વિષે કહ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ACT.1.4" />એક વખત ઈસુ તેઓની સાથે જમતો હતો, ત્યારે ઈસુએ તેઓને યરૂશાલેમ છોડવાની ના પાડી હતી. ઈસુએ કહ્યું, “તમને બાપે જે વચન આપ્યું છે તે વિષે મેં તમને પહેલાં કહ્યું છે. આ વચન પ્રાપ્ત કરવા માટે અહીં યરૂશાલેમમાં રાહ જુઓ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ACT.1.5" />યોહાને પાણીથી બાપ્તિસ્મા કર્યુ, પણ થોડા દિવસો પછી તમે પવિત્ર આત્માથી બાપ્તિસ્મા પામશો.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ આકાશમાં લઈ લેવામાં આવ્યો છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ACT.1.6" />બધા પ્રેરિતો ભેગા થયા. તેઓએ ઈસુને પૂછયું, “પ્રભુ, શું આ સમય તારા માટે યહૂદિઓને તેઓનું રાજ્ય ફરીથી સોંપવાનો છે?”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ACT.1.7" />ઈસુએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “ફક્ત એક માત્ર બાપ જ સમયો અને તારીખો નક્કી કરવા માટે અધિકૃત છે. આ વસ્તુઓ તમે જાણી શકો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ACT.1.8" />પણ પવિત્ર આત્મા તમારી પાસે આવશે. પછી તમે સાર્મથ્ય પ્રાપ્ત કરશો. ત્યારે તમે મારા સાક્ષી થશો-તમે લોકોને મારા વિષે કહેશો. પહેલાં, તમે યરૂશાલેમમાં લોકોને કહેશો. પછી યહૂદિયામાં, સમરૂનમાં તથા વિશ્વના બધા જ લોકોને કહેશો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.1.9" />પ્રેરિતોને આ બાબતો કહ્યા પછી, ઈસુને આકાશમાં લઈ લેવામાં આવ્યો. પ્રેરિતોના દેખતાં જ ઈસુ વાદળમાં અદ્ધશ્ય થઈ ગયો, અને તેઓ તેને જોઈ શક્યા નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ACT.1.10" />ઈસુ દૂર જઈ રહ્યો હતો અને પ્રેરિતો આકાશમાં જોઈ રહ્યા હતા. અચાનક, બે શ્વેત વસ્ત્રધારી માણસો તેઓની બાજુમાં આવીને ઊભા.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ACT.1.11" />તે બે માણસોએ પ્રેરિતોને કહ્યું, “ઓ ગાલીલના માણસો, તમે અહીં આકાશ તરફ જોતાં શા માટે ઊભા છો? તમે જોયું કે ઈસુને તમારી પાસેથી આકાશમાં લઈ લેવામાં આવ્યો છે. જે રીતે તમે તેને જતાં જોયો તે જ રીતે તે પાછો આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">એક નવા પ્રેરિતની પસંદગી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.1.12" />પછી તે પ્રેરિતો જૈતૂન પર્વત પરથી યરૂશાલેમ પાછા ફર્યા. (આ પર્વત યરૂશાલેમથી લગભગ અડધો માઇલ દૂર છે.)
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ACT.1.13" />તે પ્રેરિતો શહેરમાં પ્રવેશ્યા. તેઓ જ્યાં રહેતા હતા ત્યાં મેડી પરના ઓરડામાં ગયા. તે પ્રેરિતો હતા, પિતર, યોહાન, યાકૂબ, આંન્દ્રિયા, ફિલિપ, થોમા, બર્થોલ્મી, માથ્થી, યાકૂબ (અલ્ફીનો દીકરો), સિમોન (ઝલોતસ) તથા યાકૂબનો ભાઈ યહૂદા ત્યાં ગયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ACT.1.14" />બધા પ્રેરિતો ભેગા થયા હતા. તેઓ સતત એક જ હેતુથી પ્રાર્થના કરતાં હતા ત્યાં કેટલીક સ્ત્રીઓ હતી. ઈસુની મા મરિયમ, અને તેના ભાઈઓ પણ ત્યાં પ્રેરિતો સાથે હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ACT.1.15" />થોડા દિવસ પછી વિશ્વાસીઓની એક સભા મળી. (ત્યાં તેમાનાં લગભગ 120 હાજર હતા.) પિતરે ઊભા થઈને કહ્યું,
<ve />
<v id="16-17" bcv="ACT.1.16" />“ભાઈઓ, શાસ્ત્રવચનોમાં પવિત્ર આત્માએ દાઉદ દ્ધારા કહ્યું કે કંઈક થવાની જરુંર છે. તે આપણા સમૂહમાનાં એક યહૂદા વિષે કહેતો હતો. યહૂદા આપણી સાથે સેવામાં ભાગીદાર હતો. આત્માએ કહ્યું કે ઈસુને પકડવા માટે યહૂદા માણસોને દોરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ACT.1.18" />(યહૂદાને આ દુષ્ટ કામ માટે પૈસા આપવામાં આવ્યા હતા. તેના પૈસા તેના માટે ખેતર ખરીદવામાં વપરાયા. પણ યહૂદા ઊંધે મસ્તકે પટકાયો, અને તેનું શરીર ફાટી ગયું. તેનાં બધાં આંતરડાં બહાર નીકળી ગયાં.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.1.19" />યરૂશાલેમના બધા લોકોએ આ વિષે જાણ્યું. તેથી તેઓએ તે ખેતરનું નામ હકેલ્દમા રાખ્યું. તેઓની ભાષામાં હકેલ્દમાનો અર્થ, “લોહીનું ખેતર” થાય છે.)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ACT.1.20" />પિતરે કહ્યું, “ગીતશાસ્ત્રના પુસ્તકમાં યહૂદા વિષે આમ લખેલું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તેની જમીન નજીક લોકોએ જવું નહિ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં કોઇએ રહેવું નહિ!’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.69.25">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 69:25</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">અને એમ પણ લખેલું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તેનું કામ બીજો કોઇ માણસ લે.’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.109.8">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 109:8</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="21-22" bcv="ACT.1.21" />“તેથી હવે બીજા કોઈ માણસે આપણી સાથે જોડાવું જોઈએ અને ઈસુના પુનરુંત્થાનના સાક્ષી થવું જોઈએ. આ માણસ પેલા માણસોમાંનો એક હોવો જોઈએ. જ્યારે પ્રભુ ઈસુ આપણી સાથે હતો ત્યારે બધા જ સમય દરમ્યાન આપણા સમૂહનો ભાગ હતો, જ્યારથી યોહાને લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ, ત્યારથી ઈસુને આપણી પાસેથી આકાશમાં લઈ જવાયો ત્યાં સુધી આ માણસ આપણી સાથે હોવો જોઈએ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ACT.1.23" />પ્રેરિતોએ બે માણસોને સમૂહની આગળ ઊભા કર્યા. એક હતો યૂસફ બર્સબા, તે યુસ્તસના નામથી ઓળખતો અને બીજો માણસ હતો માથ્થિયાસ.
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<v id="24-25" bcv="ACT.1.24" />પ્રેરિતોએ પ્રાર્થના કરી, “પ્રભુ, તું પ્રત્યેક માણસોના મનોને જાણે છે. આ બેમાંથી તું આ કામ કરવા માટે કોને પસંદ કરે છે તે દર્શાવ. યહૂદા ભટકી જઈને જ્યાં જવાનો હતો ત્યાં ગયો. પ્રભુ, કયા માણસે પ્રેરિત તરીકે તેની જગ્યા લેવી જોઈએ તે બતાવ.”
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.1.26" />પછી પ્રેરિતોએ બેમાંથી એકની પસંદગી કરવા માટે ચિઠ્ઠીઓ નાખી. પ્રભુની ઈચ્છાનુસાર માથ્થિયાસના નામની ચિઠ્ઠી નીકળી. તેથી તે બીજા અગિયારની સાથે પ્રેરિત થયો.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">પવિત્ર આત્માનું આગમન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.2.1" />જ્યારે પચાસમાનો દિવસ આવ્યો ત્યારે, પ્રેરિતો બધા એક જગ્યાએ ભેગા થયા હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.2.2" />અચાનક આકાશમાંથી અવાજ આવ્યો. આ અવાજ સખત ફૂંકાતા પવનના જેવો હતો. તેઓ જ્યાં બેઠા હતાં તે આખું ઘર આ અવાજથી ગાજી ઊઠ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ACT.2.3" />અગ્નિના જેવી છૂટી છૂટી પડતી જીભો તેઓના જોવામાં આવી. આ જીભો છૂટી પડીને પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ પર ઊભી બેઠી.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.2.4" />તેઓ બધા પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર થયા, અને તેઓએ જુદી જુદી ભાષાઓ બોલવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ. પવિત્ર આત્માએ તેઓને આ કરવાનું સાર્મથ્ય આપ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ACT.2.5" />આ સમયે યરૂશાલેમમાં કેટલાક ધાર્મિક યહૂદિઓ રહેતા હતા. દુનિયાના દરેક દેશમાંના આ માણસો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ACT.2.6" />આ માણસોનો મોટો સમૂહ ભેગો થયો હતો કારણ કે તેઓએ આ અવાજ સાંભળ્યો હતો. તેઓ નવાઇ પામ્યા હતા. કારણ કે પ્રેરિતો બોલતાં હતા. અને દરેક માણસે તેઓની પોતાની ભાષામાં તે સાંભળ્યું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ACT.2.7" />બધા યહૂદિઓ આનાથી આશ્ચર્ય પામ્યા હતા. તેઓ સમજી શક્યા નહિ કે પ્રેરિતો આવું કેવી રીતે કરી શક્યા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “જુઓ, આ બધા જ માણસો જેઓને આપણે બોલતાં સાંભળીએ છીએ તે બધા શું ગાલીલના નથી?
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ACT.2.8" />પણ આપણે તેઓને આપણી પોતાની ભાષામાં બોલતાં સાંભળીએ છીએ. આ કેવી રીતે શક્ય છે? આપણે બધા જ જુદી જુદી જગ્યાઓના છીએ:
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ACT.2.9" />પાર્થીઓ, માદીઓ, એલામીઓ, મેસોપોતામિયાના, યહૂદિયાના, કપ્પદોકિયાના, પોન્તસના, આશિયાના,
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ACT.2.10" />ફુગિયાના, પમ્ફૂલિયાના, ઇજીપ્તના, લિબિયાના, કૂરેની ભાષા તથા રોમ વિસ્તારના પ્રવાસીઓ, યહૂદિ તથા બીન-યહૂદિઓમાંથી થએલા યહૂદિ,
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ACT.2.11" />આમ આપણે જુદા જુદા દેશોના છીએ. પણ આપણે આ માણસને આપણી પોતાની ભાષામાં સાંભળીએ છીએ! તેઓ દેવના જે કંઈ મોટાં કામો વિષે કહે છે તે આપણે બધા સમજી શકીએ છીએ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.2.12" />બધા લોકો આશ્ચર્યચકિત થયા. અને મૂંઝાયા. તેઓ એકબીજાને પૂછે છે, “આ શું થઈ રહ્યું છે?”
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ACT.2.13" />બીજા લોકો પ્રેરિતો તરફ ઠઠ્ઠા કરી રહ્યાં હતા. આ લોકોએ વિચાર્યુ કે પ્રેરિતોએ વધારે પડતો દ્ધાક્ષારસ પીધેલો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પિતરનું લોકોને ભાષણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ACT.2.14" />પછી પિતર અગિયાર બીજા પ્રેરિતો સાથે ઊભો રહ્યો. તે એટલા મોટા અવાજે બોલ્યો કે જેથી બધા લોકો સાંભળી શકે. તેણે કહ્યું, “મારા યહૂદિ ભાઈઓ તથા યરૂશાલેમમાં તમારામાંના બધા જે રહો છો, હું તમને કંઈક કહીશ, જે જાણવાની તમારે જરુંર છે. કાળજીપૂર્વક સાંભળો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ACT.2.15" />આ માણસો તમે ધારો છો એમ પીધેલા નથી; હજુ સવારના નવ વાગ્યા છે!
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ACT.2.16" />પણ યોએલ પ્રબોધકે જે બાબત માટે લખ્યું હતું તે આજે તમે અહીં થતું જુઓ છો. યોએલ પ્રબોધકે જે લખ્યું છે તે આ છે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.2.17" />‘દેવ કહે છે કે:
</q>
<q style="q1">છેલ્લા દિવસોમાં, હું મારો આત્મા બધા લોકો પર રેડી દઈશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા પુત્રો અને પુત્રીઓ પ્રબોધ કરશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા જુવાનોને સંદર્શનો થશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા વૃદ્ધોને ખાસ સ્વપ્નો આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ACT.2.18" />તે સમયે, હું મારા સેવક-સેવિકાઓ પર મારો આત્મા રેડીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ પ્રબોધ કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="ACT.2.19" />હું ઊચે આકાશમાં આશ્ચર્યજનક કામો બતાવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું નીચે પૃથ્વી પર તેના અદભૂત ચિહનો આપીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં લોહી, અગ્નિ, અને ધુમાડાના ગોટેગોટા દેખાડીશ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="ACT.2.20" />સૂર્યનું પરિવર્તન અંધકારમાં થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ચંદ્ર લાલ લોહી જેવો બનશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પછી પ્રભુનો મહાન તથા પ્રસિધ્ધ દિવસ આવશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="21" bcv="ACT.2.21" />અને પ્રત્યેક માણસ જે પ્રભુમાં વિશ્વાસ કરશે ત તારણ પામશે.’
<rq><ref tgt="JOL.2.28">યોએલ 2:28-32</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.2.22" />“મારા યહૂદિ ભાઈઓ, આ શબ્દો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો: નાસરેથનો ઈસુ એક ઘણો વિશિષ્ટ માણસ હતો. દેવે તમને આ સ્પષ્ટ દર્શન કરાવ્યું છે. દેવે પરાક્રમો અને આશ્ચર્યો તથા ચમત્કારોથી તે સાબિત કર્યુ છે. તે ઈસુ દ્ધારા કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું. તમે બધાએ આ બાબતો જોઈ છે. તેથી તમે જાણો છો કે આ સાચું છે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="ACT.2.23" />તમને ઈસુ સોંપવામાં આવ્યો, અને તમે તેની હત્યા કરી. દુષ્ટ માણસોની સહાયથી તમે ખીલા ઠોકીને ઈસુને વધસ્તંભે જડાવ્યો. પણ દેવ તો જાણતો હતો કે આ બધું થવાનું છે. આ દેવની યોજના હતી. ઘણા સમય પહેલા દેવે આ યોજના ઘડી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ACT.2.24" />ઈસુએ મૃત્યુની વેદના સહન કરી, પણ દેવે તેને એ બધી વેદનાઓમાંથી મુક્ત કર્યો. દેવે ઈસુને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠાડ્યો. મૃત્યુ ઈસુને પકડી શક્યું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ACT.2.25" />દાઉદે ઈસુના સંદર્ભમાં આમ કહ્યું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘મેં પ્રભુને હંમેશા મારી સંન્મુખ જોયો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મને સલામત રાખવા માટે તે મારી જમણી બાજુએ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="ACT.2.26" />તેથી મારું હ્રદય પ્રસન્ન છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મારી જીભ હર્ષોલ્લાસ વ્યક્ત કરે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હા, મારું શરીર પણ આશામાં રહેશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.2.27" />કારણ કે તું મારા આત્માને મૃત્યુના સ્થળે છોડશે નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તારા પવિત્રને પણ કબરમાં કોહવાણ જોવા દઇશ નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="ACT.2.28" />તેં મને જીવન જીવતાં શીખ્વયું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું તારી નજીક આવીશ અને મને આનંદથી ભરપૂર કરીશ.’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.16.8">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 16:8-11</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ACT.2.29" />“મારા ભાઈઓ, હું તમને આપણા પૂર્વજ દાઉદના સંદર્ભમાં સાચું કહીશ. તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યોં હતો અને તેને દફનાવવામાં આવ્યો હતો. તેની કબર આજે પણ આપણી પાસે છે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="ACT.2.30" />દાઉદ એક પ્રબોધક હતો અને દેવે જે કહ્યું તે જાણતો હતો. દેવે દાઉદને વચન આપ્યું હતું કે તે દાઉદના પરિવારમાંથી કોઈ વ્યક્તિને દાઉદના જેવો રાજા બનાવશે.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="ACT.2.31" />દાઉદે તે થતાં પહેલા આ જાણ્યું. તેથી તે વ્યક્તિના સંદર્ભમાં દાઉદે આમ કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તેને મૃત્યુની જગ્યાએ રહેવા દેવામાં આવ્યો ન હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનું શરીર કબરમાં સડવા દીધું નહિ.’
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">દાઉદ મૃત્યુમાંથી પુનરુંત્થાન પામેલ ખ્રિસ્તના સંદર્ભમાં કહેતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="ACT.2.32" />તેથી ઈસુ મૃત્યુમાંથી સજીવન થયેલ દેવ છે, દાઉદ નહિ! આપણે બધા આ માટે સાક્ષી છીએ. આપણે તેને જોયો છે!
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="ACT.2.33" />ઈસુનો આકાશમાં લઈ જવામાં આવેલ છે. તેથી ઈસુ દેવની જમણી બાજુએ દેવની સાથે છે. પિતાએ (દેવ) હવે ઈસુને પવિત્ર આત્મા આપેલ છે. દેવે જે વચન આપ્યું હતું તે પવિત્ર આત્મા છે. તેથી હવે ઈસુ તે આત્મા રેડી રહ્યો છે. તમે જે જુઓ છે અને સાંભળે છો તે આ છે.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="ACT.2.34" />જે એકને આકાશમાં લઈ જવામાં આવેલ છે તે દાઉદ ન હતો. જેને આકાશમાં લઈ જવામાં આવ્યો હતો તે તો ઈસુ હતો. દાઉદે પોતે જ કહ્યું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘પ્રભુએ (દેવ) મારા પ્રભુને કહ્યું:
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="ACT.2.35" />જ્યાં સુધી હું તારા દુશ્મનોને હું તારી સત્તામાં ના સોંપું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી મારી જમણી બાજુએ બેસ.’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.110.1">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 110:1</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="ACT.2.36" />“તેથી બધા યહૂદિ લોકોએ આ સત્ય જાણવું જોઈએ, દેવે ઈસુને પ્રભુ અને ખ્રિસ્ત બનાવ્યો છે. તે એ જ માણસ છે જેને તમે વધસ્તંભે ખીલા મારીને જડ્યો!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="ACT.2.37" />જ્યારે લોકોએ આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે, તેઓ ઘણા દુ:ખી થયા. તેઓએ પિતર અને બીજા શિષ્યોને પૂછયું, “ભાઈઓ, અમારે શું કરવું જોઈએ?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="ACT.2.38" />પિતરે તેઓને કહ્યું, “પસ્તાવો કરો. તમારામાંનો દરેક ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના નામે બાપ્તિસ્મા પામો. પછી દેવ તમારાં પાપોને માફ કરશે. અને તમને પવિત્ર આત્માનું દાન પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
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<v id="39" bcv="ACT.2.39" />આ વચન તમારા માટે છે અને તે તમારાં બાળકો તથા જે લોકો દૂર દૂર છે તેઓને માટે પણ છે. આપણા પ્રભુ દેવ તેની પાસે જેટલાંને બોલાવશે તે દરેક માણસ માટે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="ACT.2.40" />પિતરે બીજા ઘણા શબ્દોથી તેઓને ચેતવણી આપી; તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “હાલમાં જે દુષ્ટ લોકો જીવી રહ્યા છે તેઓથી તમારી જાતનો બચાવ કરો!”
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<v id="41" bcv="ACT.2.41" />પછી જે લોકોએ પિતરે કહ્યું હતું તેમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો તેઓ બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યાં. તે દિવસે આશરે 3,000 લોકો વિશ્વાસીઓના સમૂહમાં ઉમેરાયા.
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<s style="s">વિશ્વાસીઓનો ફાળો
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="ACT.2.42" />વિશ્વાસીઓએ સંગતમાં ભેગા મળવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું. તેઓ પ્રેરિતોના બોધ શીખવામાં તેઓના સમયનો ઉપયોગ કરતા. વિશ્વાસીઓ એકબીજાના સહભાગી બન્યા. તેઓ રોટલી ભાગવામાં તથા પ્રાર્થના કરવામાં લાગું રહ્યા.
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<v id="43" bcv="ACT.2.43" />પ્રેરિતો ઘણા અદભૂત કૃત્યો અને ચમત્કારો કરતા હતાં. પ્રત્યેક માણસના હ્રદયમાં દેવના માટે મહાન સન્માનની ભાવના જાગી.
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<v id="44" bcv="ACT.2.44" />બધા જ વિશ્વાસીઓ સાથે રહેતાં. તેઓ દરેક વસ્તુઓ વહેંચતા.
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<v id="45" bcv="ACT.2.45" />વિશ્વાસીઓએ તેઓની જમીનો તથા તેઓની માલિકીની વસ્તુઓ વેચી અને પછી તે પૈસા તેઓનામાં જ દરેકની જરૂરીયાત પ્રમાણે વહેંચી આપ્યા.
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<v id="46" bcv="ACT.2.46" />વિશ્વાસીઓ પ્રતિદિન મંદિરના આંગણામાં ભેગા મળતા. તેઓ બધાને હેતુ સર્વ સામાન્ય હતો. તેઓ તેઓના ઘરોમાં એક સાથે જમતા. તેઓ રોટલી ભાંગીને ઉમંગથી તથા નિખાલસથી ખાતા.
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<v id="47" bcv="ACT.2.47" />વિશ્વાસીઓ દેવની સ્તુતિ કરતા અને બધા જ લોકોને તેઓ ગમતા. પ્રતિદિન વધારે ને વધારે માણસોનો ઉદ્ધાર થતો; પ્રભુ વિશ્વાસીઓના સમૂહમાં તે લોકોનો ઉમેરો કરતો હતો.
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<s style="s">પિતર લંગડા માણસને સાજો કરે છે
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.3.1" />એક દિવસે પિતર અને યોહાન મંદિરમાં ગયા. તે વખતે બપોરનાં ત્રણ વાગ્યા હતા. આ સમય મંદિરની દૈનિક પ્રાર્થના કરવાનો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.3.2" />જ્યારે તેઓ મંદિરના પ્રાંગણમાં જતાં હતાં ત્યારે એક માણસ ત્યાં હતો. આ માણસ તેના જન્મથી અપંગ હતો. તે ચાલી શકતો ન હતો, તેથી કેટલાક મિત્રો તેને ઊચકીને લઈ જતા. તેના મિત્રો તેને રોજ મંદિરે લાવતા. તેઓ મંદિરના બહારના દરવાજાની એક તરફ તે લંગડા માણસને બેસાડતા. તે દરવાજો સુંદર નામે ઓળખાતો. ત્યાં મંદિર જતા લોકો પાસે તે માણસ પૈસા માટે ભીખ માગતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.3.3" />તે દિવસે તે માણસે પિતર અને યોહાનને મંદિરના પ્રાંગણમાં જતા જોયા. તેણે તેઓની પાસે પૈસા માંગ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ACT.3.4" />પિતર અને યોહાને તે અપંગ માણસ તરફ જોયું અને કહ્યું, “અમારા તરફ જો!”
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.3.5" />તે માણસે તેઓના તરફ જોયું, તેણે વિચાર્યુ તેઓ તેને થોડા પૈસા આપશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.3.6" />પણ પિતરે કહ્યું, “મારી પાસે સોનું કે ચાંદી કંઈ નથી. પણ મારી પાસે તને આપી શકાય તેવું બીજું કંઈક છે: ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત નાઝારીના નામથી ઊભો થા અને ચાલ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ACT.3.7" />પછી પિતરે તે માણસનો જમણો હાથ પકડ્યો અને તેને ઉઠાડ્યો. તરત જ તે માણસના પગોમાં અને ઘૂંટીઓમાં જોર આવ્યું.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.3.8" />તે માણસ કૂદયો, તેના પગ ઉપર ઊભો રહ્યો અને ચાલવા લાગ્યો. તે તેઓની સાથે મંદિરમાં ગયો. તે માણસ ચાલતો, કૂદતો અને દેવની સ્તુતિ કરવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="9-10" bcv="ACT.3.9" />બધા લોકોએ તેને ઓળખ્યો. લોકોએ જાણ્યું કે તે એ જ અપંગ માણસ હતો જે હંમેશા સુંદર નામના દરવાજા પાસે પૈસાની ભીખ માગવા બેસતો હતો. હવે તેઓએ તે જ માણસને ચાલતો અને સ્તુતિ કરતો જોયો. લોકો આશ્ચર્યચકિત થયા. આમ કેવી રીતે બન્યું તે તેઓ સમજી શક્યા નહિ.
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<s style="s">પિતરનું લોકોને સંબોધન
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ACT.3.11" />તે માણસ પિતર અને યોહાનને પકડી રહ્યો હતો. બધા જ લોકો અચરજ પામ્યા હતા કારણ કે તે માણસ સાજો થઈ ગયો હતો. તેઓ પિતર અને યોહાન પાસે સુલેમાનની પરસાળમાં દોડી ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.3.12" />જ્યારે પિતરે આ જોયું, તેણે લોકોને કહ્યું, “મારા યહૂદિ ભાઈઓ, આમાં તમે શા માટે અચરજે પામો છો? તમે અમારા તરફ એ રીતે જોઈ રહ્યો છો જાણે અમારા સાર્મથ્યથી આ માણસ ચાલતો થઈ શક્યો છે. તમે વિચારો છો અમે સારા છીએ તેથી આમ બન્યું હતું?
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.3.13" />ના! દેવે જ તે કર્યું છે! તે ઈબ્રાહિમનો, ઈસહાકનો તથા યાકૂબનો દેવ છે. તે આપણા બધા પૂર્વજોનો દેવ છે. તેણે તેના વિશિષ્ટ સેવક ઈસુને મહિમા આપ્યો છે. પણ તમે ઈસુને મારી નાખવા સુપ્રત કર્યો, પિલાતે ઈસુને છોડી મૂકવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો હતો. પણ તમે પિલાતને કહ્યું કે તમારે ઈસુની જરુંર નથી.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.3.14" />ઈસુ પવિત્ર અને પ્રમાણિક હતો પણ તમે પવિત્ર અને પ્રમાણિક માણસની ઈચ્છા રાખી નહી. તમે ઈસુને બદલે એક ખૂનીને છોડી મૂક્વાનું પિલાતને કહ્યું.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.3.15" />અને તેથી તમને જે જીવન આપે છે તેને જ મારી નાખ્યો! પરંતુ દેવે તેને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠાડ્યો. અમે તેના સાક્ષી છીએ-અમે અમારી આંખોથી તે જોયું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ACT.3.16" />“તે ઈસુનું પરાક્રમ હતું કે જેના વડે આ લંગડો માણસ સાજો થયો. આ બન્યું કારણ કે અમને ઈસુના નામમાં વિશ્વાસ હતો. તમે આ માણસને જોઈ શકો છો. અને તમે તેને જાણો છો. તે ઈસુ પરના વિશ્વાસને કારણે સંપૂર્ણ સાજો થયો હતો. જે કંઈબન્યું તે બધું તમે બધાએ જોયું હતું!
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.3.17" />“મારા ભાઈઓ, હું જાણું છું કે તમે ઈસુ સાથે આમ કર્યુ કારણ કે તમે શું કરતાં હતા તે તમે જાણતાં નહોતા. તમારા અધિકારીઓ પણ સમજતા ન હતા.
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.3.18" />દેવે કહ્યું કે આ વસ્તુઓ બનશે. દેવે બધા પ્રબોધકો મારફતે કહ્યું કે તેનો ખ્રિસ્ત દુ:ખ સહેશે અને મૃત્યુ પામશે. દેવે આ કેવી રીતે પૂર્ણ કર્યુ એ મેં તમને કહ્યું.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.3.19" />તેથી તમારે પસ્તાવો કરવો જોઈએ. દેવ પાસે પાછા ફરો અને તે તમારા પાપો માફ કરશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.3.20" />પછી પ્રભુ તમને આત્મિક તાજગી માટે સમય આપશે. તે તમને ઈસુ આપશે, તે એક ખ્રિસ્ત તરીકે પસંદ થયેલ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ACT.3.21" />“પણ જ્યાં સુધી બધી વસ્તુઓ ફરીથી બરાબર ન થાય ત્યાં સુધી ઈસુએ આકાશમાં રહેવું જોઈએ. જ્યારે તેના પવિત્ર પ્રબોધકો દ્ધારા તે બોલ્યો હતો ત્યારે ઘણાં લાંબા સમય પહેલા દેવે આ સમય વિષે કહ્યું હતું.
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<v id="22" bcv="ACT.3.22" />મૂસાએ કહ્યું, ‘પ્રભુ તારો દેવ તને એક પ્રબોધક આપશે. તે પ્રબોધક તમારા પોતાના લોકોમાંથી જ આવશે. તે મારા જેવો હશે. તમને પ્રબોધક જે કહે તે સર્વનું પાલન કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.3.23" />અને જો કોઇ વ્યક્તિ તે પ્રબોધકની અવજ્ઞા કરશે તો, પછી તેનું મૃત્યુ થશે, અને દેવના લોકોથી તે જુદો પડશે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ACT.3.24" />“શમુએલના કહ્યા પછી તેના પછીના બધા પ્રબોધકોએ દેવ વિષે કહ્યું છે. તે સર્વ જણે આ સમય માટે પણ કહ્યું છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.3.25" />પ્રબોધકોએ જેના વિષે કહ્યું હતું તે તમને પ્રાપ્ત થયેલ છે. દેવે તમારા પૂર્વજો સાથે જે કરાર કર્યો હતો તે તમને પ્રાપ્ત થયેલ છે. દેવે તમારા પિતા ઈબ્રાહિમને કહ્યું હતું. ‘પૃથ્વી પરના દરેક રાષ્ટ્ર તમારા સંતાનો દ્ધારા આશીર્વાદિત થશે.’<f caller="+"><ft>‘પૃથ્વી … થશે.’ ઉત. 22:18; 26:24</ft></f>
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.3.26" />દેવે તેના ખાસ સેવકને મોકલ્યો છે. દેવે ઈસુને તમારી પાસે પ્રથમ મોકલ્યો છે. દેવે તમને આશીર્વાદ આપવા માટે ઈસુને મોકલ્યો છે. તમારામાંના દરેકને ખરાબ કાર્યો કરવામાંથી પાછા ફેરવીને તે આમ કરે છે.”
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<c id="4" />
<s style="s">યહૂદિઓની ન્યાયસભા સમક્ષ પિતર અને યોહાન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.4.1" />જ્યારે પિતર અને યોહાન લોકોને વાત કરતા હતા, ત્યારે કેટલાક માણસો તેમની પાસે આવ્યા. ત્યાં કેટલાક યહૂદિ યાજકો, મંદિરનું રક્ષણ કરતા સૈનિકોના સરદારો અને કેટલાક સદૂકિયો હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.4.2" />તેઓ અસ્વસ્થ હતા કારણ કે પિતર અને યોહાન લોકોને ઈસુના સંદર્ભમાં બોધ આપતા હતા અને તે બે પ્રેરિતો લોકોને કહેતા હતા કે મૃત્યુ પામેલા લોકોનું ઈસુ દ્ધારા પુનરુંત્થાન થશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.4.3" />યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ પિતર અને યોહાનની ધરપકડ કરીને તેઓને જેલમાં પૂર્યા. તે વેળા લગભગ રાત હતી. તેથી તેઓએ પિતર અને યોહાનને બીજા દિવસ સુધી જેલમાં રાખ્યા.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.4.4" />પણ ઘણા બધા લોકોએ પિતર અને યોહાનનો બોધ સાંભળ્યો અને તેઓએ જે કહ્યું તેમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો. હવે તેઓના વિશ્વાસીઓના સમૂહમાં લગભગ 5,000 માણસોની સંખ્યા થઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ACT.4.5" />બીજા દિવસે યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓ, વડીલો, અને શાસ્ત્રીઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં ભેગા થયા.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.4.6" />અન્નાસ (પ્રમુખ યાજક) કાયાફા, યોહાન, અને આલેકસાંદર ત્યાં હતા. પ્રમુખ યાજક પરિવારના પ્રત્યેક ત્યાં હતા.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.4.7" />તેઓએ પિતર અને યોહાનને ભેગા થયેલા બધા લોકોની સામે ઊભા રાખ્યા. યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ તેઓને ઘણી બધી વાર પૂછયું, “તમે કેવી રીતે આ અપંગ માણસને સાજો કર્યો? તમે કયા સાર્મથ્યનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો? તમે કોના અધિકારથી આ કર્યુ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ACT.4.8" />પછી પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર થઈને પિતરે તેઓને કહ્યું, “લોકોના આગેવાનો અને વડીલ આગેવાનો:
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.4.9" />આ અપંગ માંદા માણસનું સારું કામ થયું છે તેના વિષે તમે પ્રશ્નો કરો છો? તમે અમને પૂછો છો કે તેને સાજો કોણે કર્યો?
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.4.10" />અમે તમને બધાને અને બધા જ યહૂદિ લોકોને જણાવવા ઈચ્છીએ છીએ કે નાસરેથના ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના સાર્મથ્યથી આ માણસ સાજો થયો છે. તમે ઈસુને વધસ્તંભે જડી દીધો. દેવે તેને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠાડ્યો. આ માણસ લંગડો હતો પણ હવે તે સાજો થયો છે અને તમારી આગળ ઊભો રહેવા સમર્થ છે. તે ઈસુના સાર્મથ્યનું જ પરિણામ છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="ACT.4.11" />‘જે પથ્થર તમે બાંધનારાઓએ નકામો ગણ્યો હતો.
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<q level="2" style="q2">પણ હવે એ જ પથ્થર ખૂણાનો મુખ્ય પથ્થર થયો છે.’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.118.22">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 118:22</ref></rq>
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<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.4.12" />માત્ર ઈસુ એકલો જ લોકોનું તારણ કરી શકે તેમ છે. દુનિયામાં તેના એકલાના નામમાં જ આ સાર્મથ્ય છે. જે લોકોનું તારણ કરવા માટે આપવામાં આવેલ છે. ઈસુના વડે આપણું તારણ થવું જોઈએ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ACT.4.13" />યહૂદિ આગેવાનો સમજતા હતા કે પિતર અને યોહાન પાસે કોઇ વિશિષ્ટ તાલીમ કે શિક્ષણ ન હતા. પણ આગેવાનોએ તે પણ જોયું કે પિતર અને યોહાન બોલતાં ડરતાં નહોતા. તેથી યહૂદિ આગેવાનો નવાઇ પામ્યા. પછી તેઓને ખ્યાલ આવ્યો કે પિતર અને યોહાન ઈસુની સાથે હતા.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.4.14" />તેઓએ એક અપંગ માણસને ત્યાં બે પ્રેરિતોની બાજુમાં ઊભેલો જોયો. તેઓએ જોયું કે તે માણસ સાજો થઈ ગયો હતો. તેથી તેઓ પ્રેરિતોની વિરૂદ્ધ કંઈકહી શક્યા નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ACT.4.15" />યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ તેઓને સભા છોડી જવા કહ્યું. પછી આગેવાનોએ તેઓને શું કરવું જોઈએ તે વિષે એકબીજા સાથે વાતો કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.4.16" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આપણે પેલા માણસોનું શું કરીશું? યરૂશાલેમમાં દરેક માણસ જાણે છે કે તેઓએ અદભૂત ચમત્કાર કર્યા છે. આ સ્પષ્ટ છે. આપણે કહી શકીએ નહિ કે તે સાચું નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.4.17" />આપણે તેઓને ધમકી આપવી જાઇએ અને આ માણસ (ઈસુ) વિષે કદી પણ ના બોલવા જણાવવું જોઈએ. જેથી આ વાત લોકોમાં આગળ પ્રસરશે નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ACT.4.18" />પછી યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ પિતર અને યોહાનને ફરીથી અંદર બોલાવ્યા. તેઓએ પ્રેરિતોને ઈસુના નામે કંઈ પણ શીખવવાની કે કહેવાની મનાઇ કરી.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.4.19" />પણ પિતર અને યોહાને તેઓને જવાબ આપ્યો, “તમારી દ્દષ્ટિએ શું યોગ્ય છે? દેવ શું ઈચ્છે છે? અમારે દેવને કે તમને તાબે થવું?
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.4.20" />અમે શાંત રહી શકીએ નહિ. અમે જે જોયું છે અને સાંભળ્યું છે તેના સંદર્ભમાં અમારે લોકોને કહેવું જોઈએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="21-22" bcv="ACT.4.21" />યહૂદિ આગેવાનો પ્રેરિતોને શિક્ષા કરવાનો કોઇ રસ્તો શોધી શક્યા નહિ, કારણ કે જે કંઈ બન્યું હતું તેને લીધે બધા લોકો દેવની સ્તુતિ કરતા હતા. (આ ચમત્કાર દેવની સાબિતી માટે પૂરતો હતો જે માણસ સાજો થયો હતો તે 40 વરસથી મોટી ઉંમરનો માણસ હતો.) તેથી યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ પ્રેરિતોને ફરીથી ચેતવણી આપીને છોડી દીધા.
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<s style="s">પિતર અને યોહાનનું વિશ્વાસીઓમાં પાછા જવું
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ACT.4.23" />પિતર અને યોહાને યહૂદિ આગેવાનોની સભાનો ત્યાગ કર્યો અને તેઓ પોતાના સમૂહમાં ગયા. તેઓએ મુખ્ય યાજકો અને વડીલ યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ તેમને જે કંઈ કહ્યું હતું તે બધું સમૂહને કહ્યું.
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<v id="24" bcv="ACT.4.24" />જ્યારે વિશ્વાસીઓએ આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તેઓ બધાએ પ્રાર્થના કરી અને એ જ વિનંતી કરી. “પ્રભુ, પૃથ્વી, આકાશ, સમુદ્ર અને જે બધી વસ્તુઓ જગતમાં છે તેને ઉત્પન્ન કરનાર તું જ છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.4.25" />અમારો પૂર્વજ દાઉદ તારો સેવક હતો. પવિત્ર આત્માની સહાયથી તેણે આ શબ્દો લખ્યા:
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘શા માટે રાષ્ટ્રો બૂમો પાડે છે?
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<q style="q1">શા માટે વિશ્વના લોકો દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ યોજના ઘડે છે? તે નિરર્થક છે!
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<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="ACT.4.26" />‘પૃથ્ની પરના રાજાઓ તેઓની જાતે લડવા સજજ થયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બધા અધિકારીઓ પ્રભુની (દેવ) વિરૂદ્ધ અને તેના ખ્રિસ્તની વિરૂદ્ધ ભેગા થયા છે.’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.2.1">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 2:1-2</ref></rq>
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</q>
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<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.4.27" />જ્યારે અહીં યરૂશાલેમમાં ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ હેરોદ, પોંતિયુસ પિલાત, રાષ્ટ્રો અને બધા યહૂદિ લોકો આવીને ભેગા મળ્યા ત્યારે ખરેખર આ બાબતો બની. ઈસુ તારો પવિત્ર સેવક છે. તે એક છે જેને તેં ખ્રિસ્ત બનાવ્યો છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.4.28" />આ લોકો જે ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધ આવીને ભેગા મળ્યા છે જેથી તારી યોજના પૂર્ણ થઈ. તારા સાર્મથ્ય અને તારી ઈચ્છાથી તે બન્યું.
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<v id="29" bcv="ACT.4.29" />અને હવે, પ્રભુ, તેઓ શું કહે છે તે સાંભળ, તેઓ અમને ધમકાવે છે! પ્રભુ, અમે તારા સેવકો છીએ. તું અમારી પાસે જે કહેવડાવવા ઇચ્છતો હોય તે અમે ભય વગર બોલીએ તેમાં અમને સહાય કર.
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<v id="30" bcv="ACT.4.30" />તારું સાર્મથ્ય બતાવીને અમને સાર્મથ્યવાન થવામાં મદદ કર. માંદા લોકોને સાજા કર, સાબિતીઓ આપ, અને ઈસુના નામના અદભૂત સાર્મથ્યથી તે અદભૂત ચમત્કારો થવા દે, જે તારો પવિત્ર સેવક છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="ACT.4.31" />વિશ્વાસીઓની પ્રાર્થના પછી તેઓ જ્યાં ભેગા થયા હતા તે મકાન હાલ્યું. તેઓ બધા પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર થયા. અને તેઓએ દેવનો સંદેશો નિર્ભય રીતે કહેવાનું ચાલુ કર્યું.
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<s style="s">વિશ્વાસીઓનો ભાગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="ACT.4.32" />વિશ્વાસીઓનું મંડળ એક મનનું તથા એક જીવનું હતું. સમૂહનો કોઇ પણ વ્યક્તિ તેઓની પાસે જે વસ્તુઓ હતી તેની માલિકી તરીકેનો દાવો તેમાંના કોઈએ કર્યો નહિ. તેને બદલે તેઓ દરેક વસ્તુના ભાગ કરી વહેંચતા.
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<v id="33" bcv="ACT.4.33" />મહાન સાર્મથ્યથી પ્રેરિતોએ લોકોને કહ્યું કે પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખરેખર મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠ્યો છે. અને દેવે બધા વિશ્વાસીઓને ઘણા આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા હતા.
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<v id="34" bcv="ACT.4.34" />તેઓ બધાને તેઓને જરુંરી બધું મળ્યું હતું. દરેક માણસે પોતાની માલિકીનાં ખેતરો અને મકાનો વેચી નાખ્યાં.
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<v id="35" bcv="ACT.4.35" />તેઓએ પૈસા લાવીને પ્રેરિતોને આપ્યા. પછી દરેક વ્યક્તિને તેની જરૂરિયાત પ્રમાણે વસ્તુઓ આપવામાં આવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="ACT.4.36" />વિશ્વાસીઓમાં એકનું નામ યૂસફ હતું. પ્રેરિતો તેને બાર્નાબાસ કહેતા. (આ નામનો અર્થ “બીજાને મદદ કરનાર વ્યક્તિ.”) તે લેવી હતો સૈપ્રસમાં તેનો જન્મ થયો હતો.
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<v id="37" bcv="ACT.4.37" />યૂસફની માલિકીનું એક ખેતર હતું. તેણે ખેતર વેચીને પૈસા લઈને તે પૈસા પ્રેરિતોને આપ્યા હતા.
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<s style="s">અનાન્યા તથા સફિરા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.5.1" />અનાન્યા નામે એક માણસ હતો તેની પત્નીનું નામ સફિરા હતું. અનાન્યા પાસે જે જમીન હતી, તે તેણે વેચી દીધી.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.5.2" />પણ તેણે પ્રેરિતોને ફક્ત પૈસાનો કેટલોક હિસ્સો આપ્યો. તેણે કેટલાક પૈસા તેના માટે ખાનગીમાં રહેવા દીધા. તેની પત્નીએ પણ આ જાણ્યું અને તે તેની સાથે સમંત થઈ.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ACT.5.3" />પિતરે કહ્યું, “અનાન્યા, શા માટે શેતાનને તારા હ્રદય પર સવાર થવા દે છે? તેં જૂઠું બોલીને પવિત્ર આત્માને છેતરવાનો પ્રયત્ન શા માટે કર્યો તેં તારું ખેતર વેચ્ચું, પણ તેં શા માટે પૈસાનો ભાગ તારી જાત માટે રહેવા દીધો?
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.5.4" />તેં ખેતર વેચ્યું તે પહેલાં તે તારું હતું અને તે વેચ્યા પછી પણ તેં તારી ઈચ્છાનુસાર તે પૈસાનો કોઇ રીતે ઉપયોગ કર્યો હોત. તેં શા માટે આ ખરાબ કરવાનું વિચાર્યુ છે? તું દેવ સમક્ષ જૂઠું બોલ્યો છે, માણસો સમક્ષ નહિ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="5-6" bcv="ACT.5.5" />જ્યારે અનાન્યાએ આ સાંભળ્યું, તે નીચે પડ્યો અને મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. કેટલાક જુવાનો આવ્યા અને તેના શરીરને (કફનમાં) વીંટાળ્યું. તેઓ તેને બહાર લઈ ગયા અને દફનાવી દીધો અને દરેક માણસે જેણે આ અંગે સાંભળ્યું તે બધા ભયભીત થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ACT.5.7" />ત્રણેક કલાફ પછી તેની પત્ની અંદર આવી. સફિરા તેના પતિનું જે કંઈ થયું એ અંગે કશું જાણતી નહોતી.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.5.8" />પિતરે તેને કહ્યું, “તારા ખેતરના તને કેટલા પૈસા મળ્યા તે મને કહે. શું તે આટલા જ હતા (જે રકમ અનાન્યાએ કહી)?”
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<p style="p">સફિરાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “હા, ખેતર માટે જે મળ્યું તે બધું જ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.5.9" />પિતરે તેને કહ્યું, “પ્રભુના આત્માનું પરીક્ષણ કરવા માટે તું અને તારો પતિ કેમ સંમત થયા? ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ! તું પેલા પગલાંનો અવાજ સાંભળે છે? તારા પતિને દફનાવનારા બારણે આવી પહોંચ્યા છે! તેઓ તને પણ આ રીતે લઈ જશે.”
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.5.10" />તે જ વખતે સફિરા તેના પગે પડી અને મૃત્યુ પામી. જુવાન માણસો અંદર આવ્યા અને જોયું કે તે મૃત્યુ પામી હતી. તે માણસો તેને બહાર લઈ ગયા અને તેના પતિની બાજુમાં જ દફનાવી.
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.5.11" />બધા જ વિશ્વાસીઓ અને બીજા બધા લોકો જેમણે આ વિષે સાંભળ્યું તે બધા ભયભીત થઈ ગયા.
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<s style="s">દેવ તરફથી સાબિતી
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.5.12" />પ્રેરિતોએ ઘણાં અદભૂત ચમત્કારો અને પરાક્રમો કર્યા. બધા લોકોએ આ બધી વસ્તુઓ જોઈ. પ્રેરિતો સુલેમાનની પરસાળમાં ભેગા થયા હતા. તેઓ બધાનો હેતુ સામાન્ય હતો.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.5.13" />બીજા લોકોમાંથી કોઇની પણ હિંમત તેઓની સાથે ઊભા રહેવાની ન હતી. બધા જ લોકો પ્રેરિતોના વિષે સારું બોલતાં હતા.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.5.14" />વધારે ને વધારે લોકો પ્રભુમાં વિશ્વાસ કરતાં થયા-ઘણા માણસો અને ઘણી સ્ત્રીઓ વિશ્વાસીઓના સમૂહમાં ઉમેરાવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.5.15" />તેથી લોકો તેઓના માંદાઓને શેરીઓમાં લાવવા લાગ્યાં. લોકોએ સાંભળ્યું કે પિતર બાજુમાં આવી રહ્યો છે. તેથી લોકોએ તેઓના માંદા માણસોને પથારીઓમાં તથા ખાટલાઓમાં સુવાડ્યા. તેઓએ વિચાર્યુ કે જો માંદા લોકો નજીકમાં હોય તો પિતરના પડછાયાનો તેઓને સ્પર્શ થાય તો, તેઓને સાજા થવા માટે પૂરતું છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.5.16" />યરૂશાલેમની આજુબાજુ બધા શહેરોમાંથી લોકો આવ્યા. તેઓ તેઓના માંદા લોકોને અને જે લોકો અશુદ્ધ આત્માથી પીડાતા હતા તે સૌને લાવ્યા. તેઓમાંના બધાને સાજા કરવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
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<s style="s">યહૂદિઓનો પ્રેરિતોને અટકાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.5.17" />પ્રમુખ યાજક અને તેના બધા મિત્રોને (જેઓ સદૂકી પંથ તરીકે ઓળખાતા) ઘણી ઈર્ષા થઈ.
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.5.18" />તેઓએ પ્રેરિતોની ધરપકડ કરી તેમને બંદીખાનામાં પુર્યા.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.5.19" />પરંતુ રાત્રી દરમ્યાન પ્રભુના દૂતે બંદીખાનાનાં બારણાં ઉઘાડ્યાં. દૂતે પ્રેરિતોને બહાર લઈ જઈને કહ્યું,
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.5.20" />“જાઓ અને મંદિરના વાડામાં ઊભા રહો અને ઈસુમાં આ નવી જીંદગીની બધી બાબતો લોકોને કહો.”
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.5.21" />જ્યારે પ્રેરિતોએ આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે, તેઓ તેની આજ્ઞા માનીને મંદિરમાં ગયા. વહેલી પ્રભાતે પ્રેરિતોએ લોકોને બોધ આપવાનો આરંભ કર્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">પ્રમુખ યાજક અને તેના મિત્રો મંદિરમાં આવ્યા. તેઓએ યહૂદિ આગેવાનો અને મહત્વના વડીલ માણસોની સભા બોલાવી. તેઓએ કેટલાક માણસોને બંદીખાનામાંથી પ્રેરિતોને તેની પાસે લાવવા મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="ACT.5.22" />જ્યારે તે માણસો બંદીખાનામાં પહોચ્યાં ત્યારે તેઓએ ત્યાં પ્રેરિતોને જોયા નહિ. તેથી તેઓ પાછા ગયા અને યહૂદિ આગેવાનોને આ બાબત કહી.
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.5.23" />તે માણસોએ કહ્યું, “બંદીખાનામાં બારણાં બંધ હતાં ને તેને તાળાં મારેલાં હતાં. રક્ષકો દરવાજા પાસે ઊભા હતા. પણ જ્યારે અમે બારણાં ઉઘાડ્યા ત્યારે બંદીખાનું ખાલી હતું!”
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<v id="24" bcv="ACT.5.24" />મંદિરના રક્ષકોના સરદારે અને મુખ્ય યાજકોએ આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે તેઓ મૂંઝવણમાં પડ્યા, “આના કારણે શું પરિણામ આવશે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ACT.5.25" />બીજા એક માણસે તેને આવીને કહ્યું, “ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો, તમે જે માણસોને જેલમાં પૂર્યા હતા તેઓ તો મંદિરની પરસાળમાં ઊભા છે. તેઓ લોકોને બોધ આપે છે!”
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.5.26" />પછી સરદાર અને તેના માણસો મંદિરની બહાર ગયા અને પ્રેરિતોને પાછા લાવ્યા. પરંતુ સૈનિકોએ બળનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો ન હતો, કારણ કે તેઓ લોકોથી બીતા હતા. સૈનિકોને લોકોના ગુસ્સે થવાનો અને પથ્થરોથી મારી નાખવાનો ભય હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.5.27" />સૈનિકોએ પ્રેરિતોને સભામાં લાવીને યહૂદિ આગેવાનોની આગળ તેઓને ઊભા રાખ્યા. પ્રમુખ યાજકે પ્રેરિતોને પ્રશ્ર કર્યો.
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.5.28" />તેણે કહ્યું, “અમે તમને આ માણસ વિષે કદાપિ નહિ શીખવવા કહ્યું છે! પણ જુઓ તમે શું કર્યુ છે! તમે તમારા બોધથી આખા યરૂશાલેમને ગજાવ્યું છે. તમે આ માણસના મૃત્યુ માટે અમને જવાબદાર ઠેરવવા પ્રયત્ન કરો છો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ACT.5.29" />પિતર અને બીજા પ્રેરિતોએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “અમારે માણસો કરતાં દેવની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન વધારે કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="30" bcv="ACT.5.30" />તમે ઈસુને મારી નાખ્યો. તમે તેને વધસ્તંભે લટકાવ્યો. પણ દેવે, અમારા પૂર્વજોના એ જ દેવે ઈસુને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠાડ્યો છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="ACT.5.31" />ઈસુને દેવે તેની જમણી બાજુએ ઊંચો કર્યો છે. દેવે ઈસુને આપણા રાજા અને તારનાર બનાવ્યો છે. દેવે આમ કર્યુ તેથી યહૂદિઓ પસ્તાવો કરે. પછી દેવ તેઓનાં પાપોને માફ કરી શકે.
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<v id="32" bcv="ACT.5.32" />અમે આ બધું બનતાં જોયું છે. અમે કહી શકીએ છીએ કે આ બધું સાચું છે. પવિત્ર આત્મા પણ એ બતાવે છે કે આ સાચું છે. દેવે બધા લોકો જે દેવની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરે છે તે સૌને પવિત્ર આત્મા આપેલો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="ACT.5.33" />યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ આ શબ્દો સાંભળ્યા. તેઓ ઘણા ગુસ્સે થયા. તેઓએ પ્રેરિતોને મારી નાંખવા માટે યોજના કરવા માંડી.
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<v id="34" bcv="ACT.5.34" />ફરોશીઓમાંનો એક સભામાં ઊભો થયો. તેનું નામ ગમાલ્યેલ હતું. તે ન્યાયશાસ્ત્રી હતો, અને બધા જ લોકો તેને માન આપતા. થોડી મિનિટો માટે પ્રેરિતોને સભા છોડી જવા માટે કહેવા તેણે માણસોને કહ્યું.
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<v id="35" bcv="ACT.5.35" />પછી તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “ઈસ્ત્રાએલી માણસો, આ લોકો તમે જે કંઈ કરવા ધારો છો તે વિષે સાવધાન રહો.
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<v id="36" bcv="ACT.5.36" />યાદ કરો, જ્યારે થિયુદાસે બળવો કર્યો ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું કે તે એક મહત્વનો માણસ હતો. આશરે 400 માણસો તેની સાથે જોડાયા. પણ તેને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો અને જે બધા તેને અનુસર્યા હતા તેઓ વેરવિખેર થઈને ભાગી ગયા. અને તેઓ કશું જ કરી શક્યા નહિ.
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<v id="37" bcv="ACT.5.37" />તે પછી, ગાલીલમાંથી યહૂદા નામનો માણસ આવ્યો. વસતિ ગણતરીનો સમય હતો ત્યારે તે બન્યું. તે શિષ્યોના એક સમૂહને દોરતો હતો. પરંતુ તે પણ માર્યો ગયો. અને તેના બધા શિષ્યો વિખેરાઈને નાસી ગયા.
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<v id="38" bcv="ACT.5.38" />અને તેથી હવે, હું તમને કહું છું, આ લોકોથી દૂર રહો. તેઓને એકલા છોડી દો. જો તેઓની યોજના જે મનુષ્યસર્જિત છે તો, તે નિષ્ફળ જશે.
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<v id="39" bcv="ACT.5.39" />પણ જો આ યોજના દેવ નિર્મિત હશે, તો તમે કોઇ તેઓને અટકાવી શકવાના નથી. ઊલટું તમે દેવની સાથે લડનારા મનાશો!”
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<p style="p">ગમાલ્યેલે જે કહ્યું તે સાથે યહૂદિ આગેવાનો સંમત થયા.
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<v id="40" bcv="ACT.5.40" />તેઓએ પ્રેરિતોને ફરીથી અંદર બોલાવ્યા. પ્રેરિતોને માર્યા અને ઈસુ વિષે ફરીથી લોકોને નહિ કહેવા તેઓને કહ્યું. પછી તેઓએ પ્રેરિતોને મુક્ત કર્યા.
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<v id="41" bcv="ACT.5.41" />પ્રેરિતો સભા છોડી જતા રહ્યાં. પ્રેરિતો ખુશ હતા કારણ કે ઈસુના નામને લીધે તેઓ અપમાન સહન કરવાને પાત્ર ઠર્યા.
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<v id="42" bcv="ACT.5.42" />પ્રેરિતોએ લોકોને બોધ આપવાનું બંધ કર્યુ નહિ. પ્રેરિતોએ લોકોને ઈસુ એ જ ખ્રિસ્ત છે એ સુવાર્તા કહેવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું. તેઓ પ્રતિદિન મંદિરમાં પરસાળમાં અને લોકોને ઘરે આમ કહેતા.
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<s style="s">વિશિષ્ટ કાર્ય માટે સાત માણસની પસંદગી
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.6.1" />વધારે ને વધારે લોકો ઈસુના શિષ્યો થવા લાગ્યા પરંતુ આ સમય દરમ્યાન જ, ગ્રીક ભાષી યહૂદિઓએ બીજા યહૂદિઓને દલીલો કરી. તેઓએ ફરીયાદ કરી કે રોજ શિષ્યોને જે વહેંચવામાં આવે છે તેમાંથી તેઓની વિધવાઓને તેઓનો ભાગ મળતો નથી.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.6.2" />તે બાર પ્રેરિતોએ આખા સમૂહને બોલાવ્યો.
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<p style="p">પ્રેરિતોએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “દેવના વચનોનો બોધ આપવાનું આપણું કામ અટકી ગયું છે. તે સારું નથી. લોકોને કંઈક ખાવાનું વહેંચવામાં મદદ કરવા કરતાં દેવના વચનોનો બોધ આપવાનું ચાલુ રાખવું તે વધારે સારું છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.6.3" />તેથી ભાઈઓ, તમારા પોતાનામાંથી સાત માણસો પસંદ કરો. લોકો જેને સારા માણસો કહે તેવા તે હોવા જોઈએ. તેઓ આત્માથી ભરપૂર અને જ્ઞાનથી ભરપૂર હોવા જોઈએ. આપણે તેઓને આ કામ કરવાનું સોંપીશું.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.6.4" />પછી આપણે આપણો બધો સમય પ્રાર્થનામાં તથા વાતની (પ્રભુની) સેવા કરવામાં વાપરી શકીશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ACT.6.5" />સમગ્ર સમૂહને આ વિચાર ગમ્યો. તેથી તેઓએ સાત પુરુંષોની પસંદગી કરી. સ્તેફન (વિશ્વાસથી અને પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર માણસ) ફિલિપ, પ્રોખરસ, નિકાનોર, તીમોન, પાર્મિનાસ, અને નિકોલાઉસ (અંત્યોખનો યહૂદિ થયેલો માણસ).
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.6.6" />પછીથી તેઓએ આ માણસોને પ્રેરિતો સમક્ષ રજૂ કર્યા. પ્રેરિતોએ પ્રાર્થના કરી અને તેઓએ તેઓના હાથ તેઓના પર મૂક્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ACT.6.7" />દેવની વાતોને વધારે ને વધારે લોકો સુધી પ્રચાર થતો ગયો. યરૂશાલેમમાં શિષ્યાની સંખ્યા મોટી થતી ગઇ. યહૂદિ યાજકોના મોટા સમૂહો પણ વિશ્વાસને આધીન થયા.
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<s style="s">સ્તેફનના વિરોધી યહૂદિઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ACT.6.8" />સ્તેફનને મહાન આશીર્વાદ પ્રાપ્ત થયો. દેવે સ્તેફનને ચમત્કારો કરવાનું અને લોકોને દેવની સાબિતીઓ બતાવવાનું સાર્મથ્ય આપ્યું.
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.6.9" />પરંતુ કેટલાક યહૂદિઓ આવ્યા અને સ્તેફનની સાથે દલીલો કરી. આ યહૂદિઓ સભામાંના હતા. તે સભા લિબર્તીની માટેની હતી. (આ સભા કુરેનીના યહૂદિઓ માટેની તથા આલેકસાંદ્રિયાના યહૂદિઓ માટેની હતી.) કિલીકિયા અને આસિયાના યહૂદિઓ તેઓની સાથે હતા. તેઓ બધાએ આવીને સ્તેફન સાથે દલીલો કરી.
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.6.10" />પરંતુ સ્તેફન આત્માની પ્રેરણાથી જ્ઞાન સાથે બોલતો. તેના શબ્દો એટલા મક્કમ હતા કે યહૂદિઓ તેની સાથે દલીલો કરી શક્યા નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ACT.6.11" />તેથી યહૂદિઓએ કેટલાક માણસોને કહેવા માટે ઊભા કર્યા, “અમે સાંભળ્યું છે કે સ્તેફન, મૂસા અને દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ બોલ્યો.”
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.6.12" />આમ કરીને આ યહૂદિઓએ લોકોને, વડીલો તથા શાસ્ત્રીઓને મૂંઝવણમાં મૂંક્યા. તેઓ એટલા બધા ઉશ્કેરાયા કે તેઓએ આવીને સ્તેફનને પકડી લીધો. તેઓ તેને યહૂદિઓના બોધકોની સભામાં લઈ ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ACT.6.13" />યહૂદિઓ સભામાં કેટલાક માણસોને લાવ્યા. તેઓએ આ માણસોને સ્તેફન વિષે જૂઠું બોલવાનું કહ્યું. તે માણસોએ કહ્યું, “આ માણસ (સ્તેફન) હંમેશા આ પવિત્ર જગ્યા માટે ખરાબ કહે છે અને હંમેશા તે મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર વિરૂદ્ધ દુર્ભાષણ કરે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.6.14" />અમે તેને કહેતાં સાંભળ્યો છે કે ઈસુ નાઝારી આ સ્થાનનો નાશ કરશે. તેણે એમ પણ કહ્યું છે કે મૂસાએ આપણને જે રીતરિવાજો આપ્યા છે તેને ઈસુ બદલી નાખશે.”
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.6.15" />સભામાં બેઠેલા બધા લોકો સ્તેફન તરફ એકી નજરે જોઈ રહ્યા. તેનો ચહેરો એક દૂતના જેવો દેખાતો હતો અને તેઓએ તે જોયો.
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<s style="s">સ્તેફનનું ઉદ્દબોધન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.7.1" />પ્રમુખ યાજકે સ્તેફનને કહ્યું, “શું આ હકીકત સાચી છે?”
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.7.2" />સ્તેફને જવાબ આપ્યો, “મારા ભાઈઓ અને યહૂદિ વડીલો મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો. આપણા પૂર્વજ ઈબ્રાહિમને આપણા મહિમાવાન દેવના દર્શન થયા. ઈબ્રાહિમ મેસોપોટેમિયામાં રહેતો પછી તે હારાનમાં રહેવા ગયા હતો તે અગાઉ આ બન્યું હતું.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.7.3" />દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમને કહ્યું, ‘તારો દેશ અને તારા લોકોને છોડીને તે દેશમાં જા જે હું તને બતાવીશ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ACT.7.4" />“તેથી ઈબ્રાહિમે ખાલ્દી દેશ છોડ્યો અને તે હારાનમાં રહેવા ગયો. ઈબ્રાહિમના પિતાના મૃત્યુ પછી દેવે તેને આ સ્થળે મોકલ્યો. જ્યાં હાલમાં તમે રહો છો.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.7.5" />પણ દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમને આ જમીનમાંથી કશું આપ્યું નહિ. દેવે તેને એક ડગલું પણ જમીન આપી નહિ. પણ દેવે વચન આપ્યું કે ભવિષ્યમાં તે ઈબ્રાહિમને આ જમીન તેના માટે તથા તેના સંતાનો માટે આપશે. (ઈબ્રાહિમને કોઈ સંતાન નહોતા તે અગાઉ આ હતું.)
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ACT.7.6" />“દેવે તેને જે કહ્યું તે આ છે: ‘તારા વંશજો બીજા દેશમાં રહેશે. તેઓ અજ્ઞાત હશે. ત્યાંના લોકો તેઓને 400 વરસ સુધી ગુલામીમાં રાખશે. તેઓને દુ:ખ આપશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.7.7" />જે રાષ્ટ્ર તેઓને ગુલામ બનાવશે તેને હું શિક્ષા કરીશ.’ અને દેવે એમ પણ કહ્યું, ‘આ હકીકતો બન્યા પછી તમારા લોકો તે દેશમાંથી બહાર આવશે. અને પછી આ સ્થળે તમારા લોકો અહી મારી સેવા કરશે.’
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ACT.7.8" />“દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમ સાથે કરાર કર્યો; આ કરારની નિશાની સુન્નત હતી. અને તેથી જ્યારે ઈબ્રાહિમને પુત્ર થયો ત્યારે તે આઠ દિવસનો થતાં જ તેણે તેની સુન્નત કરી. તેના પુત્રનું નામ ઈસહાક હતું. ઇસહાકે પણ યાકૂબની સુન્નત કરી. અને યાકૂબે તેના પુત્રો માટે એમ જ કર્યુ. આ પુત્રો આગળ જતાં બાર પૂર્વજો થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.7.9" />“આ પૂર્વજોને યૂસફની (તેઓનો નાનો ભાઈ) ઈર્ષા થઈ. તેઓએ યૂસફને ગુલામ થવા માટે મિસરમાં વેચ્યો. પરંતુ દેવ યૂસફની સાથે હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.7.10" />યૂસફને ત્યાં ઘણી મુશ્કેલીઓ હતી. પણ દેવે તેને તે બધી મુશ્કેલીઓમાંથી બચાવ્યો. ફારુંન મિસરનો રાજા હતો. તેને યૂસફ ગમતો અને તેને માન આપતો કારણ કે દેવે યૂસફને ડહાપણ આપ્યું. ફારુંને યૂસફને મિસરનો અધિકાર બનાવી જવાબદારી સોંપી. અને ફારુંનના મહેલના તમામ લોકો પર શાસન કરવાની જવાબદારી સોંપી.
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.7.11" />પરંતુ આખા મિસર અને કનાનની બધી જમીન સુકાઇ ગઇ. જેથી ત્યાં અનાજ ઊગ્યું નહિ. આથી લોકોને ખૂબ સંકટો સહન કરવા પડ્યા. આપણા પૂર્વજો ખાવા માટે કંઈ મેળવી શક્યા નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.7.12" />“પણ યાકૂબે સાંભળ્યું કે મિસરમાં અનાજનો સંગ્રહ થતો હતો. તેથી તેણે આપણા પિતાઓને (યાકૂબનાં સંતાનો) ત્યાં મોકલ્યો. (આ તેનો મિસરનો પ્રથમ પ્રવાસ હતો.)
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.7.13" />પછી તેઓ બીજી વાર ગયા. આ વખતે, યૂસફે તેના ભાઈઓને તે કોણ હતો તે કહ્યું અને ફારુંને યૂસફના પરિવાર વિષે જાણ્યું.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.7.14" />પછી યૂસફે કેટલાક લોકોને તેના પિતા યાકૂબને મિસર આવવાનું નિમંત્રણ આપવા મોકલ્યો. તેણે તેના બધા સગાં સંબંધીઓને પણ નિમંત્રણ પાઠવ્યાં (75 વ્યક્તિઓ એક સાથે)
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.7.15" />તેથી યાકૂબ મિસર આવી ગયો. યાકૂબ અને આપણા પૂર્વજો મૃત્યુપર્યંત ત્યાં રહ્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.7.16" />પાછળથી તેઓના શરીરોને શખેમ લઈ જવામાં આવ્યા. તેઓને કબરમાં મૂકવામાં આવ્યા. (તે એ જ કબર હતી જે ઈબ્રાહિમે હમોરના દીકરાઓ પાસેથી શખેમમાંથી ખરીદી હતી. તેણે તેઓને રૂપાનું નાણું પણ ચૂકવ્યું હતું.)
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.7.17" />“મિસરમાં યહૂદિ લોકોની સંખ્યામાં વૃદ્ધિ થઈ. ત્યાં વધારે ને વધારે આપણા લોકો હતા. (દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમને જે વચન આપ્યું હતું તે જલદીથી સાચું થવાનું હતું.)
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.7.18" />પછી મિસરમાં એક બીજા રાજાનો અમલ શરૂ થયો. તે યૂસફ વિષે કંઈ જાણતો ન હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.7.19" />આ રાજા આપણા લોકોની સાથે કપટ કરીને આપણા પૂર્વજો તરફ ખરાબ રીતે વર્તતો હતો. રાજાએ તેમનાં બાળકોને ખુલ્લામાં બહાર તેઓની પાસે મુકાવડાવ્યાં જેથી તેઓ જીવે નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ACT.7.20" />“આ સમય દરમ્યાન મૂસાનો જન્મ થયો હતો. તે ઘણો સુંદર હતો. ત્રણ માસ સુધી તેના પિતાના ઘરમાં મૂસાની સંભાળ લીધી.
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.7.21" />જ્યારે તેઓએ મૂસાને બહાર મૂક્યો. ફારુંનની દીકરીએ તેને લઈ લીધો. તેણીએ તે જાણે તેનો પોતાનો પુત્ર હોય તે રીતે તેને ઉછેર્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="ACT.7.22" />મિસરીઓએ તેઓ જે બધું જાણતા હતા તે મૂસાને શીખવ્યું. તે બોલવામાં અને તે પ્રમાણે કરવામાં બાહોશ હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ACT.7.23" />“જ્યારે મૂસા લગભગ 40 વર્ષનો થયો, તેણે વિચાર્યુ કે પોતાના દેશના ઇસ્ત્રાએલી ભાઈઓને મળવું તે સારું હશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="ACT.7.24" />મૂસાએ જોયું કે એક મિસરી માણસ યહૂદિ સાથે અનિચ્છનીય રીતે વર્તતો હતો. તેથી તેણે યહૂદિને સહાય કરી. મૂસાએ યહૂદિને ઇજા પહોંચાડવા માટે મિસરીને શિક્ષા કરી. મૂસાએ તેને એટલો સખત માર્યો કે તે મરી ગયો.
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.7.25" />મૂસાએ વિચાર્યુ કે તેના યહૂદિ ભાઈઓ સમજશે કે દેવ મારા હાથે તેઓનો છૂટકારો કરશે. પણ તેઓ સમજ્યા નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ACT.7.26" />“બીજે દિવસે મૂસાએ બે યહૂદિ માણસોને લડતા જોયા. તેણે બને વચ્ચે સમાધાન કરાવવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. તેણે કહ્યું, ‘ભલા માણસો, તમે ભાઈઓ છો! તમે એકબીજાનું ખરાબ શા માટે કરો છો?’
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<v id="27" bcv="ACT.7.27" />એક માણસ કે જે બીજાનું ખરાબ કરતો હતો તેણે મૂસાને ધક્કો માર્યો. તેણે મૂસાને કહ્યું, ‘અમારા પર કોણે તને અધિકારી કે ન્યાયાધીશ બનાવ્યો છે? ના!
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.7.28" />ગઇકાલે તેં પેલા મિસરીને મારી નાખ્યો તેમ મને મારી નાખવા ધારે છે?’<x caller="+"><xo>7:28
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<v id="29" bcv="ACT.7.29" />જ્યારે મૂસાએ તેને આમ કહેતો સાંભળ્યો ત્યારે, મૂસાએ મિસર છોડ્યું. તે મિધાનના પ્રદેશમાં રહેવા ગયો. ત્યાં તે અજાણ્યો હતો. મૂસા મિધાનમાં રહેતો ત્યારે ત્યાં તેને બે દીકરા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ACT.7.30" />“ચાળીસ વરસ પછી મૂસા સિનાઇ પર્વતના રણ પ્રદેશમાં હતો. ત્યાં દૂતે તેને ઝાડીઓ મધ્યે અગ્નિ જ્વાળામાં દર્શન દીધું.
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<v id="31" bcv="ACT.7.31" />જ્યારે મૂસાએ આ જોયું. તે નવાઇ પામ્યો. તે તેને જોવા સારું નજીક ગયો. ત્યારે મૂસાએ એક અવાજ સાંભળ્યો; તે પ્રભુનો અવાજ હતો.
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<v id="32" bcv="ACT.7.32" />પ્રભુએ કહ્યું, ‘હું તારા પૂર્વજોનો દેવ, એટલે ઈબ્રાહિમનો, ઈસહાકનો તથા યાકૂબનો દેવ છું.’<x caller="+"><xo>7:32
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 3:6</xt></x> મૂસા ભયથી ધ્રુંજી ઊઠ્યો. અગ્નિ સામે જોવાની તેની હિંમત ચાલી નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="ACT.7.33" />“પ્રભુએ તેને કહ્યું, ‘તારા જોડા કાઢી નાંખ, કારણ કે જે સ્થળે તું ઊભો છે તે પવિત્ર ભૂમિ છે.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="ACT.7.34" />મેં મારા લોકોને મિસરમાં દુ:ખ સહન કરતાં જોયા છે. મેં તેઓના નિસાસા સાંભળ્યા છે. તેઓને મુક્ત કરવા હું નીચે ઊતર્યો છું. હવે ચાલ, મૂસા હું તને મિસરમાં પાછો મોકલું છું.’<x caller="+"><xo>7:34
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 3:5-10</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="ACT.7.35" />“આ મૂસા કે જેનો તેઓએ નકાર કર્યો એમ કહીને કે તેને કોણે અમારો અધિકારી અને ન્યાયાધીશ બનાવ્યો? ના! એ જ મૂસાને દેવે અધિકારી અને ઉદ્ધાર કરનાર થવા સારું મોકલ્યો. દેવે મૂસાને દૂતની મદદથી મોકલ્યો. આ તે દૂત હતો જેને મૂસાએ બળતા ઝાડવા મધ્યે જોયો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="ACT.7.36" />તેથી મૂસાએ લોકોને બહાર દોર્યા. તેણે અદભૂત પરાક્રમો અને ચમત્કારો કર્યા. મૂસાએ ઇજિપ્તમાં અને રાતા સમુદ્રમાં, મિસર દેશમાં અને 40 વરસ સુધી રણપ્રદેશમાં અદ્દભૂત કામો તથા ચમત્કારો કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="ACT.7.37" />“આ એ જ મૂસા હતો જેણે યહૂદિ લોકોને આ શબ્દો કહ્યા હતા. ‘દેવ તમને એક પ્રબોધક આપશે. તે પ્રબોધક તમારા પોતાના લોકોમાંથી જ આવશે. અને તે મારા જેવો જ થશે.’<x caller="+"><xo>7:37
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 18:15</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="ACT.7.38" />આ એ જ મૂસા છે જે રણપ્રદેશના યહૂદિઓની સભામાં હતો. તે દૂત સાથે હતો. જે દૂત તેને સિનાઇ પહાડ પર કહેતો હતો, અને તે જ આપણા પૂર્વજો સાથે હતો. મૂસા દેવ પાસેથી આજ્ઞાઓ મેળવે છે જે જીવન આપે છે. મૂસા આપણને તે આજ્ઞાઓ આપે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="ACT.7.39" />“પણ આપણા પૂર્વજો મૂસાને તાબે ન થયા. તેઓએ તેનો અસ્વીકાર કર્યો. તેઓએ ફરીથી મિસર પાછા જવા વિચાર્યુ.
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<v id="40" bcv="ACT.7.40" />આપણા પૂર્વજોએ હારુંનને કહ્યું, ‘મૂસા અમને મિસર દેશમાંથી બહાર લાવ્યો છે પણ અમને ખબર નથી કે તેનું શું થયું છે તેથી કેટલાક દેવોને બનાવ જે અમારી આગળ જાય અને અમને દોરે.’
<x caller="+"><xo>7:40
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 32:1</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="ACT.7.41" />તેથી લોકોએ એક મૂર્તિ બનાવી જે વાછરડાં જેવી હતા. પછી તેઓએ મૂર્તિને તેનું બલિદાન આપ્યું. લોકો ઘણા ખુશ હતા કારણ કે તેણે જે બનાવ્યું હતું તે પોતાના હાથે બનાવ્યું હતું!
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<v id="42" bcv="ACT.7.42" />પણ દેવ તેઓનાથી વિમુખ થયો અને તેઓને આકાશમાંના જૂઠાં દેવોના સૈન્યની પૂજા કરતા અટકાવ્યા. દેવ કહે છે: પ્રબોધકોના જે લખાણ છે તે આ છે. દેવ કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘ઓ યહૂદિ લોકો! તમે રણપ્રદેશમાં 40 વરસ સુધી મને લોહીના બલિદાનો ચઢાવ્યા નહોતા.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="43" bcv="ACT.7.43" />તમે માલોખનો માંડવો અને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમારા રમ્ફા દેવનો તારો લઈને આવ્યા છો.
</q>
<q style="q1">આ મૂર્તિઓ તમે પૂજા કરવાને બનાવી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી હું તમને બાબિલને પેલે પાર મોકલી દઈશ.’
<rq><ref tgt="AMO.5.25">આમોસ 5:25-27</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="ACT.7.44" />“અરણ્યમાં તે પવિત્ર મંડપ આપણા પૂર્વજોની પાસે હતો. દેવે મૂસાને આ મંડપ કેવી રીતે બનાવવો તે કહ્યું. દેવે જે યોજના બનાવી હતી તે પ્રમાણે તેણે તે બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="45" bcv="ACT.7.45" />પાછળથી યહોશુઆ આપણા પિતાઓને બીજા રાષ્ટ્રોની ભૂમિ જીતવા દોરી ગયો. આપણા લોકો અંદર પ્રવેશ્યા. દેવે બીજા લોકોને બહાર કાઢ્યા. જ્યારે આપણા લોકો આ નવી ભૂમિમાં પ્રવેશ્યા, તેઓ તેઓની સાથે એ જ મંડપ લઈ આવ્યા. આપણા લોકોએ આ મંડપો તેઓના પૂર્વજો પાસેથી પ્રાપ્ય કર્યો હતો. અને આપણા લોકોએ દાઉદનો સમય આવતા સુધી તે રાખ્યા.
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<v id="46" bcv="ACT.7.46" />દેવ દાઉદ પર ઘણો પ્રસન્ન હતો. દાઉદે તેના યાકૂબના દેવને માટે રહેઠાણ (મંદિર) બનાવવાની રજા માગી.
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<v id="47" bcv="ACT.7.47" />પરંતુ સુલેમાન એક વ્યક્તિ હતો જેણે મંદિર બાધ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="ACT.7.48" />“પરંતુ પરાત્પર દેવ માણસોએ તેઓના હાથે બાંધેલા રહેઠાણોમાં રહેતો નથી. પ્રબોધકો જે લખે છે તેમ:
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="49" bcv="ACT.7.49" />‘પ્રભુ કહે છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">આકાશ મારું રાજ્યાસન છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી મારા પાદાસન માટેની જગ્યા છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે મારા માટે કેવા પ્રકારનું રહેઠાણ બનાવશો?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એવી કોઈ પણ જગ્યા નથી જ્યાં મને વિશ્રામની જરુંર પડે!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="50" bcv="ACT.7.50" />સ્મરણ કરો મેં જ આ બધી વસ્તુઓ બનાવી છે!’”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.66.1">યશાયા 66:1-2</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="51" bcv="ACT.7.51" />પછી સ્તેફને કહ્યું, “ઓ હઠીલા યહૂદિ આગેવાનો, તમે તમારા હ્રદય દેવને અર્પણ કર્યા નથી! તમે તેને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળતા પણ નથી. તમે હંમેશા પવિત્ર આત્મા તમને જે કહે છે તેઓનો વિરોધ કરો છો. તમારા પૂર્વજોએ આમ કર્યુ અને તમે પણ એમ જ કરો છો.
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<v id="52" bcv="ACT.7.52" />તમારા પૂર્વજોએ જ્યાં સુધી જીવ્યા ત્યાં સુધી દરેક પ્રબોધકને સતાવ્યા છે. તે પ્રબોધકોએ તે ન્યાયીના (ખ્રિસ્ત) આગમન વિષે આગળથી ખબર આપી હતી. પરંતુ તમારા પૂર્વજોએ તે પ્રબોધકોને મારી નાખ્યા. અને હવે બીજા એક ન્યાયીથી વિમુખ થઈને તમે તેને મારી નાખ્યો.
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<v id="53" bcv="ACT.7.53" />તમે એ લોકો છો જેને મૂસા દ્ધારા નિયમો પ્રાપ્ત થયા. દેવે તમને આ નિયમો દૂતો દ્ધારા આપ્યા. પરંતુ તમે આ નિયમ પાળ્યો નહિ!”
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</p>
<s style="s">સ્તેફનનું મૃત્યુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="54" bcv="ACT.7.54" />યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ સ્તેફનની આ બાબતો સાંભળી. તેઓ ગુસ્સે થયા. યહૂદિ આગેવાનો એવા ગાંડા થઈ ગયા હતા કે તેઓ સ્તેફન સામે દાંત પીસવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="55" bcv="ACT.7.55" />પરંતુ સ્તેફન તો પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર હતો. સ્તેફને આકાશમાં ઊચે જોયું. તેણે દેવનો મહિમા જોયો. તેણે ઈસુને જમણી બાજુએ ઊભેલો જોયો.
<ve />
<v id="56" bcv="ACT.7.56" />સ્તેફને કહ્યું, “જુઓ! હું આકાશને ખુલ્લું જોઉં છું અને માણસના દીકરાને દેવની જમણી બાજુએ ઊભેલો જોઉં છું!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="57" bcv="ACT.7.57" />પછી બધા યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ મોટા અવાજે બૂમો પાડી. તેઓએ તેઓના હાથો વડે તેઓના કાન બંધ કરી દીધા. તેઓ બધા સ્તેફન તરફ એક સાથે દોડ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="58" bcv="ACT.7.58" />તેઓ તેને શહેર બહાર લઈ ગયા અને તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો ત્યાં સુધી તેના તરફ પથ્થરો ફેંક્યા. જે માણસો સ્તેફન વિરૂદ્ધ ખોટું બોલતા હતા તેઓએ તેના કપડાં શાઉલ નામના જુવાન માણસ પાસે મૂક્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="59" bcv="ACT.7.59" />પછી તેઓ સ્તેફનને પથ્થરો મારતા હતા. પરંતુ સ્તેફન તો પ્રાર્થના કરતો હતો. તેણે કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ ઈસુ, મારા આત્માનો સ્વીકાર કર!”
<ve />
<v id="60" bcv="ACT.7.60" />તેણે ઘૂંટણે પડીને બૂમ પાડી, “પ્રભુ આ પાપ માટે તેઓને દોષ દઈશ નહિ!” આમ કહ્યા પછી સ્તેફન અવસાન પામ્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<p style="p"><v id="1-3" bcv="ACT.8.1" />શાઉલ સંમત હતો કે સ્તેફનની હત્યા કરવી એ સારી બાબત હતી.
</p>
<s style="s">વિશ્વાસીઓ માટે સંકટો
</s>
<p style="p">કેટલાક ધાર્મિક માણસોએ સ્તેફનને દફનાવ્યો. તેઓએ તેના માટે ઘણું રૂદન કર્યુ. તે જ દિવસે યરૂશાલેમમાં યહૂદિઓએ વિશ્વાસીઓના સમૂહની સતાવણી શરૂ કરી. યહૂદિઓએ તેઓને ખૂબ સંતાપ આપ્યો. શાઉલ પણ આ સમૂહનો વિનાશ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરતો હતો. શાઉલ તેઓનાં ઘરોમાં ઘૂસી જતો. તે સ્ત્રી પુરુંષોને બહાર ઘસડી લાવીને બંદીખાનામાં નાખતો. બધાજ વિશ્વાસીઓએ યરૂશાલેમ છોડ્યું. માત્ર પ્રેરિતો જ રહ્યા. વિશ્વાસીઓ યહૂદિયા અને સમરૂનમાં જુદા જુદા સ્થળોએ ગયા.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.8.4" />વિશ્વાસીઓ સર્વત્ર વિખરાઈ ગયા. જે જે જગ્યાએ વિશ્વાસીઓ ગયા ત્યાં તેઓએ લોકોને સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ફિલિપનો સમારીઆમાં બોધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ACT.8.5" />ફિલિપ સમારીઆના શહેરમાં ગયો ત્યાં તેણે ઈસુ વિષે બોધ આપ્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.8.6" />ત્યાંના લોકોએ ફિલિપને સાંભળ્યો અને તેઓ બધાએ ફિલિપે જે કંઈ કહ્યું તે કાળજીપૂર્વક ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ્યું.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.8.7" />આ લોકોમાંના ઘણાંને અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓ વળગ્યા હતા. પણ ફિલિપે અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને તેઓમાંથી બહાર કાઢ્યા. જ્યારે તેઓ બહાર નીકળ્યા ત્યારે તેઓએ ઘણો મોટો અવાજ કર્યો. ત્યાં ઘણા લકવાગ્રસ્ત અને અપંગ માણસો પણ હતા. ફિલિપે આ લોકોને પણ સાજા કર્યા.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.8.8" />તે શહેરના લોકો આના કારણે ઘણા આનંદ વિભોર થયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.8.9" />પણ તે શહેરમાં એક સિમોન નામનો માણસ હતો. ફિલિપના આવતા પહેલા સિમોન ત્યાં જાદુના ખેલ કરતો હતો. તે સમારીઆના બધા લોકોને તેની યુકિતોથી અચરજ પમાડતો હતો. તે તેની જાતને મહાન માણસ કહેવડાવવાનો દંભ કરતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.8.10" />બધા જ લોકો ઓછા મહત્વના કે વધારે મહત્વના-સિમોન જે કહેતો તે માનતા. લોકો કહેતા, “આ માણસ પાસે દેવની સત્તા છે. ‘જે મહાન સત્તા’ કહેવાય છે!”
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.8.11" />સિમોન તેના જાદુઇ ખેલોથી લોકોને આશ્ચર્યચકિત કરતો રહ્યો.
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.8.12" />પણ ફિલિપે લોકોને દેવના રાજ્ય અને ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના નામ વિષે સુવાર્તા કહી, પુરુંષો અને સ્ત્રીઓએ ફિલિપમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો. તેઓએ બાપ્તિસ્મા લીધું.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.8.13" />સિમોને પોતે પણ વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો અને બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યો. સિમોન ફિલિપની સાથે રહ્યો. ફિલિપે જે અદભૂત ચમત્કારો અને સાર્મથ્યવાન કાર્યો કર્યા તે જોઈ તે ઘણો નવાઈ પામ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ACT.8.14" />પ્રેરિતો હજુ યરૂશાલેમમાં હતા. તેઓએ સાંભળ્યું કે સમારીઆના લોકોએ દેવની વાત સ્વીકારી છે તેથી પ્રેરિતોએ પિતર અને યોહાનને સમારીઆના લોકો પાસે મોકલ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.8.15" />જ્યારે પિતર અને યોહાન આવી પહોંચ્યા ત્યારે, તેઓએ સમારીઆના વિશ્વાસીઓ પવિત્ર આત્મા પામે તે માટે પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.8.16" />આ બધા લોકોને ઈસુના નામે બાપ્તિસ્મા આપ્યું. પરંતુ હજુ સુધી તેઓમાંના કોઈમાં પવિત્ર આત્મા ઉતર્યો ન હતો. તેથી પિતર અને યોહાને પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.8.17" />તે બે પ્રેરિતોએ તે લોકો પર હાથ મૂક્યા. પછી તે લોકો પવિત્ર આત્મા પામ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ACT.8.18" />સિમોને જોયું કે જ્યારે પ્રેરિતોએ તેઓના પર તેઓના હાથ મૂક્યા ત્યારે જ તેઓને પવિત્ર આત્મા પ્રાપ્ત થયેલ છે. તેથી સિમોને પ્રેરિતોને પૈસા આપવાની દરખાસ્ત કરી.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.8.19" />સિમોને કહ્યું, “તમારા જેવો અધિકાર મને પણ આપો જેથી જ્યારે હું કોઇ માણસના માથે હાથ મૂકું તો તેને પવિત્ર આત્મા પ્રાપ્ત થાય.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ACT.8.20" />પિતરે સિમોનને કહ્યું, “તું અને તારા પૈસા બંને બરબાદ થઈ જશે! કારણ કે તેં વિચાર્યુ કે દેવનું દાન પૈસાથી મળે છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.8.21" />તું આ કામમાં અમારી સાથે ભાગ લઈ શકીશ નહિ. તારું હ્રદય દેવ સમક્ષ ન્યાયી નથી.
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<v id="22" bcv="ACT.8.22" />તું પસ્તાવો કર! તેં આ જે કંઈ ખરાબ કર્યુ છે ત્યાંથી તું પાછો વળ. પ્રભુને પ્રાર્થના કર. કદાચ તારા અંત:કરણના આ વિચારને તે માફ કરશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.8.23" />હું જોઈ શકું છું કે તું અદેખાઈની કડવાશમાં અને પાપના બંધનમાં છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ACT.8.24" />સિમોને જવાબ આપ્યો, “તમે બંને પ્રભુને મારા માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો. પ્રાર્થના કરો કે તમે જે કહ્યું છે તે હવે મારી સાથે બનશે નહિ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ACT.8.25" />પછી તે બે પ્રેરિતોએ ઈસુની જે વાતો જોઈ હતી તે કહી. પ્રેરિતોએ લોકોને પ્રભુનો તે સંદેશ કહ્યો. પછી તેઓ યરૂશાલેમ પાછા ફર્યા. રસ્તામાં જતાં જતાં સમરૂનીઓમાંનાં ઘણાં ગામોમાં લોકોને સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરી.
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<s style="s">ઈથિઓપિયાના એક માણસને ફિલિપનો બોધ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ACT.8.26" />પ્રભુના દૂતે ફિલિપને કહ્યું. તે દૂતે કહ્યું, “તૈયાર થઈ જા અને દક્ષિણમાં જા. યરૂશાલેમથી ગાઝા જવાના રસ્તેથી જા. આ રસ્તો રેતીના રણમાં થઈને જાય છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.8.27" />તેથી ફિલિપ તૈયાર થઈને ગયો. રસ્તામાં તેણે એક ઈથિઓપિયાના માણસને જોયો. તે એક ખોજો હતો. તે ઈથિઓપિયા (હબશીઓ) ની રાણી કંદિકાના હાથ નીચે એક મહત્વનો અમલદાર હતો. તે તેણીના બધા ધનભંડારની કાળજી રાખવા માટે જવાબદાર હતો. આ માણસ યરૂશાલેમ ભજન કરવા ગયો હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.8.28" />હવે તે તેના ઘર તરફના રસ્તે પાછો ફરી રહ્યા હતો. ત્યાં તે તેના રથમાં બેસીને યશાયા પ્રબોધકનું પુસ્તક વાંચતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ACT.8.29" />આત્માએ ફિલિપને કહ્યું, “પેલા રથ પાસે જા અને તેની નજીકમાં ઊભો રહે.”
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<v id="30" bcv="ACT.8.30" />તેથી ફિલિપ રથ નજીક ગયો. અને તે માણસને વાંચતા સાંભળ્યો. તે યશાયા પ્રબોધકનું પુસ્તક વાંચતો હતો. ફિલિપે તેને કહ્યું, “તું જે વાંચે છે તે શું તું સમજે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="ACT.8.31" />તે માણસે કહ્યું, “હું કેવી રીતે સમજી શકું? મને કોઇ માર્ગદર્શન આપનારની જરુંર છે.” પછી તેણે રથમાં આવીને તેની સાથે બેસવા નિમંત્રણ આપ્યું.
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<v id="32" bcv="ACT.8.32" />શાસ્ત્રનું જે પ્રકરણ વાંચતો હતો તે આ પ્રમાણે હતું કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ઘેટાંની જેમ તેને મારી નાંખવા માટે લઈ જવામાં આવ્યો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે એક હલવાન જેમ જ્યારે કોઇ તેનું ઊન કાતરે ત્યારે મૌન રહે છે. તેમ તેણે પોતાનું મોંઢું ખોલ્યું નહિ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે કંઈ જ બોલ્યો નહિ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="33" bcv="ACT.8.33" />તે શરમાળ હતો, અને તેના બધા હક્કો છિનવાઈ ગયા હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">પૃથ્વી પરના તેના જીવનનો અંત આવ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના પરિવારના સંદર્ભમાં હવે કોઇ વર્ણન મળશે નહિ.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.53.7">યશાયા 53:7-8</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="ACT.8.34" />તે અમલદારે ફિલિપને કહ્યું, “કૃપા કરીને મને કહે. તેના સંદર્ભમાં કહેનારો પ્રબોધક કોણ છે? તે તેના પોતા વિષે કહે છે કે બીજા કોઇ માટે કહે છે?”
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<v id="35" bcv="ACT.8.35" />ફિલિપે બોલવાનું શરું કર્યુ. તેણે આ શાસ્ત્રથી જ શરુંઆત કરીને પેલા માણસને ઈસુના સંદર્ભમાં સુવાર્તા કહી
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="ACT.8.36" />જ્યારે તેઓ રસ્તા પરથી પસાર થતા હતા ત્યારે તેઓ એક જગ્યાએ આવ્યા જ્યાં પાણી હતું. તે અમલદારે કહ્યું, “જુઓ! અહી પાણી છે! અહી બાપ્તિસ્મા લેવામાં મને કોઈ અડચણ પડે તેમ નથી.”
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<v id="37" bcv="ACT.8.37" />ફિલિપે જવાબ આપ્યો, જો તું તારા સંપૂર્ણ હ્રદયથી વિશ્વાસ કરતો હોય તો તું કરી શકે. તે અમલદારે કહ્યું, “મને વિશ્વાસ છે કે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તે દેવનો દીકરો છે.”
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<v id="38" bcv="ACT.8.38" />પછી અમલદારે રથને ઊભો રાખવા આજ્ઞા કરી. ફિલિપ અને અમલદાર બંને પાણીમાં નીચે ઉતર્યા. અને ફિલિપે તેને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપ્યું.
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<v id="39" bcv="ACT.8.39" />જ્યારે તેઓ પાણીમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા ત્યારે પ્રભુનો આત્મા ફિલિપને લઈ ગયો. અમલદારે પછી તેને ફરીથી કદી જોયો નહિ. અમલદારે તેના ઘર તરફ ચાલવા માંડ્યું. તે ખુશ હતો.
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<v id="40" bcv="ACT.8.40" />ફિલિપ અશ્દોદ નામના શહેરમાં જોવામાં આવ્યો. તે અશ્દોદથી કૈસરિયા સુધીના માર્ગમાં બધા શહેરમાં સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરતો ગયો.
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<s style="s">શાઉલનું બદલાણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.9.1" />યરૂશાલેમમાં શાઉલ હજુ પણ પ્રભુના શિષ્યોને બધીજ વખતે હત્યા કરવાની ધમકીઓ આપતો હતો. તેથી તે પ્રમુખ યાજક પાસે ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.9.2" />શાઉલે તેને દમસ્ક શહેરની સભાઓના યહૂદિઓને પત્રો લખવાનું કહ્યું. શાઉલે ખ્રિસ્તના માર્ગના શિષ્યોને દમસ્કમાં શોધવાનો અધિકાર પ્રમુખ યાજક પાસેથી માગ્યો. જો તેને કોઈ સ્ત્રી કે પુરુંષ મળે તો તેઓને યરૂશાલેમ લઈ આવે.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ACT.9.3" />તેથી શાઉલ દમસ્ક ગયો. જ્યારે તે શહેરની નજીક આવ્યો. તેની આજુબાજુ એકાએક આકાશમાંથી તેજસ્વી પ્રકાશ ઝબૂક્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.9.4" />શાઉલ જમીન પર પટકાયો. તેણે તેને કહેવાતી એક વાણી સાંભળી. “શાઉલ, શાઉલ! તું શા માટે મને સતાવે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ACT.9.5" />શાઉલે કહ્યું, “તું કોણ છે, પ્રભુ?”
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<p style="p">જવાબમાં વાણી સંભળાઇ, “હું ઈસુ છું, તું જેની સતાવણી કરે છે. તે હું છું.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.9.6" />હવે ઊભો થા, શહેરમાં જા, ત્યાં ત્યારે શું કરવું જોઈએ તે તને કોઈ કહેશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ACT.9.7" />શાઉલ સાથે મુસાફરી કરતા માણસો ત્યાં ઊભા રહ્યા. તેઓ કંઈ બોલ્યા નહિ. તે માણસોએ વાણી સાંભળી, પણ તેઓએ કોઇને જોયો નહિ.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.9.8" />શાઉલ જમીન પરથી ઊભો થયો. તેણે તેની આંખો ઉઘાડી. પણ તે કંઈ જોઈ શક્યો નહિ. તેથી શાઉલની સાથેના માણસોએ તેનો હાથ પકડ્યો અને તેને દમસ્ક દોરી ગયા.
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.9.9" />ત્રણ દિવસ સુધી શાઉલ કંઈ જોઈ શક્યો નહિ. તે ખાઈ કે પી શક્યો પણ નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ACT.9.10" />ત્યાં દમસ્કમાં ઈસુનો શિષ્ય હતો. તેનું નામ અનાન્યા હતું. પ્રભુ તેને દર્શન દઇને બોલ્યો. પ્રભુએ કહ્યું, “અનાન્યા!”
</p>
<p style="p">અનાન્યાએ કહ્યું, “હું અહી છું, પ્રભુ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ACT.9.11" />પ્રભુએ અનાન્યાને કહ્યું, “ઊભો થા અને પાધરા નામના રસ્તે જા. યહૂદિયાનું ઘર શોધી કાઢ. તાર્સસના શહેરમાં શાઉલ નામના માણસની તપાસ કર. તે હમણાં ત્યાં પ્રાર્થના કરે છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.9.12" />શાઉલે એક દર્શન જોયું છે. આ દર્શનમાં આનાન્યા નામનો માણસ તેની પાસે આવ્યો અને તેના પર હાથ મૂક્યો. પછી શાઉલ ફરિથી જોઈ શક્યો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ACT.9.13" />પણ આનાન્યાએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “પ્રભુ, ઘણા લોકોએ મને આ માણસ વિષે કહ્યું છે. તેઓએ યરૂશાલેમમાં તારા પવિત્ર લોકોને કેટલું બધું દુ:ખ આપ્યું હતું તેના સંબંધમાં મને કહ્યું હતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.9.14" />હવે શાઉલ અહીં દમસ્કમાં આવ્યો છે. મુખ્ય યાજકોએ જે લોકોને તારામાં વિશ્વાસ છે તે બધાને પકડવા માટેનો તેને અધિકાર આપ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ACT.9.15" />પણ પ્રભુએ અનાન્યાને કહ્યું, “જો! મેં એક અગત્યના કામ માટે શાઉલને પસંદ કર્યો છે. તેણે રાજાઓને, યહૂદિ લોકોને અને બીજા રાષ્ટ્રોને મારા વિષે કહેવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.9.16" />મારા નામે એને કેટલું બધું દુ:ખ સહન કરવું પડશે. એ હું તેને બતાવીશ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.9.17" />તેથી અનાન્યા ત્યાંથી છોડીને યહૂદાના ઘરે ગયો. તેણે તેના હાથો શાઉલ પર મૂક્યા અને કહ્યું, “શાઉલ, મારા ભાઈ, પ્રભુ ઈસુએ મને મોકલ્યો છે. તું જ્યારે અહીં આવ્યો ત્યારે રસ્તા પર જે તને દેખાયો તે એ જ છે. ઈસુએ મને એટલા માટે મોકલ્યો કે જેથી તું ફરીથી જોઈ શકે. અને તું પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર થાય.”
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.9.18" />અચાનક તેની આંખોમાંથી છાલાં જેવું કંઈ ખરી પડ્યું, એટલે તે જોઈ શકવા સમર્થ બન્યો, શાઉલ ઊભો થયો અને તે બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.9.19" />પછી તેણે થોડુંક ખાધું અને ફરીથી સાર્મથ્ય અનુભવવા લાગ્યો.
</p>
<s style="s">શાઉલનો જમસ્કમાં બોધ
</s>
<p style="p">શાઉલ દમસ્કમાં ઈસુના શિષ્યો સાથે થોડા દિવસો માટે રહ્યો.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.9.20" />તેથી જલદીથી તેણે સભાસ્થાનોમાં ઈસુ વિષે બોધ આપવાની શરુંઆત કરી. તેણે લોકોને કહ્યું, “ઈસુ એ દેવનો દીકરો છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ACT.9.21" />જે બધા લોકોએ શાઉલને સાંભળ્યો તે નવાઈ પામ્યા હતા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આ એ જ માણસ છે જે યરૂશાલેમમાં હતો. તે ઈસુ નામમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખનારા લોકોને મારી નાખવા પ્રયત્ન કરતો હતો! તે (શાઉલ) અહી એ જ વસ્તુ કરવા આવ્યો છે. તે ઈસુના શિષ્યોને પકડવા માટે અહીં જ આવ્યો છે. અને તેઓને યરૂશાલેમમાં મુખ્ય યાજકો પાસે લઈ જશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.9.22" />પણ શાઉલ વધારે ને વધારે બળવાન થયો. તેણે સાબિત કર્યુ કે ઈસુ એ જ ખ્રિસ્ત છે. તેની સાબિતીઓ એટલી મજબૂત હતી કે દમસ્કમાં રહેતા યહૂદિઓ તેની સામે દલીલો કરી શક્યા નહિ.
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<s style="s">શાઉલનું યહૂદિઓ પાસેથી ભાગી જવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ACT.9.23" />ઘણા દિવસો પછી, યહૂદિઓએ શાઉલને મારી નાખવાની યોજના કરી.
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<v id="24" bcv="ACT.9.24" />યહૂદિઓ રાતદિવસ શહેરના દરવાજાએ ચોકી કરતા અને શાઉલની રાહ જોતા. તેઓ તેને મારી નાખવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. પરંતુ શાઉલે તેઓની આ યોજનાના સંદર્ભમાં જાણ્યું.
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.9.25" />એક રાત્રે શાઉલે જે કેટલાક શિષ્યોને શીખવ્યું હતું તેઓએ તેને શહેર છોડવા માટે મદદ કરી. શિષ્યોએ શાઉલને ટોપલામાં મૂક્યો. તેઓએ શહેરની દીવાલના બાકોરામાંથી ટોપલાને ઉપરથી નીચે ઉતાર્યો.
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<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમમાં શાઉલ
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ACT.9.26" />પછી શાઉલ યરૂશાલેમમાં ગયો. તેણે શિષ્યોના સમૂહમાં જોડાઇ જવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. પણ તેઓ બધા તેનાથી ડરતા હતા. શાઉલ ખરેખર ઈસુનો શિષ્યો છે તે તેઓ માનતા ન હતા.
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<v id="27" bcv="ACT.9.27" />બાર્નાબાસે શાઉલને સ્વીકાર્યો અને તેને પ્રેરિતો પાસે લઈ ગયો. બાર્નાબાસે પ્રેરિતોને કહ્યું, શાઉલે દમસ્કના રસ્તા પર પ્રભુને જોયો છે. બાર્નાબાસે પ્રેરિતોને સમજાવ્યું કે પ્રભુએ શાઉલ ને કેવી રીતે કહ્યું. પછી તેણે પ્રેરિતોને કહ્યું કે શાઉલે દમસ્કના લોકોને કોઇ પણ જાતના ભય વિના પ્રભુનો બોધ આપ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ACT.9.28" />અને તેથી શાઉલ શિષ્યોની સાથે રહ્યો, તેણે સમગ્ર યરૂશાલેમમાં મુસાફરી કરી અને જરા પણ ભય વિના પ્રભુ વિષે બોધ આપ્યો.
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<v id="29" bcv="ACT.9.29" />શાઉલ વારંવાર યહૂદિઓ કે જે ગ્રીક બોલતા હતા તેમની સાથે બોલતો, તે તેઓની સાથે દલીલો પણ કરતો. પરંતુ તેઓ તેને મારી નાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતા હતા.
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<v id="30" bcv="ACT.9.30" />જ્યારે વિશ્વાસીઓએ આ સંદર્ભમાં સાંભળ્યું, તેઓ શાઉલને કૈસરિયાના શહેરમાં લઈ ગયા. કૈસરિયાથી તેઓએ શાઉલને તાર્સસના શહેરમાં મોકલ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="ACT.9.31" />ત્યારે સમગ્ર યહૂદિયા, ગાલીલ અને સમરૂનની મંડળીમાં શાંતિનો સમય હતો. પવિત્ર આત્માની મદદથી મંડળી વધારે મજબૂત બની. વિશ્વાસીઓ જે રીતે તેઓ જીવન જીવતા તે રીતે પ્રભુને માન આપવાનું દર્શાવતા. આ કારણને લીધે, વિશ્વાસીઓનો સમૂહ વધારે મોટો થવા લાગ્યો.
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<s style="s">લોદ અને યાફામાં પિતર
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="ACT.9.32" />પિતરે યરૂશાલેમની આજુબાજુના બધા ગામોમાં યાત્રા કરી. તેણે વિશ્વાસીઓની મુલાકાત લીધી. જે લોદમાં રહેતા હતા.
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<v id="33" bcv="ACT.9.33" />લોદમાં તેને એક એનિયાસ નામનો પક્ષઘાતી માણસ મળ્યો. છેલ્લા આઠ વર્ષથી એનિયાસ તેની પથારીમાંથી ઊભો થઈ શકતો ન હતો.
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<v id="34" bcv="ACT.9.34" />પિતરે તેને કહ્યું, “એનિયાસ, ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તને સાજો કરે છે. ઊભો થા અને તારી પથારી પાથર! હવે તું તારી જાત માટે આ બધું કરી શકીશ!” એનિયાસ તરત જ ઊભો થયો.
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<v id="35" bcv="ACT.9.35" />લોદ તથા શારોનના મેદાનોના બધા જ લોકોએ તેને જોયો. આ લોકો પ્રભુ ઈસુ તરફ વળ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="ACT.9.36" />યાફા શહેરમાં ટબીથા નામની ઈસુની શિષ્યા હતી. (તેનું ગ્રીક નામ, દોરકસ, અર્થાત “હરણ.”) તે હંમેશા લોકો માટે શુભ કાર્યો કરતી. જે લોકોને પૈસાની જરુંર હોય તે લોકોને તે હંમેશા પૈસા આપતી.
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<v id="37" bcv="ACT.9.37" />જ્યારે પિતર લોદમાં હતો. ત્યારે ટબીથા માંદી પડી અને મૃત્યુ પામી. તેઓએ તેને નહવડાવી અને મેડી પરના ઓરડામાં સુવડાવી.
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<v id="38" bcv="ACT.9.38" />યાફામાંના શિષ્યોએ સાંભળ્યું કે પિતર લોદમાં હતો. (લોદ યાફા નજીક છે.) તેથી તેઓએ બે માણસને પિતર પાસે મોકલ્યા. તેઓએ તેને વિનંતી કરી. મહેરબાની કરીને ઝડપથી આવ.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="ACT.9.39" />પિતર તૈયાર થઈ ગયો અને તેઓની સાથે ગયો. જ્યારે તે આવી પહોંચ્યો, તેઓ તેને મેડી પરના ઓરડામાં લઈ ગયા. બધી જ વિધવાઓ પિતરની આજુબાજુ ઊભી રહી. તેઓ રુંદન કરતાં હતાં. ટબીથા જ્યારે જીવતી હતી ત્યારે જે વસ્ત્રો બનાવ્યા હતા તે તેઓએ પિતરને દેખાડ્યા.
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<v id="40" bcv="ACT.9.40" />પિતરે બધાજ લોકોને ઓરડાની બહાર કાઢ્યા. તેણે ધૂંટણીએ પડીને પ્રાર્થના કરી. પછી તેણે ટબીથાના મુડદા તરફ ફરીને કહ્યું, “ટબીથા, ઊભી થા!” તેણે તેની આંખો ઉઘાડી. જ્યારે તેણે પિતરને જોયો, તે ત્યાં બેઠી થઈ.
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<v id="41" bcv="ACT.9.41" />પિતરે તેનો હાથ લંબાવ્યો અને તેને ઊભા થવામાં મદદ કરી. પછી તેણે વિશ્વાસીઓ અને વિધવાઓને અંદર ઓરડામાં બોલાવ્યા. તેણે તેઓને ટબીથા બતાવી; તે જીવતી હતી!
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="ACT.9.42" />યાફામાં દરેક સ્થળે લોકોએ આ સંદર્ભમાં સાંભળ્યું હતું. આ લોકોમાંના ઘણાએ પ્રભુમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો.
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<v id="43" bcv="ACT.9.43" />પિતર યાફામાં ઘણા દિવસો રહ્યો. તે યાફામાં સિમોન નામના એક ચમારને ત્યાં રહ્યો.
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<s style="s">પિતર અને કર્નેલિયસ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.10.1" />કૈસરિયા શહેરમાં કર્નેલિયસ નામે એક માણસ રહેતો હતો. તે લશ્કરની એક પલટનનો સૂબેદાર હતો જે ઈટાલિયન કહેવાતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.10.2" />કર્નેલિયસ એક ધાર્મિક માણસ હતો. તે અને બીજા બધા લોકો જે તેના ઘરમાં રહેતાં હતા તેઓ સાચા દેવની ભક્તિ કરતા હતા. તે તેનો પોતાનો ઘણો ખરો પૈસો ગરીબ લોકોને આપતો. કર્નેલિયસ હંમેશા દેવની પ્રાર્થના કરતો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.10.3" />એક બપોરે લગભગ ત્રણ કલાકે કર્નેલિયસે એક દર્શન જોયું. તેણે તે સ્પષ્ટ રીતે જોયું. દેવનો એક દૂત દર્શનમાં તેની પાસે આવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “કર્નેલિયસ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ACT.10.4" />કર્નેલિયસે દૂત તરફ જોયું. તેણે ડરી જઈને કહ્યું, “સાહેબ, તારે શું જોઈએ છીએ?”
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<p style="p">તે દૂતે કર્નેલિયસને કહ્યું, “દેવે તારી પ્રાર્થનાઓ સાંભળી છે. તેં જે વસ્તુઓ ગરીબ લોકોને આપી છે તે તેણે જોઈ છે. દેવ તારું સ્મરણ કરે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.10.5" />હવે યાફા શહેરમાં કેટલાએક માણસો મોકલ. સિમોન નામના માણસને પાછો લાવવા તમારા માણસોને મોકલો. સિમોન પણ પિતર કહેવાય છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.10.6" />સિમોન જે માણસ સાથે રહે છે. તેનું નામ પણ સિમોન છે. જે એક ચમાર છે. સમુદ્રની બાજુમાં તેનું ઘર છે.”
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.10.7" />જે દૂતે કર્નેલિયસને કહ્યું તે ચાલ્યો ગયો. પછી તેણે તેના બે ચાકરો અને એક સૈનિકને બોલાવ્યો. આ સૈનિક એક ધાર્મિક માણસ હતો. તે સૈનિક કર્નેલિયસને મદદ કરનારાઓમાંનો એક હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.10.8" />કર્નેલિયસે આ ત્રણે માણસોને બધી વાત સમજાવી. પછી તેણે તેઓને યાફા રવાના કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.10.9" />બીજે દિવસે આ ત્રણે માણસો યાફા નજીક આવ્યા. આ સમયે, પિતર ઘરના ધાબા પર પ્રાર્થના કરવા જતો હતો. લગભગ બપોરનો સમય હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.10.10" />પિતર ભૂખ્યો હતો. તેને ખાવાની ઈચ્છા હતી. પણ જ્યારે તેઓ પિતર માટે ખાવાનું બનાવવાની તૈયારી કરતા હતા ત્યારે એક દર્શન તેની સામે આવ્યું.
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.10.11" />તેણે ખુલ્લા આકાશમાંથી કંઈક નીચે આવતું જોયું. તે જમીન પર નીચે આવતી એક મોટી ચાદર જેવું દેખાતું હતું. તે તેના ચાર ખૂણાઓથી જમીન પર ઉતરતું હતું.
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.10.12" />તેમાં પ્રત્યેક જાતના ચોપગાં પશુઓ હતા-જે પશુઓ ચાલી શકતા, તથા જમીન પર પેટે સરકી શકતા, અને પક્ષીઓ જે હવામાં ઊડતાં.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.10.13" />પછી વાણીએ પિતરને કહ્યું, “ઊભો થા, પિતર, આમાંના કોઇ એક પ્રાણીને મારીને ખા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ACT.10.14" />પણ પિતરે કહ્યું, “હું તે કદી કરીશ નહિ, પ્રભુ! મેં કદાપિ નાપાક કે અશુદ્ધ ભોજન કર્યું નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ACT.10.15" />પછી વાણીએ તેને ફરીથી કહ્યું, “દેવે આ વસ્તુઓ શુદ્ધ કરી છે. તેને ‘નાપાક’ કહીશ નહિ!”
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.10.16" />આમ ત્રણ વખત બન્યું. પછી આખુ વાસણ આકાશમાં પાછું ઊચે લઈ લેવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.10.17" />પિતર મુંઝાઈ ગયો. આ દર્શનનો અર્થ શો?
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<p style="p">કર્નેલિયસે જે માણસોને મોકલ્યા હતા તેઓએ સિમોનનું ઘર શોધી કાઢ્યું. તેઓ દરવાજા પાસે આવીને ઊભા રહ્યાં.
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.10.18" />તેઓએ પૂછયું, “શુ સિમોન પિતર અહી રહે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ACT.10.19" />પિતર હજુ પણ દર્શન વિષે વિચારતો હતો. પરંતુ આત્માએ તેને કહ્યું, “જો! ત્રણ માણસો તારી આતુરતાથી રાહ જુએ છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.10.20" />ઊભો થા અને નીચે ઊતર. આ માણસો સાથે જા અને પ્રશ્રો પૂછીશ નહિ. મેં તેઓને તારી પાસે મોકલ્યા છે.”
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.10.21" />તેથી પિતર નીચે ઉતરીને તે માણસો પાસે ગયો. તેણે કહ્યું, “તમે જે માણસની રાહ જુઓ છો, તે માણસ હું છું. તમે અહીં શા માટે આવ્યા છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.10.22" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “એક પવિત્ર દૂતે કર્નેલિયસને તેના પોતાને ઘરે તને નિમંત્રણ આપવા કહ્યું. કર્નેલિયસ એક લશ્કરી અમલદાર છે. તે એક ભલો (ધાર્મિક) માણસ છે. તે દેવની ભક્તિ કરે છે. બધા યહૂદિઓ તેને માન આપે છે. તે દૂતે કર્નેલિયસને તેના ઘરે નિમંત્રણ આપવા કહ્યું તેથી તારે જે કંઈ કહેવું હોય તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે.”
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.10.23" />પિતરે તે માણસોને અંદર આવીને રાત્રે રહેવા માટે કહ્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">બીજે દિવસે પિતર તૈયાર થયો અને ત્રણ માણસો સાથે ગયો. યાફામાંથી કેટલાક વિશ્વાસીઓ પિતર સાથે ગયા.
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<v id="24" bcv="ACT.10.24" />બીજે દિવસે તેઓ કૈસરિયા શહેરમાં આવ્યા. કર્નેલિયસ તેઓની રાહ જોતો હતો. તેણે તેનાં સંબંધીઓ અને ગાઢ મિત્રોને તેના ઘરે લગભગ ભેગા કર્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ACT.10.25" />જ્યારે પિતર ઘરમાં પ્રવેશ્યો, કર્નેલિયસ તેને મળ્યો. કર્નેલિયસ પિતરના ચરણોમાં નમી પડ્યો અને તેણે દંડવત પ્રણામ કર્યા.
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.10.26" />પરતું પિતરે તેને ઊભો થવા કહ્યું. પિતરે કહ્યું, “ઊભો થા! હું ફક્ત એક તારા જેવો જ માણસ છું.”
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<v id="27" bcv="ACT.10.27" />પિતરે કર્નેલિયસ સાથે વાતો કરવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું, પછી પિતર અંદરની બાજુએ ગયો અને ત્યાં એક મોટું લોકોનું ટોળું એકઠું થયેલું જોયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ACT.10.28" />પિતરે લોકોને કહ્યું, “તમે લોકો પોતે જાણો છો કે જે માણસ યહૂદિ નથી, તેની સાથે સંબંધ રાખવો અથવા અને ત્યાં જવું, એ યહૂદિ માણસને ઉચિત નથી; પણ દેવે મને દર્શાવ્યું છે કે મારે કોઈ પણ માણસને નાપાક અથવા અશુદ્ધ કહેવું નહિ.
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<v id="29" bcv="ACT.10.29" />તેથી જ જ્યારે મને અહી આવવા માટે કહેવામાં આવ્યું ત્યારે મેં કોઇ દલીલ કરી નથી. હવે, કૃપા કરીને મને કહો, મને શા માટે બોલાવવામાં આવ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ACT.10.30" />કર્નેલિયસે કહ્યું, “ચાર દિવસ પહેલા, હું મારા ઘરમાં પ્રાર્થના કરતો હતો. તે વખતે બપોરના ત્રણ વાગ્યા હતા. અચાનક, મારી સામે એક માણસ (દૂત) ઊભો હતો. તેણે ચળકતો પોશાક પહેરેલો હતો.
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<v id="31" bcv="ACT.10.31" />તે માણસે કહ્યું, ‘કર્નેલિયસ! દેવે તારી પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી છે. તેં જે વસ્તુઓ ગરીબ લોકોને આપી છે તે દેવે જોઈ છે. દેવ તારું સ્મરણ કરે છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="ACT.10.32" />તેથી યાફા શહેરમાં કેટલાક માણસોને મોકલ. સિમોન પિતરને આવવાનું કહે. પિતર પણ સિમોન નામના માણસના ઘરમાં રહે છે. જે તે એક ચમાર છે. તેનું ઘર સમુદ્ર કાંઠે છે.’
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<v id="33" bcv="ACT.10.33" />તેથી મેં તાત્કાલિક તને તેડાવ્યો; અને તું આવ્યો તે તેં બહુ સારું કર્યુ. હવે પ્રભુએ જે વાતો તને કહેવા જણાવ્યું છે તે બધું સાંભળવા માટે અમે સઘળા દેવ સમક્ષ હાજર છીએ.”
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<s style="s">પિતરનું કર્નેલિયસના ઘરમાં ભાષણ
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<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="ACT.10.34" />પિતરે બોલવાનું શરું કર્યુ, “હવે હું ખરેખર સમજું છું કે દેવ સમક્ષ પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ એક સમાન છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="ACT.10.35" />અને દેવ જે વ્યક્તિ તેની આરાધના કરે છે અને જે સાચું છે તે કરે છે તેનો સ્વીકાર કરે છે. વ્યક્તિ કયા દેશમાંથી આવે છે તે અગત્યનું નથી.
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<v id="36" bcv="ACT.10.36" />દેવે યહૂદિ લોકોને કહ્યું છે. દેવે તેમને સુવાર્તા મોકલી છે કે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્ધારા શાંતિ આવી છે. ઈસુ તે સર્વનો પ્રભુ છે!
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="ACT.10.37" />“યહૂદિયામાં સર્વત્ર શું બન્યું છે તે તું જાણે છે. યોહાને લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્માના સંદર્ભમાં બોધ આપ્યો પછી તે ગાલીલમાં શરું થઈ.
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<v id="38" bcv="ACT.10.38" />તમે નાસરેથના ઈસુ વિષે જાણો છો. દેવે તેને પવિત્ર આત્મા અને સાર્મથ્યથી અભિષિક્ત કરીને ખ્રિસ્ત બનાવ્યો. ઈસુ લોકોનું સારું કરવા બધે જ ગયો. ઈસુએ શેતાનથી પીડાતા લોકોને સાજા કર્યા. આ દર્શાવે છે કે ઈસુ સાથે દેવ હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="ACT.10.39" />“ઈસુએ યહૂદિયા અને યરૂશાલેમમાં જે બધું કર્યુ તે અમે જોયું. અમે સાક્ષી છીએ. વળી ઈસુની હત્યા થઈ હતી. તેઓએ તેને લાકડાના વધસ્તંભ પર લટકાવ્યો.
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<v id="40" bcv="ACT.10.40" />પરંતુ, તેના મૃત્યુ પછીના ત્રીજા દિવસે દેવે ઈસુને મૂએલામાંથી ઉઠાડ્યો. દેવે લોકોને સ્પષ્ટ રીતે ઈસુના દર્શન કરાવ્યા.
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<v id="41" bcv="ACT.10.41" />પરંતુ બધા જ લોકો ઈસુને જોઈ શક્યા નહિ. ફક્ત સાક્ષીઓ કે જેમને દેવે અગાઉથી પસંદ કર્યા હતા તેઓએ તેને જોયો. અમે તે સાક્ષીઓ છીએ. ઈસુ જ્યારે મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠ્યો પછી, અમે તેની સાથે ખાધું છે અને પીધું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="ACT.10.42" />“ઈસુએ અમને લોકોને બોધ આપવાનું કહ્યું અને સાક્ષી આપો કે દેને એને જ જીવતાંનો તથા મૂએલાંનો ન્યાયાધીશ તરીકે પસંદ કરેલ છે.
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<v id="43" bcv="ACT.10.43" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તેને પાપની માફી મળશે. દેવ ઈસુના નામે તે લોકોના પાપ માફ કરશે. બધા જ પ્રબોધકો કહે, આ સાચું છે.”
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<s style="s">બિનયહૂદિઓમાં પવિત્ર આત્મા આવ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="ACT.10.44" />જ્યારે પિતર એ વાતો કહેતો હતો એટલામાં જે લોકો વાત સાંભળતા હતા તેઓ સર્વના ઉપર પવિત્ર આત્મા ઉતર્યો.
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<v id="45" bcv="ACT.10.45" />યહૂદિ વિશ્વાસીઓ જેઓ ત્યાં પિતર સાથે આવ્યા હતા તેઓ નવાઇ પામ્યા. તેઓને નવાઇ લાગી હતી કે પવિત્ર આત્મા બિનયહૂદિ લોકો પર પણ રેડાયો છે.
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<v id="46" bcv="ACT.10.46" />આ યહૂદિ વિશ્વાસીઓએ તેઓને વિવિધ ભાષામાં બોલતા અને દેવની સ્તુતિ કરતા સાંભળ્યા. પછી પિતરે કહ્યું,
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<v id="47" bcv="ACT.10.47" />“અમે તેઓને પાણીથી બાપ્તિસ્મા આપવાની મનાઇ કરી શકીએ નહિ. તેઓને આપણી માફક જ પવિત્ર આત્મા પ્રાપ્ત થયેલ છે!”
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<v id="48" bcv="ACT.10.48" />તેથી પિતરે કર્નેલિયસ, તેનાં સગા અને મિત્રોને ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના નામે બાપ્તિસ્મા આપવાની આજ્ઞા કરી. પછી લોકોએ પિતરને તેઓની સાથે થોડા દિવસ રહેવા માટે કહ્યું.
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<s style="s">પિતરનું યરૂશાલેમમાં પુનરાગમન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.11.1" />યહૂદિયાના પ્રેરિતો અને ભાઈઓએ સાંભળ્યું કે બિનયહૂદિઓએ પણ દેવની વાતોનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.11.2" />પરંતુ જ્યારે પિતર યરૂશાલેમ આવ્યો. કેટલાક યહૂદિ વિશ્વાસીઓએ તેની સાથે દલીલો કરી.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.11.3" />તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તું લોકોના જે ઘરમાં ગયો તેઓ યહૂદિઓ નહોતા, અને તેઓએ સુન્નત કરાવી નહોતી! તેં તેઓની સાથે ખાધું પણ ખરું!”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ACT.11.4" />પિતરે તેઓને આખી વાત સમજાવી.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.11.5" />પિતરે કહ્યું, “હું યાફાના શહેરમાં હતો. જ્યારે હું પ્રાર્થના કરતો હતો, એક દર્શન મારી સામે આવ્યું. મેં દર્શનમાં આકાશમાંથી કંઈક નીચે આવતું જોયું, તે એક મોટી ચાદર જેવું દેખાતું હતું. તે તેના ચાર ખૂણાઓથી જમીન પર નીચે ઉતરતી હતી. તે નીચે આવીને મારી નજીક અટકી ગઈ.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.11.6" />મેં તેની અંદર જોયું. મેં પાળેલાં અને જંગલી બંને પ્રકરના પ્રાણીઓ જોયાં. મેં પેટે સરકતાં પ્રાણીઓ અને હવામાં ઊડતાં પક્ષીઓ જોયા.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.11.7" />મેં એક વાણી મને એમ કહેતી સાંભળી કે, ‘ઊભો થા. પિતર, આમાંથી કોઇ પ્રાણીને મારી નાખ અને તે ખા!’
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ACT.11.8" />“પણ મેં કહ્યું, ‘હું કદાપિ તે નહિ કરું, પ્રભુ! મેં કદાપિ નાપાક કે અશુદ્ધ હોય એવું કંઈ ખાધું નથી.’
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.11.9" />“પરંતુ આકાશમાંના અવાજે ફરીથી કહ્યું, ‘દેવે આ વસ્તુઓ સ્વચ્છ બનાવી છે. તેને નાપાક કહીશ નહિ!’
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ACT.11.10" />“આ ત્રણ વખત બન્યું. પછી તે આખી વસ્તુ આકાશમાં પાછી લઈ લેવામાં આવી.
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.11.11" />પછી હું જ્યાં રહેતો હતો ત્યાં તે ઘરમાં તરત જ ત્રણ માણસો આવી પહોંચ્યા. ત્રણ માણસો કૈસરિયા શહેરમાંથી મારી પાસે મોકલવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.11.12" />આત્માએ મને કોઇ પણ જાતની શંકા રાખ્યા વિના તેમની સાથે જવા કહ્યું. આ છ ભાઈઓ જે અહીં હતા તેઓ મારી સાથે આવ્યા. અમે કર્નેલિયસના ઘરે ગયા.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.11.13" />કર્નેલિયસે અમને દૂત વિષે કહ્યું. જેને તેના ઘરમાં ઊભેલો જોયો. દૂતે કર્નેલિયસને કહ્યું, ‘સિમોન પિતરને આવવા માટેનું નિમંત્રણ આપવા માટે કેટલાક માણસોને યાફા મોકલ.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.11.14" />તે તને જે વાતો કહેશે તેના વડે તું અને તારા ઘરનાં બંને તારણ પામશો.’
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ACT.11.15" />“મેં બોલવાનો આરંભ કર્યા બાદ તરત જ પવિત્ર આત્મા તેઓના પર ઉતર્યો. જે રીતે શરૂઆતમાં તે (પવિત્ર આત્મા) અમારા પર ઉતર્યો હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.11.16" />પછી મેં પ્રભુની વાણીનું સ્મરણ કર્યુ. પ્રભુએ કહ્યું, ‘યોહાને પાણીથી લોકોનું બાપ્તિસ્મા કર્યુ. પણ તું પવિત્ર આત્મામાં બાપ્તિસ્મા પામશે!’
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.11.17" />દેવે આ લોકોને તે જ ભેટ આપી જે તેણે અમને કે જેઓ પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખતા હતા, તેમને આપી હતી. તો પછી હું કોણ કે દેવના કામને અટકાવું? ના!”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ACT.11.18" />જ્યારે યહૂદિ વિશ્વાસીઓએ આ વાતો સાંભળી, તેઓએ દલીલો કરવાનું બંધ કર્યુ. તેઓએ દેવને મહિમા આપતાં કહ્યું, “તેથી દેવ બિનયહૂદિઓને પસ્તાવો કરવાનું મન આપ્યું છે અને આપણા જેવું જીવન પામવા માટે સંપત્તિ આપે છે.”
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<s style="s">અંત્યોખમાં સુવાર્તા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ACT.11.19" />સ્તેફનના મૃત્યુ પછી થયેલી સતાવણીને લીધે વિશ્વાસીઓ વિખરાઈ ગયા હતા. કેટલાક વિશ્વાસીઓ તે દૂર દૂરના સ્થળે ફિનીકિયા, સૈપ્રસ અને અંત્યોખ ગયા હતા. વિશ્વાસીઓએ સુવાર્તા આ જગ્યાઓએ કહી, પણ તેઓએ તે ફક્ત યહૂદિઓને જ કહી.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.11.20" />આ વિશ્વાસીઓમાંના કેટલાક સૈપ્રસ અને કુરેનીના માણસો હતા. જ્યારે આ માણસો અંત્યોખમાં આવ્યા. તેઓએ આ ગ્રીક લોકોને પણ પ્રભુ ઈસુ વિષેની સુવાર્તા કહી.
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.11.21" />પ્રભુ વિશ્વાસીઓને મદદ કરતો હતો અને એક મોટો લોકોનો સમૂહ પ્રભુમાં માનવા લાગ્યો અને તેને અનુસરવા લાગ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.11.22" />યરૂશાલેમમાં મંડળીએ આ નવા વિશ્વાસીઓ વિષે સાંભળ્યું. તેથી યરૂશાલેમના વિશ્વાસીઓએ બાર્નાબાસને અંત્યોખમાં મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="23-24" bcv="ACT.11.23" />બાર્નાબાસ એક સારો માણસ હતો. તે પવિત્ર આત્માથી અને પૂર્ણ વિશ્વાસથી ભરપૂર હતો. જ્યારે બાર્નાબાસ અંત્યોખ ગયો. તેણે જોયું કે દેવે આ લોકોને ઘણા આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા છે, આથી બાર્નાબાસ ઘણો પ્રસન્ન થયો. તેણે અંત્યોખમાં બધા વિશ્વાસીઓને પ્રોત્સાહન આપ્યું. તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “તમારો વિશ્વાસ કદી ગુમાવો નહિ, હંમેશા તમારા ખરા હ્રદયપૂર્વક પ્રભુની આજ્ઞાઓ માનો,” ઘણા બધા લોકો પ્રભુ ઈસુના શિષ્યો બન્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ACT.11.25" />પછી બાર્નાબાસ તાર્સસના શહેરમાં ગયો. તે શાઉલની શોધમાં હતો.
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.11.26" />જ્યારે તેણે શાઉલને શોધ્યો ત્યારે તે તેને અંત્યોખ લાવ્યો. શાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ ત્યાં આખું એક વર્ષ રહ્યા. દરેક વખતે વિશ્વાસીઓનો સમૂહ ભેગો મળતો. શાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ તેઓને મળ્યા અને સાથે રહીને ઘણા લોકોને બોધ કર્યો, અંત્યોખના શહેરમાં ઈસુના શિષ્યો સૌ પ્રથમ વાર જ “ખ્રિસ્તી” તરીકે ઓળખાયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.11.27" />લગભગ તે સમય દરમ્યાન કેટલાક પ્રબોધકો યરૂશાલેમથી અંત્યોખ ગયા.
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.11.28" />આમાંના એક પ્રબોધકનું નામ આગાબાસ હતું. અંત્યોખમાં આગાબાસ ઊભો થયો અને બોલ્યો. પવિત્ર આત્માની સહાયથી તેણે કહ્યું, “આખા વિશ્વ માટે ઘણો ખરાબ સમય આવી રહ્યો છે. ત્યાં લોકોને ખાવા માટે ખોરાક મળશે નહિ.” (આ સમયે જ્યારે કલોદિયસ બાદશાહ હતો ત્યારે દુકાળ પડ્યો હતો.)
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<v id="29" bcv="ACT.11.29" />વિશ્વાસીઓએ નિર્ણય કર્યો કે તેઓ બધા તેઓના ભાઈઓને તથા બહેનોને જે યહૂદિયામાં રહે છે તેઓને મદદ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરશે. પ્રત્યેક વિશ્વાસીએ પોતાના સાર્મથ્ય અનુસાર તેઓને મોકલવાની યોજના ઘડી.
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<v id="30" bcv="ACT.11.30" />તેઓએ પૈસા ભેગા કર્યા અને તે બાર્નાબાસને અને શાઉલને આપ્યા. પછી બાર્નાબાસ અને શાઉલે તે (નાણાં) યહૂદિયાના વડીલો પર મોકલ્યા.
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<c id="12" />
<s style="s">હેરોદ અગ્રિપાએ મંડળીનું કરેલું નુકસાન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.12.1" />એ સમય દરમ્યાન રાજા હેરોદે<f caller="+"><fr>12:1
</fr><fk>હેરોદ
</fk><ft>હેરોદ અગ્રિપા પહેલો, મહાન હેરોદનો જયેષ્ઠ પુત્ર.</ft></f> મંડળીના કેટલાક લોકોની સતાવણી શરું કરી.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.12.2" />હેરોદે યાકૂબને તલવારથી મારી નાખવાનો હુકમ કર્યો. યાકૂબ યોહાનનો ભાઈ હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.12.3" />હેરોદે જોયું કે યહૂદિઓને આ ગમે છે તેથી તેણે પિતરને પણ પકડવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો. (પાસ્ખા પર્વના યહૂદિઓના બેખમીર રોટલીના પવિત્ર સમય દરમ્યાન આ બન્યું.)
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.12.4" />હેરોદે પિતરને પકડીને બંદીખાનામાં મૂક્યો. 16 સૈનિકોનો સમૂહ પિતરનું રક્ષણ કરતો. પાસ્ખાપર્વના ઉત્સવ પછી રાહ જોવાની હેરોદની ઈચ્છા હતી. પછી તેણે પિતરને લોકોની આગળ લાવવાની યોજના કરી.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.12.5" />તેથી પિતરને જેલમાં રાખવામાં આવ્યો. પરંતુ મંડળીમાં પિતર માટે આગ્રહથી દેવની પ્રાર્થના થતી હતી.
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</p>
<s style="s">પિતરનો જેલમાંથી છૂટકારો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ACT.12.6" />પિતર બે સૈનિકોની વચમાં ઊંઘતો હતો. તેને બે સાંકળો વડે બાંધવામાં આવ્યો હતો. ઘણા સૈનિકો જેલના દરવાજે ચોકી કરતા હતા. તે રાત્રે હેરોદે બીજા દિવસે પિતરને લોકો આગળ રજૂ કરવાની યોજના કરી.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.12.7" />એકાએક, ત્યાં, પ્રભુનો દૂત આવીને ઊભો. ઓરડામાં પ્રકશ પથરાયો. દૂતે પિતરને કૂંખે સ્પર્શ કર્યો અને તેને જગાડ્યો. તે દૂતે કહ્યું, “ઉતાવળ કર, ઊભો થા!” સાંકળો પિતરના હાથમાંથી નીચે પડી.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.12.8" />તે દૂતે પિતરને કહ્યું, “કપડાં પહેર અને તારા જોડા પહેર.” અને તેથી પિતરે તે જ પ્રમાણે કર્યુ. પછી તે દૂતે કહ્યું, “તારું અંગરખું પહેર અને મારી પાછળ આવ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.12.9" />તેથી દૂત બહાર આવ્યો અને પિતર તેને અનુસર્યો. દૂત જે કરે છે તે ખરેખરું છે એમ તે સમજતો નહોતો, તેણે વિચાર્યુ કે તે એક દર્શન જોઈ રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.12.10" />પિતર અને દૂતે પહેલી અને બીજી ચોકી વટાવી. પછી તેઓ લોખંડના દરવાજા પાસે આવ્યા. તે દરવાજાથી તેઓ છૂટા પડ્યા. દરવાજો તેને માટે જાતે જ ઊધડી ગયો, પિતર અને દૂત દરવાજામાંથી ગયા અને એક મહોલ્લામાં ચાલ્યા. પછી દૂત તરત જતો રહ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ACT.12.11" />પછી શું બન્યું હતું તેનું ભાન પિતરને થયું. તેણે વિચાર્યુ, “હવે મને ખબર પડી કે પ્રભુએ ખરેખર તેના દૂતને મારી પાસે મોકલ્યો હતો. તેણે મને હેરોદથી બચાવ્યો. યહૂદિ લોકોએ વિચાર્યુ કે મારી સાથે ખરાબ થવાનું હતું પરંતુ પ્રભુએ મને આ બધી બાબતોમાંથી બચાવ્યો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.12.12" />જ્યારે પિતરને આ સમજાયું ત્યારે, તે મરિયમને ઘરે ગયો. તે યોહાનની મા હતી. (યોહાનનું બીજું નામ માર્ક હતું.) ઘણા માણસો ત્યાં ભેગા થયા હતા. તેઓ બધા પ્રાર્થના કરતા હતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.12.13" />પિતરે બહારનો દરવાજો ખખડાવ્યો. એક રોદા નામની જુવાન દાસી ખબર કાઢવા આવી.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.12.14" />રોદાએ પિતરનો અવાજ ઓળખ્યો. અને તે ખૂબ આનંદ પામી હતી. તે દરવાજો ઉઘાડવાનું પણ ભૂલી ગઇ. તે અંદર દોડી ગઇ અને સમૂહને કહ્યું, “પિતર બારણાં આગળ ઊભો છે!”
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.12.15" />વિશ્વાસીઓએ રોદાને કહ્યું, “તું તો ઘેલી છે!” પણ તેણીએ કહેવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું કે, તે સાચું હતું. તેથી તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તે પિતરનો દૂત હોવો જોઈએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ACT.12.16" />પણ પિતરે બારણું ખખડાવવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું. જ્યારે વિશ્વાસીઓએ બારણું ઉઘાડ્યું, તેઓએ પિતરને જોયો. તેઓ નવાઇ પામ્યા.
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.12.17" />પિતરે તેના હાથના ઇશારાથી તેઓને શાંત રહેવા કહ્યું. તેણે તેઓને સમજાવ્યું કે પ્રભુ તેને કેવી રીતે બંદીખાનામાંથી બહાર લાવ્યો. તેણે કહ્યું, “જે કંઈ બન્યું છે તે યાકૂબને તથા બીજા ભાઈઓને કહો.” પછી પિતર બીજી કોઇ જગ્યાએ જવા માટે ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ACT.12.18" />બીજા દિવસે સૈનિકો બહું મુંઝવણમાં હતા. અને પિતરને આ શું થયું હશે તેનું તેઓને અચરજ થયું હતું.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.12.19" />હેરોદે પિતરની શોધ દરક સ્થળે કરાવી પણ તેને શોધી શક્યા નહિ. તેથી હેરોદે ચોકીદારોને પ્રશ્રો પૂછયા અને તેણે ચોકીદારોને મારી નાખવાનો હુકમ કર્યો.
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<s style="s">હેરોદ અગ્રિપાનું અવસાન
</s>
<p style="p">પાછળથી હેરોદે યહૂદિયા છોડ્યું. તે કૈસરિયા શહેરમાં ગયો અને થોડો સમય ત્યાં રહ્યો.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.12.20" />હેરોદ તૂરના તથા સિદોન શહેરોના લોકો પર ઘણો જ ગુસ્સે હતો. તે બધા લોકો સમૂહમાં હેરોદ પાસે આવ્યા. તેઓ તેઓના પક્ષમાં બ્લાસ્તસને લેવા શક્તિમાન હતા. બ્લાસ્તસ રાજાનો ખાનગી સેવક હતો. લોકોએ હેરોદને શાંતિ માટે પૂછયું, કારણ કે તેઓના દેશને ખોરાકના પૂરવઠા માટે હેરોદના પ્રદેશ પર આધાર રાખવો પડતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ACT.12.21" />હેરોદે તેઓની સાથે મળવા માટે એક દિવસ નક્કી કર્યો. તે દિવસે હેરોદ સુંદર રાજપોશાક પહેરીને તે તેની રાજગાદી પર બેઠો અને લોકો સમક્ષ ભાષણ કર્યુ.
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<v id="22" bcv="ACT.12.22" />લોકોએ પોકાર કર્યો, “આ વાણી દેવની છે, એક માણસની નથી!”
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.12.23" />હેરોદે આ મહિમા સ્વીકાર્યો અને દેવને મહિમા આપ્યો નહિ. તેથી અચાનક પ્રભુના દૂતે તેને માંદો પાડ્યો. તેને અંદરથી કીડાઓ ખાઈ ગયા અને તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ACT.12.24" />દેવની વાત પ્રસરતી હતી અને વધારે ને વધારે લોકોને પ્રભાવિત કરતી હતી. વિશ્વાસીઓનો સમૂહ મોટો ને મોટો થતો જતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ACT.12.25" />યરૂશાલેમમાં બાર્નાબાસ અને શાઉલે તેઓનું કામ પૂર્ણ કર્યુ. તેઓ અંત્યોખ પાછા ફર્યા. યોહાન માર્ક તેઓની સાથે હતો.
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<s style="s">બાર્નાબાસ અને શાઉલનાં વિશિષ્ટ કાર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.13.1" />અંત્યોખમાં જે મંડળી હતી, તેમાં કેટલાક પ્રબોધકો અને ઉપદેશકો હતા. એટલે બાર્નાબાસ, શિમયોન (જે નિગર તરીકે ઓળખાતો હતો તે), લૂકિયસ (કુરેનીનો), મનાહેમ (જે હેરોદ રાજા સાથે ઉછરીને મોટા થયો હતો) તથા શાઉલ હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.13.2" />આ બધા માણસો પ્રભુની સેવા અને ઉપવાસ કરતા હતા. પવિત્ર આત્માએ તેઓને કહ્યું, “બાર્નાબાસ અને શાઉલ વિશિષ્ટ કાર્યો કરવા માટે મને આપો. મેં આ કામ કરવા માટે તેઓની પસંદગી કરેલ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ACT.13.3" />તેથી મંડળીએ પ્રાર્થના અને ઉપવાસ કર્યા. તેઓએ તેઓના હાથ બાર્નાબાસ અને શાઉલ પર મૂક્યા અને તેઓને બહાર મોકલ્યા.
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<s style="s">સૈપ્રસમાં બાર્નાબસ અને શાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ACT.13.4" />પવિત્ર આત્મા દ્ધારા બાર્નાબાસ અને શાઉલને બહાર મોકલવામાં આવ્યા. તેઓ સલૂકિયાના શહેરમાં ગયા. ત્યાંથી પછી સલૂકિયાથી સૈપ્રસ ટાપુ તરફ વહાણ હંકારી ગયા.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.13.5" />જ્યારે બાર્નાબાસ અને શાઉલ સલામિસના શહેરમાં આવ્યા, તેઓએ યહૂદિઓના સભાસ્થાનોમાં દેવનું વચન પ્રગટ કર્યુ. (યોહાન માર્ક પણ તેઓની સાથે મદદમાં હતો.)
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ACT.13.6" />તેઓ આખો ટાપુ ઓળંગીને પાફસના શહેરમાં ગયા. ત્યાં તેઓ એક યહૂદિ માણસને મળ્યા જે જાદુના ખેલ કરતો હતો. તેનું નામ બર્યેશું હતું. તે એક જૂઠો પ્રબોધક હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.13.7" />બર્યેશુ હંમેશા સર્ગિયુસ પાઉલની નજીક રહેતો, સર્ગિયુસ પાઉલ એક હાકેમ હતો. અને તે ખૂબ જ શાણો માણસ હતો. તેણે બાર્નાબાસ અને શાઉલને તેની પાસે આવવા કહ્યું. દેવનો સંદેશ સાંભળવાની તેની ઈચ્છા હતી.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.13.8" />પરંતુ અલિમાસ જાદુગર, બાર્નાબાસ અને શાઉલની વિરૂદ્ધ હતો. (ગ્રીક ભાષામાં બર્યેશુ માટે અલિમાસ નામ છે.) અલિમાસે હાકેમને ઈસુના વિશ્વાસમાંથી અટકાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.13.9" />પણ શાઉલ તો પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર હતો. પાઉલે (શાઉલનું બીજું નામ) અલિમાસ (બર્યેશુ) તરફ જોયું.
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.13.10" />અને કહ્યું, “ઓ, શેતાનના દીકરા! તું જે કંઈ બધું ન્યાયી છે તેનો દુશ્મન છે. તું દુષ્ટ યુક્તિઓ અને જૂઠાણાંથી ભરપૂર છે. તું હંમેશા દેવના સત્યને અસત્યમાં ફેરવવા માટે પ્રયત્ન કરે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.13.11" />હવે પ્રભુ તને સ્પર્શ કરશે અને તું આંધળો થઈશ. કેટલાક સમય માટે તું કંઈ જોઈ શકીશ નહિ-સૂર્યનો પ્રકાશ પણ નહિ.”
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<p style="p">પછી અલિમાસ માટે બધુંજ અંધકારમય બની ગયું. તે આજુબાજુ ચાલતા ભૂલો પડી ગયો. તે કોઈકને શોધવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતો હતો, જે તેનો હાથ પકડીને દોરી શકે.
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.13.12" />જ્યારે હાકેમે આ જોયું ત્યારે પ્રભુના બોધથી તે આશ્ચર્યચકિત થઈ ગયો.
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<s style="s">પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસનું સૈપ્રસ છોડવું
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ACT.13.13" />પાઉલ અને તેની સાથે જે લોકો હતા તેઓ પાફસથી દૂર હોડી હંકારી ગયા. તેઓ પર્ગે નામના પમ્ફલિયા શહેરમાં આવ્યા. યોહાન માર્ક તેઓને છોડીને યરૂશાલેમમાં પાછો ફર્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.13.14" />તેઓએ પર્ગેનો તેમનો પ્રવાસ ચાલુ રાખ્યો અને પિસીદિયાના નજીકના શહેર અંત્યોખમાં આવ્યા.
</p>
<p style="p">અંત્યોખમાં તેઓ વિશ્રામવારે યહૂદિઓના સભાસ્થાનમાં જઈને બેઠા.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.13.15" />મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર અને પ્રબોધકનાં લખાણો વંચાયા. પછી સભાસ્થાનના આગેવાનોએ પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસને સંદેશો મોકલ્યો, “ભાઈઓ, જો તમારી પાસે અહી લોકો માટે બોધરૂપી સંદેશ હોય તો, મહેરબાની કરીને બોલો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ACT.13.16" />પાઉલ ઊભો થયો. તેણે તેનો હાથ ઊચો કર્યો અને કહ્યું, “મારા યહૂદિ ભાઈઓ અને બીજા લોકો તમે જે સાચા દેવની ભક્તિ કરો છો, કૃપા કરીને મને સાંભળો!
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.13.17" />ઈસ્ત્રાએલના દેવે આપણા પૂર્વજોને પસંદ કર્યા છે. તેઓ મિસર દેશમાં અજ્ઞાત રીતે રહેતા હતા, ત્યારે તે સમય દરમ્યાન દેવે તેના લોકોને સફળ થવામાં મદદ કરી. દેવ તેઓને તે દેશમાંથી વધારે સાર્મથ્યથી બહાર લાવ્યો.
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.13.18" />અને 40 વરસ સુધી દેવે રણમાં તેઓનું વર્તન ધીરજપૂર્વક સહન કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ACT.13.19" />દેવે કનાનની ભૂમિનાં સાત રાષ્ટ્રોનો વિનાશ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="ACT.13.20" />આ બધું લગભગ 450 વર્ષમાં બન્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">“આ પછી, દેવે આપણા લોકોને શમુએલ પ્રબોધકના સમય સુધી ન્યાયાધીશો આપ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ACT.13.21" />પછી તે લોકોએ રાજાની માંગણી કરી. તેથી દેવે તેઓને કીશનો દીકરો શાઉલ આપ્યો. શાઉલ બિન્યામીનના કુળનો હતો. તે 40 વર્ષ રાજા રહ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="ACT.13.22" />પછી દેવે શાઉલને દૂર કરીને દાઉદને રાજા બનાવ્યો. દેવે દાઉદ વિષે જે કહ્યું તે આ છે, ‘દાઉદ, એ યશાઇનો દીકરો કે જે તેના વિચારોમાં મારા જેવો છે. હું તેની પાસે જે કરાવવા ઇચ્છું છું તે બધુંજ તે કરશે.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ACT.13.23" />“દેવે દાઉદના વંશમાંથી એકને ઈસ્રાએલનો તારનાર તરીકે ઊભો કર્યો. તે વંશજ ઈસુ છે. દેવે આ કરવાનું વચન આપ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ACT.13.24" />ઈસુના આગમન પહેલા, યોહાને બધા યહૂદિ લોકોને બોધ આપ્યો. તેઓ પુસ્તાવો ઈચ્છે છે તે બતાવવા માટે યોહાને તે લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા લેવા કહ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ACT.13.25" />જ્યારે યોહાન તેનું કાર્ય પુરું કરતો હતો, ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, ‘હું કોણ છું એ વિષે તમે શું ધારો છો? હું તે ખ્રિસ્ત નથી. તે મોડેથી આવશે. હું તો તેના જોડા છોડવાને પણ યોગ્ય નથી.’
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ACT.13.26" />“મારા ભાઈઓ, ઈબ્રાહિમના વંશજોના દીકરાઓ અને તમે બિનયહૂદિઓ કે જેઓ સાચા દેવને ભજો છો, ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! આ તારણ વિષેના સમાચાર અમને મોકલવામાં આવેલ છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="ACT.13.27" />યરૂશાલેમમાં રહેતા યહૂદિઓ અને યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓ ઈસુ તારનાર હતો તેનો અનુભવ કરતા નથી. પ્રબોધકોએ ઈસુ વિષે જે વચન કહ્યા છે તે પ્રત્યેક વિશ્રામવારે યહૂદિઓ સમક્ષ વાંચવામાં આવતા હતાં. પણ તેઓ સમજતા નહોતા. યહૂદિઓએ ઈસુનો તિરસ્કાર કર્યો, આ રીતે તેઓએ પ્રબોધકોના શબ્દોને સાચા બનાવ્યા!
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="ACT.13.28" />ઈસુના મૃત્યુદંડ માટે તેઓને કોઇ ચોક્કસ કારણ જડ્યું નહિ પરંતુ તેઓએ પિલાતને તેને મારી નાખવા કહ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ACT.13.29" />“ઈસુના વિષે થનારા ખરાબ બનાવોના લખાણો મુજબ યહૂદિઓએ સઘળું ખરાબ કર્યુ. પછી તેઓએ ઈસુને વધસ્તંભ પરથી ઉતારીને તેને કબરમાં મૂક્યો.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="ACT.13.30" />પણ દેવે તેને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠાડ્યો!
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="ACT.13.31" />આ પછી ઘણા દિવસો માટે જે લોકો ગાલીલથી યરૂશાલેમ ઈસુ સાથે ગયા હતા, તેઓએ ઈસુને જોયો. તેઓ હમણાં લોકોની આગળ તેના સાક્ષી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="ACT.13.32" />“અમે દેવે અમારા પૂર્વજોને આપેલાં વચન વિષેની વધામણી કહીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="ACT.13.33" />અમે તેનાં બાળકો છીએ. અને દેવે આ વચન અમારા માટે પરિપૂર્ણ કર્યુ છે. દેવે ઈસુને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠાડીને આ કર્યુ છે. આપણે આ વિષે ગીતશાસ્ત્રમાં પણ વાંચીએ છીએ.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તુ મારો દીકરો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આજે હું તારો પિતા થયો છું.’
<rq>ગીતશાસ્ત્ર: 2:7</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="34" bcv="ACT.13.34" />દેવે ઈસુને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠાડ્યો છે. ઈસુ ફરીથી કબરમાં કદાપિ જશે નહિ અને ધૂળમાં ફેરવાશે નહિ. તેથી દેવે કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘હું તને સાચા અને પવિત્ર વચનો (આશીર્વાદો) આપીશ જે મેં દાઉદને આપ્યાં હતા.’
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.55.3">યશાયા 55:3</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="35" bcv="ACT.13.35" />પણ બીજી એક જગ્યાએ દેવ કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘તું તારા પવિત્રનાં શરીરને કબરમાં સડવા દઇશ નહિ.’
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.16.10">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 16:10</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="ACT.13.36" />“દાઉદ જ્યારે જીવતો હતો ત્યારે તેણે દેવની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે કર્યુ. પછી તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. દાઉદને તેના પૂર્વજોની સાથે દાટવામાં આવ્યો અને કબરમાં તેના શરીરને સડો લાગ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="ACT.13.37" />પણ એક જેને દેવે મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠાડ્યો તેનું કબરમાં કોહવાણ થયું નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="38-39" bcv="ACT.13.38" />ભાઈઓ, અમે તમારી આગળ જે પ્રગટ કરીએ છીએ, તે તમારે સમજવું જોઈએ કે તેના દ્ધારા પાપોની માફી તમને પ્રગટ કરવામાં આવે છે. તેના (ઈસુ) મારફત પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે વિશ્વાસીઓ છે તેને બધામાંથી મુક્તિ મળશે. જેમાં મૂસાનો નિયમ પણ તમને મુક્ત કરી શકે તેમ નથી. પ્રત્યેક વિશ્વાસ કરનાર ઈસુ દ્ધારા ન્યાયી ઠરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="ACT.13.40" />ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! રખેને પ્રબોધકોના લેખમાંનુ આ વચન તમારા પર આવી પડે કે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="41" bcv="ACT.13.41" />‘ઓ તિરસ્કાર કરનારાઓ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સાંભળો, તમે આશ્ચર્ય પામશો, અને નાશ પામશો;
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તમારા સમય દરમ્યાન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું (દેવ) કંઈક કરીશ જે તમે માનશો નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">કદાચ જો કોઇ તમને તે સમજાવે તો પણ તમે તે માનશો નહિ!’”
<rq>હબાકકુક 1:5</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="ACT.13.42" />જ્યારે પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ સભાસ્થાન છોડતા હતા, લોકોએ પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસને આ પછીના બીજા વિશ્રામવારે આ વિષે વધારે કહેવા માટે ફરીથી આવવા કહ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="ACT.13.43" />સભા વિસર્જન થયા પછી, યહૂદિઓ અને ઘણા લોકો જે યહૂદિધર્મમાં પરિવર્તન થયા હતા અને સાચા દેવની ભક્તિ કરતા હતા તેઓ પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસને અનુસર્યા. પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે તેઓને વાત કરી અને દેવની કૃપામાં ચાલુ રહેવા સમજાવ્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="44" bcv="ACT.13.44" />બીજા વિશ્રામવારે, લગભગ શહેરના બધા જ લોકો પ્રભુનો બોધ સાંભળવા ભેગા મળ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="ACT.13.45" />યહૂદિઓએ આ બધા લોકોને ત્યાં જોયા. તેથી યહૂદિઓને વધારે ઈર્ષા થઈ. તેઓએ થોડાક અપશબ્દો કહ્યા. અને પાઉલે જે કહ્યું હતું તેના વિરોધમાં દલીલો કરી.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="ACT.13.46" />પણ પાઉલ તથા બાર્નાબાસે ઘણી હિંમત રાખીને કહ્યું, તેઓએ કહ્યું, “અમારે પ્રથમ તમને યહૂદિઓને દેવના વચનો કહેવા જોઈએ. પણ તમે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવાની ના પાડી. તમે તમારી જાતે ખોવાઇ જાઓ છો, અનંતજીવન પામવાને તમે પોતાને અયોગ્ય ઠરાવો છો! તેથી અમે હવે બીજા રાષ્ટ્રોના લોકો પાસે જઈશું.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="ACT.13.47" />પ્રભુ એ આપણને જે કરવાનું કહ્યું છે તે આ છે. પ્રભુએ કહ્યું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘મેં તમને બીજા રાષ્ટ્રો માટેનો પ્રકાશ થવા બનાવ્યા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી કરીને તમે આખા વિશ્વમાં લોકોને તારણનો માર્ગ બતાવી શકશો.’”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.49.6">યશાયા 49:6</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="48" bcv="ACT.13.48" />જ્યારે બિનયહૂદિઓએ પાઉલને આમ કહેતા સાંભળ્યો, ત્યારે તેઓએ ખુશ થઈને દેવનું વચન મહિમાવાન માન્યું અને લોકોમાંના ઘણાએ વિશ્વાસ કર્યો. તે લોકોની પસંદગી અનંતજીવન માટે કરવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="49" bcv="ACT.13.49" />અને તેથી આખા દેશમાં પ્રભુનો સંદેશ કહેવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="50" bcv="ACT.13.50" />પરંતુ યહૂદિઓએ ધાર્મિક તથા કુલીન સ્ત્રીઓને તથા શહેરના અધિકારીઓને ઉશ્કેરણી કરીને પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસની સતાવણી કરાવી. પરિણામે આ લોકોએ પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસને શહેરની બહાર હાંકી કાઢ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="51" bcv="ACT.13.51" />તેથી પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે તેમનાં પગોની ધૂળ ખંખેરી નાખી. પછી તેઓ ઈકોનિયા શહેરમાં ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="52" bcv="ACT.13.52" />પરંતુ અંત્યોખમાં ઈસુના શિષ્યો ખુશ હતા અને પવિત્ર આત્માથી ભરપૂર હતા.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">ઈકોનિયામાં પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.14.1" />ઈકોનિયા શહેરમાં પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ ગયા તેઓ યહૂદિઓના સભાસ્થાનમાં પ્રવેશ્યા. (તેઓએ બધાં શહેરોમાં જે કંઈ કર્યુ તે આ છે.) તેઓ ત્યાં લોકો સાથે બોલ્યા. પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ એટલું સારું બોલ્યા કે ઘણા યહૂદિઓ અને ગ્રીકોએ, તેઓએ જે કહ્યું તેમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.14.2" />પરંતુ કેટલાક યહૂદિઓએ વિશ્વાસ કર્યો નહી. આ યહૂદિઓએ બિનયહૂદિ લોકોને ઉશ્કેર્યા અને ભાઈઓના વિષે મનમાં ખરાબ વસ્તુઓ વિચારતા કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ACT.14.3" />તેથી પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ લાંબા સમય સુધી ઇકોનિયામાં રહ્યા અને તેઓ પ્રભુ વિષે આશ્ચર્યથી હિંમત રાખીને બોલ્યા. પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ દેવની કૃપા વિષે બોધ આપતા હતા. પ્રભુએ પૂરવાર કર્યુ, કે તેઓ જે કહેતા હતા તે સાચું હતું. પ્રેરિતોને (પાઉલ તથા બાર્નાબાસ) ચમત્કારો તથા અદભૂત કૃત્યો કરવામાં તે મદદ કરતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.14.4" />પરંતુ શહેરના કેટલાક લોકો યહૂદિઓ સાથે સંમત થયા. શહેરના બીજા લોકો પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસમાં વિશ્વાસ કરતા. તેથી શહેરના ભાગલા પડ્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ACT.14.5" />કેટલાક બિનયહૂદિ લોકો, કેટલાક યહૂદિઓ, અને તેઓના યહૂદિ અધિકારીઓએ પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસને ઇજા પહોંચાડવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. આ લોકોની ઈચ્છા તેઓને પથ્થરોથી મારી નાખવાની હતી.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.14.6" />જ્યારે પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે આ સંબંધી જાણયું. ત્યારે તેઓએ તે શહેર છોડયું, તેઓ લુસ્ત્રા અને દર્બેમાં લુકોનિયાના શહેરોમાં અને તેની આજુબાજુના શહેરોના વિસ્તારમાં ગયા.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.14.7" />તેઓએ ત્યાં પણ સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરી.
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</p>
<s style="s">લુસ્ત્રામાં પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ACT.14.8" />લુસ્ત્રામાં એક માણસ હતો જેના પગમાં કંઈક ખોડ હતી. તે જન્મથી જ અપંગ હતો; તે કદી ચાલ્યો નહોતો.
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.14.9" />આ માણસ બેઠો હતો અને પાઉલને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળતો હતો, પાઉલે તેના તરફ જોયું કે તે માણસને વિશ્વાસ હતો કે દેવ તેને સાજો કરી શકે તેમ છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.14.10" />તેથી પાઉલે મોટા અવાજે કહ્યું, “તારા પગ પર ઊભો થા!” તે માણસ કૂદીને ઊભો થયો અને આજુ બાજુ ચાલવા માંડ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ACT.14.11" />પાઉલે જે કર્યુ તે જ્યારે લોકોએ જોયું ત્યારે તેઓએ તેઓની પોતાની લુકોનિયાની ભાષામાં પોકાર કર્યો. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “દેવો, માણસોનું રૂપ લઈને આવ્યા છે. તેઓ આપણી પાસે નીચે ઉતર્યા છે!”
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.14.12" />લોકોએ બાર્નાબાસને “ઝિયૂસ”<f caller="+"><fr>14:12
</fr><fk>ઝિયૂસ
</fk><ft>ગ્રીકના ઘણા દેવોમાં મુખ્ય દેવ.</ft></f> કહ્યો. તેઓએ પાઉલને “હર્મેસ”<f caller="+"><fr>14:12
</fr><fk>‘હર્મેસ’
</fk><ft>બીજો ગ્રીક દેવ. ગ્રીક લોકો માને છે કે તે બીજા દેવોનો સંદેશવાહક છે.</ft></f> કહ્યો, કારણ કે તે જ મુખ્ય બોલનાર હતો.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.14.13" />ઝિયૂસનું મંદિર શહેરમાં નજીકમાં હતું. આ મંદિરના યાજકે કેટલાક બળદો અને ફૂલો શહેરના દરવાજા પાસે આણ્યાં. તે યાજક અને લોકો પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસને ભક્તિપૂર્વક ભેટ અર્પણ કરવા ઇચ્છતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ACT.14.14" />પરંતુ જ્યારે પ્રેરિતો, પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ લોકો શું કરતા હતા તે સમજ્યા, ત્યારે તેઓએ તેમનાં પોતાનાં વસ્ત્રો ફાડ્યાં.<f caller="+"><fr>14:14
</fr><fk>તેઓએ … ફાડયાં
</fk><ft>આ દર્શાવે છે કે તેઓ ઘણાં ક્રોધિત થયા હતા.</ft></f> પછી તેઓ લોકોમાં અંદર દોડી ગયા અને તેઓને માટે સાદે કહ્યું:
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.14.15" />“સજ્જનો, તમે આ બધું શા માટે કરો છો? અમે દેવો નથી! અમારે પણ તમારા જેવી લાગણીઓ છે. અમે તમને સુવાર્તા કહેવા આવ્યા છે. અમે તમને આ નિરર્થક વસ્તુઓ તરફથી પાછા ફરવાનું કહીએ છીએ. ઉત્પન્ન કરનાર જીવતા દેવ તરફ ફરો. તેણે આકાશ, પૃથ્વી, સમુદ્ર અને તેઓના માં રહેલી પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુઓનું સર્જન કર્યુ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ACT.14.16" />“ભૂતકાળમાં દેવે પ્રત્યેક રાષ્ટ્રોને તેઓની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે કરવા દીધું હતું.
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.14.17" />પરંતુ દેવે જે કર્યુ તે ખરું છે. દેવ પોતાના વિષે સાક્ષી આપ્યા વગર રહ્યો નથી. તે તમારા માટે સારું કામ કરે છે. તે તમને આકાશમાંથી વરસાદ આપે છે. તે તમને યોગ્ય સમયે સારી ફસલ આપે છે. તે તમને પુષ્કળ પ્રમાણમાં અનાજ આપે છે અને તે તમારા હ્રદયને આનંદથી ભરે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ACT.14.18" />પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે તે લોકોને આ વાતો કરી પરંતુ હજુ સુધી પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ લોકોને લગભગ તેઓની ભક્તિ અને બલિદાન કરતાં ભાગ્યે જ અટકાવી શક્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ACT.14.19" />પછી કેટલાક યહૂદિઓ અંત્યોખ અને ઈકોનિયામાંથી આવ્યા. તેઓએ લોકોને પાઉલની વિરૂદ્ધ સતાવણી કરવા સમજાવ્યા. અને તેથી લોકોએ પાઉલ પર પથ્થરો ફેંક્યા અને તેને શહેરની બહાર ઘસડી ગયા. લોકોએ ધાર્યું કે તેઓએ પાઉલને મારી નાખ્યો છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.14.20" />ઈસુના શિષ્યો પાઉલની આજુબાજુ ભેગા થયા અને તે ઊભો થયો અને શહેરમાં પાછો ગયો. બીજે દિવસે, તે અને બાર્નાબાસ આ શહેર છોડીને દર્બેના શહેરમાં ગયા.
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<s style="s">અંત્યોખ સિરિયામાં પાછા ફરવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ACT.14.21" />પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે દર્બેના શહેરમાં પણ સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરી. ઘણા લોકો ઈસુના શિષ્યો બન્યા. પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ લુસ્ત્રા, ઈકોનિયા અને અંત્યોખ શહેરોમાં પાછા પર્યા.
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<v id="22" bcv="ACT.14.22" />તે શહેરોમાં પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે ઈસુના શિષ્યોને વધારે બળવાન બનાવ્યા. તેઓએ તેઓને વિશ્વાસમાં રહેવામાં મદદ કરી. પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે કહ્યું, “દેવના રાજ્યમાં આપણે પ્રવેશવા માટે ઘણાં સંકટોનો સામનો કરવો પડે છે.”
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.14.23" />પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે પ્રત્યેક મંડળી માટે વડીલોને પસંદ કર્યા. તેઓએ ઉપવાસ કર્યા અને આ વડીલો માટે પ્રાર્થના કરી. આ વડીલો એ માણસો હતા, જેઓને પ્રભુ ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ હતો. તેથી પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે તેઓને પ્રભુની સંભાળ હેઠળ રાખ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ACT.14.24" />પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ પિસીદિયા થઈને આવ્યા. પછી તેઓ પમ્ફુલિયા દેશમાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.14.25" />તેઓએ પર્ગે શહેરમાં દેવની વાતનો બોધ આપ્યો, અને પછી તેઓ અત્તાલિયા શહેરમાં આવ્યા,
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.14.26" />અને ત્યાંથી પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ સિરિયાના અંત્યોખ તરફ હોડી હંકારી ગયા. આ એ જ શહેર છે, જ્યાં વિશ્વાસીઓએ તેઓને દેવની કૃપામાં રાખ્યા. અને આ કામ કરવા માટે તેઓને મોકલ્યા જે કાર્ય તેણે હવે પૂર્ણ કર્યુ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.14.27" />જ્યારે પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ આવ્યા, તેઓએ મંડળીને ભેગી કરી. પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે દેવે તેમની સાથે કરેલી પ્રત્યેક બાબતો વિષે જણાવ્યું. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “દેવે દરવાજો ઉઘાડ્યો છે, તેથી બીજા રાષ્ટ્રોના લોક (બિનયહૂદિઓ) પણ વિશ્વાસ ધરાવે છે!”
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.14.28" />પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના શિષ્યોની સાથે લાંબો સમય ત્યાં રહ્યા.
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</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">યરૂશાલેમમાં સભા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.15.1" />પછી કેટલાક માણસો યહૂદિયાથી અંત્યોખમાં આવ્યા. તેઓએ બિનયહૂદિ ભાઈઓને શીખવવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ. “જો તમે સુન્નત નહિ કરાવો તો તમને બચાવી શકાશે નહિ. મૂસાએ આપણને આમ કરવાનું શીખવ્યું છે.”
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.15.2" />પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ આ બોધની વિરૂદ્ધમાં હતા. તેઓએ આ માણસો સાથે દલીલો કરી. તેથી તે સમૂહે પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસને, અને બીજા કેટલાક માણસોને યરૂશાલેમ મોકલવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ. આ માણસો પ્રેરિતો અને વડીલોની સાથે આ વિષયમાં વધારે વાતો કરવા ત્યાં જતા હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ACT.15.3" />તે મંડળીએ માણસોને વિદાય થવામાં મદદ કરી. આ માણસો ફિનીકિયા સમરૂનનાં દેશોમાં થઈને ગયા. આ બધાં શહેરોમાં તેઓએ બિનયહૂદિ લોકો સાચા દેવ તરફ કેવી રીતે વળ્યા તે સંબંધમાં કહ્યું, આથી બધા ભાઈઓ ઘણા આનંદિત થયા.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.15.4" />પાઉલ, બાર્નાબાસ અને બીજાઓ યરૂશાલેમમાં આવ્યા. પ્રેરિતો, વડીલો અને વિશ્વાસીઓના આખા સમૂહે તેઓનું સ્વાગત કર્યુ. પાઉલ, બાર્નાબાસ અને બીજાઓને દેવે તેઓની સાથે જે કંઈ કર્યુ તે વિષે કહ્યું,
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.15.5" />યરૂશાલેમના કેટલાક વિશ્વાસીઓ ફરોશીપંથના હતા. તેઓ ઊભા થયા અને કહ્યું, “બિનયહૂદિ વિશ્વાસીઓની સુન્નત કરાવવી જોઈએ. આપણે તેઓને મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પાલન કરવા કહેવું જોઈએ!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ACT.15.6" />પછી પ્રેરિતો અને વડીલો આ સમસ્યાનો અભ્યાસ કરવા ભેગ થયા.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.15.7" />ત્યાં એક લાંબો વાદવિવાદ થયો. પછી પિતરે ઊભા થઈને તેઓને કહ્યું, “મારા ભાઈઓ, હું જાણું છું કે તમે શરૂઆતના દિવસોમાં શું બન્યું છે તેનું સ્મરણ કરો છો. દેવે મને તમારામાંથી બિનયહૂદિ લોકોને સુવાર્તા આપવા પસંદ કર્યો છે. તેઓએ મારી પાસેથી સુવાર્તા સાંભળી છે અને તેઓએ વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.15.8" />દેવ બધા માણસોના વિચાર જાણે છે, અને તેણે આ બિનયહૂદિઓને સ્વીકાર્યા છે. દેવ જેમ આપણને તેમ તેઓને પણ પવિત્ર આત્મા આપ્યાથી તેઓ વિષે સાક્ષી પૂરી.
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.15.9" />દેવની આગળ આ લોકો આપણા કરતાં જુદા નથી. જ્યારે તેઓ વિશ્વાસી બન્યા, દેવે તેઓનાં હ્રદયો પવિત્ર બનાવ્યાં.
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.15.10" />તેથી હવે તમે શા માટે બિનયહૂદિ ભાઈઓની ગરદન પર ભારે બોજ લાદો છો? તમે દેવને ગુસ્સે કરવાના પ્રયત્ન કરી રહ્યા છો? અમે અને અમારા પૂર્વજો તે બોજ વહન કરવા શું પૂરતા સશકત નહોતા!
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.15.11" />ના, અમને વિશ્વાસ છે કે અમે અને આ લોકો પ્રભુ ઈસુની કૃપાથી તારણ પામીશું!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.15.12" />પછી આખો સમૂહ શાંત થયો. તેઓએ પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસની વાણીને ધ્યાનપૂર્વક સાંભળી. પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે બિનયહૂદિ લોકોની વચમાં દેવ દ્ધારા જે ચમત્કારો તથા અદભૂત પરાક્રમો કર્યા હતા તે બધા વિષે કહ્યું,
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.15.13" />પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે તેમનું વક્તવ્ય પૂરું કર્યુ. પછી યાકૂબે કહ્યું. તેણે કહ્યું, “મારા ભાઈઓ, મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.15.14" />સિમોને (પિતર) અમને બતાવ્યું કે બિનયહૂદિ લોકો પર દેવે તેનો પ્રેમ કેવી રીતે દર્શાવ્યો છે. દેવે પ્રથમ વખત જ બિનયહૂદિ લોકોને સ્વીકારીને તેઓને તેઓના લોકો બનાવ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.15.15" />પ્રબોધકોનાં વચનો પણ આ સાથે સુસંગત છે:
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="ACT.15.16" />‘હુ (દેવ) આ પછી પાછો આવીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું દાઉદનું મકાન ફરીથી બાંધીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે નીચે પડી ગયેલું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેના મકાનના ભાગોને ફરીથી બાંધીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે નીચે ખેંચી કાઢવામાં આવેલ છે. હું તે મકાન ફરીથી બાંધીશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.15.17" />પછી બીજા બધા બાકીના લોકો પ્રભુને શોધશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા જ બિનયહૂદિ લોકો પણ મારા લોકો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રભુએ આ કહ્યુ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રભુ જે આ બધું કરે છે તે આ એક કહે છે.’
<rq><ref tgt="AMO.9.11">આમોસ 9:11-12</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ACT.15.18" />‘દુનિયાના આરંભથી આ વસ્તુઓ પ્રગટ થયેલ છે.’
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ACT.15.19" />“તેથી હું વિચારું છું કે આપણે બિનયહૂદિ ભાઈઓ જે દેવ તરફ વળ્યા છે તેઓને હેરાન ન કરીએ.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.15.20" />તેને બદલે, આપણે તેઓને પત્ર લખવો જોઈએ. આપણે તેઓને આ બાબતો કહેવી જોઈએ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">મૂર્તિઓને ધરાવેલો ખોરાક તેઓએ ખાવો નહિ. આનાથી ખોરાક અશુદ્ધ બને છે.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">કોઈ પણ પ્રકારનું વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરવું નહિ.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">લોહીવા ચાખો (ખાઓ) નહિ. ગૂંગળાવીને મારી નાખેલાં પશુઓને ખાઓ નહિ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="21" bcv="ACT.15.21" />તેઓએ આ બાબતો કરવી જોઈએ નહિ, કારણ કે આજે પણ દરેક શહેરમાં હજી એવા માણસો (યહૂદિઓ) છે જેઓ મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનો બોધ આપે છે. ઘણા વર્ષોથી પ્રત્યેક વિશ્રામવારે સભાસ્થાનોમાં મૂસાના વચનો વાંચવામાં આવે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">બિનયહૂદિ વિશ્વાસીઓ પર પત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.15.22" />પ્રેરિતો, વડીલો અને સમગ્ર મંડળીના સભ્યોની ઈચ્છા પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ સાથે કેટલાક લોકોને અંત્યોખ મોકલવાની હતી. તે સમૂહે તેઓના પોતાના કેટલાક માણસો પસંદ કરવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો. તેઓએ યહૂદા (બર્સબા કહેવાય છે) અને સિલાસને પસંદ કર્યા. યરૂશાલેમમાં આ ભાઈઓનું બહુમાન કરવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.15.23" />તે સમૂહે આ માણસો સાથે પત્ર મોકલ્યો. પત્રમાં કહ્યું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">યરૂશાલેમમાં વસતા પ્રેરિતો, વડીલો અને તમારા ભાઈઓ
</p>
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">તરફથી અંત્યોખ, સિરિયા અને કિલીકિયાની મંડળીના બિનયહૂદિઓમાંથી ખ્રિસ્તના શિષ્યો થયેલા ભાઈઓને કુશળતા:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">વહાલા ભાઈઓ,
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</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="24" bcv="ACT.15.24" />અમે સાંભળ્યું છે કે અમારા સમૂહમાંથી કેટલાક માણસો તમારી પાસે આવ્યા છે. તેઓએ જે વાતો કહી તેનાથી તમે હેરાન થયા છો અને વ્યગ્ર થયા છો. પણ અમે તેઓને આમ કહેવાનું કહ્યું નથી!
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.15.25" />અમે બધા કેટલાક માણસોને પસંદ કરીને તમારી પાસે મોકલવા માટે સંમત થયા છીએ, તેઓ અમારા પ્રિય મિત્રો પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ સાથે રહેશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.15.26" />પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસે તેઓના જીવનો આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની સેવામાં સમર્પિત કર્યા છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="ACT.15.27" />તેથી અમે યહૂદા અને સિલાસને તેઓની સાથે મોકલ્યા છે. તેઓ તમને એ જ વાતો મૌખિક રીતે રહેશે.
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.15.28" />પવિત્ર આત્માને તથા અમને પણ તે સારું લાગ્યું છે કે જરુંરિયાત કરતાં ભારે બોજો તમારા પર મૂકવો નહિ. તમારે આ બાબતો કરવાની જરુંર છે:
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="29" bcv="ACT.15.29" />એટલે કે, મૂર્તિઓને ધરાવવામાં આવેલ ખોરાકને ખાઓ નહિ. આ ખોરાકને અશુદ્ધ બનાવે છે.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">લોહીને ચાખો નહિ. ગૂંગળાવીને મારી નાંખેલા પશુઓને ખાશો નહિ.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">કોઈ પણ પ્રકારનું વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરવું નહિ.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">જો આ બધી વસ્તુઓથી તમે દૂર રહેશો તો તમારું ભલું થશે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">હવે અમે તમને શુભેચ્છા પાઠવીએ છીએ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ACT.15.30" />તેથી પાઉલ, બાર્નાબાસ, યહૂદા અને સિલાસે યરૂશાલેમ છોડયું. તેઓ અંત્યોખ પહોંચ્યા. અંત્યોખમાં તેઓએ વિશ્વાસીઓને સમૂહ ભેગો કર્યો અને તેઓને પત્ર આપ્યો.
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<v id="31" bcv="ACT.15.31" />જ્યારે વિશ્વાસીઓએ પત્ર વાંચ્યો, તેઓને આનંદ થયો. તે પત્રથી તેઓને દિલાસો મળ્યો.
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<v id="32" bcv="ACT.15.32" />યહૂદા અને સિલાસ પણ પ્રબોધકો હતા. તેઓએ ભાઈઓને મદદ કરવા ઘણી વાતો કહી અને તેઓને વધારે મજબૂત બનાવ્યા.
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<v id="33" bcv="ACT.15.33" />થોડો સમય ત્યાં યહૂદા અને સિલાસ રહ્યા અને પછી તેઓ છોડીને ગયા. તેઓએ ભાઈઓ પાસેથી શાંતિના આશીર્વાદ પ્રાપ્ત કર્યા. યહૂદા અને સિલાસ યરૂશાલેમમાં જેઓએ તેમને મોકલ્યા હતા તે ભાઈઓ પાસે પાછા ગયા.
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<v id="34" bcv="ACT.15.34" /><f caller="+"><fr>15:34
</fr><ft>પ્રેકૃત્યોની કેટલીક ગ્રીક નકલોમાં કલમ 34 ઉમેરી છે: “પણ સિલાસે ત્યાં જ રહેવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ.”</ft></f>
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="ACT.15.35" />પરંતુ પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ અંત્યોખમાં રહ્યા. તેઓ બીજા ઘણાની સાથે બોધ કરતા રહ્યા અને લોકોને પ્રભુના વચનનું શિક્ષણ આપતા રહ્યાં.
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<s style="s">પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસનું છૂટા પડવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="ACT.15.36" />થોડા દિવસો પછી. પાઉલે બાર્નાબાસને કહ્યું, “આપણે પ્રભુની વાત ઘણા શહેરોમાં પ્રગટ કરી છે. આપણે તે બધા શહેરમાં ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોની મુલાકાત લઈને તેઓ કેમ છે તે જોવા પાછા જવું જોઈએ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="ACT.15.37" />યોહાન માર્ક ને તેઓની સાથે લેવાની ઈચ્છા બાર્નાબાસની હતી.
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<v id="38" bcv="ACT.15.38" />પરંતુ તેઓની પ્રથમ યાત્રામાં યોહાન માર્કે તેઓને પમ્ફુલિયામાં છોડી દીધા. તેણે તેઓની સાથે કામ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું નહિ. તેથી પાઉલે તેને સાથે લઈ જવો એ સારો વિચાર છે એમ માન્યું નહી.
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<v id="39" bcv="ACT.15.39" />પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસને આ બાબતમાં તીવ્ર મતભેદ થયા. તેઓ જુદા પડ્યા અને જુદા જુદા રસ્તે ગયા. બાર્નાબાસે સૈપ્રત તરફ વહાણ હંકાર્યુ અને માર્કને તેની સાથે લીધો.
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="ACT.15.40" />પાઉલે તેની સાથે જવા સિલાસની પસંદગી કરી. અંત્યોખના ભાઈઓએ પાઉલને દેવની કૃપાને સોંપ્યા પછી તેને બહાર મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="41" bcv="ACT.15.41" />પાઉલ અને સિલાસ સિરિયા તથા કિલીકિયાના શહેરમાં થઈને મંડળીઓને વધારે મજબૂત બનાવવામાં સહાયરૂપ થતાં ગયાં.
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<c id="16" />
<s style="s">પાઉલ અને સિલાસ સાથે તિમોથીનું જવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.16.1" />પાઉલ દર્બે અને લુસ્ત્રાના શહેરોમાં ગયો તિમોથી નામનો એક ઈસુનો શિષ્ય ત્યાં હતો. તિમોથીની માતા એક યહૂદિ વિશ્વાસી હતી. તેના પિતા એક ગ્રીક હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.16.2" />લુસ્ત્રા અને ઈકોનિયામાંના વિશ્વાસીઓ તિમોથીને માન આપતા. તેઓ તેના વિષે સારી વાતો કહેતા.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.16.3" />પાઉલની ઈચ્છા હતી કે તિમોથી તેની સાથે મુસાફરી કરે. પરંતુ તે પ્રદેશમાં રહેતા તમામ યહૂદિઓ જાણતા હતા કે તિમોથીના પિતા ગ્રીક હતા. તેથી યહૂદિઓ ખાતર પાઉલે તિમોથીની સુન્નત કરાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ACT.16.4" />પછી પાઉલ અને તેની સાથેના માણસોએ એક ગામથી બીજે ગામ મુસાફરી કરી. તેઓએ વિશ્વાસીઓને પ્રેરિતો અને વડીલો તરફથી યરૂશાલેમમાં નિયમો અને નિર્ણયો આપ્યા. તેઓએ વિશ્વાસીઓને આ નિયમોનું પાલન કરવા કહ્યું.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.16.5" />તેથી મંડળીઓ વિશ્વાસમાં વધારે મજબૂત થતી હતી અને પ્રતિદિન વધારે મોટી થતી જતી હતી.
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<s style="s">આસિયા (એશિયા માઈનોર) માં પાઉલની યાત્રા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ACT.16.6" />પાઉલ અને તેની સાથેના માણસો ફુગિયા અને ગલાતિયાના પ્રદેશોમાં થઈને ગયા. પવિત્ર આત્માએ તેઓને આસિયામાં સુવાર્તાનો બોધ કરવાની મના કરી હતી.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.16.7" />પાઉલ અને તિમોથી મૂસિયાની નજીકના પ્રદેશમાં ગયા. તેઓ બિથૂનિયાના પ્રદેશમાં જવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. પરંતુ ઈસુનો આત્મા તેઓને અંદર જવા દેતો ન હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.16.8" />તેથી તેઓ મૂસિયાથી પસાર થઈ ત્રોઆસ આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.16.9" />તે રાત્રે પાઉલે એક દર્શન જોયું. આ દર્શનમાં મકદોનિયાનો એક માણસ પાઉલની પાસે આવ્યો. તે માણસે ત્યાં ઊભા રહીને વિનંતી કરી, “મકદોનિયા પાર કરીને આવો, અમને મદદ કરો!”
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.16.10" />પાઉલે દર્શન જોયું પછી, અમે તરત જ મકદોનિયા જવાની તૈયારી કરી. અમે સમજ્યા કે દેવે અમને પેલા લોકોને સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરવા માટે બોલાવ્યા છે.
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<s style="s">લૂદિયાનું બદલાણ
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ACT.16.11" />અમે વહાણમાં બેસીને ત્રોઆસ છોડ્યું, અને અમે સમોર્થાકી ટાપુ તરફ વહાણ સીધા હંકારી ગયા. બીજે દિવસે અમે નિયાપુલિસના શહેર તરફ વહાણ હંકાર્યુ.
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.16.12" />પછી અમે ફિલિપ્પી ગયા. ફિલિપ્પી મકદોનિયાના પ્રદેશમાં એક મહત્વનું શહેર છે. તે રોમનો માટેનું શહેર છે. અમે તે શહેરમાં થોડાક દિવસો માટે રહ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ACT.16.13" />વિશ્રામવારના દિવસે શહેરના દરવાજા બહાર નદીએ ગયા. અમે વિચાર્યુ કે અમને પ્રાર્થના માટે નદી કિનારે જગ્યા મળશે. કેટલીક સ્ત્રીઓ ત્યાં ભેગી થઈ હતી. તેથી અમે ત્યાં બેઠા અને તેઓની સાથે વાતો કરી.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.16.14" />ત્યાં થુવાતિરા શહેરની એક લૂદિયા નામની સ્ત્રી હતી. તેનું કામ જાંબુડિયાં વેચવાનું હતું. તે સાચા દેવની ભક્તિ કરતી હતી, લૂદિયાએ પાઉલને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ્યો. પ્રભુએ તનું હ્રદય ઉઘાડ્યું. તેણે પાઉલે જે કહ્યું તેમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.16.15" />તે અને તેના ઘરમાં રહેતા બધા લોકોનું બાપ્તિસ્મા કરવામાં આવ્યું. પછી લૂદિયાએ અમને તેના ઘરમાં નિમંત્રણ આપ્યું. તેણે કાલાવાલા કરીને કહ્યું, “જો તમે વિચારતા હોય કે હું પ્રભુ ઈસુની સાચી વિશ્વાસી છું, તો પછી મારા ઘરમાં આવો અને રહો.” તેણે અમને તેની સાથે રહેવા ઘણો આગ્રહ કર્યો.
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<s style="s">પાઉલ અને સિલાસ કારાવાસમાં
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ACT.16.16" />જ્યારે અમે પ્રાર્થના માટેની જગ્યાએ જતા હતા ત્યારે એક વખતે અમારી સાથે કંઈક બન્યું. એક જુવાન દાસી અમને મળી. તેનામાં એક અગમસૂચક આત્મા<f caller="+"><fr>16:16
</fr><fk>અગમસૂચક આત્મા
</fk><ft>શેતાન તરફથી મળેલ આત્મા જે ખાસ જ્ઞાન આપે છે.</ft></f> હતો. આ આત્મા તેને ભવિષ્યમાં શું થવાનું છે તે કહેવાનું સાર્મથ્ય આપતો. આમ કરવાથી તેણે ખૂબ પૈસા તેના માલિકને કમાવી આપ્યા.
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.16.17" />આ છોકરી પાઉલને અને અમને અનુસરી. તેણીએ મોટે સાદે કહ્યું, “આ માણસો પરાત્પર દેવના સેવકો છે! તેઓ તમને કહે છે તમારું તારણ કેવી રીતે થશે?”
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.16.18" />ઘણા દિવસો સુધી તેણે આ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું. પાઉલ બેચેન હતો. તેથી તેણે તેના તરફ ફરીને આત્માને કહ્યું, “ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના પરાક્રમથી હું તને આજ્ઞા કરું છું કે તું એનામાંથી બહાર નીકળી જા!” તરત જ તે આત્મા બહાર નીકળી ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ACT.16.19" />જે માણસોની માલિકી આ સેવિકા છોકરી પર હતી તેઓએ આ જોયું. આ માણસોએ જાણ્યું કે હવે તેઓ પૈસા બનાવવા માટે તેણીનો ઉપયોગ કરી શકશે નહિ. તેથી તેઓએ પાઉલ અને સિલાસને પકડ્યા અને શહેરની સભાની જગ્યામાં ઘસડી લાવ્યા. શહેરના અધિકારીઓ ત્યાં હતા.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.16.20" />તે માણસો પાઉલ અને સિલાસને આગેવાનોની આગળ લાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “આ માણસો યહૂદિઓ છે. તેઓ આપણા શહેરમાં મુશ્કેલીઓ ઊભી કરે છે,
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.16.21" />તેઓ લોકોને એવું કહે છે, જે આપણા માટે યોગ્ય નથી. આપણે રોમન નાગરિકો છીએ. આપણે આ વસ્તુઓ કરી શકીએ નહિ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.16.22" />લોકો પાઉલ અને સિલાસની વિરૂદ્ધ થયા પછી તે આગેવાનોએ પાઉલ અને સિલાસના વસ્ત્રો ફાડી નાખ્યાં અને પાઉલ અને સિલાસને ફટકા મારવાની આજ્ઞા કરી.
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.16.23" />તે માણસોએ પાઉલ અને સિલાસને ઘણા ફટકા માર્યા. પછી આગેવાનોએ પાઉલ અને સિલાસને જેલમાં પૂર્યા. તે આગેવાનોએ દરોગાને કહ્યું, “સખ્ત જાપ્તા નીચે તેઓની ચોકી કરજે.”
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<v id="24" bcv="ACT.16.24" />દરોગાએ આ ખાસ હુકમ પાળ્યો, તેથી તેણે પાઉલ અને સિલાસને જેલમાં ખૂબ દૂર અંદરની બાજુએ પૂર્યા. તેણે તેઓના પગ બે લાકડાના મોટા ટૂકડાઓ વચ્ચે બાંધી દીધા.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ACT.16.25" />લગભગ મધરાતે પાઉલ અને સિલાસ પ્રાર્થના કરતા હતા અને દેવના સ્તોત્ર ગાતાં હતા. બીજા કેદીઓ તેઓને સાંભળતા હતાં.
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.16.26" />અચાનક ત્યાં એક મોટો ધરતીકંપ થયો. તે એટલો બધો ભારે હતો કે તેનાથી કારાવાસના પાયા ધ્રુંજી ઊઠ્યા. પછી કારાવાસના બધા દરવાજા ઉઘડી ગયા. બધા કેદીઓ તેમની સાંકળોમાંથી મુક્ત થયા.
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<v id="27" bcv="ACT.16.27" />સંત્રી જાગી ઊઠ્યો. તેણે જોયું કે કારાવાસના દરવાજા ઉધડી ગયા હતા. તેણે વિચાર્યુ, કે કેદીઓ લગભગ ભાગી ગયા છે. તેથી સંત્રીએ તેની તલવાર ઉપાડી અને તેની જાતે આત્મહત્યા કરવા જતો હતો.
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.16.28" />પરંતુ પાઉલે પોકાર કર્યો, “તારી જાતને ઈજા કરતો નહિ! અમે બધા અહી છીએ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ACT.16.29" />સંત્રીએ કોઇકને દીવો લાવવા મારે કહ્યું, પછી તે અંદર દોડ્યો. તે ધ્રુંજતો હતો. તે પાઉલ અને સિલાસની સમક્ષ પગે પડ્યો.
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<v id="30" bcv="ACT.16.30" />પછી તે તેઓને બહાર લાવ્યો અને કહ્યું, “હે સાહેબો, મારે તારણ પામવા શું કરવું જોઈએ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="ACT.16.31" />તેઓએ તેને કહ્યું, “પ્રભુ ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ કર અને તું બચી જઈશ. તું અને તારા ઘરમાં રહેતા બધા લોકો તારણ પામશે.”
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<v id="32" bcv="ACT.16.32" />તેથી પાઉલ અને સિલાસે પ્રભુનું વચન દરોગા અને તેના ઘરના બધા લોકોને કહ્યું.
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<v id="33" bcv="ACT.16.33" />તે રાતનો મોડો સમય હતો. પરંતુ સંત્રીએ પાઉલ અને સિલાસને લઈ જઈને તેઓના ઘા ધોયા. પછી સંત્રી અને તેના બધા લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપવામાં આવ્યું.
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<v id="34" bcv="ACT.16.34" />આ પછી સંત્રીએ પાઉલ અને સિલાસને ઘેર લઈ ગયો અને તેઓને માટે જમવાનું તૈયાર કરાવ્યું. તે અને તેના ઘરના બધા જ લોકોએ ખૂબ આનંદ કર્યો. કારણ કે તેઓ હવે દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ કરતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="ACT.16.35" />બીજી સવારે આગેવાનોએ કેટલાક સૈનિકોને સંત્રીને કહેવા મોકલ્યા, “આ માણસોને મુક્ત કરો અને જવા દો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="ACT.16.36" />સંત્રીએ પાઉલને કહ્યું, “આગેવાનોએ તમને મુક્ત કરીને છોડી મૂકવા આ સૈનિકો મોકલ્યા છે. તમે હવે અહીથી જઈ શકો છો. શાંતિથી જાઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="ACT.16.37" />પરંતું પાઉલે સૈનિકોને કહ્યું, “તમારા આગેવાનોએ સાબિત કર્યુ નથી કે અમે ખોટું કર્યુ છે. પણ તેઓએ અમને લોકોની સામે માર્યા અને કારાવાસમાં પૂર્યા. અમે રોમન નાગરિકો છીએ. તેથી અમને હક્ક છે. હવે આગેવાનોની ઈચ્છા અમને ગુપ્ત રીતે જવા દેવાની છે. ના! આગેવાનોએ આવવું જોઈએ અને અમને બહાર લાવવા જોઈએ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="38" bcv="ACT.16.38" />સૈનિકોએ પાઉલે જે કહ્યું તે આગેવાનોને કહ્યું, જ્યારે આગેવાનોએ સાંભળ્યું કે પાઉલ અને સિલાસ રોમન નાગરિકો છે, ત્યારે તેઓ ડરી ગયા હતા.
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<v id="39" bcv="ACT.16.39" />તેથી તેઓએ આવીને પાઉલ અને સિલાસને કહ્યું કે તેઓ દિલગીર છે. તેઓ પાઉલ અને સિલાસને કારાવાસની બહાર લઈ ગયા અને તેમને શહેર છોડી જવા કહ્યું.
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<v id="40" bcv="ACT.16.40" />પરંતુ જ્યારે પાઉલ અને સિલાસ કારાવાસમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા. તેઓ લૂદિયાને ઘેર ગયા. તેઓએ ત્યાં કેટલાક વિશ્વાસીઓને જોયા અને તેઓને દિલાસો આપ્યો પછી પાઉલ અને સિલાસ વિદાય થયા.
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<s style="s">થેસ્સલોનિકમાં પાઉલ અને સિલાસ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.17.1" />પાઉલ અને સિલાસે અમ્ફિપુલિસ અને અપલોનિયાના શહેરોમાં થઈને મુસાફરી કરી. તેઓ થેસ્સલોનિકા શહેરમાં આવ્યા. ત્યાં તે શહેરમાં યહૂદિઓનું સભાસ્થાન હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.17.2" />પાઉલ આ સભાસ્થાનમાં યહૂદિઓને મળવા માટે ગયો. આ તેનો હંમેશનો રિવાજ હતો. પ્રત્યેક વિશ્રામવારે ત્રણ અઠવાડિયા સુધી પાઉલ યહૂદિઓ સાથે ધર્મશાસ્ત્રો વિષે વાતો કરતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.17.3" />પાઉલ યહૂદિઓને આ ધર્મશાસ્ત્રો સમજાવતો. તેણે બતાવ્યું કે ખ્રિસ્તે મૃત્યુ પામવું અને પછી મૃત્યુમાંથી પાછા ઊઠવું એ આવશ્યક હતું. પાઉલે કહ્યું, “આ માણસ ઈસુ કે જેના વિષે હું તમને કહું છું તે ખ્રિસ્ત છે.”
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.17.4" />કેટલાએક યહૂદિઓના મનનું સમાધાન થયું અને તેઓ પાઉલ અને સિલાસ સાથે જોડાયા. સભાસ્થાનમાં ત્યાં કેટલાએક ગ્રીક માણસો પણ હતા જેઓ સાચા દેવની ભક્તિ કરતા હતા. ત્યાં કેટલીએક મહત્વની સ્ત્રીઓ પણ હતી, આ લોકોમાંના ઘણા પાઉલ અને સિલાસ સાથે જોડાયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ACT.17.5" />પણ યહૂદિઓ જેઓ માનતા ન હતા તેઓ ઈર્ષ્યાળુ બન્યા. તેઓએ શહેરમાંથી કેટલાએક ખરાબ ભાડૂતી માણસો રાખ્યા. આ ખરાબ માણસોએ ઘણા લોકોને ભેગા કર્યા અને શહેરમાં મુશ્કેલીઓ ઊભી કરી. તે લોકો પાઉલ અને સિલાસની શોધમાં યાસોનના ઘરમાં ગયા. તે માણસો પાઉલ અને સિલાસને લોકોની આગળ બહાર કાઢવા ઇચ્છતા હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.17.6" />પણ તેઓ પાઉલ અને સિલાસને શોધી શક્યા નહિ. તેથી તે લોકોએ યાસોન અને બીજા કેટલાએક વિશ્વાસીઓને શહેરના આગેવાનો આગળ ઘસડી લાવ્યા. તે બધા લોકોએ બૂમો પાડી. “આ માણસોએ વિશ્વમાં દરેક જગ્યાએ મુશ્કેલી ઊભી કરી છે. અને તેઓ હવે અહીં આવ્યા છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.17.7" />યાસોન તેઓને તેના ઘરમાં રાખે છે. તેઓ બધા કૈસરની નિયમની વિરૂદ્ધ ગયા અને તેઓ કહે છે કે ત્યાં બીજો એક ઈસુ નામે રાજા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ACT.17.8" />શહેરના અધિકારીઓ અને બીજા લોકોએ આ વાતો સાંભળી. તેઓ ઘણા બેચેન બન્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.17.9" />તેઓએ યાસોનને તથા બીજા વિશ્વાસીઓને દંડ કર્યો. પછી તેઓએ વિશ્વાસીઓને છોડી દીધા.
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<s style="s">પાઉલ અને સિલાસનું બરૈયામાં જવું
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ACT.17.10" />તે જ રાત્રે વિશ્વાસીઓએ પાઉલ અને સિલાસને બરૈયા નામના બીજા એક શહેરમાં મોકલ્યા. તેઓ ત્યાં આવીને બરૈયામાં યહૂદિઓના સભાસ્થાનમાં ગયા.
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.17.11" />આ યહૂદિઓ થેસ્સલોનિકાના યહૂદિઓ કરતાં વધારે સારા લોકો હતા. આ યહૂદિઓ પાઉલ અને સિલાસે જે વાતો કહી તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળીને ઘણા ખુશ થયા હતા. બરૈયાના આ યહૂદિઓ પ્રતિદિન ધર્મશાસ્ત્રોનો અભ્યાસ કરતા. તેઓ જો આ વસ્તુઓ સાચી હોય તો જાણવા ઈચ્છતા હતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.17.12" />આ યહૂદિઓમાંના ઘણા માનતા. ઘણા મહત્વના ગ્રીક માણસો અને ગ્રીક સ્ત્રીઓએ પણ વિશ્વાસ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ACT.17.13" />પરંતુ જ્યારે થેસ્સલોનિકાના યહૂદિઓએ સાંભળ્યું કે પાઉલે બરૈયામાં દેવનાં વચન કહ્યા. તેઓ પણ બરૈયામાં આવ્યા. થેસ્સલોનિકાના લોકોએ બરૈયાના લોકોને ઉશ્કેરીને મુશ્કેલીમાં મૂક્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.17.14" />તેથી વિશ્વાસીઓએ પાઉલને ઝડપથી સમુદ્ર કિનારે મોકલી દીધો. પરંતુ સિલાસ અને તિમોથી બરૈયામાં રહ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.17.15" />વિશ્વાસીઓ જે પાઉલની સાથે ગયા, તેઓ તેમને આસ્થેન્સ શહેરમાં લઈ ગયા. આ ભાઈઓ પાઉલ પાસેથી સંદેશો લઈને સિલાસ અને તિમોથી પાસે પાછા ગયા. સંદેશામાં કહ્યું, “મારી પાસે જેટલા બની શકે તેટલા જલ્દી આવો.”
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</p>
<s style="s">આથેન્સમાં પાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ACT.17.16" />પાઉલ આથેન્સમાં સિલાસ અને તિમોથીની રાહ જોતો હતો. પાઉલનો આત્મા ઉકળી ઊઠ્યો કારણ કે તેણે જોયું કે શહેર મૂર્તિઓથી ભરેલું છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.17.17" />પાઉલે સભાસ્થાનમાં જેઓ સાચા દેવની ભક્તિ કરે છે તેવા યહૂદિઓ અને ગ્રીકો સાથે વાતો કરી. પાઉલે શહેરના વેપારી વિસ્તારમાંથી પસાર થતા લોકો સાથે વાતો કરી. પાઉલે આમ રોજ કર્યુ.
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.17.18" />કેટલાએક એપિકૂરી તથા સ્ટોઇક (મત માનનારા) દાર્શનિકોએ તેમની સાથે દલીલો કરી.
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓમાંના કેટલાએકે કહ્યું, “આ માણસ ખરેખર જાણતો નથી કે તે શાના વિષે કહે છે. તે શું કહેવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે?” પાઉલ તેઓને ઈસુના મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊભા થવાની વાત પ્રગટ કરતો હતો. તેથી તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તે આપણને બીજા કેટલાએક દેવો વિષે કહેતો હોય એમ દેખાય છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ACT.17.19" />તેઓએ પાઉલને પકડીને અને તેને અરિયોપગસની કારોબારીની સભામાં લઈ આવ્યા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “કૃપા કરીને તું અમને જે નવો વિચાર શીખવે છે તે સમજાવ.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.17.20" />તું જે વાતો કહે છે તે અમારે માટે નવી છે. આ વાતો અમે પહેલા કદાપિ સાંભળી નથી. અમે જાણવા ઇચ્છીએ છીએ કે આ શિક્ષણનો અર્થ શો છે?”
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.17.21" />(આથેન્સના બધા લોકો અને બીજા પ્રદેશોના લોકો જેઓ ત્યાં રહેતા, તેઓ તેમનો સમય બીજા કશામાં નહિ પરંતુ કંઈક નવું સાંભળવામાં અને કહેવામાં વિતાવતા.)
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.17.22" />પછી પાઉલ અરિયોપગસની કારોબારી સભા સમક્ષ ઊભો રહ્યો. પાઉલે કહ્યું, “આથેન્સના માણસો, હું જોઈ શકું છું કે તમે બધી વાતોમાં ઘણા ધર્મચુસ્ત છો.
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.17.23" />હું તમારા શહેરમાંથી પસાર થતો હતો અને તમે જે પદાર્થોનું ભજન કરતા હતા તે જોયું. મેં એક વેદી જોઈ, જેના પર આ શબ્દો લખેલા હતા.
<sc>‘એ દેવને જે અજ્ઞાત છે.</sc>’ તમે એક દેવને ભજો છો જેને તમે જાણતા નથી. હું તમને જેના વિષે કહું છું તે આ દેવ છે!
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ACT.17.24" />“તે એ દેવ છે જેણે આખી દુનિયા અને તેમાંની દરેક વસ્તુઓ બનાવી. તે આકાશ તથા પૃથ્વીનો પ્રભુ છે તે માણસોએ બાંધેલાં મંદિરોમાં રહેતા નથી.
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.17.25" />આ એ દેવ છે જે જીવન, શ્વાસોચ્છવાસ છે અને લોકોને સર્વ વસ્તુઓ આપે છે. તેને લોકો પાસેથી કોઇ પણ મદદની જરુંર પડતી નથી. દેવ પાસે તેને જરુંરી બધીજ વસ્તુઓ છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.17.26" />દેવે એક માણસ (આદમ) બનાવીને શરુંઆત કરી. તેનાથી દેવે બધા વિવિધ લોકો બનાવ્યા. દેવે તેને વિશ્વમાં દરેક સ્થળે રહેતો કર્યો. દેવે ચોકસાઈપૂર્વક નિર્ણય કર્યો. તેઓએ ક્યાં અને ક્યારે રહેવું જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.17.27" />“દેવ ઈચ્છે છે કે લોકો તેને શોધે, તેઓ તેને માટે ચારે બાજુ અંધારામાં ફંફોસીને તેને પામે, પરંતુ તે આપણામાંના કોઇથી વેગળો નથી:
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.17.28" />આપણે તેની સાથે રહીએ છીએ, આપણે તેની સાથે ચાલીએ છીએ, આપણે તેની સાથે છીએ. તમારા પોતાના કેટલાએક કવિઓએ કહ્યું છે: ‘આપણે પણ તેનાં સંતાનો છીએ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ACT.17.29" />“આપણે દેવના બાળકો છીએ. તેથી તમારે એમ વિચારવું ના જોઈએ કે દેવ માણસોની કારીગરી કે કાલ્પનિક કોઇક વસ્તુ જેવા છે. તે કાંઈ સુવર્ણ, ચાંદી કે પથ્થર જેવો નથી.
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<v id="30" bcv="ACT.17.30" />ભૂતકાળમાં લોકો દેવને સમજતા નહોતા. પણ દેવે આ બાબતમાં અજ્ઞાનતા બતાવી હતી પણ હવે, દેવ વિશ્વમાં પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને તેનું હ્રદય અને જીવન બદલવાનું (પસ્તાવો) કહે છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="ACT.17.31" />દેવે એક દિવસ નક્કી કર્યો છે જ્યારે તે દુનિયાના બધા જ લોકોનો ન્યાય કરશે. તે ઉદાર થશે. તે એક માણસનો આ કામ માટે ઉપયોગ કરશે. લાંબા સમય પહેલા દેવે આ માણસને પસંદ કર્યા છે. અને દેવે દરેક વ્યક્તિને આ બાબતની સાબિતી આપી છે. દેવે તે માણસને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠાડી તે સાબિત કર્યુ છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="ACT.17.32" />જ્યારે લોકોએ ઈસુના મૃત્યુમાંથી પુનરુંત્થાન વિષે સાંભળ્યું, તેમાંના કેટલાએક હસ્યા અને બીજા કેટલાએકે કહ્યું, “અમે પાછળથી આ વિષે વધારે તમારી પાસેથી સાંભળીશું.”
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<v id="33" bcv="ACT.17.33" />પછી પાઉલ તેઓની પાસેથી ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<v id="34" bcv="ACT.17.34" />પરંતુ કેટલાક લોકોએ પાઉલમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો અને તેની સાથે જોડાયો. તે લોકોમાંનો એક વિશ્વાસી દિયોનુસ્થસ હતો. તે અરિયોપગસી કારોબારીનો સભ્ય હતો. બીજી વ્યક્તિ દામરિસ નામની સ્ત્રી વિશ્વાસ કરવા લાગી. બીજા કેટલાક લોકો પણ હતા જે વિશ્વાસ કરવા લાગ્યા.
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</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">કરિંથમાં પાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.18.1" />પાછળથી પાઉલે આથેન્સ છોડયું અને કરિંથના શહેરમાં ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.18.2" />ત્યાં કરિંથમાં પાઉલ અકુલાસ નામના યહૂદિને મળ્યો. અકુલાસ પોન્તસ દેશમાં જનમ્યો હતો. પરંતુ અકુલાસ અને તેની પત્ની પ્રિસ્કિલા તાજેતરમાં ઈટાલીથી કરિંથમાં આવ્યા હતા. તેઓએ ઇટાલી છોડયું કારણ કે કલોદિયસે<f caller="+"><fr>18:2
</fr><fk>કલોદિયસ
</fk><ft>ઈ. પૂર્વ 41-54 દરમ્યાન રોમનો સમ્રાટ (શાસક).</ft></f> ફરમાન કાઢ્યું હતું કે બધા યહૂદિઓએ રોમ છોડવું. પાઉલ અકુલાસ અને પ્રિસ્કિલાની મુલાકાતે ગયો.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.18.3" />પાઉલની જેમ તેઓ તંબૂ બનાવવાનું કામ કરતા હતા. પાઉલ તેઓની સાથે રહ્યો અને તેઓની સાથે કામ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ACT.18.4" />પ્રત્યેક વિશ્રામવારે પાઉલ યહૂદિઓ અને ગ્રીકો સાથે સભાસ્થાનમાં ચર્ચા કરતો હતો. પાઉલ આ લોકોને ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખવા માટે સમજાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.18.5" />સિલાસ અને તિમોથી મકદોનિયાથી કરિંથમાં પાઉલ પાસે આવ્યા. આ પછી પાઉલે તેનો બોધો સમય લોકોને સુવાર્તા કહેવામાં અર્પણ કર્યો. તેણે યહૂદિઓને બતાવ્યું કે ઈસુ એ જ ખ્રિસ્ત છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.18.6" />પરંતુ યહૂદિઓએ પાઉલનો બોધ સ્વીકાર્યો નહિ. યહૂદિઓએ કેટલીક ઘણી ખરાબ વસ્તુઓ કહી. તેથી પાઉલે તેના વસ્ત્રો પરની ધૂળ ખંખેરી નાખી. તેણે યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું, “જો તમારું તારણ ન થાય તો તે તમારો પોતાનો દોષ હશે. મારાથી થાય તેટલું બધું મેં કર્યુ છે. આ પછી, હું ફક્ત બિનયહૂદિ લોકો પાસે જઈશ!”
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ACT.18.7" />પાઉલે સભાસ્થાન છોડયું અને તિતસ યુસ્તસના ઘરે ગયો. આ માણસ સાચા દેવનું ભજન કરતો. તેનું ઘર સભાસ્થાનની બાજુમાં જ હતું.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.18.8" />ક્રિસ્પુસ તે સભાસ્થાનનો આગેવાન હતો. ક્રિસ્પુસ અને તેના ઘરમાં રહેતા બધા જ લોકોએ પ્રભુમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો. બીજા ઘણા લોકોએ કરિંથમાં પાઉલનો સંદેશ સાંભળ્યો. તેઓએ પણ વિશ્વાસ કર્યો અને બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.18.9" />રાત્રિ દરમ્યાન પાઉલે દર્શન જોયું. પ્રભુએ તેને કહ્યું, “ગભરાઈશ નહિ! લોકો સાથે ચર્ચા કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ, અને બંધ કરીશ નહિ!
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.18.10" />હું તારી સાથે છું. તને ઇજા કરવા કોઇ શક્તિમાન થશે નહિ. મારા લોકોમાંના ઘણા આ શહેરમાં છે.”
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.18.11" />પાઉલ ત્યાં લોકોને દેવનાં વચનોનો બોધ કરવા માટે દોઢ વરસ સુધી રહ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ગાલિયો સમક્ષ પાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.18.12" />ગાલિયો અખાયા દેશનો અધિકારી બન્યો. તે સમયે, યહૂદિઓ પાઉલની વિરૂદ્ધમાં ભેગા થઈને આવ્યા. તેઓ પાઉલને ન્યાયાસન આગળ લઈ ગયા.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.18.13" />યહૂદિઓએ ગાલિયોને કહ્યુ, “યહૂદિઓના આપણા નિયમશાસ્ત્રની તદ્દન વિરૂદ્ધ લોકોને દેવની ભક્તિ કરવાનું શીખવે છે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ACT.18.14" />પાઉલ કંઈક કહેવા તૈયાર હતો, પરંતુ ગાલિયોએ યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું. ગાલિયોએ કહ્યું, “જો તમે ખરાબ ગુના કે કંઈક ખોટા માટે ફરિયાદ કરવાના હશો તો હું તમને યહૂદિઓને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળીશ.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.18.15" />પણ તમે યહૂદિઓ જે વાતો કહો છો. તેમાં શબ્દો, નામો, તમારા પોતાના યહૂદિના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર વિષેની દલીલો માટેના ફક્ત પ્રશ્રો હોય છે. તેથી તમારે તમારી જાતે આવી બાબતોમાં નિકાલ કરવો જોઈએ. હું આ બાબતોમાં ન્યાયાધીશ થવા ઈચ્છતો નથી.”
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.18.16" />ગાલિયોએ તેઓને ન્યાયાસન આગળથી કાઢી મૂક્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.18.17" />પછી તેઓએ બધાએ (સભાસ્થાનના આગેવાન) સોસ્થનેસને પકડ્યો. તેઓએ ન્યાયાલયની આગળ સોસ્થનેસને માર્યો. પરંતુ ગાલીયોએ આની કોઇ પરવા કરી નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">અંત્યોખમાં પાઉલનું પાછા ફરવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ACT.18.18" />પાઉલ ભાઈઓ સાથે ઘણા દિવસો સુધી રહ્યો. પછી તેણે તેમની રજા લઈને વિદાય લીધી અને સિરિયા જવા વહાણ હંકાર્યું. પ્રિસ્કિલા અને અકુલાસ પણ તેમની સાથે હતા. કિંખ્રિયામાં પાઉલે તેનું માથું મુંડાવ્યું હતું. આ બતાવે છે કે તેણે દેવની પાસે માનતા લીધી છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.18.19" />પછી તેઓ એફેસસ શહેરમાં ગયા. જ્યાં પાઉલે પ્રિસ્કિલા અને અકુલાસને છોડ્યા હતા તે આ સ્થળ છે. જ્યારે પાઉલ એફેસસમાં હતો; તે સભાસ્થાનમાં ગયો અને યહૂદિઓ સાથે વાતો કરી.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.18.20" />યહૂદિઓએ પાઉલને વધારે લાંબો સમય રહેવા માટે કહ્યું, પણ તેણે અસ્વીકાર કર્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.18.21" />પાઉલે તેઓની વિદાય લીધી અને કહ્યું, “જો દેવની ઈચ્છા મને મોકલવાની હશે તો હું તમારી પાસે ફરીથી પાછો આવીશ.” અને તેથી પાઉલે એફેસસથી દૂર વહાણ હંકાર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.18.22" />પાઉલ કૈસરિયાના શહેરમાં ગયો. પછી તે યરૂશાલેમમાં મંડળીને અભિનંદન આપવા ગયો. તે પછી પાઉલ અંત્યોખ શહેરમાં ગયો.
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.18.23" />પાઉલ અંત્યોખમાં થોડો સમય રહ્યો. પછી તેણે અંત્યોખ છોડ્યું અને ગલાતિયા તથા ફુગિયાના દેશોમાં થઈને ગયો. આ દેશોમાં પાઉલે ગામડે ગામડે મુસાફરી કરી. તેણે ઈસુના બધા શિષ્યોને વધારે મજબૂત બનાવ્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">એફેસસ અને અખાયા (કરિંથ) માં અપોલોસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ACT.18.24" />એક અપોલોસ નામનો યહૂદિ એફેસસમાં આવ્યો. અપોલોસ આલેકસાંદ્રિયા શહેરમાં જનમ્યો હતો. તે એક શિક્ષિત માણસ હતો. તે ધર્મલેખો ઘણી સારી રીતે જાણતો.
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.18.25" />અપોલોસને પ્રભુ વિષે શીખવવામાં આવ્યું હતું. અપોલોસ જ્યારે લોકોને પ્રભુ વિષે કહેતો ત્યારે તે હંમેશા ઉત્સાહી હતો. અપોલોસને પ્રભુ વિષે જે શીખવવામાં આવ્યું હતું તે સાચું હતું પરંતુ ફક્ત બાપ્તિસ્મા જે અપોલોસ જાણતો તે યોહાને શીખવેલું બાપ્તિસ્મા હતું.
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.18.26" />અપોલોસે સભાસ્થાનમાં બહુ બહાદુરીપૂર્વક બોલવાનું શરું કર્યુ. પ્રિસ્કિલાએ તથા અકુલાસે તેનો બોધ સાંભળ્યો. તેઓ તેને તેઓના ઘેર લઈ ગયા અને દેવનો માર્ગ વધારે સારી રીતે તેમને સમજવામાં મદદ કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.18.27" />અપોલોસ અખાયાના પ્રદેશમાં જવા ઈચ્છતો હતો. તેથી એફેસસના ભાઈઓએ તેમને મદદ કરી. તેઓએ અખાયામાં ઈસુના શિષ્યોને પત્ર લખ્યો. તેઓએ પત્રમાં આ શિષ્યોને અપોલોસને સ્વીકારવા કહ્યું. અખાયાના આ શિષ્યો દેવની કૃપાથી ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ કરતા હતા. જ્યારે અપોલોસ ત્યાં ગયો, તેણે તેઓને ઘણી મદદ કરી.
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.18.28" />તેણે બધા લોકોની આગળ યહૂદિઓની વિરૂદ્ધ ખૂબ મજબૂત દલીલો કરી. અપોલોસ સ્પષ્ટ રીતે સાબિત કર્યુ કે યહૂદિઓ ખોટા હતા. તેણે ધર્મશાસ્ત્રોનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો અને બતાવ્યું કે ઈસુ એ જ ખ્રિસ્ત છે.
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</p>

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">એફેસસમાં પાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.19.1" />જ્યારે અપોલોસ કરિંથના શહેરમાં હતો ત્યારે, પાઉલ એફેસસના શહેરના રસ્તા પર કેટલાક સ્થળોની મુલાકાત લેતો હતો. એફેસસમાં પાઉલને યોહાનના કેટલાક શિષ્યો મળ્યા.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.19.2" />પાઉલે તેઓને પૂછયું, “જ્યારે તમે વિશ્વાસ કર્યો ત્યારે તમને પવિત્ર આત્મા પ્રાપ્ત થયો?”
</p>
<p style="p">આ શિષ્યોએ તેને કહ્યું, “અમે કદી તે પવિત્ર આત્મા વિષે સાંભળ્યું નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ACT.19.3" />તેથી પાઉલે તેઓને પૂછયું, “તમને કેવા પ્રકારનું બાપ્તિસ્મા આપવામા આવ્યું હતું?”
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તે યોહાને શીખવેલ બાપ્તિસ્મા હતું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ACT.19.4" />પાઉલે કહ્યું, “લોકો તેમનાં જીવનમાં બદલાણ ઇચ્છે છે તે દર્શાવવા બાપ્તિસ્મા લેવા યોહાને લોકોને કહ્યું. જે તેની પાછળ આવે છે તેના પર વિશ્વાસ કરવાનું યોહાને કહ્યું. તે પાછળ આવનાર વ્યક્તિ તો ઈસુ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ACT.19.5" />જ્યારે તેઓએ આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે. તેઓ પ્રભુ ઈસુના નામે બપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.19.6" />પછી પાઉલે તેનો હાથ તેઓના પર મૂક્યો અને પવિત્ર આત્મા તેઓ પર આવ્યો. તેઓ જુદી જુદી ભાષાઓ બોલવા લાગ્યા અને પ્રબૅંેધ કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.19.7" />ત્યાં લગભગ બાર માણસો આ સમૂહમાં હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ACT.19.8" />પાઉલ સભાસ્થાનમાં ગયો અને ઘણી હિંમતથી બોલ્યો. પાઉલે આ કામ ત્રણ માસ સુધી ચાલુ રાખ્યું. તેણે યહૂદિઓ સાથે વાતો કરી અને દેવના રાજ્ય વિષે તેણે કહેલી વાતો સ્વીકારવા સમજાવ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.19.9" />પણ કેટલાક યહૂદિઓ દુરાગ્રહી થયા. તેઓએ માનવાનો અનાદર કર્યો. આ યહૂદિઓએ દેવના માર્ગ વિષે કેટલીક વધારે ખરાબ વાતો કહી. બધા જ લોકોએ આ વાતો સાંભળી. તેથી પાઉલે પેલા યહૂદિઓને છોડી દીધા અને ઈસુના શિષ્યોને તેની સાથે લીધા. તુરાનસ નામના માણસની શાળામાં પાઉલ ગયો. ત્યાં પાઉલ દરરોજ લોકો સાથે ચર્ચા કરતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.19.10" />પાઉલે આ કામ બે વર્ષ માટે કર્યુ. આ કામને કારણે પ્રત્યેક યહૂદિ અને ગ્રીક જે આસિયાના દેશોમાં રહેતા હતા તેઓએ પ્રભુની વાતો સાંભળી.
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</p>
<s style="s">સ્કેવાના પુત્રો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ACT.19.11" />દેવે પાઉલના હાથે કેટલાક ખાસ ચમત્કારો કરાવ્યા.
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.19.12" />કેટલાએક લોકો પાઉલે વાપરેલા હાથરૂમાલો તથા લૂગડા લઈ જતા. લોકો માંદા લોકો પર આ વસ્તુઓ મૂકતા. જ્યારે તેઓએ આ કર્યું, ત્યારે માંદા લોકો સાજા થઈ ગયા અને શેતાનનો અશુદ્ધ આત્મા તેઓને છોડી દેતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="13-14" bcv="ACT.19.13" />કેટલાએક યહૂદિઓ પણ આજુબાજુ મુસાફરી કરતા અને લોકોમાંથી અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને બહાર કાઢતા. મુખ્ય યાજક સ્કેવાના સાત પુત્રો આ કરતા. આ યહૂદિઓ લોકોમાંથી અશુદ્ધ આત્માને બહાર કાઢવા માટે પ્રભુ ઈસુના નામનો ઉપયોગ કરતાં. તેઓ બધા કહેતાં, “પાઉલ જે ઈસુના વિષે વાત કરે છે તેના જ નામે હું તમને બહાર આવવા આજ્ઞા કરું છું!”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ACT.19.15" />પણ એક વખતે એક શેતાનના અશુદ્ધ આત્માએ આ યહૂદિઓને કહ્યું, “હું ઈસુને જાણું છું અને હું પાઉલ વિષે જાણું છું પણ તમે કોણ છો?”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ACT.19.16" />પછી એ માણસ જેનામાં શેતાનનો અશુદ્ધ આત્મા તેની અંદર હતો, તે આ યહૂદિઓ પર કૂદી પડયો. તે તેઓના બધા કરતા વધારે મજબૂત હતો. તેણે તેઓ બધાને માર્યા અને તેઓનાં કપડાં ફાડી નાખ્યા. આ યહૂદિઓ તે ઘરમાંથી નાસી ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.19.17" />એફેસસના બધા લોકો, યહૂદિઓ અને ગ્રીકોએ આ વિષે સાંભળ્યું. તેઓ બધાએ પ્રભુ ઈસુના નામને ખૂબ માન આપવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ. અને લોકોએ પ્રભુ ઈસુનું નામ મોટું મનાવ્યું.
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.19.18" />ઘણા બધા વિશ્વાસીઓએ જે કંઈ ખરાબ વસ્તુઓ કરી હતી તે કહેવાની અને કબૂલ કરવાની શરુંઆત કરી.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.19.19" />કેટલાક વિશ્વાસીઓએ જાદુનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો. આ વિશ્વાસીઓ તેઓની જાદુઇ ચોપડીઓ લાવ્યા અને સર્વના દેખતાં તેઓને બાળી નાખ્યા; આ પુસ્તકોની કિંમત લગભગ 50,000 ચાંદીના સિક્કા હતી.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.19.20" />આમ પ્રભુની વાત પરાક્રમથી વધારે ને વધારે લોકોને અસર કરવા લાગી અને વધુ ને વધુ લોકો વિશ્વાસી બન્યા.
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<s style="s">પાઉલની પ્રવાસની યોજના
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ACT.19.21" />આ બિના બન્યા પછી, પાઉલે યરૂશાલેમ જવાની યોજના કરી. પાઉલે મકદોનિયા તથા અખાયાના પ્રદેશમાં થઈને પછી યરૂશાલેમ જવાની યોજના કરી. પાઉલે વિચાર્યુ, “મારી યરૂશાલેમની મુલાકાત પછી મારે રોમની મુલાકાત લેવી જોઈએ.”
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<v id="22" bcv="ACT.19.22" />તિમોથી અને એરાસ્તસ પાઉલના મદદગારોમાંના બે હતા. પાઉલે તેઓને મકદોનિયાના પ્રદેશોમાં સીધા મોકલ્યા. પાઉલ એશિયામાં થોડો સમય રહ્યો.
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<s style="s">એફેસસમાં મુશ્કેલીઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ACT.19.23" />તે સમય દરમ્યાન એફેસસમાં કેટલીક ખરાબ મુશ્કેલીઓ ઊભી થઈ. આ મુશ્કેલી દેવના માર્ગ વિષે હતી. આ બધું તે રીતે બન્યું.
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<v id="24" bcv="ACT.19.24" />ત્યાં દેમેત્રિયસ નામનો એક માણસ હતો. તે ચાંદીનું હસ્તકલાનું કામ કરતો હતો. તેણે ચાંદીના નાના નમૂનાઓ બનાવ્યાં જે દેવી આર્તિમિસનાં મંદિર જેવા દેખાતા હતા. ગૃહઉધોગના કારીગરે આ વ્યવસાયમાં ઘણા પૈસા બનાવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ACT.19.25" />દેમેત્રિયસે કારીગરોની સાથે જેઓ આના સંબંધમાં બીજા વ્યવસાયમાં સંકળાયેલા હતા. તેમને બોલાવ્યા અને કહ્યું, “તમે જાણો છો કે આપણે આપણા ધંધામાંથી ઘણા પૈસા બનાવીએ છીએ.
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.19.26" />પરંતુ આ માણસ પાઉલ શું કરે છે તે જુઓ! તે શું કહે છે તે સાંભળો. પાઉલે ઘણા લોકોને પ્રભાવિત કરીને તેઓનું પરિવર્તન કરાવ્યું છે. તેણે એફેસસમાં અને આખા એશિયામા આ કર્યુ છે. પાઉલ કહે છે માણસોએ બનાવેલા દેવો ખરા નથી.
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<v id="27" bcv="ACT.19.27" />આ વસ્તુઓ જે પાઉલ કહે છે તે આપણા કામની વિરૂદ્ધમાં લોકોને ઉશ્કેરીને બદલશે. પણ ત્યાં પણ બીજી એક સમસ્યા છે. લોકો વિચારવાનું શરૂ કરશે કે મહાન દેવી આર્તિમિસનું મંદિર મહત્વનું નથી! તેની મહાનતાનો નાશ થશે. આર્તિમિસ એક દેવી છે જેને આશિયામાં (એશિયા) પ્રત્યેક જણ તથા આખી દુનિયા તેની પૂજા કરે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ACT.19.28" />જ્યારે આ માણસોએ આ બાબતો સાંભળી. તેઓ ઘણા ગુસ્સે થયા. તેઓએ પોકાર કર્યો. “આર્તિમિસ, એફેસીઓની દેવી, મહાન છે!”
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<v id="29" bcv="ACT.19.29" />શહેરના બધા લોકો બેચેન બન્યા, લોકોએ ગાયસ તથા અરિસ્તાર્ખસને જકડી લીધા. (તે બે માણસો મકદોનિયાના હતા અને પાઉલની સાથે મુસાફરી કરતા હતા) પછી બધાજ લોકો અખાડામાં દોડી ગયા.
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<v id="30" bcv="ACT.19.30" />પાઉલની ઈચ્છા અંદર જઈને લોકોની સાથે વાતો કરવાની હતી. પરંતુ ઈસુના શિષ્યોએ તેને જવા દીધો નહિ.
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<v id="31" bcv="ACT.19.31" />દેશના કેટલાક મુખ્ય આગેવાનો પણ પાઉલના મિત્રો હતા. આ આગેવાનોએ તેને એક સંદેશો મોકલ્યો. તેઓએ પાઉલને અખાડામાં ન જવા માટે વિનંતી કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="ACT.19.32" />કેટલાક લોકો કંઈ બૂમ પાડતા હતા તો બીજા લોકો કંઈ બૂમ પાડતા હતા. તે સભામાં મુંઝવણ હતી. મોટા ભાગના લોકો તો જાણતા જ નહોતા કે તેઓ શા માટે ત્યાં આવ્યા છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="ACT.19.33" />તે યહૂદિઓએ આલેકસાંદર નામના માણસને લોકો સમક્ષ ઊભો કર્યો. લોકોએ તેને શું કરવું તે કહ્યું. આલેકસાંદરે હાથ હલાવ્યો. કારણ કે તે લોકોને પ્રત્યુત્તર આપવા ઇચ્છતો હતો.
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<v id="34" bcv="ACT.19.34" />પરંતુ જ્યારે લોકોએ જોયું કે આલેકસાંદર એક યહૂદિ હતો. તેઓ બધાએ બે કલાક સુધી આ જ બૂમો પાડવાનું ચાલું રાખ્યું. તે લોકોએ કહ્યું, “એફેસીઓના આર્તિમિસની જે! એફેસીઓના આર્તિમિસની જે! આર્તિમિસની જે…!”
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="ACT.19.35" />પછી શહેરના નગરશેઠે લોકોને શાંત કર્યા અને કહ્યું, “એફેસસના માણસો, બધા લોકો જાણે છે કે એફેસસ એવું શહેર છે જ્યાં મહાન દેવી આર્તિમિસનું મંદિર છે. બધા લોકો જાણે છે કે અમે પણ તેણીનો પવિત્ર પથ્થર રાખીએ છીએ.
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<v id="36" bcv="ACT.19.36" />કોઇ વ્યક્તિ કહી શકશે નહિ કે આ સાચું નથી. તેથી તમારે શાંત થવું જોઈએ. તમારે બંધ કરવું જોઈએ અને તમે કંઈ કરો તે પહેલા વિચારવું જોઈએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="ACT.19.37" />“તમે આ માણસોને લાવ્યા છો, પણ તેઓએ આપણી દેવીની વિરૂદ્ધ કશુંજ ખરાબ કર્યુ નથી. તેઓએ દેવીના મંદિરમાંથી કશુંય ચોર્યુ પણ નથી.
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<v id="38" bcv="ACT.19.38" />આપણી પાસે ન્યાયના ન્યાયાલયો છે અને ત્યાં ન્યાયાધીશો હોય છે. માટે જો દેમેત્રિયસને તથા તેની સાથેના હસ્તકલાના કારીગરોને કોઇને ઉપર કંઈ ફરીયાદ કરવી હોય તો અદાલત ખુલ્લી છે. તે એ છે જ્યાં તેઓ એકબીજા સામે આક્ષેપો મૂકી શકે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="ACT.19.39" />“શું એવું બીજું કશું છે જેના વિષે તારી વાત કરવાની ઈચ્છા હોય? તો પછી લોકોની નિયમિત ભરાતી શહેરની સભામાં આવો. ત્યાં તેનો નિર્ણય થશે.
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<v id="40" bcv="ACT.19.40" />હું આ કહું છું કારણ કે કેટલીએક વ્યક્તિઓ આજે આ બનાવ જોઈ શકે છે અને કહેશે અમે હુલ્લડ કરીએ છીએ. અમે ધાંધલ ધમાલને સમજાવી શકતા નથી. કારણ કે આ સભા ભરવા માટે કોઇ સાચું કારણ નથી.”
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<v id="41" bcv="ACT.19.41" />શહેરના નગરશેઠે આ વાતો કહ્યા પછી, તેણે લોકોને ઘરે જવા કહ્યું અને બધા લોકોએ વિદાય લીધી.
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<s style="s">પાઉલનું મકદોનિયા અને ગ્રીસમાં ગમન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.20.1" />જ્યારે મુશ્કેલીનો અંત આવ્યો ત્યારે પાઉલે શિષ્યોને તેની પાસે બોલાવ્યા, તેમને પ્રોત્સાહિત કર્યા. પછી તેઓને તેણે છેલ્લી સલામ પાઠવી અને મકદોનિયાનો પ્રવાસ શરૂ કર્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.20.2" />મકદોનિયાના માર્ગમાં જુદા જુદા સ્થળોએ તેણે ઈસુના શિષ્યોને દ્રઠ કરવા પાઉલ જ્યાં સુધી ગ્રીસ પહોંચ્યો નહિ ત્યાં સુધી સતત લોકોને પ્રોત્સાહિત કર્યા. પછી તે ગ્રીસ દેશમાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.20.3" />ત્યાં તે ત્રણ માસ રહ્યો.
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<p style="p">તે સિરિયા હોડી હંકારવાની તૈયારીમાં હતો. પરંતુ કેટલાક યહૂદિઓ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ યોજનાઓ કરતા હતા. તેથી પાઉલે મકદોનિયાના દ્ધારા સિરિયા પાછા જવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.20.4" />કેટલાક માણસો તેની સાથે હતા. તેઓમાં બરૈયાના પૂરસનો દીકરો સોપાત્રસ થેસ્સાલોનિકીઓમાંના અરિસ્તાર્ખસ અને સકુંદસ, દર્બેનો ગાયસ, તિમોથી અને આશિયાના બે માણસો તુખિકસ અને ત્રોફિમસ હતા.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.20.5" />પાઉલની આગળ આ માણસો પહેલા ગયા. તેઓ ત્રોઆસ શહેરમાં અમારી રાહ જોતા હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.20.6" />બેખમીરની રોટલીના દિવસ પછી અમે વહાણમાં બેસીને ફિલિપ્પી શહેરમાંથી નીકળ્યા. અમે ત્રોઆસમાં આ માણસોને પાંચ દિવસ પછી મળ્યા અને સાત દિવસ રોકાયા.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલની ત્રોઆસની છેલ્લી મુલાકાત
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ACT.20.7" />સપ્તાહના પહેલા દિવસે, અમે બધા રોટલી ભાંગવાને એકઠા થયા હતા. પાઉલે સમૂહને વાત કરી. તે બીજે દિવસે વિદાય થવાની યોજના કરતો હતો. પાઉલે મધરાત સુધી વાતો ચાલુ રાખી.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.20.8" />અમે બધા મેડા પર ઓરડામાં એક સાથે હતા, અને ત્યાં ઓરડામાં ઘણી બત્તીઓ હતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.20.9" />ત્યાં યુતુખસ નામનો યુવાન માણસ બારીમાં બેઠો હતો. પાઉલે વાતો કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યુ. અને યુતુખસને ઝોકા આવતા હતા. આખરે યુતુખસ ગાઢ નિંદ્રામાં ગયો અને બારીમાંથી નીચે પડ્યો. તે ત્રીજે માળથી જમીન પર પટકાયો. જ્યારે લોકો ત્યાં ગયા અને તેને ઊચક્યો, ત્યારે તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ACT.20.10" />પાઉલ નીચે યુતુખસ પાસે ગયો. તે ઘૂંટણે પડ્યો અને યુતુખસને બાથમાં લીધો. પાઉલે બીજા વિશ્વાસીઓને કહ્યું, “ચિંતા કરશો નહિ. હવે તે જીવે છે.”
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.20.11" />પાઉલ ફરીથી મેડા પર ગયો. તેણે રોટલીનો ટુકડો કર્યો અને ખાધો. પાઉલે તેઓને લાંબો સમય સુધી બોધ આપ્યો. જ્યારે તેણે વાત કરવાનું બંધ કર્યુ, તે વહેલી સવાર હતી. પછી પાઉલે વિદાય લીધી.
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.20.12" />લોકો યુતુખસ ને ઘરે લઈ ગયા. તે જીવતો હતો, તેથી લોકો ઘણો આનંદ પામ્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">ત્રોઆસથી મિલેતેસનો પ્રવાસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ACT.20.13" />અમે આસસ શહેર જવા માટે વહાણ હંકાર્યુ. અમે પાઉલની આગળ પહેલા ગયા. તેની ઈચ્છા અમને આસસમાં મળવાની અને ત્યાં વહાણમાં અમારી સાથે જોડાવાની હતી. પાઉલે અમને આ કરવા માટે કહ્યું. કારણ કે તે જમીન માર્ગે આસસ જવા ઇચ્છતો હતો.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.20.14" />પાછળથી, અમે આસસમાં પાઉલને મળ્યા, અને પછી તે અમારી સાથે વહાણ પર આવ્યો. અમે બધા મિતુલેની શહેરમાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.20.15" />બીજે દિવસે અમે મિતુલેનીથી દૂર વહાણ હંકારી ગયા. અમે ખિયોસ ટાપુ નજીકની જગ્યાએ આવ્યા. પછી બીજે દિવસે અમે સામોસ ટાપુ તરફ હંકારી ગયા. એક દિવસ પછી અમે મિલેતસ શહેર આવ્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.20.16" />પાઉલે એફેસસ નહિ રોકાવવાનો નિર્ણય કરી જ લીધો. તેની ઈચ્છા આસિયામાં લાંબો સમય રોકાવવાની ન હતી. તેને ઉતાવળ હતી કારણ કે શક્ય હોય તો પચાસમાના પર્વને દિવસે તેની ઈચ્છા યરૂશાલેમમાં હાજર રહેવાની હતી.
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<s style="s">એફેસસના વડીલો સમક્ષ પાઉલનું ભાષણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.20.17" />પાઉલે મિલેતસથી પાછો એક સંદેશો એફેસસમાં મોકલ્યો. પાઉલે એફેસસના વડીલોને પોતાની પાસે આવવા નિમંત્રણ પાઠવ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ACT.20.18" />જ્યારે વડીલો આવ્યા, ત્યારે પાઉલે તેઓને કહ્યું, “આશિયામાં હું આવ્યો તેના પ્રથમ દિવસથી તમે મારા જીવન વિષે જાણો છો. હું તમારી સાથે હતો ત્યારે આટલો બધો સમય તમારી સાથે કેવી રીતે રહ્યો હતો તે તમે જાણો છો.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.20.19" />યહૂદિઓ મારી વિરૂદ્ધ કાવતરું ધડી રહ્યા હતા. તેથી મને બહુ મુશ્કેલી પડી અને તેથી હું ઘણી વાર રડ્યો. પણ તમે જાણો છો કે મેં હંમેશા પ્રભુની સેવા કરી છે. મેં કદી મારા વિષે પહેલા વિચાર્યુ નથી.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.20.20" />મેં હંમેશા તમારા માટે જે ઉત્તમ હતું તે જ કર્યુ છે. મેં લોકોની સમક્ષ જાહેરમાં ઈસુ વિષેની સુવાર્તા તમને કહી. અને તમારા ઘરોમાં પણ બોધ કર્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.20.21" />મેં બધા લોકોને કહ્યું, યહૂદિ લોકો અને ગ્રીક લોકો તેઓ પસ્તાવો કરે અને દેવ પાસે આવે. મેં તેઓ બધાને આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ કરવા કહ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.20.22" />“પણ હવે મારે પવિત્ર આત્માને માન આપીને યરૂશાલેમ જવું જોઈએ. ત્યાં મારું શું થશે તે હું જાણતો નથી.
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.20.23" />હું ફક્ત એટલું જાણું છું કે પવિત્ર આત્મા મને કહે છે કે પ્રત્યેક શહેરમાં મારે માટે મુશ્કેલીઓ અને યરૂશાલેમમાં બંદીખાનાં રાહ જોઈ રહ્યા છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="ACT.20.24" />હું મારા પોતાના જીવનની જરા પણ ચિંતા કરતો નથી. પણ ખૂબ મહત્વની વસ્તુ એ છે કે હું મારું કામ પૂર્ણ કરું. પ્રભુ ઈસુએ મને દેવની કૃપાની સુવાર્તા લોકોને કહેવાનું કાર્ય સોંપ્યુ છે તે પણ મારે પૂર્ણ કરવું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ACT.20.25" />“અને હવે મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો. હું જાણું છે કે તમારામાંનું કોઈ પણ મને ફરીથી જોઈ શકશે નહિ. હું બધો જ સમય તમારી સાથે હતો. મેં તમને દેવના રાજ્ય વિષેની સુવાર્તા કહી છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.20.26" />તેથી આજે હું તમને એક વાત કહીશ કે મને ખાતરી છે કે જો તમારામાંના કેટલાકનો બચાવ ન થાય તો દેવ મને દોષ દેશે નહિ!
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<v id="27" bcv="ACT.20.27" />હું આ કહી શકું છું કારણ કે હું જાણું છું કે દેવ તમને જે જણાવવા ઈચ્છતો હતો તે બધું મેં તમને કહ્યું છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.20.28" />તમારી જાત માટે તથા દેવ જે બધા લોકો તમને આપ્યા છે તેઓને માટે સાવધાન રહો. પવિત્ર આત્માએ આ ઘેટાં જેવા ટોળાની (દેવનાં લોકો) કાળજી રાખવાનું કામ તમને સોંપ્યું છે. તમારે દેવની મંડળી માટે ભરવાડો જેવા બનવું જોઈએ. આ તે મંડળી છે જે દેવે તેના પોતાના લોહીથી ખરીદી છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="ACT.20.29" />હું જાણું છું કે મારા વિદાય થયા પછી કેટલાક માણસો તમારા સમૂહમાં આવશે. તેઓ જંગલી વરુંઓ જેવા હશે. તેઓ ઘેટાં જેવા ટોળાનો વિનાશ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="ACT.20.30" />અને તમારા સમૂહના માણસો પણ ખરાબ આગેવાનો બનશે. તેઓ જે ખોટી વાતો છે તે શીખવવાની શરુંઆત કરશે. તેઓ ઈસુના કેટલાક શિષ્યોને સત્યથી દૂર દોરી જશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="ACT.20.31" />તેથી સાવધાન રહો! હંમેશા આ યાદ રાખો. હું તમારી સાથે ત્રણ વર્ષ માટે હતો. આ સમય દરમ્યાન મેં તમને કદાપિ ચેતવણી આપવાનું બંધ કર્યુ નથી. મેં તમને રાત અને દિવસ શીખવ્યું છે. મેં વારંવાર તમારા માટે આંસુઓ પાડ્યા છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="ACT.20.32" />“હવે હું તમને દેવને સોપું છું. હું તમને ઉન્નતિ કરવાને દેવની કૃપાના વચન પર આધાર રાખું છું. તે વચનો તમને વારસો આપવા સમર્થ છે જે દેવ તેના બધા લોકોને આપે છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="ACT.20.33" />જ્યારે હું તમારી સાથે હતો, ત્યારે મેં કદાપિ કોઇના પૈસા કે સુંદર વસ્ત્રોની ઈચ્છા કરી નથી.
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<v id="34" bcv="ACT.20.34" />તમે જાણો છો કે મેં તારી તથા મારી સાથે જે લોકો, તેમની જરૂરિયાત પૂરી પાડવા માટે મારી જાતે જે મહેનત કરી છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="ACT.20.35" />મેં હંમેશા તમને બતાવ્યું છે કે મેં જે કર્યુ તેવું કામ તમારે કરવું જોઈએ. અને જે લોકો નબળા છે તેમને મદદ કરવી જોઈએ. મેં તમને પ્રભુ ઈસુનું વચન યાદ રાખવા શીખવ્યું છે. ઈસુએ કહ્યું છે, ‘જ્યારે તમે પ્રાપ્ત કરો છો તેના કરતાં તમે આપો છો ત્યારે વધારે સુખી થશો.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="ACT.20.36" />જ્યારે પાઉલે આ વાતો કરવાની પૂરી કરી, તે ઘૂંટણે પડ્યો અને તેઓ બધાએ સાથે પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="37-38" bcv="ACT.20.37" />તેઓ બધા બહુ રડવા લાગ્યા. તે માણસો ઘણા દુ:ખી હતા, કારણ કે પાઉલે કહ્યું હતું કે તેઓ કદાપિ ફરી તેને જોઈ શકશે નહિ. તેઓ પાઉલની કોટે વળગ્યા અને તેને ચુંબન કર્યુ. પછી તેઓ તેની સાથે વહાણ સુધી વિદાય આપવા ગયા.
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</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">પાઉલનું યરૂશાલેમમાં ગમન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.21.1" />અમે બધાએ વડીલોની વિદાય લીધી અને પછી વહાણ હંકારી ગયા. અમે કોસ ટાપુ ગયા. બીજે દિવસે અમે રોદસ ટાપુ પર ગયા. રોદસથી અમે પાતરા ગયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.21.2" />પાતરામાં અમને એક વહાણ મળ્યું તે ફિનીકિયા પ્રદેશમાં જતું હતું. અમે વહાણમાં બેઠા અને હંકારી ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ACT.21.3" />અમે સૈપ્રસ ટાપુ નજીક હંકાર્યુ. અમે તેને ઉત્તર (ટાપુ) તરફ જોયો, પણ અમે અટક્યા નહિ. અમે સિરિયાના દેશ તરફ હંકારી ગયા. અમે તૂર શહેર પાસે અટક્યા. કારણ કે ત્યાં માલવાહક વહાણ ખાલી કરવાનું હતું.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.21.4" />અમે તૂરના ઈસુના કેટલાએક શિષ્યોને જોયા, અને અમે તેઓની સાથે સાત દિવસ રહ્યા. તેઓએ પાઉલને યરૂશાલેમ નહિ જવા ચેતવણી આપી કારણ કે પવિત્ર આત્માએ તેઓને તેમ કહ્યું હતું.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.21.5" />પણ જ્યારે અમે અમારી મુલાકાત પૂરી કરી. અમે વિદાય લીધી અને અમે અમારો પ્રવાસ ચાલુ રાખ્યો. ઈસુના બધા જ શિષ્યો, સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકો સાથે અમને વિદાય આપવા અમારી સાથે શહેરની બહાર આવ્યા. અમે બધા સમુદ્રકિનારે ઘૂંટણે પડ્યા અને પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.21.6" />પછી અમે શુભેચ્છા પાઠવી અને વહાણમાં બેઠા ત્યારબાદ શિષ્યો ઘરે ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ACT.21.7" />અમે તૂરથી પ્રવાસ ચાલુ રાખ્યો અને તોલિમાઈના શહેરમાં ગયા. અમે ત્યાં ભાઈઓને શુભેચ્છા પાઠવી અને તેઓની સાથે એક દિવસ રહ્યા.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.21.8" />બીજે દિવસે અમે તોલિમાઇ છોડ્યું અને કૈસરિયા શહેરમાં ગયા. અમે ફિલિપના ઘરે ગયા અને તેની સાથે રહ્યા. ફિલિપની પાસે સુવાર્તા પ્રચાર કરવાનું કામ હતું. તે સાત સહાયકોમાંનો એક હતો.
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.21.9" />તેને ચાર પુત્રીઓ હતી જે પરિણિત ન હતી. આ પુત્રીઓને પ્રબોધ કરવાનું સાર્મથ્ય હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ACT.21.10" />અમારા ઘણા દિવસો ત્યાં રહ્યા બાદ આગાબાસ નામનો પ્રબોધક યહૂદિયાથી આવ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.21.11" />તે અમારી પાસે આવ્યો અને પાઉલનો કમરબંધ ઉછીનો લીધો. પછી આગાબાસે તેના પોતાના હાથ અને પગ બાંધવા માટે તે કમરબંધનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો. આગાબાસે કહ્યું, “પવિત્ર આત્મા મને કહે છે, ‘જે માણસનો આ કમરબંધ છે તેને યરૂશાલેમમાં યહૂદિઓ આવી રીતે બાંધીને બિનયહૂદિઓના હાથમાં સોંપશે.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.21.12" />અમે બધાએ આ શબ્દો સાંભળ્યા છે. તેથી અમે અને ઈસુના સ્થાનિક શિષ્યોએ પાઉલને યરૂશાલેમ નહિ જવા વિનંતી કરી.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.21.13" />પણ પાઉલે કહ્યું, “તમે શા માટે રડો છો? તમે મને શા માટે આટલો દુ:ખી કરો છો? હું યરૂશાલેમમાં બંદીવાન થવા તૈયાર છું. હું પ્રભુ ઈસુના નામે મૃત્યુ પામવા માટે પણ તૈયાર છું!”
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ACT.21.14" />અમે તેને યરૂશાલેમથી દૂર રહેવા માટે સમજાવી શક્યા નહિ. તેથી અમે તેને વિનંતી કરવાનું બંધ કર્યુ અને કહ્યું, “અમે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ કે પ્રભુની જે ઈચ્છા હોય તે પૂર્ણ થાઓ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ACT.21.15" />આ દિવસો પછી, અમે સરસામાન લઈને યરૂશાલેમ જવા નીકળ્યા.
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.21.16" />કૈસરિયાથી કેટલાએક ઈસુના શિષ્યો અમારી સાથે આવ્યા. આ શિષ્યો અમને મનાસોન જે જૂનો શિષ્યો સૈપ્રસનો હતો, તેને ઘરે લઈ ગયા. મનાસોન એ ઈસુના શિષ્યોમાં પ્રથમ શિષ્ય હતો. તેઓ અમને તેને ઘેર લઈ ગયો તેથી અમે તેની સાથે રહી શક્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલની યાકૂબની મુલાકાત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.21.17" />યરૂશાલેમમાં વિશ્વાસીઓ અમને જોઈને ઘણા પ્રસન્ન થયા.
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.21.18" />બીજે દિવસે, પાઉલ અમારી સાથે યાકૂબની મુલાકાતે આવ્યો. બધાજ વડીલો પણ ત્યાં હતા.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.21.19" />પાઉલે તે બધાને અભિનંદન પાઠવ્યા. પછીથી તેણે તેઓને દેવે બિનયહૂદિ લોકોમાં તેમની પાસે કેવી રીતે સેવા કરાવી તે વિગતે કહ્યું. તેણે તેઓને દેવે તેઓના મારફત જે બધું કરાવ્યું હતું તે બિનયહૂદિઓમાં પણ કહ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ACT.21.20" />જ્યારે આગેવાનોએ આ વાતો સાંભળી, તેઓએ દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી. પછી તેઓએ પાઉલને કહ્યું, “ભાઈ, તું જોઈ શકે છે કે હજારો યહૂદિઓ વિશ્વાસીઓ બન્યા છે. પણ તેઓ વિચારે છે કે મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પાલન કરવું તે ઘણું અગત્યનું છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.21.21" />આ યહૂદિઓએ તારા બોધ વિષે સાંભળ્યું છે. યહૂદિઓ જે બિનયહૂદિઓના દેશમાં રહે છે તેમને મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનો ત્યાગ કરવાનું કહે છે. તેઓએ સાંભળ્યું છે કે તું તે યહૂદિઓને તેમનાં બાળકોને સુન્નત નહિ કરાવવા અને યહૂદિઓના રિવાજોનું પાલન ન કરવા કહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.21.22" />“અમારે શું કરવું? અહીંના યહૂદિ વિશ્વાસીઓ જાણશે કે તું આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.21.23" />તેથી તારે શું કરવું તે અમે કહીશું અમારા ચાર માણસોએ દેવ આગળ પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="ACT.21.24" />આ માણસોને તારી સાથે લે અને તેઓના શુદ્ધિકરણ સમારંભમાં ભાગીદાર બન. તેમનો ખર્ચ આપ. પછી તેઓ તેમનાં માથા મૂંડાવે, આમ કર અને તે પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને સાબિત કરાવશે કે તેઓએ તારા વિષે સાંભળેલી વાતો સાચી નથી. તેઓ જોશે કે તું તારા જીવનમાં મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પાલન કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ACT.21.25" />“અમે બિનયહૂદિ વિશ્વાસીઓને પત્ર મોકલી દીધેલ છે. પત્રમાં કહ્યું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li">‘મૂર્તિઓને અર્પણ કરેલ ભોજન ખાવું નહિ. લોહીને ચાખવું નહિ.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ગૂંગળાવીને મારી નાખેલાં પશુઓને ખાવા નહિ.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરો નહિ.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલની ધરપકડ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ACT.21.26" />પછી પાઉલે તે ચાર માણસોને સાથે લીધા. બીજે દિવસે પાઉલે શુદ્ધિકરણ સમારંભના દિવસો ક્યારે પૂર્ણ થશે તેની જાહેરાત કરી. છેલ્લે દિવસે તેઓમાંના દરેકને માટે અર્પણ ચઢાવવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.21.27" />લગભગ તે સાત દિવસ પૂરા થયા. પણ કેટલાક આસિયાના યહૂદિઓએ પાઉલને મંદિરમાં જોયો. તેઓએ બધા લોકોને ઉશ્કેર્યા અને તેઓએ પાઉલને હાથ નાખીને પકડી લીધો.
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.21.28" />તેઓએ બૂમો પાડી, “અરે! ઈસ્રાએલી માણસો, અમને મદદ કરો! આ એ માણસ છે જે મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રની વિરૂદ્ધ, આપણા લોકોની વિરૂદ્ધ અને આ જગ્યાની વિરૂદ્ધ શીખવે છે. આ માણસ દરેક જગ્યાએ બધા જ લોકોને આ વાતો શીખવે છે. અને હવે તેણે કેટલાએક ગ્રીક માણસોને મંદિરની પરસાળમાં દાખલ કર્યા છે! તેણે આ પવિત્ર સ્થાનને અશુદ્ધ કર્યુ છે.”
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<v id="29" bcv="ACT.21.29" />(યહૂદિઓએ આમ કહ્યું, કારણ કે તેઓએ યરૂશાલેમમાં ત્રોફિમસને પાઉલ સાથે જોયો. ત્રોફિમસ એફેસસનો ગ્રીક માણસ હતો. યહૂદિઓએ વિચાર્યુ કે પાઉલે તેને મંદિરના પવિત્ર ભાગમાં લાવ્યો છે.)
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ACT.21.30" />યરૂશાલેમના બધા જ લોકોમાં ખળભળાટ મચી ગયો. તેઓ બધા દોડ્યા અને પાઉલને પકડ્યો. તેઓએ તેને મંદિરના પવિત્ર સ્થળની બહાર કાઢ્યો. મંદિરના દરવાજા તરત જ બંધ કરવામાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="31" bcv="ACT.21.31" />લોકો પાઉલની હત્યા કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતા હતા. યરૂશાલેમમાં રોમન સૈન્યના સૂબેદારે સાંભળ્યું કે સમગ્ર શહેરમાં મુશ્કેલી ઊભી થઈ છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="ACT.21.32" />તરત જ જ્યાં લોકો હતા ત્યાં સૂબેદાર ગયો. તે કેટલાએક લશ્કરી અમલદારો અને સૈનિકોને સાથે લાવ્યો. લોકોએ સૂબેદાર અને સૈનિકોને જોયા. તેથી તેઓએ પાઉલને મારવાનું બંધ કર્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="ACT.21.33" />સૂબેદારે પાઉલની પાસે જઈને તેની ધરપકડ કરી. સૂબેદારે તેના સૈનિકોને પાઉલને બે સાંકળો વડે બાંધવા કહ્યું. પછી સૂબેદારે પૂછયું, “આ માણસ કોણ છે? તેણે શું ખરાબ કર્યુ છે?”
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<v id="34" bcv="ACT.21.34" />કેટલાએક લોકો એક વાત કહેતા હતા તો બીજા લોકો બીજી વાતો કહેતા હતા. આ બધા ગુંચવાડા અને ગડબડને કારણે સૂબેદાર સત્ય નક્કી કરી શક્યો નહિ. સૂબેદારે સૈનિકોને પાઉલને લશ્કરના મકાનમાં લઈ જવા માટે કહ્યું.
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<v id="35-36" bcv="ACT.21.35" />બધા જ લોકો તેઓને અનુસરતા હતા. જ્યારે સૈનિકો પગથિયાં પાસે આવ્યા, તેઓ પાઉલને રક્ષણ આપવા લઈ જવાના હતા. તેઓને પાઉલનું રક્ષણ કરવા માટે કહ્યું કારણ કે લોકો તેને ઇજા પહોંચાડવાની તૈયારીમાં હતા. લોકોએ બૂમો પાડી, “તેને મારી નાખો!”
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<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="ACT.21.37" />સૈનિકો પાઉલને લશ્કરના મકાનમાં લઈ જવાની તૈયારીમાં હતા. પરંતુ પાઉલે સૂબેદારને પૂછયું, “તમને કંઈ કહેવાનો મને અધિકાર છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">સૂબેદારે કહ્યું, “ઓહ! તું ગ્રીક બોલે છે?
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<v id="38" bcv="ACT.21.38" />તો પછી હું તને જે માણસ ધારતો હતો તે તું નથી. હું વિચારતો હતો કે તું મિસરનો માણસ છે જેણે ઘણા સમય પહેલા નહિ, હમણાં જ સરકારની વિરૂદ્ધમાં કેટલીક મુશ્કેલીઓ શરું કરી હતી. તે મિસરી માણસે 4,000 ખૂનીઓને દોરીને બહાર અરણ્યમાં લઈ ગયો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="ACT.21.39" />પાઉલે કહ્યું, “ના, હું તાસર્સનો એક યહૂદિ માણસ છું. તાર્સસ કિલીકિયાના પ્રદેશમાં છે. હું તે અગત્યના શહેરનો નાગરિક છું. મહેરબાની કરીને મને લોકોને કહેવા દો.”
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<p style="p"><v id="40" bcv="ACT.21.40" />સૂબેદારે પાઉલને લોકો સમક્ષ બોલવાની રજા આપી. તેથી પાઉલ પગથિયા પર ઊભો રહ્યો. તેણે તેના હાથો વડે નિશાની કરી. તેથી લોકો શાંત થઈ જાય. લોકો શાંત થઈ ગયા એટલે પાઉલે તેઓને ઉદ્દબોધન કર્યુ. તેણે હિબ્રું ભાષાનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો.
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</p>

<c id="22" />
<s style="s">પાઉલનું લોકોને ઉદ્દબોધન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.22.1" />પાઉલે કહ્યું, “મારા ભાઈઓ અને મારા પિતાઓ, મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! હું તમારી આગળ મારો બચાવ કરું છું.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ACT.22.2" />યહૂદિઓએ સાંભળ્યું કે પાઉલ હિબ્રું ભાષા બોલે છે, તેથી તેઓ વધારે શાંત થયા. પાઉલે કહ્યું,
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ACT.22.3" />“હું એક યહૂદિ છું. મારો જન્મ કિલીકિયા પ્રદેશના તાર્સસમાં થયો હતો. હું આ શહેરમાં ઊછરેલો. હું ગમાલ્યેલના<f caller="+"><fr>22:3
</fr><fk>ગમાલ્યેલ
</fk><ft>ફરોશીઓનો ખૂબ મહત્વનો શિક્ષક, એક યહૂદિ ધર્મ જથ (જૂઓ પ્રે. કૃ 5:34)</ft></f> શિષ્ય હતો. તેણે કાળજીપૂર્વક મને આપણા પૂર્વજોના નિયમો વિષે બધું જ શીખવ્યું. તમે બધા અહીં આજે જે કરો છો તેમ હું દેવની સેવા કરવા વિષે ઘણો ગંભીર હતો.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.22.4" />જે લોકો ઈસુના માર્ગને અનુસરતા હતા. તેઓને મેં સતાવ્યા હતા. મારા કારણે તેઓમાંના કેટલાકની હત્યા પણ થઈ હતી. મેં પુરુંષો અને સ્ત્રીઓને પકડ્યા અને મેં તેઓને કારાવાસમાં નાખ્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ACT.22.5" />“પ્રમુખ યાજક વડીલ યહૂદિ આગેવાનોની આખી સમિતિ તમને કહી શકશે કે આ સાચું છે! એક વખતે આ આગેવાનોએ મને કેટલાક પત્રો આપ્યા. આ પત્રો દમસ્ક શહેરના યહૂદિ ભાઈઓ માટે હતા. હું ત્યાં ઈસુના શિષ્યોને પકડવા અને તેમને શિક્ષા કરવા માટે યરૂશાલેમમાં પાછા લાવવા જતો હતો.
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<s style="s">પાઉલ તેની ચર્ચાઓ વિષે કહે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ACT.22.6" />“પરંતુ દમસ્કના મારા માર્ગમાં મારી સાથે કંઈક બન્યું. તે લગભગ બપોર હતી જ્યારે હું દમસ્કની નજીક આવી પહોંચ્યો. અચાનક એક તેજસ્વી પ્રકાશ આકાશમાંથી મારી આજુબાજુ પ્રકાશ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.22.7" />હું જમીન પર પડ્યો. મને કંઈક કહેતી વાણી મેં સાંભળી. ‘શાઉલ, શાઉલ તું શા માટે મારી સતાવણી કરે છે?’
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ACT.22.8" />“મેં પૂછયું, ‘પ્રભુ! તું કોણ છે!’ તે વૅંણીએ કહ્યું, ‘હું નાઝરેથનો ઈસુ છું. તું જેને સતાવે છે તે હું એક છું.’
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.22.9" />મારી સાથે જે માણસો હતા તેઓ મારી સાથે જેણે વાત કરી છે તેની વાણી સમજી શક્યા ન હતા. પરંતુ માણસોએ પ્રકાશ જોયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ACT.22.10" />“મેં કહ્યું, ‘પ્રભુ, મારે શું કરવું જોઈએ?’ પ્રભુએ જવાબ આપ્યો, ‘ઊભો થા અને દમસ્કમાં જા અને મેં તારે કરવાના કામની યોજના કરી છે તે વિષે તને ત્યાં કહેવામાં આવશે.’
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.22.11" />હું જોઈ શક્યો નહિ કારણ કે તેજસ્વી પ્રકાશે મને આંધળો બનાવ્યો હતો. તેથી જે માણસો મારી સાથે હતા. તેઓ મને દમસ્કમાં દોરી ગયા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.22.12" />“દમસ્કમાં અનાન્યા<f caller="+"><fr>22:12
</fr><fk>અનાન્યા
</fk><ft>પ્રેરિતોનાં કૃત્યોમાં આ નામનાં ત્રણ વ્યક્તિઓ છે. જૂઓ પ્રે. રૃ. 5:1 અને બીજા બે માટે 23:2.</ft></f> નામનો માણસ મારી પાસે આવ્યો. અનાન્યા ધર્મિષ્ઠ માણસ હતો. તે મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પાલન કરતો હતો. ત્યાં રહેતા બધા જ યહૂદિઓ તેને માન આપતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.22.13" />અનાન્યા મારી પાસે આવ્યો અને મને કહ્યું, ‘ભાઈ શાઉલ, ફરીથી જો!’ તરત જ હું તેને જોવા સાર્મથ્યવાન થયો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ACT.22.14" />“અનાન્યાએ મને કહ્યું, ‘અમારા પૂર્વજોના દેવે ઘણા વખત પહેલા તને પસંદ કર્યો છે. દેવે તેની યોજના જાણવા માટે તને પસંદ કર્યો છે. તેણે તને એક ન્યાયી જોવા તથા તેની પાસેથી બોધ સાંભળવા પસંદ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.22.15" />બધા લોકો સમક્ષ તું તેનો સાક્ષી થશે. તેં જોયેલી અને સાંભળેલી વાતો વિષે લોકોને કહે.
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.22.16" />હવે વધારે સમય રાહ જોઈશ નહિ. ઊભો થા, અને તેના નામની પ્રાર્થના કરીને બાપ્તિસ્મા લઈને તારા પાપ ધોઇ નાખ.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.22.17" />“પછી, હું યરૂશાલેમ પાછો ફર્યો. હું મંદિરની પરસાળમાં પ્રાર્થના કરતો હતો. અને મેં એક દશ્ય જોયું.
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.22.18" />મેં ઈસુને જોયો અને ઈસુએ મને કહ્યું, ‘ઉતાવળ કર, યરૂશાલેમ હમણા જ છોડી જા. અહીમના લોકો મારા વિશેનું સત્ય સ્વીકારશે નહિ.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ACT.22.19" />“મેં કહ્યું, ‘પણ પ્રભુ લોકો જાણે છે કે હું તે હતો જેણે વિશ્વાસીઓને કારાવાસમાં નાખીને તેઓને માર્યા હતા. હું દરેક સભાસ્થાનમાં તારા પર જેઓ વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેઓને શોધવા અને તે લોકોને પકડવા ગયો છું.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.22.20" />લોકો એ પણ જાણે છે કે જ્યારે તારા સાક્ષી સ્તેફનને મારી નાખ્યો હતો ત્યારે હું ત્યાં હતો. હું ત્યાં ઊભો રહીને સંમત થયો હતો કે તેઓએ સ્તેફનને મારી નાખવો જોઈએ. જે લોકો તેને મારી નાખતા હતા તેમનાં વસ્ત્રો પણ હું સાચવતો હતો.’
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ACT.22.21" />“પણ ઈસુએ મને કહ્યું, ‘હવે ચાલ્યો જા. હું તને ઘણે દૂર બિનયહૂદિ લોકો પાસે મોકલીશ.’”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.22.22" />જ્યારે પાઉલે બિનયહૂદિ લોકો પાસે જવાની છેલ્લી વાત કરી ત્યારે લોકોએ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવાનું બંધ કર્યુ. તેઓ બધાએ બૂમો પાડી, “તેને મારી નાખો! તેને પૃથ્વી પરથી દૂર કરો! આવા માણસને જીવતો રહેવા દેવો ના જોઈએ!”
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.22.23" />તેઓએ બૂમો પાડી અને તેઓના ડગલા ફેંકી દીધા. તેઓએ હવામાં ધૂળ ફેંકી.
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<v id="24" bcv="ACT.22.24" />પછી સરદારે સૈનિકોને પાઉલને લશ્કરના મકાનમાં લઈ જવા કહ્યું. તેણે પાઉલને મારવા માટે સૈનિકોને કહ્યું. તે પાઉલ પાસે કહેવડાવવા ઈચ્છતો હતો કે લોકો શા માટે આમ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ બૂમો પાડતા હતા.
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.22.25" />તેથી સૈનિકો પાઉલને બાંધીને મારવાની તૈયારી કરતા હતા. પણ પાઉલે લશ્કરી સૂબેદારને કહ્યું, “શું તમને જે દોષિત સાબિત થયેલ નથી તે રોમન નાગરિકને મારવાનો અધીકાર છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ACT.22.26" />જ્યારે સૂબેદાર આ સાંભળ્યું, તે સરદાર પાસે ગયો. તે સરદારે કહ્યું, “તું શું કરે છે તે તું જાણે છે? આ માણસ રોમન નાગરિક છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.22.27" />સરદાર પાઉલ પાસે આવ્યો અને પૂછયું, “શું તું રોમન નાગરિક છે?”
</p>
<p style="p">પાઉલે જવાબ આપ્યો, “હા.”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ACT.22.28" />સરદારે કહ્યું, “મેં રોમન નાગરિક થવા માટે ઘણા પૈસા આપ્યા છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">પણ પાઉલે કહ્યું, “હું તો જન્મથી જ રોમન નાગરિક છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ACT.22.29" />ત્યારે જેઓ તેને પ્રશ્રો કરવાની તૈયારીમાં હતા. તેઓ તરત પાઉલને મૂકીને જતા રહ્યા. તે સરદારને ભય હતો કારણ કે તેણે પાઉલને સખત બાંધ્યો હતો અને પાઉલ એક રોમન નાગરિક હતો.
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<s style="s">યહૂદિ આગેવાનો સમક્ષ પાઉલનું વક્તવ્ય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ACT.22.30" />બીજે દિવસે યહૂદિઓ પાઉલની વિરૂદ્ધ શા માટે બોલતા હતા. તેનું કારણ જાણવા માટે સરદારે નક્કી કર્યુ. તેથી તેણે મુખ્ય યાજકોને અને યહૂદિઓની ન્યાયસભાને હાજર થવા હુકમ કર્યો. તે સરદારે પાઉલની સાંકળો છોડી. પછી તે પાઉલને બહાર લાવ્યો અને તેઓની સભા આગળ પાઉલને ઊભો રાખ્યો.
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<c id="23" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.23.1" />પાઉલે યહૂદિઓની ન્યાયસભાની સભા તરફ જોઈને કહ્યું, “ભાઈઓ, હું મારું જીવન દેવ સમક્ષ શુદ્ધ અંત:કરણથી જીવ્યો છું, હંમેશા મને જે સાચું લાગ્યું હતું તે જ મેં કર્યુ છે.”
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.23.2" />અનાન્યા પ્રમુખ યાજક ત્યાં હતો. અનાન્યાએ પાઉલને સાંભળ્યો અને જે માણસો પાઉલની નજીક ઊભા હતા તેઓને તેના મોં પર મારવા કહ્યું.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.23.3" />પાઉલે અનાન્યાને કહ્યું, “દેવ તને પણ મારશે. તું એક ગંદી દિવાલ જેવો છે જે સફેદ ધોળેલી છે. તું ત્યાં બેસે છે અને મારો ન્યાય મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનો ઉપયોગ કરીને કરે છે. પણ તું તેઓને મને મારવાનું કહે છે અને તે મૂસાના નિયમની વિરૂદ્ધ છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ACT.23.4" />પાઉલની નજીક ઊભેલા તે માણસોએ તેને કહ્યું, “તું દેવના પ્રમુખ યાજકને આવું કહી શકે નહિ. તું એનું અપમાન કરે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ACT.23.5" />પાઉલે કહ્યું, “ભાઈઓ, એ પ્રમુખ યાજક છે તે હું જાણતો નહોતો. તે ધર્મશાસ્ત્રોમાં લખ્યું છે, કે ‘તમારે તમારા લોકોના અધિકારી વિષે ખરાબ બોલવું જોઈએ નહિ.’<x caller="+"><xo>3:5
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 22:28</xt></x>”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ACT.23.6" />સભામાંના કેટલાએક માણસો સદૂકિઓ અને બીજા કેટલાએક ફરોશીઓ હતા. તેથી પાઉલને વિચાર આવ્યો. તેણે તેઓના તરફ બૂમ પાડી, “મારા ભાઈઓ, હું ફરોશી છું અને મારા પિતા પણ ફરોશી હતા. હું અહીં કસોટી પર છું કારણ કે મને આશા છે કે લોકો મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠશે!” જ્યારે પાઉલે આમ કહ્યું, ત્યાં ફરોશીઓ અને સદૂકિઓની વચ્ચે એક મોટી તકરાર થઈ. સમૂહમાં ભાગલા પડ્યા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7-8" bcv="ACT.23.7" />(સદૂકિઓ માનતા હતા કે મૃત્યુ પછી લોકો ફરીથી જીવતા થઈ શકે નહિ. સદૂકિઓ શીખવે છે કે દૂત અથવા આત્મા પણ નથી. પરંતુ ફરોશીઓ આ બધી વસ્તુઓમાં માને છે.)
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.23.9" />આ બધા યહૂદિઓએ વધારે મોટા સાદે બૂમો પાડવાની શરૂઆત કરી, શાસ્ત્રીઓ અને કેટલાએક જે ફરોશીઓ હતા તેઓ ઊભા થયા અને દલીલો કરી, “અમને આ માણસમાં કંઈ ખોટું જોવા મળ્યું નથી! દમસ્કના રસ્તા પર કદાચ દૂતે કે આત્માએ તેને કંઈ કહ્યું હોય!”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ACT.23.10" />દલીલોમાંથી તકરાર શરૂ થઈ. સરદારને બીક હતી કે યહૂદિઓ પાઉલના ટુકડે ટુકડા કરશે. તેથી સરદારે સૈનિકોને નીચે જવાનું કહ્યું અને આ યહૂદિઓ પાસેથી પાઉલને દૂર લઈ જઈને લશ્કરના કિલ્લામાં લઈ જવા માટે કહ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ACT.23.11" />બીજી રાત્રે પ્રભુ ઈસુ આવ્યો અને પાઉલની બાજુમાં ઊભો રહ્યો. તેણે કહ્યું, “હિંમત રાખ! તેં યરૂશાલેમમાં લોકોને મારા વિષે કહ્યું છે. તારે રોમમાં પણ ત્યાંના લોકોને મારા વિષે કહેવા માટે જવાનું છે!”
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<s style="s">પાઉલને મારી નાખવાનું કાવતરું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.23.12" />બીજી સવારે કેટલાએક યહૂદિઓએ એક યોજના ઘડી. તેઓની ઈચ્છા પાઉલને મારી નાખવાની હતી. યહૂદિઓએ તેમની જાતે પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી કે જ્યાં સુધી તેઓ પાઉલને મારી નહિ નાખે ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ કંઈ પણ ખાશે કે પીશે નહિ.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.23.13" />ત્યાં લગભગ 40 ઉપરાંત યહૂદિઓ હતા જેઓએ આ કાવતરું કર્યું હતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.23.14" />આ યહૂદિઓ મુખ્ય યાજકો અને વડીલ યહૂદિ આગેવાનોની પાસે ગયા અને વાત કરી. યહૂદિઓએ કહ્યું, “અમે અમારી જાતે ગંભીર પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી છે. અમે પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી છે કે જ્યાં સુધી અમે પાઉલને મારી નાખીએ નહિ ત્યાં સુધી અમે ખાશું કે પીશું નહિ!
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.23.15" />તેથી અમે તમારી પાસે જે કરાવવા ઈચ્છીએ છીએ તે આ છે. તમારા તરફથી સરદારને તથા બધા યહૂદિ આગેવાનો તરફથી સંદેશો મોકલો. સરદારને કહો કે તમારી ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે પાઉલને તમારી આગળ રજૂ કરે. સરદારને કહો કે તમારી ઈચ્છા પાઉલને વધારે પ્રશ્રો પૂછવાની છે. જ્યારે તે અહીં રસ્તા પર હશે, ત્યારે અમે પાઉલને મારી નાખવાની રાહ જોઈશું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ACT.23.16" />પણ પાઉલના ભાણિયાએ આ યોજના વિષે સાંભળ્યું. તે લશ્કરના બંગલામાં ગયો અને પાઉલને તે યોજના વિષે કહ્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.23.17" />પછી પાઉલે એક લશ્કરના અમલદારને બોલાવ્યો અને તેને કહ્યું, “આ યુવાન માણસને સરદારની પાસે લઈ જા. તેની પાસે તેને માટે સંદેશો છે.”
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.23.18" />તેથી તે લશ્કરનો અમલદાર પાઉલના ભાણિયાને સરદાર પાસે લાવ્યો. તે અમલદારે કહ્યું, “તે કેદી પાઉલે આ યુવાન માણસને તારી પાસે લાવવા માટે મને કહ્યું. તેની ઈચ્છા તને કંઈક કહેવાની છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ACT.23.19" />તે સરદાર તે યુવાન માણસને એક જગ્યાએ દોરી ગયો જ્યાં તેઓ એકલા હોય. તે સરદારે પૂછયું, “તું મને શું કહેવા ઇચ્છે છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ACT.23.20" />તે યુવાન માણસે કહ્યું, “યહૂદિઓએ નક્કી કર્યુ છ્ કે આવતીકાલે ન્યાયસભામાં પાઉલને લઈ આવવા માટે તને કહેવું. યહૂદિઓ ઈચ્છે છે કે તું વિચારે કે તેઓની યોજના પાઉલને વધારે પ્રશ્રો પૂછવાની છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ACT.23.21" />પરંતુ તેઓનામાં વિશ્વાસ કરવો નહિ! ત્યાં લગભગ 40 યહૂદિઓ જે છુપાયેલા છે અને પાઉલને મારી નાખવાની રાહ જોઈ રહ્ય છે. તેઓ બધાએ પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી છે કે, જ્યાં સુધી તેઓ પાઉલને મારી નહિ નાખે ત્યાં સુધી ખાવું કે પીવું નહિ! હવે તેઓ તું હા કહે તેની જ રાહ જુએ છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.23.22" />તે સરદારે તે યુવાન માણસને દૂર મોકલ્યો. તે સરદારે તેવે કહ્યું, “કોઈને કહીશ નહિ કે તેં મને તેઓની યોજના વિષે કહ્યું છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલને કૈસરિયા મોકલાય છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ACT.23.23" />પછી સરદારે બે લશ્કરી અમલદારોને બોલાવ્યા. તેણે તેઓને કહ્યું, “મારે કૈસરિયા જવા માટે કેટલાક માણસોની જરુંર છે. 200 સૈનિકોને તૈયાર રાખો. 70 ઘોડેસવાર સૈનિકો પણ તૈયાર રાખો, અને 200 બરછીવાળાઓને પણ આજે રાત્રે નવ વાગે જવા માટે તૈયાર રાખો.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ACT.23.24" />પાઉલની સવારી માટે કેટલાએક ઘોડા તૈયાર રાખો. હાકેમ ફેલિકસ પાસે તેને સહીસલામત લઈ જવામાં આવે.”
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.23.25" />સરદારે એક પત્ર લખ્યો. પત્રમાં આ મુજબ લખાણ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi"><v id="26" bcv="ACT.23.26" />નેકનામદાર ફેલિકસ
</p>
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">હાકેમને કલોદિયસ લુસિયાની
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">સલામ.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="pi" style="pi"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.23.27" />તે યહૂદિઓએ આ માણસને (પાઉલ) પકડ્યો હતો અને તેઓએ તેને મારી નાખવાની યોજના કરી હતી. પરંતુ મેં સાંભળ્યું છે કે તે એક રોમન નાગરિક છે, તેથી હું મારા સૈનિકો સાથે ગયો અને તેને છોડાવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="ACT.23.28" />હું કારણ જાણવા ઇચ્છું છું કે તેઓ શા માટે તેની સામે આક્ષેપો કરે છે. તેથી હું તેને ન્યાયસભામાં લઈ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="ACT.23.29" />મેં જે જાણયું તે આ છે; યહૂદિઓએ કહ્યું, પાઉલે એવું કંઈક કર્યુ છે જે ખોટું હતું. પણ આ આક્ષેપો તેના પોતાના યહૂદિ નિયમો વિષે છે. તેમાનો એક પણ લાયક નથી. અને આ વસ્તુઓમાંની કેટલીક તો જેલ અને મૃત્યુદંડને યોગ્ય છે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="ACT.23.30" />મારું ધ્યાન દોરવામાં આવ્યું હતું કે કેટલાએક યહૂદિઓએ પાઉલને મારી નાખવાની યોજના ઘડી રહ્યા હતા. તેથી હું તેને તમારી પાસે મોકલું છું. મેં તે ફરિયાદીઓને પણ તેમને તેની સામે જે વિરોધ હોય તે કહેવા કહ્યું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="ACT.23.31" />તે સૈનિકોને જે કહેવામાં આવ્યું હતું તે તેઓએ કર્યું. તે સૈનિકો પાઉલને લઈ ગયા અને તે જ રાત્રે અંતિપાત્રિસના શહેરમાં તેઓ તેને લઈ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="ACT.23.32" />બીજે દિવસે ઘોડેસવારો પાઉલ સાથે કૈસરિયા પહોંચ્યા. પણ બીજા સૈનિકો અને બરછીવાળા માણસો યરૂશાલેમમાં લશ્કરના મકાનની પાછળ પાછા ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="ACT.23.33" />ઘોડેસવાર સૈનિકો કૈસરિયામાં પ્રવેશ્યા અને હાકેમને પત્ર આપ્યો. પછીથી તેઓએ તેને પાઉલને સોંપ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="ACT.23.34" />તે હાકેમે પત્ર વાંચ્યો. પછી તેણે પાઉલને પૂછયું, “તું કયા દેશનો છે?” હાકેમે જાણ્યું કે પાઉલ કિલીકિયાનો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="ACT.23.35" />ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું, “ફરિયાદીઓ આવ્યા પછી હું તારા મુકદ્દમાની તપાસ કરીશ.” પછી તેણે તેને હેરોદના દરબારમાં પહેરા હેઠળ રાજમહેલમાં રાખવાનો હુકમ કર્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="24" />
<s style="s">યહૂદિઓનો પાઉલ પર આક્ષેપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.24.1" />પાંચ દિવસ બાદ અનાન્યા કૈસરિયા શહેરમાં ગયો. અનાન્યા એ એક પ્રમુખ યાજક હતો, અનાન્યા કેટલાક વડીલ યહૂદિ આગેવાનો અને તેર્તુલુસ વકીલને પણ લાવ્યો. તેઓ હાકેમની આગળ પાઉલની વિરૂદ્ધ આક્ષેપો મૂકવા માટે કૈસરિયા ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ACT.24.2" />પાઉલને સભામાં લઈ જવામાં આવ્યો. તેર્તુલુસે તેના પર તહોમત મૂકવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ.
</p>
<p style="p">તેર્તુલસે કહ્યું, “નેકનામદાર ફેલિક્સ! અમારા લોકો તારા કારણે સુખશાંતિ ભોગવે છે. તારી દીર્ધદષ્ટિથી આપણા દેશની ઘણી ખોટી વસ્તુઓને સાચી બનાવાઇ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ACT.24.3" />તે અમે સર્વ પ્રકારે અને સર્વ સ્થળે પૂરેપૂરી કૃતજ્ઞાથી સ્વીકારીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ACT.24.4" />પણ હું તારો વધારે સમય લેવા ઇચ્છતો નથી. તેથી હું ફક્ત થોડા શબ્દો જ કહીશ. કૃપા કરીને ધીરજ રાખ અને અમને સાંભળવા પૂરતી કૃપા કર.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ACT.24.5" />આ માણસ (પાઉલ) પીડાકારક છે. તે દુનિયામાં દરેક જગ્યાએ યહૂદિઓમાં મતભેદ ફેલાવે છે. તે નાઝરેથના સમૂહનો આગેવાન છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ACT.24.6" />તેણે મંદિરને અશુદ્ધ કરવાનો પણ પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. પણ અમે તેને રોક્યો છે. (અમે અમારા શાસ્ત્ર પ્રમાણે એનો ન્યાય કરવા ચાહતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ACT.24.7" />પણ લુસિયાસ સરદાર આવીને બહુ જબરદસ્તી કરીને અમારા હાથમાંથી એને છોડાવી ગયો,
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ACT.24.8" />અને એના પર ફરિયાદ કરનારાઓને આપની પાસે આવવાની આજ્ઞા કરી)
<f caller="+"><fr>24:6-8
</fr><ft>(અમે અમારા … આજ્ઞા કરી) કેટલીક ગ્રીક આવૃતિઓમાં આ ભાગ જોડવામાં આવ્યો છે.</ft></f> જો તેની સામેના આ બધા જ આક્ષેપો સાચા હોય તો, તું નિર્ણય કરી શકે છે. તારી જાતે તેને કેટલાક પ્રશ્રો પૂછ.”
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ACT.24.9" />બીજા યહૂદિઓ સંમત થવા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આ વસ્તુઓ ખરેખર સાચી છે!”
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલે કરેલો બચાવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ACT.24.10" />હાકેમે પાઉલને બોલવા માટે ઇશારો કર્યો. તેથી પાઉલે જવાબ આપ્યો. “નામદાર હાકેમ ફેલિકસ, હું જાણું છું કે આ દેશનો તું લાંબા સમય સુધી ન્યાયાધીશ રહ્યો છે. તેથી હું ખુશીથી મારો બચાવ મારી જાતે તારી સમક્ષ રજૂ કરું છું.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ACT.24.11" />હું ફક્ત બાર દિવસ પહેલા જ યરૂશાલેમમાં ભજન કરવા ગયો. તું તારી જાતે જ શોધી શકે છે કે આ સાચું છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ACT.24.12" />આ યહૂદિઓ જે મારા પર તહોમત મૂકે છે તેઓએ મને મંદિરમાં કોઇની સાથે દલીલ કરતા જોયો નથી. મેં સભાસ્થાનોમાં કે બીજી કોઇ શહેરની જગ્યાએ લોકોને ભેગા કરીને ઉશ્કેર્યા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ACT.24.13" />આ યહૂદિઓ મારી સામે કોઇ આક્ષેપો સાબિત કરી શકે તેમ નથી. તેઓ હવે મારી વિરૂદ્ધ બોલે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ACT.24.14" />“પણ હું તને આ કહીશ. હું અમારા પૂર્વજોના દેવની ભક્તિ, ઈસુના માર્ગના શિષ્યો તરીકે કરું છું. યહૂદિઓ કહે છે કે ઈસુનો સાચો માર્ગ નથી. પણ મને મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં શીખવેલ પ્રત્યેક વાતોમાં વિશ્વાસ છે. અને પ્રબોધકોનાં પુસ્તકોમાં જે લખાણ છે તે બધી વસ્તુઓમાં પણ મને વિશ્વાસ છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ACT.24.15" />યહૂદિઓને દેવમાં આશા છે તે જ આશા મને છે. અને યહૂદિઓમાં અહી બધાજ ન્યાયી, અન્યાયી પુનરુંત્થાન પામશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ACT.24.16" />તેથી હું હંમેશા મને જેમાં વિશ્વાસ છે તે કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરું છું. તે દેવ અને માણસો સમક્ષ સાચું છે એમ માનીને તેમ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરું છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17-18" bcv="ACT.24.17" />“હું ઘણાં વર્ષોથી યરૂશાલેમથી દૂર હતો. તેથી હું મારા લોકો જે ગરીબ છે અને બલિદાનો અર્પણ કરે છે. તેમને લેવા પાછો આવ્યો છું. જ્યારે કેટલાએક યહૂદિઓએ મને મંદિરમાં જોયો ત્યારે હું આ કરતો હતો. મેં શુદ્ધિકરણનો ઉત્સવ પૂર્ણ કર્યો. ત્યાં મારી આજુબાજુ કોઇ ટોળું ન હતું. અને મેં કોઇ જાતની ગરબડ ઊભી કરી ન હતી.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.24.19" />પણ આસિયાના કેટલાએક યહૂદિઓ ત્યાં હતા. તેઓએ અહીં તારી સમક્ષ ઊભા રહેવું જોઈએ. જો મેં ખરેખર કોઇ ખોટું કર્યુ હોય તો આસિયાના પેલા યહૂદિઓ જે છે તેણે મારા પર તહોમત મૂકવું જોઈએ. તેઓ ત્યાં હતા!
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.24.20" />જ્યારે હું યરૂશાલેમમાં યહૂદિઓની ન્યાયસભામાં ઊભો હતો ત્યારે તેઓએ મારામાં કશું ખોટું જોયું હોય તો આ યહૂદિઓને અહીં પૂછો.
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.24.21" />જ્યારે હું તેની આગળ ઊભો ત્યારે મેં એક વાત જરુંર કરી. મેં કહ્યું, ‘તુ આજે મારો ન્યાય કરે છે કારણ કે મને વિશ્વાસ છે કે લોકો મૃત્યુમાંથી પુનરુંત્થાન પામશે!’”
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.24.22" />ફેલિકસ ઈસુના માર્ગ વિષે લગભગ ઘણું બધું સમજ્યો. તેણે ન્યાયનું કામ બંધ રખાવી અને કહ્યું, “જ્યારે સરદાર લુસિયાસ અહીં આવશે ત્યારે હું આ બાબતનો નિર્ણય કરીશ.”
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.24.23" />ફેલિકસે લશ્કરના અમલદારને પાઉલને રક્ષણમાં રાખવા કહ્યું. પણ તેણે અમલદારને થોડીક સ્વતંત્રતા આપવા કહ્યું. અને પાઉલના મિત્રોને પાઉલની જરુંરિયાતની વસ્તુઓ લાવી આપવાની છૂટ આપવા કહ્યું.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલનું ફેલિકસ અને તેની પત્નીને ઉદ્દબોધન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ACT.24.24" />થોડાક દિવસો પછી ફેલિકસ તેની પત્ની દ્રુંસિલા સાથે આવ્યો. તેણી એક યહૂદિ હતી. ફેલિકસે પાઉલને તેની પાસે લાવવા માટે કહ્યું. ફેલિકસે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ વિષેની પાઉલની વાતો ધ્યાનથી સાંભળી.
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.24.25" />જ્યારે પાઉલ ન્યાયી જીવન, સંયમ, અને ભવિષ્યમાં જે ન્યાય થશે જેવી વસ્તુઓ વિષે બોલ્યો, ત્યારે ફેલિકસને ડર લાગ્યો. ફેલિક્સે કહ્યું, “હવે તું જા, જ્યારે મારી પાસે વધારે સમય હશે ત્યારે હું તને બોલાવીશ.”
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.24.26" />પણ ફેલિકસ પાસે પાઉલની સાથે વાત કરવા બીજું એક કારણ હતું. ફેલિકસે આશા રાખી કે પાઉલ તેને લાંચ (પૈસા) આપશે. તેથી ફેલિક્સે પાઉલને વારંવાર બોલાવ્યો અને તેની સાથે વાત કરી.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.24.27" />પણ બે વરસ પછી પોર્કિયુસ ફેસ્તુસ હાકેમ બન્યો. તેથી ફેલિકસ લાંબો સમય હાકેમ ન રહ્યો. પરંતુ ફેલિક્સે પાઉલને બંદીખાનામાં નાખ્યો કારણ કે ફેલિકસ યહૂદિઓને ખુશ કરવા કંઈક કરવા ઇચ્છતો હતો.
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</p>

<c id="25" />
<s style="s">પાઉલની કૈસરને મળવાની ઈચ્છા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.25.1" />ફેસ્તુસ હાકેમ બન્યો, અને ત્રણ દિવસ પછી તે કૈસરિયાથી યરૂશાલેમ ગયો.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.25.2" />મુખ્ય યાજક અને મહત્વના યહૂદિ આગેવાનોએ ફેસ્તુસની આગળ પાઉલની વિરૂદ્ધ આક્ષેપો મૂક્યા.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.25.3" />તેઓએ ફેસ્તુસને તેઓના માટે કંઈક કરવા કહ્યું. તે યહૂદિઓ ઇચ્છતા હતા કે ફેસ્તુસ પાઉલને પાછો યરૂશાલેમ મોકલે. તેઓ પાસે પાઉલને રસ્તામાં જ મારી નાખવાની યોજના હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.25.4" />પરંતુ ફેસ્તુસે જવાબ આપ્યો, “ના! પાઉલને કૈસરિયામાં રાખવામાં આવશે. હું જલદીથી મારી જાતે કૈસરિયા જઈશ.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.25.5" />તમારા કેટલાએક આગેવાનોએ મારી સાથે જવું જોઈએ. જો તેણે ખરેખર કંઈક ખોટું કર્યું હોય તો તેઓ ત્યાં કૈસરિયામાં તે માણસ વિરૂદ્ધ તહોમત મૂકી શકે છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ACT.25.6" />ફેસ્તુસ યરૂશાલેમમાં આઠ કે દસ દિવસો રહ્યો. પછી તે કૈસરિયા પાછો ગયો. બીજે દિવસે ફેસ્તુસે સૈનિકોને તેની આગળ પાઉલને લાવવા માટે કહ્યું. ફેસ્તુસ ન્યાયાસન પર બેઠો હતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.25.7" />પાઉલ ઓરડામાં આવ્યો હતો. જે યહૂદિઓ યરૂશાલેમથી આવ્યાં હતા તેઓ તેની આજુબાજુ ઊભા, ઘણા ગંભીર આક્ષેપો તેની વિરૂદ્ધ મૂક્યા. પણ તેઓ આમાંનું કશું પણ સાબિત કરી શક્યા નહિ.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.25.8" />પાઉલે પોતાના બચાવ માટે જે કહ્યું તે આ છે. “મેં યહૂદિઓના નિયમ વિરૂદ્ધ, મંદિર વિરૂદ્ધ કે કૈસર વિરૂદ્ધ કશું ખોટું કર્યુ નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.25.9" />પરંતુ ફેસ્તસની ઈચ્છા યહૂદિઓને ખુશ કરવાની હતી. તેથી તેણે પાઉલને પૂછયું, “તારી ઈચ્છા યરૂશાલેમ જવાની છે? તું ઇચ્છે છેકે હું ત્યાં આ તહોમતો વિષે તારો ન્યાય કરું?”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ACT.25.10" />પાઉલે કહ્યું, “હમણાં હું કૈસરના ન્યાયાસન આગળ ઊભો છું. જ્યાં મારો ન્યાય થવો જોઈએ તે જ જગ્યા આ છે. મેં યહૂદિઓનું કશું ખોટું કર્યુ નથી. તમે જાણો છો આ સાચું છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.25.11" />જો કાયદો કહેતો હોય કે મારે મરી જવું જોઈએ, તો હું મરવા માટે સંમત છું. હું મૃત્યુમાંથી બચવા માટે કહેતો નથી. પણ જો આ તહોમતો સાચા ના હોય તો પછી મને કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આ યહૂદિઓને હવાલે કરી શકે નહિ, ના! હું મારો કેસ કૈસર સાંભળે એમ ઈચ્છું છું!”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.25.12" />ફેસ્તુસે આ બાબત વિષે તેના સલાહકારો સાથે વાત કરી. પછી તેણે કહ્યું, “તેથી તુ કૈસર પાસે જા અને તેને મળ!”
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<s style="s">હેરોદ અગ્રીપ આગળ પાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ACT.25.13" />થોડા દિવસો પછી અગ્રીપા રાજા અને બરનિકા ફેસ્તુસની મુલાકાતે કૈસરિયા આવ્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.25.14" />તેઓ ત્યાં ઘણા દિવસો રહ્યા. ફેસ્તુસે રાજાને પાઉલ સંબંધી કહ્યું, “ત્યાં એક માણસ છે જેને ફેલિકસે કારાવાસમાં પૂર્યો છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.25.15" />જ્યારે હું યરૂશાલેમ ગયો ત્યારે મુખ્ય યાજકોએ તથા યહૂદિઓના વડીલોએ ત્યાં તેની વિરૂદ્ધ તહોમતો મૂક્યા. આ યહૂદિઓ મને તેના મૃત્યુનો હૂકમ કરવા ઇચ્છતા હતા.
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.25.16" />પરંતુ મેં જવાબ આપ્યો. ‘જ્યારે કોઈ માણસ પર કંઈક ખોટું કરવાના તહોમતો મૂકવામાં આવે તો રોમનો બીજા લોકોને તે માણસનો ન્યાય કરવા માટે આપતા ન હતા. પ્રથમ તે માણસને જે માણસોએ તેની સામે ફરિયાદ કરી હોય તેનો સામનો કરવાની તક આપવી જોઈએ. અને તેને તેઓએ તેની વિરૂદ્ધ કરેલી ફરિયાદોનો બચાવ તેની જાતે કરવાની પરવાનગી પણ આપવી જોઈએ.’
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.25.17" />“તેથી આ યહૂદિઓ અહીં કૈસરિયા ન્યાય માટે આવ્યા. અને મેં સમય ગુમાવ્યો નહિ. બીજે દિવસે હું ન્યાયાસનની બેઠક પર બેઠો અને હુકમ કર્યો કે તે માણસને અંદર લાવવામાં આવે.
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.25.18" />યહૂદિઓ ઊભા થયા અને તેની સામે તહોમત મૂક્યું. પણ યહૂદિઓએ કોઇ ખરાબ ગુનાઓ વિષે ફરિયાદ કરી નહિ. હું ધારતો હતો કે તેઓ કરશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.25.19" />તેઓએ જે વાતો કહી, તે તેઓના પોતાના ધર્મ અને ઈસુ નામના માણસ વિષે હતી. ઈસુ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો છે છતાં પાઉલે દાવો કર્યો કે તે હજુય જીવે છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.25.20" />હું આ બાબત વિષે વધું જાણતો ન હતો. તેથી મેં પ્રશ્રો પૂછયા નહિ. પણ મેં પાઉલને પૂછયું, ‘તારી ઈચ્છા યરૂશાલેમમાં જઈને આ બાબતમાં ન્યાય કરવાની છે?’
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<v id="21" bcv="ACT.25.21" />પણ પાઉલે કૈસરિયામાં જ રાખવા માટે કહ્યું. તે પાદશાહ પાસેથી નિર્ણય ઇચ્છે છે. તેથી મેં હુકમ કર્યો કે જ્યાં સુધી હું તેને રોમમાં કૈસર પાસે ન મોકલી શકું ત્યાં સુધી તેને કેદમાં રાખવો.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ACT.25.22" />અગ્રીપાએ ફેસ્તુસને કહ્યું, “આ માણસને સાંભળવો મને પણ ગમશે.”
</p>
<p style="p">ફેસ્તુસે કહ્યું, “આવતીકાલે તું એને સાંભળી શકીશ!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ACT.25.23" />બીજે દિવસે અગ્રીપા અને બરનિકા દેખાયા. તેઓ ઘણા મહત્વના લોકો હોય તે રીતે વસ્ત્રો પરિધાન કરીને દબદબાથી ર્વત્યા. અગ્રીપા અને બરનિકા લશ્કરના અધિકારીઓ અને કૈસરિયાના મહત્વના લોકો ન્યાયાલય ખંડમાં ગયા. ફેસ્તુસે પાઉલને અંદર લાવવા સૈનિકોને હુકમ કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ACT.25.24" />ફેસ્તુસે કહ્યું, “રાજા અગ્રીપા અને તમે બધા લોકો અહી અમારી સાથે ભેગા થયા છો, તમે આ માણસને જુઓ છો. યરૂશાલેમના તથા અહીંના આ બધા યહૂદિ લોકોએ મને તેના વિષે ફરિયાદ કરી છે. જ્યારે તેઓએ તેના વિષે ફરિયાદ કરી ત્યારે તેઓએ પોકાર કર્યો કે, તેને મારી નાખવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.25.25" />મેં જ્યારે તેનો ન્યાય કર્યો. મને કંઈ ખોટું જણાયું નહી, મને તેને મોતનો હુકમ કરવા કોઈ કારણ જણાયું નહિ. પણ તેણે તેની જાણ તેની જાતે કરવા કહ્યું કે તેનો ન્યાય કૈસર વડે થવો જોઈએ. તેથી મેં તેને રોમ મોકલવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો.
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.25.26" />પણ મારી પાસે તેની વિરૂદ્ધ કૈસરને લખવા માટે કોઇ ચોક્કસ બાબત ન હતી તેથી હું તમારા બધાની આગળ ખાસ કરીને રાજા અગ્રીપા પાસે લાવ્યો છું. કારણ કે તેણે કંઈ ખોટું કર્યુ નથી. હું આશા રાખું છું કે તું તેને પ્રશ્ર કર અને મને કૈસરને કંઈક લખવા દે.
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<v id="27" bcv="ACT.25.27" />હું વિચારું છું કે બંદીવાનને કૈસર પાસે તેની વિરૂદ્ધ કોઇ જાતના આરોપો દર્શાવ્યા વિના મોકલવો તે મૂર્ખતા છે. મને એ અયોગ્ય લાગે છે.”
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</p>

<c id="26" />
<s style="s">અગ્રીપા સમક્ષ પાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.26.1" />અગ્રીપાએ પાઉલને કહ્યું, “તું હવે તારા બચાવમાં કહી શકે છે.” પછી પાઉલે તેનો હાથ ઊચો કર્યો અને બોલવાનું શરું કર્યુ.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.26.2" />તેણે કહ્યું, “હે રાજા અગ્રીપા, મારા વિરૂદ્ધ યહૂદિઓએ જે બધા આરોપો મૂક્યા છે તે બધાનો હું જવાબ આપીશ. હું માનું છું કે હું ભાગ્યશાળી છું કે આજે હું તમારી સમક્ષ અહી ઊભો રહીને આ કરીશ.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.26.3" />મને તારી સાથે વાત કરવાનો ઘણો આનંદ છે કારણ કે તમે બધા યહૂદિઓના રિવાજો તથા બાબતો જેના વિષે યહૂદિઓ દલીલો કરે છે તે વિષે તમે માહિતગાર છો. કૃપા કરીને ધીરજપૂર્વક મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ACT.26.4" />“બધાજ યહૂદિઓ મારા આખા જીવન વિષે જાણે છે. શરુંઆતથી મારા પોતાના દેશમાં અને પાછળથી યરૂશાલેમમાં હું જે રીતે જીવતો હતો તે તેઓ જાણે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.26.5" />આ યહૂદિઓ મને લાંબા સમયથી જાણે છે. જો તેઓ ઇચ્છે તો, તેઓ તેમને કહી શકશે કે, હું એક સારો ફરોશી હતો. અને ફરોશીઓ અમારા ધર્મના નિયમોનું પાલન, યહૂદિ લોકોના બીજા સમૂહો કરતાં વધારે કાળજીપૂર્વક કરે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.26.6" />હમણાં હું ન્યાય માટે ઊભો છું. કારણ કે દેવે જે વચન અમારા પૂર્વજોને આપ્યું હતું તેમા મને આશા છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ACT.26.7" />આ તે વચન છે કે આપણા લોકોની બાર જાતિઓ તે પ્રાપ્ત કરવાની આશા રાખે છે. આ આશૅંથી યહૂદિઓ રાત દિવસ દેવની સેવા કરે છે. મારા રાજા, યહૂદિઓએ મારા ઉપર તહોમત મૂક્યાં છે કારણ કે હું પણ એ જ વચનની આશા રાખું છું.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ACT.26.8" />શા માટે તમે લોકો વિચારો છો કે મૃત્યુ પામેલા લોકોને દેવ ઉઠાડે છે તે અસંભવિત છે?
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.26.9" />“જ્યારે હું એક ફરોશી હતો, ત્યારે મેં વિચાર્યુ હતું કે નાઝરેથના ઈસુના નામ વિરૂદ્ધ મારે ઘણું કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.26.10" />અને યરૂશાલેમમાં મેં વિશ્વાસીઓની વિરૂદ્ધ ઘણું કર્યુ. પ્રમુખ યાજકોએ મને આમાંના ઘણા લોકોને કારાવાસમાં પૂરવાનો અધિકાર આપ્યો હતો. જ્યારે ઈસુના શિષ્યોને મારી નાખવામાં આવતા હતા. હું સંમત થતો કે તે એક સારી બાબત હતી.
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.26.11" />પ્રત્યેક સભાસ્થાનમાં મેં તેઓને શિક્ષા કરી. મેં તેઓની પાસે ઈસુની વિરૂદ્ધમાં ખરાબ કહેવડાવવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. હું આ લોકોની વિરૂદ્ધ એટલો બધો ગુસ્સે થયો હતો કે મેં બીજા શહેરોમાં જઈને તેઓને શોધીને તેઓને ઇજા પહોંચાડી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુના દર્શન વિષે પાઉલનું કથન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ACT.26.12" />“એક વખતે મુખ્ય યાજકોએ મને દમસ્ક જવા માટેની સત્તા અને પરવાનગી આપી.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.26.13" />હું દમસ્કના માર્ગ પર હતો. હે રાજા! બપોરનો સમય હતો. મેં આકાશમાંથી પ્રકાશ જોયો. તે પ્રકાશ સૂર્યથી પણ વધારે તેજસ્વી હતો. તે તેજ મારી ચારે બાજુ અને જે માણસો મારી સાથે મુસાફરી કરતાં હતા તેઓના પર પ્રકાશ્યું.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.26.14" />અમે બધા જમીન પર પડી ગયા. પછી મેં એક વાણી યહૂદિ ભાષામાં સાંભળી. તે વાણીએ કહ્યું, ‘શાઉલ, શાઉલ તું મને કેમ સતાવે છે? મારી સાથે લડવામાં તું તારી જાતને જ નુકસાન કરી રહ્યો છે.’
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ACT.26.15" />“મેં કહ્યું, ‘પ્રભુ! તું કોણ છે?’
</p>
<p style="p">“પ્રભુએ કહ્યું, ‘હું ઈસુ છું. તું જેને સતાવે છે તે હું છું.
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<v id="16" bcv="ACT.26.16" />ઊભો થા! મારો સેવક થવા માટે મેં તને પસંદ કર્યો છે. તું મારો સાક્ષી થશે-તેં આજે મારા વિષે જોયું છે. અને પછી હું તને જે બતાવીશ તે તું લોકોને કહીશ. તેના કારણે હું આજે તારી પાસે આવ્યો છું.
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.26.17" />હું તારા પોતાના લોકોથી તને ઇજા થવા દઇશ નહિ. અને હું તારું બિનયહૂદિઓથી પણ રક્ષણ કરીશ. હું આ લોકો પાસે તને મોકલું છું.
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<v id="18" bcv="ACT.26.18" />તું તે લોકોને સત્ય બતાવ. લોકો અંધકારમાંથી અજવાળામાં પાછા ફરશે. પછી તેઓ શેતાનની સત્તામાંથી પાછા ફરી દેવ તરફ પાછા ફરશે. પછી તેઓના પાપ માફ કરવામાં આવશે. જે લોકો મારામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખીને પવિત્ર થયા છે તેઓ તેમાં ભાગીદાર થશે.’”
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલ તેના કાર્ય વિષે કહે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ACT.26.19" />પાઉલે બોલવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું: “રાજા અગ્રીપા, જ્યારે મેં આ આકાશી દર્શન જોયું, પછી મેં તેની આજ્ઞા માની.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.26.20" />મેં લોકોને કહેવાનું શરું કર્યુ. તેઓએ પસ્તાવો કરવો જોઈએ અને દેવ પાસે પાછા ફરવું જોઈએ. મેં તે લોકોને કહ્યું કે તેઓએ ખરેખર પસ્તાવો કર્યો છે તે દર્શાવવા તેવાં કામો કરવાં જોઈએ. મેં સર્વ પ્રથમ આ વસ્તુઓ દમસ્કના લોકોને કહી. પછી હું યરૂશાલેમના તથા યહૂદિઓના દરેક ભાગમાં ગયો અને આ વાતો ત્યાં લોકોને કહી અને બિનયહૂદિ લોકો પાસે પણ હું ગયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ACT.26.21" />“આ કારણથી જ યહૂદિઓએ મને પકડીને અને મંદિરમાં મારી નાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો હતો.
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<v id="22" bcv="ACT.26.22" />પણ દેવે મને મદદ કરી અને હજુ આજે પણ તે કરે છે. હું અહીં ઊભો છું કારણ કે મને દેવની મદદ મળી છે અને મેં જે કંઈ જોયું છે તે બધું લોકોને હું કહું છું. પણ હું કશું પણ નવું કહેતો નથી. મૂસાએ અને પ્રબાધકોએ કહ્યું છે કે તે થશે એ જ વાત હું કહું છું.
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.26.23" />તેઓએ કહ્યું છે કે ખ્રિસ્ત મૃત્યુ પામશે અને તે પ્રથમ જ મૃત્યુમાંથી પુનરુંત્થાન પામશે. મૂસાએ અને પ્રબાધકોએ કહ્યું છે કે ખ્રિસ્ત યહૂદિ લોકો અને બિનયહૂદિ લોકો માટે પ્રકાશ લાવશે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલનો અગ્રીપાને સમજાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ACT.26.24" />જ્યારે પાઉલ તેની જાતે બચાવમાં આ વાતો કહેતો હતો ત્યારે ફેસ્તુસે પોકાર કર્યો, “પાઉલ, તું ઘેલો છે! વધુ પડતી વિધાએ તને ઘેલો બનાવ્યો છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ACT.26.25" />પાઉલે કહ્યું, “નેકનામદાર ફેસ્તુસ, હું ઘેલો નથી. હું જે વાતો કહું છું તે સાચું છે. મારાં વચનો એ એક મૂર્ખ માણસનાં વચનો નથી. હું ગંભીર છું.
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.26.26" />રાજા અગ્રીપા આ વસ્તુઓ વિષે જાણે છે કે હું તેની સાથે મુક્ત રીતે વાત કરી શકું છું. હું જાણું છું કે તેણે આ બધી વાતો વિષે સાંભળ્યું છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે આ વાતો જ્યાં બધા લોકો જોઈ શકે ત્યાં બને છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="ACT.26.27" />રાજા અગ્રીપા, પ્રબોધકોએ જ લખ્યું છે તે વાતોમાં તને વિશ્વાસ છે? હું જાણું છું કે તું વિશ્વાસ કરે છે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ACT.26.28" />રાજા અગ્રીપાએ પાઉલને કહ્યું, “તું એમ વિચારે છે કે મને આટલી સહેલાઇથી ખ્રિસ્તી થવા માટે સમજાવી શકીશ?”
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<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="ACT.26.29" />પાઉલે કહ્યું, “એ બહુ મહત્વનું નથી કે તે સહેલું છે કે કઠિન છે, હું દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે માત્ર તું જ નહિ પરંતુ પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિત્ જે આજે મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે તેઓ બચાવાશે-મારે જે બેડીઓ છે તે સિવાય મારા જેવા થશે!”
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ACT.26.30" />રાજા અગ્રીપા, હાકેમ ફેસ્તુસ, બરનિકા, અને તેઓની સાથે બેઠેલા બધા લોકો ઊભા થઈ ગયા.
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<v id="31" bcv="ACT.26.31" />અને ખંડ છોડી ગયા. તેઓ એક બીજા સાથે વાતો કરતા હતા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આ માણસને દેહાંતદંડ કે કારાવાસમાં નાખવો જોઈએ નહિ, ખરેખર તેણે કંઈ ખોટું કર્યું નથી!”
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<v id="32" bcv="ACT.26.32" />અને અગ્રીપાએ ફેસ્તુસને કહ્યું, “જો તેણે કૈસર પાસે દાદ માંગી ના હોત તો આપણે આ માણસને જવા માટે મુક્ત કરી શક્યા હોત.”
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<s style="s">પાઉલની રોમની યાત્રા
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.27.1" />તે નિર્ણય કરવામાં આવ્યો કે આપણે ઇટાલી તરફ વહાણ હંકારવું. જુલિયસ નામનો લશ્કરી સૂબેદાર પાઉલ અને બીજા કેટલાએક બંદીવાનોની ચોકી કરતો હતો. જુલિયસ પાદશાહના સૈન્યમાં સેવા કરતો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.27.2" />અમે વહાણમાં બેઠા અને વિદાય થયા. વહાણ અદ્રમુત્તિયાના શહેરમાંથી આવ્યું હતું. અરિસ્તાર્ખસ અમારી સાથે હતો. તે મકદોનિયાના થેસ્સલોનિકા શહેરનો માણસ હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ACT.27.3" />બીજે દિવસે અમે સદોન શહેરમાં આવ્યા. જુલિયસ પાઉલ તરફ ઘણો સારો હતો. તેણે પાઉલને તેના મિત્રોની મુલાકાત લેવા જવાની છૂટ આપી. આ મિત્રો પાઉલની જરૂરિયાતોના કાળજી રાખતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.27.4" />અમે સિદોન છોડ્યું અને સૈપ્રસ ટાપુ નજીક વહાણ હંકારી ગયા કારણ કે પવન અમારી વિરૂદ્ધ ફૂંકાતો હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="ACT.27.5" />અમે કિલીકિયા અને પમ્ફુલિયા પાસેનો સમુદ્ધ ઓળંગ્યો. પછી અમે લૂકિયાના મૂરા શહેરમાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.27.6" />મૂરામાં લશ્કરના અમલદારને આલેકસાંદ્ધિયાના શહેરનું વહાણ મળ્યું. આ વહાણ ઈટાલી જતું હતું. તેથી તેણે અમને તેમાં બેસાડ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ACT.27.7" />અમે ઘણા દિવસો સુધી ધીમે ધીમે હંકાર્યુ. અમારા માટે કનિદસ પહોંચવું ઘણું કઠિન હતું. કારણ કે પવન અમારી વિરૂદ્ધ ફૂંકાતો હતો અમે તે રસ્તે જરાય આગળ જઈ શક્યા નહિ. તેથી અમે સાલ્મોનીની નજીક ક્રીતની ટાપુની દક્ષિણ બાજુએ હંકારી ગયા.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.27.8" />અમે કિનારે કિનારે હંકારી ગયા. પણ હંકારવું ઘણું કઠણ હતું. પછી અમે (સલામત બંદર) (સેફ હાબેર્સ) નામે ઓળખાતી જગ્યાએ આવ્યા. ત્યાં નજીકમાં લસૈયા શહેર છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ACT.27.9" />પણ અમે ઘણો સમય બગાડ્યો છે. હવે હંકારવું એ ઘણું ભયાનક હતું, કારણ કે યહૂદિઓના ઉપવાસનો દિવસ પછી લગભગ તેમ થયું હતું. તેથી પાઉલે તેમને ચેતવણી આપી.
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<v id="10" bcv="ACT.27.10" />“ભાઈઓ, હું જોઈ શકું છું કે આ સફરમાં ઘણી આફતો આવશે. વહાણ અને વહાણની અંદરની વસ્તુઓનો વિનાશ થશે. આપણા જીવો પણ જોખમમાં હશે!”
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<v id="11" bcv="ACT.27.11" />પરંતુ કપ્તાન અને વહાણના માલિકે પાઉલે જે કંઈ કહ્યું તે માન્યું નહિ અને લશ્કરના સૂબેદારે જે કપ્તાને અને વહાણના માલિકે કહ્યું તે માન્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.27.12" />અને તે બંદર શિયાળામાં વહાણોને રહેવા માટે સારી જગ્યા ન હતી. તેથી ઘણા માણસોએ નિર્ણય કર્યો કે વહાણે ત્યાંથી વિદાય થવું જોઈએ. તે માણસોને આશા હતી કે આપણે ફ્નિકસ જઈ શકીએ. વહાણ ત્યાં શિયાળામાં રહી શકે. (ફેનિકસ ક્રીત ટાપુ પર આવેલું શહેર હતું. અને તેને એક બંદર છે જેનું મુખ અગ્નિકોણ તથા ઇશાન ખૂણા તરફ છે.)
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<s style="s">તોફાન
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ACT.27.13" />પછી દક્ષિણ તરફથી સારો પવન ફૂંકાવાની શરૂઆત થઈ. વહાણ પરના માણસોએ વિચાર્યુ: “આપણે જોઈએ છે તે આ પવન છે. હવે તે આપણી પાસે છે!” તેથી તેઓએ લંગર ખેંચ્યું અને ક્રીત કિનારાની નજીક હંકારી ગયા.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.27.14" />પણ થોડા સમય પછી ઉત્તરપૂર્વીય (નોર્થ ઈસ્ટ-યુરાકુલોન) નામનો તોફાની પવન ટાપુ ઓળંગીને ધસી આવ્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.27.15" />વહાણ પવનમાં સપડાયું. અને દૂર ઘસડાઈ ગયુ. વહાણ પવનની વિરૂદ્ધમાં હંકારી શકાતું ન હતું. તેથી અમે પ્રયત્ન કરવાનો બંધ કર્યો અને પવનની સાથે ઘસડાવા દીધું.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ACT.27.16" />અમે કૌદા નામના એક નાના ટાપુ તરફ હંકારી ગયા. પછી અમે બચાવ હોડી લાવવામાં સાર્મથ્યવાન થયા. પણ તે કરવું ઘણું અધરું હતું.
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<v id="17" bcv="ACT.27.17" />માણસોના બચાવ હોડીને અંદર લાવ્યા બાદ તેઓએ વહાણને સાથે રાખવા વહાણની આજુબાજુ દોરડાં બાંધ્યા. તે માણસોને બીક હતી કે વહાણ સૂર્તિસના રેતીના કિનારા સાથે અથડાશે. તેથી તેઓએ સઢસામાન નીચે ઉતર્યા અને પવનથી વહાણને તણાવા દીધું.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ACT.27.18" />બીજે દિવસે અમારા તરફ એટલા જોરથી પવન ફૂંકાતો હતો કે માણસોએ વહાણમાંથી કેટલીક વસ્તુઓ બહાર ફેંકી દીધી.
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<v id="19" bcv="ACT.27.19" />એક દિવસ પછી તેઓએ વહાણનાં સાધનો પોતાના હાથે જ બહાર ફેંકી દીધા.
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<v id="20" bcv="ACT.27.20" />ઘણા દિવસો સુધી અમે સૂર્ય કે તારાઓ જોઈ શક્યા નહિ. તોફાન ઘણું ખરાબ હતું. અમે જીવતા રહેવાની બધી આશા ગુમાવી હતી. અમે વિચાર્યુ અમે મરી જઈશું.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ACT.27.21" />તે માણસોએ ઘણા દિવસો સુધી કંઈ ખાધું નહિ. પછી એક દિવસ પાઉલ તેઓની આગળ ઊભો રહ્યો અને બોલ્યો, “માણસો, મેં તમને ક્રીત નહિ છોડવાનું કહ્યું હતું. તમે મને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ્યો હોત તો પછી તમને આ બધું નુકસાન અને ખોટ થાત નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="ACT.27.22" />પણ હવે હું તમને ખુશી થવા કહું છું. તમારામાંનો કોઈ મૃત્યુ પામશે નહિ. પણ વહાણનો નાશ થશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="ACT.27.23" />ગઇ રાત્રે દેવ તરફથી એક દેવદૂત મારી પાસે આવ્યો. હું જેની ભક્તિ કરું છું તે દેવ આ છે. હું તેનો છું.
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<v id="24" bcv="ACT.27.24" />દેવના દૂતે કહ્યું, ‘પાઉલ, ગભરાઈશ નહિ! તારે કૈસરની સામે ઊભા રહેવાનું જ છે. અને દેવે આ વચન આપ્યું છે. તે તારી સાથે વહાણમાં હંકારતા હશે તે બધા લોકોની જીંદગી તારે ખાતર બચાવશે અને તારે ખાતર તે પેલા લોકોનું જીવન પણ બચાવશે જે તારી સાથે વહાણ હંકારે છે.’
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<v id="25" bcv="ACT.27.25" />તેથી માનવબંધુઓ પ્રસન્ન થાઓ! મને દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ છે. તેના દૂતે કહ્યું તે મુજબ જ બધું બનશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="ACT.27.26" />પણ આપણે એક બેટ પર અથડાવું પડશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.27.27" />ચૌદમી રાત આવી ત્યારે અમે આંદ્રિયા સમુદ્રમાં આમ તેમ તરતા હતા. ખલાસીઓને લાગ્યું આપણે જમીનના નજીક છીએ.
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<v id="28" bcv="ACT.27.28" />તેઓએ દોરડાને છેડે વજન લટકાવીને પાણીની અંદર ફેંક્યા. તેઓએ જોયું દરિયાની ઊડાઈ 120 ફૂટ હતી. તેઓ થોડા આગળ ગયા અને ફરીથી દોરડા નાખ્યા તો ત્યાં 90 ફૂટ ઊડાઈ હતી.
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<v id="29" bcv="ACT.27.29" />ખલાસીઓને ભય હતો કે આપણે ખડકો સાથે અથડાઇશું. તેથી તેઓએ ચાર લંગર વહાણના પાછલા ભાગમાંથી પાણીમાં નાખ્યા. પછી તેઓ દિવસનો પ્રકાશ આવે તે માટે પ્રાર્થના કરવા લાગ્યા.
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<v id="30" bcv="ACT.27.30" />કેટલાએક ખલાસીઓની ઈચ્છા વહાણ છોડીને જવાની હતી. તેઓએ (જીવનરક્ષા) મછવો પાણીમાં ઉતાર્યો. ખલાસીઓ બીજા માણસો વિચારે એમ ઈચ્છતા હતા. કે તેઓ વહાણની સામેથી વધારે લંગર નાખતા હતા.
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<v id="31" bcv="ACT.27.31" />પણ પાઉલે લશ્કરના સૂબેદાર અને બીજા સૈનિકોને કહ્યું, “જો આ લોકો વહાણમાં નહિ રહે તો પછી તેઓને બચાવાશે નહિ!”
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<v id="32" bcv="ACT.27.32" />તેથી સૈનિકોએ દોરડાં કાપી નાખ્યા અને જીવનરક્ષા મછવાને પાણીમાં છોડી દીધું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="ACT.27.33" />જ્યારે અમે દિવસ ઉગવાની રાહ જોતા હતા ત્યારે પાઉલે બધા લોકોને કંઈક ખાવા માટે સમજાવવાની શરૂઆત કરી. તેણે કહ્યું, “ગયા બે અઠવાડિયાથી તમે ભૂખ્યા રહીને રાહ જોઈ છે. તમે 14 દિવસ સુધી ખાધું નથી.
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<v id="34" bcv="ACT.27.34" />હું તમને હવે વિનંતી કરું છું કે, તમે કંઈક ખાઓ. પછી તેણે આ કહ્યું. તમારે જીવતા રહેવા માટે આ તમારા માટે જરુંરી છે. તમારામાંના કોઈના માથાનો એક વાળ પણ ખરવાનો નથી,”
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<v id="35" bcv="ACT.27.35" />પાઉલે કેટલીક રોટલી લીધી તેઓના બધાની સમક્ષ દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી. તેણે એક ટુકડો તોડ્યો અને ખાવાની શરૂઆત કરી.
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<v id="36" bcv="ACT.27.36" />બધા લોકોને વધારે સારું લાગ્યું. તેઓ બધાએ પણ ખાવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ.
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<v id="37" bcv="ACT.27.37" />(ત્યાં વહાણમાં 276 લોકો હતા.)
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<v id="38" bcv="ACT.27.38" />અમે અમારી ઈચ્છા મુજબ અમે બધું ખાધું. પછી અમે વહાણને હલકું કરવા સમુદ્રમાં અનાજ નાખવાનું શરૂ કર્યુ.
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</p>
<s style="s">વહાણનો વિનાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="ACT.27.39" />જ્યારે દિવસનો પ્રકાશ આવ્યો ત્યારે ખલાસીઓએ જમીન જોઈ. પણ તેઓએ તે જમીન ક્યાંની હતી તે ખબર ન હતી. તેઓએ (રેતીના) કાંઠાવાળી ખાડી જોઈ. ખલાસીઓની ઈચ્છા, જો તેઓ કરી શકે તો વહાણને કિનારા સુધી હંકારવાની હતી.
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<v id="40" bcv="ACT.27.40" />તેથી તેઓએ સુકાનને પકડી રાખવા દોરડાં અને લંગરો સમુદ્રમાં નાખ્યા. પછી તેઓએ તે સાથે દોરડાં પણ ઢીલા કરી દીધાં. સામેનો સઢ પવન તરફ ચઢાવી દીધો અને કિનારા તરફ હંકાર્યુ.
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<v id="41" bcv="ACT.27.41" />પણ વહાણ ત્યાં રેતીના કિનારા સાથે અથડાયું. વહાણનો આગળનો ભાગ ત્યાં ચોટી ગયો. તે વહાણ હાલી શક્યું નહિ. પછી મોટા મોજાંઓએ વહાણના પાછળના ભાગના ટૂકડા કરવાનું શરું કર્યુ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="ACT.27.42" />સૈનિકોએ કેદીઓને મારી નાખવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો, જેથી કોઈ પણ કેદી તરીને દૂર ભાગી શકે નહિ.
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<v id="43" bcv="ACT.27.43" />પરંતુ લશ્કરી સૂબેદાર પાઉલને જીવતો રાખવા ઈચ્છતો હતો. તેથી તેણે સૈનિકોને કેદીઓને મારી નાખવાની પરવાનગી આપી નહિ. જુલિયસે જે લોકો તરવા માટે પાણીમાં કૂદકો મારી જમીન સુધી તરી જઈ શકે તેમ હોય તેને પ્રથમ તેમ કરવા કહ્યું.
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<v id="44" bcv="ACT.27.44" />બીજા લોકોએ વહાણના પાટિયાં કે ટુકડાઓનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો અને આ રીતે બધા લોકો જમીન પર ઉતર્યા. તે લોકોમાંથી કોઇનું મૃત્યુ થયું નહિ.
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</p>

<c id="28" />
<s style="s">પાઉલ માલ્ટાના ટાપુ પર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ACT.28.1" />જ્યારે અમે જમીન પર સલામત હતા અમે જાણ્યું કે ટાપુ માલ્ટા કહેવાતો હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="ACT.28.2" />તે વખતે વરસાદ વરસતો હતો અને ખૂબ ઠંડી હતી. પણ જે લોકો ત્યાં રહેતા હતા તે અમારા પ્રત્યે ઘણા સારા હતા. તેઓએ અમારા માટે અગ્નિ સળગાવ્યો અને અમારા બધાનું સ્વાગત કર્યુ.
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<v id="3" bcv="ACT.28.3" />પાઉલે આગ માટે થોડીક સૂકી લાકડીઓ ભેગી કરી. પાઉલ તે અગ્નિમાં લાકડા નાખતો હતો ત્યારે ગરમીને કારણે એક ઝેરી સાપ બહાર આવ્યો અને પાઉલના હાથે કરડ્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="ACT.28.4" />ટાપુ પર લોકોએ પાઉલના હાથ પર સાપને લટકતો જોયો. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “આ માણસ એક ખૂની હોવો જોઈએ. તે સમુદ્ધમાં મૃત્યુ પામ્યો નહિ, પણ ન્યાય તેને જીવતો રહેવા દેવા ઈચ્છતો નથી.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ACT.28.5" />પણ પાઉલે તે સાપને અજ્ઞિમાં ઝટકી નાખ્યો. પાઉલને કોઇ ઇજા થઈ નહિં.
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<v id="6" bcv="ACT.28.6" />લોકો ધારતા હતા કે પાઉલને સોજો ચડશે અથવા તો એકાએક પડીને મરી જશે. લોકોએ રાહ જોઈ અને લાંબા સમય સુધી ધ્યાનથી જોયું. પણ તેનું કંઈ જ ખોટું થયું નહિ. તેથી લોકોએ તેમના પાઉલ વિષેના અભિપ્રાય બદલ્યા. તેઓએ કહ્યું, “તે એક દેવ છે!”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ACT.28.7" />ત્યાં તે જ પ્રદેશમાં કેટલાએક ખેતરો હતા. તે ટાપુ પરનો એક મહત્વનો માણસ આ ખેતરોનો માલિક હતો. તેનું નામ પબ્લિયુસ હતું. તેણે તેના ઘરમાં અમારું સ્વાગત કર્યુ. પબ્લિયુસ મારા માટે ઘણો સારો હતો. અમે તેના ઘરમાં ઘણા દિવસ રહ્યા.
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<v id="8" bcv="ACT.28.8" />પબ્લિયુસનો પિતા ઘણો બિમાર હતા. તે તાવને લીધે પથારીવશ હતો. તેને મરડો થયો હતો. પરંતુ પાઉલ તેની પાસે ગયો અને તેના માટે પ્રાર્થના કરી. પાઉલે તેના હાથો તે માણસના માથા પર મૂક્યા અને તેને સાજો કર્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="ACT.28.9" />આ બનાવ પછી ટાપુ પરના લોકો જેઓ બિમાર હતા તેઓ પાઉલ પાસે આવ્યા. પાઉલે તેઓને પણ સાજા કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10-11" bcv="ACT.28.10" />ટાપુ ઉપરના લોકોએ અમને ઘણા માન સાથે ઘણી ભેટો આપી. ત્યાં અમે ત્રણ માસ રહ્યા. જ્યારે અમે વિદાય થવા તૈયાર થયા, લોકોએ અમને અમારી જરુંરી વસ્તુઓ આપી.
</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલનું રોમમાં ગમન
</s>
<p style="p">અમે આલેકસાંદ્રિયા શહેરમાંથી એક વહાણમાં બેઠા. તે વહાણ શિયાળાના સમય દરમ્યાન માલ્ટા ટાપુ પર રહ્યુ. વહાણની સામે દિયોસ્કુરીની નિશાની હતી.
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<v id="12" bcv="ACT.28.12" />અમે સુરાકુસમાં આવ્યા ત્યાં સુરાકુસમાં ત્રણ દિવસ રહ્યા અને પછી વિદાય થયા.
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<v id="13" bcv="ACT.28.13" />અમે રેગિયુમ શહેરમાં આવી પહોંચ્યા. બીજે દિવસે દક્ષિણમાંથી પવન ફૂંકાવાની શરુંઆત થઈ. તેથી અમે વિદાય થવા સાર્મથ્યવાન થયા. એક દિવસ પછી અમે પુત્યોલી શહેરમાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="14" bcv="ACT.28.14" />અમને ત્યાં કેટલાએક વિશ્વાસીઓ મળ્યા. તેઓએ પોતાની સાથે એક અઠવાડિયું રહેવા માટે કહ્યું. આખરે અમે રોમ આવ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="ACT.28.15" />રોમના વિશ્વાસીઓએ જાણ્યું કે અમે અહી હતા. તેઓ અમને આપિયસના બજારમાં અને ત્રણ ધર્મશાળાઓમાં મળવા માટે સામા આવ્યા. જ્યારે પાઉલે આ વિશ્વાસીઓને જોયા, તેને વધારે સારું લાગ્યું. પાઉલે દેવનો આભાર માન્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">રોમમાં પાઉલ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ACT.28.16" />પછી અમે રોમ ગયા. રોમમાં પાઉલને એકલા રહેવાની છૂટ મળી. પણ એક સૈનિક તેની ચોકી માટે પાઉલની સાથે રહ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ACT.28.17" />ત્રણ દિવસ પછી પાઉલને કેટલાએક મહત્વના યહૂદિઓના મુખ્ય માણસોને ભેગા બોલાવ્યા. જ્યારે તેઓ ભેગા થયા. પાઉલે કહ્યું, “મારા યહૂદિ ભાઈઓ, મેં આપણા લોકોની વિરૂદ્ધ કશું જ કર્યુ નથી. મેં આપણા પૂર્વજોના રિવાજો વિરૂદ્ધ પણ કંઈ કર્યુ નથી. પરંતુ મને યરૂશાલેમમાં પકડીને રોમનોને હવાલે કરવામાં આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ACT.28.18" />તે રોમનોએ મને ઘણા પ્રશ્રો પૂછયા. પરંતુ તેઓએ કયા કારણે મને મરણદંડ માટે યોગ્ય ગણવા તે માટે તેઓ કોઇ કારણ શોધી શક્યા નથી. તેથી તેઓ મને મુક્ત કરી દેવા ઇચ્છતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ACT.28.19" />પણ ત્યાંના યહૂદિઓને તે જોઈતું ન હતું. તેથી મેં મારા ન્યાય માટે વાંધો ઊઠાવ્યો અને કૈસર આગળ રોમમાં આવવા માટે કહેવું પડ્યું. પરંતુ હું એમ કહેતો નથી કે મારા લોકોએ કાંઇક ખોટું કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="ACT.28.20" />તે કારણે હું તમને મળવા અને તમારી સાથે વાત કરવા ઇચ્છતો હતો. હું આ સાંકળોથી બંધાયેલો છું કારણ કે મને ઇસ્ત્રાએલની આશામાં વિશ્વાસ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ACT.28.21" />યહૂદિઓએ જવાબ આપ્યો, “અમને યહૂદિઓમાંથી તારા વિષે કોઇ પત્ર મળ્યો નથી. જે યહૂદિ ભાઈઓ ત્યાંથી મુસાફરી કરીને આવ્યા છે તેમાંના કોઇ તારા વિષેના સમાચાર લાવ્યા નથી કે અમને તારા વિષે કંઈ ખરાબ કહ્યું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="ACT.28.22" />અમને તારા વિચારો સાંભળવાની ઈચ્છા છે. અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે બધી જ જગ્યાએ લોકો આ સમૂહની વિરૂદ્ધ બોલે છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ACT.28.23" />પાઉલે અને યહૂદિઓએ સભા માટે એક દિવસ પસંદ કર્યો. તે દિવસે એ યહૂદિઓના ઘણા લોકો પાઉલની પાસે તેના ઉતારામાં આવ્યા. પાઉલ આખો દિવસ તેમની સમક્ષ બોલ્યો. પાઉલે તેમને દેવના રાજ્યની સમજણ આપી. પાઉલે ઈસુ વિષેની વાતોમાં વિશ્વાસ કરવા તેઓને સમજાવવા માટે પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. તેણે મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર અને પ્રબોધકોના ધર્મશાસ્ત્રનો ઉપયોગ આ કરવા માટે કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ACT.28.24" />કેટલાએક યહૂદિઓએ પાઉલે કહેલી વાતોમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો, પણ બીજાઓએ તેમાં વિશ્વાસ ન કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ACT.28.25" />તેઓ દલીલ કરતા હતા. યહૂદિઓ જવા તૈયાર હતા, પણ પાઉલે તેમને એક વધારાની બાબત કહીં, “પવિત્ર આત્માએ યશાયા પ્રબોધક દ્ધારા તમારા પૂર્વજોને સત્ય કહ્યું છે. તેણે કહ્યું,
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="26" bcv="ACT.28.26" />‘આ લોકો પાસે જાઓ અને તેઓને કહો:
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે સમજી શકશો નહિ!
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે જોશો અને તમે જોયા કરશો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તમે જે જુઓ છો તે સમજી શકશો નહિ!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="ACT.28.27" />હા, આ લોકોના મન નબળા થઈ ગયા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આ લોકોને કાન છે, પણ તેઓ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળતા નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આ લોકો સત્ય જોવાની ના પાડે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આમ બન્યું છે તેથી તેઓ તેઓની પોતાની આંખો વડે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ જોઈ શક્તા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓના કાનોથી સાંભળે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓના મનથી સમજે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આમ બન્યું છે તેથી તેઓ મારી પાસે તેઓના સાજા થવા માટે પણ આવશે નહિ.’
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.6.9">યશાયા 6:9-10</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ACT.28.28" />“હે યહૂદિઓ, હું તમને જણાવવા ઈચ્છું છું કે દેવે બિનયહૂદિ લોકો માટે તેનું તારણ મોકલ્યું છે. તેઓ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળશે!”
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<v id="29" bcv="ACT.28.29" />“પાઉલે આ વાતો કહી ત્યાર પછી, યહૂદિઓ ચાલ્યા ગયા. તેઓ માંહોમાંહે ઘણો વાદવિવાદ કરતા હતા.”
<f caller="+"><fr>28:29
</fr><ft>કેટલીક પૂરાણી પ્રેરિતાનાં કૃત્યોની નકલોમાં કલમ 29 ઉમેરેવામાં આવી છે.</ft></f>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ACT.28.30" />પાઉલ પોતાના ભાડાના ઘરમાં પૂરાં બે વરસ રહ્યો. જેઓ તેને મળવા ત્યાં આવતા હતા. તે બધા લોકોનો તેણે આદરસત્કાર કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="ACT.28.31" />પાઉલે દેવના રાજ્ય વિષેનો બોધ આપ્યો. તેણે પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત વિષે શીખવ્યું. તે ઘણો બહાદૂર હતો, અને કોઇએ તેને બોલતાં અટકાવવા પ્રયત્ન કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="ROM"><id id="ROM">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>રોમનો
</h><toc level="1">રોમનોને પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">રોમનો
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">રોમનોને પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.1.1" />બધા લોકોને દેવની સુવાર્તા સંભળાવવા હું પસંદગી પામેલ છું.
</p>
<p style="p">દેવે મને એક પ્રેરિત થવા બોલાવ્યો છે. એવા ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુના દાસ પાઉલ તરફથી કુશળતા હો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="ROM.1.2" />તેના લોકોને આ સુવાર્તા આપવાનું વચન દેવે તેના પ્રબોધકો મારફતે આપ્યું હતું. પવિત્ર શાસ્ત્રમાં આ વચન લખેલું છે.
<ve />
<v id="3-4" bcv="ROM.1.3" />આ સુવાર્તા આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત વિષે છે કે જે દેવનો દીકરો છે, જો કે એક વ્યક્તિ તરીકે તેનો જન્મ દાઉદના કુટુંબમાં થયો હતો. પવિત્ર આત્માના પ્રતાપે મૂએલામાંથી પાછા ઉઠવાના પરાક્રમથી તેને દેવનો દીકરો જાહેર કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ROM.1.5" />દેવે ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા, તેના પ્રેરિત બનવાનું આ ખાસ મહત્વનું કામ મને સોંપ્યું છે. બધા દેશોના લોકો દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખીને તેની આજ્ઞા પાળે એવું માર્ગદર્શન આપવાનું કામ દેવે મને આપ્યું છે. ખ્રિસ્ત માટે આ કાર્ય હું કરી રહ્યો છું.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ROM.1.6" />હે રોમવાસીઓ, તમે પણ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના થવા માટે તેડાયેલાં છો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ROM.1.7" />તમે તે લોકો છો જેઓને દેવ ચાહે છે અને પોતાના પવિત્ર લોકો થવા માટે તમને બોલાવ્યા છે. એવા તમ સર્વ લોકોને હું આ પત્ર લખું છું.
</p>
<p style="p">આપણા પિતા દેવથી અને પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તથી તમને કૃપા અને શાંતિ થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આભારસ્તુતિની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ROM.1.8" />ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા હું દેવનો તમારા સર્વને માટે આભાર માનું છું. તમે રોમવાસીઓ પણ દેવમાં અસીમ વિશ્વાસ ધરાવો છો એવું કહેતા ઘણા લોકોને મેં સાંભળ્યા છે. તેથી દેવનો આભાર માનું છું.
<ve />
<v id="9-10" bcv="ROM.1.9" />જ્યારે જ્યારે હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું ત્યારે ત્યારે તમને યાદ કરું છું. દેવ જાણે છે કે આ વાત સાચી છે. દેવના દીકરા વિષેની સુવાર્તા લોકોમાં ફેલાવીને મારા આત્મા સાથે દેવની સેવા કરું છું. તમો સર્વ રોમવાસીઓ વચ્ચે પ્રભુ મને આવવા દે એવી મારી પ્રાર્થના છે. દેવની ઈચ્છા હશે તો એમ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ROM.1.11" />તમ સૌને મળવાનું મને ઘણું મન થાય છે. હું તમને કોઈ આત્મિક દાન આપીને વધારે સાર્મથ્યવાન બનાવવા ઈચ્છું છું.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ROM.1.12" />હું એમ કહેવા માગું છું કે આપણને જેમાં વિશ્વાસ છે તેના વડે આપણે એકબીજાને મદદ કરી શકીએ છીએ. તમારો વિશ્વાસ મને મદદ કરશે, અને મારો વિશ્વાસ તમને.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ROM.1.13" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમારા આધ્યાત્મિક વિકાસમાં મદદરૂપ થવા માટે તમારી પાસે આવવા અનેકવાર મેં તૈયારીઓ કરી હતી. પરંતુ મને આવવા દીધો નથી, એની નોંધ લેવા વિનંતી. જેમ બીજા બિન-યહૂદિ લોકોને મેં જે રીતે મદદ કરી છે. તે રીતે તમને પણ મદદ કરવાની મારી ઈચ્છા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ROM.1.14" />ગ્રીક લોકો તથા બિન-ગ્રીક લોકો, શાણા તેમ જ મૂર્ખ લોકો કે જે સૌની સેવા મારે કરવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ROM.1.15" />તેથી જ રોમના લોકોને દેવની આ સુવાર્તા પહોંચાડવા હું અત્યંત આતુર છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ROM.1.16" />આ સુવાર્તા માટે હું ગર્વ અનુભવું છું. આ સુવાર્તા એવા સાર્મથ્યની છે, જેનો ઉપયોગ દેવ એવા લોકોને બચાવવા માટે કરે છે જેઓ વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે. સૌ પ્રથમ યહૂદિઓને પછી બિન-યહૂદિઓને.
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<v id="17" bcv="ROM.1.17" />દેવ લોકોને પોતાની સાથે કેવી રીતે ન્યાયી બનાવે છે તે દર્શાવવાનો આ સુવાર્તાનો હેતુ છે. આની શરૂઆત વિશ્વાસથી થાય છે અને તેનો અંત પણ વિશ્વાસથી જ થાય છે. શાસ્ત્રમાં કહ્યું છે તેમ, “દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખીને જે વ્યક્તિ ન્યાયી થશે તે અનંતકાળ સુધી જીવશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>1:17
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ હબા. 2:4</xt></x>
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</p>
<s style="s">સઘળા પાપી છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ROM.1.18" />સત્ય જાણ્યાં છતાં પણ લોકો અનિષ્ટ જીવન જીવે છે. તેથી આવા લોકો કે જે સત્ય ધર્મનો ત્યાગ કરીને અનિષ્ટ અને ખોટા કર્મો કરતા હોય તેમના પર સ્વર્ગમાંથી દેવનો કોપ ઉતરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ROM.1.19" />દેવ પોતાનો કોપ વ્યક્ત કરે છે, કારણ કે તેના વિષે જે કંઈ જાણી શકાય તે બધુંજ તેઓ જાણે છે. કેમ કે દેવે જ તે તેમની આગળ પ્રગટ કર્યુ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ROM.1.20" />દેવની બાબતમાં કેટલીક વસ્તુઓ એવી છે જે જોઈ ન શકાય તેવી છે. જેમ કે દેવનું સનાતન પરાક્રમ અને એવા અન્ય બધા જ ગુણો કે જે તેને દેવ બનાવે છે. પરંતુ આ જગતનો પ્રારંભ થયો ત્યારથી એ બધી બાબતો ઘણી સરળતાથી લોકો સમજી શકે એમ છે. દેવે જે વસ્તુઓનું સર્જન કર્યું છે, એનું દર્શન કરીને દેવ વિષેની આ બાબતો લોકો સરળતાથી સમજી શકે છે. તેથી લોકો જે ખરાબ કાર્યો કરી રહ્યાં છે તેના પાપામાંથી છટકવા કોઈ પણ બહાનું ચાલશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ROM.1.21" />આમ, દેવ વિષે સઘળું જાણ્યા પછી પણ તેઓએ દેવને મહિમા આપ્યો નહિ અને તેનો આભાર માન્યો નહિ. લોકોના વિચારોનું અધ:પતન થયું. તેમના મૂર્ખ મનમાં પાપરુંપી અંધકાર છવાઈ ગયો.
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<v id="22" bcv="ROM.1.22" />લોકોએ જ્ઞાની હોવાનો દાવો કર્યો. પરંતુ તેઓ તેમની જાતે મૂર્ખ બન્યા.
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<v id="23" bcv="ROM.1.23" />અવિનાશી દેવના મહિમાને બદલે, પૃથ્વી પરના માનવો જેવી મૂર્તિઓ બનાવીને લોકો તેની ભક્તિ કરવા લાગ્યા. પશુ, પક્ષી અને નાગો જેવી વસ્તુઓ દ્વારા લોકો દેવના મહિમાનો વેપાર કરવા લાગ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="ROM.1.24" />માત્ર અનિષ્ટ કાર્યો કરવાની ઈચ્છાને કારણે લોકોનું જીવન આમ પાપમય બની ગયું. તેથી દેવે તેઓને ત્યાગ કર્યો અને તેઓને મન ફાવે તેમ પાપના માર્ગે ચાલવા દીધા. લોકોએ નૈતિક અપવિત્રતાના કાર્યોમાં રોકાઈને પાપ કર્યા અને તેઓના શરીરનું અપમાન કર્યુ.
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<v id="25" bcv="ROM.1.25" />દેવ વિષેના સત્યનો અનાદર કરીને એ લોકોએ અસત્યનો વેપાર ચલાવ્યો. જેણે દરેક વસ્તુઓનું સર્જન કર્યુ તે દેવની સેવા-ભક્તિ કરવાને બદલે એ લોકો દેવ ર્સજીત ભૌતિક વસ્તુઓની ભક્તિ તથા ઉપાસના કરવા લાગ્યા ખરેખર તો લોકોએ ઉત્પન્નકર્તાની સર્વકાળ સ્તુતિ કરવી. આમીન.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ROM.1.26" />લોકોએ એવાં પાપી કાર્યો કર્યા તેથી, દેવે તેમને તરછોડી દીધા અને તેઓની ઈચ્છા મુજબ તેઓને શરમજનક મનોવિકારમાં રાખ્યા. પુરુંષો સાથે સ્વાભાવિક રીતે લગ્ન સબંધ માણવાનું સ્ત્રીઓએ બંધ કર્યુ. તેને બદલે અન્ય સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે સ્ત્રીઓ અસ્વાભાવિક વ્યવહાર કરવા લાગી.
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<v id="27" bcv="ROM.1.27" />એ જ પ્રમાણે, સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે સ્વાભાવિક લગ્ન સંબંધ ભોગવવાને બદલે પુરુંષો પણ એકબીજા સાથેની સજાતીય ઈચ્છાથી બળવા લાગ્યા. આમ પુરુંષો એકબીજા સાથે શરમજનક વ્યવહાર કરવા લાગ્યા. તેથી આવા અયોગ્ય વ્યવહારને કારણે તેઓને પોતાની ભૂલનું યોગ્ય ફળ પોતાને શરીરે ભોગવવું પડ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ROM.1.28" />દેવ વિશે સાચું જ્ઞાન મેળવવું એ જ મહત્વની બાબત છે એમ લોકો સમજી શક્યા નહિ. તેથી દેવે આવા લોકોનો ત્યાગ કર્યો અને તેઓને નક્કામા અને અવિચારી માર્ગે જવા દીઘા. જે ન કરવું જોઈએ એવું લોકો કરતા આવ્યા છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="ROM.1.29" />સ્વાર્થ, ધિક્કાર, અનિષ્ટ એમ દરેક પ્રકારનાં પાપ વડે એ લોકોનું જીવન ભરપૂર જણાય છે. એકબીજા માટે ખરાબમાં ખરાબ વિચારો ધરાવતા આ લોકોમાં ઈર્ષ્યા, ખૂન, ઝઘડા, જૂઠ્ઠાણું (છેતરપીંડી) વગેરે અનેક અનિષ્ટ પાપોએ પ્રવેશ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="ROM.1.30" />તેઓ એકબીજા વિષે નિંદા કર્યો કરે છે. તેઓ આ રીતે દેવને પણ ધિક્કારે છે. તેઓ ઉદ્ધત અને મિથ્યાભિમાની છે અને પોતાના વિષે બડાશો માર્યા કરે છે. અનિષ્ટ કરવાના નવા નવા માર્ગો તેઓ શોધી કાઢે છે. તેઓ પોતાના મા-બાપની આજ્ઞા પણ પાળતા નથી.
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<v id="31" bcv="ROM.1.31" />તેઓ મૂર્ખ છે, તેમનાં વચન પાળતા નથી, અને તેઓ બીજા લોકો પ્રત્યે દયા, મમતા, ભલાઈ દર્શાવતા નથી.
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<v id="32" bcv="ROM.1.32" />તેઓ સારી રીતે જાણે છે કે જે આવું કરે છે તે દેવના નિયમ મુજબ મૃત્યુને લાયક છે. તેમ છતાં પોતાની જાતે તેઓ આવા કાર્યો કરવાનું ચાલુ જ રાખે છે. એટલું જ નહિ પણ તેઓ જેમને આ રીતે વર્તતા જુએ છે તેઓને પણ ઉત્તેજન આપે છે.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">તમે યહૂદિઓ પણ પાપી છો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.2.1" />જો તમે એમ માનતા હો કે તમે બીજા લોકોનો ન્યાય કરી શકો છો, તે એ તમારી ભૂલ છે. તમે પોતે પણ પાપથી અપરાધી થયેલા છો. તમે બીજા લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરો છો. પરંતુ તેઓની માફક તમે પણ ખરાબ કર્મો કરવામાં રચ્યાપચ્યા રહો છો. બીજા લોકોને અપરાધી સિદ્ધ કરવાની પ્રવૃતિ કરીને ખરેખર તો તમે પોતે અપરાધી ઠરો છો.
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<v id="2" bcv="ROM.2.2" />જે લોકો ખરાબ કર્મો કરે છે, તેમનો ન્યાય કરનાર તો દેવ છે અને આપણે જાણીએ છીએ તેમ દેવનો ન્યાય સાચો હોય છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ROM.2.3" />જે લોકો ખોટાં કર્મો કરે છે તેમનો ન્યાય તમે કરો છો પરંતુ એવાં અનિષ્ટ કાર્યો તમે પોતે પણ કરો જ છો. તેથી આ વાત બરાબર ખાતરીપૂર્વક સમજી લેશો કે દેવ તમારો પણ ન્યાય કરશે. તમે એમાંથી છટકી શકવાના નથી.
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<v id="4" bcv="ROM.2.4" />દેવ તો હંમેશા તમારા પર ભલાઈ કરતો રહ્યો છે અને તમારા જીવનમાં પરિવર્તન આવે એની ધીરજપૂર્વક રાહ જોઈ રહ્યો છે. પરંતુ દેવની આ ભલાઈની તમને તો કઈ પડી જ નથી. પસ્તાવો થાય એ માટે દેવની કૃપા હંમેશા તમારા પર વરસતી હોય છે. એ તમે કદાચ સમજતા જ નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ROM.2.5" />પરંતુ તમે લોકો કઠણ અને હઠાગ્રહી છો. જીવનમાં પરિવર્તન પામવાની વાતને તમે ઘસીને ના પાડી દો છો. આ રીતે, દેવ તમને જે શિક્ષા ફરમાવશે એમાં તમે વધુ ઉમેરો કરતા જાઓ છો. ન્યાયના દિવસે દેવ જ્યારે પોતાનો કોપ પ્રગટ કરશે ત્યારે તમને યોગ્ય શિક્ષા (દંડ) મળશે; અને તે દિવસે દેવના સાચા ન્યાયનો લોકોને અનુભવ થશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ROM.2.6" />દરેક વ્યક્તિને તેનાં કાર્યો અનુસાર દેવ તેને યોગ્ય રીતે શિક્ષા કરશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ROM.2.7" />કેટલાક લોકો તો જાણે કે દેવના મહિમા માટે જ જીવતા હોય છે. તેઓ પોતાની સારી પ્રતિષ્ઠાનું જતન કરતાં અવિનાશી જીવન જીવી જાય છે. હંમેશા તેઓ સતત સારાં કામો કરવા સારું પોતાનું જીવન જીવતા હોય છે. દેવ એવા લોકોને અનંતજીવન આપશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="ROM.2.8" />પરંતુ બીજા કેટલાએક લોકો સ્વાર્થી હોય છે અને સત્યનો માર્ગ સ્વીકારવાનો ઈન્કાર કરી દે છે. અનિષ્ટને અનુસરનારા લોકોને દેવનો કોપ અને શિક્ષા વહોરવી પડશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ROM.2.9" />સૌ પ્રથમ યહૂદિઓને અને પછી બિન-યહૂદિઓને એમ જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ખરાબ કામો કરશે તેને દેવ દુ:ખો અને યાતનાઓ આપશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="ROM.2.10" />પરંતુ સારાં કામો કરનાર દરેક વ્યક્તિને દેવ મહિમા, માન અને શાંતિ આપશે-ભલે પછી તે યહૂદિ હોય કે બિન-યહૂદિ.
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<v id="11" bcv="ROM.2.11" />કોઈ પણ જાતના ભેદભાવ વગર એક સમાન ધોરણે દેવ સર્વનો ન્યાય કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ROM.2.12" />જે લોકો પાસે મૂસાનું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર<f caller="+"><ft>નિયમશાસ્ત્ર મૂસાએ દેવના જે નીતિ નિયમો લોકોને સમજાવ્યા હતા તે.</ft></f> છે અને એવા લોકો કે જેઓએ નિયમશાસ્ત્ર સાંભળ્યું નથી. તેઓ બધા જ જ્યારે પાપ કરે છે ત્યારે એક સમાન કક્ષાએ આવી જાય છે. જે લોકો પાસે નિયમશાસ્ત્ર નથી અને જે પાપીઓ છે તેઓ નાશ પામશે. અને જે લોકો પાસે નિયમશાસ્ત્ર છે અને તેઓ પાપી છે તેઓનો ન્યાય નિયમથી થશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="ROM.2.13" />આ નિયમશાસ્ત્ર માત્ર સાંભળી લેવાથી દેવની નજરે ન્યાયી થવાશે નહિ. એ નિયમશાસ્ત્ર પ્રમાણે જે લોકો આજ્ઞા પાળે છે તે દેવની સાથે નિયમ મુજબ ન્યાયી ઠરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ROM.2.14" />બિનયહૂદિ લોકો પાસે નિયમશાસ્ત્ર હોતુ નથી, નિયમશાસ્ત્ર જાણ્યા વગર પણ પોતાની સ્વતંત્ર બુદ્ધિ વડે નિયમ મુજબ તેઓ વર્તે છે. જો કે તેઓને નિયમ મળ્યો નથી છતાં તેઓ તેમની જાત માટે નિયમરૂપ છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ROM.2.15" />તેઓ તેમના હૃદયમાં તે બતાવે છે. નિયમની અપેક્ષા મુજબ સાચું શું છે અને ખોટું શું છે તે તેઓના કામ દેખાડી આપે છે. જ્યારે તેઓ ખોટું કરે છે ત્યારે તેમના વિચારો તેમને કહે છે કે તેઓએ ખોટું કર્યુ છે, અને તેઓ ગુનેગારની લાગણી અનુભવે છે. કેટલીક વાર તર્ક બુદ્ધિથી એમને લાગે કે એમણે જે કઈ કર્યુ છે તે યોગ્ય છે ત્યારે તેઓ અપરાધ ભાવનાથી પીડાતા નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ROM.2.16" />જે દિવસે દેવ ન્યાય ચૂકવશે ત્યારે લોકોના હૃદયમાં છુપાયેલી ગુપ્ત વાતો બહાર આવશે. હું જે સુવાર્તાનો ઉપદેશ આપું છું તે કહે છે. દેવ, ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ દ્વારા લોકોનો ન્યાય કરશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">યહૂદિઓ અને નિયમશાસ્ત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ROM.2.17" />પાઉલ યહૂદિઓને કહે છે: તમારા વિષે શું કહેવું, શું માનવું? તમે તો યહૂદિ હોવાનો દાવો કરો છો. નિયમના આધારે તમે દેવની નજીક હોવાનું અભિમાન ધરાવો છો.
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<v id="18" bcv="ROM.2.18" />દેવ તમારી પાસે કેવી અપેક્ષા રાખે છે તે તમે સારી રીતે જાણો છો. જે બાબતો અગત્યની છે તે પણ તમે જાણો જ છો કારણ કે નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં તમે તેવું શીખ્યા છો.
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<v id="19" bcv="ROM.2.19" />તમે માનો છો કે જે લોકો સાચો માર્ગ જાણતા નથી, તેઓના માર્ગદર્શક તમે છો. જે લોકો અંધકારમાં છે તેમના માટે પ્રકાશરૂપ તમે છો.
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<v id="20" bcv="ROM.2.20" />તમે એમ ધારો છો કે મૂર્ખ માણસોને સાચો માર્ગ તમે બતાવી શકશો જે લોકોને હજી પણ શીખવાની જરૂર છે તેમના શિક્ષક તમે છો એમ તમે માનો છો. નિયમ શીખવાથી તમે વિચારો છો કે તમે બધું જ જાણો છો અને સર્વ સત્ય તમારી પાસે જ છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="ROM.2.21" />તમે બીજા લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપો છો, તો પછી તમારી જાતને ઉપદેશ કેમ આપતા નથી? તમે લોકોને કહો છો કે ચોરી ન કરવી, પરંતુ તમે પોતે જ ચોરી કરો છો.
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<v id="22" bcv="ROM.2.22" />તમો લોકોને કહો છો કે વ્યભિચારનું પાપ ન જ કરવું જોઈએ, પરંતુ તમે પોતે એ પાપના અપરાધી છો. તમે મૂર્તિ-પૂજાને ધિક્કારો છો, પરંતુ મંદિરોને લૂટો છો.
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<v id="23" bcv="ROM.2.23" />દેવના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું જ્ઞાન હોવાની તમે બડાશો મારો છો પરંતુ નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરીને તમે દેવને શરમાવો છો.
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<v id="24" bcv="ROM.2.24" />શાસ્ત્રોમાં લખેલું છે કે: “તમારા કારણે બિનયયહૂદિઓમાં દેવના નામની નિંદા થાય છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ROM.2.25" />જો તમે નિયમનું પાલન કરતા હોય તો જ સુન્નત કરાવી સાર્થક ગણાય. પરંતુ જો તમે નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરતા હશો તો તમે સુન્નત કરાવી જ નથી એમ ગણાશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="ROM.2.26" />બિનયહૂદિયો સુન્નત કરાવતા નથી. છતાં નિયમો જે માંગે છે, તે પ્રમાણે કરતા હોય તો તેમણે સુન્નત કરાવી છે એમ મનાશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="ROM.2.27" />યહૂદિ લોકો પાસે તો દેવનું લેખિત નિયમશાસ્ત્ર છે અને તમે તો સુન્નત કરાવી છે. છતાં પણ તમે નિયમનો ભંગ કરતા જ રહો છો. તેથી એવા લોકો કે જેમણે શારીરિક દૃષ્ટિએ સુન્નત કરાવી નથી. છતાં દેવ-આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરે છે, તેઓનું જીવન એ બતાવે છે તમે લોકો અપરાધી છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ROM.2.28" />સાચા યહૂદિ હોવું એ માત્ર સાદી સરળ બાહ્ય નિશાનીઓની બાબત નથી. અને સાચી સુન્નત તો શારીરિક નિશાની કરતાં વધારે છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="ROM.2.29" />જે વ્યક્તિ પોતાના અંત:કરણમાં યહૂદિ હશે તે જ સાચો યહૂદિ ગણાશે. સાચી સુન્નત તો પવિત્ર આત્માથી કરાવાની હોય છે, લેખિત નિયમ વડે થતી સુન્નત સાચી નથી. અને જ્યારે આત્મા દ્વારા કોઈ વ્યક્તિના હૃદયની સુન્નત થાય છે, ત્યારે લોકો તેની પ્રશંસા કરતા નથી પરંતુ દેવ તરફથી તેમના પ્રશંસા કરતા નથી પરંતુ દેવ તરફથી તેમની પ્રશંસા પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે.
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<c id="3" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.3.1" />તો શું યહૂદિયો પાસે એવું કઈ વિશિષ્ટ છે કે જે અન્ય લોકો પાસે નથી? સુન્નત શું કોઈ વિશિષ્ટ લાભ આપે છે?
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<v id="2" bcv="ROM.3.2" />હા, યહૂદિઓને અનેક વિશિષ્ટ લાભો છે. સૌથી અગત્યની વાત એ છે કે બીજા લોકોને બદલે દેવે યહૂદિઓમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો અને તેઓને ઉપદેશ આપ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="ROM.3.3" />જો કે એ સાચું છે કે કેટલાએક યહૂદિઓ દેવને વિશ્વાસુ ન રહ્યા. પરંતુ શું એ કારણે દેવે જે વચન આપ્યા છે તે એ પૂર્ણ નહિ કરે?
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<v id="4" bcv="ROM.3.4" />ના! જગતના બધા જ લોકો ભલે જૂઠા સાબિત થાય. તો પણ દેવ તો સાચો જ ઠરે. શાસ્ત્રોમાં કહ્યું છે તેમ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તારા વચનો સત્ય સાબિત થશે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા ન્યાયમાં તું હંમેશા વિજયવંત થઈશ.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.51.4">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 51:4</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ROM.3.5" />જ્યારે આપણે ખોટું કરીએ છીએ ત્યારે, તે સ્પષ્ટતાથી દર્શાવે છે કે દેવ સાચો છે. જો આ બાબત હોય તો પછી આપણે કહી શકીએ કે આપણને શિક્ષા કરવી તે દેવ માટે અયોગ્ય છે? (હું માણસોની રૂઢિ પ્રમાણે બોલું છું.)
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<v id="6" bcv="ROM.3.6" />ના! જો દેવ આપણને શિક્ષા ન કરે તો, પછી તે દુનિયાનો ન્યાય કરી શકશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ROM.3.7" />કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આવી દલીલ કરી શકે? “જો હું જૂઠ્ઠુ બોલું, તો તેનાથી દેવની કીર્તિ વધશે, કેમકે મારું અસત્ય દેવના સત્યને પ્રગટ કરશે. તો પછી શા માટે મને પાપી ઠેરવો છો?”
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<v id="8" bcv="ROM.3.8" />કેટલાએક લોકો એવો દાવો કરે છે કે આમ કહેવું એ એમ કહેવા બરાબર છે કે, “આપણે અનિષ્ટ કરવું જોઈએ જેથી સારું થાય.” આગમન થાય તે રીતે ખોટા દાવાઓ કરીને લોકો અમારા પર આરોપ મૂકે છે, કે અમે એ રીતે ઉપદેશ આપીએ છીએ કે જે લોકો ખોટા દાવા કરે છે તે ખોટા છે ને દેવે તેમને શિક્ષા કરવી જોઈએ.
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</p>
<s style="s">સઘળાએ પાપ કર્યુ છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ROM.3.9" />તો શું આપણે યહૂદિઓ બીજા લોકો કરતાં વધારે સારા છીએ? ના! અમે તો માત્ર હમણા જ આક્ષેપ કર્યો કે બધા જ લોકો યહૂદિઓ-બિનયહૂદિયો સૌ પાપની સત્તા હેઠળ છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="ROM.3.10" />શાસ્ત્રોમાં કહ્યું છે તેમ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“પાપ કર્યુ ના હોય એવી કોઈ વ્યક્તિ નથી, એક પણ નથી! શાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યાં પ્રમાણે કોઈ ન્યાયી નથી.
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</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="11" bcv="ROM.3.11" />એવું કોઈ નથી જે સમજે. એવું કોઈ નથી જે ખરેખર દેવ સાથે રહેવા ઈચ્છતું હોય.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="ROM.3.12" />સૌ લોકો દેવથી દૂર ભટકી ગયા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ બધાએ પોતાની યોગ્યતા ગુમાવી છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ સત્કર્મ આચરતી જણાતી નથી. એક પણ નહિ!”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.14.1">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 14:1-3</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="ROM.3.13" />“લોકોનું મોં ખુલ્લી કબરો જેવું છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓની જીભો જૂઠ્ઠું બોલી રહી છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.5.9">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 5:9</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ઝેર ઓકતા સર્પોની જેમ તેઓ કડવી વાણી બોલતા ફરે છે;”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.140.3">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 140:3</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="ROM.3.14" />“તેઓનું મોં કડવાશ અને શ્રાપથી ભરેલું છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.10.7">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 10:7</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="ROM.3.15" />“બીજા લોકોને ઈજા કરવા અને મારી નાખવા લોકો હંમેશા તત્પર હોય છે;
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</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="16" bcv="ROM.3.16" />તેઓ જ્યાં જ્યાં જાય છે ત્યાં વિનાશ નોતરે છે અને દુ:ખો ફેલાવે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="ROM.3.17" />લોકોને શાંતિનો માર્ગ સૂઝતો જ નથી.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.59.7">યશાયા 59:7-8</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="ROM.3.18" />“તેઓને દેવ પ્રત્યે આદર કે ડર નથી.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.36.1">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 36:1</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ROM.3.19" />જાણીએ છીએ કે નિયમશાસ્ત્ર જે કહે છે તે બાબતો એવા માણસોને સંબોધીને કહેવામાં આવી છે કે જેઓ નિયમ હેઠળ છે. આ બાબત તેમને કોઈ પણ બહાના કાઢતા અટકાવે છે. તેથી આખું વિશ્વ દેવના ચુકાદા સામે ઉઘાડું પડી જશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ROM.3.20" />શા માટે? કારણ કે નિયમશાસ્ત્ર જે ઈચ્છે છે તેના પાલન વડે કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ દેવ આગળ ન્યાયી ઠરી શકે નહિ કારણ નિયમશાસ્ત્ર આપણને માત્ર આપણા પાપોથી સભાન કરે છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">કઈ રીતે દેવ લોકોને ઉદ્ધાર યોગ્ય બનાવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ROM.3.21" />નિયમશાસ્ત્ર વિના લોકોને સાચા બનાવવા માટે હવે દેવ પાસે એક નવો માર્ગ છે. અને એ નવો માર્ગ દેવે આપણને બતાવ્યો છે. જૂના કરારે અને પ્રબોધકોએ આપણને આ નવા માર્ગ વિષે અગાઉ કહેલું જ છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="ROM.3.22" />ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં જે લોકો વિશ્વાસ રાખશે તેમના ઉદ્ધાર માટે દેવ તેમને ન્યાયી બનાવશે. જે લોકો ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસુ છે, એવા સૌ લોકોનો ઉદ્ધાર દેવ કરશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="ROM.3.23" />સઘળાએ પાપ કર્યુ છે તેથી દેવના મહિમા વિષે સઘળા અધૂરા છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="ROM.3.24" />દેવની કૃપાથી લોકોને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી બનાવાય છે. અને તે વિનામૂલ્ય ભેટ છે. ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત જે આપણને પાપમાંથી મુક્ત કરે છે તેના દ્વારા આ પરિપૂર્ણ થાય છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="ROM.3.25" />દેવે ઈસુને એવા માર્ગ તરીકે આપ્યો જેનાથી વિશ્વાસ દ્વારા લોકોના પાપોને માફી મળી છે. દેવ ઈસુના રક્ત દ્વારા માફ કરે છે. આના દ્વારા દેવે દર્શાવ્યું કે તે ન્યાયી હતો. જ્યારે ભૂતકાળમાં થયેલા લોકોનાં પાપોને તેની સહનશીલતાને લીધે તેણે દરગુજર કર્યા.
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<v id="26" bcv="ROM.3.26" />અને હવે આપણી વચ્ચે ઈસુને મોકલીને દેવ એ બતાવવા માગે છે કે દેવ જે કરે છે તે સત્ય છે. દેવે આમ કર્યુ જેથી તે ન્યાયોચિત ન્યાય આપતી વખતે ઈસુમાં જેને વિશ્વાસ છે તેને તે જ સમયે ન્યાયી ઠરાવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="ROM.3.27" />તો પછી પોતાના માટે વડાઈ કરવાનું ક્યાં રહ્યું? તેનું સ્થાન નથી. નિયમશાસ્ત્ર જે કામની અપેક્ષા રાખે છે તેને અનુસરવાથી નહિ પણ વિશ્વાસના માર્ગે કે જેમાં વડાઈનો સમાવેશ થયેલ નથી.
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<v id="28" bcv="ROM.3.28" />તો એવું કેમ હશે? કારણ કે આપણે માનીએ છીએ કે નિયમ મુજબ મનુષ્યો જે કઈ કરે છે તેને લીધે નહિ, પરંતુ દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ દ્વારા જ દેવ આપણને ઉદ્ધારને યોગ્ય બનાવે છે. લોકો નિયમશાસ્ત્રની કરણીઓથી નહિ પણ વિશ્વાસથી ન્યાયી ઠરે છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="ROM.3.29" />માત્ર યહૂદિઓનો જ દેવ નથી, બિન-યહૂદિઓનો પણ તે દેવ છે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="ROM.3.30" />દેવ માત્ર એક જ છે અને તે યહૂદિઓને તેમજ બિનયહૂદિઓને એમના વિશ્વાસના આધારે ન્યાયી ઠરાવશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="ROM.3.31" />તેથી આપણે વિશ્વાસના માર્ગને અનુસરવાથી, નિયમશાસ્ત્રથી દૂર રહીને કાર્ય કરતા નથી. ના! તેને બદલે અમે તો નિયમશાસ્ત્રને તેનું યોગ્ય સ્થાન આપીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">ઈબ્રાહિમનું દૃષ્ટાંત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.4.1" />તો આપણા લોકોના પૂર્વજ ઈબ્રાહિમ વિષે આપણે શું કહી શકીએ છીએ? વિશ્વાસ વિષે તેઓ શું શીખ્યા?
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<v id="2" bcv="ROM.4.2" />જે કામો ઈબ્રાહિમે કર્યા એનાથી જ દેવે તેને ન્યાયી ઠરાવ્યો હોત તો તેને બડાશ મારવાનું બહાનું મળી જાત. પરંતુ ઈબ્રાહિમ દેવ આગળ બડાશ મારી શક્યો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ROM.4.3" />ધર્મશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે: “ઈબ્રાહિમ દેવમાં માનતો હતો. અને દેવે તેના વિશ્વાસનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો. તે વિશ્વાસે ઈબ્રાહિમને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી ઠરાવ્યો.”<x caller="+"><xo>4:3 </xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 15:6</xt></x>
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ROM.4.4" />જ્યારે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કામ કરે છે, ત્યારે એને આપવામાં આવતો પગાર બક્ષિસ તરીકે અપાતો નથી. તે જે પગાર મળે છે તે તેનાં કામની કમાણી છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ROM.4.5" />પરંતુ મનુષ્ય એવું કોઈ પણ કામ કરી શકતો નથી કે જે તેને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી ઠરાવી શકે. તેથી તે માણસે દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખવોજ જોઈએ. પછી જ દેવ તે વ્યક્તિના વિશ્વાસનો સ્વીકાર કરે છે અને તે વિશ્વાસ તેને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી ઠરાવે છે. દેવ એક છે જે અધર્મીને પણ ન્યાયી બનાવે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ROM.4.6" />દાઉદે આ જ વાત કહી છે. દાઉદે કહ્યું છે કે કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ કેવાં કેવાં કામો કર્યા છે એ જોયા વગર દેવ જ્યારે તેને એક સારા માણસ તરીકે સ્વીકારી લે છે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="ROM.4.7" />“તેને ધન્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે લોકોના અપરાધો માફ કરાય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓનાં પાપો ઢંકાઈ જાય છે, તેઓને ધન્ય છે!
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="ROM.4.8" />અને જ્યારે પ્રભુ કોઈ વ્યક્તિને લેખે પાપ નહિ ગણીને સ્વીકારી લે છે ત્યારે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે માણસને ધન્ય છે!”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.32.1">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 32:1-2</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ROM.4.9" />તો શું જે યહૂદિઓએ સુન્નત કરાવી છે તેઓને જ આ આનંદની અનુભૂતિ થાય છે? કે પછી, જેમણે સુન્નત કરાવી નથી એમને પણ એવો આનંદ પ્રાપ્ત થશે? એટલા માટે મેં અગાઉથી કહ્યું છે કે દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમના વિશ્વાસને સ્વીકાર્યો અને તે વિશ્વાસે જ તેને દેવ પ્રાપ્તિ માટે ન્યાયી ઠરાવ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="ROM.4.10" />તો આ કેવી રીતે થયું? ઈબ્રાહિમે તેની સુન્નત કરાવી તે પહેલા કે ત્યાર પછી દેવે તેનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો? તેની સુન્નત પહેલા જ દેવે તેને સ્વીકારી લીધો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ROM.4.11" />ઈબ્રાહિમ જ્યારે સુન્નત વગરનો હતો ત્યારે તે વિશ્વાસના માર્ગે દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી થયો હતો. તે સાબિત કરવા માટે પાછળથી તેણે સુન્નત કરાવી. આ રીતે ઈબ્રાહિમ જે બધા લોકોએ સુન્નત નથી કરાવી તેના પૂર્વજ છે તેથી દેવે આ લોકોને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી હોવાની માન્યતા આપી છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="ROM.4.12" />જે લોકોની સુન્નત કરવામાં આવી છે તેમનો પૂર્વજ પણ ઈબ્રાહિમ જ છે. માત્ર તેઓની સુન્નતને કારણે ઈબ્રાહિમને પિતાનું સ્થાન મળ્યું નથી. આપણા પૂર્વજ ઈબ્રાહિમ સુન્નત પહેલા જે વિશ્વાસ ઘરાવતો હતો, એવું વિશ્વાસભર્યુ જીવન જો તેઓ જીવે તો જ ઈબ્રાહિમ તેમનો પિતા ગણાય.
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<s style="s">વિશ્વાસથી દેવની કૃપા પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ROM.4.13" />ઈબ્રાહિમ અને તેના વંશજોને નિયમના પાલનથી નહિ પણ વિશ્વાસથી દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી ઠરાવ્યા હતા. તેથી દેવનું વચન મળ્યું કે આખી દુનિયાની સમૃદ્ધિ અને સુખ તેને વારસામાં મળે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ROM.4.14" />દેવના વચન પ્રમાણે ધર્મશાસ્ત્રને અનુસરવાથી જ જો લોકોને બધું વારસામાં મળી જતું હોય, તો પછી વિશ્વાસનું કોઈ મૂલ્ય નથી. અને એ રીતે ઈબ્રાહિમને મળેલું વચન પણ નિરર્થક છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ROM.4.15" />શા માટે? કેમ કે નિયમનું લક્ષણ એ છે કે જ્યારે તેનું પાલન કરવામાં આવતું નથી, ત્યારે દેવનો કોપ ઉતરે છે. પરંતુ જો નિયમનું અસ્તિત્વ જ ન હોય તો, તેનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરવાનો પ્રશ્ન ઉપસ્થિત થતો જ નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ROM.4.16" />આમ લોકો દેવનું વચન વિશ્વાસ દ્વારા મેળવે છે. દેવે વિશ્વાસનો માર્ગ સૂચવ્યો છે, તેથી તે સઘળાંને વિનામૂલ્યે ભેટ તરીકે આપી શકાય. તેથી ઈબ્રાહિમના બધા વંશજોને દેવનું વચન વિનામૂલ્ય ભેટ છે. તે એમ નથી કે દેવની કૃપા માત્ર નિયમ પ્રમાણે જીવનારા માટે જ છે. કોઈ પણ માણસ કે જે ઈબ્રાહિમના જેમ વિશ્વાસથી જીવે છે તેને પણ વચન મળી શકે છે. ઈબ્રાહિમ આપણા સૌને પૂર્વજ છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ROM.4.17" />શાસ્ત્રોમાં લખેલું છે એ પ્રમાણે, “મેં તને અનેક પ્રજાઓનો પિતા બનાવ્યો છે.”<x caller="+"><xo>4:17
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 17:5</xt></x> દેવની સાક્ષીએ આ વાત સત્ય છે. ઈબ્રાહિમે દેવ પર વિશ્વાસ કર્યો તે દેવ કે જે મૂએલાઓને સજીવન કરે છે, અને જે વસ્તુઓ કે ઘટનાઓ હજી સુધી બની નથી તેને પ્રગટ કરનાર છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ROM.4.18" />ઈબ્રાહિમને ત્યાં બાળકો થાય એવી કોઈ આશા ન હતી. પરંતુ ઈબ્રાહિમને દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ હતો, અને આશા સેવવાનું તેણે ચાલુ રાખ્યું. તેથી જ તો ઘણી પ્રજાઓનો તે પૂર્વજ થયો. દેવે તેને કહ્યું હતું, “તને ઘણાં વંશજો મળશે.”
<x caller="+"><xo>4:18
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 15:5</xt></x>
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<v id="19" bcv="ROM.4.19" />ઈબ્રાહિમ જ્યારે લગભગ સો વર્ષનો થયો, ત્યારે તે બાળકોના પિતા બનવાની ઉંમર વિતાવી ચૂક્યો હતો. વળી, તેણે આ જાણ્યું કે સારા ને બાળકો થાય એવી કોઈ શક્યતા ન હતી. તે પોતાના દૃઢ વિશ્વાસમાંથી જરા પણ ડગ્યો નહિ.
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<v id="20" bcv="ROM.4.20" />દેવનું વચન ધ્યાનમાં રાખીને તેણે અવિશ્વાસથી સંદેહ આણ્યો નહિ પણ દેવનો મહિમા કર્યો અને ધીમે ધીમે તેનો વિશ્વાસ દૃઢ બનતો ગયો. તેણે હંમેશા દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી.
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<v id="21" bcv="ROM.4.21" />ઈબ્રાહિમને મનમાં ખાતરી હતી જ કે દેવે જે વચન આપ્યું છે તે પરિપૂર્ણ કરવા દેવ સંપૂર્ણપણે સમર્થ છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="ROM.4.22" />તો આમ, “દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમના વિશ્વાસનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો અને એ વિશ્વાસે જ ઈબ્રાહિમને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી બનાવ્યો.”<x caller="+"><xo>4:22
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 15:6</xt></x>
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<v id="23" bcv="ROM.4.23" />(“તેને ન્યાયી ગણવામાં આવ્યો.”) એ શબ્દો માત્ર ઈબ્રાહિમ માટે જ લખવામાં આવ્યા ન હતા.
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<v id="24" bcv="ROM.4.24" />પણ આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુને મરણમાંથી સજીવન કરનાર દેવ પર જેઓ વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેઓને માટે પણ એ જ શબ્દો લખેલા છે. અને આપણે તે દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ કરીએ છીએ.
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<v id="25" bcv="ROM.4.25" />આપણા પાપોને લીધે ઈસુને મરણને સ્વાધીન કરવામાં આવ્યો, અને આપણે દેવની સાથે ન્યાયી થઈએ તે માટે તેને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠાડવામાં આવ્યો.
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<s style="s">દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.5.1" />આપણા વિશ્વાસને કારણે આપણે દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી થયા છીએ. તેથી, આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા દેવ સાથે આપણો સુલેહ-શાંતિનો સંબંધ સ્થાપિત થયો છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="ROM.5.2" />હાલમાં આપણે જે આનંદ અનુભવીએ છીએ તે કૃપામાં વિશ્વાસ દ્વારા ઈસુએ આપણને આપ્યો છે. આપણે દેવના મહિમામાં ભાગીદાર થઈશું તે આશા માટે આપણને ગર્વ છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ROM.5.3" />આ બાબતમાં જે કઈ વિપત્તિઓ છે તેનો આપણે સ્વીકાર કરેલો જ છે. આપણે આ વિપત્તિઓને આનંદપૂર્વક શા માટે સ્વીકારીએ છીએ? કારણ કે આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે આ વિપત્તિઓ, જ આપણને વધારે ધીરજવાન બનાવે છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="ROM.5.4" />આપણી ધીરજ, એ આપણી દૃઢ મક્કમતાની સાબિતી છે. આ સાબિતી આપણને આશા આપે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ROM.5.5" />આ આશા આપણને કદી પણ નિરાશ નહિ કરે એ કદી પણ નિષ્ફળ નહિ જાય. એમ શા કારણે? કેમ કે દેવે આપણા હૃદયમાં તેનો પ્રેમ વહેવડાવ્યો છે. “પવિત્ર આત્મા” દ્વારા દેવે આપણને આ પ્રેમ અર્પણ કર્યો છે. દેવ તરફથી ભેટરૂપે એ “પવિત્ર આત્મા” આપણને પ્રાપ્ત થયો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ROM.5.6" />ખ્રિસ્તના રક્તથી આપણે દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી થયા છીએ. આપણે જ્યારે ખૂબ નિર્બળ હતા ત્યારે આપણા માટે ખ્રિસ્ત મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. આપણે દેવથી વિમુખ જીવન જીવી રહ્યા હતા, ત્યારે યોગ્ય સમયે ખ્રિસ્ત આપણા વતી મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="ROM.5.7" />બીજો કોઈ માણસ ગમે એટલો સારો હોય તો પણ એનું જીવન બચાવી લેવા કોઈ મરી જાય એવી વ્યક્તિ ભાગ્યે જ જોવા મળે. કોઈ માણસ બહુજ સારો હોય તો તેના માટે બીજો કોઈ માણસ કદાચ મરવા તૈયાર થઈ જાય.
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<v id="8" bcv="ROM.5.8" />પરંતુ આપણે જ્યારે પાપી હતા, ત્યારે આપણા વતી ખ્રિસ્ત મરણ પામ્યો. દેવ આપણા પર પુષ્કળ પ્રેમ કરે છે, એ વાત દેવે આ રીતે દર્શાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ROM.5.9" />ખ્રિસ્તના રક્ત દ્વારા આપણે દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી થયા. આમ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા જ દેવના કોપથી આપણે ચોક્કસ બચી જઈશું.
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<v id="10" bcv="ROM.5.10" />હું એમ કહેવા માંગુ છું કે જ્યારે આપણે દેવથી વિમૂખ હતા, ત્યારે દેવે પોતાના દીકરાના મૃત્યુ દ્વારા આપણને મિત્રતા બક્ષી. જ્યારે હવે આપણે દેવના મિત્રો છીએ ત્યારે તે આપણને સૌને તેના દીકરાના જીવન દ્વારા બચાવશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="ROM.5.11" />હાલમાં આપણે જે આનંદ અનુભવીએ છીએ તે કૃપામાં વિશ્વાસ દ્વારા ઈસુએ આપણને આપ્યો છે. આપણે દેવના મહિમામાં ભાગીદાર થઈશું તે આશા માટે આપણને આનંદ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">આદમ અને ખ્રિસ્ત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ROM.5.12" />એક માણસના (આદમના) લીધે આ જગતમાં પાપ પેઠું. પાપ દ્વારા મૃત્યુ પણ આવ્યું. આ જ કારણે સૌ લોકોને મરવું જ પડશે-કેમકે સઘળાએ પાપ કર્યું છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="ROM.5.13" />મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્ર અગાઉ આ દુનિયામાં પાપનું અસ્તિત્વ હતું. પરંતુ જ્યાં સુધી કોઈ નિયમશાસ્ત્ર જ ન હોય ત્યાં સુધી દેવ લોકોને પાપના અપરાધી ગણતો નથી.
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<v id="14" bcv="ROM.5.14" />પરંતુ આદમથી મૂસા સુધીના સમયગાળા દરમ્યાન સૌ લોકો મૃત્યુ પામ્યા હતા. દેવના આદેશનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરવાના પાપને કારણે આદમ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો હતો. પરંતુ જે લોકોએ આદમની જેમ પાપ કર્યા ન હતાં તેમને પણ મરવું પડ્યું.
</p>
<p style="p">આદમ ભવિષ્યમાં આવનાર ખ્રિસ્તની પ્રતિચ્છાયારૂપ હતો.
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<v id="15" bcv="ROM.5.15" />એક માણસના પાપના કારણે ઘણા લોકો મૃત્યુ પામ્યા. પરંતુ દેવે લોકો પર જે કૃપા કરી તે ઘણી વધારે હતી. પરંતુ ઘણા લોકોને જીવનદાન મળ્યું. જે એક માણસ એટલે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપાથી ઘણાના ઉપર દેવની કૃપા તથા દાન થયાં છે, જેથી જેવું પાપ છે તેવું કૃપાદાન છે એમ નથી.
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<v id="16" bcv="ROM.5.16" />આદમે એક પાપ કર્યું કે તરત જ તેને અપરાધી ઠરાવવામાં આવ્યો. પરંતુ દેવની બક્ષિસની વાત તો કાંઈ જુદી જ છે. અનેક પાપો થયાં પછી દેવની બક્ષિસ મળી. એ બક્ષિસ તો એવી છે કે જે લોકોને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી બનાવે છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ROM.5.17" />એક માણસનાં પાપથી મરણે સઘળાં પર રાજ કર્યું, પણ હાલ કેટલાએક લોકો દેવની પૂર્ણ કૃપા મેળવે છે, અને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી થવાની ભેટ મેળવે છે. હજુ પણ આ લોકો ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા ખૂબ ખાતરીપૂર્વક ખરું જીવન મેળવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ROM.5.18" />આમ આદમનું એક જ પાપ સર્વ માણસો માટે મૃત્યુદંડ લાવ્યું. પરંતુ એ જ રીતે ખ્રિસ્તે એક જ ન્યાયી કૃત્યને કારણે બધા લોકોને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી ઠેરવ્યા.
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<v id="19" bcv="ROM.5.19" />એક માણસે દેવના આદેશનું ઉલ્લંઘન કર્યું અને તેના પરિણામે અનેક લોકો પાપમાં પડ્યા. પરંતુ એ જ રીતે એક માનવે દેવનો આદેશ પવિત્ર અને ધાર્મિક રીતે પાળી બતાવ્યો. અને તેના પરિણામે અનેક લોકો દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી બનશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ROM.5.20" />લોકો વધારે પાપ કરે તે માટે નિયમશાસ્ત્ર દાખલ કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો. પરંતુ જેમ જેમ લોકો વધુ ને વધુ પાપ કરતા ગયા, તેમ તેમ દેવ વધુ ને વધુ કૃપા કરવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="ROM.5.21" />પાપ શસ્ત્ર તરીકે મૃત્યુનો ઉપયોગ કરતું હતું. દેવે લોકો પર પુષ્કળ દયા કરી તેથી દેવની કૃપાનું શાસન થશે અને પ્રભુ ઈસુ દ્વારા લોકો ન્યાયી ઠરશે. આમ આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ દ્વારા અનંતકાળનું જીવન મળશે.
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<c id="6" />
<s style="s">પાપમાં મૂએલા પણ ખ્રિસ્તમાં જીવન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.6.1" />તો તમે શું એમ માનો છો કે આપણે પાપ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખવું જોઈએ, જેથી દેવની વધુ ને વધુ કૃપા આપણા પર ઉતરે?
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<v id="2" bcv="ROM.6.2" />ખરેખર, ના! આપણે આપણા પાપમય જીવન માટે મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છીએ. તો પછી પાપી જીવન જીવવાનું આપણે કેવી રીતે ચાલુ રાખી શકીએ?
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<v id="3" bcv="ROM.6.3" />જ્યારે આપણે બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા હતા ત્યારે આપણે સૌ ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ સાથે એકરૂપ થયા હતા, એ તમે શું ભૂલી ગયા છો? આપણા બાપ્તિસ્માથી આપણે તેના મૃત્યુ સાથે ભાગીદાર બન્યા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="ROM.6.4" />કારણ કે જ્યારે આપણું બાપ્તિસ્મ થયું ત્યારે આપણે પણ તેની સાથે મરણમાં દટાયા અને તેના મૃત્યુમાં ભાગીદાર થયા. આ રીતે બાપના મહિમાથી જેમ ખ્રિસ્ત મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊભો થયો તેમ આપણે પણ ઊભા થઈ શકીશું અને નવું જીવન જીવીશું.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ROM.6.5" />ખ્રિસ્ત મૃત્યુ પામ્યો, અને આપણે પણ આપણા મૃત્યુથી ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે જોડાયા છીએ. તેથી જેમ ખ્રિસ્ત મૃત્યુમાંથી ફરી પુનરૂત્થાન પામ્યો તેમ આપણે પણ મૃત્યુમાંથી ફરી પુનરૂત્થાન પામીને તેની સાથે જીવનમાં એકરૂપ થઈશું.
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<v id="6" bcv="ROM.6.6" />આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે વધસ્તંભ પર ખ્રિસ્તના મૃત્યુની સાથે જ આપણા જૂનાં માણસપણાનો અંત આવ્યો હતો. આપણા પાપમય ભૂતકાળની કોઈ અસર નવા જીવન પર ન પડે, અને (વળી પાછા) આપણે પાપના ગુલામ ન બનીએ માટે આમ થયું.
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<v id="7" bcv="ROM.6.7" />જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મૃત્યુ પામે છે તો તેને મૃત્યુની સત્તામાંથી મુક્ત કરવામાં આવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ROM.6.8" />આપણે ખ્રિસ્તની સાથે મૃત્યુ પામ્યા તેથી આપણે માનીએ છીએ કે આપણે તેની સાથે નવુ જીવન પામીશું.
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<v id="9" bcv="ROM.6.9" />મૃત્યુમાંથી ખ્રિસ્તને પુર્નજીવિત કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો. આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે તે હવે ફરીથી કદી મૃત્યુ પામી શકશે નહિ. હવે તેના પર મૃત્યુની કોઈ સત્તા નથી.
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<v id="10" bcv="ROM.6.10" />હા, જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્ત મૃત્યુ પામ્યો ત્યારે તે જ સમયે મૃત્યુની સત્તાને પરાસ્ત કરવા મર્યો હતો તે સદાને માટે પૂરતું હતું. હવે તે જીવે છે, એટલે દેવના સંબંધમાં તે જીવે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="ROM.6.11" />એ જ પ્રમાણે, તમારી ઉપર પણ પાપની સત્તાનો હવે અંત આવ્યો છે. અને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ દ્વારા દેવ-પ્રાપ્તિ સારું તમે હવે જીવંત છો, એવું તમારી જાત વિષે તમે વિચારો.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ROM.6.12" />તમારા ર્મત્ય શરીરમાં પાપને રાજ કરવા ન દો અને તમારી પાપની દુર્વાસનાને આધીન થશો નહિ. તમારું પાપયુક્ત શરીર જો તમને પાપકર્મ કરવા પ્રેરતું હોય તો તમારે એનાથી ગેરમાર્ગે દોરવાઈ જવું નહિ.
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<v id="13" bcv="ROM.6.13" />પાપકર્મમાં તમારા શરીરનાં અવયવોને સમર્પિત ન કરો. અનિષ્ટ કાર્યો કરવાના સાધન તરીકે તમે તમારાં શરીરોનો ઉપયોગ ન કરો. પરંતુ તમારે પોતે દેવને સમર્પિત થઈ જવું જોઈએ. જે લોકો મરણ પામીને પણ હવે ફરીથી સજીવન થયા છે એવા તમે થાવ. તમારાં શરીરનાં અવયવો દેવને સમર્પિત કરો જેથી શુભ કાર્યો માટે એનો ઉપયોગ થાય.
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<v id="14" bcv="ROM.6.14" />હવે “પાપ” તમારો “માલિક” થઈ શકશે નહિ. શા માટે? કેમ કે તમે નિયમશાસ્ત્રના બંધનમાં નથી. હવે તમે દેવની કૃપા હેઠળ જીવી રહ્યા છો.
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<s style="s">ન્યાયીપણાના દાસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ROM.6.15" />તો આપણે શું કરવું જોઈએ? આપણે પાપ કરવાનું ચાલું રાખવું જોઈએ? કેમકે આપણને નિયમનું બંધન નથી, પણ આપણે કૃપાને આધીન છીએ? ના!
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<v id="16" bcv="ROM.6.16" />સાચે જ તમે જાણો છો કે જ્યારે તમે કોઈની આજ્ઞા પાળવા તૈયાર થઈ જાઓ છો, ત્યારે તમે તે વ્યક્તિના ખરેખર દાસ બની જાવ છો. જે વ્યક્તિની આજ્ઞા તમે માનો છો તેના તમે દાસ છો. ગમે તો પાપને અનુસરો અથવા દેવની આજ્ઞા માથે ચડાવો. પાપ તો આધ્યાત્મિક મૃત્યુને નોંતરે છે. પરંતુ જે દેવની આજ્ઞા પાળે છે તે દેવની સાથે ન્યાયી ઠરે છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ROM.6.17" />ભૂતકાળમાં તમે પાપના દાસ હતા-તમારા પર પાપનું શાસન ચાલતું હતું, પરંતુ દેવનો આભાર કે તમને જે (નૈતિક-ધાર્મિક સંસ્કારો) શીખવવામાં આવ્યા તેને તમે પૂર્ણ અંત:કરણથી સ્વીકાર્યા.
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<v id="18" bcv="ROM.6.18" />પાપમાંથી તમને મુક્ત કરવામાં આવ્યા છે, અને હવે તમે ન્યાયપણાના દાસ છો.
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<v id="19" bcv="ROM.6.19" />જે દૃષ્ટાંત લોકો જાણે છે તે દૃષ્ટાંત આપીને હું તમને આ સમજાવવા પ્રયત્ન કરીશ કારણ કે એ બધું સમજવું તમારા માટે કઠિન છે. તેથી હું આ રીતે સમજાવું છું. ભૂતકાળમાં તમે અશુદ્ધતા અને અનિષ્ટની સેવામાં તમારા શરીરનાં અવયવો અર્પણ કર્યા હતા. તમે દુષ્ટતામાં જ જીવતા હતા. તમે હવે તમારાં અવયવોને પવિત્રતાને અર્થે ન્યાયીપણાના દાસ તરીકે સુપ્રત કરો અને પછી તમે ફક્ત દેવ માટે જ જીવવા શક્તિમાન થશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ROM.6.20" />ભૂતકાળમાં તમે પાપના દાસ હતા, અને તમે ન્યાયીપણાના અંકુશથી સ્વતંત્ર હતા.
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<v id="21" bcv="ROM.6.21" />તમે જે અનિષ્ટ કાર્યો કર્યા હતાં, એ માટે હવે તમે શરમ અનુભવો છો. શું એ અનિષ્ટ કાર્યો તમને કોઈ લાભદાયી હતાં ખરાં? ના. એવાં કાર્યો તો માત્ર આધ્યાત્મિક મૃત્યુ જ લાવી શકે છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="ROM.6.22" />પરંતુ હવે તમે પાપની ગુલામીમાંથી મુક્ત થઈને દેવના દાસ થયા છો. અને આ (પરિવર્તન) તમને એવું જીવન આપશે કે જે માત્ર દેવને જ સમર્પિત હોય. અને એના દ્વારા તમને અનંતજીવન પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
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<v id="23" bcv="ROM.6.23" />જ્યારે લોકો પાપ કરે છે, ત્યારે પાપનું વેતન-મરણ કમાય છે. પરંતુ દેવ તો આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા લોકોને અનંતજીવનની બક્ષિસ આપે છે.
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<c id="7" />
<s style="s">લગ્નનું દૃષ્ટાંત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.7.1" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમે મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રને સમજો છો. તેથી સાચેજ તમે જાણો છો કે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ જ્યાં સુધી જીવિત હોય છે ત્યાં સુધી જ નિયમશાસ્ત્રની સત્તા એના પર ચાલે છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="ROM.7.2" />હું તમને એક દૃષ્ટાંત આપીશ: પરણિત સ્ત્રી જ્યાં સુધી તેનો પતિ જીવતો હોય ત્યાં સુધી તેની સાથે રહેવા બંધાયેલી હોય છે. પરંતુ જો તે સ્ત્રીનો પતિ મરણ પામે તો, પછી પતિ સાથેના સંબંધને લગતા નિયમથી તે સ્વતંત્ર થાય છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ROM.7.3" />પરંતુ જે સ્ત્રીનો પતિ જીવતો હોય અને જો તેની પત્ની બીજા પુરુંષ સાથે લગ્ન કરે, તો નિયમશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે તેમ, તે સ્ત્રી વ્યભિચારની અપરાધી બને છે. પરંતુ જો એ સ્ત્રીનો પતિ મૃત્યુ પામે, તો પછી લગ્નના નિયમમાંથી તે સ્ત્રીને મુક્ત કરવામાં આવે છે. આમ, પતિના મૃત્યુ પછી જો તે સ્ત્રી બીજા પુરુંષ સાથે લગ્ર કરે તો તે વ્યભિચારનો અપરાધ ગણાતો નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ROM.7.4" />એ જ પ્રમાણે, મારા ભાઈઓ તથા બહેનો, ખ્રિસ્તના શરીરની સાથે જ તમારા જૂના શરીરનું મૃત્યુ થયું છે. હવે તમે નિયમના બંધનમાંથી મુક્ત થયા છો. હવે તમે એક માત્ર એવા ખ્રિસ્તના શિષ્ય થયા છો, જે મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊભો થયો હતો. હવે આપણે ખ્રિસ્તના શિષ્ય થયા છીએ. જેથી કરીને દેવની સેવામાં આપણો ઉપયોગ થઈ શકે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ROM.7.5" />ભૂતકાળમાં તો આપણે જ્યારે દૈહિક હતા, ત્યારે પાપ વાસનાઓને આધીન હતા. અને આપણે જે પાપ કર્યા તે આપણા માટે આધ્યાત્મિક મૃત્યુ નોતરતા હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="ROM.7.6" />ભૂતકાળમાં, નિયમશાસ્ત્રે આપણને કેદીઓની જેમ બાંધી રાખ્યા હતા. હવે આપણા જૂના નિયમશાસ્ત્રો નાશ પામ્યા છે. અને તેથી નિયમશાસ્ત્રના બંધનમાંથી આપણને હવે મુક્ત કરવામાં આવ્યા છે. લેખિત નિયમોની જૂની પધ્ધત્તિથી નહિ, પરંતુ હવે નવીન પધ્ધત્તિ પ્રમાણે આપણે દેવની સેવા કરીએ છીએ. પવિત્ર આત્માની સાતે આપણે હવે નવી પધ્ધત્તિ પ્રમાણે દેવની સેવા કરીએ છીએ.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાપની વિરૂદ્ધ આપણે સંઘર્ષ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ROM.7.7" />ત્યારે આપણે શું કહીએ, શું નિયમ પાપરૂપ છે? ના, કદી નહિ. પરંતુ નિયમ વગર મેં પાપ જાણ્યું ના હોત, કારણ કે જો નિયમશાસ્ત્રે કહ્યું ન હોત કે લોભ ન રાખ, તો મેં લોભ જાણ્યો ના હોત. “તમારે બીજાઓની માલિકીની વસ્તુઓની ઈચ્છા કરવી જોઈએ નહિ.”
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<v id="8" bcv="ROM.7.8" />પણ પાપને તક મળવાથી આજ્ઞા વડે મારામાં સઘળા પ્રકારની અનિષ્ટ ઈચ્છાઓ પૂર્ણ કરવા મને લલચાવ્યો. મારામાં પાપ પેઠું. કારણ કે નિયમ વિના પાપ નિર્જીવ છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ROM.7.9" />નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું મને જ્ઞાન થયું તે પહેલાં પણ હું તેના વગર જીવતો હતો. પરંતુ જેવો નિયમનો આદેશ મને મળ્યો કે તરત જ પછીથી મારામાં પાપ સજીવન થયું.
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<v id="10" bcv="ROM.7.10" />અને આમ પાપના કારણે મારું આધ્યાત્મિક મૃત્યુ થયું. એ આદેશનો હેતુ મને જીવન બક્ષવાનો હતો, પરંતુ મારા માટે એ આદેશ મૃત્યુ લાવ્યો.
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<v id="11" bcv="ROM.7.11" />મને પાપે આજ્ઞાનો ઉપયોગ કરી મૂર્ખ બનાવવાનો રસ્તો શોધ્યો. પાપે મારા આત્મિક મરણને માટે આજ્ઞાનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ROM.7.12" />આમ, નિયમશાસ્ત્ર તો પવિત્ર છે જ, અને આજ્ઞા પણ પવિત્ર, ન્યાયી અને સારી છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="ROM.7.13" />તો આનો અર્થ શું એવો થાય કે જે કઈક સારું છે તે જ મારા માટે મૃત્યુ લાવ્યું? ના! પરંતુ પાપે જે મારું મૃત્યુ લાવી શકે તેવા સારાપણાનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો. આમ એટલા માટે બન્યું કે પાપનું ખરું સ્વરૂપ પ્રગટ થઈ શકે. અને તેના બધા અનિષ્ટોમાં પાપ બતાવી શકાય આ બધું આજ્ઞા દ્વારા જ થયું હતું.
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<s style="s">માનવ (હૃદય) માં સંઘર્ષ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ROM.7.14" />આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે નિયમ આધ્યાત્મિક છે. પરંતુ હું આધ્યાત્મિક નથી. જાણે કે હું તેનો સેવક હોઉં તેમ પાપ મારા પર સત્તા ચલાવે છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ROM.7.15" />હું જે કોઈ કામો કરું છું, તે સમજી શકતો નથી. તેથી જે સારાં કામો કરવાની મારી ઈચ્છા છે, તે હું કરી શકતો નથી. અને જે ખરાબ કામો કરવાનું હું ધિક્કારું છું તે હું કરું છું.
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<v id="16" bcv="ROM.7.16" />ત્યારે હું જે ઈચ્છતો નથી તે જો હું કરું છું, તો હું નિયમ વિષે કબૂલ કરું છું કે તે સારો છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="ROM.7.17" />પરંતુ આ ખરાબ કામો કરનાર ખરેખર હું નથી. મારામાં રહેતું પાપ ખરાબ કામો કરે છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="ROM.7.18" />હા, હું જાણું છું કે મારામાં એટલે મારા દેહમાં કંઈ જ સારું વસતું નથી. મારો કહેવાનો અર્થ એ છે કે મારા અસ્તિત્વનો જે અંશ આધ્યાત્મિક નથી, તેમાં કોઈ સારાપણાનો સમાવેશ નથી. મારી ઈચ્છા તો એવી છે કે હું સારાં જ કામો કરું. પરંતુ હું તે કરતો નથી.
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<v id="19" bcv="ROM.7.19" />મારે જે સારાં કામો કરવાં છે તે હું કરતો નથી. તેને બદલે જે ખરાબ કામો જે મારે નથી કરવાં તે મારાથી થઈ જાય છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ROM.7.20" />તેથી જે કામો મારે કરવાં નથી, તે જો મારાથી થઈ જતાં હોય, તો એવાં કામો કરનાર ખરેખર હું નથી. મારામાં રહેતું પાપ એ બધાં ખરાબ કામો કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ROM.7.21" />તેથી મેં આ સિદ્ધાંત શોધ્યો. જ્યારે હું સારું કરવા ઈચ્છું છું ત્યારે ભૂડું જ ઉપલબ્ધ હોય છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="ROM.7.22" />દેવના નિયમમાં હું અંતરના ઊડાણમાં ખૂબ સુખી છું.
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<v id="23" bcv="ROM.7.23" />પરંતુ મારા શરીરમાં કોઈ જુદો જ નિયમ કાર્ય કરતો જોઉ છું. માનસિક સ્તરે મારા મનમાં જે નિયમનો સ્વીકાર થયો છે તેની સામે પેલો શારીરિક સ્તર પર ચાલતો નિયમ યુદ્ધ છેડે છે. મારા શરીરમાં ચાલતો એ નિયમ તે પાપનો નિયમ છે, અને એ નિયમ મને એનો કેદી બનાવે છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="ROM.7.24" />તેથી હું દુ:ખી છું! મારા માટે મૃત્યુ લાવનાર આ શરીરથી મને કોણ બચાવશે?
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<v id="25" bcv="ROM.7.25" />દેવ જ મને બચાવશે! આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા હું તેનો આભાર માનું છું!
</p>
<p style="p">આમ મારા મનમાં હું મારી જાતે દેવના નિયમને અનુસરું છું. પણ મારા પાપમય સ્વભાવથી હું પાપના નિયમનો દાસ છું.
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<s style="s">આત્મામાં જીવન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.8.1" />તેથી હવે જે લોકો ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં છે, તેઓને અપરાધી ઠરાવવામાં આવતા નથી.
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<v id="2" bcv="ROM.8.2" />મને શા માટે અપરાધી ઠરાવવામાં આવ્યો નથી? કારણ કે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં આત્માનો જે નિયમ જીવન લાવે છે તેણે મને પાપના તથા મરણના નિયમથી મુક્ત કર્યો છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ROM.8.3" />આપણી પાપમય જાતે નિયમને બિનઅસરકારક બનાવ્યો. જે નિયમ ન કરી શકે તે દેવે કર્યું. બીજા લોકો માનવજીવનનો ઉપયોગ પાપકર્મમાં કરે છે. પણ દેવે તેના દીકરાને માનવજીવનના રૂપમાં પૃથ્વી પર પાપ માટે પોતાને મતને બલિદાન અર્પણ કરવા મોકલ્યો. આમ પાપનો નાશ કરવા દેવે માનવજીવનનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો.
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<v id="4" bcv="ROM.8.4" />આપણા જીવનમાં નિયમની પરિપૂર્ણતાના હેતુ માટે દેવે આમ કર્યું. હવે આપણે આપણી પાપમય જાતના હુકમ પ્રમાણે જીવતા નથી. પણ હવે આપણે આત્માને અનુસરીને જીવીએ છીએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ROM.8.5" />ફક્ત પાપમય દુર્વાસનાઓની જ ઈચ્છાઓ વિષે જે લોકો વિચારે છે, તે પાપમય દુર્વાસનાઓને અનુસરીને જીવે છે. પણ જે લોકો આત્માને અનુસરે છે તેઓ હંમેશા આત્મા તેમની પાસે જે કરવાની અપેક્ષા રાખે છે તેનો વિચાર કરે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="ROM.8.6" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિના વિચારો પર તેના દૈહિક મનનો કાબૂ હશે, તો તેનું આધ્યાત્મિક મૃત્યુ છે. પરંતુ જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિના વિચારો પર આત્માનો કાબૂ હોય તો ત્યાં જીવન તથા શાંતિ હોય છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ROM.8.7" />આ સત્ય કેમ છે? જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિના વિચારો પર તેના દૈહિક મનનો કાબૂ હશે તો તે વ્યક્તિ દેવથી વિમુખ છે. એવી વ્યક્તિ દેવનો નિયમ પાળવાનો ઈન્કાર કરે છે. અને ખરેખર તો એવી વ્યક્તિ દેવનો આદેશ પાળી શકતી નથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="ROM.8.8" />જે લોકો દૈહિક છે તેઓ દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરી શકતા નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ROM.8.9" />પરંતુ તમારા પર દૈહિક મનની સત્તા નથી. જો દેવનો આત્મા તમારામાં ખરેખર વસતો હોય તો તમારા પર આત્માની સત્તા ચાલે છે, પરંતુ જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિના હૃદય પર ખ્રિસ્તના આત્માનો પ્રભાવ નહિ હોય, તો ખ્રિસ્ત પાસે તેનું સ્થાન નથી.
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<v id="10" bcv="ROM.8.10" />પાપને કારણે તમારું શરીર મરેલું છે. પરંતુ જો તમારામાં ખ્રિસ્ત (વસતો) હશે, તો આત્મા તમને જીવન આપશે, કેમ કે તમને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી ઠરાવવામાં આવ્યા છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="ROM.8.11" />જો દેવે ઈસુને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠાડ્યો, અને જો દેવનો આત્મા તમારામાં વસતો હશે, તો તમારા ર્મત્ય શરીરોને પણ તે નવું જીવન આપશે. ખ્રિસ્તને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠાડનાર એક માત્ર દેવ છે. અને એ જ રીતે તમારામાં રહેતો તેનો પવિત્ર આત્મા દ્વારા તમારા નાશવંત શરીરોને જીવન આપશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="ROM.8.12" />તેથી, મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, આપણે આપણાં પાપાત્માઓની સત્તા આપણા પર ન જ ચાલવા દેવી જોઈએ. આપણાં પાપી શરીરોની ઈચ્છાઓ કે વાસનાઓથી દોરવાઈને આપણે જીવવું જોઈએ જ નહિ.
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<v id="13" bcv="ROM.8.13" />જો તમારા પાપી સ્વભાવની વાસનાઓ સંતોષવા તમે ખરાબ કામો પાછળ તમારા જીવનનો ઉપયોગ કરશો, તો તમારું મૃત્યુ થશે જ. પરંતુ શરીરનાં કામોને મારી નાખવા જો તમે આત્માનો ઉપયોગ કરશો તો તમને સાચું જીવન પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ROM.8.14" />દેવનાં સાચાં સંતાનો એ છે કે જેઓ દેવના આત્માનું માર્ગદર્શન સ્વીકારે છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="ROM.8.15" />જે આત્મા આપણને પ્રાપ્ત થયો છે તે કોઈ સામાન્ય આત્મા નથી કે જે આપણને ફરીથી દાસ બનાવીને ભયભીત કરશે. જે આત્મા આપણને પ્રાપ્ત થયો છે, તે આપણને દેવનાં સંતાનો બનાવે છે. અને એ ભાવનાથી જ તો આપણે દેવને “પિતા, પ્રિય પિતા,” કહીને બોલાવીએ છીએ.
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<v id="16" bcv="ROM.8.16" />આપણા આત્માની સાથે એ જ આત્મા સાક્ષી આપે છે કે આપણે દેવનાં સંતાનો છીએ.
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<v id="17" bcv="ROM.8.17" />જો આપણે દેવનાં સંતાનો હોઈશું, તો દેવ પોતાનાં માણસોને જે આશીર્વાદ આપે છે, તે આપણને પણ મળશે. આ આશીર્વાદો દેવ તરફથી આપણને મળશે. ખ્રિસ્તની સાથે સાથે આપણને પણ એ આશીર્વાદ પ્રાપ્ત થશે. પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્તે જે દુ:ખો સહન કર્યા હતાં, તેમ આપણે પણ સહન કરવાં જ પડશે. તો જ, ખ્રિસ્તની જેમ આપણને પણ મહિમા પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
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<s style="s">ભવિષ્યમાં આપણને મહિમા મળશે
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ROM.8.18" />હમણાં આપણે દુ:ખો સહન કરી રહ્યા છીએ. પરંતુ ભવિષ્યમાં આપણને જે મહિમા પ્રાપ્ત થવાનો છે તેની તુલનામાં આપણાં અત્યારનાં દુ:ખો કઈ જ નથી.
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<v id="19" bcv="ROM.8.19" />દેવે સર્જેલી દરેક વસ્તુ એ સમયની ઉત્તેજનાપૂર્વક રાહ જોઈ રહી છે કે જ્યારે દેવ દુનિયાને બતાવી દેશે કે તેનાં (સાચાં) સંતાનો કોણ છે એ ઘટના ઘટે એની આખા જગતને આતુરતા છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ROM.8.20" />દેવે જે દરેક વસ્તુ ર્સજી તે દરેક વસ્તુ જાણે નિરર્થકતાને આધીન હોય તેમ તેને બદલી નાખવામાં આવી. તેને બદલવાની ઈચ્છા ન હતી. પરંતુ દેવે તેમાં પરિવર્તન કરવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો. પરંતુ તેમાં પણ આ આશા તો હતી
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<v id="21" bcv="ROM.8.21" />કે દેવ-સર્જિત પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુ નષ્ટ થવાથી મુક્ત હશે. એવી પણ આશા હતી કે દેવનાં સંતાનોને જે મુક્તિ અને મહિમા પ્રાપ્ત થયા છે, તે દેવે બનાવેલી દરેક વસ્તુને મળશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ROM.8.22" />આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે, બાળકને જન્મ આપવા માટે તૈયાર કોઈ સ્ત્રી દુ:ખ સહન કરતી રાહ જોતી હોય, એ રીતે અત્યારે તો સમગ્ર સૃષ્ટિ દેવ-સર્જિત દરેક વસ્તુ માટે પ્રસૂતાની વેદના જેવી વેદના સહન કરી રહી છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="ROM.8.23" />પરંતુ તે એકલી જ નહિ, પણ આપણે પોતે જેઓને આત્માનું પ્રથમફળ મળ્યું છે. તે જોઈને પણ દત્તકપુત્રપણાની, એટલે આપણા શરીરના ઉદ્ધારની વાટ જોતાં આપણે પોતાના મનમાં નિસાસા નાખીએ છીએ, કહેવાનો અર્થ એ છે કે આપણાં શરીરોથી આપણને મુક્તિ મળી જાય એની આપણે પ્રતિક્ષા કરી રહ્યા છીએ.
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<v id="24" bcv="ROM.8.24" />કારણ કે એ જ આશાથી આપણો ઉદ્ધાર થયો છે. પણ જે આશા દૃશ્ય હોય તે આશા નથી કેમ કે કોઈ માણસ પોતે જે જુએ છે, તેની આશા કેવી રીતે રાખે.
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<v id="25" bcv="ROM.8.25" />પરંતુ આપણે એવી વસ્તુ મેળવવાની આશા રાખીએ છીએ કે જે હજી સુધી આપણને મળી નથી. તેના માટે આપણે ધીરજપૂર્વક પ્રતિક્ષા કરી રહ્યા છીએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="ROM.8.26" />વળી, પવિત્ર આત્મા પણ આપણને સહાય કરે છે. આપણે ઘણા નિર્બળ છીએ, પરંતુ આપણી નિર્બળતાને દૂર કરવા પવિત્ર આત્મા આપણને મદદ કરે છે. આપણે પ્રાર્થના કેવી રીતે કરવી જોઈએ એ પણ આપણે તો જાણતા નથી. પરંતુ આપણા વતી પવિત્ર આત્મા પોતે દેવ સાથે વાત કરે છે. આપણા માટે પવિત્ર આત્મા દેવને વિનવે છે. શબ્દો જેને વ્યક્ત કરી ન શકે એવી ઊડી લાગણીથી પવિત્ર આત્મા (આપણા વતી) દેવ સાથે વાર્તાલાપ કરે છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="ROM.8.27" />અંતકરણને પારખનાર દેવ આત્માના મનમાં શું છે તે જાણે છે. કારણ કે પવિત્ર આત્મા લોકોના હૃદયમાં જોઈ શકે છે અને અંત:કરણમાં શું છે તે પણ જાણે છે, કારણ કે તેના પોતાના લોકો વતી દેવ જે ઈચ્છે છે તે આત્મા દેવને કહે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ROM.8.28" />આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે જે લોકો દેવને ચાહે છે તેમના બધાજ કાર્યોમાં દેવ તેઓના ભલા માટે કામ કરે છે. તે લોકો દેવની ખાસ પસંદગી પામેલા છે, કેમ કે દેવની એવી યોજના હતી.
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<v id="29" bcv="ROM.8.29" />દુનિયાની રચના કરી તે પહેલાં દેવ એ લોકોને ઓળખતો હતો. અને દેવે એવો પણ નિર્ણય કર્યો હતો કે એ લોકો તેના દીકરા જેવા થાય. અનેક ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોમાં ઈસુ સર્વ પ્રથમ જન્મેલો સૌથી મોટો ગણાશે.
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<v id="30" bcv="ROM.8.30" />પોતાના દીકરા જેવા થવા લોકોને દેવે નિમંત્રણ આપ્યું. અને એ લોકોને પોતાની સાથે ન્યાયી બનાવ્યા અને પોતાની સાથે રહેવાની યોગ્યતા આપી. જેઓને ન્યાયી ઠરાવ્યા તેઓને મહિમાવંત પણ કર્યા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ પર દેવનો પ્રેમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="ROM.8.31" />તો હવે આ વિષે આપણે શું કહીશું? જો દેવ આપણી સાથે છે તો આપણને કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ હરાવી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="ROM.8.32" />આપણા માટે તો દેવ કઈ પણ કરી શકશે. આપણા માટે કઈ પણ સહન કરવા માટે તેણે પોતાનો દીકરો આપ્યો. પોતાના દીકરાને પણ દેવે દુ:ખ સહન કરવા દીધું, આપણા સૌના કલ્યાણ માટે દેવે પોતાનો દીકરો પણ સોંપી દીધો, તો તે કૃપા કરીને આપણને તેની સાથે બધુંએ કેમ નહિ આપશે?
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="ROM.8.33" />દેવે પસંદ કરેલા લોકો પર કોણ દોષ મૂકી શકશે? કોઈ નહિ! દેવ જ છે કે જે લોકોને ન્યાયી બનાવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="ROM.8.34" />કોણ કહી શકશે કે દેવના લોકો અપરાધી છે? કોઈ પણ નહિ! આપણા માટે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુએ મૃત્યુ સ્વીકાર્યું, પરંતુ એમાં જ કાંઈ બધું આવી જતું નથી. મૃત્યુમાંથી તેને ઊભો કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો. હવે તે દેવને જમણે હાથે છે અને આપણા વતી આપણા ઉદ્ધાર માટે દેવને વિનંતી કરી રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="35" bcv="ROM.8.35" />શું ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રેમમાંથી કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ આપણને જુદા પાડી શકશે? ના! શું વિપત્તિ, કે વેદના કે સતાવણી કે, દુષ્કાળ કે, નગ્નતા કે જોખમ કે, તલવાર? અપણને ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રેમમાંથી જુદા પાડી શકશે? ના! તો શું સમસ્યાઓ અથવા ખ્રિસ્તના દુશ્મનો દ્વારા ઊભી કરાતી મુશ્કેલીઓ અને જુલ્મ આપણને ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રેમથી જુદા કરી શકશે? ના! આપણી પાસે જો ખોરાક કે કપડાં નહિ હોય તો તેથી શું આપણે ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રેમથી જુદા થઈ જઈશું? ના! જોખમ કે મૃત્યુ પણ આવે તેથી શું આપણે ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રેમથી જુદા થઈ જઈશું? ના!
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<v id="36" bcv="ROM.8.36" />શાસ્ત્રોમાં લખ્યું છે તેમ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તારે (ખ્રિસ્તને) લીધે અમે તો હંમેશા મૃત્યુના જોખમ નીચે છીએ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">લોકો તો એમ જ માને છે કે અમારું મૂલ્ય કતલ કરવા લાયક ઘેટાંથી વિશેષ કાંઈ નથી.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.44.22">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 44:22</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="37" bcv="ROM.8.37" />દેવ દ્વારા જેણે આપણા પર પ્રેમ દર્શાવ્યો છે, તેના દ્વારા આ બધી બાબતોમાં આપણને સંપૂર્ણ વિજય પ્રાપ્ત થયો છે.
<ve />
<v id="38-39" bcv="ROM.8.38" />હા, મને તો ખાતરી છે કે દેવના પ્રેમથી આપણને કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ જુદા કરી શકતી નથી. મૃત્યુ, જીવન, દૂતો, અધિકારીઓ, વર્તમાન, ભવિષ્ય, કોઈ પણ સત્તા કે શક્તિ, આપણા ઉપર કે આપણી નીચે કે સજાર્યેલ જગતમાં સૌથી વધ શક્તિશાળી હોય એવું કોઈ તત્વ કે કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ આપણા પ્રભુમાં રહેલા દેવના પ્રેમથી આપણને કદી પણ જુદા પાડી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">દેવ અને યહૂદિ લોકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.9.1" />હું ખ્રિસ્તમાં છું અને તમને સત્ય કહીં રહ્યો છું. હું અસત્ય બોલતો નથી. પવિત્ર આત્મા મારી સંવેદનાનું સંચાલન કરે છે. અને એવી સંવેદનાથી હું તમને કહું છું કે હું જૂઠું બોલતો નથી.
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<v id="2" bcv="ROM.9.2" />યહૂદિ લોકો માટે હું ઘણો દિલગીર છું અને સતત મારા હૃદયમાં ઉદાસીનતા અનુભવું છું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ROM.9.3" />તેઓ મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો છે, મારું દુન્યવી કુટુંબ છે. એમને મદદ કરવાનું મને મન થાય છે. દેવનો અભિશાપ જો મારા પર કે મારાં સગાંઓ પર આવે તો તેનો પણ સ્વીકાર કરીને હું યહૂદિઓને મદદ કરવા તૈયાર છું.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ROM.9.4" />કારણ કે તેઓ તો ઈઝરાએલના લોકો છે. એ યહૂદિઓ તો ખાસ પસંદગી પામેલાં બાળકો છે. દેવે જે માનવો સાથે કરારો કર્યા છે એવા એ યહૂદિઓને દેવનો મહિમા પ્રાપ્ત થયેલો છે. દેવે મૂસાનું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર તેઓને આપીને ભક્તિની સાચી પધ્ધત્તિ બતાવી હતી. અને દેવે એ યહૂદિઓને માટે વચન પણ આપ્યું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ROM.9.5" />તેઓ આપણા પિતાઓના વંશજો છે. અને તેઓ ખ્રિસ્તના દુન્યવી કુટુંબીજનો છે. ખ્રિસ્ત સર્વોપરી દેવ છે. તેની સ્તુતિ નિત્ય કરો! આમીન.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ROM.9.6" />હા, આ યહૂદિઓ માટે હું ઘણું દુ:ખ અનુભવું છું. એમને આપેલું વચન દેવ પાળી ન શક્યો, એમ હું કહેવા માગતો નથી. પરંતુ ઈસ્રાએલના માત્ર થોડાક યહૂદિઓ જ દેવના સાચા લોકો છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ROM.9.7" />અને ઈબ્રાહિમના વંશજોમાં ફક્ત થોડાક માણસો જ તમારાં દેવનો સાચાં સંતાનો છે. દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમને આમ કહ્યું હતું: “ઈસહાક જ તારો કાયદેસરનો દીકરો ગણાશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>9:7
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 21:12</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ROM.9.8" />આનો અર્થ એ છે કે ઈબ્રાહિમના બધા જ વંશજો કઈ દેવનાં સાચાં સંતાનો નથી. દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમને આપેલાં વચન પ્રમાણે જે સંતાનો દેવના થશે તે જ સંતાનો ઈબ્રાહિમનાં સાચાં સંતાનો થશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ROM.9.9" />ઈબ્રાહિમને આપેલું દેવનું વચન આવું હતું: “યોગ્ય સમયે હું પાછો આવીશ, અને સારાને દીકરો થશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>9:9
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 18:10, 14</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="ROM.9.10" />માત્ર એટલું જ નહિ, રિબકાને પણ દીકરો થયો. એક જ પિતાના એ દીકરા હતા. તે જ આપણા પિતા ઈસહાક.
<ve />
<v id="11-12" bcv="ROM.9.11" />(રિબકાને) બે દીકરા જન્મ્યા, તે પહેલાં દેવે રિબકાને કહ્યું હતું, “તારો મોટો દીકરો નાના દીકરાની સેવા કરશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>9:11-12
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 25:23</xt></x> એ છોકરાઓએ તેઓના જીવનમાં કંઈક સારું અથવા ખરાબ કર્યુ હોય એ પહેલા આવી ભવિષ્યવાણી થઈ હતી. તેમના જન્મ પહેલાં દેવે આ કહ્યું હતું. જેથી કરીને દેવની પોતાની યોજના પ્રમાણે દેવની પસંદગી પામેલા છોકરાને એ સ્થાન મળે. એ છોકરાની પસંદગી કરવામાં આવી કેમ કે માત્ર એને જ પસંદ કરવો એવી દેવની ઈચ્છા હતી અને તે એટલા માટે નહિ કે એ છોકરાઓએ તેમના જીવનમાં કઈક સારાં અથવા ખોટાં કામો કર્યા હોય.
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<v id="13" bcv="ROM.9.13" />શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે તેમ, “યાકૂબને હું ચાહતો હતો, પરંતુ એસાવને હું ધિક્કારતો હતો.”<x caller="+"><xo>9:13
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ માલ. 1:2-3</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ROM.9.14" />તો આ બાબતમાં આપણે શું કહીશું? શું દેવ ન્યાયી નથી? એવું તો આપણે કહી શકીએ એમ નથી.
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<v id="15" bcv="ROM.9.15" />દેવે મૂસાને કહ્યું હતું, “જે વ્યક્તિ પર મારે કૃપા કરવી હશે, તેના પર હું કૃપા કરીશ. જે વ્યક્તિ પર દયા બતાવવી હશે તેના પર હું દયા દર્શાવીશ.”<x caller="+"><xo>9:15
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 33:19</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ROM.9.16" />તેથી જે વ્યક્તિ પર દયા કરવાનો દેવ નિર્ણય કરશે તેને દયા માટે દેવ પસંદ કરશે. લોકો શું ઈચ્છે છે અથવા તેઓ કેવા કેવા પ્રયત્ન કરે છે, તેના પર દેવની પસંદગીનો આધાર નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="ROM.9.17" />શાસ્ત્રમાં દેવ ફારૂનને કહે છે: “તું મારું આ કામ કરે એટલા માટે મેં તને રાજા બનાવ્યો. તારા દ્વારા મારું સાર્મથ્ય પ્રગટ કરવાની મારી ઈચ્છા હતી. આખી દુનિયામાં મારું નામ પ્રગટ થાય એમ હું ઈચ્છતો હતો.”<x caller="+"><xo>9:17
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિર્ગ. 9:16</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ROM.9.18" />આમ જે લોકોની તરફ દયા બતાવવી હોય એમની તરફ દેવ દયા દર્શાવે છે. અને જે લોકોને હઠીલા બનાવવા હોય તેમને દેવ હઠીલા બનાવે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ROM.9.19" />તો તમારામાંથી કોઈ મને પૂછશે: “જો આપણાં કાર્યો પર દેવનો અંકૂશ જ હોય, તો પછી આપણાં પાપ માટે દેવ શાથી આપણી પર આરોપ મૂકે છે?”
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="ROM.9.20" />દેવને પ્રશ્ન કરશો નહિ. તમે માત્ર માનવ છો; અને માનવોને એવો કોઈ હક્ક નથી કે તેઓ દેવને (આવા) પ્રશ્નો પૂછી શકે. માટીની બરણી તેના બનાવનારને પ્રશ્નો પૂછતી નથી. “તમે મને આવી જુદી જુદી વસ્તુઓ રૂપે કેમ બનાવી?”
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ROM.9.21" />જે કુંભાર માટીની બરણી બનાવે છે, તે પોતાની ઈચ્છા મુજબ ગમે તે બનાવી શકે છે. જુદા જુદા રૂપ રંગની વસ્તુઓ બનાવવા તે એક જ માટીનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે. તે એક વસ્તુ વિશિષ્ટ હેતુથી કોઈ ખાસ ઉપયોગ માટે બનાવી શકે, અને બીજી વસ્તુ રોજબરોજના ઉપયોગ માટે બનાવી શકે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ROM.9.22" />દેવે જે કર્યુ છે તે પણ કઈક આવું જ છે. દેવની ઈચ્છા હતી કે લોકો તેનો કોપ તેમજ સાર્મથ્ય જુએ. જે લોકો સર્વનાશને લાયક હતા, એમના પર દેવ ગુસ્સે થયો હતો, એવા લોકોને પણ દેવે ખૂબ જ ધીરજપૂર્વક સહન કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="ROM.9.23" />એવા લોકો માટે પણ દેવે ધીરજથી રાહ જોઈ, જેથી કરીને દેવ પોતાનો સમૃદ્ધ મહિમા દર્શાવી શકે. જેઓ તેની કૃપા પ્રાપ્ત કરવાના હતા. તેથી આપણે જેઓ તેની કૃપાનાં પાત્રો છીએ અને જેમને તેણે તેનો મહિમા મેળવવા તૈયાર કર્યા છે તેમનામાં પોતાનો મહિમા પ્રગટ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ROM.9.24" />એ લોકો તે આપણે જ છીએ. આપણે એવા માનવો છીએ કે જેમને દેવે તેડયા છે. યહૂદિઓ તેમજ બિનયહૂદિઓમાંથી દેવે આપણને પસંદ કર્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="ROM.9.25" />હોશિયાના અધ્યાયમાં શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે તેમ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે લોકો મારા નથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને હું મારાં લોકો કહીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જે લોકો ઉપર મેં પ્રેમ નથી કર્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ પર હું પ્રેમ કરીશ.”
<rq><ref tgt="HOS.2.23">હોશિયા 2:23</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="26" bcv="ROM.9.26" />અને,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“એ જ ઠેકાણે દેવે કહ્યુ કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘તમે મારી પ્રજા નથી’
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે જ ઠેકાણે તેઓ જીવંત દેવના દીકરા કહેવાશે.”
<rq><ref tgt="HOS.1.10">હોશિયા 1:10</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="27" bcv="ROM.9.27" />અને ઈસ્રાએલ વિષે યશાયા પોકારીને કહે છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“સમુદ્રની રેતીના કણ જેટલા ઈસ્રાએલના અનેક લોકો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ એમાંના થોડાક જ લોકો તારણ પામશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="28" bcv="ROM.9.28" />હા, પૃથ્વી પરના લોકોના ન્યાય તોળવાનું કાર્ય દેવ જલદી પૂર્ણ કરશે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.10.22">યશાયા 10:22-23</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="29" bcv="ROM.9.29" />યશાયાએ કહ્યું છે તેમ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દેવ સર્વસમર્થ છે. આપણા માટે દેવે એના કેટલાએક માણસોને બચાવી લીધા,
</q>
<q style="q1">એવું જો દેવે ન કર્યુ હોત તો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સદોમ અને ગમોરા<f caller="+"><fr>9:29
</fr><fk>સદોમ અને ગમોરા
</fk><ft>આ બે શહેરોમાં પાપી લોકો વસતા હતા, અને એ શહેરોનો વિનાશ કરીને દેવે તેઓને સજા કરી હતી.</ft></f> શહેરોના લોકો જેવી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણી દશા થાત.”<rq><ref tgt="ISA.1.9">યશાયા 1:9</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ROM.9.30" />તો આ બધાનો અર્થ શું થાય? એનો અર્થ આ છે કે: બિનયહૂદિ લોકો દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી થવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતા ન હતા છતાં તેઓને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી બનાવાયા અને તેઓ પોતાના વિશ્વાસને લીધે ન્યાયી ઠર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="ROM.9.31" />અને જ્યારે દેવ માટે ન્યાયી ઠરવા ઈસ્રાએલના લોકોએ નિયમશાસ્ત્રને અનુસરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો, ત્યારે તેઓ સફળ ન થયા.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="ROM.9.32" />સફળ કેમ ન થયા? કેમ કે તેમણે પોતાનાં કાર્યોના બળના આધારે દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી થવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. તેઓને દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ ન હતો કે દેવ તેમને ન્યાયી બનાવશે. જે પથ્થર લોકોને પાડી નાંખે છે, તેની ઠોકર ખાઈન તેઓ પડ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="ROM.9.33" />એ પથ્થર વિષે શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જુઓ, સિયોન માં મેં એક પથ્થર મૂક્યો છે કે જે લોકોને પાડી નાખશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ પથ્થર ઠોકર ખવડાવીને લોકોને પાપમાં પાડશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ એ પથ્થરમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખશે તે નિરાશ થશે નહિ.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.8.14">યશાયા 8:14</ref>; <ref tgt="ISA.28.16">28:16</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="10" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.10.1" />ભાઈઓ તથા બહેનો, મારી સૌથી મોટી ઈચ્છા એ છે કે યહૂદિઓ તારણ પામે. દેવને મારી એ જ પ્રાર્થના છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ROM.10.2" />યહૂદિઓ વિષે હું આ કહી શકું છું કે: તેઓ દેવને અનુસરવાનો ખરેખર પ્રયત્ન કરે છે. પરંતુ સાચો માર્ગ તેઓ જાણતા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ROM.10.3" />દેવ જે માર્ગે લોકોને ન્યાયી બનાવે છે એ તેઓ જાણતા ન હતા. અને પોતાની આગવી રીતે તેઓએ ન્યાયી બનવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. આમ દેવની રીતે ન્યાયી બનવાનું તેમણે સ્વીકાર્યુ નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ROM.10.4" />ખ્રિસ્તે જૂના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનો અંત આણ્યો, જેથી કરીને ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખનાર પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને દેવ-પ્રાપ્તિ માટે ન્યાયી બનાવી શકાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ROM.10.5" />નિયમ દ્વારા દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી થવા સંબંધમાં મૂસા લખે છે, “જે દરેક વ્યક્તિ નિયમનું પાલન કરે છે, તે નિયમની બાબતોનું પાલન કરવાથી જીવન મેળવશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>10:5 </xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ લે. 18:5</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ROM.10.6" />પરંતુ વિશ્વાસના માર્ગે યોગ્યતા મેળવવા વિષે શાસ્ત્ર આમ કહે છે: “તમે પોતે આવું ન કહેશો, ‘ઉપર આકાશમાં કોણ જશે?’” (આનો અર્થ એ છે કે, “ખ્રિસ્તને પ્રાપ્ત કરવા અને તેને પૃથ્વી પર પાછો નીચે લાવવા આકાશમાં કોણ જશે?”)
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ROM.10.7" />“અથવા તમે આમ પણ પૂછશો નહિ, ‘કે પૃથ્વીના કે ઊડાણમાં કોણ ઊતરશે?’” (એનો અર્થ છે, “નીચે પાતાળમાં મૃત્યુલોકમાં જઈને મૃત્યુમાંથી ખ્રિસ્તને પૃથ્વી પર કોણ લઈ આવશે?”)
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ROM.10.8" />શાસ્ત્ર જે કહે છે તે આ છે: “દેવનો સંદેશ તો તમારી પાસે છે; તે તમારા મુખમાં અને હૃદયમાં છે.” તે સંદેશ તે જ વિશ્વાસનો સંદેશ છે, કે જે અમે લોકોને કહીએ છીએ.<x caller="+"><xo>10:6-8
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 30:12-14</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ROM.10.9" />જો તમે તમારી મુખવાણીનો ઉપયોગ આમ કહેવા માટે કરશો કે, “ઈસુ પ્રભુ છે,” અને જો તમે તમારા મનમાં માનશો કે દેવે ઈસુને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠાડયો છે, તો તમારું તારણ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ROM.10.10" />હા, અમે અમારા હૃદયોથી માનીએ છીએ, અને તેથી અમને ન્યાયી ઠરાવાયા છે. અને, “અમે એમાં માનીએ છીએ.” એમ કહેવા માટે અમે અમારી મુખની વાણીનો ઉપયોગ કરીએ છીએ; અને તેથી આપણું તારણ થયું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ROM.10.11" />હા, ધર્મશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે, “જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેને શરમાવું નહિ પડે.”<x caller="+"><xo>28:16 </xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ યશા. 28:16</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ROM.10.12" />એ ધર્મશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે, “જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ,” કારણ કે યહૂદિઓ અને બિન-યહૂદિઓ વચ્ચે કોઈ ભેદભાવ નથી. એ જ પ્રભુ સૌ લોકોને પ્રભુ છે. પ્રભુમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખનાર સૌ લોકોને પ્રભુ અનેક આશીર્વાદ આપે છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="ROM.10.13" />હા, શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે, “પ્રભુમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખનાર દરેક વ્યક્તિ તારણ પામશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>10:13
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ યોએ. 2:32</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ROM.10.14" />પરંતુ સહાય માટે તેઓ પ્રભુમાં ભરોસો મૂકી શકે તે પહેલાં લોકોએ પ્રભુમાં વિશ્વાસ કરવો જોઈએ. અને લોકો પ્રભુમાં વિશ્વાસ કરે તે પહેલાં તેમણે પ્રભુ વિષે સાંભળેલું હોવું જોઈએ. અને લોકો પ્રભુ વિષે સાંભળે એ માટે બીજી કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ તેમને પ્રભુ વિષે કહેવું પડે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ROM.10.15" />અને લોકોની પાસે જઈને તેઓને બધું કહેવા માટે કોઈક વ્યક્તિને મોકલવી પડે. શાસ્ત્રમાં લખેલું છે કે, “સુવાર્તા લાવનાર પ્રબોધકો કે ઉપદેશકોનાં પગલા કેવાં સુંદર છે!”<x caller="+"><xo>10:15
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ યશા. 52:7</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="ROM.10.16" />પરંતુ બધા જ યહૂદિઓએ એ સુવાર્તા માની નહિ. યશાયાએ કહ્યું, “હે પ્રભુ, અમે લોકોને જે કહ્યું એમાં માનનારા કોણ હતા?”<x caller="+"><xo>10:16
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ યશા. 53:1</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="ROM.10.17" />આમ, સુવાર્તા સાંભળવાથી વિશ્વાસ આવે છે. જ્યારે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ લોકોને ખ્રિસ્ત વિષે કહે છે ત્યારે એ સુવાર્તા લોકોને સાંભળવા મળે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="ROM.10.18" />પરંતુ હું પૂછું છું, “શું લોકોએ એ સુવાર્તા સાંભળી નથી?” હા, તેઓએ સાંભળી જ હતી જેમ શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે તેમ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“આખી દુનિયામાં તેઓને અવાજ ફેલાઈ ગયો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આખા જગતમાં બધે જ તેઓનાં વચનો ફેલાયાં છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.19.4">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 19:4</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="19" bcv="ROM.10.19" />વળી હું પૂછું કે, “શું ઈસ્રાએલના લોકો એ સુવાર્તા સમજી ન શક્યા?” હા, તેઓ સમજ્યા હતા. પ્રથમ મૂસા દેવ વિષે આમ કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે પ્રજા હજી ખરેખર રાષ્ટ્ર બની નથી, એવા લોકો ઉપર હું તમારામાં ઈર્ષા ઉત્પન્ન કરીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે રાષ્ટ્રમાં સમજશક્તિ નથી તેની પ્રજા ઉપર હું તમારામાં ક્રોધ ઉત્પન્ન કરીશ.”
<rq>પુર્નનિયમ 32:21</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="20" bcv="ROM.10.20" />દેવ માટે આવું કહેનાર યશાયાએ હિંમતપૂર્વક કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જેઓ મને શોધતા ન હતા-તેઓને હું મળ્યો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેમણે મને કદી ખોળયો નહોતો એવા લોકોની આગળ હું પ્રગટ થયો.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.65.1">યશાયા 65:1</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="21" bcv="ROM.10.21" />બિનયહૂદિઓ વિષે યશાયા દ્વારા દેવ આમ બોલ્યો. પરંતુ યહૂદિ લોકો વિષે દેવ કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“એ લોકો માટે હું રાત-દિવસ રાહ જોઈ રહ્યો છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ મારી આજ્ઞા પાળવાનો અને મને અનુસરવાનો તેઓ ઈન્કાર કરે છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.65.2">યશાયા 65:2</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>

<c id="11" />
<s style="s">દેવ પોતાના માણસોને ભૂલ્યો નથી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.11.1" />તેથી હું પૂછું છું, “શું દેવે પોતાના માણસોને તરછોડી દીઘા?” ના! હું પોતે ઈસ્રાએલનો (યહૂદિ) છું. હું ઈબ્રાહિમના વંશનો અને બિન્યામીનના કુળનો છું.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ROM.11.2" />ઈસ્રાએલના લોકો જનમ્યા તે પહેલાં દેવે તેમને પોતાના માણસો તરીકે પસંદ કર્યા. અને દેવે એ લોકોને તરછોડ્યા નથી. એલિયા પ્રબોધક વિષે ધર્મશાસ્ત્ર જે કહે છે તે તમે સારી રીતે જાણો છો. ઈસ્રાએલના લોકોની વિરુંદ્ધમાં દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરતા એલિયા વિષે શાસ્ત્રમાં ઉલ્લેખ છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ROM.11.3" />એલિયા બોલ્યો, “હે પ્રભુ, આ લોકોએ તારા પ્રબોધકોને મારી નાખ્યા છે અને તારી વેદીઓનો વિનાશ કર્યો છે. પ્રબોધકોમાં એક માત્ર હું જ હજી જીવતો છું. અને હવે એ લોકો મને પણ મારી નાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરી રહ્યાં છે.”<x caller="+"><xo>11:3
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ 1 રા. 19:10, 14</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ROM.11.4" />પરંતુ દેવે એલિયાને શું જવાબ આપ્યો, તે જાણો છો? દેવે તેને કહ્યું, “જે 7,000 માણસો હજી પણ મારી ભક્તિ કરે છે તેઓને મેં મારા માટે રાખી મૂક્યા છે. આ 7,000 માણસો ‘બઆલ’ની આગળ ઘૂંટણે પડયા નથી.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ROM.11.5" />એવું જ અત્યારે પણ છે. થોડાક માણસો એવા છે કે જેઓ દેવ કૃપાથી પસંદ કરાયા છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ROM.11.6" />અને જો દેવ-કૃપાને કારણે એમની પસંદગી થઈ હોય, અને તેઓ દેવના માણસો થયા હોય, તો તે તેઓનાં કર્મોને આધારે નહિ. પરંતુ તેમનાં કર્મોને આધારે તેઓ દેવના ખાસ માણસો થઈ શક્યા હોત તો, દેવ લોકોને કૃપાની જે બક્ષિસ આપે છે તે ખરેખર બક્ષિસ ન ગણાત.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ROM.11.7" />તો એ આમ થયું છે: ઈસ્રાએલના લોકોએ દેવ-પ્રાપ્તિ માટે યોગ્યતા કેળવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. પરંતુ તેઓ સફળ ન થયા. પરંતુ દેવે જે માણસો પસંદ કર્યા, તેઓ સુપાત્ર થયા. બીજા લોકો કઠણ થયા અને તેમણે દેવનો આદેશ સાંભળવાનો ઈન્કાર કરી દીઘો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ROM.11.8" />શાસ્ત્રોમાં લખ્યું છે તેમ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દેવે તેઓની પર ભર ઊંઘનો આત્મા રેડયો છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.29.10">યશાયા 29:10</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દેવે તેઓની આંખો બંધ કરી દીધી જેથી તેઓ સત્ય જોઈ શકે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવે તેઓના કાન પણ બંધ કરી દીધા જેથી કરીને તેઓ સત્ય સાંભળી શકે નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">અત્યાર સુધી આ સ્થિતિ ચાલુ જ રહી છે.”
<rq>પુર્નનિયમ 29:4</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="9" bcv="ROM.11.9" />અને દાઉદ કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મિજબાની ઉડાવતા લોકો ભલે ફસાઈ જાય, અને પકડાઈ જાય.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભલે તેઓને પડવા દો અને શિક્ષા થવા દો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="ROM.11.10" />તેઓ જોઈ શકે નહિ એવી તેઓની આંખો અંધકારમય થાઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓની પીઠ તું સદા વાંકી વાળ, અને પછી હંમેશને માટે ભલે તેઓ દુ:ખ ભોગવે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.69.22">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 69:22-23</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ROM.11.11" />તેથી હું પૂછી રહ્યો છું: યહૂદિઓની પડતીના કારણે શું તેઓ તેમનો વિનાશ લાવ્યા? ના! એમની ભૂલો જ બિનયહૂદિ લોકો માટે મુક્તિ લાવી. અને યહૂદિઓમાં ઈર્ષા ઉત્પન્ન થાય માટે આમ બન્યું.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ROM.11.12" />જો કે યહૂદિઓની ભૂલ આખી દુનિયા માટે સમૃદ્ધ આશીર્વાદો લઈ આવી. અને યહૂદિઓએ જે ખોયું તે બાબતે બિનયહૂદિ લોકો માટે અઢળક આશિષ લાવી. દેવની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે યહૂદિઓ જ્યારે લોકો પ્રત્યેક દયાળુ બનશે ત્યારે આખી દુનિયા ખરેખર વધારે સમૃદ્ધ આશીર્વાદ પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ROM.11.13" />હવે, જે લોકો યહૂદિ નથી તેમને હું સંબોધું છું. બિનયહૂદિઓનો પણ હું પ્રેરિત છું. તેથી જ્યાં સુધી મારે એ કાર્ય કરવાનું છે, ત્યાં સુધી હું મારાથી શક્ય હોય એવી સર્વોત્તમ રીતે કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="ROM.11.14" />મને આશા છે કે હું મારા પોતાના લોકોને ઈર્ષાળુ બનાવી શકીશ. એ રીતે કદાચ એમાંના કેટલાએકને હું બચાવી શકીશ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ROM.11.15" />દેવ યહૂદિઓથી વિમુખ થઈ ગયો. જ્યારે એવું થયું ત્યારે દેવે દુનિયાના અન્ય લોકો સાથે મૈત્રી કરી. તેથી જ્યારે દેવ યહૂદિઓને સ્વીકાર કરશે. ત્યારે લોકોને ખરેખર મૃત્યુ પછીનું તે સાચું જીવન પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ROM.11.16" />જો રોટલીનો પ્રથમ ટૂકડો દેવને અર્પણ કરવામાં આવે છે, તો તે આખી રોટલી પવિત્ર બની જાય છે. જો વૃક્ષનાં મૂળિયાં પવિત્ર હોય તો વૃક્ષની ડાળીઓ પણ પવિત્ર હોય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ROM.11.17" />એ વાત એવી છે જાણે કે ઉછેરવામાં આવેલ જૈતૂન વૃક્ષની કેટલીક ડાળીઓ કાપી નાખવામાં આવી છે અને જંગલી જૈતૂન વૃક્ષની એક ડાળીની તેમાં કલમ કરવામાં આવી છે. તમે બિનયહૂદિઓ તે જંગલી ડાળી જેવા છો, અને તમે હવે પ્રથમ વૃક્ષની શક્તિ અને જીવનના સહભાગી થયા છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ROM.11.18" />અસલ વૃક્ષની ડાળીઓ જે કાપી નાખવામાં આવી હતી, તે વિષે તમે ગર્વ કરશો નહિ. એનું ગર્વ કરવા માટે તમારી પાસે કોઈ યોગ્ય કારણ પણ નથી. શા માટે? કેમ કે તમે એ અસલ વૃક્ષનાં મૂળિયાંને જીવન આપતા નથી. તે મૂળિયાં તમને જીવન આપે છે, તમારા જીવનને આધાર આપે છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="ROM.11.19" />તમે કહેશો, “ડાળીઓ એટલા માટે તોડી નાખવામાં આવી હતી કે જેથી કરીને હું તે ઝાડમાં જોડાઈ શકું.”
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<v id="20" bcv="ROM.11.20" />એ સાચું છે. પરંતુ એ ડાળીઓ તોડી નાખવામાં આવી હતી કેમ કે અસલ વૃક્ષમાં તેઓને વિશ્વાસ ન હતો. અને તમે એ અસલ વૃક્ષના ભાગ બની જીવી રહ્યાં છો, કારણ કે તમે વિશ્વાસ ધરાવો છો. અભિમાન ન કરશો, પરંતુ દેવનો ડર રાખો.
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<v id="21" bcv="ROM.11.21" />જેમ દેવે એ વૃક્ષની કુદરતી ડાળીઓને રહેવા ન દીઘી, એ જ રીતે જો તમે વિશ્વાસ નહિ રાખો તો, દેવ તમને પણ રહેવા નહિ દે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ROM.11.22" />આમ, તમે જોઈ શકો છો કે દેવ દયાળુ છે, પરંતુ તે ઘણી સખતાઈ પણ રાખી શકે છે. જે લોકો દેવને અનુસરવાનું બંધ કરે છે તેઓને દેવ શિક્ષા કરે છે. પરંતુ જો તમે દેવની દયા હેઠળ જીવન જીવતા હશો તો તે હંમેશા તમારા પ્રત્યે કૃપાળુ રહેશે. જો તમે દેવની દયાને અનુસરવાનું ચાલુ નહિ રાખો તો વૃક્ષમાંથી ડાળીની જેમ કપાઈ જશો.
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<v id="23" bcv="ROM.11.23" />અને જો યહૂદિઓ ફરીથી દેવમાં માનતા થશે તો, દેવ એમને ફરી પાછા અપનાવી લેશે. તેઓ જ્યાં હતા ત્યાં મૂળ સ્થાને તેમને પુન:સ્થાપિત કરવા દેવ સમર્થ છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="ROM.11.24" />કોઈ જંગલી ડાળી એક સારા વૃક્ષનું અંગ બને એ કાંઈ કુદરતી ઘટના નથી. તમે બિનયહૂદિઓ તો કોઈ જંગલી જૈતૂન વૃક્ષની તૂટેલી ડાળી જેવા છો. અને એક સારા જૈતૂન વૃક્ષ સાથે તમને જોડવામાં આવ્યા હતા. પરંતુ પેલા યહૂદિઓ તો સારા વૃક્ષની ફૂટેલી ડાળી જેવા છે. તેથી, તેમના પોતાના અસલ વૃક્ષ સાથે તેમને ફરીથી જોડી શકાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ROM.11.25" />ભાઈઓ તથા બહેનો, આ રહસ્યમય સત્ય હું તમને સમજાવવા માગું છું. હું ઈચ્છું છું કે આ સત્ય તમને સમજવા માટે સહાયરૂપ થશે કે તમે સર્વજ્ઞ નથી. તે સત્ય આ છે: ઈસ્રાએલના એક ભાગને હઠીલો બનાવવામાં આવ્યો છે. પરંતુ પુરતા પ્રમાણમાં બિનયહૂદિઓ જ્યારે દેવના શરણે આવશે ત્યારે એ સ્થિતિ પણ બદલાશે.
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<v id="26" bcv="ROM.11.26" />અને એ રીતે આખા ઈસ્રાએલને બચાવશે. શાસ્ત્રોમાં લખેલું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“સિયોનમાંથી ઉદ્ધાર કરનાર આવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે યાકૂબના કુટુંબના અધર્મને તથા સર્વ અનિષ્ટોને દૂર કરશે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="27" bcv="ROM.11.27" />અને જ્યારે હું તેઓનાં પાપ દૂર કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે તેઓની સાથેનો મારો કરાર પૂર્ણ થશે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.59.20">યશાયા 59:20-21</ref>; <ref tgt="ISA.27.9">27:9</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="ROM.11.28" />યહૂદિઓ સુવાર્તા સ્વીકારવાનો ઈન્કાર કરે છે, તેથી તેઓ દેવના શત્રું છે. તમે બિનયહૂદિઓને મદદ કરવા આમ કર્યુ છે. પરંતુ એ ભૂલશે નહિ કે યહૂદિઓ હજૂ પણ દેવની ખાસ પસંદગી પામેલા લોકો છે. તેથી દેવ તેઓને ખૂબજ ચાહે છે. દેવે તેમના બાપદાદાઓને વચનો આપ્યાં હતાં, તેથી દેવ તેમને ચાહે છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="ROM.11.29" />દેવ જ્યારે જે લોકોને પાસે બોલાવીને એમને કઈક આપે છે, તે પછી દેવ લોકોને આપેલું પોતાનું વચન કદી પણ પાછું ખેંચી લેતો નથી.
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<v id="30" bcv="ROM.11.30" />એક સમય એવો હતો કે જ્યારે તમે દેવના આદેશનો અનાદર કરતા હતા. પરંતુ હમણા તમે દયાપાત્ર બન્યા, કેમ કે પેલા યહૂદિ લોકોએ દેવ-આજ્ઞાનો અનાદર કર્યો છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="ROM.11.31" />અને હવે યહૂદિઓ આજ્ઞાપાલનનો અનાદર કરે છે, કેમ કે દેવે તમને ક્ષમા આપી છે. પરંતુ આમ એટલા માટે બન્યું, જેથી તેઓની ઉપર દેવ દયા કરે.
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<v id="32" bcv="ROM.11.32" />દેવ-આજ્ઞાનો અનાદર બધા લોકોએ કર્યો જ છે. આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરનારા બધા લોકોને દેવે એક સાથે એક જગ્યાએ એકત્રિત કરી રાખ્યા છે, જેથી કરીને તે તેઓ પર દયા વરસાવી શકે.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવની સ્તુતિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="ROM.11.33" />હા, દેવની સમૃદ્ધિ અત્યંત મહાન છે! દેવની કૃપા અને ક્ષમા અપરંપાર છે! દેવનું જ્ઞાન અને વિવેક-બૂદ્ધિ અનંત છે! દેવના નિર્ણયોને કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ સમજી શકશે નહિ. દેવના માર્ગો કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ સમજી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="34" bcv="ROM.11.34" />શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે તેમ,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“પ્રભુનું મન કોણે જાણ્યું છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનો મંત્રી કોણ થયો છે?”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.40.13">યશાયા 40:13</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="35" bcv="ROM.11.35" />“દેવને કોઈએ કઈ પણ ક્યારે આપ્યું છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">દેવ કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિનો ઋણી નથી. જેથી કોઈને પાછું ભરી આપવામાં આવે?”
<rq><ref tgt="JOB.41.11">અયૂબ 41:11</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="ROM.11.36" />હા, બધી વસ્તુઓના સર્જક દેવ છે. અને દરેક વસ્તુ દેવ દ્વારા અને દેવ માટે જ ટકી રહે છે. દેવનો સર્વકાળ મહિમા થાઓ! આમીન.
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</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">તમારું જીવન દેવને સમર્પિત કરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.12.1" />હે ભાઈઓ તથા બહેનો, હું તમને વિનંતી કરું છું કે હવે તમે કઈક કરો. દેવે આપણા પ્રત્યે પુષ્કળ દયા દર્શાવી છે. તેથી દેવની દયાની ખાતર તમે તમારા શરીરોનું જીવતું, પવિત્ર તથા દેવને પસંદ પડે એવું અર્પણ કરો. તમારું અર્પણ માત્ર પ્રભુ અર્થે જ થાય, અને તેથી દેવ પ્રસન્ન થશે. તમારું અર્પણ દેવની સેવાનો આધ્યાત્મિક માર્ગ છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="ROM.12.2" />આ દુનિયાના લોકો જેવા થવા માટે તમે તમારા જીવનનું પરિવર્તન કરશો નહિ. પરંતુ નવી વિચાર-શૈલી અપનાવીને તમે તમારા જીવનમાં પૂર્ણ રીતે આંતરિક પરિવર્તન પામો, તો જ દેવ તમારા માટે શું ઈચ્છે છે તે તમે નક્કી કરી શકશો અને તે સ્વીકારી શકશો. તમે જાણી શકશો કે કઈ વસ્તુઓ સારી છે અને દેવને પ્રિય છે, અને કઈ વસ્તુઓ સંપૂર્ણ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="ROM.12.3" />દેવે મને એક વિશિષ્ટ કૃપાદાન આપ્યું છે. તેથી જ તો તમારામાંની દરેક વ્યક્તિને મારે કઈક કહેવાનું છે. તમે એવું ન માની લો કે તમે ખરેખર જેવા છો તેના કરતાં તમે વધારે સારા છો. તમે ખરેખર જેવા છો તેવા તમારી જાતને ઓળખો. દેવે તમને કઈ જાતનો વિશ્વાસ આપ્યો છે, એના આધારે નક્કી કરો કે તમે કોણ છો!
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<v id="4" bcv="ROM.12.4" />આપણામાંના દરેક માનવને એક શરીર છે, અને એ શરીરને ઘણાં અવયવો છે. આ બધાં અવયવો એક જ પ્રકારનું કાર્ય કરતાં નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="ROM.12.5" />આપણી સાથે એમ જ છે, જો કે આપણે લોકો ઘણા છીએ. પરંતુ આપણે ઘણા હોવા છત્તાં ખ્રિસ્તમાં એક શરીર છીએ. અને અરસપરસ એકબીજાનાં અવયવો છીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ROM.12.6" />આપણ સૌને જુદાં જુદાં કૃપાદાનો મળેલ છે. આપણા પર થએલ દેવની કૃપાને કારણે પ્રત્યેક કૃપાદાન આપણને પ્રાપ્ત થયેલ છે. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિને પ્રબોધ કરવાનું કૃપાદાન મળ્યું હોય તો એ વ્યક્તિએ પૂરા વિશ્વાસથી પ્રબોધ કરવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="7" bcv="ROM.12.7" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિને સેવા કરવાનું કૃપાદાન હોય, તો તેણે માનવોની સેવા કરવી જોઈએ. કોઈ વ્યક્તિને શિક્ષણ આપવાનું કૃપાદાન હોય. તો તેણે લોકોને શિક્ષણ આપવામાં મંડયા રહેવું.
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<v id="8" bcv="ROM.12.8" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિને એવું કૃપાદાન મળ્યું હોય કે તે બીજા લોકોને આશ્વાસન આપી શકે, તો તેણે દુ:ખી લોકોને આશ્વાસન આપવું જોઈએ. અન્ય લોકોને મદદરૂપ થવા કોઈ વ્યક્તિને દાન આપવાની ક્ષમતા પ્રાપ્ત થઈ હોય, તો તેણે ઉદારતાથી દાન કરવું જોઈએ. કોઈ વ્યક્તિમાં અધિકારી થવાની આવડત હોય, તો તેણે સારો અધિકાર ચલાવવા સખત શ્રમ કરવો જોઈએ. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિમાં અન્ય લોકો પ્રત્યે દયા દર્શાવવાનું કૃપાદાન મળ્યું હોય તો તેણે ઉમંગથી એ કાર્ય ઉપાડી લેવું જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ROM.12.9" />તમારો પ્રેમ સાચો હોવો જોઈએ. ભુંડું છે તેને ધિક્કારો. માત્ર સારાં જ કર્મો કરો.
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<v id="10" bcv="ROM.12.10" />જે રીતે ભાઈઓ-બહેનો વચ્ચે પ્રેમ હોય છે એ રીતે તમે એક બીજાને પ્રેમ કરો, જેથી તમને એ આત્મીયતાનો અનુભવ થાય. તમે માન-સન્માનની જે અપેક્ષા રાખો છો, તેના કરતાં વધારે માન-સન્માન તમારા ભાઈ-બહેનોને આપવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="11" bcv="ROM.12.11" />દેવનું કાર્ય કરવાની જરૂર હોય ત્યારે તમે આળસુ ન થાઓ. અને જ્યારે દેવની સેવા કરો ત્યારે પૂર્ણ આધ્યાત્મિક ઉત્સાહ સાથે કરો.
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<v id="12" bcv="ROM.12.12" />ઉજજવળ ભવિષ્યની આશા છે તેથી આનંદમાં રહો. જ્યારે મુશ્કેલીઓ આવે ત્યારે ધીરજ રાખો. અને હંમેશા દેવની પ્રાર્થના કરો.
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<v id="13" bcv="ROM.12.13" />દેવના લોકો જેમને મદદની જરૂર છે, તેમના સંતોષ માટે તેમના સહભાગી બનો. એવા લોકોની મહેમાનગતી કરો.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ROM.12.14" />જે લોકો તમારું ખરાબ કરતા હોય, તેમના વિષે ફક્ત સારું જ બોલો. એમને શાપ ન આપો, પરંતુ એમને આશીર્વાદ જ આપો.
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<v id="15" bcv="ROM.12.15" />બીજાના આનંદમાં આનંદી થાઓ, અને બીજાના દુ:ખમાં તમે એમના સહભાગી બનો.
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<v id="16" bcv="ROM.12.16" />એક બીજા સાથે હળીમળીને રહો અને શાંતિથી જીવો, અભિમાની બનશો નહિ. બીજા લોકોને મન જે માણસો અગત્યના ન હોય, તેવાની મિત્રતા કરવા તૈયાર રહો. મિથ્યાભિમાની ન બનો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ROM.12.17" />જો કોઈ તમને નુક્સાન કરે તો તેને નુક્સાન પહોંચાડીને વેર વાળવાની વૃત્તિ ન રાખો. બધા લોકો જેને સારા કાર્યો તરીકે સ્વીકારે છે, એવા કાર્યો જ તમે કરો.
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<v id="18" bcv="ROM.12.18" />સૌ લોકો સાથે શાંતિથી જીવવા માટે તમારા તરફથી બને તેટલો સારામાં સારો પ્રયત્ન કરો.
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<v id="19" bcv="ROM.12.19" />હે મારા મિત્રો, જ્યારે લોકો તમને નુકસાન કરે ત્યારે એમને શિક્ષા કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન ન કરો. દેવના પોતાના કોપથી એમને શિક્ષા કરે ત્યાં સુધી રાહ જુઓ. શાસ્ત્રમાં લખેલું છે: “પાપીઓને શિક્ષા કરનાર હું જ એક માત્ર છું; હું તેમનો બદલો લઈશ,”<x caller="+"><xo>12:19
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 32:35</xt></x> એમ પ્રભુ કહે છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="ROM.12.20" />પરંતુ તમારે આમ કરવું જોઈએ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જો તારો દુશ્મન ભૂખ્યો હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો એને ખવડાવ.
</q>
<q style="q1">જો તારો દુશ્મન તરસ્યો હોય
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો તેને પાણી પા;
</q>
<q style="q1">આ રીતે તું એ માણસને શરમિંદો બનાવી શકીશ.”
<rq><ref tgt="PRO.25.21">નીતિવચનો 25:21-22</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="21" bcv="ROM.12.21" />ભૂંડાથી તું હારી ન જા, પણ સારાં કર્મો કરીને તારે ભૂંડાનો પરાજય કરવો.
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</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">રાજ્ય પ્રત્યેની ફરજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.13.1" />દરેક માણસે મુખ્ય અધિકારીઓના હુકમનું પાલન કરવું જ જોઈએ. જે અધિકારી છે તેઓને દેવ દ્વારા એ સત્તા આપવામાં આવી છે. અને અત્યારે જે લોકો શાસન કરી રહ્યા છે, તેમને પણ દેવ દ્વારા એ સત્તા આપવામાં આવી છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="ROM.13.2" />તેથી જે વ્યક્તિ સરકારની વિરુંદ્ધમાં હોય તે ખરેખર તો દેવના આદેશની વિરુંદ્ધમાં છે. સરકારની વિરુંદ્ધ જતા લોકો પોતે શિક્ષા વહોરી લે છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ROM.13.3" />જે લોકો સારાં કાર્યો કરતા હોય તેમણે સરકારી અધિકારીઓથી ડરવાની જરૂર નથી. પરંતુ જે લોકો ખોટાં કામો કરતા હોય તેમને તો અધિકારીઓનો ડર લાગવો જ જોઈએ. શું તમારે શાસકોના ડરમાંથી મુક્ત થવું છે? તો તમારે સારાં કામો કરવાં જોઈએ. જો તમે સારાં કાર્યો કરશો તો સરકારી અધિકારીઓ તમારાં વખાણ કરશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="ROM.13.4" />શાસક તો દેવનો સેવક છે. જે તમને મદદ કરે છે. પરંતુ જો તમે કઈક ખોટું કરશો તો તમારે ડરવું પડશે. શાસક પાસે શિક્ષા કરવાની સત્તા હોય છે, અને તે એ સત્તાનો ઉપયોગ કરશે. ખોટાં કામો કરનાર લોકોને સજા કરતો અધિકારી દેવનો સેવક છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="ROM.13.5" />તેથી તમારે સરકારના નિયમોનું પાલન કરવું જ જોઈએ. તમારે સરકારી કાયદાઓનું પાલન કરવું જોઈએ કારણ કે જો તમે પાલન ન કરો તો તમને શિક્ષા થાય. તમારે એટલા માટે પણ કાયદાનું પાલન કરવું જોઈએ કેમ કે, એમ કરવું જ યોગ્ય છે એ તમે જાણો છો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="ROM.13.6" />અને તેથી જ તમે કરવેરા પણ ચૂકવો છો. જે સત્તાધારી છે તે દેવ માટે કાર્ય કરે છે અને શાસન કાર્યમાં પોતાનો બધો સમય આપે છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="ROM.13.7" />જે લોકોનું ઋણ તમારા માથે હોય તે તેમને ચૂકવો. કોઈ પણ જાતના કરવેરા કે કોઈ પણ જાતનું દેવું તમારા પર હોય તો તે ભરપાઈ કરી દો. જે લોકોને માન આપવા જેવું હોય તેમને માન આપો. અને જેમનું સન્માન કરવા જેવું હોય તેમનું સન્માન કરો.
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<s style="s">અન્ય લોકોને પ્રેમ કરવો એ જ માત્ર નિયમ છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="ROM.13.8" />કોઈનું કોઈ પણ પ્રકારનું દેવું રાખશો નહિ. પરંતુ હંમેશા એક બીજાના પ્રેમના ઋણી રહો. જે વ્યક્તિ બીજા લોકોને પ્રેમ કરે છે તેણે ખરેખર નિયમની બધી જ જરૂરિયાતો પરિપૂર્ણ કરી છે એમ ગણાશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="ROM.13.9" />હું આમ શા માટે કહું છું? કારણ કે નિમયશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે, “તારે વ્યભિચારનું પાપ ન કરવું જોઈએ, ખૂન ન કરવું, કશાયની ચોરી ન કરાય, બીજા લોકોની વસ્તુઓ મેળવી લેવાની ઈચ્છા ન કરાય.”<x caller="+"><xo>13:9
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 20:13-15, 17</xt></x> આ અને બીજી બધી આજ્ઞાઓ કે આદેશો ખરેખર તો એક જ નિયમમાં સમાઈ જાય છે: “જે રીતે તમે તમારી જાતને પ્રેમ કરો છો, એ જ રીતે પોતાના પડોશી પર પણ પ્રેમ કરો.”<x caller="+"><xo>13:9
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 19:18</xt></x>
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<v id="10" bcv="ROM.13.10" />પ્રેમ બીજા લોકોને ઈજા કે દુ:ખ પહોંચાડી શકતો નથી. તેથી, નિયમના બધા જ આદેશોનું પાલન કરવું કે તેને પ્રેમ કરવો એ બધું એક જ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="ROM.13.11" />આ બધી વાત હું તમને એટલા માટે કહું છું કે, તમે જાણો છો તેમ, આપણે સૌ મહત્વપૂર્ણ સમયમાં જીવી રહ્યાં છીએ. હા, તમારી નિંદ્રામાંથી જાગૃત થવાનો હવે સમય આવ્યો છે. પછી જ્યારે આપણે વિશ્વાસીઓ બન્યા તેના કરતાં હવે તારણનો સમય આપણી વધુ નજીક છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="ROM.13.12" />“રાત”<f caller="+"><ft>“રાત” પાપમય જગતનું પ્રતિક.</ft></f> લગભગ સમાપ્ત થઈ ચૂકી છે. “દિવસ”<f caller="+"><ft>“દિવસ” સારા સમયનું પ્રતિક જે આવી રહ્યો છે.</ft></f> ઊગી રહ્યો છે. તેથી આપણે અંધકારનાં કામો કરવાનું હવે બંધ કરવું જોઈએ. સત્કર્મોના કાર્યો માટે આપણે પ્રકાશના શાસ્ત્રોથી સજજ થવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="13" bcv="ROM.13.13" />પ્રકાશમાન દિવસમાં રહેતા લોકોની જેમ આપણે વર્તવું જોઈએ. મોંજ મસ્તીથી છલકાતી ખર્ચાળ મિજબાનીઓ આપણે ઉડાવવી ન જોઈએ. મદ્યપાન કરીને આપણે નશો ન કરવો જોઈએ. આપણે આપણાં અવયવો વડે જાતીય વાસનાનું પાપ કે બીજાં કોઈ પણ પાપ ન કરવાં જોઈએ. આપણે (બિનજરુંરી) દલીલો કરીને મુશ્કેલીઓ ઊભી કરવી ન જોઈએ, અથવા ઈર્ષાળુ ન બનવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="14" bcv="ROM.13.14" />પરંતુ પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તને પહેરી લો. તમારામાં રહેલો પાપનો અંશ તમને જે ખરાબ ઈચ્છાઓ કરાવે છે, તેને સંતોષવાના વિચારો ન કરો.
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</p>

<c id="14" />
<s style="s">બીજા લોકોની ટીકા ન કરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.14.1" />વિશ્વાસમાં જે માણસ નબળો હોય તો તેનો તમે તમારી મંડળીમાં સ્વીકારવા માટે ઈન્કાર ન કરશો. અને એ વ્યક્તિના જુદા વિચારો વિષે એની સાથે દલીલબાજીમાં ન ઉતરશો.
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<v id="2" bcv="ROM.14.2" />એક વ્યક્તિ એવું માને છે કે એને મન ફાવે તેમ તે કોઈપણ જાતનો ખોરાક ખાઈ શકે છે. પરંતુ નિર્બળ વિશ્વાસ ધરાવનાર માણસ એવું માને છે કે તે ફક્ત શાકભાજી જ ખાઈ શકે છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="ROM.14.3" />કોઈપણ જાતનો ખોરાક લેનાર માણસે એવું માની લેવું ન જોઈએ કે તે શુદ્ધ શાકાહારી વ્યક્તિ કરતાં વધારે સારો છે. અને ચુસ્ત શાકાહારી માણસે પણ એવું માનવું ન જોઈએ કે બધી જાતનો ખોરાક લેનાર માણસ ખોટો છે. કેમ કે દેવે તેનો પણ સ્વીકાર કર્યો છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="ROM.14.4" />બીજા માણસના નોકર વિષે તમે અભિપ્રાય આપી ન શકો. નોકર કામ બરાબર કરે છે કે નહિ, એ તો ફક્ત એનો પોતાનો જ શેઠ નક્કી કરી શકે. અને પ્રભુનો સેવક ન્યાયી હશે કારણ કે તેને ન્યાયી કે સુપાત્ર બનાવવા પ્રભુ સમર્થ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="ROM.14.5" />કોઈ માણસ એવું માની શકે કે કોઈ એક દિવસ તે બીજા કોઈ દિવસ કરતાં વધારે મહત્વનો છે. અને વળી બીજો કોઈ માણસ એવું માની શકે કે બધા દિવસ એક સરખાજ છે. ખરી વાત તો એ છે કે દરેક માણસે મનમાં પોતાની માન્યતાઓ વિષે બરાબર સ્પષ્ટ હોવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="6" bcv="ROM.14.6" />બીજા દિવસો કરતાં અમુક જ દિવસ વધારે અગત્યનો છે એવું માનનાર માણસ પ્રભુને માટે એવું કરી રહ્યો છે. અને બધું જ ખાનાર માણસ પણ દેવને માટે એવું કરી રહ્યો છે. હા એ ખોરાક માટે તે દેવનો આભાર માને છે. અને અમુક ખોરાક ખાવાનો ઈન્કાર કરનાર માણસ પણ પ્રભુને ખાતર એમ કરી રહ્યો છે. એ પણ દેવનો આભાર માને છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="ROM.14.7" />હા, આપણે સૌ પ્રભુને ખાતર જીવીએ છીએ. આપણે કાંઈ આપણી પોતાની જાત માટે જીવતા કે મરતા નથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="ROM.14.8" />જો આપણે જીવીએ છીએ તો તે પ્રભુને ખાતર જ જીવીએ છીએ. અને જો આપણે મરીએ છીએ તો તે પણ પ્રભુને ખાતર જ. આમ, જીવતાં કે મરતાં આપણે પ્રભુનાજ છીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="ROM.14.9" />તેથી જ તો ખ્રિસ્ત મરણ પામ્યો અને પાછો મૃત્યુમાંથી સજીવન થયો. ખ્રિસ્તે આ પ્રમાણે કર્યુ જેથી કરીને જે લોકો મરણ પામ્યા છે અને જેઓ હજી જીવતા છે તે સૌને ને પ્રભુ થાય.
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<v id="10" bcv="ROM.14.10" />તો પછી ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખનાર તમારા ભાઈ વિષે તમે શા માટે સારો કે ખરાબ અભિપ્રાય બાંધો છો? અથવા તો તમારા ભાઈ કરતાં તમે વધારે સારા છો, એમ તમે શા માટે વિચારો છો? આપણે બધાએ દેવના ન્યાયાસન આગળ ઉપસ્થિત થવાનું છે અને તે આપણા સૌનો ન્યાય કરશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="ROM.14.11" />હા, શાસ્ત્રમાં લખેલું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“‘પ્રભુ કહે છે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ મારી આગળ ઘૂંટણીએ પડીને નમન કરશે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ કબૂલ કરશે કે, હું દેવ છું. હું જીવું છું એ જેટલું ચોક્કસ છે, એટલું ચોક્કસ એ રીતે આ બધું બનશે.’”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.45.23">યશાયા 45:23</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="12" bcv="ROM.14.12" />આમ, પોતાના જીવન વિષે આપણામાંની દરેક વ્યક્તિએ દેવને જવાબ આપવો પડશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">બીજા લોકો પાસે પાપ કરાવશો નહિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ROM.14.13" />આમ આપણે એકબીજાનો ન્યાય તોળવાનું બંધ કરવું જોઈએ. આપણે એવો નિર્ણય લેવો પડશે કે આપણે એવું કાંઈ પણ ન કરવું કે જે કોઈ ભાઈ કે બહેનને નિર્બળ બનાવે કે તેને પાપમાં પાડે.
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<v id="14" bcv="ROM.14.14" />હું તો પ્રભુ ઈસુમાં છું. અને હું જાણું છું કે એવો કોઈ ખોરાક નથી કે જે ખાવા માટે નકામો હોય. પરંતુ જો કોઈ માણસ એવું માનતો હોય કે કોઈ વસ્તુ તેના માટે ખોટી કે નકામી છે, તે તેના માટે તે ખોટું જ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="ROM.14.15" />જો તમે જે કાંઈ ખોરાક લેતા હોય અને તેનાથી તમારા ભાઈની લાગણી દુભાતી હોય તો તમે પ્રેમનો માર્ગ અનુસરતા નથી. તેને ખાવાનો આગ્રહ કરીને તેના વિશ્વાસનો નાશ કરશો નહિ. એ માણસ માટે ઈસુ મરણ પામ્યો છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="ROM.14.16" />તમારું જે સારું છે તે વિષે ભૂંડું બોલાય એવું કશું કરશો નહિ.
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<v id="17" bcv="ROM.14.17" />દેવના રાજ્યમાં ખાવું અને પીવું એ અગત્યની બાબતો નથી. તેનાં કરતાં અગત્યની બાબતો દેવના રાજ્યમાં તો દેવની સાથે ન્યાયી થવું અને શાંતિ અને પવિત્ર આત્મામાં આનંદ અનુભવવો તે છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="ROM.14.18" />જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આ રીતે જીવન જીવીને ખ્રિસ્તની સેવા કરે છે તે દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરે છે. અને બીજા લોકો પણ એ વ્યક્તિનો સ્વીકાર કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="ROM.14.19" />જે કામો કરવાથી શાંતિ સ્થપાતી હોય એવું કરવા આપણે સખત પરિશ્રમ કરીએ. અને જેનાથી એક બીજાને મદદ થાય એવું કરવાનો આપણે પ્રયત્ન કરીએ.
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<v id="20" bcv="ROM.14.20" />જ ખોરાક ખાવાની બાબત પર માર મૂકીને દેવનું કાર્ય નષ્ટ ન થવા દો. ખાવાની બાબતમાં બધો જ ખોરાક ખાવા લાયક હોય છે. પરંતુ જે ખાવાથી બીજો માણસ જો પાપમાં પડતો હોય તો એ ખોરાક ખાવો યોગ્ય ન ગણાય.
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<v id="21" bcv="ROM.14.21" />સાચી વસ્તુ એ છે કે માંસ ખાવાથી કે દ્રાક્ષારસ પીવાથી કે એવું કાંઈ કરવાથી જો તમારા ભાઈનું આધ્યાત્મિક પતન થતું હોય તો તે યોગ્ય નથી. તેથી એવું કાંઈ પણ ન કરવું જેનાથી કોઈનું પણ આધ્યાત્મિક પતન થાય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ROM.14.22" />આવી બાબતો વિષેની તમારી અંગત માન્યતાઓને તમારી અને દેવની વચ્ચે ગુપ્ત રાખવી જોઈએ. અપરાધ કર્યો હોય એવી લાગણી અનુભવ્યા વગર જે વ્યક્તિ પોતે જેને સાચું કે યોગ્ય માનતો હોય એવું કરી શકે એવી વ્યક્તિને ધન્ય છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="ROM.14.23" />તે ખોરાક ખાવો યોગ્ય છે કે નહિ તેની ખાતરી કર્યા વગર જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તે ખાઈ લે તો તે પોતાની જાતને દોષિત માને છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે તે વ્યાજબી હતું એમ તેણે માન્યું નહોતું. અને જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ જેમાં તેને વિશ્વાસ નથી કે તે સાચું છે અને તે કરે છે તો પછી તે પાપ છે.
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</p>

<c id="15" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.15.1" />આપણે સબળ વિશ્વાસુ છીએ. તેથી જે લોકો વિશ્વાસમાં નિર્બળ હોય તેવાને આપણે મદદ કરવી જોઈએ. એ લોકોની નિર્બળતાઓ સંભાળી લઈને આપણે એમને મદદ કરવી જોઈએ. આપણે આપણી જાતને ખુશ કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન ન કરવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ROM.15.2" />આપણામાંના દરેકે બીજાને પણ ખુશ કરવા જોઈએ. એમને મદદ કરવા આપણે આમ કરવું જોઈએ. એમનો વિશ્વાસ દ્રઢ થાય એ માટે એમને મદદ કરવાનો આપણે પ્રયત્ન કરવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="ROM.15.3" />ખ્રિસ્ત પણ પોતાને ખુશ કરવાના પ્રયત્નમાં જીવન જીવ્યો ન હતો. તેના વિષે શાસ્ત્રમાં કહ્યું છે તેમ: “જે લોકોએ તારું અપમાન કર્યું છે, તેમણે મારું પણ અપમાન કર્યું છે.”<x caller="+"><xo>15:3
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ગી. શા. 69:9</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ROM.15.4" />ભૂતકાળમાં જે બધું લખવામાં આવ્યું હતું તે આપણને ઉપદેશ આપવા અને આપણામાં આશા ઉપજાવવા લખાયું હતું. આપણને ઉદ્ધારની આશા મળે એ માટે એ બધું લખાયું હતું, શાસ્ત્રો આપણને જે ધીરજ અને શક્તિ આપે છે તેમાંથી આશા જન્મે છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="ROM.15.5" />ધીરજ અને શક્તિનો સ્રોત દેવ છે. દેવને મારી પ્રાર્થના છે કે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ ઈચ્છે છે તેમ તમને સૌને હળીમળીને સાથે રહેવામાં દેવ તમારી મદદ કરે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="ROM.15.6" />એમ કરવાથી તમે સૌ એક સૂત્રમાં બંધાશો. અને આમ તમે સૌ સાથે રહીને આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના પિતા દેવને મહિમાવંત કરશો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="ROM.15.7" />ખ્રિસ્તે તમને સ્વીકાર્યા, તેવી રીતે તમારે એકબીજાને સ્વીકારવા જોઈએ. એમ કરવાથી દેવને મહિમા મળશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="ROM.15.8" />મારે તમને એ કહેવું છે કે દેવ જે વચન આપે છે તે સત્ય છે, એમ બતાવવા ખ્રિસ્ત યહૂદિઓનો સેવક થયો. દેવે યહૂદિઓના પૂર્વજોને જે જે વચનો આપ્યાં હતાં તે દેવ કરી બતાવશે, એ સાબિત કરવા માટે ખ્રિસ્તે આમ કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ROM.15.9" />અને બિનયહૂદિઓ પણ દેવની દયાને માટે સ્તુતિ કરે. શાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યું છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“માટે હું બિનયહૂદિઓમાં તારી સ્તુતિ કરીશ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારા નામનાં સ્ત્રોત્ર ગાઈશ.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.18.49">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 18:49</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="10" bcv="ROM.15.10" />શાસ્ત્ર તો આમ પણ કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દેવના માણસોની સાથે સાથે સૌ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બિનયહૂદિઓએ પણ આનંદિત થવું જોઈએ.”
<rq>પુર્નનિયમ 32:43</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="11" bcv="ROM.15.11" />વળી શાસ્ત્ર આમ પણ કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તમે સૌ બિનયહૂદિઓ પ્રભુની સ્તુતિ કરો;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સઘળાં લોકો પ્રભુનાં ગુણગાન ગાઓ.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.117.1">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 117:1</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="12" bcv="ROM.15.12" />અને યશાયા પ્રબોધક કહે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“યશાઈના વંશમાંથી<f caller="+"><fr>15:12
</fr><fk>યશાઈનો વંશ
</fk><ft>ઈઝરાએલનો રાજા દાઉદનો પિતા. ઈસુ આ વંશમાં જનમ્યો હતો.</ft></f> એક વ્યક્તિ આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વ્યક્તિ બિનયહૂદિઓ પર રાજ કરવાને આવશે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને એ વ્યક્તિને કારણે બિનયહૂદિઓને આશા પ્રાપ્ત થશે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.11.10">યશાયા 11:10</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="ROM.15.13" />હવે દેવ કે જેના પર તમે આશા રાખો છો, તે તમને તમારા વિશ્વાસને પૂર્ણ આનંદ અને શાંતિથી ભરી દો. જેથી કરીને તમે તે પવિત્ર આત્માના સાર્મથ્ય દ્વારા ભરપૂર આશાથી છલકાઈ જાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલ પોતાના કાર્ય વિષે કહે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="ROM.15.14" />મારા ભાઈઓ તથા બહેનો, મને ખાતરી છે કે તમે ભલાઈથી ભરપૂર છો. હું જાણું છું કે જરૂર હોય એટલું સર્વ પ્રકારનું જ્ઞાન તમે ઘરાવો છો, અને તમે એકબીજાને ચેતવણી આપી શકો એમ છો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="ROM.15.15" />એ છતાં વિદેશીઓ પવિત્ર આત્માથી પાવન થઈને માન્ય આર્પણ થાય, માટે દેવની સુવાર્તાનો યાજક થઈને હું વિદેશીઓ પ્રત્યે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુનો સેવક થાઉ.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="ROM.15.16" />એ કારણે દેવે મને જે કૃપાદાન આપ્યું છે તેને આધારે તમને ફરીથી સહેજ યાદ કરાવવા માટે વધારે હિંમત રાખીને મેં આ પત્ર તમારા પર લખ્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ROM.15.17" />આમ, ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં દેવ માટે હું જે કઈ કરી શક્યો છું એનું મને ગૌરવ છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ROM.15.18" />મેં પોતે જે કઈ કર્યુ છે તે વિષે હું વાત નહિ કરું. બિનયહૂદિ લોકો દેવની આજ્ઞા માને એવું એમને માર્ગદર્શન આપવામાં ખ્રિસ્તે મારી પાસે જે કાર્ય કરાવ્યું છે તે વિષે જ હું બોલીશ. મેં જે બાબતો કહી છે અને કરી છે, એને લીધે તેઓએ દેવની આજ્ઞા પાળી છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ROM.15.19" />પરાક્રમોની શક્તિ અને જે મહાન વસ્તુઓ એમણે જોઈ છે, અને પવિત્ર આત્માના સાર્મથ્યને લીધે એમણે દેવનો આદેશ માન્યો છે. યરૂશાલેમથી માંડીને ઈલ્લુરિકા સુધી બધે ફરી ફરીને મેં ખ્રિસ્તની સુવાર્તા સંપૂર્ણ રીતે પ્રગટ કરી છે. અને આમ મારા કાર્યનો એ ભાગ મેં પરિપૂર્ણ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="ROM.15.20" />જે જે સ્થળોએ લોકોએ કદી પણ ખ્રિસ્ત વિષે સાંભળ્યું ન હોય ત્યાં સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરવાનાં કાર્યને મેં હમેશા મારું ધ્યેય બનાવ્યું છે. આમ કરવાનું કારણ એ છે કે બીજી કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ જ્યાં આ કાર્ય પહેલેથી જ શરું કરી દીધું હોય ત્યાં પહોંચી જઈને એણે કરેલા કાર્યના પાયા પર હું કામ ન કરું.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="ROM.15.21" />પણ, શાસ્ત્રોમાં લખેલું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે લોકોને તેના વિષે કશું જ કહેવામાં નથી આવ્યું તે લોકો જોશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેઓના સાંભળવામાં આવ્યું નહોતું તેઓ સમજશે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.52.15">યશાયા 52:15</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<s style="s">રોમની મુલાકાત માટે પાઉલની યોજના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ROM.15.22" />તેથી જ ઘણી વાર તમારી પાસે આવતાં મને રોકવામાં આવતો હતો. જેથી મારે અહીં રોકાઈ જવું પડતું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ROM.15.23" />હવે અહીં આ વિસ્તારોમાં મેં મારું કાર્ય પરિપૂર્ણ કર્યુ છે. વળી ઘણાં વર્ષોથી તમારી મુલાકાતે આવવાનું મને મન હતું.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ROM.15.24" />તેથી હું જ્યારે સ્પેન જઈશ ત્યારે તમારી મુલાકાત લઈશ. હા, સ્પેન પ્રવાસે જતા તમારી મુલાકાત લેવાની હું આશા રાખું છું, અને તમારી સાથે રહેવાથી મને ખૂબ આનંદ થશે. પછી તમે મારા પ્રવાસમાં મને મદદ કરી શકશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ROM.15.25" />અત્યારે તો હું દેવના લોકોને મદદરૂપ થવા યરૂશાલેમ જઈ રહ્યો છું.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="ROM.15.26" />યરૂશાલેમમાં દેવના કેટલાક સંતો ગરીબ છે. મકદોનિયા અને અખાયાના વિશ્વાસુ લોકોએ તેઓને સારું કઈ ઉઘરાણું કરવું, એ મકદોનિયાના તથા અખાયાના ગરીબ લોકોને મદદ કરવા એમણે દાન આપ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="ROM.15.27" />મકદોનિયા અને અખાયાના વિશ્વાસી ભાઈઓ આમ કરતાં આનંદ અનુભવતા હતા. અને યરૂશાલેમના વિશ્વાસીઓને એમણે ખરેખર મદદ કરવી જ જોઈએ. તેઓએ એમને મદદ કરવી જોઈએ કારણ કે તેઓ આ રીતે બિનયહૂદિઓ છે અને યહૂદિઓને ઈસુના આધ્યાત્મિક આશીર્વાદોના તેઓ ભાગીદાર થયા. તેથી યહૂદિઓને મદદ કરવા એમની પાસે જે કાંઈ હોય એનો એમણે ઉપયોગ કરવો જોઈએ. તેઓના માથે યહૂદિઓનું ઋણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="ROM.15.28" />મારે ખાતરી કરવી પડશે કે યરૂશાલેમના ગરીબ લોકોને જ આ બધા પૈસા મળે કે જે એમના માટે દાનમાં આપવામાં આવ્યા છે.
</p>
<p style="p">આ કાર્ય પૂરું કર્યા પછી હું સ્પેન જવા નીકળીશ. સ્પેનના પ્રવાસે જતાં તમારી મુલાકાત લેવા માટે હું રોકાઈશ.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="ROM.15.29" />હું જાણું છું કે તમારી મુલાકાત વખતે તમારા માટે, હું ખ્રિસ્તના ભરપૂર આશીર્વાદો લાવીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="ROM.15.30" />ભાઈઓ તથા બહેનો, મારા આ કાર્યમાં મને મદદ કરવા તમે મારા માટે દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરો એવી મારી તમને વિનંતી છે. આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત માટે આ કરો. પવિત્ર આત્મા આપણને પ્રેમ આપે છે તેટલા માટે આમ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="ROM.15.31" />યહૂદિયામાં રહેતા અવિશ્વાસીઓના હુમલામાંથી હું બચી જાઉ એવી પ્રાર્થના કરો. અને એવી પણ પ્રાર્થના કરો કે યરૂશાલેમ માટે હું જે મદદ લાવી રહ્યો છું તેનાથી ત્યાંના દેવના સંતો ખુશ થાય.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="ROM.15.32" />જો દેવની ઈચ્છા હશે તો હું તમારી પાસે સહર્ષ આવીશ અને તમારી સાથે હું વિસામો પામું એવી તમે મારે માટે આગ્રહપૂર્વક દેવની પ્રાર્થના કરીને મને મદદ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="ROM.15.33" />દેવ જે શાંતિદાતા છે તે સદાને માટે તમો સૌની સાથે રહો. આમીન.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">પાઉલ ઉપસંહારમાં આભાર-વિધિ કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="ROM.16.1" />હું તમને જણાવવા ઈચ્છું છું કે ખ્રિસ્તમાં ખ્રિસ્તની મંડળીની તે ખાસ સેવિકા છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="ROM.16.2" />પ્રભુના નામે દેવના લોકોને શોભે તે રીતે તેનું સન્માન કરજો. તેણે ઘણા લોકોને તથા મને મદદ કરી છે. તેથી તે પણ તમારી પાસે મદદની માગણી કરે ત્યારે તેને સહાય કરજો.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="3" bcv="ROM.16.3" />પ્રિસ્કા અને અકુલાસને મારી સલામ કહેજો. ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુની સેવામાં તેઓ મારી કાર્ય કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="ROM.16.4" />મારો જીવ બચાવવા તેમણે પોતાનું જીવન જોખમમાં મૂક્યું હતું. હું એમનો આભારી છું, અને બધી જ બિનયહૂદિ મંડળીઓ એમની આભારી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="ROM.16.5" />અને વળી એમના ઘરમાં જે મંડળી છે તેને પણ મારી સલામ કહેશો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મારા પ્રિય મિત્ર અપૈનિતસને મારા સ્નેહસ્મરણ પાઠવશો. આસિયા માઈનોરના પશ્ચિમ વિસ્તારમાં ખ્રિસ્તનો શિષ્ય થનાર તે પહેલો માણસ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="ROM.16.6" />મરિયમની ખબર પૂછશો, તમારા માટે એણે ઘણું સખત કામ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="ROM.16.7" />આન્દ્રનિકસ અને જુનિયાસને સલામ કહેજો. તેઓ મારા સંબંધી છે, અને તેઓ મારી સાથે કેદમાં હતા. તેઓ તો દેવના કેટલાક અત્યંત મહત્વપૂર્ણ કાર્યકરોમાંના છે. મારી અગાઉ તેઓ ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસી હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="ROM.16.8" />પ્રભુમાં મારા પ્રિય મિત્ર અંપ્લિયાતસને મારી સલામ પાઠવશો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="ROM.16.9" />ઉર્બાનુસને મારી સલામ કહેજો. ખ્રિસ્તની સેવામાં જોડયેલા તે મારા સહકાર્યકર છે.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને મારા પ્રિય મિત્ર સ્તાખુસની ખબર પૂછશો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="ROM.16.10" />અપેલ્લેસને મારી સલામ કહેશો. તેની પરીક્ષા કરવામાં આવી હતી અને સાબિત થયું હતું કે તે ખ્રિસ્તને ખરેખર પ્રેમ કરે છે.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અરિસ્તોબુલસના કુટુંબના સૌ સભ્યોને મારી સલામ પાઠવશો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="ROM.16.11" />મારા સંબંધી હેરોદિયોનને સલામ કહેજો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નાર્કીસસ કુટુંબના જેઓ પ્રભુના છે તે સૌ સભ્યોને મારી સલામ પાઠવશો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="ROM.16.12" />ત્રુંફૈના અને ત્રુંફોસાની મારા વતી ખબર પૂછશો. પ્રભુ માટે આ સ્ત્રીઓ ઘણી સખત મહેનત કરી રહી છે.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">પેર્સિસને મારી સ્નેહભીની યાદ પાઠવશો. એણે પણ પ્રભુ માટે ઘણો સખત પરિશ્રમ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="13" bcv="ROM.16.13" />રૂફસને સલામ કહેજો. પ્રભુની સેવામાં તે વિશિષ્ટ વ્યક્તિ છે. એની માને મારી સલામ પાઠવશો. એ તો મારી મા પણ થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="14" bcv="ROM.16.14" />ખ્રિસ્તના શરણે આવેલા સૌ ભાઈઓ સાથે અસુંકિતસ, ફલેગોન, હર્મેસ, પાત્રબાસ તથા હાર્માસ છે તેઓને મારી સલામ કહેજો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="15" bcv="ROM.16.15" />ફિલોલોગસ અને જુલિયા, નેર્યુસ તથા એની બહેન, અને ઓલિમ્પાસને મારી સલામ પાઠવશો. અને એમની સાથે જે સંતો છે તે સૌને મારી સલામ કહેજો.
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="16" bcv="ROM.16.16" />તમે જ્યારે એક બીજાને મળો ત્યારે મંડળીમાં આવનાર બધાને પવિત્ર ચુંબન વડે સલામ કરજો.
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખનાર બધી મંડળીઓ તમને સલામ કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="ROM.16.17" />ભાઈઓ તથા બહેનો, એક બીજા વચ્ચે જે લોકો ફાટફૂટ પડાવે છે એવા લોકોથી સંભાળીને રહેવા હું તમને કહું છું. અન્ય લોકોને વિશ્વાસ ડગાવી દેતા લોકોથી ચેતતા રહેજો. તમે જે સાચો ઉપદેશ શીખ્યા છો તેના તેઓ વિરોધી છે. એવા લોકોથી દૂર રહેજો.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="ROM.16.18" />એવા લોકો આપણા પ્રભુ ખ્રિસ્તની સેવા કરતા નથી. તેઓ ખ્રિસ્તને માનતા નથી. તેઓ તો ફક્ત પોતાની જાતને મઝા પડે એવાં કામો કરતા ફરે છે. જે સીધા-સાદા લોકો ભૂંડું કે પાપ વિષે કશું જાણતા નથી, એમનાં સરળ અને ભોળાં મનને ભરમાવવા તેઓ મીઠી-મીઠી કાલ્પનિક વાતો કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="ROM.16.19" />તમે લોકો દેવની આજ્ઞા પાળો છો, એમ બધા વિશ્વાસીઓએ સાંભળ્યું છે. તેથી એ વિષે તમારે લીધે મને ઘણો આનંદ થાય છે. પરંતુ જે બધી વસ્તુઓ સારી છે તે તમે જાણો અને સમજો એમ હું ઈચ્છું છું. અને જે બાબતો ભૂંડી છે તે વિષે તમે બિલકુલ ન જાણો એમ પણ હું ઈચ્છું છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="ROM.16.20" />શાંતિ આપનાર દેવ હવે ટૂંક સમયમાં જ શેતાનને હરાવશે અને એના પર તમારી સત્તા ચાલે એવી તમને શક્તિ આપશે.
</p>
<p style="p">પ્રભુ ઈસુની દયા તમારી સાથે જ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="ROM.16.21" />મારી સાથેના કાર્યકર તિમોથી તમને સલામ પાઠવે છે. વળી મારા સંબંધીઓ લૂક્યિસ, યાસોન, સોસિપાત્રસ પણ તમારી ખબર પૂછે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="ROM.16.22" />હું તેર્તિયુસ છું, અને પાઉલ જે બોલે છે તે બધું હું લખી રહ્યો છું. પ્રભુના નામે મારી તમને સલામ કહું છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="ROM.16.23" />ગાયસ એનું ઘર મને તથા અહીંની આખી ખ્રિસ્તની મંડળીને વાપરવા દે છે. તે પણ તમને સલામ પાઠવે છે. એરાસ્તસ અને આપણો ભાઈ કવાર્તસ તમારી ખબર પૂછે છે. એરાસ્તસ અહીંનો નગર-ખજાનચી છે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="ROM.16.24" /><f caller="+"><fr>16:24
</fr><ft>કેટલીક ગ્રીક આવૃત્તિઓ પ્રમાણે અહીં કલમ 24 ઉમેરવામાં આવે છે: “આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપા તમ સર્વ પર હો. આમીન.”</ft></f>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="ROM.16.25" />દેવનો મહિમા થાઓ. એક માત્ર દેવ જ તમારા વિશ્વાસને દ્રઢ કરી શકે છે. જે સુવાર્તાનો ઉપદેશ હું તમને ધર્મમાં તમારો વિશ્વાસ મજબૂત કરવા આપું છું, એ સંદેશનો સદુપયોગ દેવ હવે કરી શકશે. સુવાર્તા એટલે કે લોકોનાં પાપ માફ થઈ શકે અને તેઓ દેવના સાન્નિધ્યમાં રહેવા સુપાત્ર થાય, એવો માર્ગ હવે દેવે સૌ માટે ખૂલ્લો કરી દીધો છે. એ સુવાર્તા ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત વિષે છે કે જે હું લોકોને કહું છું. સુવાર્તા એક ગુપ્ત સત્ય છે કે જે હવે દેવે જાહેર કર્યુ છે. ઘણા વર્ષોથી એ રહસ્યમય સત્ય છુપાવી રાખવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="ROM.16.26" />પરંતુ એ ગુપ્ત સત્ય હવે આપણી આગળ પ્રગટ કરી દેવામાં આવ્યું છે. અને હવે બધા જ દેશોના લોકોને એ સત્યથી માહિતગાર કરવામાં આવ્યા છે. પ્રબોધકોએ લખેલાં વચનો દ્વારા એ સત્ય જાહેર કરવામાં આવ્યું છે. દેવની આજ્ઞા આવી જ છે. અને તે ગુપ્ત સત્ય સૌ લોકોને હવે જણાવ્યું છે, જેથી કરીને તેઓ દેવ પર વિશ્વાસ કરે અને એની આજ્ઞાઓ પાળે. દેવ તો અવિનાશી છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="ROM.16.27" />તે એકલા જ્ઞાની દેવને, ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા સર્વકાળ પર્યંત મહિમા હો. આમીન.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="1CO"><id id="1CO">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>1 કરિંથીઓ
</h><toc level="1">કરિંથીઓને પહેલો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">1 કરિંથીઓ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">કરિંથીઓને
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<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">પહેલો પત્ર
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<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.1.1" />પાઉલ તરફથી કુશળતા હો. ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુના એક પ્રેરિત તરીકે મને પસંદ કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો કારણ કે દેવે તે રીતે ઈચ્છયું. ખ્રિસ્તમાં આપણા ભાઈ સોસ્થનેસ તરફથી પણ કુશળતા હો.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1CO.1.2" />કરિંથમાંની દેવની મંડળી અને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં પવિત્ર બનાવાયેલા લોકો પ્રતિ, તમે દેવના પસંદ કરાયેલા પવિત્ર લોકો છો. તમે બધી જગ્યાઓના બધા લોકો સાથે તમે પસંદ કરાયેલાં છો, કે જેને આપણા અને તેઓના પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના નામમાં વિશ્વાસ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1CO.1.3" />દેવ આપણા પિતા અને પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તરફથી તમને કૃપા અને શાંતિ પ્રાપ્ત થાઓ.
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<s style="s">પાઉલનું દેવ પ્રતિ આભારદર્શન
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1CO.1.4" />ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ દ્વારા દેવે તમારા પર જે કૃપા દર્શાવી છે, તેના માટે હમેશા હું મારા દેવનો આભાર માનું છું.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CO.1.5" />દરેક રીતે તમે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં આશીર્વાદ પામ્યા છો. તમારી સંપૂર્ણ વાણી અને તમારા સંપૂર્ણ જ્ઞાનમાં તમે આશીર્વાદ પામ્યા છો.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CO.1.6" />ખ્રિસ્ત વિષેનું સત્ય તમારામાં પ્રમાણિત થયું છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CO.1.7" />આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના પુનરાગમનની તમે પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી રહ્યા છો, તે દરમ્યાન દેવના દરેક કૃપાદાન તમારી પાસે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CO.1.8" />અંત સુધી હરહંમેશ ઈસુ તમને સક્ષમ રાખશે. તે તમને સુદઢ રાખશે જેથી કરીને પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના પુનરાગમનના દિવસે તમારામાં કોઈ ક્ષતિ ન રહે.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CO.1.9" />દેવ વિશ્વાસપાત્ર છે. તે એ જ છે કે જેણે તેના દીકરા ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત આપણા પ્રભુ સાથે જીવન ગાળવા તમને પસંદ કર્યા છે.
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<s style="s">કરિંથની મંડળીની સમસ્યાઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1CO.1.10" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના નામે હું તમને વિનંતી કરું છું કે તમે બધા એક મતના થાઓ. જેથી કરીને તમારામાં કોઈ ભાગલા ન પડે. હું તમને વિનંતી કરું છું કે તમે એ જ હેતુથી એ જ વિચારમાં સંપૂર્ણ રીતે એક થાઓ.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1CO.1.11" />મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, ખ્લોએ પરિવારના કેટલા એક સભ્યોએ મને તમારા વિષે જણાવ્યું. મેં સાંભળ્યું છે કે તમારામાં અંદરો અંદર મતભેદ છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CO.1.12" />મારું કહેવું આમ છે: તમારામાંનો એક કહે છે, “હું પાઉલને અનુસરું,” તો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કહે છે, “હું અપોલોસને અનુસરું છું,” તો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કહે છે, “હું કેફાને અનુસરું છું;” તો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કહે છે, “હું ખ્રિસ્તને અનુસરું છું.”
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<v id="13" bcv="1CO.1.13" />ખ્રિસ્તને વિવિધ જૂથોમાં વિભાજીત ન કરી શકાય. શું પાઉલ તમારા માટે વધસ્તંભ પર મરણ પામેલો? ના! તમે પાઉલના નામે બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા હતા? ના!
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<v id="14" bcv="1CO.1.14" />મને આનંદ છે કે કિસ્પુસ અને ગાયસ સિવાય બાકીના કોઈને પણ મેં બાપ્તિસ્મા આપ્યાં ન હતાં.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CO.1.15" />મને આનંદ છે કારણ કે હવે કોઈ પણ એવું કહી શકશે નહિ કે તમે મારા નામે બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા છો.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CO.1.16" />(મેં સ્તેફનાસના પરિવારને તો બાપ્તિસ્મા આપેલુ, પણ એ સિવાય મેં બીજા કોઈનું પણ બાપ્તિસ્મા કર્યુ હોય તેવું હું જાણતો નથી.)
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<v id="17" bcv="1CO.1.17" />ખ્રિસ્તે મને લોકોને બાપ્તિસ્મા આપવાનું કામ સોંપ્યું ન હતું. ખ્રિસ્તે તો મને સુવાર્તા કહેવાનું કામ સોંપ્યું હતું. પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્તે મને દુન્યવી શાણપણના શબ્દોનો ઉપયોગ કર્યા સિવાય સુવાર્તા કહેવા મોકલ્યો હતો. જો મેં દુન્યવી જ્ઞાનનો સુવાર્તા કહેવામાં ઉપયોગ કર્યો હોત, તો ખ્રિસ્તના વધસ્તંભે<f caller="+"><fr>1:17
</fr><fk>વધસ્તંભ
</fk><ft>પાઉલ વધસ્તંભનો ઉપયોગ સુવાર્તાનારુપે કરે છે. લોકોના પાપો માટે ખ્રિસ્ત વધસ્તંભ પર મરણ પામ્યો. લોકોને બચાવવા માટે વધસ્તંભ (ખ્રિસ્તનું મરણ) દેવનો માર્ગ હતો.</ft></f> તેનું સાર્મથ્ય ગુમાવ્યું હોત.
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<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તમાં દેવનું સાર્મથ્ય અને જ્ઞાન
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1CO.1.18" />જે લોકો ભટકી ગયેલા છે, તેઓને માટે વધસ્તંભ અંગેનો ઉપદેશ મૂર્ખતા ભરેલો છે. પરંતુ આપણે માટે કે જેનું તારણ થયેલું છે, તેમના માટે તો તે દેવનું સાર્મથ્ય છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CO.1.19" />શાસ્ત્રોમાં આ પ્રમાણે લખ્યું છે કે:
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<q style="q1">“હું જ્ઞાની માણસોના જ્ઞાનનો વિનાશ કરીશ.
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<q style="q1">હું બુધ્ધિમાન માણસોની બુધ્ધિને નિર્માલ્ય બનાવી દઈશ.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.29.14">યશાયા 29:14</ref></rq>
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1CO.1.20" />જ્ઞાની વ્યક્તિ ક્યાં છે? શિક્ષિત વ્યક્તિ ક્યાં છે? આ યુગનો તત્વજ્ઞાની ક્યાં છે? દેવે દુન્યવી જ્ઞાનને મૂર્ખતામાં ફરવી દીધું છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CO.1.21" />તેમના આ જ જ્ઞાન વડે દેવ આવું ઈચ્છતો હતો: દુનિયા પોતાના જ્ઞાનથી દેવને ન ઓળખી શકી ત્યારે સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરવાની મૂર્ખતા વડે વિશ્વાસ કરનારાઓનું તારણ કરવાનું દેવે ઈચ્છયું.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1CO.1.22" />યહૂદિઓ પ્રમાણ તરીકે ચમત્કારોની માગણી કરે છે. ગ્રીકો શાણપણ માગે છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="1CO.1.23" />પણ અમે આવો ઉપદેશ આપીએ છીએ: ખ્રિસ્તને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો હતો. આ યહૂદિઓ માટે અસ્વીકાર્ય છે. અને બિનયહૂદિઓને આ મૂર્ખામી ભરેલું લાગે છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="1CO.1.24" />દેવે જેને બોલાવ્યો તેવા યહૂદિ (પસંદ કરેલા) અને ગ્રીક લોકો માટે ખ્રિસ્ત તો દેવનું સાર્મથ્ય તથા જ્ઞાન છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="1CO.1.25" />દેવની મૂર્ખતા પણ માણસો કરતાં વધુ જ્ઞાનવાળી હોય છે. દેવની નિર્બળતા પણ માણસો કરતાં વધુ શક્તિશાળી હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1CO.1.26" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, દેવે તમને પસંદ કર્યા. તેના વિષે વિચાર કરો! અને દુનિયા જે રીતે જ્ઞાનને મુલવે છે, તે રીતે તમારામાંના ઘણા જ્ઞાની ન હતા. તમારામાના ઘણાનો વિશિષ્ટ પ્રભાવ ન હતો. કે તમારામાંના ઘણા વિશિષ્ટ ખાનદાનમાંથી પણ આવતા ન હતા.
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<v id="27" bcv="1CO.1.27" />જ્ઞાની માણસોને શરમાવવા દેવે જગતના મૂર્ખોની પસંદગી કરી, જગતના શક્તિશાળી માણસોને શરમાવવા દેવે નિર્બળોની પસંદગી કરી.
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<v id="28" bcv="1CO.1.28" />જગત જેને બિનમહત્વનું ગણે છે, અને જેને દુનિયા ધિક્કારે છે જે કશું જ નથી. દેવ તેને પસંદ કરે છે. જેને જગતે મહત્વનું ગણ્યું તેનો વિનાશ કરવા માટે દેવે પસંદ કર્યુ.
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<v id="29" bcv="1CO.1.29" />કોઈ પણ માણસ દેવ સામે બડાશ મારી શકે નહિ તેથી દેવે આમ કર્યુ.
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<v id="30" bcv="1CO.1.30" />દેવ એક જ છે જે આપણને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુના અંશરૂપ બનાવે છે. દેવ તરફથી ખ્રિસ્ત આપણું શાણપણ બન્યો છે. ખ્રિસ્તના કારણે આપણે દેવે પ્રત્યે ન્યાયી છીએ. ખ્રિસ્તના કારણે પાપમાંથી મુક્તિ મળી છે. ખ્રિસ્તના કારણે જ આપણે પવિત્ર છીએ.
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<v id="31" bcv="1CO.1.31" />તેથી જેમ શાસ્ત્રલેખ કહે છે, “જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અભિમાન કરે તો તે ફક્ત પ્રભુમાં જ અભિમાન કરે.”<x caller="+"><xo>1:31
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ યર્મિ. 9:24</xt></x>
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<s style="s">વધસ્તંભ પર ખ્રિસ્ત વિષેનો સંદેશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.2.1" />પ્રિય ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, જ્યારે હું તમારી પાસે આવ્યો ત્યારે મેં તમારી સમક્ષ દેવ વિષેનું સત્ય પ્રગટ કર્યુ. પણ મેં સુશોભિત વચનો કે ઉત્કૃષ્ટ જ્ઞાનનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો ન હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1CO.2.2" />મેં નિર્ણય કર્યો હતો કે જ્યાં સુધી હું તમારી સાથે હોઈશ ત્યાં સુધી હું ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત અને તેના વધસ્તંભ પરના મૃત્યુ સિવાય દરેક વસ્તુ ભૂલી જઈશ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1CO.2.3" />જ્યારે હું તમારી પાસે આવ્યો, ત્યારે હું અશક્ત હતો અને ભયથી ધ્રૂજતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1CO.2.4" />મારી વાણી અને મારો ઉપદેશ લોકો સમજે અને સંમત થાય તેવા જ્ઞાની વચનોથી ભરપૂર ન હતાં. પરંતુ આત્માએ મને જે શક્તિ આપી તે મારા ઉપદેશનું પ્રમાણ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1CO.2.5" />મેં આમ કર્યુ જેથી કરીને તમારો વિશ્વાસ માણસના જ્ઞાન કરતા દેવના સાર્મથ્યમાં જળવાઈ રહે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવનું જ્ઞાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CO.2.6" />જે લોકો પરિપકવ છે તેમને અમે જ્ઞાનનો ઉપદેશ શીખવીએ છીએ, પરંતુ જે જ્ઞાન અમે આપીએ છીએ તે આ દુનિયાનું નથી. તે આ દુનિયાના શાસકોનું જ્ઞાન નથી કે જે શાસકો તેમની સત્તા ગુમાવી રહ્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1CO.2.7" />પરંતુ અમે દેવના રહસ્યપૂર્ણ જ્ઞાન વિષે કહીએ છીએ કે જે જ્ઞાન લોકોથી છુપાવવામાં આવ્યું હતું. દેવે આ જ્ઞાન આપણા જ મહિમા માટે આયોજિત કરેલું. જગતનાં પ્રારંભ પૂર્વેથી દેવે આ યોજના કરેલી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1CO.2.8" />આ જગતના કોઈ પણ અધિકારીઓ આ શાણપણનો પાર પામી શક્યા નથી. જો તેઓ તે સમજી શક્યા હોત, તો તેઓ પ્રભુને વધસ્તંભે ન જડત.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1CO.2.9" />પરંતુ જે રીતે શાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યું છે તે રીતે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“નથી આંખે જોયું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નથી કાને સાભળ્યું,
</q>
<q style="q1">નથી કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ કલ્પના કરી કે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે લોકો જેઓ તેને પ્રેમ કરે છે તેમના માટે દેવે શું તૈયાર કર્યુ છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.64.4">યશાયા 64:4</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="10" bcv="1CO.2.10" />પરંતુ દેવે બધી બાબતો આપણને આત્મા દ્વારા દર્શાવી છે. આત્મા આ બધી બાબતો જાણે છે.
</p>
<p style="p">આત્મા તો દેવનાં ઊડા રહસ્યોને પણ જાણે છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1CO.2.11" />તે આ પ્રમાણે છે: કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ બીજી વ્યક્તિના વિચારો જાણી શક્તી નથી. ફક્ત તે વ્યક્તિમાં રહેલો આત્મા જ તે વિચારો જાણી શકે છે. દેવ સાથે પણ આમ જ છે. દેવના વિચારો કોઈ જાણી શકતું નથી. ફક્ત દેવનો આત્મા જ તે વિચારો જાણે છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1CO.2.12" />જગતના આત્માને તો આપણે પ્રાપ્ત કરી શક્યા નથી, પરંતુ દેવ તરફથી પ્રાપ્ત થયેલા આત્માને આપણે મેળવ્યો છે. આપણે આ આત્મા પ્રાપ્ત કર્યો છે, તેથી દેવે આપેલી વસ્તુઓને આપણે જાણી શકીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1CO.2.13" />જ્યારે અમે આ વાતો કહીએ છીએ ત્યારે અમે મનુષ્યે શીખવેલા શબ્દો વાપરતા નથી. અમે આત્માએ શીખવેલા શબ્દો વાપરીએ છીએ. અમે આત્મિક બાબતો સમજાવવા આત્મિક શબ્દો વાપરીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1CO.2.14" />જે વ્યક્તિ આત્મિક નથી તે દેવના આત્મા તરફથી આવતી બાબતોનો સ્વીકાર કરતી નથી. તે વ્યક્તિ તે બધી બાબતો મૂર્ખામી ભરેલી ગણે છે. તે વ્યક્તિ આત્માની બાબતો સમજી શકતી નથી, કારણ કે તે બાબતો આધ્યાત્મિક રીતે જ મૂલવી શકાતી હોય છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1CO.2.15" />પરંતુ આધ્યાત્મિક મનુષ્ય પ્રત્યેક બાબતોની મૂલવણી કરવા માટે સક્ષમ હોય છે. બીજા લોકો તેને મૂલવી શક્તા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="1CO.2.16" />શાસ્ત્રલેખ કહે છે કે:
</p>
<q style="q1">“પ્રભુનું મન કોણ જાણી શકે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રભુએ શું કરવું તે કોણ તેને કહી શકે?”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.40.13">યશાયા 40:13</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">પરંતુ આપણી પાસે ખ્રિસ્તનું મન છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">માનવોને અનુસરવું ખોટું છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.3.1" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, ભૂતકાળમાં હું તમારી સાથે વાતચીત નહોતો કરી શક્યો જે રીતે હું આધ્યાત્મિક માણસો સાથે વાતચીત કરું છું. મારે તમારી સાથે દુન્યવી માણસોની રીતે વાતચીત કરવી પડેલી-ખ્રિસ્તમાં બાળકોની જેમ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1CO.3.2" />જે શિક્ષણ મેં તમને આપેલું તે દૂધ જેવું હતું, અને નક્કર આહાર જેવું ન હતું. મેં આમ કર્યુ કારણ કે નક્કર આહાર માટે તમે તૈયાર ન હતા. અને અત્યારે પણ તમે નક્કર આહાર માટે તૈયાર નથી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1CO.3.3" />હજુ સુધી તમે આધ્યાત્મિક માનવી નથી. તમારામાં ઈર્ષ્યા અને વિવાદ છે. આ દર્શાવે છે કે તમે આધ્યાત્મિક બન્યા નથી. તમે તો દુન્યવી માણસો જેવું જ વર્તન કરો છો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1CO.3.4" />તમારામાંનો એક કહે છે કે, “હું પાઉલને અનુસરું છું.” અને કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કહે છે કે, “હું અપોલોસને અનુસરું છું.” જ્યારે તમે આવી બાબતો કહો છો, ત્યારે તમે દુન્યવી માણસો જેવું જ વર્તન કરો છો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1CO.3.5" />શું આપોલોસ મહત્વપૂર્ણ છે? ના! શું પાઉલ મહત્વપૂર્ણ છે? ના! અમે તો ફક્ત દેવના સેવકો છીએ જેણે તમને વિશ્વાસ કરવામાં મદદ કરી. અમારામાંના પ્રત્યેક જણે દેવે અમને જે કામ સોંપ્યું હતું તે કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1CO.3.6" />મેં બીજ વાવ્યાં અને અપોલોસે તેને પાણી સિંચ્ચુ. પરંતુ દેવે તે બીજ અંકુરિત કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1CO.3.7" />તેથી જે વ્યક્તિ વાવણી કરે છે તે મહત્વપૂર્ણ નથી. અને જે વ્યક્તિ જળસિંચન કરે છે તે પણ મહત્વપૂર્ણ નથી. ફક્ત દેવ જ મહત્વપૂર્ણ છે, કારણ કે તે જ બીજને અંકુરિત કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1CO.3.8" />જે વ્યક્તિ વાવે છે અને જે વ્યક્તિ જળ સિંચે છે તેમનો હેતુ તો સરખો જ છે. અને પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને તેના કામનો બદલો મળશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1CO.3.9" />આપણે દેવ માટેના સહકાર્યકરો છીએ અને તમે દેવની માલિકીનું ખેતર છો.
</p>
<p style="p">અને તમે દેવની માલિકીનું મકાન છો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="1CO.3.10" />એક કુશળ કારીગરની જેમ મેં મકાનનો પાયો નાખ્યો. આમ કરવા માટે મેં દેવે આપેલા કૃપાદાનનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો. બીજા લોકો તે પાયા પર બાંધકામ કરી રહ્યા છે. પણ દરેક વ્યક્તિએ તે કેવી રીતે બાંધે છે તેની કાળજી રાખવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1CO.3.11" />પાયાનું તો ક્યારનું ય ચણતર થઈ યૂક્યું છે. કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ બીજો પાયો બનાવી શકે નહિ. પાયો કે જે ક્યારનો ય ચણાઈ ચૂક્યો છે તે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1CO.3.12" />તે પાયા પર વ્યક્તિ સોનું, ચાંદી, સમૂલ્ય પથ્થર, લાકડું ઘાસ કે પરાળ વગેરેનો ઉપયોગ કરીને બાંધકામ કરી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="1CO.3.13" />પરંતુ પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે કામ કરશે તે સ્પષ્ટપણે દેખાશે કારણ કે તે દિવસ તેને પ્રગટ કરશે. તે દિવસ<f caller="+"><fr>3:13
</fr><fk>દિવસ
</fk><ft>ખ્રિસ્ત લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવા આવશે તે દિવસ.</ft></f> અગ્રિની જવાળાઓ સહિત પ્રગટ થશે અને અગ્રિ પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિના કાર્યને પારખશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1CO.3.14" />જો કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિનું મકાન તેના પાયા પર ટકશે તો તે વ્યક્તિને તેનો બદલો મળશે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1CO.3.15" />પરંતુ જો તે વ્યક્તિનું મકાન આગમાં બળી જશે તો તેને નુકશાન ભોગવવું પડશે. તે વ્યક્તિ બચી તો જશે પરંતુ તે અજ્ઞિમાંથી તેની જાતને બચાવ્યા જેવું હશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1CO.3.16" />તમારે જાણવું જોઈએ કે તમે પોતે જ દેવનું મંદિર છો. દેવનો આત્મા તમારામાં નિવાસ કરે છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CO.3.17" />જો કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ દેવના મંદિરનો વિનાશ કરશે તો દેવ તે વ્યક્તિનો વિનાશ કરશે. શા માટે? કારણ કે દેવનું મંદિર પવિત્ર છે. તમે પોતે જ દેવનું મંદિર છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1CO.3.18" />તમારી જાતને મૂર્ખ ન બનાવો. જો તમારામાંનો કોઈ એમ વિચારે કે દુનિયામાં તે જ્ઞાની છે, તો તેણે જ્ઞાની થવા મૂર્ખ બનવું. પછી જ તે વ્યક્તિ વાસ્તવમાં જ્ઞાની બની શકશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CO.3.19" />શા માટે? કારણ કે આ દુનિયાનું જ્ઞાન તો દેવ માટે મૂર્ખતા સમાન છે કારણ કે તે શાસ્ત્રલેખમાં લખેલ છે કે, “તે જ્ઞાની માણસોને જ્યારે તેઓ પ્રપંચો કરે છે, ત્યારે પકડે છે.”<x caller="+"><xo>3:19
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ અયૂ 5:13</xt></x>
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<v id="20" bcv="1CO.3.20" />શાસ્ત્રલેખોમાં તો આવું પણ લખેલું છે કે, “પ્રભુ જ્ઞાની માણસોને વિચારોને જાણે છે. તે એમ પણ જાણે છે કે તેમના વિચારોનું કશું જ મૂલ્ય નથી.”<x caller="+"><xo>3:19
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ગી. શા. 94:11</xt></x>
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<v id="21" bcv="1CO.3.21" />તેથી તમારે માણસો વિષે બડાશ મારવી જાઈએ નહિ. દરેક વસ્તુઓ તમારી જ છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="1CO.3.22" />પાઉલ, અપોલોસ અને કેફા: વિશ્વ, જીવન, મૃત્યુ, વર્તમાન તેમજ ભવિષ્ય-આ બધી જ વસ્તુઓ તમારી છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="1CO.3.23" />અને તમે ખ્રિસ્તના છો અને ખ્રિસ્ત દેવનો છે.
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<c id="4" />
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રેરિતો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.4.1" />લોકોએ અમારા વિષે આમ માનવું જોઈએ: અમે તો ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના સેવકો છીએ. અમે એવા લોકો છીએ કે જેને મર્મોના કારભારીઓ ગણવા.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CO.4.2" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિનો કશાક માટે વિશ્વાસ કરવામાં આવે તો તેણે દર્શાવવું જોઈએ કે તે વ્યક્તિ તે વસ્તુનો વિશ્વાસ કરવા લાયક છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CO.4.3" />મારો તમે ન્યાય કરો તેની મને પરવા નથી. અને કોઈ માનવ અદાલત દ્વારા મારો ન્યાય થાય તેની પણ મને પરવા નથી. હું તો મારા પોતાનો પણ ન્યાય કરતો નથી.
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<v id="4" bcv="1CO.4.4" />મેં કોઈ પણ ખરાબ કૃત્યો કર્યા હોય તેવી મને જાણકારી નથી. પરંતુ તેનાથી હું નિર્દોષ સાબિત થતો નથી. પ્રભુ જ એક એવો છે જે મારો ન્યાય કરી શકે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CO.4.5" />તેથી યોગ્ય સમય પહેલાં ન્યાય ન કરો, પ્રભુ આવે ત્યાં સુધી રાહ જુઓ. તે જે વસ્તુઓ અંધકારમાં છુપાઈ છે તેના પર પ્રકાશ પાડશે તે લોકોના હૃદયના ગુપ્ત ઈરાદાઓને જાહેર કરી દેશે. પછી દેવ દરેક વ્યક્તિને તેને મળવી જોઈએ તેટલી પ્રશંસા આપશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CO.4.6" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, આ બાબતો અંગે મેં અપોલોસ અને મારો પોતાનો જ ઉદાહરણ તરીકે ઉપયોગ કર્યો છે. મેં આમ કર્યુ જેથી કરીને તમે અમારામાંથી શબ્દના અર્થ પામી શકો, “ફક્ત જે શાસ્ત્રલેખમાં લખ્યું છે તેનો જ અમલ કરો.” પછી તમે કોઈ એક વ્યક્તિ માટે ગૌરવ નહિ અનુભવો કે બીજી વ્યક્તિને તિરસ્કાકશો નહિ.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CO.4.7" />કોણ કહે છે કે તમે બીજા લોકો કરતાં વધુ સારા છો? તમારી પાસે જે કાંઈ છે તે તમને આપવામાં આવ્યું હતું, તો પછી તમે તે વસ્તુઓ તમારી પોતાની તાકાતના જોરે મેળવી હોય તેવી બડાશ કેમ મારો છો?
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CO.4.8" />તમે માનો છો કે તમારી પાસે તમારી જરૂરિયાતની દરેક વસ્તુ છે. તમે માનો છો કે તમે ધનવાન છો. તમે માનો છો કે અમારા વગર તમે રાજાઓ બની ગયા છો. હું ઈચ્છું અને આશા કરું છું કે તમે ખરેખર રાજા હો! તો પછી અમે પણ તમારી સાથે રાજા બની શકીએ.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CO.4.9" />પરંતુ મને એમ લાગે છે કે દેવે મને અને બીજા પ્રેરિતોને અંતિમ સ્થાન આપ્યું છે. અમે તો તે માણસો જેવા છીએ કે જેને અન્ય લોકોની નજર સામે મરવું પડે છે. અમે તો આખા જગત-દૂતો અને લોકોની નજરે તમાશા જેવા થયા છીએ.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CO.4.10" />અમે તો ખ્રિસ્ત માટે મૂર્ખ છીએ. પરંતુ તમે માનો છો કે તમે ખ્રિસ્તમાં ઘણા જ્ઞાની છો. અમે તો નિર્બળ છીએ. પરંતુ તમે માનો છો કે તમે શક્તિશાળી છો. લોકો તમને માન આપે છે, પણ અમારું અપમાન કરે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CO.4.11" />અત્યારે પણ અમારી પાસે પૂરતું ખાવા કે પીવાનું નથી કે અમારી પાસે પૂરતાં કપડાં નથી. અમારે ઘણી વાર માર ખાવો પડે છે. અમારી પાસે કોઈ ઘર નથી.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CO.4.12" />અમારે અમારી જાતે અમારા પોતાના હાથે અમને પોષવા સખત પરિશ્રમ કરવો પડે છે. લોકો અમને શાપ આપે છે. પરંતુ અમે તેમને આશીર્વાદ આપીએ છીએ. લોકો અમને હેરાનગતિ કરે છે, અને અમે તે સ્વીકારીએ છીએ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CO.4.13" />લોકો અમારા વિષે ખરાબ બોલે છે, પરંતુ અમે તેમને સારી બાબતો કહીએ છીએ. આ ક્ષણે પણ લોકો હજુ પણ અમારી સાથે એવો વર્તાવ કરે છે કે જાણે અમે જગતનો કચરો અને સમાજનો મેલ હોઈએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1CO.4.14" />હું તમને શરમાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરવા માગતો નથી. પરંતુ આ બધી બાબતો હું તમને ચેતવણી આપવા માટે લખી રહ્યો છું. જાણે તમે મારા પોતાના જ પ્રિય બાળકો હો!
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<v id="15" bcv="1CO.4.15" />ખ્રિસ્તમાં તમારી પાસે 10,000 શિક્ષકો હશે, પરંતુ તમારી પાસે અનેક પિતા નહિ હોય. સુવાર્તા દ્વારા ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં હું તમારો પિતા બન્યો છું.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CO.4.16" />તેથી કરીને હું તમને વિનંતી કરું છું કે કૃપા કરીને મારા જેવા બનો.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CO.4.17" />તેથી જ હું તિમોથીને તમારી પાસે મોકલી રહ્યો છું. તે પ્રભુમાં મારો પુત્ર છે. હું તિમોથીને ચાહું છું, અને તે વિશ્વાસપાત્ર છે. તે તમને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં હું જે રીતે જીવું છું તેની યાદ અપાવવામાં તમને મદદ કરશે. તે જીવનપધ્ધતિ હું સર્વત્ર દરેક મંડળીમાં શીખવું છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1CO.4.18" />તમારામાંના કેટલાએક બડાઈખોર બની ગયા છો. તમે બડાશ મારો છો, એવું માનીને કે હું તમારી પાસે ફરીથી આવીશ નહિ.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CO.4.19" />પરંતુ હું બહુજ જલ્દી તમારી પાસે આવીશ. હું આવીશ, જો પ્રભુ એમ મારી પાસેથી ઈચ્છતો હશે તો. પછી હું જોઈશ કે આ બડાઈખોરો શું કઈ કરી શકે છે કે માત્ર બોલી જ શકે છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="1CO.4.20" />મારે આ જોવું પડશે કારણ કે દેવનું રાજ્ય બોલવામાં નહિ પરંતુ સાર્મથ્યમાં છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CO.4.21" />તમે શું પસંદ કરો છો: હું તમારી પાસે તમને શિક્ષા કરવા આવું તે, કે પછી તમારી પાસે પ્રેમ અને નમ્રતા લઈ આવું તે?
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<c id="5" />
<s style="s">મંડલીમાં એક નૈતિક સમસ્યા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.5.1" />લોકો ખરેખર આમ બોલી રહ્યા છે કે તમારામાં વ્યભિચારનું પાપ છે. અને વ્યભિચારનું એક એવા ખરાબ પ્રકારનું પાપકર્મ છે કે જે લોકો દેવને જાણતા નથી તેવા લોકોમાં પણ વ્યાપ્ત નથી. લોકો આમ કહે છે કે પેલા માણસ સાથે તેના પિતાની પત્ની છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CO.5.2" />અને હજુ પણ તમે તમારી જાત માટે ગૌરવ અનુભવો છો! તમારે તો ઉદાસીથી ઘેરાઈ જવું જોઈતું હતું. અને પેલો માણસ કે જેણે આવું કામ કર્યુ તેનો તમારા જૂથમાંથી બહિષ્કાર કરવો જોઈતો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CO.5.3" />મારું શરીર ત્યાં તમારી સાથે નથી, પરંતુ આત્મા સ્વરૂપે હું તમારી સાથે જ છું અને જે માણસે આવું પાપ કર્યુ છે તેનો મેં ક્યારનો ય ન્યાય કર્યો છે. હું ત્યાં હાજર હોત અને મે તેનો જે ન્યાય કર્યો હોત તે જ પ્રમાણે મેં તેના ન્યાય કર્યો છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="1CO.5.4" />આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુના નામથી એકઠા થાવ. હું તમારી સાથે આત્મા સ્વરૂપે હોઈશ, અને તમારી સાથે આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુનું સાર્મથ્ય હશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CO.5.5" />તો પછી આ માણસને શેતાનને સોંપી દો, જેથી તેની પાપયુક્ત જાતનો વિનાશ થાય. પછી તેના આત્માનું પ્રભુના દિવસે તારણ થઈ શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CO.5.6" />તમે અભિમાન રાખો છે તે સારું નથી. તમે આ કહેવત જાણો છો, “થોડુ ખમીર<f caller="+"><fr>5:6
</fr><fk>ખમીર
</fk><ft>અહીં દૂષ્ટ કે ખરાબ અસરનો ઉલ્લેખ કરવા વપરાતો અર્થ.</ft></f> આખા લોંદાને ફુલાવે છે.”
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<v id="7" bcv="1CO.5.7" />તમામ જૂના ખમીરને બહાર કાઢી લો, જેથી કરીને તમે તદન નવા જ લોંદારૂપ બની જાવ. તમે ખરેખર પાસ્ખા ભોજનની બેખમીર રોટલી<f caller="+"><fr>5:7
</fr><fk>બેખમીર રોટલી
</fk><ft>પાસ્ખા ભોજન વખતે યહૂદીઓ ખમીર વગરની ખાસ રોટલી ખાતા. પાઉલના મતે જેમ બેખમીર રોટલી ખમીરથી મુક્ત છે તે પ્રમાણે ખ્રિસ્તીઓ પણ પાપથી મુક્ત છે.</ft></f> છો. હા, ખ્રિસ્ત આપણાં પાસ્ખાયજ્ઞ<f caller="+"><fr>5:7
</fr><fk>પાસ્ખાયજ્ઞ
</fk><ft>પાસ્ખા પર્વમાં જેમ ઘેટાંનું બલિદાન આપવામાં આવતું તેવી રીતે ઈસુ એ તેના લોકો માટે બલિદાન આપ્યું હતું.</ft></f> ને ક્યારનો ય મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CO.5.8" />તો ચાલો આપણે આપણું પાસ્ખા ભોજન આરોગીએ, પણ જૂના ખમીરવાળી રોટલીથી નહિ. તે જૂની રોટલી તો પાપની અને અપકૃત્યોની રોટલી છે. પરંતુ જે રોટલીમાં ખમીર નથી એવી રોટલી આપણે આરોગીએ. આ તો સજજનતા અને સત્યની રોટલી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1CO.5.9" />મેં તમને મારા પત્રમાં લખેલું કે જે લોકો વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરતાં હોય તેવા લોકો સાથે તમારી જાતને સંડોવશો નહિ.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CO.5.10" />પરંતુ મારો એવો મતલબ ન હતો કે તમારે જગતના પાપીઓ સાથે સંપર્ક ન રાખવો. જગતના તે લોકો વ્યભિચારનું પાપ તો કરે જ છે, અથવા તો તેઓ સ્વાર્થી છે અને એકમેકને છેતરે છે, અથવા તો મૂર્તિઓની ઉપાસના કરે છે. તે લોકોથી દૂર રહેવા માટે તમારે આ જગત છોડી જવું પડે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CO.5.11" />હું તમને તે જણાવવા લખી રહ્યો છું કે તે વ્યક્તિની સાથે તમારે સંકળાવું નહિ જે પોતાને ખ્રિસ્તમાં ભાઈ કહેવડાવે પરંતુ વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરે, અથવા સ્વાર્થી હોય, અથવા મૂર્તિની ઉપાસના કરે, અથવા લોકો સાથે ખરાબ વાણી ઉચ્ચારે, અથવા છાકટો હોય, અથવા લોકોને છેતરે. આવી વ્યક્તિ સાથે તો ભોજન પણ કરશો નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="12-13" bcv="1CO.5.12" />જે લોકો મંડળીના ભાગરૂપ નથી તેવા લોકોને ન્યાય કરવાનું કામ મારું નથી. દેવ તેવા લોકોનો ન્યાય કરશે. પરંતુ તમારે જે લોકો મંડળીના ભાગરૂપે છે તેઓને ન્યાય કરવો જ પડશે. શાસ્ત્રલેખ કહે છે, “દુષ્ટ વ્યક્તિને તમારા જૂથમાંથી દૂર કરો.”<x caller="+"><xo>5:12-13
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 22:21, 24</xt></x>
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</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તીઓ વચ્ચે મૂલવણીની સમસ્યાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.6.1" />જ્યારે તમારામાંની એક વ્યક્તિને તકરાર હોય, તો શા માટે તમે ન્યાયાધીશો પાસે કાયદાની અદાલતોમાં જાઓ છો? તે માણસો દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી હોતા નથી. તો શા માટે તે લોકોને તમે શું ન્યાયી છે તેનો નિર્ણય કરવા દો છો? તમારે તો શરમાવું જોઈએ! શા માટે તમે સંતોને કોણ ન્યાયી છે તેનો નિર્ણય કરવા દેતા નથી?
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<v id="2" bcv="1CO.6.2" />નિશ્ચિત રીતે તમે જાણો જ છો કે સંતો જ જગતનો ન્યાય કરશે. તો જો તમે જગતનો ન્યાય કરશો તો પછી આવી નજીવી વાતને ન્યાય કરવા માટે તમે સક્ષમ છો જ.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CO.6.3" />તમે જાણો છો કે ભવિષ્યમાં આપણે દૂતોને ન્યાય કરીશું. તેથી નિશ્ચિત રીતે આપણે આ જીવનની બાબતોની મૂલવણી કરી શકીએ છીએ.
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<v id="4" bcv="1CO.6.4" />તેથી તમારી જો અસંમતિ હોય તો તેનો ન્યાય થવો જોઈએ, શા માટે તમે આ બાબતો તે લોકો સધી લઈ જાઓ છો કે જે મૈંડળીના ભાગરૂપ નથી? તે લોકો મૈંડળી માટે કોઈ વિસાતમાં નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CO.6.5" />તમને શરમાવવા હું આમ કહી રહ્યો છું. નિશ્ચિત રીતે તમારામાંથી બે ભાઈઓ વચ્ચેની ફરિયાદ દૂર કરી શકે તેવો કોઈ જ્ઞાની માણસ તમારા જૂથમાં હશે!
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<v id="6" bcv="1CO.6.6" />પરંતુ હવે એક ભાઈ બીજા ભાઈની વિરૂદ્ધમાં ન્યાયાલયમાં જાય છે. લોકો જે વિશ્વાસુ નથી તેવા લોકોને તમે તમારા મુકદમાનો ન્યાય કરવાનું કહો છો!
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1CO.6.7" />જે કાનૂની કાર્યવાહી તમે એકબીજા વિરૂદ્ધ કરી છે તે પૂરવાર કરે છે કે તમે ક્યારનાય પરાજિત થઈ ચૂક્યા છો. એના બદલે તો કોઈ વ્યક્તિને તમે તમારા વિરૂદ્ધ કઈક ખોટું કરવા દીધું હોત તો સારું થાત! તમે કોઈને તમારી જાતને છેતરવા દીઘી હોત તો સારું થાત!
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<v id="8" bcv="1CO.6.8" />પરંતુ તમે તમારી જાતેજ ખોટા કામ કરો છો અને છેતરો છો! અને તે પણ તમે ખ્રિસ્તના જ તમારા પોતાના ભાઈઓ સાથે આમ કરો છો!
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9-10" bcv="1CO.6.9" />તમે નિશ્ચિત રીતે જાણો છો કે લોકો અપકૃત્યો કરશે તે દેવનાં રાજ્યને પ્રાપ્ત નહિ કરી શકે. મૂર્ખ ન બનો. આ લોકો દેવનું રાજ્ય નહિ મેળવી શકે: લોકો કે જે તેમની જાતનો બીજા માણસો દ્વારા જાતીય ઉપયોગ થવા દે છે, લોકો કે જે મૂર્તિ પૂજા કરે છે, લોકો કે જે વ્યભિચાર કરે છે, જે પુરુંષો પોતાની જાતને અન્ય પુરુંષોને સોંપે છે એટલે કે પુરુંષ બીજા પુરુંષ સાથે સજાતીય સંબંધ પ્રસ્થાપિત કરે છે, લોકો જે ચોરી કરે છે, લોકો કે જે સ્વાર્થી છે, લોકો કે જે મધપાનથી ચકચૂર બને છે, લોકો કે જે બીજા લોકોની નિંદા કરે છે, લોકો કે જે બીજાને છેતરે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CO.6.11" />ભૂતકાળમાં, તમારામાંના કેટલાએક આવા હતા. પરંતુ તમારું શુદ્ધિકરણ કરવામાં આવ્યું, અને તમને પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા અને દેવના આત્મા દ્વારા દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી બનાવવામાં આવ્યા.
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</p>
<s style="s">તમારા શરીરનો દેવના મહિમા માટે ઉપયોગ કરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1CO.6.12" />“દરેક વસ્તુઓ માટે મને છૂટ છે.” પરંતુ દરેક વસ્તુ સારી હોતી નથી. “દરેક વસ્તુઓ માટે મને છૂટ છે.” પરંતુ કોઈ પણ વસ્તુને હું મારા પર પ્રભુત્વ સ્થાપવા દઈશ નહિ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CO.6.13" />“ભોજન પેટ માટે છે, અને પેટ ભોજન માટે છે.” હા. પરંતુ દેવ બંનેનો વિનાશ કરશે. શરીર અનૈતિક શારીરિક પાપ માટે નથી. શરીર પ્રભુ માટે છે, અને પ્રભુ શરીર માટે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CO.6.14" />દેવે તેના સાર્મથ્યથી પ્રભુ ઈસુને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઉઠાડ્યો. દેવ આપણને પણ ઉઠાડશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CO.6.15" />નિશ્ચિત રીતે તમે જાણો છો કે તમારા શરીર સ્વયં ખ્રિસ્તના અંશરૂપો છે. તેથી હું કદાપિ ખ્રિસ્તના અંશરૂપ શરીરને વેશ્યા સાથે ન જોડી શકુ!
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<v id="16" bcv="1CO.6.16" />શાસ્ત્રલેખમાં આ પ્રમાણે લખેલ છે કે: “બે વ્યક્તિઓ એક દેહ થશે.”
<x caller="+"><xo>6:16
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 2:24</xt></x> તેથી તમારે જાણવું જોઈએ કે જે વ્યક્તિ એક વેશ્યા સાથે શારીરિક સંબંધથી જોડાશે તે તેની સાથે શરીરમાં એક બનશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CO.6.17" />પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ પોતાની જાતને પ્રભુ સાથે જોડે છે તે તેની સાથે આત્મામાં એક થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1CO.6.18" />તેથી વ્યભિચારથી નાસો. અન્ય બીજા જે કઈ પાપ વ્યક્તિ કરે છે તે તેના શરીરની બહાર રહીને કરે છે. પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ વ્યભિચાર કરે છે તે તેના પોતાના શરીર વિરુંદ્ધ કરે છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CO.6.19" />તમારે જાણવું જોઈએ કે તમારું શરીર તો પવિત્ર આત્માનું મંદિર છે. તમારામાં પવિત્ર આત્માનો વાસ છે. તમને પવિત્ર આત્મા દેવમાંથી પ્રાપ્ત થયેલ છે. તમે પોતે તમારી જાતના ધણી નથી.
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<v id="20" bcv="1CO.6.20" />દેવ દ્વારા તમારું મૂલ્ય ચુકવવામાં આવ્યું છે. તેથી તમારા શરીર દ્વારા દેવને મહિમા આપો.
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</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">લગ્ન વિષે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.7.1" />હવે તમે મને જે બાબતો અંગે લખેલું તેની હું ચર્ચા કરીશ. માણસ સ્ત્રીનો સ્પર્શ ન કરે તો સારું. વ્યક્તિ લગ્ન ન કરે તે જ તે વ્યક્તિ માટે વધારે સારું છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CO.7.2" />પરંતુ વ્યભિચારનું પાપ ભયજનક છે. તેથી પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને તેની પોતાની પત્ની હોવી જોઈએ. અને દરેક સ્ત્રીને તેનો પોતાનો પતિ હોવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CO.7.3" />પતિએ તેની પત્ની પ્રત્યેની પતિ તરીકેની ફરજોનું પાલન કરવું જોઈએ, અને પત્નીએ પોતાના પતિ તરફની પત્ની તરીકની ફરજોનું પાલન કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="4" bcv="1CO.7.4" />પત્નીને પોતાના શરીર પર કોઈ અધિકાર નથી. તેના પતિને તેના શરીર પર અધિકાર છે. અને પતિને તેના પોતાના શરીર પર કોઈ અધિકાર નથી. તેની પત્નીને તેના શરીર પર અધિકાર છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CO.7.5" />એકબીજાને તમારી કાયા સુપ્રત કરવામાં આનાકાની ન કરો. પરંતુ તમે બને અલ્પ સમય માટે શારીરિક નિકટતા ટાળવામાં સંમત થઈ શકો. તમે આમ કરી શકો જેથી કરીને તમે તમારો સમય પ્રાર્થના માટે ફાળવી શકો. પછી ફરીથી એક બનો. જેથી કરીને શેતાન તમારી નબળાઈમાં તમારું પરીક્ષણ ન કરી શકે.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CO.7.6" />થોડાક સમય માટે એકબીજાથી અલગ રહેવાથી અનુમતિ આપવા માટે હું આમ કહું છું. તે આજ્ઞા નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CO.7.7" />હું ઈચ્છું છું કે બધાજ લોકો મારા જેવા હોય. પરંતુ દરેક વ્યક્તિને દેવ તરફથી કઈક વિશિષ્ટ કૃપાદાન પ્રાપ્ત થયેલું છે. એક વ્યક્તિ પાસે અમુક કૃપાદાન છે, તો બીજી વ્યક્તિ પાસે બીજું જ કોઈ કૃપાદાન છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CO.7.8" />હવે જે લોકો અવિવાહિત છે અને જે વિધવાઓ છે, તેઓને હું કહું છું: તેઓએ મારી માફક એકલા રહેવું જ વધારે સારું છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CO.7.9" />પરંતુ જો તેઓ પોતાના શરીરને નિયંત્રણમાં ન રાખી શકતા હોય, તો પછી તેઓએ લગ્ર કરવું જોઈએ. બળવા કરતાં પરણવું વધારે સારું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1CO.7.10" />હવે વિવાહિત લોકોને હું આ આજ્ઞા આપું છું (આ આજ્ઞા મારી નહિ પરંતુ પ્રભુ તરફથી છે.) પત્નીએ તેના પતિને છોડવો જોઈએ નહિ.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CO.7.11" />પરંતુ જો પત્ની તેના પતિને છોડે તો તેણે ફરીથી પરણવું નહિ. અથવા તેણે તેના પતિ પાસે પાછા જવું જોઈએ. પતિએ પણ તેની પત્નીને છૂટાછેડા આપવા નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1CO.7.12" />બીજા બધાજ લોકો માટે હું આમ કહું છું. (પ્રભુ નહિ, હું આ બાબતો કહી રહ્યો છું.) ખ્રિસ્તમય બનેલા બંધુને એવી પત્ની હોઈ શકે કે જે વિશ્વાસુ ન હોય. જો તે તેની સાથે રહેવા સંમત હોય તો તેણે છૂટાછેડા આપવા ન જોઈએ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CO.7.13" />અને એક સ્ત્રીને એવો પતિ હોય કે જે વિશ્વાસુ ન હોય પણ તેની પત્ની સાથે રહેવા સંમત હોય તો પછી તેણે તેને છૂટાછેડા ન આપવા જોઈએ.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CO.7.14" />પતિ જે વિશ્વાસુ નથી તેને તેની પત્ની દ્વારા પવિત્ર બનાવવામાં આવ્યો છે. અને પત્ની જે અવિશ્વાસુ છે તેને તેના પતિ દ્વારા પવિત્ર બનાવવામાં આવે છે. જો આ સાચું ન હોત, તો તમારાં બાળકો પવિત્ર ન હોત, પરંતુ હવે તમારાં બાળકો પવિત્ર છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1CO.7.15" />પરંતુ એક વ્યક્તિ કે જે વિશ્વાસુ નથી તે જો છોડી જવા ઈચ્છતી હોય તો તેને જવા દો. આવું જ્યારે બને તો ખ્રિસ્તમય બનેલો ભાઈ કે બહેન મુક્ત છે. દેવે આપણને શાંતિમય જીવન માટે આહ્વાન આપ્યુ છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CO.7.16" />પત્નીઓ તરીકે તમે કદાચ તમારા પતિનો બચાવ કરી શકો; અને પતિઓ, તમે કદાચ તમારી પત્નીનો બચાવ કરી શકો. અત્યારે તો તમે જાણતા નથી કે પછી શું બનવાનું છે.
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<s style="s">દેવે તમને તેડયા છે તે પ્રમાણે જીવો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1CO.7.17" />પરંતુ દરેક વ્યક્તિએ દેવે તેને જે રીતનું જીવન આપ્યું છે, તે રીતે જીવતા રહેવું જોઈએ-એ પ્રકારે કે જે પ્રકારે દેવે જ્યારે તમને તેડયા ત્યારે તમે હતા. આ નિયમ મેં દરેક મંડળીમાં બનાવ્યો.
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<v id="18" bcv="1CO.7.18" />જ્યારે વ્યક્તિને તેડવામાં આવે છે તે સમયે જો તેની સુન્નત થઈ ગઈ હોય, તો પછી તેણે તેની સુન્નતમાં પરિવર્તન કરવું જોઈએ નહિ. જ્યારે તેડવામાં આવે ત્યારે વ્યક્તિ સુન્નત વગરનો હોય, તો પછી તેની સુન્નત થવી જોઈએ નહિ.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CO.7.19" />વ્યક્તિએ સુન્નત કરાવી છે કે નથી કરાવી તે મહત્વનું નથી. દેવની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન મહત્વનું છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="1CO.7.20" />દરેક વ્યક્તિને જે સ્થિતિમાં તેડવામાં આવી હોય તેમાં જ તે રહે.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CO.7.21" />દેવે જ્યારે તમને તેડયા ત્યારે તમે જો ગુલામ હો, તો તે બાબતની તમે ચિંતા ન કરો. પરંતુ જો તમે મુક્ત બની શકો, તો મુક્ત બનો.
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<v id="22" bcv="1CO.7.22" />વ્યક્તિ કે જેને પ્રભુએ જ્યારે તેડયો, ત્યારે તે ગુલામ હતો તે પ્રભુમાં મુક્ત છે. તે જ પ્રમાણે જ્યારે તે વ્યક્તિને તેડવામાં આવ્યો ત્યારે તે મુક્ત હતો. હવે ખ્રિસ્તનો સેવક છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="1CO.7.23" />મૂલ્ય આપીને તમને ખરીદવામાં આવ્યા છે તેથી મનુષ્યોના ગુલામો ન બનો.
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<v id="24" bcv="1CO.7.24" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, દેવથી નવજીવનમાં તમારામાંના પ્રત્યેકને જ્યારે દેવે તેડયા હતા ત્યારે જે રસ્તે તમે હતા તે જ રીતે તમારી જીવન પદ્ધતિનું સાતત્ય જાળવો.
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</p>
<s style="s">લગ્ર કરવા અંગેના પ્રશ્નો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1CO.7.25" />હવે હું જે કુવારીઓ છે તેઓના વિષે લખીશ. પ્રભુ તરફથી મને આ અંગે કોઈ આજ્ઞા મળી નથી. પરંતુ હું મારો અભિપ્રાય આપું છું. મારો વિશ્વાસ કરો કારણ કે પ્રભુની દયા મારા પર છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="1CO.7.26" />આ મુશ્કેલીનો સમય છે. તેથી હું માનું છું કે તમે જેવા છો એવી જ સ્થિતિમાં રહો તે તમારા માટે સારું છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="1CO.7.27" />જો તમારે પત્ની હોય, તો તેનાથી છૂટા થવાનો પ્રયાસ ન કરશો. જો તમે વિવાહિત ન હો તો પત્ની શોધવાનો પ્રયાસ ન કરશો.
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<v id="28" bcv="1CO.7.28" />પરંતુ જો તમે લગ્ર કરવાનો નિર્ણય કરો, તો તે પાપ નથી. અને જે કુંવારી કદી પરણી જ નથી, તેવી કુવારી માટે લગ્ન કરવું તે પાપ નથી. પરંતુ જે લોકો પરણશે તેમને આ જીવનમાં વિપત્તિઓ તો થવાની જ છે. હું તમને આ વિપત્તિઓથી મુક્ત કરવા ઈચ્છુ છું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1CO.7.29" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હું સમજું છું કે: આપણી પાસે હવે ઘણો સમય રહ્યો નથી. તે અત્યારથી શરું કરીને, જે લોકો પાસે પત્નીઓ છે તેમણે એ રીતે દેવની સેવામાં તેમનો સમય વ્યતીત કરવો જોઈએ જાણે તેમને પત્નીઓ છે જ નહિ.
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<v id="30" bcv="1CO.7.30" />લોકો, જે વિષાદગ્રસ્ત છે તેમણે એ રીતે જીવવું જાણે કે તેમને કોઈ વિષાદ છે જ નહિ. લોકો જે આનંદિત છે તેમણે એ રીતે જીવવું જાણે તેઓ આનંદિત છે જ નહિ. લોકો જે વસ્તુઓ ખરીદે છે તેમણે એ રીતે જીવવું જાણે તેમની પાસે કશું જ નથી.
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<v id="31" bcv="1CO.7.31" />લોકો જે દુન્યવી વસ્તુઓનો ઉપભોગ કરે તેમણે તે રીતે જીવવું જાણે તે વસ્તુઓનું તેમને કોઈ મહત્વ જ નથી. તમારે આ રીતે જીવવું, કારણ કે આ જગત જે રીતે અત્યારે છે તે ખૂબ ઝડપથી ચાલ્યું જવાનું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="1CO.7.32" />તમે ચિંતામાથી મુક્ત થાવ તેવું હું ઈચ્છું છું. જે માણસ વિવાહિત નથી તે પ્રભુના કાર્યમાં વ્યસ્ત છે. તે પ્રભુને પ્રસન્ન કરવાનો પ્રયાસ કરી રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="1CO.7.33" />પરંતુ જે માણસ વિવાહિત છે, તે દુન્યવી બાબતોમાં સંકળાયેલો છે. તે પોતાની પત્નીને ખુશ કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરી રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="34" bcv="1CO.7.34" />તેણે તે બે વસ્તુઓ વિષે વિચારવું જોઈએ. પત્નીને ખુશ કરવી અને પ્રભુને પ્રસન્ન કરવા. જે સ્ત્રી અવિવાહિત છે અથવા તો એ કન્યા કે જેણે કદી લગ્ન કર્યુ જ નથી, તે પ્રભુના કાર્યમાં વ્યસ્ત છે. તે હેતુપૂર્વક તે શરીર તથા આત્મામાં પવિત્ર થવા માગે છે. પરંતુ પરણેલી સ્ત્રી દુન્યવી બાબતોમાં વ્યસ્ત છે. તે પોતાના પતિને ખુશ કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરી રહી છે.
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<v id="35" bcv="1CO.7.35" />તમને મદદ કરવાના હેતુથી આ બાબતો હું કહી રહ્યો છું. હું તમને સીમાબદ્ધ કરવા નથી માગતો. પરંતુ તમે યોગ્ય રીતે જીવન જીવો તેમ હું ઈચ્છું છું. અને તમે બીજી કોઈ દુન્યવી બાબતમાં સમય નષ્ટ કર્યા સિવાય તમારી સંપૂર્ણ જાતને પ્રભુને સમર્પિત કરી દો એમ હું ઈચ્છું છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="1CO.7.36" />જો કોઈ માણસ એમ વિચારે કે તે તેની કુંવારી પુત્રી કે જેણે લગ્ન કરવા માટેનો ઉત્તમ સમય લગભગ પસાર કરી દીધો છે, તેની તરફનો તેનો વ્યવહાર યોગ્ય નથી તો તે વિચાર કરી શકે કે લગ્ન આવશ્યક છે. તે જે ઈચ્છે તેવું તેણે કરવું જોઈએ. તેણે તેઓને પરણવા દેવા જોઈએ. તે પાપ નથી.
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<v id="37" bcv="1CO.7.37" />પરંતુ બીજી વ્યક્તિ તેના વિચારમાં વધુ મક્કમ હોઈ શકે. લગ્ન માટેની કોઈ જરુંર નથી, તેથી તે જે કરવા ઈચ્છે તેના માટે તે મુક્ત છે. જો આ વ્યક્તિએ તેના હૃદયમાં તેની કુમારિકાને અવિવાહિત રાખવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો હોય તો તે સારું કરી રહી છે.
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<v id="38" bcv="1CO.7.38" />તેથી વ્યક્તિ કે જે તેની કુમારિકાને લગ્ન માટે સોંપે છે તે યોગ્ય જ કરે છે, અને વ્યક્તિ કે જે તેની કુમારિકાને લગ્ન માટે સોંપતો નથી તે વધારે યોગ્ય કાર્ય કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="1CO.7.39" />સ્ત્રીએ જ્યાં સુધી તેનો પતિ જીવિત હોય ત્યાં સુધી તેણે તેના પતિ સાથે રહેવું જોઈએ. પરંતુ જો પતિ મૃત્યુ પામે તો પત્ની ઈચ્છે તો તે સ્ત્રી કોઈ પણ માણસને પરણવા માટે સ્વતંત્ર છે. પરંતુ તેણે પ્રભુમાં લગ્ન કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="40" bcv="1CO.7.40" />જો તે સ્ત્રી ફરીથી લગ્ન ન કરે તો તે વધુ પ્રસન્ન રહેશે. આ મારો અભિપ્રાય છે, અને હું માનું છું કે મારામાં દેવના આત્માનો નિવાસ છે.
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<s style="s">મૂર્તિઓને ધરેલા નૈંવેદ વિષે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.8.1" />હવે હું મૂર્તિઓને ઘરેલા નૈંવેદ વિષે લખીશ આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે, “આપણા બધા પાસે જ્ઞાન છે.” “જ્ઞાન” તમને અભિમાનથી ચકચૂર કરી દે છે. પરંતુ તમારો પ્રેમ બીજાને શક્તિશાળી બનાવવામાં મદદકર્તા છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CO.8.2" />વ્યક્તિ જે માને છે કે તે કઈક જાણે છે તે તેણે ખરેખર જે રીતે જાણવું જોઈએ તેમાનું કશું જ જાણતો નથી.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CO.8.3" />પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ દેવને પ્રેમ કરે છે તેને દેવ ઓળખે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1CO.8.4" />તેથી હું મૂર્તિઓના નૈંવેદ ખાવા અંગે આમ કહેવા માગું છું: આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે મૂર્તિ જેવું ખરેખર આ જગતમાં કોઈ અસ્તિત્વ નથી. આપણે એ પણ જાણીએ છીએ કે દેવ ફક્ત એકજ છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CO.8.5" />જો લોકો જેને દેવો કહે છે તેવી ઘણી વસ્તુઓ પૃથ્વી પર અને આકાશમાં હોય, તો તેનું કોઈ મહત્વ નથી. (અને ઘણી વસ્તુઓ એવી છે કે જેને લોકો “દેવો” અને “પ્રભુ” તરીકે સંબોધન કરે છે.)
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<v id="6" bcv="1CO.8.6" />પરંતુ આપણા માટે તો ફક્ત એકજ દેવ છે. તે આપણો પિતા છે. દરેક વસ્તુઓનું સર્જન તેનાથી થયું છે અને આપણે તેના માટે જ જીવિત છીએ. અને પ્રભુ તો ફક્ત એક જ છે. તે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત છે. દરેક વસ્તુઓનું સર્જન તેના દ્વારા થયું છે, અને તેના દ્વારા જ આપણને પણ જીવન પ્રાપ્ત થયું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1CO.8.7" />પરંતુ બધા લોકો આ બાબત જાણતા નથી. છતાં ત્યાં કેટલાએક લોકો છે જેઓને મૂર્તિપૂજા કરવાની આદત પડેલી હતી. તેથી જ્યારે તે લોકો નૈંવેદ ખાય છે ત્યારે તેઓ હજુ પણ એમ જ માને છે કે તે મૂર્તિઓને છે. તેઓ મનમાં સ્પષ્ટ નથી કે આ નૈવેદ ખાવો યોગ્ય છે. તેથી જ્યારે તેઓ તે ખાય છે, ત્યારે તેઓ અપરાધભાવ અનુભવે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CO.8.8" />પરંતુ ખોરાકથી આપણે દેવની સમીપ નહિ પહોંચીએ ને ખાવાનો ઈન્કાર કરવાથી દેવને આપણે ઓછા પ્રસન્ન કરતા નથી. તે ખાવાથી આપણે વધારે સારા બની જતા પણ નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1CO.8.9" />પરંતુ તમારી છૂટ અંગે સાવધ રહો. તમારી છૂટ જે લોકો તેમનાં વિશ્વાસમાં નિર્બળ છે તેવા લોકોને પાપના પતનમાં દોરવા જોઈએ નહિ.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CO.8.10" />તમારી પાસે સમજશક્તિ છે, તેથી મૂર્તિના મંદિરમાં તમે છૂટથી ખાઈ શકાય એમ વિચારો પણ જે વ્યક્તિ વિશ્વાસમાં નિર્બળ છે તે તમને ત્યાં ખાતા જુએ તો તે કાર્ય તેને પણ મૂર્તિઓના નૈવેદમાં બલિનું માંસ ખાવા માટે પ્રોત્સાહિત કરશે. પરંતુ ખરેખર તે માને છે કે તે અનુચિત છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CO.8.11" />તેથી આ નિર્બળ ભાઈ તમારા જ્ઞાનને કારણે નાશ પામે. અને ખ્રિસ્ત તો આ ભાઈ માટે જ મૃત્યુ પામેલો.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CO.8.12" />જ્યારે તમે ખ્રિસ્તમાં ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોની વિરૂદ્ધ આ પ્રકારનું પાપ કરો છો, અને જે બાબતોને તેઓ અનુચિત ગણે છે તે કરવા તમે તેમને પ્રેરો છો જેનાથી તેઓને આધાત લાગે છે. તો તમે આ રીતે ખ્રિસ્તની વિરૂદ્ધ પાપ કરો છો.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CO.8.13" />જેથી જે આહાર હું ગ્રહણ કરું છું જેના દ્વારા મારો ભાઈ પાપ કરવા પ્રેરાય છે, તે પછી ફરી ક્યારેય હું માંસ નહિ ખાઉં. હું માંસ ખાવાનું બંધ કરી દઈશ, જેથી હું મારા ભાઈને પાપ કરવા ન પ્રેરી શકું.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.9.1" />હું સ્વતંત્ર માનવ છું! હું પ્રેરિત છું! મેં આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુનાં દર્શન કર્યા છે. પ્રભુ પરત્વેના મારા કાર્યમાં તમે લોકો એક ઉદાહરણ છો.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CO.9.2" />બીજા લોકો મને પ્રેરિત તરીકે કદાચ ન સ્વીકારે, પરંતુ તમે તો નિશ્ચિતરૂપે મને પ્રેરિત તરીકે સ્વીકારો છો. પ્રભુમાં હું પ્રેરિત છું તેનું તમે લોકો પ્રમાણ છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1CO.9.3" />કેટલાએક લોકો મારી મૂલવણી કરવા માગે છે. તેથી તેઓને હું આ ઉત્તર પાઠવું છું:
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<v id="4" bcv="1CO.9.4" />આપણને ખાવા-પીવાનો અધિકાર છે. શું નથી?
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<v id="5" bcv="1CO.9.5" />યાત્રા દરમ્યાન વિશ્વાસી પત્નીને આપણી સાથે લાવવાનો આપણને અધિકાર છે. શું નથી? બીજા પ્રેરિતો, અને પ્રભુના ભાઈઓ અને કેફા બધા જ આમ કરે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CO.9.6" />બાર્નાબાસ અને હું જ ફક્ત એવા છીએ કે જેમણે આજીવિકા કમાવા માટે કશુંક કામ કરવું પડે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CO.9.7" />કોઈ પણ સૈનિક લશ્કરમાં તેની સેવા માટે તેનો પોતાનો પગાર તે પોતે ચૂકવતો નથી. કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ કદી દ્રાક્ષના બગીચા લગાવી તેમાંથી થોડી ઘણી દ્રાક્ષ પોતે ને ખાય તેમ બનતું નથી. કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ ટોળાંની સંભાળ રાખે ને થોડું દૂધ ન પીએ તેમ બનતું નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CO.9.8" />ફક્ત મનુષ્યો જ આમ વિચારે છે તેમ નથી. દેવનું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર પણ આ જ બાબત કહે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CO.9.9" />હા, મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં તે લખેલું છે કે: “જ્યારે પગરમાં અનાજને છૂટું પાડવા માટે બળદનો ઉપયોગ કરવામાં આવે ત્યારે તેનું મોઢૂં બાંધી દઈને તેને અનાજ ખાતા ન અટકાવો.”<x caller="+"><xo>9:9
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 25:4</xt></x> જ્યારે દેવે આમ કહ્યું, ત્યારે તે શું માત્ર બળદનો જ વિચાર કરતો હતો? ના.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CO.9.10" />તે ખરેખર આપણા વિષે વિચાર કરતો હતો. હા, તે શાસ્ત્ર આપણા માટે લખાયું છે. વ્યક્તિ કે જે ખેડે છે અને વ્યક્તિ કે જે અનાજને છૂટું પાડે છે તે તેમની મહેનત માટે તેમણે બદલાની આશા રાખવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CO.9.11" />અમે તમારામાં આધ્યાત્મિક બીજનું પ્રત્યારોપણ કર્યુ છે. અને તેથી આ જીવન માટે અમે થોડીક વસ્તુનો પાક લણી શકીએ. આ કઈ વધારે પડતી માગણી નથી.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CO.9.12" />બીજા લોકોને તમારી પાસેથી વસ્તુઓ મેળવવાનો હક્ક છે. તે અમને પણ જરુંરથી આ હક્ક છે. પરંતુ અમે આ અધિકારનો ઉપયોગ કરતા નથી. ના, અમે અમારી જાતે બધું સહન કરીએ છે કે જેથી કોઈને પણ ખ્રિસ્તની સુવાર્તાને અનુસરવામાં વિધ્નરુંપ ન બનીએ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CO.9.13" />તમે ખરેખર જાણો છો કે જે લોકો મંદિરમાં કામ કરે છે તેઓ તેઓને આહાર મંદિરમાંથી મેળવે છે. અને જેઓ વેદી સમક્ષ સેવા કરે છે, તેઓ વેદીને ઘરાવેલા નૈવેદનો અંશ મેળવે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CO.9.14" />જે લોકો સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરે છે, તેઓને માટે પણ આમ જ છે. પ્રભુનો આદેશ છે કે જે લોકો સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરે છે, તેઓને જીવન નિર્વાહ તેઓના આ કાર્ય થકી થવો જોઈએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1CO.9.15" />પરંતુ આમાના કોઈ પણ અધિકારનો મેં ઉપયોગ કર્યો નથી અને આ વસ્તુ મેળવવાનો હું કોઈ પ્રયત્ન પણ કરતો નથી. તમને લખવાનો મારો આ હેતુ નથી. મને અભિમાન કરવાનું કારણ છીનવી લેવામાં આવે તેના કરતા તો હું મૃત્યુને પસંદ કરીશ.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CO.9.16" />સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરવી તે મારા અભિમાનનું કારણ નથી સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરવી એ તો મારી ફરજ છે – એ મારે કરવું જ જોઈએ. જો હું સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ ન કરું તો એ મારા માટે ઘણું અનુચિત હશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CO.9.17" />જો મારી પોતાની પસંદગીથી હું સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરું તો હું પુરસ્કારને પાત્ર છું. પરંતુ મારી પાસે કોઈ વિકલ્પ નથી. મારે સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરવી જ જોઈએ. મને સોંપવામાં આવેલી ફરજ માત્ર હું બજાવું છું.
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<v id="18" bcv="1CO.9.18" />તો મને ક્યો પુરસ્કાર મળે છે? મારો પુરસ્કાર આ છે: કે જ્યારે હું સુવાર્તા આપું છું, હું વિનામૂલ્ય આપું છું. અને આ રીતે વળતર મેળવવાના મારા અધિકારનો હું ઉપયોગ કરતો નથી કે જે સુવાર્તાનો ઉપદેશ આપવા માટે મને આપવામાં આવ્યો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1CO.9.19" />હું સ્વતંત્ર છું. હું કોઈ વ્યક્તિને આધિન નથી. પરંતુ મેં મારી જાતને બધાની ગુલામ બનાવી છે. હું આમ જેટલા બની શકે તેટલા વધારે લોકોનો ઉદ્ધાર કરવા માટે કરું છું.
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<v id="20" bcv="1CO.9.20" />હું યહૂદિઓ સાથે યહૂદિ જેવો થયો છું. યહૂદિઓનો ઉદ્ધાર કરવા હું આમ કરું છું. હું મારી જાતે નિયમને આધીન નથી. પરંતુ એ લોકો કે જેઓ નિયમને આધિન છે, પણ તેઓ માટે હું એક કે જે નિયમને આધિન છે તેના જેવો હું બન્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CO.9.21" />જે લોકો નિયમ વગરના છે તેઓને માટે હું જે નિયમ વગરના છે તેવો હું બન્યો છું. હું આમ નિયમ વગરના લોકોનો ઉદ્ધાર કરવા માટે કહું છું. (પરંતુ ખરેખર, હું દેવના નિયમ વગરનો નથી – હું ખ્રિસ્તના નિયમને આધિન છું.)
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<v id="22" bcv="1CO.9.22" />જે લોકો નિર્બળ છે, તેઓ પ્રત્યે હું નિર્બળ બનું છું, કે જેથી હું તેઓના ઉદ્ધાર માટે મદદ કરી શકું. હું સર્વ લોકો માટે બધું જ બન્યો છું. મેં આમ કર્યુ કે જેથી દરેક સંભવિત રીતે હું લોકોનો ઉદ્ધાર કરી શકું.
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<v id="23" bcv="1CO.9.23" />મેં આ બધી વસ્તુઓ સુવાર્તાને કારણે કરી. મેં આ બધી વસ્તુઓ કરી છે કે જેથી સુવાર્તાના આશીર્વાદનો હું સહભાગી થઈ શકું.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1CO.9.24" />તમે જાણો છો કે દરેક દોડનાર સ્પર્ધામાં દોડે છે, પરંતુ માત્ર એકજ દોડનાર પુરસ્કૃત થાય છે. તેથી તે રીતે દોડો. વિજયી થવા દોડો!
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<v id="25" bcv="1CO.9.25" />બધાજ લોકો જે રમતમાં હરિફાઈ કરે છે તે લોકો સખત તાલીમનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે. તેઓ આમ કરે કે જેથી તેઓ મુગટ મેળવવા વિજયી થાય. તે મુગટ દુન્યવી વસ્તુ છે કે જે અલ્પ સમય માટે ટકી રહે છે. પરંતુ આપણો મુગટ અવિનાશી છે.
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<v id="26" bcv="1CO.9.26" />તેથી હું એવી વ્યક્તિની જેમ દોડું છું કે જેની સામે એક લક્ષ્ય છે. હું એવા મુક્કાબાજની જેમ લડું છું જે કોઈક વસ્તુ પર પ્રહાર કરે છે, માત્ર હવામાં નથી મારતો.
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<v id="27" bcv="1CO.9.27" />એ મારું પોતાનું શરીર છે જેના પર હું પ્રહાર કરું છું. હું તેને મારું ગુલામ બનાવું છું. હું આમ કરું છું કે જેથી લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપ્યા પછી મારી ઉપેક્ષા ન થાય.
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<s style="s">યહૂદિઓ જેવા ન બનો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.10.1" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, આપણા પૂર્વજો કે જે મૂસાને અનુસરેલા તેઓને સાથે શું બન્યું હતું, તે તમે જાણો તેમ હું ઈચ્છું છું. તેઓ બધા એક વાદળ નીચે હતા અને તેઓ દરિયો પસાર કરી ગયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CO.10.2" />મૂસામાં તે બધાજ લોકો વાદળ અને દરિયામાં બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા હતા.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CO.10.3" />તેઓ બધાએ એ જ આત્મિક અન્ન ખાધું હતું.
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<v id="4" bcv="1CO.10.4" />તેઓ બધાએ એક સમાન આત્મિક પીણું પીધું હતું. તેઓએ તેઓની સાથે રહેલા આત્મિક ખડકમાંથી પીણું પીધું હતું. તે ખડક ખ્રિસ્ત હતો.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CO.10.5" />પરંતુ દેવ મોટા ભાગના લોકોથી સંતુષ્ટ ન હતો. તેઓને રણપ્રદેશમાં મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CO.10.6" />આ બાબતો જે બની તે આપણા માટે ઉદાહરણરૂપ છે. આ ઉદાહરણોએ આપણને પેલા લોકોની જેમ દુષ્ટ કામો કરવાની ઈચ્છામાંથી રોકવા જોઈએ, જે તે લોકોએ કર્યા.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CO.10.7" />મૂર્તિઓની ઉપાસના ન કરશો જેમ પેલા લોકોએ કરેલી. એવું શાસ્ત્રલેખમાં લખેલું છે કે: “લોકો ખાવા-પીવા માટે નીચે બેઠા. લોકો નૃત્ય માટે ઊભા થયા.”<x caller="+"><xo>10:7
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 32:6</xt></x>
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<v id="8" bcv="1CO.10.8" />આપણે વ્યભિચારના પાપો જે તેમાંના કેટલાએક લોકોએ કર્યા તે નહિ કરવા જોઈએ. તેઓના પાપોને કારણે એક જ દિવસમાં તેઓમાંના 23,000 લોકો મૃત્યુ પામ્યા.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CO.10.9" />તેઓમાંના કેટલાએકે જેમ કર્યુ તેમ આપણે પ્રભુનું પરીક્ષણ ન કરવું જોઈએ. તેઓ સર્પો દ્વારા મૃત્યુ પામ્યા કારણ કે તેઓએ પ્રભુનું પરીક્ષણ કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CO.10.10" />અને તેઓમાંના કેટલાએક લોકોએ ફરિયાદ કરેલી તેમ ન કરો. તે લોકોને જે વિનાશકર્તા છે એવા દૂત દ્વારા તેમને મારી નાખવામાં આવેલા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1CO.10.11" />જે ઘટનાઓ પેલા લોકો સાથે ઘટી હતી તે ઉદાહરણરુંપ છે. અને તે બાબતો આપણા માટે ચેતવણીરૂપે લખાઈ હતી. આપણે એવા સમયગાળામાં અત્યારે રહીએ છીએ કે જ્યારે ભૂતકાળના દરેક ઈતિહાસની સમાપ્તિને આરે આવી પહોંચ્ચા છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1CO.10.12" />તેથી જે વ્યક્તિ માને છે કે તે સ્થિર ઊભો રહી શકે છે તેણે નીચે પડી ન જવાય તેની સંભાળ રાખવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CO.10.13" />બધા લોકો પર જે પરીક્ષણ આવે છે તે જ પરીક્ષણો તમારા પર પણ આવે છે. પરંતુ તમે દેવમાં ભરોસો રાખી શકો છો. તમારી સહનશક્તિની સીમા બહાર તે તમને વધારે પરીક્ષણમાં પડવા દેશે નહિ. પરંતુ જ્યારે તમે પરીક્ષણમાં પડો, ત્યારે તે પરીક્ષણમાંથી છટકવા માટેનો રસ્તો પણ દેવ જ તમને બતાવશે, તેથી તમે સહન કરી શકો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1CO.10.14" />તેથી મારા પ્રિય મિત્રો, મૂર્તિપૂજાથી દૂર રહો.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CO.10.15" />તમે બુદ્ધિશાળી લોકો છો એમ માનીને હું તમારી સાથે વાતચીત કરી રહ્યો છું; હું જે કઈ કહી રહ્યો છું તે તમે તમારી જાતે જ મૂલવો.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CO.10.16" />આશીર્વાદનો પ્યાલો કે જેને માટે આપણે આભારી છીએ, તે ખ્રિસ્તના રક્તના સહભાગી થવા માટે છે, ખરુંને? અને રોટલી કે જે આપણે તોડીએ છે તે ખ્રિસ્તના શરીરના સહભાગી થવા માટે છે, ખરુંને?
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<v id="17" bcv="1CO.10.17" />રોટલીનો ત્યાં એક જ ટુકડો છે, અને આપણે ઘણા માણસો છીએ. પરંતુ આપણે બધા તે એક રોટલીના ટુકડાને વહેંચીએ છીએ. તેથી ખરેખર તો આપણે એક શરીર જ છીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1CO.10.18" />ઈસ્રાએલના લોકો વિષે વિચાર કરો. એ લોકો કે જે વેદી પર ચડાવેલા યજ્ઞાર્પણો ખાય છે. તેઓ વેદીના ભાગીદાર છે, શું તેઓ આમ નથી કરતા?
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<v id="19" bcv="1CO.10.19" />હું એમ કહેવા નથી માગતો કે મૂર્તિને ચડાવેલું નૈવેદ કોઈ મહત્વની વસ્તુ છે અને મૂર્તિ કઈક છે એવું તો હું જરાપણ કહેવા નથી માગતો. ના!
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<v id="20" bcv="1CO.10.20" />પરંતુ હું કહું છું કે મૂર્તિને લોકો જે વસ્તુઓનું બલિદાન ચડાવે છે તે તો ભૂતપિશાચોને ચડાવેલું બલિદાન છે, નહિ કે દેવને, અને ભૂતપિશાચો સાથે કોઈ પણ બાબતમાં તમારી ભાગીદારી હું ઈચ્છતો નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CO.10.21" />તમે પ્રભુના પ્યાલા સાથે ભૂતપિશાચોનો પ્યાલો પી શક્તા નથી. તમે પ્રભુના તેમ જ ભૂતપિશાચોના મેજના સહભાગી થઈ શકો નહિ.
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<v id="22" bcv="1CO.10.22" />શું આપણે પ્રભુને ઈર્ષ્યાળુ બનાવવા માગીએ છીએ? શું આપણે તેનાથી વધુ જોરાવર છીએ? ના!
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવના મહિમા માટે તમારી સ્વતંત્રતાનો ઉપયોગ કરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1CO.10.23" />હા, “બધી જ વસ્તુઓ મંજૂર છે.” પણ બધી જ વસ્તુઓ સારી નથી. હા. “બધી જ વસ્તુની પરવાનગી છે.” પરંતુ કેટલીક વસ્તુઓ બીજાઓને વધારે શક્તિશાળી બનવામાં ઉપયોગી થતી નથી.
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<v id="24" bcv="1CO.10.24" />કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિએ માત્ર તેની જાતને જ મદદરુંપ થાય તેવું કરવાનો પ્રયાસ ન કરવો જોઈએ. અન્યને મદદરુંપ થાય તેવું કરવાનો તેણે પ્રયત્ન કરવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1CO.10.25" />જે કઈ બજારમાં માંસ વેચાતું હોય તે પ્રેરબુદ્ધિથી આત્મા કહે કે તે તમારે ખાવાને યોગ્ય હોય તો કોઈ પણ પ્રશ્ન તે માંસ વિષે પૂછયા વિના ખાઓ.
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<v id="26" bcv="1CO.10.26" />તમે તે ખાઈ શકો કારણ કે, “પૃથ્વી અને પૃથ્વીની અંદરની દરેક વસ્તુ પ્રભુની છે.”<x caller="+"><xo>10:26
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ગી.શા. 24:1; 50:12, 89:11</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1CO.10.27" />વ્યક્તિ કે જે વિશ્વાસી નથી તે તમને તેની સાથે જમવાનું આમંત્રણ આપે. જો તમે જવા ઈચ્છતા હો તો તમારી આગળ જે કઈ મૂકવામાં આવે તે તમે જમો. તમારા મતે અમુક વસ્તુ ખાવી યોગ્ય છે તે દર્શાવવા પ્રશ્નો ન પૂછો.
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<v id="28" bcv="1CO.10.28" />પરંતુ એક વ્યક્તિ જો તમને કહે, “કે આ ખોરાક મૂર્તિને ઘરવામાં આવેલો હતો.” તો તે ખોરાક ખાશો નહિ. તે ખાશો નહિ. શા માટે? કારણ કે તમને જે વ્યક્તિએ કહ્યું તેના વિશ્વાસને તમે આંચ પહોંચાડવા નથી માગતા. અને તે જ સમયે, લોકો માને છે કે અર્પણ કરેલું ખાવું તે ખોટું છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="1CO.10.29" />હું એમ નથી કહેતો કે તમારા મતે તે ખોટું છે. પરંતુ અન્ય વ્યક્તિ માને છે કે તે ખોટું છે. આ એક જ કારણે હું તે માંસ ન ખાઉ. મારી પોતાની સ્વતંત્રતા અન્ય વ્યક્તિ વિચારે તે રીતે મૂલવાવી ન જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="1CO.10.30" />હું ત્ર્ક્ષણી થઈને ભોજન જમું છું. અને તેથી જે વસ્તુ માટે હું દેવનો ત્ર્ક્ષણી છું તેના માટે હું ટીકાને પાત્ર થવા નથી માગતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="1CO.10.31" />તેથી તમે ખાઓ કે તમે પીવો કે તમે જે કઈ કરો, તે દેવના મહિમા માટે કરો.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="1CO.10.32" />એવું કઈ પણ ન કરો કે જે બીજા લોકોને અનિષ્ટ કરવા માટે પ્રેરે-યહૂદિઓ, ગ્રીકો અથવા દેવની મંડળીઓ.
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<v id="33" bcv="1CO.10.33" />હું તેમ જ કરું છું. હું પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને દરેક રીતે પ્રસન્ન કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરું છું. જે મારા માટે સારું છે તે કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન નથી કરતો. હું મોટા ભાગના લોકો માટે જે સારું છે તે કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરું છું, કે જેથી તેમનું તારણ થાય.
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</p>

<c id="11" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.11.1" />જેમ હું ખ્રિસ્તના નમૂનાને અનુસરું છું તેમ તમે મને અનુસરો.
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</p>
<s style="s">સત્તાને આધીન રહેવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1CO.11.2" />દરેક બાબતોમાં તમે મને યાદ કરો છો તેથી હું તમારાં વખાણ કરું છું. જે શિક્ષણ મેં તમને આપ્યું છે તેને તમે ચુસ્તતાથી અનુસરો છો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1CO.11.3" />પરંતુ તમે આ જાણો એમ હું ઈચ્છું છું: દરેક પુરુંષનું શિર ખ્રિસ્ત છે. અને સ્ત્રીનું શિર પુરુંષ છે. અને ખ્રિસ્તનું શિર દેવ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1CO.11.4" />કોઈ પણ પુરુંષ દેવ તરફથી પ્રબોધ<f caller="+"><fr>11:4
</fr><fk>પ્રબોધ
</fk><ft>દેવથી બોલવું કે શીખવવું.</ft></f> કરતાં કે પ્રાર્થના કરતી વખતે માથું ઢાંકેલું રાખે તો તે પોતાના માથાનું અપમાન કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1CO.11.5" />અને જે કોઈ પણ સ્ત્રી ઉઘાડા માથે દેવની પ્રાર્થના કે પ્રબોધ કરતી હોય તો તેના માથાનું અપમાન કરે છે. તેણે માથુ ઢાંકેલું રાખવું જોઈએ. જો તે તેનું માથુ ઢાંકતી નથી તો તે સ્ત્રી પેલી સ્ત્રી જેવી જ છે જેણે પોતાના કેશ કપાવી નાખ્યા હોય.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CO.11.6" />જો કોઈ સ્ત્રી પોતાનું મસ્તક ઢાંકતી ન હોય તો તેણે પોતાના માથાનાં બધાંજ વાળ કપાવી નાખવા જોઈએ. પરંતુ સ્ત્રી માટે વાળ કપાવવા અને માથુ મુંડાવવું શરમજનક હોય, તો પછી તેણે તેનું મસ્તક ઢાંકવું જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1CO.11.7" />પરંતુ પુરુંષે તેનું માથુ ન ઢાકવું જોઈએ. શા માટે? કારણ કે તે દેવનો મહિમા છે અને તેને દેવ જેવો બનાવવામાં આવ્યો છે. પરંતુ સ્ત્રી પુરુંષનો મહિમા છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1CO.11.8" />પુરુંષ સ્ત્રીમાંથી આવ્યો નથી, પરંતુ સ્ત્રી પુરુંષમાંથી આવી છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1CO.11.9" />અને પુરુંષને સ્ત્રી માટે નહિ, પરંતુ સ્ત્રીને પુરુંષ માટે બનાવવામાં આવી.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="1CO.11.10" />તેથી સ્ત્રીએ પોતાની આધીનતા દર્શાવવા માટે પોતાનું માથુ ઢાંકેલું રાખવું જોઈએ. દૂતોને કારણે પણ તેણે આમ કરવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1CO.11.11" />પરંતુ પ્રભુમાં તો સ્ત્રી પુરુંષ માટે, અને પુરુંષ સ્ત્રી માટે મહત્વપૂર્ણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1CO.11.12" />આ સત્ય છે કારણ કે સ્ત્રી પુરુંષમાંથી ઉદભવી પણ પુરુંષ સ્ત્રીમાંથી જન્મ્યો. ખરેખર, દરેક દેવમાંથી ઉદભવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1CO.11.13" />તમારા પોતાના માટે નિર્ણય કરો: માથા પર કશું પણ ઢાંક્યા વગર સ્ત્રી દેવની પ્રાર્થના કરે તે શું યોગ્ય છે?
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<v id="14" bcv="1CO.11.14" />કુદરત પોતે તમને શીખવે છે કે લાંબા દેશ પુરુંષ માટે શોભાસ્પદ નથી.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CO.11.15" />પરંતુ લાંખા કેશ સ્ત્રી માટે માનદાયક છે. તેના મસ્તકને ઢાંકવા માટે સ્ત્રીને લાંબા કેશ આપવામાં આવ્યા છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CO.11.16" />કેટલાએક લોકો હજુ પણ આ બાબત અંગે દલીલ કરવા ઈચ્છે છે. પરંતુ અમે કે દેવની મંડળીઓ આ લોકો જે કરી રહ્યા છે તેને સ્વીકારતા નથી.
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રભુ ભોજન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1CO.11.17" />જે બાબતો વિષે હવે હું જે કહી રહ્યો છું તેમાં હું તમારી પ્રશંસા કરતો નથી. તમારી સભાઓ તમને મદદકર્તા બનવાને બદલે તમને નુકસાનકર્તા બને છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="1CO.11.18" />પ્રથમ તો હું સાંભળું છું કે જ્યારે તમે મંડળીમાં એકઠા થાઓ ત્યારે તમારામાં ભાગલા પડેલા હોય છે. આમાંથી કેટલીક બાબતોને હું માનું છું.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CO.11.19" />તમારામાં મતભેદ હોય તે જરુંરી પણ છે. જેથી કરીને ખરેખર તમે જે કરી રહ્યા છો તે સ્પષ્ટ થઈ શકે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1CO.11.20" />જ્યારે તમે બધા જ ભેગા થાવ, ત્યારે તમે વાસ્તવમાં આવું સાચું પ્રભુનું ભોજન<f caller="+"><fr>11:20
</fr><fk>પ્રભુ ભોજન
</fk><ft>ઇસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને ખાસ ભોજન તેની યાદગીરીને સારું ખાવાને કહ્યું. લૂ. 22:14-20.</ft></f> ખાતાં નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CO.11.21" />શાથી? કારણ કે તમે જ્યારે ભોજન ખાવા બેસો છો તો તમે બીજાની પ્રતિક્ષા કરતા જ નથી. કેટલાએક લોકો પૂરતું ખાવા કે પીવા માટે મેળવી શકતા નથી, તે કેટલાએક લોકો વધારે મેળવે છે તો તે છાટકા બને છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="1CO.11.22" />તમે તમારા પોતાના ઘરોમાં પણ ખાઈ-પી શકો છો! એમ લાગે છે કે તમે એમ માનો છો કે દેવની મંડળી મહત્વપૂર્ણ છે જ નહિ. જે લોકો દરિદ્રી છે તેમને તમે શરમમાં નાખો છો. મારે તમને શું કહેવું? શું મારે આમ કરવા માટે તમારી પ્રશંસા કરવી? હું તમારી પ્રશંસા કરતો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1CO.11.23" />જે ઉપદેશ મેં પ્રભુ પાસેથી પ્રાપ્ત કર્યો છે, તે જ ઉપદેશ મેં તમને આપ્યો છે: જે રાત્રે પ્રભુ ઈસુને મારી નાખવા માટે સોંપવામાં આવ્યો, ત્યારે તેણે રોટલી લીધી
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<v id="24" bcv="1CO.11.24" />અને તેના માટે સ્તુતિ કરી. પછી તેણે રોટલીના ભાગ પાડ્યા અને કહ્યું કે, “આ મારું શરીર છે; તે તમારા માટે છે. મને યાદ કરવા માટે એમ કરો.”
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<v id="25" bcv="1CO.11.25" />તે જ રીતે, જમી લીધા પછી, ઈસુએ દ્રાક્ષારસનો પ્યાલો લીધો. ઈસુએ કહ્યું કે, “આ દ્રાક્ષારસ દેવનો તેના લોકો તરફનો નવો કરાર પ્રસ્થાપિત કરે છે. આ નવા કરારનો મારા રક્ત વડે પ્રારંભ થાય છે. જ્યારે તમે તેને પીઓ ત્યારેં મને યાદ કરો.”
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<v id="26" bcv="1CO.11.26" />દરેક વખતે જ્યારે તમે આ રોટલી ખાવ અને આ પ્યાલામાંથી પીઓ ત્યારે પ્રભુનું પુનરાગમન થાય ત્યાં સુધી તેના મૃત્યુનો પ્રચાર કરો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1CO.11.27" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અયોગ્ય રીતે રોટલી ખાય કે પ્રભુનો પ્યાલો પીએ તો તે વ્યક્તિ પ્રભુના શરીર અને રક્તની વિરુંદ્ધ પાપ કરે છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="1CO.11.28" />દરેક વ્યક્તિએ રોટલી ખાતા અને પ્યાલો પીતા પહેલા પોતાનું અંતઃકરણ તપાસવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="29" bcv="1CO.11.29" />જો વ્યક્તિ શરીરને ઓળખ્યા વગર રોટલી ખાય છે અથવા પીએ છે, તો તે વ્યક્તિને ખાધાથી તથા પીધાથી દોષિત ઠરાવવામાં આવે છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="1CO.11.30" />તેથી જ તમારા જૂથમાં ઘણા બધા બિમાર અને અશક્ત છે. અને ઘણા બધા મરણને શરણ થયા છે.
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<v id="31" bcv="1CO.11.31" />પરંતુ જો આપણે આપણી જાતને મૂલવીએ, તો દેવ આપણો ન્યાય કરશે નહિ.
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<v id="32" bcv="1CO.11.32" />પરંતુ જ્યારે પ્રભુ આપણને મૂલવે છે, ત્યારે તે આપણને સાચો માર્ગ બતાવવા સજા કરે છે. જગતના અન્ય લોકો સાથે આપણને દોષિત ઠરાવવામાં ન આવે તેથી તે આમ કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1CO.11.33" />તેથી, મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, જ્યારે તમે ભોજન માટે મળો ત્યારે તમે એકબીજાની રાહ જુઓ.
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<v id="34" bcv="1CO.11.34" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ અતિશય ભૂખી થઈ જાય, તો તેણે તેના ઘરે જમી લેવું જોઈએ. દેવનો ન્યાય તમારા એક સાથે મળવા પર ન તોળાય તેથી આ કરો. જ્યારે હું આવું ત્યારે બીજી બાબતો અંગે તમારે શું કરવું તે તમને જણાવીશ.
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</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">પવિત્ર આત્માનાં દાનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.12.1" />હવે ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમારી પાસે આત્મિક દાનો અંગે સમજ હોય તેમ હું ઈચ્છું છું.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CO.12.2" />તમે વિશ્વાસુ બન્યા તે પહેલાં તમે જે જીવનજીવતા હતા તેને યાદ કરો. તમે તમારી જાતને પ્રભાવિત થવા દઈને તમે મૂર્તિપૂજા તરફ દોરવાઈ ગયા હતા. તે વસ્તુઓની પૂજા કે જેનામાં કોઈ જીવન હોતું નથી.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CO.12.3" />તેથી હું તમને કહું છું કે દેવના આત્માની મદદ વડે બોલનાર વ્યક્તિ ઈસુને શાપપાત્ર કહેતો નથી; અને કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ પવિત્ર આત્માની મદદ વગર એમ ન કહી શકે કે, “ઈસુ જ પ્રભુ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1CO.12.4" />આત્મિક કૃપાદાનો વિવિધ પ્રકારના હોય છે, પરંતુ તે બધા એક જ આત્મા તરફથી પ્રાપ્ત થયેલા છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CO.12.5" />સેવાકાર્યના વિવિધ માર્ગો છે, પરંતુ આ બધાજ માર્ગો એ જ પ્રભુ પાસેથી મેળવેલા છે. દેવ લોકોમાં વિવિધ પ્રકારે કાર્યો કરે છે, પરંતુ આ દરેક પ્રકારો તો એક જ પ્રભુ તરફથી મેળવેલા છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CO.12.6" />અને દેવ વિવિધ પ્રકારે લોકોમાં કામ કરે છે, પરંતુ આ બધી જ રીતો એ એક જ દેવની છે. આપણે બધા બધું જ કરવા માટે તે કાર્યો કરીએ છીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1CO.12.7" />દરેક વ્યક્તિમાં પવિત્ર આત્માનું પ્રદાન જોઈ શકાય છે. જે આત્મા પ્રદાન કરે છે તેના દ્વારા એક વ્યક્તિ બીજા લોકોને મદદકર્તા બને છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CO.12.8" />આત્મા એક વ્યક્તિને શાણપણવાળી વાણી બોલવાનું સાર્મથ્ય પ્રદાન કરે છે. જ્યારે આ જ આત્મા બીજી વ્યક્તિને પરમજ્ઞાન વાણી બોલવાનું સાર્મથ્ય પ્રદાન કરે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CO.12.9" />આ જ આત્મા એક વ્યક્તિને વિશ્વાસ પ્રદાન કરે છે. અને તે જ આત્મા બીજી વ્યક્તિને સાજાં કરવાનું દાન પ્રદાન કરે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CO.12.10" />આ જ આત્મા વડે બીજી વ્યક્તિને ચમત્કારો કરવાનું સાર્મથ્ય, તો અન્યને પ્રબોધ કરવાની ક્ષમતા અને અન્ય વ્યક્તિને સારા અને ખરાબ આત્માઓ વચ્ચેનો ભેદ પારખવાની ક્ષમતા પ્રદાન કરે છે. આ જ આત્મા એક વ્યક્તિને વિવિધ ભાષાઓ બોલવાની ક્ષમતા, તો બીજી વ્યક્તિને તે ભાષાઓના અર્થઘટન કરવાની ક્ષમતા પ્રદાન કરે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CO.12.11" />તે એક જ આત્મા આ બધી પ્રકિયા કરે છે. આત્મા પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને શું આપવું તેનો નિર્ણય કરે છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તનું શરીર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1CO.12.12" />એક વ્યક્તિનું શરીર તો એક જ છે, પરંતુ તેના અવયવો ઘણા છે. હા, શરીરને ઘણા અવયવો છે, પરંતુ બધાજ અવયવો ફક્ત એક જ શરીરને ઘડે છે. ખ્રિસ્ત પણ તે પ્રમાણે જ છે:
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<v id="13" bcv="1CO.12.13" />આપણમાંના કેટલાએક યહૂદિ છીએ તો કેટલાએક ગ્રીક લોકો; આપણામાંના કેટલાએક ગુલામ છીએ તો કેટલાએક સ્વતંત્ર. પરંતુ આપણે બધાજ એક જ આત્મા દ્વારા એક જ શરીરમાં બાપ્તિસ્મા પામેલા છીએ અને આપણને બધાને તે જ એક આત્મા પ્રદાન કરવામાં આવ્યો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1CO.12.14" />અને વ્યક્તિનું શરીર એક અવયવનું બનેલું નથી. પણ વધારે અવયવોનું બનેલું છે. તેને ઘણા અવયવો હોય છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CO.12.15" />જો પગ આમ કહે કે, “હું હાથ નથી. તેથી મારે શરીર સાથે કોઈ સંબંધ નથી.” પરંતુ પગના આમ કહેવાથી તે શરીરનો એક અવયવ મટી જતો નથી.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CO.12.16" />જો કાન આમ કહે કે, “હું આંખ નથી તેથી શરીર સાથે મારે કોઈ સંબંધ નથી.” પરંતુ કાનના આમ કહેવાથી તે શરીરના અવયવરુંપે મટી જતો નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CO.12.17" />જો સમગ્ર શરીર આંખ હોત, તો સાંભળવા માટે સક્ષમ ન હોત. જો આખું શરીર કાન હોત, તો કશું પણ સૂંધવા માટે શરીર સક્ષમ ન હોત.
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<v id="18-19" bcv="1CO.12.18" />પણ દેવે દરેક અવયવને પોતાની મરજી પ્રમાણે શરીરમાં ગોઠવેલો છે. જો દરેક ભાગ જુદા હોય તો શરીર શરીર રહેતું નથી. પરંતુ દેવે દરેક માટે સ્થાન નિશ્ચિત કર્યુ છે. આપણા શરીરના ઘણા અવયવોને તેની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે ગોઠવ્યા છે. જો સર્વ એક અવયવ હોત તો શરીર ક્યાં હોત?
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<v id="20" bcv="1CO.12.20" />અને તેથી હવે શરીરના અનેક ભાગો છે પણ શરીર ફક્ત એક છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1CO.12.21" />આંખ હાથને નથી કહી શકતી કે “મારે તારી જરૂર નથી!” અને તે જ રીતે મસ્તક પગોને નથી કહી શકતું કે, “મારે તારી જરૂર નથી.”
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<v id="22" bcv="1CO.12.22" />ના! શરીરના તે અવયવો જે દેખીતી રીતે વધારે નિર્બળ લાગે છે તે વાસ્તવમાં ખરેખર ઘણા જ મહત્વના છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="1CO.12.23" />અને શરીરના એ અવયવો કે જેમને આપણે ખાસ મૂલ્યવાન નથી ગણતા તેમની જ આપણે વિશિષ્ટ દરકાર કરીએ છીએ. અને શરીરના એ અવયવો કે જે આપણે પ્રદર્શિત કરવા નથી ઈચ્છતા તેમની આપણે વિશિષ્ટ દરકાર કરીએ છીએ.
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<v id="24" bcv="1CO.12.24" />ખરેખર તો આપણા શરીરના સૌથી સુંદર ભાગોને કોઈ વિશિષ્ટ કાળજીની જરુંર પડતી નથી. પણ જે ભાગ ને ઓછું માન અપાયું હતું તેને દેવે વિશેષ માન આપીને વ્યવસ્થિત રીતે શરીરમાં જોડ્યા છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="1CO.12.25" />દેવે આમ કર્યુ છે કે જેથી આપણું અંગ વિભાજીત ન થઈ જાય. દેવની ઈચ્છા એવી હતી કે બધા અવયવો એકબીજાને માટે એક સરખી ચિંતા રાખે.
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<v id="26" bcv="1CO.12.26" />જો શરીરનો એક અવયવ પીડાય તો તેની સાથે શરીરના બીજા બધાજ અબયવોને પણ વેદના થશે. અથવા શરીરનો કોઈ એક અવયવ સન્માનિત થાય તો બીજા બધા જ અવયવો પણ આનંદ પામે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="1CO.12.27" />તમે બધા સમૂહ તરીકે ખ્રિસ્તનું શરીર છો. વ્યક્તિગત રીતે તમે દરેક તે શરીરનો કોઈ એક અવયવ છો.
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<v id="28" bcv="1CO.12.28" />અને મંડળીમાં દેવે પ્રેરિતોને પ્રથમ સ્થાન, પ્રબોધકોને દ્વિતીય સ્થાન અને તૃતીય સ્થાન ઉપદેશકને આપેલું છે. પછી દેવે જે લોકો ચમત્કારો કરે છે તેઓને માટે પણ એક સ્થાન નિશ્ચિત કર્યુ છે. અને તે જ રીતે જે લોકોની પાસે રોગીઓને સાજા કરવાની ક્ષમતા છે, જે લોકો અન્યને મદદરુંપ થાય છે, જે લોકોમાં અગ્રેસરનો ગુણ છે અને જે લોકો વિવિધ ભાષાઓ બોલે છે તેઓને માટે પણ દેવે કોઈ એક સ્થાન નિશ્ચિત કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="1CO.12.29" />બધા લોકો પ્રેરિતો નથી કે બધા લોકો પ્રબોધકો થઈ શકે નહિ. બધા લોકો ચમત્કારો પણ કરી શકતા નથી.
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<v id="30" bcv="1CO.12.30" />કે બધાની પાસે બીજાને સાજા કરવાની ક્ષમતા પણ નથી. બધા લોકો જુદી જુદી ભાષામાં બોલી શકતા નથી. બધા લોકો આ ભાષાઓનું અર્થઘટન કરવા માટે સમર્થ નથી હોતા.
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<v id="31" bcv="1CO.12.31" />તમારે તો ખરેખર આત્માના ઉત્તમ કૃપાદાનોની જ ઈચ્છા રાખવી જોઈએ. હું તમને સૌથી ઉત્તમ માર્ગ દર્શાવીશ.
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<c id="13" />
<s style="s">પ્રીતિ એજ શ્રેષ્ઠ દાન છે
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.13.1" />જો હું માણસોની તથા દૂતોની વિવિધ ભાષા બોલી શકું, પરંતુ જો મારામાં પ્રીતિ ન હોય તો હું રણકારો કરનાર ઘૂઘરી કે ઝમકાર કરતી એક ઝાઝ માત્ર છું.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CO.13.2" />જો કે મને પ્રબોધ કરવાનું દાન હોય તો, હું દેવની તમામ રહસ્યપૂર્ણ વાતો જાણતો હોઉં અને સર્વ બાબતમાં જ્ઞાની હોઉં, અને પર્વતોને હઠાવી દે એવો મારો વિશ્વાસ હોય. પરંતુ આ બધી બાબતો ઉપરાંત જો મારામાં પ્રીતિ ન હોય તો હું કશું જ નથી.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CO.13.3" />મારી પાસે જે કઈ છે તે બધું જ હું લોકોને ખવડાવવા માટે આપી દઉં. અને હું મારું શરીર પણ અર્પણ તરીકે અગ્રિને સોંપી દઉં. પરંતુ જો મારામાં પ્રીતિ ન હોય તો પછી મને કોઈ લાભ નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1CO.13.4" />પ્રીતિ સહનશીલ છે અને પ્રીતિ પરોપકારી છે. પ્રીતિમાં ઈર્ષ્યા નથી, તે બડાશ મારતી નથી અને તે ગર્વિષ્ઠ પણ નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="1CO.13.5" />પ્રીતિ ઉદ્ધત નથી, પ્રીતિ સ્વાર્થી નથી અને પ્રીતિ આસાનીથી ક્રોધિત પણ થઈ જતી નથી. પ્રીતિ તેની સામે થયેલા અનુચિત વ્યવહારને યાદ રાખથી નથી.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CO.13.6" />પ્રીતિ દુષ્ટતા સાથે નહિ, પરંતુ પ્રીતિ સત્ય સાથે પ્રસન્ન હોય છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CO.13.7" />પ્રીતિ ધૈર્ય સાથે આ બાબતોને સ્વીકાર્ય ગણે છે. પ્રીતિ હમેશા વિશ્વાસ કરે છે, હમેશા આશા રાખે છે, અને હમેશા મદદરુંપ બને છે. હમેશા સહન કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1CO.13.8" />પ્રીતિ ક્યારેય નામશેષ થતી નથી. દેવ તરફથી ભવિષ્ય કથન કરવાનાં દાનો છે, પણ તે તો સમાપ્ત થઈ જશે. વિવિધ ભાષાઓમાં વકતવ્ય આપવાના દાનો છે, પણ તે દાનો પણ નામશેષ થઈ જશે. જ્ઞાનનું દાન છે, પણ તે અસ્ત પામશે.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CO.13.9" />આ વસ્તુઓનો અંત આવશે કારણ કે જે જ્ઞાન અને ભવિષ્ય કથન આપણી પાસે છે તે અપૂર્ણ છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CO.13.10" />પરંતુ જ્યારે પૂર્ણતા પ્રાપ્ત થશે ત્યારે અપૂર્ણતાનો અંત આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1CO.13.11" />જ્યારે હું બાળક હતો ત્યારે બાળક જેવી વાતચીત કરતો; બાળક જેવું વિચારતો; બાળક જેવી યોજનાઓ ઘડતો. પણ હું જ્યારે પુરુંષ બન્યો, ત્યારે મેં બાળકો જેવું વર્તન છોડી દીઘું છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CO.13.12" />આપણી સાથે પણ આમ જ છે. અત્યારે તો આપણે દર્પણમાં ઝાખું ઝાંખું જોઈ રહ્યા છીએ. પરંતુ ભવિષ્યમાં આપણે ત્યારે સ્પષ્ટપણે જોઈ શકીશું. અત્યારે તો હું ફક્ત એક અંશને જ જાણું છું. પરંતુ ત્યારે કે જ્યારે હું સંપૂર્ણપણે જ્ઞાત હોઈશ. જેવી રીતે દેવ મને ઓળખે છે. તેવી રીતે હું પણ તેને સંપૂર્ણ જાણીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="1CO.13.13" />તેથી વિશ્વાસ, આશા, અને પ્રીતિ. આ બધામાં પ્રીતિ શ્રેષ્ઠ છે.
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<c id="14" />
<s style="s">આત્મિક દાનોને મંડળી માટે ઉપયોગી બનાવો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.14.1" />પ્રીતિ એ એવી બાબત છે કે જેના માટે તમારે પ્રયત્ન કરવો જોઈએ. અને ખરેખર તમારે આત્મિક દાનની અભિલાષા રાખવી જોઈએ. એ બધામાં સૌથી વધુ પ્રબોધ કરવાની અભિલાષા રાખવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CO.14.2" />તે શા માટે તે હું સમજાવીશ: જે વ્યક્તિમાં વિવિધ ભાષાઓ બોલવાની ક્ષમતા છે તે લોકોને સંબોધતા નથી પરંતુ તે દેવને સંબોધે છે. તે વ્યક્તિને કોઈ સમજી શકતું નથી. કારણ કે આત્મા થકી તે મર્મો વિષે બોલે છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="1CO.14.3" />પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ પ્રબોધ કરે છે, તે લોકોને કહે છે. તે લોકોને સાર્મથ્ય, પ્રોત્સાહન અને દિલાસો આપે છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="1CO.14.4" />જે વ્યક્તિ અન્ય ભાષા બોલે છે તે માત્ર પોતાની જાતને જ મદદરુંપ થાય છે, પરંતુ પ્રબોધક તો આખી મંડળીને મદદરુંપ થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1CO.14.5" />તમારા બધામાં વિવિધ ભાષા બોલવાની ક્ષમતા હોય તે મને ગમશે. પરંતુ તમારી પ્રબોધ કરવાની ક્ષમતા મને વધુ ગમશે. પ્રબોધક વિવિધ ભાષી કરતાં વધુ મહાન છે. જે વ્યક્તિ વિવિધ ભાષી છે તે પ્રબોધક જેવો જ છે, જો તે બધી ભાષાઓનું અર્થઘટન કરી શકે, કે જેથી તેનું ઉદબોધન મંડળીઓને મદદરુંપ થાય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1CO.14.6" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, જુદી-જુદી ભાષા બોલીને હું તમારી પાસે આવું તો તમને મદદરુંપ બનીશી? ના! જ્યારે હું નૂતન સત્ય કે થોડો પ્રબોધ, કે થોડો ઉપદેશ લઈને આવું ત્યારે તે તમને ઉપયોગી થશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CO.14.7" />અર્થ વગર વિવિધ ભાષામાં બોલવું તે નિર્જીવ વસ્તુઓ દ્વારા કરવામાં આવતા ધ્વનિ સમાન છે જેમ કે વાંસળી કે વીણા. જો સંગીતના વિવિધ સૂરને સુસ્પષ્ટ ન કરવામાં આવે તો કયું ગીત વાગે છે તેનો ભેદ સમજી શકશો નહિ. સૂરને તમે સાચી રીતે સમજી શકો તે માટે પ્રત્યેક સ્વર સ્પષ્ટ રીતે વગાડવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CO.14.8" />આ જ રીતે યુદ્ધમાં જો રણશિંગડું સ્પષ્ટ રીતે ફૂંકવામાં ન આવે તો સૈનિકોને યુદ્ધની તૈયારીનો સમય છે એની ખબર ન પડે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1CO.14.9" />તમારી સાથે પણ આમ જ છે. બધી ભાષાઓમાં બોલાયેલા શબ્દો સ્પષ્ટ હોવા જોઈએ, નહિ તો તમે શું કહેવા માગો છો તે કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ સમજી શકશે નહિ, અને તમે માત્ર હવામાં વાતો કરતા રહી જશો!
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<v id="10" bcv="1CO.14.10" />તે સાચું છે કે દુનિયામાં વિવિધ પ્રકારની ભાષાઓ છે, ને દરેકને પોતાના વિવિધ અર્થ હોય છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CO.14.11" />અને તેથી એક વ્યક્તિ શું કહે છે તે જો હું ન સમજી શકું તો મને એમ લાગે કે તે વિચિત્ર બોલે છે અને તેને લાગે કે હું વિચિત્ર બોલું છું.
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<v id="12" bcv="1CO.14.12" />તમારી સાથે પણ આવું જ છે. તમે આત્મિક દાનની ખૂબ ઈચ્છા ઘરાવો છો જેથી મંડળી વધારે શક્તિશાળી બને. તેથી તે મેળવવા અથાગ પ્રયત્ન કરો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1CO.14.13" />તેથી જે વ્યક્તિની પાસે અન્ય ભાષા બોલવાની ક્ષમતા છે, તે પોતે જે બોલે છે તેનું તે સાચું અર્થઘટન કરી શકે તેવી તેણે પ્રભુને પ્રાર્થના કરવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CO.14.14" />હું જો અન્ય ભાષામાં પ્રાર્થના કરું તો મારો આત્મા પ્રાર્થના કરે છે, પરંતુ મારું મન તો નિષ્ક્રિય છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CO.14.15" />તો મારે શું કરવું જોઈએ? હું મારા આત્મા સાથે પ્રાર્થના કરીશ. પણ હું મારા મન સાથે પણ પ્રાર્થના કરીશ. હું મારા આત્મા સાથે ગાઈશ. પણ હું મારા મન સાથે પણ ગાઈશ.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CO.14.16" />તમારા આત્મા થકી તમે દેવનો મહિમા ભલે ગાતા હો, પરંતુ એક વ્યક્તિ સમજ્યા વગર તમારી આભારસ્તુતિની પ્રાર્થનાને “આમીન”<f caller="+"><fr>14:16
</fr><fk>આમીન
</fk><ft>જ્યારે વ્યક્તિ “આમીન” કહે છે, તો તેનો અર્થ એ કે તે જે બાબત કહેવામાં આવી છે તેની સાથે સંમત થાય છે.</ft></f> નહિ કહી શકે. શા માટે? કારણ કે તે સમજતો નથી કે તમે શું કહી રહ્યા છો.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CO.14.17" />તમે સુંદર રીતે દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરતા હશો, પરંતુ ન સમજનાર વ્યક્તિ માટે તે મદદરૂપ નથી બનતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1CO.14.18" />તમારા બધા કરતા વિવિધ પ્રકારની ભાષા બોલવાની મારી શક્તિ વિશેષ છે, તે માટે હું દેવનો આભારી છું.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CO.14.19" />પરંતુ મંડળીની સભામાં તો વિવિધ ભાષાના હજારો શબ્દો બોલવાને બદલે હું જેને સમજી શકું છું તેવા માત્ર પાંચ શબ્દો જ બોલીશ. હું મારી સમજ પ્રમાણે બોલવાનું પસંદ કરું છું કે જેથી હું બીજા લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપી શકું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1CO.14.20" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, બાળકો જેવું ન વિચારશો. દુષ્ટતામાં બાળકો થાઓ. પરંતુ તમારી વિચારસરણીમાં તો પુખ્ત ઉંમરના માણસ જેવા જ બનો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CO.14.21" />પવિત્રલેખમાં લખ્યું છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે લોકો જુદા પ્રકારની ભાષા બોલે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેમની અને વિદેશીઓની વાણીનો ઉપયોગ કરીને
</q>
<q style="q1">હું લોકોને ઉદબોધન કરીશ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેમ છતાં આ લોકો મને કબૂલ કરશે નહિ.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.28.11">યશાયા 28:11-12</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">પ્રભુ આમ કહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1CO.14.22" />તેથી અન્ય ભાષા વિશ્વાસીઓને નહિપણ અવિશ્વાસીઓને ચિહનરુંપ છે; પણ પ્રબોધ વિશ્વાસીઓને નહિ પણ અવિશ્વાસીઓને ચિહનરુંપે છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="1CO.14.23" />ધારો કે આખી મંડળી ભેગી મળે અને સભામાં તમે બધા જુદી-જુદી ભાષાઓ બોલો, ત્યારે નહિ સમજનારા કે વિશ્વાસ વગરના કેટલાએક લોકો ત્યાં આવે તો તેઓ તમને કહેશે કે તમે ઘેલા છો.
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<v id="24" bcv="1CO.14.24" />પરંતુ ધારો કે તમે બધા પ્રબોધ કરી રહ્યા છો ત્યારે વિશ્વાસ વગરની બહારની કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ત્યાં આવે તો જ્યારે તમે પ્રબોધ કરી રહ્યા છો ત્યારે તે વ્યક્તિના પાપ તમે દર્શાવશો અને તમે બધા જે કહો છો તેનાથી તે વ્યક્તિનો ન્યાય થશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="1CO.14.25" />તે વ્યક્તિના હૃદયની રહસ્યમય વાત પ્રકાશમાં આવશે અને પરિણામે તે વ્યક્તિ નમન કરીને દેવનું ભજન કરશે અને કહેશે કે, “ખરેખર, દેવ તમારી સાથે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">તમારી સભા મંડળીને મદદરૂપ થવી જોઈએ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1CO.14.26" />તો ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમારે શું કરવું જોઈએ? જ્યારે તમે મળો ત્યારે એક વ્યક્તિ ગીત ગાવા માટે હોય, બીજી વ્યક્તિએ બોધ આપવાનો હોય, બીજી વ્યક્તિ દેવ તરફથી પ્રગટેલા નૂતન સત્યને દર્શાવતી હોય, જ્યારે અન્ય વ્યક્તિ અન્ય ભાષા બોલતી હોય અને બીજી વ્યક્તિ આ ભાષાનું અર્થઘટન કરતી હોય. આ બધીજ બાબતોનો મૂળભૂત હેતુ મંડળીઓને વધુ શક્તિશાળી બનાવવાનો હોવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="27" bcv="1CO.14.27" />જ્યારે તમે એકત્રિત થાઓ અને કોઈ વ્યક્તિ સમૂહને અન્ય ભાષામાં ઉદબોધિત કરે ત્યારે બે કે વધુમાં વધુ ત્રણથી વધારે માણસોએ ન બોલવું જોઈએ. અને તેઓએ એક પછી એક બોલવું જોઈએ અને બીજી વ્યક્તિએ તે જે બોલે છે તેનું અર્થઘટન કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="28" bcv="1CO.14.28" />પરંતુ ત્યાં કોઈ પણ અર્થઘટન કરનાર ન હોય તો મંડળીની સભામાં અન્ય ભાષામાં બોલનારે શાંત રહેવું જોઈએ. તે વ્યક્તિએ માત્ર પોતાની જાતને અને દેવને ઉદબોધન કરવું જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1CO.14.29" />અને માત્ર બે કે ત્રણ પ્રબોધકોએ જ બોલવું જોઈએ અને તેઓ જે બોલે છે તેનું બીજાઓએ મૂલ્યાંકન કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="30" bcv="1CO.14.30" />અને જે વ્યક્તિ બેઠેલી છે તેનામાં પ્રભુના સંદેશની પ્રેરણા જાગે તો પ્રથમ વસ્તાએ અટકી જવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="1CO.14.31" />તમે બધા એક પછી એક પ્રબોધ કરી શકો. આ રીતે બધા જ લોકોને ઉપદેશ આપી શકાય અને પ્રોત્સાહિત કરી શકાય.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="1CO.14.32" />પ્રબોધકોનો આત્મા પ્રબોધકોના પોતાના નિયંત્રણમાં હોય છે.
<ve />
<v id="33" bcv="1CO.14.33" />દેવ અવ્યવસ્થાનો નહિ પરંતુ શાંતિનો દેવ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="34" bcv="1CO.14.34" />સ્ત્રીઓએ મંડળીની સભાઓમાં શાંત રહેવું જોઈએ. દેવના લોકોની બધી જ મંડળીઓમાં આમ જ હોવું જોઈએ. મૂસાનો નિયમ કહે છે તે પ્રમાણે સ્ત્રીઓને બોલવાની છૂટ ન આપવી જોઈએ અને તેમણે નિયંત્રણમાં રહેવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="35" bcv="1CO.14.35" />સ્ત્રીઓને પોતાને કઈક જાણવાની ઈચ્છા હોય તો તેમણે તેમના ઘેર તેમના પતિઓને પૂછવું જોઈએ. મંડળીની સભાઓમાં સ્ત્રીઓનું બોલવું ઘણું શરમજનક છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="36" bcv="1CO.14.36" />શું દેવનો ઉપદેશ તમારા થકી છે? ના! અથવા તમે માત્ર એક એવા છો કે જેમના આ ઉપદેશ પ્રાપ્ત થયો છે? ના!
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<v id="37" bcv="1CO.14.37" />જો કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ એમ ધારતી હોય કે તે પોતે પ્રબોધક છે અથવા તેને આત્મિક દાન મળેલું છે, તો તે વ્યક્તિએ સમજવાની જરુંર છે કે તમને જે આ હું લખું છું તે પ્રભુનો આદેશ છે.
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<v id="38" bcv="1CO.14.38" />જો તે વ્યક્તિ આ ન જાણતી હોય તો દેવ દ્વારા તે અજ્ઞાત છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="1CO.14.39" />તેથી મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, ખરેખર તમારે પ્રબોધ કરવાની અભિલાષા રાખવી જોઈએ, પરંતુ અન્ય ભાષામાં બોલવાનું દાન ધરાવતા લોકોને તે ભાષામાં બોલતા રોકશો નહિ.
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<v id="40" bcv="1CO.14.40" />પરંતુ દરેક વસ્તુ યોગ્ય અને વ્યવસ્થિત રીતે કરવી જોઈએ.
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</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્ત વિષે સુવાર્તા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.15.1" />હવે ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હું ઈચ્છું છું કે તમે સુવાર્તાને યાદ રાખો કે જે વિષે મેં તમને કહ્યું હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="1CO.15.2" />તમે આ સંદેશાથી તારણ પામ્યા છો અને તે બાબતે તમે વધુ ને વધુ દઢ અને વફાદાર બનવાનું ચાલુ રાખો. આ સંદેશ દ્વારા તમારું તારણ થયું પરંતુ મેં તમને જે કહ્યું છે તેમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખવાનું તમારે સતત ચાલુ રાખવું જ જોઈએ. જો તમે તેમ નહિ કરો તો તમારો વિશ્વાસ નકામો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1CO.15.3" />મેં જે સંદેશ પ્રાપ્ત કર્યો તે મેં તમને પ્રદાન કર્યો. મેં તમને એક વિશેષ મહત્વની વાત કહી કે આપણા પાપો માટે ખ્રિસ્ત મૃત્યુ પામ્યો, જેમ ધર્મશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે;
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<v id="4" bcv="1CO.15.4" />ખ્રિસ્તને દાટવામાં આવ્યો હતો અને ત્રીજે દિવસે તેનું ઉત્થાન થયું એમ ધર્મશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે;
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<v id="5" bcv="1CO.15.5" />પણ ખ્રિસ્તે પોતાની જાતે પિતરને દર્શન દીધું અને પછી બીજા બાર પ્રેરિતોને સમૂહમાં દર્શન આપ્યું.
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<v id="6" bcv="1CO.15.6" />ત્યારબાદ એક જ સમયે<f caller="+"><ft>પ્રભુનું ભોજન ઈસુએ તેના શિષ્યોને ખાસ ભોજન તેની યાદગીરીને સારું ખાવાને કહ્યું. લૂ. 22:14-20</ft></f> કરતાં પણ વધુ ભાઈઓને ખ્રિસ્તે પોતાનું દર્શન આપ્યું. આમાંના મોટા ભાગના ભાઈઓ હજુ જીવિત છે, જો કે કેટલાક મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1CO.15.7" />પછી ખ્રિસ્તે યાકૂબને દર્શન આપ્યું અને પાછળથી પ્રેરિતોને પુન:દર્શન આપ્યું.
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<v id="8" bcv="1CO.15.8" />અને અંતે જાણે હું સમય પહેલા જન્મેલો હોઉં તેમ સર્વથી છેલ્લે ખ્રિસ્તે મને પોતે દર્શન દીધું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1CO.15.9" />ધા જ પ્રેરિતો મારા કરતાં મહાન છે, કારણ કે દેવની મંડળીની મેં સતાવણી કરી છે તેથી હું તો પ્રેરિત કહેવાને પણ લાયક નથી.
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<v id="10" bcv="1CO.15.10" />પરંતુ દેવની કૃપાએ અત્યારે હું જે છું તે છું. અને દેવની કૃપા જે તેણે મને અર્પિત કરી તે નિરર્થક નથી ગઈ. બીજા બધા પ્રેરિતો કરતા મેં વધારે સખત કામ કર્યુ છે. (જો કે કામ કરનાર હું ન હતો, પરંતુ મારામાં સ્થિત દેવની કૃપા કાર્યરત હતી.)
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<v id="11" bcv="1CO.15.11" />તેથી એ મહત્વનું નથી કે હું ઉપદેશ આપું કે અન્ય પ્રેરિતો તમને ઉપદેશ આપે-કારણ કે અમે એ જ વસ્તુનો ઉપદેશ આપીએ છીએ કે જેમાં તમે વિશ્વાસ કરો.
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</p>
<s style="s">મૃત્યુમાંથી આપણે ઊઠીશું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1CO.15.12" />ખ્રિસ્ત મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠયો છે તેવો ઉપદેશ આપવામાં આવે છે તો તમારામાંના કેટલાએક એમ શા માટે કહે છે કે મૂએલાનું પુનરુંત્થાન નથી?
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<v id="13" bcv="1CO.15.13" />જો મૂએલાનું પુનરુંત્થાન નથી તો એનો અર્થ એ કે ખ્રિસ્ત મૃત્યુમાંથી કદી પણ ઊઠયો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1CO.15.14" />અને જો ખ્રિસ્ત કદી પણ ઊઠયો નથી તો અમારો ઉપદેશ નિરર્થક છે. અને તમારો વિશ્વાસ અર્થહીન છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="1CO.15.15" />અને દેવ વિષે અસત્ય બોલવા માટે અમે ગુનેગાર ઠરીશું. શા માટે? કારણ કે અમે દેવ વિષે એવો ઉપદેશ આપ્યો કે દેવે ખ્રિસ્તને મૂએલામાંથી ઊઠાડયો છે. અને જો લોકો મૂએલામાંથી ઊઠયા ન હોય તો દેવે ખ્રિસ્તને મૂએલામાંથી કદી પણ ઊઠાડયો નથી.
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<v id="16" bcv="1CO.15.16" />જો મૃત લોકો મૂએલામાંથી ઊઠયા નથી તો ખ્રિસ્ત પણ કદી મૂએલામાંથી ઊઠયો નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="1CO.15.17" />અને જો ખ્રિસ્ત મૂએલામાંથી ઊઠયો નથી તો તમારો વિશ્વાસ નિરર્થક છે, પરંતુ તમે તમારાં પાપો માટે હજુ પણ દોષિત છો.
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<v id="18" bcv="1CO.15.18" />અને ખ્રિસ્તમાં જેઓ મરી ગયેલાં છે, તેઓ હંમેશને માટે વિલિન થઈ ગયા છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1CO.15.19" />જો આપણી ખ્રિસ્તમાંની અભિલાષા માત્ર આ દુન્યવી જીવન પૂરતી મર્યાદિત હોય તો બીજા લોકો કરતાં પણ આપણે વધુ દયાજનક છીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1CO.15.20" />પરંતુ હકીકતમાં ખ્રિસ્ત મૂએલામાંથી ઊઠયો છે. મૃત્યુની ઘેરી નિંદ્રામાં સૂતેલા તે બધા જ વિશ્વાસઓમાં તે પ્રથમ હતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1CO.15.21" />કોઈ એક માણસના (આદમ) કૃત્યના કારણે લોકોનાં મૃત્યુ થયાં પરંતુ બીજા એક માણસના (ખ્રિસ્ત) કૃત્યના કારણે લોકો મએલામાંથી ઊઠશે.
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<v id="22" bcv="1CO.15.22" />આદમ થકી આપણે સર્વ મૃત્યુ પામીએ છીએ અને તે જ રીતે ખ્રિસ્ત થકી આપણે સર્વ સજીવન થઈશું.
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<v id="23" bcv="1CO.15.23" />પરંતુ દરેક વ્યક્તિ યોગ્ય ક્રમમાં સજીવન થશે. સજીવન થવામાં ખ્રિસ્ત સૌ પ્રથમ હતો. જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્તનું પુનરાગમન થશે ત્યારે જે લોકો ખ્રિસ્તના છે તે લોકો પણ સજીવન થશે.
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<v id="24" bcv="1CO.15.24" />પછી અંત આવશે. ખ્રિસ્ત બધાજ શાસકો, અધિકારીઓ અને સત્તાઓનો ધ્વંશ કરશે, અને પછી તે દેવ પિતાને રાજ્યની સોંપણી કરશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1CO.15.25" />જ્યાં સુધી દેવ બધાજ દુશ્મનોને ખ્રિસ્તના અંકુશ નીચે ન લાવે ત્યાં સુધી ખ્રિસ્તે શાસન કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="26" bcv="1CO.15.26" />મૃત્યુ તે આખરી દુશ્મન હશે જેનો નાશ થશે.
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<v id="27" bcv="1CO.15.27" />શાસ્ત્રલેખ કહે છે કે, “દેવ બધી જ વસ્તુઓને ખ્રિસ્તના નિયંત્રણમાં મૂકે છે.”<x caller="+"><xo>15:27
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ગી.શા. 8:6</xt></x> જ્યારે શાસ્ત્રલેખ, “બધીજ વસ્તુઓ” ને ખ્રિસ્તના નિયંત્રણ નીચે મૂકે છે ત્યાં એ સ્પષ્ટ છે કે દેવનો આમાં સમાવેશ થતો નથી. કારણ કે દેવ તે એક છે કે જે બધી જ વસ્તુઓને ખ્રિસ્તના નિયંત્રણ નીચે મૂકે છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="1CO.15.28" />જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્તના નિયંત્રણ નીચે બધી જ વસ્તુઓ આવશે. પછી પુત્ર પોતે જ જેવના નિયંત્રણને આધીન થશે. દેવ તે એક છે કે જે બધી વસ્તુઓને ખ્રિસ્તના નિયંત્રણમાં મૂકે છે તેથી દેવ બધી જ વસ્તુઓના સંપૂર્ણ શાસક બનશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="1CO.15.29" />જો લોકોને મૂએલામાંથી કદી પણ ઊઠાડયા ન હોય તો મૃત્યુ પામેલા લોકોના વતી જે લોકો બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા છે તેઓ શું કરશે? જો મૃત્યુ પામેલા લોકો કદી પણ ઊઠયા ન હોય તો તેઓના માટે લોકો શા માટે બાપ્તિસ્મા લે છે?
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="1CO.15.30" />અને આપણું શું? શા માટે દરેક કલાકે આપણે આપણી જાતને ભયમાં મૂકીએ છીએ?
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<v id="31" bcv="1CO.15.31" />હું તો દરરોજ મૃત્યુ પામું છું. ભાઈઓ તે એટલું જ સાચું છે, કે જેટલું આપણા પ્રભુ એવા ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં તમારા વિષે હું અભિમાન લઉ છું. તે સાચું છે.
<ve />
<v id="32" bcv="1CO.15.32" />જો હું એફેસસમાં માત્ર માનવીય કારણોને લઈને જંગલી પશુઓ સાથે લડયો હોઉં, માત્ર મારા અહંકારને પોષવા માટે લડ્યો હોઉં, તો મેં કશું જ પ્રાપ્ત કર્યુ નથી. જો લોકો મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠતા ન હોય તો, “ચાલો આપણે ખાઈએ, પીએ અને મજા કરીએ કારણ કે કાલે તો આપણે મરવાના છીએ.”<x caller="+"><xo>15:32
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ યશા. 22:13; 56:12</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="33" bcv="1CO.15.33" />મૂર્ખ ન બનશો: “ખરાબ મિત્રો સારી આદતોનો નાશ કરે છે.”
<ve />
<v id="34" bcv="1CO.15.34" />તમારા ન્યાયી વિચારો તરફ પાછા ફરો અને પાપ આચરવાનું બંધ કરો. હું તમને શરમાવવા માટે કહું છું કે તમારામાંના કેટલાએક દેવને જાણતા નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ક્યા પ્રકારનું શરીર આપણું હશે?
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="1CO.15.35" />પરંતુ કેટલાએક લોકો કદાચ પૂછશે કે, “મૃત્યુ પામેલા લોકો પુર્નજીવિત કેવી રીતે થાય? તેઓ કેવાં શરીર ધારણ કરીને આવે?”
<ve />
<v id="36" bcv="1CO.15.36" />આ બધા મૂર્ખતા ભરેલા પ્રશ્નો છે. જ્યારે તમે કઈક વાવો ત્યારે પ્રથમ જમીનની અંદર તે મૃત્યુ પામે છે અને પછી તે જીવનમાં નવપલ્લવિત થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="37" bcv="1CO.15.37" />અને તમે જે વાવો છો તેનું સ્વરૂપ પછીથી આકાર લેનાર “શરીર” જેવું નહિ હોય. તમે જે વાવ્યું છે તે તો માત્ર ધઉં કે બીજી કોઈ વસ્તુનું બીજ માત્ર છે.
<ve />
<v id="38" bcv="1CO.15.38" />પરંતુ દેવ તેના આયોજન પ્રમાણે તેને શરીરનું સ્વરૂપ આપે છે. અને દેવ ભિન્ન-ભિન્ન બીજને તેમનું પોતાનું જુદુ અંગ આપે છે.
<ve />
<v id="39" bcv="1CO.15.39" />હાડ-માંસમાંથી બનેલી દરેક વસ્તુઓ તે એક જ હાડ-માંસની નથી: તેથી લોકોનું હાડ-માંસ (શરીર) એક પ્રકારનું હોય છે, જ્યારે પ્રાણીઓનું બીજા એક પ્રકારનું, પક્ષીઓનું શરીર બીજા એક પ્રકારનું અને માછલીઓનું શરીર બીજા એક પ્રકારનું હોય છે.
<ve />
<v id="40" bcv="1CO.15.40" />દુન્યવી શરીરો તેમજ સ્વર્ગીય શરીરો પણ ભિન્ન પ્રકારનાં હોય છે. પરંતુ સ્વર્ગીય શરીરોની સુંદરતા એક પ્રકારની છે, જ્યારે દુન્યવી શરીરોની સુદરતા બીજા પ્રકારની છે.
<ve />
<v id="41" bcv="1CO.15.41" />સૂર્યનું સૌંદર્ય એક પ્રકારનું છે, જ્યારે ચંદ્રનું બીજા પ્રકારનું. જ્યારે તારાઓની સુંદરતા કઈક જુદી જ છે. તેમજ દરેક તારો પોતાની સુંદરતામાં બીજાથી વિશિષ્ટ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="42" bcv="1CO.15.42" />જે લોકો મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊભા થશે તેમને માટે પણ આવું જ છે. જે શરીરનું “રોપણ” થયું છે તે તો સડી જશે. પરંતુ જે શરીર મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠશે તેનો વિનાશ થશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="43" bcv="1CO.15.43" />કોઈ પણ પ્રકારના સન્માન વગર શરીરનું “રોપણ” કરવામાં આવે છે, પરંતુ મહિમા સાથે તે પુર્નજીવિત થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="44" bcv="1CO.15.44" />“રોપેલું” શરીર નિર્બળ હોય છે, પરંતુ પુર્નજીવિત શરીર શક્તિશાળી હોય છે. શરીર જે “રોપેલું” છે તે ભૌતિક છે, પરંતુ જે પુર્નજીવિત થયું છે તે શરીર આત્મિક છે.
</p>
<p style="p">જેમ ભૌતિક શરીર છે તેમ આત્મિક શરીર પણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="45" bcv="1CO.15.45" />પવિત્રશાસ્ત્માં લખ્યું છે કે: “પ્રથમ પુરુંષ (આદમ) સજીવ પ્રાણી થયો.”<x caller="+"><xo>15:45
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 2:7</xt></x> પરંતુ અંતિમ આદમ એ આત્મા થયો કે જે જીવન પ્રદાન કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="46" bcv="1CO.15.46" />આત્મિક માણસનું આગમન પ્રથમ નથી થતું. ભૌતિક માણસ પહેલા આવે છે, અને પછી આત્મિક માણસ આવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="47" bcv="1CO.15.47" />પ્રથમ માણસનું આગમન પૃથ્વીની રજકણમાંથી થયું. જ્યારે બીજા માણસનું આગમન આકાશમાંથી થયું.
<ve />
<v id="48" bcv="1CO.15.48" />લોકો પૃથ્વીને આધીન છે તેથી તેઓ પ્રથમ પેલા દુન્યવી માણસ જેવા છે. પરંતુ જે લોકો સ્વર્ગને આધિન છે તે લોકો પેલા સ્વર્ગીય પુરુંષ જેવા છે.
<ve />
<v id="49" bcv="1CO.15.49" />આપણને પેલા દુન્યવી માણસ જેવા બનાવ્યા છે. તેથી આપણને પેલા સ્વર્ગીય પુરુંષ જેવા પણ બનાવવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="50" bcv="1CO.15.50" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હું તમને કહું છું કે હાડ-માંસ અને રક્તને દેવના રાજ્યમાં તેનો હિસ્સો હોઈ શકે નહિ. જે વસ્તુઓ નાશવંત છે તે અવિનાશી વસ્તુઓનો ભાગ મેળવી શકે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="51" bcv="1CO.15.51" />પરંતુ સાંભળો, હું તમને એક રહસ્ય કહું છું: આપણે બધા મૃત્યુ નહિ પામીએ પરંતુ એક પરિવર્તન પામીશું.
<ve />
<v id="52" bcv="1CO.15.52" />અને આ એકમાત્ર ક્ષણમાં થશે. એક આંખના પલકારાની ત્વરાથી આપણે બદલાઈ જઈશું. જ્યારે છેલ્લું રણશિંગડું ફૂંકાશે ત્યારે આમ બનશે. રણશિંગડું ફૂંકાશે અને જે વિશ્વાસીઓ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે તે ચિરંતનકાળ પર્યંત જીવવા પુર્નજીવિત થશે. અને આપણે જે જીવંત છીએ તે પણ પરિવર્તન પામીશું.
<ve />
<v id="53" bcv="1CO.15.53" />આ શરીર કે જેનો નાશ થવાનો છે. તેણે જેનો નાશ ન કરી શકાય તેવાં વસ્ત્રો પરિધાન કરેલાં હોવા જોઈએ. અને આ શરીર જે મૃત્યુ પામે છે તેણે તેને અમરપણું પરિધાન કરેલું હોવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="54" bcv="1CO.15.54" />એટલે કે શરીર જે નાશવંત છે તેણે અમરપણું ધારણ કરવું જોઈએ અને આ શરીર જે મૃત્યુ પામે છે તેને અમરપણું ધારણ કરાવવું જોઈએ. જ્યારે આ બનશે ત્યારે ધર્મલેખ નીચેનું કથન સત્ય સાબિત થશે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મૃત્યુનો વિનાશ થયો અને આ મરણ જયમાં ગરક થઈ ગયું છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.25.8">યશાયા 25:8</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="55" bcv="1CO.15.55" />“મરણ તારો વિજય ક્યાં છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">મરણ, તારી ઘાયલ કરવાની શક્તિ ક્યાં છે?”
<rq><ref tgt="HOS.13.14">હોશિયા 13:14</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="56" bcv="1CO.15.56" />પાપ તે મૃત્યુની ઘાયલ કરવાની શક્તિ છે, અને પાપની શક્તિ તે નિયમ છે.
<ve />
<v id="57" bcv="1CO.15.57" />પરંતુ આપણે દેવના આભારી છીએ, દેવ જે આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા આપણને વિજય આપે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="58" bcv="1CO.15.58" />મારા પ્રિય ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, દઢ બનો. કોઈ પણ વસ્તુથી તમારી જાતને બદલવા ન દો. હંમેશા પ્રભુના કામમાં સમર્પિત બનો. તમે જાણો છો કે પ્રભુ પ્રત્યેનું તમારું કાર્ય કદી પણ નિરર્થક જતું નથી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">અન્ય વિશ્વાસીઓ માટે સંગ્રહ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1CO.16.1" />હવે હું દેવના લોકો માટે પૈસા એકત્ર કરવા વિષે લખીશ. ગલાતિયાની મંડળીઓને મેં જે કરવા સૂચવ્યું છે તે જ પ્રમાણે તમે કરો:
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1CO.16.2" />પ્રત્યેક સપ્તાહના પ્રથમ દિવસે તમારામાંની પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિએ તમારી આવકમાંથી શક્ય હોય તેટલા પૈસા બચાવવા જોઈએ. તમારે આ પૈસા કોઈ વિશિષ્ટ જગ્યાએ રાખવા જોઈએ જેથી હું આવું પછી તમારે તમારા પૈસા એકત્ર કરવાના ન રહે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1CO.16.3" />જ્યારે હું આવું ત્યારે હું કેટલાએક માણસોને મોકલીશ કે જે તમારા દાનને યરૂશાલેમ સુધી પહોંચાડે. આ એવા લોકો હશે કે તમે બધા સંમત થશો કે તેમણે જ જવું જોઈએ. હું તેઓને પરિચયપત્રો આપીને મોકલીશ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1CO.16.4" />જો મારા માટે ઉચિત હશે તો તે લોકો મારી સાથે આવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલની યોજનાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1CO.16.5" />હું મકદોનિયા થઈને જવા માંગુ છું. તેથી મકદોનિયા ગયા પછી હું તમારી પાસે આવી શકીશ.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1CO.16.6" />હું કદાચ તમારી સાથે થોડો સમય રોકાઈશ. હું કદાચ આખો શિયાળો પણ તમારી સાથે કાઢીશ. જેથી તમે મને જ્યાં કઈ પણ હું જાઉં ત્યાં મને મદદ કરી શકો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1CO.16.7" />અત્યારે જતાં તમારી મુલાકાત લેવાની મારી ઈચ્છા નથી. જો પ્રભુ રજા આપશે તો તમારી સાથે થોડો સમય રહેવાની મારી ઈચ્છા છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1CO.16.8" />પરંતુ પચાસમાના પર્વ<f caller="+"><fr>16:8
</fr><fk>પચાસમાના પર્વ
</fk><ft>અનાજના ફસલની ઉજવણીનું યહૂદીઓનું પર્વ. પાસ્ખાપર્વનાં 50 દિવસો પછી ઉજવાય છે.</ft></f> સુધી હું એફેસસમાં રહેવાનો છું.
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<v id="9" bcv="1CO.16.9" />હું અહીં રોકાઈશ, કારણ કે મહાન અને વિકસતું કાર્ય કરવાની સુંદર તક મને આપવામાં આવી છે અને ઘણા લોકો આ કાર્યનો વિરોધ કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1CO.16.10" />કદાચ તિમોથી તમારી પાસે આવે તો તેને રાહત લાગણીનો તમારી સાથે અનુભવ કરાવજો. મારી જેમ જ તે પ્રભુના કાર્યમાં રોકાયેલો છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1CO.16.11" />અને તેથી તેને અપનાવવાનો ઈન્કાર કોઈએ પણ ન કરવો. તેની યાત્રા શાંતિપૂર્ણ બને તે માટે તેને મદદરુંપ થજો કે જેથી તે પાછો મારી પાસે આવે. બીજા ભાઈઓ સાથે તે મારી પાસે આવશે તેમ હું ધારું છું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1CO.16.12" />હવે આપણા ભાઈ અપોલોસ વિષે: બીજા ભાઈઓ સાથે તમારી મુલાકાત લેવા મેં તેને ઘણો પ્રોત્સાહિત કર્યો. પરંતુ અત્યારે નહિ આવવા માટે તે ઘણો જ મક્કમ હતો. પરંતુ જ્યારે તેને તક મળશે ત્યારે તે આવશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલના પત્રની પૂર્ણાહૂતિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1CO.16.13" />સાવધાન રહો. વિશ્વાસમાં દઢ રહો. હિંમત રાખો અને વફાદાર રહો. અને શક્તિશાળી બનો.
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<v id="14" bcv="1CO.16.14" />બધી જ વસ્તુ પ્રેમપૂર્વક કરો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1CO.16.15" />તમે જાણો છો કે અખાયામાં સ્તેફનાસનું કુટુંબ વિશ્વાસ ધરાવવામાં પ્રથમ હતું. તેઓએ તેઓની જાતને દેવના લોકોના ચરણોમાં ધરી દીઘી હતી. ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો હું તમને વિનંતી કરું છું,
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<v id="16" bcv="1CO.16.16" />લોકોને અને અન્ય વ્યક્તિઓ કે જેઓ તેઓની સાથે સેવા અને કામ કરે છે, તેમને દોરવામાં આ રીતે અનુસરો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1CO.16.17" />મને આનંદ છે કે સ્તેફનાસ, ફોર્તુનાતુસ અને અર્ખેકસ આવ્યા છે. તમે અહી નથી, પરંતુ તમારી ખોટ તેઓએ પૂરી કરી છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="1CO.16.18" />તેઓએ તમારા અને મારા આત્માને ઉત્તેજિત કર્યા છે અને તેથી આવા લોકોનું મહત્વ તમારે સમજવું જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1CO.16.19" />આસિયાની મંડળીઓ તમારું અભિવાદન કરે છે. પ્રભુ થકી અકુલાસ અને પ્રિસ્કા પણ તમને ઘણા અભિવાદન મોકલે છે. અને મંડળી કે જે તેઓના ઘરમાં એકત્રિત થાય છે તે પણ તમને અભિવાદન મોકલે છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="1CO.16.20" />બધા જ ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો તમને અભિવાદન મોકલે છે, અને જ્યારે તમે મળો ત્યારે એકબીજાને પવિત્ર ચુંબન આપો તેમ ઈચ્છે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1CO.16.21" />હું
<sc>પાઉલ</sc> છું, અને આ અભિવાદન હું મારા સ્વહસ્તે લખી રહ્યો છું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1CO.16.22" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પ્રભુને પ્રેમ કરતો ના હોય તો પછી ભલે તેને દેવથી વિમુખ થવા દો અને કાયમને માટે ખોવાઈ જવા દો!
</p>
<p style="p">ઓ પ્રભુ, આવ!<f caller="+"><fr>16:22
</fr><fk>ઓ પ્રભુ, આવ
</fk><ft>અરામીક ભાષામાં
<tl>“મારાનાથા”</tl> અનુવાદ થએલ છે.</ft></f>
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1CO.16.23" />પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપા તમારા પર થાઓ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="1CO.16.24" />ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં મારી પ્રીતિ તમો સર્વની સાથે થાઓ. આમીન.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="2CO"><id id="2CO">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>2 કરિંથીઓ
</h><toc level="1">કરિંથીઓને બીજો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">2 કરિંથીઓ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">કરિંથીઓને
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">બીજો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.1.1" />ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુના, પ્રેરિત પાઉલ તરફથી, કુશળતા હો હું એક પ્રેરિત છું કારણ કે દેવની એવી ઈચ્છા હતી. આપણો ભાઈ તિમોથી જે ખ્રિસ્તમાં છે તેના તરફથી પણ અભિવાદન.
</p>
<p style="p">દેવની મંડળી જે કરિંથમાં છે અને આખા અખાયામાંના દેશના દેવના બધાજ લોકોને:
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2CO.1.2" />આપણા દેવ પિતા તરફથી તથા ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તમને કૃપા અને શાંતિ પ્રાપ્ત થાઓ.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલ દેવનો આભાર માને છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2CO.1.3" />આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના દેવ અને પિતાને ધન્ય હો. દેવ પિતા છે જે દયાથી પૂર્ણ છે. તે સર્વ દિલાસાનો બાપ છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CO.1.4" />જ્યારે પણ આપણને મુશ્કેલી નડે ત્યારે તે આપણને દિલાસો આપે છે કે જેથી અન્ય લોકો જેઓને કોઈ પણ જાતની મુશ્કેલીઓ હોય, ત્યારે આપણે તેમને દિલાસો આપી શકીએ. જે રીતે દેવ આપણને જે દિલાસો આપે છે તે જ દિલાસો આપણે તેમને આપી શકીએ.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CO.1.5" />આપણે ખ્રિસ્તની ધણી પીડાઓમાં ભાગીદાર થઈ શકીએ. એજ રીતે ધણો દિલાસો આપણને ખ્રિસ્ત તરફથી મળે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CO.1.6" />જો અમને મુશ્કેલીઓ નડે, તો તે મુશ્કેલીઓ તમારા દિલાસા અને તમારા ઉદ્ધાર માટે છે. જો અમને દિલાસો મળે તો તે તમારા દિલાસા માટે છે. અમારા જેવી જ પીડાને ધૈર્ય પૂર્વક સ્વીકારવા માટે આ તમને મદદરૂપ નીવડે છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2CO.1.7" />તમારા માટેની અમારી આશા મજબૂત છે. અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે અમારા દુ:ખમાં તમે સહભાગીદાર છો. તેથી અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે અમારા દિલાસામાં પણ તમે ભાગીદાર છો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CO.1.8" />ભાઈઓ તથા બહેનો, અમે ઈચ્છીએ છીએ કે આસિયાના દેશમાં અમારે જે મુશ્કેલીઓનો સામનો કરવો પડ્યો તેનાથી તમે પરિચિત થાઓ. અમારી શક્તિ કરતાં પણ વધુ એવો એ બોજ હતો. અમે જીવવાની આશા પણ છોડી દીધી હતી.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CO.1.9" />ખરેખર, અમને અમારા મનમાં તો એમ જ હતું કે અમે મરી જઈશું. પરંતુ આ બન્યું કે જેથી અમે અમારી જાત પર વિશ્વાસ ન કરીએ પણ જે લોકોને મરણમાંથી ઊઠાડે છે તે દેવ પર વિશ્વાસ કરીએ.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CO.1.10" />મૃત્યુના આ મોટા ભયમાંથી દેવે અમને બચાવ્યા અને દેવ અમને સતત બચાવશે. અમારી આશા તેનામાં છે, અને તે અમને બચાવવાનું ચાલુ રાખશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CO.1.11" />અને પછી ધણા લોકો આભાર માનશે. કારણ કે દેવે તેમની ધણી પ્રાર્થનાઓ દ્વારા આપણને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા છે. અને તમે તમારી પ્રાર્થનાઓ દ્વારા અમને મદદરૂપ થશો.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલની યોજનામાં પરિવર્તન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CO.1.12" />અમે આ માટે ગર્વ અનુભવીએ છીએ, અને હું હૃદયપૂર્વક આ સત્ય કહુ છું. અમે દુનિયામાં જે કઈ વસ્તુ કરી છે, તે બધી જ, દેવ પ્રેરિત, પ્રામાણિક અને શુદ્ધ હૃદયથી કરી છે. અને તમારી સાથે અમે જે વસ્તુ કરી છે તે અંગે તો આ વધુ સત્ય છે. અમે દેવની કૃપાથી જ આ કર્યુ, નહિ કે દુનિયાના ડહાપણને કારણે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CO.1.13" />અમે તમને એજ વસ્તુ લખીએ છીએ જે તમે વાંચી અને સમજી શકો. અને હું આશા રાખું છું કે તમે સંપૂર્ણ રીતે સમજશો.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CO.1.14" />જે રીતે અમારા વિષેની કેટલીક બાબતો તમે સમજી ચુક્યા છો. હું આશા રાખું છું કે તમે સમજશો કે તમે અમારા માટે ગર્વ અનુભવી શકો છો, એ જ રીતે જે રીતે, આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુના પુનરાગમનને દિવસે અમે તમારા માટે ગર્વ અનુભવીશું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2CO.1.15" />મને આ સર્વ વિષે ખાતરી છે. અને તેથી જ પહેલા તમારી મુલાકાત લેવાની મેં યોજના કરી હતી. પછી તમે બે વખત આશીર્વાદીત થઈ શકો.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="2CO.1.16" />મકદોનિયા જતા રસ્તામાં તમારી મુલાકાત લેવાની મારી યોજના હતી. અને પછી પાછા ફરતા ફરીથી તમારી મુલાકાત લેવાની મારી યોજના હતી. મારા યહૂદિયાના પ્રવાસ માટે તમારી મદદ લેવાની મારી ઈચ્છા હતી.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CO.1.17" />શું તમે એમ માનો છો કે મેં ખરેખર વિચાર્યા વગર તે યોજનાઓ કરી હતી? અથવા કદાચ તમે એમ માનશો કે જે રીતે દુનિયા યોજનાઓ કરે છે એ રીતે મેં યોજનાઓ કરી હશે, કે જેથી હુ, “હા ની હા” કહું અને તે જ સમયે “ના ની ના” પણ કહું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2CO.1.18" />પરંતુ જો તમે દેવમાં માનતા હો તો, તમે માનશો કે અમે તમને કદી પણ એક જ સમયે “હા” અને “ના” સાથે નથી કહ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="2CO.1.19" />દેવ પુત્ર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત, સિલ્વાનુસ અને તિમોથી અને મેં તમને જે ઉપદેશ આપ્યો તે “હા” અને “ના” નહોતો. ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં હમેશા “હા” હતી.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="2CO.1.20" />દેવના દરેક વચનોની “હા” તે ખ્રિસ્તમાં છે. અને તેથી જ આપણે ખ્રિસ્તના થકી “આમીન” કહીએ છીએ. દેવનો મહિમા થાઓ.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="2CO.1.21" />અને દેવ તે એક છે જે આપણને ખ્રિસ્ત થકી તમારી સાથે શક્તિશાળી બનાવે છે. દેવે આપણને તેના વિશિષ્ટ આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="2CO.1.22" />આપણે તેના છીએ તે સાબિત કરવા તે તેનું અદભૂત ચિહન આપણા ઉપર મૂકે છે. અને તેણે જે વચન આપ્યું છે તે પ્રમાણે તે આપશે તેની ખાતરીરુંપે, તેની સાબિતીરુંપે, તે તેનો આત્મા આપણા હૃદયમાં મૂકે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2CO.1.23" />હું દેવની સાક્ષીએ તમને સત્ય કહું છું. હું કરિંથ પાછો ન આવ્યો તેનું કારણ એ જ હતું કે મારી ઈચ્છા તમને ઈજા પહોંચાડવાની નહોતી.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="2CO.1.24" />હું એમ કહેવા નથી માગતો કે અમે તમારા વિશ્વાસને અંકૂશ કરવા માગીએ છીએ. તમે તમારા વિશ્વાસમાં દઢ છો. પરંતુ તમારા સુખ-આનંદ માટેના અમે સહકાર્યકર છીએ.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.2.1" />તેથી મેં નિર્ણય લીધો છે કે મારી આગલી મુલાકાત તમને ગમગીન બનાવનાર મુલાકાત નહિ હોય.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2CO.2.2" />જો હું તમને ઉદાસ કરું તો મને આનંદીત કોણ કરશે? માત્ર તમે જ, કે જેમને મે ઉદાસ ન કર્યા, તે જ મને આનંદીત કરી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2CO.2.3" />મેં તમને પત્ર આ કારણે લખ્યો: કે જેથી હું તમારી પાસે જ્યારે આવું ત્યારે તે લોકોએ મને પ્રસન્ન કરવો જોઈએ તે લોકો દ્વારા હું ઉદાસી ન બનું. મને ખાતરી છે કે તમારામાંના બધા તે જ સુખમાં ભાગીદાર થાઓ કે જે મને મળ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2CO.2.4" />જ્યારે પહેલા મેં તમને લખ્યું હતું, ત્યારે મારા હૃદયમાં હું ઘણો જ વ્યથીત અને દુઃખી હતો. મેં ઘણાં અશ્રું સહિત લખ્યું હતું. મેં તમને દુઃખી કરવા નહોતું લખ્યું. તમે જાણી શકો કે હું તમને કેટલો પ્રેમ કરું છું, તેથી મેં લખ્યું હતું.
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</p>
<s style="s">અપકૃત્ય કરનાર વ્યક્તિને ક્ષમા આપો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CO.2.5" />તમારા સમૂહની એક વ્યક્તિએ દુઃખ ઊભુ કર્યુ છે. તેણે મને જ દુઃખ પહોંચાડ્યું નથી, પરંતુ તમારામાંના સર્વને તે રીતે દુઃખ પહોંચાડ્યું છે; હું સમજું છું કે તેણે સર્વને આ દુઃખ પહોંચાડ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="2CO.2.6" />મોટા ભાગના તમારા સમૂહે તેને જે શિક્ષા કરી છે તે તેને માટે પૂરતી છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2CO.2.7" />પરંતુ હવે તમારે એને માફ કરવો જોઈએ અને દિલાસો આપવો જોઈએ. આમ કરવાથી તેને વધુ પડતું દુઃખ નહિ થાય અને તે સંપૂર્ણરીતે ભાંગી નહિ પડે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2CO.2.8" />જેથી હું તમને વિનંતી કરું છું કે, તેને તમારો પ્રેમ દર્શાવો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2CO.2.9" />મેં તમને આ કારણે લખ્યું હતું. મારે તમારી પરીક્ષા કરવી હતી અને જોવું હતું કે દરેક બાબતમાં તમે આદેશનું પાલન કરો છો કે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2CO.2.10" />જો તમે એક વ્યક્તિને માફ કરશો, તો હું પણ તે વ્યક્તિને માફ કરીશ. અને મેં જે માફ કર્યુ છે-જો મારે કાંઈ માફ કરવા જેવું હશે-તો તે તમારા માટે, અને મારામાં રહેતા ખ્રિસ્તની સમક્ષ મેં માફ કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="2CO.2.11" />મેં આમ કર્યુ કે જેથી શેતાન આપણી પાસેથી કશું જીતી શકે નહિ. શેતાનની યોજનાઓ કઈ છે તે આપણે બરાબર જાણીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્ત થકી વિજય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CO.2.12" />ખ્રિસ્તની સુવાર્તાનો ઉપદેશ આપવા હું ત્રોઆસ ગયો હતો. પ્રભુએ મને ત્યાં ઉત્તમ તક આપી.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2CO.2.13" />પરંતુ મારા ભાઈ તિતસને ત્યાં નહિ જોતાં મને અશાંતિ થઈ. તેથી મેં ત્યાંના લોકોની વિદાય લીધી અને મકદોનિયા ગયો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CO.2.14" />પરંતુ દેવની સ્તુતિ થાઓ. ખ્રિસ્ત થકી દેવ હંમેશા આપણને વિજયી કરીને દોરી જાય છે. દેવ તેના જ્ઞાનના મધુર સુંગંધીત અત્તરની સુવાસની જેમ બધે ફેલાવવામાં આપણો ઉપયોગ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="2CO.2.15" />જે લોકોનું તારણ થયું છે અને જે લોકો ભટકી ગયા છે તેમના માટે આપણે ખ્રિસ્તની મીઠી સુગંધરૂપ છીએ, જે આપણે દેવને અર્પણ કરીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="2CO.2.16" />જે લોકો ભટકી ગયા છે તેમને માટે આપણે મૃત્યુની દુર્ગંધ છીએ એ દુર્ગંધ જે મૃત્યુ લાવે છે. પરંતુ જે લોકોનું તારણ થયું છે. તેમને માટે આપને જીવનની ફોરમ છીએ જે ફોરમ જીવન લાવે છે. તો આ કામ કરવા માટે કોણ યોગ્ય છે?
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="2CO.2.17" />જે રીતે બીજા લોકો કરે છે તેમ દેવના વચનને આપણે નફા માટે વેચતા નથી. ના! પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં આપણે દેવ સમક્ષ વફાદારીથી બોલીએ છીએ. જે રીતે દેવ તરફથી મોકલેલ માણસ બોલે તે રીતે આપણે બોલીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">દેવના સેવકોનો નવો કરાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.3.1" />શું ફરીથી આપણે આપણા વિષે બડાઈ મારવાનું શરું કરી રહ્યા છીએ? શું અમારે તમારા માટે કે તમારા તરફથી ઓળખપત્રની જરૂર છે? જે રીતે બીજા લોકોને હોય છે?
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2CO.3.2" />તમે પોતે જ અમારો પત્ર છો. પત્ર અમારા હૃદયરૂપી પટો પર અંકિત થયો છે. તે બધાથી વિદીત છે અને દરેક વ્યક્તિ તે વાંચે છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2CO.3.3" />તમે બતાવ્યું છે કે તમે ખ્રિસ્ત તરફથી મોકલેલો પત્ર છો કે જે તેણે અમારી મારફતે મોકલ્યો છે. આ પત્ર શાહીથી નહિ પરંતુ જીવતા દેવના આત્માથી લખાયેલો છે; તે શિલાપટો<f caller="+"><fr>3:3
</fr><fk>શિલાપટો
</fk><ft>યહોવાએ મૂસાને સિનાઈ પર્વત પર જે નિયમ તથા આજ્ઞા આપેલી તે શિલાપાટીઓ પર લખેલી હતી (નિં. 24:12; 25:16)</ft></f> પર નથી લખાયો પરંતુ માનવ હૃદય પર લેખિત થયો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2CO.3.4" />અમે આમ કહી શકીએ છીએ, કારણ કે ખ્રિસ્ત થકી અમે દેવ સમક્ષ ખાતરી અનુભવીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="2CO.3.5" />હું એમ નથી સમજતો કે અમે અમારી જાતે જે કાંઈ સારું છે તે કરવા અમે શક્તિમાન છીએ. તે દેવ એક છે જે આપણે કરીએ છીએ તે કરવાને આપણને શક્તિમાન બનાવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="2CO.3.6" />દેવે જ અમને દેવ તરફથી તેના લોકોને પ્રાપ્ત થયેલા નવા કરારના સેવક બનવાને શક્તિમાન બનાવ્યા છે. આ નવો કરાર તે લેખિત નિયમ નથી તે આત્માનો છે. લેખિત નિયમ મૃત્યુ લાવે છે, પરંતુ આત્મા જીવન બક્ષે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નવો કરાર ઉત્કૃષ્ટ મહિમા લાવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CO.3.7" />સેવા જે મૃત્યુ લાવે છે તેના શબ્દો પથ્થર પર લખાયેલા હતા. તે દેવના મહિમા સાથે આવ્યા હતા. મૂસાના મુખ પરંતુ તેજ મહિમાથી એટલું પ્રકાશવાન હતું કે ઈસ્રાએલ ના લોકો સતત તેની સામે જોઈ શક્યા નહોતા. અને તે મહિમા પછીથી અદશ્ય થઈ ગયો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2CO.3.8" />નિશ્ચિત રીતે, જે સેવા આત્માનું અનુગમન કરાવે છે તેનો મહિમા તો આનાથી પણ મહાન થશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2CO.3.9" />મારું કહેવું આમ છે: કે સેવા લોકોને તેમના પાપના અનુસંધાનમાં મૂલવતી હતી, પરંતુ તે મહિમાવંત હતી. તેટલી જ નિશ્ચિતતાથી જે સેવા લોકોને દેવને અનુરુંપ બનાવે છે, તેનો મહિમા વધુ ઉત્કૃષ્ટ છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2CO.3.10" />તે જૂની સેવાનો મહિમા છે. પરંતુ નવી સેવાના વધારે અધિક મહિમાવાન સાથે સરખાવતા તેના મહિમાનો ખરેખર છેદ થયો.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CO.3.11" />મહિમા સાથે આવેલી જે સેવા અદશ્ય થવાની હતી, પછી તો આ સેવા જે અવિનાશી છે તેનો મહિમા વિશેષ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CO.3.12" />આપણી આ અભિલાષાને લીધે તો આપણે વધારે હિંમતવાન બની શકીએ છીએ.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CO.3.13" />આપણે મૂસા જેવા નથી. તેણે તો તેના મુખ પર મુખપટ નાખ્યું હતું. મૂસાએ તેનું મુખ ઢાંકી દીધું હતું કે જેથી ઈસ્રાએલ લોકો તે જોઈ ના શકે. મહિમા નું વિલોપન થઈ રહ્યું હતું, અને મૂસા નહોતો ઈચ્છતો કે તે લોકો તેનો અંત જુએ.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CO.3.14" />પરંતુ તેઓના માનસપટ બંધ હતાં-તેઓ સમજી શક્યા નહિ. આજે પણ જ્યારે તેઓ જૂના કરારનું વાંચન કરે છે ત્યારે એ જ આવરણ અર્થને ઢાંકી દે છે. તે આવરણ હજુ પણ દૂર કરાયુ નથી. તે માત્ર ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા દૂર કરાય છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CO.3.15" />પરંતુ આજે પણ જ્યારે આ લોકો મૂસાના નિયમનું વાંચન કરે છે, ત્યારે તેઓનું માનસપટ આચ્છાદિત છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CO.3.16" />પરંતુ જ્યારે વ્યક્તિ પરિવર્તીત થાય છે અને પ્રભુને અનુસરે છે, ત્યારે તે આચ્છાદન દૂર થાય છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CO.3.17" />પ્રભુ તે આત્મા છે. અને જ્યાં દેવનો આત્મા છે ત્યાં સ્વતંત્રતા છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CO.3.18" />અને આપણા મુખ આચ્છાદિત નથી. આપણે સર્વ દેવનો મહિમા પ્રદર્શિત કરીએ છીએ. આપણે તેના જેવા થવા માટે પરિવર્તીત થયા છીએ. આ પરિવર્તન આપણામાં વધુ ને વધુ મહિમાનું પ્રદાન કરે છે. આ મહિમા પ્રભુ તરફથી આવે છે, જે આત્મા છે.
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<c id="4" />
<s style="s">માટીની બરણીઓમાં આધ્યાત્મિક ખજાનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.4.1" />દેવે આપણને તેની દયાથી અમને આ કામ સોંપ્યું છે. તેથી અમે તેને છોડી દેતા નથી.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CO.4.2" />પરંતુ અમે રહસ્યમય અને લજજાસ્પદ રીતોથી વિમુખ થયા છીએ. અમે કાવતરાંનો ઉપયોગ કરતા નથી, અને દેવના ઉપદેશમાં કશો ફેરફાર કરતા નથી. ના! અમે ફક્ત સત્યનો જ સ્પષ્ટતાથી ઉપદેશ કરીએ છીએ. અને આ રીતે અમે કોણ છીએ તે લોકોને દર્શાવીએ છીએ અને આ રીતે તેઓના હૃદયમાં તેઓ જાણે કે દેવ સમક્ષ અમે કેવા લોકો છીએ.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CO.4.3" />સુવાર્તા જે અમે પ્રગટ કરીએ છીએ તે કદાચ ગૂઢ હોઈ શકે. પરંતુ જે લોકો ભટકી ગયા છે તેમને માટે જ તે ગૂઢ છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CO.4.4" />આ જગત (શેતાન) ના શાસકે જેઓ વિશ્વાસુ નથી તેઓનાં માનસને અંધ કરી દીધાં છે. તેઓ સુવાર્તાના પ્રકાશ (સત્ય) ને જોઈ શકતા નથી; એ સુવાર્તા જે ખ્રિસ્તના મહિમા વિષે છે. ખ્રિસ્ત એ એક છે, જે આબેહૂબ દેવ સમાન છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CO.4.5" />અમે અમારા વિષે ઉપદેશ નથી આપતા. પરંતુ અમે ઉપદેશ આપીએ છીએ કે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તે પ્રભુ છે; અને અમે ઉપદેશ આપીએ છીએ કે ખ્રિસ્ત થકી અમે તમારા સેવકો છીએ.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CO.4.6" />દેવે એકવાર કહ્યું હતું, “અંધકારમાં જ્યોતિ પ્રગટશે!” અને આ એ જ દેવ છે જેનો પ્રકાશ આપણા હૃદયમાં ચમકે છે. ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના મોં પર દેવનો જે મહિમા છે તે વિષેના જ્ઞાનનું આપણને પ્રદાન કરીને દેવે આપણને આ જ્યોતિનું અનુદાન કર્યુ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CO.4.7" />આ ખજાનો અમને દેવ તરફથી મળ્યો છે. પરંતુ અમે તો માત્ર માટીનાં પાત્રો જેવા છીએ જે આ ખજાનાને ગ્રહણ કરે છે. આ બતાવે છે કે આ પરાક્રમની અધિકતા દેવ અર્પિત છે, અમારી નથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CO.4.8" />અમે ચારેબાજુ મુશ્કેલીઓથી ઘેરાયેલા છીએ. પરંતુ અમે હાર્યા નથી. ધણીવાર શું કરવું તે અમે જાણતા નથી. પરંતુ અમે હતાશ થતા નથી.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CO.4.9" />ધણીવાર અમે પીડિત થયા છીએ, પરંતુ દેવે અમારો ત્યાગ નથી કર્યો. ધણીવાર અમે ધવાયા છીએ પરંતુ અમારો સર્વનાશ નથી થયો.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CO.4.10" />અમારા શરીરમાં ઈસુનું મરણ છે. અમે આ મરણ સદા ઊંચકીને ફરીએ છીએ કે જેથી ઈસુનું જીવન પણ અમારા શરીરમાં પ્રતિબિંબિત થાય.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CO.4.11" />અમે જીવિત છીએ, પરંતુ ઈસુ માટે હંમેશા અમે મરણનો સામને કરીએ છીએ. અમારી સાથે આમ થયું કે જેથી અમારા ક્ષણભંગુર શરીરમાં ઈસુનું જીવન પ્રતિબિંબિત થાય.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CO.4.12" />મરણ અમારામાં કાર્યશીલ છે. પરંતુ જીવન તમારામાં કાર્યશીલ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CO.4.13" />શાસ્ત્રલેખમાં લખ્યું છે કે, “હું બોલું છું, કારણ કે મને વિશ્વાસ છે.”<x caller="+"><xo>4:13
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ગી. શા. 116:10</xt></x> અમારી પાસે પણ વિશ્વાસનો આત્મા છે તેથી અમે બોલીએ છીએ.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CO.4.14" />દેવે પ્રભુ ઈસુને મરણમાંથી ઊઠાડયો અને અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે દેવ અમને પણ ઈસુની સાથે ઊઠાડશે. દેવ અમને તમારી સાથે ભેગા કરશે, અને આપણે તેની સમક્ષ ઉપસ્થિત થઈશું.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CO.4.15" />આ બધી વસ્તુ તમારા માટે છે અને તેથી દેવની કૃપા વધુ ને વધુ લોકોને આપવામાં આવી છે. આ વાત દેવના મહિમાને અર્થે વધુ ને વધુ આભારસ્તુતિ કરાવશે.
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<s style="s">વિશ્વાસથી જીવવું
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CO.4.16" />તેથી અમે ક્યારેય પણ નિર્બળ થતા નથી. અમારો ભૌતિક દેહ વધારે વૃદ્ધ અને દુર્બળ થાય છે. પરંતુ અમારું આંતરિક મનુષ્યત્વ રોજ રોજ નવું થતું જાય છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CO.4.17" />થોડા સમય માટે અત્યારે અમને સામાન્ય વિપત્તિઓ છે, પરંતુ આ વિપત્તિઓ અનંત મહિમા સદાય માટે પ્રાપ્ત કરવામાં અમને મદદરૂપ થાય છે. આ અનંત મહિમા મુશ્કેલીઓ કરતાં વધારે ઉન્નત છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CO.4.18" />અમે તે વસ્તુનો વિચાર કરીએ છીએ જે જોઈ શકાતી નથી જે વસ્તુ અમે જોઈએ છીએ તે ક્ષાણિક છે. અને જે વસ્તુ અમે જોઈ શકતા નથી તેનું સાતત્ય અનંત છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.5.1" />અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે અમારું શરીર-માંડવો કે જેની અંદર અમે આ પૃથ્વી ઉપર રહીએ છીએ-તે નાશ પામશે. પરંતુ જ્યારે આમ થશે ત્યારે અમારે રહેવાનું ઘર દેવ પાસે હશે. તે માનવર્સજીત ઘર નહિ હોય. તે અવિનાશી નિવાસસ્થાન સ્વર્ગમાં હશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CO.5.2" />પરંતુ આ શરીરમાં અમે નિસાસા નાખીએ છીએ. અમે ઈચ્છીએ છીએ કે દેવ હવે અમને સ્વર્ગીય નિવાસસ્થાન આપે.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CO.5.3" />તે અમને વસ્ત્રો પહેરાવશે કે જેથી અમે નગ્ન ન રહીએ.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CO.5.4" />જ્યાં સુધી અમે આ માંડવામાં રહીએ છીએ, કષ્ટ અને ફરિયાદો અમારી સાથે રહેવાની. હું એમ નથી કહેતો કે અમારે આ માંડવો દૂર કરવો છે. પરંતુ અમારે સ્વર્ગીય આવાસનાં વસ્ત્રો પરિધાન કરવાં છે, પછી આ મૃત્યાધીન શરીર, જીવનથી આચ્છાદિત થશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CO.5.5" />આ માટે દેવે અમારું સર્જન કર્યુ છે. અને તે અમને નવજીવન આપશે. તેની ખાતરીરૂપે તેણે અમને આત્માનું પ્રદાન કર્યુ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CO.5.6" />તેથી હમેશા અમારામાં હિંમત હોય છે. અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે જ્યાં સુધી અમે આ શરીરમાં જીવીએ છીએ ત્યાં સુધી અમે પ્રભુથી દૂર છીએ.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CO.5.7" />અમે અમારા વિશ્વાસથી જીવીએ છીએ. નહિ કે જે દશ્ય છે તેનાથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CO.5.8" />તેથી અમને ભરોસો છે. અને ખરેખર અમે આ શરીરથી વિચ્છિત થઈને પ્રભુની પાસે વાસો કરવા ઈચ્છીએ છીએ.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CO.5.9" />અમારો ધ્યેય દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરવાનો છે. આપણે શરીરમાં હોઈએ કે દેવની સાથે હોઈએ, અમે તેને પ્રસન્ન કરવા ઈચ્છીએ છીએ.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CO.5.10" />આપણે બધાએ ખ્રિસ્તની સામે ન્યાય માટે ઉપસ્થિત થવું જ પડશે. તેને જે મળવું જોઈએ તે દરેક વ્યક્તિને મળશે. જ્યારે તે તેના ભૌતિક શરીરમાં જીવતો હતો ત્યારે તેણે જે કઈ સારું ખરાબ કર્યુ હશે તે પ્રમાણે પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિનો ન્યાય થશે.
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<s style="s">મદદરુંપ થનાર લોકો દેવના મિત્ર બને છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CO.5.11" />પ્રભુના ભયનો અર્થ શું છે તે અમે જાણીએ છીએ. જેથી લોકો સત્યને સ્વીકારે તે માટે મદદરૂપ થવા અમે પ્રયત્ન કરીએ છીએ. દેવ જાણે છે કે અમે ખરેખર શું છીએ. અને મને આશા છે કે તમારા અંતરમાં તમે અમને પણ જાણો છો.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CO.5.12" />અમે ફરીથી અમારી જાતને તમારી આગળ પ્રમાણિત કરવા નથી માંગતા. પરંતુ અમે અમારા વિષે માત્ર તમને જણાવવા માગીએ છીએ. તમે અમારા માટે ગર્વ અનુભવો તે માટે તમને કારણો આપવા માંગીએ છીએ. પછી તમારી પાસે ઉત્તર આપવા કઈક હશે જેઓને દશ્યમાન વસ્તુઓ માટે અભિમાન છે તે લોકો વ્યક્તિના અંતરમાં શું છે, તેની દરકાર કરતા નથી.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CO.5.13" />જો અમે ઘેલા છીએ, તો તે દેવના માટે છીએ. જો અમારું મગજ સ્થિર છે, તો તે તમારા માટે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CO.5.14" />ખ્રિસ્તનો પ્રેમ અમને અંકૂશમાં રાખે છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે તે એક બધા માટે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો છે. તેથી જ બધા મૃત્યુ પામ્યા.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CO.5.15" />ખ્રિસ્ત સર્વ લોકો માટે મરણ પામ્યો કે જેથી જે લોકો જીવે છે તેઓ પોતાના માટે જ ન જીવે. તે તેઓને માટે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તે મૃત્યુમાંથી સજીવન થયો. તેથી તે લોકો તેના માટે જીવે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CO.5.16" />તેથી આ સમયથી જે રીતે દુનિયા લોકો વિષે વિચારે છે તે રીતે અમે કોઈ પણ એક વ્યક્તિ વિષે વિચારતા નથી. તે સાચું છે કે ભૂતકાળમાં જે રીતે દુનિયા વિચારે છે તે રીતે અમે ખ્રિસ્ત વિષે વિચાર્યુ. પરંતુ હવે અમે તે રીતે વિચારતા નથી.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CO.5.17" />જે વ્યક્તિ ખ્રિસ્તમય છે તે નવોદિત છે, તે એક નવું સર્જન છે. જૂની વસ્તુનો વિસય થયો છે, બધું જ નવોદિત છે!
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<v id="18" bcv="2CO.5.18" />આ બધુંજ દેવ તરફથી દેવ થકી છે. દેવે તેની અને અમારી વચ્ચે સુલેહ કરી છે. અને લોકોને દેવ સાથે સુલેહ કરવાનું કામ દેવે અમને સોંપ્યું છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CO.5.19" />હું સમજુ છું કે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં દેવ હતો અને વિશ્વ અને પોતાની વચ્ચે સુલેહ શાંતિ કરતો હતો. ખ્રિસ્તમય લોકોને તેઓના પાપ માટે દેવે દોષિત ન ઠરાવ્યા. અને શાંતિનો આ સંદેશ બધા લોકો માટે તેણે અમને આપ્યો.
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<v id="20" bcv="2CO.5.20" />તેથી ખ્રિસ્ત વતી ઉદબોધન કરવા અમને મોકલવામાં આવ્યા છે. જાણે કે અમારા થકી દેવ લોકોને વિનંતી કરે છે. જ્યારે અમે તમને દેવ સાથે સુલેહ કરવાનું વિનવીએ છીએ ત્યારે અમે ખ્રિસ્ત વતી જ બોલીએ છીએ.
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<v id="21" bcv="2CO.5.21" />ખ્રિસ્ત નિષ્પાપી હતો, માટે જેણે પાપ જાણ્યું નહોતું તેને તેણે આપણે માટે પાપરૂપ કર્યો. દેવે આમ અમારાં માટે કર્યુ કે જેથી અમે ખ્રિસ્તમાં દેવ સાથે સત્યનિષ્ઠ બની શકીએ.
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</p>

<c id="6" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.6.1" />દેવ સાથે આપણે સહકાર્યકર છીએ. તેથી અમે તમને અરજ કરીએ છીએ. દેવ તરફથી તમને જે કૃપા મળી છે તેને વ્યર્થ ન જવા દેશો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CO.6.2" />દેવ કહે છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“યોગ્ય સમયે મેં તમને સાંભળ્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તારણના દિવસે મેં તમને મદદ કરી.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.49.8">યશાયા 49:8</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">હું તમને કહું છું કે, “યોગ્ય સમય” હમણાં છે. અને “તારણનો દિવસ” પણ હમણાં છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2CO.6.3" />અમે નથી ઈચ્છતા કે લોકો અમારા કાર્યમાં કશી ક્ષતિ જુએ. જેથી અન્ય લોકો માટે સમસ્યારૂપ બને તેવું અમે કશું જ કરતા નથી.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CO.6.4" />પરંતુ બધા જ સંજોગોમાં હું દર્શાવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરું છું કે અમે દેવના સેવકો છીએ: આપત્તિમાં મુશ્કેલીમાં અને ગંભીર સમસ્યાઓમાં, ઘણી કઠિન વસ્તુઓનો સ્વીકાર કરીને.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CO.6.5" />જ્યારે અમને મારવામાં આવ્યા છે અને જેલમાં પૂરવામાં આવ્યા છે. જ્યારે લોકો બેચેન થઈ જાય છે અને અમારી સાથે ઝઘડે છે, જ્યારે અમે સખત કામ કરીએ છીએ અને જ્યારે અમને આહાર કે નિંદ્રા મળતાં નથી.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CO.6.6" />અમારી સમજશક્તિથી, અમારા ધૈર્યથી, અમારી મમતાથી અને અમારા નિર્મળ જીવનથી અમે દર્શાવીએ છીએ કે અમે દેવના સેવકો છીએ. પવિત્ર આત્મા થકી, સાચા પ્રેમ થકી,
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<v id="7" bcv="2CO.6.7" />સત્ય કહેવાથી, અને દેવના પરાક્રમથી, અમે અમારા ન્યાયી રીતે જીવવાના માર્ગનો ઉપયોગ અમારા વિરૂદ્ધની દરેક વસ્તુથી અમારી જાતને બચાવવા અમે કરીએ છીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CO.6.8" />કેટલાએક લોકો અમને માન આપે છે, પરંતુ બીજા લોકોથી અમે શરમિંદા થઈએ છીએ. કેટલાએક લોકો અમારા વિષે સારું બોલે છે, પરંતુ બીજા કેટલાએક લોકો અમારા વિષે ખરાબ બોલે છે. કેટલાએક લોકો કહે છે કે અમે જૂઠા છીએ, પરંતુ અમે સત્ય બોલીએ છીએ.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CO.6.9" />કેટલાએક લોકો અમારાથી અજાણ્યા છે, પરંતુ અમે ખૂબ જાણીતા છીએ. અમે મૃતપ્રાય: દેખાઈએ છીએ, પરંતુ જુઓ! અમે જીવી રહ્યા છીએ. અમને શિક્ષા થઈ છે. પરંતુ માર્યા નથી ગયા.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CO.6.10" />અમારામાં ઘણો જ વિષાદ છે, પરંતુ અમે કાયમ પ્રફૂલ્લિત રહીએ છીએ, અમે દરિદ્ર છીએ, પરંતુ ઘણા લોકોને અમે વિશ્વાસમાં સમૃદ્ધ બનાવ્યા છે. અમારી પાસે કશું જ નથી, પરંતુ વાસ્તવમાં અમારી પાસે બધું જ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CO.6.11" />ઓ કરિંથના લોકો, તમારા લોકોની સાથે અમે મુક્ત રીતે વાતો કરી. અમે અમારું હૈયું તમારી આગળ ખોલ્યું.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CO.6.12" />તમારા પ્રત્યેની અમારી સ્નેહની લાગણી અટકી નથી ગઈ. તમે લોકોએ અમારા પ્રત્યેની તમારા પ્રેમની લાગણીએ ગુંગળાવી નાખી છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CO.6.13" />તમે મારાં બાળકો છો તે રીતે હું તમારી સાથે વાત કરું છું. જે રીતે અમે કર્યુ. તે રીતે તમે કરો, તમારા અંતરને પણ મુક્ત અને વિશાળ કરી દો.
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</p>
<s style="s">બિન ખ્રિસ્તીઓ વિષે ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CO.6.14" />જે લોકો અવિશ્વાસી છે તેવા તમે નથી. તેથી તેઓની સોબત ન રાખો. સારા અને નરસાનું સહઅસ્તિત્વ નથી હોતું. પ્રકાશને અંધકાર સાથે સંગત ન હોઈ શકે.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CO.6.15" />ખ્રિસ્ત અને શેતાન વચ્ચે કોઈ કરાર કેવી રીતે હોઈ શકે? વિશ્વાસીને અવિશ્વાસી સાથે શો ભાગ હોય?
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<v id="16" bcv="2CO.6.16" />દેવના મંદિર અને મૂર્તિઓ વચ્ચે કોઈ જાતનો કરાર હોઈ શકે? આપણે જીવતા દેવનું મંદિર છીએ, જેમ દેવ કહે છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું તેઓની સાથે જીવીશ અને તેઓની સાથે ચાલીશ,
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેઓનો દેવ થઈશ, અને તેઓ મારા લોક થશે.”
<rq><ref tgt="LEV.26.11">લેવીય 26:11-12</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="2CO.6.17" />“તેથી તે લોકોથી વિમુખ થાઓ
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમારી જાતને તેઓનાથી જુદી તારવો, એમ પ્રભુ કહે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જે કઈ નિર્મળ નથી તેનો સ્પર્શ ન કરો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને હું તમને અપનાવીશ.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.52.11">યશાયા 52:11</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="2CO.6.18" />“હું તમારો પિતા થઈશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે મારા દીકરા દીકરીઓ થશો, એમ સર્વશક્તિમાન પ્રભુ કહે છે.”
<rq>2 શમુએલ 7:14, 7:8</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="7" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.7.1" />પ્રિય મિત્રો, દેવ તરફથી આપણને આ વચનો મળ્યાં છે. તેથી આપણે આપણી જાતને નિર્મળ બનાવવી જોઈએ-કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ જે શરીર કે આત્માને મલિન બનાવે, આપણે તેનાથી મુક્ત જીવન પદ્ધતિમાં યથાર્થ બનવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરવો જોઈએ, કારણ કે આપણે દેવનો આદર કરીએ છીએ.
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<s style="s">પાઉલનો ઉલ્લાસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2CO.7.2" />તમારા હૃદય અમારા પ્રતિ ખોલો. અમે કોઈ વ્યક્તિનું કશું ખરાબ નથી કર્યુ. અમે કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિના વિશ્વાસનો ધ્વંસ નથી કર્યો, અને અમે કોઈ વ્યક્તિને છેતરી નથી.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CO.7.3" />હું તમારા પર આક્ષેપ મૂકવા આ કહેતો નથી. મેં તમને પહેલા કહ્યું છે તેમ. અમે તમને એટલો બધો પ્રેમ કરીએ છીએ કે તમારી સાથે જીવવા કે મરવા અમે તૈયાર છીએ.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CO.7.4" />તમારા માટે હું નિશ્ચિતતા અનુભવું છું. હું તમારા માટે ઘણો ગર્વ અનુભવું છું. તમે મને ઘણી હિંમત આપી છે. અને અમારી બધી જ મુશ્કેલીઓમાં મને ઘણો આનંદ મળ્યો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CO.7.5" />જ્યારે અમે મકદોનિયા આવ્યા ત્યારે અમને આરામ મળ્યો નહિ, અમે મુશ્કેલીઓથી ઘેરાયેલા હતા. બાહ્ય રીતે લડાઈઓ હતી, પરંતુ આંતરીક રીતે અમે ભયભીત હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CO.7.6" />પરંતુ જે લોકો મુશ્કેલીમાં હોય છે તેમને દેવ સહારે આપે છે. અને જ્યારે તિતસ આવ્યો ત્યારે દેવે અમને સહારો આપ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CO.7.7" />તેના આવવાથી અને તમે એને જે દિલાસો આપેલો તેનાથી અમને આશ્વાસન મળ્યું હતું. મને મળવાની તમારી ઈચ્છા વિષે તિતસે મને કહ્યું. તેણે કહ્યું કે તમે જે કર્યુ છે, તે માટે તમે ખૂબ જ દિલગીર છો અને તમે મારી ખૂબ જ દરકાર કરો છો. તે વિષે તિતસે મને કહ્યું. મેં જ્યારે આ સાંભળ્યું ત્યારે, હું વધુ રાજી થયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CO.7.8" />મારા પત્રથી તમને દુઃખ થાય તો પણ તે લખવા માટે હું દિલગીર નથી. મને ખબર છે કે તે પત્રએ તમને દુઃખ આપ્યું છે. અને તે માટે હું દિલગીર છું. પરંતુ તેનાથી તમને દુઃખ થયું માટે જ વ્યથિત થયા.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CO.7.9" />હવે મને આનંદ થયો છે કારણ કે તમારા દુઃખે તમને તમારું હૃદય પરિવર્તન કરાવ્યું છે. દેવ ઈચ્છતો હતો તે રીતે તમે દિલગીર થયા. ગમે તેમ પણ અમારા કારણે તમને કોઈ નુક્સાન થયું નહિ.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CO.7.10" />દિલગીલ થવું એટલે કે જેમ દેવ ઈચ્છે છે તેમ કોઈ એક વ્યક્તિને પસ્તાવો થાય તેના જેવું છે. આ વ્યક્તિને તારણ તરફ લઈ જાય છે, અને તે માટે અમે દિલગીર થઈ શકીએ નહિ, પરંતુ જે પ્રકારની વ્યથા દુનિયાની છે, તે મૃત્યુ લાવશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CO.7.11" />જેવી દેવની ઈચ્છા હતી તેવી વ્યથા તમારી હતી. હવે જુઓ કે તે વ્યથા તમને શું પ્રદાન કરે છે: તે વ્યથા તમારામાં ઘણી ગંભીરતા લાવી. તમે ખોટા ન હતા તેવું પૂરવાર કરવાની તેણે તમને પ્રેરણા આપી. તેણે તમને ક્રોધિત તેમજ ભયભીત બનાવ્યા. મને મળવા માટે તેણે તમને પ્રેરણા આપી. તેણે તમને વધારે સમર્પિત બનાવ્યા. તેણે તમને ન્યાયી બાબત કરવાની ઈચ્છાવાળા બનાવ્યા. તમે સાબિત કર્યુ કે તમે આ બાબતમાં સંપૂર્ણ નિર્દોષ હતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CO.7.12" />કોઈ એકે ખોટું કર્યુ, તેના કારણે મેં એ પત્ર નહોતો લખ્યો. અને જે વ્યક્તિ વ્યથિત થયેલી તેના માટે પણ તે નહોતો લખાયો. પરંતુ મેં તે પત્ર લખ્યો કે જેથી, દેવની સમક્ષ તમે જોઈ શકો કે તમે અમારા માટે ઘણી કાળજી રાખી છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CO.7.13" />અને તેથી જ અમને દિલાસો મળ્યો.
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<p style="p">અમને ઘણો જ દિલાસો પ્રાપ્ત થયો અને અમને એ જોઈને ખરેખર વધુ આનંદ થયો. કે તિતસ ઘણો જ આનંદિત હતો. તમે બધાએ એને ખૂબ જ સારી લાગણી કરાવી.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CO.7.14" />તિતસ આગળ મેં તમારા વખાણ કર્યા હતાં. અને તમે સાબિત કરી આપ્યું કે હું સાચો હતો. બધી જ વસ્તુ અમે જે તમને કહી તે સત્ય હતી. અને તમે તે સાબિત કરી આપ્યું કે અમે જે બધી બડાશો તિતસ આગળ મારી હતી તે સાચી છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CO.7.15" />અને જ્યારે એ યાદ કરે છે કે તમે બધા પાલન કરવા તૈયાર છો ત્યારે તેનો તમારા પ્રત્યેનો પ્રેમ વધુ સુદૃઢ બને છે. તમે તેને માન અને ભયથી આવકાર્યો.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CO.7.16" />મને ઘણો આનંદ છે કે હું તમારામાં સંપૂર્ણ વિશ્વાસ મૂકી શકું તેમ છું.
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<s style="s">આપણું દાન
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.8.1" />અને હવે, મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, મકદોનિયાની મંડળીઓ પર દેવની જે કૃપા છે તે વિષે અમે તમને જણાવવા ઈચ્છીએ છીએ.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CO.8.2" />કઠિન મુશ્કેલીઓથી તે વિશ્વાસીઓનું પરીક્ષણ થયું હતું. અને તેઓ ઘણા જ દરિદ્ર લોકો છે. પરંતુ તેમના ઉન્મત આનંદને કારણે તેઓએ મોટી ઉદારતાથી આપ્યું.
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<v id="3" bcv="2CO.8.3" />હું તમને કહી શકુ કે તેઓમાં જેટલી શક્તિ હતી, જે તેઓએ અર્પણ કર્યુ તે તેઓને પોષાય તેના કરતાં પણ વધુ તેઓએ આપ્યું. આ સ્વૈચ્છિક રીતે કર્યુ. આમ કરવાને કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ તેમને કહ્યું નહોતું.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CO.8.4" />પરંતુ તેઓએ અમને વારંવાર પૂછયું-તેઓએ દેવના ભક્તોની સેવામાં ભાગીદાર થવા અમને આજીજી કરી.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CO.8.5" />અમે અપેક્ષા નહોતી રાખી તે રીતે તેમણે આપ્યું. પોતાનું ધન આપતા પહેલા પોતાની જાતને તેઓએ પ્રભુને અને અમને સમર્પિત કરી. દેવ આવું ઈચ્છે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CO.8.6" />તેથી કૃપાના આ ભલાઈના વિશિષ્ટ કાર્યને પૂર્ણ કરવામાં તમને મદદરૂપ થવા અમે તિતસને કહ્યું. તિતસે જ સૌ પ્રથમ આ કાર્યનો પ્રારંભ કર્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2CO.8.7" />તમે ઘણી વસ્તુઓમાં-વિશ્વાસમાં, વાણીમાં, જ્ઞાનમાં, અને ખરેખર મદદ કરવામાં, અને અમારી પાસે શીખ્યા તે પ્રેમમાં સમૃદ્ધ છો. અને તેથી આપવાના કૃપા દાનમાં પણ તમે સમૃદ્ધ બનો તેવી અમે આશા રાખીએ છીએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2CO.8.8" />આપવા માટેનો હું તમને આદેશ નથી આપતો. પરંતુ તમારો પ્રેમ સાચો પ્રેમ છે કે કેમ તે મારે જોવું છે. બીજા લોકો ખરેખર સહાયભૂત થાય છે, એ તમને બતાવીને હું આમ કરવા માંગુ છુ.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CO.8.9" />આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપાથી તમે જ્ઞાત છો. તમે જાણો છો કે દેવ સાથે ખ્રિસ્ત સમૃદ્ધ હતો; પરંતુ તમારા માટે તે દીન બન્યો. તેના દરિદ્રી થવાથી તમે સમૃદ્ધ બનો તેથી ખ્રિસ્તે આમ કર્યુ.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2CO.8.10" />હું ધારું છું કે તમારે આમ કરવું જોઈએ અને તે તમારા સારા માટે છે. ગત વર્ષે તમે સૌથી પહેલા અર્પણ કરવાની ઈચ્છા દર્શાવેલી. અને તમે જ સૌ પ્રથમ દાન આપ્યું.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CO.8.11" />તેથી જે કાર્યનો તમે પ્રારંભ કર્યો છે, તેને પૂર્ણ કરો. જેથી તમારા “કાર્યની ઈચ્છા” અને તમારું “કાર્ય” સમતુલીત થશે. તમારી પાસે જે કઈ છે તેમાંથી આપો.
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<v id="12" bcv="2CO.8.12" />જો તમારી આપવાની ઈચ્છા હશે, તો તમારા દાનનો સ્વીકાર થશે. તમારી ભેટનું મૂલ્યાંકન તમારી પાસે જે છે તેના ઉપરથી થશે અને નહિ કે તમારી પાસે જે નથી.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CO.8.13" />જ્યારે અન્ય લોકોને રાહત પ્રાપ્ત હોય ત્યારે તમને મુશ્કેલી પડે તેવું અમે ઈચ્છતા નથી. ત્યાં સમાનતા હોવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CO.8.14" />અત્યારે તમારી પાસે ઘણું છે. તમારી પાસે જે છે તે લોકોને જે વસ્તુની જરૂર છે તેઓને તે ઘણું મદદરૂપ થઈ શકે તેમ છે. ત્યાર બાદ, જ્યારે તેઓની પાસે પુષ્કળ હશે ત્યારે તેઓ તમારે જોઈતી વસ્તુ પ્રાપ્ત કરવામાં તમને મદદરૂપ થઈ શકે. અને ત્યાર પછી સમાનતા આવશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CO.8.15" />જેમ પવિત્રશાસ્ત્રોમાં લખ્યું છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે વ્યક્તિ એ ઘણું ભેગું કર્યુ છે તેની પાસે ઘણુ વધારે ન હતું,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને જે વ્યક્તિએ ધણું ઓછું ભેગું કર્યુ હતું તેની પાસે ખૂબ ઓછુ ન હતું.”
<rq><ref tgt="EXO.16.18">નિર્ગમન 16:18</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">તિતસ અને તેના સાથીદારો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CO.8.16" />દેવની સ્તુતિ થાઓ કે તેણે તિતસને એટલો પ્રેમ આપ્યો જેટલો મને તમારા માટે છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="2CO.8.17" />અમે તિતસને જે વસ્તુ કરવાની કહી તેનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો. તે તમારી પાસે આવવા ઘણું જ ઈચ્છતો હતો. આ તેનો પોતાનો વિચાર હતો.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="2CO.8.18" />અમે તિતસની સાથે તે ભાઈને મોકલીએ છીએ જે બધી જ મંડળીઓ સાથે પ્રસંશાને પાત્ર બન્યો છે. આ ભાઈની તેની સુવાર્તાની સેવા માટે તેનું અભિવાદન થયું છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="2CO.8.19" />જ્યારે અમે આ ભેટ લઈ જતા હતા, ત્યારે પણ અમારી સાથે આવવા, મંડળીઓ દ્વારા આ ભાઈની પસંદગી થઈ હતી. અમે આ સેવા કરીએ છીએ. પ્રભુનો મહિમા વધારવા, અને એ દર્શાવવા કે અમે ખરેખર મદદરૂપ થવા માગીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2CO.8.20" />અમે ઘણા જ સજાગ છીએ કે જેથી કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ અમે જે રીતે આટલી મોટી ભેટની સાથે કામ કરીએ છીએ તેની ટીકા ન કરે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="2CO.8.21" />અમે આ વસ્તુઓ એ રીતે કરવા ધારીએ છીએ. જે પ્રભુની આંખો સમક્ષ ન્યાયી છે. લોકો જેને ન્યાયી ગણે છે તેવું કરવાનો અમારો ઈરાદો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2CO.8.22" />અમે તેઓની સાથે અમારા ભાઈને પણ મોકલીએ છીએ, જે હમેશા મદદરૂપ થવાને તૈયાર હોય છે. ઘણી રીતે તેણે આ બાબતમાં અમને સાબિતી આપી છે. અને હવે જ્યારે તેને તમારામાં ઘણો વિશ્વાસ છે ત્યારે તો તે વધુ મદદરૂપ થવા ઈચ્છે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2CO.8.23" />હવે તિતસ વિષે-તે મારો સાથીદાર છે. તમને મદદરૂપ થવા તે મારી સાથે કામ કરે છે. અને બીજા ભાઈઓ માટે તેઓ મંડળીઓ દ્વારા મોકલવામાં આવ્યા છે. અને તેઓ દેવને મહિમા આપે છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="2CO.8.24" />તેથી આ માણસોને દર્શાવો કે તમારી પાસે પ્રેમ છે. તેઓને બતાવો કે અમે કેમ તમારા માટે ગર્વ અનુભવીએ છીએ. પછી બધી જ મંડળીઓ આ જોશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">સાથીઓની મદદ કરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.9.1" />હવે દેવના લોકોની સેવા કરવા વિષે મારે તમને લખવાની જરૂર નથી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2CO.9.2" />મને ખબર છે કે તમે મદદરૂપ થવા ઈચ્છો છો. મેં આ વિષે મકદોનિયામાં લોકો સાથે ઘણી બડાઈ મારી છે. મેં તેમને કહ્યું હતું કે તમે અખાયાના લોકો ગયા વર્ષથી અનુદાન કરવા તૈયાર છો. અને તમારી આપવાની અભિલાષાએ અહીંના મોટા ભાગના લોકોને પણ આપવા માટે પ્રેરણાં આપી છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2CO.9.3" />પરંતુ હું ભાઈઓને તમારી પાસે મોકલું છું. આ બાબતમાં અમારા તમારા વિષેના વખાણ નકામા જાય, તેમ હું ઈચ્છતો નથી. મેં જે રીતે કહ્યું તે રીતે તમે તૈયાર હશો તેવી મારી ઈચ્છા છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2CO.9.4" />જો મકદોનિયાના લોકોમાંથી કેટલીક વ્યક્તિઓ મારી સાથે આવે અને જુએ કે તમે તૈયાર નથી, તો અમારે શરમાવા જેવું થશે. અમને શરમ આવશે કે અમે તમારામાં આટલો બધો ભરોસો રાખ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="2CO.9.5" />તેથી મેં વિચાર્યુ કે અમે આવીએ તે પહેલા આ ભાઈઓને જવાનું હું કહું. તમે જે દાન આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું છે તે તૈયાર રાખવાનું તેઓ પૂરું કરશે. તેથી જ્યારે અમે આવીએ ત્યારે ઉધરાણું તૈયાર હશે, અને તે એ અનુદાન હશે જે તમે આપવા ઈચ્છતા હતા; નહિ કે જે દાન આપવાનું તમે ધિક્કારતા હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CO.9.6" />આટલું યાદ રાખજો-જે વ્યક્તિ અલ્પ વાવે છે તે અલ્પ લણે છે. પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ અધિક વાવે છે તે અધિક લણે છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2CO.9.7" />દરેક વ્યક્તિએ તેના હૃદયમાં નક્કી કર્યુ હોય તેટલું આપવું જોઈએ. જો આપવાથી વ્યક્તિ વ્યથિત થતી હોય તો તેણે ન આપવું જોઈએ. અને વ્યક્તિએ તો પણ ન આપવું જોઈએ જો તેને એમ લાગે કે તેને આપવા માટે ફરજ પાડવામાં આવી છે. જે સહર્ષ આપે છે તે વ્યક્તિને દેવ ચાહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2CO.9.8" />અને દેવ તમને જરૂર છે તે કરતાં પણ વધારે આશીર્વાદ આપી શકે છે. ત્યારે બધી જ વસ્તુ તમારી પાસે પુષ્કળ પ્રમાણમાં હશે. દરેક સારાં કામ માટે આપવાને તમારી પાસે પૂરતું હશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2CO.9.9" />પવિત્રશાસ્ત્રોમાં લખ્યું છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તે ઉદારતાથી ગરીબોને આપે છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેની મમતા અનંત સુધી સતત રહેશે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.112.9">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 112:9</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="10" bcv="2CO.9.10" />દેવ તે એક છે જે વ્યક્તિને વાવણી માટે બીજ આપે છે. અને તે આહાર માટે રોટલી આપે છે. અને દેવ તમને આત્મિક બીજ આપશે અને તે બીજને અંકૂરીત કરશે. તમારી સદભાવનાની તે ઉત્તમ કાપણી કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="2CO.9.11" />દેવ તમને દરેક રીતે સમૃદ્ધ બનાવશે કે જેથી મુક્ત રીતે તમે હંમેશા આપી શકો. અને અમારા થકી અનુદાન લોકોને દેવ પ્રત્યે આભારી બનાવશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CO.9.12" />આ પવિત્ર સેવા કે જે તમે કરો છો તે માત્ર દેવના લોકોની જરૂરિયાતમાં મદદ કરે છે. એમ નહિ પરંતુ દેવની સ્તુતિરૂપી પુષ્કળ ફળ પણ ઉત્પન્ન કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2CO.9.13" />આ સેવા જે તમે કરો છો તે તમારા વિશ્વાસની સાબિતી છે. આ માટે લોકો દેવની સ્તુતિ કરે છે કારણ કે તમે ખ્રિસ્તની સુવાર્તાને અનુસર્યા; એ સુવાર્તા કે જેમાં તમને વિશ્વાસ છે. લોકો દેવની સ્તુતિ કરશે કારણ કે તમે મુક્ત રીતે તેમની સાથે અને બધા લોકોની સાથે ભાગીદારી કરી.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CO.9.14" />અને જ્યારે તે લોકો પ્રાર્થના કરશે. ત્યારે તેવી અભિલાષા રાખશે કે તેઓ તમારી સાથે હોય. દેવની ઘણી કૃપા જે તમને પ્રાપ્ત થઈ છે તે કારણે તેઓ આવો અનુભવ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="2CO.9.15" />જેનું વર્ણન થઈ શકે તેમ નથી તેના દાન માટે દેવની સ્તુતિ થાઓ.
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</p>

<c id="10" />
<s style="s">પાઉલ તેની સેવાનું સમર્થન કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.10.1" />હું પાઉલ છું અને હું તમને વિનવું છું. હું ખ્રિસ્તની નમ્રતા અને મમતાથી તમને વિનવું છું. કેટલાએક લોકો કહે છે કે જ્યારે હું તમારી સાથે હોઉં છું. ત્યારે દીન હોઉં છું, અને તમારાથી દૂર હોઉં છું. ત્યારે હિંમતવાન હોઉં છું.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CO.10.2" />કેટલાએક લોકો વિચારે છે કે અમે દુન્યવી પધ્ધતિથી જીવીએ છીએ. જ્યારે હું આવું ત્યારે આવા લોકો સાથે ઘણા નીડર થવાની મારી યોજના છે. હું તમને વિનવું છું કે હું જ્યારે આવું ત્યારે તેવી જ નીડરતાનો ઉપયોગ તમારી સાથે કરવાની મારે જરૂર પડશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2CO.10.3" />અમે આ દુનિયામાં જીવીએ છીએ. પરંતુ જે રીતે દુનિયા ઝઘડે છે તે રીતે અમે ઝઘડતા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2CO.10.4" />દુનિયા વાપરે છે તેના કરતાં જુદા પ્રકારના શસ્ત્રોથી અમે લડીએ છીએ. અમારા શસ્ત્રમાં દેવનું સાર્મથ્ય છે. દુશ્મનના મજબૂત સ્થાનનો આ શસ્ત્ર નાશ કરી શકે છે. અમે લોકોના વાદવિવાદનો નાશ કરીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="2CO.10.5" />અને દરેક વસ્તુ જે દેવના જ્ઞાનની વિરૂદ્ધ ઉદભવે છે તેનો અમે નાશ કરીએ છીએ. અમે દરેક વિચારને કબજે કરી, તેને ત્યજી ખ્રિસ્તની આધીનતામાં લાવીએ છીએ.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CO.10.6" />જે આજ્ઞાંકિત નથી તેવી દરેક વ્યક્તિને શિક્ષા કરવા અમે તૈયાર છીએ. પણ પ્રથમ તમે સંપૂર્ણ આજ્ઞાંકિત બનો.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CO.10.7" />તમારી સામેની હકીકતોને તમારે જોવી જોઈએ. જો વ્યક્તિ એમ વિચારતી હોય કે તે ખ્રિસ્તનો છે. તો તેણે એ પણ યાદ રાખવું જોઈએ કે તેની જેમ અમે પણ ખ્રિસ્તમાં છીએ.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CO.10.8" />એ સાચું છે કે અમે મુક્ત રીતે પ્રભુએ અમને આપેલ સાર્મથ્ય વિષે બડાઈ મારીએ છીએ. પરંતુ તેણે આ સાર્મથ્ય તમને સુદઢ બનાવવા અમને આપ્યુ છે, નહિ કે તમને ક્ષતિ પહોંચાડવા. તેથી તે બડાઈ માટે હું શરમ નથી અનુભવતો.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CO.10.9" />હું એમ નથી ઈચ્છતો કે તમે એમ ધારો કે મારા પત્રો વડે હું તમને ડરાવવા માગું છું.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CO.10.10" />કેટલાએક લોકો કહે છે કે, “પાઉલના પત્રો શક્તિશાળી અને મહત્વના છે. પરંતુ જ્યારે તે અમારી પાસે હોય છે, ત્યારે તે નિર્બળ હોય છે. અને તેની વાણીમાં કશુંજ નથી.”
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<v id="11" bcv="2CO.10.11" />તે લોકોએ આ જાણવું જોઈએ: અમે અત્યારે તમારી સાથે નથી; તેથી પત્રો દ્વારા આ વસ્તુ અમે કહીએ છીએ. પરંતુ જ્યારે અમે ત્યાં તમારી સાથે હોઈશું ત્યારે અમે એજ પ્રભાવ દર્શાવીશું જે અમે પત્રમાં દર્શાવ્યો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CO.10.12" />જે લોકો એમ માને છે કે પોતે ખૂબ જ મહત્વના છે, તેવા લોકોની ટોળીમાં દાખલ થવાની અમે હિંમત નથી કરી શકતા. અમે તેઓની સાથે અમારી સરખામણી પણ નથી કરતા. તેઓ પોતેજ પોતાનો માપદંડ બને છે, અને તેઓ જે છે તેના થકી પોતે જ પોતાનું મૂલ્યાંકન કરે છે. આ બતાવે છે કે તેઓ કશું જ જાણતા નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CO.10.13" />પરંતુ અમને જે કામ કરવાનું સોંપ્યું છે, તેના પરિધની બહાર જઈને અમે બડાઈ નહિ મારીએ. અમે અમારી બડાઈ, દેવે અમને સોંપેલા કાર્ય પૂરતી મર્યાદીત રાખીશું. પરંતુ આ કાર્યમાં તમારી સાથેના અમારા કાર્યનો સમાવેશ થાય છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CO.10.14" />અમે વધારે પડતી બડાઈ નથી મારતા. કારણ કે અમે તમારા સુધી પહોંચ્યા ન હોઈએ. એમ અમે પોતાને હદ બહાર લંબાવતા નથી. પરંતુ અમે તમારી પાસે આવ્યા છીએ. અમે તમારી પાસે ખ્રિસ્તની સુવાર્તા લઈને આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CO.10.15" />જે કાર્ય અમારું છે તે પૂરતી અમારી બડાઈને અમે મર્યાદીત રાખી છે. જે કામ બીજા લોકોએ કર્યુ છે, તે વિષે અમે બડાઈ નથી મારતા. અમને આશા છે કે તમારા વિશ્વાસમાં વૃદ્ધિ થશે. અમને આશા છે કે અમારા કાર્યના ક્ષેત્રને વધુ ને વધુ વિશાળ બનાવવામાં તમે મદદરૂપ નિવડશો.
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<v id="16" bcv="2CO.10.16" />તમારા શહેર ઉપરાંતના વિસ્તારોમાં પણ સુવાર્તા કહેવાની અમારી ઈચ્છા છે. બીજી વ્યક્તિના વિસ્તારમાં થઈ ચૂકેલા કાર્ય વિષે અમે બડાઈ મારવા નથી ઈચ્છતા.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CO.10.17" />પરંતુ, “જે વ્યક્તિ બડાઈ મારે છે તેણે પ્રભુમાં બડાઈ મારવી જોઈએ.”<x caller="+"><xo>10:17
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ યર્મિ. 9:24</xt></x>
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<v id="18" bcv="2CO.10.18" />કેમ કે તે એ વ્યક્તિ નથી કે જે કહે છે કે તે સારો છે. જેને પ્રભુ સારો કહે છે અને સ્વીકાર છે તે એ વ્યક્તિ છે.
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<s style="s">પાઉલ અને જુઠા પ્રેરિતો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.11.1" />હું આશા રાખું છું કે થોડી મૂર્ખતા દર્શાવું તો પણ તમે મારી સાથે ધીરજ રાખશો. પરંતુ તમે મારી સાથે ક્યારનીચે ધીરજ રાખી છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CO.11.2" />મને તમારી ઈર્ષા આવે છે અને આ તે ઈર્ષા છે જે દેવ તરફથી આવી છે. મેં તમને ખ્રિસ્તને સમર્પિત કરવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું. તમારો પતિ માત્ર ખ્રિસ્ત જ હોવો જોઈએ. હું તમને ખ્રિસ્તને સમર્પિત કરવા માંગુ છું, તેની પવિત્ર કુમારિકા તરીકે,
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<v id="3" bcv="2CO.11.3" />પરંતુ મને ભય છે કે તમારું મન તમને તમારા ખ્રિસ્ત પ્રત્યેના સાચા અને શુદ્ધ અનુસરણથી દૂર ઘસડી જશે જે રીતે સર્પે હવાની સાથે દુષ્ટ રીતે કપટ કર્યુ હતું અને છેતરી હતી.
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<v id="4" bcv="2CO.11.4" />તમે જે કોઈ તમારી પાસે આવે અમે આપ્યો છે તેના કરતા જુદો ઉપદેશ તમને ખ્રિસ્ત વિષે આપે તેની સાથે તમે ઘણા ધીરજવાન છો. એ આત્મા અને સુવાર્તાને સ્વીકારવા તમે ઘણા તત્પર છો પણ એ આત્મા અને સુવાર્તા અમે તમને આપ્યા છે તેનાથી ઘણા જુદા છે. તેથી તમારે મારી સાથે ધીરજ રાખવી જોઈએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CO.11.5" />હું નથી માનતો કે તે “મહાન પ્રેરિતો” મારાથી વધુ સારા છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="2CO.11.6" />તે સાચું છે કે હું એક કેળવાયેલો વક્તા નથી. પરંતુ મારી પાસે જ્ઞાન છે. અમે તમને દરેક રીતે આ સ્પષ્ટ બતાવ્યું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CO.11.7" />કોઈ પણ પ્રકારના વળતર વગર મેં તમને દેવની સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરી. તમને મહત્વ આપવા હું નમ્ર બન્યો છું. તમે માનો છો કે તે ખોટું હતું?
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<v id="8" bcv="2CO.11.8" />મેં બીજી મંડળીઓ પાસેથી વળતર સ્વીકાર્યુ છે. મે તેમના નાણાં લીધા કે જેથી હું તમારી સેવા કરી શકું.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CO.11.9" />જ્યારે હું તમારી સાથે હતો ત્યારે મારે જે કોઈ વસ્તુ જોઈતી હતી, તો મેં તેનો તમારા પર કોઈ બોજો નાખ્યો ન હતો. મકદોનિયાથી આવેલા બંધુઓએ મારે જે જોઈતું હતું, તે બધુંજ મને આપ્યું. તમારા પર બોજારૂપ મેં મારી જાતને બનવા દીઘી નથી. અને હું કદી તમને બોજારૂપ બનીશ નહિ.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CO.11.10" />અખાયાની કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ આ વિષે બડાઈ મારતા મને રોકી શકશે નહિ. મારામાંના ખ્રિસ્તના સત્ય વડે આમ કહું છું.
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<v id="11" bcv="2CO.11.11" />અને હું શા માટે તમને બોજારુંપ ન બન્યો? તમને પ્રેમ નથી કરતો એટલા માટે એમ તમે માનો છો? ના. દેવ જાણે છે કે હું તમને પ્રેમ કરું છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CO.11.12" />અને અત્યારે હું જે કરું છું તે કરવાનું હું ચાલું રાખીશ કારણ કે પેલા લોકોને બડાઈ મારવાનું કારણ મારે નથી આપવું. તેઓને તેમ કહેવું ગમશે કે જે કાર્ય માટે તેઓ બડાઈ મારે છે તે કાર્ય અમારા કાર્ય જેવું જ છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CO.11.13" />આ લોકો સાચા પ્રેરિતો નથી. તેઓ અસત્ય બોલનાર કાર્યકરો છે. અને તેઓ તેમના પોતામાં પરિવર્તન લાવે છે, કે જેથી લોકો માને કે તેઓ ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રેરિતો છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="2CO.11.14" />આનાથી અમને આશ્ચર્ય નથી થતું. શા માટે? શેતાન પણ વેશ બદલે છે, જેથી લોકો વિચારે કે તે પ્રકાશનો દૂત<f caller="+"><fr>11:14
</fr><fk>પ્રકાશનો દૂત
</fk><ft>દેવનો સંદેશવાહક. શેતાન લોકોને મૂર્ખ બનાવે છે તેથી તેઓ વિચારે કે તે દેવ તરફથી છે.</ft></f> છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="2CO.11.15" />જ્યારે શેતાનના સેવકો સાચા સેવકો દેખાવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે તેથી અમને આશ્ચર્ય થતું નથી, પરંતુ અંતમાં તેઓના કરેલા કામ પ્રમાણે તેઓને શિક્ષા મળે છે.
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<s style="s">પાઉલ તેની વ્યથા વિષે વાત કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CO.11.16" />હું તમને ફરીથી કહું છું: કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ એમ માનવું ન જોઈએ કે હું મૂર્ખ છું. પરંતુ જો તમે મને મૂર્ખ ધારતા હો તો, તમે જે રીતે મૂર્ખને આપનાવો છો એ રીતે તમે મને અપનાવો. જેથી હું પણ થોડી બડાઈ મારી શકું.
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<v id="17" bcv="2CO.11.17" />હું બડાઈ મારું છું, કારણ કે મને મારા વિષે ખાતરી છે. પરંતુ પ્રભુ જે રીતે વાત કરે થે રીતે હું વાત કરતો નથી. હું મૂર્ખની જેમ બડાશ મારું છું.
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<v id="18" bcv="2CO.11.18" />દુનિયામાં ઘણા લોકો તેમના જીવન વિષે બડાશ મારે છે. જેથી હું પણ બડાશ મારીશ.
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<v id="19" bcv="2CO.11.19" />તમે શાણા છો, તેથી હર્ષસહિત મૂર્ખાઓ સાથે તમે ધીરજ ઘરશો.
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<v id="20" bcv="2CO.11.20" />હું જાણું છું કે, તમે ધીરજવાન છો, કારણ કે જે માણસ તમને અમુક વસ્તુ કરવાની ફરજ પાડે છે અને તમારો લાભ લે છે. તેની સાથે પણ તમે ધીરજ ધરો છો. જે વ્યક્તિ તમને છેતરે, અથવા જે એમ માને કે તે તમારા કરતા સારો છે અથવા તમને મોંઢાં પર મારે તેની સાથે પણ તમે ધીરજવાન છો!
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<v id="21" bcv="2CO.11.21" />મારે માટે આમ કહેવું શરમજનક છે, પરંતુ આવી વસ્તુ તમારી સાથે કરવા માટે અમે ઘણા જ “નિર્બળ” છીએ.
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<p style="p">પરંતુ જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ બડાઈ મારવામાં બહાદુર હોઈ શકે, તો હું પણ બહાદુર બનીશ અને બડાશ મારીશ. (હું મૂર્ખની જેમ બોલું છું.)
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<v id="22" bcv="2CO.11.22" />શું પેલા લોકો યહૂદિ છે? હું પણ છું. શું તેઓ ઈસ્રાએલી છે? હું પણ છું. શું તેઓ ઈબ્રાહિમના કુટુંબના છે? હું પણ છું.
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<v id="23" bcv="2CO.11.23" />શું તે લોકો ખ્રિસ્તની સેવા કરે છે? હું તેની વધારે સેવા કરું છું. (હું આમ બોલવામાં ઘેલો છું.) મેં પેલા લોકો કરતાં વધારે સખત પરિશ્રમ કર્યો છે. ધણીવાર હું જેલમાં પૂરાયો છું. હું ઘણો માર ખાઈને ઘાયલ થયો છું. હું ધણીવાર લગભગ મૃતઃપ્રાય બન્યો છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2CO.11.24" />પાંચવાર યહૂદિ લોકોએ 39 કોરડા મારવાની સજા મને કરી છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="2CO.11.25" />ત્રણ વખત મેં લોખંડના સળિયાથી માર ખાધો. એકવાર પથ્થરોથી મને મારવામાં આવ્યો હતો. ત્રણ વખત હું એવા વહાણોમાં હતો જે તૂટી પડ્યા, અને એક વખત આખી રાત અને પછીનો દિવસ મેં દરિયામાં ગાળ્યો હતો.
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<v id="26" bcv="2CO.11.26" />મેં ઘણીવાર મુસાફરી કરી છે. અને હું નદીઓ, લૂંટારાઓ અને મારા પોતાના લોકો દ્વારા ભયમાં મૂકાયો છું. હું એવા લોકો દ્વારા પણ ભયમાં મૂકાયો છું. જેઓ બિનયહૂદિ છે. હૂં શહેરોમાં, જ્યાં માનવ વસતો નથી ત્યાં, કે દરિયામાં પણ ભયમાં મૂકાયો છું. અને જે લોકો એમ કહે કે તેઓ મારા ભાઈઓ છે પણ ખરેખર ન હોય તેમના થકી પણ ભયમાં મૂકાયો છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="2CO.11.27" />મેં સખત અને થકવી નાખનાર કામો કર્યા છે, અને ધણીવાર હું સૂતો પણ નથી. હું ધણીવાર ભુખ્યો અને તરસ્યો રહ્યો છું. ધણીવાર હું ઠંડીથી પીડાયો છું અને વસ્ત્રહીન રહ્યો છું.
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<v id="28" bcv="2CO.11.28" />અને બીજી ઘણી સમસ્યાઓ છે. તેમાંની એક તે મારે બધી મંડળીઓની સંભાળ રાખવાની તે છે. દરરોજ હું તેમના વિષે ચિંતીત રહું છું.
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<v id="29" bcv="2CO.11.29" />જ્યારે અન્ય વ્યક્તિ શીથિલ બને છે ત્યારે હું પણ શીથિલ બનું છું. જ્યારે અન્ય વ્યક્તિ પાપ તરફ દોરાય છે ત્યારે અંદરથી હું બળુ છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="2CO.11.30" />જો મારે બડાઈ મારવી જ હોય તો, હું એ વસ્તુની બડાઈ મારીશ જે બતાવે છે કે હું નિર્બળ છું.
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<v id="31" bcv="2CO.11.31" />દેવ જાણે છે કે હું ખોટું નથી બોલતો. તે પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો દેવ અને પિતા છે, અને સદાકાળ તેને સ્તુત્ય છે.
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<v id="32" bcv="2CO.11.32" />જ્યારે હું દમસ્કમાં હતો, ત્યારે અરિતાસ રાજાનો હાકેમ મને કેદ કરવા માંગતો હતો. તેથી શહેરની આજુબાજુ તેણે રક્ષકો ગોઠવ્યા.
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<v id="33" bcv="2CO.11.33" />પરંતુ કેટલાએક મિત્રોએ મને ટોપલામાં મૂક્યો અને પછી તે ટોપલો તેમણે દિવાલના બાકામાંથી મને નીચે ઉતાર્યો. અને તે રીતે હું હાકેમથી બચી ગયો.
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<c id="12" />
<s style="s">પાઉલના જીવનમાં વિશિષ્ટ આશીર્વાદ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.12.1" />મારે બડાશ મારવાનું ચાલું રાખવું જોઈએ. તે ખાસ મદદરૂપ નહિ થાય, પરંતુ હવે પ્રભુ તરફથી ઉદભવતા દર્શન અને પ્રકટીકરણ<f caller="+"><fr>12:1
</fr><fk>પ્રકટીકરણ
</fk><ft>છુપાએલુ સત્ય ખૂલ્લુ કરવું (જાહેર કરવું) તે પ્રકટીકરણ છે.</ft></f> વિષે હું વાત કરીશ.
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<v id="2" bcv="2CO.12.2" />હું ખ્રિસ્તમય બનેલી એવી વ્યક્તિને જાણું છું, જેને ત્રીજા આકાશમાં લઈ જવામાં આવ્યો હતો. આ 14 વર્ષ પહેલા બન્યું હતું. મને ખબર નથી કે તે માણસ તેના શરીરમાં હતો કે શરીરની બહાર હતો. પરંતુ દેવ જાણે છે.
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<v id="3-4" bcv="2CO.12.3" />અને મને ખબર છે કે આ વ્યક્તિને પારાદૈશમાં લઈ જવામાં આવ્યો. મને ખબર નથી કે તે તેના શરીરમાં હતો કે તેના શરીરથી દૂર હતો. પરંતુ તેણે એવી વસ્તુઓ સાંભળી હતી કે જે તે સમજાવી શક્યો નથી. તેણે એવી વાતો સાંભળેલી કે જે કહેવાની કોઈ વ્યક્તિને પરવાનગી નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="2CO.12.5" />હું આવી વ્યક્તિ વિષે બડાશ મારીશ. પરંતુ હું ફક્ત મારા પોતાના વિષે બડાશો મારીશ નહિ. હું માત્ર મારી નબળાઈઓ વિષે બડાશ મારીશ.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2CO.12.6" />પરંતુ જો મારે મારી જાત વિષે બડાઈ મારવી હોત તો, હું મૂર્ખ તો નહિ જ બનું. હું મૂર્ખ નહિ બનું કારણ કે હું સત્ય કહેતો હોઈશ. પરંતુ હું મારી જાત વિષે બડાઈ મારીશ નહિ. શા માટે? કારણ કે લોકો મને જે કરતા જુએ છે અને જે કહેતા સાંભળે છે, તેથી વિશેષ મારા માટે લોકો ધારે તેવી મારી ઈચ્છા નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2CO.12.7" />પરંતુ જે અદભુત વાતો મને બતાવવામાં આવી છે. તેના માટે વધારે પડતો ગર્વ અનુભવવો ના જોઈએ. તેથી કષ્ટદાયક સમસ્યા<f caller="+"><fr>12:7
</fr><fk>કષ્ટદાયક સમસ્યા
</fk><ft>“દેહમાં કાંટો”</ft></f> મને આપવામાં આવી હતી. તે સમસ્યા તે શેતાન તરફથી આવેલો દૂત છે. તેને મને મારવા માટે અને વધુ પડતો ગર્વશાળી બનતો અટકાવવા માટે મોકલવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="2CO.12.8" />મેં આ સમસ્યા મારાથી દૂર કરવા માટે પ્રભુને ત્રણ વાર પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="9" bcv="2CO.12.9" />પરંતુ પ્રભુએ મને કહ્યું કે, “મારી કૃપા તારે માટે પૂરતી છે. જ્યારે તું નિર્બળ બને છે, ત્યારે મારું સાર્મથ્ય તારી નિર્બળતામાં સંપૂર્ણ થાય છે.” તેથી મારી નબળાઈઓ વિષે બડાશ મારતા હું ઘણો પ્રસન્ન છું. પછી ખ્રિસ્તની શક્તિ મારામાં જીવશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="2CO.12.10" />તેથી જ્યારે મારામાં નબળાઈ આવે છે, ત્યારે હું પ્રસન્ન થાઉં છું. મારા વિષે લોકો જ્યારે ખરાબ બોલે છે, ત્યારે હું રાજી થાઉં છું. જ્યારે મને મુશ્કેલી પડે છે ત્યારે હું રાજી થાઉં છું. અને જ્યારે મારી આગળ સમસ્યાઓ હોય છે ત્યારે હું રાજી થાઉં છું. આ બધું જ ખ્રિસ્ત માટે છે. અને હું આ બધાથી આનંદીત છું, કારણ કે જ્યારે હું નિર્બળ હોઉં છું, ત્યારે હું મજબૂત હોઉં છું.
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<s style="s">કરિંથીના ખ્રિસ્તીઓ પ્રત્યે પાઉલનો પ્રેમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CO.12.11" />હું મૂર્ખની જેમ વાત કરી રહ્યો હતો. પરંતુ તમે મને એમ કરવા પ્રેર્યો. તમારે લોકોએ મારા વિષે સારું બોલવું જોઈએ. મારું કોઈ મૂલ્ય નથી, પરંતુ તે “મહાન પ્રેરિતો” નું મૂલ્ય મારા કરતા વધારે નથી!
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<v id="12" bcv="2CO.12.12" />હું જ્યારે તમારી સાથે હતો ત્યારે મે એવા કામો કર્યા જે પૂરવાર કરે કે હું પ્રેરિત છું – મેં ચિહ્નો બતાવ્યા, અદભૂત કાર્યો અને પરાક્રમો કર્યા. મેં ઘણી ધીરજથી આ કામો કર્યા.
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<v id="13" bcv="2CO.12.13" />તેથી બીજી મંડળીઓને જે પ્રાપ્ત થયું તે બધું જ તમને પ્રાપ્ત થયું. માત્ર એક બાબતમાં તફાવત હતો. હું તમને બોજારૂપ નહોતો. આ માટે મને માફ કરશો!
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2CO.12.14" />હવે ત્રીજી વખત તમારી મુલાકાત લેવા માટે હું તૈયાર છું. અને હું તમને બોજારૂપ બનીશ નહિ. તમારું જે કાંઈ છે, તેમાંથી મારે કશું જ જોઈતું નથી. હું તમને ઈચ્છું છું. બાળકોએ માતા પિતાને આપવા માટે કોઈ બચાવવાની જરૂર નથી, માતા પિતાએ તેમના બાળકોને આપવા બચાવવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="2CO.12.15" />મારી પાસે જે કાંઈ છે તે તમને આપતા મને આનંદ થાય છે. હું મારી જાત સુદ્ધા તમને આપીશ. જો હું તમને વધારે પ્રેમ કરું તો શું તમે મને ઓછો પ્રેમ કરશો?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2CO.12.16" />એ સ્પષ્ટ છે કે હું તમને બોજારુંપ નહોતો. હું ચાલાક હતો અને તમને પકડવા જૂઠનો ઉપયોગ કરતો હતો તેવું તમે વિચારો છો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="2CO.12.17" />તમારા પ્રતિ મોકલેલા કોઈ પણ માણસોનો ઉપયોગ કરીને શું તમને છેતર્યા છે? ના! તમે જાણો છો મેં એમ નથી કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="2CO.12.18" />મેં તિતસને તમારી પાસે જવા કહ્યું અને અમારા બંધુને મેં તેની સાથે મોકલ્યો. તિતસે તમને નથી છેતર્યા, ખરું ને? ના! તમે જાણો છો કે મને અને તિતસને એક જ આત્માએ દોર્યા છે. અને અમે એ જ માર્ગને અનુસર્યા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2CO.12.19" />તમે શું એમ માનો છો કે આ બધા સમય દરમ્યાન અમે અમારો બચાવ કરીએ છીએ? ના. અમે ખ્રિસ્ત થકી આ બધી વાતો કહીએ છીએ. અને દેવની સમક્ષ અમે આ બધી વસ્તુ કહીએ છીએ. તમે મારા પરમ મિત્રો છો. અને અમે જે કઈ કરીએ છીએ તે તમને વધુ સાર્મથ્યવાન બનાવવા કરીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="2CO.12.20" />હું આમ કરું છું કારણ કે મને ભય છે કે હું તમને જેવા થવા ઈચ્છું છું તેવા તમે હશો નહિ. જ્યારે હું આવું છું અને તમે મને જેવો થવા ઈચ્છો છો તેવો હું હોઈશ નહિ. મને ભય છે કે તમારા સમૂહમાં વિવાદ, ઈર્ષા, ક્રોધ, સ્વાર્થ, ઝઘડા, દુષ્ટવાતો, ગપસપ, ઉધ્ધતાઈ અને મુંઝવણો હશે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="2CO.12.21" />મને ભય છે કે જ્યારે હું ફરીથી તમારી પાસે આવીશ ત્યારે મારો દેવ મને તમારી આગળ નમ્ર બનાવશે. તમારામાંના ઘણા દ્વારા મને વિષાદ થશે. જેઓએ અગાઉ પાપો કર્યા છે તે માટે હું દિલગીર થઈશ. કારણ કે તેઓએ પસ્તાવો કર્યો નથી. તથા તેઓએ તેઓના પાપી જીવન માટે પશ્ચાતાપ કર્યો નથી. તેઓના વ્યભિચાર અને શરમજનક કૃત્યો માટે પણ તેઓએ પશ્ચાતાપ નથી કર્યો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="13" />
<s style="s">આખરી ચેતવણી અને શુભકામના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2CO.13.1" />હું ફરીથી તમારી પાસે આવીશ આ ત્રીજી વખત હશે. અને યાદ રાખજો, “દરેક ફરિયાદ માટે બે કે ત્રણ વ્યક્તિ હોવી જોઈએ જે કહે કે તેઓ જાણે છે કે ફરિયાદ સાચી છે.”
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2CO.13.2" />હું જ્યારે બીજીવાર તમારી સાથે હતો, ત્યારે જે લોકોએ પાપકર્મો કરેલા તેમને ચેતવણી આપી હતી. અત્યારે હું તમારાથી દૂર છું, અને બીજા બધા લોકો જેમણે પાપ કર્યા છે તેમને ચેતવણી આપું છું: જ્યારે ફરીથી હું તમારી પાસે આવીશ, ત્યારે તમારા પાપીકર્મો માટે હું તમને શિક્ષા કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2CO.13.3" />ખ્રિસ્ત મારા થકી બોલે છે તેની સાબિતી જોઈએ છે. મારી સાબિતી એ છે કે તમને શિક્ષા કરવામાં ખ્રિસ્ત નિર્બળ નથી. પરંતુ તમારી વચ્ચે ખ્રિસ્ત સર્વશક્તિમાન છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2CO.13.4" />તે સાચું છે કે જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્તને વધસ્તંભ પર મારી નાંખ્યો ત્યારે તે નિર્બળ હતો. પરંતુ અત્યારે તે દેવના સાર્મથ્ય વડે જીવિત છે. અને તે સાચું છે કે ખ્રિસ્તમય આપણે નિર્બળ છીએ. પરંતુ તમારા માટે, દેવના સાર્મથ્ય વડે અમે ખ્રિસ્તમાં જીવિત હોઈશું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2CO.13.5" />તમે પોતાને ધ્યાનથી જુઓ. તમે વિશ્વાસમાં છો કે નહિ તેની પરીક્ષા કરો. તમે જાણો છો કે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તમારામાં જીવે છે. પરંતુ જો તમે પરીક્ષામાં નિષ્કળ જશો, તો ખ્રિસ્ત તમારામાં સમાવિષ્ટ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="2CO.13.6" />પરંતુ મને આશા છે કે તમે જોશો કે અમે પરીક્ષામાં નિષ્કળ નથી ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2CO.13.7" />અમે દેવને પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ કે તમે કોઈ દુષ્કર્મો ન કરો. તે મહત્વનું નથી કે અમારી પરીક્ષણની સફળતા લોકો જુએ. પરંતુ એ મહત્વનું છે કે તમે જે યોગ્ય છે તે જ કરો, પછી ભલેને લોકો વિચારે કે અમે પરીક્ષણ માં નિષ્ફળ ગયા છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2CO.13.8" />અમે સત્યની વિરુંધ્ધ કશું જ કરી શકીએ નહિ. અમે માત્ર એ જ કરી શકીએ જે સત્ય માટે છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2CO.13.9" />જો તમે શક્તિશાળી છો તો, નિર્બળ થવામાં અમને આનંદ છે. અને અમે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ કે તમે વધુ ને વધુ પ્રબળ બનો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2CO.13.10" />હું જ્યારે તમારી સાથે નથી ત્યારે આ વાતો લખું છું. હું લખું છું જેથી જ્યારે હું આવું ત્યારે તમને શિક્ષા કરવા માટે મારા સાર્મથ્યનો ઉપયોગ ના કરવો પડે. પ્રભુએ મને તે સાર્મથ્ય તમને પ્રબળ કરવા આપ્યું છે નહિ કે તમારો ધ્વંશ કરવા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2CO.13.11" />હવે, ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હું વિદાય લઈશ. સંપૂર્ણ થવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરજો. મેં તમને જે કરવાનું કહ્યું છે તે કરજો. એકબીજા સાથે માનસિક રીતે સહમત થાઓ અને શાંતિમાં રહો. પછી પ્રેમ અને શાંતિનો દેવ તમારી સાથે રહેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2CO.13.12" />જ્યારે તમે એકબીજાને સલામ કહો ત્યારે એકબીજાને પવિત્ર ચુંબન આપો. દેવના બધા જ પવિત્ર લોકો તમને સલામ કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2CO.13.13" />પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપા, દેવની પ્રીતિ, અને પવિત્ર આત્માની સંગત તમો સર્વની સાથે રહો.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="GAL"><id id="GAL">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>ગલાતીઓ
</h><toc level="1">ગલાતીઓને પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">ગલાતીઓ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">ગલાતીઓને પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GAL.1.1" />પ્રેરિત પાઉલ તરફથી સલામ. પ્રેરિત થવા માટે હું માણસો તરફથી પસંદ નથી થયો. માણસોએ મને નથી મોકલ્યો. ના! ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તે તથા દેવ બાપે મને પ્રેરિત બનાવ્યો છે. દેવ એક છે જેણે ઈસુને મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠાડયો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="GAL.1.2" />ખ્રિસ્તમાં જેઓ મારી સાથે છે તેઓ તરફથી ગલાતિયામાંની<f caller="+"><fr>1:2
</fr><fk>ગલાતિયા
</fk><ft>પાઉલે તેની પ્રથમ મિશનરી મુસાફરી દરમ્યાન શરુ કરેલ મંડળીઓને વિસ્તાર. જુઓ પ્રે. કૃ. 13 અને 14</ft></f> મંડળીઓને કુશળતા પાઠવું છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="GAL.1.3" />હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છુ કે આપણા દેવ બાપ અને પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તમારા પ્રતિ સૌમ્ય રહેશે અને તમને શાંતિ પ્રદાન કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="GAL.1.4" />આપણાં પાપો માટે ઈસુએ પોતાનું સ્વાર્પણ કર્યુ. આપણને આ અનિષ્ટ દુનિયા કે જેમાં આપણે જીવીએ છીએ. તેમાંથી મુક્તિ અપાવવા ઈસુએ આમ કર્યુ. આપણા દેવ પિતાની આ ઈચ્છા હતી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="GAL.1.5" />તેનો મહિમા સદાસર્વકાળ હોજો. આમીન.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">માત્ર એક જ સાચી સુવાર્તા છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GAL.1.6" />થોડા સમય પહેલા તેને અનુસરવાનું દેવે તમને આહવાન આપેલું. ઈસુમાંથી પ્રગટ થતી તેની કૃપા દ્વારા તેણે તમને આ આહવાન આપેલું પરંતુ હવે તમારા લોકોથી હું નવાઈ પામું છું! તમે તેનાથી વિમુખ થઈ રહ્યા છો. અને અન્ય પ્રકારની સુવાર્તાને અનુસરો છો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="GAL.1.7" />વાસ્તવમાં બીજી કોઈ સાચી સુવાર્તા નથી. પરંતુ કેટલાએક લોકો તમને ગુંચવે છે૤ તેઓ ખ્રિસ્તની સુવાર્તામાં પરિવર્તન ઈચ્છે છે૤
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="GAL.1.8" />અમે તમને સાચી સુવાર્તા કહી છે. જેથી અમે પોતે કે આકાશમાંના દૂત પણ તમને ભિન્ન સુવાર્તા કહે તો તે શાપિત થાઓ!
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="GAL.1.9" />મેં અગાઉ પણ તમને આ કહેલું અને ફરીથી કહું છું: તમે સાચી સુવાર્તાને કયારની અપનાવી લીધી છે. જો કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ તમને ઉદ્ધાર માટેનો જુદો રસ્તો બતાવે તો તે વ્યક્તિ શ્રાપિત થાઓ.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GAL.1.10" />હવે શું તમે એમ માનો છો કે લોકો મને અપનાવે તેવો પ્રયત્ન હું કરું છું? ના! દેવ એક છે જેને પ્રસન્ન કરવાનો હું પ્રયત્ન કરું છું. શું હું માણસોને રાજી કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરું છું? જો હું માણસોને રાજી કરવા માંગતો હોત, તો ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો હું સેવક નથી.
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<s style="s">પાઉલની સત્તા દેવ તરફથી છે
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GAL.1.11" />પણ ભાઈઓ, હું ઈચ્છુ છું કે તમે જાણો કે જે સુવાર્તા મેં તમને પ્રગટ કરી છે તે માનવ ર્સજીત નથી.
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<v id="12" bcv="GAL.1.12" />માનવ તરફથી મને સુવાર્તા પ્રાપ્ત નથી થઈ. કોઈ માનવીએ મને સુવાર્તા નથી શીખવી. ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તે મને એ પ્રદાન કરી છે. તેણે મને એ સુવાર્તાના દર્શન કરાવ્યા કે જેથી તેનું કથન હું લોકોને કરું.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GAL.1.13" />તમે મારા પાછલા જીવન વિષે સાંભળ્યુ છે. હું યહૂદી ધર્મ પાળતો હતો. મેં દેવની મંડળીને ખૂબ સતાવી છે. મેં મંડળીનો નાશ કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="GAL.1.14" />મારી ઉમરના બીજા યહૂદીઓ કરતાં હું યહૂદી ધર્મની વધારે પ્રગતિ કરી રહ્યો હતો૤ બીજા યહૂદીઓ કરતા તે પરંપરાને અનુસરવા મેં વધારે પ્રયત્ન કર્યો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GAL.1.15" />પરંતુ મારા જન્મ પહેલા દેવની યોજના મારા માટે કોઈ ખાસ હતી. તેથી તેની કૃપાથી દેવે મને આહવાન આપ્યું. દેવ ઈચ્છતો હતો
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<v id="16" bcv="GAL.1.16" />કે તેના દીકરા (ઈસુ) વિષેની સુવાર્તા હું બિનયહૂદી લોકોને કહું. તેથી દેવે મને તેના દીકરા વિષે દર્શાવ્યું. જ્યારે દેવે મને બોલાવ્યો ત્યારે મેં કોઈ પણ માણસની સલાહ કે મદદ લીધી નહોતી.
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<v id="17" bcv="GAL.1.17" />હું યરૂશાલેમમાં પ્રેરિતોને મળવા નહોતો ગયો. આ લોકો મારા પહેલા પ્રેરિતો હતા. પરંતુ રાહ જોયા વગર, હું અરબસ્તાન ગયો. પાછળથી હું દમસ્ક શહેરમાં પાછો ફર્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GAL.1.18" />ત્રણ વરસ પછી હું યરૂશાલેમ ગયો; મારે પિતરને મળવું હતું. હું પિતર સાથે 15 દિવસ રહ્યો.
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<v id="19" bcv="GAL.1.19" />હું પ્રભુના ભાઈ યાકૂબ સિવાય, બીજા કોઈ પ્રેરિતોને મળ્યો નહિ.
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<v id="20" bcv="GAL.1.20" />દેવ જાણે છે કે આજે હું જે લખુ છું, તે અસત્ય નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="GAL.1.21" />પાછળથી હું સિરિયા અને કિલકિયાના પ્રદેશોમાં ચાલ્યો ગયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="GAL.1.22" />યહૂદિયામાંની ખ્રિસ્તની મંડળીઓ પહેલા કદી મને મળી નહોતી.
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<v id="23" bcv="GAL.1.23" />તેઓએ માત્ર મારા વિષે આ સાંભળ્યું હતું કે: “આ માણસ આપણને ખૂબ સતાવતો હતો. પરંતુ હવે તે લોકોને તે જ વિશ્વાસ વિષે વાત કહે છે કે જેનો એક વખત નાશ કરવાનો તેણે પ્રયત્ન કરેલો.”
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<v id="24" bcv="GAL.1.24" />આ વિશ્વાસીઓએ મારા કારણે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરી.
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<s style="s">અન્ય પ્રેરિતો દ્વારા પાઉલનો અંગીકાર
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GAL.2.1" />14 વરસ પછી, હું ફરીથી યરુંશાલેમ ગયો. હું બાર્નાબાસ સાથે ગયો, અને તિતસને મેં જોડે લીધો.
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<v id="2" bcv="GAL.2.2" />હું ગયો કારણ કે દેવે મને બતાવ્યું કે મારે જવું જોઈએ. હું તે લોકો પાસે ગયો જેઓ વિશ્વાસીઓના અગ્રેસર હતા. જ્યારે અમે એકલા હતા ત્યારે, મેં આ લોકોને જે સુવાર્તાનો ઉપદેશ હું બિનયહૂદીઓને આપતો હતો તેના વિષે કહ્યું. આ લોકો મારું કાર્ય સમજે એવી મારી ઈચ્છા હતી, કે જેથી મારું ભૂતકાળનું કાર્ય અને અત્યારે જે કાર્ય હું કરું છુ તે નિરર્થક ન જાય.
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<p style="p"><v id="3-4" bcv="GAL.2.3" />તિતસ મારી સાથે હતો. તિતસ ગ્રીક છે. પરંતુ આ નેતાઓએ તિતસને પણ સુન્નત માટે દબાણ ન કર્યુ. અમારે આ સમસ્યાની ચર્ચા કરવાની જરૂર હતી, કારણ કે છુપી રીતે કેટલાએક જૂઠા ભાઈઓ અમારા સમૂહમાં ઘૂસી ગયા હતા. ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ તરફથી અમારી જે સ્વતંત્રતા હતી તે વિષે શોધી કાઢવા જાસૂસની જેમ તેઓ ઘૂસી ગયા હતા.
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<v id="5" bcv="GAL.2.5" />પરંતુ તે જૂઠા ભાઈઓ જે માંગતા હતા, તેવી કોઈ પણ બાબત અંગે અમે સહમત થયા નહિ! તમારા માટે સુવાર્તાનુ સત્ય સતત રહે તેવું અમે ઈચ્છતા હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GAL.2.6" />તે લોકો જે મહત્વના દેખાતા હતા, તેઓએ હું જે સુવાર્તાનો ઉપદેશ આપતો હતો તેને બદલ્યો નહોતો. (તેઓ “મહત્વના” હતા કે નહિ તે મારે માટે કોઈ બાબત ન હતી. દેવ સમક્ષ સર્વ સમાન છે.)
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<v id="7" bcv="GAL.2.7" />પરંતુ આ આગેવાનોએ જોયું કે પિતરની જેમ દેવે મને વિશિષ્ટ કાર્ય સોંપ્યું છે. યહૂદિઓને સુવાર્તા કહેવાનું કામ દેવે પિતરને આપ્યું હતું. પરંતુ બિનયહૂદિઓને સુવાર્તા કહેવાનું કામ દેવે મને સોપ્યું હતું.
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<v id="8" bcv="GAL.2.8" />વે પિતરને પ્રેરિત તરીકે કામ કરવાની શક્તિ આપી હતી. પરંતુ જે લોકો યહૂદી નથી તેમના માટે હું પ્રેરિત છું,
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<v id="9" bcv="GAL.2.9" />યાકૂબ, પિતર, અને યોહાનને આગેવાનો તરીકે ગણવામાં આવ્યા છે. તેઓએ જોયું કે દેવે મને આ વિશિષ્ટ કૃપા (દાન) આપી છે. તેથી તેઓએ મારો અને બાર્નાબાસનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો. પિતર, યાકૂબ, અને યોહાને કયું કે, “પાઉલ અને બાર્નાબાસ, તમે જે લોકો યહૂદી નથી તેઓની પાસે જાઓ તેની સાથે અમે સહમત છીએ. અમે યહૂદીઓ પાસે જઈશું.”
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<v id="10" bcv="GAL.2.10" />તેઓએ અમને માત્ર એક કામ કરવાનું કહ્યું કે દરિદ્રી લોકોને મદદ કરવાનું યાદ રાખો અને આ છે જે હું ખરેખર કરવા ઈચ્છુ છું.
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<s style="s">પિતર ખોટો હતો તે પાઉલ બતાવે છે
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GAL.2.11" />પિતર અંત્યોખ આવ્યો. તેણે એવું કાંઈક કર્યુ જે યોગ્ય નહોતું. હું પિતરની વિરુંદ્ધ ગયો કારણ કે તે ખોટો હતો.
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<v id="12" bcv="GAL.2.12" />તે આમ બન્યું: જ્યારે પિતર સૌ પ્રથમ અંત્યોખ આવ્યો, ત્યારે તે બિનયહૂદિ લોકો સાથે જમ્યો અને બિનયહૂદિઓ સાથે સંલગ્ન થયો. પરંતુ પછી કેટલાએક યહૂદિ માણસોને યાકૂબે મોકલ્યા. જ્યારે આ યહૂદિ લોકો આવ્યા ત્યારે, પિતરે બિનયહૂદિઓ સાથે જમવાનું બંધ કર્યુ. પિતર બિનયહૂદિઓથી અલગ થઈ ગયો. તે યહૂદિઓથી ગભરાતો હતો જેઓ માનતા હતા કે બધા જ બિનયહૂદિઓની સુન્નત કરવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="13" bcv="GAL.2.13" />તેથી પિતર ઢોંગી હતો. અને અન્ય યહૂદિ વિશ્વાસીઓ પિતર સાથે જોડાયા. તેઓ પણ ઢોંગી હતા. બાર્નાબાસ પણ આ યહૂદિ વિશ્વાસીઓ જે કરતા હતા તેમના પ્રભાવ નીચે આવી તે પણ ઢોંગથી વર્તવા લાગ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="GAL.2.14" />મેં જોયું કે આ યહૂદિઓ શું કરતાં હતા. તેઓ સુવાર્તાના સત્યને અનુસરતા નહોતા. તેથી બીજા બધા યહૂદિઓ હું જે બોલું છું તે સાંભળી શકે તે રીતે મેં પિતર જોડે વાત કરી. મેં આ કહ્યું, “પિતર, તું યહૂદિ છે. પરંતુ યહૂદિ જેવું જીવન જીવતો નથી. તું બિનયહૂદિ જેવું જીવન જીવે છે. તો હવે તું શા માટે બિનયહુદિઓને યહૂદીઓ જેવું જીવન જીવવા માટે દબાણ કરે છે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GAL.2.15" />આપણે યહૂદિઓ બિનયહૂદિઓ અને પાપીઓ તરીકે નહોતા જન્મ્યા. આપણે યહૂદિઓ તરીકે જન્મ્યા હતા.
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<v id="16" bcv="GAL.2.16" />આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે નિયમને અનુસરવાથી વ્યક્તિ દેવને યોગ્ય નથી બનતી. ના! ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં રહેલ વ્યક્તિનો વિશ્વાસ વ્યક્તિને દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી બનાવે છે. તેથી આપણે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં આપણો વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો, કારણ કે આપણે દેવ માટે ન્યાયી બનવા માંગતા હતા. અને આપણે દેવને યોગ્ય છીએ કારણ કે આપણે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ મુક્યો અને નહિ કે આપણે નિયમને અનુસર્યા. આ સત્ય છે કારણ કે નિયમને અનુસરવાથી કોઈ વ્યક્તિ દેવ ને યોગ્ય ન બની શકે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GAL.2.17" />આપણે યહૂદીઓ દેવને યોગ્ય થવા માટે ખ્રિસ્ત પાસે આવ્યા. તેથી એ સ્પષ્ટ છે કે આપણે પણ પાપી હતા. શું એની અર્થ એ કે ખ્રિસ્તે આપણને પાપી બનાવ્યા? ના!
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<v id="18" bcv="GAL.2.18" />પરંતુ જે મે છોડી દીધું છે તેનું શિક્ષણ (નિયમનું) આપવાની જો ફરીથી શરુંઆત કરીશ તો તે મારા માટે ખોટું થશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="GAL.2.19" />મેં નિયમ માટે જીવવાનું બંધ કર્યુ છે. નિયમે જ પોતે મને મારી નાખ્યો. હું નિયમ માટે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને તેથી જ હું દેવ માટે જીવી શક્યો. હું ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે વધસ્તંભ પર મૃત્યુ પામ્યો.
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<v id="20" bcv="GAL.2.20" />જેથી જે જીવન અત્યારે હું જીવું છું તે હું નથી. તે ખ્રિસ્ત મારામાં જીવન જીવે છે. ભૌતિક શરીરથી હું જીવું છું. પરંતુ દેવના દીકરા (ઈસુ) પરના વિશ્વાસ થકી હું જીવું છું. ઈસુ એ છે કે જેણે મને પ્રેમ કર્યો. તેણે મારા ઉદ્ધાર માટે પોતાને અર્પણ કર્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="GAL.2.21" />આ દેવની કૃપા છે, અને મારા માટે તે ઘણી મહત્વની છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે જો નિયમ આપણને દેવને પાત્ર બનાવી શકતો હોત, તો ખ્રિસ્તને મરવું ના પડત.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">દેવનો આશીર્વાદ વિશ્વાસથી ઉદ્દભવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GAL.3.1" />તમને ગલાતીઓના લોકોને ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના વધસ્તંભ પરના મૃત્યુ વિષે સ્પષ્ટ જણાવવામાં આવ્યું છે. પરંતુ તમે ઘણા મૂર્ખ હતા. તમે કોઈકનાથી છેતરાયા.
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<v id="2" bcv="GAL.3.2" />મને આ એક વાત કહો: તમે પવિત્ર આત્મા કેવી રીતે પ્રાપ્ત કર્યો? શું નિયમનું પાલન કરીને તમે આત્મા પામ્યા? ના! તમે આત્માને પામ્યા કારણ કે તમે સુવાર્તાને સાંભળી અને તેમા વિશ્વાસ કર્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="GAL.3.3" />તમે આત્મા સાથેના તમારા ખ્રિસ્તમય જીવનની શરુંઆત કરી. હવે તમે તમારી શક્તિથી તેનું સાતત્ય જાળવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરો છો? તે નરી મૂર્ખતા છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="GAL.3.4" />તમને ઘણી બાબતોનો અનુભવ થયો છે. શું તે બધો અનુભવ નિરર્થક થયો? હું આશા રાખું છું કે તે નિરર્થક નથી ગયો!
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<v id="5" bcv="GAL.3.5" />દેવે તમને આત્માનું દાન એટલે કર્યુ કે તમે નિયમને અનુસર્યા હતા? ના! શું દેવે તમારી વચ્ચે ચમત્કારો એટલા માટે કર્યા કે તમે નિયમને અનુસર્યા હતા? ના! દેવે તમને તેનો આત્મા આપ્યો છે અને તમારી વચ્ચે ચમત્કારો કર્યા છે કારણ કે તમે સુવાર્તા સાભળી છે અને તેમાં તમે વિશ્વાસ કર્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GAL.3.6" />પવિત્રશાસ્ત્ર ઈબ્રાહિમ વિષે આ જ કહે છે. “ઈબ્રાહિમે દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો. અને દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમના વિશ્વાસનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો. આને કારણે ઈબ્રાહિમ દેવને યોગ્ય બન્યો.”<x caller="+"><xo>3:6
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 15:6</xt></x>
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<v id="7" bcv="GAL.3.7" />તેથી તમારે જાણવું જોઈએ કે ઈબ્રાહિમના સાચા સંતાનો એ છે જેઓને વિશ્વાસ છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="GAL.3.8" />પવિત્રશાસ્ત્રએ જણાવ્યું છે કે ભવિષ્યમાં શું થશે. આ લખાણે જણાવ્યું કે દેવ બિનયહૂદી લોકોને તેઓના વિશ્વાસ થકી યોગ્યતા પ્રદાન કરશે. આ સુવાર્તા ઈબ્રાહિમને પહેલા જણાવેલ હતી, પવિત્રશાસ્ત્ર આમ કહે છે કે: “ઈબ્રાહિમ, પૃથ્વીના બધા લોકોને ધન્ય કરવા માટે દેવ તારો ઉપયોગ કરશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>3:8
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 12:7</xt></x>
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<v id="9" bcv="GAL.3.9" />ઈબ્રાહિમે આ માન્યું. ઈબ્રાહિમ વિશ્વાસ કરતો હતો તેથી તે આશીર્વાદ પામ્યો. અને એ જ રીતે આજે પણ જે ઈબ્રાહિમની માફક વિશ્વાસીઓ છે તેઓ પણ આશીર્વાદ પામે છે. બધા જ લોકો ઈબ્રાહિમની માફક જેમને વિશ્વાસ છે તેમને ઈબ્રાહિમની જેમ આશીર્વાદ મળે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="GAL.3.10" />પરંતુ યોગ્યતા પ્રાપ્ત કરવા જે લોકો નિયમોનો આધાર લે છે તેઓ શાપિત છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે પવિત્ર શાસ્ત્રો કહે છે કે, “જે દરેક વસ્તુ નિયમશાસ્ત્રમાં લખેલ છે, તે બધી જ વસ્તુઓ વ્યક્તિએ કરવી જોઈએ. જો તે કાયમ આજ્ઞાનું પાલન નહિ કરે તો તે શાપિત થશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>3:10
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 27:26</xt></x>
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<v id="11" bcv="GAL.3.11" />તેથી એ સ્પષ્ટ છે કે નિયમ દ્વારા કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ દેવને યોગ્ય બની શકે નહિ. પવિત્ર શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે, “જે વ્યક્તિ વિશ્વાસથી દેવને યોગ્ય છે તે વિશ્વાસથી જીવશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>3:11
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ હબા. 2:4</xt></x>
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GAL.3.12" />નિયમ વિશ્વાસનો ઉપયોગ નથી કરતો; તે જુદો માર્ગ અપનાવે છે. નિયમ કહે છે, “જે વ્યક્તિ આ વસ્તુઓ (નિયમ) ને અનુસરીને જીવવાની ઈચ્છા રાખે છે, જે નિયમ કહે છે તે તેણે કરવું જ જોઈએ.”<f caller="+"><fr>3:12
</fr><fk>“જે વ્યક્તિ … જોઈએ”
</fk><ft>લે. 18:5</ft></f>
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<v id="13" bcv="GAL.3.13" />નિયમે આપણને અભિશાપિત કર્યા છે. પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્તે આપણને તે શાપમાંથી મુક્ત કર્યા. તેણે આપણા સ્થાન બદલી નાખ્યા. ખ્રિસ્ત પોતે શાપિત થયો. પવિત્રશાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યું છે કે, “જ્યારે વ્યક્તિનું શરીર વૃક્ષ ઉપર મૂકવામાં આવે (લટકે), ત્યારે તે શાપિત છે.”<f caller="+"><fr>3:13
</fr><fk>“જ્યારે … શાપિત છે”
</fk><ft>પુન. 21:22-23 કહે છે કે જ્યારે વ્યક્તિ ખરાબ કાર્ય કરવાથી માર્યો જતો ત્યારે તે શ્રાપિત છે તેવું દર્શાવવા તેનું શરીર ઝાડ પર ટંગાયેલું રહેતું પાઉલના મતે ઈસુનો વધસ્તંભ પણ તેના જેવો છે.</ft></f>
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<v id="14" bcv="GAL.3.14" />ખ્રિસ્તે આ કર્યુ જેથી દેવનો આશીર્વાદ બધા જ લોકોને પ્રદાન થાય, દેવે આ આશીર્વાદનું ઈબ્રાહિમને વચન આપ્યું હતું. ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તરફથી આશીર્વાદ આવે છે. ઈસુ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો જેથી આપણને પવિત્ર આત્મા જેનું દેવે વચન આપ્યું હતું તે આપણને પ્રાપ્ત થાય. વિશ્વાસથી આપણને આ વચન પ્રાપ્ત થયું છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">નિયમ અને વચન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="GAL.3.15" />ભાઈઓ અને બહનો, મને એક ઉદાહરણ આપવા દો: એક વ્યક્તિ બીજી વ્યક્તિ સાથે માન્ય કરાર કરે તે વિષે વિચારો. એક વાર ને માન્ય કરાર કાયદેસરનો બને પછી, કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ ને માન્ય કરારને અટકાવી નથી શકતી. અથવા તેમાં કશો ઉમેરો કરી શક્તી નથી.
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<v id="16" bcv="GAL.3.16" />દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમ અને તેના વંશજને વચનો આપ્યા. દેવે ન હોતું કહ્યું કે, “તારા સંતાનોને.” (એનો અર્થ ઘણા લોકો થઈ શકે પરંતુ દેવે કહ્યું કે, “તારા સંતાનને.” આનો અર્થ માત્ર એક જ વ્યક્તિ; અને તે વ્યક્તિ ખ્રિસ્ત છે.)
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<v id="17" bcv="GAL.3.17" />હું આમ કહેવા માંગુ છું; દેવે જે કરાર ઈબ્રાહિમને આપ્યો, તે નિયમના આગમનના ઘણા પહેલા અધિકૃત બનાવાયો હતો. 430 વરસ પછી નિયમ ઉદભવ્યો. તેથી નિયમ કરારને છીનવી શકે નહિ, અને દેવ ઈબ્રાહિમને આપેલા વચનને બદલી શકે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GAL.3.18" />દેવે જે વચનો આપ્યાં હતાં તે નિયમને અનુસરવાથી આપણે મેળવી શકીશું? ના! જો આપણે તે વારસો નિયમને અનુસરવાથી મેળવી શકીશું, તો પછી તે દેવના વચનનું પરિણામ નથી. પરંતુ પોતાના વચનથી દેવે મુક્ત રીતે ઈબ્રાહિમને આશીર્વાદિત કર્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GAL.3.19" />તો નિયમ શા માટે હતો? લોકો જે ખરાબ કૃત્યો છે તે બતાવવા નિયમ આપવામાં આવ્યો હતો, જ્યાં સુધી ઈબ્રાહિમના વિશિષ્ટ વંશજ આવ્યો ત્યાં સુધી નિયમ ચાલુ રહ્યો. દેવનું આ વચન આ વંશજ (ખ્રિસ્ત) માટેનું હતું. દૂતો થકી નિયમનું પ્રદાન થયું હતું. દૂતોએ લોકોને નિયમ આપવા મૂસાનો મધ્યસ્થ<f caller="+"><fr>3:19
</fr><fk>મધ્યસ્થ
</fk><ft>એક વ્યક્તિ બીજી વ્યક્તિને બોલવા મદદ કરે છે અથવા બીજી વ્યક્તિને કંઈક આપે છે.</ft></f> તરીકે ઉપયોગ કર્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="GAL.3.20" />પરંતુ જ્યારે એક જ પક્ષ છે, અને દેવ પણ એક જ છે ત્યારે મધ્યસ્થની જરૂર પડતી નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મૂસાના નિયમને હેતુ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GAL.3.21" />શું આનો અર્થ એવો થાય કે નિયમ દેવનાં વચનોથી વિરુંદ્ધ છે? ના! જો એવો નિયમ હોત કે જે લોકોને જીવન બક્ષી શકે, તો નિયમને અનુસરવાથી આપણે યોગ્યતા પ્રાપ્ત કરી શકીએ.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="GAL.3.22" />પરંતુ આ સાચું નથી કારણ કે નિયમશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે, બધા જ લોકો પાપના બંધનથી બધાયેલા છે. પવિત્રશાસ્ત્ર આમ શા માટે કહે છે? તેથી કે જેથી વિશ્વાસ થકી લોકોને વચનનું પ્રદાન થઈ શકે. જે લોકોને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ છે તેઓને વચન આપવામાં આવ્યું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="GAL.3.23" />આ વિશ્વાસ આવ્યો તે પહેલા, આપણે બધા નિયમના કેદી હતા. જ્યા સુધી દેવે આપણને વિશ્વાસનો આવી રહેલો માર્ગ ના બતાવ્યો, ત્યાં સુધી આપણે બધા મુક્ત ન હતા.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="GAL.3.24" />તેથી જ્યાં સુધી ખ્રિસ્ત ના આવ્યો, નિયમ આપણો બાળશિક્ષક હતો. ખ્રિસ્તના આવ્યા પછી, વિશ્વાસ દ્વારા આપણે દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી બની શકયા.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="GAL.3.25" />હવે વિશ્વાસનો માર્ગ આવ્યો છે. તેથી હવે આપણે નિમયની નીચે જીવતા નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26-27" bcv="GAL.3.26" />તમે બધા ખ્રિસ્તમાં બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા છો. તેથી તમે બધાએ ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે વસ્ત્રો પરિધાન કર્યા છે આ બતાવે છે કે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં વિશ્વાસ દ્વારા તમે બધાં દેવના બાળકો છો.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="GAL.3.28" />હવે યહૂદી અને બિનયહૂદિ વચ્ચે કોઈ તફાવત નથી. ગુલામ અને મુક્ત વ્યક્તિ વચ્ચે કોઈ નફાવત નથી. પુરુંષ અને સ્ત્રી વચ્ચે કોઈ તફાવત નથી. ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં બધાં એક સમાન છો.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="GAL.3.29" />તમે ખ્રિસ્તનાં છો તેથી ઈબ્રાહિમનાં સંતાન છો. દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમને આપેલા વચન થકી તમે બધા દેવના આશીર્વાદ પ્રાપ્ત કરો છો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GAL.4.1" />મારે તમને આ કહેવું છે: જ્યાં સુધી વારસદાર બાળક છે, ત્યાં સુધી તેનામાં અને ગુલામમાં કોઈ ફેર નથી. એનો કશો જ અર્થ નથી કે વારસદાર બધી જ વસ્તુનો માલિક છે. શા માટે!
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="GAL.4.2" />કારણ કે જ્યાં સુધી તે બાળક છે, તેણે જે લોકોને તેની સંભાળ રાખવા પસંદ કર્યા છે તેમની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરવું જ પડે છે. પરંતુ બાળક જ્યારે તેના પિતાએ નક્કી કરેલી ઉમરનો થાય છે ત્યારે તે મુક્ત બને છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="GAL.4.3" />આપણે માટે પણ આવું જ છે. આપણે એક સમયે બાળકો જેવા હતા૤ આપણે આ દુનિયાના બિનઉપયોગી કાયદાઓના ગુલામ હતા.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="GAL.4.4" />પરંતુ જ્યારે યોગ્ય સમય આવ્યો, દેવે તેના દીકરાનો મોકલ્યો. દેવના દીકરાને જન્મ એક સ્ત્રી થકી થયો. દેવનો દીકરો નિયમની આધિનતા પ્રમાણે જીવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="GAL.4.5" />દેવે આમ કર્યુ કે જેથી જે લોકો નિયમને આધિન હતા તેમની સ્વતંત્રતા ખરીદી શકે. દેવનો હેતુ આપણને તેના સંતાન બનાવવાનો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GAL.4.6" />તમે દેવના સંતાન છો. તેથી દેવે આપણા હૃદયમાં પોતાના પુત્રનો આત્મા મોકલ્યો છે, જે “<tl>અબ્બા</tl>, બાપ” એમ કહીને હાક મારે છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="GAL.4.7" />તેથી તમે હવે પહેલાની જેમ ગુલામ નથી. તમે દેવનું બાળક છો તેથી તેણે જે વચન આપ્યું છે તે તમને આપશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ગલાતીઆના ખ્રિસ્તીઓ પ્રત્યે પાઉલનો પ્રેમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="GAL.4.8" />ભૂતકાળમાં તમે દેવને જાણતા ન હતા. તમે જે સાચા દેવો નથી તેના ગુલામ હતા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="GAL.4.9" />પરંતુ હવે તમે સાચા દેવને જાણો છો. ખરેખર, તે એ દેવ જે તમને જાણે છે. તો તમે શા માટે તે નિર્બળ અને બિનઉપયોગી ઉપદેશના નિયમો કે જેનું તમે ભૂતકાળમાં પાલન કરતાં હતા તેના તરફ ફરીથી ઇચ્છા રાખીને તેઓની ભણી બીજી વાર શા માટે ફરો છો? તમે ફરીથી શું તે વસ્તુના ગુલામ થવા ઈચ્છો છો?
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="GAL.4.10" />હજુ પણ તમે વિશિષ્ટ દિવસો, મહિનાઓ, ઋતુઓ અને વરસો વિષેના નિયમના શિક્ષણને અનુસરો છો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="GAL.4.11" />મને તમારા માટે ભય લાગે છે. મને ભય લાગે છે કે તમારા માટે મેં કરેલું કાર્ય નિરર્થક ગર્યુ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="GAL.4.12" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હું તમારા જેવો જ હતો; તેથી તમે મારા જેવા મહેરબાની કરીને બનો. પહેલા તમે મારી સાથે ઘણા સારા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="GAL.4.13" />તમે યાદ કરો સો પ્રથમ હું તમારી પાસે કેમ આવ્યો હતો. કારણ કે હું માંદો હતો. તે સમયે મેં તમને સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરી.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="GAL.4.14" />મારી માંદગી તમારા ઉપર બોજારૂપ બની હતી. પરંતુ તમે મને ધિક્કાર્યો નહોતો. તમે મારાથી દૂર નાસી ગયા નહોતા. તમે મને દેવના દૂતની જેમ આવકાર્યો હતો. જાણે કે હૂં પોતે જ દેવનો દૂત હોઉ તે રીતે તમે મને અપનાવ્યો હતો. અને હું પોતે જ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત હોઉં તેમ તમે મને સ્વીકાર્યો!
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="GAL.4.15" />તે સમયે તમે પણા આનંદીત હતા. હવે તે ઉલ્લાસ ક્યાં ગયો? મને યાદ છે કે તમે મારી મદદ માટે શક્ય કંઈ પણ કરવા ઈચ્છતા હતા. જો તે શક્ય હોત તો તમે તમારા ચક્ષુઓ ખેંચી કાઢીને મને આપી દીધા હોત.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="GAL.4.16" />હવે જ્યારે હું તમને સત્ય કહું છું ત્યારે શું હું તમારો દુશ્મન છું?
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GAL.4.17" />તમને સમજાવવા તે લોકો ઘણો પરિશ્રમ કરે છે. પણ એ તમારા પોતાના ભલા માટે નથી. અમારી વિરુંદ્ધ જવા તે લોકો તમને સમજાવે છે. તેઓ માત્ર તેમને જ અને બીજા કોઈને નહિ અનુસરો તેવું ઈચ્છે છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="GAL.4.18" />લોકો તમારામાં રસ દાખવે તે સારું છે, જો તેમનો હેતુ શુદ્ધ હોય તો. આ હમેશા સાચું છે. આ હું તમારી સાથ હોઉં કે તમારાથી દૂર હોઉં, સાચું છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="GAL.4.19" />મારા નાનાં બાળકો, ફરીથી મને તમારા માટે પીડા થાય છે જે રીતે માતાને બાળકને જન્મ આપતી વખતે થાય તે રીતે. મને આવી લાગણી થશે જ્યાં સુધી તમે ખ્રિસ્ત જેવાં નહિ બનો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="GAL.4.20" />મારી ઈચ્છા છે કે અત્યારે હું તમારી સાથે હોઉં તે યોગ્ય છે. તો કદાચ હું તમારી સાથે હોઉ, અને મારી બોલવાની ઢબ બદલી શકું. અત્યારે મને ખબર નથી મારે તમારું શું કરવું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">હાગાર અને સારાનું દૃષ્ટાંત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="GAL.4.21" />તમારામાંના ઘણા હજુ પણ મૂસાના નિયમ નીચે રહેવા માંગે છે. મને કહો, તમને ખબર છે કે નિયમ શું કહે છે?
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="GAL.4.22" />પવિત્રશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે ઈબ્રાહિમને બે પુત્રો હતા. એક પુત્રની મા ગુલામ સ્ત્રી હતી. બીજા પુત્રની મા મુક્ત સ્ત્રી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="GAL.4.23" />ગુલામ સ્ત્રીથી ઈબ્રાહિમનો પુત્ર માનવ જન્મે તેવી કુદરતી રીતે જન્મેલો હતો. પરંતુ મુક્ત સ્ત્રીથી જન્મેલો પુત્ર દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમને વચન આપેલું તેના થકી જન્મેલો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="GAL.4.24" />આ સાચી વાર્તા આપણે માટે એક ચિત્ર ઊભું કરે છે. બે સ્ત્રી, દેવ અને માણસ વચ્ચેના બે કરાર જેવી છે. એક કરાર જે દેવે સિનાઈ પર્વત<f caller="+"><fr>4:24
</fr><fk>સિનાઈ પર્વત
</fk><ft>અરબસ્તાનમાંનો પર્વત જ્યાં દેવે તેના નિયમો મૂસાને આપ્યાં. (નિ. 19 અને 20)</ft></f> પર સર્જયો. જે લોકો આ કરાર નીચે છે તેઓ ગુલામ જેવા છે. મા કે જેનું નામ હાગાર હતું તે આ કરાર જેવી છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="GAL.4.25" />તેથી હાગાર તે અરબસ્તાનમાંના સિનાઈ પર્વત જેવી છે. તે યહૂદિઓની દુન્યવી નગરી યરૂશાલેમનું ચિત્ર છે. આ નગરી ગુલામ છે અને તેના બધા લોકો નિયમના ગુલામ છે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="GAL.4.26" />પરંતુ સ્વર્ગીય યરૂશાલેમ જે ઉપર છે તે મુક્ત સ્ત્રી જેવું છે. આ આપણી માતા છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="GAL.4.27" />પવિત્ર શાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યું છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“સ્ત્રી કે જે બાળકોને જન્મ નથી આપી શક્તી, તે તું આનંદ કર.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં કદી જન્મ આપ્યો નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">આનંદથી પોકાર અને હર્ષનાદ કર!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પ્રસુતિની પીડાનો તેં કદી અનુભવ કર્યો નથી.
</q>
<q style="q1">સ્ત્રી જે એકલી મુકાયેલી છે તેને વધુ બાળકો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હશે જે સ્ત્રીને પતિ છે તેના કરતાં પણ વધારે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.54.1">યશાયા 54:1</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="28-29" bcv="GAL.4.28" />ઈબ્રાહિમનો એક પુત્ર કુદરતી રીતે જન્મ્યો હતો. ઈબ્રાહિમનો બીજો પુત્ર (ઈસહાક) આત્માની શક્તિથી જન્મ્યો હતો. તે જન્મ્યો હતો દેવના વચનને કારણે. મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમે પણ તે વખતે જેમ ઈસહાક હતો તેમ વચન થકી જન્મેલા બાળકો છો. જે કુદરતી રીતે જન્મેલો તે પુત્રએ બીજા પુત્ર સાથે ર્દુવ્યવહાર કર્યો. આજે પણ તેવું જ છે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="GAL.4.30" />પરતું પવિત્રશાસ્ત્ર શું કહે છે? “ગુલામ સ્ત્રી અને તેના પુત્રને કાઢી મૂક! મુક્ત સ્ત્રીનો પુત્ર તેના પિતા પાસે છે તે બધું જ મેળવશે. પરંતુ ગુલામ સ્ત્રીના પુત્રને કશું જ મળશે નહિ.”<x caller="+"><xo>4:30
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 21:10</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="31" bcv="GAL.4.31" />તો મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, આપણે ગુલામ સ્ત્રીના સંતાન નથી. આપણે મુક્ત સ્ત્રીના સંતાન છીએ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">તમારી સ્વતંત્રતા જાળવી રાખો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GAL.5.1" />સ્વતંત્રતામાં જીવવા ખ્રિસ્તે આપણને મુક્ત બનાવ્યા. તેથી દઢ રહો, બદલાશો નહિ અને નિયમની ગુલામી તરફ પાછા ન વળશો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="GAL.5.2" />સાંભળો! હું પાઉલ છું. હું તમને કહું છું કે સુન્નત કરાવીને તમે નિયમ તરફ પાછા ફરશો, તો પણ તમને ખ્રિસ્તનું કોઈ મહત્વ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="GAL.5.3" />ફરીથી હું દરેક માણસને ચેતવું છું: જો તમે સુન્નતને આવકારી, તો તમારે બધા જ નિયમો અનુસરવા જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="GAL.5.4" />નિયમશાસ્ત્ર થકી જો તમે દેવ સાથે ન્યાયી થવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરશો, તો ખ્રિસ્ત સાથેના તમારા જીવનનો અંત આવશે તમે દેવની કૃપાથી વિમુખ થયા છો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="GAL.5.5" />પરતું અમે આશા રાખીએ છીએ. દેવની સાથે ન્યાયી બનીશું. અને અમે આ માટે આત્મા દ્વારા આશાની રાહ જોઈએ છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="GAL.5.6" />જ્યારે વ્યક્તિ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમય બને છે, ત્યારે તેની સુન્નત થઈ છે કે નહિ તે મહત્વનું નથી. મહત્વનો તે વિશ્વાસ છે, એ પ્રકારનો વિશ્વાસ કે જે તેની જાતે પ્રેમ દ્વારા વ્યક્ત થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GAL.5.7" />તમે સારી રીતે દોડી રહ્યા હતા. તમે સત્યથી આજ્ઞાંકિત હતા. તમને કોણે હવે વધુ લાંબા સમય માટે સત્યનો માર્ગ નહિ અનુસરવા સમજાવ્યા?
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="GAL.5.8" />એ એક (દેવ) જેણે તમને પસંદ કર્યા છે તેના તરફથી તો તે સમજાવટ નથી જ આવી.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="GAL.5.9" />સાવધ રહેજો! “માત્ર થોડું ખમીર આખા લોદાને ફુલાવે છે.”
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="GAL.5.10" />મને પ્રભુમાં વિશ્વાસ છે કે તમે તે જુદા વિચારોમાં માનશો નહિ. તે વિચારોથી કેટલાક લોકો તમને મુંઝવણમાં મૂકે છે. તે વ્યક્તિ જે કોઈ હશે તેને શિક્ષા થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GAL.5.11" />મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, લોકોએ સુન્નત કરાવવી જ જોઈએ તેવો ઉપદેશ હું આપતો નથી. જો હું સુન્નતનો ઉપદેશ આપતો હોઉં તો મને શા માટે સતાવાય છે? જો હજુ પણ હું એવો ઉપદેશ આપતો હોઉં કે લોકોએ સુન્નત કરાવવી જ જોઈએ, તો વધસ્તંભ માટેના મારા ઉપદેશ માટે કોઈ સમસ્યા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="GAL.5.12" />હું ઈચ્છું છું કે જે લોકો તમારી કનડગત કરે છે તેઓ સુન્નતની સાથે ખમીરનો પણ સમાવેશ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="GAL.5.13" />મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, દેવ તમને મુક્ત થવા બોલાવે છે. પરંતુ તમારી સ્વતંત્રતાના બહાના હેઠળ એવી વસ્તુ ના કરશો જે તમારા પાપી સ્વભાવને પ્રફૂલ્લિત કરે. પરંતુ પ્રેમથી એકબીજાની સેવા કરો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="GAL.5.14" />સમગ્ર નિયમ આ એક જ આજ્ઞામાં સમાવેશ થયો છે: “તું જેમ પોતા પર પ્રેમ રાખે છે તેમ તારા પડોશી પર પ્રેમ રાખ.”<x caller="+"><xo>5:14
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ લે. 19:18</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="GAL.5.15" />તમે એક બીજાને નુકસાન પહોંચાડવાનું અને એકબીજાને તોડી પાડવાનું ચાલુ રાખો છો; સાવધ રહો! તમે એકબીજાનો સંપૂર્ણ નાશ કરશો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આત્મા અને માનવી સ્વભાવ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="GAL.5.16" />તો હું તમને કહું છું: આત્માને અનુસરીને જીવો. તો તમારો પાપી દેહ ઈચ્છે છે તેવા પાપી કામો તમે નહિ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="GAL.5.17" />આપણો દેહ આત્માની વિરુદ્ધ ઈચ્છા કરે છે. અને આત્મા જે આપણા પાપી દેહની વિરુંદ્ધ છે તે ઈચ્છે છે. આ બે ભિન્ન વસ્તુઓ એકબીજાની વિરુંદ્ધ છે. તેથી તમે જે ખરેખર ઈચ્છો છો, તે વસ્તુ તમે કરતા નથી૤
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="GAL.5.18" />પરંતુ જો તમે આત્માથી દોરાશો, તો તમે નિયમને આધિન નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="GAL.5.19" />આપણા દેહનાં કામ તો ખુલ્લા છે એટલે: વ્યભિચાર, અપવિત્રતા, વિશ્વાસઘાત,
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="GAL.5.20" />જુઠા દેવની પૂજા, મેલીવિદ્યા, વૈરભાવ, મુશ્કેલીઓ ઊભી કરવી, ઈર્ષા, અતિક્રોધ, સ્વાર્થપણું, લોકોને એકબીજાની વિરુંદ્ધ ઉશ્કેરવા, પક્ષાપક્ષી,
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="GAL.5.21" />અદેખાઈ, છાકટાઈ, વિલાસ અને આ પ્રકારના એવા કામ, જેમ મે તમને પહેલા જે રીતે ચેતવ્યા હતા, તેમ અત્યારે ચેતવું છું. જે લોકો આવા કામો કરે છે, તેઓનું દેવના રાજ્યમાં સ્થાન નથી.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="GAL.5.22" />પરંતુ પવિત્ર આત્માનું ફળ પ્રેમ, આનંદ, શાંતિ, સહનશીલતા, માયાળુપણું, ભલાઈ, વિશ્વાસુપણું,
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="GAL.5.23" />નમ્રતા, તથા સંયમ છે એવાંની વિરુંદ્ધ કોઈ નિયમ નથી જે કહી શકે કે આ વસ્તુઓ ખોટી છે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="GAL.5.24" />જે લોકો ખ્રિસ્તના છે તેઓએ દેહને તેના વિષયો તથા ઈચ્છાઓ સુદ્ધાં બધસ્તંભે જડ્યો છે. તેઓએ તેઓની જૂની સ્વાર્થી લાગણીઓનો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે અને દુષ્ટ કામો જે તેઓ કરવા ઈચ્છતા હતા તેનો પણ ત્યાગ કર્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="GAL.5.25" />આપણને આપણું નવજીવન આત્માથી પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે. તેથી આપણે આત્માને અનુસરવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="GAL.5.26" />આપણે ઘમંડી થઈને એકબીજાને ખીજવવા જોઈએ નહિ. આપણે એકબીજા માટે મુશ્કેલી ઊભી ન કરવી જોઈએ. અને આપણે એકબીજાની ઈર્ષા ન કરવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">એકબીજાને મદદરૂપ બનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="GAL.6.1" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમારા સમૂહમાંની કોઈ એક વ્યક્તિ કંઈક અપરાધ કરે તો તમે લોકો આધ્યાત્મિક હોવાને નાતે જે વ્યક્તિ અપરાધ કરે છે તેની પાસે જાઓ. તેને ફરીથી સન્નિષ્ટ બનાવવામાં મદદરૂપ બનવું જોઈએ. તમારે આ વિનમ્રતાથી કરવું જોઈએ. પરંતુ સાવધ રહેજો! તમે પોતે પણ પાપ કરવા પરીક્ષણમાં પડો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="GAL.6.2" />તમારી મુશ્કેલીઓમાં એકબીજાને મદદરૂપ થાઓ. જ્યારે તમે આમ કરો ત્યારે વાસ્તવમાં ખ્રિસ્તના નિયમને અનુસરો છો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="GAL.6.3" />જ્યારે એક વ્યક્તિ વિચારે કે તે પોતે મહત્તમ છે પરંતુ તે ખરેખર ન હોય, ત્યારે તે વ્યક્તિ પોતાને જ મૂર્ખ બનાવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="GAL.6.4" />કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિએ પોતાની જાતને બીજા લોકો સાથે સરખામણી ના કરવી જોઈએ. દરેક વ્યક્તિએ પોતાના કૃત્યની પોતે તપાસ કરવી જોઈએ. ત્યાર પછી જ પોતે જે કઈ કર્યુ છે તે વિષે તે ગર્વ લઈ શકે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="GAL.6.5" />દરેક વ્યક્તિએ પોતાની જવાજદારીનો સ્વીકાર કરવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">જીવન ખેતરમાં કરેલી રોપણી જેવું છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="GAL.6.6" />જે વ્યક્તિ દેવનો ઉપદેશ શીખી રહી છે તેણે પોતાની પાસે જે કઈ સારા વાનાં છે તેમાંથી તેના શીખબનારને હિસ્સો આપવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="GAL.6.7" />ભૂલો મા; દેવની મશ્કરી કરાય નહિ. વ્યક્તિ જે વાવે છે તે જ તે લણે છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="GAL.6.8" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પોતાની પાપી જાતને સંતોષવાના હેતુથી રોપણી કરશે, તો તેની તે પાપમય જાત તેનું મૃત્યુ લાવશે. પરંતુ આત્માને પ્રસન્ન કરવા જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ રોપણી કરશે, તો તે વ્યક્તિ આત્માથી અનંતજીવન પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="GAL.6.9" />સત્કર્મ કરતાં આપણે થાકવું નહિ. યોગ્ય સમયે આપણાને અનંતજીવન દ્વારા પુરષ્કૃત કરવામાં આવશે. કારણ કે કાયર ન થઈએ, તો યોગ્ય સમયે લણીશું. આપણે સતત પ્રયત્નશીલ રહેવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="GAL.6.10" />જ્યારે અન્યના લાભાર્થે કાંઈક કરવાની આપણને તક હોય, ત્યારે તેમ કરવું જોઈએ. પરંતુ વિશ્વાસીઓના પરિવાર માટે આપણે વધારે ખાસ ધ્યાન આપવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલના પત્રની પૂર્ણહૂતિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="GAL.6.11" />હું પોતે આ લખી રહ્યો છું. મેં જે ઘણા મોટા શબ્દોનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો છે તેના પ્રત્યે ધ્યાન આપો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="GAL.6.12" />કેટલાએક લોકો તમને સુન્નત માટે દબાણ કરે છે. તેઓ આમ કરે છે કે જેથી અન્ય લોકો તેઓને અપનાવે તે માણસોને ભય છે કે જો તેઓ માત્ર ખ્રિસ્તના વધસ્તંભને જ અનુસરશે તો તેઓ ઉપર જૂલમ ગુજારવામાં આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="GAL.6.13" />પરંતુ ખરેખર તો જેઓની સુન્નત કરાવે છે તે પોતે જાતે જ નિયમને અનુસરતા નથી. પરંતુ તમે સુન્નત કરાવો તેવો આગ્રહ તેઓ રાખે છે. જેથી પછી તેઓ તમને જે કરવાની ફરજ તેઓ પાડી શક્યા તે વિષે તેઓ બડાઈ મારી શકે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="GAL.6.14" />હું આશા રાખું છું કે આવી બાબત માટે હું પોતે કદી બડાઈખોર ના બનું. આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો વધસ્તંભ તે એક જ મારે માટે અભિમાનનું કારણ છે. ઈસુના વધસ્તંભ ઉપરના મૃત્યુના પરિણામે મારે માટે આ દુનિયા મરી ચૂકી છે; અને દુનિયા માટે હું મરી ચૂક્યો છું.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="GAL.6.15" />એક વ્યક્તિએ સુન્નત કરાવી છે કે નથી કરાવી તે બિલકુલ મહત્વનું નથી. દેવે સર્જયા છે તેવા નૂતન લોકો થવું તે મહત્વનું છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="GAL.6.16" />જેઓ આ નિયમનું પાલન કરે છે. તે સર્વને શાંતિ અને કૃપા હો. અને દેવના સર્વ લોકોને પણ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="GAL.6.17" />તેથી હવે વધુ તસ્દી ન પહોંચાડશો. મારા શરીર ઉપર ઘણા ઘાનાં ચિહનો છે. અને આ ધાના ચિહનો બતાવે છે કે હું ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો છું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="GAL.6.18" />મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે આપણા પ્રભુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપા તમારા આત્માની સાથે હો. આમીન.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="EPH"><id id="EPH">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>એફેસીઓ
</h><toc level="1">એફેસીઓને પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">એફેસીઓ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">એફેસીઓને પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EPH.1.1" />ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો પ્રેરિત પાઉલ તરફથી કુશળતા હો. દેવની ઈચ્છાથી હું પ્રેરિત થયો છું. એફેસસમાં રહેલા, ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ ઘરાવતા, સર્વ દેવના સંતો પ્રતિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="EPH.1.2" />આપણા દેવ બાપ અને પ્રભુ ખ્રિસ્ત તરફથી તમને કૃપા અને શાંતિ થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તમાં આત્મિક આશીર્વાદ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EPH.1.3" />આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસૂ ખ્રિસ્તનો દેવ તથા બાપ સ્તુત્ય હો. તેણે સ્વર્ગીય સ્થાનોમાં દરેક આત્મિક આશીર્વાદથી આપણને ખ્રિસ્તમાં આશીર્વાદિત કર્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EPH.1.4" />વિશ્વનું સર્જન થયું તે પહેલા ખ્રિસ્તમાં દેવે અમને પસંદ કર્યા છે. દેવે અમને તેની પાસે પવિત્ર અને નિર્દોષ થઈએ તે માટે પસંદ કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EPH.1.5" />અને ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં પ્રસ્થાપિત દેવે, વિશ્વનું સર્જન થયું તે પહેલા પણ આપણને તેના સંતાન બનાવવા નકકી કર્યુ. દેવ આમ કરવા ઈચ્છતો હતો. અને તેમ કરવાથી તે પ્રસન્ન હતો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EPH.1.6" />તેની અદભુત કૃપાને કારણે દેવનો મહિમા થયો. દેવે તેની આ કૃપા આપણને મુક્ત રીતે અને ઊદારતાથી આપી. આપણને આ કૃપા તેણે ખ્રિસ્તમાં આપી, એ ખ્રિસ્ત કે જેને તે ચાહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EPH.1.7" />ખ્રિસ્તમય આપણો તેના રકતથી ઉદ્ધાર થયો. દેવની સમૃદ્ધ કૃપાથી આપણને પાપોની માફી મળી છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EPH.1.8" />દેવે તે કૃપા આપણને ઊદારતાથી અને મુક્તપને આપી. તેની રહસ્યપૂર્ણ યોજનાની માહિતી દેવે આપણને પૂરી સમજ અને જ્ઞાનથી આપી.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="EPH.1.9" />આપણે તેના ગૂઢ રહસ્યોને જાણીએ. આ બધી જ દેવની ઈચ્છા હતી. અને ખ્રિસ્ત થકી આમ કરવાનું તેનું આયોજન હતું.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="EPH.1.10" />દેવની યોજના યોગ્ય સમયે તેના આયોજનને પરિપૂર્ણ કરવાની હતી. દેવનું આયોજન હતું કે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં સ્વર્ગમાંની અને પૃથ્વીની દરેક વસ્તુનું એકીકરણ થાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EPH.1.11" />ખ્રિસ્તમાં આપણે દેવના લોકો તરીકે પસંદ કરાયા. દેવે આપણને તેના વારસો બનાવવાનું આયોજન ક્યારનું ય કર્યુ હતું. કારણ કે દેવ એ જ ઈચ્છતો હતો. અને દેવ એક છે જે ઈચ્છે છે અને માંગે છે તેને અનુરૂપ બધી વસ્તુઓને કરી શકે છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EPH.1.12" />જેઓને ખ્રિસ્તમાં આશા હતી તેવા આપણે સૌથી પહેલા લોકો હતા. અને આપણે દેવના મહિમાની સ્તુતિ કરીએ તે માટે આપણે પસંદ કરાયા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EPH.1.13" />તમારી સાથે પણ આવું જ છે. તમે સત્યનું વચન તમારા તારણની સુવાર્તા સાભળી. જ્યારે તમે આ સુવાર્તા સાંભળી ત્યારે તમે ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો. અને ખ્રિસ્ત થકી દેવે પવિત્ર આત્મા રૂપે પોતાનું ચિહન તમારામાં પ્રસ્થાપિત કર્યુ. આમ કરવાનું દેવે વચન આપ્યું હતું.
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<v id="14" bcv="EPH.1.14" />દેવે તેના લોકોને જે વચન આપ્યું છે તે પરિપૂર્ણ થશે, તેની ખાતરી તે આ પવિત્ર આત્મા છે. જે લોકો દેવના છે તેઓને આના થકી સંપૂર્ણ મુક્તિ પ્રાપ્ત થશે. આ સર્વનો ધ્યેય દેવના મહિમાને માટે સ્તુતિ કરવાનો છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15-16" bcv="EPH.1.15" />આ કારણે જ મારી પ્રાર્થનામાં હમેશા હું તમને યાદ કરું છું. તમારા માટે દેવનો આભાર માનું છું. જ્યારથી મેં પ્રભુ ઈસુમાં તમારો વિશ્વાસ અને દેવના લોકો પ્રત્યેના તમારા પ્રેમ વિષે સાંભળ્યું છે ત્યારથી મેં હમેશા આમ કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EPH.1.17" />મેં હમેશા આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસૂ ખ્રિસ્તના દેવ-મહિમાવાન પિતાને પ્રાર્થના કરી છે. મેં પ્રાર્થના કરી છે કે તેઓ તમને એવી આત્મિય સમજ આપશે જે તમને દેવનો સાચો પરિચય કરાવે-એ પરિચય કે જેનું દર્શન તેણે કરાવ્યું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="EPH.1.18" />હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે તમારા હૃદયમાં વિશિષ્ટ સમજણનો ઉદય થાય ત્યારે દેવે આપણને પ્રદાન કરવા જે આશા માટે બોલાવ્યા છે તેને તમે ઓળખી શકશો. તમે એ પણ જાણી શકશો કે દેવે તેના પવિત્ર લોકો માટે જે આશીર્વાદનું વચન આપ્યું છે તે સમૃદ્ધ અને મહિમાવંત છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="EPH.1.19" />અને તમે જાણશો કે વિશ્વાસી લોકો માટે દેવની શક્તિ મહાન છે. આ શક્તિ એ મહાન સાર્મથ્ય છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="EPH.1.20" />જેનો ઉપયોગ દેવે ખ્રિસ્તને મૂએલાંમાંથી ઉઠાડવા માટે કર્યો હતો. દેવે ખ્રિસ્તને સ્વર્ગમાં પોતાની જમણી બાજુ સ્થાન આપ્યું છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="EPH.1.21" />બધા જ રાજ્યસત્તા, અધિકારીઓ, પરાક્રમ, અને રાજાઓ કરતા પણ વધારે મહત્વનું સ્થાન આપ્યું છે. આ વિશ્વ કે આના પછીના વિશ્વમાં કોઈનાં પણ સાર્મથ્ય કરતા ખ્રિસ્તનું સાર્મથ્ય વધુ મહિમા ઘરાવે છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EPH.1.22" />દેવે બધી જ વસ્તુઓને ખ્રિસ્તના સાર્મથ્ય નીચે મૂકી, અને દેવે સર્વ પર તેને મંડળીના શિર તરીકે (અધિપતિ) નિર્માણ કર્યો.
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<v id="23" bcv="EPH.1.23" />મંડળી ખ્રિસ્તનું શરીર છે. ખ્રિસ્ત થકી મંડળી ભરપૂર છે. તે સઘળાંને સર્વ પ્રકારે પરિપૂર્ણ કરે છે.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">મૃત્યુથી જીવન તરફ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EPH.2.1" />ભૂતકાળમાં તમારા પાપો અને દેવ વિરુંદ્ધના અનુચિત વ્યવહારને કારણે તમારું આત્મીક જીવન મરી ગયું હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="EPH.2.2" />હા, ભૂતકાળમાં તમે જગત જે રીતે જીવે છે તે રીતે જીવ્યા અને તે અપરાધોમાં તમે દુષ્ટ વાયુની સત્તાના અધિકારીને અનુસર્યા. અને જે લોકો દેવના આજ્ઞાંકિત નથી તેમને તે જ આત્મા અત્યારે પ્રભાવિત કરી રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="EPH.2.3" />ભૂતકાળમાં આપણી પાપી જાતને પ્રસન્ન કરવાના પ્રયત્નો કરીને તે લોકોની જેમ જ આપણે જીવતા હતા. આપણા શરીર અને મનની બધી જ લાલસા સંતોષવા આપણે બધું જ કરતા હતા. આપણે દુષ્ટ લોકો હતા અને તે માટે આપણે દેવના ક્રોધને યોગ્ય હતા કારણ કે બીજા બધા લોકોના જેવા જ આપણે હતા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EPH.2.4" />પરંતુ દેવની દયા મહાન છે, અને આપણા પ્રત્યેનો તેનો પ્રેમ ગાઢ છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="EPH.2.5" />આપણે દેવની વિરુંદ્ધ જે અનુચિત વ્યવહાર કરેલો તે કારણે આત્મિક રીતે આપણે મરી ચૂક્યા હતા. પરંતુ દેવે આપણને ખ્રિસ્તની સાથે નવું જીવન આપ્યું, તેની કૃપાથી તમારો ઉદ્ધાર થયો છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="EPH.2.6" />દેવે આપણું ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે ઉત્થાન કર્યુ અને તેની સાથે સ્વર્ગીય સ્થાનોમાં આપણને સ્થાન આપ્યું. જે ખ્રિસ્તમય છે તેવા આપણા માટે દેવે આમ કર્યુ.
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<v id="7" bcv="EPH.2.7" />દેવે આમ કર્યુ કે જેથી બધી ભાવિ પેઢીને તેની કૃપાની મહાન સમૃદ્ધિના દર્શન કરાવી શકે. આપણને ખ્રિસ્તમય બનાવવાની કૃપા કરીને દેવે તેની ભલાઈના આપણને દર્શન કરાવ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="EPH.2.8" />હું એમ કહેવા માંગુ છું કે તમે કૃપાથી તારણ પામ્યા છો. અને તે કૃપા તમને વિશ્વાસથી મળેલી છે. તમે તમારી જાતે તારણ પામ્યા નથી. તે દેવનું દાન છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EPH.2.9" />ના! તમારા કાર્યોથી તમારું તારણ થયું નથી. અને તેથી કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ પોતાની જાતે તારણ પામી છે તેવી બડાઈ ન મારી શકે.
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<v id="10" bcv="EPH.2.10" />દેવે આપણને જેવા બનાવ્યા, તેવા આપણે છીએ. કારણ કે આપણે તેની કૃતિ છીએ, અને સારી કરણીઓ કરવાને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં આપણને ઉત્પન્ન કરવામાં આવ્યા છે. તે સારી કરણીઓ વિષે દેવે અગાઉથી એમ ઠરાવ્યું કે આપણે તે પ્રમાણે ચાલીએ.
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</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તમાં એક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="EPH.2.11" />તમે બિનયહૂદિ તરીકે જન્મ્યા છો કે જેમને યહૂદિઓ “સુન્નત વગરના” કહે છે. તે યહૂદિઓ કે જે તમને “સુન્નત વગરના” કહે છે તો પોતાની જાતને “સુન્નતવાળા” કહે છે. (તેમની સુન્નત તેઓ પોતે પોતાના શરીર પર કરે છે.)
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<v id="12" bcv="EPH.2.12" />યાદ રાખજો કે ભૂતકાળમાં તમે ખ્રિસ્ત વિહીન હતા. તમે ઈસ્રાએલના<f caller="+"><fr>2:12
</fr><fk>ઈઝરાયેલ
</fk><ft>યહૂદી પ્રજા (લોકો).</ft></f> નાગરિક નહોતા. અને દેવે લોકોને જે વચન આપ્યું હતું, તેની સાથે તમે કરારબદ્ધ નહોતા. તમે દેવને ઓળખતા નહોતા અને તમારી પાસે કોઈ આશા નહોતી.
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<v id="13" bcv="EPH.2.13" />હા, કોઈ એક સમયે તમે દેવથી ઘણા દૂર હતા પરંતુ હવે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ થકી તમે દેવની નજીક આવ્યા છો. ખ્રિસ્તના રક્તથી તમે દેવની સાનિધ્યમાં આવ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EPH.2.14" />ખ્રિસ્તને કારણે હવે આપણને શાંતિ પ્રદાન થઈ છે. યહૂદી અને બિનયહૂદીઓ અત્યાર સુધી એકબીજાથી વિમુખ હતા જાણે કે તેઓની વચ્ચે એક દીવાલ ઊભી ના હોય! પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્તે આ બને લોકોને (યહૂદી અને બિનયહૂદી) એકતાનો અનુભવ કરાવ્યો. ખ્રિસ્તે પોતાના શરીરનું બલિહાન આપી આ બને પ્રજા વચ્ચેની ધિક્કારની દીવાલનો નાશ કર્યો.
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<v id="15" bcv="EPH.2.15" />યહૂદી નિયમમાં ઘણી આજ્ઞાઓ અને નિયંત્રણો હતાં. પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્તે આ નિયમનો જ અંત આણ્યો, ખ્રિસ્તનો હેતુ બે ભિન્ન પ્રકારના જનસમૂહને (યહૂદી અને બિનયહૂદી) એક નૂતન જનસમૂહના રૂપે તેનામાં પ્રસ્થાપિત કરવાનો હતો. અને આમ કરીને ખ્રિસ્તે શાંતિ સ્થાપી.
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<v id="16" bcv="EPH.2.16" />વધસ્તંભના બલિદાનથી ખ્રિસ્તે બે સમૂહ વચ્ચેના ધિક્કારનો અંત આણ્યો. અને બે સમૂહને એક અંગભૂત બનાવ્યા, તેથી તે તેઓને દેવ સમક્ષ લાવી શકે. અને વધસ્તંભ ઉપરના પોતાના મૃત્યુથી ખ્રિસ્તે આમ કર્યુ.
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<v id="17" bcv="EPH.2.17" />તમે લોકો જે દેવથી ઘણા જ વિમુખ હતા, તેઓને ખ્રિસ્તે શાંતિની સુવાર્તા આપી, અને જે લોકો દેવની નજીક હતા તેઓને પણ શાંતિની સુવાર્તા આપી.
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<v id="18" bcv="EPH.2.18" />હા, ખ્રિસ્ત થકી જ આપણને બન્નેને એક આત્મા વડે બાપના સાનિધ્યમાં આવવાનો અધિકાર છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EPH.2.19" />તો હવે તમે બિનયહૂદીઓ, દેવના પવિત્રો માટે મહેમાન કે અજાણ્યા નથી. હવે તમે દેવના પવિત્રો સાથે નાગરિક છો. દેવના કુટુંબના સભ્ય છો.
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<v id="20" bcv="EPH.2.20" />તમે વિશ્વાસીઓ, પ્રેરિતો અને પ્રબોધકોના પાયા પર કંડારી કાઢેલી આધારશીલા પર રચાયેલા દેવના આવાસ જેવા છો. ખ્રિસ્ત પોતે ખૂણાનો મુખ્ય પથ્થર છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="EPH.2.21" />આ આખો આવાસ ખ્રિસ્તમાં એકબીજાની સાથે સંયોજિત છે. અને ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રયત્નોથી તેનો વિકાસ થાય છે અને પ્રભૂમાં વધતાં વધતાં પવિત્ર મંદિર બને છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EPH.2.22" />અને ખ્રિસ્તમાં તમે લોકો અન્ય બીજા સાથે જોડાઈ ગયા છો. તમને તે જગ્યાએ સ્થાન પ્રાપ્ત થયું છે. જ્યાં આત્મા દ્વારા દેવનો વાસ છે.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">વિદેશીઓ પ્રતિ પાઉલની સેવા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EPH.3.1" />હું પાઉલ તમારા માટે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુનો બંદીવાન છું તમે લોકો કે જે યહૂદી નથી તેમનો પણ હું બંદીવાન છું.
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<v id="2" bcv="EPH.3.2" />તમને ખરેખર ખબર છે કે દેવે કૃપા કરીને મને આ કામ તમને મદદરૂપ થવા સોંપ્યું છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="EPH.3.3" />દેવે તેની ગૂઢ યોજના મને જાણવા દીધી. મને તેના દર્શન કરાવ્યા જે વિષે મેં પહેલા પણ થોડું લખ્યું છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="EPH.3.4" />અને મેં પહેલા જે લખ્યું હતું, તે જો તમે વાંચશો તો તમને સમજાશે કે દેવના ગૂઢ સત્યને હું ખરેખર જાણું છું.
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<v id="5" bcv="EPH.3.5" />લોકો જે અગાઉના સમયમાં જીવતા હતા, તેઓને આ ગૂઢ સત્યનું જ્ઞાન કહ્યું નહોતું. પરંતુ હવે, આત્મા દ્વારા, દેવે તેના પવિત્ર પ્રેરિતો અને પ્રબોધકોને આ ગૂઢ સત્યના દર્શન કરાવ્યાં.
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<v id="6" bcv="EPH.3.6" />ગૂઢ સત્ય આ છે કે: દેવના પોતાના લોકો માટે જે કાંઈ લભ્ય છે તે બધું જ યહૂદિઓની જેમ, બિનયહૂદિઓને પણ લભ્ય બનશે. બિનયહૂદિઓ યહૂદિઓ સાથે તેના શરીરના અવયવોમાં સહભાગી છે અને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ દ્વારા દેવે આપેલાં વચનના તેઓ પણ સહભાગીદાર છે. સુવાર્તાથી બિનયહૂદિઓને આ સર્વ સુલભ થયું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EPH.3.7" />દેવના કૃપાદાનથી, આ સુવાર્તાને કહેવા હું સેવક બન્યો હતો. દેવનું સાર્મથ્ય જે મારામાં કામ કરે છે તેનાથી મને આ કૃપા પ્રાપ્ત થઈ છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="EPH.3.8" />દેવના સર્વ લોકોમાં હું બિલકુલ બિનમહત્વનો છું. પરંતુ બિનયહૂદિઓને ખ્રિસ્તની અખૂટ સંપત્તિની સુવાર્તા આપવાનું દાન દેવે મને આપ્યું છે. એ સંપત્તિની સંપૂર્ણ સમજણ આપણી સમજશક્તિની બહાર છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="EPH.3.9" />જ્યારથી સમયનો આરંભ થયો, ત્યારથી જે ગૂઢ સત્ય દેવમાં ગુપ્ત હતું, તે દેવના ગુઢ સત્યને લોકો આગળ પ્રગટ કરવાનું કાર્ય પણ દેવે મને સોપ્યું છે. દેવ જ સર્વ વસ્તુઓનો સરજનહાર છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="EPH.3.10" />જે જુદી જુદી પદ્ધતિથી દેવ તેની પ્રજ્ઞાના દર્શન કરાવે છે તે સ્વર્ગના દરેક શાસક અને શક્તિઓને બતાવવા ઈચ્છતો હતો. મંડળી<f caller="+"><fr>3:10
</fr><fk>મંડળી
</fk><ft>દેવનું મંદિર ખ્રિસ્તમાં તેના લોકો.</ft></f> ને લીધે તેઓ આ જ્ઞાન જાણશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="EPH.3.11" />અને સમયની શરૂઆતથી દેવની જે યોજના હતી તેને આ અનુકુળ છે. દેવે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ આપણા પ્રભુ થકી પોતાની યોજના પ્રમાણે આ કામ કર્યુ.
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<v id="12" bcv="EPH.3.12" />આપણે ખ્રિસ્તમય બનીને અને ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખીને, ભય વિના મુક્ત રીતે દેવ સમક્ષ ઉપસ્થિત થઈ શકીએ છીએ.
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<v id="13" bcv="EPH.3.13" />તેથી તમને હું કહું છું કે તમારા માટે જે વેદના થાય તેનાથી નાહિંમત કે નિરાશ ન થશો. મારી વેદના તમારા માટે મહિમા લાવે છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તનો પ્રેમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EPH.3.14" />તેથી પ્રાર્થનામાં હું બાપની આગળ ઘુંટણે પડું છું.
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<v id="15" bcv="EPH.3.15" />આકાશમાં તેમ જ પૃથ્વી પરના દરેક કુટુંબ પોતે પોતાનાં નામ તેની પાસેથી પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="EPH.3.16" />તેની મહિમાની સંપતિ પ્રમાણે પિતાને હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે તે તમને તેના આત્મા દ્વારા આંતરિક મનુષ્યત્વમાં બળવાન બનવાની શક્તિ આપે. તેના આત્મા દ્વારા તે તમને સાર્મથ્ય આપશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="EPH.3.17" />હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે વિશ્વાસથી તમારાં હૃદયમાં ખ્રિસ્તનો વાસ હો, અને તમારું જીવન પ્રીતિનાં મજબૂત મૂળિયાં પર પાયો નીખીને પ્રીતિમય બનાવો.
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<v id="18" bcv="EPH.3.18" />અને હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે તમે બધા સંતો ખ્રિસ્તની પ્રીતિની મહાનતાને સમજી શકવાનું સાર્મથ્ય પ્રાપ્ત કરો. હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે તે પ્રીતિની પહોળાઈ, લંબાઈ, ઊંચાઈ તથા ઊંડાઈ કેટલી છે તે સમજી શકો.
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<v id="19" bcv="EPH.3.19" />ખ્રિસ્તની પ્રીતિની મહાનતાને સમજવી કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિની જ્ઞાન મર્યાદાની બહાર છે પરંતુ હું પ્રાર્થુ છું કે તમે તે પ્રેમને સમજી શકો. પછી તમે દેવની સર્વ સંપૂર્ણતા પ્રમાણે સંપૂર્ણ થાઓ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="EPH.3.20" />દેવનું સાર્મથ્ય જ્યારે આપણામાં સકિય બને, ત્યારે તેના થકી આપણે માંગીએ કે ધારીએ તેના કરતાં અનેક ઘણું વધારે દેવ સિદ્ધ કરી શકશે.
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<v id="21" bcv="EPH.3.21" />મંડળીમાં અને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં તેનો મહિમા સર્વકાળ સુધી સ્થાપિત રહો. આમીન.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">શરીરની એક્યતા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EPH.4.1" />હું પ્રભુમાં આધિન છું તેથી હું બંદી ગૃહમાં છું અને દેવે તમને તેના લોકો તરીકે પસંદ કર્યો છે. હું તમને કહું છું દેવના લોકો જેવું જીવન જીવો.
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<v id="2" bcv="EPH.4.2" />હમેશા વિનમ્ર અને દીન બનો. ધીરજવાન બનો અને પ્રેમથી એકબીજાનું સહન કરો.
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<v id="3" bcv="EPH.4.3" />આત્મા દ્વારા તમે શાંતિમાં એક થયા છો. સંગઠીત રહેવાનો પ્રયત્ન ચાલુ રાખો. શાંતિ તમને એકસૂત્રમાં રાખે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="EPH.4.4" />જે રીતે એક શરીર અને એક આત્મા છે તે જ રીતે દેવે તમને એક આશા રાખવા બોલાવ્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="EPH.4.5" />એક પ્રભુ, એક વિશ્વાસ અને એક બાપ્તિસ્મા છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="EPH.4.6" />દેવ ફક્ત એક જ છે અને તે સર્વનો પિતા છે. તે બધું જ ચલાવે છે. તે સર્વત્ર અને બધામાં સ્થિત છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="EPH.4.7" />ખ્રિસ્તે આપણને બધાને વિશિષ્ટ કૃપાદાન આપ્યું છે. ખ્રિસ્તની ઈચ્છા અનુસાર દરેક વ્યક્તિ પુરસ્કૃત છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="EPH.4.8" />તેથી ધર્મશાસ્ત્રોમાં કહ્યું છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તે ઊંચે આકાશમાં બંદીવાનો સાથે ગયો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને લોકોને દાન આપ્યાં.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.68.18">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 68:18</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EPH.4.9" />“તે ઊંચે ચઢયો,” તેના અર્થ શું? એનો અર્થ એ કે પહેલા તે પૃથ્વી પર નીચે આવ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="EPH.4.10" />તેથી ખ્રિસ્ત પૃથ્વી પર નીચે આવેલો, તેનું જ ઉર્ધ્વગમન થયું. ખ્રિસ્ત બધી વસ્તુઓને તેનાથી ભરપૂર કરવાને સર્વ આકાશો પર ઊચે ચઢયો.
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<v id="11" bcv="EPH.4.11" />અને તે જ ખ્રિસ્તે જુદી વ્યક્તિઓને ભિન્ન ભિન્ન દાન આપ્યાં. તેણે કેટલીએક વ્યક્તિઓને પ્રેરિતો અને કેટલાએકને પ્રબોધકો, કેટલાએક લોકોને જઈને સુવાર્તા કહેવાનું કામ સોંપ્યું, જ્યારે કેટલાએકનું કામ સંતોની સંભાળ રાખવાનું અને તેઓને ઉપદેશ આપવો તે હતું.
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<v id="12" bcv="EPH.4.12" />દેવે આ દાન આપ્યો કે જેથી સેવા માટે સંતો તૈયાર થઈ શકે. તેણે ખ્રિસ્તના શરીરને વધુ શક્તિશાળી બનાવવા આ દાનો આપ્યાં.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="EPH.4.13" />આ કાર્ય ચાલુ રહે જ્યાં સુધી આપણે એક વિશ્વાસમાં અને દેવપુત્રના એક જ જ્ઞાન વિષે એકસૂત્રી ન બનીએ. આપણે પરિપક્વ માણસ (સંપૂર્ણ) જેવું બનવું જ જોઈએ-એટલે કે આપણો એટલો વિકાસ થવો જોઈએ કે જેથી ખ્રિસ્ત જેવા સર્વ સંપૂર્ણ બનીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EPH.4.14" />પછી આપણે બાળક જેવા અથવા મોજાની અસરથી દિશાશૂન્ય અથડાતા વહાણ જેવા નહિ હોઈએ. આપણે આપણને ઠગવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતાં અને ભિન્ન પ્રકારનો ઉપદેશ આપતા માણસોથી પ્રભાવિત નહિ થઈએ. આ લોકો છેતરપીંડી કરીને લોકોને ખોટે માર્ગ અનુસરવા માટે યુક્તિનું આયોજન કરે છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="EPH.4.15" />ના! આપણે પ્રેમથી સત્ય બોલીશું. અને દરેક રીતે ખ્રિસ્ત જેવા બનવા આપણે વિકાસ કરીશું. ખ્રિસ્ત શિર છે અને આપણે શરીર છીએ.
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<v id="16" bcv="EPH.4.16" />આખું શરીર ખ્રિસ્ત ઉપર આધારિત છે. અને શરીરના પ્રત્યેક અવયવો એકબીજા સાથે સંગઠીત અને સંલગ્ન છે. દરેક અંગ પોતાનું કાર્ય કરે છે જેને કારણે આખા શરીરનો વિકાસ થાય છે અને તે પ્રેમ સાથે વધુ શક્તિશાળી બને છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">તમારી જીવનપદ્ધતિ કેવી હોવી જોઈએ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="EPH.4.17" />પ્રભુનાં નામે હું તમને આ કહું છું. અને ચેતવું છું. જેઓ અવિશ્વાસુ છે તેમના જેવું જીવવાનું ચાલુ ન રાખો.
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<v id="18" bcv="EPH.4.18" />તેઓના વિચારોનું મૂલ્ય કશું જ નથી. તે લોકો કશું સમજતા નથી, તેઓએ કશું ય સાંભળવાની ના પાડી. અને તેથી તેઓ અજ્ઞાની છે, અને તેથી દેવ અર્પિત જીવન પણ તેમને મળ્યું નથી.
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<v id="19" bcv="EPH.4.19" />તેઓએ શરમની લાગણી વિના સર્વ પ્રકારના દુષ્કર્મ કરવાને આતુરતાથી પોતાને સોંપી દીધા છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="EPH.4.20" />પણ તમે ખ્રિસ્ત પાસેથી એ પ્રમાણે શીખ્યાં નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="EPH.4.21" />મને ખબર છે કે તમે એના વિષે સાંભળ્યું છે, તમે તેનામાં એકરૂપ થયા છો, અને તમને સત્યનું શિક્ષણ મળ્યું છે, હા! ઈસુમાં સત્ય છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="EPH.4.22" />તમને પહેલાનું જીવન જીવતા અટકી જવાની, અને તમારું જૂનું માણસપણું વધુ ને વધુ અનિષ્ટ બનતું જાય છે. કારણ કે દુષ્કર્મો કરવાની ઈચ્છાથી લોકોને છેતરે છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="EPH.4.23" />અને તમારી મનોવૃત્તિઓમાં નવા થાઓ.
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<v id="24" bcv="EPH.4.24" />અને નવું માણસપણું જે દેવની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે ન્યાયીપણામાં તથા સત્યની પવિત્રતામાં સજાર્યેલુ છે. તે ધારણ કરો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EPH.4.25" />તેથી અસત્ય બોલતા તમારે અટકવું જ જોઈએ તમારે એકબીજા સાથે સત્યભાષી બનવું જોઈએ, કારણ કે આપણે બધા એ જ શરીરના અવયવો છીએ.
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<v id="26" bcv="EPH.4.26" />જ્યારે તમે ક્રોધિત થાઓ ત્યારે પાપ કરવા ન પ્રેરાશો. અને આખો દિવસ ક્રોધિત પણ ન રહેશો.
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<v id="27" bcv="EPH.4.27" />શેતાનને રસ્તો ન આપો. જેથી તેનાથી તમે હારી જાઓ.
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<v id="28" bcv="EPH.4.28" />ચોરી કરનારે ચોરી ન કરવી જોઈએ. અને પરિશ્રમ કરવો જોઈએ. અને પોતાના હાથનો ઉપયોગ સત્કર્મ માટે કરવો જોઈએ. તે પછી તે ગરીબ લોકોને કશુંક આપવા શક્તિમાન થઈ શકશો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="EPH.4.29" />જ્યારે તમે બોલો, ત્યારે કટુવચન ના બોલો, એવું બોલો કે જેની લોકોને જરૂર છે, જે લોકોને શક્તિશાળી બનાવવામાં મદદરૂપ નીવડે. આમ કરવાથી તમારું સાંભળનારને તમે મદદરૂપ થઈ શકશો.
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<v id="30" bcv="EPH.4.30" />અને પવિત્ર આત્મા જેને તમે આધિન છો તે દેવે આપેલી સાક્ષી છે, તેથી પવિત્ર આત્માને દુઃખી ન કરશો. દેવે તમને એ આત્મા દર્શાવવા આપ્યો છે કે, દેવ યોગ્ય સમયે તમારો ઉદ્ધાર કરશે.
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<v id="31" bcv="EPH.4.31" />કડવા વચન બોલો નહિ, જે બીજા લોકોને નુકસાન કરે. કઈ પણ દુષ્કર્મ કરશો નહિ.
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<v id="32" bcv="EPH.4.32" />એકબીજા સાથે ભલા થાઓ અને પૂર્ણ પ્રેમાળ બનો. જે રીતે ખ્રિસ્તમાં દેવે તમને ક્ષમા આપી છે તેમ તમે એકબીજાને ક્ષમા કરો.
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EPH.5.1" />તમે દેવના સંતાનો છો જેને દેવ ચાહે છે. તેથી દેવ જેવા થવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરો.
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<v id="2" bcv="EPH.5.2" />પ્રેમાળ જીવન જીવો અને જે રીતે ખ્રિસ્ત આપણને ચાહે છે, તે રીતે અન્ય લોકોને તમે ચાહો. ખ્રિસ્ત આપણે માટે સમર્પિત થયો દેવને અર્પિત તે એક સુમધુર બલિદાન<f caller="+"><fr>5:2
</fr><fk>બલિદાન
</fk><ft>દેવને અર્પણ કે ભેટ.</ft></f> હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="EPH.5.3" />પરંતુ તમારાંમાં વ્યભિચારનું પાપ, અને કોઈ પણ પ્રકારના અયોગ્ય કાર્યો ન હોવાં જોઈએ. અને વધુ ને વધુ મેળવવાની સ્વાર્થી ઈચ્છા પણ તમારામાં ન હોવી જોઈએ. શા માટે? કારણ કે આવી વસ્તુઓ સંતો માટે યોગ્ય નથી.
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<v id="4" bcv="EPH.5.4" />હાસ્યાસ્પદ નિર્લજ્જ મજાક પણ ન કરવી જોઈએ. આ બધી અયોગ્ય વસ્તુઓ કરવાને બદલે તમારે દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="5" bcv="EPH.5.5" />તમારે એ વાતની ખાતરી રાખવી જોઈએ કે જે વ્યક્તિ વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરે છે તેનું ખ્રિસ્તના રાજ્યમાં કોઈ સ્થાન નથી. જે વ્યક્તિ પોતાની જાત માટે વધુ ને વધુ લાલચો રાખે છે અને દુષ્ટ કાર્યો કરે છે અને વધારે ને વધારે ઈચ્છા રાખે છે તે જૂઠા દેવને ભજ્વા જેવું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="EPH.5.6" />તમને નિરર્થક વાતો કહીને કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ તમને મૂર્ખ ન બનાવે તેનું ધ્યાન રાખો. આવી અનિષ્ટ વસ્તુઓ દેવને એવા લોકો પ્રતિ ક્રોધિત બનાવે છે જેઓ આજ્ઞાંકિત નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="EPH.5.7" />તેથી તેવાં લોકો સાથે આ પ્રકારનું વર્તન ન કરો.
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<v id="8" bcv="EPH.5.8" />ભૂતકાળમાં તમે અંધકારમય (પાપ) હતા. પરંતુ હવે તમે પ્રભુની જ્યોતથી પ્રકાશિત છો. તેથી પ્રકાશિત બાળકોની જેમ જીવો.
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<v id="9" bcv="EPH.5.9" />પ્રકાશ દરેક પ્રકારની ભલાઈ, યોગ્ય જીવન અને સત્ય પ્રદાન કરે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="EPH.5.10" />પ્રભુને જે પસંદ છે તેવું ન્યાયીપણું શીખો.
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<v id="11" bcv="EPH.5.11" />અંધકારમા જીવતા લોકો જેવાં કામો ના કરો. કારણ કે આવા કામોથી કશું જ ઉચ્ચતમ ઉદભવતું નથી. અધારાના નિષ્ફળ કામોના સાથી ન બનો. પરંતુ તેઓને વખોડો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="EPH.5.12" />કેમ કે તેઓ ખાનગીમાં એવાં કામ કરે છે કે જે કહેતાં પણ શરમ લાગે છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="EPH.5.13" />પરંતુ જ્યારે આપણે જોઈએ છીએ કે તે વસ્તુઓ ખરાબ છે ત્યારે પ્રકાશ તેની અનિષ્ટતાને વધુ સ્પષ્ટ રીતે ખૂલ્લી પાડે છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="EPH.5.14" />અને બધી જ વસ્તુઓ જે આંખો વડે દશ્યમાન બનાવાય છે તે પ્રકાશિત બને છે. તેથી જ અમે કહીએ છીએ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ઓ નિદ્રાધીન વ્યક્તિ, તું જાગ!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊભો થા,
</q>
<q style="q1">ખ્રિસ્ત તારા પર પ્રકાશિત થશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="EPH.5.15" />તેથી તમે કેવી રીતે જીવો છો તે વિષે ખૂબ જ ચોક્કસ બનો, અને નિર્બુદ્ધ લોકો જેવું જીવન ના જીવો પરંતુ તે લોકોના જેવું જીવન જીવો જે ડાક્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="EPH.5.16" />મારું કહેવું છે કે સુશીલ જીવન જીવવા દરેક સમયનો સદુપયોગ કરો કારણ કે આ અનિષ્ટ સમય છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="EPH.5.17" />તેથી તમારા જીવન પ્રત્યે મૂર્ખ વ્યવહાર ન કરો. પણ તેને બદલે પ્રભુ તમારી પાસે શું કાર્ય કરાવવા ઈચ્છે છે તે શીખો.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="EPH.5.18" />મદ્યપાન કરી મસ્ત ન બનો. તે તમારી આત્મિકતાનો નાશ કરશે. પરંતુ આત્માથી ભરપૂર થાઓ.
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<v id="19" bcv="EPH.5.19" />ગીતોથી, સ્તોત્રોથી તથા આત્મિક ગાનોથી એકબીજાની સાથે વાતો કરો. તમારાં હૃદયોમાં પ્રભુનાં ગીતો અને ભજનો ગાઓ.
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<v id="20" bcv="EPH.5.20" />હમેશા આપણા દેવ પિતા પ્રત્યે આભારી થાઓ, આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના નામે તેનો દરેક વસ્તુ માટે આભાર પ્રદર્શિત કરો.
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<s style="s">પત્નીઓ અને પતિઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EPH.5.21" />તમે ખ્રિસ્તને માન આપો છો તેથી એકબીજાને સ્વૈચ્છિક રીતે આધિન થાઓ.
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="EPH.5.22" />પત્નીઓ, જે રીતે પ્રભૂની સત્તાને આધિન રહો છો તે રીતે તમારા પતિઓની સત્તાને આધિન રહો.
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<v id="23" bcv="EPH.5.23" />જે રીતે ખ્રિસ્ત મંડળીનો અધ્યક્ષ છે, તે રીતે પતિ પત્નીનો અધ્યક્ષ છે. મંડળી ખ્રિસ્તનું અંગ છે. અને ખ્રિસ્ત શરીરનો ત્રાતા છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="EPH.5.24" />મંડળી ખ્રિસ્તની અધ્યક્ષતા નીચે છે. અને તે જ રીતે બધી પત્નીઓ દરેક બાબતમાં તેમના પતિના અધ્યક્ષપણા નીચે હોવી જોઈએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="EPH.5.25" />જે રીતે ખ્રિસ્ત મંડળીને ચાહે છે તે રીતે પતિએ પોતાની પત્નીને ચાહવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="26" bcv="EPH.5.26" />ખ્રિસ્ત મંડળી માટે અને મંડળીને પવિત્ર કરવા મૃત્યુ પામ્યો. ખ્રિસ્તે સુવાર્તાનો ઉપયોગ કર્યો કે જેથી પાણીથી ધોયા જેવી નિર્મળ મંડળી તેની જાતને ભેટ કરી શકે.
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<v id="27" bcv="EPH.5.27" />ખ્રિસ્ત મૃત્યુ પામ્યો કે જેથી તે પોતાની જાતને પૂર્ણ મહિમાવંત નવવધૂની જેમ મંડળીને અર્પણ કરી શકે. તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો કે જેથી મંડળી કોઈ પણ ઉણપ, પાપ વગરની શુદ્ધ બને કે જેમાં બીજું કોઈ પણ ખોટું તેની સાથે હોય નહિ કે અનાચારી વસ્તુ ન હોય.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="EPH.5.28" />હરેક પતિએ પણ પોતે પોતાના શરીરને જે રીતે ચાહે છે તે રીતે તેની પત્નીને ચાહવી જોઈએ. જે પુરુંષ તેની પત્નીને ચાહે છે તે પોતાની જાતને ચાહે છે.
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<v id="29" bcv="EPH.5.29" />શા માટે! કારણ કે કોઈપણ વ્યક્તિ પોતાના શરીરને ધિક્કારતી નથી. દરેક વ્યક્તિ પોતાના શરીરનુ પાલનપોષણ કરે છે અને તેની કાળજી રાખે છે અને ખ્રિસ્ત મંડળી માટે પણ આમ જ કરે છે.
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<v id="30" bcv="EPH.5.30" />કારણ કે આપણે તેના શરીરના અવયવો છીએ.
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<v id="31" bcv="EPH.5.31" />પવિત્ર શાસ્ત્ર તેથી જ આમ કહે છ કે, “માણસ પોતાના માતાપિતાને છોડશે અને તેની પત્ની સાથે જોડાશે. અને તેઓ બન્ને એક દેહ થશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>5:31
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત્ત. 2:24</xt></x>
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<v id="32" bcv="EPH.5.32" />હું ખ્રિસ્ત અને મંડળી વિષેના ગૂઢ સત્યની વાત કરું છું જે ખૂબ જ મહત્વનું છે.
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<v id="33" bcv="EPH.5.33" />પરંતુ તમારામાંના પ્રત્યેકે તેની પત્નીને પોતાની જાતની જેમ પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ. અને દરેક પત્નીએ પોતાના પતિને માન આપવું જોઈએ.
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<s style="s">માતાપિતા અને સંતાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="EPH.6.1" />જે રીતે પ્રભૂની ઈચ્છા છે તે રીતે બાળકો, તમારા માતાપિતાના આજ્ઞાંકિત બનો, જે કરવું યોગ્ય છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="EPH.6.2" />“તમારે તમારા માતા અને પિતાને માન આપવું જોઈએ.”<x caller="+"><xo>6:2
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 20:12; પુન. 5:16</xt></x> આ પહેલી આજ્ઞા છે જેની સાથે વચન સંલગ્ન છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="EPH.6.3" />તે વચન આ છે: “પછી તમારું બધું જ સારું થશે અને પૃથ્વી ઉપર તમને લાંબુ આયુષ્ય મળશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>6:3
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 20:12; પુન. 5:16</xt></x>
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="EPH.6.4" />પિતાઓ, તમારા બાળકો સાથે એવી રીતે ના વર્તો કે તેઓ ગુસ્સે થાય, તેને બદલે તેઓને સારી તાલીમ અને પ્રભુના શિક્ષણથી ઉછેરો.
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<s style="s">દાસો અને માલિક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="EPH.6.5" />દાસો, આ પૃથ્વી ઉપર તમારા માલિકને માન અને ભય સાથે અનુસરો. અને આમ સાચા હૃદયથી કરો; જે રીતે તમે ખ્રિસ્તને અનુસરો છો.
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<v id="6" bcv="EPH.6.6" />જ્યારે તમારો માલિક દેખરેખ રાખતો હોય ત્યારે જ ફક્ત તેને પ્રસન્ન કરવા તેની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન ના કરો. પણ તેથી વિશેષ કંઈ કરવાની જરૂર છે. તમે જેમ ખ્રિસ્તની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરો છો તેમ તેની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરો. દેવ જે ઈચ્છે છે તે તમારે સંપૂર્ણ હૃદયથી કરવું જોઈએ:
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<v id="7" bcv="EPH.6.7" />તમારું કામ પ્રસન્નતાથી કરો, જે રીતે તમે પ્રભુની સેવા કરો છો, માત્ર લોકોની સેવા કરો છો તે રીતે નહિ.
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<v id="8" bcv="EPH.6.8" />યાદ રાખો કે પ્રભુ પ્રત્યેકને, પછી તે દાસ હોય કે મુક્ત હોય તેમને જેવા શુભકામ કર્યા હોય, તેવો બદલો આપશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="EPH.6.9" />માલિકો, એ જ રીતે તમે તમારા દાસો પ્રત્યે ભલું વર્તન રાખો. ધમકીનો ઉપયોગ બંધ કરો. યાદ રાખો તે એક જે તમારો અને તેઓનો પણ ધણી છે તે આકાશમાં છે. અને ધણી (દેવ) દરેક વ્યક્તિનો એક સરખો ન્યાય કરે છે.
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<s style="s">દેવનાં સર્વ હથિયારો સજો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="EPH.6.10" />મારા પત્રને પૂરો કરતાં હું તમને પ્રભુમાં અને તેના સાર્મથ્યના બળમાં શક્તિમાન થવા કહું છું.
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<v id="11" bcv="EPH.6.11" />દેવનું સંપૂર્ણ બખ્તર (રક્ષણ) પહેરો કે જેથી તમે શેતાનની દુષ્ટ ચાલબાજી સામે લડી શકો.
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<v id="12" bcv="EPH.6.12" />આપણું આ યુદ્ધ આ પૃથ્વીના લોકો સામે નથી. પરંતુ આપણે તો અંધકારના અધિપતિઓની, અધિકારીઓ અને તેઓની સત્તાઓ સામે આકાશી સ્થાનોમાં દુષ્ટતાનાં આત્મિક લશ્કરો સામે આપણે લડી રહ્યા છીએ.
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<v id="13" bcv="EPH.6.13" />અને તેથી તમે દેવનાં સર્વ હથિયારો સજી લો કે, જેથી ભૂંડા દિવસે તમે દઢે ઊભા રહી શકો અને તમે યુદ્ધ પૂરું કર્યા પછી પણ શક્તિવર્ધક હશો.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="EPH.6.14" />તેથી સત્યથી તમારી કમર બાંધો; અને પ્રામાણિક જીવન જીવીને તમારી છાતીનું રક્ષણ કરો.
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<v id="15" bcv="EPH.6.15" />અને તમારા પગે શાંતિની સુવાર્તાની તૈયારીરૂપી જોડાં ધારણ કરો કે જેથી તમે શક્તિપૂર્વક ઊભા રહી શકો.
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<v id="16" bcv="EPH.6.16" />અને વિશ્વાસની ઢાલનો પણ ઉપયોગ કરો કે જેથી તમે દુષ્ટતા બળતા ભાલાઓ હોલવી શકશો.
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<v id="17" bcv="EPH.6.17" />દેવના તારણને તમારા ટોપ તરીકે અપનાવો. અને આત્માની તલવાર, જે દેવનું વચન છે તે લો.
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<v id="18" bcv="EPH.6.18" />હમેશા આત્મામાં પ્રાર્થના કરો. હરવખત પ્રાર્થના તથા વિનંતી કરો અને તમારો જરૂરી બધી જ વસ્તુની યાચના કરો. આમ કરવા માટે હમેશા તૈયાર રહો. નિરુસ્તાહી થઈ છોડી ના દો અને પ્રભુના બધા સંતો માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો.
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<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="EPH.6.19" />અને મારા માટે પણ પ્રાર્થના કરો કે જ્યારે હું બોલું ત્યારે મને દેવ તરફથી શબ્દો પ્રદાન થાય કે જેથી ભય વિના સુવાર્તાના ગૂઢ સત્યને હું કહી શકું.
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<v id="20" bcv="EPH.6.20" />મારું કામ સુવાર્તા કહેવાનું છે અને તે હું અહી બંદીખાનામાંથી કરી રહ્યો છું. પ્રાર્થના કરો કે જ્યારે હું સુવાર્તાનો ઉપદેશ આપું ત્યારે ભય વિના મારે જે રીતે આપવો જોઈએ તે રીતે આપું.
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<s style="s">આખરી અભિવાદન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="EPH.6.21" />હું તમારી પાસે અમારા ભાઈ તુખિકસને મોકલું છું, જેને અમે ચાહીએ છીએ. તે પ્રભુના કાર્ય પ્રત્યે વિશ્વાસુ સેવક છે. મારા પ્રત્યે જે કઈ બની રહ્યુ છે તે બધું તે તમને કહેશે જેથી તમને ખબર પડશે કે હું કેમ છું અને શું કરી રહ્યુ છું.
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<v id="22" bcv="EPH.6.22" />મારી ઈચ્છા છે કે તમે જાણો કે અમે કેમ છીએ અને તમને હિંમત આપવા હું તેને મોકલી રહ્યો છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="EPH.6.23" />દેવ બાપ અને પ્રભુ ખ્રિસ્ત તરફથી તમને શાંતિ તથા વિશ્વાસસહિત પ્રીતિ થાઓ.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="EPH.6.24" />તમે બધા કે જેઓ આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત ઉપર નિષ્કપટ પ્રીતિ રાખો છો તેઓ પર દેવની કૃપા થાઓ. આમીન.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="PHP"><id id="PHP">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>ફિલિપ્પીઓ
</h><toc level="1">ફિલિપ્પીઓને પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">ફિલિપ્પીઓ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">ફિલિપ્પીઓને પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PHP.1.1" />ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુના સેવકો પાઉલ અને તિમોથી તરફથી કુશળતા હો.
</p>
<p style="p">દરેક સંતો જેઓ ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં છે. અને ફિલિપ્પીમાં રહે છે. અને તમારા સર્વ વડીલો અને વિશિષ્ટ મદદગારોને.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PHP.1.2" />દેવ આપણા બાપ અને પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તરફથી તમને કૃપા તથા શાંતિ હો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલની પ્રાર્થના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PHP.1.3" />હું જ્યારે પણ તમને યાદ કરું છું. ત્યારે મારા દેવનો આભાર માનું છું.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="PHP.1.4" />અને તમારા બધા માટે હું હમેશા આનંદથી પ્રાર્થના કરું છું.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="PHP.1.5" />મે જ્યારે લોકોને સુવાર્તા આપી ત્યારે તમે મારી જે મદદ કરી તે માટે હું પ્રભુનો આભારી છું. તમે જે દિવસથી વિશ્વાસી બન્યા તે દિવસથી તમે મને મદદ કરી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="PHP.1.6" />દેવે તમારામાં શુભ કામની શરૂઆત કરી અને તે તમારા પ્રતિ હજુ પણ ચાલુ છે. મને ખાતરી છે કે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનું પુરાગમન થશે, ત્યારે દેવ તે કામ પુરું કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="PHP.1.7" />મને ખબર છે કે તમારા વિષે આમ વિચારવામાં હું સાચો છું. તમે મારા અંતરમાં છો, તેથી હું નિશ્ચિંત છું, હું મારી જાતને તમારી ઘણી નજીક અનુભવું છું. હું તમારી સાથે આત્મીયતા અનુભવું છું કારણ કે મારી સાથે દેવની કૃપામાં તમે ભાગીદાર છો. જ્યારે હું જેલમાં હોઉ છું, અને જ્યારે હું સુવાર્તાના સત્યમાં બચાવ કરું છું અને મકકમતા દાખવું છું ત્યારે મારી સાથે તમે દેવ કૃપાના સહભાગી છો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="PHP.1.8" />દેવ જાણે છે કે તમને મળવાને હું ઘણો આતુર છું. હું તમને બધાને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુના પ્રેમ સાથે ચાહું છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="PHP.1.9" />તમારા માટે મારી આ પ્રાર્થના છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">તમારો પ્રેમ ઉત્તરોત્તર વૃદ્ધિ પામે; કે તમને જ્ઞાન શાણપણ પ્રેમ સાથે પ્રાપ્ત થાય;
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="PHP.1.10" />તમે સારા અને નરસાનો તફાવત સમજી શકો અને સારાની પસંદગી કરો જેથી ખ્રિસ્તના પુનઃઆગમન માટે તમે નિમર્ળ અને નિષ્કલંક થાઓ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="PHP.1.11" />તમે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની મદદથી ઘણા સારાં કાર્યો કરશો જે દેવનો મહિમા વધારશે અને દેવની સ્તુતિ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલની મુશ્કેલી પ્રભુના કાર્યને મદદરૂપ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PHP.1.12" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હું તમને જણાવવા માગું છું કે મારી સાથે જે દુઃખદ બન્યું છે તે સુવાર્તાના ફેલાવામાં મદદરૂપ બન્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="PHP.1.13" />હું ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ ઘરાવું છું તેથી હું જેલમાં છું તે વાત સ્પષ્ટ બની છે. બધાં જ રાજ્ય દરબારનાં રક્ષકો અને બધા લોકો આ વાતથી જ્ઞાત છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="PHP.1.14" />હું હજુ જેલમાં છું પરંતુ તે વિષે હવે મોટા ભાગના વિશ્વાસીઓને કાંઈક સારું લાગે છે અને તેઓ ખ્રિસ્તની સુવાર્તા લોકોને કહેવા માટે વધુ હિમંતવાન બન્યા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PHP.1.15" />કેટલાક લોકો એદેખાઈ તથા વિરોધથી ખ્રિસ્તની સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરે છે. જ્યારે બીજા લોકો મદદ કરવાનું ઈચ્છે છે તેથી ખ્રિસ્તની સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PHP.1.16" />આ લોકોમાં પ્રેમની લાગણી છે અને તેઓ જાણે છે કે દેવે મને સુવાર્તાનો બચાવ કરવાનું કામ સોપ્યું છે. તેથી તેઓ ઉપદેશ આપે છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="PHP.1.17" />પરંતુ પેલા બીજા લોકો સ્વાર્થી છે તેથી ઉપદેશ આપે છે. અને ઉપદેશ આપવા માટેનું તેમનું કારણ ખોટું છે. તેઓ મારા માટે કેદખાનામાં મુશ્કેલીઓ ઊભી કરવા માંગે છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="PHP.1.18" />મારે માટે તેઓ મુશ્કેલી ઊભી કરે તેની હું દરકાર કરતો નથી. પરંતુ મહત્વનું એ છે કે તેઓ લોકોને ખ્રિસ્ત વિષે કહે છે. અને મારી એ ઈચ્છા છે કે તેઓ આમ કરે, પરંતુ તેઓએ યોગ્ય કારણથી આમ કરવું જોઈએ. જો કે તેઓ ખોટા અને ખરાબ કારણથી પણ આ કરે તેમા હું ખુશ છું.
</p>
<p style="p">હું પ્રસન્ન છું અને રહીશ કારણ કે તેઓ લોકોને ખ્રિસ્ત વિષે કહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="PHP.1.19" />તમે મારા માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો છો, અને ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો આત્મા મને મદદ કરે છે. તેથી હું જાણું છું કે આ મુશ્કેલી જ મારું તારણ લાવશે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="PHP.1.20" />હું જેની આશા રાખું છું અને ઈચ્છુ છું તે એ છે કે હંમેશની જેમ મારામાં, ખ્રિસ્તની મહાનતાનું મારી આ જીંદગીમાં જે મહત્વ છે તે હું દર્શાવી શકું અને ખ્રિસ્તને મારા કાર્યો થકી નિરાશ ન કરું. હું જીવું કે મરું મારે આ કાર્ય કરવું છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="PHP.1.21" />હું કહેવા માગું છું કે ખ્રિસ્ત માત્ર એક જ મારા જીવનમાં મહત્વનો છે. અને મને તો મરણથી પણ લાભ થવાનો છે.<f caller="+"><fr>1:21
</fr><fk>મરણથી … છે
</fk><ft>પાઉલ કહે છે કે મરણ સારું છે, કારણ કે મરણ તેને ખ્રિસ્તની નજીક લાવશે.</ft></f>
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="PHP.1.22" />જો હું દેહમાં જીવતો હોઈશ તો હું પ્રભુના કાર્યો કરી શકીશ પરંતુ હું નથી જાણતો કે હું શું પસંદ કરું છું, મરવાનું કે જીવવાનું?
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="PHP.1.23" />જીવન અને મરણ વચ્ચેની પસંદગી ઘણી મુશ્કેલ છે. આ જીવન જીવવાનું હું ઈચ્છુ છું, અને ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે થઈશ. કારણ કે તે વધારે સારું છે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="PHP.1.24" />તમારા લોકો માટે મને અહીં આ શરીરરૂપે રહેવું વધુ જરૂરી છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="PHP.1.25" />મને ખબર છે કે તમને મારી જરૂર છે અને તેથી હું જાણું છું કે હું તમારી સાથે રહીશ. તમારા વિશ્વાસની વૃદ્ધિ તથા આનંદને સારું હું તમને મદદ કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="PHP.1.26" />જ્યારે ફરીથી હું તમારી સાથે હોઈશ ત્યારે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં થતો ઘણો જ આનંદ તમે અનુભવશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="PHP.1.27" />એની ચોકસાઈ રાખો કે ખ્રિસ્તની સુવાર્તાને યોગ્ય જીવન તમે જીવો. તેથી હું તમને આવીને મળું કે હું તમારાથી દૂર હોઉં, હું તમારા વિષે સારી વાતો જ સાંભળું, મારે સાંભળવું જોઈએ કે તમે બધા આત્મીય એકતા રાખો છો અને એક ચિત્ત થઈને સાથે મળીને સુવાર્તામાંથી જે વિશ્વાસ આવે છે તે માટે કામ કરો છો.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="PHP.1.28" />અને જે લોકો તમારી વિરુંદ્ધ છે તેઓનાથી તમે ગભરાતા નથી આ સર્વ વસ્તુઓ દેવની સાબિતી છે કે તમારો ઉદ્ધાર થયો છે અને તમારા દુશ્મનોનો વિનાશ.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="PHP.1.29" />દેવે તમને ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખવા સન્માનીત કર્યા છે એટલું જ નહિ, પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્ત માટે દુઃખ સહન કરવાનું માન પણ તેણે તમને આપ્યું છે. આ બંને વસ્તુ ખ્રિસ્તનો મહિમા વધારે છે.
<ve />
<v id="30" bcv="PHP.1.30" />જ્યારે હું તમારી સાથે હતો, ત્યારે જે લોકો સુવાર્તાની વિરુંદ્ધ હતા તેઓની સાથેનો મારો સંઘર્ષ તમે જોયો હતો. અને અત્યારે મારી સાથે જે સંઘર્ષ ચાલી રહ્યો છે તે વિષે તમે સાંભળો છો. તમે પોતે પણ તે પ્રકારના સંઘર્ષમાંથી પસાર થઈ રહ્યા છો.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">એક થાઓ અને એકબીજાને મદદ કરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PHP.2.1" />ખ્રિસ્તમાં એવી કોઈ રીત છે કે જે થકી હું તમારી પાસે કંઈ માગી શકું? શું તમારો મારા પ્રત્યેનો પ્રેમ મને દિલાસો આપવા તમને પ્રેરણા આપે છે? શું આપણે એક જ આત્માના સહભાગી છીએ? શું તમારામાં કૃપા અને મમતા છે?
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<v id="2" bcv="PHP.2.2" />જો તમારાંમા આ સર્વ હોય, તો હું તમને મારા માટે કંઈક કરવા વિનવું છું. જે મને આનંદથી ભરી દેશે. હું તમારી પાસે માગું છું કે એક જ અને એક સરખા વિશ્વાસમાં તમારા બધાના માનસ એક અને સંગઠીત કરો, એકબીજા પ્રત્યેના પ્રેમ માટે, એકબીજા સાથે સહમત થવાની બાબતમાં અને સમાન હેતુ સાધવા, સાથે રહીને એક અને સમાન વિચારના બનો.
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<v id="3" bcv="PHP.2.3" />તમે જે કંઈ કાર્ય કરો તે સ્વાર્થ અને અહંકાર પ્રેરિત ન કરશો. નમ્ર બનો અને બીજાને તમારા કરતા વિશેષ ઉત્તમ ગણો.
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<v id="4" bcv="PHP.2.4" />તમે દરેક પોતાના હિત પર જ નહિ, પણ બીજાઓના હિત પર પણ લક્ષ રાખો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્ત થકી નિસ્વાર્થ બનવાનું શીખો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PHP.2.5" />તમારા જીવનમાં તમારા વિચાર અને વર્તન ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ જેવાં હોવાં જોઈએ.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="PHP.2.6" />ખ્રિસ્ત પોતે દેવ જેવો હતો અને દેવ સમાન હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્ત દેવને સમાન હોવા છતાં તે સમાનતાને તે વળગી રહેવુ જરૂરી માનતો ન હતો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="PHP.2.7" />પોતાનું દેવની સમકક્ષ હોવાનું સ્થાન તેણે છોડી દીધું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દાસ જેવા બનવાનું કબૂલ્યું.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે માનવ તરીકે જન્મ્યો અને દાસ જેવો બન્યો.
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</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="8" bcv="PHP.2.8" />અને જ્યારે તે માનવ તરીકે જીવતો હતો, ત્યારે તે દેવ પ્રત્યે આજ્ઞાંકિત રહ્યો અને પોતાની જાતે વિનમ્ર બન્યો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે વધસ્તંભ પર મરવાની અણી પર હતો છતાં પણ આજ્ઞાંકિત રહ્યો.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="PHP.2.9" />ખ્રિસ્ત દેવની આશાનું પાલન કરતો રહ્યો, અને દેવને અનુસર્યો તેથી દેવે તેને ઉચ્ચ સ્થાન ઊપર બીરાજમાન કર્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેના નામને બધા જ નામો કરતાં દેવે શ્રેષ્ઠ જાહેર કર્યુ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="PHP.2.10" />દેવે આ કર્યું કારણ કે આકાશમાં, પૃથ્વીમાં કે પાતાળમાં સ્થિત દરેક વ્યક્તિ ઈસુના નામે ઘૂંટણે પડીને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">નમે તેવી દેવની ઈચ્છા હતી.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="PHP.2.11" />દરેક વ્યક્તિ કબૂલ કરશે (કહેશે), “ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત પ્રભુ છે.”
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે તેઓ આમ કહેશે ત્યારે, દેવ બાપનો મહિમા વધશે.
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</q>
<s style="s">દેવની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે બનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PHP.2.12" />મારા વહાલા મિત્રો, તમે હમેશા આજ્ઞાંકિત રહ્યા છો. હું ત્યાં હતો, ત્યારે હમેશાં તમે દેવને અનુસર્યા છો. જ્યારે હું તમારી સાથે નથી ત્યારે તમે આજ્ઞાંકિત બનો. અને મારી મદદ વગર તમારું તારણ થાય તે વધુ મહત્વનું છે. દેવ પ્રત્યે માન અને ભય જાળવી આમ કરો.
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<v id="13" bcv="PHP.2.13" />હા, દેવ તમારામાં સક્રિય છે. અને દેવ તેની પ્રસન્નતા પ્રમાણેનું કાર્ય કરવા તમને મદદ કરશે. અને આમ કરવાની શક્તિ તે તમને પ્રદાન કરશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PHP.2.14" />કોઈ પણ જાતની ફરિયાદ કે વાદવિવાદ વગર બધું કરો.
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<v id="15" bcv="PHP.2.15" />ત્યારે તમે નિર્દોષ અને નિષ્કલંક બનશો. તમે દેવના ક્ષતિહીન સંતાન બનશો. પરંતુ તમે તમારી આજુબાજુ ઘણા જ દુષ્ટ અને અનિષ્ટ લોકોની વચ્ચે રહો છો. આવા લોકોની વચ્ચે, તમે અંધકારની દુનિયામાં ઝળહળતા પ્રકાશ જેવા થાઓ.
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<v id="16" bcv="PHP.2.16" />તમે તેઓને જે જીવન આપે છે તેનો ઉપદેશ આપ્યો તેથી જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્ત ફરી પાછો આવશે ત્યારે મને ગૌરવ થશે. કારણ કે હું દોડવાની હરીફાઈમાં હતો અને હું જીત્યો. મારું કામ નિરર્થક ગયું નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PHP.2.17" />તમારો વિશ્વાસ દેવની સેવામાં તેમારા જીવનનું અર્પણ આપવા તમને પ્રેરશે. તમારા અર્પણ (બલિદાન) સાથે કદાચ મારે મારા રક્તનું (મરણ) અર્પણ પણ આપવું પડે. પરંતુ જો તેમ થાય, તો મને આનંદ થશે અને તમ સર્વ સાથે હરખાઉં છું; અને તમારા બધાની સાથે તેમાં ભાગીદાર બનીશ.
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<v id="18" bcv="PHP.2.18" />તે રીતે તમે પણ આનંદ પામશો અને મારી સાથે હર ખાશો.
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</p>
<s style="s">તિતસ અને એપાફ્રદિતસના સમાચાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="PHP.2.19" />પ્રભુ ઈસુમાં તિમોથીને તમારી પાસે મોકલવાની હું આશા રાખું છું. તમારા વિષે જાણતા મને ઘણો આનંદ થશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="PHP.2.20" />મારી પાસે તિમોથી જેવો બીજો કોઈ માણસ નથી. તે ખરેખર તમારી કાળજી રાખે છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="PHP.2.21" />બીજા બધાને માત્ર પોતાની જાતમાં રસ છે. તેઓને ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના કાર્યમાં રસ નથી.
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<v id="22" bcv="PHP.2.22" />તમે જાણો છો કે તિમોથી કેવા પ્રકારનો માણસ છે. જે રીતે એક પુત્ર તેના પિતાની સેવા કરે તે રીતે સુવાર્તાના (પ્રસાર) કાર્યમાં તેણે મારી સાથે સેવા કરી છે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="PHP.2.23" />જ્યારે મને ખબર પડશે કે મારું શું થવાનું છે, ત્યારે તરત જ તેને મોક્લવાની મારી યોજના છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="PHP.2.24" />મને ખાતરી છે કે પ્રભુ મને મદદરૂપ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PHP.2.25" />એપાફ્રદિતસ ખ્રિસ્તમાં મારો ભાઈ છે. ખ્રિસ્તની સેનામાં તે મારી સાથે સહયોદ્ધો અને મદદગાર છે. જ્યારે મારે મદદની જરૂર હતી ત્યારે તમે તેને મારી પાસે મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="26" bcv="PHP.2.26" />હવે મેં તેને તમારી પાસે મોકલવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ છે. હું તેને મોક્લું છું કારણ કે તમને મળવાની તેની ખૂબ ઈચ્છા છે. તેની માંદગી વિષે સાંભળવાથી તમે લોકો ચિંતીત છો તેનાથી તે પોતે વ્યગ્ર છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="PHP.2.27" />તે માંદો હતો અને મરણની નજીક હતો. પરંતુ દેવે તેને અને મને મદદ કરી, કે જેથી મને વધુ શોક્નું કારણ ન મળે.
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<v id="28" bcv="PHP.2.28" />તેથી તેને મોકલવાની મારી ઘણી ઈચ્છા છે. જ્યારે તમે તેને જોશો, ત્યારે તમે આનંદીત થશો. અને મને તમારી ચિંતા નહિ થાય.
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<v id="29" bcv="PHP.2.29" />પ્રભુના નામે તેને ખૂબ આનંદથી આવકારજો. અને તેના જેવા માણસનું બહુમાન કરજો.
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<v id="30" bcv="PHP.2.30" />તેનું બહુમાન થવું જ જોઈએ કારણ કે ખ્રિસ્તના કાર્યમાં તેણે લગભગ પોતાનો પ્રાણ અર્પણ કરી દીધો. મને મદદ કરવામાં તેણે તેનો જીવ જોખમમાં મૂક્યો. આ એવી મદદ હતી જે તમે મને આપી શક્યા નહોતા.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">બીજા બધા કરતાં ખ્રિસ્ત વધુ મહત્વનો છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PHP.3.1" />અને હવે, મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, પ્રભુ દ્વારા તમને આનંદ પ્રાપ્ત થાઓ. તમને ફરીથી લખવામાં મને કોઈ તકલીફ નથી, અને આમ કરવાથી તમે વધુ જાગૃત બનશો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PHP.3.2" />જેઓ અનિષ્ટ કરે છે તેવા લોકોથી સાવધ રહેજો. તેઓ ફૂતરા જેવા છે. તેઓ શરીરને કાપવા પર ભાર મૂકે છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="PHP.3.3" />આપણે સાચી રીતે સુન્નત પામેલા છીએ અને તેના આત્માથી આપણે દેવની સ્તુતિ સેવા કરીએ છીએ. આપણને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં હોવા માટે ગૌરવ છે. અને આપણે આપણી જાતમાં કે અન્ય કોઈ આપણા કાર્યમાં વિશ્વાસ નથી મૂક્તા.
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<v id="4" bcv="PHP.3.4" />હું મારી જાતમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂકવાને શક્તિમાન હોઉ, તો પણ હું મારામાં વિશ્વાસ નહી મુકું. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ એમ માને કે તેને પોતાની જાતમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂકવા માટે કારણ છે, તો તે વ્યક્તિ જાણી લે કે મને મારી જાતમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂકવા માટે સબળ કારણ છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="PHP.3.5" />હું આઠ દિવસનો હતો, ત્યારે મારી સુન્નત થયેલી, હું ઈસ્રાયેલી છું અને બિન્યામીનના ફુળનો છું. હું હિબ્રૂઓનો હિબ્રૂ છું અને મારા માતાપિતા હિબ્રૂ હતા, મૂસાનું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર મારે માટે ઘણું જ મહત્વનું હતું અને તેથી જ હું ફરોશી બન્યો હતો.
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<v id="6" bcv="PHP.3.6" />હું મારા યહૂદી ધર્મથી એટલો બધો ઉત્તેજીત હતો કે મેં મંડળીને સતાવેલી. હું જે રીતે મૂસાના નિયમ શાસ્ત્રને અનુસર્યો હતો તેમા કોઈ દોષ શોધી શકે તેમ નહોતો.
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<v id="7" bcv="PHP.3.7" />એક સમયે, આ બધી જ વસ્તુ મારા માટે ઘણી મહત્વની હતી. પરંતુ મેં નક્કી કર્યુ કે ખ્રિસ્ત આગળ આ બધી વસ્તુઓનું કશું જ મૂલ્ય નથી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="PHP.3.8" />માત્ર તે જ વસ્તુઓ નહિ, પરંતુ હવે તો મને લાગે છે કે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ મારા પ્રભુને પામવાની મહાનતાની સરખામણીમાં કોઈ પણ વસ્તુ મહત્વની નથી. ખ્રિસ્તને કારણે મેં એ બધી વસ્તુઓનો ત્યાગ કર્યો અને હવે હું જાણું છું કે ખ્રિસ્ત આગળ તે બધી વસ્તુઓ તુચ્છ કચરા જેવી છે. આ રીતે મને ખ્રિસ્ત મળ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="PHP.3.9" />આને કારણે હું ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા ન્યાયી છું. હું નિયમશાસ્ત્રને અનુસર્યો એને કારણે આ બન્યું નથી. પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં મારા વિશ્વાસને કારણે શક્ય બન્યું હતું. દેવે મારા ખ્રિસ્તમાંના વિશ્વાસનો ઉપયોગ મને તેને અનુરૂપ બનાવવામાં કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="PHP.3.10" />હું માત્ર ખ્રિસ્તને અને મૃત્યુમાંથી સજીવન થવાના સાર્મથ્યને જાણવા માંગુ છું. હું ખ્રિસ્તની વ્યથામાં સહભાગી થવા માંગુ છું અને તેના મરણમાં તેના સમાન થવા માગું છું.
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<v id="11" bcv="PHP.3.11" />જો હું આમ કરી શકું તો મારી જાતે મૃત્યુમાંથી ઊઠવાની આશા હું રાખી શકું.
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</p>
<s style="s">ધ્યેય સુધી પહોંચવાનો પ્રયત્ન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PHP.3.12" />હું નથી કહેવા માંગતો કે દેવની જેવી ઈચ્છા હતી તેવો જ હું છું. હજી હું તે સિદ્ધિને પામ્યો નથી. પરંતુ તે ધ્યેયને પ્રાપ્ત કરવાના મારા પ્રયત્નો સતત ચાલું છે, ખ્રિસ્ત મારી પાસે આમ કરાવવા માંગે છે. અને તેથી તેણે જ મને તેનો બનાવ્યો છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="PHP.3.13" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, મને ખબર છે, હું એ સિદ્ધિને નથી પામ્યો પરંતુ હમેશા એક કામ હું કરું છું: કે હું ભૂતકાળની વસ્તુઓને ભૂલી જાઉ છું. મારી સમક્ષ જે ધ્યેય હોય છે તેને પ્રાપ્ત કરવા હમેશા પ્રયત્નશીલ રહું છું.
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<v id="14" bcv="PHP.3.14" />તેથી હમેશા ધ્યેય પ્રાપ્તિમાં હું પ્રયત્નશીલ રહું છું તેથી પુરસ્કૃત થાઉ છું આ પુરસ્કાર મારો છે કારણ કે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ વડે દેવે મને સ્વર્ગીય જીવન માટે બોલાવ્યો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PHP.3.15" />આપણે બધા જે આત્મીય રીતે પરિપકવ થયા છીએ તેમણે આ રીતે વિચારવું જોઈએ. આમાંની કોઈ વસ્તુ સાથે જો તમે સંમત નથી થતા તો, દેવ તમને એ સ્પષ્ટ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PHP.3.16" />પરંતુ જે સત્ય આપણને લાધી ચૂક્યુ છે તેને અનુસરવાનું આપણે ચાલુ રાખવું જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PHP.3.17" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમારે બધાએ મારા જેવું જીવન જીવનાનો પ્રયત્ન કરવો જોઈએ, અને એમ તમને બતાવ્યા પ્રમાણેનું જીવન જે જીવતો હોય તેઓનું અનુકરણ કરો.
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<v id="18" bcv="PHP.3.18" />ઘણા લોકો ખ્રિસ્તના વધસ્તંભના દુશ્મન જેવું જીવન જીવે છે. મે તમને ધણી વાર આ લોકો વિષે કહ્યું છે અને હમણાં પણ તેઓના વિષે રડતા રડતા કહું છું.
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<v id="19" bcv="PHP.3.19" />જે રીતે આ લોકો જીવે છે તેથી તેઓ તેઓનો વિનાશ નોંતરે છે અને દેવની સેવા નથી કરતા. તેઓનો દેવ તેઓનું પેટ છે, શરમજનક કૃત્યો કરે છે અને તેને માટે ગૌરવ અનુભવે છે. તેઓ માત્ર પાર્થિવ વસ્તુનો જ વિચાર કરે છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="PHP.3.20" />આપણું પોતાનું સ્થાન આકાશમાં છે અને આપણે આપણા તારનારની આકાશમાંથી આવવા માટે રાહ જોઈએ છીએ. આપણો તારનાર તે પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="PHP.3.21" />તે આપણા નિર્બળ શરીરને બદલી તેઓને તેના પોતાના જેવા મહિમાવાન બનાવશે. ખ્રિસ્ત પોતાની શક્તિ કે જેના વડે તે બધી વસ્તુ ઉપર શાસન કરે છે, તેનાથી આમ કરી શકશે.
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</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">કેટલીક કરવાની વસ્તુઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PHP.4.1" />મારા પ્રિય ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હું તમને ચાહું છું અને તમને મળવા ઈચ્છુ છું. તમારા કારણે મને આનંદ થાય છે અને મને તમારું ગૌરવ છે. મારા કહ્યા પ્રમાણે તમે પ્રભુને અનુસરવાનુ ચાલુ રાખજો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="PHP.4.2" />હું યૂવદિયા અને સુન્તુખેને, પ્રભુમાં એક ચિત્તના થવા કહું છું.
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<v id="3" bcv="PHP.4.3" />અને તમે મારા મિત્રો જેણે મારી સાથે વફાદારીપૂર્વક સેવા કરી છે, તેથી આ સ્ત્રીઓને મદદ કરવાનું હું તમને કહું છું. આ સ્ત્રીઓએ સુવાર્તાના પ્રચારમાં મારી સાથે કામ કર્યુ છે. તેઓ કલેમેન્ત અને બીજા લોકો જે મારી સાથે કામ કરતાં હતા તેઓની સાથે કામ કર્યુ છે. જીવનના પુસ્તકમા<f caller="+"><fr>4:3
</fr><fk>જીવનનું પુસ્તક
</fk><ft>દેવનું પુસ્તક કે જેમાં સર્વ દેવના પસંદ કરાએલા લોકોના નામો છે. (પ્ર ક. 3:5; 21:27)</ft></f> તેઓનાં નામ લખાઈ ચુક્યાં છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PHP.4.4" />પ્રભુમાં સદા આનંદ કરો; હું ફરીથી કહું છું કે આનંદ કરો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="PHP.4.5" />દરેક લોકોને જાણવા દો કે તમે નમ્ર અને માયાળુ છો. પ્રભુ જલદી આવે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="PHP.4.6" />કશાની ચિતા ન કરશો. પરંતુ તમારે જે કોઈ જોઈએ છે તે દેવ પાસે માંગો અને પ્રાર્થના કરો. અને જ્યારે તમે પ્રાર્થના કરો ત્યારે હમેશા આભારસ્તુતિ સહિત તમારી અરજો દેવને જણાવો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="PHP.4.7" />પ્રભુની શાંતિ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં તમારા હૃદય અને મનનું રક્ષણ કરશે. તે શાંતિ એટલી મહાન છે કે જેને પ્રભુએ આપેલી છે જે આપણે સમજી શકીએ તેમ નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PHP.4.8" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, જે વસ્તુ સારી છે અને ધન્યવાદને પાત્ર છે તેના વિષે વિચારવાનું ચાલુ રાખો, જે વસ્તુઓ સત્ય છે, સન્માનીય છે, યથાર્થ અને શુદ્ધ છે, સુંદર અને આદરણીય છે તેનો જ વિચાર કરો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="PHP.4.9" />તમે મારા દ્વારા શીખેલા અને મેળવેલાં કાર્ય કરો. મેં તમને કહેલું અને તમે જે કરતા મને જોયો તે સર્વ કરો. અને શાંતિનો દેવ તમારી સાથે રહેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલ ફિલિપીના ખ્રિસ્તીઓનો આભાર માને છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="PHP.4.10" />હું પ્રભુમાં ઘણો આનંદીત છું કે ફરીથી તમે મારી સંભાળ લો છો. તમે હમેશા મારી સંભાળ લીધી છે, પરંતુ તે દર્શાવી શકાઈ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="PHP.4.11" />મારે કશાની જરૂર છે તેથી હું તમને આમ નથી કહેતો, મારી પાસે જે કઈ છે અને જે કઈ બની રહ્યુ છે, તેનાથી સંતોષ મેળવવાનું હું શીખ્યો છુ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="PHP.4.12" />દરિદ્રી અને સમૃદ્ધ બને અવસ્થાઓમાં કેવી રીતે જીવવું તે હું જાણું છું, કોઈ પણ વખતે અને ગમે તેવા સંજોગોમાં આનંદી રહેવાનું શીખ્યો છું. મારી પાસે ખાવાને પૂરતું હોય કે ન હોય, આનંદી રહેવાનું હું શીખ્યો છું. મને જરૂરી બધી જ વસ્તુઓ મારી પાસે હોય કે ના હોય, હું આનંદી રહેવાનું જાણું છું.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="PHP.4.13" />ખ્રિસ્તને કારણે આ બધું હું કરી શકું છું, કારણ કે તે મને આમ કરવાનું સાર્મથ્ય આપે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="PHP.4.14" />પરંતુ જ્યારે મારે મુશ્કેલીઓ હતી ત્યારે તમે મને મદદ કરી તે ઘણું સારું છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="PHP.4.15" />તમે ફિલિપ્પીના લોકો યાદ કરો જ્યારે મેં ત્યાં સુવાર્તા આપવાની શરૂઆત કરેલી. મેં જ્યારે મકદોનિયા છોડ્યું ત્યારે તમારી એક જ મંડળી એવી હતી કે જેણે મને મદદ કરી.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PHP.4.16" />હું જ્યારે થેસ્સાલોનિકામાં હતો ત્યારે મારે જરૂરી વસ્તુઓ તમે મને ઘણીવાર મોકલી.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="PHP.4.17" />મારે ખરેખર તમારા તરફથી દાન નથી જોઈતું. પરંતુ આપવાથી જે સારું થાય છે તે તમને મળો તેમ હું ઈચ્છુ છું.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="PHP.4.18" />મારી પાસે જરૂર કરતાં પણ વધારે છે. મારે જરૂરી બધી વસ્તુઓ છે કારણ કે એપાફદિતસ તમે આપેલ દાન લાવ્યો હતો. તમારું દાન દેવને ઘરેલું મધુર મહેકતા અર્પણ જેવું છે. દેવે તે અર્પણ સ્વીકાર્યુ અને પ્રસન્ન થયો.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="PHP.4.19" />ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુના મહિમાથી મારો દેવ ઘણો સમૃદ્ધ થયો છે. પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં તેની સમૃદ્ધિનો ઉપયોગ તમને જરૂરી બધી વસ્તુઓ આપવામાં કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="PHP.4.20" />આપણા દેવ અને બાપને સર્વકાળ મહિમા હો. આમીન.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="PHP.4.21" />ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં દેવના બધા જ સંતોને સલામ કહેજો. મારી સાથે જે ભાઈઓ છે તેઓ તમને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="PHP.4.22" />દેવના બધા જ સંતો જે મારી સાથે છે તેઓ તમને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે. બધા સંતોને અને કૈસરના ઘરનાં બધા વિશ્વાસીઓ તમને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PHP.4.23" />પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપા (દયા) તમારી સાથે રહો. આમીન
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="COL"><id id="COL">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>કલોસ્સીઓ
</h><toc level="1">કલોસ્સીઓને પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">કલોસ્સીઓ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">કલોસ્સીઓને પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="COL.1.1" />ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુના પ્રેરિત પાઉલ તરફથી કુશળતા હું પ્રેરિત છું. કારણ કે દેવ જ તેમ ઈચ્છતો હતો. ખ્રિસ્તમાં આપણા ભાઈ તિમોથી તરફથી પણ સલામ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="COL.1.2" />કલોસ્સામાં રહેતા ખ્રિસ્તમાં આપણા પવિત્ર અને વિશ્વાસુ ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોને આપણા દેવ બાપ તરફથી કૃપા તથા શાંતિ પ્રાપ્ત થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="COL.1.3" />હંમેશા અમે અમારી પ્રાર્થનામાં તમારે સારું દેવનો આભાર માનીએ છીએ. દેવ આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો બાપ છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="COL.1.4" />અમે દેવનો આભાર માનીએ છીએ કારણ કે તમે જે વિશ્વાસ ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં ધરાવો છો અને દેવના સર્વ સંતો માટે તમને જે પ્રેમ છે તેના વિષે અમે સાભંળ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="COL.1.5" />તમને ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ છે. તમારી આશાને કારણે તમે દેવના સંતોને પ્રેમ કરો છો. તમે જાણો છો કે જે વસ્તુની તમે આશા રાખો છો, તે આકાશમાં સલામત છે. તમે તેની આશા જાણવા આવ્યા છો. જ્યારે તમે સત્યના ઉપદેશને સાંભળ્યો, સત્ય સંદેશ એ જ સુર્વાતા છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="COL.1.6" />જ્યારે તમને સુવાર્તા આપવામાં આવી ત્યારે સુવાર્તા આશીર્વાદ વરસાવી રહી છે. જ્યારે તમે તે સુવાર્તા પ્રથમ સાંભળી અને દેવની કૃપાની (દયા) સત્યતા તમે સમજયા તે સમયે પણ આમ જ બન્યું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="COL.1.7" />એપાફ્રાસ પાસેથી તમે દેવની કૃપા વિષે જાણ્યું. એપાફ્રાસ અમારી સાથે જ કાર્ય કરે છે, અને અમે તેને ચાહીએ છીએ. તે અમારા માટે ખ્રિસ્તનો વિશ્વાસુ સેવક છે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="COL.1.8" />પવિત્ર આત્મા તરફથી તમને જે પ્રેમ પ્રાપ્ત થયો છે તે પણ એપાફ્રાસે અમને જણાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="COL.1.9" />જે દિવસથી અમે આ બાબતો તમારા વિષે સાંભળી તે દિવસથી તમારે સારું પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ. અમે આ બાબતો માટે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="mi" style="mi">કે તમે સર્વ આત્મિક સમજણ તથા બુદ્ધિમાં દેવની ઈચ્છાના જ્ઞાનથી ભરપૂર થાઓ;
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="COL.1.10" />તમે આ બાબતોનો જીવનમાં એ રીતે ઉપયોગ કરો કે જેથી પ્રભુ તેમના વડે સમ્માનિત થાય, અને સર્વ પ્રકારે તેનાથી તે પ્રસન્ન થાય; કે તમે દરેક પ્રકારના સત્કાર્યો કરો અને દેવ અંગેના જ્ઞાનમાં વિકસિત થાવ;
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="COL.1.11" />દેવ તેના મહિમાના સાર્મથ્ય પ્રમાણે તમને શક્તિશાળી બનાવે, જેથી જ્યારે આપત્તિઓ આવે ત્યારે તમે ડગી ન જાવ અને સહનશીલ બનો.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">પછી તમને આનંદ પ્રાપ્ત થશે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="COL.1.12" />અને (દેવ) બાપની આભારસ્તુતિ કરો. જે વસ્તુઓ તેણે તમારા માટે તૈયાર કરી છે, તેને પામવા માટે તેણે જ તમને યોગ્ય બનાવ્યા છે. તેણે આ વસ્તુઓ તેના બધા જ લોકો માટે બનાવી છે, કે જે લોકો પ્રકાશમાં (સારું) જીવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="COL.1.13" />દેવે આપણને અંધકારની (શૈતાન) સત્તામાંથી મુક્ત કર્યા છે. અને તે જ આપણને તેના પ્રિય પુત્ર (ઈસુ) ના રાજ્યમાં લઈ આવ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="COL.1.14" />પુત્રએ આપણને છોડાવવા માટે કિમત ચુક્વી છે. તેનામાં જ આપણને આપણા પાપોની માફી પ્રાપ્ત થઈ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">જ્યારે આપણે ખ્રિસ્ત તરફ દૃષ્ટિ કરીએ છીએ, ત્યારે આપણે દેવને નિહાળીએ છીએ
</s>
<q style="q1"><v id="15" bcv="COL.1.15" />કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ દેવને જોઈ શક્તી નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ ઈસુ દેવની પ્રતિમાં જ છે. ઈસુ જ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જે બધી વસ્તુઓનું સર્જન કરવામાં આવ્યું છે તેનો શાસક છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="COL.1.16" />તેના સાર્મથ્ય વડે દરેક વસ્તુનું સર્જન કરવામાં
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આવ્યું-આકાશની વસ્તુઓ, પૃથ્વીની વસ્તુઓ, દૃશ્યમાન અને અદૃશ્ય વસ્તુઓ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સમગ્ર આત્મીય સત્તા, અધિકારીઓ,
</q>
<q style="q1">દરેક વસ્તુનું સર્જન ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા અને ખ્રિસ્ત માટે જ કરવામાં આવ્યું.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="COL.1.17" />કોઈ પણ વસ્તુના સર્જન પહેલા ખ્રિસ્ત હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના જ કારણે દરેક વસ્તુમાં સાતત્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="COL.1.18" />ખ્રિસ્ત તો શરીરનું એટલે મંડળીનું શિર છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે આરંભ, એટલે મૂએલાંઓમાંથી પ્રથમ ઊઠેલો છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">કે જેથી સઘળામાં તે શ્રેષ્ઠ થાય.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="19" bcv="COL.1.19" />કેમ કે તેનામાં સર્વ પ્રકારની સંપૂર્ણતા રહે એમ બાપને પસંદ પડયું; તેનુ પોતાનું જીવન પરિપૂર્ણ ખ્રિસ્તમાં હતું તેથી દેવ પ્રસન્ન હતો.
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="20" bcv="COL.1.20" />દેવ પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુને પોતાના માટે ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા પુનઃપ્રાપ્ત કરીને પ્રસન્ન થયો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પૃથ્વી પરની અને આકાશની વસ્તુઓ.
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવે વધસ્તંભના ખ્રિસ્તના રક્ત (મરણ) દ્વારા શાંતિ કરાવી.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="COL.1.21" />એક સમયે તમે દેવથી વિખૂટા પડી ગયેલા. મનમાં તો તમે દેવના શત્રું હતા, કારણ કે જે દુષ્ટ આચરણ તમે કરેલું તે દેવ વિરુંદ્ધ હતું.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="COL.1.22" />પરંતુ હવે ખ્રિસ્તે તમને ફરીથી દેવના મિત્ર બનાવી દીઘા છે. જ્યારે તે તેના શરીરમાં હતો, ત્યારે ખ્રિસ્તે તેના મરણ દ્વારા આમ કર્યુ. તે તમને દેવ સમક્ષ લઈ જઈ શકે તેથી ખ્રિસ્તે આમ કર્યુ. તે તમને દેવ સમક્ષ એવા લોકો તરીકે પ્રસ્તુત કરે છે કે જે પવિત્ર છે, જેનામાં કોઈ ક્ષતિ નથી, અને દેવ જેને પાપો ગણી તમને પાપી ન ઠેરવી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="COL.1.23" />જો તમે સાંભળેલ સુવાર્તામાં વિશ્વાસ ધરાવતા રહેશો, તો ખ્રિસ્ત આમ કરશે. તમારે તમારા વિશ્વાસમાં સ્થાપિત અને દ્રઢ બનવાનું ચાલુ રાખવું જોઈએ. સુવાર્તાએ જે આશા તમને પ્રદાન કરી છે તેમાંથી તમારે કદાપિ ચલિત થવું જોઈએ નહિ. અને તે સુવાર્તા આખા વિશ્વમાં પ્રગટ થઈ છે. હું પાઉલ, તે સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરવામાં મદદ કરું છું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મંડળી માટે પાઉલનું કાર્ય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="COL.1.24" />તમારા માટે મેં જે દુઃખો સહન કર્યા છે તેનાથી હું હમણાં આનંદ અનુભવું છું. ખ્રિસ્તે હજુ પણ તેના શરીર, મંડળી, દ્વારા ઘણી યાતનાઓ ભોગવવી પડશે. જે પીડા ભોગવવાની છે તેને હું મારા શરીરમાં સ્વીકારું છું. હું તેના શરીર, મંડળી માટે યાતના સહું છું.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="COL.1.25" />દેવે મને વિશિષ્ટ કાર્ય સોંપેલું તેથી હું મંડળીનો સેવક બન્યો. આ કાર્ય તમને મદદરૂપ થવાનું છે. મારું કાર્ય સંપૂર્ણપણે દેવની વાત જણાવવાનું છે.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="COL.1.26" />પ્રારંભકાળથી જ જેને ગુપ્ત રાખવામાં આવ્યું છે તેવો ઉપદેશ ગૂઢ સત્ય છે. આ સત્યને સર્વ સંતોથી ગુપ્ત રાખવામાં આવેલું. પરંતુ હવે તે ગુઢ સત્યને દેવના સંતો સમક્ષ જાહેર કરવામાં આવ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="COL.1.27" />તેના લોકો આ સમૃદ્ધિ અને મહિમાનું સત્ય જાનો તેવો નિર્ણય દેવે કર્યો. તે મહિમાની આશા તમામ લોકો માટે છે. તે સત્ય જે તમારામાં છે, તે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત પોતે જ છે જે મહિમાની આશા છે.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="COL.1.28" />દરેક માણસને ખ્રિસ્તમાં સંપૂર્ણ થયેલો રજૂ કરીએ એ માટે અમે તેની વાત પ્રગટ કરીએ છીએ. અને દરેક માણસને બોધ કરીએ છીએ તથા સર્વ પ્રકારના જ્ઞાનનો ઉપયોગ કરીએ છીએ. બધા જ લોકોને અમે દેવ સમક્ષ એવા પ્રસ્તુત કરવા માંગીએ છીએ કે જેઓ ખ્રિસ્તમાં આત્મિક રીતે સંપૂર્ણ થયેલા છે.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="COL.1.29" />આમ કરવા માટે, ખ્રિસ્તે મને પ્રદાન કરી છે તે મહાન શક્તિનો હું કાર્ય અને સંઘર્ષ કરવામાં ઉપયોગ કરું છું. તે શક્તિ મારા જીવનમાં કાર્યાન્વિત બની છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="COL.2.1" />તમને મદદ કરવા માટે હું ઘણી જહેમત ઉઠાવી રહ્યો છું તે તમે જાણો એમ હું ઈચ્છુ છું. અને લાવદિકિયાના લોકોને જેઓ મને કદાપિ મળ્યા નથી તેઓને પણ હું મદદ કરવા પ્રયાસ કરી રહ્યો છું.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="COL.2.2" />તેઓ વિશ્વાસમાં સમૃદ્ધ અને શક્તિશાળી બને જે સમજશક્તિ દ્વારા આવે છે અને પ્રેમ વડે એકબીજા સાથે જોડાય તેમ હું ઈચ્છુ છું. સમજશક્તિ દ્વારા જે દ્રઢ વિશ્વાસ ઉદભવે છે, તેમાં તેઓ સમૃદ્ધ બને તેમ હું ઈચ્છુ છું. દેવે જેને જાહેર કર્યુ છે તે મર્મથી તેઓ સંપૂર્ણપણે વાકેફ થાય તેમ હું ઈચ્છુ છું. તે સત્ય સ્વયં ખ્રિસ્ત જ છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="COL.2.3" />ખ્રિસ્તમાં બધા જ જ્ઞાન તથા બુદ્ધિનો ખજાનો સુરક્ષિત રખાયેલો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="COL.2.4" />હું તમને આ બાબતો એટલા માટે જણાવું છું કે કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ તમને એવા ખ્યાલોથી મૂર્ખ ન બનાવે કે જે સારા લાગે ખરાં, પણ હોય ખોટા.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="COL.2.5" />હું સદેહે તમારી સાથે નથી, પરંતુ મારું હૃદય તો તમારી સાથે જ છે. તમારું સારું જીવન અને ખ્રિસ્ત પ્રત્યેનો દ્રઢ વિશ્વાસ જોઈને મને આનંદ થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તમય જીવન જીવવાનું ચાલુ રાખો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="COL.2.6" />તમે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ પ્રભુને સ્વીકાર્યો છે. તેથી કોઈ પણ પરિવર્તન લાવ્યા વિના તેને અનુસરવાનું ચાલુ રાખો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="COL.2.7" />તમારે ફક્ત ખ્રિસ્ત પર જ આધારિત રહેવું. જીવન અને સાર્મથ્ય તેના તરફથી આવે છે, તમને સત્ય શીખવવામાં આવ્યુ છે. તમારે તે સત્ય ઉપદેશ અંગે દ્રઢ રહેવાનું ચાલુ જ રાખવું જોઈએ. અને હંમેશા આભારસ્તુતિ કરવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="COL.2.8" />જે અર્થહીન હોય તેવા વ્યર્થ ખ્યાલો કે શબ્દો વડે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તમને દોરે નહિ તે અંગે સાવધ રહો. તેવા ખ્યાલો ખ્રિસ્ત તરફથી નહિ, પરંતુ લોકો તરફથી આવતા હોય છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="COL.2.9" />દેવ સંપૂર્ણપણે ખ્રિસ્તમાં નિવાસ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="COL.2.10" />અને ખ્રિસ્તમાં તમે સંપૂર્ણ છો. તમારે બીજા કશાની આવશ્યકતા જ નથી. બધા જ શાસકો અને સત્તાઓના ઈસુ જ શાસક છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="COL.2.11" />ખ્રિસ્તમાં તમને વિવિધ પ્રકારની સુન્નત મળી હતી. જે સુન્નત કેટલાક માણસોના હાથથી કરવામાં આવી ન હતી. મારો મતલબ છે કે તમારી પાપી જાતના સાર્મથ્યથી તમને મુક્ત કરવામાં આવેલા. ખ્રિસ્ત તો આ જ પ્રકારની સુન્નત કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="COL.2.12" />જ્યારે તમે બાપ્તિસ્મા પામ્યા, ત્યારે તમારી ર્જીણજાત મૃત્યુ પામી અને ખ્રિસ્તની સાથે તમે દટાયા. અને તે બાપ્તિસ્મામાં ખ્રિસ્તની સાથે તમને ઉઠાડવામાં આવ્યા, કારણ કે દેવના સાર્મથ્યમાં તમને વિશ્વાસ હતો. જ્યારે તેણે ખ્રિસ્તને મૂએલામાંથી ઉઠાડયો ત્યારે દેવના સાર્મથ્યને દર્શાવ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="COL.2.13" />તમે તમારા પાપી સ્વભાવ અને તમારી પાપી કાયાની તાકાતથી બંધાયેલા હતા, તેથી તમે આત્મિક રીતે મૂએલા હતા. પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે દેવે તમને જીવતા કર્યા અને દેવે આપણા પાપોની માફી આપી.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="COL.2.14" />આપણે દેવના નિયમનો ભંગ કર્યો તેથી આપણે દેવાદાર બન્યા. જે નિયમોને અનુસરવામાં આપણે નિષ્ફળ રહ્યાં, તેને કરજની યાદી દર્શાવે છે. પરંતુ દેવે આપણું બધું જ કરજ માફ કર્યુ. દેવે આપણું કરજ લઈ લીધું અને તેને વધસ્તંભ પર ખીલાથી જડી દીધું.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="COL.2.15" />આત્મિક શાસકો અને સત્તાઓને દેવે પરાજીત કર્યો. વધસ્તંભ વડે દેવે જય મેળવ્યો અને તે શાસકો અને સત્તાઓને પરાજીત કર્યા. દેવે જગતને બતાવ્યું કે તેઓ સાર્મથ્યહીન હતા.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">માનવનિર્મિત નિયમોને ન અનુસરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="COL.2.16" />તેથી કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિને તમારા માટે ખાવાપીવા અંગેના કે યહૂદી રિવાજો. (ઉત્સવો, ચાંદરાત,
<f caller="+"><fr>2:16
</fr><fk>ચાંદરાત
</fk><ft>યહૂદિ મહિનાનો પ્રથમ દિવસ. યહૂદિ લોકો માટે આ પવિત્ર દિવસ ગણાતો.</ft></f> કે વિશ્રામવાર) વિષે કોઈ તમને દોષિત ન ઠરાવે. કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિને આ વિષે તમારા માટે નિયમો ન ઘડવા દો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="COL.2.17" />ભૂતકાળમાં, આ બાબતો પડછાયારૂપ હતી કે જેનું આગમન થઈ રહ્યું છે તે દર્શાવતી હતી. પરંતુ નૂતન બાબતો કે જેનું આગમન થવાનું હતું તે ખ્રિસ્તમાં દેખાઈ છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="COL.2.18" />કેટલાક લોકો નમ્રતા અને દૂતોની સેવા કરવા ઈચ્છતા હોય, એવું વર્તન કરે છે. તે લોકો હમેશા જે દર્શનો તેઓએ જોયા હોય તેના વિષે કહેતા રહે છે. તે લોકોને ન કહેવા દો કે, “તમે આમ કરતા નથી, તેથી તમે ખોટા છો.” તે લોકો મૂર્ખ અભિમાનથી ભરપૂર છે. કારણ કે તેઓ ફક્ત માનવ વિચારોને જ વિચારી શકે, દેવના વિચારોને નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="COL.2.19" />તે લોકો તેમની જાતને શિરનાં નિયંત્રણ હેઠળ રાખતા નથી. સમગ્ર શરીર ખ્રિસ્ત પર આધારિત હોય છે. ખ્રિસ્તને (શિર) લીધે જ શરીરનાં બધા જ અવયવો એકબીજાની દરકાર રાખે છે અને એકબીજાને મદદ કરે છે. આ શરીરને મજબૂત બનાવે છે. અને તેને સંગઠિત કરે છે. અને તેથી દેવ જે રીતે ઈચ્છે છે તે રીતે શરીર વિકાસ પામે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="COL.2.20" />તમે ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે મૂઆ અને દુન્યવી નિરર્થક નિયમોથી મુક્ત થયેલા છો. તેથી તમે હજુ પણ આ દુનિયા સાથે સંકળયેલા હોય તમે વર્તો છો? મારો આ મતલબ છે, કે શા માટે આવા નિયમો પાળો છો:
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="COL.2.21" />“આ ખાશો નહિ,” “પેલું ચાખવું નહિ,” “પેલી વસ્તુને અડકશો નહિ?”
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="COL.2.22" />આ નિમયો એવી દુન્યવી વસ્તુઓ વિષે વાતચીત કરી રહ્યાં છે કે જેનો ઉપયોગ કર્યા પછી જેનું કોઈ અસ્તિત્વ જ રહેતું નથી. આ નિયમો તો ફક્ત લોકોથી મળેલ આજ્ઞા તથા શિક્ષણ છે, દેવથી નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="COL.2.23" />આ નિયમો સારા લાગે છે. પરંતુ આ નિયમો તો બસ માનવ નિર્મિત ધર્મના ભાગરૂપ છે કે જે માણસોને નમ્રતાનો ઢોંગ રચવા પ્રેરે છે, અને તેઓને દેહદમન માટે પ્રેરે છે. પરંતુ આ નિયમો લોકોને તેઓનો પાપી સ્વભાવ જે દુષ્કર્મો ઈચ્છે તે કરાવે છે, તેને અટકાવવામાં મદદકર્તા નથી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તમાં તમારું નવું જીવન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="COL.3.1" />ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે તમને મૂએલામાંથી ઉઠાડવામાં આવેલા. તેથી તે વસ્તુઓ, જે આકાશમાં છે તે પ્રાપ્ત કરવા માટે ઈચ્છા કરો. મારો મતલબ છે કે એ વસ્તુઓ કે જ્યાં ખ્રિસ્ત દેવના જમણા હાથે બેઠેલો છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="COL.3.2" />ફક્ત આકાશની વસ્તુઓ વિષે જ વિચાર કરો, પૃથ્વી પરની વસ્તુઓ વિષે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="COL.3.3" />તમારી જૂની પાપી જાત મૃત્યુ પામી છે, અને ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે દેવમાં તમારું નવું જીવન ગુપ્ત રાખેલ છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="COL.3.4" />ખ્રિસ્ત જ તમારું જીવન છે. જ્યારે તેનું પુનરાગમન થશે, ત્યારે તમે તેના મહિમાના સહભાગી બનશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="COL.3.5" />એ માટે પૃથ્વી પરના તમામ અવયવો, એટલે વ્યભિચાર, અશુદ્ધતા, વિષયવાસના, ભૂંડી ઈચ્છા તથા દ્રવ્યલોભ જે મૂર્તિપૂજા છે, તેઓને મારી નાખો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="COL.3.6" />એ કામો દેવને ક્રોધિત કરે છે.
<f caller="+"><fr>3:16
</fr><fk>“દેવને … વિરુદ્ધ.”
</fk><ft>કેટલીક ગ્રીક નકલોમાં ઉમેર્યું છે:
</ft></f>
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="COL.3.7" />ભૂતકાળના તમારા દુષ્ટ જીવનમાં પણ તમે આ જ બાબતો કરી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="COL.3.8" />પરંતુ હવે તમારા જીવનમાં આ વસ્તુઓને જાકારો આપો: જેવી કે રીસ, બીજા લોકોની લાગણી દુભાવે તેવી વસ્તુઓ બોલવી કે કરવી, અને વાતચીત દરમ્યાન અપશબ્દોનો ઉપયોગ કરવો, અને વાતચીત દરમ્યાન અપશબ્દોનો ઉપયોગ કરવો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="COL.3.9" />એકબીજા સાથે જૂઠ્ઠું ન બોલો. શા માટે? કારણ કે તમે તમારું પાપી જીવન તથા તેવાં કાર્યો જે તમે અગાઉ કરેલાં તે તો ક્યારના ય છોડી દીધાં છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="COL.3.10" />તમે નવું જીવન શરૂ કર્યુ છે. તમારા નવા જીવનમાં તમે નવા બનાવાયા છો. જેણે તમારું સર્જન કર્યુ છે તેના જેવા તમે બની રહ્યાં છો. આ નવું જીવન તમને દેવનું સત્ય જ્ઞાન આપે છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="COL.3.11" />નવા જીવનમાં ગ્રીક અને યહૂદિ લોકો વચ્ચે કોઈ ભિન્નતા નથી. જે લોકોની સુન્નત કરવામાં આવી છે, અને જેની સુન્નત કરવામાં નથી આવતી તેવા લોકો વચ્ચે કોઈ ભિન્નતા નથી. અથવા તો તે લોકો કે જે વિદેશીઓ અથવા સિથિયનો છે તેમની વચ્ચે કોઈ ભિન્નતા નથી. સ્વતંત્ર લોકો અને દાસો વચ્ચે પણ કોઈ જ ભિન્નતા નથી. પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્ત તો બધા જ વિશ્વાસીઓમાં વસે છે. અને ખ્રિસ્ત સર્વ તથા સર્વમાં છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="COL.3.12" />દેવે તમને પસંદ કર્યા છે અને તમને તેના પવિત્ર લોકો બનાવ્યા છે. તે તમને પ્રેમ કરે છે. તેથી હમેશા આ વસ્તુઓ કરો: ધૈર્યવાન ને દયાવાન બનો, ભલાઈ કરો, દીન, નમ્ર, સહનશીલ બનો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="COL.3.13" />એકબીજાને સહન કરો, એકબીજાને માફ કરો. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તમારી વિરુંદ્ધ કોઈ અનુચિત આચરણ કરે, તો તેને તમે માફ કરો. બીજા લોકોને માફ કરો કારણ કે પ્રભુએ તમને માફ કર્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="COL.3.14" />આ બધી જ બાબતો કરો; પરંતુ તે બધાથી મહત્વપૂર્ણ એ છે કે, તમે એકબીજાને પ્રેમ કરો. તમને દરેકને સંપૂર્ણ એકતામાં સાંકળતું બંધન જ પ્રેમ છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="COL.3.15" />ખ્રિસ્ત જે શાંતિ પ્રદાન કરે છે તેના વડે તમારા વિચારોને નિયંત્રિત થવા દો. શાંતિ પ્રાપ્તિ અર્થે તમે બધા એક જ શરીર
<f caller="+"><fr>3:15
</fr><fk>શરીર
</fk><ft>ખ્રિસ્તનું આત્મિક શરીર, અર્થાત મંડળી કે તેના લોકો.</ft></f> બનવા માટે તેડાયેલા છો. હમેશા આભારસ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="COL.3.16" />ખ્રિસ્તની વાતો સર્વ જ્ઞાનમાં પુષ્કળતાથી તમારામાં રહે. એકબીજાને શીખવવા માટે અને સક્ષમ બનાવવા તમારા સંપૂર્ણ જ્ઞાનનો ઉપયોગ કરો. ગીતો, સ્તોત્રો અને આત્મિક ગાયનોથી તમારા હૃદયમાં દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="COL.3.17" />તમે જે કહો અને કરો તે સર્વ પ્રભુ ઈસુના નામે થવા દો. અને તમારા આ દરેક કાર્યોમાં, દેવ બાપની આભારસ્તુતિ ઈસુ દ્વારા વ્યક્ત કરો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અન્ય લોકો સાથે તમારું નવુ જીવન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="COL.3.18" />પત્નીઓ, તમારા પતિની સત્તાને આધીન રહો. પ્રભુમાં આ કામ કરવાની સુયોગ્ય બાબત છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="COL.3.19" />પતિઓ, તમે તમારી પત્નીઓ પર પ્રેમ કરો, અને તેમના પ્રત્યે કઠોર ન થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="COL.3.20" />બાળકો, તમારા માબાપોની દરેક આજ્ઞાને અનુસરો, આ પ્રભુને પ્રસન્ન કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="COL.3.21" />પિતાઓ, તમારા બાળકોને ચીડવો નહિ. જો તમે તેમના પ્રત્યે કઠોર બનશો, તો પછી તેઓ પ્રયત્નો કરવાનું જ છોડી દેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="COL.3.22" />દાસો, તમારા પૃથ્વી પરના માલિકોની દરેક આજ્ઞા પાળો. તમારો માલિક તમને જોઈ શકે તેમ ન હોય તેવા સમયે પણ તમારા માલિકની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરો. તમે તો ખરેખર લોકોને ખુશ કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરી રહ્યા નથી, તમે તો પ્રભુને પ્રસન્ન કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરી રહ્યા છો. તેથી પ્રામાણિકપણે આજ્ઞાપાલન કરો કારણ કે તમે પ્રભુનો આદર કરો છો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="COL.3.23" />તમે જે કરી રહ્યા છો તે દરેક કાર્યમાં, તમે જેટલું થઈ શકે તેટલું શ્રેષ્ઠ કામ કરો. એ રીતે કામ કરો, જાણે લોકો માટે નહિ, પરંતુ પ્રભુ માટે કાર્ય કરી રહ્યા છો.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="COL.3.24" />યાદ રાખો કે પ્રભુ તરફથી તમને બદલો મળવાનો છે. તે તમને, તેણે જે તેના લોકોને વચન આપેલું તે પ્રદાન કરશે. તમે તો પ્રભુ ખ્રિસ્તની સેવા કરી રહ્યા છો.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="COL.3.25" />યાદ રાખો કે કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ અનુચિત કાર્ય કરશે તે તેના અનુચિત કાર્યને કારણે સજાને પાત્ર બનશે. પ્રભુ ને ત્યાં પક્ષપાત નથી.
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</p>

<c id="4" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="COL.4.1" />ઘણીઓ, જે બાબતો તમારા સેવકો માટે સુંદર અને ન્યાયી હોય તે તેમને આપો. યાદ રાખો કે આકાશમાં તમારો પણ ઘણી છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તીઓને કેટલીક બાબતો કરવા પાઉલ જણાવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="COL.4.2" />પ્રાર્થનામાં ખંતથી મંડયા રહો. અને જ્યારે તમે પ્રાર્થના કરો, ત્યારે હમેશા દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરો.
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<v id="3" bcv="COL.4.3" />અમારા માટે પણ પ્રાર્થના કરો. પ્રાર્થના કરો કે દેવ અમને તેની સુવાર્તા ફેલાવવાની તક આપે. પ્રાર્થના કરો કે દેવે જે ખ્રિસ્ત વિષેનું મર્મ પ્રકાશિત કર્યુ છે તેનો અમે ઉપદેશ આપી શકીએ. હું કારાગૃહમાં છું કારણ કે હું આ સત્યનો ઉપદેશ આપું છુ.
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<v id="4" bcv="COL.4.4" />પ્રાર્થના કરો કે આ સત્યને હું લોકોને સ્પષ્ટ જાહેર કરી શકું. આ જ મારે કરવું જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="COL.4.5" />જે લોકો વિશ્વાસુ નથી તેવા લોકો સાથે ડહાપણથી વર્તો. તમારા સમયનો સદુપયોગ કરો.
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<v id="6" bcv="COL.4.6" />જ્યારે તમે વાતચીત કરો, ત્યારે તમે હમેશા માયાળુ અને બુદ્ધિમાન રહો. પછી જ તમે પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિને તમારે જે રીતે ઉત્તર આપવો જોઈએ તે રીતે આપી શકશો.
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</p>
<s style="s">પાઉલ સાથેના લોકો વિષેના સમાચાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="COL.4.7" />તુખિકસ ખ્રિસ્તમાં મારો વહાલો ભાઈ છે. પ્રભુમાં તે મારી સાથે વિશ્વાસુ સેવક તથા સાથી દાસ છે. તે તમને મારી સાથે બની રહેલી તમામ ઘટનાઓ જણાવશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="COL.4.8" />તેથી જ હું એને મોકલી રહ્યો છું. અમે કેવી સ્થિતિમાં છીએ, તે તમે જાણો એમ હું ઈચ્છુ છું. અને તમને પ્રોત્સાહિત કરવા માટે પણ હું એને મોકલી રહ્યો છું.
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<v id="9" bcv="COL.4.9" />ઓનસિમસની સાથે હું એને મોકલી રહ્યો છું. ઓનેસિમસ ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસુ અને વહાલો ભાઈ છે. તે તમારા સમૂહમાંથી આવે છે. તુખિકસ અને ઓનેસિમસ તમને અહીં જે કંઈ બન્યું છે તે જણાવશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="COL.4.10" />અરિસ્તાર્ખસ તમને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે. તે મારી સાથે અહીં કેદી છે. અને માર્ક, બાર્નાબાસનો પિત્રાઈ પણ તમને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે. (માર્ક અંગે શું કરવું તે ક્યારનું મેં તમને જણાવી દીધું છે. જો તે ત્યાં આવે, તો તમે તેને આવકારજો.)
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<v id="11" bcv="COL.4.11" />ઈસુ પણ (તે યુસ્તસના નામે પણ ઓળખાય છે) તમને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે. આ જ ફક્ત યહૂદી વિશ્વાસુઓ છે કે જે મારી સાથે દેવના રાજ્ય માટે કાર્ય કરે છે. તેઓ મારા માટે દિલાસારુંપ બની રહ્યા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="COL.4.12" />એપાફ્રાસ પણ તમને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે. તે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો સેવક છે. અને તે તમારા સંઘનો છે. તે હમેશા તમારા માટે આગ્રહથી પ્રાર્થના કરે છે. તે પ્રાર્થે છે કે તમે આત્મિક રીતે પરિપકવ બનવા માટે વિકાસ પામો અને દેવ તમારા માટે ઈચ્છે છે તે દરેક વસ્તુ તમને પ્રાપ્ત થાય.
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<v id="13" bcv="COL.4.13" />હું જાણું છું કે તેણે તમારા માટે અને લાવદિકિયા અને હિયરાપુલિસના લોકો માટે કઠોર પરિશ્રમ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="COL.4.14" />દેમાસ અને આપણા વહાલા મિત્ર લૂક વેંદ પણ ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="COL.4.15" />લાવદિકિયાના ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહેજો. અને નુમ્ફા અને મંડળી કે જે તેના ઘરમાં મળે છે, તેમને પણ ક્ષેમકુશળ કહેજો.
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<v id="16" bcv="COL.4.16" />આ પત્ર તમારી આગળ વાંચ્યાં પછી, તે લાવદિકિયાની મંડળીમાં પણ વંચાવવા તેની કાળજી રાખજો. અને લાવદિકિયામાં જે પત્ર મેં લખ્યો છે તે પણ તમે વાંચજો.
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<v id="17" bcv="COL.4.17" />આર્ખિપસને કહેજો કે, “તને પ્રભુએ જે કામ સોંપ્યું છે તે પૂર્ણ કરવા સાવધ રહેજે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="COL.4.18" />હું પાઉલ, મારા સ્વહસ્તે આ પત્ર લખી રહ્યો છું અને તમને ક્ષેમકુશળ પાઠવી રહ્યો છુ, કારાગારમાં મને યાદ કરજો. દેવની કૃપા (દયા) તમારા પર થાઓ.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="1TH"><id id="1TH">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>1 થેસ્સલોનિકીઓ
</h><toc level="1">થેસ્સલોનિકીઓને પહેલો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">1 થેસ્સલોનિકીઓ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">થેસ્સલોનિકીઓને
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">પહેલો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1TH.1.1" />પાઉલ, સિલ્વાનુસ અને તિમોથી તરફથી થેસ્સલોનિકામા રહેતી મંડળી, તે મડંળી જોગ, દેવ બાપમાં અને પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં તમને કૃપા અને શાંતિ થાઓ.
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</p>
<s style="s">થેસ્સલોનિકાના લોકોનો વિશ્વાસ અને જીવન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="1TH.1.2" />જ્યારે અમે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ ત્યારે અમે હંમેશા તમારા બધાનું સ્મરણ કરીએ છીએ અને તમારા બધા માટે અમે દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરીએ છીએ.
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<v id="3" bcv="1TH.1.3" />જ્યારે અમે દેવ બાપને પ્રાર્થીએ છીએ ત્યારે તમારા વિશ્વાસને કારણે તમે જે કાર્યો કર્યા છે તેના માટે અમે સતત દેવનો આભાર માનીએ છીએ. અને તમારા પ્રેમને લીધે તમે જે કાર્યો કર્યો છે તેના માટે પણ અમે દેવનો આભાર માનીએ છીએ. અને તમે આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં તમારી આશામાં દૃઢ બની રહો તે માટે અમે તેનો આભાર માનીએ છીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1TH.1.4" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, દેવ તમને પ્રેમ કરે છે. અને અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે તમને તેના બનવા માટે તેણે પસંદ કર્યા છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1TH.1.5" />અમે તમને સુવાર્તા પહોંચાડી પરંતુ અમે ફક્ત શબ્દોનો જ ઉપયોગ ન કર્યો, અમે સુવાર્તાને સાર્મથ્યસહિત લઈ આવ્યા. અમે તેને પવિત્ર આત્મા અને પૂર્ણ જ્ઞાન સહિત લઈ આવ્યા જે સત્ય છે. તમારી સાથે અમે ઉપસ્થિત હતા ત્યારે અમે કેવું જીવન જીવતા હતા તે પણ તમે જાણો છો. અમે તમને મદદકર્તા થઈએ એ રીતે જીવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="6" bcv="1TH.1.6" />અને તમે અમારા જેવા અને પ્રભુ જેવા બન્યા. તમે ઘણું સહન કર્યુ, પરંતુ તમે આનંદપૂર્વક પ્રભુની વાત સ્વીકારી. પવિત્ર આત્માએ તમને તે આનંદ આપ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1TH.1.7" />તમે મકદોનિયા અને અખાયામાં તમામ વિશ્વાસીઓ માટે નમૂનારૂપ બન્યા.
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<v id="8" bcv="1TH.1.8" />તમારા દ્વારા મકદોનિયા અને અખાયામાં પ્રભુની વાત ફેલાઈ અને દેવ પ્રતિ તમારો વિશ્વાસ સર્વત્ર પ્રગટ થયો છે. તેથી તમારા વિશ્વાસ વિષે અમારે કાંઈ કહેવાની જરુંર નથી.
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<v id="9" bcv="1TH.1.9" />અમે જ્યારે તમારી સાથે હતા ત્યારે જે સદભાવપૂર્વક તમે અમને સ્વીકાર્યો તે વિષે લોકો સર્વત્ર વાત કરે છે. તમે કેવી રીતે મૂર્તિપૂજા બંધ કરી જીવતા અને સાચા દેવની સેવા કરવા તરફ વળ્યા તે વિષે લોકો વાત કરે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="1TH.1.10" />તમે મૂર્તિપૂજા બંધ કરી અને હવે તમે આકાશમાંથી દેવનો દીકરો આવે તેની પ્રતીક્ષા કરો છો. દેવે તે દીકરાને મૂએલામાંથી ઉઠાડયો તે ઈસુ છે, કે જે આપણને દેવના આવનારા ન્યાયમાંથી બચાવે છે.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">થેસ્સાલોનિકામાં પાઉલનું કામ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1TH.2.1" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમે જાણો છો કે અમારી તમારી સાથેની મુલાકાત નિષ્ફળ નહોતી નીવડી.
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<v id="2" bcv="1TH.2.2" />અમે તમારી પાસે આવ્યા તે પહેલા, ફિલિપ્પીમાં અમારે ઘણું સહન કરવું પડયું હતું, ત્યાંના લોકો અમારા વિષે ઘણા કટુવચનો બોલ્યા. તમે આ બધા વિષે જાણો છો. અને અમે જ્યારે તમારી પાસે આવ્યા ત્યારે, ઘણા લોકો અમારી વિરૂદ્ધ હતા. પરંતુ આપણા દેવે અમને હિંમતવાન બનાવ્યા અને દેવ તેની સુવાર્તા તમને કહેવામાં અમને મદદરુંપ થયો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1TH.2.3" />અમે લોકોને બોધ આપીએ છીએ. કોઈએ પણ અમને મૂર્ખ બનાવ્યા નથી. અમે દુષ્ટ નથી. અમે લોકોને છેતરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતાં નથી. અમે જે કરીએ છીએ તે માટે અમારા કારણો નથી.
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<v id="4" bcv="1TH.2.4" />ના. અમે સુવાર્તા આપીએ છીએ કારણ કે સુવાર્તા આપવા માટે દેવે અમારી પરીક્ષા કરી છે અને અમારા પર વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો છે. તેથી જ્યારે અમે બોલીએ છીએ ત્યારે દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરીએ છીએ, નહિ કે માણસોને. દેવ એ એક છે જે અમારાં હૃદયોનો પારખનાર છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1TH.2.5" />તમે જાણો છો કે તમારા વિષે સારું બોલીને તમારી પ્રશંસા કરવાનો અમે કદ્દી પ્રયત્ન કર્યો નથી. અમારે તમારા પૈસા નથી જોઈતા કે તમારા થકી અમારે અમારો કોઈ સ્વાર્થ છુપાવાનો નથી. દેવ જાણે છે કે આ સત્ય છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="1TH.2.6" />અમે લોકો તરફથી, તમારા તરફથી, કે બીજા કોઈ તરફથી પ્રસંશાની અપેક્ષા નથી રાખતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1TH.2.7" />અમે ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રેરિતો છીએ. અને તેથી અમે જ્યારે તમારી પાસે હતા ત્યારે, તમારી પાસે અમુક કામ કરાવવા માટે અમે અમારી સત્તાનો ઉપયોગ કરી શક્યા હોત. પરંતુ જે રીતે એક મા પોતાના બાળકનું જતન કરે છે, તે રીતે અમે તમારા પ્રત્યે વિનમ્ર વર્તાવ કરેલો.
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<v id="8" bcv="1TH.2.8" />અમે તમને બહુ પ્રેમ કર્યો. તેથી અમે દેવની સુવાર્તામાં તમારી સાથે સહભાગી થતા હતા તે એક આનંદ હતો એટલું જ નહિ; અમે અમારા જીવનની સાથે તમારા જીવનમાં સહભાગી તથા પ્રસન્ન થયા હતા.
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<v id="9" bcv="1TH.2.9" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમને યાદ છે કે રાત અને દિવસ અમે કેટલો કઠોર પરિશ્રમ કર્યો હતો. જ્યારે અમે દેવની સુવાર્તા તમને આપતા હતા ત્યારે તમારી પાસેથી વળતર લઈને તમને અમે બોજારૂપ બનવા નહોતા ઈચ્છતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1TH.2.10" />જ્યારે તમો વિશ્વાસીઓની સાથે અમે હતા ત્યારે, અમે પવિત્ર અને સત્યનિષ્ઠ જીવન નિષ્કલંક રીતે જીવ્યા હતા, તમે જાણો છો કે આ સત્ય છે અને દેવ જાણે છે કે આ સત્ય છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1TH.2.11" />તમે જાણે છો કે જેમ બાપ પોતાનાં બાળકો સાથે જેવું વર્તન કરે, તેવું વર્તન અમે તમારી સાથે કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="12" bcv="1TH.2.12" />અમે તમને પ્રોત્સાહિત કર્યા, અમે તમને રાહત પહોંચાડી, અને અમે તમને દેવ માટે સારું જીવન જીવવા માટે કહ્યું. દેવ તેના રાજ્ય અને મહિમા માટે તમને તેડે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1TH.2.13" />જે રીતે, તમે દેવનો સંદેશો સ્વીકાર્યો તે માટે અમે દેવની સતત આભારસ્તુતિ કરીએ છીએ. તમે અમારી પાસેથી તે વચન સાંભળ્યુ, અને તમે તેને માણસોનું નહિ પરંતુ દેવના વચનોની જેમ સ્વીકાર્યુ અને તે ખરેખર દેવનું વચન જ છે. અને જે લોકો તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તેનામાં તે કાર્યશીલ બને છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="1TH.2.14" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમે યહૂદિયામાં ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં બનેલી દેવની મંડળીઓ જેવા છો. યહૂદિયામાં દેવના લોકોએ ત્યાંના બીજા યહૂદીઓ દ્વારા ઘણી અનિષ્ટ બાબતો સહન કરી હતી. અને તમે પણ તે જ અનિષ્ટ બાબતો તમારા પોતાના દેશવાસીઓ દ્વારા સહન કરી રહયાં છો.
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<v id="15" bcv="1TH.2.15" />તે યહૂદિઓએ પ્રભુ ઈસુને મારી નાખ્યો. અને તેઓએ પ્રબોધકોને પણ મારી નાખ્યા. અને તે યહૂદિઓએ આપણને તે પ્રદેશ યહૂદિયાં છોડી જવા દબાણ કર્યુ, દેવ તેઓનાથી પ્રસન્ન નથી. તેઓ તો બધાજ લોકોની વિરૂદ્ધ છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="1TH.2.16" />હા, તેઓ આપણને બિનયહૂદિઓને શિક્ષણ આપતા રોકવા માગે છે. અમે બિનયહૂદિઓને શિક્ષણ આપીએ છીએ, જેથી તેઓનું તારણ થઈ શકે. પરંતુ પેલા યહૂદિઓ તો તેઓનાં કરેલાં જ પાપમાં એક પછી એક પાપ ઉમેરતાં જાય છે. દેવનો કોપ હવે તેઓના પર છવાઈ ચૂક્યો છે.
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<s style="s">તેઓની ફરીથી મુલાકાત લેવાની પાઉલની ઈચ્છા
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1TH.2.17" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, અલ્પ સમય માટે અમે તમારાથી વિખૂટા પડયા. (અમે ત્યાં તમારી સાથે ન હતા, પરંતુ વિચારોથી તો અમે તમારી સાથેજ હતા.) તમને મળવાની અમારી ઉત્કટ ઈચ્છા હતી, અને તમને મળવા ખૂબ પ્રયત્નો પણ કર્યા.
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<v id="18" bcv="1TH.2.18" />હા, અમે તમારી પાસે આવવા માંગતા હતા. ખરેખર મેં, પાઉલે ત્યાં આવવા ઘણા પ્રયાસો કર્યા, પણ શેતાને અમને અટકાવ્યા.
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<v id="19" bcv="1TH.2.19" />તમે જ અમારી આશા, અમારો આનંદ, અને મુગટ છો જેના માટે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના આવવાના સમયે તેની સમક્ષ અમને અભિમાન થશે.
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<v id="20" bcv="1TH.2.20" />ખરેખર તમેજ અમારો મહિમા અને આનંદ છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="1-2" bcv="1TH.3.1" />અમે તમારા સુધી આવી શક્યા નહિ, પરંતુ થોડી વધારે પ્રતીક્ષા કરવી અમારાં માટે ખૂબ કઠિન હતું. તેથી અમે તિમોથીને તમારી પાસે મોકલવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો. અને અમે આથે સમાં એકલા રહેવાનું નક્કી કર્યુ, તિમોથી આપણો ભાઈ છે. તે દેવ સાથે ખ્રિસ્ત વિષેની સુવાર્તા લોકોને કહેવાનું કાર્ય કરે છે. અમે તિમોથીને તમારી પાસે તમારા વિશ્વાસમાં તમને દૃઢ કરવાને અને તમને ઉત્તેજન આપવાને મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="3" bcv="1TH.3.3" />અમે તિમોથીને મોકલ્યો જેથી તમારામાંનો કોઈ અત્યારે જે આપત્તિઓ છે, તેનાથી વિચલિત ન થાય. તમે પોતે પણ જાણો જ છો કે આપણા પર તો આવી મુશ્કેલીઓ આવશે જ.
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<v id="4" bcv="1TH.3.4" />જ્યારે અમે તમારી સાથે હતા, ત્યારે અમે તમને જણાવ્યું હતું કે, આપણે સહન કરવાનું થશે. અને તમે જાણો છો કે જે રીતે અમે કહ્યું હતું તે જ પ્રમાણે તે થયું.
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<v id="5" bcv="1TH.3.5" />તેથી જ તિમોથીને મેં તમારી પાસે મોકલ્યો, જેથી કરીને તમારા વિશ્વાસ વિષે હું જાણી શકું. હું વધારે પ્રતીક્ષા કરી શકું તેમ ન હતો તેથી મેં તેને મોકલ્યો. મને ભય હતો કે તે એક (શેતાન) કે જે લોકોનું પરીક્ષણ કરે છે તેણે તમારું પણ પરીક્ષણ કર્યુ હોય, અને તમારો પરાજય કર્યો હોય. તેથી અમારો કઠોર પરિશ્રમ વેડફાઈ ગયો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1TH.3.6" />પરંતુ તિમોથી તમારી પાસેથી અમારી પાસે પાછો આવ્યો. તેણે તમારા વિશ્વાસ અને પ્રેમના ખુશકારક સમાચાર અમને જ્ણાવ્યા. તિમોથીએ અમને જ્ણાવ્યું કે તમે હમેશા સારી ભાવનાથી અમારું સ્મરણ કરો છો. તેણે અમને જ્ણાવ્યું કે તમે અમને મળવા અત્યંત આતુર છો. અને અમારી સાથે પણ તેમ જ છે, અમે પણ તમને મળવા અત્યંત ઈચ્છીએ છીએ.
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<v id="7" bcv="1TH.3.7" />તેથી ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમારા વિષે જાણીને તમારા વિશ્વાસને કારણે અમને પ્રોત્સાહન મળ્યું છે. અમારે ઘણી મુશ્કેલીઓ અને પીડાઓ છે, છતાં પણ અમને સાંત્વન છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1TH.3.8" />જો તમે પ્રભુમાં દ્રઢ છો તો આપણું જીવન ખરેખર ભરપૂર છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="1TH.3.9" />તમારે કારણે અમારા દેવ આગળ અમે અત્યંત હર્ષ અનુભવીએ છે! તેથી તમારા માટે અમે દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરીએ છીએ. પરંતુ જે પરમ આનંદનો અનુભવ અમે કરીએ છીએ તેના માટે અમે દેવનો પૂરતો આભાર માની શકતા નથી.
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<v id="10" bcv="1TH.3.10" />દિવસ અને રાત્રે તમારા માટે અતિશય પ્રાર્થના કરી રહ્યાં છીએ. અમે પ્રાર્થી રહ્યાં છીએ કે તમારા વિશ્વાસમાં જે કઈ ન્યૂનતા હોય તે સંપૂર્ણ કરવા અમે ત્યાં આવી શકીએ, તમને પુનઃમળી શકીએ અને તમને આવશ્યક બધી જ વસ્તુઓ તમને પૂરી પાડી શકીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1TH.3.11" />અમે પ્રાર્થીએ છીએ કે દેવ આપણા બાપ અને આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ તમારા સુધી પહોંચવા માટેનો અમારો માર્ગ સરળ બનાવે.
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<v id="12" bcv="1TH.3.12" />અમે પ્રાર્થીએ છીએ કે પ્રભુ તમારામાં પ્રેમને વિકસિત કરે. અમે પ્રાર્થીએ છીએ કે તે તમારામાં એકબીજા અને અન્ય લોકો માટે ઉત્તરોત્તર પ્રેમ વધારે. અમે પ્રાર્થીએ કે જેમ અમે તમને પ્રેમ કરીએ છીએ તેમ તમે બધા જ લોકોને પ્રેમ કરો.
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<v id="13" bcv="1TH.3.13" />તમારા હૃદય સુદૃઢ બને તેથી અમે આમ પ્રાર્થીએ છીએ. તેથી જ્યારે આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ તેના સર્વ સંતો સહિત પધારે, ત્યારે દેવ આપણા બાપની હજૂરમાં તમે પવિત્ર અને નિર્દોષ બની શકો.
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<c id="4" />
<s style="s">દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરતું જીવન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1TH.4.1" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હવે મારે તમને બીજી કેટલીક વાતો કહેવાની છે. દેવને પ્રસન્ન કરે તે રીતે કેમ જીવવું તે વિષે અમે તમને દર્શાવ્યુ છે. અને તમે તે જ રીતે જીવી રહ્યાં છો. હવે અમે તમને પ્રભુ ઈસૂમાં જીવવા માટે વધુ ને વધુ આગ્રહ અને પ્રોત્સાહન આપીએ છીએ.
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<v id="2" bcv="1TH.4.2" />તમારે શું કરવું તે બાબતો જે અમે તમને કહેલી તે તમે જાણો છો, અમે તમને તે બાબતો પ્રભુ ઈસુના અધિકાર વડે જ્ણાવેલી છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="1TH.4.3" />દેવ ઈચ્છે છે કે, તમે પવિત્ર થાઓ. તમે વ્યભિચારથી દૂર રહો તમે તે ઈચ્છે છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="1TH.4.4" />તમારામાંની દરેક વ્યક્તિ શરીર પર નિયંત્રણ રાખવાનું શીખે તેમ દેવ ઈચ્છે છે. તમારા શરીરનો પવિત્રતામાં ઉપયોગ કરો કે જે દેવને સમ્માનિત કરે છે.<f caller="+"><fr>4:4
</fr><fk>તમારામાંની … છે
</fk><ft>અથવા, “દેવ તમારામાંના પ્રત્યેકને શીખવવા માંગે છે કે તમે તમારી પત્ની સાથે પવિત્રતામાં જીવો અને તેથી દેવને સન્માન મળે છે.”</ft></f>
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<v id="5" bcv="1TH.4.5" />તમારા શરીરનો ભોગ વિલાસ માટે ઉપયોગ ન કરો. જે લોકો દેવને જાણતા નથી તે તેમના શરીરનો તેવો ઉપયોગ કરે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="1TH.4.6" />તમારામાંના કોઈએ તમારા ભાઈ સાથે અનુચિત વ્યવહાર ન કરવો જોઈએ કે તેને છેતરવો પણ ન જોઈએ. જે લોકો આમ કરે છે તેમને પ્રભુ શિક્ષા કરશે. અમે ક્યારનું ય તમને એ બાબત વિષે જણાવ્યું છે અને ચેતવ્યા છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1TH.4.7" />દેવે આપણને પવિત્ર થવા તેડયા છે. તે આપણે અશુદ્ધ જીવન જીવીએ તેમ ઈચ્છતો નથી.
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<v id="8" bcv="1TH.4.8" />એ માટે જે વ્યક્તિ દેવના ઉપદેશનો અસ્વીકાર કરે છે તે માણસનો અસ્વીકાર કરતો નથી, તે દેવનો અસ્વીકાર કરે છે. અને દેવ એ એક છે જે તમને તેનો પવિત્ર આત્મા પ્રદાન કરી રહ્યો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1TH.4.9" />ખ્રિસ્તમાં તમારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો માટે પરસ્પર પ્રેમ રાખવા અંગે તમને કઈ લખવાની અમારે જરુંર નથી. દેવે તમને એકબીજાને પ્રેમ કરવા માટે બોધ આપ્યો જ છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="1TH.4.10" />સાચી રીતે સમગ્ર મકદોનિયાના બધા જ ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોને તમે પ્રેમ કરો છો. ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હવે તેઓને તમે વધુ પ્રેમ કરો માટે અમે તમને પ્રોત્સાહિત કરીએ છીએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1TH.4.11" />શાંતિપૂર્ણ જીવન માટે તમે જે કઈ કરી શકો તે કરો. તમારું પોતાનું કામકાજ સંભાળો. તમારું પોતાનું જ કામ કરો. તમને આમ કરવાનું અમે ક્યારનું જ જણાવેલ છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="1TH.4.12" />જો તમે આ બાબતો કરશો, તો જે લોકો વિશ્વાસીઓ નથી તે તમારી જીવનપદ્ધતિને માનની દષ્ટિથી જોશે. અને તમારે તમારી આવશ્યકતાઓ માટે બીજા પર આધારિત નહિ બનવું પડે.
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<s style="s">રભુનું આગમન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1TH.4.13" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, જે લોકો મૃત્યુ પામ્યા છે તેઓ વિષે તમે જાણો તેમ અમે ઈચ્છીએ છીએ. જેથી બીજા માણસો જેઓને આશા નથી અને ખેદ કરે છે તેમ તમે તેઓની જેમ ખેદ કરો એવું અમે ઈચ્છતા નથી.
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<v id="14" bcv="1TH.4.14" />અમે વિશ્વાસ કરીએ છીએ કે ઈસુ મરણ પામ્યો. પરંતુ અમે એમ પણ વિશ્વાસ કરીએ છીએ કે તે પાછો ઊઠયો. જેઓ ઈસુમાં મરણ પામ્યા છે તેઓને દેવ ફરી ઈસુ સાથે લાવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1TH.4.15" />અત્યારે અમે જે તમને જણાવી રહ્યાં છીએ તે પ્રભુનો પોતાનો જ સંદેશ છે. અમે કે જે અત્યારે જીવિત છીએ તે પ્રભુનું પુનરાગમન થાય ત્યારે પણ જીવિત હોઈએ. અમે કે જે ત્યારે જીવિત હોઈશું તે પ્રભુની સાથે હોઈશું. પરંતુ જે લોકો ક્યારનાય મરણ પામ્યા છે તેઓના કરતા પહેલાં નહિ હોઈએ.
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<v id="16" bcv="1TH.4.16" />પ્રભુ પોતે ગર્જનાસહિત આકાશમાંથી ઉતરશે. પ્રમુખ દૂતની<f caller="+"><fr>4:16
</fr><fk>પ્રભુખ દૂતની
</fk><ft>દેવના દૂતો મધ્યેનો આગેવાન.</ft></f> વાણી અને દેવના રણશિંગડાના અવાજ સાથે આદેશ આપવામાં આવશે. અને ખ્રિસ્તમાં જેઓ મૂએલાં છે તેઓ પ્રથમ ઊઠશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="1TH.4.17" />ત્યાર પછી, આપણામાંના જેઓ જીવતાં રહેનારાં છીએ તેઓ જેઓ મરણ પામ્યા હતા તેઓની સાથે ગગનમાં પ્રભુને મળવા સારું આપણને ગગનમાં ઊંછએ ઊઠાવાશે. અને આપણે હમેશ માટે પ્રભુની સાથે રહીશું.
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<v id="18" bcv="1TH.4.18" />તેથી આ વચનો વડે તમે એકબીજાને ઉત્તેજન આપો.
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">પ્રભુના આગમન માટે તૈયાર રહો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1TH.5.1" />હવે, ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, અમારે તમને સમય અને તારીખો વિષે લખવાની જરુંર નથી.
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<v id="2" bcv="1TH.5.2" />તમે સારી રીતે જાણો છે કે એ દિવસ કે જ્યારે પ્રભુ આવશે ત્યારે એક ચોર રાતે આવે છે તે રીતે તે આવશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="1TH.5.3" />લોકો કહેશે કે, “અમને શાંતિ છે અને અમે સુરક્ષિત છીએ.” તે સમયે પ્રસૂતાની પીડાની જેમ એકાએક તેઓનો વિનાશ આવી જશે. અને તે લોકો બચી શકશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1TH.5.4" />પરંતુ તમે, ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમારે અંધકારમાં (પાપ) જીવન જીવવું ના જોઈએ. અને તે દિવસ ચોરની જેમ તમારા પર આવી પડે તો તમે આશ્ચર્ય પામશો નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="1TH.5.5" />તમે બધા અજવાળાના (સારાં) સંતાન છો. તમે દહાડાના સંતાન છો. આપણે રાતના કે અંધકારના (શેતાન) સંતાન નથી.
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<v id="6" bcv="1TH.5.6" />તેથી આપણે અન્ય લોકો જેવા ન બનવું જોઈએ. આપણે ઊંધી ન રહેવું જોઈએ. આપણે જાગ્રત અને સ્વ-નિયંત્રણમાં રહેવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="7" bcv="1TH.5.7" />જે લોકો ઊંધે છે, તે રાતે ઊંધે છે. જે લોકો મદ્યપાનથી ચકચૂર બને છે, તે રાત્રે મદ્યપાનથી ચકચૂર બને છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1TH.5.8" />પરંતુ આપણે તો દિવસ (સારાપણું) સાથે જોડાયેલા છીએ, તેથી આપણે આપણી જાતને નિયંત્રણમાં રાખવી જોઈએ. આપણે આપણી જાતનું રક્ષણ કરવા વિશ્વાસ, અને પ્રેમનું બખતર પહેરવું જોઈએ. અને તારણની આશાનો ટોપ પહેરીને સાવધ રહીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1TH.5.9" />દેવે તેના ક્રોધનો અભિશાપ બનવા આપણને પસંદ કર્યા નથી. દેવે તો આપણને આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા તારણની પ્રાપ્તિને માટે પસંદ કર્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="1TH.5.10" />આપણે તેની સંઘાતે જીવી શકીએ તેથી ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત આપણા માટે મરણ પામ્યો. જ્યારે ઈસુનું આગમન થાય ત્યારે આપણે જીવિત હોઈએ કે મૃત તેનું કોઈ મહત્વ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1TH.5.11" />તેથી એકબીજાને હિંમત આપીએ. અને દૃઢ બનવા માટે એકબીજાને મદદ કરીએ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અંતિમ સૂચનાઓ અને શુભેચ્છાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1TH.5.12" />હવે ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, અમે તમને જે લોકો તમારામાં પરિશ્રમ કરે છે અને પ્રભુમાં તમારા આગેવાનો છે અને તમને સૂચનો કરે છે તેઓનો તમે આદર કરો એમ અમે ઈચ્છીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="1TH.5.13" />તેઓ જે કાર્ય કરી રહ્યાં છે તેને ખાતર તેઓના તરફ પ્રેમ સાથે વધારે આદર દર્શાવો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="1TH.5.14" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, અમે તમને જે કહીએ છીએ તે જે કાર્ય કરતાં નથી તેઓને ચેતવણી આપો. જે લોકો બીકણો છે તેઓને ઉત્તેજન આપો. જે લોકો નિર્બળ છે તેઓને મદદ કરો. દરેક વ્યક્તિ સાથે ધીરજપૂર્વક વર્તો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1TH.5.15" />એ બાબતે નિશ્ચિત બનો કે કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ ભૂંડાઈનો બદલો ભૂંડાઈથી ન વાળે. પરંતુ તમારા એકબીજાને માટે જે સારું છે તે કરવા હમેશા પ્રયત્ન કરો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1TH.5.16" />સદા આનંદ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="1TH.5.17" />પ્રાર્થના કરવાનું કદી પડતું મૂકશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="1TH.5.18" />દરેક સમયે દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરો કેમ કે તમારા વિષે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં દેવની મરજી એવી છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1TH.5.19" />પવિત્ર આત્માનું કાર્ય કદાપિ અટકાવશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="1TH.5.20" />પ્રબોધને કદાપિ બિનમહત્વપૂર્ણ ન ગણશો.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="1TH.5.21" />પરંતુ દરેક વસ્તુની પરખ કરો. જે સારું છે તેને ગ્રહણ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="1TH.5.22" />અને સર્વ પ્રકારની દુષ્ટતાથી દૂર રહો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="1TH.5.23" />અમે પ્રાર્થીએ છીએ કે દેવ પોતે જ, શાંતિદાતા તમને પૂરા પવિત્ર કરો; અને તેને જ પૂર્ણ આધિન બનાવે. અમે પ્રાર્થીએ છીએ કે તમારી સંપૂર્ણ જાત-આત્મા, પ્રાણ અને શરીર-સુરક્ષિત અને નિર્દોષ બની રહે જ્યારે પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનું આગમન થાય.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="1TH.5.24" />તે એક (દેવ) કે જે તમને બોલાવે છે અને તે જ તમારે માટે એમ કરશે. તમે તેના પર વિશ્વાસ કરો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="1TH.5.25" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, કૃપા કરીને અમારા માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો.
<ve />
<v id="26" bcv="1TH.5.26" />જ્યારે તમે મળો ત્યારે સર્વ ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોને પવિત્ર ચુંબન કરજો.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="1TH.5.27" />પ્રભુના અધિકાર વડે હું તમને કહું છુ કે આ પત્ર દરેક ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોને વાંચી સંભળાવજો.
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="1TH.5.28" />આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપા તમારા પર થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="2TH"><id id="2TH">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>2 થેસ્સલોનિકીઓ
</h><toc level="1">થેસ્સલોનિકીઓને બીજો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">2 થેસ્સલોનિકીઓ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">થેસ્સલોનિકીઓને
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">બીજો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2TH.1.1" />પાઉલ, સિલ્વાનુસ અને તિમોથી તરફથી થેસ્સલોનિકામાં રહેતી મંડળીને કુશળતા હો.
</p>
<p style="p">તમે લોકો આપણા દેવ બાપ અને પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તને આઘિન છો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2TH.1.2" />દેવ બાપ તથા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તરફથી તમારા પર કૃપા તથા શાંતિ થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2TH.1.3" />અમે તમારા માટે હમેશા દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરીએ છીએ. અને અમારે તેમ કરવું જોઈએ કારણ કે તેમ કરવું યથાર્થ છે. તે યથાર્થ છે કારણ કે તમારા બધાનો વિશ્વાસ અને એકબીજા માટેનો પ્રેમ દિનપ્રતિદિન વધી રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2TH.1.4" />તેથી બીજી દેવની મંડળીઓ આગળ અમે તમારાં વખાણ કરીએ છીએ. અમે કહીએ છીએ કે કઈ રીતે તમે તમારા વિશ્વાસમાં દૃઢ બનવાનું ટકાવી રાખ્યું છે. તમારી ઘણી રીતે સતાવણી કરવામાં આવી છે, અને ઘણી મુશ્કેલીઓ તમે સહન કરી છે પરંતુ નિષ્ઠા પ્રતિ તમે અચળ રહ્યાં છો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવના ન્યાય વિષે પાઉલ કહે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2TH.1.5" />એ સાબિત થઈ ચૂક્યું છે કે દેવ તેના ન્યાયમાં યથાર્થ છે. દેવ તેના રાજ્ય માટે તમે યોગ્ય ગણાઓ તેવા બનાવવા માંગે છે. તમારે ભોગવવી પડતી વેદના તે રાજ્ય માટે છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="2TH.1.6" />દેવ જે વાજબી છે તે કરશે. જેઓ તમને કષ્ટ આપે છે, તેઓને તે કષ્ટ આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2TH.1.7" />અને તમે કે જે હેરાન થયા છો તેમને દેવ વિસામો આપશે. દેવ અમને પણ વિસામો આપશે. જ્યારે પ્રભુ ઈસુ પ્રગટ થશે. ઈસુ સ્વર્ગમાંથી તેના પરાક્રમી દૂતો સાથે આવશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2TH.1.8" />તે આકાશમાંથી જવાળામય અગ્નિ સહિત જેઓ દેવને જાણતા નથી તેવા લોકોને શિક્ષા કરવા આવશે. જે લોકો આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની સુર્વાતા માનતા નથી તેઓને દેવ શિક્ષા કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2TH.1.9" />તે લોકો અનંતકાળ સુધી ચાલતા વિનાશથી દંડાશે અને પ્રભુનું સાનિધ્ય તેઓને માટે અલભ્ય બનશે. તેઓ તેના મહિમાવાન સાર્મથ્યથી દૂર રખાશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2TH.1.10" />જે દિવસે પ્રભુ ઈસુ આવશે ત્યારે આમ બનશે. ઈસુ તેના સંતો<f caller="+"><fr>1:10
</fr><fk>સંતો
</fk><ft>દેવના લોકોને સંતો કહેવાય છે કેમ કે તેઓ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા શુદ્ધ થએલા છે અને કેવળ દેવનાં જ છે.</ft></f> સાથે મહિમાને સ્વીકારવા આવશે. અને દરેક વિશ્વાસીઓ ઈસુ દર્શનથી મુગ્ધ બની જશે. અમે તમને જે કહ્યું તેમાં તમે વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો છે તેથી તમે એ વિશ્વાસુઓના સમૂહમાં સામેલ થશો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2TH.1.11" />તેથી અમે હમેશા તમારા માટે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ કે તમને જીવવા મળેલ તેડાને યોગ્ય થઈ ચાલો માટે દેવ તમને સહાય કરે. તમારામાં રહેલું સૌજન્ય તમને સારું કાર્ય કરવા પ્રેરે છે અને તમારો વિશ્વાસ તમને કર્તવ્યનિષ્ઠ બનાવે છે. અને અમે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ કે દેવનું સાર્મથ્ય તમને આમ વધુ ને વધુ કરવા માટે મદદરૂપ બનો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="2TH.1.12" />અમે આ બધા માટે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ કે જેથી આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનું નામ તમારામાં મહિમાવાન થાય. અને તેના થકી તમે મહિમાવાન બનો. આ મહિમા આપણા દેવ અને પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપાથી પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">અનિષ્ટ ઘટનાઓ ઘટશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2TH.2.1" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના આવવા વિષે અમારે કઈક કહેવાનું છે. જ્યારે આપણે તેની (ઈસુની) સાથે ભેગા થઈશું તે સમય વિષે અમારે તમને કહેવું છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2TH.2.2" />તમારા વિચારોમાં તમે જલ્દી બેચેન ના બની જતા કે ગભરાઈ ન જતા. જ્યારે તમે એમ સાંભળો કે પ્રભુના દિવસનું આગમન તો ક્યારનું થઈ યૂક્યું છે. કેટલીએક વ્યક્તિઓ પ્રબોધ કરતી વખતે કે સંદેશ આપતી વખતે આમ કહેશે. અથવા પત્રમાં તમે એમ પણ વાંચો કે કેટલાએક લોકો એમ દાવો કરે કે તમે કોઈ આત્મા, વચનથી કે, જાણે અમારા તરફથી આવ્યા છો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2TH.2.3" />કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કોઈ પણ રીતે તમને ભરમાવે નહિ. પ્રભુનો દિવસ જ્યાં સુધી ધર્મત્યાગ ન થાય ત્યાં સુધી આવશે નહિ. અને તે દિવસ જ્યાં સુધી વિનાશનો પુત્ર એટલે પાપનો માણસ પ્રગટ થશે નહિ. ત્યાં સુધી આવશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2TH.2.4" />જે દેવ ગણાય છે અથવા જે પૂજ્ય મનાય છે. તે બધાની વિરુંદ્ધમાં પાપનો માણસ છે અને તે દુષ્ટ માણસ પોતાની જાતને દેવ તરીકે અને લોકો જેની ઉપાસના કરે છે તેની ઉપર તે પોતાની જાતને ઓળખાવે છે. અને તે દુષ્ટ માણસ તો દેવના મંદિરમાં જાય છે અને ત્યાં બેસે છે. અને પછી તે કહે છે કે તે દેવ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2TH.2.5" />મેં તમને અગાઉ જણાવેલું કે આવી ઘટનાઓ ઘટશે. યાદ છે?
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<v id="6" bcv="2TH.2.6" />અને તમે જાણો છો કે હવે તે દુષ્ટ માણસને શું અટકાવી રહ્યું છે. અત્યારે તેને અટકાવવામાં આવ્યો છે જેથી કરીને યોગ્ય સમયે તે પ્રકટ (આવશે) થઈ શકશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="2TH.2.7" />દુષ્ટતાની છૂપી તાકાત જગતમાં ક્યારની પ્રવર્તી રહી છે. પરંતુ એવી એક વ્યક્તિ છે કે જે દુષ્ટતાની છૂપી તાકાતને અટકાવી રહી છે. અને જ્યાં સુધી દુષ્ટ માણસને માર્ગમાંથી દૂર કરવામાં નહિ આવે ત્યાં સુધી તેને અટકાવવા સતત પ્રયત્નશીલ રહેશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="2TH.2.8" />પછી તે દુષ્ટ માણસ પ્રગટ થશે (આવશે). અને પ્રભુ ઈસુ તે દુષ્ટ માણસનો તેની ફૂંક્થી સંહાર કરશે. પ્રભુ ઈસુ પોતાના આગમનના પ્રભાવથી તે દુષ્ટ માણસનો નાશ કરશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2TH.2.9" />ષ્ટ માણસ શેતાનની તાકાત વડે આવશે. તેની પાસે ઘણી તાકાત હશે. અને તે સર્વ પ્રકારનાં ખોટા પરાકમો, ચિહનો, તથા ચમત્કારો કરશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="2TH.2.10" />દુષ્ટ માણસ દરેક પ્રકારના પાપરુંપ કપટ સાથે પ્રયુક્તિઓમાં જે લોકો ભટકી ગયેલા છે તેમને મૂર્ખ બનાવવા માટે ઉપયોગ કરશે. તે લોકો ભટકી ગયા છે કારણ કે તેઓએ સત્યને ચાહવાનો ઈન્કાર કરી દીધો. (જો તેઓએ સત્યને ચાહ્યું હોત, તો તેઓનું તારણ થઈ શકયું હોત.)
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<v id="11" bcv="2TH.2.11" />પરંતુ તે લોકોએ તો સત્યને ચાહવાનો અસ્વીકાર કર્યો, તેથી દેવે તેઓની તરફ તેઓને સત્યથી વેગળા દોરી જાય તેવું કઈક શક્તિશાળી મોકલ્યું છે. દેવ તેઓની તરફ તે તાકાત મોકલે છે જેથી કરીને જે સત્ય નથી તેનો જ તેઓ વિશ્વાસ કરે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2TH.2.12" />તેથી બધા લોકો કે જે સત્યમાં વિશ્વાસ ધરાવતા નથી તેઓ ગુનેગાર ગણાશે. તેઓએ સત્યમાં વિશ્વાસ કર્યો નહિ, અને દુષ્ટ કાર્યો કરવામાં તેઓએ આનંદ માણ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">તારણ માટે તમારી પસંદગી થઈ છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2TH.2.13" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, પ્રભુ તમને પ્રેમ કરે છે. પ્રારંભથી જ દેવે તારણ કરવા માટે તમારી પસંદગી કરેલ છે. તેથી અમે હમેશા તમારા માટે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરીએ છીએ. આત્મા દ્વારા તમને પવિત્ર કરવાથી અને સત્ય વિશ્વાસ વડે તમારું તારણ થયું છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="2TH.2.14" />તારણ પ્રાપ્ત કરવા માટે દેવે તમને તેડયા છે. અમે જે સુવાર્તાનો ઉપદેશ આપ્યા, તેના ઉપયોગથી તેણે (દેવે) તમને તેડયા છે. દેવે તમને તેડયા જેથી કરીને આપણા પ્રભુ ખ્રિસ્તના મહિમામાં તમે સહભાગી બની શકો.
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<v id="15" bcv="2TH.2.15" />તેથી, ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, દઢ ઊભા રહો અને જે શિક્ષણ અમે તમને આપ્યું છે તેમાં વિશ્વાસ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખો. અમારી વાણી અને તમારા પરના અમારા પત્રો દ્વારા અમે તમને તે બાબતો શીખવી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16-17" bcv="2TH.2.16" />અમે પ્રાર્થીએ છીએ કે પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત પોતે અને દેવ આપણો બાપ તમને દિલાસો આપે અને તમારા દરેક કાર્ય અને વાણીને પ્રોત્સાહિત કરી સક્ષમ બનાવે. દેવે આપણા પર પ્રેમ કર્યો છે. તેની કૃપા (દયા) દ્વારા નિરંતર જળવાઈ રહે તેવી એક આશા અને પ્રોત્સાહન તેણે આપણને પ્રદાન કર્યા છે.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">અમારા માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2TH.3.1" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હવે અમારા માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો. પ્રાર્થના કરો કે પ્રભુની વાતનો ઝડપી ફેલાવો થાય અને પ્રાર્થના કરો કે જેમ તમે તે વાતને સન્માનેલ, તેમ અન્ય લોકો પણ તેને સન્માને.
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<v id="2" bcv="2TH.3.2" />અને પ્રાર્થના કરો કે અનિષ્ટ અને દુષ્ટ મનુષ્યોથી અમારું રક્ષણ થાય. (બધા જ લોકો પ્રભુમાં વિશ્વાસ ધરાવતા નથી.)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2TH.3.3" />પરંતુ પ્રભુ વિશ્વસનીય છે. તે તમને સાર્મથ્ય પ્રદાન કરશે અને દુષ્ટ (શૈતાન) થી તમારું રક્ષણ કરશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="2TH.3.4" />અમે તમને જે કહેલુ તે જ પ્રમાણે તમે કરી રહ્યાં છો, તેવી પ્રભુ અમને નિશ્ચિતપણે ખાતરી કરાવશે. અને અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે તમે તેમ કરવાનું ચાલુ જ રાખશો.
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<v id="5" bcv="2TH.3.5" />અમે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ કે પ્રભુ તમારા હદયોને દેવના પ્રેમ તરફ અને ખ્રિસ્તના ધૈર્ય તરફ દોરો.
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</p>
<s style="s">કાર્યપરાયણતા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2TH.3.6" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના સાર્મથ્ય (અધિકાર) વડે અમે તમને આજ્ઞા કરીએ છીએ કે જે કોઈ વિશ્વાસુ કામ કરવાનો ઈન્કાર કરે છે તેનાથી તમે દૂર રહો. જે લોકો કામ કરવા ઈન્કાર કરે છે, તેઓ અમે જે શિક્ષણ આપ્યું છે તેને અનુસરતા નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="2TH.3.7" />તમે પોતે જાણો છો કે તમારે એ રીતે જીવવું જોઈએ જે રીતે અમે જીવીએ છીએ. તમારી સાથે જ્યારે અમે હતા, ત્યારે અમે આળસુ ન હતા.
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<v id="8" bcv="2TH.3.8" />અને જ્યારે અમે અન્ય લોકોનું અન્ન આરોગ્યું હતુ ત્યારે અમે હમેશા તેનું મૂલ્ય ચૂકવ્યું હતું. તમારા કોઈ માટે અમે બોજારુંપ ન બનીએ તેથી અમે ઘણું કામ કર્યુ હતું. અમે રાત દિવસ કામ કર્યુ હતું.
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<v id="9" bcv="2TH.3.9" />અમને મદદ કરવાનું તમને કહી શકવાનો અમને અધિકાર હતો. પરંતુ અમારી જાતની કાળજી લેવા પૂરતી તો અમે મહેનત કરી જ હતી. જેથી કરીને તમારા માટે અમે એક અનુસરવા યોગ્ય નમૂનો બની શકીએ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2TH.3.10" />જ્યારે અમે તમારી સાથે હતા, અમે તમને આ નિયમ આપ્યો હતો: “જો વ્યક્તિ કામ ન કરે તો, તેણે ખાવું નહિ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2TH.3.11" />અમે એવું સાંભળીએ છીએ કે તમારા સમૂહમાં કેટલાએક લોકો ઉદ્યોગ કરતા નથી. તેઓ કશું જ કરતા નથી. અને તે લોકો બીજા લોકોના જીવનવ્યહારમાં ઘાલમેલ કરે છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2TH.3.12" />અમે આવા લોકોને આજ્ઞા કરીએ છીએ કે તેઓ બીજા લોકોને હેરાન ન કરે. અમે તેઓને આજ્ઞા કરીએ છીએ કે ઉદ્યોગ કરીને પોતાની આજીવિકા પોતે જ કમાય. પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના નામે અમે તેમને આમ કરવા વિનવીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2TH.3.13" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, ભલું કરતાં થાકશો મા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2TH.3.14" />જો કોઈપણ વ્યક્તિ અમે આ પત્રમાં જે કરીએ છીએ તે માને નહિ, તો તે વ્યક્તિને ધ્યાનમાં રાખજો તેની સાથે સંકળાશો નહિ પરિણામે કદાચ તે પોતેજ શરમિંદો બને.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="2TH.3.15" />તો પણ તેને શત્રું ન ગણો, ભાઈ જાણીને તેને શિખામણ આપો.
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</p>
<s style="s">અંતિમ શબ્દો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2TH.3.16" />અમે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ કે શાંતિનો પ્રભુ તમને શાંતિ બક્ષો. અમે પ્રાર્થના કરીએ છીએ કે તે તમને પ્રત્યેક સમયે અને પ્રત્યેક પ્રકારે શાંતિ આપો. પ્રભુ તમારા બધાની સાથે હો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2TH.3.17" />હું
<sc>પાઉલ</sc> છું, અને મારા પોતાના હસ્તાક્ષરથી આ પત્રને વિરમવું છું. મારા બધાજ પત્રોમાં એ નિશાની છે એવી રીતે હું આ લખું છું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2TH.3.18" />આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપા તમ સર્વ પર હો.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="2TI"><id id="2TI">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>1 તિમોથી
</h><toc level="1">તિમોથીને પહેલો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">1 તિમોથી
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">તિમોથીને
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">પહેલો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2TI.1.1" />ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુનો પ્રેરિત પાઉલ તરફથી કુશળતા હો. દેવ આપણા તારનાર તથા ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ જેનામાં આપણી આશા છે તેની આજ્ઞાથી હું પ્રેરિત છું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2TI.1.2" />હવે તિમોથીને કહું છું. તેથી તું મારા ખરા દીકરા સમાન છે.
</p>
<p style="p">દેવ આપણા બાપ તથા ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ આપણા પ્રભુ તરફથી તને તેની કૃપા, દયા અને શાંતિ પ્રાપ્ત થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ખોટા ઉપદેશ સામે ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2TI.1.3" />મારી ઈચ્છા છે કે તું અફેસસમાં રહે. જ્યારે હું મકદોનિયામાં ગયો ત્યારે મેં તને તે આજ્ઞા આપી હતી. ત્યાં એફેસસમાં કેટલાએક લોકો ખોટું શિક્ષણ આપી રહ્યાં છે. તે લોકો ત્યાં ખોટી બાબતોનું શિક્ષણ ન આપે એવો તેઓને હુકમ કરવા તું ત્યાં જ રહેજે.
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<v id="4" bcv="2TI.1.4" />જે વાર્તાઓ સાચી નથી અને વંશાવળીઓમાં આવતાં નામોની લાંબી યાદીઓમાં તેઓ તેઓનો સમય ન બગાડે એવું તું તેઓને કહેજે કેમ કે તે બાબતો માત્ર દલીલબાજીને જ ઉત્તેજે છે. દેવના કાર્યમાં તે બાબતો જરાય ઉપયોગી હોતી નથી. વિશ્વાસથી જ દેવનું કાર્ય સિદ્ધ થાય છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="2TI.1.5" />આ આજ્ઞાનો હેતુ એ છે કે લોકો પ્રેમનો માર્ગ સ્વીકારે. આ પ્રેમની પ્રાપ્તિ માટે લોકોનું હૃદય શુદ્ધ અને પવિત્ર હોવું જોઈએ. જે યોગ્ય અને સાચું લાગતું હોય તે જ તેઓએ કરવું જોઈએ. અને તેઓમાં સાચો વિશ્વાસ હોવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="6" bcv="2TI.1.6" />કેટલાએક લોકોએ આ બધું તો કર્યુ જ નથી. તેઓ ખોટા રસ્તે ભૂલા પડી ગયા છે, અને જે બાબતોની કશી કિમત નથી તેના વિષે તેઓ વાતો કર્યા કર છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="2TI.1.7" />તે લોકોને તો મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રના ઉપદેશકો થવું છે. પરંતુ તેઓ શાના વિષે બોલી રહ્યાં છે, તેનું તેઓને ભાન નથી. જે બાબતો વિષે તેઓ ખાતરીપૂર્વક બોલી રહ્યા છે તે તેઓ પોતે પણ સમજી શક્તા નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2TI.1.8" />જો કોઈને નિયમશાસ્ત્રનો યોગ્ય ઉપયોગ કરતાં આવડે તો તે સારું જ છે તે આપણે સારી રીતે જાણીએ છીએ.
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<v id="9" bcv="2TI.1.9" />આપણે તે પણ જાણીએ છીએ કે ન્યાયી માણસો માટે નિયમની રચના કરવામાં આવી નથી. નિયમ તો તેઓના માટે છે કે જે લોકો નિયમની વિરૂદ્ધમાં છે અને જેઓ નિયમના પાલનનો ઈન્કાર કરે છે. જે લોકો દેવથી વિમુખ હોય, જે પાપી હોય, જેઓ પવિત્ર ન હોય, અને જેને કોઈ ધર્મ ન હોય, જે લોકો પિતૃહત્યારા તથા માતૃહત્યારા હોય, ખૂની હોય, એવા લોકો માટે નિયમ હોય છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="2TI.1.10" />જે લોકો વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરતા હોય, જેઓ પુંમૈથુનીઓ હોય, જેઓ ગુલામોને વેચતા હોય જેઓ જૂઠ બોલતા હોય, જેઓ ખોટા સમ લેતા હોય છે અને દેવના શુદ્ધ ઉપદેશની વિરૂદ્ધમાં કઈ પણ કરતા લોકો માટે નિયમ છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="2TI.1.11" />દેવે મને જે સુવાર્તા કહેવા મોકલ્યો છે, તેના એક ભાગરુંપે હુ આ ઉપદેશ આપી રહ્યો છું. તે મહિમાની સુવાર્તા સ્તુત્ય દેવ તરફથી પ્રાપ્ત થઈ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવની દયા માટે આભાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2TI.1.12" />આપણા ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુનો હુ આભાર માનું છું કેમ કે તેણે મારામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂકીને તેની સેવા કરવાનું આ કામ મને આપ્યું. તેણે જ મને આ સેવા માટે સાર્મથ્ય આપ્યું.
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<v id="13" bcv="2TI.1.13" />ભૂતકાળમાં તો હુ ખ્રિસ્તની વિરૂદ્ધમાં બોલતો હતો, અને બધા પર જુલમ ગુજારતો હતો મે તેને આઘાત આપે તેવા ઘણાં કામો કર્યા. પરંતુ દેવે મને ક્ષમા આપી, કેમ કે હુ શું કરતો હતો તેનું મને ભાન નહોતું. જ્યાં સુધી હુ વિશ્વાસુ ન થયો, ત્યાં સુધી એવું કર્યા કર્યુ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="2TI.1.14" />પરંતુ મને આપણા પ્રભુની સંપૂર્ણ કૃપા પ્રાપ્ત થઈ. અને તે કૃપામાંથી મારામાં ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ માટે વિશ્વાસ અને પ્રેમ પ્રગટ થયાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2TI.1.15" />હુ જે કહુ છું તે સત્ય છે, અને તારે એનો સંપૂર્ણ સ્વીકાર કરવો જોઈએ; અને પાપીઓને તારવા માટે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ દુનિયામાં આવ્યો. અને એવા પાપીઓમાં હુ સૌથી મુખ્ય છું.
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<v id="16" bcv="2TI.1.16" />પરંતુ મારા પર દયા કરવામાં આવી. મારા પર દયા કરીને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ દર્શાવવા માગતો હતો કે તે પૂરી સહનશીલતા દાખવી શકે છે. ખ્રિસ્તે મારા માટે ધીરજ રાખી બતાવી, જે લોકો અનંતજીવનને સારું ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત પર વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેઓને માટે હુ નમૂનારુંપ થાઉ તેમ ખ્રિસ્તે મારા દ્વારા એક દાખલો બેસાડ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="2TI.1.17" />જે સનાતન યુગોનો રાજા રાજ કરે છે તેને માન તથા મહિમા હો. તે અવિનાશી, અદ્રશ્ય તથા એકાકી દેવ છે. તેને સદાસર્વકાળ માન તથા મહિમા હો. આમીન.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="2TI.1.18" />તિમોથી, તું તો મારા દીકરા સમાન છે. હુ તને આજ્ઞા આપું છું. ભૂતકાળમાં તારા વિષે જે ભવિષ્યકથનો થયેલા તેના અનુસંધાનમાં આ આજ્ઞા છે. એ ભવિષ્યકથનને અનુસરીને સારી રીતે સંઘર્ષ સામે લડી શકે, તે માટે હું તેને આ બધું કહુ છું.
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<v id="19" bcv="2TI.1.19" />તારો વિશ્વાસ ટકાવી રાખજે અને તને જે ન્યાયી લાગે તે કરજે. કેટલાએક લોકો આ કરી શક્યા નથી. તેઓનો વિશ્વાસ ડગી ગયો છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="2TI.1.20" />હુમનાયસ અને આલેકસાંદરે એવું કર્યુ છે. મેં એ લોકોને શેતાનને સોંપી દીઘા છે, જેથી તેઓ શીખે કે દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ બોલાય નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">બાહેર ભજનસેવા અને શિસ્ત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2TI.2.1" />હુથી પ્રથમ તો સર્વ લોકો માટે પ્રાર્થના કરવાનું હું તમને કહું છુ. સર્વ લોકો માટે તમે દેવ સાથે વાત કરો. લોકોને જે વસ્તુઓની જરુંર છે તે દેવ પાસે માગો અને તેનો આભાર માનો.
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<v id="2" bcv="2TI.2.2" />રાજાઓ તેમજ સત્તા ભોગવતા બધા લોકો માટે તમારે પ્રાર્થના કરવી જોઈએ. દેવ માટે ભક્તિભાવ અને માનથી છલકાતું તથા પરમ શાંતિ પ્રદ જીવન આપણને પ્રાપ્ત થાય તે માટે એવા અધિકારીઓ સારું પ્રાર્થના કરો.
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<v id="3" bcv="2TI.2.3" />આ સારી વાત છે અને એનાથી આપણા તારનાર દેવ પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2TI.2.4" />દેવ ઈચ્છે છે કે દરેક જાણનું તારણ થાય. અને તેની ઈચ્છા છે કે સર્વ લોકો આ સત્ય જાણે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="2TI.2.5" />દેવ તો માત્ર એક જ છે. અને લોકો દેવ સુધી પહોંચે એ માટે પણ એક જ મધ્યસ્થ છે. તે મધ્યસ્થ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત છે જે એક માનવ પણ છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="2TI.2.6" />બધા જ લોકોના પાપ માટે ઈસુએ પોતાની જાતનું સ્વાર્પણ કર્યુ. ઈસુ એ વાતની સાબિતી છે કે દેવ સર્વ લોકોને બચાવી લેવા માગે છે. અને યોગ્ય સમયે જ તે (ઈસુ) આવ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="2TI.2.7" />તેથી જ તો સુવાર્તા કહેવા સારું મારી પસંદગી કરવામાં આવી હતી. તેથી જ તો પ્રેરિત તરીકે મને પસંદ કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો. (હુ તમને સત્ય જ કહુ છું. હુ કઈ જૂઠુ બોલતો નથી.) બિનયહૂદિ લોકોને શીખવનાર થવા માટે મારી પસંદગી કરવામાં આવી હતી. તેઓ વિશ્વાસ કરી શકે અને સત્યને જાણે એવું હું તેઓને શિક્ષણ આપું છુ.
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</p>
<s style="s">પુરુષો તથા સ્ત્રીઓ માટે કેટલાએક નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2TI.2.8" />દરેક જગ્યાએ રહેતા માણસો પ્રાર્થના કરે એમ હુ ઈચ્છુ છું. પ્રાર્થનામાં જેઓ હાથ ઊંચા કરતા હોય તેઓ પવિત્ર હોવા જોઈએ. તે માણસો એવા ન હોવા જોઈએ કે જે ગુસ્સે થતા હોય અને દલીલબાજી કરતા હોય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2TI.2.9" />હુ એ પણ ઈચ્છું છું કે સ્ત્રીઓ એવાં કપડાં પહેરે કે જે એમના માટે યોગ્ય હોય. સન્માનનીય અને ઉચ્ચ વિચારો જળવાય એ રીતે સ્ત્રીઓએ કપડા ધારણ કરવાં જોઈએ. તેમણે પોતાના વાળ કલાત્મક અને આકર્ષક રીતે ગૂંથેલા હોવા ન જોઈએ. તેમજ પોતાને સૌદર્યવાન બનાવવા માણેક-મોતી કે સોનાના આભૂષણો કે કિમતી પોષાકોનો ઉપયોગ નહિ કરવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2TI.2.10" />પરંતુ સારા કાર્યો કરીને તેમણે સુંદર બનવું જોઈએ. જે સ્ત્રીઓ એમ કહેતી હોય કે તેઓ દેવને ભજે છે તેમણે એ રીતે પોતાને સુંદર બનાવવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2TI.2.11" />સ્ત્રીએ કોઈપણ વાત શાંતિથી સાંભળીને અને આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરવા સંપૂર્ણ રીતે તૈયાર રહીને શીખવાનો પ્રયાસ કરવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="12" bcv="2TI.2.12" />સ્ત્રી પુરુંષને ભણાવે એ માટે હું મંજૂરી આપતો નથી. અને પુરુંષ પર સ્ત્રીની સત્તા ચાલે એની પણ હું છૂટ આપતો નથી. સ્ત્રીએ શાંતિથી પોતાનું કામકાજ કરતા રહેવું. આવું શા માટે?
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2TI.2.13" />કારણ કે પ્રથમ આદમની ઉત્પત્તિ થઈ. ત્યારબાદ હવાનું સર્જન થયું.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="2TI.2.14" />શેતાને આદમની છેતરપીંડી કરી નહિ, તેણે હવાને છેતરી અને તેથી તે પાપી બની.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="2TI.2.15" />પરંતુ સ્ત્રીઓને બાળકો હોવાને કારણે બચાવવામાં આવશે. જો તેઓ યોગ્ય રીતે આત્મસંયમ રાખી પવિત્ર જીવન જીવશે તથા વિશ્વાસ અને પ્રેમ ચાલુ રાખશે તો તેઓ તારણ પામશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તી મંડળીના અધ્યક્ષો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2TI.3.1" />હુ જે કહુ છું તે સાચું છે: જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મંડળીનો અધ્યક્ષ બનવાનો સખત પ્રયત્ન કરતી હોય. તો તેની ઈચ્છા કઈક સારું કામ કરી બતાવવાની છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2TI.3.2" />મંડળીનો અધ્યક્ષ ઘણો સજજન હોવો જોઈએ જેથી લોકો તેની ટીકા કરી ન શકે. તેને એકજ પત્ની હોવી જોઈએ. તે માણસ આત્મ-સંયમી અને ડાહ્યો હોવો જોઈએ. બીજા લોકોની નજરમાં તે માનનીય, આદરણીય હોવો જોઈએ. લોકોને પોતાના ઘરમાં આવકારીને તેઓને મદદ કરવા તે તત્પર રહેવો જોઈએ. તે એક સારો શિક્ષક હોવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2TI.3.3" />તે અતિશય મદ્યપાન કરતો હોવો ન જોઈએ, અને તે એવી વ્યક્તિ ન જ હોવી જોઈએ કે જેને ઝઘડવાનું ગમતું હોય. તે વિનમ્ર અને સહનશીલ, શાંતિપ્રિય હોવો જોઈએ. એ માણસ એવો ન હોવો જોઈએ કે જે દ્રવ્યલોભી હોય.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2TI.3.4" />તે તેના પોતાના કુટુંબનો પણ એક સારો વડીલ હોવો જોઈએ. આનો અર્થ એ છે કે તેના બાળકો પૂરા આદરભાવથી તેની આજ્ઞા પાળતા હોવા જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="2TI.3.5" />(જો કોઈ માણસને તેના પોતાના જ કુટુંબનો સારો વડીલ બનતાં ન આવડે, તો તે દેવની મંડળીની સંભાળ લઈ શકશે નહિ.)
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2TI.3.6" />પરંતુ કોઈ નવો વિશ્વાસુ અધ્યક્ષ થઈ ન શકે. જો કોઈ નવા વિશ્વાસીને મંડળીનો અધ્યક્ષ બનાવવામાં આવે, તો શક્ય છે કે તે પોતે અભિમાનથી છકી જાય. એમ થાય તો, જે રીતે શેતાન ધિક્કારને પાત્ર થયો હતો, તેમ એના અભિમાની વર્તન માટે એનો પણ એ રીતે ન્યાય કરવામાં આવશે. તેનું અભિમાન શેતાન જેવું જ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2TI.3.7" />મંડળીના સભ્ય ન હોય એવા બહારના લોકોનો પણ આદર તેના પ્રત્યે હોવો જોઈએ. તો પછી બીજા લોકો તેની ટીકા કરી શકશે નહિ, અને તે શેતાનની જાળમાં ફસાઈ નહિ જાય.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">મંડળીના સેવકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2TI.3.8" />એ જ પ્રમાણે, જે માણસો સેવકો તરીકે સેવા આપતા હોય તેઓ એવા હોવા જોઈએ કે જેમને લોકો માન આપી શકે. જે ખરેખર તેઓને સમજાતી ના હોય તેવી વાતો આ માણસોએ કહેવી ન જોઈએ, તેઓએ સમજી-વિચારીને વાણી ઉચ્ચારવી જોઈએ. અને અતિશય મદ્યપાન કરવા પાછળ તેઓએ પોતાનો સમય બરબાદ ન કરવો જોઈએ. તેઓ એવા માણસો હોવા ન જોઈએ કે જે હમેશા બીજા લોકોને છેતરીને પૈસાદાર થવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતા હોય.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2TI.3.9" />દેવે જે સત્યનું આપણને દર્શન કરાવ્યું છે, તેના તેઓ શિષ્યો હોવા જોઈએ. અને તેમણે હમેશા જે કઈ ન્યાયી લાગે તે જ કરવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2TI.3.10" />પાઉલ તિમોથીને કહે છે એ લોકોની પહેલેથી જ તારે પરખ કરી લેવી જોઈએ. જો એમનામાં તને કોઈ અપરાધ ન જ્ણાય તો તેઓ મંડળીના સેવકો તરીકે સેવા આપી શકે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2TI.3.11" />એ જ રીતે, જે સ્ત્રી સેવામાં છે તે બીજા લોકોની નજરે આદરણીય હોવી જોઈએ. તે સ્ત્રીઓ એવી હોવી ન જોઈએ કે જે બીજા લોકો વિષે ખરાબ નિંદા કરતી હોય. તેઓનામાં આત્મ-સંયમ હોવો જોઈએ અને તેઓ એવી હોવી જોઈએ કે દરેક વાતે એમનામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂકી શકાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2TI.3.12" />સેવકો તરીકે સેવા આપનાર પુરુંષોને એકજ પત્ની હોવી જોઈએ. તેઓનાં પોતાનાં બાળકો અને કુટુંબોના તેઓ સારા વડીલ તરીકે નીવડેલા હોવા જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2TI.3.13" />સારી રીતે સેવા કરતા માણસો પોતાના માટે માન-સન્માનભર્યુ સ્થાન બનાવે છે. તે લોકોને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં પોતાના વિશ્વાસ વિષે પાકી ખાતરીનો અનુભવ થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આપણા જીવનનું રહસ્ય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2TI.3.14" />મને આશા છે કે હું તારી પાસે જલ્દી આવી શકીશ. પરંતુ આ બધી વાતો હું તને અત્યારે લખી જણાવું છું.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="2TI.3.15" />પછી, જો કદાચ હુ જલ્દી આવી ન શકુ, તો દેવના કુટુંબના સભ્યોએ જે ફરજો બજાવવી જોઈએ તે તું જાણી લે તે કુટુંબ તો જીવતા દેવની મંડળી છે. અને દેવની મંડળી તો સત્યનો આધાર અને મૂળભૂત સ્તંભ અને પાયો છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="2TI.3.16" />બેશક, સ્તુતિનું આપણા જીવનનું રહસ્ય મહાન છે.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">તે (ખ્રિસ્ત) માનવ શરીરમાં આપણી આગળ પ્રગટ થયો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે ન્યાયી હતો એમ પવિત્ર આત્માએ ઠેરવ્યું;
</q>
<q style="q1">દૂતોએ તેને દીઠો;
</q>
<q style="q1">બિનયહૂદી રાષ્ટ્રોમાં તેના વિષેની સુવાર્તાનો ઉપદેશ થયો;
</q>
<q style="q1">આખી દુનિયાના લોકો તેના પર વિશ્વાસ કરવા લાગ્યા.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને મહિમામાં આકાશમાં ઉપર લેવામાં આવ્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">જૂઠા ઉપદેશકો વિષે ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2TI.4.1" />પવિત્ર આત્મા સ્પષ્ટ રીતે કહે છે કે પાછલા સમયમાં કેટલાએક લોકો સાચા વિશ્વાસમાંથી દૂર જશે. તે લોકો ખોટું બોલનારા આત્માઓની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરશે. વળી તે લોકો ભૂતોના ઉપદેશને અનુસરશે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2TI.4.2" />જે લોકો જૂઠું બોલીને લોકોને છેતરતા હોય તેઓના દ્વારા ખોટો ઉપદેશ પ્રચાર પામે છે. તે લોકો સારા નરસાનો ભેદભાવ પારખી શકતા નથી. ગરમ લોખંડ વડે એમની સમજ શક્તિને ડામ દઈને બાળી નાખી હોય એવી આ વાત છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="2TI.4.3" />એવા માણસો લોકોને કહેતા ફરે છે કે તેઓ લગ્ર કરી શકે નહિ. અને તેઓ લોકોને કહે છે કે અમુક અમુક જાતનો ખોરાક ખાવો ન જોઈએ. પરંતુ તે ખોરાક પણ દેવે જ બનાવ્યો છે. અને દેવને માનનારા તથા સત્યને જાણનારા લોકો આભારસ્તુતિ કરીને એ ખોરાક ખાઈ શકે છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2TI.4.4" />દેવે સર્જલી દરેક વસ્તુ સારી છે. દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરીને સ્વીકારેલી કોઈ પણ વસ્તુનો ઈન્કાર કે અનાદર કરવો ન જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="2TI.4.5" />દેવે જે કહ્યુ હોય તે કારણે પ્રાર્થના વડે દેવે બનાવેલી દરેક વસ્તુ પવિત્ર બનાવાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુના એક સારા સેવક બનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2TI.4.6" />આ બધી વાતો તું તારા ભાઈઓ તથા બહેનોને કહેજે. જો તું આ કરીશ તો સાબિત થશે કે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુનો તું એક સારો સેવક છે. વિશ્વાસથી શબ્દો દ્વારા તથા સારા ઉપદેશના તારા અનુસરણને લીધે તું મક્કમ અને દૃઢ બન્યો છે તે તું બતાવી શકીશ.
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<v id="7" bcv="2TI.4.7" />દેવના સત્યની સાથે સુસંગત ન હોય એવી મૂર્ખાઈભરી વાતો લોકોને કહેતા ફરે છે. એવી વાતોનું શિક્ષણ તું ગ્રહણ કરતો નહિ. પરંતુ દેવની સાચી રીતે સેવા કરવા તારી જાતને તાલીમ આપ.
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<v id="8" bcv="2TI.4.8" />શરીરને તાલીમ આપવાના કેટલાએક ફાયદા છે. પરંતુ દેવની સેવાથી તો દરેક વાતે ફાયદો જ છે. દેવની સેવાથી આ જીવનમાં તેમજ ભવિષ્યના જીવનમાં પણ એના આશીર્વાદ પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="2TI.4.9" />હુ જે કહું છું તે સાચું છે. અને તારે સંપૂર્ણ રીતે એનો સ્વીકાર કરવો જોઈએ.
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<v id="10" bcv="2TI.4.10" />એ કારણે જ આપણે સખત મહેનત તથા પરિશ્રમ કરી રહ્યા છીએ. આપણે જીવતા દેવમાં આશા રાખીએ છીએ. સર્વ લોકોનો તે તારનાર છે. વિશેષ કરીને જેઓ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તે સર્વ લોકોનાં તારનાર છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2TI.4.11" />આ બધી બાબતોની તું આજ્ઞા આપજે તથા શીખવજે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2TI.4.12" />તને જુવાન જાણીને તારું કઈ મહત્વ ન હોય એ રીતે કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિને તારી સાથે વર્તવા ન દઈશ. વિશ્વાસીઓએ કેવી રીતે જીવવું જોઈએ તે બતાવવા તારી વાણી વડે, તારા વિશ્વાસ વડે, અને તારા સ્વચ્છ જીવન વડે જીવવાને લીધે તું લોકોને નમૂનારુંપ થજે.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="2TI.4.13" />લોકોની આગળ પવિત્રશાસ્ત્ર વાચવાનું તું ચાલુ રાખ, તેઓને વિશ્વાસમાં દૃઢ કર, અને તેઓને ઉપદેશ આપ. હુ ત્યાં આવી પહોંચું ત્યા સુધી તું એ કાર્યો કરતો રહેજે.
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<v id="14" bcv="2TI.4.14" />તારી પાસે જે કૃપાદાન છે તેનો ઉપયોગ કરતા રહેવાનું યાદ રાખજે. જ્યારે વડીલોએ તારા પર તેઓના હાથ મૂક્યા<f caller="+"><fr>4:14
</fr><fk>તેઓના હાથ મૂક્યા
</fk><ft>તિમોથીને દેવનું ખાસ કાર્ય સોંપવામાં આવ્યું છે તે દર્શાવવા માટેનું ચિન્હ.</ft></f> તે વખતે થયેલ પ્રબોધ દ્વારા એ કૃપાદાન તને આપવામાં આવ્યુ હતુ.
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<v id="15" bcv="2TI.4.15" />એ બધી પ્રવૃત્તિઓ તું ચાલુ રાખજે. તે પ્રવૃત્તિઓ કરવા તું તારું જીવન આપી દે. પછી બધા લોકો જોઈ શકશે કે તારું કાર્ય પ્રગતિ સાધી રહ્યું છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="2TI.4.16" />તારા જીવનમાં અને તારા ઉપદેશમાં સાવધ રહેજે. યોગ્ય રીતે જીવતો રહેજે અને ઉપદેશ આપતો રહેજે. આમ, તારો ઉપદેશ સાંભળનારા લોકોને તથા તારી જાતને તૂં તારીશ.
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2TI.5.1" />વૃદ્ધને ઠપકો ના આપ, પરંતુ એ તારો પિતા હોય એ રીતે તેની સાથે વાત કરજે. જુવાનો તારા ભાઈઓ હોય એ રીતે વર્તજે.
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<v id="2" bcv="2TI.5.2" />વૃદ્ધ સ્ત્રીઓને મા સમાન ગણજે અને જુવાન સ્ત્રીઓને બહેનો જેવી ગણજે. તેઓની સાથે હંમેશા સારું વર્તન કરજે.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2TI.5.3" />જે વિધવા ખરેખર નિરાધાર હોય તેઓનું માન-સન્માન જાળવજે અને તેઓની સંભાળ લેજે.
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<v id="4" bcv="2TI.5.4" />પરંતુ જો કોઈ વિધવાને બાળકો હોય અથવા પૌત્ર-પૌત્રીઓ હોય તો પ્રથમ તો તેમણે આ શીખવાની જરુંર છે: એ બાળકો અથવા પૌત્રોઓ પોતાના જ કુટુંબ પ્રત્યેની વફાદારી તેઓને મદદરુંપ થઈને બતાવવી જોઈએ. જ્યારે તેઓ આમ કરે છે ત્યારે તેઓ પોતાનાં મા-બાપનું ઋણ અદા કરે છે. એનાથી દેવ પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="2TI.5.5" />જો કોઈ વિધવા ખરેખર નિરાધાર હોય તો તેની સંભાળ માટે તે દેવની જ આશા રાખે છે. તે સ્ત્રી રાત-દિવસ હમેશા પ્રાર્થના કરતી હોય છે. તે દેવ પાસે મદદ માગે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="2TI.5.6" />પરંતુ જે વિધવા પોતાને રાજી રાખવા મોજ-મઝામાં જીવન વેડફે છે, તે જીવતી હોવા છતાં ખરેખર મરણ પામેલી જ છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="2TI.5.7" />ત્યાનાં વિશ્વાસીઓને તું આ બધી વાત કહેજે (પોતાના ઘરની સંભાળ લેવાનું) જેથી, બીજી કોઈ વ્યક્તિ એમ કહી ન શકે કે તેઓ ખોટું કરી રહ્યાં છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="2TI.5.8" />વ્યક્તિએ પોતાના બધા માણસોની સંભાળ લેવી જોઈએ. પણ, તેમાંય સૌથી અગત્યની વાત એ છે કે તેણે તેના પોતાનાં કુટુંબની સંભાળ લેવી જોઈએ. જે વ્યક્તિ આમ કરતી નથી, તો તે સાચા વિશ્વાસને (ઉપદેશ) સ્વીકારતી નથી. તે વ્યક્તિ તો અવિશ્વાસી કરતાં પણ ભૂંડો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2TI.5.9" />વિધવાઓની તારી યાદીમાં એવી સ્ત્રીનું નામ ઉમેરજે કે જે 60 વર્ષ કે તેથી વધારે ઊંમરની હોય. તે તેના પતિને વફાદાર રહી ચૂકી હોય. અને પર્ણલગ્ન ના કર્યુ હોય.
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<v id="10" bcv="2TI.5.10" />સત્કર્મ દ્વારા કીર્તિ પ્રાપ્ત કરેલી હોય, પોતાના છોકરાઓને ઉછેર્યા હોય, મહેમાનોનું સ્વાગત કરનારી હોય, સંતોના પગ ધોયા હોય. દુઃખીઓને મદદ કરી હોય, અનેક પ્રકારના સત્કર્મોમાં ખત રાખતી હોય, એવી વિધવાનું નામ તારી યાદીમાં ઉમેરવું.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2TI.5.11" />પરંતુ એ યાદીમાં જુવાન વિધવાઓનો સમાવેશ ન કરીશ. જ્યારે તેઓ ખ્રિસ્તને સમર્પિત થઇ જાય છે, ત્યારબાદ તેઓના તીવ્ર શારીરિક આવેગોને લીધે તેઓ ઘણીવાર ખ્રિસ્તથી દૂર ખેંચાઈ જાય છે. પછી તેઓ ફરીથી પરણવા ચાહે છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="2TI.5.12" />અને એવું કરનાર જુવાન વિધવાઓનો ન્યાય તોળાશે. તેઓએ પહેલા જે કરવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું, તે ન કરવાના કારણે તેઓનો ન્યાય તોળવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2TI.5.13" />વળી, તે જુવાન વિધવાઓ ઘેરઘેર ભટકવાનું શરું કરે છે અને પોતાનો સમય વેડફે છે. તેઓ નિંદા અને કૂથલી કરવાનું શરું કરી દે છે અને બીજા લોકોના જીવનમાં રસ લેતી થઈ જાય છે. જે ન બોલવું જોઈએ તે તેઓ બોલવા લાગે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="2TI.5.14" />તેથી હુ ઈચ્છુ છું કે જુવાન વિધવાઓ ફરીથી લગ્ન કરે, બાળકોને જન્મ આપે, અને પોતાનાં ઘરોની સંભાળ લે. જો તેઓ આમ કરશે, તો તેઓની ટીકા કરવા દુશ્મનો પાસે કોઈ યોગ્ય કારણ નહિ હોય.
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<v id="15" bcv="2TI.5.15" />પરંતુ કેટલીએક જુવાન વિધવાઓ અવળે માર્ગે દોરવાઈ જઈને શેતાનને અનુસરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2TI.5.16" />જો કોઈ વિશ્વાસી સ્ત્રીના કુટુંબમાં વિધવાઓ હોય તો, તેણે પોતે તેઓની સંભાળ લેવી જોઈએ. તેઓની સંભાળ માટે મંડળીએ ભાર ઊઠાવવો જોઈએ નહિ. જેથી કુટુંબ વિહોણી નિરાધાર વિધવાઓની સંભાળ લેવાનું કામ મંડળી કરી શકશે.
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<s style="s">વડીલોને સાથે રહેવા માટે કેટલાક નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2TI.5.17" />મંડળીનો સારી રીતે અધિકાર ચલાવનાર વડીલોને માન પાત્ર ગણવા જોઈએ. ખાસ કરીને આ સાચું છે કે વડીલોને માન મળવું જોઈએ. જેઓ ઉપદેશ કરવામાં તથા શિક્ષણ આપવામાં શ્રમ લે છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="2TI.5.18" />એવું શા માટે? કારણ કે શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે, “જ્યારે કામમાં જોતરેલો બળદ અનાજ છુટું પાડવાનું કામ કરતો હોય ત્યારે, એનું મોઢું બાંધીને તેને અનાજ ખાતો રોકવો નહી.”<x caller="+"><xo>5:18
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 25:4</xt></x> અને વળી શાસ્ત્ર એ પણ કહે છે કે, “મજૂરને તેની મજૂરી આપવી જોઈએ.”<x caller="+"><xo>5:18
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ લૂ. 10:7</xt></x>
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2TI.5.19" />મંડળીના વડીલ પર આક્ષેપ મૂકનાર વ્યક્તિની વાત સાંભળતો નહિ. એ વડીલે કંઈક ખોટું કર્યુ છે એવું કહેનાર બીજા બે-ત્રણ માણસો નીકળે તો જ પેલા માણસની વાત સાંભળવી.
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<v id="20" bcv="2TI.5.20" />પાપ કરનારાઓને કહેજે કે તેઓ ખોટા છે. આખી મંડળીની સમક્ષ આ કર. જેથી બીજા લોકોને પણ ચેતવણી મળી જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="2TI.5.21" />દેવ તથા ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત અને ખાસ પસંદગી પામેલા દૂતોની સમક્ષ હું તને આ બધું કરવાની આજ્ઞા આપું છું. પરંતુ સત્ય હકીકતો જાણ્યા વિના તું લોકોનો ન્યાય તોળવા બેસી ના જતો. અને દરેક વ્યક્તિ સાથે એક સરખો વ્યવહાર રાખજે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="2TI.5.22" />કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિને મંડળીના વડીલ તરીકે નિયુક્ત કરવા તું તેના પર હાથ મૂકે તે પહેલા કાળજીપૂર્વક વિચાર કરજે. બીજા લોકોના પાપમાં ભાગીદાર થતો નહિ. તું તારી જાતને શુદ્ધ રાખજે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="2TI.5.23" />તિમોથી, આજ સુધી તે ફક્ત પાણીજ પીધા કર્યુ છે. હવે પાણી પીવાનું બંધ કરીને થોડો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીજે. તેનાથી તારું પેટ સારું થશે, અને તું વારંવાર બિમાર નહિ થાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="2TI.5.24" />કેટલાએક લોકોનાં પાપ સહેલાઈથી જણાઈ આવે છે. તેઓનાં પાપ જણાવે છે કે તેઓને ન્યાય તોળોશે. પરંતુ બીજા કેટલાએક લોકોનાં પાપ પાછળથી ખબર પડે છે.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="2TI.5.25" />સારાં કામો કે જે લોકો કરે છે તે બાબતમાં પણ આવું જ છે. લોકોનાં સારા કામો સહેલાઈથી દેખાઈ આવે છે. પરંતુ જ્યારે એ સારા કામો સહેલાઈથી ન દેખાય, તો પણ તે છુપાવી શકતા નથી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">માટે કેટલાએક નિયમો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2TI.6.1" />સર્વ દાસોએ પોતાના શેઠ પ્રત્યે સંપૂર્ણ માન દર્શાવવું જોઈએ. જો તેઓ આમ કરશે તો, દેવનું નામ અને આપણો ઉપદેશ ટીકાને પાત્ર થશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2TI.6.2" />કેટલાએક દાસોના શેઠો વિશ્વાસીઓ હોય છે. તેથી જે દાસો તથા એ શેઠો ભાઈઓ છે. પરંતુ એનો અર્થ એવો નથી કે એ દાસો પોતાના શેઠોને ઓછું માન આપે તો ચાલે. ના! તેઓએ તો વધારે કામ કરવું જોઈએ કારણ કે તેઓ કે જેને તેની સેવાઓ દ્વારા લાભ થયો છે તેઓ વિશ્વાસીઓ છે. જેને તેઓ પ્રેમ કરે છે.
</p>
<p style="p">તેઓને આ વાતો શીખવ અને સલાહ આપ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ખોટો ઉપદેશ અને સાચું ધન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2TI.6.3" />કેટલાએક લોકો એવી બાબતોનો ઉપદેશ આપશે કે જે ખોટો જ હોય. આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનાં સત્ય વચનો સાથે એ લોકો સંમત નહિ થાય. અને દેવની સેવાનો સાચો માર્ગ દર્શાવતા ઉપદેશનો તેઓ સ્વીકાર નહિ કરે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2TI.6.4" />ખોટી રીતે ઉપદેશ આપતી વ્યક્તિ અભિમાનથી છલકાય છે અને કશું જાણતી હોતી નથી. તે વ્યક્તિમાં દલીલબાજીની બિમારી હોય છે. અને એ શબ્દો વિષે દલીલબાજી કરે છે. એના પરિણામે ઈર્ષા, મુશ્કેલીઓ, અપમાનો અને ખોટા વહેમ ઉત્પન્ન થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="2TI.6.5" />પણ ભ્રષ્ટ મતિના લોકોથી પરિણામે સતત દલીલબાજી થાય છે. એ લોકોએ સત્ય ખોઈ નાખ્યું છે. તેઓ એવું માનતા હોય છે કે દેવની સેવા તો કમાઈનું સાધન છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2TI.6.6" />એ સાચું છે કે દેવની સેવા-ભક્તિ માણસને ખૂબ ધનવાન બનાવે છે. જો તેને પોતાની વસ્તુઓથી સંતોષ હોય તો.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2TI.6.7" />આ દુનિયામાં આપણે જ્યારે આવ્યા ત્યારે, આપણે કશુંય લીધા વગર ખાલી હાથે આવ્યા હતા. અને આપણે જ્યારે મરી જઈશું ત્યારે, આપણે કશુંય લઈ જઈ શકવાના નથી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2TI.6.8" />તેથી આપણને જો પૂરતો ખોરાક અને કપડાં મળી રહે, તો તેનાથી આપણે સંતોષ માનવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2TI.6.9" />ધનવાન થવાની ઈચ્છા રાખતા લોકો પોતે જ પ્રલોભનોની જાળમાં પકડાય છે. તેઓને ઘણી બધી ચિત્ર-વિચિત્ર વસ્તુઓ મેળવી લેવાની ઈચ્છા થાય છે, કે જે ચીજે તેઓને નુકસાન કે આઘાત આપનારી નીવડે છે. એ વસ્તુઓ લોકોને પાયમાલ કરીને તેઓનો સર્વનાશ આણે છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="2TI.6.10" />પૈસા માટેનો લોભ દરેક જાતનાં પાપોને જન્મ આપે છે. કેટલાએક લોકોએ સાચો વિશ્વાસ (ઉપદેશ) છોડી દીધો છે કેમ કે તેઓ વધુ ને બધુ ધન મેળવવા માગે છે. પરંતુ આમ કરતાં તેઓ પોતાની જાતે ઘણી ત્રાસદાયક મુશ્કેલીઓ ઊભી કરી સહન કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તારે યાદ રાખવા જેવી કેટલીક બાબતો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="2TI.6.11" />પરંતુ તું તો દેવભક્ત છે. તેથી એ બધી બાબતોથી તારે દૂર રહેવું જોઈએ. ન્યાયી માર્ગે જીવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર, ભક્તિભાવ, વિશ્વાસ, પ્રેમ, ધીરજ તથા નમ્રતાના સદગુણ કેળવ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="2TI.6.12" />વિશ્વાસ ટકાવી રાખવો એ સ્પર્ધાની હરીફાઈમાં ઉતરવા જેવું છે. એ સ્પર્ધા જીતવા તારાથી જેમ બને તેમ સખત પ્રયત્ન કરજે. અનંતજીવન તને પ્રાપ્ત થાય એની ખાતરી કરજે. એવું જીવન તને મળે એ માટે તને તેડવામાં આવ્યો છે. અને ખ્રિસ્ત વિષેના મહાન સત્યની તેં એવી રીતે કબૂલાત કરી છે કે જેના ઘણા લોકો સાક્ષી છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2TI.6.13" />દેવ અને ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત આગળ હું તને આજ્ઞા આપું છું. જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ પોંતિયુસ પિલાત આગળ ઊભો રહ્યો ત્યારે તેણે પણ આજ મહાન સત્ય કબૂલ કર્યુ હતું. અને પ્રત્યેકને જીવન આપનાર એક માત્ર એવો દેવ જ છે. હવે જે હું તને કહું છું:
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="2TI.6.14" />તને જે જે કાર્યો કરવાની આજ્ઞા કરવામાં આવી હતી તે કર. આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનું પુનરાગમન ન થાય ત્યાં સુધી તું એ કાર્યો કોઈ પણ દોષ કે ભૂલ કર્યા વગર કરતો રહે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="2TI.6.15" />યોગ્ય સમયે એ ઘટના ઘટે એવું દેવ કરાવશે. જે ધન્ય તથા એકલો સ્વામી છે. જે રાજાઓનો રાજા અને પ્રભુઓનો પ્રભુ છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="2TI.6.16" />દેવ એકલાને અમરપણું છે. દેવ તો એવા ઝળહળતા પ્રકાશમાં રહે છે કે માનવો એની નજીક જઈ શક્તા નથી. કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિએ કદી દેવને જોયો નથી. દેવને જોવા માટે કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ શક્તિમાન નથી. તેને સદાકાળ ગૌરવ તથા સાર્મથ્ય હો. આમીન.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2TI.6.17" />દુન્યવી ચીજ-વસ્તુઓ વડે ધનિક થયેલા લોકોને તું કહેજે કે તેઓ અભિમાની ન બને. એ ધનવાન લોકોને તું કહે કે તેઓ તેઓના ધનમાં નહિ, પરંતુ દેવમાં આશા રાખે. પૈસાનો વિશ્વાસ કરી ન શકાય. પરંતુ દેવ ખૂબ સારી રીતે આપણી સંભાળ લે છે. તે આપણને દરેક વસ્તુ આનંદથી માણવા આપે છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="2TI.6.18" />તું પૈસાદાર લોકોને સારાં કાર્યો કરવાનું કહે. સારાં કાર્યો કરીને સમૃદ્ધ થાય. તેઓ ભલું કરે. ઉત્તમ કાર્યો રુંપી સમૃદ્ધિ પ્રાપ્ત કરે અને ઉદાર તથા પરોપકારી થાય.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="2TI.6.19" />એવું કરીને તેઓ પોતાના માટે આકાશમાં એક ખજાનો સંગ્રહ કરશે. તે ખજાનો મજબૂત સ્તંભ બનશે – તે ખજાના ઉપર તેઓ તે ભવિષ્યનું નિર્માણ કરી શકશે. જેથી તેઓ જે ખરેખરું જીવન છે તે પ્રાપ્ત કરી શકે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2TI.6.20" />તિમોથી, દેવે તારામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂકીને તને ઘણી વસ્તુઓ સોંપી છે. તે વસ્તુઓને તું સુરક્ષિત રાખજે. દેવ તરફથી આવતી ન હોય એવી મૂર્ખાઈ ભરી વાતો કરતાં લોકોથી તું દૂર રહેજે. સત્યની વિરૂદ્ધમાં દલીલો કરતાં લોકોથી તું દૂર રહેજે. તેઓ જેને “જ્ઞાન” તરીકે ઓળખાવે છે, તેનો તે લોકો ઉપયોગ કરે છે. પરંતુ ખરેખર તો તે જ્ઞાન નથી.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="2TI.6.21" />કેટલાએક લોકો એવું કહેતા હોય છે કે તેઓની પાસે એ “જ્ઞાન” છે. એ લોકોએ સત્ય વિશ્વાસ તજ્યો છે.
</p>
<p style="p">તમ સર્વ પર દેવની કૃપા થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="TIT"><id id="TIT">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>તિતસ
</h><toc level="1">તિતસનો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">તિતસ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">તિતસનો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="TIT.1.1" />દેવના દાસ તથા ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રેરિત પાઉલ તરફથી કુશળતા હો. દેવની પસંદગી પામેલા લોકોના વિશ્વાસને મદદરૂપ થઈ શકાય તે માટે અને એ લોકો સત્યને જાણી શકે તે માટે સહાય કરવા મને મોકલ્યો છે. અને તે સત્ય લોકોને બતાવે છે કે કેવી રીતે દેવની સેવા કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="TIT.1.2" />અનંતજીવનની આપણી આશામાંથી જ એ વિશ્વાસ અને જ્ઞાન જન્મે છે. સમયનો પ્રારંભ થયો તે પહેલા દેવે એ જીવનનું વચન આપ્યું હતું અને દેવ કદી જૂઠુ બોલી શકતો નથી.
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<v id="3" bcv="TIT.1.3" />યોગ્ય સમયે દેવે એવા જીવન વિષે જગતને જાણવા દીધું. દેવે સુવાર્તા દ્વારા દુનિયાને એ વાત જણાવી. એ કાર્ય માટે દેવે મારામાં વિશ્વાસ મૂક્યો. આપણા તારનાર દેવે મને આજ્ઞા આપી તેથી એ બધી બાબતોનો મેં ઉપદેશ કર્યો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="TIT.1.4" />હવે હું તિતસને આ લખું છું કે જે વિશ્વાસના આપણે સહભાગી છીએ, તેમાં તું મારા સગા પુત્ર સમાન છે.
</p>
<p style="p">દેવ જે પિતા તથા આપણા તારનાર ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ તરફથી તને કૃપા અને શાંતિ પ્રાપ્ત થાઓ.
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</p>
<s style="s">ક્રીત ટાપુમાં તિતસનું કાર્ય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="TIT.1.5" />તને ક્રીત ટાપુ પર એટલા માટે રાખ્યો છે કે ત્યાં જે કાર્યો કરવાની જરૂર છે, તે તું પરિપૂર્ણ કરી શકે અને મેં તને ત્યાં એટલા માટે પણ રાખ્યો છે કે જેથી કરીને દરેક નગરમાં માણસોની વડીલો તરીકે તું પસંદગી કરી શકે.
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<v id="6" bcv="TIT.1.6" />વડીલ થવા માટે એ વ્યક્તિ કોઈ પણ ખરાબ કામ માટે અપરાધી ઠરેલી ન હોવી જોઈએ. એ માણસને એક જ પત્ની હોવી જોઈએ. તેનાં બાળકો વિશ્વાસી હોવાં જોઈએ. તેનાં બાળકો ઉદ્ધત અને આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરનારાં હોવાં ન જોઈએ.
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<v id="7" bcv="TIT.1.7" />દેવના કાર્યની સંભાળ રાખવાનું કામ એ અધ્યક્ષનું છે. તેથી કોઈ પણ ખરાબ કાર્યનો તે ગુનેગાર હોવો ન જોઈએ. તે વ્યક્તિ એવી ન હોવી જોઈએ કે જે અભિમાની અને સ્વાર્થી હોય, અથવા તો જે વારંવાર ગુસ્સે થઈ જતી હોય. તેણે અતિશય મદ્યપાન ન કરવું જોઈએ. તે વ્યક્તિ એવી ન હોવી જોઈએ જેને ઝઘડા પસંદ હોય. અને તે વ્યક્તિ એવી તો ન હોવી જોઈએ જે કે હમેશાં લોકોને છેતરીને ધનવાન થવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરતી હોય.
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<v id="8" bcv="TIT.1.8" />વડીલ તો એવો હોવો જોઈએ કે જે લોકોને પોતાના ઘરમાં આવકારવા અને તેઓને મદદ કરવા હંમેશા આતુર હોય. જે કંઈ સત્કર્મ હોય તેનો તે ચાહક હોવો જોઈએ. તે વિવેકબુદ્ધિ ઘરાવતો હોવો જોઈએ. તેણે ન્યાયી જીવન જીવવું જોઈએ. તે પવિત્ર જ હોવો જોઈએ, તે પોતાની જાત પર અંકુશ રાખી શકતો હોવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="TIT.1.9" />આપણે જે સત્યનો ઉપદેશ આપીએ છીએ તેનું તે પોતે પણ વફાદારીપૂર્વક પાલન કરતો હોવો જોઈએ. તે વડીલમાં સારા કે શુદ્ધ ઉપદેશ દ્વારા લોકોને સહાય કરવાની ક્ષમતા હોવી જોઈએ. જે લોકો સાચા શિક્ષણથી વિમુખ હોય તેઓ ખોટા છે, એવું તેઓને સ્પષ્ટ કહેવા શક્તિમાન હોવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="TIT.1.10" />એવા અનેક લોકો છે કે જે આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરતા નથી-એવા લોકો કે જે નકામી બાબતો વિષે ચર્ચા કર્યા કરતા હોય અને બીજા લોકોને ખોટા માર્ગે દોરતા હોય છે. હું ખાસ તો એવા લોકો વિષે ઉલ્લેખ કરવા માગું છું કે જેઓ એમ કહેતા ફરે છે કે સૌ બિનયહૂદિ લોકોની સુન્નત કરવી જ જોઈએ.
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<v id="11" bcv="TIT.1.11" />વડીલ એવો હોવો જોઈએ કે જે એવા લોકોને સ્પષ્ટ બતાવી શકે કે તેઓની માન્યતા ખોટી છે, અને તેઓને નકામી બાબતો વિષે બોલતા બંધ કરી દે. જેનો ઉપદેશ તેઓએ આપવા જેવો નથી એવી બાબતનો ઉપદેશ આપીને તે લોકો આખા કુટુંબનો નાશ કરી રહ્યા છે. તેઓ લોકોને માત્ર છેતરવા અને પૈસા બનાવવા એવું બધું શીખવી રહ્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="TIT.1.12" />એમના જ ક્રીત ટાપુના તેઓના પોતાના પ્રબોધકોમાંના એકે આમ કહ્યું પણ છે કે, “ક્રીતના લોકો તો હંમેશા જૂઠું બોલનારા હોય છે, તેઓ જંગલી પશુઓ જેવા અને આળસુ છે કે જેઓ ખાવા સિવાય બીજું કંઈ કરતા નથી.”
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="TIT.1.13" />એ પ્રબોધકે કહેલા શબ્દો સાચા છે. તેથી તું એ લોકોને કહે કે તેઓ ખોટા છે. તારે એમની સાથે કડક થવું જ પડશે. તો જ એમનો વિશ્વાસ દૃઢ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="TIT.1.14" />ત્યારબાદ તેઓ યહૂદી વાર્તાઓને માની લેવાનું બંધ કરશે. અને જે લોકો સત્યને સ્વીકારતા નથી તેઓ આદેશોને અનુસરવાનું પણ તેઓ બંધ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="TIT.1.15" />જે લોકો પોતે શુદ્ધ છે, તેઓના માટે તો બધી વસ્તુઓ શુદ્ધ હોય છે. પરંતુ પાપથી ભરેલા અને અવિશ્વાસીઓને માટે કંઈ પણ શુદ્ધ હોતું નથી. ખરેખર, એ લોકોના વિચારો દુષ્ટ બન્યા છે અને સત્ય શું છે તે જાણવા તેઓનું જ્ઞાન નષ્ટ થઈ ગયુ છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="TIT.1.16" />એ લોકો તો એમ કહેતા હોય છે કે તેઓ દેવને જાણે છે, ઓળખે છે. પરંતુ એ લોકો જે ખરાબ કાર્યો કરે છે તે બતાવે છે કે તેઓ દેવનો નકાર કરે છે. તેઓ તો ભયંકર લોકો છે, તેઓ દેવની આજ્ઞાનો ભંગ કરે છે, અને તેઓ કોઈ પણ સારાં કામને માટે નકામા છે.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">શુદ્ધ ઉપદેશનું પાલન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="TIT.2.1" />શુદ્ધ ઉપદેશનું પાલન કરવા લોકોએ શું શું કરવું જોઈએ એ વિષે તારે એમને કહેવું જ જોઈએ.
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<v id="2" bcv="TIT.2.2" />વૃદ્ધોને તું આત્મ-સંયમ રાખવાનું, ગંભીર, તથા શાણા થવાનું શીખવ. તેઓએ દૃઢ વિશ્વાસ, ઉત્કટ પ્રેમ તથા ધીરજમાં દૃઢ થવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="TIT.2.3" />વળી તું વૃદ્ધ સ્ત્રીઓને પવિત્ર જીવન ગાળવાનું શીખવ. તું એમને શીખવ કે બીજા લોકોની વિરૂદ્ધમાં કૂથલી કરનારી નહિ, કે ઘણો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીનારી નહિ પણ સ્ત્રીઓએ જે સારું છે તે શીખવવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="TIT.2.4" />એ રીતે તેઓ જુવાન સ્ત્રીઓને તેમના પતિ અને બાળકોને પ્રેમ રાખવાનું શીખવવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="TIT.2.5" />જુવાન સ્ત્રીઓને સમજુ અને શદ્ધ બનવાનું, પોતાનાં ઘરોની સંભાળ રાખવાનું, દયાળુ થવાનું અને પોતાના પતિની આજ્ઞા પાળવાનું, તેઓએ શીખવવું જોઈએ. તે પછી, પ્રભુએ આપણને આપેલા વાતની કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ ટીકા કરી શકશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="TIT.2.6" />એ જ રીતે, જુવાન માણસોને પણ તું શાણા થવાનું કહે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="TIT.2.7" />જુવાન માણસો માટે દરેક બાબતમાં નમૂનારુંપ થવા તારે સારાં કામો કરવાં જોઈએ. જ્યારે તું ઉપદેશ આપે ત્યારે પ્રામાણિક અને ગંભીર બન.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="TIT.2.8" />અને જ્યારે તું બોલે, ત્યારે સત્ય જ ઉચ્ચારજે જેથી કરીને તારી ટીકા ન થાય. તે પછી તો તારો દુશ્મન શરમાઈ જશે કેમ કે આપણી વિરૂદ્ધ ખરાબ કહેવાનું એની પાસે કંઈ પણ હશે નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="TIT.2.9" />અને જે લોકો દાસો તરીકે સેવા આપે છે તેઓને તું આ બધું કહેજે: તેઓએ હંમેશા પોતાના ધણીની આજ્ઞા પાળવી જોઈએ, તેઓએ પોતાના ધણીઓને ખુશ રાખવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરવો જોઈએ; તેઓએ પોતાના ધણીઓ સાથે દલીલબાજીમાં ઉતરવું ન જોઈએ;
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<v id="10" bcv="TIT.2.10" />તેઓએ પોતાના ધણીઓને ત્યાંથી ચોરી ન કરવી જોઈએ; અને તેઓએ તેમના ધણીઓને એવું દેખાડવું જોઈએ કે તેઓ ભરોસાપાત્ર છે. દાસોએ આ રીતે વર્તવું જોઈએ, જેથી તેઓ જે કંઈ કરે તેમાં એવું દેખાય કે આપણા તારનાર દેવનો સુબોધ સારો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="TIT.2.11" />આપણે આ રીતે જ જીવવું જોઈએ, કારણ કે દેવની કૃપાનું આગમન થયું છે. જે કૃપા દરેક વ્યક્તિનું તારણ કરે છે. અને તે કૃપા હવે આપણને આપવામાં આવી છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="TIT.2.12" />તે કૃપા આપણને શીખવે છે કે દેવથી વિમુખ જીવન જીવવું ન જોઈએ અને દુનિયા આપણી પાસે ખોટાં કામો કરાવવા માગતી હોય તે ન કરવાં જોઈએ. તે કૃપા આપણને હવે શાણપણથી અને સાચા માર્ગે પૃથ્વી પર રહેવાનો ઉપદેશ આપે છે-જીવવાની એવી રીત કે જે બતાવે કે આપણે દેવની સેવા કરીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="TIT.2.13" />આપણા મહાન દેવ તથા તારનાર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના આવવાની રાહ જોતાં આપણે એ રીતે જીવવું જોઈએ. તે જ તો આપણી મહાન આશા છે, અને તેનું આગમન મહિમાવંત હશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="TIT.2.14" />તેણે આપણા માટે પોતાની જાતનું સ્વાર્પણ કરી દીધું. તે બધા અન્યાયથી આપણને છોડાવવા મરણ પામ્યો. તે મરણ આપણને પવિત્ર કરીને પોતાને સારું ખાસ પ્રજા તથા સર્વ સારા કામ કરવાને આતુર એવા લોક તૈયાર કરે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="TIT.2.15" />આ બધી વાતો તું લોકોને કહે. એ માટે તને સંપૂર્ણ સત્તા છે. તેથી લોકોના વિશ્વાસને દૃઢ કરવા માટે તેઓએ શું શું કરવું જોઈએ તે કહેવા તું તારા અધિકારનો ઉપયોગ કર. તેઓને પ્રોત્સાહિત કર અને તેઓ કંઈ પણ ખોટું કરતા હોય ત્યારે તેઓને સુધાર. અને તારું કોઈ મહત્વ ન હોય એમ માનનાર કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિને તારી સાથે એ રીતે વર્તવા ન દઈશ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">જીવન જીવવાનો સાચો માર્ગ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="TIT.3.1" />તું લોકોને કહે કે તેઓ હંમેશા આ બાબતો યાદ રાખે: રાજસત્તાને અને અધિકારીઓની સત્તા હેઠળ રહેવું; એ અધિકારીઓની આજ્ઞા પાળવી અને દરેક સારી વસ્તુ કરવા તત્પર રહેવું;
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="TIT.3.2" />કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિના વિષે ખરાબ ન બોલવું; બીજા લોકો સાથે શાંતિથી રહેવું; બીજા લોકો સાથે વિનમ્ર થવું; અને તેઓની સાથે માયાળુ થવું. બીજા લોકો સાથે દયાળુ બનવું. બધા લોકોની સાથે આવો વ્યવહાર કરવાનું તું વિશ્વાસીઓને કહે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="TIT.3.3" />ભૂતકાળમાં તો આપણે પણ મૂર્ખ લોકો હતા. આપણે આજ્ઞાઓનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરતા હતા, આપણે ખોટા હતા, અને આપણાં શરીરની ઈચ્છાને આધીન થઈ આપણે અનેક પ્રકારનો ભોગ વિલાસ ભોગવતા હતા, અને આપણે તે ઈચ્છાઓ અને વિલાસના ગુલામ હતા. આપણે દુષ્ટ કાર્યોવાળું અને ઈર્ષ્યાળુ જીવન જીવતા હતા. લોકો આપણને ધિક્કારતા હતા અને આપણે એકબીજાને ધિક્કારતા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="TIT.3.4" />પરંતુ ત્યારબાદ દેવ આપણા તારનારની દયા અને પ્રેમ સૌને પ્રગટ થયાં.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="TIT.3.5" />તેની સાથે ન્યાયી થવા માટે આપણે કરેલા કૃત્યોને કારણે તેણે આપણને તાર્યા નથી. પરંતુ તેની દયાથી તેણે આપણને પુનર્જન્મના સ્નાનથી તેના પવિત્ર આત્મા દ્વારા આપણું નવીનીકરણ કરીને દેવે આપણને તાર્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="TIT.3.6" />આપણા તારનાર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા દેવે એ પવિત્ર આત્મા આપણા ઉપર પુષ્કળ રેડયો છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="TIT.3.7" />આમ, દેવની કૃપા વડે જ આપણે ન્યાયી થયા. અને દેવે આપણને આત્મા આપ્યો જેથી આપણને અનંતજીવન મળે. આપણે એની જ તો આશા રાખીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="TIT.3.8" />આ વાત સાચી છે.
</p>
<p style="p">આ બધી બાબતો લોકો સમજે એની તું ખાતરી કર એમ હું ઈચ્છું છું. તો જ દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ કરનારા લોકો સારા કાર્યો કરવા માટે પોતાના જીવનને સમર્પિત કરશે. આ બધી વાતો સારી છે, અને સૌ લોકોને મદદરુંપ થશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="TIT.3.9" />એવા લોકોથી દૂર રહેજે જે મૂર્ખાઈભરી દલીલો કરતા હોય, જે લોકો નકામી વંશાવળીઓની વાતો કર્યા કરતા હોય, જે લોકો મૂસાના નિમયશાસ્ત્રના ઉપદેશ વિષે મુશ્કેલીઓ ઊભી કરીને ઝધડતા હોય. આ બાબતો નકામી છે અને તે લોકોને સહાયરુંપ નહિ થાય.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="TIT.3.10" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ દલીલબાજી કરવાનું કારણ માગતી હોય, તો તું એને ચેતવણી આપ. જો એ વ્યક્તિ દલીલબાજી કરવાનું કારણ ચાલુ રાખે, તો ફરી એક વાર એને ચેતવજે. તેમ છતાં જો તે દલીલબાજી કરવાનું કારણ ચાલુ જ રાખે, તો તે માણસ સાથે કોઈ સંબંધ રાખતો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="TIT.3.11" />તું જાણે છે કે એવી વ્યક્તિ દુષ્ટ અને પાપી હોય છે. તેનાં પાપ જ સાબિત કરે છે કે તે ખોટો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">યાદ રાખવા જેવી કેટલીક બાબતો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="TIT.3.12" />હું આર્તિમાસ અને તુખિકસને તારી પાસે મોકલીશ. જ્યારે તેઓને હું ત્યાં મોકલું ત્યારે, તું નિકોપુલિસમાં મારી પાસે આવવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરજે. આ શિયાળા દરમ્યાન ત્યાં રહેવાનું મેં નક્કી કર્યુ છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="TIT.3.13" />ત્યાંથી ઝેનાસ શાસ્ત્રી અને અપોલોસ પ્રવાસ કરવાના છે. તારાથી થઈ શકે એટલી બધીજ મદદ તું એમના પ્રવાસ માટે કરજે. જરુંર હોય એવી દરેક વસ્તુ એમને મળી રહે એની તું ખાતરી કરજે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="TIT.3.14" />આપણા લોકોએ સારા કામો કરવા માટે તેમના જીવનનો ઉપયોગ કરવાનું શીખવું જ પડશે. જે લોકોને જરુંર હોય એવાનું તેઓએ ભલું કરવું જોઈએ. તે પછી તે લોકોના જીવન નકામા નહિ રહે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="TIT.3.15" />અહીં મારી સાથેના બધા લોકો તને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે. વિશ્વાસમાંના જેઓ આપણા પર પ્રેમ રાખે છે તેમને તું ક્ષેમકુશળ કહેજે.
</p>
<p style="p">તમ સર્વ પર કૃપા થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="PHM"><id id="PHM">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>ફિલેમોન
</h><toc level="1">ફિલેમોનને પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">ફિલેમોન
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">ફિલેમોનને પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="PHM.1.1" />અમારા પ્રિય મિત્ર અને અમારા સહ-કાર્યકર ફિલેમોનને ઉદ્દેશીને આ પત્ર છે.
</p>
<p style="p">આપણી બહેન આફિયા, અમારા એક સહ-કાર્યકર આર્ખિપસ, અને તારા ઘરમાંની એકત્રીત મંડળી એ સર્વનાં નામ જોગ લખિતંગ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="PHM.1.2" />ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુનો બંદીવાન પાઉલ તથા આપણો ભાઈ તિમોથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="PHM.1.3" />દેવ આપણા પિતા અને પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તરફથી તમને કૃપા તથા શાંતિ પ્રાપ્ત થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ફિલેમોનનો પ્રેમ અને વિશ્વાસ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="PHM.1.4" />મારી પ્રાર્થનાઓમાં હું તને યાદ કરું છું. અને તારા માટે હું હંમેશા મારા દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરું છું.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="PHM.1.5" />દેવ અને સર્વ સંતો માટે તને જે પ્રેમ છે અને પ્રભુ ઈસુમાં તને વિશ્વાસ છે, તે વિષે મેં સાંભળ્યું છે. અને તારા એ વિશ્વાસ અને પ્રેમ બદલ હું દેવની આભારસ્તુતિ કરું છું.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="PHM.1.6" />મારી પ્રાર્થના છે કે જે વિશ્વાસમાં તું સહભાગી થયો છે તેને લીધે ખ્રિસ્તની દરેક સારી બાબત આપણામાં છે તે આપણને ખ્રિસ્ત તરફ દોરી જાય છે તે સારી બાબત તું સમજી શકીશ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="PHM.1.7" />મારા ભાઈ, તેં દેવના લોકો પ્રત્યે પુષ્કળ પ્રેમ દર્શાવ્યો છે. તેં તેઓને સુખી કર્યા છે. આથી મારા મનને ખૂબ જ આનંદ તથા દિલાસો મળ્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">એક ભાઈની જેમ ઓનેસિમસનો સ્વીકાર કરજે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="PHM.1.8" />એક બાબત છે કે જે તારે કરવાની છે અને ખ્રિસ્તમાં તારા પ્રેમને કારણે તને તે કરવાની આજ્ઞા આપવાની મને છૂટ છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="PHM.1.9" />પણ હું તને આજ્ઞા કરતો નથી; હું તો તને તે કામ કરવા જણાવું છું. હું પાઉલ છું, હવે હું વૃદ્ધ થયો છું, અને ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુના કારણે હું કેદી થયો છું.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="PHM.1.10" />મારા પુત્ર સમાન ઓનેસિમસ વિષે હું તને કહું છું. હું જ્યારે કેદમાં હતો ત્યારે તે મારો ધર્મપુત્ર થયો છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="PHM.1.11" />ભૂતકાળમાં તો તે તારાં માટે નકામો જ હતો. પરંતુ તે હવે આપણા બંને માટે ઉપયોગી બન્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="PHM.1.12" />હું તારી પાસે તેને પાછો મોકલું છું. મારું પોતાનું હૈયું હું તેની સાથે મોકલું છું.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="PHM.1.13" />સુવાર્તાને કારણે હું જ્યારે જેલમાં છું એવા સમયે તે મને મદદરુંપ થાય, એ માટે હું તેને મારી પાસે જ અહીં રાખવા ઈચ્છતો હતો. મને મદદ કરતાં કરતાં એ તારી જ સેવા કરે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="PHM.1.14" />પરંતુ એ માટે તને અગાઉથી પૂછયા વિના કઈ પણ કરવું મને ન ગમે. તારી પર દબાણ કરીને કામ સોંપુ છું એમ નહિ પરંતુ મારા માટે તું જે કંઈ સારું કરે તે તારી સ્વેચ્છાથી થાય એમ હું ઈચ્છું છું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="PHM.1.15" />ઓનેસિમસ થોડા સમય માટે તારાથી છૂટો પડી ગયો હતો, એવું કદાચ એટલા માટે બન્યું કે તે જ્યારે પાછો આવે ત્યારે હંમેશને માટે તારો થઈને રહે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="PHM.1.16" />દાસ તરીકે નહિ, પરંતુ દાસ કરતાં કંઈક વધારે સારો, વહાલા ભાઈ તરીકે હું તેને ખૂબ પ્રેમ કરું છું. પરંતુ તું એને વધારે પ્રેમ કરીશ. કેવળ એક મનુષ્યના રૂપે અને પ્રભુમાં સ્થિર એક ખ્રિસ્તી ભાઈ તરીકે પ્રેમ કરજે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="PHM.1.17" />જો તારા મિત્ર તરીકે તું મને સ્વીકારતો હોય તો, તું ઓનેસિમસને ફરી પાછો અપનાવી લેજે. મારું સ્વાગત કરે તેમ તું એને આવકારજે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="PHM.1.18" />ઓનેસિમસે જો તારા માટે કઈક ખોટું કર્યુ હોય અથવા જો તેણે તારું દેવું કર્યુ હોય, તો તે મારા ખાતે ઉધારજે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="PHM.1.19" />હું પાઉલ છું, અને મારા પોતાના હાથે હું આ લખી રહ્યો છું. ઓનેસિમસનું જે કાંઇ દેવું હોય તે હું ભરપાઈ કરી આપીશ. અને જો કે તારા પોતાના જીવન માટે તું મારો કેટલો ઋણી છું, તે વિશે હું કશું જ નથી કહેતો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="PHM.1.20" />તેથી, મારા ભાઈ, પ્રભુમાં તું મારી માટે કઈક કરી બતાવ. ખ્રિસ્તમાં મારા હ્રદયને તું શાંત કર.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="PHM.1.21" />હું તને આ પત્ર લખું છું કારણ મને ખાતરી છે કે હું જે ઇચ્છું છું તે કામ તું કરીશ જ. હું જાણું છું કે હું જે કહું છું તે કરતાં પણ કઈક વધારે કરીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="PHM.1.22" />વળી, મારે રહેવા માટે પણ એક ઓરડો તું તૈયાર કરાવી રાખજે. મને આશા છે કે દેવ તારી પ્રાર્થનાઓનો પ્રત્યુતર આપશે અને હું તારી પાસે આવી શકીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અંતિમ શુભેચ્છાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="PHM.1.23" />ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ માટે કેદી બનેલો એપાફ્રાસ પણ મારી સાથે છે. તે તને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="PHM.1.24" />વળી માર્ક, અરિસ્તાર્ખસ, દેમાસ અને લૂક પણ તને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે. તેઓ મારી સાથેના કાર્યકરો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="PHM.1.25" />આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપા તમારા આત્મા પર થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="HEB"><id id="HEB">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>હિબ્રૂઓ
</h><toc level="1">હિબ્રૂઓને પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">હિબ્રૂઓ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">હિબ્રૂઓને પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">દેવનું પુત્ર દ્ધારા બોલવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.1.1" />ભૂતકાળમાં દેવ આપણા પૂર્વજો સાથે પ્રબોધકો દ્ધારા અનેકવાર અનેક પ્રકારે બોલ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HEB.1.2" />અને હવે આ છેલ્લા દિવસોમાં દેવ જે કઈ બોલ્યો તે તેના પુત્ર દ્ધારા આપણી સાથે બોલ્યો છે. દેવે આખી દુનિયા તેના પુત્ર દ્ધારા બનાવી અને તેમાંનું બધું જ દેવે પોતાના પુત્ર દ્ધારા ઉત્પન્ન કર્યું છે. અને પુત્રને સર્વસ્વમાં વારસ, અને માલિક ઠરાવ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HEB.1.3" />તે તેના ગૌરવનું તેજ તથા દેવની પ્રકૃતિના આબેહૂબ પ્રતિમા છે. તે પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુઓને પોતાના પરાક્રમી શબ્દો સાથે નિભાવી રાખે છે. પુત્રએ લોકોના પાપોનું શુદ્ધિકરણ કર્યું પછી તે મહાન દેવની જમણી બાજુએ આકાશમાં ઉચ્ચસ્થાને બિરાજમાન છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HEB.1.4" />તેને દૂતો કરતાં જેટલે દરજજે તે વધારે ચઢિયાતું નામ વારસામાં દેવ દ્ધારા મળ્યું છે, તેટલે દરજજે તે દૂતો કરતાં ચઢિયાતો બન્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="HEB.1.5" />દેવે કદી કોઈ દૂતોને કહ્યું નથી કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તું મારો પુત્ર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આજથી હું તારો પિતા બનું છું.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.2.7">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 2:7</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">દેવે કોઈ દૂતને એવું કદી કહ્યું નથી કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું તેનો પિતા હોઇશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે મારો પુત્ર હશે.”
<rq>2 શમુએલ 7:14</rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="6" bcv="HEB.1.6" />જ્યારે પ્રથમજનિત<f caller="+"><fr>1:6
</fr><fk>પ્રથમજનિત
</fk><ft>દેવનાં બધા બાળકોમાં ખ્રિસ્ત પ્રથમ અને સૌથી વધુ મહત્ત્વશીલ હતો.</ft></f> ને જગતમાં દેવ રજૂ કરે છે, તે કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દેવના બધાજ દૂતો દેવના પુત્રનું ભજન કરો.”
<rq><ref tgt="DEU.32.43">પુનર્નિયમ 32:43</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="7" bcv="HEB.1.7" />વળી દૂતો સંબંધી દેવ કહે છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દેવ પોતાના દૂતોને વાયુ<f caller="+"><fr>1:7
</fr><fk>વાયુ
</fk><ft>આનો અર્થ આત્માઓ પણ કરી શકાય.</ft></f> જેવા બનાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવ તેના સેવકોને અગ્નિની જવાળા જેવા બનાવે છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.104.4">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 104:4</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="8" bcv="HEB.1.8" />પણ દેવ તેના પુત્ર વિષે કહે છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“ઓ દેવ, તારું રાજ્યાસન, સનાતન સદાય રહેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું જગત પર ન્યાયી રાજ્યશાસન કરશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="HEB.1.9" />તું સત્યને ચાહે છે, અને ખોટાનો દ્ધેષ કરે છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેથી, દેવે, તારા દેવે તને મહા મોટો આનંદ આપ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને બીજા કોઈ સાથીઓ કરતાં તને વધારે મહત્વનું સ્થાન આપ્યું છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.45.6">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 45:6-7</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="10" bcv="HEB.1.10" />દેવ એમ પણ કહે છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે પ્રભુ, શરૂઆતમાં તેં પૃથ્વીનું સર્જન કર્યુ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને આકાશ તારા હાથની કૃતિ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="HEB.1.11" />આ બધીજ વસ્તુઓ નષ્ટ થઈ જશે, બધીજ વસ્તુઓ ફાટેલા જૂનાં વસ્ત્રો જેવી ર્જીણ થઈ જશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તું કાયમ રહે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="HEB.1.12" />તું તેઓને એક વસ્ત્રની જેમ વાળી લેશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ વસ્ત્રની જેમ બદલાઇ પણ જશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ તું બદલાશે નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું સદાકાળ એવોને એવો જ રહેશે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.102.25">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 102:25-27</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="13" bcv="HEB.1.13" />દેવે પોતાના દૂતને આ કદી નથી કહ્યું કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જ્યાં સુધી હું તારા દુશ્મનોને તારા પગ તળે કચડી ના નાખું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યાં સુધી તું મારી જમણી બાજુ બિરાજમાન થા.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.110.1">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 110:1</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="14" bcv="HEB.1.14" />બધા જ દૂતો તો દેવની સેવા કરનાર આત્માઓ છે અને તારણ પામનાર મનુષ્યોની સેવા કરવા માટે તેઓને મોકલવામાં આવે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">આપણું તારણ નિયમ કરતાં મહાન છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.2.1" />આથી આપણને જે કઈ સત્ય શીખવવામાં આવ્યું છે તેના તરફ ખૂબજ કાળજીપૂર્વક ધ્યાન આપવું જોઈએ જેથી આપણે સત્યના માર્ગથી દૂર ફંટાઇ ન જઇએ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HEB.2.2" />દેવે દૂતો દ્ધારા જે શિક્ષણ આપ્યું તે સત્ય કરી બતાવ્યું હતું. અને દરેક વખતે જ્યારે યહૂદિ લોકો આ શિક્ષણની વિરૂદ્ધમા કંઈક કરતા તો તેમને આજ્ઞાભંગ માટે શિક્ષા કરવામાં આવતી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HEB.2.3" />જે તારણ આપણને આપવામાં આવેલું છે તે અતિ મહાન છે તેથી ખાતરી પૂર્વકની વાત છે કે જો આપણે પણ તારણની ઉપેક્ષા કરીશું તો આપણને પણ શિક્ષા થશે. પ્રભુએ પોતે લોકોને પ્રથમ તારણની વાત કરી. અને જેમણે તેનું સાંભળ્યું તેમણે એ સાક્ષી પૂરી કે આ તારણ તે સાચું તારણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HEB.2.4" />દેવે પોતે પણ આ સત્યતાને, ચિહ્રનો, અદભૂત કૃત્યો, જુદા જુદા ચમત્કારો અને ભેટો વડે પ્રમાણિત કરી છે, અને તેની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે પવિત્ર આત્મા તરફથી દાન મેળવીને સાક્ષી આપતો રહ્યો છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તેઓને તારવા ખ્રિસ્તે માનવદેહ ધારણ કર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="HEB.2.5" />નવી દુનિયા જે આવી રહી હતી તેના ઉપર શાસન કરવા દેવે દૂતોને પસંદ કર્યા નહિ. આપણે જે ભવિષ્યની દુનિયાની વાત કરીએ છીએ તે આ દુનિયા છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="HEB.2.6" />તેમાં કોઈક જગાએ શાસ્ત્રોમાં લખ્યું છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે દેવ તું માણસોની શા માટે દરકાર કરે છે?
</q>
<q style="q1">મનુષ્ય પુત્રની પણ શા માટે દરકાર કરે છે?
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">શું તે એટલો બધો અગત્યનો છે?
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="HEB.2.7" />થોડા સમય માટે તેં તેને દૂતો કરતાં ઊતરતો ગણ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેં તેને ગૌરવ તથા માનનો મુગટ આપ્યો છે. અને તારા હાથનાં કામ પર તેને અધિકાર આપ્યો છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="HEB.2.8" />સમગ્ર સૃષ્ટિ તેં તેના પગ તળે મૂકી છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.8.4">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 8:4-6</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">તેં તેના પગ તળે સઘળું મૂક્યું છે. તો સઘળું તેને સ્વાધીન કરવાથી તેને સ્વાધીન ન કર્યું હોય તેવું તેણે કશુંય રહેવા દીધું નથી. પણ સઘળું તેને સ્વાધીન કર્યું, એમ હજુ સુધી આપણી દષ્ટિએ દેખાતું નથી.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="HEB.2.9" />થોડા સમય માટે ઈસુને દૂતો કરતાં ઊતરતો બનાવ્યો હતો, પણ હવે આપણે તેને મહિમા અને માનનો મુગટ પહેરેલો જોઈએ છીએ કારણ કે તેણે મરણનું દુ:ખ સહન કર્યું અને દેવની દયાથી મરણનો અનુભવ સમગ્ર માનવજાત માટે કર્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="HEB.2.10" />દેવે સર્વસ્વ બનાવ્યું છે. અને તે પોતાના મહિમાને અર્થે બનાવ્યું છે. આ મહિમામાં ઘણા લોકો ભાગ લે તેવું દેવ ઇચ્છતો હતો. તેથી દેવને એક (ઈસુ) પરિપૂર્ણ તારનાર બનાવવો પડ્યો જે ઘણા લોકોને તેમના તારણ તરફ દોરી જાય છે. અને તે ઘણાને તે મુક્તિમાર્ગે દોરી ગયો. દેવે તે કર્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="HEB.2.11" />જે એક (ઈસુ) લોકોને પવિત્ર બનાવે છે અને જે લોકો પવિત્ર બનાવાયા છે તે એક જ પરિવારના છે. એટલે તે (ઈસુ) તેઓને પોતાના ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો કહેતાં જરાપણ શરમ અનુભવતો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="HEB.2.12" />ઈસુ કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે દેવ, હું મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોને તારા વિષે કહીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા સર્વ લોકો આગળ હું તારાં સ્તોત્રો ગાઇશ.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.22.22">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 22:22</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="13" bcv="HEB.2.13" />તે એમ પણ કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું દેવ પર ભરોસો રાખીશ”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.8.17">યશાયા 8:17</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">અને તે કહે છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દેવે મને આપેલા બાળકો અને હું અહીંયા છીએ.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.8.18">યશાયા 8:18</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="HEB.2.14" />તે માણસો માંસ અને લોહીનાં બનેલા માનવ દેહ ધરાવે છે. તેથી ઈસુએ પણ માનવદેહમાં જન્મ લીધો, તેથી કરીને તે મરણ સહન કરીને, દુ:ખો સહીને તે શેતાનનો નાશ કરી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="HEB.2.15" />ઈસુ લોકો જેવો થયો અને મરણ પામ્યો અને જીવનપર્યત મરણના ભયને લીધે દાસ જેવી દશામાં જીવતા મનુષ્યોને છુટકારો અપાવી શકે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="HEB.2.16" />એ સ્પષ્ટ છે કે ઈસુ દૂતોને નહિ, પરંતુ મનુષ્યો જે ઇબ્રાહિમનાં<f caller="+"><fr>2:15
</fr><fk>ઈબ્રાહિમ
</fk><ft>યહૂદિઓનો સૌથી વધુ માનનિય પૂર્વજ.</ft></f> સંતાનો છે તેમને મદદ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="HEB.2.17" />આ કારણે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત પોતાના ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોમાં બધા બાબતોમાં સમાન બને એ જરુંરી હતું, એ માટે તે આપણા પ્રત્યે સહાનુભૂતિ દર્શાવે એવો દયાળુ અને આપણા લોકોના પાપનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત કરીને દેવ સમક્ષ સજા ભોગવે એવો વિશ્વાસુ પ્રમુખ યાજક થાય.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="HEB.2.18" />ઈસુ જે લોકો પરીક્ષણમાંથી પસાર થઈ રહ્યા છે, તેઓને મદદ કરવા શક્તિમાન છે કારણ કે તે પોતે જાતે યાતનાઓમાંથી પસાર થયો હતો અને તેનું પરીક્ષણ થયું હતું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ મૂસા કરતાં મહાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.3.1" />તેથી તમારે બધાએ ઈસુ વિષે વિચાર કરવો જોઈએ. દેવે ઈસુને આપણી પાસે મોકલ્યો અને તે આપણા વિશ્વાસનો પ્રમુખ યાજક છે. હું તમને આ કહું છું, મારા પવિત્ર ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમને સર્વને દેવે તેડ્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HEB.3.2" />દેવે ઈસુને આપણી પાસે મોકલ્યો છે અને તેને આપણો મુખ્ય યાજક બનાવ્યો છે. મૂસાની જેમ ઈસુ પણ દેવને વફાદાર હતો. દેવના ઘરમાં દેવ તેની પાસે જે કરાવવા ઈચ્છતો હતો તે બધું તેણે કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HEB.3.3" />જ્યારે મનુષ્ય મકાન બાંધે છે, ત્યારે લોકો મકાન બાંધનારને ખુબ માન આપે છે. તેમ ઈસુ મૂસા કરતાં માન આપવાને વધુ યોગ્ય ઠર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HEB.3.4" />દરેક મકાન કોઈ એક મનુષ્ય બાંધે છે, પરંતુ દેવે તો આખી દુનિયાનું સર્જન કર્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="HEB.3.5" />મૂસા સેવકની જેમ ખૂબજ વફાદાર હતો. દેવ જે ભવિષ્યમાં કહેવાનો છે તે (મૂસાએ) તેણે કહ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="HEB.3.6" />પણ ખ્રિસ્ત તો પુત્ર તરીકે દેવના ઘર પર વિશ્વાસુ હતો. આપણે વિશ્વાસીઓ દેવનું ઘર (કુટુંબ) છીએ. જો આપણે અંત સુધી હિંમત તથા આશાનું અભિમાન ચાલુ રાખીએ, તો આપણે દેવનું ઘર છીએ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">આપણે દેવને અનુસરવાનું ચાલુ રાખવું જોઈએ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HEB.3.7" />એ માટે જેમ પવિત્ર આત્મા કહે છે તેમ:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જો તમે આજે દેવની વાણી સાંભળો તો,
<ve />
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2"><v id="8" bcv="HEB.3.8" />ઈસ્રાએલ પ્રજાએ અરણ્યમાં કર્યું તેમ તમે તમારા હ્રદયો કઠોર કરશો નહિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અરણ્યમાં પ્રવાસ કરતી વખતે કસોટીના સમયમાં તેઓએ દેવ વિરૂદ્ધ બળવો કર્યો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="HEB.3.9" />મેં જે કઈ કર્યું તે તમારા લોકોએ<f caller="+"><ft>કોઈ … થઈ છે <ref tgt="HOS.11.31">હોશિયા 11:31</ref>.</ft></f> વરસ સુધી અરણ્યમાં જોયું. છતાં તેઓએ મારી ધીરજની કસોટી કરી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="HEB.3.10" />તેથી હું તે લોકો પર રોષે ભરાયો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મેં કહ્યું, ‘તેઓ તેમના હ્રદયમાં જે વિચારે છે તે હંમેશા ખોટું જ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓને મારા માર્ગોની કદી પણ સમજણ પડી નથી.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="HEB.3.11" />તેથી ગુસ્સે થઈ મેં પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘તેઓ મારા વિસામામાં કદી પ્રવેશ કરી શકશે નહિ.’”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.95.7">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 95:7-11</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="HEB.3.12" />માટે હે ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમે સાવધ રહો. રખેને તમારામાંના કોઈનું હ્રદય અવિશ્વાસના કારણથી ભૂંડું થાય, અને તેમ તે જીવતા દેવથી દૂર જાય.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="HEB.3.13" />પણ જ્યાં સુધી “આજ” કહેવાય છે, ત્યાં સુધી તમે દિનપ્રતિદિન એકબીજાને ઉત્તેજન આપો કે પાપના કપટથી તમારામાંનો કોઈ કઠણ હ્રદયનો ન થાય અને દેવ વિરૂદ્ધનો બને નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="HEB.3.14" />કેમ કે પ્રથમ જે વિશ્વાસ કર્યો હતો તેમાં ટકી રહીને જો આપણે અંત સુધી વિશ્વાસ રાખીશું તો ખ્રિસ્તની સાથે સર્વસ્વના ભાગીદાર બનીશું.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="HEB.3.15" />શાસ્ત્રમાં કહેલું છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જો આજે તમે દેવની વાણી સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો અરણ્યમાં જેમ ઇસ્ત્રાએલ પ્રજાએ જે રીતે દેવ વિરૂદ્ધ બળવો કર્યો, તેમ તમે તમારા હ્રદય દેવ વિરૂદ્ધ કઠોર કરશો નહિ.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.95.7">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 95:7-8</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="HEB.3.16" />દેવની વાણી સાંભળ્યા છતાં જેમણે તેની વિરૂદ્ધ બંડ પોકાર્યું. એ કયા લોકો હતા? મૂસાની આગેવાની હેઠળ ઇજીપ્તમાંથી નીકળી આવનાર તે લોકો હતા.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="HEB.3.17" />અને 40 વરસ સુધી દેવ કોના ઉપર ક્રોધાયમાન થયો? એ જ ઈસ્રાએલી લોકો કે જેઓ પોતાના પાપને કારણે અરણ્યમાં જ મરણ પામ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="HEB.3.18" />દેવની આજ્ઞાનું ઉલ્લંઘન કરનાર એ લોકો વિષે દેવે પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી કહ્યું કે, એ લોકો વિશ્રામમાં પ્રવેશ મેળવી શકશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="HEB.3.19" />અને આપણે જોઈએ છીએ કે એ લોકો પ્રવેશ કરી શક્યા નહિ. અને દેવનો વિશ્રામ મેળવવા તેઓ શક્તિમાન નહોતા. શા માટે? કારણ કે તેઓએ દેવ પર વિશ્વાસ કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">સંતોને માટે વિશ્રાંતિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.4.1" />દેવે તૈયાર કરેલ વિશ્રાંતિનું વચન હજી મોજૂદ રહ્યું છતાં આપણામાંથી કોઈક ત્યાં પ્રવેશ મેળવવા નિષ્ફળ ન જાય માટે આપણે સાવચેત રહેવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HEB.4.2" />કેમ કે દેવ આપણું તારણ કરવા ઇચ્છે છે, એ સુવાર્તા જેમ આપણને આપવામાં આવી છે, તેમ તે સમયના ઈસ્રાએલના લોકોને પણ આપવામાં આવી હતી તેમ છતાં તે સુવાર્તા તેમને કોઈ પણ રીતે લાભકર્તા નીવડી નહિ કારણ કે તેઓએ તે સુવાર્તા સાંભળ્યા છતાં વિશ્વાસથી તેનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HEB.4.3" />અમે જેઓએ તેનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો તે દેવના વિશ્રામમાં પ્રવેશ પામ્યા. દેવે જેમ કહ્યું છે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મેં મારા ક્રોધમાં સમ ખાધા કે:
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">‘તેઓ મારા વિશ્રામમાં પ્રવેશ પામશે નહિ.’”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.95.11">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 95:11</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">દેવે આ કહ્યું. પણ સંસારની ઉત્પત્તિ કર્યા બાદ દેવનું કામ પૂરું થઈ ગયું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HEB.4.4" />શાસ્ત્રમાં કોઈક જગ્યાએ અઠવાડિયાના સાતમા દિવસ વિશે લખ્યું છે: “તેથી સાતમા<x caller="+"><xo>4:4
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત. 2:2.</xt></x> દિવસે દેવે બધા જ કામ છોડી આરામ કર્યો.”
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="HEB.4.5" />ઉપર જણાવેલ સંબંધમાં પણ તેણે કહ્યું છે, “તેઓ કદી પણ મારા વિશ્રામમાં પ્રવેશ પામશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="HEB.4.6" />તે હજુ પણ સત્ય છે કે કેટલાએક દેવના વિશ્રામમાં પ્રવેશ પામશે. અને તેઓ કે જેઓને સુવાર્તા સાંભળવાની પ્રથમ તક મળી. પરંતુ તેઓએ આજ્ઞાનો ભંગ કર્યો, તેથી તેઓ પ્રવેશ કરી શક્યા નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="HEB.4.7" />પરંતુ દેવે આ માટે બીજો દિવસ નક્કિ કર્યો. અને તે “આજનો દિવસ” કહેવાય છે. દેવે આ દિવસની આગાહી ઘણા વર્ષો બાદ દાઉદ રાજા મારફતે કરી હતી. તેવું પવિત્રશાસ્ત્રમાં બતાવ્યું છે જેનો અમે હમણાં ઉલ્લેખ કર્યો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“આજે જો તમે દેવની વાણી સાંભળો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો જેમ ભૂતકાળમાં કર્યુ તેમ તમારું હ્રદય તેની વિરૂદ્ધ કઠણ કરશો નહિ.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.95.7">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 95:7-8</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="8" bcv="HEB.4.8" />આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે યહોશુઆ લોકોને વિસામા તરફ દોરી ગયો હોત તો દેવે બીજા એક દિવસની વાત કરી ન હોત.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="HEB.4.9" />આ બતાવે છે કે જે દેવના લોકો માટેના વિશ્રામનો સાતમો દિવસ હજુય બાકી રહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="HEB.4.10" />દેવે પોતાનાં કામો કર્યા પછી વિશ્રાંતિ પ્રાપ્ત કરી. તે પ્રમાણે જો કોઈ દેવના વિશ્રામમાં પ્રવેશ મેળવે છે તે એનાં પોતાનાં કામો દ્ધારા વિશ્રામ મેળવી શકે છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="HEB.4.11" />તેથી આવો આપણે પણ એ વિશ્રામમાં પ્રવેશ મેળવવા પ્રયત્ન કરીએ. આપણે સખત પ્રયત્ન કરવો જોઈએ. જેથી જે લોકો આજ્ઞા ભંગ કરી વિશ્રામમાં સ્થાન મેળવવા નિષ્ફળ ગયા તેમ આપણા માટે ન થાય, તેની કાળજી રાખીએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="HEB.4.12" />કેમ કે દેવનો શબ્દ જીવંત છે અને ક્રિયાશીલ છે. બેધારી તરવાર કરતાં પણ તે વધુ તીક્ષ્ણ છે. તે જીવ અને આત્માને જુદા પાડે છે. સાંધા અને મજ્જાના બે ભાગ કરે છે. અને આપણાં હ્રદયના ઊંડા વિચારોનો ન્યાય કરે છે અને હ્રદયના વિચારો અને ભાવનાઓને પારખનાર છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="HEB.4.13" />આ દુનિયામાં દેવથી કશું જ છુપાવી શકાતું નથી. તે સઘળું સ્પષ્ટ જોઈ શકે છે. તેની સમક્ષ બધુંજ ઉઘાડું છે. અને તેથી આપણે આપણાં બધા જ કૃત્યોનો હિસાબ તેની સમક્ષ આપવો પડશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ આપણને દેવની સમક્ષ જવામાં મદદ કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="HEB.4.14" />દેવનો પુત્ર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત આપણો પ્રમુખ યાજક છે. જે આપણને મદદ કરવા અર્થે તે આકાશમાં ગયેલો છે. તેમનો વિશ્વાસ કરવામાં આપણે જે વિશ્વાસનો પૂરેપૂરો સ્વીકાર કરીએ છીએ તેને દઢ પણે ચાલુ રાખવો જોઈએ. આપણે કદી પાછા ન પડીએ.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="HEB.4.15" />ઈસુ, પ્રમુખ યાજક આપણી નિર્બળતાઓ સંપૂર્ણ રીતે સમજે છે, કારણ કે તે પૃથ્વી પર જીવ્યો છે, અને આપણા પર આવે છે તેવા સર્વ પરીક્ષણોમાંથી પસાર થયો છે, તેણે કદી પાપ કર્યુ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="HEB.4.16" />તેથી હિંમતપૂર્વક આપણે દેવના કૃપાસન સુધી પહોંચીએ જ્યાં કૃપા પ્રાપ્ત થઈ શકે તેમ છે. ત્યાં આપણને દયા અને કૃપાની જ્યારે જરુંર હોય છે ત્યારે મદદમાં મળે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="5" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.5.1" />પ્રત્યેક પ્રમુખ યાજકની પસંદગી મનુષ્યમાંથી થાય છે. યહૂદી પ્રમુખ એક સાધારણ માણસ છે જે દેવ સંબંધીની બાબતોમાં લોકો વતી દેવ સમક્ષ આવવા લોકોનું પ્રતિનિધિત્વ કરવા માટે નિયુક્ત થાય છે. તેથી લોકોએ અર્પણ કેરેલ ભેટો દેવ સમક્ષ ધરે છે અને તેઓના પાપને માટે તે દેવને બલિદાનો અર્પણ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HEB.5.2" />પ્રમુખ યાજકમાં પણ લોકો જેવી જ નિર્બળતાઓ છે. તેથી બીજાની નિર્બળતાઓ સમજે છે અને અણસમજુ અને ભૂલ કરનાર લોકો સાથે તે માયાળુપણે વર્તે છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HEB.5.3" />તેથી પ્રમુખ યાજકને પોતાની નિર્બળતાઓ છે. તેથી તે લોકોનાં પાપો માટે તથા પોતાનાં પાપો માટે બલિદાન અર્પણ કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="HEB.5.4" />કોઈ પણ મનુષ્ય પોતાની ઈચ્છાથી પ્રમુખ યાજક બનવાનું માન પોતાની જાતે મેળવી શકતો નથી. જેમ દેવે હારુંનની પસંદગી કરી તેમ દરેક પ્રમુખ યાજકની પસંદગી દેવથી જ થાય છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="HEB.5.5" />ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તે પણ પોતાની જાત માટે પ્રમુખ યાજક થવાની અને મહિમા પ્રાપ્ત કરવા માટે પસંદગી કરી નહોતી. પરંતુ દેવે તેને પસંદ કર્યો. દેવે ખ્રિસ્તને કહ્યું,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તું મારો પુત્ર છે;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આજે હું તારો પિતા બન્યો છું.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.2.7">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 2:7</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="6" bcv="HEB.5.6" />અને શાસ્ત્રમાં દેવે એક જગ્યાએ એમ પણ કહ્યું હતું કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તું મલ્ખીસદેક<f caller="+"><fr>5:6
</fr><fk>મલ્ખીસદેક
</fk><ft>ઈબ્રાહિમનાં સમયમાં થઈ ગયેલ એક યાજક અને રાજા. (વાંચો ઉત. 14:17-24)</ft></f> ની માફક
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સનાતન યાજક રહીશ.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.110.4">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 110:4</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HEB.5.7" />ખ્રિસ્ત જ્યારે પૃથ્વી પર હતો ત્યારે તેણે દેવને તેની મદદ માટે મોટે ઘાટે પ્રાર્થના કરી, અને આંસુ સહિત મરણમાંથી તેને છોડાવનાર દેવની પ્રાર્થના કરી. તે દરેક સમયે દેવની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે જ કરતો તેથી દેવે તેની પ્રાર્થના સાંભળી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="HEB.5.8" />ઈસુ દેવનો પુત્ર હતો. છતાં દુ:ખ સહનના અનુભવથી આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરવાનું શીખ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="HEB.5.9" />આ રીતે પરિપૂર્ણ થઈને, તે પોતાની આજ્ઞા પાળનારા સર્વને સારું અનંત તારણનું કારણ થયો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="HEB.5.10" />અને દેવે ઈસુને મલ્ખીસદેકના ધારા પ્રમાણે પ્રમુખયાજકનું નામ આપ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પતનની વિરુંદ્ધ ચેતવણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="HEB.5.11" />આ વિષે અમારે તમને ઘણુંજ કહેવાનું છે. પરંતુ તે સમજાવવું ઘણું અઘરું છે કારણ કે તમે સમજવાની કોઈ જ ઈચ્છા દર્શાવી નથી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="HEB.5.12" />જો કે આ સમયે તો તમારે ઉપદેશક થવું જોઈતું હતું. પરંતુ આ સમયે એવું દેખાય છે કે બીજા લોકો તમને ફરીથી દેવના વચનનાં મૂળતત્વો શીખવે. તમારે ભારે ખોરાક નહિ પરંતુ દૂધની જરુંરીયાત છે એવા તમે થયા છો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="HEB.5.13" />જે વ્યક્તિ હજી દૂધ પર જીવે છે તે ન્યાયીપણા સંબધી તે બિનઅનુભવી છે, કેમ કે તે બાળક જ છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="HEB.5.14" />પણ જેઓ પુખ્ત ઉંમરના છે. એટલે જેઓની ઈન્દ્રિયો ખરું ખોટું પારખવામાં કેળવાયેલી છે, તેઓને સાંરું ભારે ખોરાક છે. તેથી આત્મિક જીવનમાં વૃદ્ધિ પામ્યા સિવાય તમે ભારે ખોરાક એટલે કે જ્ઞાન પચાવી શકશો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="6" />
<p style="p"><v id="1-2" bcv="HEB.6.1" />હવે આપણે ખ્રિસ્તના સિદ્ધાંતના પ્રાથમિક શિક્ષણની ચર્ચા બંધ કરવી જ જોઈએ. જ્યાંથી શરુંઆત કરી, ત્યા આપણે પાછા ન ફરીએ જેમ કે મૃત્યુ તરફ લઈ જતાં સારાં કર્મોથી દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ મૂકો. વળી બાપ્તિસ્મા<f caller="+"><fr>6:1-2
</fr><fk>બાપ્તિસ્મા
</fk><ft>બાપ્તિસ્માનો અર્થ અહીં ખ્રિસ્તી બાપ્તિસ્મા (ક્ષણિક પાણીમાં દટાવું) થઈ શકે અથવા યહૂદિ રીત પ્રમાણે પાણીમાં ડૂબાડીને અપાતું બાપ્તિસ્મા.</ft></f> વિષે તે વખતે આપણને શીખવવામાં આવ્યું હતું. અને લોકો ઉપર હાથ મૂકવાથી અને મૃત્યુ પછી ફરી સજીવન થવું અને અનંતકાળના ન્યાયકરણ વિષે આપણને શીખવવામાં આવ્યું હતું, પણ આપણને વધુ ઉચ્ચ કક્ષાના શિક્ષણની જરુંર છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HEB.6.3" />અને જો દેવની ઈચ્છા હશે તો અમે એ પણ કરીશું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4-6" bcv="HEB.6.4" />જે લોકો એક વખત સત્ય જાણવા આવ્યા, જેમને સ્વર્ગીય દાનોનો અનુભવ થયો, પવિત્ર આત્માના દાનની ભાગીદારી અને દેવના સંદેશના સૌંદર્યનો અનુભવ કરાવ્યો. અને દેવની નવી દુનિયાની મહાન સત્તાને જોઈ. પછી આ બધું હોવા છતાં તેઓનું પતન થયું. તેમના જીવનનું તેમના માટે પરિવર્તન ફરીથી કરવું અશક્ય છે, શા માટે? કારણ કે આ લોકો ખરેખર દેવના પુત્રને ફરીથી વધસ્તંભે જડાવે છે. લોકો સમક્ષ તેનું અપમાન કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HEB.6.7" />આ લોકો તે ભૂમિ જેવા છે જે તેના પર વારંવાર પડતા વરસાદનું તે શોષણ કરે છે. જેઓ તેને ખેડે છે અને તેની કાળજી રાખે છે તેઓ ઉપયોગી પાકની પ્રાપ્તિ માટે આશા રાખે છે. જો તે ભૂમિ આવો પાક પેદા કરશે તો દેવનો આશીર્વાદ તેના પર ઉતરશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="HEB.6.8" />પણ જો એ જમીન કાંટા અને ઝાંખરા ઉગાડ્યા કરે તો છેવટે બિનઉપયોગી અને શ્રાપિત થઈ બળી જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="HEB.6.9" />પ્રિય મિત્રો, ભલે હું આમ કહું છું. પરંતુ તમારી બાબતમાં તમારી પાસે સારી અપેક્ષા રાખું છું. અને અમને ખાતરી છે કે તમે એવું કૃત્ય કરશો કે જે તારણનો એક ભાગ હશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="HEB.6.10" />પ્રભુ ન્યાયી છે. કારણ કે દેવના લોકો માટે તમે જે કંઈ કાર્યો કર્યા છે, તે દેવ ભૂલી શકે નહિ. તમે સંતો પર દર્શાવેલ પ્રેમ અને હાલ જેમની સેવા કરો છો તે બધું દેવ ભૂલી શકે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="HEB.6.11" />અમે ઈચ્છા રાખીએ છીએ કે તમે દરેક જણ છેવટ સુધી આ પ્રમાણે ઉત્સાહ બતાવવાનું ચાલુ રાખશો જ્યાં સુધી આશા પૂર્ણ થાય. તમે જે કઈ ઇચ્છો છો તે મેળવી શકો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="HEB.6.12" />અમે એ નથી ઈચ્છતા કે તમે આળસુ બનો. અમે ઈચ્છીએ છીએ કે જે લોકો દેવે આપેલ વચન મુજબનાં વાનાં મેળવે છે તેમના જેવા તમે બનો. તે લોકો દેવનાં વચનો પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે કારણ કે તેઓમાં વિશ્વાસ અને ધીરજ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="HEB.6.13" />દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમને વચન આપ્યું, ત્યારે પોતાના (દેવના) કરતાં કોઈ મહાન નહિ હોવાને લીધે તેણે પોતાનાં જ નામે શપથ લીધા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="HEB.6.14" />દેવે કહ્યું. “હું તને નક્કી ઘણાજ આશીર્વાદો અને ઘણા જ સંતાનો આપીશ.”<x caller="+"><xo>6:14
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત. 22:17.</xt></x>
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="HEB.6.15" />એ વચન પરિપૂર્ણ થાય, ત્યાં સુધી ઈબ્રાબિમે ઘણી જ ધીરજ રાખી. અને દેવે જે વચન આપ્યું હતું, તે ઈબ્રાહિમે મેળવ્યું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="HEB.6.16" />માણસ પોતાના કરતાં મહાન વ્યક્તિના નામે શપથ લે છે. અને શપથથી સઘળી તકરારોનો અંત આવે છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="HEB.6.17" />દેવને એ ખાતરી કરાવવી હતી કે તેણે આપેલ વચન સત્ય હતું. તેને એ સાબિત કરવું હતું કે તેણે જેને જે વચન આપ્યાં છે તે તેઓ પ્રાપ્ત કરશે કારણ તેનો નિર્ણય બદલી શકાય તેમ નથી. તેથી વચનના પાલન સંબધી સંપૂર્ણ ખાતરી માટે દેવ પોતે પણ શપથથી બંધાયો છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="HEB.6.18" />પેલી બે વસ્તુ કદી બદલાતી નથી. એક તો દેવ કઈક કહે છે ત્યારે તે કદી અસત્ય હોતું નથી અને જ્યારે તે સમ લે છે ત્યારે તે જૂઠા હોઈ શકે નહિ.
</p>
<p style="p">આ બે બાબતો આપણને દિલાસો આપે છે કે આશાને વળગી રહેવા દેવ પાસે આશ્રય માટે આવનારને સલામતી આશ્રય અને સામથ્યૅ મળે છે.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="HEB.6.19" />આ આશા આપણા આત્માઓના એક મજબૂત અને વિશ્વાસ યોગ્ય લંગર સમાન છે. વળી તે આપણને સૌથી પવિત્ર સ્થાનના પડદા પાછળ રહેલાં સ્વર્ગીય મંદિરમાં દેવ સાથે બાંધે છે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="HEB.6.20" />ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તે સ્વર્ગીય સ્થાનમાં આપણી અગાઉ પ્રવેશ કર્યો છે. અને આપણા માટે રસ્તો ખુલ્લો કર્યો છે અને મલ્ખીસદેકના ધારા પ્રમાણે તે હંમેશને માટે આપણો પ્રમુખયાજક થયો છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">યાજક મલ્ખીસદેક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.7.1" />આ મલ્ખીસદેક શાલેમનો રાજા હતો તથા તે પરાત્પર દેવનો યાજક હતો. ઘણા રાજાઓને હરાવીને ઈબ્રાહિમ પાછો આવી રહ્યો હતો, ત્યારે મલ્ખીસદેક તેને મળ્યો. અને મલ્ખીસદેક ઈબ્રાહિમને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HEB.7.2" />ઈબ્રાહિમ પાસે લડાઇમાં જે કંઈ હતું તે બધામાંથી તેનો દશમો ભાગ તેણે મલ્ખીસદેકને આપ્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">મલ્ખીસદેક શાલેમ નગરનો રાજા છે. તેના બે અર્થ થાય છે પહેલો અર્થ, મલ્ખીસદેક એટલે “ભલાઈનો રાજા.” અને “શાલેમનો રાજા,” એટલે “શાંતિનો રાજા” પણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HEB.7.3" />મલ્ખીસદેકના માતાપિતા વિશે કોઈને જ ખબર નથી અને તેના પૂર્વજો વિષે પણ કોઈ જ માહિતી નથી, તે ક્યારે જન્મ્યો અને ક્યારે મરણ પામ્યો તે પણ કોઈ જાણતું નથી, પણ તે દેવના પુત્ર જેવો છે અને સદા યાજક તરીકે રહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="HEB.7.4" />આ મલ્ખીસદેકની મહાનતાને વિચાર કરો! ઈબ્રાહિમે યુદ્ધમાં જીતીને મેળવેલી તમામ સંપત્તિમાંથી દશમો ભાગ આપી દીધો.
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<v id="5" bcv="HEB.7.5" />નિયમશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે લોકો લેવી પુત્રમાંથી એટલે પોતાના ભાઈઓમાંથી બનેલા યાજકોને દશાંશ આપે. યાજકો અને લોકો પછી ભલે તે ઈબ્રાહિમના પરિવારના હોય તો પણ તેમની પાસેથી દશાંશ એકઠા કરે.
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<v id="6" bcv="HEB.7.6" />મલ્ખીસદેક લેવી કુટુંબનો નહોતો. છતાં તેને ઈબ્રાહિમ પાસેથી દશમો ભાગ મળ્યો. ઈબ્રાહિમે દેવ પાસેથી આશીર્વાદ મેળવ્યા છતાં મલ્ખીસદેક તેને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="HEB.7.7" />આશીર્વાદ આપનાર વ્યક્તિ આશીર્વાદ પામનાર કરતાં વધુ મહાન હોય છે તે સર્વ કોઈ જાણે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="HEB.7.8" />અહીં ર્મત્યે માણસો દશમો ભાગ લે છે, પણ ત્યાં જેના સંબંધી તે જીવતો છે એવી સાક્ષી આપેલી છે, તે લે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="HEB.7.9" />વળી એમ પણ કહી શકાય કે, જે લેવીનો દશમો ભાગ લે છે, તેણે પણ ઇબ્રાહિમની મારફતે દશમો ભાગ આપ્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="HEB.7.10" />કેમ કે જ્યારે મલ્ખીસદેક તેના પિતાને મળ્યો, ત્યારે લેવી હજી પોતાના પિતાની કમરમાં હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="HEB.7.11" />હવે જો લેવીના યાજક પદથી પરિપૂર્ણતા થઈ હોત. (જેના મારફત લોકોને નિયમશાસ્ત્ર મળ્યું હતું) તો હારુંનના ધારા પ્રમાણે ગણાયેલો નહિ એવો બીજો યાજક મલ્ખીસદેકના ધારા પ્રમાણે ઉત્પન્ન થવાની શી અગત્ય હતી?
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<v id="12" bcv="HEB.7.12" />કારણ કે યાજકપદ બદલાયાથી નિયમ પણ બદલવાની અગત્ય છે. દેવ જ્યારે યાજકપદ બદલે છે ત્યારે તેને સંકળાયેલા નિયમો પણ બદલે છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="HEB.7.13" />જેના વિષે વાત કરવામાં આવી છે તે કોઈ બીજા કુળના છે. આ કુળની કોઈપણ વ્યક્તિ વેદીનો સેવક નહોતી. સિવાય કે લેવી કુળની વ્યક્તિ હોય.
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<v id="14" bcv="HEB.7.14" />કેમ કે તે સ્પષ્ટ છે કે આપણો પ્રભુ (ખ્રિસ્ત) યહૂદાના કુળમાં જન્મ્યો હતો. અને મૂસાના નિયમ પ્રમાણે યાજકપદની સેવા તેના કુટુંબને સોંપાયેલી નહોતી.
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</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ મલ્ખીસદેક સમાન યાજક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="HEB.7.15" />મેં જે કંઈ કહ્યું છે તેથી પણ વધારે સ્પષ્ટ થાય છે. કે મલ્ખીસદેક જેવો બીજો યાજક પ્રગટ થઈ રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="HEB.7.16" />એ પોતે માનવ નિયમ કે કાયદાની તાકાતથી યાજક બન્યો ન હતો, પણ અવિનાશી જીવનના સાર્મથ્ય પ્રમાણે યાજક બન્યો છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="HEB.7.17" />શાસ્ત્રોમાં એના વિષે કહેવામાં આવ્યું છે કે: “તું મલ્ખીસદેક હતો તેના જેવો જ સનાતન યાજક છે.”
<x caller="+"><xo>7:17
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ગી. શા. 110:4.</xt></x>
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="HEB.7.18" />પહેલાનો નિયમ એટલા માટે રદ કરવામાં આવ્યો કે તે નિર્બળ અને વ્યર્થ હતો.
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<v id="19" bcv="HEB.7.19" />મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રથી કશું પૂર્ણ થઈ શક્યુ નથી. અને હવે આપણને વધારે સારી આશા છે. અને તે આશા દ્ધારા આપણે દેવની નજીક આવી શકીએ છીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="HEB.7.20" />એ વાત પણ એટલી જ અગત્યની છે કે દેવે વચન દ્ધારા ઈસુને પ્રમુખ યાજક બનાવ્યો. જ્યારે બીજા માણસો યાજક બન્યા, ત્યારે દેવે આવા કોઈ સમ લીધા નહોતા.
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<v id="21" bcv="HEB.7.21" />પણ ઈસુ તો દેવના વચન સાથે યાજક બન્યો. દેવે તેને કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“પ્રભુએ સમ ખાધા છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે તેનો વિચાર કદી બદલશો નહિ:
</q>
<q style="q1">તું સનાતન યાજક છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.110.4">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 110:4</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="22" bcv="HEB.7.22" />તેથી દેવના સમ દર્શાવે છે કે તેના લોકો માટે દેવ તરફથી ઈસુ ઉત્તમ ખાતરીબદ્ધ કરાર છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="HEB.7.23" />અને જ્યારે આવા ઘણા યાજકો હતા ખરા, કારણ કે યાજક વર્ગમાં તેમને ચાલુ રહેતા મૃત્યુએ અટકાવી દીધા હતા.
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<v id="24" bcv="HEB.7.24" />પણ ઈસુ સદાકાળ રહે છે તે માટે એનું યાજકપદ અવિકારી છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="HEB.7.25" />આથી જે લોકો ખ્રિસ્ત મારફતે દેવની નજીક આવશે તેઓને સંપૂર્ણ રીતે તારવાને સમર્થ છે અનંત અને અમર હોવાથી આ તે કરી શકશે. તેઓ માટે તેમના તરફથી ઈસુ દેવ સમક્ષ મધ્યસ્થતા કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="HEB.7.26" />ઈસુ એ પ્રમુખયાજક છે કે જેની આપણને જરુંર છે. તે પવિત્ર છે તેનામાં પાપ નથી. તે શુદ્ધ છે અને કોઈ પણ પાપીઓના પ્રભાવથી દૂર છે અને તેને આકાશથી પણ ઉંચું સ્થાન આપવામાં આવ્યું છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="HEB.7.27" />તે બીજા પ્રમુખયાજકો જેવો ન હતો. તેને પોતાનાં અને લોકોનાં પાપો માટે દરરોજ બલિદાન અર્પણ કરવાની અગત્ય રહેતી નથી. કારણ કે તેણે આ બધા માટે આ કામ એક જ વખત કર્યુ. જ્યારે તેણે પોતાની જાતનું સ્વાર્પણ કર્યું.
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<v id="28" bcv="HEB.7.28" />જૂના નિયમો પ્રમાણે પસંદ કરવામાં આવતા પ્રમુખ યાજકો નિર્બળ અને અધૂરા હતા. પરંતુ દેવના સમનું વચન નિયમશાસ્ત્ર પછી આપવામાં આવ્યું હતુ. તેણે પોતાના પુત્રને સદાકાળ માટે સંપૂર્ણ પ્રમુખયાજક તરીકે નીમ્યો છે.
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</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ આપણો પ્રમુખયાજક
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.8.1" />આપણને જે કંઈ મુખ્ય મુદ્દા કહેવામાં આવ્યા છે તે આ પ્રમાણે છે. ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત આપણો પ્રમુખયાજક છે અને તે આકાશમાં દેવ પિતાના રાજ્યાસનની જમણી બાજુએ સર્વશ્રેષ્ઠ સ્થાને બિરાજેલો છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="HEB.8.2" />આપણા પ્રમુખયાજક પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં ખરા મંડપમાં સેવા કરી રહ્યા છે. જે પવિત્રસ્થાનને દેવે સ્થાપિત કર્યુ છે, નહિ કે લોકોએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="HEB.8.3" />દરેક પ્રમુખયાજક દેવ સમક્ષ અર્પણો અને બલિદાનો લાવવા માટે નિમાયેલા છે કે જે આપણા પ્રમુખયાજકે પણ કઈક સમર્પણ કરવાનું છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="HEB.8.4" />જો આપણા પ્રમુખયાજક આજે પૃથ્વી પર જીવતા હોત તો તે યાજક બન્યા ન હોત, કારણ કે અહીં તો હજુયે નિયમશાસ્ત્ર પ્રમાણે દેવને દાનાર્પણ કરનારા યહૂદિ યાજકો છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="HEB.8.5" />પ્રમુખ યાજક તરીકે તેઓ જે સેવા કાર્ય કરે છે તે તો માત્ર આકાશમાંની વસ્તુઓની પ્રતિછાયા છે, મૂસાએ જ્યારે મંડપ બનાવવાની તૈયારી બતાવી ત્યારે દેવે તેને જણાવ્યું: “પર્વત પર તેં જે મંડપ જોયો છે તે પ્રમાણે જ તું પૃથ્વી પર મંડપની રચના કર.”
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<v id="6" bcv="HEB.8.6" />પણ ખ્રિસ્તને આકાશમાં સોંપાયેલી સેવા જૂના નિયમ પ્રમાણે સેવા કરનાર યાજકો કરતાં ઘણી જ ચઢિયાતી છે અને વધુ ચઢિયાતા વચન પર આધારીત દેવ અને મનુષ્યો વચ્ચે તેમણે સ્થાપેલો નવો કરાર જૂના કરાર કરતાં વધુ ચઢિયાતા વચનો પર આધારીત છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HEB.8.7" />જો પ્રથમ કરાર દોષ વગરનો હોત તો, બીજા કરારની કોઈ જ જરુંરિયાત ન રહેત.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="HEB.8.8" />દેવની દષ્ટિમાં લોકો દોષિત ઠરતા હતા તેથી તેણે કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“પ્રભુ કહે છે, એવો દિવસ આવશે કે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જ્યારે હું ઈસ્રાએલ અને યહૂદિયાના લોકોને નવો કરાર આપીશ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="9" bcv="HEB.8.9" />જ્યારે તેઓના પૂર્વજોને હાથ પકડીને મિસર દેશમાંથી બહાર લઈ આવ્યો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ત્યારે જે કરાર મેં તેઓની સાથે કર્યો હતો
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેનાં કરતાં આ કરાર જુદો હશે. દેવ કહે છે:
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="HEB.8.10" />ઈસ્ત્રાએલના લોકોને હું નવો કરાર આપીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ભવિષ્યમાં આ કરાર હું આપીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું મારા આ કાયદાઓ તેમના મનમાં મૂકીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ને તેઓના હ્રદયપટ પર લખીશ.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું તેઓનો દેવ થઈશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ મારા લોકો થશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="HEB.8.11" />હવે પછી કોઈને પોતાના પ્રજાબંધુ અથવા તેના ભાઈને કહેવાની આવશ્યકતા નહિ રહે કે, પ્રભુને ઓળખ
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે નાનાથી માંડીને મોટા સુધી બધાજ લોકો ઓળખશે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="HEB.8.12" />તેઓએ જે કાંઈ અપરાધો મારા વિરૂદ્ધ કર્યા હશે તેને હું માફ કરીશ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનાં પાપોને કદી યાદ નહિ કરું.”
<rq><ref tgt="JER.31.31">યર્મિયા 31:31-34</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="HEB.8.13" />દેવ આને નવો કરાર કહે છે, તેથી દેવે પહેલા કરારને જૂનો ઠરાવ્યો. અને જે કઈ જૂનું છે તે થોડા સમયમાં વિનાશ પામશે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">જૂના કરાર પ્રમાણે આરાધના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.9.1" />જુઓ પહેલા કરારમાં પણ ભજનસેવાના નિયમો હતા. અને મનુષ્યના હાથે બનાવેલ પવિત્રસ્થાનની જગ્યા પણ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="HEB.9.2" />મંડપનો પ્રથમ ભાગ પવિત્રસ્થાન તરીકે ઓળખાતો હતો. ત્યાં દીવી, મેજ અને તે પર દેવને અર્પિત રોટલી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="HEB.9.3" />બીજા પડદાની પાછળ અંદરનો ભાગ પરમપવિત્રસ્થાન તરીકે ઓળખતો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="HEB.9.4" />તેમાં સૌથી વધુ પવિત્ર સુગંધિત સોનાની ધૂપવેદી અને ચારે તરફ સોનાની મઢેલી પેટી હતી અને તેમાં જૂનો કરાર હતો. તે પેટીમાં સોનાની બરણી માન્નાથી<f caller="+"><fr>9:4
</fr><fk>માન્ના
</fk><ft>દેવે યહૂદિ લોકોને રણમાં ખાવા આપેલ ખોરાક.</ft></f> ભરેલી હતી. હારુંનની કળી ફૂટેલી લાકડી તથા શિલાપટ પર જૂના કરારની દસ આજ્ઞાઓ લખેલી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="HEB.9.5" />અને તેના પર મહિમાદર્શક કરૂબો હતા, જેઓની છાયા દયાસન પર પડતી હતી. હમણાં તેઓ સંબંધી અમારાથી સવિસ્તાર કહેવાય એમ નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="HEB.9.6" />મંડપમાં મેં સમજાવ્યું તે પ્રમાણે દરેક વસ્તુ વ્યવસ્થિત ગોઠવી દેવામાં આવી. પછી યાજકો હંમેશા પહેલા ઓરડામાં સેવા કરવાનું કામ કરવા જતા.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="HEB.9.7" />પણ બીજા ઓરડામાં ફક્ત પ્રમુખયાજક જ જઇ શકતો, તે પણ વર્ષમાં એક જ વખત જતો, તે પોતાની સાથે લોહી લીધા વગર કદી તે ઓરડામાં પ્રવેશતો નહિ. પ્રમુખયાજક તે રક્ત લઈને પોતાના અને લોકો દ્ધારા અજાણથી પણ પાપકર્મ થયું હોય તેના માટે અર્પણ કરતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="HEB.9.8" />આ બધી બાબતો દ્ધારા પવિત્ર આત્મા બતાવે છે કે જ્યાં સુધી પ્રથમ ભાગ ત્યાં હતો, ત્યાં સુધી પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનમાં પ્રવેશવાનો માર્ગ ખુલ્લો ન હતો.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="HEB.9.9" />આ બાબત પરથી આજના માટે આપણે દાખલો લઈ શકીએ, જે મુજબનાં બલિદાનો અને અર્પણો આપવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં, તેઓ ભજન કરનારનું અંત:કરણ સંપૂર્ણ શુદ્ધ કરવા માટે દાવો કરતાં ન હતાં અને પૂર્ણ પણ બનાવી શકતા નહોતાં.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="HEB.9.10" />આ રીવાજો ફક્ત, ભોજન, પાણી અને વિવિધ પ્રકારની સ્નાનક્રિયાનો શિષ્ટાચાર, બાહ્ય વિધિઓ હતી અને જ્યાં સુધી નવો માર્ગ આવે ત્યાં સુધી તેનું પાલન કરવાનો હેતુ હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">નવા કરાર મુજબ ઉપાસના
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="HEB.9.11" />હાલમાં અસ્તિત્વ ધરાવતી ઉત્તમ વ્યવસ્થાના પ્રમુખયાજક સારી વસ્તુઓનો પ્રમુખયાજક હતો. પ્રમુખયાજક તરીકે ખ્રિસ્ત આવ્યો. ત્યારે તેણે ખૂબજ ઉત્તમ એવા મંડપમાંથી પ્રવેશ કર્યો. અને તે સંપૂર્ણ એવા સ્વર્ગીય મંડપમાં પ્રવેશ્યો જે વધારે મોટો અને વધારે પરિપૂર્ણ હતો. તે માનવો દ્ધારા બનાવેલો ન હતો અને તે આ દુનિયામાં બનાવેલો ન હતો.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="HEB.9.12" />હંમેશને માટે એક જ વાર રક્ત લઈને ખ્રિસ્ત પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનમાં પ્રવેશ્યો. બકરાના તથા વાછરડાના રક્ત વડે નહિ, પરંતુ પોતાના જ રક્ત વડે આપણે માટે સર્વકાલિન આપણા ઉદ્ધારની પ્રાપ્તિ માટે તે પ્રવેશ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="HEB.9.13" />જે લોકો પરમપવિત્રસ્થાનમાં પ્રવેશવા માટે શુદ્ધ ન હતા તેઓ પર બકરાઓનું તથા ગોધાઓનું રક્ત તથા વાછરડાંની રાખ છાંટીને તેઓના ફક્ત શરીરને શુદ્ધ કર્યા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="HEB.9.14" />ખ્રિસ્તનું લોહી આપણે જે દુષ્ટ કાર્યો કર્યા છે, તેમાંથી આપણા હ્રદયોને વિશેષ શુદ્ધ કરશે જેથી આપણે જીવંત દેવની સેવા કરી શકીએ. તેથી ખ્રિસ્તે સનાતન આત્માની સહાય વડે દોષ વગરનું બલિદાન દેવને આપ્યું અને નિષ્કલંક બન્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="HEB.9.15" />તેથી દેવ પાસેથી ઈસુ નવો કરાર<f caller="+"><fr>9:15
</fr><fk>નવો કરાર
</fk><ft>આ “વધુ સારો કરાર” જે દેવે તેના લોકોને ઇસુ દ્ધારા આપ્યો છે.</ft></f> લોકો પાસે લાવ્યો. ખ્રિસ્ત નવો કરાર એવા લોકો માટે લાવ્યો કે જેઓને તેડવામાં આવ્યા છે અને જે ઉત્તરાધિકારીનો આશીર્વાદ મેળવે. દેવે આપેલાં વચન પ્રમાણે અનંતકાળનો વારસો પામે. કારણ કે પ્રથમ કરાર<f caller="+"><fr>9:15
</fr><fk>પ્રથમ કરાર
</fk><ft>જ્યારે તેઓને મૂસાનું નિયમશાસ્ત્ર આપ્યું ત્યારે દેવે યહૂદિ લોકોને કરાર આપ્યો.</ft></f> પ્રમાણે લોકોથી થયેલ પાપમાંથી લોકોને ઉદ્ધાર અપાવવા ખ્રિસ્ત મરણ પામ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="HEB.9.16" />જ્યારે મનુષ્ય મરણ પામે છે ત્યારે તે પોતાની પાછળ વસિયતનામું મૂકતો જાય છે. પરંતુ લોકોએ એ સાબિત કરવું પડે છે કે વસિયતનામું લખનાર વ્યક્તિનું મરણ થયું છે કે કેમ?
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="HEB.9.17" />વસિયતનામું કરનાર વ્યક્તિ મરણ પામે પછી જ વસિયતનામાંનો અમલ થઈ શકે. જ્યાં સુધી તે વ્યક્તિ જીવે છે, ત્યાં સુધી તેનો અમલ થઈ શકે નહિ (વ્યક્તિના મરણ પછી જ તેનો અમલ થઈ શકે).
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="HEB.9.18" />પહેલા કરાર માટે દેવ અને લોકો વચ્ચે આવું જ કઈક છે. તેનાં રક્ત દ્ધારા પહેલાં કરારની પ્રતિષ્ઢા થાય એ જરુંરી હતું.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="HEB.9.19" />લોકોને બધીજ આજ્ઞાઓ કહી સંભળાવ્યા પછી મૂસાએ વાછરડા અને બકરાનાં રક્ત સાથે પાણી મેળવ્યું. તે રકેત લઈને તેણે ઝૂફાની ડાળી અને કિરમજી ઊન વડે નિયમના પુસ્તક પર તથા બધા લોકો પર નિશાની માટે લોહી છાંટ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="HEB.9.20" />પછી મૂસાએ કહ્યું, “આ લોહી એવા કરારનું છે જેને અનુસરવા દેવે તમને આદેશ આપ્યો છે.”
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="HEB.9.21" />એ જ રીતે મૂસાએ પવિત્ર મંડપ પર રક્ત છાંટ્યું અને જે કોઈ વસ્તુઓનો સેવામાં ઉપયોગ કરવામાં આવે છે તે બધા પર રક્ત છાંટ્યું.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="HEB.9.22" />નિયમશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે દરેક વસ્તુ રક્તના છંટકાવથી પવિત્ર થાય છે. રક્ત વહેવડાવ્યા વગર પાપની માફી મળતી નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનું બલિદાન પાપ નિવારણ માટે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="HEB.9.23" />આ બધી વસ્તુઓ આકાશમાં છે તે જ સાચી વસ્તુઓની નકલ હતી. અને તે બધાને પશુઓના રક્ત વડે શુદ્ધ કરવામાં આવતી હતી. પરંતુ આકાશની વસ્તુઓને વધારે સારા બલિદાન વડે શુદ્ધ કરવાની જરુંર હતી.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="HEB.9.24" />વળી ખરેખર નમૂના પ્રમાણે માનવે બનાવેલ પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં ખ્રિસ્ત પ્રવેશ્યો નહિ, પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્ત આકાશમાં દેવની હજૂરમાં ગયો જેથી આપણને મદદ કરી શકે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="HEB.9.25" />આ સૌથી વધુ પવિત્રસ્થાનમાં પ્રમુખયાજક વર્ષમાં એક જ વાર પ્રવેશે છે. તે પોતાની સાથે દેવને અર્પણ કરવા રક્ત લાવે છે. પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્તની માફક તે પોતાનું રક્ત અર્પણ કરતો નથી. ખ્રિસ્ત તો આકાશમાં સીધાવ્યો પણ તેને બીજા પ્રમુખ યાજકની માફક વારંવાર રક્ત અર્પણ કરવાની જરૂર રહી નહી.
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<v id="26" bcv="HEB.9.26" />જો એમ હોત તો ખ્રિસ્તને જગતની શરુંઆતથી વારંવાર મરણ સહન કરવું પડ્યું હોત. પરંતુ સદાને માટે પાપનું સામથ્યૅ નષ્ટ કરવા તેણે એક જ વાર પોતાનું બલિદાન આપ્યું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="HEB.9.27" />જેમ માણસ એક જ વાર મરણ પામે છે અને પછી તેનો ન્યાયથાય તેવું નિર્માણ થયેલું છે.
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<v id="28" bcv="HEB.9.28" />તેમ ખ્રિસ્તે પણ ઘણા લોકોના પાપ પોતાને માથે લેવા એક જ વખતે બલિદાન આપ્યું અને હવે તે લોકોના પાપ માટે નહિ પરંતુ જેઓ આતુરતાથી તેની રાહ જોઈ રહ્યા છે તેમનો ઉદ્ધાર કરવા ખ્રિસ્ત બીજી વખત આવનાર છે.
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<c id="10" />
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તનું બલિદાન આપણને સંપૂર્ણ બનાવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.10.1" />નિયમશાસ્ત્ર ભવિષ્યમાં આવનારા શુભ કાર્યોની પ્રતિછાયારૂપ છે અને તે વસ્તુઓની ખરી પ્રતિમાઓ તેમાં નથી. દર વર્ષે એના એ જ બલિદાનો સતત અર્પણ કરવામાં આવતાં હતાં, છતાં નિયમશાસ્ત્ર પ્રમાણે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પરિપૂર્ણ થઈ શકી નથી.
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<v id="2" bcv="HEB.10.2" />જો જૂના નિયમે લોકોને પરિપૂર્ણ બનાવ્યો હોત તો પછી તેઓએ બલિદાન આપવાનું બંધ કર્યુ હોત. તેઓ સદાને માટે શુદ્ધ થઈ ગયા હોત અને તેઓએ તેમના પાપો માટે દોષિત થવું પડ્યું ના હોત. પરંતુ નિયમશાસ્ત્ર તે કરી શક્યું નહિ.
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<v id="3" bcv="HEB.10.3" />પરંતુ એ વાર્ષિક બલિદાનો તો તેમના મનમાં દર વર્ષે પાપોની યાદ તાજી કરાવે છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="HEB.10.4" />કારણ કે ગોધાઓનું તથા બકરાઓનું લોહી પાપ દૂર કરવા સમર્થ નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="HEB.10.5" />આથી જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્ત આ દુનિયામાં આવ્યો, ત્યારે તેણે કહ્યું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે દેવ પશુઓનુ રક્ત તને પ્રસન્ન કરી શકે તેમ નથી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ તેં મારા માટે શરીર બનાવ્યું છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="HEB.10.6" />પાપોની માફીને અર્થ અપાતું દહનાર્પણ તથા પાપાર્થાર્પણથી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તું કઈ પ્રસન્ન થતો નહોતો.
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<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="HEB.10.7" />તેથી તેમણે કહ્યું, ‘હે દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું અહીં શાસ્ત્રમાં મારા સંબધી લખ્યા પ્રમાણે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારી ઇચ્છા પૂર્ણ કરવા હું અહીં છું.’”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.40.6">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 40:6-8</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="8" bcv="HEB.10.8" />પ્રથમ ખ્રિસ્તે કહ્યું છે, “શાસ્ત્રમાં અપાતાં પાપમુક્તિ માટેનાં અર્પણો તથા દહનાર્પણોથી અપાતાં બલિદાનો દ્ધારા તું પ્રસન્ન થઈ શકે તેમ નથી,” (આ બધા બલિદાનોની આજ્ઞા નિયમ કરે છે.)
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<v id="9" bcv="HEB.10.9" />પછી તેણે કહ્યું, “હે દેવ! હું આ રહ્યો, તારી ઇચ્છા પૂર્ણ કરવા હું આવ્યો છું.” આ પ્રમાણે તેણે જૂની વ્યવસ્થા રદ કરી અને નવી વ્યવસ્થા સ્થાપી.
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<v id="10" bcv="HEB.10.10" />દેવીની ઈચ્છા મુજબ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનાં કાર્યો પ્રમાણે એક જ વાર ખ્રિસ્તનું શરીર અર્પણ થયાથી આપણને પવિત્ર કરવામાં આવ્યા છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="HEB.10.11" />તેમ જ દરેક યાજક નિત્ય સેવા કરતાં તથા એ ને એ જ બલિદાનો ઘણીવાર અર્પણ કરતા. પરંતુ તે બલિદાનોથી પાપોને કદી દૂર કરી શક્યા નહિ.
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<v id="12" bcv="HEB.10.12" />પણ આપણાં પાપોને માટે ખ્રિસ્તે એક જ વાર બલિદાન આપ્યું અને ખ્રિસ્ત દેવની જમણી બાજુએ બિરાજ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="HEB.10.13" />અને તેના દુશમનોને તેની સત્તા નીચે મૂકવામાં આવે તેથી ખ્રિસ્ત હવે ત્યાં રાહ જોઈ રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="HEB.10.14" />જેઓને પવિત્ર કરવામાં આવે છે તેઓને ખ્રિસ્તે પોતાના એક જ બલિદાનથી બધા જ સમય માટે પરિપૂર્ણ કર્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="HEB.10.15" />આ વિષે પવિત્ર આત્મા પણ સાક્ષી આપે છે. તે પહેલા કહે છે:
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<q style="q1"><v id="16" bcv="HEB.10.16" />“આ કરાર છે જે ભવિષ્યમાં હું મારા લોકો સાથે કરીશ એમ પ્રભુ કહે છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હું મારા નિયમો તેઓના હ્રદય પર લખીશ.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું મારા નિયમો તેઓના મનમાં સ્થાપીશ.”
<rq><ref tgt="JER.31.33">યર્મિયા 31:33</ref></rq>
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</q>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="HEB.10.17" />પછી તે કહે છે:
</p>
<p style="p">“તેઓના પાપકર્મો અને દુષ્કર્મોને હું માફ કરીશ અને ભવિષ્યમાં તે હું કદી યાદ કરીશ નહિ.” યર્મિયા 31:34
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="HEB.10.18" />અને હવે સદાને માટે પાપ માફ થયાં છે ત્યારે પાપ મુક્તિ માટે અન્ય કોઈ અર્પણની જરુંર રહેતી નથી.
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<s style="s">દેવની નજીક આવો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="HEB.10.19" />ભાઈઓ, તેણે આપણા માટે પડદામાં થઈને, એટલે પોતાના શરીરમાં થઈને, એક નવો તથા જીવતો માર્ગ ઉઘાડ્યો છે, આપણે કોઈ પણ જાતના ભય વિના દાખલ થઈ શકીશું.
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<v id="20" bcv="HEB.10.20" />ઈસુએ જે નવો માર્ગ બતાવ્યો તે દ્ધારા આપણે અંદર જઇ શકીશું.
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<v id="21" bcv="HEB.10.21" />દેવના ઘરમાં રાજ કરવા માટે આપણી પાસે એક મોટો યાજક નિમાયેલો છે.
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<v id="22" bcv="HEB.10.22" />આપણને શુદ્ધ કરવામાં આવ્યા છે. અને આપણું અંત:કરણ દોષિત લાગણીઓથી મુક્ત છે. આપણા શરીરનું શુદ્ધ પાણીથી સ્નાન કરાવવામાં આવ્યું છે તેથી શુદ્ધ હ્રદયથી અને ખાતરી જે વિશ્વાસ દ્ધારા પ્રાપ્ત થયેલ છે માટે આપણે દેવની નજીક આવી શકીએ છીએ.
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<v id="23" bcv="HEB.10.23" />જે આશાઓમાં આપણે સંમત છીએ તેને આપણે મક્કમતાથી વળગી રહીએ, કારણ કે જેણે આપણને વચન આપ્યું છે તેનો સંપૂર્ણ ભરોસો આપણે કરી શકીએ છીએ.
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<s style="s">એકબીજાને મદદરુંપ બનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="HEB.10.24" />આપણે અકબીજાનો વિચાર કરવો જોઈએ અને સારા કામ કરી અને પ્રેમ દર્શાવી એકબીજાને એ પ્રમાણે કરવા માટે ઉત્તેજન આપીએ.
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<v id="25" bcv="HEB.10.25" />જેમ કેટલાક લોકો કરે છે તેમ આપણે સમૂહમાં મળવાનું પડતું ન મૂકીએ, પણ આપણે સમૂહમાં મળીએ અને એકબીજાને બળ આપીએ, આ પ્રમાણે આપણે કરવાનું વધુ અને વધુ પ્રયત્ન કરીએ કારણ દહાડો<f caller="+"><fr>10:25
</fr><fk>દહાડો
</fk><ft>ખ્રિસ્તનો ફરી પ્રગટ થવાનો સમય.</ft></f> નજીકને નજીક આવી રહ્યો છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્ત તરફથી મોં ના ફેરવો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="HEB.10.26" />સત્યનું જ્ઞાન થયા પછી જો આપણે પાપમાં જીવવાનું ચાલું રાખીએ, તો પાપના નિવારણ માટે બીજુ બલિદાન છે જ નહિ.
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<v id="27" bcv="HEB.10.27" />જો આપણે પાપ કરવાનું ચાલુ જ રાખીશું તો ન્યાયની ભયંકર અપેક્ષા અને દેવના વિરોધિઓને ભસ્મ કરી નાખે એવા અગ્નિના તેઓ ભોગ બનશે.
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<v id="28" bcv="HEB.10.28" />જો કોઈ મૂસાના નિયમશાસ્ત્રનો ભંગ કરે અને તે બે કે ત્રણ સાક્ષીઓ દ્ધારા પૂરવાર થાય તો તેને માફી નહિ આપતા કોઈ પણ દયા વગર મોતની સજા થતી હતી.
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<v id="29" bcv="HEB.10.29" />તો પછી દેવપુત્રને પગ તળે કચડી નાખનાર, કરારના જે રક્તથી પવિત્ર થયો હતો તેને અશુદ્ધ ગણનાર કૃપાનું ભાન કરાવનાર પવિત્ર આત્માનું અપમાન કરનાર વ્યક્તિ કેટલી ભયંકર સજાને પાત્ર ઠરશે તેનો વિચાર કરો.
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<v id="30" bcv="HEB.10.30" />આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે દેવે કહ્યું છે, “દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો કરનારને હું શિક્ષા કરીશ, હું તેને ભરપાઇ કરીશ.”<x caller="+"><xo>10:30
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 32:35.</xt></x> દેવે એ પણ કહ્યું છે કે, “પ્રભુ તેના લોકોનો ન્યાય કરશે.”<x caller="+"><xo>10:30
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 32:36.</xt></x>
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<v id="31" bcv="HEB.10.31" />કોઈના પણ માટે જીવતા દેવના હાથમાં પડવું તે કેટલું ભયંકર છે!
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<s style="s">તમારા આનંદ અને હિંમત ગુમાવશો નહિ
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<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="HEB.10.32" />યાદ રાખો. ભૂતકાળના તે દિવસોમાં જ્યારે તમે સત્યનું જ્ઞાન પ્રાપ્ત કર્યુ ત્યારે તમે ઘણી યાતનાઓ સહન કરી સંઘર્ષ કર્યો, પરંતુ તમે બળવાન બનવાનું ચાલુ રાખ્યું.
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<v id="33" bcv="HEB.10.33" />ઘણીવાર તમે ઠપકો અને સતાવણી થઈ તે સહન કરી. વળી કેટલીક વાર બીજાંઓને એવાં દુ:ખોમાંથી પસાર થતા જોઈને તમે તેઓની પડખે ઊભા રહ્યા.
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<v id="34" bcv="HEB.10.34" />હા, જ્યારે કેટલાક લોકો કરાવાસમાં હતા, ત્યારે તેવા લોકોને તમે મદદ કરી તેમના દુ:ખના ભાગીદાર બન્યા. તમારું સર્વસ્વ પડાવી લેવામાં આવ્યું ત્યારે પણ તમે આનંદિત રહ્યા કારણ કે તમે જાણતા હતા કે તમારી પાસે એના કરતાં વધુ સારી અને સદા ને માટે ટકી રહે તેવી સંપત્તિ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="35" bcv="HEB.10.35" />માટે ભૂતકાળમાં હતી તે હિંમત ગુમાવશો નહિ કારણ કે તમને એનો મહાન બદલો મળવાનો છે.
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<v id="36" bcv="HEB.10.36" />તમારે ધીરજ રાખવાની જરુંર છે. દેવની ઈચ્છા પૂરી કરવાનું કાર્ય ચાલુ રાખો. અને તેથી જ તમને જે વચનો આપ્યા છે તે પ્રાપ્ત કરશો.
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<v id="37" bcv="HEB.10.37" />થોડા સમયમાં,
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“પ્રભુ જે ફરીથી આવનાર છે તે વિલંબ કરશે નહિ.
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<q style="q1"><v id="38" bcv="HEB.10.38" />ન્યાયી માણસ મારામાં વિશ્વાસ રાખીને જીવશે.
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<q level="2" style="q2">જો તે ભયનો માર્યો પાછો હટી જશે તો પછી તેનામાં મને આનંદ થશે નહિ.”<rq><ref tgt="HAB.2.3">હબાક્કુક 2:3-4</ref></rq>
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<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="39" bcv="HEB.10.39" />પણ આપણે એ પ્રકારના માણસો નથી, જે પીછે હઠ કરે અને ખોવાઇ જાય. ના. આપણે એવા લોકો છીએ કે દેવમાં આપણને દઢ વિશ્વાસ છે અને તેનામાં આપણે ઉદ્ધાર પામેલાં છીએ.
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<s style="s">વિશ્વાસ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.11.1" />વિશ્વાસ એટલે આપણે જે વસ્તુની આશા રાખીએ છીએ તેની ખાતરી છે. જે વસ્તુઓ આપણે જોઈ શકતા નથી છતાં આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે તે સત્ય છે, તેનો જ અર્થ વિશ્વાસ.
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<v id="2" bcv="HEB.11.2" />પુરાતન સમયમાં જીવતા લોકો પર દેવ ખૂબ જ ખુશ હતો કારણ તેઓને દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="HEB.11.3" />વિશ્વાસના આધારથી જ આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે સમગ્ર જગતની રચના દેવની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે થઈ છે એનો અર્થ એ થયો કે આપણે જે કાંઇ જાણીએ છીએ તે કોઈ અદશ્ય શક્તિ દ્ધારા બનાવવામાં આવેલું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="HEB.11.4" />કાઇન અને હાબેલ દેવને અર્પણ ચઢાવ્યું પણ હાબેલને વિશ્વાસ હતો તેથી વિશ્વાસથી તે કાઇનના અર્પણ કરતાં વધુ સાંરું એટલે દેવને પસંદ પડે તેવું અર્પણ લાવ્યો. દેવે હાબેલના અર્પણનો સ્વીકાર કર્યો અને હાબેલને ન્યાયી ઠરાવતી સાક્ષી આપી. હાબેલ મરણ પામ્યો, પણ આજે પણ તે પોતાના વિશ્વાસ દ્ધારા આપણને કહી રહ્યો છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="HEB.11.5" />હનોખે પણ દેવ પર વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો, તેથી તે મરણનો અનુભવ કરે તે પહેલા દેવે તેને પૃથ્વી પરથી લઈ લીધો. તેથી તે મારણનો અનુભવ કરી શક્યો નહિ. શાસ્ત્રમાં લખ્યું છે કે હનોખ મનુષ્ય હતો, ત્યારે તેણે ખરેખર દેવને પ્રસન્ન કર્યો હતો. તે એકાએક અદશ્ય થઈ ગયો કેમ કે દેવે તેને ઉપર લઈ લીધો હતો.
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<v id="6" bcv="HEB.11.6" />વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યા વગર તમે તેને પ્રસન્ન કરી શકો નહિ. દેવ પાસે આવનાર વ્યક્તિએ વિશ્વાસ રાખવો જોઈએ કે તેનું અસ્તિસ્વ છે, અને સાચા હ્રદયથી શોધનારને તે મળે છે દેવ તેનો બદલો આપશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HEB.11.7" />નૂહે પણ દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખ્યો અને જે વસ્તુ તેણે જોઈ નહોતી એવી બાબતોની ચેતવણી તેને આપવામાં આવી, ત્યારે તેણે પોતાના પરિવારને બચાવવા માટે દેવનો ડર રાખીને વિશ્વાસથી પોતાના પરિવારના તારણ માટે વહાણ તૈયાર કર્યુ. તેથી તેણે જગતને દોષિત ઠરાવ્યું અને વિશ્વાસથી જે ન્યાયીપણું મળે છે તેનો તે વારસો થયો.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="HEB.11.8" />વિશ્વાસથી ઇબ્રાહિમ જે સ્થળ વારસામાં પોતાને મળવાનું હતું ત્યાં જવાનું તેડું મળ્યાથી આજ્ઞાધીન થયો; એટલે પોતે ક્યાં જાય છે, એનાથી અજ્ઞાત હોવા છતાં તે પોતાનું વતન છોડી ચાલી નીકળ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="HEB.11.9" />દેવે જે દેશમાં જવાનું વચન આપ્યું હતું ત્યાં જઈને રહ્યો. ઇબ્રાહિમ ત્યાં એક મુસાફરની માફક રહ્યો. કારણ કે તેને વિશ્વાસ હતો. ઈસહાક અને યાકૂબને પણ તે જ વચન મળ્યું હતું. તેઓ પણ તંબુમાં રહ્યા હતા.
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<v id="10" bcv="HEB.11.10" />ઈબ્રાહિમ તે શહેરની રાહ જોતો હતો. જેનો પાયો દઢ હોય, એવું શહેર કે જેનો શિલ્પી અને બાંધનાર દેવ હોય.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="HEB.11.11" />ઈબ્રાહિમ ખૂબ ઘરડો હોવાથી બાળકોને પેદા કરવા અસમર્થ હતો. અને સારા માતા બની શકે તેમ નહતી પરંતુ દેવે ઇબ્રાહિમને વચન આપ્યું હતું તેમાં તેને પૂર્ણ વિશ્વાસ હતો. છેવટે સારા ગર્ભવતી થઈ અને ઈબ્રાહિમ પિતા બન્યો.
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<v id="12" bcv="HEB.11.12" />આ માણસ એટલો બધો વૃદ્ધ હતો કે તે મૃત અવસ્થામાં હતો. પણ એ એક જ વ્યક્તિમાંથી અનેક પ્રજા ઉત્પન્ન થઈ. તેનાં સંતાન આકાશના તારા અને સમુદ્રકિનારાની રેતીના કણ જેટલા અસંખ્ય હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="HEB.11.13" />આ બધાજ માણસો મરણ પામ્યા ત્યાં સુધી દેવે વચનો આપ્યાં તેમાંથી કાંઇજ મેળવી શક્યા નહિ છતાં વિશ્વાસથી જીવ્યા, તેઓએ પેલાં વચનો દુરથી જોયા. અને તેમનું સ્વાગત કર્યુ અને તેઓએ એ પણ જાણ્યું કે આ પૃથ્વી અમારું કાયમી ઘર નથી, અહીં તો અમે માત્ર મુસાફરો જ છીએ.
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<v id="14" bcv="HEB.11.14" />આ પરથી સ્પષ્ટ થાય છે કે તેઓ એક દેશની શોધમાં છે જે તેમનો પોતાનો દેશ છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="HEB.11.15" />જો તેઓ એવા દેશ વિષે વિચારતા હોય કે જેને તેમણે છોડી દીધો છે, તો તે એ દેશમાં ફરી પાછા આવી શક્યા હોત.
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<v id="16" bcv="HEB.11.16" />પણ એ માણસો એક વધુ સારા દેશની કે જે સ્વર્ગીય દેશ હશે તેની રાહ જોઈને બેઠા હતા. એટલે દેવને તેમનો દેવ કહેવામાં કોઈ સંકોચ ન હતો. તેણે એ લોકો માટે એક શહેર તૈયાર કરી રાખ્યું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="17-18" bcv="HEB.11.17" />દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમના વિશ્વાસની કસોટી કરી. જ્યારે તેની કસોટી થઈ ત્યારે, ઇબ્રાહિમે વિશ્વાસથી ઈસહાકનું બલિદાન આપ્યું. એટલે જેને વચનો આપવામાં આવ્યાં હતાં ને જેને કહેવામાં આવ્યું હતું કે, ઈસહાકથી તારો વંશ ગણાશે, તેણે પોતાના એકના એક પુત્રનું બલિદાન આપ્યું.
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<v id="19" bcv="HEB.11.19" />ઈબ્રાહિમ માનતો હતો કે દેવ મૂએલાંઓને પાછા ઉઠાડી શકે છે, અને ખરેખર દેવે જ્યારે ઈબ્રાહિમને ઈસહાકનું બલિદાન આપતા રોક્યો, ત્યારે તે તેને મૂએલામાંથી પાછા બોલાવવા જેવું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="HEB.11.20" />વિશ્વાસના કારણે જ ઈસહાકે તેના દીકરા યાકૂબ અને એસાવને ભવિષ્ય સબંધી આશીર્વાદ આપ્યો.
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<v id="21" bcv="HEB.11.21" />વિશ્વાસના કારણે જ મરણની ઘડીએ યાકૂબે લાકડીના ટેકે ઊભા થઈને યૂસફના બંને પુત્રોને આશીર્વાદ આપ્યો અને તેણે ઉપાસના કરી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="HEB.11.22" />વિશ્વાસના કારણે જ યૂસફે પોતાના અંતકાળે ઇજીપ્તના ઇસ્ત્રાએલના લોકોના છૂટા પડવાની વાત કરી, અને તેના શબ વિષે સૂચનો કર્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23" bcv="HEB.11.23" />વિશ્વાસના કારણે જ મૂસાના મા બાપે તેના જન્મ્યા પછી તેને ત્રણ મહિના સુધી સંતાડી રાખ્યો, કેમ કે તેઓએ જોયું કે તે બાળક સુંદર છે અને તેઓ રાજાની આજ્ઞાથી ડર્યા નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="24-25" bcv="HEB.11.24" />વિશ્વાસથી મૂસા મોટો થયો અને મોટા થયા પછી પોતાને ફારુંન રાજાની દીકરીનો પુત્ર ગણાવવાની ના પાડી. મૂસાએ પાપનું ક્ષણિક સુખ ભોગવવાને બદલે તેણે વિશ્વાસથી દેવના લોકોની સાથે મુશ્કેલીઓ વેઠવાનું આનંદથી પસંદ કર્યું.
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<v id="26" bcv="HEB.11.26" />ઈજીપ્ત દેશની સંપતિના ધણી બનવા કરતાં તેણે ખ્રિસ્તનું અપમાન સહન કરવાનું વધારે પસંદ કર્યુ, કેમ કે ભવિષ્યમાં દેવના તરફથી તેને જે મહાન ખજાનો મળવાનો હતો તેના તરફ તેણે લક્ષ રાખ્યું.
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<p style="p"><v id="27" bcv="HEB.11.27" />વિશ્વાસના કારણે મૂસાએ રાજાના ક્રોધની બીક રાખ્યા વગર ઇજીપ્ત દેશનો ત્યાગ કર્યા. તેણે દૃઢ વિશ્વાસ ચાલું રાખ્યો; જેમ કે અદશ્ય દેવને તે જોતો હોય.
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<v id="28" bcv="HEB.11.28" />મૂસાએ પાસ્ખા તૈયાર કર્યુ અને દરવાજાની બારસાખ ઉપર રક્ત છાંટ્યું. દરવાજા પર રક્ત એટલા માટે છાંટ્યું જેથી મરણનો દૂત<f caller="+"><fr>11:28
</fr><fk>મરણનો દૂત
</fk><ft>અક્ષરસ: “નાશ કરનાર.” ઈજીપ્તવાસીઓને શિક્ષા કરવા, દેવે દરેક ઘરમાંથી જયેષ્ઢ પુત્રને મારી નાખવા દૂતને મોકલ્યો. (પુન. 12:29-32)</ft></f> ઈસ્રાએલ લોકોના પ્રથમ જન્મેલ બાળકોને મારી ના નાખે. આમ કરવાનું કારણ મૂસાએ વિશ્વાસ (દેવમાં) હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="29" bcv="HEB.11.29" />વિશ્વાસથી ઈસ્રાએલી લોકો મૂસાની પાછળ કોરી જમીન પર ચાલતા હોય તેમ લાલ સમુદ્ર પસાર કરી ગયા તેમની પાછળ પડેલા ઈજીપ્તના લોકો તેમ કરવા જતાં ડૂબી (સમુદ્રમાં) ગયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="30" bcv="HEB.11.30" />લોકો વિશ્વાસથી દેવની આજ્ઞા મુજબ યરીખોના કોટની આગળ પાછળ સાત દિવસ ફર્યા અને અંતે તે કોટ તૂટી પડ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="31" bcv="HEB.11.31" />રાહાબ વેશ્યાએ ઇસ્ત્રાએલી જાસૂસ લોકોને આવકાર્યા અને મિત્રની માફક મદદ કરી. કારણ કે તેને વિશ્વાસ હતો એટલે તે અવજ્ઞા કરનાર લોકો સાથે મરણ પામી નહોતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="32" bcv="HEB.11.32" />આથી વિશેષ હું શું કહું? ગિદિયોન, બારાક, સામસૂન, યફતા, દાઉદ, શમુએલ તથા પ્રબોધકોના વિશ્વાસની વાત કરવા બેસું તો મને એટલો સમય પણ નથી.
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<v id="33" bcv="HEB.11.33" />આ બધા લોકોને ઘણોજ વિશ્વાસ હતો અને તે વિશ્વાસને કારણે તેમણે રાજ્યોને હરાવ્યા. અને જે કાર્યો ન્યાયયુક્ત હતા તે તેમણે કર્યા અને દેવના વચનોનાં ફળ પ્રાપ્ત કર્યા, વળી તેઓએ વિશ્વાસ સાથે સિંહના જડબા બંધ કરી દીધા.
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<v id="34" bcv="HEB.11.34" />આ રીતે કેટલાક લોકોએ શક્તિશાળી અજ્ઞિને રોક્યો. કેટલાક તલવારની ધારથી બચ્યા, તો કેટલાકને નિર્બળતાઓ હતી જે તાકાતમાં પરિવર્તન થઈ. કેટલાકે લડાઈમાં શૂરવીરતા દાખવી અને દુશ્મનોના સૈન્યને ભગાડી મૂક્યા.
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<v id="35" bcv="HEB.11.35" />સ્ત્રીઓના વિશ્વાસને કારણે કેટલાક પુરુંષો મૃત્યુ પામેલા સજીવન થયા અને તેઓને પાછા મળ્યા. કેટલાક રિબાઈને માર્યા ગયા, મુક્ત થવાને બદલે તેઓએ મરવાનું પસંદ કર્યુ તેમને વિશ્વાસ હતો કે પુનરુંત્થાન દ્ધારા તેઓ વધું સારું જીવન પ્રાપ્ત કરશે.
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<v id="36" bcv="HEB.11.36" />કેટલાકની મશ્કરી કરવામાં આવી અને તેમને અસહ્ય માર મારવામાં આવ્યો. બીજા (કેટલાએક) ને બેડીઓ બાંધીને કારાવાસમાં પૂરવામાં આવ્યા.
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<v id="37" bcv="HEB.11.37" />તેઓને પત્થરોથી મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યા અને બે ટુકડા કરી નાખવામાં આવ્યા. તેઓને તલવારથી મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યા, કેટલાકએક ઘેંટા બકરાના ચામડાં પહેરી રખડ્યા. જે ગરીબો હતા તેમને ખુબજ દુ:ખ આપવામાં આવ્યું અને તેમની સાથે અઘટિત વ્યવહાર કર્યો.
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<v id="38" bcv="HEB.11.38" />આ દુનિયા આવા માણસો માટે યોગ્ય નહોતી, આ માણસો રણમાં, પર્વતો પર, ગુફાઓમાં અને જમીનના ભોયરાઓમાં ભટકતા રહ્યા.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="39" bcv="HEB.11.39" />આ બધાજ લોકો વિશ્વાસ રાખનાર હતા. છતાં કોઈને પણ દેવનું મહાન વચન મળ્યું નહિ.
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<v id="40" bcv="HEB.11.40" />કેમ કે દેવે આપણને કઈક વધારે સારું આપવા નક્કી કર્યુ છે જેથી તેઓ ફક્ત આપણી સાથે જ પરિપૂર્ણ થઈ શકે.
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</p>

<c id="12" />
<s style="s">આપણે પણ ઈસુના નમૂનાને અનુસરવું જોઈએ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.12.1" />તો આપણી ચારે બાજુ વિશ્વાસના લોકોનો મોટો સમુદાય વિંટળાયોલો છે. લોકોના મોટા સમુદાયનો વિશ્વાસ શું છે તે તેમનું જીવન આપણને ઉદાહરણ પૂરું પાડે છે. માટે આપણે તેમના જેવા થવું જોઈએ. જેથી જે કોઈ બાબતો આપણને મંદ બનાવે કે પાછા પાડી દે તેનો આપણે ત્યાગ કરીએ. આપણને પાડી નાખનાર પાપથી આપણે અલગ થઈ જઇએ અને દેવે આપણા માટે નક્કી કરેલી દોડમાં ધીરજથી દોડીએ (આગળ વધીએ).
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<v id="2" bcv="HEB.12.2" />આપણે હંમેશા ઈસુનો દાખલો લઈ તેને અનુસરીએ. ઈસુ આપણા વિશ્વાસનો અગ્રેસર છે. અને તે આપણો વિશ્વાસ પૂર્ણ કરે છે. આપણે ઈસુ તરફ દષ્ટિ રાખીએ. તેણે પછીથી મળનાર આનંદને નજર સમક્ષ રાખીને વધસ્તંભ પર શરમજનક મરણ સહન કર્યુ અને હાલ તે દેવના રાજ્યાસનની જમણી બાજુ બિરાજમાન છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="HEB.12.3" />ઈસુ વિષે વિચાર કરો. પાપીઓ તરફથી તેણે આવો મોટો વિરોધ સહન કર્યો. તેઓએ તેની સાથે ક્રૂર વર્તાવ કર્યો હતો, છતાં તેણે ધીરજ રાખી હતી. તેમ તમે પણ પ્રયત્ન છોડીના દો અને ધીરજ રાખો.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવ પિતા તૂલ્ય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="HEB.12.4" />પાપની વિરૂદ્ધ તમારે એટલું બધું ઝઝૂમવું પડ્યું નથી, અને એવી કોઈ આવશ્યકતા ન હતી કે તમારે તમારું લોહી વહાવવું પડે.
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<v id="5" bcv="HEB.12.5" />વળી દેવે તમને તેના બાળકો ગણીને કહેલાં ઉત્તેજનાદાયક વચનો ભૂલી ના જાઓ અને તેનો તિરસ્કાર પણ ના કરો:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મારા દીકરા, દેવ તને શિક્ષા કરે ત્યારે ગુસ્સે ના થા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જ્યારે દેવ તેને ભૂલ બતાવે ત્યારે પ્રયત્ન કરવાનો બંધ ના કર.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="HEB.12.6" />દેવ જેને ચાહે છે તે દરેકને શિક્ષા કરે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જેને તે પુત્ર તરીકે સ્વીકારે છે તે દરેક માણસને તે શિક્ષા કરે છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PRO.3.11">નીતિવચનો 3:11-12</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HEB.12.7" />દેવ પિતાની શિક્ષા સમજી દરેક પીડાઓ સહન કરો. દરેક પુત્રોને તેમના પિતા શિક્ષા કરે છે એ રીતે દેવ તમને પિતાની માફક શિક્ષા કરે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="HEB.12.8" />જો તમને શિક્ષા થએલ નથી (દરેક પુત્રને શિક્ષા થશે), તો તમે દાસી પુત્રો છો અને ખરા પુત્રો નથી.
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<v id="9" bcv="HEB.12.9" />આપણા સંસારી પિતા આપણને શિક્ષા કરે છે છતાં આપણે તેનું માન જાળવીએ છીએ. તો પછી સાચું જીવન જીવવા માટે આપણા આત્માઓના પિતાને આપણે વધારે આધિન થવું જ જોઈએ. તે વધારે મહત્વનું છે. જે કાંઈ શિક્ષા કરે તે આપણે સ્વીકારવી જ જોઈએ.
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<v id="10" bcv="HEB.12.10" />પૃથ્વી પરના આપણા પિતાએ જે સૌથી ઉત્તમ વિચાર્યુ અને આપણને આપણા સારા માટે થોડા સમય માટે શિક્ષા કરી. પરંતુ દેવ આપણને આપણા ભલા માટે શિક્ષા કરે છે. જેથી આપણે તેના જેવા પવિત્ર બનીએ.
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<v id="11" bcv="HEB.12.11" />જ્યારે આપણને શિક્ષા કરવામાં આવે છે ત્યારે તે આનંદકારક લાગતી નથી. તેના બદલે આપણે પીડા ભોગવીએ છીએ. પણ પાછળથી તે શાંતિમય અને પ્રામાણિક જીવનનો રસ્તો આપણને આપે છે. આપણને શિક્ષા દ્ધારા તાલીમ અપાય છે.
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<s style="s">કેવી રીતે જીવવું તે વિશે સાવધ રહો
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="HEB.12.12" />તમે અશક્ત બની ગયા છો માટે તમારી જાતને ફરીથી વધુ બળવાન બનાવો.
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<v id="13" bcv="HEB.12.13" />સત્યના માર્ગે ચાલો તો તમે બચી જશો તેમાં તમારે કાંઇજ ગુમાવવાનું નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="HEB.12.14" />બધા જ લોકો સાથે શાંતિથી જીવવા પ્રયત્ન કરો અને પાપથી મુક્ત જીવન જીવવા પ્રયત્ન કરો. જેનું જીવન પવિત્ર ન હોય તો તેને દેવના દર્શન કદી થશે નહિ.
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<v id="15" bcv="HEB.12.15" />સાવધ રહો, તમારામાંથી કોઈ દેવની કૃપા મેળવવામાં નિષ્ફળ ન જાય, કોઈ તમારામાં કડવાશના બી ના ઉગાડે. કારણ કે તેવા માણસો ઘણા લોકોના જીવન બરબાદ કરી શકે છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="HEB.12.16" />તમારામાંથી કોઈ વ્યભિચારમાં ન પડી જાય એ માટે સાવધ રહો. એક ભોજનના બદલામાં મોટો પુત્ર હોવાને લીધે જયેષ્ટ હકનો સોદો કરનાર એસાવની જેમ તમારામાંથી તમે કોઈ સાંસારિક મનવાળો ન બને.
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<v id="17" bcv="HEB.12.17" />યાદ રાખો, પાછળથી એસાવે આશીર્વાદ મેળવવા ભારે રુંદન સહિત પસ્તાવો કર્યો પણ ત્યારે ઘણું જ મોડું થઈ ગયું હતું અને પિતાએ આશીર્વાદ આપવાની સ્પષ્ટ ના પાડી દીધી કારણ એસાવે જે કઈ કર્યુ છે તેમાંથી તે પાછો ફરી શકે તેમ નહોતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="HEB.12.18" />તમે કોઈક નવી જગ્યા પર આવ્યા છો. ઇસ્ત્રાએલના લોકો પર્વતો પાસે આવ્યા હોય તેવી આ જગ્યા નથી. તમે એવા પર્વત પર નથી આવ્યા કે જે અગ્નિની જ્વાળાથી સળગતો છે જેને તમે અડકી ન શકો. તમે ઘમઘોર અંધકાર, આકાશ અને તોફાન હોય તેવી જગ્યાએ નથી આવ્યા.
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<v id="19" bcv="HEB.12.19" />તે સમયે રણશિંગડાના ભયંકર અવાજ સાથે દેવની વાણી સાંભળવામાં આવી પછી તે વિષે તેમણે ફરી કાંઈજ સાંભળ્યું નહિ. તે માટે લોકોએ પ્રાર્થના કરી.
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<v id="20" bcv="HEB.12.20" />તેઓ ફરી આજ્ઞા સાંભળવાનું સહન કરી શકે તેમ નહોતું: કારણ કે, “જો કોઈ જાનવર પહાડને અડકે તો તે પથ્થરથી માર્યુ જાય.”<x caller="+"><xo>12:20
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિર્ગ. 19:12-13.</xt></x> એવી આજ્ઞાથી તેઓ ધ્રુંજી ઉઠ્યા.
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<v id="21" bcv="HEB.12.21" />લોકોએ જે દશ્ય જોયું તે ખૂબજ ભયાનક હતું કે મૂસાએ પોતે પણ કહ્યું, “હું ભયથી ધ્રૂજું છું.”<x caller="+"><xo>12:21
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ પુન. 9:19.</xt></x>
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<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="HEB.12.22" />પરંતુ તમે તો સિયોન પર્વત પર એટલે કે જીવંત દેવના નગર સ્વર્ગીય યરૂશાલેમ અને હજારોહજાર દૂતોની પાસે,
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<v id="23" bcv="HEB.12.23" />પ્રથમ જન્મેલા જેઓનાં નામ આકાશમાં લખેલાં છે તેઓની સાર્વજનિક સભા તથા મંડળીની પાસે, અને સહુનો ન્યાય કરનાર દેવની પાસે અને સંપૂર્ણ થયેલા ન્યાયીઓના આત્માઓની પાસે,
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<v id="24" bcv="HEB.12.24" />અને નવા કરારના મધ્યસ્થ ઈસુની પાસે અને જે છંટકાવનું રક્ત હાબેલના કરતાં સારું બોલે છે તેની પાસે આવ્યા છો. એ રક્ત હાબેલના રક્તની જેમ વેર લેવાનું કહેતું નથી. તેના કરતાં કાંઇક વિશેષ કહેવા માગે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="HEB.12.25" />સાવધાન રહો અને જ્યારે તમારી સાથે દેવ બોલે ત્યારે સાંભળવાની ના પાડશો નહિ. યહૂદિઓ ચેતવણી સાંભળવાની ના પાડે છે જે તેઓને પૃથ્વી પર અપાઈ હતી. અને તેઓ તેમાથી બચ્યા નથી. હવે દેવ આકાશમાંથી આપણને કહે છે. જો આપણે તેને સાંભળવાનો અનાદર કરીએ તો આપણે તેમાંથી કેવી રીતે બચી શકીશું?
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<v id="26" bcv="HEB.12.26" />સિનાઈ પર્વત પરથી દેવ જ્યારે બોલ્યો, તે સમયે તેની વાણીએ પૃથ્વીને પણ ધ્રુંજાવી નાખી હતી, હવે તેણે વચન આપ્યું છે. “ફરી એક વાર પૃથ્વીની સાથે આકાશને પણ હું ધ્રુંજાવીશ.”
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<v id="27" bcv="HEB.12.27" />આ શબ્દો “ફરીથી એકવાર” સ્પષ્ટ દર્શાવે છે કે કંપાયમાન થયેલી વસ્તુઓની સાથે જે કાંઇ બનાવેલ છે તેનો નાશ થશે. અને જે કાંઇ સ્થિર છે અને જે ધ્રુંજાવી શકાશે નહિ તે રહેશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="HEB.12.28" />આપણે દેવનો આભાર માનવો જોઈએ કે આપણને એવું અવિચળ રાજ્ય આપે છે જેને ધ્રુંજાવી શકાતું નથી. તેથી આપણે દેવની સેવા ભય અને આદરભાવથી કરવી જોઈએ જેથી તે પ્રસન્ન થાય.
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<v id="29" bcv="HEB.12.29" />કેમ કે આપણો દેવ ભસ્મ કરી નાખનાર અગ્નિ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="HEB.13.1" />તમે ખ્રિસ્તમાં ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો છો આથી એકબીજા પર પ્રીતિ કરવાનું ચાલું રાખો.
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<v id="2" bcv="HEB.13.2" />મહેમાનોનો સત્કાર કરવાનું ના ભૂલશો. એમ કરવાથી કેટલાક લોકોએ અજાણતા પણ આકાશના દૂતોનું સ્વાગત કર્યુ છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="HEB.13.3" />જેઓ કારાવાસમાં છે તેઓને ભૂલો નહિ, જાણે તમે તેઓની સાથે જેલમાં હોય એમ તેઓની યાતનાઓના સહભાગી બનો. અત્યાચાર સહન કરે છે તેઓની સ્થિતિમાં તમે પણ છો એમ માની તેઓના દુ:ખમાં સહભાગી બનો.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="HEB.13.4" />સર્વમાં લગ્ન માન યોગ્ય માનો. લગ્નમાં બે જણ વચ્ચેના સંબંધો શુદ્ધ હોવા જોઈએ. જેથી બિછાનું નિર્મળ રહે; કેમ કે દેવ લંપટોનો તથા વ્યભિચારીઓનો ન્યાય કરશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="HEB.13.5" />નાણાનાં લોભથી દૂર રહો તમારી પાસે જેટલું હોય તેટલામાં સંતોષ માનો. દેવે કહ્યું છે:
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હું તને કદી મૂકી દઇશ નહિ;
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<q style="q1">અને તને તજીશ પણ નહિ.”
<rq><ref tgt="DEU.31.6">પુનર્નિયમ 31:6</ref></rq>
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<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="6" bcv="HEB.13.6" />તેથી જરા પણ સંકોચ રાખ્યા વગર આપણે કહી શકીએ કે,
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<q style="q1">“પ્રભુ મને સહાય કરનાર છે;
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<q level="2" style="q2">હું ડરીશ નહિ.
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<q style="q1">માણસ મને શું કરનાર છે?”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.118.6">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 118:6</ref></rq>
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="HEB.13.7" />તમને દેવના વચનો શીખવનાર તમારા આગેવાનોને યાદ કરો. તેઓ જે રીતે જીવ્યા અને તેમનું જીવન પૂર્ણ કર્યુ તેનો વિચાર કરો અને તેઓની માફક દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખો.
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<v id="8" bcv="HEB.13.8" />ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત ગઈકાલે આજે અને સદાને માટે એવો ને એવો જ છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="HEB.13.9" />તમે દરેક જાતના વિચિત્ર ઉપદેશથી ભરમાઈ જશો નહિ. જે તમને અવળા માર્ગે દોરી જાય, સાચી વસ્તુ એ છે કે દેવની કૃપાથી જ તમારા હ્રદયને બળવાન બનાવવું. ખોરાક વિષેના નિયમો પાળવાથી એ મળતું નથી. આ નિયમો પાળનારને કશો જ ફાયદો થતો નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="HEB.13.10" />અમારી પાસે બલિદાન છે. પરંતુ યાજકો જેઓ પવિત્ર મંડપોમાં સેવા કરે છે તેઓ તે બલિદાનમાંથી ખાઇ શકતા નથી.
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<v id="11" bcv="HEB.13.11" />યહૂદી નિયમ પ્રમાણે પ્રમુખયાજક વધ કરેલાં પશુઓનું રક્ત પવિત્ર સ્થાનમાં લઈ તો જતાં હતા, પરંતુ પાપો માટે તે પશુઓના શરીર શહેર બહાર બાળી નાખવામાં આવતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="HEB.13.12" />આ કારણને લીધે અને તેના લોકોને તેની પોતાના લોહી સાથે પવિત્ર બનાવવાના હેતુથી ઈસુ દુ:ખ ભોગવીને શહેરની બહાર મરણ પામ્યો.
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<v id="13" bcv="HEB.13.13" />આપણે પણ શહેરની બહાર એટલે કે છાવણીની બહાર તેની પાસે જવું જોઈએ. અને તેની સાથે તેણે જે દુ:ખ તથા અપમાન સહન કર્યા છે તે આપણે સ્વીકારીએ.
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<v id="14" bcv="HEB.13.14" />આ પૃથ્વી પર જે શહેર છે તે આપણું કાયમી ઘર નથી. આપણે સદાકાળ થનાર ભવિષ્યમાં જે મળવાનું છે તે શહેરની રાહ જોઈ રહ્યા છીએ.
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<v id="15" bcv="HEB.13.15" />તેથી ઈસુ દ્ધારા આપણા અર્પણો દેવને આપવાનું સતત ચાલું રાખવાનું છે. તેનું નામ કબૂલ કરનારા હોઠોના ફળનું અર્પણ એ આપણી સ્તુતિ છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="HEB.13.16" />બીજાના માટે ભલું કરવાનું ભૂલશો નહિ. તમારી પાસે જે કાંઈ છે તે બીજા સાથે વહેંચો. કારણ કે દેવ આવાં અર્પણોથી પ્રસન્ન થાય છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="HEB.13.17" />તમારા આગેવાનોની આજ્ઞા માનો અને તેમની સત્તાને આધીન થાઓ. તેઓ હિસાબ રાખનારાઓની જેમ તમારા આત્માઓની ચોકી કરે છે. એ માટે કે તેઓ આનંદથી તે કરે. પણ શોકથી નહિ, કારણ કે એથી તમને ગેરલાભ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="HEB.13.18" />અમારા માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો, કેમ કે અમે જે કરીએ છીએ, તે અમને ન્યાયી લાગે છે. કારણ કે અમારો ધ્યેય હંમેશા જે સૌથી ઉત્તમ છે તે કરવાનો છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="HEB.13.19" />હું તમને વિનંતી કરું છું, આના માટે ખાસ પ્રાર્થના કરો અને તમે મારા માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો જેથી હું તમારી પાસે જલદી પાછો આવી શકું. બીજી કોઈ વસ્તુ નહિ પણ મારે આજ જોઈએ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20-21" bcv="HEB.13.20" />હવે આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ઘેંટાઓના મહાન ભરવાડ છે. તેણે પોતાના રક્તથી સર્વકાળના કરાર પર મહોર લગાવી અને દેવે તેને મરણમાંથી સજીવન કર્યો.
</p>
<p style="p">તે શાંતિનો દેવ છે. તમને પ્રત્યેક સારી વસ્તુઓમાં પરિપૂર્ણ બનાવો તેથી તમે તેની ઈચ્છાઓ પૂર્ણ કરી શકો. વળી આપણામાં ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્ધારા જે વસ્તુઓ તેને પ્રસન્ન કરે છે તે કરવા દો. ઈસુનો ગૌરવ સદાસર્વકાળ હો. આમીન.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="HEB.13.22" />મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, મેં જે તમને કહ્યું છે તે તમને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવા વિનંતી કરું છું. તમને મજબૂત કરવા મેં કહ્યુ છે અને ટૂંકમાં લખ્યું છે. ભાઈઓ મારે તમને એ જણાવવું છે કે તિમોથી હવે જેલમાંથી છૂટ્યો છે, જો તે અહીં વહેલો આવશે તો, હું તેની સાથે તમારી પાસે આવીને તમને મળીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23-24" bcv="HEB.13.23" />તમારા બધાજ આગેવાનોને તથા દેવના સંતોને મારા તરફથી સલામ પાઠવશો. ઈટાલીમાંના સંતો તમને સલામ કહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="HEB.13.25" />તમ સર્વના પર દેવની કૃપા હો.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="JAS"><id id="JAS">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>યાકૂબ
</h><toc level="1">યાકૂબનો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">યાકૂબ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યાકૂબનો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JAS.1.1" />દેવના તથા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના સેવક યાકૂબની વિશ્વમાં ચારેબાજુએ વિખેરાઈ ગયેલાં પ્રભુના લોકોને શુભેચ્છા.
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</p>
<s style="s">વિશ્વાસ અને ડાહપણ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JAS.1.2" />મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમને વિવિધ જાતનાં પરીક્ષણો થશે. પરંતુ તમારે ઘણા આનંદથી રહેવું.
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<v id="3" bcv="JAS.1.3" />શા માટે? કારણ કે તમે એ જાણો છો કે તમારો વિશ્વાસ પરીક્ષણમાંથી સફળ થાય છે ત્યારે તમારી ધીરજ વધે છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JAS.1.4" />અને અંત સુધી તમારી ધીરજને ચાલુ રહેવા દો.જેથી તમે પૂર્ણ બનો. તમારે જેની જરૂરીયાત છે તેની ઉણપ ન રહે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JAS.1.5" />પણ જો તમારામાથી કોઈને પણ ડાહપણની જરુંર હશે, અને તમે દેવ પાસે તે માટે માગણી કરશો, તો તે તમને આપશે. દેવ સર્વને ઉદારતાથી ઠપકો આપ્યા વિના ડાહપણ આપે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="JAS.1.6" />પરંતુ દેવ પાસે તમે જે કઈ પણ માગો ત્યારે તમારે ખૂબજ વિશ્વાસથી અને તમારા મનમાં શંકા રાખ્યા વિના માગવું જોઈએે. દેવ વિષે જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ શંકા કરે છે તે પવનના ઉછળતા તથા સમુદ્ધનાં ઊછળતા, અફળાતા મોંજા જેવો છે.
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<v id="7-8" bcv="JAS.1.7" />જે વ્યક્તિ શંકા કરે છે તે એક સાથે બે જુદી જુદી વસ્તુઓનો વિચાર કરે છે, એ શું કરે છે તે વિષે તે કંઈ જ નક્કી કરી શકતો નથી. એવા માણસો પ્રભુ પાસેથી કઈક મેળવશે તેવો વિચાર પણ ના કરવો જોઈએ.
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</p>
<s style="s">સાચી-સંપતિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="JAS.1.9" />જો વિશ્વાસ રાખનાર ગરીબ હોય તો, તેણે ગર્વ લેવો જોઈએે કેમ કે દેવે તેને આત્મીક સમૃદ્ધિ આપી છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="JAS.1.10" />જો કોઈ વિશ્વાસુ માણસ શ્રીમંત હોય તો તેણે ગર્વ લેવો જોઈએે કે દેવે તેને બતાવ્યું છે કે તે આત્માથી ગરીબ છે. અને જંગલનાં ફૂલની જેમ તે મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="JAS.1.11" />સૂર્ય ઊગે છે અને ગરમી વધતી જાય છે. તેની ગરમીથી છોડ સુકાઇ જાય છે. ફૂલો ખરી પડે છે. ફૂલ સુંદર હતું પણ તે કરમાઈ ગયું તેવું જ શ્રીમંત માણસ માટે છે. જ્યારે તે પોતાના ધંધા માટે યોજનાઓ કરતો હશે તે અરસામાં તો તે મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">પરીક્ષણ દેવ તરફથી આવતું નથી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JAS.1.12" />જે વ્યક્તિ પરીક્ષણમાં પાર ઊતરે છે તે સુખી થાય છે. કારણ પરીક્ષણમાંથી પાર ઊતરનાર વ્યક્તિ દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ વ્યક્ત કરે છે. તેથી દેવ તેને બદલામાં અનંતજીવન આપશે. બધા લોકો જે દેવને ચાહે છે તે દરેકને દેવે આ વચન આપ્યું છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JAS.1.13" />જો કોઈ ખરાબ કરવા લલચાય, તો તેણે એમ ન કહેવું જોઈએે કે, “દેવે મારું પરીક્ષણ કર્યુ છે.” કારણ કે દુષ્ટતાથી દેવનું કદાપિ પરીક્ષણ થતું નથી કારણ કે દેવ ખરાબ કરવા કોઈને પરીક્ષણમાં નાખતો નથી.
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<v id="14" bcv="JAS.1.14" />દુષ્ટ વાસનાઓ માણસને લલચાવે છે અને તેની પોતાની દુષ્ટ ઈચ્છાઓ તેને પરીક્ષણ તરફ ખેંચી જાય છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="JAS.1.15" />દુષ્ટ ઈચ્છાઓ પાપ કરાવે છે. અને પાપ વધી જાય છે અને તે મોત નિપજાવે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JAS.1.16" />તેથી મારા વહાલા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, આ વિશે છેતરાશો નહિ.
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<v id="17" bcv="JAS.1.17" />દરેક ઉત્તમ વસ્તુ દેવ પાસેથી જ આવે છે અને બધીજ પરિપૂર્ણ ભેટો પ્રભુ તરફથી આવે છે. સર્વ પ્રકાશોના પિતા પાસેથી આ બધીજ શુભ વસ્તુઓ (સૂરજ, ચંદ્ધ, તારા) આવે છે. દેવ કદી બદલાતો નથી. તે સદાય એ જ રહે છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="JAS.1.18" />દેવે સત્યના વચન દ્ધારા આપણને જીવન આપવા નિશ્ચય કર્યો છે. જગતમાં જે તેણે બનાવ્યું છે તેમાં આપણને એ બધામાં ખૂબજ મહત્વના બનાવ્યા છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">સાંભળવું અને અનુસરવું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JAS.1.19" />મારા વહાલા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, હંમેશા બોલવામાં ધીમા રહો. કાળજીપૂર્વક ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવા આતુર રહો. સહેલાઇથી ગુસ્સે ના થાઓ.
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<v id="20" bcv="JAS.1.20" />દેવની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે સાચું જીવન જીવવામાં વ્યક્તિનો ગુસ્સો મદદ કરતો નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="JAS.1.21" />માટે તમારા જીવનમાં રહેલી બધાંજ પ્રકારની દુષ્ટતાઓ અને બધા જ પ્રકારના દુષ્કૃત્યોથી દૂર રહો. નમ્ર બનો અને તમારા હૃદયમાં રોપેલું દેવનું વચન ગ્રહણ કરો. તે જ દેવનું શિક્ષણ તમારા આત્માઓને તારવાને શક્તિમાન છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JAS.1.22" />દેવના શિક્ષણ પ્રમાણે જ વર્તો; સંદેશો ફક્ત સાંભળવા માટે નથી પરંતુ અમલમાં મૂકવા માટે છે, તેથી તમે તમારી જાતને છેતરશો નહિ.
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<v id="23" bcv="JAS.1.23" />જે વ્યક્તિ ફક્ત સાંભળે છે પણ અમલમાં મૂકતો નથી, તે પોતાનું મુખ આરસીમા જોનારના જેવો છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="JAS.1.24" />તે પોતાને જુએ છે, પછી ત્યાંથી ખસી જાય છે, એટલે તે પોતે કેવો હતો, એ તરત જ ભૂલી જાય છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="JAS.1.25" />પરંતુ ખરેખર સુખી માણસ તો એ વ્યક્તિ છે જે ધ્યાનપૂર્વક સંપૂર્ણ નિયમનો અભ્યાસ કરે છે કે જે લોકોને મુક્ત કરે છે. અને તે તેનો અભ્યાસ ચાલુ રાખે છે. તેણે જે સાંભળેલું છે તે ભૂલતો નથી. તે દેવનાં વચનોને સાંભળે છે. પછી તે દેવ જે શિક્ષણ આપે છે તેને અનુસરે છે. અને આમ કરવાથી તે તેની જાતને સુખી બનાવે છે.
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<s style="s">દેવની ભક્તિનો સાચો રસ્તો
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JAS.1.26" />જે વ્યક્તિ પોતાને ધાર્મિક (સારો) માને છે પણ જો પોતાની જીભ પર કાબુ રાખતો નથી તો તે પોતાને છેતરે છે. અને તેની ધાર્મિકતાને નિરર્થક બનાવે છે.
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<v id="27" bcv="JAS.1.27" />દેવની દ્દષ્ટિમાં ધાર્મિક એ છે કે જે અનાથ અને વિધવાઓની તેમના દુ:ખના સમયે મુલાકાત લે છે તથા જગતની દુષ્ટતાથી દૂર રહી પોતાની જાતને નિષ્કલંક રાખી, દેવની ઈચ્છાને આધીન રહે છે.
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<c id="2" />
<s style="s">બધા લોકોને પ્રેમ કરો
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JAS.2.1" />મારા વહાલા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમે આપણા મહિમાવાન પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ ધરાવો છો. તો એવું ના માનશો કે કેટલાએક લોકો બીજા લોકો કરતાં અગત્યના છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JAS.2.2" />ધારોકે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તમારી સભામાં સુંદર કપડાં અને સોનાની વિંટી પહેરીને આવે, જ્યારે બીજો ગરીબ માણસ ફાટેલા જૂનાં વસ્ત્રો પહેરીને આવે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JAS.2.3" />તો તમે સારાં કપડાં પહેરેલા માણસ તરફ ખાસ ધ્યાન આપો છો. અને તમે તેને કહો છો કે, “આ સારા આસને બેસ;” જ્યારે ગરીબ માણસને તમે કહેશો કે, “તું ત્યાં ઊભો રહે,” અથવા, “મારા પગના આસન પાસે બેસ!”
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<v id="4" bcv="JAS.2.4" />આ તમે શું કરો છો? આ રીતે ખરાબ વિચારોથી તમારામાં બીજાઓ કરતાં કયા માણસો અગત્યના છે તે તમે નક્કી કરો છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JAS.2.5" />મારા વહાલા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો! ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો, આ દુનિયાના ગરીબ લોકો વિશ્વાસમાં ધનવાન બને અને દેવે પોતાના પ્રેમ રાખનારાઓને જે રાજ્ય આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું છે તે પ્રાપ્ત કરે માટે દેવે તેઓને પસંદ કર્યા છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="JAS.2.6" />પણ તમે ગરીબ લોકોને બિલકુલ માન આપતા નથી. અને તમે જાણો છો કે શ્રીમંત લોકો જ તમારું શોષણ કરે છે. અને તમને ન્યાયાસન આગળ ઘસડી જાય છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="JAS.2.7" />એ તે લોકો છે, જેઓ ઉત્તમ નામથી ઓળખાય છે, તેઓની નિંદા કરે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JAS.2.8" />જો તમે પવિત્રલેખમાં આપેલા જે રાજમાન્ય નિયમ છે તેને અનુસરશો, એટલે કે, “તું પોતાના જેવો પોતાના પડોશી પર પ્રેમ રાખ.”<x caller="+"><xo>2:8
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ લે. 19:18.</xt></x> એનું જો તને પુરેપુરું પાલન કરો છો તો તમે ઘણું સારું કરો છો.
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<v id="9" bcv="JAS.2.9" />પણ જો તમે એક વ્યક્તિને બીજા કરતાં વધુ મહત્વ આપશો, તો તમે પાપ કરો છો, એ રીતે તમે દેવના નિયમનો ભંગ કરો છો તેમ સાબિત થાય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JAS.2.10" />કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આખા નિયમશાસ્ત્રનું પાલન કરે, પણ જો એક આજ્ઞાનો ભંગ કરે, તો તે નિયમની બધી જ આજ્ઞાઓનો ભંગ કરનાર જેટલો જ ગુનેગાર ઠરે છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="JAS.2.11" />દેવે કહ્યું છે કે, “તું વ્યભિચાર નું પાપ ન કર.”<x caller="+"><xo>2:11
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 20:14; પુન. 5:18.</xt></x> તે જ દેવે એમ પણ કહ્યું છે કે, “હત્યા ન કર.”<x caller="+"><xo>2:11
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નિ. 20:13; પુન. 5:17.</xt></x> માટે જો તમે વ્યભિચારનું પાપ ન કરો અને કોઈકની હત્યા કરો તો તમે દેવના બધાજ નિયમોનો ભંગ કરો છો.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JAS.2.12" />તમે જે કઈ કરો કે કહો ત્યારે યાદ રાખો કે સ્વતંત્રતા આપનાર તેના આધારે જ નિયમ દ્ધારા તમારો ન્યાય કરશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JAS.2.13" />હા, તમારે બીજા લોકો પર દયા બતાવવી જ જોઈએ. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ બીજા લોકો તરફ દયા નહિ રાખે તો, દેવ તેને દયા રાખ્યા વગર ન્યાય આપશે કારણ ન્યાય પર દયાનો વિજય હોય છે.
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<s style="s">વિશ્વાસ અને સારા કાર્યો
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JAS.2.14" />મારા વહાલા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, કોઈ કહે કે તેને વિશ્વાસ છે, પણ તે પ્રમાણે વર્તનમાં ન મૂકે, તો શો ફાયદો? શું એવો વિશ્વાસ તેનો ઉદ્ધાર કરી શકે? ના!
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<v id="15" bcv="JAS.2.15" />ખ્રિસ્તમાં કેટલાએક ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોને દિવસ દરમ્યાન કપડા પહેરવા ન મળે અને રોજનો પૂરતો ખોરાક ન હોય.
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<v id="16" bcv="JAS.2.16" />અને તમારામાંનો કોઈ તેઓને કહે કે, “દેવ તમારી સાથે રહો, શાંતિથી જાઓ, તાપો અને તૃપ્ત થાઓ;” છતાં શરીરને જે જોઈએ તે ખોરાક કે કપડાં ન આપો તો તમારા શબ્દો નકામાં છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JAS.2.17" />એવું જ વિશ્વાસ માટે છે, વિશ્વાસમાં જો કરણી ન હોય, તો તે તેની જાતે મૃતપ્રાય છે, વિશ્વાસ એકલો પૂરતો નથી, કારણ કે કરણીઓ વિનાનો વિશ્વાસ એ વિશ્વાસ નથી.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="JAS.2.18" />કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કહેશે કે, “તને વિશ્વાસ છે, પણ મારી પાસે કરણીઓ છે.” હું તેને જવાબ આપીશ કે, તારી પાસે જે વિશ્વાસ છે તે મારી કરણીઓ વિના મને બતાવ અને હું મારો વિશ્વાસ મારી કરણીઓથી તને બતાવીશ.
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<v id="19" bcv="JAS.2.19" />દેવ એકજ છે એવું તમારું માનવું તે સારું છે! ભૂતો પણ એવો જ વિશ્વાસ કરે છે! અને તેઓ બીકથી ધ્રુંજે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JAS.2.20" />ઓ મૂર્ખ માણસ! શું તારે જાણવું છે? વિશ્વાસ વગરનું કામ વ્યર્થ છે તેની આજ્ઞા પ્રમાણે કામ ન કરવું તે પણ નકામું છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="JAS.2.21" />આપણા પૂર્વજ ઈબ્રાહિમે જ્યારે પોતાના પુત્ર ઈસહાકને યજ્ઞવેદી પર બલિદાન માટે આપ્યો. તેના એ કાર્યને લીધે તેને ન્યાયી ઠરાવવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="22" bcv="JAS.2.22" />તું જુએ છે કે, ઈબ્રાહિમ વિશ્વાસને લીઘે બધુજ કરવા તૈયાર હતો. તેનાં સારા કાર્યોથી તેનો વિશ્વાસ સંપૂર્ણ કરાયો.
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<v id="23" bcv="JAS.2.23" />આ શાસ્ત્રનો અર્થ સમજાવે છે કે: “ઈબ્રાહિમે દેવ પર વિશ્વાસ કર્યો. અને દેવે ઈબ્રાહિમના વિશ્વાસને સ્વીકાર્યો, તે વિશ્વાસે ઈબ્રાહિમને દેવની નજરમાં ન્યાયી ઠરાવ્યો.”<x caller="+"><xo>2:23
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ ઉત. 15:6</xt></x> ઈબ્રાબિમને “દેવનો મિત્ર”<x caller="+"><xo>2:23
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ 2 કાળ. 20:7; યશા. 41:8.</xt></x> કહેવામા આવ્યો.
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<v id="24" bcv="JAS.2.24" />તેથી તમે જુઓ માણસ તેના વિશ્વાસ એકલાથી નહિ પરંતુ સારી કરણીઓથી માણસને ન્યાયી ઠરાવવામાં આવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="25" bcv="JAS.2.25" />તે જ પ્રમાણે રાહાબ વેશ્યાનું ઉદાહરણ છે. જાસૂસોનો સત્કાર કર્યો અને બીજે માર્ગેથી સુરક્ષિત બહાર મોકલી દીધા. આમ તેણે જે કાંઇ કર્યું છે તેથી તેને ન્યાયી ઠરાવવામાં આવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="JAS.2.26" />કારણ કે જે રીતે શરીર આત્મા વિના નિર્જીવ છે, તે જ રીતે વિશ્વાસ પણ કરણીઓ વગર નિર્જીવ છે!
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<s style="s">વાણી પર સંયમ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JAS.3.1" />વહાલા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, તમારામાંના ઘણા ઉપદેશકો બનાવાનું પસંદ ન કરે. કેમ કે ઉપદેશકો થઇને તો બીજાઓ કરતાં કડક શિક્ષાને પાત્ર ઠરીએ છીએ.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JAS.3.2" />આપણે બધા ઘણીજ ભૂલો કરીએ છીએ. જો કોઈ એવો માણસ હોય કે બોલવામાં કોઈ પણ ભૂલ ન કરે, ખરાબ ન બોલે, તો એ એક સંપૂર્ણ વ્યક્તિ છે અને તે તેની જીભ ઉપર અંકુશ રાખવા શક્તિમાન છે, તે સાબિત થાય છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JAS.3.3" />ઘોડા જેવા પ્રાણીના મોંમા એક નાની લગામ રાખીને આપણે આપણી ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે તેના આખા શરીરને ફેરવીએ છીએ.
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<v id="4" bcv="JAS.3.4" />એજ પ્રમાણે એક સુકાની ગમે તેટલા મોટા વહાણને એક નાના સુકાન વડે પોતે ધારે તે નિશ્ચિત માર્ગે, ધારે તે દિશામાં ચલાવી શકે છે. પછી ભલેને ભારે પવન ફુંકાતો હોય.
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<v id="5" bcv="JAS.3.5" />એજ પ્રમાણે જીભ પણ એક નાનો અવયવ છે, છતાં તે મોટી વાતો કરવા બડાશ મારે છે.
</p>
<p style="p">અજ્ઞિની નાની ચીનગારી મોટા જંગલને સળગાવી શકે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="JAS.3.6" />જીભ એક અજ્ઞિની જવાળા જેવી છે. તે આપણા શરીરના અવયવોમાં દુષ્ટતાના જગત જેવી છે. અને આપણા અસ્તિત્વને અસર કરે છે તથા આપણા આખા શરીરને પ્રદુષિત કરે છે, તે નરકમાંથી અજ્ઞિ પ્રાપ્ત કરીને આગની શરુંઆત કરે છે, જે આપણા સમગ્ર જીવનચક્રને અસર કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JAS.3.7" />માણસ પ્રત્યેક પ્રકારના પશુઓ, પક્ષીઓ, પેટે ચાલનારાં અને જળચર પ્રાણીઓને વશ કરી શકે છે અને વશ કર્યા છે પણ ખરાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="JAS.3.8" />પણ કોઈ પણ માણસ એવો નથી કે જેણે જીભને કાબુમાં રાખી હોય. તે અંકુશ વિનાની ફેલાતી મરકી છે. જીભ પ્રાણઘાતક ઝેરથી ભરપૂર છે જે મારી શકે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="JAS.3.9" />એનાથી આપણે પ્રભુની અને આપણા પિતાની (દેવ) સ્તુતિ કરીએ છીએ, અને એજ જીભ વડે દેવની પ્રતિમા પ્રમાણે ઉત્પન્ન થયેલાં માણસોને શાપ પણ આપીએ છીએ.
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<v id="10" bcv="JAS.3.10" />એક જ મુખમાથી સ્તુતિ તથા શાપ બંન્ને નીકળે છે. ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, આવું ન જ થવું જોઈએે.
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<v id="11" bcv="JAS.3.11" />શું ઝરણ એક જ મુખમાંથી મીઠું તથા ખાંરું પાણી આપી શકે? ના!
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<v id="12" bcv="JAS.3.12" />મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, શું અંજીરી પરથી જૈતફળો અને દ્ધાક્ષાવેલા પરથી અંજીરી મેળવી શકાય છે! ના! અને એ રીતે તમે ખારા પાણીના કૂવામાંથી મીઠું પાણી કદી મેળવી શકો નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">સાચું જ્ઞાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JAS.3.13" />તમારામાંથી કોઈ ખરેખર જ્ઞાની અને સમજુક માણસ છે? જો એમ હોય તો, તેણે ન્યાયી જીવન જીવીને તેનું સાચું જ્ઞાન બતાવવું જોઈએે. જ્ઞાની માણસ અભિમાન કરતો નથી.
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<v id="14" bcv="JAS.3.14" />તમે સ્વાર્થ અને હ્રદયમાં કડવી અદેખાઇ કરવાનું રાખશો તો તમારે અભિમાનનું કોઈજ કારણ નથી. તમારું અભિમાન જૂઠાણું છે જે સત્યને ઢાકી દે છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="JAS.3.15" />આ એવી જાતનું “જ્ઞાન” નથી કે જે દેવ પાસેથી પ્રાપ્ત થતું હોય, તેને બદલે તે જ્ઞાન જગતમાંથી પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે. તે ઐહિક, વિષયી, શેતાન પ્રેરિત છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="JAS.3.16" />જ્યાં અદેખાઇ તથા સ્વાર્થી મહત્વાકાંક્ષા છે, ત્યાં અવ્યવસ્થા તથા સર્વ પ્રકારની ભૂડાઇ પ્રવર્તતી રહેશે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JAS.3.17" />પણ દેવ તરફથી આવતું જ્ઞાન નિર્મળ, શાંતિપ્રિય, નમ્ર અને ખુલ્લા મનનું, દયા અને ભલાઈથી ભરપૂર છે. સારાં ફળોથી ભરપૂર નિષ્પક્ષપાત તથા દંભરહિત છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="JAS.3.18" />જે લોકો શાંતિ માટે કાર્ય કરે છે તેઓ ન્યાયી જીવનમાંથી આવતાં સારાં વાનાં પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે.
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</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">દેવને તમારી જાત સોંપો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JAS.4.1" />તમે જાણો છો તમારામાં ઝઘડા અને વાદવિવાદ ક્યાાંથી આવે છે? તમારામાં રહેલી સ્વાર્થીવૃત્તિને લીધે થાય છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JAS.4.2" />તમારી પાસે જે નથી તે પ્રાપ્ત કરવા તમે સ્વાર્થી ઈચ્છા રાખો છો અને તે મેળવવા અદેખાઇ કરો છો અને તેથી તમે હત્યા કરો છો પરંતુ કશું મેળવી શકતા નથી. વળી તે માટે તમે વિવાદ અને ઝઘડા કરો છો. તમારે જે જોઈએે છે તે તમને મળતું નથી કારણ તમે દેવ પાસે માંગતા નથી.
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<v id="3" bcv="JAS.4.3" />જ્યારે તમે માગો છો, છતાં તમને મળતું નથી કેમ કે તમારો ઇરાદો સાચો નથી. તમે જે માગો છો તો મોજ શોખ માટે માગો છો તેથી તે તમને મળતું નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="JAS.4.4" />તમે લોકો દેવને વફાદાર નથી! તમારે જાણવું જોઈએ કે જગતને ચાંહવું તે દેવને ધિક્કારવા બરાબર છે. તેથી વ્યક્તિ જ્યારે દુનિયાનો એક ભાગ<f caller="+"><fr>4:4
</fr><fk>ભાગ
</fk><ft>મિત્ર</ft></f> બનવા ઈચ્છે છે, ત્યારે તે પોતાની જાતને દેવનો દુશ્મન બનાવે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="JAS.4.5" />તમે શું એમ માનો છો કે શાસ્ત્રનો કશો જ અર્થ નથી? શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે; “દેવે જે આપણામાં આત્મા મૂક્યો છે તેથી તે આત્મા તેની જાત માટે જ ઈચ્છે છે.”
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<v id="6" bcv="JAS.4.6" />પરંતુ તે તો વધુ ને વધુ કૃપા આપે છે. અને શાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે; “જે લોકો અભિમાની છે, તેઓની વિરૂદ્ધ દેવ છે. પરંતુ જેઓ વિનમ્ર છે તેઓના પર દેવની કૃપા છે.”<x caller="+"><xo>4:6
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નીતિ. 3:34.</xt></x>
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JAS.4.7" />તેથી તમારી જાત દેવને સોંપી દો. શેતાનની સામા થાઓ, અને શેતાન તમારી પાસેથી નાસી જશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="JAS.4.8" />દેવની નજીક આવો અને દેવ તમારી પાસે આવશે. તમે પાપી છો. તેથી તમારા જીવનમાંથી પાપ દૂર કરો. તમે દુનિયા અને દેવ બંનેને એક સાથે અનુસરવા માગો છો. તમારી વિચારધારાને નિર્મળ બનાવો.
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<v id="9" bcv="JAS.4.9" />તમે ઉદાસ થાઓ, શોક કરો, અને રડો! તમારા હાસ્યને શોકમાં ફેરવો. તમારા આનંદને વિષાદમય બનાવો.
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<v id="10" bcv="JAS.4.10" />પ્રભુ આગળ દીન બનો, અને તે તમને મહાન બનાવશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">તમે ન્યાયાધીશ નથી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="JAS.4.11" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, એકબીજાની વિરૂદ્ધ કશું જ બોલશો નહિ. જો તમે ખ્રિસ્તમાં તમારા ભાઈની ટીકા કરો કે તેનો ન્યાય કરો તો તમે જે નિયમશાસ્ત્રને અનુસરી રહ્યા છો તેની ટીકા કરો છો. જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્તમાં ભાઈઓનો તમે ન્યાય કરો છો ત્યારે હકીકતમાં તે જે નિયમશાસ્ત્રને અનુસરે છે, તેનો તમે ન્યાય કરો છો અને જ્યારે તમે નીતિશાસ્ત્રની મૂલવણી કરવા જાઓ ત્યારે તમે તેના શિષ્યો નથી. તમે પોતે જ તેના ન્યાયાધીશ બની જાઓ છો.
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<v id="12" bcv="JAS.4.12" />દેવે તે એક જ છે કે જે નિયમશાસ્ત્રની રચના કરે છે. અને તે માત્ર એક જ ન્યાયાધીશ છે. એક દેવ માત્ર તારી શકે છે અને નાશ કરી શકે છે. તેથી અન્ય વ્યક્તિનો ન્યાય કરનાર તું કોણ છે?
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવને તમારા જીવનનું આયોજન કરવા દો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JAS.4.13" />તમારામાંના કેટલાએક કહે છે કે, “આજે અથવા કાલે આપણે કોઈ એક શહેર તરફ જઈશું. આપણે ત્યાં એક વર્ષ રહીશું, વેપાર કરીશું અને પૈસા બનાવીશું,” સાંભળો! આ વિશે વિચારો:
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<v id="14" bcv="JAS.4.14" />કાલે શું થવાનું છે તેની તમને ખબર નથી! તમારું જીવન શાના જેવું છે? તે તો ફક્ત એક ધૂમર જેવું છે. અલ્પ સમય માટે જુઓ છો, અને પછી તે અદ્રશ્ય થઈ જાય છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="JAS.4.15" />તેથી તમારે કહેવું જોઈએે કે, “પ્રભુની ઈચ્છા હશે, તો અમે જીવીશું અને આમ કે તેમ કરીશું.”
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<v id="16" bcv="JAS.4.16" />પરંતુ અત્યારે તમે અભિમાની અને અહંકારી છો. આ બધોજ અબંકાર ખોટો છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JAS.4.17" />અને જે વ્યક્તિ ભલું કરી જાણે છે અને છતાં તે ન કરે તો તે પાપ કરે છે.
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</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">સ્વાર્થી શ્રીમંતો શિક્ષાને પાત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JAS.5.1" />તમે શ્રીમંતો, સાંભળો! રૂદન કરો અને ખૂબજ વ્યથિત થાવ. કારણ કે ઘણા સંકટો તમારા પર આવવાનાં છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="JAS.5.2" />વળી તમારી સમૃદ્ધિ સડી ગઇ છે, અને તેનું મૂલ્ય કશું જ રહ્યું નથી, તમારા વસ્ત્રો જીવજંતુ ખાઈ જશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="JAS.5.3" />તમારું સોનું અને ચાંદી કટાઈ જશે, અને તેનો કાટ તમારા ખોટાપણાની સાબિતી બનશે તે કાટ અજ્ઞિની જેમ તમારાં શરીરને ભરખી જશે. અંતકાળ સુધી તમે તમારો ખજાનો સંઘરી રાખ્યો છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="JAS.5.4" />લોકોએ તમારાં ખેતરોમા કામ કર્યું, પરંતુ તમે તેમને વળતર ચૂકવ્યું નહિ તેં લોકો તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ રૂદન કરી રહ્યા છે તે લોકોએ તમારા પાકની લણણી કરી. હવે આકાશના લશ્કરોના પ્રભુએ તેઓની બૂમો સાંભળી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JAS.5.5" />તમે પૃથ્વી પર મોજશોખ અને વિલાસી જીવન જીવો છો. તમે કાપાકાપીના દિવસ માટે તૈયાર પ્રાણીની જેમ તમારી જાતને સ્થૂળ બનાવી દીધી છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="JAS.5.6" />ન્યાયી પ્રત્યે તમે કોઈ દયા બતાવી નથી. તેઓ તમારી વિરૂદ્ધ નહોતા, છતાં તમે તેઓને મારી નાખ્યાં છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ધીરજવાન બનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="JAS.5.7" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, ધીરજ રાખો, પ્રભુ ઈસુ આવશે; તેથી તે સમય સુધી ધીરજ રાખો. ખેડૂતો ધીરજવાન છે. ખેડૂત પોતાનો મૂલ્યવાન પાક જમીનમાંથી ઊંગે ત્યાં સુધી રાહ જુએ છે. ખેડૂત ધીરજથી પોતાના પાકને મળનાર પ્રથમ વરસાદ અને અંતિમ વરસાદની રાહ જુએ છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="JAS.5.8" />તમારે પણ ધીરજવાન થવું જોઈએે, આશા ન છોડશો. પ્રભુ ઈસુ ઘણો જલ્દી આવી રહ્યો છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="JAS.5.9" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, એક બીજાની વિરૂદ્ધ ફરિયાદ ન કરો. જો તમે ફરિયાદ કરતા નહિ અટકાશો, તો તમે દોષિત થશો. ન્યાયાધીશને આવવાની તૈયારી છે!
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JAS.5.10" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, જે પ્રબોધકો એ પ્રભુ વિશે વાત કરેલી તેના ઉદાહરણને અનુસરો. તેઓએ ઘણી ખરાબ વસ્તુઓ સહન કરી, પણ તેઓએ ધીરજ રાખી.
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<v id="11" bcv="JAS.5.11" />જેઓએ ધીરજ રાખી છે તે લોકોનો ધન્ય છે. તેઓ અત્યારે સુખી છે. અયૂબની ધીરજ વિષે તમે સાંભળ્યું છે અને પ્રભુથી જે પરિણામ આવ્યું તે ઉપરથી તમે જોયું છે કે, પ્રભુ ઘણો દયાળુ તથા કૃપાળુ છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">તમારી વાણી અંગે સાવધ રહો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JAS.5.12" />મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, જ્યારે તમે વચન આપો ત્યારે સમ ન ખાઓ. તે ખૂબજ મહત્વનું છે કે તમે જે કહો છો તેને સાબિત કરવામાં આકાશ, ધરતી અથવા બીજી કોઈ પણ વસ્તુના નામના સમ ન ખાઓ. જ્યારે તમે હકારાત્મક છો ત્યારે માત્ર “હા” કહો અને નકારાત્મક છો, ત્યારે માત્ર “ના” કહો. આમ કરો કે જેથી તમે ગુનેગાર ન ઠરો.
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રાર્થનાનું સાર્મથ્ય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="JAS.5.13" />જો તમારામાં કોઈ દુ:ખી હોય, તો તેણે પ્રાર્થના કરવી જોઈએ. અને જો કોઈ આનંદિત બને તો, તેણે સ્તોત્ર ગાવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="14" bcv="JAS.5.14" />જો તમારામાંનું કોઈ માંદુ પડે તો, તેણે મંડળીના વડીલોને બોલાવવા જોઈએ. વડીલોએ પ્રભુના નામે તેને તેલ ચોળીને તેને માટે પ્રાર્થના કરવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="15" bcv="JAS.5.15" />અને વિશ્વાસથી કરેલી પ્રાર્થના માંદા માણસને સાજો કરે છે. પ્રભુ તેને સાજો કરશે. અને આ માણસે જો પાપ કર્યા હશે તો દેવ તેને માફ કરશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JAS.5.16" />તમે જે ખરાબ કામ કર્યા હોય તે એકબીજાને કહો. અને પછી એકબીજા માટે પ્રાર્થના કરો. આમ કરો કે જેથી દેવ તમને સાજા કરી શકે. જો સારો માણસ આગ્રહથી પ્રાર્થના કરે તો મહાન કાર્યો થાય છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="JAS.5.17" />એલિયા સ્વભાવે આપણા જેવી જ વ્યક્તિ હતી. તેણે પ્રાર્થના કરી કે વરસાદ ન પડે. અને સાડા ત્રણ વરસ સુધી પૃથ્વી પર વરસાદ ન પડ્યો!
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<v id="18" bcv="JAS.5.18" />પછી એલિયાએ પ્રાર્થના કરી કે વરસાદ પડે. અને આકાશમાંથી વરસાદ પડ્યો, અને ધરતીમાંથી પાક ઊગી નીકળ્યો.
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</p>
<s style="s">આત્માનો ઉધ્ધાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="JAS.5.19" />મારા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, જો તમારામાંનો કોઈ સત્યમાંથી ભૂલો પડે તો બીજી વ્યક્તિ તેને સત્ય તરફ પાછા વળવા મદદરુંપ બને.
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<v id="20" bcv="JAS.5.20" />યાદ રાખો: જે વ્યક્તિ પાપીને ખોટા માર્ગેથી પાછી વાળે છે, તે વ્યક્તિ તે વ્યક્તિના પ્રાણને મોતમાંથી બચાવે છે. આમ તે પાપોની ક્ષમા માટે નિમિત્ત બને છે.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="1PE"><id id="1PE">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>1 પિતર
</h><toc level="1">પિતરનો પહેલો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">1 પિતર
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">પિતરનો
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">પહેલો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1PE.1.1" />ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો પ્રેરિત પિતર, તરફથી કુશળતા હો.
</p>
<p style="p">દેવની પસંદગી પામેલા લોકો જોગ જેઓ તેઓના ઘરથી દૂર પોન્તસ, ગલાતિયા, કપ્પદોકિયા, આસિયા અને બિથૂનિયાના વિવિધ વિસ્તારોમાં પથરાયેલા છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="1PE.1.2" />દેવ બાપે ઘણા સમય પહેલા તેના પવિત્ર લોકો બનાવવા તમને પસંદ કર્યા હતા. તમને પવિત્ર કરવાનું કામ આત્માનું છે. દેવ ઈચ્છતો હતો કે તમે તેને આજ્ઞાંકિત બનો. અને ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના રક્ત દ્ધારા તમે શુદ્ધ બનો.
</p>
<p style="p">તમારા પર કૃપા અને શાંતિ પુષ્કળ થાઓ.
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</p>
<s style="s">જીવંત આશા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1PE.1.3" />આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના દેવ તથા બાપને ધન્યવાદ હો. દેવ ઘણો કૃપાળુ છે, અને તેની દયાથી આપણને નવજીવન પ્રાપ્ત થયું છે. અને ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના મૂએલામાથી પુનરુંત્થાન દ્ધારા આ નવજીવન આપણામાં જીવંત આશા અંકુરિત કરે છે.
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<v id="4" bcv="1PE.1.4" />હવે દેવના બાળકો પ્રત્યેક તેના આશીર્વાદોની આપણને આશા છે. તમારા માટે આ આશીર્વાદો આકાશમાં સ્થાપિત કરાયા છે. આ આશીર્વાદો અવિનાશી છે. તેને નષ્ટ ન કરી શકાય. તે તેમની સુંદરતા ગુમાવતા નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1PE.1.5" />તમારા વિશ્વાસ થકી દેવનું સાર્મથ્ય તમારું રક્ષણ કરે છે, અને તમારું તારણ થાય ત્યાં સુધી તે તમને સલામત રાખે છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="1PE.1.6" />આ તમને આનંદિત બનાવે છે. પરંતુ હમણા થોડા સમય પૂરતા વિવિધ પ્રકારના પરીક્ષણ તમને કદાચ દુ:ખી બનાવશે.
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<v id="7" bcv="1PE.1.7" />આ મુશ્કેલીઓ શાથી ઉદભવશે? એ સાબિત કરવા કે તમારો વિશ્વાસ શુદ્ધ છે. વિશ્વાસની આ શુદ્ધતા સોના કરતાં પણ વધુ મૂલ્યવાન છે. દેવ અગ્નિથી સોનું પારખી શકે છે, પરંતુ આમ કરવાથી સોનાનો નાશ થશે. તમારા વિશ્વાસની શુદ્ધતા જ્યારે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત ફરીથી આવશે ત્યારે તમારે માટે સ્તુતિ, માન તથા મહિમા યોગ્ય થાય.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1PE.1.8" />તમે ખ્રિસ્તને જોયો નથી, છતાં તમે તેના પર પ્રીતિ રાખો છો. તમે તેને અત્યારે જોઈ શકતા નથી, છતાં તમે તેના પર વિશ્વાસ રાખો છો. ન સમજાવી શકાય તેવા અવર્ણનીય આનંદમાં તમે તળબોળ છો. અને આ આનંદ મહિમાથી ભરપૂર છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="1PE.1.9" />તમારા વિશ્વાસનું ફળ તે તમારા આત્માનું તારણ છે. અને તમે તે ફળ દ્ધારા તમારું તારણ મેળવી રહ્યા છો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1PE.1.10" />પ્રબોધકોએ ખંતથી અભ્યાસ કરીને આ તારણ વિષે સમજવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો. પ્રબોધકોએ તમારા પર થવાની કૃપા વિશે વાત કરી છે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1PE.1.11" />ખ્રિસ્તનો આત્મા તે પ્રબોધકોમાં હતો. અને તે આત્મા ખ્રિસ્તને સહન કરવાની વ્યથા વિષે તેમજ તે વ્યથા પછી આવનાર મહિમા વિષે વાત કરતો હતો. આ આત્મા જે દર્શાવતો હતો તે વિષે સમજવાનો તે પ્રબોધકોએ પ્રયત્ન કર્યો હતો. તેઓ આ ઘટના ક્યારે ઘટશે અને તે વખતે દુનિયા કેવી હશે તે સમજવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1PE.1.12" />તે પ્રબોધકોને સમજાવવામાં આવ્યું હતુ કે તેઓ જે સેવા કરે છે તે તેઓના પોતાના માટે નહિ, પરંતુ તમારા માટે કરે છે. તેઓએ જ કહ્યું તે તમે જ્યારે સાભળ્યું ત્યારે તેઓ તમારી સેવા જ કરી રહ્યા હતા. જે માણસોએ તમને સુવાર્તા આપી તેઓએ તમને આ બધી બાબતો કહી છે. તેઓએ આકાશમાથી મોકલેલા પવિત્રઆત્માની મદદથી તમને આ કહ્યું હતું. તમને જે વાત કહેવામા આવી હતી તે વિશે દૂતો પણ જાણવા ઉત્સુક છે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પવિત્ર જીવન માટે આહવાન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1PE.1.13" />તેથી સેવા માટે તમારા મન તૈયાર કરો, અને તમારી જાતને નિયંત્રણમાં રાખો. ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રગટ થવાની વેળાએ તમને પ્રાપ્ત થનાર કૃપા પર તમારી પૂર્ણ આશા રાખો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1PE.1.14" />ભૂતકાળમાં તમે આ બધું સમજ્યા નહિ, તેથી તમે ઈચ્છતા હતા તેવા દુષ્ટ કાર્યો તમે કર્યા, પરંતુ હવે તમે દેવના આજ્ઞાંકિત છોકરાં છો. તેથી ભૂતકાળમા જીવતા હતા તેવું ન જીવશો.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1PE.1.15" />પરંતુ જે કંઈ કરો તેમાં દેવ જેવા પવિત્ર બનો. દેવ એક જ છે કે જેણે તમને તેડ્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="1PE.1.16" />પવિત્ર શાસ્ત્રમાં લખેલું છે કે, “તમે પવિત્ર થાઓ, કારણ કે હું પવિત્ર છું.”
<x caller="+"><xo>1:16
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ લે. 11:44, 45, 19:2; 20:7</xt></x>
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1PE.1.17" />તમે દેવની પ્રાર્થના કરો અને તેને બાપ તરીકે સંબોધો. દેવ દરેક વ્યક્તિના કાર્યનો સમાન ન્યાય કરે છે. તેથી જ્યારે તમે અહીં પૃથ્વી પરના પ્રવાસમાં છો, ત્યારે દેવનો ભય (માન) રાખીને જીવો.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="1PE.1.18" />તમે જાણો છો કે ભૂતકાળમાં તમ નિરર્થક જીવન જીવતા હતા. તમારા પહેલા જીવી ગયેલા લોકો પાસેથી તમને આવું જીવન વારસામાં મળ્યું હતું. પરંતુ તે પ્રકારની જીવન પદ્ધતિમાંથી તમને બચાવી લેવામા આવ્યા છે, તમને ખરીદવામાં આવ્યા છે. પરંતુ સોના કે ચાંદી જેવી નાશવંત વસ્તુઓથી નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="1PE.1.19" />તમે તો ખ્રિસ્તના અમૂલ્ય રક્ત થી ખરીદાયા છો કે જે નિષ્કલંક તથા નિર્દોષ હલવાન છે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="1PE.1.20" />આ જગતની રચના પહેલા ખ્રિસ્તની પસંદગી થઇ હતી. પરંતુ આ અંતિમ સમયમાં તમારી માટે જગતમાં ખ્રિસ્ત પ્રગટ થયો છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="1PE.1.21" />ખ્રિસ્ત થકી તમે દેવમા વિશ્વાસ કરો છો. દેવે ખ્રિસ્તને મૂએલાંમાંથી ઉઠાડ્યો અને તેને મહિમા બક્ષ્યો. તેથી તમારો વિશ્વાસ અને તમારી આશા દેવમાં છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1PE.1.22" />હવે સત્યને અનુસરીને તમે તમારી જાતને નિર્મળ બનાવી છે. હવે તમે તમારા ભાઇઓ અને બહેનો માટે સંપૂર્ણ હૃદયથી તથા બળથી પ્રીતિ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="1PE.1.23" />તમે પુર્નજન્મ પામ્યા છો. આ નવજીવન વિનાશી બીજમાંથી આવ્યું નથી. પરંતુ અવિનાશીથી તમને આ નવજીવન પ્રાપ્ત થયું છે. દેવના જીવંત તથા સદાકાળ રહેનાર વચન વડે તમને પુર્નજન્મ આપવામાં આવ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="1PE.1.24" />પવિત્રશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“લોકો અમર નથી, તેઓ તો ઘાસ જેવા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓનુ સઘળુ ગૌરવ ઘાસના ફૂલ જેવું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">ઘાસ સુકાઈ જાય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને ફૂલ ખરી પડે છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="25" bcv="1PE.1.25" />પરંતુ પ્રભુનું વચન સદાકાળ રહે છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.40.6">યશાયા 40:6-8</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">અને જે સુવાર્તાનું વચન તમને પ્રગટ કરવામા આવ્યું હતું તે એ જ છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">જીવંત પથ્થર અને પવિત્ર પ્રજા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1PE.2.1" />તેથી બીજા લોકોને નુકસાન પહોંચે કે તેમને માનસિક દુ:ખ થાય તેવુ કશું જ ન કરો. અસત્ય ન બોલશો, લોકોને મૂર્ખ બનાવવા માટે કોઈ કાર્ય ન કરો. ઈર્ષાળુ ન થાઓ, અદેખાઇ ન કરો. આ બધીજ વસ્તુઓ તમારા જીવનમાંથી દૂર કરો.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1PE.2.2" />નવાં જન્મેલાં બાળકોની જેમ નિષ્કપટ આત્મિક દૂધ (શિક્ષણ) માટે ભૂખ્યા રહી આતુર બનો. આનું પાન કરવાથી તમારો વિકાસ અને તારણ થશે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1PE.2.3" />પ્રભુની દયાનો અનુભવ તમે ક્યારનોય કર્યો છે. તેથી તેના વડે તારણ મેળવવા આગળ વધો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1PE.2.4" />પ્રભુ ઈસુ તે જીવંત “પથ્થર” છે. દુનિયાના લોકોએ નિર્ણય કર્યો કે તેઓને આ પથ્થર (ઈસુ) ની જરુંર નથી.
</p>
<p style="p">પરંતુ તે તો દેવ દ્ધારા પસંદગી પામેલ પથ્થર હતો. અને દેવ આગળ તેનું ઘણું મૂલ્ય હતું. તેથી તેની નજીક આવો.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1PE.2.5" />તમે પણ જીવંત પથ્થર જેવા છો. આત્મિક ઘર ચણવા દેવ તમારો ઉપયોગ કરે છે. તે મંદિરમાં દેવની સેવા કરવા તમે પવિત્ર યાજકો થયા છો. તમે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત થકી દેવને પ્રસન્ન છે એ આત્મિક યજ્ઞો આપો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1PE.2.6" />પવિત્રશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જુઓ, મેં મૂલ્યવાન એવો ખૂણાનો મુખ્ય પથ્થર પસંદ કર્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તે પથ્થરને હું સિયોનમાં મૂકું છું;
</q>
<q style="q1">જે વ્યક્તિ તેના પર વિશ્વાસ કરશે તે કદી પણ શરમાશે નહિ.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.28.16">યશાયા 28:16</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="7" bcv="1PE.2.7" />તેથી તમે વિશ્વાસ કરનારાઓના માટે તે પથ્થર મૂલ્યવાન છે પણ અવિશ્વાસીઓ માટે તે પથ્થર - તે એક એવો પથ્થર છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જેને સ્થપતિઓએ અવગણ્યો છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે પથ્થર ઘણોજ મહત્વનો પથ્થર બન્યો.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.118.22">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 118:22</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="8" bcv="1PE.2.8" />અવિશ્વાસીઓ માટે, તે છે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તે એક એવો પથ્થર છે કે જે લોકોને ઠોકર ખવડાવે છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">એ પથ્થર જે લોકોને ઠોકર ખવડાવનાર ખડક થયો છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.8.14">યશાયા 8:14</ref></rq>
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">લોકો ઠોકર ખાય છે કારણ કે તેઓ દેવ જે કહે છે તે વચનોનું પાલન કરતા નથી. તેઓને માટે દેવે આવુજ આયોજન કર્યુ હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1PE.2.9" />પરંતુ તમે પસંદ કરાયેલી જાતી, રાજમાન્ય યાજકવર્ગ, પવિત્ર પ્રજા, તથા પ્રભુના ખાસ લોક છો, તમે પવિત્ર રાષ્ટ્રના લોક છો. દેવે તમને અદભૂત પરાક્રમો કહેવા માટે પસંદ કર્યા છે. દેવે તમને અંધકારમાંથી તેના આશ્ચર્યકારક પ્રકાશમાં બોલાવ્યા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="1PE.2.10" />કોઈ એક સમયે તમે પ્રજા જ ન હતા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હવે તમે દેવની પ્રજા છો.
</q>
<q style="q1">ભૂતકાળમાં તમને દયા પ્રાપ્ત થઈ નહોતી.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હવે તમને દયા પ્રાપ્ત થઈ છે.<f caller="+"><fr>2:10
</fr><fk>કોઈ … થઈ છે
</fk><ft>હોસિયા 2:23.</ft></f>
<ve />
</q>
<s style="s">દેવ માટે જીવો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1PE.2.11" />પ્રિય મિત્રો, આ દુનિયામાં તમે અજાણ્યા પરદેશી અને પ્રવાસી જેવા છો. તેથી હું તમને વિનંતી કરું છું કે તમારું શરીર જે ઈચ્છે છે તે વિષયોથી દૂર રહો. તે વસ્તુઓ તમારા આત્માની વિરૂદ્ધ લડે છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1PE.2.12" />તમારી સાથે આજુબાજુ અવિશ્વાસીઓ રહે છે. તેઓ કહેશે કે તમે ખોટું કરી રહ્યાં છો. તેથી સારું જીવન જીવો. પછી તમે જે સત્કર્મો કરો છો તેને તેઓ જોશે. અને પુનરાગમનના દિવસે દેવનો મહિમા વધારશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દરેક માનવીય સત્તાને આધિન રહો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1PE.2.13" />આ દુનિયામા જેઓની પાસે સત્તા છે તે લોકોને આજ્ઞાંકિંત બનો. પ્રભુ માટે આમ કરો. રાજા કે જે સર્વોપરી છે તેને આજ્ઞાંકિંત બનો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1PE.2.14" />રાજા દ્ધારા મોકલવામા આવેલા અધિકારીઓને આજ્ઞાંકિત બનો. જે લોકો ખોટું કરે છે તેઓને શિક્ષા કરવા અને જે લોકો સારું કરે છે, તેઓના વખાણ કરવા આ લોકોને દેવે મોકલ્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1PE.2.15" />તેથી જ્યારે તમે સારું કરો ત્યારે તમારા વિષે મૂર્ખાઇ ભરેલી વાતો કરતા મૂર્ખ લોકોના મુખ તમે બંધ કરી દો. દેવ જે ઈચ્છે તે આ છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="1PE.2.16" />સ્વતંત્ર લોકોની જેમ જીવો. પરંતુ દુષ્ટ કાર્ય કરવા માટે સ્વતંત્રતાને બહાનું ન બનવા દેવની સેવામાં જીવન વિતાવો.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="1PE.2.17" />દરેક લોકોનો આદર કરો. દેવના કુટુંબના દરેક ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોને પ્રેમ કરો. રાજાનું સન્માન કરો અને દેવથી ડરો, અને રાજાને માન આપો.
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</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તની વેદનાનું દ્દષ્ટાત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1PE.2.18" />ચાકરો, તમારા ધણીની સત્તાનો સ્વીકાર કરો. અને તે પણ સંપૂર્ણ સન્માનસહિત કરો. તમારે ભલા અને દયાળુ ધણીની આજ્ઞાનું પાલન કરવું જોઈએ. તેમજ ખરાબ ધણીની આજ્ઞાનું પણ પાલન કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="19" bcv="1PE.2.19" />પોતે કશુજ ખરાબ ન કર્યુ હોય છતાં કોઇ વ્યક્તિને દુ:ખ સહન કરવું પડે. તો તે વ્યક્તિ દેવનો વિચાર કરીને દુ:ખ સહન કરે તો તેનાથી દેવને આનંદ થાય છે.
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<v id="20" bcv="1PE.2.20" />પરંતુ કશું દુષ્ટ કાર્ય કરવા જો તમને શિક્ષા કરવામાં આવે, તો એ શિક્ષા સહન કરવા બદલ તમને કોઇ ધન્યવાન ન મળવા જોઈએ. પરંતુ સારું કરવા છતાં, તમને દુ:ખ પડે અને તમે તે દુ:ખ સહન કરો છો, તો તે દેવની નજરમાં પ્રસંશાપાત્ર છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="1PE.2.21" />પણ તમને આહવાન આપવામા આવ્યું છે. ખ્રિસ્તે તમને એક નમૂનો આપ્યો. તેણે જે કર્યું તેને અનુસરો. જ્યારે તમે દુ:ખી થાઓ, ત્યારે ધીરજ રાખો કારણ કે ખ્રિસ્ત તમારા માટે દુ:ખી થયો હતો.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="1PE.2.22" />“તેણે કોઈ પાપ નહોતું કર્યુ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેના મુખેથી કોઇ અસત્ય ઉચ્ચારયું નહોતું.”
<rq><ref tgt="ISA.53.9">યશાયા 53:9</ref></rq>
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="23" bcv="1PE.2.23" />ખ્રિસ્ત વિષે લોકો ખરાબ બોલ્યા, પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્ત તેઓના માટે કશું જ ખરાબ ન બોલ્યા. ખ્રિસ્તે સહન કર્યું પરંતુ લોકોને તેણે ધમકાવ્યા નહિ. અદબ ન્યાય કરનારને પોતાને સોંપી દીધો. ખ્રિસ્તે દેવને તેની કાળજી લેવા દીધી. દેવ તે યોગ્ય ન્યાય કરે છે.
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<v id="24" bcv="1PE.2.24" />વધસ્તંભ પર ખ્રિસ્તે તેના શરીરમા આપણાં પાપ લીધા. તેણે આમ કર્યુ કે જેથી આપણે પાપી જીવન જીવવાનુ છોડી જે યર્થાથ છે તેને માટે જીવીએ. તેના ઘાઓથી તમે સાજા થયાં.
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<v id="25" bcv="1PE.2.25" />તમે ખોટા રસ્તે દોરવાઇ ગયેલા ઘેંટા જેવાં હતાં. પરંતુ હવે તમે તમારા જીવોના પાળક અને તમારા આત્માના રક્ષક પાસે પાછા આવ્યા છો.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">પત્નીઓ અને પતિઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1PE.3.1" />તે જ રીતે પત્નીઓએ પતિઓની સત્તાને સ્વીકારવી જોઈએ. તેથી જો તમારામાંના કેટલાએક પતિઓ દેવની સુવાર્તાને અનુસરવા ના પાડે, તો તેઓને અનુસરવા સમજાવી શકાય. તમારે કંઈજ કહેવાની જરુંર નથી. તેઓ પોતાની સ્ત્રીઓના આચરણથી સમજી શકશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="1PE.3.2" />દેવ પ્રત્યેના સન્માન સાથે તમે જે જીવન જીવો છો તે તમારા પતિઓ જોશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="1PE.3.3" />તમારો બાહ્ય શણગાર કલાત્મક રીતે ગુંથેલા કેશ, સોનાના ઘરેણાંનો કે સુંદર વસ્ત્રોનો એવો ના હોય.
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<v id="4" bcv="1PE.3.4" />ના! તમારી સુંદરતા તો એવી હોવી જોઈએ જે તમારા અંત:કરણમાંથી આવતી હોય. નમ્ર અને શાંત આત્માની આ સુંદરતા કદી અદશ્ય નહિ થાય. તે દેવ માટે ઘણીજ મૂલ્યવાન છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1PE.3.5" />ઘણા વખત પહેલા દેવને અનુસરનારી પવિત્ર નારીઓ સાથે પણ આમ જ હતું. એજ રીતે તેમણે તેઓની જાતને સુંદર બનાવી હતી અને તેમના પતિઓની સત્તાને તેમણે સ્વીકારી હતી.
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<v id="6" bcv="1PE.3.6" />હું સારા જેવી સ્ત્રીની વાત કરું છું. તે પોતાના પતિ ઈબ્રાહિમને આજ્ઞાંકિત રહી અને તેને પોતાનો સ્વામી ગણ્યો. અને જો તમે હંમેશા યોગ્ય વર્તન કરો અને ભયભીત ન બનો તો તમે પણ સારાનાં સાચાં સંતાન છો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1PE.3.7" />તે જ રીતે તમારે પતિઓએ પણ તમારી પત્નીઓ સાથે સમજણપૂર્વક રહેવું જોઈએ. તમારી પત્નીઓ પ્રત્યે તમારે માન દર્શાવવું જોઈએ. તેઓ તમારા કરતાં નબળું પાત્ર છે. પરંતુ જે દેવના આશીર્વાદ તમને લભ્ય છે તે તેઓને પણ લભ્ય છે, અને એ કરૂણા પણ જે તમને સાચું જીવન બક્ષે છે. આમ કરો કે જેથી તમારી પ્રાર્થનામાં કોઈ મુશ્કેલી ઊભી નહિ થાય.
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</p>
<s style="s">સત્કર્મ કરવાને કારણે પડતું દુ:ખ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1PE.3.8" />તેથી તમારે બધાએ ઐક્ય ભાવથી રહેવું જોઈએ. અને એક બીજાને સમજવાનો અને ભાઈની જેમ અકબીજાને પ્રેમ કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરવો જોઈએ. દયાળુ અને વિનમ્ર બનો.
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<v id="9" bcv="1PE.3.9" />એક વ્યક્તિ કે જેણે તમારું ભૂંડું કર્યુ હોય તો તેનો બદલો વાળવા તમે ભૂંડુ ન કરો. તમારા માટે નિંદા કરનારની સામે બદલો વાળવા તમે નિંદા ન કરો. પરંતુ દેવ પાસે તેને માટે આશીર્વાદ માગો. આમ કરો કારણ કે તમને જ આવું કરવા દેવે બોલાવ્યા છે. તેથી જ તમે દેવના આશીર્વાદને પાત્ર બન્યા છો.
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<v id="10" bcv="1PE.3.10" />પવિત્રશાસ્ત્ર કહે છે કે,
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે વ્યક્તિ જીવનને પ્રેમ કરવા માગે છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સારા દિવસોનો આનંદ માણવા માગે છે
</q>
<q style="q1">તો તેણે દુષ્ટ બોલવા માટે પોતાની જીભ બંધ કરી દેવી જોઈએ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને જુઠું બોલવાથી પોતાના હોઠ બંધ કરી દેવા જોઈએ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="1PE.3.11" />તે વ્યક્તિએ દુષ્ટ કાર્ય કરવાં ન જોઈએ અને સત્કર્મ કરવાં જોઈએ;
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે શાંતિની શોધ કરવી જોઈએ અને તે પ્રાપ્ત કરવા પ્રયત્ન કરવો જોઈએ.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="1PE.3.12" />પ્રભુની નજર સારા લોકો પર હોય છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને દેવ તેઓની પ્રાથૅનાઓ સાંભળે છે;
</q>
<q style="q1">પરંતુ દેવ દુષ્ટતા કરનારની વિરૂદ્ધ છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PSA.34.12">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 34:12-16</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1PE.3.13" />જો તમે હંમેશા સત્કર્મને સમર્પિત હો તો કોઇ પણ વ્યક્તિ તમને નુકસાન પહોંચાડી શકશે નહિ.
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<v id="14" bcv="1PE.3.14" />પરંતુ સત્કર્મ કરવા છતાં પણ તમારે દુ:ખ સહન કરવું પડે. જો આમ થાય તો તમને ધન્ય છે. તમને દુ:ખી કરનાર લોકોથી ગભરાશો નહિ કે મુશ્કેલી અનુભવશો નહિ.
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<v id="15" bcv="1PE.3.15" />પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્તને તમારા પ્રભુ તરીકે તમારા હ્રદયમાં પવિત્ર માનો. તમારી આશા માટે સંદેહ કરે તેને પ્રત્યુત્તર આપવા હંમેશા તૈયાર રહો.
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<v id="16" bcv="1PE.3.16" />પરંતુ તમારો પ્રત્યુત્તર વિનમ્ર અને માનસહિત હોવો જોઈએ. તમે હંમેશા સારું કરો છો તેવી લાગણી અનુભવવા માટે સાર્મથ્યવાન બનો. તમે જ્યારે આમ કરશો ત્યારે, તમારા માટે ખરાબ બોલનાર લોકો શરમાશે. ખ્રિસ્તમાંની તમારી સારી ચાલની તેઓ નિંદા કરે છે અને તેથી તમારા વિષે ખરાબ માટે તેઓ શરમાશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="1PE.3.17" />ખરાબ કામ કરી અને સહન કરવું એના કરતાં સારું કામ કરી અને સહન કરવું તે વધારે સારું છે. હા, જો દેવ તમે ઈચ્છતો હોય તો તે વધારે સારું છે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="1PE.3.18" />ખ્રિસ્ત પોતે તમારા માટે મરણ પામ્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને મરણ તે તમારા પાપની એક ચૂકવણી હતી.
</q>
<q style="q1">તે ગુનેગાર નહોતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પણ ગુનેગાર લોકો માટે તે મરણ પામ્યો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તમને બધાને દેવની નજીક લાવવા
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે આમ કર્યુ તેનું શરીર મરણ પામ્યું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ આત્મા દ્ધારા તે સજીવન થયો.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="19" bcv="1PE.3.19" />તે કારાવાસમાં ગયો અને આત્માઓને આત્મામાં ઉપદેશ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="1PE.3.20" />તે એ આત્માઓ હતા કે જેમણે ઘણો વખત પહેલા એટલે કે નૂહના સમયમાં દેવની અવજ્ઞા કરનારા હતા. જ્યારે નૂહ વહાણ બાંધી રહ્યો હતો ત્યારે દેવ ધીરજપૂર્વક રાહ જોઈ રહ્યો હતો. તે વહાણમાં માત્ર થોડાક જ લોકોને બચાવવામાં આવ્યા હતા. તેઓ આઠ જણ હતા. તે લોકો પાણીથી બચાવી લેવાયા.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="1PE.3.21" />એ દષ્ટાત પ્રમાણે તે પાણી બાપ્તિસ્મા સમાન છે જે તમને અત્યારે બચાવે છે. બાપ્તિસ્મા એ શરીરનો મેલ દૂર કરવાની પ્રક્રિયા નથી. બાપ્તિસ્મા તો ઈશ્વર પાસે શુદ્ધ હ્રદય માટેની એક યાચના છે. તે તમને બચાવે છે કારણ કે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત મૂએલામાંથી પુનરૂત્થાન પામ્યો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="22" bcv="1PE.3.22" />હવે, ઈસુ આકાશમાં ગયો છે. તે દેવની જમણી બાજુએ છે. તે દૂતો, અધિકારીઓ, અને પરાક્રમીઓ પર રાજ કરે છે.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">જીવન પરિવર્તન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1PE.4.1" />જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્ત તેના શરીરમાં હતો ત્યારે તેણે વેદનાઓ સહન કરી તેથી જે રીતે ખ્રિસ્ત વિચારતો હતો તેવા વિચારોમાં તમારે સુદ્દઢ થવું જોઈએ. જે વ્યક્તિએ શરીરમાં દુ:ખો સહ્યાં છે તે પાપથી મુક્ત થયો છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1PE.4.2" />તમારી જાતને સુદ્દઢ બનાવો કે જેથી આ પૃથ્વી પર દેવ જેવું ઈચ્છે છે તેવું બાકીનું જીવન તમે જીવો અને નહિ કે લોકો ઈચ્છે છે તેવાં દુષ્ટ કાર્યો કરો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1PE.4.3" />ભૂતકાળમાં અવિશ્વાસીઓ જે પસંદ કરે છે તેવા કાર્યો કરીને તમે તમારો ઘણો જ સમય વેડફી નાખ્યો. તમે વ્યભિચાર અને તમારી ઈચ્છા મુજબનાં દુષ્ટ કાર્યો કર્યા હતાં. તમે મદ્યપાન કરીને છકી ગયા હતા અને મોજશોખમાં અને મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરીને ખોટું કામ કર્યું હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1PE.4.4" />તે અવિશ્વાસીઓને આશ્વર્ય થાય છે કે તેઓ કરે છે તેવું જંગલી અને નિરર્થક કૃત્ય તમે કેમ નથી કરતા! અને તેથી તેઓ તમારી નિંદા કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1PE.4.5" />પરંતુ તે લોકોએ જે કર્યું છે તેનુ તેઓને સ્પષ્ટીકરણ કરવું પડશે. તેઓએ આ સ્પષ્ટીકરણ તે એક જીવતાંઓનો તથા મૂએલાઓનો ન્યાય કરવાને તૈયાર છે તેની આગળ કરવું પડશે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1PE.4.6" />જેઓ હાલ મૂએલાં છે તેઓને સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરવામાં આવી હતી, કારણ કે બધાની જેમ તે લોકોનો પણ ન્યાય કરવામાં આવશે. તેઓ જ્યારે જીવંત હતા ત્યારે તેઓએ જે બાબતો કરી હતી તેનો ન્યાય તોળવાનો હતો. પરંતુ તેઓને સુવાર્તા પ્રગટ કરવામાં આવી કે જેથી તેઓ દેવના જેવા આત્મામાં જીવે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવના કૃપાદાનોના સારા કારભારી બનો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1PE.4.7" />એ સમય નજીક છે કે જ્યારે બધીજ વસ્તુઓનો અંત થશે. તેથી તમારા મન શુદ્ધ રાખો, અને તમારી જાત ઉપર નિયંત્રણ રાખો. તમને પ્રાર્થના કરવામાં આ મદદરૂપ બનશે.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1PE.4.8" />વધુ મહત્વનું એ છે કે, એક બીજા પર આગ્રહથી પ્રીતિ કરો. પ્રીતિ બધા પાપોને ઢાંકે છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1PE.4.9" />કોઇ પણ જાતની ફરીયાદ વગર એકબીજાને પરોણા રાખો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="1PE.4.10" />તમારામાનાં દરેકને દેવ તરફથી આત્મિક કૃપાદાન પ્રાપ્ત થયું છે. દેવે તેની કૃપા વિવિધ રીતે તમને દર્શાવી છે. અને તમે એવા સેવક છો કે જે દેવના કૃપાદાનના ઉપયોગ માટે જવાબદાર છો. તેથી સારા સેવકો બનો. અને એકબીજાની સેવા કરવા કૃપાદાનનો ઉપયોગ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1PE.4.11" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ બોધ કરે તો તેણે દેવના વચન પ્રમાણે બોધ કરવો જોઈએ. અને જે સેવા કરે છે તેણે દેવ થકી પ્રાપ્ત થયેલ સાર્મથ્ય વડે સેવા કરવી જોઈએ. તમારે એવાં જ કાર્યો કરવા જોઈએ કે જેથી બધી બાબતોમાં ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્ધારા દેવ મહિમાવાન થાય તેને સદાસર્વકાળ મહિમા તથા સત્તા છે. આમીન.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">એક ખ્રિસ્તી જેવી યાતનાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1PE.4.12" />મારા મિત્રો, જે વેદનાઓ અત્યારે તમે સહી રહ્યા છો તેનાથી આશ્વર્ય ન પામશો. તે તો તમારા વિશ્વાસની કસોટી છે. એવું ના વિચારશો કે તમારા પ્રત્યે કશુંક નવું થઈ રહ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="1PE.4.13" />પરંતુ તમે ખ્રિસ્તની યાતનાના સહભાગી છો તે માટે તમારે આનંદ અનુભવવો જોઈએ. જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્ત તેનો મહિમા પ્રગટ કરશે ત્યારે તમે બહુ ઉલ્લાસથી ખૂબજ આનંદિત બનશો.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1PE.4.14" />જ્યારે ખ્રિસ્તને અનુસરવાને કારણે લોકો તમારા વિષે ખરાબ બોલે છે, તો તમને ધન્ય છે, કારણ કે મહિમાનો આત્મા તમારી સાથે છે. તે આત્મા દેવનો છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1PE.4.15" />ખૂની, દુષ્કર્મી, ચોર અથવા બીજા લોકોના કામમાં દખલ કરનારના જેવા ન થશો, આમ કરનાર વ્યક્તિ દુ:ખી થશે પરંતુ તમારામાંથી કોઇ દુ:ખી નહિ થાય.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="1PE.4.16" />પરંતુ ખ્રિસ્તી હોવાને લીધે તમે જો સહન કરો, તો તેનાથી શરમાશો નહિ. પરંતુ તે નામ (ખ્રિસ્તી) માટે તમારે દેવની સ્તુતિ કરવી જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="1PE.4.17" />કેમ કે ન્યાય માટેનો સમય આવી ગયો છે. તે ન્યાયની શરુંઆત દેવના કુટુંબ (મંડળી) થી થશે. ન્યાયની શરૂઆત આપણાથી થાય તો જેઓ દેવની સુવાર્તાના આજ્ઞાંકિત નથી તેઓનુ શું થશે?
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="1PE.4.18" />“જો સારા માણસનો ઉદ્ધાર મુશ્કેલીથી થાય છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તો પછી જે માણસ દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ છે અને જે પાપી છે તેનું શું થશે?”
<rq><ref tgt="PRO.11.31">નીતિવચનો 11:31</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="19" bcv="1PE.4.19" />માટે જે લોકો દેવની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે દુ:ખો સહન કરે છે તેઓ સાંરું કરીને પોતાના આત્માઓને વિશ્વાસ ઉત્પન્ન કરનારને સુપ્રત કરે. દેવ એક છે જેણે તેઓને ઉત્પન્ન કર્યા છે, અને તેઓ તેનામાં વિશ્વાસ કરી શકે છે. તેથી તેઓએ સારા કામો કરવાનું ચાલું રાખવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">દેવનું ટોળું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1PE.5.1" />હવે તમારા સમૂહના વડીલોને મારે કંઈક કહેંવું છે. હું પણ વડીલ છું. મેં પોતે ખ્રિસ્તની યાતનાઓ જોઈ છે. અને જે મહિમા આપણને પ્રગટ થનાર છે તેનો હું પણ ભાગીદાર છું, તેથી તેઓને વિનંતી કરું છું કે,
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1PE.5.2" />દેવનું જે ટોળું તમારામાં છે તેનું પ્રતિપાલન કરો. અધ્યક્ષનું કામ ફરજ પડ્યાથી નહિ પણ ખુશીથી કરો. નીચ લોભને માટે નહિ, પણ હોંસથી કરો, દેવની આવી ઈચ્છા છે. તમે સેવા કરવાથી પ્રસન્ન થાઓ છો તેથી આમ કરજો. પૈસાને માટે ન કરતા.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1PE.5.3" />જે લોકો પ્રત્યે તમે જવાબદાર છો, તેઓના સત્તાધીશ ન બનશો. પરંતુ તે લોકોને આદશરુંપ થાઓ.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1PE.5.4" />પછી જ્યારે મુખ્ય ઘેંટાપાળક (ખ્રિસ્ત) આવશે ત્યારે, તમને મુગટ મળશે. તે મુગટ ઘણોજ મહિમાવંત હશે અને તેની સુંદરતા કદી પણ નાશ પામશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1PE.5.5" />જુવાનો, મારે તમને પણ કંઈક કહેવું છે. તમારે વડીલોની સત્તાને સ્વીકારવી જોઈએ અને એકબીજા પ્રત્યે તમારે બધાને વિનમ્ર બનવું જોઈએ.
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“દેવ અભિમાની લોકોની વિરૂદ્ધ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ વિનમ્ર લોકો પ્રતિ તે કૃપા (દયા) રાખે છે.”
<rq><ref tgt="PRO.3.34">નીતિવચનો 3:34</ref></rq>
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="6" bcv="1PE.5.6" />તેથી દેવના સમર્થ હાથો નીચે પોતાને વિનમ્ર બનાવો પછી યોગ્ય સમયે તે તમને ઉચ્ચપદે મૂકશે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1PE.5.7" />તમારી બધીજ ચિંતાઓ તેને સોંપી દો, કારણ કે તે તમારી સંભાળ રાખે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1PE.5.8" />તમારી જાતને નિયંત્રિત કરો અને સાવધાન રહો! શેતાન તમારો દુશ્મન છે, અને તે ગાજનાર સિંહની પેઠે કોઇ મળે તેને ખાઇ જવા માટે શોધતો ફરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1PE.5.9" />શેતાનનો વિરોધ કરો. અને તમારા વિશ્વાસમાં સુદઢ બનો. તમે જાણો છો કે તમારા જેવી જ યાતના દુનિયાભરમાં તમારા ભાઇઓ અને બહેનો ભોગવી રહ્યા છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="1PE.5.10" />હા, થોડા સમય માટે તમારે સહન કરવું પડશે. પરંતુ તે પછી, દેવ બધુંજ સાંરું કરશે. તે તમને શક્તિશાળી બનાવશે. તમારું પતન ન થાય તે માટે તમારો આધાર બની રહેશે. તે જ સર્વ કૃપાનો દેવ છે. તેણે તમને ખ્રિસ્તમાં પોતાના મહિમામાં સહભાગી થવા બોલાવ્યા છે. આ મહિમા સદાસર્વકાળ પર્યંત રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1PE.5.11" />તેને સદાસર્વકાળ સત્તા હોજો. આમીન.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અંતિમ શુભેચ્છાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="1PE.5.12" />સિલ્વાનુસ, મને ખબર છે કે તે ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસુ ભાઈ છે. તમને આદર સાથે હિંમત અને પ્રોત્સાહન આપવા તેની હસ્તક મેં ટૂંકમા આ લખ્યું છે. મારે તમને કહેવું હતું કે આ તો દેવની ખરી કૃપા છે. અને તે કૃપામાં સ્થિર ઊભા રહો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1PE.5.13" />બાબિલોનની મંડળી તમને સલામ કહે છે. તમારી જેમ તે લોકો પસંદ કરાયેલા છે. ખ્રિસ્તમાં મારો પુત્ર માર્ક પણ તમને સલામ કહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1PE.5.14" />જ્યારે તમે મળો ત્યારે પ્રિતિના ચુંબનથી અકબીજાને સલામ કરજો.
</p>
<p style="p">ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુમાં તમ સર્વને શાંતિ થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="2PE"><id id="2PE">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>2 પિતર
</h><toc level="1">પિતરનો બીજો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">2 પિતર
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">પિતરનો
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">બીજો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2PE.1.1" />ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના સેવક અને પ્રેરિત સિમોન પિતર તરફથી તમને કુશળતા હો.
</p>
<p style="p">અમારામાં છે તેવો મૂલ્યવાન વિશ્વાસ જે બધા લોકોમા છે, તે સર્વને આપણા દેવ અને તારનાર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના ન્યાયીપણાથી અમારા જેવો મૂલ્યવાન વિશ્વાસ જેઓ પામ્યા છે, તેઓ જોગ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="2PE.1.2" />કૃપા અને શાંતિ વધુ ને વધુ પ્રમાણમાં તમને પ્રદાન થાઓ. તમને કૃપા અને શાંતિ પ્રાપ્ત થશે કારણ કે તમે ખરેખર દેવ અને આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુને ઓળખો છો.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">જેની આપણને આવશ્યકતા હોય તે બધું જ દેવે આપણને આપ્યું છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2PE.1.3" />ઈસુ દૈવી સાર્મથ્ય ધરાવે છે. તેના સાર્મથ્ય આપણને એ દરેક વાનાં આપ્યાં છે જેની આપણને જીવવા અને દેવની સેવા માટે આવશ્યકતા છે. આપણે તેને જાણીએ છીએ તેથી આપણી પાસે આ વાનાં છે. ઈસુએ તેના મહિમા અને સાત્ત્વિકતાથી આપણને બોલાવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="2PE.1.4" />તેના મહિમા અને સાત્ત્વિકતાથી, ઈસુએ આપણને આપેલાં તે ઘણા મહાન અને સમૃદ્ધ દાનો પ્રદાન કર્યા અને તેથી મૂલ્યવાન તથા અતિશય મોટાં વચનો આપ્યા છે જેથી તે દ્ધારા જગતમાંની જે દુર્વાસનાથી દુષ્ટતા થાય છે, તેથી છૂટીને દૈવી સ્વભાવના ભાગીદાર તમે થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2PE.1.5" />કારણ કે તમને આ આર્શીવાદો પ્રાપ્ત થયા છે, તેથી તમારે શક્ય હોય તેટલા તમામ પ્રયત્નો દ્ધારા આ બાબતોને તમારા જીવનમા ઉમેરવી જોઈએ: તમારા વિશ્વાસમાં ચારિત્ર ઉમેરો;
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="2PE.1.6" />અને તમારા ચારિત્રમાં જ્ઞાન અને તમારા જ્ઞાનમાં સ્વ-નિયંત્રણ; અને તમારા સ્વ-નિયંત્રણમાં ધીરજ ઉમેરો અને તમારી ઘીરજમાં દેવની સેવા;
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="2PE.1.7" />અને દેવ પ્રત્યેની તમારી સેવામાં તમારા ખ્રિસ્તમય ભાઇઓ-બહેનો માટે કરૂણા; અને ભાઈ-બહેનો માટેની કરૂણામાં પ્રેમ ઉમેરો.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="2PE.1.8" />જો આ બધી બાબતો તમારામાં હોય અને તે વિકાસ પામતી રહે, તો આ બાબતો તમને ક્યારેય નિરુંપયોગી બનવા દેશે નહિ. આ બાબતો આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના જ્ઞાનમાં કદાપિ અયોગ્ય ઠરવા દેશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="2PE.1.9" />પરંતુ જો વ્યક્તિ પાસે આ બાબતો ન હોય, તો તે સ્પષ્ટપણે જોઈ શકતી નથી તે વ્યક્તિ અંધ છે. તે ભુલી ગઇ છે કે તે તેના ભૂતકાળના પાપોથી શુદ્ધ થયો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2PE.1.10" />મારા ભાઇઓ અને બહેનો, પ્રભુએ તમને તેડ્યાં છે અને તેના બનવા માટે તમને પસંદ કર્યા છે. એવું દર્શાવવા વિશેષ પ્રયત્ન કરો કે જેથી સાબિત થાય કે ખરેખર તમે જ પ્રભુના પસંદ કરાયેલ અને તેડાયેલ લોકો છો. જો તમે આ બધી બાબતો કરશો તો તમે કદી ઠોકર ખાશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="2PE.1.11" />અને આપણા પ્રભુ અને તારનાર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના રાજ્યમાં તમારું ઈષ્માભર્યુ સ્વાગત કરવામા આવશે. તે રાજ્ય સર્વકાળ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2PE.1.12" />તમે આ બાબતો જાણો છો. તમને જે સત્ય પ્રગટ થયું છે તેમાં તમે ઘણા સ્થિર છો. પરંતુ આ બાબતોનું સ્મરણ કરાવવામાં હું હંમેશ તમને મદદ કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="2PE.1.13" />જ્યાં સુધી હું અહીં આ પૃથ્વી પર જીવિત હોઉ ત્યાં સુધી હું માનું છું કે મારા માટે તમને આ બાબતોનું સ્મરણ કરાવવું તે યોગ્ય જ છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="2PE.1.14" />હું જાણું છું કે મારે ખૂબ ઝડપથી આ શરીરનો ત્યાગ કરવાનો છે. આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તે મને તે દર્શાવ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="2PE.1.15" />હંમેશા તમને મદદરૂપ બનવા આ બાબતોનું સ્મરણ કરાવવા શક્ય તેટલા શ્રેષ્ઠ પ્રયત્નો હું કરતો રહીશ. મારા ચાલ્યા ગયા પછી તમે આ બાબતોને હંમેશા યાદ રાખવા શક્તિમાન બનો એમ હું ઈચ્છું છું.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">અમે ખ્રિસ્તનો મહિમા નિહાળ્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="2PE.1.16" />આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનું સાર્મથ્ય અને આગમન વિશે અમે તમને જણાવ્યું છે. તેના આગમન વિશે અમે તમને જણાવ્યું હતું. જે બાબત વિશે અમે તમને જણાવેલ તે લોકો દ્ધારા ઘડી કાઢવામાં આવેલી ચતુરાઈથી કલ્પેલી કહાણીઓ ન હતી. ના! અમારી પોતાની આંખો દ્ધારા અમે ઈસુની મહાનતા જોઈ.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="2PE.1.17" />ઈસુએ સૌથી મોટા ભવ્ય મહિમાની વાણી સાંભળી હતી. દેવ બાપ તરફથી જ્યારે ઈસુએ માન અને મહિમા પ્રાપ્ત કર્યો ત્યારે તેમ બન્યું. તે વાણીએ કહ્યું કે, “આ મારો વહાલો પુત્ર છે અને હું તેને ચાહું છું. તેનાથી હું ખૂબ પ્રસન્ન છું.”
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="2PE.1.18" />અને અમે તે વાણી સાંભળી હતી. જ્યારે અમે પવિત્ર પર્વત પર ઈસુની સાથે હતા ત્યારે તે આકાશવાણી સાંભળી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="2PE.1.19" />પ્રબોધકોએ જે બાબતો જણાવી છે તે આપણને વધારે ખાતરી આપે છે, જે બાબતો તેઓએ કહી તે અંધકારના કોઈક સ્થળે પ્રકાશ આપનાર દીવા સમાન હતી. જ્યાં સુધી દિવસ ન થાય અને પરોઢનો તારો તમારા અંત:કરણોમાં ન ઊગે ત્યાં સુધી તે દીવો તમારી પાસે રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="2PE.1.20" />સૌથી મહત્વપૂર્ણ, તમારે સમજવું જ પડે કે: પવિત્ર લેખમાંનું કોઈ પણ ભવિષ્યવચન કોઈ એક વ્યક્તિએ કરેલું પોતાનું અર્થઘટન નથી.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="2PE.1.21" />ના! કોઈ પણ ભવિષ્યવચન કદાપિ કોઈપણ વ્યક્તિની સ્વેચ્છાથી પ્રગટ થયેલ નથી. પરંતુ લોકો પવિત્ર આત્માની પ્રેરણાથી દેવના વચન બોલ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">જૂઠાં ઉપદેશકો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2PE.2.1" />ભૂતકાળમાં દેવના લોકો વચ્ચે ખોટા પ્રબોધકો ઊભા થયા હતા. અત્યારે પણ એવું જ છે. તમારા સમૂહમાં કેટલાએક જૂઠાં ઉપદેશકો છે. તેઓ જે વસ્તુ ખોટી છે તેનો ઉપદેશ આપશે કે જેનાથી લોકો ખોવાઇ જાય. આ ખોટા ઉપદેશકો એ રીતે ઉપદેશ આપશે કે જેથી તેઓ ખોટા છે તે શોધવું તમારા માટે મુશ્કેલ બની જશે. તેઓ સ્વામી (ઈસુ) કે જેના દ્ધારા તેઓને સ્વતંત્રતા મળી છે, તેનો પણ સ્વીકાર કરવાનો નકાર કરશે. અને આથી તેઓ પોતાની જાતે ઉતાવળે નાશ વહોરી લેશે.
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<v id="2" bcv="2PE.2.2" />ઘણા લોકો અનિષ્ટ વસ્તુઓમાં તેઓને અનુસરશે. ઘણા લોકો આ ખોટા ઉપદેશકોને કારણે સત્યના માર્ગ વિશે નિંદા કરશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="2PE.2.3" />આ ખોટા ઉપદેશકો માત્ર નાણાની ઈચ્છા રાખે છે. તેથી તેઓ જે વસ્તુ સાચી નથી તે તમને કહીને તેનો દુરુંપયોગ કરશે. પરંતુ ઘણા સમયથી આ ખોટા ઉપદેશકોનો ન્યાય તોળાઇ ચૂક્યો છે. અને તેઓ તે જે એકથી છટકી શકશે નહિ અને તે તેઓનો નાશ કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2PE.2.4" />જ્યારે દૂતોએ પાપ કર્યુ ત્યારે, દેવે તેઓને પણ શિક્ષા કર્યા વગર છોડ્યા નહિ. ના! દેવે તેઓને નરકમા ફેકી દીધા. અને દેવે તે દૂતોને અંધકારના ખાડાઓમાં ન્યાયકરણનો દિવસ આવે ત્યાં સુધી ત્યાં રાખ્યા.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2PE.2.5" />જે અનિષ્ટ લોકો બહુ વખત પહેલા જીવતા હતા, દેવે તેઓને પણ શિક્ષા કરી. અધર્મી દુનિયાને પણ દેવે છોડી નહિ. દેવ જગત પર જળપ્રલય લાવ્યો. પરંતુ દેવે નૂહ અને તેની સાથેનાં સાત માણસોને બચાવી લધા. નૂહ એ વ્યક્તિ હતો કે જેણે લોકોને ન્યાયી જીવન જીવવા કહ્યું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="2PE.2.6" />દેવે સદોમ અને ગમોરા જેવાં દુષ્ટ શહેરોને પણ શિક્ષા કરી. ભસ્મ ન થઈ જાય ત્યાં સુધી આ શહેરોને દેવે બળવા દીધા અને જે લોકો દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ છે તેઓનું ભવિષ્યમાં શું થશે તે માટેનુ ઉદાહરણ દેવે આ શહેરો દ્ધારા પૂરું પાડ્યું.
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<v id="7" bcv="2PE.2.7" />પરંતુ દેવે તે શહેરોમાંથી લોતને બચાવી લીધો. લોત ન્યાયી માણસ હતો. તે દુષ્ટ લોકોના દુરાચારથી ત્રાસ પામતો હતો.
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<v id="8" bcv="2PE.2.8" />લોત ન્યાયી માણસ હતો, પરંતુ દુષ્ટ લોકો સાથે પ્રતિદિન રહેવાને કારણે તે જે દુષ્કર્મો જોતો તેને કારણે તેના ન્યાયી આત્મામાં તે ખિન્ન થતો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2PE.2.9" />હા, દેવે આ બધુંજ કર્યુ. અને પ્રભુ દેવની સેવા કરનાર બધા જ લોકોને જ્યારે પરીક્ષણ આવશે ત્યારે પ્રભુ દેવ દ્ધારા તેઓને હંમેશા બચાવશે. જ્યારે પ્રભુ અનિષ્ટ કાર્યો કરનારાં લોકોને ધ્યાનમા રાખશે અને ન્યાયના દિવસે તેઓને શિક્ષા કરશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="2PE.2.10" />આ શિક્ષા ખાસ કરીને એ લોકોને આપવામા આવશે જે લોકો પોતાની પાપી જાતને સંતોષ આપવા ખરાબ કાર્યો કરે છે, અને જેઓ પ્રભુના અધિકારનો અનાદર કરે છે. અને જેઓ પ્રભુની સત્તાને ધિક્કારે છે.
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<p style="p">આ ખોટા ઉપદેશકો પોતાની ઇચ્છા મુજબ ગમે તેમ કરશે, અને તેઓ પોતાના વિષે બડાશો મારશે. તેઓ મહિમાવાન દૂતોની વિરૂદ્ધ બોલતા પણ ગભરાશે નહિ.
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<v id="11" bcv="2PE.2.11" />ખોટા ઉપદેશકો કરતા દૂતો ઘણા બળવાન અને શક્તિશાળી છે. છતાં દૂતો પણ ખોટા ઉપદેશકો પ્રતિ આક્ષેપ નથી કરતાં કે તેઓની વિરુંદ્ધ પ્રભુની આગળ ખરાબ નથી બોલતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2PE.2.12" />પરંતુ આ ખોટા ઉપદેશકો તો જે નથી સમજી શક્યાં તેના માટે પણ નિંદા કરે છે. આ ઉપદેશકો પશુઓ સમાન છે કે જે વિચાર્યા વગર કાર્ય કરે છે. જંગલી પશુઓની જેમ તેઓ તો ઝડપાવા તથા નાશ પામવા જ જન્મેલા છે. અને જંગલી જાનવરોની જેમ, આ ખોટા ઉપદેશકોનો વિનાશ થશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2PE.2.13" />આ ખોટા ઉપદેશકોએ ઘણા માણસોને હેરાનગતિ પહોંચાડી છે. તેથી તેઓ પોતે જ યાતનાગ્રસ્ત થવાના છે. તેઓએ જે દુષ્કૃત્યો કર્યા છે તેનો તે જ બદલો તેઓને મળ્યો છે.
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<p style="p">આ ખોટા ઉપદેશકો માને છે કે જાહેરમાં દુષ્કૃત્યો કરવામા મઝા છે જ્યાં બધા જ લોકો તેમને નિહાળી શકે. તેઓને આનંદ આપે તેવા દુષ્કર્મો કરવામાં તેઓ આનંદ અનુભવે છે. તેથી તેઓ તમારામાં ગંદા ડાઘા અને ધાબા જેવા છે-તેઓ તમારી સાથે ભોજન કરીને તમને શરમાવે છે.
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<v id="14" bcv="2PE.2.14" />તેઓની આંખો વ્યભિચારથી ભરેલી છે. આ ખોટા ઉપદેશકો હંમેશા આ જ રીતે પાપકર્મો કર્યા કરે છે. તેઓ નિર્બળ માણસોને પાપ કરવા લલચાવે છે. તેઓએ તો તેમના પોતાના હદયને સ્વાર્થી બનવાનું શીખવ્યું છે. તેથી તેઓ શાપિત છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="2PE.2.15" />આ લોકોએ સત્યનો પંથ ત્યાગી દીધો છે અને તેઓએ ખરાબ માર્ગ પસંદ કર્યો છે. બલામ ગયો હતો તે જ રસ્તાને તેઓ અનુસર્યા છે. બલામ બયોરનો પુત્ર હતો. ખોટા કામ કરવા માટે જે વળતર ચૂકવાનુ હતુ તેના પર તે મોહિત થયો.
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<v id="16" bcv="2PE.2.16" />પરંતુ મૂંગા ગધેડાએ બલામને કહ્યું કે તે ખોટું કરી રહ્યો હતો. અને ગધેડું એક એવું પ્રાણી છે કે જે બોલી શકતું નથી. પરંતુ તે ગધેડાએ મનુષ્યની વાણીમાં કહ્યું અને પ્રબોધકની (બલામની) ઘેલછાને અટકાવી.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2PE.2.17" />તે ખોટા પ્રબોધકો એવી નદીઓ સમાન છે જેમાં પાણી નથી. તેઓ વાદળા જેવા છે જે વંટોળિયામાં ફૂંકાઇ જાય છે, તેઓના માટે ઘોર અંધકારવાળું સ્થાન રાખવામાં આવ્યું છે.
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<v id="18" bcv="2PE.2.18" />તે ખોટા ઉપદેશકો અર્થહીન શબ્દોની બડાશો મારે છે. તેઓ લોકોને પાપના છટકામાં દોરી જાય છે. તેઓે ખોટા રસ્તે જીવતા લોકોથી દૂર થવાની શરૂઆત કરતાં હોય તેઓને દોરે છે. તે ખોટા ઉપદેશકો લોકોને પાપ કરવા ઈચ્છતા હોય તેવા દૈહિક વિષયોથી તથા ભ્રષ્ટાચારથી મોહ પમાડે છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="2PE.2.19" />આ ખોટા ઉપદેશકો તેઓને સ્વતંત્રતાનું વચન આપે છે. પરંતુ પોતે જ પાપનાં દાસ છે. કારણ કે માણસને જે કઈ જીતે છે, તે જ તેને પોતાનો દાસ કરી લે છે. તેઓ જે વસ્તુઓનો વિનાશ થવાનો છે, તેના જ દાસ છે, વ્યક્તિ તેને નિયંત્રિત કરી શકે તેવી વસ્તુનો તે દાસ છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="2PE.2.20" />તે લોકોને જગતની અનિષ્ટ બાબતોથી મુક્ત રાખવામાં આવ્યા હતા. તેઓને આપણા પ્રભુ અને તારનાર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના જ્ઞાન વડે મુક્ત રાખવામાં આવ્યા હતા. પરંતુ જો તે લોકો ફરી પાછા તે દુષ્કર્મો તરફ વળે, અને તેઓ તેનાં આધિપત્ય નીચે આવી જાય, તો પહેલા હતાં તે કરતાં પણ તેઓની દશા બૂરી છે.
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<v id="21" bcv="2PE.2.21" />હા, તેઓના માટે તો કદાપિ સત્યપંથ મળ્યો જ ન હોત તો તે વધારે સારું હોત. સત્યપંથ જાણવો અને જે પવિત્ર ઉપદેશ તેઓને સોંપવામા આવ્યો છે તેનાથી વિમુખ થઈ જવું તેના કરતાં તો તે જ સારું છે કે સત્યપંથ જાણ્યો જ ન હોત.
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<v id="22" bcv="2PE.2.22" />તે લોકોએ જે કર્યું તે આ સત્ય ઉકિત જેવું જ છે: “જ્યારેં કૂતરું ઓકે છે, ત્યારે તે પોતાની ઓક તરફ પાછો ફરે છે,”
<x caller="+"><xo>2:22
</xo><xt>ઉલ્લેખઃ નીતિ 26:11.</xt></x> અને “જ્યારે ભૂંડ સ્વચ્છ બને છે, ત્યારે તે પાછું કાદવમાં જાય છે, અને આળોટે છે.”
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<s style="s">ઈસુનું આગમન થશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2PE.3.1" />મારા મિત્રો, તમને લખેલ મારો આ બીજો પત્ર છે. તમારા પ્રામાણિક માનસને કઈક સ્મરણ કરાવવા મેં બંને પત્રો તમને લખ્યા છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="2PE.3.2" />પવિત્ર પ્રબોધકોએ ભૂતકાળમાં જે વાણી ઉચ્ચારેલી તેનું હું તમને સ્મરણ કરાવવા ઈચ્છું છું. અને આપણા પ્રભુ અને તારનારે આપણને જે આજ્ઞા આપેલી તેનું પણ સ્મરણ કરાવવા ઈચ્છું છું. તમારા પ્રેરિતો દ્ધારા તે અમને આપી હતી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2PE.3.3" />અંતિમ દિવસોમા શું થશે તે સમજવું તમારા માટે મહત્વનું છે. લોકો તમારી સામે હસશે. તેઓ પોતાને ગમતી દુર્વાસના પ્રમાણે ચાલશે જેનો તેઓ આનંદ માણશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="2PE.3.4" />એ લોકો કહેશે કે, “તેણે આગમનનું વચન આપ્યું હતું. તે ક્યા છે? આપણા પૂર્વજો અવસાન પામ્યા. પરંતુ દુનિયા તો જે રીતે તેનું સર્જન કરવામાં આવ્યું ત્યારે હતી તે જ રીતે ચાલુ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="2PE.3.5" />પરંતુ ઘણા લાબાં સમય પહેલા જે બન્યું હતું તેને તે લોકો યાદ રાખવા માગતા નથી. આકાશ ત્યાં હતું, અને દેવે પાણી વડે પાણીમાંથી પૃથ્વીનું સર્જન કર્યુ. આ બધું જ દેવના વચન દ્વારા બન્યું.
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<v id="6" bcv="2PE.3.6" />પછી તે જગત પાણીમા ડૂબીને નાશ પામ્યું.
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<v id="7" bcv="2PE.3.7" />અને અત્યારે દેવનું તે જ વચન આકાશ અને પૃથ્વીને ટકાવી રાખે છે કે જે આપણી પાસે છે. આ પૃથ્વી અને આકાશ અગ્નિથી નાશ કરવા માટે ટકાવી રાખવામાં આવ્યા છે. પૃથ્વી અને આકાશ ન્યાયના દિવસ સુધી ટકાવી રખાશે અને પછી તેનો અને જેઓ દેવની વિરુંદ્ધ છે તે બધા જ લોકોનો નાશ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="2PE.3.8" />પરંતુ મારા પ્રિય મિત્રો, આ એક વાત ન ભૂલશો કે પ્રભુની નજરમાં એક દિવસ એક હજાર વરસો બરાબર છે, અને એક હજાર વરસો એક દિવસ બરાબર છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="2PE.3.9" />પ્રભુએ જે વચન આપ્યું છે તે કરવામાં તે વિલંબ કરતો નથી-જે રીતે કેટલાએક લોકો વિલંબને સમજે છે તે રીતે. પરંતુ પ્રભુ તમારા માટે ધીરજ રાખે છે. અને તે કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ ભટકી જાય તેમ ઇચ્છતો નથી. દેવની ઈચ્છા છે કે દરેક વ્યક્તિ પશ્વાત્તાપ કરે અને તે પાપ કરતા અટકે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="2PE.3.10" />પરંતુ જ્યારે પ્રભુનો એ દિવસ આવશે ત્યારે તે ચોરના જેવો આશ્વર્યજનક હશે. મોટી ગર્જનાસહિત આકાશ અદશ્ય થઇ જશે. આકાશમાથી બધી વસ્તુઓ અગ્નિમાં નાશ પામશે. પૃથ્વી અને તેમાંની બધી વસ્તુઓ બાળી નાખવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="2PE.3.11" />અને મેં કહ્યું તે પ્રમાણે બધી વસ્તુઓનો વિનાશ થશે. તેથી તમારે કેવા પ્રકારના લોકો બનવું જોઈએ? તમારે પવિત્ર જીવન જીવવું જોઈએ અને દેવની સેવા કરવી જોઈએ.
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<v id="12" bcv="2PE.3.12" />તમારે દેવના દિવસ માટે આતુરતાથી રાહ જોવી જોઈએ. અને તેને માટે ખૂબ જ ઈચ્છા રાખવી જોઈએ. જ્યારે એ દિવસ આવશે, ત્યારે આકાશ અગ્નિથી નાશ પામશે, અને આકાશમાંની બધી વસ્તુ ગરમીથી ઓગળી જશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2PE.3.13" />પરંતુ દેવે આપણને એક વચન આપ્યું છે. અને તે વચન પ્રમાણે નવા આકાશ તથા નવી પૃથ્વી જેમાં ન્યાયીપણું વસે છે, તેની આપણે રાહ જોઈએ છીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="2PE.3.14" />પ્રિય મિત્રો, આમ બનવાની આપણે રાહ જોઈ રહ્યા છે. તેથી પાપહિન અને ક્ષતિહિન બનવા માટે શક્ય તેટલા વધારે પ્રયત્નશીલ રહો. દેવ સાથે શાંતિમાં રહેવાને યત્ન કરો.
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<v id="15" bcv="2PE.3.15" />યાદ રાખો કે આપણો પ્રભુ ધીરજવાન હોવાથી આપણું તારણ થયું છે. આપણા વહાલા ભાઈ પાઉલે પણ દેવે તેને આપેલી બુદ્ધીથી તમને આ જ બાબત લખી હતી.
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<v id="16" bcv="2PE.3.16" />પાઉલ તેના બધા જ પત્રોમાં આ જ રીતે આ બધી વાતો લખે છે. પાઉલના પત્રોમાં કેટલીક એવી વાતો છે કે જે સમજવામાં અઘરી છે. અને કેટલાએક લોકો તેને ખોટી રીતે સમજાવે છે.તે લોકો આજ્ઞાત છે, અને વિશ્વાસમાં નિબૅળ છે. તે જ લોકો બીજા શાસ્ત્રો
<f caller="+"><fr>3:16
</fr><fk>બીજા શાસ્ત્રો
</fk><ft>પવિત્ર લખાણો – જૂનો કરાર.</ft></f> ને પણ ખોટી રીતે સમજાવે છે. પરંતુ આમ કરીને તેઓ પોતાનો જ વિનાશ નોતરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="2PE.3.17" />પ્રિય મિત્રો, તમે આ બધીજ વાતો અગાઉથી જાણો છો. તેથી સાવધ રહો. તે અનિષ્ટ લોકોને તમને દુરાચારના માર્ગે દોરી ન જવા દો. સાવચેત રહો કે જેથી તમે તમારા સુદઢ વિશ્વાસમાંથી ચલિત ન થાવ.
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<v id="18" bcv="2PE.3.18" />પરંતુ આપણા પ્રભુ અને તારનાર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના જ્ઞાન અને કૃપામા તમે વધતા જાઓ. તેને હમણાં તથા સદાસર્વકાળ મહિમા હો! આમીન.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="1JN"><id id="1JN">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>1 યોહાન
</h><toc level="1">યોહાનનો પહેલો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">1 યોહાન
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યોહાનનો
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">પહેલો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1JN.1.1" />હવે અમે તમને જગતના આરંભકાળ પહેલા જે કોઈ વસ્તુઓનું અસ્તિત્વ હતું તે વિષે કહીએ છીએ આ અમે સાંભળ્યું છે, અમે પોતાની આંખો વડે જોયું છે, અમે નિહાળ્યું છે, અમે અમારા હાથે સ્પર્શ કર્યો છે. અમે તમને તે શબ્દ (ખ્રિસ્ત) જે જીવન આપે છે તે વિષે લખીએ છીએ.
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<v id="2" bcv="1JN.1.2" />તે જીવન અમને બતાવ્યું છે. અમે તે જોયું છે. અમે તે વિષે સાક્ષી આપી શકીએ છીએ. હવે અમે તમને તે જીવન વિષે કહીએ છીએ. તે જીવન જે અનંતકાળનું છે. આ તે જીવન છે જે દેવ બાપ સાથે હતું. દેવે આપણને આ જીવન બતાવ્યું છે.
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<v id="3" bcv="1JN.1.3" />હવે અમે તમને જે કંઈ જોયું છે અને સાંભળ્યુ છે તે કહીએ છીએ. શા માટે? કારણ કે અમે તમને અમારી સાથે ભાગીદાર બનાવવા ઈચ્છીએ છીએ. જેથી દેવ બાપ અને તેના પુત્ર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે અમને જે આનંદ અને સંગત મળ્યાં છે તેના તમે પણ ભાગીદાર બનો.
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<v id="4" bcv="1JN.1.4" />અમે તમને આ બાબત લખીએ છીએ તેથી તમારો પણ આનંદ અમારી સાથે સંપૂર્ણ થાય.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવ આપણા પાપો માફ કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="1JN.1.5" />અમે દેવ પાસેથી સાચો સંદેશો સાંભળ્યો છે. હવે અમે તે તમને કહીએ છીએ દેવ પ્રકાશ છે. દેવમાં અંધકાર નથી.
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<v id="6" bcv="1JN.1.6" />તેથી જો આપણે કહીએ કે આપણને દેવ સાથે સંગત છે અને આપણે અંધકારમાં જીવીએ તો પછી આપણે જૂઠાં છીએ. આપણે સત્યને અનુસરતા નથી.
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<v id="7" bcv="1JN.1.7" />દેવ પ્રકાશમાં છે. આપણે પણ પ્રકાશમાં જીવવું જોઈએ, જો આપણે પ્રકાશમાં જીવીએ તો, પછી આપણે એકબીજાની સાથે સંગતંમાં છીએ. અને જ્યારે આપણે પ્રકાશમાં જીવીએ છીએ, તો તેના પુત્ર ઈસુનું રકત આપણને સધળાં પાપમાંથી શુદ્ધ કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="1JN.1.8" />જો આપણે કહીએ કે આપણામાં પાપ નથી તો, આપણે આપણી જાતને મૂર્ખ બનાવીએ છીએ, અને સત્ય આપણી અંદર નથી.
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<v id="9" bcv="1JN.1.9" />પણ જો આપણે આપણાં પાપો કબૂલ કરીએ છીએ, તો દેવ આપણાં પાપ માફ કરશે. આપણે દેવ પર વિશ્વાસ કરી શકીએ છીએ. દેવ જે સત્ય છે તે જ કરે છે. આપણે કરેલા બધાં ખોટાં કામોમાંથી દેવ આપણને શુધ્ધ કરે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="1JN.1.10" />જો આપણે કહીએ કે આપણે પાપ કર્યું નથી, તો આપણે દેવને જૂઠાં ઠરાવીએ છીએ આપણે દેવનાં સાચા વચનનો સ્વીકાર કરતાં નથી.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">ઈસુ આપણો મદદગાર છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1JN.2.1" />મારાં વહાલાં બાળકો, હું આ પત્ર તમને લખું છું જેથી તમે પાપ કરશો નહિ. પણ જો કાઈ વ્યક્તિ પાપ કરે છે, તો આપણી પાસે આપણી મદદમાં ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત જે ન્યાયી છે તે ઈસુ દેવ બાપ આગળ આપણો બચાવ કરે છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="1JN.2.2" />ઈસુના દ્વારા આપણા પાપો દૂર કરવામાં આવે છે. અને કેવળ આપણાં જ નહિ, સમગ્ર જગતનાં પાપો દૂર કરનાર તે જ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="1JN.2.3" />જો આપણે દેવે જે આપણને કહ્યું છે તેનુ પાલન કરીશું, તો પછી આપણને ખાતરી છે કે આપણે ખરેખર દેવને ઓળખીએ છીએ.
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<v id="4" bcv="1JN.2.4" />એક વ્યક્તિ કહે છે કે, “હું દેવને જાણું છું!” પણ જો તે વ્યક્તિ દેવની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરતો નથી, તો પછી તે વ્યક્તિ જૂઠો છે. તેનામાં સત્ય નથી.
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<v id="5" bcv="1JN.2.5" />પણ જ્યારે એક વ્યક્તિ દેવના વચનનું પાલન કરે છે, તો તેનામાં દેવ પરનો પ્રેમ તેના લક્ષ્યાંક સુધી પહોંચ્યો છે. આ રીતે આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે આપણે દેવને અનુસરીએ છીએ.
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<v id="6" bcv="1JN.2.6" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કહે કે તે દેવમાં જીવે છે, તો પછી તેણે ઈસુ જેવું જીવન જીવ્યો તેવું જીવન જીવવું જોઈએ.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવે બીજા લોકોને પ્રેમ કરવા આપણને આજ્ઞા કરી છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1JN.2.7" />મારા વહાલા મિત્રો, હું તમને નવી આજ્ઞા લખતો નથી. જે તમને શરુંઆતથી આપવામાં આવી છે તે એ જ આજ્ઞા છે. જે વચન તમે સાંભળ્યું છે તેની તે જ આ આજ્ઞા છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1JN.2.8" />પણ હું આ નવી આજ્ઞા તરીકે તમને લખું છું. આ આજ્ઞા સત્ય છે. તમે તેનું સાચાપણું ઈસુમાં અને તમારી જાતમામ જોઈ શકશો. અંધકાર દુર જઈ રહ્યો છે અને ખરો પ્રકાશ આ સમયે હમણા પ્રકાશી રહ્યો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1JN.2.9" />કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કહે છે કે, “હું પ્રકાશમાં છું,” પણ જો તે વ્યક્તિ તેના ભાઈને ધિક્કારે છે, તો પછી તે હજુ અંધકારમાં જ છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="1JN.2.10" />જે વ્યક્તિ તેના ભાઈને પ્રેમ કરે છે તો તે પ્રકાશમાં જીવે છે, અને તે વ્યક્તિમાં એવું કશું નથી જેથી તે ખોટું કરી શકે.
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<v id="11" bcv="1JN.2.11" />પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ તેના ભાઈને ધિક્કારે છે તે અધંકારમાં છે. તે અધંકારમાં જીવે છે. તે વ્યક્તિ જાણતો નથી કે તે ક્યાં જાય છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે અંધકારે તેને આધળો બનાવી દીધો છે.
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="12" bcv="1JN.2.12" />વહાલા બાળકો, હું તમને લખું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમારાં પાપો ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા માફ કરવામાં આવ્યાં છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="13" bcv="1JN.2.13" />પિતાઓ, હું તમને લખું છું
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે આરંભથી તમે તે કોણ છે તે જાણો છો,
</q>
<q style="q1">જુવાનો, હું તમને લખું છુ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમે દુષ્ટ વ્યક્તિ (શેતાન) પર વિજય મેળવ્યો છે.
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<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="1JN.2.14" />બાળકો હું તમને લખું છું,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમે પિતાને ઓળખો છો.
</q>
<q style="q1">પિતાઓ, મેં તમને લખ્યું છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે જે આરંભથી ત્યાં હતો
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને તમે ઓળખો છો. જુવાનો, મે તમને લખ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તમે બળવાન છો;
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવનું વચન તમારામાં છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તમે દુષ્ટ વ્યક્તિ પર વિજય મેળવ્યો છે.
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="1JN.2.15" />જગત પર અથવા જગતમાંના વાનાં પર પ્રેમ ના રાખો. જો કોઈ જગત પર પ્રેમ રાખે છે, તો તેનામાં બાપ પરનો પ્રેમ નથી.
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<v id="16" bcv="1JN.2.16" />જગતમાં આ દુષ્ટ વસ્તુઓ છે આપણા પાપી સ્વભાવને પ્રસન્ન કરવા માટેની ઈચ્છા, આંખોની લાલસા માટેની ઈચ્છા,આપણી સંપત્તિનું ખૂબ અભિમાન હોવું, આ બધું બાપ (દેવ) પાસેથી આવતું નથી, આ સર્વ જગતમાંથી આવે છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="1JN.2.17" />જગત અને દુનિયાની જે બધી વસ્તુઓ લોકો ઈચ્છે છે તેનો પણ લય થશેજ. પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ દેવની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે કરે છે તે અનંતકાળ જીવે છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ખ્રિસ્તવિરોધીઓને અનુસરો નહિ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1JN.2.18" />મારાં વહાલાં બાળકો, અંત નજીક છે! તમે સાંભળ્યું છે કે ખ્રિસ્તવિરોધી આવે છે. અને હવે ખ્રિસ્તવિરોધીઓ ઘણાં અહીં છે. તેથી અમે જાણીએ છીએ કે હવે અંત નજીક છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="1JN.2.19" />ખ્રિસ્તના તે વિરોધીઓ આપણા સમુહમાં હતા. પણ તેઓ આપણામાંથી નીકળી ગયા. તેઓ ખરેખર આપણી સાથે ન હતા. જો તે ખરેખર આપણા સમુહના હોત, તો તેઓ આપણી સાથે રહ્યા હોત. પણ તેઓ નીકળી ગયા. આ તે બતાવે છે કે તેમાંનો કોઈ પણ ખરેખર આપણમાંનો હતો નહિ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="1JN.2.20" />તમે જે પવિત્ર છે (દેવ કે ખ્રિસ્ત) તેના દ્વારા અભિષિક્ત થયા છો. તેથી તમે બધા સત્યને જાણો છો.
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<v id="21" bcv="1JN.2.21" />મારે તમને શા માટે લખવું? તમે સત્યને જાણતા નથી તેથી મારે લખવું? ના! હું આ પત્ર લખું છું કારણ કે તમે સત્યને જાણો છો. અને તમે જાણો છો કે કોઈ પણ જુઠાણું સત્યમાંથી આવતું નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="1JN.2.22" />તેથી જુઠો કોણ છે? તે એ વ્યક્તિ છે જે કહે છે કે ઈસુ, ખ્રિસ્ત નથી. તે ખ્રિસ્તવિરોધી છે. તે વ્યક્તિ પિતામાં વિશ્વાસ કરતો નથી. અથવા તેના પુત્રમાં વિશ્વાસ કરતો નથી, તો તેને બાપ હોતો નથી, પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિ પુત્રને સ્વીકારે છે તો તેને બાપ પણ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="23-24" bcv="1JN.2.23" />તમે આરંભથી જે સાંભળ્યું છે તે તમારામાં રહો, આરંભથી જે તમે સાંભળ્યું છે તે જો તમારામાં રહે તો તમે પણ પુત્રમાં તથા પિતામા રહેશો. તેની ખાતરી રાખજો.
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<v id="25" bcv="1JN.2.25" />પુત્રએ આપણને અનંતકાળનું જીવન આપવાનું વચન આપ્યું છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="1JN.2.26" />જે લોકો તમને ખોટા રસ્તે દોરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે તે લોકો વિષે હું આ પત્ર લખું છું
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<v id="27" bcv="1JN.2.27" />ખ્રિસ્તે તમારો અભિષેક કયો છે તે હજુ તમારી સાથે રહે છે. તેથી તમને ઉપદેશક આપવા માટે કોઈ વ્યક્તિની તમને જરુંર નથી. તમને ખ્રિસ્તે આપેલ ભેટ બધી બાબતો વિષે શીખવે છે. આ અભિષેક ખરો છે. તે ખોટો નથી. તેથી તેના અભિષેકે જે શીખવ્યું છે તે પ્રમાણે ખ્રિસ્તમાં જીવવાનું ચાલુ રાખો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="28" bcv="1JN.2.28" />હા, મારાં બાળકો, તેનામાં જીવો. જો આપણે આ કરીશુ, તો આપણે ખ્રિસ્ત ઈસુ જ્યારે પાછો આવવાનો છે તે દિવસે નિર્ભય બનીશું જ્યારે તે આવે ત્યારે આપણે છુપાઈ જવાની કે શરમાઈ જવાની જરુંર નથી.
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<v id="29" bcv="1JN.2.29" />તમે જાણો છો કે ઈસુ ન્યાયી છે. તેથી તમે એ બધા લોકોને જાણો છો જે સાચું હોય તે જ તે કરે છે. તે દેવનાં છોકરાં છે.
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</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">આપણે દેવનાં છોકરાં છીએ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1JN.3.1" />પિતાએ આપણા પર કેટલો બધો પ્રેમ કયો છે! એ જ બતાવે છે કે તેણે આપણને કેટલો પ્રેમ કયો છે! આપણે દેવનાં છોકરાં કહેવાઈએ છીએ અને ખરેખર આપણે તેનાં છોકરાં છીએ. પરંતુ જગતનાં લોકો સમજતા નથી કે આપણે દેવનાં છોકરાં છીએ, કારણ કે તેઓએ તેને ઓળખ્યો નથી.
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<v id="2" bcv="1JN.3.2" />વ્હાલા મિત્રો, હવે આપણે દેવના છોકરા છીએ. અને ભવિષ્યમાં આપણે કેવા થઈશું તે હજી સુધી પ્રગટ થયું નથી. પણ આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે જ્યારે ઈસુ ફરીથી આવશે ત્યારે આપણે ખ્રિસ્ત જેવા થઈશું. તે જેવો છે તેવો આપણે તેને જોઈશું.
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<v id="3" bcv="1JN.3.3" />ખ્રિસ્ત પવિત્ર છે. અને પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જેને ખ્રિસ્તમાં આશા છે તે પોતાની જાતને ખ્રિસ્ત જેવી પવિત્ર રાખે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1JN.3.4" />જ્યારે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પાપ કરે છે, ત્યારે તે દેવના નિયમને તોડે છે. હા, પાપ કરવુ તે દેવના નિયમ વિરુંધ્ધ જીવવા જેવું છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="1JN.3.5" />તમે જાણો છો કે ખ્રિસ્ત લોકોનાં પાપોને દૂર કરવા આવ્યો હતો. ખ્રિસ્તમાં કોઈ પાપ નથી.
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<v id="6" bcv="1JN.3.6" />તેથી જે વ્યક્તિ ખ્રિસ્તમાં જીવે છે તે પાપ કરતો નથી. જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ પાપ કરે છે, તે ખરેખર ખ્રિસ્તને સમજ્યો નથી અને કદી તેણે ખ્રિસ્તને ઓળખ્યો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1JN.3.7" />વહાલાં બાળકો, કોઈ તમને ખોટા રસ્તે દોરે નહિ. ખ્રિસ્ત ન્યાયી છે. ખ્રિસ્તની જેમ સારા થવા માટે, વ્યક્તિએ જે ન્યાયી છે તે કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="8" bcv="1JN.3.8" />શેતાન આરંભકાળથી જ પાપ કરે છે જે વ્યક્તિ પાપ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખે છે તે શેતાનનો છે. દેવનો પુત્ર શેતાનનાં કામોનો નાશ કરવા માટે આવ્યો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1JN.3.9" />જ્યારે દેવ એક વ્યક્તિને તેનો બાળક બનાવે છે, ત્યારે તે વ્યક્તિ પાપ કરવાનું ચાલું રાખતો નથી. શા માટે? કારણ કે દેવે તેનામાં જે બીજ રોપ્યું છે તે તેની અંદર રહે છે અને તે પાપ કરી શકતો નથી. કારણ કે તે દેવથી જન્મેલો છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="1JN.3.10" />તેથી આપણે જોઈ શકીએ છીએ કે દેવનાં છોકરાં કોણ છે. વળી, આપણે જાણી શકીએ છીએ કે શેતાનનાં છોકરાં કોણ છે જે લોકો સાચુ જે છે તે કરતા નથી તે દેવનાં છોકરાં નથી. અને જે વ્યક્તિ તેના ભાઈને પ્રેમ કરતો નથી. તે પણ દેવનું બાળક નથી.
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</p>
<s style="s">આપણે એક બીજા પર પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1JN.3.11" />આરંભથી જે ઉપદેશ તમે સાંભળ્યો છે તે આ જ છે: આપણે એક બીજા પર પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1JN.3.12" />કાઈન
<f caller="+"><fr>3:12
</fr><fk>કાઈન
</fk><ft>હાબેલ આદમ અને હવાના પુત્રો. કાઈન હાબેલની ઈર્ષા કરતો હતો અને તને મારી નાખ્યો. (ઉત્ત. 4:1-16)</ft></f> જેવા ન થાઓ. કાઈન દુષ્ટનો હતો. કાઈને તેના ભાઈ હાબેલને મારી નાખ્યો? કારણ કે કાઈનનાં કામો ભુંડાં હતાં અને તેના ભાઈ હાબેલનાં કામો સારાં હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1JN.3.13" />ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો, આ જગતના લોકો જ્યારે તમને ધિક્કારે ત્યાંરે નવાઈ પામશો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1JN.3.14" />આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે આપણે મરણમાંથી નીકળીને જીવનમાં આવ્યાં છીએ. આપણે આ જાણીએ છીએ કારણ કે આપણે આપણા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોને પ્રેમ કરીએ છીએ. જે વ્યક્તિ પ્રેમ કરતો નથી તે હજુ મરણમા છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="1JN.3.15" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે તેના ભાઈનો દ્રેષ કરે છે તે ખુની છે. અને તમે જાણો છો કે કોઈ ખુનીમાં અનંતજીવન રહેતું નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1JN.3.16" />એથી આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે સાચો પ્રેમ શું છે ઈસુએ પોતાનો પ્રાણ આપણા માટે આપ્યો. તેથી આપણે ખ્રિસ્તમાં આપણા ભાઈઓ અને બહેનો માટે આપણું જીવન સમર્પણ કરવું જોઈએ.
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<v id="17" bcv="1JN.3.17" />ધારો કે એક વિશ્વાસી કે જે ખૂબ ધનવાન હોવાથી તેની પાસે જરુંરી બધી જ વસ્તુઓ હોય છે. તે ખ્રિસ્તમાં તેના ભાઈને જુએ છે જે ગરીબ છે અને તેની જરુંરી વસ્તુઓ તેની પાસે નથી. તો પછી જો વિશ્વાસી પાસે વસ્તુઓ હોય અને ગરીબ ને મદદ ન કરે તો શું? પછી જે વિશ્વાસી પાસે જરુંરી વસ્તુઓ છે પરંતુ તેના હૃદયમાં દેવની પ્રીતિ હોતી નથી.
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<v id="18" bcv="1JN.3.18" />મારાં બાળકો, આપણો પ્રેમ ફક્ત શબ્દોમાં અને વાતોમાં હોવો જોઈએ નહી. ના! આપણો પ્રેમ સાચો પ્રેમ હોવો જોઈએ. આપણે આપણો પ્રેમ આપણાં કાર્યો દ્વારા દર્શાવવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19-20" bcv="1JN.3.19" />તેથી આ એ જ રસ્તો છે જે આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે આપણે સત્ય માર્ગના છીએ. અને જ્યારે આપણે આપણું હૃદય દોષિત ઠરાવે છે, છતાં દેવ આગળ આપણને શાંતિ મળી શકે છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે દેવ આપણા હ્રદય કરતાં મહાન છે. તે દેવ બધુંજ જાણે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="1JN.3.21" />મારા વહાલા મિત્રો, જો આપણું અંત:કરણ આપણને દોષિત ન ઠરાવે તો જ્યારે આપણે દેવ પાસે આવીએ છીએ ત્યારે આપણે નિર્ભય થઈ શકીએ છીએ.
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<v id="22" bcv="1JN.3.22" />અને દેવ આપણને આપણે જે માગીએ તે આપે છે. આપણે આ વાનાં પ્રાપ્ત કરીએ છીએ કેમ કે આપણે દેવની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરીએ છીએ અને આપણે દેવ પ્રસન્ન થાય તેવાં કામો કરીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="1JN.3.23" />દેવે આપણને જે આજ્ઞા કરી છે તે આ છે કે, “આપણે તેના પુત્ર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તમાં વિશ્વાસ કરીએ અને આપણે એકબીજાને પ્રેમ કરીએ.” તેણે જે આજ્ઞા કરી છે તે આ છે.
<ve />
<v id="24" bcv="1JN.3.24" />તે વ્યક્તિ જે દેવની આજ્ઞાઓનુ પાલન કરે છે તે દેવમાં રહે છે. અને દેવ તે વ્યક્તિમાં રહે છે. આપણે કેવી રીતે જાણીએ કે દેવ આપણામાં રહે છે? દેવે આપણને જે આત્મા આપ્યો છે તેના કારણે આપણે જાણીએ છીએ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">યોહાન જૂઠાં પ્રબોધકોથી ચેતવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1JN.4.1" />મારા વહાલા મિત્રો, હમણા જગતમાં ઘણા જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો છે. તેથી પ્રત્યેક આત્માઓ પર વિશ્વાસ કરવો નહિ પરંતુ તે આત્માઓ દેવ પાસેથી છે કે નહિ તે પારખી જુઓ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1JN.4.2" />એથી તમે દેવનો આત્મા ઓળખી શકો છો. આત્મા કહે છે, “હું માનુ છું કે ઈસુ તે ખ્રિસ્ત છે જે પૃથ્વી પર આવ્યો અને માનવ બન્યો.” તે આત્મા દેવ તરફથી છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1JN.4.3" />બીજા આત્માએ ઈસુ વિષે આ કહેવાની ના પાડી. તે આત્મા દેવ તરફથી નથી. આ આત્મા ખ્રિસ્તિવિરોધીનો છે. તમે સાભળ્યું છે કે ખ્રિસ્તવિરોધી આવે છે. અને હવે તે ખ્રિસ્તવિરોધી જગતમાં છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="1JN.4.4" />મારાં વ્હાલાં બાળકો, તમે દેવના છો. તેથી તમે જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો ને હરાવ્યા છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે (દેવ) જે તમારામાં છે તે (શેતાન) જે જગતના લોકોમા છે તેના કરતાં વધારે મોટો છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1JN.4.5" />અને પેલા લોકો (જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો) જગતના છે. તેથી જે વાતો તેઓ કહે છે તે જગતની છે. અને જગત તેઓ જે કહે છે તે ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="1JN.4.6" />પણ આપણે દેવના છીએ. તેથી જે લોકો દેવને જાણે છે તેઓ આપણને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે. પરંતુ જે લોકો દેવના નથી તેઓ આપણને સાંભળતા નથી. આ રીતે આપણે સત્યના આત્માઓને ભ્રાંતિના આત્માઓથી જૂદા તારવી શકીએ છીએ.
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</p>
<s style="s">પ્રેમ દેવ પાસેથી આવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="1JN.4.7" />વહાલા મિત્રો, આપણે એકબીજાને પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ, કારણ કે પ્રેમ દેવ પાસેથી આવે છે. જે વ્યક્તિ પ્રેમ કરે છે તે દેવનુ બાળક બને છે અને દેવને ઓળખે છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="1JN.4.8" />જે વ્યક્તિ પ્રેમ કરતો નથી તે દેવને આળખતો નથી કેમ કે દેવ પ્રેમ છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="1JN.4.9" />આ રીતે દેવે તેનો પ્રેમ આપણને બતાવ્યો છે: દેવે તેના એક માત્ર પુત્રને તેના મારફત આપણને જીવન આપવા માટે આ દુનિયામાં મોકલ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="1JN.4.10" />સાચો પ્રેમ એ દેવનો આપણા પ્રત્યેનો પ્રેમ છે, આપણે દેવ પર પ્રેમ રાખ્યો એમ નહિ. પણ તેણે આપણા પર પ્રેમ રાખ્યો અને પોતાના પુત્રને આપણાં પાપનું પ્રાયશ્ચિત થવા માટે મોકલ્યો એમાં પ્રેમ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="1JN.4.11" />જો દેવે આપણને આટલો બધો પ્રેમ આપ્યો તો, વહાલા મિત્રો! તેથી આપણે પણ એકબીજાને પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1JN.4.12" />કોઈ વ્યક્તિએ હજુ સુધી દેવને જોયો નથી. પણ જો આપણે એકબીજાને પ્રેમ કરીશું, તો દેવ આપણામાં રહે છે. જો આપણે એકબીજાને પ્રેમ કરીએ, તો દેવનો પ્રેમ આપણામાં સંપૂણૅ થયેલો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1JN.4.13" />આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે આપણે દેવમાં રહીએ છીએ અને દેવ આપણામાં રહે છે. આપણે આ જાણીએ છીએ કેમ કે દેવે આપણને તેનો આત્મા આપ્યો છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1JN.4.14" />અમે જોયું છે કે પિતાએ તેના પુત્રને જગતનો તારનાર થવા મોકલ્યો છે. હવે આપણે લોકોને જે કહીએ છીએ તે આ છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1JN.4.15" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કહે કે, “મને વિશ્વાસ છે કે ઈસુ દેવનો પુત્ર છે.” તો દેવ તે વ્યક્તિમાં રહે છે. અને તે વ્યક્તિ દેવમાં રહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="1JN.4.16" />અને તેથી આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે દેવે આપણને કેટલો બધો પ્રેમ આપ્યો છે. અને આપણે તે પ્રેમ પર વિશ્વાસ કર્યો છે.
</p>
<p style="p">દેવ પ્રેમ છે. જે વ્યક્તિ પ્રેમમાં રહે છે તે દેવમાં રહે છે, અને દેવ તે વ્યક્તિમાં રહે છે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="1JN.4.17" />જો દેવનો પ્રેમ આપણામાં સંપૂર્ણ થાય તો, પછી જ્યારે દેવ આપણો ન્યાય કરશે તે દિવસે આપણે ભયરહિત રહી શકીશું આપણે નિર્ભય રહીશું, કારણ કે આ જગતમાં આપણે તેના (ખ્રિસ્ત કે દેવ) જેવા છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="1JN.4.18" />જ્યાં દેવનો પ્રેમ છે, ત્યાં ભય નથી. શા માટે? કારણ કે દેવનો સંપૂર્ણ પ્રેમ ભય દૂર કરે છે. દેવની શિક્ષા વ્યક્તિને ભયભીત બનાવે છે. તેથી જે વ્યક્તિમાં ભય છે તેનામાં દેવનો પ્રેમ સંપૂર્ણ થતો નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="1JN.4.19" />આપણે પ્રેમ કરીએ છીએ કારણ કે પહેલા દેવે આપણા પર પ્રેમ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="1JN.4.20" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ કહે કે: “હું દેવને પ્રેમ કરું છું.” પરંતુ તે વ્યક્તિ ખ્રિસ્તમાં તેના ભાઈ કે બહેનનો દ્ધેષ કરે છે. તો તે વ્યક્તિ જુઠો છે. તે વ્યક્તિ તેના ભાઈને જોઈ શકે છે, છતાં તે તેનો દ્ધેષ કરે છે. તેથી તે વ્યક્તિ દેવને પ્રેમ કરી શકતો નથી, કારણ કે તેણે દેવને કદી જોયો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="1JN.4.21" />અને દેવ આપણને આ આજ્ઞા કરી છે: જે વ્યક્તિ દેવને પ્રેમ કરે છે તેણે ખ્રિસ્તમાં તેના ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોને પણ પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">દેવનાં છોકરાં જગત પર વિજય મેળવે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="1JN.5.1" />ઈસુ એ જ ખ્રિસ્ત છે એવો જે કોઈ વિશ્વાસ કરે છે તેઓ દેવનાં છોકરાં છે. જે વ્યક્તિ પિતાને પ્રેમ કરે છે તે પિતાનાં છોકરાંઓને પણ પ્રેમ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="1JN.5.2" />આપણે કેવી રીતે જાણી શકીએ કે આપણે દેવનાં છોકરાંઓને પણ પ્રેમ કરીએ છીએ? આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કેમ કે આપણે દેવને પ્રેમ કરીએ છીએ અને આપણે તેની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરીએ છીએ.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="1JN.5.3" />દેવને પ્રેમ કરવો તેનો અર્થ તેની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરવું. અને દેવની આજ્ઞાઓ આપણા માટે એટલી બધી કઠિણ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="1JN.5.4" />શા માટે? કારણ કે પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે દેવનું બાળક છે તે જગતમાં વિજય મેળવવા શક્તિમાન છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="1JN.5.5" />તે આપણો વિશ્વાસ છે કે જેણે જગત સામે વિજય મેળવ્યો છે. ફક્ત તે વ્યક્તિ જે વિશ્વાસ કરે છે કે ઈસુ દેવનો દીકરો છે તેના વિના બીજો કોણ જગતને જીતે છે?
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">દેવ આપણને તેના પુત્ર વિષે કહે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="1JN.5.6" />જે આવ્યો તે ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત છે. ઈસુ પાણી<f caller="+"><fr>5:6
</fr><fk>પાણી
</fk><ft>મોટે ભાગે ઈસુના બાપ્તિસ્માના પાણીનાં સંદર્ભ છે.</ft></f> સાથે અને રક્ત<f caller="+"><fr>5:6
</fr><fk>રક્ત
</fk><ft>ઈસુના મરણ વખતનું વહેવડાવેલું રક્ત.</ft></f> સાથે આવ્યો. ઈસુ માત્ર પાણીથી આવ્યો નથી. ના, ઈસુ પાણી અને રક્ત બંનેથી આવ્યો અને આત્મા આપણને કહે છે કે આ સાચુ છે. આત્મા સત્ય છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="1JN.5.7" />તેથી ત્યાં ઈસુ વિશે આપણને કહેનારા ત્રણ સાક્ષીઓ છે:
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="1JN.5.8" />કેમ કે સાક્ષી પૂરનાર ત્રણ છે, એટલે આત્મા, પાણી અને લોહી. આ ત્રણ સાક્ષીઓ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="1JN.5.9" />તેઓ જે કહે છે તે કંઈક સાચું હોય એવો વિશ્વાસ આપણે લોકો પર કરીએ છીએ. પરંતુ દેવ જે કહે છે તે વધારે મહત્વનું છે. અને દેવે આપણને તેના પોતાના પુત્ર વિશે સાચું કહ્યું છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="1JN.5.10" />જે વ્યક્તિ દેવના પુત્ર પર વિશ્વાસ રાખે છે તેની પાસે તે સત્ય છે જે દેવે આપણને કહ્યુ છે. જે વ્યક્તિ દેવમાં વિશ્વાસ કરતી નથી તે દેવને જૂઠો પાડે છે. શા માટે? કારણ કે દેવે આપણને તેના પુત્ર વિષે જે કહ્યું તેમાં તે વ્યક્તિ વિશ્વાસ કરતી નથી.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="1JN.5.11" />દેવે આપણને કહ્યું છે: દેવે આપણને અનંતજીવન આપ્યું છે. અને આ અનંતજીવન તેના પુત્રમાં છે.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="1JN.5.12" />જે વ્યક્તિ પાસે પુત્ર છે તેની પાસે સાચું જીવન છે. પરંતુ જે વ્યક્તિની પાસે દેવનો પુત્ર નથી, તેની પાસે જીવન નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">હવે આપણી પાસે અનંતજીવન છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="1JN.5.13" />હું આ પત્ર, જે દેવના પુત્રમાં વિશ્વાસ કરે છે એવા તમને લોકોને લખું છું. જેથી તમે જાણશો કે હવે તમારી પાસે અનંતજીવન છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="1JN.5.14" />આપણે દેવ પાસે શંકા વગર આવી શકીએ છીએ. એનો અર્થ એ છે કે આપણે દેવ પાસે તેની ઈચ્છાનુસાર કંઈ પણ માગીએ તો દેવ આપણને સાંભળે છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="1JN.5.15" />દરેક વખતે આપણે તેની પાસે માગીએ છીએ ત્યારે દેવ આપણને ધ્યાનથી સાંભળે છે. તેથી આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે તેની પાસે આપણે જે માગીએ તે વસ્તુઓ તે આપણને આપે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="1JN.5.16" />ધારો કે કોઇ વ્યક્તિ ખ્રિસ્તમાં તેના ભાઇ અથવા બહેનને પાપ કરતા જુએ છે (પાપ કે જે મરણકારક નથી) તો તે વ્યક્તિ એ તેની બહેન અથવા ભાઇ જે પાપ કરે છે તેઓના માટે પ્રાર્થના કરવી જોઈએ. પછી ભાઈ કે બહેનને દેવ જીવન આપશે. જેમનું પાપ અનંત મૃત્યુમાં દોરી જતુ નથી એવા લોકો વિશે હું વાત કરું છું. એવું પણ પાપ છે જે મરણકારક છે. તે વિશે હું કહેતો નથી કે પ્રાર્થના કરવી.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="1JN.5.17" />ખોટું કરવું તે હંમેશા પાપ છે. પરંતુ એવું પણ પાપ છે જે અનંત મૃત્યુ તરફ દોરી જતું નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="1JN.5.18" />આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે કોઇ પણ વ્યક્તિ જે દેવનો બાળક બન્યો છે તે પાપ કર્યા કરતો નથી. દેવનો પુત્ર દેવના બાળકને સુરક્ષિત રાખે છે.
<f caller="+"><fr>5:18
</fr><fk>દેવનો પુત્ર … સલામત રાખે છે ગ્રીક શાબ્દીક અર્થ, “દેવથી જે જન્મેલો છે તે બચાવી રાખે છે અથવા “પોતાને બચાવી રાખે છે.”</fk></f> શેતાન પણ તે વ્યક્તિને ઈજા કરી શકતો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="1JN.5.19" />આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે આપણે દેવના છીએ. પરંતુ શેતાન આખી દુનિયાને કાબુમાં રાખે છે
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="1JN.5.20" />અને આપણે જાણીએ છીએ કે દેવનો પુત્ર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત આવ્યો છે. દેવના પુત્રએ આપણને સમજ આપી છે. હવે આપણે દેવને ઓળખી શકીએ છીએ. દેવ જે સાચો છે. અને આપણું જીવન તે સાચા દેવ અને તેના પુત્રમાં છે, ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત તે જ ખરો દેવ છે, અને તે અનંતજીવન છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="1JN.5.21" />તેથી, વહાલાં બાળકો, તમારી જાતને જૂઠા દેવોથી દૂર રાખો.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="2JN"><id id="2JN">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>2 યોહાન
</h><toc level="1">યોહાનનો બીજો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">2 યોહાન
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યોહાનનો
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">બીજો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="2JN.1.1" />દેવની પસંદગી પામેલ બાઈ<f caller="+"><fr>1:1
</fr><fk>બાઈ
</fk><ft>સ્ત્રી માટેનો આદરસૂચક શબ્દ. અહીં ‘મંડલી’ અર્થ લઈ શકાય અને તેના બાળકો તે મંડળીના સભ્યો.</ft></f> તથા તેનાં છોકરાં જોગ લખિતંગ વડીલ:
</p>
<p style="p">હું તમને બધાને સત્યમાં પ્રેમ કરું છું. અને એ બધા લોકો જે સત્યને જાણે છે તે બધા પણ તમને પ્રેમ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="2JN.1.2" />સત્યના કારણે અમે તમને પ્રેમ કરીએ છીએ-તે સત્ય જે આપણામા રહે છે. આ સત્ય આપણી સાથે સદાકાળ રહેશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="2JN.1.3" />આપણા પર દેવ પિતા અને તેના પુત્ર ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની કૃપા, દયા અને શાંતિ રહેશે. આપણે આ આશીર્વાદો સત્ય અને પ્રેમ દ્વારા પ્રાપ્ત કરીશું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="2JN.1.4" />તમારા કેટલાંએક બાળકો વિશે જાણીને હું ઘણો ખુશ હતો. હું ખુશ છું કે પિતાએ આપણને આપેલી આજ્ઞાઓ પ્રમાણે તેઓ સત્યના માર્ગ ચાલે છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="2JN.1.5" />અને હવે, વહાલી બાઈ, હું તને કહું છું: આપણે બધાએ એકબીજાને પ્રેમ કરવો જોઈએ. આ નવી આજ્ઞા નથી. તે એ જ આજ્ઞા છે જે આરંભથીજ આપણને મળી છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="2JN.1.6" />અને પ્રેમનો અર્થ એ છે કે જે રીતે જીવન જીવવાની આપણને આજ્ઞા કરી છે તે પ્રમાણે જીવવું. અને આ દેવની આજ્ઞા છે તમે પ્રેમનું જીવન જીવો. આ આજ્ઞા તમે આરંભથી સાંભળી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="2JN.1.7" />હમણા જગતમાં ઘણા જૂઠા ઉપદેશકો છે. આ જૂઠા ઉપદેશકો ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત પૃથ્વી પર આવ્યો અને માણસ થયો તે સ્વીકારવાની ના પાડે છે. જે વ્યક્તિ આ સત્ય સ્વીકારવાની ના પાડે છે તે જૂઠો ઉપદેશક અને ખ્રિસ્તનો દુશ્મન છે.
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<v id="8" bcv="2JN.1.8" />સાવધ રહો! તમે જે કામ કર્યું છે તે બધાનો બદલો ગુમાવશો નહિ. સાવધ રહો, જેથી તમે તમારા બધાં પ્રતિફળ પામશો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="2JN.1.9" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિએ ફક્ત ખ્રિસ્તે આપેલા ઉપદેશનેજ અનુસરવાનું ચાલુ રાખવું જોઈએ. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ઈસુએ આપેલા બોધને બદલે છે, તો પછી તે વ્યક્તિ પાસે દેવ નથી. પણ જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ખ્રિસ્તના બોધને અનુસરવાનું ચાલુ રાખે છે, તો તે વ્યક્તિને પિતા (દેવ) અને પુત્ર બંને મળે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="2JN.1.10" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તમારી પાસે આવે છે, પરંતુ આ બોધ લાવતો નથી, તો તમારા ઘરમાં તેનો સ્વીકાર કરો નહિ. તેને આવકારો નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="2JN.1.11" />જો તમે તેને સ્વીકારો છો તો, તમે તેના દુષ્ટ કામોમાં મદદ કરો છો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="2JN.1.12" />મારી પાસે તમને કહેવાનું ઘણુ છે. પરંતુ મારી ઈચ્છા કાગળ અને શાહીનો ઉપયોગ કરવાની નથી. તેને બદલે, તમારી મુલાકાત કરવાની હું આશા રાખું છું. પછી આપણે ભેગા મળીને વાતો કરી શકીશું, જે આપણને વધારે આનંદિત બનાવશે.
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<v id="13" bcv="2JN.1.13" />તારી બહેનનાં બાળકો જે દેવની પસંદગી પામેલ છે તે તમને તેઓનો પ્રેમ મોકલે છે.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="3JN"><id id="3JN">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>3 યોહાન
</h><toc level="1">યોહાનનો ત્રીજો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">3 યોહાન
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યોહાનનો
</p>
<p sfm="mt" level="2" style="mt2">ત્રીજો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="3JN.1.1" />જેના પર હું સત્યમાં પ્રેમ રાખું છું,
</p>
<p style="p">તે પ્રિય ગાયસ જોગ લખિતંગ વડીલ તરફથી કુશળતા:
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="3JN.1.2" />મારા પ્રિય મિત્ર, હું જાણું છું તારો આત્મા કુશળ છે. તેથી હું પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે તું બધી રીતે કુશળ રહે. અને હુ પ્રાર્થના કરું છું કે તું તંદુરસ્ત રહે.
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<v id="3" bcv="3JN.1.3" />કેટલાએક ખ્રિસ્તમાં ભાઈઓ આવ્યા અને તારા જીવનના સત્ય વિષે મને કહ્યું. તેઓએ મને કહ્યુ કે તું સત્યના માર્ગને અનુસરી રહ્યો છે. તેથી હું ઘણો ખુશ થયો.
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<v id="4" bcv="3JN.1.4" />જ્યારે હું સાંભળું છું કે મારાં બાળકો સત્યના માર્ગને અનુસરે છે ત્યારે મને હંમેશા સૌથી વધુ આનંદ થાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="3JN.1.5" />મારા પ્રિય મિત્ર, તું ખ્રિસ્તમાં ભાઈઓને માટે હા, પારકા ભાઈઓને માટે પણ, તું જે કંઈ કરે છે તે તું વિશ્વાસ કરનારને યોગ્ય કામ કરે છે. તુ જેને જાણતો નથી એવા ભાઈઓને પણ તું મદદ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="3JN.1.6" />આ ભાઈઓએ મંડળીને તારા પ્રેમ વિશે વાત કરી છે. કૃપા કરીને તેઓનો પ્રવાસ ચાલુ રાખવામાં તેઓને મદદ કર. દેવ પ્રસન્ન થાય તે રીતે તેઓને મદદ કર.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="3JN.1.7" />આ ભાઈઓ ખ્રિસ્તની સેવા કરવા માટે આજુબાજુ પ્રવાસ કરી રહ્યા છે. તેઓ જે લોકો વિશ્વાસીઓ નથી તેઓની કોઈ પણ પ્રકારની મદદનો સ્વીકાર કરતા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="3JN.1.8" />તેથી આપણે આ ભાઈઓને મદદ કરવી જોઈએ. જ્યારે આપણે તેઓને મદદ કરીએ છીએ, ત્યારે આપણે તેઓના સત્ય માટેના કાર્યમાં સહભાગી થઈએ છીએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="3JN.1.9" />મેં મંડળીને પત્ર લખ્યો છે.પણ દિયોત્રફેસ અમે જે કહીએ છીએ તે ધ્યાનપૂર્વક સાંભળતો નથી. તે હંમેશા તેઓનો આગેવાન થવા ઈચ્છે છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="3JN.1.10" />જયારે હું આવીશ, ત્યારે હું દિયોત્રફેસ શું કરે છે તે વિશે કહીશ. તે જૂઠુ બોલે છે અને અમારા વિષે ભૂંડું બોલે છે. પરંતુ તે જે બધું કરે છે તે એટલું જ નથી! તે જે ભાઈઓ ખ્રિસ્તની સેવાનાં કામો કરે છે તેઓને મદદ કરવાની પણ ના પાડે છે. દિયોત્રફેસ પેલા લોકો જે ભાઈઓને મદદ કરવા ઈચ્છે છે તેઓને પણ અટકાવે છે. અને તે લોકોને મંડળીમાંથી બહિષ્કૃત કરે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="3JN.1.11" />મારા પ્રિય મિત્ર, જે ખરાબ છે તેને અનુસરો નહિ; જે સારું છે તેને અનુસરો. જે વ્યક્તિ સારું છે તે કરે છે તે દેવથી છે. પણ જે વ્યક્તિ દુષ્ટ કાર્ય કરે છે તેણે કદી દેવને ઓળખ્યો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="3JN.1.12" />બધા લોકો દેમેત્રિયસ વિષે સારું બોલે છે. અને તેઓ જે કહે છે તે સાથે સત્ય સંમત થાય છે. આપણે પણ તેના માટે સારું કહીએ છીએ. અને તમે જાણો છો કે આપણે જે કહીએ છીએ તે સાચું છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="3JN.1.13" />મારી પાસે ઘણું છે જે મારે તમને કહેવું છે. પણ હું શાહી અને કલમનો ઉપયોગ કરવા ઈચ્છતો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="3JN.1.14" />હું જલ્દીથી તારી મુલાકાત લેવાની આશા રાખું છું. પછી આપણે સાથે મળીને વાતો કરી શકીશું.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="3JN.1.15" />તને શાંતિ થાઓ. જે મિત્રો અહીં મારી સાથે છે તેઓ તને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહે છે. મહેરબાની કરીને ત્યાંના દરેક મિત્રોને વ્યક્તિગત રીતે અમારો પ્રેમ અને ક્ષેમકુશળ કહેજે.
<ve />
</p>
</book>
<book id="JUD"><id id="JUD">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>યહુદા
</h><toc level="1">યહુદાનો પત્ર
</toc><toc level="2">યહુદા
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">યહુદાનો પત્ર
</p>

<c id="1" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="JUD.1.1" />દેવનું નિમંત્રણ પામેલા જે કોઇ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની સુરક્ષા માટે રાખવામાં આવ્યા હોય તે સર્વ વિશ્વાસીઓ અને તેડવામાં આવેલાઓ જોગ લખિતંગ, ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનો સેવક. યાકૂબનો ભાઈ યહૂદા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="JUD.1.2" />તમારા પર કૃપા, શાંતિ તથા પ્રેમ પુષ્કળ થાઓ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ખોટુ કરનારા લોકોને દેવ શિક્ષા કરશે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="JUD.1.3" />વહાલા મિત્રો, હું આપણાં તારણ વિષે તમારા પર લખવા માટે ઘણો આતુર હતો. પરંતુ બીજું કશુંક તમને લખવાની મને જરુંર લાગી: દેવે તેના સંતોને વિશ્વાસ આપ્યો છે તે માટે તથા તે વિશ્વાસ ચાલુ રાખવા સખત સંઘર્ષ કરવા પ્રોત્સાહિત કરવાની મારી ઈચ્છા છે. દેવે આ વિશ્વાસ એક વખત આપ્યો છે, તે બધા સમય માટે સારોછે.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="JUD.1.4" />કેટલાએક લોકો ગુપ્ત રીતે તમારા સમૂહમાં પ્રવેશ્યા છે. તેઓ જે કામ કરી રહ્યા છે તે માટે તે લોકોનો ન્યાય હમણા જ થયો છે ને તેઓને દોષિત ઠરાવેલ છે. ઘણા લાંબા સમય પહેલાં પ્રબોધકોએ આ લોકો વિષે લખ્યું હતું. આ લોકો દેવની વિરુંદ્ધ છે. તેઓએ આપણાં દેવની કૃપાનો ઉપયોગ ખોટી રીતે પાપ કરવા માટે કર્યો છે. આ લોકો ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તને, આપણો એકલો સ્વામી અને પ્રભુ તરીકે સ્વીકારવા ના પાડે છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="JUD.1.5" />મારી તમને મદદ કરવાની ઈચ્છા છે. કેટલીક બાબતો યાદ રાખો જે તમે બધીજ રીતે જાણો છો: યાદ રાખો પ્રભુએ તેના લોકોને ઈજીપ્તની (મિસરની) ભૂમિમાંથી બહાર લાવીને તેઓનો બચાવ કર્યો. પરંતુ પાછળથી પ્રભુએ જે લોકો અવિશ્વાસીઓ હતા, તે બધાનો નાશ કર્યો.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="JUD.1.6" />અને દૂતોને પણ યાદ રાખો જેઓની પાસે અધિકાર હતો પણ તેઓએ તે રાખ્યો નહિ. તેઓએ તેઓનાં પોતાનાં રહેવાનાં સ્થાન છોડ્યાં. તેથી પ્રભુએ આ દૂતોને અંધકારમાં રાખ્યા છે. તેઓએ સનાતન બંધનની સાંકળે બાંધ્યા. તેણે તેઓને મોટા દિવસના ન્યાયીકરણ સુધી રાખ્યા છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="JUD.1.7" />સદોમ અને ગમોરા અને તેઓની આજુબાજુનાં બીજા શહેરોને પણ યાદ રાખો. તેઓ પણ પેલા દૂતો જેવાં જ છે. આ શહેરો એ જ રીતે વ્યભિચારમાં અને અનુચિત દુરાચારમાં ગરક થઈને નિરંતર અગ્નિદંડની શિક્ષા સહન કરે છે. તેઓની શિક્ષા આપણા માટે ઉદાહરણરુંપ છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="JUD.1.8" />એ લોકો સાથે બન્યું છે એ જ રીતે તમારા સમૂહમાં પ્રવેશ્યા છે તેઓ સ્વપ્નોથી દોરાયા છે. તેઓ પાપ વડે તેઓની જાતને ગંદી બનાવી રહ્યા છે. તેઓ દેવના નિયમની અવગણના કરે છે. અધિકાર અને દૂતોના ગૌરવની નિંદા કરે છે.
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<v id="9" bcv="JUD.1.9" />પ્રમુખ દૂત મિખાયેલે જ્યારે શેતાનની સાથે મૂસાના શબ વિષે તકરાર કરીને વિવાદ કર્યો, ત્યારે તેણે નિંદા કરીને તહોમત મૂકવાની હિંમત કરી નહિ. પણ મિખાયેલે કહ્યું કે; “પ્રભુ તને શિક્ષા કરે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="JUD.1.10" />પરંતુ આ લોકો જે વિષે સમજતા નથી તેની ટીકા કરે છે. તેઓ કેટલીક બાબતો સમજ્યા. પણ તેઓ આ વિષે વિચાર કરીને સમજ્યા નહોતા, પરંતુ લાગણીથી, જે રીતે મુંગા પ્રાણીઓ વસ્તુઓ સમજે તેમ સમજ્યા હતા. અને આ બાબતો જ તેઓને તેઓના વિનાશ તરફ દોરી જાયછે.
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<v id="11" bcv="JUD.1.11" />તેઓને અફસોસ! આ લોકો કાઈન જે માર્ગે ગયો તેને અનુસર્યા. પૈસા બનાવવાની ઈચ્છાથી તેઓ પોતે બલામ જે ખોટા માર્ગે ગયો તેની પાછળ ગયા. કોરાહની જેમ આ લોકો દેવની વિરૂદ્ધમાં લડ્યા છે. અને કોરાહની માફક જ, તેઓનો નાશ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="JUD.1.12" />આ લોકો તમે જે વિશિષ્ટ ભોજનમાં સાથે સહભાગી બનો છો તેમા ગંદા ડાઘ જેવા છે. તેઓ ભય વિના તમારી સાથે ખાય છે. તેઓ ફક્ત પોતાની જાતની જ સંભાળ રાખે છે. તેઓ વરસાદ વિનાનાં વાદળાં છે. પવન તેઓને આજુબાજુ ઘસડે છે. તેઓ ફળ વિનાનાં વૃક્ષો જેવાં છે. જ્યારે ફળનો સમય આવે ત્યાંરે તેઓને ફળ આવતાં નથી તેથી જમીનમાંથી ઉખેડી કાઢવામાં આવે છે. તેથી તેઓ બે વખત મરણ પામે છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="JUD.1.13" />તેઓ સમુદ્રમાં આવતાં જંગલી મોજા જેવા છે મોજાઓ ફીણ બનાવે છે. આ લોકો, મોજાંઓ જેમ ફીણ બનાવે છે તેમ આ લોકો શરમજનક કાર્યો કરે છે. આ લોકો તારાઓ જેવા છે જે ભટકનારા છે. આવા લોકો માટે ઘોર અંધકાર સર્વકાળ માટે રાખવામાં આવેલો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="JUD.1.14" />આદમથી સાતમા પુરુંષ હનોખે આ લોકો વિષે ભવિષ્યકથન કર્યું છે કે: “જુઓ, પ્રભુ હજારોની સંખ્યામાં તેના પવિત્ર દૂતો સાથે આવે છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="JUD.1.15" />પ્રભુ પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિનો ન્યાય કરશે. પ્રભુ બધા લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવા અને જે લોકો દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ છે તેઓને શિક્ષા કરવા આવે છે. તે આ લોકોને દેવની વિરુંદ્ધ તેઓએ કરેલાં દુષ્ટ કાર્યો માટે શિક્ષા કરશે. અને દેવ આ પાપીઓ જે દેવની વિરુંદ્ધ છે તેઓને શિક્ષા કરશે. તે તેઓને તેમણે દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ કહેલાં બધાં સખત ટીકાત્મક વચનો માટે શિક્ષા કરશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="JUD.1.16" />આ લોકો હંમેશા બીજા લોકોમાં ભૂલો શોધે છે અને ફરિયાદ કરે છે. તેઓ હંમેશા તેઓની ઈચ્છા મુજબ દુષ્ટ કૃત્યો કરે છે. તેઓ પોતાની જાત વિશે દંભ કરે છે. તેઓ ફક્ત પોતાની ઈચ્છા પ્રમાણે પ્રાપ્ત કરવા, સ્વાર્થ સાધવા માટે બીજા લોકો માટે સારું બોલે છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">ચેતવણી અને કરવાનાં કાર્યો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="JUD.1.17" />પ્રિય મિત્રો, પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તના પ્રેરિતોએ પહેલા શું કહ્યું છે તે યાદ કરો.
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<v id="18" bcv="JUD.1.18" />પ્રેરિતોએ તમને કહ્યું છે, “અંત સમયે દેવના વિશે મશ્કરી કરનારા લોકો ત્યાં હશે.” આ લોકો ફક્ત તેઓની ઈચ્છા મુજબ કરવાનાં કાર્યો જે દેવની વિરૂદ્ધ છે તે જ કરે છે.
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<v id="19" bcv="JUD.1.19" />આ લોકો જ તમારામાં ભાગલા પાડે છે. આ લોકો પોતાની પાપી સ્વાર્થી અધર્મી ઉત્કંઠા પ્રમાણે જ ફક્ત કાર્યો કરે છે. તે લોકોમાં આત્મા નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="JUD.1.20" />પણ પ્રિય મિત્રો, તમે તમારું જીવન પવિત્ર વિશ્વાસના પાયા પર વધારે દ્રઢ બનાવો અને પવિત્ર આત્મા વડે પ્રાર્થના કરો.
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<v id="21" bcv="JUD.1.21" />તમારી જાતને દેવના પ્રેમમાં રાખો. આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તની દયા વડે તમને જે અનંતજીવન પ્રાપ્ત થવાનું છે તેની રાહ જુઓ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="JUD.1.22" />જેઓને શંકા છે તે લોકોને મદદ કરો.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="JUD.1.23" />તમારે કેટલાએક લોકોને બચાવવાની જરુંર છે. તમે તેઓને અગ્નિમાંથી ખેંચી કાઢીને બચાવશો. પણ જ્યાંરે તમે બીજા લોકો જે પાપીઓ છે તેઓને મદદ કરવા ઈચ્છો છો ત્યારે સાવધ રહો. તેમનાં વસ્ત્રો જે પાપથી ગંદા થયેલાં છે તેને પણ ઘિક્કારો.
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</p>
<s style="s">દેવની સ્તુતિ થાઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="JUD.1.24" />તમને ઠોકર ખાતાં બચાવીને ભરપૂર આનંદથી ગૌરવ સહિત પોતાના મહિમાવંત સાન્નિધ્યમાં નિર્દોષ રજુ કરવા તે (દેવ) સમર્થ છે.
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<v id="25" bcv="JUD.1.25" />તે જ ફક્ત દેવ છે. તે જ એક છે જે આપણો ઉદ્ધાર કરે છે. તેને મહિમા, ગૌરવ, પરાક્રમ તથા અધિકાર, અનાદિકાળથી હમણા તથા સર્વકાળ આપણા પ્રભુ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત દ્વારા હોજો. આમીન.
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</p>
</book>
<book id="REV"><id id="REV">- Copyright World Bible Translation Center 1997-2009
</id><ide charset="UTF-8" /><h>પ્રકટીકરણ
</h><toc level="1">પ્રકટીકરણ
</toc><toc level="2">પ્રકટીકરણ
</toc><p sfm="mt" style="mt1">પ્રકટીકરણ
</p>

<c id="1" />
<s style="s">યોહાન આ પુસ્તક વિષે કહે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.1.1" />આ ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તનું પ્રકટીકરણ છે. હવે ટૂંક સમયમાં શું બનવાનું છે, તે તેના સેવકોને દર્શાવવા દેવે ઈસુને તે અંગેની માહિતી આપી. ખ્રિસ્તે પોતાના સેવક યોહાનને આ વાતો બતાવવા માટે પોતાના દૂતને મોકલ્યો.
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<v id="2" bcv="REV.1.2" />યોહાને જે કઈ જોયું હતું તે વિષે જણાવ્યું. ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્તે યોહાન સમક્ષ જે પ્રગટ કયુ તે સત્ય છે. તે તો દેવ તરફ સંદેશ છે.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="REV.1.3" />જે વ્યક્તિ દેવ તરફથી મળેલ આ સંદેશના વચનો વાંચે છે, તેઓને ધન્ય છે. અને જે લોકો આ સંદેશ સાંભળે છે અને તેમાં લખેલું છે તે પ્રમાણે કરે છે તેઓને પણ ધન્ય છે. હવે વધુ સમય બાકી રહ્યો નથી.
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</p>
<s style="s">યોહાન મંડળીઓ માટે ઈસુના સંદેશાઓ લખે છે
</s>
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="4" bcv="REV.1.4" />આસિયા<f caller="+"><fr>1:4
</fr><fk>આસિયા
</fk><ft>એશિયા માઈનોરનો એક પ્રાંત.</ft></f> પ્રાંતમાંની સાત મંડળીઓ જોગ લખિતંગ યોહાન:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">જે (દેવ) છે જે હતો અને જે આવી રહ્યો છે તેના તરફથી અને તેના રાજ્યાસનની આગળ જે સાત આત્મા છે, તેઓના તરફથી;
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<v id="5" bcv="REV.1.5" />અને ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત પાસેથી, તમને કૃપા અને શાંતિ થાઓ. ઈસુ ખ્રિસ્ત વિશ્વાસુ સાક્ષી છે. મૂએલાંમાંથી સજીવન થનાર તે સર્વ પ્રથમ હતો. ઈસુ પૃથ્વીના રાજાઓનો અધિપતિ છે.
</p>
<p style="p">ઈસુ એક જ છે જે આપણને પ્રેમ કરે છે. અને ઈસુ એ એક છે જેણે પોતાના રક્ત વડે આપણને આપણા પાપમાથી મુક્ત કર્યા;
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="REV.1.6" />ઈસુએ આપણને એક રાજ્ય તથા તેના પિતા દેવની સેવાને અર્થ યાજકો બનાવ્યા. ઈસુનો મહિમા તથા અધિકાર સદાસર્વકાળ પર્યંત હોજો! આમીન.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="REV.1.7" />જુઓ, ઈસુ વાદળાંસહિત આવે છે! પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જેઓએ તેને વીધ્યો<f caller="+"><fr>1:7
</fr><fk>જેઓએ તેને વીધ્યો
</fk><ft>જૂઓ યોહા 19:34.</ft></f> છે તેઓ પણ તેને જોશે. પૃથ્વી પરની બધી જ જાતિઓ તેને લીધે વિલાપ કરશે.હા, આ બનશે જ! આમીન.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="REV.1.8" />પ્રભુ દેવ કહે છે કે, “હું આલ્ફા તથા ઓમેગા<f caller="+"><fr>1:8
</fr><fk>આલ્ફા તથા ઓમેગા
</fk><ft>ગ્રીક મૂળાક્ષરનો પહેલો અને છેલ્લો અક્ષર અર્થાત પ્રથમ તથા છેલ્લો.</ft></f> છું, હું તે એક છું જે છે, જે હંમેશા હતો અને જે આવનાર છે, હું સવૅશક્તિમાન છું,”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.1.9" />હું યોહાન છું, અને હું ખ્રિસ્તમાં તમારો ભાઈ છું. આપણે ઈસુમા સાથે છીએ, રાજ્યમાં, વિપત્તિમાં તથા ધૈયૅમાં ભાગીદાર, દેવના વચનને લીધે તથા ઈસુની સાક્ષીને લીધે હું પાત્મસ<f caller="+"><fr>1:9
</fr><fk>પાત્મસ
</fk><ft>એસિયા માઈનોરના તટ પાસે આવેલ એજીયન સાગરનો એક નાનો ટાપુ (જે અત્યારનું તુર્કી કહેવાય છે)</ft></f> ટાપુ પર હતો કારણકે હું દેવના વચનમાં અને ઈસુના સત્યમાં વિશ્વાસ ધરાવતો હતો.
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<v id="10" bcv="REV.1.10" />પ્રભુને દહાડે આત્માએ મને કાબુમાં રાખ્યો. મેં મારી પાછળ મોટી વાણી સાંભળી, તે વાણી રણશિંગડાના અવાજ જેવી હતી.
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<v id="11" bcv="REV.1.11" />તે વાણીએ કહ્યુ કે; “તેં જે બધું જોયુ છે તે પુસ્તકમાં લખ. અને તેને એફેસસમાં, સ્મુર્નામા, પર્ગામનમાં, થુવાતિરામાં, સાદિર્સમાં, ફિલાદેલ્ફિયામાં તથા લાવદિકિયામાં જે સાત મંડળીઓ છે તેઓને મોકલ.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="REV.1.12" />મારી સાથે કોણ વાત કરે છે તે જોવા માટે હું પાછો વળ્યો. જ્યારે હું પાછો કર્યો, ત્યારે મેં સોનાની સાત દીવીઓ જોઈ.
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<v id="13" bcv="REV.1.13" />મેં દીવીઓની વચમાં “મનુષ્યપુત્ર જેવા” કોઈ એકને જોયો. તેણે એક લાંબો ઝભ્ભો પહેર્યો હતો, તેની છાતી પર સોનાનો પટો બાંધેલો હતો.
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<v id="14" bcv="REV.1.14" />તેનું માથું અને તેના કેશ ધોળા ઊનના જેવા, બરફ જેવા શ્વેત હતા. તેની આંખો અગ્નિની જવાળાઓ જેવી હતી.
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<v id="15" bcv="REV.1.15" />તેના પગ ભઠ્ઠીમાં શુધ્ધ થયેલા ચળકતા પિત્તળના જેવા હતા. તેનો અવાજ ઘુઘવતા ભરતીના પાણીના અણાજ જેવો હતો.
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<v id="16" bcv="REV.1.16" />તેણે જમણા હાથમાં સાત તારાઓ પકડ્યા હતા. તેના મુખમાંથી બેધારી પાણીદાર તલવાર નીકળતી હતી જે સમયે સૂયૅ સૌથી વધારે તેજસ્વી હોય છે તેના જેવો પ્રકાશમાન દેખાતો હતો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="REV.1.17" />જ્યારે મેં તેને જોયો, હું તેનાં ચરણોમાં મૃતપ્રાય માણસની જેમ પડી ગયો. તેણે પોતાનો જમણો હાથ મારા પર મૂકીને કહ્યું કે; “ગભરાઈશ નહી! હું પ્રથમ અને છેલ્લો છું.
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<v id="18" bcv="REV.1.18" />હું એક જે જીવંત છું. હું મૃત્યુ પામ્યો હતો, પરંતુ જુઓ: હું અનંતકાળ જીવતો છું! અને મૃત્યુ તથા હાદેસ<f caller="+"><fr>1:18
</fr><fk>હાદેસ
</fk><ft>મૃત્યુ પામ્યા પછી જયાં લોકો જાયછે તે જગ્યા</ft></f> ની ચાવીઓ હું રાખું છું.
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<v id="19" bcv="REV.1.19" />તેથી તું જે ઘટનાઓ જુએ છે તે લખ. હમણા જે કંઈ ઘટનાઓ બને છે તે અને હવે પછી જે જે થશે તે સર્વ લખ.
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<v id="20" bcv="REV.1.20" />મારા જમણા હાથમાં તેં જે સાત તારા અને સાત દીવાઓ જોયા, તેનું રહસ્ય આ છે: એ સાત તારા તે સાત મંડળીઓના દૂતો છે, અને સાત દીવાઓ તો સાત મંડળીઓ છે.
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</p>

<c id="2" />
<s style="s">એફેસસમાંની મંડળીને ઈસુનો પત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.2.1" />“એફેસસમાંની મંડળીના દૂતને આ પત્ર લખ કે:
</p>
<p style="p">“જે પોતાના જમણા હાથમાં સાત તારા રાખે છે, અને જે સોનાની સાત દીવીઓની વચમાં ચાલે છે તે તમને આ વાતો કહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="REV.2.2" />“તું શું કરે છે તે હું જાણું છું, તુ સખત કામ કરે છે અને તું કદી છોડી દેતો નથી. હું જાણું છું કે દુષ્ટ લોકોને તું સ્વીકારતો નથી. અને જેઓ પ્રેરિતો હોવાનો દાવો કરે છે પણ તે ખરેખર એવા નથી. તેવા લોકોનો તેં પારખી લીધા છે. તને ખબર પડી છે કે તેઓ જુઠ્ઠા છે
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<v id="3" bcv="REV.2.3" />તેં તારા પ્રયત્નો સતત ચાલુ રાખ્યા છે, મારા નામને ખાતર તેં મુશ્કેલીઓ સહન કરી છે. અને તું આ કામ કરવામાં થાકી ગયો નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="REV.2.4" />“પણ તારી વિરુંદ્ધ મારે આટલું છે કે, તે તારા શરુંઆતના પ્રેમનો ત્યાગ કર્યો છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="REV.2.5" />એ માટે તું હમણા જ્યાથી પડ્યો છે તે યાદ કર, પસ્તાવો કર, અને પ્રથમનાં જેવાં કામો કર. જો તું પસ્તાવો નહી કરે તો હું તારી પાસે આવીશ અને તારી દીવીને તેની જગ્યાએથી લઈ જઈશ.
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<v id="6" bcv="REV.2.6" />પણ તું જે કંઈક કરે છે તે બરાબર છે: નિકલાયતીઓ<f caller="+"><fr>2:6
</fr><fk>નિકલાયતીઓ
</fk><ft>એશિયા માઈનોરનો એક ધાર્મિક જૂથ જે ખોટા મતોમાં માનતો હતો.</ft></f> જે કંઈ કરે છે તેને તમે ધિક્કારો છો, તેઓ જે કરે છે તેને હું પણ ધિક્કારું છું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="REV.2.7" />“પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે આ વાતો સાંભળે છે તેણે, આત્મા મંડળીઓને જે કહે છે તે સાંભળવું જોઈએ. જે વ્યક્તિ વિજય મેળવે છે તેને હું જીવનનાં વૃક્ષ પરનું ફળ ખાવાનો અધિકાર આપીશ. આ વૃક્ષ દેવના પારાદૈસમાં છે.
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</p>
<s style="s">સ્મુર્નામાંની મંડળીને ઈસુનો પત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="REV.2.8" />“સ્મુર્નામાંની મંડળીના દુતને આ લખ કે:
</p>
<p style="p">“એક જે પ્રથમ અને છેલ્લો છે તે આ હકીકતો તમને કહે છે. તે એક છે જે મૃત્યુ પામ્યો અને ફરી જીવતો થયો.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.2.9" />“તારી મુસીબતો હું જાણું છું. અને તું ગરીબ છે તે પણ જાણું છું પરંતુ ખરેખર તું ધનવાન છે! તારા વિષે કેટલાક લોકો ખરાબ વાતો કરે છે તે પણ હું જાણું છું. પેલા લોકો કહે છે કે તેઓ યહૂદીઓ છે. પણ તેઓ સાચા યહૂદીઓ નથી તેઓ શેતાનની સભા છે.
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<v id="10" bcv="REV.2.10" />તારી સાથે જે કંઈ બનશે તેથી તું ડરતો નહી. હું તમને કહું છું શેતાન તમારામાંના કેટલાકને બંદીવાન બનાવશે. તે તમારું પરીક્ષણ કરવા માટે આમ કરશે. તમારે દશ દિવસ સુધી સહન કરવુ પડશે. જો તારે મૃત્યુ પામવું પડે તો પણ વિશ્વાસુ રહેજે. જો તું વિશ્વાસુ બની રહેશે તો પછી હું તને જીવનનો મુગટ આપીશ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="REV.2.11" />“પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે આ વાતો સાંભળે છે, તે આત્મા, મંડળીઓને જે કહે છે તે સાંભળે. જે વ્યક્તિ વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે તેને બીજા મૃત્યુનું નુકશાન થશે નહિ.
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</p>
<s style="s">પર્ગામનમાંની મંડળીને ઈસુનો પત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="REV.2.12" />“પર્ગામનમાંની મંડળીના દૂત ને આ લખ કે:
</p>
<p style="p">“જેની પાસે બેધારી પાણીદાર તલવાર છે, તે આ હકીકત તમને કહે છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="REV.2.13" />“તું ક્યાં વસે છે તે હું જાણુ છું. તું જ્યાં શેતાનની પોતાની ગાદી છે ત્યાં રહે છે, પણ મને તો તું વિશ્વાસુ છે. અંતિપાસના સમય દરમિયાન પણ તે મારામાં વિશ્વાસ હોવા વિષેની ના પાડી નહિ. અંતિપાસ મારો વિશ્વાસુ સાક્ષી હતો જેને તમારા શહેરમાં મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો હતો. જ્યાં શેતાન રહે છે તે તમારું શહેર છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="REV.2.14" />“છતાં પણ મારી પાસે તારી વિરુંદ્ધ થોડી એક વાતો છે: તારી સાથે કેટલાક લોકો છે. જે બલામના બોધને અનુસરે છે. બલામે બાલાકને શીખવ્યું કે ઈસ્રાએલના લોકોને પાપ કરતા શીખવે, તે લોકોએ મૂતિઓના નૈવેદ ખાઈને અને વ્યભિચાર કરીને પાપ કર્યું.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="REV.2.15" />તમારા સમૂહના પણ આવું જ છે. તમારી પાસે એવા લોકો છે, જે નિકલાયતીઓના બોધને અનુસરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="REV.2.16" />તેથી પસ્તાવો કરો. જો તમે પસ્તાવો નહિ કરો તો, હું તમારી પાસે જલ્દી આવીશ અને તે લોકોની સામે મારા મુખમાંથી નીકળતી તલવાર વડે લડીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="REV.2.17" />“પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે આ વાતો સાંભળે છે તેણે આત્મા મંડળીઓને જે કહે છે તે સાંભળવું જોઈએ!
</p>
<p style="p">“પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે તેને હું ગુપ્ત રાખેલ માન્ના આપીશ. વળી હું તને શ્વેત પથ્થર આપીશ. આ પથ્થર પર એક નવું નામ લખેલું છે, જે નવા નામને કોઈ વ્યક્તિ જાણતી નથી. ફક્ત જે વ્યક્તિ તે પથ્થર પ્રાપ્ત કરશે તે જ તે નવું નામ જાણશે.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">થુવાતિરામાંની મંડળીને ઈસુનો પત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="REV.2.18" />“થુવાતિરામાંની મંડળીના દૂતને આ લખ કે:
</p>
<p style="p">“દેવનો પુત્ર એક છે જેની આંખો અગ્નિની જવાળા જેવી છે. અને જેના પગ ચળકતા પિત્તળના જેવા છે, તે તમને જે કહે છે તે આ છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="REV.2.19" />“તું જે કરે છે તે હું જાણું છું. હું તારો પ્રેમ તારો વિશ્વાસ, તારી સેવા અને તારી ધીરજને જાણું છું. તે પ્રથમ જે કર્યું તેનાથી હમણાં તેં વધારે કર્યું છે તે પણ હું જાણું છું.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="REV.2.20" />છતાં પણ મારે તારી વિરુંદ્ધ આટલું છે કે; તું ઈઝબેલ નામની સ્ત્રીને તેની ઈચ્છા મુજબ કરવા દે છે. તે કહે છે કે તે એક પ્રબોધિકા છે. પણ તે મારા લોકોને તેના ઉપદેશ વડે ભમાવે છે. ઈઝબેલ મારા લોકોને વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કરવાને તથા મૂતિર્ઓના નૈવેદ ખાવા માટે દોરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="21" bcv="REV.2.21" />મેં તેને પસ્તાવો કરવા તથા પોતાના પાપમાંથી પાછા ફરવાનો સમય આપ્યો છે. પરંતુ તે પસ્તાવો કરવા ઈચ્છતી નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="REV.2.22" />“અને તેથી હું તેને પીડાની પથારીમાં પાડીશ. અને બધા લોકો જેઓ તેની સાથે વ્યભિચાર કરે છે તેઓ ખૂબ સહન કરશે. તે જે કંઈ કરે છે તેનાથી તેઓ અટકશે નહિ, તો હવે હું આ કરીશ.
<ve />
<v id="23" bcv="REV.2.23" />હું તેના છોકરાને પણ મારી નાખીશ. પછી બધી જ મંડળીઓ જાણશે કે મન તથા અત:કરણનો પારખનાર હું છું. અને હું તમારામાંના દરેકને તમે જે કામ કયુ છે તેનો બદલો આપીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="REV.2.24" />“પણ તમે બીજા લોકો જેઓ થુવાતિરામાં તેનાં બોધને અનુસર્યા નથી અને જેઓ શેતાનના ઉંડા મર્મોનો જે દાવો કરે છે, તેને જેઓ શીખ્યા નથી તે તમોને હું આ કહું છું કે: હું તમારા પર બીજો બોજો મૂક્તો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="25" bcv="REV.2.25" />ફકત હું આવું નહી ત્યાં સુધી તમારી પાસે જે છે તેને વળગી રહો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="26" bcv="REV.2.26" />“પ્રત્યેક વ્યકતિ જે વિજય મેળવે છે અને હું ઈચ્છું છું તે કામો અન્ત સૂધી ચાલુ રાખે છે તેને હું અધિકાર આપીશ. હું તે વ્યક્તિ ને રાષ્ટ્રો પર અધિકાર આપીશ:
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="REV.2.27" />લોખંડના દંડથી તે તેઓ પર શાસન કરશે. માટીનાં વાસણની જેમ તેમના તે ટૂકડે ટૂકડા કરશે.<f caller="+"><fr>2:27
</fr><ft>જૂઓ <ref tgt="PSA.2.8">ગીતશાસ્ત્ર 2:8-9</ref>.</ft></f>
<ve />
<v id="28" bcv="REV.2.28" />આ તે જ અધિકાર છે જે મેં મારા પિતા પાસેથી પ્રાપ્ત કર્યો છે. હું તે વ્યક્તિ ને પ્રભાતનો તારો પણ આપીશ.
<ve />
<v id="29" bcv="REV.2.29" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે આ વાતો સાંભળે છે તેણે આત્મા મંડળીઓને જે કહે છે તે સાભળવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="3" />
<s style="s">સાદિર્સમાંની મંડળીને ઈસુનો પત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.3.1" />“સાદિર્સમાંની મંડળીના દૂતને આ લખ કે:
</p>
<p style="p">“તે એક કે જેની પાસે સાત આત્મા અને સાત તારા છે તે તમને આ વાતો કહે છે.
</p>
<p style="p">“તું જે કામો કરે છે તે હું જાણું છું. લોકો કહે છે કે તું જીવે છે. પણ તું ખરેખર મૃત્યુ પામેલ છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="REV.3.2" />જાગૃત થા! હજુ જ્યારે તારે કંઈક છોડવાનું હોય તો તારી જાતને વધારે મજબૂત બનાવ. તે સંપૂર્ણ રીતે મૃત્યુ પામે તે પહેલા તારી જાતને વધુ મજબુત બનાવ. મેં શોધ્યું છે કે તું જે કામો કરે છે તે મારા દેવ માટે સંપૂર્ણ થયેલા નથી.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="REV.3.3" />તેથી તને જે મળ્યુ છે અને તેં જે સાંભળ્યુ છે, તેને યાદ કર અને તેને અનુસર. ને પસ્તાવો કર. તારે જાગૃત થવું જોઈએ. અથવા હું તારી પાસે આવીશ અને તને ચોરની જેમ નવાઈ પમાડીશ. હું ક્યારે આવીશ તે તને માલૂમ પડશે નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="REV.3.4" />“પણ તારા સમૂહમાં સાદિર્સમાં તારી પાસે થોડાં લોકો છે જેઓએ તેમની જાતને શુદ્ધ રાખી છે. તે લોકો મારી સાથે ફરશે. તેઓ ઊજળાં વસ્ત્રો પહેરશે કારણકે તેઓ લાયક છે.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="REV.3.5" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે તેને આ લોકોની જેમ ઊજળા વસ્ત્રો પહેરાવવામાં આવશે. હું તે વ્યક્તિનું નામ જીવનના પુસ્તકમાંથી કાઢી નાખીશ નહિ. હું મારા પિતા અને તેના દૂતોની આગળ કહીશ કે તે વ્યક્તિ મારી છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="REV.3.6" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે આ વાતો સાંભળે છે તેણે આત્મા મંડળીઓને જે કહે છે તે સાંભળવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">ફિલાદેલ્ફિયામાંની મંડળીને ઈસુનો પત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="REV.3.7" />“ફિલાદેલ્ફિયામાંની મંડળીના દૂતને આ લખ કે:
</p>
<p style="p">“જે એક પવિત્ર અને સત્ય છે તે તમને આ શબ્દો કહે છે. તેની પાસે દાઉદની ચાવી છે. જયારે તે કઈક ઉઘાડે છે, તે બંધ થઈ શકતું નથી. અને જયારે તે કંઈક બંધ કરે છે તે ઉઘાડી શકાતું નથી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="REV.3.8" />“તું જે કામો કરે છે તે હું જાણું છુ. મે તારી સમક્ષ બારણું ઉઘાડું મૂકયૂં છે. કોઈ પણ વ્યક્તિ તેને બંધ કરી શકે તેમ નથી. હું જાણું છું કે તું અશકત છે. પરંતુ તુ મારા ઉપદેશને અનુસર્યો છે. તું મારું નામ બોલતાં ડર્યો નથી.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="REV.3.9" />ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ! ત્યાં એક સભાસ્થાન છે જે શેતાનની માલિકીનું છે. તે લોકો એમ કહે છે કે તેઓ યહૂદીઓ છે. પણ તેઓ જૂઠ્ઠા છે. તે લોકો સાચા યહૂદીઓ નથી. હું તેઓની પાસે એમ કરાવીશ કે તેઓ તારી આગળ આવીને તારા પગે પડશે. તેઓ જાણશે કે તમે એવા લોકો છો જેમને મેં ચાહ્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="REV.3.10" />તું ધીરજથી મારી આજ્ઞાને અનુસર્યો છે, તેથી આખી પૃથ્વી પર આવનારી વિપત્તિના સમયમાં હું તને બચાવીશ. આ વિપત્તિ જે લોકો પૃથ્વી પર રહે છે તેમનું પરીક્ષણ કરશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="REV.3.11" />“હું જલ્દી આવી રહ્યો છું, હમણા તું જે રીતે જીવે છે તેને વળગી રહે. પછી કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તારો મુગટ લઈ લેશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="REV.3.12" />જે વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કરશે તે વ્યક્તિ મારા દેવનાં મદિરમાં સ્તંભ બનશે. જે વ્યકિત વિજય મેળવે છે તેને માટે હું તે કરીશ. તે વ્યક્તિ ફરીથી કદાપિ દેવનાં મંદિર ને છોડશે નહિ. હું મારા દેવનું નામ તે વ્યક્તિ પર લખીશ. અને મારા દેવના શહેરનું નામ તે વ્યક્તિ પર લખીશ. તે શહેર એ નવું યરૂશાલેમ છે. તે શહેર મારા દેવની પાસેથી આકાશમાંથી નીચે ઊતરે છે. હું તે વ્યક્તિ પર મારું નવું નામ પણ લખીશ.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="REV.3.13" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિત જે આ વાતો સાંભળે છે તેણે, આત્મા મંડળીઓને જે કહે છે તે સાંભળવું જોઈએ.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">લાવદિકિયાંમાંની મંડળીને ઈસુનો પત્ર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="REV.3.14" />“લાવદિકિયામાંની મંડળીના દૂતને લખ કે:
</p>
<p style="p">“જે આમીન<f caller="+"><fr>3:14
</fr><fk>આમીન
</fk><ft>આમીન શબ્દનો અર્થ જે પરમ સત્ય છે તેને અનુરૂપ થવું તેમ થાય પરંતુ અહીં ઈસુના નામના રૂપે ઉલ્લેખ કર્યો છે.</ft></f> છે તે તમને આ વાતો કહે છે. તે વિશ્વાસુ તથા સાચો સાક્ષી છે. દેવે જે બધું બનાવ્યું છે તેનો તે શાસક છે. તે જે કહે છે તે આ છે:
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="REV.3.15" />“તું શું કરે છે તે હું જાણું છું. તું ગરમ કે ઠંડો નથી; હું ઇચ્છુ છું કે તું ગરમ કે ઠંડો થાય!
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="REV.3.16" />પણ તું માત્ર હૂંફાળો છે, નથી ગરમ કે નથી ઠંડો. તેથી હું મારા મુખમાંથી તને થૂંકી નાખીશ.
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<v id="17" bcv="REV.3.17" />તું કહે છે કે તું શ્રીમંત છે. તું વિચારે છે કે તું ધનવાન બન્યો છે અને તને કશાની જરુંર નથી. પણ તને ખબર નથી કે તું ખરેખર કંગાલ, બેહાલ, દરિદ્રી, આંધળો, અને નગ્ન છે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="REV.3.18" />હું તને સલાહ આપુ છું કે તું મારી પાસેથી અગ્નિમાં શુદ્ધ કરેલુ સોનું વેચાતું લે. પછી તું સાચો શ્રીમંત થઈ શકીશ. હું તને આ કહું છું. ઊજળાં વસ્ત્રો જે છે તે ખરીદ. પછી તું તારી શરમજનક નગ્નતાને ઢાંકી શકીશ. હું તને આંખોમા આંજવાનું અંજન પણ ખરીદવાનુ કહું છું. પછી તું ખરેખર જોઈ શકીશ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="REV.3.19" />“હું જે લોકોને ચાહું છું તે સવૅને હું સધારું છું અને શિક્ષા કરું છું. માટે તું ઉત્સાહી થા, પસ્તાવો કર.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="REV.3.20" />હું અહીં છું! હું બારણાં આગળ ઉભો રહીને ખબડાવું છું. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ મારી વાણી સાંભળે છે અને બારણું ઉઘાડે છે તો હું અંદર આવીશ અને તે વ્યક્તિ સાથે જમીશ અને તે મારી સાથે જમશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="REV.3.21" />“જે વ્યક્તિ વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે તેને હુ મારી સાથે મારા રાજ્યાસન પર બેસવા દઈશ. મારી સાથે પણ એમ જ હતું. મેં વિજય મેળવ્યો અને મારા બાપ સાથે તેના રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠેલો છું.
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<v id="22" bcv="REV.3.22" />પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે આ વાત સાંભળે છે. તેણે આત્મા મંડળીઓને જે કહે છે તે સાંભળવું જોઈએ.”
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</p>

<c id="4" />
<s style="s">યોહાનને આકાશી દર્શન
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.4.1" />પછી મેં જોયું ત્યાં મારી આગળ આકાશમાં એક દ્ધાર ઉઘડેલું હતું. અને અગાઉ મને કહી હતી તે જ વાણી મેં સાંભળી. તે વાણી રણશિંગડાના અવાજ જેવી હતી. તે વાણી એ કહ્યું, “અહીં ઉપર આવ, અને હવે પછી જે જે થવું જ જોઈએે તે હું તને બતાવીશ.”
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<v id="2" bcv="REV.4.2" />પછી તે આત્માએ મારા પર કાબુ કરી લીધો. ત્યાં મારી આગળ આકાશમા એક રાજ્યાસન હતું. રાજ્યાસન પર કોઈ એક માણસ બેઠેલો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="REV.4.3" />તે રાજ્યાસન પર જે બેઠો હતો તે યાસપિસ લાલ કિમતી પથ્થર જેવો દેખાતો હતો. અને રાજ્યાસનની ચારે બાજુ લીલમ જેવું સ્વચ્છ રંગીન પ્રકાશનું એક મેઘધનુષ્ય હતું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="REV.4.4" />રાજ્યાસનની આસપાસ બીજાં 24 રાજ્યાસનો હતાં. તે 24 રાજ્યાસનો પર 24 વડીલો બેઠાં હતાં. તે વડીલોએ ઊજળાં વસ્ત્રો પહેર્યા હતા. અને તેઓના માથા પર સોનાના મુગટ હતાં.
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<v id="5" bcv="REV.4.5" />રાજ્યાસનમાંથી વીજળીઓ અને ગર્જનાઓ અને વાણીઓ આવી. રાજ્યાસનની આગળ અગ્નિના સાત દીવાઓ સળગતા હતા. આ દીવાઓ દેવના સાત આત્મા છે.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="REV.4.6" />ત્યાં રાજ્યાસનની આગળ કાચના સમુદ્ર જેવું કાંઈક હતું. તે સ્ફટીકના જેવું સ્વચ્છ હતું.
</p>
<p style="p">રાજ્યાસનની સામે અને તેની દરેક બાજુએ ત્યાં ચાર જીવતાં પ્રાણીઓ હતાં. આ જીવતાં પ્રાણીઓને તેમની બધી બાજુએ આગળ પાછળ આંખો હતી.
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<v id="7" bcv="REV.4.7" />પહેલું જીવતું પ્રાણી સિંહ જેવું હતું. બીજું એક વાછરડાના જેવું હતું. ત્રીજાને મનુષ્ય જેવું મુખ હતું. ચોથું ઊડતા ગરુંડના જેવું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="REV.4.8" />આ ચાર જીવતા પ્રાણીઓને છ છ પાંખો હતી. અને આ બધા જીવતા પ્રાણીઓ અંદર અને બહાર બધી બાજુએ આંખોથી ભરપુર હતાં. આ જીવતા ચાર દિવસ અને રાત કદી આ રીતે કહેતા વિસામો લેતા નથી;
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“પવિત્ર, પવિત્ર, પવિત્ર, પ્રભુ દેવ, સર્વશક્તિમાન
</q>
<q style="q1">જે હંમેશા હતો, જે છે, અને જે આવનાર છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.4.9" />જે રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠેલો છે તેને આ જીવતા પ્રાણીઓ મહિમા આપશે અને સ્તુતિ ગાશે. તે એક છે જે સદાસર્વકાળ જીવંત છે. અને જ્યારે તે જીવતા પ્રાણીઓ આ કરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="REV.4.10" />ત્યારે 24 વડીલો<f caller="+"><fr>4:10
</fr><fk>વડીલો
</fk><ft>દેવના સંતોના મહાન આગેવાનો હતા. તેઓ કદાચ બાર યહૂદી કૂળોના આગેવાનો હતા, તથા ઈસુના બાર પ્રેરિતો હતા.</ft></f> જે રાજ્યાસન પર બેસે છે તેને પગે પડશે. જે સદાસર્વકાળ જીવંત છે તેની વડીલો આરાધના કરે છે. તે વડીલો રાજ્યાસન આગળ પોતાના મુગટો મૂકી દઇને કહેશે કે:
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</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="11" bcv="REV.4.11" />“અમારા પ્રભુ અને દેવ!
</q>
<q style="q1">તું મહિમા, માન તથા સાર્મથ્ય પામવાને યોગ્ય છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તેં સર્વને ઉત્પન્ન કર્યા,
</q>
<q style="q1">અને તારી ઈચ્છાથી તેઓ હતાં, ને ઉત્પન્ન થયાં.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="5" />
<s style="s">હલવાનની મહત્તા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.5.1" />પછી રાજ્યાસન પર જે બેઠા હતા તે એકના જમણા હાથમાં મે એક ઓળિયું<f caller="+"><fr>5:1
</fr><fk>ઓળિયું
</fk><ft>લખવા માટે વપરાતું લાંબુ લપેટેલું પેપર કે ચામડું.</ft></f> જોયું, ઓળિયાની બંને બાજુએ લખાણ હતું. ઓળિયું સાત મુદ્રાઓથી મુદ્રિત રાખવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="REV.5.2" />અને મેં એક શક્તિશાળી દૂતને જોયો. તે દૂતે મોટા સાદે કહ્યું કે, “આ ઓળિયું ઉઘાડવાને અને તેની મુદ્રાઓ તોડવાને કોણ સમર્થ છે?”
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="REV.5.3" />પરંતુ આકાશમાં કે પૃથ્વી પર કે પૃથ્વી નીચે ત્યાં એવું કોઈ ન મળ્યું કે જે તે ઓળિયું ઉઘાડવા કે તેની અંદરની બાજુએ જોવા સમર્થ હોય.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="REV.5.4" />હું ખૂબ ખૂબ રડ્યો કારણ કે તે ઓળિયું ઉઘાડવાને કે તેમાં જોવાને કોઈ યોગ્ય હતું નહિ.
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<v id="5" bcv="REV.5.5" />પરંતું વડીલોમાંના એકે મને કહ્યું કે, “રડીશ નહિ! યહૂદાના કુટુંબના સમુહમાથી તે સિંહે (ખ્રિસ્તે) વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કર્યો છે. તે દાઉદનો વંશજ છે. તે ઓળિયું તથા તેની સાત મુદ્રાઓને ખોલવાને શકિતમાન છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="REV.5.6" />પછી રાજ્યાસનની સમક્ષ ચાર જીવતાં પ્રૅંણીઓની વચમાં મેં એક હલવાનને ઊભું રહેલું જોયું. જેની આજુબાજુ વડીલો પણ હતા. તે હલવાન મારી નંખાયેલા જેવું હલવાન લાગતું હતું. તેને સાત શિંગડા તથા સાત આંખો હતી. આ દેવના સાત આત્મા છે જેઓને આખી પૃથ્વી પર મોકલવામાં આવ્યા છે.
<ve />
<v id="7" bcv="REV.5.7" />તે હલવાન આવ્યું અને રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠેલા એકના જમણા હાથમાંથી તે ઓળિયું લીધું.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="REV.5.8" />હલવાને ઓળિયું લીધા પછી તે ચાર જીવતાં પ્રાણીઓ અને 24 વડીલો હલવાનની આગળ પગે પડ્યાં. તેમાંના દરેકની પાસે વીણા હતી. તેઓએ ધૂપથી ભરેલા સોનાના પ્યાલા પણ પકડ્યા હતા. આ ધૂપના પ્યાલા દેવના પવિત્ર લોકોની પ્રાર્થનાઓ છે.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="REV.5.9" />અને તે બધાએ હલવાન પાસે એક નવું ગીત ગાયું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તું ઓળિયું લેવાને
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તથા તેની મુદ્રાને બોલવાને યોગ્ય છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેં તારા લોહીથી દેવને માટે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">સર્વ કૂલોના, ભાષાના, પ્રજાના તથા દેશોના લોકોને ખરીધાં છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="REV.5.10" />અમારા દેવ માટે તેં લોકોને રાજ્ય બનાવ્યા છે, અને આ લોકોને અમારા દેવને સારું યાજકો બનાવ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને તેઓ પૃથ્વી પર રાજ કરશે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="REV.5.11" />પછી મેં જોયું અને મેં ઘણા દૂતોને વાણી સાંભળી. તે દૂતો રાજ્યાસનની, તે જીવતાં ચાર પ્રાણીઓની, અને વડીલોની આજુબાજુ હતા. ત્યાં હજારો દૂતો હતા-અને તે લાખો અને હજારોહજારની સંખ્યામાં હતા.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="REV.5.12" />તે દૂતોએ મોટા સાદે કહ્યું કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે હલવાનને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યું હતું તે પરાક્રમ, સંપત્તિ, શાણપણ અને શક્તિ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">માન, મહિમા મેળવવા તથા સ્તુતિને યોગ્ય છે!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="REV.5.13" />પછી મેં પ્રત્યેક જીવતાં પ્રાણી કે જે આકાશમાં, અને પૃથ્વી પર અને પૃથ્વીની નીચે અને સમુદ્રમાં છે તેમને સાંભળ્યાં. મે આ બધી જગ્યાઓએ દરેક વાતો સાંભળી. મેં તમને બધાને કહેતાં સાંભળ્યા કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“જે રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠેલો છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેને તથા હલવાનને સ્તુતિ, માન અને મહિમા તથા સત્તા સદાસર્વકાળ હો!”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="14" bcv="REV.5.14" />તે ચારે જીવતા પ્રાણીઓએ કહ્યું, “આમીન!” અને વડીલોએ પગે પડીને આરાધના કરી.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="6" />
<s style="s">મુદ્રાઓ તોડવામાં આવી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.6.1" />જ્યારે હલવાને તે સાત મુદ્રામાંની પહેલી ઉઘાડી ત્યારે મેં જોયું. મેં ચાર જીવંત પ્રાણીઓમાંના એકને ગર્જના જેવા અવાજથી બોલતા સાંભળ્યું. તેણે કહ્યું કે, “આવ!”
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="REV.6.2" />મેં જોયું તો ત્યાં મારી આગળ એક સફેદ ઘોડો હતો. ઘોડા પરના સવાર પાસે એક ધનુષ્ય હતું; તે સવારને એક મુગટ આપવામા આવ્યો હતો. તે ફરીથી વિજય મેળવવા જતો હોય તે રીતે સવાર થઈને નીકળ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="REV.6.3" />હલવાને બીજી મુદ્રા ઉઘાડી. પછી મેં બીજા જીવતા પ્રાણીને કહેતાં સાંભળ્યું કે. “આવ!”
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="REV.6.4" />પછી બીજો એક ઘોડો બહાર આવ્યો. આ એક લાલ ઘોડો હતો. તે ઘોડા પર જે સવાર હતો તેને પૃથ્વી પરથી શાંતિ લઈ લેવાની સત્તા આપવામાં આવી, જેથી લોકો એકબીજાને મારી નાખે તેવી તેને સત્તા આપવામાં આવી હતી. આ સવારને એક મોટી તલવાર આપવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="REV.6.5" />હલવાને ત્રીજી મુદ્રા ઉઘાડી. પછી મેં ત્રીજા જીવતા પ્રાણીને કહેતા સાંભળ્યું કે, “આવ!” મે જોયું, અને ત્યાં મારી આગળ એક કાળો ઘોડો હતો. ઘોડા પર બેઠેલા સવાર પાસે તેના હાથમાં ત્રાજવાંની જોડ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="REV.6.6" />પછી મેં કંઈક વાણીના જેવો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો. જ્યાં ચાર જીવતા પ્રાણીઓ હતાં ત્યાંથી તે વાણી આવી. તે વાણીએ કહ્યું કે, “એક દિવસના વેતનમાં અડધો કિલો ઘઉં, અને એક દિવસના વેતનમાં દોઢ કિલો જવ, પણ તેલ કે દ્રાક્ષારસને તું વેડફીશ નહિ!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="REV.6.7" />હલવાને ચોથી મુદ્રા ઉઘાડી. પછી મેં ચોથા જીવતા પ્રાણીની વાણી સાંભળી કે, “આવ!”
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="REV.6.8" />મેં જોયું, તો ત્યાં મારી આગળ એક ફીક્કા રંગનો ઘોડો હતો. ઘોડા પરના સવારનું નામ મરણ હતું. હાદેસ તેની પાછળ પાછળ આવતું હતું. તેઓને પૃથ્વીના ચોથા હિસ્સા પર અધિકાર આપવામા આવ્યો હતો. તેઓને તલવારથી, દુકાળથી, રોગચાળાથી, અને પૃથ્વીના જંગલી પશુઓથી લોકોને મારી નાખવાનો અધિકાર આપવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.6.9" />તે હલવાને પાંચમી મુદ્રા ઉઘાડી. પછી મેં કેટલાક આત્માઓને વેદી નીચે જોયા. તે એ લોકોના આત્માઓ હતા જેઓ દેવના સંદેશને વફાદાર હતા. તથા જે સત્ય તેઓને પ્રાપ્ત થયુ હતું, તેમાં તેઓ વિશ્વાસુ હતા તેથી તેઓને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="REV.6.10" />આ આત્માઓએ મોટા સાદે પોકાર કર્યો કે, “ઓ, પવિત્ર અને સત્ય પ્રભુ. તું ક્યાં સુધી ઈન્સાફ કરવાનું તથા પૃથ્વી પરનાં રહેનારાંઓની પાસેથી અમારા રક્તનો બદલો લેવાનું મુલવ્વી રાખીશ?”
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="REV.6.11" />તેઓમાંના દરેક આત્માને શ્વેત ઝભ્ભો આપવામાં આવ્યો. તે આત્માઓને જ્યાં સુધી આ બધા લોકોને મારી નાખવાનું પૂરું ન થાય ત્યાં સુધી રાહ જોવા કહ્યું. તમારા સાથી સેવકો તથા તમારા ભાઈઓ, જેઓ તમારી પેઠે માર્યા જવાના છે. તેઓની સંખ્યા પૂરી ન થાય, ત્યાં સુધી હજુ વિસામો લો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="REV.6.12" />જ્યારે તે હલવાને છઠી મુદ્રા તોડી પછી મેં જોયું. તો ત્યાં મોટો ધરતીકંપ થયો હતો. વાળમાંથી બનાવેલા કાળા કામળા જેવો સૂર્ય કાળો બની ગયો. આખો ચંદ્ર લોહી જેવો લાલ થઈ ગયો.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="REV.6.13" />જેમ ભારે તોફાન પવનથી અંજીરના કોમળ ફળો તૂટી પડે છે, તેમ આકાશમાંના તારાઓ પૃથ્વી પર પડ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="REV.6.14" />આકાશના ભાગલા પડ્યા હતા. તે ઓળિયાની પેઠે વીંટાઇ ગયું અને દરેક પહાડ અને ટાપુને તેની જગ્યાએથી ખસેડવામા આવ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="REV.6.15" />પછી બધાં લોકો ગુફાઓમાં અને ખડકોની પાછળ છુપાઇ ગયા. ત્યાં જગતના રાજાઓ, શાસકો, સેનાપતિઓ, ધનવાન લોકો તથા પરાક્રમી લોકો હતાં. દરેક વ્યક્તિ ગુલામ કે સ્વતંત્ર સંતાઇ ગયા.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="REV.6.16" />તે લોકોએ પહાડો અને ખડકોને કહ્યું કે; “અમારા પર પડો, રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠેલાની નજર આગળથી તથા હલવાનના કોપથી અમને છુપાવી દો!
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="REV.6.17" />કારણ કે તેઓના મહાન કોપનો દિવસ આવ્યો છે. તેની સામે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ઊભો રહી શકશે નહિ.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="7" />
<s style="s">ઈસ્રાએલના 1,44,000 લોકો મુદ્રિત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.7.1" />આ બન્યા પછી મેં ચાર દૂતોને પૃથ્વીના ચાર ખૂણા પર ઊભા રહેલા જોયા. તે દૂતોએ પૃથ્વી પર કે સમુદ્ર પર કે કોઈ વૃક્ષ પર પવન ન વાય માટે ચાર વાયુઓને અટકાવી રાખ્યા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="REV.7.2" />પછી મેં બીજા એક દૂતને પૂર્વમાંથી આવતા જોયો. તે દૂત પાસે જીવતા દેવની મુંદ્રા હતી. તે દૂતે મોટા સાદે બીજા ચાર દૂતોને બોલાવ્યા. આ તે ચાર દૂતો હતા જેમને દેવે પૃથ્વી અને સમુદ્રને ઉપદ્ધવ કરવાની સત્તા આપી હતી. તે દૂતે ચાર દૂતોને કહ્યું કે,
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="REV.7.3" />“જ્યાં સુધી આપણા દેવના સેવકોને અમે મુદ્રિત ન કરી રહીએ. ત્યાં સુધી તમે પૃથ્વીને અથવા સમુદ્રને અથવા વૃક્ષોને નુકસાન કરશો નહી. આપણે તેઓના કપાળ પર મુદ્રા અંકિત કરવાની છે.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="REV.7.4" />કેટલાક લોકોને મુદ્રિત કરવાના છે તેની સંખ્યા પછી મેં સાભળી; ઈસ્રાએલના પુત્રોનાં સર્વ કુળોમાના 1,44,000 મુદ્રિત થયા.
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="5" bcv="REV.7.5" />યહુદાના કુળમાંથી 12,000
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">રુંબેનના કુળમાંથી 12,000
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ગાદના કુળમાંથી 12,000
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="6" bcv="REV.7.6" />આશેરના કુળમાંના 12,000
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">નફતાલીના કુળમાંથી 12,000
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">મનાશ્શાના કુળમાંથી 12,000
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="7" bcv="REV.7.7" />શિમયોનના કુળમાંથી 12,000
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">લેવીનાં કુળમાંથી 12,000
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">ઇસ્સાખારના કુળમાંથી 12,000
<ve />
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li"><v id="8" bcv="REV.7.8" />ઝબુલોનના કુળમાંથી 12,000
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">યૂસફના કુળમાંથી 12,000
</p>
<p sfm="li" style="li">અને બિન્યામીનના કુળમાથી 12,000
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.7.9" />પછી મેં જોયું, તો ત્યાં ઘણા, ઘણા લોકો હતા. ત્યાં એટલા બઘા લોકો હતા કે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તે બધાને ગણી શકે નહિ. તેઓ પૃથ્વી પરના સર્વ દેશોમાંથી લોકોની જાતિમાંથી અને ભાષાના હતા આ લોકો રાજ્યાસન તથા હલવાનની આગળ ઊભા હતા. તે બધાએ શ્વેત ઝભ્ભા પહેર્યા હતા અને તેઓના હાથમાં ખજૂરીની ડાળીઓ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="REV.7.10" />તેઓએ મોટે સાદે પોકાર કર્યો કે, “આપણો દેવ જે રાજ્યાસન પર બેસે છે, તેનો અને હલવાનનો વિજય થાઓ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="REV.7.11" />ત્યાં વડીલો અને ચાર જીવતા પ્રાણીઓ હતા. બધાજ દૂતો તેમની આજુબાજુ અને રાજ્યાસનની આજુબાજુ ઊભા હતા, તે દૂતોએ રાજ્યાસન આગળ દંડવત પ્રણામ કર્યા અને દેવની આરાધના કરી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="REV.7.12" />તેઓએ કહ્યું કે, “આમીન! અમારા દેવને ધન્યવાદ તથા મહિમા તથા જ્ઞાન તથા આભારસ્તુતિ તથા માન તથા પરાક્રમ તથા સાર્મથ્ય સદાસર્વકાળ હો. આમીન!”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="REV.7.13" />પછી વડીલોમાંના એકે મને પૂછયું કે, “આ શ્વેત ઝભ્ભાવાળા લોકો કોણ છે? તેઓ ક્યાંથી આવ્યા છે?”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="REV.7.14" />મેં કહ્યું કે, “સાહેબ, તેઓ કોણ છે તે તમે જાણો છો.”
</p>
<p style="p">અને તે વડીલે કહ્યું કે, “જેઓ મોટી આફતમાથી પસાર થયા તે આ લોકો છે. તેઓએ હલવાનના રક્તથી તેમના ઝભ્ભા ધોયાં છે. હવે તેઓ ઊજળાં અને સ્વચ્છ છે.
<ve />
<v id="15" bcv="REV.7.15" />તે માટે આ લોકો દેવના રાજ્યાસન આગળ છે. તેઓ મંદિરમાં રાતદિવસ દેવની આરાધના કરે છે અને તે એક જે રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠેલો છે તે તેઓનું રક્ષણ કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="REV.7.16" />તેઓને ફરીથી કદી ભૂખ લાગશે નહિ, તેઓને ફરીથી કદી તરસ લાગશે નહિ. સૂર્ય તેમને ઈજા કરશે નહિ કોઈ પણ પ્રકારની ગરમી તેમને બાળશે નહિ.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="REV.7.17" />રાજ્યાસનની મધ્યે જે હલવાન છે તે તેઓનો પાળક થશે. તે તેઓને જીવનજળનાં ઝરંણાંઓ પાસે દોરી લઈ જશે. અને દેવ તેઓની આંખોમાંનાં બધાજ આંસુ લૂછી નાખશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="8" />
<s style="s">સાતમી મુદ્રા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.8.1" />જ્યારે હલવાને સાતમી મુદ્રા તોડી, ત્યારે ત્યાં આકાશમાં લગભગ અડધા કલાક સુધી શાંતિ હતી.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="REV.8.2" />અને મેં દેવ આગળ ઊભા રહેનારા તે સાત દૂતોને જોયા. તેઓને સાત રણશિંગડાં આપવામાં આવ્યા હતાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="REV.8.3" />ત્યાર પછી બીજો એક દૂત વેદી પાસે આવ્યો અને ઊભો રહ્યો, આ દૂત પાસે સોનાની ધૂપદાની હતી. તે દૂત પાસે દેવના સર્વ પવિત્ર લોકોની પ્રાર્થનાઓ સાથે અર્પણ કરવા માટે પૂરતું ધૂપદ્રવ્ય હતું. તે દૂતે રાજ્યાસનની આગળ સોનાની વેદી પર તે ધૂપદાની અર્પણ કરી.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="REV.8.4" />દૂતના હાથમાંથી ધૂપની ધૂણી દેવના સંતોની પ્રાર્થનાઓ સાથે દેવની આગળ ઊંચે ચડી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="REV.8.5" />પછી દૂતે ધૂપદાનીને વેદીના અગ્નિથી ભરી. તે દૂતે ધૂપદાની જમીન પર ફેંકી દીધી. પછી ત્યાં વીજળીઓના ચમકારા, ગર્જનાઓઅને વાણીઓ સાથે ધરતીકંપ થવાં લાગ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">તે સાત દૂતો તેમનાં રણશિંગડા ફૂંકે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="REV.8.6" />પછી જેમની પાસે સાત રણશિંગડાં હતાં. તે સાત દૂતો તેમના રણશિંગડાં વગાડવા માટે તૈયાર થયા.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="REV.8.7" />પ્રથમ દૂતે તેનું રણશિંગડું વગાડ્યું. પછી રક્તમિશ્રિત કરા તથા અગ્નિ પૃથ્વી પર ફેંકવામાં આવ્યાં; અને પૃથ્વીનો ત્રીજો ભાગ, વૃક્ષોનો ત્રીજો ભાગ અને બધું જ લીલું ઘાસ બળી ગયું.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="REV.8.8" />બીજા દૂતે તેનું રણશિંગડું વગાડ્યું પછી મોટી આગથી સળગતા પહાડ જેવું કઈક સમુદ્રમાં ફેંકવામાં આવ્યું. અને સમુદ્રનો ત્રીજો ભાગ લોહી થઈ ગયો,
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="REV.8.9" />જેથી સમુદ્રમાંના જીવતાં પ્રાણીઓનો ત્રીજો ભાગ મૃત્યુ પામ્યો; અને વહાણોનો ત્રીજો ભાગ નાશ પામ્યો.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="REV.8.10" />તે પછી ત્રીજા દૂતે તેનું રણશિંગડુ વગાડ્યું. પછી એક મોટો તારો સળગતા દીવાની જેમ આકાશમાંથી પડયો. તે તારો ત્રીજા ભાગની નદીઓ પર અને પાણીનાં ઝરણાંઓ પર પડ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="REV.8.11" />તે તારાનું નામ કડવાદૌના<f caller="+"><fr>8:11
</fr><fk>કડવાદૌના
</fk><ft>બહુ જ કડવા છોડનું નામ, અહીં ગહેરા શોકના પ્રતિરૂપપે વાપર્યુ છે.</ft></f> છે; અને સમગ્ર પાણીનો ત્રીજો ભાગ કડવો બન્યો. ઘણાં લોકો તે કડવું પાણી પીવાથી મૃત્યુ પામ્યાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="REV.8.12" />તે ચોથા દૂતે તેનું રણશિંગડુ વગાડ્યું. પછી સૂર્યના ત્રીજા ભાગ પર અને ચંદ્રના ત્રીજા ભાગ પર તથા તારાઓના ત્રીજા ભાગ પર પ્રહાર થયો, તેથી તેઓનો ત્રીજો ભાગ અંધકારરુંપ થાય. દિવસ અને રાતનો ત્રીજો ભાગ પ્રકાશરહિત થાય.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="REV.8.13" />જ્યારે મેં જોયું તો અંતરિક્ષમાં ઊંચે ઊડતાં એક ગરુંડને સાંભળ્યું, તે ગરુંડે મોટે સાદે કહ્યું કે, “અફસોસ! અફસોસ! પૃથ્વી પર રહેનારાં લોકોને માટે અફસોસ! બીજા ત્રણ દૂતો વગાડશે અને તેઓનાં રણશિંગડાના અવાજ પછી આફતો આવશે.”
<ve />
</p>

<c id="9" />
<s style="s">પાંચમા દૂતે રણશિંગડું વગાડ્યું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.9.1" />તે પાંચમાં દૂતે તેનું રણશિંગડું વગાડ્યું. પછી મેં આકાશમાંથી એક તારાને પૃથ્વી પર પડેલો જોયો. તે તારાને અતિ ઊંડા ખાડાની કૂંચી આપવામા આવી હતી. જે નીચે અસીમ ઊંડાઈ તરફ દોરે છે.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="REV.9.2" />પછી તે તારાએ અસીમ ઊંડાઈ તરફ દોરતા ખાડાને ઉઘાડ્યો. તે ખાડામાંથી મોટી ભઠ્ઠીનાના ધૂમાડા જેવો ધુમાડો નીકળ્યો; ખાડામાથી નીકળતા ધુમાડાને કારણે સૂયૅ અને આકાશમાં અંધારાં થયાં.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="REV.9.3" />પછી ધુમાડામાથી તીડો નીકળીને પૃથ્વી પર આવ્યાં. તેઓને વીંછુઓ જેવી ડંખ મારવાની શક્તિ આપવામાં આવી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="4" bcv="REV.9.4" />તીડોને પૃથ્વી પરના ઘાસને કે કોઈ છોડને કે વૃક્ષને નુકસાન નહિ કરવાનું કહેવામાં આવ્યું હતું. ફક્ત જે લોકોની પાસે તેમના કપાળ પર દેવની મુદ્રા ન હોય એ લોકોને જ ઈજા કરવાની હતી.
<ve />
<v id="5" bcv="REV.9.5" />આ તીડોને લોકોને પાંચ મહિના સુધી પીડા આપવાની શક્તિ આપવામા આવી હતી. પરંતુ તીડોને લોકોને મારી નાખવાની શક્તિ આપવામાં આવી નહોતી. અને પીડા જે લોકોએ અનુભવી તે વીંછુ વ્યક્તિને કરડે અને જે પીડા થાય તેવી હતી.
<ve />
<v id="6" bcv="REV.9.6" />તે દિવસો દરમિયાન લોકો મરવાનો રસ્તો શોધશે પણ તેઓને તે જડશે નહિ, અને તેઓ મરવાની બહુ ઇચ્છા રાખશે, પણ મરણ તેઓની પાસેથી નાસી જશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="REV.9.7" />તે તીડો યુધ્ધ માટે તૈયાર કરેલા ઘોડાઓના જેવા હતા. તેઓના માથાં પર તેઓએ સોનાના મુગટો જેવી વસ્તુઓ પહેરી હતી. તેઓના મુખ માણસોના મુખ જેવા હતાં.
<ve />
<v id="8" bcv="REV.9.8" />તેઓના કેશ સ્ત્રીઓના કેશ જેવા દેખાતા હતા. તેઓના દાંતો સિંહના દાંતો જેવા હતા.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="REV.9.9" />તેઓની છાતીઓ લોખડનાં બખતર જેવી દેખાતી. તેઓની પાંખોનો અવાજ લડાઈમાં દોડતા ઘણા ઘોડા અને રથોના ગડગડાટ જેવો હતો.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="REV.9.10" />તીડોને વીંછુઓના ડંખ જેવી, ડંખવાળી પૂંછડીઓ હતી, તેઓની પૂંછડીઓમાં પાંચ મહિના સુધી લોકોને પીડા આપવાની શકિત હતી.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="REV.9.11" />તીડોને તેઓનો એક રાજા છે તે રાજા અસીમ ઊંડાણની ખાઈનો દૂત છે. હિબ્રૂ ભાષામાં તેનુ નામ અબદ્દોન<f caller="+"><fr>9:11
</fr><fk>અબદ્દોન
</fk><ft>જૂના કરારમાં વિનાશના સ્થળ માટે વપરાએલું નામ (અયૂ. 26:6; ગી. શા. 88:11)</ft></f> છે, ગ્રીક ભાષામાં તેનું નામ અપોલ્યોન છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="REV.9.12" />પ્રથમ મહાન મુસીબત પૂરી થઈ ગઈ છે. હજુ પણ બે મહાન મુસીબતો છે જે આવનાર છે.
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<s style="s">છઠ્ઠા દૂતે રણશિંગડું વગાડ્યું
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="REV.9.13" />તે છઠ્ઠા દૂતે તેનું રણશિંગડુ વગાડ્યું. પછી દેવની આગળની સોનાની વેદીનાં રણશિંગડાંમાંથી મેં એક વાણી સાંભળી.
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<v id="14" bcv="REV.9.14" />તેણે જે છઠ્ઠા દૂતની પાસે રણશિંગડું હતું તેને કહ્યું કે, “મહાનદી યુફ્રેટિસ પર જે ચાર દૂતોને બાંધેલા છે તેઓને છોડી મૂક.”
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<v id="15" bcv="REV.9.15" />આ ચાર દૂતોને આ વર્ષના આ મહિનાના આ દિવસના અને આ કલાક માટે તૈયાર રાખેલા હતા. આ દૂતોને પૃથ્વી પરના ત્રીજા ભાગના લોકોને મારી નાખવા મુક્ત કરવામાં આવ્યાં.
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<v id="16" bcv="REV.9.16" />મેં સાંભળ્યું હતું તેઓના લશ્કરમાં ઘોડેસવારોની કેટલીક ટુકડીઓ હતી. તેઓ 200,000,000 (વીસ કરોડ) હતા.
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="REV.9.17" />મેં મારા દર્શનમાં ધોડાઓને તથા તેઓ પર બેઠેલા સવારોને જોયા. તેઓ આવા દેખાતા હતા: તેઓના બખતર અગ્નિ જેવાં રાતાં તથા જાંબુડા તથા ગંધક જેવા પીળા હતાં. તે ઘોડાઓના માથાં સિહોંના માથાંઓ જેવા દેખાતાં હતાં. તે ઘોડાઓનાં મોંમાથી અગ્નિ, ધુમાડો તથા ગંધક નીકળતા હતા.
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<v id="18" bcv="REV.9.18" />આ ઘોડાઓના મુખમાથી બહાર નીકળતી ત્રણ ખરાબ વસ્તુઓ અગ્નિ, ધુમાડો તથા ગંધકથી પૃથ્વી પરના બધા લોકોના ત્રીજા ભાગને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યા હતા.
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<v id="19" bcv="REV.9.19" />કારણ કે ઘોડાઓનું સાર્મથ્ય તેના મોંઢાંમા અને પૂંછડીઓમાં છે. લોકોને ઇજા કરવા અને કરડવા માટે તેઓને સાપના જેવી પૂંછડીઓ અને પૂંછડીઓને માંથાં હોય છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="REV.9.20" />પૃથ્વી પરના બીજા લોકોને આ ખરાબ વસ્તુઓથી મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યાં નહિ. છતાં આ લોકોએ હજુ પણ પસ્તાવો કર્યો નથી. અને તેઓ પોતાના હાથની બનાવેલી કૃતિઓ તરફથી પાછા ફર્યા નહિ. તેઓએ ભૂતોની તથા સોનાચાંદી, પિત્તળ, પથ્થરની મૂર્તિઓ અને લાકડાની વસ્તુઓ જે જોવા કે સાંભળવા કે ચાલવા શક્તિમાન નથી, તેઓની પૂજા કરવાનું બંધ કર્યુ નથી.
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<v id="21" bcv="REV.9.21" />આ લોકોએ પસ્તાવો કર્યો નહિ. તેઓએ બીજા લોકોને મારી નાખવાનું બંધ કર્યુ નથી. તેઓએ તેમની દુષ્ટ જાદુક્રિયા, પોતાના વ્યભિચારનાં પાપો અને પોતાની ચોરીઓ વિષે પસ્તાવો કર્યો નહિ
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<s style="s">દૂત અને નાનું ઓળિયું
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.10.1" />પછી મેં બીજા એક શક્તિશાળી દૂતને આકાશમાંથી નીચે ઊતરતો જોયો. તે વાદળાથી વેષ્ટિત હતો. તેના માથાં પર મેઘધનુષ્ય હતું. તે દૂતનું મોં સૂર્યના જેવું હતું. અને તેના પગો અગ્નિના સ્તંભો જેવા હતા.
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<v id="2" bcv="REV.10.2" />દૂતે એક નાનું ઓળિયું રાખ્યું હતું. તે ઓળિયું તેના હાથમાં ખુલ્લું હતું. તે દૂતે તેનો જમણો પગ દરિયા પર અને તેનો ડાબો પગ ભૂમિ પર મૂક્યો;
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<v id="3" bcv="REV.10.3" />તે દૂતે મોટા સાદે સિંહની ગર્જનાની જેમ પોકાર કર્યો; દૂતના પોકાર પછી સાત ગજૅના બોલી.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="REV.10.4" />તે સાત ગજૅના જે બોલી તે લખવાનું મેં શરું કર્યું, પણ પછી મેં આકાશમાંથી વાણી સાંભળી. તે વાણીએ કહ્યું કે, “તે સાત ગજૅનાએ જે કહ્યું તે લખીશ નહિ. તે વસ્તુઓ ને ગુપ્ત રાખ.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="REV.10.5" />પછી મે જે દૂતને જોયો તેણે સમુદ્ર પર અને જમીન પર ઊભા રહીને તેનો જમણો હાથ આકાશ તરફ ઊંચો કર્યો.
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<v id="6" bcv="REV.10.6" />તે જે સદાસવૅકાળ જીવંત છે તેના અધિકારથી તે દૂતે પ્રતિજ્ઞા કરી. તે દેવ એક છે જેણે પૃથ્વી અને પૃથ્વી પર જે બધું છે તે અને આકાશ તથા તેમાં જે કંઈ છે તે, સમુદ્રો, તથા તેમાં જે બધું છે તેનું સર્જન કર્યું. તે દૂતે કહ્યું કે, “હવે વધારે વિલંબ થશે નહિ!
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<v id="7" bcv="REV.10.7" />તે દિવસોમાં જ્યારે તે સાતમો દૂત તેનુ રણશિંગડું વગાડવા માંડશે, ત્યારે દેવની ગુપ્ત યોજના પૂર્ણ થશે. આ યોજના એક તે સુવાર્તા છે જે દેવે તેના સેવકો એટલે પ્રબોધકોને કહી હતી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="REV.10.8" />પછી મેં ફરીથી આકાશમાંથી તે જ વાણી સાંભળી. તે વાણીએ મને કહ્યું કે, “જા અને દૂતના હાથમાંથી જે ખુલ્લું ઓળિયું છે તે લે. આ તે દૂત છે જે સમુદ્ર પર તથા જમીન પર ઊભેલો છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.10.9" />તેથી હું તે દૂત પાસે ગયો અને મને તે નાનું ઓળિયું આપવા કહ્યું. તે દૂતે મને કહ્યું કે, “આ ઓળિયું લે અને તેને ખા. તે તારા પેટમાં કડવું બનશે પણ તે તારા મોંમાં મધ જેવું મીઠું લાગશે.”
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<v id="10" bcv="REV.10.10" />તેથી મેં તે નાનું ઓળિયું દૂતના હાથમાંથી લીધું. મેં તે ઓળિયું ખાધું. મુખમાં તેનો સ્વાદ મધ જેવો મીઠો લાગ્યો પણ મારા ખાધા પછી તે મારા પેટમાં કડવું લાગ્યું.
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<v id="11" bcv="REV.10.11" />પછી મને કહેવામા આવ્યું હતું કે, “તારે ફરીથી ઘણી જાતિના લોકો, ઘણાં દેશો, ભાષાઓ અને રાજાઓ વિષે પ્રબોધ કરવો જોઈએ.”
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<s style="s">બે સાક્ષીઓ
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.11.1" />પછી મને ચાલવા માટેની લાકડી જેટલો લાબો એક માપદંડ આપવામાં આવ્યો. મને કહેવામાં આવ્યું કે, “જા અને દેવના મંદિરનું અને વેદીનું માપ લે, અને ત્યાં ઉપાસના કરનારા લોકોની ગણતરી કર.
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<v id="2" bcv="REV.11.2" />પણ મંદિરની બહારના આંગણાનું માપ લઈશ નહિ. તે એકલું છોડી દે. તે જે લોકો યહૂદી નથી તેઓને આપવામાં આવેલ છે. તેઓ 42 મહિના સુધી પવિત્ર શહેરને ખૂંદી વળશે.
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<v id="3" bcv="REV.11.3" />અનેં હું મારા બે સાક્ષીઓને આધિકાર આપીશ અને તેઓ 1,260 દિવસ માટે પ્રબોધ કરશે. તેઓ શણના કપડાં પહેરશે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="REV.11.4" />આ બે સાક્ષીઓ, જૈતુનનાં જે બે વૃક્ષ, તથા બે દીવીઓ જે પૃથ્વીના પ્રભુની સમક્ષ ઊભા રહે છે તે છે.
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<v id="5" bcv="REV.11.5" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ સાક્ષીઓને નુકશાન કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે તો તેઓનાં મુખોમાંથી અગ્નિ નીકળે છે અને તેઓના દુશ્મનોનો નાશ કરે છે. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ તેઓને ઇજા કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કરે છે તો આ રીતે તે મૃત્યુ પામશે.
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<v id="6" bcv="REV.11.6" />તેઓના પ્રબોધ કરવાના સમય દરમિયાન આ સાક્ષીઓને વરસાદને આકાશમાંથી વરસતો રોકવાની સત્તા છે. આ સાક્ષીઓને પાણીનું લોહી કરવાની સત્તા છે. તેઓને પૃથ્વી પર દરેક પ્રકારની વિપતિ મોકલવાની સત્તા છે. તેઓ જેટલી વખત ઈચ્છે તેટલી વખત આ કરી શકે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="REV.11.7" />જ્યારે તે બે સાક્ષીઓ પોતાનો સંદેશ કહેવાનું પૂર્ણ કરશે, ત્યારે શ્વાપદ તેઓની વિરુંદ્ધ લડશે. આ તે પ્રાણી છે જે અસીમ ઊંડી ખાઈમાંથી બહાર આવે છે. તે પ્રાણી તેઓને હરાવશે, અને તેઓને મારી નાખશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="REV.11.8" />તે બે સાક્ષીઓના મૃતદેહો મોટા શહેરની શેરીમાં પડ્યાં રહેશે. આ શહેર સદોમ અને મિસર કહેવાય છે. તે શહેરના આ નામો હોવાનો વિશિષ્ટ અર્થ છે. આ તે શહેર છે જ્યાં તેઓના પ્રભુને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="9" bcv="REV.11.9" />દરેક જાતિઓ, કુળો, ભાષાઓ અને દેશોમાથી આવેલા લોકો બે સાક્ષીઓના મૃતદેહોને સાડા ત્રણ દિવસો સુધી જોશે. લોકો તેઓને દફનાવવાની ના પાડશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="REV.11.10" />જે લોકો પૃથ્વી પર રહે છે, તેઓ ખુશ થશે. કારણકે આ બે મૃત્યુ પામેલ છે. તેઓ મિજબાનીઓ કરશે અને અકબાજાને ભેટ મોં કલશે. તેઓ આ બધું કરશે કારણ કે આ બે પ્રબોધકોએ જે લોકો પૃથ્વી પર રહે છે તેઓને ખૂબ દુ:ખ દીધું છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="REV.11.11" />પરંતુ સાડા ત્રણ દિવસ પછી આ બંને પ્રબોધકોના શરીરમાં દેવ તરફથી જીવનનો શ્વાસ આવ્યો. તેઓ પોતાના પગો પર ઊભા થયા. જે બધા લોકોએ તેઓને જોયા તેઓ ભયભીત થયા.
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<v id="12" bcv="REV.11.12" />પછી તે બે પ્રબોધકોએ આકાશમાંથી મોટા સાદે વાણીને પોતાને કહેતા સાંભળી કે; “અહી ઉપર આવ!” અને તે બે પ્રબોધકો આકાશમાં ઊંચે એક વાદળામાં ગયા. તેઓનાં શત્રુંઓએ તેઓને ચઢતાં જોયા.
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="REV.11.13" />તે જ સમયે ત્યાં એક મોટો ધરતીકંપ થયો. શહેરનો દશમો ભાગ નાશ પામ્યો. અને 7,000 લોકો ધરતીકંપમાં મૃત્યુ પામ્યા. જે લોકો મૃત્યુ પામ્યા નહોતા તે ઘણા ગભરાયા હતા. તેઓએ આકાશના દેવને મહિમા આપ્યો.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="REV.11.14" />(બીજી મોટી આપત્તિ પૂરી થઈ છે. હવે ત્રીજી મોટી આપત્તિ જલદીથી આવી રહી છે.)
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<s style="s">સાતમું રણશિંગડું
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="REV.11.15" />સાતમાં દૂતે તેનું રણશિંગડું વગાડ્યું. પછી આકાશમાં મોટે સાદે વાણીઓ થઈ. વાણીઓએ કહ્યું કે:
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<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“આ જગતનું રાજ્ય હવે આપણા પ્રભુ, અને તેના ખ્રિસ્તનું છે;
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<q level="2" style="q2">તે સદાસર્વકાળ રાજ કરશે.”
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<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="16" bcv="REV.11.16" />પછી 24 વડીલોએ દેવની સમક્ષ નીચે નમીને દેવની આરાધના કરી. આ તે વડીલો છે જે દેવ સમક્ષ તેનાં રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠા છે.
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<v id="17" bcv="REV.11.17" />તે વડીલોએ કહ્યું કે:
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<q style="q1">“હે સર્વશક્તિમાન પ્રભુ દેવ, અમે તારી સ્તુતિ કરીએ છીએ.
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<q level="2" style="q2">તું તે એક છે, જે છે અને જે હતો.
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<q style="q1">હવે તેં મહાસાર્મથ્ય ધારણ કર્યુ છે.
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<q level="2" style="q2">હવે તારું રાજ્ય સ્થાપન થયું છે!
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<q style="q1"><v id="18" bcv="REV.11.18" />જગતના લોકો ગુસ્સે થયા હતા;
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<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ હવે તારા ગુસ્સાનો સમય છે.
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<q style="q1">હવે મૂએલાંનો ઈનસાફ કરવાનો સમય છે.
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<q level="2" style="q2">તારા સેવકોને, તે પ્રબોધકોને
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<q style="q1">તારા સંતો તથા નાના મોટા લોકોને
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<q level="2" style="q2">જે તારા નામથી ડરનારા છે, તેઓને પ્રતિફળ આપવાનો સમય આવ્યો છે,
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<q style="q1">જેઓ પૃથ્વીનો વિનાશ કરે છે તે લોકોનો વિનાશ કરવાનો સમય આવી પહોંચ્યો છે!”
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<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="REV.11.19" />ત્યાર પછી આકાશમાં દેવનું મંદિર ઉઘાડવામાં આવ્યું અને તેના મંદિરમાં તેના કરારનો કોશ જોવામા આવ્યો, પછી ત્યાં વીજળીઓના ચમકારા, વાણીઓ, ગજૅનાઓ તથા ધરતીકંપ થયો, તથા પુષ્કળ કરા પડ્યા.
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<s style="s">સ્ત્રી અને અજગર
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.12.1" />અને પછી આકાશમાં એક મોટું આશ્ચર્ય દેખાયું ત્યાં એક સ્ત્રી હતી, જે સૂર્યથી વેષ્ટિત હતી. ચંદ્ર તેના પગ નીચે હતો. તેના માથા પર બાર તારાવાળો મુગટ હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="REV.12.2" />તે સ્ત્રી ગર્ભવતી હતી. તેણે પીડા સાથે બૂમ પાડી. તે જન્મ આપવાની તૈયારીમાં હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="REV.12.3" />પછી આકાશમાં બીજુ એક ચિન્હ દેખાયું: ત્યા એક મોટો લાલ અજગર હતો. તે અજગરને સાત માથાં પર સાત મુગટ, દરેક માથાં પર એક મુગટ હતો. તે અજગરને દસ શિંગડા પણ હતાં.
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<v id="4" bcv="REV.12.4" />તે અજગરના પૂંછડાએ આકાશના તારાઓનો ત્રીજો ભાગ ખેંચીને પૃથ્વી પર નીચે ફેંકયો. તે અજગર તે સ્ત્રીની સામે આવ્યો અને ઊભો રહ્યો જે બાળકને જન્મ આપવાની તૈયારીમાં હતી. તે અજગરની ઈચ્છા જ્યારે તે સ્ત્રીનું બાળક જન્મે ત્યારે તેને ખાઇ જવાની હતી.
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="REV.12.5" />તે સ્ત્રીએ એક પુત્રને જન્મ આપ્યો, તે તમામ દેશો પર લોઢાનાં દંડથી રાજ કરશે. અને તેના બાળકને દેવ પાસે અને તે ના રાજ્યાસન પાસે લઈ જવામા આવ્યો હતો.
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<v id="6" bcv="REV.12.6" />તે સ્ત્રી અરણ્યમાં એક જગ્યા જે દેવે તેના માટે તૈયાર કરી હતી, ત્યાં નાસી ગઈ. ત્યાં અરણ્ય માં 1,260 દિવસો સુધી તેની સંભાળ રાખવામાં આવશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="REV.12.7" />પછી ત્યાં આકાશમાં યુદ્ધ થયું. મિખાયેલ તથા તેના દૂતો અજગરની સાથે લડ્યા. તે અજગર અને તેના દૂતો તેમની સામે લડ્યા.
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<v id="8" bcv="REV.12.8" />પણ તે અજગર જોઈએ તેટલો બળવાન ન હતો. તે અજગર અને દૂતોએ આકાશમાં તેઓનું સ્થાન ગુમાવ્યું.
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<v id="9" bcv="REV.12.9" />તે મોટા અજગરને આકાશની બહાર ફેંકી દેવામાં આવ્યો. (તે અજગર જે જુનો સાપ છે જે દુષ્ટાત્મા તથા શેતાન કહેવાય છે. તે આખા જગતને ખોટા માર્ગે દોરે છે.) તે અજગરને તેના દૂતો સાથે પૃથ્વી પર ફેંકવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="REV.12.10" />પછી મેં આકાશમાં મોટા સાદે વાણીને કહેતા સાંભળી કે, “હવે તારણ અને પરાક્રમ અને અમારા દેવનું રાજ્ય અને તેના ખ્રિસ્તની સત્તા આવ્યાં છે; આ વસ્તુઓ આવી છે કારણ કે અમારા ભાઇઓ પર દોષ મૂકનાર, જે અમારા દેવની આગળ રાત દિવસ તેઓના પર દોષ મૂકે છે. તેને નીચે ફેંકી દેવામાં આવ્યો છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="REV.12.11" />અમારા ભાઈઓએ તેને હલવાનના રક્તથી અને સાક્ષીઓના વચનથી હરાવ્યો છે. તેઓ પોતાના જીવનને વધારે વહાલું ગણતા નહિ. તેઓ મૃત્યુથી ડરતા નહોતા.
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<v id="12" bcv="REV.12.12" />તેથી તે બધા જે ત્યાં રહે છે તે સુખી થાઓ. પરંતુ પૃથ્વી અને સમુદ્ર માટે તે ખરાબ થશે કારણ કે શેતાન તમારી પાસે નીચે ઉતરી આવ્યો છે. તે શેતાન ક્રોધથી ભરેલો છે. તે જાણે છે તેની પાસે હવે વધારે સમય રહ્યો નથી.”
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<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="REV.12.13" />તે અજગરે જોયું કે તેને પૃથ્વી પર ફેંકી દેવામાં આવ્યો છે. તેથી તે, સ્ત્રીની પાછળ ગયો જેણે એક દીકરાને જન્મ આપ્યો હતો.
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<v id="14" bcv="REV.12.14" />પરંતુ તે સ્ત્રીને મોટા ગરૂડની બે પાંખો આપવામાં આવી હતી જેથી તે તે સ્થળેથી ઊડીને અરણ્યમાં જઇ શકે જ્યાં તેના માટે જગા તૈયાર કરવામાં આવી હતી. તે સ્થળેથી તેની સંભાળ સાડા ત્રણ વર્ષ સુધી રાખવામાં આવે છે. અજગર તેની પાસે પહોંચી શકે નહિં.
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<v id="15" bcv="REV.12.15" />પછી તે અજગરે તેના મોંઢામાથી નદીની જેમ પાણી બહાર કાઢ્યું તે અજગરે તે સ્ત્રીના તરફ પાણી કાઢ્યું તેથી પૂર તેને દૂર તાણી જાય.
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<v id="16" bcv="REV.12.16" />પરંતુ પૃથ્વીએ તે સ્ત્રીને મદદ કરી. પૃથ્વીએ તેનું મોં ખોલ્યું અને નદીને ગળી ગઈ જે અજગરના મુખમાંથી નીકળતી હતી.
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<v id="17" bcv="REV.12.17" />પછી અજગર તે સ્ત્રી પર ઘણો ગુસ્સે થયો હતો. તે અજગર તેનાં બીજા બાળકો સામે યુદ્ધ કરવા માટે ચાલી નીકળ્યો. (જે દેવની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરે છે અને ઈસુએ જે ઉપદેશ આપ્યો છે તેના સત્યને વળગી રહે છે, તે લોકો તેનાં બાળકો છે.)
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="REV.12.18" />તે મોટો અજગર સમુદ્રકિનારે ઊભો રહ્યો.
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<c id="13" />
<s style="s">બે પ્રાણીઓ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.13.1" />પછી મે એક શ્વાપદને સમુદ્રમાંથી નીકળતું જોયું. તેને દસ શિંગડાં અને સાત માથાં હતાં, તેના દરેક શિંગડા પર મુગટ હતો. તેના દરેક માથાં પર ઈશ્વરનિંદક નામ લખેલું હતું.
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<v id="2" bcv="REV.13.2" />આ શ્વાપદ ચિત્તા જેવું દેખાતું હતું તેના પગ રીંછના પગ જેવા હતા. તેને સિંહના જેવું મોં હતું તે અજગરે તે શ્વાપદને તેની બધી જ સત્તા તેનું રાજ્યાસન અને મહાન અધિકાર આપ્યાં.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="REV.13.3" />તે પ્રાણી માથામાંનું એક મરણતોલ ઘાયલ થયેલા જેવું દેખાયું. પણ આ પ્રાણઘાતક ઘા રૂઝાઈ ગયો હતો. દુનિયાના બધા લોકો નવાઇ પામ્યા હતા. અને તેઓ બધા તે પ્રાણી પાછળ ગયા.
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<v id="4" bcv="REV.13.4" />લોકોએ તે અજગરની આરાધના કરી. કારણ કે તેણે તેનો અધિકાર પ્રાણીને આપ્યો હતો અને તે લોકોએ તે પ્રાણીની પણ આરાધના કરી. તેઓએ પૂછયું તે, “તે પ્રાણીનાં જેટલું પરાક્રમી કોણ છે? તેની સામે યુદ્ધ કોણ કરી શકે?”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="REV.13.5" />તે પ્રાણીને ઘમંડી શબ્દો અને ઘણી દુષ્ટ વસ્તુઓ કહેવાની પરવાનગી આપવામાં આવી હતી. તે પ્રાણીને તેની શક્તિનો 42 મહિના માટે ઉપયોગ કરવાની પરવાનગી આપવામા આવી હતી.
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<v id="6" bcv="REV.13.6" />તે પ્રાણીએ દેવની નિંદા કરવા માટે તેનું મોં ઉઘાડ્યું. તે પ્રાણીએ દેવના નામની, દેવ જ્યાં રહે છે તે જગ્યાની અને આકાશમાં જે બધા લોકો રહે છે તેઓની નિંદા કરી.
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<v id="7" bcv="REV.13.7" />તે પ્રાણીને સંતો સાથે યુદ્ધ કરે અને તેઓને પરાજિત કરે તેવું સાંર્મથ્ય આપવામાં આવ્યું. તે પ્રાણીને દરેક કુળ, જાતિના લોકો, ભાષા અને દેશ પર અધિકાર આપવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="8" bcv="REV.13.8" />બધા જ લોકો જે પૃથ્વી પર રહે છે, તેઓ તે પ્રાણીની આરાધના કરશે. (આ એ લોકો છે જેઓનાં નામો જગતનું સર્જન થયું ત્યારથી હલવાનના જીવનના પુસ્તકમાં લખેલાં નથી. તે હલવાન કે જેને મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યો હતો.)
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.13.9" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આ વાતો સાંભળે, તો પછી તેણે આ ધ્યાનથી સાંભળવું જોઈએ:
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<q style="q1"><v id="10" bcv="REV.13.10" />જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ બીજાને બંદીવાન કરવા જાય છે,
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<q level="2" style="q2">તો તે વ્યક્તિ પોતે જ બંદીવાન થશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">જો કોઈ બીજાને તલવારથી મારી નાખવા માટે જાય છે
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<q level="2" style="q2">તો તેને પોતાને તલવારથી માર્યા જવું પડશે.
</q>
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<p sfm="m" style="m">આનો અર્થ એ છે કે સંતો પાસે ધીરજ અને અવિશ્વાસ હોવા જોઈએ.
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<s style="s">પૃથ્વીમાંથી નીકળેલું પશું
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<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="REV.13.11" />પછી મેં બીજા એક પ્રાણીને પૃથ્વીમાંથી બહાર નીકળતું જોયું. તેને હલવાનની જેમ બે શિંગડાં હતાં પણ તે અજગરની જેમ બોલતું હતું.
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<v id="12" bcv="REV.13.12" />આ પ્રાણી પ્રથમ પ્રાણી પાસે જે અધિકાર હતો તે જ અધિકારનો ઉપયોગ કરીને પ્રથમ પ્રાણીની સામે ઉભું રહે છ. તેને આ અધિકારનો ઉપયોગ પૃથ્વી પર રહેનારા બધા લોકોને પ્રથમ પ્રાણીની આરાધના કરાવવા માટે કર્યો. તે પ્રથમ પ્રાણી તે એક કે જેનો પ્રાણધાતક ધા રુંઝાયો હતો.
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<v id="13" bcv="REV.13.13" />આ બીજુ પ્રાણી મોટા ચમત્કારો કરે છે. તે લોકોની નજર આગળ તેઓના દેખતા આકાશમાંથી પૃથ્વી પર અગ્નિ વરસાવે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="REV.13.14" />આ બીજું પ્રાણી છે જે પૃથ્વી પર રહે છે તે લોકોને મૂર્ખ બનાવે છે. તે તેઓને ચમત્કારોનો ઉપયોગ કરીને મૂર્ખ બનાવે છે, કે જે કરવાનો અધિકાર તેને આપવામાં આવ્યો છે. તે આ ચમત્કારો પ્રથમ પ્રાણીની સેવા માટે કરે છે. તે બીજું પ્રાણી, પ્રથમ પ્રાણીને સન્માનવા લોકોને તેની મૂર્તિ બનાવવા હુકમ કરે છે તે પ્રાણી હતું જે તલવારથી ઘાયલ થયું હતું, છતાં પણ તે મૃત્યુ પામ્યું નથી.
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<v id="15" bcv="REV.13.15" />તે બીજા પ્રાણીને પ્રથમ પ્રાણીની મૂર્તિમાં પ્રાણ મૂકવા માટેનું સાર્મથ્ય આપવામાં આવ્યું હતું. પછી તે મૂર્તિ બોલી શકે અને જે બધા લોકો પૂજા કરતાં નથી. તેઓને હુકમ કરીને મારી નંખાવે.
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<v id="16" bcv="REV.13.16" />તે બીજા પ્રાણીએ, નાના અને મોટા ધનવાન અને ગરીબ, સ્વતંત્ર અને ગુલામ, બધા લોકોને તેઓના જમણા હાથ પર કે તેઓના કપાળ પર છાપ લેવા પણ દબાણ કર્યું.
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<v id="17" bcv="REV.13.17" />આ છાપ વિના કોઈ વ્યક્તિ ખરીદી કે વેચાણ કરી શકે નહિ. (આ છાપ પ્રાણીના નામની કે તેના નામની સંખ્યાની હોય છે.)
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="REV.13.18" />જે વ્યક્તિ પાસે સમજશક્તિ હોય છે તે પ્રાણીની સંખ્યાનો અર્થ સમજી શકે છે આમાં ડહાપણની જરુંર પડે છે. આ સંખ્યા તે એક માણસની સંખ્યા છે; અને તેની સંખ્યા 666 છે.
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<s style="s">ઉદ્ધાર પામેલાઓનું ગીત
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<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.14.1" />પછી મેં જોયું તો ત્યાં મારી આગળ હલવાન હતું. તે સિયોન પહાડ પર ઊંભું હતું. ત્યાં તેની સાથે 1,44,000 લોકો હતા. તેઓ બધાના કપાળ પર તેનું નામ અને તેના પિતાનું નામ લખેલું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="REV.14.2" />અને મેં પાણીના પૂર જેવો ઘોંઘાટ અને મોટી ગર્જના જેવો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો. મેં જે અવાજ સાંભળ્યો તે લોકો પોતાની વીણા વગાડતા હોય તેવો હતો.
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<v id="3" bcv="REV.14.3" />તે લોકોએ રાજ્યાસનની આગળ અને ચાર પ્રાણીઓની અને વડીલોની આગળ એક નવું ગીત ગાયું. તે નવું ગીત ગાઈ શકે તેવા ફક્ત 1,44,000 લોકો હતા. જેઓનો પૃથ્વી પરથી ઉદ્ધાર કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો. બીજું કોઈ તે ગીત ગાઇ શક્યું નહિ.
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<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="REV.14.4" />આ 1,44,000 એવા લોકો છે, જેઓએ સ્ત્રીઓ સાથે કોઈ કુકર્મ કર્યું નથી. તેઓએ પોતાની જાતને શુદ્ધ રાખી છે. તેઓ જ્યાં જતા ત્યાં હલવાનને અનુસરતા. પૃથ્વી પરના લોકોમાંથી આ 1,44,000નો ઉદ્ધાર કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો. દેવને અને હલવાનને અર્પિત થનાર તેઓ પહેલા હત.
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<v id="5" bcv="REV.14.5" />આ લોકો અસત્ય બોલવાના દોષિત ન હતા. તેઓ નિર્દોષ છે.
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<s style="s">ત્રણ દૂતો
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="REV.14.6" />પછી મેં બીજા એક દૂતને આકાશમાં ઊંચે ઉડતો જોયો. તે દૂત પાસે સનાતન સુવાર્તા હતી. જે પૃથ્વી પર રહેતા હતા, તે લોકો દરેક રાજ્ય, જાતિ, ભાષા અને પ્રજાના લોકોને બોધ આપવા માટે હતી.
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<v id="7" bcv="REV.14.7" />તે દૂતે મોટા સાદે વાણીમા કહ્યું કે, “દેવનો ડર રાખો અને તેની આરાધના કરો. તેના માટે દરેક લોકોનો ન્યાય કરવાનો સમય આવી પહોંચ્યો છે. દેવની આરાધના કરો, તેણે આકાશો, પૃથ્વી, સમુદ્ર, અને પાણીનાં ઝરાઓ ઉત્પન્ન કર્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="REV.14.8" />પછી તે બીજો દૂત પ્રથમ દૂતને અનુસર્યો અને કહ્યું કે, “તેનો વિનાશ થયો છે! તે મહાન બેબિલોનનો વિનાશ થયો છે. તેણે પોતાનો વ્યભિચાર (ને લીધે રેડાયેલો) અને દેવનો કોપરૂપી દ્રાક્ષારસ સર્વ દેશોને પીતાં કર્યા છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.14.9" />એ ત્રીજો દૂત પહેલા બે દૂતોને અનુસર્યો, આ ત્રીજા દૂતે મોટા સાદે વાણીમાં કહ્યું કે, “જે તે પ્રાણી અને પ્રાણીની મૂર્તિને પૂજે છે અને તેના કપાળ પર કે તેના હાથ પર તે પ્રાણીની છાપ પ્રાપ્ત કરે છે તે વ્યક્તિ ઓ માટે ખરાબ સમય હશે.
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<v id="10" bcv="REV.14.10" />તે વ્યક્તિ દેવનો કોપરૂપી દ્રાક્ષારસ પીશે. આ દ્રાક્ષારસ દેવના કોપના પ્યાલામાં તેની પૂર્ણ શક્તિથી તૈયાર થયો છે. તે વ્યક્તિ પવિત્ર દૂતો અને હલવાનની આગળ સળગતા ગંધકથી રિબાશે.
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<v id="11" bcv="REV.14.11" />અને તેઓના ત્રાસમાંથી નીકળતો ધુમાડો સદા સર્વકાળ ઊંચે ચઢશે. જે લોકો પ્રાણીની તથા તેની મૂર્તિની પૂજા કરે છે તથા જે કોઈ તેના નામની છાપ લે છે, તેઓને રાત દિવસ આરામ નથી.”
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<v id="12" bcv="REV.14.12" />આનો અર્થ એ છે કે સંતો ધૈર્યવાન હોવા જોઈએે. તેઓએ દેવની આજ્ઞાઓનું પાલન કરવું જોઈએે અને ઈસુમાં તેઓએ વિશ્વાસ રાખવો જોઈએ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="REV.14.13" />પછી મેં આકાશમાંથી વાણી સાંભળી. તે વાણીએ કહ્યું કે, “આ લખ, કે હવે પછી જે મૃત્યુ પામનારાઓ પ્રભુમાં મૃત્યુ પામે છે. તેઓને ધન્ય છે.”
</p>
<p style="p">આત્મા કહે છે, “હા, તે સાચું છે. તે લોકો તેઓનાં સખત શ્રમથી આરામ કરશે. તેઓએ જે કંઈ કર્યું છે તે તેઓની સાથે રહે છે.”
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</p>
<s style="s">પૃથ્વી પરની કાપણી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="REV.14.14" />જ્યારે મેં નજર કરી ત્યારે મેં ત્યાં મારી આગળ એક ઊજળું વાદળ જોયું તે ઊજળા વાદળ પર બેઠેલો એક દૂત માણસનાં પુત્ર<f caller="+"><fr>14:14
</fr><fk>માણસનાં પુત્ર
</fk><ft>આ નામ દાનિ. 7:13-14 માંથી છે ઈસુ જ્યારે પોતાના સંબંધી કહે છે ત્યારે આ નામનો ઉપયોગ કરે છે.</ft></f> જેવો દેખાતો હતો. તેના માથા પર સોનાનો મુગટ અને હાથમા ધારદાર દાતરડું હતું.
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<v id="15" bcv="REV.14.15" />પછી બીજો એક દૂત મંદિરમાથી બહાર આવ્યો. આ દૂતે જે વાદળ પર બેઠો હતો તેને બોલાવ્યો અને કહ્યું કે, “તારું દાતરડું ચલાવ અને બધો પાક ભેગો કર, કાપણી કરવાનો સમય આવી પહોંચ્યો છે. પૃથ્વીનાં ફળ પાકયાં છે.”
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<v id="16" bcv="REV.14.16" />તેથી જે વાદળ પર બેઠો હતો તેણે પૃથ્વી પર દાતરડું ચલાવ્યું અને પૃથ્વીની ફસલ લણાઈ ગઈ.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="REV.14.17" />પછી બીજો એક દૂત મંદિરની બહાર આવ્યો જે આ આકાશમાં હતું. આ દૂત પાસે પણ એક ધારદાર દાતરડું હતું.
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<v id="18" bcv="REV.14.18" />પછી બીજો એક દૂત વેદીમાંથી બહાર આવ્યો. આ દૂતને અગ્નિ પર અધિકાર છે. આ દૂતે મોટા અવાજે તે દૂતને ધારદાર દાતરડાં સાથે બોલાવ્યો. તેણે કહ્યું કે, “તારું ધારદાર દાતરડું લે અને પૃથ્વીની દ્રાક્ષમાંથી દ્રાક્ષનાં ઝૂમખાને ભેગાં કર. પૃથ્વીની દ્રાક્ષો પાકી ચૂકી છે.”
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<v id="19" bcv="REV.14.19" />તે દૂતે તેનું દાતરડું પૃથ્વી પર ચલાવ્યું. તે દૂતે પૃથ્વીની દ્રાક્ષોનાં ઝૂમખાં ભેગા કરીને દેવના કોપના મોટા દ્રાક્ષાકુંડમાં નાખ્યાં.
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<v id="20" bcv="REV.14.20" />અને દ્રાક્ષાકુંડમાં જે હતું તે શહેરની બહાર ખૂંદવામાં આવ્યું, 200 માઈલ સુધી ઘોડાઓના માથાં જેટલી ઊંચાઈએ પહોંચે એટલુ લોહી દ્રાક્ષાકુંડમાંથી બહાર વહી નીકળ્યું.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="15" />
<s style="s">છેલ્લા અનર્થ સાથે દૂત
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.15.1" />પછી મેં આકાશમાં બીજું એક આશ્ચર્યકારક ચિન્હ જોયું, તે મહાન અને આશ્ચર્યકારક હતું ત્યાં સાત દૂતો સાત વિપત્તિઓ લાવ્યા હતા. (આ છેલ્લી વિપત્તિઓ છે, કારણ કે આ વિપત્તિઓ પછી દેવનો કોપ પૂર્ણ થાય છે.)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="REV.15.2" />મેં જોયું, જે અગ્નિમિશ્રિત કાચના સમુદ્ર જેવું હતું. બધા લોકો જેઓએ પ્રાણી પર, અને તેની મૂર્તિ અને તેના નામની સંખ્યા પર વિજય મેળવ્યો. તેઓ તે સમુદ્રની બાજુમાં ઊભા હતા. આ લોકો પાસે વીણા હતી જે દેવે તેઓને આપી હતી.
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<v id="3" bcv="REV.15.3" />તેઓએ દેવના સેવક મૂસાનું અને હલવાનનું ગીત ગાયું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હે સર્વશક્તિમાન પ્રભુ દેવ,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારાં કાર્યો મહાન તથા અદભૂત છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હે યુગોના રાજા
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા માર્ગો ન્યાયી અને સત્ય છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="4" bcv="REV.15.4" />હે પ્રભુ બધા લોકો તારાથી બીશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">બધા લોકો તારા નામની સ્તુતિ ગાશે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે માત્ર તું એકલો જ પવિત્ર છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">બધા લોકો આવશે અને તારી આગળ આરાધના કરશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે તે સ્પષ્ટ છે કે તું જે કરે છે તે ન્યાયી છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="REV.15.5" />આ પછી મેં આકાશમા એક મંદિર (દેવની હાજરીની પવિત્ર જગ્યા) જોયું, તે મંદિર ઉઘાડું હતું
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<v id="6" bcv="REV.15.6" />અને સાત વિપત્તિઓ સાથે સાત દૂતો મંદિરમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા. તેઓએ સ્વચ્છ ચળકતાં શણનાં વસ્ત્રો પહેરેલાં હતાં. તેઓએ તેઓની છાતીની આજુબાજુ સોનાના પટ્ટા પહેર્યા હતા.
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<v id="7" bcv="REV.15.7" />પછી ચાર જીવંત પ્રાણીઓમાંથી એક જીવંત પ્રાણીએ સાત દૂતોને સોનાનાં સાત પ્યાલા આપ્યાં. તે પ્યાલાઓ સદાસર્વકાળ જીવંત એવા દેવના કોપથી ભરેલાં હતાં.
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<v id="8" bcv="REV.15.8" />તે મંદિર દેવ મહિમાના તથા તેના પરાક્રમના ધુમાડાથી ભરાયેલું હતું. જ્યાં સુધી સાત દૂતોની સાત વિપત્તિઓ પૂરી ન થઈ ત્યાં સુધી મંદિરમાં કોઈ પ્રવેશ કરી શક્યું નહિ.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="16" />
<s style="s">દેવના કોપથી સાત પ્યાલા ભરાયા
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.16.1" />પછી મેં મંદિરમાથી મોટા સાદે વાણી સાંભળી. તે વાણીએ સાત દૂતોને કહ્યું, કે “જાઓ અને દેવના પૂર્ણ કોપથી ભરેલા સાત પ્યાલા પૃથ્વી પર રેડી દો.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="2" bcv="REV.16.2" />પ્રથમ દૂતે જગ્યા છોડી. તેણે તેનું પ્યાલું જમીન પર રેડી દીધું. પછી બધા લોકો જેઓના પર પ્રાણીની છાપ હતી અને જેઓએ તેની મૂર્તિની પૂજા કરી તેઓને પીડાકારક અને ત્રાસદાયક ગુમડાં થયાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="REV.16.3" />બીજા દૂતે તેનું પ્યાલું સમુદ્ર પર રેડી દીધું. પછી તે સમુદ્ર મૃત્યુ પામેલા એક માણસના લોહીના જેવો થઈ ગયો. સમુદ્રમાંના દરેક જીવંત પ્રાણી મૃત્યુ પામ્યાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="REV.16.4" />તે ત્રીજા દૂતે તેનું પ્યાલું નદીઓ તથા પાણીના ઝરાઓ પર રેડી દીધું. તે નદીઓ અને તે ઝરાઓ લોહી થઈ ગયા.
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<v id="5" bcv="REV.16.5" />પછી મેં પાણીના દૂતને દેવને એમ કહેતા સાંભળ્યો કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તું તે એક છે, જે છે, અને હંમેશા હતો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તું પવિત્ર છે,
</q>
<q style="q1">તું જે ન્યાય કરે છે તે યોગ્ય છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="REV.16.6" />તે લોકોએ તારા સંતોનું, અને તારા પ્રબોધકોનું, લોહી વહેવડાવ્યું છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">હવે તેં પેલા લોકોને લોહી પીવા આપ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેઓ એ માટે લાયક છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m"><v id="7" bcv="REV.16.7" />અને મેં વેદીને એમ કહેતાં સાભળી કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હા, પ્રભુ દેવ, સર્વશક્તિમાન,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તારા ન્યાયના ચૂકાદા સત્ય તથા યથાર્થ છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="REV.16.8" />તે ચોથા દૂતે તેનું પ્યાલું સૂર્ય પર રેડી દીધું. તે સૂર્ય ને અગ્નિથી લોકોને બાળી નાખવાની શક્તિ આપવામા આવી.
<ve />
<v id="9" bcv="REV.16.9" />તે લોકો અતિશય ગરમીથી દાઝી ગયા હતા. તે લોકોએ દેવના નામની નિંદા કરી. જે દેવનો આ વિપત્તિઓ પર કાબુ છે. પરંતુ તે લોકોએ પસ્તાવો કર્યો નહિ તથા દેવને મહિમા આપ્યો નહિ.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="REV.16.10" />તે પાંચમા દૂતે તેનું પ્યાલું પ્રાણીના રાજ્યાસન પર રેડી દીધું. અને પ્રાણીના રાજ્યમાં અંધકાર છવાઈ ગયો. લોકોએ વેદનાને કારણે તેઓની જીભ કરડી.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="REV.16.11" />લોકોએ પોતાના દુ:ખોના અને પોતાને પડેલા ઘા ને કારણે આકાશના દેવની નિંદા કરી. પણ તે લોકોએ પસ્તાવો કરવાની તથા તેઓએ પોતે કરેલાં ખરાબ કામોમાંથી પાછા ફરવાની ના પાડી.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="REV.16.12" />તે છઠ્ઠા દૂતે તેનું પ્યાલું મહાન નદી યુફ્રેટિસ પર રેડી દીધું. નદીમાં પાણી સુકાઈ ગયું. આથી પૂર્વના રાજાઓ માટે આવવાનો માર્ગ તૈયાર થયો.
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<v id="13" bcv="REV.16.13" />પછી મેં ત્રણ અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓ જે દેડકાઓ જેવા દેખાતા હતા તે જોયાં. તેઓ અજગરના મુખમાથી, તે પ્રાણીના મુખમાંથી, અને ખોટા પ્રબોધકના મુખમાથી બહાર આવ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="REV.16.14" />(આ અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓ શેતાનના આત્માઓ તરફથી છે. તેઓ પાસે ચમત્કારો કરવાની શક્તિ છે. આ દુષ્ટ આત્માઓ આખી દુનિયાના રાજાઓ પાસે જવા નીકળ્યા. જેઓ સર્વશક્તિમાન દેવના મહાન દિવસની લડાઇને માટે રાજાઓ ને ભેગા કરવા બહાર નીકળ્યા.)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="REV.16.15" />“ધ્યાનથી સાંભળ! અચાનક એક ચોર આવે છે, તેવી રીતે હું આવું છું. તે વ્યક્તિને ધન્ય છે જે તેનાં વસ્ત્રો તેની પાસે રાખે છે અને જાગૃત રહે છે. જેથી તેને વસ્ત્રો વિના બહાર જવું ન પડે. અને લોકો એવું તો નહિ જુએ કે જે જોવાથી તેમને શરમાવું પડે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="REV.16.16" />પછી તે અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓએ રાજાઓને એક જગ્યાએ ભેગા કર્યા. જે હિબ્રૂ ભાષામાં હર-મગિદોન કહેવાય છે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="REV.16.17" />પછી સાતમા દૂતે રાજગાદી પરથી મંદિરની બહાર તેનું પ્યાલું હવામા રેડી દીધું. રાજ્યાસનમાંથી મંદિરની બહાર એક મોટા સાદે વાણી બહાર આવી. તે વાણીએ કહ્યું કે; “તે પૂર્ણ થયું છે!”
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<v id="18" bcv="REV.16.18" />પછી ત્યાં વીજળીની જવાળાઓ, ગર્જનાઓ, ઘોંઘાટો સાથે એક મોટો ધરતીકંપ થયો. આવો મોટો ધરતીકંપ કદી પણ થયો હતો. પૃથ્વી પર જ્યારથી લોકો ઉત્પન્ન થયા, ત્યારથી આજ સુધી આવું બન્યું ન હતું.
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<v id="19" bcv="REV.16.19" />તે મહાન શહેર ત્રણ ભાગમા વહેંચાઇ ગયું. રાષ્ટ્રોનાં તે શહેરનો નાશ થયો હતો. અને દેવ મહાન બાબિલોનને શિક્ષા કરવાનું ભૂલ્યા નહિ. તે શહેરને તેના ભયંકર કોપના દ્રાક્ષારસનું ભરેલું પ્યાલું આપ્યું.
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<v id="20" bcv="REV.16.20" />દરેક ટાપુ અદૃશ્ય થઈ ગયા. અને ત્યાં કોઈ પર્વત રહયો ન હતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="REV.16.21" />રાક્ષસી કરા આકાશમાંથી લોકો પર પડ્યા. આ કરા લગભગ 100 પૌંડના વજનના હતા. લોકોએ આ કરાની મુસીબતોને કારણે દેવની નિંદા કરી; કેમ કે આ મુસીબત ભયંકર હતી.
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</p>

<c id="17" />
<s style="s">પ્રાણી પરની સ્રી
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.17.1" />સાત દૂતોમાંનો એક આવ્યો અને મારી સાથે વાત કરી. આ દૂતોમાંનો એક હતો જેની પાસે સાત પ્યાલા હતા. તે દૂતે કહ્યું, “આવ, અને હું તમને વિખ્યાત વેશ્યાને જે શિક્ષા કરવામાં આવશે તે બતાવીશ. તે એક કે જે ઘણી નદીઓના પાણી પર બેસે છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="REV.17.2" />પૃથ્વીના રાજાઓએ તેની સાથે વ્યભિચારનું પાપ કર્યું છે. પૃથ્વી પરના લોકો તેના વ્યભિચારના પાપના દ્રાક્ષારસથી છાકટા થયા છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="REV.17.3" />પછી તે દૂત મને આત્મામાં રણમાં લઈ ગયો. ત્યાં મેં એક સ્ત્રીને લાલ પ્રાણી પર બેઠેલી જોઈ. તે પ્રાણી તેના પર લખાયેલા ઈશ્વરનિંદક નામોથી ઢંકાયેલું હતું. તે પ્રાણીને સાત માથાં અને દસ શિંગડા હતા.
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<v id="4" bcv="REV.17.4" />તે સ્ત્રીએ જાંબલી અને લાલ રંગના વસ્ત્રો પહેર્યાં હતા. તે સોનાનાં અલંકારો અને કિંમતી પથ્થરોથી શણગારેલી હતી. તેના હાથમાં સોનાનું પ્યાલું હતું. આ પ્યાલું ભયંકર વસ્તુઓ અને તેનાં અશુદ્ધ વ્યભિચારનાં પાપોથી ભરાયેલું હતું.
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<v id="5" bcv="REV.17.5" />તેના કપાળ પર એક શીર્ષક (નામ) લખાયેલું હતું, આ શીર્ષકનો ગુપ્ત અર્થ છે. જેનું લખાણ આ પ્રમાણે હતું:
</p>
<p sfm="pc" style="pc"><sc>હે મહાન બાબિલોન</sc>
</p>
<p sfm="pc" style="pc"><sc>વેશ્યાઓની માતા</sc>
</p>
<p sfm="pc" style="pc"><sc>અને પૃથ્વી પરની દુષ્ટ બાબતોની માતા</sc>
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="REV.17.6" />મેં જોયું કે તે સ્ત્રી પીધેલી હતી. તેણે સંતોનું લોહી પીધેલું હતું જે લોકો ઈસુમાંના તેઓના વિશ્વાસ વિષે કહેતા હતા તે લોકોનું લોહી તેણે પીધું હતું.
</p>
<p style="p">જ્યારે મેં તે સ્ત્રીને જોઈ ત્યારે હું અતિશય આશ્ચર્ય પામ્યો.
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<v id="7" bcv="REV.17.7" />પછી તે દૂતે મને કહ્યું કે, “તું શા માટે આશ્ચર્ય પામે છે? હું તને આ સ્ત્રીનો અને જે પ્રાણી પર તે સવારી કરે છે, તે સાત માથા અને દસ શિંગડાંવાળા પ્રાણી નો મર્મ કહીશ.
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<v id="8" bcv="REV.17.8" />તું જે પ્રાણી જુએ છે તે એક વખત જીવતું હતું પણ તે પ્રાણી હમણા જીવતું નથી. પણ તે પ્રાણી જીવતુ થશે તે અસીમ ઊંડાણમાંથી બહાર નીકળશે અને વિનાશના માર્ગે જશે. પૃથ્વી પર જે લોકો રહે છે. તે આશ્ચર્ય પામશે. કારણ કે તે એક વખત જીવતું હતું, હમણા તે જીવતું નથી. પણ ફરીથી આવશે. પણ આ તે લોકો છે કે જેમના નામો દુનિયાના આરંભથી જીવનનાં પુસ્તકમાં લખેલા નથી.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.17.9" />“તને આ વાત સમજવા માટે જ્ઞાની મનની જરૂર છે, તે પ્રાણી પરના સાત માથાં તે સ્ત્રી જ્યાં બેસે છે તે સાત ટેકરીઓ છે. તેઓ સાત રાજાઓ પણ છે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="REV.17.10" />રાજાઓમાંના પાંચ તો મરી ગયા છે. રાજાઓમાંનો એક હમણાં જીવે છે. અને તે એક જે હજી સુધી આવ્યો નથી. જ્યારે તે આવશે, તે ફક્ત થોડો સમય જ રહેશે.
<ve />
<v id="11" bcv="REV.17.11" />તે પ્રાણી એક વખત જીવતું હતું પણ તે હાલમાં જીવતું નથી. તે જ આઠમો રાજા છે. આ આઠમો રાજા પણ તે પહેલાના સાત રાજાઓમાનો એક છે. અને તેનો વિનાશ થશે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="REV.17.12" />“તે દસ શિંગડાંઓ જે તમે જોયાં તે આ દસ રાજાઓ છે. જેઓને હજુ તેઓનું રાજ્ય મળ્યું નથી. પણ તેઓ એક કલાક માટે તે પ્રાણી સાથે શાસન કરવા અધિકાર મેળવશે.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="REV.17.13" />આ રાજાઓમાંના બધા દસ નો હેતુ એક જ છે અને તેઓ તેઓની સત્તા અને અધિકાર તે પ્રાણીને આપશે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="REV.17.14" />તેઓ હલવાનની સાથે યુદ્ધ કરશે. પરંતુ હલવાન તેઓને હરાવશે. કારણ કે તે પ્રભુઓનો પ્રભુ અને રાજાઓનો રાજા છે. તે તમને પોતે પસંદ કરેલા અને વિશ્વાસી જેઓને તેણે બોલાવ્યા છે તેઓના વડે તેને હરાવશે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="REV.17.15" />પછી તે દૂતે મને કહ્યું કે, “જે પ્રાણી તેં જોયું છે તેના પર તે વેશ્યા બેસે છે. આ પ્રાણી તે ઘણા લોકો, જુદી જુદી જાતિઓ, રાષ્ટ્રો અને દુનિયાની ભાષાઓ છે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="REV.17.16" />તે જે દસ શિંગડાંઓ અને પ્રાણી જોયાં તેઓ તે વેશ્યાને ધિક્કારશે. તેઓ તેની પાસેથી બધું જ લઈ લેશે અને તેને નગ્ર છોડી દેશે. તેઓ તેના શરીરને ખાશે અને તેને અગ્નિ વડે બાળી નાખશે.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="REV.17.17" />દેવે તેનો હેતુ પૂરો કરવાની ઈચ્છાથી દસ શિંગડાંઓ બનાવ્યાં: તેઓ તેની શાસન કરવાની સત્તા પ્રાણીને આપવા સમંત થયાં. દેવે કહેલાં વચન પૂર્ણ થશે ત્યાં સુધી તેઓ શાસન કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="REV.17.18" />તમે જે સ્ત્રીને જોઈ તે એક મોટું શહેર છે. જે પૃથ્વીના રાજાઓ પર શાસન કરે છે.”
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</p>

<c id="18" />
<s style="s">બાબિલોનનો વિનાશ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.18.1" />પછી મેં બીજા એક દૂતને આકાશમાંથી નીચે આવતા જોયો. આ દૂત પાસે વધારે સત્તા હતી. તે દૂતના મહિમાથી પૃથ્વી પ્રકાશિત થઈ.
<ve />
<v id="2" bcv="REV.18.2" />તે દૂતે મોટા શક્તિશાળી અવાજ સાથે બૂમ પાડી કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તેનો વિનાશ થયો છે!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે મોટા શહેર બાબિલોનનો નાશ થયો છે!
</q>
<q style="q1">તે ભૂતોનું ઘર બન્યું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે શહેર દરેક અશુદ્ધ આત્માઓને રહેવા માટેનું સ્થળ બન્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બધી જાતના અશુદ્ધ પક્ષીઓથી ભરેલું શહેર બન્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે બધા અશુદ્ધ તિરસ્કૃત પ્રાણીઓનું શહેર બન્યું છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="3" bcv="REV.18.3" />પૃથ્વી પરના બધા લોકોએ તેના વ્યભિચારના પાપનો તથા દેવના કોપનો દ્રાક્ષારસ પીધો છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">પૃથ્વી પરના રાજાઓએ તેની સાથે વ્યભિચારનાં પાપ કર્યા છે
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને પૃથ્વી પરના વેપારીઓ તેની સમૃદ્ધ સંપત્તિ અને મોજશોખમાંથી શ્રીમંત થયા છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="REV.18.4" />પછી મેં બીજો એક અવાજ આકાશમાંથી કહેતા સાંભળ્યો કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“મારા લોકો, તે શહેરમાથી બહાર આવો,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">જેથી તમે તેના પાપોના ભાગીદાર ન થાઓ.
</q>
<q style="q1">પછી તમે તેના પર આવનારી વિપત્તિઓને તમારે સહન કરવી પડશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="5" bcv="REV.18.5" />તે શહેરનાં પાપો દૂર આકાશ સુધી પહોંચ્યા છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે જે ખરાબ કૃત્યો કર્યા છે તે દેવ ભૂલ્યો નથી.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="6" bcv="REV.18.6" />તે શહેરને એટલું ભરી આપો, જેટલું તેણે બીજાઓને ભરી આપ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે જેટલું કર્યુ છે તેનાથી બમણું આપો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તેને માટે દ્રાક્ષારસ જેટલો તેણે બીજાઓ માટે તૈયાર કર્યો હતો તેનાથી બમણો તેજ તૈયાર કરો.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="REV.18.7" />બાબિલોને પોતાને મોટી કીર્તિ અને મોજશોખ જીવનમાં પ્રાપ્ત કર્યા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેટલાં દુ:ખો અને વેદનાઓ પણ તેને આપો;
</q>
<q style="q1">તે તેની જાતને કહે છે, ‘હું મારા રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠેલી એક રાણી છું.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું વિધવા નથી,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હું કદી ઉદાસ થનાર નથી.’
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="REV.18.8" />તેથી એક દિવસમાં આ બધી
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">ખરાબ બાબતો મૃત્યુ, શોક અને દુકાળ તેની પાસે આવશે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેનો અગ્નિથી નાશ થશે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">કારણ કે પ્રભુ દેવ જે તેનો ન્યાય કરે છે તે શક્તિશાળી છે.
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.18.9" />“પૃથ્વીના રાજાઓ, જેમણે તેની સાથે વ્યભિચારનાં પાપ કર્યા અને તેની સંપત્તિમાં ભાગ પડાવ્યો તેઓ તેની આગનો ધૂમાડો જોશે. પછી તે રાજાઓ તેના મૃત્યુને કારણે રડશે અને દુ:ખી થશે.
<ve />
<v id="10" bcv="REV.18.10" />તેની વેદનાના ભયથી તે રાજાઓ દૂર ઊભા રહેશે. તે રાજાઓ કહેશે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘અરેરે! ભયંકર! કેવું ભયંકર, મહાન બાબિલોન નગર,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બાબિલોનનું બળવાન નગર!
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી શિક્ષા એક કલાકમાં થઈ!’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="REV.18.11" />“અને પૃથ્વી પરના વેપારીઓ તેના માટે શોક કરશે અને તેને માટે દુ:ખી થશે. તેઓ દિલગીર થશે કારણ કે હવે તેઓ જે વેચે છે તેને ખરીદનારા ત્યાં કોઈ નથી.
<ve />
<v id="12" bcv="REV.18.12" />તેઓ સોનું, રૂપું, કિંમતી રત્નો, મોતીઓ, સુંદર બારીક શણના કપડાં, જાંબુડી કાપડ, રેશમી તથા કિરમજી કાપડ સર્વ જાતના સુગંધીદાર કાષ્ટ, હાથીદાંતની મૂલ્યવાન કાષ્ટની, પિતળની, લોઢાની તથા સંગેમરમરની, સર્વ જાતની વસ્તુઓ વેચતાં.
<ve />
<v id="13" bcv="REV.18.13" />તે વેપારીઓ, તજ, તેજાનાં, ધૂપદ્ધવ્યો, અત્તર, લોબાન, દ્ધાક્ષારસ, તેલ, ઝીણો મેંદો, ઘઉં, તથા ઢોરઢાંકર, ઘેટાં, ઘોડા, રથો, ગુલામો તથા માણસોના પ્રાણ, પણ તેઓ વેચતા. તે વેપારી માણસો રડશે અને કહેશે કે:
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1"><v id="14" bcv="REV.18.14" />‘ઓ બાબિલોન, તમે જે સારી વસ્તુઓની ઈચ્છા છે તે તારી પાસેથી દૂર થઈ છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી બધી કિંમતી અને સુંદર વસ્તુઓ અદૃશ્ય થઈ ગઈ છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તને ફરીથી તે વસ્તુઓ કદાપિ મળશે નહિ.’
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="REV.18.15" />“તે વેપારી માણસો તેની વેદનાથી ભયભીત થશે અને તેનાથી દૂર ઊભા રહેશે. આ તે માણસો છે જે વસ્તુંઓ વેચીને તેમાંથી ધનવાન થયા. તે માણસો રડશે અને શોક કરશે.
<ve />
<v id="16" bcv="REV.18.16" />તેઓ કહેશે કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘અરેરે! ભયંકર! કેવું ભયંકર!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બારીક શણનાં, જાંબુડી તથા કિરમજી રંગના વસ્ત્રોથી વેષ્ટિત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">અને સોનાથી, કિંમતી પથ્થરો અને મોતીઓથી અલંકૃત
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">મહાન નગરને હાય હાય!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="17" bcv="REV.18.17" />આ બધી સંપતિ એક કલાકમાં નષ્ટ થઈ!’
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p">“સર્વ નાખુદા, બધા લોકો જે વહાણોમાં સફર કરનારા છે, બધા જ ખલાસીઓ અને તે બધા લોકો જે સમુદ્ર માર્ગે પૈસા કમાનારા છે તેઓ બાબિલોનથી દૂર ઊભા રહ્યા.
<ve />
<v id="18" bcv="REV.18.18" />તેઓએ તેના બળવાનો ધૂમાડો જોયો. તેઓએ મોટે સાદે કહ્યું કે: ‘ત્યાં આના જેવું મહાન નગર કદાપિ હતું નહિ!’
<ve />
<v id="19" bcv="REV.18.19" />તેઓએ પોતાનાં માથાં પર ધૂળ ફેંકી. તેઓ રડ્યા અને વિલાપ કરવા લાગ્યાં. તેઓએ મોટા સાદે કહ્યું કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">‘અરેરે! ભયંકર! કેવું ભયંકર તે મહાન નગર!
</q>
<q style="q1">તે બધા લોકો જેમની પાસે સમુદ્ર પર વહાણો છે, તેઓ તથા તેની સંપતિને કારણે તેઓ ધનવાન થયા.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">પરંતુ તેનો વિનાશ એક કલાકમાં થયો!
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="20" bcv="REV.18.20" />ઓ આકાશ! આના કારણે આનંદિત થાઓ.
</q>
<q style="q1">સંતો, પ્રેરિતો અને પ્રબોધકો, આનંદ કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તેણે તમારી સાથે જે કાંઇ કર્યું તેને કારણે દેવે તેને શિક્ષા કરી.’”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="REV.18.21" />પછી એક શક્તિશાળી દૂતે એક મોટો પથ્થર ઉઠાવ્યો. આ પથ્થર ઘંટીના પડ જેવો મોટો હતો. તે દૂતે તે પથ્થરને દરિયામાં નાખી દીધો અને કહ્યું કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“તે મહાન નગર બાબિલોનને એટલી જ નિર્દયતાપૂર્વક નીચે ફેંકી દેવામાં આવશે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે શહેર ફરીથી કદી જોવામાં નહિ આવે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="22" bcv="REV.18.22" />વીણા વગાડનારા, ગાનારા, બીજા વાજીંત્રો વાંસળી અને રણશિગડું વગાડનારા લોકોનું સંગીત તારામાં ફરી કદી સંભળાશે નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">પ્રત્યેક કસબી જે કાંઇ કામ કરતો હોય.
</q>
<q style="q1">ફરીથી કદી તારામાં જોવામાં આવશે નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">ઘંટીનો અવાજ ફરી કદી તારામાં સંભળાશે નહિ.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="23" bcv="REV.18.23" />તારામાં દીવાનો પ્રકાશ ફરી કદી પ્રકાશશે નહિ.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારામાં વર કન્યાનો અને વરરાજાનો અવાજ ફરી કદી સંભળાશે નહિ
</q>
<q style="q1">કારણ કે તારા વેપારીઓ દુનિયાના મહાન માણસો હતા.
</q>
<q style="q1">તારી જાદુઈ યુક્તિઓથી બધા દેશો ભ્રમમાં પડ્યા.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="24" bcv="REV.18.24" />બધા લોકો જેઓને પૃથ્વી પર મારી નાખવામાં આવ્યા હતા,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">બધા પ્રબોધકો અને સંતોનું લોહી વહાવવા માટે તે (બાબિલોન) દોષિત છે.”
<ve />
</q>

<c id="19" />
<s style="s">આકાશમાં લોકો દેવની સ્તુતિ કરે છે
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.19.1" />આ પછી મેં આકાશમાં ઘણા લોકોના સમૂહના જેવો મોટો અવાજ સાંભળ્યો. તે લોકો કહેતા હતા કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હાલેલુયા!<f caller="+"><fr>19:1
</fr><fk>હાલેલુયા
</fk><ft>અર્થાત પ્રભુની સ્તુતિ થાઓ!</ft></f>
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણા દેવને તારણ, મહિમા અને પરાક્રમ છે.
<ve />
</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="2" bcv="REV.19.2" />તેના ન્યાય ચૂકાદા સત્ય તથા બરાબર છે.
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણા દેવે વેશ્યાને શિક્ષા કરી છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તેણે દુનિયાને તેનાં વ્યભિચારનાં પાપથી ભ્રષ્ટ કરી.
</q>
<q style="q1">આપણા દેવે વેશ્યાને શિક્ષા કરી છે અને તેના સેવકોના લોહીનો બદલો તેની પાસેથી લીધો છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="REV.19.3" />આકાશમાં તે લોકોએ પણ કહ્યું કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હાલેલુયા!
</q>
<q style="q1">તે સળગે છે અને તેનો ધુમાડો સદા-સર્વકાળ ઊચે ચડે છે.”
<ve />
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="REV.19.4" />પછી 24 વડીલો અને તે ચાર જીવતા પ્રાણીઓ નીચા નમ્યા. તેઓએ દેવની આરાધના કરી. જે રાજ્યાસન પર બેસે છે. તેઓએ કહ્યું કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“આમીન, હાલેલુયા!”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="REV.19.5" />પછી રાજ્યાસનમાંથી એક વાણી આવી, તે વાણી એ કહ્યું કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“બધા લોકો જે તેની સેવા કરે છે, આપણા દેવની સ્તુતિ કરો.
</q>
<q style="q1">તમે બધા લોકો નાના અને મોટા જે તેને માન આપો છો, દેવની સ્તુતિ કરો.”
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</q>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="REV.19.6" />પછી મેં જનસમૂહના અવાજના જેવું કંઈક સાંભળ્યું. તે પાણીના પૂરના જેવી અને ભારે ગર્જનાઓ જેવી વાણી હતી. લોકો કહેતા હતા કે:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<q style="q1">“હાલેલુયા!
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">આપણો પ્રભુ દેવ સર્વશક્તિમાન
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">રાજ કરે છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="7" bcv="REV.19.7" />આપણે આનંદ કરીએ અને ખુશ થઈએ અને દેવનો મહિમા ગાઇએ!
</q>
<q style="q1">દેવને મહિમા આપીએ, કારણ કે હલવાન (ઈસુ) ના લગ્નનો દિવસ આવ્યો છે,
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">હલવાનની કન્યા (મંડળી) તેની જાતે તૈયાર થઈ છે.
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</q>
<q style="q1"><v id="8" bcv="REV.19.8" />સુંદર શણનું વસ્ત્ર વધૂને તેણે પહેરવા માટે આપ્યું છે.
</q>
<q level="2" style="q2">તે શણનું વસ્ત્ર તેજસ્વી અને સ્વચ્છ છે.”
</q>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="m" style="m">(તે સુંદર શણનું વસ્ત્ર સંતોના સત્કર્મો રૂપ છે. જે સારી વસ્તુઓ કરી છે તે.)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.19.9" />પછી તે દૂતે મને કહ્યું કે, “આ લખ: પેલા લોકો કે જેઓને હલવાનના લગ્નમાં ભોજન માટે નિમંત્રણ અપાયાં છે, તે લોકોને ધન્ય છે!” પછી તે દૂતે કહ્યું કે, “આ દેવના ખરાં વચનો છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="REV.19.10" />પછી હું દૂતના ચરણોમાં તેની આરાધના કરવા તેને પગે પડ્યો. પણ તે દૂતે મને કહ્યું કે, “મારી આરાધના ન કર. હું તો તારા જેવો અને તારા ભાઇઓ, જેઓની પાસે ઈસુનું સત્ય છે તેમના જેવો સેવક છું. કારણ કે ઈસુનું સત્ય પ્રબોધનો આત્મા છે, તેથી દેવની આરાધના કર.”
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</p>
<s style="s">શ્વેત ઘોડા પરનો સવાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="REV.19.11" />પછી મેં ઊઘડેલું આકાશ જોયું. ત્યાં મારી આગળ એક શ્વેત ઘોડો હતો. ઘોડા પરનો સવાર વિશ્વાસુ તથા સાચો કહેવાય છે. તે તેના ન્યાયમાં તથા લડાઇ કરવામાં ન્યાયી છે.
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<v id="12" bcv="REV.19.12" />તેની આંખો અગ્નિની જવાળા જેવી છે. તેના માથાં પર ઘણા મુગટ છે. તેના પર નામ લખેલું છે. પણ કેવળ તે જ એક છે જે નામ જાણે છે.
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<v id="13" bcv="REV.19.13" />તેણે રક્તથી છંટાયેલો ઝભ્ભો પહેરેલો છે. તેનું નામ દેવનો શબ્દ છે.
<ve />
<v id="14" bcv="REV.19.14" />આકાશનાં સૈન્યો તેની પાછળ આવતાં હતાં. તેઓ શ્વેત ઘોડાઓ પર સવારી કરતા હતા. તેઓ સ્વચ્છ શ્વેત અને શણનાં વસ્ત્રો પહેરેલા હતા.
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<v id="15" bcv="REV.19.15" />એક અણીદાર બેધારી તલવાર સવારના મોંમાંથી બહાર આવી. તે આ તલવારનો ઉપયોગ રાષ્ટ્રોને હરાવવા માટે કરશે. તે લોઢાના દંડથી રાષ્ટ્રો પર શાસન કરશે. તે સર્વશક્તિમાન દેવના ભયંકર કોપનો દ્રાક્ષકુંડ ખૂંદે છે.
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<v id="16" bcv="REV.19.16" />તેના ઝભ્ભા પર તથા તેની જાંધ પર આ નામ લખેલું હતું:
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p sfm="pc" style="pc"><sc>રાજાઓનો રાજા અને પ્રભુઓનો પ્રભુ</sc>
<ve />
</p>
<b style="b" />
<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="REV.19.17" />પછી મેં એક દૂતને સૂર્યમાં ઊભેલો જોયો. તે દૂતે આકાશમાં ઊંચે ઊડતાં બધાં પક્ષીઓને મોટા સાદે કહ્યું કે, “દેવના સાંજના મહાન જમણ માટે સાથે મળીને આવો.
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<v id="18" bcv="REV.19.18" />જેથી તમે રાજાઓનું, સેનાપતિઓનું, શૂરવીરોનું, ઘોડાઓનું, અને સવારોનું, સર્વ સ્વતંત્ર તથા દાસોનું, નાના તથા મોટાનું માંસ ખાઓ.”
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="REV.19.19" />પછી મેં શ્વાપદ અને પૃથ્વીના રાજાઓને જોયા. તેઓના સૈન્યોના ઘોડેસવારો અને તેઓનાં લશ્કરો ભેગાં થયા હતાં અને લડવા તૈયાર હતા. તે જોયું.
<ve />
<v id="20" bcv="REV.19.20" />પણ તે શ્વાપદ પકડાયું, અને તેની સમક્ષ જે જૂઠા પ્રબોધકો ચમત્કારો દેખાડીને શ્વાપદની છાપ લેનારાઓને તથા તેની મૂર્તિ પૂજનારાઓને ભમાવ્યા હતા, તે જૂઠા પ્રબોધક અને તે પ્રાણીને ગંધકથી બળનારા અગ્નિના સરોવરમાં જીવતા ફેંકી દેવામાં આવ્યાં.
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<v id="21" bcv="REV.19.21" />તેમનાં સૈન્યોને ઘોડા પરના સવારના મોંઢામાથી બહાર નીકળેલી તલવાર વડે મારી નંખાયા. બધાં પક્ષીઓએ તૃપ્ત થતાં સુધી આ મૃત શરીરોને ખાધાં.
<ve />
</p>

<c id="20" />
<s style="s">1,000 વર્ષો
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.20.1" />મેં એક દૂતને આકાશમાંથી નીચે આવતાં જોયો. તે દૂત પાસે અસીમ ઊંડાણની ચાવી હતી. તેમજ તેના હાથમાં એક મોટી સાંકળ પણ હતી.
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<v id="2" bcv="REV.20.2" />તે દૂતે તે અજગર એટલે ઘરડા સાપને પકડ્યો. તે અજગર શેતાન છે. દૂતે 1,000 વર્ષ માટે તેને સાંકળથી બાંધ્યો.
<ve />
<v id="3" bcv="REV.20.3" />તે દૂતે તે અજગરને અસીમ ઊંડાણમાં નાખ્યો અને તેને બંધ કર્યું. તે દૂતે તાળું મારી તેના પર મહોર મારી. તે દૂતે આ કર્યું, જેથી તે સાપ 1,000 વર્ષ પૂરા થતાં સુધી પૃથ્વીના લોકોને ફરીથી ભ્રમિત કરી શકે નહિ. (1,000 વર્ષ પછી તે અજગરને થોડાક સમય માટે મુક્ત કરાશે.)
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="4" bcv="REV.20.4" />પછી મેં કેટલાંક રાજ્યાસનો અને લોકોને તેઓના પર બેઠેલા જોયા. આ તે લોકો હતા, જેઓને ન્યાય કરવાનો અધિકાર અપાયો હતો અને મેં એ લોકોના આત્માઓ જોયા. જેઓનો શિરચ્છેદ કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો. કારણ કે તેઓ ઈસુના સત્યને અને દેવ તરફથી આવેલ સંદેશને વફાદાર હતા. એ લોકો તે પ્રાણીને કે તેની મૂર્તિને પૂજતા ન હતા. તેઓનાં કપાળ પર કે તેઓનાં હાથો પર પ્રાણીની છાપ ન હતી. તે લોકો ફરીથી સજીવન થયા અને ખ્રિસ્ત સાથે તેઓએ 1,000 વર્ષ રાજ્ય કર્યું.
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<v id="5" bcv="REV.20.5" />(બીજા મરેલા લોકો 1,000 વર્ષ પૂરાં થતાં સુંધી ફરીથી સજીવન થયા નહિ.)
</p>
<p style="p">આ પ્રથમ પુનરુંત્થાન છે.
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<v id="6" bcv="REV.20.6" />એ લોકો જેનો પ્રથમ પુનરુંત્થાન માં ભાગ છે તે લોકો ધન્ય અને પવિત્ર છે. તે લોકો પર બીજા મૃત્યુનો અધિકાર નથી. તે લોકો દેવના તથા ખ્રિસ્તના યાજકો થશે. તેઓ 1,000 વર્ષ માટે તેની સાથે રાજ કરશે.
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</p>
<s style="s">શેતાનની હાર
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="7" bcv="REV.20.7" />જ્યારે 1,000 વર્ષ પૂરા થશે ત્યારે શેતાનને તેના અસીમ ઊંડાણમાંથી, બંદીખાનામાંથી મુક્ત કરવામાં આવશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="REV.20.8" />પૃથ્વી પરના બધા રાષ્ટ્રોને ગોગ અને માગોગને ભ્રમિત કરવા તે બહાર જશે. શેતાન લોકોને લડાઈ માટે ભેગા કરશે. ત્યાં એટલા બધા લોકો હશે, જેથી તેઓ સમુદ્ર કિનારા પરની રેતી જેવા હશે.
<ve />
</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.20.9" />શેતાનના લશ્કરે પૃથ્વીની આખી સપાટી પર કૂચ કરીને દેવના લોકોની છાવણીની આજુબાજુ અને તે શહેર જેને દેવ ચાહે છે તેની આજુબાજુ ઘેરો ઘાલ્યો. પણ આકાશમાંથી અગ્નિ નીચે ઊતર્યો અને શેતાનના લશ્કરનો વિનાશ કર્યો.
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<v id="10" bcv="REV.20.10" />અને શેતાન ગંધકના સળગતા સરોવરમાં પ્રાણી અને જૂઠા પ્રબોધક સાથે ફેંકાયો હતો. ત્યાં તેઓને દિવસ અને રાત સદાસર્વકાળ વેદના ભોગવવી પડશે
<ve />
</p>
<s style="s">પૃથ્વીના લોકોનો ન્યાય
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="REV.20.11" />પછી મેં એક મોટું શ્વેત રાજ્યાસન જોયું. એક જે રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠો હતો તેને મેં જોયો. પૃથ્વી અને આકાશ તેનાથી દૂર જતાં રહ્યા; અને અદશ્ય થઈ ગયા.
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<v id="12" bcv="REV.20.12" />અને મેં તે લોકોને જેઓ મૃત્યુ પામ્યા હતા એવા નાના મોટા સર્વને રાજ્યાસન આગળ ઊભેલા જોયા. કેટલાક પુસ્તકો ઉઘાડ્યાં હતાં તેની સાથે જીવનનું પુસ્તક પણ ઉઘાડ્યું હતું. આ મૃત્યુ પામેલા લોકોનો તેઓએ કરેલાં કૃત્યોનો ન્યાય કરવામાં આવ્યો. આ વસ્તુઓ તે પુસ્તકોમાં લખેલી છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="13" bcv="REV.20.13" />સમુદ્ર તેનામાં જે મૃત્યુ પામેલા લોકો હતા. તેઓને પણ પાછા આપી દીધા અને મૃત્યુ તથા હાદેસે પણ પોતાનામાં રહેલા મૃત લોકોને પણ પાછા આપ્યાં. પ્રત્યેક વ્યકિતનો તેઓએ કરેલા કૃત્યો પ્રમાણે ન્યાય કરવામાં આવ્યો.
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<v id="14" bcv="REV.20.14" />અને મૃત્યુ અને હાદેસને અગ્નિના સરોવરમાં નાખવામાં આવ્યાં. આ અગ્નિનું સરોવર એ બીજું મરણ છે.
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<v id="15" bcv="REV.20.15" />અને જે કોઈ વ્યક્તિ જીવનના પુસ્તકમાં નોંધાયેલો ન મળ્યો તે વ્યક્તિને આગ્નિની ખાઈમાં ફેંકી દેવામાં આવ્યો.
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</p>

<c id="21" />
<s style="s">નવું યરૂશાલેમ
</s>
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.21.1" />પછી મેં એક નવું આકાશ અને એક નવી પૃથ્વી જોયાં. તે પ્રથમ આકાશ અને પ્રથમ પૃથ્વી અદ્દશ્ય થયા હતા. હવે ત્યાં દરિયો ન હતો.
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<v id="2" bcv="REV.21.2" />અને મેં દેવ પાસેથી આકાશમાંથી નીચ આવતા પવિત્ર શહેરને જોયું. આ પવિત્ર શહેર નવું યરૂશાલેમ હતું. તેને તેના પતિના માટે શણગારવામાં આવેલ કન્યા જેવું તૈયાર કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="REV.21.3" />મેં એક મોટી વાણી રાજ્યાસનમાંથી સાંભળી, તે વાણીએ કહ્યું કે: “હવે દેવનું ઘર લોકો સાથે છે. તે તેઓની સાથે રહેશે. તેઓ તેના લોકો થશે. દેવ પોતે તેઓની સાથે રહેશે, તે તેઓનો દેવ થશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="REV.21.4" />દેવ તેઓની આંખોમાંથી પ્રત્યેક આંસુ લૂછશે. ત્યાં હવે ફરીથી મૃત્યુ, ઉદાસીનતા, રૂદન કે દુ:ખ હશે નહિ. બધી જુની વાતો જતી રહી છે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="5" bcv="REV.21.5" />તે જે રાજ્યાસન પર બેઠો હતો, તેણે કહ્યું, “જુઓ! હું બધી જ વસ્તુઓ નવી બનાવું છું!” પછી તેણે કહ્યું, “આ લખ, કારણ કે આ વાતો સત્ય છે અને વિશ્વાસપાત્ર છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="REV.21.6" />રાજ્યાસન પરનાં તે એકે મને કહ્યું, “તે પૂરું થયું છે! હું આલ્ફા તથા ઓમેગા, આરંભ અને અંત છું. હું, જે વ્યક્તિ તરસી છે તેને જીવનના પાણીના ઝરણાંમાંથી મફત પાણી આપીશ.
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<v id="7" bcv="REV.21.7" />તે વ્યક્તિ જે વિજય પ્રાપ્ત કરશે તે આ બધું પ્રાપ્ત કરશે અને હું તેનો દેવ થઈશ અને તે મારો પુત્ર થશે.
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<v id="8" bcv="REV.21.8" />પણ તે લોકો જે કાયર છે, જેઓ માનવાની ના પાડે છે, જે ભયંકર કામો કરે છે. જે હત્યા કરે છે, જે વ્યભિચારનાં પાપો કરે છે, જે દુષ્ટ જાદુ કરે છે, જે મૂર્તિ પૂજા કરે છે, અને જે જૂઠું બોલે છે, તે બધા લોકોને સળગતાં ગંધકની ખાઈમાં જગ્યા મળશે. આ જ બીજું મરણ છે.”
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="9" bcv="REV.21.9" />સાત દૂતોમાંથી એકે આવીને મને કહ્યું, “આ તે દૂતો હતા જેઓની પાસે છેલ્લાં સાત અનર્થોથી ભરેલાં સાત પ્યાલાં હતા.” તે દૂતે કહ્યું કે, “મારી સાથે આવ. હું તને તે કન્યા, હલવાનની વહુ બતાવીશ.”
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<v id="10" bcv="REV.21.10" />તે દૂતે મને આત્મા દ્ધારા ઘણા મોટા અને ઊંચા પહાડ પાસે લઈ ગયો. તે દૂતે મને પવિત્ર શહેર યરૂશાલેમ બતાવ્યું તે શહેર દેવ પાસેથી આકાશમાંથી બહાર નીચે આવી રહ્યું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="11" bcv="REV.21.11" />તે શહેર દેવના મહિમા સાથે પ્રકાશતું હતું. તે અતિ મૂલ્યવાન કિંમતી પથ્થર યાસપિસ જેવું ચમકતું તેજ હતું. તે સ્ફટિકના જેવું નિર્મળ હતું.
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<v id="12" bcv="REV.21.12" />તે શહેરને એક મોટી અને ઊંચી બાર દરવાજા વાળી દિવાલ હતી. દરેક દરવાજા પાસે બાર દૂતો હતા. દરેક દરવાજા પર ઈસ્ત્રાએલ પુત્રોના બાર કુળોનાં નામ લખેલા હતા.
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<v id="13" bcv="REV.21.13" />ત્યાં પૂર્વમાં ત્રણ દરવાજા, ઉત્તરમાં ત્રણ દરવાજા, દક્ષિણમાં ત્રણ દરવાજા, અને પશ્વિમમાં ત્રણ દરવાજા હતા.
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<v id="14" bcv="REV.21.14" />શહેરની દિવાલો બાર પાયાના પથ્થરો પર બંધાયેલી હતી. અને તે પથ્થરો પર હલવાનના બાર પ્રેરિતોનાં નામ હતાં.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="15" bcv="REV.21.15" />તે દૂતે જેણે મારી સાથે વાત કરી. તેની પાસે માપ લેવા માટે સોનાની છડી હતી. તે દૂત પાસે તે શહેર, તેના દરવાજાઓ એને તેની દિવાલો માપવા આ છડી હતી.
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<v id="16" bcv="REV.21.16" />તે શહેર ચોરસમાં બાંધવામાં આવ્યું હતું. તે દૂતે માપવાની છડી વડે શહેરને માપ્યું. તેની લંબાઇ તેની પહોળાઇ જેટલી હતી. તે શહેર 12,000
<tl>સ્ટેડીયા</tl>
<f caller="+"><fr>21:16
</fr><fk>સ્ટેડીયા
</fk><ft>એક
<tl>સ્ટેડીઆ</tl> તે લગભગ 200 વારનું અંતર. 12,000 સ્ટેડીઆ એટલે 1,400 માઈલ અથવા 2,200 કીલોમીટર.</ft></f> લાંબુ, 12,000
<tl>સ્ટેડીયા</tl> પહોળું અને 12,000
<tl>સ્ટેડીયા</tl> ઊંચું હતું.
<ve />
<v id="17" bcv="REV.21.17" />(તે દૂતે તેની દિવાલ માપી. તે 144 હાથ ઊંચીં લોકોના માપ પ્રમાણે હતી. તે માપનો ઉપયોગ દૂત કરતો હતો.)
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<v id="18" bcv="REV.21.18" />તે દિવાલ યાસપિસની બનેલી હતી. તે શહેર નિર્મળ કાચના જેવું શુદ્ધ સોનાનું બનેલું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="19" bcv="REV.21.19" />નગરની દિવાલમાં પાયાના પથ્થરોમાં દરેક જાતના કિંમતી પથ્થરો હતા. પ્રથમ પાયાનો પથ્થર યાસપિસ હતો, બીજો નીલમ હતો, ત્રીજો પાનું, ચોથો લીલમ હતો.
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<v id="20" bcv="REV.21.20" />પાંચમો અકીક હતો, છઠો લાલ હતો. સાતમો પીળો તૃણમણિ હતો આઠમો પિરોજ હતો, નવમો પોખરાજ હતો. દશમો લસણિયો હતો. અગિયારમો શનિ હતો, બારમો યાકૂવ હતો.
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<v id="21" bcv="REV.21.21" />ત્યાં બાર દરવાજા અને બાર મોતી હતાં, દરેક દરવાજો એક એક મોતીમાંથી બનાવ્યો હતો. તે શહેરની શેરી શુદ્ધ સોનામાંથી બનાવાઈ હતી. સોનું નિર્મળ કાચના જેવું હતું.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="22" bcv="REV.21.22" />મેં શહેરમાં મંદિર જોયું નહિ કારણ કે તે પ્રભુ દેવ સર્વશક્તિમાન અને હલવાન (ઈસુ) એ જ મંદિર છે.
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<v id="23" bcv="REV.21.23" />તે શહેર પર સૂર્યને કે ચંદ્રને પ્રકાશવાની જરૂર નથી. દેવનો મહિમા શહેરને પ્રકાશ આપે છે. તે હલવાન શહેરનો દીવો છે.
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</p>
<p style="p"><v id="24" bcv="REV.21.24" />દુનિયાના લોકો તેના પ્રકાશમાં ચાલશે. પૃથ્વીના રાજાઓ પોતાનું ગૌરવ શહેરમાં લાવશે.
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<v id="25" bcv="REV.21.25" />તે શહેરના દરવાજાઓ દિવસ દરમ્યાન કદાપિ બંધ રહેશે નહિ. કારણ કે ત્યાં રાત્રિ નથી.
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<v id="26" bcv="REV.21.26" />સર્વ પ્રજાઓનું ગૌરવ અને સન્માન શહેરમાં લવાશે.
<ve />
<v id="27" bcv="REV.21.27" />શહેરમાં કદાપિ અશુદ્ધ પ્રવેશ કરશે નહિ. જે વ્યક્તિ શરમજનક કાર્યો કરે છે અથવા જૂઠું બોલે છે તે આ શહેરમાં પ્રવેશ કરશે જ નહિ. ફક્ત તે જ લોકો જેઓનાં નામો હલવાનના જીવનના પુસ્તકમાં લખેલાં છે તેઓ જ પ્રવેશ કરશે.
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</p>

<c id="22" />
<p style="p"><v id="1" bcv="REV.22.1" />પછીથી તે દૂતે મને જીવનના પાણીની નદી બતાવી. તે નદી સ્ફટિકના જેવી ચમકતી હતી. તે નદી દેવના અને હલવાનના રાજ્યાસનમાંથી વહે છે.
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<v id="2" bcv="REV.22.2" />તે શહેરની શેરીની મધ્યમાંથી વહે છે. જીવનનું વૃક્ષ નદીની બન્ને બાજુ પર હતું. જીવનનું વૃક્ષ વર્ષમાં બાર વખત ફળ આપે છે. તે પ્રતિ માસ ફળ આપે છે. તે વૃક્ષનાં પાંદડાઓ બધા લોકોને સાજા કરવા માટે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="3" bcv="REV.22.3" />ત્યાં કોઈ પ્રકારનો શાપ થનાર નથી. દેવ જે ગુનાઓનો ન્યાય કરે છે એવું કઈ ત્યાં તે શહેરમાં હશે નહિ. દેવનું અને હલવાનનું રાજ્યાસન તે શહેરમાં હશે. દેવના સેવકો તેની આરાધના કરશે.
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<v id="4" bcv="REV.22.4" />તેઓ તેનો ચહેરો જોશે દેવનું નામ તેઓના કપાળો પર લખેલું હશે.
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<v id="5" bcv="REV.22.5" />ત્યાં કદાપિ રાત થશે નહિ. લોકોને દીવાના પ્રકાશની કે સૂર્યના પ્રકાશની જરૂર રહેશે નહિ. પ્રભુ દેવ તેઓને પ્રકાશ આપશે. અને તેઓ રાજાઓની જેમ સદાસર્વકાળ રાજ્ય કરશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="6" bcv="REV.22.6" />તે દૂતે મને કહ્યું, “આ વાતો સત્ય છે અને વિશ્વાસપાત્ર છે. પ્રભુ જે પ્રબોધકોના આત્માઓનો દેવ છે. તેણે તેના દૂતને જે થોડી વારમાં થવાનું જ છે તે તેના સેવકોને બતાવવાં મોકલ્યો છે.
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<v id="7" bcv="REV.22.7" />‘ધ્યાનથી સાભંળો! હું જલદીથી આવું છું. જે વ્યક્તિ પ્રબોધના વચનોને પાળે છે તેને ધન્ય છે.’”
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<p style="p"><v id="8" bcv="REV.22.8" />હું યોહાન છું. મેં આસાંભળ્યું ને જોયું ત્યારે જે દૂતે મને એ વાતો દેખાડી, તેને વંદન કરવા હું પગે પડ્યો.
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<v id="9" bcv="REV.22.9" />પણ તે દૂતે મને કહ્યું કે, “મને વંદન કર નહિ, હું તો તારા દેવો છું અને તારો તથા જે પ્રબોધકો તારા ભાઇઓ છે તેઓનો તથા આ પુસ્તકની વાતોને પાળનારાઓનો સાથી સેવક છું. તું દેવની આરાધના કર!”
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<p style="p"><v id="10" bcv="REV.22.10" />પછી તે દૂતે મને કહ્યું, “આ પુસ્તકના ભવિષ્ય કથનના વચનોને ગુપ્ત રાખીશ નહિ. આ વાતો થવાનો સમય નજીક છે.
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<v id="11" bcv="REV.22.11" />જે વ્યક્તિ અન્યાયી છે તેને અન્યાય કરવાનું ચલુ રાખવા દો. જે વ્યક્તિ મલિન છે તેને મલિન થવાનું ચાલુ રાખવા દો. જે વ્યક્તિ સાંચુ કામ કરે છે તે સાંચુ કામ કરવાનું ચાલુ રાખે. જે વ્યક્તિ પવિત્ર છે તે હજુ પવિત્ર થવાનું ચાલુ રાખે.”
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<p style="p"><v id="12" bcv="REV.22.12" />“ધ્યાનથી સાંભળો! હું જલદીથી આવું છું! હું મારી સાથે બદલો લાવીશ. હું દરેક વ્યક્તિને તેઓના કરેલાં કાર્યોનો બદલો આપીશ.
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<v id="13" bcv="REV.22.13" />હું આલ્ફા અને ઓમેગા છું. પ્રથમ અને છેલ્લો છું. હું આરંભ અને અંત છું.
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<p style="p"><v id="14" bcv="REV.22.14" />“તે લોકો જેઓએ તેઓના ઝભ્ભા ધોયા છે તેઓને ધન્ય છે. તેઓને જીવનના વૃક્ષમાંથી ખોરાક ખાવા માટેનો હક્ક મળશે. તેઓ દરવાજાઓમાં થઈને નગરમાં જઈ શકશે.
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<v id="15" bcv="REV.22.15" />શહેરની બહારની બાજુ કૂતરાંઓ (દુષ્ટ લોકો) છે, તે લોકો અશુદ્ધ જાદુ કરે છે, વ્યભિચારના પાપો કરે છે. બીજા લોકોનાં ખૂન કરે છે, મૂર્તિઓની પૂજા કરે છે, અને અસત્યને ચાહે છે અને જૂઠું બોલે છે.
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<p style="p"><v id="16" bcv="REV.22.16" />“મેં, ઈસુએ મારા દૂતને આ વાતો મંડળીઓને કહેવા માટે મોકલ્યો છે. હું દાઉદના પરિવારનો વંશજ છું. હું પ્રભાતનો પ્રકાશિત તારો છું.”
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<p style="p"><v id="17" bcv="REV.22.17" />આત્મા અને કન્યા બન્ને કહે છે કે, “આવ!” પ્રત્યેક વ્યક્તિ જે આ સાંભળે છે તેણે પણ કહેવું જોઈએ, “આવ!” જો કોઈ તરસ્યો હોય, તેને આવવા દો; જો તે ઈચ્છે તો તે વ્યક્તિ વિનામૂલ્યે જીવનનું પાણી લઈ શકે.
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<p style="p"><v id="18" bcv="REV.22.18" />જે આ પ્રબોધનાં વચનો સાંભળે છે તે દરેક વ્યક્તિને હું ચેતવું છું. જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આ વચનોમાં કાંઈક ઉમેરો કરશે, તો દેવ તે વ્યક્તિને આ પુસ્તકમાં લખેલી મુસીબતો આપશે.
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<v id="19" bcv="REV.22.19" />અને જો કોઈ વ્યક્તિ આ પુસ્તકના પ્રબોધનાં વચનોમાંથી કંઈ પણ કાઢી નાખશે, તો દેવ તેનો ભાગ જીવનનાં વૃક્ષમાંથી, અને પવિત્ર નગરમાંથી, એટલે જેના વિષે આ પુસ્તકમાં જે લખેલું છે, તેમાંથી કાઢી નાખશે.
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<p style="p"><v id="20" bcv="REV.22.20" />ઈસુ કહે છે કે આ વાતો સત્ય છે. હવે તે કહે છે કે, “હા, હું જલદીથી આવું છું”
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<p style="p">આમીન! હે પ્રભુ ઈસુ, આવ!
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<p style="p"><v id="21" bcv="REV.22.21" />પ્રભુ ઈસુની કૃપા સંતો પર હો! આમીન!
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</book></usfx>